This thesis presents the result of research into small-scale enterprise in Borno State of Nigeria. The development of the small-enterprise sector has been a policy objective in the country over the past decade. Its main contributions are envisaged as creating employment, contributing to industrialisation, spreading industry to rural areas, and mobilisation of local resources. The growth of the sector and its contribution have, however, not been as great as desired.Lack of information and advice for potential and existing small-scale enterprises can restrict their development and growth. This aspect had not previously been studied in depth in the Nigerian environment. This created the need to study the information needs of and sources available to small firm entrepreneurs. The research was concentrated in Borno State. The method of study involved interview with small firm agencies and with small firm owner/managers.The study found that there are quite a number of programmes for assisting small firm entrepreneurs but emphasis is mainly laid in providing material and technical assistance rather than information and counselling. The existing agencies are also found to be constrained in providing effective assistance to small firm entrepreneurs by inadequate organisation. The perceived needs of small firm entrepreneurs on the other hand are mainly related to finding resources. Need for management competence is unrealised or suppressed. They tend to look for information on their perceived needs through informal personal sources and business contacts and are reluctant (due to a lack of confidence) to contact Government sponsored services for assistance.The main recommendation is for an overhaul of government aided assistance to small firms and a need to stress the development of management competence rather than emphasis on material support. In particular it is recommended that the several existing services be coordinated into an information network of assistance programmes. This will consist of consultancy units, a business information unit, a coordination centre and a credit guarantee scheme.


This paper suggests that there are two longstanding views on business cycles and economic dynamics: One emphasizes endogenous stability plus exogenous disturbances, while the other focuses on endogenous instability plus institutional 'containing' or "thwarting" mechanisms. The latter tradition regards business cycles and economic instability as the natural and inherent consequence of self-interest-motivated behavior in complex economies with sophisticated financial institutions. In fact, it is the interaction between the system's endoge-nous dynamics and the effects of institutions and interventions which, if "apt," constrains the outcomes of capitalist market processes to acceptable outcomes. The endogenous instability view of the economy, in which institutional structures and interventions stabilize the fragile, essentially refutes Lucas: He asserts that the economy is a mechanism that transforms exogenous shocks (either random or unanticipated policy interventions) into business cycles, thus generating a growth equilibrium. Recent history has illustrated the flaws of laissez-faire theory as the postwar capitalist economies that have enjoyed consistently high levels of growth are big government interventionist economies. The challenge for the future is recognizing that market processes are deficient not only in their ability to maintain aggregate demand, but also as devices for assuring productive investment and a tolerable distribution of income.


Adolescence has always been viewed as the most crucial stage of development. However, there is no dearth of studies documenting the fact that adolescents are more likely than adults to engage in health risk behaviors. The review of researches conducted in past has identified impulsivity as one of the major causes behind the health risk behavior among adolescents. Impulsivity means acting out without any planning or inability to control an impulse. The present research study made an attempt to study health risk behaviors amongst adolescents in relation to impulsivity. The sample of the present research was comprised of 600 adolescents (N=600).Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-BIS-II (Barratt, 1995; Stanford, et al., 2009) and Health Risk Behavior Questionnaire (Singh & Pushpa, 2017) were used to measure the variables of the study. Findings of the present study revealed the significant correlation between the various dimensions of health risk behavior and impulsivity.


We examine the role of macroeconomic fluctuations, asset market liquidity, and network structure in determining contagion and aggregate losses in a stylised financial system. Systemic instability is explored in a financial network comprising three distinct, but interconnected, sets of agents — domestic banks, overseas banks, and firms. Calibrating the model to advanced country banking sector data, this preliminary model generates broadly sensible aggregate loss distributions which are bimodal in nature. We demonstrate how systemic crises may occur and analyse how our results are influenced by fire-sale externalities and the feedback effects from curtailed lending in the macroeconomy. We also illustrate the resilience of our model financial system to stress scenarios with sharply rising corporate default rates and falling asset prices.


We present a novel approach for achieving tightly concentrated optical field by a hybrid photonic-plasmonic device in an integrated platform, which is a triangle-shaped metal taper mounted on top of a dielectric waveguide. This device, which we call a plasmomic light concentrator (PLC), can achieve vertical coupling of light energy from the dielectric waveguide to the plasmonic region and light focusing into the apex of the metal taper(at the scale ∼ 10nm) at the same time. For a demonstration of the PLCs presented in this paper, we numerically investigate the performance of a gold taper on a Si₃N₄ waveguide at working wavelengths around 800 nm. We show that three major effects (mode beat, nanofocusing, and weak resonance) interplay to generate this light concentration phenomenon and govern the performance of the device. Combining these effects, the PLC can be designed to be super compact while maintaining high efficiency over a wide band. In particular, we demonstrate that under optimized size parameters and wavelength a field concentration factor (FCF), which is the ratio of the norm of the electric field at the apex over the average norm of the electric field in the inputting waveguide, of about 13 can be achieved with the length of the device less than 1 μm for a moderate tip radius 20 nm. Moreover, we show that a FCF of 5 - 10 is achievable over a wavelength range of 700 - 1,100 nm with the length of the device further reduced (to about 400 nm).


Internet, a revolutionary invention, is always transforming into some new kind of hardware and software making it unavoidable for anyone. The form of communication that we see now is either human-human or human-device, but the Internet of Things (IoT) promises a great future for the internet where the type of communication is machine-machine (M2M). This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the IoT scenario and reviews its enabling technologies and the sensor networks. Also, it describes a six-layered architecture of IoT and points out the related key challenges.


Own Your Story

 Sometimes you get only one chance. A good introduction can create connections and open doors. A bad one can make conversation fizzle and opportunities fade. What you need is a story that tells who you are—authentically, compellingly, and concisely—and can be adapted to fit any situation. Created for dynamic beings constantly redefining themselves, their work, and the world around them, Tell Me About Yourself pairs interviews and case studies with a simple, scalable framework, helping you craft and deliver comprehensive, compelling, and generally kick-ass introductions and personal stories for yourself, your team, or your company. In an ever-changing innovation economy and a climate that demands we put our best foot forward to create change, there's no better time to learn how to articulate your usefulness to the world.


The favors could include a leading role in ITER's management and construction contracts worth more than Japan's expected financial contribution, which the E.U. hopes will be 18% of ITER's cost. As an added incentive, Japan could also host a materials testing facility needed for the commercial reactors that could come after ITER and receive greater support for its own planned JT60 fusion reactor. In what has become a fierce battle of wills between Europe and Japan, the European Union laid out its bid this week to have the $6 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) built on European soil. The fusion reactor, which aims to produce virtually limitless power by fusing hydrogen nuclei, is ready to begin construction. But ITER's six international partners have disagreed for nearly a year on whether it should be built at the E.U. site at Cadarache in southern France or at Rokkasho in the north of Japan's main island. The European Commission, the E.U.'s executive body, said on 16 November that it wanted to form a "genuine partnership" with Japan. If the reactor is sited at Cadarache, the 25 commissioners said, "Japan could receive favorable conditions to reflect its special contribution." The E.U.'s offer was first spelled out to Japan's delegation at a meeting of ITER partners in Vienna on 9 November. Japan's chief negotiator, Satoru Ohtake, says that his country also offered "quite generous concessions" to the E.U. if Japan wins the reactor. In contrast, he says, the E.U.'s proposal "is less generous to the nonhost." An E.U. source says that the commission would like Japan to respond to its offer before the end of the year. If Japan misses that deadline, "the E.U. reserves the right to go ahead with fewer partners, although all will be invited to join," the source says.


Prostatic adenocarcinoma is the most commonly occurring cancer among men in the United States, second only to skin cancer. Currently, the only definitive method to ascertain the presence of prostatic cancer is by trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS) directed biopsy. Owing to the poor image quality of ultrasound, the accuracy of TRUS is only 20%-25%. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been shown to have a higher accuracy of prostate cancer detection compared to ultrasound. Consequently, several researchers have been exploring the use of high resolution MRI in performing prostate biopsies. Visual detection of prostate cancer, however, continues to be difficult owing to its apparent lack of shape, and the fact that several malignant and benign structures have overlapping intensity and texture characteristics. In this paper, we present a fully automated computer-aided detection (CAD) system for detecting prostatic adenocarcinoma from 4 Tesla ex vivo magnetic resonance (MR) imagery of the prostate. After the acquired MR images have been corrected for background inhomogeneity and nonstandardness, novel three-dimensional (3-D) texture features are extracted from the 3-D MRI scene. A Bayesian classifier then assigns each image voxel a "likelihood" of malignancy for each feature independently. The "likelihood" images generated in this fashion are then combined using an optimally weighted feature combination scheme. Quantitative evaluation was performed by comparing the CAD results with the manually ascertained ground truth for the tumor on the MRI. The tumor labels on the MR slices were determined manually by an expert by visually registering the MR slices with the corresponding regions on the histology slices. We evaluated our CAD system on a total of 33 two-dimensional (2-D) MR slices from five different 3-D MR prostate studies. Five slices from two different glands were used for training. Our feature combination scheme was found to outperform the individual texture features, and also other popularly used feature combination methods, including AdaBoost, ensemble averaging, and majority voting. Further, in several instances our CAD system performed better than the experts in terms of accuracy, the expert segmentations being determined solely from visual inspection of the MRI data. In addition, the intrasystem variability (changes in CAD accuracy with changes in values of system parameters) was significantly lower than the corresponding intraobserver and interobserver variability. CAD performance was found to be very similar for different training sets. Future work will focus on extending the methodology to guide high-resolution MRI-assisted in vivo prostate biopsies.


Background This article reports a method to obtain vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) from the spiral modiolar artery (SMA) of guinea pigs and provides materials for related experimental studies. Material/Methods SMA was separated from the cochlea of guinea pigs, digested with trypsin (1.25 g/L) and allowed to adhere in a 35-mm culture dish. The morphology of the sample was investigated, and the sample was identified by immunofluorescence analysis, flow cytometry, Western blot, and RT-PCR. Cell viability was calculated using trypan blue and flow cytometry. Whole-cell patch clamp was used to record the membrane input resistance (Rinput), reciprocal membrane input conductance (Ginput), membrane input capacitance (Cinput), and resting membrane potential (RP) of the SMCs. Results Microscopy results showed that the cells had typical peak–valley growth pattern. The cell growth curve was similar to an S curve, and flow cytometry results showed that the cell apoptosis rate was less than 10%. Moreover, flow cytometry, immunofluorescent staining, Western blot and RT-PCR detected the specific and intensely positive expression of cell type-specific markers α-SM-actin, SM22α, calponin and desmin. Furthermore, following properties of the P3 and P6 cells were obtained: Rinput, 2611±356 and 2477±338 MΩ; Ginput, 0.454±0.071 and 0.273±0.037 ns; Cinput, 17.029±0.917 and 18.042±1.051 pF, and RP −20.602±1.503 and −22.192±1.905 mV. Conclusions Various highly purified SMCs were obtained from the SMA of guinea pigs. We provide an ideal experimental material for the study of the pathogenesis of diseases related to the circulation disturbances in the inner ear in vitro. The results can be used to evaluate the effects of drugs on vascular smooth muscle.


Multi-band approaches have recently generated a great deal of interest in the automatic speech recognition (ASR) community. In this paradigm, each sub-frequency region of the speech signal is treated as a distinct source of information and the streams are combined after each is processed independently. Motivations for the multi-band paradigm include results from psycho-acoustic studies, robustness to noise, and potential for parallel processing.
The main contribution of this dissertation is the systematic exploration of an area of great interest to many in the research community, showing that multi-band ASR is a viable option, not just for improving recognition accuracy in the presence of noise, but also for clean speech. The work focused on the design and implementation of a multiband system, analysis of some of its characteristics, and development of extensions to the paradigm.
An analysis in terms of phonetic feature transmission showed multi-band processing to be better than a comparable traditional full-band design in many cases. It was observed that some bands were more accurate in discriminating between some phonetic categories. It was hypothesized that combining the confused sub-band classes would reduce the number of input classes and improve generalization. The size of the input space was reduced by almost 30%, and yet the global frame-level phonetic discrimination improved and the word recognition error did not change (the observed improvement was not statistically significant). The results were consistent with the original hypothesis.
The analysis also showed that the phonetic transitions in the sub-bands do not necessarily occur synchronously and are affected by conditions such as speaking rate and room reverberation. Relaxing the synchrony constraints in the sub-bands during word recognition was investigated. The experimental results suggested that removing the synchrony constraints for all phone to phone transitions is unlikely to be advantageous while significantly increasing computational cost.
The combination of the multi-band and the full-band system was studied. This combination reduced the word recognition error rate for the experimental dean speech task by about 23–29% compared to the baseline system. The results obtained are the best that we know of on the Numbers95 experimental database.


In November 2010, the Ius Commune Research School devoted the Liability and Insurance workshop on its annual conference to 'the Power of Punitive Damages'. In their search for better ways to enforce private and public legal rules, prevent damage, and compensate victims of grave wrongdoing, European legal scholars and policy makers show an increased interest in this particular private law remedy. The twenty-two authors of this book reflect on the pros and cons, applicability, aims and limitations of punitive damages in terms of different legal themes. Some of the authors are, because of their legal background, familiar with punitive damages, whereas others are not. Likewise, some take an enthusiastic stance, whereas others remain prudent. The result is a unique collection of thoughts, suggestions and critical questions which takes the European punitive damages debate to the next level. It improves perception of the private law sanction, which is often feared by Europeans, and its common law background, but also gives new insights as regards the question whether European societies are missing out by not adding this powerful penal incentive to the already existing array of private law remedies.


A prominent ridge occurs in the axis of the Peru Trench between 7°25′ to 7°50′ and 8°30′ to 9°30′ S. It rises as much as 900 m above the turbidite fill in the trench axis at 9° 20′ and consists of relatively fresh tholeiitic basalt which is overlain by Pleistocene trench turbidites. The tholeiitic basalt was derived from oceanic layer 2 which has been faulted and uplifted relative to the trench floor as the Nazca lithospheric plate descended into the Peru Trench. A K-Ar date of 8.7 m.y. was obtained on the basalt. This date allows three possible interpretations: (1) that the oceanic crust along the eastern edge of the Nazca plate is younger than indicated by magnetic anomalies; (2) that midplate volcanism has occurred on the older oceanic crust of the Nazca plate; or (3) that the basalt is more weathered and hence older than our data suggest. The second interpretation is preferred within the framework of the existing data.


The fundamental goal of using computer simulation system in the generating process of music creation, is to complete the computer system's perception of music and intelligent creation of music at the information age. Under the current information age, in the field of music, multimedia technology is mainly used on the visual and auditory aspects. And the core of the multimedia technology is the audio technology. In modern society, music has been widely needed in many fields, such as: the film and television industry, stereo audiovisual publishing houses, concerts, and so on. Due to the fact that human energy is limited, the traditional production method of music creation also has some limitations for meeting the demand of music. For the music itself, it mainly comes from nature, and the sound of nature is interrelated with the emotional melody in human sense. In the field of music, sound is made up of four main factors, namely, pitch, amplitude, length and timbre. The orderly combination of these four factors has formed a set of reasonable and orderly computer simulation system of music creation. Note is the most basic unit in a group of wonderful music, the frequency of the sound and the length of the length of notes. That is to say, the computer simulation system has certain uniqueness while using in the generation process of music creation. Meanwhile in today's information age, computer technology has been equipped with mature software and hardware facilities.


In the area of credit risk analytics, current Bankruptcy Prediction Models (BPMs) struggle with (a) the availability of comprehensive and real-world data sets and (b) the presence of extreme class imbalance in the data (i.e., very few samples for the minority class) that degrades the performance of the prediction model. Moreover, little research has compared the relative performance of well-known BPM's on public datasets addressing the class imbalance problem. In this work, we apply eight classes of well-known BPMs, as suggested by a review of decades of literature, on a new public dataset named Freddie Mac Single-Family Loan-Level Dataset with resampling (i.e., adding synthetic minority samples) of the minority class to tackle class imbalance. Additionally, we apply some recent AI techniques (e.g., tree-based ensemble techniques) that demonstrate potentially better results on models trained with resampled data. In addition, from the analysis of 19 years (1999-2017) of data, we discover that models behave differently when presented with sudden changes in the economy (e.g., a global financial crisis) resulting in abrupt fluctuations in the national default rate. In summary, this study should aid practitioners/researchers in determining the appropriate model with respect to data that contains a class imbalance and various economic stages.


Although Asian Indian (people of Indian subcontinent descent) men are shown to have higher total and truncal body fat as well as greater insulin resistance compared to white men matched for total body fat and age, data in women are not conclusive. The objective of this study was to compare total and regional fat distribution and insulin sensitivity between healthy young premenopausal Asian Indian and white women of similar body mass index (BMI). Twenty Asian Indian women (65% immigrants and 35% first generation living in Dallas) and 31 white women of similar age and BMI [age 24±3 vs. 25±4; BMI 22±4 vs. 23±5; mean±standard deviation (SD) in Asian Indian and white, respectively] without diabetes were evaluated with anthropometric measurements, underwater weighing for percentage of total body fat mass, magnetic resonance imaging of whole abdomen for measurement of abdominal subcutaneous and intraperitoneal fat mass, and euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp study for measurement of insulin sensitivity. There were no differences in waist or hip circumference, total body subcutaneous abdominal or intraperitoneal fat mass, fasting plasma glucose, and insulin levels between Asian Indian women and white women. The peripheral glucose disposal rate (Rd) during hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp was found to be almost identical in the two study groups (median value of 6.9 and 6.8 mg/min per kg of body weight, for Asian Indians and whites, respectively). For similar total or regional fat content, the glucose disposal rate was comparable in the two study groups. In conclusion, we demonstrate that young Asian Indian women do not have excess abdominal or intraperitoneal fat or insulin resistance for similar BMI compared to white women of European descent.


The association between depression and peripheral artery disease (PAD) outcomes remains widely understudied. In patients with PAD undergoing a peripheral vascular intervention (PVI) who have a recent diagnosis of depression, it is unknown what their long-term outcomes are and what factors may mediate an adverse risk. We therefore studied 797 consecutive patients undergoing PVI across 33 Veterans Affairs (VA) centers. Depression and outcomes were documented from patients' medical records. Outcomes included: (1) all-cause death; (2) non-fatal cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, stroke); and (3) PAD-related events (including repeat PVI or amputation). Cox proportional hazards frailty models were constructed, adjusting for age. Additional covariates were selected if they resulted in at least 5% change in the age-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for depression on outcomes. Overall, 265 (33%) patients had a diagnosis of depression. After a median follow-up of 955 days (range 1–6.25 years), 52 (6.5%) patients died, 30 (3.8%) experienced non-fatal cardiovascular events, and 176 (22.1%) had PAD-related events. Compared to patients without depression, depressed patients had higher rates of non-fatal cardiovascular events (6.4% vs 2.4%, p-value 0.0055). No differences for the other outcomes were noted. Higher risk for non-fatal cardiovascular events persisted after adjustment for age (HR 1.6, 95% CI 1.05–2.47). The only additional covariate that met our selection criteria was hypertension. After adjusting for hypertension, the association between depression and non-fatal cardiovascular outcomes attenuated (HR 1.53, 95% CI 0.99–2.35). In conclusion, a diagnosis of depression in veterans undergoing PVI was associated with increased risk of non-fatal cardiovascular events, mediated by age and hypertension.


Background Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) cause a substantial mortality, morbidity and economic burden. The present study reported the global, regional and national burden of LRIs and their attributable risk factors in 204 countries and territories, between 1990 and 2019, by age, sex, etiology, and Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Methods Using publicly available data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study 2019, we reported the incidence, deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), due to LRIs. Estimates were presented as counts and age-standardized rates per 100,000 population with their associated uncertainty intervals (UIs). Results Globally, in 2019 there were 488.9 million (95% UI: 457.6 to 522.6) incident cases and 2.4 million (2.3–2.7) deaths due to LRIs. The global age-standardized incidence and death rates for LRIs were 6,295 (5,887.4–6,737.3) and 34.3 (31.1–37.9) per 100,000 in 2019, which represents a 23.9% (22.5–25.4) and 48.5% (42.9–54.0) decrease, respectively since 1990. In 2019, Guinea [12,390.4 (11,495.5–13,332.8)], Chad [12,208.1 (11,289.3–13,202.5)] and India [11,862.1 (11,087.0–12,749.0)] had the three highest age-standardized incidence rates of LRI. Equatorial Guinea [−52.7% (95% UI: −55.8 to −49.3)], Chile [−50.2% (95% UI: −53.4 to −47.0)] and Albania [−48.6% (95% UI: −51.7 to −45.3)] showed the largest decreases from 1990 to 2019. In 2019, a decrease in the incidence rate of LRI was observed at the global level up to the 25–29 age group, then the incidence rates increased with age. The burden of LRIs decreased with increasing SDI at both the regional and national levels. Globally, child wasting (33.1%), household air pollution from solid fuels (24.9%) and a lack of access to handwashing facilities (14.4%) made the largest contributions to the LRI burden in 2019. Conclusions Although the burden of LRIs decreased over the period 1990–2019, LRIs still contribute to a large number of incident cases, deaths and DALYs. Preventative programs with a focus on reducing exposure to attributable risk factors should be implemented, especially in less developed countries.


One of the major challenges in Internet-based control systems is how to overcome the Internet transmission delay. In this paper, we investigate the potential of using the multirate control scheme and the time-delay compensation to overcome the Internet transmission delay. A two-level hierarchy is used for the Internet-based control systems. At the lower level, a local controller is implemented to control the plant at a higher frequency. At the higher level, a remote controller is employed to remotely regulate the desirable set-point at a lower frequency for the local controller. A compensator located at the feedback channel is designed to overcome the time delay occurring in the transmission from the local site to a remote site. Another compensator in the feedforward channel is designed to compensate the time-delay occurring in the control action transmission. The simulation and experimental application results illustrate that the multirate control scheme with the time delay compensation offers a promising way to efficiently reduce the effect of Internet time delay on control performance


The fundus camera used in imaging retina includes two parts: fundus imaging path with a positive focusing lens and annular Kohler illuminating path. We present a pupil joint equation and a focus equation based on the internal focusing manner to analyze its configuration. Using these equations, the configuration of the camera is given in detail. The design result of the fundus imaging path shows compact initial configuration at a total length of about 123 mm. The focusing range is -10-10 diopter, and the movement of the focusing lens is nearly linear at displacement of more than a sub-millimeter per diopter.


Bob Symons died in Adelaide on 4 October 2006 after a long illness. He was distinguished through his contributions to our knowledge of the structure, function and replication of plant viruses, viroids and virusoids. His research culminated in the discovery of the hammer head folding of the RNA chain and its role as a ribozyme in self–cleavage of the RNA in some of these plant pathogens. He was a leader in his field and was responsible for commercial applications of his research and the establishment in Adelaide of the first Australian company to produce and market molecular biologicals for research.


In response to the enduring social, economic and environmental challenges facing the African continent and its population, development interventions are evolving to embrace new approaches, new partnerships and new means of achieving impact. One such area of heightened innovation and growing activity is impact investing. Impact investing is defined as investments made with the intention of generating both financial return and social or environmental impact. As this momentum in impact investing grows, a complementary area of activity has started to put down roots in Africa – social impact measurement.Genesis Analytics curated and managed the Innovations in Evaluation strand at the recent African Evaluation Association Conference, convened in Uganda in March 2017. This strand was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and aimed to ignite conversations between impact investment stakeholders and evaluators focused on the African experience with social impact measurement.This article presents themes emerging from the presentations and conversations within the Innovations in Evaluation strand. The article begins with a brief explanation of the rise of impact investing, globally and within Africa, and then goes on to explain the structure of the Innovations in Evaluation strand. This strand included small group discussions and a think tank, which enabled sharing of ideas and experiences between strand participants. The article, therefore, documents the issues emerging during these discussions, including exploration of the concept of impact measurement and how this understanding differs across stakeholders, the currency of impact measurement and emerging practice.The article concludes with presenting what stakeholders and evaluators need to jointly explore to ensure that the African experience is well represented as the impact measurement movement continues to gain momentum globally.


This paper summarizes the main contents of UIC Code 406 with its compression method. In this context, not only the problems that appear while applying the method are described, but also possibilities to solve them. One concrete example will show a typical timetable situation on a specific infrastructure featuring less node than line capacity. In this case, node capacity determines the maximum capacity of the whole infrastructure. This demonstrates the importance of evaluating the line outside station areas as well as station infrastructure itself. Furthermore, also the necessity of doing capacity evaluations for an infrastructure extract containing a constant number of trains is described. Based on this aspect the paper explains, why the occupancy rate cannot provide a significant parameter for doing node station capacity and that UIC Code 406 method cannot be applied for doing node capacity research.


We explore the capability of the azidohomoalanine (Aha) as a vibrational label for 2D IR spectroscopy to study the binding of the target peptide to the PDZ2 domain. The Aha label responds sensitively to its local environment and its peak extinction coefficient of 350-400 M(-1) cm(-1) is high enough to routinely measure it in the low millimolar concentration regime. The central frequency, inhomogeneous width and spectral diffusion times deduced from the 2D IR line shapes of the Aha label at various positions in the peptide sequence is discussed in relationship to the known X-ray structure of the peptide bound to the PDZ2 domain. The results suggest that the Aha label introduces only a small perturbation to the overall structure of the peptide in the binding pocket. Finally, Aha is a methionine analog that can be incorporated also into larger proteins at essentially any position using protein expression. Altogether, Aha thus fulfills the requirements a versatile label should have for studies of protein structure and dynamics by 2D IR spectroscopy.


Abstract The differential evolution algorithm is applied to solve the optimization problem to reconstruct the production function (inverse problem) for the spatial Solow mathematical model using additional measurements of the gross domestic product for the fixed points. Since the inverse problem is ill-posed the regularized differential evolution is applied. For getting the optimized solution of the inverse problem the differential evolution algorithm is paralleled to 32 kernels. Numerical results for different technological levels and errors in measured data are presented and discussed.


Abstract. The emission of nitric oxide (NO) by soils (SNOx) is an important source of oxides of nitrogen (NOx=NO+NO2) in the troposphere, with estimates ranging from 4 to 21 Tg of nitrogen per year. Previous studies have examined the influence of SNOx on ozone (O3) chemistry. We employ the ECHAM5/MESSy atmospheric chemistry model (EMAC) to go further in the reaction chain and investigate the influence of SNOx on lower tropospheric NOx, O3, peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), nitric acid (HNO3), the hydroxyl radical (OH) and the lifetime of methane (τCH4). We show that SNOx is responsible for a significant contribution to the NOx mixing ratio in many regions, especially in the tropics. Furthermore, the concentration of OH is substantially increased due to SNOx, resulting in an enhanced oxidizing efficiency of the global troposphere, reflected in a ~10% decrease in τCH4 due to soil NO emissions. On the other hand, in some regions SNOx has a negative feedback on the lifetime of NOx through O3 and OH, which results in regional increases in the mixing ratio of NOx despite lower total emissions in a simulation without SNOx. In a sensitivity simulation in which we reduce the other surface NOx emissions by the same amount as SNOx, we find that they have a much weaker impact on OH and τCH4 and do not result in an increase in the NOx mixing ratio anywhere.


The field of psychotherapy holds to the basic premise that what is experienced by people with schizophrenia is not normal or real. As a result, in psychotherapy there has always been a major emphasis on trying to help clients give a full account of their inner reality in words, pictures or other symbolic representations, admit they were delusional, and through learning to measure reality with the yardstick of the therapist to regain full grasp of normal reality. Bruce W. Scotton (2002) points out that "Although traditional psychiatry and psychology have made impressive strides in the understanding the human mind and the brain, they adhere to an unnecessarily restrictive view of the psyche and its functioning, and in doing so they refuse to follow the scientific method. Specifically, our current sciences of the psyche fail to examine the data concerning, build theories to explain, and work therapeutically with spiritual experiences and experience of nonordinary reality." The goal of this article is to expand the existing model by questioning and rethinking assumptions about the basic nature of client's non-ordinary experiences. This article describes a non-traditional approach to treating people with schizophrenia that involves authentically accepting the person's story and symptoms as a valid reflection of an inner crisis, and treating the person's positive symptoms by respectfully using each aspect of their story as a direction from which healing can proceed towards spiritual integration and symptom resolution. The starting point of all these stories is the healing professional asking the person to describe their inner reality and then engaging and treating them from within that reality. This report is divided in the following sections: 1. A brief overview of the challenges and perspectives on treating people with schizophrenia. 2. A story of my personal path to healing 3. A discussion on shared intentional focus and the validity of inner reality 4. Case examples describing the challenges of reframing and resolution in achieving a successful treatment outcome 5. Discussions of bioenergy field alterations that facilitate healing for these people. 6. Summary of the approach and conclusions.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The scope of this paper encompasses an analysis of the research that is still needed in particular arenas and sectors of the economy concerning nonunion grievance procedures, with strategic attention to the most significant issue in that area at the operating level of individual firms and companies, academic institutions, multinational enterprises, and nonprofit organizations - that is, the procedural requirements with respect to the processing of employees' grievances from an organizational due process perspective. Keywords: Grievance procedures, Organizational due process, Employee rights STRATEGIC OVERVIEW OF THE TOPIC The intention of this overview is to stimulate awareness in scholars and management, and particularly among the employee relations and human resources management personnel who write companies' employee-relations manuals, of the inherent complexity of the process of resolving employees' grievances. The preparation of the Grievance section of a manual is not a task which the person who is assigned to it may deem to be secondary to his or her other duties, and similarly top management, when it approves the prepared draft, may not deem it a project meriting only perfunctory attention. All concerned must be acutely conscious that what is at issue is ethical employer-employee relations, worker satisfaction, and, from management's self-interest viewpoint, the paramount factor of the morale of that group of men and women whom all companies in theory, and some in practice, define as "our most important asset." And underlying all of this is a concept that is very simple to define yet very difficult to administer justice. It is reasonable to conjecture in some instances that a grievance resolution procedure is primarily not a system established for the benefit of employees but rather a means for management to correct its own mistakes, even though in some instances the problem is a misunderstanding of company policy or rules on the part of employees. Credence is furnished for such a conjecture by the plausibility of observers who assert that business executives do not generally submit their proposed actions to an ethical test. What is being proposed here is that what inspires some, but not all, companies to install grievance resolution procedures is not a sense of ethical obligation to employees but rather management's self-interest in maintaining a body of employees whose morale is high as a consequence of being well-treated by management. It is a truism that it is mandatory for the success of a business enterprise, as it is for the success of a military enterprise, that the morale of the organization's members be at a high level. The question raised by this discussion is whether the effectiveness of a grievance resolution procedure is independent of the motive which established it, either the motive of a felt ethical obligation toward employees or the motive of management's self-interest. The importance of this question is in the fact that the motive for doing something is the inspiration that generates energy in accomplishing it, especially in the fact that-in the case in which the motive of felt ethical obligation toward employees' conflicts with the motive of management's self-interest-the stronger motive will prevail. The point being developed here is the conclusion that companies' obvious need for formal procedures for resolving employees' grievances is a consequence of companies' failure to avoid the situations that generate the grievances. In all the employee-relations manuals studied, the emphasis is solely one of cure, not of prevention, of the two recognized types of causes of employees' grievances, namely, misunderstanding by employees grievances, namely, misunderstanding by employees of companies' policies and rules, and improper treatment of employees by managerial personnel. What does the phrase "employee relations" signify? In the documents which, for the sake of simplicity, are called "employee-relations manuals," although companies have various titles, the subject matter is invariably employees' relations with management, and not management's relations with employees, other than management's willingness to listen to employees' grievances. …


We introduce a new method for inference in stochastic epidemic models which uses recursive multinomial approximations to integrate over unobserved variables and thus circumvent likelihood intractability. The method is applicable to a class of discrete-time, finite-population compartmental models with partial, randomly under-reported or missing count observations. In contrast to state-of-the-art alternatives such as Approximate Bayesian Computation techniques, no forward simulation of the model is required and there are no tuning parameters. Evaluating the approximate marginal likelihood of model parameters is achieved through a computationally simple filtering recursion. The accuracy of the approximation is demonstrated through analysis of real and simulated data using a model of the 1995 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We show how the method can be embedded within a Sequential Monte Carlo approach to estimating the time-varying reproduction number of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, recently published by Kucharski et al. 2020.


LTCC technology offers low temperature firing (<900 °C) of a materials system, which is based on LTCC sheets/tapes and (ideally) compatible thick-film components. Screen-printed materials on LTCC tapes, such as conductor, resistor, inductor thick-films are co-fired (simultaneously fired), providing a highly-functional package. This comes along with additional benefits such as ease of LTCC tape structuring, fabrication of hermetic and complex 3-D structures, etc. The major difficulty encountered arises from the differential shrinkage rate of LTCC tape and thick-film components, which has to be avoided for fabrication of warpage-free, flat surfaces that is vital for membranes, beams, etc. Therefore the goal of this study is the reduction of deformation, by matching the shrinkage rate of conductor with that of LTCC, which is achieved by mixing the commercially-available paste with selected additives.


From a social standpoint, camaraderie and controversy are the twin pillars of noodling, or hand-catfishing—and the Okie Noodling Tournament, held every summer in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, highlights both. As devotees of a sport that9s grounded in family tradition and rich in rural lore, noodlers see themselves as self-sufficient stewards of the waterways, living a lifestyle that sensibly values frugality, responsibility, and intergenerational community above all. But their pastime is also illegal in most states, portrayed by the mainstream media as foolish at best and dangerous at worst. Such contradictions are mirrored by the noodlers own mixed reaction to media attention: by promoting hand-fishing to clear up misconceptions, they risk exposing its private, even secretive nature. Still, such concerns are minimized on the day of the tournament, when the residential intersection at which Bob's Pig Shop is transformed into a cheerfully chaotic mass of holding pools, demonstration tanks, bleachers, revelers from all walks of life—and, of course, catfish.


A novel and highly sensitive photoelectrochemical biosensor for the detection of glucose based on ternary nanocomposites of Au/CuS/TiO2 (Au/CuS/TiO2) has been fabricated. Highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2 NTs) were prepared by anodization of Ti foils, and CuS nanoparticles (NPs) and Au NPs were deposited on TiO2 NTs by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The resultant Au/CuS/TiO2 exhibited excellent photoelectrochemical behavior as a glucose sensor under white light illumination due to the remarkable photocatalytic capabilities of TiO2 and CuS, and the surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) effect of Au NPs. The fabricated Au/CuS/TiO2 non-enzymatic photoelectrochemical sensor showed brilliant catalytic activity, favourable selectivity, good reproducibility and long-term stability for glucose detection under optimized conditions. The linear range was 0.1-3 μM (R = 0.9942) with a detection limit of 0.03 μM (S/N = 3). Moreover, the proposed sensor detected glucose in human serum samples. Thus, Au/CuS/TiO2 appears to be a promising photocatalyst for a non-enzymatic glucose sensor.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://rsc.li/journals-terms-of-use


Abstract This article, the first detailed scholarly assessment of northern responses to the death of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis in December 1889, contributes to ongoing academic debates over the troubled process of sectional reconciliation after the Civil War. Southern whites used their leader's funeral obsequies to assert not only their affection for the deceased but also their devotion to the Lost Cause that he had championed and embodied. Based on an analysis of northern newspapers and mass-circulation magazines in the two weeks after Davis's death, the essay demonstrates that many northerners, principally Republican politicians and editors, Union veterans, and African Americans, were outraged by southerners' flagrant willingness to laud a man whom they regarded as the arch-traitor and that they remained opposed to reconciliation on southern terms. However, despite continuing concerns about public displays of affection for the Confederacy evident at the time of Davis's reinterment in Richmond in May 1893, northern opposition to the Lost Cause waned rapidly in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Full-blown sectional reconciliation occurred after the Republicans gave up on their efforts to enforce black voting rights in the South and President William McKinley's imperialist foreign policy necessitated, and to some degree garnered, support from southern whites. The death of Jefferson Davis, therefore, can be seen as an important event in the difficult transition from a heavily sectionalized postwar polity to a North-South rapprochement based heavily on political pragmatism, sentiment, nationalism, and white supremacism.


IN THIS INCISIVE AND WELL-RESEARCHED VOLUME Mildred A. Schwartz analyzes how changes in U.S. higher education affecting the health care professions and in the relations between universities and the state have created conditions that can give rise to corruption. Explanations for how the connections between changing conditions and organizational structures can lead to illegal and unethical behavior are uncovered through the study of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Because that University's experiences were not unique, they can be used to demonstrate how higher education has become vulnerable to corruption. Identification of the structural and cultural sources of corruption also suggest possible ways it could be avoided.


Statistics from the World Health Organization on Downsyndrome estimate an effect size of 1:1000 to 1:1100live births each year (WHO, 2014). Recent UK statistics,produced from the National Cytogenetic Register (Morris etal 2014), report the rate 2.7:1000 births for babies born inEngland and Wales. They also report a significant increasein the proportion of women diagnosed prenatally, from45% in 2008 to 77% in 2012 for women under 35 years,and from 68% in 2008 to 80% for women over 35 in 2012.Historically, recognition of Down syndrome wasevidenced three centuries ago by Dr John Langdon Down,a medical doctor from Cornwall, who first described andclassified Down syndrome in 1862 under the label of a'Mongolian idiot' (Dunn, 1991). Today, it is the mostcommon chromosomal abnormality present at birth andhas become a major focus for prenatal screening worldwide.New screening technologies have made remarkable advancesin the past 15 years and this is most visible when we lookback at recommendations for the UK National ScreeningCommittee in 2001, which advised that all pregnant mothersshould be offered one of the available screening tests forDown syndrome. The committee recommended that by2007/2010 the screening tests should have a positive rate ofless than 3% and a detection rate of more than 75%. Majoradvances in screening technology have taken place since andthe American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics(ACMG, 2012) refer to the current gold standard antenatalscreening for Down syndrome as a combination of datafrom first trimester collected between 11 to 13 weeks +6days gestation, including assessment based on maternal age,ultrasound for nuchal translucency thickness and maternalserum analytes (free beta human chorionic gonadotrophinand pregnancy-associated plasma protein A). They reportthis assessment has 90% sensitivity and 95% specificity forpredicting Down syndrome.Technology has advanced rapidly and we have nextgenerationsequencing of circulating cell-free DNA inmaternal plasma capable of identifying nearly all Downsyndrome pregnancies with low false-positive rates basedon a single maternal blood test for non-invasive prenatalscreening for (Glen et al, 2012). The blood test is undertakenaround 10 weeks' gestation and the results are availablewithin 10 to 14 days.The test costs between £99 and £800, depending on theprovider (currently available from medical staff in HarleyStreet London and independent diagnostic companies). It isnot free within the NHS at this time, but may become sofollowing the results of the NIHR funded UK study lookingspecifically at non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) forDown syndrome. The study is being led by the RAPID teamfrom Great Ormond Street in London and involves six siteswhere women who have a risk of a Down syndrome baby>1:1,000 will be offered NIPT. There is some persuasiveresearch evidence reporting NIPT tests have 100%sensitivity and 100% specificity (Zimmermann et al, 2012).However, amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling is stillbeing performed for confirmatory diagnosis.Recent UK research explored NIPT preferences of 335women and 181 health professionals using discrete choiceexperiments (Hill et al, 2012). The results demonstratedpreference for 'safe' tests conducted early in pregnancy,with high accuracy. For women the key attribute was'no risk of miscarriage, whereas for health professionals itwas accuracy'.In ten years, based on current knowledge of personalisedmedicine, epigenetics and values-based medicine, one canenvision a maternity service where optimal NIPT screeningfor Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalitieswill be incorporated into everyday antenatal care. Thetechnology used in NIPT can scan the entire genetic code ofthe fetus leading to the need for sound bioethical principlesto be put in place. The challenge for us as midwives is toremain committed to listening to the voices of the womenwe serve, while maintaining our professional, legal, moraland academic integrity in the midst of a sea of turbulentcultural and technological change.


History: Helical tomotherapy is a relatively new modality with integrated imaging, planning and delivery hardware for radiation therapytreatments. In view of the unique hardware design and its implications for routine quality assurance, the Therapy Physics Committee (TPC) of the AAPM commissioned Task Group 148 to review this modality and to make quality assurance recommendations. General Outline: Initial chapters provided a brief overview of the technology and describe unique aspects of the technology. These chapters are followed by three chapters that are dedicated to the delivery,imaging, and planning aspects. A final chapter summarizes the QA recommendations and details daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual procedures. Major Highlights: This report is designed to provide guidance to the physicist that is charged with establishing a routine QA program for helical tomotherapy. Since the imaging and treatment planning aspects are intimately connected to the physical machine hardware, each of these aspects is covered in this report such that TG‐148 provides comprehensive guidelines. Implementation Plan: The summary chapter list daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual tests. This chapter is designed to facilitate the implementation of the recommended QA procedures. Timeline for the Report Release: This task group was submitted in February 2010 to the Medical Physics Journal for review. Conflict of Interest: Gustavo Olivera is an employee of TomoTherapy, Inc.; John Balog owns TomoTherapy stock; Katja Langen hold a research agreement with TomoTherapy, Inc. Learning Objectives: 1. Understand the unique aspects of helical tomotherapy 2. Understand QA aspects of the delivery,imaging, and planning components of helical tomotherapy 3. Implement a routine QA program for helical tomotherapy


The problem of extracting climatically relevant information from multivariate geological records is tackled by characterising the eigenvalues of the temporarily varying correlation matrix. From these eigenvalues, a quantitative measure, the linear variance decay (LVD) dimension density, is derived. The LVD dimension density is shown to serve as a suitable estimate of the fractal dimension density. Its performance is evaluated by testing it for (i) systems with independent components and for (ii) subsystems of spatially extended linearly correlated systems. The LVD dimension density is applied to characterise two geological records which contain information about climate variability during the Oligocene and Miocene. These records consist of (a) abundances of different chemical trace ele- ments and (b) grain-size distributions obtained from sedi- ment cores offshore the East Antarctic coast. The presented analysis provides evidence that the major climate change as- sociated with the Oligocene-Miocene transition is reflected in significant changes of the LVD dimension density. This is interpreted as a change of the interrelationships between dif- ferent trace elements in the sediment and to a change of the provenance area of the deposited sediment.


South African universities need to envision a new idea of (university) education in order to support and promote the transformation of this country's society. Congruent to this, universities are beginning to (and should continue to) create definitions of graduateness that embody this ideal. Defining graduateness is an attempt to quantify the qualities and attributes with which graduates will exit their institution and what it is that makes graduates prepared for the society they will serve.
This article explores the notion of graduateness and how developing definitions of graduateness for South African universities can contribute to re-imagining our higher education system and, consequently, to transforming South Africa. The need for transformation within the greater South African society is discussed. Further, the transformation of individuals is essential to the realisation of the societal transformation that is required and facilitated by our constitutional dispensation. Individual transformation is possible through transformative education and, more specifically, transformative legal education. The skills, properties and attributes commonly encompassed in a definition of graduateness are provided and existing South African definitions of graduateness are scrutinised to determine whether the idealised graduates are envisioned as transformed persons. The article concludes by providing recommendations for the development of new definitions of graduateness, highlighting how transformative (legal) education can assist in the development of the transformed individual. It is postulated that the transformed individual should be an attribute of graduateness at all universities in South Africa.


Based on specimens previously identified as Tropidostoma, a new taxon of dicynodont (Bulbasaurus phylloxyron gen. et sp. nov.) from the Karoo Basin of South Africa is described. Bulbasaurus is a medium-sized dicynodont (maximum dorsal skull length 16.0 cm) restricted to the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone (early Lopingian) of the Beaufort Group. Bulbasaurus can be distinguished from Tropidostoma by an array of characters including the presence of a tall, sharp premaxillary ridge, large, rugose, nearly-confluent nasal bosses, a nasofrontal ridge, massive tusks, robust pterygoids, prominently twisted subtemporal bar, and absence of a distinct postfrontal. Inclusion of Bulbasaurus in a phylogenetic analysis of anomodont therapsids recovers it as a member of Geikiidae, a clade of otherwise later Permian dicynodonts such as Aulacephalodon and Pelanomodon. Bulbasaurus exhibits many of the characters typical of adult Aulacephalodon, but at substantially smaller skull size (these characters are absent in comparably-sized Aulacephalodon juveniles), suggesting that the evolution of typical geikiid morphology preceded gigantism in the clade. Bulbasaurus is the earliest known geikiid and the only member of the group known from the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone; discovery of this taxon shortens a perplexing ghost lineage and indicates that abundant clades from the later Permian of South Africa (e.g., Geikiidae, Dicynodontoidea) may have originated as rare components of earlier Karoo assemblage zones.


Internationally renowned trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort delves into the fetishistic world of contemporary fashion to reveal a daring and instinctive future for style and culture. As Edelkoort explains, the book explores various themes, from "our fundamental need to cover ourselves to the eccentric extremes to which our desires can take us on the quest for beauty." Fetishism in Fashion investigates topics including the evolution of taste from birth to adulthood, the elevation of shoes through ever-higher heels, the psychology of branding, the effects of infantilism, the power of the color black, the fetishizing of objects, and the interaction of architecture, fashion, and the body. The avant garde art performances of Leigh Bowery are highlighted in honor of his continually growing influence on contemporary culture. Talent will be sourced from around the globe, focusing on innovative and original content that illustrates a dramatic shift in aesthetics. Bolder, crazier, and more outlandish styles are on the fashion horizon, making this book a key reference in a new era of experimentation and intense creativity. With visually rich photography and essays by established authors discussing art, clothing, design, textiles, food, and beauty, this in-depth publication will unveil the intimate ties that bind us.


In Medicine of Australian Mammals, more than 30 experts present the most current information available on the medical management of all taxa of Australian native mammals. This comprehensive text is divided into two parts. The first includes chapters on general topics relevant to the medical management of captive and free-ranging Australian native mammals such as: veterinary considerations for the rescue, treatment, rehabilitation and release of wildlife; veterinary aspects of hand-rearing orphaned marsupials; marine mammal strandings and the role of the veterinarian; and wildlife health investigation and necropsy of Australian mammals. The second part covers the medicine of specific taxa of Australian native mammals. Detailed information on taxonomy, distribution, biology, anatomy, physiology, reproduction, husbandry, nutrition, physical and chemical restraint, clinical pathology, hand-rearing, diseases, zoonoses, therapeutics, reproductive management and surgery is included. This practical, one-source reference is complemented by detailed photographs and illustrations, as well as tables listing reproductive and physiological data, diets, haematology and biochemistry values, and drug formularies. Appendices include a checklist of the mammals of Australia and its territories and a guide to the identification of common parasites of Australian mammals. Medicine of Australian Mammals is clinically oriented and is a must-have for veterinary clinicians, no matter how experienced. The book will also be of use to veterinary students, researchers, biologists, zoologists, wildlife carers and other wildlife professionals.


In charting out the 'four ways' of eco-global criminology, this paper discusses the importance of recognising and acting in regards to the differences evident in (1) ways of being (ontology), (2) ways of knowing (epistemology), (3) ways of doing (methodology) and (4) ways of valuing (axiology). The paper assumes and asserts that global study of environmental crime is essential to the green criminology project, and particularly an eco-global criminology approach. Specific instances of criminal and harmful activity therefore need to be analysed in the context of broad international social, political, economic and ecological processes. The article outlines the key ideas of eco-global criminology, a perspective that argues that global study must always be inclusive of voices from the periphery and margins of the world's metropolitan centres, and critical of the social relations that sustain the epistemological as well as material realities and legacies of colonialism and imperialism. Yet, in doing so, there arise many paradoxes and conundrums that likewise warrant close attention.


CONTEXT
Indigenous Australians living in rural communities suffer from multiple musculoskeletal problems that significantly impair their activities of daily living. They commonly report physical disability and 'having learned to live with their pain'. A pilot, accredited musculoskeletal training program in the form of a sports massage course was designed and implemented in an attempt to address modifiable, commonly-presenting musculoskeletal conditions in this community.

ISSUE
Sports massage was taught to 20 participant Aboriginal Health workers (AHWs) and community Elders at Durri Aboriginal Corporation, New South Wales, Australia. Sports massage was chosen as the vehicle for skills development because sport was widely valued in the community. The participants were taught a variety of theoretical and massage skills in the 2 week course using the informal 'round table' techniques developed by Booroongen Djugun College, NSW, Australia. The course was evaluated positively by participants. Because the course was developed according to community guidelines it had high cultural acceptability.

LESSONS
Sports massage skills have been adapted for treatment of patients with chronic illness and stress within the community. Development of the course according to community needs was essential for acceptance, as was the active involvement of AHWs in all phases. For sustainability, such courses require appropriate funding.


The load carrying capacities of 1P1S (Single Press Single Sinter) 1.5Cr-0.2Mo very high density (7.5 g/cc) sintered steel gear was tested and analyzed. The P/M gear specimens were machined from sintered packs and some were surface rolled. The bending durability was investigated by single tooth bending fatigue tests. The surface durability was evaluated using a power re-circulation type gear testing rig with a counter pinion gear made of standard grade Ni-Cr-Mo wrought steel. Both of P/M gears and counter pinion wrought steel gears were case carburized and finished by grinding. Failure modes of the tested gears in respect to tooth bending fatigue and rolling contact fatigue were analyzed. The test results show that the high density P/M gears with or without teeth surface densification have high enough durability to replace gears made of typical wrought Cr-Mo steel.


This study takes as its point of departure a pedagogical perspective on teaching practices in three different institutional contexts for adult learning. The pedagogical perspective applied could also be labeled as didactic, here drawing on the German term didaktich and the influence of German educational traditions and language on the educational traditions in the Nordic countries. A didactic perspective on adult learning has pragmatically been described as an action-oriented theorizing about education, between what is universal and what is context specific. It focuses on the relationships between what is enacted in the class-room, (the -how--question of teaching), the choice of content subjected to teaching (the -what--question of teaching), and beliefs about the purpose of education (the -why-- question of teaching). Research projects with a didactical perspective in this sense, focusing on the pedagogical process or spanning across different institutional arenas of adult education are, however, still sparse. The present multiple case study is an attempt at using the didactical perspective analytically in empirical field studies of teaching practices in different institutional contexts, i.e. a folk high school, a university programme and a municipality adult education institution (Komvux) in Sweden. Participant observations in class-rooms have been combined with interviews with the teachers. The metaphors The Forum, The Clinic, and The Qualification franchise have been used as a tool to interpret, explore and illustrate three typical patterns in teaching practices that cut across the different institutional contexts. The interpretation is related to previously identified and typical lines of reasoning in international literature on adult learning.


Bhutan is a remote kingdom in the Himalayas, isolated from the outside world for three centuries. The western part has been opened to limited tourism, but the eastern part remains closed. Katie Hickman is one of only a handful of foreigners ever to penetrate these eastern lands. Her trip to Bhutan with photographer Tom Owen Edmunds took a year to set up. They journeyed from the capital Thimphu in the west to the easternmost borderlands and the remote mountain-top retreat of the barbarous Bragpa people. They lived as Bhutanese, and met merchants, abbots, wandering priests, lamas, hermits, a reincarnation of the Buddha and a sorceress. Katie Hickman's account contains all the unexpected and humorous aspects of travel, but, above all, it is about the people of Bhutan.


This case was about the implementation of a new software system in Cowboy
Semiconductor (M) Sdn Bhd (eSSB). During the course of implementation,
the company encountered several foreseeable and unforeseeable problems.
The objective of this case study was to identify the lessons learned and how
to overcome these problems.
Quality Tracking System (QTS) program was introduced to CSSB in October
1997 with the intention to improve productivity. However after 6 months of
implementation, management found that there was continuous resistance
from employees to accept this new system.
From the analysis of this case, it was found that the resistance was mainly
due to lack in proper planning during the initial implementation. The QTS
software itself was not ready during initial release. This has created a lot of problems for the users and users refused to use the system. Employees were
also resistance to change because ars changed the way they used to work.
Support given by information group and management toward this project was
very bad due to a shift in management's priority.
CSSB management needs to make some changes on QTS in order for it to be
successful implemented. It is recommended that the period of implementation
be extended . A new well-thought plan must be developed and implemented
and motivation programmes for employees should be part of the plan. Finally
an evaluation and control programme need to be incorporated into the plan to
ensure the project was always on the right track


The power of competition is an essential aspect of companies' external environment and their regional units, which influence the decision on strategy, the decision to enter new regions and markets, the choice of models and assessment of performance. Even if the reflection of the issue of competition in scientific publications is very broad, the aspect of measuring and assessing it is mentioned only a few works. And, more often the degree of competition is presented as something self-evident. While the phenomenon of competition is so difficult, multifaceted and variable, that requires specific criteria and methods for assessing the intensity of competition, adequate to the specificity of a certain market or region. The present paper is focused on the analysis of competition intensity and its influence on strategic position of companies on the market. All analyzed factors are important and significantly can intensify the competition fight among the firms. Thus, the main factors determining the intensity of competition examined in the paper are the distribution of market shares among the competitors, the growth rate and the profitability of the market. In this context, the quantitative coefficients of characterized factors are proposed to be examining as the measure of the competitive intensity. Furthermore, the competitive intensity has its implication on strategic position of companies, giving each of them its place on the market.


Although online handwriting verification has made great progress recently, the verification performances are still far behind the real usage owing to the small scale of the datasets as well as the limited biometric mediums. Therefore, this paper proposes a new handwriting verification benchmark dataset named Multimodal Signature and Digit String (MSDS), which consists of two subsets: MSDS-ChS (Chinese Signatures) and MSDS-TDS (Token Digit Strings), contributed by 402 users, with 20 genuine samples and 20 skilled forgeries per user per subset. MSDS-ChS consists of handwritten Chinese signatures, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the largest publicly available Chinese signature dataset for handwriting verification, at least eight times larger than existing online datasets. Meanwhile, MSDS-TDS consists of handwritten Token Digit Strings, i.e, the actual phone numbers of users, which have not been explored yet. Extensive experiments with different baselines are respectively conducted for MSDS-ChS and MSDS-TDS. Surprisingly, verification performances of state-of-the-art methods on MSDS-TDS are generally better than those on MSDS-ChS, which indicates that the handwritten Token Digit String could be a more effective biometric than handwritten Chinese signature. This is a promising discovery that could inspire us to explore new biometric traits. The MSDS dataset is available at https://github.com/HCIILAB/MSDS.


Extracted from text ... Stoma is the Greek word meaning opening or mouth. Formation management and
subsequent closure of bowel stomas represents a considerable volume of the work of
a paediatric surgical service. Since the first successful colostomy was performed in
1793 by Duret on a 3-day-old infant for an anorectal malformation, stomas were
slow in gaining professional and social acceptance. In contrast to stomas performed
in adults, most of the stomas in infants and children are temporary. There are two
general indications for stomas: to defunction the distal bowel and as access to the
gastrointestinal tract.
Stoma formation is often considered a simple ..


In order to obtain a better perspective of the impacts of brownfields on the land–atmosphere exchange of mercury in urban areas, total gaseous mercury (TGM) was measured at two heights (1.8 m and 42.7 m) prior to 2011–2012 and after 2015–2016 for the remediation of a brownfield and installation of a parking lot adjacent to the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Syracuse, NY, USA. Prior to brownfield remediation, the annual average TGM concentrations were 1.6 ± 0.6 and 1.4 ± 0.4 ng·m−3 at the ground and upper heights, respectively. After brownfield remediation, the annual average TGM concentrations decreased by 32% and 22% at the ground and the upper height, respectively. Mercury soil flux measurements during summer after remediation showed net TGM deposition of 1.7 ng·m−2·day−1 suggesting that the site transitioned from a mercury source to a net mercury sink. Measurements from the Atmospheric Mercury Network (AMNet) indicate that there was no regional decrease in TGM concentrations during the study period. This study demonstrates that evasion from mercury-contaminated soil significantly increased local TGM concentrations, which was subsequently mitigated after soil restoration. Considering the large number of brownfields, they may be an important source of mercury emissions source to local urban ecosystems and warrant future study at additional locations.


Sukhee Lee takes as his point of departure a conundrum: although the local elites of Mingzhou prefecture won glowing praise for their role in building community solidarity, the financial support for their activities actually often came from the state. Because Mingzhou local activism was clearly not a response to a retreating state, Lee focuses on the complex interplay between the state and local elites, especially by examining their sponsorship of official schools, the community drinking ceremony, charitable estates, and the charitable service. He demonstrates that the state and local elites had convergent interests, but he also shows that they differed both in their commitment to local projects and in their visions of elite social responsibility. Two contending but complementary visions, rather than the complete triumph of one over the other, was vital to the success of the local activism of Mingzhou.


We consider preoperative prediction of thyroid cancer based on ultra-high-resolution whole-slide cytopathology images. Inspired by how human experts perform diagnosis, our approach first identifies and classifies diagnostic image regions containing informative thyroid cells, which only comprise a tiny fraction of the entire image. These local estimates are then aggregated into a single prediction of thyroid malignancy. Several unique characteristics of thyroid cytopathology guide our deep-learning-based approach. While our method is closely related to multiple-instance learning, it deviates from these methods by using a supervised procedure to extract diagnostically relevant regions. Moreover, we propose to simultaneously predict thyroid malignancy, as well as a diagnostic score assigned by a human expert, which further allows us to devise an improved training strategy. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves performance comparable to human experts, and demonstrate the potential of using the algorithm for screening and as an assistive tool for the improved diagnosis of indeterminate cases.


A signaling pathway that promotes the cytoskeleton remodeling in osteoclasts necessary for bone resorption is elucidated. Bone breakdown To resorb bone, osteoclasts must remodel the cytoskeleton to form actin rings. Thus, understanding the pathways that control actin ring formation in osteoclasts could reveal potential therapeutic targets for reversing losses in bone density in diseases such as osteoporosis. Using genetically manipulated mice and cells derived from these mice, Uehara et al. characterized a pathway that stimulated bone resorption by osteoclasts. Binding of Wnt5a to one of its receptors, Ror2, activated the small GTPase Rho, its effector Pkn3, and c-Src, a kinase that is required for actin ring formation. The authors note that several of these proteins are implicated in tumor metastasis and that this signaling pathway may operate in metastasizing cancer cells. Cytoskeletal reorganization in osteoclasts to form actin rings is necessary for these cells to attach to bone and resorb bone matrices. We delineated the pathway through which Wnt5a signaling through receptor tyrosine kinase–like orphan receptor 2 (Ror2) promoted the bone-resorbing activity of osteoclasts. Wnt5a binding to Ror2 stimulated Rho, a small GTPase involved in cytoskeletal reorganization. Subsequently, the Rho effector kinase Pkn3 bound to and enhanced the activity of c-Src, a nonreceptor tyrosine kinase that is critical for actin ring formation. Mice with an osteoclast-specific deficiency in Ror2 (Ror2ΔOcl/ΔOcl) had increased bone mass. Osteoclasts derived from these mice exhibited impaired bone resorption and actin ring formation, defects that were rescued by overexpression of constitutively active RhoA. These osteoclasts also exhibited reduced interaction between c-Src and Pkn3 and reduced c-Src kinase activity. Similar to Ror2ΔOcl/ΔOcl mice, mice with a global deficiency of Pkn3 (Pkn3−/−) had increased bone mass. The proline-rich region and kinase domain of Pkn3 were required to restore the bone-resorbing activity of osteoclasts derived from Pkn3−/− mice. Thus, Pkn3 promotes bone resorption downstream of Wnt5a-Ror2-Rho signaling, and this pathway may be a therapeutic target for bone diseases such as osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and periodontal disease.


Larvae of potato tuber moth were exposed to infection by granulosis virus material on potato tubers and tobacco plants. Significant mortalities were generally recorded at the different dosage rates in larvae of all instars on potatoes. Injury to tobacco leaves however, remained at an economically unacceptable level even after virus infection. An electron micrograph of the pathogen confirms its identity as a granulosis virus, similar to a virus which controls tuber moth on a field scale in Australia.


Odorant emissions are associated with, among other things, wastewater transport in sewer networks; they contribute to air pollution and result in complaints from residents living close to emission sources. The critical location in terms of the formation of unpleasant odour compounds is the pressure line that connects the pumping station and the expansion well; this is where they are released into the atmosphere. This paper presents comprehensive results of olfactometric and chromatographic tests in the Polish city of Białystok using portable devices that allow for multiple determinations and instant results. The study attempts to investigate the relationship between odour and odorant concentrations and check the suitability of field olfactometry as a tool for the ongoing monitoring of the emission of noxious odours and for verifying complaints submitted by residents. Statistical analysis shows a very high correlation coefficient between cod and the concentrations of individual odorants, ranging from 0.82 to 0.91. This olfactometric research, mainly conducted in situ, can be an appropriate method for the ad hoc monitoring of processes in sewage networks. This method allows the detection of unwanted emissions of odours at individual points in the network in concentrations that are not detected by standard sensors but that nevertheless cause odour nuisances, complaints, and social conflict. The research results provide evidence in favour of the energetic usage of wastewater, which is in line with circular economy conception, since odour nuisance is one of its indicators.


As large scale enterprise computer networks become more ubiquitous, finding the appropriate balance between user convenience and user access control is an increasingly challenging proposition. Suboptimal partitioning of users' access and available services contributes to the vulnerability of enterprise networks. Previous edge-cut partitioning methods unduly restrict users' access to network resources. This paper introduces a novel method of network partitioning superior to the current state-of-the-art which minimizes user impact by providing alternate avenues for access that reduce vulnerability. Networks are modeled as bipartite authentication access graphs and a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is used to simultaneously minimize the size of large connected components while minimizing overall restrictions on network users. Results are presented on a real world data set that demonstrates the effectiveness of the introduced method compared to previous naive methods.


Background: The prognostic value of the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) risk score (GRS) and the thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) risk index (TRI) has been reported in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between the GRS, TRI, and severity of CAD evaluated by SYNTAX score (SS) in patients Non ST segment elvation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS).
Aim: The aim of this study is to compare the GRACE risk score and the TIMI risk index in predicting the extent and severity of coronary artery disease in patients with (NSTE-ACS) using Syntax score
Methods: A total number of 100 patients were admitted to National Heart Institute CCU with NSTE-ACS undergoing coronary angiography. Patients with a history of coronary artery bypass surgery, those who had missing data for calculating the GRS and TRI, and those whose systolic blood pressure (SBP) was more than 180 mm Hg or whose diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was more than 110 mm Hg were excluded from the study The GRS and TRI were calculated on admission using specified variables. The severity of CAD was evaluated using the SS. The patients were divided into low (GRS 140) risk groups according to GRS score and into group 1 (TRI 0-2), group 2 (TRI 3-4), and group 3 (TRI 5-7) according to TRI score. A Pearson correlation analysis was used for the relation between GRS, TRI, and SS.
Results: There were significant correlation between both GRACE and TRI score and SS (r=0.551, p<0.001) (r=0.309, p=0.046) respectively, there were no significant difference between area under the curve in predicting extent of CAD p= 0.185 although GRACE score showed higher significance in correlation with SS
 Conclusion: The GRS is more associated with SS than TRI in predicting the severity of CAD in patients with ACS


Using hybrid simulations, we examine how particles can diffuse across the Earth's magnetopause because of finite Larmor radius effects. We focus on tangential discontinuities and consider a reversal of the magnetic field that closely models the magnetopause under southward interplanetary magnetic field. When the Larmor radius is on the order of the field reversal thickness, we show that particles can cross the discontinuity. We also show that with a realistic initial shear flow, a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability develops that increases the efficiency of the crossing process. We investigate the distribution functions of the transmitted ions and demonstrate that they are structured according to a D-shape. It accordingly appears that magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause is not the only process that leads to such specific distribution functions. A simple analytical model that describes the built-up of these functions is proposed.


The object of this work was to investigate the interaction between rotary valves and pneumatic conveying pipelines and the effect which this can have on overall system performance. A review of previous work and current industrial practice revealed that very little work has been published on this subject, although it was evident that some manufacturers of pneumatic conveying systems do have preferred entrainment configurations. Consequently, a preliminary experimental investigation was undertaken with a transparent model of a rotary valve and drop-out box in order to observe the air and solid flow patterns inside the drop-out box. This provided the most important outcome of this work, that is, the discovery that two distinctly different modes of flow can exist in the chamber of a conventional drop-out box. The first of these is a turbulent swirling motion caused by the conveying airstream and is the most desirable operating condition because it results in the most effective entrainment of material into the conveying line. The second is a situation where the drop-out box is effectively 'choked' with product.

Models to explain these two conditions have been developed and subsequently tested against data obtained from a full size positive pressure conveying system specifically constructed for this purpose. An extensive experimental programme has been carried out in which the performance of this system was examined with a selection of different entrainment configurations and different test materials. The principal variables investigated were the height and volume of the drop-out box, the orientation of the rotary valve with respect to the pipeline and the conveying air velocity.

As a result of this work guidelines have been produced for interfacing rotary valves with pneumatic conveying pipelines. These have been presented as a simple list of eight points and it is anticipated that they will enable systems to be designed with more confidence than has been possible previously.


This article focuses on the state confiscation of the Surp Hagop Armenian cemetery as more than just another fact about the famous 2013 protests in Gezi Park in Istanbul. In addition to coming to terms with the limits of the Gezi uprising in relation to its claims of inclusiveness, such a focus unravels the key tension between, on the one hand, progressive and left-wing calls to promote the allegedly equal, universal citizen in Turkey through protest movements and, on the other hand, the differential property regime on which the Turkish nation-state is founded, the denial of which continues to erode the possibility of equal citizenship. The article demonstrates how the systematic confiscation of Armenian property is normalized in everyday discourse and politics in Turkey in the service of the broader legal governance of minority difference.


This paper considers reaction-diffusion equations from a new point of view, by including spatiotemporal dependence in the source terms. We show for the first time that solutions are given in terms of the classical Painleve transcendents. We consider reaction-diffusion equations with cubic and quadratic source terms. A new feature of our analysis is that the coefficient functions are also solutions of differential equations, including the Painleve equations. Special cases arise with elliptic functions as solutions. Additional solutions given in terms of equations that are not integrable are also considered. Solutions are constructed using a Lie symmetry approach.


We report on the demonstration of ion–photon entanglement and Bell inequality violation in a system of trapped Ba138+ ions. Entanglement between the Zeeman sublevels of the ground state of a single Ba138+ ion and the polarization state of a single 493 nm photon emitted by the ion with a fidelity of 0.84±0.01 was achieved, along with a Bell signal of 2.3, exceeding the classical limit of 2 by more than eight standard deviations. This system is a promising candidate for a loophole-free Bell inequality violation test using long-range ion–ion entanglement as the wavelengths of the transitions of Ba138+ are in the visible region and thus suitable for long-range transmission over fiber optic cable.


Corporate Social Responsibility has grown popular among discussions in economics and societies worldwide. To a growing extent customers make their buying decisions under CSR aspects. Enterprises try to follow up with CSR strategies. But often a gap has to be detected between the theoretical approach of CSR and practical implementations within the entrepreneurial reality. This article introduces a possible approach of closing the gap within CSR implementation. The 'Heilbronn Declaration' is a voluntary agreement of enterprises and institutions in Germany especially of the Heilbronn-Franconia region. The approach of the 'Heilbronn Declaration' targets the decisive factors of success or failure, the achievements of the implementation and best practices regarding CSR. A form of responsible entrepreneurship shall be initiated to meet the requirements of stakeholders' trust in economy. Therefore it has been elaborated by academics together with enterprises and their shareholders. It is an approach to make voluntary commitment more binding. Its scientific base may allow development of indicators for CSR implementation in business ventures and institutions to finalize in a CSR audit. The innovative approach of the 'Heilbronn Declaration' is the integration of the prospective signatories into discussion on the idea and purpose of business from the very first beginning. Keywords: sustainability, corporate social responsibility, innovation, voluntary commitment, authentic CSR, small and medium sized enterprises (SME)


Elementary shapes (in the tradition of Pestalozzi and later Frobel) are of great importance in children's education and modern art. They appear, for example, in paintings such as "Die Hulsenbeckschen Kinder" (1805/06) by Philipp Otto Runge that exerted a great influence on modern art. The resulting reception enables an insight into children's perception. Minimal art, conceptual art, and other constructivist art forms have adopted this idea. However, the obvious impact of these movements and ideas on picturebooks for children has not been adequately investigated so far. The objective here is to reveal the aesthetically innovative dimension of elementary reductions, as well as to show how young children perceive basic shapes and objects that undoubtedly inspire the young child's imaginative powers. In this way, children's perception, the education of children, picturebooks for young children and modern art complement each other so that the underlying symbolic shifts relating to modernity become comprehensible (through the use of elementary shapes) and can be utilized productively.


Abstract. International shipping is recognized as a pollution source of growing importance, in particular in the remote marine boundary layer. Nitrogen dioxide originating from ship emissions has previously been detected in satellite measurements. This study presents the first satellite measurements of formaldehyde (HCHO) linked to shipping emissions as derived from observations made by the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) instrument. We analyzed enhanced HCHO tropospheric columns from shipping emissions over the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Sumatra. This region offers good conditions in term of plume detection with the GOME instrument as all ship tracks follow a single narrow track in the same east-west direction as used for the GOME pixel scanning. The HCHO signal alone is weak but could be clearly seen in the high-pass filtered data. The line of enhanced HCHO in the Indian Ocean as seen in the 7-year composite of cloud free GOME observations clearly coincides with the distinct ship track corridor from Sri Lanka to Indonesia. The observed mean HCHO column enhancement over this shipping route is about 2.0×1015 molec/cm2. Compared to the simultaneously observed NO2 values over the shipping route, those of HCHO are substantially higher; also the HCHO peaks are found at larger distance from the ship routes. These findings indicate that direct emissions of HCHO or degradation of emitted NMHC cannot explain the observed enhanced HCHO values. One possible reason might be increased CH4 degradation due to enhanced OH concentrations related to the ship emissions, but this source is probably too weak to fully explain the observed values. The observed HCHO pattern also agrees qualitatively well with results from the coupled earth system model ECHAM5/MESSy applied to atmospheric chemistry (EMAC). However, the modelled HCHO values over the ship corridor are two times lower than in the GOME high-pass filtered data. This might indicate uncertainties in the satellite data and used emission inventories and/or that the in-plume chemistry taking place in the narrow path of the shipping lanes are not well represented at the rather coarse model resolution.


Canada has a relatively decentralized federal structure, which allows the diversity of its population and geography to be taken into consideration. To address increasingly urgent environmental problems, the federal government and its supporters must set aside their centralist reflexes and encourage the provinces to continue experimenting with their own policies. Ottawa must at the same time fulfill its environmental responsibilities in its own fields of jurisdiction, for the greatest benefit to federalism and the environment.


The Flesh of the World is a group exhibition presenting diverse and complex views of the body that might deepen qualities typically associated with competitive sports and games, such as the relationship between the body and technology, and how the senses might offer new forms of knowledge to corporeal performance and potential. The Flesh of the World will push the limits of the body and challenge dominant culture's understanding of normativity and embodiment through work by Canadian and international artists who use the body as a medium.

The artists critically inquire and experiment with the shape and forms of bodies, proving that, within the context of both the exhibition and the field of athleticism itself, the body is unfixed and indeterminate. The exhibition also makes important connections between the language of complex embodiment and the language of sports, given that many of the issues relating to endurance, physical limits, failure, pathos, and the human psyche, inform both these fields. It is within the confluence of these two worlds, sometimes playful, sometimes reflective, that we can radically expand our ideas of the corporeal apparatus as a whole.


Wang Lixiong published his "Roadmap of Tibetan Independence" on the Internet in November 2008, after a relative easing of tensions following the spring uprising and just after the conclusion of the Beijing Olympic Games.( It offers his interpretation of the Tibet issue with a novel analytical approach that he formulated after the Tibetan protests. His original view of the Tibet crisis takes into account its deeper causes and charts a path towards Tibetan independence. "Roadmap" consists of three parts: 1) The March Incident in Tibet is a Watershed, 2) The difficulties of an imperial system of government, and 3) The Road to Tibetan Independence. The first part has been translated into English by Kong Lingxi and disseminated widely on the Internet. It therefore seemed important to publish the second part, which is more relevant to understanding the author's views as it contains a detailed analysis of the nature of bureaucratic institutions and details the system's failings. In order to give a general idea of what Wang's text has to say, a summary of the first part precedes the translation. The third part, not translated here, presents Wang's vision of different scenarios for achieving independence, which he believes can only come about through massive violence and bloodshed. TibetInfoNet reported on 13 June 2009 that Wang was in Dharamsala for a twomonth visit organised by the Association of Tibetan writers. (Lara Maconi, translated by N. Jayaram)


Many machine learning algorithms require the summation of Gaussian kernel functions, an expensive operation if implemented straightforwardly. Several methods have been proposed to reduce the computational complexity of evaluating such sums, including tree and analysis based methods. These achieve varying speedups depending on the bandwidth, dimension, and prescribed error, making the choice between methods difficult for machine learning tasks. We provide an algorithm that combines tree methods with the Improved Fast Gauss Transform (IFGT). As originally proposed the IFGT suffers from two problems: (1) the Taylor series expansion does not perform well for very low bandwidths, and (2) parameter selection is not trivial and can drastically affect performance and ease of use. We address the first problem by employing a tree data structure, resulting in four evaluation methods whose performance varies based on the distribution of sources and targets and input parameters such as desired accuracy and bandwidth. To solve the second problem, we present an online tuning approach that results in a black box method that automatically chooses the evaluation method and its parameters to yield the best performance for the input data, desired accuracy, and bandwidth. In addition, the new IFGT parameter selection approach allows for tighter error bounds. Our approach chooses the fastest method at negligible additional cost, and has superior performance in comparisons with previous approaches.