The African continent is currently experiencing a period of sustained economic and population growth that requires massive investment in the energy sector to effectively meet the energy needs in the context of sustainable development. At the same time, COP21 agreements now call all the states to use clean energy. Yet a great energy potential is available, but the electrification rate of the continent currently accounts for only 3% of the world's energy production. Also, the demand for both quality and quantity energy requires the mastery of applied mathematical tools to efficiently solve problems arising in the energy system. In this article, the major problems affecting the energy sector in Africa are identified, some solutions to the challenges are recalled and some new ones are proposed, with emphasis given to applied mathematics tools as well as energy policy. As case studied, a new control strategy of Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC) devices-which are modern power quality Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS)-is proposed for Power Flow Control.


A significant challenge in the current orthopedics is the development of suitable osteobiologic materials that can replace the conventional allografts, autografts, and xenografts and thereby serve as implant materials as bone substitutes for bone repair or remodelling. The complex biology behind the nanostructure and microstructure of bones and their repair mechanisms, which involve various types of chemical and biomechanical signalling amongst different cells, has set strong requirements for biomaterials to be used in bone tissue engineering. This review presents an overview of various types of osteobiologic materials to facilitate the formation of the functional bone tissue and healing of the bone, covering metallic, ceramic, polymeric, and cell‐based graft substitutes, as well as some biomolecular strategies including stem cells, extracellular matrices, growth factors, and gene therapies. Advantages and disadvantages of each type, particularly from the perspective of osteoinductive and osteoconductive capabilities, are discussed. Although the numerous challenges of bone regeneration in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are yet to be entirely addressed, further advancements in osteobiologic materials will pave the way towards engineering fully functional bone replacement grafts.


There is an increasing interest in using Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (UASNs) for various oceanographic applications, such as pollution monitoring, seismic monitoring, environmental data collection, offshore exploration, and tactical surveillance. UASNs rely on acoustic communications; however, the underwater acoustic channel is highly variable and its link quality depends on environmental factors and the locations of the communicating nodes. Therefore, ensuring reliable communication in UASNs is quite difficult. Moreover, path losses and retransmissions lead to the wastage of energy resources and reduce the network lifetime. In this study, we have utilized well-known underwater modulation schemes to analyse and simulate various underwater scenarios with different depth, distance and Bit Error Rate (BER) values in order to make a fair comparison between the modulation schemes and obtain the optimal transmission power. Performance evaluations show that 32-PSK and 16-QAM techniques achieve the minimum energy consumption rates and enhance network lifetime.


It is now universally accepted that the impact of planetesimals, asteroids, and comets has been a fundamental process throughout the Solar System. Catastrophic impact events have been instrumental in developing the early history of the planets and have caused environmental disasters throughout Earth history. A major mass extinction at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary has been confidently related to an impact event (Chicxulub, Mexico). While the study of impact cratering is a multidisciplinary field, mineralogical and geochemical investigations have been central since the beginning, focusing on the nature of impact-generated rocks and of the extraterrestrial projectiles as well as their interaction with geological materials. Chemical and isotopic techniques have allowed the dating of impact events and the identification of traces of meteoritic projectiles in impact-formed rocks on Earth and the Moon.


On December 26, 2004 a major earthquake with a magnitude between 9.1 and 9.3 on the Richter scale occurred off the West Coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. This earthquake generated a devastating tsunami. Several countries suffered from the gigantic tsunami, many people died and many more lost their properties. The tsunami struck the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and killed 68 people and destroyed many properties. The Island of Penang was one of the places that suffered from the disaster. Fifty seven people died in this area when most of them were enjoying their time on the beach. Many home appliances, several boats and fishing equipments were also destroyed in the area. In order to prevent similar damages from a possible recurring tsunami event, the Steady-State Spectral Wave (STWAVE) model of Surface Water Modelling System (SMS) has been used to design an offshore barrier to dissipate the tsunami wave energy in this study. The December 2004 tsunami was used as a reference case. Nearshore tsunami wave amplitude was obtained from field surveying data conducted on July 9-10, 2005. Whilst, offshore tsunami wave height and direction have been acquired from an output of TUNAMI-N2 program. The model which has been calibrated against field survey data showed good agreement. Several breakwater layouts were simulated in the STWAVE model to derive an optimal configuration which could dissipate the tsunami wave energy before it reaches the Penang Island shoreline. From analysis made, it was found that eleven layouts reduced the tsunami wave heights by more than 70%. After extensive evaluation, breakwater layout number 39 was selected as the optimized layout showing an efficiency at 83%. At this efficiency, a wave height of 1.02 meter would impact the shoreline should a 6.0 m tsunami wave was made to propagate from offshore.


We describe Notodendrodes hyalinosphaira, a large (up to 2.7 cm long), facultatively arborescent, agglutinated foraminifer. The species occurs abundantly, and apparently exclusively, in Explorers Cove, an embayment of western McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The primary agglutinated test is an infaunal, unilocular sphere comprised of a single layer of principally quartz sand grains. Two secondary test features may be associated with the quartz sphere: (1) a thick cover of fine detrital material and/or (2) one, or rarely two, daisy-shaped appendages extending into the water column. These secondary test features in Notodendrodes hyalinosphaira apparently reflect trophic plasticity, ranging from infaunal uptake of dissolved nutrients to suspension feeding. Particle analysis reveals distinct size-class distributions for each test component, indicating a high degree of particle selection. The cell body (sarcode), which occupies approximately half of the quartz-sphere volume, is encased by a theca possessing a single aperture. Notodendrodes hyalinosphaira belongs to unilocular agglutinated foraminifera possessing certain structural similarities with allogromiids.


CD19 is a transmembrane protein that is part of a complex that controls signaling through the B cell receptor (BCR). Knockout of CD19 results in impaired B cell signaling, and overexpression of CD19 enhances B cell signaling. Fujimoto et al. propose a mechanism by which CD19 is phosphorylated by and subsequently recruits two Lyn tyrosine kinases, which tandemly bind the cytoplasmic tail of CD19, leading to amplification of Lyn activity. Experiments were performed in cells lacking Lyn or CD19; they demonstrated that CD19 is phosphorylated by Lyn in vivo and that in CD19-deficient cells Lyn and Vav phosphorylation in response to BCR activation was impaired, thus establishing interactions among these proteins. Using in vitro assays with glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins and CD19 peptides, the authors mapped the tyrosine residues phosphorylated by Lyn and demonstrated that phosphorylation of two of these residues was essential for stimulating Lyn activity for a target substrate in vitro. Finally, biotinylated Lyn and radiolabeled Lyn were mixed with CD19 in an in vitro kinase assay and radiolabeled Lyn coprecipitated with biotinylated Lyn. This interaction was dependent on the presence of both of the essential CD19 tyrosine residues. The authors suggest that CD19 acts as an adaptor to bring two pairs of Lyn molecules together to promote BCR signaling. Fujimoto, M., Fujimoto, Y., Poe, J.C., Jansen, P.J., Lowell, C.A., DeFranco, A.L., and Tedder, T.F. (2000) CD19 regulates Src family protein tyrosine kinase activation in B lymphocytes through processive amplification. Immunity 13: 47-57. [Online Journal]


The evolution of the spectrum of a singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on an MgO-doped periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate crystal is observed when the pump power is varied. The onset of cascade Raman lasing due to stimulated Raman scattering in the nonlinear crystal is analyzed. Spurious frequency doubling and sum-frequency generation phenomena are observed and understood. A strong reduction of the intracavity Raman scattering is obtained by a careful adjustment of the cavity losses.


THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE DYSFLINCTIONAL SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS OF ADULTS WHO EXPERIENCED REJECTION FROM 'THEIR PARENTS IN CHILDHOOD. AN EXPLORATION WITH A VIEW TO PASTORAL COUNSELING The purpose of this study was to determine whether a connection exists between the dysfunctional social relationships of adults and the parental rejection they experienced in childhood. The study was done according to: The metatheoretical using tangent planes with the human sciences; the empirical by means of interviews and questionnaires; Scriptural perspectives (basic theoretical); practical theoretical guidelines for the adult who experienced parental rejection in childhood. The empirical study with three young adults indicated that a connection does exist between the dysfunctional social relationships of adults and the parental rejection they experienced in childhood. Parental education, which imitates God's model of parents, will be loving, accepting and purposeful. Without these characteristics in the parent-child relationship, the parental education will fail and the child's interpersonal relationships might be damaged I impeded. Parental love is the keyword in childhood, as well as parental interest, involvement and availability. Practical theoretical guidelines were established to facilitate adults who experienced parental rejection in childhood so that they can: Find freedom in Jesus Christ; discover their identity in Him; accept His unconditional love; enjoy the abundant life, which Jesus Christ promises everyone.


We present a number of novel contributions to the multiple-source adaptation problem. We derive new normalized solutions with strong theoretical guarantees for the cross-entropy loss and other similar losses. We also provide new guarantees that hold in the case where the conditional probabilities for the source domains are distinct. Moreover, we give new algorithms for determining the distribution-weighted combination solution for the cross-entropy loss and other losses. We report the results of a series of experiments with real-world datasets. We find that our algorithm outperforms competing approaches by producing a single robust model that performs well on any target mixture distribution. Altogether, our theory, algorithms, and empirical results provide a full solution for the multiple-source adaptation problem with very practical benefits.


This Article explores the ongoing jurisprudential dispute over whether commodification of the human body, including gendered commodification as produced by biotechnology, conflicts with a desirable exercise of self-ownership rights. Contrary to the prevailing view, it argues that the commodification of the human body caused by biotechnology, including reproductive technologies, does not necessarily undermine the discourse of emancipatory Lockean self-ownership, or feminist and critical revisions of the Lockean paradigm. Commodification of the body by biothechnology, precisely because this technology is universal and indiscriminate, may extend self-ownership to subjugated groups historically denied it. The commodification so feared in emerging biotechnology finds precedent in earlier anti-slavery and emancipator conceptions of self-ownership, thus undermining many of the central objections to commodification. The Article concludes that there is a real peril that market forces and discrimination may nonetheless disproportionately impact members of subjugated groups and jeopardize the benefits of this newly robust self-ownership.


Morphological changes in the cutaneous microcirculation during wound healing have been studied by capillaroscopy in man. In experimental and accidental burns, abrasions, and lacerations, in addition to the anticipated revascularization by the deeper dermal vessels, a distinctive pattern of response by the surrounding papillary capillaries was consistently observed. This appears to be a general phenomenon in healing of skin lesions and suggests the possibility that a potent capillary-attracting factor may be produced within the injured tissue.


The challenge of wind integration is to make best use of the variable and uncertain power source while maintaining the continuous balance between consumption and generation and high level of reliability in the power system. There is already experience of operating power systems with large amounts of wind power and integration studies give estimates on wind power impacts. Power systems are equipped to handle variability and uncertainty that comes from the electricity consumption, the load. Short‐term wind forecasting is required to manage large amounts of wind power. The main impacts of wind integration are investments in grid infrastructure and efficiency losses in power plants when following the increased variations and uncertainty in the power system. Wind power will lower emissions while replacing energy produced by fossil fuels and can also replace some power plant capacity. However, wind's lower capacity value compared to conventional power plants is one integration impact of wind power, meaning higher total installed capacity in power systems with high wind penetration. Managing options for wind integration impacts includes proper wind power plant grid‐connection rules, increasing transmission capacity and increasing flexibility that is available from generation plants and demand side. Further development of models and tools is required to study how entire power systems can be operated during the hours and days of very high penetration levels covering 60–80% of load.


Background: Docetaxel has been a standard of care for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) in the United States since 2004, yet little has been reported on its patterns of use in routine practice. To help understand these patterns, a retrospective study was conducted and is reported here. Methods: Medical records from 394 patients treated in the United States were reviewed. Data were collected by 48 physicians from oncology (patient N=344) and 8 physicians from urology (patient N=50) practices. Inclusion criteria were: CRPC diagnosed between 2004 and 2010; received docetaxel; discontinued docetaxel due to rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA), progression of bone lesions, or progression of nodal or visceral metastases. Data were collected from physicians using an internet-based case report form. We evaluated patient demographics, characteristics of the docetaxel regimen, and other treatments used until docetaxel discontinuation. Results: Patients had a mean [±SD] age of 66.5 [8.9] years, the majority (63%) were white, and geographic dispersion was similar to the US population. The majority of patients initiated docetaxel between 2008 and 2010. After CRPC diagnosis, 8% of patients had initiated another cancer-directed therapy before starting docetaxel. Most (78.9%) patients initiated docetaxel with prednisone, while 18.5% initiated docetaxel alone and 2.6% initiated with other medications. Half of patients initiated docetaxel within 1 month after CRPC diagnosis, while 25% started ≥6 months later. Other non-chemotherapy treatments used with docetaxel were hormonal therapy (22.8%), radiotherapy (17.3%), and surgery (4.1%). Most patients (75%) received ≥4 docetaxel cycles, half received ≥6 cycles, 25% received ≥8 cycles and 10% received ≥10 cycles. Increased tumor mass, with/without new bone lesions or rising PSA, was the most common reason for docetaxel discontinuation (74% of patients). Conclusions: Concordant with guidelines, docetaxel and prednisone was the preferred first-line chemotherapy regimen in CRPC patients reviewed for this study. However, one quarter of patients did not initiate docetaxel until ≥6 months after CRPC diagnosis and total exposure varied considerably, with only 10% receiving ≥10 cycles. Future studies are needed to describe specific reasons explaining timing of docetaxel initiation and duration of exposure in some CRPC patients.


This photograph of Craig Cullinan, Jr. is part of the Vera Prasilova Scott portraiture collection. Scott was a studio photographer and the wife of a Rice faculty member. She took portraits of many prominent Houstonians in the late 1920s and early 1930s.


Close Range Photogrammetry (CRP) is a process of making measurement from photographs.
In generally, CRP is generating from 2D image into 3D image. The aim of this study is to
generate 3D modelling o f area affected by explosion. In order to achieve the stated aim and
objectives, the study designated to use the current data to be collected on the field. So, the data
to generate 3D modelling of area affected by explosion come from capturing picture by camera
or other devices. Capturing the incident on the field as the result which is 3D model of that area
looks like a real world. The entire places the data to be collected is at Arau, Perlis which is
explosion site simulation. The designated of this study is to generate 3D model of area affected
by explosion as the output. Agisoft PhotoScan Professional software is needed to process the
data that have been collected. In this process phase, camera calibration is needed to acquire the
exterior orientation with sufficient redundancies in every photo at least six ground control
points should appear although this number depends of each photograph (Aguilar et al., 2007).
The 3D model be able identify the measurement before and after explosion. In order to
identified the changes between two condition, the result will compared the radius area affected
before and after by using three software. In this simulation uses a chemical compound which
is calcium carbide with chemical formula CaC2. Then, to identify the chemical reaction of
calcium carbide the result of chemical reaction between two types of surface with different
quantity of calcium carbide by interpreting the depth of area affected.


In development of fermented dairy products and protein hydrolysates with high inhibitory activity towards angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), it is crucial to have a reliable assay for measuring the ACE activity. In the present study, the performance of two commonly used assays based on synthetic N-derivates of tripeptides as substrates were tested with respect to reliability in determination of ACE activity per se and to the inhibitory effect of a tryptic whey protein digest and captopril. In one test, the ACE activity was calculated from the amount of hippuric acid liberated from hippuryl-His-Leu (HHL) during 30 min of incubation with ACE, as quantified after HPLC separation of reaction products. In the other assay, the ACE activity was measured directly as the rate of decrease in the absorbance at 340 nm during the first 30 min of ACE catalysed hydrolysis of furanacroloyl-Phe-Glu-Glu (FA-PGG). Both assays, in the absence of inhibitor, showed a good performance with relative standard deviation between replicate samples around 7%. In the presence of inhibitor solutions, relative standard deviations for both assays varied between 1 and 18% for the variously diluted inhibitors. Both assays gave values for the concentration of inhibitor needed to inhibit ACE by 50% similar to those previously reported for whey protein digests and captopril. Different results from the two assays, however, emphasize the importance of controlling the actual ACE-activity for comparison between assays. The limitations of each assay are discussed. Considering the fewer steps in the assay using FA-PGG as substrate, and thus less time and chemicals consumed per sample, and the simpler equipment needed, this assay is recommended for the screening of clear peptide samples.


Electromagnetic fields are now being used in many diseases such as osseous, ligamental, cartilaginous, or nervous reparation, diabetes, and myocardial or cerebral ischemia. Although many publications show the usefulness of magneto-therapy, discrepancies exist about the utility of electromagnetic fields in skin wound healing. The objective of this work was to study the effect of pulsed electromagnetic fields on wound healing in rats. Twenty-two male Wistar rats were used; a circular lesion was made in the back of each animal. They were divided into three groups: group C (control) with sham treatment (n = 8), group NF, treated with topical nitrofurazone solution (n = 7), and group PEMF, treated with pulsed electromagnetic fields of 20 mT (n = 7). The treatments were 35 minutes twice a day. The absolute and relative values of the area and perimeter of the wounds showed significantly lower values in the PEMF group at days 7, 14, and 21 compared with those in group C (p < 0.01, analysis of variance), whereas the PEMF group showed significantly lower values at day 21 only compared with the NF group (p < 0.01, analysis of variance). The results suggest a significant beneficial stimulation in the wound healing process in rats treated with PEMF, which could lead to the development of a practical tool for research and clinical use.


This paper presents an efficient and homogeneous paradigm for automatic acquisition and recognition of nonparametric shapes. Acquisition time varies from linear to cubic in the number of object features. Recognition time is linear to cubic in the number of features in the image and grows slowly with the number of stored models. Nonparametric shape representation is achieved by spatial autocorrelation transforms. Both acquisition and recognition are two-step processes. In the first phase, spatialautocorrelationoperators are applied to the image data to perform local shape analysis. Then, spatial autocorrelation operators are applied to the local shape descriptors to either create entries (acquisition) or index (recognition) into a table containing the distributed shape information. The output of the table is used to generate a density function on the space of possible shapes with peaks corresponding to high confidence in the presence of a particular shape instance. The behavior of the system on a set of complex shapes is shown with respect to occlusion, geometric transformation, and cluttered scenes.


Today's airports are expansive and expensive infrastructures with considerable impact on population and the environment. In the past, we have seen almost unconstrained exponential growth of air transportation in the Western world, which has been fueled by deregulation and partial privatization of air transportation in the U.S. and in Europe. Today, North-American and European markets as well as major routes have matured considerably. Therefore, future growth of demand will happen in the Asian and in the Middle-Eastern markets, simultaneous with increasing wealth, consumption, and education. Having a functional and efficient infrastructure is essential for future growth in all economies. The European market will not stagnate at the current level; Europe will continue to serve as a gateway between the Americas and Asia, and it will grow, on average, at a comparably lower rate. There will be considerable growth at Eastern European airports. This results in a doubling of traffic or passengers in the next 16 to 20 years, putting currently congested airports under enormous pressure. The question for European institutions and policy is: Do European airports have the capacity to serve future demand or will there be a widening capacity gap?


One of the world's most beautiful and iconic structures, the Parthenon, the temple of the Virgin goddess Athena, boldly displays the culmination of culture and civilization upon the Acropolis in Athens, Greece and in Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee. I have attempted to research the history, architecture, and sculpture of the magnificent marble edifice by analyzing the key themes and elements that compose the great work: culture, civilization, and rebirth. Using a musical sonata form to display my research, I wished to convey a digestible analysis of how the Parthenon and its connotations transcend time through rebirth in Nashville, Tennessee. Known as the "Athens of the South," Nashville continues the culture displayed in Ancient Greece and symbolizes this through the city's scale replication of the Parthenon within Centennial Park. In the first century A.D., Plutarch wrote Greek history so that the Greeks could recall the history that was gradually fading from their memories. As Plutarch did with his readers, I am attempting to re-educate Nashvillians, as well as the world, about the rich history and inheritance of the Athenian culture within ourselves.


This note provides a clarification regarding the conditional and marginal likelihood functions in the BG/BB model, as published in Marketing Science by Fader, Hardie, and Shang (2010). Their Equations 4 and 5 do not include normalizing constants which, if included, would equate these likelihood functions with their corresponding joint probability functions. While these expressions are valid, because likelihood functions need only be correct up to a constant of proportionality, they are not joint probability functions, which may be a source of potential confusion for users who mistakenly equate the one for the other. Assuming the likelihood functions in Equations 4 and 5 are equal to their respective joint probability functions will lead to an incorrect joint probability distribution over recency and frequency data, resulting in incorrect goodness-of-fit metrics and managerially relevant expressions. We provide formal derivations of the joint probability functions that correspond to the likelihood functions in Equations 4 and 5 to remove this potential source of confusion for users of the BG/BB model.


BACKGROUND
 More than 90% of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers could be prevented by widespread uptake of the HPV vaccine, yet vaccine use in the United States falls short of public health goals.

 OBJECTIVE
 The purpose of this study was to describe the development, acceptability, and intention to use the mobile app Vaccipack, which was designed to promote uptake and completion of the adolescent HPV vaccine series.

 METHODS
 Development of the mobile health (mHealth) content was based on the integrated behavioral model (IBM). The technology acceptance model (TAM) was used to guide the app usability evaluation. App design utilized an iterative process involving providers and potential users who were parents and adolescents. App features include a vaccine-tracking function, a discussion forum, and stories with embedded messages to promote intention to vaccinate. Parents and adolescents completed surveys before and after introducing the app in a pediatric primary care setting with low HPV vaccination rates.

 RESULTS
 Surveys were completed by 54 participants (20 adolescents aged 11 to 14 years and 34 parents). Notably, 75% (15/20) of adolescents and 88% (30/34) of parents intended to use the app in the next 2 weeks. Acceptability of the app was high among both groups: 88% (30/34) of parents and 75% (15/20) of adolescents indicated that Vaccipack was easy to use, and 82% (28/34) of parents and 85% (17/20) of adolescents perceived the app to be beneficial. Higher levels of app acceptability were found among parents with strong intentions to use the app (P=.09; 95% CI –2.15 to 0.15).

 CONCLUSIONS
 mHealth technology, such as Vaccipack, may be an acceptable and nimble platform for providing information to parents and adolescents and advancing the uptake of important vaccines.


Blended learning approaches are increasingly being adopted in UK Higher Education
Institutions, and the University of Glasgow has made a substantial strategic investment in
this area. In this context, we defer to Garrison and Kanuka's (2004) definition of blended
learning as an optimally designed combination of online and face-to-face learning. Such
technology-enhanced learning approaches provide affordances for more flexible,
student-centred learning experiences (Gordon, 2014). This presentation captures the
experiences of students transitioning to increase blended learning at the University of
Glasgow, particularly as they relate to a blended experience at the programme level.
The outcomes from evaluation data from two undergraduate Classics online courses, and
a focus group with learners enrolled on an online research methods course as part of a
blended programme in a business school, will be presented here. Data collection is
ongoing to capture and compare the experiences of blended learning by home versus
international, and undergraduate versus postgraduate, learners.
In terms of advantages of blended learning, participants identified clear pedagogical
benefits including the ability to study flexibly, and enhanced engagement with the course
material. However, some learners felt isolated and considered that there was scope for
more immediate feedback from – and greater interaction with – their teachers. Studying
an entirely online course within an otherwise face-to-face programme was seen as
challenging; although participants considered that the courses promoted independent
working, some struggled with motivation and time management.
The experience of blended learning by international students revealed particular benefits
and challenges. The ability to replay online resources was seen to be especially helpful for
students with English as a Second Language. However, one semester was seen as too
short a time for international master's students to acclimatise to a blended programme
format.
The findings have implications for curriculum design as well as study skills support around
blended curricula.


Undesired immune responses have drastically hampered outcomes after allogeneic organ transplantation and cell therapy, and also lead to inflammatory diseases and autoimmunity. Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UCMSCs) have powerful regenerative and immunomodulatory potential, and their secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) are envisaged as a promising natural source of nanoparticles to increase outcomes in organ transplantation and control inflammatory diseases. However, poor EV preparations containing highly-abundant soluble proteins may mask genuine vesicular-associated functions and provide misleading data. Here, we used Size-Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) to successfully isolate EVs from UCMSCs-conditioned medium. These vesicles were defined as positive for CD9, CD63, CD73 and CD90, and their size and morphology characterized by NTA and cryo-EM. Their immunomodulatory potential was determined in polyclonal T cell proliferation assays, analysis of cytokine profiles and in the skewing of monocyte polarization. In sharp contrast to the non-EV containing fractions, to the complete conditioned medium and to ultracentrifuged pellet, SEC-purified EVs from UCMSCs inhibited T cell proliferation, resembling the effect of parental UCMSCs. Moreover, while SEC-EVs did not induce cytokine response, the non-EV fractions, conditioned medium and ultracentrifuged pellet promoted the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines by polyclonally stimulated T cells and supported Th17 polarization. In contrast, EVs did not induce monocyte polarization, but the non-EV fraction induced CD163 and CD206 expression and TNF-α production in monocytes. These findings increase the growing evidence confirming that EVs are an active component of MSC's paracrine immunosuppressive function and affirm their potential for therapeutics in nanomedicine. In addition, our results highlight the importance of well-purified and defined preparations of MSC-derived EVs to achieve the immunosuppressive effect.


Topographically low exposures of Upper Triassic Chinle Group strata near St. Johns, Arizona, overlie the Middle Triassic Moenkopi Formation and can be assigned to four formation-rank units. These are, in ascending order, the Zuni Mountains (= "mottled strata"), Shinarump, Bluewater Creek (= "Mesa Redondo"), and Petrifi ed Forest formations. Petrifi ed Forest Formation strata in the vicinity of St. Johns pertain to three members, the basal Blue Mesa, medial Sonsela, and upper Painted Desert members. There are two principal unconformities in this section, the Tr-3 unconformity at the base of the Chinle and the Tr-4 unconformity at the top of the Blue Mesa Member. The Sonsela Member of the Petrifi ed Forest Member disconformably overlies the Blue Mesa Member throughout this region. However, although the Sonsela consists of basal extrabasinal conglomerates overlain by coarse-grained sandstones, it does not always form a persistent bench or ledge, and often must be identifi ed by lithology alone, not merely by topographic expression. In the northern and easternmost Blue Hills northeast of St. Johns, the Painted Desert Member of the Petrifi ed Forest Formation crops out as badlands of reddish-brown, bentonitic mudstone.


The study is framed within the context and knowledge that companies that continually
achieve product design and development success, habitually work more closely with
customers and users. They do this to discover needs and wants in order that these might be
translated into new or improved product or service offerings. It is widely recognised that
many companies achieve success by reaching-out to customers and users directly in order to
tap into what matters most to the people that will purchase and use their products and
services: such engagement enables the development of a healthy pipeline of breakthrough
products and services. The importance of connecting with customers and users is not a new
phenomenon: building-in the voice of the customer is a critical element of well-established
tools such as Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) in large organisations. Awareness of
this sparked the simple question, 'why, with so much support and clear evidence of the
benefits of customer- and user-involvement in identifying and fulfilling needs has the
practice not become universally embedded within product design and development
activities?'
The main aim of this study is to build upon the work of organisations such as the Design
Council and NESTA, and authors such as Herstatt and von Hippell, Cooper and
Kleinschmidt and Ulrich and Eppinger. These agencies and researchers have indicated - in
numerous studies and publications - that direct contact with customers and end-users is one
of the best means of generating information about new product ideas. They also assert that
'experiencing' the use environment of a particular product or function is a prerequisite for
generating high quality information.
Many studies provide useful insights into generic best practices and offer evidence to
support the assertion that direct contact with customers and end-users is important for large
organisations. The research reported below continues in this vein but extends the analysis to
examine specifically: (i) the importance (to business success) of fulfilling customer needs,
(ii) the extent of customer and user involvement in identifying and fulfilling needs, (iii) the
range of activities in which stakeholders and users are typically involved, (iv) the classes of
issues discussed in engagement practices, and (v) the issues that contribute to success and
failure in product development in SMEs.
The study is important in two key respects. First, because even though organisations such as
the Design Council and NESTA have highlighted the positive impact that fulfilling user
needs can have on business growth, there remains a mismatch between perceived wisdom
and practice. Second, from a research perspective, it builds upon existing theory and
provides a level of granularity that both extends understanding and provides novel insights
with respect to how the gap between theory (known value) and practice (adoption and use)
might be bridged.
The research was undertaken in three key phases. The first involved a series of scoping and
context-setting interviews with respondents in selected, innovating SMEs. The second
phase involved the development of a sector-based sample of SMEs and the distribution of a
comprehensive qualitative-quantitative survey questionnaire. Following data analysis, a
third phase witnessed the validation and nuancing of initial results via further engagement
with selected innovating SMEs in the safety, general products, and healthcare sectors. Key
findings from the study include the following: users and customers are an excellent source
of ideas and intelligence in the product development process, however, many companies fail
to exploit customers optimally (or at all) as a development resource; identifying user needs
is an integral component in the product design process, but many companies lack the skills
and knowledge to undertake this work adequately; where customer/user engagement is
witnessed, it is frequently at non-optimal phases in the development process and limited in
ambit (or undertaken by functions that are poorly-equipped to reap full benefits); and, whilst
theory relating to user-involvement is widely recognised in the SME community, this is
rarely translated effectively into cutting-edge practice.
The study provides a contribution to new knowledge by focusing on the improvement of
front-end product design and development performance via the deployment of user-centred
design activities. It unpacks and details the factors that impact on identifying and fulfilling
customer needs in front-end product development in UK SME manufacturing companies,
and develops a framework that aids in reducing uncertainty and maximising effective
practice in the development process. Further, the work maps and analyses state-of-the-art
research in the domain and presents an agenda for future investigation designed to stimulate
and support improved user-engagement activity and thus improved product development
outcomes.


ABSTRACT Delays in the identification of microorganisms are a barrier to the establishment of adequate empirical antibiotic therapy of bacteremia. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) allows the identification of microorganisms directly from colonies within minutes. In this study, we have adapted and tested this technology for use with blood culture broths, thus allowing identification in less than 30 min once the blood culture is detected as positive. Our method is based on the selective recovery of bacteria by adding a detergent that solubilizes blood cells but not microbial membranes. Microorganisms are then extracted by centrifugation and analyzed by MALDI-TOF-MS. This strategy was first tested by inoculating various bacterial and fungal species into negative blood culture bottles. We then tested positive patient blood or fluid samples grown in blood culture bottles, and the results obtained by MALDI-TOF-MS were compared with those obtained using conventional strategies. Three hundred twelve spiked bottles and 434 positive cultures from patients were analyzed. Among monomicrobial fluids, MALDI-TOF-MS allowed a reliable identification at the species, group, and genus/family level in 91%, 5%, and 2% of cases, respectively, in 20 min. In only 2% of these samples, MALDI-TOF MS did not yield any result. When blood cultures were multibacterial, identification was improved by using specific databases based on the Gram staining results. MALDI-TOF-MS is currently the fastest technique to accurately identify microorganisms grown in positive blood culture broths.


BACKGROUND
Obese adolescents are at a greater risk of vitamin D deficiency because vitamin D is thought to be sequestered by excess adipose tissue. Poor vitamin D status has been associated with a higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, or both in adults and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE
The objective was to determine in obese adolescents the efficacy and safety of 4000 IU vitamin D3/d and whether subsequent increased circulating concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] are associated with improved markers of insulin sensitivity and resistance and reduced inflammation.

DESIGN
Obese adolescent patients [n = 35; mean ± SD age: 14.1 ± 2.8 y; BMI (in kg/m(2)): 39.8 ± 6.1; 25(OH)D: 19.6 ± 7.1 ng/mL] were recruited from the University of Missouri Adolescent Diabetes and Obesity Clinic and were randomly assigned to receive either vitamin D3 (4000 IU/d) or placebo as part of their standard care. Anthropometric measurements, inflammatory markers (IL-6, TNF-α, C-reactive protein), adipokines (leptin, adiponectin), fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and HOMA-IR values were measured at baseline and at 2 follow-up visits (3 and 6 mo).

RESULTS
After 6 mo, there were no significant differences in BMI, serum inflammatory markers, or plasma glucose concentrations between groups. Participants supplemented with vitamin D3 had increases in serum 25(OH)D concentrations (19.5 compared with 2.8 ng/mL for placebo; P < 0.001), fasting insulin (-6.5 compared with +1.2 μU/mL for placebo; P = 0.026), HOMA-IR (-1.363 compared with +0.27 for placebo; P = 0.033), and leptin-to-adiponectin ratio (-1.41 compared with +0.10 for placebo; P = 0.045). Inflammatory markers remained unchanged.

CONCLUSION
The correction of poor vitamin D status through dietary supplementation may be an effective addition to the standard treatment of obesity and its associated insulin resistance. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00994396.


abstract:Objects carved of jade often were placed in Han-dynasty burials of people of high rank. This article focuses on a small, shield-shaped (or "heart-shaped") pendant frequently found near the deceased. The development of the type is examined through its appearance in tombs dating to the early Western Han through the end of the Eastern Han and extending into the immediate post-Han period. The typology of the pendant and its surface decoration are analyzed. This type of jade pendant resurfaced in the Song dynasty, but its most significant resurgence is during the Ming and early Qing dynasties, although by then its decorative features, as recorded in illustrations in books, appear to be more important than its use in burials. The article also explores the foundational years of collecting Chinese art in the West by individuals such as the sinologist Berthold Laufer, as well as other scholars of Chinese art, as they began to understand the shield-shaped pendant's origin as a Han-dynasty artifact and to explore its significance.


In the context of the ESA M5 (medium mission) call we proposed a new satellite mission, Theia, based on relative astrometry and extreme precision to study the motion of very faint objects in the Universe. Theia is primarily designed to study the local dark matter properties, the existence of Earth-like exoplanets in our nearest star systems and the physics of compact objects. Furthermore, about 15 % of the mission time was dedicated to an open observatory for the wider community to propose complementary science cases. With its unique metrology system and "point and stare" strategy, Theia's precision would have reached the sub micro-arcsecond level. This is about 1000 times better than ESA/Gaia's accuracy for the brightest objects and represents a factor 10-30 improvement for the faintest stars (depending on the exact observational program). In the version submitted to ESA, we proposed an optical (350-1000nm) on-axis TMA telescope. Due to ESA Technology readiness level, the camera's focal plane would have been made of CCD detectors but we anticipated an upgrade with CMOS detectors. Photometric measurements would have been performed during slew time and stabilisation phases needed for reaching the required astrometric precision.


AirAuth is a biometric authentication technique that uses in-air hand gestures to authenticate users tracked through a short-range depth sensor. Our method tracks multiple distinct points on the user's hand simultaneously that act as a biometric to further enhance security. We describe the details of our mobile demonstrator that will give Interactivity attendees an opportunity to enroll and verify our system's authentication method. We also wish to encourage users to design their own gestures for use with the system. Apart from engaging with the CHI community, a demonstration of AirAuth would also yield useful gesture data input by the attendees which we intend to use to further improve the prototype and, more importantly, make available publicly as a resource for further research into gesture-based user interfaces.


With the existing trajectory path of the Philippines' advancement aspirations, there is challenge that lies in sustaining and dramatically elevating the growth in foreign direct investments (FDI), which are critical for the country's economic development. In light of the impending reforms that aim to fast track economic growth in the country, this paper provides an overview of the current economic landscape in view of foreign direct investments. We examined the prevailing political noises that dictate investment prospects and analyzed foreign direct investments across administrations and against its competition among neighbor countries. Tracking down foreign direct investments in the past 6 years from 2012 to 2017 shows that FDI since 2010 has exhibited an upward trend, but the "long game" in FDI is not built on quick spurts—it is more amply compared to a marathon underpinned by strong institutions and fundamentals. If we were to use a health analogy, the evidence presented suggests that ours is a generally healthy economy, posting impressive growth, but carrying some structural flaws. A successful cure will likely come at the hands of skilled and respected surgeons wielding scalpels, rather than those who would wield axes, doing more harm than good.


Abstract This study reports the first documented occurrence of platinum group minerals (PGM) and silicate inclusions in the podiform chromitites of the Naga-Manipur ophiolite complex, Indo-Myanmar orogenic belt, northeastern India. The studied chromitites were divided into three groups, high-Cr (Cr# = 0.72 to 0.80), intermediate-Cr (Cr# = 0.66 to 0.68), and high-Al (Cr# = 0.46 to 0.47). The bulk PGE content is low and varies in the range of 57–162 ppb. The chondrite normalized PGE patterns show that the studied chromitites are enriched in IPGE (Os, Ir, Ru) over PPGE (Rh, Pt, Pd), which in general is consistent with podiform chromitites hosted in a mantle sequence of ophiolites. All the PGE patterns are characterized by a consistent positive anomaly in Ru and some samples display a slight positive anomaly in Pt, compared with Rh and Pd. Most of the PGM occur in fresh chromite crystals consisting of single or polyphase grains composed of different PGM associated with Ni and Cu sulfides and silicates. The primary PGM paragenesis consists of minerals of the laurite (RuS 2 )–erlichmanite (OsS 2 ) series with minor osmium, iridium, and ruthenium. An unidentified Ir–Ni sulfide mineral, probably kashinite, was also observed. Based on their assemblage, we can argue that the PGM discovered in the Naga-Manipur chromitites are magmatic in origin and formed at relatively high sulfur fugacity, as testified by the presence of Os-rich laurite, erlichmanite, and kashinite. However, the relatively low PGE content of the investigated chromitites suggests that sulfur saturation was not achieved in the parental magma during the early stage of their crystallization. The presence of heazlewoodite in chromite fractures and in the altered matrix reflects its secondary origin, suggesting that it formed progressively during the serpentinization process. The presence of both Cr-rich and Al-rich chromitite suggest that the Naga-Manipur chromitite formed from separate intrusions of magmas derived from different depleted mantle sources ( e.g ., MORB versus boninitic) during evolution of the oceanic lithosphere from the MOR (Al-rich chromitite) towards a supra subduction zone (SSZ). Abundant hydrous silicates inclusions were found exclusively in the Cr-rich chromitites, whereas the Al-rich chromitites contain only clinopyroxene, confirming the proposed geodynamic evolution.


A reviewed anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of the Late Cretaceous theropod Unquillosaurus ceibali is presented. This taxon is represented by an isolated pubis from Los Blanquitos Formation (Maastrichtian), from the province of Salta, NW Argentina. The size of the bone (51 cm long) originally lead to interpret this theropod as a member of the large "Carnosauria". However, the pubic anatomy of Unquillosaurus is more congruent with that present in metornithine coelurosaurians, a group including Alvarezsauridae, Therizinosauroidea, Oviraptorosauria, Deinonychosauria, and Aves. Derived features present in Unquillosaurus include: opisthopubic pelvis, pubic pedicle of ilium craniocaudally wide, ventral margin of pubic pedicle strongly concave, cranial process of pubic foot short, and length of pubic foot less than 30 percent of pubic total length. Moreover, some traits shared with early avians (e.g., pubic foot proximodistally tall and craniocaudally short), suggest that this dinosaur may be more closely related to birds than suspected. The set of autapomorphic features recognized in the pubis indicates that Unquillosaurus may belong to an endemic lineage of large maniraptoran theropods.


This research entitle " Strategy of Marketing Public Relations ( MPR) In Drawing Enthusiasm Consumer". Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang represent new hotspot which have merger concept between sport element and entertainment. This research aim to to know and evaluate how strategy used by Marketing Public Relations ( MPR) Pit Stop Pool Caf? Malang in drawing consumer enthusiasm, where this matter to face emulation which enough tighten the effort entertainment amusement in Malang. To develop its effort, Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang open new outlet again in Semeru st. But, its it growth of service of billiyard less to enthused by society. The mentioned also felt by Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang. Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang is so recognized by Malang society, besides its existence which still newly so that not yet so applied in social activities, besides understanding of society to place of billiyard also still negative so that result Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang less enthused by society. Is therefore needed by hard work of Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang to be more socialize product operational and service had by Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang, and also alter society view which still assume place of billiyard by negative. Marketing Public Relations represent activity of marketing by using technique of public relations through creation of image which are positive, goodness about product and also service. Is in this case needed by an strategy of marketing public relations to socialize service and product of Pit Stop Pool and Caf?, and shares of marketing commisioned to execute it. Besides personating a liaison, part of marketing is also claimed to have ability in creating an strategy in communicating service and product of Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang society. As for the problems which is taken in this research is how strategy of marketing conducted by public relations Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang in drawing consumer enthusiasm. Target of this research is to know how strategy of marketing public relations conducted Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang to drawing consumer enthusiasm. In research method, researcher use type of descriptive qualitative in perpectively emik. Source of information in this research have been determined that is employees part of marketing amount to 2 people with technique intake of Total Sampling. In collecting source the researcher use technique of interview (In-depth Intervewing) and bibliography study in the form of informations and books. obtained to be file to analysed with file analysis of domain sequence and type / step. By using technique authenticity of triangulation file. From result of file analysis known that strategy of marketing public relations conducted by Pit Stop Pool and Caf? is: first, to conduct fact finding and file of eksternal including in it stipulating of market segmentation through activity of survey in society. Second, by compiling strategy domination of market covering publicity and advertisement. Domination of this market is supported by some media print in the form of newspaper, brochure, and baner. In this research can be concluded that strategy of marketing public relations compiled by team marketing of Pit Stop Pool and Caf? becoming an strategy hotchpotch precisely. In drawing consumer enthusiasm go well by using marketing communication mix and supported by existing medium. Visible that company environment assessed enough kondusif, they are every shares work along better so that reach goals which have been determined. Recommendation to this company is position of public relations and marketing of Pit Stop Pool and Caf? Malang better there is clarity of duty and authority so that there no overlap in running duty and to easyer in evaluation. Keyword : Strategi; Marketing Public Relations; Minat Konsumen Link terkait : http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/344/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2009-erlanadipu-17193-PENDAHUL-f.pdf


We study the fingering instability of a circular interface between two immiscible liquids in a radial Hele-Shaw cell. The cell rotates around its vertical symmetry axis, and the instability is driven by the density difference between the two fluids. This kind of driving allows studying the interfacial dynamics in the particularly interesting case of an interface separating two liquids of comparable viscosity. An accurate experimental study of the number of fingers emerging from the instability reveals a slight but systematic dependence of the linear dispersion relation on the gap spacing. We show that this result is related to a modification of the interface boundary condition which incorporates stresses originated from normal velocity gradients. The early nonlinear regime shows nearly no competition between the outgrowing fingers, characteristic of low viscosity contrast flows. We perform experiments in a wide range of experimental parameters, under conditions of mass conservation (no injection), and characterize the resulting patterns by data collapses of two characteristic lengths: the radius of gyration of the pattern and the interface stretching. Deep in the nonlinear regime, the fingers which grow radially outwards stretch and become gradually thinner, to a point that the fingers pinch and emit drops. We show that the amount of liquid emitted in the first generation of drops is a constant independent of the experimental parameters. Further on there is a sharp reduction of the amount of liquid centrifugated, punctuated by periods of no observable centrifugation.


This article tests the hypothesis that democracies exhibit stronger international environmental commitment than non-democracies, using multivariate econometric techniques. A number of proxy variables are used in lieu of environmental commitment, a non-observable variable. Strong evidence is found that democracies sign and ratify more multilateral environmental agreements, participate in more environmental intergovernmental organizations, comply better with reporting requirements under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora, put a greater percentage of their land area under protections status, are more likely to have a National Council on Sustainable Development in their country and have more environmentally relevant information available than non-democracies. The findings suggest that a spread of democracy around the world will lead to enhanced environmental commitment worldwide. Results are robust with respect to inclusion or exclusion of developed countries in the sample. The use of four different variables for democracy also ensures robustness with respect to the measure of democracy. The strong evidence in favour of a positive link between democracy and environmental commitment stands in contrast to the somewhat weak evidence on such a link between democracy and environmental outcomes. The explanation presumably is that theory predicts a stronger positive link of democracy with environmental commitment than with environmental outcomes.


Whatever happened to Social Europe? The promise of Jacques Delors seems to have spawned a flurry of European Union directives, yet has since fizzled out. This edited volume, bringing together a team of international interdisciplinary experts from across Europe, systematically explores the EU's social policy activities, both before and after the Eurocrisis. The contributors examine how and why the great expectations remained unfulfilled, but also move the scholarly debate beyond the emphasis on courts and markets. European Commission policy entrepreneurship, eastern enlargement, the shifting ideological contours of European Social Democracy, and the spirit of the Lisbon Agenda have all led to market creation taking strong precedence over market correcting policies. This insightful and comprehensive volume will be of great interest to European Union scholars and practitioners alike.


This paper proposes a new control algorithm for a linear belt-driven servomechanism. The elasticity of the belt and large nonlinear friction along with large variation of parameters limit the applicability of the belt driven servosystems. Design of simple control that can guarantee stable, vibration-free operation for large variation of load is needed to extend application of such a linear stage. The proposed control is based on the application of sliding mode methods combined with Lyapunov design so it guarantees the stability of the system. Due to the restriction of the system motion to specially selected sliding mode manifold the vibration free position tracking is achieved with very good disturbance rejection. Proposed algorithm is simple and practical for an implementation and the tuning procedure of the control parameters is simple. The experiments have shown that the proposed control scheme effectively suppresses vibrations and assures wide closed-loop bandwidth for position tracking control.


Abstract We describe some of the engineering solutions required to produce a diverted tokamak capable of operation with a toroidal field of 8 T and plasma currents of up to 2 MA. Some design details of the toroidal field magnet, the ohmic heating magnet, the metal plasma-facing components, the rf heating and current drive systems, and the power and liquid nitrogen cooling systems are discussed. Vacuum, vessel bake, boronization, and wall-cleaning systems are also discussed. Finally, disruption research results from Alcator C-Mod are presented.


In Australia, declining fertility among younger women is partly off-set by increasing fertility among women over 30. Women born in 1971 are projected to have an average of 1.9 children each, with almost half their children born after the age of 30. Levels of childlessness for these women will be much less than previously estimated. Future levels of fertility will depend on whether birth rates at older ages continue to rise. From a demographic perspective there is potential for further increase, since probably half of women are still fecund at age 40. From an individual perspective, women should have children before age 35 if circumstances are conducive.


Corporations have received growing criticism for their role in climate change, perpetuating racial and gender inequality, and other pressing social issues. In response to these concerns, shareholders are increasingly focusing on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria in selecting investments, and asset managers are responding by offering a growing number of ESG mutual funds. The flow of assets into ESG is one of the most dramatic trends in asset management.

But are these funds giving investors what they promise? This question has attracted the attention of regulators, with the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) both taking steps to rein in ESG funds. The change in administration has created an opportunity to rethink these steps, but the rapid growth and evolution of the market means regulators are acting without a clear picture of ESG investing.

We fill this gap by offering the most complete empirical overview of ESG mutual funds to date. Combining comprehensive data on mutual funds with proprietary data from the several of the most significant ESG ratings firms, we provide a unique picture of the current ESG environment with an eye to informing regulatory policy. We evaluate a number of criticisms of ESG funds made by academics and policymakers and find them lacking. We find that ESG funds offer their investors increased ESG exposure. They also vote their shares differently from non-ESG funds and are more supportive of ESG principles.

Our analysis shows that they do so without increasing costs or reducing returns. We conclude that ESG funds generally offer investors a differentiated and competitive investment product that is consistent with their labeling. In short, we see no reason to single out ESG funds for special regulation.


Proposals are presented which enable a brake to be graded as to its noise propensity over a range of conditions such as pressures, temperatures and also the audible frequency range. The brake may be given an equivalent noise dose rating based on an averaging of the noise level equivalent over a specified range of variables.

It is shown that the complex recorded noise may be reduced to an equivalent noise level and then averaged in three ways with the validity of each of these methods being discussed. The sensitivity of each method is compared against a set change in the variables and a final proposal is presented for the brake industry to consider.

A case study, which evaluates the effect of applying noise fix shims in a variety of ways to a sliding fist-type calliper, is used to demonstrate the value of the proposals. The analysis allowed the shim supplier to identify the most cost-effective way of applying the shims in addition to the most effective manner in order to reduce overall noise propensity.

Recommendations suggest further development of the "equivalent noise dose" proposal.


In the Wenatchee Mountains of central Washington State, populations of the lycaenid butterfly Euphilotes enoptes occur patchily with their sole host plant, Eriogonum compositum (Polygonaceae). Nearly all courtship and adult feeding occur on the inflorescences of this long-lived perennial. Furthermore, because females oviposit on inflorescences and larvae feed only on flowers and developing seeds, the window of opportunity for exploiting this resource is narrow. I demonstrated that inflorescence phenology varied according to the aspect and elevation of plant patches, and butterflies were most likely to occur in patches nearing full bloom. A mark–release–recapture study revealed that individual butterflies can disperse far enough to sample from a wide range of patch phenologies, and the movements of females are apparently influenced by those phenologies. In particular, an uphill bias in female movement appeared to be the result of greater emigration from senescing low-elevation patches than from phenologically delayed, high-elevation patches. Males showed no such uphill movement. The apparent result of the uphill movement by females was that larval densities increased fourfold over a 300-m elevational gradient in each of two years. Differential mortality is an unlikely explanation for this variation in larval density, as both parasitism rates and frequency of visitation by ants, which tend larvae, did not vary with elevation. To demonstrate the influence of host plant phenology on adult behavior, I manipulated flowering phenology in an artificially established grid of small host plant patches and observed the encounters of adult butterflies with those patches. Inflorescences in patches that were nearing full bloom received disproportionately many visits by females, indicating that patches in this phenological state were more attractive to females. Small sample sizes prevented me from determining if this result was due to increased entry into those patches by females, an increased number of inflorescence visitations per female, or both. The frequency with which inflorescences in the different patches were visited by males did not vary with patch phenology. These results suggest that the uphill bias in dispersal by females is indeed a response to host plant phenology. Thus, in this system, among-patch variation in host plant phenology apparently influences the relative densities of larvae in different host plant patches by altering patterns of dispersal among those patches.


Chord progressions are the building blocks from which tonal music is constructed. Inferring chord progressions is thus an essential step towards modeling long term dependencies in music. In this paper, a distributed representation for chords is designed such that Euclidean distances roughly correspond to psychoacoustic dissimilarities. Parameters in the graphical models are learnt with the EM algorithm and the classical Junction Tree algorithm. Various model architectures are compared in terms of conditional out-of-sample likelihood. Both perceptual and statistical evidence show that binary trees related to meter are well suited to capture chord dependencies.


Stiffness in compliant mechanisms can be dramatically altered and even eliminated entirely by using static balancing. This requires elastic energy to be inserted before operation, which is most often done with an additional device or preloading assembly. Adding such devices contrasts starkly with primary motivations for using compliant mechanisms, such as part count reduction, increased precision, and miniaturization. However, statically balanced compliant mechanisms with a fully monolithic architecture are scarce. In this article, we introduce two novel statically balanced compliant mechanisms with linear and rotary kinematics that do not require preloading assembly, enabling miniaturization. Static balance is achieved by the principle of opposing constant force and extended to a rotational device by using opposing constant torque mechanisms for the first time. A constant force mechanism based on existing work is used and inspired a novel constant torque mechanism. A single-piece device is obtained by monolithically integrating a bistable switch for preloading, which allows static balance to be turned on and off. The linear device reduces stiffness by 98.5% over 10 mm, has significantly reduced device complexity and has doubled relative range of motion from 3.3% to 6.6% compared to the state of the art. The rotary device reduces stiffness by 90.5% over 0.35 rad.


Creating vast game environments introduces several complex issues that are not present in smaller game worlds. As the size of the world grows issues with floating point precision arise, causing objects to jitter, simulation to become unstable, and rendering to exhibit artifacts. These problems were very apparent during development of Just Cause 2 and had to be addressed. Depending on location in the game animated foliage exhibited vertices snapping up to decimeter sized increments. Trees were at times jumping instead of swaying. In the distance there were severe z-fighting issues. Shadows were sometimes unstable. The shadow acne that occurred could not be effectively dealt with using the standard depth bias approach. Additionally, sampling depth buffers using vendor-provided methods yielded insufficient precision. Several techniques were developed to reduce precision loss at every part of the pipeline.


The optical-UV component in GRB 060218 is assumed to be due to optically thick cyclotron emission. The key aspect of this model is the high temperature of the absorbing electrons. The heat input derives from nuclei accelerated in semirelativistic internal shocks, like in ordinary gamma-ray bursts. Coulomb collisions transfer part of that energy to electrons. Inverse Compton cooling on the X-ray photons leads to electron temperatures around ~100 keV. Such a high brightness temperature for the optical-UV emission implies an emitting area roughly equal to that of the thermal X-ray component. This suggests a model in which the radio, optical-UV, and thermal X-ray emission are closely related. Although the optical-UV and thermal X-ray emission are two separate spectral components, it is argued that they both come from the photosphere of a quasi-spherical, continuous outflow, whose interaction with the circumstellar medium gives rise to the radio emission. The properties of GRB 060218, as measured in the comoving frame, are similar to those of ordinary gamma-ray bursts; i.e., the main difference is the much lower value of the bulk Lorentz factor in GRB 060218. The cyclotron absorption implies a magnetic field in rough equipartition with the matter energy density in the outflow. Hence, the magnetic field could have a dynamically important role, possibly with a magnetar as the central engine.


In this paper an attempt was made to study the possible transformations which the potato tubers go through during the storage period both under normal storage conditions and under refrigerated-chamber conditions as well as with the consertvation alternating and varying under each of these conditions. Records were made of the analyses of the tubers concerning their contents of dry matter, acidity, starch, sugars and protein. Likewise sprouting was recorded. Three varieties were used in these tests : Tedria, Bintje and Konst 48-51. The results obtained revealed highly significant differences for varieties and for treatments, with regard to contents of dry matter, whereas, on the ether hand, these differences were for starch, sugars, acidity and protein among treatments only. Negative significant correlations were found between starch and acidity, positive significant ones between sugars and acidity, acidity and dry matter, and acidity and protein. Regarding sprouting, it was made evident that an initial period of 20 days of cold weather contributes to the effect of shortening the period of dormancy of the varieties mainly of the most belated in sprouting as was the case with Konst 48-51.


Edouard Glissant's work seems to actualize the metaphor used by French ethnographer and writer Michel Leiris to capture the Caribbean: it is a poetics of the crossroads between several discourses and forms of expression. But the intersection between history, sociology, philosophy, poetry, and other areas often occurs without the author fully explaining the mechanisms behind his appropriations of discourses that usually lie outside the realm of literature. Ethnography, for example, appears with such inconsistency in his writings that it is even difficult to speak of it in terms of one single discourse.1 In the same book he condemns ethnography only to dream of a "Caribbean ethnography" to come a few pages later. Ethnography is sometimes treated as a science and sometimes characterized as part of literature's "movement towards the other." Clearly, not only does Glissant's appropriation of other discourses remain unarticulated; it is often also highly ambiguous. What can we make of this? First of all, if ethnography is problematic, why then not simply do away with it? What is the appeal of ethnography? Second, to what kind of ethnography is he referring? How is the notion of ethnography transformed and distorted in his writings?


The surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was functionalized with azide-terminated poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). Functionalization was confirmed by dispersibility, Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analyses. Raman spectra show disordering of the SWCNTs, thus, strongly suggesting that PVDF was covalently attached to SWCNTs. Functionalized SWCNTs were mixed with commercially available PVDF in a twin-screw extruder and thin films were obtained by melt-pressing. Films containing 0.5 and 1 wt% PVDF-functionalized SWCNTs exhibited significantly improved electrical conductivity compared to PVDF films containing pristine SWCNTs.


Accurate information on money demand is essential for evaluation of monetary policy. In this regard, it is important to study the effect of financial innovation to money demand. We investigate the effect of a new form of such technology, electronic money, to money demand. Specifically, we estimate currency demand functions conditional on electronic money adoption using unique household-level survey data from Japan. We obtain the following results. First, currency demand indicates that average cash balances do not decrease with the adoption of electronic money. Rather, it seems to increase under some specifications. Second, households at the lowest quantile of the cash balance distribution tend to have higher cash balances after adopting of electronic money. These findings indicate that consumers do not significantly substitute cash holding with e-money holding despite the rapid diffusion of electronic money among households.


This contribution argues that BRICS is designed to manage inner‐group tensions indirectly by endorsing a number of pragmatic operating principles. However, these principles seem to work best at smaller scale conflicts but not larger armed confrontation. The article breifly discusses the internal operating procedures of the BRICS group followed by a discussion of their relative value vis‐a‐vis inner group conflict. The article finishes by exploring the role of smaller group members such as South Africa and their ability to dissipate political tensions.


I have not been able to obtain any accurate account of the changes which this island has undergone; but it is said to be in a state of rapid destruction from the encroachments of the sea. It is currently reported among the inhabitants that it has reduced within the last century from eleven miles in length to its present dimensions of one mile. It seems to consist of strata of an indurated clay, alternating with beds of grey limestone. These form an angle of 30° with the horizon, and dip to the N. E. The clay is of a strong red colour, containing much oxide of iron, and with it so much carbonate of lime as to effervesce considerably with acids. The limestone is in some parts formed of various marine remains, in others it is uniformly granular. Through both these there are dispersed in various places deposits of copper ore in small quantities. These consist of carbonate of copper, diffused through the earthy matters; and of crystallized masses of the same substance; and, more rarely, there are found lumps of red oxide mixed with particles of grey ore and native copper. The beach is covered with various siliceous pebbles, containing grains of the same substances imbedded in them, together with porphyries and hornstones of various colours. Belemnites and other fossil remains, both calcareous and flinty, are also found on the shore; and the clay strata often contain considerable quantities of pyrites, together with carbonized and pyritaceous wood.


This paper addresses the problem of efficiently calculating shadows from environment maps in the context of ray tracing. Since accurate rendering of shadows from environment maps requires hundreds of lights, the expensive computation is determining visibility from each pixel to each light direction. We show that coherence in both spatial and angular domains can be used to reduce the number of shadow rays that need to be traced. Specifically, we use a coarse-to-fine evaluation of the image, predicting visibility by reusing visibility calculations from four nearby pixels that have already been evaluated. This simple method allows us to explicitly mark regions of uncertainty in the prediction. By only tracing rays in these and neighboring directions, we are able to reduce the number of shadow rays traced by up to a factor of 20 while maintaining error rates below 0.01%. For many scenes, our algorithm can add shadowing from hundreds of lights at only twice the cost of rendering without shadows. Sample source code is available online.


Abstract On paper, class actions run like clockwork. But practice suggests the need for tune-ups: sometimes judges still approve settlements rife with red flags, and professional objectors may be more concerned with shaking down class counsel than with improving class member's outcomes. The lack of data on the number of opt-outs, objectors, and claims rates fuels debates on both sides, for little is known about how well or poorly class members actually fare. This reveals a ubiquitous problem — information barriers confront judges, objectors, and even reformers. Rule 23's answer is to empower objectors. At best, objectors are a partial fix. They step in as the adversarial process breaks down in an attempt to resurrect the information-generating function that culture creates. And, as the proposed changes to Rule 23's handling of objectors reflect, turmoil exists over how to encourage noble objectors that benefit class members while staving off those that namely seek rents from class counsel. The U.S. class-action scheme is not the only one that relies on private actors to perform public functions: citizens privately fund political campaigns, and private lobbyists provide research and information to lawmakers about public bills and policies. Across disciplines, the best responses to those challenges have often been to level up, not down. This Article therefore proposes a leveling up approach to address judges' information deficit such that they can better perform their monitoring role. By relying on public funds to subsidize data collection efforts and nonprofit objectors' information-gathering function, we can disrupt private class counsel's disproportionate influence.


Thermonuclear fusion is a promising energy source for the future. If an economically efficient thermonuclear reactor would be built it has to be a cheap, safe, and highly productive electric power plant, or, a heating plant. The emphasis of this thesis is on the single cell mirror trap with a marginally stable minimum B vacuum magnetic field, the straight field line mirror field, which provides MHD stability of the system, absence of the radial drift even to the first order in plasma β , and a reduced magnetic flux tube ellipticity. Strong density depletion at the mirrors is proposed as a mean to build up a strong potential barrier for the electrons and thereby increase the electron temperature. Conditions to obtain an energy gain factor Q>10 are briefly analyzed. Current coils which could generate the derived magnetic field are proposed. A sloshing ion distribution function is constructed for the three dimensional 'straight line mirror field'. The gyro centre Clebsch coordinates are found to be a new pair of motional invariants for this magnetic field. The gyro centre Clebsch coordinate invariants can be used to obtain complete solutions of the Vlasov equation, including the diamagnetic drift. These solutions show that the equilibria satisfy the locally omniginuity criterion to the first order in β . Contributions of the plasma diamagnetism to the magnetic flux tube ellipticity are studied for the straight field line mirror vacuum magnetic field and a sloshing ion distribution. Computations employing ray tracing have shown that there is a modest increase in the ellipticity, but the effect is small if β <0.2 . Adiabatic charged particle motion in general field geometry has been studied. A set of four independent stationary invariants, the energy, the magnetic moment, the radial drift invariant, and the bounce average parallel velocity is proposed to describe adiabatic equilibria.


Data from two National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) surface moorings in the North Pacific, in combination with data from satellite, Argo floats and glider (when available), are used to evaluate the residual diffusive flux of heat across the base of the mixed layer from the surface mixed layer heat budget. The diffusion coefficient (i.e., diffusivity) is then computed by dividing the diffusive flux by the temperature gradient in the 20-m transition layer just below the base of the mixed layer. At Station Papa in the NE Pacific subpolar gyre, this diffusivity is 1 × 10−4 m2/s during summer, increasing to ∼3 × 10−4 m2/s during fall. During late winter and early spring, diffusivity has large errors. At other times, diffusivity computed from the mixed layer salt budget at Papa correlate with those from the heat budget, giving confidence that the results are robust for all seasons except late winter-early spring and can be used for other tracers. In comparison, at the Kuroshio Extension Observatory (KEO) in the NW Pacific subtropical recirculation gyre, somewhat larger diffusivities are found based upon the mixed layer heat budget: ∼ 3 × 10−4 m2/s during the warm season and more than an order of magnitude larger during the winter, although again, wintertime errors are large. These larger values at KEO appear to be due to the increased turbulence associated with the summertime typhoons, and weaker wintertime stratification. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Real-time state estimation is defined as the process of calculating the state variable of interest in real time not being directly measured. In a water distribution system (WDS), nodal demands are often considered as the state variable (i.e., unknown variable) and can be estimated using nodal pressures and pipe flow rates measured at sensors installed throughout the system. Nodes are often grouped for aggregation to decrease the number of unknowns (demands) in the WDS demand estimation problem. This study proposes an optimal node grouping model to maximize the real-time WDS demand estimation accuracy. This Kalman filter-based demand estimation method is linked with a genetic algorithm for node group optimization. The modified Austin network demand is estimated to demonstrate the proposed model. True demands and field measurements are synthetically generated using a hydraulic model of the study network. Accordingly, the optimal node groups identified by the proposed model reduce the total root-mean-square error of the estimated node group demand by 24% compared to that determined by engineering knowledge. Based on the results, more pipe flow sensors should be installed to measure small flows and to further enhance the demand estimation accuracy.


Competition between mono- and divalent ions in the association of counterions to the headgroups of amphiphiles was studied in one surfactant system with organic counterions (piperidine+/piperazine2+octanesulfonate) and one with inorganic counterions (Na+/Ca2+octyl sulfate). By conductivity and13C NMR chemical shift measurements the critical micelle concentration (CMC) was found to decrease drastically when small amounts of divalent counterions were present in the system. Self-diffusion coefficients of surfactant ions and organic counterions were measured in the micellar phase by the Fourier transform pulsed-gradient spin-echo (FT-PGSE) NMR method. The degree of counterion binding in the micellar system with piperidine+/piperazine2+counterions was obtained from FT-PGSE NMR measurements. It was observed that the divalent counterions were more strongly bound than the monovalent counterions. The experimental results were compared with theoretical Poisson–Boltzmann calculations. The cell model was used to study the electrostatic effects. Good agreement between electrostatic theory and experiment was observed; however, an attractive force exists between the monovalent piperidine counterions and the micelle, probably because of hydrophobic interactions.


OBJECTIVE
Health behavior is affected by competing sources of influence like media messages and peers. In the context of alcohol consumption, college students are targeted by antidrinking media messages, but tend to have proalcohol conversations with peers. How do humans integrate competing sources of influence on daily behavior? We observed individuals under exposure to antialcohol media messages and proalcohol conversations and tested a "common neural value" account of how contradictory influences are integrated to affect behavior.

METHODS
Participants were instructed to cognitively regulate responses to antidrinking media messages while undergoing fMRI at baseline. Individual differences in success in message-consistent or -derogating regulation were indexed by changes in activity within the neural valuation system (ventral striatum/VS, ventromedial prefrontal cortex/VMPFC), providing a proxy for success in finding value in message-consistent/-derogating engagement. To measure peer influence, we tracked daily drinking-related conversations and drinking behavior for 30 days using mobile electronic diaries.

RESULTS
Peer conversations, on average, were positive toward drinking. More positive conversations led to more future drinking, particularly for participants who showed greater neural value signals when derogating antidrinking media. Susceptibility to risky peer influence decreased with increasing success in up-regulating message-consistent neural valuation responses to antidrinking media. Neural effects were driven by VS-activity.

CONCLUSIONS
Results are consistent with a dynamic value integration process where contradictory influences inform a common neural value signal. Reductions in the value of a behavior (through antidrinking campaigns) may buffer against future value increases after exposure to competing influences (proalcohol peers) with important real-world consequences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).


The use of co-located multiple spectroscopic techniques can provide detailed information on the atmospheric processes regulating aerosol chemical composition and mixing state. So far, field campaigns heavily equipped with aerosol mass spectrometers have been carried out mainly in large conurbations and in areas directly affected by their outflow, whereas lesser efforts have been dedicated to continental areas characterised by a less dense urbanisation. We present here the results obtained at a background site in the Po Valley, Italy, in summer 2009. For the first time in Europe, six state-of-the-art spectrometric techniques were used in parallel: aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS), two aerosol mass spectrometers (high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer – HR-ToF-AMS and soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer – SP-AMS), thermal desorption aerosol gas chromatography (TAG), chemical ionisation mass spectrometry (CIMS) and (offline) proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR) spectroscopy. The results indicate that, under high-pressure conditions, atmospheric stratification at night and early morning hours led to the accumulation of aerosols produced by anthropogenic sources distributed over the Po Valley plain. Such aerosols include primary components such as black carbon (BC), secondary semivolatile compounds such as ammonium nitrate and amines and a class of monocarboxylic acids which correspond to the AMS cooking organic aerosol (COA) already identified in urban areas. In daytime, the entrainment of aged air masses in the mixing layer is responsible for the accumulation of low-volatility oxygenated organic aerosol (LV-OOA) and also for the recycling of non-volatile primary species such as black carbon. According to organic aerosol source apportionment, anthropogenic aerosols accumulating in the lower layers overnight accounted for 38 % of organic aerosol mass on average, another 21 % was accounted for by aerosols recirculated in residual layers but still originating in northern Italy, while a substantial fraction (41 %) was due to the most aged aerosols imported from transalpine areas. The different meteorological regimes also affected the BC mixing state: in periods of enhanced stagnation and recirculation of pollutants, the number fraction Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 12110 S. Decesari et al.: Measurements of the aerosol chemical composition in the Po Valley of the BC-containing particles determined by ATOFMS was 75 % of the total, while in the days of enhanced ventilation of the planetary boundary layer (PBL), such fraction was significantly lower (50 %) because of the relative greater influence of non-BC-containing aerosol local sources in the Po Valley. Overall, a full internal mixing between BC and the nonrefractory aerosol chemical components was not observed during the experiment in this environment.


We apply boosting techniques to the problem of word error rate minimisation in speech recognition. This is achieved through a new definition of sample error for boosting and a training procedure for hidden Markov models. We define a sample error for sentence examples related to the word error rate. Furthermore, for each sentence example we define a probability distribution in time that represents our belief that an error has been made at that particular frame. This is used to weigh the frames of each sentence in the boosting framework. We present preliminary results on the well-known Numbers 95 database that indicate the importance of this temporal probability distribution.


Two major Manila esteros namely Estero de San Miguel and Estero de Quiapo, were studied to determine their socio-economic status. Socio-economic study revealed that attitude and actions of stakeholders to their esteros were influenced primarily by their economic status, educational and cultural background. Survey also showed the awareness of the communities on the problems of esteros and their willingness to cooperate in the rehabilitation of their polluted canals. Institutional initiatives such as environmental education and community-based programs were looked into as possible key for the effective rehabilitation and attainment of sustainability of Manila esteros. Key words: Esteros, awareness and socio-economic status


The discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and their application to patient‐specific disease models offers new opportunities for studying the pathophysiology of neurological disorders. However, current methods for culturing iPSC‐derived neuronal cells result in clustering of neurons, which precludes the analysis of individual neurons and defined neuronal networks. To address this challenge, cultures of human neurons on micropatterned surfaces are developed that promote neuronal survival over extended periods of time. This approach facilitates studies of neuronal development, cellular trafficking, and related mechanisms that require assessment of individual neurons and specific network connections. Importantly, micropatterns support the long‐term stability of cultured neurons, which enables time‐dependent analysis of cellular processes in living neurons. The approach described in this paper allows mechanistic studies of human neurons, both in terms of normal neuronal development and function, as well as time‐dependent pathological processes, and provides a platform for testing of new therapeutics in neuropsychiatric disorders.


A 16-channel current-measuring very large-scale integration (VLSI) sensor array system for highly sensitive electrochemical detection of electroactive neurotransmiters like dopamine and nitric-oxide is presented. Each channel embeds a current integrating potentiostat within a switched-capacitor first-order single-bit delta-sigma modulator implementing an incremental analog-to-digital converter. The duty-cycle modulation of current feedback in the delta-sigma loop together with variable oversampling ratio provide a programmable digital range selection of the input current spanning over six orders of magnitude from picoamperes to microamperes. The array offers 100-fA input current sensitivity at 3.4-muW power consumption per channel. The operation of the 3 mm times3 mm chip fabricated in 0.5-mum CMOS technology is demonstrated with real-time multichannel acquisition of neurotransmitter concentration


: Since the late 1990s, Japan has followed the cloning Silicon Valley model typified by American-style technology, capital, and systems, with a major focus on technology transfer, patent revenues, and the makeup of funding. However, the University of Tokyo, which has formed entrepreneurial clusters, has constructed an ecosystem built on technology agglomeration by educating its undergraduate and graduate students and forming a support network for alumni employed at financial institutions, major corporations, and central government offices. In forming an ecosystem for industry–academia collaboration, it is crucial to understand start-ups, even if not starting a business oneself, and to educate and develop human resources that can function throughout society.