According to the standard model of Big Bang cosmology the earliest universe contained an extremely
hot and dense medium that subsequently expanded and cooled. The evolution of the
early universe happened through a phase with of deconfined quarks and gluons: the quark-gluon
plasma (QGP). This phase ended about ten microseconds after the Big Bang when the
temperature dropped below the critical temperature Tc and quarks and gluons became confined
into hadrons. The existence of a QGP phase at high temperature is also predicted by
Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the fundamental field theory describing the strong interaction
of quarks and gluons.
In high-energy collisions of heavy nuclei a QGP can be created and studied experimentally.
The energy loss of high energy partons in the hot QCD medium results in a suppression of
particle production at large transverse momenta. Measurements of the parton energy loss can
be used to characterize the QGP properties.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN provides hadron-hadron (pp), nucleus-nucleus
(Pb–Pb) and proton-nucleus (p–Pb) collisions at the highest energies reached in an accelerator
so far. The ALICE experiment at the LHC is dedicated to the investigation of the QGP in heavy-ion
collisions and complemented by the study of pp and p–Pb collisions. In p–Pb collisions
the QGP is not expected to be formed and the nuclear initial state and cold nuclear matter
effects can be studied. Measurements in pp collisions serve as a reference for p–Pb and Pb–Pb
collisions. They also allow to tune phenomenological models and are a test of theoretical
predictions from perturbative QCD.
The data analyzed for this thesis were collected in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions by ALICE in
2010-2013 with different minimum bias triggers using the two VZERO scintillators and the Silicon
Pixel Detector (SPD). Charged tracks are reconstructed using combined information from
the Inner Tracking System (ITS) and the Time Projection Chamber (TPC), the main tracking
detectors of ALICE. Events used for the analysis are required to have a reconstructed primary
vertex. The selection of tracks is optimized to provide high purity of primary particles and
optimal pT resolution. Measured pT distributions are corrected for tracking efficiency and acceptance
effects as well as contamination from secondary particles originating from particle
decays or particle production in the detector material. Both corrections are evaluated from
full detector simulations using GEANT3 for particle transport through the detector with events
generated from the Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA (pp), DPMJET (p–Pb) and HIJING
(Pb–Pb). Corrections for the finite momentum resolution of the detector are derived from the
measured pT resolution and the pT spectra in an unfolding procedure. Spectra are normalized
to inelastic yields and cross sections (pp), respectively non-single-diffractive yields (p–Pb), taking
into account the efficiencies of the trigger and the vertex reconstruction. Possible sources
of systematic uncertainties are identified and their contribution is estimated.
Transverse momentum (pT) distributions of primary charged particles have been measured at
mid rapidity |eta| < 0.8 in inelastic pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of
sqrt(s) = 0.9 TeV (for 0.15 < pT < 20 GeV/c), sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV (for 0.15 < pT < 32 GeV/c) and sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
(for 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c). In non-single-diffractive p–Pb collisions at the nucleon-nucleon
center-of-mass energy
sqrt(sNN) = 5.02 TeV pT distributions have been obtained for three different
pseudorapidity intervals (|etaCMS| < 0.3, 0.3 <etaCMS < 0.8 and 0.8 < etaCMS < 1.3). The analysis
of the first p–Pb collisions at the LHC in 2012 covered 0.5 < pT < 20 GeV/c, the kinematic
range was extended to 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c with the data collected during the long p–Pb
run in 2013. Pb–Pb collisions were analyzed in nine intervals of centrality covering 80% of
the total hadronic cross section. Transverse momentum spectra were measured at mid rapidity
|eta| < 0.8 and cover 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c for all centrality classes.
The nuclear modification factor RAA (RpPb) is calculated as the pT differential yield measured
in Pb–Pb (p–Pb) collisions divided by the cross section in pp collisions, scaled by the nuclear
overlap function calculated in a Monte Carlo Glauber approach. Cold and hot nuclear matter
effects can be quantified with the nuclear modification factors as the deviation from binary
collision scaling.
To obtain the nuclear modification factor RpPb a pp reference is required at sqrt(s) = 5.02 TeV,
where no measurement is available. At large pT, the pp reference is constructed from measured
spectra at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV multiplied by scaling factors from NLO pQCD calculations. At low pT,
where perturbative calculations are not reliable, the pp reference is interpolated between the
measurements at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV and sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, assuming a power law behavior of the cross
section as function of sqrt(s).
As pp reference for RAA the measurement at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV is
used, with a parameterization of the data for 5 < pT < 32 GeV/c and an extrapolation to
32 < pT < 50 GeV/c.
Fully corrected transverse momentum spectra are also obtained as a function of the measured
particle multiplicity. The average transverse momentum as a function of the true
multiplicity is constructed using a reweighting procedure with effective corrections obtained
from Monte Carlo simulations which account for limited acceptance, tracking efficiency and
contamination. The multiplicity dependence of the average transverse momentum is compared
to predictions from Monte Carlo event generators and (in p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions) to
expectations from binary collision scaling.
In pp collisions the expected power-law behavior at large transverse momentum is observed,
but the measured cross section does not agree with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative
QCD calculations. At small transverse momenta the shape of the spectrum is approximately
exponential. The data are compared to the MC event generators PHOJET and PYTHIA; none
of them agrees with the data over the full pT range.
In p–Pb collisions pT spectra are softer at forward pseudorapidity (in the Pb fragmentation
region). The nuclear modification factor RpPb reveals that at low pT approximate participant
scaling is in place. In the intermediate pT region, a hint of Cronin enhancement is visible, but
at the edge of the experimental uncertainties. At high pT no deviation from binary collision
scaling is observed and RpPb is consistent with unity. Theoretical predictions from a Color
Glass Condensate initial state model are in agreement with the measured RpPb, as well as as
calculations based on NLO pQCD with EPS09s nuclear parton distribution functions.
In Pb–Pb collisions particle production is suppressed compared to the expectation from binary
collision scaling. The suppression is largest for central collisions but remains substantial also
for peripheral collisions. For central (0-5%) collisions the nuclear modification factor is about
0.4 at the largest measured momenta. The observations are in quantitative agreement only
with part of theoretical models that incorporate medium-induced parton energy loss.
In the future, improvements in the simulations and analysis procedure are expected to reduce
the systematic uncertainties to about half the current values. With the inclusion of Pb–Pb
data recorded in 2011 and the use of other triggers than minimum bias the pT reach could be
extended up to 100 GeV/c.


«Lakhta Center» became a large scale public and office project in Primorskiy district of Saint-Petersburg, Russia. The Complex is comprised of supertall Tower, Multifunctional Building and the Arch with long span structures integrated with stylobate part. A number of innovation technologies and design solutions have been applied during the construction of the project. According to the Building Codes and Regulations, to improve structural safety during the construction and maintenance periods, permanent structural health monitoring (SHM) program has been developed. The main objective of SHM is to minimize structural failure risks due to uncertainties in soil and structural materials behavior. General information about design and organizational arrangements for deploying automated structural and geotechnical health monitoring system of the «Lakhta Tower» is provided in the following paper. SHM architecture and topology, applied instrumentation, measurement methodology, software and monitoring parameters of the structure are described. The article presents the results of the Tower structural behavior monitoring during the construction period. The correlation between the measured and the predicted Tower structure performance was analyzed and found in good agreement. A few anomalies were identified and investigated. The focus is made to the informational value of the monitoring data for the increasing of soil, foundation and structure FE-modelling quality for construction accompaniment purposes.


When the Spanish colonizers reached Pampanga, a province in the northern part of the Philippines, the meeting between the East and the West meant an impact of the grafted civilization over the conquered people. Religious and cultural hybridization (Bhaba 1994) inevitably took place in Pampanga. Kapampangan verbal art modestly welcomed an alien counterpart and a cultural synthesis in a "liminal space" took place. What the Spaniards introduced—religious literature, metrical romances and the zarzuela—to advance their imperialistic cause pressed on the folk and blended naturally with the Kapampangan sensibility. Kapampangan literature took on a hybrid form that came to be an incitement for the movement of the province's literary history. Mariano Proceso Pabalan Byron, a Kapampangan poet, was the first to domesticate the form and content of the zarzuela, a Spanish literary genre. He, together with other writers such as Crisostomo Soto, established a zarzuela tradition and produced masterpieces. The enthusiasm for the zarzuela lasted for decades even after World War II; poets like Jose Gallardo easily adopted the favorite literary genre of his predecessors. The genre was most welcome because its elements constituted their familiar world. The zarzuelas that were produced reveal the constant appropriation of the native values and beliefs in the foreign literary form.


This article presents the results of a video analysis of nine pair programming sessions of undergraduate students. The analysis focuses on the keyboard and mouse control of the programming partners. It shows that most pairs do not share the keyboard and mouse equally but rather have one partner who is more active than the other. Keyboard and mouse control changes frequently, casting doubt on the existence of the driver and navigator role as commonly defined in literature on extreme programming.


Hafnium dioxide films deposited using electron-beam evaporation tend to exhibit high tensile stresses, particularly when deposited on low-thermal-expansion substrates for use in a low-relative-humidity environment. Hafnia has been shown to be a critical material, however, for use in high-peak-power laser coatings, providing exceptional deposition control and laser-damage resistance. To correct for tensile thin-film stresses in hafnia/silica multilayer coatings, alumina compensation layers were incorporated in the multilayer design. Determination of the stresses resulting from alumina layers in different coating designs has led to the realization of the influence of water diffusion and the diffusion-barrier properties of alumina that must be considered. The inclusion of alumina layers in a hafnia/silica multilayer provides the ability to produce low-compressive-stress, high-laser-damage-threshold coatings.


Deadlocks are an important issue in wormhole networks and a lot of works have been done on deadlock avoidance. Sufficient and necessary deadlock-freeness conditions have been proposed and used to build deadlock-free wormhole networks. But none of these works provide an efficient way to verify if a given network is deadlock-free. The present article proposes a new sufficient and necessary condition associated with a polynomial algorithm to check if a given network is deadlock-free. This new algorithm identifies {\em escape paths} from channels that are involved in circular dependencies. Identifying escape paths can be easily done by studying strongly connected components of the dependency graph instead of studying individually each cycle. The proposed algorithm has been implemented in a tool for automatic detection of deadlocks in wormhole networks (ODI). ODI has been used to establish the deadlock-freeness of complex realistic networks and networks with defective routers.


ISBN 978-91-7457-538-5 Background Myocardial infarction remains a major health problem, despite recent improvements in detection and treatment. Infarct size is a major determinant of future mortality and morbidity. Management strategies aimed at limiting infarct size, beyond what is achieved with early revascularization in combination with platelet stabilization, could be of great prognostic importance. Although opening of the infarct-related artery is mostly beneficial, it also initiates harmful processes that contribute to the final infarct size, so called reperfusion injury. When performing studies aiming at myocardial protection, it is important to have methods that accurately quantify ischemic but viable myocardium and the final infarct size. Postconditioning, a method that consists of cycles of brief reperfusion and ischemia during early stages of revascularization, seems to limit reperfusion injury. Further knowledge is important for understanding how efficient this technique is and if the protection leads to long-lasting benefits. Methods and results Study I investigated if postconditioning in addition to primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) would limit infarct size and improve left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), compared with standard PCI. This was determined with cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) after one week in 76 patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). There was no difference in infarct size and LVEF within the total study population. Postconditioning did, however, have a beneficial effect on final infarct size and LVEF in patients with the largest volumes of myocardium at risk (MaR). Study II investigated if the results from study I were consistent during long-term follow-up in 68 patients. In order to quantify infarct size and LVEF, the patients were re-examined with CMR at three and 12 months. There was no difference between patients who were postconditioned and those who underwent ordinary PCI in the complete study group. Postconditioned patients in the upper quartile of MaR did, however, still have less myocardial damage and improved LVEF after one year. Study III compared MaR estimated with a new modified contrast-enhanced CMR sequence one week after admission with the reference standard method, myocardial perfusion singlephoton emission computed tomography (SPECT), in 16 patients with STEMI. There was a good correlation between the two methods. Study IV investigated 21 patients with STEMI one week after revascularization with CMR. T2-weighted (edema) images were compared with contrast-enhanced CMR sequence for the assessment of MaR. A strong agreement was found between the two methods. Conclusions Postconditioning did not decrease infarct size or improve LVEF one week or 12 months after the procedure in all patients with first time STEMI subjected to this method. Patients with large MaR seemed, however, to have a consistent benefit over time in the form of smaller infarct sizes and improved LVEF. There is a strong agreement between the newly developed contrast-enhanced CMR sequence compared with both reference standard SPECT and T2-weighted edema images. The implication is that the new technique can be used for quantification of MaR and final infarct size in patients with STEMI, through a single investigation performed several days after the event.


Different organizations are constantly collecting, analyzing, and storing individuals' private data: shopping sites want to provide better service and recommendations, hospitals to improve healthcare, and government agencies to enable national defense and law enforcement. Sharing data lets these organizations discover important knowledge and draw useful conclusions but raises concerns about information privacy and trust. Until recently, the focus was on restricting access to data on a "need-to-know" basis, but since the 9/11 Commission, the paradigm has shifted to a "need to share." The authors explore the use of semantic privacy policies, justifications for data requests, and automated auditing to encourage sharing of sensitive data between organizations. They describe an architecture based on policy tools that evaluate incoming queries against semantic policies and domain knowledge and provide a justification for each query-why they're permitted, denied, or inapplicable. Using a semantic policy language gives policies explicit semantics that allow all participants to unambiguously understand their meaning. The justifications generated by checking incoming requests against these policies help requesters formulate privacy-aware queries. Reasoning over event logs and justifications allows data owners to verify that their privacy policies are being correctly enforced.


CONTEXT
The novel influenza A(H1N1) pandemic affected Australia and New Zealand during the 2009 southern hemisphere winter. It caused an epidemic of critical illness and some patients developed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and were treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

OBJECTIVES
To describe the characteristics of all patients with 2009 influenza A(H1N1)-associated ARDS treated with ECMO and to report incidence, resource utilization, and patient outcomes.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS
An observational study of all patients (n = 68) with 2009 influenza A(H1N1)-associated ARDS treated with ECMO in 15 intensive care units (ICUs) in Australia and New Zealand between June 1 and August 31, 2009.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Incidence, clinical features, degree of pulmonary dysfunction, technical characteristics, duration of ECMO, complications, and survival.

RESULTS
Sixty-eight patients with severe influenza-associated ARDS were treated with ECMO, of whom 61 had either confirmed 2009 influenza A(H1N1) (n = 53) or influenza A not subtyped (n = 8), representing an incidence rate of 2.6 ECMO cases per million population. An additional 133 patients with influenza A received mechanical ventilation but no ECMO in the same ICUs. The 68 patients who received ECMO had a median (interquartile range [IQR]) age of 34.4 (26.6-43.1) years and 34 patients (50%) were men. Before ECMO, patients had severe respiratory failure despite advanced mechanical ventilatory support with a median (IQR) Pao(2)/fraction of inspired oxygen (Fio(2)) ratio of 56 (48-63), positive end-expiratory pressure of 18 (15-20) cm H(2)O, and an acute lung injury score of 3.8 (3.5-4.0). The median (IQR) duration of ECMO support was 10 (7-15) days. At the time of reporting, 48 of the 68 patients (71%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 60%-82%) had survived to ICU discharge, of whom 32 had survived to hospital discharge and 16 remained as hospital inpatients. Fourteen patients (21%; 95% CI, 11%-30%) had died and 6 remained in the ICU, 2 of whom were still receiving ECMO.

CONCLUSIONS
During June to August 2009 in Australia and New Zealand, the ICUs at regional referral centers provided mechanical ventilation for many patients with 2009 influenza A(H1N1)-associated respiratory failure, one-third of whom received ECMO. These ECMO-treated patients were often young adults with severe hypoxemia and had a 21% mortality rate at the end of the study period.


The future in seismic exploration and seismic monitoring is the inclusion of all orders of scattering in the imaging and inversion algorithms. Using the full wavefield in an inversion process allows us to surpass imprints provided by incomplete acquisition and provide more accurate information on the subsurface, as noise becomes signal. We describe an inversion process that does not use the standard parameters from finite-difference-type modeling (being local velocity and density) but that describes the seismic data in terms of elastic reflectivity operators and propagation operators. With these operators, our full-wavefield modeling process builds the complete two-way seismic response. A major advantage of our alternative to the traditional full-waveform inversion methodology is that reflectivity operators are traveltime-free and propagation operators are scattering-free, making the inversion problem significantly more linear. A major advantage of our algorithm is (1) that multiples are utilized to impro...


The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect species in aquatic environments such as ponds and streams is a powerful new technique with many benefits. However, species detection in eDNA‐based surveys is likely to be imperfect, which can lead to underestimation of the distribution of a species. Site occupancy models account for imperfect detection and can be used to estimate the proportion of sites where a species occurs from presence/absence survey data, making them ideal for the analysis of eDNA‐based surveys. Imperfect detection can result from failure to detect the species during field work (e.g. by water samples) or during laboratory analysis (e.g. by PCR). To demonstrate the utility of site occupancy models for eDNA surveys, we reanalysed a data set estimating the occurrence of the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis using eDNA. Our reanalysis showed that the previous estimation of species occurrence was low by 5–10%. Detection probability was best explained by an index of the number of hosts (frogs) in ponds. Per‐visit availability probability in water samples was estimated at 0·45 (95% CRI 0·32, 0·58) and per‐PCR detection probability at 0·85 (95% CRI 0·74, 0·94), and six water samples from a pond were necessary for a cumulative detection probability >95%. A simulation study showed that when using site occupancy analysis, researchers need many fewer samples to reliably estimate presence and absence of species than without use of site occupancy modelling. Our analyses demonstrate the benefits of site occupancy models as a simple and powerful tool to estimate detection and site occupancy (species prevalence) probabilities despite imperfect detection. As species detection from eDNA becomes more common, adoption of appropriate statistical methods, such as site occupancy models, will become crucial to ensure that reliable inferences are made from eDNA‐based surveys.


Adopting an open systems approach (OSA) during the requirements definition phase of Australian Defence Force (ADF) procurement programs will help break the stove-pipe stranglehold on communication and information system capability. The resulting return on investment will be the delivery of a set of agile capability solutions that are easily enhanced to meet future requirements while at the same time reducing vendor lock-in, risk and support costs. A snapshot of ADF projects are reviewed and we discuss potential strangulation issues regarding ambiguous boundaries and associated risks that could be addressed by an OSA. A brief overview is provided on the OSA initiatives underway by other country's defence agencies including; UK MOD, US DoD and NATO. We introduce a high level platform concept that could be used as a framework when defining project requirements with an OSA discuss the short and long term benefits that could be achieved. We conclude that an OSA is a future-proofing acquisition strategy that can yield important benefits such as capability gain, more open competition, ability to re-use rather than replace, ultimately reducing waste and lowering costs.


BACKGROUND
Urinary incontinence after prostatectomy is a common problem. Conservative management of this condition includes pelvic floor muscle training, biofeedback, electrical stimulation using a rectal electrode, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, or a combination of methods.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of conservative management for urinary incontinence after transurethral, suprapubic, radical retropubic or perineal prostatectomy.

SEARCH STRATEGY
The Cochrane Incontinence Group's trials register, Medline, Cinahl, Embase, PsycLit and ERIC all up to January 1999, and reference lists of relevant articles. We contacted investigators to locate studies and we handsearched the following conference proceedings: American Urological Association (1989-1999); Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates (1991-1998); Wound Ostomy and Continence Nurses (1996-1999); and International Continence Society (1980-1998). Date of most recent searches: January 1999.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised or quasi-randomised trials which evaluated conservative management aimed at improving urinary continence after prostatectomy.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality of studies and abstracted data from included trials onto a standard form.

MAIN RESULTS
Only five randomised trials were identified which included 365 men, each evaluating different treatments, and all studying men after radical prostatectomy. The trials were of moderate quality and data were not available for many of the pre-stated outcomes. Confidence intervals for both dichotomous and continuous data were wide; it was not possible to reliably identify or rule out a useful effect. Men's symptoms tended to improve over time, irrespective of management.

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
The value of the various approaches to conservative management of post prostatectomy incontinence remains uncertain. Further well designed trials are needed.


Introduction The article is based on the presentation and use of a business game called "Minifabbrica strategica" ("Strategic Micro-Factory"). The aims pursued by this paper are two fold. First the paper aims to show how business games, and more in detail role playing games, may be successfully used in management education, since they provide safe contexts in which is possible to support processes of knowledge elicitation and knowledge sharing, develop collaboration and team-working attitudes among participants, promote forms of individual and organizational learning and improve the ability to take decisions and design managerial policies in complex and dynamic business domains. Second, the paper addresses the problem of measuring and evaluating the performance and the improvements made by the participants to a gaming experience, adopting to this end two specific tools: a performance measurement system (the "Balanced Scorecard") and a System Dynamics model.


The rise of community-based conservation (CBC) from the 1980s, heralded a paradigm shift in the global conservation and development agenda, increasing the engagement of conservationists towards the cause of the needs of Indigenous people. As a result, many international agreements were implemented, such as Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (1989) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992). In Brazil, a National Policy for the Sustainable Development of Traditional Peoples and Communities (PNDSPCT) was introduced in 2007, which came to recognise the rights and existing sustainable use practices of 'traditional communities'. This paper uses data from a long-term ethnography of both the local people and the conservation agenda in the Pantanal wetland, Brazil, to discuss how environmentalists used the PNDSPCT to justify the displacement of local people by claiming they do not fit in any traditional community category, and instead should be called 'rural poor'. Interview-based evidence from these communities shows the contrary—pointing out a long history of occupation in the region, customary practices that guarantee sustainable use and self-recognition as a culturally differentiated group. The results are used to explore how narrow notions of indigenous identity have been used to oppress communities in Brazil and in other parts of the global south. The paper concludes that a flexible and fluid categorisation of traditional peoples or indigenous groups should be used in order to avoid reinforcing the already oppressive restrictions placed on local communities that are close to or part of conservation initiatives.


This spreadsheet contains edited data sourced from Adie, Euan (2014): Altmetrics data for Nature Communications articles, Oct '13 - Oct '14. figshare.http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1213687Retrieved 13:18, Oct 24, 2014 (GMT) Data was edited by Ernesto Priego into two sheets organized by type of access and month of publication, including only articles published during 2014.  (Note: seven (7) records appearing incorrectly as published 1900-1 under the month column were removed. They had no online mentions). Manual manipulation of the original data was performed so all data should be contrasted with the original source cited above.  The intention of sharing this edited file is to aid in focusing on the open access and paywalled outputs published between January to October 2014 as provided in the original dataset.


For an individual playing a social role to behave responsibly requires participation in a process that is perceived by society as having symbolic as well as operational significance. What our society calls law is the result of a process of judicial decisionmaking resolving individual controversies. The best of the opinions in which such decisions are embodied attain a precedential value transcending the facts of the specific disputes they resolve. Public acceptance of the legal profession, however, rests precisely on the ability of the professional to blur this possible distinction between the operational and symbolic function of a judicial opinion: to explicate, for the lay public, the mysteries of precedent as though what was involved was a rigorously logical set of propositions derived from a limited set of socially approved presuppositions. Thus, fundamental to this acceptance is the public's belief that when the lawyer argues the law, he is focusing on something other than his client's purposes. How such a belief is maintained in connection with a system in which lawyers perceive their duty as that of manipulating the law so as to maximize the client's satisfaction is the subject of this essay.


Computer architecture experts expect that non-volatile memory (NVM) hierarchies will play a more significant role in future systems including mobile, enterprise, and HPC architectures. With this expectation in mind, we present NVL-C: a novel programming system that facilitates the efficient and correct programming of NVM main memory systems. The NVL-C programming abstraction extends C with a small set of intuitive language features that target NVM main memory, and can be combined directly with traditional C memory model features for DRAM. We have designed these new features to enable compiler analyses and run-time checks that can improve performance and guard against a number of subtle programming errors, which, when left uncorrected, can corrupt NVM-stored data. Moreover, to enable recovery of data across application or system failures, these NVL-C features include a flexible directive for specifying NVM transactions. So that our implementation might be extended to other compiler front ends and languages, the majority of our compiler analyses are implemented in an extended version of LLVM's intermediate representation (LLVM IR). We evaluate NVL-C on a number of applications to show its flexibility, performance, and correctness.


The background to this study lies in the discrepancy between the special economic and foreign-political importance of the EU for New Zealand and New Zealand's low foreignpolitical interaction and visibility in the 12 new EU Member States. This explorative study is the first of its kind to investigate from New Zealand's viewpoint whether any potential connection points or areas of common interest may exist between New Zealand and Hungary as one of the new EU Member States which might foster directly or indirectly New Zealand's national interests in the European Union (EU). Owing to the broad nature of such an inquiry, the study encompasses the political, diplomatic, commercial, scientific, and cultural interactions of the two countries from the 1970s until 2007. The theoretical framework of the study builds on Small State Theory, its limitations for the special setting of the thesis topic, however, suggested a necessity to incorporate the Theory on the Role of Ethnic Networks in International Trade. The explorative nature of the research topic required a qualitative research design, based on interviews, questionnaires, and case studies in New Zealand and Hungary in the years 2005 and 2007. Research results were compared with macro-level statistics and official analyses where available to support and enhance analytic validity. The thesis concludes that a solely trade focused foreign policy would not bring the advantages desired by New Zealand. Instead, the research suggests various alternative areas and ways to serve cost effectively New Zealand's foreign political goals not just in Hungary but also in the Central and Eastern European region in general.


T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive cancer for which current therapies are toxic and frequently ineffective. Mutations that activate the Notch1 and Ras/PI3K/Akt signaling pathways are common in T-ALL and often coexist. Thus, inhibiting these pathways alone and in combination is a rational therapeutic strategy. Notch1 inhibition with a gamma-secretase inhibitor (GSI) was recently evaluated in patients with disappointing results. PI3K inhibitors are just entering Phase I clinical trials. GDC-0941 is a potent PI3K inhibitor that is currently advancing in clinical development that we evaluated for efficacy and mechanisms of drug resistance both in cell lines and primary murine T-ALLs. Cell lines are uniformly sensitive to GDC-0941, however gradual dose escalation results in resistant lines. In vivo, GDC-0941 is active against primary T-ALLs, but treated mice invariably relapse with drug resistant clones. Unexpectedly, a majority of GDC-0941-resistant cell lines and primary leukemias showed reduced levels of activated Notch1 protein, down-regulate many Notch1 target genes, and display cross-resistance to γ secretase inhibitors (GSIs). In multiple cases, Notch1 mutations that were present at enrollment were absent at relapse. Importantly, resistant clones that emerge both in vitro and in vivo up-regulate PI3K signaling indicating an "on pathway" mechanism of resistance. Consistent with these data, inhibition of Notch1 signaling promotes GDC-0941 resistance and enhances PI3K signaling, whereas expression of activated Notch1 increases the GDC-0941 sensitivity of mouse and human T-ALL cell lines. Thus, oncogenic Notch1 mutations that promote clonal outgrowth during malignant transformation unexpectedly undergo negative selection during treatment with GDC-0941. These studies validate PI3K as an important therapeutic target in T-ALL and raise the unexpected possibility that administering Notch1 and PI3K inhibitors in combination will accelerate drug resistance.

Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):PR08.

Citation Format: Monique Dail. Loss of oncogenic Notch1 signaling contributes to PI3 kinase inhibitor resistance in T lineage leukemia. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PR08.


"Many studies have examined the effects of high level nutrient additions (up to 10x ambient loading rate) to lake ecosystems. This study examined microplankton response to low-level nitrogen and phosphorus additions (nominally 2X ambient loading rate) in lakes with and without fish at the Arctic LTER site. Annual variation in microplankton abundance in experimental and reference lakes was high. Lakes with fish had fewer large microplankton taxa. Overall, the response of microplankton to fertilization was unremarkable except for Vorticella whose average total biomass at 1 meter in the experimental lake containing fish increased significantly over the experimental period (regression coefficient = 1.264; F = 18.27; p = 0.007; d.f. = 5). Microplankton biomass trended downward in reference lakes while remaining relatively stable in experimental lakes, thus a subtle positive response may have occurred. Assessing changes in intermediate trophic levels in response to low-level fertilization is difficult because of high inter-annual variation in temperature and rainfall and a high coefficient of variation in direct count data (range 2 - 244%). Long term experiments and observations (10 years or greater) may be required to definitively assess such subtle impacts."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.


Background Medical nutritional therapy is an important aspect of diabetes care, there is an increasing awareness of breakfast skipping, late dinner and meal contents on diabetes control. Aim To assess dietary habits, physical activity and diabetes perception among patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods This case-control study was conducted among patients with diabetes mellitus at the diabetes center in Tabuk City, Saudi Arabia during the period from March through June 2017. One hundred patients with type 2 diabetes and 150 control subjects were interviewed to collect demographic data regarding, breakfast skipping, late dinner intake, and fruit, vegetables, sweet food, and fast food consumption. Diabetic patients' perception of their disease was also assessed. (If diabetes is serious, it can be prevented and reversible). Data were analyzed by SPSS version 20 using Chi-square and independent-samples t-test. Results In the present study, body mass index (BMI) (p<0.001), fast food consumption (p<0.001), fruit consumption (p=0.004), and breakfast skipping (p<0.001) were higher among patients with diabetes compared to controls. No differences were found regarding the level of exercise, smoking, late dinner intake and diabetes perception. A significant statistical difference was observed between poor and accepted control regarding sweet food intake (p=0.046) and exercise (p=0.017). Conclusion Patients with type 2 diabetes had higher BMI, and were more likely to skip breakfast, consume less fast food and more fruits than control subjects. More physical activity and less sweet food consumption was observed among patients with accepted glycemic control.


As far as recent developments in economic theory are concerned, "Behavioral Economics" constitutes one of the most promising frontiers in the last ten years, as the Nobel Prize for Economics recently won by the social psychologist Daniel Kahneman and the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal granted to the young economist Matthew Rabin testify. It is then worth asking the following questions: what is, exactly, Behavioral Economics? What are the reasons behind its recent success? This survey aims at providing a first answer, both directly and indirectly, to such questions, by illustrating the main contributions developed within such ambitious research program. Behavioral Economics aims at increasing the explanatory and predictive power of economic analysis through an increase in the degree of realism of the assumptions at the basis of economic models, i.e. by means of a greater and greater integration between economics and psychology (but also between economics and social sciences such as, for example, cultural anthropology). While standard economics assumes that agents are driven by well-defined and stable preferences and act rationally, psychology reveals that it is often the case that such assumptions cannot be taken as an adequate and satisfactory description of human behavior. In this light, Behavioral Economics focuses on markets where some (if not all) economic agents involved make choices which appear to substantially deviate from traditional economic predictions. In this survey we focus on the following two fields of studies within Behavioral Economics: a first field deals with the main cognitive limitations affecting economic behavior (Sections 2 and 3), whereas a second one is related to the role of the so called "social preferences" (Section 4). Both areas aim at incorporating the major results obtained both experimentally and empirically into formal economic analysis. Within the first area, it is assumed, analogously to neoclassical models, that agents act according to the self-interest hypothesis, but also that "rational" behavior is affected by several cognitive limitations (in line with classical contributions on bounded rationality; see, in particular, Simon 1978; 1979; 1992). By contrast, the second area departs from the neoclassical approach by introducing modifications at motivational level. Unlike traditional analyses, social preferences studies focus, at both theoretical and experimental level, on interaction scenarios where players act not on classic selfish preferences but on different types of social preferences. In other words, it is still assumed that individual behavior is rational, but also that various forms of non-selfish rationality get into the picture. In particular, behavioral choices by individual agents (as well as their objective functions) can be (either positively or negatively) affected by "other players'" preferences, intentions, material outcomes and/or behaviors.


The usefulness of multiconfiguration self‐consistent‐field (MCSCF) calculations in computing correlated proton transfer potentials is investigated for the systems HF2−, H7N2+, H3O2−, and H5O2+. In deciding whether to include particular molecular orbitals, it is important to consider the balance of electron density between the donor and acceptor groups and the interactions that are incorporated in the orbitals. Only orbitals which have the proper symmetry to interact with the transferring hydrogen need be included in the MCSCF active space. Reasonable transfer barriers are obtained when the orbitals are balanced and only interactions relevant to the transfer process are allowed in the MCSCF active space. Equivalent barriers are determined, but the criteria are more easily met, if the canonical molecular orbitals are first subjected to a localization. Only the two localized molecular orbitals that contain the F, N, or O interaction with the transferring hydrogen are needed, which reduces the difficulty of e...


This report describes the process of outlining a design proposal for a resource planning tool for TV post-production. A feasibility study in form of a participant observation has been carried out on-site, which has resulted in a requirement specification. Based on the requirement specification, mockups have been created to illustrate the functions and features that a final planning tool should have. In addition to developing a design proposal, an evaluation of the existing resource planning tool Ganttic has been conducted. Ganttic has been reviewed based on how well it meets the list of requirements. The result shows that Ganttic fails to meet a crucial requirement, thus cannot be used by the client. The recommendation is instead that the client implements the functions described in the design proposal in their current booking system.


Industrial applications with reliable predictive features are becoming increasingly important. A tracking simulator is an example of an online simulation system with great capabilities that fills the gap left by other predictive applications. In a tracking simulator, a simulation model is run in parallel with a physical process controlled by the process' control system. At the same time, a tracking mechanism is used to keep the state of the simulation model as close as possible to the real process by continually adjusting parameters of the model. The selection of these parameters impacts directly on the quality of the tracking simulation results and it is a complex task in processes with a big number of variables. This paper presents two case studies of tracking simulation where the controlled parameters are selected using different techniques. The first case study deals with a laboratory-scale hot water generation process where the parameters' selection is performed manually. The second case study deals with a combined heat and power production process with major uncertainties in the process structure. In this case, we focus on the variance decomposition method used to determine the most suitable controlled parameters. Conclusions and future work are finally presented.


This article tries to make a distinction between paranoid elements in adolescence and authentic paranoia. It opposes diffraction and projection in order to differentiate the paranoid elements from paranoiac psychosis. It shows how the physical indexes of sexual maturity infer a return of the « originary » and a new interpretation of the primal bonds. According to this interpretation by the psychic environment, the teenager can build new demarcations between intrapsychic, intersubjective, intimacy and otherness. These interpretations enable the teenager to conquer a new intimacy through the bond of incompatibility.


Scutellaria barbata D.Don is a popular Chinese medicinal plant documented to treat cancer patients in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A botanical new investigational drug for breast cancer BZL101 (FDA IDN# 59521) was previously developed in the United States from the aqueous extract of the aerial parts from S. barbata. The early phase 1A and 1B clinical trials show its favorable toxicity profiles, good clinical tolerance, and promising efficacy for patients with metastatic breast cancer. To further evidence the phytopharmacology research, drug development, and anticancer use of this herb, a systematic literature review was performed herein on the phytochemistry, pharmacology, and specifically anticancer clinical evidence. A systematic review of the literature on phytochemical and pharmacological properties of the plant related to cancer treatment employed several web-based scientific databases including Wanfang (Chinese), Pubmed, Web of Science, and Elsevier. Key words included Scutellaria barbata, Ban Zhi Lian, cancer, and tumor. Based on critical quality criteria, only 8 out of 69 reports related to clinical studies of cancer patients in China. This review covered the available literature up to July 2019. The anticancer effects of S. barbata can be explained by the presence of various flavonoids and diterpenoids alkaloids. The underlying mechanisms are primarily summarized as cyclin/cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)-modulated cell cycle arrest and mitochondria-mediated apoptotic death. The highly cancer-cell selective cytotoxicity and detoxifying effects of S. barbata contribute to a favorable clinical profile and enhanced quality of life for the cancer patient, thereby demanding further study as an adjuvant or alternative to conventional chemotherapy. The phytochemical and pharmacological studies reviewed strongly underpin a fundamental understanding of the anticancer activity of S. barbata and support ongoing clinical trials. The further safety verification and clinical trials are expected to progress S. barbata-based development to finally transform the traditional TCM herb S. barbata to the valuable anticancer drug.


Macro-Economic factors plays a major role in decision making. Evaluation of macroeconomic environment is required to examine the behaviour of stock prices, which further influences the investor's investment behaviour. Even though some macro-economic factors are not directly related to the company or industry, but those factors has an impact on stock prices, further economic activity in the domestic and global level has its own impact on stock market. When economy of the country grows hastily, it leads to faster growth in the industry and vice versa. Financial market plays a central role in the performance of financial system of an economy. Stock market is a market where securities of listed companies are exchanged between different investors, it is very responsive market which, gives a stage to investors to invest their money in various securities. Market indices are the tools to measure the performance of various securities of stock market and Investors make use of those market indices to analyse performance of those industries in which, they prefer to invest. This study takes into account six macro-economic factors (Crude oil Price, Gold Price, Silver Price, Exchange Rate, Inflation and Interest Rate) to study & analyse the impact of these variables on selected sectoral indices at BSE, SENSEX, S&P BSE BANKEX, S&P BSE Oil and Gas, S&P BSE Capital Goods, S&P BSE Consumer Durables, S&P BSE Reality, S&P BSE PSU and S&P BSE Power. The study shows that gold price, exchange rate, consumer price index and interest rate are positively correlated with four indices but crude oil price and silver price have positively correlated with 3 indices. So from the result it is clear that investor need to take of all the variables for their investment decision and the investment banker also take care of these indicators before giving suggestion to their clients


The compound 2,9-di-(2'-pyridyl)-1,10-phenanthroline (DPP) has many potential
uses in the fields of medicinal and environmental chemistry. The great stability
possessed by complexes of DPP and heavier metal ions such as cadmium, lead, and
mercury, is ideal when designing ligands for uses as fluorescence sensors or chelation
therapies. This ligand, and others in its class, posses a high degree of preorganization.
This means that they are designed to target specific metal ions by being in the correct
conformation in its free form. UV/Vis spectroscopy was utilized to calculate stability
constants with several different metal ions of varying ionic charges and radii. DPP was
found to be highly selective for cadmium with a log K1 = 12.21. Other metal ions that
formed very stable complexes were bismuth (log K1 = 15.72) and mercury (not
measurable with available materials). Fluorescence studies were conducted and found
that upon binding to cadmium, DPP has a dramatic increase in fluorescence intensity.
Fluorescence studies also showed that cadmium could be detected in aqueous solution at
concentrations as low as 1 x 10-10 M.


Though once considered purely for their entertainment value, computer and online games have applications as learning tools in learning in a variety of different environments. Computer Games as Educational and Management Tools: Uses and Approaches considers the many uses of games and simulations, focusing specifically on their use in organizational and educational settings. Providing perspectives on gaming for distance learning, gaming for rehabilitation, business simulators, and motivational games, this publication explores new and emerging trends in this ever-evolving area of research.


BACKGROUND
Heat and cold are commonly utilised in the treatment of low-back pain by both health care professionals and people with low-back pain.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of superficial heat and cold therapy for low-back pain in adults.

SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the Cochrane Back Review Group Specialised register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library Issue 3, 2005), MEDLINE (1966 to October 2005), EMBASE (1980 to October 2005) and other relevant databases.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomised controlled trials and non-randomised controlled trials that examined superficial heat or cold therapies in people with low-back pain.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently assessed methodological quality and extracted data, using the criteria recommended by the Cochrane Back Review Group.

MAIN RESULTS
Nine trials involving 1117 participants were included. In two trials of 258 participants with a mix of acute and sub-acute low-back pain, heat wrap therapy significantly reduced pain after five days (weighted mean difference (WMD) 1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.68 to 1.45, scale range 0 to 5) compared to oral placebo. One trial of 90 participants with acute low-back pain found that a heated blanket significantly decreased acute low-back pain immediately after application (WMD -32.20, 95%CI -38.69 to -25.71, scale range 0 to 100). One trial of 100 participants with a mix of acute and sub-acute low-back pain examined the additional effects of adding exercise to heat wrap, and found that it reduced pain after seven days. There is insufficient evidence to evaluate the effects of cold for low-back pain, and conflicting evidence for any differences between heat and cold for low-back pain.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The evidence base to support the common practice of superficial heat and cold for low back pain is limited and there is a need for future higher-quality randomised controlled trials. There is moderate evidence in a small number of trials that heat wrap therapy provides a small short-term reduction in pain and disability in a population with a mix of acute and sub-acute low-back pain, and that the addition of exercise further reduces pain and improves function. The evidence for the application of cold treatment to low-back pain is even more limited, with only three poor quality studies located. No conclusions can be drawn about the use of cold for low-back pain. There is conflicting evidence to determine the differences between heat and cold for low-back pain.


The spatial distribution of snow in the mountains is highly heterogeneous, and processes behind this heterogeneity are not yet understood quantitatively. Based on (i) increasing accuracy and spatial coverage of remotely sensed snow depth maps, which have become available recently, (ii) improved atmospheric modeling of precipitation and particle dynamics, and (iii) better distributed measurements of solid precipitation (radar), it is possible to improve the characterization of processes leading to the observed snow distributions. We present results that show the relative importance of local precipitation variability, preferential deposition of snow, and wind and gravity driven snow transport. Current evidence suggests that these processes significantly contribute to shaping the alpine snow distribution. On average snow depth and water equivalent increase up to a certain elevation showing a distinct maximum, before decreasing at ridge/summit elevations.. Additionally, we address the impact of climate change and show how much different elevations (and climate zones) in the Alps are affected by global warming as predicted by various regional climate models. Also snowmelt dynamics and runoff generation are investigated on the sub-catchment scale and related to forcing of local climatic conditions. It is concluded that above the tree-line, snow distribution and the relative importance of associated processes is not expected to change significantly, despite the fact that warming will lead to a strong decrease in snow at the mid-altitude range.


Quite a few common tectonic, palaeoenvironmental, and palaeobiological events have been recognized in the Jurassic evolution of the Greater Caucasus basin (Northern Neotethys) and the Neuquen basin (West Gondwana). Both basins were originated by the same planetary-scale tectonic force, i.e., by the activity of the Intrapangaean Shear Zone stretching eastwards along the Eurasian margin as the Northern Tethyan Shear Zone. An oxygen depletion occurred in both studied regions in the Toarcian as a result of global anoxia, which provoked a mass extinction. In both basins, the Callovian was a time for the carbonate platform growth, although in the Greater Caucasus, a carbonate platform appeared only in the Late Callovian. A salinity crisis occurred in the Greater Caucasus during the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian, whereas the same took place twice in the Neuquen basin - in the Middle Callovian and in the late Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian. These events were related to the global epoch of evaporite deposition. Some important differences between the considered basins are also documented. Palaeontological data from the Neuquen basin suggest against the mass extinction at the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition. In contrast, data from the Greater Caucasus basin permit to recognize this global event, although its regional peak occurred in the Berriasian. The Jurassic transgressions and regressions in the Greater Caucasus and western Argentina differed, facts that may be explained by the differences in the regional geodynamics. The only common pattern was a stepwise transgression during the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian.


The loess-like sediments along the river Yenisei provide a detailed palaeoclimatic archive of the last interglacial/glacial cycle for the southern part of Central Siberia. The loess-like sediments were formed by aeolian, alluvial, lacustrine–alluvial, slope wash and flood processes. Chernozem or chernozem-like palaeosols formed during the interglacial and interstadials. The loess-like sediments and palaeosols at the sections of Tatysh and Cholnokovo near Krasnoyarsk and Berezov were investigated with thermolumi-nescence and infrared optically stimulated luminescence dating methods. Luminescence dating suggests that the oldest sediments below the lowermost chernozem formed during the penultimate glaciation. It is likely that the lowermost chernozem at the Tatysh, Cholnokovo and Berezov sections formed during oxygen isotope stage 5. A large hiatus occurs above and below this lowermost chernozem, indicating that most of the last interglacial and early glacial record is missing in the sections investigated. The intercalated duplicate chernozem-like palaeosols in the upper part of the section formed during an interstadial within oxygen isotope stage 3, indicating forest-steppe climatic conditions between 25 and 35 ka BP. The youngest loess-like sediments, overlying the duplicate palaeosol horizon, apparently have a very high sediment-accumulation rate.


The first extract is from Burgess Osterhout to May Patterson Frear Osterhout, referred to as Mrs. Paul Osterhout, discussing what he had found at the Osterhout library. He found their family coat of arms and promised to mail her a photo of it. The second letter fragment is from George E. Osterhout to May Patterson Frear Osterhout regarding a marker for Jeremiah Osterhout's wife, Juna Reno.


In this paper, a gaze-based Relevance Feedback (RF) approach to region-based image retrieval is presented. Fundamental idea of the proposed method comprises the iterative estimation of the real-world objects (or their constituent parts) that are of interest to the user and the subsequent exploitation of this information for refining the image retrieval results. Primary novelties of this work are: a) the introduction of a new set of gaze features for realizing user's relevance assessment prediction at region-level, and b) the design of a time-efficient and effective object-based RF framework for image retrieval. Regarding the interpretation of the gaze signal, a novel set of features is introduced by formalizing the problem under a mathematical perspective, contrary to the exclusive use of explicitly defined features that are in principle derived from the psychology domain. Apart from the temporal attributes, the proposed features also represent the spatial characteristics of the gaze signal, which have not been extensively studied in the literature so far. On the other hand, the developed object-based RF mechanism aims at overcoming the main limitation of region-based RF approaches, i.e., the frequently inaccurate estimation of the regions of interest in the retrieved images. Moreover, the incorporation of a single-camera image processing-based gaze tracker makes the overall system cost efficient and portable. As it is shown by the experimental evaluation, the proposed method outperforms representative global- and region-based explicit RF approaches, using a challenging general-purpose image dataset.


Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis (CTDA) is a multimodal analytic technique for the investigation of Internet and digital phenomena, artifacts, and culture. It integrates an analysis of the technological artifact and user discourse, framed by cultural theory, to unpack semiotic and material connections between form, function, belief, and meaning of information and communication technologies (ICTs). CTDA requires the incorporation of critical theory—critical race, feminism, queer theory, and so on—to incorporate the epistemological standpoint of underserved ICT users so as to avoid deficit-based models of underrepresented populations' technology use. This article describes in detail the formulation and execution of the technique, using the author's research on Black Twitter as an exemplar. Utilizing CTDA, the author found that Black discursive identity interpellated Twitter's mechanics to produce explicit cultural technocultural digital practices—defined by one investor as "the use case for Twitter." Researchers interested in using this technique will find it an intervention into normative and analytic technology analyses, as CTDA formulates technology as cultural representations and social structures in order to simultaneously interrogate culture and technology as intertwined concepts.


With the availability of Global Circulation Models (GCMs) it is now possible to apply hydrological and hydrogeological models and knowledge to assess environmental conditions in past climates. In the upper Kennet there is considerable interest in the development of the construction of the man-made hill at Silbury. Silbury was built in several stages over a period of time and the question arises as to the availability of water for the people who built Silbury. The current Kennet flows at Silbury are low and the current stream tends to be dry for on average 5 months of the year. The aim of the research has been to assess the palaeohydrology of the Silbury Hill and Avebury area and determine the flow rates, groundwater levels and hydrological conditions in 4,400 BP. This has been undertaken using hydrogeological mapping and modelling techniques, making use of outputs from a GCM to recreate past flows and groundwater levels in the upper Kennet at Avebury and Silbury. The modelling results indicate a past wetter climate in the area, with higher river flows and higher groundwater levels, which would have sustained the local populations through dryer summer months.


The Sliding Middleman snow technique enables fast progress across snowfields. With little rope handling, it is more efficient than other belaying techniques on snow and safer than roped teams relying just on ice axe arrests to stop a fall. Interestingly its use is uncommon. Perhaps this is because it is difficult to document the details of how to actually do it. This article endeavors to detail exactly how to accomplish the technique and is explained with photographs to clarify how it works. The authors have used this technique successfully over the years in spring mountaineering conditions. They believe that it is a useful technique especially with a group of around 12 students new to snow climbing.


The Palaeogene Slieve Gullion Igneous Centre in southern Armagh, Northern Ireland, consists of a layered central intrusive complex surrounded by a prominent and slightly older ring-dyke that intrudes both Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks and the Caledonian Newry Granodiorite pluton (452 Ma). The ring-dyke comprises two major rock types: porphyritic felsite and porphyritic granophyre. We analysed both ring-dyke lithologies, both types of country rock, and a local Palaeogene basalt dyke sample for Sr and Nd isotopes. Trace element and whole rock data for this suite suggest that there are two distinct groups of both felsite and granophyre: one Si-rich and one Si-poor, most likely representing two magmas from a zoned chamber and their mushy chamber wall equivalents (McDonnell et al. 2004). Isotope data show the low-Si rocks to be higher in radiogenic Sr than the high-Si rocks, which is inconsistent with a simple AFC-scenario of increasing sediment assimilation with higher degrees of differentiation. However, using MORB-type basalt as a starting composition, the low-Si ring-dyke rocks can be modelled through AFC with Lower Palaeozoic sedimentary rock as the contaminant. The decreasing 87Sr/86Sr trend from low-Si to high-Si dyke rocks, in turn, represents a second stage of contamination. Selective assimilation of the most fusible portions of Newry Granodiorite, which is lower in radiogenic Sr than the local sedimentary rocks, appears to be the most plausible solution. The Sr and Nd data are consistent with (a) at least a two-stage contamination history during upper crustal residence and storage, whereby fractionating magmas of basaltic and intermediate composition are contaminated by local sedimentary rocks, giving rise to rhyolite magmas that experience additional shallow contamination by Newry Granodiorite, and (b) a zoned rhyolite magma chamber where high-Si magma is stored in the upper part of the chamber where crystallization and crustal contamination are most extensive.


Abstract The Isle of Wight on the south coast of England has near continuous exposures of Early Cretaceous to Early Oligocene and Quaternary deposits and has long been regarded as a classic area of British geology. It has a long history of study dating back to the start of the nineteenth century. The identified threats to geoconservation are coastal erosion, coastal protection schemes aimed at preventing erosion and fossil collecting. Of these, however, erosion and collecting can also be seen as opportunities. Geology has influenced tourism since the eighteenth century which subsequently promoted both interpretation and conservation. Collecting of geological specimens for museum collections is documented as early as 1825. Site-based conservation began in 1951 with the notification of geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and Regionally Important Geological/geomorphological Sites (RIGS) have been notified since the mid 1990s. There has been a voluntary set of guidelines for fossil collecting and more recently the preparation of a Local Geodiversity Action Plan (LGAP) brought together diverse groups and individuals to begin developing a strategic approach to interpreting and conserving the island's geological heritage. The main outcome of the LGAP process has been to develop a partnership with a view to applying for membership of the European Geoparks Network.


This paper addresses the patterns of influence between the news media and the public, by specifically targeting breaking stories, or shocks, to a news system. Specifically, we assess media agenda setting and selective exposure by looking at the relative public attention spans to hard and soft news (as measured by query volume), in comparison with the volume of news coverage (in print, broadcast, and Web content) for these selected news events. We measure the dynamic distribution of issue coverage in the news media, and how this volume of coverage ultimately influences online search traffic. In order to assess sustained interest in a given topic, distributions of query volume and news coverage were fit with Gamma distributions of appropriate parameters. Findings indicate that there are significant differences in the public attention spans for hard and soft news issues, particularly relative to what news coverage might predict. Soft news events produced a slower rate of decline in query volume, matching the slow tapering off of issue coverage found in Web content. Conversely, for hard, substantive news issues, query volume drops off quite quickly, more closely paralleling the distribution of coverage in broadcast news.


From Pauling's theories to the present, considerable understanding has been acquired of both the physiological role of vitamin C and of the impact of vitamin C supplementation on the health. Although it is well known that a balanced diet which satisfies the daily intake of vitamin C positively affects the immune system and reduces susceptibility to infections, available data do not support the theory that oral vitamin C supplements boost immunity. No current clinical recommendations support the possibility of significantly decreasing the risk of respiratory infections by using high-dose supplements of vitamin C in a well-nourished general population. Only in restricted subgroups (e.g., athletes or the military) and in subjects with a low plasma vitamin C concentration a supplementation may be justified. Furthermore, in categories at high risk of infection (i.e., the obese, diabetics, the elderly, etc.), a vitamin C supplementation can modulate inflammation, with potential positive effects on immune response to infections. The impact of an extra oral intake of vitamin C on the duration of a cold and the prevention or treatment of pneumonia is still questioned, while, based on critical illness studies, vitamin C infusion has recently been hypothesized as a treatment for COVID-19 hospitalized patients. In this review, we focused on the effects of vitamin C on immune function, summarizing the most relevant studies from the prevention and treatment of common respiratory diseases to the use of vitamin C in critical illness conditions, with the aim of clarifying its potential application during an acute SARS-CoV2 infection.


Old, multi-aged populations of riparian trees provide an opportunity to improve reconstructions of streamflow. Here, ring widths of 394 plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides, ssp. monilifera) trees in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota, are used to reconstruct streamflow along the Little Missouri River (LMR), North Dakota, US. Different versions of the cottonwood chronology are developed by (1) age-curve standardization (ACS), using age-stratified samples and a single estimated curve of ring width against estimated ring age, and (2) time-curve standardization (TCS), using a subset of longer ring-width series individually detrended with cubic smoothing splines of width against year. The cottonwood chronologies are combined with the first principal component of four upland conifer chronologies developed by conventional methods to investigate the possible value of riparian tree-ring chronologies for streamflow reconstruction of the LMR. Regression modeling indicates that the statistical signal for flow is stronger in the riparian cottonwood than in the upland chronologies. The flow signal from cottonwood complements rather than repeats the signal from upland conifers and is especially strong in young trees (e.g. 5–35 years). Reconstructions using a combination of cottonwoods and upland conifers are found to explain more than 50% of the variance of LMR flow over a 1935–1990 calibration period and to yield reconstruction of flow to 1658. The low-frequency component of reconstructed flow is sensitive to the choice of standardization method for the cottonwood. In contrast to the TCS version, the ACS reconstruction features persistent low flows in the 19th century. Results demonstrate the value to streamflow reconstruction of riparian cottonwood and suggest that more studies are needed to exploit the low-frequency streamflow signal in densely sampled age-stratified stands of riparian trees.


We present the discovery and characterization of a giant planet orbiting the young Sun-like star Kepler-63 (KOI-63, mKp = 11.6, Teff = 5576 K, M⋆ = 0.98 M☉). The planet transits every 9.43 days, with apparent depth variations and brightening anomalies caused by large starspots. The planet's radius is 6.1 ± 0.2 R⊕, based on the transit light curve and the estimated stellar parameters. The planet's mass could not be measured with the existing radial-velocity data, due to the high level of stellar activity, but if we assume a circular orbit, then we can place a rough upper bound of 120 M⊕ (3σ). The host star has a high obliquity (ψ = 104°), based on the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect and an analysis of starspot-crossing events. This result is valuable because almost all previous obliquity measurements are for stars with more massive planets and shorter-period orbits. In addition, the polar orbit of the planet combined with an analysis of spot-crossing events reveals a large and persistent polar starspot. Such spots have previously been inferred using Doppler tomography, and predicted in simulations of magnetic activity of young Sun-like stars.


The size of unit selection speech synthesis is between few hundred of MBs to GBs. Such a huge database requires a large memory size and slows down the computational speed. It also causes too much hindrance to download and install in ordinary machines. To some, it may look old-fashioned to worry about size and speed of a software application. With ever-increasing CPU speed and disk sizes growing continuously, many have forgotten what it is like to be restricted in memory and computational complexity. However, to those wishing to make speech applications ubiquitous, it quickly becomes clear that not all applications are deployed in resource-rich environments, with lots of CPU cycles to burn and large amount of memory and storage. In this paper we propose three methods for pruning large unit selection databases to be able to deploy in practical applications. All these techniques are evaluated using objective measures.


Late Pleistocene European cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) have been considered to be largely vegetarian, although stable isotope data (δ13C and δ15N values) from the Romanian Carpathians has suggested considerable dietary variation. Here we evaluate previous and additional adult cave bear isotopic data from four Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) sites in the Carpathians. Peştera Urşilor (N = 35), Peştera Cioclovina (N = 32), Peştera Muierilor (N = 8), and Peştera cu Oase (N = 72) provide both a dichotomy between samples suggesting vegetarian diets (from Cioclovina and Muierilor) and more omnivorous diets (from Urşilor and Oase), and considerable isotopic variation within samples from each site. While an inference of a strictly vegetarian diet may apply to groups that lived in ecosystems which restricted the available animal protein for these large ursids, the within and between sample isotopic variation among the Carpathian cave bears indicates considerable flexibility in their sources of protein and hence in their dietary regimes. In addition, developmental assessment of Cioclovina isotopic profiles (neonates, juveniles, sub‐adults and adults) provides patterns of transfer of stable isotope signatures throughout immature life for both δ13C and δ15N (increase and decrease, respectively), whereas those from Urşilor show little developmental shift.


AlphaZero is a self-play reinforcement learning algorithm that achieves superhuman play in chess, shogi, and Go via policy iteration. To be an effective policy improvement operator, AlphaZero's search requires accurate value estimates for the states appearing in its search tree. AlphaZero trains upon self-play matches beginning from the initial state of a game and only samples actions over the first few moves, limiting its exploration of states deeper in the game tree. We introduce Go-Exploit, a novel search control strategy for AlphaZero. Go-Exploit samples the start state of its self-play trajectories from an archive of states of interest. Beginning self-play trajectories from varied starting states enables Go-Exploit to more effectively explore the game tree and to learn a value function that generalizes better. Producing shorter self-play trajectories allows Go-Exploit to train upon more independent value targets, improving value training. Finally, the exploration inherent in Go-Exploit reduces its need for exploratory actions, enabling it to train under more exploitative policies. In the games of Connect Four and 9x9 Go, we show that Go-Exploit learns with a greater sample efficiency than standard AlphaZero, resulting in stronger performance against reference opponents and in head-to-head play. We also compare Go-Exploit to KataGo, a more sample efficient reimplementation of AlphaZero, and demonstrate that Go-Exploit has a more effective search control strategy. Furthermore, Go-Exploit's sample efficiency improves when KataGo's other innovations are incorporated.


Homer's epic poem, The Illiad, is one of the greatest adventure stories of all time. In it, the abduction of the legendary beauty, Helen of Troy, leads to a conflict in which even the gods and goddesses take sides and intervene. It is in the Trojan War that the most valiant heroes of the ancient world are pitted against one another. Here Hector, Ajax, Achilles, and Odysseus meet their most formidable challenges and in some cases their tragic ends.Rosemary Sutcliff makes such extraordinary stories as those of those Trojan horse, of Aphrodite and the golden apple, and of the fearsome warrior women Amazons, accessible to contemporary young people.


As a part of the large research project, "LimitingDamage" (BegrensSkade), common causes of damage or unexpectedly large settlements connected to ground and foundations works have been investigated. It can be seen that drainage is a common cause for settlements when performing deep excavations, causing decrease in pore pressures and consolidation of soft soil. The article presents monitoring data from numerous building sites, showing that there is often a substantial reduction in pore pressure levels at bedrock. The reduction in pore pressure can be observed hundreds of meters from the excavation. The general effects have been documented before, but the analysis of data in the project "LimitingDamage" shows a clear systematic reduction in pore pressures for the majority of excavation projects. The effects depend on the hydrogeological properties, as well as the extent and duration of the construction work and the mitigation efforts undertaken. The data and observations from the case studies suggest that the risk of drainage is substantial in the conventional methods and procedures commonly used. Excavating to bedrock level, if under groundwater level, can cause substantial reductions in pore pressure. In addition, it is concluded that drilling for tie-back anchors and bored piles can increase the risk of drainage. The risk of settlements caused by drainage and pore pressure reduction can be reduced during the early design phase of a project by undertaking the correct type of investigations and understanding the hydrogeology. Furthermore, one may select construction methods, which reduce risk of drainage. Measures may then be designed in order to mitigate the effects, followed by implementation and monitoring during the construction phase.


Many municipalities across Canada have prepared sustainability plans, but there is limited knowledge about the extent to which actions in those plans have been implemented. Based on 40 semi-structured interviews with rural leaders across Canada, we examined sustainability priority areas, rates of implementing actions, and the factors supporting and hindering implementation. Within the 5-dimension model for sustainability, the target areas, based on priorities and actions identified, were economic, environmental, and social dimensions, but governance was perceived to be important to facilitate the others. More than 75% of the sustainability actions had been completed. The key reasons for completion were community priorities, political will, available capacity, and available funding. The key reasons for non-completion were lack of capacity, lack of funding, lack of political will, and the lack of community priorities.


Correlation is used frequently both in the classroom and in professional environments to illustrate and summarize investment know-how, especially with regard to diversification. Pedagogically, the initial build-up on correlation, which reaches its climax while describing a hypothetical two-variable optimization case, abruptly disappears when the discussion reaches optimizations of several securities, thereby stopping short of running a full-fledged, correlation-based optimization. Why is that so? We offer some explanations. First, correlations initially seem to provide clarification of the workings of the optimization, specifically with respect to how security risk-relations affect optimal weights. However, the variable transformation required changes coordinates, thus making correlation-based optimal weights and the desired information hard to understand. Second, correlation-based optimizations may be counterproductive. Nobody with a minimum of financial sophistication would try to make up covariance estimates; correlations, however, are easy to make up, which may make one overstate their practical value. Third, while mean-variance optimal weights can be easily constructed from correlation-based optimal numbers, not transforming the optimal numbers back to the mean-variance values deforms the information processed. We do not expect correlation-based optimizations to replace mean-variance ones except in specialized cases (e.g., small portfolios where investors may have extraknowledge of security relationships).


OBJECTIVES
To (i) assess the impact of insertion depth and abutment microstructure on the three-dimensional crestal bone-level changes at endosseous titanium implant using μCT and computerized image processing and (ii) to correlate the findings with previously reported histology.

MATERIAL & METHODS
Titanium implants (conical abutment connection) were inserted in each hemimandible of n = 6 foxhounds with the implant shoulder (IS) located either in epicrestal (0 mm), supracrestal (+1 mm) or subcrestal (-1 mm) positions and randomly (split-mouth design) connected with machined or partially micro-grooved healing abutments. At 20 weeks, the tissue biopsies were processed for μCT and histological (HI) analyses. The volumetric dehiscence profile around the implants was computed as distance between the implant shoulder (IS) and the most coronal bone-to-implant contact (CBI) using MATLAB. The respective buccal and oral values were averaged, and agreement with the respective IS-CBI scores from HI was assessed using Bland-Altman plots.

RESULTS
A median net bone gain was observed for supracrestal insertion depths at both abutment types, but lower bounds of the 75% quartile experienced net bone losses. Epicrestal and subcrestal insertion depths were linked to slight bone losses, and the buccal and oral dehiscences were smaller compared to supracrestal positioning. Bland-Altman plots yielded a moderate agreement of IS-CBI values measured with μCT and HI.

CONCLUSION
The novel image processing method allowed reliable evaluations and pointed to a direct impact of insertion depths on crestal bone-level changes. Additionally, it demonstrated that HI morphometry crucially depends on the chosen cutting position.


Rewards are less useful in regulation than they are in markets. Firms respond to market incentives because most markets are contestable. In markets that are not oligopolies it makes more sense to adopt a competitor mentality than a fixer mentality. Regulatory power in contrast is mostly not contestable. Firms are therefore more likely to adopt a fixer or game-playing mentality. Reactance to regulatory control through rewards is likely to be greater than reactance to market discipline. If a responsive regulatory pyramid is a good strategy for optimizing compliance, then punishment is more useful in regulation than reward. Reward at the middle of a regulatory pyramid brings about a moral hazard problem. Under certain limited conditions reward can be useful at the base of a regulatory pyramid. These conditions are transparent, easy measurement of the performance to be rewarded, an imbalance of power such that the regulatee is weak in comparison to the regulator, and an absence of weapons of the weak for subverting a regulatory system to which the weak are subject. Absent these conditions, and we cannot expect the undoubted efficiency advantages of a market where regulatory outcomes can be traded so that they are secured where the cost of doing so is least. While, in general, punishments are more useful to regulators than monetary rewards, informal rewards (praise, letters of recognition) are rather consistently useful in securing compliance.


The Dual Career of Athletes represents a chance for elite athletes involved in higher education too, from school to University, to be able to successfully combine excellence in sport with higher education, with the intent to prevent school and university drop-out, increasing the number of university graduates, as well as the rise of the European employability rate, things at the basis of the European 2020 Strategy. Under investigation are the institutions that organize and govern sport and education, because it seems useless to talk about a fruitful integration between sport and education where the skills developed in the first are not seen as value and resource in the second, and vice versa. Even if Italy has witnessed a rapid spread of research projects and guidelines about the Dual Career of Athletes , which have spread an increasing recognition of sport in school and university, pedagogy critically contributes in suggesting guidance as a tool of harmonious integration between sport and education that, first of all, concerns the subject's identity as athlete and as student.


King Captures Queen. Methodology in research on violence in violently equal Sweden Research and debate on violence against women in a Swedish context is here discussed from a perspective that focuses on the different understandings and epistemological claims behind existing positions. I crystallize a dominant perspective on violence, centered around fragmentation/deviance, and a challenging feminist understanding, centered around coherence/normality. I relate these understandings to a wider set of methodological choices and epistemological claims within research on violence against women, captured in what I call a discourse on partner violence (fragmentation) and a feminist discourse on men's violence against women (coherence). The article also examines the reactions, in media and academic life, that a quantitative study on men's violence against women in Sweden provoked, Captured Queen, Men's violence against women in equal Sweden. A prevalence study (Lundgren et al 2001). By applying a coherent methodological approach, stemming from the feminist discourse on violence against women, the study seems to have placed itself outside what was comprehensible for many voices in the debate (from media and the academic field). I discuss the hostile reactions the study aroused, in relation to its methodology and the above presented conflicting understandings that occupy the research field "violence against women".


In this article we argue that there is a trade-off between generativity and originality in online communities that support open collaboration. We build on foundational theoretical work in peer production to formulate and test a series of hypotheses suggesting that the generativity of creative works is associated with moderate complexity, prominent authors, and cumulativeness. We also formulate and test three hypotheses that these qualities are associated with decreased originality in resulting derivatives. Our analysis uses a rich data set from the Scratch Online Community—a large website where young people openly share and remix animations and video games. We discuss the implications of this trade-off for the design of peer production systems that support amateur creativity.


Batik Unfortunate yet widely known both nationally and internationally. Batik Malangan able to penetrate world markets, in particular the intended market share are the young people and the general public. The idea was to create a bag that can be personalised way it functions with a touch of Malangan batik motifs with the name "Kucecwara Chic". The methods used in marketing this product is by using a feasibility study of this aspect of the market, technical aspects, aspects of management, financial aspects and environmental aspects. Later these aspects will be the guidelines to continue this effort to more worthy and more profit. Expected by creating products with the name Kucecwara Chic, this product can be used for fashion and religious but also keep bringing the unfortunate culture, the usefulness of this Chic is Kucecwara products enhance the value to the product so that it becomes a multifunctional product can be converted into a bag, holster, belt, mini, prayer mats and scarves, headdresses as a media preservation and introduction to batik malang in the national and international scene and can deceive the human resource community are concerned. Keywords : Kucecwara Chic, Batik


[1] The Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000) was a major surface, airborne, and spaceborne field campaign carried out in southern Africa in 2000 and 2001 that addressed a broad range of phenomena related to land-atmosphere interactions and the biogeochemical functioning of the southern African system. This paper presents a thematic analysis and integration of the Journal of Geophysical Research SAFARI 2000 Special Issue, presenting key findings of an intensive field campaign over southern Africa in August and September of 2000. The integrating themes deal with surface emissions characterization; airborne characterizations of aerosols and trace gases; regional haze and trace gas characterization; and radiant measurements by surface, aircraft, and remote sensing platforms. Enhanced regional fuel loads associated with the moist La Nina phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle produced above average biomass burning emissions, which consequently dominated all other aerosol and trace gas emissions during the dry season. Southward transport of a broad plume of smoke originating in equatorial Africa and exiting off the east coast toward the Indian Ocean (the river of smoke) is attributed to unusual synoptic airflows associated the ENSO phase. New and revised biogenic and pyrogenic emission factors are reported, including a number of previously unreported oxygenated organic compounds and inorganic compounds from biomass combustion. Emission factors are scaled up to regional emission surfaces for biogenic species utilizing species specific and light-dependent emission factors. Fire scar estimates reveal contradictory information on the timing of the peak and extent of the biomass-burning season. Integrated tall stack coordinated measurements (between ground, airborne and remotely sensing platforms) of upwelling and downwelling radiation in massive thick aerosol layers covering much of southern Africa yield consistent estimates of large negative forcing for both surface and top of atmosphere radiative forcing. Radiation calculations are supported by novel information on chemical speciation and internal aerosol particle structure. The overall conclusion is that SAFARI 2000, as an integrating theme, has been able to give significant new insights into the regional scale biogeochemical cycling of southern Africa and contributed in important ways to the validation of remote sensing instruments on board the NASA Terra spacecraft.


A solar car which uses solar energy to charge its batteries has been designed and built at the Centre for Product Design and Manufacture (CPDM), University Of Malaya. The vehicle main body structure is made of aluminium. Most of the mechanical components are common parts available off-the-shelf. The electrical components such as the solar panels and batteries are available in the local market. However, the DC motor, its controller and the maximum power point trackers (MPPT) are manufactured in other countries. The process of combining these mechanical and electrical components is not an easy task especially at the design stage because of the individual part specific characteristic and function. Since the development cost is one of the major constraints for this project, the sustainable design concept was implemented. Suitable parts which can be easily recycled and re-used, with desired functions that contribute to vehicle optimum performance are properly selected. This paper describes the integration of the off-the-shelf mechanical and electrical components for the solar vehicle. The conceptual design and the performance of the prototype are also presented.


One of the key successes in optimising a mature offshore oil producing field with water drive mechanism is to actively unlock additional oil production from reservoirs that have not experienced water breakthrough while maintaining gross production from reservoirs that have started producing water. This can be achieved by drilling more infill wells to create additional oil drainage points; however this is a very capital intensive investment. The other approach is to perform stimulation jobs on existing wells (both idle and producing) as part of production enhancement activities to increase well productivities which are comparatively more cost effective. With the increase in well productivities, these wells can be produced at lower drawdown which can delay water breakthrough. This paper describes a holistic approach from understanding well inflow productivity problem due to severe downhole asphaltene or wax deposition issues, formulating the right organic-solvent-mud-acid chemical recipe for the well stimulation jobs, selecting the appropriate well candidates, and optimizing offshore stimulation job execution to ensure good chance of success. The stimulation campaign for 3 wells was carried out between Dec 2009 and Jan 2010 and was proven to be very successful. The cost per job was reduced by 30% compared to previous stimulation job, oil production for all wells increased (including a well which is closed in for 10 years), and up to date, water production has not been observed. Finally, a post job
detailed technical analysis was conducted to allow a better understanding on the chemical recipe performances for optimization of future stimulation jobs.


A statement written for a May 16, 1997 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) community forum discusses the advantages of maintaining undetectable viral load levels as the primary way to judge the efficacy of an antiretroviral drug regimen in confirmatory trials. It is becoming clear that some degree of viral load suppression, for some period of time, should be required for final drug therapy approval. A protocol requiring frequent viral load testing should be used to detect failing regimens, however, treatment failure would not be declared from a single viral load result. Exact criteria for virological failure, either loss of complete suppression after it had been achieved, or an inability to achieve it in the first place, would be defined in the protocol. The advantages of using this type of endpoint protocol are listed and the reasons for needing regulatory oversight are discussed.


The technique of lossless image compression plays an important role in image transmission and storage for high quality. At present, both the compression ratio and processing speed should be considered in a real-time multimedia system. A novel lossless compression algorithm is researched. A low complexity predictive model is proposed using the correlation of pixels and color components. In the meantime, perception in neural network is used to rectify the prediction values adaptively. It makes the prediction residuals smaller and in a small dynamic scope. Also, a color space transform is used and good decorrelation is obtained in our algorithm. Compared to the new standard JPFG-LS, this predictive model reduces its computational complexity. The compared experimental results have shown that our algorithm has noticeable better performance than the traditional algorithms. Moreover, its speed is faster than the JPEG-LS with negligible performance sacrifice.