Background : This study presents a formative evaluation of nine pre-licensure workshops to educate on interprofessional, client-centred mental healthcare. The workshops, informed by the conceptual framework of Orchard, Curran, and Kabene had two key objectives: to stimulate networking and to socialize healthcare providers in working together. Methods and Findings : A participatory action research (PAR) methodology was used for workshop planning and evaluation. Descriptive surveys and feedback forms using closed- and open-ended questions were used to examine whether the intended population was reached, to determine participant satisfaction, and to investigate to what level program objectives had been implemented. Students (625) from different disciplines attended two-hour after-class workshops. The results indicated that students were interested in learning about interprofessionalism and satisfied in the knowledge, attitude, and skills (practice) they received from the workshops. Participants indicated that they had or intended to use some of their learning about interprofessional practice. Key successful approaches, such as the partnership with psychiatric consumers, were incorporated into later workshop series. Conclusions: The workshops demonstrated that interprofessional workshops can be one training component for pre-licensure students and can increase academic interest in interprofessional education.


In the early 1960s, nationalist politicians established in Tanzania a stable government in the face of external threats and internal turmoil. Paul Bjerk's volume chronicles this history and examines the politics and policies of the nation's first president, Julius Nyerere. One of the great leaders of modern Africa, Nyerere unified the diverse people who became citizens of the new nation and negotiated the tumultuous politics of the Cold War. In an era when many postcolonial countries succumbed to corrupt dictatorship or civil war, Nyerere sought principled government. Making difficult choices between democratic and autocratic rule, Nyerere creatively managed the destabilizing forces of decolonization. With extensive archival research and interviews with scores of participants in this history, Bjerk reorients our understanding of the formative years of Tanzanian independence. This study provides a new paradigm for understanding the history of the postcolonial nations that became independent in a global postwar order defined by sovereignty. Paul Bjerk is assistant professor of history at Texas Tech University.


Mobile technology is evolving exponentially and the number of mobile devices around the world is growing too. This is a market that currently does not seem to have expiration date. Company's device manufacturers are competing in a scenario where investments are very high. Alongside, every day more software development companies are trying to seize the moment in which we are. As of today, the Android app store (Google Play) has more than 700,000 applications available. Nowadays, everything has revolved around and its wide range of possibilities. Meanwhile, the number of "digital illiterates" decreases. The new generations are the main technology users, people who have grown up with an intelligent terminal already in their hands. One of the industries that are leveraging these opportunities better is the health-related sector. Technology allows speed up processes, save resources and most importantly of all, improves and makes life easier for people who are suffering any alteration in their welfare. Currently, patients with complex diseases are well known by their medical professionals who make the periodic monitoring. The problem becomes when for any reason, a patient leaves the circle of the medical team that is following him for example in a holiday period. If any problem arises, patient will go to the area reference medical centre and is very possible that, as he isn't a medical professional, will not be able to explain in detail about his status, limitations, incompatibilities related to medications, his medical history... In that point is where the goal of this Master Thesis is focused: Develop an application that allows to any patient and their families take out the relevant information about the health status in their mobile devices. The application is able to work even in environments where there is no mobile network and provides the necessary security to ensure that their patients data are safe.


Akerlof and Kranton (2002) model the effects of student identity on achievement. They argue that students have identities that determine the effort expended on learning. Academic achievement within a school depends on the match between student identities and academic and disciplinary standards. This commentary critiques Akerlof and Kranton's model because they assume that schools always seek to maximize student learning, which leads to misleading conclusions about school reform in general.


This paper presents a new algorithm for detecting and analyzing the periodic motions in video sequences. Different from the previous methods which detect periodic motions from the entire frame, we propose a convex-hull-based process to automatically determine the regions of interest (ROI) of the motions and utilize an ROI-based similarity measure to detect the motion periods. Furthermore, we also propose an extrema-based method to select the optimal reference frame for further improving the periodic detection performance. Our proposed algorithm can not only effectively detect motion periods with both constant and variable period lengths, but also have obvious advantage when handling periodic motion with slight movements. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of two amphetamine class screening reagents to exclude ephedrine (EPH), pseudoephedrine (PSEPH), and phenylpropanolamine (PPA) from falsely producing positive immunoassay screening results. The study also sought to characterize the prevalence and concentration distributions of EPH, PSEPH, and PPA in samples that produced positive amphetamine screening results. Approximately 27,400 randomly collected human urine samples from Navy and Marine Corps members were simultaneously screened for amphetamines using the DRI and Abuscreen online immunoassays at a cutoff concentration of 500 ng/mL. All samples that screened positive were confirmed for amphetamine (AMP), methamphetamine (MTH), 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), EPH, PSEPH, and PPA by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The DRI AMP immunoassay identified 1,104 presumptive amphetamine positive samples, of which only 1.99% confirmed positive for the presence of AMP, MTH, MDA, or MDMA. In contrast, the online AMP reagent identified 317 presumptive amphetamine positives with a confirmation rate for AMP, MTH, MDA, or MDMA of 7.94%. The presence of EPH, PSEPH, or PPA was confirmed in 833 of the 1,104 samples that failed to confirm positive for AMP, MTH, MDA, or MDMA; all of the 833 samples contained PSEPH. When compared to the entire screened sample set, PSEPH was present in approximately 3%, EPH in 0.9%, and PPA in 0.8% of the samples. The results indicate that cross reactivities for EPH, PSEPH, and PPA are greater than reported by the manufacturer of these reagents. The distribution of concentrations indicates that very large concentrations of EPH, PSEPH, and PPA are common.


There has been a great deal of concern about the rising rates of suicide in Northern Ireland. To date, the discussion has tended to focus on suicide among men, with little consideration given to suicide among women. This lack of attention is concerning as studies suggest there are important gender differences in suicidal behaviour. The aim of this presentation is to address this gap in our understanding by placing the female gender as a central factor in our analysis.

The presentation delivers findings in three parts: (i) those from a literature review to provide a broad overview of what is currently known about the issue of women and suicide; (ii) those from an analysis of data relating to a cohort of 78 female suicides that took place in Northern Ireland over a two year period, to provide an overview of the help seeking undertaken by these women prior to their death and the type of issues implicated in their suicides. The data were drawn from GP and Coroner records; and, (iii) those from a qualitative analysis of 16 interviews with relatives of women who died, using their views to suggest how services might develop supportive interventions that are best suited to the local setting.


The aim of this study is to provide a general descriptive account of trends over time from 1990 to 2009 for motorcycle crashes in South Australia. This is achieved through a comparison of age groups for total motorcycle crashes, single and multiple vehicles crashes, metropolitan and non-metropolitan high and low speed area crashes, and gender of the motorcyclist. Police-reported crash data (Traffic Accident Reporting System TARS) allowed a general exploratory account of motorcycle crashes in South Australia from 1990 to 2009. Crash frequencies are tabulated with particular reference to (a) different ages of motorcyclist, (b) the metropolitan versus non-metropolitan distinction, (c) single and multiple vehicle crashes, and (d) gender of motorcyclist. Each analysis showed a similar trend in crash frequency for age groups, with younger riders (16-29yrs) declining in crash frequency, the intermediate age group (30-39yrs) consistent in frequency over time, and the older age group (40yrs and above) increasing in crash frequency per year, particularly in recent years. Changes in the trends between age groups for crash frequency over time suggest that there is a shift in motorcycle use for the older and younger age groups in recent years. Further research needs to be directed to economic, social and motivational differences between the various age groups of motorcyclists.


Banana are plant that bear fruit only once in its life cycle. Farmer usually replace with a new banana plant to maximize land or planting cycle, without managing to take advantage of the waste. Peat soil is a slow process of decomposition, has a low pH (acid), the poor in a number of nutrient both macro and micro, so that the plant growth is inhibited by using the peat medium, it is necessary to look for an alternative method in order to get a good seedling medium. This study aimed to determine the best dosage for seedling growth Jabon ( Anthocephalus cadamba Miq.). This study used a completely randomized design (CRD), consisting of 4 treatments and 10 replications. T0= without giving compost banana trunk; T1=125g/polybag; T2=250g/polybag; T3=375g/polybag. The result showed that administration of a dose of compost banana trunk 375g/polybag on peat medium was the best treatment in the observation parameters, height gain (4.80 cm), the increase in diameter (3.21 mm), seedling dry weight (23.25 g), the ratio ofthe root crown (2.44 g). Keywords : compost, banana trunk , Anthocephalus cadamba Miq ., peat medium


ABSTRACT Ethnofederalism has been contested as a solution for diverse societies as seen recently in Nepal (where federalism has been accepted, but the design and number of units remains heavily contested) and Myanmar (where ethnic minority demands for increasing federalization have had to take a back seat to the demands for increasing democracy). It remains a heavily contested subject in Sri Lanka. Concerns are expressed that ethnofederalism will increase pressures for secession and/or lead to increased violence through increasing a sense of separateness of the people living within that territory, providing resources for political entrepreneurs to mobilize groups against the center and will lead to the persecution of minorities within the ethnofederal units. India is an example of a federation that appears to demonstrate that ethnofederalism decreases rather than increases conflict through its successful reorganization of states along linguistic lines. However, a group-level analysis reveals a more diverse picture. India has simultaneously been both a success and a failure at conflict management.


While attention has been given to the uses of big data by network operators and to the provision of open data by governments, there has been no systematic attempt to re-examine the regulatory systems for telecommunications. The power of public authorities to access the big data held by operators could transform regulation by simplifying proof of bias or discrimination, making operators more susceptible to behavioural remedies, while it could also be used to deliver much finer granularity of decision making. By opening up data held by government and its agencies to enterprises, think tanks and research groups it should be possible to transform market regulation.


The analysis examines the origins and implementation of the Greek diplomatic initiative for multilateral co-operation amongst the Balkan states in the aftermath of the Helsinki Act of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Notwithstanding pressing domestic and security concerns, détente and, in particular, the spirit of the CSCE process significantly influenced Greek Prime Minister Constantinos Karamanlis' decision to instigate Balkan co-operation on a multilateral and not just on a bilateral level. The "Helsinki spirit" opened a window of opportunity for regional Powers from different blocs to come together. Despite its limited results, the political significance of the Athens Conference lay in the fact that it took place at all in view of Cold War realities and inter-Balkan rivalries.


Groundwater flow is one of the most important factors for the design of a ground heat exchanger (GHEX) since the thermal environment of the ground around the buried GHEX is significantly affected by heat convection due to the groundwater flow. Several preceding studies have been conducted to develop analytical solutions to the heat transfer model of GHEX with consideration of groundwater flow. One of these solutions is the combined heat transfer model of conduction and convection. However, the developed combined analytical models are inapplicable to all of the configurations of ordinary GHEXs because these solutions assume that the inner part of the borehole is thermally inert or consists of the same material as that of the surrounding ground. In this paper, the applicability of the combined solid cylindrical heat source model, which is the most suitable to energy piles until now, was evaluated by performing a series of numerical analyses. In the numerical analysis, the inner part of the borehole was modeled as two different materials ( i.e. , permeable ground formation and impermeable fill such as concrete) to evaluate applicability of the analytical solution along with different diameter-length (D/L) ratios of borehole. In a small value of the D/L ratio, the analytical solution to the combined heat transfer model is in good agreement with the result of numerical analysis. On the other hand, when increasing the D/L ratio, the analytical solution significantly overestimates the effect of groundwater flow on the heat transfer of GHEXs because the analytical solution disregards the existence of the impermeable region in the borehole. Consequently, such tendency is more critical in the GHEX with a large D/L ratio such as large-diameter energy piles.


Some dialogue among these specialists, especially between biblical scholars and philosophers of religion, is unquestionably long overdue. (Stump 1985:1) Over the last few decades, there has been an increased concern for the establishment of more sustained interdisciplinary dialogue between biblical scholars and philosophers of religion. In this article, aimed at biblical scholars, the author as biblical scholar offers a descriptive and historical overview of some samples of recourse to the Hebrew Bible in philosophical approaches in the study of religion. The aim is to provide a brief glimpse of how some representative philosophers from both the analytic and continental sides of the methodological divide have related to the biblical traditions in the quest for a contemporary relevant Christian philosophy of religion.


We studied the larger (>1000 µm) size fraction of zooplankton in an Arctic coastal water community in Billefjorden, Svalbard (78°40' N), Norway, in order to describe seasonal ver- tical distributions of the dominant taxa in relation to environmental variability. Calanus spp. numerically dominated the herbivores; Aglantha digitale, Mertensia ovum, Beroe cucumis, and Parasagitta elegans were the dominant carnivores. Omnivores and detritivores were numerically less important. Descent to deeper regions of the water column (>100 m) between August and October, and ascent to the shallower region (<100 m) between November and May was the overall seasonal pattern in this zooplankton community. In contrast to other groups, P. elegans did not exhibit pronounced vertical migrations. Seasonal vertical distributions of most species showed statistical associations with the availability of their main food source. The vertical distribution of later developmental stages of Calanus spp. was inversely associated with fluorescence, indicating that they descended from the shallower region while it was still relatively productive, and ascended before the primary production had started to increase. Strong associations between the vertical distributions of secondary consumer M. ovum and Calanus spp., and tertiary consumer B. cucumis and M. ovum indicated that these carnivores seasonally followed their prey through the water column. We conclude that seasonal vertical migrations are a widespread trait in the high Arctic community studied, and predatorprey interactions seem particularly central in shaping the associations between the seasonal vertical strategies of adjacent trophic levels.


This paper describes a method for the patterned immobilization of capture antibodies into a microfluidic platform fabricated by roll-to-roll (R2R) hot embossing on poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). Covalent attachment of antibodies was achieved by two sequential inkjet printing steps. First, a polyethyleneimine (PEI) layer was deposited onto oxygen plasma activated PMMA foil and further cross-linked with glutaraldehyde (GA) to provide an amine-reactive aldehyde surface (PEI-GA). This step was followed by a second deposition of antibody by overprinting on the PEI-GA patterned PMMA foil. The PEI polymer ink was first formulated to ensure stable drop formation in inkjet printing and the printed films were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Anti-CRP antibody was patterned on PMMA foil by the developed method and bonded permanently with R2R hot embossed PMMA microchannels by solvent bonding lamination. The functionality of the immobilized antibody inside the microfluidic channel was evaluated by fluorescence-based sandwich immunoassay for detection of C-reactive protein (CRP). The antibody-antigen assay exhibited a good level of linearity over the range of 10 ng/ml to 500 ng/ml (R2 = 0.991) with a calculated detection limit of 5.2 ng/ml. The developed patterning method is straightforward, rapid and provides a versatile approach for creating multiple protein patterns in a single microfluidic channel for multiplexed immunoassays.


Recently, polymeric multimode optical waveguides have been widely studied for low-cost interconnection use. We describe fabrication processes for a low-loss poly(methyl methacrylate) (less than 0.1 dB/cm at 675 nm) waveguide based on the reactive-ion-etching technique and for a slope (45 degrees mirror face) formed on the waveguide. To obtain a ridge core with a crack-free and extremely smooth surface, we applied a heating process at a temperature greater than the glass transition point and a smoothening process by solvent. Furthermore, to fabricate simultaneously both vertical and sloped sidewalls, we applied a unique phenomenon in the process that decreases the etching rate directly under a narrow opening of etching mask. By using the above fabrication techniques, we demonstrated an out-of-plane branching mirror.


Dental pulp is known to be an accessible and important source of multipotent mesenchymal progenitor cells termed dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). DPSCs can differentiate into odontoblast-like cells and maintain pulp homeostasis by the formation of new dentin which protects the underlying pulp. DPSCs similar to other mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) reside in a niche, a complex microenvironment consisting of an extracellular matrix, other local cell types and biochemical stimuli that influence the decision between stem cell (SC) self-renewal and differentiation. In addition to biochemical factors, mechanical factors are increasingly recognized as key regulators in DPSC behavior and function. Thus, microenvironments can significantly influence the role and differentiation of DPSCs through a combination of factors which are biochemical, biomechanical and biophysical in nature. Under in vitro conditions, it has been shown that DPSCs are sensitive to different types of force, such as uniaxial mechanical stretch, cyclic tensile strain, pulsating fluid flow, low-intensity pulsed ultrasound as well as being responsive to biomechanical cues presented in the form of micro-and nano-scale surface topographies. To understand how DPSCs sense and respond to the mechanics of their microenvironments, it is essential to determine how these cells convert mechanical and physical stimuli into function, including lineage specification. This review therefore covers some aspects of DPSC mechanoresponsivity with an emphasis on the factors that influence their behavior. An in-depth understanding of the physical environment that influence DPSC fate is necessary to improve the outcome of their therapeutic application for tissue regeneration.


Current atmospheric models do not include secondary organic aerosol (SOA) production from gas-phase reactions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Recent studies have shown that primary emissions undergo oxidation in the gas phase, leading to SOA formation. This opens the possibility that low-volatility gas-phase precursors are a potentially large source of SOA. In this work, SOA formation from gas-phase photooxidation of naphtha-lene, 1-methylnaphthalene (1-MN), 2-methylnaphthalene (2-MN), and 1,2-dimethylnaphthalene (1,2-DMN) is studied in the Caltech dual 28-m 3 chambers. Under high-NO x conditions and aerosol mass loadings between 10 and 40 µg m −3 , the SOA yields (mass of SOA per mass of hydrocarbon reacted) ranged from 0.19 to 0.30 for naphthalene, 0.19 to 0.39 for 1-MN, 0.26 to 0.45 for 2-MN, and constant at 0.31 for 1,2-DMN. Under low-NO x conditions, the SOA yields were measured to be 0.73, 0.68, and 0.58, for naphthalene, 1-MN, and 2-MN, respectively. The SOA was observed to be semivolatile under high-NO x conditions and essentially non-volatile under low-NO x conditions, owing to the higher fraction of ring-retaining products formed under low-NO x conditions. When applying these measured yields to estimate SOA formation from primary emissions of diesel engines and wood burning, PAHs are estimated to yield 3–5 times more SOA than light aromatic compounds over photooxida-tion timescales of less than 12 h. PAHs can also account for up to 54% of the total SOA from oxidation of diesel emissions , representing a potentially large source of urban SOA.


This study aims to how level for the  factors of production in non former-farmers in the Senama Nenek  village  from  the  aspects  of  technical  efficiency,  allocative  efficiency  and  economic efficiency. The samples were calculated using purposive sampling is done by taking as many as 40 non former-farmers. Data were analyzed using two functions, the Cobb-Douglas production function  and  frontier  Cobb-Douglas. Cobb-Douglas  used  see  whether  there  is  the  classical assumptions. Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier as an approach based on the consideration for the measurement of technical efficiency, allocative and economical by using the approach in terms of input and output are integrated. Factors affecting the production of palm oil by the method of Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) is urea, KCl, SP36, and Dolomite. Factors affecting the level of palm oil production inefficiencies are aged farmer, aged Palm Oil. Oil palm plantation businesses are efficient in the use of a combination of factors of production, but not allocative efficient, and economical. Keywords:  Technical , allocative, Economic


The present methods of teaching about evolution have resulted in a distorted understanding of science. This is reflected in the terminology used to expound supposed evolutionary events. These terms do not describe structure/function observations, but rather implied changes among non-observable progenic relationships. Presented below are representative samplings of the evolutionary terminology which is commonly used in children's, popular, college, and scientific sources. The teaching of the scientific method and its resultant structure/function terminology is confused because of these evolutionary terms. It is imperative that this be corrected if science is to maintain and even regain its power as an objective investigative tool.


The recommended level for serum 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in infants, children, adolescents and during pregnancy and lactation is ≥ 50 nmol/L. This level may need to be 10–20 nmol/L higher at the end of summer to maintain levels ≥ 50 nmol/L over winter and spring. Sunlight is the most important source of vitamin D. The US recommended dietary allowance for vitamin D is 600 IU daily in children aged over 12 months and during pregnancy and lactation, assuming minimal sun exposure. Risk factors for low vitamin D are: lack of skin exposure to sunlight, dark skin, southerly latitude, conditions affecting vitamin D metabolism and storage (including obesity) and, for infants, being born to a mother with low vitamin D and exclusive breastfeeding combined with at least one other risk factor. Targeted measurement of 25(OH)D levels is recommended for infants, children and adolescents with at least one risk factor for low vitamin D and for pregnant women with at least one risk factor for low vitamin D at the first antenatal visit. Vitamin D deficiency can be treated with daily low‐dose vitamin D supplements, although barriers to adherence have been identified. High‐dose intermittent vitamin D can be used in children and adolescents. Treatment should be paired with health education and advice about sensible sun exposure. Infants at risk of low vitamin D should be supplemented with 400 IU vitamin D3 daily for at least the first year of life. There is increasing evidence of an association between low vitamin D and a range of non‐bone health outcomes, however there is a lack of data from robust randomised controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation.


Biochemical composition appears to be influenced by both genetic factors and plant growth conditions. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the biochemical composition of selected Ruiru 11 sibs and its relationship with cup quality. Thirty four (34) Ruiru 11 sibs grown in three different locations in Kenya were used in this study. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Coffee cherries were picked during the peak harvesting period between 2009 and 2011. The cherries were wet processed and graded into different grades based on size, shape and density. Fifty (50) grams of the dry coffee beans per sib per replication were frozen at -80 oC before grinding (< 0.5 mm particle size) in liquid nitrogen as specified by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). The samples were packed in small plastic bottles and stored at -80 oC awaiting extraction of biochemical components. Caffeine, trigonelline and total chlorogenic acids were extracted and purified using classical methods and analysed using High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). For the lipids, the sample was subjected to Soxhlet extraction using n-hexane. The study demonstrated the existence of high variation in biochemical composition among Ruiru 11 sibs. Significant correlations were observed between biochemical and cup quality traits indicating that biochemical composition plays a major role in determining the sensory quality of coffee. The growing environment was also found to have an effect on biochemical composition as portrayed by high locational variations.


Modern advocates of corporate self-regulation have drawn unlikely inspiration from the Middle Ages. On the traditional view of history, medieval merchants who wandered from fair to fair were not governed by domestic laws, but by their own lex mercatoria, or "law merchant." This law, which uniformly regulated commerce across Europe, was supposedly produced by an autonomous merchant class, interpreted in private courts, and enforced through private sanctions rather than state coercion. Contemporary writers have treated global corporations as descendants of these itinerant traders, urging them to replace conflicting national laws with a transnational law of their own creation. The standard history has been accepted by legal scholars across the ideological spectrum, by economists and political scientists, and by those drafting new regimes to govern Internet commerce. This Article argues that the traditional view is deeply flawed. Returning to the original sources - especially the court rolls of the fair of St. Ives, the most extensive surviving records of the period - it demonstrates that merchants in medieval England were substantially subject to local control. Commercial customs and substantive laws varied significantly across towns and fairs, and did not constitute a coherent legal order. The traditional interpretation has been retained, not for its accuracy, but for ideological reasons and for its long and self-reinforcing pedigree. This Article takes no position on the merits of shielding multinational actors from domestic law; it merely denies that the Middle Ages provide a model for such policies.


We studied the neurologic complications after carotid endarterectomy to develop recommendations for prevention. From 1973 through June 1981, 195 carotid endarterectomies were performed on 184 patients. Carotid endarterectomy was performed using general anesthesia with routine use of a Javid shunt. There were no postoperative deaths. Three major, disabling strokes (1.5%) and four (2%) minor, permanent neurologic deficits occurred. The neurologic deficits were analyzed according to cause: (1) inadequate cranial inflow in four patients, (2) fluctuation in blood pressure requiring treatment in one third (61) of our patients, and (3) embolic complications, usually a single, transient ischemic episode, in 17 patients during the first postoperative week. This was not observed in patients receiving postoperative antiplatelet therapy. Inadequate collateral cerebral inflow accounts for most permanent postoperative neurologic deficits. Postoperative hypotension is now more dangerous than hypertension. Postoperative embolization is largely preventable with antiplatelet agents.


Visual attributes play an essential role in real applications based on image retrieval. For instance, the extraction of attributes from images allows an eCommerce search engine to produce retrieval results with higher precision. The traditional manner to build an attribute extractor is by training a convnet-based classifier with a fixed number of classes. However, this approach does not scale for real applications where the number of attributes changes frequently. Therefore in this work, we propose an approach for extracting visual attributes from images, leveraging the learned capability of the hidden layers of a general convolutional network to discriminate among different visual features. We run experiments with a resnet-50 trained on Imagenet, on which we evaluate the output of its different blocks to discriminate between colors and textures. Our results show that the second block of the resnet is appropriate for discriminating colors, while the fourth block can be used for textures. In both cases, the achieved accuracy of attribute classification is superior to 93%. We also show that the proposed embeddings form local structures in the underlying feature space, which makes it possible to apply reduction techniques like UMAP, maintaining high accuracy and widely reducing the size of the feature space.


In light of the Google-China conflict, this article discusses the issue of Internet sovereignty and, in particular, draws attentions to the various sources of regime legitimacy that undergird the Chinese government's claim to Internet sovereignty. By building and promoting state legitimacy in economy, nationalism, ideology, culture, and governance, Beijing has been arguably successful in gaining popular compliance and cementing its political rule despite grassroots challenges. In the foreseeable future, China's Internet policies will continue to reflect an Internet development and regulatory model - authoritarian informationalism - that combines elements of capitalism, authoritarianism, and Confucianism. Engagement with the regime's cyber policies and its Internet users needs to recognize not only the demand to tear down the Great Firewall, but also the larger Chinese populace's aspiration for economic growth, social stability as well as greater transparency, accountability, and freedom.


Corn (Zea mays L.) grown under a Mediterranean semiarid climate requires supplemental irrigation to maximize the grain yield. Since the cost of irrigation application has been increasing, elimination of unnecessary irrigation applications would improve economics of corn production. There has been much interest in the crop water stress index (CWSI) as a potential tool for irrigation scheduling and yield estimation. An experiment was conducted to monitor and quantify water stress, and to develop parameters for irrigation scheduling and grain yield of summer-grown corn as a function of CWSI under Mediterranean semiarid cropping conditions. Three irrigation treatments were based on replenishing the 0.9-m deep root zone to field capacity when the soil water level dropped to 25, 50, and 75% of available water holding capacity (AWHC). A dryland treatment was also included. The lower (nonstressed) and upper (stressed) baselines were measured to calculate CWSI. An equation that can be used to calculate the yield potential of summer-grown corn under a Mediterranean climate was developed using the relationship between the corn grain yield and the seasonal mean CWSI. Permitting the seasonal average CWSI value to exceed more than 0.22 resulted in decreased corn grain yield. The CWSI behaved as expected, dropping to near zero following an irrigation and increasing gradually as corn plants depleted soil water reserves. We concluded that CWSI is a useful tool to monitor and quantify the water stress of corn under a Mediterranean climate.


The oceanic sound scattering layer (SL) is an ubiquitous acoustic signature of meso- pelagic fishes and invertebrates that are important food sources for the oceanic macrofauna and players in the biological carbon pump. We investigated the relationship between SL migration amplitude and light in the Norwegian Sea. Incoming surface irradiance was measured continu- ously during night and day. The increasing latitude of the cruise track facilitated a field experi- ment wherein night light increased 2 to 3 orders of magnitude during the study period. Concur- rent with increased night light, the diel vertical migration amplitude of the SL decreased several hundred meters. The variations in irradiance at the sea surface spanned 6 orders of magnitude during the study period, while the ambient irradiance of the SL mean depth was relatively con- stant during both day- and nighttime. For the deepest penetrating wavelength (486 nm), the average ambient light was estimated to be 2 × 10 �6 mW m �2 nm �1 , which corresponded to a total irradiance of 1.9 × 10 �7 µmol quanta m �2 s �1 . The observed variation in migration amplitude is consistent with a behavior whereby the SL organisms keep their ambient light intensities within a particular range. We also observed that SL total backscattering, a proxy for biomass, decreased along with the decrease in migration amplitude. We speculate whether this decrease might, in part, relate to a previously proposed 'photoperiod constraint hypothesis' suggesting that high night light intensities in summer at high latitudes limit options for safe foraging in upper layers at night.


Hilbert space frames have long served as a valuable tool for signal and image processing due to their resilience to additive noise, quantization, and erasures, as well as their ability to capture valuable signal characteristics. More recently, finite frame theory has grown into an important research topic in its own right, with a myriad of applications to pure and applied mathematics, engineering, computer science, and other areas. The number of research publications, conferences, and workshops on this topic has increased dramatically over the past few years, but no survey paper or monograph has yet appeared on the subject. Edited by two of the leading experts in the field, Finite Frames aims to fill this void in the literature by providing a comprehensive, systematic study of finite frame theory and applications. With carefully selected contributions written by highly experienced researchers, it covers topics including: * Finite Frame Constructions; * Optimal Erasure Resilient Frames; * Quantization of Finite Frames; * Finite Frames and Compressed Sensing; * Group and Gabor Frames; * Fusion Frames. Despite the variety of its chapters' source and content, the book's notation and terminology are unified throughout and provide a definitive picture of the current state of frame theory. With a broad range of applications and a clear, full presentation, this book is a highly valuable resource for graduate students and researchers across disciplines such as applied harmonic analysis, electrical engineering, quantum computing, medicine, and more. It is designed to be used as a supplemental textbook, self-study guide, or reference book.


The purpose of "Atlanta Metropolitics" is to further the processes of metropolitan reform in the areas of regional land use planning, regional equity, and regional structural reform. Through its analysis of the progressive and detrimental effects of metropolitan polarization on people and communities, it is designed to provide more evidence regarding the necessity of reform for the traditional advocates of land use, housing, fiscal and governmental reform. These groups are generally environmentalists, good government advocates, academics - particularly economists - and that part of the business community engaged and concerned about the future stability of the region in which they operate. This report is also designed to bring into the debate new and decisively important participants: elected officials and constituency groups representing communities with high social and infrastructure needs and few property tax-base resources. It is for these communities that the dangers of regional polarization are the most apparent and fundamental. It is these communities that can bring significant new political power to the issue. It was these communities who, in Minnesota, created the regional majority to enact major reform. It is also the purpose of this report to educate people who care about urban poverty issues about regional sprawl and transportation issues, and to educate everyone who is interested in equity and sustainability in the Atlanta region about how these issues are invariably connected. Across the nation, social-equity groups representing the poor living in older communities and environmental groups wishing to protect land and water from development pressure are beginning to coalesce around a regional agenda. Increasingly, these groups sense a common connection to their individual struggles against the growing waves of chaos that overwhelm their efforts. As they develop a common language and agenda, the potential for broad-based, regional action increases.


Child protection systems are expected to scrutinize the care offered to children and to coordinate the provision of improved quality of care. They are under stress in many developed countries with burgeoning caseloads and a mixture of positive and negative outcomes. Because child protection systems seek to change the course of parenting, they can be thought of as highly formalised regulatory systems that cut across one of our most entrenched informal systems, how parents raise children. This paper asks whether the stress experienced by child protection workers, support agencies and families alike is associated in part with failures to satisfactorily address three basic regulatory principles: identifying the purposes of the intervention; justifying the intervention in a way that is respectful of broader principles of democratic governance; and understanding how the informal regulatory system intersects with the formal child protection system. Child protection interventions are plagued by multiple purposes that are not necessarily compatible; non-transparent processes; and high risk of counter-productive outcomes.


COVID-19 has forced many universities across the globe to implement emergency remote teaching as a preventative measure. Many faculty staff members were not adequately equipped with knowledge and skills of facilitating remote teaching. This made the establishment of social, cognitive and teacher presences difficult for them. The purpose of this study is to examine ways in which certified online instructors established social, cognitive and teacher presences during emergency remote teaching at a university in the United Arab Emirates. The study is guided by one critical question: How did certified online instructors establish social, cognitive and teacher presences in their online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic? The study adopted a qualitative case study within an interpretivist paradigm. Two certified online instructors were purposely selected to reflect on their experiences in establishing social, cognitive and teaching presences in their remote classes. It was found that students' engagement, critical thinking and self-directed learning and continual engagement play an indispensable role in students' remote learning. The study concludes that the establishment of the three components of a community of inquiry enhance students' learning experiences and allow instructors to cater for the diverse learning needs of all students in an online community. © 2021 by the authors;licensee CEDTECH by Bastas.


New treatment regimens in HIV management have led to the rapid growth in the numbers of People living with HIV (PLWHIV). Disclosure rates among this group remains low which limits their ability to access necessary support resulting in early progression to death and increased risk of infection and low uptake of protection among sexual partners. Understanding the predictors of sero-positive disclosure to sexual partners can be a step toward devising targeted strategies aimed at promoting HIV testing and disclosure thus enhancing HIV prevention and risk reduction efforts.  This study was a descriptive survey involving 232 PLWHIV drawn from HIV support groups in the area selected through non-proportionate systematic random sampling. Multiple logistic regression and Chi-square tests were used to establish the predictors and relationships of self disclosure of seropositive status by PLWHIV to sexual partners. Data was collected using interviewer administered questionnaires, key informant interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Quantitative data was analyzed generating descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis with the use of verbatim quotes to highlight the respondents' voices. Study results showed that the general HIV disclosure rates were high (92.2%), but only 50.5% had disclosed to a sexual partner. Consistent disclosure to all sexual partners was low (29%) and this was mainly involved regular partners. Generally, PLWHIV had a positive perception of HIV self disclosure. Results point to high levels of anticipated stigma and discrimination from all support structures by PLWHIV. However, only 48% of PLWHIV recorded high levels of enacted stigma and discrimination. It was concluded that PLWHIV anticipated high levels of enacted stigma and discrimination from their social networks after disclosure. This acted as a barrier to HIV self disclosure. However, these fears did not translate into high levels of actual enacted stigma and discrimination. The study recommended that initiating income generating activities for the PLWHIV, consistent training and counseling on the management of self stigma and promotion of strategies of living positively with the disease can promote    effective self disclosure of sero-positive status to sexual partners. Key W ords: HIV self-disclosure, Support Groups, Seropositive adults


Compositional data naturally arises from the scientific analysis of the chemical
composition of archaeological material such as ceramic and glass artefacts. Data of this
type can be explored using a variety of techniques, from standard multivariate methods
such as principal components analysis and cluster analysis, to methods based upon the
use of log-ratios. The general aim is to identify groups of chemically similar artefacts
that could potentially be used to answer questions of provenance.
This paper will demonstrate work in progress on the development of a documented
library of methods, implemented using the statistical package R, for the analysis of
compositional data. R is an open source package that makes available very powerful
statistical facilities at no cost. We aim to show how, with the aid of statistical software
such as R, traditional exploratory multivariate analysis can easily be used alongside, or
in combination with, specialist techniques of compositional data analysis.
The library has been developed from a core of basic R functionality, together with
purpose-written routines arising from our own research (for example that reported at
CoDaWork'03). In addition, we have included other appropriate publicly available
techniques and libraries that have been implemented in R by other authors. Available
functions range from standard multivariate techniques through to various approaches to
log-ratio analysis and zero replacement. We also discuss and demonstrate a small
selection of relatively new techniques that have hitherto been little-used in
archaeometric applications involving compositional data. The application of the library
to the analysis of data arising in archaeometry will be demonstrated; results from
different analyses will be compared; and the utility of the various methods discussed


In 2002, young Fadime Sahindal was brutally murdered by her own father. She belonged to a family of Kurdish immigrants who had lived in Sweden for almost two decades. But Fadime's relationship with a man outside of their community had deeply dishonored her family, and only her death could remove the stain. This abhorrent crime shocked the world, and her name soon became a rallying cry in the struggle to combat so-called honor killings.Unni Wikan narrates Fadime's heartbreaking story through her own eloquent words, along with the testimonies of her father, mother, and two sisters. What unfolds is a tale of courage and betrayal, loyalty and love, power and humiliation, and a nearly unfathomable clash of cultures. Despite enduring years of threats over her emancipated life, Fadime advocated compassion for her killers to the end, believing them to be trapped by an unyielding code of honor. Wikan puts this shocking event in context by analyzing similar honor killings, which are increasing throughout Europe and have now been reported in Canada and the United States. She also examines the concept of honor in historical and cross-cultural depth, concluding that Islam itself is not to blame - indeed, honor killings occur across religious and ethnic traditions - but rather the way that many cultures have resolutely linked honor with violence."In Honor of Fadime" holds profound and timely insights into Islamic culture, but ultimately the heart of this powerful book is Fadime's courageous and tragic story - and Wikan's telling of it is riveting.


The Eulerian Video Amplification algorithm developed at MIT allows for amplification of very small changes in seemingly static video scenes. The algorithm helps visualize these small changes by amplifying them to pull out signals of interest, such as the human pulse and the motion of hot air. This algorithm is computationally intensive and, as is, is difficult to run in real-time as a serially executed program. Our project is to design a parallel processing circuit that allows the algorithm to be calculated in hardware in order to magnify these small changes in real time. This will be done by using a highly parallel circuit for computing a Gaussian Pyramid Reduction calculation. The main advantage of a hardware solution is that we can exploit parallelism in order to calculate multiple parts of the algorithm at once, rather than having to perform thousands of calculations in sequence. Unlike previously attempts to develop software methods make to run the algorithm run in real-time, a highly parallel hardware solution allows us to not only run faster, but also save all the intermediate calculations thereby allowing better detection and amplification. The circuit is built to intake a frame of 32 x 32 pixels, and undergo 5 reductions before producing a single reduced pixel that is used in the amplification calculation. Due to multiple issues we had using Cadence we were able to simulate, but not synthesize our Verilog blocks. Unfortunately we could not obtain any timing diagrams or test bench results but, assuming a clock speed of 16MHz and the worst case scenario where only 1 calculation is performed per cycle, the total time from inputting a 32 x 32 frame to receiving an amplified frame out is about .00477 seconds. Since most cameras record at a rate of 60Hz, which equates to .0167 seconds per frame, we are well within the margins needed to be considered "real time" because we can calculate the amplified frame about 3 times faster than the camera can record. Unfortunately, doubling the size of a side of each frame increases computation time nearly 4 fold. This means that, assuming a lock speed of 16MHz and worst case scenario computation time, our circuit could not longer perform in real time if the frame size was increased to 64 x 64 pixels.


There are scenarios in which an IP multicast tree traverses an MPLS
domain. In these scenarios, it can be desirable to convert the IP
multicast tree "seamlessly" to an MPLS multipoint label switched path
(MP-LSP) when it enters the MPLS domain, and then to convert it back
to an IP multicast tree when it exits the MPLS domain. Previous
documents specify procedures that allow certain kinds of IP multicast
trees (either "Source-Specific Multicast" trees or "Bidirectional
Multicast" trees) to be attached to an MPLS Multipoint Label Switched
Path (MP-LSP). However, the previous documents do not specify
procedures for attaching IP "Any Source Multicast" trees to MP-LSPs,
nor do they specify procedures for aggregating multiple IP multicast
trees onto a single MP-LSP. This document specifies the procedures to
support these functions. It does so by defining "wildcard" encodings
that make it possible to specify, when setting up an MP- LSP, that a
set of IP multicast trees, or a shared IP multicast tree, should be
attached to that MP-LSP. Support for non-bidirectional IP "Any Source
Multicast" trees is subject to certain applicability restrictions that
are discussed in this document.


UNESCO biosphere reserves are regions that resemble protected areas, but go far beyond mere protection. Their target is to balance nature conservation with socio-economic development and poverty alleviation. This manual gives guidance to managers, their key partners and stakeholders on this central issue of UNESCO biosphere reserves: why and how to work with local communities. This manual focuses on practical aspects such as how to address and manage local conflicts between stakeholders as well as on co-management with local communities and benefit-sharing. In addition, it aims at promoting up-to-date terminology and methodology of the diverse biosphere reserves on the African continent and to support their networking. This manual also explains the uniqueness of biosphere reserves as being designated by UNESCO according to binding global criteria.


Number of consumer rights violations carried out by Businessmen were very harmful to consumers. In this case, the bargaining power between consumers and businesses were often not balanced, whwre consumers in a week position. Consumers became the object of business activities to reap maximum profit by the business comunity. The main factor which contributed toward this weakness was the level of consumers awwereness of their rights remained low. If
their rights were ignored, the consumers could not do anything about it because he did not know and did not realize. If they recognized it, they not understand how the complaints procedures and the prosecution of his rights being violated.
The statement od the problems in this study were: 1 ) How does the consumer protection agency strategy govermental organizations in protecting consumers rights in Batu, 2) What are the supporting factors and obstacles in the implementation of consumer protection in Batu. The
objectives of study were to 1) Discribe the strategy of the consumer protection agency govermental Organization ( LPKSM ) in protecting consumer rights in Batu, and 2) Understand
the supporting and inhibiting factors toward the implementation of consumer protection in Batu.
This study was qualitative research. Data analysis was performed by descriptive an triangulation.
The result showed that the implementation of program and strategies by the consumer protection agency govermental organizations ( LPKSM ) in Batu more or less providing a positive influence on business and consumer awareness about the importance of consumer protection. Programs and strategies undertaken by LPKSM included: 1) Program guidance and supervision of outstanding items to the strategy routine monitoring / supervision of regular and insidental; 2) Consumer education program with direct and indirect educations strategis;3) Consumers assistance program using strategy of conciliation, mediations and arbitration. So advised the goverment immediately seek the establishment of Batu Board Consumer Dispute Resolution in
order to smooth the consumer protection and advocacy activities of civil servant consumer protection investigator for investigation activities and problems of producers and consumers in Batu And , by the increase cooperation with LPKSM, the togetherness that has been formed would benefit the wider community to achieve a better Batu.


This dissertation provides an account of Zulu reduplication within the derivational framework of Distributed Morphology (DM). New Zulu data challenge the idea of reified domains like the D(erivational)-Stem and Macrostem as relevant constituents for reduplication (Downing 1997, Hyman, Inkelas, and Sibanda 2009). Instead, a crucial distinction is made between morphemes that fall within the scope of reduplication, and those that are outside of it. Reduplication is assumed to be an operation that copies segmental material to a bare disyllabic template, and only has indirect access to morphosyntactic structure through phonological operations. I claim that reduplication can take place as soon as the RED morpheme undergoes Vocabulary Insertion and Linearization, or at a later point in the derivation. Chapter 1 introduces the material, and chapter 2 presents an argument that the variation between the default Bantu verbal final vowel -a and the vowel from an extension suffix is related to the presence of two v heads in the structure. I show that the variation in the final vowel is absent with lexicalized causatives. Chapter 3 examines the behavior of prefixal material under reduplication, and proposes that the reduplication of prefixal material outside the scope of the RED morpheme is due to a process of local dislocation; this also explains the left-right asymmetry, or why the prefixal long form present marker -yais allowed to reduplicate but the suffixal long form perfect marker -ilcannot. Also included in Chapter 3 are data on negation that question the role of accidental syllabification in reduplication. In Chapter 4, I discuss three case studies that illustrate the advantages of the DM-approach. Chapter 5 focuses on the passive construction, though principally on nonreduplication phenomena. Instead, the main topic is the phonotactics of glides and palatals, and how to best account for the non-local palatalization rule that applies in the passive. Chapter 6 looks at tone, the differences between Zululand Zulu and Durban Zulu (Downing 2001), and the implications of reduplicating nonMacrostem prefixal morphemes for domains of tonal spreading. In Chapter 7, I present data from adjectival reduplication, which shows interesting similarities with the process of verbal reduplication. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Linguistics First Advisor David Embick


A 18 months old male child presented with left inguinal hernia. Diagnosis of Transverse Testicular Ectopia (TTE) was
confirmed by exploration during hernia repair. The TTE, also referred to as testicular pseudoduplication / transverse aberrant
testicular with mal-descent / Crossed Testicular Ectopia (CTE), is a rare but well known congenital anomaly, in which both
gonads migrate toward the same hemiscrotum. Usually, the correct diagnosis cannot be made before surgical exploration and
transseptal orchiopexy is recommended for the preservation of fertility. It is accompanied by inguinal hernia in 40-50 % of cases
and considered as Type 1 TTE. Patients with TTE are at increased risk of malignant transformation with the overall incidence
of malignant transformation of gonads approximately 18%. Association with embryonal carcinoma, seminoma, yolk sac tumor,
and teratoma were reported


ABSTRACT We report that CD47 was upregulated in different EMT-activated human breast cancer cells versus epithelial MCF7 cells. Overexpression of SNAI1 or ZEB1 in epithelial MCF7 cells activated EMT and upregulated CD47 while siRNA-mediated targeting of SNAI1 or ZEB1 in mesenchymal MDA-MB-231 cells reversed EMT and strongly decreased CD47. Mechanistically, SNAI1 and ZEB1 upregulated CD47 by binding directly to E-boxes in the human CD47 promoter. TCGA and METABRIC data sets from breast cancer patients revealed that CD47 correlated with SNAI1 and Vimentin. At functional level, different EMT-activated breast cancer cells were less efficiently phagocytosed by macrophages vs. MCF7 cells. The phagocytosis of EMT-activated cells was rescued by using CD47 blocking antibody or by genetic targeting of SNAI1, ZEB1 or CD47. These results provide a rationale for an innovative preclinical combination immunotherapy based on PD-1/PD-L1 and CD47 blockade along with EMT inhibitors in patients with highly aggressive, mesenchymal, and metastatic breast cancer.


We assessed geographic patterns of abundance of the isopod Excirolana braziliensis across its whole distribution range in the context of the abundant centre hypothesis (ACH). We also evaluated auxiliary hypotheses to the ACH involving habitat availability and suitability. We compiled species abundance and occurrence information on 139 Pacific and Atlantic sandy beaches of the Americas. Abundance patterns were contrasted against 5 hypo thetical distribution models. Habitat availability (sandy beach along the coast), and the role played by grain size on isopod abundance were analysed. Maximum entropy niche modelling based on primary production, salinity, water temperature and tidal range data was used to estimate trends in habitat suitability. E. braziliensis abundance peaked at the 2 edges of its range on the Atlantic coast and towards the centre of its range on the Pacific coast. Congruently, the niche model predicted very low habitat suitability at the centre of the species' range on the Atlantic coast. Primary production was the main contribution to the model (74.8%). The highest abundances were found in fine sediments (0.20 mm). Support for the ACH for E. braziliensis was found only for the Pacific coast, whereas habitat suitability and availability together with local in-beach morphodynamics accounted for deviations from ACH predictions in the Atlantic. The highest abundances registered in upwelling areas and on beaches with fine sands highlight the primary role played by regional and local conditions over geographic location.


The first Gulf War resulted in large-scale oil spills in Kuwait. Selection of appropriate soil remediation methods needs to be informed by accurate soil characterization and this knowledge is currently lacking. The aim of this PhD study was to obtain insights into the geochemical characteristics of the aged contaminated soils and, using this knowledge, to develop 3-D predictive models for spatial distribution of the contaminated soils and remediation strategies based on site-specific environmental risk assessment.
The soil-borne petroleum hydrocarbons were spatially variable. Most of lighter petroleum hydrocarbons in the oil lake area has already been emitted to atmosphere. Under desert climate conditions, downward migration of the spilled oil was limited due to a lack of rainfall. The downward moment of long-chain hydrocarbons tended to be slow because of their low mobility. The contamination depth was generally very shallow in the oil sludge pit due to the presence of a liner. The application of geostatistical interpolation techniques to the development of 3-D predictive models for the investigated sites suggests that this approach is appropriate for 3-D mapping of the soil-borne petroleum hydrocarbons.
There was no evidence to show that groundwater was contaminated in the investigated area. Long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons dominated the hydrocarbons in both the oil sludges and the contaminated soils. The pre-dominant presence of less toxic long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons means that the hazardousness of the contaminated soils is likely to be much lower than what was thought.
The findings obtained from this study have implications for developing cost-effective remediation strategies for the clean-up of the crude oil-contaminated soils. Multiple management and remediation strategies need to be developed and implemented in an integrated way. It may not be necessary to intensively treat the hydrocarbon fractions of insignificant toxicity in order to achieve cost-effective remediation goals.


Low-aspect-ratio wings having pointed plan forms are treated on the assumption that the flow potentials in planes at right angles to the long axis of the airfoils are similar to the corresponding two-dimensional potentials. For the limiting case of small angles of attack and low aspect ratios the theory brings out the following significant properties: (1) The lift of a slender, pointed airfoil moving in the direction of its long axis depends on the increase in width of the sections in a downstream direction. Sections behind the section of maximum width develop no lift. (2) The spanwise loading of such an airfoil is independent of the plan form and approaches the distribution giving a minimum induced drag. (3) The lift distribution of a pointed airfoil travelling point-foremost is relatively unaffected by the compressibility of the air below or above the speed of sound. A best of a triangular airfoil at a Mach number of 1.75 verified the theoretical values of lift and center of pressure.


Safety-critical devices, whether medical, automotive, or industrial, are increasingly dependent on the correct operation of sophisticated software. Many standards have appeared in the last decade on how such systems should be designed and built. Developers, who previously only had to know how to program devices for their industry, must now understand remarkably esoteric development practices and be prepared to justify their work to external auditors. Embedded Software Development for Safety-Critical Systems discusses the development of safety-critical systems under the following standards: IEC 61508; ISO 26262; EN 50128; and IEC 62304. It details the advantages and disadvantages of many architectural and design practices recommended in the standards, ranging from replication and diversification, through anomaly detection to the so-called "safety bag" systems.Reviewing the use of open-source components in safety-critical systems, this book has evolved from a course text used by QNX Software Systems for a training module on building embedded software for safety-critical devices, including medical devices, railway systems, industrial systems, and driver assistance devices in cars. Although the book describes open-source tools for the most part, it also provides enough information for you to seek out commercial vendors if thats the route you decide to pursue. All of the techniques described in this book may be further explored through hundreds of learned articles. In order to provide you with a way in, the author supplies references he has found helpful as a working software developer. Most of these references are available to download for free.


Titanium dioxide (TiO2) incorporated ordered 2D hexagonal mesoporous silica (SiO2) films on a glass substrate were fabricated for use as a catalytic nanoreactor. Films were prepared using a tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) derived SiO2 sol and a commercially available dispersion of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) in the presence of pluronic P123 as the structure directing agent. The effect of TiO2 doping (4-10 mol% with respect to the equivalent SiO2) into the ordered mesoporous SiO2 matrix was thoroughly investigated. The undoped SiO2 film showed a mesostructural transformation after heat-treatment at 350 °C whereas incorporation of TiO2 restricted such a transformation. Among all the TiO2 incorporated films, TEM showed that the 7 equivalent mol% TiO2 doped SiO2 film (ST-7) had an optimal composition which could retain the more organized 2D hexagonal (space group p6mm)-like mesostructures after heat-treatment. The catalytic activities of the TiO2 doped (4-10 mol%) films were investigated for the reduction of toxic KMnO4 in an aqueous medium. ST-7 film showed the maximum catalytic activity, as well as reusability. A TEM study on the resultant solution after KMnO4 reduction revealed the formation of MnO2 nanowires. It was understood that the embedded TiO2 NPs bonded SiO2 matrix increased the surface hydroxyl groups of the composite films resulting in the generation of acidic sites. The catalytic process can be explained by this enhanced surface acidity. The mesoporous channel of the ST-7 films with TiO2 doping can be used as a nanoreactor to form extremely thin MnO2 nanowires.


Abstract: The acquisition of cell polarity, which includes the establishment of the tight junction barrier, the polarized assembly of the cytoskeleton and the appropriate organization of membrane traffic, requires external cues, that in epithelial cells are represented by the interaction of cells with their neighbors and with the extracellular matrix. The Rho family of small GTPases, whose prototypes are RhoA, Rac1 and Cdc42, regulates many biological processes including cell cycle progression, apoptosis, migration and intercellular adhesion. Rho-GTPases and their effectors are also key regulators of microfilament and microtubule dynamics and, consequently, are crucially involved in polarity signaling. Unraveling how signaling transduced via Rac1 are translated into oriented distribution of molecules in epithelial cells is a central issue to fully understand the processes of acquisition/maintenance of cell polarity. In order to contribute to the understanding of the molecular basis of this complex issue in the present study we have focused our attention on the analysis of the role of Rac1 protein in the acquisition and mantainance of the polarized phenotype in the FRT, rat thyroid epithelial cell line. The FRT cells were chosen as a model system since they exhibit a fully polarized epithelial phenotype, manifest high transepithelial electrical resistance and express apical and basolateral marker proteins. They also form organized tridimensional follicular structures in suspension culture. The Rac1 subcellular distribution in FRT cells was initially investigated. Subsequentely, to analyze the role of Rac1 in the control of cell polarization in the FRT cells, the cultures were treated with NSC23766, a molecule that does not allow Rac1 specific GEFs, such as Tiam1 and Trio, to bind to Rac1 and therefore acts as an inibitor of Rac1 activation. Several aspects including directional migration, TER acquisition, cell aggregation and formation of polarized follicles were investigated and found to be affected by the pharmacological inhibition of Rac1 activity. Moreover in this type of experiment, changes in subcellular localization of the Rac1 molecule were analyzed in parallel with those regarding E-cadherin. This experimental appoach allowed us to establish that Rac1 is a major regulator of the polarization process in FRT cells. The data presented also suggest that, in addition to the control of cell-cell adhesion, Rac1 may be involved also in the control of the Golgi apparatus integrity and therefore in the polarized intracellular traffic of proteins. The role of integrin signaling in the acquisition/maintenance of cell polarity has been studied to some extent in polarized epithelial cells in culture. For example in the FRT-β1B cells, derived from FRT parental cells after transfection of the dominant-negative β1B integrin, an impairment of the polarized phenotype have been described. The observation that these cells manifest properties similar to those evidenced in FRT cells where Rac1 is inhibited prompted us to test the hypothesis that this may be due to a reduced Rac1 activity. Subclones derived from FRT-β1B cells were obtained that stably express a Rac1 construct that is constitutively activated upon 4-OH-tamoxifen treatment. However it was not possibile to rescue the normal phenotype in these cells by this experimental approach. Furthermore also FRT parental cells expressing the same construct appeared to be hampered in the expression of certain properties of the polarized epithelium, indicating that sustained but not regulated acivation of Rac1 impairs the acquisition of cell polarity. In conclusion this report combines the interest in defining the role of Rac1 in a model of thyroid derived-epithelium, in which the functional properties of this small Rho GTPase heve not been investigated yet, to novel experimental approaches, such as the use of the Rac1-GEFs-interaction inhibitor and a novel conditional expression vector of Rac1 protein.


As virtual environments grow in complexity, size, and scope users will be increasingly challenged in assessing the situation in them. This will occur because of the difficulty in determining where to focus attention and in assimilating and assessing the information as it floods in. One technique for providing this type of assistance is to provide the user with a first-person, immersive, synthetic environment observation post, an observatory, that permits unobtrusive observation of the environment without interfering with the activity in the environment. However, for large, complex synthetic environments this type of support is not sufficient because the mere portrayal of raw, unanalyzed data about the objects in the virtual space can overwhelm the user with information. To address this problem, which exists in both real and virtual environments, we are investigating the forms of situation awareness assistance needed by users of large-scale virtual environments and the ways in which a virtual environment can be used to improve situation awareness of real-world environments. A technique that we have developed is to allow a user to place analysis modules throughout the virtual environment. Each module provides summary information concerning the importance of the activity in its portion of the virtual environment to the user. Our prototype system, called the Sentinel, is embedded within a virtual environment observatory and provides situation awareness assistance for users within a large virtual environment.


In this paper a mathematical technique is developed to find the parameters of a medium in terms of its scattered electromagnetic fields. Optical nonlinearity plays an important role in finding the scattering parameters of a medium. Using perturbation theory and nonlinear inverse scattering techniques with first order, second order and third order optical nonlinearity we find scattered electromagnetic fields. Using error minimization techniques parameters are estimated in term of permittivity and permeability up to second order.


GENERAL CARDIOLOGY Kidney stones linked with modest increased risk of coronary disease Nephrolithiasis (kidney stones) is an increasingly common condition occurring more frequently in men than women; over the last three decades the overall prevalence in the US population has risen to 8.8%. Links between nephrolithiasis and other systemic diseases have been noted, including subclinical atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease. However, previous studies looking at the association between kidney stones and coronary heart disease (CHD) have often not controlled for important risk factors and have shown inconsistent results. This paper analysed the association between kidney stones and the risk of incident CHD in three large prospective cohorts (Health Professionals Follow-up Study, Nurses' Health Studies I and II). The diagnoses of nephrolithiasis and CHD were updated biennially during follow-up. The main outcome measure was the incidence of CHD, defined as fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction or coronary revascularisation. Of 242 105 patients participating in the study, 19 678 reported a history of kidney stones. Follow-up lasted up to 24 years in men and up to 18 years in women, over which period 16 838 incident cases occurred. After adjustment for potential confounders, women with a reported history of kidney stones had an increased risk of CHD than those without in two of the three cohorts (Nurses' Health Studies I (HR 1.18) and II (HR, 1.48)), however there was no significant association seen in men.


'Embassy of Youth' was a collaboration with Delft Institute of Positive Design (DIOPD) and Oxfam UK. The project took a positive design approach to see how it could contribute to the community well-being of a disadvantaged neighbourhood, specifically the teenage boys in that neighbourhood. Theory on community well-being was used to evaluate how this was present in Feijenoord, a neighbourhood in Rotterdam South that challenges with poverty, crime but also the stigmatisation of a 'bad neighbourhood'. When exploring Feijenoord and its people, inspiration came from how the teenagers were often mentioned as the cause of nuisance, litter and crime on the streets, making other residents feel less safe in their own neighbourhood. Instead of designing something against these teenagers, the aim was to design for them: why are their activities on the street meaningful to them, what do they value and how do they feel about how they are perceived by others? How could design contribute to their well-being and, through that, the community well-being of the neighbourhood? This was done by creating a toolkit and workshops for youth workers to guide teenagers in discovering their talents.


Background: The medicine registration process is not just a matter of formality but involves assessment of medicine quality and stability. It is perhaps the most important as well as the simplest aspect of medicine regulation. This study attempts to ascertain whether registered medicines perform better in simple quality tests than those that are either not registered or not known to be registered.Methods: Over the past 30 months, 2065 essential medicines (for treatment of malaria, tuberculosis, and bacterial infections) were procured by covert shoppers from 11 African cities and from eight cities in a variety of middle-income nations. All samples were assessed using the Global Pharma Health Fund e.V. Minilab® protocol, which includes visual inspection, semiquantitative thin-layer chromatography, and disintegration testing, to identify whether they were substandard, degraded, or counterfeit.Results: Where medicine registration data were available, 1940 medicines were identified, of which 1589 were registered and 351 were either unregistered or not known to be registered. The failure rate among registered medicines was 5% (79/1589) and 37.3% (131/351) amongst medicines that were either unregistered or not known to be registered. African cities had fewer medicines registered (71%, or 488/687) than Indian cities (86.9%, or 610/702) or other middle-income cities (89.1%, or 491/551). Samples from African cities performed far worse in quality tests (18.6% failed, or 128/687) than either samples from Indian cities (8.7% failed, or 61/702) or other middle-income cities (3.8% failed, or 21/551). There was also a notable disparity in failure rates by medicine type; 14.2% (101/710) of antimalarials failed testing, 10.1% (70/693) of antibiotics failed, and 7.3% (39/537) of antimycobacterials failed.Conclusion: The results strongly indicate that medicine registration is an important component of better-quality medicines. Registered medicines performed better than unregistered medicines, and the result was strongly statistically significant.


Aim: To evaluate stereoacuity and the factors that can influence stereopsis in children with unilateral pseudophakia. Methods: Charts of 38 patients who were diagnosed as having unilateral cataract and underwent cataract extraction with primary intraocular lens implantation were retrospectively reviewed. Data were collected on gender, age, race, age at presentation and the surgery, cataract types, the presence of strabismus before and after cataract extraction, refractive error and the presence of anisometropia, best corrected visual acuity (VA) of both eyes and stereoacuity. Results: Thirty-eight patients were divided into two groups. Group I had 21 patients whose stereopsis was better than 400 s of arc. Seventeen patients in group II had stereopsis poorer than 400 s of arc. The mean ages at presentation and surgery were 4.9 and 6.3 years in group I and 2.7 and 3.0 in group II, respectively (p = 0.046,0.007). Posterior lenticonus was the most common cataract type in both groups (p = 0.20). Strabismus was more frequently associated with group II. Those who had no strabismus before and after cataract surgery were 66.7% in group I and 47.1% in group II (p = 0.02). Fifty-two per cent of patients in group I had a VA of 20/40 or better, but in group II, only one patient had a VA of 20/40 (p<0.001). With a VA of 20/40 or better as the reference level, the odds of having good stereopsis decreased significantly if VA in the eye with the cataract was less than 20/60 based on the multiple regression logistic analysis (OR 0.03, p = 0.0027). Conclusion: Stereopsis was better in children with later manifesting cataracts, in the absence of strabismus and in cases with a good postoperative VA. The postoperative VA was the most important factor affecting the outcome of stereopsis in children with unilateral pseudophakia.


In this deliverable, we report on our work on infrastructural and technological barriers to Open Access and preservation of research data as identified by key stakeholder groups. Through a mix of qualitative, quantitative and document review methods, we identified five key barriers to successfully implementing Open Access to research data in Europe: data heterogeneity and issues of standardisation; accessibility and discoverability issues; data preservation and curation; data quality and assessability; and data security. We explore these issues in detail and present existing good practice, and technical and infrastructural solutions used to mitigate such barriers. This work was conducted within the EU FP7 funded project RECODE, which focuses on developing policy recommendations for Open Access to Research Data in Europe. In particular, this work is coordinated by RECODE Work Package 2 (WP2), Infrastructure and technology.


Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a T cell mediated autoimmune disease that targets and destroys insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells. Although T cell mediated, a number of other immune cells are also critically involved in coordinating the events leading to T1D. Specifically, innate subsets play an important role in the pathogenesis of T1D. NK cells are one of the first cell types to infiltrate the pancreas, causing damage and release of beta cell antigens. Previous work in our group has shown differential mobilisation of highly differentiated CD8+ T cells during vigorous intensity exercise in T1D compared to a control cohort. Here, we aimed to explore exercise-induced mobilisation of other cell types involved in T1D pathogenesis. In this study, we investigated the effects of a single bout of vigorous (80% predicted VO2max) intensity exercise on innate cell mobilisation in T1D and control participants. T1D (N=12, mean age 33.2yrs, predicted VO₂max 32.2 ml.kg.min⁻¹, BMI 25.3 kg.m⁻²) and control (N=12, mean age 29.4yrs, predicted VO2 max 38.5 ml.kg.min⁻¹, BMI 23.7 kg.m⁻² male participants completed a 30-minute bout of cycling at 80% predicted VO₂ max in a fasted state. Peripheral blood was collected at baseline, immediately post-exercise, and 1 hour post-exercise. NK cell subsets mobilised during vigorous intensity exercise in both control and T1D participants. However, mature NK cells, defined as the CD56dimCD16bright subset, displayed a lower percentage increase following vigorous intensity exercise in T1D participants (Control: 185.12%, T1D: 97.06%). This blunted mobilisation was specific to early mature NK cells (KIR+) but not later differentiated NK cells (KIR+CD57+). Myeloid lineage subsets mobilised to a similar extent in both control and T1D participants. In conclusion, vigorous exercise mobilises innate immune cells in people with T1D albeit to a different extent to those without T1D. This mobilisation of innate immune cells provides a mechanistic argument to support exercise in people with T1D where it has the potential to improve surveillance for infection and to modulate the autoimmune response to the beta cell.


Dielectric properties of perovskites are studied both to gain insight into fundamental aspects of the freezing of polar disorder, and to investigate their technological potential. The dynamics of freezing of polar disorder is investigated in single crystals of Li-doped potassium tantalate (K1-xLixTaO3) and lead magnesium niobate (pb[Mg1/3Nb2/3]O3). For the mixed crystal K1-xLixTaO3, the dielectric permittivity e (ω) is measured at various temperatures and for frequencies ω/2π ranging from 2 × 10-4 to 109 Hz. These results are complemented by measurements of field-induced pyroelectric currents and polarization vs field loops. Further information is gained from microscopic model calculations of the Li-Li interaction energy. The present study reveals that this material can neither be described by a spin-glass model nor as a ferroelectric. In particular, the polarization of previously reported nanometer-sized clusters cannot be switched by an applied electric field. The analysis of the numerical results of the Li-Li interaction energy reveals the importance of elastic interactions. Nearest-neighbor effects are observed in the shape of the e (ω) curves. Finally, the freezing of disorder is interpreted as a consequence of hierarchical constraints. For the "prototype" relaxor Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3, a comparison between new dielectric results and published data provides evidence of two relaxation branches. Phenomenologically, they bear strong similarities to those of glass-forming polymers and are thus labelled α- and β-type relaxations. The α branch is responsible for the characteristic peak in the temperature dependence of the permittivity. The parameters describing this relaxation show no anomalies or extrema in the investigated temperature range, and the peak is seen to be of purely dynamic origin, rather than being related to a structural phase transition. This confirms earlier claims that Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 is nontransforming in the absence of an applied electric field. Motivated by a technological interest in highly polarizable dielectric layers, epitaxial SrTiO3 films with thicknesses between 50 and 330 nm are studied using Mg/SrTiO3/-SrTiO3:Nb heterostructures. Their low-temperature dielectric properties differ from those of single-crystal SrTiO3 samples, but can be understood in the framework of a simple model built for this purpose. This approach takes into consideration the non-linear polarization vs field dependence of SrTiO3 and assumes strong charge trapping at the film/substrate interface. The present films are characterized by a high permittivity: e ≈ 100 is reproducibly obtained at 4.2 K, corresponding to capacitances of the order of 10 nF/mm2. Large charge densities (80 mC/m2) can be induced by applied voltages as low as ± 5 V.


The advent of multicore CPUs and manycore GPUs means that mainstream processor chips are now parallel systems. Furthermore, their parallelism continues to scale with Moore's law. The challenge is to develop mainstream application software that transparently scales its parallelism to leverage the increasing number of processor cores, much as 3D graphics applications transparently scale their parallelism to manycore GPUs with widely varying numbers of cores.


We studied the loss compensation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) with InGaAsP quantum wells at telecom wavelength. The quantum wells are buried in the vicinity of a thin Au film. The propagation length of short-range SPPs increases drastically with the gain coefficient of quantum wells, generated by a forward bias. The elongation of SPP propagation is experimentally observed via long-range SPPs, which strongly couple with the short-range SPPs. This study paves a way for electrically manipulated amplification of SPPs in plasmonic circuits.


To study life in the Mars-like Atacama Desert of Chile we have created a robot, Zoë, and conducted three seasons of technical and scientific experiments. We describe Zoë's exploration algorithms and architecture and assess a total of six months of long distance survey traverses. To date Zoë has navigated autonomously over 250 km. Its average distance per autonomous traverse is 672 m with 75 traverses over one kilometer in a single command cycle. Zoë's payload includes instruments to rapidly measure biologic and geologic properties of the environment. By registering these measurements to estimated position scientists are able to correlate biologic, geologic and environmental factors and better understand life and its habitats in the most arid desert on Earth.


Cobham Surrey – December 8th, 1888. (in margin) How are Mr. and Mrs. Tiffany, Mrs. Ogden, Mrs. Draper, of our mutual and other friends?
My dear Mr. Butler

Your apples arrived quite safely, and in good order thanks to the careful packing, and they are beautiful to look at, and excellent to eat. It was most kind of you to think of us and to send them. Your letter followed the next day. Dear Mr. Butler it was so good of you to write, and I value your letter more than I can say. It touched me deeply – I know how truly you and dear Miss Butler feel for me. You loved, as well as admired, my beloved Matt. You knew him well, and knew therefore all that was so great and good in him; and there too, you have yourself know so much sorrow, that you understand, what my sorrow must be. I can only say the sense of loss deepens and increases as time goes on. If it were not for my children, who are all so "lovely" and tender and dear to me, I don't know what I should do! Though I pray and strive for that absolute and true faith, so that I may say "It is well," and then I try to think of all my beloved would have wished me to do; and this helps me to occupy my time and to go on, as far as I can, with my old anticipations. You must forgive me for writing so much about myself, but your kind words and the knowledge of your sympathy have led me into it. Will you give my most ample love to dear Miss Butler and thank her for her letter, which ought to have had an answer before this, but want of time has really prevented it. Nelly and I thank you both for all your good wishes to her on her engagement to Mr. Wodehouse. It is a great comfort to us both, that her beloved father would have approved. He knew of Mr. Wodehouse's attachment to Nelly, but she was not engaged to him until nearly the end of the summer. There ___st ____ be a great conflict in at all, and the yearning and longing for our beloved one, and his love and interest in his Nelly's future. I am sure you and Miss Butler would like Armine, and I know you will both be glad to hear that I like

him extremely and nothing can be better or more considerate than he is, to me. I was extremely sorry to miss seeing General and Mrs. McClurg when they were on this side of the Atlantic. I had such ____ ____ letters from them, and am hoping to write to them now they are back at Chicago. I hope Mrs. McClurg is better and ____ quite well and strong.
I wish you and Miss Butler were coming to England again – I can not tell you how much I should love to see you again. I can never forget your kindness to us, and how

you made your house quite a house to us in New York – just this time five years ago we were with you I think? Lucy in her last letter mentioned your having dined with them – and the pleasure it had been to her to see you and Miss Butler, and to ____ you. Again thanking you dear Mr. Butler for your great kindness in writing to us as you did, and also for the apples, and with Nelly's very best love. Believe me always very affectionately yours
Frances L. Arnold
I must not forget to add the apples arrived quite free of expense! Thank you!
Frances


This article explores the effect of device parameter variations on the performance of subthreshold source-coupled logic (STSCL) circuits. A test chip has been fabricated in a standard CMOS 90 nm technology to study the matching properties of STSCL circuits. Both process variations and device mismatch have been included in this study. The performed analysis shows that while the STSCL topology is very robust against global variations mainly thanks to the adoption of an on-chip bias generator circuit, special design techniques are required to compensate for the effect of device mismatch. Proper device sizing as well as creating intentional mismatch in the biasing condition of STSCL gates are two effective approaches that have been investigated to overcome the variation related issues. Both die-to-die (D2D) and within-die (WID) variations in the delay of STSCL gates have been characterized and validated through measurements. A comprehensive analysis of timing jitter in STSCL-based ring oscillators is also presented.


Article History: Received 2, May, 2015 Received in revised form 10, May, 2015 Accepted 4, June, 2015 Published online 28, June, 2015 There exist a wide range of protocols for hiding message in images. However, without leaving any apparent evidence of image alteration, security and robustness will be the key attributes of any particular technique. Many attacks to security constitute a first step towards performing attacks to robustness. In this paper, we demonstrate an algorithm to make the data embedding process as robust as possible. Starting form proper selection of images, blocks within the image and coefficients within the block this algorithm gives an idea of making the embedding process robust. Experimental results show an improvement as we follow this algorithm.


Abstract Long-term care is being prioritised due to population ageing, and hand in hand with the development of professional provision of long-term care, public expendi-tures will be increasing. Mainly countries with a sharp increase in the number of people aged 80+ will have to address the sustainability of long-term care systems and the pro-curement of relevant services. This paper aims to evaluate the forms of provision and financing of long-term care in selected OECD countries. Provision and funding of long-term care in terms of a formal system are assessed based on selected criteria using analytical methods (principal component analysis and TwoStep cluster analysis). Results of the evaluation carried out in 2008 and 2013 by means of the selected indicators of long-term care, using TwoStep cluster analysis, confirmed both similar as well as different approaches to the provision and financing of long-term care in the analysed countries. The most marked differences in the provision of care based on indicators LTC recipients aged 65+ and LTC recipients in institutions as a percentage of total LTC recipients were found between the first cluster (Australia and Korea with the highest share of LTC recipients) and the second cluster (Czech Republic, Estonia, with the lowest share of LTC recipients). In financing of long-term care (LTC expenditures on institutions as a percentage of total LTC expenditures), the most significant differences were observed between the first (Australia, Korea, with the largest share of LTC expenditures on institutions) and third cluster (mainly Nordic countries, with the lowest share of LTC expenditures on institutions of total LTC expenditures).


Abstract. An increasingly uneven distribution of hydrometeorological factors related to climate change has been detected by global climate models (GCMs) in which the pattern of changes in water availability is commonly described by the phrase dry gets drier, wet gets wetter  (DDWW). However, the DDWW pattern is dominated by oceanic areas; recent studies based on both observed and modelled data have failed to verify the DDWW pattern on land. This study confirms the existence of a new DDWW pattern in China after analysing the observed streamflow data from 291 Chinese catchments from 1956 to 2000, which reveal that the distribution of water resources has become increasingly uneven since the 1950s. This pattern can be more accurately described as drier regions are more likely to become drier, whereas wetter regions are more likely to become wetter . Based on a framework derived from the Budyko hypothesis, this study estimates runoff trends via observations of precipitation (P) and potential evapotranspiration (Ep) and predicts the future trends from 2001 to 2050 according to the projections of five GCMs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) under three scenarios: RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5. The results show that this framework has a good performance for estimating runoff trends; such changes in P play the most significant role. Most areas of China, including more than 60 % of catchments, will experience water resource shortages under the projected climate changes. Despite the differences among the predicted results of the different models, the DDWW pattern does not hold in the projections regardless of the model used. Nevertheless, this conclusion remains tentative owing to the large uncertainties in the GCM outputs.


Six greenhouse and three field experiments were conducted at the International Center for Improvement of Maize and Wheat (CIM-MYT), Mexico, on bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes to ascertain the role of osmotic adjustment (OA) in sustaining grain yield and its stability under water deficit conditions. Under simulated water deficit conditions of the greenhouse and field, the genotypes differed considerably regarding OA, ranging from 0.31 to 0.86 MPa and from 0.60 to 0.99 MPa, respectively. When the mean values of OA across the six greenhouse experiments were regressed against those of grain yield obtained at different moisture levels of the line source, the correlation coefficient value increased with the increase in moisture stress, turning positively significant (P < 0.001) at the highest water deficit level. Similarly, osmotic potential at full turgor (OP100) and turgor potential (TP), measured in the greenhouse, were positively correlated (P < 0.05) with grain yield at the highest line source water deficit level. Osmotic adjustment and grain yield, both measured in the simulated water deficit condition in the field, were also positively correlated (P < 0.05). Besides, OA maintained yield stability through maintenance of turgor under water deficit during reproductive period of crop growth. The heritability of OA, OP100, and TP, computed by pooled analysis of variance across the six greenhouse experiments, was 0.74, 0.73, and 0.79, respectively. The results indicated that OA, as well as OP100 and TP, could be used as screening tools for drought-resistant bread wheat genotypes in the greenhouse. This study also demonstrated the appropriate greenhouse screening methodology in this regard.


Novometric analysis 1,2 is used to determine aspects of care which induce greatest dissatisfaction among Emergency Department (ED) patients. Data were obtained from a satisfaction survey on which responses were obtained using five-point Likert-type scales. The first analysis discriminated 131 strongly dissatisfied and 114 moderately dissatisfied patients, and the second analysis discriminated 182 patients who were very unlikely and 92 patients who were moderately unlikely to recommend the ED to others. Maximum dissatisfaction was associated with perceived inadequacy of physician explanation of one's illness or injury, and minimum likelihood of recommending the ED to others was associated with extreme dissatisfaction with time spent in the treatment area waiting to see the physician.