Relying on traditional diagnostic approaches like quantitative polymerase chain reaction is not appropriate for both time and cost in sudden outbreaks and pandemics such as COVID-19. In such cases, diagnostic approaches through rapid sequencing of pathogenic DNA and RNA are important for accelerated clinical prognosis. FNCas9 Editor-Linked Uniform Detection Assay (FELUDA) is one such diagnostic approach toward the pathogenic genome, developed by CSIR-IGIB. FELUDA is a paper strip diagnostic test like pregnancy, based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas technology of gene editing. FELUDA showed 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity across all range of viral loads in clinical samples. Due to its low cost, it can drastically reduce the Indian budget toward the rapid testing and COVID-19 diagnostic kits.


The growth and technological transformation of printing and typography in the nineteenth century included a sort of synesthetic imperialism in print. For example, in 1810, Thomas Moore prefixed to one volume of Irish Melodies a prefatory letter (called, in later editions, "Prefatory Letter on Music") in which he wrote, "though much has been said of the antiquity of our music, it is certain that our finest and most popular airs are modern" (1), and he called attention to the new scores by Sir John Stevenson that accompany his verses in the 1810 printing of Irish Melodies. Though Moore wrote "with respect to the verses which I have written for these Melodies,... they are intended rather to be sung than read" (3), from 1822 onward he published the verses as a collection of poems with no music whatsoever. The project entitled "Irish Melodies" culminates in the deletion of music altogether, while the typographical simulation of it was mass-produced. With or without Moore's intention or wishes (and I think it was without), typography took over the project. The medium of print extirpated the antecedent medium of sound while exploiting its illusion. Similarly, but five years earlier, in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Sir Walter Scott had printed the verbal text of "lays, 'steeped in the stream of harmony'," although no harmony or melody or music of any sort were included (1802, xci). Another indication of the popularity of the nostalgic and folkloric theme, in the typographical culture of the period, is that Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan) had published Twelve Original Hibernian Melodies in 1805, three years after Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and her The Lay of an Irish Harp; Or, Metrical Fragments and Patriotic Sketches of Ireland appeared in 1807, in the same year in which Moore published the first part of Irish Melodies. Typographically reproducible words are of course not really "melodies," though poets, editors, and publishers exploit the metonymic relationship of typographical products to sounds. Like paper money (also a typographical development of the same period, but a more controversial and less charming one (1)), ballads, lays, melodies, and songs proliferated in signs and symbols as they disappeared in fact. In obvious ways, this metonymic surrogation of sound is not new: from the earliest written record of an Old English song, Caedmon's hymn, onward, in English poetry scripts were never really sounds though their scriptorial avatars said and say that they are--what exists is not the song of the shepherd Caedmon from the occasion of the bir-scippe, from which he hid because he feared he could not sing, until an angel endowed him with the gift of sacred song, but rather what exists is a scribal transcription of the Venerable Bede's verbal record, in Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, with Bede's Latin surrounding the Old English verses that he attributed to a shepherd named Caedmon who was already only a character in a written work. Outside Bede's narrative (in Latin), there is no indication that Caedmon ever existed, though the charming story of the bashful but pious shepherd gifted with song by an angel has been reproduced for centuries. In all odes, in the fictitious singing of ancient and Early Modern pastoral poetry, the songs of Petrarch, the Piper's Songs of Innocence and the Bard's Songs of Experience, the Lyrical Ballads, Byron's Hebrew Melodies, Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," and, among the vestiges of ancient poetry, the Song of Solomon, Psalms, and the pseudo-songs of Moschus, Bion, Theocritus, Anacreon (translated into English poetry by Thomas Moore), that which is script or typography is presented as if it were sound, of which it is at most a prescription (like a printed score) or a lexical imitation, like Moore's poems. In the Romantic period, however, the typographical simulation of sound grows rapidly, and changes in this age of mechanical reproduction. …


Interference and diffraction of light are elementary topics in optics. The aim of the work presented here is to develop an accurate and cheap optical-system simulation software that provides a virtual laboratory for studying the effects of propagation in both time and space for the near- and far-field regions. In laboratory sessions, this software can let optical engineering undergraduates simulate many optical systems based on thin slits. The numerical method used is the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method that has been successfully applied in many engineering fields. Using this numerical method, the irradiance distribution can be successfully evaluated in different planes far from the simulation grid without degrading performance. In addition, an easy-to-use MATLAB GUI handles all the parameters of the FDTD simulation and computes theoretical values of irradiance for both the Fresnel and Fraunhofer regions. Therefore, by using this software, the student is able to analyze the behavior of the Fresnel and Fraunhofer expressions as a function of the distance. This distance is defined as the space between the slits plane and the plane that contains the virtual screen on which the irradiance pattern is represented.


Temporary wetlands are an ecologically and economically important habitat in South Africa. They harbor large branchiopods, known to be flagship species of nonpermanent aquatic habitats, and sensitive to land use changes. In this study we review the current status of large branchiopods in the Western Cape, a South African province subject to increasing agriculture and urbanization. We studied the species diversity and distribution of large branchiopods by sampling 58 temporary wetlands in an area covering about 30% of the Western Cape. Information obtained from field samples was supplemented by incubating resting egg banks from the sampled wetlands. Our data were compared with all known distribution records for large branchiopods in the target region. Based on this combined information, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List category was assessed for each species. Four of the eight large branchiopod species known to occur in the sampling area were collected. Of all wetlands sampled, 40% harbored large branchiopods. Most anostracan populations were small, and species co-occurred in only one wetland. From the entire Western Cape, 14 species have been recorded in the past. Two of these are already included in the IUCN Red List. Insufficient data are available to determine the IUCN Red Data Category of six other species. A large variation in the telsonic appendages of S. dendyi was found across the studied area. In view of possible ongoing speciation and subsequent radiation, individual populations need protection. Since little information is available, it is difficult to evaluate recent changes in the conservation status of large branchiopods. Their populations are currently very low and have probably diminished in the last few decades. More knowledge about the functioning of temporary systems is needed to manage these vulnerable habitats and conserve their threatened species.


PURPOSE
Optimizing scan protocols for individual patients and exam of interest is clinically demanding, and yet challenging task. This study presents a simulated CT imaging technique with patient-derived numerical phantom which enables exploration of combination of protocols that might lead to a condition for dose-effective and acceptable image quality without repeated scanning patient with multiple protocols.

METHOD
From a wholebody patient CT scan, 24 different tissue types were segmented semi-automatically. Spectral attenuation properties of tissue types were referenced from NIST, and natural state density of each tissue was referenced from the literature. X-ray spectra of various KVp were generated by using an existing TASMIP model. Projection/filtered-backprojection process in fan-beam geometry taking quantum noise into account were computed to generate simulated CT images for any combination of KVp, mAs, and slice thickness. In order to mimic real CT images, filter kernels were derived from measured MTFs of a commercial CT(Sensation 16, Siemens). Developed technique was used for generating multi-protocol CT images of 5 different KVp (120, 110, 100, 90, 80 KVp) and varying mAs to assess the feasibility of patient-specific optimization of CT protocol that might lead to minimum achievable dose while preserving diagnostic image quality. For quality evaluation, CNR was calculated on ROIs placed on liver and adipose tissues.

RESULT
Noise and texture appearance of the simulated CT image resembled sufficiently to the real CT images from commercial CT system. Multiple combinations of KVp and mAs were found to yield comparable CNR(10.7 ∼ 11.5) while reducing patient dose by 25%.

CONCLUSION
Proposed method could generate simulated multi-protocol CT images of patient-derived phantoms, which has a potential for use in optimizing the patient-specific scan protocol. The research was supported by the Converging Research Center Program through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2012K001498).


The aim of this paper is to present a view of contact language formation in which language creation in multilingual ecologies follows the same principles as language maintenance in monolingual ecologies, i.e. selection and replication of features available to speakers in a given environment. In order to do so, I introduce the foundations underlying an evolutionary framework to contact language formation and the views they offer for our understanding of language contact and change. The view of grammar as an evolving system, I believe, can be best appreciated in a functional-typological theory of language. For this reason, I first introduce the basic functionalist, usage-based linguistic theories required for an evolutionary framework. I then synthesize a view on language contact and change in evolutionary terms based on Croft (2000, 2006a) and Mufwene (2001). Finally, I apply the views presented here to a case of contact language formation, namely the evolution of case markers in a variety of Sri Lanka Malay. These are particularly interesting as, from a classic or orthodox view, they might be seen as 'complex', 'marked' or at least 'unexpected' instances of contact-induced change. The evolutionary framework however can explain these as natural acts of linguistic replication in multilingual settings, thus avoiding exceptionalist explanations. Instead, an evolutionary framework offers an integration of socio-historical and functional-typological observation, something that our current approaches to language change still largely lack (Croft 2006b). Among the advantages of the framework applied here, as discussed in the concluding section, is the suggestion that overall structural complexity, however defined, does not change as a result of contact language formation: a new grammar is simply the result of a recombination of grammatical features of the input languages.


Daytime dress ensemble of cream wool twill with black abstract window pane plaid of stripe and dot print.

A) Dress in modified sheath style. Sleeveless. Shallow scooped neckline has split at at center front seam. Below knee length. Pleat at center front hemline has split on inside seam. Side slit pockets. Center back zipper closure with hook & eye. Lined in ivory silk crepe.

B) Cape. Waist length with convertible collar. Center front closure of two circular black plastic buttons with bound buttonholes. Lined in silk matching pattern of outer garment.

Designer's label at center back neckline: "Galanos"


Soil management practices that maintain crop residue cover and reduce tillage improve soil structure, increase organic matter content in the soil, positively influence water infiltration, evaporation and soil temperature, and play an important role in fixing CO2 in the soil. Consequently, good residue management practices on agricultural land have many positive impacts on soil quality, crop production quality and decrease the rate of soil erosion. Several studies have been undertaken to develop and test methods to derive information on crop residue cover and soil tillage using empirical and semi-empirical methods in combination with remote sensing data. However, these methods are generally not sufficiently rigorous and accurate for characterizing the spatial variability of crop residue cover in agricultural fields. The goal of this research is to investigate the potential of hyperspectral Hyperion (Earth Observing-1, EO-1) data and constrained linear spectral mixture analysis (CLSMA) for percent crop residue cover estimation and mapping. Hyperion data were acquired together with ground-reference measurements for validation purposes at the beginning of the agricultural season (prior to spring crop planting) in Saskatchewan (Canada). At this time, only bare soil and crop residue were present with no crop cover development. In order to extract the crop residue fraction, the images were preprocessed, and then unmixed considering the entire spectral range (427 nm–2355 nm) and the pure spectra (endmember). The results showed that the correlation between ground-reference measurements and extracted fractions from the Hyperion data using CLMSA showed that the model was overall a very good predictor for crop residue percent cover (index of agreement (D) of 0.94, coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.73 and root mean square error (RMSE) of 8.7%) and soil percent cover (D of 0.91, R2 of 0.68 and RMSE of 10.3%). This performance of Hyperion is mainly due to the spectral band characteristics, especially the availability of contiguous narrow bands in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) region, which is sensitive to the residue (lignin and cellulose absorption features).


A compliant gripper with nearly parallel gripping motion is developed by a topology synthesis and a dimensional synthesis approach. The topology synthesis process can generate linkage-type compliant mechanisms. Suitable boundary conditions of the topology synthesis process are selected to achieve the desired functions of the device. The dimensional synthesis is based on an evolutionary optimal design process. To meet various design goals, a nondominated multi-objective genetic algorithm is selected for the optimal design process. A kinetostaic model based on the chained beam constraint model is developed for force–displacement analysis of the designs. Efficiency and accuracy of the design approach are proved by experiments. Appropriate linkage types of compliant mechanisms may be discovered by the topology optimization process before moving on to the dimensional synthesis to obtain final designs.


Engineering complex distributed system is a real challenge documented in recent literature. Novel paradigms such as Autonomic Computing (AC) approaches appear to be the fittest engineering model in order to face performance instabilities of systems inserted in open and non-deterministic environments. To this purpose, the availability of appropriate development environments will facilitate the design of such systems. Standard agent development platforms represent a good starting point, but they generally lack of rigorous ways to define central AC-related concepts such as the prominent role of feedback loops and knowledge integration in decision making processes: we therefore believe that Agent Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) can be substantially enriched by taking into account such concepts.

In this paper, a novel extension of the well-known JADE agent development environment is discussed. This extension enhances JADE in order to address the engineering process with Autonomic Computing support. It is called Autonomic Computing Enabled JADE or shortly ACE-JADE. The behavioral model of ACE-JADE will be thoroughly described in the context of a case study (NASA ANTS project).


409 Abstract—Foraging behaviour of the ants is used for solving various problems in Computer Science. Foraging behaviour is one in which food is searched for by insects by exploring the environment in parallel. We take the example of ants' foraging behaour in our paper. The ants coordinate in indirect form by depositing a chemical substance called pheromone. The other ants follow the path with the help of the pheromone trails. We use ACO (Ant Colony Optimization) for discovering the routes in a communication network. AntNet is one of the approaches to adaptive learning of routing tables in wide area best-effort datagram networks. In this algorithm two types of ants are generated viz. Forward ant and Backward ants. While traveling from a source to a destination the forward ants store, in their memory, the paths and of the traffic conditions they encounter. After reaching the destination the forward ant transfers its memory to the backward ant and dies. The backward ant retraces the path traversed by the forward ant and updates the routing tables in the path. In this paper we combine the concepts of Antnet algorithm and Linkstate algorithm. In the Link State algorithm, periodically each router discovers its neighbours and finds their network addresses, measures the cost to approach each neighbour, constructs a packet containing the information it has found from the neighbours and sends this packet to all other routers in the network. Each router which gets the information from every node about its neighbours computes the shortest path. AntNet is designed in such way that the forward ants carry the information about the status of the links it traverses. This status information can be captured and can be used to find the best path. We use the dijsktra algorithm to find the best path after capturing the information about all the links.


A model of filaments of the TGBA phase arising from the homeotropic smectic-A phase and nucleating on the sample surface is proposed. The model is based on the concept of finite blocks of parallel smectic layers forming a helical structure. The blocks are surrounded by dislocation loops. The model describes the filament structure near the sample surface and describes the observed inclination of the filament axis with respect to the easy direction of the molecular anchoring on the surface. The model is based on the observations of filament textures of the TGBA phase in a new chiral liquid crystalline compound, but can be applied for forming of TGBA filaments in any compound. The compression modulus of the compound has been estimated using such parameters as anchoring energy, estimated from the field necessary to transform the structure into the homeotropic smectic-A, and the observed filament width.


Abstract The preservation of the wing membrane of pterosaurs is very poor and the available fossil evidence does not allow its properties to be reconstructed. In contrast, the fossil record for the wing bones is relatively good and the advent of CT scanning has made it possible to build high-fidelity structural models of the wing spar. The bending strength of the wing spar of a 6 m wingspan ornithocheirid pterosaur is used to infer the likely membrane tension. The tensions required to suppress aeroelastic flutter and to minimize ballooning of the membrane under flight loads are also estimated. All three estimates are of similar magnitude and imply that the membrane must have contained high-modulus material, supporting the view that the reinforcing aktinofibrils were keratinous.


To gain knowledge about the transduction mechanisms involved in the sensitivity of field effect gas sensors towards non-hydrogen containing substances, such as O2, NO and CO, the sensor signal characteristics during exposure of some conceptually different model sensors to these as well as hydrogen containing gases have been investigated. The MOS capacitor based model sensors employ different combinations of insulator and contact materials, such as MgO, LaF3, IrO2 etc. The gas composition downstream of the sensor during test gas exposure at various conditions has also been studied by mass spectrometry (MS) and compared for the different model systems. The results have been compared to the characteristics of ordinary SiC/SiO2/Pt structures and from the information obtained a tailor made field effect sensor structure for oxygen sensing, to our knowledge for the first time with minimal interference from H2, CO, and hydrocarbons, has been tested with promising results.


A second-harmonic wave generated by an evanescent wave (SHEW) is used to measure the effective nonlinear coefficient of organic materials in powder form. The SHEW signal is less sensitive than the powder method to the phase-matching conditions of the material. For this reason, the SHEW technique can be used to survey a wide variety of samples. The effective nonlinear coefficient and the refractive indices of the sample are obtained as fitting parameters. The influence of experimental conditions on the fitting process is discussed. The results obtained from our powders are compared with the nonlinear coefficients of the same materials in bulk crystal form. Good agreement is found between experimental results and literature values.


Introduction: Pemphigus foliaceus (PF) is endemic in some South American countries, especially in Colombia and Brazil; in Brazil, it is also known as fogo selvagem (FS). We aimed to study the presence of mast cells and the expression of the mast/stem cell growth factor receptor (c-kit/CD117) in PF skin biopsies, as well as the role of IgE in the disease pathogenesis. Methods: Forty-four skin biopsies from patients affected by endemic PF (EPF) (30 patients from El Bagre, Colombia, and 14 from the northeastern region of Sao Paulo State, Brazil), 48 control biopsies from Colombian and Brazilian endemic areas, and additional control biopsies from none endemic areas in Colombia and the USA non were studied. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to evaluate skin biopsies with anti-mast cell tryptase (MCT), anti-c-kit and anti-IgE antibodies. We also searched for serum IgE in 30 EPF and 30 non-atopic controls from the El Bagre region via ELISA. In our El Bagre patients and controls, we also searched for IgE in skin samples by direct immunofluorescence. Results: In 100% of the EPF biopsies, MCT, c-kit and IgE were identified with stronger expression relative to control biopsies, especially in the inflammatory infiltrates around upper dermal blood vessels and dermal eccrine glands. IgE staining was positive along the BMZ in some EPF skin samples. The DIF results confirmed a linear deposition of IgE at the BMZ. Increased IgE serum levels were also noted in PF patients relative to controls.. Conclusions: In patients with EPF, the observed increased expression of MCT, c-kit and IgE in lesional skin, associated with higher serum IgE levels may indicate possible IgE participation in the antigenic response.


This paper examines the issues of neutrality and optimum quantity of money in the context in which transaction services of money are imputed and enter a utility functional of a recursive class. We show that the results are diametrically different from the case of money in the utility function. The reason is due to the fact that in response to changes in nominal interest rates, agents adjust their real balance holdings hyperbolically to keep the marginal rate of substitution between real balances and consumption unitary. As of steady state, we show that capital intensity, consumption, transaction services, the rate of time preference, and agent's welfare are all invariant to monetary expansion, which is termed hyperneutrality. This strong neutrality holds whether the marginal impatience is increasing or decreasing in consumption and real balances. Friedman's argument for the optimum quantity of money and the optimum money supply rule is, therefore, no longer applicable. To distinguish transactions services from money accords with Walras's crucial distinction between money as a stock and its services of availability as a flow.


A great deal of interest and excitement surround the interface between the philosophy of biology and the philosophy of psychology, yet the area is neither well defined nor well represented in mainstream philosophical publications. This book is perhaps the first to open a dialogue between the two disciplines. Its aim is to broaden the traditional subject matter of the philosophy of biology while informing the philosophy of psychology of relevant biological constraints and insights.The book is organized around six themes: functions and teleology, evolutionary psychology, innateness, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and parallels between philosophy of biology and philosophy of mind. Throughout, one finds overlapping areas of study, larger philosophical implications, and even larger conceptual ties. Woven through these connections are shared concerns about the status of semantics, scientific law, evolution and adaptation, and cognition in general. Contributors: Andr Ariew, Mark A. Bedau, David J. Buller, Paul Sheldon Davies, Stephen M. Downes, Charbel Nio El-Hani, Owen Flanagan, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Todd Grantham, Valerie Gray Hardcastle, Gary Hatfield, Daniel W. McShea, Karen Neander, Shaun Nichols, Antonio Marcos Pereira, Tom Polger, Lawrence A. Shapiro, Kim Sterelny, Robert A. Wilson, William C. Wimsatt.


Time-resolved imagery is presented showing the changes that occur in the focal volume of dilute liquid–particle suspensions following the arrival of single, Q-switched, frequency-doubled, Nd:YAG laser pulses. Data are presented for a carbon particle suspension consisting of used (carbonized) 10W-15 motor oil and for a suspension of the inorganic metallic cluster molecule Mo2Ag4S8[PPh3]4. The images in conjunction with the accompanying limiting data show that the reduction in transmission, observed as the input pulse energy is increased, results from scattering from bubbles augmented by plasma absorption. The imaging technique involves converting a portion of the laser pulse to probe pulses that are then delayed through varying lengths of optical fiber. The focal volume is probed perpendicular to the incident beam at various times from 12 ns to 2.9 μs after the arrival of the pulse in the test cell. Light emitted from the cell as a result of incandescence or a hot plasma is also imaged. Nonlinear loss, time-resolved pump–probe and picosecond limiting experiments, performed at the University of Central Florida's Center for Research in Electro-Optics and Lasers (CREOL), are described in the companion paper in this issue entitled "Nonlinear optical properties of the inorganic metal cluster Mo2Ag4S8[PPh3]4."


Deployed in the context of supervised learning, Mixup is a data-dependent regularization technique that consists in linearly interpolating input samples and associated outputs. It has been shown to improve accuracy when used to train on stan-dard machine learning datasets. However, authors have pointed out that Mixup can produce out-of-distribution virtual samples and even contradictions in the augmented training set, potentially resulting in adversarial effects. In this paper, we introduce Local Mixup in which distant input samples are weighted down when computing the loss. In constrained settings we demonstrate that Local Mixup can create a trade-off between bias and variance, with the extreme cases reducing to vanilla training and classical Mixup. Using standardized computer vision benchmarks, we also show that Local Mixup can improve accuracy.


Kangaroo Courts represents the height of the recent work that Desmond Manderson has developed around the nexus between 'law and literature' and the rule of law. Manderson's approach to this matter is unique in taking seriously both literary theory and the aesthetic aspects of literary texts—strange though it may seem, this is an authentic revolution in the field of law and literature. Manderson rightly observes that back to their very origins the discourses constructed around the conjunction of 'law and literature' have suffered from two structural weaknesses: first 'a concentration on substance and plot' and second 'a salvific belief in the capacity of literature to cure law or perfect its justice' (Manderson 2012a, 9). The first fails to question the 'mimetic fallacy' that regards the imitation of nature or reality as the main function of art (Manderson 2011, 108-118; 2012a, 10-17). The second fails to question the 'romantic fantasy' that sets the purpose of art in 'healing the world's wounds' (Manderson 2011, 118-121; 2012a, 17-20).


Introduction Injury-related morbidity is a neglected health concern in many low-income and middle-income countries. Most injury data in Africa have been collected from hospital-based studies, and few studies have occurred across multiple countries. Using data from a novel cohort, we examined the prevalence and incidence of serious injuries and associated risk factors across five sites in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Methods A common baseline and follow-up survey was administered to participants. The study population included 1316 persons at baseline and 904 persons at follow-up. Frequencies were calculated, and logistic regression models were used to assess risk factors for injury. Results A total of 233 (17.7%) persons reported a serious injury at baseline and 60 (6.6%) reported a serious injury 6 months later at follow-up. Sixty-nine per cent of participants responded to the follow-up questionnaire. At baseline and follow-up, the most common cause of serious injury at urban sites was transport related, followed by poison/overdose. In rural Uganda, sharp instruments injuries were most common, followed by transport-related injuries. Living at an urban site was associated with an increased odds for serious injury compared with those at the rural site (OR: 1.83, 95% CI 1.15 to 2.90). Participants who consumed above a moderate amount of alcohol were at a higher risk of serious injury compared with those who did not consume alcohol (OR: 1.86, 95% CI 1.02 to 3.41). High level of education was an important risk factor for injury. Conclusion At baseline and follow-up, common causes of serious injury were transport related, sharp instrument and poison/overdose. Alcohol consumption, urban location and education are important risk factors for injury. It is feasible to collect longitudinal injury data using a standardised questionnaire across multiples sites in SSA. Longitudinal data collection should be leveraged to obtain robust data on risk factors for injury in SSA.


Aim: We aimed to evaluate the effect of echocardiographically demonstrated right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) on time in therapeutic range (TTR) in heart failure (HF) patients receiving warfarin therapy. Methods: A total of 893 consecutive HF patients were included and classified into 4 different subgroups: HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) without RVD (n = 373), HF with reduced EF (HFrEF) without RVD (n = 215), HFpEF with RVD (n = 106) and HFrEF with RVD (n = 199). Groups were compared according to baseline, demographic and clinical data and the characteristics of warfarin therapy. Results: Presence of RVD yielded lower median TTR values both in HFpEF and HFrEF patients. RVD, current smoking, New York Heart Association functional class III/IV, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, pulmonary disease, prior transient ischemic attack or stroke, chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 4/5 and CKD stage 3 were found to be independent predictors of poor anticoagulation control in multivariate logistic regression analysis. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that presence of RVD in HF increases the risk for poor anticoagulation.


This study aimed to model phenomenologically the dynamics of arterial wall remodeling under hypertensive conditions. Sustained hypertension was simulated by a step increase in blood pressure. The arterial wall was considered to be a thick-walled tube made of nonlinear elastic incompressible material. Remodeling rate equations were postulated for the evolution of the geometric dimensions of the hypertensive artery at the zero-stress state, as well as for one of the material constants in the constitutive equations. The driving stimuli for the geometric adaptation are the normalized deviations of wall stresses from their values under normotensive conditions. The geometric dimensions are modulated by the evolution of the deformed inner radius, which serves to restore the level of the flow-induced shear stresses at the arterial endothelium. Mechanical adaptation is driven by the difference between the area compliance under hypertensive and normotensive conditions. The predicted time course of the geometry and mechanical properties of arterial wall are in good qualitative agreement with published experimental findings. The model predicts that the geometric adaptation maintains the stress distribution in arterial wall to its control level, while the mechanical adaptation restores the normal arterial function under induced hypertension.


Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) are emerging as a key component to allow human interact with machines. Applications are numerous and ECAs can reduce the aversion to interact with a machine by providing user-friendly interfaces. Yet, ECAs are still unable to produce social signals appropriately during their interaction with humans, which tends to make the interaction less instinctive. Especially, very little attention has been paid to the use of laughter in humanavatar interactions despite the crucial role played by laughter in human-human interaction. In this paper, methods for predicting when and how to laugh during an interaction for an ECA are proposed. Different Imitation Learning (also known as Apprenticeship Learning) algorithms are used in this purpose and a regularized classification algorithm is shown to produce good behavior on real data.


Themistius was a philosopher, a prominent Constantinopolitan senator, and an adviser to Roman emperors during the fourth century A.D. In this first translation of Themistius' private orations to be published in English, Robert J. Penella makes accessible texts that shed significant light on the culture of Constantinople and, more generally, the eastern Roman empire during the fourth century. The sixteen speeches translated here are equipped with ample annotations and an informative introduction, making them a valuable resource on the late antique period, as well as on Greek intellectual history and oratory. In Themistius' public orations, he played the role of imperial panegyrist, but in the 'private' or unofficial orations presented here, the senator concerns himself with apologetics, rhetorical and philosophical programs, material of autobiographical interest, and ethical themes. The speeches are valuable as evidence for the political, social, philosophical, religious, and literary history of fourth century Byzantium, and as examples of pagan ideology and eloquence in the newly Christianized court. Themistius argues, among other things, that the philosopher should be involved in public affairs, that the lessons of philosophy should be broadcast to the masses, and that it is appropriate for the philosopher to be an effective orator in order to circulate his teachings.


The real system from practice is selected for optimization purpose in this paper. We describe the real scheme of a high voltage (HV) substation in different work states. Model scheme of the HV substation 22 kV is demonstrated within the paper. The scheme serves as input model scheme for the maintenance optimization. The input reliability and cost parameters of all components are given: the preventive and corrective maintenance costs, the actual maintenance period (being optimized), the failure rate and mean time to repair - MTTR.


The Effect of Aerobic Exercise Versus Inactivity on Nitric Oxide Concentration and Synthesis in an Elderly Population Samantha Burton Department of Exercise Sciences, BYU Master of Science CONTEXT: Nitric Oxide (NO) is an endothelial-derived vasoactive molecule that causes an increase in blood flow and oxygen delivery to tissue. A reduction in NO bioavailability has been found to occur in adults over the age of 60 and can be reversed pharmacologically by improving NO synthase (NOS) activity. Reversing these age-related changes with alternative interventions, such as aerobic exercise, has shown some promising results. OBJECTIVE: To quantify blood NO-bioavailability (as measured by blood nitrite levels) in a population of aerobically trained elderly men and compare these data to a group of age-matched, inactive individuals. In addition, we measured the cutaneous vasodilator response to local skin heating as a bioassay for NO-mediated cutaneous dilation. SETTING: BYU Human Performance Research Center (HPRC). PARTICIPANTS: 16 healthy elderly men (age = 66 ± 7.07 years) were divided into two groups based on physical fitness levels and estimated O2max in ml O2•kg•min (Trained = 39.1 ± 1.21, Untrained = 29.0 ± 2.70). INTERVENTIONS: A blood sample was collected and analyzed for NO. A microdialysis study was performed and dialysate was collected at 32°C and at 42°C. During the heating process, skin blood flow (skin vasomotor activity) was monitored and reported as cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Whole blood nitrite concentrations, preand post-heat nitrite concentrations, and CVCmax were compared between trained and untrained groups. RESULTS: Whole blood nitrite concentration was similar in trained subjects and untrained subjects averaging 25.77 ± 6.75 and 21.43 ± 7.20 μM, respectively (F1,13 = 0.19; P = 0.6671]. Local skin heating had no impact on the concentration of nitrite in dialysate samples ([NOx]dialysate F1,26 = 0.01; P = 0.7567). In addition, the plateau in % CVCmax following 30 minutes of local heating was similar for trained and untrained subjects averaging 67.7 ± 5.8 and 68.0 ± 6.2 % CVCmax, respectively (F1,13 = 0.00; P = 0.9673). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that age-mediated reductions in whole blood NObioavailability and decrements in NO-mediated cutaneous vasodilation during local heating were similar in aerobically fit and sedentary adults 60 years old or older. We conclude that a commitment to aerobic fitness was unable to overcome the age-related dysfunction of the NOS system.


In the aftermath of the real estate slump and the attendant financial troubles of the New England banks, it is natural to look for causes and contributing factors. One phenomenon that has received its share of the blame is the rush of conversions by thrifts in the mid 1980s from mutual to stock form of ownership. Conversions were hailed initially as a way to fortify the eroded capital of thrifts and increase their safety and soundness. ; This article compares the behavior of converted thrifts with that of the mutuals. It finds that converted institutions took greater risks, suffered bigger losses, and failed at a higher rate than the mutuals despite being very highly capitalized after conversion. Three conclusions are reached. First, converted thrifts accounted for a substantial share of the increase in real estate financing during the boom of the mid 1980s. Second, ability to take greater risk, rather than efficiency, appears to have been a dominant motive for thrift conversions in New England. And third, even very high capital ratios may not prove sufficient if an institution takes big risks in its loan portfolio.


In the current era of globalization in supply chain, business continuity planning should play an even more important role than previously. Business continuity planning provides company with an analysis of potential business threatening situations, everything from natural disasters to supply shortages, and ensures that actions are taken in order to mitigate the probability that those risks will become reality. Business continuity planning does not come without a cost, since companies will in some cases have to spend money in actions like redundancies (e.g. supplier).

In the Semiconductor industry, supply chains might are extremely complex and globalized. These supply chains can go from having suppliers in the United States, to front-end manufacturing in Europe, to back-end manufacturing and packaging in Asia. Raw materials for semiconductor manufacturing, for example raw wafers, can be found for above $500 per wafer. It is due to not only the complexity of the supply chain in semiconductors, but also due to the high costs of raw materials and manufacturing, that it is crucial for companies in this particular industry to ensure business continuity planning is taken seriously, and adequate measures are taken to mitigate as many risks to their supply chain as possible.


The behaviour of a superconducting composite carrying a transport current and subjected to a transverse fast changing magnetic field has been simulated with an equivalent electrical network. The problem of the current distribution inside the composite under steady-state conditions has been solved with a computer code which leads to the exact solution of Maxwell's equations. The total loss power inside the composite has been calculated and the loss power provided by the d.c. power-supply has been separated from the loss power provided by the magnetic field. These different losses can be easily compared with experimental data as they correspond to the different measured losses.


The fundamental matrix is a basic tool in the analysis of scenes taken with two uncalibrated cameras, and the eight-point algorithm is a frequently cited method for computing the fundamental matrix from a set of eight or more point matches. It has the advantage of simplicity of implementation. The prevailing view is, however, that it is extremely susceptible to noise and hence virtually useless for most purposes. This paper challenges that view, by showing that by preceding the algorithm with a very simple normalization (translation and scaling) of the coordinates of the matched points, results are obtained comparable with the best iterative algorithms. This improved performance is justified by theory and verified by extensive experiments on real images.


The present study compares the production of phonetic cues signaling phrasing boundaries by three monolingual Spanish, three monolingual German and three German-Spanish bilingual children at age 3;0, in broad-focus declaratives. The phonetic cues analyzed are F0-reset, intonation contours (falling vs. rising), pauses, final lengthening and glottal stop insertion (Peters 2006, for German; and Frota et al. 2007, for Spanish). Results show that both monolinguals and bilinguals signal prosodic phrase boundaries in ways that can be considered adult-like. However, bilinguals exhibit more individual differences. Whereas two bilingual children show differences between their two prosodic systems, which correspond to the values of the two adult languages, a third bilingual child signals cues by means of German values in both languages, German and Spanish.


Leguminous plants fix atmospheric nitrogen with the aid of symbiotic rhizobial bacteria. When Rhizobia infect the root, a complex developmental program is initiated to form the nodules that house the symbiotic bacteria (see the Perspective by Udvardi and Scheible). Smit et al. and Kaló et al. identify key elements in the signaling cascade by which the bacteria signal their presence to the host plants. The constitutively expressed plant proteins NSP1 and NSP2 are likely transcription factors poised to respond early to the bacterial nodulation factor signal. It appears that NSP1 and NSP2 respond to the initial nodulation factor-induced calcium signal to generate changes in gene transcription. M. K. Udvardi, W.-R. Scheible, GRAS genes and the symbiotic green revolution. Science 308, 1749-1750 (2005). [Summary] [Full Text] P. Smit, J. Raedts, V. Portyanko, F. Debellé, C. Gough, T. Bisseling, R. Geurts, NSP1 of the GRAS protein family is essential for rhizobial Nod factor-induced transcription. Science 308, 1789-1791 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text] P. Kaló, C. Gleason, A. Edwards, J. Marsh, R. M. Mitra, S. Hirsch, J. Jakab, S. Sims, S. R. Long, J. Rogers, G. B. Kiss, J. A. Downie, G. E. D. Oldroyd, Nodulation signaling in legumes requires NSP2, a member of the GRAS family of transcriptional regulators. Science 308, 1786-1789 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (hereinafter "the Recovery Act") has its proponents and detractors. At a time when the United States was facing its worst recession in more than fifty years, the 1 1 1th session of the United States Congress ("Congress") passed the Recovery Act to stimulate and stabilize the United States economy. The intention of the Recovery Act was to create jobs, promote additional capital investment, increase consumer spending, and minimize or avoid reductions in state and local government services. In total, more than $700 billion was allocated to the Recovery Act via federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and domestic spending for education, health care, and infrastructure. More than a third of the money was slated for projects and activities, including construction and certain research projects. To implement a project using the allocated federal funds, agencies and funding recipients must comply with federal laws and regulations.1 This article will address whether governmental immunity to tort liability has been imputed to infrastructure projects funded via the Recovery Act. This article will summarize the Recovery Act and the background and history of governmental tort immunity while addressing the possibility that immunity at the federal and state levels has been imputed to government contractors based upon the Recovery Act While this article highlights the potential implications, final determination is beyond its scope and may not be fully resolved until federal and/ or state courts address the matter directly.The Recovery ActThe Recovery Act received bipartisan support during the transition from one administration to the next. The newly elected President stated the Recovery Actwill create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. It's that we're putting Americans to work doing the work that America needs done, in critical areas that have been neglected for too long; work that will bring real and lasting change for generations to come. Because we know we can't build our economic future on the transportation and information networks of the past, we are remaking the American landscape with the largest new investment in our nation's infrastructure since Eisenhower built an Interstate Highway System in the 1950s. Because of this investment, nearly 400,000 men and women will go to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, repairing our faulty dams and levees, bringing critical broadband connections to businesses and homes in nearly every community in America, upgrading mass transit, building high-speed rail lines that will improve travel and commerce throughout our nation.2The Recovery Act was a direct response to the economic crisis, with three immediate goals:* Create new jobs and save existing ones;* Spur economic activity and invest in long-term growth; and* Foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending.The Recovery Act intends to achieve those goals by* Providing $288 billion in tax cuts and benefits for millions of working families and businesses;* Increasing federal funds for education and health care as well as entitlement programs (such as extending unemployment benefits) by $224 billion;* Making $275 billion available for federal contracts (over $100 billion for infrastructure projects), grants and loans; and* Requiring recipients of Recovery funds to report quarterly on how they are using the money.More than $100 billion is targeted for infrastructure development and enhancement. Of the $100 billion, more than $48 billion is slated for transportation infrastructure improvements including more than $27 billion for highway and bridge construction, $8 billion for intercity passenger rail projects, $2 billion for commercial rail infrastructure, $750 million for public transportation system maintenance, $200 million for upgrades to air traffic control centers, facilities and equipment as well as $100 million for shipyard improvements. …


Background :Every year there are still millions of children who contracted the disease can be prevented by immunization with the result thatabout 120,000 deaths, or one child every 5 minute. Prevention efforts in imunization is to complete the basic immunization program for infants before the age of one year.The problem that arises is the high price of the vaccine and the occurrence of drop out on immunizations that require repetition as DPT. One of the causes of drop out is the mother know about immunization and maternal fear of side reactions that occur after their children immunized.The purpose of this study to look at the relationship between mother's level of knowledge, level of socioeconomic status in infants are fully immunized. Methods: The study wasconducted by observational study with cross-sectional study approach. Data from the interview directly by the respondents using a questionnaire. Components of the questionnaire covering knowledge of mothers about immunizations and socioeconomic levels. Results: In this study the results of bivariate analysis found no relationship between the level of knowledge of mothers with incomplete primary immunization status in infants (p = 1.000) and there is no relationship between socioeconomic status level of fully immunized children under five (p = 1.368). Conclusion: Statistically not found a significant association between maternal educational level, socioeconomic level with complete basic immunization status in infants.


The evolution of an urban self-consciousness in London in the early nineteenth century played a fundamental role in the shaping of the city. In this volume Dana Arnold explores the responses to the city among the urban bourgeoisie and their influence on the experience and development of London. Each of the chapters re-presents the metropolis through a thematic consideration of the urban infrastructure and architecture including public open spaces, new roads and bridges, public monuments, and buildings for show including museums, galleries and townhouses. These discrete 'walks' around London cohere into a kaleidoscopic view of the metropolis as a continually evolving entity. The nature and perception of urban experience and social life are mapped against this changing image of London revealing at once the modernity of the metropolis and the importance of the past - especially antiquity - to the construction of this transient present. Evidence of attitudes towards the metropolis is drawn from a range of contemporary visual and written sources including commentaries, guidebooks, literature and parliamentary reports and enquiries. The study of sensory responses to the city allows the exploration of the dynamic between city and society and a broader cultural understanding of urban form. London is re-presented as a matrix of key architectural, social and cultural themes and as the emblematic expression of different kinds of identities relating to gender,class and nationhood.


We consider the application of Abelian orbifold constructions in Meromorphic Conformal Field Theory (MCFT) towards an understanding of various aspects of Monstrous Moonshine and Generalised Moonshine. We review some of the basic concepts in MCFT and Abelian orbifold constructions of MCFTs and summarise some of the relevant physics lore surrounding such constructions including aspects of the modular group, the fusion algebra and the notion of a self-dual MCFT. The FLM Moonshine Module, $V^\natural$, is historically the first example of such a construction being a $Z_2$ orbifolding of the Leech lattice MCFT, $V^\Lambda$. We review the usefulness of these ideas in understanding Monstrous Moonshine, the genus zero property for Thompson series which we have shown is equivalent to the property that the only meromorphic $Z_n$ orbifoldings of $V^\natural$ are $V^\Lambda$ and $V^\natural$ itself (assuming that $V^\natural$ is uniquely determined by its characteristic function $J(\tau)$. We show that these constraints on the possible $Z_n$ orbifoldings of $V^\natural$ are also sufficient to demonstrate the genus zero property for Generalised Moonshine functions in the simplest non-trivial prime cases by considering $Z_p\times Z_p$ orbifoldings of $V^\natural$. Thus Monstrous Moonshine implies Generalised Moonshine in these cases.


Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how accountability is expressed in contractual arrangements found in network governance structures that provide public transport services and to raise discussion of how to understand contracting accountability in network governance contexts. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper is rooted in two research traditions: contracting studies and studies of accountability in government/governance contexts. Content analysis is used in examining contracts from two cases. These contracts are of five types: contracts between public organizations, contracts within a public organization, contracts between public organizations and private firms, and contracts between political parties within a municipality and contracts within a network. Various contracting approaches are identified within these types. Findings - – The paper concludes that the contracts' functions differ between the cases. The first case did not have an overall contract that defined the network, relying on different two-party contracts instead. In the other case, an incentive-based contract was used to link the organizations. From an accountability perspective, the latter contracting structure clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the actors and increases the possibility of accountability to citizens. Originality/value - – The paper brings new insights to the field of contracting and accountability by focusing on the role of contracts in network governance structures, taking account of various accountability relationships. It also contributes new theoretical categories usable when analysing contracting accountability in a network context.


The Tecate-Tijuana River is part of the Tijuana River Basin, which is a binational basin shared by Mexico and the United States of America. The explosive industry growth in the region of Tecate, Mexico has produced several negative environmental impacts in the Tecate-Tijuana River Basin. At the moment more than 30% of the water is used by industry and commerce in the city of Tecate. Therefore, the efficient use and the reuse of water, as well as the search for alternative water sources have begun to be very important in this region. The objective of this study is to evaluate the behavior of selected trace metals along the river, which can be retained in the river by adsorption or precipitation. Four sites were sampled along the Tecate River and seven sites along the Tijuana River during 2005–2006 and samples were analyzed for sixteen trace metals: Al, Cr, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Ag, Cd, Sb, Hg, Ba, Ti and Pb, by ICP-MS techniques. Concentrations lower than Mexican law limits for trace metals were found for water samples and higher levels than background levels in sediments were found for Cr, Pb, Cu, Zn and Ni along the Tecate-Tijuana River. The results have shown that the local industry discharges high concentrations of trace metals and aquifers can be affected; trace metal sediments are moving down stream in the Tecate-Tijuana River direction.


Anthropogenic nitrogen loading, particularly fertiliser usage in agricultural soils is thought to be a potentially important source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, which can be controlled by properly managed fertiliser usage. In this research, laboratory scale experiments were conducted to evaluate N2O production and emission from agricultural soils under variable oxygen availability conditions. N2O was observed to be released from the reactors in the absence of oxygen as well as at low concentrations of oxygen. With the increase of oxygen concentration, N2O production decreased. In addition, N2O emission was found to coincide with corresponding nitrate (NO3−) depletion, indicating that denitrification was the dominating process that was responsible for N2O production. The depletion of NO3− was described by the sum of two exponential functions, i.e., NO3− reduction for N2O and NO3− reduction for N2. The simulation of the experimental results using above model demonstrated that N2 production dominated over N2O production in the absence of oxygen. Both N2O production rate and N2 production rate decreased with the increase of oxygen concentration. However, the decrease of N2 production rate was more pronounced than that of N2O production rate.


CONTEXT
One of the goals in cutting welfare payments and setting time limits on welfare receipt is the reduction of out-of-wedlock childbearing among poor women. Yet such changes may increase the demand for abortion at the same time that access to abortion has decreased, throwing into doubt the potential effect of these changes on the proportion of women who are heading families.

METHODS
State and county fixed-effects models were used to estimate the effects of factors influencing abortion availability--geographic access, parental notification requirements and Medicaid funding restrictions--on the county-level proportion of women heading households.

RESULTS
The decline in geographic access to abortion providers during the 1980s accounted for a small but significant portion of the rise in the percentage of women heading families (about 2%). Restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion accounted for about half of the increase in female headship among blacks, while new state parental notification requirements contributed modestly to the rise in the proportion of white women heading single-parent families.

CONCLUSIONS
Welfare reform legislation and attempts to reduce the availability of abortion services in the United States appear to be working at cross-purposes. Cutbacks in access to abortion may have contributed modestly to the increase in the proportion of women heading households.


Pietism and the manner in which the doctrine of the so-called second blessing is experienced: perspectives from Practical Theology The aim of the research underlying this article was to explore the experience of individuals supporting the form of pietism known as the so-called "second blessing" that implies suc- cessive works of grace. In this form of pietism sanctification is overemphasised at the expense of justification. In this article, a basis-theoretical assessment of core elements is followed by empirical-qualitative research data, more specifically the results of narrative analysis. A purposive sample of nine participants was used. The research data was obtained by means of a semi-structured questionnaire that the participants had to com- plete, as well as by a semi-structured interview that was con- ducted with each participant individually. The content analysis of the research data indicates possible reasons why some in- dividuals favour this form of pietism, why some individuals do not favour this doctrine, why some individuals remain sup-porters of this form of pietism, and how some individuals are "freed" from it. Guidelines are given on a practice-theoretical level concerning the way in which the outcome of these results can be applied. An indication is given of the ways in which spiritual leaders, counsellors and other believers may find it useful to utilise the research data in their pastoral counselling of persons who practise this form of pietism.


Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are an important public health concern. Since the emergence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) during the 1980s and its link with human Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, active surveillance has been a key element of the European Union's TSE control strategy. Success of this strategy means that now, very few cases are detected compared with the number of animals tested. Refining surveillance strategies would enable resources to be redirected towards other public health priorities. Cost-effectiveness analysis was performed on several alternative strategies involving reducing the number of animals tested for BSE and scrapie in Great Britain and, for scrapie, varying the ratio of sheep sampled in the abattoir to fallen stock (which died on the farm). The most cost-effective strategy modelled for BSE involved reducing the proportion of fallen stock tested from 100% to 75%, producing a cost saving of ca GBP 700,000 per annum. If 50% of fallen stock were tested, a saving of ca GBP 1.4 million per annum could be achieved. However, these reductions are predicted to increase the period before surveillance can detect an outbreak. For scrapie, reducing the proportion of abattoir samples was the most cost-effective strategy modelled, with limited impact on surveillance effectiveness.


MATRIX is a novel, coarse-grain, reconfigurable computing architecture which supports configurable instruction distribution. Device resources are allocated to controlling and describing the computation on a per task basis. Application-specific regularity allows us to compress the resources allocated to instruction control and distribution, in many situations yielding more resources for datapaths and computations. The adaptability is made possible by a multi-level configuration scheme, a unified configurable network supporting both datapaths and instruction distribution, and a coarse-grained building block which can serve as an instruction store, a memory element, or a computational element. In a 0.5 /spl mu/ CMOS process, the 8-bit functional unit at the heart of the MATRIX architecture has a footprint of roughly 1.5 mm/spl times/1.2 mm, making single dies with over a hundred function units practical today. At this process point, 100 MHz operation is easily achievable, allowing MATRIX components to deliver on the order of 10 Gop/s (8-bit ops).


The importance of the courts of northern Italy as the birthplace of the viol consort in the closing years of the 15th century has been well established since the 1980s, but until recently any performances of the repertory associated with the early viol consort have used instruments that date from considerably later than the 1490s and early 1500s. This article assesses the significance of two viols depicted in Lorenzo Costa's Madonna and Child enthroned with SS Augustine, Posidonius, John and Francis, a Bolognese altarpiece of 1497, as a source of information, by establishing Costa's relevance as a witness by locating his work historically and geographically in the same courtly circles that saw the initial rise of interest in the first viol consorts: those of the d'Estes of Ferrara, the Bentivoglio family in Bologna and the Gonzagas of Mantua. It investigates the instruments in the painting in relation to other documentary evidence concerning the earliest development of the viol consort, including Castiglione's Il libro del cortegiano, and suggests a close constructional connection between these particular viols and the lira da braccio. It goes on to evaluate the results of performing on a set of instruments constructed on the basis of this painting.


When an algebra is endowed with the additional structure of an action or a grading, one can often make striking conclusions about the algebra based on the properties of the structure-induced subspaces. For example, if A is an associative G-graded algebra such that the homogeneous component A1 satisfies an identity of degree d, then Bergen and Cohen showed that A is itself a PI-algebra. Bahturin, Giambruno and Riley later used combinatorial methods to show that the degree of the identity satisfied by A is bounded above by a function of d and |G|. Utilizing a similar approach, we prove an analogue of this result which applies to associative algebras whose induced Lie or Jordan algebras are G-graded. Group-gradings and actions by a group of automorphisms are examples of Hopf algebras acting on H-algebras. If H is finite-dimensional, semisimple, commutative, and splits over its base field, then it is known that A is an H-algebra precisely when the H-action on A induces a certain group-grading of A. We extend this duality to incorporate other natural H-actions. To this end, we introduce the notion of an oriented H-algebra. For example, if A has an action by a group of both automorphisms and anti-automorphisms, then A is not an H-algebra, but A is an oriented H-algebra. The vector space gradings associated to oriented H-algebra actions are not generally group-gradings, or even set-gradings. However, when A is a Lie algebra, the grading is a quasigroup-grading, and, when A is an associative algebra, the grading is what we call a Lie-Jordan-grading. Lastly, we call certain H-polynomials in the free associative H-algebra essential, and show that, if an (associative) H-algebra A satisfies an essential H-identity of degree d, then A satisfies an ordinary identity of bounded degree. Furthermore, in the case when H is m-dimensional. semisimple and commutative, we prove that, if AH satisfies an ordinary identity of degree d, then A satisfies an essential H-identity of degree dm. From this we are able to recover several well-known results as special cases.


This paper formulates some changes in Somali poetry composition through the transition of the Somali literature from oral to a written culture since the introduction of a writing system for the Somali language in 1972. These changes are first observed through the comparison of themes and styles of poetry used by the classic nomadic and pastoralist poets (1800-1970ies) versus the themes and styles used by the educated university graduate poets in the cities (post-1972). A second comparison is done between the first generation of educated poets (1970ies - 1990) and the current generation of young poets in the era of social media, and how these changes are observed in the literature both in terms of imaginative themes on social issues, and the introduction of new styles and structures of poetry by the contemporary poets. To understand better the comparison, the peculiarities of Somali poetry, including the alliteration and meter system, are briefly explained. In the second part, the paper explores new insights and developments in Somali lyrics writing where contemporary lyricists are experimenting with new styles of poetry writing, including the introduction of multiple alliterations and the expansion of the Somali lyrics to a rhymed style. A corpus of 21 selected songs is identified within the Somali Corpus (see www.somalicorpus.com) and analyzed focusing on the introduction of the multiple alliterations and the use of the poem's rhyme style. The songwriters have been interviewed on their views of these new developments and to fact-check with them the contents of the peoms (order of the verses in the lysics and their meaning), and some of the lyrics have been translated into English to reflect on the themes they deal with. The term Tidcan as a poem with more than one alliterative sound for the entire poem is coined here by using an existing Somali word with another meaning. In fact, the word "tidcan" means literally braiding: like tima tidcan=braided hair. The paper finally questions the impacts of these developments on music composition for the Somali song.


We describe plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition for decomposing a mixture of two gaseous hydrides, GeH4 and H2S or H2Se, to yield layers of amorphous GexS1, and GexSel, We discuss the influence of the gas ratios and the deposition conditions (pressure, rf power input) on the chemical composition and homogeneity of the films. For Ge-Se samples, the composition varied between Ge-rich (typically Ge0.66Se0.34) and Se-rich deposits (maximum Ge0.23Se0.77). The incorporation of sulfur was less effective : maximum 57 at.% S in Ge-S layers (GeH4/H2S = 1/96 and p = 0.1 mbar) i.e. less than the stoichiometric composition GeS2. Information concerning the structure of as-deposited Ge-S and Ge-Se layers was obtained from infrared and Raman spectroscopy. Ge-rich films of both Ge-S and Ge-Se were unstable in air and showed in their IR spectra broad absorption bands of Ge-0 vibrations, increasing in intensity when keeping them in air for a long time.


Resistance to brown spot (BS) and Pleiochaeta root rot (PRR) in narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.) was assessed on a broad range of breeding lines and cultivars in field trials in Western Australia in 1985 and 1986. Both diseases are caused by Pleiochaeta setosa (Kirchn.) Hughes. Lines were grown in 5m × 1m plots in randomized complete block experiments with various disease pressures associated with cropping history — first, second and third successive lupin crops after cereals at one site in 1985, and first and second lupin crops at two sites in 1986. Best linear unbiased predictors (BLUPs) of defoliation caused by BS across experiments ranged from 64% to 123% of 'Gungurru', and BLUPs for PRR lesion severity ranged from 82% to 118% of 'Gungurru'. For both diseases, genotypic variance was several times greater than genotype × environment variance, but error variance was relatively low for BS and high for PRR. Consequently, broad sense heritability (h2) for BS resistance was high in the seven experiments (range 0.89–0.94) but low for PRR resistance (range 0.00–0.53). There was a moderate correlation between BLUPs for resistance to BS and PRR across experiments (r = 0.36, P < 0.05). Genotypic correlations between resistance to BS and PRR were estimated at 0.57 ± 0.20 and 0.75 ± 0.31 in two experiments in 1985. Breeding progress is likely to be high for BS resistance and there may be slight improvements in PRR resistance associated with BS resistance. However, this field technique is not suitable for rapid breeding progress for PRR resistance.


The fourth industrial revolution is in full swing and according to "BCC Research" a compound annual growth rate of 23.1 % will be expected on the global market for the period of 2018 to 2023. Leading new technologies as mobile robotics and manipulator systems will facilitate more flexible and efficient production processes. Unfortunately, mentioned in the latest "Statista" report, the complexity of mobile robotic systems and missing standards are one of the major obstacles for a broad rollout of mobile robot systems. This paper presents a selection of what is already possible in the field of mobile robots and mobile manipulation systems and gives an outlook on current and upcoming leading edge developments. We focus on the requirements of the industry and addresses the related barriers concerning the design and implementation of safe applications. As a result, we propose best practice, recommendations and first concepts to overcome the discussed challenges in implementation.


The paper discusses investigations into improving the full-load and transient performance of the Ultraboost extreme downsizing engine by the application of the SuperGen variable-speed centrifugal supercharger. Since its output stage speed is decoupled from that of the crankshaft, SuperGen is potentially especially attractive in a compound pressure-charging system. Such systems typically comprise a turbocharger, which is used as the main charging device, compounded at lower charge mass flow rates by a supercharger used as a second boosting stage. Because of its variable drive ratio, SuperGen can be blended in and out continuously to provide seamless driveability, as opposed to the alternative of a clutched, single-drive-ratio positive-displacement device. In this respect its operation is very similar to that of an electrically-driven compressor, although it is voltage agnostic and can supply other hybrid functionality, too. In the work reported here a prototype SuperGen unit was tested on the Ultraboost extreme downsizing demonstrator engine and the performance compared to that of the originally-specified positive-displacement device. This engine has previously been described in detail and represents a 60% downsizing factor versus a 5.0 litre naturally-aspirated V8, although the 'standard' baseline combination of supercharger and turbocharger was found in earlier work to be a limitation on achieving the full downsizing factor at low engine speed. The improvement in full-load performance in the area where the turbocharger cannot generate the required boost by itself is reported. The transient response of the combined system at low engine speed is also presented, together with part-load fuel economy data at several engine speed and load points. Finally, this part-load data is used for vehicle modelling work showing that a more-efficient high-pressure stage can bring further fuel economy benefits to extremely-downsized vehicle applications.


"The possibilities that the technology can offer are seemingly endless and remain to be fully explored in [visual] art education." (Callow, 2001, p.43) The aim of this research is to investigate whether the integration of Visual Arts Technology Tools (TECH-TOOLS) into Traditional Visual Arts Programs (TRAD-PROO) enhance the students' learning in terms of Arts Ideas (Al) and Arts Skills and Processes (ASP) and whether it is a cost effective option for Western Australian primary schools. To determine whether it is worth the inclusion of TECH-TOOLS in terms of enhancing learning, this research will statistically state whether the combination of TECH-TOOLS and Traditional Visual Arts Media (TRAD-MEDIA) enhance the expressive outcomes of Year Seven boys' artwork. The comparative case study method has been chosen as the most suitable method to enable the Researcher to establish the impact that combining TECH-TOOLS with TRAD-MEDIA have upon Year Seven boys' artwork. The Control group only used TRAD-MEDIA and the Experimental group used both TRAD-MEDIA and TECH-TOOLS to create a piece of artwork based on the chosen theme, Character Cars. There were 23 students in the Control group and 24 students in the Experimental group, however not all students attempted or completed the task for reasons which will be explained in Chapter Four. Each group was involved in three sequenced activities based on the chosen theme, with the second activity varying only according to the media used to complete the task. Combinations of quantitative and qualitative methods have been used in this research. To present quantitative data which provides insights into whether Visual Arts (VA) teachers should be combining TECH-TOOLS with TRAD-MEDIA in their Visual Arts Programs (V AP), each piece of artwork was assessed and analysed using descriptive analysis of the data. Each participant completed a written feedback form outlining their attitudes, feelings and thoughts about their artwork and the media that they used. The Researcher and an independent Visual Arts Education (V AE) expert also took anecdotal records during the VA activities with the aim of recording the participants' involvement and enjoyment of the activities. This study is significantly different from the current research in this area as it will: provide quantitative data which will demonstrate whether the combination of TECH-TOOLS and TRAD-MEDIA enhances students' artwork; link the relevant literature and findings of this study to the Western Australian primary school context; provide links to the Western Australian Curriculum Council's Curriculum Framework; and comment on the influence of gender in V AE. All of these factors contribute to the uniqueness of this study.


ABSTRACT High seas fisheries remain one of the least transparent global production practices. Distance from shore, coupled with the highly mobile nature of fish stocks, has put attention on new monitoring, control and surveillance technologies to collect spatially referenced data on the location of fishing vessels, gears and even fish stocks and eradicate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activity. Faced with their nascent implementation, research is yet to address how these technologies are reconfiguring the roles and responsibilities of public and private actors involved in fisheries management, including who collects and controls fisheries related information. In this paper, we compare three monitoring, control and surveillance technologies that are gaining traction in fisheries; the use of private fish attraction devices in oceanic tuna fisheries, unmanned public drones for marine surveillance and global satellite monitoring of fishing vessels. In doing so, we question how different configurations of actors are structuring flows of information and with what effect on sustainability performance of high seas fisheries. We also explore how these technologies configure new (and imagined) geographies of high seas fisheries which challenge existing modes of fisheries management.


This paper describes the development of a software optimization tool that aims at finding the optimal strategy for decreasing the ozone concentration in Europe. A simplified ozone model has been used in the research. This model describes the relations between reductions of certain industry pollutants and the resulting ozone concentration abatement, as well as the costs associated with given emission reductions. The task of finding the most cost-effective strategy results in a difficult nonlinear problem comprising thousands of variables and constraints. Moreover, other difficulties can arise, such as issues connected with problem conditioning and solution sensitivity to parameter changes. These potential difficulties lead to the question of software robustness. It was decided to apply three different optimization algorithms in order to ensure that the tool would be able to solve different optimization problems generated during different scenario analyses. The task of joining three different nonlinear solvers (CFSQP, Conopt, and MINOS) with completely different interfaces also turned out to be interesting from the software-engineering point of view. The object-oriented programming technique provided a simple way to divide the software parts into those that were common to all three solvers and those that were solver-specific. The model and the methodological and engineering difficulties in its analysis are summarized in this paper. The paper also contains a description of the software tool developed, as well as conclusions and further suggestions motivated by the first results.


Recent experiments demonstrate a temperature control of the electric conduction through a ferrocene-based molecular junction. Here we examine the results in view of determining means to distinguish between transport through single-particle molecular levels or via transport channels split by Coulomb repulsion. Both transport mechanisms are similar in molecular junctions given the similarities between molecular intralevel energies and the charging energy. We propose an experimentally testable way to identify the main transport process. By applying a magnetic field to the molecule, we observe that an interacting theory predicts a shift of the conductance resonances of the molecule whereas in the noninteracting case each resonance is split into two peaks. The interaction model works well in explaining our experimental results obtained in a ferrocene-based single-molecule junction, where the charge degeneracy peaks shift (but do not split) under the action of an applied 7-Tesla magnetic field. This method is useful for a proper characterization of the transport properties of molecular tunnel junctions.


In this paper, we present a query-driven indexing/retrieval strategy for efficient full text retrieval from large document collections distributed within a structured P2P network. Our indexing strategy is based on two important properties: (1) the generated distributed index stores posting lists for carefully chosen indexing term combinations, and (2) the posting lists containing too many document references are truncated to a bounded number of their top-ranked elements. These two properties guarantee acceptable storage and bandwidth requirements, essentially because the number of indexing term combinations remains scalable and the transmitted posting lists never exceed a constant size. However, as the number of generated term combinations can still become quite large, we also use term statistics extracted from available query logs to index only such combinations that are frequently present in user queries. Thus, by avoiding the generation of superfluous indexing term combinations, we achieve an additional substantial reduction in bandwidth and storage consumption. As a result, the generated distributed index corresponds to a constantly evolving query-driven indexing structure that efficiently follows current information needs of the users. More precisely, our theoretical analysis and experimental results indicate that, at the price of a marginal loss in retrieval quality for rare queries, the generated index size and network traffic remain manageable even for web-size document collections. Furthermore, our experiments show that at the same time the achieved retrieval quality is fully comparable to the one obtained with a state-of-the-art centralized query engine.


The rate of aminolysis of benzylpenicillin and cephaloridine by hydroxylamine, unlike other amines, shows only a first order dependence on amine concentration. The rate enhancement compared with that predicted from a Bronsted plot for other primary amines with benzylpenicillin is greater than 106. This is much more than an α-effect and is compatible with rate-limiting formation of the tetrahedral intermediate due to a rapid intramolecular general acid catalysed breakdown of the intermediate. For cephaloridine, the rate enhancement is greater than 104 which demonstrates that β-lactam C–N bond fission and expulsion of the leaving group at C3′ are not concerted.


Automated synthesis of program fragments from specifications can make programs easier to write and easier to reason about. To integrate synthesis into programming languages, software synthesis algorithms should behave in a predictable way: they should succeed for a well-defined class of specifications. We propose to systematically generalize decision procedures into synthesis procedures, and use them to compile implicitly specified computations embedded inside functional and imperative programs. Synthesis procedures are predictable, because they are guaranteed to find code that satisfies the specification whenever such code exists. To illustrate our method, we derive synthesis procedures by extending quantifier elimination algorithms for integer arithmetic and set data structures. We then show that an implementation of such synthesis procedures can extend a compiler to support implicit value definitions and advanced pattern matching.


Objective: To examine illness/vaccination perceptions of and intentions to vaccinate for seasonal influenza (SI) and 2009 H1N1 in the college setting. Participants: 1190 adults [M=23.5 years (SD=9.5)] from a university in the North-Eastern U.S. Methods: We deployed a web-based survey via campus email just prior to the 2009 H1N1 vaccine release. Results: Younger adults (18-24 years) had lesser understanding of the difference between influenza types, and they reported less regular and current SI vaccination compared to older adults (25-64 years). Younger respondents perceived lesser likelihood of illness from, but attributed greater severity to H1N1 versus SI. Regularity of SI vaccination and perceived vaccine efficacy were the strongest predictors of intent to vaccinate against H1N1, followed by perceived likelihood of illness and confidence in what experts know about vaccine safety. Conclusions: Young adults in college may require additional information during novel influenza pandemics. Measuring perceptions and past vaccination behaviors may facilitate targeting of preventive efforts in the college setting.


The antidiabetic potentials of methanol extract (ME) of aerial parts of Phyllanthus niruri L (Euphorbiaceae) was evaluated in normal and alloxan diabetic rats. The results showed that ME significantly (P<0.05) reduced fasting blood sugar in a dose-related manner and suppressed the postprandial rise in blood glucose after a heavy glucose meal in normoglycaemic rats. Chronic oral administration of ME caused a significant (P<0.05) dose-related reduction in blood glucose levels as well as total cholesterol and triglycerides levels in diabetic and normoglycaemic rats. Sub-chronic toxicity study showed that ME-treated rats had significant (P<0.05) reductions in haemoglobin (Hb) levels, red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC) counts followed by a gradual rise which did not, however, attain basal levels; however, there was a progressive rise in the WBC of ME-treated diabetic rats. Also ME-treated and control rats had increases in weight throughout the study. Histological studies showed that ME-treated diabetic rats had the tissue architecture of their pancreas restored as against the control groups where there was evidence of necrosis. The acute toxicity and lethality test of ME in mice gave an oral LD50 of 471.2 mg/kg. Results suggest that extract of aerial parts of P. niruri has great potentials as anti-diabetic remedy.


This editorial refers to 'Prognostic impact of a chronic total occlusion in a non-infarct-related artery in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: 3-year results from the HORIZONS-AMI trial'[†][1], by B.E. Claessen et al. , on page 768

Chronic total occlusions (CTOs) are complete obstructions of coronary arteries, described as ≥99% stenosis, of >3 months duration, and with poor or no antegrade blood flow, i.e. TIMI flow grade 0–1. Patients with CTOs are frequently encountered in interventional cardiology practice. It has been estimated that one-third of patients with coronary artery disease requiring revascularization have a CTO, and that ∼10–20% of lesions intended for percutaneous revascularization are complete occlusions.1 In stable coronary artery disease, the negative impact of a CTO has been demonstrated. A New York State survey showed that incomplete percutaneous revascularization leaving untreated CTOs led to higher 3-year mortality.2 In the setting of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), previous studies have suggested that the increased mortality observed in patients with multivessel disease (MVD) was mainly driven by the presence of a CTO in a non-infarct-related artery (IRA).3,4 Furthermore, STEMI patients with a CTO in a non-IRA were found to have suboptimal reperfusion more frequently, as shown by lower myocardial blush grades and a lesser degree of ST-segment resolution following pPCI.5

Claessen et al. 6 have retrospectively evaluated 3283 STEMI patients undergoing pPCI within the HORIZONS-AMI trial and confirmed the worse prognosis of patients with a CTO in a non-IRA …

 [1]: #fn-2


Building Information Modelling is a process integrating 3D graphics and data. It is being adopted into the AECOO industries and by default into the delivery of undergraduate Architectural Programs. This object approach offers a range of benefits over the more traditional CAD approach that uses lines and arcs and manual techniques, by adding the third dimension and creating a database model. It redefines the ways of thinking and working for students and future architects and architectural engineers. The requirements of architectural programs are defined through their learning objectives to meet professional requirements such as those set by the ARB and the RIBA. This paper aims to investigate how the capabilities of BIM can be utilized to deliver the requirements of undergraduate architectural engineering programs in a more effective manner. .
Purpose: to further develop an implementation strategy for BIM in the undergraduate program of architectural engineering that helps in achieving the learning outcomes.
Design/Methodology/Approach: In order to ensure transparency and reliability in the formulated solutions, the adopted methodology for this research is the design science since it deals with explicit problems and provides solutions by creating an artifact. The design science method also provides validation for the proposed solution by peer assessment. At the educational level, the study explores the undergraduate curriculum by taking case studies of programs and their learning outcomes that are set under the criteria of ARB and RIBA. The research analyzes these case studies in an attempt to detect the problems and define the requirements to solve the gaps.
Findings: The findings of the literature review identify the gaps that exist in the curriculum of the undergraduate architecture programs in the UK. The methodology is designed to develop a framework that acts as a guideline in implementing BIM in education. This paper sets the parameters for tutors to integrate BIM effectively into architectural undergraduate programs which shall promote the development of undergraduate students.
Originality/Value: The adoption of BIM within the architectural curriculum has been partial or immature up till this time. This paper addresses the effective implementation of BIM within the undergraduate programs which shall act as an original guideline that can aid professional institutions.


The authors studied effects of gamma radiation on the electrical properties of the MOS capacitor made on SiNx thin films with thickness of 100 nm deposited on p-type (100) silicon wafer using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. The authors investigated the chemical bonds and their densities inside the films using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The as-deposited and annealed samples with Al/SiNx/Si structure as metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) capacitors were exposed to a 60-Co gamma radiation source with a dose rate of 0.015 Gy/S. The authors performed capacitance-voltage measurements at frequencies 10, 100, and 1000 kHz before and after radiation exposure with doses of up to 40 Gy. It was found that before gamma irradiation compared with as-deposited sample, the annealed samples exhibit less negative flatband voltages (Vfb) shift. This indicates the relative reduction in positive charge in the SiNx:H samples. After gamma irradiation, for all samples a negative shift has been observed in Vfb, being more pronounced in the samples annealed at 700 °C. The more striking feature is that the amount of shift does not change by increasing radiation dose after first irradiation, in which we attributed what to the radiation hardening in Al/SiNx/Si MIS capacitors.The authors studied effects of gamma radiation on the electrical properties of the MOS capacitor made on SiNx thin films with thickness of 100 nm deposited on p-type (100) silicon wafer using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. The authors investigated the chemical bonds and their densities inside the films using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The as-deposited and annealed samples with Al/SiNx/Si structure as metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) capacitors were exposed to a 60-Co gamma radiation source with a dose rate of 0.015 Gy/S. The authors performed capacitance-voltage measurements at frequencies 10, 100, and 1000 kHz before and after radiation exposure with doses of up to 40 Gy. It was found that before gamma irradiation compared with as-deposited sample, the annealed samples exhibit less negative flatband voltages (Vfb) shift. This indicates the relative reduction in positive charge in the SiNx:H samples. After gamma irradiation, for all samples a negative shift has b...


Evidence-based management is an approach to establishing 'best evidence' which developed from approaches in medical research in the form of systematic reviews. Its goal is to identify and verify relevant and reliable evidence. Interest in the approach has grown in the management field and new techniques have emerged to support this. We tested one of these techniques - narrative evidence synthesis - as a way to systematically identify and evaluate the evidence on employee engagement. Unlike systematic review, narrative evidence synthesis seeks to explain the effects and the contexts of research studies, to 'tell the story' of the research, through plausible explanation. However, it is a technique that has a number of strengths and weaknesses, not least placing overwhelming demands on researchers that are difficult to manage. We describe the use of this technique in some depth and the learning that arose from it.


The R package calculus implements C++ optimized functions for numerical and symbolic calculus, such as the Einstein summing convention, fast computation of the Levi-Civita symbol and generalized Kronecker delta, Taylor series expansion, multivariate Hermite polynomials, high-order derivatives, ordinary differential equations, differential operators and numerical integration in arbitrary orthogonal coordinate systems. The library applies numerical methods when working with R functions or symbolic programming when working with characters or expressions. The package handles multivariate numerical calculus in arbitrary dimensions and coordinates and implements the symbolic counterpart of the numerical methods whenever possible, without depending on external computer algebra systems. Except for Rcpp, the package has no strict dependencies in order to provide a stable self-contained toolbox that invites re-use.


This article presents a new line of research investigating on-line learning mechanisms for autonomous intelligent agents. We discuss a case-based method for dynamic selection and modiication of behavior assemblages for a navigational system. The case-based reasoning module is designed as an addition to a traditional reactive control system , and provides more exible performance in novel environments without extensive high-level reasoning that would otherwise slow the system down. The method is implemented in the ACBARR (A Case-BAsed Reactive Robotic) system, and evaluated through empirical simulation of the system on several diierent environments, including \box canyon" environments known to be problematic for reactive control systems in general.


Ionic liquids (ILs) are organic salts consisting of anions and cations that exist as liquids at room temperature. ILs exhibit many attractive properties such as negligible volatility, low flammability, and relatively high thermal stability. These properties can be varied in a controlled fashion through systematic changes in the molecular structure of their constituent ions. Some recent studies have aimed to use ILs as new lubricant materials. However, the behavior of ILs as lubricants on the sliding interfaces has not been elucidated. In this chapter, we describe the nanoand macrolubrication properties of some ILs with different types of anions using resonance shear measurement (RSM) and conventional ball-on-plate-type tribotests, respectively. This study reveals that the properties observed by RSM for nanoscale systems can provide important insights for the study of the friction coefficients (macrolubrication properties) obtained by tribotests.


Abstract.
 Considerable numbers of exceptionally preserved conodont apparatuses with hyaline elements are present in the middle-upper Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician, Whiterockian) Winneshiek Konservat-Lagerstätte in northeastern Iowa. These fossils, which are associated with a restricted biota including other conodonts, occur in fine-grained clastic sediments deposited in a meteorite impact crater. Among these conodont apparatuses, the common ones are identified as Archeognathus primus Cullison, 1938 and Iowagnathus grandis new genus new species. The 6-element apparatus of A. primus comprises two pairs of archeognathiform (P) and one pair of coleodiform (S) elements. The 15-element apparatus of I. grandis n. gen. n. sp. is somewhat reminiscent of the prioniodinid type and contains ramiform elements of alate (one element) and digyrate, bipennate, or tertiopedate types (7 pairs). Both conodont taxa are characterized by giant elements and the preservation of both crowns and basal bodies, the latter not previously reported in Ordovician conodont apparatuses. Comparison of the apparatus size in the Winneshiek specimens with that of the Scottish Carboniferous soft-part-preserved conodont animals suggests that the Iowa animals were significantly larger than the latter. The apparatus of A. primus differs conspicuously from the apparatuses of the prioniodontid Promissum from the Upper Ordovician Soom Shale of South Africa although the apparatus architecture of I. grandis n. gen. n. sp. shows some similarity to it. Based on the Winneshiek collections, a new family Iowagnathidae in Conodonta is proposed.