This report presents population projections for the period 2003 to 2025 for Tanga Region as well as its districts. The projections were made using a Cohort Component Method (Spectrum System), whereby three components responsible for population change, namely: mortality, fertility and migration were projected separately as well as HIV/AIDS prevalence. The projected components were then applied to 2002 midyear base population in order to come up with the desired projections from 2003 to 2025. The report gives mortality, fertility, migration and HIV/AIDS assumptions, and shows Tanga's demographic and socio-economic future trends. The results include the estimated population by sex
in single years and five-year age groups as well as some demographic indicators. The results show that population growth for the period 2003 to 2025 shows a decrease in growth rates. The projections show that population growth rate will decrease from 2.2 percent in 2003 (with a population of 1,672,581) to 1.9 percent in 2025 (with a population of 2,639,366). Sex Ratio at birth is projected to increase slightly from 94 male per 100 females in 2003 to 95 male per 100 females in 2025. Mortality estimates show that Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is expected to decline for both sexes from 101 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 52 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2025. Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) for both sexes will also decline from 168 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 79 deaths per 1,000 live births in the year 2025. The mortality projected estimates further show that the life expectancy at birth for males is lower compared to that of females, which is expected. Life expectancy at birth for Tanga will increase from 51 years in 2003 to 59 years in 2025 for both sexes. For male population, life expectancy at birth will increase from 51 years in year 2003 to 55 years in 2025, while for female population, the life expectancy at birth will increase from 51 years in 2003 to 63 years in 2025. On fertility, TFR will decline from 4.8 children per woman in 2003 to 3.4 children per woman in 2025.


Thomson scattering is reviewed as a diagnostic technique for the determination of electron energy distributions and concentrations in a plasma. Both theoretical and experimental aspects are considered, and scattering spectra which would be expected for high voltage spark discharges and inductively coupled plasmas at atmospheric pressure are computed. A nonlinear method bearing the same relationship to Thomson scattering as CARS does to linear Raman spectroscopy is mentioned, and its properties are compared to the more common linear Thomson technique. Related plasma diagnostics involving high power laser scattering are also discussed.


All the possible tautomeric equilibria and conformers of 1-, 2- & 1, 2- substituted indoles in aqueous solution were studied by semi-empirical methods. All possible tautomeric equilibria and conformers of the indoles were considered to determine the most stable forms. The AM1/COSMO & PM3/COSMO calculations indicate that the compound 2-hydroxymethylindole prefers anti-anti & anti-anti forms, 2-formylindole anti-, ethyl indole-2-carboxylate syn-syn, indole-2-carboxylic acid syn-syn, indole-2-carbohydrazide syn-syn, 2-formyl-1-methylindole syn forms respectively over other tautomeric forms by different percentages.


In this paper I review some notable occurrences at the November 2005 conference Global Soul, Global Mind, and Global Action at Tamkang University. I note the further development of integral and post-conventional futures studies, and ask whether Integral Futures is as integral as it claims to be, based on the events at that conference. I conclude that there is a need for Integral Futures practitioners to honour the philosophical essence of that field, and also to keep its foundations grounded at a level that can be appreciated by futurists not versed in the field, and by researchers and interested parties from other disciplines.


Support Vector Machines, SVMs, and the Large Margin Nearest Neighbor algorithm, LMNN, are two very popular learning algorithms with quite different learning biases. In this paper we bring them into a unified view and show that they have a much stronger relation than what is commonly thought. We analyze SVMs from a metric learning perspective and cast them as a metric learning problem, a view which helps us uncover the relations of the two algorithms. We show that LMNN can be seen as learning a set of local SVM-like models in a quadratic space. Along the way and inspired by the metric-based interpretation of SVM s we derive a novel variant of SVMs, epsilon-SVM, to which LMNN is even more similar. We give a unified view of LMNN and the different SVM variants. Finally we provide some preliminary experiments on a number of benchmark datasets in which show that epsilon-SVM compares favorably both with respect to LMNN and SVM.


The concept of private enterprise exploiting space to build and grow thriving business ventures is nothing new. It has been around since 1965. That's when the first: commercial satellite, called Early Bird, went into regular revenue service with 240 telephone circuits. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since then, the private sector has continued to expand its involvement in space activities beyond anything most people could have imagined 50 years ago, when President Kennedy exhorted the nation to land Americans on the moon and return them safely by the end of the 1960s. As celebrated as NASA's Apollo missions were, climaxing in Neil Armstrong's radio transmission, "That's one small step for mankind ..." from the moon's surface in July 1969, it is easy to overlook the fact, that private enterprise has designed, built and helped operate the spacecraft and infrastructure for every US civil and military space mission. And the same goes for every other space mission in the Free World. Today, the commercial utilization of space is an essential component of telecommunications, financial markets, and a host of other critical sectors. But now the private sector's involvement in space is fat approaching a new paradigm, courtesy of a growing number of entrepreneurial pioneers, mostly in the United States. They are combining a vision, a can-do spirit and varying degrees of technical knowledge to set the agenda. A few of them--each a high-profile figure in aerospace circles who have a track record of disruptive innovations and self-promotion--have been claiming for a decade that commercial space was on the cusp of a new paradigm, but it never quite materialized. That is about to change, and a new era in commercial space is dawning. This is the decade in which skeptics will witness various firsts in commercial space. The Players That the private sector is pushing the boundaries and are on the threshold of achieving what amounts to a critical mass should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying close attention. Enabling technologies, such as propulsion and aerodynamics, have made huge advances to the point where they can now be adapted to commercial ventures. The private sector also possesses the know-how developed over decades of collaborating with the government on manned and unmanned systems designed specially for space. Adding further impetus to the private sector's expanding role was the decision by the US government last year to retire the Space Shuttle, despite having no other means to launch Americans into space than to rely on Russia. Governments will still take the lead in some areas, of course, as in the ongoing militarization of space. In addition, they will continue to partner with private enterprise on many space initiatives and actively support the private sector's efforts to broaden its participation. Moreover, only nations will be able to afford the most ambitious projects, such as exploring the universe, continuing the search for extraterrestrial life, and searching for asteroids that could be catastrophic on a global scale and developing possible defenses against them. All the same, it is the private sector that's in the vanguard of opening a new era in space--and it is closer than you might think. Just as the idea of space tourism was unimaginable 50 years ago except to science fiction writers, the evolutionary paths that commercial space could take in the next decade or two might seem equally far-fetched. But the projects currently taking shape are no fantasy. Even the most well-grounded space program veterans agree that space tourism--among other bold new commercial space ventures--is likely to emerge as a niche but growing industry within the next 10 years. Like any nascent field of commerce, space tourism will begin modestly. As it now appears, Virgin Galactic, a spin-off of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, is apt to lead the way. Within the next year or two, a Virgin Galactic Spaceship will be carried aloft underneath a large aircraft fiying" high above the ground. …


The Drumian Wheeler Konservat‐Lagerstätte of the House Range of Utah (Wheeler‐HR) has yielded one of the most diverse exceptionally preserved Cambrian biotas of North America. The discovery of soft‐bodied fossils invariably provides precious insights into this biota, given that most of its non‐biomineralizing components are known from very few specimens. This contribution describes some 30 new exceptionally preserved fossils of Wheeler panarthropods. Two new species are recognized, the radiodont Hurdia sp. nov. A and the megacheiran Kanoshoia rectifrons gen. et sp. nov. Along with a species of Leanchoilia,K. rectifrons represents the first confident megacheiran record in these strata. The presence of the radiodont genus Amplectobelua and the isoxyid species Isoxys longissimus is reported outside of the Burgess Shale in Laurentia. New specimens of Caryosyntrips serratus,Naraoia compacta,Messorocaris magna and Mollisonia symmetrica provide insights into the phylogenetic affinities, local spatial distribution and morphological variation of these species hitherto known by single specimens in the Wheeler‐HR. The same is true of new materials of the more common Pahvantia hastata and Perspicaris? dilatus. Formal descriptions of the order Mollisoniida ord. nov. and family Mollisoniidae fam. nov. are also provided. Last, the preservation of body structures other than the dorsal exoskeletons is illustrated for the first time in two common components of the fauna: the agnostid Itagnostus interstrictus and the bivalved euarthropod Pseudoarctolepis sharpi. The new material substantially improves our understanding of the diversity of the Wheeler‐HR biota, and provides new evidence of its distinctiveness relative to the Wheeler biota of the Drum Mountains.


People with low self-esteem (LSEs) often have doubts about how much their romantic partners love and value them. These doubts, which undermine their relationships, are difficult to overcome because LSEs tend to downplay the meaning of positive behaviour and resist positive feedback from their partners. In Study 1, I provided evidence for the notion that LSEs" "insensitivity" to acceptance is a form of motivated self-protection, rather than a pervasive negative bias. In Studies 2-4, I investigated whether LSEs could be induced to take their partners" kind words to heart by manipulating how abstractly they described a recent compliment. LSEs felt more positively about the compliments, themselves, and their relationships – as positively as HSEs felt – when they were encouraged to describe the meaning and significance of the compliments. The positive effects of this abstract reframing intervention were still evident two weeks later, in both participants" self-reported thoughts and feelings about their relationships and in partners" reports of participants" behaviour towards them. Study 5 demonstrated that the abstract reframing intervention prevented LSEs from taking a relationship threat to heart and lashing out at their partners. Taken together, the present studies show that when prompted to reframe affirmations from their partners, LSEs feel just as secure and satisfied with their romantic relationships and behave as positively towards their partners as HSEs do.


Judging the laterality of a hand seen at unanticipated orientations evokes a robust feeling of bodily movement, even though no movement is produced. In two experiments, we tested a novel hypothesis to explain this phenomenon: A hand's laterality is determined via a multisensory binding of the visual representation of the seen hand and a proprioceptive representation of the observer's felt hand, and the felt "movement" is an obligatory aftereffect of intersensory recalibration. Consistent with the predictions implied by such a cross-modal mechanism, our results in Experiment 1 showed that manipulating observers' selective attention can evoke illusory feelings of movement in the "wrong" hand (i.e., the hand whose laterality does not match that of the stimulus). In Experiment 2, these illusions were readily extinguished in conditions in which binding was predicted to fail, a result indicating that cross-modal binding was necessary to produce them. These results are not explained by imagery, a mechanism widely assumed to account for how hand laterality is identified.


This essay addresses the question of trade policy between a sovereign Quebec and the United States, should independence occur. To provide an answer to this question, a number of issues need to be addressed: What is the nature of the trade patterns between the partners involved? What are the trade patterns within Canada, and how are these affected by the North-South trade flows? What are the effects of Canadian-American free trade on the Quebec economy? Once reasonable answers have been provided to these, and other incidental questions, we will be in a better position to tackle the main issue, which is whether, from a Quebec point of view, it would be feasible to pursue a trade policy similar to, or different from, that pursued by the Canadian authorities. Needless to say, our answer to this question should not be swayed by the fact that, either through conviction or strategic posturing, the Parti Quebecois' approach to this subject holds that the future Quebec state should strive to diminish any controversy or potential disruption in its trade patterns and trade obligations. In fact, our own analysis should provide us with the means to establish the likelihood of a smooth transition in a context where social determinants and preoccupations could ride high on the agenda during the transition period. The paper is divided into two sections: the first will deal with the effects of free trade on the Quebec economy, as well as with other variables and, among them, on job creation; the second, with the effects of trade liberalization on economic integration in Canada and in Quebec. We will conclude by proposing an answer to the question at hand concerning the future of trade relations between Quebec and the United States. The Two Sides of Free Trade For the past seven years, the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) of 1989, later partially superseded and extended into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1994, has provided both Canada and the United States with an overall legal frame-work covering the greater part of trade relations and issues between the two countries. A quick glance at these trade relations will provide an overall picture of the situation prior to consideration of the Quebec position. Over the years, the effects of trade liberalization have been quite significant for both partners, since both countries' levels of exportation of goods and services to GNP have increased from 5.5 percent in the United States and 20 percent in Canada in the sixties, to 8.5 percent and 24.5 percent, respectively, in the seventies and eighties. They have since moved to 10.4 percent between 1990 and 1994 and, subsequently, to 11.1 percent in 1995 in the case of the United States, and up to 28 percent between 1990 and 1994, then to 37.4 percent in 1995, in Canada. (1) Overall, the United States balance of payments shows a persistent deficit in three out of four items: the current account, the exchanges of goods and, more recently, a growing deficit in investment income, while posting a surplus in services which, as is well known, has not averted the trend toward growing overall indebtedness. As far as Canada is concerned, commercial surpluses have been running high but, on the other hand, services and investment income show an important deficit compounded with a negative current account. What both countries seem to share, as far as their balance of international payments can show, when we weight liabilities to GNP, is a deterioration of their international investment balance: foreign United States liabilities have increased from 20.2 percent of GNP in 1981 to 51.6 percent in 1995, and Canadian foreign liabilities, from 58.8 percent in 1983 to 86.6 percent in 1995. At the same time, the percentages of foreign assets to GNP have increased from 32.2 percent to 40.4 percent over the same period in the United States, and from 23.5 percent to 42.9 percent in Canada, a few percentage points higher than in the United States. …


We demonstrate a resonant external cavity approach to enhance narrowband terahertz radiation through difference-frequency generation for the first time (to our knowledge). Two nanosecond laser pulses resonant in an optical cavity interact with a nonlinear crystal to produce a factor of 7 enhancement of terahertz power compared to a single-pass orientation. This external enhancement approach shows promise to significantly increase both terahertz power and conversion efficiency through optical pump pulse enhancement and effective recycling.


High capacity end-to-end approaches for human motion prediction have the ability to represent subtle nuances in human behavior, but struggle with robustness to out of distribution inputs and tail events. Planning-based prediction, on the other hand, can reliably output decentbut-not-great predictions: it is much more stable in the face of distribution shift, but it has high inductive bias, missing important aspects that drive human decisions, and ignoring cognitive biases that make human behavior suboptimal. In this work, we analyze one family of approaches that strive to get the best of both worlds: use the end-to-end predictor on common cases, but do not rely on it for tail events / out-of-distribution inputs – switch to the planningbased predictor there. We contribute an analysis of different approaches for detecting when to make this switch, using an autonomous driving domain. We find that promising approaches based on ensembling or generative modeling of the training distribution might not be reliable, but that there very simple methods which can perform surprisingly well – including training a classifier to pick up on tell-tale issues in predicted trajectories.


In Argentina, one major factor playing a significant role in the implementation of better fishing practices is related to the advent of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification schemes in marine fisheries, given that one of its component addresses the impact of fishing operations on the ecosystem (e.g. effects on the environment, related species, bycatch). In recent years, several fisheries in Argentina—ranging from coastal ice trawlers targeting the Argentine anchovy Engraulis anchoita to freezer trawlers targeting the Patagonian scallop Zygochlamys patagonica and the Patagonian grenadier or Hoki Macruronus magellanicus have been certified under the MSC scheme. Although these processes are not driven by the Government certainly creates opportunities to develop better fishing practices including in the agendas of fishermen not only target species but also other management issues affecting the marine environment. In this chapter, we will review the current status of the certification schemes implemented in the latter referred fisheries regarding seabird conservation discussing challenges and opportunities from the seabird


1. The submicrosomal distribution of three enzymes concerned in cholesterol metabolism, and of free and esterified cholesterol, was determined in human liver by analytical isopycnic centrifugation on sucrose gradients. 2. The distribution profile and median density of acyl-CoA:cholesterol O-acyltransferase was similar to that of RNA, showing that this enzyme is confined largely to the ribosome-rich membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum. The distribution profiles and median densities of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase and cholesterol 7 alpha-mono-oxygenase showed that both enzymes are confined to the smooth, ribosome-poor, endoplasmic reticulum. 3. Most of the free cholesterol in the microsomal preparations was present in smooth membranes from the Golgi apparatus and in vesicles from plasma-membrane fragments. The distribution of esterified cholesterol was multimodal and extended throughout the whole gradient.


To examine the effects of intrauterine growth restriction and acute severe oxygen deprivation on renal blood flow (RBF), renovascular resistance (RVR), and renal excretory functions in newborns, studies were conducted on 1-day-old anesthetized piglets divided into groups of normal weight (NW, n = 14) and intrauterine growth-restricted (IUGR, n = 14) animals. Physiological parameters, RBF, RVR, and urinary flow, were similar in NW and IUGR piglets, but glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and filtration fraction were significantly less in IUGR animals (P < 0.05). An induced 1-h severe hypoxia (arterial PO(2) = 19 +/- 4 mmHg) resulted in, for both groups, a pronounced metabolic acidosis, strongly reduced RBF, and increased fractional sodium excretion (FSE; P < 0.05) with a less-pronounced increase of RVR and arterial catecolamines in IUGR piglets. Of significance was a smaller decrease in RBF for IUGR piglets (P < 0.05). Early recovery showed a transient period of diuresis with increased osmotic clearance and elevated FSE in both groups (P < 0.05). However, GFR and renal O(2) delivery remained reduced in NW piglets (P < 0.05). We conclude that, in newborn IUGR piglets, RBF is maintained, although GFR is compromised. Severe hypoxemia induces similar alterations of renal excretion in newborn piglets. However, the less-pronounced RBF reduction during hypoxemia indicates an improved adaptation of newborn IUGR piglets on periods of severely disturbed oxygenation. Furthermore, newborn piglets reestablish the ability for urine concentration and adequate sodium reabsorption early after reoxygenation so that a sustained acute renal failure was prevented.


Research has documented that most of retail and institutional investors exhibit a strong preference for stocks issued by nearby listed firms (i.e. Local Home Bias). This phenomenon shapes corporate market value and the cost of funding. In this paper, we investigate whether the Local Home Bias is enhanced in family firms as a consequence of their symbiotic connection with the local community. Using a dataset of 2,951 Italian firm-year observations (1,481 are family firms) over the period 1999-2011, we find that Local Home Bias is not a widespread phenomenon and mainly occurs in founding family firms where the founder serves as CEO. The Local Home Bias is absent in non-family firms or in family firms where the owner has acquired control through a market transaction. Overall, results suggest that locally committed family firms trigger investor preference for local stocks and, in doing so, exploit the dedicated local clientele which shrinks the cost of funding. Ultimately, we argue the social contributions of family firms to the local community could even have opportunistic traits and a non-trivial economic effect.


The aim of the present study was to evaluate in vitro the anti-inflammatory effects of two products: a liposomal lactoferrin (LLF) solution versus a liposomal lactoferrin-zinc complex (LLF-Zinc) on CD163 and CD14 protein levels, and gene expression of Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNFα), Interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), Interleukin 6 (IL-6) and Interferon Gamma 8 (IFNγ), after treatment in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) directly extracted from human volunteers. Treatment with Liposomal lactoferrin and liposomal lactoferrin plus zinc (LLF-Zinc) in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC), activates a cytokine response mediated by IFNγ, that increases defense mechanisms against infection (induced by LPS). This mechanism seems to be different from that triggered by LPS, precisely because of the specific activation of IFNγ by the two products. Interferons (IFN) are a family of cytokines which, upon secretion, play a central role in mediating the innate and adaptive immune response to viral and bacterial challenges. LLF and in specially LLF-Zinc stimulates Interferon anti-viral responses enhancing our natural defenses against microbial insults.


Novel organic-inorganic hybrid materials were synthesized by the sol-gel method from a multicomponent solution containing titanium butoxide, 6 weight % (wt%) or 12 wt% poly(ether-imide) (PEI), water and chloroform. The structure of the interpenetrating network is realized by hydrogen bonds between the Ti-OH group (H-donator) in the sol-gel intermediate species and the carboxylic group (H-acceptor) in the repeating units of the polymer. By Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis the presence of hydrogen bonds between organic-inorganic components of the hybrid materials were proved. The morphology of the hybrid materials was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The structure of a molecular level dispersion was disclosed by an atomic force microscope (AFM), pore size distribution and surface measurements. The AFM and SEM analyzes confirmed that the PEI/TiO2 samples can be considered homogenous organic/inorganic hybrid materials because in both the compositions studied the average domains were less than 400 nm in size. The bioactivity of the synthesized hybrid materials was demonstrated by the formation of a layer of hydroxyapatite on the surface of the PEI/TiO2 samples soaked in a fluid simulating the composition of human blood plasma (SBF), demonstrated by SEM and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) microscopy.


OBJECTIVES
To examine the influences of situational and model factors on the accuracy of Bayesian learning systems.

DESIGN
This study examines the impacts of variations in two situational factors, training sample size and number of attributes, and in two model factors, choice of Bayesian model and criteria for excluding model attributes, on the overall accuracy of Bayesian learning systems.

MEASUREMENTS
The test data were derived from myocardial infarction patients who were admitted to eight hospitals in New Orleans during 1985. The test sample consisted of 339 cases; the training samples included 100, 400, and 800 cases. APACHE II variables were used for the model attributes and patient discharge status as the outcome predicted. Attribute sets were selected in sizes of 4, 8, and 12. The authors varied the Bayesian models (proper and simple) and the attribute exclusion criteria (optimism and pessimism).

RESULTS
The simple Bayes model, which assumes conditional independence, consistently equalled or outperformed the proper (maximally dependent) Bayes model, which assumes conditional dependence, across all training sample and attribute set sizes. Not excluding model attributes was found to be preferable to using sample theory as an attribute exclusion criterion in both the simple and the proper models.

CONCLUSION
In the domain tested, the simple Bayes model with optimistic exclusion is more robust than previously assumed and increasing the number of attributes in a model had a greater relative impact on model accuracy than did increasing the number of training sample cases. Assessment of applicability of these findings to other domains will require further study. In addition, other models that are between these two extremes must be investigated. These include models that approximate proper Bayes' conditional dependence computations while requiring fewer training sample cases, attribute exclusion criteria between optimism and pessimism that improve accuracy, and ordering techniques for introducing attributes into Bayes models that optimize the information value associated with the attributes in test-sample cases.


We show diverse beliefs is an important propagation mechanism of fluctuations, money non neutrality and efficacy of monetary policy. Since expectations affect demand, our theory shows economic fluctuations are mostly driven by varying demand not supply shocks. Using a competitive model with flexible prices in which agents hold Rational Belief (see Kurz (1994)) we show that (i) our economy replicates well the empirical record of fluctuations in the U.S. (ii) Under monetary rules without discretion, monetary policy has a strong stabilization effect and an aggressive anti-inflationary policy can reduce inflation volatility to zero. (iii) The statistical Phillips Curve changes substantially with policy instruments and activist policy rules render it vertical. (iv) Although prices are flexible, money shocks result in less than proportional changes in inflation hence the aggregate price level appears 'sticky' with respect to money shocks. (v) Discretion in monetary policy adds a random element to policy and increases volatility. The impact of discretion on the efficacy of policy depends upon the structure of market beliefs about future discretionary decisions. We study two rationalizable beliefs. In one case, market beliefs weaken the effect of policy and in the second, beliefs bolster policy outcomes and discretion could be a desirable attribute of the policy rule. Since the central bank does not know any more than the private sector, real social gain from discretion arise only in extraordinary cases. Hence, the weight of the argument leads us to conclude that bank's policy should be transparent and abandon discretion except for rare and unusual circumstances. (vi) An implication of our model suggests the current effective policy is only mildly activist and aims mostly to target inflation.


As has been already mentioned in the introductory editorial comment that opens this issue, the discussion has demonstrated a profound interest in its subject, and we would like to express our gratitude to Carneiro and all the discussants. This discussion presents a very wide spectrum of opinions on a rather wide range of important topics. One can also find a wide spectrum of opinions, a sort of unique snapshot of the current state of Political Anthropology as regards the study of the emergence of chiefdoms and states, as well as the driving forces of sociopolitical evolution. The discussion has demonstrated that none of the proposed approaches can be characterized as being absolutely right. In certain respects the presented critique of some points of Carneiro's theory looks convincing, but in some other cases Carneiro's reasoning appears more persuasive. Below we shall try to make as more an objective assessment of the present discussion as possible.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the quality of the image obtained using a flexible nasendoscope and a rigid laryngoscope when visualizing laryngeal and pharyngeal structures in an outpatient setting.

DESIGN
Prospective, randomized, single-blinded study.

SETTING
Otolaryngology outpatient clinic.

PARTICIPANTS
Patients referred to the otolaryngology clinic with laryngeal symptoms were prospectively recruited and subjected to laryngeal investigation using both the flexible nasendoscope and the rigid laryngoscope. The order of both instruments was randomized, and the investigations were recorded and scored according to a set protocol.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Primary: score of each instrument at visualizing laryngeal structures. Secondary: tolerability of each instrument.

RESULTS
Thirty patients (12 males vs 18 females) were recruited, with a median age of 43.5 years. No statistical difference was noted in terms of the tolerability of each instrument (p = .885). Both instruments were similar in terms of the structures identified. The quality of the image was better when using the rigid laryngoscope (p = .009).

CONCLUSION
The flexible nasendoscope and the rigid laryngoscope were equally tolerated. The flexible nasendoscope was slightly better at visualizing the laryngeal structures, whereas the rigid laryngoscope provided better image quality.


Purpose Mutations in the gene coding for the kinase B-Raf are associated with tumour growth in conjunctival melanoma. The purpose of this study is to explore effects of pharmacological B-Raf inhibition in conjunctival melanoma cell lines. Methods The B-Raf genotypes were assessed by PCR and subsequent sequencing. Cytotoxicity, cell viability, proliferation, apoptosis rate and phosphorylation rate of ERK and Akt were analysed in three different conjunctival melanoma cell lines under the influence of the B-Raf inhibitor PLX 4720 at various concentrations. Results The cell lines CRMM-1 and CM2005.1 showed the B-Raf V600E mutation, whereas CRMM-2 expressed a B-Raf wild type. CM2005.1 was highly sensitive to PLX 4720, showing a complete cytotoxic effect for >1 µM, as well as a significant concentration-dependent reduction of the proliferation rate and viability rate. Even though CRMM-1 also carries the B-Raf V600E mutation, it did not react as sensitive to PLX 4720 inhibition as CM2005.1, but showed a significant concentration-dependent reduction regarding proliferation and viability. PLX 4720 had only slight impact on CRMM-2 in high concentrations (10 µM) regarding cytotoxicity, proliferation and viability. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis revealed that PLX 4720 acted predominantly antiproliferative and not via an induction of apoptosis. The phosphorylation rate of ERK was significantly reduced in CRMM-1 and CM2005.1, while it remained unchanged in CRMM-2. The phosphorylation rate of Akt was significantly elevated in CRMM-2. Conclusions Proliferation inhibition of conjunctival melanoma cells by PLX 4720 depends on their B-Raf genotype. Therefore, therapeutic application of B-Raf inhibitors should take into account the specific B-Raf genotype.


The sugar industry is the life-giving force of the economy of Negros Occidental which contributes to more than half of the country's total sugar production. The study aims to know the socio-economic status of sugarcane farmers in the province; evaluate their management practices on sugarcane production profitability based on the suitability and constraints exhibited by the major soil series grown to sugarcane, and to determine the effect of these farmers' practices on the properties of the soils. A survey on twenty-five (25) farmers was conducted. FAO soil constraints and suitability analysis tool were used to identify the constraints and suitability of Guimbalaon, Isabela, Luisiana, San Manuel, and Silay soil series. Existing management practices of farmers like monocropping, burning of trashes, and intensive and inappropriate use of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides may either affect soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. Topography and wetness were the severe constraints in all soil series. Sugarcane farmers with farms belonging to Silay series have the highest profitability based on net income, return on investment, and benefit-cost ratio while those belonging to Isabela series have the lowest profitability which could be attributed to varying constraints for sugarcane production thus, appropriate soil management interventions are necessary for this series.


Purpose

This paper has two main purposes. First, this paper aims to examine whether pre-initial public offering (IPO) franchising activity of issuing firms is priced in the financial markets and results in pricing differential between franchising and non-franchising firms at the time of IPO. Second, the paper aims to find out whether firms with pre-IPO franchising achieve better post-IPO stock performance compared to non-franchising firms.

Design/methodology/approach

To test research hypotheses, empirical models were developed and tested through ordinary least square regression analysis. Several data sources were used including Thomson One Banker's SDC database, Compustat/CRSP and IPO prospectuses.

Findings

The paper provides further insights to the underpricing phenomenon surrounding IPOs and long-run performance of IPO shares subsequent to listing. Particularly, the study reveals that franchising firms underprice their issues to a higher degree compared to non-franchising firms, and franchising positively affects the post-IPO benchmark adjusted cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) over a three-year observation period.

Research limitations/implications

Because the study tests the proposed hypotheses using data only from the restaurant industry, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test similar hypotheses using larger sample sizes from other industries.

Practical implications

The study's findings have important implications both for IPO issuers in positioning their offering and for IPO investors in comparing IPO stocks and forming long-run portfolios.

Originality/value

This paper contributes both to the IPO and franchising literatures by providing primary insights about how investors perceive pre-IPO franchising and incorporate their perception into their pricing at an IPO.


Objective: To make comparisons on similarities and differences of clinical effects of endovascular repair and traditional open surgery for patients with infectious abdominal aneurysm.
Methods: 20 cases with infectious abdominal aneurysm admitted in our hospital from January 2012 to January 2015 were selected, and patients were divided into two groups randomly. 10 cases received traditional open surgery, and 10 cases accepted endovascular repair surgery. After treatment, the operative time, intraoperative blood loss, complications after postoperative recovery and mortality of the two groups of patients were analyzed and compared.
Results: compared to the traditional open surgery, the operative time, intraoperative blood loss, wound length and length of stay for endovascular repair were lower. The data comparisons showed statistical significance (P<0.05) ; among the cases accepting endovascular repair, only two cases (20%) suffered from severe complications, while 5 cases (50%) in open surgery group, showing statistical significance (P<0.05) ; during follow-up visit, no death occurred in endovascular repair group, while two cases died in the traditional open surgery group.
Conclusions: The endovascular repair for infectious abdominal aneurysm is characterized by short operation time, less blood loss, small wound, rapid postoperative recovery, with exact clinical effect. Compared with the traditional open surgery, it can be used as a preferred treatment method in the clinical treatment.
Discussion: According to the surgical process, the endovascular repair is more strict; when performing the endovascular repair, it is necessary to determine appropriate type of stent, diameter of stent, and the flexibility of the stent. It is required to give full consideration to the influencing factors of operation and prognostic effect before and after surgical operations, to reduce the risks and enhance the life of quality of patients after surgery.


Weak-signal GNSS navigation could potentially increase the robustness, flexibility and autonomy of the navigation architectures for future lunar exploration missions. GNSS reception during the various phases of such a mission suffers from very low signal levels, partial visibility of the GNSS sources and unfavourable geometry, actually making use of the spill over of the beams around the Earth mask. The objective of a recent ESA study was to evaluate the challenges of such a navigation solution using GPS and future Galileo signals with carrier to noise density ratio levels as low as 10 to 15 dBHz. The investigated mission phases included transfer orbit, low lunar orbits, lunar ascent and descent as well as surface operation and navigation at the Lagrange points L1 and L2.
The suggested GNSS receiver architecture is a software based snapshot receiver with limited ground station aiding to help with or even to substitute the information from the navigation data messages. Such architecture has been proven to provide a navigation solution during all phases of a lunar exploration mission. Integration with external sensors is required during descent/ascent and low lunar orbits: a loose coupling to an INS/radar altimeter is considered and evaluated for these phases. All of these solutions strongly build on the on-board navigation propagator, including a kinematic model to provide navigation data during partial signal outages.
The availability of GNSS signals, in terms of geometrical line-of-sight, signal strength, and Doppler shift, has been computed for the different mission scenarios taking into account GPS and Galileo constellations. Interestingly, such a computation revealed that the mission date has a slight effect on the performance. In fact, the inclination of the lunar orbit with respect to the Earth's equator (to which GNSS sources' orbits are 'anchored') showed a non-negligible variation in the performance.
As far as they concern the user spacecraft bound to the Moon, different antenna accommodations were analysed and a single, steerable high gain antenna was considered as the baseline for the study. In fact, as the distance from the Earth increases and the signals become weaker, even the relatively narrow beam opening of a 13 dB gain antenna efficiently includes all the sources in its field of view.
During the frame of the ESA study we developed a snapshot receiver simulation in Matlab to implement the receiver acquisition stage. Starting with the GPS L1 C/A signal, we then concentrated on the data-less pilot signals of the Galileo E1 C and Galileo E5 a-Q/b-Q services in order to achieve longer coherent integration times. The suggested receiver concept relies on aiding from either ground station TT&C channels to provide coarse position aiding or utilises the position updates from the INS navigation part that follows the signal acquisition stage and pseudoranges computation. The INS part delivers updates of the spacecraft dynamic state, with update rates well above 1 Hz, while the GNSS acquisition performs initialisation and position updates from the GNSS. In the signal acquisition block we use block averaging preprocessing for coherent signal integration followed by non-coherent combining. The signal acquisition performance is tested using synthetic input signals with random content navigation messages. These simulations suggest that a receiver sensitivity down to about 10 dBHz can be reached when using the Galileo pilot signals and a coherent integration time of 500 ms. The choice of the snapshot architecture allows for the use of very high integration time during the acquisition while avoiding problems with stability and continuity of the usual tracking stage at a very low carrier to noise density ratio. At the same time, the chosen architecture leads to some constraints on clock stability and the availability of an initial coarse position. The accuracy of the position/velocity/time solution was tested with the simulation of ground station aiding. It is assumed that in a future mission an internal representation of the spacecraft's trajectory and GNSS constellation could further alleviate the amount of data required from ground station support.
The propagator simulation implements the fusion of the sensor data coming from the PVT solution and from aerospace grade sensors (INS, radar Doppler altimeter 'RDA') through the use of an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The other main task of the propagator is to provide a valid position/velocity solution during upcoming periods of GNSS signal outage (at the Lagrange points and behind the Moon, where the latter is the worst scenario in terms of time elapsed from last GNSS signal update to its re-acquisition). The propagator further reduces the uncertainty associated with the PVT solution, introducing internal knowledge of the trajectory. The performance of the EKF is evaluated by comparing the uncertainties (sigmas) associated to GNSS PVT with those evaluated at the exit of the propagator stage.
The software receiver and propagator combination was chosen for a first evaluation approach to an aided space based navigation solution. With the addition of hardware sensors like IMU, Doppler radar altimeter and other sensors, we expect that a high degree of autonomy of navigation during lunar exploration missions can be achieved. With the exploitation of weak signals from existing and future GNSS, the robustness of the navigation architecture of future lunar exploration missions could be improved for all mission phases. Above all, GNSS-based navigation helps, by means of the improved autonomy, to strongly limit the cost of the lunar mission tracking. This aspect will become especially important in view of the emerging low-thrust, electricallypropelled missions with mission durations in the order of several months.


Previous research has shown that high trait-anxious children, relative to low trait-anxious children, are at an increased risk of developing fear due to threatening information (Field, 2006b; Field and Price-Evans, 2009). However, the mechanism that underlies this relationship remains unknown. Cognitive models of vulnerability to anxiety propose that biases in the processing of threat-relevant material play a part in the aetiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders (Beck and Clark, 1997; Eysenck, 1992) and as such could potentially explain the relationship between trait-anxiety and fear development in the face of ambiguous information in children. For example, high-anxious children tend to interpret ambiguous information in a more negative manner (interpretation bias) and remember ambiguous information as being more threatening than it was originally (memory bias) (see Hadwin and Field, 2010, for a review). Additionally, high-anxious children have been found to engage in negative cognitive rehearsal (Comer, Kendall, Franklin, Hudson, and Pimental, 2004). The experiments in this thesis investigated whether these cognitive biases underlie the relationship between trait anxiety and fear development in non-clinical children.
In a series of three experiments, children (aged 8-11 years) were presented with some ambiguous information regarding two novel animals (the quoll and the cuscus) and before completing a cognitive rehearsal task were told that they would soon be asked to approach the animals. There were several findings: 1) High trait-anxious children were not significantly more likely than low trait-anxious children to display any of the cognitive biases tested (i.e., interpretation bias, memory bias or cognitive rehearsal). However, tentative evidence suggested that interpretation bias exacerbated the relationship between trait anxiety and fear; 2) Whether children cognitively rehearsed the ambiguous information or not had no significant impact on their fear for the animals, nor did the valence of their thoughts; 3) Children who interpreted the ambiguous information more negatively were more likely to become fearful of the animals and were also more likely to remember more negatively-biased and less positively-biased pieces of ambiguous information; 4) It was the lack of positively-biased memories not the increased number of negatively-biased memories that led children who interpreted the information more negatively to become more fearful of the animals as a result. The findings are discussed with reference to their implications for the theory and prevention of childhood fear: that positive interpretation and memory bias training may act to decrease or even help to prevent fear development in children.


Abstract Background: Hypertension is a widespread problem of immense economic importance in sub-Saharan Africa because of its high prevalence in urban areas, its frequent under-diagnosis, and the severity of its complications. A systematic review of interventions used to improve the management of hypertension in primary care showed that effective delivery of hypertensive care requires a systematic approach in the community. The rationale for establishing a hypertension club at the Mitchell's Plain Community Health Centre (MPCHC), Cape Town, South Africa is based on the findings of and recommendations made by a study done previously at MPCHC by the Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle Programme of the Medical Research Council. This study found that the blood pressure of hypertensive patients was not optimally controlled and both the drug and non-drug management of hypertension needed to be improved. The patients had asked for the introduction of a dedicated hypertension club. Methods: A dedicated hypertension club was started at MPCHC and hypertensive patients were enrolled. A booking system with an appointment register was initiated. A hypertension record sheet was kept in the patient's folder. Observations like blood pressure (BP), weight, and urinalysis were recorded by the club's nurses. Health information officers were used to educate the patients about hypertension, its treatment and complications. The doctors' role was to fully assess the patients' risk profiles and to develop a management plan. To audit the club, a questionnaire was conducted on an initial group of 100 patients at the inception of the club and repeated on a group of 100 patients after six months. The aim was to assess the patients' knowledge of issues affecting the management of hypertension and their satisfaction with the service received at MPCHC. A folder review was done on the second group of patients. The intention was to evaluate whether there had been a change in the patients' BP over the preceding six months, whether the patients were compliant and whether observations were made regularly. Results: The average age of the study population was early sixties. More women than men were studied. The knowledge of the follow-up group regarding factors affecting hypertension control was slightly better than that of the initial group, but remained poor. The knowledge of the consequences of poor hypertension control did not improve after six months. Salt use stayed the same. The patients were satisfied with the service received, although shorter waiting times were desired. About 64% of the patients had collected their medication as per schedule. In the initial group, 48% of the patients had a BP > 140/90 mmHg. After six months, 33% of the patients had a BP > 140/90 mmHg. Conclusions: The study did not show much change in the patients' knowledge in the first six months after the institution of the hypertension club. Compliance was poor, although BP control improved somewhat. The benefit was in setting up the system.


The 13CH3OH isotopomer of methanol has been reinvestigated as a source of far-infrared (FIR) laser emission by the use of the extended line coverage available from an efficient CO2 laser recently developed for optical pumping. With this system we have observed 19 new FIR laser lines, pumped by 11 different CO2 transitions, with five of the pump lines belonging to the new 9HP CO2 hot band. Accurate heterodyne frequency measurements of the FIR laser and the pump offset have been made for 16 FIR laser lines, including three previously reported in the literature. High-resolution Fourier-transform spectroscopic results for the CO-stretching and the CH3-rocking infrared fundamentals of 13CH3OH have been applied to assign the pump and lasing lines for five of the transition systems. One system has the novel feature that two different CO2 pump lines excite the same upper level, and hence two FIR laser lines of the identical frequency are observed for two different pump lines.


The research objective was to determine the community's knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in preventing the transmission of COVID-19 with a systematic review approach. The research method used the protocol preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA). The research variables were sociodemography, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors to prevent COVID 19. The search process for articles was accessed on three electronic journal databases. The article inclusion criteria are quantitative research, primary data, and year of publication (January-July 2020), in English, open access; have gone through the peer review stage, and full-text articles. A descriptive analysis was carried out on each research variable. The results showed ten articles that fit the inclusion criteria, consisting of 100% sociodemographic variables, 90% knowledge, 90% attitude, and 80% behavior. The number of articles with significant research results on knowledge variables (covering aspects of disease recognition, modes of transmission, general symptoms, and methods of prevention) was 61.11% of articles. The number of significant articles on attitude variables (including self-isolation, use of masks, social distancing, COVID-19, and government) was 35.54%. The number of substantial articles on the variable of preventive behavior (including handwashing, social distancing, hand sanitizers, use of masks, and self-isolation) was 45%.


We study a class of exact supersymmetric solutions of type IIB Supergravity. They have an SO(4)× SU(2)×U(1) isometry and preserve generically 4 of the 32 supersymmetries of the theory. Asymptotically AdS5 × S5 solutions in this class are dual to 1/8 BPS chiral operators which preserve the same symmetries in the N = 4 SYM theory. They are parametrized by a set of four functions that satisfy certain differential equations. We analyze the solutions to these equations in a large radius asymptotic expansion: they carry charges with respect to two U(1) KK gauge fields and their mass saturates the expected BPS bound. MIRAMARE – TRIESTE November 2006


This research was intended to determine the possibility of manure application to replace inorganig fertilizer on crop growth and seed yield of soybean. A field experiment was conducted at the experimental farm of the Faculty of Agriculture University of Riau, Pekanbaru in 2013. The experiment was arranged in randomized block designwith seven treatments and three replications. The treatments were recommended rate of inorganic fertilizers (Urea 55 kg/hectare, TSP 55 kg/hectare and KCl 73 kg/hectare), chicken manure at rates of 2 t on s, 3 tons and 4 tons per h ectare ; cow manure at rates of 10 tons, 12 tons and 14 tones per hectare. Seed of G19BE genotype was planted in a plot of 3m x 2 m with the planting space of 40 cm x 20 cm. All rates of animal manure were apllied 10 days before planting while fertilizer was applied at planting date. The results showed that inorganic fertilizer and any kinds of manure affected vegetative growth of soybean at the same manners. Application of cow and chiken  manure, in general, yielded more filled pods, more number of seeds per plant, seed weight per plant and seed yield m -2 than inorganic fertilizer application. Chicken manure ate of 4 ton hectare yielded greater seed weight per m² compared to cow manure or artificial fertilizer. This result suggests that organic manure may be utilized to replace inorganic fertilizer in soybean cultivation.           Keywords: Chicken  manure, cow manure, soybean


Linked Data rarely takes into account multimedia content, which forms a central part of the Web. To explore the combination of Linked Data and multimedia, we are developing IMGpedia: we compute content-based descriptors for images used in Wikipedia articles and subsequently propose to link these descriptions with legacy encyclopaedic knowledge-bases such as DBpedia and Wikidata. On top of this extended knowledge-base, our goal is to consider a unified query system that accesses both the encyclopaedic data and the image data. We could also consider enhancing the encyclopaedic knowledge based on rules applied to co-occurring entities in images, or content-based analysis, for example. Abstracting away from IMGpedia, we explore generic methods by which the content of images on the Web can be described in a standard way and can be considered as first-class citizens on the Web of Data, allowing, for example, for combining structured queries with image similarity search. This short paper thus describes ongoing work on IMGpedia, with focus on image descriptors.


Little is known about foreign aid provided by private donors. This paper contributes to closing this research gap by comparing the allocation of private humanitarian aid to that of official humanitarian aid awarded to 140 recipient countries over the 2000-2016 period. We construct a new database that offers information on the country in which the headquarters of private donors are located to test whether private donors follow the aid allocation pattern of their home country. Our empirical results confirm that private aid "follows the flag." This finding is robust against the inclusion of various fixed effects, estimating instrumental variables models, and disaggregating private aid into corporate aid and NGO aid. Donor country-specific estimations reveal that private aid from China, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States "follow the flag." JEL classification: H84, F35, F59


Canagliflozin is an oral antihyperglycemic agent used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. It blocks the reabsorption of glucose in the proximal renal tubule by inhibiting the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2. This article describes the in vivo biotransformation and disposition of canagliflozin after a single oral dose of [ 14 C]canagliflozin to intact and bile duct-cannulated (BDC) mice and rats and to intact dogs and humans. Fecal excretion was the primary route of elimination of drug-derived radioactivity in both animals and humans. In BDC mice and rats, most radioactivity was excreted in bile. The extent of radioactivity excreted in urine as a percentage of the administered [ 14 C]canagliflozin dose was 1.2% – 7.6% in animals and approximately 33% in humans. The primary pathways contributing to the metabolic clearance of canagliflozin were oxidation in animals and direct glucuronidation of canagliflozin in humans. Unchanged canagliflozin was the major component in systemic circulation in all species. In human plasma, two pharmacologically inactive O -glucuronide conjugates of canagliflozin, M5 and M7, represented 19% and 14% of total drug-related exposure and were considered major human metabolites. Plasma concentrations of M5 and M7 in mice and rats from repeated dose safety studies were lower than those in humans given canagliflozin at the maximum recommended dose of 300 mg. However, biliary metabolite profiling in rodents indicated that mouse and rat livers had significant exposure to M5 and M7. Pharmacologic inactivity and high water solubility of M5 and M7 support glucuronidation of canagliflozin as a safe detoxification pathway.


The United States is still in the midst of a massive deportation experiment that is exceptionally sweeping and harsh by virtually any historical or comparative measure. In the last twenty-five years, the number of non-citizen deportations has exceeded 25 million. It is therefore important to think critically about how deportation is really working, especially as to many hundreds of thousands of green-card holders. These individuals have grown up, been fully acculturated, attended school, and raised families in the United States. Upon deportation, they are separated from their families and sent to places where they frequently have few acquaintances, do not speak the language, lack cultural references, and possess bleak job or life prospects. Many are permanently barred from ever returning to the United States, even temporarily, to visit their parents, spouses, or children. Close scrutiny of the system adds up to a powerful indictment of the accuracy, integrity, justice, and fairness of the deportation system. It indicates that many thousands of deportees may reasonably claim that they should still be in the United States, living with their families. The BIA has, however, ruled that "[r]emoved aliens have, by virtue of their departure, literally passed beyond our aid." That is to say, in this legal limbo, the deportee fundamentally lacks rights. This rigid, formalist approach means that countless mistakes have likely gone undiscovered, let alone rectified. Slowly, some federal courts of appeals have rejected the BIA's approach. The issue will probably have to be decided by the Supreme Court. But considerably stronger action is needed to bring true integrity to the U.S. deportation system. The Post-Deportation Human Rights Project, based at the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College, is a pilot program designed to address the cruel effects of current U.S. deportation policies. The Project aims to conceptualize an entirely new area of "post-deportation" law by merging the best principles of U.S. constitutional law with accepted aspects of international human rights law. The ultimate aim is to advocate, in collaboration with affected families and communities, for the introduction of proportionality, compassion, and respect for family unity into U.S. deportation laws.


This Article develops a theory of the constitutional allocation of the war power and applies it to the provisions of the War Powers Resolution. It examines the constitutional text and analysis of the respective powers of the President and Congres and suggests the division of all United States military activity into three categories: "peacetime deployments,"war threatening actions," and "acts of war." The Authors argue that military actions in the first category are controlled exclusively by the President, in the second controlled both by the President and by Congress through political interaction, and in the third are implemented by the President but require congressional authorization to be constitutionally valid. It argues that those uses of force requiring congressional authorization are three types of authorization -- express, implied, and presumed -- each of which in specified circumstances satisfy the constitutional requirement that Congress authorize acts of war. Finally, this constitutional theory is applied to the provisions of the War Powers Resolution. The Article demonstrates that the Resolution suffers from a number of constitutional infirmities, and that certain aspects of the Resolution legitimately enhance Congress' ability to control war.


The evaluation of RF Sensors often requires a test capability where various RF targets are presented to the Unit Under Test (UUT). These targets may need to be dynamic in time, represent multiple targets and/or decoys, emulate dynamic motion, and simulate real world RF environmental conditions. An RF Target Simulator can be employed to perform these functions and is the focus of this paper. The total test system is usually called Hardware in the Loop (HITL) involving the UUT mounted on a Flight Motion Simulator (FMS), the RF Target Simulator presenting the RF Scene, and a Simulation Computer that dynamically controls everything in real-time. The realization of a highly effective target simulator, one that truly meets the user's needs at an affordable cost, is the result of understanding the complex interrelationship of requirements, architecture and constraints. This paper examines those relationships in seven areas of discussion, employing examples of realized systems; Determining the necessary test zone volume Determining the necessary quality of RF target signal Sizing the field of view, range and facilities Creating each target's RF signal Creating RF target motion Integration and real-time operation within the range Locating and minimizing the effects of error sources


The first code-based cryptosystem, McEliece, was invented in the very early development of public-key cryptography, yet code-based cryptosystems received little attention for decades due to their relatively large key-sizes. But recently they are re-discovered for their potentials to provide efficient post-quantum cryptographic tools and homomorphic encryption schemes, and the development of large storage and fast Internet have made these schemes closer to practice than ever. Through our review of the revolution of code-based cryptography, we will demonstrate the usage of codes in cryptographic applicaitons. We will follow the path of the development, from the design, analysis, and implementation of McEliece cryptosystem and the quantum attack resistance to the latest fully homomorphic encryption scheme based on Learning with Errors, a code-related problem, designed by Brakerski et al. We will also cover algebraic manipulation detection codes, a newly proposed extension of errorcorrecting codes and a lightweight alternative to MACs as an authentication component embedded in security protocols.


Abstract Framed as posthumous, or that which lives on past its death, the survivor is tagged by official postwar discourses and practices an impediment to the reconstruction of society along normative guidelines. But the persistent conditions of protracted civil war in Lebanon call for a re-conceptualization of the figure of the survivor along another temporal axis. No longer posthumous, the survivor is not an over-liver who aimlessly questions the significance of his brute survival but rather a witness who knows too much, carrying the weight of an unwelcome knowledge gathered from within war and crisis that challenges the official closure of the present to the unfinished past. What is this figure of a non-posthumous survivor and what is the knowledge that it carries? How are we to re-conceptualize the writing of history through this figure and what are the images it continues to safeguard?


Background
Accurate non-invasive prediction of long-term hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk in advanced liver fibrosis is urgently needed for cost-effective HCC screening; however, this currently remains an unmet need.

Methods
A serum-protein-based prognostic liver secretome signature (PLSec) was bioinformatically derived from previously validated hepatic transcriptome signatures and optimized in 79 patients with advanced liver fibrosis. We independently validated PLSec for HCC risk in 331 cirrhosis patients with mixed etiologies (validation set 1 [V1]) and thereafter developed a score with clinical prognostic variables. The score was then validated in two independent cohorts: validation set 2 (V2): 164 patients with advanced liver fibrosis due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection cured after direct-acting antiviral therapy; validation set 3 (V3): 146 patients with advanced liver fibrosis with successfully-treated HCC and cured HCV infection.

Findings
An 8-protein blood-based PLSec recapitulated transcriptome-based hepatic HCC risk status. In V1, PLSec was significantly associated with incident HCC risk (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30-4.23). A composite score with serum alpha-fetoprotein (PLSec-AFP) was defined in V1, and validated in V2 (adjusted odds ratio, 3.80 [95%CI, 1.66-8.66]) and V3 (aHR, 3.08 [95%CI, 1.78-5.31]; c-index, 0.74). PLSec-AFP outperformed AFP alone (Brier score, 0.165 vs. 0.186 in V2; 0.196 vs. 0.206 in V3, respectively).

Conclusions
The blood-based PLSec-AFP can accurately stratify patients with advanced liver fibrosis for long-term HCC risk and thereby guide risk-based tailored HCC screening.


THE INFLUENCE OF THE BYZANTINE CRIMINAL LAW IN THE CODE OF DUSAN. 1349-1354  Stefan Dusan enacted the Code of Dusan in 1349. Its dispositions must be considered in relation with two Byzantine compilations that constituted the imperiale tripartite codification: the so-called Law of Justinian and to the Abridged syntagma . The Byzantine juridical influence must be considered very relevant in criminal law: public pain system, legal action ex officio by state, pain of death, physical punishments and mutilations, were juridical concepts and institutions unknown to Slav people before their convert to Christianity, and their introduction must be connected to the Byzantine religious, cultural and juridical influence. Considering the difference with Slav customary law (even if some elements derivating from it were preserved) and the connections with Greek-Roman compilations it can be underlined Dusan's attempt to create and introduce in his empire a Byzantine legal system.


Urbanization facilitates synanthropic species such as rodents, which benefit the diets of many predators in cities. We investigated how urbanization affects the feeding ecology of dugites Pseudonaja affinis, a common elapid snake in south-west Western Australia. We predicted that urban snakes: 1) more frequently contain prey and eat larger meals, 2) eat proportionally more non-native prey, 3) eat a lower diversity of prey species, and 4) are relatively heavier, than non-urban dugites. We analyzed the diet of 453 specimens obtained from the Western Australian Museum and opportunistic road-kill collections. Correcting for size, sex, season, and temporal biases, we tested whether location influenced diet for our 4 predictions. Body size was a strong predictor of diet (larger snakes had larger prey present, a greater number of prey items, and a greater diversity of prey). We identified potential collection biases: urban dugites were relatively smaller (snout-vent length) than non-urban specimens, and females were relatively lighter than males. Accounting for these effects, urban snakes were less likely to have prey present in their stomachs and were relatively lighter than non-urban snakes. Other urban-adapted carnivores appear to benefit from urbanization through increased food supplementation, but we found the opposite of this: urban dugites were less likely to contain a meal, and their meals were smaller, indicating they did not make greater use of synanthropic species than was evident for non-urban snakes. In contrast to other carnivores, snakes do not appear to fit a consistent directional pattern for size differences between urban and non-urban populations.


The chapters covered in this book include emerging new techniques on sintering. Major experts in this field contributed to this book and presented their research. Topics covered in this publication include Spark plasma sintering, Magnetic Pulsed compaction, Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic technology for the preparation of 3-dimesinal circuits, Microwave sintering of thermistor ceramics, Synthesis of Bio-compatible ceramics, Sintering of Rare Earth Doped Bismuth Titanate Ceramics prepared by Soft Combustion, nanostructured ceramics, alternative solid-state reaction routes yielding densified bulk ceramics and nanopowders, Sintering of intermetallic superconductors such as MgB2, impurity doping in luminescence phosphors synthesized using soft techniques, etc. Other advanced sintering techniques such as radiation thermal sintering for the manufacture of thin film solid oxide fuel cells are also described.


Li, Jianhua, Jeffrey T. Potts, and Jere H. Mitchell. Effect of barodenervation on c-Fos expression in the medulla induced by static muscle contraction in cats. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 43): H901–H908, 1998.—A previous study has shown increased Fos-like immunoreactivity (FLI), a marker of neural activation, in the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) and the ventrolateral medulla (VLM) after static muscle contraction elicited by electrical stimulation of L7 and S1 ventral roots of the spinal cord in anesthetized, baroreceptor-intact cats. Because the electrically induced static muscle contraction reflexly increased arterial blood pressure, the concomitant activation of the arterial baroreceptor reflex during static muscle contraction may have resulted in some of the FLI labeling that was observed in the medulla. The purpose of this study was to determine regions in the medulla that are activated by muscle contraction in the absence of arterial baroreceptor input. Electrical stimulation of L7 and S1 ventral roots of the spinal cord was used to elicit static muscle contraction, and FLI in the medulla was determined in barointact and barodenervated cats. In barointact contraction cats, FLI was observed in the lateral reticular nucleus (LRN), NTS, lateral tegmental field (FTL), subretrofacial nucleus (SRF), and A1 region of the medulla. In barodenervated contraction cats, FLI increased in the same regions; however, the number of FLI-labeled cells in the NTS, FTL, and A1 region was significantly less than in barointact contraction animals. No significant difference in the number of FLI-labeled cells was found in the LRN and SRF between the two groups. These results clearly demonstrate that cardiovascular regions in the medulla are activated by input from afferent activity originating in skeletal muscle independently of concomitant arterial baroreceptor reflex activation.


The psychological impact of a cancer diagnosis can extend through treatment, well into cancer survivorship and can be influenced by a range of psychosocial resources. At different stages in this trajectory, optimism is known to affect well-being directly. This study focusing upon the potential to flourish after cancer, investigates the relationship between optimism and positive affect during cancer survivorship together with four possible mediators: social support, fighting spirit, internal health locus of control and cancer worry, all of which have been shown to be important predictors of well-being in cancer patients. Participants (n = 102) from online cancer forums completed standardized questionnaires, and path analysis confirmed that optimism had a direct effect on positive affect in cancer survivors. Social support and fighting spirit were also shown to be significant mediators of this relationship, accounting collectively for 50% of the variance in positive affect. Whilst cancer worry and internal health locus of control could be predicted from levels of optimism, they did not mediate the optimism-positive affect relationship. Efforts to promote optimism and thus encourage fighting spirit at diagnosis through treatment may be worthwhile interventions, as would ensuring appropriate social support through the trajectory.


Neurocristic hamartoma results from the aberrant development of cells derived from the neural crest. It is a type of dermal melanocytosis. These tumours may contain neuro-sustentacular and fibrogenic components in addition to a dermal melanocytic component. The elements within these tumours reflect the spectrum of differentiation that results from migration of neural crestderived cells. Identification of these tumours could be important if malignant transformation results in the development of tumours with a distinctive biologic behaviour.


Falls and their consequences among older people are a serious medical and public health problem. Identifying individuals at risk of falling is therefore a major concern. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate measurement tools of balance control and their predictive value when screening for fall risk in physically dependent individuals ≥65 years old living in residential care facilities, and physically independent individuals ≥75 years old living in the community. Following baseline assessments falls were monitored during six months in physically dependent individuals based on staff reports, and during one year in physically independent individuals based on self reports. In physically dependent individuals test-retest reliability of the Timed Up&Go test (TUG) was established in relation to cognitive impairment. Absolute reliability measures exposed substantial day-to-day variability in mobility performance at an individual level despite excellent relative reliability (ICC 1.1 >0.90) regardless of cognitive function (MMSE ≥10). Fifty-three percent of the participants fell at least once during follow-up. Staff judgement of their residents' fall risk had the best prognostic value for ruling in a fall risk in individuals judged with 'high risk' (positive Likelihood ratio, LR+ 2.8). Timed, and subjective rating of fall risk (modified Get Up&Go test, GUG-m) were useful for ruling out a high fall risk in individuals with TUG scores <15 seconds (negative LR, LR- 0.1) and GUG-m scores of 'no fall risk' (LR- 0.4), however few participants achieved such scores. In physically independent individuals balance control was challenged by dual-task performances. Subsequent dual-task costs in gait (DTC), i.e. the difference between single walking and walking with a simultaneous second task, were registered using an electronic mat. Forty-eight percent of the participants fell at least once during follow-up. A small prognostic guidance for ruling in a high fall risk was found for DTC in mean step width of ≤3.7 mm with a manual task (LR+ 2.3), and a small guidance for ruling out a high fall risk with DTC in mean step width of ≤3.6 mm with a cognitive task (LR- 0.5). In cross-sectional evaluations DTC related to an increased fall risk were associated with: sub-maximal physical performance stance scores (Odds Ratio, OR, 3.2 to 3.8), lower self-reported balance confidence (OR 2.6), higher activity avoidance (OR 2.1), mobility disability (OR 4.0), and cautious walking out-door (OR 3.0). However, these other measures of physical function failed to provide any guidance to fall risk in this population of seemingly able older persons. In conclusion – Fall risk assessments may guide clinicians in two directions, either in ruling in or in ruling out a high fall risk. A single cut-off score, however, does not necessarily give guidance in both directions. Staff experienced knowledge is superior to a single assessment of mobility performance for ruling in a high fall risk. Clinicians need to consider the day-to-day variability in mobility when interpreting the TUG score of a physically dependent individual. DTC of gait can, depending on the type of secondary task, indicate a functional limitation related to an increased fall risk or a flexible capacity related to a decreased fall risk. DTC in mean step width seems to be a valid measure of balance control in physically independent older people and may be a valuable part of the physical examination of balance and gait when screening for fall risk as other measures of balance control may fail to provide any guidance of fall risk in this population.


INTRODUCTION: Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common problem seen in women and 70%–75% of women experience VVC at least once in their lifetime. The relative incidence of vaginitis caused by non-albicans Candida (NAC) species is increasing which poses a problem as NAC is less susceptible to fluconazole which is commonly used for the treatment of VVC. In this study, we determined the species distribution of Candida isolates causing VVC and the antifungal susceptibility pattern of these isolates to fluconazole. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study was done in a tertiary care hospital in Hyderabad, South India (August 2019–December 2020), on 500 women with suggestive clinical features and culture-confirmed VVC. Five hundred Candida strains isolated from the vaginal swab of these women were speciated and fluconazole antifungal susceptibility testing (AFST) was done by broth microdilution technique (CLSI guidelines) for 103 isolates. The following fluconazole concentrations were tested: 0.125 μg/ml, 0.25 μg/ml, 0.5 μg/ml, 1 μg/ml, 2 μg/ml, 4 μg/ml, 8 μg/ml, 16 μg/ml, 32 μg/ml and 64 μg/ml which encompassed the clinical breakpoint concentrations and the expected results for the quality control strains. RESULTS: The majority of the women (93%) with VVC were in the reproductive age group (21–40 years). The most common presenting symptoms were vaginal discharge (66.4%) and pruritus (26.6%). The most common predisposing factor for VVC was pregnancy (44.8%). Candida albicans (62.8%) was the most common species isolated, followed by Candida glabrata (27.2%). Overall fluconazole susceptibility was 57%. About 72.2% of C. albicans were fluconazole susceptible. CONCLUSION: VVC has a wide clinical presentation with non-specific signs and symptoms. Diagnosis based only on signs and symptoms leads to over treatment. Thus, culture confirmation is crucial for the accurate diagnosis and to detect VVC caused by NAC which is less susceptible to fluconazole. Fluconazole AFST on these isolates would help in developing local antibiograms and to monitor resistance trends.


We evaluate, in terms of efficiency and selection incentives, four different ex post risk sharing mechanisms. Outlier risk sharing (ORS), proportional risk sharing (PRS), risk sharing for high costs (RSHC) and risk sharing for high risks. Our results suggest that the best mechanism in terms of their implied efficiency selection trade off are, risk sharing for high costs and risk sharing for high risks. In general, outlier risk sharing has a poor performance. Our results are robust with respect to different scenarios for ex ante risk adjustment or incentives for efficiency and selection based on expected or realized costs. We believe that the most realistic scenario analyzed is one in which insurance companies use expected reimbursements and costs as their best source of information (signal) to decide on efficiency and selection trade-offs. In this case, we found that risk sharing of high risks dominates all other mechanisms.


Controlling grain drying process has always been a challenging task for engineers and researchers in food and agricultural sectors. The main obstacles to obtain the best control system for the grain drying system are due to the long delay process, highly non-linear behaviour and parameter uncertainties exist in the plant. Applying an intelligent controller such as fuzzy logic controller to a grain drying system is a good choice as fuzzy logic controller is a very powerful control methodology that can estimate functions based on partial knowledge of the system in case of parameter uncertainties and can deal with non-linear behaviour. This paper focused on the design and application of fuzzy logic controller in order to obtain the grain output moisture content close to the set-point in spite of disturbances. Two inputs and one output fuzzy logic controller has been designed to drive the grain flow rate which is used as the manipulated variable. A new algorithm of fuzzy logic controller for a grain drying process has been introduced. Simulation tests have been carried out using the process model developed by Liu and Bakker-Arkema for a cross-flow grain dryer. The overall results from the tests are very promising and the fuzzy logic controller is stable and robust towards input disturbance. Although the design process of fuzzy logic controller is simple; however it provides very fast response to make the grain output moisture content close to the set-point and to reject disturbance exists during the grain drying process.


El Lissitzky's first suprematist book is a story about how two squares, one red, one black, transform a world. It is Lissitzky's "scientific romance," an allegory of the fourth dimension and its effect on the three-dimensional world. When it was first published in Berlin in 1922, "About 2 Squares" presented a radical rethinking of what a book was, demonstrating a new way of organizing typography on a page and relating it to visual images. It marked the beginning of a new graphic art and is among the most important publications in the history of the avant-garde in typography and graphic design.This facsimile limited edition is reproduced in letterpress with the English translation printed on a transparent overlay to register over the original Russian.The commentary, "More About 2 Squares," boxed in the same slipcase, provides a detailed analysis of this seminal work. Railing provides a brief historical survey of avant-garde poetry in Russia and shows how the letter/ sound was applied by Lissitzky in "About 2 Squares" as a corollary to the pictorial images - a relationship that forms the basis of abstract or nonobjective language and painting in Russia, and is the theoretical and creative source and device of Lissitzky's graphic design. Railing's is a study both of the philosophical idea of suprematism and the artistic content of Lissitzky's architectural extension of the suprematist painting of Kazimir Malevich, which he called the Proun, and of its particular role as a sequence of images used to create the story "About 2 Squares."


Approximately 50% of all pregnancies in women with epilepsy (WWE) occur unplanned. This is worrying, given the increased occurrence of obstetrical complications in WWE, including the risk of seizures and their possible consequences for both the mother and the unborn child. Hormonal contraception is usually regarded as highly effective, but it is subject to numerous bidirectional drug interactions with several antiepileptic drugs. These interactions may lead to loss of seizure control or contraceptive failure. Further concerns are loss of bone mineral density and increased seizure activity due to hormonal effects. Many physicians lack sufficient knowledge regarding these issues, and most WWE have never received adequate counseling. Moreover, several studies show that a large proportion of WWE do not take their medicines regularly. This article reviews all of these issues and offers practical recommendations for the management of contraception in WWE.


Africa has traditionally been marginal to the Australian foreign policy agenda, aside from British colonial and Commonwealth ties and later efforts to end minority rule in southern Africa. Yet a resources boom, strong economic growth, increasing democratisation and reformed governance institutions have created new international interests in engaging with Africa and made it difficult for aspiring global players like Australia to ignore the continent's opportunities and challenges. Under Labor (2007–13), Canberra pursued substantial "new engagement" with this "new Africa", enhancing political and diplomatic relations, supporting major Australian commercial interests and quadrupling the Africa aid budget. Following the election of the Abbott Coalition government in September 2013, the article argues that while commercial opportunities and some specific security and humanitarian concerns will keep the Coalition interested in Africa, the enhanced level of engagement with the continent pursued under Labor is unlikely to be sustained.


We propose a new architecture to approximately learn incentive compatible, revenue-maximizing auctions from sampled valuations. Our architecture uses the Sinkhorn algorithm to perform a differentiable bipartite matching which allows the network to learn strategyproof revenue-maximizing mechanisms in settings not learnable by the previous RegretNet architecture. In particular, our architecture is able to learn mechanisms in settings without free disposal where each bidder must be allocated exactly some number of items. In experiments, we show our approach successfully recovers multiple known optimal mechanisms and high-revenue, low-regret mechanisms in larger settings where the optimal mechanism is unknown.


Although stem cell transplant therapy offers considerable promise for deteriorative diseases, the efficacy of its application may be mitigated by endogenous compensatory mechanisms in the host brain. Plastic compensation follows neurodegeneration, begin - ning at its very onset and minimizing early symptom expression. As researchers attempt to correlate symptom remission with the ability of transplanted cells to adopt specific cell phenotypes, they need to be vigilant of the possibility that competing, local compensa tory effects may be altering the outcome. Clearly plastic compensatory mechanisms could confound desired transplant-derived improvements by supplanting the beneficial contri butions of the transplants. As circuit-level adaptations occur, more explicit explorations of their relevance to neuronal transplantation success are needed. Conceptual models of undirected transplanted cells adopting preconceived appropriate roles require revision. The notion that newly transplanted neuronal precursors will incorporate themselves into host circuitry with mutual cooperation across both parties (i.e., transplant and host) with - out some symbiosis-promoting mechanism is naïve. Undirected local circuits could react to newly transplanted additions as intruders. We advocate that appropriate signaling from transplanted cells to the host environment is required to optimize the therapeu tic relevance of transplantation. This review surveys critical signaling mechanisms that might promote symbiotic interdependence between the host and new transplants.


The existence of onshore sediment transport under offshore winds has been identified as a primary mechanism for post-storm dune recovery and maintenance. However, airflow separation, lee-side eddies and secondary flows may play an essential role on the evolution of sand dunes in coastal areas where the dominant wind direction is offshore (lee side coasts). However, neither the numerical characterisation of turbulent zones at the lee side of coastal dunes nor the extent to which secondary airflow patterns are important for foredune sediment budgets have been clearly established.

This study examines the extent and temporal evolution of turbulent zones and their implications for beach-dune interaction at Magilligan, Northern Ireland. Field measurements of wind parameters were collected over a grid covering 65 m cross-shore by 90 m long-shore. Twenty four ultrasonic anemometers (UAs) were deployed in April-May 2010, as part of a larger experiment to capture airflow information under a range of incident wind velocities and offshore directions. UAs were located at 5 m intervals along a central profile over the beach, which allowed detailed examination of the RZ with empirical data, and at 10 m along three more profiles, which allowed observations of spatial patterns. Field results were compared with numerical modelling results from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, running over a surface mesh generated from LiDAR and DGPS surveys.

Field data reveals that turbulent structures visible from 1-min averages are significantly constant over time, and are generated at wind velocities as low as 3 m s-1. At this time scale, there appears to be no relation between significant changes in wind direction (≈ 0±25°) and wind velocity (3 to 16 m s-1) along the central profile. However, complex spatial patterns are evident along profiles containing the tallest dune crests when there are changes in wind direction. These complexities are likely related with undulations in the dune crest, variable roughness, and the possible existence of helical corkscrewing. In general terms, the magnitude of the maximum extent of the RZ is consistent with previous studies conducted in desert dunes and wind tunnel simulations for offshore winds blowing over tall and sharp-crested dunes.


BACKGROUND--Although most treatment for non-small cell lung cancer is palliative, data on the adequacy of symptom control are scanty and there has been little discussion about the appropriate indices. METHODS--Two hundred and eighty nine unselected patients presenting sequentially to six specialists were studied; 242 cases were confirmed histologically and all were managed as non-small cell lung cancer. At presentation and two monthly for one year or until death each of 12 symptoms was graded by a physician at a clinic interview on a four point scale as absent, mild, moderate, or severe. For each symptom a palliative index (median duration of control/median duration of survival) was calculated, where control was defined as an improvement in symptoms of any severity by one grade or more. RESULTS--Sixty four (22%) patients had surgery, 15 (5%) radical and 107 (37%) palliative radiotherapy, and 103 (36%) best supportive care. Analysis showed that most symptoms inexorably worsened with time. The palliation index for haemoptysis was 86%, chest pain 73%, cough 34%, and breathlessness 30%; for systemic symptoms it was 54% for anorexia and 47% for malaise. Palliation was poor in many patients after surgery. Breathlessness was a particular problem in the group having best supportive care. CONCLUSIONS--The frequency of most symptoms in non-small cell lung cancer increases inexorably with time until malaise and anorexia are almost universal. Haemoptysis and chest pain are better palliated than cough and breathlessness. Present treatments fail to give adequate palliation for many patients, and the emphasis in future therapeutic studies should be on the relief of the more severe symptoms.


Incidental durotomy and cerebrospinal fluid leak in spine surgery is a common, well described complication encountered in spine surgery that can have good outcomes with prompt recognition and appropriate repair or management. Additional levels of technical challenge arise when the dura is very thin and fails to hold suture lines in primary repair. We present three lumbar-spine cases with dural opening, intended or unintended, in the setting of thin native dura providing poor suture substrate. In each case, inlay-onlay sandwich graft technique was used to achieve a successful lasting dural closure. Two of these cases initially involved delayed failure of primary suture repair or standard basic dural draft. Re-exploration in these two cases revealed widened suture defects due to fragile native dura, resulting in delayed post-operative CSF leak. We also report a case of inlay-onlay sandwich patch graft for initial dural closure in adult tethered cord release in the setting of thin native dura, in which simple primary closure was not feasible. We illustrate this inlayonlay graft operative technique, which can potentially be used for repairing dural openings involving thin native dura without intrinsic tissue strength to support primary suture repair. We envision that this technique can also be further extrapolated or adapted to other regions of dural repair as needed.


The concept of virtual antenna array (VAA) is a promising approach to apply MIMO concepts in relaying systems. In order to fulfill a given quality-of-service (QoS) requirement while reducing the power consumption of the entire system, efficient resource allocation strategies have to be developed. The optimum power allocation solution corresponds to a convex optimization problem. To achieve an analytical solution, the approximative approach IAPA (improved approximative power allocation) has been proposed by the author. Within this paper this closed-form solution is further analyzed and analytical expressions for the power allocation in case of symmetric relaying networks are derived. Thereby, an approach for analyzing and optimizing different multi-hop scenarios is developed.


We present MedShapeNet, a large collection of anatomical shapes (e.g., bones, organs, vessels) and 3D surgical instrument models. Prior to the deep learning era, the broad application of statistical shape models (SSMs) in medical image analysis is evidence that shapes have been commonly used to describe medical data. Nowadays, however, state-of-the-art (SOTA) deep learning algorithms in medical imaging are predominantly voxel-based. In computer vision, on the contrary, shapes (including, voxel occupancy grids, meshes, point clouds and implicit surface models) are preferred data representations in 3D, as seen from the numerous shape-related publications in premier vision conferences, such as the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), as well as the increasing popularity of ShapeNet (about 51,300 models) and Princeton ModelNet (127,915 models) in computer vision research. MedShapeNet is created as an alternative to these commonly used shape benchmarks to facilitate the translation of data-driven vision algorithms to medical applications, and it extends the opportunities to adapt SOTA vision algorithms to solve critical medical problems. Besides, the majority of the medical shapes in MedShapeNet are modeled directly on the imaging data of real patients, and therefore it complements well existing shape benchmarks comprising of computer-aided design (CAD) models. MedShapeNet currently includes more than 100,000 medical shapes, and provides annotations in the form of paired data. It is therefore also a freely available repository of 3D models for extended reality (virtual reality - VR, augmented reality - AR, mixed reality - MR) and medical 3D printing. This white paper describes in detail the motivations behind MedShapeNet, the shape acquisition procedures, the use cases, as well as the usage of the online shape search portal: https://medshapenet.ikim.nrw/


The aims of this study were to determine overall profile and anthropometry differences within the netball players (PBJ) of the Malaysian Sport School Council (MSSC) 2006 based on player position and team performance. The measurement variables were height, weight, body fat percentage and somatotype. One-hundred and fifty netball players representing 13 states and two federal territories were involved. They were divided into playing position (defence, attack and centre) and team performance (high and low). A body fat percentage was measured by skinfold method based on Jackson, Pollock & Ward (1980) formula and somatotype using the Heath and Carter method (2002). One- way MANOVA test used to anaylize the data. Significant result were reported for height and body weight based on the playing position. The F value showed for height and body weight was F (2,147)=43.42, p<0.05 dan F (2, 147)=15.30, p<0.05 respectively. The overall result showed that MSSM netball players had the same height and body weight with Malaysian netball players. Whereas, body fat percentage for MSSM netball players also lower than Malaysian netball players reported by Soh (2005). The players had endomorphic-mesomorphic bodies (more muscular), as was also studied by Hopper, Hopper & Elliot (1995) for Australian players. From this study, it can be concluded that MSSM 2006 netball players had the same physical profile with elite players in Malaysia and other countries.


An extremely rare case of a thalamic hydatid cyst is presented and the literature is reviewed. A right thalamic hydatid cyst without rim enhancement or perifocal edema was detected by computed tomography and magnetic resonance. This lesion was extirpated successfully with intact contents via contralateral transcallosal approach. To our knowledge, this is the second hydatid cyst of the thalamus, an unusual location, and the first hydatid cyst to be removed completely with intact contents reported in the literature.