Small RNA (sRNA) population in plants comprises of primarily micro RNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). MiRNAs play important roles in plant growth and development. The miRNA-derived secondary siRNAs are usually known as phased siRNAs, including phasiRNAs and tasiRNAs. The miRNA and phased siRNA biogenesis mechanisms are highly conserved in plants. However, their functional conservation and diversification may differ in maize. In the past two decades, lots of miRNAs and phased siRNAs have been functionally identified for curbing important maize agronomic traits, such as those related to developmental timing, plant architecture, sex determination, reproductive development, leaf morphogenesis, root development and nutrition, kernel development and tolerance to abiotic stresses. In contrast to Arabidopsis and rice, studies on maize miRNA and phased siRNA biogenesis and functions are limited, which restricts the small RNA-based fundamental and applied studies in maize. This review updates the current status of maize miRNA and phased siRNA mechanisms and provides a survey of our knowledge on miRNA and phased siRNA functions in controlling agronomic traits. Furthermore, improvement of those traits through manipulating the expression of sRNAs or their targets is discussed.


Changes to the labour process in the home credit sector have exposed the industry's agency workforce to increased levels of digital managerial control through the introduction of lending applications and algorithmic decision-making techniques. This article highlights the heterogeneous nature of the impact of digitalisation on the labour process and worker autonomy – specifically, in terms of workers' engagement in unquantified emotional labour. By considering the limitations of digital control in relation to qualitative elements of the labour process, it becomes evident that emotional labour has the scope to be a source of autonomy for dependent self-employed workers when set against a backdrop of heightened digital control. This article therefore contributes to ongoing labour process debates surrounding digitalisation, quantified workers and digital managerial control.


This study describes changes in the viscoelastic and thermal properties of composites made with various percentages (up to 20 wt.%) of a natural fiber blend (a mixture of flax, kenaf, and hemp fibers) and polyamide 6 (PA 6). According to the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses, the incorporation of natural fibers produced minor changes in the glass transition (Tg), melting (Tm), and crystallization temperature (Tc) of the PA 6 composites. Because of the reinforcing effect of natural fibers, the storage modulus (E') from dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) increased as the natural fiber content increased. The E' values at room temperature and Tg were 3960 MPa and 1800 MPa, respectively, with the incorporation 20 wt.% fiber, which were 68% and 193% higher than the E' value of neat PA 6. As the natural fiber content increased, the thermal stability of the composites decreased, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the onset temperature of rapid thermal degradation decreased from around 440 (neat PA 6) to 420 °C (20 wt.% natural fiber blend). The addition of 20 wt.% single type fibers showed comparable DSC and TG results to the incorporation of 20 wt.% natural fiber blends.


The presence of Hystrix cristata in the province of South Tyrol was documented by two independent records of quills found at two different locations. While further official confirmations beyond single quill records are required to confirm the occurrence of permanent populations, these findings already provide important information to increase the attention on this protected species and to understand its range expansion mechanisms. H. cristata is known to currently spread northwards in Italy and the records reported here represent the northernmost distribution record in Europe, suggesting a potential expansion within the Alpine area and adjacent countries.


Sea ice is an important indicator of climate change. The ability to measure sea ice thickness is essential for monitoring trends in the volume of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. Several methods of determining sea ice thickness are presented and it is concluded that the most appropriate for studying sea ice thickness trends on long time- and length-scales is satellite radar altimetry. One key uncertainty associated with determining sea ice thickness using satellite radar altimetry is the penetration of the radar into the snow cover. We discuss the dielectric theory related to penetration into snow. The bandwidth of satellite radar altimeters is not sufficient to resolve the air/snow and snow/ice interfaces, or layers within the snow pack. For these reasons we investigate the radar penetration into snow on sea ice using sled- and air-borne radars with wide bandwidths so that the interfaces are resolved. Coincident field measurements of the physical snow characteristics were also gathered. Data from three studies are presented. The first study is an analysis of data from the UCL Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) deployed from an icebreaker ship off the coast of Antarctica. The radar dominant scattering surface was the snow/ice interface for 30% of the snow pits. The second is an analysis of data from the Airborne Synthetic aperture and Interferometric Altimeter System (ASIRAS) off the coast of Arctic Canada. In 2006 the radar dominant scattering surface was closer to the snow/ice than air/snow interface for 25% of the echoes; in 2008, this was 60%. The third is an analysis of coincident GPR and ASIRAS data over Arctic sea ice. We found average radar penetration (P) of 0.29 for GPR and ASIRAS data at the South site. Retrieved sea ice thickness would increase by a factor of two with P=0.29 compared with P=1.


The instant/slow-motion television replay may be seen as broadcasting's greatest gift to sport, by others as a symbol of unwanted change. This and further technological tools, such as super-slow-mo, HotSpot, HawkEye and, most recently, HD and 3D, were devised to bring the viewer closer to the action. Spurred, additionally, by the contradiction between what the viewer sees clearly at home and the paying spectator cannot even detect, sport has gingerly incorporated technology to aid the decision-making, modifying regulations and creating a new official: the video referee, video umpire, instant replay official, television match official or third umpire. No longer is the umpire's word final. Cricket, with the recent introduction of the Decision Review System, has been keener than most to open this Pandora's Box. Some maintain that the umpire's right to be wrong should be sacrosanct, that players should take rough with smooth; this chapter will contend that the greater incidence of correct decisions can only help the game's credibility, ensuring justice is more frequently done and even fostering a greater willingness to walk. It will also argue that the review system should be used in all major games, that it should be properly funded by the ICC in consort with its broadcasting partners, and that it should be revised to allow the third umpire to be proactive.


Voice over IP (VoIP) has quickly been adopted by commercial and private users due
to its low cost of service. To attain an even greater consumer acceptance by offering
the convenience of mobility, we have to use a wireless carrier to deliver VoIP packets
at mobile phones. The low cost of service is the ultimate bargaining chip of VoIP and
using a high cost cellular network, like GSM or CDMA, for the last mile coverage compromises its appeal. The IEEE 802.11 WLANs, in this regard, offer a low cost wireless
coverage which intrigued many researchers and device manufacturers to investigate
the voice performance in WLANs using theoretical analysis and simulation. Simulation based studies offer only restricted insight since the call capacity after changing
any network aspect can not be determined easily and, therefore, analytical capacity models are more helpful to network designers and administrators. But a number
of over-simplified assumptions used in the existing voice capacity models make these
studies impractical. Standard voice quality measures were ignored and unrealistic assumptions were used in modeling the IEEE 802.11 medium access mechanisms, which
make the results unreliable.

In this thesis, we model the voice capacity of the DCF and PCF based WLANs
with a special attention to the voice quality to assist in network design and planning.
We use the ITU-T E-model to determine the voice quality and formulate a quality
impairment budget for medium and high quality calls. We develop two novel Markov
models to estimate the delay and loss in the DCF and PCF based medium access
mechanisms. To model real world environment closely, we consider the impacts of imperfect channel and capture effect. Since most WLANs operate under the unsaturated
condition for a considerable amount of time, we consider both saturated and unsaturated traffic conditions. In conjunction to network performance, we also incorporate
the characteristics of voice codecs and dejitter buffer. We identify that the delay and
loss in the queue degrade voice quality significantly and utilize standard queuing analyses to determine its impact. Extensive simulation studies show a close match with
our analytical results.

In the current literature, no analytical model exists for the voice capacity of multichannel, multihop WLANs with multi-interface nodes. Especially, the formation of
critical zones due to accumulated packet arrivals in multihop networks creating a
bottleneck was never considered. We model multi-interface WLAN nodes operating in
multichannel, multihop WLANs and determine the voice capacity of such networks.
We also identify and analyze the benefit of utilizing multihop networks in order to
exercise spatial reuse and improve voice capacity.

Considering that DCF offers wider coverage and spatial reuse while PCF offers
lower delay by the use of time synchronized medium access, we present a novel medium
access mechanism that combines the best features of the above two and yields performance benefits including VoIP call capacity increase through the introduction of
"virtual access point" concept. The protocols for different network scenarios are explained and performance comparisons to the DCF and PCF based medium access are
illustrated. The capacity models proposed in this thesis will be very useful in designing WLANs to maintain acceptable voice quality using off-the-shelf WLAN devices
supporting DCF and PCF while the incorporation of our proposed medium access
mechanism will improve the voice performance in future WLANs using virtual access
point enabled mobile devices.


Severe health anxiety is characterized by a debilitating fear of somatic illness, and avoidance of disease-related stimuli plays a key role in the maintenance of the disorder. The aim of this study was to investigate severe health anxiety within an evolutionary disease-avoidance framework. We hypothesized that, compared to healthy controls, participants with severe health anxiety would perceive others as sicker, more contagious, and less attractive. We also expected individuals with severe health anxiety to be more prone to avoid interaction with persons who appeared sick, as well as to respond with more health-related worry, more disgust, and more anxiety when confronting such individuals. In addition, this sensitivity was expected to be larger if people showed manifest sickness symptoms. Participants with and without severe health anxiety (N = 224) were exposed to facial photos with a varying degree of apparent sickness. Patients with severe health anxiety, compared to controls, rated apparently healthy people as being less healthy and less attractive. There were significant interaction effects showing that that the increase in disgust, anxiety, perceived contagiousness, and worry over one's own health as a function of how sick the person in the photo appeared, was significantly larger in the clinical sample compared to the healthy control sample (ps < .047). Results from regression analyses using health anxiety as a dimensional predictor also supported our hypotheses. We suggest that disgust and cognitive biases relating to the disease-avoidance model are significant features of severe health anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record


Archaeology has been for many years identified with its own method, that of excavation. It isthe way the public sees archaeology and many archaeologists think of themselves too (e.g.Holtorf 2007). However, Rodney Harrison recently pointed out the crucial role of the surfacein archaeological thinking (Harrison 2011, in press).


There has been a rapid increase in the number of firms undertaking business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce (e-commerce) initiatives. Although there are various benefits to B2B e-commerce, there are also inhibitors to its deployment. This study empirically investigates the inhibitors for deploying Web-based B2B e-commerce applications in organizations. A field survey of senior IT executives was conducted to examine the key problems that inhibit the deployment of Web-based B2B e-commerce. A comprehensive list of inhibitors was derived from an extensive review of the literature and pretested with senior IT executives. Data from 249 firms were factor analyzed to yield the underlying structural dimensions of inhibitors impacting the deployment of Web-based B2B e-commerce. Univariate t-test and multivariate discriminant analysis were carried out on the resulting ten dimensions to compare B2B (i.e., firms who have deployed B2B) and non-B2B firms (i.e., firms who have not deployed B2B). The results suggest that key inhibitors in B2B deployment are the lack of top management support, unresolved technical issues, the lack of e-commerce strategy, and the difficulties in cost-benefit assessment of e-commerce investments. Implications of the results for researchers and IT/engineering management executives are discussed


Patients who are unable to receive oral medication (p.o.) are a major problem in outpatient settings, especially in home health care systems. Mucosal administration of drugs offers an alternative to the oral route, especially when the parenteral mode cannot be used. There are three main pathways of mucosal administration: sublingual/buccal, intranasal and rectal. We discuss the possibility of mucosal delivery of antihypertensive drugs. Perindopril arginine and Amlodipine besylate are registered in the EU as orodispersible tablets for oromucosal delivery, however, they are not available in all countries. For this reason, we describe other drugs suitable for mucosal delivery: Captopril and Nitrendipine in the sublingual system and Metoprolol tartrate, Propranolol and Furosemide by the transrectal route. Based on the published data and common clinical practice we discuss the use of mucosal delivery systems of all these antihypertensive drugs with special attention to their pharmacokinetics. We illustrate this mini-review with a case report of the prolonged-term use of mucosal delivery of sublingual Captopril and Nitrendipine combined with rectal Metoprolol tartrate and Furosemide in a patient with severe hypertension unable to receive medication p.o. This is also a report on the first human use of Furosemide-containing suppositories as well as prolonged-term transmucosal administration of these four drugs, describing a practical approach leading to successful control of severe hypertension with four antihypertensive drugs delivered via the mucosal route. The treatment was effective and without side effects; however, the long-term safety and efficacy of such therapy must be confirmed by randomized clinical trials.


The need for accurate quantification of the amount of carbon stored in the environment has never been greater. Carbon sequestration has become a vital component of the battle against global climate change, and monitoring and quantifying this process are major challenges for policymakers. Plant allometric equations allow managers and scientists to quantify the biomass contained in a tree without cutting it down, and therefore can play a pivotal role in measuring carbon sequestration in forests and savannahs. These equations have been available since the beginning of the 20th century, but their usefulness depends on the ability to estimate the error associated with the equations – something which has received scant attention in the past. This paper provides a method based on the theory of linear regression and the lognormal distribution to derive confidence limits for estimates of biomass derived from plant allometric equations. Allometric equations for several southern African savannah species are provided, as well as the parameters and equations required to calculate the confidence intervals. This method was applied to data collected from a sampling campaign carried out in a savannah landscape at the Skukuza flux site, Kruger National Park, South Africa. Here the error was 10% of the total site biomass for the woody biomass and 2% for the leaf biomass. When the data were split into individual plots and used to estimate site biomass (as would occur in most sampling schemes) the error increased to 16% and 12% of the woody and leaf biomasses, respectively, as the sampling errors were added to the errors in the allometric equation. These methods can be used in any discipline that applies allometric equations, such as health sciences and animal physiology.


Background: The risk of breast cancer increases transiently after pregnancy and then falls to a lower level than for age-matched nulliparous women. Higher levels of estrogen are known as the primary reason. Several pregnancy characteristics are thought to be confounding the above link; however, except for the age at first pregnancy no other pregnancy-related factor has been proved to be significant. Specifically, it has not been established that an excessive weight gain in pregnancy is linked to the maternal risk of breast cancer. Objectives: To identify independent influence of weight gain in pregnancy on the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer following a delivery. We also examine the effect of demographic factors and other relevant pregnancy characteristics on the risk of breast cancer. Methods: Our cohort consisted of 213,250 women who gave birth to a live neonate from January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2003. We performed a nested population-based casecontrol study on 126 Nevada patients with a first lifetime breast cancer diagnosed from January 1, 1995 through December 31, 2003, and 504 Nevada participants without breast cancer. The two groups were matched on age at the recorded delivery. Our dataset was a linkage between the Nevada Cancer Registry database for the years 1995–2008 and birth certificates from the Nevada State Health Division for the years of 1994–2008. Results: The excessive weight gain in none of the categories was associated with increased risk of premenopausal breast cancer. After adjustment for other pregnancy characteristics the results remained unchanged. Women whose pregnancies progressed beyond 40 weeks of gestation were at significantly lower risk of developing breast cancer up to five years following delivery, compared to the women who delivered at 37–40 weeks of gestation (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.11–0.93), after adjustment for confounding variables. Conclusions: Our study did not show an association between excessive weight gain in pregnancy and the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer. However, pregnancies that extended beyond 40 weeks of gestation were strongly associated with a lower likelihood of pre-menopausal breast cancer up to 5 years after delivery. Biological plausibility for this may relate to the fact that as pregnancy develops into more advanced stages, mammary cells have more time to complete differentiation and maturation; a process that started earlier in the third trimester. The results of this study will therefore contribute to the literature and may provide a basis for future studies.


Background: Loss of expertise in Sanskrit language and medicinal plant identification as per ayurvedic texts has resulted in the creation of "Controversial Drugs," i.e., plants with different botanical identities being used by the same name Launaea pinnatifida Cass. It is one of the species of one such traditional Indian ayurvedic herb known as "Gojihva." As per the ayurvedic and modern research, Gojihva possesses hepatoprotective, diuretic, galactagogue, and blood-purifying properties. The present study was aimed at bioactivity-guided isolation, characterization, and estimation of a marker compound obtained from L. pinnatifida. Materials and Methods: Fractions were obtained through the successive solvent extraction technique and subjected to in vitro antioxidant and hepatoprotective bioassays which signified that the methanol extract of leaves had significantly better pharmacological activity. Hence, the methanol extract was subjected to further isolation of the active compound. Estimation of the isolated compound was carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and high-performance thin-layer chromatography fingerprinting. Results: A marker compound was isolated from chloroform:ethyl acetate (90:10) fraction and elucidated to be esculetin based on its spectral analysis (Fourier transform infrared, liquid chromatography–mass spectroscopy, 13C nuclear magnetic resonance, and ultraviolet). The percentage purity and yield of esculetin in methanol extract of leaf fractions was found to be 99.75% and 0.927%, respectively, by HPLC. Conclusion: Esculetin has been reported for the first time in L. pinnatifida. Hence, it can be used as the bioactive marker for this plant. This marker can also be useful in the development of hepatoprotective formulations as well as standardization and quality control of L. pinnatifida formulations.


To assess if laser zonal thinning prior to ICSI will improve oocyte survival, fertilization, blastocyst formation, decrease degeneration of oocytes and increase pregnancy rate or not. It was a randomized controlled trial conducted at Specialized Fertility Reproductive Science Centre (Dar El Maraa) and included 364 women who were subjected to treat their infertility by ICSI, over a 2-year period, between September 2013 and September 2015. Participants were randomly assigned following simple randomization procedures (computerized random numbers) into 2 treatment groups (conventional ICSI) control group and (laser ICSI) treatment group. Results of the trial were assisted including comparisons of oocyte fertilization and degeneration rates and blastocyst formation rates and biochemical pregnancy rate. 364 cycles were done and inseminated in accordance of the study design. The mean fertilization rate was 78.9% for C ICSI (conventional ICSI) and 75 % for LA ICSI (laser ICSI), the mean blastocyst formation rate 45.2% in C ICSI and 44.4 % for LA ICSI, the mean oocyte degeneration rate of 12.6% for C ICSI and 11.4 % for LA ICSI, mean embryo cell number on day 3 was 5.5 % for C ICSI and 5.7 % on day 3 for LA ICSI, mean degree of embryo fragmentation was 10.6% on day 3 for C ICSI and 9% on day 3 for LA ICSI. Mean pregnancy rate in C ICSI 95% and 97 % for LA ICSI with no significant difference were observed for any of the measured outcomes variables.


In this study, fatigue strength properties of interlaminar toughened CFRP laminates in the out-of-plane direction, or through thickness, were investigated. Thick laminates whose stacking sequence was unidirectional were formed with 88 plies of T800S/3900-2B prepreg. The T800S/3900-2B prepreg is constituted of fiber layer and interlaminar toughened layer in which polyamide particles are dispersed. The material properties of the thick laminates were measured by compression test and 4-points shear test. Spool specimens machined from the thick laminates were loaded in the out-of-plane direction. Stress distributions of spool specimens were evaluated by FE analysis. Fiber layer and interlaminar toughened layer in the each ply were modeled separately in the analysis. In comparison to the out-of-plane direction, the properties of in-plane transverse direction were investigated with 90 ° thin laminates. To evaluate the fatigue strength properties quantitatively, an analytical equation was introduced for the results of fatigue test. The fracture surfaces of the specimens after static and fatigue tests were observed by SEM. From the observation of the fracture surfaces after fatigue test, it was found that the interfacial debonding between fiber and matrix was occurred due to cyclic loading in both of specimens. In addition, it was observed that crack generated from debonding grew in the fiber layer until ultimate fracture. Moreover, the experimental and analytical results showed that, in comparison to the in-plane transverse direction, the fatigue life in the out-of-plane direction is shorter.


To understand the effects of Wolbachia in Andricus mairei Kieffer, an oak gall wasp (Cynipini, Cynipidae) that forms clusters of up to 30 monothalamous galls in the catkins of Quercus glandulifera var. brevipetiolata Nakai, we examined the presence and infection frequency of Wolbachia in three widely separated geographic populations of A. mairei in Hunan Province, South China, using polymerase chain reaction and sequence determination of the wsp gene of Wolbachia from the three populations. Our survey results showed that Wolbachia infection rates were unusually high in the three test populations: 100% for the male wasps from all populations, while 100%, 100% and 80% for the Yueyang, Changsha and Shaoyang populations of the female wasps, respectively. The sequencing results showed that the gene from all the three populations is 561 bp in length. Comparison with the wsp gene sequences in A. mairei and Neuroterus macropterus, Biorhiza pallida, Andricus solitarius (strain 1) and Synergus crassicornis revealed a 95% identity. The phylogenic relationship of Wolbachia strains in Cynipidae with the known wsp sequences indicated that the Wolbachia strain of A. mairei is closely related to that of N. macropterus, B. pallida, A. solitarius (strain 1), and S. crassicornis, and belongs to the A group. We also discovered strikingly male-biased sex ratios in all the test populations: females only accounted for 15.3%, 12.1%, and 19.8% of the Yueyang, Changsha, and Shaoyang populations, respectively, indicating the extremely male-biased sex ratios. These results suggest that the symbiosis of Wolbachia with A. mairei does not induce parthenogenesis in A. mairei, which can not be properly explained and is worth further investigation.


In "Thinking without Thinking in the Victorian Novel", Vanessa L. Ryan demonstrates how both the form and the experience of reading novels played an important role in ongoing debates about the nature of consciousness during the Victorian era. Revolutionary developments in science during the mid - and late nineteenth century - including the discoveries and writings of Herbert Spencer, William Carpenter, and George Henry Lewes - had a vital impact on fiction writers of the time. Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, George Meredith, and Henry James read contributions in what we now call cognitive science that asked, "what is the mind?" These Victorian fiction writers took a crucial step, asking how we experience our minds, how that experience relates to our behavior and questions of responsibility, how we can gain control over our mental reflexes, and finally how fiction plays a special role in understanding and training our minds. Victorian fiction writers focus not only on the question of how the mind works but also on how it seems to work and how we ought to make it work. Ryan shows how the novelistic emphasis on dynamic processes and functions - on the activity of the mind, rather than its structure or essence - can also be seen in some of the most exciting and comprehensive scientific revisions of the understanding of "thinking" in the Victorian period. This book studies the way in which the mind in the nineteenth-century view is embedded not just in the body but also in behavior, in social structures, and finally in fiction.


Ice cream is not considered an ideal dessert as it contains high quantities of milk and cream fats which can have adverse effects on human health. Hence, most research effort has been focused on producing highly palatable and yet nutritious low fat ice cream. Over the years, attempt has also been made to find cheaper substitutes for cream due to its rising cost, scarcity and civilization diseases associated with its consumption. In this study photochemical rich ice cream products were strategically developed by incorporating baobab fruit pulp in the formulation. Twenty panellists evaluated the sensory properties of the products while lipid composition, mineral and physicochemical analyses were carried out in accordance with standard methods and procedures. The range of the sensory scores among the ice cream samples are; colour (6.05 8.60), taste (6.70 8.50), consistency (6.50 8.20), flavour (7.40 8.50) and overall acceptability (7.40 8.50). Results showed significant decrease in the scores of the entire sensory attribute tested with the inclusion level of baobab fruit pulp above 20%. The overrun, titratable acidity, total solid, melting point, milk solid not fat and water activity of the control and baobab fruit formulated ice creams were also investigated. There were no significant differences at P < 0.05 between the plain and among baobab formulated ice cream in total solid, melting point, water activity and milk solid not fat. However, the overrun and titratable acidity of the baobab formulated ice cream samples were significantly higher than that of plain ice cream. The ice creams investigated had in them the range of fatty acids as: lauric acid (0.20 0.30)%, myristic acid (0.30 1.20)%, palmitic acid (18 25)%, palmitoleic acid(4 12)%, oleic acid (40 47)%, linoleic acid (10 18)%, linolenic acid (1.00 5.00)%, arachidic acid (1.00 2.00)% and arachidonic acid (0.50 2.00)%.The result revealed a significant different (P < 0.05) among the ice cream samples in the composition of all the fatty acids found except lauric acid. The total cholesterol of the ice cream significantly decreases as the inclusion levels of baobab fruit pulp increases. The macro-minerals investigated comprised of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and phosphorus while the micro-minerals studied are zinc, manganese, copper and selenium. All the minerals except copper and manganese were found significantly (P < 0.05) higher in baobab incorporated ice creams. Ice cream producers can now adopt this strategic method to produce a more nutritious and healthier ice cream with higher overrun and melting resistant. *Corresponding author: Liman. K, Department of Food Technology, Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries technology New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Received Date: August 16, 2017 Accepted Date: December 23, 2017 Published Date: December 29, 2017 Effect of Baobab (Adansonia Digitata) Fruit Inclusion on Lipid Composition, Mineral Analysis, Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Ice Cream 1Department of Food Technology, Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries technology New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria 2Department of Food Technology, Federal University, Dutsimma, Katsina State, Nigeria DOI: 10.15436/2377-0619.17.1646 Citation: Liman. K., et al. Effect of Baobab (Adansonia Digitata) Fruit Inclusion on Lipid Composition, Mineral Analysis, Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Ice Cream. (2017) Int J Food Nutr Sci 4(2): 16.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the frequency of clinically relevant abnormalities missed by failure to perform a blood smear evaluation in a specific subset of dogs receiving chemotherapy and to compare automated and manual neutrophil counts in the same population.

DESIGN
Retrospective case series.

ANIMALS
50 dogs receiving chemotherapy with a total nucleated cell count > 4,000 nucleated cells/μL.

PROCEDURES
50 blood smears were evaluated for abnormalities that have strong potential to change the medical plan for a patient: presence of blast cells, band neutrophils, nucleated RBCs, toxic change, hemoparasites, schistocytes, and spherocytes. Automated and manual neutrophil counts were compared.

RESULTS
Blood smears from 10 (20%) patients had ≥ 1 abnormalities. Blast cells were identified on 4 (8%) blood smears, increased nucleated RBCs were identified on 5 (10%), and very mild toxic change was identified on 2 (4%). Correlation coefficient of the neutrophil counts was 0.96. Analysis revealed a slight bias between the automated and manual neutrophil counts (mean ± SD difference, -0.43 × 10(3)/μL ± 1.10 × 10(3)/μL).

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
In this series of patients, neutrophil count correlation was very good. Clinically relevant abnormalities were found on 20% of the blood smears. An automated CBC appears to be accurate for neutrophil counts, but a microscopic examination of the corresponding blood smear is still recommended; further studies are needed to determine whether the detection or frequency of these abnormalities would differ dependent on chemotherapy protocol, neoplastic disease, and decision thresholds used by the oncologist in the ordering of a CBC without a blood smear evaluation.


Introduction Chronic pain has a tremendous impact on individual patients, their families, and society. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to investigate nociceptive processing and central sensitization in the brain to better understand and to ultimately develop improved therapies for chronic pain. The spinal cord is important in the processing of nociception, and direct animal and indirect psychophysical and behavioral human studies have demonstrated its role in the generation and maintenance of hyperalgesia and allodynia. The goal of this study was to use fMRI to investigate nociceptive processing within the human spinal cord. Our hypothesis was that increases in noxious thermal stimuli will produce a corresponding increase in fMRI signal activation in the human spinal dorsal horn and increases in spatial and rostrocaudal activity. Methods Following IRB approval, 10 healthy adults were recruited. Subjects were tested prior to scanning to assess tolerability to 12 repetitive 30 sec blocks of 46°C, 47°C, and 48°C thermal stimuli applied to the distal lateral forearm using a computer-controlled Peltier thermode. Subjects were then scanned in a 3T GE MRI system using a custom-built cervical spine surface coil. Functional scans were collected in each subject from the top of C5 through the bottom of C7. Stimuli were delivered in an identical fashion to the prescanning session. Functional images were retrospectively corrected to reduce noise created by the respiratory cycle and cardiac pulsatility. The data were then analyzed to measure both voxel significance and percent blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) changes. Results Spinal fMRI activity to noxious stimuli was well localized to the ipsilateral superficial and deep dorsal horn at the spinal cord level corresponding to the dermatomal region stimulated. There was an increasing fMRI BOLD signal in the dorsal horn associated with increasing magnitude of thermal stimuli. Additionally, with increasing thermal stimuli there were both increases in rostrocaudal extension of dorsal horn activity as well as increases in contralateral dorsal horn activity. Conclusions These results support our hypothesis and suggest that both population coding and changes in individual voxel activation in the spinal cord play a role in encoding pain intensity in humans. This is consistent with animal models of spinal cord nociceptive processing. These data can be used to investigate further central changes that may play a role in acute and chronic pain and may provide a more objective means of assessing nerve function in patients with peripheral nerve and spinal cord injury.


Presently, Nigeria is grouped among the poorest nations of the world despite billions of dollars earned from years of crude oil sales. The underdevelopment and poverty in Nigeria has been attributed to years of corruption and irresponsible leadership, which has led to the subversion of civic values. Historically however, the Nigerian media has shown the capacity to mobilize Nigerians; as exemplified by its efforts during the struggles against colonialism, military dictatorships and campaign for civil rule. The media has also been visible in challenging, criticizing and exposing some individuals involved in corrupt behaviors. This study was therefore conceived on the conviction that the Nigerian media has the capacity to successfully undertake the reorientation of values in Nigeria. The core question therefore is: What role can the Nigerian Mass Media play in the social and economic development of Nigeria through the re-orientation of civic values? This is addressed through five areas of enquiry: the capacities of the Nigerian Media; media ownership, press freedom, training and remuneration; media believability and accessibility; the capacity of the "public sphere" in Nigeria; and the ethnic, tribal and religious background of media practitioners.A critical realist paradigm underpins this study. Key theoretical approaches are the related ideas of agenda setting theory; gatekeeping; framing and priming. Interviews and survey methods were used to collect data from key media stakeholders. The analysis of empirical data indicates that the Nigerian media can play a key role in the reorientation of civic values in Nigeria where: 1. There is a consensus of opinion about the need for values re-orientation. 2. There is a high level of media believability 3. Topical media issues are freely discussed 4. Media access is unhinderedHowever, certain aspects of the Nigerian culture were found to validate corruption across ethnic, tribal and religious boundaries.


Consumption of multimedia content is moving from a residential environment to mobile phones. Optimizing Quality of Experience - smooth, quick, and high quality playback - is more difficult in this setting, due to the highly dynamic nature of wireless links. A key requirement for achieving this goal is estimating the available bandwidth of mobile devices. Ideally, this should be done quickly and with low overhead. One challenge is that the majority of connections on mobiles are short-lived TCP connections, where a significant portion of data exchange is within the slow start phase. In this paper, we propose a novel method that passively estimates the currently available bandwidth by monitoring the minimal traffic generated by such connections. To the best of our knowledge, no other solution can operate with such constrained input. Our estimation method is able to achieve good precision despite artifacts introduced by the slow start behavior of TCP, mobile scheduler and phone hardware. We evaluate our solution against traces collected in 4 European countries. Furthermore, the small footprint of our algorithm allows its deployment on resource limited devices.


A considerable literature examines the optimal decumulation of financial wealth in retirement. We extend this research to incorporate housing, which comprises the majority of most households' non-pension wealth. We estimate the relationship between the returns on housing, stocks, and bonds, and simulate a variety of decumulation strategies incorporating reverse mortgages. We show that homeowner's reversionary interest, the amount that can be borrowed through a reverse mortgage, is a surprisingly risky asset. Under our baseline assumptions, we find that the average household would be as much as 24 percent better off taking a reverse mortgage as a lifetime income relative to what appears to be the most common strategy: delaying tapping housing wealth until financial wealth is exhausted and then taking a line of credit. In addition, we show that housing wealth displaces bonds in optimal portfolios, making the low rate of participation in the stock market even more of a puzzle.


Sleep promotes homeostatic synaptic downscaling in fruit flies. Sleep is a biological process that is necessary for survival not only in vertebrates but also in Drosophila. Sleep is crucial for the consolidation of memories and is responsive to waking experience. Donlea et al. found that core circadian clock neurons play an important role in mediating experience-dependent changes in sleep need in fruit flies. Use-dependent changes in sleep need were dependent upon the expression of the Drosophila homolog of serum response factor in a specific subset of clock neurons. Within these neurons, serum response factor altered experience-dependent changes in sleep by targeting epidermal growth factor receptor signaling. Experience-dependent changes in sleep were associated with an increase in the number of synaptic terminals in specific neuronal circuits. Moreover, the number of synaptic terminals was reduced during sleep, and this decline was prevented by sleep deprivation. In an independent study, Gilestro et al. found that, in two different strains of Drosophila, levels of pre- and postsynaptic markers increased after sleep deprivation independent of time of day and gender. One of these synaptic markers increased after sleep deprivation in areas of the fly brain linked to memory and learning. Thus, in support of the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis of sleep, an important function of sleep, even in invertebrates, may be synaptic downscaling. J. M. Donlea, N. Ramanan, P. J. Shaw, Use-dependent plasticity in clock neurons regulates sleep need in Drosophila. Science 324, 105–108 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text] G. F. Gilestro, G. Tononi, C. Cirelli, Widespread changes in synaptic markers as a function of sleep and wakefulness in Drosophila. Science 324, 109–112 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Mathematically, the typical difference of Discrete Boltzmann Model (DBM) from the traditional hydrodynamic one is that the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations are replaced by a discrete Boltzmann equation. But physically, this replacement has a significant gain: a DBM is roughly equivalent to a hydrodynamic model supplemented by a coarse-grained model of the Thermodynamic Non-Equilibrium (TNE) effects, where the hydrodynamic model can be and can also beyond the NS. Via the DBM, it is convenient to perform simulations on systems with flexible Knudsen number. The observations on TNE are being obtaining more applications with time.


Due to the COVID-19 crisis and the related "social distancing" measures, working from home (WfH) has suddenly become a crucial lever of economic activity. This paper combines survey and administrative data to compute measures for the feasibility of working from home among German employees. Breaking down the data by occupation, region, industry, and employee characteristics, we document considerable variation in the potential to WfH across all dimensions. We find that WfH is feasible for roughly 56 percent of the overall German workforce, while less than half of this potential was exploited in the pre-pandemic economy.


Abstract We present the results of a survey of the state of seismic isolation technology. The emphasis of the review is placed in the United States. The purpose of this survey was to provide an engineering basis for the use of seismic isolation in the design of nuclear power plants. In particular, the survey is focused on providing a basis for the design of advanced fast reactor (AFR) nuclear power plants. These AFR plants typically have components and piping that are thin walled as opposed to the thick-walled components and piping in light water reactor (LWR) plants. As a result the AFR plants do not have the adequate inherent strength to resist seismic loads that exists in the LWR plants. It is far more desirable, therefore, to reduce the seismic demand on the AFR plants than to require costly measures to strengthen the structures and components. It is believed that the use of seismic isolation is a viable and effective way to provide this reduction in seismic demand. Various types of seismic isolation systems and devices are reviewed along with their strengths and weaknesses. Descriptions of several U.S. seismically isolated buildings are presented. The results of actual performance of seismically isolated buildings are also presented, including representative measurements of accelerations in the structures when subjected to actual seismic events. It is concluded that the seismic isolation technology is well established and that the path forward leading to the use of this technology for AFR nuclear power plants is clear and achievable.


Any immediate or early comments on major terrorist attacks, such as the April 2013 Boston marathon bombings, are bound to be highly speculative. They may actually add to the general confusion rather than help dispel it. At times, they may even become part of the very political mayhem that is one of the main intended outcomes of a terrorist attack. There are some aspects, however, that can be seriously analyzed at any stage, such as the political effects of an attack domestically and internationally; in relation to the Boston bombings, for example, one can follow the stream of impacts on U.S.-Russia bilateral relations. Another aspect that can be examined is to place an attack in the context of other acts—in the Boston case, where it stands in relation to other homegrown jihadist terrorist acts committed by single actors or cells in the West, particularly in the United States where such incidents have displayed a clear spike over the past 3-4 years. To what extent do the Boston bombings fit into the broader trends of jihadist terrorism in the West? Do they conform to the so-called "leaderless resistance" paradigm? How do they fit into the more general patterns of single actor attacks in the United States? This memo concludes that the attack by the Tsarnaev brothers is likely to be categorized not as a "lone wolf"-type incident but as an act by a solo cell that behaved on its own initiative even though it had some external connections.


The controversy that erupted in March over the publication of Charles Pellegrino's account of the atomic bombings of Japan, The Last Train from Hiroshima, suggests that the historical legacy of the first military use of atomic weaponry is still fiercely contested in the USA.

The spat is merely the latest conflict in a long war over the significance of the bombings, which resurfaces with each new book, exhibition or programme that appears. When the ruins of the Genbaku (Atomic Bomb) Dome – formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall – were nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, the United States objected on the basis of concerns over a 'lack of historical perspective', arguing that the 'events antecedent to the United States' use of atomic weapons to end World War II are key to understanding the tragedy of Hiroshima'.

The appeal to historical facts by both US diplomats and, more recently, military veterans contrasts with the dehistoricized emphasis of other Western cultural responses to Hiroshima. But what both kinds of reception share is an occlusion of the prehistory of capitalist liberalism, colonialism and imperialism which produces Japanese modernity,a prehistory which is itself built into the Genbaku Dome's concrete structure, and an afterlife of nuclear pacification which produces the global context of terrorism as the continuation of war by other means.


4 zettabytes (4 billion terabytes) of data generated in 2013, 44 zettabytes predicted for 2020 and 185 zettabytes for 2025. These figures are staggering and perfectly illustrate this new era of data deluge. Data has become a major economic and social challenge. The speed of processing of these data isthe weakest link in a computer system: the storage system. It is therefore crucial to optimize this operation. During the last decade, storage systems have experienced a major revolution: the advent of flash memory. Flash Memory Integration: Performance and Energy Issuescontributes to a better understanding of these revolutions. The authors offer us an insight into the integration of flash memory in computer systems, their behavior in performance and in power consumption compared to traditional storage systems. The book also presents, in their entirety, various methods for measuring the performance and energy consumption of storage systems for embedded as well as desktop/server computer systems. We are invited on a journey to the memories of the future. Ideal for computer scientists, featuring low level details to concentrate on system issuesTackles flash memory aspects while spanning domains such as embedded systems and HPCContains an exhaustive set of experimental results conducted in the Lab-STICC laboratoryProvides details on methodologies to perform performance and energy measurements on flash storage systems


Visualization of program execution is generally beneficial for programmers to understand the program. However, there exist only a limited number of visualization systems which can be used for practical applications. The main focus of the traditional visualization systems is on how to make concrete pictures, and they are customized for specific application domains. Therefore, the existing visualization systems cannot be easily used for a wide range of applications. We propose an alternative framework for program visualization based on a bottom-up approach. A conventional top-down manner for designing a concrete final picture is not used here. Instead, our system draws an abstract picture as a set of local pictures by applying local drawing rules. We also introduced a scaling mechanism that prevents overflowing or overdrawing. The proposed framework also enables us to see a conceptual structure of the program naturally. A prototype system is developed by using the Scheme interpreter. Examples of visualization by the system are shown.


In this thesis a case study is conducted to inquire into whether a targeted intervention; a leadership development program, can contribute to the participants experience of leadership development. The case is a ethical program with a leadership development component conducted from February to December 2011, in The Norwegian Armed Forces Medical Services. In this thesis I only focus on the leadership development component of the program. The program had eight participating leaders. I interviewed four of these through qualitative in-depth interviews.Through analysis of data from the interviews, there emerged the following categories and subcategories: "Conditions", "Developmental motivation" and "Change". In the category "Developmental motivation", three sub-categories emerged: "Primary source of professional satisfaction and self-esteem", "Emotional tone used when assessing oneself" and "Leadership ideals-expectations/contructs prior to the program". In the category "Change", two subcategories emerged :"Self-awareness/consciousness" and "Future goals".To discuss these categories, I mainly drew on constructive developmental theory by Joiner and Josephs (2007), Kegan and Lahey (2009), Torbert(2004), and Horney (1945). In the leadership development program that constitutes the case in this thesis, we use different types of tools to adress changes that the participants want-not only state the present situation and leave it with that. One tool is the 360 feedback profile, to bring to the surface key opportunities for developmental growth. This focuses on the dimensions that reveal the relationship between internal motivating assumptions and patterns of action. Other central tools we use are the Immunity to change-learning platform in the program as well as individual coaching, to address change by trying to unlock our mental immune system's grip on our perception so we have an opportunity to see it in action (Kegan et Lahey, 2009). Our aim in the program is to enable a development of a greater awareness and sensitivity to the full range of levels of consciousness available to the participants. We also focus on taking an adaptive approach to adaptive challenges (Heifetz, 1994), as well as enabling the participants to gain consciousness into their reactive patterns (Horney, 1945).The participants point to the experience of the program being able to provide them with ways of using their everyday experiences for development. I found that the tools we use in the program can enable the participants to experience developmental processes, which the informants describe further.


GRACE data provides a new and exciting opportunity to gain a direct and independent measure of water mass variation on a regional scale, but the data must be combined with hydrological modelling to indicate in which part of the water cycle the mass change has occurred. Processing GRACE data through a series of spectral filters indicates a seasonal variation to gravity mass (±0.005 mGal) thought to relate to the downstream movement of water in the catchment, and delayed storage from groundwater, following the wet season in the upper catchment.

To help interpret these data a groundwater recharge model was developed for the Nile Catchment using the model ZOODRM (a distributed modelling code for calculating spatial and temporal variations in groundwater recharge). ZOODRM was an appropriate model to use for this work, due to the lower data demands of the model, relative to other groundwater models, the ability of the model to use entirely remotely-sensed input data, and the added functionality of runoff routing. Rainfall (NOAA data) and ET data were sourced from the FEWS NET African Data Dissemination Service. Geological data was sourced from the digital geology map of the world, landuse data from the USGS and the DEM data from ESRI.

Initial model results indicate groundwater recharge across the basin of 0-4mma-1, with obvious considerable spatial variability. The results indicate the importance of groundwater in storing rainfall, and releasing it slowly throughout the year in different parts of the catchment. Only by modelling this process can GRACE data be reliably interpreted hydrologically. Despite only a qualitative interpretation of the GRACE data having been achieved within this preliminary study, the work has indicated that the ZOODRM model can be used with entirely remotely-sensed data, and that sufficient data exists for the Nile Basin to construct a plausible recharge model. Future work is now required to properly calibrate the model to enable closer comparison of the Nile GRACE data.


Food allergy is defined as an adverse immunological response to food. Some of the tests discussed in this chapter not only aid in the diagnosis of food allergies, but also are useful in monitoring the natural history of patients' food allergies over time, from diagnosis to oral tolerance. Once food allergy has been identified as the likely cause of symptoms, confirmation of the diagnosis and identification of the implicated food(s) can begin. There are a number of tools that aid in the diagnosis of food allergy, some of which are more commonly used, and they vary in their ability to provide an accurate diagnosis. Available studies include in vivo tests such as skin prick and intradermal testing, oral food challenges (OFCs), elimination diets, and patch testing and in vitro tests such as quantification of food-specific IgE and basophil histamine release (BHR). Tests that have not proven helpful in food allergy diagnosis include quantification of food-specific IgG, total serum IgE levels, BHR, and serum tryptase concentrations. Tests that need further study but show some promise include the atopy patch tests (APT), which may aid in the diagnosis of non-IgE-mediated disorders and delayed reactions to foods. Finally, important features of the studies mentioned in this chapter for the described tests that need to be appreciated by clinicians are (i) that the data generated may be particular to the study population and test material and (ii) that the age and clinical disease of the patients are important variables.


In 2014, in Riley v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the police must obtain a warrant before searching a cell phone. Lower courts have struggled to determine what scope limitations judges should place on cell phone warrants in order to ensure that these warrants do not devolve into general searches. This Note argues that the Fourth Amendment's particularity requirement mandates that the government submit search protocols, technical documents that explain the search methods the government will use on the seized device, for cell phone search warrants. Detailed search protocols will ensure that cell phone search warrants have a particularized scope and thereby protect the privacies of life modern cell phones contain.


The aim of this article is to investigate images of technology and how technology is linked to sustainable development in Swedish children's literature. Our perspective is that such images represent values that are conveyed to the young generation. We have chosen to study books by four Swedish authors, Elsa Beskow, Inger Sandberg, Jan Loof and Sven Nordqvist, all of them still read by many children, parents and teachers, both in and out of school. In the examined books, technology is portrayed in several modes: as a servant to man, as a deterministic force, as a loyal and equal companion to man, and as a natural phenomenon in a nostalgic world. Technologies that have a leading role in the stories examined are placed in different kind of contexts, more or less social, more or less utopian or idyllic. In all four authors' writings there is an optimistic faith in children's ability.


This paper investigates the Euler's elastica (EE) model for high-dimensional supervised learning problems in a function approximation framework. In 1744 Euler introduced the elastica energy for a 2D curve on modeling torsion-free thin elastic rods. Together with its degenerate form of total variation (TV), Euler's elastica has been successfully applied to low-dimensional data processing such as image denoising and image inpainting in the last two decades. Our motivation is to apply Euler's elastica to high-dimensional supervised learning problems. To this end, a supervised learning problem is modeled as an energy functional minimization under a new geometric regularization scheme, where the energy is composed of a squared loss and an elastica penalty. The elastica penalty aims at regularizing the approximated function by heavily penalizing large gradients and high curvature values on all level curves. We take a computational PDE approach to minimize the energy functional. By using variational principles, the energy minimization problem is transformed into an Euler-Lagrange PDE. However, this PDE is usually high-dimensional and can not be directly handled by common low-dimensional solvers. To circumvent this difficulty, we use radial basis functions (RBF) to approximate the target function, which reduces the optimization problem to finding the linear coefficients of these basis functions. Some theoretical properties of this new model, including the existence and uniqueness of solutions and universal consistency, are analyzed. Extensive experiments have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed model for binary classification, multi-class classification, and regression tasks.


MicroRNAs (miRs) posttranscriptionally regulate mRNA and its translation into protein, and are considered master controllers of genes modulating normal physiology and disease. There is growing interest in how miRs change with drug treatment, and leveraging this for precision guided therapy. Here we contrast 2 closely related therapies, inhibitors of phosphodiesterase type 5 or type 9 (PDE5-I, PDE9-I), given to mice subjected to sustained cardiac pressure overload (PO). Both inhibitors augment cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) to activate protein kinase G, with PDE5-I regulating nitric oxide (NO) and PDE9-I natriuretic peptide-dependent signaling. While both produced strong phenotypic improvement of PO pathobiology, they surprisingly showed binary differences in miR profiles; PDE5-I broadly reduces more than 120 miRs, including nearly half those increased by PO, whereas PDE9-I has minimal impact on any miR (P < 0.0001). The disparity evolves after pre-miR processing and is organ specific. Lastly, even enhancing NO-coupled cGMP by different methods leads to altered miR regulation. Thus, seemingly similar therapeutic interventions can be barcoded by profound differences in miR signatures, and reversing disease-associated miR changes is not required for therapy success.


Polybenzoxazines are newly developed thermoset polymers exhibiting versatility in a wide range of applications including in the electronics and aerospace industries. When combined as composites, the attractive characteristics of both components are apparent. The chemistry of benzoxazine synthesis offers wide molecular design flexibility and thus facilitates preparation of various polybenzoxazine-based composites. This article reviews recent developments in the preparation and thermal curing of benzoxazine composites with a focus on structure–property relations of cured materials. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry


Pb isotope compositions of detrital K-feldspars and U-Pb ages of detrital zircons are used as indicators for determining the sources of Peoria Loess deposited during the last glacial period (late Wisconsin, ca. 25–14 ka) in Nebraska and western Iowa. Our new data indicate that only loess adjacent to the Platte River has Pb isotopic characteristics suggesting derivation from this river. Most Peoria Loess in central Nebraska (up to 20 m thick) is non-glaciogenic, on the basis of Pb isotope ratios in K-feldspars and the presence of 34-Ma detrital zircons. These isotopic characteristics suggest derivation primarily from the Oligocene White River Group in southern South Dakota, western Nebraska, southeastern Wyoming, and northeastern Colorado. The occurrence of 10–25 Ma detrital zircons suggests additional minor contributions of silt from the Oligocene-Miocene Arikaree Group and Miocene Ogallala Group.

Isotopic data from detrital K-feldspar and zircon grains from Peoria Loess deposits in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa suggest that the immediate source of this loess was alluvium of the Missouri River. We conclude that this silt probably is of glaciogenic origin, primarily derived from outwash from the western margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

Identification of the White River Group as the main provenance of Peoria Loess of central Nebraska and the Missouri River valley as the immediate source of western Iowa Peoria Loess indicates that paleowind directions during the late Wisconsin were primarily from the northwest and west, in agreement with earlier studies of particle size and loess thickness variation. In addition, the results are in agreement with recent simulations of non-glaciogenic dust sources from linked climate-vegetation modeling, suggesting dry, windy, and minimally vegetated areas in parts of the Great Plains during the last glacial period.


Lipocalin-type prostaglandin D synthase (L-PGDS), which was originally identified as an enzyme responsible for PGD2 biosynthesis in the brain, is highly expressed in the myocardium, including in cardiomyocytes. However, the factors that control expression of the gene encoding L-PGDS and the pathophysiologic role of L-PGDS in cardiomyocytes are poorly understood. In the present study, we demonstrate that glucocorticoids, which act as repressors of prostaglandin biosynthesis in most cell types, upregulated the expression of L-PGDS together with cytosolic calcium-dependent phospholipase A2 and COX2 via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in rat cardiomyocytes. Accordingly, PGD2 was the most prominently induced prostaglandin in vivo in mouse hearts and in vitro in cultured rat cardiomyocytes after exposure to GR-selective agonists. In isolated Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts, dexamethasone alleviated ischemia/reperfusion injury. This cardioprotective effect was completely abrogated by either pharmacologic inhibition of COX2 or disruption of the gene encoding L-PGDS. In in vivo ischemia/reperfusion experiments, dexamethasone reduced infarct size in wild-type mice. This cardioprotective effect of dexamethasone was markedly reduced in L-PGDS-deficient mice. In cultured rat cardiomyocytes, PGD2 protected against cell death induced by anoxia/reoxygenation via the D-type prostanoid receptor and the ERK1/2-mediated pathway. Taken together, these results suggest what we believe to be a novel interaction between glucocorticoid-GR signaling and the cardiomyocyte survival pathway mediated by the arachidonic acid cascade.


For the first time it was demonstrated that an osteoinductive calcium phosphate-based putty is effective in the restoration of complex maxillofacial defects. In these defects, adequate mechanical confinement by multiple bony walls and osteoconduction from multiple surfaces are usually lacking. This study compares the efficacy of a microstructured beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) putty with autologous bone for the repair of alveolar cleft defects. A total of 10 Dutch milk goats were operated on in a split-mouth study design in which two-wall bony alveolar clefts were created and successively repaired with autologous bone (the gold standard) at one side and β-TCP putty at the other. After 24 weeks of implantation, histomorphometric and micro–computer tomography analyses proved that the β-TCP putty group showed equal bone quality and volume to clefts reconstructed with autologous bone. In addition, surgical handling of the putty is superior to the use of calcium phosphates in a granular form. Therefore, the results of this study open a clear trajectory for the clinical use of β-TCP putty in the reconstruction of the alveolar cleft and other challenging two-wall bony defects.


This paper presents an effective navigation control method for mobile robots in an unknown environment. The proposed behavior manager (BM) switches between two behavioral control patterns, wall-following behavior (WFB) and toward-goal behavior (TGB), based on the relationship between the mobile robot and the unknown environment. An interval type-2 fuzzy neural controller with a dynamic-group particle swarm optimization (DGPSO) algorithm is proposed to provide WFB control and obstacle avoidance for mobile robots. In the WFB learning process, the input signal of a controller is the distance between the wall and the sonar sensors, and its output signal is the speed of two wheels of a mobile robot. A fitness function, which operates on the total distance traveled by the mobile robot, distance from the side wall, angle to the side wall, and moving speed, evaluates the WFB performance of the mobile robot. In addition, an escape mechanism is proposed to avoid a dead cycle. Experimental results reveal that the proposed DGPSO is superior to other methods in WFB and navigation control.


Our main result is an inequality which shows that a holomorphic function mapping the open unit ball of one normed linear space into the closed unit ball of another is close to being a linear map when the Frechet derivative of the function at 0 is close to being a surjective isometry. We deduce this result as a corollary of a kind of uniform rotundity at the identity of the sup norm on bounded holomorphic functions mapping the open unit ball of a normed linear space into the same space.


OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that the complement system may be activated in patients with type II diabetes and CAD. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The plasma C3d concentration was measured in 106 type II diabetic patients and 25 nondiabetic control subjects. The patient group was subdivided according to AER, and the groups were adjusted for age, sex, and known duration of diabetes. For the assignment to a given subgroup, normoalbuminuria was defined as AER < 15 μm/min, microalbuminuria as AER 16–250 μg/min, and macroalbuminuria as AER > 250 μg/min. The presence or absence of coronary disease was assessed through clinical examination, ECG, and coronary angiography. An RIA system was used for measurement of urinary albumin levels, and the plasma C3d concentrations were measured by ELISA. RESULTS Within each of the AER-defined subgroups, the plasma C3d levels were significantly higher in patients with IHD than in those without. Thus, in the normoalbuminuric group, plasma C3d levels were 16.3 AU/ml (95% CI 13.9–19) in patients with IHD vs. 11.6 AU/ml (95% CI 10.5–12.7) in those without (P < 0.001). The corresponding data for the microalbuminuric and macroalbuminuric groups were 21.8 (95% CI 18.1–26.3) vs. 13.6 (95% CI 12.3–15.1) and 31.6 (95% CI 24.9–40) vs. 17.5 (13.6–22.6) AU/ml (P < 0.01), respectively. Patients with IHD also had significantly higher plasma C3d levels than normal control subjects, regardless of AER subgroup. A multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated an association between the plasma C3d concentration and IHD and AER. CONCLUSIONS Activation of the complement system may play a role in the development of macrovascular disease in type II diabetes.


While grief, emotional distress and other mental health conditions have been associated with pregnancy loss, less is known about the mental health impact of these events during subsequent pregnancies and births. This paper examined the impact of any type of pregnancy loss on mental health in a subsequent pregnancy and postpartum. Data were obtained from a sub-sample (N = 584) of the 1973-78 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, a prospective cohort study that has been collecting data since 1996. Pregnancy loss was defined as miscarriage, termination due to medical reasons, ectopic pregnancy and stillbirth. Mental health outcomes included depression, anxiety, stress or distress, sadness or low mood, excessive worry, lack of enjoyment, and feelings of guilt. Demographic factors and mental health history were controlled for in the analysis. Women with a previous pregnancy loss were more likely to experience sadness or low mood (AOR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.11 to 2.76, p = 0.0162), and excessive worry (AOR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.24 to 3.24, p = 0.0043) during a subsequent pregnancy, but not during the postpartum phase following a subsequent birth. These results indicate that while women who have experienced a pregnancy loss are a more vulnerable population during a subsequent pregnancy, these deficits are not evident in the postpartum.


To achieve success in today's commercial environment, manufacturers have progressively adopted collaboration strategies. Industrial design has been increasingly used with engineering design to enhance competitiveness. Research between the two fields has been limited and existing collaboration methods have not achieved desired results.
This PhD research project investigated the level of collaboration between industrial designers and engineering designers. The aim is to develop an integration tool for enhanced collaboration, where a common language would improve communication and create shared knowledge.
An empirical research using questionnaires and observations identified 61 issues between industrial designers and engineering designers. The results were grouped and coded based on recurrence and importance, outlining 3 distinct problem categories in collaborative activity: conflicts in values and principles, differences in design representation, and education differences.
A taxonomy further helped categorise design representations into sketches, drawings, models and prototypes. This knowledge was indexed into cards to provide uniform definition of design representations with key information. They should benefit practitioners and educators by serving as a decision-making guide and support a collaborative working environment.
A pilot study first refined the layout and improved information access. The final validation involving interviews with practitioners revealed most respondents to be convinced that the tool would provide a common ground in design representations, contributing to enhanced collaboration. Additional interviews were sought from groups of final-year industrial design and engineering design students working together. Following their inter-disciplinary experience, nearly all respondents were certain that the cards would provide mutual understanding for greater product success.
Lastly, a case study approach tested the cards in an industry-based project. A design diary captured and analysed the researchers' activities and observations on a daily basis. It revealed positive feedback, reinforcing the benefits of the cards for successful collaboration in a multi-disciplinary environment. Keywords
Industrial Design, Engineering Design, Collaboration, Design Representation, New Product Development.


Self-assembly of homogeneous components has the advantage of being a decentralised and highly parallel method for assembling multiple target structures, and is ideal for effective large-scale manufacturing. Yet assembly yield may be negatively affected by the formation of incompatible substructures that prevent the formation of complete target structures. In this work we present physical and theoretical analysis of a simple magnetomechanical self-assembling systems exhibiting the problem of incompatible substructures in the formation of closed circular target structures out of eight homogeneous components. The assembly yield of physical experiments from 8 to 40 components is compared with the predictions of a computational model, and the model is found to accurately predict both the mean and standard deviation of the experimental yield.


Over the last 15 years, Singapore has emerged as a major regional production hub for the global electronics industry, accounting for over 4% of global production and ranking within the top five countries in the world in terms of electronics manufacturing output. This paper traces the growth and transformation of electronics manufacturing activities by foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) in Singapore, and highlights significant differences in the nature of the production networks among global US, Japanese and European MNCs. The paper argues that the success of Singapore owes largely to her ability to leverage the competing but overlapping production networks of these major US, European and Japanese electronics firms to achieve rapid technological learning and industry upgrading.


In north-central Alberta, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) form a mosaic hybrid zone, the spatial extent of which remains poorly defined. We sought to refine the genetic and geographic distribution of this hybrid zone in western North America to provide information important in predicting future risk of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) outbreaks. We used 29 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers to discriminate lodgepole pine, jack pine, and their hybrids. We compared and contrasted spatial patterns of hybridization in northern and southern forest zones based on the colonization history of the two species. We found that patterns of introgression were more similar between the zones than expected by chance, but there were significant differences between these regions at specific loci. Using logistic regression, we created a robust predictive model to distinguish among lodgepole pine, jack pine, and their hybrids using a combination of geographic and environmental predictors. Using model selection based on Akaike information criterion, we found that location, elevation, and moisture are important predictors for species class. Quantification of the genetic differences between these two regions, combined with an accurate model for predicting the spatial distribution of lodgepole pine, jack pine, and their hybrids, provides essential information for continued effective management of forest resources.


The genus name Acanthinozodium Denis, 1966 is considered available and valid, with A. spinulosum Denis, 1966 as its type species. The genus is characterized by the presence of ventral rows of long setae on the femora, large anterior median eyes and a large, dorsal, crater-like pit on the cymbium. Zodariellum Andreeva & Tyschenko, 1968 is removed from its synonymy and now only contains its type species Z. surprisum Andreeva & Tyschenko, 1968. Three new Acanthinozodium species are described: A. crateriferum sp. nov. (♂♀) from Ethiopia, A. sahelense sp. nov. (♂♀) from a wide range in the Sahel region and A. quercicola sp. nov. (♂) from Morocco. The genus appears to have a large distribution in and around the Sahara. The possible function of the cymbial pit is discussed.


Vascularized toe joint transfer for finger proximal interphalangeal joint reconstruction can result in sub-optimal arc of motion and extension lag due to inappropriate intercalated bony segment length. We investigated the impact of intercalated segment length on passive arc of motion and extension lag of the reconstructed proximal interphalangeal joint. Cadaveric intercalated joint grafts were harvested from lesser toes and transferred to cadaveric fingers. The pre-determined finger proximal interphalangeal joint defect size was 2 cm. Three different intercalated segment lengths were inserted and resulting proximal interphalangeal joint arc of motion and extension lag were measured. The average arc of motion of finger proximal interphalangeal joints was 81° and 54° for toe proximal interphalangeal joints. Long intercalated segments had an average arc of motion of 30° with 32° extension lag. Equal-length intercalated segments had an average 49° arc of motion with 15° extension lag. Short intercalated segments had an average arc of motion of 71° with 8° extension lag. Shorter intercalated segments provide the greatest reduction in extension lag.


In 2005, the Americans for Fair Electronic Commerce Transactions ("AFFECT") coalition issued a list of 12 principles it hoped would contribute to a new consensus about what constitutes fairness in online consumer transactions. A decade later, a cursory review of different jurisdictions indicates that, while there has been little discernable progress in the direction of the principles in the United States, other jurisdictions such as the European Union have made more progress. However, the one jurisdiction in the world that comes closest to implementing all 12 principles across the full spectrum of consumer transactions is not a government at all, but Amazon acting as a private regulator. Amazon's status as a regulator arises out of its ownership of a "multi-sided platform" that acts as a global retail marketplace. The rise of global platforms such as Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft that own global online marketplaces and simultaneously act as their primary regulators calls to mind the "Secession of the Successful" described by Robert Reich in 1991 — the withdrawal from civil society of the wealthy and powerful into private gated communities. Amazon's status as the primary de facto regulator of the marketplace it owns combined with its single-minded pursuit of customer satisfaction contributes to relations with its employees and suppliers that are often profoundly problematic. When a platform operator is also the primary regulator of the market it creates, negative spillover effects may occur: squeezing employees and suppliers to insure that consumers get whatever they want merely pushes conflict from one part of the platform "ecosystem" to another. When this occurs, it does not make online commerce fairer overall, which was the implicit goal of the 12 principles. Although transaction-level norms such as those found in the 12 principles cannot ensure that all stakeholders in online marketplaces are treated fairly, other forms of regulation might be more effective in contributing to that goal.


Establishing appropriate recommendations for protein intake in the management of diabetes requires examination of the role that dietary protein plays in overall health, in the control of diabetes, and in the risks to health posed by diabetes. Achieving metabolic control and delaying and/or preventing diabetic complications have previously been established as primary goals for the dietary management of diabetes. Although the primary function of dietary protein is for growth and tissue maintenance, dietary protein may play a role in the regulation of glucose metabolism and in the development of diabetic renal complications. Approximately half of protein intake is considered to be available as glucose. Dietary composition also affects secretion of insulin and counterregulatory hormones. One-third of individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes and one-fifth of those with non-insulin-dependent diabetes develop nephropathy within 15 yr after the diagnosis of diabetes. High protein intake and hyperglycemia can increase the glomerular filtration rate and the work load of the kidney. There is growing evidence from clinical studies that the progression of renal disease is delayed by early protein restriction. More studies are needed to assess early risk of diabetic nephropathy and to determine whether protein restriction alters the course of diabetic nephropathy. A dietary intake of between 12 and 20% protein provides flexibility in food selection but exceeds actual needs. The adult Recommended Dietary Allowance of 0.8 g/kg body wt should provide guidance for determining desired protein intake for individuals with diabetes.


The empirical literature on program evaluation limits its scope almost exclusively to models where treatment effects are homogenous for observationally identical individuals. This paper considers a treatment effect model in which treatment effects may be heterogeneous, even among observationally identical individuals. Specifically, extending the classical instrumental variables (IV) model with an endogenous binary treatment and a binary instrument, we allow the heteroskedasticity of the error disturbance to also depend upon the treatment variable so that treatment has both mean and variance effects on the outcome. In this endogenous heteroskedasticity IV (EHIV) model with heterogeneous individual treatment effects, the standard IV estimator can be inconsistent and lead to incorrect inference. After showing identification of the mean and variance treatment effects in a nonparametric version of the EHIV model, we provide closed-form estimators for the linear EHIV for the mean and variance treatment effects and the individual treatment effects (ITE). Asymptotic properties of the estimators are provided. A Monte Carlo simulation investigates the performance of the proposed approach, and an empirical application regarding the effects of fertility on female labor supply is considered.


James Buchanan is often credited with being the unlikely savior of judicial review in early Jacksonian America. In 1831, Buchanan, then a representative from Pennsylvania, issued a minority report criticizing the proposed repeal of Section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that is generally credited with convincing a skeptical Congress that fundamental constitutional norms required federal judicial oversight of state courts and state legislatures. This paper claims that federalism and political fragmentation were more responsible than James Buchanan for the failed repeal of Section 25, for the maintenance of judicial power in the United States during the transition from National Republican rule to Jacksonian Democracy that took place during the 1820s and 1830s, and for the maintenance of judicial power in the United States during other political transitions. The Jacksonian experience more generally highlights how political diffusion helps preserve judicial power both during periods of political stability when no existing coalition fully controls the national government and during periods of political reconstruction or realignment when a new coalition gains control of the national government. Judicial power, the evidence from 1831 and other times suggests, thrives in a political environment more characterized by intercurrence than realignment. In political environments characterized by intercurrence, the political institutions that must unite for a successful challenge to federal courts are rarely on the same page. Challenges to judicial authority occur more frequently because, in a world of relatively autonomous elected branches of government, at least one is likely to be seriously at odds with decision making trends on the Supreme Court. These more frequent challenges are also more likely to fail because other elected branches of government are more likely to be moving more in step with the judicial majority than the challenging branch of the national government. Just ask the southern Jacksonians who discovered that the political transformations that gave them the power to elect one of their own Speaker of the House were not sufficient in 1831 to align the rest of the Congress against the Supreme Court.


The continuous improvement in developmentof Linux for the Embedded system makes it secure, table and reliable. Embedded Linux plays an important role in the embedded field. Linux has been widely used in embedded system due to its small size kernel, stable performance, versatility and low prize. This paper describes the transplantation of the Linux operating system as well as implementation of CMOS device driver based on the mini2440 development board. The transplantation of Embedded Linux includes the development of cross compile environment, the compilation of bootloader, porting of Linux kernel and the construction of root file system. The SCCB bus, camera interface and V4L2 structure are included in development of CMOS camera device driver for the mini 2440 board


Did Chinese mysticism vanish after its first appearance in ancient Taoist philosophy, to surface only after a thousand years had passed, when the Chinese had adapted Buddhism to their own culture? This first integrated survey of the mystical dimension of Taoism disputes the commonly accepted idea of such a hiatus. Covering the period from the Daode jing to the end of the Tang, Livia Kohn reveals an often misunderstood Chinese mystical tradition that continued through the ages. Influenced by but ultimately independent of Buddhism, it took forms more various than the quietistic withdrawal of Laozi or the sudden enlightenment of the Chan Buddhists. On the basis of a new theoretical evaluation of mysticism, this study analyzes the relationship between philosophical and religious Taoism and between Buddhism and the native Chinese tradition. Kohn shows how the quietistic and socially oriented Daode jing was combined with the ecstatic and individualistic mysticism of the Zhuangzi, with immortality beliefs and practices, and with Buddhist insight meditation, mind analysis, and doctrines of karma and retribution. She goes on to demonstrate that Chinese mysticism, a complex synthesis by the late Six Dynasties, reached its zenith in the Tang, laying the foundations for later developments in the Song traditions of Inner Alchemy, Chan Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism.


A warm spring favors early flowering by invoking less transcriptional repression by a floral repressor complex. In a cool spring, flowering might be delayed compared to a warm spring, even though the change in day length marches on regardless of temperature. Lee et al. (see the Perspective by Nilsson) now show that this delay in flowering is a regulated process, not simply a consequence of sluggish metabolism. In the model plant Arabidopsis, transcription of the gene encoding the regulator SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) is unaffected by temperature, but the stability of the SVP protein is decreased at higher temperatures. Its regulatory partner, FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM)-β, is the product of alternative splicing of transcripts from the gene encoding FLM that favors the β form at lower temperatures. SVP and FLM-β form a complex that represses flowering. At lower temperatures, more of the repressive complex is present and flowering is delayed. At higher temperatures, SVP tends to degrade and FLM-β tends not to be produced, yielding reduced levels of the repressive complex, which allows flowering to proceed. J. H. Lee, H.-S. Ryu, K. S. Chung, D. Posé, S. Kim, M. Schmid, J. H. Ahn, Regulation of temperature-responsive flowering by MADS-box transcription factor repressors. Science 342, 628–632 (2013). [Abstract] [Full Text] O. Nilsson, A pathway to flowering—Why staying cool matters. Science 342, 566–567 (2013). [Abstract] [Full Text]


I. INTRODUCTION The jurisprudence of Justice Anthony Kennedy has baffled legal scholars and political scientists from the beginning of his membership on the United States Supreme Court. Originally hailed as "a true conservative" by the President who nominated him to replace Justice Lewis Powell, (1) Kennedy almost immediately parted ways with his fellow conservative justices on a variety of contested issues related to individual liberty and human dignity. (2) Some of his most controversial opinions have covered subjects such as abortion, (3) and the separation of church and state, (4) but he has truly distinguished himself on the question of free speech where he, of all the current Justices, has most consistently voted to protect this individual liberty. (5) Over twenty-four years have passed since he took his Supreme Court seat, (6) and during this time, Kennedy has had a number of labels applied to him as commentators attempted to explain his seemingly inscrutable voting pattern. (7) He has been called "rudderless and unpredictable," (8) and a "[s]phinx" (9) who "trims his jurisprudential sails to what he perceives to be the prevailing political winds." (10) But most of these commentators who have evaluated Kennedy, even those analyzing his opinions for legal doctrine, have cast his jurisprudence in almost strictly political terms, overlooking the fact that each person is a complex figure, and that very few of us can be explained as merely political creatures. (11) One aspect of Kennedy, which has been insufficiently discussed, is his Roman Catholic faith and the influence that the teachings of the Catholic Church have had on his jurisprudence. (12) This paper approaches Kennedy as a person of faith and looks at the effect this faith has inevitably had on his legal philosophy and on his court decisions, especially when they touch on matters pertaining to personal rights and human dignity. It first gives an overview of Kennedy's background prior to his joining the Supreme Court, and briefly summarizes his comments regarding his philosophy of constitutional interpretation. (13) It then discusses his view of the proper role for government in light of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and goes on to look at the high value Kennedy places on the preservation and legal protection of human dignity, comparing his positions on each of these subjects with the official tenets of the Catholic Church, and noting that his broad interpretation of free speech rights is simply the logical outworking of his more fundamental, faith-based positions. (14) This piece concludes with observations on the ways that the apparent inconsistencies of Kennedy's positions on several issues may in fact be understood as expressions of personal conviction rather than as an adherence to any inexplicable or complex political affiliations. (15) II. HISTORY OF A JUSTICE Anthony McLeod Kennedy was born and raised in Sacramento, California, (16) and his upbringing there gave him an "approach to life [that] suggests a small-town innocence." (17) Following his undergraduate career, during which he earned a degree from Stanford, and a B.A. from the London School of Economics, Kennedy attended Harvard Law School. (18) After passing the bar, he returned to California and ultimately took over his father's law practice in Sacramento. (19) His father, Anthony J. Kennedy, was a well-established lawyer and lobbyist with a number of business connections, and the contacts and experience the young Kennedy gained there when he assumed his father's responsibilities helped to further his own legal career. (20) In 1965, while he was still working in private practice, Kennedy also took a position teaching Constitutional Law at the McGeorge School of Law of the University of the Pacific, a job he held until he took his seat on the United States Supreme Court in 1988. (21) In 1973, Kennedy was recruited to work with then-Governor Ronald Reagan to draft a state constitutional amendment that would cut both taxes and spending in the State of California. …


Abstract The development of accelerator-driven systems (ADSs) is motivated by the potential of these machines to reduce the volume and the radiotoxicity of accumulated nuclear waste, more particularly that of minor actinides currently generated by the operation of existing pressurized water reactors. The reduction of both volume and radiotoxicity of nuclear waste is achieved by transmutation and fission of minor actinides into less-active isotopes or shorter-lived by-products. Various technical challenges exist regarding designing reliable and efficient ADSs. The key points are very much linked to the design of the spallation module, the assurance that reactivity remains below criticality under any circumstances, and the accelerator reliability. This paper addresses the latter two challenges imposed on the accelerator in order to assure safe and reliable ADS operation. It discusses the possibility of performing online absolute reactivity measurements and the limits in the number of allowable accelerator beam trips, which might impede plant integrity and/or plant efficiency.


Modifying the standard New-Keynesian model to replace firms' full information and sticky prices with flexible prices and dispersed information, and imposing mild and plausible restrictions on the monetary authority's decision rule, produces the striking results that (i) there exists a unique and globally stable steady-state rate of inflation, despite the possibility of a lower bound on nominal interest rates; and (ii) in the vicinity of steady-state, the price level is determinate (and not just the rate of inflation), despite the central bank targeting inflation. The specification of firms' signal extraction problem under dispersed information removes the need to make use of Blanchard-Kahn conditions to solve the model, thereby removing the need to adhere to the Taylor principle and consequently circumventing the critique of Cochrane (2011). The model admits a determinate, stable solution with no role for sunspot shocks when the monetary authority responds by less than one-for-one to changes in expected inflation, including under an interest rate peg. An extension to include incomplete information on the part of the central bank permits the consideration of (rational) errors of judgement on the part of policymakers and provides a theoretical basis for inertial policymaking without interest rate smoothing, in support of Rudebusch (2002, 2006).


Mini-batch gradient descent based methods are the de facto algorithms for training neural network architectures today.We introduce a mini-batch selection strategy based on submodular function maximization. Our novel submodular formulation captures the informativeness of each sample and diversity of the whole subset. We design an efficient, greedy algorithm which can give high-quality solutions to this NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem. Our extensive experiments on standard datasets show that the deep models trained using the proposed batch selection strategy provide better generalization than Stochastic Gradient Descent as well as a popular baseline sampling strategy across different learning rates, batch sizes, and distance metrics.


Abstract The article analyses delay and power dissipation of a buffer-driven interconnect load in sub-threshold regime of operation. The investigations show that transistor operating in the sub-threshold region lead to an order of saving in power dissipation in contrast to normal strong inversion. A new compact mathematical model for the output voltages of a single complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) buffer-driven global interconnect is developed. Global interconnect is modelled as an resistance-inductance-capacitance (RLC) load. Delay analysis of the global interconnect by this model is verified using simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) simulations. Good agreement between analytical and SPICE results is obtained. The analysis has been carried out for three technology nodes, viz. 130, 90 and 65nm.


Internet of Things is realized by a large number of heterogeneous smart devices which sense, collect and share data with each other over the internet in order to control the physical world. Due to open nature, global connectivity and resource constrained nature of smart devices and wireless networks the Internet of Things is susceptible to various routing attacks. In this paper, we purpose an architecture of Ensemble Learning based Network Intrusion Detection System named ELNIDS for detecting routing attacks against IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks. We implement four different ensemble based machine learning classifiers including Boosted Trees, Bagged Trees, Subspace Discriminant and RUSBoosted Trees. To evaluate proposed intrusion detection model we have used RPL-NIDDS17 dataset which contains packet traces of Sinkhole, Blackhole, Sybil, Clone ID, Selective Forwarding, Hello Flooding and Local Repair attacks. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed architecture. We observe that ensemble of Boosted Trees achieve the highest Accuracy of 94.5% while Subspace Discriminant method achieves the lowest Accuracy of 77.8 % among classifier validation methods. Similarly, an ensemble of RUSBoosted Trees achieves the highest Area under ROC value of 0.98 while lowest Area under ROC value of 0.87 is achieved by an ensemble of Subspace Discriminant among all classifier validation methods. All the implemented classifiers show acceptable performance results.