Presented in this paper is a method for modeling and simulation of a complete morphing mechanism. The said mechanism has a rigid panel morphing skin that morphs along with a driving mechanism. The said skin is made of segmented panels, inspired by fish scales. Since the gaps between these panels are undesirable, a gapless design is introduced in this paper by using shape-memory polymer (SMP) joints. This paper aims to solve two fundamental problems for the entire system: (1) motion control and (2) force control. The motion control is addressed through the kinematic modeling of two equations including (a) the passive rigid panels and (b) the passive rigid panels to the active mechanism. Force control is achieved through force modeling. This is to develop a relationship of the SMP deformations to the required actuator forces. The experiment is carried out to determine the SMP forces versus deformation, and simulations are conducted to investigate how a complete morphing mechanism behaves. It also reveals that the workspace and singularity of the original mechanism will change after covered by a morphing skin. The developed method sheds light on the design of a complete morphing mechanism.


We summarize the results of a test on the potential of optical dating for the age assessment of Late Quaternary deep-sea sediments. Our approach combines a single aliquot regeneration (SAR) protocol for equivalent dose (De) estimation on fine silt-sized quartz with a time-dependent evaluation of supported and unsupported long-lived radioisotopes within the deposited sediment matrix. For this purpose nine samples from two independently dated deep-sea cores from the Indian Ocean were obtained. The SAR analysis resulted in mean De estimates with precisions ranging from 0.9% to 3.7%. Combination of these data with measured radioisotope concentrations resulted in stratigraphically sensible ages ranging from ca 7 to 120 ka. These ages exhibit good agreement with existing chronologies for the cores based on radiocarbon age determinations and correlation of key volcanic, palaeoecological and isotopic events. Optical dating may provide an important additional dating method for Late Quaternary deepsea sediments. r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


Mental retardation (MR) affects 1–3% of the population. It can be subdivided into syndromic and nonsyndromic forms. The empiric recurrence risk for siblings in families with a mentally retarded child is 8–10%. Gross chromosomal imbalances are implicated in the aetiology in 10–24% of cases and cryptic chromosomal imbalances in about 10%. In families with X-linked MR (XLMR) a disease-causing mutation can be identified in 42%; in families with autosomal recessive MR a causative mutation can be identified only rarely since only five genes have been discovered. The function of many of the proteins involved in MR is related to signal transduction, regulation of transcription, core metabolism, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid) processing, protein synthesis, regulation of cell cycle or ubiquitination. Establishing a molecular diagnosis in mentally retarded individuals can have a major impact on reproductive counselling, prevention of mental handicap and on further understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in human cognitive processes.

Key concepts

Mental retardation can be subdivided into syndromic forms, characterized by cognitive impairment accompanied by dysmorphic features, malformations or neurological abnormalities, and nonsyndromic forms, characterized by MR without additional features.

Gross chromosomal imbalances can be identified in 10–24% of the patients with MR and are more frequently found in patients with syndromic MR.

Pathogenic cryptic copy number changes are implicated in the aetiology of ∼10% of cases of all types of MR; the frequency of cryptic chromosomal imbalances is unknown in nonsyndromic MR.

Culturo-familial MR is believed to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors and is usually nonsyndromic; possible quantitative trait loci that play a role in the predisposition to MR have been identified.

More than 80 genes are known to be involved in nonsyndromic and syndromic XLMR. After exclusion of Fragile X syndrome, mutations in these genes can be identified in 42% of individuals with XLMR.

Only five genes and eight loci are known to be involved in autosomal recessive nonsyndromic MR, and most of the causative genes still have to be discovered.

The functions of proteins involved in cognitive impairment are diverse and are related to signal transduction, regulation of transcription, core metabolism, DNA and RNA processing, protein synthesis, regulation of the cell cycle, ubiquitination and other cellular processes.

Diagnostic workup of patients with MR should include all or some of the following: careful dysmorphological and neurological examination, karyotyping, fragile X analysis, investigations aimed at detection of microdeletions/microduplications and resequencing of mental retardation-causing genes. Mutations in some of the genes can be suspected due to the existence of specific metabolic or endocrine abnormalities.

Empiric recurrence risks for siblings in families with a mentally retarded child are 8–10%. Recurrence risks for MR caused by single gene mutations depend on the mode of inheritance.

A large-scale programme for the prevention of MR based on carrier screening is rarely possible in specific populations except for Fragile X syndrome. Prenatal diagnostic options in most of the at-risk families are not available since the chances of identifying a mutation in a proband with unexplained MR are still low.

Keywords:

mental retardation;
syndromic;
nonsyndromic;
chromosomal aberrations;
monogenic causes


This paper examines the role played by the English language in the relationship Japan conducts with the rest of the world. It argues that the history of insularity which kept the country free from international influence for over 200 years has vestigial significance in the way that Japan now regulates both its relations with and image of the outside world. Such an attitude can be illustrated with reference to the phenomenon of the foreign country theme park (gaikoku mura), and also to the separatist nature of the Japanese tourist industry, both of which attempt to control and adapt concepts of foreign culture. The sociological dynamics at work within such practices can be related to the principle of dochakuka, by which local cultures absorb and adapt global forces, and this principle also provides a useful model for analysis of the way that the English language exists and functions within Japanese society. Both the influx of loanwords and the use of an ornamental English in advertising and the media, can be seen to adhere to a process of "Japanisation", thus effecting a use of the language which does not conform to orthodox interpretation of the implications of English as a Global Language.


This study examines mental health and special education needs and service use at school entry among children involved in maltreatment investigations as infants. Data are from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a national probability study of 5,501 children investigated for maltreatment. The study sample comprised 959 children who were infants at baseline and 5 to 6 years old at the last follow-up. Half had behavioral or cognitive needs at entry to school. About a quarter received outpatient mental health or special education services. Logistic regression showed that compared to children residing with biological parents, adopted and foster children were more likely to receive mental health services, and children adopted or in kinship care were more likely to receive educational services. Increased monitoring of behavioral and cognitive needs of infants reported for maltreatment may facilitate their access to services and ease the transition to school.


Homogeneous enantioselective catalysis is a fundamental technology for the production of fine chemicals. Beside the choice of the active metal, crucial for its effective application is the accurate design of the chiral ligand, which must exhibit a suited and well-defined structure for orienting the stereochemistry of the reaction.
Accordingly, in 2002 Jacobsen indicated as "privileged" a few selected ligands of wide and proven applicability. Over the years, this original class of privileged ligands has been gradually extended to include other effective structures, and in 2008 the Aldrich Chemical Company has reviewed an entire bouquet comprising more than 30 structures.
A strategy from our group is focussed on the attainment of effective chiral ligands by simple and immediate derivatization of common carbohydrates, e.g. D-glucose. This successful approach5 has produced the modular ligands' library naplephos, which combines the essential structural motifs of the "privileged" ligands based on 1,2-trans-cyclohexanediamine with increased flexibility and accessibility. In fact, by proper choice of the R residue, the basic structure naplephos has been already effectively adapted, to two different enantioselective processes, affording in all cases the chiral product in high ee's. In this report we describe its successful application in another relevant reaction, i.e. the asymmetric allylic alkylation (AAA), which demonstrates the versatility of the structure and its aptitude to afford chiral ligands of broad and established applicability.
Also Mo AAA and multiphase catalysis are presented in this thesis.


Background Pain management is a key public health problem costing over £10 billion per annum and involves complex multi-professional perspectives in the provision of care. Pain sufferers however often perceive that management of their pain is not effective. Pain sufferers want to be partners in their pain management and to have confidence in the people managing their pain. To achieve a gold standard there needs to be meaningful interprofessional engagement in pain education. . Currently few Higher Education institutions engage in shared pain education between health professions and time spent on content is considered inadequate. Understanding different professional attitudes to pain management, starting at undergraduate level, may provide a basis from which to support the future education of students and promote a more holistic confident approach. There is a requirement to establish students' attitudes and beliefs in order to focus education resources appropriately. Aim: To show the development and exploration of the validity and reliability of a short questionnaire to assess attitudes and beliefs about pain management in undergraduate professional health programmes. Method: A literature search was undertaken to find attitudes to pain questionnaires for health professionals and seven validated questionnaires were identified. University Ethics approval was obtained. The items from the questionnaires were collated and duplicates removed. These were then reviewed by health professionals for content and face validity using the Delphi method, leaving a total of 30 questions. A total of 537 second year students were invited to participate, 217 completed (40% response rate) from midwifery, nursing, operating department practice, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and paramedic science programmes. A group of 22 students answered the questionnaire twice. Item consistency response was reviewed. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure internal consistency, factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify groupings of items, the Bland and Altman method and inter correlation coefficient (ICC) were used for test re-test reliability. Results: Results for all 30 items were obtained from; 32 midwifery, 55 nursing, 13 occupational therapy, 7 operating department practice; 56 paramedic science and 52 physiotherapy students. Items that represented consistent knowledge were removed, leaving 22/30 items. Factor analysis was performed and items relating with a factor loading threshold of 0.4 and an Eigen value of > 1.0 were kept. Ten items were kept. Factor analysis identified 3 groupings of items which related to attitudes and beliefs about: 'Chronic Pain'; Living and working with chronic pain; Sedation and pain relief. For the three groupings overall Alpha's ranged from 0.719 to 0.610 indicating good internal consistency. The test-retest ICC for each of the items ranged from 0.542 to 0.962 and the Bland and Altman method revealed 95% of the points lay within the limits of agreement. Conclusion This research contributes to knowledge relating to attitudes and beliefs to pain management by students on health profession programmes. It reports on the development and initial validation of a short questionnaire to capture these attitudes and beliefs. This questionnaire can be used to assess students' understanding across multiple health programmes and will contribute to the development of education materials. to enhance education of students as they seek to become to holistic confident practitioners.


This educational session is designed to provide practical perspective on head and neck treatment planning and delivery. The panel will draw from their own and the shared experiences of the other panelists to provide a comprehensive discussions of the issues and decisions encountered daily as part of treating patients with head and neck cancer. Contouring, PTV and Organ at Risk Doses: a Physician's perspective ‐ How a physician approaches the question of a practical balance between doses to target and proximal normal tissues will be explored and implications of contouring approaches will be considered. • Use and implications of hand drawn PTV vs CTV + margin = PTV • Organs at risk • Dose trade‐offs • Planning process: When is it good enough? Is the difference between plans clinically observable or art? What dose levels, that can be affected in planning, produce results that are observed in practice? Treatment Planning ‐Strategies in beam selection, contouring of dose sculpting structures and in setting of constraints to enable for driving IMRT opimizers to achieve the balance sought by the physician for targets treated at multiple concurrent dose levels will be discussed. Process flow and time to create plans will be discussed. • Dose Sculpting Structures • Beam selection (IMRT vs VMAT) • Optimization strategies Patient Positioning Options and Imaging Strategies — The ability of the treatment plan to accurately reflect delivered doses, is linked to the ability to reliably set up and verify the same patient position as in the original CT. A range of typical questions and practical approaches will be discussed. • Patient Positioning Options: Head cup + aquaplast,vac‐loc bag, alpha cradle based,bite block, etc. • Imaging ∘ kV vs Conebeam ∘ Imagetreatment fields or just setup fields? ∘ How frequently should fields be imaged? ∘ Decision tree for use of MV, kV, ConeBeam ∘ Use of blended imaging tools for checking measured vs predicted DRR or ConeBeam? ∘ When it doesn't align, then what? IMRT QA — There area wide array of devices and measurements for QA of IMRT fields. This presentation will address issues encountered in designing practical approaches to demonstrate that the dose planned for a patient can be delivered with acceptable accuracy. The strengths and weaknesses of QA approaches will be discussed. • Measurement devices, strategies and basis for choice • Is gamma analysis alone sufficient? What else is used instead?


Increased greening of northern forests, measured by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), has been presented as evidence that a warmer climate has increased both net primary productivity (NPP) and the carbon sink in boreal forests. However, higher production and greener canopies may accompany changes in carbon allocation that favor foliage or fine roots over less decomposable woody biomass. Furthermore, tree core data throughout mid‐ and northern latitudes have revealed a divergence problem (DP), a weakening in tree ring responses to warming over the past half century that is receiving increasing attention, but remains poorly understood. Often, the same sites exhibit trend inconsistency phenomenon (TIP), namely positive, or no trends in growing season NDVI where negative trends in tree ring indexes are observed. Here we studied growth of two Norway spruce (Picea abies) stands in western Russia that exhibited both the DP and TIP but were subject to soil acidification and calcium depletion of differing timing and severity. Our results link the decline in radial growth starting in 1980 to a shift in carbon allocation from wood to roots driven by a combination of two factors: (a) soil acidification that depleted calcium and impaired root function and (b) earlier onset of the growing season that further taxed the root system. The latter change in phenology appears to act as a trigger at both sites to push trees into nutrient limitation as the demand for Ca increased with the longer growing season, thereby causing the shift in carbon allocation.


Alginate hydrogel made from alginate and crosslinking divalent ions is a natural biomaterial that is biocompatible, has low toxicity, is relatively cheap and has mild gelation chemistry. It is a porous material that allows diffusion of small molecules. Alginate hydrogel is a polymeric network that contains 95-99% water and it does in many ways resemble the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) that surrounds cells in the body. It is also hydrophilic, which reduces friction in body fluids and minimizes protein adsorption and it is easily stored and sterilized. Alginate is produced by both algae and bacteria, and it is initially synthesized as mannuronan (M) with 100% M-residues. Guluronic acid residues (G) are introduced in a post-polymerization step by enzymes called mannuronan C-5 epimerases that catalyze conversion of M into G without breaking the glycosidic bond. Seven different mannuronan C-5 epimerases have been sequenced, cloned and produced recombinantly, and these enzymes introduce MG-blocks, G- blocks or both in the alginate chains. With the use of these mannuronan C-5 epimerases it is now possible to engineer alginate with desired and known structure. It is also possible to covalently modify alginates with coupling of cell specific adhesion molecules to the carboxylic group in the monomers. An example is the RGD peptide (arginine-glycine-aspartic acid) that is commonly found in collagen and fibronectin in the ECM. The RGD peptide is the smallest sequence that integrin receptors can recognize and bind to. Central nervous system (CNS) damage is still one of the major causes of both death and disability, despite intense research efforts to achieve neurogenesis and restore functional synaptic connection of CNS neurons. None of he current therapy strategies promote regeneration or regrowth of neural cells or axons. In vitro and in vivo studies has shown that CNS axons can regenerate when located in a permissive environment and it is known that on-going neurogenesis occurs in certain areas of the adult brain, such as the olfactory bulb. Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) are found in the olfactory mucosa and olfactory bulb and secrete neurotrophins, provide necessary ECM molecules and substrates for axon elongation and myelination. They do not activate and induce inhibitory molecules or hypertrophy in astrocytes, and are therefore believed to be a promising candidate for cell-mediated repair of the CNS. The major aims of this study was to investigate whether encapsulation of OECs in different types of alginate matrices would improve cell viability over time and induce change of cell morphology, as a future goal is to transplant OECs into the CNS. Viability of OECs up to 14 days in 1.8% UP-LVG capsules have been reported by Kristin Karstensen (Karstensen, 2010), and similar results were achieved in an experiment in this project. Indications of cell concentration dependency on viability were observed in this experiment, with higher viability in capsules with low cell concentration (1.5 mil cells/mL alginate, 3.0 and 5.0 mil/mL). It was decided to conduct an encapsulation of high and low OEC concentration (4.0 mil/mL and 1.0 mil/mL) in 1.0% UP-LVG Ca2+/Ba2+ alginate, with the aim of examining whether reduced alginate concentration would improve cell viability. The results were promising, with a live cell percentage of 50% in the low cell concentration batch after 51 days. The high cell concentration batch was discarded after 22 days with estimated 30% live cells. This result strengthened the hypothesis that lower cell concentration enhanced cell viability, and confirmed that lower alginate concentration improved cell viability notably. These indications were supported by the results of a second encapsulation with similar settings. High and low concentrations (1.5 mil/mL and 5.0 mil/mL) of OECs were encapsulated in 1.0% epimerized Ca2+ alginate with and without 0.2 % RGD peptide graft. The experiment did not show an effect of the RGD peptide on cell viability or morphology. The viability of the cells was extended with one week and viable cells could be observed for 22 days, but in this experiment increased viability as a result of lower cell concentration was less pronounced. This experiment was therefore inconclusive in terms of improved viability connected to cell concentration, but indicated that a lower alginate concentration had a beneficial impact on cell viability. Star shaped channels were observed inside all capsules in this experiment, and a large fraction of dead cells were found to be located inside these channels. This experiment was later repeated with another source of epimerized alginate grafted with ≈ 0.4% RGD peptide with comparable results in terms of cell viability and morphology. Two encapsulations of low cell concentration in 1.0% UP-LVG Ca2+/Ba2+ alginate mixed with three different concentrations of gelatin (0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0%) were carried out, with the aim of observing capsule stability and cell viability. In first experiment the capsule stability appeared to be inversely proportional with gelatin concentration. This was not confirmed when the experiment was repeated, as the batch with the middle gelatin concentration was perceived as most stable. The cell viability was overall high for both encapsulations. Finally, four batches of 1.5 mil/mL OECs were encapsulated in 0.9% UP-LVG Ca2+/Ba2+ alginate gel with one type of ECM molecule mixed with the alginate per batch to yield a concentration of 1.0 mg/mL. Sulphated MG alginate was mixed with 0.9% UP-LVG Ca2+/Ba2+ alginate to a final concentration of 1.0 mg/mL, and included in the experiment. The experiment was terminated at day 28, with varying cell viabilities in the different batches. Common for all was overall lower cell viability compared with the viability observed for cells with similar concentration encapsulated in pure 1.0% UP-LVG, but the capsules proved to be relatively stable. In conclusion, reducing the alginate concentration from 1.8% to 1.0% had notable positive effect on cell viability. High cell concentration in the alginate capsules also proved to have a negative impact on cell viability, but this effect was most evident in the UP-LVG alginate gels. The negative effect on cell viability related to high cell concentration was not as profound in the epimerized alginate gels. RGD peptide grafted onto alginate did not show any unambiguous effect on cell viability and no effect on cell morphology, regardless of 0.2 % peptide graft or ≈ 0.4% peptide graft. The gelatin-1.0% UP-LVG alginate mixes also failed to induce morphology change in the OECs, and neither did any of the ECM molecule-1.0% UP-LVG alginate mixes or the sulphated alginate-1.0% UP-LVG alginate mix. The cells encapsulated in gelatin-alginate mix capsules displayed an overall high viability, while the cells encapsulated in ECM molecule- alginate mix and sulphated alginate- alginate mix displayed lower viability than cells encapsulated in pure UP-LVG alginate. All capsule varieties displayed generally good stability in culture, with the exception of the gelatin-alginate mix capsules that progressively dissolved in culture.


Lee D. Baker explores what racial categories mean to the American public and how these meanings are reinforced by anthropology, popular culture, and the law. Focusing on the period between two landmark Supreme Court decisions--Plessy v. Ferguson (the so-called "separate but equal" doctrine established in 1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (the public school desegregation decision of 1954)--Baker shows how racial categories change over time. Baker paints a vivid picture of the relationships between specific African American and white scholars, who orchestrated a paradigm shift within the social sciences from ideas based on Social Darwinism to those based on cultural relativism. He demonstrates that the greatest impact on the way the law codifies racial differences has been made by organizations such as the NAACP, which skillfully appropriated the new social science to exploit the politics of the Cold War.


Abstract Objective: This case-series study aimed to determine if there were observable changes in sensory processing for postural control in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) following physical therapy using hippotherapy (HPOT), or changes in balance and functional gait. Design: This pre-test non-randomized design study, with follow-up assessment at 6 weeks, included two females and one male (age range 37–60 years) with diagnoses of relapse-remitting or progressive MS. The intervention consisted of twelve 40-min physical therapy sessions which included HPOT twice a week for 6 weeks. Sensory organization and balance were assessed by the Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and Berg Balance Scale (BBS). Gait was assessed using the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA). Results: Following the intervention period, all three participants showed improvements in SOT (range 1–8 points), BBS (range 2–6 points), and FGA (average 4 points) scores. These improvements were maintained or continued to improve at follow-up assessment. Two of the three participants no longer over-relied on vision and/or somatosensory information as the primary sensory input for postural control, suggesting improved use of sensory information for balance. Conclusion: The results indicate that HPOT may be a beneficial physical therapy treatment strategy to improve balance, functional gait, and enhance how some individuals with MS process sensory cues for postural control. Randomized clinical trials will be necessary to validate results of this study.


Sedation helps patients to tolerate uncomfortable gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures by relieving anxiety and pain. It also decreases a patient's risk of physical injury during gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures while providing the endoscopist with a good environment for an optimum examination. Not all sedation in gastrointestinal endoscopy is managed by an anesthesiologist. Using sedation has increases risk of cardiopulmonary complications. Therefore, sedation is an important part in gastrointestinal endoscopy to learn. This review will focus on basic pharmacology of sedatives and analgesic, common used drugs in sedation (Propofol, Midazolam, Fentanyl), and their use in gastrointestinal endoscopy.


In a consumer-driven health care model, consumers, armed with information, would select providers based on quality and cost, thus increasing competition. This synthesis examines the availability of quality information and the evidence of how consumers use such information to choose a provider. Key findings include: information is publicly available from multiple sources regarding hospitals, but not individual doctors. Hospital information is predominantly made available online; but this limits awareness and access. Awareness is low overall, but highest among well-educated, healthy people. Even when consumers are aware of the data available, they rarely use it because they do not find it relevant: they do not foresee needing a hospital soon; are happy with their current provider; or did not find information pertinent to their specific health condition or hospital. While there is some evidence that hospitals that do poorly on public quality scorecards lose market share, there is better evidence that the providers themselves react to the quality scores by addressing care problems. Studies consistently show that consumers value health care quality and want information, but instead they rely on input from friends, family and their personal physicians about the quality of providers.


"Simon & Schuster's Guide to Gems and Precious Stones" provides both the connoisseur and the casual collector with a compact, easy-to-use volume describing more than 100 rare varieties of minerals whose beauty and mystery have possessed our imaginations from time immemorial. More than 450 brilliant photographs accompany profiles of each gem, covering such aspects as appearance, physical properties -- density, hardness, refraction -- occurrence, and how to judge quality and value. Additional sections describe the process of cutting gemstones and the techniques professional gemologists use to evaluate a stone's weight and optical properties. Detailed and comprehensive, this book is essential for anyone interested in the study of gems and precious stones.


A model is suggested to predict heave of expansive shale formation based on soil suction change. The model satisfactorily described the field volume change where the anticipated heave is compared with direct measurement obtained from an instrumented field station. The prediction is further simplified by introducing a model that only uses the moisture content variation to determine the amount of heave. Close agreement is observed between measured and model-predicted shale behavior. Application of this simplified model eliminates the difficulty of recovering an undisturbed specimen of shale which is highly weathered and friable as well as laminated.


Over the past decade, Prensky's distinctions between "digital immigrants" and "digital natives" have been oft-referenced. Much has been written about digital native students as a part of the Net generation or as Millennials. However, little work fully considers the impact of digital immigrant discourse within the fields of adult learning and continuing education. It is promising that rather than being digitally challenged immigrants for whom new learning technologies are completely foreign, adults of different ages can bring valuable knowledge and skills to e-learning environments that enable them to achieve academic success. These are important findings, since e-learning is increasingly recognized as an important part of learning across the life-course. With the growing body of research evidence countering common digital native and immigrant distinctions and critiquing an underlying technological determinism informing such arguments, how might practitioners respond to these discourses in their own educational contexts? With a focus on digital immigrants, the purpose of this article is to provide critical consideration of current research evidence on digital native/immigrant distinctions that impact educators and learners within the field of continuing education.


The goal behind this research is to highlight on structural system using composite steel plate shear wall, this approach is widely used in many countries, due to its desired features. Composite steel plate shear wall are often considered essential in design of building to resist seismic action. This paper discuss the effect of concrete strength on behavior of CSPW, for this objective one story one bay model with different compressive strength (25, 28 , 45, 50, 55, 65)MPa ,this model formed by finite element code which is advanced by university of Amirkabir. The accuracy of the representation of the model by numerical analysis, numerical result contrast with valid experiment which explain suitable agreement. Result show increasing the compressive strength would advance the cycle behavior. By contrast the result in elastic region, it was seen initial stiffness is not enhance by varying the compressive strength.


Cyber-Physical Power Systems consist of significant cyber components that mange the physical electric power infrastructure under distributed control of power electronics devices. This represents a departure from more centralized SCADA-type control. NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection standards emphasize the need to protect the power infrastructure from both cyber and physical attacks. Complex interactions between the cyber and physical worlds introduce new vulnerabilities that go beyond those found in the purely computer world. In this paper, some of these new vulnerabilities are described and a direction is suggested to determine and mitigate these vulnerabilities.


Umbilical cord (UC) is the main connection between mother and the growing fetus. It acts as the career of nutrients helps in exchange of gases etc. The length of the UC is approximately 20 inches. UC is of main interest for researchers in the recent times. The umbilical cord blood (UCB) has been fruitful source of Stem Cells. UCB helps in the reformation of different blood components. The umbilical cord provides the growing embryo with oxygen, nutrient-rich blood from the placenta. In the same manner, the fetal heart pumps deoxygenated, nutrient-depleted blood through the umbilical arteries back to the placenta.


We report a systematic investigation on nonlinear optical properties of CdSe nanoparticles that are smaller as well as larger than the Bohr radius. Multiphoton absorption and nonlinear refraction properties of CdSe nanoparticles observed with 800nm wavelength and 110femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser are presented. These nonlinear optical studies were undertaken by performing open and closed aperture Z-scan measurements. The four different sizes of CdSe nanoparticles investigated are 5nm, 10nm, 25nm and 400nm. Both the quantum dots 5nm, 10nm sizes (taking the literature value of 10.6nm as the Bohr exciton diameter) show four photon absorption (4PA), while the 25nm and 400nm show the three photon absorption (3PA) properties. All four sizes of CdSe nanoparticles show the positive nonlinear refraction (n2).


Dynamic registration uncertainty of a wavefront-guided correction with respect to underlying wavefront error (WFE) inevitably decreases retinal image quality. A partial correction may improve average retinal image quality and visual acuity in the presence of registration uncertainties. The purpose of this paper is to (a) develop an algorithm to optimize wavefront-guided correction that improves visual acuity given registration uncertainty and (b) test the hypothesis that these corrections provide improved visual performance in the presence of these uncertainties as compared to a full-magnitude correction or a correction by Guirao, Cox, and Williams (2002). A stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm was used to optimize the partial-magnitude correction for three keratoconic eyes based on measured scleral contact lens movement. Given its high correlation with logMAR acuity, the retinal image quality metric log visual Strehl was used as a predictor of visual acuity. Predicted values of visual acuity with the optimized corrections were validated by regressing measured acuity loss against predicted loss. Measured loss was obtained from normal subjects viewing acuity charts that were degraded by the residual aberrations generated by the movement of the full-magnitude correction, the correction by Guirao, and optimized SPGD correction. Partial-magnitude corrections optimized with an SPGD algorithm provide at least one line improvement of average visual acuity over the full magnitude and the correction by Guirao given the registration uncertainty. This study demonstrates that it is possible to improve the average visual acuity by optimizing wavefront-guided correction in the presence of registration uncertainty.


This issue of "Critical Care Clinics", guest edited by Paul Wischmeyer, MD features topics such as: Nutrition Guidelines In Critical Care - Consistency or Confusion; Evolutionary Role of Nutrition and Metabolic Support in Critical Illness; Pre-operative Surgical Nutrition Programs; Fish Oil in Critical Illness - Mechanisms and Clinical Application; Glutamine in Critical Illness - The Time Has Come, The Time Is Now; Immunosupression and Infection After Major Surgery - A Nutritional Deficiency; and, Enteral Nutrition in Critical Care - Why Do We Starve Our Patients.


To embark on an anti-vectorial fight against mechanical vectors of animal trypanosomosis, investigations were undertaken in order to determine the abundance, species diversity and daily activity of tabanids in a cattle ranch in Gabon. The nzi and vavoua traps were used to catch tabanids in three divisions of this ranch. In this study, 616 tabanids were captured: 349 (56.66%) in Division 1, 226 (36.69%) in Division 2 and 41 (6.66%) in Division 3. In the first Division, T. taeniola was the most abundant species with an Apparent Density (ADT) of 2.2, followed by H. pluvialis (ADT = 1.05). In the second Division, H. pluvialis was most abundant with ADT of 1.6, followed by T. taeniola (ADT = 0.38). In the last Division, the most abundant species was H. pluvialis (ADT = 0.15). Comparing the relative abundance of catches with sites (Divisions), we realized that there was no statistically significant difference in catches with trapping sites. It was noticed that Division 3 recorded the highest diversity index values. We realized that the nzi trap recorded higher tabanid catches than the vavoua trap. The diurnal activity rhythm of the most frequent species encountered slightly differed with prospection sites.


Abstract Borehole samples of carbonatites and phlogopite-pyroxenites from the Angico dos Dias (AdD) intrusive alkaline complex, State of Bahia, Brazil, have been investigated in terms of mineralogy, geochemistry and C-O-Sr-Nd isotopes. The AdD complex, of Early Proterozoic age (2 Ga), intrudes the northern side of the Sao Francisco Craton. Mineralogy and petrography indicate that the studied rocks only partially preserved their magmatic textural features owing to their metamorphic re-equilibration (greenschist facies). The REE contents and LREE/HREE ratios of the AdD carbonatites are very high (mean 3979 ± 718 ppm and La/Yb = 215 ± 23, respectively), as for most Precambrian magmatic carbonatites. The AdD carbonatites are also enriched in 18O (δ18O = 11.9 to 15.8‰), possibly due to secondary processes (e.g. metamorphism, alteration) whereas carbon isotopes are in the range of 'primary carbonatites' (δ13C = -5.7 to -7.1‰). Most of the initial 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd values of the studied carbonatites were not appreciably modified by secondary processes. Their εtSr and εtNd values (20.0 to 25 and 0.7 to -4.5, respectively) indicate enriched mantle sources very different from the 'depleted' ones related to many Precambrian carbonatites from North America (0.6-2.6 Ga) and Africa (0.5-2.0 Ga). The Early Proterozoic Sr-Nd isotopic signatures of the AdD carbonatites are similar to those of the Early Cretaceous carbonatites from the Paraná basin. The latter carbonatites show a great isotopic variability ranging from Bulk Earth to the related potassic magmatism from Asuncion-Sapucai graben in the Eastern Paraguay (K-ASU magmatism: εtSr = 35 to 50 and εtNd = -12 to -20). The very similar isotopic compositions of Precambrian and post-Palaeozoic carbonatites worldwide indicate that the subcontinental mantle variability lasted for long periods of time and indicate a large-scale mantle heterogeneity.


An important prerequisite to sustainable soil management is a good understanding of soil morphological, physical and chemical characteristics. Until now, very limited data are available on the characteristics of mountain soils in the central part of Leyte Island. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the morpho-physical and chemical characteristics of mountain soils derived from andesite and shale in central Leyte, and to evaluate the effects of parent material and topographic position on the properties of the soils. Eight soil profiles representing the dominant parent materials and topographic positions in the Abuyog-Mahaplag-Baybay portion of the central mountain range of the island were examined. Results revealed that the soils varied in their morphological, physical and chemical characteristics which to some extent reflect the nature of their parent material and the slope positions where they were formed. Soils derived from shale (Soil profiles 1, 2, 3 and 6) developed into young (Fluventric Eutropepts) and well-developed (Typic Hapludalfs) soils with generally moderate nutrient status. Soils derived from andesite (Soil profiles 4, 5, 7 and 8) developed into young (Typic Dystropepts) and well-developed (Typic Kandiudults) soils with generally low nutrient status. Regardless of parent material, soils on summit slope position tended to be better developed than soils on footslope and shoulder slope positions. The study showed that the influence of parent material on soil development was modified by the topographic position.


Profits in medicine are typically justified by the notion of a 'social contract' between sci- ence and society: pharmaceutical and biotech companies are permitted to charge high fees, because revenues are reinvested into research and these investments result in new drugs and the improved health of citizens. A central premise of this model is, however, that the development of novel medicines is financially sustainable: new drugs must be sold in high quantities and be subsidized by welfare state arrangements, so that development costs can be transformed into surplus and future discovery. In the emerging field of stem cell medicine, though, it is still uncertain whether these aims can be achieved. In this article I will discuss this situation with a particular emphasis on neurodegenerative disease research. Although the development of marketable stem cell treatments for neurodegenerative and other neurological diseases is now within reach, it is an open question to what extent these emerging therapeutic strategies can be translated into affordable and widely accessible routine applications. The successful marketing of these treatments and, in particular, the facilitation of widespread and equitable access by patients are affected by various challenges. In this article, three central factors that hinder the translation of the therapeutic potential of stem cells into routine, reimbursable healthcare practice will be discussed: unresolved scientific challenges, the risk of unsustainable development costs and the problem of integrating expensive stem cell treatments into national healthcare portfolios.


ABSTRACT Recent analyses of wide-scale writing assessment outcomes indicate that English writing achievement for fourth- and fifth-grade emerging bilingual learners continues to be an area of great concern. Utilizing the theory of holistic bilingualism and a mixed methods design, this study examines the writing skills of 44 emerging bilingual fourth and fifth graders. The purpose of this study was to compare and correlate various writing outcomes as measured by the state's high-stakes writing assessment, English language proficiency writing assessment, and an informal biliterate writing rubric. Results indicate that the majority of students are not acquiring proficiency in English writing as measured by English-only assessments. When students' Spanish and English outcomes are considered holistically, students' outcomes in Spanish surpassed English for the majority. Findings indicate the potential for a writing assessment protocol that is intentionally biliterate and that displays Spanish and English together as a part of the assessment process.


Many algorithms for scheduling DAGs on multiprocessors have been proposed, but there has been little work done to determine their effectiveness. Since multiprocessor scheduling is an NP-hard problem, no exact tractable algorithm exists, and no baseline is available from which to compare the resulting schedules. Furthermore, performance guarantees have been found for only a few simple DAGs. This paper is an attempt to quantify the differences in a few of the heuristics. New classification criteria are defined for the DAGs, and the differences between the heuristics are noted for various criteria. The comparison is made between a graph based method, and two critical path methods. The empirical performance of the three heuristics is compared when they are applied to the randomly generated DAGs.


Essentially all empirical questions that are addressed with sample data require estimates of sampling variance. The econometrics and statistics literatures show that these estimates depend critically on the design of the sample. The sample for the U.S. Current Population Survey (CPS), which serves as the basis for official poverty, unemployment, and earnings estimates, results from a stratified and clustered design. Unfortunately, analysts are frequently unable to estimate sampling variance for many CPS statistics because the variables marking the strata and clusters are censored from the public-use data files. To compensate for this, the Bureau of Census provides a method to approximate the sampling variance for several, specific point estimates, but no general method exists for estimates that differ from these cases. Similarly there are no corrections at all for regression estimates. This paper proposes a general approximation method that creates synthetic design variables for the estimation of sampling variance. The results from this method compare well with officially reported standard errors. This methodology allows the analyst to estimate sampling variance for a significantly wider class of estimates than previously possible, and therefore increases the usefulness of research resulting from the CPS data files.


Background and Aim: Pityriasis versicolor is a fungal disease with causative agent Malassezia species which is an opportunistic and lipophilic yeast .With regard to liphophilic nature of the yeast, this study was carried out for evaluation of relationship between pityriasis versicolor and triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Materials and Methods: This cross – sectional study was performed on 1500 subjects ranging from 10 to 50 years old in Isfahan province. Of total subjects, 105 had pityriasis versicolor. Disease confirmation was based on direct examination, inoculation and culture on Dixon media. Measurement of total cholesterol and triglyceride of patients and control groups in fasting manner was done by Auto analyzer RA 1000. Data of patients including age, education level and job was gathered by questionnaire and analysis of results was done by t student, chi square and Pearson correlation tests. Results: Prevalence of infection was 7% in the test group. Maximum frequent rates of infection was %3.13 in age group 20- 30 years and minimum in age group 30-40 years(% 0.87). The highest rate of total cholesterol levels was seen in age group 40-50 years (mean 215 mg / dL ) and the lowest was in age group 10-20 years(mean 205 mg / dL ). Conclusion: Total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in patients were higher than the control group but the difference was not significant(P<0.05). No correlation was seen between pityriasis versicolor and increase in the total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in patients and control groups.


Surveillance is an important governance technique of modern societies and is linked to particular governmental rationalities. This article examines the Swedish policy on camera surveillance, using the analytical framework of governmentality , the art of government, in advanced liberal societies as its theoretical framework. The focus is on three features that charactefise current developments in the Swedish policy. These are labelled situational prevention, generalisation of distrust and the significance of the informed citizen. The study shows how prevention, i.e. situational prevention, was successfully introduced as a main rationale for monitoring only after the technology had been in place for some years. Monitoring as a form of general situational prevention, the congruent generalised distrust that affects the public and the Swedish requirement to inform citizens about cameras are viewed as elements of a governmental rationality based on the notion of the autonomous, free and self-responsible subject. Accordingly, the popular idea that camera surveillance is an indicator of an expanding security state must be modified.


This paper reports on research which was conducted to explore how university students and those who had graduated and been subsequently employed, made career decisions. Specifically, through interviews and focus group discussions with 22 university students and 28 graduates from Australian undergraduate and postgraduate courses in a variety of disciplines, four questions were explored: Do university students know their own desired post-course employment, or in other words, what they want to be after graduation; if so, at what point in their student experience do they come to this decision; what elements come into play in university student career decision-making; and to what extent do students and graduates feel that their career decision-making is supported by their universities? Research was grounded in, and results aligned with, the 'chaos theory of careers.' The main findings were that at the enrolment-stage of university and during their studies, most students were pessimistic about their career outcomes and felt largely unsupported in identifying suitable career goals. However, the outcomes after graduation were unexpectedly positive in that, by this point most had identified career goals and were in careers they had desired. Most of the research participants who had been in their careers for an extended length of time were casual academics who were dissatisfied with their career progression and status. Although they had identified academic career goals and secured employment in their chosen industry, they were disappointed by continuous short-term contracts and what they perceived as poor career supports extended by their university employers. A 'university student and graduate career-knowledge framework' was derived. The key takeaway from this research was a set of recommendations for universities regarding how to better support students to make career choices.


This article reports a clinical case with a 4-years follow-up in which sub epithelial connective tissue graft harvested by two different technique was used to recuperate the aesthetic conditions of the two-previous implanted anterior areas which presented soft tissue fenestration and osseous dehiscence promoted by dental extraction. The highly compromised areas were treated using sub epithelial connective tissue grafts which due the necessity of the quantity and quality were harvested by using two different surgical techniques: dental wedge and free gingival graft. After 4-years of follow-up the goal of treatment was fully reached. The gingival soft tissue around perimplantar area is stable and seems to be normal. The two techniques applied to harvest sub epithelial connective tissue in this case were essential to obtain a large amount of tissue to be grafted. Quality and quantity of the sub epithelial graft are critical conditions to maintain stability during the early phase of healing process, allowing and improving initial revascularization.


Studies grounded in regime theory have examined the effectiveness of "minilateral" climate change forums that have emerged outside of the UN climate process. However, there are no detailed studies of the legitimacy of these forums or of the impacts of their legitimacy on effectiveness and governance potential. Adopting the lens of legitimacy, we analyze the reasons for the formation of minilateral climate change forums and their recent role in global climate governance. We use Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen and Vihma's analytical framework for international institutions to examine three minilateral climate forums: the Asia-Pacific Partnership, the Major Economies Meetings, and the G8 climate process. These forums have significant deficits in their source-based, process-based, and outcome-based legitimacy, particularly when compared to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. If assessed purely on grounds of effectiveness, the minilateral forums might be easily dismissed as peripheral to the UN climate process. However, they play important roles by providing sites for powerful countries to shape the assumptions and expectations of global climate governance. Thus, the observed institutional fragmentation allows key states to use minilateral forums to shape the architecture of global climate governance.


Ultrafast time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy following one- and two-photon excitations of ZnO powder is used to gain unprecedented insight into the surprisingly high external quantum efficiency of its "green" defect emission band. The role of exciton diffusion, the effects of reabsorption, and the spatial distributions of radiative and nonradiative traps are comparatively elucidated for the ultraviolet excitonic and "green" defect emission bands in both unannealed nanometer-sized ZnO powders and annealed micrometersized ZnO:Zn powders. We find that the primary mechanism limiting quantum efficiency is surface recombination because of the high density of nonradiative surface traps in these powders. It is found that unannealed ZnO has a high density of bulk nonradiative traps as well, but the annealing process reduces the density of these bulk traps while simultaneously creating a high density of green-emitting defects near the particle surface. The data are discussed in the context of a simple rate equation model that accounts for the quantum efficiencies of both emission bands. The results indicate how defect engineering could improve the efficiency of ultraviolet-excited ZnO:Zn-based white light phosphors.


Employing artificially structured metamaterials provides a means of circumventing the limits of conventional optical materials. Here, we use transformation optics (TO) combined with nanolithography to produce a planar Luneburg lens with a flat focal surface that operates at telecommunication wavelengths. Whereas previous infrared TO devices have been transformations of free-space, here we implement a transformation of an existing optical element to create a new device with the same optical characteristics but a user-defined geometry.


Aims Clear-cutting is a common forest management practice, especially in subtropical China. However, the potential ecological consequences of clear-cutting remain unclear. In particular, the effect of clear-cutting on soil processes, such as the carbon cycle, has not been quantified in subtropical forests. Here, we investigated the response of soil respiration ( rs) to clear-cutting during a 12-month period in a subtropical forest in eastern China. Methods We randomly selected four clear-cut (CC) plots and four corresponding undisturbed forest ( uF) plots. measurements of rs were made at monthly time points and were combined with continuous climatic measurements in both CC and uF. Daily rs was estimated by interpolating data with an exponential model dependent on soil temperature. Daily rs was cumulated to annual rs estimates. Important Findings In the first year after clear-cutting, annual estimates of rs in CC (508 ± 23 g C m −2 yr −1 ) showed no significant difference to uF plots (480 ± 12 g C m −2 yr −1 ). During the summer, soil temperatures were usually higher, whereas the soil volumetric water content was lower in CC than in uF plots. The long-term effects of clear-cutting on rs are not significant, although there might be effects during the first several months after clear-cutting. Compared with previous work, this pattern was more pronounced in our subtropical forest than in the temperate and boreal forests that have been studied by others. With aboveground residuals off-site after clear-cutting, our results indicate that the stimulation of increasing root debris, as well as environmental changes, will not lead to a significant increase in rs. In addition, long-term rs will not show a significant decrease from the termination of root respiration, and this observation might be because of the influence of fast-growing vegetation after clear-cutting in situ.


Memory binds our mental life together. We are who we are in large part because of what we learn and remember. But how does the brain create memories? Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel intertwines the intellectual history of the powerful new science of the mind-a combination of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and molecular biology-with his own personal quest to understand memory. A deft mixture of memoir and history, modern biology and behavior, In Search of Memory brings readers from Kandel's childhood in Nazi-occupied Vienna to the forefront of one of the great scientific endeavors of the twentieth century: the search for the biological basis of memory.


Internet Gaming (IG) has become a subject of interest to the counseling profession, to the extent that addiction to IG is included as an item worthy of further consideration in the DSM-5. IG has been the subject of considerable research, resulting in two opposing views of the negative effects versus the positive effects of playing games online. One viewpoint is that involvement in IG featuring violent content increases hostility levels in the gamers. Other researchers hold that IG can be a valuable educational tool, and that gamers benefit by socializing with other gamers. This review of literature will summarize the findings of researchers who have examined the effects of violent IG on levels of aggression in adolescent male gamers, and report on current and proposed assessments and treatment interventions.


Objective Loss of surface maturation and cytonuclear atypia have been regarded as the pathological 'gold standard' for the diagnosis of oesophageal squamous cell intraepithelial neoplasia. However, there has been no satisfactory endomicroscopic method similar to this pathological approach to detect surface maturation and screen for oesophageal squamous cell intraepithelial neoplasia. The aim of this study was to apply a 3-dimensional (3D) confocal endomicroscopic imaging technique to investigate the surface maturation of the oesophageal epithelium and develop new 2-dimensional confocal endomicroscopic criteria based on surface maturation. Design In the 3D reconstruction phase, intrapapillary capillary loops were reconstructed to demonstrate the stereo configuration of the oesophageal epithelium, and a novel surface maturation scoring (SMS) method for plane confocal images was developed based on the interpretation of the 3D microstructure. In the SMS diagnostic phase, 1214 patients were screened and confocal images from 64 non-invasive oesophageal lesions were independently evaluated using SMS and previous methods. Results We successfully obtained and interpreted 3D confocal images of the human oesophageal epithelium for the first time. The sensitivity (81.0%, 95% CI 58.1% to 94.6%) and specificity (90.7%, 95% CI 77.9% to 97.4%) of the newly established SMS were superior to previous confocal approaches in distinguishing squamous intraepithelial neoplasia from other non-invasive lesions. Conclusions 3D confocal endomicroscopic imaging provides valuable insight into the stereo configuration of the human oesophageal epithelium. SMS is a novel and promising diagnostic method to distinguish neoplasia during ongoing endoscopy.


This E-Book focuses on conducted and radiated emission noise generated by different power converters such as Switch Mode power Supplies and DC-AC Inverters. EMI filter design and different approaches to predict common mode and differential mode noise are illustrated in detail. Common mode and surge voltage issues in AC machines have also been addressed and discussed in this E-book. The E-book is intended for helping engineers and students to analyze EMI problems in electrical and electronic systems.


Seyfried, Aaron. M.S.Egr., Department of Electrical Engineering, Wright State University, 2013. Stability of a Fuzzy Logic Based Piecewise Linear Hybrid System. Complex cyber-physical systems are difficult to model and control. However, humans are capable of accomplishing these tasks by constantly adapting and redefining the rules to control these complex systems. Fuzzy logic provides a means of encoding human inference into a control methodology. However, the fuzzy logic controllers are nonlinear and their stability is difficult to verify. Therefore, the widespread usefulness of fuzzy logic controllers is limited. It has been proven that fuzzy logic controllers can be implemented as piecewise linear switched controllers. It has also been shown that the peicewise linear system can be implemented as a hybrid system. Piecewise linear hybrid system stability can be verified by extending the Lyapunov proof for one linear system to multiple decreasing Lyapunov functions. The objective of this thesis is to implement fuzzy logic control systems as a piecewise linear hybrid system and examine their stability. A proportional fuzzy logic controller with constant derivative gain is implemented as a piecewise linear hybrid system using Matlab Simulink Stateflow. Stability of the system is examined by obtaining the Lyapunov function of each subsystem and stitching them according to the fuzzy rules. It is shown that the stitching of Lyapunov functions must successively decrease for the system to be stable. Further implications of robustness are examined by varying the fuzzy logic rules and observing the effect on the corresponding stitched Lyapunov functions.


The joint Australian governments' coronavirus contact tracing app, marketed as 'COVIDSafe', was released on 26 April 2020 for public download by the federal government, together with an emergency Determination under the Biosecurity Act to govern its operation, a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) with the Health Department's response to that PIA, and (not least) the App itself and its privacy policy.

It is a package intended to create sufficient public confidence to result in downloads of the app by a sufficient percentage of the Australian mobile-phone-owning population, for it to have a significant effect on the tracing of persons infected with the COVID19 virus. In the first few days since its launch nearly 3 million Australian's have downloaded the app.

When Parliament resumes, probably on May 12, it is expected that the government will introduce legislation to replace the non-disallowable Determination. This article analyses the steps that Australian governments need to take if public trust is to be justified, and aims to make a constructive contribution to the development of better legislation and greater transparency.

We conclude that the conditions necessary to justify sufficient public trust in government for the Australian public to opt in voluntarily to the installation and use of the COVIDSafe app, and to not opt out, are lacking. Many of the main deficiencies we identify in this article are remediable: five deficiencies in transparency; and nine categories of improvements to the current Determination by the proposed COVIDSafe Act. However, the question of whether an individual Australian would be well advised to install and run the app remains a decision which depends on individual circumstances.

The Act referred to above, the Privacy Amendment (Public Health Contact Information) Act 2020 (Cth) ('the COVIDSafe Act') was enacted on 15 May 2020. The authors' analysis of that Act is G. Greenleaf & K. Kemp 'Australia's COVIDSafe experiment, Phase III: Legislation for trust in contact tracing' at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3601730.


We report research on player modeling using psychophysiology and machine learning, conducted through interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers of computer science, psychology, and game design at Aalto University, Helsinki. First, we propose the Play Patterns And eXperience (PPAX) framework to connect three levels of game experience that previously had remained largely unconnected: game design patterns, the interplay of game context with player personality or tendencies, and state-of-the-art measures of experience (both subjective and non-subjective). Second, we describe our methodology for using machine learning to categorize game events to reveal corresponding patterns, culminating in an example experiment. We discuss the relation between automatically detected event clusters and game design patterns, and provide indications on how to incorporate personality profiles of players in the analysis. This novel interdisciplinary collaboration combines basic psychophysiology research with game design patterns and machine learning, and generates new knowledge about the interplay between game experience and design.


The paper describes a novel real-time algorithm for finding 3D geometric primitives (cylinders, cones and spheres) from 3D range data. In its core, it performs a fast model fitting with a model update in constant time (O(1)) for each new data point added to the model. We use a three stage approach.The first step inspects 1.5D sub spaces, to find ellipses. The next stage uses these ellipses as input by examining their neighborhood structure to form sets of candidates for the 3D geometric primitives. Finally, candidate ellipses are fitted to the geometric primitives. The complexity for point processing is O(n); additional time of lower order is needed for working on significantly smaller amount of mid-level objects. This allows the approach to process 30 frames per second on Kinect depth data, which suggests this approach as a pre-processing step for 3D real-time higher level tasks in robotics, like tracking or feature based mapping.


The state of the soil in the riparian area around an urban stream, Stoney Creek, in Burnaby, British Columbia was investigated. This site had recently been disturbed by a salmon habitat restoration project. Our study aimed to provide a first set of data for post-project soil quality assessments in this region. Four soil pits were excavated and various soil samples were collected. These samples were transported to the Soil Science Lab at Simon Fraser University for laboratory analysis, where soil texture, bulk density, acidity, water content and erodibility were assessed. Although no root growth limiting bulk density and pH levels were found, the results indicated that soil compaction had some effect on bulk density, acidity and water content. This set of soil data is limited in its comprehensiveness and therefore future soil quality monitoring projects are recommended.


Although thermochronology cannot directly constrain paleoelevation, it can provide estimates of the form, location, and scale of paleotopographic relief, i.e., paleotopography, and its change through time. Unique thermochronologic perspectives on paleotopography come from 1) spatial patterns of surface and subsurface cooling ages or cooling histories that reflect either the influence of topography on subsurface isotherm warping, or spatially focused erosion (including incision), and 2) the age-elevation relationship in paleolandscapes that may be preserved in detrital cooling age distributions. This chapter reviews the fundamental theory and results of these approaches and several example applications. Case studies show examples of both decreasing and increasing topographic relief through time, at the orogen scale and across short ridge-valley wavelengths, and significant modification of local topographic features in glaciated and fluvial settings. In some cases, thermochronologic evidence for fluvial incision at short wavelengths has also been argued to be the result of surface uplift at very long wavelengths. Although not yet used for such purposes, detrital approaches also have the potential to reconstruct paleotopographic relief and paleohypsometry in paleocatchments. In all cases, paleotopographic interpretations from thermochronology require important assumptions or case-by-case support from other lines of evidence. Central issues pertinent to thermochronologic interpretations of paleotopography are the nature of the shallow crustal thermal field through which the samples cooled (including the influence of fluid flow) and the role of rock uplift gradients in modifying simple relationships between erosion and topography.


Fluorosilicic acid is one of the main products used in water fluoridation. As a by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry, it may contain contaminants that are harmful to human health. The aims of this study were to assess the quality control analysis of fluorosilicic acid; to detect the presence of contaminants, such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, aluminum, barium, strontium, cobalt, iron, and sulfur in fluorosilicic acid samples by using inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry; and to collect data for water analysis performed at a water treatment plant. The results show the presence of all contaminants mentioned previously, except for lead, in fluorosilicic acid samples from all sources. No quality control was carried out or required for this product at any time. Although the water analyses indicate the water is potable, there are no minimum safe limits for human consumption regarding carcinogenic elements such as cadmium and arsenic and both were detected and released in the water. Therefore, the purity of fluorosilicic acid used for water fluoridation should be required and monitored by public administrations to avoid long-term public health problems.


Infertility is defined as failure to conceive despite one year of cohabitation and exposure to pregnancy, by the World Health Organization (1991). It is acquiring a proportion of global widespread prevalence of approximately 8 out of 3051 women were identified as being infertile with the major cause being Polycystic ovary syndrome. The treatment modalities offered to these women were IUI and ICSI. This study aims to create a


This Article argues that many mental health advance directive (mental health directive) statutes violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Advance directives empower people to determine care to be administered when they lack capacity to provide informed consent. General advance directives (generic directives) typically address end-of-life care. Mental health directives govern treatment administered during periods of incapacity caused by acute episodes. Because end-of-life decision-making is different than planning for episodic mental illness, half of the states have enacted separate mental health directive statutes. These specialized statutes often provide doctors more leeway to force treatment on a patient in contravention of a directive than do generic directive statutes. People with mental illness who form directives are qualified individuals with a disability under the ADA. When a state makes it easier for a doctor to override mental health directives than the directives of other people, it excludes people with mental illness from full participation in the state's advance directive program because of their disability. The ADA does not require public entities to allow individuals to participate in or benefit from programs where the individuals pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others (direct threat exception). However, mental health directive statutes often fail to require an individualized dangerousness assessment at the time of directive abrogation as is mandated by the ADA. This Article proposes a model override provision which allows doctors flexibility to respond to threats to the health or safety of others and complies with the ADA. The recommended approach also clarifies the relationship between mental health directive laws and involuntary commitment laws which is currently vague at best.


Monolayer titanium carbide nitride (TiCN) and multilayer TiCN reinforced titanium (Ti) are coated on the surface of Ti6Al4V alloy by Filtered Arc Deposition System (FADS). Surface chemical composition has been characterized by an X-ray diffraction (XRD). Wear resistance of TiCN coating and TiCN/Ti coating have been detected by hommel tester T1000. Hardness and deformation mechanisms of the multilayer coatings are investigated using depth-sensing indentation comparison with the monolayer TiCN coatings. Focused Ion Beam (FIB) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) are used to identify the fracture modes of the coatings. The TEM image observations show that the inclined crack is the dominant crack in the monolayer TiCN coating while small bending crack is the dominant crack in the multilayer TiCN/Ti coating. The Ti layer with good ductility could efficiently suppress the crack propagation and absorb more indent energy.


Adaptation to one novel host plant may simultaneously improve an insect's performance on other unfamiliar hosts, as a kind of cross‐adaptation. In selection experiments using an Asian population of the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae), larval survival in lentil seeds increased from about 1 to >90% in fewer than 30 generations, and acceptance of lentil by egg‐laying females increased two‐ to three‐fold. We examined whether rapid adaptation to lentil altered beetle performance on other grain legumes, including hosts more closely related to lentil than to the ancestral host, mung bean. Three replicate, lentil‐adapted lines were compared to the mung‐bean (control) line with respect to both host acceptance (oviposition under no‐choice conditions) and larval performance (survival to adult emergence, development time, and adult mass at emergence). In most experiments, females from the lentil lines laid more eggs on unfamiliar hosts than did females from the mung‐bean line. Greater oviposition on novel hosts could not be explained by variation in potential fecundity, and did not appear to depend on a host's relatedness to lentil. Although survival in lentil remained extremely divergent between the mung‐bean and lentil lines (0 vs. >90%), the lines did not differ in larval performance on two other novel hosts (pea and fava bean) that are much more closely related to lentil than to mung bean. Because larval performance is most likely the limiting factor in the potential colonization of a novel host by C. maculatus, our experiments did not provide strong evidence for cross‐adaptation. The results suggest that adaptation to even a highly marginal host need not lead to a general expansion of an insect's host range.


A catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbons involving N2, C2H2 and H2 gas mixtures is used to synthesise the Ni catalysed carbon nanotubes (CNTs). These CNTs are grown on nanocrystalline film of nickel using low-pressure chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD). During the synthesis of these nanotubes, the growth temperature and growth time is kept at 700°C and 30 minutes respectively. The pressure in LPCVD chamber is maintained at 10 Torr. FESEM and HRTEM are employed to study the growth mechanism of these as grown CNTs. FESEM images suggest that these CNTs are very long and their diameter varies from 10-50 nm. It is also confirmed from HRTEM image that these nanotubes are multiwalled with the diameter varying from 10-50 nm and length of several micrometers. It is clear from SEM mage that the inner and outer tube diameter of these CNTs is 5 nm and 12 nm respectively. On the basis of J-E characteristics, it is observed that these multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) show a turn-on field of 6.23V/μm, when the current density achieves 5μA/cm2 and the field enhancement factor is estimated to be 5.41 × 10 6cm−1.


We consider the problem of establishing cryptographic guarantees -- in particular, computational indistinguishability -- for Java or Java-like programs that use cryptography. For this purpose, we propose a general framework that enables existing program analysis tools that can check (standard) non-interference properties of Java programs to establish cryptographic security guarantees, even if the tools a priori cannot deal with cryptography. The approach that we take is new and combines techniques from program analysis and simulation-based security. Our framework is stated and proved for a Java-like language that comprises a rich fragment of Java. The general idea of our approach should, however, be applicable also to other practical programming languages. As a proof of concept, we use an automatic program analysis tool for checking non-interference properties of Java programs, namely the tool Joana, in order to establish computational indistinguishability for a Java program that involves clients sending encrypted messages over a network, controlled by an active adversary, to a server.


In groundwater ecosystems, in situ primary production is low, and metabolism depends on organic matter inputs from other regions of the catchment. Heterotrophic metabolism and biogeochemistry in the floodplain groundwater of a headwater catchment (Rio Calaveras, New Mexico, USA) were examined to address the following questions: (1) How do groundwater metabolism and biogeochemistry vary spatially and temporally? (2) What factors influence groundwater metabolism? (3) What is the energy source for groundwater metabolism? At Rio Calaveras, surface discharge and water table elevation increased at the onset of spring snowmelt. Groundwater biogeochemical changes in response to snowmelt included increases in dissolved oxygen and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations. Dissolved organic carbon concentration then decreased exponentially with time, suggesting that newly saturated floodplain sediments were a major source of DOC. Organic matter content in seasonally saturated sediments averaged 3% by mass, and ∼0.05 mg C/g dry sediment was water soluble. Microorganisms from these sediments were able to consume an average of 45% of the leached DOC. These results show that snowmelt imports DOC to groundwater and that a substantial amount can be consumed by biota. These results may be important ecologically if the growth and abundance of groundwater organisms are limited by DOC availability. The influence on groundwater heterotrophic metabolism of DOC availability, inorganic nitrogen (N), inorganic phosphorus (P), temperature, and season were assessed using laboratory manipulations of aquifer sediments and seasonal measurements in field microcosms. Augmentation with DOC (10 mgC/L above background) nearly doubled respiration rate during base flow but did not influence respiration during snowmelt. In contrast, addition of N and P did not influence respiration at any time. Respiration rate during snowmelt was significantly higher than at base flow and was not influenced by any combination of DOC, N, P, or temperature. The hypothesis that groundwater metabolism is limited by DOC availability during base flow was supported. Hydrologic linkage between soils and groundwater represents a critical flux of DOC that supports metabolism in unconfined alluvial aquifers.


Kestrel Mine is a Rio Tinto owned underground longwall operation that mines the German Creek coal seam in Queensland"s Bowen Basin. Kestrel Mine can be separated into two parts North and South. Kestrel North has been in operation since 1990 (called Gordonstone at the time) while Kestrel South is a comparatively new mine having begun in-seam development in the first quarter of 2011. Over the recent history of Kestrel North several methodologies have been employed to characterise the roof and floor conditions, with a view to optimising the roof support design system and process. The objective of this study was to review various roof classification systems against actual conditions encountered during extraction of coal from the 300 series longwall panels at Kestrel North. The aim was to determine what systems would work well in the deeper Kestrel South environment. The study also reviewed different UCS sonic relationships in use and derived a new correlation for the entire Kestrel area. The back-analysis for the primary support was conducted by comparing the actual conditions and installed bolting patterns versus the rock mass conditions predicted using a variety of different roof classification systems. For secondary roof behaviour, extensometer data was used to review roof performance. The systems reviewed were the Roof Strength Index, sonic derived UCS and Roof Mass Rating. The study confirmed that UCS is a good first predictor for the primary roof conditions, whereas the Roof Strength Index showed the best correlation with the secondary roof conditions. It is inferred that formation of a beam in the primary support horizon is more closely related to rock strength, compared to the secondary support horizon where the influence of the stress regime appears more critical.


Background: As one of the leading causes of death and disability in the world, human trauma and injury disproportionately affects individuals in developing countries. During initial program development, senior MOHP physicians stated there was a critical need for a portable and flexible educational course on the clinical care of injured patients. To meet the need for improved trauma care in Egypt, the Sequential Trauma Emergency/Education ProgramS (STEPS) course was created through the collaborative effort of Egyptian and US expert physicians. The objective of course development was to create a high-quality, modular, adaptable, and sustainable trauma care course that could be readily adopted by a lower- or middle-income country. Methods: We describes the course development from 2006 to 2015, highlighting the challenges and solutions of creating a successful, flexible and sustainable in-country trauma care training program that suits low and middle-income countries. Results: STEPS was developed at the University of Maryland, based in part on World Health Organization's Emergency and Trauma Care materials, and introduced to the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population and Ain Shams University in May 2006. The program is designed to adapt low cost and limited resources with maintaining high fidelity and unified standard. In 2008, the course transitioned completely to the leadership of Egyptian academic physicians. To date, more than 700 physicians from 8 countries have taken the course through the Ministry of Health and Population or public/governmental universities. For the first time the course will be held in Sudan on January 2016. Conclusion: STEPS has rapidly become a desired trauma care training program proved by sustainability based on 7 years of course conduct. Success of this collaborative educational program is demonstrated by the numbers of physicians trained, and program continuance after transitioning to in-country leadership and trainers.


Sir Robert Francis, in his inquiry into failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust,1 has described 'action plans' as the worst disease of the English National Health Service (NHS). He noticed that whenever a tragedy occurs, the NHS produces excellent action plans. But they then fail to produce any action. It's as if the production of the action plan is an end in itself, requiring no further steps.

When you've made mistakes I bet you've committed to action, usually to avoid making the same mistake again. Of course then you've often made the same mistake again, but over your career I expect you've also successfully changed your practice so that the same mistakes are far less likely to occur, or when they do are far less likely to cause harm.

The challenge for any healthcare organisation should arguably be the same: to make real changes that avoid, trap or mitigate against the threats or potential errors that occur day to day. If some individuals seem to be able to do this, why is it that healthcare organisations often struggle? And what are the ingredients that help make it happen? If feedback is 'the breakfast of champions', why, in healthcare, is it usually flushed away and forgotten the next day?

In trying to answer these questions, I'm only really qualified to talk about one particular case. It involves a compelling story, a well-established evidence base (although one that is largely unfamiliar in healthcare), and passionate professionals who could see the value of change.

Ten years ago at 23:15 on the evening of 11 April 2005, a patient in a coma died in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital in England. The death was not unexpected: the patient's life support had been withdrawn 6 days earlier. What was unexpected …


The influence of shear on the rotation capacity of one-way slabs without shear reinforcement is investigated in this paper by means of an experimental study. The experimental program consisted of 11 slab strips 8400 mm (331 in.) long and 450 mm (17.7 in.) thick with a flexural reinforcement ratio of 0.79%. The rotation capacity was investigated for various values of the shear span and for two types of flexural reinforcement (hot-rolled and cold-worked bars). The specimens developed shear failures with and without yielding of the flexural reinforcement and one specimen failed in flexure with rupture of the tensile reinforcement. The results clearly show that the rotation capacity at failure is governed by shear. Based on the test results, and considering the principles of the critical shear-crack theory (CSCT), an analytical expression is proposed to estimate the rotation capacity of one-way members without transverse reinforcement accounting for shear.


With the recent interest in using liquid hydrogen as a fuel source for energy production and transportation, predicting the performance of pumping systems which handle hydrogen has become an important issue. Liquid hydrogen is a cryogenic fluid which exists at extremely low temperatures and presents a myriad of design challenges to ensure a safe, efficient, and robust fuel delivery system. In addition, the typical operating conditions for pumps handling liquid hydrogen are such that vapor formation due to cavitation is present in the flow even when the head rise is relatively unaffected. Cavitation can cause severe damage to pump components and lead to shortened life and eventual failure, especially at the temperatures associated with liquid hydrogen.
 The present work was focused on validating CFD methods for accurately predicting cavitating flow in a pump inducer handling cryogenic hydrogen. The CFD code used in this study was Ansys CFX, which is a general-purpose commercial solver with models available for simulating cryogenic cavitation in turbomachinery. The specific model employed for cavitation utilized a Rayleigh-Plesset based multiphase formulation in conjunction with thermodynamic property tables appropriate for cryogenic liquid hydrogen. Adjustments to cavitation model parameters were introduced as a function of fluid temperature to account for the thermal suppression head effects that are present at cryogenic thermal conditions.


Wide-issue processors continue to achieve higher performance by exploiting greater instruction-level parallelism. Dynamic techniques such as out-of-order execution and hardware speculation have proven effective at increasing instruction throughput. Runtime optimization promises to provide an even higher level of performance by adaptively applying aggressive code transformations on a larger scope. This paper presents a new hardware mechanism for generating and deploying runtime optimized code. The mechanism can be viewed as a filtering system that resides in the retirement stage of the processor pipeline, accepts an instruction execution stream as input, and produces instruction profiles and sets of linked, optimized traces as output. The code deployment mechanism uses an extension to the branch prediction mechanism to migrate execution into the new code without modifying the original code. These new components do not add delay to the execution of the program except during short bursts of reoptimization. This technique provides a strong platform for runtime optimization because the hot execution regions are extracted, optimized, and written to main memory for execution and because these regions persist across context switches. The current design of the framework supports a suite of optimizations, including partial function inlining (even into shared libraries), code straightening optimizations, loop unrolling, and peephole optimizations.


Contemporary debates over "the factory of the future" show that industries will need vocational workers that are empowered and skilled to act as decision-makers and controllers, holding technical and social skills of a high standard. Further, industrial development demands enough supply of skilled vocational workers. In Norway, a parallel concern is drop-out rates from upper secondary education. Consequently, it is of joint concern for the manufacturing industries, the secondary education system and the welfare state alike to ensure that young people choose vocational education and that they finish their education with skills and motivation needed to contribute in the "future manufacturing factory". The research question is the following: How can lower secondary schools or vocational colleges collaborate with industrial companies as to motivate young people to become vocational workers who are educated in the technical and generic skills needed for future manufacturing industries? With an action research approach, we explore on experiments of such innovative collaboration. We find that workplace-learning motivates young people to learn both trade specific and generic competencies. Thus, we argue that the lower secondary school-system must be included in what traditionally has been vocational education-workplace collaboration. Further, we find that the learning of future skill requirements presupposes collective learning processes and authentic problem solving. Finally, we argue that competencies fit well as an inclusion in both the social- and technological dimensions of socio-technical systems design, but more research is needed on the mechanisms by which competencies become "inputs" and "outputs" of future work designs.


An inventory of the world's technological capacity from 1986 to 2007 reveals the evolution from analog to digital technologies. We estimated the world's technological capacity to store, communicate, and compute information, tracking 60 analog and digital technologies during the period from 1986 to 2007. In 2007, humankind was able to store 2.9 × 1020 optimally compressed bytes, communicate almost 2 × 1021 bytes, and carry out 6.4 × 1018 instructions per second on general-purpose computers. General-purpose computing capacity grew at an annual rate of 58%. The world's capacity for bidirectional telecommunication grew at 28% per year, closely followed by the increase in globally stored information (23%). Humankind's capacity for unidirectional information diffusion through broadcasting channels has experienced comparatively modest annual growth (6%). Telecommunication has been dominated by digital technologies since 1990 (99.9% in digital format in 2007), and the majority of our technological memory has been in digital format since the early 2000s (94% digital in 2007).


Stability of planetary orbits around GJ 832 star system, which contains inner (GJ 832c) and outer (GJ 832b) planets, is investigated numerically and the detailed phase-space analysis are performed. The stability of the system is defined in terms of its lifetime, which is its survival time during the orbital integration period, and the maximum eccentricity, emax attained by the orbits during the evolution processes. A special emphasis is given to the existence of stable orbits for an Earth-like planet that is injected between the inner and outer planets. Thus, numerical simulations are performed for three and four bodies in elliptical orbits (or circular for special cases), and a large number of initial conditions that covers the whole phase-space of the existing bodies are used. The results presented in the phase-space maps for GJ 832c indicates the least deviation of the eccentricity from its nominal value, which is then used to determine its inclination regime. Also, the Earth-like planet displays stable orbital configurations for at least one billion years. Then, the radial velocity curves based on the signature from the Keplerian motion are generated for the Earth-like planet to estimate its distance from the star and its mass-limit. The synthetic RV signal suggests that an additional planet (1M? ? mass ? 15M?) with dynamically stable configuration may be residing between 0.25 - 2.0 AU from the star. We have provided an estimated number of RV observations for the additional planet for further observational verification.


A series of pyridinium phenoxides that differ by the dihedral angle between the pyridinium and the phenoxide rings because of substituents with increasing steric encumbrance has been investigated by ultrafast spectroscopy. Like the related betaine-30, these molecules are characterised by a zwitterionic electronic ground state and a weakly polar S_1 state. Their fluorescence lifetime was found to lie between 200 to 750 fs, decreasing with increasing dihedral angle, and increasing with solvent viscosity. This was assigned to a non-radiative deactivation of the emissive state coupled to a large amplitude motion involving the dihedral angle. The transient absorption spectra suggested that emission occurs from the Franck–Condon S_1 state, which decays to a dark excited state, that itself most probably corresponds to the relaxed S_1 state. Finally, this relaxed state decays to the vibrationally hot ground state through an intramolecular charge separation process with a time constant ranging between 0.4 and 3 ps, increasing with the dihedral angle and with the solvent relaxation time. These variations were discussed in terms of the Jortner–Bixon model of electron transfer, where the charge separation dynamics depends on both electronic coupling and solvent relaxation. The results suggested that charge separation slows down with increasing dihedral angle.


The present research investigates how reading stories about past mistreatment of children who had been in institutional care affects support for reparations, perceived difficulty of reparations and group-based guilt were investigated in two experiments. In Study 1 we showed that, when the stories increased in perceived harm, so did the perceived difficulty of making reparations whereas group-based guilt decreased. Furthermore, both perceived difficulty of making reparations and group-based guilt predicted support for reparation. It was suggested that these findings were due to a natural confound between the severity of harm and the difficulty of reparations. Study 2 included a direct manipulation of perceived difficulty that was intended to weaken or strengthen the ability to make reparations. This study demonstrated stronger group-based guilt when reparations were potentially possible and not when they are impossible. Moreover, support for reparations varied as a function of perceived difficulty of reparations and group-based guilt mediated that relationship. The research has two key implications. First, advocates of reparations as a mechanism for reconciliation and community healing need to consider the degree to which reparations are perceived to be possible and consider ways of addressing those perceptions. Second, the research provides an experimental demonstration to the power of stories about experience to bolster support for social change.