This thesis presents a series of investigations into the biokinetic behavior of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and related compounds and the application of biokinetic modeling and biomonitoring data in quantitative risk assessment for these compounds. The biokinetic properties of TCDD and related compounds affect nearly every facet of the typical risk assessment procedure as applied to these compounds. Qualitative and quantitative differences in the distribution and elimination of TCDD exist between high and low doses, between species, and even between bolus vs. subchronic dosing administration regimens; similarly, differences exist between TCDD and other dioxin, furan, and PCB compounds of interest. These factors should be considered in risk assessments for dioxins. Because of these complexities, preference should be given to studies most easily interpretable in the context of current human exposure tracking and assessment, which is dominated by the use of biomonitoring efforts. Where possible, use of human studies that rely upon biomonitoring data for exposure quantification concurrent with the measurement of outcome of interest may provide the most reliable basis for risk assessment. Where such data are judged to be unavailable or insufficient, animal studies conducted under chronic or subchronic dosing regimens with measured tissue concentrations may provide the most relevant dose-response data. The substantial uncertainties and interindividual variability in human biokinetics suggests that exposure-response assessments relying on extensive back-calculation of serum TCDD levels should be used only with a great deal of caution, perhaps as supportive analyses rather than the main basis for quantitative risk assessment. Research presented here uses newly-available data sets on elimination of TCDD in highly-exposed human populations to modify and implement a previously-developed model of distribution and elimination for TCDD and to examine the sources of variability and uncertainty involved in the application of such modeling to human occupational cohorts. This research demonstrates that the resulting uncertainty and variations in estimated cumulative exposures may substantially impact a quantitative risk assessment derived based on such estimated exposures. Other research presented in this dissertation demonstrates a variety of approaches for using human biomonitoring and response data in risk assessment for cancer and non-cancer endpoints. Finally, remaining issues related to the role of biokinetics in interspecies extrapolation and risk assessment for dioxins and related compounds are identified. These include the need for assessment of relative potencies on a tissue concentration (rather than intake) basis and the need for further understanding of the role of lactational transfer and interspecies correspondence in critical developmental windows in the occurrence of developmental effects of dioxin-like compounds.


ABSTRACT Haplotype-resolved genome assemblies are important for understanding how combinations of variants impact phenotypes. These assemblies can be created in various ways, such as use of tissues that contain single-haplotype (haploid) genomes, or by co-sequencing of parental genomes, but these approaches can be impractical in many situations. We present FALCON-Phase, which integrates long-read sequencing data and ultra-long-range Hi-C chromatin interaction data of a diploid individual to create high-quality, phased diploid genome assemblies. The method was evaluated by application to three datasets, including human, cattle, and zebra finch, for which high-quality, fully haplotype resolved assemblies were available for benchmarking. Phasing algorithm accuracy was affected by heterozygosity of the individual sequenced, with higher accuracy for cattle and zebra finch (>97%) compared to human (82%). In addition, scaffolding with the same Hi-C chromatin contact data resulted in phased chromosome-scale scaffolds.


Background and purpose: Intentional drug poisoning is one of the most common methods of suicide attempt. The purpose of this study was to determine the demographic characteristics of suicide attempters and identifying the pattern of intentional drug poisoning. Materials and methods: We conducted a descriptive-analytical study in which data was collected from the medical records of suicide attempts by drug poisoning in 5Azar Hospital in Gorgan, Iran, 2008-2015. Data was analyzed by Stata V.11 and Pearson's Chi-squared test. Results: During these seven years, 442 cases of suicide attempts by drug poisoning were recorded in which there were 244 (55.2%) females and 229 individuals (51.8%) aged 20–29 years. Their mean age was 24.54 ± 8.14 and the majority (79%) lived in urban areas. Also, 224 (55.2%) patients were single and 248 (56.1%) had high school education. Poisoning occurred mostly in summer (28.7%). Among the pharmaceuticals, sedative-hypnotic drugs especially benzodiazepines were used more often (47.5%) followed by narcotic drugs (26.5%) and antidepressants (17.4%). Death occurred in three patients (0.68%) died. Family quarrel was found to be the main cause of suicide attempts (46.8%). Conclusion: Sedative-hypnotic drugs especially benzodiazepines were the most common agents used in intentional drug poisoning that were seen most commonly among younger individuals, single persons and people with family quarrel.


The three-dimensional organization of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) in Purkinje cell dendrites in the chick cerebellum was investigated to assess the connectivity between its various components. Three-dimensional reconstructions of the SER within portions of Purkinje cell dendrites were performed from serial sections through the cerebellar molecular layer. In addition, semithick and thick sections (0.25–1 micron) of chick cerebellum in which the endomembrane system had been selectively stained were examined with an intermediate high- voltage electron microscope. Three-dimensional information was extracted from thick sections using stereo pairs and tomographic reconstructions from single axis tilt series. In contrast to its discontinuous appearance in thin sections, in both the three- dimensional reconstructions and selectively stained thick sections the endoplasmic reticulum formed a highly interconnected network of tubules and cisterns extending throughout the dendritic shaft and into the spines. Several distinct morphological domains of endoplasmic reticulum were noted, including the hypolemmal cisternae, the endomembranes associated with the dendritic spines, and the tubular and cisternal endoplasmic reticulum in the dendritic shaft. In older chicks (aged 2 weeks), stacks of endoplasmic reticulum were also noted within the dendritic shaft. All elements of the SER within the dendritic shaft and spine appeared to be continuous with one another. The results of this study strongly suggest that the endoplasmic reticulum forms a complicated network that may be part of a single endomembrane system within Purkinje cell dendrite.


In the realm of digitally assisted sustainable building design, computational tools, mostly simulations, are invoked to find loads and predict system performances in terms of energy use. These tools also provide a way of envisioning the effects of choices made during the design process, say, of materials; of heating and cooling systems; and of methods of construction that may detrimentally effect the environment. Although, ensuring energy efficiency is one of many indicators of sustainability, other requirements have to be met in order for a building to be deemed sustainable. Currently, sustainability in the building domain is judged by reference to a standard or rating system by which a building is measured. (Yudelson, 2008) Rating systems, however, "are a moving goal post." (Walker, 2006) Being able to use the requirements set out by a rating system during design can offer a comprehensive guide towards sustainable design. Taking this into consideration, this paper presents the need to create a flexible framework to encapsulate the requirements of sustainable measures posed by the different rating systems. The development and use of a flexible framework is essential for sustainable building design particularly in the area of organizing requirements and the adoption of a rating system during design. One possible way of creating a flexible framework that can be integrated with a design tool, for supporting sustainable design, is presented.


Background: Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, presenting a high prevalence in the general population and being considered today as an important public health problem worldwide, affecting about 45% of the world population. It is estimated that about from 50 to 75% of the elderly complain of difficulties in initiating or maintaining sleep. The regular practice of physical exercise of mild to moderate intensity is associated with improved sleep quality in the elderly and has increased its recommendation as one of the main non-pharmacological resources of preventive and therapeutic action. Objectives: To verify the effect of a semi-supervised home-based physical exercise program on sleep quality in a sedentary elderly population, which influences the improvement of self-reported sleep quality and the reduction of excessive daytime sleepiness in a sedentary elderly population. Methods: This protocol study of randomized, controlled, blinded clinical trial was designed, is being conducted and will be reported according to the guidelines of the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) Statement, and is being conducted from July 2016 to December 2017, involving elderly people of both sexes, over 60 years old, living in Senhor do Bonfim. The home physical exercise program is based on the recommendations of the American College of Sports Medicine for exercise and physical activity for the elderly. Results: The first expected outcome is the improvement of self-reported sleep quality verified through the PSQI. The secondary outcomes are reduction in excessive daytime sleepiness among the sedentary elderly subjects undergoing the semi-supervised home-based physical exercise program, verified by the ESS, and the adherence of the subjects to the program. Conclusions: We hope that through this study, we can show that the regular practice of semi-supervised home exercises is effective in improving sleep quality and reducing excessive daytime sleepiness in sedentary elderly people and can be considered as a therapeutic, safe, easy-to-implement, and low-cost non-pharmacological resource.


THE ANTI-EVOLUTION MOVEMENT OF THE 1920s DEMONSTRATED THAT SOME aspects of Protestant fundamentalism flourished with particular vigor in the American South. Although fundamentalism, like the anti-evolution movement itself, originated in the North and Midwest, some southern states provided significant popular and legislative support, particularly in the area of scientific education, including Tennessee's infamous Butler Act proscribing the teaching of evolution, a 1928 referendum in Arkansas that also banished the topic from public schools, and similar limitations imposed by countless local school boards. Not by mere coincidence did William Jennings Bryan frequently cultivate anti-evolution sentiments in the fertile soil of the Bible Belt. Southern Protestantism and fundamentalism shared many social and theological foundations. Yet this common picture of fundamentalism leaves out one major group of southern Protestants: African Americans. Despite the African American exodus from white-dominated denominations in the decades after emancipation, black and white southerners shared a common religious heritage marked by revivalism, conservative biblical beliefs, and often a sense of premillennial pessimism about the state of the world. It would have seemed natural for African Americans to be just as interested in the fundamentalist message as some of their white coreligionists were. However, the Scopes trial of 1925 demonstrated that black and white Protestants in the South differed in significant ways. Some conservative white evangelicals shifted to support fundamentalist Protestantism, leaving their black brethren upholding once-shared beliefs but rejecting the white fundamentalists' emphasis on aggressive cultural battles. (1) Despite conservative interpretations of the Bible among most African Americans and the best efforts of a handful of self-proclaimed black fundamentalists, few African American Christians traveled the path that led from conservative theology to militant righteousness. Ironically, the same southern heritage that predisposed black southerners to conservative biblical belief also prevented them from following some of their white brethren into a fundamentalist crusade to purge the churches and society of impurity. The determination of whether black and white southerners became fundamentalists depends in part on the definition of fundamentalism. The formal movement commenced with the founding of the World's Christian Fundamentals Association (WCFA) in 1919 under the leadership of white Minnesota minister William Bell Riley, but fundamentalism's organizational genesis says little about its content and character. Historians have generally moved beyond the early view--put forth by scholars for whom the anti-evolution controversy was still a live issue--that fundamentalism was a rearguard action by dispossessed rural Americans uncomfortable with education and scientific progress. Instead, scholars in the last three decades have examined the tenets of fundamentalist theology, the movement's roots in the nineteenth century, and the social and structural contexts in which fundamentalism thrived. (2) At a basic level, fundamentalists were united by their adherence to a conservative theology. In the 1910s an emerging fundamentalist theology categorized as true Christians only those who believed five or six central doctrines. An overarching belief in the inerrancy of Scripture sheltered all the other fundamental tenets, including the virgin birth of Jesus, his sacrifice to atone for human sin, his bodily resurrection, and either the authenticity of biblical miracles or the inevitability of Jesus's return to earth to usher in a millennium of peace. These beliefs increasingly marked adherents as fundamentalists after the turn of the twentieth century, as science seemed to call into question most biblical miracles and so-called liberals and modernists in the churches began to call for a less literal interpretation of the Bible. …


An acceptability envelope is a region of imperfect but acceptable software systems surrounding a given perfect system. Explicitly targeting the acceptability envelope during development (rather than attempting to minimize the number of errors, as is the current practice) has several potential benefits. Specifically, leaving acceptable errors in the system eliminates the risks and costs associated with attempting to repair the errors; investing fewer resources in less critical regions of the program and more resources in more critical regions may increase acceptability and reduce the overall investment of development resources.To realize these benefits, the acceptability envelope must be both sizable and accessible. We present several case studies that explore the acceptability envelopes of the Pine email client and the Sure-Player MPEG decoder. These studies show that both Pine and Sure-Player can tolerate the addition of many off-by-one errors without producing unacceptable behavior. This result suggests that current systems may be overengineered in the sense that they can tolerate many more errors than they currently contain.Our SurePlayer case study also shows that SurePlayer has unforgiving regions of code that must be close to perfect for the system to function at all. To effectively exploit the acceptability envelope, developers must be able to distinguish forgiving and unforgiving regions so that they can appropriately prioritize their development effort. In SurePlayer, the unforgiving regions occur in code that uses metadata to parse the input stream; the forgiving regions tend to access the data within each image. This result suggests that developers may be able to use relatively simple indicators to effectively prioritize their development effort.


Abstract. Sea ice freeboard derived from satellite altimetry is the basis for the estimation of sea ice thickness using the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. High accuracy of altimeter measurements and freeboard retrieval procedure are, therefore, required. As of today, two approaches for estimating the freeboard using laser altimeter measurements from Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), referred to as tie points (TP) and lowest-level elevation (LLE) methods, have been developed and applied in different studies. We reproduced these methods for the ICESat observation periods (2003–2008) in order to assess and analyse the sources of differences found in the retrieved freeboard and corresponding thickness estimates of the Arctic sea ice as produced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Three main factors are found to affect the freeboard differences when applying these methods: (a) the approach used for calculation of the local sea surface references in leads (TP or LLE methods), (b) the along-track averaging scales used for this calculation, and (c) the corrections for lead width relative to the ICESat footprint and for snow depth accumulated in refrozen leads. The LLE method with 100 km averaging scale, as used to produce the GSFC data set, and the LLE method with a shorter averaging scale of 25 km both give larger freeboard estimates comparing to those derived by applying the TP method with 25 km averaging scale as used for the JPL product. Two factors, (a) and (b), contribute to the freeboard differences in approximately equal proportions, and their combined effect is, on average, about 6–7 cm. The effect of using different methods varies spatially: the LLE method tends to give lower freeboards (by up to 15 cm) over the thick multiyear ice and higher freeboards (by up to 10 cm) over first-year ice and the thin part of multiyear ice; the higher freeboards dominate. We show that the freeboard underestimation over most of these thinner parts of sea ice can be reduced to less than 2 cm when using the improved TP method proposed in this paper. The corrections for snow depth in leads and lead width, (c), are applied only for the JPL product and increase the freeboard estimates by about 7 cm on average. Thus, different approaches to calculating sea surface references and different along-track averaging scales from one side and the freeboard corrections as applied when producing the JPL data set from the other side roughly compensate each other with respect to freeboard estimation. Therefore, one may conclude that the difference in the mean sea ice thickness between the JPL and GSFC data sets reported in previous studies should be attributed mostly to different parameters used in the freeboard-to-thickness conversion.


This chapter considers executive branch politics in a number of European democracies. It addresses the nature of parliamentary democracy and compares it with other forms of democracy. For example, it looks at separation-of-powers systems using the principal–agent framework of Chapter 2. The chapter examines in detail the link between parties and institutions in order to understand the process of government formation and government collapse. It begins to consider the foundations of the process of law-making which is relevant for the remainder of the book.


Peer tutoring is an organized learning experience in which one student serves as the teacher or tutor, and one is the learner or tutee. Peerteachers and their students share a similar knowledge base and learning experience, which allows the peer-teachers to use language that their learners understand and to explain concepts at an appropriate level. Peerteachers and student-learners also share a similar social context because of their similar social roles, and because of this, student learners feel more at ease with a peer teacher than with a senior clinician. Peer tutoring is a beneficial way for students to learn from each other in the classroom and in small groups, so benefit is not only for the tutee but also to the tutor, predominantly through the development of their own clinical and teaching skills and from the positive feedback obtained by their tutees, thus creating a highly pleasant learning atmosphere and a win-win situation for all. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpahs.v1i1.13020 Journal of Patan Academy of Health Sciences. 2014 Jun;1(1):54-56


Molecular mechanisms that generate biological diversity are rewriting ideas about how evolution proceeds, with implications for treating disease. Molecular biology and evolutionary biology have been separate disciplines and scientific cultures: The former is mechanistic and focused on molecules; the latter is theoretical and focused on populations. However, these domains are beginning to converge in laboratories addressing molecular mechanisms that explain how evolutionary processes work, and bring these processes to bear on medical problems such as cancer and infectious disease. Each discipline can be viewed as a missing link in the other's description of biology, and in medicine.


1. The anatomy of the counter-current heat exchanger of skipjack tuna is described and the pattern of blood flow is analysed.

2. The pattern of blood flow is from the dorsal aorta, through the exchanger to segmental arteries to the tissues, from the tissues to segmental veins and back through the exchanger to the post-cardinal vein.

3. The vessels in the exchanger are about the same size as systemic arterioles and venules and are about 10 mm long. There are about 125000 of each type in a 2 kg tuna.

4. The velocity of blood flow in the exchanger is about 1/80th of that in the dorsal aorta and post-cardinal vein allowing time for heat transfer.

5. There are many valves in the segmental veins which may be expected because of the resistance offered by the exchanger.

6. The vessels in the tuna heat exchanger are an order of magnitude larger than those in the swim-bladder rete, thus permitting heat transfer but preventing gas transfer.

This investigation was supported by NIH research grant number HL 16716 to EDS.


The study aims at analyzing economic and policy factors impinging upon population stabilization measures at the district (sub-state level) in India. It reflects upon popularly debated notions, namely, that development is the best contraceptive or whether contraceptive is the best development. In order to reflect upon this notion, we hypothesize that the factors determining the success of population stabilization measures are likely to be different across rich and poor states. It is more likely that in a rich state economic development becomes a significant factor for population stabilization relative to a direct intervention by the state. By contrast, in a poorer state, direct intervention acquires main significance relative to supporting influence of economic development. To test the validity of our assumption, we have the district level data for the three categories of Indian states belonging to different income levels relative to overall average of the country. Thus we focus on the district level information of the three states, namely, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, which in terms of per capita income, belong to rich, middle income and poor category of states respectively. Our regressions using district level data for three states depict the significance of difference in influential variables across the categories. The results thus confirm our hypothesis that direct intervention acquires main significance at a lower level of per capita state income and economic development becomes a major influential factor at higher levels of per capita state income. The results also support our earlier results using state level data. In the light of these results, it could be emphasized that in the long run development is the best contraceptive. However, in the short run, a considerable achievement could be made by improving basic health and family planning services and by increasing the level of facilities including basic amenities, media and infrastructure development.


Brassinosteroids are plant steroid hormones that control a variety of processes such as stem elongation and stress resistance. Brassinolide (BL), the most active brassinosteroid in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, binds to a cell surface receptor with serine-threonine kinase activity called Brassinosteroid insensitive 1 (BRI1). This interaction induces BRI1 phosphorylation, but the mechanism by which this modification occurs has not been clear. Wang et al. expressed full-length and truncated mutant forms of BRI1 in plants that were defective in sensing BR and exhibited a dwarf phenotype. Expression of a receptor lacking the C terminus (CT) of its intracellular domain rescued the growth defects of the dwarf plants to a greater extent than expression of the full-length receptor, which suggests that the CT negatively regulates receptor activity. Absence of the CT also increased BRI1 signaling, determined by monitoring the modification of BES1, a downstream regulator of BR-responsive gene expression. Lack of the CT also enhanced the kinase activity of the intracellular domain in vitro. The authors also used phosphopeptide mapping to identify multiple putative phosphorylation sites within the CT. Mutation of these residues to Asp, which can mimic phosphorylation, increased BRI1 activity in plants, which indicates that phosphorylation plays a role in BRI1 function. The authors also suggest that BRI1 forms a homodimer and propose that upon binding to BL, a conformational change in the receptor's intracellular domain could facilitate transphosphorylation of the CT domains. This would release autoinhibition of the receptor and allow further autophosphorylation. The homodimer could then associate with BAK1, another membrane receptor that has been implicated in BRI1 signaling. X. Wang, X. Li, J. Meisenhelder, T. Hunter, S. Yoshida, T. Asami, J. Chory, Autoregulation and homodimerization are involved in the activation of the plant steroid receptor BRI1. Devel. Cell 8, 855-865 (2005). [PubMed]


Background It was previously reported that diethylnitrosamine (DEN) enhanced liver cancer progression in ATT-MYC mouse model of liver cancer. Radiogenomics is a new tool in advanced science technology that gives information on tumor biology, non-tumor surrounding tissue, the degree of tumor size and presence of necrosis of cells especially with joined micro computed tomography – positron emission tomographys (CT/PETs). Aim To evaluate the correlation of gene expression and non-invasive microPET information of the liver tumors at different points of the stage of growth. Methods Exon array expression of the liver of ATT-MYC mice treated with DEN or butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) compared to control non-transgenic mice were analyzed by array track and the current data were also compared to microarray expression of liver tumor of ATT-MYC mice. Results The expression of genes responsible for glucose transport such as glut1, 3, 4, hk1, slc1a5, slc1a1, slc1a4, slc1a2, gp6c and gpc-1-3-4 were up-regulated significantly in DEN-treated transgenic mice immediately after end of treatment (p≤0.05), while glut2 (fold change 0.9503, p-value 0.4385) and hk2 (fold change 3.0589, p-value 0.0565) genes were increased not significantly immediately after end of treatment. Additionally, at 4.5-months of observation after the end of treatment slc1a5, slc38a2, glut1, glut4 and gpc3-4 genes had a significant fold change in liver tumor tissue in DEN treated mice when compared to BHT or control transgenic or non-transgenic one. While hk1, 2, slc5a1, slc1a4, glut2, glut3, g6pc and gpc-1 genes were increased non-significantly in the liver of treated mice when compared to control group at 4.5-months of observation after the end of treatment. Notably, c-myc, hif-1 and aldoa glycolytic genes were expressed significantly both time points of 4 and 8.5-months while ldhb, hk-2 and PKM2 were increased non-significantly in DEN treatment when compared to BHT/control non-transgenic animals. Conclusion There is a definitive correlation between genes responsible for glucose transport and 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in the early and advanced degree of liver carcinogenesis. This study of glucose pathway in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at different stages of early and advanced one is the potential for therapeutic anticancer therapy.


Background Generalized ligamentous laxity has been implicated with musculoskeletal injuries. Little evidence has emerged from the Asia-Pacific regarding the epidemiology of generalized ligamentous laxity. Objective The aim of this study is to determine if generalized ligamentous laxity may be a predisposing factor for musculoskeletal injuries in young males. We hypothesized that generalized ligamentous laxity would be more common in individuals with musculoskeletal injuries compared with controls. Design Prospective case-control study. Setting Military. Participants All participants were male Singaporeans who were serving their National Service in the same military institute. The cases comprised of 100 consecutive individuals who presented to the primary healthcare centre in the institute with musculoskeletal injuries involving the upper or lower extremities that occurred as a result of physical activity. Our control group comprised of 100 age- and gender-matched individuals but did not have any musculoskeletal symptoms or injury for a period of 3 months or more from the time of recruitment. Assessment of risk factors Demographic data were gathered using a questionnaire. The surveyed factors include personal history, smoking history and sporting activity as well as the baseline demographic and anthropometric data. Main outcome measurements The Beighton score was used to measure laxity, which was determined to be present by overall scores equal to or exceeding 4. Results Generalized ligamentous laxity was present in 12% of the cases compared with 4% of controls (P=.043). Individuals who presented with musculoskeletal injuries were 3.35 times more likely to have generalized ligamentous laxity as compared to controls. Lower limb injuries were more common than upper limb injuries amongst the cases. Conclusions Generalized ligamentous laxity was more common in individuals who presented with a musculoskeletal injury. It may be a predisposing factor for musculoskeletal injuries. Prehabilitation may be an important aspect of training that should be emphasized to individuals identified to have generalized ligamentous laxity.


In their 1984 article, "The Selection of Disputes for Litigation," Priest and Klein famously hypothesized a "tendency toward 50 percent plaintiff victories" among litigated cases. Nevertheless, many scholars doubt the validity of their conclusions, because the model they relied upon does not meet modern standards of rigor. This article updates the Priest-Klein model by considering three modifications. First, we raise a novel critique of the Priest-Klein model — that it is non-Bayesian — and show that most of the results of Priest and Klein (1984) pertaining to limits nevertheless remain valid under a modified model in which parties use Bayes' rule to refine their estimates of the plaintiff's probability of prevailing. Second, we show that even when an incentive-compatible mechanism is imposed, many of the results remain valid for symmetric Nash equilibria. Finally, we show how the Priest-Klein model can be modified to analyze asymmetric information, show that most results are false under this modification, and compare the modified Priest-Klein model to standard asymmetric information models.


Cryptocurrencies have the potential to become effective currencies that give a higher level of macroeconomic control, thanks to the information that is available about holdings and transactions, and the potential for automated control mechanisms. However, these cryptocurrencies need to be designed properly and tested before launch. This paper reports the early results of an economic model that simulates a variety of behaviors by economic agents and some simple control mechanisms. An economic simulation model is likely to be a valuable tool in developing effective cryptocurrency systems and interacting with regulators.


The role of motoneurons in central motor pattern generation was investigated in the feeding system of the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis, an important invertebrate model of behavioral rhythm generation. The neuronal network responsible for the three-phase feeding motor program (fictive feeding) has been characterized extensively and divided into populations of central pattern generator (CPG) interneurons, modulatory interneurons, and motoneurons. A previous model of the feeding system considered that the motoneurons were passive followers of CPG interneuronal activity. Here we present new, detailed physiological evidence that motoneurons that innervate the musculature of the feeding apparatus have significant electrotonic motoneuron→interneuron connections, mainly confined to cells active in the same phase of the feeding cycle (protraction, rasp, or swallow). This suggested that the motoneurons participate in rhythm generation. This was assessed by manipulating firing activity in the motoneurons during maintained fictive feeding rhythms. Experiments showed that motoneurons contribute to the maintenance and phase setting of the feeding rhythm and provide an efficient system for phase-locking muscle activity with central neural activity. These data indicate that the distinction between motoneurons and interneurons in a complex CNS network like that involved in snail feeding is no longer justified and that both cell types are important in motor pattern generation. This is a distributed type of organization likely to be a general characteristic of CNS circuitries that produce rhythmic motor behavior.


Synthetic groundwater flow models with one unknown parameter, the average log transmissivity of the flow domain, and with Gaussian log-transmissivity error structure were used to study the nature and the accuracy of Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) intervals. The uniform prior distribution of log10 transmissivities was sampled uniformly and 1000 values per log10-transmissivity cycle were required to produce unbiased GLUE results. Because the errors in hydraulic head resulting from the log-transmissivity errors are known to be Gaussian for a linear model for heads, the Gaussian likelihood function was used as the GLUE goodness-of-fit function in most cases studied. The GLUE interval computed for the hydraulic head at different locations within the domain has the characteristics of a confidence interval for the hydraulic heads computed using the spatial average log transmissivity. The GLUE interval does not have the characteristics of a prediction interval, which is a probability interval for an uncertain observation of some variable such as the hydraulic head. The goodness-of-fit function can be corrected so that the resulting GLUE interval has the characteristics of a prediction interval. However, neither the original nor the corrected GLUE interval account for the uncertainty caused by small-scale model errors, which is always present in practical groundwater flow modelling. It is therefore concluded that one should be careful with using the GLUE interval to evaluate the validity of a model's structure. The structure may be valid even though observations fall significantly outside the GLUE interval if the observations are uncertain and the goodness-of-fit function is not corrected to account for this, or if small-scale model error is significant. If small-scale model error does not significantly bias model predictions, the predictions will be useful although uncertain. Small-scale model error did not bias the predictions in the examples studied here except near a strong sink. Changing the goodness-of-fit function from the Gaussian likelihood function to a similar but different function made the resulting GLUE intervals very inaccurate. Changing to a third function based on a fitted model rejection value produced results that were somewhat better than those obtained with the Gaussian likelihood function. However, the results were sensitive to the model rejection value, which in the ideal case should be adjusted for each predicted variable individually. Thus, the third function is not attractive for practical applications with the GLUE methodology.


The use of a holographic content-addressable memory system for parallel truth-table look-up digital data processing is analyzed. For binary-coded residue numbers, the operations of 4-, 8-, 12-, and 16-bit addition and multiplication are treated. The minimum probability of error that can be achieved and the corresponding detector threshold settings are determined in each case allowing for the effects of Gaussian distributions in the amplitude and the phase in the recording beams. Resultant probabilities of error for practical conditions are found to be very competitive with those from state-of-the-art nonparallel technologies.


A paper for the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, written in Scottish Gaelic, which looks at the use of Canda/British North America as a geo-emotional construct in the socio-politico debate regarding the merits of emigration from the Scottish Gaidhealtachd/Highlands to the New World. By taking on three of the most well-known Scottish Gaelic song-poems, from the contra side of the debate, the author submits them to a close reading to elucidate the various narratives of cultural, linguistic and geographic (topographical) anxiety on the parts of the composers/poets. Throughout, various examples of pro emigration/immigration song-poems composed/written in Scottish Gaelic in Canada are marshalled to counter the prevailing mood of displacement as a journey through a vale of unremitting tears. Issues of the forces of metropolitan cultural models imposed on colonial productions are also raised in the process.


Objectives: To describe pharmacists' opinions regarding which patient assessment skills are necessary to understand and/or perform to provide optimal patient care in pharmacy practice.
Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed to pharmacists licensed in North Carolina (n=14,167), as identified by the Board of Pharmacy. The 80 patient assessment items in the questionnaire were derived from a course text book and faculty experience. Participants indicated whether they "need to understand and be able to perform", "need to understand only", or "not need to understand or be able to perform" each item in their current practice setting. Descriptive statistics were used to describe background demographics and perceived need for each item. Post-hoc chi-square analyses were performed to determine differences in need based on practice setting and Pharm.D. degree completion.
Results: Of 1036 responses received, 770 were used in data analysis; incomplete questionnaires and non-practicing pharmacist responses were excluded. Fifty-nine percent of respondents held a Pharm.D. degree. Participants identified their practice site(s) as inpatient (29%), outpatient (16%), community/retail (50%), long term care (5%), and other (8%). The top five patient assessment items respondents identified as important to understand and perform included automatic blood pressure measurement (63%), point of care testing (57%), manual blood pressure measurement (53%), heart rate measurement (52%), and peak flow meter use (47%). Post-hoc analyses showed a significant difference among those with a Pharm.D. versus those without for the response "need to understand and be able to perform" for 20 patient assessment items; a significant difference was also noted among practice settings for 29 items.
Conclusions: The top items pharmacists identified they need to both understand and perform could be applied in various practice settings. The study results may guide which patient assessment items should be included in pharmacy education and training.

Type: Original Research


End-to-end neural data-to-text (D2T) generation has recently emerged as an alternative to pipeline-based architectures. However, it has faced challenges generalizing to new domains and generating semantically consistent text. In this work, we present DataTuner, a neural, end-to-end data-to-text generation system that makes minimal assumptions about the data representation and target domain. We take a two-stage generation-reranking approach, combining a fine-tuned language model with a semantic fidelity classifier. Each component is learnt end-toe-nd without needing dataset-specific heuristics, entity delexicalization, or post-processing. We show that DataTuner achieves state of the art results on automated metrics across four major D2T datasets (LDC2017T10, WebNLG, ViGGO, and Cleaned E2E), with fluency assessed by human annotators as nearing or exceeding the human-written reference texts. Our generated text has better semantic fidelity than the state of the art on these datasets. We further demonstrate that our model-based semantic fidelity scorer is a better assessment tool compared to traditional heuristic-based measures of semantic accuracy.


In this cultural history of the origins of the Cold War, John Fousek argues boldly that American nationalism provided the ideological glue for the broad public consensus that supported U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War era. From the late 1940s through the late 1980s, the United States waged cold war against the Soviet Union not primarily in the name of capitalism or Western civilization--neither of which would have united the American people behind the cause--but in the name of America. Through close readings of sources that range from presidential speeches and popular magazines to labor union debates and the African American press, Fousek shows how traditional nationalist ideas about national greatness, providential mission, and manifest destiny influenced postwar public culture and shaped U.S. foreign policy discourse during the crucial period from the end of World War II to the beginning of the Korean War. Ultimately, he says, in the atmosphere created by apparently unceasing international crises, Americans rallied around the flag, eventually coming to equate national loyalty with global anticommunism and an interventionist foreign policy. |A cultural history of the origins of Cold War. John Fousek argues that American nationalism--not capitalism or western civilization--was the ideological glue that spurred the broad public support of U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War era.


The primary goal of this paper is to demonstrate a means to prove asymptotically stable walking in an underactuated, planar, five-link biped robot model. The analysis assumes a rigid contact model when the swing leg impacts the ground and an instantaneous double support phase. The specific robot model analyzed corresponds to a prototype under development by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France. A secondary goal of the paper is to establish the viability of the theoretically motivated control law. This is explored in a number of ways. First, it is shown how known time trajectories, such as those determined on the basis of walking with minimal energy consumption, can be incorporated into the proposed controller structure. Secondly, various perturbations to the walking motion are introduced to verify disturbance rejection capability. Finally, the controller is demonstrated on a detailed simulator for the prototype which includes torque limits and a compliant model of the walking surface, and thus a noninstantaneous double support phase.


In everyday life, free products have a strong appeal to us, even if we do not need them. Behavioral studies demonstrated that people have a tendency to switch their preference from preferred more expensive products to less preferable, cheaper alternatives, when the cheaper option becomes free. However, the neural representation of this behavioral anomaly called "Zero price" is still unclear. Using fMRI, we studied subjects while they performed binary preference choice task for items with different prices. We found that zero-related change of preference was associated with activation of the choice network, which includes inferior parietal lobule (IPL), posterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex. Moreover, the amount of activation in medial prefrontal cortex was positively correlated with the subjective happiness score of getting free products. Our findings suggest that the Zero-price effect is driven by affective evaluations during decision-making.


Pertussis immunity, whether acquired by natural infection or vaccination, is not permanent and wanes after 5-10 years. This may result in reinfection, or the development of pertussis in a previously vaccinated patient. The USA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that pertussis seems to be making a comeback. Many cases are being reported in previously vaccinated children between the ages of 10 and 19 years. Vaccination remains the most important preventative strategy. Routine vaccination of children as part of the Expanded Program on Immunization is recommended, as well as booster doses for adults and pregnant women. Since pertussis is often diagnosed at a late stage, treatment is mainly supportive. Antibiotics are provided to reduce the severity of the disease and prevent further spread thereof. Infants and younger patients, immunocompromised patients and patients with comorbidities are at increased risk of complications. Macrolides are the first-line treatment and prophylaxis. The choice of agent depends on the age of the patient, the potential for adverse effects and tolerability. This article will review the disease, treatment options and prevention of pertussis.


Environmental Chemistry covers a range of topics within the discipline of chemistry, from toxicology to legislation, which warrants interdisciplinary study. Consequently, problem-based learning (PBL), a style of student-centered learning which facilitates the integration of multiple subjects, was investigated to determine if it would be a more appropriate instructional method for teaching Environmental Chemistry than the traditional teacher-centered education model. This article describes the practical aspects of course development and implementation of PBL in a master's level course in Environmental Chemistry. Overall, the results, which were collected from the initial two years of the course, indicated that the students were pleased and found PBL to be an efficient methodology for not only learning, but also acquiring an in-depth understanding of Environmental Chemistry. This is intended as a case-study with the target audience consisting primarily of high school and undergraduate chemistry teachers, bu...


Abstract. The extent to which water uptake influences the light scattering ability of marine sea spray aerosol (SSA) particles depends critically on SSA chemical composition. The organic fraction of SSA can increase during phytoplankton blooms, decreasing the salt content and therefore the hygroscopicity of the particles. In this study, subsaturated hygroscopic growth factors at 85 % relative humidity (GF(85 %)) of predominately submicron SSA particles were quantified during two induced phytoplankton blooms in marine aerosol reference tanks (MARTs). One MART was illuminated with fluorescent lights and the other was illuminated with sunlight, referred to as the "indoor" and "outdoor" MARTs, respectively. Optically weighted GF(85 %) values for SSA particles were derived from measurements of light scattering and particle size distributions. The mean optically weighted SSA diameters were 530 and 570 nm for the indoor and outdoor MARTs, respectively. The GF(85 %) measurements were made concurrently with online particle composition measurements, including bulk composition (using an Aerodyne high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer) and single particle (using an aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer) measurement, and a variety of water-composition measurements. During both microcosm experiments, the observed optically weighted GF(85 %) values were depressed substantially relative to pure inorganic sea salt by 5 to 15 %. There was also a time lag between GF(85 %) depression and the peak chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations by either 1 (indoor MART) or 3-to-6 (outdoor MART) days. The fraction of organic matter in the SSA particles generally increased after the Chl a peaked, also with a time lag, and ranged from about 0.25 to 0.5 by volume. The observed depression in the GF(85 %) values (relative to pure sea salt) is consistent with the large observed volume fractions of non-refractory organic matter (NR-OM) comprising the SSA. The GF(85 %) values exhibited a reasonable negative correlation with the SSA NR-OM volume fractions after the peak of the blooms (i.e., Chl a maxima); i.e., the GF(85 %) values generally decreased when the NR-OM volume fractions increased. The GF(85 %) vs. NR-OM volume fraction relationship was interpreted using the Zdanovskii–Stokes–Robinson (ZSR) mixing rule and used to estimate the GF(85 %) of the organic matter in the nascent SSA. The estimated pure NR-OM GF(85 %) values were 1.16 ± 0.09 and 1.23 ± 0.10 for the indoor and outdoor MARTS, respectively. These measurements demonstrate a clear relationship between SSA particle composition and the sensitivity of light scattering to variations in relative humidity. The implications of these observations to the direct climate effects of SSA particles are discussed.


Problem and Background. In 1998, the University of California San Diego (UCSD) was selected as one of four National Centers of Leadership in Academic Medicine (NCLAM) to develop a structured mentoring program for junior faculty. Method. Participants were surveyed at the beginning and end of the seven-month program, and one-four years after. The institution provided financial information. Four primary outcomes associated with participation in NCLAM were assessed: whether participants stayed at UCSD, whether they stayed in academic medicine, improved confidence in skills, and cost-effectiveness. Results. Among 67 participants, 85% remained at UCSD and 93% in academic medicine. Their confidence in skills needed for academic success improved: 53% personal leadership, 19% research, 33% teaching, and 76% administration. Given improved retention rates, savings in recruitment was greater than cost of the program. Conclusions. Structured mentoring can be a cost-effective way to improve skills needed for academic success and retention in academic medicine.


Background Several studies have mentioned network modularity—that a network can easily be decomposed into subgraphs that are densely connected within and weakly connected between each other—as a factor affecting metabolic robustness. In this paper we measure the relation between network modularity and several aspects of robustness directly in a model system of metabolism. Methodology/Principal Findings By using a model for generating chemical reaction systems where one can tune the network modularity, we find that robustness increases with modularity for changes in the concentrations of metabolites, whereas it decreases with changes in the expression of enzymes. The same modularity scaling is true for the speed of relaxation after the perturbations. Conclusions/Significance Modularity is not a general principle for making metabolism either more or less robust; this question needs to be addressed specifically for different types of perturbations of the system.


The communication revolution enables firms to build new links with customers and suppliers around the world. Presenting business online offers new marketing and product opportunities for trading with both businesses and consumers. However, experiences with actual information and communication technology (ICT) use in general, and the Internet in particular, show that geography still matters. One reason is that the majority of goods and services still rely upon some physical movement. In addition, regulatory barriers and cultural differences between nations still slow down e-commerce. Geography is also significant in other ways -for example, some locations attracts customers. Some firms that may have a rather limited attraction value individually have enhanced their value through clusters, which are developed with the aim of forming a regional brand. In other cases, firms downplay the use of local references and present a global image instead. This paper discusses spatial concepts expressed in firms' websites. A general discussion shows how firms use spatial concepts in various ways to engage trust, to develop a regional brand or to express strength through cluster membership. The type of spatial statements will often vary according to the target group. The discussion is further illustrated by referring to the web pages of two industries with strong links to location: the food and tourist industries, often small and medium sized firms (SMF) based in a rural setting. Examples are taken from both the UK and Norway, but a comparative analysis has not been attempted.


BACKGROUND
Nucleus targeted drug delivery presents several opportunities for the treatment of fatal diseases such as cancer. However, the complex nucleocytoplasmic barriers pose significant challenges for delivering a drug directly and efficiently into the nucleus. Aptamers representing single-stranded DNA and RNA qualify as next-generation highly advanced and personalized medicinal agents that successfully inhibit the expression of certain proteins; possess extraordinary gene-expression for manoeuvring the diseased cell's fate with negligible toxicity. In addition, the precisely directed aptamers to the site of action present a tremendous potential to reach the nucleus by escaping the ensuing barriers to exhibit a better drug activity and gene expression.

OBJECTIVE
This review epigrammatically highlights the significance of targeted drug delivery and presents a comprehensive description of the principle barriers faced by nucleus targeted drug delivery paradigm and ensuing complexities thereof. Eventually, the progress of nucleus targeting with nucleic acid aptamers and success achieved so far have also been reviewed.

METHOD
Systematic literature search of research published till date in the field of nucleic acid aptamers.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
The review specifically points out the contribution of individual aptamers as the nucleus-targeting agent rather than aptamers in conjugated form.


The great German mystic Meister Eckhart remains one of the most fascinating figures in Western thought. Revived interest in Eckhart's mysticism has been matched, and even surpassed, by the study of the women mystics of the late 13th century. This book argues that Eckhart's thought cannot be fully be understood until it is viewed against the background of the breakthroughs made by the women mystics who preceded him.


Global growth slowed in 2015. While we forecast the world economy to gradually gain momentum over the coming two years, the upturn is expected to be slow. PPP-weighted global GDP is expected to increase by 3.1 per cent this year followed by 3.4 and 3.8 per cent in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Thus we have reduced our September forecast for 2015 and 2016 by a quarter of a percentage point, whereas the outlook for 2017 has improved slightly. The expansion in advanced economies continues to strengthen gradually as accommodative monetary policies, a pick-up in wages and higher real incomes due to cheaper oil will boost private consumption and investment against the background of improved financial balances in the private sector. In emerging economies, lower commodity prices and structural problems will continue to weigh on growth, although we expect growth in this group of countries to pick up somewhat over the forecast horizon.


Few studies of fouling communities have directly compared colonisation patterns over wide geographical scales in similar community types. In this study, the recruitment and early growth of calcareous cryptic fouling organisms were examined on settlement panels at 2 tropical and 2 subtropical locations at varying distances from the mainland in eastern Australia. Species diversity and cover on the settlement panels after 6 mo were higher at the subtropical inshore site than at any of the offshore or tropical sites. Classification of the sites by multivariate cluster analysis and ordination showed clear distinctions between inshore and offshore sites, while sites separated by approximately 14' of latitude were less clearly distinguished. lnshore/offshore vanation in the physical environment, especially turbidity and eutrophication, and the effects of longshore currents in the regions are possible explanations for these patterns. There was a significantly higher weight of calcified material at the subtropical inshore site than at the other 3 sites, attributable to higher cover of both bryozoans and barnacles; these taxa are likely to make a sign~ficant contribution to community calcification rates in subtropical coral communities. Competition for space with encrusting species is proposed as a potential mechanism limiting coral recruitment in coastal subtropical eastern Australia.


The quality and speed of most texture synthesis algorithms depend on a 2D input sample that is small and contains enough texture variations. However, little research exists on how to acquire such sample. For homogeneous patterns this can be achieved via manual cropping, but no adequate solution exists for inhomogeneous or globally varying textures, i.e. patterns that are local but not stationary, such as rusting over an iron statue with appearance conditioned on varying moisture levels. We present inverse texture synthesis to address this issue. Our inverse synthesis runs in the opposite direction with respect to traditional forward synthesis: given a large globally varying texture, our algorithm automatically produces a small texture compaction that best summarizes the original. This small compaction can be used to reconstruct the original texture or to re-synthesize new textures under user-supplied controls. More important, our technique allows real-time synthesis of globally varying textures on a GPU, where the texture memory is usually too small for large textures. We propose an optimization framework for inverse texture synthesis, ensuring that each input region is properly encoded in the output compaction. Our optimization process also automatically computes orientation fields for anisotropic textures containing both low- and high-frequency regions, a situation difficult to handle via existing techniques.


This paper examines the impacts of transforming a traditional master's program into a professionally-oriented, terminal degree program in applied economics. Alumni surveys were conducted before and after the curricular innovation and the results indicate that the change in program provided high quality training that alumni judged to be more relevant to the post-graduate work environment. This case study illustrates that master's programs in economics can benefit by implementing curricular structures that explicitly serve terminal degree-seeking students while, at the same time, provide elements of training that students destined for the Ph. D. are unlikely to receive in a doctoral program.


This study provides an account of criminal investigations in France and the ways in which counter-terrorism investigations are conducted.It gives a general background to French criminal procedure, setting out in detail the features of the two models of criminal investigation in which the police carry out the enquiry supervised either by the procureur (the public prosecutor) or the juge d'instruction. It explains the nature of the judicial function within the French legal process, as well as the organisation of the police, gendarmerie and intelligence services. The centralised nature of the procedure is described, together with the inquisitorial roots of the legal system, its dependence on written evidence and the relatively diminished role afforded the defence lawyer as a result of judicial supervision. It then goes on to look at the features of counter-terrorism investigations in France. There is an emphasis on prevention and disruption as well as on repression. Terrorism offences are defined in broad terms, allowing investigation and prosecution before any concrete act has taken place and more controversially, the arrest, detention and questioning of tens of individuals suspected of associating with others involved in terrorist networks. The investigation of terrorist activity is highly centralised and highly specialised. All cases are dealt with in Paris by a small group of procureurs and juges d'instruction who work closely together. Intelligence plays a key part in these investigations: officers carry out an administrative function in intelligence gathering under the control of the Interior Minister, but may also act as judicial police under the supervision of the judiciary. In this way, intelligence can be 'judicialised' when it is produced under the supervision of a magistrat and so be made admissible as evidence.This close cooperation is seen as a strength, providing an impressive armoury of tools and powers and allowing investigations to utilise the widest range of information available. It is also seen as a weakness, the juge d'instruction being criticised for an unquestioning and excessive reliance upon information from intelligence sources. The weak role of the defence and the tradition of accepting material that is produced during the pre-trial enquiry as credible evidence, both raise serious concerns about the reliability of 'evidence' produced in this way. The wide powers exercised by a small specialist group of magistrats in counter-terrorism cases is also criticised as being subject to inadequate control and accountability. Defence requests are rarely acceded to and the threshold of evidence required to challenge the evidence and findings of the juge d'instruction is high. The importance of defence scrutiny of the prosecution case is less significant in a procedure that considers the dossier to be the product of an independent and neutral judicial enquiry.


We combine surface structural measurements, subsurface seismic imaging, and magnetostratigraphic dating to retrieve, through geometric modeling, the detailed history of fold growth and sedimentation across the Huerguosi anticline, on the northern Tianshan piedmont, taking advantage of a beautifully exposed section of growth strata. The model assumes a fault-bend folding mechanism, consistent with subsurface fold geometry. The shortening history is obtained by least-squares fi tting of the measured dip angles of the growth strata. The shortening rate across the anticline is shown to have been remarkably constant: it increased only slightly from 0.84 ± 0.04 mm/yr between 10 and 4 Ma to 1.14 ± 0.02 mm/yr over the past 4 m.y. This approach also allows correcting syntectonic sedimentation rates for the effect of the fold growth and shows that the sedimentation rates in the piggyback basin increased abruptly from ~0.4 to ~0.7 mm/yr ca. 4 Ma.


Several dry-based alpine glaciers in the Dry Valleys of south Victoria Land, Antarctica, have prominent end moraines. Examination of their morphology, structure and sedimentology shows they consist of blocks of sand, gravel and organic silt within which sedimentary structures unrelated to entrainment and transportation by ice are well preserved. The nature and preservation of sedimentary structures, together with the presence of algae mats in the sediment, suggest formation by proglacial entrainment, transportation and deposition of frozen blocks of lacustrine sediment. Previous explanations of the formation of thrust-block moraines, including those that stress the importance of elevated pore-water pressure and Weertman's ice-debris accretion hypothesis, depend on the presence of subglacial meltwater or the 0° C isotherm being situated close to the glacier bed. These models appear inappropriate for cold, dry-based glaciers because their basal temperatures are well below freezing point and they rest on deep permafrost. Three alternative models for the formation of thrust-block moraines at the margins of dry-based glaciers are examined in this paper: block entrainment of sediment associated with frozen-bed deformation; entrainment by overriding and accretion of marginal-ice and debris aprons; and transient wet-based conditions associated with glaciers flowing into ice-marginal lakes.


The way a product or material is experienced by its user could be different depending on the scenario. It is also well known that different materials and surfaces are used for different purposes. When optimizing materials and surface roughness for a certain something with the intention to improve a product, it is important to obtain not only the physical requirements, but also the user experience and expectations. Laws and requirements of the materials and the surface function, but also the conservative way of thinking about materials and colours characterize the design of medical equipment. The purpose of this paper is to link the technical- and customer requirements of current materials and surface textures in medical environments. By focusing on parts of the theory of Kansei Engineering, improvements of the companys' products are possible. The idea is to find correlations between desired experience or "feeling" for a product, -customer requirements, functional requirements, and product geometrical properties -design parameters, to be implemented on new improved products. To be able to find new materials with the same (or better) technical requirements but a higher level of user stimulation, the current material (stainless steel) and its surface (brushed textures) was used as a reference. The usage of focus groups of experts at the manufacturer lead to a selection of twelve possible new materials for investigation in the project. In collaboration with the topical company for this project, three new materials that fulfil the requirements -easy to clean and anti-bacterial came to be in focus for further investigation in regard to a new design of a washer-disinfector for medical equipment using the Kansei based Clean ability approach CAA.


A common objection to results-based programs is that they are somehow more vulnerable to corruption. This paper explains why results-based approaches to foreign aid may be less vulnerable to corruption than the traditional approaches which monitor and track the purchase and delivery of inputs and activities.The paper begins by classifying different corruption costs and specifically distinguishes the problem of diverted funds from the costs associated with failing to generate benefits. It then characterizes the key differences between traditional input-tracking programs and results-based approaches in terms of how they are supposed to work, the implicit risks that preoccupy designers, how they function in practice, and what this means both for the scale of corruption and the realization of benefits. It then considers the conditions under which one approach or another might be more appropriate. The paper concludes that input-tracking approaches are vulnerable to corruption because they have high failure costs and a weak track record for controlling diverted funds.By contrast, results-based approaches are less prone to failure costs and limit the capacity of dishonest agents to divert funds unless those agents first improve efficiency and outputs.


An in-line variable attenuator has been proposed and demonstrated exploiting a side-polished single-mode (SM) fiber evanescently coupled with an index matched dielectric plate. The attenuation can be controlled by fine mechanical sliding of the index matched dielectric plate. We have achieved 49 ㏈ dynamic range and very low excess loss of 0.2 ㏈ at 1550 nm wavelength. The measured polarization dependent losses (PDL) were 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 ㏈ at 10, 20, and 30 ㏈ attenuation, respectively. Wavelength sensitivity was measured to be -0.017/nm ㏈ at 20 ㏈ attenuation.


The density of states at the Fermi level N(E-F) has been measured on hydrogenated polymorphous (pm-Si:H) silicon samples using both capacitance measurements on Schottky barriers and space-charge-limited current measurements on n(+)/i/n(+) structures. From both techniques, N(E-F) values of 7-8 x 10(14) cm(-3) eV(-1) have been obtained, which is significantly lower than reported in the literature for hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). Such values demonstrate that pm-Si:H is a very low defect density material which should be able to replace a-Si:H in the field of applications like photovoltaics. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)02747-3].


Improved Cook Stoves (ICSs) present a range of benefits such as decreased fuel consumption and improved air quality. However, in order for these benefits to be realized a household must adopt and consistently use the ICS. This paper documents the first phase of a stove adoption study conducted in Soroti, Uganda with a locally manufactured Tier 2 efficiency cookstove, tested under IWA 11. A market-based approach was used to disseminate ICSs in the local community to a group of 40 participant households. Study participants were divided into three groups non-users, new users and existing users. Initial field interviews were conducted with all participants to understand their perceptions of the stove and reported usage patterns. The most common reason cited for purchasing the stove by new users was fuel savings. Additionally, 130 days of usage was collected using a custom made Stove Use Monitor (SUM). The SUMs indicate that existing users consistently use the ICS. New users exhibit low and inconsistent usage during the initial 35 days of owning the ICS, but within approximately 75 days' increase usage and follow same pattern as the existing user group.


Modern unsupervised POS taggers usually apply an optimization procedure to a non-convex function, and tend to converge to local maxima that are sensitive to starting conditions. The quality of the tagging induced by such algorithms is thus highly variable, and researchers report average results over several random initializations. Consequently, applications are not guaranteed to use an induced tagging of the quality reported for the algorithm.

In this paper we address this issue using an unsupervised test for intrinsic clustering quality. We run a base tagger with different random initializations, and select the best tagging using the quality test. As a base tagger, we modify a leading unsupervised POS tagger (Clark, 2003) to constrain the distributions of word types across clusters to be Zipfian, allowing us to utilize a perplexity-based quality test. We show that the correlation between our quality test and gold standard-based tagging quality measures is high. Our results are better in most evaluation measures than all results reported in the literature for this task, and are always better than the Clark average results.


We perform a numerical analysis of the decelerated swirling flow into the discharge cone of a model Francis turbine operated at variable discharge and constant head, using an axisymmetric turbulent swirling flow model and a corresponding simplified computational domain. Inlet boundary conditions correspond to velocity and turbulent kinetic energy profiles measured downstream the Francis runner. Our numerical results are validated against experimental data on a survey section further downstream in the cone, showing that the Reynolds stress turbulence model with a quadratic pressure-strain term correctly captures the flow field. It is shown that the diffuser performance quickly deteriorates as the turbine discharge decreases, due to the occurrence and development of vortex breakdown, with a central quasistagnant region. We investigate a novel flow control technique, which uses a water jet injected from the runner crown tip along the axis. It is shown that the jet discharge can be optimized for minimum overall losses, while the vortex breakdown is eliminated. This flow control method is useful for mitigating the Francis turbine flow instabilities when operating at partial discharge.


Purpose: To explore a method of using a computer system for multi‐media cases conference in clinical radiation oncology, in order to replace the traditional use of film images and paper. Methods: In a conference room without any treatment planning system(TPS), on a dedicated networked computer, we use Remote Desktop feature of Windows XP to remote access an Varian Eclipse TPS and the radiation therapy information management system (RTIMS), which is an in‐house developed system based on the flow of radiation therapy. Then in this room, we can online read the information of CT images, target volumes, treatment plans, electronic medical records and etc, and project it on the screen. Results: There has been half a year since we successfully set up a radiation therapy case conference multi‐media system(RTCCMMS) in the department. With this method, we can share the TPS in another room, and do not need buy another TPS. It is convenient and effective that the oncologists and physicists conduct a collective case discussion. Conclusion: This method required equipments are simple, and it is a safe and reliable technology, greatly improving the clinical efficiency and quality of medical care. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.81101694).


Light wave manipulation by using nanostructures is a promising strategy for enhancing the light absorption of thin photoactive layers in organic photovoltaics (OPVs). Here, we propose a method for nanopatterning the multiple interfaces in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) OPVs by using soft imprint lithography at room temperature. The interfaces in the OPVs were separately modified in the front ZnO layers and the back metal electrodes with a grating pattern. Each nanopattern increased the light absorption and the power conversion efficiency of the OPVs by up to 32.5% depending on the materials. Moreover, the nanopatterning at both the front and the back cumulatively increased the light absorption, resulting in the highest efficiency increase of 38.5%. The increases were observed in various BHJ systems with different properties containing the polymers PTB7, PCE10, P3HT, or PNTz4T. A certified performance of 10.31% was achieved for the PNTz4T:PC71BM system in the presence of the nanopatterns. Detailed analysis by using the absorption spectra and optical simulations indicated that the origins of the optical gains from the nanopatterns on the front and the back are different. The front pattern increases the transmittance and the back pattern increases the scattering and excites the surface plasmon polaritons.


Summary A total of 350 pigs (DNA 400 × 200, initial BW = 13.8 lb) were used in a 34-d growth trial to evaluate the effects of increasing a medium chain fatty acid (MCFA)-based feed additive in nursery pig diets. Following arrival to the nursery research facility, pigs were randomized to pens (5 pigs per pen) and allowed a 4-d acclimation period. Thereafter, pens of pigs were blocked by body weight (BW) and randomized to 1 of 5 dietary treatments (14 pens per treatment). Treatments were constructed such that a dose response was created including 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0% MCFA-based additive (CaptiSURE, Kemin Industries, Inc., Des Moines, IA) as well as a treatment including a 1.0% MCFA blend of C6, C8, and C10 (1:1:1 ratio; Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO). Treatment diets were formulated and manufactured in two dietary phases (d 0 to 13 and 13 to 34). Overall (d 0 to 34), increasing CaptiSURE increased (linear, P ≤ 0.014) average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI). Feed efficiency improved (quadratic, P = 0.002) with increasing CaptiSURE up to 1% of the diet with no benefit thereafter. As a result of these linear improvements in ADG, pigs fed 2.0% CaptiSURE were 4 lb heavier ( P = 0.05) than pigs consuming diets without MCFA at d 34. There was no evidence for differences between the pigs fed 1.0% CaptiSURE and the 1.0% MCFA blend of C6, C8, and C10 in phase 1, phase 2, or in overall performance. In summary, the addition of this MCFA-based additive in nursery pig diets resulted in a linear improvement in ADG and ADFI. Based on these results, this MCFA feed additive appears to result in a similar improvement in growth performance as the C6, C8, and C10 MCFA blend when both are added at 1% of the diet. Additional research is warranted under commercial conditions to determine if similar advantages in growth performance are observed and if they provide an economic return.


The paleoclimate of the middle Pliocene (ca. 3 Ma) was generally warmer than present, particularly at middle to high latitudes. It has been suggested that this period may represent an analogue for future climate change. Mechanisms that have been proposed to account for this warming are enhanced thermohaline circulation and/or greater concentrations of CO 2 in the atmosphere. We present new climate model simulations, supported by geological data that suggest that in the European and Mediterranean region the climate was warmer (by 5 °C), wetter (by 400–1000 mm/yr), and less seasonal than present. Modeling results suggest that an intensification of the Icelandic low-pressure system and the Azores high-pressure system occurred during the middle Pliocene as a direct result of higher annual sea-surface temperatures and reduced ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere. This change increased the surface pressure gradient over the region and strengthened annual westerly wind velocity by 4 m/s −1 . Associated increases in wind stress (by 20 N/m −2 ) over the North Atlantic Ocean may have enhanced the flow of surface currents such as the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Current, which in turn would have sustained the higher sea-surface temperatures. These changes to the regional climate system would have driven greater atmospheric and oceanic transport of heat from equatorial regions to the North Atlantic Ocean, particularly during winter. Such conditions are proposed as a likely cause of the warming indicated for Europe and the Mediterranean ca. 3 Ma.


Annotating Internet interconnections with robust physical coordinates at the level of a building facilitates network management including interdomain troubleshooting, but also has practical value for helping to locate points of attacks, congestion, or instability on the Internet. But, like most other aspects of Internet interconnection, its geophysical locus is generally not public; the facility used for a given link must be inferred to construct a macroscopic map of peering. We develop a methodology, called constrained facility search, to infer the physical interconnection facility where an interconnection occurs among all possible candidates. We rely on publicly available data about the presence of networks at different facilities, and execute traceroute measurements from more than 8,500 available measurement servers scattered around the world to identify the technical approach used to establish an interconnection. A key insight of our method is that inference of the technical approach for an interconnection sufficiently constrains the number of candidate facilities such that it is often possible to identify the specific facility where a given interconnection occurs. Validation via private communication with operators confirms the accuracy of our method, which outperforms heuristics based on naming schemes and IP geolocation. Our study also reveals the multiple roles that routers play at interconnection facilities; in many cases the same router implements both private interconnections and public peerings, in some cases via multiple Internet exchange points. Our study also sheds light on peering engineering strategies used by different types of networks around the globe.


In this paper, a novel output-only structural system identification method is proposed based on the decomposition of the response signal by applying newly developed symplectic geometry mode decomposition (SGMD). The SGMD can decompose the output signal into a limited of single component signals which are also called symplectic geometry components (SGCs) adaptively without determining too many parameters. Then the random decrement technique (RDT) is applied to extract the free decay responses from SGCs. Finally, the modal parameters such as modal frequency and damping ratio can be identified using the Hilbert transform (HT) method. To demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method, a numerical example and a monitored quayside container crane structure are conducted. The modal parameters of those studies can be obtained accurately and effectively by using the proposed method.


Teen Ambassador Leadership Kit, (TALK), is an annual weekend retreat designed for teens interested in promoting and marketing 4-H in their communities. TALK organizers felt teens would benefit from an intensive weekend retreat focused on communication. TALK produces a network of educated and excited 4-H teens that are available to help with 4-H promotion and marketing. Participants arrive on Friday evening for team building activities, on Saturday they participate in one of the workshops offered and on Sunday morning each workshop group has the opportunity to share their completed projects and what they learned. At the conclusion of the retreat, teens are designated "County 4-H Ambassadors" and certificates of completion, professional business cards and polo shirts are presented. The TALK teen participants return home to share what they learned with their local county 4-H staff and help promote and market 4-H in their communities.


A unique cross-disciplinary survey of design history, A History of Design from the Victorian Era to the Present offers a concise overview of the modern milestones of architecture, interior design, graphic design, product design, and photography from the Crystal Palace of 1851 to the iPhone at the turn of the twenty-first century. This abundantly illustrated volume traces modern design across continents and cultures, highlighting the key movements and design traditions that have shaped the world around us. From the whirlwind of innovation that gripped Victorian England at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the book details design's rich evolution through more than a century and a half, including Art Nouveau's breathtaking ornament, the "new vision" of the Bauhaus, the rise of the International Style, and postmodernism and contemporary currents in the graphic arts and landscape architecture. Major design figures are framed against a background of evolving aesthetic idioms. Especially attuned to how technological innovations catalyzed daringly conceived skyscrapers, bridges, and cantilever chairs, the authors also chart the impact of technical advances in the disciplines of industrial design, typography, and photographic portraiture. This new edition of a classic text first published in 1970 expands coverage to include developments in design over the last forty years, with emphasis on its global reach, the impact of the digital revolution, and new trends in sustainable design that will shape the century to come.


OBJECTIVES:
To identify risk factors for apical root resorption (ARR) of maxillary and mandibular incisors using mathematical quantification of apical root displacement (ARD) and multiple linear mixed-effects modeling.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Periapical radiographs of maxillary and mandibular incisors and lateral cephalograms of 135 adults were taken before and after orthodontic treatment. ARR was measured on the periapical radiographs, and movement of central incisors was evaluated on the superimposed pre- and posttreatment lateral cephalograms. ARD was mathematically calculated from pretreatment tooth length, inclination change, and movement of the incisal edge. Linear mixed-effects model analysis was performed to identify risk factors for ARR, and standardized coefficients (SCs) were calculated to investigate the relative contribution of the risk factors to ARR.

RESULTS:
Vertical ARD showed the highest SCs for both maxillary and mandibular incisors. Horizontal ARD showed the second highest SC for mandibular incisors but was not significantly correlated with the ARR of maxillary incisors. When horizontal and vertical ARDs were included in the mixed-effects model, the use of self-ligating brackets was significantly correlated with increased ARR of mandibular incisors.

CONCLUSIONS:
ARD is a critical factor for ARR after orthodontic treatment. Careful monitoring of ARR is recommended for patients requiring significant ARD of incisors.


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Representation learning over graph structured data has been mostly studied in static graph settings while efforts for modeling dynamic graphs are still scant. In this paper, we develop a novel hierarchical variational model that introduces additional latent random variables to jointly model the hidden states of a graph recurrent neural network (GRNN) to capture both topology and node attribute changes in dynamic graphs. We argue that the use of high-level latent random variables in this variational GRNN (VGRNN) can better capture potential variability observed in dynamic graphs as well as the uncertainty of node latent representation. With semi-implicit variational inference developed for this new VGRNN architecture (SI-VGRNN), we show that flexible non-Gaussian latent representations can further help dynamic graph analytic tasks. Our experiments with multiple real-world dynamic graph datasets demonstrate that SI-VGRNN and VGRNN consistently outperform the existing baseline and state-of-the-art methods by a significant margin in dynamic link prediction.


3rd and 4th degree tears occur in 1% of vaginal deliveries. In the Rotunda the rate in the first six months of 2012 was increased at 3%. The aim of this audit was to assess compliance with current Rotunda guidelines and where non-compliance was identified assess if complications arose as a result. A retrospective chart review of all third and fourth degree tears was performed. There were 51 cases during this time period and 47 charts were available for review.
The comparison standard was the Rotunda Hospitals "Guidelines for Management of Episiotomy and Repair of Perineal Trauma" Sept 2010. There were 51 cases in total. 45% were following Spontaneous vertex delivery, 27% following ventouse delivery, 14% following combination of ventouse and forceps and 14% forceps alone. 100% were repaired under regional anaesthesia. Only 66% received the correct dose and duration of antibiotics. 95% received laxatives post delivery with only 51% received appropriate non-opiate analgesia. 44.6% of patients were reviewed by senior staff and 81% received physiotherapy. 87% were followed up in the perineal clinic. Review of current perineal repair form should be performed to include headings more specific to third/fourth degree tears. A sticker highlighting that the patient has had a third/fourth degree tear should be placed on the front of drug Kardex. This may help avoid prescription of opiate analgesia. All women receive an information leaflet on discharge. Women should have senior staff review day 1 postpartum. It should be re-audited in six months.


The government of Zimbabwe adopted a multiple currency regime in January 2009 after a decade of economic decline. The new regime brought with it benefits to the economy and helped restart financial intermediation. Despite these benefits, many banks are facing challenges of liquidity risk. This paper empirically investigates the determinants of Zimbabwean commercial banks liquidity risk after the country adopted the use of multiple currencies exchange rate system. To do so, panel data regression analysis is used on monthly data from March 2009 to December 2012. From the panel data regression results, capital adequacy and size have negative significant influence on liquidity risk. As size increases, liquidity risk reduces. Spreads have positive influence on liquidity risk. Non-performing loans have a positive significant relationship with liquidity risk. Reserve requirement ratios and inflation were also significant in explaining liquidity risk during the studied period. For commercial banks to manage liquidity risk there is need to pay attention to bank capitalisation, the size of the bank and on the differences between the deposit rates and lending rates. There is also need for improved credit risk analysis if banks are to have good financial assets in the dollarised environment.


Some Kondo insulators are expected to possess topologically protected surface states with linear Dirac spectrum: the topological Kondo insulators. Because the bulk states of these systems typically have heavy effective electron masses, the surface states may exhibit extraordinarily small Fermi velocities that could force the effective fine structure constant of the surface states into the strong coupling regime. Using a tight-binding model, we study the many-body instabilities of these systems and identify regions of parameter space in which the system exhibits spin density wave and charge density wave order.


A structured conceptual design of reporting systems is a crucial task that has to precede implementation and monitoring. A basic challenge can be seen in information requirements engineering. On the one hand, users need certain information to successfully accomplish their tasks. On the other hand, it has to be avoided to supply them with too much and potentially irrelevant information. Information requirements engineering has to support the conceptual specification of information requirements. Thus, there is need for conceptual languages and appropriate procedure models. We propose a procedure model for the analysis and conceptual design of reporting systems as well as a conceptual modelling language that can be used for both as-is analysis and to-be modelling. It has been developed in an iterative approach based on multiple case studies. Due to the fact that different projects and different basic conditions require the use of different approaches of information requirements engineering, within the procedure model different approaches can be used. In this paper we introduce both procedure model and conceptual modelling language and present findings of a case study in which they were used.


We describe a new uniform generation tree for permutations with the specific property that, for most permutations, all of their descendants in the generation tree have the same number of fixed points. Our tree is optimal for the number of permutations having this property. We then use this tree to describe a new random generation algorithm for derangements, using an expected n+O(1) calls to a random number generator. Another application is a combinatorial algorithm for exact sampling from the Poisson distribution with parameter 1.


Time again companies moving to build large scale systems and networks stumble over the same problems. In an interview with ACM Queuecast host Michael Vizard, Jarod Jenson, the brains behind the Enron Online trading site, talks about the best practices he emphasizes now that he is the chief architect for Aeysis, a consulting firm that specializes on advising clients on how to build manageable high performance systems.


Biological monitoring is a necessary tool used for assessing the quality of fresh water ecosystems. Accurate biological assessments allow for determining the exposure of aquatic communities to different classes of stressors (e.g., domestic waste, agricultural runoff and sedimentation, pesticides, habitat alteration). Biomonitoring can guide managers toward the proper preventative or restorative actions for impaired ecosystems. Despite the widespread use of multimetrics for bioassessment in streams, little work has been published on multimetric indices for lakes. This study examined the macroinvertebrate communities and water quality of Enemy Swim Lake, Clear Lake and Lake Minnewasta in northeastern South Dakota during May-September 2006. The macroinvertebrate communities were collected using sweep-nets, Hester-Dendy subsamplers, and Eckman dredges and individuals were identified to genus. Taxa richness and composition, feeding habits and habitat use were used to develop metrics. Metric scores were compared to the water quality status of the lake. Trophic status of the lakes correlated with metric scores. These lakes ranged in trophic status (TSI) from mesotrophic (moderate levels of nutrients) to hypereutrophic (high levels of nutrients) during the sampling period. Enemy Swim was found to have the highest water quality based on TSI and received high scores in metrics related to taxa diversity and pollution intolerance. Clear Lake had intermediate water quality and metric scores. Lake Minnewasta had the lowest water quality based on TSI scores and also the lowest metric scores out of the three lakes in the study.


This paper documents the development of Caress, an electroacoustic percussive instrument that blends drumming and audio synthesis in a small and portable form factor. Caress is an octophonic miniature drum-set for the fingertips that employs eight acoustically isolated piezo-microphones, coupled with eight independent signal chains that excite a unique resonance model with audio from the piezos. The hardware is designed to be robust and quickly reproducible (parametric design and machine fabrication), while the software aims to be light-weight (low-CPU requirements) and portable (multiple platforms, multiple computing architectures). Above all, the instrument aims for the level of control intimacy and tactile expressivity achieved by traditional acoustic percussive instruments, while leveraging real-time software synthesis and control to expand the sonic palette. This instrument as well as this document are dedicated to the memory of the late David Wessel, pioneering composer, performer, researcher, mentor and all-around Yoda of electroacoustic music.


For decades, the market, asset, and income approaches to business valuation have taken center stage in the assessment of the firm. This book brings to light an expanded valuation toolkit, consisting of nine well-defined valuation principles hailing from the fields of economics, finance, accounting, taxation, and management. It ultimately argues that the "value functional" approach to business valuation avoids most of the shortcomings of its competitors, and more correctly matches the actual motivations and information set held by stakeholders.

 Much of what we know about corporate finance and mathematical finance derives from a narrow subset of firms: publicly traded corporations. The value functional approach can be readily applied to both large firms and companies that do not issue publicly traded stocks and bonds, cannot borrow without constraints, and often rely upon entrepreneurs to both finance and manage their operations. With historical side notes from an international set of sources and real-world exemplars that run throughout the text, this book is a future-facing resource for scholars in economics and finance, as well as the academically minded valuation practitioner.


- To deliver high-quality care in line
with the principles of clinical
governance, health-care professionals
must have certain core
competencies.
- In order to develop an effective
training programme, health-care
professionals engaged in direct
patient care should be asked what
competencies they need.
- A useful framework for identifying
training needs groups skills into
four distinct domains: interpersonal;
technical; professional
accountability and development;
and clinical care delivery.
- Using this framework with a representative
sample of clinicians can
be an effective way in which to
identify the core skills required to deliver quality care, to highlight
gaps in current training provision
and to develop competency-based
training to fill these gaps.