Robust Phase Sensitive Inversion Recovery Imaging. (August 2005) Garach, Ravindra Mahendrakumar, B.E., Gujarat University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Jim Ji Inversion Recovery (IR) is a powerful tool for contrast manipulation in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). IR can provide strong contrast between tissues with different values of T1 relaxation times. The tissue magnetization stored at an IR image pixel can take positive as well as negative values. The corresponding polarity information is contained in the phase of the complex image. Due to numerous factors associated with the Magnetic Resonance (MR) scanner and the associated acquisition system, the acquired complex image is modulated by a spatially varying background phase which makes the retrieval of polarity information non-trivial. Many commercial MR scanners perform magnitude-only reconstruction which, due to loss of polarity information, reduces the dynamic contrast range. Phase sensitive IR (PSIR) can provide enhanced image contrast by estimating and removing the background phase and retrieving the correct polarity information. In this thesis, the background phase of complex MR image is modeled using a statistical model based on Markov Random Fields (MRF). Two model optimization methods have been developed. The first method is a computationally efficient algorithm for finding semi-optimal solutions satisfying the proposed model. Using an adaptive model neighborhood, it can reconstruct low SNR images with slow phase variations. The second method presents a region growing approach which can handle images with rapid phase variations. Experimental results using computer simulations and in vivo experiments show that the proposed method is robust and can perform successful reconstruction even in adverse cases of low signal to noise ratios (SNRs) and high phase variations.


In this document an attempt is made to explain the origin of gravity. The basis for the analysis is a merger of Quantum theory and Relativity. Nowhere in the analysis there is any need to deviate from well proven and successful concepts of both theories and rules of calculation, and no exotic new particles will have to be introduced. By doing so it is demonstrated that, next to its local interactions of a multi-particle system, the Schr&oumldinger equation leads to pairs of two and only two members. This solution is used as the invariant term in the "Klein-Gordon" equation which finally leads to gravitational interactions between members of the pairs. With this particular solution for the quantum-mechanical wave function, it is found that gravity is a second order effect operating over a long range. In this document it is tried to give a complete and consistent account of all steps that have been taken in the derivation of the classical Newton's law. Further, the document emphasizes precise justification of some of the basic assumptions made and how it works out on a cosmological scale. It is also found that the generator of gravity is contributing mass to particles that have gravitational interaction.


Different test methods for evaluating hazards resulting from static charge development and static charge decay on protective clothing materials have been developed. These test methods involve both the application of electrical charge and the measurement of surface resistivity by means of surface electrodes. Misleading information can be produced utilizing the electrode charge decay method when a material has low conductivity. When a material has low conductivity, it is possible that either no charge is developed, or anomalous readings of static charge occur when in actuality no charging or discharging of the material has taken place. In addition, these methods do not employ techniques which simulate the conditions of actual use of a material. The triboelectric method developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), can be utilized to circumvent some of the shortcomings of the electrode methods. With the triboelectric method, static charge is developed on the test material by means of rubbing friction, thus simulating the manner of actual use of the protective garment. Reproducible application of static charge can be accomplished by way of a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) felt wheel which is rubbed against the test specimen for ten seconds. The peak voltage and charge decay rate for five seconds after cessation of rubbing are recorded. This paper gives a complete description of the test method, its development, applications, and provides results on a series of sample materials using this technique. Results of the triboelectric test method are also compared against other industry standards.


Conventional probabilistic models for phylogenetic inference assume that an evolutionary tree,andasinglesetofbranchlengthsandstochasticprocessofDNA evolutionare sufficient to characterise the generating process across an entire DNA alignment. Unfortunately such a simplistic, homogeneous formulation may be a poor description of reality when the data arise from heterogeneous processes. A well-known example is when sites evolve at heterogeneous rates. This thesis is a contribution to the modelling and understanding of heterogeneityin phylogenetic data. Weproposea methodfor the classificationof DNA sites based on Bayesian mixture modelling. Our method not only accounts for heterogeneous data but also identifies the underlying classes and enables their interpretation. We also introduce novel MCMC methodology with the same, or greater, estimation performance than existing algorithms but with lower computational cost. We find that our mixture model can successfully detect evolutionary heterogeneity and demonstrate its direct relevance by applying it to real DNA data. One of these applications is the analysis of sixteen strains of one of the bacterial species that cause Lyme disease. Results from that analysis have helped understanding the evolutionary paths of these bacterial strains and, therefore, the dynamics of the spread of Lyme disease. Our method is discussed in the context of DNA but it may be extendedto othertypesof molecular data. Moreover,the classification scheme thatwe propose is evidence of the breadth of application of mixture modelling and a step forwards in the search for more realistic models of theprocesses that underlie phylogenetic data.


Write as continuous text structured into three sections, headed: Background & Aims, Approach & Results and Conclusions. Do not exceed 250 words. Acronyms and abbreviations must be defined in the abstract to allow the abstract to stand alone. Please refrain from using statements of priority (such as "This is the first study to show..."). Introductory Statement Do not include a heading. Provide the minimum background information that will orient the general reader. Experimental Procedures Provide a level of detail such that another investigator could repeat the work; for methods that are used without significant modification, citation of the original work will suffice. • Human Subjects. For reports of research using human subjects, provide assurance that (a) informed consent in writing was obtained from each patient and (b) the study protocol conformed to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki as reflected in a priori approval by the appropriate institutional review committee. This assurance must be included in the main text of the manuscript rather than supplementary material. Refer to individual patients by number, not by initials. HEPATOLOGY will only accept papers for review from liver transplant centers that explicitly state that no donor organs were obtained from executed prisoners or other institutionalized persons. Papers without such explicit statements will be returned without review. • Clinical Trials. HEPATOLOGY uses the definition of clinical trials promulgated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, http://www.icmje.org): Any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to study the relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome. Health-related interventions are those used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome; examples include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, educational programs, dietary interventions, quality improvement interventions, and process-of-care changes. Health outcomes are any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events. • Randomized controlled trials should be presented according to the CONSORT guidelines http://www.consort-statement. org). Authors must provide the CONSORT checklist (found at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hep, under Instructions and Forms) with a diagram that illustrates the progress of patients through the trial, including recruitment, enrollment, randomization, withdrawal and completion, and a detailed description of the randomization procedure. Manuscripts that fail to comply with CONSORT guidelines or do not include the CONSORT checklist at the time of submission will not be reviewed for publication. Manuscripts describing randomized control trials should also include in the text of the manuscript the following information: The identity of those who designed the protocol and analyzed the data; A statement indicating that at least one author had access to all of the data and can vouch for the integrity of the data analyses; Disclosure of any funding sources and their role, if any, in the writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit it for publication; Statements of role, if any, of medical writer or editor. • Authors of manuscripts reporting clinical trials must submit a proof of institutional review board approval from all participating centers, the original approved protocol, patient information sheet and statistical analysis plan, and all subsequent amendments to either document. All these documents must be in English language. If the manuscript is accepted, the protocol and statistical analysis plan will be published as an online supplement. • HEPATOLOGY endorses the recommendations of the ICMJE regarding the registration of clinical trials. Trials must be registered in a registry that is a primary register of the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP) or in ClinicalTrials.gov, which is a data provider to the WHO ICTRP. The trial registration number must be included on the title page of any manuscript reporting a registered clinical trial. Trials should be registered by the time of first participant consent. • Systematic reviews and meta-analysis. HEPATOLOGY endorses the use of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) which can be found at http://www.prisma-statement.org/. • Animal Experimentation. In studies involving animal experimentation, provide assurance that all animals received humane care according to the criteria outlined in the "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals." This assurance must be included in the main text of the manuscript rather than supplementary material. Manuscripts that use mice and other in vivo experimental models should include the following information: • Sex and age of mice (or other in vivo experimental models) for all the experiments; • The genetic background(s) of the mice or other experimental in vivo models; • For transgenic or genetic mouse models, whether the controls were sibling littermates or were purchased separately (if purchased separately, were the animals cohoused to minimize potential microbiome effects); • Specifics of the animal diet composition; • Whether mice were fasted (and for how long) or not before a challenge or assessment is carried out; • Type of bedding, caging system, and enrichment used for housing the mice; and • If interventions were done, were they done during the light or dark cycle. • Nomenclature: follow standard gene and protein nomenclature. Mouse strains and cell lines should be italicized with first letter in uppercase, and superscript if they are knockout or transgenic strains, e.g., ob/ob(KO), p53+/+, p53-/-. Human genes should be uppercase and italicized. Human and mouse proteins should be uppercase. The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (https://www.genenames.org) and the mouse Guidelines for Nomencalture of Genes, Genetic Markers, Alleles, and Mutations in Mouse and Rat (https:www.informatics. jax.org) are useful resources.Statistical methods used should be outlined, in addition to if sex was considered a factor in the statistical analysis. • Elements of the ARRIVE Essential 10: Compliance Questionnaire should be reported (https://arriveguidelines.org/) • Data Deposition. HEPATOLOGY supports the use of databases to aggregate published data for the use of the wider scientific community, and endorses the policies first adopted by the Science journals regarding data deposition (http://www.sciencemag.org/ authors/science-journals-editorial-policies#data-deposition). Prior to publication, data sets (including microarray data, protein or DNA sequences) must be deposited in an approved database and an accession number or a specific access address must be included in the published paper. This information need not accompany the initially submitted manuscript but must be available for inclusion in the final publication. Accession numbers appear as footnotes to the text or in the relevant figure legend. We encourage compliance with MIBBI guidelines (Minimum Information for Biological and Biomedical Investigations) and FAIR reporting guidelines (https://www.openaire.eu/how-to-make-your-data-fair). • DNA and protein sequences: Approved databases are GenBank or other members of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (EMBL or DDBJ) and SWISSPROT. • Microarray data: Data should be presented in MIAME-compliant standard format. Approved databases are Gene Expression Omnibus and ArrayExpress. • It is understood that authors publishing in HEPATOLOGY will make cloned DNA, hybridomas, mutant animals, and other resources available to qualified investigators. Raw data submitted with a manuscript may only be electronically published and available to HEPATOLOGY readers at the Journal's Web site. • Cell Lines. Experiments utilizing cell lines should wherever possible be replicated in more than one cell line. When primary cell lines are utilized, at least three separate batches should be used. Whenever cell lines are used, authors should include the following information: • The source of the cells used: For established cell lines, this should include a reference to the published article that first described the cell line, or the cell line repository or company the cell line was obtained from, the catalogue number, and whether the cell line was obtained directly from the repository/ company or from another laboratory. • Cell line authentication is recommended – e.g., by karyotyping, isozyme analysis, or short tandem repeats (STR) analysis – and may be required during peer review or after publication. HEP_v75_i1_IFA.indd 2 12/14/2021 1:25:13 PM Where cell line authentication is carried out, this must be described in the methods section. Authors should be able to provide the test results upon request. Mycoplasma contamination testing status must also be reported. • In order to minimize the use of cross-contaminated or misidentified cell lines, authors should check established cell lines using the ICLAC Database of Cross-contaminated or Misidentified Cell Lines (https://iclac.org/databases/cross-contaminations/) • It has recently become clear that a number of commonly used HCC cell lines have become cross-contaminated with other cells, including HeLa, the oldest and most widely used human cell line, derived from a cervical carcinoma. For further details, please see the Editorial in the Journal of Hepatology (https:// www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(17)32206-7/ fulltext). For this reason, HEPATOLOGY will no longer consider BEL7402, SMMC7721, MHCC97L, BEL7404, QGY7701, QGY7703, QSG7701 and SKHEP1 as HCC cell lines, unless authors are authors are able to demonstrate their origin thro


Octahedral Pt-Ni catalyst nanoparticles (NPs) are predicted to exhibit high activity for the oxygen reduction reaction. However, until now this class of catalysts has been limited by its long-term performance, as a result of compositional and morphological instabilities of the NPs. In situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful technique for understanding morphological and compositional evolution under controlled conditions. It is of great importance to study the evolution of the morphology and elemental distribution in bimetallic NPs and their interaction with the support in reducing and oxidizing treatments at the atomic scale for the rational design of catalysts. Here, we use in situ TEM to follow dynamic changes in the NP morphology, faceting and elemental segregation under working conditions in previously unreported Pt-Ni core-shell octahedral structures. We follow changes in the Pt-Ni catalyst from a segregated structure to an alloyed shell configuration and then a more spherical structure as a function of temperature under reducing conditions. Exposure to an oxidizing environment then leads to oxidation of the C support, while the spherical NPs undergo a cycle of transformations into cubic NPs followed by the reaction to spherical NPs. The formation of the cubic NPs results from CO formation during C oxidation, before it is finally oxidized to CO2. Our observations may pave the way towards the design of optimized structure-stability electrocatalysts and highlight the importance of TEM visualization of degradation and transformation pathways in bimetallic Pt-Ni NPs under reducing and oxidizing conditions.


BACKGROUND
Aggression on haemodialysis units is a growing problem internationally that has received little research attention to date. Aggressive behaviour by patients or their relatives can compromise the safety and well-being of staff and other patients sharing a haemodialysis session.

OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the study were twofold: First, to identify the prevalance and nature of aggression on haemodialysis units; and second, to investigate factors that contribute to aggressive behaviour on haemodialysis units.

DESIGN AND METHODS
A cross-sectional, sequential mixed method research design was adopted, with two research methods utilised. Incidents of aggressive behaviour were recorded over a 12-month period, using a renal version of the Staff Observation Aggression Scale. Six months after the incident data collection had commenced, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 29 multidisciplinary members of staff.

RESULTS
Over 12 months, 74 aggressive incidents were recorded. The majority of incidents involved verbal aggression, and the perpetrators were a minority of patients, relatives and staff. Two patients were responsible for 38% of all incidents; both patients had mental health problems. Distinct temporal patterns to the aggressive behaviour were observed according to the day of the week and time of day.

CONCLUSION
This study demonstrates that aggression is a significant problem on haemodialysis units, with verbal aggression most prevalent. The temporal patterns to aggression observed are related to the uniqueness of the haemodialysis setting, with a distinctly different treatment environment compared with other healthcare settings.


Proposed work is focused on the design of a large scale application for products monitoring into airports. To guarantee an advanced and high performance solution, the architecture designed integrates Grid Computing, Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) and Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. The integrated platform is service oriented and tries to propose an architectural model that addresses the typical requirements of a modern Virtual Organization but providing, at the same time, the components based on resource limited technologies (WSN and RFID) with ad-hoc mechanisms for efficient energy management.


In considering the once highly visible and vibrant amateur film club culture of the United Kingdom the 1980s is arguably a pivotal, but controversial, historical decade in accounts of marginal film history. These years witnessed the end of the Scottish International Amateur Film Festival, a perceived sense and feeling of decline in club membership and vitality, and even a displacement of the film medium itself, with the arrival of domestic-level, narrow-video technology in the form of Betamax, VHS and other multifarious magnetic formats. Distinct feelings of loss are evident in amateur film journals of the time, while memories of the era among surviving practitioners are often characterised by senses of watershed and narratives of betrayal and distrust with manufacturers and consumer technology. This thesis through the discovery, analysis, and criticism of original visual and written empirical material will counter such understanding of the 1980s amateur cinema period, by exploring changing nomenclatures, technologies and leisure trends in this era. It will begin to define an increasingly diffuse, ambivalent and problematic narrative of this period, where many assumptions about traditional cinematographic, celluloid technology, the arrival of magnetic recording, and digital editing can be challenged.
'Common-sense', popular and individual accounts of this transitory era tend to argue that video was a predominant factor in the overall cultural amnesia that the amateur social world experienced. The critical endeavour of this thesis will be to construct a sophisticated and nuanced narrative of this time that counters and challenges elements of these accounts. Rather than asking what magnetic recording, or video, limited, I will discuss what it inspired and what it promoted in a scene that contrary to popular belief actually flourished, and was invigorated, by the new narrow technology on offer. That there is such discordance between different methodological processes also poses a series of larger meta-historiographical concerns around the primacy of oral history and assumptions of reliability. Questions around the diffusion and dissemination of novel technology into existent specific cultural practices will also be at the forefront of analysis.
This project collates amateur film texts (archival and internet-based) and amateur journal material (Movie Maker, Making Better Movies, Videomaker and Amateur Film Maker) in providing an alternative narrative of these developments. Emphasis will be placed on both a specific canon of amateur videos identified within the holdings of the IAC Film and Video Institute Library, and by a collection of interviews with prominent amateur film-makers, whose practice has been permanently shaped by their experience of the transitions in the 1980s. Conjunctural readings of film form, technology, genre, aesthetics, production behaviour, and practice will be developed and illustrated through reference to this canon, with a view to extending the existing historiography of amateur cinema in the UK. Focus will be placed on periodising the amateur's transitory practice, behaviour and language from the film, to the video, to the digital era, and challenging assumptions of decline, contraction and anachronism. Questions centre on three distinct phases of amateur cinematography and new practice indexed by technological innovation: the obsolescence of film technology in the late-1970s; the impact of early three-way video systems in the 1980s and; the use of computer editing software in the mid-1990s. Considering the prior status and vitality of UK amateur film-making, the thesis will expose a hidden history of amateur film-making post-celluloid, and place considerable emphasis and value on this under-researched and burgeoning area of interdisciplinary scholarship. In conclusion, the thesis will provide an important examination of the transitory stage between film and new digital technologies, and promote further public and academic engagement with this lost leisure community. With a recent focus on digital humanities, the bridge that early narrow-track video technology creates, between amateur cinema's celluloid-past and digital future, remains a significant area for exploration. Three narrative arcs follow, each containing an illustrative micro-historical case study, alongside critical writings on language, behaviour and practice specific to video technology and the magnetic image. These arcs will explore and extrapolate the larger attitudes and values of a social world that underwent technological shifts, not necessarily perceived as positive, or progressive.


This paper is a summary of a research project to investigate the relationships between women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and sport. A conflict between sport providers' perceptions of the needs of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and the views of the women themselves was found. Providers generally perceived the problem of low participation in sport as relating to the women's culture (a cultural deficit explanation); whereas, the women interviewed mainly associated their low participation rates with non-inclusionary practices engaged in by providers.


Bridget Coughlin, PhD, is vice president of strategic partnerships and programs and adjunct curator at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Bridget is responsible for the Museum's strategic fundraising and membership activities as well as overseeing a diverse array of innovative and engaging education programs. In this regard, Coughlin works collaboratively with dozens of individuals and organizations to ensure the Museum is financially sound and sustainable for generations to come. Her passion is creating engaging museum experiences that bring out everyone's inner scientist. Coughlin joined the Museum in 2005 after working for five years at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. At the Museum, she served as the curator and science advisor on the team that conceived, designed, and built the award‐winning exhibition, Expedition Health. She holds a bachelor of arts from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, and a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Iowa Howard Hughes Medical Institute.


Having previously established the effective dose of intrathecal morphine for relief of postcholecystectomy pain, we determined in this study the effective dose of epidural morphine for relief of postcholecystectomy pain in 154 patients given epidural injections of a placebo (group 1, n = 49), 2 mg morphine (group 2, n = 54), or 4 mg morphine (group 3, n = 51) intraoperatively mixed in 1.5% lidocaine. The percentage of patients who did not request an analgesic, 30 mg IM pentazocine, for relief of pain during the first 24 postoperative hours was significantly greater in groups 2 and 3 than in group 1. In patients who did need 30 mg IM pentazocine postoperatively, the number of times pentazocine was administered was also significantly greater in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3. The percentage of patients developing respiratory depression OY vomiting in the first 48 postoperative hours was similar in the three groups. Based on the present data and those we previously reported for intrathecal morphine, we conclude that an epidural morphine dose of 2–4 mg and an intrathecal morphine dose of 0.06–0.12 mg are equipotent for relief of postcholecystectomy pain.


A major obstacle in the development of computer visionbased interfaces is the uncertainty in the image data. Guaranteeing reliable program behavior while the inputs cannot be relied upon to take any specific values is desirable but extremely challenging. We have experimented with various strategies for addressing this problem in a controlled environment and have identified some that we find promising. Using visual tags, we encode object attributes, capture them with a camera, and read them. The test applications are implemented as Macromedia Director movies with Lingo scripting, while the image analysis module is implemented in C++ as a Lingo Xtra. We conclude that evaluation through rigorous experimentation and testing is a suitable approach for discovering techniques that work well and the conditions that maximize the chances for optimal performance.


The Elephant in the Room is a collection of short stories that creatively communicate the cancer patient's journey. The stories, based on real-life accounts, are built around the idiosyncratic relationships between patients and their doctors. Using humor, empathy and wisdom, Jonathan Waxman explores the very human side of cancer as well as providing expert commentary on the clinical aspects of diagnosis and therapy of this disease. These stories comfort and entertain, inform and engage, and are a treat to read for anyone whose life has been affected by cancer.


In recent years proposals have been made for an international convention that would facilitate a smooth recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in intellectual property matters. Like all of these proposals, the American Law Institute's preliminary version, short titled "Draft Principles" published in March 2007, strives to eliminate most hurdles to recognition and enforcement by providing rules for jurisdiction, choice of law and coordination of multi-territorial actions. As long as the rules are applied by the court that issues a judgment (the "rendering court"), most of the obstacles to recognition and enforcement − differing jurisdictional rules and choice of law rules of various countries − are eliminated. Therefore, absent some fundamental problems in the legal system of the rendering court, such as its lack of impartiality or integrity, the only remaining possible defense to recognition and enforcement of the judgment is the public policy exception.


The effect of increasing fertilizer dosages on the yield of eight different maize hybrids (SY Ondina, NK Kansas, NK Lucius, NK Octet, NK Thermo, SY Flovita, SY Brillio, NX 47279) has been investigated in the crop-year of 2011. According to our results it can be stated that contrarily to the control treatment the application of different nutrient-levels has resulted a significant yield increment (2 000–5 800 kg ha-1).Based upon the results of this experiment we have drawn the conclusion that the nutrient level of 120 kg N+PK was the optimal for the investigated hybrids. The highest yield (14 475 kg ha-1–15 963 kg ha-1) of the hybrids with different genotypes has been produced in case of this fertilizer treatment. With the comparison of the control and the optimum-fertilizer treatments the yield-increasing effect of mineral fertilization and the different reaction of hybrids towards increasing fertilizer dosages have been proven. In case of the control treatments the best-yielding hybrids were NK Thermo (11 917 kg ha-1) and NX 47279 (11 617 kg ha-1). Contrarily on the optimal nutrient supply level the hybrids SY Brillio (15 876 kg ha-1) and NX 47279 (15 963 kg ha-1) have produced the highest yields. Summarizing, we can state that the hybrid NX 47279 has resulted stable and high yields in the fertilized treatments. Analysing the yield-increasing effect of 1 kg fertilizer active substance it was proven, that the hybrids SY Flovita (45.43 kg ha-1), SY Brillio (44.47 kg ha-1) and NX 47279 (42.33 kg ha-1) had a good reaction towards even lower nutrient supply levels as well. In case of the control treatment the average water utilization coefficient of the hybrids was significantly lower (35.2 kg mm-1), than in case of the optimal nutrient supply level (N120+PK) treatments (48.9 kg mm-1).Therefore the hybrid specific difference between the water utilization of genotypes could be revealed.


ABSTRACT In order to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the sensor used in complex concrete materials, an innovative application of ultrasonic phased array detection for a concrete structure was investigated. Comparing with the traditional piezoelectric composites, orthotropic piezoelectric composite material (OPCM) can be used as transducers in damage detection show clear advantages because of their high sensitivity and directivity along the polarization direction. A low frequency ultrasonic phased array transducer consisting of 16 OPCM elements is studied. The optimal array parameters, such as the phased array element interval, the array element width, and number of elements, are obtained by studying the total displacement changes as various parameters change at the focus point in the concrete structure. This configuration allowed the variation and control of the wave field directivity in the concrete structure during the measurements. The measurements were taken on concrete specimens using a precise time-delay device. The experimental measurements were compared to theoretical calculations to investigate the influence of different array element parameters. The results show that an OPCM phased array transducer can be used to detect damage in a concrete block.


Differential privacy has become a widely accepted notion of privacy, leading to the introduction and deployment of numerous privatization mechanisms. However, ensuring the privacy guarantee is an error-prone process, both in designing mechanisms and in implementing those mechanisms. Both types of errors will be greatly reduced, if we have a data-driven approach to verify privacy guarantees, from a black-box access to a mechanism. We pose it as a property estimation problem, and study the fundamental trade-offs involved in the accuracy in estimated privacy guarantees and the number of samples required. We introduce a novel estimator that uses polynomial approximation of a carefully chosen degree to optimally trade-off bias and variance. With $n$ samples, we show that this estimator achieves performance of a straightforward plug-in estimator with $n \ln n$ samples, a phenomenon referred to as effective sample size amplification. The minimax optimality of the proposed estimator is proved by comparing it to a matching fundamental lower bound.


A simulation method is presented to improve small craft harbour design by studying the behaviour of moored vessels in small craft harbours, using physical modelling in medium size wave basins, available at most laboratories. Instead of carrying the study in an agitation model with noored vessel models and built in a large wave basin at a large geometric scale, it is performed in two consecutive models of different scales, in a medium size basin. Transfer functions of vessel movements and mooring and fender forces are determined in the first model, for representative types of vessels moored alternately at a solitary berth, under simulated inside harbour conditions and for various sea states and directions. Near berth wave spectra are obtained in the second (agitation) model for sea states covering the local climate. Integration of the wave spectra with the transfer functions leads to response spectra of vessel movements and forces. Finally, maximum movements and forces are determined from the response spectra and are used together with limiting criteria and the long term wave statistics to choose the optimum configuration of: harbour layout, types of berth structures and mooring and fendering systems.


Western medical acupuncture is a therapeutic modality involving the insertion of fine needles; it is an adaptation of Chinese acupuncture using current knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pathology, and the principles of evidence based medicine. While Western medical acupuncture has evolved from Chinese acupuncture, its practitioners no longer adhere to concepts such as Yin/Yang and circulation of qi, and regard acupuncture as part of conventional medicine rather than a complete "alternative medical system". It acts mainly by stimulating the nervous system, and its known modes of action include local antidromic axon reflexes, segmental and extrasegmental neuromodulation, and other central nervous system effects. Western medical acupuncture is principally used by conventional healthcare practitioners, most commonly in primary care. It is mainly used to treat musculoskeletal pain, including myofascial trigger point pain. It is also effective for postoperative pain and nausea. Practitioners of Western medical acupuncture tend to pay less attention than classical acupuncturists to choosing one point over another, though they generally choose classical points as the best places to stimulate the nervous system. The design and interpretation of clinical studies is constrained by lack of knowledge of the appropriate dosage of acupuncture, and the likelihood that any form of needling used as a usual control procedure in "placebo controlled" studies may be active. Western medical acupuncture justifies an unbiased evaluation of its role in a modern health service.


BACKGROUND
Periodontopathic clinical markers are poorly understood in the pediatric population. Several studies have proposed Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) and an antibody response to the microorganism as factors in periodontal tissue destruction in children. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of P. gingivalis in dental plaque and of serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels to P. gingivalis, and their relationship to periodontal clinical measures in children.

METHODS
Thirty-one subjects, aged 20 to 163 months, participated in this study. Clinical measures examined included gingivitis, plaque, alveolar bone height, age, gender, ethnicity, medical status, caries, and IgG antibody levels to P. gingivalis. Five ml of blood was collected for serum analysis, and IgG antibody levels to P. gingivalis were determined by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Plaque samples were examined for the presence of P. gingivalis by DNA-DNA checkerboard. Data were analyzed on a person-level basis for relationships to serum IgG antibody levels to P. gingivalis and on a site-specific level for relationships to the presence of P. gingivalis in plaque.

RESULTS
A majority (77%) of the subjects were systemically healthy, non-white (74%), and did not have detectable P. gingivalis in their plaque. Fifty-two percent of the subjects had positive serum IgG antibody levels to P. gingivalis. Based on univariate linear regression, factors related to IgG antibody levels to P. gingivalis (P<0.05) included age, average gingival index (GI), average probing depth, and number of teeth with alveolar bone crest to cemento-enamel junction (ABC-CEJ) distances >2 mm. When all clinical measures were considered together, only age remained statistically significantly related to serum IgG antibody levels to P. gingivalis.

CONCLUSIONS
Age is one of the most important factors in the development of the immune response to putative microorganisms such as P. gingivalis in children. The role of IgG as a time-sensitive measure of periodontal health in children needs to be investigated further.


Teaching staff in higher education institutions throughout the world are increasingly faced with large cohorts to teach. It can therefore be difficult to implement the seven principles of good practice identified by Chickering & Gamson (1987). Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) can potentially assist tutors in delivering such good practice. Both direct and indirect links between the use of EVS and Chickering & Gamson"s seven principles can be made. Direct links map strongly between the principle and the use of EVS, whereas indirect links evoke other mechanisms or suggest a secondary role for EVS within teaching practice. Direct links occur between encouraging active learning and giving prompt feedback, by removing the lack of anonymity to responding in class and rapid collation of student responses to questions. Indirect links include emphasising time on task and communicating high expectations. It is argued that EVS offers significant potential towards supporting good practice in undergraduate education.


Big game can damage crops and compete with livestock for valuable forage. Ranchers have reported their tolerance for big game would increase if the animals could be prevented from using key areas critical for livestock use. Likewise, some farmers have high value areas and crops that must be protected. Fences provide the most consistent long term control compared to other deterrent methods, but are costly to erect. Traditional complete construction of game fences cost more than $9,000 per kilometer for materials. Costs of erecting deer proof fencing can be greatly reduced if an existing fence is modified instead of being replaced entirely. The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of modifying existing fences to prohibit deer (Odocoileus spp.) and elk (Cervus elaphus) crossings. Forty exclosures were constructed to test 4 different fence modifications across southwest Montana. Exclosures were baited and monitored for two winters to determine how well they detered ungulate crossings. Results indicate effective modifications can be made to existing fences for $827 $2187 per kilometer for materials. Different designs proved to have varying levels of effectiveness, with 1.8 m woven wire being 100% effective. These fences are a cost-effective way to fence out wildlife in many high-value areas where traditional fences are not practical. If farmers and ranchers can keep big game out of important foraging areas, their tolerance for these animals on the rest of their property may increase as depredation losses decrease.


Ensembling neural networks is an effective way to increase accuracy, and can often match the performance of individual larger models. This observation poses a natural question: given the choice between a deep ensemble and a single neural network with similar accuracy, is one preferable over the other? Recent work suggests that deep ensembles may offer distinct benefits beyond predictive power: namely, uncertainty quantification and robustness to dataset shift. In this work, we demonstrate limitations to these purported benefits, and show that a single (but larger) neural network can replicate these qualities. First, we show that ensemble diversity, by any metric, does not meaningfully contribute to an ensemble's uncertainty quantification on out-of-distribution (OOD) data, but is instead highly correlated with the relative improvement of a single larger model. Second, we show that the OOD performance afforded by ensembles is strongly determined by their in-distribution (InD) performance, and -- in this sense -- is not indicative of any"effective robustness". While deep ensembles are a practical way to achieve improvements to predictive power, uncertainty quantification, and robustness, our results show that these improvements can be replicated by a (larger) single model.


One of the challenges facing coastal zone managers and municipal planners is the development of an objective, quantitative assessment of the risk to structures, infrastructure, and public safety that coastal communities face from storm surge in the presence of changing climatic conditions, particularly sea level rise and coastal erosion. Here we use state of the art modeling tool (ADCIRC and STWAVE) to predict storm surge and wave, combined with shoreline change maps (erosion), and damage functions to construct a Coastal Environmental Risk Index (CERI). Access to the state emergency data base (E-911) provides information on structure characteristics and the ability to perform analyses for individual structures. CERI has been designed as an on line Geographic Information System (GIS) based tool, and hence is fully compatible with current flooding maps, including those from FEMA. The basic framework and associated GIS methods can be readily applied to any coastal area. The approach can be used by local and state planners to objectively evaluate different policy options for effectiveness and cost/benefit. In this study, CERI is applied to RI two communities; Charlestown representing a typical coastal barrier system directly exposed to ocean waves and high erosion rates, with predominantly low density single family residences and Warwick located within Narragansett Bay, with more limited wave exposure, lower erosion rates, and higher residential housing density. Results of these applications are highlighted herein.


Summary Hysteria (Briquet's Syndrome) and sociopathy cluster in the same families instead of segregating as independent traits. Assortative mating between hysterics and sociopaths increases the observed similarity between relatives, but the familial association between sociopathy and hysteria remains after taking assortative mating into account. The Multifactorial Model of Disease Transmission with three thresholds related to severity and sex accounts for population and family data about sociopathic men, sociopathic women, and women with hysteria. The data were obtained for 227 first-degree relatives and for 800 subjects in the general population. Depending on the sex of the individual and its severity, the same aetiological process may lead to different, sometimes overlapping, clinical pictures. Specifically, analysis indicates that hysteria in women is a more prevalent and less deviant manifestation of the same process that causes sociopathy in women.


Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) is a medicinal plant that is also used in the brewing of beer for flavor, stability, and process. Economically valued secondary metabolites produced in floral organs and especially in trichomatous glands of cones are the focus of breeding and metabolic engineering. To facilitate these efforts several phenotyping methods were developed for hops, including (1) high throughput digital-morphometrics, (2) ultra high performance liquid chromatography, and (3) capillary liquid chromatography coupled to positive-mode electrospray ionization quadrapole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (capLC-ESI-QToF-MS). These methods were demonstrated by application to morphological and metabolic changes occurring upon treatment of hops with prohexidione-calcium (Pro-Ca). Hop plants of two varieties, 'Willamette' and 'Zeus', were treated with Pro-Ca at a range of dosage levels (50-450 ppm) and treatment time-points (early-, middle-, and late- stages of flowering) to determine the most effective parameters for Pro-Ca application to hops. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, which revealed significant differences between control and treated samples. When hop plants were treated with low doses of Pro-Ca during late-stages of flowering we detected agronomically-positive effects, namely: (1) a 14.6% increase in cone yield (kgs/hectare) in 'Willamette' (p=0.025), and (2) a 30-48% increase in desmethylxanthohumol, xanthohumol, humulones, and lupulones in 'Zeus' (p<0.001). Preliminary metabolic profiling of treated 'Willamette' hop cones by capLC-ESI-QToF-MS evidenced many metabolic changes that suggest Pro-Ca inhibition of hop FHT.


The debate concerning face veiling has been brought in to view by several governments in Europe. Luca Mavelli studies the debate regarding the burqa using the concept of securitization and from that the objective of this study is to analyze the medial- and the political discourse in Sweden regarding the burqa. The formulated questions drawn from this is; who are the securitizing actors? According to the securitization actors, who can de defined as a referent object? Wherein is the threat according to the securitizing actors? Is it possible to recognize a difference between the medial and the political discourse?Furthermore the paper adopts the theoretical framework that is the concept of securitization, formulated by the Copenhagen School of security. The methodological foundation is based on a social constructivist approach and consequently uses Norman Faircloughs critical discourse analyzes as an analytical tool. Conclusions show that the two discourses often express similar results but a difference is apparent in how the debate is presented. Representatives of the political parties are defined as securitizing actors and to a certain degree so is the media. Furthermore, according to the securitizing actors the referent objects are Swedish traditions and culture, the threat lies in the values that are attached to the burqa.


Summary 1. Riparian management has been embraced by water and land managers globally to offset the deleterious effects of intensive agricultural land use on aquatic ecosystems. However, the documented responses of stream communities to riparian management have been variable, particularly in highly degraded systems. 2. We used boosted regression trees and structural equation models to assess the effects of riparian condition and stream size on the invertebrate communities of 64 agricultural waterways on the Canterbury Plains, New Zealand. We hypothesized that small streams would be more degraded than larger waterways but would show a greater increase in the abundance of pollution-sensitive aquatic invertebrates in response to riparian management. We also predicted that land-use legacies of poor in-stream habitat would reduce the effectiveness of current riparian management. The two strongest determinants of community structure were primarily in-stream habitat, where sedimentation and low water velocity had negative impacts on stream communities, and stream size, with smaller waterways generally more impacted than large waterways. Not surprisingly, with >150 years of agriculture and patchy riparian management on the plains, current management has not greatly improved in-stream habitat and thus had little effect on the abundance of sensitive aquatic insect (EPT) taxa. 3. Managed streams did, however, have more pollution-sensitive communities in general. This was largely mediated by decreased stream temperature, narrower ⁄ deeper channels and greater organic matter resources in streams with riparian planting and restricted stock access. Thus, if water velocity and sedimentation issues can be mitigated, then riparian management should become more effective. 4. Synthesis and applications. Within the context of a degraded agricultural landscape, we identified factors limiting the effectiveness of riparian management for stream invertebrate communities. Riparian management should primarily target and protect small streams and those without degraded in-stream habitat. Intensive management, such as in-stream habitat or channel morphology modification, may be needed to address historical factors (e.g. low velocity and sedimentation), which otherwise may continue to limit community recovery.


European space industry is a highly institutionalized and resource demanding sector. The potential for new business opportunities and innovation seems still not to be fully exploited and requires a special attention when it comes to support of SMEs or start-ups. Hereby presented business report on Valorisation in the Dutch Space Sector provides a hands-on tool for practitioners and decision-makers active or who would like to start a business in this particular high-tech domain. This practitioners-oriented publication represents a summary of a PhD research conducted in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) and the Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI). It covers four PhD studies including practical recommendations in domains such as entrepreneurship, business incubation and mechanisms, or the role of public technology incentives and public resource redistribution.


In a study of whether oscillations in plasma glucose and insulin occur in human beings, plasma samples were taken at one-minute intervals from 10 normal subjects for periods lasting between one and two hours. In five subjects the basal plasma insulin concentrations cycled regularly, with a mean period of 13 minutes and mean amplitude of 1.6 mU per liter (11.5 pmol per liter). A concurrent plasma glucose cycle was demonstrated, with a mean amplitude (after averaging to minimize random error) of 0.05 mmol per liter (1 mg per decliter). The average plasma glucose cycle was two minutes in advance of the plasma insulin. In the subjects with less regular plasma insulin cycles, a similar plasma glucose rise was demonstrated two minutes before the insulin rise. These phase relations are compatible with the presence of a negative-feedback loop between the liver and pancreatic beta cells that regulates both basal plasma insulin and glucose concentrations, although the cyclic beta-cell secretion could be independent of plasma glucose.


When using a model to predict the behavior of a physical system of interest, engineers must be confident that, under the conditions of interest, the model is an adequate representation of the system. The process of building this confidence is called model validation. It requires that engineers have knowledge about the system and conditions of interest, properties of the model and their own tolerance for uncertainty in the predictions. To reduce time and costs, engineers often reuse preexisting models that other engineers have developed. However, if the user lacks critical parts of this knowledge, model validation can be as time consuming and costly as developing a similar model from scratch. In this article, we describe a general process for performing model validation for reused behavioral models that overcomes this problem by relying on the formalization and exchange of knowledge. We identify the critical elements of this knowledge, discuss how to represent it and demonstrate the overall process on a simple engineering example.


A range of clearance procedures were tested for solvent gel formulations containing Ethomeen (a non-volatile surfactant) that were designed to remove varnish from a simulated canvas painting aged naturally for 12 years and an 18th century painting fragment. The experiment followed typical procedures used by conservators for varnish removal from paintings. Qualitative analysis of samples of paint using gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) indicated the presence of residual Ethomeen after all the clearance procedures tested. Specific clearance procedures removed components of the Ethomeen formulation differentially. Clearance using the solvent mixture in the gel removed more surfactant than other procedures tested. Surfactant residues were more effectively removed from the simulated canvas painting than the 18th century paint film. Examination of the surface of paint and varnish using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) suggested that the solvents used for clearance influenced the surface appearance of the painting. Similar surface changes in the simulated canvas painting were observed after treatment with gels followed by clearance with solvent mixtures and using solvents alone for varnish removal. Recommendation for future study include the long term effects of residual components of Ethomeen formulations on oil paint.


The mrp (multidrug resistance protein) gene has been associated with the multidrug resistance of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. To gain information on its physiological role, embryonic stem cells were used to generate mice homozygous for a disruption of the mrp gene, resulting in complete abrogation of mrp expression. No physiological abnormalities were observed, at least up to 4 months of age. Viability, fertility, and a range of histological, hematological, and serum-chemical parameters were similar in mrp(+/+) and mrp(-/-) mice. mrp(-/-) mice displayed an increased sensitivity to etoposide phosphate (2-fold) accompanied by greater bone marrow toxicity, whereas the acute toxicity of sodium arsenite was equivalent in mrp(+/+) and mrp(-/-) mice. Tissue levels of glutathione (GSH) were elevated in breast, lung, heart, kidney, muscle, colon, testes, bone marrow cells, blood mononuclear leukocytes, and blood erythrocytes of mrp(-/-) mice and were unchanged in organs known to express little if any mrp, such as the liver and small intestine. The increase in GSH was not due to an increase in the activity of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase, the rate-limiting enzyme for GSH synthesis. The findings demonstrate that mrp is dispensable for development and growth but exerts a role in drug detoxification and GSH metabolism.


A healthy work-life balance has become increasingly important to people trying to cope with the pressures of contemporary society. This trend highlights the fallacy of assessing well-being in terms of finance alone; how much time we have matters just as much as how much money. The authors of this book have developed a novel way to measure 'discretionary time': time which is free to spend as one pleases. Exploring data from the US, Australia, Germany, France, Sweden and Finland, they show that temporal autonomy varies substantially across different countries and under different living conditions. By calibrating how much control people have over their time, and how much they could have under alternative welfare, gender or household arrangements, this book offers a new perspective for comparative cross-national enquiries into the temporal aspects of human welfare.


In this paper, we propose a kinetic model of traffic flow with uncertain binary interactions, which explains the scattering of the fundamental diagram in terms of the macroscopic variability of aggregate quantities, such as the mean speed and the flux of the vehicles, produced by the microscopic uncertainty. Moreover, we design control strategies at the level of the microscopic interactions among the vehicles, by which we prove that it is possible to dampen the propagation of such an uncertainty across the scales. Our analytical and numerical results suggest that the aggregate traffic flow may be made more ordered, hence predictable, by implementing such control protocols in driver-assist vehicles. Remarkably, they also provide a precise relationship between a measure of the macroscopic damping of the uncertainty and the penetration rate of the driver-assist technology in the traffic stream.


Quality is often claimed as the 3rd dimension of any project: the success of a project depends on the management of time, cost and quality. However, quality is a much more elusive substance and its management can be problematic. This thesis examines some of the models proposed for managing quality in projects and considers their relevance via a number of case studies. The present study aims to provide a foundation from which a methodology for the management of quality in projects can be evolved. The general definition of "quality" is still discussed and its interpretation in the specific area of project management is open to debate. In this thesis it has been found useful to consider three levels of quality management in the project environment, broadly equivalent to those usually accepted in operations management: quality control, quality assurance and total quality management. Various methods of quality control have been employed in projects for many years. The emphasis of the present study is on the project management equivalents of quality assurance and total quality management and to examine whether they fulfil the true need. A major element of successful quality management is the establishing of constructive methods of feedback. Feedback is also often claimed to be a vital ingredient of successful project management: learning from past successes, and failures. A conduit to provide feedback is often problematic due to the very nature of projects and their finite lifespan. Mainstream thinking believes that standard quality systems employed in the production and operation environment can be incorporated effectively in project management thus increasing operational consistency and reducing the risk of activity or project failure. However, is the model of quality embedded in these systems relevant to projects with their characteristics of uniqueness and long time scales? Initial debate assumed that existing quality management systems would be of benefit in projects, which exhibited a lower level of uniqueness and were closer to an operations management perspective. A literature review followed to gauge the level of importance attached to quality systems and its role in the project process. This determined that there was a need to investigate what existing quality systems, contributed in a purely project environment and what impact they had on improving project success especially in regard to the uniqueness of the projects and to the size of the project organization involved. In addition, the impact an industry-standard quality system had on project organizations compared to project organizations that did not possesses any formal system. To compare and contrast the conventional approach to quality in projects, the complementary areas of systems thinking and system dynamics were explored. Examining an alternative field to quality management was beneficial in providing a different perspective on how systems can be modelled evaluated and applied to real-world applications. This part of the research contributed significantly to the formation of the ideas and opinions on the way in which the concept of quality should be promoted in project management. In particular, the identification of mental models and the use of graphical representations to describe, illustrate and model the tangible and intangible entities found in most types of system. The use of a case study methodology was seen as the most valid way of attaining a holistic view of the complete project process and exploring the salient issues surrounding quality and projects. The fieldwork carried out to facilitate this goal, comprised of a restricted number of in-depth case studies, which encapsulated complete projects. An essential part of this process was the use of participant observation and in part action research, as these approaches increased the access to the available qualitative data whilst being mutually beneficial to the research and to the organisations involved. The scope of the case studies carried out was governed by a number of constraints: • The availability of suitable projects. • The timespan of the available projects matching that of the research, consequently the projects studied are on a relatively small scale. • The organizations in which the action research process could be a valid exchange of services. • The reluctance of organizations in certain industries to allow access to data on projects in particular activities that had led to project failure. The alternative models and techniques offered by systems thinking and system dynamics were explored to see if they could deliver more insights into the diverse aspects of project quality and how feedback in systems can be effectively represented. From the four case studies carried out, it is evident that there is a need for a fundamental revision on how quality is both defined and measured in project management. There is a need for greater emphasis on the acquisition and retention of knowledge by project organizations including the ability to disperse that knowledge by a practical and useful medium. Existing quality management systems still exhibit their origins, which do not take into account the uniqueness and instability of the project environment. In practice, the demand for registration to an industry-recognised quality standard appears to discriminate against the smaller project organization. The impact on the larger organizations is no less significant due to the creation of 'underground' parallel working practices, which are a significant waste of resources. The veneer of compliance to a global standard does not help the project organization learn or accumulate knowledge. In conclusion, this thesis proposes that project management needs an alternative methodology to provide a more practical method of project feedback, to enhance the ability of future projects. This thesis puts forward a foundation for this methodology based upon the valuable attributes of the models identified during the research in addition to the value of the case studies compiled. The aim for the implementation of a practical quality system has to be based on a reappraisal of what its purpose is. Therefore, it is proposed that the objective of any system would be to capture knowledge, store and redistribute that knowledge in a manner that makes a positive contribution to future project success. Emphasis is placed on increasing success by the acquisition of knowledge, in contrast to the traditional quality concepts of decreasing risk by the control of activities. In essence a shift from existing mechanistic systems towards more neurocybernetic systems. The increasing capabilities of communication and information technologies make the practicalities of creating this type of system perfectly feasible.


Deep reinforcement learning methods traditionally struggle with tasks where environment rewards are particularly sparse. One successful method of guiding exploration in these domains is to imitate trajectories provided by a human demonstrator. However, these demonstrations are typically collected under artificial conditions, i.e. with access to the agent's exact environment setup and the demonstrator's action and reward trajectories. Here we propose a two-stage method that overcomes these limitations by relying on noisy, unaligned footage without access to such data. First, we learn to map unaligned videos from multiple sources to a common representation using self-supervised objectives constructed over both time and modality (i.e. vision and sound). Second, we embed a single YouTube video in this representation to construct a reward function that encourages an agent to imitate human gameplay. This method of one-shot imitation allows our agent to convincingly exceed human-level performance on the infamously hard exploration games Montezuma's Revenge, Pitfall! and Private Eye for the first time, even if the agent is not presented with any environment rewards.


Many decision problems in science, engineering and economics are affected by uncertain parameters whose distribution is only indirectly observable through samples. The goal of data-driven decision-making is to learn a decision from finitely many training samples that will perform well on unseen test samples. This learning task is difficult even if all training and test samples are drawn from the same distribution---especially if the dimension of the uncertainty is large relative to the training sample size. Wasserstein distributionally robust optimization seeks data-driven decisions that perform well under the most adverse distribution within a certain Wasserstein distance from a nominal distribution constructed from the training samples. In this tutorial we will argue that this approach has many conceptual and computational benefits. Most prominently, the optimal decisions can often be computed by solving tractable convex optimization problems, and they enjoy rigorous out-of-sample and asymptotic consistency guarantees. We will also show that Wasserstein distributionally robust optimization has interesting ramifications for statistical learning and motivates new approaches for fundamental learning tasks such as classification, regression, maximum likelihood estimation or minimum mean square error estimation, among others.


This article analyzes the international image of Brazil as projected in the foreign media coverage of the two World Cups held in the country through the theoretical framework of nation branding and competitive identity. Brazil hosted the 1950 and the 2014 FIFA World Cups as a strategy to improve its international image. This article uses content and discourse analysis of international media articles to show that, as a public diplomacy strategy, hosting the Cups was a big success. There was an increase in the visibility of Brazil in both years because of the Cups, but there was also a change in the frames used to describe Brazil, from the economy and culture to politics, and a change in tone, from positive to negative. The use of stereotypes about Brazil also became more frequent in 2014.


Developmental modes, occurrence and distribution patterns of invertebrate larvae were studied in the Subantarctic Magellan region of South America on the basis of quantitative plankton hauls obtained during the 'Victor Hensen' campaign in November 1994. The meroplankton commu- nity was found to be numerically dominated by decapod crustacean larvae (47%), followed by poly- chaetes (20%), echinoderms (16%), cirripedes (8%) and molluscs (7%). A rich decapod community was detected, with 2 thalassinid, 5 brachyuran, 4 anomuran, 6 caridean, 1 astacid and 1 palinurid species/morphotypes identified. Cluster analyses clearly distinguished deep-water stations (250 to 400 m) south of the Straits of Magellan from shallow-water stations (30 to 100 m) in the Beagle Channel, where meroplankton was dominated by decapod larvae (> 90%). Three main larval developmental modes, characterised by morphogenesis, mode of larval nutrition and site of larval development, were observed in Magellan decapods: (1) Extended, planktotrophic development of planktonic larvae; (2) abbreviated, planktotrophic development of planktonic larvae; and (3) abbre- viated, endotrophic (lecithotrophic) development of demersally living larvae. Several caridean shrimps with abbreviated larval development, which have congeners in the Antarctic, suggest a strong synchronisation between abbreviated planktotrophic larval development and short periods of primary production. This seems to be an essential factor in early life history adaptation for the colonisation of the Antarctic environment. The impoverished Antarctic decapod fauna, with only a few representatives of caridean shrimp species left, may be related to the lack in flexibility of reptant decapods in distributing energy resources between adults and their offspring, which would allow abbreviated planktotrophic larval development.


Abstract. Inter-annual variability in primary production and ecosystem respiration was explored using eddy-covariance data at a semi-arid savanna site in the Kruger Park, South Africa. New methods of extrapolating night-time respiration to the entire day and filling gaps in eddy-covariance data in semi-arid systems were developed. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) in these systems occurs as pulses associated with rainfall events, a pattern not well-represented in current standard gap-filling procedures developed primarily for temperate flux sites. They furthermore do not take into account the decrease in respiration at high soil temperatures. An artificial neural network (ANN) model incorporating these features predicted measured fluxes accurately (MAE 0.42 gC/m2/day), and was able to represent the seasonal patterns of photosynthesis and respiration at the site. The amount of green leaf area (indexed using satellite-derived estimates of fractional interception of photosynthetically active radiation fAPAR), and the timing and magnitude of rainfall events, were the two most important predictors used in the ANN model. These drivers were also identified by multiple linear regressions (MLR), with strong interactive effects. The annual integral of the filled NEE data was found to range from −138 to +155 g C/m2/y over the 5 year eddy covariance measurement period. When applied to a 25 year time series of meteorological data, the ANN model predicts an annual mean NEE of 75(±105) g C/m2/y. The main correlates of this inter-annual variability were found to be variation in the amount of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR), length of the growing season, and number of days in the year when moisture was available in the soil.


In this paper, we investigate why current state-of-the-art chemistry-climate models underestimate the tropospheric ozone increase from the 1950s to the 1990s by approximately 50%. The accuracy of these models is vital, not only for understanding and predicting air quality globally, but also since they are used to quantify the contribution of ozone in the troposphere and lower stratosphere to climate change, where its greenhouse effect is largest. We briefly describe available northern mid-latitude ozone measurements, which include representative and reliable data from European sites that extend back to the 1950s. We use the SOCOLv3 (Solar Climate Ozone Links version 3) global chemistry-climate model to investigate the individual terms of the tropospheric ozone budget. These include: inflow from the stratosphere, dry deposition, and chemical formation and destruction. For 1960 to 2000 SOCOLv3 indicates a tropospheric ozone increase at 850 hPa over the Swiss Alps (Arosa) of 17 ppb, or around 30%. This increase is smaller than that seen in the surface ozone measurements but similar to other chemistry-climate models, including those with more complex NMVOC (Non Methane Volatile Organic Compound) schemes than SOCOLv3's. It is likely that the underestimated increase in tropospheric ozone could be explained by issues in the underlying emissions inventories used in the model simulations, with ozone precursor emissions, particularly NOx (NO + NO2), from the 1960s being too large.


Carers, paid and unpaid, are at the forefront of our response to the Coronavirus, putting themselves at risk to protect us all. Yet, if you are a carer, for adults or children, you are more likely to be living in poverty. This is not right. This briefing note updates our Make Care Count report which focuses on the link between care and poverty before the crisis. It describes carers' experiences of the pandemic, prioritising the voices of carers throughout, before detailing how we can take the first steps towards ending poverty for carers in Britain.


In various Web applications, users consume content in a series of sessions. That is prevalent in online music listening, where a session is a channel and channels are listened to in sequence, or in crowdsourcing, where a session is a set of tasks and task sets are completed in sequence. Content diversity can be defined in more than one way, e.g., based on artists or genres for music, or on requesters or rewards in crowdsourcing. A user may prefer to experience diversity within or across sessions. Naturally, intra-session diversity is set-based, whereas, inter-session diversity is sequence-based. This novel multi-session diversity gives rise to four bi-objective problems with the goal of minimizing or maximizing inter and intra diversities. Given the hardness of those problems, we propose to formulate a constrained optimization problem that optimizes inter diversity, subject to the constraint of intra diversity. We develop an efficient algorithm to solve our problem. Our experiments with human subjects on two real datasets, music and crowdsourcing, show our diversity formulations do serve different user needs, and yield high user satisfaction. Our large data experiments on real and synthetic data empirically demonstrate that our solution satisfy the theoretical bounds and is highly scalable, compared to baselines.


The neurotoxic effects of seven selected Multicenter Evaluation of In Vitro Cytotoxicity programme chemicals (methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, iron [II] sulphate and chloroform) were evaluated in organotypic cultures of chick embryonic dorsal root ganglia (DRG), maintained in a soft agar culture medium. Two growth parameters of neurite outgrowth from the ganglia — the mean radial length of neurites and the area of neurite outgrowth — were used to evaluate the toxicities of the chemicals. Dose-dependent decreases of both parameters were observed in all experiments. IC50 values (the concentration causing 50% inhibition of growth) were calculated from the dose-response curves established at three time-points during culture, i.e. 24, 48 and 72 hours. The lowest toxic effect was observed in cultures exposed to methanol (the IC50 ranging from 580mM to 1020mM). The highest toxic effect was observed in cultures exposed to iron (II) sulphate (the IC50 ranging from 1.2mM to 1.7mM). The results of other recent experiments suggest that organotypic cultures of DRG can be used during in vitro studies on target organ toxicity within the peripheral nervous system. Moreover, these cultures preserve the internal organisation of the tissue, maintain intercellular contacts, and thus reflect the in vitro situation, more precisely than other cell cultures.


CONTEXT
Whether psychoses associated with schizophrenia and affective disorder represent manifestations of different disorders or the same disorder is an important but unresolved question in psychiatry. Results of previous volumetric magnetic resonance imaging investigations indicate that gray matter volume reductions in neocortical regions may be specific to schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE
To simultaneously evaluate multiple olfactocentric paralimbic regions, which play crucial roles in human emotion and motivation, in first-episode patients with schizophrenia and affective psychosis.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional study using high-spatial resolution magnetic resonance imaging in patients with schizophrenia and affective psychosis at their first hospitalization.

SETTING
Inpatient units at a private psychiatric hospital.

PARTICIPANTS
Fifty-three first-episode patients, 27 with schizophrenia and 26 with affective (mainly manic) psychosis, and 29 control subjects.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Using high-spatial resolution magnetic resonance imaging, the gray matter volumes of 2 olfactocentric paralimbic regions of interest, the insular cortex and the temporal pole, were evaluated.

RESULTS
A bilateral volume reduction in insular cortex gray matter was specific to first-episode patients with schizophrenia. In contrast, both first-episode psychosis groups showed a volume reduction in left temporal pole gray matter and an absence of normal left-greater-than-right asymmetry. Region of interest correlations showed that only patients with schizophrenia lacked a positive correlation between left temporal pole and left anterior amygdala-hippocampal complex gray matter volumes, whereas both psychosis groups were similar in lacking normal positive correlations between left temporal pole and left anterior superior temporal gyrus gray matter volumes.

CONCLUSIONS
These partially different and partially similar patterns of structural abnormalities in olfactocentric paralimbic regions and their associated abnormalities in other temporolimbic regions may be important factors in the differential and common manifestations of the 2 psychoses.


Abstract This article explores how prayer group leaders manage and interpret risk-in-ritual during a home-based Pentecostal intercession. The group was formed in an office setting and led by three female managers. They interceded together during their lunch hour for over a year. The intercession was the one time the prayer group moved from the office to the home of one of the female leaders. This transition sparked a number of problems associated with group unity, which indicated risks-in-ritual. Managing risk was focused on managing forms of social difference such as age, gender, rank, and denomination. I draw from the feminist theory of intersectionality to argue that in the process of translating social differences of gender, age, rank, and denomination into spiritual differences in ritual, future ritual agendas are created. This future-creating capacity of ritual reinforced the authority of those who adjudicated and interpreted those risks-in-ritual. My example is taken from 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Samoa between 2011 and 2012.


A widely used class of models for stochastic systems is hidden Markov models. Systems that can be modeled by hidden Markov models are a proper subclass of linearly dependent processes, a class of stochastic systems known from mathematical investigations carried out over the past four decades. This article provides a novel, simple characterization of linearly dependent processes, called observable operator models. The mathematical properties of observable operator models lead to a constructive learning algorithm for the identification of linearly dependent processes. The core of the algorithm has a time complexity of O (N + nm3), where N is the size of training data, n is the number of distinguishable outcomes of observations, and m is model state-space dimension.


The authors asked the world's leading economists to describe instances in which journals rejected their articles. More than sixty essays, by a broadly diverse group that includes fifteen Nobel Prize winners, indicate that most have suffered publication rejection, often frequently. Indeed, journals have rejected many papers that later became classics. The authors discuss the prize-winners' experiences, other notable cases, and rejections by John Maynard Keynes when he edited the Economic Journal. Finally, they search in economists' almost universal experience of rejection for patterns and lessons about the publication process.


Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) is becoming an important cyber-physical system application given the ubiquitous availability of mobile phones. With the need to operate in unprepared environments, accurate and robust registration and tracking has become an important research problem to solve. In fact, when MAR is used for tele-interactive applications involving large distances, say from an accident site to insurance office, tracking at both the ends is desirable and further it is essential to appropriately fuse inertial and vision sensors data. In this paper, we present results and discuss some insights gained in marker-less tracking during the development of a prototype pertaining to an example use case related to breakdown or damage assessment of a vehicle. The novelty of this paper is in bringing together different components and modules with appropriate enhancements towards a complete working system.


ABSTRACT Objectives: This study compared the role of the adductor magnus muscle (Amag) as a hip extensor while performing active prone hip extension (PHE), PHE with hip adduction (PHE-ADD), and PHE with hip abduction (PHE-ABD) with the gluteus maximus (Gmax) and hamstrings. Methods: The study recruited 22 healthy participants. Electromyography data were recorded from the Amag, Gmax, and medial and lateral hamstrings during PHE, PHE-ADD, and PHE-ABD. Normalized electromyographic data were examined using one-way, repeated-measures analyses of variance. Results: The magnitude of the Amag, Gmax, and hamstring activations did not differ significantly while performing PHE (p = 0.41). Furthermore, the Amag and hamstring activations were significantly greater than the Gmax activation when performing PHE-ADD (p < 0.05). The Gmax showed significantly greater activation during PHE-ABD than the Amag and medial and lateral hamstrings (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Based on these results, we advocate including the Amag as a hip extensor during the PHE test or exercise. Our preliminary results have the potential to be applied directly to the PHE test, for investigating the muscle-activation pattern of the Amag with the Gmax and hamstrings in patients with hip or lower back pain.


We analysed narratives of motherhood produced by 13 women who were involved with the welfare system or the justice system during adolescence. The original contribution of our study was its focus on mothers who were turning age 30, so they were not in that period of generalized instability that characterizes the transition from care and into adulthood. This qualitative study was part of a larger study on French-Canadian adolescents with a history of residential care. Semi-directed interviews were conducted with 13 women, more than 15 years after their admission to residential care. Our data highlights that motherhood can contribute to the vulnerability of women who were involved with the welfare or the justice system as adolescents. Our results suggest that in order to shed a perceived deviant label and to compensate for the adverse events they experienced, they pursue internalized ideals of "good motherhood" that translate into restrictions and strain. Furthermore, they tend to refrain from allowing people into their lives and asking for help for fear of being judged. Yet, as their children are getting older and exhibiting problem behaviors of their own, the questioning of their parental practices and skills only becomes more intense.


The peridotite section of supra-subduction zone ophiolites is often crosscut by pyroxenite veins, reflecting the variety of melts that percolate through the mantle wedge, react, and eventually crystallize in the shallow lithospheric mantle. Understanding the nature of parental melts and the timing of formation of these pyroxenites provides unique constraints on melt infiltration processes that may occur in active subduction zones. This study deciphers the processes of orthopyroxenite and clinopyroxenite formation in the Josephine ophiolite (USA), using new trace and major element analyses of pyroxenite minerals, closure temperatures, elemental profiles, diffusion modeling, and equilibrium melt calculations. We show that multiple melt percolation events are required to explain the variable chemistry of peridotite-hosted pyroxenite veins, consistent with previous observations in the xenolith record. We argue that the Josephine ophiolite evolved in conditions intermediate between back-arc and sub-arc. Clinopyroxenites formed at an early stage of ophiolite formation from percolation of high-Ca boninites. Several million years later, and shortly before exhumation, orthopyroxenites formed through remelting of the Josephine harzburgites through percolation of ultra-depleted low-Ca boninites. Thus, we support the hypothesis that multiple types of boninites can be created at different stages of arc formation and that ophiolitic pyroxenites uniquely record the timing of boninite percolation in subduction zone mantle.


This paper explores how women and men participate in irrigation activities in Egypt, drawing from a survey administered to 200 men and 202 women and qualitative information from 150 interviews. Women participated in irrigation activities in 78% of the 402 households surveyed, suggesting that women are far more actively engaged in irrigation efforts in Egypt, and possibly in the wider MENA region, than is generally assumed. The diffusion of certain irrigation technologies such as drip, sprinkler and tatweer in recent years has made irrigation more socially acceptable for women to perform although some women had also been irrigating land long before these technologies became available. We identify land ownership, educational attainment, institutional support from government, donors and NGOs, and access to training in irrigational technologies as factors that enable women to optimally undertake irrigation. These factors enabled women to participate meaningfully in public institutions related to irrigation, such as water user associations (WUAs). Finally, we discovered that desire and ability to participate in WUAs declined dramatically for both women and men when institutional support was withdrawn or eroded. Thus, the paper concludes that we must look at a variety of social categories and relationships to understand women's involvement in irrigation and to identify ways to strengthen it.


This dissertation outlines multiple important issues related to house price dynamics and its determinants. In Chapter 2 it is shown that the determinants of house prices change over time. This study utilized a unique long-run historical macro database from the year 1825 onwards for Amsterdam. The results indicate that the determinants of house prices are not fixed, but change over time and reflect the economic state of affairs in each different era. Chapter 3 deals with the effect of mortgage markets on house prices in more detail for the Netherlands between 1995 and 2012. This study deals with two related topics. Chapter 3 introduces a new methodology to construct an index for the supply of credit on the mortgage market, denoted the credit conditions index. It is shown that the supply of credit on the mortgage market has been an important determinant of house prices. In Chapter 4 it is shown that demographic decline has a disproportional large negative effect on house prices, using municipality level data. The effect of demographic growth on house prices depends on the local supply constraints. Chapter 5 introduces a methodology to decompose house prices in its structure value and land value. With this model we are able to measure the effect of depreciation on structure values. The effect of depreciation on structures is larger than most previous studies indicate. Maintaining a home well reduces the rate of depreciation considerably. It is also shown that land prices have been more volatile than structure prices.


The term polarity is used to define asymmetry. In cell biology, it refers to describe the shape of a cell, the distribution of organelles, molecules and thus the intracellular trafficking of cellular components. How this asymmetry is attained in neurons is a question that has been under scrutiny as the shape of a neuron provides valuable clues to its function: Mature neurons extend dendrites and an axon to receive, process and propagate signals. A long-standing question in neurobiology is how neurons decide where the axon would form. One possibility is that external cues determine the position of axon extension. However, it is also possible that the intracellular organisation of the neuron determines where the axon will grow. Existing data provide evidence for both mechanisms playing a role during the axon selection, either concomitantly and/or sequentially.

Key Concepts

Neurons are highly polarised cells with generally one axon and several dendrites.
Neurons developing in vitro form axons and dendrites, which resembles the in vivo situation.
Axon selection is the result of synchronous and/or sequential effects of intrinsic and extrinsic cues.

Keywords:

neuronal polarity;
axon selection;
axon formation;
centrosome;
Golgi apparatus;
neuronal development


OBJECTIVE
To prevent perinatal transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV), WHO recommends that the first dose of hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine be given within 24 hours after birth. This presents a challenge in remote areas with limited cold-chain infrastructure and where many children are born at home.

METHODS
Rural townships in three counties in China's Hunan Province were randomized into three groups with different strategies for delivery of the first dose of HepB vaccine. In group 1, vaccine was stored within the cold chain and administered in township hospitals. In group 2, vaccine was stored out of the cold chain in villages and administered by village-based health workers to infants at home. Group 3 used the same strategy as group 2, but vaccine was packaged in a prefilled injection device. Training of immunization providers and public communication conveying the importance of the birth dose was performed for all groups.

FINDINGS
Among children born at home, timely administration (within 24 hours after birth) of the first dose of HepB vaccine increased in all groups after the study: group 1, from 2.4% to 25.2%; group 2, from 2.6% to 51.8%; and group 3, from 0.6% to 66.7%; P < 0.001 in each case. No significant difference in antibody response to vaccine was observed between the groups.

CONCLUSION
Timely administration of the first dose of HepB vaccine was improved by communication and training activities, and by out-of-cold-chain storage of vaccine and administration at the village level, especially among children born at home.


Passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems based on the ISO/IEC 18000-6C (aka EPC Gen2) protocol have typical read rates of up to 1200 unique 96-bit tags per second. This performance is achieved in part through the use of a medium access control algorithm, christened the Q-algorithm, that is a variant of the Slotted Aloha multiuser channel access algorithm. We analyze the medium access control algorithm employed by the ISO/IEC 18000-6C RFID air interface protocol and provide a procedure to achieve optimal read rates. We also show that theoretical performance can be exceeded in many practical use cases and provide a model to incorporate real-world data in read-rate estimation.


Objective: A double-blind study was conducted to compare the performance of the new BestPrep® (CellSolutions) liquid-based thin-layer Papanicolaou (Pap) test with ThinPrep® (Hologic). Study Design: Samples from the study patients (n = 105) were collected twice in the same encounter with the ThinPrep sample always taken first and the BestPrep sample collected second. Slides were prepared according to both manufacturers' protocols and evaluated using manual microscopic review and the BestCyte® cell sorter imaging system (CellSolutions). Diagnostic truth for each case was determined by independent manual review of both slides by multiple pathologists and histology when available. The presence of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance was the threshold for positive for sensitivity and specificity calculations. Results: BestPrep and ThinPrep, by manual review, had sensitivities for high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) cases of 100 and 95.6%, respectively. Using the BestCyte cell sorter, both had 100% sensitivity. For the same HSIL cases, the digene HC2 high-risk human papillomavirus DNA test had sensitivities of 100% (BestPrep) and 95.6% (ThinPrep). Specificities were 71.4% (BestPrep) and 54.8% (ThinPrep). Conclusions: BestPrep was equivalent to ThinPrep for manual review even though BestPrep was always the second sample collected. The BestCyte cell sorter provides a practical alternative to manual review for both BestPrep and ThinPrep slides.


Enhanced nitrification and coupled denitrification in macrophyte root zones may contribute to the depletion of nitrogen from the rhizosphere and are both critical processes for agriculture and rhizoremediation. We examined one factor likely to affect these processes: the ammonia oxidizing betaproteobacterial community composition, and whether or not it is influenced by plant species (Eleocharis acicularis, Eleocharis palustris, Typha angustifolia) or sediment characteristics. Genes coding for ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) and 16S rRNA of betaproteobacterial ammonia oxidizers were targeted. The betaproteobacterial ammonia oxidizing community in root surface biofilms was distinct from the surrounding rhizosphere sediment. In contrast, communities in rhizosphere and bulk sediment samples were very similar. Our results showed the occurrence of Nitrosomonas europaea-like bacteria nearly exclusively in the rhizoplane biofilms, while sequences affiliated with the Nitrosomonas oligotropha, Nitrosomonas communis and Nitrosospira-lineages were more frequently detected in the surrounding sediment. Our results further suggest that the presence of N. europaea on macrophyte roots depends on the sampling site rather than on the studied macrophyte species. We propose that the rhizoplane of aquatic macrophytes is a natural habitat for N. europaea.


Pratt's work confronts the established conventions of painting, through an immediate and unashamedly direct indulgence in painting as an activity in its own right, combined with an ethically questionable position of borrowing, remaking and 'wrongful' appropriation. Authenticity, style and the cycle of assimilation that exists both within contemporary art and popular culture are central concerns in Pratt's work. Contemporary artists such as Christopher Wool and Paul McCarthy as well as 20th Century artists who reshaped the process of Art such as Basquiat, Polke and Warhol, all become the fodder for Pratt's lexicon. However, rather than paying homage to his forerunners Pratt borrows and steals, walking a fine line between mimicry and imitation. Through this method of sampling and re-mastering Pratt combines stylistic quotation with deadpan observation and dumb mark making, layering and obliterating his paintings until work is deemed at an end, yet never resolved.


Grid Middleware and Services: Challenges and Solutions is the eighth volume of the CoreGRID series. The CoreGrid Proceedings is the premiere European event on Grid Computing. This book aims to strengthen and advance scientific and technological excellence in the area of Grid Computing. The main focus in this volume is on Grid middleware and service level agreement. Grid middleware and Grid services are two pillars of grid computing systems and applications. This book includes high-level contributions by leading researchers in both areas and presents current solutions together with future challenges. This volume includes sections on knowledge and data management on grids, Grid resource management and scheduling, Grid information, resource and workflow monitoring services, and service level agreements. Grid Middleware and Services: Challenges and Solutions is designed for a professional audience, composed of researchers and practitioners in industry. This volume is also suitable for graduate-level students in computer science.