AIM: Despite the evidence on the beneficial effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) on neurodegenerative conditions, several concerns have been raised since PUFA may increase oxidative stress resulting in the formation of lipid peroxides. Hence addition of antioxidants/phytochemicals is recommended. In the present study, we have used fish oil (FO) in combination with Bacopa monnieri (BM) and examined the neuroprotective propensity of the combination (FO+BM) employing chronic 3-nitropropionic acid (NPA) model of neurotoxicity in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Growing male rats administered NPA (10 mg/kg bw, 14d) were supplemented with FO (2 mL/kg bw), BM (100 mg/kg bw) or combination (FO+BM) for 14 days. RESULTS: Higher degree of protection was discernible among FO+BM rats against NPA induced behavioral alterations. Further, NPA administration resulted in significantly elevated oxidative markers in brain regions (striatum- St, cerebellum- Cb) while robust protection was evident among rats supplemented with FO+BM. Depleted GSH levels in St were restored among all the supplemented groups. The combination also predominantly normalized the activity of antioxidant enzymes in brain regions. Further, significantly depleted dopamine levels in St were partially restored only among FO+BM rats. However, the combination did not offer protection against NPA induced mitochondrial dysfunction. CONCLUSION: The present data clearly suggests that it is possible to enhance the degree of neuroprotection by a combination of FO with phytochemicals (such as BM) and thus provides an improved strategy for the treatment/ management of oxidative stress mediated neurodegenerative conditions.


Understanding properties of deep neural networks is an important challenge in deep learning. Deep learning networks are among the most successful artificial intelligence technologies that is making impact in a variety of practical applications. However, many concerns were raised about `magical' power of these networks. It is disturbing that we are really lacking of understanding of the decision making process behind this technology. Therefore, a natural question is whether we can trust decisions that neural networks make. One way to address this issue is to define properties that we want a neural network to satisfy. Verifying whether a neural network fulfills these properties sheds light on the properties of the function that it represents. In this work, we take the verification approach. Our goal is to design a framework for analysis of properties of neural networks. We start by defining a set of interesting properties to analyze. Then we focus on Binarized Neural Networks that can be represented and analyzed using well-developed means of Boolean Satisfiability and Integer Linear Programming. One of our main results is an exact representation of a binarized neural network as a Boolean formula. We also discuss how we can take advantage of the structure of neural networks in the search procedure.


Molecular dynamic simulations provide valuable tools to study soft matter systems, since they can in principle shed light on many mechanisms happening at a size-scale hardly reachable experimentally. Unfortunately, despite the continuous development in computer technology and simulation algorithms, many phenomena characteriz- ing soft matter still happen at a size and time scale that is not easily reachable by simulation carried with atomistic resolution. Coarse graining (CG) the system by rep- resenting groups of atoms as single interaction sites (beads) enables the possibility of studying such phenomena. The quality of a coarse-grained model is related with the quality of the description of the interaction between the beads, which should prop- erly account for the chemical nature of the groups of atoms that they represent. In the recent years several methods have been developed to obtain coarse-grained in- teraction potentials. In between the available approaches to CG of particular interest is the class of methods that undergoes under the name of systematic coarse graining. Common characteristic of the methods belonging to this class is to develop models using informations obtained at a more detailed level of description of the system (e.g. atomistic level). The quality of a CG model is normally evaluated discussing its ability to predict property at the state point considered during its development (representability) and also at different state points (transferability).
This thesis reviews the current state of the art of available systematic coarse grain- ing methodologies and proposes the conditional reversible work (CRW) method as a new approach to develop interaction potentials. CRW is based on the calculation of the interaction free energy between the groups of atoms that will be represented by the beads, under the condition that they are embedded in their respective molecules. Unlike many other methods CRW delivers pair interaction potentials that are free from many-body contributions and that have a clear physical meaning. In princi- ple different routes can be used to calculate the interaction free energy between the beads. In this thesis two different approaches are presented: the first one is based on a thermodynamic cycle that makes use of reversible work calculations and the second one is based on thermodynamic perturbation theory. The representability and the transferability of coarse grained models obtained employing CRW methods are discussed. In particular first a comparison is carried between the performances of two toluene CG model developed employing CRW and a well-established CG method, namely Iterative Boltzmann Inversion (IBI), showing a remarkable transferability of the CRW model. Then a model of hexane where two neighboring carbons and their belonging hydrogens are lumped together in a single interaction site is developed using CRW methods. A comparison between the property of the parent atomistic model and of the CG model proves a good representability and transferability of the model. Considering the fact that the interaction potentials are representative of the conditional free energy of the group of atoms, also the chemical transferability is in- vestigated. This expresses the possibility of employing the developed CG models for small molecules as building blocks for bigger molecules. The interaction potentials developed for the hexane molecules have been employed to simulate linear alkanes up to dodecane finding a good agreement between the properties calculated using the CG model and the parent atomistic model. Also the possibility of using CRW potentials for mixture has been tested investigating the behaviors of n-alkane mix- ture and the thermodynamic of solvating additives molecule in a polymeric matrix. Again a comparison between atomistic and CG results agree over a wide range of temperatures even for a sensitive quantities like the solvation free energy. In or- der to understand the limit of applicability of CRW pair potential approach also a study has been carried on the applicability of this method on systems that are gov- erned by multi body interactions. In particular a series of increasingly polar liquid has been CG as single bead. It has been found that when directional interactions are CG away the model rapidly loses the ability of describing property of the sys- tem. It is important to notice that in principle it is possible to repair at least part of this failure by employing a lower level of CG (i.e. using more bead to describe the molecules), since this allows maintaining part of the directionality of the interactions.
This thesis proves the quality of CRW method to develop interaction potentials for soft matter systems. In particular it has to be remembered that the potentials devel- oped using this method are pair potentials, free of indirect contributions. Therefore this method is straightforwardly applicable to develop coarse grained models for sys- tems where pair additivity of the interaction can be considered like van der Waals dominated systems. A more careful implementation is necessary in system where multibody interactions are important. Since the CRW potentials are representative of a conditional free energy it is possible to think future application of this methods also to develop models for systems where this kind of interaction are important, like hydrophobic interaction between amino acids in water.


Providing compact and understandable counterexamples for violated system properties is an essential task in model checking. Existing works on counterexamples for probabilistic systems so far computed either a large set of system runs or a subset of the system's states, both of which are of limited use in manual debugging. Many probabilistic systems are described in a guarded command language like the one used by the popular model checker PRISM. In this paper we describe how a smallest possible subset of the commands can be identified which together make the system erroneous. We additionally show how the selected commands can be further simplified to obtain a well-understandable counterexample.


The thesis aims to develop an understanding of the nature and evolution of brick temple
architecture in the subcontinent, focusing in particular on terraced Hindu structures of the
fourth to sixth centuries CE. It also seeks to advance understanding of the iconography and
artistry of the terracotta relief panels that once graced the outer walls or platforms of Gupta
period brick temples. To date, scholarship on Hindu temple architecture of the Gupta period
has primarily focused on cave and structural stone temples, while brick temple architecture of
the epoch, along with terracotta reliefs and sculptures, have largely been confined to the
margins of historical studies. This approach has led to the formation of a somewhat distorted
picture of the architectural landscape of the Gupta period.
To address this shortcoming, all of the known terraced structures in the subcontinent have
been mapped in order to establish an understanding of the development and dissemination of
this mode of architecture. The architectural form and relief sculpture of the vast terraced brick
Śaiva monument known as ACI or Bhimgaja, situated at the heart of the ancient fortress city
of Ahichhatrā in Uttar Pradesh, forms the main case study for the thesis - with architecture
being the subject of the first half of the thesis. ACI is compared with a terraced brick
Vaiṣṇava structure at Pawāyā in Madhya Pradesh, formerly the Nāga centre of Padmāvatī,
and with the only standing brick temple of the Gupta period, at Bhītargāon in Uttar Pradesh.
Despite the scale and complexity of the former two monuments, neither has received adequate
scholarship. A series of fifth- and early sixth-century CE ornamental terracotta pilaster and
frieze fragments from Ahichhatrā, held in the reserve collections of the British Museum, are
examined within the context of Gupta period temple architecture; the objective being to
determine where each of the fragments would have been positioned on a temple. On the basis
of these artefacts and related pieces from the site, it is possible to build up a picture of the
type of decor that would have adorned the exterior of ACI.
The many intriguing sculptures and relief fragments from Pawāyā and Ahichhatrā are the
subject of the second half of the thesis. Some of the reliefs - especially those hailing from
ACI - are of great importance since they represent some of the earliest visual depictions of
myths contained in the Mahābhārata and other religious texts. These reliefs and sculptures
are explored within the broader context of Gupta iconography, with particular attention paid
to the numerous and fascinating terracotta reliefs of the era, most of which are divorced from
their original settings. Moreover, based on style and scale, some of panels evidently share the
same origin and these are collated here. In addition, new interpretations are proposed for
several of the plaques.


THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ANTHELMINTIC POTENCY OF TEMU IRENG (Curcuma aeruginosa Roxb.) TO Ascaridia galli IN VITRO

Mahani Fikriyatullilah

ABSTRACT
This study aims to determine the effectiveness of anthelmintic potency of temu ireng (Curcuma aeruginosa Roxb.) to Ascaridia galli in vitro. A total of 240 Ascaridia galli samples were taken from the chicken intestine. The design used was Completely Randomized Design (RAL) with 6 treatments and 4 repetitions. The six treatments were P1 (negative control) NaCl physiologis, P2 (positive control) Piperazine 5%, P3 extracts of ireng 50%, P4 extract temu ireng 75%, P5 temu ireng 50%, P6 juice temu ireng 75%. Each treatment group contained 10 Ascaridia galli worms which were observed every 1 hour for 24 hours. The data obtained were analyzed by Anova and when showed a significant difference, then the analysis was continued with Duncan test with α 0.05. Anova results show sig. value 0.000 (p<0.05) there is a real difference between treatments. Duncan test results showed significant differences between different letter notation "a" (temu ireng 50% with value 2.8750 and juice temu ireng 75% with value 2.9550), "b" (juice temu ireng 75% with value 2.9550 and extract of intersection temu ireng 50% with value 3,0400), "c" (extract temu ireng 75% with value 3.2000 and piperazine 5% with value 3,2400). Temu ireng extract is better when compared with juice temu ireng, the greater concentration the greater effect given. Intake extract of temu ireng 75% can replace Piperazine as an anthelmintic drug.
Keywords: Anthelmintic, Piperazine, Temu ireng, Ascaridia galli.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To improve nursing pain reassessment practices using a research utilization model and advanced practice nurses (APNs).

DESIGN
A pre- and postintervention one-group design.

SETTING
A cancer hospital located in the western United States.

SAMPLE
42 oncology RNs from the inpatient staff of medical or surgical oncology units working at least 24 hours per week.

METHODS
National Comprehensive Cancer Network clinical practice guidelines were adopted. Interventions included one-on-one feedback regarding reassessment practices and nursing pain rounds. Instruments used were Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (NKASRP), Pain Reassessment Data Tool, and Pain Competency Evaluation (PCE).

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Independent variables were pain rounds and one-on-one feedback. Dependent variables were PCE scores, percentage of pain reassessment documentation, and NKASRP test scores.

FINDINGS
Changing staff pain practices requires more than education. Barriers may be overcome through careful planning, using a systematic change process such as a research utilization approach. NKASRP and PCE scores and a percentage of reassessment documentation reached statistically significant increases postintervention.

CONCLUSIONS
Adapting research recommendations allowed staff to create unit-specific solutions, evaluate practice changes, establish research partnerships, and use research in bedside care. Staff increased their proficiency in pain reassessment practices after the intervention.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Research utilization models bring about desired practice changes under APN leadership. Aligning pain reassessment practices with clinical pain guideline recommendations promotes improved pain management through better reassessment documentation.


Cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADRs) have been found to be one of the most common adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in many studies. There is no common globally accepted tool for causality grading of ADRs to be utilized in pharmacovigilance programs. Our study aimed to show the coincidence of Naranjo method in evaluating clinically diagnosed cutaneous adverse drug reactions in Sudanese patients. The causality of the CADRs was retrospectively evaluated by using Naranjo's ADR probability scale. The study included 13 males (31.7%) and 28 females (68.3%). Of patients included in the study, 35 patients (85.4 %) had past history of drug reactions while only 6 ones (14.6 %) did not have. Scores of Naranjo algorithm ranged between 3 and 8. There was a moderate agreement between clinically diagnosed CADRs and Naranjo algorithm. 8 cases (19.51%) were assessed as 'possible' and 33 cases were assessed as 'probable' (80.49%). It was concluded that although CADRs is much more easily to be diagnosed clinically by dermatologists than other types of ADRs, it is worthy to apply this simple algorithm in dermatology centers so as not to misdiagnose some cases with simple skin eruptions and to make a more thematic decision on causality. Key words: Cutaneous Adverse Drug Reactions (CADRs), Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs), Naranjo Algorithm, Antibiotics.


Child support reforms were an integral part of the 1996 welfare reform law. By strengthening child support enforcement, Congress intended to increase child support collections and thus improve the self-sufficiency of low-income families. This paper assesses whether the child support reforms enacted in 1996 improved child support outcomes during the initial years after enacting welfare reform. It uses a difference-in-difference-in-difference apprach with data from the 1997 and 1999 National Survey of America's Families. We find that some of the key child support reforms, notably new hire directories and improved paternity establishment procedures, have contributed to gains in child support outcomes among low- and middle-income children with a never-married mother, a group that has received little child support in the past.


Much recent political thought has been devoted to the proposition that neither political endeavor properly understood nor theorizing about such endeavor is or could ever be a kind of rational activity. I examine three broad approaches that celebrate, respectively, rhetorical practices of political persuasion, agonistic conceptions of democracy, and, more generally, a kind of hard-headed critical realism rooted in the plain facts of political life. I argue that criticisms of rationalism in politics associated with these approaches systematically ignore central tenets of what might be called a post-Kantian convergence of recent and important philosophical perspectives and that such perspectives can be enormously useful in addressing and critically evaluating the underlying intellectual structures of political life.


Most planning formalisms allow instances with shortest plans of exponential length. While such instances are problematic, they are usually unavoidable and can occur in practice. There are several known cases of restricted planning problems where plans can be exponential but always have a compact (ie. polynomial) representation, often using recursive macros. Such compact representations are important since exponential plans are difficult both to use and to understand. We show that these results do not extend to the general case, by proving a number of bounds for compact representations of plans under various criteria, like efficient sequential or random access of actions. Further, we show that it is unlikely to get around this by reformulating planning into some other problem. The results are discussed in the context of abstraction, macros and plan explanation.


Carsharing is becoming very popular in the western world as an effective method to contain rising prices of fuel and vehicles. It was brought about as a possible solution to the changing condition of growing economies and population where there is an increased need for travel but there is also a need for expense economizing. Due to its role in reducing fuel consumption, controlling pollution and traffic congestion, there is an increased usage of carsharing services as an alternative transportation option in big cities. Today, worldwide several different carsharing methods are being used. This paper examines the current situation of carsharing in the world and two initiatives for starting car sharing programs in Croatia. The main goal of this paper is to define what carsharing is, how successful it is in the world and if there is potential for it in Croatia. The most developed carsharing regions in the world are Western Europe and North America. In the last several years Asia, Australia and South America have started carsharing projects and have the biggest growth in members and vehicles. Carsharing is still not recognized in Croatia. There were a few initiatives for starting the program but they failed. In order to determine the possibility and potential of carsharing in Croatia it is necessary to conduct further market research.


We present an approach to a general decision support system. The aim is to cover the complete process for automatic target recognition, from sensor data to the user interface. The approach is based on a query-based information system, and include tasks like feature extraction from sensor data, data association, data fusion and situation analysis. Currently, we are working with data from laser radar, infrared cameras, and visual cameras, studying target recognition from cooperating sensors on one or several platforms. The sensors are typically airborne and at low altitude. The processing of sensor data is performed in two steps. First, several attributes are estimated from the (unknown but detected) target. The attributes include orientation, size, speed, temperature etc. These estimates are used to select the models of interest in the matching step, where the target is matched with a number of target models, returning a likelihood value for each model. Several methods and sensor data types are used in both steps. The user communicates with the system via a visual user interface, where, for instance, the user can mark an area on a map and ask for hostile vehicles in the chosen area. The user input is converted to a query in ΣQL, a query language developed for this type of applications, and an ontological system decides which algorithms should be invoked and which sensor data should be used. The output from the sensors is fused by a fusion module and answers are given back to the user. The user does not need to have any detailed technical knowledge about the sensors (or which sensors that are available), and new sensors and algorithms can easily be plugged into the system.


Lectins are an important group of proteins which are spread in all kingdoms of life. Their most lighted characteristic is associated to their specific carbohydrate binding, although function has been not even identified. According to their carbohydrate specificity, several biological activities have been assessed, finding that lectins can be used as mitogenic agents, biomarkers, and cytotoxic and insecticide proteins. Lectins have been classified according to several features such as structure, source, and carbohydrate recognition. The Protein Research Group (PRG) has worked on Colombian seeds from the family of Fabaceae and Lamiaceae plants, isolating and characterizing their lectins, and found more than one lectin in some plants, indicating that according to its specificity, different lectins can have different biological activities. In the case of legume domain lectins, they have shown the biggest potential as insecticide or insectistatic agents due to the glycosylation pattern in insect midgut cells. This review attempts to identify the characteristics of plant legume lectin domains that determine their insecticidal and insectistatic activities.


Developing highly active and structurally robust electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of paramount importance for sustainable and clean production of hydrogen. Metal sulphides exposing catalytically active sites, in particular, have been actively pursued as advanced HER catalysts. Herein we report high-performance Rh2S3-based HER catalysts with excellent activity and durability. Hollow Rh2S3 hexagonal nanoprisms with controlled size and thickness could be conveniently prepared by one-step formation of core–shell nanoprisms followed by the etching of the core, and they show high surface areas and highly exposed edge sites. The hollow Rh2S3 nanoprisms exhibit very high HER activity and excellent stability under harsh acidic conditions.


Consider this: Without interaction between animals and flowering plants, the seeds and fruits that make up nearly eighty percent of the human diet would not exist.In "The Forgotten Pollinators," Stephen L. Buchmann, one of the world's leading authorities on bees and pollination, and Gary Paul Nabhan, award-winning writer and renowned crop ecologist, explore the vital but little-appreciated relationship between plants and the animals they depend on for reproduction -- bees, beetles, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, bats, and countless other animals, some widely recognized and other almost unknown.Scenes from around the globe -- examining island flora and fauna on the Galapagos, counting bees in the Panamanian rain forest, witnessing an ancient honey-hunting ritual in Malaysia -- bring to life the hidden relationships between plants and animals, and demonstrate the ways in which human society affects and is affected by those relationships. Buchmann and Nabhan combine vignettes from the field with expository discussions of ecology, botany, and crop science to present a lively and fascinating account of the ecological and cultural context of plant-pollinator relationships.More than any other natural process, plant-pollinator relationships offer vivid examples of the connections between endangered species and threatened habitats. The authors explain how human-induced changes in pollinator populations -- caused by overuse of chemical pesticides, unbridled development, and conversion of natural areas into monocultural cropland-can have a ripple effect on disparate species, ultimately leading to a "cascade of linked extinctions."


Rostow?s approach to economic development, summarized in The Stages of Economic Growth, involved an economy passing through a sequence of well-defined stages. The stages were as follows: traditional society; preconditions for take-off; take-off; drive to maturity; and the age of high mass consumption. This stages theory of growth was primarily concerned with the national economy. There were, however, more than a few references to regions, although these were not elaborated upon or explored in any detail. The concern here is with examining the possibility that the Rostow analysis might have a relevance at the sub-national or regional scale. This possibility is explored in terms of three distinct perspectives. In the first perspective, the concern is with whether the growth of an individual region can be viewed in terms of a passage through Rostow?s suggested sequence of stages. It is argued that this might be the case for some regions, but that the framework has to be modified or rendered more general in order to reflect the experience of other regions, particularly with respect to the take-off stage. The more open and less self-sufficient nature of the regional economy, relative to the national, sometimes causes the Rostow stages to appear inappropriate, even clumsy, at the regional scale. And for certain regions the passage through the sequence of stages is less dramatic, less well defined, than that described by Rostow. The second perspective, the multiregional, is somewhat more satisfactory. It draws attention to the fact that the developmental experience is not the same for all regions, and focuses attention on the tendency for different regions to attain particular stages at different times. This essentially descriptive perspective raises the difficult issue of multi-regional aggregation, and does not deal with the manner in which the various regions are related to one another. It is only with the third perspective, the interregional, that we gain some feel for the national economy as a space economy. This perspective, which provides us with a spatial articulation of the process of national economic development, considers the fact that regions co-exist in a competitive as well as a complementary manner. It also pays attention to the intricate and changing patterns of interregional interaction with respect to trade, factor movements, transfer payments, and the transmission of growth. Viewed from this third perspective, Rostow?s stages theory of economic growth does not appear to be at odds with observed patterns of regional and interregional development nor with the various conceptual frameworks which attempt to generalize these. The perspective is not without problems, however. The attempt at examining each stage cross-sectionally is rendered difficult by the fact that a given stage for the nation invariably involves a pattern of the various regions being at different stages and moving through the sequence at different rates. What is lacking in this third perspective (and also in the previous two) is the successful translation of Rostow?s skilful account of political, social and institutional changes to the regional scale.


We propose using smeared boundary states $e^{-\tau H}|\cal B\rangle$ as variational approximations to the ground state of a conformal field theory deformed by relevant bulk operators. This is motivated by recent studies of quantum quenches in CFTs and of the entanglement spectrum in massive theories. It gives a simple criterion for choosing which boundary state should correspond to which combination of bulk operators, and leads to a rudimentary phase diagram of the theory in the vicinity of the RG fixed point corresponding to the CFT, as well as rigorous upper bounds on the universal amplitude of the free energy. In the case of the 2d minimal models explicit formulae are available. As a side result we show that the matrix elements of bulk operators between smeared Ishibashi states are simply given by the fusion rules of the CFT.


For problems with large output spaces, evaluation of the loss function and its gradient are expensive, typically taking linear time in the size of the output space. Recently, methods have been developed to speed up learning via efficient data structures for Nearest-Neighbor Search (NNS) or Maximum Inner-Product Search (MIPS). However, the performance of such data structures typically degrades in high dimensions. In this work, we propose a novel technique to reduce the intractable high dimensional search problem to several much more tractable lower dimensional ones via dual decomposition of the loss function. At the same time, we demonstrate guaranteed convergence to the original loss via a greedy message passing procedure. In our experiments on multiclass and multilabel classification with hundreds of thousands of classes, as well as training skip-gram word embeddings with a vocabulary size of half a million, our technique consistently improves the accuracy of search-based gradient approximation methods and outperforms sampling-based gradient approximation methods by a large margin.


Introduction: This study examines patient experiences with shared medical appointments for buprenorphine treatment at a safety net primary care clinic. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study of 28 participants in a primary care buprenorphine shared medical appointments program. Results: Participants reported appreciating the group visit format, gaining increased coping skills, and having more stable housing and less legal difficulty after starting the program. Conclusion: The implementation of shared medical appointments for buprenorphine treatment benefits clinicians and patients. The nurse care manager and buprenorphine prescriber can efficiently attend to the clinical needs of multiple patients.


With the prevalence of laparoscopic surgery, the request for reliable training and assessment is becoming increasingly important. The traditional way of training is both time consuming and cost intensive, and may cause ethical or moral issues. With the development of computer technologies, virtual reality has entered the world of consumer electronics as a new way to enhance tactile and visual sensory experiences. Virtual reality based surgical skill training gradually becomes an effective supplementary to the traditional laparoscopic skill training in many surgical theatres. To provide high fidelity virtual surgery training experiences, the presentation of the virtual world should have the same level of realism as what surgeons see and feel during real operations. However, the weak computing power limits the potential level of details on the graphics presentation and physical behaviour of virtual objects, which will further influence the fidelity of tactile interaction. Achieving visual realism (realistic graphics presentation and accurate physical behaviour) and good user experience using limited computing resources is the main challenge for laparoscopic surgery simulation. The topic of visual realism in laparoscopic surgery simulation has not been well researched. This topic mainly relates to the area of 3D anatomy modeling, soft body simulation and rendering. Current researches in computer graphics and game communities are not tailored for laparoscopic surgery simulation. The direct use of those techniques in developing surgery simulators will often result in poor quality anatomy model, inaccurate simulation, low fidelity visual effect, poor user experience and inefficient production pipeline, which significantly influence the visual realism of the virtual world. The development of laparoscopic surgery simulator is an interdiscipline of computer graphics, computational physics and haptics. However, current researches barely focus on the study of tailored techniques and efficient production pipeline which often result in the long term research cycle and daunting cost for simulator development. This research is aiming at improving the visual realism of laparoscopic surgery simulation from the perspective of computer graphics. In this research, a set of tailor techniques have been proposed to improve the visual realism for laparoscopic surgery simulation. For anatomy modeling, an automatic and efficient 3D anatomy conversion pipeline is proposed which can convert bad quality 3D anatomy into simulation ready state while preserving the original model's surface parameterization property. For simulation, a soft tissue simulation pipeline is pro- posed which can provide multi-layer heterogeneous soft tissue modeling and intuitive physically editable simulation based on uniform polynomial based hyperelastic material representation. For interaction, a collision detection and interaction system based on adaptive circumphere structure is proposed which supports robust and efficient sliding con- tact, energized dissection and clip. For rendering, a multi-layer soft tissue rendering pipeline is proposed which decomposed the multi-layer structure of soft tissue into corresponding material asset required by state-of-art rendering techniques. Based on this research, a system framework for building a laparoscopic surgery simulator is also proposed to test the feasibility of those tailored techniques.


This paper examines whether rising house prices immediately prior to children entering their college years impacts their intergenerational earnings mobility and/or educational outcomes. Higher house prices provide homeowners, especially liquidity constrained ones, with additional funding to invest in their children's human capital. The results show that a 1 percentage point increase in house prices, when children are 17-years-old, results in roughly 0.8 percent higher annual income for the children of homeowners, and 1.2 percent lower annual income for the children of renters. Additional analysis shows that the children who benefit the most from rising house prices are those whose parents are liquidity constrained homeowners. Rising house prices also make homeowners' children more likely to graduate from college and have less noncollateralized debt when young adults. Both of these results are consistent with rising house prices enabling parents to invest more in their children.


Collaboration technologies enable people to communicate and use information to make organizational decisions. The United States Navy refers to this concept as information dominance. Various collaboration technologies are used by the Navy to achieve this mission. This qualitative descriptive study objectively examined how a matrix oriented Navy activity perceived an implemented collaboration technology. These insights were used to determine whether a specific collaboration technology achieved a mission of information dominance. The study used six collaboration themes as a foundation to include: (a) Cultural intelligence, (b) Communication, (c) Capability, (d) Coordination, (e) Cooperation, and (f) Convergence. It was concluded that collaboration technology was mostly perceived well and helped to achieve some levels of information dominance. Collaboration technology improvement areas included bringing greater awareness to the collaboration technology, revamping the look and feel of the user interface, centrally paying for user and storage fees, incorporating more process management tools, strategically considering a Continuity of Operations, and incorporating additional industry best practices for data structures. Emerging themes of collaboration were collected to examine common patterns identified in the collected data. Emerging themes included acceptance, awareness, search, scope, content, value, tools, system performance, implementation, training, support, usage, structure, complexity, approach, governance/configuration management/policy, and resourcing.


Abstract Relative to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana has recorded exceptionally high rates and levels of urbanisation. At national independence in the 1960s, Botswana was overwhelmingly a rural country. Now, over half of the population currently lives in urban settlements. The discovery and exploitation of the country's rich mineral resources since independence in 1966 have made a significant contribution to the development of new towns, such as Orapa, Jwaneng and Selebi Phikwe. This contribution documents the nature of diamond and copper-nickel mining activities in Botswana and their influence on the urban settlement pattern. Botswana's mining towns are run on welfare capitalist lines by foreign companies, primarily DeBeers, in which the Botswana government has a minority share. The populations of the towns and surrounding areas have grown well beyond their planned levels. The government has been acutely conscious of the limited life of the mines and of the need to make provision for employment after the end of mining. The Selebi Phikwe nickel mine was expected to cease production in 2010 and efforts have been made to create non-mining employment with some success. The dilemmas posed by depleting mineral supplies and the government's attempts to find economic employment alternatives to sustain existing urban settlements are discussed. Given Botswana's reputation for investing mining wealth in infrastructural development and public welfare for current and future generations, this analysis assesses the challenges large-scale mining poses for achievement of sustainable development, social justice and poverty alleviation.


Grain allergies are common food allergies, that are typically but not only seen in individuals with other associated food allergies. The immunologic responses to grain proteins can be IgE and/or non-IgE mediated. Wheat allergy is the most common of the cereal grain allergies. It usually begins in early childhood and is outgrown by adolescence, although some retain it beyond the teenage years. Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated wheat allergy is reported to affect 0.2 to 1.3 percent of children in Europe and 0.4 percent of children in the United States. The onset of wheat allergy in adulthood is typically not seen, unless it is related to an occupational exposure. Epidemiologic data for the other grains is largely missing. Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated food-triggered reactions generally occur immediately, within minutes to two hours after ingestion. These reactions can present with skin, oropharyngeal, upper and lower respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, and/or cardiovascular signs and symptoms. The reactions can vary from mild cutaneous reactions to life-threatening anaphylaxis. Positive diagnose is based on determining the plasmatic level of specific IgE and performing skin prick test for wheat, methods that have poor specificity and sensitivity in predicting oral food challenge test outcomes. The gold standard test remains oral food challenge (OFC) test for wheat. Most of the studies have proven its utility, even in children with high levels of wheat specific IgE. The diagnose of non-IgE mediated reactions is based on clinical presentation and plasmatic levels of specific antibodies, other than IgE. The management of grain allergy does not differ from that of other food allergies. It requires instructions on avoidance and treatment of reactions in the event of accidental exposure. It includes education about grain alternatives. It also includes monitoring for nutritional issues and for the resolution of the allergy. Preliminary data on specific oral tolerance induction to wheat through oral desensitization protocols have shown some promise in children, but it is still considered an experimental therapy.


We investigated the effect of natural levels of turbulence on the vertical distribution and net population growth of the dinoflagellate Ceratium tripos and on the interaction with its predator, the mixotrophic dinoflagellate Fragilidium subglobosum. Unialgal cultures of each species were exposed to four kinetic energy dissipation rates, ε: 0.0001, 0.01, 0.05, and 1 cm2 s™3, generated by vertically oscillating grids in 2™liter cylindric containers. Autotrophic growth of F. subglobosum was not affected by any level of turbulence tested. In contrast, at ε > 0.05 cm2 s™3 (this value is generated in the upper 10 m of the ocean by a moderate gale or at 0.5 m in depth by a gentle breeze), C. tripos decreased its net population growth, and the vertical distribution of the cells was affected. At the highest turbulence level, C. tripos stopped swimming, settled, and accumulated at the bottom. Mixotrophic growth of F. subglobosum, when fed C. tripos at high densities (i.e., >> prey cells mL™1), was not affected by turbulence. However, at low prey cell densities (i.e., 5 to 8 C. tripos cells mL™1), growth and ingestion rates of F. subglobosum were significantly higher at the highest turbulence level compared to the rates at other turbulence levels and were close to the rates measured at high prey cell densities, presumably because sedimentation of C. tripos cells resulted in patches where the cell densities were not food‐limiting for F. subglobosum.


After reflecting on his support of a losing Democrat for president, George Soros steps back to revisit his views on why George Bush's policies around the world fall short in the arenas most important to Soros: democracy, human rights and open society. As a survivor of the Holocaust and a life-long proponent of free expression, Soros understands the meaning of freedom. And yet his differences with George Bush, another proponent of freedom, are profound. In this powerful essay Soros spells out his views and how they differ from the president's. He reflects on why the Democrats may have lost the high ground on these values issues and how they might reclaim it. As he has in his recent books, On Globalization and The Bubble of American Supremacy, Soros uses facts, anecdotes, personal experience and philosophy to illuminate a major topic in a way that both enlightens and inspires.


Introduction: Quantitative data of spinal range of motion in vivo is essential to improve clinicians' understanding of spinal pathologies, procedure of assessment and treatment. Accurate knowledge of physiological movement of lumbar spine regions, hip and the behaviour of each regional movement is important. Spine and hip motion play an essential role in daily functional activities, such as self-caring or performing occupational duties. Measuring the regional breakdown of spinal motion in three planes and describing the relative motion of different regions of the thoracolumbar (TL) spine can provide useful clinical information, which can be used in clinical procedure for spinal assessment. The relationship between the forward flexion (i.e. cardinal motion) and more functional tasks, such as lifting, stand-to-sit and sit-to-stand, as well as dividing the lumbar spine into more than one region, relative to the hip during these tasks, have not yet been established. Measuring the regional breakdown of spinal motions in three planes, as well as the relationship between lumbar spine and hip in sagittal plane, requires a multi-regional analysis system.
Aims and objectives: The fundamental aim was to explore range of motion and velocity magnitudes in flexion, extension lifting, stand-to-sit and sit-to-stand tasks, using three lumbar regions relative to the hip, and to determine correlations and differences between flexion and other dominant functional tasks. An objective was to obtain an appropriate measurement system that is capable of measuring dynamic movement in 'real time' and examine its validity against a "gold standard" system and its reliability, by measuring the range of motion of multi-spinal regions. Also, to demonstrate the relative contribution of five regions from within the thoracolumbar and head-cervical regions in 3D.
Methods: The selected system (tri-axial accelerometer sensors-(3A sensors)) was validated against a "gold standard" system (roll table (RT)) to demonstrate a correlation and root mean square errors (RMSEs) between the two devices. Reliability of the 3A sensors and the contribution of multi-spinal regions was assessed on 18 healthy participants. Two protocols were applied: in protocol one, two sensors were placed on the forehead and T1, to measure cervical ROM; in protocol two, six sensors were placed on the spinous processes of T1, T4, T8, T12, L3 and S1 to measure thoraco-lumbar regional range of motion. It also divided the lumbar spine as one
single joint (S1 to T12) and as two regions (the upper (T12-L3) and lower (L3-S1)) and hip region. Data was gathered from 53 participants using four sensors attached to the skin over the S1, L3, T12 and lateral thigh. Two different statistical analyses were applied: one for analysing each particular region's contribution, relative to the hip; and another to analyse the correlation between the kinematic profiles of flexion and three sagittally dominant functional tasks (lifting, stand-to-sit and sit-to-stand).
Results: Validation of 3A accelerometer sensors system against the roll table revealed a strong correlation between the two systems average (ICC=.998 (95% CI=.993-.999)) and an acceptable rate of errors ranged from (2.54o (0.70%) to 5.01o (1.39%). It also demonstrated the reliability of this system, when the ICC values for all regions were high with relatively small errors associated with a novel multi-regional clinical spinal motion system. The ICC values for all regions were found to be high, ranging from .88 and .99 with 95% CI ranged from .62 to .99 while errors values ranged from 0.4 to 5.2°. The additional movement information, gathered from a multi-regional breakdown, adds insight into the relative contributions to spinal movement. Significant differences existed between ROM of LLS and ULS across all movements (p<0.05). A significant difference also existed between ULS-hip and LLS-hip ratio for the majority of tasks (p<0.05), and between ULS and LLS velocity for the majority of tasks (p<0.05). The findings from the lumbar spine as one region, underestimates the contribution of the lower lumbar and overestimates the contribution of the upper lumbar spine. Strong correlations for ROM are reported between forward flexion tasks and lifting for the LL spine (r = 0.83) and all regions during stand-to-sit and sit-to-stand (r = 0.70-0.73). No tasks were strongly correlated for velocity (r = 0.03-0.55).
Conclusion: The validity and reliability of the accelerometer sensors system is evidence of its ability to measure spinal movement. Since it is inexpensive, small, portable and relatively easy to use, it could be a preferable system for clinical application. The data, from multi-spinal regions, provides a novel method for practitioners to focus on a greater number of regions, rather than measuring only the three main areas of the spine (cervical, thoracic and lumbar). Investigating the lumbar spine as only one region risks missing out important kinematic detail. Further, the methodology provides the potential to measure functionally unique kinematics from more complex functional tasks, rather than generalised findings from clinical assessments of simple flexion.


We consider a semimartingale X which is reflected at an upper barrier T and a lower barrier S, where S and T are also semimartingales such that T is bounded away from S. First, we present an explicit construction of the reflected process. Then we derive a relationship in terms of stochastic integrals linking the reflected process and the local times at the respective barriers to X, S, and T. This result reveals the fundamental structural properties of the reflection mechanism. We also present a few results showing how the general relationship simplifies under additional assumptions on X, S, and T, e.g. if we take X, S, and T to be independent martingales (which satisfy some extra technical conditions).


The main objective of the"IBCFT-2019" Conference is to provide a forum for presentation and explore recent trends and advancements in the field of Bio-chemical and Food Technology which brings suitable and economic solutions via innovative and cost-effective approaches. The topics of technical program have been divided into 3 thematic sessions and several sub-thematic related topics. More than 300 abstracts were received from various participants across the country. Out of them about 100 papers have been selected for paper presentation and about 30 of them have been chosen for poster presentation. All the nominated oral presentation are published in ICI indexed in UGC, approved American International Journal of Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and mathematics as a special issue. All the papers appearing in the proceedings were peer-reviewed by renowned reviewers in those fields. A special attention was paid to ensure the high quality of the accepted papers.


During the Cold War, American national security seemed clearly defined: to protect against the overarching threat of the Soviet Union and Communist expansion. But with the demise of Communism, America must reconsider its role in the world as dramatically as it did after victory in World War II. As the only real superpower, how should we use our military strength? What are the lessons of the Persian Gulf War? How and when do we cut back on our defense and national security establishment? In the New World Order a country's social cohesion and economic strength at home are increasingly important determinants of its success. To what extent does America need to reconsider its national security in domestic terms - i.e., improving economic competitiveness and learning to live within its means? In this new collection, sponsored by the American Assembly and the Council on Foreign Relations, a group of leading experts assesses the changing conception of national security in the 1990s and its implications for American policy at home and abroad.


The role of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been increasingly important as a mean of transferring technology and innovation from developed countries to developing ones. It has made a significant contribution to development and economic growth in host countries by allocating resources from wealthy countries to be transferred to those experiencing scarcity, allowing host countries to invest in activities beyond their domestic saving capabilities. Understanding the relationships of foreign investment with domestic suppliers, and what determines investment location choices, can help dictate the consequences of implementing passive, as opposed to active, FDI policies by host country governments, as well as providing the tools for FDI agencies to formulate their strategies. The main focus of this research is to determine the factors that most encourage and discourage FDI in Libya, to identify the different requirements of each type of FDI by applying different characteristics, like nationality, industry type, and ownership, and to examine the relationship between the foreign companies and the domestic suppliers. To capture these relationships in sufficient depth, the host countries' locational determinants were analysed, these influenced the choice of FDI. These locational determinants, such as economic and investment policy, market conditions, facility and utility, financial and legal and institutions were developed based on an extensive review of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature.
Primary data were collected by means of a survey questionnaire from 74 foreign-owned and joint venture companies and 20 face-to-face interviews with senior managers of these companies, and Libyan government senior officials, in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of their responses and to investigate the difficulties and challenges facing government bodies tasked to improve the Libyan business environment. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation was used for unidimensionality conditions. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), chi-square and cross-tabulation tools, then, were applied as statistic tools, while a thematic technique was employed to conduct an interpretative analysis of the interviews. The research found that in the sample, six out of eleven determinant factors were considered as encouraging incentives (economic situation, market conditions, natural resources, tax exemptions, skilled labour and semi-skilled labour), these are needed for FDI in Libya, in line with the literature. The remaining five factors (government regulation, domestic infrastructure, and research development as well as financial, legal and judiciary systems), were found to be discouraging factors. When applying moderators to the model, the result reported that factors encouraging/discouraging FDI were different in all groups. Results also showed that there are many challenges facing Libyan policy-makers aiming to reform the business environment in order to make it more attractive for FDI. In general, foreign companies have developed limited backward linkages with domestic suppliers which need to be improved and made more competitive in order to be of real benefit to local companies. The policy implication of this finding is that for Libya to be a more attractive market for future FDI, urgent and decisive reforms are needed in the issues which inhibited FDI inflows, and the incentives provided should be restricted to and designed for targeted specific FDI only, in order to gain desirable benefits and promote the spillover.


It has been said that how a society treats its least well-off members speaks volumes about its humanity. If so, out treatment of the mentally ill suggests that American society is inhumane: swinging between overintervention and utter neglect, we sometimes force extreme treatments on those who do not want them, and at other times discharge mentally ill patients who do want treament without providing adequate resources for their care in the community. Focusing on overinterventionist approaches, "Refusing Care" asks, if ever, the mentally ill should be treated against their will. Basing her analysis on case and empirical studies, Elyn R. Saks explores dilemmas raised by forced treatment in three contexts - civil commitment (forced hospitalization for noncriminals), medication, and seclusion and restraints. Saks argues that the best way to solve each of these dilemmas is, paradoxically, to be both more protective of individual autonomy and more paternalistic than current law calls for. For instance, while Saks advocates relaxing the standards for first commitment after a psychotic episode, she also would prohibit extreme mechanical restraints (such as tying someone spread-eagled to a bed). Finally, because of the often extreme prejudice against the mentally ill in American society, Saks proposes standards that, as much as possible, should apply equally to non-mentally ill and mentally ill people alike. Mental health professionals, lawyers, disability rights activists and anyone who wants to learn more about the way the mentally ill are treated - and "ought" to be treated - in the United States should read "Refusing Care".


(BEC) just got a whole lot more interesting. Last year, the Bohn theory group explored what would occur in a dipolar BEC when a laser probe — think of it like a finger — tickled a BEC just hard enough to excite a roton (See JILA Light & Matter, Summer 2010). The roton is a strange type of quasi particle formed when a number of strongly magnetic atoms or dipolar molecules come together and act like a different kind of particle. It is like a sound wave, with regions of high and low density. However, the relationship between its wavelength and frequency is decidedly strange. When a roton's wavelength gets small enough, its frequency stops growing; in fact, it gets smaller. The onset of this oddball phenomenon determines the appearance of ripples that are associated with the drag on a laser probe, or finger, as it traverses a dipolar BEC. But that's not all that can happen, according to a new study by former JILA graduate student Chris Ticknor (now at Los Alamos National Laboratory), graduate student Ryan Wilson, and Fellow John Bohn. A sufficiently wide laser can also create vor-tices in the BEC, which are a lot easier to see in an experiment than a roton. There are other interesting experimental implications in the new study. This work considers superfluid dipolar chromium atoms in a pancake-shaped trap created by two pairs of intersecting laser beams. This trap forces the dipolar atoms to line up side by side, and now they repel one another. The atoms can, however, be tilted slightly in one direction and this makes all the difference. Under these circumstances, the rotons can be " fickle " when they're tickled. A roton only appears when a laser finger wanders through the BEC perpendicular to the head-to-toe orientation of the atoms. If the laser travels through parallel to the orientation of the atoms, nothing happens — no laughter, no drag, no friction, no roton. Clearly, the aligned dipoles can suppress the roton, but only in one direction. This direction-dependent result proves that an ultracold superfluid consisting of dipolar atoms or molecules isn't necessarily uniform in all directions. This unexpected discovery was showcased in a recent article in Physical Review Letters.


The limited availability of autologous bone for grafting post-surgical defects in patients with craniosynostosis, necessitates the use of alloplastic materials which are prone to rejection or infection. The use of bio-composite materials consisting of alloplastic bioabsorbable scaffolds and autologous osteoprogenitor cells to avoid rejection, could provide a valuable approach to the repair of critical bone defects in the skull. However, in patients with syndromic craniosynostosis, autologous osteoprogenitors carry the mutations which cause premature ossification and consequent malformations requiring cranioplasty. The aim of this study was to develop strategies for growing effectively mutated osteoprogenrlors with the view to developing autologous therapies for patients with craniosynostosis. To this purpose, the behaviour of mouse osteoprogenitor cell lines carrying either a common human mutation (FGFR2-C278F) for syndromic craniosynostosis or the human wild type FGFR2 (WT-FGFR2) was investigated. In particular the focus was on i) how the mutation affected proliferation and osteogenics ii) the effect of exogenous fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 18 on cell growth and morphology iii) analysis of osteoprogenitor attachment and growth on bioabsorbable scaffolds uncoated or coated with extracellular matrix molecules (fibronectin, laminin). RT-PCR analysis of cells carrying the FGFR2-C278F mutation and wild type FGFR2 cells, revealed differential expression of FGF18 and molecules important in the terminal differentiation of mineralising osteoblasts: Osteocalcin was expressed at greater levels in cells carrying the mutation compared to wild type cells at 1.8 fold (p < 0.01) and 1.4 fold (p = 0.02) in pre-confluent and day 5 confluent cells respectively. Wild type cells expressed alkaline phosphatase from day 5 compared to mutated cells which did not express until day 30. Most striking was the greater expression of FGF18 in the mutated cells 1.8 fold (p < 0.01) at pre confluence, 1.3 fold (p = 0.01) at day 5 and 1.5 fold (p < 0.01) at day 30. In the early phase of cell cultures, cells carrying the mutation demonstrated higher mitotic activity than wild type cells as determined by p-H3 staining (18.6% +ve and 11.2% +ve respectively p < 0.01, day 2 post plating). However, mutated cells demonstrated altered attachment behaviour, clustering forming early nodules and did not reach full confluence. Subsequent treatment of mutated cells with FGF 18 10 9M appeared to allow cells to reach confluence and "rescue" the phenotype. A concentration dependent increase in cellular mitosis for all cell lines was observed. This was significantly greater at day 1 in mutated cells compared to wild type cells (51% and 29% respectively p <0.01 at FGF18 1fjr9M , and 60% and 43% respectively p < 0.01 at FGF18 irj*M ). Attachment and growth of osteoblasts to a commercially available, clinically licensed scaffold could be enhanced by modification of the surface with the extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules, fibronectin and laminin. Both substrates significantly enhanced attachment at all time points up to 48 hours post plating (e.g. C278F cells at 1 hour post plating: 10,020 cells -ve 37,600 fibronectin 41,670 paminin p < 0.01). These findings indicated that the use of osteoprogenitor cells carrying mutations could present a feasible strategy in bone tissue engineering, which warrants further development towards the overall multidisciplinary approach in the management of these complex clinical challenges.


The continuous increase of the world's population results in an increased demand for energy drastically from the industrial and domestic sectors as well. Moreover, the current public awareness regarding issues such as pollution and overuse of petroleum fuel has resulted in the development of research approaches concerning alternative renewable energy sources. Amongst the various options for renewable energies used in transportation systems, biodiesel is considered the most suitable replacement for fossil-based diesel. In what concerns the industrial application for biodiesel production, homogeneous catalysts such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid are usually selected, but their removal after reaction could prove to be rather complex and sometimes polluting, resulting in increases on the production costs. Therefore, there is an open field for research on new catalysts regarding biodiesel production, which can comprise heterogeneous catalysts. Apart from that, there are other alternatives to these chemical catalysts. Enzymatic catalysts have also been used in biodiesel production by employing lipases as biocatalysts. For economic reasons, and reusability and recycling, the lipases urged to be immobilized on suitable supports, thus the concept of heterogeneous biocatalysis comes in existence. Just like other heterogeneous catalytic materials, this one also presents similar issues with inefficiency and mass-transfer limitations. A solution to overcome the said limitations can be to consider the use of nanostructures to support enzyme immobilization, thus obtaining new heterogeneous biocatalysts. This review mainly focuses on the application of enzymatic catalysts as well as nano(bio)catalysts in transesterification reaction and their multiple methods of synthesis.


Forecasting the stock price of a particular has been a difficult task for many analysts and researchers. In fact, investors are highly interested in the research area of stock price prediction. However, to improve the accuracy of forecasting a single stock price is a really challenging task; therefore in this paper, I propose a sequential learning model for prediction of a single stock price with corporate action event information and Macro-Economic indices using LTSM-RNN method. The results show that the proposed model is expected to be a promising method in the stock price prediction of a single stock with variables like corporate action and corporate publishing.


To evaluate the effect of banning alcohol on the incidence of injuries and illness among spectators, we reviewed 4 years (1983 to 1986) of medical incident reports from a major collegiate football stadium. At no time had alcoholic beverages been sold inside the stadium, but before 1985, fans were allowed to bring alcohol into the stadium. In 1985, this practice was banned. During the study period, 340 medical incidents (M = 12.6/game) were reported. Several alterations of specific injury/illness patterns were noted after initiation of the ban: heat-related illness occurred more frequently before initiation of the ban, whereas extremity injuries and syncope (fainting from coronary insufficiency) occurred with greater frequency afterwards. The injury/illness rates per 10,000 fans were 2.95 in 1983, 2.45 in 1984, 1.92 in 1985, and 3.48 in 1986. There was no significant change in the overall incident rate after the ban. Evaluation of medical incidents revealed an alteration in specific injury/illness patterns but no change in overall incidence after institution of the ban. Future investigations are needed to elucidate more clearly the impact of banning alcohol on injury/illness rates and patterns at mass gatherings.


In this paper we present empirical evidence of the importance of aggregation bias in Euler equations for consumption. The main result is that estimates of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution for consumption are consistently lower for aggregate data than for average cohort data. In trying to explain these differences we find that a major role is played by the non-linearity of the estimable equation and by omitted demographic factors (normally unobservable on aggregate data). Even when these sources of aggregation bias are corrected for, however, the estimates of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution obtained from aggregate consumption growth depend on expected productivity and income growth. This suggests that entries and exits from the consumption pool, or more generally finite horizons and incomplete markets, might explain some of the difference. In the second half of this paper we investigate theoretical explanations of our empirical results. We develop an overlapping generations model that enables us to evaluate analytically the effects of entries into and exits out of the consumption pool. This results in a negative bias caused by an omitted variable correlated to productivity growth. Such a model could be interpreted as a formalization of a missing market environment. We also discuss some other aggregate problems that can result in a biased estimate of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution.


Synopsis During the production of pure TiO2 for the pigment industry, ilmenite, containing 35‐60% TiO 2, is reduced to high titania slag, containing 70‐95% 'TiO2' and pig iron. The high titania slag produced, consists mainly of titanium in different oxidation states and FeO in equilibrium with liquid iron. To predict the phase and chemical reaction equilibria in a furnace, a suitable solution model is required with accurately determined binary interaction parameters, as slag melts tend to behave very non-ideally. This paper investigates two popular slag models, namely, modified quasi-Chemical (MQC) model and the cell model and provides the binary interaction parameters based on recently published data of the ternary system and critically assessed published unary and binary data. Very few modelling results have been published on the ternary Ti-Fe-O system pertaining to high titanium slags. The solution models, with their regressed interaction parameters, can subsequently be implemented in commercial software of the slagmetal phase equilibria to predict how much and which type of solids will precipitate for a given bulk slag chemistry and operating temperature or, alternatively, above which temperature should a furnace be operated to avoid excessive solids precipitation.


Turner syndrome (TS) is associated with distinct manifestations in women and girls involving many mesoderm-derived body systems, including endocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, and renal. Many TS signs and symptoms may go undetected until teenage years or later. Non-mesoderm-derived manifestations of dermatological nature, which are just as common as other features of TS, but often present either at birth or soon after, can aid in earlier detection and impact clinical management. The main objective of this study was to determine self-reported prevalence of various dermatological manifestations in a sample of women and girls with TS. We created a six-part questionnaire that included demographic information, dermatology referral experience, impact on quality of life, dermatological manifestation history, special issues in growth hormone therapy, and family history. We analyzed 241 responses from the UTHealth TS registry, TS Society of the United States, and TS social media groups. Although many dermatological concerns present during the first few decades of life, the overwhelming majority of respondents are not provided with dermatology referrals at diagnosis and/or available treatment methods. Some conditions like dry skin, lymphedema, vitiligo, abnormal nails, and history of skin biopsy due to a suspicion for skin cancer were especially predictive of deleterious impact on quality of life. Our data reveal that many skin conditions are highly prevalent in the TS population during the early decades of life and affirm utilizing these conditions in the TS diagnostic process, as well as indicate the need for specialized dermatology referrals to address detrimental quality of life impacts related to skin concerns. mean


The Supremacy Clause makes the Constitution, federal statutes, and ratified treaties part of the "supreme law of the land." Despite the textual and historical clarity of the Supremacy Clause, some courts and commentators have suggested that the "non-self-executing treaty doctrine" means that ratified treaties must await implementing legislation before they become domestic law. The non-self-executing treaty doctrine has in particular been used as a shield to claims under international human rights treaties. This Article does not seek to provide another critique of the non-self-executing treaty doctrine in the abstract. Rather, I suggest that a determination that a treaty is non-self-executing only means that the treaty of its own force does not provide a private individual with cause of action. The treaty nonetheless remains domestic law under the Supremacy Clause. It is my contention that where a human rights treaty requires domestic implementation, that duty of implementation may be judicially enforced by mandamus relief. Although U.S. policymakers may attempt to modify the treaties they ratify to obviate any duty of domestic implementation, they may not do so by reliance on a misinterpretation of the non-self-executing treaty doctrine nor may they do so by a Senate declaration of non-self-execution. In short, ratified treaties are part of our law. And it is not only international law, but also our Constitution, that is flouted when the government refuses to comply with the supreme law it voluntarily creates upon ratifying a treaty.


An MBA is not necessarily the ticket to fast-track career success that it once was. Companies are down-sizing, competition for jobs is fierce, and now, more than ever, getting into the right programme at the right school is critical. This work is an inside look at the 40 best B-schools in America. Based on extensive new survey, it profiles the best graduate business schools as rated by people who know them best: recent graduates and corporate recruiters. It peeks behind the slick brochures to provide a no-holds-barred look at every facet of the most prestigious programmes, including quality of teaching, curriculum, campus lifestyle, track records of placement offices, average starting salaries for graduates, and more. There are up-to-date rankings and profiles; information on the best regional, part-time and executive MBA programmes; coverage of who is applying to B-schools and why, and what the hottest subject areas are; advice on selecting the right programme, scoring high on the GMATs and hitting the mark on the application and written essay; and hints on how to get the school to foot part of the tuition.


Received : August 2011, Accepted : December 2011 Background : Fluorine is an essential micronutrient for human health, serving to strengthen the apatite matrix of skeletal tissues and teeth. In regions where the fluoride (F�) concentration of water is naturally low (<0.5 mg/l), some communities have chosen to add this constituent to their drinking water to strengthen teeth and to minimize cavities. The aim of this study was to determine fluoride concentration in drinking water in shahroud city at the northern part of Iran as well as determination of DMF value in 7 year old children, for a duration of 6 years. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 138 students aged 7 were chosen randomly from Shahroud schools and were followed up for a duration of 6 years (2004-2009). They were examined by a dentist for determining the numbers of decayed, missing and filled permanent teeth. Also 120 samples were taken from drinking water in the city and Ion-selective method was used for measureing fluoride concentration. Determination of both DMF index and fluoride mean concentration was repeated for six years from 2004 to 2009. Results: Fluoride concentrations were between 0.45 to 0.75 mg/L and DMF index was between 3.18 to 3.81. There was a significant difference between both DMF index and fluoride mean concentrations in different years. Conclusions: DMF index obtained in our study was higher than the index reported for the whole country (1.2-2.6mg/L).


There is a growing trend in robotics for implementing behavioural mechanisms based on human psychology, such as the processes associated with thinking. Semantic knowledge has opened new paths in robot navigation, allowing a higher level of abstraction in the representation of information. In contrast with the early years, when navigation relied on geometric navigators that interpreted the environment as a series of accessible areas or later developments that led to the use of graph theory, semantic information has moved robot navigation one step further. This work presents a survey on the concepts, methodologies and techniques that allow including semantic information in robot navigation systems. The techniques involved have to deal with a range of tasks from modelling the environment and building a semantic map, to including methods to learn new concepts and the representation of the knowledge acquired, in many cases through interaction with users. As understanding the environment is essential to achieve high-level navigation, this paper reviews techniques for acquisition of semantic information, paying attention to the two main groups: human-assisted and autonomous techniques. Some state-of-the-art semantic knowledge representations are also studied, including ontologies, cognitive maps and semantic maps. All of this leads to a recent concept, semantic navigation, which integrates the previous topics to generate high-level navigation systems able to deal with real-world complex situations.


: Considerable evidence has demonstrated that people are not only sensitive to the information contained in concrete imagistic gesture, but furthermore, that they combine this gestural information with the accompanying speech in order to understand the full semantic meaning that a speaker conveys in a message. There is, however, very little experimental evidence concerning how people deal with more abstract metaphoric gestures and whether they extract meaning from these gestures and combine this with the information in the accompanying speech. The two studies reported here investigated this issue by comparing and contrasting the effects of metaphoric gesture-speech matches and mismatches on both semantic communication and social judgment. The studies found that individuals do combine the information contained in metaphoric gestures with that contained in speech and that the meaning of the utterance is demonstrably affected by the presence of a gesture-speech mismatch. The second study found that in messages in which there are gesture-speech mismatches, participants seemed to like the speaker less and were less likely to believe what they said. The implications of these studies for a range of domains, including advertising and politics, are discussed.


Exposure of heavy metals from various sources into aquatic environment will have a negative impact to aquatic organisms, even below threshold limited value. Open dumping management system that is used on landfill site at Kelurahan Terjun could cause the exposure of one of toxicant heavy metal, Cadmium (Cd), through the leachate to the shrimp farm located near the landfill site. The exposure of this toxicant heavy metal could harmfully affect aquatic organisms around the landfill site. The purpose of this study was to analyze the cadmium concentrations in shrimp samples collected from the shrimp farm, located near the landfill site. The study location in shrimp farm near landfill site at Kelurahan Terjun Kota Medan. The type of this study was descriptive, samples of this study were shrimps and water of shrimp farm which were collected in certain range :13 m, 57 m and 82 m from the landfill site. Data were analyzed descriptively in tables and naration. The study found that c oncentrations of cadmium in these contaminated water was 0,01296 mg/L to 0,01474 mg/L, higher than threshold limited value, while rates of cadmium accumulation on shrimp were measured at 0,12951 mg/kg, approximately equivalent to the minimum risk concentration. The shrimp accumulated cadmium concentration, commensurate with increases in the concentration of cadmium in water and the duration of exposure. Accumulation of heavy metals  in aquatic organisms such as shrimp needed continuous monitoring and surveillance owing to biomagnifying potential of toxic heavy metals (Cd). Suggested to Kota Medan government was to change management system that is used on landfill site with sanitary landfill system.


This paper examines the determinants of exit from agriculture under the implementation of CAP payments in four selected EU countries (France, Hungary, Italy and Poland) in the period 2005-08. The study employs micro-data from the European Union Labour Force Survey and regional data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network. We differentiate among the different measures of farm payments, looking at the individual impact of Pillar 1 instruments, i.e. coupled and decoupled payments, and at those in Pillar 2, targeted at rural development. The main results suggest that total subsidies at the regional level are negatively associated with the out-farm migration of agricultural workers in the two New member states, Hungary and Poland, so that the CAP would seem to hinder the exit of labour from agriculture. Conversely, the non-significant results for the 'old' member states may be interpreted as the result of opposing effects of coupled payments and rural development support. The diverse impact of CAP on the likelihood of leaving agriculture in the four countries reflects the heterogeneity across European member states, due to different market and production structures, which does not allow a common and simple generalisation of the effect of the CAP on labour allocation.


Navigating the Future

The Marine Board Navigating the Future series provides regular pan-European summaries of the current status of marine research, priority recommendations and future scientific challenges in the context of European societal needs. Navigating the Future is a blueprint to guide both the research and the science policy agendas at European and national level.

Since 2001 when the first Navigating the Future position paper was published, the series has been widely recognized, both by researchers and science policymakers, as providing critical periodic foresight and recommendations on emerging marine science topics and needs, and associated societal challenges and opportunities.

Previous Navigating the Future reports are available for download on the publications page

Navigating the Future IV
Navigating the Future IV is designed to inform the Commission calls under the forthcoming Horizon 2020 programme. The paper is organized around the framework of key societal challenges in the areas of climate, human health, food security, energy and safe and sustainable use of marine space. NFIV also addresses strategic and enabling issues such as European Ocean Observing System (EOOS), training, the science-policy interface and ocean literacy.

Navigating the Future IV (Marine Board Position Paper 20) was launched on 20 June 2013 at the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB) in central Brussels.

The event also launched EurOCEAN 2014, high-level conference on marine research, technology and innovation, which will take place in on 7-9 October 2014 in Rome as an official event of the Italian EU Presidency.


Climate change impacts to the species and ecosystems upon which human economic and ecological well-being depends receive relatively little attention from the media and the general public. Ecological forecasts of future climate impacts on the geographic ranges of iconic species produce models depicting alternative scenarios that vary dramatically in their degree of projected changes. Using the IPCC's latest climate model outputs and greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, scientists and science visualization specialists from the California Academy of Sciences are creating multimedia presentations that convey two different trajectories for Earth (and our) future, told through the lens of wildlife icons such as the jaguar and wolverine. These science-based results translate into educational 'global change vignettes' that introduce the public to alternative potential futures for the species and landscapes to which they are connected. In this way, the diffuse issue of global climate change becomes more personal, and the viewer may be motivated to become part of the solution that creates the more positive outcome.


The Kilmaluag and Skudiburgh Formations of the Bathonian, Great Estuarine Group, represent a unique palaeoenvironment within the British Jurassic. The Kilmaluag Formation is divided into two distinctive facies. The 'clastic facies' of N Skye comprises calcareous mudstones and shales, with subordinate sandstones and argillaceous limestones. The depositional setting was one of shallow, ephemeral lagoons, closed from the sea. Sublittoral lagoon, mudflat and channel environments are identified, and fossil faunas indicate low salinity. The 'argillaceous limestone facies' of southern Skye, Eigg and Muck, formed in a similar depositional setting, although sandstones are not present. Alternations of carbonate rocks (some dolomitic) and calcareous shales probably reflect palaeoclimatic fluctuations between humid and arid periods. The overlying Skudiburgh Formation is interpreted as being alluvial. Floodplain, channel and overbank deposits are identified by the presence of mottled mudstones, sands and lensoidal silts. Syndepositional carbonate nodules are interpreted as calcrete, which occasionally coalesced to form extensive hardpan calcrete horizons. The vertical facies sequence reflects a late Bathonian regression. The coastal plain, terrestrial environments of the Skudiburgh Formation were transgressed during the Callovian Stage, an event which ended paralic deposition in the Hebridean Jurassic.


Summary

This paper calls attention to a previously neglected element of the broad repertoire of monumental megalithic structures that characterize the later third and second millennia BC across the British Isles – extremely small standing stones. Despite their frequency and the complex arrangements and associations they embody, these miniliths are rarely recorded in detail and frequently marginalized to a generic background. As a result, they are largely absent from interpretative accounts. Drawing upon recent debates regarding materiality and monument form, alongside the results of excavations explicitly targeting tiny stone settings, the discussion argues that the phenomenon of raising and fixing small uprights was not only widespread and persistent, but sheds important light upon the beliefs and ideas driving monument construction during the later Neolithic and Bronze Ages.


This paper reviews two cases of enabling greater farmer participation in policy advocacy at local and national level in Bolivia. The first case refers to the Committee of Sacaca for Strengthening Ecological Farming (COFAES), a farmer"s organization in Sacaca, North Potosi. The second involves the National Soil Platform, a nationallevel multi-actor network that champions soil conservation. Both initiatives seek to influence policy at different levels in favour of soil conservation and sustainable agriculture. These examples are instructive on how farmers may become increasingly involved in policy formulation processes. COFAES started sharing its experience on ecological agriculture with local traditional leaders, and subsequently it elaborated a collective perspective on development. The National Soil Platform became organized around reviewing governmental policies, and eventually it took on the task of articulating a law on soil management and conservation. The role of farmers" participation is different in each case, although both seek the leadership of traditional peasant and indigenous organizations. We argue that thematic platforms built on the collective interests of farmers can encourage farmer involvement in advocacy and policy formulation. The paper presents favourable conditions as well as interactive tools that may facilitate the process.


Overwintering Calanus spp. were studied in four Norwegian fjords with different predator regimes and ranging in depth from 380 to 1300 m. Three fjords held both the planktivorous mesopelagic fish Maurolicus muelleri and Benthosema glaciale and invertebrate predators, whereas one lacked mesopelagic fish but had especially high abundance of several invertebrate predators. Co‐occurrence of C. finmarchicus, C. helgolandicus, and C. glacialis rendered distinction between effects of environmental conditions and inherent species properties in choice of depth difficult. The highest daily per capita mortality rate for Calanus was estimated at 0.024–0.027 d‐1 (95% CI) in a fjord with high fish abundance and with the clearest water. Predation by M. muelleri and B. glaciale alone could explain the estimated winter mortality. The fjord devoid of mesopelagic fish but particularly rich in invertebrate predators gave the lowest estimated mortality rate; 0.008–0.009 d‐1 (95% CI). Our results indicate that mesopelagic fish pose a stronger predatory threat than invertebrates to overwintering Calanus. This concurs with Calanus selection of oceanic winter habitats below depths where planktivorous fish can forage efficiently by sight.


As Clouds are complex, large-scale, and heterogeneous distributed systems, management of their resources is a challenging task. They need automated and integrated intelligent strategies for provisioning of resources to offer services that are secure, reliable, and cost-efficient. Hence, effective management of services becomes fundamental in software platforms that constitute the fabric of computing Clouds. In this direction, this paper identifies open issues in autonomic resource provisioning and presents innovative management techniques for supporting SaaS applications hosted on Clouds. We present a conceptual architecture and early results evidencing the benefits of autonomic management of Clouds.


It is well-known that overparametrized neural networks trained using gradient-based methods quickly achieve small training error with appropriate hyperparameter settings. Recent papers have proved this statement theoretically for highly overparametrized networks under reasonable assumptions. These results either assume that the activation function is ReLU or they crucially depend on the minimum eigenvalue of a certain Gram matrix depending on the data, random initialization and the activation function. In the later case, existing works only prove that this minimum eigenvalue is non-zero and do not provide quantitative bounds. On the empirical side, a contemporary line of investigations has proposed a number of alternative activation functions which tend to perform better than ReLU at least in some settings but no clear understanding has emerged. This state of affairs underscores the importance of theoretically understanding the impact of activation functions on training. In the present paper, we provide theoretical results about the effect of activation function on the training of highly overparametrized 2-layer neural networks. A crucial property that governs the performance of an activation is whether or not it is smooth. For non-smooth activations such as ReLU, SELU and ELU, all eigenvalues of the associated Gram matrix are large under minimal assumptions on the data. For smooth activations such as tanh, swish and polynomials, the situation is more complex. If the subspace spanned by the data has small dimension then the minimum eigenvalue of the Gram matrix can be small leading to slow training. But if the dimension is large and the data satisfies another mild condition, then the eigenvalues are large. If we allow deep networks, then the small data dimension is not a limitation provided that the depth is sufficient. We discuss a number of extensions and applications of these results.


At present article, I analyze the aspects related to choices and food taboos among riverine populations settled in the Rio Negro (Amazonas, Brazil). It was interviewed 104 people (57 men and 47 women) and it was observed 47 domestic units the everyday practices regarding preferences and food restrictions. The food choices are influenced by individual preferences, ecological, economic, social and cultural factors. Concerning the food taboo system, animals with hybrid characters or difficult to categorized, such as scaless fishes and omnivorous animals, are subject of taboos. The overlap among different theoretical chains is used to interpret the variations established among preferences and food taboos in the Rio Negro.


An ultrasonic assisted extraction as a green way approach is described for simple, efficient and rapid determination of trace metals in some complex matrices by atomic absorption spectrometry and/or other techniques. Their optimized conditions are certainly investigated in details, in particular several variables that could affect the performance of the method in comparison with those of standard methods. In this review, arsenic species are focused to determine in chilli as the plant matrix, for example. This will lead to improve mild extraction method as a routine work for heavy metals in such food analysis with its emerging applications and future trends.


Thin‐film transistors (TFTs) matured later than silicon integrated circuits, but in the past 15 years the technology has grown into a huge industry based on display applications, with amorphous and polycrystalline silicon as the incumbent technology. Recently, an intense search has developed for new materials and new fabrication techniques that can improve the performance, lower manufacturing cost, and enable new functionality. There are now many new options – organic semiconductor (OSCs), metal oxides, nanowires, printing technology as well as thin‐film silicon materials with new properties. All of the new materials have something to offer but none is entirely without technical problems.


OBJECTIVE Endoscope-assisted repair of sagittal craniosynostosis was adopted at St. Louis Children's Hospital in 2006. This study examines the first 100 cases and reviews the outcomes and evolution of patient care protocols at our institution. METHODS The authors performed a retrospective chart review of the first 100 consecutive endoscopic repairs of sagittal craniosynostosis between 2006 and 2014. The data associated with length of hospital stay, blood loss, transfusion rates, operative times, cephalic indices (CIs), complications, and cranial remolding orthosis were reviewed. Measurements were taken from available preoperative and 1-year postoperative 3D reconstructed CT scans. RESULTS The patients' mean age at surgery was 3.3 ± 1.1 months. Of the 100 patients, 30 were female and 70 were male. The following perioperative data were noted. The mean operative time (± SD) was 77.1 ± 22.2 minutes, the mean estimated blood loss was 34.0 ± 34.8 ml, and the mean length of stay was 1.1 ± 0.4 days; 9% of patients required transfusions; and the mean pre- and postoperative CI values were 69.1 ± 3.8 and 77.7 ± 4.2, respectively. Conversion to open technique was required in 1 case due to presence of a large emissary vein that was difficult to control endoscopically. The mean duration of helmet therapy was 8.0 ± 2.9 months. Parietal osteotomies were eventually excluded from the procedure. CONCLUSIONS The clinical outcomes and improvements in CI seen in our population are similar to those seen at other high-volume centers. Since the inception of endoscope-assisted repair at our institution, the patient care protocol has undergone several significant changes. We have been able to remove less cranium using our "narrow-vertex" suturectomy technique without affecting patient safety or outcome. Patient compliance with helmet therapy and collaborative care with the orthotists remain the most essential aspects of a successful outcome.


In many recommendation applications such as news recommendation, the items that can be recommended come and go at a very fast pace. This is a challenge for recommender systems (RS) to face this setting. Online learning algorithms seem to be the most straight forward solution. The contextual bandit framework was introduced for that very purpose. In general the evaluation of a RS is a critical issue. Live evaluation is often avoided due to the potential loss of revenue, hence the need for offline evaluation methods. Two options are available. Model based methods are biased by nature and are thus difficult to trust when used alone. Data driven methods are therefore what we consider here. Evaluating online learning algorithms with past data is not simple but some methods exist in the literature. Nonetheless their accuracy is not satisfactory mainly due to their mechanism of data rejection that only allow the exploitation of a small fraction of the data. We precisely address this issue in this paper. After highlighting the limitations of the previous methods, we present a new method, based on bootstrapping techniques. This new method comes with two important improvements: it is much more accurate and it provides a measure of quality of its estimation. The latter is a highly desirable property in order to minimize the risks entailed by putting online a RS for the first time. We provide both theoretical and experimental proofs of its superiority compared to state-of-the-art methods, as well as an analysis of the convergence of the measure of quality.


Distributed storage systems are increasingly transitioning to the use of erasure codes since they offer higher reliability at significantly lower storage costs than data replication. However, these codes tradeoff recovery performance as they require multiple disk reads and network transfers for reconstructing an unavailable data block. As a result, most existing systems use an erasure code either optimized for storage overhead or recovery performance.

In this paper, we present HACFS, a new erasure-coded storage system that instead uses two different erasure codes and dynamically adapts to workload changes. It uses a fast code to optimize for recovery performance and a compact code to reduce the storage overhead. A novel conversion mechanism is used to efficiently upcode and downcode data blocks between fast and compact codes. We show that HACFS design techniques are generic and successfully apply it to two different code families: Product and LRC codes.

We have implemented HACFS as an extension to the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and experimentally evaluate it with five different workloads from production clusters. The HACFS system always maintains a low storage overhead and significantly improves the recovery performance as compared to three popular single-code storage systems. It reduces the degraded read latency by up to 46%, and the reconstruction time and disk/network traffic by up to 45%.


Ultrasound computed tomography (USCT) is a noninvasive imaging modality that has shown its clinical relevance for breast cancer diagnostics. As opposed to traveltime inversions, waveform-based inversions can exploit the full content of ultrasound data, thereby providing increased resolution. However, this is only feasible when modeling the full physics of wave propagation, accounting for 3D effects such as refraction and diffraction, and this comes at a significant computational cost. To mitigate this cost, a crosstalk-free source encoding method for explicit time-domain solvers is proposed. The gradient computation is performed with only two numerical "super" wave simulations, independent of the number of sources and receivers. Absence of crosstalk is achieved by considering orthogonal frequencies attributed to each source. By considering "double-difference" measurements, no a priori knowledge of the source time function is required. With this method, full-physics based 3D waveform inversions can be performed within minutes using reasonable computational resources, fitting clinical requirements.