Grey matter heterotopias result from premature arrest of neuronal migration from the germinal matrix in the lateral ventricular wall to the developing cortex. To date, heterotopias have been exclusively diagnosed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We present a case of heterotopia primarily detected with transfontanellar cranial ultrasonography (CUS) and review the literature for sonographic signs to suggest the presence of this pathological entity. Transfontanellar CUS evaluation of a preterm twin revealed a prominent rectangular-shaped left lateral ventricle. Subsequent angled views identified an abnormally increased echogenicity within the ipsilateral cortex. MRI confirmed subependymal and possibly subcortical heterotopia. A literature review using the search words 'grey matter heterotopia' was undertaken and further refined for specific information related to imaging criteria on MRI or sonography. Neuroradiologists classify heterotopias on MRI by location and appearance into three types: subependymal, subcortical and band types. Signs of subependymal heterotopia on CUS include ventricular wall irregularity, hyperechoic periventricular band and isolated hyperechoic periventricular nodules protruding into the ventricle. They are rarely associated with cortical lesions. CUS signs of subcortical heterotopia include abnormal hyperechoic regions in the white matter. Our sonographic imaging revealed an irregular shape of the left ventricle suggestive of subependymal heterotopia. Other abnormalities described with subependymal heterotopia were not found. A hyperechoic structure in the left cortical region next to the affected lateral ventricle could represent enfolded cortex as is seen in subcortical heterotopia. We propose an extended search for cerebral lesions outside the usual field of view (i.e. white matter and cortex) using angled coronal and parasagittal CUS views to display frontal, occipital and lateral cortices as optimally as can be achieved whenever an angular or irregular lateral ventricle shape is encountered. The differential diagnoses including haemorrhagic, ischaemic and structural parenchymal lesions should be extended to include grey matter heterotopia.


Abstract Varanid lizards are difficult to sex in the field because commonly used techniques are not completely reliable and definitive techniques are not logistically or economically feasible for many field-based applications. Previous work has shown that variation in morphometric variables can be used to determine sex in some species of varanid. Here we build on these previous exploratory analyses by developing a set of a priori models (containing morphometric variables) to predict the sex of six species of Australian varanid, and then examining their relative support under the information-theoretic framework. We then use cross-validation procedures to determine the reliability of the best-supported models' predictive ability. Our analysis suggests that a large sample size is required for building models to predict sex in many species. The most important sexually diagnostic features for many species were a number of head variables and (to a lesser extent) scaling of limb proportions. This analysis provides some useful statistical tools for the field-sexing of adult and juvenile Varanus gouldii with a known level of reliability and also serves to highlight the danger of extrapolating from potentially spurious results when using exploratory methods or null hypothesis testing.


Vertebrate MOXD2 encodes a monooxygenase DBH-like 2 protein that could be involved in neurotransmitter metabolism, potentially during olfactory transduction. Loss of MOXD2 in apes and whales has been proposed to be associated with evolution of olfaction in these clades. We analyzed 57 bird genomes to identify MOXD2 sequences and found frequent loss of MOXD2 in 38 birds. Among the 57 birds, 19 species appeared to have an intact MOXD2 that encoded a full-length protein; 32 birds had a gene with open reading frame-disrupting point mutations and/or exon deletions; and the remaining 6 species did not show any MOXD2 sequence, suggesting a whole-gene deletion. Notably, among 10 passerine birds examined, 9 species shared a common genomic deletion that spanned several exons, implying the gene loss occurred in a common ancestor of these birds. However, 2 closely related penguin species, each of which had an inactive MOXD2, did not share any mutation, suggesting an independent loss after their divergence. Distribution of the 38 birds without an intact MOXD2 in the bird phylogenetic tree clearly indicates that MOXD2 loss is widespread and independent in bird lineages. We propose that widespread MOXD2 loss in some bird lineages may be implicated in the evolution of olfactory perception in these birds.


Abstract Background Historically, children and adolescents have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus and it was thought that type 2 diabetes mellitus occurred only in adults. There are increasing reports of type 2 diabetes in children globally, with some as young as eight years old being affected. The average age of diagnosis in this group was 13 years. This has been attributed to the "epidemic" of overweight and obesity currently being observed in both developed and developing countries. There is a paucity of data on the incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in children compared with that for adults. Most studies reported to date have been clinic based. The few population-based studies that were carried out between 1965 and 1995 have shown a several-fold increase in the incidence rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in South Africa has risen dramatically in the past two decades, with the highest prevalence rates being found in the adult population of Indian origin, followed by the African, Coloured (mixed ancestry) and White population groups. Objectives This study was undertaken to screen 10 to 16-year-old learners residing in three urban areas of Cape Town, South Africa for diabetes mellitus. Methods Fasting and casual blood glucose levels were measured using a commercial glucometer in 338 randomly selected schoolchildren aged from 10 to 16 from the urban communities of Belhar, Delft and Mfuleni in Cape Town. Early morning urine samples were also tested for the presence of glucose using dipsticks. Anthropometric measurements were carried out using standard procedures. A structured questionnaire on physical activity, demographics and diabetic status was administered to all participants. Overweight and obesity were estimated according to The International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) criteria. Results A total of 15.7% of the learners were overweight and 6.2% were obese; 11.5% of the learners had a first-degree relative with diabetes and 29.9% had a second-degree relative with diabetes. Mean fasting and casual glucose values of 4.26 ± 0.63 mmol/l and 4.58 ± 0.79 mmol/l (p < 0.05) respectively were obtained. Using the American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria, no learner was found to be diabetic or presented with elevated blood glucose concentrations. No learner presented with glycosuria. Females had marginally higher fasting and casual glucose levels than males, although the difference was insignificant. The overall (fasting and casual) glucose levels in African (4.37 ± 0.67 mmol/l) and Coloured learners (4.48 ± 0.79 mmol/l) were similar, with no gender differences being observed between the two groups. Blood glucose values were similar in those with or without a family history of diabetes. Fasting and casual blood glucose values were also similar between overweight, obese or normal weight learners and were not influenced by body mass index. Conclusion These results suggest that population screening of children may not be viable, despite the increase in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus amongst various racial groups in South Africa.


The objective of this study was to investigate the cost and time effectiveness of virtual prototyping when applied to the optimization of antenna system design for mobile phones, compared to traditional development approaches. For the proposed evaluation, an enhanced commercial FDTD-based electromagnetic simulation platform, powered with GPU hardware acceleration and distributed network parallelization, was applied. Advanced genetic algorithms (GAs) were used to obtain robust antenna designs, targeting a multi-goal optimum within a minimum number of simulations. Various antenna structures, including folded monopoles, planar-inverted F, and folded-inverted-conformal antennas were considered. An optimized structure was developed in less than 24 hours, indicating the superiority of virtual prototyping over traditional design and optimization procedures for reducing costs, improving quality, and, particularly, in reducing development time.


Face detection (finding faces of different perspectives in images) is an important task as prerequisite to face recognition. This is especially difficult in the mobile domain, as bad image quality and illumination conditions lead to overall reduced face detection rates. Background information still present in segmented faces and unequally normalized faces further decrease face recognition rates. We present a novel approach to robust single upright face detection and segmentation from different perspectives based on range information (pixel values corresponding to the camera-object distance). We use range template matching for finding the face's coarse position and gradient vector flow (GVF) snakes for precisely segmenting faces. We further evaluate our approach on range faces from the u'smile face database, then perform face recognition using the segmented faces to evaluate and compare our approach with previous research. Results indicate that range template matching might be a good approach to finding a single face; in our tests we achieved an error free detection rate and average recognition rates above 98%/96% for color/range images.


MNP is of international cultural and ecological importance as it has been inscribed as a world heritage site and a transfrontier conservation area (TFCA). Conservation is seen as the primary pillar of management for any national park in South Africa, however, the perceptions of visitors in terms of conservation at such sites is often overlooked. For this reason the primary goal of this paper is to determine whether there are any gaps in the effective management of conservation at MNP. The results presented in this paper form part of a larger integrated tourism research project which took place at MNP during 2013. This study incorporated various aspects related to effective tourism management at a national park and world heritage sites including hospitality, human resources, marketing and conservation, the latter aspect will be the core focus of this paper. This paper is structured in four main parts. The paper will commence with a literature overview of protected area management with a focus on the pillars of park management. The second part of the paper will detail the methodology utilised followed by the data and methodology. The paper will conclude with a discussion and conclusion.


We use New Zealand school board of trustees data to examine whether schools where parents have high rates of homeownership experience high parental voting turnout in elections. We also investigate whether homeownership influences the probability that a school board proceeds to election, indicating parental willingness to serve as a school trustee. Similarly, we examine whether state-owned social housing rates affect these outcomes. We compile results initially without controlling for other factors, and then controlling for a wide range of other characteristics, to test the robustness of simple observed associations between homeownership and state-ownership rates and outcome variables. Our findings show no discernible effect of homeownership on parental voting turnout in school elections after controls are added (contrary to the simple positive association), but a (robust) positive impact of both homeownership and state-ownership rates on the probability that a school holds an election.


Context: Systems of systems (SoS) are highly complex and are integrated on multiple levels (unit, component, system, system of systems). Many of the characteristics of SoS (such as operational and managerial independence, integration of system into system of systems, SoS comprised of complex systems) make their development and testing challenging. Contribution: This paper provides an understanding of SoS testing in large-scale industry settings with respect to challenges and how to address them. Method: The research method used is case study research. As data collection methods we used interviews, documentation, and fault slippage data. Results: We identified challenges related to SoS with respect to fault slippage, test turn-around time, and test maintainability. We also classified the testing challenges to general testing challenges, challenges amplified by SoS, and challenges that are SoS specific. Interestingly, the interviewees agreed on the challenges, even though we sampled them with diversity in mind, which meant that the number of interviews conducted was sufficient to answer our research questions. We also identified solution proposals to the challenges that were categorized under four classes of developer quality assurance, function test, testing in all levels, and requirements engineering and communication. Conclusion: We conclude that although over half of the challenges we identified can be categorized as general testing challenges still SoS systems have their unique and amplified challenges stemming from SoS characteristics. Furthermore, it was found that interviews and fault slippage data indicated that different areas in the software process should be improved, which indicates that using only one of these methods would have led to an incomplete picture of the challenges in the case company.


Schumpeter argued that economic downturns had positive effects, in the incentives that it provided for firms to increase their efficiency. Part 1. provides a simple model confirming Schwnpeter's insight At thesame time, the model shows that there are real costs to economic fluctuations which extend well beyond the temporary losses in output and the economic waste resulting from unused resources: the future productivity of the economy is adversely affected, e.g, because of reduced expenditures on R&D. These long run losses are likely to be far more significant than any temporary gains from any induced cost cutting. While traditional Schumpeterian analyses have focused on the relationships between market structure and innovation, they have paid less attention to the relationship between innovation and capital market imperfections (resulting, in many cases, from problems of costly and imperfect information which are particularly important in the context of innovation). It is these capital market imperfections which give result in the deleterious effect of economic downturns on technological progress. Part II. of the paper shows that the nexus between fluctuations and innovation goes in both directions: fluctuations in economic activity not only cause fluctuations in innovation, fluctuations in innovation may give rise to fluctuations in economic activity. The positive feedback relationship between innovation and economic activity may, under a variety of conditions, give rise to multiple equilibria. There is no presumption that the free market, left to itself, will choose the best among them. Moreover, it is shown that under certain circumstances, the only market equilibrium entails economic fluctuations. It is the structure of the economy, not exogenous disturbances (as in real business cycle theory) which give rise to cyclical behavior.


This publication assesses progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda. It addresses inclusion in education, drawing attention to all those excluded from education, because of background or ability. The report is motivated by the explicit reference to inclusion in the 2015 Incheon Declaration, and the call to ensure an inclusive and equitable quality education in the formulation of SDG 4, the global goal for education. It reminds us that, no matter what argument may be built to the contrary, we have a moral imperative to ensure every child has a right to an appropriate education of high quality.


Stroke is the most common cause of complex disability in Taiwan. After stroke onset, persistent physical practice or exercise in the rehabilitation procedure reorganizes neural assembly for reducing motor deficits, known as neuroplasticity. Neuroimaging literature showed rehabilitative effects specific to the brain networks of the sensorimotor network (SMN) and default-mode network (DMN). However, whether between-network interactions facilitate the neuroplasticity after stroke rehabilitation remains a mystery. Therefore, we conducted the longitudinal assessment protocol of stroke rehabilitation, including three types of clinical evaluations and two types of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques (resting state and grasp task). Twelve chronic stroke patients completed the rehabilitation protocol for at least 24 h and finished the three-time assessments: before, after rehabilitation, and 1 month after the cessation of rehabilitation. For comparison, age-matched normal controls (NC) underwent the same fMRI evaluation once without repeated measure. Increasing scores of the Fugl–Meyer assessment (FMA) and upper extremity performance test reflected the enhanced motor performances after the stroke rehabilitation process. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) results showed that the connections between posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and iM1 were persistently enhanced in contrast to the pre-rehabilitation condition. The interactions between PCC and SMN were positively associated with motor performances. The enhanced cross-network connectivity facilitates the motor recovery after stroke rehabilitation, but the cross-network interaction was low before the rehabilitation process, similar to the level of NCs. Our findings suggested that cross-network connectivity plays a facilitatory role following the stroke rehabilitation, which can serve as a neurorehabilitative biomarker for future intervention evaluations.


OBJECTIVE: Clinical observations have suggested therapeutic effects for omega-3 fatty acids (O3FA) in Tourette's disorder (TD), but no randomized, controlled trials have been reported. In a placebo-controlled trial, we examined the efficacy of O3FA in children and adolescents with TD. METHODS: Thirty-three children and adolescents (ages 6–18) with TD were randomly assigned, double-blind, to O3FA or placebo for 20 weeks. O3FA consisted of combined eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. Placebo was olive oil. Groups were compared by using (1) intent-to-treat design, with the last-observation-carried-forward controlling for baseline measures and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder via (a) logistic regression, comparing percentage of responders on the primary Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS)-Tic and secondary (YGTSS-Global and YGTSS-Impairment) outcome measures and (b) analysis of covariance; and (2) longitudinal mixed-effects models. RESULTS: At end point, subjects treated with O3FA did not have significantly higher response rates or lower mean scores on the YGTSS-Tic (53% vs 38%; 15.6 ± 1.6 vs 17.1 ± 1.6, P > .1). However, significantly more subjects on O3FA were considered responders on the YGTSS-Global measure (53% vs 31%, P = .05) and YGTSS-Impairment measure (59% vs 25%, P < .05), and mean YGTSS-Global scores were significantly lower in the O3FA-treated group than in the placebo group (31.7 ± 2.9 vs 40.9 ± 3.0, P = .04). Obsessive-compulsive, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were not significantly affected by O3FA. Longitudinal analysis did not yield group differences on any of the measures. CONCLUSIONS: O3FA did not reduce tic scores, but it may be beneficial in reduction of tic-related impairment for some children and adolescents with TD. Limitations include the small sample and the possible therapeutic effects of olive oil.


I investigate the impact of ties between index and non-index funds within the same mutual fund family on the value of firms in which both funds invest. Theoretically, I show that family ties increase non-index funds' incentives to purchase additional shares and monitor a firm. This is because non-index funds are more likely to be able to influence management when index funds in the same family hold the same firm. Empirically, using exogenous variation in family ties following a firm's addition to an index, I show that family ties are associated with higher non-index fund ownership. Furthermore, firms held by funds with family ties are more profitable and have higher valuations. The effect of family ties on valuation is larger for "dedicated" fund-firm relations and for firms in highly innovative industries, for which the potential gains from monitoring are the highest ex-ante.


Broadcast encryption allows a sender to securely distribute messages to a dynamically changing set of users over an insecure channel. In a public key broadcast encryption (PKBE) scheme, this encryption is performed in the public key setting, where the public key is stored in a user's device, or directly transmitted to the receivers along with ciphertexts. In this paper, we propose two PKBE schemes for stateless receivers which are transmission-efficient. A distinctive feature in our first construction is that, different than existing schemes in the literature, only a fraction of the public key related to the set of intended receivers is required in the decryption process. This feature results in the first PKBE scheme with O(r) transmission cost and O(1) user storage cost for r revoked users. Our second construction is a generalized version of the first one providing a tradeoff between ciphertext size and public key size. With appropriate parametrization, we obtain a PKBE scheme with (Oradicn) transmission cost and O(1) user storage cost for any large set of n users. The transmission cost of our second scheme is at least 30\% less than that of the recent result of Boneh et al.'s PKBE scheme, which is considered as being the current state-of-the-art. By combining the two proposed schemes, we suggest a PKBE scheme that achieves further shortened transmissions, while still maintaining O(1) user storage cost. The proposed schemes are secure against any number of colluders and do not require costly re-keying procedures followed by revocation of users.


While the Internet has radically changed business and society over the past decades, its architecture has hardly evolved. Therefore, pressure from new applications, business models and networking technologies are distorting the architecture to a degree that requires a redesign. This paper presents two fundamental principles to redesign the Internet architecture. Firstly, the three fundamental building blocks reachabililty, resource control and socio-economic control must be unified to enhance flexibility while preserving its simplicity. Second, the architecture itself must be designed to evolve at run-time. The combination of these two principles will significantly enhance the reliability, robustness, manageability and functionality of the Internet, and will create new and varied business opportunities based around a common core architecture.


Students learn when they connect new information to existing understanding or when they modify existing understanding to accept new information. Most current teaching methods focus on trying to get students to solve problems in a manner identical to that of an expert. This study investigates the effectiveness of assessing student understanding related to context specific problem solving decisions, prescribing feedback based on the assessment, and improving student understanding to the point where they can make correct decisions. Students were given a refrigeration problem unlike their prior problems and were asked to draw the cycle on a T-v diagram using a tutor system. Every group tested (a total of 373 students) showed a significant improvement in their understanding (p<0.0001, Cohen's d>0.8) using a single 40 minute tutor activity.


Background: Lead (Pb2+) is ubiquitously distributed in the environment and shows significant health effects in humans. In 1999 the WHO published a preliminary study on lead poisoning in the State of Qatar based on a survey conducted during 1995-96. Water, Food and Blood samples were collected. 19% of the 200 blood samples collected exceeded a critical lead content of 10ug/dl, while the highest level was reported in the youngest age group. 47 out of 450 water samples collected were above the WHO guideline level of 0.01mg/l. Of the 204 samples investigating processed food only 4 exceeded the limit. This study underlines that lead poisoning is a silent epidemic and a serious public health concern. Lead toxicity leads to impaired hematopoietic, nervous- and renal-system function. This study summarizes lead neurotoxicity and highlights how lead partially mimics the function of Ca2+ and therefore how it modifies synaptic transmission pre- and post-synaptically. As calcium (Ca2+) is an important signaling ion in many biochemical pathways, lead (Pb2+) has a high affinity to its binding sites and replaces calcium, resulting in a decrease calcium conductance, altered calcium-dependent signaling pathways, vesicular mobilization and vesicular formation. This presentation highlights the major-interactions of lead with the different targets sites on pre and postsynaptic terminal of the neuron. Methods: To understand the basic mechanism of lead toxicity a vast body of literature was screened and analyzed to summarize and understand the complex and multifactorial interactions of lead. The results were divided into two sections: pre-synaptic targets and the post- synaptic effects. Results: Lead targets multiple sites pre-synaptically like voltage-gated Ca2+-channels, Ca2+-ATPases, PKC, Calmodulin, signal cascades like the PLC system. Figures in the pre synaptic sections represent how the release of neurotransmitter is reduced by lead; beginning with the impairment of voltage-gated Ca2+-channel, lead interferes with calcium Ca2+-ATPase followed by the intracellular calcium de-regulation and lead inhibits the fusion of synaptic vesicle with the membrane and therefore the release of neuro-transmitter. Post-synaptic effects of lead result in the generation of the post-synaptic potential and synaptic-plasticity. This section is subdivided in four categories: synaptic transmission, effects on NMDA, long term effects and effects on long term potentiation. As (pre-synaptically) lead reduces the release of neuro-transmitter, post-synaptically the membrane depolarization will be smaller decreasing the likelihood that action potentials will be generated. Overall, lead reduces the chance of a successful generation of (post-synaptic) actions potentials and prevents to initiate processes which are crucial for learning and memory processes. Conclusion Lead mimics the action of the second messenger Ca2+, thereby disturbs the normal physiological function of Ca2+. This review helps to understand the basic mechanism underlying lead neurotoxicity and emphasize the importance of reducing lead contamination. A detailed review (with animated illustrations of pre- and post-synaptic effects of lead) has been recently published by Florea et al., in the Journal of Local and Global Health Science (2013:4).


Phylogenetic analyses of the highly diverse (non-marine aquatic) gastropod family Hydrobiidae Stimpson, 1865 have revealed seven main lineages, most of which represent subfamilies. The subfamily Pseudamnicolinae Radoman, 1977, and specifically the genus Pseudamnicola Paulucci, 1878 (mainly inhabiting western and central Mediterranean regions), contributes substantially to this hydrobiid richness. Most of its congeners have been described in terms of their shell and penis features, which are of limited diagnostic value. Hence, the taxonomic status of some Pseudamnicola species needs to be revised, particularly of those inhabiting marginal regions, such as the Ponto-Caspian domain, largely occupied by the subfamily Pyrgulinae Brusina, 1882. Here we present a molecular phylogeny including species of both subfamilies along with extended morphological descriptions to confirm assignments of the Iranian species Pseudamnicola zagrosensis Gloer & Pesic, 2009; Sarkia kermanshahensis Gloer & Pesic, 2009 (originally within Pseudamnicola ) and P. saboori Gloer & Pesic, 2009. Our COI-based tree rejects these assignments suggesting a new potential lineage, sister to the pyrgulinid species, and comprising three genera: Shadinia Akramowski, 1976, Intermaria gen. nov. and Persipyrgula gen. nov. These genera differ molecularly by 3.6%–8.5%, and are diagnosable by penis, female genitalia and radula features. Our findings evidence the high morphological variability of pyrgulinid species and provide insight into the origins and evolution of the freshwater Ponto-Caspian fauna.


Internet is often used for transaction based applications such as online banking, stock trading, among many others where the service outages are unacceptable. It is important for designers of such applications to analyze how hardware, software and performance related failures affect the quality of service delivered to the users. This paper presents analytical models for evaluating the service availability of web cluster architectures. A composite performance and availability modeling approach is defined considering various causes of service unavailability. In particular, web cluster systems are modeled taking into account: two recovery strategies (client transparent and non client-transparent). Sensitivity analysis results are presented to show their impact on the web service availability. The obtained results are aimed at providing useful guidelines to web designers.


The objective of current study was to determine the prevalence of bovine heamotropic mycoplasma in cattle using conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in Nineveh province/ Iraq, to investigate some of the epidemiological risk factors associated with occurrence of the disease. From September 2017 September 2018, four hundred blood samples were obtained from cattle both sexes, different ages, origin, different management systems and from different regions in Nineveh province, ten milliliter blood were collected from the jugular vein for PCR test, whatever epidemiological data were collected through interview with the farms owners. The results of this study appear that the prevalence of bovine heamotropic mycoplasma was 75%. The risk factors associated with increased prevalence of disease include age, increased prevalence was at >3 years, females, imported animals, indoor animals which were 86.8, 80, 91.7, 77.5% respectively. The significantly increased prevalence of the disease 93.7% in the western regions of Nineveh province. In spring and summer months a significantly increased prevalence of disease which were 79.6 and 78.95 respectively. In conclusions, this study detected that bovine heamotropic mycoplasma was widely distributed in Nineveh province associated with several risk factors.


In the ongoing debate of CAP reform, a new tool was proposed for farms that aims to create a new market for ecosystem goods and services that may be provided by agriculture. The mechanism of floor and trade (FT) assigns each holding a "minimum of environmental goods" that must be provided at farm level to ensure sustainability and justifies the subsides received from CAP. In this proposal we will analyse what might happen in a limited region (Veneto) with the application of FT mechanism, given the geographical conditions and the structural situation of farms, using FADN data. More precisely, we seek to quantify the regional supply curve of environmental services, provided by agricultural activities in case of floor and trade mechanism. We will use as a proxy the amount of carbon that could be sequestered by less intensive farming systems such as grassland and pastures, compared with other more intensive activities, in order to examine the trade-off between the economic goals of farmers and the environmental benefits due to the land use change provided by FT. We will use as methodology the Minimum Data (MD) approach in order to integrate the spatial heterogeneity of the biophysical environment of the different agroecosystems, with economic behaviour of farmers in case of the obligations imposed by the FT mechanism


This book highlights cutting-edge research relevant to the building of a computational model of reading comprehension, as in the processing and understanding of a natural language text or story. A distinguishing feature of the book is its emphasis on "real" understanding of "real" narrative texts rather than on syntactic parsing of single sentences taken out of context or on limited understanding of small, researcher-constructed stories.The book takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of reading, with contributions from computer science, psychology, and philosophy. Contributors cover the theoretical and psychological foundations of the research in discussions of what it means to understand a text, how one builds a computational model, and related issues in knowledge representation and reasoning. The book also addresses some of the broader issues that a natural language system must deal with, such as reading in context, linguistic novelty, and information extraction. Contributors: Dorrit Billman, Michael T. Cox, Eric Domeshek, Kurt Eiselt, Charles R. Fletcher, Richard Gerrig, Jennifer Holbrook, Eric Jones, Trent Lange, Mark Langston, Joe Magliano, Kavi Mahesh, Bonnie J.F. Meyer, Justin Peterson, William J. Rapaport, Ellen Riloff, Stuart C. Shapiro, Tom Trabasso, Charles M. Wharton.


The U.S. Supreme Court and other courts, aided by the media in suppressing critical information about case facts and case law, have all but abolished capital punishment, turning what's left into a costly and agonizing farce. While pretending to superlative morality, dishonesty, especially half-truth, is central to their cause. An egregious example was Roger Coleman, widely but with knowing falsity portrayed as a choir boy executed because heartless judges impatiently refused to hear evidence of his innocence. Going further, in myriad cases, death sentences are reversed or banned when guilt is not even disputed. This is achieved by focusing upon the alleged plight of brutal murderers, while callously withholding compassion, information and even thought about the massive suffering they inflict upon innocent law-abiding victims. Yet, the public still supports the death penalty with little understanding of the true reasons why it is so rarely enforced. Abolition would fail if the people were well informed of case facts and arrogantly imposed disingenuous legal absurdities, not the least of which is a Supreme Court majority's ipse dixit that the Constitution gives them the right and power to decide if democratically determined criminal penalties are unacceptable and to reject them. Other absurdities, wholly unrelated to innocence, concocted by judges who aver lack of confidence in decent jurors and the superiority of their own independent judgment include: A murderer should have a serious chance to succeed with the argument that he would not pose a future threat to society if sentenced to life without parole because he was only dangerous to old ladies. A man can be mentally retarded, yet carefully plan rape and murder calculated to avoid return to prison. Because it is indecent and uncivilized to expect a nearly 18-year-old person to appreciate the wrongfulness of premeditated torture-murder and joyfully boasting about it, he must be allowed to attain a mature understanding of his own humanity. A murderer under 18 is a juvenile, a boy, but a victim of 16 is an adult woman. When a 300-pound man rapes an 8-year-old girl, requiring surgery, this is inadequate moral depravity; so his dignity must be respected to allow him to understand the enormity of his offense, one not enormous enough to justify execution. It is not clear that a rapist really intends to kill a victim he stabs 53 times, including 18 in the genital area. One cannot be expected to foresee new murders when he merely smuggles a gun-filled chest into a prison to help two convicted murderers escape, one serving a life sentence for murdering a guard during a prior escape. In aggregate, the depraved should be rewarded with reduced punishment because their numbers have increased. For individuals, increased depravity qualifies one for a court-created purported constitutional right to commit more without punishment. Rape under threat of death, three weeks after giving birth, is not harmful. Trial judges must mislead juries to save the lives of convicted murderers. All this is the result of unelected justices imposing, less than honestly, their own unpopular moral values upon the citizenry, raising doubt whether the Supreme Court merits continued respect and legitimacy. This is not a matter solely for legal experts. The death penalty debate should confront the public with critical facts and questions to decide if foes deserve the high ground they claim in what they deem a moral issue.


Count data arise in various organizational settings. When the release of such data is sensitive, organizations need information-disclosure policies that protect data confidentiality while still providing data access. In contrast to extant disclosure policies, we describe a new policy for count tables that is based on disclosing only the sufficient statistics of a flexible discrete distribution. This distribution, the COM-Poisson, well approximates Poisson counts but also under- and over-dispersed counts. The sufficient statistics mask the exact cell counts and often also the table size. Under the scenario of a data holding agency and a data snooper, we show that this policy has low disclosure risk with no loss of data utility: Usually, many count tables correspond to the disclosed sufficient statistics. Furthermore, these count tables are equally likely to be the undisclosed table. Finding these solutions requires solving a system of linear equations, which are underdetermined for tables with more than three cells, and can be computationally prohibitive for even small tables. We also consider cell-specific interval bounds, a commonly used disclosure limitation policy, and compare them to our policy. We describe several types of snooper knowledge, their integration with the disclosed statistics, and implications. Applying this policy to three real data sets, we illustrate the low associated disclosure risk.


Background: Lung Cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths around the world. Lung cancer accounts for 13.8% of all cancer diagnosis in India. Aims: (1) To find the role of bronchoscopic characterization of lesions and its impact on outcome in yield in lung cancer with use of conventional diagnostic techniques. (2) To observe additional yield of transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) in comparison to other conventional diagnostic techniques (CDTs) such as bronchial wash (BW), bronchial brush (BB), and forcep biopsy. Settings and Design: This is a prospective muticentric study conducted during June 2013–December 2016 at bronchoscopy unit of Venkatesh Chest Hospital Latur and Pulmonary Medicine, MIMSR Medical College Latur India. Materials and Methods: The study included 210 patients on the basis of clinical and radiological features of malignancy after inclusion and exclusion criteria and institutional review board approval. Fiberoptic bronchoscopic abnormalities were categorized as Exophytic endobronchial lesions, submucosal lesions, peribronchial lesions, and no abnormality. TBNA and other CDTs such as forcep biopsy, BB, and BW were performed during bronchoscopy procedure. Histopathological and cytological examinations of specimens were performed at pathology department. Statistical Analysis Used: The statistical analysis was done using Chi-square test. Results: In exophytic endobronchial lesions, yield of TBNA, CDTs, and TBNA plus CDTs was 62.60%, 79.67%, and 84.55%, respectively (P < 0.001). TBNA was found complementary to CDTs. TBNA has an additive yield in aiding diagnosis by 4.87%. In submucosal lesions, TBNA has low yield, i.e., 38.88% as compared to forcep biopsy, i.e., 47.22% in diagnosing lung malignancies. The additional diagnostic yield of other CDTs such as BB and BW has nil effect on yield difference over forcep biopsy (P > 0.8). In peribronchial lesions, TBNA has significant yield, i.e., 63.41% individually as compared to forcep biopsy 26.82% and CDT 39.02% (P < 0.001). Overall diagnostic yield of fiberoptic bronchoscopy in confirming the diagnosis was 71.95%. Conclusions: Bronchoscopic characterization of lesions and use of technique accordingly during bronchoscopy has a significant outcome in the form of yield also it will decrease the need for repeat bronchoscopy.


Abstract The remarkable bark spiders (genus Caerostris: Araneidae) are poorly known Old World tropical orb-weavers, whose diversity, currently at 11 species, is grossly underestimated. Most species build large webs at forest edges, clearings, and gardens, but in Madagascar, probably the hot spot of Caerostris diversity, at least one species occupies a unique ecological niche: casting its web across streams, rivers and lakes, so that the orb is suspended above water and attached to substrate on each riverbank via bridgelines up to 25 m. Here, we summarize current knowledge on Caerostris natural history, and specifically focus on the remarkable web architecture and biology of the newly described Caerostris darwini n. sp. Darwin's bark spider builds its web, a regular orb suspended above water, and maintains it with daily reinforcing of bridgelines and renewal of orb for many days. Web size ranged from 900–28,000 cm2, with the largest measured web of about 2.8 m2 being the largest orb ever measured, to our knowledge. With anchor lines capable of bridging over 25 m, it also builds the longest webs among all spiders—a unique form of web gigantism. We report on mass capture of ephemeropteran prey items in C. darwini n. sp. webs during a single day. Webs contained up to 32 mayflies that were subsequently wrapped en masse before the spider fed on them. We also provide the first evidence of kleptoparasitism in these webs both by other spiders (Argyrodinae) and by newly documented, undescribed symbiotic flies. Caerostris display extreme sexual size dimorphism with large females and small males, which is manifested in enigmatic sexual behaviors such as mate guarding, male-male aggressiveness, genital mutilation, mate plugging, and self castration. Caerostris is thus a promising candidate for evolutionary studies, and its diversity, biology, and phylogenetic relationships all deserve a closer scrutiny.


Abstract Background and Objectives Latinos residing in the United States exhibit an increased risk for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases compared to non-Latino whites. This elevated risk contributes to a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes and hypertension among Latino adults. Examining biological risk profiles of older Latinos as a "pan-ethnic group" and by Latino subpopulations may help to explain the increased burden of disease in later life among this population. The objective of this study is to document biological risk profiles among a nationally representative sample of older U.S. Latinos by nativity and country of origin. Research Design and Methods We use the 2006–2012 Health and Retirement Study to compare cardiovascular, metabolic, inflammatory and cumulative biological risk among U.S.-born Mexicans, foreign-born Mexicans, U.S.-born Puerto Ricans, island-born Puerto Ricans, U.S.-born "other" Latinos, foreign-born "other" Latinos, and non-Latino whites. Results Older Latinos exhibit heterogeneous biological risk profiles. U.S.-born Mexicans, foreign-born Mexicans, U.S.-born "other" Latinos, and foreign-born "other" Latinos exhibited a higher rate of cardiovascular risk relative to non-Latino whites. In addition, U.S.-born Mexicans, foreign-born Mexicans, island-born Puerto Ricans, and foreign-born "other" Latinos had a higher rate of metabolic risk than non-Latino whites. Island-born Puerto Ricans were the only group to exhibit higher inflammation than non-Latino whites. The observed differences were largely attenuated by socioeconomic status, indicating that high levels of risk among older Latino subpopulations compared to non-Latino whites are associated with lower socioeconomic status. Discussion and Implications Older U.S. Latinos are a demographically diverse population with unique sociocultural characteristics which may contribute to differences in biological risk across the life course that influence disease progression. Examining Latinos by nativity and country of origin may help identify risks specific to individual subpopulations that can lead to culturally appropriate interventions which help prevent and reduce the burden of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.


Acoustic trauma is a common reason for hearing loss. Different agents are used to prevent the harmful effect of acoustic trauma on hearing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential preventive effect of Nigella sativa (black cumin) oil in acoustic trauma. Our experimental study was conducted with 20 Sprague Downey female rats (mean age, 12 months; mean weight 250 g). All of the procedures were held under general anesthesia. Following otoscopic examinations, baseline-hearing thresholds were obtained using auditory brainstem responses (ABR). To create acoustic trauma, the rats were then exposed to white band noise of 4 kHz with an intensity level of 107 dB in a soundproof testing room. On Day 1 following acoustic trauma, hearing threshold measurements were repeated. The rats were divided into two groups as the study group (n: 10) and the controls (n: 10). 2 mL/kg/day of Nigella sativa oil was given to the rats in the study group orally. On Day 4 following acoustic trauma, ABR measurements were repeated again. There was no difference between the baseline hearing thresholds of the rats before acoustic trauma (P>0.005). After the acoustic trauma, hearing thresholds were increased and there was no significant statistically difference between the hearing thresholds of the study and control groups (P=0.979). At the 4th day following acoustic trauma, hearing thresholds of the rats in control group were found to be higher than those in the study group (P=0.03). Our results suggest that Nigella sativa oil has a protective effect against acoustic trauma in early period. This finding should be supported with additional experimental and clinical studies, especially to determine the optimal dose, duration and frequency of potential Nigella sativa oil therapy.


In the world of VLSI (very large scale integration) technology, there are many different types of circuit simulators that are used to design and predict the circuit behavior before actual fabrication of the circuit. In this thesis, I compared and evaluated existing circuit simulators by considering standard benchmark circuits. The circuit simulators which I evaluated and explored are Ngspice, Tclspice, Winspice (open source) and Spectre® (commercial). I also tested standard benchmarks using these circuit simulators and compared their outputs. The simulators are evaluated using design metrics in order to quantify their performance and identify efficient circuit simulators. In addition, I designed a sigma-delta modulator and its individual components using the analog behavioral language Verilog-A. Initially, I performed simulations of individual components of the sigma-delta modulator and later of the whole system. Finally, CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) transistor-level circuits were designed for the differential amplifier, operational amplifier and comparator of the modulator.


Argument By the time the members of the Surrealist group had fled Paris and dispersed at the beginning of World War II, they had taken account of quantum mechanics and were seeking various ways of assimilating its findings into Surrealist theory. This can be detected in writings issuing from the Surrealist milieu as early as the late 1920s. However, while writers and thinkers outside the field of physics swiftly expressed their awareness of the epistemological crisis brought about by quantum mechanics, Surrealism's artists began to conscript the concepts and imagery of modern physics into their work only at the end of the 1930s. Focusing on two "second generation" Surrealist painters, the Chilean Roberto Matta and the Viennese Wolfgang Paalen, this article discusses the peculiar difficulties faced by artists in finding a language for the "new reality" revealed by the physicists, and argues that the relocation of Surrealism in a discursive field which includes quantum physics discloses the rationale behind its artists' shift to a semi-abstract language.


Background Sexual and reproductive decision-making has emerged as an important health indicator in family reproductive health issues. While there is evidence of male dominance in sexual and reproductive health decisions, the role of socio-demographic factors on women's decision to use contraception is not well understood. Aim This study aimed at exploring the socio-demographic factors associated with married women's decision-making to use contraception. Setting The study was conducted in Mahikeng local municipality in the Modiri Molema District Municipality. Methods Data were generated in Mahikeng from married and cohabiting women, aged 18–49 years, from a survey comprising 568 participants. Data were collected on women's demographic characteristics and contraceptive behaviour. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine factors related to decision-making on contraceptive use. Results The result revealed that 57% of the participants were currently using contraception and 45% stated jointly-made decision regarding the use of contraception. Decisions on use of contraceptives were associated with education, occupation, religion, duration of union and home language. Other factors associated with decision-making on contraceptive use were perception on husband's right to sex, use of force for sex and spousal communication about sex. Conclusion Empowering women to use contraception to meet their fertility desire should aim at improving their socio-economic status and spousal communication. Family planning providers should recognise socio-cultural barriers under which the relationships exist and how women can navigate these contextual factors.


A descriptive cross-sectional survey was done to determine knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of the communities and health workers about cystic echinococcosis (CE) in pastoral region of Northeastern (NE) and agropastoral regions of Eastern (E) and Central (C) Uganda. Overall a total of 1310 participants were interviewed. Community respondents from NE region were more aware of CE infection than those from Eastern (OR 4.85; CI: 3.60–6.60; p < 0.001) and Central (OR 5.73; CI: 4.22–7.82; p < 0.001) regions. 19.8% of the respondents from EA region had positive attitude towards visiting witch doctors for treatment compared with 62.0% and 60.4% from NE and Central regions, respectively (p < 0.001). Notably, the awareness of CE increased with level of education (p < 0.001). There was no statistical difference between male and female respondents as far as awareness of CE was concerned (p > 0.05). 51.7% of the community respondents from Central believed CE is caused by witchcraft, compared with 31.3% and 14.3% from NE and EA regions, respectively (p < 0.001). There was no statistical difference between health staff regarding their knowledge, attitude, and beliefs about CE infection (p > 0.05). None of the participants knew his/her CE status. The communities need to be sensitized about CE detection, control, and management and health staff need to be trained on CE diagnosis.


Wish your favorite PC game had a more informative heads up display? What if you could instantly collect all that loot from your latest epic battle? You don't need to be a sorcerer to transform a game you like into a game you love. Just make a bot to do the grunt work for you!If you're familiar with Windows-based development and memory management, then Game Hacking, provides all the tools and knowledge you need to become a true game hacker. Let veteran game hacker Nick Cano teach you the basics, including reverse engineering, assembly code analysis, programmatic memory manipulation, and code injection. Throughout the book, you'll hone your new skills with hands-on labs, dig into practice binaries, and learn to write your own bot. Level up your toolbox with hacking techniques: Scan and modify memory with Cheat Engine Explore program structure and execution flow with OllyDBGLog processes and pinpoint useful data files with Process Monitor Manipulate control flow through NOPing, hooking, and more Locate and dissect common game memory structures Discover the secrets behind common game bots, including: Persistent hacks, such as a heads up display Responsive hacks, such as auto healers and combo bots Bots with artificial intelligence, such as cave walkers and automatic looters Game hacking might seem like black magic, but that doesn't mean it's evil. When you know how bot makers create bots and why they do it, you'll be empowered to discourage and defend against bots in your own games! Journey through the inner workings of PC games, and come away with a deeper understanding of both game design and computer security.


Known for its high reproductive rate, sociotomy, and unique nesting habits, the Pharaoh ant Monomorium pharaonis (LINNAEUS, 1758) is one of the most successful tramp ant species. In this study, combinations of different caste groups were used to examine the effects of each caste on queen and worker population growth dynamics over time. The initial number of queens in an incipient colony significantly affected queen population growth and accounted for 42.2% of the overall variability over a six-month period. Queen population growth significantly decreased as the initial number of queens increased in the incipient colonies, and in most cases, each colony retained its original number of queens (eight). The brood quantity had little effect on queen population growth and was responsible for an increase of only 2.5% in the overall variability, and the worker number had no effect on queen population growth. Worker population growth was primarily affected by the initial queen number of the incipient colony, although the effects of queen, brood, and worker number on worker population growth were all significant. Overall, our results showed that the number of caste components required for colony success was much lower than expected: A mere 50 workers and one queen were sufficient for colony survival and productivity irrespective of the presence of brood.


Recently, a transistor level dual-Vth technique has been proposed, where transistors within the same cell are allowed to have different Vth to form the so-call mixed Vth (MVT) cell. However, it is impractical to build a full MVT cell library and include it in the standard dual Vth design flow. To make this practical, current approach adds another design phase after technology mapping to replace high leakage cells with their low leakage MVT variants. We propose a method to seamlessly and effectively integrate transistor-level dual Vth technology into existing low power design flow. This paper reports our successful experience in applying this method to optimize leakage under timing constraints in an industrial design environment. For demonstration purpose, we build an MVT library based on only 15 cells in a standard library that contains 590 cells. On 11 ISCAS benchmarks and three industrial designs, this MVT library optimizes 27% of the design. Yet it gives an average of 9% and up to 25% leakage saving over the state-of-art gate level dual Vth design with a full size high Vth library.


CONTEXT
The debate on the respective roles of medical specialists and generalists has tended to portray them as alternatives, rather than seeking ways to build on the complementary skills of these professional groups.

OBJECTIVE
We wished to evaluate the impact of a selective admitting policy that attempts to exploit the complementary strengths of specialists and generalists.

DESIGN
Prospective cohort study of patients admitted to hospital with congestive heart failure.

SETTING
Public hospital in New South Wales, Australia.

PATIENTS
Subjects aged 60 years or more with congestive heart failure defined by the Framingham criteria (see Appendix).

INTERVENTION
A selective admission policy which referred patients with identifiable single system disorders to the relevant subspecialist, while patients with multiple medical problems were admitted under a general physician.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Length of hospital stay, survival, quality of life and satisfaction with care.

RESULTS
Two-hundred and seventy-five patients with congestive heart failure were followed up from admission to 1 year after discharge from hospital. Of these, 102 were cared for by cardiologists and 154 by generalists. The patients under the generalists were older, had greater co-morbidity, but appeared to have less severe cardiac disease than those cared for by cardiologists. The use of cardiac drugs and investigations was similar in the two groups. The generalists' patients had a longer length of hospital stay, but the cardiologists' patients had a higher mortality during the early follow-up period. There were no differences in levels of satisfaction with care or in health-related quality of life between the two groups of patients. Multivariate analysis suggested that any differences in outcomes between the two groups of patients were due to the severity of underlying disease, and co-morbidity, rather than the quality of care that was provided by the physicians.

CONCLUSIONS
It is possible to implement a hospital admission policy that selectively refers patients with congestive heart failure to specialists or generalists, according to the presence of co-morbid conditions, without adversely affecting the outcomes of care. Such a policy should represent optimum use of the complementary skills of these professional groups.


An Upper Cambrian-Ordovician (490-460 Ma) batholith crop out along the Cordon de Lila and Sierra de Almeida, in the Antofagasta region, northern Chile, which belongs to the Famatinian arc. Two plutonic rock types can be distinguished: granodiorites and monzogranites. The first lithology is positioned along an occidental fringe in as much the second is located along an oriental part of the batholith. The main geochemical difference between the two lithologies is the enrichment in silica and K of the second with respect of the first one. Most of the granodiorites are metaluminous or are located between the metaluminous and peraluminous fields. The monzogranites are mostly peraluminous. The chemical composition of the plutons (mayor and trace elements and rare earth elements) allow to infer a common origin for both groups, from a mafic magma that evolved by fractional crystallization. The difference in composition between both lithologies, specially the meta or peraluminous character, can be explained by means a different degree of interaction of the original magma with the felsic crustal rocks.


Dividing-wall columns (DWCs) have significant potential as energy-efficient processes for the separation of multicomponent mixtures. However, in addition to an efficient steady state design, dynamics and control also play a major part for the success of a technology. This is especially so for complex distillation systems. This paper investigates the dynamics of a dividing wall column used for the separation of ternary mixtures. A detailed dynamic first principles-based model of the column I s developed in gPROMS. The model is used to generate data used for control loop pairing via the Relative Gain Array (RGA), and controller parameters are found by using Internal Model Control (IMC) tuning. The best control structures for DWC systems, involving four different ternary mixtures, and two different feed compositions for each mixture, are investigated.


In this paper, several irregularly shaped microstrip antenna structures are designed using a new version of Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) algorithm in which the velocity calculation is modified towards a more accelerated and still robust search procedure, particularly aimed for software-defined radio (SDR) applications. The optimization results are compared using both the modified and the conventional BPSO algorithms. Pros and cons are studied in terms of optimization length, convergence speed and final design conformability to desired objectives. It is depicted that the modified BPSO achieves the design criterion considerably faster than the conventional one, at the cost of slightly limiting particle exploration ability.


This paper deals with an adaptive control law for robotic manipulators based on a filtered signal to generate both the PD action and velocity estimates of the joints, suitable for trajectory tracking tasks, with the particular aim of reducing the harmonic content of the mechanical torques developed at the joints and thus avoiding excitation of unmodelled dynamics and instability. The practical aspects relative to the implementation of the control law are considered as relevant and, consequently, are detailed. In particular, several methods suitable to compute velocity estimates are discussed and compared with the method described in the paper. All of the above methods are illustrated by means of digital simulation and experimental findings carried out on a 2-DOF SCARA-type manipulator. The tests carried out show the validity of the discussed approach.


Introduction The angiotensin (Ang) and bradykinin (BK) tissue-system plays a pivotal role in post-conditioning, but the efficacy of angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R) blockers (ARBs) in post-ischemic strategies is still under investigation. We evaluated functional and morphological outcomes, together with activation of cytosolic RISK pathway kinases, in rat hearts subjected to losartan (LOS) or irbesartan (IRB) post-ischemic administration. Methods Isolated rat hearts underwent 30 min ischemia and 120 min reperfusion. Post-conditioning was obtained by intermittent (10 s/each) or continuous drug infusion during the first 3 min of reperfusion. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), left ventricular developed pressure (dLVP), coronary flow (CF), and left ventricular infarct mass (IM) were measured together with the activation status of RISK kinases Akt, p42/44 MAPK and GSK3β. Results When compared to hearts subjected to ischemia/reperfusion (iI/R) alone, continuous IRB or LOS administration did not significantly reduce total infarct mass (cIRB or cLOS vs. iI/R, p = 0.2). Similarly, intermittent IRB (iIRB) was not able to enhance cardioprotection. Conversely, intermittent LOS administration (iLOS) significantly ameliorated cardiac recovery (iLOS vs iI/R, p<0.01). Differences between iLOS and iIRB persisted under continuous blockade of AT2R (iLOS+cPD vs. iIRB+cPD, p<0.05). Interestingly, iLOS cardioprotection was lost when BK2R was simultaneously blocked (iLOS+cHOE vs. iI/R, p = 0.6), whereas concurrent administration of iBK and iIRB replicated iLOS effects (iIRB+iBK vs. iLOS, p = 0.7). At the molecular level, iIRB treatment did not significantly activate RISK kinases, whereas both iLOS and iBK treatments were associated with activation of the Akt/GSK3β branch of the RISK pathways (p<0.05 vs. iI/R, for both). Conclusions Our results suggest that intermittent losartan is effective in mediating post-conditioning cardioprotection, whereas irbesartan is not. The infarct mass reduction by intermittent losartan seem mainly related on its specific ability to modulate BK2R, and only modestly associated on AT1R blocking properties.


Tree–grass ecosystems are widely distributed. However, their phenology has not yet been fully characterized. The technique of repeated digital photographs for plant phenology monitoring (hereafter referred as PhenoCam) provide opportunities for long-term monitoring of plant phenology, and extracting phenological transition dates (PTDs, e.g., start of the growing season). Here, we aim to evaluate the utility of near-infrared-enabled PhenoCam for monitoring the phenology of structure (i.e., greenness) and physiology (i.e., gross primary productivity—GPP) at four tree–grass Mediterranean sites. We computed four vegetation indexes (VIs) from PhenoCams: (1) green chromatic coordinates (GCC), (2) normalized difference vegetation index (CamNDVI), (3) near-infrared reflectance of vegetation index (CamNIRv), and (4) ratio vegetation index (CamRVI). GPP is derived from eddy covariance flux tower measurement. Then, we extracted PTDs and their uncertainty from different VIs and GPP. The consistency between structural (VIs) and physiological (GPP) phenology was then evaluated. CamNIRv is best at representing the PTDs of GPP during the Green-up period, while CamNDVI is best during the Dry-down period. Moreover, CamNIRv outperforms the other VIs in tracking growing season length of GPP. In summary, the results show it is promising to track structural and physiology phenology of seasonally dry Mediterranean ecosystem using near-infrared-enabled PhenoCam. We suggest using multiple VIs to better represent the variation of GPP.


One of the major hindrances to the penetration of information and communication technology (ICT) devices in underserved and unserved areas in the developing nations is the absence and inadequacy of electricity to power technological devices. Inadequate supply from the national grid, land and water pollution from oil spillage in the oil producing communities among other factors have led Nigeria and indeed the world to look for alternative power supply such as solar energy. Unfortunately, utilization and development of solar energy is rising in other parts of the world but encountered with low pace of development and utilization in Nigeria. This paper reports a survey carried out to investigate the awareness and use of solar energy as alternative power source for ICT facilities in Nigerian library and information centres. Descriptive research design using survey method was adopted for this study. Questionnaire was designed and used as survey instrument. The population for this study includes the staff of three Nigerian university libraries. This study finds that all the respondents have good knowledge of what solar energy is Majority of the respondents have experienced solar energy as alternative power source for ICT before. They have also read and heard about solar energy as alternative power source. They were therefore well informed about solar energy equipment as majority of them have alternative power source (mostly power generating sets) in their libraries. They were also aware that solar energy can power their ICT equipment as they also believe that using solar energy, erratic power supply can be mitigated to a large extent. Conclusions were drawn based on the findings of the study and recommendations offered. Keyword: Awareness, Use, Solar energy, Alternative power source, ICT, Library and Information Centres, Nigeria.


Before the Golden Age of magazines drew to a close half a century ago, a young PR man at General Electric sold his first short story to one of the doomed publications. By the time he'd sold his third, he decided to quit GE and join the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Faulkner, and try to make a living at fifteen hundred dollars a pop. With four major magazines running five stories each week and smaller ones scouting as well, it was a seller's market, and Kurt Vonnegut was published regularly by The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Argosy and others. For this unusual collection, Vonnegut has selected twenty-four of his favourite stories never published before in book form and has written a new preface for the occasion. Vonnegut scholar Peter Reed, who unearthed the old publications, contributes an introduction. Now readers can relive the genesis of a master. Stories such as 'Any Reasonable Offer', 'The Powder Blue Dragon', 'Hal Irwin's Magic Lamp' and 'Lovers Anonymous' bring us to the beginning of a literary voice that is sure to last forever. Bagombo Snuff Box, the missing pieces of the master's oeuvre, is a ready made classic for Vonnegut fans new and old.


Preface Part I. Singularities at Infinity of Polynomial Functions: 1. Regularity conditions at infinity 2. Detecting atypical values via singularities at infinity 3. Local and global fibrations 4. Families of complex polynomials 5. Topology of a family and contact structures Part II. The Impact of Global Polar Varieties: 6. Polar invariants and topology of affine varieties 7. Relative polar curves and families of affine hypersurfaces 8. Monodromy of polynomials Part III. Vanishing Cycles of Non-Generic Pencils: 9. Topology of meromorphic functions 10. Slicing by pencils of hypersurfaces 11. Higher Zariski-Lefschetz theorems Notes References Bibliography Appendix 1. Stratified singularities Appendix 2. Hints to exercises Index.


India is home to almost three million HIV cases. But AIDS is still a disease stigmatized and shrouded in denial. It is stigma that prevents people from openly discussing the facts around HIV, and keeps them from getting treatment. Stigma leads to discrimination against HIV positive people in hospitals, schools and even among families. In this ground-breaking anthology, sixteen of India's well-known writers go on the road to tell the human story behind the epidemic.William Dalrymple meets the devadasis ('temple women'), many of whom have become victims of HIV; Kiran Desai travels to the coast of Andhra where the sex workers are considered the most desirable and Salman Rushdie spends a day with Mumbai's transgenders. These writers travel the country to talk to housewives, vigilantes, homosexuals, police and sex-workers and together they create a complex and gripping picture of AIDS in India: who it is affecting, how and why. Eye-opening, hard-hitting and moving, "AIDS Sutra" will show you a side to India rarely seen before. This anthology was produced in collaboration with Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.


This article presents the findings of a research study that used Q methodology to explore educators' understandings of cultural competence. Cultural competence has been acknowledged as an important concept in the education profession and has also been the subject of considerable debate across other disciplines. It is a multifaceted concept in that there is a multiplicity of meanings associated with it. This article describes the application of Q methodology as a comprehensive and rigorous approach to explore educators' understandings of cultural competence. Data collected from 18 participants were subjected to a by-person factor analysis that yielded two significant factors. The findings validate some common elements of existing understandings of cultural competence, however, discrepancies between factors pointed to a more nuanced understanding of the role of families and communities in developing understandings about cultural competence. The findings reported are specifically in an Australian context, however, given the current importance of the nature of cultural competence across a range of disciplines worldwide, it is suggested that the findings may resonate across disciplines locally and globally.


Global warming represents a challenge to the survival of phytoplankton organisms, which are the basis of the aquatic food web and drive essential biogeochemical cycles. We propose a direct experimental research mimicking temperature-increasing scenarios as a novel way to explore the adaptation of phytoplankton to predicted future thermal scenarios. This vulnerability analysis of individual phytoplankton species to increased temperature is key to understand the impact of global warming on aquatic ecosystems. Considering the polyphyletic complexity of the phytoplankton community, we compare the adaptation ability of diverse phytoplankton species from oceanic, coastal and inland waters to global warming, evaluating the role played by physiological acclimatization and genetic adaptation. We found that physiological acclimatization allows survival under the lowest temperature increase. Afterwards pre-existing genetic variability allow some genotypes to survive. Finally, when the temperature rises to a certain threshold, only the occurrence of new mutations that confer thermal resistance assures adaptation. Our results also reveal diverse degrees of tolerance to temperature increase among the different functional groups of phytoplankton, with great inter-specific capacity for genetic adaptation.


Terrestrial small mammals occupy a variety of temperate and boreal forests in North America and Eurasia and contribute to biodiversity within these ecosystems. Researchers commonly use a variation of removal trapping to sample small-mammal populations and communities in these systems. However, it is not known if recurrent removal sampling might bias abundance estimates or alter the very populations under study. We addressed 2 questions: (1) are estimates of population size and species richness and diversity gained from removal trapping different from those based on live-trapping? and (2) what residual impact does removal trapping have on small-mammal populations and communities, as revealed by live-trapping? In 2 experiments (summer 2004 and autumn 2005), we compared undisturbed controls (non-removal) with removal sampling for 5-, 10-, and 30-night periods. Total abundance estimates during removal periods were dramatically higher (up to 3-fold) on non-removal than removal sites in both experiments. Mean abundance of the 2 most common species, deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) and northwestern chipmunk (Neotamias amoenus), were substantially higher on non-removal than removal sites in the autumn experiment. The longer the removal interval, the deeper the degree of departure from non-removal levels of abundance. Species richness during removal periods also followed the pattern of abundance, whereby new, uncommon species appeared on removal sites, but not non-removals, during the autumn experiment. The residual impact of removal trapping, as revealed by live-trapping, indicated that abundance estimates were up to 4.5-fold higher on non-removal than postremoval sites and continued for at least 1 month as the small mammal community reorganized itelf via immigration and settlement. Species diversity was still significantly different among removals 8 months after the autumn removal period. Removal-trapping over variable lengths (5 to 30 nights) may not provide an accurate picture of the abundance or diversity of small mammals.


Abstract. Conventional models of pumping tests in unconfined aquifers often neglect the unsaturated flow process. This study concerns the coupled unsaturated–saturated flow process induced by vertical, horizontal, and slant wells positioned in an unconfined aquifer. A mathematical model is established with special consideration of the coupled unsaturated–saturated flow process and the well orientation. Groundwater flow in the saturated zone is described by a three-dimensional governing equation and a linearized three-dimensional Richards' equation in the unsaturated zone. A solution in the Laplace domain is derived by the Laplace–finite-Fourier-transform and the method of separation of variables, and the semi-analytical solutions are obtained using a numerical inverse Laplace method. The solution is verified by a finite-element numerical model. It is found that the effects of the unsaturated zone on the drawdown of a pumping test exist at any angle of inclination of the pumping well, and this impact is more significant in the case of a horizontal well. The effects of the unsaturated zone on the drawdown are independent of the length of the horizontal well screen. The vertical well leads to the largest water volume drained from the unsaturated zone (W) during the early pumping time, and the effects of the well orientation on W values become insignificant at the later time. The screen length of the horizontal well does not affect W for the whole pumping period. The proposed solutions are useful for the parameter identification of pumping tests with a general well orientation (vertical, horizontal, and slant) in unconfined aquifers affected from above by the unsaturated flow process.


Arterial tortuosity syndrome (ATS) is a rare, autosomal recessively inherited connective tissue disorder caused by biallelic loss of function mutations in SLC2A10. While SLC2A10 and its product, a class III facilitative glucose transporter (GLUT10), have been implicated in ATS, the exact disease mechanism has not been fully elucidated. ATS is characterized by systemic medium and large artery lengthening and subsequent tortuosity, which significantly increases affected individual's risk of ischemic and hemorrhagic events as well as aortic dilation and dissection. Histologically, fibroblasts and vascular tissue of affected individuals have demonstrated a dysregulation of the extracellular matrix proteins, particularly reduced and fragmented elastin fibers. While most individuals with ATS possess cutaneous findings characteristic of connective tissue disorders, ranging from soft, hyperextensible skin to visibly lax skin in redundant folds, no study has quantified differences in the biomechanical properties of the skin between individuals with ATS and healthy individuals. In this study, rapid, non-invasive, in vivo cutaneous measurements were executed using the DermaLab® Combo SkinLab to determine the functional consequences on the skin of systemic ATS in a cohort of 8 individuals, compared to 28 of their unaffected relatives. Our affected population demonstrated significantly reduced elastic modulus (E) and viscoelastic modulus (VE) when compared to unaffected individuals. Affected individuals also exhibited increased skin retraction time. This research significantly impacts public health by contributing to rare disease research, specifically by further characterizing the natural history of ATS and aiding in diagnosing the condition in the general population.


Cardinality estimation plays an important role in processing big data. We consider the challenging problem of computing millions or more distinct count aggregations in a single pass and allowing these aggregations to be further combined into coarser aggregations. These arise naturally in many applications including networking, databases, and real-time business reporting. We demonstrate existing approaches to solve this problem are inherently flawed, exhibiting bias that can be arbitrarily large, and propose new methods for solving this problem that have theoretical guarantees of correctness and tight, practical error estimates. This is achieved by carefully combining CountMin and HyperLogLog sketches and a theoretical analysis using statistical estimation techniques. These methods also advance cardinality estimation for individual multisets, as they provide a provably consistent estimator and tight confidence intervals that have exactly the correct asymptotic coverage.


Sugar, such as fructose, is widely known to be a dietary cause for many health complications including diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer, and is an enticing yet harmful substance if consumed in large quantities. Fructose, typically in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, is the sugar most commonly found in fast foods. Thus, we chose to study the health effects of a high fructose diet on humans through experimentation on Caenorhabditis elegans, which are effective model organisms due to their rapid reproduction rate and stability despite variations in environmental conditions. We hypothesized that increasing sugar intake in C. elegans will reduce C. elegans survival, though moderate amounts of sugar may increase survival. The results show that the concentration of fructose had a significant influence on the survival rate of C. elegans. The C. elegans receiving 0% and 5% fructose concentration treatments had much higher survival rates than the 15% plates, which had zero surviving C. elegans after six days. After statistical analysis, the 5% and 15% plates were determined to yield significantly different survival rates. Thus, there is sufficient data to conclude that diets containing high levels of fructose negatively impact C. elegans life, suggesting that diets high in sugars such as high fructose corn syrup are harmful to humans. However, it was not possible to discern any significant difference between the 0% and 5% treatments from the data generated. Further experimentation would be needed to investigate the effects of diets containing a moderate amount of sugar.


Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence rate of prehypertension and to compare the differences in demographic factors, anthropometric measurements, lifestyles and metabolic profiles between normotensive and prehypertensive individuals. Design Data were based on the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT), a cross-sectional survey that adopted a multi-stage, stratified clustering sampling scheme. The data collection period was from 1 January 1993 to 31 December 1996. Methods This study was a secondary analysis of data previously collected. Data from 1039 men and 1186 women, aged 18–96 years, were analyzed. Results Approximately 34% of Taiwanese adults had prehypertension. The prevalence rate of prehypertension was higher among men (36%) than women (32%). In univariable logistic analysis, sex, age group, age, waist–hip ratio (WHR) group, body mass index (BMI) group, waist circumference, blood sugar, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), cholesterol/HDL and smoking status were significantly associated with prehypertension status. Multivariable logistic regression revealed that age [odds ratio (OR) = 1.014, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.004–1.0249] and BMI (OR = 1.106, 95% CI = 1.051–1.165) were the determinants of prehypertension status in men. For women, age (OR = 1.033, 95% CI = 1.022–1.044), waist circumference (OR = 1.031, 95% CI = 1.012–1.051) and triglyceride (OR = 1.003, 95% CI = 1.000–1.005) were the determinants of prehypertension. Conclusions This study underscores the importance of general obesity and central obesity as risk factors for prehypertension in the Taiwanese adult population. These two indices of obesity have different impacts on men and women.


This article introduces the idea of informal plurilateralism as a form of policy-making. I show how ideas are mooted and moulded and then filter into technocratic systems of governance at the national level, where these are normalised into the formal, public discourse. I draw on archival material to show how informal plurilateralism has crept into policy-making in international fora on migration, pushing aside more transparent processes, particularly the more openly negotiated multilateral agenda. Informal plurilateralism tends to be portrayed as a welcome addition to formal and informal multilateralism, suggesting that, on the basis of ideational affiliation, policy-makers move to extra-institutional and opaque fora to consult on problems they commonly identify, such as the perceived loss of control over immigration into Europe. Such a benign presentation obscures the closed and non-transparent nature of these negotiations.


We describe the allometric growth patterns of Paralabrax maculatofasciatus larvae raised under culture conditions. From hatching to day 30, ten to fifteen larvae were sampled each day and measured using digital photograph software. morphometric measurements included total length, head length, body length, tail (post anal) length, head depth, body depth, muscle height, tail depth, mouth length and eye diameter. allometric growth was modeled by a power function and patterns in allometry were described by the growth coefficient (power function exponent). Based on the changes in the growth coefficients we can infer changes in ontogenetic priorities related to developmental stages of the spotted sand bass. During the yolk sac and preflexion stages (tl interval = 1.57 to 4.38 mm) there is an evident priority to enhancing the feeding and swimming capabilities by promoting accelerated growth in the head and tail length. During the flexion stage (tl interval = 4.89 to 7.54 mm), there is a major decrease in the growth coefficients, indicating a change in growth priorities. at the end of the postflexion stage there is an evident tendency to isometry for all the growth coefficients. the present results support the hypothesis of differential growth patterns for primary functions during early ontogeny.


The advent of smart devices and continuous expansions of smart environments make Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) an important part of our daily lives. The usage of a myriad of devices in self-organizing networks in a various fields such as home monitoring, medical and military etc. requires an efficient delivery of sensed information. For this necessity, a local clock of sensors nodes needs to be synchronized and up-keep timely synchronization between sensors, to ensue seamlessly communication with each other via radio links aimed at sharing and treatment of reliable information. In this paper, we present balanced Timing-sync protocol for sensor networks that aims at providing network-wide time synchronization in a sensor network. Our schemes work in two steps. In the first step, a hierarchical structure is established in the edges of this structure to establish a global time scale through the network. Ultimately all node in the network synchronize their clock to a reference node. We implement our algorithm on NS2. We argue that our algorithm roughly gives better performance as compared to the work in the same line of research like TPSN.


Truancy is a significant problem in the U.S. and in other countries around the world. Truancy has been linked to serious immediate and far-reaching consequences for youth, families, and schools and communities, leading researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to try to understand and to address the problem. Although numerous and significant steps have been taken at the local, state, and national levels to reduce truancy, the rates of truancy have at best remained stable or at worst been on the rise, depending on the indicator utilized to assess truancy rates.
The costs and impact of chronic truancy are significant, with both short- and long-term implications for the truant youth as well as for the family, school, and community. Although several narrative reviews and one meta-analysis of attendance and truancy interventions have attempted to summarize the extant research, there are a number of limitations to these reviews. It is imperative that we systematically synthesize and examine the evidence base to provide a comprehensive picture of interventions that are being utilized to intervene with chronic truants, to identify interventions that are effective and ineffective, and to identify gaps and areas in which more research needs to be conducted to better inform practice and policy.


Although the human hand is a complex biomechanical system, only a small set of features may be necessary for observation learning of functional grasp classes. We explore how to methodically select a minimal set of hand pose features from optical marker data for grasp recognition. Supervised feature selection is used to determine a reduced feature set of surface marker locations on the hand that is appropriate for grasp classification of individual hand poses. Classifiers trained on the reduced feature set of five markers retain at least 92% of the prediction accuracy of classifiers trained on a full feature set of thirty markers. The reduced model also generalizes better to new subjects. The dramatic reduction of the marker set size and the success of a linear classifier from local marker coordinates recommend optical marker techniques as a practical alternative to data glove methods for observation learning of grasping.


With the 1999 elections to the State Duma completed and a new president recently elected, a Russian party system, although fragile, is perceptible. Party factions are active and somewhat enduring within the State Duma, Russia's lower house; party identification among citizens, while comparatively low, appears to be increasing; and we can now speak of trends in national legislative elections such that at least some parties endure from one electoral period to the next. Yet, despite these positive gains, a peculiar and possibly enduring characteristic has also developed--a failure of parties to have significantly penetrated the political institutions of most of Russia's 89 provinces. The representation of national parties in both regional legislatures and executives is strikingly low. Further, in most regions, regional political party development is generally faltering. As Russia's party system appears to be slowly institutionalizing along other measures, why have political parties still not managed to penetrate politics in the periphery?


Mitochondria are essential organelles in the cell. One of their most critical functions is the generation of cellular energy in the form of ATP. The presence of DNA in the mitochondrial matrix makes this organelle semi-autonomous. However, it relies heavily on the nucleus and cytosol to import ~99% of its proteins and some RNA molecules for its normal functioning. Mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cause several devastating disorders. Due to their complexity and our incomplete understanding of mitochondrial disease pathogenesis, these disorders are difficult to diagnose and currently no pharmacological treatment exists. Further, gene therapy for these devastating disorders is impeded due to lack of mitochondrial genome manipulation techniques. Understanding the mechanism of pathogenesis and developing mtDNA manipulation strategies are key to developing remedial therapies.

In my thesis, I investigated an RNA allotopic strategy of targeting RNA into the mitochondria in vivo in flies. In my first aim, I improved an in vivo mitochondrial-targeting tool (mtTRES vector) to manipulate proteins encoded by the mitochondrial DNA. This vector integrates into the nuclear genome and results in the transcription of a chimeric RNA consisting of a mitochondrial targeting signal sequence and a small non-coding antisense RNA.

Previous studies have attempted allotopic expression via both protein and RNA import with mixed results. Only a few of them, however, have been tested in vivo and none have been examined for rescue in an animal model of mitochondrial disease. Since our lab has a well characterized mtDNA mutation fly model, ATP6[1], I had a unique opportunity to investigate rescue strategies in these models. In my second aim, I improved a unique set of mtTRESPro vectors for both flies and humans to target long coding RNAs into mitochondria. Once imported these long RNAs are designed to be endogenously translated in mitochondria. By targeting a wild type copy of the mutant ATP6 gene, I explored the rescuing potential of allotopic RNA import in vivo. Our data suggest the mtTRES and mtTRESPro mitochondrial manipulation tools have genuine potential to be developed into a mitochondrial disease gene therapy.


An automatic recording spectrophotometer for the infrared is described, which employs a double-beam source, Littrow spectrometer, fast bolometer, and high speed pen- and drum-recording system. The sample and reference beams are alternately chopped at 10 cycles/sec. at the entrance slit to the spectrometer. The amplified a.c. signal on the bolometer is used to drive a variable comb diaphragm in the reference beam. The spectra are registered on a recorder by a pen mechanically linked to this comb.The spectral region covered is between 2 microns and 16 microns with a sodium chloride prism. The range can be extended to about 26 microns by the use of a potassium bromide prism. The instrument is designed for high speed analytical work, producing permanently recorded spectrograms of gases, liquids, and solids on accurate charts at intervals of 18 minutes. Percent transmission is recorded with an accuracy of ±1 percent, and wave-length with an accuracy of ±0.025 micron. Records are reproducible to within ±1 percent transmission and ±0.01 micron.Special features are its high recording speed, stability and freedom from drift with the "optical-null" principle, linearity and ease of operation.


The main objective of the VULSACO (VULnerability of SAndy COasts to climate change and anthropic pressure) project was to investigate present day and potential future vulnerability of sandy coasts at the 2030 horizon, i.e. on a time scale related to climate variability. The method, based on a multidisciplinary approach bringing together geologists, geographers, physicists , social psychologists, engineers and stakeholders, was structured around 4 axes: field data analysis; numerical modelling; analysis of governance and stakeholder perceptions; and development of vulnerability indexes. This approach was designed to investigate vulnerability at a local scale and was applied to 4 contrasting beaches located in France: Sete Lido (Mediterranean Sea), Truc Vert and La Tresson beaches (Atlantic Ocean), and Dewulf (English Channel). The results focus on decadal and multi-annual beach trends at the Truc Vert beach site. There is almost no trend in beach volume at Truc Vert beach, although there is a variation in this parameter on a cycle of 2 to 3 yr, with variations related to wave energy and probably to indexes of climate variability. Numerical modelling identified the sensitivity of beach responses to changes in wave height and direction, especially in terms of subtidal morphology and the potential development of shoreline instability. Together with the observed offshore wave angle at the Biscay Buoy, these model results suggest that a potential change in wave angle due to climate variability could significantly modify the bars' morphology. The combination of data analysis and numerical modelling contributed to the development of vulnerability indexes designed for sandy coasts, which take into account climate-dependant variables such as waves. This allowed the differentiation of the sites in terms of vulnerability to erosion: Sete Lido and Truc Vert beach were the most and least vulnerable sites, respectively. These indexes help in identifying the dominant components of beach vulnerability, and provide potential for the study of how anthropogenic factors affect vulnerability. The study of stakeholder perceptions and decision-making with regard to climate-related risk also highlighted potential anthropogenic effects on beach vulnerability, and identified possible site-specific outcomes.


We introduce a browser evaluation test (BET), and describe a trial run application of the test. BET is a method for assessing meeting browser performance using the number of observations of interest found in the minimum amount of time as the evaluation metric, where observations of interest are statements about a meeting collected by independent observers. The resulting speed and accuracy scores aim to be objective, comparable and repeatable.


A new apparatus based on the technique of Fourier transform thermal analysis for the measurement of thermal diffusivity, specific heat per unit volume, thermal effusivity, and thermal conductivity of thin solid and liquids films (of the order of micrometres) has been developed. The apparatus consists of the following components: specimen assembly; function synthesiser; DC potentiometer circuit; lock-in amplifier; DC microvoltmeter; temperature controller; computer; and special attachments. An electrically insulating specimen, 5 x 10 mm 2 and 1 ∼ 100 μm in thickness, is sandwiched between two gold layer resistors sputtered on two Pyrex glass plates, one being the heat generator and the other the sensor. For an electrically conductive specimen, a three-layered specimen stack, insulating film/conductive specimen/insulating film, can be used. By means of the Fourier transform technique, the thermal diffusivity across the specimen thickness can be obtained under heating or cooling at a constant rate of 0.2 ∼ 10 K min - 1 from -50 °C to 300 °C. By prior calibration measurements with a reference material of known properties, the specific heat per unit volume of the specimen film can be obtained simultaneously, so that the thermal conductivity and thermal effusivity can be derived. In addition, simultaneous measurement of thermal diffusivity, specific heat per unit volume, and thermal conductivity can be obtained during the melting process. Experiments illustrating various applications and measurements are described and discussed.


This should prove to be the definitive work explaining van der Waals forces, how to calculate them and to take account of their impact under any circumstances and conditions. These weak intermolecular forces are of truly pervasive impact, and biologists, chemists, physicists, and engineers will profit greatly from the thorough grounding in these fundamental forces that this book offers. Parsegian has organized his book at three successive levels of sophistication to satisfy the needs and interests of readers at all levels of preparation. The Prelude and Level 1 are intended to give everyone an overview in words and pictures of the modern theory of van der Waals forces. Level 2 gives the formulae and a wide range of algorithms to let readers compute the van der Waals forces under virtually any physical or physiological conditions. Level 3 offers a rigorous basic formulation of the theory.