Abstract Cardiac hypertrophy is characterized by electrical remolding with increased risk of arrhythmogenesis. Enhanced abnormal automaticity of ventricular cells contributes critically to hypertrophic arrhythmias. The pacemaker current If, carried by the hyperpolarization-activated channels encoded mainly by the HCN2 and HCN4 genes in the heart, plays an important role in determining cardiac automaticity. Their expressions reportedly increase in hypertrophic and failing hearts, contributing to arrhythmogenesis under these conditions. We performed a study on post-transcriptional regulation of expression of HCN2 and HCN4 genes by microRNAs. We experimentally established HCN2 as a target for repression by the muscle-specific microRNAs miR-1 and miR-133 and established HCN4 as a target for miR-1 only. We unraveled robust increases in HCN2 and HCN4 protein levels in a rat model of left ventricular hypertrophy and in angiotensin II-induced neonatal ventricular hypertrophy. The up-regulation of HCN2/HCN4 was accompanied by pronounced reduction of miR-1/miR-133 levels. Forced expression of miR-1/miR-133 by transfection prevented overexpression of HCN2/HCN4 in hypertrophic cardiomyocytes. The serum-responsive factor protein level was found significantly decreased in hypertrophic hearts, and silencing of this protein by RNA interference resulted in increased levels of miR-1/miR-133 and concomitant increases in HCN2 and HCN4 protein levels. We conclude that down-regulation of miR-1 and miR-133 expression contributes to re-expression of HCN2/HCN4 and thereby the electrical remodeling process in hypertrophic hearts. Our study also sheds new light on the cellular function and pathological role of miR-1/miR-133 in the heart.


This paper deals with Oligocene molluscan biostratigraphy of the Denizli and Kale-Tavas subbasins. A total of seven stratigraphic sections have been logged and lagoonal and brackish-shallow marine molluscs (11 gastropod and seven bivalve species) have been sampled. The molluscan fauna indicates the Rupelian age by the presence of characteristic species: for gastropods Haustator conofasciata (Sacco, 1895), Ampullinopsis crassatina (Lamarck, 1804), Tympanotonos trochlearispina (Sacco, 1895) and Tympanotonos conjunctoturris (Sacco, 1895) and for bivalves Pycnodonte gigantica callifera (Lamarck, 1819) and Gari cf. protracta (Mayer-Eymar, 1893). These sections also contain typical Oligocene benthic foraminifer and coral fossils which are characteristic for the whole Tethys Province. the corals (Glyphastraea laxelamellata (Michelotti, 1838), Siderastrea (Siderofungia) morloti (Reuss, 1868), Antiguastraea alveolaris (Catullo, 1856), Astrocoenia bodellei (Calmus, 1973)) represent the Rupelian-Chattian age and the occurrence of the benthic foraminifer Nephrolepidina partita Douville, 1911, indicates SB22 biozone (late Rupelian-early Chattian). Therefore, both two groups support our age attribution. Litho- and biostratigraphic correlation of the sections points out that Oligocene lagoonal-marine deposits of the Denizli and Kale-Tavas subbasins (Sagdere and Mortuma Formations respectively) are assigned to late Rupelian-early Chattian. Paleobiogeographically, the distribution of the molluscan species suggests that the studied region belongs to the Mediterranean-Iranian Province.


Byzantium was dismissed by Gibbon, in the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,and his Victorian successors as a decadent, dark, oriental culture, given up to intrigue, forbidden pleasure and refined cruelty. This great empire, founded by Constantine as the seat of power in the East began to flourish in the fifth century AD, after the fall of Rome, yet its culture and history have been neglected by scholars in comparison to the privileging of interest in the Western and Roman Empire. Michael Grant's latest book aims to compensate for that neglect and to provide an insight into the nature of the Byzantine Empire in the fifth century; the prevalence of Christianity, the enormity and strangeness of the landscape of Asia Minor; and the history of invasion prior to the genesis of the empire. Michael Grant's narrative is lucid and colourful as always, lavishly illustrated with photographs and maps. He successfully provides an examination of a comparatively unexplored area and constructs the history of an empire which rivals the former richness and diversity of a now fallen Rome.


Predictors of Institutionalization at the Age of 70 Existing knowledge about institutionalization of elderly individuals is mainly based on cross-sectional data and does not give good indications of the cumulative risk of institutionalization. The purpose of this study was to analyze longitudinal data prospectively, to estimate the cumulative risk of ending up in elder care institutions at some point in life. Methods: The study was based on a longitudinal investigation of a random sample of 70-year-old persons living in Gothenburg, Sweden (H70). The sample was followed from age 70 to age 100. Results: The prospective analysis showed that 50% of the subjects eventually moved to some kind of elder care institution. Significantly more women than men relocated although women moved later in life. In a Cox regression model at the age of 70, gender was a strong predictor of future institutionalization together with SES (Socioeconomic Situation), objective health, objective social network and ADL (Activities in Daily Life) functions. Discussion: The proportion of elderly relocating to institutions was significantly higher than proportions generally found in cross-sectional studies. It is noteworthy that, already at age 70 it was possible to find variables that predicted future institutionalization. Our findings confirm that longitudinal analyses give more in depth understanding of institutionalization than cross-sectional designs.


In this paper, we present a runtime compilation and tuning framework for parallel programs. We extend our prior work on our auto-tuner, Active Harmony, for tunable parameters that require code generation (for example, different unroll factors). For such parameters, our auto-tuner generates and compiles new code on-the-fly. Effectively, we merge traditional feedback directed optimization and just-in-time compilation. We show that our system can leverage available parallelism in today's HPC platforms by evaluating different code-variants on different nodes simultaneously. We evaluate our system on two parallel applications and show that our system can improve runtime execution by up to 46% compared to the original version of the program.


Thyroid cancer is the most common type of endocrine tumor. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in a variety of diseases, especially cancer occurrence and progression. However, the specific mechanism by which miRNAs trigger disease states has not been fully elucidated. This study aims to investigate the role of miR-27a in thyroid cancer cells. A wound healing assay was adopted to examine cell migration. A transwell assay was applied to assess cell invasion. A thyroid cancer xenograft model was established using BALB/c nude mice. Western blot was performed to quantify iNOS expression. Tumor tissue blood vessel density was evaluated via immunohistochemistry assays. The results indicated that miR-27a downregulation inhibited thyroid cancer cell migration, while upregulation of miR-27a promoted thyroid cancer cell migration (P < 0.05). Furthermore, reduction in miR-27a expression suppressed thyroid cancer cell invasion (P < 0.05). In the nude mouse model of thyroid cancer xenograft, upregulation of miR-27 induced iNOS expression in pathological tumor tissues, whereas miR-27a inhibition resulted in the opposite effect (P < 0.05). CD105 level was also significantly increased during miR-27a upregulation, and was declined when miR-27a was inhibited (P < 0.05). In conclusion, miR-27a upregulation in thyroid cancer cells affects tumor cell migration, invasion, and angiogenesis by targeting downstream genes. Therefore, miR27a may act as a biomarker of thyroid cancer.


In future technological systems for chemical storage of renewable energy and production of non-fossil fuels, NiFe oxyhydroxides are prime candidates for efficient alkaline water oxidation (oxygen evolution reaction, OER). The synergistic effect of Ni and Fe is well documented but still insufficiently understood. Fluorescence-detected X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the K-edges of Ni and Fe provided structural information on the non-catalytic (reduced) and catalytic (oxidized) state of the NiFe catalyst. Time-resolved detection of X-ray signals during (i) cyclic voltammetry and (ii) in response to potential steps revealed that the Ni(2+)/Ni(3+) redox transition is directly coupled to modification of the Fe ligand environment. We propose that the lattice-geometry modification of the Ni(Fe) oxyhydroxide that results from Ni oxidation enforces changes in the ligand environment of the Fe ions. The Fe sites do not undergo a distinctive redox transition, but are "enslaved" by the oxidation state changes of the Ni ions.


"One Click Fraud" is an online confidence scam that has been plaguing an increasing number of Japanese Internet users, in spite of new laws and the mobilization of police task forces. In this scam, the victim clicks on a link presented to them, only to be informed that they just entered a binding contract and are required to pay a registration fee for a service. Even though no money is legally owed, a large number of users prefer to pay up, because of potential embarrassment due to the type of service "requested" (e.g., pornographic goods).
 Using public reports of fraudulent websites as a source of data, we analyze over 2,000 reported One Click Frauds incidents. By correlating several attributes (WHOIS data, bank accounts, phone numbers, malware installed...), we discover that a few fraudsters are seemingly responsible for a majority of the scams, and evidence a number of loopholes these miscreants exploit. We further show that, while some of these sites may also be engaging in other illicit activities such as spamming, the connection between different types of scams is not as obvious as we initially expected. Last, we show that the rise in the number of these frauds is fueled by high expected monetary gains in return for very little risk. The quantitative data obtained gives us an interesting window on the economic dynamics of some online criminal syndicates.


Accreditation models in the international context mainly consider the evaluation of learning outcomes and the ability of programs (or higher education institutions) to achieve the educational objectives stated in their mission. However, it is not clear if these objectives and therefore their outcomes satisfy real national and regional needs, a critical point in engineering master's programs, especially in developing countries. The aim of this paper is to study the importance of the local relevancy evaluation of these programs and to analyze the main models of quality assurance and accreditation bodies of USA, Europe and Latin America, in order to ascertain whether the relevancy is evaluated or not. After a literature review, we found that in a free-market economic context and international education, the accreditation of master's programs follows an international accreditation model, and doesn´t take in account in most cases criteria and indicators for local relevancy. It concludes that it is necessary both, international accreditation to ensure the effectiveness of the program (achievement of learning outcomes) and the national accreditation through which it could ensure local relevancy of programs, for which we are giving some indicators.


The recent financial crisis had a profound effect on both public and private universities, which faced shrinking endowments, declining charitable contributions, and reductions in government support. Universities responded to these stresses in different ways. This volume presents new evidence on the nature of these responses, and on how the incentives and constraints facing different institutions affected their behavior. The studies in this volume explore how various practices at institutions of higher education, such as the drawdown of endowment resources, the awarding of financial aid, and spending on research, responded to the financial crisis. The studies examine universities as economic organizations that operate in a complex institutional and financial environment. The authors examine the role of endowments in university finances and the interaction of spending policies, asset allocation strategies, and investment opportunities. They demonstrate that universities' behavior can be modeled using economic principles.


Australia has a competition problem: there is not enough of it. Our industries are concentrated. Our markets show signs of weak competition. The way Australia's courts, parliamentarians and regulators think about competition is partly to blame. Although it has been less influential in Australia than in the United States, the Chicago School's views on competition have shaped our laws, policies and enforcement practices. The Chicago School views market concentration as a virtue more than a vice. The School contended that barriers to entry are negligible, market power is temporary, most mergers are good, vertical restraints and predatory pricing are either benign or efficient. The growing body of research and experience, however, shows that the Chicago School's faith in the ability of markets to self-correct and deliver competitive outcomes was misplaced. There is a strong progressive case for repositioning how we think about competition. Focusing more on the competitive process, the structure of markets and the incentives those structures create for firms will play an important role in reducing inequality.


The happening of crisis energi, specially oil fuel (BBM) which indukasion by the increasing of world price have made many states specially Indonesia require to look for the fuel sources alternative of to be developed in Indonesia. One of the crop have the potency as fuel source is fence castor ( Jatropha Curcas). There is two way used occasionally at press mechanical of seed apart that is hidraulic pressing and press have thread ( expeller pressing). At press hidraulic ( hidraulic pressing) process press cannot be done kontinue, is whilely press have thread ( expeller pressing) will obtain;get the low oil, to obtain;get the big oil hence require to require to boost up the pressure kempa through modification at pitch and screw and also boost up speed of rotation screw. Other way which seldom be used by is combination between press mechanical and ekstraksi pelarut, although the quality yielded by when using the method ekstraksi pelarut enough good, but from very costly production cost facet. There by method combination ekstraksi pelarut inappropriate for middle small industry.
See from some appliances press the, hence needed to design the appliance press seed apart the piston systems with capacities of 80 kg/jam with pressure of 2,260 kg/cm2. Appliance press this piston systems can be operated kontinue and during process press take place the distance seed given by theX the warm-up with aqueous vapour ( steam) which is hypodermic from boiler heat waste. Warm-Up aim to to crumple the protein in distance seed. Cloting of protein needed to effesiensi ekstraksi so that oil able to be obtained reach 80% from oil rate found on distance seed flesh. Way of appliance activity press piston systems is bone dry distance seed ( rate irrigate 5%) can be enterred cylinder. the Distance seed in cylinder will experience of pressure of piston effect of motivation of the piston rod moved by flywheel which is its source of power is obtained from diesel motor. Then rotation of diesel motor will distribute to the axis through belt and pully. Little by little distance seeds which have fallen to pieces the effect press will draw away and push the spiral spring on the cylinder cover, so that result the hole dismissal of distance oil cake will open, is while castor oil of is result of press will go out passing the hole go out the castor oil. To get the maximal result press can in repeating shall three rill.


Greenhouse studies were conducted to evaluate the susceptibility of cover crop species to infection by Fusarium virguliforme (Fv), a soilborne fungus that causes sudden death syndrome (SDS) of soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.), and the soybean cyst nematode (SCN; Heterodera glycines), both important soybean pathogens. In the SDS experiments, cover crops were planted in Fv-infested soil, and plants were assessed for fresh biomass, root rot severity, foliar symptoms, and amount of Fv DNA in roots. Inoculated alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.), red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), and pea (Pisum sativum L.) had more root necrosis than the noninoculated controls, and Fv DNA quantities in roots did not differ from those found in soybean roots. Inoculated alfalfa, corn (Zea mays L.), crimson clover, oat (Avena sativa L.), red clover, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), and turnip (Brassica rapa L.) plants had lower biomass compared to noninoculated controls, although corn, oat, and turnip had no root necrosis. Biomass reduction and root necrosis were not observed in inoculated hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth), false flax (Camelina sativa [L.] Crantz), millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R.Br.), mustard (Brassica juncea L.), rye (Secale cereale L.), ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), triticale (Triticale hexaploide Lart.), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and Fv DNA quantity in the roots of these species was lower than in soybean. These results suggest that the legume species tested are hosts of Fv whereas grasses and Brassicas spp. are nonhosts or poor hosts. In the SCN experiment, select leguminous and nonleguminous cover crop plants were grown in soil naturally infested with SCN, and the number of females formed per root after 30 days was determined. There were very few (zero to five) SCN females on the roots of multiple varieties of leguminous cover crop species studied. No females were recovered from the roots of any of the nonleguminous species studied, except for a single female on four plants from three different species. None of the cover crop plants studied were susceptible hosts for SCN. With the increasing interest in using cover crops as a soil conservation practice in corn–soybean production systems, it is important to understand how this practice would impact major soybean diseases. Knowing the impact that cover crops may have on SDS and SCN is important to help farmers make better decisions when planting cover crops in areas with history of these diseases.


Results of passive seismic surveys, in terms of both amplification and polarization effects in a section of the Tremestieri Etneo Fault (Sicily Eastern center - Catania) are discussed. For the purpose, velocimetric and accelerometric records of seismic ambient noise were analyzed. The polarization analysis of particle motion was performed and azimuthally dependent resonant frequencies were estimated. Ambient noise data were also used to assess the dynamic properties of a reinforced concrete building, located on the fault zone. The fundamental modes have been estimated through ambient noise recordings acquired by three-directional accelerometers, installed at the highest accessible floor and outside the building. The study revealed a clear oriented seismic amplification in the fault zone. This effect was observed in intensely jointed rock masses, located inside the fault area, as the result of specific geometries and significant directional impedance contrasts characterizing the area under study. The analyses show that the direction of the largest resonance motions has transversal relationship with the dominant fracture orientation. The directional amplification is inferred to be produced by stiffness anisotropy of the fault damage zone, with larger seismic motions high angle to the fractures. The results obtained are in complete agreement with those obtained by a previous study which analyzed the fault section located to the north-west. Finally, comparing the dynamic properties of the school building and the vibrational characteristics of the soil in the direction of maximum amplification, no clear resonant effect in the soil-structure interaction has been observed.


Pedagogical practices in formal educational settings together with the nature of communication technologies in the media and elsewhere mean that children will encounter on-screen typography and screen-based learning opportunities in both formal school settings and during their daily recreational pursuits. Internationally, there is a lack of research informing what good reading practice might look like when teachers use reading material in a screen-based environment. More specifically, there is a lack of research around best practices for the design of this material for children. Greater understanding of how the colour of text and the colour of background influences the "readability" of these reading materials is required. This research sets out to determine the readability of text and background colours in on-screen books for young readers through discussion of the literature to date, as well as discussion of a small scale study which includes a rate-of-error experiment as well as qualitative feedback to provide greater knowledge of the most positive reading environments for children.


Social Accounting Matrices (SAMs) will be presented as tools that have specific features for studying the socio-economic activity of countries. Such features allow for the reading and interpretation of the reality under study, leading to the production of an empirical work that is not only capable of highlighting specific aspects of that activity, but also offers the chance to experiment with different interventions in regard to its functioning. In stating that the knowledge of the socio-economic activity of countries involves the use of national accounts, emphasis is placed on the desirability of working in a matrix format, which simultaneously includes activities (or industries), products, factors of production and institutions. This will be considered to be a way of capturing the relevant network of linkages and the corresponding multiplier effects in the subsequent modelling of the socio-economic activity of the countries studied.A methodological framework based on the works of R. Stone, G. Pyatt and J. Round, will be adopted outlining the main features of the SAM-based approach, according to which the SAM can describe the activity of countries either empirically or theoretically, depending on whether it is presented in a numerical or an algebraic version, respectively.Based on the latest version of the System of National Accounts (2008 SNA), a proposal for a numerical version of a SAM will be presented. Firstly, a basic structure will be presented and the need to ensure its consistency with the whole system will be emphasized. Such emphasis will then be reinforced through the analysis of possible disaggregations and extensions to that basic structure. The different forms of analysis made possible by the use of aggregates, indicators and balancing items that can be calculated from such a version and which lie outside the matrix format will also be discussed. Because any socio-economic study made of a specific space, namely, a country, should involve the consideration of its population, Socio-Demographic Matrices (SDMs) will also be briefly presented and two examples of approaches based on SAMs and SDMs will be sketched out.The exposition will be illustrated with an application to Portugal.


Abstract Pluriliteracies Teaching for Learning (PTL) constitutes a relatively recent development in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). This approach has been developed by a group of international experts (The Graz Group) in order to model and provide pathways for deeper learning across languages, disciplines and cultures by focusing on the development of disciplinary or subject specific literacies. We argue that deeper learning – defined as the successful internalization of conceptual content knowledge and the automatization of subject specific procedures, skills and strategies – rests on learners' acquisition of disciplinary literacies. We posit that disciplinary literacies in turn only develop when learners actively engage in subject specific ways of constructing knowledge and when they are taught how to language their understanding appropriately and in an increasingly complex and subject appropriate manner. In this article, we will describe the theoretical underpinnings that inform our model to show how an understanding of the two key processes of deeper learning will aid to the conceptualization of learner progression in pluriliteracies development.


In our view the fundamental obstacle to open access (OA) is the lack of any incentive-based mechanism that unbundles authors' accepted manuscripts (AMs) from articles (VoRs). The former can be seen as the public good that ought to be openly accessible, whereas the latter is owned by publishers and rightly paywall-restricted. We propose one such mechanism to overcome this obstacle: BitViews. BitViews is a blockchain-based application that aims to revolutionize the OA publishing ecosystem. Currently, the main academic currency of value is the citation. There have been attempts in the past to create a second currency whose measure is the online usage of research materials (e.g. PIRUS). However, these have failed due to two problems. Firstly, it has been impossible to find a single agency willing to co-ordinate and fund the validation and collation of global online usage data. Secondly, online usage metrics have lacked transparency in how they filter non-human online activity. BitViews is a novel solution which uses blockchain technology to bypass both problems: online AMS usage will be recorded on a public, distributed ledger, obviating the need for a central responsible agency, and the rules governing activity-filtering will be part of the open-source BitViews blockchain application, creating complete transparency. Once online AMS usage has measurable value, researchers will be incentivized to promote and disseminate AMs. This will fundamentally re-orient the academic publishing ecosystem. A key feature of BitViews is that its success (or failure) is wholly and exclusively in the hands of the worldwide community of university and research libraries, as we suggest that it ought to be financed by conditional crowdfunding, whereby the actual financial commitment of each contributing library depends on the total amount raised. If the financing target is not reached, then all contributions are returned in full and if the target is over-fulfilled, then the surplus is returned pro rata.


We present a new approach to long-term mobile robot mapping in dynamic indoor environments. Unlike traditional world models that are tailored to represent static scenes, our approach explicitly models environmental dynamics. We assume that some of the hidden processes that influence the dynamic environment states are periodic and model the uncertainty of the estimated state variables by their frequency spectra. The spectral model can represent arbitrary timescales of environment dynamics with low memory requirements. Transformation of the spectral model to the time domain allows for the prediction of the future environment states, which improves the robot's long-term performance in changing environments. Experiments performed over time periods of months to years demonstrate that the approach can efficiently represent large numbers of observations and reliably predict future environment states. The experiments indicate that the model's predictive capabilities improve mobile robot localization and navigation in changing environments.


Four six-membered cyclic thionocarbonates (two sec-sec and two prim-sec) were prepared and their radical-promoted O-S rearrangement reaction was examined. The results revealed that the reaction in six-membered rings is difficult compared with the simple rearrangement in five-membered rings. In the course of syntheses of the substrates, interesting acyl migration during the stannylation process occurred.


We present a new image-based technique for enhancing the shape and surface details of an object. The input to our system is a small set of photographs taken from a fixed viewpoint, but under varying lighting conditions. For each image we compute a multiscale decomposition based on the bilateral filter and then reconstruct an enhanced image that combines detail information at each scale across all the input images. Our approach does not require any information about light source positions, or camera calibration, and can produce good results with 3 to 5 input images. In addition our system provides a few high-level parameters for controlling the amount of enhancement and does not require pixel-level user input. We show that the bilateral filter is a good choice for our multiscale algorithm because it avoids the halo artifacts commonly associated with the traditional Laplacian image pyramid. We also develop a new scheme for computing our multiscale bilateral decomposition that is simple to implement, fast O(N2 log N) and accurate.


Date June 12, 2008 Program IT Management Authors Jessica Jarrell, 820506. Vasteras Rais Iqbal, 791229. Vasteras Supervisor Ole Liljefors Title Business-to-Business IT Integration Introduction As business world has moved into digital era, new trends in business models have been emerged to do business. Digital infrastructure provided by internet enables enterprises to extend their boundaries for new customer and trading partners. Extending the enterprise without a solid IT infrastructure is incomplete, this is the reasons that enterprises are investing more and more in IT to build an IT integrated infrastructure where all its trading partners are linked together. On the other hand, technological world provides solutions and services to build IT integration for such extended enterprises. A wide variety of IT integration solutions and patterns available for enterprise to meet their integration goals, but this often brings unclear situation where companies have to think a lot before implementing IT integration patterns. A slight mistake in this scenario could shake the equilibrium between IT and business, to keep the equilibrium steady companies need to thoroughly examine their short-term and long-term goals and then different integration patterns can be employed to meet these goals. Research Question What approaches can be helpful for companies to accomplish successful business-to-business IT integration pattern for their short-term and long-term goals? Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to describe the concept of extended enterprises and, identify and describe the existing B2B IT integration approaches employed by extended enterprises. Method The research is of qualitative type and secondary data is used to conduct this research. Books and research papers has been used to construct theoretical framework. Electronic databases available at library of Malardalen University such as Google scholar, Emerald and interlibrary network of Sweden (Libris) are used to search for secondary data. Analysis Findings from the detailed literature study are analyzed to answer the research question. Integration patterns are analyzed described by the different authors of integrations patterns in three different ways. Firstly, integration patterns were analyzed in term of their advantages and disadvantages with technology and business, secondly, maturity of these integration patterns are analyzed and finally these integration patterns are analyzed for company's short-term and long-term goals. Conclusion Business process oriented and method-oriented approaches are good for long-term goals due to handling of business process management in both approaches and reusability aspects of method oriented approach. For short-term goals portal-oriented approach dominating in the integration community, application interface oriented approach is also good to meet the short-term goals. However, combinations of different approaches are found feasible.


Of all of the new technologies emerging in the late 20th century, the production of artificial intelligence may provide the most profound impacts on organizational decision making. Because the development of artificial intelligence technologies and models has largely been based on psychological models of human cognition, the effects of their implementation in complex social settings have not been thoroughly examined. This paper is an attempt to generate research which will develop a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of artificial intelligence and its role in complex organizations. A set of 11 hypotheses has been developed which examine the relationships between artificial intelligence technologies and the dimensions of organizational decision making. It is argued here that the implementation of expert systems will lead to less complex and political decision processes, while the implementation of natural language systems will lead to more complex and political decision processes.


Finding that nicotinic receptors containing the α6 subunit, but not the α4, inhibit chronic pain points to a new set of potential therapeutic drugs. Pain, especially of the chronic variety, is not well controlled by current drugs, and recent clinical trials have been unsuccessful. By seeking genes with expression levels that correlate with a chronic pain–like test in mice, Wieskopf et al. show that we may have set our sights on the wrong target. Transcripts encoding the α6 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor were highly expressed when chronic pain was low, and genetic experiments confirmed that this subunit limited pain. The α6 subunit was required for analgesia, whereas the α4 subunit—the target of recent drug development efforts—was not. A human genetic study showing that people with a certain allele in the gene encoding the α6 subunit are at increased risk of chronic pain lends confidence in the clinical relevance of these results. Mechanistically, FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) detected an interaction between nicotinic receptors with the α6 subunit and the purinergic receptors P2X3 in cultured cortical mouse neurons. Coexpression of various combinations of α6-containing nicotinic receptors with P2X2 and P2X3 in Xenopus oocytes suggested that, when ligands for both types of channels were added, the channels inhibited each other. Injection of an P2X3 agonist into mouse hind paws produced behaviors associated with pain that were ameliorated by nicotine, but this nicotine-mediated reduction in pain was absent in the α6-knockout mice. Thus, enhancing activity of the α6-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors may be helpful in treating chronic pain. J. S. Wieskopf, J. Mathur, W. Limapichat, M. R. Post, M. Al-Qazzaz, R. E. Sorge, L. J. Martin, D. V. Zaykin, S. B. Smith, K. Freitas, J.-S. Austin, F. Dai, J. Zhang, J. Marcovitz, A. H. Tuttle, P. M. Slepian, S. Clarke, R. M. Drenan, J. Janes, S. Al Sharari, S. K. Segall, E. K. Aasvang, W. Lai, R. Bittner, C. I. Richards, G. D. Slade, H. Kehlet, J. Walker, U. Maskos, J.-P. Changeux, M. Devor, W. Maixner, L. Diatchenko, I. Belfer, D. A. Dougherty, A. I. Su, S. C. R. Lummis, M. I. Damaj, H. A. Lester, A. Patapoutian, J. S. Mogil, The nicotinic α6 subunit gene determines variability in chronic pain sensitivity via cross-inhibition of P2X2/3 receptors. Sci. Transl. Med. 7, 287ra72 (2015). [Abstract]


Considering safety to be defined as an acceptable level of risk, waterway managers seek to minimise risks in order to maximise safety. Failures in waterway operations result in events that may require emergency response. A proactive management approach identifies potential risks (events, their likelihoods, and their adverse consequences) associated with waterway operations, and identifies areas where improvements will yield reductions in those risks and the consequent incidents. This paper develops a high-level risk-based decision support tool that assesses waterway performance on two dimensions: realised risk outcomes and inferred risks. The assessment results, obtained through an application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process, are represented as a performance map that can be used by waterway managers to compare the performance of different waterways. In addition, the underlying hierarchy can be used to identify those specific areas requiring remedial attention or additional analyses to reduce risk and improve safety. This decision support tool, called the Waterway Evaluation Tool, has been developed for the US Coast Guard to assist management of maritime safety, enhance maritime mobility, and support the protection of natural resources in the maritime environment.


Current chemostratigraphical studies of the Jurassic System primarily involve the use of one sedimentary component (marine organic carbon), one divalent transition metal substituted in carbonate (manganese), and two isotopic tracers: strontium-isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) and carbon-isotope ratios (δ13Ccarb and δ13Corg) in carbonate and in organic matter. Other parameters such as Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in calcite, oxygen-isotope ratios (δ18O) in carbonate, sulphur-isotope ratios (δ34S) in carbonate-hosted sulphate, nitrogen-isotope ratios (δ15Norg) in organic matter, osmium-isotope ratios (187Os/188Os) in black shales and neodymium-isotope ratios (143Nd/144Nd) in various mineral phases are also useful but at present give poor resolution because the database is incomplete or compromised by various factors. Stratigraphical patterns in total organic carbon (TOC) can be of either local or regional significance, depending on the lateral extent of the former nutrient-rich and productive water mass. Divalent manganese follows a similar pattern, being concentrated, most probably as a very early diagenetic phase, only in oxygen-depleted waters that typically underlie zones of elevated organic productivity. Shifts in Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios on the time scale of ammonite subzones seem largely to reflect temperature changes. Strontium-isotope ratios from pristine skeletal calcite provide a global signal; δ13C values from carbonates with minimal diagenetic overprint potentially do the same, although small spatial differences in palaeo-water-mass composition may have been locally significant. Oxygen-isotope determinations on carbonate rocks and fossils generally yield values that are too scattered to be stratigraphically useful, because they reflect palaeotemperature, the evaporation–precipitation balance in sea water and the impact of any diagenesis involving an aqueous phase. Nitrogen-isotope ratios in organic matter reflect the chemistry of ancient water masses as affected by nitrate utilization and denitrification, and the stratigraphical pattern of this parameter is more likely to correlate only on a regional basis. Neodymium-isotope ratios in sea water are also water mass dependent and greatly affected by regional sources and oceanic current systems. Preliminary data on sulphur-isotope ratios in carbonates and osmium-isotope ratios in organic-rich shales, both potentially offering global correlation, indicate that these tracers may be valuable, although the records at present are not sufficiently well established to allow high-resolution regional correlation. In all cases, biostratigraphically well-dated reference sections, against which the relevant geochemical data have been calibrated, are required in the first instance. To date, studies on the stratigraphical distribution of organic carbon have been principally carried out in both northern (Boreal) and southern (Tethyan) Europe; carbon-isotope stratigraphy has been undertaken primarily, but not exclusively, on bulk pelagic sediments from the Alpine–Mediterranean or Tethyan domain; and strontium-isotope stratigraphy has been undertaken largely on calcitic skeletal material (belemnites and oysters) from northern and southern Europe. In many sections, including those containing ammonites, multi-parameter chemostratigraphy can give resolution that exceeds that attainable by classic biostratigraphical means. Strontium-isotope ratios in skeletal calcite are a particularly powerful tool for illustrating changes in sedimentary rate and revealing gaps in the stratigraphical record.


Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the kidney is a rare clinical entity. Primary squamous cell carcinoma is more frequently reported in urinary bladder and male urethra than in kidney. Primary renal squamous cell carcinoma (RSCC) accounts for less than 5% of urothelial tumours in urinary system. Very few cases of primary squamous cell carcinoma of kidney have been reported in the world literature. Only forty-six cases over forty four years had been reported from Mayo Clinic. These neoplasms are highly aggressive and locally advanced or metastatic at the time of presentation. Here we report such a case of primary squamous cell  carcinoma of kidney in a 50-year-old lady at a locally recurrent stage with fistulous tract formation.  Palliative radiotherapy came out to be a good clinical modality even in locally recurrent stage in this patient. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v11i3.11734 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 11 No. 03 July'12


There is limited recent research on the strategies that rural local governments are employing in the face of changing intergovernmental relationships, especially in relation to local economic development. This paper draws on data from a survey of local governments in the Ohio River Valley Region that includes a mix of localities on the urban-rural continuum, to empirically address three issues. First, we examined the extent to which county governments have undertaken local economic development initiatives as well as other, extra-economic activities designed to improve community well-being. Second, we assessed the extent to which rural county governments vary from urban counties in their activities and available resources. Finally, we employed logistic regression models of factors associated with use of development strategies to determine the relationship between rurality and local development policy activities. The results show that rural counties are less likely than urban counties to undertake various economic development activities, with observed urban-rural differences largely attributable to county socioeconomic disadvantages, such as poverty and education.


CAF-1, Hir proteins, and Asf1 are histone H3/H4 binding proteins important for chromatin-mediated transcriptional silencing. We explored genetic and physical interactions between these proteins and S-phase/DNA damage checkpoint kinases in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Although cells lacking checkpoint kinase Mec1 do not display defects in telomeric gene silencing, silencing was dramatically reduced in cells lacking both Mec1 and the Cac1 subunit of CAF-1. Silencing was restored in cac1Δ and cac1Δ mec1Δ cells upon deletion of Rad53, the kinase downstream of Mec1. Restoration of silencing to cac1Δ cells required both Hir1 and Asf1, suggesting that Mec1 counteracts functional sequestration of the Asf1/Hir1 complex by Rad53. Consistent with this idea, the degree of suppression of silencing defects by rad53 alleles correlated with effects on Asf1 binding. Furthermore, deletion of the Dun1 kinase, a downstream target of Rad53, also suppressed the silencing defects of cac1Δ cells and reduced the levels of Asf1 associated with Rad53 in vivo. Loss of Mec1 and Rad53 did not alter telomere lengths or Asf1 protein levels, nuclear localization, or chromosome association. We conclude that the Mec1 and Dun1 checkpoint kinases regulate the Asf1-Rad53 interaction and therefore affect the activity of the Asf1/Hir complex in vivo.


Retinal vascular disease and breakdown of the inner blood retinal barrier are an
important cause of visual morbidity in a number of multisystem disorders. The
pathological processes underlying these retinal changes include immune, metabolic
and genetically mediated mechanisms, and this thesis examines an example of each of
these aetiologies.
Behcet's disease is a multisystem inflammatory disorder. Intraocular inflammation
occurs in the majority of patients. The associated retinal vasculitis can be occlusive and
carries a high risk of severe and permanent visual loss. A longitudinal study of 107
patients with ocular Behcet's disease presenting over the last decade was undertaken.
Long term visual outcomes were found to be improved when compared to earlier
published series which may in part reflect a treatment benefit of newer biological
agents.
Of the metabolic disorders, diabetic retinopathy is the most common retinal vascular
disease encountered in ophthalmic practice. Reports in the literature suggest that in
patients with coexisting diabetes mellitus and uveitis there may be disease interactions
that could potentially augment their respective clinical manifestations and modify
disease progression. A retrospective case note review of uveitic eyes that developed
diabetes mellitus found stable visual acuity up to 4 years after the onset of coexisting
disease and no change in the treatment required to control the intraocular
inflammation. No increase in the complications of uveitis was demonstrated. In a
comparable study there was no evidence found to suggest that the onset of uveitis in
patients with diabetes mellitus resulted in an increase in the development or
progression of diabetic retinopathy.
von Hippel-Lindau disease is an autosomal dominant inherited cancer syndrome.
Retinal capillary haemangioblastoma is the characteristic ocular finding and can cause
visual loss as a consequence of leakage through the abnormal vascular endothelium of
the tumour. Patients with and without cystic visceral lesions were compared and found not to differ in relation to their respective ocular phenotype. A phenotype
comprising pancreatic cysts and central nervous system haemangioblastoma linked to
VHL gene deletions was suggested.


In this research, a hidden node pruning algorithm was developed for an artificial neural network (ANN) that automatically determined a more efficient size of the hidden layer, caused the ANN to re-size itself, and then continued to train using a standard back-propagation algorithm. The hidden-node pruning algorithm was based on determining the number of significant eigenvalues present in the matrix of values produced by the hidden layer, starting with an excessive number of hidden nodes.
Eight sulfonylurea herbicides were used as the target analytes in this study. The ability of an ANN to simplify the sample preparation needed for analysis using a liquid chromatograph/particle beam/mass spectrometer (LC/PB/MS) was evaluated.
The results derived from this research demonstrated that ANNs allow the clean-up procedure to be simplified, while still obtaining reliable identification of the sulfonylurea herbicides in complex matrices such as soil. Specifically, this was accomplished by using retention times from the LC and MS when the herbicides were injected individually in pure forms combined with MS data obtained from extracted samples. This information was used by a trained neural network to identify sulfonylurea herbicides as both individual components and components in a mixture.
Two different neural networks were created. One was trained with a single mass spectrum from each herbicide, resulting in an 8-training-sample network, and one was trained with five mass spectra of each herbicide, resulting in a 40-training-sample network. Both ANNs had 47 input nodes and eight output nodes. Starting with an excess of 20 hidden nodes, the networks resized themselves to contain 6 hidden nodes for the 8-training-sample network and 7 hidden nodes for the 40-training-sample network. An optimum sum-squared error (SSE) goal was determined to be 0.3 for the 8-training-sample network by using a statistical t-test to establish the smallest SSE where the standard error of prediction was not significantly greater than the standard error of calibration. Results demonstrated that the 8-training-sample ANN performed just as well as the 40-training-sample ANN. When compared to the Hewlett-Packard probability-based matching (HP-PBM) library searching system, both neural networks out-performed the HP-PBM system in the identification of unknown mass spectra.


This paper provides a model of "social hysteresis," whereby long, deep recessions demotivate workers and thereby lead them to change their work ethic. In switching from a pro-work to an anti-work identity, their incentives to seek and retain work fall and consequently their employment chances fall. In this way, temporary recessions may come to have permanent effects on aggregate employment. We also show that these permanent effects, along with the underlying identity switches, can be avoided through stabilization policy. The size of the government expenditure multiplier can be shown to depend on the composition of identities in the workforce.


Biocomposites based on thermoplastic polymers and natural fibers have recently been used in wind turbine blades, to replace non-biodegradable materials. In addition, carbon nanofillers, including carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), are being implemented to enhance the mechanical performance of composites. In this work, the Mori–Tanaka approach is used for homogenization of a polymer matrix reinforced by CNT and GNP nanofillers for the first homogenization, and then, for the second homogenization, the effective matrix was used with alfa and E-glass isotropic fibers. The objective is to study the influence of the volume fraction Vf and aspect ratio AR of nanofillers on the elastic properties of the composite. The inclusions are considered in a unidirectional and random orientation by using a computational method by Digimat-MF/FE and analytical approaches by Chamis, Hashin–Rosen and Halpin–Tsai. The results show that CNT- and GNP-reinforced nanocomposites have better performance than those without reinforcement. Additionally, by increasing the volume fraction and aspect ratio of nanofillers, Young's modulus E increases and Poisson's ratio ν decreases. In addition, the composites have enhanced mechanical characteristics in the longitudinal orientation for CNT- reinforced polymer and in the transversal orientation for GNP-reinforced polymer.


Cultivated and uncultivated soils along the footslopes of Mt. Hibok-Hibok
volcano, down to the nearby coastal areas were examined to assess the effects
of cultivation on their chemical fertility characteristics. Some selected soils were
incubated for 9 months with natural amendments (calcium silicate, ground
basaltic pyroclastics, and peat) to determine whether addition of these materials
can improve soil surface charge properties, particularly point of zero charge
(pH,) and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Effects of adding the amendment
materials on plant growth were investigated with maize as test crop in a
glasshouse experiment. The results showed that cultivated soils have lower % organic carbon (O.C)
content and subsequently lower CEC compared to the uncultivated ones.
Cultivation also raised pH,. Adding peat reduced pH" increased the CEC, and
improved their ion retention. Adding basaltic pyroclastics showed promise to
improve the charge properties of the soils but as an amendment material, a
longer incubation time was needed to detect some influence on the soil. Calcium
silicate, on the other hand, gave an extremely high pH, and pH. The high values
were presumably because the rate applied was too high, which resulted in silicic
acid precipitation. Plant response to the amendments (peat and basalt
pyroclastics) showed that nutrient uptake was positively related to an improved
ion retention of the soils. It also showed that relative heights and weights were
linearly correlated with cations concentration in the soil solution.


A simple and cost effective spectrophotometric method was described for the determination of Imipenem in pure form and in pharmaceutical formulations. The method is based on the formation of colored chromogen when the drug reacts with brucine and sodium periodate in acidic medium. This method was applied for the determination of drug contents in pharmaceutical formulations and enabled the determination of the selected drug in microgram quantities (0.5 to 3.0 mL). No interferences were observed from excipients and the validity of the method was tested against reference method. The colored species has an absorption maximum at 520 nm for Imipenem and obeys beer's law in the concentration range 0.02-0.12 mg/mL of Imipenem. The apparent molar absorptivity was 61X10-5 and sandell's sensitivity was 7x10-4. The slope is 0.0230 ± 0.0008, the intercept of the equation of the regression line is 0.0230 ± 0.0008. The optimum experimental parameters for the reaction have been studied and the validity of the described procedure was assessed. Statistical analysis of the results has been carried out revealing high accuracy and good precision. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of Imipenem in pharmaceutical formulations.


Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were synthesized by the laser-heated ACCVD method on the sample stage of an environmental AFM with Raman scattering measurement capabilities. Fe/Co or Co/Mo metal particles, which were supported on zeolite particles or silicon substrates, were used as catalyst, and ethanol vapor was used as the carbon source. The catalysts on the AFM sample stage were heated (to about 800 °C) in ethanol vapor (0.01 ∼1 Torr) by Ar-ion laser irradiation, and SWNTs grew from the catalyst particles. Though this laser-heated ACCVD method was simple, Raman scattering spectra, AFM images, and SEM images showed that high-quality SWNTs were generated. By using the laser-heated ACCVD method, in-situ Raman scattering, which was caused by the heating laser irradiation, was measured during the entire CVD process. The G-band from SWNTs and the silicon peak appeared in in-situ Raman scattering spectra. The intensity of the G-band showed the growth of SWNTs, and the temperature dependence of the Raman shift of the silicon peak was used to determine the sample temperature. In-situ Raman scattering elucidated the lifetime of the catalyst and the existence of an incubation time before the onset of SWNT growth. SWNTs started to grow rapidly after the incubation time and the growth rate gradually decreased. The incubation time was strongly dependent on the pressure of the ethanol gas.


The recent division of the large glycoside hydrolase family 43 (GH43) into subfamilies offers a renewed opportunity to develop structure-function studies aimed at clarifying the molecular determinants of substrate specificity in carbohydrate-degrading enzymes. α-L-Arabinofuranosidases (EC 22.214.171.124) remove arabinose side chains from heteropolysaccharides such as xylan and arabinan. However, there is some evidence suggesting that arabinofuranosidases are substrate-specific, being unable to display a debranching activity on different polysaccharides. Here, the structure of Clostridium thermocellum arabinofuranosidase 43A (CtAbf43A), which has been shown to act in the removal of arabinose side chains from arabinoxylan but not from pectic arabinan, is reported. CtAbf43A belongs to GH43 subfamily 16, the members of which have a restricted capacity to attack xylans. The crystal structure of CtAbf43A comprises a five-bladed β-propeller fold typical of GH43 enzymes. CtAbf43A displays a highly compact architecture compatible with its high thermostability. Analysis of CtAbf43A along with the other member of GH43 subfamily 16 with known structure, the Bacillus subtilis arabinofuranosidase BsAXH-m2,3, suggests that the specificity of subfamily 16 for arabinoxylan is conferred by a long surface substrate-binding cleft that is complementary to the xylan backbone. The lack of a curved-shaped carbohydrate-interacting platform precludes GH43 subfamily 16 enzymes from interacting with the nonlinear arabinan scaffold and therefore from deconstructing this polysaccharide.


Evidence-based practice is an indicator of the quality of health and treatment care and plays an important role in improving the quality of nursing care. The purpose of the study was to determine the barriers and facilitators of evidence-based practice from the perspective of nurses working in psychiatric centers in the northwest of Iran. This research is a descriptive cross-sectional study with statistical population includes 270 nurses working in northwest psychiatric hospitals of country. Sample size was selected using census method. Data collecting tools consisted of two parts. The first part of the questionnaire included demographic information of nurses and the second part included a standard questionnaire of barriers and facilitators the evidence-based practice. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics and SPSSsoftware(ver. 21). The mean score of evaluating the barriers and facilities to apply the results of research in the field of practice in in nurses on the Bases of practice knowledge dimension was 41.54 ± 10.85 , which they had a low score .low in. The overall score in dimension of access barriers and review of evidences was 18.86 ± 7.19, which nurses had a medium score. The mean of total score was 9.93 ± 3.23, which nurses had a low score In the dimension of barriers to practice change based on scientific evidences. Also, the mean total score in self-assessment skills dimension was 13.70 ± 4.56, that nurses had a medium to low score. It is necessary to do needed facilities to reduce existing barriers in order to change the methods of care based on scientific evidences, with proper planning and policy making, and create an appropriate context for nurses in providing care with quality considering the essential role of nurses in maintaining care and promoting the health of the patients.


Abstract: This paper tries to investigate whether the export-led growth hypothesis is valid for the former European CMEA countries, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union. For testing the validity of the export-led growth hypothesis the paper applies estimations based on "traditional" production functions as well as tests for Granger causality. The estimations in a production function-type framework seem to indicate that, except for Czechoslovakia, there is some evidence for the export-led growth hypothesis. In the context of a vector autoregression the Granger causality tests yield quite different results; the export-led growth hypothesis is rejected. It is interesting that the differing results of those two methods have some tradition in the literature. The ambiguity of the results is striking from the theoretical point of view: Following the conventional idea of trade within the rigid political framework of centrally planned economies, a clear rejection of the export-led growth hypothesis should be expected.;


ABSTRACT Which subgroups patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) could benefit most from adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) is blurred. Here we tried to stratify MIBC patients with tumor infiltrating mast cells (TIMs), explore the prognostic and predictive value of TIMs, and provide possible cellular explanations. We selected 259 MIBC patients who underwent radical cystectomy from two independent clinical centers between 2002 and 2014. TIMs were evaluated and prognostic and predictive value was assessed. The CIBERSORT method, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and differential gene expression analyses were performed to explore the possible cellular mechanisms. TIMs infiltration was distinct between stromal and epithelial area of MIBC specimens. Patients with higher stromal TIMs had a significant worse overall survival and recurrence free survival (HR = 2.228, 95%CI: 1.467–3.550; P = 0.001 and HR = 1.984, 95%CI: 1.105–3.374; P = 0.016). More importantly, pT2 patients with low stromal TIMs tended to have a lower risk of death and recurrence after ACT (HR = 0.233, 95%CI: 0.020–0.814; P = 0.033 and HR = 0.180, 95%CI: 0.022–0.722; P = 0.031). A negative correlativity between TIMs and CD8 + T cells was identified on TCGA-BLCA cohort. Immunohistochemistry results validated that high stromal TIMs were negatively correlated with CD8 + T cells (Spearman's rho = -0.215, P < 0.001). Differential gene expression suggested that low TIMs might represent a state of immune activation in MIBC. To conclude, high stromal TIMs infiltration was an independent unfavorable prognosticator for MIBC patients. Patients with low stromal TIMs might benefit the most from ACT, especially in pT2 stage.


The purpose of this study was to provide a greater understanding of the perceived levels and the importance of cultural competence within the context of challenge course facilitation and professional practice. One hundred seventy-two challenge course facilitators, who are currently members of the Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT), completed online surveys regarding cultural competence in professional practice. The findings showed that challenge course facilitators, who work in diverse settings, felt that cultural competence is an important issue in their professional practice and in the challenge course industry. Overall, the perceived levels of facilitator cultural competence (awareness and knowledge) were fair to good while the perceived levels of cultural skills varied from limited to good. Cultural competence was rated and ranked as the lowest professional skill when compared to the four other professional skills (core, risk management, technical, and facilitation) in regards to proficiency and importance for professional practice. Facilitators commented that cultural diversity is an important issue in the industry as professionals and participants are not as diverse as the current U.S. demographics. Challenge course facilitators acknowledged that training and education in cultural competence would improve their professional practice and positively influence the industry. This research adds to our understanding of cultural competence in challenge course professional practice, the importance of cultural diversity in the industry, and the importance of cultural competence as a skill in professional practice.


Psycholinguistic research shows that key properties of the human sentence processor are incrementality, connectedness (partial structures contain no unattached nodes), and prediction (upcoming syntactic structure is anticipated). There is currently no broad-coverage parsing model with these properties, however. In this article, we present the first broad-coverage probabilistic parser for PLTAG, a variant of TAG that supports all three requirements. We train our parser on a TAG-transformed version of the Penn Treebank and show that it achieves performance comparable to existing TAG parsers that are incremental but not predictive. We also use our PLTAG model to predict human reading times, demonstrating a better fit on the Dundee eye-tracking corpus than a standard surprisal model.


Hydrocarbon exploration in Argentina started long before the IGM created a single, high-precision geodetic reference network for the whole country. Several geodetic surveys were conducted in every producing basin, which have ever since then supported well placement. Currently, every basin has a huge amount of information referenced to the so-called "local" geodetic systems, such as Chos Malal – Quini Huao in the Neuquen Basin, and Pampa del Castillo in the San Jorge Basin, which differ to a greater or lesser extent from the national Campo Inchauspe datum established by the IGM in 1969 as the official geodetic network. However, technology development over the last few years and the expansion of satellite positioning systems such as GPS resulted in a new world geodetic order. Argentina rapidly joined this new geodetic order through the implementation of a new national geodetic system by the IGM: POSGAR network, which replaced the old national Campo Inchauspe system. However, this only helped to worsen the data georeferencing issue for oil companies, as a third reference system was added to each basin. Now every basin has a local system, the national system until 1997 (Campo Inchauspe), and finally the newly created POSGAR network national satellite system, which is geocentric unlike the former two planimetric datums. The purpose of this paper is to identify and allocate geodetic systems of coordinates to historical wells, whose geodetic system is missing or has been erroneously allocated, by using currently available technological resources such as geographic information systems and high-resolution satellite imagery.


Polyelectrolyte networks composed of poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) cross-linked with poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) (PEGDA) are sensitive to electrical stimuli, allowing potential use as soft actuators. In our studies, PAAc was prepared via radical polymerization using UV irradiation from pregel solutions with independent variation of the crosslinking density, the extent of neutralizatio n, as well as the water content after polymerization. The networks thus formed underwent a swelling process that consists of, first, a soakin g in deionized water to allow for the removal of the unreacted species, followed by several soakings in deionized water to reach swelling and pH equilibrium. The bending behavior of these swollen PAAc hydrogels was studied under the influence of a DC electric field when applied either in deionized water, or in solutions of varying pH. We find that the curvature observed for these hydrogels depends strongly on all of the chosen variables. However, an unexpected phenomenon is also observed: the bending behavior seems to be composed of three stages that are active over differing time-scales. The earliest stage consists of a curvature toward the anode, followed by an intermediate stage that reverses the bending direction to be toward the cathode. Finally, the last stage features hydrogel rod shrinkage in all the directions. Depending on the conditions of our electromechanical analyses, the earlier and intermediate stages are more or less improved in terms of fast response and/or higher curvature attained. Rheological measurements have also been performed and further correlated to the electroactive response observed. We find that for high modulus specimens, the compliance and electromechanical characteristics are strongly related to each other.


Training military clinicians and physicians to treat Soldiers directly impacts their mental and physical health and may even affect their survival. Developing skills such as: patient interviewing, interpersonal interaction and diagnosis can be difficult and is severely lacking in hands-on-training due to the cost and availability of trained standardized patients. A solution to this problem is in using computer generated virtual patient avatars that exhibit the mental and physiologically accurate symptoms of their particular illness; such physical indicators as sweating, blushing and breathing due to discomfort and matching conversational dialog for the disorder. These avatars are highly interactive with speech recognition, natural language understanding, non-verbal behavior, facial expressions and conversational skills. This paper will discuss the research, technology and the value of developing virtual patients. Previous work will be stated along with issues behind creating virtual characters and scenarios for the joint forces. It will then focus on subject testing that is being conducted with a Navy scenario at the Navy Independent Duty Corpsman (IDC) School at the Navy Medical Center in San Diego. The protocol involves pre and post tests with a 15 minute interview of the virtual patient. Analysis of the data will yield results in user interactions with the patient and discuss how the system can be used for training for future deployment of these systems for medical professionals. The Virtual Sick Call Project under the Joint Medical Simulation Technology Integrated Product Team (JMST IPT) seeks to push the state of the art in developing high fidelity virtual patients that will enable the caregiver to improve interpersonal skills for scenarios that require not only medical experience, but the ability to relate at an interpersonal level, with interviewing and diagnosis skills as patients can be hiding symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide and domestic violence.


This study aims to compare the academics' perceptions about face to face and distance education, beside finding out the contributions of distance education to them, difficulties they experience in synchronous and asynchronous distance education environments and suggestions for possible solutions of the existing problems. The sample consists of 52 instructors providing distance education courses actively at 7 universities in Turkey, in 2009-2010 academic year. As data collection tool, a survey called ―Lecturer Opinion About Distance Learning and Face to Face Education Comparison‖ is utilized. In the analysis of the data, content analysis, frequency distribution, independent and paired samples T tests and pearson correlation were used.


The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (established by treaty under Article XIV of the FAO Constitution) has tried to amend its own Agreement to place itself outside the framework of FAO in order to deal more effectively with "fishing entities". However, its attempts to do so have been thwarted in part by the refusal of the Director-General of FAO to circulate proposed amendments. This is evaluated and found to be contrary to Article 76.2 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which refers to the international character of a depositary and the need for impartiality. In addition, the Secretariat of FAO has asserted that it can be achieved only by a cumbersome treaty process involving termination of the present treaty and Commission and establishing a new treaty and new Commission. The paper evaluates the arguments for this position in the light of international treaty law, including the practice in other treaty bodies. It concludes that the arguments in support of such a convoluted approach are fundamentally flawed. Finally, the paper considers briefly whether the Commission has international legal personality, and concludes that it does.


BACKGROUND
Acupuncture is often used for migraine prevention but its effectiveness is still controversial. We present an update of our Cochrane review from 2009.

OBJECTIVES
To investigate whether acupuncture is a) more effective than no prophylactic treatment/routine care only; b) more effective than sham (placebo) acupuncture; and c) as effective as prophylactic treatment with drugs in reducing headache frequency in adults with episodic migraine.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL: 2016, issue 1); MEDLINE (via Ovid, 2008 to January 2016); Ovid EMBASE (2008 to January 2016); and Ovid AMED (1985 to January 2016). We checked PubMed for recent publications to April 2016. We searched the World Health Organization (WHO) Clinical Trials Registry Platform to February 2016 for ongoing and unpublished trials.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomized trials at least eight weeks in duration that compared an acupuncture intervention with a no-acupuncture control (no prophylactic treatment or routine care only), a sham-acupuncture intervention, or prophylactic drug in participants with episodic migraine.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two reviewers checked eligibility; extracted information on participants, interventions, methods and results, and assessed risk of bias and quality of the acupuncture intervention. The primary outcome was migraine frequency (preferably migraine days, attacks or headache days if migraine days not measured/reported) after treatment and at follow-up. The secondary outcome was response (at least 50% frequency reduction). Safety outcomes were number of participants dropping out due to adverse effects and number of participants reporting at least one adverse effect. We calculated pooled effect size estimates using a fixed-effect model. We assessed the evidence using GRADE and created 'Summary of findings' tables.

MAIN RESULTS
Twenty-two trials including 4985 participants in total (median 71, range 30 to 1715) met our updated selection criteria. We excluded five previously included trials from this update because they included people who had had migraine for less than 12 months, and included five new trials. Five trials had a no-acupuncture control group (either treatment of attacks only or non-regulated routine care), 15 a sham-acupuncture control group, and five a comparator group receiving prophylactic drug treatment. In comparisons with no-acupuncture control groups and groups receiving prophylactic drug treatment, there was risk of performance and detection bias as blinding was not possible. Overall the quality of the evidence was moderate. Comparison with no acupunctureAcupuncture was associated with a moderate reduction of headache frequency over no acupuncture after treatment (four trials, 2199 participants; standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.56; 95% CI -0.65 to -0.48); findings were statistically heterogeneous (I² = 57%; moderate quality evidence). After treatment headache frequency at least halved in 41% of participants receiving acupuncture and 17% receiving no acupuncture (pooled risk ratio (RR) 2.40; 95% CI 2.08 to 2.76; 4 studies, 2519 participants) with a corresponding number needed to treat for an additional beneficial outcome (NNTB) of 4 (95% CI 3 to 6); there was no indication of statistical heterogeneity (I² = 7%; moderate quality evidence). The only trial with post-treatment follow-up found a small but significant benefit 12 months after randomisation (RR 2.16; 95% CI 1.35 to 3.45; NNT 7; 95% 4 to 25; 377 participants, low quality evidence). Comparison with sham acupunctureBoth after treatment (12 trials, 1646 participants) and at follow-up (10 trials, 1534 participants), acupuncture was associated with a small but statistically significant frequency reduction over sham (moderate quality evidence). The SMD was -0.18 (95% CI -0.28 to -0.08; I² = 47%) after treatment and -0.19 (95% CI -0.30 to -0.09; I² = 59%) at follow-up. After treatment headache frequency at least halved in 50% of participants receiving true acupuncture and 41% receiving sham acupuncture (pooled RR 1.23, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.36; I² = 48%; 14 trials, 1825 participants) and at follow-up in 53% and 42%, respectively (pooled RR 1.25, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.39; I² = 61%; 11 trials, 1683 participants; moderate quality evidence). The corresponding NNTBs are 11 (95% CI 7.00 to 20.00) and 10 (95% CI 6.00 to 18.00), respectively. The number of participants dropping out due to adverse effects (odds ratio (OR) 2.84; 95% CI 0.43 to 18.71; 7 trials, 931 participants; low quality evidence) and the number of participants reporting adverse effects (OR 1.15; 95% CI 0.85 to 1.56; 4 trials, 1414 participants; moderate quality evidence) did not differ significantly between acupuncture and sham groups. Comparison with prophylactic drug treatmentAcupuncture reduced migraine frequency significantly more than drug prophylaxis after treatment ( SMD -0.25; 95% CI -0.39 to -0.10; 3 trials, 739 participants), but the significance was not maintained at follow-up (SMD -0.13; 95% CI -0.28 to 0.01; 3 trials, 744 participants; moderate quality evidence). After three months headache frequency at least halved in 57% of participants receiving acupuncture and 46% receiving prophylactic drugs (pooled RR 1.24; 95% CI 1.08 to 1.44) and after six months in 59% and 54%, respectively (pooled RR 1.11; 95% CI 0.97 to 1.26; moderate quality evidence). Findings were consistent among trials with I² being 0% in all analyses. Trial participants receiving acupuncture were less likely to drop out due to adverse effects (OR 0.27; 95% CI 0.08 to 0.86; 4 trials, 451 participants) and to report adverse effects (OR 0.25; 95% CI 0.10 to 0.62; 5 trials 931 participants) than participants receiving prophylactic drugs (moderate quality evidence).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The available evidence suggests that adding acupuncture to symptomatic treatment of attacks reduces the frequency of headaches. Contrary to the previous findings, the updated evidence also suggests that there is an effect over sham, but this effect is small. The available trials also suggest that acupuncture may be at least similarly effective as treatment with prophylactic drugs. Acupuncture can be considered a treatment option for patients willing to undergo this treatment. As for other migraine treatments, long-term studies, more than one year in duration, are lacking.


Objective: To detect the expression of somatostatin (SS) gene and somatostatin receptor (SSTR) 1-5 gene in endormetrotic tissues.
Methods: Real-Time PCR was applied to examine the expression of somatostatin gene in ectopic endometrial cells (EECs). The expression of somatostatin receptor 1-5 in ectopic endometrium, eutopic endometrium and normal endometrium and the relations with endometriosis (EMS) staging were determined by immunohistochemistry.
Results: The expression of SS gene in EECs was significantly higher compared with the control group. SSTR1-5 were expressed in the ectopic endormetrotic tissues from 30 patients with EMS, and the positive rates were 43.3%, 70%, 53.3%, 50% and 96.7%, respectively, which were not closely associated with EMS staging of the patients. The positive rates of SSTR1-5 expressions in the eutopic endometrium from 14 patients with EMS were 33.3%, 41.7%, 53.3%, 58.3% and 83.3%, respectively; while, the positive rates of SSTR1-5 expressions in the normal endometrium from 14 women without EMS were 7.1%, 7.1%, 21.4%, 28.6% and 64.3%, which were lower than the positive rates of SSTR1-5 both in the endormetrotic tissues and the eutopic endometrium.
Conclusions: SS gene was highly expressed in EECs. SSTR1-5 were expressed both in the ectopic and eutopic endometrium, the low or moderate expression of SSTR1-4 and the high expression of SSTR5 were detected in the ectopic and eutopic endometric tissues, and the low expression of SSTR1-4 and the partial expression of SSTR5 were detected in the normal endometrium. The positive rates of expression of SSTR1-5 in the endormetrotic and eutopic endometrium were higher than those in the normal endometrium. The expression of all the subtypes of SSTR in the ectopic endormetrotic tissues was not closely associated with EMS staging.


Abstract Type 2 diabetes mellitus is among the fastest growing diseases in the world. The reported prevalence of T2D appears to differ among various ethnic groups. Although ethnic-related differences in lifestyle factors may account for some of the predisposition to diabetes in various ethnic groups, genetic factors may play a more determinant role.High prevalence rates of T2D have been reported in Middle-Eastern populations and these rates are considerably higher than those reported in Scandinavians. The aims of this thesis were 1) to compare the clinical characteristics of T2D between immigrants from the Middle-East and Swedish subjects and to examine whether differences in the frequency of high risk genotypes in established T2D genes can explain differences in the clinical presentation of T2D between these 2 ethnic groups 2) to evaluate the effects of exercise on insulin sensitivity in sedentary, overweight Arabian and Swedish women with T2D. The key findings were 1) Middle-Eastern immigrants with T2D have an earlier onset and stronger family history than Swedish patients. This, in turn, was associated with a more severe reduction in B .- cell function. Middle-Eastern immigrants with T2D had higher frequency of the TCF7L2 and PPARG genes compared with Scandinavian patients, 2) Despite no measurable increase in VO2max, overweight, sedentary Arabian and Swedish women with T2D were able to increase insulin sensitivity after a 6-month exercise intervention period. Although this study provided some insight into the potential genetic factors explaining differences between Middle-Eastern and Swedish patients with T2D, larger studies are needed to explain whether unique patterns of T2D associated genes explain the high prevalence of T2D in Middle-East. (Less)


Many web applications provide secondary authentication methods, i.e., secret questions (or password recovery questions), to reset the account password when a user's login fails. However, the answers to many such secret questions can be easily guessed by an acquaintance or exposed to a stranger that has access to public online tools (e.g., online social networks); moreover, a user may forget her/his answers long after creating the secret questions. Today's prevalence of smartphones has granted us new opportunities to observe and understand how the personal data collected by smartphone sensors and apps can help create personalized secret questions without violating the users' privacy concerns. In this paper, we present a Secret-Question based Authentication system, called "Secret-QA", that creates a set of secret questions on basic of people's smartphone usage. We develop a prototype on Android smartphones, and evaluate the security of the secret questions by asking the acquaintance/stranger who participates in our user study to guess the answers with and without the help of online tools; meanwhile, we observe the questions' reliability by asking participants to answer their own questions. Our experimental results reveal that the secret questions related to motion sensors, calendar, app installment, and part of legacy app usage history (e.g., phone calls) have the best memorability for users as well as the highest robustness to attacks.


In December 2006 legislation was introduced giving police the power to test any driver involved in a fatal crash for any drug, and to carry out roadside drug testing on any driver, rider or supervising licence holder in NSW for the active component of cannabis (THC), methylamphetamine (also known as speed, ice, crystal meth, or base) and MDMA (ecstasy). Police have been conducting roadside drug testing since January 2007 on both heavy and light vehicle drivers. This study examined knowledge, attitudes and self-reported behaviours with regards to drug driving to identify any behavioural shifts following the commencement of roadside drug testing in NSW. It involved a telephone survey of 501 licensed drivers who have used illicit drugs in the past three months. The results indicate a drug driving prevalence rate of 3.6 per cent in NSW, and the majority of drug users (80 per cent) are aware that police have the ability to conduct roadside drug testing. The study investigated demographic predictors of drug driving, knowledge and attitudes with regards to drug driving law enforcement, the types of drugs used by drivers, and attitudes and social acceptability of drug driving.


The study of children's experiences in relation to various life situations is an essential task that imposes certain requirements on the researcher's choice of method for data collection. In this paper the author describes the use of video diaries as a method in child research, discussing its opportunities and limitations. Although video diary studies are still not particularly widespread, their use is predicted to increase as children become increasingly familiar and comfortable with the technology. Video diaries offer a useful supplement to more conventional methods as they are capable of eliciting data that would not otherwise be obtained.


Coccygodynia means a lot of complaints with the most important of them, namely the spontaneous pain in the coccyx, in the top of the coccyx respectively. One can differ posttraumatic coccygodynias from others, which are the symptom of other diseases like lumbar pain, sciatica, tumors in the spinal canal, visceral diseases, that means disturbances in the gynaecologic system. By the mean of 19 predominantly female patients remarkable facts of the history, of the x-ray and clinical findings are listed up and compared in three different groups. To this examination the results of longtime-results of eleven patients who have been operated are united. The resection of the "os coccygis" doesn't seem to be a satisfying possibility to influence coccygodynias caused by traumas for a long time.


The complexes build–up of DNA and soft particles poly amidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers of ammonia cored of generations (G1-G6) and ethylenediamine cored of generations (G1-G10) have been studied, using a new theoretical model developed by Qamhieh and coworkers. The model describes the interaction between linear polyelectrolyte (LPE) chain and ion-penetrable spheres. Many factors affecting LPE/dendrimer complex have been investigated such as dendrimer generation, the Bjerrum length, salt concentration, and rigidity of the LPE chain represented by the persistence length. It is found that the wrapping chain length around dendrimer increases by increasing dendrimer`s generation, Bjerrum length, and salt concentration, while decreases by increasing the persistence length of the LPE chain. Also we can conclude that the wrapping length of LPE chain around ethylenediamine cored dendrimers is larger than its length around ammonia cored dendrimers.


Abstract In the present work, the density distribution of rhodamine 6G ions (R6G) in the gas phase and the droplets of an electrospray plume was studied by spatial and spectral imaging. The intention is to contribute to the fundamental understanding of the release mechanism of gaseous R6G in the electrospray ionization (ESI) process. Furthermore, the influence of ESI-parameters on the release efficiency of R6G, e.g. solvent flow, R6G and salt concentration were examined via direct fluorescence imaging of R6G. A solvent-shift of the fluorescence maximum, λmax = 555 nm in methanolic solution and λmax = 505 nm in gas phase, allows the discrimination between solvated and gaseous R6G. Two experimental setups were used for our measurements. In the first experiment, the R6G fluorescence and the light scattered from the spray plume were imaged in two spatial dimensions using a tunable wavelength fil ter. The second experiment was designed for obtaining 1-dimensional spatially resolved emission spectra of the spray. Here, the intensity distribution of solvated and gaseous R6G as well as scattered light (λ=355 nm) were measured simultaneously. The results show the distribution of gaseous R6G in the plane, orthogonal to the ESI capillary, decreasing slightly towards the spray center and showing maxima at the cone margins. The distribution of gaseous R6G confirms the preferred release of gaseous ions from nano-droplets, indicating the ion evaporation model (IEM) to be the dominating release mechanism. Up to now, only a few fluorescence spectra of ionic compounds in the gas phase were published because the measurement of emission spectra of mass-selected ions in an ion trap is experimentally challenging. The fluorescence spectrum of gaseous lucigenin at atmospheric pressure is reported for the first time. This spectrum of lucigenin in the gas phase exhibits a blue shift of about Δλ=10 nm in comparison to the corresponding spectrum in methanol.


The Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) is perceived as an environmental crisis governed by climatic and tectonic controls, affecting global oceans' salinity and shaping the Mediterranean Sea's biochemical composition. Recently drilled offshore wells in the Levant Basin retrieved a sedimentary record of the deep-basin Mediterranean MSC salt deposits and the underlying pre-evaporite unit. In this study, we have concentrated on the pre-evaporite interval and its transition into the overlying evaporites. Analysis of this data set changes the way these deposits have been perceived since the 1970s, when they were first penetrated in their uppermost part during Deep Sea Drilling Project expeditions. Using sedimentology, seismic interpretation, biostratigraphy, and astronomical tuning, we show that Messinian salt deposition in the Eastern Mediterranean began during stage 1 of the MSC. In contrast to the present paradigm, salt was deposited synchronously with gypsum in the marginal and intermediate-depth basins significantly before the 50 k.y. interval coined as the "MSC acme event", ~400 k.y. after the crisis began. Thus salt precipitation took place in a non-desiccated deep basin, having a restricted but often open connection with the Atlantic Ocean, substantially altering our understanding of the mechanisms governing the deposition of salt giants. A coeval onset of basinal halite and marginal gypsum precipitation calls for a revaluation of global-scale climatic and oceanographic models of the MSC, taking into account a much older age for the beginning of halite deposition.


Empowered by the Web's interactive and quick-response capabilities, mobile marketing is a very promising direct marketing channel. The present research investigates consumer attitudes toward mobile advertising in China. The results of a survey indicate that (1) consumers in China generally have slightly negative attitudes toward receiving mobile advertising (2) there is a direct relationship between consumer attitudes and consumer intention in receiving mobile advertising. (3) Personalization plays an important role in affecting consumers' attitude toward receiving mobile advertising. Thus the designers and marketers should better strategize their advertising designs by considering the personalization factor.


Previous approaches of analyzing spontaneously spoken language often have been based on encoding syntactic and semantic knowledge manually and symbolically. While there has been some progress using statistical or connectionist language models, many current spoken-language systems still use a relatively brittle, hand-coded symbolic grammar or symbolic semantic component.

In contrast, we describe a so-called screening approach for learning robust processing of spontaneously spoken language. A screening approach is a flat analysis which uses shallow sequences of category representations for analyzing an utterance at various syntactic, semantic and dialog levels. Rather than using a deeply structured symbolic analysis, we use a flat connectionist analysis. This screening approach aims at supporting speech and language processing by using (1) data-driven learning and (2) robustness of connectionist networks. In order to test this approach, we have developed the screen system which is based on this new robust, learned and flat analysis.

In this paper, we focus on a detailed description of screen's architecture, the flat syntactic and semantic analysis, the interaction with a speech recognizer, and a detailed evaluation analysis of the robustness under the influence of noisy or incomplete input. The main result of this paper is that flat representations allow more robust processing of spontaneous spoken language than deeply structured representations. In particular, we show how the fault-tolerance and learning capability of connectionist networks can support a flat analysis for providing more robust spoken-language processing within an overall hybrid symbolic/connectionist framework.


The major aim of this Collaborative Post-Doctoral Fellowship Programme is to stimulate innovative, interdisciplinary, and comparative research of productive youth development. Participating institutions include the Institute of Education in London, the Universities of Michigan and Michigan State, Stockholm, Helsinki, Jena, Tubingen and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. The mission of the programme is to promote the next generation of researchers and facilitate a better understanding and discourse with different stake holders about how to equip young people for mastering the challenges of growing up in a changing social context.
PATHWAYS will investigate the antecedents, processes, and long-term outcomes of youth transitions, as well as the factors and processes promoting human competences, especially among young people deemed to be at-risk. Training and mentoring will be provided to the Fellows to enhance understanding of diverse approaches to the study of productive youth development and to engage in constructive debates with colleagues from different disciplines. The Programme will help to foster international and interdisciplinary research and exchange of ideas, in order to gain up-to-date skills for addressing research and policy questions that require combined approaches and a synergy of ideas.
A 'Virtual Institute Approach' has been adopted, not limiting activities to one physical location, but pooling the expertise of several partner institutions that are connected by shared research interests, projects and existing collaborations. The administrative core is based at the Institute of Education but many of PATHWAYS' activities occur at the participating sites. There will be regular joint workshops and conferences, bringing together scholars from around the globe, facilitating international networking and exchange.


In gripping accounts of true cases, surgeon Atul Gawande explores the power and the limits of medicine, offering an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge. Complications lays bare a science not in its idealized form but as it actually is--uncertain, perplexing, and profoundly human. "Complications "is a 2002 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.


Even though cloud server has been around for a few years, most of the web hosts today have not converted to cloud yet. If the purpose of the cloud server is distributing and storing files on the internet, FTP servers were much earlier than the cloud. FTP server is sufficient to distribute content on the internet. Therefore, is it worth to shift from FTP server to cloud server? The cloud storage provider declares high durability and availability for their users, and the ability to scale up for more storage space easily could save users tons of money. However, does it provide higher performance and better security features? Hadoop is a very popular platform for cloud computing. It is free software under Apache License. It is written in Java and supports large data processing in a distributed environment. Characteristics of Hadoop include partitioning of data, computing across thousands of hosts, and executing application computations in parallel. Hadoop Distributed File System allows rapid data transfer up to thousands of terabytes, and is capable of operating even in the case of node failure. GridFTP supports high-speed data transfer for wide-area networks. It is based on the FTP and features multiple data channels for parallel transfers. This report describes the technology behind HDFS and enhancement to the Hadoop security features with Kerberos. Based on data transfer performance and security features of HDFS and GridFTP server, we can decide if we should replace GridFTP server with HDFS. According to our experiment result, we conclude that GridFTP server provides better throughput than HDFS, and Kerberos has minimal impact to HDFS performance. We proposed a solution which users authenticate with HDFS first, and get the file from HDFS server to the client using GridFTP.


In this article we discuss the distribution of asset price movements by introducing a market potential function. From the principle of free energy minimization we analyze two different kinds of market potentials. We obtain a U-shaped potential when market reversion (i.e. contrarian investors) is dominant. On the other hand, if there are more trend followers, flat and logarithmic potentials appear. By using the cyclically adjusted price-to-earning ratio, which is a common valuation tool, we empirically investigate the market data. By studying long term data we observe the historical change of the market potential of the US stock market. Recent US data show that the market potential looks more like a trend-following potential. Next, we compare the market potentials for 12 different countries. Though some countries have similar market potentials, there are specific examples like Japan which exhibits a very flat potential.


Transcript
Governor Chris Christie: I'm having a great time as Governor, I hope you can tell. I enjoy every day. And today is among some of the more enjoyable, to have a beautiful day like this in our state, and to have a great company like Realogy recommit to our state and its people. And so to all of you, thank you for coming out. Thank you for your really warm welcome and reception. Thank you for believing in our state. Thank you for raising your families here. Thank you for believing in what we're trying to do. We have ways to go yet, and I'm certainly not in the mood to take any kind of victory lap today. It's about getting back to work and creating the next opportunity like this, and the next one, and the next one, so that we all wind up being better off for the efforts that we're making both in the private sector and in the government. So I want to congratulate Realogy, again, and Richard. All of you, the great employees of this place, I want to congratulate you on your new home. Thank you for making it our home. And I hope that what you'll find this summer is after all the difficulties that we've had over the last seven or eight months, and all of the tragedy and the loss that people of our state have suffered, that after a long winter it feels today like spring is here and summer is just around the corner. And not just for the weather, but for our attitudes about our home and about where our future is. And so I absolutely believe that the people of New Jersey showed through this crisis what you all show every day in your business, that we're tough and that we're strong, that we're resilient, and that better days are truly ahead of us. So, Realogy staying helps to confirm all that and growing here. And so congratulations to all of you, congratulations to your company, congratulations to your families, and congratulations to the great state of New Jersey. Thank you all very much.