The growth of Personal Communications, the keyword of the 90s, has already the signs of a technological revolution. The foundations of this revolution are currently set through the standardization of the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), a communication system with synergistic terrestrial and satellite segments. The main characteristic of the UMTS radio interface, is the provision of ISDN services. Services with higher than voice data rates require more spectrum, thus techniques that utilize spectrum as efficiently as possible are currently at the forefront of the research community interests. Two of the most spectrally efficient multiple access technologies, namely. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) concentrate the efforts of the European telecommunity.This thesis addresses problems and. proposes solutions for CDMA systems that must comply with the UMTS requirements. Prompted by Viterbi's call for further extending the potential of CDMA through signal processing at the receiving end, we propose new Minimum Mean Square Error receiver architectures. MMSE detection schemes offer significant advantages compared to the conventional correlation based receivers as they are NEar FAr Resistant (NEFAR) over a wide range of interfering power levels. The NEFAR characteristic of these detectors reduces considerably the requirements of the power control loops currently found in commercial CDMA systems. MMSE detectors are also found, to have significant performance gains over other well established interference cancellation techniques like the decorrelating detector, especially in heavily loaded system conditions. The implementation architecture of MMSE receivers can be either Multiple-Input Multiple Output (MIMO) or Single-Input Single-Output. The later offers not only complexity that is comparable to the conventional detector, but also has the inherent advantage of employing adaptive algorithms which can be used to provide both the dispreading and the interference cancellation function, without the knowledge of the codes of interfering users. Furthermore, in multipath fading channels, adaptive MMSE detectors can exploit the multipath diversity acting as RAKE combiners. The later ability is distinctive to MMSE based receivers, and it is achieved in an autonomous fashion, without the knowledge of the multipath intensity profile. The communicator achieves its performance objectives by the synergy of the signal processor and the channel decoder. According to the propositions of this thesis, the form of the signal processor needs to be changed, in order to exploit the horizons of spread spectrum signaling. However, maximum likelihood channel decoding algorithms need not change. It is the way that these algorithms are utilized that needs to be revis ed. In this respect, we identify three major utilization scenarios and an attempt is made to quantify which of the three best matches the requirements of a UMTS oriented CDMA radio interface. Based on our findings, channel coding can be used as a mapping technique from the information bit to a more ''intelligent" chip, matching the ''intelligence" of the signal processor.


Objective Accidental blood exposure (ABE) is defined as "any accidental exposure to blood or to a biological fluid contaminated by blood, including a cutaneous injury during an incision or injection, or a projection on mucosa or on an injured skin". we aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practises of healthcare workers in one of West Africa country national referral hospital (Yalgado Ouédraogo University Hospital) face to ABE. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional and analytical study was conducted, from May to July 2009, on all healthcare workers (medical, paramedical and support staff) working for at least a year in this hospital university. A self and anonymous questionnaire was used to gather the information. The knowledge assessment was made using a digital scale. Results 462 healthcare workers responded to the questionnaire (response rate: 51.3%). They composed of 60 physicians (12.9%), 313 paramedics (67.7%) and 89 support officers (19.2%). The exact definition of an ABE was known from 255 healthcare workers (55.2%) and 375 (81.2%) were aware of the principles of universal precautions. Medical staff better defined the ABE than the other healthcare workers (p = 0.00). 133 healthcare workers (29.4%) were at least once a victim of an ABE, of which 84 (61.3%) had not reported their ABE. Ignorance of the support procedures was in 26.8% of cases the main cause of no report. The risk of contamination after ABE had not been assessed in 60.3% of cases. Only 69.7% of the healthcare workers were aware that HIV is a potentially transmissible infectious agent during an ABE. Protective equipment was not always available and not constantly used. Conclusion The ABE knowledge of these referral hospital healthcare workers is not satisfactory. Appropriate communication and awareness means on the risks associated with the ABE should be further developed in healthcare settings.


The plasma membrane presents a remarkable barrier for the delivery of peptide and nucleic acid based drugs to the inside of cells. This restraint in the path of their development as therapeutic agents can be offset by their conjugation to cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) that can lead to an improved pharmacological profile. In this context, conformational behavior of Vimentin Tubulin Binding Site (TBS) peptide, Vim-TBS (58-81), was investigated for its acknowledged cell penetrating properties along with Trans-activating Tat (48-60) peptide and a pro-apoptogenic peptide of p21/WAFI protein (p10). Also, the fusion peptides Vim- TBS (58-81)-p10 & Tat (48-60)-p10 were studied using molecular mechanics (MM) and molecular dynamics (MD) based strategies. MM results revealed formation of stable α-helix like secondary structures in Vim-TBS (58-81), Tat (48-60) and p10 peptides. In water, three peptides adopted either a helical structure or a random conformation; the stability of either of the two states being governed by the formation of polar contacts with the solvent. The fusion peptides formed helical structures after MD simulations but the structure obtained for the fusion peptide, Vim-TBS-p10 is relatively better characterized in terms of its amphipathic nature with a hydrophilic face formed by the positively charged residues facilitating a better interaction of this fusion peptide with the membrane as compared to that of Tat-p10 peptide. This is the first report on the conformational characteristics of the Vim-TBS (58-81) peptide and the fusion peptide, Vim-TBS (58-81)-p10. The results presented here are significant for their potential role in guiding and facilitating the future efforts of designing peptide based cell penetrating drugs.


Coinage occupies an unusual position in archaeological research. Thriving scholarship on numismatics and monetary history ensures that the objects themselves are well-studied, often seen as an indication of chronology and of stylistic and commercial links. Yet coins might also be analysed as artefacts, and explored as part of the symbolic world of material culture through which archaeologists understand meaning and value in past societies. Using a recently-excavated assemblage of medieval Kilwa-type coins from Songo Mnara on the East African Swahili coast, this article explores the multiple ways that value was ascribed and created through use, rejecting a simple dichotomy between substantive and formal value. Attention is given to the contexts of the coins, which enables a discussion of the relationship between power and the constitution of value, the circulation and use of coins among townspeople, and their use within ritual and commemorative activity.


Metal nanoshells are a novel type of composite nanoparticle consisting of a dielectric core covered by a thin metallic shell which is typically gold. Nanoshells possess highly favorable optical and chemical properties for biomedical imaging and therapeutic applications. By varying the relative the dimensions of the core and the shell, the optical resonance of these nanoparticles can be precisely and systematically varied over a broad wavelength region ranging from the near-UV to the mid-infrared. This range includes the near-infrared (NIR) region where tissue transmissivity peaks. In addition, nanoshells offer other advantages over conventional organic dye imaging agents, including improved optical properties and reduced susceptibility to chemical/thermal denaturation. Furthermore, the same conjugation protocols used to bind biomolecules to gold colloid are easily modified for nanoshells. We first review the synthesis of gold nanoshells and illustrate how the core/shell ratio and overall size of a nanoshell influences its scattering and absorption properties. We then describe several examples of nanoshell-based diagnostic and therapeutic approaches including the development of nanoshell bioconjugates for molecular imaging, the use of scattering nanoshells as contrast agents for optical coherence tomography (OCT), and the use of absorbing nanoshells in NIR thermal therapy of tumors.


This paper describes teacher responses to a framework designed to support teacher planning for technology. It includes a learning experience outside the classroom [LEOTC] and is designed specifically for five-year-old students. The planning framework draws together characteristics of technology education, junior primary classrooms and LEOTC to describe the role of the teacher, parent helpers and students as they work through three identified phases - preparing for a visit outside the classroom, participating in a learning experience outside the classroom, and post-visit activities in the classroom. This framework was trialled using a case study approach in two new-entrant classrooms in which students made chocolates for Mother's Day as part of a technology unit.
Students partook in a LEOTC visit to a chocolate factory in order to examine the practice of experts before designing and making their own chocolate gift. Data sources for this paper included interviews with two participating teachers. The analysis of these suggest the use of the planning framework led to the thorough preparation of parent helpers and students, clearly defined roles for both the teachers and the parents, and the use of valuable strategies which enhanced students memories of their visit enabled them to apply aspects of the knowledge gained to their own technological practice.


Reconstruction of large oral mucosa defects is often challenging, since the shortage of healthy oral mucosa to replace the excised tissues. This way, tissue ingineering techniques may provide a source of autologous tissues available for transplant in these patients. In this work, we have developed a new model for artificial oral mucosa generated by tissue engineering using a fibrin-agarosa scaffold. For that purpose, we have generated primary cultures of human oral mucosa fibroblasts and keratinocytes from small biopsies of normal mucosa oral using enzymatic treatments. Then, we have determined the viability of cultured cells by electron probe quantitative X-ray microanalysis, and we have demonstrated that most of the cells in the primary cultures were alive and hd high K/Na ratios. Once cell viability was determined, we used cultured fibroblasts and keratinocytes to develop an artificial oral mucosa construct by using a fibrin-agarosa extracellular matrix and a sequential culture technique using porous culture inserts. Histological analysis of the artificial tissues showed high similarities with normal oral mucosa controls. The epithelium of the oral substitutes had several layers, with desmosomes and apical microvilli and microplicae. Both the controls and de oral mucosa substitutes showed high suprabasal expression of cytokeratin 13 and low expression of cytokeratin 10. All these results suggest that our model of oral mucosa using fibrin-agarose scaffolds show several similarities with native human oral mucosa.


This essay responds to critics of corporate liability and to the claim that elimination or limitation of such liability should be a priority for law reform. It discusses four points. First, imposing criminal liability on corporations makes sense, because corporations are not mere "fictional" entities. Rather, corporations are very real – and enormously powerful – actors whose conduct often causes very significant harms both to individuals and to society as a whole. Second, in evaluating the priorities for law reform it is critical to recognize that most of the problems with corporate liability are endemic to U.S. criminal law, rather than unique. The problems of corporations are neither special and distinctive, nor the most serious problems facing the criminal justice system. Third, a comparative review reveals something that may come as a surprise: corporate criminal liability is neither an embarrassing historical vestige nor a uniquely troubling feature of U.S. criminal law. To the contrary, in other countries the focus in the past several decades has been on the creation of corporate criminal liability in jurisdictions in which it did not exist, and where such liability already existed the modern reforms have included modifications intended to make it easier, rather than harder, to prosecute corporations criminally. Finally, what about the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction, which may wreck havoc on innocent parties including shareholders, employees, and creditors? Critics have mistakenly assumed that these collateral consequences are intrinsically tied to criminal liability. They are either necessarily related to criminal liability nor are they limited to corporations. Accordingly, these collateral consequences should be considered by prosecutors on a case-by-case basis, but they should not affect the policy questions addressed here. The critics are right that there are serious problems with corporate criminal liability in the United States. But any agenda for reform should acknowledge that those problems are generally endemic to the criminal justice system (and especially the federal criminal justice system), rather than unique to corporations. In addition, the agenda for reform should include the question whether corporate criminal liability (and/or other mechanisms such as civil liability and regulatory oversight) needs to be strengthened or expanded.


Objectives: This study was carried out to investigate the chemo protective potential of Quercetin, an isolated compound from Argyreia speciosa, on N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine and NaCl-induced gastric carcinomas in Wistar rats. Methods: The rats were fed with a diet supplemented with 8% NaCl and simultaneously given N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. After administration of the carcinogen, quercetin was administered. The whole stomach and a part of duodenum were sampled, cut open and tumors were recorded. The specimens were histopathologically investigated and the expression of surviving was examined with immunohistochemical analysis. Results and Conclusion: The treatment with quercetin significantly increases body weight in the rats after N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine administration. Survivin expression in glandular stomachs of normal rats, of rats in adenocarcinomas and quercetin at dose dependent manner treated rats were 0%, 90%, 75%, 33.3-25%, respectively. Compared with the survivin expression in negative rats, the differences were significant. Compared with the survivin expression in normal rats, the differences were significant. Histological observations of stomach tissues too correlated with the biochemical observations. These findings indicated that the Quercetin treatment could stimulate immunity activity in rats with N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine induced gastric carcinoma and have pronounced effect on survivin which is an attractive target for gastric cancer therapy.


A novel method of using a heterotic group's specific and general combining ability (HSGCA) to assign maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines into heterotic groups has been proposed recently. The objectives of this study were to (i) assign maize inbred lines to known heterotic groups using this method and (ii) compare efficiency of this method to traditional and molecular methods relative to the percentage of high-yielding hybrids obtained across the total number of the crosses made between testers and lines. An experiment with 23 maize inbred lines crossed to four testers with known heterotic groups was conducted in 2003 and 2004. This study successfully established a clear procedure to classify maize inbred lines into heterotic groups. The HSGCA method increased maize breeding efficiency by 16.7 to 23.6% compared with simple sequence repeat (SSR) and specific combining ability combined line pedigree and hybrid yield information (SCA_PY) methods, respectively. An analysis of variance showed that crosses classified by HSGCA method could explain more variation in maize hybrid yield and produce more predictable yield than the other two methods. The superiority of HSGCA relative to the other two methods is that HSGCA includes both GCA and SCA effect in assigning an unknown maize line to a known maize heterotic group.


Abstract. European heat waves have increased during the two recent decades. Particularly 2015 and 2018 were characterized by a widespread area of cold North Atlantic sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in early summer as well as positive surface temperature anomalies across large parts of the European continent during later summer. The European heat wave of 2018 is further suggested to be induced by a quasi-stationary and high-amplified Rossby wave pattern associated with the so-called quasi-resonant amplification (QRA) mechanism. In this study, we evaluate the North Atlantic SST anomalies and the QRA theory as potential drivers for European heat waves for the first time in combination by using the ERA-5 reanalysis product. A composite and correlation study reveals that cold North Atlantic SST anomalies in early summer favour a more undulating jet stream and a preferred trough-ridge pattern in the North Atlantic–European sector. Further we found that cold North Atlantic SSTs promote a stronger double jet occurrence in this sector. Thus, favorite conditions for a QRA signature are evident together with a necessary preconditioning of a double jet. However, our wave analysis covering two-dimensional probability density distributions of phase speed and amplitude does not confirm a relationship between cold North Atlantic SSTs and the QRA theory, compositing cold SSTs, high double jet indices (DJIs) or both together. Instead, we can show that cold North Atlantic SST events enhance the dominance of transient waves. In the presence of a trough during cold North Atlantic events, we obtain a slow-down of the transient waves, but not necessarily an amplification or stationarity. The deceleration of the transient waves result in a longer duration of a trough over the North Atlantic accompanied by a ridge downstream over Europe, triggering European heat episodes. Although a given DJI preconditioning may also be subject to the onset of certain QRA events, our study found no general relation between cold North Atlantic SST events and the QRA diagnostics. Our study highlights the relevance of cold North Atlantic SSTs for the onset of high European temperatures by affecting travelling jet stream undulations (but without involving QRA in general). Further attention should be drawn not only to the influence of North Atlantic SST year-to-year variability, but also to the effect of the North Atlantic warming hole as a negative SST anomaly in the long term, which is projected to evolve through climate change.


The purpose of this study is to examine the loss of Korean cultural heritage during the Japanese colonial and military occupation between 1910 and 1945, and the possibilities for its return and restitution.To examine the historical background and the reasons for Japan's particular interest in Korean cultural objects during the 20th century, the thesis first outlines the earlier Japanese plunder of Korean cultural heritage during the Imjin War (1592-1598). The Japanese colonial occupation of Korea began in 1910; however, the removal of Korean cultural property to Japan began earlier, in around 1905, when Japan had secured its political and military power after victories in the Sino-Japanese (1894- 1895) and Russo-Japanese (1904-1905) Wars. Therefore, this thesis considers Japan's institutionalised 'investigations' of Korean cultural heritage and assets from the late 19th century until 1945. These activities were associated with the removal of Korean cultural property including artefacts, works of art, treasures, books, libraries and archives to Japan and also with cases of destruction of Korean cultural heritage. The thesis then introduces Korea's claims for the return of cultural property after its restoration of independence in 1945. The process whereby the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of Japan re-established their diplomatic relations in 1965 is highlighted. Following the Agreement attached to the 1965 Treaty between Korea and Japan, Japan returned some Korean cultural objects, but not enough to match the original request from Korea. The thesis also discusses whether the 1910 Treaty of Annexation of Korea was legally valid or not. This argument is important, because Japan maintains that its annexation of Korea was done legally, and that consequently the removal of Korean cultural property during its occupation of Korea was lawful. In order to test this question, this research first examines the lawfulness of the preceding 1905 Agreement, which deprived Korea's diplomatic rights, given that the 1910 Treaty was a consecutive convention that depended on the 1905 Agreement. Case studies are presented that offer examples of the return of Korean cultural objects from Japan between 1965 and the present time. This study uses a methodology of re-examining and re-testing each historical event that has a high significance for this subject. Importantly, the author has researched relevant archival and historical resources that support the study and have not been examined in other previous research. Theoretical principles in cultural heritage are also reviewed in the course of this study. As the discovery of Korean cultural objects in Japanese museums, libraries, universities, and private collections continues and even increases, the conclusion of this thesis emphasises the necessity for further research into concrete resolutions.


Background: Bone marrow examination is crucial diagnostic modality for evaluation of various hematological and nonhematological disorders. However, marrow aspirate smears and biopsy sections, even though performed simultaneously, are often assessed at different points of time due to different processing methods. This sometimes results in discordance in diagnosis which adds to the diagnostic dilemma and delays the treatment. aim: This study aims to compare the diagnostic accuracy and the rate of concordance between the two modalities of bone marrow examination. Materials and Methods: Three hundred simultaneously performed bone marrow aspirates and BM trephine biopsies were retrospectively analyzed over a period of 1 year. The presence or absence of concordance was recorded. The reasons for inconclusive reports were also recorded. The concordance rates for different hematological disorders were calculated and recorded as high for >80%, moderate for 50%–80%, and low for <50%. The findings of discordant cases and reasons for discordance were also tabulated. Results: A high concordance was found in cases of megaloblastic anemia, leukemias, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and multiple myeloma; moderate concordance was found in hypoplastic marrow and concordance was low in Hodgkin's lymphoma, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in blast phase, metastatic, and granulomatous involvement of bone marrow. Conclusion: Bone marrow aspiration alone is sufficient for the diagnosis of megaloblastic anemia and most of the hematological malignancies. Bone marrow biopsy is more appropriate for detection of disorders with focal marrow involvement such as lymphoproliferative disorders, metastatic cancer, focal blast crisis in CML, granulomatous lesions, and hypoplastic marrow. However, it is strongly recommended that both should be reviewed simultaneously to ensure maximum diagnostic accuracy.


Face detection is the first step in many visual processing systems like face recognition, emotion recognition and lip reading. In this paper, we propose a novel feature called Haar Local Binary Pattern (HLBP) feature for fast and reliable face detection, particularly in adverse imaging conditions. This binary feature compares bin values of Local Binary Pattern histograms calculated over two adjacent image subregions. These subregions are similar to those in the Haar masks, hence the name of the feature. They capture the region-specific variations of local texture patterns and are boosted using AdaBoost in a framework similar to that proposed by Viola and Jones. Preliminary results obtained on several standard databases show that it competes well with other face detection systems, especially in adverse illumination conditions.


Service Oriented Computing (SOC) provides a framework for the realization of loosely coupled service oriented applications. Web services are central to the concept of SOC. Currently, research into how web services can be composed to yield QoS optimal composite service has gathered significant attention. However, the number and spread of web services across the cloud data centers has increased, thereby increasing the impact of the network on composite service performance experienced by the user. Recently, QoS-based web service composition techniques focus on optimizing web service QoS attributes such as cost, response time, execution time, etc. In doing so, existing approaches do not separate QoS of the network from web service QoS during service composition. In this paper, we propose a network-aware service composition approach which separates QoS of the network from QoS of web services in the Cloud. Consequently, our approach searches for composite services that are not only QoS-optimal but also have optimal QoS of the network. Our approach consists of a network model which estimates the QoS of the network in the form of network latency between services on the cloud. It also consists of a service composition technique based on fruit fly optimization algorithm which leverages the network model to search for low latency compositions without compromising service QoS levels. The approach is discussed and the results of evaluation are presented. The results indicate that the proposed approach is competitive in finding QoS optimal and low latency solutions when compared to recent techniques.


The life history of the aphidophagous syrphid fly, Heringia calcarata (Loew), a specialist predator of woolly apple aphid, Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann), was studied in Virginia from 2001 to 2003, under field and laboratory conditions. Pronounced differences in the chorionic sculpting of eggs of Eupeodes americanus (Wiedemann), Syrphus rectus Osten Sacken, and H. calcarata were documented. These differences can be used to separate these aphidophagous hover flies. Gross morphological descriptions of all life stages of H. calcarata were reported and the duration of the developmental period of all life stages was quantified. The phenology and relative abundance of H. calcarata was studied in the field using water pan traps, sticky traps, emergence traps, sentinel trees, and destructive sampling of aphid colonies. Sentinel trees with woolly apple aphid colonies were most effective for phenological studies, and showed that female H. calcarata were present in apple orchards from April through September. Emergence traps revealed that H. calcarata adults emerge from the duff or soil beneath apple trees. Prey specialization of H. calcarata on woolly apple aphid was studied using nochoice and choice feeding bioassays and oviposition patterns in the field. Feeding studies compared the consumption of three, temporally sympatric aphid pests of apple: spirea aphid, Aphis spiraecola Patch, rosy apple aphid, Dysaphis plantaginea (Passerini), and woolly apple aphid. Compared with spirea aphid or rosy apple aphid, a pure diet of woolly apple aphid resulted in significantly higher larval survivorship and weight, and a significantly shorter developmental period. Naïve, neonate larvae exhibited a marked preference for woolly apple aphid. Weekly counts of hatched and unhatched syrphid eggs revealed that H. calcarata was present only in woolly apple aphid colonies, where it was the most abundant hover fly species. Our data indicate that H. calcarata is a specialist predator of the woolly apple aphid in the apple ecosystem in Virginia.


The ultrafast librational (hindered rotational) relaxation of a rotationally excited H2O molecule in pure liquid water is investigated by means of classical nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations and a power and work analysis. This analysis allows the mechanism of the energy transfer from the excited H2O to its water neighbors, which occurs on a sub-100 fs time scale, to be followed in molecular detail, i.e., to determine which water molecules receive the energy and in which degrees of freedom. It is found that the dominant energy flow is to the four hydrogen-bonded water partners in the first hydration shell, dominated by those partners' rotational motion, in a fairly symmetric fashion over the hydration shell. The minority component of the energy transfer, to these neighboring waters' translational motion, exhibits an asymmetry in energy reception between hydrogen-bond-donating and -accepting water molecules. The variation of the energy flow characteristics with rotational axis, initial rotational energy excitation magnitude, method of excitation, and temperature is discussed. Finally, the relation of the nonequilibrium results to equilibrium time correlations is investigated.


Introduction: The objective of this guideline is to outline the appropriate use of methylprednisolone sodium succinate (MPSS) in patients with acute spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted to address key questions related to the use of MPSS in acute SCI. A multidisciplinary Guideline Development Group used this information, in combination with their clinical expertise, to develop recommendations for the use of MPSS. Based on GRADE (Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation), a strong recommendation is worded as "we recommend," whereas a weaker recommendation is indicated by "we suggest." Results: The main conclusions from the systematic review included the following: (1) there were no differences in motor score change at any time point in patients treated with MPSS compared to those not receiving steroids; (2) when MPSS was administered within 8 hours of injury, pooled results at 6- and 12-months indicated modest improvements in mean motor scores in the MPSS group compared with the control group; and (3) there was no statistical difference between treatment groups in the risk of complications. Our recommendations were: (1) "We suggest not offering a 24-hour infusion of high-dose MPSS to adult patients who present after 8 hours with acute SCI"; (2) "We suggest a 24-hour infusion of high-dose MPSS be offered to adult patients within 8 hours of acute SCI as a treatment option"; and (3) "We suggest not offering a 48-hour infusion of high-dose MPSS to adult patients with acute SCI." Conclusions: These guidelines should be implemented into clinical practice to improve outcomes and reduce morbidity in SCI patients.


The quantitative estimation of barbiturates in blood by ultra-violet spectrophotometry (Goldbaum, 1948; Walker, Fisher, and McHugh, 1948; Born, 1949; Lous, 1950; Wright and Johns, 1953) is of limited value unless the particular barbiturate derivative is known or can be identified. Goldbaum (1952) described an ultra-violet spectrophotometric technique by which he claimed to make such identification, but many workers with experience in this field will prefer to rely on more direct methods of qualitative analysis. For general purposes the micro-crystalline method of Turfitt (1948) is suitable if urine or gastric contents are available, though even then it is always best to confirm the identification by extraction and mixed melting point determination. Cases of barbiturate poisoning frequently occur, however, where such material is not available for analysis, or if available, does not contain adequate amounts of barbiturate, as in poisoning by short-acting derivatives. It is in these cases that a qualitative method applicable to small blood samples is of particular value. Paper chromatography seems suitable for this purpose.


Recent evidence suggests that elites can capitalize on preexisting linkages between issues and social groups to alter the criteria citizens use to make political decisions. In particular, studies have shown that subtle racial cues in campaign communications may activate racial attitudes, thereby altering the foundations of mass political decision making. However, the precise psychological mechanism by which such attitudes are activated has not been empirically demonstrated, and the range of implicit cues powerful enough to produce this effect is still unknown. In an experiment, we tested whether subtle racial cues embedded in political advertisements prime racial attitudes as predictors of candidate preference by making them more accessible in memory. Results show that a wide range of implicit race cues can prime racial attitudes and that cognitive accessibility mediates the effect. Furthermore, counter-stereotypic cues—especially those implying blacks are deserving of government resources—dampen racial priming, suggesting that the meaning drawn from the visual/narrative pairing in an advertisement, and not simply the presence of black images, triggers the effect.


Optical guiding of high-intensity laser pulses in a long plasma channel formed by a slow capillary discharge is proposed. The obtained plasma channel parameters are studied, and the methods by which they can be controlled are described. Initial results demonstrating guiding in one transverse dimension in such a plasma channel are presented.


This paper examines the causes of chronic poverty in the remote rural areas (RRAs) of Zimbabwe's semi-arid communal lands. We found that persistent poverty was strongly associated with the structural poverty of Zimbabwe's semi-arid communal areas. Relative urban proximity (non-remoteness) assisted income diversification and improvement in a very poor, socially and politically excluded area. Less excluded but remote areas remained poor but not as poor as those in the excluded area. Livelihoods changed and diversified more in the non-remote area, speeding poverty reduction as measured by an index of perceived change. The paper explores what can be done to improve links between policy-makers and programme designers and poor farm households at risk from drought and examines whether diversification into non-farming occupations offers an exit route from poverty. The paper suggests that Zimbabwe's poor are substantially located in the semi-arid regions. These areas have been neglected by both the state and the private sector. Our findings indicate a massive decline in well-being and consumption between 1993 and 1998 and a failure to rebuild assets after the devastating 1991 drought. We found that semi-arid economies are largely unmonetised as huge swathes of semi-arid Zimbabwe have retreated into subsistence. Markets are not generally sufficiently organised or attractive to engage poor people: barter dominates as a form of exchange and poor households make few cash-based transactions through the market. Key findings are that: The very poorest households have very limited non-farm or off-farm livelihood activities, indicating that for them, improvements in their incomes from agriculture are crucial if their well-being is to improve - either that or new low skill employment opportunities Contrary to expectations for an economy dominated by subsistence production, households with large numbers of people in them as well as those with large numbers of economically active adults are more likely to be poor. Despite attempts to provide a safety net during the 1991-92 drought government grain loans and food-for-work programmes were too limited to be effective. Many poorer households have land lying fallow due to insufficient draught oxen and labour shortages - primarily due to migration and HIV/Aids. The livelihood portfolios which generated the best recovery from drought were waged, nonfarm and mixed farm and non-farm with proximity to urban areas. For most households the value of retained output was more significant than cash income from crop/livestock sales, by factors of between 3 and 10. Lastly we suggest a number of areas for pro-poor policy intervention, including social protection and a focus on improved delivery of social services, (appropriate) agricultural extension and pro-poor financial sector reform.


ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. GIS, GPS, hazelnuts, pears, precision agriculture, remote sensing, yield mapping SUMMARY. Agriculture is changing. State-of-the-art computer systems that use GPS (global positioning systems) data, GIS (geographic information systems) software, remotely sensed images, automated sampling, and information analysis systems are transforming growers' ability to produce their crops. Currently, the farm service and agricultural sales industry, rather than the grower direct most information technology applications. Precision agriculture must become an information-driven and grower-driven process. Data evaluation has to be made simpler, less time consuming, and inexpensive. The purpose of this paper is to outline potential strategies and demonstrate how information can be processed and evaluated with readily available and inexpensive analytical tools.


Background: Hypertension in children and adolescents has become increasingly common. We sought to study the prevalence of hypertension among apparently healthy school children in Udupi Taluk, a rapidly developing coastal region in Karnataka in South India and correlate high blood pressures with age, gender and BMI.
Method :A total of 2067 students (1055 boys and 1012 girls) between the ages of 5 – 16 years from rural schools in Udupi taluk were studied as part of school health services. Height (in cm) and weight (in kg) were recorded along with Blood Pressure measurements using the auscultatory method. Blood pressure was measured twice among children who were found to have a high reading (more than the 95th percentile) the first time. Using WHO charts for BMI for boys and girls, prevalence of overweight and obese children was determined. The evaluation of hypertension was based on the Update on the 1987 Task Force Report on High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents.
Results: Overall prevalence of hypertension in children was 2.2%. Prevalence of hypertension in female children was 2.4% and in males it was 2.1%. The proportion of hypertensives was found to the maximum in the 14-16 year age group. The prevalence of obesity among girls and boys was found to be 1.5% and 1.1% respectively. The prevalence of systolichypertension was found to be significantly higher (P=0.041) in obese children (12.5%) as compared to that in underweight children (1.4%).
Conclusion: We found that higher BMI was associated with higher blood pressures. The results suggest that the prevalence of hypertension is mainly in the adolescent age group; therefore targeted screening in this group would be beneficial.


There remains large disagreement between ice‐water path (IWP) in observational data sets, largely because the sensors observe different parts of the ice particle size distribution. A detailed comparison of retrieved IWP from satellite observations in the Tropics (±30° latitude) in 2007 was made using collocated measurements. The radio detection and ranging(radar)/light detection and ranging (lidar) (DARDAR) IWP data set, based on combined radar/lidar measurements, is used as a reference because it provides arguably the best estimate of the total column IWP. For each data set, usable IWP dynamic ranges are inferred from this comparison. IWP retrievals based on solar reflectance measurements, in the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), advanced very high resolution radiometer–based Climate Monitoring Satellite Applications Facility (CMSAF), and Pathfinder Atmospheres‐Extended (PATMOS‐x) datasets, were found to be correlated with DARDAR over a large IWP range (~20–7000 g m‐2). The random errors of the collocated data sets have a close to lognormal distribution, and the combined random error of MODIS and DARDAR is less than a factor of 2, which also sets the upper limit for MODIS alone. In the same way, the upper limit for the random error of all considered data sets is determined. Data sets based on passive microwave measurements, microwave surface and precipitation products system (MSPPS), microwave integrated retrieval system (MiRS), and collocated microwave only (CMO), are largely correlated with DARDAR for IWP values larger than approximately 700 g m‐2. The combined uncertainty between these data sets and DARDAR in this range is slightly less MODIS‐DARDAR, but the systematic bias is nearly an order of magnitude.


The hydrology of a nest of three watersheds has been studied since 1992 on the North Slope of Alaska, with some additional data collected at individual sites previously. Hydrologic studies of nested watersheds are rare in the circumpolar arctic. Presented here is a comparison of the variability of important runoff-related processes from the headwater foothills to the low gradient, wetland dominated coastal area. Watersheds studied include Imnavait Creek, Upper Kuparuk River and finally the entire Kuparuk River. Also, runoff data from the low gradient Putuligayuk River, measured earlier (1970-1986), is included. Generally, rainfall constitutes 53 to 67 % of the annual precipitation. Most runoff is generated from the foothills; runoff is normally only generated from the coastal plain during snowmelt. Surface storage is an important process on the coastal plain where vertical processes (precipitation and evapotranspiration) are dominant during the summer. Continuous permafrost produces high soil moisture levels except where there are relatively steep slopes with gravity-induced drainage. Snowmelt results in a nearly saturated active layer with summer moisture levels closely allied with summer precipitation. High runoff ratios prevail during snowmelt and rainfall, except for the summer rainfall-generated runoff of the low gradient Putuligayuk River.


This thesis consists of revised versions of five published papers on the development of neoclassical distribution theory, in the English-speaking world together with an introduction and conclusion, which draw together the themes of the papers. The thesis covers the origins of neo-classical distribution theory in the English-speaking world in the work of Jevons and Marshall, through to the second generation of Wicksteed, Clark and Pigou, and finally on to the 1930s and the new perspectives of Hicks and Robinson.

Drawing on archival sources and primary and secondary texts, these essays review the major statements on distribution theory made by key figures in the Jevonian and Marshallian marginalist traditions. The essays shed new light on the origins of neoclassical distribution theory and provide insights into the methodology of nascent neoclassical distribution theory. A drive towards a universal, all-embracing marginal productivity theory of the distribution of income characterises the work of Clark and Wicksteed, but not so Marshall. A formalist mode of analysis, which was to become the hallmark of neoclassical economics in the second half of the twentieth century, is also evident in key works of the period. However, the role of empirical evidence in theory generation and appraisal remains an undeveloped component of late nineteenth and early twentieth century neoclassical theory—Marshall again provides an exception to the general rule.

There is a common adherence, among the key figures examined, to the joint proposition that competitive market wage outcomes are 'fair', but that low incomes (fair or not) are unjust when they fail to meet minimum needs standards. State remedial action (tax and expenditure policies) is required to remove such injustices. Robinson's theory of exploitation provided an important extension to the neoclassical normative framework. She highlighted the extent to which labour may be exploited due to imperfections in both product and labour markets.


Abstract High-energy film radiography methods, adapted in the past to performing specific tasks, must now meet increasing demands to identify defects and perform critical measurements in a wide variety of manufacturing processes. Although film provides unequaled resolution for most components and assemblies, image quality must be enhanced with much more detailed information to identify problems and qualify features of interest inside manufactured items. The work described is concerned with improving current 9-MeV nondestructive practice by optimizing the important parameters involved in film radiography using computational methods. To follow important scattering effects produced by electrons, the Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code was used with advanced, highly parallel computer systems. The work has provided a more detailed understanding of latent image formation at high X-ray energies, and suggests that improvements can be made in our ability to identify defects and to obtain much more detail in images of fine features.


Introduction: Prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) in India ranges from 10% to 15%. AR significantly affects the quality of life (QOL). This study was designed with an objective to assess the impact of surgery and 3 months of intranasal corticosteroids therapy on the QOL of patients with AR. Materials and Methods: A before and after comparison cross-sectional study was conducted between April 2012 and December 2013. A total of fifty consecutive patients in the age group of 19-59 years suffering from moderate-severe AR presenting at KKR ENT Hospital and Research Institute were included in the study after taking their consent. Individuals with contraindications for the surgery or intranasal corticosteroid therapy were excluded from the study. QOL was assessed using the mini rhinoconjunctivitis QOL questionnaire before the surgery and 3 months after starting corticosteroid therapy following the surgery. The study was approved by the Institutional Ethical and Scientific Committee. Absolute eosinophil count (AEC) and QOL scores were used to measure the impact. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were used to analyze the data and lend statistical support. Results: Mean AEC reduced from 517.66 (±74.42) to 322.70 (±54.68) after surgery and 3 months of intranasal corticosteroid therapy, and this reduction was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Mean QOL scores reduced from 2.624 (±0.445) to 2.031 (±0.386) after surgery and 3 months of intranasal corticosteroid therapy, and this reduction was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Within 3 months after the surgery and intranasal corticosteroid therapy, the mean AEC as well as the mean QOL scores reduced significantly indicating a reduction in the allergic reaction and an improvement in the QOL of patients suffering from AR.


Author(s): Li, Haoyuan | Advisor(s): Stoica, Ion; Shenker, Scott | Abstract: The world is entering the data revolution era. Along with the latest advancements of the Internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI), mobile devices, autonomous driving, and Internet of Things (IoT), the amount of data we are generating, collecting, storing, managing, and analyzing is growing exponentially. To store and process these data has exposed tremendous challenges and opportunities.Over the past two decades, we have seen significant innovation in the data stack. For example, in the computation layer, the ecosystem started from the MapReduce framework, and grew to many different general and specialized systems such as Apache Spark for general data processing, Apache Storm, Apache Samza for stream processing, Apache Mahout for machine learning, Tensorflow, Caffe for deep learning, Presto, Apache Drill for SQL workloads. There are more than a hundred popular frameworks for various workloads and the number is growing. Similarly, the storage layer of the ecosystem grew from the Apache Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) to a variety of choices as well, such as file systems, object stores, blob stores, key-value systems, and NoSQL databases to realize different tradeoffs in cost, speed and semantics.This increasing complexity in the stack creates challenges in multi-fold. Data is siloed in various storage systems, making it difficult for users and applications to find and access the data efficiently. For example, for system developers, it requires more work to integrate a new compute or storage component as a building block to work with the existing ecosystem. For data application developers, understanding and managing the correct way to access different data stores becomes more complex. For end users, accessing data from various and often remote data stores often results in performance penalty and semantics mismatch. For system admins, adding, removing, or upgrading an existing compute or data store or migrating data from one store to another can be arduous if the physical storage has been deeply coupled with all applications.To address these challenges, this dissertation proposes an architecture to have a Virtual Distributed File System (VDFS) as a new layer between the compute layer and the storage layer. Adding VDFS into the stack brings many benefits. Specifically, VDFS enables global data accessibility for different compute frameworks, efficient in-memory data sharing and management across applications and data stores, high I/O performance and efficient use of network bandwidth, and the flexible choice of compute and storage. Meanwhile, as the layer to access data and collect data metrics and usage patterns, it also provides users insight into their data and can also be used to optimize the data access based on workloads.We achieve these goals through an implementation of VDFS called Alluxio (formerly Tachyon). Alluxio presents a set of disparate data stores as a single file system, greatly reducing the complexity of storage APIs, and semantics exposed to applications. Alluxio is designed with a memory centric architecture, enabling applications to leverage memory speed I/O by simply using Alluxio. Alluxio has been deployed at hundreds of leading companies in production, serving critical workloads. Its open source community has attracted more than 800 contributors worldwide from over 200 companies.In this dissertation, we also investigate lineage as an important technique in the VDFS to improve write performance, and also propose DFS-Perf, a scalable distributed file system performance evaluation framework to help researchers and developers better design and implement systems in the Alluxio ecosystem.


The main objective of this paper is to investigate and identify the main determinants of successful knowledge management (KM) programs. We draw upon the institutional theory and the theory of technology assimilation to develop an integrative model of KM success that clarifies the role of information technology (IT) in relation to other important KM infrastructural capabilities and to KM process capabilities. We argue that the role of IT cannot be studied in isolation and that the effect of IT on KM success is fully mediated by KM process capabilities. The research model is tested with a survey study involving 191 KM practitioners. The empirical results provided strong support for the model. In addition to its theoretical contributions, this study also presents important practical implications through the identification of specific infrastructural capabilities leading to KM success.


Central to every legal system is the principle that certain items are off-limits to commercial exchange. In theory, babies are one such sacred object. This supposed ban on baby selling has been lamented by those who view commercial markets as the most efficient means of allocating resources, and defended by those who contend that commercial markets in parental rights commodify human beings, compromise individual dignity, or jeopardize fundamental values. However, the supposed and much-discussed baby selling ban does not, and is not intended to, eliminate commercial transactions in children. Instead, it is an asymmetric legal restriction that limits the ability of baby market suppliers to share in the full profits generated by their reproductive labor, insisting instead that they derive a large portion of their compensation from the utility associated with altruistic donation. Meanwhile, a wide range of baby market intermediaries profit handsomely in the baby market, without similar restrictions on their market activities. Baby selling "bans" thus have more in common with the rent-seeking by powerful marketplace actors seen in other commercial markets than with normative statements about the sanctity of human life. The author concludes with a call for the removal of the last vestiges of the "ban" against baby selling and other laws that diminish the capacity of baby market suppliers to access the marketplace.


Abstract Introduction: Online drug markets and social media are facilitating the spread of information and sale of illicit substances. Online sites, such as Craigslist and Bluelight, underscore an emerging shift in contemporary drug consumerism. Case Descriptions: We report on two cases. Case 1 is a 42-year-old male with a history of heroin-use disorder, presented for an initial visit to an office-based buprenorphine program, and reported having acquired heroin from Craigslist. Despite several harrowing experiences, Craigslist remained Patient 1's primary method of purchasing heroin during a 14-month period. Craigslist ads also redirected the patient to the web site Bluelight, which facilitated access to updated information on open-air drug markets in New York City. Case 2 is a 23-year-old male, who was admitted to inpatient detoxification and utilized the site for the sale of heroin in order to fund his own use of heroin. He sold heroin via Craigslist for 1 year until his arrest, noting undeterred advertising and largely uncomplicated transactions. He secured largely professionals buyers that purchased a steady quantity of heroin over extended periods of time. Discussion: Online drug marketplaces offer platforms to extend public health surveillance, harm reduction, and treatment entry strategies for internet users with substance-use disorders.


"Potter's 'humanistic narrative' probes family social structure and social organization in Chiangmai, a Northern Thai village ...a solid, informative, and very interesting and alive picture." (Library Journal) "Gives us a rare inside view of daily life in a northern Thai village...The reader gets a feeling of life, pleasure,jealously,anger, pain, and death that is seldom discussed in the anthropological literature." (Asia). "Rejecting the traditional 'loosely structured' theory of the Thai family, Potter suggests a system that is female-centered with structurally significant consanguineal ties between women rather than men. This alternative not only explains the data presented but offers a new way of looking at comparative kinship." (Intercom). "The dynamic interplay between the structural dominance of women and the ideological dominance of men is vividly brought out, challenging earlier, and possibly male-biased, perspectives on Northern Thai family structure." (Population and Development Review). "Potter succeeds in presenting ethnographic material in a lively, humanistically oriented manner. By the time we have encountered three generations of Plenitudes at home in their courtyard ...we know them as individuals as we as representatives of an exotic culture...Potter presents individual portraits alongside this vivid picture of family and social structure, communal and individual economic activity, political factionalism, and religious observance ...this book stands as a challenge to cross-cultural psychology." (Contemporary Psychology). "Dr. Potter's study is highly readable and will be of interest to the general public as well as to scholars." (Asian Student).


The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of cholinesterases as an inflammatory marker in acute and chronic infection by Trypanosoma evansi in rabbits experimentally infected. Twelve adult female New Zealand rabbits were used and divided into two groups with 6 animals each: control group (rabbits 1-6) and infected group (rabbits 7-12). Infected group received intraperitoneally 0.5 mL of blood from a rat containing 108 parasites per animal. Blood samples used for cholinesterases evaluation were collected on days 0, 2, 7, 12, 27, 42, 57, 87, 102 and 118 days post-inoculation (PI). Increased activity (P<0.05) of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) were observed in the blood on days 7 and 27, respectively and no differences were observed in cholinesterase activity in other periods. No significant difference in AChE activity (P>0.05) was observed in the encephalic structures. The increased activities of AChE and BChE probably have a pro-inflammatory purpose, attempting to reduce the concentration of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter which has an anti-inflammatory property. Therefore, cholinesterase may be inflammatory markers in infection with T. evansi in rabbits.


Clearance of apoptotic cells by phagocytosis helps prevent the leakage of cellular contents that may stimulate inflammation or autoimmunity. Nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice develop type I diabetes (T1D) because of the impaired phagocytosis of apoptotic pancreatic β cells by macrophages; however the mechanism involved is unclear. Kim et al. (see commentary by Filippi and von Herrath) examined the responses of mouse macrophages [which enter the pancreas at the onset of T1D and later act as antigen-presenting cells (APCs) for T cells] to exposure to MIN6N8 insulinoma cells in various stages of radiation-induced cell death. Whereas incubation of macrophages with apoptotic MIN6N8 cells did not stimulate production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA), secondary necrotic (SN) cells resulted in substantial TNF-α production. SN cells are late-stage, intact apoptotic cells that can be distinguished from apoptotic cells by flow cytometry on the basis of cell size and staining for markers of cell death and are characteristic of apoptotic cells that escaped phagocytosis. Gel-shift experiments showed that incubation of macrophages with SN MIN6N8 cells resulted in activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). Exposure of macrophages from Tlr2–/– mice to SN cells resulted in a lower amount of TNF-α production than did exposure of wild-type macrophages to the cells. Tlr2–/– mice were more resistant to T1D induced by pharmacological killing of β cells than were wild-type mice (as assessed by histological analysis of islets). Coculture and adoptive transfer experiments in mice showed that TLR2 was necessary for the maturation of APCs and the subsequent activation and proliferation of T cells that mediate T1D. These results link the accumulation of apoptotic cells with TLR2-dependent initiation of autoimmunity, raising the possibility of targeting TLR2 signaling in apoptosis-related diseases and autoimmune disorders. H. S. Kim, M. S. Han, K. W. Chung, S. Kim, E. Kim, M. J. Kim, E. Jang, H. A. Lee, J. Youn, S. Akira, M.-S. Lee, Toll-like receptor 2 senses β-cell death and contributes to the initiation of autoimmune diabetes. Immunity 27, 321-333 (2007). [PubMed] C. M. Filippi, M. G. von Herrath, Islet β-cell death: Fuel to sustain autoimmunity? Immunity 27, 183-185 (2007). [Online Journal]


Objectives
Ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, and low-carbohydrate diet that leads to nutritional ketosis and weight loss. Although ketogenic diet is safe in non-pregnant individuals, its safety in lactating mothers is unknown.

Methods
24-year-old 18 weeks' post-partum healthy non-diabetic woman complained of severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea with associated abdominal pain, low back cramps & malaise. She reported intentional 25-pound weight loss by adhering to strict ketogenic diet as a health-conscious life style modification since recent childbirth. She exclusively breastfed her son. She had unremarkable pre, natal and postnatal care. Typical diet consisted of egg, bacon, cheese, meat, peppers, spinach, broccoli, carrot soups, chicken, salmon, peanut butter. Daily caloric intake was approximately 2200 Kcals/day.She was hemodynamically stable. Physical examination revealed dry mucous membranes, comfortable resting tachypnea, mild epigastric/right upper quadrant tenderness.Laboratory studies demonstrated compensated anion gap metabolic acidosis acidaemia, elevated beta-hydroxybutyric acid level (Figure 1) and ketonuria. She was managed conservatively with intravenous fluids, electrolyte repletion, and restarting carbohydrate diet.

Results
Lactation ketoacidosis is well described in post-partum lactating cattle. Few case reports in human exist. Most cases were precipitated by starvation, infection or nil per mouth status (table 1). It occurs by depletion of glycogen stores forcing the body into using gluconeogenesis as energy substrate for breast milk production. This is the first case report of life-threatening lactation ketoacidosis in setting of ketogenic diet with adequate number of calories, above 2000 kcal/day.Ketogenic diet is an alternative weight loss tool against obesity due to proven results of greater weight loss compared to other balanced diets. Studies that evaluated acid-base safety of patients on ketogenic diet demonstrated no significant metabolic derangement. Patients who ate plant-derived protein have lower mortality compared to those who ate animal-derived protein and fat. Postpartum mothers have increased pressure to lose weight gained during pregnancy and may easily resort to this method of rapid weight loss.

Conclusions
The index case may provide caution in lactating mothers on/or considering ketogenic diet. Healthcare professionals need to educate lactating mothers interested in weight loss.

Funding Sources
There are no funding sources.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


Abstract Our objective was to develop machine-smoking protocols (i.e. puff volume, puff duration and puff frequency) reflecting the distribution of human smoking behaviour as a complement to the International Standard (ISO) protocol. For this purpose, a modelling approach based on smoking topography and excretion data of urinary nicotine metabolites from clinical studies in the UK and Japan was used. Three smoking protocols (LOW, MEDIUM and HIGH) were based on the 10th percentile, the mean and the 90th percentile of the puff volumes obtained from topography data. The corresponding puff durations were estimated by linear regression analysis of the puff duration/puff volume relationship. Finally, puff frequency was estimated using a predictive model assuming that the nicotine yield is a linear function (i.e. proportional) to the amount of air actually drawn through the burning part of the cigarette. This approach was termed 'nicotine proportion method' where the puff frequency is changed iteratively until it equals the corresponding nicotine uptake measured in human smokers during a clinical study. The assumption was verified by measuring the nicotine yield in the laboratory on three modelled protocols for four conventional cigarettes. In 10 out of 12 cases, a very good agreement was observed between the estimated nicotine yields obtained with our modelling approach and the measured nicotine yields obtained from smoking machines in the laboratory. Although smoking virtually identical cigarettes, smoking protocols based on topography and excretion data of urinary nicotine metabolites from the UK clinical study were different than those based on data from the study performed in Japan. This may be explained by different smoking behaviour between these two populations of smokers.


Adventure is a state of mind. An addiction to the unexpected, the unknown, freedom, and risk. It's Steve McQueen driving his speeding bullets during the shooting of Le Mans; Dian Fossey with her gorillas in Rwanda; Lawrence of Arabia fascinated by the Jordanian desert; Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda crossing New Mexico on their Harleys; and Harry Potter at Hogwarts. In this book, Francisca Matteoli follows the paths of these adventurers and brings their legendary films to life, connecting each narrative with an unusual hotel. A unique and personal guidebook, full of anecdotes, information, and souvenirs.


Based on the realization that, in $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric quantum mechanics, the analytic continuation of the eigen value problem into the complex plane is equivalent to the known canonical point transformation, we raise the question why then a theory selects some specific canonical transformations represented by contours within the Stokes wedges of the theory and rejects others represented by contours outside the Stokes wedges? To answer this question, we show that the transition amplitudes are the same either calculated within or out of the Stokes wedges but with related metric operators. To illustrate our idea, we reinvestigated the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric $-x^{4}$ theory by selecting a complex contour outside the Stokes wedges. Following orthogonal polynomials studies, we were able to reproduce exactly the same equivalent Hermitian Hamiltonian obtained before in the literature. Since the metric is implicit in algorithms employing the Heisenberg picture, we assert the importance of this trend for the research in $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric field theories. Regarding this, we select a simple $Z_{2}$ symmetry breaking contour, regardless of being inside or outside the Stokes wedges, to investigate the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric $-\phi^{4}$ field theory. We follow the famous effective action approach, up to two loops, to obtain very accurate results for the vacuum energy and vacuum condensate compared to previous calculations carried out for the equivalent Hermitian theory.


Robust characterization of mitochondrial variation provides an opportunity to map regions under high constraint, and identify essential functional domains. We sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of 196,554 unrelated individuals, and identified 15,035 unique variants. We found that 47% of the mitochondrial genome was invariant across the population, and generated a map of constrained mitochondrial regions. We find that the longest intervals in the mitochondrial genome without any variant were in the two rRNA genes (26 of 40 intervals >10bp long). We also showed that the 13 protein-coding genes in the mitochondrial genome did not tolerate loss-of-function variants. The only frameshift or nonsense variant observed at homoplasmic levels was a nonsense at the start codon of MT-ND1, which may be rescued by the methionine at amino acid position 3. Lastly, we applied these data to variants reported to be pathogenic for Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON). We found that 42% of variants (19 of the 45) reported to be pathogenic have a frequency above the maximum credible population allele frequency for an LHON-causing variant, including the primary LHON mutation m.14484T>C, which suggests that m.14484T>C cannot be causing LHON by itself. This result showed that allele frequency information across a large unselected population is important to assess the pathogenicity of variants in the context of rare mitochondrial disorders. We made HelixMTdb -- the list of variants and their allele frequency in 196,554 unrelated individuals -- publicly available.


Pure human interleukin 2 (IL-2), produced by the T-cell lymphoma Jurkat, was injected in mice to study the serum half-life, toxicity, and in vivo immunological effects of IL-2. The serum half-life (t1/2) of Jurkat IL-2 in mice appeared to have two components: (a) a rapid initial phase with t1/2 of approximately 2 min during which most of the exogenous IL-2 was cleared from the serum; and (b) a second, slower component with t1/2 of about 9 min. Mice given injections i.p. or i.v. with pure Jurkat IL-2, at doses comparable on a microgram/kg basis to contemplated doses for humans, showed no signs of toxicity on the basis of serial measurements of weight, serum liver and kidney chemistries, or histology of lymphoid and vital organs. Jurkat IL-2 had no effect on the rate of growth or survival of mice with an established s.c. methylcholanthrene-induced fibrosarcoma, but Jurkat IL-2 used in conjunction with in vitro-resensitized and IL-2-expanded specific immune splenocytes prolonged survival of mice with disseminated FBL-3 tumor. This survival prolongation was highly significant when compared to treatment with Jurkat IL-2 alone (p = less than 0.001) or an equivalent number of in vitro-resensitized and expanded cells alone (p = 0.004). Treatment of mice with i.p. Jurkat IL-2 subsequent to secondary immunization with allogeneic tumor enhanced by more than 5-fold the splenocyte cytotoxicity for alloantigen measured 7 days later. Thus, purified human IL-2 derived from the Jurkat cell line has a short half-life in mice with no apparent toxicity at large doses. In vivo efficacy of human IL-2 was demonstrated in increasing alloantigen responsiveness and in increasing the efficacy of transferred expanded immune lymphocytes in the FBL-3 lymphoma model.


It has been shown [R. A. Wagstaff, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 100, 2853(A) (1996)] that extraordinary gains can be achieved in signal‐to‐noise ratio enhancement, spatial and spectral resolution can be increased, clutter can be reduced, and submerged sources can be detected by exploiting the natural amplitude fluctuations of the signal and noise. Natural amplitude fluctuations are those fluctuations induced during propagation through the undersea acoustic environment. The gains were achieved by biasing the signal processor, through the WISPR and AWSUM controlling equations, to operate at very low percentiles in the distributions. It is shown in this paper that it is not only possible to achieve additional fluctuation exploitation gains for fluctuation‐based processors, such as WISPR and AWSUM, but it is also possible to convert conventional processors to fluctuation‐based processors by appropriate modification using a fluctuation sensitive parameter such as the standard deviation. The method is discussed and exam...


TH-stopping, reported in the speech of working-class and immigrant groups across the U.S., has long been considered a regional feature of New York City English (NYCE). Its origins in NYCE have been anecdotally attributed to the non-native speech of the first immigrants to the area, such as the Irish, Italians, and Poles (Babbitt 1896, Labov 1966). This paper seeks to provide conceptual and acoustic evidence for substrate origins of TH-stopping in one ethnic community in New York City. I analyze interdental fricatives produced by bilingual Polish Americans who were born in NYC (Generation 2) or have resided there since their early teens (Generation 1). An acoustic analysis of underlying and "substituted" stops reveals that the latter employ the Polish voicing contrast. Stopping rates are also found to vary according to style, generation, and gender. Specifically, TH-stopping is favored in sociolinguistic interviews (relative to reading tasks), and in the speech of first generation men and second generation women. Lastly, speakers' cultural orientation and use of Polish correlate strongly with stopping rates. Taken together, these results suggest that TH-stopping in the Polish community did originate as a substrate effect, but has since developed into a female-led ethnic marker. This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/


Universal use of speech synthesis in different applications would require an easy development of new voices with little manual intervention. Considering the amount of multimedia data available on internet and media, one interesting goal is to develop tools and methods to automatically build multi-style voices from them. In a previous paper a methodology for constructing such tools was sketched, and preliminary experiments with a multi-style database were presented. In this paper we further investigate such approach and propose several improvements to it based on the selection of the appropriate number of initial speakers, the use or not of noise reduction filters, the use of the F0 feature and the use of a music detection algorithm. We have demonstrated that the best system using music detection algorithm decreases the precision error 22.36% relative for the development set and 39.64% relative for the test set compared to the baseline, without degrading the merit factor. The average precision for the test set is 90.62% ranging from 76.18% for reportages to 99.93% for meteorology reports.


A series of experiments was performed with a steady-state electric analog simulating a cylindrical segment of the aquifer underlying the plains of the Punjab region of West Pakistan. In most of the experiments recharge was assumed to be from the surface, within a specified radius of influence, and distributed uniformly over the area within this radius. Experiments were made with different anisotropies (ratios of lateral to vertical resistance) so that various possible combinations of aquifer thickness and effective radius or radius of influence and combinations of lateral and vertical permeability could be included in the models. Flow nets were constructed to show distribution of potential in the vertical section and intersections of stream surfaces with the vertical plane. The series of experiments in which the screened interval is in the upper part of the aquifer shows that flow decreases and stream tubes shift progressively toward the upper part of the aquifer as anisotropy increases. Another series illustrates that total yield increases and yield per foot of screen decreases as screen length increases. The experiments indicate that, under conditions prevalent in the Punjab, the distance-drawdown method for determining permeability gives results with an error of 10 percent or less provided that at least one piezometer or observation well is within a few feet of the pumped well and that no observation well or piezometer used is more than 100 feet from the pumped well. Relative traveltime for each of 10 stream tubes is given for three models. Relative traveltimes for one-fourth and one-half the effective radius are given for selected stream tubes. By substituting values for the aquifer parameters, actual traveltimes are computed from the relative-traveltime data.


We describe the physical and chemical properties of sixty-one tundra lakes, sampled in a latitudinal transect (65―71°N, 105―108°W) across mainland and island regions of Nunavut, central Canadian Arctic, and examine the influence of geology, geography, climate, and vegetation on lake water chemistry. This dataset complements earlier limnological surveys of the Canadian Arctic and provides valuable information for evaluating the vulnerability of tundra lakes to predicted climate change. Principal components analysis revealed a geographical clustering of lakes; pH, DIC, specific conductivity, and trace metal concentrations reflected major lithological differences between the mainland and Victoria Island. Clustering of mainland lakes by ecoregion was also detected. Lakes of the Queen Maud Gulf Lowland and Garry Lake Lowland ecoregions (north) differed from lakes of the Takijuq Lake Upland ecoregion (south) in depth, pH, and specihc conductivity as well as nutrient, DOC, and chlorophyll-a concentrations. Ionic composition of the northern mainland lakes also indicated that the influence of marine aerosols and/or leaching of residual marine salts from post-glacial marine deposits exposed by isostatic rebound. The northern mainland lakes were the most nutrient-rich and biologically productive of the three lake clusters and were characterized by median concentrations of total dissolved nitrogen (518 μg l ―1 ) and chlorophyll-a (1.6 μg l ―1 ) that were higher than previously reported for tundra lakes in the Canadian Arctic. These lakes were chemically similar to lakes of the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, in the western Canadian Arctic. Lakes of the southern mainland were dilute, acidic, and nutrient-poor, in accord with earlier limnological surveys in this ecoregion. Concentrations of nutrients, DOC, and chlorophyll-a in Victoria Island lakes fell in the middle of the ranges reported from other islands in the Canadian Arctic. Lithologic and edaphic factors strongly influenced the limnological properties of the tundra lakes surveyed and must be controlled for in order to fully evaluate the influence of future climate and vegetation change.


Robust quantification of immune cell infiltration into the tumor microenvironment may shed light on why only a small proportion of patients benefit from checkpoint therapy. The immune cells surrounding a tumor have been suggested to mediate an effective response to immunotherapy. However, traditional measurement of immune cell content around a tumor by immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, or mass cytometry allows measurement of only up to a few dozen markers at a time, limiting the number of immune cell types identified. Immune cell type abundances may instead be estimated in silico by deconvolving gene expression mixtures from bulk RNA sequencing of tumor tissue. By measuring tens of thousands of transcripts at once, bulk RNA-seq provides a rich input to algorithms that quantify cell type abundances in the tumor microenvironment, affording the potential to quantify the states of a greater number of immune cell types (given adequate training data). Here, we first review existing methods for deconvolution and evaluate their performance on synthetic mixtures. Then we develop a Bayesian inference approach, named infino, that learns to distinguish immune cell expression phenotypes and deconvolve mixtures. In contrast to earlier approaches, infino accepts RNA sequencing data, models transcript expression variability, and exploits the relationships between cell types to improve deconvolution accuracy and allow interrogation from the level of broad categories to the level of finest granularity. The resulting probability distributions of immune infiltration could be applied to numerous questions concerning the diverse ecology of immune cell types, including assessment of the association of immune infiltration with response to immunotherapy, and study of the expression profile and presence of elusive T cell subcompartments, such as T cell exhaustion.


This paper studies the impact of immigration on the Italian labor market using administrative data on Italian private-sector employees during the period 1987-2004. The analysis adopts a structural model based on a three level CES production function extending the model in Card (2001) in order to allow for imperfect substitution both between immigrants and natives within the same area-skill cell, and between females and males within the same area-skill-immigration status cell. The endogeneity of labor supply is controlled for by using an instrument based on the past immigrants' settlement as in Card (2001). The results, robust to the offsetting role of natives out-migration, provide evidence of a small but detectable degree of imperfect substitution between immigrants and natives, whereas female and male workers turn out to be perfect substitutes. Despite immigrants not having any effect on natives' employment, the simulation based on the estimated parameters suggests that a flow of low-skilled immigrants reduces mostly the wages of similarly skilled immigrants (-3.5%), and to a lesser extent those of natives (-1%).


Charles W. Dryden, A-Train: Memoirs of a Tuskegee AirmanA-Train is another addition to the growing body of published material on African Americans in aviation. Once viewed as a neglected area, there are now several works about African American pioneer aviators such as Eugene Jacques Bullard, Bessie Coleman, Charles Alfred Anderson, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., and Daniel "Chappie" James.Charles W. Dryden explains that his intention is to write an autobiography as a historical drama. A-Train is divided into two parts. The first section titled, "Before Desegregation" contains the account of Dryden's life from his birth in 1920 to 1948, the year President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 mandating desegregation of the U.S. armed forces. The second part, "After Desegregation" begins with his assignment to Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Illinois, and ends with his retirement in 1962 at the rank of lieutenant colonel. Dryden refers to his autobiography as a drama rather than a history because his intent is to provide a narrow portrait of his life. Unfortunately, in pursuing this goal he has produced an excessively limited autobiography. For example, more attention is given to preflight procedures than to the broad based struggle by African Americans and others to eliminate racial barriers to flight training.The son of Jamaican parents who immigrated to the United States following WW I, Dryden grew up in a household that emphasized service to God, family, and the importance of a good education. As a child, Dryden's interest in flying seems always to have been there as if he had been "bit with the flying bug." His chance to learn to fly occurred in 1940 while attending New York's City College. There he participated in the Civilian Pilot Training Program. Later, Dryden would be one of the early beneficiaries of the broad based push by civil rights organizations, politicians, and others to pass legislation that removed the exclusion of black Americans from pilot training for the U.S. Army Air Force. Here too, his autobiography is lacking in vital information about the people and organizations that worked to make this possible.Although no stranger to racial discrimination, Dryden's journey to Tuskegee would be his first experience with formal, legally sanctioned, state supported racial segregation. The trip south did provide him with examples of the coping tactics used by African Americans to impede the dehumanizing effects of the South's system of Jim Crow. Race relations and the struggle against discrimination are major themes of this book.Dryden asserts that the central dramatic event of the autobiography is the so-called "Tuskegee Experiment" where the ability of blacks to fly and maintain aircraft is tested. …


Aggregation is one of the most widespread phenomena in animal groups and often represents a collective dynamic response to environmental conditions. In social species the underlying mechanisms mostly obey self-organized principles. This phenomenon constitutes a powerful model to decouple purely social components from ecological factors. Here we used a model of cockroach aggregation to address the problems of sensitivity of collective patterns and control of aggregation dynamics. The individual behavioural rules (as a function of neighbour density) and the emergent collective patterns were previously quantified and modelled by Jeanson et al. (2003, 2004). We first present the diverse spatio-temporal patterns of a derived model in response to parameter changes, either involving social or non-social interactions. This sensitivity analysis is then extended to evaluate the evolution of these patterns in mixed societies of sub-populations with different behavioural parameters. Simple linear or highly non-linear collective responses emerge. We discuss their potential application to control animal populations by infiltration of biomimetic autonomous robots that mimic cockroach behaviour. We suggest that detailed behavioural models are a prerequisite to do so.


Peanuts are prone to various types of deterioration during storage which renders them unsuitable for consumption and trade resulting in large economic losses. Peanut kernels of Homabay Local, Valencia Red, ICGV-SM 12991 and ICGV-SM 99568 varieties were stored for six months in jute, polypropylene and polyethylene bags to assess the effect of the storage bags, temperature and relative humidity (R.H.) on quality and aflatoxin contamination. Moisture content (M.C.), physical damage, rancidity and aflatoxin levels were determined before storage and after every 30 days during storage. Moisture content of the peanuts varied significantly (p ≤ 0.05) from 3.3 to 6.9% with samples stored in different bag types recording mean values of: 5.1% - polypropylene, 5.2% - polyethylene, and 5.3% - jute. Physical damage – which ranged from 0.1 to 9.8% - was significantly influenced by storage temperature and R.H., and the type of storage bag. Rancidity ranged from 0.8 to 5.3 and increased with storage duration from a mean of 1.5 before storage to a peak of 2.5 after 5 months of storage. There was a significant variation in the total aflatoxin levels ranging from 0 – 47.8 μg/kg, where peanuts stored in polyethylene bags were 7.3 and 13.4% more contaminated than samples stored in polypropylene and jute bags, respectively. Dried peanuts should be packaged in a container that will impede critical increases in M.C. and aflatoxin contamination and stored in a well-ventilated dry room with adequate air circulation.


In this address, the incoming associate editor describes his early experience with the Patient Experience Journal (PXJ) and issues a call to action to the PXJ community. In the call to action, the PXJ community is asked to build upon our collective history of scholastic and practical excellence. The combination of practical relevance and methodological rigor in our contributions will help to ensure a future in which patient experience is paramount in health service delivery conversations. In addition, gaps in the patient experience literature and emergent opportunities for theoretical and practical contributions are recommended.


There is no standard validated protocol for assessing fitness to drive after brain injury or illness. The problem of assessing fitness to drive is by no means marginal. Over 25,000 licence holders every year notify the DVLA of medical conditions affecting the brain. The main aims of this study were to assess whether clinical opinions of fitness to drive are predictive of the outcome of an on-road driving assessment, and to identify which neuropsychological tests inform these opinions. The sample comprised 39 drivers who had experienced brain injury or illness. Neuropsychological data was obtained for each participant at community head injury clinic. Computer based tests of hazard perception and divided attention were conducted at TRL, and a driving assessment was carried out at a mobility centre. The results showed a consistent relationship between assessments of fitness to drive made by the clinician and the driving adviser. The results also indicated that a small number of tests covering executive functioning and divided attention could provide a basis to inform a provisional diagnosis of fitness to drive. The small sample size means that the findings are only indicative and will need validation over a range of different services and assessment centres. (A)


— In [1], we introduced a spectrum sharing technique called Vandermonde-subspace frequency division multiplexing (VFDM). This overlay technique allows the coexistence of a downlink orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) macro-cell and a cognitive small-cell in a time division duplex mode. In that work, VFDM was shown to be able to completely cancel the interference towards a primary macro-cell system at the price of perfect channel state information (CSI) at the opportunistic secondary small-cell. In this work, we propose the first prototype of VFDM transceiver as a first step towards a proof of concept of the complete technique. We focus on the secondary small-cell and, using the new SDR4All platform [2], we design the transmitter/receiver pair needed for our test. Logic and hardware details are provided, as well as user definable parameters. The obtained results are promising and show the practical feasibility of a VFDM transmission over secondary link. 1


A Dissertation Submitted to the University of Gezira in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Science
in Family Medicine, Department of family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, August, 2016


The Panama Canal has become a constraining factor on trade across the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, and the expansion of the Canal is expected to have a positive influence on world trade. Our research investigates the competitiveness of the Panama Canal in the container shipping industry and the possible macroeconomic consequences of the canal expansion. We have designed a model that compares costs and earnings for single voyages and round-trips, and with a basis in opportunity cost theory we compare the Panama Canal with alternative routes and analyze the sensitivity of key variables for different scenarios. From our analyses we see that the current bunker price forces vessels to slow-steam to maintain profits. This has led shipowners to prioritize cost savings at the expense of fewer annual voyages. Simultaneously, operators in the container industry are constantly seeking to exploit large-scale advantages and we find strong evidence that the unit cost and the size of vessels are inversely proportional. This has led to a relentless upsizing of container vessels, and our calculations suggest that the expanded Panama Canal will face competition from the Ultra-Large Container Vessel segment. Further, our findings suggest that the current Panama Canal toll system with a constant price per TEU transited will not be applicable when opening for PostPanamax vessels. Therefore, the Panama Canal toll system should be adjusted to facilitate for economies of scale in order for the Canal to stay competitive with alternative routes. As the world shipping market is still adjusting after the financial crisis in 2008, the expansion comes at an interesting point in time and the possible consequences are multidimensional. Our research suggests that the effects can be both positive and negative for shipowners depending on whether the expansion leads to an increase in tradable volume or a shift in existing trade.


The spectra of elements Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, and Ag in the 10–100-A range were obtained from a high-power vacuum spark and a grazing-incidence high-resolution spectrograph. The transitions 3d10–3d94p, 3d10–3d94f, 3d10–3d95p, and 3d10–3d95f were identified. The agreement with ab initio relativistic calculations is good. The relevance of the jj coupling scheme for level labeling is discussed, as is the importance of relativistic effects, by comparing the scheme with other results on high-Z atoms (up to Pt).


Egocentric gestures are the most natural form of communication for humans to interact with wearable devices such as VR/AR helmets and glasses. A major issue in such scenarios for real-world applications is that may easily become necessary to add new gestures to the system e.g., a proper VR system should allow users to customize gestures incrementally. Traditional deep learning methods require storing all previous class samples in the system and training the model again from scratch by incorporating previous samples and new samples, which costs humongous memory and significantly increases computation over time. In this work, we demonstrate a lifelong 3D convolutional framework - c(C)la(a)ss increment(t)al net(Net)works (CatNet), which considers temporal information in videos and enables life-long learning for egocentric gesture video recognition by learning the feature representation of an exemplar set selected from previous class samples. Importantly, we propose a two-stream CatNet, which deploys RGB and depth modalities to train two separate networks. We evaluate Cat- Nets on a publicly available dataset - EgoGesture dataset, and show that CatNets can learn many classes incrementally over a long period of time. Results also demonstrate that the two-stream architecture achieves the best performance on both joint training and class incremental training compared to 3 other one-stream architectures. The codes and pre-trained models used in this work are provided at https://github.com/villawang/CatNet.


Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) emerged to manage the great amount of content, as well as the transmissions over long distances. In recent years, this concept proves to be a promising solution for emergent enterprises. In this paper, we present a Content Delivery Network as a Service (CDNaaS) platform which can create virtual machines (VMs) through a network of data centers and provide a customized slice of CDN to users. CDNaaS manages a great number of videos by means of caches, transcoders, and streamers hosted in different VMs. However, an optimal placement of VMs with adequate flavors for the different images is required to obtain an efficient slice of CDN. In this work, we argue the need to find a convenient slice for the CDN owner while respecting his performance requirements and minimizing as much as possible the incurred cost. We first formulate the VMs placement problem as two Linear Integer problem solutions, aiming at minimizing the cost and maximizing the quality of experience of streaming. Then, extensive simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed models.


In order to clarify different manners of failure behavior for plasma sprayed thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems under the complicated modes of thermal-mechanical-chemical loadings, the stress rupture properties was evaluated in air and in high-temperature corrosive environment with relation to the failure analysis for two kinds of TBC systems produced by different bond-coat (BC) processing. CoNiCrAlY-BC was manufactured by a vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) or high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF), and then the Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 top-coat (TC) was made by an atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). After then, heat-treatment was adopted for the sprayed TBC specimens in pure argon atmosphere. TBC system with HVOF-BC was found to result in the almost equivalent rupture life to that of VPS-BC, because the compositional and microstructural modification; equalization, of the HVOF-BC was attained by the heat-treatment. Furthermore, it was found that the strength properties of both TBC systems depend strongly on the loading condition. Namely, the static creep loading was found to cause the almost similar rupture life to the no-coated substrate superalloy for both TBC systems regardless of the environmental condition. On the contrary, the dynamic fatigue and creep-fatigue loadings tend to bring about a significant rupture life reduction, since the penetration crack induced by the heat-treatment in the TC provides directly the nucleation site of the fatigue main crack.


Is there any empirical evidence that firms become more efficient after becoming exporters? Do firms that become exporters generate positive spillovers for domestically-oriented producers in their industry or region? In this paper we analyze the causal links between exporting and productivity using firm-level panel data from three semi-industrialized economies. Representing export market participation and production costs as jointly dependent autoregressive processes, we look for evidence that firms' stochastic cost process shifts when they break into foreign markets. We find that relatively more efficient firms become exporters, and that their costs are not affected by previous export market participation. This implies that self-selection of the more efficient firms into the export market, and not earning-by-exporting, explains the efficiency gap between exporter and non-exporters previously documented in the literature. Further, we find some evidence that exporters reduce the costs of breaking into foreign markets for domestically oriented producers, but do not appear to help these producers become more efficient.