OBJECTIVE Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are new medications that improve cardiovascular and renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the Food and Drug Administration has issued alerts regarding increased acute kidney injury (AKI) risk with canagliflozin and dapagliflozin. We aimed to assess the real-world risk of AKI in new SGLT2 inhibitor users in two large health care utilization cohorts of patients with T2D. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We used longitudinal data from the Mount Sinai chronic kidney disease registry and the Geisinger Health System cohort. We selected SGLT inhibitor users and nonusers (patients with T2D without SGLT2 inhibitor prescription). We determined AKI by the KDIGO (Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes) definition (AKIKDIGO). We performed 1:1 nearest-neighbor propensity matching and calculated unadjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and adjusted HRs (aHRs; accounting for covariates poorly balanced) for AKI in primary and sensitivity analyses. RESULTS We identified 377 SGLT2 inhibitor users and 377 nonusers in the Mount Sinai cohort, of whom 3.8 and 9.7%, respectively, had an AKIKDIGO event over a median follow-up time of 14 months. The unadjusted hazards of AKIKDIGO were 60% lower in users (HR 0.4 [95% CI 0.2–0.7]; P = 0.01), which was unchanged (aHR 0.4 [95% CI 0.2–0.7]; P = 0.004) postadjustment. Similarly, we identified 1,207 SGLT2 inhibitor users and 1,207 nonusers in the Geisinger cohort, of whom 2.2 and 4.6% had an AKIKDIGO event. AKIKDIGO unadjusted hazards were lower in users (HR 0.5 [95% CI 0.3–0.8]; P < 0.01) with modest attenuation postadjustment for covariates (aHR 0.6 [95% CI 0.4–1.1]; P = 0.09). These estimates did not qualitatively change across several sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS Our findings do not suggest an increased risk of AKI associated with SGLT2 inhibitor use in patients with T2D in two large health systems.


Without STAT3 to limit Rac1 activity, cells move randomly. Members of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family of proteins are best known for regulating gene expression. However, evidence is mounting for a role for STAT3 in regulation of cell migration that is independent from its transcriptional activity. Teng et al. showed that compared with wild-type cells, Stat3-deficient mouse embryo fibroblasts (ΔSt3 MEFs) had reduced stress fibers, failed to form lamellipodia, and exhibited increased motility with decreased directional migration. The active form of the guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Rac1 (GTP-Rac1) was increased in the ΔSt3 MEFs, in resting cells, and in cells moving in response to monolayer scratching and during cell attachment and spreading. Expression of a dominant-negative form of Rac1 or an autoinhibitory domain peptide of p21-activated kinase (PAK), a target of Rac1, increased stress fiber formation in the ΔSt3 MEFs, thus connecting Rac1 activity to the stress fiber defect. Reconstitution of ΔSt3 MEF cells with a mutant form of Stat3 (Y705F Stat3) that lacked transcriptional activity (and was not tyrosine phosphorylated) rescued the movement defects and restored formation of lamellipodia, showing that the role of Stat3 in cell migration was not mediated by transcriptional regulation. The authors could not detect an interaction between Rac1 and Stat3, but endogenous Stat3 coimmunoprecipitated with the Rac1 guanine-nucleotide exchange factor βPIX, and the Y705F mutant and a tagged form of βPIX also coimmunoprecipitated when coexpressed in a fibroblast cell line. Overexpression of βPIX in a fibroblast cell line stimulated Rac1 activity during cell spreading and adhesion, and this was inhibited by coexpression of Stat3 or the Y705F mutant. Knockdown of βPIX in the ΔSt3 MEFs decreased Rac1 activity during cell spreading. Thus, Stat3 appears to interact with βPIX to inhibit its activity toward Rac1 and thereby maintain proper directionality during cell migration. T. S. Teng, B. Lin, E. Manser, D. C. H. Ng, X. Cao, Stat3 promotes directional cell migration by regulating Rac1 activity via its activator βPIX. J. Cell Sci. 122, 4150–4159 (2009). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Matrix factorization techniques have been frequently applied in information processing tasks. Among them, Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) have received considerable attentions due to its psychological and physiological interpretation of naturally occurring data whose representation may be parts-based in human brain. On the other hand, from geometric perspective the data is usually sampled from a low dimensional manifold embedded in high dimensional ambient space. One hopes then to find a compact representation which uncovers the hidden topics and simultaneously respects the intrinsic geometric structure. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm, called Locality Preserving Non-negative Matrix Factorization (LPNMF), for this purpose. For two data points, we use KL-divergence to evaluate their similarity on the hidden topics. The optimal maps are obtained such that the feature values on hidden topics are restricted to be non-negative and vary smoothly along the geodesics of the data manifold. Our empirical study shows the encouraging results of the proposed algorithm in comparisons to the state-of-the-art algorithms on two large high-dimensional databases.


The spectral densities of the fluctuations of noise-driven underdamped nonlinear oscillators are discussed with particular reference to the large class of systems whose eigenfrequencies vary nonmonotonically with energy. It is shown by analog electronic experiments and theoretically that, astonishingly, the widths of their spectral peaks can sometimes decrease with increasing noise intensity T. The specific system studied, as an example, is the single-well Duffing oscillator in a constant homogeneous field. An explicit expression is derived in terms of T and a field parameter for the shape of the spectral peak. It is shown to be in good agreement with experiment. The possibility of observing such spectral features for localized and resonant vibrations of impurities in solids is discussed.


Abstract. Lead extrusion dampers have been used to dissipate seismic energy in structures and can contribute to damage avoidance design (DAD) rocking connections. In rocking connections that utilises unbound post-tensioned tendons, re-centering of the overall structure is typical. However, the lead extrusion dampers are prone to residual story drifts. In this study a modified version of High Force-To Volume (HF2V) extrusion damper is introduced to overcome the lack of inherent re-centring, while maintaining the energy absorption capability. Response spectral analysis for multiple, probabilistically scaled earthquake suites are used to delineate the displacement reduction factors due to the added damping. Overall, the results indicate an important trade-off between force contributions from the HF2V and ring spring components. Moreover, increasing the ring spring participation force level leads to less residual displacement in exchange for less reduction in peak displacement.


The rate of thermal decay of special fabricated structures on Si(111) has been measured for structure sizes ranging from 28 to 50 \AA{} high. The mechanism of the decay via motion of individual steps has been observed directly using scanning tunneling microscopy. The results are consistent with size-scaling predictions of theory, and show that mass transport occurs via a mechanism in which mass is conserved locally. In addition, the theory yields a quantitative prediction of the measured rates with no adjustable parameters when previously measured equilibrium values for step-step interactions and step wandering are used.


This long overdue English translation of Karl Lowith's magisterial study is a major event in Nietzsche scholarship in the Anglo-American intellectual world. Its initial publication was extraordinary in itself - a dissident interpretation, written by a Jew, appearing in National Socialist Germany in 1935. Since then, Lowith's book has continued to gain recognition as one of the key texts in the German Nietzsche reception, as well as a remarkable effort to reclaim the philosopher's work from political misappropriation. For Lowith, the centerpiece of Nietzsche's thought is the doctrine of eternal recurrence, a notion which Lowith, unlike Heidegger, deems incompatible with the will to power. His careful examination of Nietzsche's cosmological theory of the infinite repetition of a finite number of states of the world suggests the paradoxical consequences this theory implies for human freedom. How is it possible to will the eternal recurrence of each moment of one's life, if both this decision and the states of affairs governed by it appear to be predestined? Lowith's book, one of the most important, if seldom acknowledged, sources for recent Anglophone Nietzsche studies, remains a central text for all concerned with understanding the philosopher's work.


Rainfall depth within small semiarid watersheds can have high spatial variability, but spatial variability in rainfall erosivity, a more direct determinant of sediment yield, has not been quantified. Using 12 tipping‐bucket rain gauges within a 40‐ha piñon [Pinus edulis Engelm)–juniper (Juniperus monosperma (Engelm.) Sarg.] woodland in New Mexico, we measured rainfall erosivity (EI30) and associated precipitation and erosion metrics for 14 convective thunderstorms. Spatial variability in EI30 had a median CV across storms of 22% (range: 9–73%), exceeded the median CV for rainfall depth (15%, range: 5–26%), and varied by up to a factor of five (5–25 N h−1) within 300 m. EI30 was better correlated with sediment yield measured in <0.1‐ha microwatersheds (r2 = 0.67; p < 0.001) than rainfall depth (r2 = 0.43; p < 0.001). Our results highlight the potential importance for erosion related assessments of spatial variability in erosivity, which can be as great or greater than spatial variability in rainfall depth. The spatial variability in rainfall erosivity that we document here is relevant to erosion and contaminant transport issues near Los Alamos National Laboratory and may be applicable to other extensive semiarid areas.


Competition in the retail industry can be seen in many ways, there are competition between traditional retail and modern retail, competition between modern retailers fellow and competition among traditional retails. The large presence of modern retailers in the region forced traditional retail to compete with the modern retailers. This study discusses how traditional retail competitiveness with the modern retail focused on consumer preferences aspects. Variables used to measure consumer preferences are Human Resource with indicators Appearance of shopkeeper, Hospitality in service, Speed in service, Shop open time, while Merchandise variable with indicator, Appearance store, Merchandise display, Number of products available, Diversity of product type, Diversity Brands are sold. Method of analysis with descriptive analysis. The research results show that hospitality in service, speed in service and certainty of shop opening time of traditional retail stores need to be improved. As for the number of products available, the diversity of product types and the diversity of brands sold is a problem that stems from the limitations of traditional retail capital. The government already has a solution that with the opening of credit access to financial institutions with the issuance of OJK Regulation no. 76 / POJK.07 / 2016 on Increasing Literacy and Financial Inclusion in the community.


Context. Debris discs are a consequence of the planet formation process and constitute the fingerprints of planetesimal systems. Their solar system counterparts are the asteroid and Edgeworth-Kuiper belts. Aims. The DUNES survey aims at detecting extra-solar analogues to the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt around solar-type stars, putting in this way the solar system into context. The survey allows us to address some questions related to the prevalence and properties of planetesimal systems. Methods. We used Herschel/PACS to observe a sample of nearby FGK stars. Data at 100 and 160 μm were obtained, complemented in some cases with observations at 70 μm, and at 250, 350 and 500 μm using SPIRE. The observing strategy was to integrate as deep as possible at 100 μm to detect the stellar photosphere. Results. Debris discs have been detected at a fractional luminosity level down to several times that of the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt. The incidence rate of discs around the DUNES stars is increased from a rate of ∼12.1% ± 5% before Herschel to ∼20.2% ± 2%. A significant fraction (∼52%) of the discs are resolved, which represents an enormous step ahead from the previously known resolved discs. Some stars are associated with faint far-IR excesses attributed to a new class of cold discs. Although it cannot be excluded that these excesses are produced by coincidental alignment of background galaxies, statistical arguments suggest that at least some of them are true debris discs. Some discs display peculiar SEDs with spectral indexes in the 70–160 μm range steeper than the Rayleigh-Jeans one. An analysis of the debris disc parameters suggests that a decrease might exist of the mean black body radius from the F-type to the K-type stars. In addition, a weak trend is suggested for a correlation of disc sizes and an anticorrelation of disc temperatures with the stellar age.


A novel approach for detecting laser radar target based on multi-fraction dimension (MFD) of laser clutters has been proposed. The fractal dimension (FD) of laser clutter and the echoes from the plan are estimated using box-counting dimension algorithm. The intrinsic difference in the spectrum of FD Dq between them is extracted and used to detect targets. Experimental results show that the method based on MFD is more reliable than that on FD and can improve the accuracy of detection.


Abstract The early Pliocene sediments of the Súa Member (Onzole Formation) are spectacularly exposed along coastal cliffs in the surroundings of Súa (northwestern Ecuador). The shellbed at the base of these strata contains rich mollusk and fish assemblages and provides a rare opportunity to document the virtually unknown Pliocene shallow-water faunas of Ecuador. Stratigraphic context, faunal composition (both mollusks and fishes), biofabric trend, ichnological signatures, and taphonomic features presented here, all indicate that the shellbed is a stratigraphically condensed (hiatal) skeletal concentration generated primarily by low rates of net background sedimentation. Shellbeds of this type, immediately overlying a Glossifungites-demarcated ravinement surface, are regarded as onlap shellbeds and record landward stratal convergence and attenuation during the earliest phases of marine transgression. Although composed of largely autochthonous-parautochthonous specimens, the fossil assemblage contains mollusk species from a range of water depths and both soft- and hard-bottom habitats, implying in situ time averaging and admixture of different assemblages as transgression proceeded on a sediment-starved shoreline. The mollusk assemblage is composed of 54 taxa (26 bivalves, 26 gastropods, 2 scaphopods), and the fish assemblage of 31 taxa belonging to 16 families. Both are indicative of a well-oxygenated marine biotope swept by currents and waves, and devoid of a benthic macrophyte cover. With the exception of a few fish species and a single gastropod, the largest number of the mollusk and fish taxa are presently distributed throughout the Tropical Eastern Pacific Biogeographic Region.


Populations whose behaviour is described as chaotic commonly fall to very low values. Hence such populations have a high risk of extinction. However, recent research has shown that the probability of extinction for a system of linked populations is reduced when parameters are chosen such that the populations would behave chaotically in isolation. This effect is suggested to be the result of desynchronization between populations due to the amplification of external noise. Here, I investigate the effect on extinction risk of introducing weak coupling between chaotic populations in the absence of such external noise. Populations in the weakly linked system often do not behave chaotically even when parameter values are such that they would do so if isolated. Instead, they can exhibit simple cycles or remain at a stable level, sometimes with a reduced probability of falling to low population levels. More importantly, although subsets of the group of populations often follow the same dynamic pattern, all the populations never become synchronized, hence recolonization following extinction of a subset of the populations is a common occurrence.


This contribution is an introductory survey and preliminary evaluation of the conservation status of eagles in South African law. The methodology is primarily an interdisciplinary literature study of legal texts and texts from the natural sciences. Eagles are some of the largest and most powerful avian predators, and the human response to their presence is dualistic and polarised. At the one extreme, many people admire eagles, while at the other extreme they are perceived as a threat to economic and other interests, and may even be actively persecuted in a conviction that they are vermin. This duality in the human perception of eagles is also prevalent in South Africa and complicates their conservation. The mobility of eagles and other birds of prey means that they cannot be restrained by fencing national parks and other protected areas, and this heightens the likelihood of their entering into conflict with human interests. The conservation problems faced by eagles in South Africa can broadly be divided into direct and indirect threats. Direct threats include the intentional killing of eagles, and trade in eagles and their eggs. Indirect threats include non-targeted poisoning (where poisoned bait is used to control other predators, but eagles find the bait, feed on it, and succumb); habitat loss; mortality induced by dangerous structures; and disturbance. The legal status of eagles is influenced by a large body of legislative provisions, ranging from international and regional legal instruments, through national legislation, to provincial legislative measures. An overview of these provisions is given, with concise explanations of how they apply to the legal status of eagles and other birds of prey in South Africa. The conservation status of eagles in South African law is subsequently evaluated by considering the contribution of the applicable laws to three main types of conservation interventions. In respect of the first, habitat preservation, the relevant legal provisions contribute to an impressive array of conserved habitats in national parks and other protected areas. However, the mobility of eagles, and the fact that some species occur mainly outside protected areas, make it imperative for eagles also to be afforded legal protection outside of protected areas. In respect of the second type of intervention, namely management activities to conserve the species in their habitats, an inquiry is made into how the law addresses the threats of the intentional killing of eagles; trade in eagles and their eggs; non-targeted poisoning; mortality induced by dangerous structures; and disturbance. The protection is found to be sound in principle. In respect of the third and most intensive intervention, captive breeding, a regulatory framework is in place, but no such intervention on eagle species is known to be operative in South Africa. In conclusion a number of recommendations are made. The existing laws can be improved by aligning the legal status of species with their Red List status; listing all bird of prey species that are not Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable, as Protected for the purpose of national environmental legislation; and, in the medium rather than the short term, considering the imposition of legal obligations on electricity suppliers to implement measures that will mitigate mortalities on electricity structures. Better application of the existing laws could be achieved by improving compliance and enforcement, and by facilitating the optimal use of Biodiversity Management Plans, environmental research, and environmental education.


Author(s): Wang, L; Payne, C | Abstract: Although federal policies regarding energy-efficient product procurement (EEPP) are long-standing and well-established, federal buyers do not typically request energy-efficient products when making purchases. This is a large missed opportunity: full compliance could save the U.S. federal government roughly $500 million in energy cost annually. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) began a new set of program activities to increase federal compliance with these procurement requirements. Program interventions included increased communication with contracting officers during the solicitation process; development of enhanced, targeted training; and collection and dissemination of procurement best practices across the federal sector. We have collected and analyzed ~2,500 solicitations from over 40 different federal agencies to evaluate the influence of these interventions. Compared to pre-intervention years (FY15 and FY11), annual compliance rates for FY16 and FY17 increased by about 10%. This paper provides an overview of the data collection process, analysis framework, intervention method, and results of our analysis. We discuss strategies to increase compliance rates by examining institutional factors that drive procurement behavior. By combining data collection with adjustment to program implementation, we have created an iterative process that is having a demonstrable effect in improving the impact of a long-running program.


— The rise of portable distributed computing empowers versatile clients to offload applications to close-by versatile asset rich gadgets (i.e., cloudlets) to lessen vitality utilization and enhance execution. Be that as it may, because of versatility and cloudlet limit, the associations between a portable client and versatile cloudlets can be discontinuous. Subsequently, offloading moves made by the versatile client might fizzle (e.g., the client moves out of correspondence scope of cloudlets). In this paper, we build up an ideal offloading calculation for the portable client in such an irregularly associated cloudlet framework, considering the clients' nearby load and accessibility of cloudlets. We look at clients' portability designs and cloudlets' affirmation control, and infer the likelihood of effective offloading activities logically. We plan and tackle a Markov choice procedure (MDP) model to acquire an ideal approach for the versatile client with the target to minimize the calculation and offloading costs. Moreover, we demonstrate that the ideal approach of the MDP has an edge structure. In this manner, we present a quick calculation for vitality compelled clients to settle on offloading choices. The numerical results demonstrate that the scientific type of the fruitful offloading likelihood is a decent estimation in different versatility cases. Besides, the proposed MDP offloading calculation for portable clients beats ordinary gauge plans.


Abstract The activity of β-hydroxy-β-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, the rate-controlling enzyme of cholesterol synthesis, was studied in normal livers and in 64 primary hepatocellular carcinomas from rats fed a basal diet or a diet containing either 2% cholestyramine or 5% cholesterol. The average enzyme activity in hepatocellular carcinomas from rats fed the basal diet was more than twice that in normal liver. Dietary cholesterol caused a reduction in activity to one-ninth of the normal hepatic enzyme activity, whereas cholestyramine feeding resulted in a 7-fold increase above the basal level. The data tended to confirm the previously documented observation that "diet-induced feedback inhibition" of cholesterol synthesis is not expressed in hepatomas, since the enzyme activity was reduced only slightly in cancers from rats fed cholesterol. However, the activities from cancers of cholestyramine-fed rats were 2.7 times greater than those from cholesterol-fed rats. Thus, a degree of control was clearly demonstrable, although it represented only 4% of that seen in normal liver. To our knowledge this is the first report of at least partial "feedback control" of β-hydroxy-β-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase activity in hepatocellular carcinomas grown in vivo .


Focus on agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a shift towards the smallholder sector, which is home and employment provider to more than 70 percent of the population. However, on-the-ground realities and the viability status of enterprises within this sector remain largely un-probed research areas. This paper, which is â– * based on case studies of three dairy development projects in Zimbabwe, presents results of a socio-economic
* analysis of the real state, constraints and opportunities vis a vis the performance of the smallholder dairy sector.
Through a Gross Margin Analysis at farm level, the study established that smallholder dairying in Zimbabwe is hardly viable. Identified constraints to production include labour bottlenecks, an inadequate feed base, poor breeding practices and production inefficiencies. However, problems arising from limited markets, narrow product bases, recurrent droughts and stringent economic reforms have had more devastating effects on viability in the smallholder dairy sector. Established opportunities for improvement include the production and utilization of home-grown feeds, appropriate mechanisation, use of a controlled and well targeted breeding programme, aiming at economic and efficient production, as well as the re-integration of technical and socio-economic issues in rural development programmes in order to achieve sustained rural development.


On Saddle Island a detachment fault of Tertiary age separates two structurally different plates. In the lower plate, Precambrian amphibolite and gneiss are strongly overprinted by a subhorizontal mylonitic foliation that may have formed during east-directed overthrusting of Sevier age. The mylonitic foliation is in turn overprinted by a later brittle deformation expressed by the detachment fault and by two gently north-dipping zones of anastomosing faults that outline crude lenslike masses of unfractured rock. These fault zones are probably an expression of the brittle deformation that dominates during a detachment event and are themselves cut by north-south–trending, high-angle normal faults related to a second brittle deformation. Our field measurements of the orientation of fault planes and striae on these fault planes suggest that the orientation of the least principal stress direction (σ 3 ) changed during the brittle faulting event from north-northwest to northwest-southeast. Neither of these directions of extension is compatible with the strain field associated with the earlier ductile shearing responsible for the development of the mylonitic foliation.


Abstract When social work emerged as a profession in the first decades of the 20th century, it was strongly influenced by emancipatory motives introduced by various sociocultural and religious movements, and at the same time devoted itself to the construction and maintenance of a powerful welfare and nation state. Transnational agents and social movements promoted these processes and played a crucial role in establishing and developing national welfare systems and relevant professional discourses. This article examines the gendered construction of the social work profession through the transnational history of early social work between Germany and the Jewish community in Palestine in the first half of the 20th century. By adopting a biographical approach to the specific paths of Jewish women practitioners who had been educated in German-speaking countries, immigrated to mandatory Palestine, and engaged themselves in the emerging field of social work, we will trace the construction of the profession as deeply embedded in social power relations. At the same time, we will trace its (re)construction as led mainly by female pioneers, who were concerned with emancipation, discrimination and migration.


BACKGROUND
The apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 allele is associated with dose-response effects on cognitive dysfunction and dementia risk in older adults. However, its effects on cognition in middle-aged adults remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE
We examined effects of ɛ4 heterozygosity and homozygosity on objective and subjective cognition in middle-aged adults enrolled in the Healthy Brain Project (HBP) and in older adults from the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) study.

METHODS
HBP participants (1,000 non-carriers; 450 ɛ4 heterozygotes; 50 ɛ4 homozygotes) completed unsupervised assessments of the Cogstate Brief Battery (CBB), ratings of subjective cognitive function and provided a saliva sample. AIBL cognitively normal participants (650 non-carriers; 204 ɛ4 heterozygotes; 31 ɛ4 homozygotes) completed in-person assessments of the CBB, ratings of subjective cognitive function and provided a blood sample.

RESULTS
Greater memory impairment was observed in middle-aged ɛ4 homozygotes compared with ɛ4 heterozygotes and non-carriers. When data from middle-aged (HBP) and older (AIBL) adults were pooled, the effect of ɛ4 homozygosity and memory impairment increased with age. In both middle-aged and older adults, ɛ4 heterozygotes did not differ from non-carriers on any measure of objective or subjective cognition.

CONCLUSION
Memory impairment in ɛ4 homozygotes is evident in adults aged 50-60 years, and this can be detected through unsupervised cognitive assessments. The effect of ɛ4 homozygosity increases with older age. APOEɛ4 homozygosity has a negative impact on memory as early as midlife, but due to the subtle magnitude of effect, our findings support the necessity of online platforms in large cohorts to assess these complex relationships.


Political Journalistic Argumentative Texts (PJATs) have always been challenging for
translators of this type of texts when rendering them into Arabic. One major problem
facing translators of this genre is the translation of conjunctions which is often
overshadowed by researchers. This study recovers the meanings and functions of
conjunctions and their role in maintaining cohesion and coherence in discourse. Due to the
political nature of this type of discourse and mistranslating the relations residing between
adjacent sentences which mainly rely on conjunctions to signal to them, ideology, when
mistranslating conjunction, may come to surface causing more problems relating to
meaning interpretation, namely on the part of the receivers of translated texts.
With this in mind, this study has been conducted with the aim of finding out the most
frequently used conjunctions and whether they are adequately translated from English into
Arabic, the most frequently problem-causing conjunctions, and identifying the relationship
between conjunctions, on the one hand, and cohesion and coherence, on the other. To
make this happen, a corpus of 40 PJATs translated into Arabic in two major Jordanian
newspapers, Al-Rai and Ad-Dustour, has been studied with specific attention to the
process of translating conjunctions in light of Halliday and Hasan's (1976) model of
conjunctions. Conjunctions were initially looked at as being translated or non-translated,
and each of the headings was examined according to a three step scale: adequate, semiadequate,
and inadequate.
The findings of the study show that the overall number of conjunction relations (both
syndetic and asyndetic] in the corpus was 1469 including additive, adversative, causal,
temporal, zero conjunction, and paragraph beginnings conjunction relations. The findings
have shown that a significant number (52.82%) of these conjunction relations was either
inadequately or semi-adequately translated into Arabic. The study has also revealed that
asyndetic conjunction in English represents one of the major problems in texts translated
into Arabic featuring 44.38% of the total number of the conjunction relations; for this
particular problematic area, this study argues that the Arabic conjunction (j) can be the
best equivalent to the English asyndetic conjunction.
This relatively high percentage of mistranslations at the level of the relations residing
between sentences forming a larger text will inevitably cast its influence on the quality of
the translated text on three major levels: cohesion, coherence and ideology, with the aim
of reflecting on these three influential levels in discourse, Critical Discourse Analysis was
adopted as a framework of analysis to show how the ideological background of the
receivers, namely the Target Language receivers, may interfere and lead them through
irrelevant and sometimes dark tunnels as a result of misunderstanding the semantic
relation existing between adjacent sentences in translated texts.
To sum up, this study of PJATs represents a corner stone for translators, researchers and
students of translation as it has shed light on the problem of translating conjunctions from
English into Arabic, highlighted the problematic areas and proposed some guidelines to
dealing with the conjunctions and their close connection with cohesion and coherence in
discourse.
KEY WORDS:
Conjunction in English, Conjunction in Arabic, Cohesion, Coherence, Ideology, Political
Discourse, Discourse Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, Argumentation, Journalese,
and Translation.


An all-new exam guide for version 8 of the Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) exam from EC-Council Get complete coverage of all the material included on version 8 of the EC-Council's Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator exam from this comprehensive resource. Written by an expert information security professional and educator, this authoritative guide addresses the tools and techniques required to successfully conduct a computer forensic investigation. You'll find learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, exam tips, practice exam questions, and in-depth explanations. Designed to help you pass this challenging exam, this definitive volume also serves as an essential on-the-job reference. CHFI Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator Certification All-in-One Exam Guide covers all exam topics, including: Computer forensics investigation process Setting up a computer forensics lab First responder procedures Search and seizure laws Collecting and transporting digital evidence Understanding hard disks and file systems Recovering deleted files and partitions Windows forensics Forensics investigations using the AccessData Forensic Toolkit (FTK) and Guidance Software's EnCase Forensic Network, wireless, and mobile forensics Investigating web attacks Preparing investigative reports Becoming an expert witness Electronic content includes: 300 practice exam questions Test engine that provides full-length practice exams and customized quizzes by chapter or by exam domain PDF copy of the book


Alluvial formations are very valuable sources of sand and gravel. They are frequently worked down to groundwater level. The aquifer, which mostly shows promising characteristics, frequently supplies a whole region with drinking water. Quarries in the aquifer system are liable to depress or raise the groundwater level, and especially to affect water quality by chemical or biological factors or by facilitating pollutant inflow. The severity of such effects is directly dependent on the amount of water exchange taking place between the full gravel pit and the aquifer. To evaluate such effects, therefore, it is necessary to establish hydrodynamic relationships existing between the aquifer and surface water. Author reviews the factors to consider in evaluating such hydrodynamic effects, which include warping of the river banks and bed, depth of excavation and position in relation to the aquifer system, relationships with rivers, shape and dimensions of excavations and position with respect to the general direction of groundwater flow. The effects of these factors vary and can be more clearly visualised with the aid of a series of diagrams. River bank and bed warping turns out to be the vital governing factor as regards flow exchange taking place between a gravel pit and aquifers. If warping is taking place the gravel pit is an obstacle to groundwater flow ; if not, it acts as a "privileged" flow path. Present means whereby these parameters can be evaluated are discussed in the second part of the article. Without going into conventional hydrogeological approaches in detail, special reference is made to local measurement of permeability, vertical permeability distribution through the various ground horizons and, especially, evaluation of river bank and bed warping. Closer methodology, however, seems to be required for some of the points considered. Interpretation and prediction methods vary from simple calculation to use of a three-dimensional model. The usefulness of electrical analogies of the conductive paper model type, which are particularly suitable for this type of problem, is also emphasized. Reference is made to two very different types of investigation. One relates to a gravel pit extension scheme in the Crau region of France, more especially its effects on the local water table level. The other is a more basic study of optimal gravel pit and water supply operation in the Toulouse region, in which the warping problem in quarries and its variation over a period of time are considered. Warping measurements have been carried out on site, from the results of which it is expected that the effects of the gravel pits on present and future water supply yields can be predicted.


Online information services have grown too large for users to navigate without the help of automated tools such as collaborative filtering, which makes recommendations to users based on their collective past behavior. While many similarity measures have been proposed and individually evaluated, they have not been evaluated relative to each other in a large real-world environment. We present an extensive empirical comparison of six distinct measures of similarity for recommending online communities to members of the Orkut social network. We determine the usefulness of the different recommendations by actually measuring users' propensity to visit and join recommended communities. We also examine how the ordering of recommendations influenced user selection, as well as interesting social issues that arise in recommending communities within a real social network.


The recent paper in which Dikeos et al (2006) investigate the distribution of symptom dimensions within a psychosis sample is a valuable contribution to the literature, and we fully support their observation that bipolar disorder is a much more solid construct than schizophrenia. There are two important issues that were not discussed which we believe deserve consideration. The first is a major limitation of the current conceptual framework of psychopathology where definitions of psychopathology items are not independent of diagnostic concepts. Consider, for example, the relationship between items that measure course of illness and items that represent occurrence of reduced affective response and drive. Episodes of reduced affective response and drive with inter-episode recovery are likely to be interpreted as consistent with the presence of mood disturbance and indicative of a relatively good outcome. In contrast, chronically reduced affective response and drive which may be qualitatively identical to that in the previous example but without interepisode recovery is likely to be interpreted as consistent with the negative features of a (schizophrenic) defect state and taken as evidence of a relatively poor outcome. In this example, recovery becomes part of the definition of two similar states. It is hardly surprising that one predicts poor outcome. We could give other examples. The only way to overcome difficulties such as these will be to use a set of clinical descriptors that do not have definitions that are enmeshed in our traditional diagnostic concepts. We believe such approaches are needed. The second issue concerns validity. Dikeos et al addressed validity by considering prediction of clinical characteristics, some of which cannot be considered independent of the other items of psychopathology used to make the predictions. A key goal of diagnosis should be to identify clinical entities that are helpful for making management decisions. Recent developments in neuroscience in general, and molecular genetics in particular, offer the realistic prospects that over the coming years we will be able to identify domains of psychopathology that are associated with abnormal action in specific biological systems (Craddock et al, 2005). This will provide truly independent validators against which to examine the relative merits of diagnostic categories versus psychopathological dimensions (Craddock et al, 2006), will allow us to escape from our historical strait-jacket of traditional psychiatric thinking (Craddock & Owen, 2005; Marneros, 2006) and has the potential to lead to major benefits for our patients.


Edgar Allen Poe's strength as a writer lay in fabricating fantisies in settings far removed from his own place and time. This dislocation renders the attitudes embedded in his fiction open to interpretation, and over the years some readers have found Poe to be virulently racist, while others found him morally conflicted, and still others detected a subversion of racism in his works' subtle sympathies for non-white characters. As a nineteenth-century Southerner, Poe was a deeply ambiguous figure, evading race issues while living among them, and traversing the North-South border with little sensitivity to its political implications. In this tightly organized volume, a handful of leading Americanists revisit the Poe issue, re-examining what it means to speak of an author and his work as racist, and where the critic's responsibility lies.


This report describes our port of Stenford transaction protocol VMTP from the BSD 4.3 UNIX kernal implementation to the x-kernal operating system from University of Arizona. The BSD UNIX kernal dependent functions in the VMTP Implementation are Identified. It is described how we have replaced these functions with corresponding parts from the x-kernal. In particular we describe how BSD UNIX "sockets" are replaced with x-kernal parts and how the BSD UNIX buffer system, "mbufs", is moved into user space. The ported version is the so called minimal implementation of VMTP. It only runs in the simulator of the x-kernal.


ABSTRACT From a peacebuilding perspective, EU support for civil society organizations (CSOs) in conflict-ridden countries can be criticized for artificially boosting a liberal, 'bourgeois' civil society at the expense of more representative initiatives at the grassroots level. Seen from a governance perspective, however, this criticism is lacking in nuance and conceals the actual rationale and effects of the support. To advance a realistic debate on international peacebuilding as a form of governance, this article investigates what the character and effects of EU support for CSOs in conflict-ridden countries actually are: how does it affect the relations between the supported organizations and (1) the wider society, (2) the state and (3) between the recipient country and the EU? We consider four ideal types of EU conflict governance: 'liberal peace', 'hollow hegemony', 'vibrant hegemony' and 'post-liberal peace' and compare them to empirical data from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Georgia. We find that while the objectives of promoting peace and democracy through CSO support tend to fail, the strategic interests of the EU are still maintained.


The paper explores the determinants of internal migration in Albania, adopting the Harris-Todaro approach to migration: an internal migration function is estimated using district wage and unemployment rate differentials. The aggregate level wages and unemployment, included in the migration equation, are retrieved from a first stage wage and unemployment equations, estimated controlling for personal characteristics. Moreover, in order to test the predictions of the human capital model of migration, the difference between migrants and non-migrants is emphasized in the estimation. The data source is the "Living Standard Measurement Survey for Albania" (2002), undertaken by the national Institute of Statistics and the World Bank jointly. The results reveal that both wage and unemployment differentials are important determinants of the propensity to migrate in Albania. This conclusion is further emphasized by noting that migrants gain substantially in terms of higher returns to individual characteristics after emigration.


Since the year 2000, South Korea has been the propagator of the Hallyu (Korean Wave) that has spread across the world, demonstrating the country's cultural potential. The subject of Hallyu can be approached from several perspectives, first by identifying its origins, current status, and trends by genre; by looking at its effects and the measures that can sustain the Hallyu phenomenon; and also by examining Hallyu trends by country. This paper analyzes Korea's traditional cultural genes that affected the creation and spread of Hallyu from a humanistic point of view. The three factors for this analysis are: i) community and courtesy, ii) dynamics and excitement, and iii) intuition and harmony. This study is expected to deepen the understanding of the relation between Hallyu and Korean traditional cultural resources.


Machine learning techniques, namely convolutional neural networks (CNN) and regression forests, have recently shown great promise in performing 6-DoF localization of monocular images. However, in most cases image-sequences, rather only single images, are readily available. To this extent, none of the proposed learning-based approaches exploit the valuable constraint of temporal smoothness, often leading to situations where the per-frame error is larger than the camera motion. In this paper we propose a recurrent model for performing 6-DoF localization of video-clips. We find that, even by considering only short sequences (20 frames), the pose estimates are smoothed and the localization error can be drastically reduced. Finally, we consider means of obtaining probabilistic pose estimates from our model. We evaluate our method on openly-available real-world autonomous driving and indoor localization datasets.


Active suspension technologies are well known for improving ride comfort and handling of ground vehicles relative to passive suspensions. They are ideally suited for mitigating single-event road obstacles. The work presented in this thesis aims to develop a structured approach for finding the peak force and bandwidth requirements of actuators for active suspensions, to mitigate single-event road obstacles. The approach is kept general to allow for application to different vehicle models, ride conditions and performance objectives. The current state-of-art in active suspensions was first evaluated. Based on these findings, the objectives of the simulation models and approach was defined. A quarter-car model was developed in Matlab to simulate the behavior of active suspensions over unilateral boundary conditions due to different road obstacle profiles. The obstacle profiles were obtained from existing standards and literature and then processed to replicate the interaction of tires on road. A least-mean-squares (LMS) algorithm for adaptive filtering, with the help of look-ahead preview was used to determine the ideal control force profile to achieve the performance objective of the active suspension. A case study was conducted to determine the requirements of the actuator in terms of bandwidth and peak force for different single-event road obstacle profiles, vehicle speeds and look-ahead preview distances. The results of the study show that the vehicle velocity and type of road obstacle have a strong influence on the required peak force and bandwidth of the actuator, while look-ahead preview will be much more important for real time controller implementation.


The roughness spectrum (i.e., the power spectral density) is a derivative of digital terrain models (DTMs) that is used as a surface roughness descriptor in many geomorphological and physical models. Although light detection and ranging (LiDAR) has become one of the main data sources for DTM calculation, it is still unknown how roughness spectra are affected when calculated from different LiDAR point clouds, or when they are processed differently. In this paper, we used three different LiDAR point clouds of a 1 m × 10 m gravel plot to derive and analyze the roughness spectra from the interpolated DTMs. The LiDAR point clouds were acquired using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), and laser scanning from both an unmanned aerial vehicle (ULS) and an airplane (ALS). The corresponding roughness spectra are derived first as ensemble averaged periodograms and then the spectral differences are analyzed with a dB threshold that is based on the 95% confidence intervals of the periodograms. The aim is to determine scales (spatial wavelengths) over which the analyzed spectra can be used interchangeably. The results show that one TLS scan can measure the roughness spectra for wavelengths larger than 1 cm (i.e., two times its footprint size) and up to 10 m, with spectral differences less than 0.65 dB. For the same dB threshold, the ULS and TLS spectra can be used interchangeably for wavelengths larger than about 1.2 dm (i.e., five times the ULS footprint size). However, the interpolation parameters should be optimized to make the ULS spectrum more accurate at wavelengths smaller than 1 m. The plot size was, however, too small to draw particular conclusions about ALS spectra. These results show that novel ULS data has a high potential to replace TLS for roughness spectrum calculation in many applications.


The Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS) plays a pivotal role in the intracellular protein homeostasis, thereby regulating a variety of cellular processes including protein quality control (PQC). Inadequate PQC and proteasome functional insufficiency are associated with and may play an important role in adverse cardiac remodeling and cardiac failure (CHF). This is best reflected by the increased presence of misfolded proteins and protein aggregates in failing human hearts. While the regulatory mechanisms of these processes remain poorly understood they carry significant clinical implications. Reduced protein kinase G (PKG) activity is well documented in CHF. Increasing the activity PKG, during various cardiovascular diseases improves patient prognosis. We hypothesize that PKG plays a role in regulating UPS function. Using both genetic and/or pharmacological manipulation of PKG activity in cultured cardiomyocytes and intact mice and taking advantage of a previously validated surrogate misfolded protein (GFPu or GFPdgn) as well as a bona fide misfolded protein (R120G-CryAB) that is known to cause proteinopathy in human and mice, our studies have revealed a significant role for PKG in UPS regulation. In cultured cardiomyocytes, PKG inhibition was achieved by PKG-specific siRNA transfection or administration of PKG pharmacological inhibitor while PKG activity was induced by adenoviral delivery of a constitutively active PKG or by the treatment of phosphodiesterase 5A inhibitor Sildenafil. PKG activation significantly stimulated UPS activity in cultured cardiomyocytes as indicated by a reduced protein level of GFPu and increased proteasome activities; while PKG inhibition reduced UPS proteolytic activity. Furthermore PKG activation resulted in enhanced removal of R120G-CryAB. These findings from cell culture studies were further corroborated by in vivo findings from manipulating the muscarinic (M) receptor in GFPdgn transgenic mice. The M receptor signals through PKG. Activating the M receptor deceased, while antagonizing the M receptor increased, the steady protein level of GFPdgn in the heart. Hence, we conclude that PKG positively regulates the UPS thereby supporting cardiomyocyte PQC.


This book explores the formative period when Scotland acquired the characteristics that enabled it to enter fully into the comity of medieval Christendom. These included a monarchy of a recognisably continental type, a feudal organisation of aristocratic landholding and military service, national boundaries, and a body of settled law and custom. By the end of the thirteenth century Scotland had a church based on territorial dioceses and parishes, centres of learning including monastic houses representing the main orders of western Europe, and thriving urban communities whose economic power counterbalanced the aristocracy's. How and to what effect these characteristics were acquired are the main subjects of the book. After the introduction eighteen chapters are divided into three parts devoted to government, church and society. The volume comprises some of the most important as well as the most consistently readable work ever published on medieval Scotland. First published in 1973, it is now reissued in an updated edition. Three additional chapters are included: on the Scots and the north of England in the time of King Stephen, on the Anglo-Scottish border in the middle ages, and on King David I and the church of Glasgow. The book also appears in paperback for the first time.


We investigated general chemistry students' intuitive ideas about the expected properties of the products of a chemical reaction. In particular, we analyzed college chemistry students' predictions about the color, smell, and taste of the products of chemical reactions represented at the molecular level. The study was designed to explore the extent to which novice learners intuitively use an additive framework to predict the properties of the product, rather than an approach that recognizes the emergent nature of the properties of chemical compounds. To this end, we used a mixed-methods research approach based on answers to multiple-choice questions and individual interviews with students enrolled in the first year of an introductory general chemistry course for science and engineering majors. Our results indicate that most students at this level rely on an additive heuristic to predict the properties of chemical compounds, overlooking the possibility of emergent properties resulting from the interaction of the atoms that compose the system. Chemistry instructors and chemical educators thus need to intentionally design learning opportunities for students to recognize and differentiate additive and emergent properties in a variety of contexts. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci. Ed92:96–114, 2008


This paper puts forward arguments in favor of a pluralist approach to IS research. Rather than advocating a single paradigm, be it interpretive or positivist, or even a plurality of paradigms within the discipline as a whole, it suggests that research results will be richer and more reliable if different research methods, preferably from different (existing) paradigms, are routinely combined together. The paper is organized into three sections after the Introduction. In §2, the main arguments for the desirability of multimethod research are put forward, while §3 discusses its feasibility in theory and practice. §4 outlines two frameworks that are helpful in designing mixed-method research studies. These are illustrated with a critical evaluation of three examples of empirical research.

http://gkmc.utah.edu/7910F/papers/ISR combining IS research methods.pdf


Tissue-infiltrating Ly6Chi monocytes play important protective roles during infection, including inflammatory cytokine secretion and pathogen killing. Here we show that during acute gastrointestinal infection with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, recruited monocytes not only contributed to parasite control, but also regulated pathologic immune responses to commensal microbes via secretion of the lipid mediator prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Priming of monocytes for regulatory function preceded systemic inflammation and was initiated prior to bone marrow egress. Natural killer (NK) cell-derived IFN-γ promoted a regulatory program in monocyte progenitors during development. Early bone marrow NK cell activation was controlled by systemic IL-12 produced by Batf3-dependent dendritic cells (DC) in the mucosalassociated lymphoid tissue (MALT). This work challenges the paradigm that monocyte function is dominantly imposed by local signals following tissue recruitment, and instead proposes a sequential model of differentiation in which monocytes are pre-emptively educated during development in the bone marrow to promote their tissue-specific function. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Immunology First Advisor Yasmine Belkaid Second Advisor Phillip Scott


The CO_{2} behavior within the reservoirs of carbon capture and storage projects is usually predicted from large-scale simulations of the reservoir. A key parameter in reservoir simulation is relative permeability. However, mineral precipitation alters the pore structure over time, and leads correspondingly to permeability changing with time. In this study, we numerically investigate the influence of carbonate precipitation on relative permeability during CO_{2} storage. The pore spaces in rock samples were extracted by high-resolution microcomputed tomography (CT) scanned images. The fluid velocity field within the three-dimensional pore spaces was calculated by the lattice Boltzmann method, while reactive transport with calcite deposition was modeled by an advection-reaction formulation solved by the finite volume method. To increase the computational efficiency and reduce the processing time, we adopted a graphics processing unit parallel computing technique. The relative permeability of the sample rock was then calculated by a highly optimized two-phase lattice Boltzmann model. We also proposed two pore clogging models. In the first model, the clogging processes are modeled by transforming fluid nodes to solid nodes based on their precipitated mass level. In the second model, the porosity is artificially reduced by adjusting the gray scale threshold of the CT images. The developed method accurately simulates the mineralization process observed in laboratory experiment. Precipitation-induced evolution of pore structure significantly influenced the absolute permeability. The relative permeability, however, was much more influenced by pore reduction in the nonwetting phase than in the wetting phase. The output of the structural changes in pore geometry by this model could be input to CO_{2} reservoir simulators to investigate the outcome of sequestered CO_{2}.


While the updating of U.S. Army counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine is long overdue, its imminent arrival is cause for celebration. The reality, however, is that the military doctrine won't fully address two challenges that remain critical for its ultimate success. One-altering approaches to risk-confronts an inhospitable politico-military culture and institutional history. The other key issue-the need for all components of the U.S. Government (USG) to develop shared assumptions and expectations in COIN-is above the pay grade of military doctrine. If the United States expects to be engaged in COIN in the future-and some would argue that the Long War is essentially countering a global insurgency-it had best address these issues rather than assume that forthcoming military doctrine resolves them. I. Military Doctrine Review In February 2006, an odd fraternity of experts diligently combed through a revision of Field Manual-Interim 3-07.22, Counterinsurgency Operations. It was an unusual crowd of veterans of Vietnam and El Salvador, representatives of human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations, academic experts, civilian agency representatives, journalists, and active duty U.S. and foreign military. At the behest of Lieutenant General David Petraeus, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, the assembly sought to make decades-old Army and Marine Corps doctrine freshly applicable to the contemporary insurgencies. The doctrine needed obvious updating to account for modern technologies, military capabilities, and operational concepts; to create a new breed of forces equipped to engage a global terrorist network; and to better address modern political and normative realities. Perhaps more critically, the doctrinal update required reckoning with the enduring truths and dilemmas facing any counterinsurgency. These reflect lessons from prior British, French, and other foreign-power operations as well as from America's war in Vietnam. Ironically, perhaps, it is these persistent truths about COIN that pose the greater challenge for U.S. forces. Two points in particular stand out. The first is the counterintuitive need to accept greater physical risks to personnel in order to achieve political and military objectives. This is a particular challenge for the American military, which, as Russell Weigley showed, has spent decades developing a style of warfare that institutionally minimized those risks. The second point is the need for an integrated government strategy in an era when the military is often both the first tool and last resort of U.S. policy and many intra-government efforts fall short of the mark. Breaking the conventional paradigm. For decades, the U.S. Army in particular had discounted the need to prepare for counterinsurgency-a messy, hydra-headed conflict that can, by its very nature, only be won incrementally. One reason for ignoring the challenge was that, as Vietnam so painfully underscored, COIN is hard to do well. A related but deeper factor is that effective counterinsurgency efforts confront core American predilections. American culture and U.S. military doctrine prefer a technological solution and the overwhelmingly decisive blow. Americans have a penchant for black-and-white clarity and have historically shown little patience for complexity and extended commitment. We Americans also like to win on our own terms. And, with the major exception of Vietnam, the United States has been remarkably successful in modern warfare. Accordingly, much of the U.S. military's post-Vietnam efforts focused on neat, linear, and decisive concepts of warfare. Taking refuge in the Powell Doctrine, the armed forces prepared to fight and win conventional conflicts. Large massed formations, heavier weapons employed at increasing distances, and overwhelming force at the strategic and tactical level were the hallmarks of U.S. planning. Unconventional war, if it reared its head, was relegated to the subculture of U. …


The link between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from breath and various diseases and specific conditions has been identified since long by the researchers. Canine studies and breath sample analysis on Gas chromatography/ Mass Spectroscopy has proven that there are VOCs in the breath that can detect and potentially predict hypoglycemia. This project aims at developing a smart nanosensor system to detect hypoglycemia from human breath. The sensor system comprises of 1-Mercapto-(triethylene glycol) methyl ether functionalized goldnanoparticle (EGNPs) sensors coated with polyetherimide (PEI) and poly(vinylidene fluoride -hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) and polymer composite sensor made from PVDF-HFP-Carbon Black (PVDF-HFP/CB), an interface circuit that performs signal conditioning and amplification, and a microcontroller with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to control the interface circuit and communicate with an external personal digital assistant. The sensors were fabricated and tested with 5 VOCs in dry air and simulated breath (mixture of air, small portion of acetone, ethanol at high humidity) to investigate sensitivity and selectivity. The name of the VOCs is not disclosed herein but these VOCs have been identified in breath and are identified as potential biomarkers for other diseases as well. The sensor hydrophobicity has been studied using contact angle measurement. The GNPs size was verified using Ultra-Violent-Visible (UV-VIS) Spectroscopy. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) image is used to show GNPs embedded in the polymer film. The sensors sensitivity increases by more than 400% in an environment with relative humidity (RH) of 93% and the sensors show selectivity towards VOCs of interest. The interface circuit was designed on Eagle PCB and was fabricated using a two-layer PCB. The fabricated interface circuit was simulated with variable resistance and was verified with experiments. The system is also tested at different power source voltages and it was found that the system performance is optimum at more than 5 volts. The sensor fabrication, testing methods, and results are presented and discussed along with interface circuit design, fabrication, and characterization.


The study seeks to understand how passport office structures and interactions shape e-passport application portal development in developing countries. E-government research have focused largely on adoption, implementation, evaluation, use with less concentration on the development of such portals. To address this research gap, this study combines Giddens' structuration theory as the analytical lens and the interpretive qualitative case study to answer the research question how does the interaction of structure and human action shape e-passport application portal development. Findings demonstrate that while challenges such as different development platforms, non-consideration of the benefits of changes in structure over time exist, the absence or presence of strategic systems shape structure. The implication for research, practice and policy are discussed.


Value management capabilities is an important part of automotive logistics enterprise strategic objectives management, is a reflection of enterprise operating performance, is the importance reflection of corporate business, management support and adapt to environment development. Value Management capabilities not only to reflect the effectiveness of automotive logistics enterprises allocation of resources, but also provide a scientific basis for strategic decisions of automotive logistics enterprises. Therefore, scientific and effective evaluate value management capabilities of automotive logistics enterprise both the need of automotive logistics enterprise strategic management, but also the need to achieve enterprise value objectives. This paper is mainly analysis and design automotive logistics enterprise value management capability evaluation index model based on EVA (Economic Value Added), including capital value management model, MM model and Miller model, discounted cash flow model, residual income model analysis, valuation evaluation model analysis and index design of automobile logistics enterprises.


With the success of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), HIV-infected individuals are living longer and, as a consequence, are experiencing an increasing number of and more varied age-related comorbidities. Nevertheless, there are limited data regarding the profile of these chronic comorbidities among aging people living with HIV in Thailand. We therefore aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors of non-AIDS related comorbidities in this population. A cross-sectional study was conducted utilizing an electronic medical record database from the HIV clinic at Hua Hin Hospital. We assessed the prevalence of chronic comorbidities among HIV patients aged at least 50 years. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with multimorbidity. Among 307 HIV patients, nearly half (49.2%) had at least 1 comorbidity and multimorbidity was present in 22.5% of the patients. The most common comorbidities were dyslipidemia (33.9%), hypertension (21.5%) and diabetes (8.1%). Age (OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.06-1.18), duration of HIV infection (OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.04-1.19), body mass index (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.02-1.19) and stavudine-containing regimens (OR 2.63, 95% CI 1.46-5.90) were associated with multimorbidity. The finding underscores a significant burden of non-AIDS-related comorbidities in aging HIV patients. Given the complexity of clinical care in this population, a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach is of paramount importance to optimize overall health outcomes.


Modeling the Extragalactic Epoch of Reionization Foreground Patricia A. Carroll Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Miguel Morales Physics The Epoch of Reionization represents a largely unexplored yet fundamental chapter of the early universe. During this period, spanning several hundred million years, the first stars and galaxies formed and the Hydrogen-dominated intergalactic medium transitioned from a predominantly neutral to ionized state. Modern efforts to study exactly when and how reionization occurred are largely focused on the distribution of neutral Hydrogen gas and its evolution in response to the increasing abundance of luminous objects and ionizing flux. The Murchison Widefield Array is a low frequency radio interferometer designed as a first generation EoR experiment. The predominant systematic difficulty in making a detection of the primordial HI signal is the overwhelmingly bright emission from the intervening foreground galaxies and quasars. This thesis presents novel survey methods used to create a highly precise and reliable catalog of discrete extragalactic sources for the purposes of both calibration and foreground removal.


We measured the refractive-index change on a liquid sample, using the reflection of a polarized Gaussian laser beam close to the angle of total reflection. We applied this technique to a solution of nickel (ii) phthalocyanine tetrasulfonated (NiPTS) in water-ethanol (1/1 v/v), in which the nonlinearity of the refractive index is due to optically induced thermal effects. We show that close to the angle of total reflection the sensitivity of this technique is four times bigger than at normal incidence.


Conversations about chronic illnesses, diseases running in the patient's family, as well as specific medical record questions are frequent in medical encounters. In the United States, as in most countries, these conversations frequently occur between culturally and linguistically diverse patients and providers, and many times they are brokered by an interpreter. In this study I present a transcript that captures a typical healthcare-provider-patient conversation about chronic illnesses and medical history and run it through the lens of critical discourse analysis. I examine the power differentials between interlocutors and the role the interpreter plays in mitigating or reinforcing such power. I look at the co-construction of the meaning of "chronic" among the interlocutors, and the way in which the three orchestrate team efforts to de-construct and re-construct the notion of chronic illnesses exploring a life in-between countries and medical traditions. The data is part of a larger ethnographic study (Angelelli 2001 and 2004a) conducted in a public hospital. Interpreters work for Spanish-speaking patients and English-speaking healthcare providers in face-to-face and over-the-speakerphone interpreted communicative events (ICEs).


Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited disorder affecting 2% of all babies born in Ghana. SCD is the commonest genetic condition of clinical and epidemiological importance in Africa, and over 95% of children born with the disease die before the age of 5 years. Optimal healthcare provision for people with SCD requires a holistic approach involving a multiplicity of well-trained professionals, as well as a well-defined system of social support that caters to their physical, emotional, psychological and financial needs. This review article explores the SCD situation in Ghana within an African milieu and, where possible, draws specific comparisons between Africa (especially Ghana), theUSA and the UK. This article acknowledges the limited resources available for managing the disease in most parts of tropical Africa, and the lack of accurate data to assess the impact of the disease on public health generally. It recognises that expensive and high-technological solutions to healthcare developed in the USA and the UK are not best suited to a lowincome country such as Ghana. However, it argues strongly for the need to improve healthcare and social services for patients and families, to improve the quality of life of SCD patients through the adoption of an affordable intermediate strategy that could be the model for the development of services in both Ghana and other comparable African countries.


Dissipating waves contribute to vertical mixing of the atmosphere, alter molecular and eddy diffusion, and induce chemical transport of reactive species. These processes induce strong vertical transport of atmospheric constituents in regions where wave dissipation is significant. The effective wave diffusivity is proportional to the Stokes drift velocity imparted by the spectrum of vertically propagating waves, which is related to the vertical heat and wave energy fluxes. Because the heat flux cannot be derived from wave parameterization schemes employed in most atmospheric models, wave‐driven constituent transport has not been fully incorporated. However, we show in this paper that wave diffusivity can also be expressed in terms of the eddy diffusivity and variances of the temperature and lapse rate fluctuations, quantities that are readily derived from many wave parameterizations. The theory is in good agreement with lidar measurements of heat fluxes in the mesopause region. Total dynamical diffusivity associated with dissipating waves and turbulence can exceed 300 m2/s near the mesopause.


Consider communication over a binary-input memoryless output-symmetric channel with low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and maximum a posteriori (MAP) decoding. The replica method of spin glass theory allows to conjecture an analytic formula for the average input-output conditional entropy per bit in the infinite block length limit. Montanari proved a lower bound for this entropy, in the case of LDPC ensembles with convex check degree polynomial, which matches the replica formula. Here we extend this lower bound to any irregular LDPC ensemble. The new feature of our work is an analysis of the second derivative of the conditional input-output entropy with respect to noise. A close relation arises between this second derivative and correlation or mutual information of codebits. This allows us to extend the realm of the ldquointerpolation method,rdquo in particular, we show how channel symmetry allows to control the fluctuations of the ldquooverlap parametersrdquo.


Attachment of engineered and naturally occurring macromolecules greatly affects the environmental fate and toxicity of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). A better understanding of macromolecule–ENM interactions at the nanoscale will improve the ability to predict the effects of macromolecular coatings, e.g. natural organic matter (NOM), on ENM fate, reactivity, and toxicity. This review briefly discusses relevant theory from colloid and polymer science for highly idealized polymers on surfaces that can be used to describe ENM environmental behaviors and introduces classes of macromolecules of interest in the field of environmental nanotechnology. Methods to characterize adsorbed macromolecules on ENMs are presented along with their limitations for ENMs in natural systems. Finally, the current state of knowledge regarding the effects of attached organic macromolecules, both engineered and incidental, on the environmental fate and reactivity of ENMs is critically reviewed. These concepts in whole are synthesized to identify the fundamental gaps in understanding and metrology that must be addressed to improve our mechanistic understanding of the effects of organic macromolecules on ENM environmental fate, and approaches to correlate the properties of coated ENMs to their environmental fate are discussed. We postulate that a first principles approach to modeling ENM–macromolecule interactions is not warranted, particularly for complex and heterogeneous natural macromolecules. On the other hand, a mechanistic understanding is needed to inform parameter selection for empirical correlations, which may offer tractable alternatives to predicting the behavior of macromolecule–coated ENMs. Development of these empirical correlations and prediction of the long-term fate of ENMs is currently hampered by incomplete characterization of the adsorbed macromolecule layer properties and their evolution over time in natural systems.


Abstract. One of the major quality control parameters in bundle adjustment are the posterior estimates of the covariance of the estimated parameters. Posterior covariance computations have been part of the open source Damped Bundle Adjustment Toolbox in Matlab (DBAT) since its first public release. However, for large projects, the computation of especially the posterior covariances of object points have been time consuming. The non-zero structure of the normal matrix depends on the ordering of the parameters to be estimated. For some algorithms, the ordering of the parameters highly affect the computational effort needed to compute the results. If the parameters are ordered to have the object points first, the non-zero structure of the normal matrix forms an arrowhead. In this paper, the legacy DBAT posterior computation algorithm was compared to three other algorithms: The Classic algorithm based on the reduced normal equation, the Sparse Inverse algorithm by Takahashi, and the novel Inverse Cholesky algorithm. The Inverse Cholesky algorithm computes the explicit inverse of the Cholesky factor of the normal matrix in arrowhead ordering. The algorithms were applied to normal matrices of ten data sets of different types and sizes. The project sizes ranged from 21 images and 100 object points to over 900 images and 400,000 object points. Both self-calibration and non-self-calibration cases were investigated. The results suggest that the Inverse Cholesky algorithm is the fastest for projects up to about 300 images. For larger projects, the Classic algorithm is faster. Compared to the legacy DBAT implementation, the Inverse Cholesky algorithm provides a performance increase by one to two orders of magnitude. The largest data set was processed in about three minutes on a five year old workstation. The legacy and Inverse Cholesky algorithms were implemented in Matlab. The Classic and Sparse Inverse algorithms included code written in C. For a general toolbox as DBAT, a pure Matlab implementation is advantageous, as it removes any dependencies on, e.g., compilers. However, for a specific lab with mostly large projects, compiling and using the classic algorithm will most likely give the best performance. Nevertheless, the Inverse Cholesky algorithm is a significant addition to DBAT as it enables a relatively rapid computation of more statistical metrics, further reinforcing its application for reprocessing bundle adjustment results of black-box solutions.


Structures vibrate with their natural frequencies when disturbed from their equilibrium position. These frequencies reduce when an additional mass accumulates on their structures, like ice accumulation on wind turbines installed in cold climate sites. The added mass has two features: the location and quantity of mass. Natural frequencies of the structure reduce differently depending on these two features of the added mass. In this work, a technique based on an artificial neural network (ANN) model is proposed to identify added mass by training the neural network with a dataset of natural frequencies of the structure calculated using different quantities of the added mass at different locations on the structure. The proposed method is demonstrated on a non-rotating beam model fixed at one end. The length of the beam is divided into three zones in which different added masses are considered, and its natural frequencies are calculated using a finite element model of the beam. ANN is trained with this dataset of natural frequencies of the beam as an input and corresponding added masses used in the calculations as an output. ANN approximates the non-linear relationship between these inputs and outputs. An experimental setup of the cantilever beam is fabricated, and experimental modal analysis is carried out considering a few added masses on the beam. The frequencies estimated in the experiments are given as an input to the trained ANN model, and the identified masses are compared against the actual masses used in the experiments. These masses are identified with an error that varies with the location and the quantity of added mass. The reason for these errors can be attributed to the unaccounted stiffness variation in the beam model due to the added mass while generating the dataset for training the neural network. Therefore, the added masses are roughly estimated. At the end of the paper, an application of the current technique for detecting ice mass on a wind turbine blade is studied. A neural network model is designed and trained with a dataset of natural frequencies calculated using the finite element model of the blade considering different ice masses. The trained network model is tested to identify ice masses in four test cases that considers random mass distributions along the blade. The neural network model is able to roughly estimate ice masses, and the error reduces with increasing ice mass on the blade.


Measuring the amount of material loss in the case of revised hip replacements is considered to be a prerequisite of understanding and assessing the true in vivo performance of the implant. This paper outlines a method developed by the authors for quantifying taper material loss as well as more general taper interface parameters. Previous studies have mostly relied on visual inspection to assess the material loss at the taper interface, whereas this method aims to characterize any surface and form changes through the use of an out-of-roundness measurement machine. Along with assessing the volumetric wear, maximum linear penetration and taper contact length can also be determined. The method was applied to retrieved large head metal-on-metal femoral heads in order to quantify the material loss at this junction. Material loss from the female femoral head taper can be characterized as a localized area that is in contact with the stem taper surface. The study showed that this method has good repeatability and a low level of interoperability variation between operators.


© Springer-Verlag 2009 Abstract Tolerated transfer of food among adults is rare among primates, except in humans. Here, we present data on a consistent pattern of tolerated intersexual transfer of food (held in hand, foot, or mouth by the owner) among adult orangutans, in two different natural populations (Pongo abelii and Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii), based on ca. 9,000 h of focal observation per site. Although rare, intersexual food transfers were disproportionately from males to sexually active females and involved food that was equally available to both sexes. There was no evidence for direct trading of food for social favors (mating, grooming, or agonistic support) or for sharing under pressure of harassment. However, females frequently protested with loud screams when males, especially unflanged ones, attempted to take food they possessed, and also when males responded aggressively to their taking attempt. Since associations ended sooner when the female emitted noisy calls, a male who did not allow a female to take food from him risked losing the association. These findings support the hypothesis that by taking food, a sexually active female may test the male's tendency toward violence. Thus, intersexual food taking in orangutans is based on female leverage, resulting in a species-wide female entitlement to male "generosity". The inhibition of food defense required for this kind of transaction may also form the basis for sharing patterns among species in which nutritional benefits have become important, such as chimpanzees and perhaps human foragers.


Abstract. We revisit a model of feedback processes proposed by Lindzen et al. (2001), in which an assumed 22% reduction in the area of tropical high clouds per degree increase in sea surface temperature produces negative feedbacks associated with upper tropospheric water vapor and cloud radiative effects. We argue that the water vapor feedback is overestimated in Lindzen et al. (2001) by at least 60%, and that the high cloud feedback is small. Although not mentioned by Lindzen et al. (2001), tropical low clouds make a significant contribution to their negative feedback, which is also overestimated. Using more realistic parameters in the model of Lindzen et al. (2001), we obtain a feedback factor in the range of -0.15 to -0.51, compared to their larger negative feedback factor of -0.45 to -1.03. It is noted that our feedback factor could still be overestimated due to the assumption of constant low cloud cover in the simple radiative-convective model.


This theoretical paper proposes a framework for how citizen science can be adapted to organizational contexts. Using an "input, process, output" approach, this model proposes organizational factors (e.g., communication channels and styles, and organizational structure) that should be considered when choosing among citizen science approaches (e.g., contributory, collaborative, co-created). The essay identifies possible outcomes for the individual, organization, and larger sector from employing a citizen science approach within an organizational setting. Abstract


While relaxation of geographical restrictions on bank expansion permitted banking organizations to expand across state lines, it allowed states to erect barriers to branch expansion. These differences in states' branching restrictions affect credit supply. In states more open to branching, small firms borrow at interest rates 80 to 100 basis points lower than firms operating in less open states. Firms in open states also are more likely to borrow from banks. Despite this evidence that interstate branch openness expands credit supply, we find no effect of variation in state restrictions on branching on the amount that small firms borrow.


Following Frankl and Furedi we say a family, $F$, of subsets of an $n$-set is weakly union-free if $F$ does not contain four distinct sets $A$, $B$, $C$, $D$ with $A \cup B = C \cup D$. If in addition $A \cup B = A \cup C$ implies $B=C$ we say $F$ is strongly union-free. Let $f(n)$ ($g(n)$) be the maximum size of strongly (weakly) union-free families. In this paper we prove the following new bounds on $f$ and $g$: $$2^{[0.31349+o(1)]n} \leq f(n) \leq 2^{[0.4998+o(1)]n}$$ and $$g(n) \leq 2^{[0.5+o(1)]n}.$$


Improving return forecasting is very important for both investors and researchers in financial markets. In this study we try to aim this object by two new methods. First, instead of using traditional variable, gold prices have been used as predictor and compare the results with Goyal's variables. Second, unlike previous researches new machine learning algorithm called Deep learning (DP) has been used to improve return forecasting and then compare the results with historical average methods as bench mark model and use Diebold and Mariano's and West's statistic (DMW) for statistical evaluation. Results indicate that the applied DP model has higher accuracy compared to historical average model. It also indicates that out of sample prediction improvement does not always depend on high input variables numbers. On the other hand when using gold price as input variables, it is possible to improve this forecasting capability. Result also indicate that gold price has better accuracy than Goyal's variable to predicting out of sample return.


Protecting the free exchange of ideas in academia, much like in journalism, has long been considered an American value and a necessary condition for a free and healthy democracy. The importance of academic autonomy, including the processes by which scholars collect, store and exchange information, is correspondingly of great importance to anyone happily living in a free society. Recent efforts by Boston College to fight the Federal government, acting on behalf of the United Kingdom to secure confidential and highly sensitive audio tapes collected and archived as part of an academic study, sheds new light on an ailment in American law. The tremendous legal challenge that Boston College has recently endured in its unsuccessful bid to protect academic sources is not only offensive to our social conscience, but on a more technical level stands in staunch contrast to cutting edge developments in international human rights law. Ironically, the subpoena request from the United Kingdom asks the United States to perform an act that would be of highly questionable legality under European law to which the United Kingdom is bound — Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. If a researcher's privilege is to be recognized in the United States, it will require the Supreme Court to recalculate, much like European courts have, the great societal value of scholarly research.


The most important business/self-help book since EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE and THE ONE-MINUTE MANAGER. How often do you get to the end of another long and frantic day and wonder why so many important things didn't get finished? We've never worked so hard and felt so unproductive and unfulfilled. 18 MINUTES takes this challenge and turns it on its head. Peter Bregman, top HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW columnist and global management consultant, shatters the myth of getting it all done by offering a clear and simple plan for getting the right things done. He shows how the best way to fight distracting interruptions is to create productive ones ourselves, a practice that can be easily implemented in 18 minutes a day. The result is a simple yet comprehensive approach to managing your life a year, a day, and a moment at a time so that your life moves forward the way you want and at the pace you want.


This paper considers three aspects of Massive MIMO (multiple- input multiple-output) communication networks that have received little attention in previous works, but are important to understand when designing and implementing this promising wireless technology. First, we analyze how bursty data traffic behaviors affect the system. Using a probabilistic model for intermittent user activity, we show that the spectral efficiency (SE) scales gracefully with reduced user activity. Then, we make an analytic comparison between synchronous and asynchronous pilot signaling, and prove that the choice between these has no impact on the SE. Finally, we provide an analytical and numerical study of the SE achieved with random network deployment.


Abstract Background: This study sought to provide an epidemiological profile of non-daily (ND) smokers in South Africa. Methods: Using data obtained from the 1998 South African demographic and health survey (SADHS)—the largest nationally representative dataset available—smokers were classified as non-daily (ND) smokers or daily smokers. NDS were defined as persons aged 18 and over who had ever smoked 100 cigarettes, but did not currently smoke daily. Results: In 1998, an estimated 10% of current smokers were ND smokers (n = 255). Of the ND smokers, 69.7% had smoked daily in the past and currently smoked significantly fewer cigarettes per day (CPD) than current daily smokers (5.4 vs. 9.8). ND smokers were also significantly more likely to have made at least one attempt to quit smoking, live in smoke-free homes, have more than 12 years of schooling and live in urban areas. Compared to past daily ND smokers, those ND smokers who had never smoked daily smoked fewer CPD and were more likely to be younger than 25 years old. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the majority of ND smokers in South Africa are those trying to quit smoking rather than those initiating smoking. Smoking rates among ND smokers are still at a level that has been shown to pose significant health risks, therefore health practitioners should also prioritise non-daily smokers for interventions regarding smoking cessation.


Field experiments were conducted for evaluating recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of wheat cross of C518 and PBW343 under rainfed conditions by using plant water related traits viz; canopy temperature and stomatal density during rabi seasons 2012-13 and 2013-14. Both parents belonging to distinct adaptation group, offer several morpho-physiological contrasting traits. Canopy temperature (CT) and stomatal density (SD) were recorded under irrigated and rainfed conditions. Analysis of variance showed that CT and SD differed significantly under both conditions, indicating the existence of sufficient genetic variability among the populations. Frequency distribution for canopy temperature at anthesis among RIL population showed transgressive segregation under irrigated and rainfed conditions. Skewness (0.22) and kurtosis (0.27) was higher under rainfed conditions. Stomatal density does not vary greatly under water-deficit conditions. However, reduction in stomatal density was found under water stress conditions and recorded minimum stomatal density suggesting less transpiration rate under drought conditions resulting in minimize of loss of water. Under irrigated environment, canopy temperature at anthesis (CTA) showed non-signification correlation with stomatal density. While, under rainfed condition, canopy temperature among RILs showed significant negative correlation with stomatal density and yield attribute characters. This indicated that the selection for traits viz, canopy temperature and stomatal density may be effective measure of drought tolerance of wheat cultivars and yield improvement under drought stress conditions.


While social and economic aspects of online communities have been investigated broadly, the information exchanged has seldom been the subject of study. The article follows recent work on using an information systems metaphor for online communities: users specify queries and receive information from the online community members. In order to justify this metaphor, information needs to be at least up to classic information products. In this paper we present a framework for the evaluation of timeliness in online communities. An empirical study is presented which compares aspects of timeliness, namely up-to-dateness, for a wiki community and a printed guidebook. Results show that the community is at least as up-to-date as the printed guidebook. While further research is needed, results indicate that online communities can be used as information systems with reasonable information quality values


Sepsis was induced in male rats by injections of live Escherichia coli No. 4 (or E. coli No. 3) and Bacteroides fragilis organisms into a preformed subcutaneous abscess. Body weight, food and water intake, and cardiac output were measured daily. After 1, 2, or 3 weeks, animals were sacrificed, and blood, liver, and muscle were collected for measurements of plasma glucose and carnitine, mitochondrial respiratory activity, mitochondrial cytochrome concentrations, and tissue adenine nucleotides. Compared with sham controls, no significant differences were found in state 3 respiratory activities of liver mitochondria isolated from rats with moderate (no weight loss, cardiac output increased to 150% of control) or severe (0.5% weight loss/day, cardiac output increased to 200% of control) sepsis at any time. After 1 week of severe, but not moderate, sepsis, pyruvate-supported respiration in muscle mitochondria was significantly decreased, while branched-chain ketoacid and beta-hydroxybutyrate-supported respiration remained unchanged. After 2 weeks of severe, but not moderate, sepsis, beta-hydroxybutyrate and branched-chain ketoacid oxidation increased severalfold; pyruvate utilization remained depressed. Severe or moderate sepsis did not uncouple mitochondrial respiration at any time. Total muscle carnitine concentration was significantly decreased after long-term but not short-term severe sepsis. Severe short-term sepsis caused a significant increase in liver short-chain acyl and total carnitines. Muscle energy charge was unaltered by either moderate or severe sepsis. These results represent the first demonstration of sepsis-induced fuel shifts at the mitochondrial level in muscle: Severe hyperdynamic sepsis is characterized by the reduced ability of muscle mitochondria to utilize pyruvate with a simultaneous increase in branched-chain ketoacid and ketone body utilization. These changes were not observed in liver mitochondria.