Most programs are repetitive, where similar behavior can be seen at different execution times. Proposed algorithms automatically group similar portions of a program's execution into phases, where the intervals in each phase have homogeneous behavior and similar resource requirements. These prior techniques focus on fixed length intervals (such as a hundred million instructions) to find phase behavior. Fixed length intervals can make a program's periodic phase behavior difficult to find, because the fixed interval length can be out of sync with the period of the program's actual phase behavior. In addition, a fixed interval length can only express one level of phase behavior. In this paper, we graphically show that there exists a hierarchy of phase behavior in programs and motivate the need for variable length intervals. We describe the changes applied to SimPoint to support variable length intervals. We finally conclude by providing an initial study into using variable length intervals to guide SimPoint


In many languages abbreviations are very common and are widely used in both written and spoken language. However, they are not always explicitly defined and in many cases they are ambiguous. This research presents a process that attempts to solve the problem of abbreviation ambiguity using modern machine learning (ML) techniques. Various baseline features are explored, including context-related methods and statistical methods. The application domain is Jewish Law documents written in Hebrew and Aramaic, which are known to be rich in ambiguous abbreviations. Two research approaches were implemented and tested: general and individual. Our system applied four common ML methods to find a successful integration of the various baseline features. The best result was achieved by the SVM ML method in the individual research, with 98.07% accuracy.


Fig. 21. Left: Constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r0.002 in the ⇤CDM model, using Planck TT+lowP and Planck TT+lowP+lensing+BAO+JLA+H0 (red and blue, respectively) assuming negligible running and the inflationary consistency relation. The result is model-dependent; for example, the grey contours show how the results change if there were additional relativistic degrees of freedom with Ne↵ = 0.39 (disfavoured, but not excluded, by Planck). Dotted lines show loci of approximately constant e-folding number N, assuming simple V / ( /mPl) single-field inflation. Solid lines show the approximate ns–r relation for quadratic and linear potentials to first order in slow roll; red lines show the approximate allowed range assuming 50 < N < 60 and a power-law potential for the duration of inflation. The solid black line (corresponding to a linear potential) separates concave and convex potentials. Right: Equivalent constraints in the ⇤CDM model when adding B-mode polarization results corresponding to the default configuration of the BICEP2/Keck Array+Planck (BKP) likelihood. These exclude the quadratic potential at a higher level of significance compared to the Planck-alone constraints.


The neural fate commitment of pluripotent stem cells requires the repression of extrinsic inhibitory signals and the activation of intrinsic positive transcription factors. However, how these two events are integrated to ensure appropriate neural conversion remains unclear. In this study, we showed that Pou3f1 is essential for the neural differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs), specifically during the transition from epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs) to neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Chimeric analysis showed that Pou3f1 knockdown leads to a markedly decreased incorporation of ESCs in the neuroectoderm. By contrast, Pou3f1-overexpressing ESC derivatives preferentially contribute to the neuroectoderm. Genome-wide ChIP-seq and RNA-seq analyses indicated that Pou3f1 is an upstream activator of neural lineage genes, and also is a repressor of BMP and Wnt signaling. Our results established that Pou3f1 promotes the neural fate commitment of pluripotent stem cells through a dual role, activating internal neural induction programs and antagonizing extrinsic neural inhibitory signals. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02224.001


There is a lack of direct evidence on the effectiveness of double reading of breast screening mammograms within the context of national screening programmes even though about half of the countries that use mammography screening have implemented double reading. A systematic review was conducted to compare double reading with single reading of mammograms for screening accuracy, patient outcomes and costs. We searched an extensive range of electronic databases, bibliographies of studies were scanned and experts were contacted. Data extraction and quality assessment was undertaken independently by two reviewers. Estimates of the diagnostic accuracy were calculated for those studies with follow-up to identify interval cancers. Only 10 cohort studies met the inclusion criteria with reported extractable data on the effectiveness of double compared to single reading. The mix of methodologies meant that few conclusions could be drawn about the effect of double reading independent of number of views, or effects on size and type of tumours detected. Overall, double reading increases the cancer detection rate by 3-11 per 10,000 women screened and has a double impact on recall rates depending on the recall policy used. The benefit could be mainly in the detection of small cancers, and could be greatest where two readers have different strengths and weaknesses, or where readers are less experienced. Double reading can improve accuracy as compared with single reading. In particular, double reading by consensus or arbitration achieves an increase in cancer detection rate together with a reduction in the rate of women recalled for assessment. Further research should quantify the relative benefit from double reading according to recall policy and number of mammographic views, and estimate the impact on patient outcome.


Three magnetometers based on dc superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) fabricated from YBa2Cu3O7−x have been operated in a magnetically shielded room using a flux‐locked loop involving additional positive feedback with bias current reversal. Two of these devices, integrated multiloop dc SQUIDs with outer diameters of 7 mm, achieved white noise levels of 10 fT/√Hz for bicrystal junctions and 30 fT/√Hz for step‐edge junctions. The third magnetometer involved a flux transformer with a 10×10 mm2 pickup coil connected to a 16‐turn input coil which was inductively coupled to a bicrystal SQUID. This device achieved a white noise of 16.2 fT/√Hz. High quality magnetocardiograms were obtained without signal averaging.


Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine whether curriculum-based assessment (CBA) procedures could be incorporated into a functional behavioral assessment (FBA) to identify antecedent events that occasion off-task classroom behaviors of students in a general education classroom. A multi-element design was used to conduct a two-phase FBA and monitor changes in off-task behavior of 3 male students in the classroom. Phase 1 consisted of a teacher interview, an academic assessment, and a descriptive analysis. Phase 2 consisted of an antecedent manipulation phase in which the difficulty level of academic activities was systematically manipulated to determine events that may elicit the off-task classroom behaviors for each student. The present study builds upon the FBA and functional analysis literature in two ways. First, this study examined the use of CBA procedures to identify antecedent events related to off-task classroom behaviors, given the assumption that these behaviors were motivated by escape from academic activities that were too difficult relative to students' skill levels. Second, this study examined the use of FBA in a general education classroom rather than analogue or clinic-based school settings in which these procedures frequently have been employed. Third, their use was examined with general education students who were experiencing problem behaviors rather than with special education students for whom FBA procedures are often implemented.


Management of uncertain data in numerous real life applications has attracted the attention of database and artificial intelligent research communities. This has resulted in development of new database management systems (DBMS) in which uncertainty is treated as first class citizens. We follow a different approach in this thesis and develop a system (to which we refer as DBMS with Uncertainty, or UDBMS) which is capable of representing and manipulating uncertain data at the application level on top of a standard relational DBMS. Compared to the first approach which treats uncertainty as its first class citizens, the proposed approach may be considered as "light weight" because it is built upon existing database technologies. As the underlying uncertainty formalism, we consider the Information Source Tracking (IST) method, which is essentially probabilistic. We extend the standard SQL language with uncertainty (to which we refer as USQL), to express queries and transactions in our context. The query processing and optimization techniques are extended accordingly to take into account the presence of uncertainty. To evaluate the performance of UDBMS, we conducted extensive experiments using USQL queries and IST relations obtained by extending the standard TPC-H benchmark queries and generated data. We compare and discuss the two approaches mentioned for uncertainty management. Our results indicate that the performance of the proposed UDBMS is reasonably good when the relations involved can be loaded completely into the main memory.


For distributed networks which will be mass-produced, such as computer systems in modern vehicles, it is crucial to develop cost-efficient hardware. A distributed network in a vehicle can consist of 100 ECUs (Electronic Control Unit). In this paper we consider the amount of memory needed for these ECUs. They should contain enough memory to survive several software generations, without inducing unnecessary cost of too much memory. We show that UML Component Diagrams can be used to collect enough information for estimating memory size using an FSM method. We develop two linear models capable of estimating memory size for two common types of software components before the software is available. We support our findings by two experiments containing several software components from the automotive industry.


Recently, techniques have been developed to provably guarantee the robustness of a classifier to adversarial perturbations of bounded L1 and L2 magnitudes by using randomized smoothing: the robust classification is a consensus of base classifications on randomly noised samples where the noise is additive. In this paper, we extend this technique to the L0 threat model. We propose an efficient and certifiably robust defense against sparse adversarial attacks by randomly ablating input features, rather than using additive noise. Experimentally, on MNIST, we can certify the classifications of over 50% of images to be robust to any distortion of at most 8 pixels. This is comparable to the observed empirical robustness of unprotected classifiers on MNIST to modern L0 attacks, demonstrating the tightness of the proposed robustness certificate. We also evaluate our certificate on ImageNet and CIFAR-10. Our certificates represent an improvement on those provided in a concurrent work (Lee et al. 2019) which uses random noise rather than ablation (median certificates of 8 pixels versus 4 pixels on MNIST; 16 pixels versus 1 pixel on ImageNet.) Additionally, we empirically demonstrate that our classifier is highly robust to modern sparse adversarial attacks on MNIST. Our classifications are robust, in median, to adversarial perturbations of up to 31 pixels, compared to 22 pixels reported as the state-of-the-art defense, at the cost of a slight decrease (around 2.3%) in the classification accuracy. Code and supplementary material is available at https://github.com/alevine0/randomizedAblation/.


Today we face a challenge to the organization of higher education that will transform the enterprise, however it is resolved. That challenge goes under the name "learning outcomes,†or sometimes "accountability.†It is a challenge brought largely by those outside higher education, and it is based on criticisms of the performance of college and university instructors in the face of heightened public expectations. One resolution to the challenge may be the adoption of standardized testing for learning outcomes; another may be to bring greater professionalism to the role of college teaching. In this essay, I will argue that the learning-outcomes movement, although well-intentioned and appealing in some ways, could easily be injurious to the ideals of higher education. Taking steps to professionalize college teaching can, by contrast, improve the quality of the teaching corps, while leaving intact three essential features of higher level teaching and learning: (1) the centrality of discipline-based knowledge systems; (2) the plurality of approaches that contribute to the formation of well-educated adults; and (3) the transformative potential of the college teacher as model of reason joined to creative engagement with course materials. If educators take the initiative to enforce standards of professionalism, the faculty itself, rather than external regulators, will be in charge of accountability in higher education. It will not be easy to bring greater professionalism to college teaching, because graduate education has, understandably, focused on research rather than teaching. But the future of higher education may ride on the willingness of educators to make the effort.


Young Tristan, a curious boy who rescues all sorts of objects from the rubbish dump, finds an old Viewmaster in its elaborate box, complete with a set of disks. He finds that these represent the ages of humankind, seen as a cyclical structure in which patterns of growth and decay are repeated. Tristan becomes more and more drawn in to the world of the disks, and eventually disappears. The book is full of metaphors and symbols of seeing and watching, circularity and never-endingness, in a complex, fantastical tale, which was Shaun Tan s first picture book. [Book Synopsis]; Spanish translation. English translation of the record: http://research.usc.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/usc:7173


The Federalist Papers ill serves judicial opinion writing when cited for anything but analyzing the largest constitutional structures and their purposes - as opposed to the Constitution's details, which, although discussed, were not the main subject matter of contention between those supporting and those opposing ratification. Moreover, modern judicial craftsman cannot assume that each and every paper is free of error. They are not. Across the Papers are both minor and major errors of various sorts; thus, the Papers must be read and analyzed (as any other document must be) rather than casually cited (as if each and every Paper is free of defect) for the point under discussion. And, lastly, blithely relying on the rationales put forward by the Papers should not preclude our realizing that not only are some passages of the Constitution in deep tension, but rather, some passages are logically incoherent. Under these circumstances, all rationales put forward - those in the Papers included - are equally problematic. This paper is largely written in a comic mode so as to be more accessible to the generalist lawyer and lay reader - the same audience to whom the Papers were originally addressed. Additionally, this paper also explores some undiscussed aspects of House and Senate contingency elections in the event of the failure of the electoral college to select a President and/or a Vice President.


Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis is used for comparing predictive models in both model selection and model evaluation. ROC analysis is often applied in clinical medicine and social science to assess the tradeoff between model sensitivity and specificity. After fitting a binary logistic or probit regression model with a set of independent variables, the predictive performance of this set of variables can be assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) from an ROC curve. An important aspect of predictive modeling (regardless of model type) is the ability of a model to generalize to new cases. Evaluating the predictive performance (AUC) of a set of independent variables using all cases from the original analysis sample often results in an overly optimistic estimate of predictive performance. One can use K-fold cross-validation to generate a more realistic estimate of predictive performance in situations with a small number of observations. AUC is estimated iteratively for k samples (the "test" samples) that are independent of the sample used to predict the dependent variable (the "training" sample). cvauroc implements k-fold cross-validation for the AUC for a binary outcome after fitting a logit or probit regression model, averaging the AUCs corresponding to each fold, and bootstrapping the cross-validated AUC to obtain statistical inference and 95% confidence intervals. Furthermore, cvauroc optionally provides the cross-validated fitted probabilities for the dependent variable or outcome, contained in a new variable named _fit; the sensitivity and specificity for each of the levels of the predicted outcome, contained in two new variables named _sen and _spe; and the plot of the mean cross-validated AUC and k-fold ROC curves.


The aim of this research is to see the influence of satisfaction-former to loyalty. The research method is descriptive-conclusive research. Multiple regression model is used to analysis the influence of attributes related to: product, service, dan purchase  to the brand loyalty. The result indicate that satisfaction have an big effect to loyalty. The satisfaction to the college influenced by attributes of  related to courtesy, attention, consideration, sociability, ability of communications, amenity get information, reputation and interest.  Satisfaction will be reach by student when they can see and prove that college which their select really can print certifiable collegiate and accepted everywhere. After this, the student by itself will lick lips and become very loyal to college which their choose. Keywords: Attributes related to: product, service, dan purchase; brand loyalty; customer satisfaction


Introduction: As the oral health related quality of life has been important in many dental patients GOHAI is an acceptable tool, preparing its Persian version can be useful in oral health research among Persian populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Persian version of General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). Methods: Translation was performed using the forward-backward process. The final Persian version was then tested through an interview and test-retest to evaluate its comprehensibility and reliability. A sample of 150 subjects (20-65 years old) was requested to answer the GOHAI items prior to a clinical examination. Data on the subjects' socio-demographic characteristics and self-rating report of oral health, general health and dental care needs were recorded. Internal consistency was calculated by Cronbach's α. Interview and test-retest reliability was evaluated by weighted kappa. Concurrent validity was assessed by comparing GOHAI scores and self-rated measures of oral health, general health and perceived dental care needs. Discriminant validity was tested by comparing GOHAI scores with clinical oral condition. Results: The mean GOHAI score was 46.78±7.85. Cronbach's α (0.78) showed a high internal consistency and homogeneity between items. Weighted kappa coefficient for the interview varied from 0.60 to 0.96 and was between 0.33 and 0.64 for test-retest. Bland-Altman plot displayed a good agreement between the two GOHAI scores for both the interview and test-retest. There was no significant relationship between GOHAI scores and self-rating oral health (p=0.090), but there was a relationship between self-rating general health and mean GOHAI scores (p=0.047). Also, the low GOHAI scores were associated with the perceived dental care needs (p=0.001). There was an opposite correlation between GOHAI scores and caries and missing teeth (p<0.0001). Conclusions: The Persian version of the GOHAI exhibits acceptable reliability and validity, so it can be used widely throughout the Persian communities.


Abstract. The Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 (424–374 ka) was characterized by a protracted deglaciation and an unusually long climatic optimum. It remains unclear to what degree the climate development during this interglacial reflects the unusually weak orbital forcing or greenhouse gas trends. Previously, arguments about the duration and timing of the MIS11 climatic optimum and about the pace of the deglacial warming were based on a small number of key records, which appear to show regional differences. In order to obtain a global signal of climate evolution during MIS11, we compiled a database of 78 sea surface temperature (SST) records from 57 sites spanning MIS11, aligned these individually on the basis of benthic (N = 28) or planktonic (N = 31) stable oxygen isotope curves to a common time frame and subjected 48 of them to an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The analysis revealed a high commonality among all records, with the principal SST trend explaining almost 49% of the variability. This trend indicates that on the global scale, the surface ocean underwent rapid deglacial warming during Termination V, in pace with carbon dioxide rise, followed by a broad SST optimum centered at ~410 kyr. The second EOF, which explained ~18% of the variability, revealed the existence of a different SST trend, characterized by a delayed onset of the temperature optimum during MIS11 at ~398 kyr, followed by a prolonged warm period lasting beyond 380 kyr. This trend is most consistently manifested in the mid-latitude North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea and is here attributed to the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. A sensitivity analysis indicates that these results are robust to record selection and to age-model uncertainties of up to 3–6 kyr, but more sensitive to SST seasonal attribution and SST uncertainties >1 °C. In order to validate the CCSM3 (Community Climate System Model, version 3) predictive potential, the annual and seasonal SST anomalies recorded in a total of 74 proxy records were compared with runs for three time slices representing orbital configuration extremes during the peak interglacial of MIS11. The modeled SST anomalies are characterized by a significantly lower variance compared to the reconstructions. Nevertheless, significant correlations between proxy and model data are found in comparisons on the seasonal basis, indicating that the model captures part of the long-term variability induced by astronomical forcing, which appears to have left a detectable signature in SST trends.


Given a user keyword query, current Web search engines return a list of individual Web pages ranked by their "goodness" with respect to the query. Thus, the basic unit for search and retrieval is an individual page, even though information on a topic is often spread across multiple pages. This degrades the quality of search results, especially for long or uncorrelated (multitopic) queries (in which individual keywords rarely occur together in the same document), where a single page is unlikely to satisfy the user's information need. We propose a technique that, given a keyword query, on the fly generates new pages, called composed pages, which contain all query keywords. The composed pages are generated by extracting and stitching together relevant pieces from hyperlinked Web pages and retaining links to the original Web pages. To rank the composed pages, we consider both the hyperlink structure of the original pages and the associations between the keywords within each page. Furthermore, we present and experimentally evaluate heuristic algorithms to efficiently generate the top composed pages. The quality of our method is compared to current approaches by using user surveys. Finally, we also show how our techniques can be used to perform query-specific summarization of Web pages.


Many controversial discussions on the control of the oxidation state of crystallizing magmas are hampered by the fact that there are no available experimental data gained in systems closed to all elements, inclusive oxygen. To fill this gap the old technique of conducting experiments in evacuated silica-glass ampoules at 1 bar has been revived and adapted to perform equilibrium crystallization experiments with basaltic melts at high temperatures under closed-system conditions. The experiments are conducted in two steps. Step 1: in order to fix the initial oxygen fugacity ( fO2 ), small charges of the glassy starting materials are either pressed onto a loop of thin Pt-wire or into a small AgPd crucible and equilibrated at super-liquidus temperatures (>1180 °C) with CO/CO2 gas mixtures. Step 2: to achieve equilibrium crystallization under closed-system conditions, the charges are subsequently placed together with their metal holder/container in evacuated silica-glass ampoules and re-equilibrated under sub-liquidus conditions (1050-1170 °C). To test whether this experimental approach really ensures closed-system conditions, a series of experiments was conducted at near-liquidus temperatures with a synthetic ferro-basaltic starting composition. Within the analytical uncertainties, the bulk ferrous iron contents of the samples remain constant during the step-2 experiments, pointing to systems closed to oxygen. There are, however, indications for a slight oxidation related to a small loss of iron from the sample to the AgPd container. Using the same synthetic ferro-basaltic composition, preliminary equilibrium crystallization experiments under closed-system conditions were performed at 1091-1146 °C with an initial superliquidus fO2 corresponding to FMQ. The crystallization sequence of the mineral phases is the same as under open system conditions but magnetitess appears at higher temperatures. The FeOtot content of the residual melt shows the same increase with decreasing temperature under closed and open system conditions down to about 1100 °C. At lower temperatures, however, the values drop drastically under closed-system conditions, in contradiction with previous modelling. This exemplifies the need for further experiments in closed systems.


Decisions about whether to reassess the clinical condition of patients in a minimally conscious state are a cornerstone of clinical care and management. The outcome of clinical reassessment determines whether efforts to rehabilitate should be escalated, maintained, or targeted more specifically to achieve optimal outcomes. The results of reassessment also underpin decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment from this patient group.
Actual decisions about whether to reassess tend to be taken by members of multidisciplinary teams. For this reason, focus groups were chosen to ascertain the views and perceptions of senior decision-makers as to whether minimally conscious patients should have a fundamental "right" to be reassessed. Constructivist grounded theory was used to analyze the data. The results reveal that a range of factors will influence whether these patients are reassessed clinically.
This case study discusses why focus groups using a grounded theory analysis were chosen to address the research question. A description is provided of the coding process that was used to develop theory from the focus group data. This case study will help researchers to understand how these methodologies are carried out as well as to identify the types of insight that can be gained from their use.


Background: As the cost of attendance for US medical schools continues to increase faster than inflation, students can turn to alternative sources of funding beyond traditional educational loans. The Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) pays for medical students' tuition and fees as well as provides a stipend in exchange for an active-duty service commitment. The aim of this study was to compare the financial impact of an emergency physician joining the military versus taking student loans and going the civilian route. Methods: Cash outflows (in the way of annual attendance costs) and cash inflows (in the form of salaries) were discounted using current student loan interest rates and then added together to calculate the net present values (NPVs) of HPSP versus the civilian route. The numbers for all assumptions were taken from the Association of American Medical Colleges, military pay tables, and physician salary surveys. Results: The NPV of the HPSP for a physician with dependents a...


Archaeologists worldwide increasingly engage with calls from indigenous communities for the repatriation and reburial of ancestral remains. In this paper, we present findings from the Sacred Sites, Contested Rights/Rites
Project: Contemporary Pagan Engagements with the Past, now in its sixth year. Having examined the diversity of Pagan representations of the past and engagements with monuments, we turn our attention here to calls for respect and reburial with regard to prehistoric remains and associated
artefacts held by museums and archaeology departments in Britain. These British Pagans, Druids in particular, are claiming a say in how human remains and associated artefacts are excavated by archaeologists and
curated in museum and university collections. We identify Pagans as 'new-indigenes', in part due to their drawing on indigenous perspectives elsewhere in their discourse, and we problematise and theorise this discourse. There is no single Pagan voice on the issue. The Council of
British Druid Orders' press release (leaked October 2006) calling for the immediate 'return' and reburial of certain pagan remains is proactive in its approach, while Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD), a British network organisation set up to ensure respect for ancient pagan human remains and
related artefacts, has collaborated with the Museums Association in this conference bringing professionals and Pagans into dialogue to explore the 'philosophy and practice' surrounding 'respect for ancient British human
remains'. This dialogue, alongside instances of reburial already in action,reflects a diversity of Pagan voices as well as the ways in which heritage managers and museum professionals are reflexively addressing this issue.


Overflows are bottom gravity currents that supply dense water masses generated in high-latitude and marginal seas into the general circulation. Oceanic observations have revealed that mixing of overflows with ambient water masses takes place over small spatial and time scales. Studies with ocean general circulation models indicate that the strength of the thermohaline circulation is strongly sensitive to representation of overflows in these models. In light of these results, overflow-induced mixing emerges as one of the prominent oceanic processes. In this study, as a continuation of an effort to develop appropriate process models for overflows, nonhydrostatic 3D simulations of bottom gravity are carried out that would complement analysis of dedicated observations and large-scale ocean modeling. A parallel high-order spectral-element Navier‐Stokes solver is used as the basis of the simulations. Numerical experiments are conducted in an idealized setting focusing on the startup phase of a dense water mass released at the top of a sloping wedge. Results from 3D experiments are compared with results from 2D experiments and laboratory experiments, based on propagation speed of the density front, growth rate of the characteristic head at the leading edge, turbulent overturning length scales, and entrainment parameters. Results from 3D experiments are found to be in general agreement with those from laboratory tank experiments. In 2D simulations, the propagation speed is approximately 20% slower than that of the 3D experiments and the head growth rate is 3 times as large, Thorpe scales are 1.3‐1.5 times as large, and the entrainment parameter is up to 2 times as large as those in the 3D experiments. The differences between 2D and 3D simulations are entirely due to internal factors associated with the truncation of the Navier‐Stokes equations for 2D approximation.


Abstract Background and aims : Attention to the general health (physical, mental and social) of staff is very important at the beginning of recruitment and in the period of their working life. Therefore, a study of reliability and validity of Persian version of the General Health Questionnaire (60- Items) was performed for industry staff (Mines and Mineral Industries) of Iran in 2016. Methods : 390 out of 1200 industry staff were randomly selected. The questionnaire was prepared during the translation process. The validity assessed by confirmatory factor analysis by Varimax rotation and for calculating reliability Cronbach's alpha and split-half (Spearman test - Brown) was used. Results : The results of factor analysis showed that the five subscales of the questionnaire: social function, depression, somatic symptoms, anxiety and sleep disorder, and general health. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was estimated 0.96 and its validity for sub-scales was 0.73-0.96. Conclusion : The resulting of General Health Questionnaire-60Items was a successful adaptation to use on the general health of industry staff (mines and mineral industries) in Iran's population.


Abstract. Evapotranspiration (ET) processes at the leaf to landscape scales in multiple land uses have important controls and feedbacks for local, regional, and global climate and water resource systems. Innovative methods, tools, and technologies for improved understanding and quantification of ET and crop water use are critical for adapting more effective management strategies to cope with increasing demand for freshwater resources under global climate change. This article introduces an ASABE Special Collection of 12 articles on ET monitoring and modeling research for multiple land uses and scales. The collection focuses on recent advances in four critical topical areas: (1) reference ET (REF-ET) method development and applications, including crop management and irrigation scheduling, limitations due to sensor inaccuracies and variability, and sensitivity to climatic drivers (three articles); (2) ET process and pathway characterization, including canopy interception, transpiration, and soil evaporation measured using various state-of-the-art techniques on crop lands and plantation forests, and effects of soil moisture on grassland water balance (three articles); (3) ET simulation within hydrological models (SWAT, MIKE SHE, RZWQM, RZ-SHAW, RegCM-BATS, DRAINMOD-FOREST, and Thornthwaite water balance) as well as related processes, such as crop growth and ET/PET ratios, for grass, crop, and forest lands (four articles); and (4) geospatial technology applications, such as using remote sensing to estimate ET and its components (soil evaporation and transpiration) for various land uses (two articles). Study sites represent a range of spatial scales and ecohydrological settings, including grasslands in Inner Mongolia dry lands in northern China, semiarid high plains in Texas, corn production regions from Iowa to Colorado, forest plantations on the humid Atlantic Coastal Plain, developed coastal areas on the island of Taiwan, and the continental U.S. Results from these studies will help guide current development and assessment of REF-ET, ET, and monitoring and modeling of their components in multiple scales and ecosystems. The studies also establish a platform for addressing potential inaccuracies in data from weather sensors and algorithms used in remote sensing products for estimating ET and its parameters, including uncertainties in REF-ET estimates, for tall forest vegetation in particular. Furthermore, the studies offer insights into the interactions between climatic variability and change and vegetation through the ET process.


While the discussion of Thailand and East Asian growth has been a controversy between capital accumulation and productivity stories, we analyze the general equilibrium interaction between productivity and investment in an intertemporal model. The model builds in endogenous productivity spillover effects influencing profitability and investment and produces long run growth effects of economic policy. To understand the growth process in Thailand, learning by exporting is assumed to be the main vehicle of international spillover and brings further productivity effects to the domestic economy. The dynamic simulations show how high economic growth is prolonged by multisector productivity and investment dynamics and structural shift from agriculture to exportables. The importance of trade liberalization is shown in a counterfactual analysis where protection holds back growth by serving as a barrier to productivity spillover.


Democracy in Thailand is the result of a complex interplay of traditional and foreign attitudes. Although democratic institutions have been imported, participation in politics is deeply rooted in Thai village society. A contrasting strand of authoritarianism is present not only in the traditional culture of the royal court but also in the centralized bureaucracies and powerful armed services borrowed from the West. Both attitudes have helped to shape Thai democracy's specific character. This topical volume explores the importance of culture and the roles played by leadership, class, and gender in the making of Thai democracy. James Ockey describes changing patterns of leadership at all levels of society, from the cabinet to the urban middle class to the countryside, and suggests that such changes are appropriate to democratic government - despite the continuing manipulation of authoritarian patterns. He examines the institutions of democratic government, especially the political parties that link voters to the parliament. Political factions and the provincial notables that lead them are given careful attention. The failure to fully integrate the lower classes into the democratic system, Ockey argues, has been the underlying cause of many of the flaws of Thai democracy. Female political leadership, another imported notion, is better represented in urban rather than rural areas. Yet gender relations in villages were more equitable than at court, Ockey suggests, and these attitudes have persisted to this day. Successful women politicians from a variety of backgrounds have begun to overcome stereotypes associated with female. With its wide-ranging analysis of Thai politics over the last three decades, Making Democracy is an important resource for both students and specialists.


With the recent technology advances and the rapid adoption of tablet computers and smartphones, it has become increasingly common for employees to use their own personal devices to perform various tasks in their work-place. This phenomenon is better known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). This new concept is seen as twofold: as not that simple to handle and, at the same time, many organisations are quickly adopting BYOD as it has been shown that it offers many positive effects such as increased job satisfaction, employee morale, better productivity and consumer services. However, permitting employees to utilise their own device of preference in the work-place also brings some risks often associated with the loss of control over organisational data. Hence, this study set to determine and assess the risk of introducing BYOD in an ICT organisation. The Case Study approach elicited that the secure use of the BYOD requires the introduction of mixed measures: technical (e.g. Mobile Device Management MDM) and non-technical (e.g. ICT or BYOD security policies). This study also explored the customer services view related to the BYOD initiative and suggests that use of this initiative can leverage services. The contribution of this study, aimed at practitioners and academics, is seen as threefold as it can help organisations to successfully manage the introduction of BYOD for employees and customers satisfaction, create and implement appropriate policies and also assist the individuals to learn about the risks related to the use of BYOD in an organisation.


This document describes and analyzes a system for secure and privacy-preserving proximity tracing at large scale. This system, referred to as DP3T, provides a technological foundation to help slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2 by simplifying and accelerating the process of notifying people who might have been exposed to the virus so that they can take appropriate measures to break its transmission chain. The system aims to minimise privacy and security risks for individuals and communities and guarantee the highest level of data protection. The goal of our proximity tracing system is to determine who has been in close physical proximity to a COVID-19 positive person and thus exposed to the virus, without revealing the contact's identity or where the contact occurred. To achieve this goal, users run a smartphone app that continually broadcasts an ephemeral, pseudo-random ID representing the user's phone and also records the pseudo-random IDs observed from smartphones in close proximity. When a patient is diagnosed with COVID-19, she can upload pseudo-random IDs previously broadcast from her phone to a central server. Prior to the upload, all data remains exclusively on the user's phone. Other users' apps can use data from the server to locally estimate whether the device's owner was exposed to the virus through close-range physical proximity to a COVID-19 positive person who has uploaded their data. In case the app detects a high risk, it will inform the user.


So you have a great concept and all the fancy digital tools you could possibly requirei¾?whati¾?s stopping you from creating beautiful pages? Namely the training to pull all of these elements together into a cohesive design that effectively communicates your message. Not to worry: This book is the one place you can turn to find quick, non-intimidating, excellent design help.In The Non-Designeri¾?s Design Book, 2nd Edition, best-selling author Robin Williams turns her attention to the basic principles of good design and typography. All you have to do is follow her clearly explained concepts, and youi¾?ll begin producing more sophisticated, professional, and interesting pages immediately. Humor-infused, jargon-free prose interspersed with design exercises, quizzes, illustrations, and dozens of examples make learning a snapi¾?which is just what audiences have come to expect from this best-selling author.


Due to energy and environmental issues, hydrogen has become a more attractive clean fuel. Furthermore, there is high interest in producing hydrogen from biomass with a view to sustainability. The thermochemical process for hydrogen production, i.e. gasification, is the focus of this work. This paper discusses the mathematical modeling of hydrogen production process via biomass steam gasification with calcium oxide as sorbent in a gasifier. A modelling framework consisting of kinetics models for char gasification, methanation, Boudouard, methane reforming, water gas shift and carbonation reactions to represent the gasification and CO2 adsorption in the gasifier, is developed and implemented in MATLAB. The scope of the work includes an investigation of the influence of the temperature, steam/biomass ratio and sorbent/biomass ratio on the amount of hydrogen produced, product gas compositions and carbon conversion. The importance of different reactions involved in the process is also discussed. It is observed that hydrogen production and carbon conversion increase with increasing temperature and steam/biomass ratio. The model predicts a maximum hydrogen mole fraction in the product gas of 0.81 occurring at 950 K, steam/biomass ratio of 3.0 and sorbent/biomass ratio of 1.0. In addition, at sorbent/biomass ratio of 1.52, purity of H2 can be increased to 0.98 mole fraction with all CO2 present in the system adsorbed.


The most enduring testament to the Mamluk Sultanate is its architecture. Not only do Mamluk buildings embody one of the most outstanding medieval architectural traditions, Mamluk architecture is actually a key to the social history of the period. Analysing Mamluk constructions as a form of communication and documentation as well as a cultural index, "Mamluk History Through Architecture" shows how the buildings mirror the complex - and historically unique - military, political, social and financial structures of Mamluk society. With this original and authoritative study, Nasser Rabbat offers an innovative approach to the history of the Mamluks - through readings of the spectacular architecture of the period. Drawing on examples from throughout both Egypt and Syria, from the Citadel and Al-Azhar Mosque of Cairo to the Mausoleum of al-Zahir Baybars in Damascus, Rabbat demonstrates how Mamluk architecture served to reinforce visually the spirit of the counter-Crusade, when the Muslim world rebounded from the setbacks of the First Crusade. Both holistically and in case studies, Rabbat demonstrates how history is inscribed into and reflected by a culture's artefacts. This is a groundbreaking work in the study of architecture and social history in the Middle East and beyond.


We demonstrate the ability of linear mode single carrier multiplication (SCM) avalanche photodiode (APD)-based optical receivers to discriminate single-photon-initiated avalanche events from dark-current-initiated events. Because of their random spatial origin in discrete regions of the depletion region, in the SCM APD the dark-generated carriers multiply differently than the photon-generated carriers. This causes different count distributions and necessitates different statistical descriptions of the signal contributions from photon- and dark-originating impulse responses. To include dark carriers in the performance models of the SCM APD, we considered the influence of the spatial origin of the ionization chains on a receiver's noise performance over the times the optical pulse is integrated by the receiver's decision circuits. We compare instantaneous (time-resolved) numeric and pseudo-DC analytical models to measured SCM APD data. It is shown that it is necessary to consider both the distribution of spatial origin and the instantaneous properties of the ionization chains to describe statistically an SCM APD receiver. The ability of SCM APD receivers to discriminate single photon events from single dark events is demonstrated, and the effective gain and excess noise contributions of the light- and dark-initiated avalanche events and their influence on receiver sensitivity and signal-to-noise characteristics are shown.


This article explores the metaphorical use of Russian idti 'walk' as a generalized motion verb in collocations like poezd idet '(lit.) train walks'. The study seeks to explain why idti is used in such collocations, and why this usage is restricted to examples where a goal is prominent in the context (Rakhilina 2004). It is suggested that idti is used as a generalized motion verb in metaphors because it represents prototypical motion. In metaphor, it is natural to take prototypical motion as the starting point. Unidirectionality is dominant in metaphorical usage, and this explains why idti is restricted to goal-oriented contexts. The analysis involves the notions of prototype, anthropocentricity, embodiment and metaphor and lends support to a cognitive approach to linguistic categories.


In July 1979, a new expedition was conducted with the R.V. Almirate Camara, in the same area as GEOMAR X, with the following purposes: surveying profiles with side scan sonar and conducting current measurements simultaneous to meterological observations. In order to characterize these expeditions to the inner shelf, the identification 'Operacao GEOCOSTA' was adopted, followed by the name of the geographical region, in this case GEOCOSTA RIO I. In 1983, the operation GEOCOSTA SUL I took place on the inner shelf in front of the mouth of Patos Lagoon, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. The methodology followed the one adopted in GEOMAR X and GEOCOSTA RIO I, consisting of: sampling of bottom sediments by dredging and by coring, simultaneous observations of meteorological and oceanographical parameters and collecting material for the study of the significance of the fauna of ostracodes. In April 1984, the second operation took place, GEOCOSTA SUL II, covering part of the same region studied in the first expedition. The GEOCOSTA RIO II, in March 1986, covered the inner shelf between Saquarema and Cabo Frio, an area east of the one studied during GEOMAR X and GEOCOSTA RIO I. Additional aspects of the subject are discussed.


I. INTRODUCTION In 1998, Senator Russell Feingold squared off against Representative Mark Neumann in a heated contest for a Wisconsin Senate seat. During the campaign, Representative Neumann and Senator Feingold voluntarily entered into a number of campaign finance restrictions.1 Representative Neumann, despite losing the race to Senator Feingold, asserted that those restrictions "showed that campaign finance reform didn't require changes in law and was best handled on a voluntary basis."2 In the 2000 New York Senate race, Representative Rick Lazio echoed Representative Neumann's sentiment and declared that it was he and "Mrs. Clinton's opportunity, to make a statement about our commitment to campaignfinance reform, to demonstrate that we don't need a law to do the right thing."3 Soon thereafter, Representative Lazio and Mrs. Clinton agreed to several voluntary campaign finance restrictions that, among other things, banned soft money expenditures by political parties and numerous interest groups.4 Ironically, Senator Feingold, who is now an avid supporter of increased government regulation of campaign IMAGE FORMULA5 finance, originally proposed the voluntary restrictions, praised by Representative Neumann and used effectively in the 2000 New York Senate campaign.5 Historically, political scandal and public outcry have prompted new regulations and restrictions on political expression and freedom of speech. For instance, the Federal Elections and Campaign Act ("FECA") of 1971 was passed in response to allegedly large and questionable contributions to President Nixon's successful presidential campaign, and the subsequent regulations of 1974 sprung from the Watergate crisis.6 Unlike in the early 1970s, recent campaign finance reform legislation has preceded public outcry and political scandal.7 For example, polls suggest that campaign finance reform has and continues to trail significantly in importance to other issues such as social security, combating terrorism, and education.8 Nonetheless, for several years, Senators John McCain and Feingold have trumpeted the corruptive influence of "soft money"9 in politics to generate support for campaign finance reform.10 On March 20, 2002, their tireless IMAGE FORMULA7 efforts prevailed as the Senate passed the most comprehensive campaign finance legislation in nearly three decades-the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ("the Act").11 Unlike other public policy issues, campaign finance reform is unique because corrective legislation represents efforts by legislators to regulate their own actions. While Senators McCain and Feingold should be applauded for overcoming significant opposition and waning public interest to pass campaign finance legislation, we should be wary of the motives behind such legislation. For instance, legislators are plausibly seen as largely motivated by self-interest.12 In the name of the public interest, they often advocate views and vote for propositions that further their individual interests.13 The behavior of the legislature is no different regarding the issue of campaign finance reform. For example, incumbents have an incentive to regulate themselves to the disadvantage of would-be challengers.14 In addition, the legislators of the majority race and gender may appear to implement regulations to assure they remain in the majority.15 Legislators are also driven by a desire for uniformity and control at the expense of flexibility and freedom. The effectuation of these perverse incentives is a prime example of how self-interested legislators undermine the public purpose of legislation, thereby creating inefficiencies and additional transaction costs within the campaign finance system.16 This Note has three primary objectives. First, it will show that public choice theory, particularly interest group competition, when applied to campaign finance reform demonstrates the inherent and unavoidable flaws of government-imposed campaign finance IMAGE FORMULA9 regulation. …


Conventional production methods are widely used in agricultural production in order to provide healthy and balanced nutrition to the growing population in the world. However, the chemical substances used to increase the efficiency and combat against diseases in plant and animal production affects human and animal health by passing to water and soil. Today, consumers around the world, especially in developed countries such as the European Union (EU) countries, the United States (USA), Japan, Canada and Australia are need of consumption of agricultural products that do not harm the environment and do not affect people and animals negatively. Sheep and goat breeding both in Turkey and in the world, organic animal meat and milk production in the consumer's needs to meet the demands is playing an important role. Worldwide, in 2012, the number of certified organic cattle, sheep and pigs are approximately 4.6, 5.6 and 1.0 million head, respectively. 2015 years, the number of organic certified cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and poultry are approximately 3.7, 0.978, 4.5, 0.718 and 31.6 million head, respectively in the European Union (EU) 28 countries. The most significant increase in organic livestock production in Turkey occurred in goat breeding (652.1%), followed by poultry (187.7%) and sheep (22.3%) breeding. Organic milk and red meat production of Turkey has occurred 2.6% and 38.2% of sheep and 6.3% and 1.6% of goats in 2015 year.


A promising class of "smart" cancer drugs work by inhibiting specific tyrosine kinases linked to uncontrolled growth. Gefitinib and erlotinib, drugs that target the kinase activity of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), can be very effective when initially administered to lung cancer patients whose tumors contain activating mutations in the EGFR gene. Almost inevitably, however, these tumors develop resistance to the drugs and begin to regrow. Engelman et al. find that drug resistance in a subset of these tumors is caused by amplification of the MET oncogene, an event that in turn activates, via a different route, the same cellular signaling pathway originally activated by the mutant EGFR. J. A. Engelman, K. Zajnullahu, T. Mitsudomi, Y. Song, C. Hyland, J. O. Park, N. Lindeman, C.-M. Gale, X. Zhao, J. Christensen, T. Kosaka, A. J. Holmes, A. M. Rogers, F. Cappuzzo, T. Mok, C. Lee, B. E. Johnson, L. C. Cantley, P. A. Jänne, MET Amplification leads to gefitinib resistance in lung cancer by activating ERBB3 signaling. Science 316, 1039-1043 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Potato Micropropagation Medium (PMM) is the growth medium used for in vitro micropropagation of potato tubers. The present study was intended to assess the effect of biofield energy treatment on the physical, thermal and spectroscopic properties of PMM. The study was attained in two groups i.e. control and treated. The control group was remained as untreated, while the treated group was received Mr. Trivedi's biofield energy treatment. Finally, both the samples (control and treated) were evaluated using various analytical techniques such as X-ray diffractometry (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis- differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA), UV-Vis spectrometry, and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The XRD analysis showed the crystalline nature of both control and treated samples of PMM. The X-ray diffractogram showed the significant increase in the intensity of XRD peaks in treated sample as compared to the control. The XRD analysis revealed 6.64% increase in the average crystallite size of treated PMM with respect to the control. The DSC analysis showed about 8.66% decrease in the latent heat of fusion in treated sample with respect to the control. The TGA-DTA analysis exhibited about 4.71% increase in onset temperature of thermal degradation after biofield treatment with respect to the control, while the maximum thermal degradation temperature (Tmax) was also increased (5.06%) in treated sample with respect to the control. This increase in Tmax might be correlated with increased thermal stability of treated sample as compared to the control. The UV spectroscopic study showed the slight blue shift in λmax of treated sample with respect to the control. FT-IR spectrum of control PMM showed the peak at 3132 cm-1 (C-H stretching) that was observed at higher wavenumber i.e. at 3161 cm-1 in the treated sample. Other vibrational peaks in the treated sample were observed in the similar region as that of the control. Altogether, the XRD, DSC, TGA-DTA, UV-Vis, and FT-IR analysis suggest that Mr. Trivedi's biofield energy treatment has the impact on physicochemical properties of PMM. This treated PMM might be more effective as a micropropagation medium as compared to the control.


This volume examines the social, cultural, and political implications of the shift from traditional forms of print-based libraries to the delivery of online information in educational contexts. Despite the central role of libraries in literacy and learning, research of them has, in the main, remained isolated within the disciplinary boundaries of information and library science. By contrast, this book problematizes and thereby mainstreams the field. It brings together scholars from a wide range of academic fields to explore the dislodging of library discourse from its longstanding apolitical, modernist paradigm. Collectively, the authors interrogate the presuppositions of current library practice and examine how library as place and library as space blend together in ways that may be both complementary and contradictory. Seeking a suitable term to designate this rapidly evolving and much contested development, the editors devised the word "libr@ary," and use the term arobase to signify the conditions of formation of new libraries within contexts of space, knowledge, and capital.


The present paper consists of a phylogenetic and historical biogeographic analysis of the North Atlantic shallow-water Haplosclerida (Porifera, Demospongiae), and of the Chalinidae in particular. The monophyly of the Haplosclerida is founded on five assumed apomorphous (derived) characters. Six related outgroups, viz. the Esperiopsidae, Desmacellidae, Mycalidae, Myxillidae, Microcionidae, and Axinellida s.l. have been used for establishing the character polarity within the Haplosclerida. A key to the haplosclerid families, the Chalinidae, Niphatidae, Callyspongiidae, Petrosiidae and Oceanapiidae, and a hypothesis on the phylogenetic relationships of the families is presented. Within the Chalinidae, eight monophyletic species groups are distinguished on the basis of assumed apomorphous characters. Two of these groups belong to the nominal genera Acervochalina and Dendroxea, the other six to the genus Haliclona. A key to the species groups and a hypothesis on the phylogenetic relationships of the groups is presented. Subsequently, each individual species group is analyzed phylogenetically. The obtained species cladograms and the distributional types of the species within the North Atlantic Ocean are used for the construction of a general area cladogram, representing a hypothesis on the historical relationships of areas of endemism in the North Atlantic Ocean. The analysis is based on the component-compatibility and parsimony methods as developed by Zandee & Roos (1987). For generation of the general area cladogram the computer program CAFCA (Zandee, 1987) has been used. Three main vicariance events can be recognized from the general area cladogram, viz. the Cretaceous separation of South America and Africa, a subsequent separation of the Boreal area from the south-eastern part of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and the Miocene (Messinian) salinity crisis in the Mediterranean basin. The individual species area cladograms are evaluated in order to establish which show "vicariance fit" with the general area cladogram, and which species have deviating distribution patterns needing the most parsimonious "ad hoc" explanations, like dispersal or extinction.


On the unity of modal syllogistics in Aristotle. The goal of this paper is an interpretation of Aristotle's modal syllogistics closely oriented on the text using the resources of modern modal predicate logic. Modern predicate logic was successfully able to interpret Aristotle's assertoric syllogistics uniformly, that is, with one formula for universal premises. A corresponding uniform interpretation of modal syllogistics by means of modal predicate logic is not possible. This thesis does not imply that a uniform view is abandoned. However, it replaces the simple unity of the assertoric by the complex unity of the modal. The complexity results from the fact that though one formula for universal premises is used as the basis, it must be moderated if the text requires.Aristotle introduces his modal syllogistics by expanding his assertoric syllogistics with an axiom that links two apodictic premises to yield a single apodictic sentence. He thus defines a regular modern modal logic. By means of the regular modal logic that is thus defined, he is able to reduce the purely apodictic syllogistics to assertoric syllogistics. However, he goes beyond this simple structure when he looks at complicated inferences.In order to be able to link not only premises of the same modality, but also premises with different modalities, he introduces a second axiom, the T-axiom, which infers from necessity to reality or – equivalently – from reality to possibility. Together, the two axioms, the axiom of regularity and the T-axiom, define a regular T-logic. It plays an important role in modern logic. In order to be able to account for modal syllogistics adequately as a whole, another modern axiom is also required, the so-called B-axiom. It is very difficult to decide whether Aristotle had the B-axiom. Each of the two last named axioms is sufficient to achieve the required contextual moderation of the basic formula for universal propositions.


The propagation and damping of slow magnetoacoustic waves i n the solar atmosphere is investigated, with particular emphasis placed on waves with periodicities of fi ve minutes. The basic model of a uniform temperature loop is extended by the addition of an equilibri um temperature gradient allowing study of wave propagation from the transition region to the corona. T he inclusion of thermal conduction produces a phase shift between the perturbations in velocity, densit y and temperature, which for a non-uniform equilibrium temperature varies along the loop and may be obs rvable as a phase shift between intensity and Doppler shift observations. Forward modelling of the simul ation results, for both constant and non-constant equilibrium temperature profiles, is undertaken in order to establish the observational consequences for TRACE, SoHO/CDS and Hinode/EIS. Slow waves propagating in a non-uniform equilibrium temperature loop are seen to damp rapidly in the corona, however, as a resu lt of the ionisation balance, the inclusion of damping can actually increase the amplitude of some parts of the oscillation. The ability of several data analysis techniques to identify oscillation signatures are examined. In particular, empirical mode decomposition was found to be a very useful te chnique for extracting oscillations from a wide range of data sets and is capable of intrinsically deter mining background trends. Co-spatial and cotemporalTRACE 171 Å, CDS and EIS data are analysed for evidence of propagating sl ow waves. Slow waves with periods of 210 s to 370 s are found with amplitudes of 1.2% to 3.4% in the corona and 2.3 % to 6.0% in the transition region.


Individual repetitive DNA sequence families of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus were investigated with regard to their genomic organization, the internal structure of their members, and the structural and developmental characteristics of their RN A transcripts. Analysis by gel blot hybridization and reassociation kinetics of cloned genomic DNA fragments containing members of three specific repeat families reveals a different pattern of organization in each case. One family is organized into long regions of repeated DNA, usually containing several members of the family in a tandem or clustered arrangement. A second family exists as long repeated elements occurring only once in a local genomic region. The third family consists of short repetitive sequence elements which are generally flanked on either side by single-copy sequences. The internal structure of eight cloned repetitive sequence elements was examined by determination of their nucleotide sequences. The lack of sequence homology among the eight elements indicates that they are representative of distinct repeat families. For the most part they consist of complex sequence internally, with a minor fraction of the length of five of the eight occupied by direct or inverse sequence repetitions. Six of the eight sequences are not translatable. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of three different members of the same repeat family reveals that they are not simply colinear sequence variants, but that they differ in the presence and/or arrangement of small sequence subelements. Hybridization with cloned repetitive sequence elements was used to demonstrate that the level of representation of specific repeat sequences is quantitatively similar in the egg RNA of two sea urchin species, S. purpuratus and S. franciscanus. Egg and embryo polyadenylated RNAs bearing specific repetitive sequences were analyzed by cDNA cloning, DNA and RNA gel blot hybridization, and DNA sequencing. It was found that the two complements of a given repeat are carried on different sets of polyadenylated transcripts, which are generally quite long (> 3 kilobases, with an estimated number average length of 5-6 kilobases). Within these transcripts, specific short repetitive sequence elements are found interspersed either with single-copy sequences or with other repeat sequences. It is demonstrated by sequencing that one such repeat-containing region is not translatable. The sets of polyadenylated transcripts deriving from several individual repeat families undergo substantial quantitative and probably qualitative modulation during early sea urchin development. Analysis of specific transcripts with single-copy probes from repeat-containing cDNA clones indicates that the embryo genome is transcribed to produce at least some of the same interspersed RNAs as are stored in the oocyte during oogenesis. Finally, the transcripts bearing specific repeat sequences in the polyadenylated egg RNA of two related sea urchin species were found to be qualitatively dissimilar.


Background. Baduanjin exercise is considered to be beneficial to modulate the blood lipid metabolism. The purpose of the systematic review was to assess the potential efficacy and safety of Baduanjin exercise. Methods. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CBM, CNKI, VIP, Chinese Important Conference Papers Database, and Chinese Dissertation Database were searched for all prospective-controlled trials of Baduanjin exercise from their inception to December 31, 2011. Results. A total of 14 studies were included. Comparing with no treatment, Baduanjin exercise significantly reduced the levels of TC, TG, LDL-C in plasma, and elevated plasma HDL-C level for healthy participants, and the pooled MD (95% confidence interval, CI) was −0.58 mmol/L (−0.86, −0.30 mmol/L), −0.22 mmol/L (−0.31, −0.13 mmol/L), −0.35 mmol/L (−0.54, −0.17 mmol/L), 0.13 mmol/L (0.06, 0.21 mmol/L), respectively. Baduanjin exercise also obviously decreased the levels of TG, LDL-C in plasma comparing with no treatment for patients, and the pooled MD (95% CI) was −0.30 mmol/L (−0.40, −0.19 mmol/L), −0.38 mmol/L (−0.63, −0.13 mmol/L), but there was not obvious to decrease plasma TC level or elevate plasma HDL-C level in patients with the pooled MD (95%CI), −0.39 mmol/L (−1.09, 0.31 mmol/L) and 0.22 mmol/L (−0.11, 0.55 mmol/L), respectively. In addition, the obvious advantage was not observed to modulate the blood lipid metabolism in comparing Baduanjin exercise with other exercises, regardless for health participants or patients. Conclusion. Studies indicated that Baduanjin exercise could significantly decrease the levels of TC, TG, LDL-C levels in plasma and elevate plasma HDL-C level for the healthy people. It also was helpful that Baduanjin exercise modulated the blood lipid metabolism for patients. Moreover, the Baduanjin exercise did not have an obvious advantage on modulating the lipid metabolism comparing with other exercises. But the evidence was uncertain because of the small sample size and low-methodological quality.


Cloud computing and Internet of Things (IoT) are computing technologies that provide services to consumers and businesses, allowing organizations to become more agile and flexible. The potential business values that cloud consumers can achieve depend a lot on the quality of service in the provided cloud services. Therefore, ensuring the quality of service through service-level agreements (SLA) for such cloud-based services is crucial for both the service providers and service consumers. As SLA is critical for cloud deployments and wider adoption of cloud services, the management of SLA in cloud and IoT has thus become an important and essential issue. In this paper we provide an understanding of the current status and maturity level of SLA management in industrial IoT and academic efforts in this field. We also conduct a preliminary survey of current research on SLA management in order to identify open challenges and gaps that need to be addressed in future research directions. In particular, we investigate how to provide useful SLA management support adapted to the maturity level and current industrial practices, and shorten the gap between academia and industry.


The variable deletion of /t,d/ in word-final clusters in English has garnered much attention from sociolinguists and, more recently, phonologists, most of whom model it as a binary variable phonological rule. This paper examines in detail some (t,d) clusters in York English and compares them with other word-final singleton and cluster consonants. In the light of the general literature on English, it explores an alternative view, that in at least one variety of British English "-t,d deletion" is in fact one of the common connected speech processes which apply at the boundaries between words. It thus underlines the importance for advances in sociophonetics of taking a step back to examine critically the basic units of analysis of variable rules.


Our review of the metabolic pathways of pyridines and aza-arenes showed that biodegradation of heterocyclic aromatic compounds occurs under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Depending upon the environmental conditions, different types of bacteria, fungi, and enzymes are involved in the degradation process of these compounds. Our review indicated that different organisms are using different pathways to biotransform a substrate. Our review also showed that the transformation rate of the pyridine derivatives is dependent on the substituents. For example, pyridine carboxylic acids have the highest transformation rate followed by mono-hydroxypyridines, methylpyridines, aminopyridines, and halogenated pyridines. Through the isolation of metabolites, it was possible to demonstrate the mineralization pathway of various heterocyclic aromatic compounds. By using 14C-labeled substrates, it was possible to show that ring fission of a specific heterocyclic compound occurs at a specific position of the ring. Furthermore, many researchers have been able to isolate and characterize the microorganisms or even the enzymes involved in the transformation of these compounds or their derivatives. In studies involving 18O labeling as well as the use of cofactors and coenzymes, it was possible to prove that specific enzymes (e.g., mono- or dioxygenases) are involved in a particular degradation step. By using H2 18O, it could be shown that in certain transformation reactions, the oxygen was derived from water and that therefore these reactions might also occur under anaerobic conditions.


The first in depth portrait of one of the world's best known luxury brands, this elegant volume traces the remarkable history of the House of Vuitton, which has been making practical but stylish luggage, handbags and accessories for more than 150 years. Written with full access to the company's archives, the book itself demonstrates Louis Vuitton's passion for fine design with a stunning array of archival art, historical images, product designs and sketches, and cutting edge advertising. The book explores the company's tradition of quality and innovation in the context of sweeping changes in society, art, culture, fashion and, above all, travel. Examining the life and times of the company's first three leaders; founder Louis (who invented the modern trunk), his son Georges and his grandson Gaston, the text focuses on the firm's development under their guidance. It also discusses Vuitton's explosive growth toward the end of the 20th century, including the 1987 merger with Moet Hennessy that made it part of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company and spurred the expansion of its boutiques to more than 300 locations in 50 countries around the globe. When this book was published in 2004, it was the first to describe and explain, with numerous previously unseen documents and accounts, the fascinating and irrepressible rise of the world's finest luxury company, which was celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2004. This new edition will include a complete update of the final section of the book, which discusses the company's recent history, with new texts, photos, and interviews.


Science has been strongly linked to the ability to disseminate ideas in academia. In the advancing technological and information age, available capacity for ideas dissemination
encompasses much more than congresses and events, giving air to faster ways for information to be disseminated. After all, once-limited information has reached every audiences, hungry for knowledge in an area. However, the breadth of these information bumps into two factors: first, which limits who can disseminate their ideas, since research remains hostage to prevailing rates/fees and their commercial interests, which culminate in surpassing academic interest; and second, the amount of information, without any qualitative criteria, contaminates the environment of truly relevant information. Despite slow progress, Open Access publishing medias increase slowly and become significant in the scientific world. This advancing scenario provides new journal initiatives which disseminate quality work at no fees, aiming only at the academic gain of these disclosures, eliminating some bottlenecks that hinder scientific advancement in certain areas. Thus, new ideas and results from serious researches have reaching notoriety in free Open Access magazines. In this context the TASJ is inserted. It started with an ambitious proposal: to create a no-fees Open Access magazine that could give visibility to quality research that previously could not be covered by the traditional journals. This has promoted, throughout this brief period of existence, dissemination of articles, whose ideas convey and enable scientific growth. The continuous process through the collaboration of volunteers has advanced, always focused on the qualitative evolution of the journal. With ISSN register being the first step, Open Access magazine accreditation and future indexing, this bold initiative of a group of visionary and academic researchers have been consolidated. In this September 2019 edition, important works are highlighted in the three basic areas, coming from different regions and researchers to corroborate national and international science. The editorial board, represented here by us, thanks everyone involved in these articles, especially the reviewers who devoted hours of their time to help select and improve these articles. We invite you to be part of this history, and we believe that promising work and ideas should always be encouraged.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine core temperature (TC) and markers of dehydration during one-a-day (D1) practices compared to two-a-day (D2) practices. Methods: Twenty-five National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) football players volunteered to participate in the study, with thirteen subjects providing data for all four practices. Each subject was measured prior to and following D1 and D2 practices and tested for body mass, core temperature, supine and standing blood pressure, and blood volume changes. Environmental temperature, humidity and barometric pressure were measured at the practice field during the last hour of each practice. Results: During moderate environmental temperatures and humidity, body mass was found to decrease following practice. Core temperature increased following both types of practice. Post practice plasma volume was 4% higher following D1 compared to D2 practice type. Conclusions/Recommendations: In this study, these NCAA Division I FCS football players remained well-hydrated during preseason practice training. The athletes' plasma volume increased during practice, and even though core temperature increased, it remained lower than levels at which heat illness is indicated. In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that the risk of heat illness in NCAA Division I FCS football players is very low during fall football training practices in conditions of moderate heat and humidity. We recommend that this study should be repeated in various environments, including higher temperatures and/or percent relative humidity where the risk of heat illness may be greater.


Hypoxia in isolated myocytes results in accumulation of long-chain acylcarnitines (LCA) in sarcolemma. Inhibition of carnitine acyltransferase I (CAT-I) with sodium 2-[5-(4-chlorophenyl)-pentyl]-oxirane-2-carboxylate (POCA) prevents both the accumulation of LCA in the sarcolemma and the initial electrophysiologic derangements associated with hypoxia. Another amphiphilic metabolite, lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), accumulates in the ischemic heart in vivo, in part because of inhibition of its catabolism by accumulating LCA. It induces electrophysiologic alterations in vitro analogous to early changes induced by ischemia in vivo. The present study was performed to determine whether POCA could prevent accumulation of both LCA and LPC induced by ischemia in vivo and if so, whether attenuation of early arrhythmogenesis would result. LAD coronary artery occlusions were induced for 5 min in chloralose-anesthetized cats. Coronary occlusion in untreated control animals elicited prompt, threefold increases of LCA (73 +/- 8 to 286 +/- 60 pmol/mg protein) and twofold increase of LPC (3.3 +/- 0.4 to 7.5 +/- 0.9 nmol/mg protein) selectively in the ischemic zone, associated with ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) occurring within the 5-min interval before acquisition of myocardial samples in 64% of the animals. POCA prevented the increase of both LCA and LPC. It also prevented the early occurrence of VT or VF (within 5 min of occlusion) in all animals studied. The antiarrhythmic effect of POCA was not attributable to favorable hemodynamic changes or to changes in myocardial perfusion measured with radiolabeled microspheres. Thus, inhibition of CAT-I effectively reduced the incidence of lethal arrhythmias induced early after the onset of ischemia. Accordingly, pharmacologic inhibition of this enzyme provides a promising approach for prophylaxis of sudden cardiac death, that typically occurs very soon after the onset of acute ischemia, in man.


In 2016, Little Pink has emerged as the label for a new wave of female-led cyber-nationalism in China. While increasingly popularized in media and online discourses, little is known about the evolution of this label and its significance for our understanding of China's digital activism. This article takes the first step at unraveling the Little Pink mystery by examining its origins and contestation in China's online community during the cross-strait memes war of 2016 when mainland nationalists mobilized to challenge Taiwan's election results. Drawing on multifaceted digital data, this study shows that Little Pink was an invented label and that gender was used by conflicting cyber groups in their attempts at reframing the imagery of nationalism. More broadly, this article demonstrates that cyber-nationalism is a phenomenon contested across different digital groups in China, and it should be analyzed more as a case of ambivalence in digital activism than as a manifestation of state propaganda or growing radical nationalism in contemporary China.


&NA; An adolescent's transition from experimental smoking (low‐level cigarette smoking) to daily smoking (high‐level cigarette smoking) is of great concern because if this happens, it is more difficult for teens to quit smoking and risk of premature death increases. Thus, understanding this phenomenon is critical. This study had 2 aims. One was to explore interrelationships among 4 problem behaviors (i.e., marijuana use, other illicit drug use, delinquency, and alcohol use) and underlying causes of the behaviors. The other was to examine the longitudinal effects of a composite of the 4 problem behaviors on the transition from experimental smoking to daily smoking in adolescence. This study analyzed secondary data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 4,903 adolescent experimental smokers). The analytical approaches used were: (a) Pearson correlations to examine interrelationships among the 4 problem behaviors, (b) an exploratory factor analysis to examine their underlying nature and (c) a multinomial logistic regression to examine the influence of a composite of 4 problem behaviors (problem behavior index, PBI) on the transition from experimental to daily smoking. Strong positive relationships among the 4 problem behaviors were found, and the same underlying factor caused them. Also, the PBI successfully predicted the progression from experimental to daily smoking even after controlling for 21 influential factors. There are 3 implications for nursing professionals. First, the use of intervention strategies targeting multiple problem behaviors should be considered. Second, the problem behaviors should be used as a screening tool to identify teens at risk of progressing from experimental to daily smoking. Lastly, multifaceted and multidisciplinary approaches are needed to curb the progression to daily smoking.


Emergency water trucking to drought-affected populations, particularly in the Horn of Africa, has become cyclical intervention as rainfall patterns in these areas has become increasingly unpredictable. In addition to being expensive and unsustainable, cyclical water trucking is coming under increased scrutiny as it increasingly appears to have negative impacts on pastoralist livelihoods, existing coping mechanisms in times of water scarcity, and inflation in the price of water. This technical brief presents information on assessing the appropriateness of water trucking interventions, setup of emergency water trucking in drought, and alternatives to water trucking. It is intended to assist field staff and managers on the most appropriate option for emergency water provision in drought, and to give practical case studies demonstrating their setup and associated challenges. This guide is meant to be utilized in the initial stages of drought to select and appropriately implement (and responsibly exit from) the most suitable form of emergency water provision.


Abstract Genealogical data have been used very widely to construct indices with which to examine the contribution of plant breeding programmes to the maintenance and enhancement of genetic resources. In this paper we use such indices to examine changes in the genetic diversity of the winter wheat crop in England and Wales between 1923 and 1995. We find that, except for one period characterized by the dominance of imported varieties, the genetic diversity of the winter wheat crop has been remarkably stable. This agrees with many studies of plant breeding programmes elsewhere. However, underlying the stability of the winter wheat crop is accelerating varietal turnover without any significant diversification of the genetic resources used. Moreover, the changes we observe are more directly attributable to changes in the varietal shares of the area under winter wheat than to the genealogical relationship between the varieties sown. We argue, therefore, that while genealogical indices reflect how well plant breeders have retained and exploited the resources with which they started, these indices suffer from a critical limitation. They do not reflect the proportion of the available range of genetic resources which has been effectively utilized in the breeding programme: complex crosses of a given set of varieties can yield high indices, and yet disguise the loss (or non-utilization) of a large proportion of the available genetic diversity.


This paper presents a novel algorithm that utilizes a 2D floorplan to align panorama RGBD scans. While effective panorama RGBD alignment techniques exist, such a system requires extremely dense RGBD image sampling. Our approach can significantly reduce the number of necessary scans with the aid of a floorplan image. We formulate a novel Markov Random Field inference problem as a scan placement over the floorplan, as opposed to the conventional scan-to-scan alignment. The technical contributions lie in multi-modal image correspondence cues (between scans and schematic floorplan) as well as a novel coverage potential avoiding an inherent stacking bias. The proposed approach has been evaluated on five challenging large indoor spaces. To the best of our knowledge, we present the first effective system that utilizes a 2D floorplan image for building-scale 3D pointcloud alignment. The source code and the data are shared with the community to further enhance indoor mapping research.


Modern efforts to preserve and reinterpret canonic musical works in the contemporary piano repertoire often take advantage of new technologies, fundamentally changing core aspects of the works themselves. By approaching preservation as a form of virtualization—in this case the creation of a functional interpretative model of each musical work—artists and researchers can create robust and performable digital versions of important musical systems. This paper introduces the idea of virtualization as a compositional modeling technique and offers three case studies in which digital versions of contemporary piano repertoire were designed and developed.


The adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) can improve the organizations' competitive advantage. Learning of ICT is also essential for organizational survival. However, organizational defensive patterns, including skilled incompetence, organizational defensive routines and fancy footwork, hinder the high level learning in all organizations. This paper investigated the influence of organizational defensive patterns by means of an attitude survey of 200 engineering employees at two different Hong Kong transport companies. Each employee completed a short attitude scale which asked them to indicate the influence of three defensive actions (skilled incompetence, organizational defensive routines, and fancy footwork) on the learning of information and communication technology (ICT) in their respective organizations, in terms of whether the particular defensive action had a 'major' (4) 'moderate' (3) 'minor' (2) or 'no' (1) influence. The three mean scores (each just below 3.0) suggest that the employees felt that each action had a moderate influence on the learning of ICT. The findings show that the engineering staff in two transport corporations have the same perception of influence of skilled incompetence, defensive routines and fancy footwork on learning of ICT. The findings also indicate that skilled incompetence, defensive routines and fancy footwork are positively associated with each other in two transport corporations. Introduction In a rapid changing environment, organizations are under pressure to find new solutions which will maintain future competitiveness (Probst and Buchel, 1997). The adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) can improve efficiency of business process (Farrell, 2003) and the competitive advantage of an organization (King and Teo, 1996). In addition, learning quickly is the key to success in organizations (Govindarajan and Trimble, 2004) and learning at all levels is essential for organizational survival (Casey, 2005). However, organizational defensive patterns are generic to all human organizations (Argyris, 1990) and they include three mechanisms: skilled incompetence, defensive routines and fancy footwork (Argyris, 1990; Probst and Buchel, 1997). Although change is naturally resisted in all organizations (Godkin, 2008), the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) can assist in overcoming that resistance if implemented properly organization by opening communication channels and enhancing information stocks and flows (Sammut-Bonnii and McGee, 2002; Prasad et al., 2001; Sorensen and Lundh-Snis, 2001; Smith and Blanck, 2002; Vera and Crossan, 2003). In this paper we present an in-depth quantitative case study of two Hong Kong transport companies where those companies adopted new ICT from other companies. In this study, two transport corporations in Hong Kong, denoted as Company 1 and Company 2, were studied. As Company 1 and Company 2 tended to acquire new information and telecommunication technologies from other companies rather than to develop their own technologies, staff had to take seriously the job of continually initiating and adjusting to change (Huy and Mintzberg, 2003). In two companies, the engineering staff needed to learn the new ICT in order to maintain their daily maintenance jobs. However, the organizational defensive patterns would impede those staff to learn the new technologies from other companies. The purpose of my research is to investigate the perceptions of the influence of organizational defensive patterns on the learning of ICT in the engineering groups. Specifically, this study addresses the following questions: (1) Did the engineering staff in two transport companies have same perception of influence of the organizational defensive patterns on learning of ICT? (2) Did skilled incompetence, organizational defensive routines and fancy footwork coexist and reinforce each other in two transport companies? …


One of the inconveniences of recovering after a stoke for patients is that they have to go either to a hospital or to a private clinic in order to follow a rehabilitation exercise program for movement control recovery and nerve reactivation. This paper presents a proof of concept for a portable robotic glove produced by a 3D printer that is controlled by an image processing approach and that is capable to mimic the movements captured by a camera. The developed software uses fuzzy logic to imitate the movements and makes use of open-source code for hand and fingertip detection and tracking based on computer vision.


Due to their complementary properties, inertial measurement units (IMU) and cameras are used in ego-motion tracking applications. For this, the relative rotation and displacement between the camera and IMU reference frames has to be known. There are established methods for the accurate estimation of the relative orientation, however, accurate estimation of the displacement is still a challenging problem. When this is not possible, one might resort to the alternative approach of fusing camera and gyroscope data only, as this does not require the displacement information. To be able to asses such alternatives, this paper presents a systematic methodology based on realistic simulations to analyze the effect of the camera - IMU displacement calibration error on tracking performance, and discusses in detailed simulations the dependency of tracker performance metrics on the camera - IMU displacement's magnitude and calibration error.


We predict the behaviour of the abundances of ff- elements and iron in the intracluster medium (ICM) as a function of redshift in poor and rich clusters. In order to do that we calculate the detailed chemical evolution of elliptical galaxies by means of one-zone and multi-zone models and then we integrate the contributions to the total gas and single elements by ellipticals over the cluster mass function at any given cosmic time which is then transformed into redshift according to the considered cosmological model. In the case of the multi-zone model for ellipticals the more external regions evolve much faster than the internal ones which maintain a very low level of star formation almost until the present time. In other words, the outermost regions develop a galactic wind, after which the region evolves passively, at much earlier times than the innermost regions as opposed to the classic one-zone model where the galactic wind develops at early times over the whole galaxy.We refer to the one-zone model as to burst model and to the multi-zone model as to continuous model. We find that in the case of the burst model the ICM abundances should be quite constant starting from high redshifts (z > 2) up to now, whereas in the continuous model the ICM abundances should increase up to z 1 and are almost constant from z 1 up to z = 0. Particular attention is devoted to the predictions of the [ff=Fe]ICM ratio in the ICM: for the burst model we predict [ff=Fe]ICM > 0 over the whole range of redshifts and in particular at z = 0, whereas in the case of the continuous model we predict a decreasing [ff=Fe]ICM ratio with decreasing z and [ff=Fe]ICM < 0 at z = 0. In particular, we predict [O=Fe]ICM(z = 0) < +0:35 dex and [Si=F e]ICM(z = 0) < +0:15 dex for the burst models and [O=Fe]ICM(z = 0) <−0:05 dex and [Si=F e]ICM(z = 0) < +0:13 dex for the continuous models, the precise values depending on the assumed cosmology. Finally, we discuss the influence of different cosmologies on the results.


The aim of this study is to prepare nimesulide loaded cellulose acetate hydrogen phthalate nanoparticles by salting out technique. In this study Cellulose acetate Hydrogen phthalate was taken as polymer. Nimesulide was selected as a model drug. This technique is suitable for drugs and polymers that are soluble in polar solvents such as acetone or ethanol. The effect of drug concentration and polymer concentration on nanoparticle size, shape, uniform size distribution and stability was studied. Nanoparticles were evaluated for particle size, zetapotential and particle size distribution. Size of the particle was measured by SEM. (Scanning electron microscope). Surface charge and stability of the resultant nanoparticles was determined by Zetasizer. Particle size distribution was determined by Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (PCS) with a Malvern Zetasizer Nano-ZS. The cellulose acetate hydrogen phthalate concentration and nimesulide concentration was varied from 5mg/ml to 10 mg/ml. The effect of drug and polymer concentrations on nanoparticle size, shape, particle size distribution was studied. Increased drug concentration has no impact on the particle size. The size of the particle was found to be decreased with increased polymer concentration. Increased polymer concentration has resulted in uniform particle size distribution. Higher the polymer concentrations and lower the drug concentrations resulted in uniform particle size distribution.


150 Abstract Chronic otitis media is the major reason for middle ear surgery. Epidemiological studies have revealed high heritability of persistent or recurrent middle ear inflammation. The genetic basis of chronic otitis media is complex, but a number of methods can be used to interrogate this complexity. The most promising method is the identification of genetic mutant mouse models, which may highlight genes to test for association with human disease, and enable pathobiology to be explored. Such an approach has suggested that the gene FBXO11 is associated with susceptibility to otitis media in man, and has also suggested that hypoxia signaling is an important component of the chronically inflamed middle ear. We discuss future research strategies in this field.


The work presented herein constitutes a reply to the comments raised by Iglesias et al. on the mechanistic nature of acetylacetone nitrosation. Their sources of experimental error as well as several inconsistencies and critical factors neglected by these authors are discussed. Likewise, the additional evidence provided in this argumentation supports the mechanism originally proposed and not the alternative postulated by Iglesias et al.