Abstract 4394 Introduction: Idiopathic chronic neutropenia (ICN) is a group of diseases characterized by low circulating neutrophils, recurrent fevers, mucosal inflammation, and systemic infections. The risk of complications is inversely proportional to the absolute neutrophil count (ANC), with the most severe occurring with ANC of 9 /L. Most patients respond to daily s.c. administration of granulocyte colony stimulating factors (G-CSF); however, some patients do not respond. Patients undergoing G-CSF therapy also often have bone and muscle pain, thrombocytopenia and splenomegaly, complicating therapy. Ezatiostat, a glutathione S-transferase (GST) inhibitor that activates Jun kinase, promoting growth and maturation of hematopoietic progenitors, is an investigational agent in development for treatment of ICN. This report describes 4 patients with longstanding ICN who responded to ezatiostat, all of whom prior to treatment had frequent hospitalizations for sepsis, prolonged courses of antibiotics and poor response to myeloid growth factors. Methods: Patients (pts) with severe ICN and inadequate ANC response to G-CSF were enrolled in this phase 2 trial. After initial starting dose of 2000 mg in divided doses twice daily (b.i.d.) dose-equilibration over 4 weeks, pts were treated with ezatiostat daily for 3 weeks followed by 1 week off. Treatment was given until lack of ANC response or unacceptable toxicity. Clinical benefit was determined by ANC response, infection-free periods, antibiotic use and hospitalizations for infections. Results: Four female pts, age range 23–63, with median ANC of 200 (50–400) were enrolled. Patient 1 is 62 y.o. with longstanding history of infections and treatment with G-CSF. Before entering study, she had recurrent ear, labial, left thigh, pulmonary and sinus infections despite growth factor treatment, to which she had severe reactions. Baseline white blood cell (WBC)/ANC ratio was 2.2/0.7. WBC/ANC improved with ezatiostat for 4 mo to 3.62/1.71 and infections resolved. Patient 2, a 63 y.o. with ICN for 26 years, had a median baseline WBC/ANC on G-CSF treatment of 3.1/.180 and a history of multiple hospital admissions for sepsis, non-healing perineal and decubitus ulcers, and recurrent high fevers within 4 days of cessation of parenteral antibiotics, necessitating resumption. Post-ezatiostat treatment median ANC was 3.1 (range 1.6–3.75) with a persistent infection-free period of over 22 mo with no hospitalizations or antibiotic therapy required. Patient 3, a 23 y.o. with ICN since age 10, initially responded to G-CSF but stopped responding despite injections b.i.d., and ANC never rose above 1000. Her last hospitalization was for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus skin infection, upper respiratory infection with cervical adenopathy, and oral ulcers. She had infections every 3 months and baseline WBC/ANC of 1.4/0.13. She had minimal response over 4 mo of observation, with highest values 2.65/0.92 and median ANC of 0.40, but had no further bacterial infection or use of G-CSF. Patient 4, a 39 y.o. with ICN of 10 years9 duration, had severe bone pain with G-CSF and responses were brief (1–2days). Previously, she had hospital admissions and emergency room visits 4–5 times a year and was ill 2–3 times a week with recurrent urinary tract infections, pneumonias (4–5 times per year), oral ulcers, sinus and gastrointestinal infections, furuncles, and infection after dental work. Baseline WBC/ANC was 1.23/0.20. Currently, her WBC/ANC is 1.50/0.26. While ANC did not increase, infection rate decreased and she had no ER visits or admissions for over 5 mo. She responded to a single 300 mcg dose of of G-CSF with an ANC of 1.0 for a week, suggesting re-sensitization to G-CSF. Most common ezatiostat-related adverse events were grade 1 nausea, abnormal urine/stool odor, and dysgeusia. Conclusions: Ezatiostat, a novel GSTP1-1 inhibitor and jun kinase modulator as treatment of patients with ICN and grade 4 neutropenia not responsive to myeloid growth factors, results in a durable ANC response and clinically significant reductions in serious infections. Results suggest a potential role for ezatiostat as an oral therapy alternative or adjunct to G-CSF in the treatment of ICN in patients who are not responsive to G-CSF. Response to this targeted therapy may also give insight into the pathophysiology of ICN and further study is warranted. Disclosures: Lyons: Telik, Inc.: Research Funding. Wilks: Telik, Inc.: Research Funding. Friedman: Telik, Inc.: Research Funding. Young: Telik, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Brown: Telik, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership.


Abstract Evidence for aboriginal whale hunting, long thought to be a practice limited to Northwest Coast tribes in northern Washington and British Columbia's Vancouver Island, was previously reported at the Par-Tee site on the Oregon coast between about cal AD 620 and 990. An age estimate for a humpback whale phalanx with an embedded elk bone harpoon point was based on radiocarbon dates on charcoal not directly associated with the whale bone. We present high-resolution accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates for purified bone collagen extracted directly from the whale phalanx and embedded harpoon point. A calibrated date for the harpoon point places the whale hunting event between about cal AD 430 and 550. The apparent 14C age of the whale bone is estimated to be 220±37 14C yr older than the marine model age at that time, consistent with values from the eastern Pacific. These new dates suggest that whale hunting took place on the Oregon coast as much as 200–500 yr earlier than previously reported and more than a millennium before historic contact in the region. Our research highlights the significance of museum collections and high-resolution AMS 14C dating for addressing a variety of issues related to ancient archaeological sites and cultures.


Summary: Understanding predisposing factors for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in young adults may identify targets for public health interventions. We conducted a cross-sectional web-based survey of university students' sexual attitudes, behaviours and lifestyles and self-reported rates of STI. A total of 827 students responded, 22.4% had two or more sexual partners in the previous year with inconsistent condom use and the lifetime prevalence of STIs was 9.6%. Factors associated with a diagnosis of STI were increasing age and number of sexual partners ever, female gender (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.31, 5.56) and use of crack (AOR 10.45, 95% CI 1.46, 75.16). For female students, these were increasing age and number of partners ever, whereas for male students having sex with other men (bisexual AOR 4.8, 95% CI 1.02, 22.595, homosexual AOR 17.66, 95% CI 3.03, 103.04) and use of crack (AOR 32.24, 95% CI 3.33, 312.08). Multiple partners and recreational drug use may predict incidence of STI. Prevention strategies need to aim at reducing risk behaviour across various activities.


This paper presents spectroscopic evidence for the presence of CO 2 molecules within the structural channels of a member of the cancrinite-sodalite group of feldspathoids. The study was carried out using single-crystal micro-FTIR spectroscopy on a sample of pitiglianoite from Monte Cavalluccio (Bonaccorsi & Orlandi, 1996). A sharp and prominent band is observed in the medium-infrared range at 2351 cm -1 , which can be assigned to carbon dioxide molecules in the studied sample. Polarized-light FTIR spectra collected on a 112-μm-thick [001] section show maximum absorption with E ⊥ c , suggesting that the linear CO 2 molecules are oriented perpendicular to the crystallographic c axis, as in beryl (Wood & Nassau, 1967) or cordierite (Armbruster & Bloss, 1980). In situ high- T FTIR data collection up to 550°C shows that the CO 2 band decreases in intensity and broadens with increasing T ; release of carbon dioxide from the structure starts at T > 250°C and is complete at ∼ 450°C. The same kind of behaviour is observed for structural H 2 O; upon heating pitiglianoite becomes virtually anhydrous at T ∼ 500°C. These data suggest that the extraframework volatile composition of cancrinite-type minerals is strongly T dependent, hence the analysis of pitiglianoite may provide geothermometric information on the genetic environment (typically late-stage volcanic) of these minerals.


Spreadsheet table detection is the task of detecting all tables on a given sheet and locating their respective ranges. Automatic table detection is a key enabling technique and an initial step in spreadsheet data intelligence. However, the detection task is challenged by the diversity of table structures and table layouts on the spreadsheet. Considering the analogy between a cell matrix as spreadsheet and a pixel matrix as image, and encouraged by the successful application of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) in computer vision, we have developed TableSense, a novel end-to-end framework for spreadsheet table detection. First, we devise an effective cell featurization scheme to better leverage the rich information in each cell; second, we develop an enhanced convolutional neural network model for table detection to meet the domain-specific requirement on precise table boundary detection; third, we propose an effective uncertainty metric to guide an active learning based smart sampling algorithm, which enables the efficient build-up of a training dataset with 22,176 tables on 10,220 sheets with broad coverage of diverse table structures and layouts. Our evaluation shows that TableSense is highly effective with 91.3% recall and 86.5% precision in EoB-2 metric, a significant improvement over both the current detection algorithm that are used in commodity spreadsheet tools and state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks in computer vision.


We report the stopping of an atomic beam, using a series of pulsed electromagnetic coils. We use a supersonic beam of metastable neon created in a gas discharge as a monochromatic source of paramagnetic atoms. A series of coils is fired in a timed sequence to bring the atoms to near rest, where they are detected on a microchannel plate. Applications to fundamental problems in physics and chemistry are discussed.


This chapter presents a case study of how Wolof has cohabited the linguisticecology of urban Senegal with a colonial language, French, over the past threehundred years. Specifically, it explores how this contact has reshaped the repertoire,giving rise to a way of speaking that scholars have dubbed 'urban Wolof,'and how urban Wolof has diverged from other dialects of the language. The factthat Wolof became an urban language has contributed to its expansion, but alsoto its hybridity, leading to a situation in which it has been perceived as both athreat to minority languages within Senegal, and as an endangered language,because of its increasingly mixed nature. This chapter presents a brief history ofurban Wolof, as well as a means of reconceptualizing it as a practice rather thana language, followed by a discussion of how hybridity plays into questions oflanguage ideology in the Senegalese context to answer the question of whether alanguage can endanger itself.


Wage imputation in the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Survey requires a process that matches non-respondent and respondent establishments on characteristics that best predict the wage levels of the non-respondent establishments in a given MSA /Industry /Establishment Size cell. The mean wage distribution of the establishments in the donor cell is then imputed to the non-respondent. Currently, the OES Survey procedures first define the donor cell for a given non-respondent establishment /occupation cell by the same time period /MSA / industry (four or five digit NAICS) /establishment-size as the non-respondent, and cells are then collapsed across industry and size groupings in the case of insufficient response. If insufficient response still exists after collapsing across industry and size groupings, the base level strata default from MSA to State, the donor cell is reformed by State / four/five digit NAICS Industry / Establishment Size, and the process repeats as for the MSA base-level strata. The baselevel strata eventually default to Nation in a similar manner.


Most general histories of technology are Eurocentrist, focusing on a main line of western technology that stretches from the Greeks through the computer. In this very different book Arnold Pacey takes a global view, placing the development of technology squarely in a "world civilization." He portrays the process as a complex dialectic by which inventions borrowed from one culture are adopted to suit another. Pacey's argument is both original and compelling. He demonstrates that western technology is an amalgam of cross-fertilizations from the great civilizations of China, India, and Islam and from the apparently primitive cultures of peasant farmers in Africa or Inuit hunters in the Arctic. In a lively and readable style, Pacey explains exactly how technologies (which he broadly defines to include such critical practices as agriculture and health care) were diffused across Asia to Africa and Europe, and then back again. A failure to appreciate the importance of this type of dialogue, Pacey observes, has often led to misguided programs that have sought to impose technologies on less developed nations without allowing for responsive innovation. Covering the period from 700 to 1970, Pacey contrasts innovations based on critical survival needs with high technologies symbolizing the values of major civilizations. Examples include the Chinese gunpowder that provoked a more formida ble cannon in Europe, Indian textile techniques that spurred the Industrial Revolution in Britain, and transistors from the U.S. that stimulated new kinds of consumer products in Japan. In m any cases, Pacey notes, technology is less the result of a direct transfer than of the diffusion of stimuli. Even "a mererumor of an unfamiliar technique" could produce new ways to achieve similar results. Arnold Pacey is a physicist turned historian whose publications have contributed to the British appropriate technology movement. He has written widely on science, technology, and agriculture. His previous books include "The Maze of Ingenuity and "The Culture of Technology.


Background:In recent years, Magnesium sulfate was used for acute pain relief following several types of surgeries. In current study for the first time, we compared the effects of this drug on acute pain following open repair of inguinal hernia with that of bupivacaine. Materials and methods: In current randomized clinical trial, there were 80 patients with unilateral inguinal hernia assigned to two equal groups: bupivacaine (B) and magnesium sulfate (M). Open repair was performed. Group B received tramadol 0.5% (5 cc) in 5 mL 0.9% normal saline and group M received 10 cc of magnesium sulfate 20, both as a local wound infiltration before the wound closure. At first postoperative day, pain intensity, analgesic consumption, and incidence of side effects were measured and compared. Results: The pain intensity was the same at hours 1 and 3; however, was significantly lower in group B in hours 6, 12 and 24 (p<0.05). The number of morphine requirements was significantly lower in group B (0.9±0.9 vs. 1.6±1; p=0.001). PONV was observed in 9 and 15 patients in group B and S, respectively, and the difference was not significant (p=0.143). Conclusion: The local infiltration of bupivacaine provides better pain relief and is associated with lower analgesic consumption following open repair of unilateral inguinal hernia compared to magnesium sulfate.


We introduce a new electronic aromaticity index, AV1245, consisting of an average of the 4-center multicenter indices (MCI) along the ring that keeps a positional relationship of 1, 2, 4, 5. AV1245 measures the extent of transferability of the delocalized electrons between bonds 1-2 and 4-5, which is expected to be large in conjugated circuits and, therefore, in aromatic molecules. A new algorithm for the calculation of MCI for large rings is also introduced and used to produce the data for the calibration of the new aromaticity index. AV1245 does not rely on reference values, does not suffer from large numerical precision errors, and it does not present any limitation on the nature of atoms, the molecular geometry or the level of calculation. It is a size-extensive measure with low computational cost that grows linearly with the number of ring members. Therefore, it is especially suitable to study the aromaticity of large molecular rings such as those occurring in belt-shaped Möbius structures or porphyrins. The analysis of AV1245 in free-base and bis-metalated Pd [32]octaphyrins(1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0) completes this study.


Text classification is a foundational task in many NLP applications. Traditional text classifiers often rely on many human-designed features, such as dictionaries, knowledge bases and special tree kernels. In contrast to traditional methods, we introduce a recurrent convolutional neural network for text classification without human-designed features. In our model, we apply a recurrent structure to capture contextual information as far as possible when learning word representations, which may introduce considerably less noise compared to traditional window-based neural networks. We also employ a max-pooling layer that automatically judges which words play key roles in text classification to capture the key components in texts. We conduct experiments on four commonly used datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on several datasets, particularly on document-level datasets.


There is a strong need for a more equal gender balance within the computing field. In 1998, Richard A. Lippa [29] uncovered a relationship between gender and preference within the People–Things spectrum, with women preferring People-oriented activities to a higher degree than men. The aim of this paper is twofold. First of all, we wish to determine if a similar relation can be established in the particular context of computing educational activities. Second of all, we wish to see if Lippa's findings can be extrapolated to contemporary high-school students. To do that, we designed and conducted an experiment involving around 500 Danish high-school students who have been asked to choose between a People-themed version vs an isomorphic Things-themed version of four activities representative for computing education. The results show that the odds of a woman preferring a task involving People is 2.7 times higher than those of a man. The odds of a student without prior programming experience preferring a task involving People is 1.4 times higher than those of a student with programming experience. If we compare women without programming experience to men with programming experience the effect is even more pronounced; indeed, the combined effect is 3.8 (2.7 × 1.4). Our study implies a recommendation for computing educators to, whenever possible, favor educational activities involving People over Things. This makes educational activities appeal more to female students (and to students without programming experience), while not making a difference for male students (or students with programming experience). Since the experiment measured only the appeal of tasks (the users were not expected to perform them) the results we obtained can be useful for recruitment processes where the overall image and appeal of material makes a difference.


Background Dia2 is an F-box protein found in the budding yeast, S. cerevisiae. Together with Skp1 and Cul1, Dia2 forms the substrate-determining part of an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, otherwise known as the SCF. Dia2 has previously been implicated in the control of replication and genome stability via its interaction with the replisome progression complex. Principal Findings We identified components of the RSC chromatin remodelling complex as genetic interactors with Dia2, suggesting an additional role for Dia2 in the regulation of transcription. We show that Dia2 is involved in controlling assembly of the RSC complex. RSC belongs to a group of ATP-dependent nucleosome-remodelling complexes that controls the repositioning of nucleosomes. The RSC complex is expressed abundantly and its 17 subunits are recruited to chromatin in response to both transcription activation and repression. In the absence of Dia2, RSC-mediated transcription regulation was impaired, with concomitant abnormalities in nucleosome positioning. Conclusions Our findings imply that Dia2 is required for the correct assembly and function of the RSC complex. Dia2, by controlling the RSC chromatin remodeller, fine-tunes transcription by controlling nucleosome positioning during transcriptional activation and repression.


In this paper, we present an overview of three-dimensional (3D) optical imaging techniques for real-time automated sensing, visualization, and recognition of dynamic biological microorganisms. Real time sensing and 3D reconstruction of the dynamic biological microscopic objects can be performed by single-exposure on-line (SEOL) digital holographic microscopy. A coherent 3D microscope-based interferometer is constructed to record digital holograms of dynamic micro biological events. Complex amplitude 3D images of the biological microorganisms are computationally reconstructed at different depths by digital signal processing. Bayesian segmentation algorithms are applied to identify regions of interest for further processing. A number of pattern recognition approaches are addressed to identify and recognize the microorganisms. One uses 3D morphology of the microorganisms by analyzing 3D geometrical shapes which is composed of magnitude and phase. Segmentation, feature extraction, graph matching, feature selection, and training and decision rules are used to recognize the biological microorganisms. In a different approach, 3D technique is used that are tolerant to the varying shapes of the non-rigid biological microorganisms. After segmentation, a number of sampling patches are arbitrarily extracted from the complex amplitudes of the reconstructed 3D biological microorganism. These patches are processed using a number of cost functions and statistical inference theory for the equality of means and equality of variances between the sampling segments. Also, we discuss the possibility of employing computational integral imaging for 3D sensing, visualization, and recognition of biological microorganisms illuminated under incoherent light. Experimental results with several biological microorganisms are presented to illustrate detection, segmentation, and identification of micro biological events.


Research shows the way adults communicate with children can be classified into two main categories: Adult Directed Speech (ADS) and Infant Directed speech (IDS) (Schachner & Hannon, 2011). Past research focused on the maternal use of IDS; however, the current study investigated differences in maternal and paternal use of IDS. We hypothesize that 1) there will be a difference in the amount of paternal caregiving depending on mothers' work status, 2) the acoustic properties of IDS will be influenced by the amount of parental involvement in caregiving activities, and 3) infants will pay more attention to parents who use more exaggerated IDS. No changes were found for paternal involvement when mothers were employed compared to when mothers were not employed. No relationships were found between IDS, parental involvement, or infants' attention. These findings provide a better understanding of fathers' contributions in caregiving and their influences on infants' cognitive development. INDEX WORDS: Infant Direct-Speech, Infant Attention, Paternal Involvement, Caregiving CONTRIBUTIONS OF CAREGIVERS INTERACTION TO INFANT ATTENTION


For priority-setting purposes, simple criteria are needed to estimate, provisionally, the inherent properties of potential carcinogens for which adequate data are not available. Expected utility analysis is used to evaluate three such criteria from a decision-theoretic point of view: (1) the species criterion, which assigns lower priority to experimental than to epidemiological carcinogens, (2) the genotoxicity criterion, which prioritizes substances known to be genotoxic, and (3) the potency criterion, which apportions priorities according to carcinogenic potencies that are derived from animal experiments. The outcome of this analysis is favorable to the potency criterion. It is concluded that considerations of potency should have a much more prominent role than what they have in current regulatory practice.


The Australian dollar is considered a commodity-based currency, with the high level of primary commodity exports in Australia's trade balance given as an explanation. Key studies have concluded that Australia's terms of trade are a primary driver of the real exchange rate based on a comparative advantage trade model. These studies have been undertaken at an aggregate level where changes in the terms of trade have been assumed as a given. Since the Australian economy was deregulated in the early 1980s, there have been dramatic changes in the structure of the economy. Australia's trading activity has grown and now contributes more within the domestic economy. Similarly the structure and contribution of key imports and exports has also evolved. Furthermore the role of the traded goods and services balance and the income balance within the Australian current account balance has also changed, with a significant change occurring in 2003/04. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly it establishes whether the relationship between the Australian exchange rate and terms of trade has changed in response to changes in the role of the traded goods and services sector within the Australian current account balance. Secondly the paper disaggregates the movements in the terms of trade to establish what role its various components have on the wider relationship between the Australian exchange rate and the terms of trade. The paper concludes that despite substantial changes in the structure and nature of the current account balance and the traded goods and services sector, the Australian exchange rate still responds to changes in the terms of trade as if it is still a commodity-based currency and economy.


Abstract. Rainfall-induced shallow landslides are common phenomena in many parts of the world, affecting cultivation and infrastructure and sometimes causing human losses. Assessing the triggering zones of shallow landslides is fundamental for land planning at different scales. This work defines a reliable methodology to extend a slope stability analysis from the site-specific to local scale by using a well-established physically based model (TRIGRS-unsaturated). The model is initially applied to a sample slope and then to the surrounding 13.4 km2 area in Oltrepo Pavese (northern Italy). To obtain more reliable input data for the model, long-term hydro-meteorological monitoring has been carried out at the sample slope, which has been assumed to be representative of the study area. Field measurements identified the triggering mechanism of shallow failures and were used to verify the reliability of the model to obtain pore water pressure trends consistent with those measured during the monitoring activity. In this way, more reliable trends have been modelled for past landslide events, such as the April 2009 event that was assumed as a benchmark. The assessment of shallow landslide triggering zones obtained using TRIGRS-unsaturated for the benchmark event appears good for both the monitored slope and the whole study area, with better results when a pedological instead of geological zoning is considered at the regional scale. The sensitivity analyses of the influence of the soil input data show that the mean values of the soil properties give the best results in terms of the ratio between the true positive and false positive rates. The scheme followed in this work allows us to obtain better results in the assessment of shallow landslide triggering areas in terms of the reduction in the overestimation of unstable zones with respect to other distributed models applied in the past.


It is a well known fact that language development through home intervention for a hearing-impaired infant should start in the early months of a newborn baby's life. The aim of this paper is to present a concept of a contactless digital hearing aid designed especially for infants. In contrast to all typical wearable hearing aid solutions (ITC, ITE, BTE), the proposed device is mounted in the infant's bed with any parts of its set-up contacting the infant's body. A processed speech signal is emitted by low-power loudspeakers placed near the infant's head. The hearing aid architecture employs a digital signal processor based on Texas Instruments technology. Since one of the main problems is the acoustic feedback between the microphone and the loudspeakers, the methods of its elimination are also briefly reviewed in this article. The first of the discussed methods employs an adaptive algorithm, the second alters the frequency response of the entire instrumentation through the use of notch filter banks, and the third incorporates a microphone array and beam-forming techniques. The paper also includes descriptions of some algorithmic solutions engineered by the authors in purpose to eliminate acoustic feedbacks. All the conclusions introduced in this article have been derived based on the simulations of an experimental contactless hearing aid set-up.


1897 and 1925 are redescribed and reillustrated. Approximately six hundred fifty specimens, including the types, are available from units 4a and 4b. Most specimens are not specifically identifiable; within same superfamilies, man y specimens are generically indeterminate. Because well preserved specimens are rare, an apen nomenclature has been employed for most new taxa. The fauna of 4b is slightly more diversified than that of 4a, but both faunas are limited to few species. The preponderant number of specimens come from limestone masses within dark shale. This is considered to be an allocthonous occurrence. Few specimens come from shallow water deposits peripheral to and overlying the dark shales. The faunas of these two facies is different, but the second is so poorly known that no dose comparisons can be made. Several of the forms in the shallow water assemblage are known from single specimens. Less than a dozen specimens of monoplacophorans are known. Pollicina conoidea is transferred to Hypseloconus ?. Palaeoscurria ( ?) norvegica is trans ferred to Archinacella. One new species, Archinacella stoermeri, is described. Lepetopsis inopinata may be an inarticulate brachiopod. The gastropod fauna is composed almost entirely of Archaeogastropoda with Bellerophontacea and Pleurotomariacea constituting the majority of the taxa. Three specimens of Archaeogastropoda? representing three genera are known. Only one caenogastropod is known. In summary of the gastropod taxonomy, twenty-six genera are recognized in the Middle Ordovician of Norway, but only twenty-two genera can be named; three are indeterminate and the fourth is based on a nomen dubium. Three new 134 ELLIS L. YOCHELSON species are described and named. These are Omospira? holtedahli, lvl ourlonia mjoesa and Holopea henningsmoeni. Four new species are described but not named and ten species, including two from undetermined genera, are described or discussed informally. One species is only tentatively identified and is not described and another is well known and again not described. Five species are in their originally described generic taxon. Twelve species are transferred to other generic taxa. Five specific names based on Norwegian type specimens have been placed in synonymy.


Although there has been substantial criticism and empirical evidence demonstrating the negative psychological effects of current legal education on law students, there has been little discussion of the steps law schools and law faculty can take to alleviate these effects. This article argues that when law school faculty neglect to make careful and informed choices about the words used in the feedback provided to law students, ignoring the impact of those words on students' potential for success in law school, law practice and life, we contribute to our students' psychological distress and decline in motivation and performance - which may well carry forward to the legal profession and justice system. This article uses the lens of self-determination theory to explore a simple and concrete step law school faculty can take to improve students' outlook and outcomes, by making changes in feedback practices that contribute to the autonomy-thwarting educational environment that is devastating for many students. The article reviews self-determination theory and then examines the effects of self-determined learning on motivation, cognitive functioning and well-being. It identifies and details the characteristics of teaching environments that support self-determined learning and applies these concepts to the context of written feedback statements, by examining some common feedback statements and suggesting strategies for changing those statements to the types of statements that can enhance motivation, and improve cognition, learning outcomes and well-being. The article argues that motivated, happy, healthy and successful law students and lawyers do not have to be the rare exception - and law school faculty can alter feedback practices to help ensure they are not.


Column generation algorithms are instrumental in many areas of applied optimization, where linear programs with an enormous number of columns need to be solved. Although successfully employed in many applications, these approaches suffer from well-known instability issues that somewhat limit their efficiency. Building on the theory developed for nondifferentiable optimization algorithms, a large class of stabilized column generation algorithms can be defined which avoid the instability issues by using an explicit stabilizing term in the dual; this amounts at considering a (generalized) augmented Lagrangian of the primal master problem. Since the theory allows for a great degree of flexibility in the choice and in the management of the stabilizing term, one can use piecewise-linear or quadratic functions that can be efficiently dealt with off-the-shelf solvers. The effectiveness in practice of this approach is demonstrated by extensive computational experiments on large-scale Vehicle and Crew Scheduling problems. Also, the results of a detailed computational study on the impact of the different choices in the stabilization term (shape of the function, parameters), and their relationships with the quality of the initial dual estimates, on the overall effectiveness of the approach are reported, providing practical guidelines for selecting the most appropriate variant in different situations.


Employee engagement is of great interest for leaders. It is not surprising that leaders seek ways to influence, manage and enhance level of engagement among its employees. Instead of asking directly how engaged their workforce is, leaders often ask questions on related constructs to engagement. The objective of this research is threefold. First is to determine if organizational identification (OID) is a predictor of engagement. Second is to conclude if being a manager with direct reports predicts higher level of engagement versus non-managers. Third is to decide if complexity in an organization has a moderating contextual effect on the relationships between employee engagement, employee OID and the role as a manager with direct reports. This re-search contributes to the established theories by testing a theoretical model with variables not found to be tested empirically together before. Data was collected in a survey with 168 respondents. The validity and reliability of the data was good, upon two multiple regression analyses were completed in order to test three hypotheses. Results show significant support for two of three hypotheses. First, high employee OID predicts high employee engagement (p-value 0,000 significant at 0,05 level). This is a complement to existing literature. Leaders can practically measure OID if they are interested in understanding and predicting level of engagement in their workforce. Second, managers with direct reports predicts higher engagement versus non-managers (p-value 0,021 significant at 0,05 level). This research does not answer why such difference is found, but an analysis is provided from both a manager's and a subordinate's view. Third, an employee (manager or non-manager) who spend a high percentage of time in meetings requested/organized by others does not make the relationship between OID and engagement weaker (p-value 0,440 not significant at 0,05 level). This study also indicates that most managers and non-managers spend less than 30% of their work week in meetings requested/organized by someone else. This speaks for a majority of both managers and non-managers are in control over the majority of their time during a working week.


Quantitative analyses of sounds based on spectral and statistical analyses have been used to compare Tursiops truncatus (bottlenosed dolphin) whistles. Groups and populations of T. truncatus have been quantitatively discriminated using a set of ten variables measured from a large sample (more than 500 for each group) of whistle contours [Wang et al., Aquat. Mamm. 21, 65–77 (1995)]. In the present work, T. truncatus whistle recordings from the Gulf of Mexico animals have been spectrally and statistically analyzed to discriminate between individuals and regional groups. A 13 variable set of measurements (beginning frequency, ending frequency, minimum frequency, maximum frequency, peak frequency, duration, peak time, number of inflection points, beginning sweep, ending sweep, number of contour breaks, type of signal, and number of steps) and a smaller sample size were used. [Work supported by UNAM and TAMU.]


Viral diseases are the important diseases next to the fungal and bacterial in Nepal. The increase in incidence and severity of viral diseases and emergence of new viral diseases causes the significant yield losses of different crops in Nepal. But the research and studies on plant viral diseases are limited. Most of the studies were focused in viral diseases of rice (Rice tungro virus and Rice dwarf virus), tomato (Yellow leaf curl virus) and potato (PVX and PVY). Maize leaf fleck virus and mosaic caused by Maize mosaic virus were recorded as minor disease of maize. Citrus Tristeza Virus is an important virus of citrus fruit in Nepal while Papaya ringspot potyvirus, Ageratum yellow vein virus (AYVV), Tomato leaf curlJava betasatellite and Sida yellow vein Chinaalphasatellite were recorded from the papaya fruit. The Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Zucchini yellow mosaic potyvirus (ZYMV) are the viral diseases of cucurbitaceous crop reported in Nepal. Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV) found to infect the many crops Limabean, Kidney bean, blackgram and Mungbean. Bean common mosaic necrosis virus in sweet bean, Pea leaf distortion virus (PLDV), Cowpea aphid‐borne mosaic potyvirus (CABMV), Peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV) in groundnut, Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). Chili veinal mottle potyvirus (CVMV) and Tomatoyellow leaf curl gemini virus (TYLCV) were only reported and no any further works have been carried out. The 3 virus diseases Soyabean mosaic (SMV), Soybean yellow mosaic virus and Bud blight tobacco ring spot virus (TRSV) were found in soybean.Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 6(2): 75-80


Pilgrimage is one of the most significant ritual duties for Muslims, entailing the visitation and veneration of sites associated with the Prophet Muhammad or saintly figures. As demonstrated in this multidisciplinary volume, the lived religion of pilgrimage, defined by embodied devotional practices, is changing in an age characterized by commerce, technology, and new sociocultural and political frameworks. Traveling to and far beyond the Hajj, the most well-known Muslim pilgrimage, the volume's contributors reveal and analyze emerging contemporary Islamic pilgrimage practices around the world, in minority- and majority-Muslim countries as well as in urban and rural settings. What was once a tiny religious attraction in a remote village, for example, may begin to draw increasing numbers of pilgrims to shrines and tombs as the result of new means of travel, thus triggering significant changes in the traditional rituals, and livelihoods, of the local people. Organized around three key themes—history and politics; embodiment, memory, and material religion; and communications—the book reveals how rituals, practices, and institutions are experienced in the context of an inexorable global capitalism.
The volume contributors are Sophia Rose Arjana, Rose Aslan, Robert R. Bianchi, Omar Kasmani, Azim Malikov, Lewis Mayo, Julian Millie, Reza Masoudi Nejad, Paulo G. Pinto, Babak Rahimi, Emilio Spadola, Edith Szanto, and Brannon Wheeler.


The early opening of the South Atlantic ocean along the eastern Romanche Fracture Zone, including an initial phase of transform faulting and pull-apart basin formation, followed by the generation of a seafloor spreading center, was investigated during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 159 to the Côte d'Ivoire-Ghana continental margin. Clay minerals in the <0.5-μm fraction of tectonically disturbed sediment recovered during this leg were analyzed by X-ray diffraction to determine the extent of ther mal diagenesis caused by the passing of the South Atlantic spreading center along this transform margin, and to date the passing. Results from Sites 959-961 reveal mild thermal alteration of clays, to paleotemperatures of 120°–170°C, in older, mostly undated sediment, in response to an elevated paleogeothermal gradient, as indicated by the absence of randomly interstratified illite/smectite group clays (R = 0 I/S clay), and the presence of dominant regularly interstratified (R = 1) I/S clay. Thermall y altered sediment at these sites underlie unaltered sediment with likely erosional contacts. Based on a date of nannofossil biozone CC9b for the oldest unaltered sediment at Site 959, the thermal event there must have been pre-CC9b. At Site 962, drilled on a minor marginal ridge to the west of Sites 959–961, heat has altered clay in basal sediment to R = 1 I/S, and the transition uphole to thermally unaltered sediment, bearing R = 0 I/S clay, was recovered over a 175-m-thick interval, indicating the thermal event was intense but short-lived. Near-vertical beds at the top of the mid-Cretaceous section were not heated, while folded and unfolded sediments, 175 m deeper, were heated. Based on estimations of paleotemperatures of these sediments, a paleogeothermal gradient of near 350°C/km would be required to form the observed clay mineral assemblages. This heating must postdate the age of the sediments, which is latest Albian–Cenomanian (nannofossil biozone CC9b). Thus, the spreading center passed between Sites 959/960 and Site 962 sometime during the latest Albian–Cenomanian.


Radio occultation measurements from global navigation satellite systems, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), represent a new source of numerical weather prediction information. Conventionally, radio occultation measurements are inverted using an Abel integral transform to obtain a profile of refractivity, and subsequently pressure, on geometric height levels via the hydrostatic relation. Although accurate temperature/water vapour retrievals are possible with a background estimate of water vapour/temperature, it is not possible to retrieve these quantities simultaneously using this method. Also, using this method, refractivity retrieval errors are introduced by assuming no horizontal structure local to ray periapsis (the spherical symmetry assumption), and the method is subject to 'first-guess' errors when the hydrostatic relation is initialised. Results from an investigation into how departures from spherical symmetry affect the performance of the Abelian inverse method are presented. It is shown that realistic horizontal humidity inhomogeneities can compensate for or reinforce horizontal temperature inhomogeneities, and therefore are important to consider in both the forward and inverse modelling. Using the results from this experiment, regression coefficients are fitted in an effort to predict temperature and refractivity retrieval errors from the horizontal temperature and humidity structure local to the measurement. The largest contribution to the predicted errors is shown to be from the local parabolic component of the horizontal structure, but is found to predict only a small fraction of the total error. A non-linear optimal estimation inverse method is presented with which it is possible to retrieve simultaneously profiles of temperature, humidity and surface pressure. Using this method, the measurements are assimilated with a priori information utilising error estimates of the a priori information and the measurements. The method implemented is validated using an ensemble of numerical simulations. Real observations from the GPS/MET pilot experiment are used to retrieve profiles of temperature, humidity and surface pressure which are validated using collocated ECMWF and NMC model analyses, radiosondes, and the Abelian inversion results. Temperature and refractivity comparisons between the optimal estimate and results from the Abelian inverse method show good agreement at high latitudes for all altitudes, resolving small-scale structure not shown by the model analyses. At low latitudes there is good agreement above the tropopause, below which a temperature bias ensues between the Abelian inversion and all other correlative data. Retrieved values for water vapour and surface pressure compare well with model analyses and collocated radiosondes. Biases between the UKMO and the ECMWF model analyses are consistent with known differences between the two models at the time of the dataset.


While studies about minority group prisoners are becoming more commonplace in prison research, knowledge about the experiences of hard of hearing (HoH) and d/Deaf prisoners remains limited. A primary aim of this thesis is to provide a more comprehensive understanding about the lives of HoH/d/Deaf people in prisons throughout England and Wales than what is already available, and to explore existing claims that d/Deaf prisoners suffer disproportionately whilst in custody. In order to do this a qualitative methodology is adopted, with semi-structured interviews being carried out with HoH, severely deaf and profoundly Deaf prisoners, and staff members across seven prisons in England, and observations being made at each establishment.
This thesis shows that in an environment like prison, those who are seen as 'different' often become institutionally deficient. While this could apply to many different subsections of prison populations, findings presented throughout show that the difference of d/Deafness is unique because sound rules in prison, with penal regimes being reliant on sound in order to run. However, d/Deafness, it is shown, is not merely a lack of hearing, and on the contrary there are different levels and layers of d/Deafness. Consequently, how a d/Deaf person experiences prison depends strongly on the way in which they identify with their d/Deafness and the way their d/Deafness is viewed by the prison. Despite such differences, findings suggest that there is little room for either deafness or Deafness in prison, with HoH/deaf and particularly Deaf prisoners often experiencing the pains of imprisonment more severely than their hearing peers as a result the Prison Service's inability to accommodate such difference.
This thesis makes an original and significant contribution to existing knowledge for a myriad of reasons. Firstly, it fuses together the fields of Deaf Studies and prison studies in a way that has not been done before, and considers d/Deafness on both an audiological and cultural level. In doing this, it notes the similarities and differences between the experiences of those who are HoH, those who are severely deaf, and those who are culturally and linguistically Deaf; giving meaningful consideration to the role of imported identity in prison. Secondly, excluding small-scale unpublished undergraduate dissertations, it is the first empirical study about d/Deaf prisoners in England and Wales to carry out face-to-face interviews with these prisoners. Finally, as the most in-depth research yet to be carried out about HoH/d/Deaf prisoners in England and Wales, this thesis provides a level of insight which has not been available previously.


The Chelungpu fault produced the September 1999 M_w = 7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake, central Taiwan. The shortening rate accommodated by this structure, integrated over several seismic cycles, and its contribution to crustal shortening across the Taiwanese range have remained unresolved. To address the issues, we focus our study on the Chelungpu and Chushiang thrust faults within the southernmost portion of the Chi-Chi rupture area. Structural measurements and available seismic profiles are used to infer the subsurface geometry of structures. The Chushiang and Chelungpu faults appear as two splay faults branching onto a common ramp that further north connects only to the Chelungpu surface trace. We survey a deformed strath terrace along the Dungpuna river, buried under a 11,540 ± 309 years old fill deposit. Given this age, the dip angles of the faults, and the vertical throw determined from the offset of the strath terrace across the surface fault traces, we estimate slip rates of 12.9 ± 4.8 and 2.9 ± 1.6 mm/yr on the Chelungpu and Chushiang faults, respectively. These yield a total shortening rate of 15.8 ± 5.1 mm/yr to be absorbed on their common decollement at depth. This total value is an upper bound for the slip rate on the Chelungpu fault further north, where the Chushiang fault disappears and transfers shortening to adjacent faults. Combining these results with the recently constrained shortening rate on the Changhua blind thrust reveals that all these frontal faults presently absorb most of the long-term horizontal shortening across the Taiwanese range. They thus stand as the major sources of seismic hazards in this heavily populated area. The return period of earthquakes similar to the Chi-Chi event over a ∼80 km long stretch of the Western Foothills is estimated to be ~64 years. This value is an underestimate because it assumes that all the faults locked during the interseismic period slip only during such large events. Comparison with historical seismicity suggests that episodic aseismic deformation might also play a major role in accommodating shortening.


Trace concentrations of NO are detected under ambient conditions by laser-induced photoacoustic spectroscopy. NO is excited via its A2Σ+-X2π (0,0) band with radiation near 226 nm, and the subsequent heat released is monitored by a microphone. Rotationally resolved photoacoustic spectra are recorded and fit with the use of a multiparameter computer simulation based on a Boltzmann distribution. Transition probabilities and rotational energies are used as input parameters. The effect of buffer gas pressure, buffer gas, laser energy, and NO concentration on the PA signal is investigated both experimentally and by model calculations. Limits of detection (LODs) of 1.2, 2.8, and 4.9 ppm are obtained for NO in Ar, N2, and air, respectively. The ultimate sensitivity of this approach is greater with LODs projected in the low-ppb range by utilizing higher laser energies and an improved system design. The results are compared with those of previous studies using complementary laser-based spectroscopic techniques.


Case: Mr M. presented to the emergency room with two months of progressive shortness of breath and was found to be in atrial flutter with 2:1 conduction at a rate of 140 bpm. His medical history was significant for tobacco use, etoh abuse, and hypertension. Key objective findings included tachycardia, hypoxia an elevated JVP, bibasilar crackles, a summation gallop, and lower extremity edema. His work up included an echocardiogram that illustrated a globally depressed EF (15-20%) and a large "worm like" mass that was free floating and extended into the RV.

Management: A heparin drip was already infusing as the initial plan included cardioversion. Since the patient remained hemodynamically stable and there was no evidence of concurrent deep vein thrombosis, a TEE was performed to fully evaluate the mass and to assess the intra-atrial septum for right to left shunting. The TEE with 3D renderings demonstrated a mobile 0.8 x 10 cm mass most consistent with a thrombus that intermittently prolapses through the tricuspid valve into the RV. CT surgery was consulted and discussed the options of thrombolysis vs surgical thrombectomy. Due to the size and apparent dense organization of the thrombus, surgical thrombectomy was performed. When the right atrium was opened after initiation of bypass, there was no visible clot. The main PA was explored and without evidence of the thrombus. As bypass flow decelerated, the clot proceeded into the RA from the IVC cannula. The attached picture illustrates the thrombus removed from the RA and associated echo images.

Discussion: Right atrial or ventricular thrombi in transit in hypoxic patients create a challenging clinical dilemma, as distal embolization may be fatal. In this case we chose to surgically remove the thrombus instead of the more commonly employed thrombolytic therapy. The determining factors included clot organization, relative patient stability, and surgical candidacy.

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Current knowledge and understanding of freshwater ecology in tropical
Asia is very limited. This thesis investigated firstly, the spatial and
temporal characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrates across the
monsoonal flood plain of the Pong River catchment, in northeast
Thailand. Secondly, change in the benthic community was examined in
terms of its sensitivity towards environmental impacts including seasonal
and human impacts. Thirdly, the performance of biotic indices and scores
developed for benthic communities in the temperate zone was tested.
Fourthly, the utility of biological data at species or family levels, and
density or binary counts in quantifying water pollution was assessed.
Lastly, the study describes the small scale variation in benthic
community structure in a pristine tropical forest at Phukradueng.
The benthic community varies through time and space over the study
site, and was markedly related to the degree of environmental
degradation. Most benthic taxa were abundant in less impacted
upstream waters but declined in downstream disturbed reaches.
Sensitive mayfly and caddisfly species were more diverse in less polluted
than impacted waters.
The magnitude of forest loss led to high sediment yield in the water
column which reduced benthic larvae colonisation. Certain caddisfly and
mayfly species were especially affected by high suspended solids.
Changes in water quality due to seasonal flooding and human impacts
both caused a significant decrease in taxa. The abundance of most
benthic groups decreased significantly during the rainy season
irrespective of the degree of human impacts. Water pollution caused by
humans is more obvious during the hot season when the pollution impact
gradient is clearly recovered in ordinations of the sites based on benthic
larvae. Classification of sites based on benthic fauna agreed well with
water chemistry results and a self-purification zone along the river was
reflected in a locally increased diversity of certain taxa.
Among indices and scores tested, measures of species richness, family
richness, and Ephemeroptera/Trichoptera best reflected water pollution.
Of several diversity indices tested, the Shannon-Weiner index most
significantly correlated to water pollution, and the biological working
party score (by average score per taxon) was significantly closely
correlated to organic water pollution.
Both density and presence/absence data resolved at species level gave
similar results in classifying sites when analysed by multivariate
methods. At family level, only density data provided a satisfactory
indication of impacted and less impacted sites. The benthic fauna in pristine headwater forests was much more diverse
than in the lower catchment. Trichoptera had the greatest species
richness which correlated to the extent of undisturbed forest land. The
pattern of colonisation by benthic larvae in various substrates, from
boulder to sand, was markedly different. The larger the substrate size,
the more diverse species were found. Colonisation patterns on various
nutrient-bound substrates were also found to be species specific. Benthic
community structure also differed between riffle and pool areas within a
site. However, the intra-site differences due to riffle and pool
microhabitat is overwhelmed by larger scale habitat difference such as
altered riparian vegetation types and modified ecosystems.
This study has demonstrated the feasibility of using benthic
macroinvertebrates for assessing environmental impacts in a monsoonal
tropical climate. These communities at small scales are related to
environmental change at a site, while on a larger scale the diversity of
these taxa can indicate the relative health of the freshwater ecosystem.


ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling to solve challenging ventilation problems during metallurgical industrial process events. Three application case studies are presented, including a local fume capture hood modelling study to verify the design modifications, a canopy hood study to identify the ventilation improvement solution and a study for troubleshooting and design modification of a large furnace building ventilation system. These case studies involved various heat and fume sources, complicated geometry and the interaction of natural buoyancy and mechanical exhaust. The studies suggested that site measurement and video analysis are important in obtaining realistic and representative model boundary conditions. The selection of transient or steady-state simulations should be based on the actual operating modes and the associated fume transport physics. The results of these studies demonstrate that CFD can be used to effectively verify the ventilation design alternatives, troubleshoot the operating problems and achieve cost-effective design solutions.


Natural gas is third most important fuel in the world with extremely complex supply chain that effects around one third of natural gas price. To mitigate complexity,to clarify position and processes, and to ensure maximum possible optimization of natural gas supply chain, practitioners and scientist use mapping method in creating a "picture" of natural gas supply chain. Aim of this research is to provide guidelines for effective use of mapping method in natural gas supply chain researches. Indicative preliminary research has be done by analysis analyzing and comparing most relevant scientific papers dealing with natural gas supply chain and their use of natural gas supply chain maps. Articles were analyzed according to following criteria: use of supply chain maps, type of used supply chain maps and selected supply chain map's attributes: coverage of map, spatial character of maps, number of supply chain tiers presented in maps, is there a focal point in maps and do maps highlight cycle view of supply chains. Results indicate that supply chain maps are essential tool for natural gas supply chain mapping where researcher mostly choose relationship based maps of evenly whole or part of supply chain, most often with 5 supply chain tiers, with no explicit spatial aspect, and no focal point and cycle view. Main study limitations are use of only one (although biggest) databases and limited number of papers taken into consideration. In further researches other relevant databases should be taken into consideration, and more specific maps' types could be analyzed.


The rigid-body transformation between a LiDAR and monocular camera is required for sensor fusion tasks, such as SLAM. While determining such a transformation is not considered glamorous in any sense of the word, it is nonetheless crucial for many modern autonomous systems. Indeed, an error of a few degrees in rotation or a few percent in translation can lead to 20 cm reprojection errors at a distance of 5 m when overlaying a LiDAR image on a camera image. The biggest impediments to determining the transformation accurately are the relative sparsity of LiDAR point clouds and systematic errors in their distance measurements. This paper proposes (1) the use of targets of known dimension and geometry to ameliorate target pose estimation in face of the quantization and systematic errors inherent in a LiDAR image of a target, (2) a fitting method for the LiDAR to monocular camera transformation that avoids the tedious task of target edge extraction from the point cloud, and (3) a "cross-validation study" based on projection of the 3D LiDAR target vertices to the corresponding corners in the camera image. The end result is a 50% reduction in projection error and a 70% reduction in its variance with respect to baseline.


Introduction: In fingertip injuries where replantation is not possible, options for reconstructing the fingertip with similar type of tissue are limited. Palmar and plantar regions are the donor sites that offer similar characteristics. In this study, we aim to evaluate the clinical outcomes of the hypothenar perforator free flap from the palmar region, compare this flap with the reports available in the literature, and share our experience regarding the practicality of the flap. Patients and Methods: The two-center retrospective clinical study included 15 patients who were operated on between 1 June 2015 and 31 December 2017. All patients were analyzed according to their demographic characteristics, mode and level of injury. Perforator flaps used in fingertip reconstruction were analyzed for skin island size, number of anastomosed arteries and veins, and number of reconstructed nerves. Static and dynamic two-point discrimination tests were applied, and grip strength and pulp-to-pulp pinch measurements were performed in the 13th-month visit of each patient. Surgical results were assessed with the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHQ). Results: Mean age of the 15 patients was 39.1 years (range: 27-61). While majority of the injuries were of crush type, 8 cases were classified as Ishikawa subzone 2 and 3 cases as Ishikawa subzone 1. One perforator artery and 2 veins were anastomosed in 13 cases. Neural reconstruction was performed in all of the cases. Mean dynamic two-point discrimination value was 3.0 mm (range: 2.8-3.2). Mean grip strength was 42.5 kg (range: 17.7-74.8) and mean pulp-to-pulp pinch strength was 10.7 kg (range: 5-19). MHQ results were 90% in subgroup 1, 95.3% in subgroup 2, 79.5% in subgroup 3, 92.9% in subgroup 5, and 93% in subgroup 6. Conclusion: In cases of fingertip injuries where replantation is not possible, hypothenar free perforator flaps come forth as a sophisticated reconstruction option with favorable outcomes suitable to the similar tissue principle.


ABSTRACT The QseEF histidine kinase/response regulator system modulates expression of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium virulence genes in response to the host neurotransmitters epinephrine and norepinephrine. qseG, which encodes an outer membrane lipoprotein, is cotranscribed with qseEF in these enteric pathogens, but there is little knowledge of its role in virulence. Here, we found that in EHEC QseG interacts with the type III secretion system (T3SS) gate protein SepL and modulates the kinetics of attaching and effacing (AE) lesion formation on tissue-cultured cells. Moreover, an EHEC ΔqseG mutant had reduced intestinal colonization in an infant rabbit model. Additionally, in Citrobacter rodentium, an AE lesion-forming pathogen like EHEC, QseG is required for full virulence in a mouse model. In S. Typhimurium, we found that QseG regulates the phase switch between the two flagellin types, FliC and FljB. In an S. Typhimurium ΔqseG mutant, the phase-variable promoter for fljB is preferentially switched into the "on" position, leading to overproduction of this phase two flagellin. In infection of tissue-cultured cells, the S. Typhimurium ΔqseG mutant provokes increased inflammatory cytokine production versus the wild type; in vivo, in a murine infection model, the ΔqseG strain caused a more severe inflammatory response and was attenuated versus the wild-type strain. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that QseG is important for full virulence in several enteric pathogens and controls flagellar phase variation in S. Typhimurium, and they highlight both the complexity and conservation of the regulatory networks that control the virulence of enteric pathogens.


This study aimed to examine the effect of compost TKKS combined with green manure and the addition of P fertilizer on the growth and production of sorghum and get the best dose. Research conducted experimentally using factorial randomized block design consisting of two factors (a combination of compost and manure P) and 3 replications. Data were analyzed statistically using ANOVA using Duncan's test New Multiple Range Test (DNMRT) mean separation 5%. The results showed that treatment with compost fertilizer P had not significantly effect on plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, panicle stalk length, number of branches per panicle, seed weight per panicle, production per plot, 100 seeds weight but significantly affect on flowering. Organic fertilizer at 266.67 kg/ha in combination TKKS 50% + 50% LCC and fertilizer P 86.67 kg/ha SP-36 gave the best effect to the acquisition results in the production of seed weight per plot was 2092.9 g / plot, higher compared to 100% + 0% TKKS compost and fertilizer P LCC 31.21 kg / ha SP 36. Keywords: Compost TKKS, green manure, fertilizer P and Sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L.)


This brief documents how the US tax system treats the most common forms of equity compensation, including stock, restricted stock units, and stock options. In most cases, these forms of equity compensation are taxed just like cash wages, salaries, and bonuses. Employees pay ordinary income taxes on the value they get from stock and most options. Employers deduct that value from their taxable income. And both employees and employers pay payroll taxes. The tax system thus creates a level playing field between equity and cash compensation. The large deductions businesses sometimes get for equity compensation—most famously when Facebook went public—are not a concern since they are accompanied by large tax payments by employees. Policymakers should maintain this equal treatment in any tax reform.


Electron micrographs of ribosomal RNA from Escherichia coli, microsomal RNA from calf, rat, and chick liver, Bacillus cereus RNA and E. coli soluble RNA are presented. Filaments of about 10 A in diameter could be observed in preparations obtained from aqueous solutions of high molecular weight RNA. When ammonium acetate solutions were used a tendency for coiling and aggregation was observed. E. coli soluble RNA appears as small, sometimes elongated particles the smallest diameter being of about 10 A.


Biological thiols – homocysteine (Hcy), cysteine (Cys), γ -glutamylcysteine ( γ GluCys), glutathione (GSH), and cysteinylglycine (CysGly) – in plasma samples of cystathionine β-synthase (CBS, EC 188.8.131.52)-deficient mice were quantified using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and fluorescence detection. Mice deficient in CBS provide a model mouse of homocystinuria, an inherited metabolic disease characterized by the abnormal accumulation of Hcy in urine and blood. For quantification, the thiols were derivatized with ammonium 7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole-4-sulfonate (SBD-F), followed by separation with an amide column containing a mobile phase of acetonitrile–40 mM ammonium formate buffer (pH 3.0) (75/25, v/v). The total concentrations of Hcy in the plasma samples of CBS-wild type (-WT), -heterozygous (-Hetero), and -knockout (-KO) mice were 24.7, 29.3, and 237.7 μmol/L, respectively; 236.4, 178.7, and 78.5 μmol/L for Cys; 5.80, 4.87, and 0.75 μmol/L for γ GluCys; 64.6, 74.0, and 51.2 μmol/L for GSH; and 2.48, 3.98, and 0.90 μmol/L for CysGly. The concentration of Hcy was significantly increased, while Cys, γ GluCys, and CysGly concentrations were significantly decreased in CBS-KO mice compared to those in CBS-WT mice. The results indicated that biological thiols other than Hcy could also be utilized for the evaluation and investigation of homocystinuria pathologies.


Lake surface water temperatures are warming worldwide, raising concerns about the future integrity of valuable lake ecosystem services. In contrast to surface water temperatures, we know far less about what is happening to water temperature beneath the surface, where most organisms live. Moreover, we know little about which characteristics make lakes more or less sensitive to climate change and other environmental stressors. We examined changes in lake thermal structure for 231 lakes across northeastern North America (NENA), a region with an exceptionally high density of lakes. We determined how lake thermal structure has changed in recent decades (1975–2012) and assessed which lake characteristics are related to changes in lake thermal structure. In general, NENA lakes had increasing near-surface temperatures and thermal stratification strength. On average, changes in deepwater temperatures for the 231 lakes were not significantly different than zero, but individually, half of the lakes experienced warming and half cooling deepwater temperature through time. More transparent lakes (Secchi transparency >5 m) tended to have higher near-surface warming and greater increases in strength of thermal stratification than less transparent lakes. Whole-lake warming was greatest in polymictic lakes, where frequent summer mixing distributed heat throughout the water column. Lakes often function as important sentinels of climate change, but lake characteristics within and across regions modify the magnitude of the signal with important implications for lake biology, ecology and chemistry.


This ground-breaking edited collection explores the challenges of preserving complex digital objects such as simulations, visualizations, digital art and video games. Drawing on the outputs of the JISC-funded Preservation of Complex Objects (POCOS) symposia, enhanced with specialist pathfinder solutions, this book covers topics such as the legal and technical challenges of preservation, curation and authority, and digital archaeology. Written by international experts from a broad background of library, collecting institutions, information and computer science, and digital preservation backgrounds, this collection showcases the state of the art of the discipline and brings together stakeholder perspectives from across the preservation community.


Background: Modern telecommunication infrastructure enables bridging of the digital divide between rural and urban healthcare services, promoting the provision of suitable medical care and support. Thus far, there has been some positive impacts to applying mobile health (m-Health) solutions, but their full potential in relation to cloud computing has is yet to be realised. It is imperative to develop an innovative approach for addressing the digital divide in a context of developing country. Method: Adopting a design science research approach (DSR), this study describes an innovative m-Health solution utilising cloud computing that enables healthcare professionals and women in rural areas to achieve comprehensive maternal healthcare support. We developed the solution framework through iterative prototyping with stakeholders' participation, and evaluated the design using focus groups. Results: The cloud-based solution was positively evaluated as supporting healthcare professionals and service providers. It was perceived to help provide a virtual presence for evaluating and diagnosing expectant mothers' critical healthcare data, medical history, and in providing necessary service support in a virtual clinic environment. Conclusions: The new application offers benefits to target stakeholders enabling a new practice-based paradigm applicable in other healthcare management. We demonstrated utilities to address target problems as well as the mechanism propositions for meeting the information exchange demand for better realisation of practical needs of the end users.


We present an experimental investigation of a radiofrequency amplifier based on a bicrystal highdc SQUID designed for the frequency range 500–3000 MHz. The SQUID input coil comprises only one layer of a normal metal forming open-ended microstrip line. Both dc and microwave properties were investigated and analyzed. Maximum power gain was found to be 16 dB at 520 MHz for a SQUID with 8 turn input coil.


Connection requests for data-intensive applications can require a specific start time and end time/ duration when they are submitted. With the additional time domain information, cost-efficient connections can be established. In this paper, we propose two capital expenditure (CapEx) optimized approaches: the multilayer (ML) approach and a transponder/regenerator reuse (TRR) approach. Integer linear programming (ILP) is used to formulate the routing, wavelength assignment, and regenerator/multiplexer placement problem in a complex multilayer optical network to provide lower bounds for the optimized CapEx value. Due to the time and space complexity of ILP when it deals with large networks and traffic demands, we also propose a greedy heuristic and a tabu-search (TS) heuristic to solve the same problem in a less time- and resource-consuming manner. Finally, we compare the results in terms of computing time and optimized CapEx value across the ILP, greedy heuristic, and TS heuristic methods with the ML approaches for the Internet2 topology and a six-node ring topology. The performance of all three methods with the TRR approach is also tested with the same input traffic, which is composed of a mix of 10, 40, and 100 Gbps demands. The results show 30%¿40% less CapEx when comparing ML with TRR. Further, our TS heuristic performs better than the greedy heuristic, and it can achieve near-optimal results compared to the ILPs.


Hospitality: a social lens follows on from the unique contribution made by In Search of Hospitality: theoretical perspectives and debates. It progresses debate, challenges the boundaries of ways of knowing hospitality, and offers intellectual insights stimulated by the study of hospitality. The contributing authors provide tangible evidence of continuing advancement and development of knowledge pertaining to the phenomenon of hospitality. They draw on the richness of the social sciences, taking host and guest relations as a means of studying in-group and out-group relations with and between societies. The chapter contributors represent a multi-disciplinary, international grouping of leading academics with expertise in hospitality management and education, human resource management, linguistics, modern languages, gastronomy, history, human geography, art, architecture, anthropology, and sociology. Each lends their expertise to apply as a social lens through which to view, analyse, and explore hospitality within a range of contexts. Through this process novel ways of interpreting, knowing and sense-making emerge that are captured in the final chapter of the book, and have informed future research themes which are explored.


BACKGROUND
In the case of localized ridge atrophy, a ridge augmentation procedure, with the use of bone substitutes and barrier membranes, may then be necessary.

PURPOSE
The aim of the present study was a clinical, histological, and immunohistochemical evaluation of an equine spongy bone in alveolar ridge augmentation procedures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Five patients showing horizontal mandibular ridge defects participated in this study. A ridge augmentation was performed through an onlay apposition of equine bone covered by a titanium-reinforced membrane. After 6 months of healing, five bone cores from nonaugmented sites (control) and five from augmented sites (test) were retrieved.

RESULTS
In test sites, no postoperative complications occurred. Horizontal bone width increased from 24 to 37 mm. In control sites, the newly formed bone represented 33%, and in test sites, 35% of the total area. The mean value of the microvessel density was 25.6 +/- 3.425 per mm(2) in controls, while 33.3 +/- 2.5 vessels per mm(2) in the test sites were found (p < .05). Both groups showed a high intensity (++) of vascular endothelial growth factor expression in the newly formed bone, while a low intensity (+) was found in the mature bone.

CONCLUSION
Equine bone appeared to be biocompatible and to be associated with new vessel ingrowth. Within the limits of the small sample size, the present study indicated that equine bone could be used in mandibular ridge augmentations.


Immunisation is one of the most important weapons used to protect individuals and the community from serious diseases. In South Africa, an expanded programme on immunisation (EPI) starts at birth with the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG), and an attenuated oral polio vaccine (OPV). In certain circumstances, a hepatitis B vaccine may also be given at birth. In this article, we will focus on the indications, administration, adverse effects and precautions associated with use of the OPV and BCG vaccinations.


Many forms of consumption tax, including recent proposals to impose a tax on the use of carbon, impose disproportionate burdens on the poor. Commentators who propose mitigating this impact with tax rebates for low-income families have overlooked the importance of the timing of consumption for these households, as well as the difficulties of "smoothing" income from one time period to another. We survey a wide array of evidence suggesting that poor households lack affordable mechanisms for both borrowing and saving, such that a lump-sum rebate, or even monthly rebates, would not leave the household as well off as they were in the absence of any tax. In addition, we show that the cognitive features of a rebate will be problematic for short-sighted households - those who heavily favor the present over the future. For example, they may impatiently spend rebates too quickly, leaving little money for later necessities, and potentially increasing overall carbon usage. And they likely will procrastinate both learning how to overcome these problems, as well as putting off investing in less carbon-intensive goods. We do not, however, argue against carbon pricing. Instead, we offer new methods of structuring taxes and rebates to overcome these problems. For instance, we suggest that rebates be offered on a "self-directed" debit card, subject to a sticky default cap on weekly withdrawals. This implement "nudges" short-sighted households away from impatience, while offering affordable credit and modern banking to all. These same mechanisms can be used for other forms of transactional consumption taxes, such as state sales taxes or a possible national value-added tax.


The object of this research is to determine whether
U.S. commercial banks could have predicted in advance the
debt crises of the developing countries, i.e., whether a
particular LDC would reschedule or default on its loans. A
secondary purpose was to determine whether the debt crisis
was the fault of the banks or the developing countries who
reneged on their loan contracts. What do the banks have to
do to prevent this from happening? What do they have to do
to manage country risk effectively?

The study begins with a historical account of the
United States banking system to the period of debt
rescheduling by the LDCs. It continues by describing the
different types of risks in international banking. Next it
discusses the theoretical issues of LDC debt, including
sustainability of debt policy, optimal level of country
borrowing, optimal bank foreign lending, and credit
rationing by the banks. This is followed by a description
of the regulatory aspects of country risk management.
The important issue of country risk management by U.S.
banks is next, including a discussion of the various
assessment methods used and a review of the major empirical
studies that used econometric methods for predicting the
incidence of external debt defaults.

The empirical research investigates debt rescheduling
by less developed countries. Linear discriminant function
and logistic discrimination approaches were used to
determine the predictive ability of any particular subset
of economic variables. The sample comprises data on 37
countries over a period of 10 years, 1974-1983. This
period was chosen because it was a time of important
economic transition.

The results of the discriminant and logistic analyses
show modest discriminatory power for predicting the
rescheduling of debt of a country with the set of economic
predictors used.


Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis, in part due to lack of early detection. The identification of circulating tumor antigens or their related autoantibodies provides a means for early cancer diagnosis. We have used a proteomic approach to identify proteins that commonly induce a humoral response in pancreatic cancer. Proteins from a pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line (Panc-1) were subjected to two-dimensional PAGE, followed by Western blot analysis in which individual sera were tested for autoantibodies. Sera from 36 newly diagnosed patients with pancreatic cancer, 18 patients with chronic pancreatitis and 15 healthy subjects were analyzed. Autoantibodies were detected against a protein identified by mass spectrometry as vimentin, in sera from 16/36 patients with pancreatic cancer (44.4%). Only one of 18 chronic pancreatitis patients and none of the healthy controls exhibited reactivity against this vimentin isoform. Interestingly, none of several other isoforms of vimentin detectable in 2-D gels exhibited reactivity with patient sera. Vimentin protein expression levels were investigated by comparing the integrated intensity of spots visualized in 2-D PAGE gels of various cancers. Pancreatic tumor tissues showed greater than a 3-fold higher expression of total vimentin protein than did the lung, colon, and ovarian tumors that were analyzed. The specific antigenic isoform was found at 5–10 fold higher levels. The detection of autoantibodies to this specific isoform of vimentin may have utility for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.


Historians have documented rising farm sizes throughout the period 1450–1850. Existing studies have revealed much about the mechanisms underlying the development of agrarian capitalism. However, we currently lack any consensus as to when the critical developments occurred. This is largely due to the absence of sufficiently large and geographically wide-ranging datasets but is also attributable to conceptual weaknesses in much of the literature. This article develops a new approach to the problem and argues that agrarian capitalism was dominant in southern and eastern England by 1700 but that in northern England the critical developments came later.


This research focuses on ePortfolio assessment strategies that yield important accountability and reporting information. Under foundational categories of reliability, validity, and fairness, we present methods of gathering evidence from ePortfolio scores and their relationship to demographic information (gender, race/ethnicity, and socio-economic status) and criterion variables (admission tests and course grades) as a means for stakeholders to ensure that all students, especially traditionally underserved students, strengthen their connection to the academy. Data is drawn from two sources: University of Idaho first-year writing program's ePortfolio student certification assessment (n = 1208) and its relationship to the State of Idaho's K-20 longitudinal data collection system; and New Jersey Institute of Technology's longitudinal ePortfolio-based first-year writing program assessment (n = 210). Following results and discussion of these two case studies, we conclude by offering guidelines for quantitative reporting based on fairness as a framework for integrative and principled action.


Reading Television was the first book to push the boundaries of television studies beyond the insights offered by cultural studies and textual analysis, creating a vibrant new field of study. Using the tools and techniques in this book, it is possible for everyone with a television set to analyze both the programmes, and the culture which produces them.
In this edition, Hartley reflects on recent developments in television studies, and includes suggestions for further reading. His new foreword underlines the continuing relevance of this foundational text in the study of contemporary culture.


We use the GISS global climate model to make a preliminary estimate of Mount Pinatubo's climate impact. Assuming the aerosol optical depth is nearly twice as great as for the 1982 El Chichon eruption, the model forecasts a dramatic but temporary break in recent global warming trends. The simulations indicate that Pinatubo occurred too late in the year to prevent 1991 from becoming one of the warmest years in instrumental records, but intense aerosol cooling is predicted to begin late in 1991 and to maximize late in 1992. The predicted cooling is sufficiently large that by mid 1992 it should even overwhelm global warming associated with an El Nino that appears to be developing, but the El Nino could shift the time of minimum global temperature into 1993. The model predicts a return to record warm levels in the later 1990s. We estimate the effect of the predicted global cooling on such practical matters as the severity of the coming Soviet winter and the dates of cherry blossoming next spring, and discuss caveats which must accompany these preliminary simulations.


The ability of integrating into a unified percept sensory inputs deriving from different sensory modalities, but related to the same external event, is called multisensory integration and might represent an efficient mechanism of sensory compensation when a sensory modality is damaged by a cortical lesion. This hypothesis has been discussed in the present dissertation. Experiment 1 explored the role of superior colliculus (SC) in multisensory integration, testing patients with collicular lesions, patients with subcortical lesions not involving the SC and healthy control subjects in a multisensory task. The results revealed that patients with collicular lesions, paralleling the evidence of animal studies, demonstrated a loss of multisensory enhancement, in contrast with control subjects, providing the first lesional evidence in humans of the essential role of SC in mediating audio-visual integration. Experiment 2 investigated the role of cortex in mediating multisensory integrative effects, inducing virtual lesions by inhibitory theta-burst stimulation on temporo-parietal cortex, occipital cortex and posterior parietal cortex, demonstrating that only temporo-parietal cortex was causally involved in modulating the integration of audio-visual stimuli at the same spatial location. Given the involvement of the retino-colliculo-extrastriate pathway in mediating audio-visual integration, the functional sparing of this circuit in hemianopic patients is extremely relevant in the perspective of a multisensory-based approach to the recovery of unisensory defects. Experiment 3 demonstrated the spared functional activity of this circuit in a group of hemianopic patients, revealing the presence of implicit recognition of the fearful content of unseen visual stimuli (i.e. affective blindsight), an ability mediated by the retino-colliculo-extrastriate pathway and its connections with amygdala. Finally, Experiment 4 provided evidence that a systematic audio-visual stimulation is effective in inducing long-lasting clinical improvements in patients with visual field defect and revealed that the activity of the spared retino-colliculo-extrastriate pathway is responsible of the observed clinical amelioration, as suggested by the greater improvement observed in patients with cortical lesions limited to the occipital cortex, compared to patients with lesions extending to other cortical areas, found in tasks high demanding in terms of spatial orienting. Overall, the present results indicated that multisensory integration is mediated by the retino-colliculo-extrastriate pathway and that a systematic audio-visual stimulation, activating this spared neural circuit, is able to affect orientation towards the blind field in hemianopic patients and, therefore, might constitute an effective and innovative approach for the rehabilitation of unisensory visual impairments.


The present study investigated the mechanisms of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and the differences in the experience of pain during the act. In particular, the study investigated the potential explanations as to why some individuals experience pain during NSSI whereas others report an absence of pain during the act. Of particular interest was the impact of dissociative experiences and a history of trauma on the experience of pain during NSSI. A personalised, staged guided imagery methodology was employed to assess the psychological and psychophysiological reactions of 20 individuals with a history of NSSI. Furthermore, a cold pressor test was used to investigate individual"s responses to painful stimuli. Unexpectedly, both individuals who do and do not feel pain during the act experienced a consistent pattern and strength of tension reduction following NSSI. Additionally, when investigating responses to painful stimuli in individuals who do and do not feel pain during NSSI, there were no significant differences in threshold, tolerance or perception of pain. When considering the impact of dissociation on the experience of pain during NSSI (n = 30), contrary to the hypothesis, there were no differences in the strength or frequency of individuals" dissociative experiences. The relationship between trauma and pain during NSSI was then investigated in 52 individuals. It was found that individuals who experience a lack of pain during NSSI reported significantly more childhood abuse and trauma, higher levels of neglect and punishment, and a more negative home environment than individuals who feel pain during the act. The results add to the literature on, and provide interesting insights into the complex relationship between childhood abuse and trauma, NSSI and pain.


We introduce agents that use object-oriented reasoning to consider alternate states of the world in order to more quickly find solutions to problems. Specifically, a hierarchical controller directs a low-level agent to behave as if objects in the scene were added, deleted, or modified. The actions taken by the controller are defined over a graph-based representation of the scene, with actions corresponding to adding, deleting, or editing the nodes of a graph. We present preliminary results on three environments, demonstrating that our approach can achieve similar levels of reward as non-hierarchical agents, but with better data efficiency.


IL15 and costimulatory receptors of the tumor necrosis superfamily (TNFRSF) have shown great potential to support and drive an antitumor immune response. However, their efficacy as monotherapy is limited. Here, we present the development of a novel format for a trifunctional antibody-fusion protein that combines and focuses the activity of IL15/TNFSF-ligand in a targeting-mediated manner to the tumor site. The previously reported format consisted of a tumor-directed antibody (scFv), IL15 linked to an IL15Rα-fragment (RD), and the extracellular domain of 4-1BBL, where noncovalent trimerization of 4-1BBL into its functional unit led to a homotrimeric molecule with 3 antibody and 3 IL15-RD units. To reduce the size and complexity of the molecule, we have now designed a second format, where 4-1BBL is introduced as single-chain (sc), that is 3 consecutively linked 4-1BBL ectodomains. Thus, a monomeric trifunctional fusion protein presenting only 1 functional unit of each component was generated. Interestingly, the in vitro activity on T-cell stimulation was conserved or even enhanced for the soluble and target-bound molecule, respectively. Also, in a lung tumor mouse model, comparable antitumor effects were observed. Furthermore, corroborating the concept, OX40L and GITRL were also successfully incorporated into the novel single-chain format and the advantage of target-bound trifunctional versus corresponding combined bifunctional fusion proteins demonstrated by measuring T-cell proliferation and cytotoxic potential in vitro and antitumor effects of RD_IL15_scFv_scGITRL in a lung tumor mouse model in vivo. Thus, the trifunctional antibody-fusion protein single-chain format constitutes a promising innovative platform for further therapeutic developments.


To understand the relevance of marketing efforts, it has become standard practice to estimate the long-run and short-run effects of the marketing-mix, using, say, weekly scanner data. A common vehicle for this purpose is an econometric time series model. Issues that are addressed in the literature are unit roots, cointegration, structural breaks and impulse response functions. In this paper we summarize the most important concepts by reviewing all possible empirical cases that can be encountered in practice using a prototypical model. We provide guidelines for practitioners, and illustrate these for a detailed workedout example.


A ground blizzard occurred from 16 to 18 November 1996 in the northern sectors of the Mackenzie River basin of Canada and the adjacent Beaufort Sea. This hazardous event, accompanied by a low-level jet with wind speeds approaching 20 m s21 and extensive blowing snow near the surface (but clear sky aloft), is forced by a strong sea level pressure gradient that forms between a rapidly intensifying anticyclone over the Nunavut and Northwest Territories of Canada and an intense depression over the frozen Arctic Ocean. The event is first simulated at a horizontal grid size of 18 km using the uncoupled Canadian Mesoscale Compressible Community (MC2) model. This experiment is shown to capture the rapid anticyclogenesis event within 2 hPa of its central sea level pressure and the blizzard conditions near the Canadian Arctic coastline and the Beaufort Sea. Meteorological conditions observed at Trail Valley Creek (TVC), a small Arctic tundra watershed in which ground blizzard conditions were experienced during the event, are also accurately reproduced by the uncoupled simulation with the notable exception of the blowing snow process. Thus, the mesoscale model is then coupled to the ''PIEKTUK'' blowing snow model, and a second simulation is conducted. This additional experiment reveals the presence of extensive blowing snow associated with a strong low-level jet over TVC and the adjacent frozen Beaufort Sea. Over the 2-day event, blowing snow sublimation and transport combined to erode 1.6 mm snow water equivalent from the surface mass balance of TVC. The concurrent moistening and cooling of near-surface air due to blowing snow sublimation emerge during the blizzard but to a lesser extent than in an idealized modeling framework, as a consequence of entrainment and advective processes. Therefore, blowing snow sublimation rates are evaluated to be 1.8 times larger than in the stand-alone application of the PIEKTUK model to the same data.


In this paper, we describe a tangible interface that can realize touch operations on a physical object. We printed physical objects that have conductive striped patterns using a multi-material 3D printer. The ExtensionSticker technique allows the user to operate capacitive touch-panel devices by tapping, scrolling, and swiping the physical object. By shaping the structure of conductive wiring inside a physical object, a variety of interfaces can be realized. We examined the conditions for using our proposed method on touch-panel devices.


Typical social networking functionalities such as feed following are known to be hard to scale. Different from the popular approach that sacrifices consistency for scalability, in this paper we describe, implement, and evaluate a method that can simultaneously achieve scalability and consistency in feed following applications built on shared-nothing distributed systems. Timing and client-side processing are the keys to this approach. Assuming global time is available at all the clients and servers, the distributed servers publish a pre-agreed upon schedule based on which the continuously committed updates are periodically released for read. This opens up opportunities for caching and client-side processing, and leads to scalability improvements. This approach trades freshness for scalability.

Following this approach, we build a twitter-style feed following application and evaluate it on a following network with about 200,000 users under synthetic workloads. The resulting system exhibits linear scalability in our experiment. With 6 low-end cloud instances costing a total of no more than $1.2 per hour, we recorded a peak timeline query rate at about 10 million requests per day, under a fixed update rate of 1.6 million new tweets per day. The maximum staleness of the responses is 5 seconds. The performance achieved sufficiently verifies the feasibility of this approach, and provides an alternative to build small to medium size social networking applications on the cheap.