Efficient routing of private and commercial vehicles is valued for saving travel time and reducing vehicle running costs. Employers must also consider the safety of their staff while on the road, and many implement policies that support safe driver behaviours and the use of safe vehicles. To date there has been little research into the integration of both routing and safety – allowing road users to choose the safest, in addition to the shortest or quickest routes. This paper outlines a research project, undertaken as part of a Callaghan Innovation Student Experience Grant, which investigated how road risk assessment methodologies can be incorporated into a vehicle routing model. Two methodologies for calculating, predicting and quantifying crashes and road safety were examined and tested for the Greater Auckland Region: predictive crash models from the NZ Transport Agency's Economic Evaluation Manual, and reactive crash models based on the Urban KiwiRAP risk assessment methodology. The project was developed using Geographical Information Systems (GIS), specifically ArcGIS Network Analyst. The output of the trial was an interactive website that allows for users to choose and weight three routing variables: travel time, distance and safety. The route that best meets the chosen priorities is then calculated and displayed on screen. This project demonstrates potential for safety-based vehicle routing and supports a safe system approach to managing the road safety risk associated with work-related driving. The next step is to explore the commercial opportunities from this research, including partnerships with interested public bodies and commercial vehicle routing services.


Devils Lake in North Dakota is used as a case study for the model development and application. The basis of the relationship developed in this study is the separation of the annual maximum lake level into an average level and a within-year fluctuation component. A time series model of Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) family was identified and validated for the annual incremental storage time series. Then by using simulation and the concepts of 'mass curve' and 'range analysis' a set of maximum lake volumes over a planning horizon were generated and the corresponding extreme value distribution was obtained. A maximum annual average lake level-frequency relationship was then obtained from the volume-frequency relationship. Within-year maximum fluctuations about the average elevations was separately analyzed. The frequency distributions of maximum average lake levels and within-year fluctuations were superimposed to obtain a useful form of elevation-frequency relationship for the lake.


Grafting L-proline on imidazolium-based ionic liquid (IL)-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles afforded a magnetically recoverable L-proline catalyst. Characterization technologies suggested the presence of an L-proline backbone, an IL linker, and a magnetic ferrite core in the catalyst. The resulting L-proline catalyst was efficient for direct asymmetric aldol reaction in water without the need for organic solvents and co-catalysts. Such efficiency is attributed to the fact that the IL moiety facilitated the accessibility of hydrophobic reactants to active sites in water and stabilized the formed enamine intermediate during the reaction. High activity (yield = 92%), diastereoselectivity (dr; 88/12) and enantioselectivity (ee; 85%) were obtained using 10 mol% of a catalyst for the reaction between cyclohexanone and 2-nitrobenzaldehyde within 12 h, where the pristine L-proline and IL-free counterpart were almost inactive. The catalyst was easily separated using a permanent magnet externally and can be reused several times without significant loss of activity.


Abrasive waterjet (AWJ) possesses inherent technological and manufacturing advantages unmatched by most machine tools. Recent advancements in AWJ processes have enhanced those merits. Multidisciplinary advancements include process automation, position accuracy, cutting models, range of part dimensions, ergonomics, user and environmental friendliness, feature recognition, and others. Among the technological merits, AWJ is material independent and a cold cutting tool, capable of preserving the structural and chemical integrity of parent materials. For heat sensitive materials, AWJ often cuts over 10 times faster than thermal cutting tools such as lasers and electrode discharge machining. Unlike photochemical etching, AWJ is environmentally friendly, producing no toxic byproducts. Additionally, AWJ requires only a single tool assisted with accessories to qualify for multimode machining; it is cost effective with fast turnaround for small and large lots alike. Recent advancements together with relevant R&D, engineering, and industrial applications will be presented for precision multimode machining from macro to micro scales.


THE INDUSTRIAL PRIMER. By Mary E. Grubb, supervisor of art in public schools. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Lillian Francis Taylor, principal 01 the Teachers' Training school, Galesburg, Illinois. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Cloth. Illustrated. 128 pp. Price, 30 cents. An industrial primary reader is a promising .innovation and should prove most useful in primary classes where construction work is taken up, as it now is .in al.. most all American schools. The authors have correlated construction work with a continued story and they 6hould be taken up together, although the story could be read simply as a reading lesson. The notes to teachers, patterns and directions for the construction work make It possible to put the book right into the hands of the class and teacher without any previous instruction. All the work is based on the home and home life, both in the city and on the farm.


We propose a new solution concept for a game among oligopolists that simultaneously compete in several segmented markets. The motivation for this solution comes from international trade, but it also has applications in other areas. It is based on a three-stage extension of the two-stage Kreps-Scheinkman game. We show that two-way trade is not an equilibrium outcome and that there exist bounds on possible cross-market priced differentials that are defined by transport costs. Prices are the same when transport costs are zero. In fact, in the limiting case of zero transport costs the equilibrium coincides with a Cournot equilibrium in a single integrated market. In the presence of transport coats there nay exist multiple equilibria.


Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are the result of the integration of connected computer systems with the physical world. They feature complex interactions that go beyond traditional communication schemes and protocols in computer systems. One distinguished feature of such complex interactions is the tight coupling between discrete and continuous interactions, captured by hybrid system models. Due to the complexity of CPSs, providing rigorous and model-based analysis methods and tools for verifying correctness of such systems is of the utmost importance. Model-based testing (MBT) is one such verification technique that can be used for checking the conformance of an implementation of a system to its specification (model). In this chapter, we first review the main concepts and techniques in MBT. Subsequently, we review the most common modeling formalisms for CPSs, with focus on hybrid system models. Subsequently, we provide a brief overview of conformance relations and conformance testing techniques for CPSs.


Significant therapeutic applications to date have been achieved through the use of haemopoietic/progenitor cells (HSPC). Cancer patients receiving high-dose radioc-chemotherapy no longer suffer from extreme levels of neutropenia due to the administration of stimulating grwoth factors. The extent of HSPC for therapeutic potential has yet to be exhausted and the present research aims to expand the mechanisms and methods for further development of this population for future therapeutic use in haematology and in tissue engineering from conventional, ethically approved blood sources.

UCB is enriched with early stem cells (SC) but this enrichment is relative to the volume available thus limiting its use in direct replacement therapies. One of the first objectives of this work was to test the in vitro expansion of CD133+ sten cells by a novel embryological derived growth factor set (arbitrarily named SFX), which revealed dose-response activity over many weeks. A population of UCB mononucleated cells maintained cell expansion over 4 weeks from SFX stimulation. The CD133+ cell population also harvested from UCB maintained intense cell proliferation continuing beyond 4 weeks. The above populations both displayed amplified responses at increasing concentrations of SFX.

Stem cells have been reported to be present around the body in a quiescent state. A second objective was to establish whether trauma to human cells released stromal-derived-factor-1 (SDF-1) implicated in attracting SCs to the site of injury and important if UCB SCs are to find, post-transplant suitable sites for repair. Three cells lines were cultured; two neural and one hepatic. Before the addition of trauma agents the hepatic cell line model displayed highest natural release of SDF-1 but the neural cell line models induced a higher release of SDF-1 upon exposure to cellular stressors. Its release is confirmed upon trauma and perhaps suggests stem cells homing activity, maybe a natural feedback response initiating tissue repair?

SCs with the correct combination of growth factors, have shown multi-tissue differentiation. The final objective of this study was to optimise this differentiation using collagen based scaffolds, recreating a more normal "in vivo" condition, for hepatocyte development as a model test system. Within one week significant congestive growth of the hepatocyte cells within the scaffolds 'resembling' tissue structre was observed. Endothelial tissue was also developed with early peripheral blood CD133+ and CD34+ stem cells harvested with a variety of techniques. The results indicated an amplified response with CD133+ cells. Further work would include characterisation of tissue identity using appropriate markers.


In Data mining applications, which often involve complex data like multiple heterogeneous data sources, user preferences, decision-making actions and business impacts etc., the complete useful information cannot be obtained by using single data mining method in the form of informative patterns as that would consume more time and space, if and only if it is possible to join large relevant data sources for discovering patterns consisting of various aspects of useful information. We consider combined mining as an approach for mining informative patterns from multiple data-sources or multiple-features or by multiple-methods as per the requirements. In combined mining approach, we applied Lossy-counting algorithm on each data-source to get the frequent data item-sets and then get the combined association rules. In multi-feature combined mining approach, we obtained pair patterns and cluster patterns and then generate incremental pair patterns and incremental cluster patterns, which cannot be directly generated by the existing methods. In multi-method combined mining approach, we combine FP-growth and Bayesian Belief Network to make a classifier to get more informative knowledge.


Abstract—Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) is a multifunctional polymeric material which possesses a combination of excellent properties of parent materials. Basically, TPE has a rubber phase and a thermoplastic phase which gives processability as thermoplastics. When the rubber phase is partially or fully crosslinked in the thermoplastic matrix, TPE is called as thermoplastic elastomer vulcanizate (TPV). If the rubber phase is non-crosslinked, it is called as thermoplastic elastomer olefin (TPO). Nowadays TPEs are introduced into the commercial market with different products. However, the application of TPE as a roofing material is limited. Out of the commercially available roofing products from different materials, only single ply roofing membranes and plastic roofing sheets are produced from rubbers and plastics. Natural rubber (NR) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) are used in various industrial applications individually with some drawbacks. Therefore, this study was focused to develop both TPO and TPV blends from NR and HDPE at different compositions and then to identify the best blend composition to use as a roofing material. A series of blends by varying NR loading from 10 wt% to 50 wt%, at 10 wt% intervals, were prepared using a twin screw extruder. Dicumyl peroxide was used as a crosslinker for TPV. The standard properties for a roofing material like tensile properties tear strength, hardness, impact strength, water absorption, swell/gel analysis and thermal characteristics of the blends were investigated. Change of tensile strength after exposing to UV radiation was also studied. Tensile strength, hardness, tear strength, melting temperature and gel content of TPVs show higher values compared to TPOs at every loading studied, while water absorption and swelling index show lower values, suggesting TPVs are more suitable than TPOs for roofing applications. Most of the optimum properties were shown at 10/90 (NR/HDPE) composition. However, high impact strength and gel content were shown at 20/80 (NR/HDPE) composition. Impact strength, as being an energy absorbing property, is the most important for a roofing material in order to resist impact loads. Therefore, 20/80 (NR/HDPE) is identified as the best blend composition. UV resistance and other properties required for a roofing material could be achieved by incorporating suitable additives to TPVs.


Mobile Applications are rapidly emerging as a convenient medium for using a variety of services. In ubiquitous environment, the challenge relies on developing applications that sense and react to environmental changes to provide a value-added user experience. This context awareness property improves application usability. Context information can be related to the environment, user but also to the device itself. Since smart phones are battery-powered, in an ideal scenario, the application will self-adapt and adjust its behavior according to the current battery status of the device. In this paper, we address the challenge of building self-adaptive battery-aware applications for mobile devices. Our solution is based on a dynamic feature configuration to adapt efficiently to the device status. We propose a distributed battery-awareness architecture where both the mobile client and the server side optimize the battery utilization when needed. We also propose three layers of dynamic adaptation: user features' availability adaptation, internal features' behavior adaptation, and data consumption adaptation. As illustrated by the experiments, doing the right adaptation in both server and client sides increases the lifetime span of the mobile device and hence the availability of the application.


Over the course of her career as a psychologist, the writer has encountered a lot of problems in children, which when being explored further on, turned out to originate from problems related to parenting and marriage. On the other hand, throughout the years of being a lecturer, the writer has become convinced that it is essential for Indonesia's young generation to have entrepreneurial personality characteristics in order to improve the nation's competitiveness. Her experience as a psychologist and her journey as a lecturer have inspired the writer to explore marital and parenting problems, and how both of them can be worked on to facilitate the development of entrepreneurial personality characteristics in children, for the sake of nation's advancement.


Background Rice molecular genetics, breeding, genetic diversity, and allied research (such as rice-pathogen interaction) have adopted sequencing technologies and high density genotyping platforms for genome variation analysis and gene discovery. Germplasm collections representing rice diversity, improved varieties and elite breeding materials are accessible through rice gene banks for use in research and breeding, with many having genome sequences and high density genotype data available. Combining phenotypic and genotypic information on these accessions enables genome-wide association analysis, which is driving quantitative trait loci (QTL) discovery and molecular marker development. Comparative sequence analyses across QTL regions facilitate the discovery of novel alleles. Analyses involving DNA sequences and large genotyping matrices for thousands of samples, however, pose a challenge to non-computer savvy rice researchers. Findings We adopted the Galaxy framework to build the federated Rice Galaxy resource, with shared datasets, tools, and analysis workflows relevant to rice research. The shared datasets include high density genotypes from the 3,000 Rice Genomes project and sequences with corresponding annotations from nine published rice genomes. Rice Galaxy includes tools for designing single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assays, analyzing genome-wide association studies, population diversity, rice-bacterial pathogen diagnostics, and a suite of published genomic prediction methods. A prototype Rice Galaxy compliant to Open Access, Open Data, and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reproducible principles is also presented. Conclusions Rice Galaxy is a freely available resource that empowers the plant research community to perform state-of-the-art analyses and utilize publicly available big datasets for both fundamental and applied science.


Grand Traverse County, MI has witnessed population growth in the past thirty years, largely because of its popularity as a tourist destination and "wilderness" area in Michigan and around the Great Lakes basin in general. Accordingly, there has been human development and urbanization in the county, particularly around its major community, Traverse City. This paper seeks to quantify that urbanization. This will be done by classification of Landsat 5 – TM imagery collected in 1984 and 2010, utilizing the Gaussian maximum likelihood supervised classification method. After this process, changes in proportions of the various land use types in the county will be calculated. Spatial examination of urban expansion helps to objectively analyze the effects of human population growth on the environment. Furthermore, it visibly shows the effect of human processes on a landscape. There is also analysis and some discussion of other shifts in land use areas, such as forests and agricultural land. Furthermore, this paper examines the environmental effects of urbanization and policy measures required to protect environmental integrity. The study did find an increase in urbanized land in the county (2% increase as a proportion of the entire county, corresponding to a 21% increase in urbanized land), but not to the great extent that was expected considering the growth in tourism.


Summary

1
Demographic rates such as growth and survival may interact directly as a result of allocation constraints, or indirectly through their relationship with structural characteristics.

2
We explored the relationship between growth and survival in a range of rosette-forming species across different habitats, and investigated possible mechanistic explanations for the patterns we found.

3
Results indicated a negative association between growth and survival in small plants across species in different habitats. There was no relationship for large plants.

4
Relative growth rate (RGR) was positively correlated to specific leaf area (SLA), but unrelated to the percentage biomass allocated to roots. This argues against the hypothesized role of allocation to root mass in mediating the growth–survival trade-off.

5
The pattern of biomass partitioning was compared with the predictions of Enquist & Niklas (2002a) Global allocation rules for patterns of biomass partitioning in seed plants. Science 295, 1517–1520. In agreement with their predictions, the overall relationship between above- and below-ground biomass was isometric. However, after accounting for species-specific effects it was found that allocation to roots varied widely between species and was size-dependent, suggesting that the conventional statistical analysis (double-log regression) may be insensitive to biologically important sources of variation.


When fed with a high-fat safflower oil diet for 3 wk, wild-type mice develop hepatic insulin resistance, whereas mice lacking glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase-1 retain insulin sensitivity. We examined early changes in the development of insulin resistance via liver and plasma metabolome analyses that compared wild-type and glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase-deficient mice fed with either a low-fat or the safflower oil diet for 3 wk. We reasoned that diet-induced changes in metabolites that occurred only in the wild-type mice would reflect those metabolites that were specifically related to hepatic insulin resistance. Of the identifiable metabolites (from 322 metabolites) in liver, wild-type mice fed with the high-fat diet had increases in urea cycle intermediates, consistent with increased deamination of amino acids used for gluconeogenesis. Also increased were stearoylglycerol, gluconate, glucarate, 2-deoxyuridine, and pantothenate. Decreases were observed in S-adenosylhomocysteine, lactate, the bile acid taurocholate, and 1,5-anhydroglucitol, a previously identified marker of short-term glycemic control. Of the identifiable metabolites (from 258 metabolites) in plasma, wild-type mice fed with the high-fat diet had increases in plasma stearate and two pyrimidine-related metabolites, whereas decreases were found in plasma bradykinin, alpha-ketoglutarate, taurocholate, and the tryptophan metabolite, kynurenine. This study identified metabolites previously not known to be associated with insulin resistance and points to the utility of metabolomics analysis in identifying unrecognized biochemical pathways that may be important in understanding the pathophysiology of diabetes.


BACKGROUND
Breast cancer central nervous system (CNS) metastases are an increasingly important problem because of high CNS relapse rates in patients treated with trastuzumab and/or taxanes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We evaluated data from 2887 node-positive breast cancer patients randomised in the BIG 02-98 trial comparing anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy (control arms) to anthracycline-docetaxel-based sequential or concurrent chemotherapy (experimental arms). After a median follow-up of 5 years, 403 patients had died and detailed information on CNS relapse was collected for these patients.

RESULTS
CNS relapse occurred in 4.0% of control patients and 3.7% of docetaxel-treated patients. CNS relapse occurred in 27% of deceased patients in both treatment groups. CNS relapse was usually accompanied by neurologic symptoms (90%), and 25% of patients with CNS relapse died without evidence of extra-CNS relapse. Only 20% of patients survived 1 year from the diagnosis of CNS relapse. Prognosis of CNS relapse was worse for patients with meningeal carcinomatosis when compared with brain metastases. Unexpected findings included a higher rate of positive cerebrospinal fluid cytology (8% versus 3%) and more frequent use of magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosis (47% versus 30%) in the docetaxel-treated patients.

CONCLUSION
There is no evidence that adjuvant docetaxel treatment is associated with an increased frequency of CNS relapse.


Every year a quarter of all international aid – approximately US$15 billion – is spent on capacity development. However, despite the continued dominance of capacity development, results are frequently disappointing.

Over a period of six years, the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC) has conducted a series of studies on state capacity in eight countries, focusing on the ways in which international actors attempt to build the capacity of states in fragile and conflict-affected situations to deliver services – typically considered a 'core function' of any modern state. This report synthesises the findings of these studies, drawing out cross-cutting themes that help us understand both the ways in which capacity development in such contexts is currently undertaken, and the assumptions, challenges and trade-offs that underpin this practice.

This report is one of a series produced at the end of SLRC's first phase. These reports bring together and analyse all relevant material on SLRC's overarching research questions, with a view to drawing out broader lessons that will be of use to policy makers, practitioners and researchers.


PURPOSE
We intended to perform an independent verification of different machine learning methods for inferring radiation pneumonitis (RP) risk from patient-specific biological and dosimetric informationMethods: 29 NSCLC patients who received chemoradiation were recruited from two institutions (22 from WUSTL, 7 from McGill). Blood samples were collected from each patient before and during radiotherapy (RT). From each sample the concentration of the five following candidate biomarkers were measured: alpha-2-macroglobulin (α2M), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and osteopontin (OPN). Dimensionality of the raw biomarker data was reduced by a semi-supervised variable selection scheme. The reduced biomarker variables along with three known dosimetric RP predictors (mean lung dose, V20, tumor position in superior-inferior direction of the lung) were used as features for classifying high RP risk (CTCAE grade 2 or higher) patients. Four different machine learning methods (Bayesian Network, Logistic Regression, Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machine) were used for training classifiers on the WUSTL subset and were tested with respect to classification performance on the McGill subset.

RESULTS
The following 4 biomarker variables were chosen by the variable filtering: (1) pre-RT concentration level of α2M, (2) ratio of pre-to intra-RT levels of α2M, (3) intra-RT ACE level, (4) intra-RT TGFβ level. The best performance was achieved by Support Vector Machine in terms of classification accuracy (85.71%) and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) (0.9167). Bayesian Network recorded the same accuracy and slightly lower AUC (0.8750). Less accurate models were Naive Bayes and logistic regression in which overfitting was predominant with the largest difference in classification performance between the training and the testing dataset.

CONCLUSION
Preliminary results from this ongoing study suggests the need of a machine learning approach capable of modeling inter-relation between physical and biological variables where commonly used multivariate logistic regression would be inappropriate.


With an advancement towards the paradigm of Internet of Things (IoT), in which every device will be interconnected and communicating with each other, the field of wireless sensor networks has helped to resolve an ever-growing demand in meeting deadlines and reducing power consumption. Among several standards that provide support for IoT, the recently published IEEE 802.15.4e protocol is specifically designed to meet the QoS requirements of industrial applications. IEEE 802.15.4e provides five Medium-Access Control (MAC) behaviors, including three that target time-critical applications: Deterministic and Synchronous Multichannel Extension (DSME); Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) and Low Latency Deterministic Network (LLDN). However, the standard and the literature do not provide any worst-case bound analysis of these behaviors, thus it is not possible to effectively predict their timing performance in an application and accurately devise a network in accordance to such constraints. This paper fills this gap by contributing network models for the three time-critical MAC behaviors using Network Calculus. These models allow deriving the worst-case performance of the MAC behaviors in terms of delay and buffering requirements. We then complement these results by carrying out a thorough performance analysis of these MAC behaviors by observing the impact of different parameters.


A description is given of BTRON, or Business TRON, a set of operating system specifications for workstations and personal computers that use bitmapped displays. BTRON is a 16-b version of the Japanese TRON project's 32/64-b architecture, designed to be more affordable and fill business data and graphics needs. The primary goals set for BTRON call for the realization of easy operation through a standardized human-machine interface (HMI) and the assurance of data compatibility across different applications and machines. BTRON establishes a method for exchange data and control across applications, and it realizes a document management system in which text and graphics can be mixed freely and layouts handled with ease. It offers standard support of English, Japanese, and other languages, providing a wide variety of fonts. Basic services of the operating system nucleus that are examined are process, file, event, device, and real and virtual object management. TAD (TRON Application Databus) is also explained.<<ETX>>


This study assesses the physiological responses of copepods to variations in the quality of their diet and temperature and explores the variability of food quality in the field. Laboratory experiments were used to constrain the effects of food quality in terms of phytoplankton organic ratios N:P, C:N and C:P and fatty acid content, on Temora longicornis feeding, respiration, and egg production rates (EPR). Maximum metabolic rates, assimilation efficiency and gross growth efficiency coincided with an optimum diet of ~16N:1P defining it as the copepod threshold nutrient ratio. In the field, a response of zooplankton biomass to temporal variations in seston N:P ratio was found in the North Sea and in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

Field measurements revealed latitudinal and temporal changes in food quality at the chlorophyll maximum along an Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT). Better quality food was found in the Temperate and Upwelling domains and included seston with lower C:N ratios, N:P ratios closer to Redfield values and a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), essential fatty acids such as 20:5(n-3) and 22:6(n-3), high (n-3):(n-6) ratios and lower proportion of saturated fatty acids (SAFA). Time-series data showed that food quantity and quality declined over time in the temperate North region of the Atlantic Ocean.

Ship-board experiments were undertaken to determine the effects of temperature on respiration and EPR of some mesopelagic copepod species along an AMT. 75-85% of the
variation in routine metabolic rates was explained by allometric and thermodynamic relationships. Within the range of temperatures measured, estimates of Ea (activation
energy) and Q10 suggested high sensitivity to temperature variation.

Our results highlight the importance of quantifying the effects of a variety of ecological parameters on the physiological responses of copepods to understand the processes that
regulate zooplankton dynamics and their effects on biogeochemical cycles and trophic transfer of energy.


Although a number of studies have shown that various free fatty acids (FFAs) and monoacylglycerides (MGs) have bactericidal properties in vitro, the role of these compounds in vivo has not been determined. This study evaluated the antibacterial properties of medium-chain MGs and FFAs for different bacterial enteropathogens with an in-vitro bacterial killing assay and an in-vivo model of intestinal colonisation. Incubation of test bacteria with medium-chain MGs for 4 h led to 100-10000-fold reductions in numbers of viable cells of Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella typhi, Shigella sonnei and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). Lauric acid was the only mediumchain FFA to show comparable in-vitro bactericidal activity. The ability of dietary MGs to reduce or eliminate bacterial colonisation of the intestinal tract was evaluated in mice that were predisposed to bacterial colonisation by treatment with streptomycin (STR+). Mice were treated with streptomycin, challenged intragastrically with K cholerae or ETEC, and given monocaprin (C1O:O MG) either concurrently or as part of the daily diet. Control mice given STR+ without MGs and challenged with K cholerae or ETEC showed high numbers of challenged bacteria in gastrointestinal contents by 1 h after administration. Concurrent administration of K cholerae and C1O:O MG (2.5 mg/ml) caused > 1000-fold reduction in numbers of K cholerae recovered from the gastrointestinal tracts of STR+ mice. Concurrent administration of C1O:O MG with ETEC did not cause a reduction in the number of viable ETEC present in the intestinal tract of STR+ mice. Administration of C1O:O MG in the diet had no effect on the number of viable K cholerae or ETEC associated with caecal or ileal tissue of STR+ mice when C1O:O MG in the diet was started 1 day before, the same day, or 2 days after bacterial challenge. Collectively, these results suggested that dietary MGs may prevent intestinal colonisation by bacterial enteropathogens if administered at the time of exposure, but have little effect on established intestinal infections.


With the lately evolution in sensor technics combined with the available fast processing of big data, condition based maintenance comes technically to realization. However, railway undertaken are struggling in implementation. It is not always obvious which parameters are useful to be observed in order to perform a fast and easy realization and still maintain a positive business case. In addition, current maintenance manuals of vehicles, actual homologation processes, hence legal terms from authorities and the trend to separate wayside and trackside responsibilities do not support this development. Therefore, decision factors, strategies and categories are shown out of a holistic railway system approach.


This technical note discusses the three types of foreign exchange risk: transaction exposure, translation exposure, and economic exposure. It addresses the nature of those risks and presents some methods that companies might use to manage them. Included in this note are discussions of the financial accounting and reporting requirements of FAS No. 52 (Foreign Currency Translation), of foreign exchange markets, of hedging strategies, and of such activities as loan swaps and licensing agreements.


Hyperpnoea with dry air could lead to a reduction in depth and hyperosmolarity of the periciliary fluid layer (PFL) as a consequence of evaporative water loss. We investigated whether mucociliary clearance (MCC) is likely to be affected by dry air hyperpnoea, which also results in airway narrowing in asth- matics. MCC was measured by radioaerosol technique, for about 1 h, in 10 asthmatic and 8 healthy subjects on 3 separate days: 1) nasal resting breathing with ambient air; 2) isocapnic hyperventilation (ISH) with dry air; and 3) ISH with warm humid air. Analysis of the initial and post-intervention lung radioactivity for the whole right lung and for defined regions of interest showed that, compared to ISH with warm humid air and nasal resting breathing, MCC was reduced during and increased post-ISH with dry air in the whole right lung of both groups. The mean reduction in clearance (± 95% confidence interval (95% CI)) was -9.3% (-3.1 to -15.6%) and -3.6% (-2.0 to -9.1%), and the mean increase (±95% CI) was 19.2% (11.8 to 26.6%) and 14.8% (7.1 to 22.5%), compared to warm humid air, in asthmatic and healthy subjects, respectively. However, regional analysis showed that the changes were present in all lung regions of the asthmatics, whilst only in the central region of the healthy subjects. The duration of the increased clearance rates post-ISH was also different in both groups. The changes in mucociliary clearance during and after isocapnic hyperventilation with dry air were probably related to the water content of the inspired air, causing transient changes in the periciliary fluid layer.


Purpose - Large global banks were at the heart of the global financial crisis. In response to the crisis, the Financial Stability Board published an integrated set of policy measures, such as capital surcharges, to address the systemic and moral hazard risks associated with global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). Almost 10 years later, it is time to take stock of the impact of these measures. This paper answers three questions on what happened to the G-SIBs. First, have they shrunk in size? Second, are they better capitalised? Third, have they reduced their global reach? Design/methodology/approach - This paper looks at the individual G-SIBs and compares the situation before the crisis with the current situation. In this methodology, the differences because of changes at individual banks and changes in the ranking within the group (composition effect) are disentangled. Data have been collected on these banks from SNL Financial (banking database) and annual reports. Findings - First, a substantial increase in capital levels is seen, though the distribution is uneven. China and USA are leading the pact with leverage ratios (Tier 1 capital divided by total assets) of around 7 per cent for their large banks, whereas Europe and Japan are trailing behind with ratios between 4 and 5 per cent. Second, a strong composition effect is identified: a shift of business from the global European banks to the more domestic Asian banks, which are gradually increasing their global reach. The US banks keep their strong position. So, the decline in cross-border banking is largely because of a composition effect (i.e. a reshuffle of the global banking champions league) and far less due to a reduced global reach of individual banks. Research limitations/implications - From the results on capital, recommendations are made on capital requirements (see below at social implications). Social implications - It is noted that the euro area, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland trail behind with a leverage ratio between 4 and 5 per cent. It is recommended these countries bring the leverage ratio of their largest banks more in line with international practice. Originality/value - The effects of the reform after the global financial crisis on the large global banks have not been researched in detail. This paper split the results by country of incorporation (home country). This gives interesting differences, which the paper relates to specific policies (or lack of policies) in these countries.


The heterogeneity and open nature of network systems make analysis of compositions of components quite challenging, making the design and implementation of robust network services largely inaccessible to the average programmer. We propose the development of a novel type system and practical type spaces which reflect simplified representations of the results and conclusions which can be derived from complex compositional theories in more accessible ways, essentially allowing the system architect or programmer to be exposed only to the inputs and output of compositional analysis without having to be familiar with the ins and outs of its internals. Toward this end, we present the TRAFFIC (typed representation and analysis of flows for interoperability checks) framework, a simple flow-composition and typing language with corresponding type system. We then discuss and demonstrate the expressive power of a type space for TRAFFIC derived from the network calculus, allowing us to reason about and infer such properties as data arrival, transit, and loss rates in large composite network applications


Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a serious diabetic complication with renal hypertrophy and expansion of extracellular matrices in renal fibrosis. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of renal tubular epithelial cells may be involved in the main mechanism. Berberine (BBR) has been shown to have antifibrotic effects in liver, kidney and lung. However, the mechanism of cytoprotective effects of BBR in DN is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the curative effects of BBR on tubulointerstitial fibrosis in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice and the high glucose (HG)-induced EMT in NRK 52E cells. We found that BBR treatment attenuated renal fibrosis by activating the nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling pathway in the diabetic kidneys. Further revealed that BBR abrogated HG-induced EMT and oxidative stress in relation not only with the activation of Nrf2 and two Nrf2-targeted antioxidative genes (NQO-1 and HO-1), but also with the suppressing the activation of TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway. Importantly, knockdown Nrf2 with siRNA not only abolished the BBR-induced expression of HO-1 and NQO-1 but also removed the inhibitory effect of BBR on HG-induced activation of TGF-β/Smad signaling as well as the anti-fibrosis effects. The data from present study suggest that BBR can ameliorate tubulointerstitial fibrosis in DN by activating Nrf2 pathway and inhibiting TGF-β/Smad/EMT signaling activity.


This article explores documentary evidence of floods and extreme rainfall events in Sweden in the preinstrumental period (1400–1800). The survey shows that two sub-periods can be considered as flood-rich, 1590–1670 and the early 18th century. The result related to a low degree of human impact on hydrology during the period, suggests that climatic factors, such as lower temperatures and increased precipitation connected to the so-called Little Ice Age rather than large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns, should be considered as the main driver behind flood frequency and magnitude.


A thermal management system using alumina (Al2O3)/water as the nanofluid for green power sources was experimentally assessed in this paper. Basic thermal principles and formulas were utilized to evaluate the performance of an air-cooled heat exchanger. The Al2O3/water nanofluid was produced at the concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 wt.%. The testing conditions of this experiments were above three concentrations, five coolant flow rates (0.8, 1.2, 1.6, 2.0, and 2.4 L/min.), and three heating powers (50, 100, and 150W). Firstly, basic properties of nanoparticles were analyzed. Fundamental relationships of the Al2O3/water nanofluid with respect to temperatures and concentrations were measured such as: viscosity, density, and specific heat. Next, an innovative concept named efficiency factor (EF) was proposed to quantitatively evaluate the thermal system performance. Theenhancement of thermal system performance compared with distilled water was then defined as an efficiency factor ratio (REF). The experimental results demonstrated that the efficiency factor ratios were optimal at low flow rate (0.8 L/min.) and low concentration (0.5%). Values of REF were all below 1.0 at high flow rates (1.2-2.4 L/min.). This research points out the direction of optimizing a thermal management system for green energy sources in the near future.


In Disability and the Welfare State in Britain. Changes in Perception and Policy 1948–1979, Jameel Hampton provides a scholarly account of the development of disability policy after the Second World War. The book reflects upon the continuities and changes in attitudes towards disability, and considers how the state responded to its increased responsibility in ensuring the welfare of some of its most vulnerable citizens. Through an analysis of the policy decisions taken, Hampton considers how the government was influenced by other non-statutory agencies like the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the media and the Disablement Income Group (DIG). Hampton establishes early in his introduction that by 1981 'it was recognised that the supposedly cradle-to-grave welfare state had actually failed millions of disabled people, not least in respect and acceptance from exclusion', and states that it is his intention to address these developments (p. 1). Under the wartime coalition many of the personal social services which supported disabled people had become firmly embedded within local government and non-statutory organisations. The state preoccupation was with universal welfare concerns, such as the NHS, and Hampton argues that this is reflected in the work of other welfare historians, in which personal social services (PSS) remain 'the least studied area' (p. 6). Disability, however, has in recent years emerged as a major area of scholarly research, and Hampton highlights Anne Borsay's valuable contribution to the field, Disability and Social Policy, 1750–2000. Borsay argues that the implementation of the Beveridge Plan created a 'model system of social citizenship'; however, for 'disabled people marginal to the workforce, benefit levels were low and take-up stigmatising'.(1) Building upon Borsay's contention that the welfare state failed to guarantee against the 'poverty and financial exclusion' of disabled people, Hampton's book provides a closer examination of the factors which contributed to this system.(2) His work, therefore, is a welcome addition to the current historiography on disability in the 20th century, and will be of particular interest to scholars and students hoping to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the development of services and provisions for disabled people during the period 1948–1979.


We present a programmable silicon photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that can be configured to show nonlinear nonreciprocal transmission at high optical input power. Nonreciprocal transmission in PICs is of fundamental importance in various fields. Despite diverse approaches to generate nonreciprocal transmission, the research on efficient control of this effect is still scarce. The silicon PIC presented here has programmable linear and nonlinear behavior using integrated phase shifters. In the nonlinear regime (high optical power), the device can be configured to be either reciprocal or nonreciprocal between opposite propagation directions with over 30 dB extinction ratio and only 1.5 dB insertion loss. More importantly, the high/low transmission direction can be dynamically reconfigured. Furthermore, nonreciprocal transmission based on nonlinearities usually requires the optical field in both propagation directions to be high, in order to induce a large extinction ratio. For our circuit, only the forward-propagating light needs to have high power to enjoy low-loss transmission while the backward propagating light will always suffer a high rejection. Besides this nonreciprocal behavior, the circuit also offers the ability for all-optical functions, such as switching, optical compute gates, or optical flip-flops, thanks to its unique controllable nonlinear behavior. This work can trigger new research efforts in nonreciprocal photonics circuits.


Tumours of the immune system are malignant proliferations of haematopoietic cells, and are classified according to their cell of origin. Disorders of the myeloid lineage result in acute or chronic myeloid malignancy, whereas disorders of the lymphoid lineage result in Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and multiple myeloma. These malignancies share many similarities in that acquired genetic changes are involved in their aetiology and are useful prognostic markers. The diagnosis of these conditions involves microscopic examination of peripheral blood or tumour biopsy and often, bone marrow examination. This is also supplemented by immunophenotyping and cytogenetic and molecular analysis. Treatment has previously been based on nonspecific cytotoxic agents and external beam irradiation but increasingly, targeted therapies such as the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, imatinib, and monoclonal antibodies are included in frontline therapy.

Key Concepts:

Tumours of the immune system are classified based on morphologic, cytochemical, immunophenotypic, and genetic features.

These malignancies exhibit a range of behaviour, with some developing extremely slowly over years, requiring minimal or no therapy, whereas others are among the most aggressive malignancies known and require treatment as emergencies.

Most types present most often in the elderly, but they occur throughout life and some are among the commonest childhood malignancies.

Cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities are invaluable in guiding the diagnosis and management route of some haematological malignancies.

General treatment options comprise radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapies, depending on the specific disease.

A proportion of these malignancies are curable with appropriate treatment, whereas others are susceptible to long term control which falls short of complete eradication, and may require multiple episodes of treatment.

This is a field in which research into mechanisms of pathogenesis and therapy is having a direct impact upon treatments and cures.

Keywords:

leukaemia;
lymphoma;
myeloma;
chemotherapy;
immunotherapy;
stem cell transplantation


Objectives: To find out the spectrum of clinical presentation and typesof neurodegenerative disorders of childhoodin tertiary care child neurology centre of Pakistan. To find out the role of brain imaging in the diagnosis of degenerative brain disorders in children. Methods: It will bea retrospective, descriptive study conducted at department of paediatric neurology,The Children's Hospital, Institute of child health, Lahore, Pakistanfrom January 1st,2004 to December 31,2013 (10 years). A total of 22,737 patients were admitted in the Paediatric Neurology department in the above said period. Out of them 366 children fulfilled the inclusion criteria. History, clinical examination and relevant investigations were evaluated from the files manually and proformas were filled. Results: Male to female ratio was 1.43:1 with 78% incidence of consanguinity. Age range was twenty five months to eighteen years. Metachromatic leukodystrophy was the predominant type(21%) followed by adrenoleukodystrophy(1%) and cerebral atrophy (9.5%)and 3% of each Alexander disease, Hellervordenspatz disease, one case each of multiple sclerosis and ataxia telangiectasia. Conclusion: Degenerative brain diseases are common entity in paediatric population. Commonest presentation is regression of mile stones with variable presentation. General pediatriciansmust be aware of their clinical presentation look into it when dealing with children having regression of milestones to diagnosethem earlier.Because of limited diagnostic modalities, brain imaging has significant valve. Facilities for molecular genetics and enzymes should have been available. Regional diagnostics laboratories should have been established and more research is required in this area.


Can imaginative literature make a substantive contribution to ethical reflection? If so, what is the nature of this contribution and what is its value? What role can literature play in moral enquiry? Can literature help moral philosophy to shed light on moral questions? Can literature furnish moral knowledge that is unaccounted for, or unaccountable, in the traditional methods of philosophical reflection? In addressing these questions, my aim in this thesis is to construct a comprehensive and critical account of the contribution to ethics that imaginative literature (particularly in the form of the novel) can make within and alongside traditional moral philosophy.
First, I consider the character of moral philosophy, conceived as a normative enterprise, and review some systemic limitations of normative ethics. I then examine the arguments of some prominent philosophers concerning literature's role in helping to identify and address these issues.
Second, in examining the aspects of literature which render it valuable to ethical reflection, I consider the formal distinctions between literature and traditional moral philosophy, and investigate the unique role of literary devices. The arguments here provide the foundation for my proposition that the value of the connection between philosophy and literature depends crucially on the distinction between them.
The third chapter deals with literature's ability to illustrate, challenge and test a moral perspective, and so help to reveal and illuminate features of the ethical life that cannot be apprehended via traditional philosophical reflection alone. To illustrate this expansion of the philosophical method, I consider aspects of Kantian ethics and utilitarianism in light of a select number of literary works. I argue that sympathy is crucial to the realisation of genuine ethical ends. The argument is that seeing the world through the eyes of others enables one not only to understand their motives and actions, and to consider one's own responses to similar circumstances, but that, in doing so, one can uncover the extent to which a moral stance comports with one's own ethical convictions, how that stance can accommodate these convictions, or how these convictions need modifying in light of that stance. Because fiction both exercises and confers a number of important freedoms, fictional literature is an ideal tool for the exploration of ethical concepts. Moreover, as the apotheosis of extended, connected fictional narratives, it is further argued that the novel is the ideal literary mode for this exploration. However, if literature is such a valuable supplement to philosophical reflection, why can we not treat literature itself as a form of moral philosophy?
As an adjunct to philosophical reflection, literature can enhance our moral understanding in a manner that does justice to us as complex beings in complex conditions, and in a way that traditional philosophical reflection alone cannot. Literature has the power not only to move us, but to help us shape our lives and make reality out of ethical reflections. However, as literature's ability to make this contribution is a consequential feature of its form, there is sufficient reason not to treat literature as moral philosophy, which requires its own very different approach. I conclude by arguing that cooperation between literature and moral philosophy can enhance moral understanding to an extent unachievable via either form of discourse alone, and that this enhancement flows directly from the distinction between the two.


To communicate within disaster scenarios, different devices/systems need to cooperate with specific protocols. The key communication protocol needs to provide interoperability among these systems and provide the solution for emergency services. The paper studies the hybrid network disaster recovery HNDR systems and classifies its communication scenarios and requirements. The authors propose a new networking protocol for the hybrid network, with ability to forward sessions and messages through different transport protocols, and copes with node mobility and node failure. The paper considers heterogeneous network disaster recovery scenario and proposes a cost effective and easy to deploy hybrid network emergency communication protocol HNEC. This internetwork protocol is a specific model of the inter-domain messaging IDM protocol for emergency communications. The routing protocol procedure is similar to the reactive AODV procedure but is different in maintaining routes from unpredicted link breaks or node failure. A detailed simulation model with the designed network layer model is used to investigate network delivery rate and end-to-end delay performance. The performance results are analyzed using varying node load, mobility speed, and network size.


The study compared the nutrient content of selected joints of South African mutton (Class C2) (n = 18) and lamb (Class A2) (n = 18) carcasses of fat code 2 in both classes. South African sheep carcasses are classified according to age by dentition: Lamb carcasses of class A2 show the ruction of no incisors and mutton carcasses of class C2 of more than six incisors. Fatness is assessed by the thickness of subcutaneous fat. Chilled carcass sides were subdivided into the primal cuts. The cuts were dissected into meat (muscle, intermuscular and intramuscular fat), bone and subcutaneous fat (SCF). The soft tissue of the carcass was analysed for selected nutrients. It was found that South African lamb and mutton contain less fat than the nutrient values previously assumed as scientifically correct and presented in the National Food Composition Tables of the Medical Research Council (MRC), USDA. The results from this study emphasize the importance of country specific nutrient data on own food commodities.


The Gothic literature from the late 1700s to the late 1800s featured a multitude of female characters with monstrous qualities, specifically their transformative and transgressive bodies. Mermaids, vampires, shape-shifters, sexual deviants, and madwomen fill the pages of these works with emotion and movement, harming their victims while seducing them. In an era when conflicting and paradoxical ideas about women flourished in the bourgeois culture, many of these female monsters in the literature of the era often embody these paradoxes, revealing the anxieties of the culture and its perception of women who do not achieve the status of the proper woman. Examination of the female monsters in Anne Bannerman's "The Mermaid," Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan leads to a discourse on the transgressive female body, including discussions of sexuality, disease, the undead body, and boundary crossing. By analyzing the women through the lens of the nineteenth-century concepts of the female body and mind, it becomes clear that the monstrous female in literature crosses multiple social and physical boundaries, challenging norms and confirming sexist stereotypes and further confusing the paradoxes of the proper and improper body.


The aim of this work is to review and synthetize the geological and structural analysis performed in the Variscan Basement of Northern Sardinian during the last ten years and to add new preliminary data on the Anglona-SW Gallura area. A transpressive crustal- scale deformation (D2), is documented in the Variscan Basement of northern Sardinia. A shear deformation parallel to the belt, overprinting previous D1 structures related to a top- to-the S and SW nappe stacking, has been recognized. The L2 stretching lineation points to an orogen-parallel stretching and to a general change in the tectonic transport from D1 to D2 deformation phases. D1 phase developed during initial frontal collision whereas D2 defor- mation was characterized by dextral shearing. In this sector of the Variscan belt exhumation is due to continuing compression with an increasing component of horizontal displacement developed in a regime of decreasing pressure. The D2 transpressional deformation enhanced telescoping of the Barrovian isogrades and the exhumation of the low- to medium-grade metamorphic rocks. The overall change of the shortening direction in a large sector of an orogenic belt with the occurrence of increasing orogen-parallel displacement, may be re- garded as a general mechanism affecting the exhumation of rocks and preventing the overthickened and thermally softened collisional crust from undergoing a diffused gravita- tional collapse. The rotation of nearly 90° of the tectonic transport in Sardinia during collisional and post-collisional stages could be related to paleoposition of the Corsica-Sar- dinia block, close to southeast France and northeast Spain, and to the development of the Ibero-Armorican arc.


OBJECTIVES
The long-term outcome of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is determined by progressive right ventricular (RV) dysfunction through pulmonary regurgitation (PR) and the risk of malignant arrhythmia. Although mechano-electrical coupling in TOF is well-known, its time effect on the inducibility of arrhythmia remains ill-defined. The goal of this study was to investigate the mechano-electrical properties at different times in animals with chronic PR.

METHODS
PR was induced by a transannular patch with limited RV scarring in infant pigs. Haemodynamic assessment included biventricular pressure-volume loops after 3 (n = 8) and 6 months (n = 7) compared to controls (n = 5). The electrophysiological study included endocardial monophasic action potential registration, intraventricular conduction velocity and induction of ventricular arrhythmia by burst pacing.

RESULTS
Progressive RV dilation was achieved at 6 months (RV end-diastolic volume 143 ± 13 ml/m2-RV end-systolic volume 96 ± 7 ml/m2; P < 0.001), in association with depressed RV contractility (preload recruitable stroke work-slope: 19 ± 1 and 11 ± 3 Mw.ml-1.s-1 for control and 6 m; P < 0.001) and left ventricular contractility (preload recruitable stroke work-slope: 60 ± 13 and 40 ± 11 Mw.ml-1.s-1 for control and 6 m; P = 0.005). Concomitant to QRS prolongation, monophasic action potential90-duration and dispersion at the RV and left ventricle were increased at 6 months. Intraventricular conduction was delayed only in the RV at 6 months (1.8 ± 0.2 and 2.4 ± 0.6 m/s for group 6M and the control group; P = 0.035). Sustained ventricular arrhythmias were not inducible.

CONCLUSIONS
In animals yielding the sequelae of a contemporary operation for TOF, mechano-electrical alterations are progressive and affect predominantly the RV after midterm exposure of PR. Because ventricular arrhythmias were not inducible despite significant RV dilation, the data suggest that the haemodynamic RV deterioration effectively precedes the risk of inducing sustained arrhythmia after TOF repair and opens a window for renewed stratification of contemporary risk factors of ventricular arrhythmias in patients operated on with currently used pulmonary valve- and RV-related techniques.


Introduction Scholarly research leads to scholarly publishing. The scholarly literature from all over the world, including both developed and developing nations, continues to explode. Journals, book series, and conference proceedings continue to be major forms of scholarly literature. In the past, the medical sciences dominated the literature, but disciplines like physical sciences, life sciences, and social sciences following in the footsteps of medical sciences. Problem This study highlights the growth in the scholarly literature from different points of view. Methodology Data was collection from the SCOPUS database, which contained 25,482 publications were observed, as of January 2008. The data was analyzed to trace the growth and development of scholarly literature. Objectives * Determine the source type of publications * Monitor active and inactive publications * Determine publications with up-to-date coverage * Determine continental output * Trace subject development Literature Review Price (1963, 1975) studied the growth in the number of scientists, scientific journals, and papers over the past two centuries, finding that the numbers doubled every 15 years. Since then, literature growth studies have become very common in the field of bibliometrics and infometrics. Studying growth patterns in the NLM's serials collection and in Index Medicus journals between 1966 and 1985, Humphreys and McCutcheon (1994) concluded that the data appear to support Price's analysis, which was further developed by Goffman (1966, 1971) describing it as an initial period of exponential growth, followed by saturation and slowdown to a steady rate of increase. A similar conclusion was reached earlier by Orr and Leeds (1964) concerning the biomedical literature. The " Law of Exponential Growth " has been further dealt with by Tague and others (1981), Ravichandra Rao and Meera (1992), Egghe and Ravichandra Rao (1992), and many others. The exponential growth of the literature is described mathematically by the exponential function YT =a.ebt where YT represents the size at time t, a is the initial size, and b is the continuous growth rate which is related to the annual percentage growth rate r, as: r =100(eb-1). Egghe and Ravichandra Rao (1992) claim, however, that the power model (with exponent >1) is the best growth model for sciences and technology fields, while the Gompertz S-shaped distribution fits better databases of the social sciences and the humanities. Findings A total of 25,482 publications represent the literary output in different formats, in different subjects, and from various nations. However, for more granular results, the findings have been divided into broader headings. Source Type The total database of 25,482 publications represents different formats. A majority of the publications are journals and journal articles, with a total of 23,830 (93.51%), followed by conference proceedings and trade journals at 755 (2.96%) and 699 (2.74%), and book series, with a total of 198 Subject Wise Development Of the five general subjects, physical sciences led the list with a total of 8,121 (31.86%). Following that were health sciences, social sciences, life sciences, and multidisciplinary subjects with 7,837 (30.75%), 5,872 (23.04%), 3,483 (13.66%) and 26 (0.10%) respectively. The subject of 143 publications could not be determined. Figure 2 illustrates the data. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Active and Non Active Publication A total of 17,511 (68.71) publications were active and 7,971 (31.28%) inactive, shown in Figure 3. The scholarly literature shows a lively nature, since nearly 70 percent is being currently published. Geographic Output A total of 105 countries are involved in the publication of different types of literature. …


Public employment services are challenged by expectations of growth, changing conditions in the labor market, and institutional contexts. An important step to meet those challenges, and to better support the strengthening and modernization of public employment services, is to generate and compile systematic information about the institutional and operational characteristics of those agencies. The availability of structured and comparable information about public employment services would make it possible to better inform dialog, activities, and technical and financial assistance initiatives regarding labor markets. Public employment services are the main executors of labor market policies, yet up until now no information about these agencies has been available at the global level. This report aims to provide an understanding of the state of development of public employment services at the global level as well as their challenges and opportunities.


How is culture protected in transnational and transracial adoption? Through the examination of international, national and local laws and policies, I look at how culture is at once a global, national, racial, and individual attribute and at what aspects of these varying definitions of culture are deemed so important by adoption authorities that they are protected through policy. A content analysis of international conventions, the policies of China, Russia, Guatemala, and Native American tribes as sending countries, and the procedures of adoption agencies shows how global ideas of culture are reinterpreted to have specific meanings. I found that international laws use global ideas of culture to protect the cultural identity of individual children, national laws protect national cultural ideals, and the local adoption agencies protect nationalized, racialized, or individualized aspects of culture. This analysis also shows how using these varying aspects of culture when trying to protect children's culture can generalize ideas of culture and exclude protection of subcultures that a child may belong to within these national or racial categories. How adoption authorities include cultural provisions in policy show what aspects of culture are valued enough to protect and can in turn show how children are viewed. The different laws protect and give meaning to children as individuals, members of families, and representatives of nations and races.


This paper deals with adnominal autre in correlative structures (e.g. Pierre a suivi un autre chemin que Paul). In the first section, it is shown that this construction can be analysed as a case of relativisation. The subsequent sections propose a semantic-referential description of autre. The data suggest that the adjective functions as a negative operator, whose base meaning can be interpreted as a means of refuting an expectation. It is also concluded that this particular meaning, when combined with negation, enables the speaker to focalise the referent of the entity denoted by the complement, as "pas d'autre N que…" suggests a series of alternatives which are rejected in the same utterance (Cf. Pierre n'a pas d'autre solution que la fuite). Such a use could be interpreted as an emphatic version of adjectival seul


This review concerns the effects on vision and the eye of medications prescribed at three phases of treatment for women with early-stage breast cancer (BC): (1) adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy, (2) adjuvant endocrine therapy, and (3) symptomatic relief. The most common side effects of cytotoxic chemotherapy are epiphora and ocular surface irritation, which can be caused by any of several different regimens. Most notably, the taxane docetaxel can lead to epiphora by inducing canalicular stenosis. The selective-estrogen-receptor-modulator (SERM) tamoxifen, long the gold-standard adjuvant-endocrine-therapy for women with hormone-receptor-positive BC, increases the risk of posterior subcapsular cataract. Tamoxifen also affects the optic nerve head more often than previously thought, apparently by causing subclinical swelling within the first 2 years of use for women older than ~50 years. Tamoxifen retinopathy is rare, but it can cause foveal cystoid spaces that are revealed with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) and that may increase the risk for macular holes. Tamoxifen often alters the perceived color of flashed lights detected via short-wavelength-sensitive (SWS) cone response isolated psychophysically; these altered perceptions may reflect a neural-response sluggishness that becomes evident at ~2 years of use. The aromatase inhibitor (AI) anastrozole affects perception similarly, but in an age-dependent manner suggesting that the change of estrogen activity towards lower levels is more important than the low estrogen activity itself. Based on analysis of OCT retinal thickness data, it is likely that anastrozole increases the tractional force between the vitreous and retina. Consequently, AI users, myopic AI users particularly, might be at increased risk for traction-related vision loss. Because bisphosphonates are sometimes prescribed to redress AI-induced bone loss, clinicians should be aware of their potential to cause scleritis and uveitis occasionally. We conclude by suggesting some avenues for future research into the visual and ocular effects of AIs, particularly as relates to assessment of cognitive function.


Recent studies on colonial public finance have pointed to the severe constraints to fiscal capacity building Sub-Saharan Africa, and to the inclination of colonial governments to avoid direct taxes when revenue from trade became sufficiently available. Although fiscal revenue was indeed a central pillar of the colonial state formation process, contributions from a widely used but implied source of government 'income' – that of forced labor (or 'labor taxes') – have so far been left out of the picture. Exploiting data on labor corvee schemes in French Africa between 1913-1937 (the prestations), this is the first paper to provide estimates of how much this in-kind form of revenue may have enhanced colonial budgets. I show that in most places labor taxes constituted the most important component of early colonial state income. My results imply that studies on historical fiscal capacity building efforts need to make a greater effort to estimate and integrate this significant source of state income into their analysis.


Setting the free parameters of classifiers to different values can have a profound impact on their performance. For some methods, specialized tuning algorithms have been developed. These approaches mostly tune parameters according to a single criterion, such as the cross-validation error. However, it is sometimes desirable to obtain parameter values that optimize several concurrent - often conflicting - criteria. The TunePareto package provides a general and highly customizable framework to select optimal parameters for classifiers according to multiple objectives. Several strategies for sampling and optimizing parameters are supplied. The algorithm determines a set of Pareto-optimal parameter configurations and leaves the ultimate decision on the weighting of objectives to the researcher. Decision support is provided by novel visualization techniques.


Stress depletes STAT3 in the mitochondria, and restoration of this STAT3 pool suppresses stress-induced ROS production. Dynamic regulation of mitochondrial STAT3 In cytokine-stimulated cells, the transcription factor STAT3 translocates from the cytoplasm to the nucleus to transcriptionally activate genes involved in stress responses. STAT3 also functions in the mitochondria to regulate cellular respiration. Meier et al. found that oxidative stress and cytokines depleted the mitochondrial pool of STAT3, and restoration of this pool required the chaperone protein cyclophilin D. Moreover, the restored STAT3 suppressed the stress-induced generation of reactive oxygen species in the mitochondria. These results suggest that the mitochondrial pool is dynamically regulated similar to the cytoplasmic and nuclear pools of STAT3 and that the mitochondrial pool is responsive to external stimuli. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is associated with various physiological and pathological functions, mainly as a transcription factor that translocates to the nucleus upon tyrosine phosphorylation induced by cytokine stimulation. In addition, a small pool of STAT3 resides in the mitochondria, where it serves as a sensor for various metabolic stressors including reactive oxygen species (ROS). Mitochondrially localized STAT3 largely exerts its effects through direct or indirect regulation of the activity of the electron transport chain (ETC). It has been assumed that the amounts of STAT3 in the mitochondria are static. We showed that various stimuli, including oxidative stress and cytokines, triggered a signaling cascade that resulted in a rapid loss of mitochondrially localized STAT3. Recovery of the mitochondrial pool of STAT3 over time depended on phosphorylation of Ser727 in STAT3 and new protein synthesis. Under these conditions, mitochondrially localized STAT3 also became competent to bind to cyclophilin D (CypD). Binding of STAT3 to CypD was mediated by the amino terminus of STAT3, which was also important for reducing mitochondrial ROS production after oxidative stress. These results outline a role for mitochondrially localized STAT3 in sensing and responding to external stimuli.


An overview is given of the experimental method, the analysis technique and the results for trace tritium experiments conducted on the JET tokamak in 2003. Observations associated with events such as sawtooth collapses, neo-classical tearing modes and edge localized modes are described. Tritium transport is seen to approach neo-classical levels in the plasma core at high density and low q95, and in the transport barrier region of internal transport barrier (ITB) discharges. Tritium transport remains well above neo-classical levels in all other cases. The correlation of the measured tritium diffusion coefficient and convection velocity for normalized minor radii r/a = [0.65, 0.80] with the controllable parameters q95 and plasma density are found to be consistent for all operational regimes (ELMy H-mode discharges with or without ion cyclotron frequency resonance heating, hybrid scenario and ITB discharges). Scaling with local physics parameters is best described by gyro-Bohm scaling with an additional inverse beta dependence.


Summary Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) could alter the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content of ecosystems, yet the magnitude of these effects are not well known. We examined C and N budgets of a subtropical woodland after 11 yr of exposure to elevated CO2. We used open-top chambers to manipulate CO2 during regrowth after fire, and measured C, N and tracer 15N in ecosystem components throughout the experiment. Elevated CO2 increased plant C and tended to increase plant N but did not significantly increase whole-system C or N. Elevated CO2 increased soil microbial activity and labile soil C, but more slowly cycling soil C pools tended to decline. Recovery of a long-term 15N tracer indicated that CO2 exposure increased N losses and altered N distribution, with no effect on N inputs. Increased plant C accrual was accompanied by higher soil microbial activity and increased C losses from soil, yielding no statistically detectable effect of elevated CO2 on net ecosystem C uptake. These findings challenge the treatment of terrestrial ecosystems responses to elevated CO2 in current biogeochemical models, where the effect of elevated CO2 on ecosystem C balance is described as enhanced photosynthesis and plant growth with decomposition as a first-order response.


The process industry is concerned with the processing of crude resources into other products. Such crudes consist of multiphase components that introduce major challenges to the operators; hence the need for efficient instrumentations that address such challenges is highly desirable. One major need is an early deposit detection system that detects deposit before it builds-up in a pipeline or equipment to prevent any possible hazard. Another critical requirement is the need to continuously monitor the flow and deduce the flow rate of every individual phase in order to study and analyse the produced product. Hence, in order to ensure safety, increase profits, optimize production and ensure production quality, the multiphase flow must be adequately monitored and controlled. This thesis demonstrated the efficiency of novel ECT algorithms for early deposit detection and multiphase flow measurement in order to measure the flow rate of all separate phases. This thesis focuses on developments in ECT image reconstruction specifically the inverse solutions and is divided into three main studies where they all build up to complete each other. In the first study, ECT is used for the first time with a narrowband pass filter to focus on targeted locations in a pipe where dielectric contaminants are expected to deposit in order to enhance the resolution of the produced images. The experimental results showed that different deposit regimes and accumulated fine deposits could be detected with high resolution. The second study allowed a better understanding of how conductive material could be imaged using a conventional ECT device and how state of the art algorithms such as iterative total variation regularisation method and the level set method could enhance this application. Also, absolute ECT imaging is presented for the first time where the level set algorithm uses only one set of ECT measurement data. This study gives a novel solution for detecting conductive deposits as well as paves the way to use the new level set algorithm for multiphase flow measurement. In the third study, the novel narrowband level set algorithm was modified to image multiphase media in order to correctly determine the number, location and concentration of the present phases. The innovative absolute ECT imaging using level set method is tested with high contrast and low contrast multiphase data, which adds more to the challenge.


In this paper we present a simple mathematical model for angiogenesis in wound healing and then compare the results of theoretical predictions from computer simulations with actual experimental data. Numerical simulations of the model equations exhibit many of the characteristic features of wound healing in soft tissue. For example, the steady propagation of the wound healing unit through the wound space, the development of a dense band of capillaries near the leading edge of the unit, and the elevated vessel density associated with newly healed wounds, prior to vascular remodelling, are all discernible from the simulations. The qualitative accuracy of the initial model is assessed by comparing the numerical results with independent clinical measurements that show how the surface area of a range of wounds changes over time. The model is subsequently modified to include the effect of vascular remodelling and its impact on the spatio-temporal structure of the vascular network investigated. Predictions are made concerning the effect that changes in physical parameters have on the healing process and also regarding the manner in which remodelling is initiated.


The release of a 14C‐labeled trichlorobiphenyl compound ([14C]PCB 32) from sediment to water was quantified weekly in a 30‐d microcosm experiment with recirculating water. Two modes of bioturbation‐driven polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) release—bioturbation by the amphipod Monoporeia affinis (a particle biodiffuser) and bioturbation by the polychaete Marenzelleria sp. (a bioirrigator)—were compared to the PCB release caused by physical resuspension of the sediment generated by a motor‐driven paddle used twice a week. Bioturbation by the amphipod M. affinis caused a significantly higher remobilization of both particle‐associated PCB (PCBpart) and dissolved PCB (PCBdiss) than the other treatments. Bioturbation by Marenzelleria sp. and physical resuspension caused a similar release of PCBdiss despite a significantly higher amount of total suspended solids in the water column after physical resuspension. In all treatments, the release of PCBdiss was more than one order of magnitude higher than that of PCBpart, indicating a significant potential route of exposure for pelagic organisms, such as fish, to the most bioavailable PCB form. Calculated mass‐transfer coefficients (0.3–1.3 cm/d) correspond to previously reported values for trichlorinated PCBs. The present results indicate that biological reworking of sediments can be just as, or even more, important than physical resuspension for the remobilization of sediment‐bound contaminants.


This manuscript presents findings and implications from multiple case study of how teacher candidates in secondary and middle childhood programs learn specialized knowledge, skills, and expertise from disciplinary experts in content courses and enact practices of disciplinary literacy in field placements. An expert-novice framework was employed to explore the pedagogical content knowledge of experts (professors of economics and history) and novices (middle childhood and secondary social studies teacher candidates) who taught history and economics during their clinical internships. Data were analyzed from participants' think-aloud and cart sort activities, semi-structured interviews, classroom artifacts, and classroom observations. The findings provide key insights in the preparation of teacher candidates in social studies.


The Precheur river catchment belongs to the Montagne Pelee volcano massif located in the north of Martinique island, in the Lesser Antilles arc. In June 19�20, 2010 two high-discharge lahars overflowed and partially damaged the Precheur bridge, interrupting the road traffic for several days, and inundating part of the Abymes quarter. These non-eruptive, rain-triggered lahars were the consequence of the mobilization of loose volcanic material accumulated in the river bed by a massive landslide of the Samperre cliff that occurred on May 11, 2010.

In order to improve lahar risk assessment for the Precheur river, we review the existing knowledge on lahars and floods for the period 1851�2011. We improved the database mainly on the basis of geophysical (seismic and acoustic) data for the most recent period (1980-present). We show that: (1) the largest event ever observed in Precheur is the eruption-related lahar of May 8, 1902 at 06:00 UTC, (2) high-discharge, non-eruptive lahars able to partially destroy or submerge the bridge occur every 10.3 years in average since 1950, (3) geophysical records show that there are more low magnitude lahars than previously recognized because witness accounts report the larger events and therefore filter out the smaller ones; by contrast geophysical instruments are able to detect both high and low magnitude events, (4) the recent paroxysms of 2009�2010 belong to a landslide-lahar crisis which started in 2004; the onset of the landslide-lahar crisis was unnoticed by the population due to the low magnitude of the events.

The results of this compilation stress the importance of the presence of geophysical instrumentation sufficiently close to the river for monitoring small scale landslides and lahars. Indeed, these low magnitude events are likely to be unnoticed by the local population and therefore likely to be absent from the collective memory and local newspapers. However, they can inform about the imminence of more significant events, as observed in 1980 and 2010.


This study examined the feasibility and effect on aerobic fitness of a 1-yr, twice-weekly, group-based moderate-intensity walking program (MI-WP, n = 77) compared with a low-intensity activity program (LI-AP, n = 75) for community-dwelling older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Thirty participants did not start a program; median attendance in the other 122 participants was 71%. Small but significant associations were observed between attendance and memory in the MI-WP and general cognition in the LI-AP. Associations were no longer significant when both groups were analyzed together. Intensity, assessed using percentage of heart-rate reserve and the Borg scale, equaled intended intensity for both programs. Aerobic fitness improved significantly in participants in the MI-WP. In conclusion, cognition was not clearly associated with attendance in the 62 participants starting the MI-WP, and average attendance was good. The intensity was feasible for participants who continued the MI-WP. The findings support the proposal that regular moderate-intensity walking improves aerobic fitness in adults with MCI.


Independent travellers generally have only a rough idea of where they want to travel, how long they intend to spend in each destination and which attractions they intend to visit before they depart. A dynamic itinerary management system that is able to dynamically modify the traveller's itinerary in response to events that occur during the trip such as the traveller changing location, availability of new last-minute specials, work opportunities and safety issues could provide added value while retaining flexibility. This paper describes an architecture for such a system based on distributed co-operating software agents and mobile data technologies.


1. In an earlier paper I showed that the radiations excited in certain light elements by the bombardment of α -particles consist, at least in part, of particles which have a mass about the same as that of the proton but which have no electric charge. These particles, called neutrons, have some very interesting properties. Some of the more striking were described in the paper I have mentioned and in those of Dr. Feather and Mr. Dee which accompanied it. The most obvious properties of the neutron are its ability to set in motion the atoms of matter through which it passes and its great penetrating power. From measurements of the momenta transferred to different atoms the mass of the neutron was estimated and shown to be nearly the same as the mass of the proton, while the penetrating power shows that the neutron can have no nett electric charge. The loss of energy of a neutron in passing through matter is due to the collisions with the atomic nuclei and not with the electrons. The experiments of Dee showed that the primary ionization along the track of a neutron in air was less than 1 ion pair in 3 metres path, while Massey has calculated that it may be as low as 1 ion pair per 105 km. This behaviour is, of course, very different from that of a charged particle such as a proton, which dissipates its energy almost entirely in electron collisions. The contrast between the rate of loss of energy of a proton and a neutron of the same initial velocity is most striking. A proton of velocity 3 X 109 cm./sec. travels about 1 foot in air, while a neutron of the same initial velocity will on the average make a close collision with a nitrogen nucleus only once in 300 to 400 yards' path and it may a distance of a few miles before losing all its energy. His collision of a neutron with an atomic nucleus, although much more frequent than with an electron, is also a rare event, tor tire electric field between a neutron and a nucleus is small except at distances of the order of 10-12 cm. In such a close collision the neutron will be defected from its path and the struck nucleus may acquire sufficient energy to produce ions. Thus the nuclei recoiling from encounters with neutrons can be detected by ionisation measurements, using an ionisation chamber with a sensitive electrometer or with an electrical counting apparatus, or by their ionised traces when produced in an expansion chamber. Neutrons can thus be detected only in an indirect way, by the observation of the recoil atoms. For this reason, and also because they are produced as a result of a similar collision process only partly under our control, the study of their properties in detail has proved both difficult and tedious.


Despite the well-established benefits of conceptual modeling for application design, current spatio-temporal conceptual models do not cope satisfactorily with designers' requirements. In this paper we first identify the goals of a spatio-temporal conceptual model and then we describe the MADS model along its structural and spatial dimensions. As the modeling concepts are orthogonal, the proposed model achieves both simplicity (as concepts are independent from each other) and expressive power (as concepts may be freely associated). The model, which includes the features of the ODMG standard model for object-oriented systems, has been implemented by translating it into operational models of existing products. Experience gained by modeling a number of applications enabled us to assess the advantages of MADS with respect to traditional entity-relationship modeling. A visual schema editor and a visual query editor are being developed


According to South African and American researchers XDR TB (extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis; i.e. strains of TB that are resistant to isoniazid, rifampicin, quinolones and second line injectable anti-tuberculous drugs) may inhibit the success of TB and HIV treatment programs worldwide. Reports by Neel Ghandi and colleagues that XDR TB poses a greater threat to low-income countries such as South Africa and that committed action is needed to address the issue of resistant strains were first published in 2006. The study by Ghandi et al shows the devastating effect of XDR TB on patients and health workers, its alarmingly high mortality rates in those co-infected with HIV, and rapid nosocomial spread.


Disturbance plays a major role in shaping and maintaining many of the Earth'sterrestrial ecosystems. In fact, many ecosystems depend on fire for theirvery existence. Global Change is expected to result in changed distributionof current ecosystems, changed composition of those ecosystems, and increation of new ecosystems. The International Geosphere Biosphere Program(IGBP), through the Core Projects Biospheric Aspects of the HydrologicalCycle, International Global Atmospheric Chemistry, Global Change andTerrestrial Ecosystems and International Global Atmospheric Chemistry,Biomass Burning Working Group, recognized that disturbances need to beincluded in the modeling efforts of each project. Disturbance from fire, landuse and other factors may be as important as climate change in shaping futurelandscapes (Weber and Flannigan 1998). Three main themes were recognized:impact of disturbance on carbon pools, vegetation change, and feedbacks to theatmosphere. In June 1998, a workshop was held in Potsdam, Germany to developa strategy to introduce disturbance into dynamic global vegetation models.This strategy was based on the fact that vegetation burning influencesatmospheric chemistry, that feedbacks of energy, water and trace gases tothe atmosphere are influenced by vegetation, and that changes in thecomposition of ecosystems have direct impact on the carbon pool, onbiodiversity, and on health and productivity of the land. Disturbanceincludes fire, insect, disease, drought and flooding, land conversion,land use, air pollution, and introduction of exotic species. While it willbe necessary to ultimately include all disturbances, the Potsdam workshoplimited itself to fire. This strategy is based on the fact that there areno process driven models for all disturbances, and that fire has a numberof reliable models with which to begin the process of introducing disturbanceinto dynamic global vegetation models. While this workshop limited itself tofire, a great deal of consideration was given to the fact that the modelshell must be able to include other disturbances in the future. As a result,the strategy was to focus on a hazard function which would lead to effectsof disturbance. The hazard function is basically a probability statement ofrisk of effects. This approach seems equally valid for all forms ofdisturbance.


Transfer hydrogenation protocols involve versatile and environmentally benign methods capable of providing alternatives to traditional hydrogenation processes. However, most of the non-noble metal catalysts used for transfer hydrogenation processes proceed with the aid of base additives or phosphorus-containing ligands to obtain good yields. We report a green and sustainable catalytic system by fabrication of a Co@CN bi-functional nanocatalyst with a new N-containing [Co(TPA)(ted)0.5] as a sacrificial template. This catalytic system was employed effectively for selective transfer hydrogenation of an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde (cinnamaldehyde, CAL) to obtain a high yield of an α,β-unsaturated alcohol (cinnamyl alcohol, COL) under a mild reaction condition without use of additives. During thermolysis, the retained N atoms were distributed uniformly in catalysts and endowed the catalysts with abundant basic sites, and Co2+ in [Co(TPA)(ted)0.5] were converted in situ into Co nanoparticles. Experimental results indicated obvious coordination interactions between Co nanoparticles and N atoms in these bi-functional catalysts. By optimizing the reaction conditions, a catalytic system with Co@CN-900 as a catalyst and n-hexanol as the proton donor exhibited the optimal activity for this transformation, achieving 99% selectivity for COL with full conversion. In addition, a reasonable reaction mechanism for the transfer hydrogenation of CAL to COL was proposed. Furthermore, this catalytic system also demonstrated good recyclability as well as wide substrates compatibility.


In this paper, I describe the grammatical gender system of Plautdietsch as it relates to referent animacy. Plautdietsch (a settlement dialect of netherlandic Mennonites in the Americas), and more specifically Henderson Plautdietsch (the variety of Plautdietsch spoken in Henderson, Nebraska), has a mixed syntactic-semantic gender system that is structurally positioned between that of Standard Dutch and High German. It has a three-way masculine-feminine-neuter grammatical gender contrast across gender agreement targets, and exhibits DP-internal hybrid gender assignment (where a noun assigns one gender to one and another gender to another type of DP-internal gender agreement target). I explain that a geometry of hierarchically organized gender and animacy features is uniquely suited to explain the hybrid gender assignment we find in Plautdietsch, as well as explains a number of other phenomena we observe in gender systems (such as default gender and the flexible gender assignment of inanimate nouns).


Patient remote monitoring has continuously rising importance for aging countries. Computer based assisted living systems are too difficult to use by elderly people, therefore it has been proposed to extend home multimedia devices with patient monitoring functionalities. However, such implementations are usually platform and sensor specific making their extension and reuse complicated and time consuming. We propose an agent based software architecture for embedded patient monitoring devices that is built around a common database. The solution is open for adding any kind of medical sensors or signal processing software just by writing small software adapter. System can be reconfigured during operation. As one of the unique feature the system has built in formal reasoner to detect inconsistencies among sensor data and process patient unique safety rules in real time. The solution is prototyped.


Heterogeneous architecture is becoming an important way to build a massive parallel computer system, i.e. the CPU-GPU heterogeneous systems ranked in Top500 list. However, it is a challenge to efficiently utilize massive parallelism of both applications and architectures on such heterogeneous systems. In this paper we present a practice on how to exploit and orchestrate parallelism at algorithm level to take advantage of underlying parallelism at architecture level. A potential Petaflops application -- cryo-EM 3D reconstruction is selected as an example. We exploit all possible parallelism in cryo-EM 3D reconstruction, and leverage a self-adaptive dynamic scheduling algorithm to create a proper parallelism mapping between the application and architecture. The parallelized programs are evaluated on a subsystem of Dawning Nebulae supercomputer, whose node is composed of two Intel six-core Xeon CPUs and one Nvidia Fermi GPU. The experiment confirms that hierarchical parallelism is an efficient pattern of parallel programming to utilize capabilities of both CPU and GPU in a heterogeneous system. The CUDA kernels run more than 3 times faster than the OpenMP parallelized ones using 12 cores (threads). Based on the GPU-only version, the hybrid CPU-GPU program further improves the whole application's performance by 30% on the average.