The aim of this project was to study possible influences of Turner syndrome (TS) karyotype and the number of X chromosomes with intact short arm (p-arm) on dental crown width. Primary and permanent mesio-distal crown width was measured on plaster casts from 112 TS females. The influence on crown width of four karyotypes: 1. monosomy (45,X), 2. mosaic (45,X/46,XX), 3. isochromosome, and 4. other, and the number of intact X chromosomal p-arms were investigated. In comparisons between karyotypes, statistically significant differences were found for isochromosome karyotype maxillary second premolars, canines, laterals, mandibular first premolars, and canines, indicating that this karyotype was the most divergent as shown by the most reduced crown width. When each karyotype group were compared versus controls, all teeth in the isochromosome group were significantly smaller than controls (P < 0.01-0.001). The 45,X/46,XX karyotype expressed fewer and smaller differences from controls, while 45,X individuals seemed to display an intermediate tooth width compared with 45,X/46,XX and isochromosomes. No significant difference in crown width was found comparing the groups with one or two intact X chromosomal p-arms. Both primary and permanent teeth proved to have a significantly smaller crown width in the entire group of TS females compared to healthy females. We conclude that the isochromosome group deviates most from other karyotypes and controls, exhibiting the smallest dental crown width, while individuals with 45,X/46,XX mosaicism seemed to have a less affected crown width. An influence of the number of intact p-arms on crown width could not be demonstrated in this study.


This book, a compilation of conference proceedings from the 2002 Conference of the same name held at the University of Melbourne, presents fresh insights into the continuing debate of the package of law confronting our modern times conveniently (and, as the book points out, taxonomically) described as 'The Law of Obligations'. This book review is available in Bond Law Review: http://epublications.bond.edu.au/blr/vol17/iss1/7 120 THE LAW OF OBLIGATIONS: CONNECTIONS AND BOUNDARIES Edited by Andrew Robertson Cavendish Publishing Limited, 2004, 201 pp


Decades of research have gone into the optimization of physical designs, query execution, and related tools for relational databases. These techniques and tools make it possible for non-expert users to make effective use of relational database management systems. However, the drive for flexible data models and increased scalability has spawned a new generation of data management systems which largely eschew the relational model. These include systems such as NoSQL databases and distributed analytics frameworks such as Apache Spark which make use of a diverse set of data models. Optimization techniques and tools developed for relational data do not directly apply in this setting. This leaves developers making use of these systems with the need to become intimately familiar with system details to obtain good performance. We present techniques and tools for physical design for non-relational data systems. We explore two settings: NoSQL database systems and distributed analytics frameworks. While NoSQL databases often avoid explicit schema definitions, many choices on how to structure data remain. These choices can have a significant impact on application performance. The data structuring process normally requires expert knowledge of the underlying database. We present the NoSQL Schema Evaluator (NoSE). Given a target workload, NoSE provides an optimized physical design for NoSQL database applications which compares favourably to schemas designed by expert users. To enable existing applications to benefit from conceptual modeling, we also present an algorithm to recover a logical model from a denormalized database instance. Our second setting is distributed analytics frameworks such as Apache Spark. As is the case for NoSQL databases, expert knowledge of Spark is often required to construct efficient data pipelines. In NoSQL systems, a key challenge is how to structure stored data, while in Spark, a key challenge is how to cache intermediate results. We examine a particularly common scenario in Spark which involves performing iterative analysis on an input dataset. We show that jobs written in an intuitive manner using existing Spark APIs can have poor performance. We propose ReSpark, which automates caching decisions for iterative Spark analyses. Like NoSE, ReSpark makes it possible for non-expert users to obtain good performance from a non-relational data system.


Abstract The Rhodopian Orogen developed since the Late Cretaceous–early Eocene during accretionary processes following the closure of the Vardar ocean basin, a branch of Neotethys. Through a multidisciplinary approach, including sandstone petrology and geochemistry of the clastic and volcanoclastic sediments, we reconstruct the unroofing history of the Rhodopian orogen and characterize the formation and the evolution of the western portions of the Thrace basin, in Greece and Bulgaria, between the late Eocene and Oligocene. Detrital modes of 127 sandstone samples provide evidence of three distinctive petrofacies: quartzolithic, quartzofeldspathic, and volcanoclastic. The petrographic composition gives evidence of contributions from three key source areas corresponding to the three main tectonic units: the Circum-Rhodope Belt, the Variegated Complex (ultramafic complex), and the Gneiss–Migmatite Complex. The three petrofacies reflect multiple provenance from different tectonic settings as they evolve from quartzolithic to quartzofeldspathic to volcanoclastic, corresponding to collisional orogen, crustal block uplift, and volcanic arc settings, respectively. Geochemical data on major elements and trace elements are used to discuss the efficacy of tectonic-setting discrimination diagrams and compare them to the Dickinson model as well as to distinguish and characterize (i) petrographically homogeneous gneiss-supplied subbasins and (ii) volcanic contributions to sandstone composition. Multivariate statistical techniques are used to unravel the complex web of factors controlling sediment composition. Biplot analysis highlights the influence of two independent processes: (1) mixing between carbonate and silicate phases, and (2) evolution from mafic to felsic source rocks. The latter indicates progressively increasing supply rates from deeper crustal levels. The compositional evolution of the sandstone suites of Thrace basin in NE Greece and SE Bulgaria is strictly related to various geodynamic stages of the Rhodope region. Provenance analysis of Thrace sandstones provide an example of the changing nature of orogenic belt sand associate basins through time, and may contribute to the general understanding of similar geodynamic settings.


The geometric or anatomic diagnosis of mitral valve prolapse, as opposed to the pathologic diagnosis of myxomatous valve disease, is based on the relationship of the mitral leaflets to the surrounding anulus. Current echocardiographic criteria for this diagnosis include leaflet displacement above the annular hinge points in any two-dimensional view; implicit in this equivalent use of intersecting views is the assumption that the mitral anulus is a euclidean plane. Prolapse by these criteria is found in a surprisingly large proportion of the general population. In most of these individuals, however, prolapse is present in the apical four-chamber view and absent in roughly orthogonal long-axis views of the left ventricle. This frequently observed discrepancy between leaflet-annular relationships in intersecting views suggests an underlying geometric property of the mitral apparatus that would produce the appearance of prolapse in one view without actual leaflet distortion. To address this possibility, a model of the mitral valve and anulus was constructed. When the model anulus was given a nonplanar, saddle-shaped configuration, the clinical observations were reproduced: the leaflets appeared to lie above the low points of the anulus in one plane, and below its high points in a perpendicular plane. Therefore, the appearance of mitral valve prolapse can occur without actual leaflet displacement above the most superior points of the mitral anulus if the anulus is nonplanar. To determine whether this pattern is reflected in the human mitral anulus, two-dimensional echocardiographic views of the mitral apparatus were obtained by rotation about the cardiac apex in 20 patients without evident annular or rheumatic valvular disease. In all cases the mitral anulus, as reconstructed from these views, had a nonplanar systolic configuration, with high points located anteriorly and posteriorly. This is consistent with the findings of other groups in animals, and would favor the appearance of prolapse in the four-chamber view and its absence in long-axis views that are oriented anteroposteriorly. This model can therefore explain the frequently observed discrepancy between leaflet-annular relationships in roughly orthogonal views. It challenges the assumption that the mitral anulus is planar as well as the diagnosis of prolapse in many otherwise normal individuals based on that assumption.


Analysis of magnetic fluctuations is important for understanding the magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) properties of fusion plasmas. These properties affect nearly all aspects of behaviour of magnetic confinement, and thus are of interest in topics ranging from global plasma stability, control, and disruption avoidance, to more subtle areas such as MHD spectroscopy. Mode number analysis is generally accomplished by interpreting signals from a finite number of Mirnov coils, which typically are unevenly spaced in the spatial coordinates. Many aspects of the MHD spectroscopy technique rely specifically on the precise determination of the toroidal (n) and poloidal (m) mode numbers. Moreover, in fusion plasmas it is often of further benefit to be able to perform such analysis in "real–time", i.e. using a clock-rate of the order of 1ms. The variety of methods in common use to determine the spatial structure of MHD phenomena in fusion plasmas from magnetic measurements is quite small. Traditionally, the linear phase fitting, the Fourier decomposition, the Lomb periodogram and fitting techniques such as the Wigner and Choi-Williams distributions have been proposed. More recently, Singular Value Decomposition and wavelets have also been used regularly. However, all these techniques suffer variously from at least one between these four main limitations: (1) the phase relation between the in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) components of the measured (complex) fluctuations is not always conserved (Wigner, Choi-Williams distributions); (2) multiple degenerate harmonics are not correctly treated (linear phase fitting, Fourier decomposition, Lomb periodogram, Wigner and Choi-Williams distributions); (3) uniform sampling is assumed (Fourier decomposition, Lomb periodogram); (4) a truly blind analysis is very CPU-time consuming, hence it is not suitable for real-time applications (wavelets, SVD). On the other hand, the problem of finding periodic waveforms in unevenly sampled data is ubiquitous in the field of astronomy, where much work has been done. It is easily seen that temporal frequencies in astronomical data correspond to spatial mode numbers in fusion plasmas, and that unevenly sampled data in time domain are the analog of data from unevenly distributed Mirnov sensors in the toroidal and poloidal coordinates. However, in astronomy, the frequencies sought are allowed to take on any value, while periodic boundaries in fusion devices ensure that only modes with integer mode numbers exist. Since all astronomical data is unevenly sampled (due to weather conditions and the earth rotation), considerable effort has gone into the problem of improving upon the limitations of the classic Lomb periodogram. Recently, a new method for fitting sinusoids to irregularly sampled data was proposed, based on the principle of sparse representation of signals: this is implemented in the SparSpec code (available at: http://www.ast.obs-mip.fr/softwares). As the analysis of MHD fluctuations data from the JET tokamak will show, this method has proven to be far superior to other methods in terms of accuracy and computational speed of the calculation, so much so that in fact it has recently been implemented for real-time detection of toroidal mode numbers for the active MHD spectroscopy diagnostic system in JET. Further application of the SparSpec analysis method to the design of the high-frequency magnetic diagnostic system for ITER will be discussed, with a view to develop ideas for future collaborative activities.


Apriori based Association Rule Mining (ARM) is one of the data mining techniques used to extract hidden knowledge from datasets that can be used by an organization's decision makers to improve overall profit. Performing Existing association mining algorithms requires repeated passes over the entire database. Obviously, for large database, the role of input/output overhead in scanning the database is very significant. We propose a new algorithm, which would mine frequent item sets with vertical format. The new algorithm would need to scan database one time. And in the follow-up data mining process, it can get new frequent item sets through 'and operation' between item sets. The new algorithm needs less storage space, and can improve the efficiency of data mining.


Artificial intelligence has progressed to the point where multiple cognitive capabilities are being integrated into computational architectures, such as SOAR, PRODIGY, THEO, and ICARUS. This paper reports on the PRODIGY architecture, describing its planning and problem solving capabilities and touching upon its multiple learning methods. Learning in PRODIGY occurs at all decision points and integration in PRODIGY is at the knowledge level; the learning and reasoning modules produce mutually interpretable knowledge structures. Issues in architectural design are discussed, providing a context to examine the underlying tenets of the PRODIGY architecture.


Recent diversification of the telecommunications industry has resulted in the adaptation of optical materials and their associated fabrication technologies for use in the bioanalytical sensor industry. Flame hydrolysis deposited (FHD) planar silica is one such material. Capable of producing high quality films for optical waveguides, the chemical inertness of the deposited silica makes it an ideal substrate from which to fabricate a biological fluorescence sensor. The aim of the work contained in this thesis was to utilise the FHD silica in optical - fluorescence sensors suitable for use at visible and in particular red wavelengths where several fluorophores can be excited, and background fluorescence from the silica is small. New technologies for producing waveguides have been evaluated in the context of their usefulness in optical sensors, with the intention of producing devices with as few fabrication steps as possible to reduce fabrication time and cost. The design, fabrication and testing of a number of sensor configurations is described, in which optical waveguides were interfaced with microfluidic chambers to provide excitation of a fiuorophore in solution. New waveguide fabrication technologies were used for the first time in sensor systems with integrated microfluidic circuits. Waveguides, written by electron beam densification were evaluated in terms of their performance in splitting an excitation signal into several different components, as would be appropriate for excitation of multiple microfluidic chambers - an 'array sensor'. Both Y-branch waveguides and multimode interference (MMI) splitters were successfully used to split the excitation signal. In addition to electron beam densification, UV irradiation at a wavelength of 157 nm was used to write waveguides in FHD silica. The application of a metal surface mask to define the waveguide structures is described. To allow sensitive detection and identification of fluorophores from FHD silica sensor chips, a single chamber device was successfully interfaced to a system to make time resolved fluorescence measurements, a technique known as time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC). The use of TCSPC allowed measurement of the decay time of the fluorescent dye, by which different fluorescent molecules could be identified, as well as the possibility of low concentration measurements. The research has allowed new technologies for creating waveguides in FHD silica to be adapted for sensing purposes, leading to a platform for creating devices in a number of different configurations.


In the last few decades it has become abundantly clear how important is the "archaeology of the manuscript-book" in literary and textual scholarship. This method offers essential contexts for an editor's understanding of a manuscript, and helps to set the manuscript in the historical matrix in which the work was first brought out and understood.This group of papers, edited by two well-known scholars of the medieval world, offers both general and particular approaches to the issues surrounding manuscripts produced in the medieval habit of "miscellany," works of seemingly diverse natures bound together into one volume. Julia Boffey investigates how certain poetical miscellanies came to be assembled, for example, while Sylvia Huot suggests that the miscellany had many different sorts of function and significance. Siegfried Wenzel considers a taxonomy of such collections, and A. S. G. Edwards' paper considers Bodleian Selden B.24 as an example of how the notions of canon, authorship, and attribution might come into play. Ann Matter's final chapter offers the notion that what we call "miscellanies" are likely to have an internal logic that we have been trained to miss, but can come to understand. Other contributors are Ralph Hanna III, Georg Knauer, Stephen Nichols, James J. O'Donnell, and Barbara A. Shailor.Because "The Whole Book "deals not only with the content of miscellanies but also with contemporary literary principles, this volume will be of interest to a wide circle of literary critics and historians, as well as to students of the survival of literature and of cultural values.Stephen G. Nichols is James M. Beall Professor of French and Chair of the Department of French, The Johns Hopkins University. Siegfried Wenzel is Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania.


Laser tunability from 10 to 21 microm is obtained by use of an optical parametric oscillator based on a KTP crystal followed by a difference-frequency stage with a CdSe crystal. An all-solid-state picosecond Nd:YAG oscillator mode locked by a frequency-doubling nonlinear mirror is used for synchronous pumping.


Owing to advanced storage and communication capabilities today, smart devices have become the basic interface between individuals and their surrounding environment. In particular, massive devices connect to one other directly in a proximity area, thereby enabling abundant Proximity Services (ProSe), which can be classified into two categories: public safety communication and social discovery. However, two challenges impede the quick development and deployment of ProSe applications. From the viewpoint of networking, no multi-hop connectivity functionality component can be directly operated on commercially off-the-shelf devices, and from the programming viewpoint, an easily reusable development framework is lacking for developers with minimal knowledge of the underlying communication technologies and connectivity. Considering these two issues, this paper makes a twofold contribution. First, a multi-hop mesh networking based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is implemented, in which a proactive routing mechanism with link-quality (i.e., received signal strength indication) assistance is designed. Second, a ProSe development framework called BLE Mesh is designed and implemented, which can provide significant benefits for application developers, framework maintenance professionals, and end users. Rich application programming interfaces can help developers to build ProSe apps easily and quickly. Dependency inversion principle and template method pattern allow modules in BLE Mesh to be loosely coupled and easy to maintain and update. Callback mechanism enables modules to work smoothly together and automation processes such as registration, node discovery, and messaging are employed to offer nearly zero-configuration for end users. Finally, based on the designed ProSe development kit, a public safety communications app called QuoteSendApp is built to distribute emergency information in close area without Internet access. The process illustrates the easy usability of BLE Mesh to develop ProSe apps.


Gulls are highly opportunistic seabirds, and the exploitation of fishery discards has led to many population increases worldwide. We investigated the importance of fish in the diet of yellow-legged Larus michahellis and Audouin's gulls L. audouinii and assessed the influence of fishery discards on their feeding ecology. We collected pellets from 4 islands along the western Iberian coast during pre-breeding, breeding, and post-breeding seasons from 2014 to 2018. Stable isotopes (from adult blood, and chick and adult feathers) were used to investigate spatial, seasonal, and inter-annual differences in their feeding ecology. We used pellet, stable isotope (δ15N, δ13C, and δ34S), and biochemical (triglycerides, uric acid, total protein, and carotenoids in adult plasma) analyses to investigate their relationships with fish landings across the annual cycle. Results revealed that the fish species consumed by gulls matched those landed by local fisheries on all study islands, and there was a positive association of pelagic and demersal fish diets with fish landing quantities for 2 islands. δ34S values suggest different self-feeding and chick-provisioning strategies in relation to fisheries. δ15N values exhibited strong negative correlations with fish landings, and triglycerides were positively correlated with pelagic but not with demersal fish landing quantities, suggesting that gulls fed more on lower trophic level and higher energetic content pelagic fish than on demersal fish. Overall, our results based on several techniques suggest that gull feeding ecology was linked to fishery discards, which in view of the new EU landing obligation may have major implications for both gull populations across Europe.


Recent scholarship in law and corporate governance has focused on the board of directors as a site of inquiry and noted a shift in the board's animating philosophy. It is argued the board's role is evolving from that of a passive stamp of acquiescence to an agent of reform. The current emphasis on the board raises a foundational question. In the context of a globally competitive marketplace and the transnational knowledge society, what are the appropriate characteristics of a corporate director? And more pointedly, has the dominant normative discourse surrounding this question resulted in an exclusionary cultural monolith? Has it served to preserve existing status hierarchies/structures of identity privilege? This paper explores the intersections of Canadian corporate law/governance and race/gender. Part II illustrates the governance landscape in Canada vis-a-vis statistics on corporate board composition. In doing so, a culture of widespread homogeneity is revealed. Following this, I offer possible rationales for the figures with reference to the so-called "pool problem" and issues of implicit cognitive bias. With respect to the latter, I rely on psychological science literature in an attempt to explicate the cognitive processes and structures that inform corporate decision-making. Drawing on available identity narratives, I then consider how unconscious discrimination manifests itself in the everyday lives of subordinated groups within the corporation. In this section, I explore aspects of organizational socialization and the spaces in which identity-formation takes place. Part III examines attempts by commentators to cast board diversification in terms of organizational performance; in other words, the argument that a heterogeneous board correlates to a more profitable, value-generating business. I review the literature in order to establish whether this claim can, in fact, be empirically established. To the extent that it can, I suggest Canadian corporations may actually be perpetuating corporate cultures that stifle factors which might otherwise enable them to successfully leverage diversity. Further, while I acknowledge the market-based approach has value and is attractive as a political strategy, I also express reservations and contend that it should be employed with caution. In Part IV, I canvass potential avenues for reform. Most importantly, I argue that aspects of the legal culture and practice that shape corporate activity should be revisited. The current system - as it relates to the director nomination process, shareholder proposals and existing governance principles - may ultimately serve to facilitate board homogeneity and to undermine future diversification initiatives. In Part V, I delineate four underexplored areas for future research and offer concluding remarks. I suggest that issues of board composition should be of concern not just to those who are preoccupied with corporate governance, but also to those who are concerned by the human rights-related impacts of Canadian transnational corporate activity.


The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recommended the Penman-Monteith method as the single method for estimating reference evapotranspiration throughout the world. A disadvantage of the method, however, is its relatively high data requirement. Measurements of wind speed, humidity (or dew point temperature) and radiation tend to be the least available of the required parameters; therefore, the FAO has presented estimation procedures for these parameters. The purpose of this study was to evaluate estimation procedures for climate data to be used in the Penman-Monteith method for estimating long-term daily reference evapotranspiration, and to verify the accuracy of the procedures at four locations in Puerto Rico. Comparison of reference evapotranspiration determined by using the estimated and measured climate data shows reasonably good agreement. The methods presented in this paper are potentially valuable for calculating the long-term average daily reference evapotranspiration at any location in Puerto Rico. An example is provided to illustrate the use of the proposed estimation procedures for climate parameters. This study presents a comparison of reference evapotranspiration calculated by the Penman-Monteith method, with estimates previously made by using the Hargreaves-Samani method, for thirty-four locations in Puerto Rico. In addition, estimated peak evapotranspiration from the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) (now Natural Resources Conservation Service) Irrigation Guide for the Caribbean Area, the SCS Blaney-Criddle method and the Penman-Monteith method were compared for six vegetable crops at three locations in Puerto Rico. The results suggest that some irrigation systems may have been under-designed in terms of flow capacity in Puerto Rico.


At Google, experimentation is practically a mantra; we evaluate almost every change that potentially affects what our users experience. Such changes include not only obvious user-visible changes such as modifications to a user interface, but also more subtle changes such as different machine learning algorithms that might affect ranking or content selection. Our insatiable appetite for experimentation has led us to tackle the problems of how to run more experiments, how to run experiments that produce better decisions, and how to run them faster. In this paper, we describe Google's overlapping experiment infrastructure that is a key component to solving these problems. In addition, because an experiment infrastructure alone is insufficient, we also discuss the associated tools and educational processes required to use it effectively. We conclude by describing trends that show the success of this overall experimental environment. While the paper specifically describes the experiment system and experimental processes we have in place at Google, we believe they can be generalized and applied by any entity interested in using experimentation to improve search engines and other web applications.


Preface. 1. Introduction. 1.1 Why? Further reading. 2. Water, a remarkable unremarkable substance. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 The molecular properties of water and their physical consequences. 2.3 How much water is there and where is it? 2.4 Patterns in hydrology. 2.5 Bodies of water and their temperatures. 2.5.1 Lakes and latitude. 2.6 Viscosity of water, fluid dynamics and the diffusion of gases. 2.6.1 Diffusion. Further reading. 3. Why the chemistry of water is so important. 3.1 Introduction. 3.1.1 Polar and covalent compounds. 3.2 The atmosphere. 3.3 Major ions. 3.4 Global patterns in major ions: glaciation and endorheism. 3.5 Open and closed basins. 3.6 The big picture. Further reading. 4. More water chemistry: the key nutrients, trace elements and organic matter. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Concepts of limiting substances. 4.3 Nutrients. 4.4 Phosphorus. 4.5 Nitrogen. 4.6 Pristine concentrations. 4.7 Trace elements and silicon. 4.8 Organic substances. 4.8.1 Patterns in DOM availability. 4.9 Substance budgets. 4.10 Sediment water relationships. Further reading. 5. Light thrown upon the waters. 5.1 Light. 5.2 From above to under the water. 5.3 From physics and chemistry to biology. Further reading. 6. Evolution and diversity of freshwater organisms. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 The ecological theatre and the evolutionary play. 6.3 The freshwater biota. 6.4 Living in freshwaters. 6.5 Dispersal among freshwaters. 6.6 Patterns in freshwater diversity. 6.7 The fish of Lake Victoria. 6.8 Low diversity freshwater habitats. 6.9 A summary of the freshwater biota and its problems. Further reading. 7. Headwater streams and rivers. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 General models of stream ecosystems. 7.3 A basic lesson in stream flow. 7.4 Flow and discharge. 7.5 Laminar and turbulent flow. 7.6 Particles carried. 7.7 The response of stream organisms to shear stress. 7.8 Community composition in streams. 7.8.1 Algal and plant communities. 7.8.2 Macroinvertebrates. 7.9 Streams in cold climates: the polar and alpine zones. 7.10 Stream systems in the cold temperate zone. 7.11 Warm temperate streams. 7.12 Desert streams. 7.13 Tropical streams. Further reading. 8. Uses, misuses and restoration of headwater streams and rivers. 8.1 Traditional use of headwater river systems. 8.2 Deforestation. 8.3 Acidification. 8.4 Eutrophication. 8.5 Commercial afforestation. 8.6 Settlement. 8.7 Engineering impacts. 8.8 Alterations of the fish community by man. 8.9 Sewage, toxic pollution and their treatment. 8.10 Diffuse pollution. 8.11 River monitoring. 8.12 The Water Framework Directive. 8.13 Implementation of the Directive. 8.14 Wider considerations: ecosystem services. 8.15 Restoration, rehabilitation and reconciliation ecology. 8.16 Reconciliation ecology of river systems. Further reading. 9. Middle stage and depositional floodplain rivers. 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Change from an erosive river to a depositional one. 9.3 Submerged plants. 9.4 Growth of submerged plants. 9.5 Methods of measuring the primary productivity of submerged plants. 9.6 Submerged plants and the river ecosystem. 9.7 Further downstream swamps and floodplains. 9.8 Swamp and marsh animals. 9.8.1 Whitefish and blackfish. 9.9 Latitudinal differences in floodplains. Further reading. 10. Floodplain ecosystems and human affairs. 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 Floodplain services. 10.2.1 Floodplain fisheries. 10.3 Floodplain swamps and human diseases. 10.4 Case studies. 10.5 River and floodplain management and rehabilitation. 10.6 Interbasin transfers and water needs. Further reading. 11. Lakes and other standing waters. 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 The origins of lake basins. 11.3 Lake structure. 11.4 The importance of the catchment area. 11.5 Lakes as autotrophic or heterotrophic systems. 11.6 The continuum of lakes. 11.7 Lake history. 11.10 Filling in. 11.11 Summing up. Further reading. 12. The communities of shallow standing waters: mires, shallow lakes and the littoral zone. 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 The scope of mires and littoral zones. 12.3 The structure of littoral communities. 12.4 Heterotrophs among the plants. 12.4.1 Neuston. 12.5 Linkages, risks and insurances among the littoral communities. 12.6 Latitude and littorals. 12.7 The role of the nekton. 12.8 Further reading. 13. Plankton communities of the pelagic zone. 13.1 Kitchens and toilets. 13.2 Phytoplankton. 13.3 Heterotrophs in the plankton: viruses and bacteria. 13.4 Protozoa and fungi. 13.5 Zooplankton. 13.6 Fish in the open-water community. 13.7 Piscivores and piscivory. 13.8 Functioning of the open-water community. Further reading. 14. The profundal zone. 14.1 The end of the line. 14.2 The importance of oxygen. 14.3 Profundal communities. 14.4 Biology of selected benthic invertebrates. 14.5 What the sediment-living detritivores really eat. 14.6 Influence of the open water community on the profundal benthos. Further reading. 15. The uses, abuses and restoration of standing waters. 15.1 Introduction. 15.2 Services provided by standing waters. 15.3 Fisheries. 15.4 Changes in fisheries: two case studies. 15.5 Fish culture. 15.6 Stillwater angling. 15.7 Amenity culture and the aquarium trade. 15.8 Domestic water supply, eutrophication and reservoirs. 15.8.1 Eutrophication human induced changes in the production of lakes. 15.8.2 Dams and reservoirs. 15.8.3 Fisheries in new lakes. 15.8.4 Effects downstream of the new lake. 15.8.5 New tropical lakes and human populations. 15.8.6 Man-made tropical lakes, the balance of pros and cons. 15.9 Amenity and conservation. 15.10 Restoration approaches for standing waters: symptom treatment. 15.11 Treatment of proximate causes: nutrient control. 15.12 Habitat creation. Further reading. 16. Climate change and the future of freshwaters. 16.1 The Merchant of Venice. 16.2 Climate change. 16.3 Existing effects of freshwaters. 16.4 Future effects. 16.5 Control and mitigation of global warming. 16.6 The remedy of ultimate causes. Further reading. 17. Problem exercises. 1. Stratification. 2. Catchments and water chemistry. 3. The Vollenweider model. 4. Nutrient budgeting. 5. Light penetration. 6. Biodiversity. 7. Problems with a frog. 8. Predation in streams. 9. Deforestation and tropical streams. 10. Swamp habitats and insect adaptations. 11. Ecosystem valuation in a floodplain. 12. Top down and bottom up control in shallow and deep lakes. 13. Palatability of aquatic plants to fish. 14. The plankton of paddling pools. 15. Probing the profundal. 16. The curse of birds for lake managers. 17. Nutrient problems in tricky situations. References. Index.


We report on the use of an ultranarrow ( ~0.01 nm) spectrum-sliced incoherent light source for transmission of 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero signals over 20-km dispersion-uncompensated standard single-mode fiber and 0.2-nm-bandwidth optical band-pass filter. A wideband amplified spontaneous emission is first generated using an erbium-doped fiber amplifier and then spectrum-sliced by an ultranarrow fiber Fabry-Perot filter (3-dB bandwidth: ~0.006 nm). The spectrum-sliced light is intensity-smoothed by using a gain-saturated reflective semiconductor optical amplifier and then modulated at 10.7 or 12.5 Gb/s, assuming forward error correction (FEC) with 7% or 25% overheads, respectively. Thanks to the narrow linewidth of the source, we are able to retain the intensity smoothing after the transmission, achieving uncorrected bit-error ratios better than 10-3 and 3 × 10-3 at 10.7 and 12.5 Gb/s, respectively. We discuss the applicability of the proposed light source to wavelength-division-multiplexed passive optical networks and the choice of FEC codes for the proposed scheme.


Structural components made of continuous fiber reinforced polymers are exposed to repeatedly-applied loads leading to fatigue failure during the service life. To predict the lifetime and achieve the proper industrial part design against fatigue failure, the development of numerical simulation tool is crucial. Even though fatigue phenomena in composites have been intensively investigated, having a unique and reliable numerical simulation strategy remains a great challenge. The primary issue to address is to establish a robust constitutive modeling including non-linear behaviors, namely progressive damage mechanism and inelastic behavior of constituents at micro and meso scales. Nonetheless, the complexity increases when time-dependent or cyclic behavior is involved. These issues on material modeling and lifetime prediction for composite materials were addressed in this work. Implementation is performed in environmental solution for structural design (Virtual Performance Solution. Solver Notes Manual, ESI Group, Paris, France. 2013).


Initial Findings of a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit Program by Hesper B. Nowatzki, FNP-BC MSN, Walden University, 2014 BSN, Excelsior College, 2012 Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice Walden University August 2017 Abstract Despite the emphasis of benefits on preventive health, many older adults are not receiving the recommended age specific, evidence based screenings and vaccinations. The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) is designed to address modifiable risk factors with aging adults and close gaps in care not captured in routine office visits. Although a free Medicare benefit to patients, and a reimbursable service to health care providers, participation in the AWV is low nationwide. The purpose of the project is to introduce an AWV program to a rural health clinic in Northwest Illinois that has a population consisting of over 25% of people 65 years and older. The rural health clinic failed to capture a single AWV in the previous year, despite having 1300 active Medicare patients in the clinic. The clinical question asked whether the implementation of an AWV program by nurse practitioners can yield improved compliance with recommended health screenings and vaccinations and diagnosed previously unrecognized clinical conditions. The Iowa model, health belief model and Donebedian's structure-process-outcome model were utilized for the introduction and implementation of the practice change. Evidence was derived from chart review of 50 patients and administration of the SF-36 survey before and following the AWV. Findings and conclusions suggest that the AWV generated improved compliance of preventive services and improved patient quality of life. Addressing preventive health strategies for aging adults is relevant to nursingDespite the emphasis of benefits on preventive health, many older adults are not receiving the recommended age specific, evidence based screenings and vaccinations. The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) is designed to address modifiable risk factors with aging adults and close gaps in care not captured in routine office visits. Although a free Medicare benefit to patients, and a reimbursable service to health care providers, participation in the AWV is low nationwide. The purpose of the project is to introduce an AWV program to a rural health clinic in Northwest Illinois that has a population consisting of over 25% of people 65 years and older. The rural health clinic failed to capture a single AWV in the previous year, despite having 1300 active Medicare patients in the clinic. The clinical question asked whether the implementation of an AWV program by nurse practitioners can yield improved compliance with recommended health screenings and vaccinations and diagnosed previously unrecognized clinical conditions. The Iowa model, health belief model and Donebedian's structure-process-outcome model were utilized for the introduction and implementation of the practice change. Evidence was derived from chart review of 50 patients and administration of the SF-36 survey before and following the AWV. Findings and conclusions suggest that the AWV generated improved compliance of preventive services and improved patient quality of life. Addressing preventive health strategies for aging adults is relevant to nursing practice because of the complex and chronic health challenges of this age group. These efforts can reduce the burden of suffering from chronic illness, prevent exacerbation and decline, improve quality of life, and reduce federal and individual health care expenditures to minimize the cost of advanced disease treatment. Initial Findings of a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit Program by Hesper B. Nowatzki, FNP-BC MSN, Walden University, 2014 BSN, Excelsior College, 2012 Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice


Self-efficacy is thought to be causally related to motor performance (Bandura, 1997;Moritz, Feltz, Fahrback, & Mack, 2000) however, the only clear evidence for this comes from a small number of studies that have found effort-based motor performance (e. g. weightlifting, leg extension) varies as a function of manipulated self-efficacy. Five experiments were conducted for the present thesis to investigate the influence of selfefficacy on the performance of motor tasks with varying demands. In Experiments 1-4 participants performed repeated blocks of a motor task with false positive feedback given on some blocks to boost self-efficacy, and false negative feedback given on other blocks to lower self-efficacy. False feedback was successful for the manipulation of self-efficacy, with self-efficacy raised following positive feedback and lowered following negative feedback, however, task performance did not change as a function of the self-efficacy treatment for golf-putting, accuracy throwing, effort throwing, or handdynamometry tasks. These results suggest that self-efficacy had no direct influence on motor performance. As a consequence Experiment 5 examined whether self-efficacy indirectly influenced performance through persistence. Participants had their selfefficacy for performing a throwing task either raised or lowered and then had as many attempts at the task as they wanted within a 30 minute period with their best performance counting for a competition. Participants whose efficacy was raised persisted longer at the task than those whose was efficacy lowered, however greater persistence was not facilitative of greater performance. Collective findings suggest that self-efficacy has no direct influence on motor performance in the short term; however over the longer term high perceptions of self-efficacy may be conducive to persistence which is likely to be facilitative of performance development.


Carbohydrate restricted diets (CRD) have been shown to significantly decrease body fat and trunk fat and to decrease inflammatory cytokines. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the inclusion of eggs in a CRD on plasma anthropometrics, blood pressure, body composition and selected inflammatory markers in overweight/obese men (BMI = 25–37 kg/m2) aged 40–70 y undergoing a weight loss intervention. Using a parallel design, men were randomly assigned to consume 3 eggs (EGG group) (640 mg/d additional dietary cholesterol) or the equivalent amount of egg substitute (SUB group) (0 mg additional dietary cholesterol) for 12 wk. All subjects irrespective of their assigned group, had very significant reductions in body weight, BMI and waist circumference (P < 0.01). Body fat and trunk fat decreased from 32.1 ± 8.9 to 28.9 ± 8.1 kg and 20.1 ± 5.8 to 17.8 ± 5.5 kg, respectively for all subjects (P < 0.01). Similarly systolic blood pressure was reduced from 138.8 ± 17.3 to 126.3 ± 10.6 mm Hg. Plasma concentrations of interleukin‐8 (IL‐8), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐alpha and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP‐1) were reduced following the intervention. However, those subjects consuming the EGG had a much better response (P <0.05) than those consuming the SUB. These results suggest that including eggs in a CRD results in more significant reductions of inflammatory markers and similar beneficial effects in anthropometrics in a CRD


Abstract This article explains how the strategic use of public health evidence, showing that criminalisation of abortion does not result in lower abortion rates, is changing the way judges are confronting constitutional challenges to abortion regulations. The state may have a legitimate interest – and in some legal systems, a duty – to protect prenatal life. Nevertheless, courts are upholding regulations liberalising abortion and declaring criminalisation regimes unconstitutional. This is possible given that lower abortion rates are not achieved through criminalisation, but through preventive policies. In addition, courts uphold liberalisation when the infringement of women's rights resulting from criminalisation outweighs its purported benefits. This new legal narrative has been developed during the last decades by a series of court decisions in Europe and Latin America, and may prove useful for legal advocacy in some countries in Africa. The narrative combines the use of an analytical framework called the proportionality principle with an interpretation of constitutional rights that draws from gender-sensitive international human rights standards and factual evidence about the effects of criminalisation on women's lives and health.


For centuries much of Europe was in the hands of the very peculiar Habsburg family. An unstable mixture of wizards, obsessives, melancholics, bores, musicians and warriors, they saw off - through luck, guile and sheer mulishness - any number of rivals, until finally packing up in 1918. From their principal lairs along the Danube they ruled most of Central Europe and Germany and interfered everywhere - indeed the history of Europe hardly makes sense without them. Simon Winder's extremely funny new book plunges the reader into a maelstrom of alchemy, skeletons, jewels, bear-moats, unfortunate marriages and a guinea-pig village. Danubia is full of music, piracy, religion and fighting. It is the history of a dynasty, but it is at least as much about the people they ruled, who spoke many different languages, lived in a vast range of landscapes, believed in many rival gods and often showed a marked ingratitude towards their oddball ruler in Vienna. Readers who discovered Simon Winder's genius for telling wonderful stories of middle Europe with Germania will be delighted by the eccentric and fascinating stories of the Habsburgs and their world.


We propose a method for rendering volumetric data sets at interactive frame rates while supporting dynamic ambient occlusion as well as an approximation to color bleeding. In contrast to ambient occlusion approaches for polygonal data, techniques for volumetric data sets have to face additional challenges, since by changing rendering parameters, such as the transfer function or the thresholding, the structure of the data set and thus the light interactions may vary drastically. Therefore, during a preprocessing step which is independent of the rendering parameters we capture light interactions for all combinations of structures extractable from a volumetric data set. In order to compute the light interactions between the different structures, we combine this preprocessed information during rendering based on the rendering parameters defined interactively by the user. Thus our method supports interactive exploration of a volumetric data set but still gives the user control over the most important rendering parameters. For instance, if the user alters the transfer function to extract different structures from a volumetric data set the light interactions between the extracted structures are captured in the rendering while still allowing interactive frame rates. Compared to known local illumination models for volume rendering our method does not introduce any substantial rendering overhead and can be integrated easily into existing volume rendering applications. In this paper we will explain our approach, discuss the implications for interactive volume rendering and present the achieved results.


A preliminary study examining soil microbiology and nutrient dynamics in year three of a peach orchard at the Sandhills Research Station, North Carolina, USA found that maintaining a 3.6-m vegetation-free strip in the tree row reduced microbial biomass and associated activities in the soil, compared with a 0 m strip, and that the use of under tree micro-sprinkler irrigation increased peach root colonization by endomycorrhizal fungi as well as microbial biomass and associated activities. The current study was conducted in years four and five of that orchard and examined vegetation-free strip widths of 0, 1.2, 2.4, and 3.6 m, with and without irrigation, to determine their effects on endomycorrhizal fungal colonization of peach roots, soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), soil microbial respiration (SMR), and net nitrogen mineralization (NNM). There were no significant differences between treatments for endomycorrhizal fungal colonization or MBC by year four. The 3.6 m vegetation-free strip had the lowest MBN and SMR in year four with no significant difference between strip treatments in year five. NNM decreased with greater vegetation-free strip widths in years four and five. Irrigated plots had significantly higher MBN and lower SMR in the spring of year five with no other significant differences due to irrigation. These important findings show that under standard commercial management of a bearing peach orchard there is little impairment of soil ecological function in the rhizosphere, allowing for maximum peach yield and quality while supporting the health of trees and soil.


We investigate theoretically the interaction of two or more beams intersecting at a small angle in a photorefractive crystal with a local type of holographic recording. All necessary diffraction orders are taken into account. It is shown that for photorefractive ferroelectrics the number of diffracted beams can be quite large. For negative nonlinearlity the high exponential gain previously predicted for three- or four-wave mixing does not exist if all diffraction orders are considered.


This study analyzes the Laiterie Du Berger (LDB)'s milk supply chain and its contribution to strengthening the food security and socioeconomic resources of Senegalese Sahelian pastoral households. Porter's value chain model is used to characterize the innovations introduced by the LDB dairy in its milk inbound logistics and supplier relationships. A socioeconomic food security index and qualitative data are used to assess the dairy's supply chain's contribution to strengthen smallholder households' livelihoods. Data for this research were obtained through individual surveys, focus groups and in-depth interviews of LDB managers and milk suppliers. Results show that milk income contributes significantly to household food security. Suppliers who stabilize their dairy income between rainy and dry seasons, diversify income sources and have larger herds are more likely to remain food secure. The LDB innovations contribute by helping herders access biophysical and economic resources, leading to better livestock ...


Dark, desolate and fantastical, "The Purple Cloud" was a pioneer in the genre of apocalyptic novels, and the first great science fiction work of the twentieth century. It inspired authors such as H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. "The Purple Cloud" tells the grandly bleak story of Adam Jeffson: the first man to reach the North Pole and the last man left alive on earth. A sweet-smelling, deadly cloud of poisonous gas has devastated the world, and as Jeffson travels the stricken globe in search of human life, he slowly succumbs to madness, and unleashes fire and destruction on his planet. John Sutherland's introduction discusses M. P. Shiel's dissolute life, the originality of his book and its place within the context of 'last man' novels. This edition also includes a chronology, notes and further reading.


My service on the Isthmus of Panama began December 9, 1909, as pathologist in the Board of Health Laboratory at Ancon, C. Z. So much publicity had been given this region for many years that it seemed likely that yellow fever and plague would crowd out most of the other causes of death. Imagine my surprise to find that malaria, dysentery, tuberculosis and pneumonia were the high ranking causes of death. No cases of yellow fever developed in the Canal Zone or in the terminal cities during my service from 1909 to 1922. However, rare cases arrived at the quarantine stations and sometimes these were transferred to Ancon Hospital (now Gorgas Hospital) for better hospital care and observation. Most of those cases came from the west coast of South America. It is only in fairly recent years that laboratory methods have been developed that help in establishing a diagnosis of yellow fever.


PURPOSE
We report the clinical features and treatment of 31 patients with a diagnosis of enteropathy-type intestinal T-cell lymphoma treated at the Wessex Regional Medical Oncology Unit in Southampton between 1979 and 1996 (23 men, eight women).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients were identified from our lymphoma database. Details of history, physical examination, staging investigations, treatment, and outcome were taken from patient records.

RESULTS
Twelve patients (35%) had a documented clinical history of adult-onset celiac disease, and a further three had histologic features consistent with celiac disease in resected areas of the small bowel not infiltrated with lymphoma. After diagnosis, 24 (77%) of the 31 patients were treated with chemotherapy; the remaining seven had surgical treatment alone. More than half were unable to complete their planned chemotherapy courses, often because of poor nutritional status; 12 patients required enteral or parenteral feeding. A response to initial chemotherapy was observed in 14 patients (complete response, n = 10; partial response, n = 4). Observed complications of treatment were gastrointestinal bleeding, small-bowel perforation, and the development of enterocolic fistulae. Relapses occurred 1 to 60 months from diagnosis in 79% of those who responded to initial therapy. Of the total 31 patients, 26 (84%) have died, all from progressive disease or from complications of the disease and/or its treatment. The actuarial 1- and 5-year survival rates are 38.7% and 19.7%, respectively, with 1- and 5-year failure-free survival rates of 19.4% and 3.2%, respectively.

CONCLUSION
The prognosis for these patients is poor. This, in part, reflects late diagnosis and poor performance status at the time of presentation. The role of salvage treatments and high-dose chemotherapy at relapse is not clear. However, it is encouraging that there are five long-term survivors in our patient population.


It is a common knowledge that poverty is rapidly becoming an urban phenomenon. The vast majority of urban dwellers are the low-income earners who are in disadvantage economic position to make effective demand of adequate housing. This paper examines the activities of Ekiti state government in housing the poor in Ado-Ekiti (regional centre) within the framework of the policies on housing reform in Nigeria. The study adopts simple descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages in data analysis of direct government housing provision in the emerging city. The results of these efforts show insignificant re-housing gains on the urban poor. The complexity associated with the government housing approach has made it difficult to realize health and economic benefits including added investments in housing improvement in the area. Policy recommendations are set forth based on research findings with a view to attaining sustainable housing development at the regional centre.


Past studies on rodent population dynamics have narrowed down the mechanisms driving population fluctuations to single-factor theories such as the effects of resource pulses and topdown trophic cascades. The variation in rodent population dynamics across regional and climatic gradients, however, calls for a more holistic approach that takes into consideration mutiple site-specific factors. To that end, the effects of shelter availability and diversity of foodproducing plants on Peromyscus activity were tested across three habitat types along a watershed in Big Sur, California. Significant differences in rodent activity were found across all treatments, with more activity in areas with abundant shelter and greater diversity of foodproducing plants. These findings support multi-factor theories of rodent population fluctuations, and provide a snapshot of late Spring habitat preferences of Peromyscus species in Big Sur,


Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS), a central nervous system (CNS) autoimmune disorder, affects 2.3 million people around the world. Cancer kills around 7.5 million people annually. Both diseases have similar risks and intertwining molecular causes. Most studies focusing on MS and cancer have found an insignificant difference or reduction in the amount of cancer found in the MS community. Methods: We performed a cohort study using data from Isfahan Multiple Sclerosis Society (IMSS) and Isfahan cancer society and followed-up for 8 years on average (2006-2014). All of the 1718 MS patients were diagnosed according to McDonald's criteria, then standardized incidence ratio and the numbers of expected cancer case were calculated. Results: While patients had an insignificant change in cancer prevalence, men had fewer cancer cases and women showed an increased prevalence of cancer. Certain types of cancer proved statistically significant. Breast cancer, nervous system cancers, and lymphoma were elevated in the cohort. Conclusion: Our results support the hypothesis that MS significantly affects certain cancers in a protective or associative manner. All cancer rates, except breast cancer, cancers located in the nervous system, and lymphomas were reduced in cohort, suggesting that unregulated immune function may provide protective effects to MS patients against cancer.


This paper describes and evaluates a method for determining complex permittivity, and presents results of permittivity measurement of some substances. Complex permittivity of a phantom of biological muscle tissue, of some industrial chemicals and dielectrics is found. A nondestructive and non-invasive method based on reflection coefficient measurement of an open-ended coaxial line attaching the material under test is used. Two coaxial probes are under investigation. Vector measurement of the reflection coefficient on the interface between probes and measured samples is performed with the aid of network analyzer in the frequency range from 300 kHz to 3 GHz. Numerical modeling (FDTD) is compared with measurement. The results indicate that using the coaxial probe with dimensions of N connector the method is suitable in the frequency range approximately from 30 MHz to 1 GHz and using the probe with dimensions of SMA connector in range approximately from 30 MHz to 3 GHz.


Significant loss of neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus pars compacta (PPNc), a putative cholinergic nucleus involved in modulating somatic motor activities, has been demonstrated in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and Parkinson's disease but not in Alzheimer's disease. A morphometric study of this nucleus was performed in two cases of PSP and in a cohort of cases of Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia of Alzheimer type (SDAT), and age-matched controls. In PSP a significant 60% neuronal loss in PPNc was associated with neurofibrillary tangles in 40 to 64% of the remaining neurons. In Parkinson's disease there was a significant decrease in cell numbers and density by 53 and 51%, respectively, with Lewy bodies involving 6 to 39% of all neurons. In Alzheimer's disease and SDAT, large neurons were reduced by 29 and 33.8%, respectively, with tangles in 9 to 38% of the remaining cells. The selective affection of this putative cholinergic nucleus in PSP and Parkinson's disease appears to be related to motor dysfunctions in these disorders.


Topologically protected superfluid phases of $^3$He allow one to simulate many important aspects of relativistic quantum field theories and quantum gravity in condensed matter. Here we discuss a topological Lifshitz transition of the effective quantum vacuum in which the determinant of the tetrad field changes sign through a crossing to a vacuum state with a degenerate fermionic metric. Such a transition is realized in polar distorted superfluid $^3$He-A in terms of the effective tetrad fields emerging in the vicinity of the superfluid gap nodes: the tetrads of the Weyl points in the chiral A-phase of $^3$He and the degenerate tetrad in the vicinity of a Dirac nodal line in the polar phase of $^3$He. The continuous phase transition from the $A$-phase to the polar phase, i.e. in the transition from the Weyl nodes to the Dirac nodal line and back, allows one to follow the behavior of the fermionic and bosonic effective actions when the sign of the tetrad determinant changes, and the effective chiral space-time transforms to anti-chiral "anti-spacetime". This condensed matter realization demonstrates that while the original fermionic action is analytic across the transition, the effective action for the orbital degrees of freedom (pseudo-EM) fields and gravity have non-analytic behavior. In particular, the action for the pseudo-EM field in the vacuum with Weyl fermions (A-phase) contains the modulus of the tetrad determinant. In the vacuum with the degenerate metric (polar phase) the nodal line is effectively a family of $2+1$d Dirac fermion patches, which leads to a non-analytic $(B^2-E^2)^{3/4}$ QED action in the vicinity of the Dirac line.


We study the distributed sampling and centralized reconstruction of two correlated signals, modeled as the input and output of an unknown sparse filtering operation. This is akin to a Slepian-Wolf setup, but in the sampling rather than the lossless compression case. Two different scenarios are considered: In the case of universal reconstruction, we look for a sensing and recovery mechanism that works for all possible signals, whereas in what we call almost sure reconstruction, we allow to have a small set (with measure zero) of unrecoverable signals. We derive achievability bounds on the number of samples needed for both scenarios. Our results show that, only in the almost sure setup can we effectively exploit the signal correlations to achieve effective gains in sampling efficiency. In addition to the above theoretical analysis, we propose an efficient and robust distributed sampling and reconstruction algorithm based on annihilating filters. We evaluate the performance of our method in one synthetic scenario, and two practical applications, including the distributed audio sampling in binaural hearing aids and the efficient estimation of room impulse responses. The numerical results confirm the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm in both synthetic and practical setups.


Sea anemone actinoporins constitute a protein family of multigene pore-forming toxins (PFT). Equinatoxin II (EqtII), fragaceatoxin C (FraC), and sticholysins I and II (StnI and StnII, respectively), produced by three different sea anemone species, are the only actinoporins whose molecular structures have been studied in depth. These four proteins show high sequence identities and practically coincident three-dimensional structures. However, their pore-forming activity can be quite different depending on the model lipid system employed, a feature that has not been systematically studied before. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate and compare the influence of several distinct membrane conditions on their particular pore-forming behavior. Using a complex model membrane system, such as sheep erythrocytes, StnII showed hemolytic activity much higher than those of the other three actinoporins studied. In lipid model systems, pore-forming ability when assayed against 4:1 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC)/sphingomyelin (SM) vesicles, with the membrane binding being the rate-limiting step, decreased in the following order: StnI > StnII > EqtII > FraC. When using 1:1:1 DOPC/SM/cholesterol LUVs, the presence of Chol not only enhanced membrane binding affinities by ∼2 orders of magnitude but also revealed how StnII was much faster than the other three actinoporins in producing calcein release. This ability agrees with the proposal that explains this behavior in terms of their high sequence variability along their first 30 N-terminal residues. The influence of interfacial hydrogen bonding in SM- or dihydro-SM-containing bilayers was also shown to be a generalized feature of the four actinoporins studied. It is finally hypothesized that this observed variable ability could be explained as a consequence of their distinct specificities and/or membrane binding affinities. Eventually, this behavior can be modulated by the nature of their natural target membranes or the interaction with not yet characterized isotoxin forms from the same sea anemone species.


We present the wireless manifold, a 2-dimensional surface whose geodesic distances accurately capture wireless signal propagation. As a result, the connectivity graph of a wireless network can be viewed as a disk graph on the manifold. A compact representation of the manifold can be reconstructed from a sparse set of signal measurements. The manifold distance suggests a simple routing algorithm that avoids obstacles and naturally handles mobile nodes without explicitly maintaining the connectivity graph. It is more efficient compared to using Euclidean distance as measured by success rate, routing load and failure tolerance. Placing sensors to cover the manifold is more effective than covering the underlying physical space.


In spite of recent claims of the need to reduce overassessment in higher education, there is a surprising lack of consensus of what this term really means together with a lack of empirical evidence of the effects of multiple assessments on student learning and achievement.  This study explored the relationship between student achievement and number of assessments, and their potential links to student satisfaction, based on data from modules of the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, LJMU during 2014/15.  The trends found suggest that there is no relationship between fewer assessments and improved academic performance.  Indeed, there was a slight trend showing the opposite and, further, modules with more assessments recorded higher feedback (module appraisal) marks.  This paper discusses the potential implications of the results in the context of overassessment concerns.  Suggestions are given for practice to clarify the concept and shed light into its potential implications.


In this study, we investigate the possibility of applying a continuous-time ARMA (CARMA) model to radio-frequency ultrasound signals. We consider the effect of the discretization process on the parameters of the continuous system, and we take into account the exponential nature of the autocorrelation function of the model to derive continuous-domain information from the parameters of the discrete ARMA process. We validate the effectiveness of the CARMA model parameters for the characterization of ultrasound tissues on a sequence of phantom images that represent various concentrations of scatterers. We also compare the proposed CARMA coefficients and the traditional ARMA parameters on the basis of their performance in discriminating between phantom tissues. We show that working in the continuous domain brings additional useful information to characterize the imaged materials.


S-2 glass yarns were tested under transverse ballistic impact. A comparison of the glassfiber properties with other typical ballistic fibers (like Kevlar®, Dyneema®, and PBO) is very interesting. On one side they have "similar" properties, i.e. glass fibers have high modulus and high strength. But glass-fibers are isotropic and, apparently, more brittle than polymer fibers: glass-fibers fail in bending at much lower angles. It is shown in this paper that state of the art yarn impact theories like the ones by Smith et al. and Walker and Chocron, which predict very accurately the transverse wave velocity on polymeric yarns, are missing two important components of the impact physics: first, both underestimate the velocity for glass yarns, and second, both overestimate greatly the critical velocity. In an effort to find the missing physics yarn crimp was incorporated to Walker's theory and finite element simulations were performed. It is shown that the bending stiffness that comes with the isotropy of the glass-fibers is central in properly describing the transverse wave propagation. It is also shown that failure is still not completely understood but a mechanism is speculated in the paper.


At a prime of ordinary reduction, the Iwasawa "main conjecture" for elliptic curves relates a Selmer group to a p-adic L-function. In the supersingular case, the statement of the main conjecture is more complicated as neither the Selmer group nor the p-adic L-function is well-behaved. Recently Kobayashi discovered an equivalent formulation of the main conjecture at supersingular primes that is similar in structure to the ordinary case. Namely, Kobayashi's conjecture relates modified Selmer groups, which he defined, with modified padic L-functions defined by the first author. In this paper we prove Kobayashi's conjecture for elliptic curves with complex multiplication.


A new and exciting approach to the basics of quantum theory, this undergraduate textbook contains extensive discussions of conceptual puzzles and over 800 exercises and problems. Beginning with three elementary 'qubit' systems, the book develops the formalism of quantum theory, addresses questions of measurement and distinguishability, and explores the dynamics of quantum systems. In addition to the standard topics covered in other textbooks, it also covers communication and measurement, quantum entanglement, entropy and thermodynamics, and quantum information processing. This textbook gives a broad view of quantum theory by emphasizing dynamical evolution, and exploring conceptual and foundational issues. It focuses on contemporary topics, including measurement, time evolution, open systems, quantum entanglement, and the role of information.


Productivity losses caused by absenteeism at work cost U.S. employers billions of dollars each year. In addition, employers typically spend a considerable amount of time managing employees who perform poorly. By using predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms, organizations can make better decisions, thereby increasing organizational productivity, reducing costs, and improving efficiency. Thus, in this paper we propose hybrid optimization methods in order to find the most parsimonious model for absenteeism classification. We utilized data from a Brazilian courier company. In order to categorize absenteeism classes, we preprocessed the data, selected the attributes via multiple methods, balanced the dataset using the synthetic minority over-sampling method, and then employed four methods of machine learning classification: Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Random Forest (RF). We selected the best model based on several validation scores, and compared its performance against the existing model. Furthermore, project managers may lack experience in machine learning, or may not have the time to spend developing machine learning algorithms. Thus, we propose a web-based interactive tool supported by cognitive analytics management (CAM) theory. The web-based decision tool enables managers to make more informed decisions, and can be used without any prior knowledge of machine learning. Understanding absenteeism patterns can assist managers in revising policies or creating new arrangements to reduce absences in the workplace, financial losses, and the probability of economic insolvency.


The possible impact of Rotylenchulus reniformis below plow depth was evaluated by measuring the vertical distribution of R. reniformis and soil texture in 20 symptomatic fields on 17 farms across six states. The mean nematode population density per field, 0 to 122 cm deep, ranged from 0.4 to 63 nematodes/g soil, and in 15 fields more than half of the R. reniformis present were below 30.5 cm, which is the greatest depth usually plowed by farmers or sampled by consultants. In 11 fields measured, root density was greatest in the top 15 cm of soil; however, roots consistently penetrated 92 to 122 cm deep by midseason, and in five fields in Texas and Louisiana the ratio of nematodes to root-length density within soil increased with depth. Repeated sampling during the year in Texas indicated that up to 20% of the nematodes in soil below 60 cm in the fall survived the winter. Differences between Baermann funnel and sugar flotation extraction methods were not important when compared with field-to-field differences in nematode populations and field-specific vertical distribution patterns. The results support the interpretation that R. reniformis below plow depth can significantly impact diagnosis and treatment of cotton fields infested with R. reniformis.


— Centrifugal pumps are complex machines which can experience different types of fault. Condition monitoring can be used in centrifugal pump fault detection through vibration analysis for mechanical and hydraulic forces. Vibration analysis methods have the potential to be combined with artificial intelligence systems where an automatic diagnostic method can be approached. An automatic fault diagnosis approach could be a good option to minimize human error and to provide a precise machine fault classification. This work aims to introduce an approach to centrifugal pump fault diagnosis based on artificial intelligence and genetic algorithm systems. An overview of the future works, research methodology and proposed experimental setup is presented and discussed. The expected results and outcomes based on the experimental work are illustrated.


A self-consistently coupled three-dimensional dynamical model is presented for the first time, to our knowledge, to simulate noncircular vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. The electric, thermal, and optical processes are formulated using finite-volume-method discretization adopted on a unified mesh consisting of prism elements. Steady-state and dynamical calculations are shown for specially designed structures. An efficient numerical treatment enables one to perform large-scale calculations on single computers.


Motivated by psychophysiological investigations on the human auditory system, a bio-inspired two-dimensional auditory representation of music signals is exploited, that captures the slow temporal modulations. Although each recording is represented by a second-order tensor (i.e., a matrix), a third-order tensor is needed to represent a music corpus. Non-negative multilinear principal component analysis (NMPCA) is proposed for the unsupervised dimensionality reduction of the third-order tensors. The NMPCA maximizes the total tensor scatter while preserving the non-negativity of auditory representations. An algorithm for NMPCA is derived by exploiting the structure of the Grassmann manifold. The NMPCA is compared against three multilinear subspace analysis techniques, namely the non-negative tensor factorization, the high-order singular value decomposition, and the multilinear principal component analysis as well as their linear counterparts, i.e., the non-negative matrix factorization, the singular value decomposition, and the principal components analysis in extracting features that are subsequently classified by either support vector machine or nearest neighbor classifiers. Three different sets of experiments conducted on the GTZAN and the ISMIR2004 Genre datasets demonstrate the superiority of NMPCA against the aforementioned subspace analysis techniques in extracting more discriminating features, especially when the training set has small cardinality. The best classification accuracies reported in the paper exceed those obtained by the state-of-the-art music genre classification algorithms applied to both datasets.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the outcomes achieved by motor physical therapy in critically ill patients admitted to intensive care units.

METHODS
A systematic literature review was performed, and clinical trials published between 2002 and 2011 were included in the study. The search involved the LILACS, SciELO, MedLine, EMBASE and Cochrane databases, using the keywords "intensive care unit", "physiotherapy", "physical therapy", "mobility", "mobilization" and "randomized controlled trials." Two researchers screened the articles independently and included works that addressed the effect of physical therapy on critically ill patients.

RESULTS
From an initial analysis of 67 potentially relevant articles, only 8 met the selection criteria and addressed the outcomes of electrostimulation, cycle ergometry and kinesiotherapy techniques. The sample sizes ranged from 8 to 101 subjects, with mean ages between 52 and 79 years. All patients were undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation. Among the analyzed articles, 6 reported significant benefits of motor physical therapy, such as improvement in peripheral muscle strength, respiratory capacity and functionality, in critically ill patients.

CONCLUSION
With this systematic review, it is possible to conclude that motor physical therapy is a feasible and safe therapy for critically ill patients and can minimize the deleterious effects of prolonged immobilization. Approaches involving electrostimulation, cycle ergometry and kinesiotherapy showed positive responses in patients under intensive care. Available evidence regarding the impact of motor physical therapy on length of stay in intensive care units and on mortality is still scarce, and further study in this area is warranted.


The objective of this thesis is to consider the role of securitisation undetaken by firms in the financial sector by looking at five different questions related to securitisation. The thesis begins with a comparison of the institutional and market characteristics of securitisation in the US and Europe. The wide gap in their respective securitisation growth rates may be attributed to the presense of US government subsides to securitisation, and more restrictive aspects of banking regulation. After a review of theoretical and empirical work, the thesis addresses a key question: in the absense of subsides, why do depository institutions securitise? Employing UK data, the validity of two hypothesis are tested. These are the comparative advantage hypothesis which treats securitisation as evidence of disinter mediation and the financing hypothesis which argues that depository institutions use securitisation to raise finance. The third question is which banks raise external finance by securitising assets and what are the consequences for shareholder wealth? The role of securitisation in a bank's optimal capital structure is explored. Fourth, the thesis looks at whether there are differences in the pricing behaviour of financial firms which originate assets to finance them through securitisation, and depository institutions which use a variety of funding sources. Finally, the factors which influence the price of asset-backed securities at issue and in the secondary markets are examined. The main findings from the econometric tests are UK data show the financing hypothesis to be superior.


In an experimental study, commonly used ventilation fine filters were tested regarding their efficiency in collecting airborne particles and grass pollen allergens from outdoor air. Grass pollen allergen and particle number concentrations were measured before and after the filters, enabling collection efficiency calculations. Simultaneously, the size distribution of grass pollen allergens was measured in outdoor air using a cascade impactor. The study confirms previous indications that pollen allergens occur in the outdoor air as particles much smaller than pollen grains, and can penetrate ventilation filters to a larger extent than might be expected. The initially high collection efficiency of synthetic, electrostatically charged filters declined significantly with time of use (dust load), whereas glass fiber filters showed steady performance. A slight tendency for pollen allergenic matter to penetrate ventilation filters more than other airborne particles was noted, but no difference in the response to electrostatic charge of filters could be seen.


Background: Traditionally, surgical resection is the preferred treatment for typical carcinoids and atypical carcinoids located in the lungs. Recently however, several studies have shown excellent long-term outcome after endobronchial treatment of carcinoid tumors located in the central airways. This study investigates clinical and radiological features as predictors of successful endobronchial treatment in patients with a bronchial carcinoid tumor. Objectives: To identify clinical and radiological features predictive of successful endobronchial treatment in patients with bronchial carcinoid. Methods: This analysis was performed in a cohort of patients with typical and atypical bronchial carcinoid referred for endobronchial treatment. Several patient characteristics, radiological features, and histological grade (typical or atypical carcinoid) were tested as predictors of successful endobronchial treatment. Results: One hundred and twenty-five patients with a diagnosis of bronchial carcinoid underwent endobronchial treatment. On multivariate analysis, a tumor diameter <15 mm (odds ratio 0.09; 95% confidence interval 0.02–0.5; p = <0.01) and purely intraluminal growth on computer tomography (CT scan) (odds ratio, 9.1; 95% confidence interval 1.8–45.8; p = <0.01) were predictive of radical endobronchial treatment. The success rate for intraluminal tumors with a diameter <20 mm was 72%. Conclusions: Purely intraluminal disease and tumor diameter on CT scan seem to be independent predictors for successful endobronchial treatment in patients with bronchial carcinoid. Based on these data, patients with purely intraluminal carcinoid tumors with a diameter <20 mm on CT scan are good candidates for endobronchial treatment, regardless of histological grade. In contrast, all patients with a tumor diameter ≥20 mm should be directly referred for surgery.


In the fungal kingdom, the ability to cause disease in plants appears to have arisen multiple times during evolution. In many cases, the ability to infect particular plant species depends on specific genes that distinguish virulent fungi from their sometimes closely related nonvirulent relatives. These genes encode host-determining "virulence factors," including small, secreted proteins and enzymes involved in the synthesis of toxins. These virulence factors typically are involved in evolutionary arms races between plants and pathogens. We briefly summarize current knowledge of these virulence factors from several fungal species in terms of function, phylogenetic distribution, sequence variation, and genomic location. Second, we address some issues that are relevant to the evolution of virulence in fungi toward plants; in particular, horizontal gene transfer and the genomic organization of virulence genes.


This report presents findings of the nineteenth year of homicide data collection (2007–08) and provides an overview of key characteristics. Through the National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP), the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) monitors trends and patterns in homicide across Australian jurisdictions. The NHMP data are the most comprehensive collection on homicide in Australia, providing details of victims, offenders and the circumstances of the incident. This is only made possible through the strong support and commitment to the Program provided by all state and territory homicide squads. During 2007–08, there were 260 incidents of homicide resulting in 273 victims and committed by 308 offenders. Since 2001–02, there has been a decrease in the incidence of homicide. The rate of homicide in 2007–08 remained stable at 1.2 incidents per 100,000 of the population—the same as was recorded in 2006–07. Similarly, the homicide victimisation rate was equivalent to the previous year at 1.3 victims per 100,000 Australians, which remains the lowest recorded since the inception of the NHMP. With regard to the gender of victims, there were some notable findings. Female victimisation increased from 0.8 per 100,000 females in 2006–07 (n=81) to 1.0 per 100,000 females (n=112) in 2007–08. The proportion of female victims by type of homicide stayed relatively consistent with the previous year. The most prominent change was a decrease in the proportion of females killed in an acquaintance-type homicide in 2007–08 (11%) compared with 2006–07 (16%). In contrast, there was an overall decrease in male victimisation from 1.8 per 100,000 males in 2006–07 (n=185) down to 1.5 per 100,000 males in 2007–08 (n=161). Further, while there was an increase in the proportion of both acquaintance-type homicides from 2006–07 (36%) to 2007–08 (42%), and family-type homicides from 2006–07 (15%) to 2007–08 (24%), male victimisations in stranger-type homicides decreased to 16 percent in 2007–08 (from 25% in 2006–07). In general, most homicide incidents in 2007–08 were domestic homicides involving one or more victims who shared a family or domestic relationship with the offender. Intimate partner homicides comprised the largest proportion of domestic homicides (60%). The proportion of homicide incidents in 2007–08 involving a firearm increased modestly to 12 percent (n=30), an increase from nine percent (n=24) in 2007–08. Despite this increase, the involvement of firearms in homicide incidents remains at an historical low. The majority of firearms used in 2007–08 were identified as being either unregistered and/or unlicensed. While annual fluctuations in the patterns of homicide are quite common, the continued monitoring of these trends is important. The resource investment in monitoring serious crimes bears fruit by identifying changes over time and just as importantly, by placing short-term changes in a broader context. It also provides the opportunity to identify changes in risk markers associated with incidents, victims and offenders. Such information allows policymakers and law enforcement practitioners to better target intervention and prevention policies to have the most impact.


Awhite egret lives at the artificial pond in Morningside Park. It wades in the shallows by the concrete bank, lifting its dainty feet just above the water's surface with each step, and jutting its head. A breeze occasionally ruffles its plumage. If you have never watched an egret before, it will take a moment before you realize that, for all its cautious steps and marble pauses, as if to have its fairness and fragility apostrophized, it is actually hunting. Only then will it occur to you that its head resembles the blade of a knife, that its neck is really a coiled whip, and that its body is as much designed for striking as an adder's. Just then its head juts forward—dips—hardly a sound—; an instant later, it stands again with a minnow wriggling in its beak, which it holds there, once again, as if to be admired. The beak dribbles, the fish shimmers, and as the bird tosses back its head, the head is revealed as a mere extension of the gullet. There is a slight ripple in its throat. Then the neck recoils, and the egret freezes again. Were I a minnow, I think, all I would know of the egret was its shadow on the canopy of my world; and I don't know if I would be able to tell that shadow from, say, the shadow of a willow swaying at the water's edge, or of a passing cloud. I have read that egrets stir pond bottoms with their feet, so I might flee from presumed danger into the presumed safety of its shadow— only to be torn from my world by the great white heaven-piercing god, dangle a moment in the void, and disappear. What unsettles me is not the thought of the god beyond, yet somehow contiguous with, my universe, but rather the idea that there is some yet-greater being beyond it, for whom the egret is but a diversion. That the egret lives in its shadow, like the fish does in the egret's. That there is a beyond that beyond incarnate, something beyond whatever the fish could imagine to be casting the egret's shadow. God, I think, is that yet-greater being that stands over the horizon of the shadow of what I cannot even imagine. And if the fish can only sense the shadow on the water without any true idea of the substance behind, and God is that being admiring the cold beauty of an impassive Fate embodied by the white bird, then why my strange, momentary sympathy for the fish, whose mind is so far beneath mine as to be as inconceivable to me as I am to it?


Abstract The increasing need of on-demand power for enabling portable low-power devices and sensors has necessitated work in novel energy harvesting materials and devices. In a recent work, we demonstrated the production and suitability of three-dimensional (3-D) spacer all fibre piezoelectric textiles for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy for wearable and technical applications. The current work investigates the textile performance properties of these 3-D piezoelectric fabrics including porosity, air permeability, water vapour transmission and bursting strength. Furthermore, as these textiles are intended for wearable applications, we have assessed their wear abrasion and consequently provide surface resistance measurements which can affect the lifetime and efficiency of charge collection in the piezoelectric textile structures. The results show that the novel smart fabric with a measured porosity of 68% had good air (1855 l/m2/s) and water vapour permeability (1.34 g/m2/day) values, good wear abrasion resistance over 60,000 rotations applied by a load of 12 kPa and bursting strength higher than 2400 kPa. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of 3-D piezoelectric fabrics revealed that owing to the use of Ag/PA66 yarns, the textiles exhibit excellent antibacterial activity against not only Gram-negative bacteria E. coli but they are also capable of killing antibiotic methicillin-resistant bacteria S. aureus.


"Cityscapes of the Future: Urban Spaces in Science Fiction" offers an examination of the central role played by urban spaces in science fictional narratives in various media forms from the literary to the ludic to the cinematic. Our contributors reflect on the ways diverse urban scenarios are central to the narratives' science fictional imaginary and consider the pivotal roles cityscapes play in underscoring major thematic concerns, such as political struggles, social inequality and other cultural epistemologies. The chapters in the collection are divided into three sections examining the city and the body, cities of estrangement, and cities of the imagination.


Designing education for learners with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) is a special challenge for both professionals and researchers. Learners with PIMD experience a combination of significant intellectual and other disabilities, such as motor and sensory impairments. Heterogeneity in terms of combination and severity of disabilities is a common characteristic of this group. In the past, learners in this target group were described as not being able to learn due to the complexity of their disabilities. Recent studies do provide evidence that learners with PIMD are in fact able to learn, however, evidence-based practice for designing education for this group of learners is still scarce. One reason could be the difficulties associated with conducting intervention studies such as randomized controlled trials or controlled clinical trials with this target group. Most studies are designed as single-case studies. Hence, only a small number of studies have investigated topics such as communication, assessment, and teaching curricula to generate knowledge about the education of these learners. The most important conclusion of these studies is that all teaching activities need to be designed according to the strengths and needs of each individual learner with PIMD.


Keeping the eigenfrequencies of a structure away from the external excitation frequencies is one of the main goals in the design of vibrating structures in order to avoid risk of resonance. This paper is devoted to the topological design of freely vibrating continuum structures with the aim of maximizing the fundamental eigenfrequency. Since in the process of topology optimization some areas of domain can potentially be removed, it is quite possible to encounter the problem of localized modes. Hence, the modified Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) model is here used to avoid artificial modes in low density areas. As during the optimization process, the first natural frequency increases, it may become close to the second natural frequency. Due to lack of the usual differentiability of the multiple eigenfrequencies, their sensitivity are calculated by the mathematical perturbation analysis. The optimization problem is formulated by a variable bound formulation and it is solved by the Method of Moving Asymptotes (MMA). Two dimensional plane elasticity problems with different sets of boundary conditions and attachment of a concentrated nonstructural mass are considered. Numerical results show the validity and supremacy of this approach.


Knowledge and control of the solid forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients are important aspects of drug development in the pharmaceutical industry. In this paper, the process of the molecular self-assembly of saccharin cocrystals and the 2-amino-5-methylpyridine salt of indomethacin, in terms of the hydrogen bonding patterns, has been studied in the solid-state using vibrational spectroscopy (Raman and infrared). Interaction patterns in the respective crystalline states were obtained from the single crystal data. The effects of cocrystal and salt formation on the frequencies of the vibrational modes of motion were explained by vibrational spectroscopy and supported by quantum chemical calculations at the density functional theory level, leading to unambiguous assignment of the vibrational spectra of the starting materials and their respective products. Both Raman and infrared spectroscopies were useful, reliable tools for characterizing and distinguishing the indomethacin cocrystals and salt.


Three-party authenticated key exchange protocol is an important cryptographic technique in the secure communication areas, by which any two clients can verify the ability to use a server to establish communication. Recently, researchers have begun proposing new key exchange protocols that would not require the use of server public keys, but a human-memorable password. In this paper, we propose a new threeparty password authenticated key exchange protocol with key confirmation. The security of our proposed protocol relies on the hardness of the bilinear Diffie-Hellman problem and Diffie-Hellman problem in the random oracle model, and the proposed protocol achieves the security attributes: dictionary attack resilience, known session key security, perfect forward secrecy, no key compromise impersonation, no unknown key share and no key control.