Abstract. Land surface models are useful tools to quantify contemporary and future climate impact on terrestrial carbon cycle processes, provided they can be appropriately constrained and tested with observations. Stable carbon isotopes of CO2 offer the potential to improve model representation of the coupled carbon and water cycles because they are strongly influenced by stomatal function. Recently, a representation of stable carbon isotope discrimination was incorporated into the Community Land Model component of the Community Earth System Model. Here, we tested the model's capability to simulate whole-forest isotope discrimination in a subalpine conifer forest at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, USA. We distinguished between isotopic behavior in response to a decrease of δ13C within atmospheric CO2 (Suess effect) vs. photosynthetic discrimination (Δcanopy), by creating a site-customized atmospheric CO2 and δ13C of CO2 time series. We implemented a seasonally varying Vcmax model calibration that best matched site observations of net CO2 carbon exchange, latent heat exchange, and biomass. The model accurately simulated observed δ13C of needle and stem tissue, but underestimated the δ13C of bulk soil carbon by 1–2 ‰. The model overestimated the multiyear (2006–2012) average Δcanopy relative to prior data-based estimates by 2–4 ‰. The amplitude of the average seasonal cycle of Δcanopy (i.e., higher in spring/fall as compared to summer) was correctly modeled but only when using a revised, fully coupled An − gs (net assimilation rate, stomatal conductance) version of the model in contrast to the partially coupled An − gs version used in the default model. The model attributed most of the seasonal variation in discrimination to An, whereas interannual variation in simulated Δcanopy during the summer months was driven by stomatal response to vapor pressure deficit (VPD). The model simulated a 10 % increase in both photosynthetic discrimination and water-use efficiency (WUE) since 1850 which is counter to established relationships between discrimination and WUE. The isotope observations used here to constrain CLM suggest (1) the model overestimated stomatal conductance and (2) the default CLM approach to representing nitrogen limitation (partially coupled model) was not capable of reproducing observed trends in discrimination. These findings demonstrate that isotope observations can provide important information related to stomatal function driven by environmental stress from VPD and nitrogen limitation. Future versions of CLM that incorporate carbon isotope discrimination are likely to benefit from explicit inclusion of mesophyll conductance.


Currently, Malaysia is faced with challenges in efforts to provide a quality educational system. One of the surge in the Development Plan of Education (higher education) 2015-2025 is to ensure learning online at global level. So with this, the use of platform MOOC is one the first method was introduced as one of the approaches in learning and teaching. However the question arises whether polytechnic lecturer was ready to use online learning extensively, particularly in the process of learning and teaching. This study is intended to review the availability of committed lecturers Politeknik Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of the use of platform MOOC in learning and teaching. Respondents were 153 lecturers in PSMZA and it has been selected at random. The instruments used are a set of survey questions. The findings indicate the availability of lecturers PSMZA will against the use of platform MOOC in learning and teaching are not influenced by gender. The mean score for female lecturers was 2.83 compared mean score men namely 2.57 and this shows women more ready against the use of platform MOOC. The mean score for aspects of female lecturers obstacles higher than male lecturers. This suggests that female lecturers more willing to use MOOC in learning and teaching although there are some aspects which have become obstacles. Someone who had the expectation of high availability using MOOC are less face obstacles while using MOOC in learning and teaching sessions. Coefficient of correlation variables obstacles in the use of MOOC and graduate readiness against MOOC is very weak with the value of the coefficient of correlation of -0.078. It is mean that female lecturers more willing to use MOOC in learning and teaching although there are some aspects which have become obstacles. Therefore clearly showed the use of MOOC among the lecturers PSMZA will provide positive indicators and should be polished to ensure the integration of technology in education achieved towards helping towards the Industrial Revolution 4.0.


The net generation (Oblinger and Oblinger, 2005) was born around the time of the emergence of the personal computer, and, as a result has grown up with access to technology. Higher education institutions now face this generation of students in their classrooms. This paper discusses how technology has influenced the way these students process information and learn. The author, an Academic Development Coordinator at Varsity College, investigates the thoughts and perceptions of the teaching faculty about this generation and how the former can integrate technology into their teaching to support student learning. Suggestions are made regarding ways in which lecturers can respond to these students' learning styles.


An investigation of sedimentary matrices in a polluted Irish river and estuary was undertaken to determine the distribution both spatially, and more importantly seasonally, of metal and organometal contamination on a monthly basis over 2 years. No previous investigations in Ireland have undertaken such a detailed analytical regime. The Tolka River and Estuary, Dublin, Ireland, is a typical Irish urban river and estuarine system, and it was chosen for this study as it has significant metal and organometal contaminant loading arising from the urban environment in general but also specific sources including a closed landfill. A 1-month sampling and analysis regime was devised to optimize riverine and estuarine analysis to determine seasonality of contaminant distribution. Between August 2003 and January 2005, contaminant concentrations within the surface sediment of the river and estuarine system were analyzed monthly from 20 sampling points. Six metals (cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn)) and an organometal (tributyltin (TBT)) were analyzed using differential pulse polarography. This assessment created an extensive database to determine spatial and seasonal distributions of contaminants over time and various in situ environmental and anthropogenic parameters that influence these distributions. It was found that contaminant concentrations within surface sediment are highly variable seasonally. Contaminant concentrations were observed to gradually increase (30–120 %) in spring to a maximum at the end of summer, which was followed by a decrease in winter months (30–60 %); e.g., at one estuarine site in February 2004, lead concentrations of 148.5 ppm were recorded, followed by a gradual increase to 312.1 ppm in July and a subsequent decrease to 131.1 ppm in January 2005. This paper presents the final 12 months of contaminant analysis as this period provided the clearest illustration of contaminant spatial and seasonal distributions.


In situations where a language is in the very earliest stages of revitalization, it is important to customize materials for groups that want them, in ways that honor their goals. For example, young people often want materials built around phrases that are socially useful, that build solidarity and cultural identity (e.g. phrases such as thank you, you're welcome, how are you?, where are you from?, I'm sorry). Preschool teachers want basic vocabulary and ways to address the group (e.g. everyone stand up! everyone sit down!). Tribal elders may want more emphasis on traditional materials. Yet each customized goal brings its own challenges and opportunities. In this paper we present two case studies from Northern Pomo (a dormant language of California), one about designing materials containing socially useful phrases for young people, and one about designing materials for Head Start teachers. As others have observed (e.g. Rotet 2014, Zuckerman & Walsh 2011), smaller languages being revived may not have equivalents for all desired words or phrases. This may call for borrowing or coinages, each of which entail complicated cultural and linguistic decisions. The first case we'll present (design of materials to introduce socially useful phrases to young people) involves a collaboration between a linguist and Pomo language teacher in designing materials and presenting them to focus groups (held in Fall 2016) with young people from the tribal community. The second case concerns design of materials for Head Start teachers. Here the challenge is trying to make the materials educative for children, but also useful for teachers as a source of easy exposure to the grammar of the language. For example, the pre-school context is well-suited to pointing out the difference between imperatives (sit down!) and declaratives (he is sitting), as well as simple questions. But here too, coinages departing from the traditional may emerge. These cases are relevant to the ICLDC theme of wellbeing: Author 1 has taught both Head Start students and young people in Northern Pomo tribal communities. The youth culture camps she ran were supported by suicide and drug abuse prevention grants to the tribe. She has specific knowledge of how engagement with the language supports the development of a positive cultural identity. Author 6 has spent several decades describing the language and oversees development of a website that houses these materials. Their collaboration provides a context to examine the multi-faceted challenges of bringing language materials to life. Rottet, K. J. (2014). Neology, Competing Authenticities, and the Lexicography of Regional Languages: The Case of Breton. Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America, 35(35), 208-247. Zuckermann, Ghil'ad and Walsh, Michael 2011. 'Stop, Revive, Survive: Lessons from the Hebrew Revival Applicable to the Reclamation, Maintenance and Empowerment of Aboriginal Languages and Cultures', Australian Journal of Linguistics 31.1: 111-127.


This paper presents an approach for optimal path planning on implicitly-defined configuration spaces such as those arising, for instance, when manipulating an object with two arms or with a multifingered hand. In this kind of situations, the kinematic and contact constraints induce configuration spaces that are manifolds embedded in higher dimensional ambient spaces. Existing sampling-based approaches for path planning on manifolds focus on finding a feasible solution, but they do not optimize the quality of the path in any sense. Thus, the returned paths are usually not suitable for direct execution. Recently, RRT* and other similar asymptotically-optimal path planners have been proposed to generate high-quality paths in the case of globally parametrizable configuration spaces. In this paper, we propose to use higher dimensional continuation tools to extend RRT* to the case of implicitly-defined configuration spaces. Experiments in different problems validate the proposed approach.


I've been trying for some time to remember all the rooms in my grandfather's house. The downstairs is not difficult. There was a large living room full of heavy furniture; a "music room" that contained two pianos, one in tune and one not, and lots of Victorian bric-a-brac; a dining room that could seat maybe twenty people; a long passageway full of cabinets and shelves that led to the kitchen; and, behind the kitchen, a pantry. The house was very dark, even when the sun was shining. Made of large, split stones mortared together in an irregular pattern, its appearance of solidity belied its actual fragility. Even when I was young a large stone from high on the tall chimney might come tumbling down having loosened itself from the mortar. Uncle Edward, suffering from the after-effects of the Spanish Influenza, which he had been among the first to contract after the First World War, sat immobile in his corner of the living room--frozen like a statue most of the time, one of those unfortunates whose survival of the flu itself brought on the Parkinsonian condition made famous by Oliver Sacks in Awakenings. Uncle Edward was the specter of my childhood. Upstairs, there were many bedrooms, all named for someone. There was "Grandfathers Room," directly at the top of the stairs, "Grandmother's Room," down the hall to the left, and "Uncle Edwards Room" to the right. At this point I become confused. Somewhere beyond Edwards room, down the right side of the hall, was "Mary Derbyshire's Room"--Mary was my grandfathers widowed sister --and beyond that, back where the house became darker and darker, way back where the hallway turned behind the attic stairs, was "Cousin Alices Room." But who was Cousin Alice? My cousins were Jim, Robert, Richard, Marilyn, Nancy, Judy, and Joan. Cousin Alice's room, though always empty, was kept tidy and clean, as if Cousin Alice were expected back at any moment. Now and then I'd ask about her. Who is Cousin Alice? Oh, someone would say, Aunt Alice was named for Cousin Alice. That confused me a lot--how could an aunt be named for a cousin, who was obviously much younger? Or sometimes people would say: she's very rich, you know. She went to Paris. She went to China. She was a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. One day I asked Fanny, the cook who seemed actually to live in the kitchen (which, of course, was called "Fanny's Room") about Cousin Alice. You know, she said, your Cousin Alice actually owns Bogue Banks. Immediately I thought of a whole lot of banks along a street called Bogue where possibly family members had their accounts. Does she have a lot of money, Fanny? Piles of it! Johnny, she's got money to burn. But you know, the Bankers nearly burned her out one year. Your father had to go and fix things up. This of course made no sense at all. Burned her out? I asked. Burned her out, said Fanny, burned her out. Then they all went back and fished, she said. That was all they ever really wanted. I'm looking at a rather elaborately produced "Christmas Greeting" from "The Matthias Household, 2135 Iuka Avenue, Columbus, Ohio." Fifteen pages in length and bound with a gold ribbon between black, imitation-leather boards, its glossy pages are still in very good condition. There's no date, but it must have been sent out in the late 1920s. It contains two photographs of the house on Iuka, a summer scene and a winter scene, along with a photograph of an earlier house in Van Wert, Ohio, under which a picture of youthful Grandfather M. appears in his Spanish-American War uniform and another of a youthful Mary Crouch in a dress suit with a kind of bow tie. Then comes Mary Crouch Matthias's poem, "Goodbye, Old Home." The poem was a farewell to the home in Van Wert, written when they moved to Columbus when my grandfather began the first of many terms on the Ohio Supreme Court. Then there is a photograph of the children: Edward, John, Mary, and the twins, Florence and Alice. Pictured sitting in a rocking chair before the fire is Mary Green Crouch, my great grandmother, known to everyone as "Grandma Crouch. …


Background Short-term deployment of nurses is usually used within the hospital units in order to 'balance the numbers' or to cover the shortage of staff in the different units. Often nurses in the intensive care unit (ICU) are sent to go and assist in other units, where there is not enough nursing staff or when their own unit is not busy. Objectives The objective of this study was to explore the views of the ICU nurses regarding short-term deployment to other units. Method A qualitative design was used, following interpretivism. The study was conducted in the ICUs of two hospitals in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Data were collected through focus group interviews with a purposive sample of registered nurses working in the selected ICUs, transcribed verbatim and analysed using open coding. Results The participants shared a similar view that deployment to other units should be based on a formal agreement, with policies and procedures. Consultation and negotiation are recommended prior to deployment of staff. Management should recognise and acknowledge expertise of ICU nurses in their own speciality area. Conclusion The findings call for redesign of a deployment policy that will suit nurses from the speciality areas such as ICU.


The Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities guarantees that the same rights recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 are respected for persons with disabilities, including the right to work and employment. In reality, one of the problems that represent greater difficulty for people with disabilities is to get successfully involved in work environments. There are several factors to be taken into account, among them, the lack of necessary conditions in the workplace. Hence, there is a need of a model to guide the adjustment of workplaces for employees with disabilities. The model proposed in this study guide the adaptation and use of technical aids and assistive technology for ICT related activities in the workplace. The model involves five steps: characterization of the employee; workplace adjustment; employee training; managing an evidence repository; and assessment and improvement. In the present study, we focus in visual and hearing disabilities and developed an online tool based in an algorithm that uses a decision tree for each disability. In future, we will incorporate more disabilities to the algorithm. The ultimate goal is to minimize the barriers a person with disabilities encounter in their workplace when starting a new job.


It is already three decades since the birth of the first "test-tube baby" in 1978 and such methods have found their due place in most countries. In Denmark alone, more than 6% of children are born through assisted reproduction technologies (ARTs) (1). In the United States, more than 50,000 babies are born through IVF annually and there are more than 4 million people born through such methods around the world (2). In the beginning, there were much opposition and criticism surrounding the use of these methods, which mostly consisted of criticisms about gamete manipulation and the induction of genetic and chromsomal disorders in embryos (2). By extensive use of these methods and the birth, growth and puberty of these children, criticisms and concerns abated and the marriage and successful pregnancy of Louise Brown dampened disputes about the fertility of these children. Recently, following the rise in the number of babies born through ART and statistical evaluation on the health of IVF children, there have been reports on the increasing number of abortion, intrauterine fetal death, congenital anomalies and abnormal epigenetic modifications in these children (3). Although most of the causes of these problems are not understood exactly, but epigenetic alterations in the gametes and embryos are believed to be the potential causes (4). Studies have shown the evidences of gametes epigenetic alterations during gametogenesis and these changes seem to be essential for the natural fertilization, quality and development of embryos, fate of pregnancy and health of the offspring during his life. These changes include covalent changes such as methylation, phosphorylation, acetylation, etc at DNA level or in proteins (histones and protamines) attached to it without any changes in the sequence of DNA nucleotides affecting the developmental process and function of every cell, tissue, organ and organism (4). Patterns of epigenetic modification could be influenced by environmental conditions and health status of organisms, therefore, assisted reproductive procedures including ovulation induction protocols, fertilization, embryo culture conditions and physico-chemical environment of IVF labs could influence the epigenetic modifications of gametes, embryos and even the fetus. In addition, one of the hot topics in ART and management of IVF centers are intensive care through quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) for all the materials, methods, instruments and procedures (5). Taking these points into account, it seems that most of the indices used for the assessment of ART methods including the rate of fertilization and the number and quality of embryos need to be revised in the near future. Although certain changes in therapeutic protocols may not have obvious effects on ART indexes (due to genomic inactivate of early embryos), but due to epigenetic changes and subsequently gene expression patterns, it may drastically affect the implantation rate, pregnancy outcomes and health status of IVF children. This will not be possible unless we design studies to identify the conditions with minimal alterations from normal epigenetic patterns and subsequently maintain these conditions in IVF centers through rigorous implementation of QC and QA. Presently, these topics are hot subjects of papers and lectures in the field of reproduction and infertility and future studies would emphasize on the detection of normal epigenetic modifications and their abnormal aberrations throughout ART procedures and their potential effects on embryos and IVF children. In conclusion, this scenario will lead to obvious changes in the infertility treatment protocols to provide more safety and success rate with lower costs.


Alduro is a four-legged walking robot. Its main goal is to operate in rugged terrain, translating the cartesian operator commands (joystick) into actuator space by coordinating the legs according to the users wish. At the same time static stability has to be guaranteed, obstacles have to be avoided and the posture of the main body kept. This requires an elaborate motion coordination and controller software. One possible way to organise this is described here: by isolating the physical robot from the motion generation (hardware abstraction layer), by using concurrent behaviours for motion generation and by strict modularisation of the software. The selected tools and realtime operating system are described in the last sections.


A novel approach, based on chitosan heavy-metal sequestrating ability, is proposed for chromium(III) removal from spent tanning liquor. Experimental results, obtained at lab-scale using real wastewater, are presented and discussed. Resulting efficiencies are extremely high, and strongly dependent on chitosan dose and pH value. Comparative analyses with other polysaccharides is also carried out showing that amine groups are more efficient than carboxyl and sulphate ones. Chromium recovery from sorption complexes and chitosan regeneration is finally proposed to optimize the whole process.


Background: According to the World Health Organization global alcohol consumption has increased in recent decades, with most of this increase occurring in developing countries. Added to this is the concern of the increased social acceptability of alcohol use and the widespread experimentation with alcohol during adolescence. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to better understand health risk behaviors, specifically alcohol use, among black female high school learners in a designated research locale of a local community in the Western Cape, South Africa. Study design: The method of inquiry in the study was a mixed method sequential explanatory strategy. Results: A lifetime prevalence of alcohol use was reported by 57.8% of the study sample. All the participants agreed that drinking has a negative influence on adolescent health. Conclusion: Alcohol use in South Africa is an ever-increasing health problem and the current study provides evidence that the prevalence of this behaviour remain a public health concern.


The effect of undecorticated sunflower cake (USFC) as critical protein supplement was assessed and compared with deoiled groundnut cake (DGNC) in adult goats and sheep. The animals were fed a basal diet of wheat straw ad libitum and supplemented with either USFC or DGNC to meet their protein requirement for maintenance. Total dry-matter intake by sheep and goats (g/kg BW 0 . 7 5 ) on USFC was similar to their counterparts on DGNC supplemented group. However, while intake of cake moiety was significantly (p<0.05) higher in USFC, the intake of wheat straw was significantly (p<0.05) higher by animals on DGNC. Digestibility of various nutrients, except lower crude protein digestibility by goats in USFC group, did not differ significantly between animals given DGNC or USFC. DCP and TDN concentration (% DM) was comparable in sheep and goats irrespective of dietary supplement. Similarly, the intake (g/kg W 0 . 7 5 ) of DCP, DDM, DOM, and TDN was similar between DGNC and USFC in both sheep and goats. It may be concluded that undecorticated sunflower cake is comparable to deoiled groundnut cake as a critical protein supplement to the roughage based diet of small ruminants.


OBJECTIVE
The present study was aimed to investigate: (1) the neurotoxic oxidative damage of orally administered aluminum chloride (AlCl3) in rabbits (Biochemical and morphopathological studies). (2) The effect of melatonin as an antioxidant and free radical scavenger on oxidative neuropathic changes.

METHODS
Thirty-five male rabbits were divided into 4 groups (A, B, C [10 animals each] and D [5 animals]). Group A received AlCl3 (20 mg/l via drinking water for 3 months). Group B received AlCl3 for 3 months then administered with melatonin (10 mg/kg b.w. sc daily for 15 days). Group C received AlCl3 plus melatonin for 3 months. Group D received the solvent and served as control. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxyalkenals (4-HDA) as lipid peroxides as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) as an antioxidant enzyme were measured. Aluminum residue in the brain tissue was measured spectrophotometerically. The morphopathological changes were also examined by light and electron microscopes.

RESULTS
MDA and 4-HAD were significantly increased in group A versus those of controls while significantly decreased in groups B and C compared with those of A group. SOD run in an opposite manner. Aluminum concentration was significantly increased in groups A, B and C when compared with group D while it significantly decreased in groups B and C when compared with that of group A. The neuropathlogical examination in the animals of group A revealed atrophy and apoptosis of the neurons in cerebral cortex and hippocampus. This was associated with neurofibrillary degeneration as well as argyrophilic inclusion. Schwan cell degeneration and nerve fiber demylination were also encountered. The elaboration of lipid peroxidation products, inhibition of antioxidant enzymes and the morphopathological changes were minimized in the Al/Mel treated groups and markedly improved in Al+Mel treated group

CONCLUSION
Chronic aluminum exposure in rabbits had dramatic encephalopathic morphopathological lesions. It enhances the lipid peroxidation production and inhibits the SOD enzyme. Melatonin had a good prophylactic effect as an antioxidant in aluminum encephalopathy.


Anthropologist Marshall Sahlins has asserted the near-universality of the notion that sovereignty in pre-modern polities is conceived of as foreign or alien. In his telling, sovereignty comes from abroad, from over the horizon, very often in the mythical form of the 'stranger king' or an immigrant prince. But, he argues, this alterity is complemented by equally widespread techniques of domestication; through sacrifice and marriage the stranger king becomes bound to the local people. Sahlins deployed this structure in his interpretation of the Hawaiian reception, killing, and deification of Captain James Cook in the late 1700s. This Article applies Sahlins' construct to postcolonial governance, with a particular focus on Kenya and its new constitution of 2010. While the U.S. tradition may envisage constitutions as bottom-up expressions of the popular sovereign, in many postcolonial contexts constitutions are also imported products, often drafted by foreign experts. Despite such constitutions' focus on 'the people,' the constitution itself might be said to be something of a stranger. The notion of the stranger king, as this Article demonstrates through its case study of Kenya, fruitfully expands the vocabulary of political and constitutional theory by pointing towards ethnographically grounded ways of understanding authority and law that come from beyond the boundaries of a political order.


BACKGROUND
Preliminary studies suggested that delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive ingredient of Cannabis sativa L., might be effective in the treatment of Tourette syndrome (TS). This study was performed to investigate for the first time under controlled conditions, over a longer-term treatment period, whether THC is effective and safe in reducing tics in TS.

METHOD
In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 24 patients with TS, according to DSM-III-R criteria, were treated over a 6-week period with up to 10 mg/day of THC. Tics were rated at 6 visits (visit 1, baseline; visits 2-4, during treatment period; visits 5-6, after withdrawal of medication) using the Tourette Syndrome Clinical Global Impressions scale (TS-CGI), the Shapiro Tourette-Syndrome Severity Scale (STSSS), the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), the self-rated Tourette Syndrome Symptom List (TSSL), and a videotape-based rating scale.

RESULTS
Seven patients dropped out of the study or had to be excluded, but only 1 due to side effects. Using the TS-CGI, STSSS, YGTSS, and video rating scale, we found a significant difference (p <.05) or a trend toward a significant difference (p <.10) between THC and placebo groups at visits 2, 3, and/or 4. Using the TSSL at 10 treatment days (between days 16 and 41) there was a significant difference (p <.05) between both groups. ANOVA as well demonstrated a significant difference (p =.037). No serious adverse effects occurred.

CONCLUSION
Our results provide more evidence that THC is effective and safe in the treatment of tics. It, therefore, can be hypothesized that the central cannabinoid receptor system might play a role in TS pathology.


Copyright© 2019, ASP Ins. This open-access article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which permits Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) under the Attribution-NonCommercial terms. ISSN: 2383-2150; Journal of Education and Community Health. 2019;6(2):103-109. DOI: 10.21859/jech.6.2.103


Public policy on financial crises in emerging markets has implicitly been grounded in economic theory calling for lender-of-last-resort intervention when the country is solvent, and on theory recognizing that reputational damage is the quasi- collateral enabling lending to sovereigns with no physical collateral. The call for Private Sector Involvement - PSI - in the financing of crisis resolution has appropriately arisen from the desire for fairness as well as for successful outcomes. This paper identifies an array of PSI modalities and argues that in each crisis case the most voluntary type consistent with the circumstances should be chosen, to speed return to market access. Proper measurement of PSI is examined (e.g. gross versus net flows, time horizon). Even narrowly-defined PSI is found to have been large: $240 billion for 8 major episodes beginning with Thailand in 1997. Encouragingly, of the total fully half has been voluntary (market-based maturity-stretching swaps in Argentina and Turkey) or quasi-voluntary (bank credit line maintenance in Brazil, short-term debt conversion in Korea). A broader definition of PSI incorporating voluntary reflows after the crisis shows even larger magnitudes. The implication is that PSI has been working and does not need to be overhauled on a mandatory basis. The paper cites the growing empirical literature rejecting the hypothesis of strong "moral hazard" from the large official support programs, which is consistent with the common sense observation that lending to emerging markets has been drying up rather than mushrooming. On the proposed Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism, the discussion notes the inherent difficulty of avoiding a signal that default will be facilitated for international political purposes, with resulting adverse effects on capital flows. The paper reviews the major recent crises (Argentina, Brazil, Turkey). It rejects an influential critique that the Argentine mega-swap and final IMF program in 2001 were serious mistakes, and agrees with those who judge that Brazil can sustain its debt if President-elect Lula adheres to his pledge of fiscal prudence. The analysis also examines the notion that sovereigns "wait too long" to default, and finds that the conditions for this argument to hold are stringent: the escalation of default damage from delay must be severe to offset even a moderate probability that default damage can eventually be avoided altogether. Correspondingly, the IMF should lean toward "Type I" errors of lending even when solvency is uncertain, rather than the reverse "Type II" errors, especially in light of its preferred-creditor status. At the same time, the solvency diagnosis should be informed by the growing experience showing political coherence is the most important condition for solvency, as political fragility or collapse precipitated the most serious instances of default (Russia, Indonesia, Argentina).


Nonlinear transmission lines (NLTLs) are of great interest
for high power microwave (HPM) generation because they can sharpen pulses to
create an electromagnetic shockwave to produce oscillations from 100 MHz to low
GHz. NLTLs provide frequency agility, compactness, durability and reliability,
providing a solid-state radiofrequency (RF) source for producing HPM. The
essential component of NLTLs is the nonlinear material, typically a dielectric
that varies with voltage or a magnetic material whose permeability varies with
current, incorporated in the transmission line in various topologies. This
thesis presents an alternative approach involving designing composites comprised
of nonlinear dielectric inclusions (barium strontium titanate (BST)) and/or
nonlinear inductive inclusions (nickel zinc ferrites (NZF)) in a polymer base
host material, analogous to electromagnetic interference designs that
incorporate stainless steel inclusions of various shapes in a plastic to tune
the composite's electromagnetic properties at GHz. Appropriately designing NLTL
composites requires predicting these effective properties both in linear (for a
fixed and low voltage and current) and nonlinear regions (permittivity and
permeability become voltage dependent and current dependent, respectively) prior
to designing HPM systems comprised of them. As a first step, this thesis
evaluates and benchmarks composites models in the commercial software CST
Microwave Studios (CST MWS) to various effective medium theories (EMTs) to
predict the permittivity and permeability of composites of BST and/or NZF
inclusions in the linear regime, compared with experimental measurements. The manufacturing
and measurement of the nonlinear composites will be briefly discussed with an
analysis of the homogeneity of a composite sample using 3D X-ray scan.
Long-term application of these approaches to predicting the effective nonlinear
composite permittivity and permeability and future work will be discussed.


PURPOSE
To use a randomized design to compare patients' short- and longer-term experiences after computed tomographic (CT) colonography or colonoscopy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
After ethical approval, the trial was registered. Patients gave written informed consent. Five hundred forty-seven patients with symptoms suggestive of colorectal cancer who had been randomly assigned at a ratio of 2:1 to undergo either colonoscopy (n = 362) or CT colonography (n = 185) received a validated questionnaire to assess immediate test experience (including satisfaction, worry, discomfort, adverse effects) and a 3-month questionnaire to assess psychologic outcomes (including satisfaction with result dissemination and reassurance). Data were analyzed by using Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and χ(2) test statistics.

RESULTS
Patients undergoing colonoscopy were less satisfied than those undergoing CT colonography (median score of 61 and interquartile range [IQR] of 55-67 vs median score of 64 and IQR of 58-70, respectively; P = .008) and significantly more worried (median score of 16 [IQR, 12-21] vs 15 [IQR, 9-19], P = .007); they also experienced more physical discomfort (median score of 39 [IQR, 29-51] vs 35 [IQR, 24-44]) and more adverse events (82 of 246 vs 28 of 122 reported feeling faint or dizzy, P = .039). However, at 3 months, they were more satisfied with how results were received (median score of 4 [IQR, 3-4] vs 3 [IQR, 3-3], P < .0005) and less likely to require follow-up colonic investigations (17 of 230 vs 37 of 107, P < .0005). No differences were observed between the tests regarding 3-month psychologic consequences of the diagnostic episode, except for a trend toward a difference (P = .050) in negative affect (unpleasant emotions such as distress), with patients undergoing CT colonography reporting less intense negative affect.

CONCLUSION
CT colonography has superior patient acceptability compared with colonoscopy in the short term, but colonoscopy offers some benefits to patients that become apparent after longer-term follow-up. The respective advantages of each test should be balanced when referring symptomatic patients.


We studied the habitat structure (macrofaunal assemblages and bottom types) and zonation patterns of 29 unvegetated shoreline strands along the 900-km coast of Catalonia (NW Mediterranean Sea). Organisms were sampled with grabs, pitfall traps, sticky traps, clam nets and spades to ensure capture of the different proportions of macrofaunal assemblages from the supra-, medio- and infralittoral levels. We collected 211 taxa: 194 animals and 17 algae. The most abundant and dominant organisms collected with van Veen grabs were Nematoda, Oligochaeta and Collembola at the supralittoral level; the polychaetes Saccocirrus spp. and Pisione remota , the amphipod Corophium orientale , Nematoda, and Turbellaria at the mediolittoral level; and Nematoda at the upper infralittoral level. SIMPER analysis revealed great dissimilarity between the organisms inhabiting the supralittoral and the other littoral levels. Regarding the epifauna, the sticky traps used at the supralittoral level mainly collected Collembola, which were nearly absent in pitfall traps. The qualitative study performed with a clam net and a small spade revealed that Nematoda, Saccocirrus spp., Turbellaria, Nemertea and the polychaete P. remota were the most abundant animals at both the medio- and the infralittoral levels and no differences were found between these levels. Different qualitative sampling methodologies showed that in fine sediments the bivalves Donax trunculus and D. semistriatus determined more than 97% of dissimilarity from coarse-sand sites. Richness increased in protected sandy and cobble shores. Littoral level and bottom-type features were only to a certain extent valid indicators of specific biotic components for a specific habitat.


The increasing rate of antibiotic resistant bacteria in different wards of hospitals,
especially in the intensive care units and increasing rates of morbidity and mortality due to these
bacteria, highlights the need for awareness of antibiotic resistance patterns. The aim of this study was
to determine the antibiotic resistance patterns of microorganisms isolated from positive blood cultures
at ICUs of Imam Khomeini Hospital during 2011-2013.
Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was done from September 2011 until March 2013 in
Imam Khomeini Hospital in Urmia. During study, positive blood culture specimens of ICU patients
were sent to the laboratory. The evaluated cases were determined for resistance by DDA method. Type
of bacteria and results of antibiogram recorded in testing sheets were collected and the data were
analyzed by SPSS software 20.
Results: Among all blood cultures were carried out in the mentioned period, about 101 positive results
were reported. Among them 56 (55.4%) and 45 (44.6%) were men and women, respectively. Patients'
age ranged from 13 to 94 and the average age of them was 57.8. The most common Gram-positive
bacteria that grew in blood cultures were coagulase negative staphylococci (35.6%) and the most
effective antibiotic against them was vancomycin and the less effective antibiotics were imipenem,
amoxicillin and cephalexin. The most common Gram-negative bacteria isolated was E.coli (19.8%) and
the most effective antibiotics to this microorganism were Ceftazidime and Tetracycline and the less
effective were Cephalexin and Nalidixic Acid.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that there is significant resistance to most antibiotics used
commonly, perhaps one of the reasons of this reality is massive and incorrect using of antibiotics. It
should be noted that the precise determination of antibiotic resistance pattern requires further study with
more samples in different therapeutic centers and repeating of such assessments periodically


This book is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction 2010. The first full account of how the Cold War arms race finally came to a close, this riveting narrative history sheds new light on the people who struggled to end this era of massive overkill, and examines the legacy of the nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that remain a threat today. Drawing on memoirs, interviews in both Russia and the US, and classified documents from deep inside the Kremlin, David Hoffman examines the inner motives and secret decisions of each side and details the deadly stockpiles that remained unsecured as the Soviet Union collapsed. This is the fascinating story of how Reagan, Gorbachev, and a previously unheralded collection of scientists, soldiers, diplomats, and spies changed the course of history.


The proper management of fecal sludge (FS), to block the transmission pathways of pathogens, is rarely enforced in many parts of the world. Health risks associated with different disposal practices of FS in peri-urban settings of a large metropolis in Thailand were assessed; Tha Klong sub-district with indiscriminate FS dumping, and Klong Luang sub-district which has an FS treatment system. The study showed that indiscriminate FS dumping from along the canal banks and discharge of market waste were likely the major sources of E. coli and Salmonella spp. in contamination of the canal water. The increased microbial pathogen concentrations near the FS treatment facility also indicated contamination risks from poorly designed treatment facilities. Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) indicated very high water-related infection risk levels compared to the actual locally recorded disease occurrences. These results indicated that the QMRA model needs to be modified to take account of immunological differences between populations in developed countries, where the model was developed, and developing countries. In addition, further sensitivity factors are needed to reflect different societal behavior patterns, and therefore contact with potentially contaminated water, in different sub-populations of many less developed communities.


With ever-increasing application of machine learning models in various domains such as image classification, speech recognition and synthesis, and health care, designing efficient hardware for these models has gained a lot of popularity. While the majority of researches in this area focus on efficient deployment of machine learning models (a.k.a inference), this work concentrates on challenges of training these models in hardware. In particular, this paper presents a high-performance, scalable, reconfigurable solution for both training and deployment of different dimensionality reduction models in hardware by introducing a hardware-friendly algorithm. Compared to state-of-the-art implementations, our proposed algorithm and its hardware realization decrease resource consumption by 50% without any degradation in accuracy.


Successful crop production requires the knowledge of soil variation and the evaluation of the agricultural potentials of the land. Detailed land resource survey of approximately 100 ha land in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State was carried out. Identified soil mapping units were examined in modal profiles. The soils were classified using the USDA Soil Taxonomy, FAO/IUSS World Reference Base (WRB) system and local soil series methods. Five soil mapping units were identified and were classified as Ilaro Series (Kanhaplic Haplustalf), Ibeshe (Typic Kandiustalf), Kulfo (Udic Kandiustalf), Molo (Rhodic Kandiustalf) and Otteyi Series (Lithic Haplustept). The soils were classified as Alfisols (71.56%) and Inceptisols (28.44%). Land Capability Classification (LCC) revealed that Ilaro, Ibeshe and Molo series belong to Capability Class II while Kulfo series was Class III but Otteyi series is of non-arable Class VI. Otteyyi Series had severe limitations of very shallow soil depth, high slope gradient and high gravel content. The area has good potential for crop production if soil fertility can be managed with appropriate fertilizer application and seasonal water deficit ameliorated by supplemental irrigation. Otteyi Series that is non-arable could be used for farm buildings and other physical infrastructures or animal grazing.

 Key words: Land evaluation, fertility capability class, soil series, limitations, arable cropping.


From 1945 to about 1960, the University of Chicago was home to a group of faculty and graduate students whose work has come to define what many call a second "Chicago School" of sociology. Like its predecessor earlier in the century, the postwar department was again the center for qualitative social research - on everything from mapping the nuances of human behaviour in small groups to seeking solutions to problems of race, crime and poverty. Howard Becker, Joseph Gusfield, Herbert Blumer, David Riesman, Erving Goffman and others created a large, enduring body of work. In this book, sociologists critically confront this legacy. The eight original chapters survey the issues that defined the department's agenda: they focus on deviance, race and ethnic relations, urban life and collective behaviour; the renewal of participant observation as a method and the refinement of symbolic interaction as a guiding theory; and the professional and institutional factors that shaped this generation, including the leadership of Louis Wirth and Everett C. Hughes; the role of women; and the competition for national influence Chicago sociology faced from survey research at Columbia and grand theory at Harvard. The contributors also discuss the internal conflicts that call into question the very idea of a unified "school".


Introduction: In the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) both pulmonary and systemic condition increase dyspnea, intolerance to exercise and inactivity. Objective: To evaluate possible association between Hand Grip Strength (HGS) and the distance covered in the Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Methods: A cross-sectional study that evaluated 34 patients with COPD from moderate to very severe stages. The HGS test was performed with a manual hydraulic dynamometer (Jamar®, California, USA) with three bilateral measures, allowing 60-seconds rest time in-between measurements. Afterwards, the patients were submitted to the 6MWT along a 30-meters level corridor following the rules of the American Thoracic Society. Results: Average age 62.7±7.2 years old, body mass index 26.7±6.9 Kg/m². The value of the HGS in the dominant hand was 28.0±8.7 Kgf and in the non-dominant hand was 26.7±7.7 Kgf (99.2% of the predicted value and 106.3% of the predicted value, respectively). The subjects covered in average 421.0±110.4 meters in the 6MWT and there has been detected direct and significant correlation between the distance covered and the HGS of the dominant hand (r=0,430; p=0,011) and non-dominant (r=0,502; p=0,002). The patients with COPD that presented lower HGS also covered less distance in the 6MWT. Conclusion: The hand grip strength was directly associated with the functional capacity assessed through the distance covered in the Six-Minute Walk Test in the evaluated trial.


Many local governments in metropolitan areas with high housing costs are adopting inclusionary zoning (IZ) as a means of producing housing that is affordable to lowand moderate-income households without direct public subsidies. Critics charge that IZ ordinances impose additional costs on new development and may lead to reductions in supply and increases in the price of market rate housing. Advocates of IZ argue that any negative effects IZ might have on production can be mitigated through density bonuses or other cost offsets. Rigorous empirical study of the effects of inclusionary zoning ordinances has been hampered by the lack of accurate, timely data describing IZ and the land use regulatory schemes in which IZ programs fit. In this paper, we use panel data on the adoption and characteristics of IZ in the San Francisco and Washington DC metropolitan areas and the Boston-area suburbs to analyze which jurisdictions adopt IZ, how much affordable housing the programs produce and the effects of IZ on the prices and production of market-rate housing. The IZ programs among our sample jurisdictions are complex policies and exhibit considerable variation in their design, particularly across the three regions. We find that larger, more highly educated jurisdictions and those surrounded by more neighbors with IZ are more likely to adopt IZ. Whether and how many affordable units are produced under IZ depends primarily on the length of time IZ has been in place. The results from Boston-area suburbs provide some evidence that IZ has contributed to increased housing prices and lower rates of housing production. There is no evidence that IZ has constrained supply or increased prices among Bay Area jurisdictions. Limitations on the availability and quality of our data suggest that our results should be interpreted cautiously, but also suggest that IZ programs should be designed cautiously to mitigate possible negative impacts on housing supply. * Corresponding author: Jenny Schuetz 110 West Third St, Room 209C New York, NY 10012 Tel. 212.998.6597 firstname.lastname@example.com


A novel method is presented for fabricating lensed optical fibers for enhancing the coupling efficiency between high-power IR laser diodes and gradient-index fibers (GIF). SU-8 photoresist is attached to the fiber tip by means of surface tension forces and a cone-shaped micro-lens structure is then formed using an electrostatic pulling method. It is shown that micro-lenses with various radii of curvature can be easily formed by tuning the intensity of the electric field used in the pulling process. Experimental results show that for a laser diode chip with a central wavelength of 1310 nm, a coupling efficiency of 78% can be obtained using a lensed optical fiber with a radius of curvature of 48 μm. By contrast, the coupling efficiency of a traditional flat-end fiber is just 40%. Overall, the fabrication method proposed in this study provides a rapid and low-cost solution for the mass production of high-quality lensed optical fibers.


Shipdeck landing is one of the most challenging tasks for a rotorcraft. Current autonomous rotorcraft use shipdeck mounted transponders to measure the relative pose of the vehicle to the landing pad. This tracking system is not only expensive but renders an unequipped ship unlandable. We address the challenge of tracking a shipdeck without additional infrastructure on the deck. We present two methods based on video and lidar that are able to track the shipdeck starting at a considerable distance from the ship. This redundant sensor design enables us to have two independent tracking systems. We show the results of the tracking algorithms in three different environments - field testing results on actual helicopter flights, in simulation with a moving shipdeck for lidar based tracking and in laboratory using an occluded, and, moving scaled model of a landing deck for camera based tracking. The complimentary modalities allow shipdeck tracking under varying conditions.


The problem of learning digital skills among the elderly addressed in this paper is focused on a methodology that tries to overcome the barriers in adoption of touchscreen digital technology faced by older adults, by using a game-based learning approach. The paper provides an overview of some early results and findings from an exploratory study among the elderly from four European countries based on the use of touchscreen tablets for playing games as a pre-course activity for learning how to use a smart phone. The learning was carried out with pre-selected games designed to enhance the motor skills of the players and improve the coordination between cognitive and motor skills capacity. The results presented in the paper were collected within the partners of the project GIRDA – Gameplay foR Inspiring Digital Adoption from the European ERASMUS+ programme. The paper describes the research setting, the experiments and the results accompanied by discussion and the conclusion.


Introduction: Complex reconstructions of the foot region are planned based on the anatomical subunits affected by the etiological factors of lesions. We have several options for covering defects of the back of the feet, from the simpler ones, such as local graft and local flap at random and locoregional pedicled flaps, to the more complex ones, such as free flaps. Here, we report a case in which an unpublished technique using a retrograde flow medial plantar flap in the reconstruction of dorso-distal structures of the foot was used. Its originality consisted in the passage of the flap of the plant to the back through the first intermetatarsal space. Methods: The patient was a 20-year-old woman who had a motorcycle accident, wherein she sustained foot trauma with loss of back substance at the first to fifth metatarsal level, with bone and tendon exposure, and retrograde flow medial plantar flap was used, with transposition to the back of the foot. Results: The reconstruction of the distal region of the forefoot and fingers is a challenge. Grafts are not ideal for deep defects and exposure of noble structures. Local flaps are inaccessible for finger defects. Furthermore, the free flaps are well indicated for large defects. The flaps of the medial plantar artery are indicated and consecrated to the forefoot region, and some authors have modified to the dorsum region of the first metatarsal. Conclusion: This flap is useful for reconstruction of feet with dorsal lesions through this new technique that is unpublished in the literature, with the originality of the passage of the pedicle from the plant to the back through the first intermetatarsal space. ■ ABSTRACT


Markov automata (MAs) extend labelled transition systems with random delays and probabilistic branching. Action-labelled transitions are instantaneous and yield a distribution over states, whereas timed transitions impose a random delay governed by an exponential distribution. MAs are thus a nondeterministic variation of continuous-time Markov chains. MAs are compositional and are used to provide a semantics for engineering frameworks such as (dynamic) fault trees, (generalised) stochastic Petri nets, and the Architecture Analysis & Design Language (AADL). This paper considers the quantitative analysis of MAs. We consider three objectives: expected time, long-run average, and timed (interval) reachability. Expected time objectives focus on determining the minimal (or maximal) expected time to reach a set of states. Long-run objectives determine the fraction of time to be in a set of states when considering an infinite time horizon. Timed reachability objectives are about computing the probability to reach a set of states within a given time interval. This paper presents the foundations and details of the algorithms and their correctness proofs. We report on several case studies conducted using a prototypical tool implementation of the algorithms, driven by the MAPA modelling language for efficiently generating MAs.


Water-logging can be detrimental to soybean growth and development; effects range from chlorosis and stunting to yield loss and plant death. Soybean response to, and the effects of, waterlogging are dependent on the growth-stage of the plant at the initiation of water-logging. The objectives of this study were to screen a diverse soybean germplasm collection for water-logging tolerance (WLT) at both the V5 and R1 growth stage and to develop a method to screen soybean for WLT in greenhouse. One hundred thirty five genotypes consisting of historical genotypes, PIs, drought and WLT tolerant breeding lines were screened for WLT in Stuttgart, Arkansas during the 2009 and 2010 growing seasons. Plots were laid out in a split-plot experimental design, soybean were planted into a Dewitt silt loam. Water-logging stress was applied through the pulling of soil levees around each whole-plot factor. WLT for genotypes was assessed using a 0 to 9 visual rating based on severity of plot damage with 0 being no damage and 9 being 90% of the plot severely damaged to plot death. Differences in WLT ratings were significant in both 2009 and 2010, despite different weather conditions in 2009 and 2010 the genotype Young was identified as tolerant across growth stage and year. However, growth stage specific tolerance was observed for other genotypes in the study. Two greenhouse WLT methodologies were evaluated: Flooding with the addition of CO2 to flood water and flooding without the addition of CO2. Each methodology consisted of six genotypes thee identified as tolerant and three as susceptible, however, not all genotypes were used in both methods. Screening soybean for WLT under flooded conditions with CO2 added to the flood water produced visual symptoms that best represented the effect of waterlogging in the field environment with visual ratings strongly correlating (r=0.926) with ratings from the 2010 field screening. Identification of WLT genotypes, the observation of growth stage specific tolerance and the development of a greenhouse screening methodology will aid plant breeders in developing WLT cultivars.


Technical and economic factors have caused the field of physical design automation to receive increasing attention and commercialization. The steady down-scaling of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device dimensions has been the main stimulus to the growth of microelectronics and computer-aided very large scale integration (VLSI) design. The more an Integrated Circuit (IC) is scaled, the higher its packing density becomes. For example, in 2006 Intel's 65-nm process technology for high performance microprocessor has a reduced gate length of 35 nanometers. In their 70-Mbit SRAM chip, there are up to 0.5 billion transistors in a 110 mm2 chip size with 3.4 GHz clock speed. New technology generations come out every two years and provide an approximate 0.7 times transistor size reduction as predicted by Moore's Law. For the ultimate scaled MOSFET beyond 2015 or so, the transistor gate length is projected to be 10 nm and below. The continually increasing size of chips, measured in either area or number of transistors, and the wasted investment involving fabricating and testing faulty circuits, make layout analysis an important part of physical design automation. Layout-versus-schematic (LVS) is one of three kinds of layout analysis tools. Subcircuit extraction is the key problem to be solved in LVS. In LVS, two factors are important. One is run time, the other is identification correctness. This has created a need for computational intelligence. Fuzzy attributed graph is not only widely used in the fields of image understanding and pattern recognition, it is also useful to the fuzzy graph matching problem. Since the subcircuit extraction problem is a special case of a general-interest problem known as subgraph isomorphism, fuzzy attributed graphs are first effectively applied to the subgraph isomorphism problem. Then we provide an efficient fuzzy attributed graph algorithm based on the solution to subgraph isomorphism for the subcircuit extraction problem. Similarity measurement makes a significant contribution to evaluate the equivalence of two circuit graphs. To evaluate its performance, we compare fuzzy attributed graph approach with the commercial software called SubGemini, and two of the fastest approaches called DECIDE and SubHDP. We are able to achieve up to 12 times faster performance than alternatives, without loss of accuracy


Abstract Mobilities across contested terrains are key to the formation of settler societies. This paper explores how safety bicycles were drawn into the Australian settler project at the turn of the twentieth century, just as the six independent colonies were federating into the Commonwealth of Australia. As recently imported objects, bicycles afforded settler men unprecedented mobility across remote landscapes that had not been smoothed by the infrastructures of the 'old world'. In those years of national formation, bicycles were received as objects that could fill 'empty' land with people, things, activities and stories, at the same time as they generated masculine, settler subjectivities. A practice approach to settler mobilities helps to tease out the entanglements between bicycle 'overlanding' and two fundamental imperatives of settlerism: transforming indigenous places into settler places and creating 'nativised' settler subjectivities.


Magnesium is potentially useful for orthopedic and cardiovascular applications. Magnesium and its alloys are light, biodegradable, biocompatible meta ls that have promising applications as biomaterials. However, the corrosion rate of this m etal is so high that its degradation occurs before the end of the healing process. One of the ways to improve the corrosion rate is to compose it with ceramic materials such as HA, TCP and so on. In thi s study, at first, the alloy with a nominal composition of Mg-3%Al-1%Zn (AZ31 alloy) was produced by high energy ball milling (HEBM) of Mg powder, Zn powder and Al powder under high purity argon. The ball milling parameters were chosen as following: shaft rotation was 600 rpm, ratio of bal ls to powder was 10:1 and milling time was 90, 180, 270 and 360 min under argon atmosphere. The obtained Mg alloy powders were pressed with different amounts of HA-Zeolite (HZ) powder mixture, weight ratio HA (Hydroxyapatite) to Zeolite 4:1, under 1000 MPa in steel die with 12 mm in diameter and 20 mm in height. The pressed samples were sintered for 1 h a t 630 K in an inert atmosphere furnace. Microstructure characterization of as-milled powder s and as-sintered alloys were carried out by SEM. An X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used for phase analysis. XRD patterns of the powders mixture showed that the AZ31 alloy powder has been gained after 270 min.


In this Essay we introduce a model of copyright law that calibrates authors' rights and liabilities to the level of originality in their works. We advocate this model as a substitute for the extant regime that unjustly and inefficiently grants equal protection to all works satisfying the "modicum of creativity" standard. Under our model, highly original works will receive enhanced protection and their authors will also be sheltered from suits by owners of preexisting works. Conversely, authors of less original works will receive diminished protection and incur greater exposure to copyright liability. We operationalize this proposal by designing separate rules for highly original works, for works exhibiting average originality, and for works that are minimally original or unoriginal. We illustrate our rules' application by showing how they could have altered court decisions in classic copyright cases in a socially beneficial way.


Some recent scholarship characterizes violent biblical
 narratives, such as the killing of Saul's descendents in 2 Sam. 21, as evidence
 of ancient ritual sacrifice. Yet 2 Sam. 21 has more in common with Ruth 1 and
 Judith than with stories of sacrifice. By their common reference to the barley
 harvest, untimely deaths, famine, and social conflict, these texts represent
 reality through literary means. Drawing on Rene Girard's theory of religion, I
 suggest how the narratives of 2 Sam. 21, Ruth 1, and Judith, as well as a set of
 narratives about sheepshearing, address social conflict as literary texts rather
 than as transparent windows onto ancient practice.


Echinoderms are among the marine invertebrates that underwent the most severe losses at the end-Permian extinction. The prevailing paradigm claims an extreme bottleneck with only very few, if not single, holdovers ("hangovers" herein) sparking the post-Paleozoic radiation. Here we identify previously overlooked Triassic echinoids, ophiuroids, and asteroids as unambiguous members of Paleozoic stem groups. These echinoderm hangovers occurred almost worldwide and had spread into a wide range of paleoenvironments by the Late Triassic. Our discovery challenges fundamentals of echinoderm evolution with respect to end-Permian survival and sheds new light on the early evolution of the modern clades, in particular on Triassic ghost lineages (i.e., inferred but undocumented fossil record) of the crown-group look-alikes of the Paleozoic hangovers.


In the six decades since the publication of Julian Huxley's Evolution: The Modern Synthesis, the spectacular empirical advances in the biological sciences have been accompanied by equally significant developments within the core theoretical framework of the discipline. As a result, evolutionary theory today includes concepts and even entire new fields that were not part of the foundational structure of the Modern Synthesis. In this volume, sixteen leading evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science survey the conceptual changes that have emerged since Huxley's landmark publication, not only in such traditional domains of evolutionary biology as quantitative genetics and paleontology but also in such new fields of research as genomics and EvoDevo. Most of the contributors to Evolution, the Extended Synthesis accept many of the tenets of the classical framework but want to relax some of its assumptions and introduce significant conceptual augmentations of the basic Modern Synthesis structure -- just as the architects of the Modern Synthesis themselves expanded and modulated previous versions of Darwinism. This continuing revision of a theoretical edifice the foundations of which were laid in the middle of the nineteenth century--the reexamination of old ideas, proposals of new ones, and the synthesis of the most suitable -- shows us how science works, and how scientists have painstakingly built a solid set of explanations for what Darwin called the "grandeur" of life. Contributors: John Beatty, Werner Callebaut, Jeremy Draghi, Chrisantha Fernando, Sergey Gavrilets, John C. Gerhart, Eva Jablonka, David Jablonski, Marc W. Kirschner, Marion J. Lamb, Alan C. Love, Gerd B. Muller, Stuart A. Newman, John Odling-Smee, Massimo Pigliucci, Michael Purugganan, Eors Szathmary, Gunter P. Wagner, David Sloan Wilson, Gregory A. Wray.


A fluorescently labeled version of a population-specific oligonucleotide hybridization probe was used to monitor the enrichment and isolation of a sulfate-reducing bacterium from a multispecies anaerobic bioreactor. The organism was originally identified as a molecular isolate that was phylogenetically related to Desulfovibrio vulgaris by amplification and sequencing of part of its 16S rRNA sequence. The sequence, in turn, was used to design a population-specific probe. The anaerobic medium used for the organism's enrichment and isolation was based on the physiological properties of the its closest relatives as identified by sequence comparisons. Of 30 isolates examined, only 3 hybridized with the probe. Nearly complete 16S rRNA sequences determined for each of these three isolates (i) had no mismatches with the probe target site, (ii) were identical to the amplified partial sequence of about 500 nucleotides and to one another in all other positions, and (iii) were 93.9% similar to that of D. vulgaris. In addition, one isolate chosen for further study (strain PT-2) had a substrate specificity comparable to that of D. vulgaris. These results confirmed that polymerase chain reaction amplification of 16S rRNA sequences from environmental samples can be accurate and can also provide phylogenetic information from which aspects of a population's physiology can be inferred.


Three economic environments are reviewed, and in each organizations play an essential role. For an adverse selection insurance economy, we find that when mutual insurance arrangements are permitted an equilibrium necessarily exists and is optimal. This example, and the two others, illustrate the problems that may result from imposing organizational structure on an environment rather than permitting the structure to be determined endogenously.


Many database applications require similarity based retrieval on stored text and/or multimedia objects. This is an area of increasing research interest in the sectors of database, data mining, information retrieval and knowledge discovery. This paper presents a brief survey on the existing approximate string matching algorithms by primarily demonstrating three families of algorithms — the Brute force, the Lipschitz Embeddings and the Ball Partitioning algorithms. While Brute Force performs approximate string matching based on distance measures of the query object from each string stored in the database, Lipschitz Embeddings uses a far more efficient approach which embeds the stored strings in database in vector space so that the distances of embedded strings approximates the actual distances. Ball Partitioning algorithm, much more efficient than Brute force but less efficient than Lipschitz algorithm, performs search in approximate string matching based on distances where queries operate on an arbitrary search hierarchy. The paper compares and makes an analysis of these three algorithms which are suitable for approximate matching of strings stored in database text files, an issue much required in the context of similarity based retrieval of objects. The work can be extended for future work by taking into account a larger number of algorithms suited to approximate string matching for the benefit of a wider scope of comparisons and picking out the most optimal one. General Terms Algorithms for Approximate String Matching.


The explanations provided in the literature for community-level variations in constant-quality house prices vary from urban economics (e.g., distance from the Central Business District) to local public economics (e.g., property tax rate) to urban-amenities theory (e.g., crime rate). This paper examines the impact of distance from the city centre on values of residential apartment units in Vienna. Data on individual owner assessments of apartment value along with other hedonic determinants of housing value is obtained from a popular online database of apartment units available for sale. The three candidates for the location variable include the district in which the apartment units are located, a categorical variable classifying location into three groups -the centre, neighbouring districts and outskirts in addition to estimates of distance from a predefined point in the city centre to the apartment units. The control variables of the analysis include number of rooms, living area, number of the floor, number of bathrooms and toilets, availability of balcony / terrace / elevator / basement and type of flooring in addition to the information if the unit is furnished. The first part of the article examines the possible influence of distance and other location variables on the price of a constant-quality apartment. The results demonstrate a negative relation between distance from the city centre and apartment price. The tests employed to empirically explore if there is spatial autocorrelation in the residual series suggest use of the spatial autoregressive error model (SEM) as appropriate. The estimation results of the spatial model are very similar to those of the base model, suggesting that the results produced by the base model are not an outcome of any misspecification of the model.


In an ideal world, primary education would be universal and publicly financed, and all children would be able to attend school regardless of their parents' ability or willingness to pay. In many poor countries, however, governments lack either the financial resources or the political will to provide each child with a basic education, despite the benefits that would accrue not only to individuals but to society as a whole. In some of these countries, parents cover part or all of the cost of their children's education. This paper explores the pros and cons of user payments.


Published since 1959, International Review of Neurobiology is a well-known series appealing to neuroscientists, clinicians, psychologists, physiologists, and pharmacologists. Led by an internationally renowned editorial board, this important serial publishes both eclectic volumes made up of timely reviews and thematic volumes that focus on recent progress in a specific area of neurobiology research. With recent advancements in new knowledge, it has become evident that psychostimulants and related drugs of abuse are influencing our central nervous system (CNS) remarkably and could alter their function for a longtime. This volume is the first to focus on substance abuse induced brain pathology in the widest sense as it covers alterations in neuronal, glial and endothelial cell functions under the influence of acute or chronic usage of substance abuse.


Myelin, the proteolipidic layer that wraps around the axon, is one of the evolutionary advantages for animals with complex behaviour and reasoning. Myelin ensures axonal support and synchronised electrical communication among different brain areas. During the last two decades several studies have consistently reported myelin abnormalities in schizophrenia. Myelin Basic Protein (MBP), one of the major myelin structural proteins, has become more and more appealing for the attempt of understanding the role of myelin abnormalities in neuropsychiatric diseases. Due to its essential role in the correct formation of the myelin sheath, we wondered whether a reduction in MBP could be detrimental for the brain connectivity and functionality, hence leading to the appearance of specific symptomatology reported in schizophrenia. We characterised a mouse line expressing only 50% of MBP, i.e. the heterozygous strain of shiverer mice (here referred as Mbp+/- mouse). Through the combination of several methods (behavioural testing, magnetic resonance imaging, spectroscopy histology, electron microscopy and biochemical analyses), we proved that, upon ageing,the prefrontal cortex and its underlying white matter are highly sensitive to the lack of one MBP allele. We found reduced pre-pulse inhibition as a translationally valid behavioural readout of mental disease-associated network dysfunction, i.e. sensorimotor gating deficiency. As mechanisms likely contributing to this behavioural abnormality, we detected mild alteration in myelin ultrastructure and brain metabolism in association with microgliosis. Even though it is still unclear how and when the lowered MBP levels in schizophrenia are induced, we show for the first time that MBP reduction by itself does have mental disease relevant consequences


Personalization of web-based information systems based on specialized user models has become more important in order to preserve the effectiveness of their use as the amount of available content increases. In this system, we are proposing a novel technique called as Semantic Search log for Social Personalized Search. This novel technique is used to provide results for search query that relates to a particular user's background, his area of interests, his likes and dislikes, the data he/she might have found to be useful for him while searching. In our system, supervised learning method is used for learning purpose. It is learn about the user based upon his interactions inside the system. User can give their basic information in their profile and get benefits from their each and every search. Inorder to obtain the semantics of videos; video extraction based on the fuzzy-ontology and rule based model is used in this project. When the user searches a keyword using the search engine inside the social network, according to the ontological profile of the user and displays the personalized search results. Our system can able to intelligently identify whether a search result has been useful to him or not and save it for his future reference when he searches for the same or similar keyword next time. From the experimental result, we obtain our system has high efficiency compared to other personalized search engine. KeywordsSocial personalized search, Semantic search, Ontology search engine, Semantic content extraction, and video content modeling


The term moral hazard generally implies individuals' tendency to exercise less effort into cost reduction if the negative consequences resulting from their actions are not borne by themselves. This paper analyzes using recent experimental studies under which circumstances moral hazard is likely to occur and how this problem could be mitigated or eliminated. A detailed overview and analysis of field and laboratory experiments from different areas are provided. At first, a description of the experimental process is presented. The paper then concentrates on findings and, additionally, on the discussion of the ethodology. Overall, the results suggest moral hazard to be an important problem in many markets. However, it is found out that experts without personal financial incentives do not respond to customers' insurance status. Besides, competition mitigates moral hazard on the supply side and evidence shows that moral hazard is less likely to occur in markets for natural disaster insurance where probabilities of damages are low. Additionally, peer pressure and pro-social preferences alleviate the problem of moral hazard in group schemes.
Keywords: First-degree moral hazard; second-degree moral hazard; experiments; analysis.


Based on lesion mapping studies, the inferior parietal lobule and temporoparietal junction are considered the critical parietal regions for spatial-attentional deficits. Lesion evidence for a key role of the intraparietal sulcus, a region featuring prominently in non-human primate studies and human functional imaging studies of the intact brain, is still lacking, probably due to the exceptional nature of isolated intraparietal sulcus lesions. We combined behavioural testing and functional imaging in two patients with a focal intraparietal sulcus lesion sparing the inferior parietal lobule and temporoparietal junction to examine the critical contribution of the intraparietal sulcus to spatial attention. Case H.H. had a focal ischaemic lesion (1.8 cm3) that was confined to the posterior segment of the left intraparietal sulcus, whereas Case N.V. had a partially reversible lesion of the middle segment of the right intraparietal sulcus extending into the superior parietal lobule (13.8 cm3). The performance of these cases was contrasted with five cases with a classical inferior parietal lesion, as well as with a group of 31 age-matched controls. In the behavioural study, the patients performed an orientation discrimination task on a peripheral target (eccentricity 7.6°) that was preceded by a central spatial cue. We manipulated both the cue validity (17% trials with an invalid spatial cue) and the presence of a competing distracter in the visual field contralateral to the target (17% double stimulation trials). The ability of the patients with an intraparietal sulcus lesion to reorient their spatial focus of attention and to select between competing stimuli was impaired for contralesional targets compared with controls, similarly to what we saw in the inferior parietal group. Furthermore, we could observe that the deficit in Case N.V. resolved with regression of the lesion. To further evaluate the correspondence between spatial-attentional deficits and the intraparietal sulcus lesions, we ascertained the functional integrity of the inferior parietal lobule and temporoparietal junction in Case H.H. using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging with the same task as in the behavioural study. The intraparietal sulcus lesion of this patient did not affect the task-related activation of the inferior parietal lobule or temporoparietal junction. Additionally, a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study in Case H.H. and 62 controls revealed that the lesion in Case H.H. did not affect the topology of the ventral attention network nor the strength of its main inter- and intrahemispheric connections. Our findings demonstrate that the human superior parietal cortex critically contributes to spatially selective attention.


Business Clusters became foreground of economic thought in the 90s due to Michael Porter's research work, who argued that the most successful export companies belong to group of enterprises of the same industry that are geographically close to one another. This issue became even more acute because of the globalisation of the economy and the need to plan and implement policies aiming mainly at strengthening the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises. Tourism, as an economic activity, includes a wide range of small and medium enterprises engaging in various sectors of it. It is argued that business clusters within the field of tourism economics define de facto the competitiveness of a tourist destination. Business clusters of small and medium enterprises which operate in a tourism destination are a prerequisite contributing to its competitiveness. Especially in Greece, it is alleged that clusters can maximise the abilities offered by technology, new markets and other external factors and contribute to the strengthening of competitiveness in the tourism industry.


3D printing is a field of technology, which enabled the manufacturing of physical objects from three-dimensional digital models.The discipline of copyright law has been challenged and disrupted by the emergence of 3D printing and additive manufacturing. 3D Printing poses questions about the subject matter protected under copyright law. Copyright law provides for exclusive economic and moral rights in respect of cultural works – such as literary works, artistic works, musical works, dramatic works, as well as other subject matter like radio and television broadcasts, sound recordings, and published editions. Copyright law demands a threshold requirement of originality. There have been sometimes issues about the interaction between copyright law and designs law in respect of works of artistic craftsmanship. In addition, 3D printing has raised larger questions about copyright infringement. There has been significant debate over the scope of copyright exceptions – such as the defence of fair dealing, and exceptions for cultural institutions. Moreover, there has been debate over the operation of digital copyright measures in respect of 3D printing. The takedown and notice system has affected services and sites, which enable the sharing of 3D printing designs. Technological protection measures – digital locks – have also raised challenges for 3D printing. The long duration of copyright protection in Australia and the United States has also raised issues in respect of 3D printing.There has been great public policy interest into how copyright law will address and accommodate the disruptive technologies of 3D Printing. As a public policy expert at Public Knowledge, and as a lawyer working for Shapeways, Michael Weinberg has written a number of public policy papers on intellectual property and 3D Printing. Associate Professor Dinusha Mendis and her colleagues have undertaken legal and empirical research on intellectual property and 3D printing. In 2015, Professor Mark Lemley from Stanford Law School wrote about intellectual property and 3D printing in the context of work on the economics of abundance. As a practising lawyer, John Hornick has examined the topic of intellectual property and 3D printing. Comparative legal scholar Dr Angela Daly has written on the socio-legal aspects of 3D printing in 2016. The World Intellectual Property Organization in 2015 highlighted 3D printing.3D printing has provided new opportunities for cultural institutions to redefine their activities and purposes, and engage with a variety of new constituencies. 3D printing has also highlighted deficiencies in copyright law in respect of cultural institutions. Culturally and technologically specific exceptions for libraries, archives, and cultural institutions have proven to be ill-adapted for an age of 3D printing and makerspaces. The Australian Law Reform Commission has highlighted the need to modernise Australia's copyright laws for the digital age. Likewise, the Productivity Commission has considered the question of copyright exceptions in its study of intellectual property arrangements in 2016. The Turnbull Government has contemplated somewhat more modest copyright reforms, with the draft legislation in the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2016 (Cth). Libraries, galleries, museums, and archives would all benefit from flexible copyright exceptions for cultural institutions to take full advantage of the possibilities of digitisation and 3D printing.


This book provides readers with the skills they need to write computer codes that simulate convection, internal gravity waves, and magnetic field generation in the interiors and atmospheres of rotating planets and stars. Using a teaching method perfected in the classroom, Gary Glatzmaier begins by offering a step-by-step guide on how to design codes for simulating nonlinear time-dependent thermal convection in a two-dimensional box using Fourier expansions in the horizontal direction and finite differences in the vertical direction. He then describes how to implement more efficient and accurate numerical methods and more realistic geometries in two and three dimensions. In the third part of the book, Glatzmaier demonstrates how to incorporate more sophisticated physics, including the effects of magnetic field, density stratification, and rotation. Featuring numerous exercises throughout, this is an ideal textbook for students and an essential resource for researchers. Describes how to create codes that simulate the internal dynamics of planets and stars Builds on basic concepts and simple methods Shows how to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the numerical methods Describes more relevant geometries and boundary conditions Demonstrates how to incorporate more sophisticated physics


Our ability to deliver food security to the world's poor in a sustainable way depends on three converging global challenges: climate change, population growth, and limited available natural resources. Understanding the severity of these challenges, and the actions that must be taken to successfully tackle them, is high on the international research agenda. Although the future is uncertain, it is possible to construct a range of likely scenarios, which are determined by a number of factors. This paper discusses changing trends, and provides recommendations for one of the principal factors driving the future of development: investments in international agricultural research. CIMMYT contributes to sustainable agriculture, rural development, and value chains for maize and wheat agri-food systems, with projects in more than 50 countries. Although most research has long been funded by public sector donors and philanthropic foundations, cooperation with the private agricultural industry is increasingly necessary to achieve desired development impacts. More specifically, cooperation between public and private sector institutions is essential to develop and utilize new technologies that address current and future food security challenges. Delivering joint, high-quality research will not only improve food products for clients and build farmers' capacity, but also ensure that all partners benefit from cost-sharing and complementary technical expertise in precompetitive domains. Research will remain an academic undertaking, unless it is informed by real problems on farms and efforts are made to deliver solutions to real users. As compared to the traditional, separated approach, public-private collaborations will have the greatest impact on both agricultural productivity and long-term food security.


While many countries operate publicly funded programs to help care-needing elderly people finance the catastrophic costs of nursing home care, eligibility to public assistance may be means tested. To qualify for a means-tested program, applicants must first exhaust (spend down) their financial assets on privately paying for nursing home care, thereby wiping out their lifetime savings and children's inheritance. They may naturally consider the possibility of hiding assets from the health agency, consequently shifting the financial burden to taxpayers. The present article adjusts two classical tax evasion models to capture the decision to evade the costs of nursing home care, focusing on the implications on the evaded costs and the program's deficit of attempting to cope with the escalating costs of nursing home care by imposing a cost-sharing premium on the applicants' adult children. Some insights on the socially optimal level of the cost-sharing premium are finally discussed.


Serum levels of group-specific component (Gc) protein are useful in evaluating the likelihood of survival in patients with acute liver failure (ALF) who may be candidates for liver transplant surgery. Most methods for quantifying Gc protein concentration are either isotopic, manual, technically demanding, and/or time consuming to perform, and thus are not well suited for routine clinical use in a hospital setting. We modified and evaluated a recently described nonisotopic, fully automated, immunonephelometric method for quantifying serum Gc protein concentration and compared it to our previous immunoblotting method. In addition, we evaluated the effect of G-actin on the immunonephelometric measurement of Gc protein. Serum samples from 20 patients with ALF and from 20 age- and sex-matched clinic patients without liver disease were quantified by both immunoblotting and immunonephelometry. We assessed the intra-assay precision, correlation, and diagnostic accuracy of these methods in discriminating between individuals with no preexisting liver disease and those with ALF. Actin in 1.3- to 4-fold excess of Gc protein levels demonstrated minimal to no interference in the quantification of Gc protein by immunonephelometry. Immunonephelometry was more precise than immunoblotting. Gc protein values by immunonephelometry were similar to those obtained by immunoblotting, and the diagnostic accuracy of Gc protein concentration by immunonephelometry was similar to that observed by immunoblotting. Immunonephelometry provides a nonisotopic, fully automated, rapid, precise, accurate, and cost-effective method for quantifying serum levels of total Gc protein that is well suited for routine use in a hospital-based clinical laboratory.


OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Northeastern University, December, 2009


In Experiment 1, 6- and 9-year-old children and adults were asked to imagine various types of objects. The experimenter then attempted to change the image of those objects in participants' minds by either suggesting that the objects may change against the participants' will, or by asking participants to change the objects as a favor to the experimenter. Two types of suggestive causation were employed: Magical-suggestion (a magic spell was cast with the aim of changing the imagined objects) and ordinary-suggestion (participants were told that the objects in their minds could alter against their will). Ordinary-suggestion was as effective as magical-suggestion in changing the participants' imagined objects. For adults, a direct request for compliance produced a stronger effect than did magical suggestion. This effect was not found in children. In Experiment 2, the two types of suggestion were tested on an alternative type of imagined objects. Adult participants were asked to imagine their futures. It was then proposed that (a) a magic spell could be cast on their futures with the aim of changing them either for the worse or for the better (magical-suggestion), or (b) changing a numerical pattern on a computer screen could change their futures (ordinary-suggestion). All participants denied that changing a numerical pattern on a computer screen could affect their lives, yet in their actions they demonstrated an element of belief in this possibility. As in Experiment 1, in Experiment 2 ordinary suggestion was as effective as magical suggestion. The hypothesis of an historic contiguity between magical causality and ordinary suggestion is discussed.


Departing from a discussion of transformations in the premises of managerial rationality and "managementality" as a pacemaker of the (post)modern social order, as it is steeped in economic crisis, the paper critiques and extends Baudrillard's constructs of "simulation" and "hyperreality" to illuminate significant developments in the global culture complex of neoliberalization. With empirical illustrations of superfinancialization, transparency and surveillance, the paper explores converging patterns of how models of "neo-management" are created by and constructs new post-political and simulated social worlds. The paper concludes that a key feature of the contemporary "managementalities" that orchestrate and give rise to major models of the neoliberal culture complex, is their capacity for constructing new simulated, yet ontologically distinct, spaces that lie beyond the power of representation. We conceptualize this ontological space as "real virtuality". The templates of neo-management not only constantly "conquer new land" and subsume it under simulated hyperrealities, they actively "create new lands" with differential ontological statuses of varying gravity.


NUCA caches have traditionally been proposed as a solution for mitigating wire delays, and delays introduced due to complex networks on chip. Traditional approaches have reported significant performance gains with intelligent block placement, location, replication, and migration schemes. In this paper, we propose a novel approach in this space, called FP-NUCA. It differs from conventional approaches, and relies on a novel method of co-designing the last level cache and the network on chip. We artificially constrain the communication pattern in the NUCA cache such that all the messages travel along a few predefined paths (fast paths) for each set of banks. We leverage this communication pattern by designing a new type of NOC router called the Freeze router, which augments a regular router by adding a layer of circuitry that gates the clock of the regular router when there is a fast path message waiting to be transmitted. Messages along the fast path do not require buffering, switching, or routing. We incorporate a bank predictor with our novel NOC for reducing the number of messages, and resultant energy consumption. We compare our performance with state of the art protocols, and report speedups of up to 31 percent (mean: 6.3 percent), and ED2 reduction up to 46 percent (mean: 10.4 percent) for a suite of Splash and Parsec benchmarks. We implement the Freeze router in VHDL and show that the additional fast path logic has minimal area and timing overheads.


BACKGROUND Superficial siderosis of the central nervous system (SSCNS) is a rare condition that results from hemosiderin deposition in the brain, brainstem, cerebellum, and spinal cord as a result of chronic, repeated, and recurrent subarachnoid hemorrhage. SSCNS that originates in the spinal cord is rarely reported, and epilepsy as a manifestation of such a case has not been reported before. OBSERVATIONS The authors reported a rare case of SSCNS with epilepsy originating from traumatic cervical injury and presented a literature review of all reported SSCNS cases that originated in the spine. The patient was a 29-year-old man with a 16-year history of progressive headache accompanied by seizures, ataxia, and sensorineural hearing loss. He had experienced a traumatic cervical injury at age 7. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a characteristic hypointense rim around the pons and cervical spinal cord on susceptibility-weighted imaging scans. Cerebrospinal fluid examination during a headache episode confirmed subarachnoid hemorrhage and increased intracranial pressure. Surgical exploration revealed a C6 dural defect with bone spurs inserted into the dura mater. After the patient underwent dura mater repair and shunt implantation, his symptoms disappeared completely except for hearing loss. LESSONS This rare case indicated that symptomatic epilepsy followed by SSCNS can be eliminated by complete repair of the cervical dura mater.