We consider a bidirectional time division duplex (TDD) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system with time-varying channel and additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). A blind bidirectional channel tracking algorithm, based on the projection approximation subspace tracking (PAST) algorithm, is applied in both terminals. The resulting singular value decomposition (SVD) of the channel matrix is then used to approximately diagonalize the channel. The proposed method is applied to an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing-(OFDM-)MIMO setting with a typical indoor time-domain reflection model. The computational cost of the proposed algorithm, compared with other state-of-the-art algorithms, is relatively small. The Kalman filter is utilized for establishing a benchmark for the obtained performance of the proposed tracking algorithm. The performance degradation relative to a full channel state information (CSI) due to the application of the tracking algorithm is evaluated in terms of average effective rate and the outage probability and compared with alternative tracking algorithms. The obtained results are also compared with a benchmark obtained by the Kalman filter with known input signal and channel characteristics. It is shown that the expected degradation in performance of frequency-domain algorithms (which do not exploit the smooth frequency response of the channel) is only minor compared with time-domain algorithms in a range of reasonable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels. The proposed bidirectional frequency-domain tracking algorithm, proposed in this paper, is shown to attain communication rates close to the benchmark and to outperform a competing algorithm. The paper is concluded by evaluating the proposed blind tracking method in terms of the outage probability and the symbol error rate (SER) versus. SNR for binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and 4-Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations.


The ancient tradition is strong that the execution of M. Marius Gratidianus during the Sullan proscriptions was carried out by L. Sergius Catilina. The earliest evidence comes from several passages in Cicero's speech in toga candida, delivered just before the consular elections in 64 and designed to rake up as much prejudice as possible against his two main rival candidates, Catilina and C. Antonius (Hybrida). While in none of the passages does Cicero specifically mention the executioner or the victim, it is Asconius commenting on the passages (which are preserved for us as lemmata in his commentary on the speech) who reveals that Catilina was the executioner and Marius Gratidianus the victim. We do not have a great deal of the speech in toga candida left (and we are indebted to Asconius for what we do have of it); if we did have the whole speech, it is clear that we would have been given the name by Cicero himself. The Ciceronian version (if that term may be used for convenience) is that the head of Gratidianus was cut off by Catilina, carried in his hands through the city from the Janiculum to the temple of Apollo, and delivered to Sulla still full of life and breath. This version is followed by Plutarch (Sull. 32.2). A variation can be found, as early as Sallust (and so for convenience it may be called the Sallustian version — not that the two versions are necessarily to be regarded as mutually exclusive). There is a fragment of the historiae which says that Gratidianus died after his arms and legs had been broken and his eyes gouged out, so that he expired as it were through each and every limb. There is nothing about his head being cut off and carried about, nor is there any mention of Catilina as the executioner. While the details of the torture and mutilation become progressively more gory, this version is followed by Livy (per. 88), Valerius Maximus (9.2.1), Lucan (2.173–93), and Florus (2.9.26 = 3.21.26).


Diatoms are the most species-rich group of microalgae, and their contribution to marine primary production is important on a global scale. Diatoms can form dense blooms through rapid asexual reproduction; mutations acquired and propagated during blooms likely provide the genetic, and thus phenotypic, variability upon which natural selection may act. Positive selection was tested using genome and transcriptome-wide pair-wis ec omparisons of homologs in three genera of diatoms (Pseudo-nitzschia, Ditylum, and Thalassiosira) that represent decreasing phylogenetic distances. The signal of positive selection was greatest between two strains of Thalassiosira pseudonana. Further testing among seven strains of T. pseudonana yielded 809 candidate genes of positive selection, which are 7% of the protein-coding genes. Orphan genes and genes encoding protein-binding domains and transcriptional regulators were enriched within the set of positively selected genes relative to the genome as a whole. Positively selected genes were linked to the potential selective pressures of nutrient limitation and sea surface temperature based on analysis of gene expression profiles and identification of positively selected genes in subsets of strains from locations with similar environmental conditions. The identification of positively selected genes presents an opportunity to test new hypotheses in natural populations and the laboratory that integrate selected genotypes in T. pseudonana with their associated phenotypes and selective forces.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to clarify the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptor (VEGFR) pathways in thyroid tumourigenesis.

METHODS
We examined VEGF, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2 expression on 34 papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs), 18 follicular thyroid carcinomas (FTCs), eight poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas (PDTCs) and on a thyroid tumour-derived cell line (NPA'87) by immunohistochemistry, reverse transcriptase PCR, immunofluorescence and Western blotting.

RESULTS
We have demonstrated that VEGF expression was significantly (P < 0.05) more prevalent in PTCs (79%) than in FTCs (50%) or PDTCs (37%). Similarly, 76% of PTCs, 83% of FTCs and 25% of PDTCs expressed VEGFR-1, whereas 68% of PTCs, 56% of FTCs and 37% of PDTCs expressed VEGFR-2. Coexpression of VEGF and its receptors was observed in 50% of PTCs, 39% of FTCs and 12% of PDTCs, raising the possibility that VEGF may signal in an autocrine loop in these neoplasias, as observed previously for other types of cancer. In agreement with the idea that autocrine VEGF signalling plays an important role in thyroid carcinogenesis, the blockade of either VEGF or its receptors with neutralizing antibodies significantly reduced cell viability and increased apoptosis levels of the VEGFR-positive thyroid tumour cell line NPA'87.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results highlight a previously undefined VEGF autocrine action in thyroid carcinomas which could play a crucial role in tumour cell survival and could represent a useful therapeutic target for thyroid tumours.


Abstract A large part of the fascist 'third Rome' remained on paper – whether because time or funds ran out in the early 1940s or because projects were defeated in competitions, sidelined by various more pragmatic considerations, and thwarted by Mussolini's volatile attitude to architecture and urban planning. In order to trace the fragments of this other fascist, Rome this article focuses on four projects that were never to be realized: Brasini's plans for the historic centre of Rome in the 1920s and his later project for the Mole Littoria in 1937; Mario Palanti's ideas again for a Mole Littoria between 1924 and 1932; and the Danteum project by Terragni-Lingeri in 1938–39). Each of these four episodes contains revealing stories of visionary interpretation and unfulfilled ambition, underpinned by powerful sacralizing and universalist narratives. All four projects share a crucial point of reference: they were conceived and proposed as solutions to the completion of the Via dell'Impero – the landmark avenue that ran from Palazzo Venezia through the Fori to the Colosseo and was inaugurated with unparalleled fascist pageantry in 1932. Owing to their proposed location, they became intricately linked to the ongoing debates of the mid-1930s about the location and style of the Palazzo del Littorio and, more broadly, about the role of a 'modern' architecture in the historic core of 'Mussolini's Rome'.


High-resolution Raman spectroscopy of polycrystalline films of C60 deposited under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions show that the spectrum below 244 � 3 kelvin consists of a superposition of two components whose relative contributions are temperature-dependent. The spectrum of the more intense of the two components is similar to that obtained for air- or oxygen-exposed samples of C60 at room temperature, whereas the spectrum above 244 � 3 kelvin corresponds to one previously reported for oxygen-free samples of C60. The results may indicate an order-disorder phase transition involving the percolation of a cluster of C60 molecules engaged in coherent Raman scattering.


It is well known that kinesthetic illusions can be induced by stimulation of several sensory systems (proprioception, touch, vision…). In this study we investigated the cerebral network underlying a kinesthetic illusion induced by visual stimulation by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans. Participants were instructed to keep their hand still while watching the video of their own moving hand (Self Hand) or that of someone else's moving hand (Other Hand). In the Self Hand condition they experienced an illusory sensation that their hand was moving whereas the Other Hand condition did not induce any kinesthetic illusion. The contrast between the Self Hand and Other Hand conditions showed significant activation in the left dorsal and ventral premotor cortices, in the left Superior and Inferior Parietal lobules, at the right Occipito-Temporal junction as well as in bilateral Insula and Putamen. Most strikingly, there was no activation in the primary motor and somatosensory cortices, whilst previous studies have reported significant activation in these regions for vibration-induced kinesthetic illusions. To our knowledge, this is the first study that indicates that humans can experience kinesthetic perception without activation in the primary motor and somatosensory areas. We conclude that under some conditions watching a video of one's own moving hand could lead to activation of a network that is usually involved in processing copies of efference, thus leading to the illusory perception that the real hand is indeed moving.


This paper introduces a novel robotic platform for aerial remote gas sensing. Spectroscopic measurement methods for remote sensing of selected gases lend themselves for use on mini-copters, which offer a number of advantages for inspection and surveillance. No direct contact with the target gas is needed and thus the influence of the aerial platform on the measured gas plume can be kept to a minimum. This allows to overcome one of the major issues with gas-sensitive mini-copters. On the other hand, remote gas sensors, most prominently Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) sensors have been too bulky given the payload and energy restrictions of mini-copters. Here, we introduce and present the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Remote Gas Sensing (UAV-REGAS), which combines a novel lightweight TDLAS sensor with a 3-axis aerial stabilization gimbal for aiming on a versatile hexacopter. The proposed system can be deployed in scenarios that cannot be addressed by currently available robots and thus constitutes a significant step forward for the field of Mobile Robot Olfaction (MRO). It enables tomographic reconstruction of gas plumes and a localization of gas sources. We also present first results showing the gas sensing and aiming capabilities under realistic conditions.


The extent of taxpayer knowledge can have a major impact on the degree of
compliance with taxation rules and regulation. Most importantly, uncertainty about
the requirements of the tax regulation can lead to a high degree of involuntary non-compliant
simply "get it wrong" without any intention to evade tax.
The main problem is ambiguity and complexity in tax regulation, which can make it
difficult for even the most conscientious of taxpayers to fully satisfy their legal
obligations unless they take authority employees, private consultant, academician
and etc.
Information on the extent of taxpayers knowledge is potentially useful to the tax
authorities in so far as it can assist in the development of effective compliance
enhancement policies. For example, if knowledge of a particular area of the tax
regulation is low, compliance is also likely to be low on the relevant items. Followup
research can determine the extent of the problem and appropriate action ranging
from clarification or interpretation of the regulation to complete re-writing of the
relevant section can be undertaken. In addition if investigations reveal that particular
subsets of taxpayers have low levels of knowledge, in general or in relation to
particular aspects of the tax regulation, compliance-enforcement campaigns may be
targeted more effectively.
Surveys to assets the extent of taxpayers knowledge about tax regulation have been
carried out in Klang Valley. This paper reports on the findings of the survey. The
survey revealed a generally reasonable level of understanding of many aspects of the
tax regulation, though with a wide variation between different groups in the
population. The survey procedure and sample covered by the survey are outlined in
these papers, together with a summary of the survey results.


A slight reduction of
blood pressure and heart rate can reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Maintenance of the respiratory rate within the normal range has also being identified
as crucial for a healthy heart. Use of Indian and western music have been considered
among many preventive programmes for long time in order to risk reduction associated
with cardio vascular diseases. Therefore the aim of this study is to describe the
effect of Indian classical music on systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse
rate and respiratory rate in asymptomatic individuals aged 45 to 65 years. Methodology:
A community based randomized intervention study was conducted in 252 asymptomatic
individuals. The study group (n = 127) listened to a music based on Indian classical
system (entire track of 22 minutes). The control group (n = 125) was kept silent
for a similar time period. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate and
respiratory rate of each study participant were
monitored before and after the intervention. Results: Statistically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (8.53 mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (5.8 mmHg), pulse rate (5.16 breaths per minute)
and respiratory rate (2.55 per minute) were observed in the study group after listening
to the music (p 0.05). The reduction was independent
of gender, age, education level, practicing a mind relaxation technique and preferred
type of music of the participant. Conclusions: Listening to Indian classical music for about 22 minutes significantly
reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate and respiratory rate of
asymptomatic individuals. Hence, music may have a potential benefit in cardio vascular disease preventive programmes.


High two-photon photolysis cross sections and water solubility of probes are important to avoid toxicity in biomedical applications of photolysis. Systematic variation of the position of a carboxyl electron-withdrawing group (EWG) on photolysis of 8-dimethylaminoquinoline protecting groups identified the C5-substituted isomer as a privileged dipole. The 5-benzoyl-8-DMAQ substitution yields a caging group with an enhanced two-photon uncaging cross section (δu = 2.0 GM) and good water solubility (c ≤ 50 mM, pH 7.4).


Objective To determine whether bladder size is associated with an unfavorable neonatal outcome, in the case of first-trimester megacystis. Materials and methods This was a retrospective observational study between 2009 and 2019 in two prenatal diagnosis centers. The inclusion criterion was an enlarged bladder (> 7 mm) diagnosed at the first ultrasound exam between 11 and 13+6 weeks of gestation. The main study endpoint was neonatal outcome based on bladder size. An adverse outcome was defined by the completion of a medical termination of pregnancy, the occurrence of in utero fetal death, or a neonatal death. Neonatal survival was considered as a favorable outcome and was defined by a live birth, with or without normal renal function, and with a normal karyotype. Results Among 75 cases of first-trimester megacystis referred to prenatal diagnosis centers and included, there were 63 (84%) adverse outcomes and 12 (16%) live births. Fetuses with a bladder diameter of less than 12.5 mm may have a favorable outcome, with or without urological problems, with a high sensitivity (83.3%) and specificity (87.3%), area under the ROC curve = 0.93, 95% CI (0.86–0.99), p< 0.001. Fetal autopsy was performed in 52 (82.5%) cases of adverse outcome. In the 12 cases of favorable outcome, pediatric follow-up was normal and non-pathological in 8 (66.7%). Conclusion Bladder diameter appears to be a predictive marker for neonatal outcome. Fetuses with smaller megacystis (7–10 mm) have a significantly higher chance of progressing to a favorable outcome. Urethral stenosis and atresia are the main diagnoses made when first-trimester megacystis is observed. Karyotyping is important regardless of bladder diameter.


For many years there has been a discussion on the role grammar plays, or should play, in the writing curriculum. In spite of this not many changes have taken place yet.This article discusses the effects that traditional grammar lessons may have on the writing skills. The correct use of cohesive ties, of conjunctions, and of gapping might benefit by grammatical instruction, provided the instruction focuses on the interaction of macro and micro elements in texts. However, only a minority of the exercises used in the writing curriculum are focused on these interactional aspects, as is shown by a review of the literature and an analysis of frequently used exercises.It is argued that everyday school practice is first and foremost guided by formal testing. If this holds true, an effective way to curricular change is to develop functional language tests that reflect the social needs of language use.


Glycoconjugate vaccines have contributed enormously to reducing and controlling encapsulated bacterial infections for over thirty years. Glycoconjugate vaccines are based on a carbohydrate antigen that is covalently linked to a carrier protein; this is necessary to cause T cell responses for optimal immunogenicity, and to protect young children. Many interdependent parameters affect the immunogenicity of glycoconjugate vaccines, including the size of the saccharide antigen. Here, we examine and discuss the impact of glycan chain length on the efficacy of glycoconjugate vaccines and report the methods employed to size polysaccharide antigens, while highlighting the underlying reaction mechanisms. A better understanding of the impact of key parameters on the immunogenicity of glycoconjugates is critical to developing a new generation of highly effective vaccines.


1. Atenolol (ICI 66.082, Tenormin) is a new beta-adrenoreceptor-blocking agent, devoid of intrinsic sympathomimetic and membrane-stabilizing properties. It does not cross the blood-brain barrier. 2. Atenolol given to hypertensive patients in initial open trials reduced arterial blood pressure significantly. 3. A double-blind comparison between atenolol and placebo in forty-five patients with essential hypertension demonstrated that atenolol gave a statistically significant reduction of blood pressure (delta 28/15 mmHg, P less than 0-005). 4. The optimum anti-hypertensive dose of atenolol in patients with mild to moderately severe essential hypertension was 200 mg daily. 5. Atenolol was compared with propranolol in thirty patients with essential hypertension. No statistically significant differences of anti-hypertensive effect were observed between the two drugs. 6. Long-term results (up to 2 years) in 117 hypertensive patients indicate that drug tolerance is good. No serious toxic effects were observed. 7. In four of twelve hypertensive patients with obstructive airways disease atenolol had to be withdrawn owing to deterioration of ventilatory function.


Patients in opioid substitution treatment (OST) in Norway are assigned a treatment modality based on their risk profiles, with an emphasis on overdose risk. One of several medications may be administered, including methadone, buprenorphine, buprenorphine–naloxone, and occasionally morphine. OST patients who are not satisfied with the assigned treatment are required to negotiate with OST staff to switch treatment modalities. During these negotiations, some inherent paradoxes arise: (1) OST contains both a harm reduction approach and an ideology that emphasizes abstinence and a drug-free life and (2) legal requirements for patient involvement in the choice of treatment clash with the clinicians' intrinsic suspicion toward patients' knowledge, experience, and pharmacological preferences. Drawing upon a year of ethnographic fieldwork, I discuss in this article how OST simultaneously reduces and reproduces risks. OST medications are primarily designed to manage withdrawal, with the patient's survival as the priority rather than quality of life. But this corporeal focus combined with a mantra of harm reduction reduces patients to their physiology. Consequently, many OST patients live in a chronic survival modus—"I am surviving, not living"—which complicates their ability to acquire new social roles. As they struggle with medication side effects, poor health, isolation, and a need for recognition, many abandon their rehabilitation plans and disengage further from society. Thus, OST can produce a new kind of vulnerability, creates new subjects at risk, and by extension maintains risk of diversion, polydrug use, and overdose.


The aim of the article is to initiate a dialogue between sociology and philosophy, in order to clarify the relationship between ontology and society, subjectivity and the massification process and between the need for meaning and the spread of nihilism. The starting points of my analysis are Giddens' claim that the formation of identity in contemporary society requires ontological trust and Touraine's thesis of the end of society which calls for the formation of subjectivity. In the dialogue between philosophers such as Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche, Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers and sociologists such as Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Anthony Giddens and Alain Touraine, I reflect on the meaning of ontological trust, the way in which it can be achieved and why today it has become central to the sociological debate. The fruit of this dialogue is that what was once considered society's role is now recognized as the burden of the individual himself. For this reason ontological trust is fundamental for the formation of a strong and stable identity, for overcoming nihilism and finding new meaning and for the affirmation of the ethic of responsibility.


A lightweight aggregate (LWA) is a material that has a lower density than rock aggregates. There are many civil engineering application possibilities for LWA. A potential field of application for expanded clay LWA is as a storm water retaining layer in green roofs. In order to design reliable structures of green roofs, more knowledge about the characteristics of the material is needed. The purpose of this master thesis was to test if the software SEEP/W is an appropriate tool for simulation of water runoff from a green roof, designed with expanded clay LWA. The numerical modeling was not performed for all types of expanded clay LWA, but on crushed Leca® 4-10mm and round 10-20mm alone. To test if SEEP/W is advisable tool for simulating water flow in expanded clay LWA, a back calculation of a laboratory experiment was done. The purpose of back calculating the experiment is to calibrate a numerical model and then use it for a full scale ideal roof. Thereafter a sensitivity analysis of the SEEP/W input parameters was performed. It was possible to back calculate the laboratory experiment, meaning obtaining the same relation between water going in and water going out of the tested Leca® material. However, a lot of numerical problems occurred in the simulations. Unrealistic results were displayed, especially for Leca® 10-20mmR. In order to improve the performance of the material, and thereby obtain better water retaining characteristic, a suggestion is to increase the porosity and lower the saturated hydraulic conductivity for the expanded clay LWA materials in order to obtain a higher attenuation.


Tomographic reconstruction techniques deserve studying because of its plenty of application in interdisciplinary fields. With outstanding features of no need to set of uniformly distributed projections for precise reconstruction, easy provide a priori knowledge about the reconstructed object, good image quality, we chose Simultaneous Iterative Reconstruction Technique (SIRT) and Simultaneous Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (SART) as our project research subjects. The main work of the project is to implement the SIRT and SART algorithms in C and CUDA respectively, aiming at improve the performance of iterative calculation. By utilizing the Sparse Level 2 subroutines in Inter MKL for C implementation and CUSPARSE library supported by CUDA SDK for GPU implementation, the performance is largely improved compared with original MATLAB code. Moreover, the times of speedup increases when increase the image size and number of projection angles. This phenomenon is obvious for GPU implementation, because larger data size can make more use of GPU. The maximum image size of C and CUDA implementation for both SIRT and SART can be 256*256 and the maximum number of projection angles of C and CUDA implementation for both SIRT and SART can be 179. For C implementation, SIRT slightly faster than MATLAB and SART is largely faster than MATLAB. For CUDA, loop time test matter. SIRT and SART are both much faster than C in the iterative Keyword: SIRT, SART, C, CUDA, CONTENT


A consequence of the European colonization of Australia has been a significant loss of biodiversity: one in four mammal species is either extinct or threatened. In contrast, only one species of bird has been lost from the Australian continent and there is less concern for the survival of the Australian avifauna than for mammals. This is despite the fact that nearly one in five bird species is listed as threatened or of "special concern". Moreover, a review of the status of Australian birds at local, regional, state and continental scales shows that the impact of Europeans on the avifauna is much greater than acknowledged. Over most of southern Australia entire avifaunas are threatened with extinction. When allowance is made for habitat loss and degradation, 30 to 90% of bird species across the continent have declined in abundance. The extent of this decline is that the survival of many bird species in the 21st Century is threatened. While a majority of birds in southern Australia has declined in abundance and/or distribution, others have increased. Parallel changes are proceeding in northern Australia. In terms of evaluating impact on the avifauna, an increase in numbers and a change in the composition of avian communities are as significant as the loss of populations and species. Both adversely affect patterns of continental biodiversity and are ecologically dysfunctional. Assuming that current trends continue, over the next century, significant components of the avifauna will be lost as populations proceed to extinction and the composition of avifaunas change at scales ranging from the local to the continental. The pattern of change in avian abundances, and the failure to anticipate or acknowledge the major losses of birds on the Australian continent, shows that conservation emphasis needs to shift from a species by species approach to the conservation of communities and entire avifaunas. Taken together, the scale of the changes in the distribution and abundance of Australian birds is an affirmation that present and projected patterns of human use of the Australian continent are not sustainable. Much needs to be done to reverse the decline of the terrestrial avifauna and achieve ecological sustainability in land use. The most urgent actions are to end the clearing of native vegetation, reduce grazing pressure, remove inappropriate fire regimes, control feral and native animals whose abundance threatens native species, and restore functional ecosystems, with an emphasis on native vegetation, to a minimum of 30% of the landscape. These need to be accompanied by an aggressive programme to improve water quality in fresh water habitats and restore environmental water flows, and the creation of a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system across the continent irrespective of land tenure. In the absence of such action, I predict that Australia will lose half of its terrestrial bird species in the next century.


Previous studies have found that priming participants for the goal to achieve leads them to perform better in a task, such as a word-search puzzle, than control participants. The current study investigated the effects of priming participants for the goal to achieve, the effects of priming participants for the goal to give up, and effects of priming for the goal to achieve and give up simultaneously. We measured differences in behavior and brain activity between these conditions. Our results indicate that, contrary to what we had predicted, priming participants for the goal to achieve leads them to find fewer words in a word-search task than control participants; this is true even when the giving-up prime is present simultaneously. On the other hand, priming participants to give up has no significant effect on the number of words found. Similar results were observed in terms of the amount of time the participants spent working on the puzzles. We also found that neither priming for achievement nor priming to give up has a significant main effect on brain activity, but a significant interaction was observed. We concluded that it is possible that the environmental conditions in which the participants were tested, which may have motivated them to protect their self-worth, priming participants for the goal to achieve has a reverse behavioral priming effect.


Aim: The aim of present study is formulation and in vitro characterization of solid-self nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (S-SNEDDS) of atorvastatin calcium. Atorvastatin calcium is a BCS Class II HMG Co-A reductase inhibitor also called as statins used in the treatment of high cholesterol. The solubility and dissolution profile of atorvastatin calcium which has poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability was improved using SNEDDS. Materials and Methods: The solubility of drug in various oils, surfactants and cosurfactants were analyzed and peceol as oily phase, labrasol as surfactant, polyethylene glycol 400 as cosurfactant were selected for the formulation. To obtain ideal self-emulsification region, pseudo-ternary phase plots were constructed. Liquid SNEDDS were prepared, evaluated and two formulations PL1PEG4 A1, PL1PEG4 A2 were found to be stable and optimum. Results and Discussions: The formulation consisting of peceol, labrasol, PEG400 and drug 20 mg was selected for converting into S-SNEDDS using crospovidone as a carrier. Particle size distribution, zeta potential, and polydispersity index were characterized and found to be 36.22 nm, −1.32 mV, and 0.164, respectively. Dissolution tests were performed, and percentage drug release was found to be 91.7%. Accelerated stability studies were performed RH 75% ± 5% and 40°C ± 2°C for 1 month and were found to be stable.


The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 mandated a number of regulatory reforms including a requirement that large U.S. public companies provide their shareholders with the opportunity to cast a non-binding vote on executive compensation. The "say on pay" vote was designed to rein in excessive levels of executive compensation and to encourage boards to adopt compensation structures that tie executive pay more closely to performance. Although the literature is mixed, many studies question whether the statute has had the desired effect. Shareholders at most companies overwhelmingly approve the compensation packages, and pay levels continue to be high.
Although a lack of shareholder support for executive compensation is relatively rare, say on pay votes at a number of companies have reflected low levels of shareholder support. A critical question is what factors drive a low say on pay vote. In other words, is say on pay only about pay?
In this article, we examine that question by looking at the effect of three factors on voting outcomes -- pay level, sensitivity of pay to performance, and economic performance. Our key finding is the importance of economic performance to say on pay outcomes. Although pay-related variables affect the shareholder vote, even after we control for those variables, an issuer's economic performance has a substantial effect and, perhaps most significantly, shareholders do not appear to care about executive compensation unless an issuer is performing badly. In other words, the say on pay vote is, to a large extent, say on performance.
This finding has important implications. First, it raises questions about the federally-mandated shareholder voting right as a tool for concerns about executive compensation. Say on pay has limited effectiveness if it is only being used to discipline managers who are underperforming or alternatively is not a vote on outsize or inordinate pay as it was intended to be. Second, and more important, to the extent that the shareholder vote influences board behavior, granting shareholders another forum for signaling their dissatisfaction with a firm's economic performance may be counterproductive. If investors are signaling concerns over near-term stock performance through their say on pay votes, they may be increasing director incentives to focus on short-term stock performance rather than firm value.


Parallel NFS (pNFS) extends NFSv4 to allow clients to directly access
file data on the storage used by the NFSv4 server. This ability to
bypass the server for data access can increase both performance and
parallelism, but requires additional client functionality for data
access, some of which is dependent on the class of storage used. The
main pNFS operations draft specifies storage-class-independent
extensions to NFS; this draft specifies the additional extensions
(primarily data structures) for use of pNFS with block and volume
based storage.


Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadenisis) is a native American medicinal plant used as an immune stimulant. Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) is a widely used herbal product in China, other Asian countries, and the United States as an immune stimulant to be taken on first clinical signs of infection. In this study, the innate effects of goldenseal and Astragalus on pro-inflammatory cytokines produced by cultured macrophages were examined using two different commercial preparations of goldenseal and Astragalus. Both goldenseal and Astragalus were found to exhibit little to no direct effect on stimulation of mouse macrophages (J774A.1 cells), with only Astragalus able to affect production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha when used in high concentrations. However, both goldenseal and Astragalus were able to modify responses from lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophages, with identified immunomodulatory effects to reduce production of TNF-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, and IL-12 in a dose-dependent manner. The results obtained indicate that both goldenseal and Astragalus exhibit abilities to modulate macrophage responses during stimulation. Therefore, it is hypothesized that their historical use as therapeutic agents may be due to reduction in the pro-inflammatory response that indirectly leads to limiting of clinical symptoms during infection. Both products differ in their immune stimulatory patterns, offering insight into differential use and therapeutic potential of these products to regulate macrophage immune responses and activation events.


Prior research on cheating lacks an international dimension. To our knowledge no one has compared ethics among countries. Our participants are students attending colleges or universities in Japan or the United States. The sample includes 318 students: 148 students from Japan and 170 from the US. Approximately 54% (46%) of the participants were female (male) students from a variety of majors. Our findings were consistent with those of Bernardi et al. (2004) with respect to the gender and the Academic Integrity Index; however, the scores on the Academic Honesty Scale were not significant for any of the three cheating histories we tested. We also found that differences in cheating behavior exist between the two countries (cultures).


Abstract This paper reports the results of the high-power tests of a remote-steering-launcher mock-up at 140 GHz, which were performed at the electron cyclotron resonance heating installation for the future stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) at Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Greifswald. The mock-up test system consists of a 6.62-m-long square corrugated waveguide with a steerable optic at the entrance and various diagnostics at the exit of the waveguide. A straight launcher and a version with two integrated miter bends were investigated. The ohmic loss of the waveguide was measured via the temperature increase of the waveguide wall and was used to calibrate the calculated angular dependence of the total ohmic losses of the waveguide. Short-pulse radiation pattern measurements with thermographic recording show high beam quality and confirm the steering range of -12…12 deg. The version with two miter bends produces similar results but with an increased level of side lobes. Although the tests were performed under atmospheric pressure, no arcing was observed in the straight waveguide. In the version with the miter bends, however, arcing limited the power and pulse length.


The purpose of this study is to analyse the quality of the prognostic factors to prognose the survival time and progression for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in early stage. In CLL-1-Protocol of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) 877 patients with CLL in Binet stage A were included. These patients were assessed in terms of their progression risk using clinical and biological prognostic factors: bone marrow histology (infiltration type), lymphocyte doubling time (LDT), serum thymidine kinase, and serum-s2-microglobulin. The patients with high progression risk would after randomization either receive treatment with fludarabine or only be observed, whereas the patients without high progression risk would be observed. In this study 630 patients without any treatment with fludarabine were analysed, 95 patients (15.1%) with high progression risk and 535 patients (84.9%) with low progression risk. The median observation time was 6 years. The following factors were analysed in this study: B symptoms, ECOG performance status, alkaline phosphatase, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), gamma-glutamyltransferase (gamma-GT), cholinesterase (CHE), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), uric acid, serum creatinine, total bilirubin, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, lymphadenopathy. In summary of the analysis in this study in terms of progression free survival, six parameters (lactate dehydrogenase, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, splenomegaly, axillary lymphadenopathy, cervical lymphadenopathy) significantly predicted progression free survival. Patients with lactate dehydrogenase >= 250 U/L showed significant lower progression free survival ( 18.1 months vs. 60.6 months, p value 50 mg/dL showed significant lower progression free survival ( 18.7 months vs. 52.5 months, p value = 1.0 mg/dL for female and >= 1.2 mg/dL for male showed significant lower progression free survival ( 25.1 months vs. 59.4 months, p value <0.01). Only two parameters could predict significantly overall survival, namely blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine. Elevated levels of blood urea nitrogen as well as elevated serum creatinine levels were associated with poorer prognosis. The other prognostic parameters (B-symptoms, ECOG performance status, alkaline phosphatase, serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase, serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, cholinesterase, uric acid, total bilirubin, hepatomegaly, inguinal lymphadenopathy) could not predict progression free survival nor overall survival. All estimated parameters are easily to assess and belong to a routine work-up of CLL patients. Before suggesting a prognostic score of all these analyzed parameters, they have to be analyzed together with modern parameters like cytogenetic and molecular genetic parameter after a longer follow-up period of the study population using a multivariate Cox regression model to prove their significance for prognosis prediction.
Nevertheless, all these significant parameters for progression-free survival and overall survival in the univariate analysis are worthwhile to test in a multivariate analysis.


Abstract In 2003, Martin Rees referred to the present as "mankind's final century." A few years later, Slavoj Žižek wrote that humankind is heading towards "apocalyptic zero-point," when the ecological crisis will most probably lead to our complete destruction. In his 2017 collection, Diary of the Last Man, Welsh poet Robert Minhinnick offers readers a meditation upon Earth at a liminal moment—on the brink of becoming completely unpopulated. Imagining a solitary human being, living in the midst of environmental collapse, Minhinnick yet entwines different voices—human and non-human—operating across vast spans of time. The speaker of the poems moves freely through different geographies and cultural contexts, but the voice that starts and ends the journey, seems to be the voice of the poet himself: he is the last man on earth, a survivor of ecological disaster. The paper discusses Minhinnick's collection as a projection of the world we now inhabit into a future where it will exist only in the form of nostalgic memories. The analysis focuses on the role of objects in the construction of the world-within-the poem, where the fragments of human civilization are being claimed by forces of the environment—engulfing sand, progressive erosion—forming a retrospective vision of our "now" which will inevitably become our "past."


The process of impeaching and removing a president is an insurance policy that was bequeathed to us by the Constitution's framers--in the hope that we would rarely have to use it. In the mere two attempts to date that reached a Senate trial, the only conclusion one can draw is that the odds of getting a conviction are not high and have never been met.(1) Does this mean that impeachment is an impossible tool, incapable of ever serving its ultimate end? Or, alternatively, did the framers know only too well what they had designed? Did they intentionally leave us with a process that, by its very nature--much like democracy itself would be messy, complicated, and vexing? Indeed, they wanted us to struggle with our choices and to think long and hard before firing up the machinery of presidential impeachment, precisely because of the grave consequences it could produce for the nation. To ensure against quick, easy judgments, the framers made presidential impeachment unique among all governmental functions: a complex hybrid of four separate elements--legal, political, constitutional, and institutional all poised with the potential to work at cross-purposes with each other. No other official act of government is fraught with such a combination of conflicting factors, and it is this inherently mixed, interwoven nature of the process that may help to explain why no presidential impeachment effort has ever run its full course to conviction and removal from office. It also makes clear how Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) could publicly state at the Senate trial that although he was certain that the president had committed perjury and obstruction of justice, his vote in the Senate would be based on what was in "the best interest of the nation." Legal answers alone did not wholly determine his ultimate decision on how to vote. Similarly, White House Counsel Charles Ruff, in his closing argument to the Senate, appealed to the broader sense of duty of the senators; urged them not to "lose sight of the constitutional forest for some of the analytical trees"; and asked them to consider the larger question, one of "fact, law and constitutional theory," of whether "the liberties of the people would be put at risk if the president were to be retained in office." These comments by both Byrd and Ruff illustrate that a mix of considerations were at work here, just as the framers intended. More than a year has passed since the impeachment and Senate trial of President Clinton. There has been no shortage of analyses about the president's behavior and the effort to remove him that it spawned, and one hesitates to add to the mountain of paper already produced on this subject (Spitzer 1999; Symposium 1999; Pious 1998; Pious 1999-2000; Posner 1999; Toobin 1999). But the tangle of elements, and the uncanny way in which calculations made to promote one tended to undermine another, is a variant of this story that has not yet been told. There are rich ironies to be observed, as well as sober reflections on the past and lessons for the future to be noted. Miscalculations were made on both sides. All parties in this process faced choices at critical junctures, and all made decisions that advanced their respective interest in one forum at the expense of an equally important one in another. Second-guessing, a posteriori, is not the purpose here (although it is an inescapable feature); rather, the objective is to gain an understanding of why decision making during an impeachment process is such a zero-sum game, where an anticipated gain from one strategic choice is canceled out by the equivalent loss from another that was rejected in a different sphere. Recognizing that constitutional, legal, political, and institutional factors play equally crucial, competing, and often irreconcilable roles here, and examining some examples of how this worked in practice, adds a fuller context in which to comprehend the enigma of impeachment. …


An interferometer with an efficient confocal layout is described. Similar in structure to a folded Linnik microscope, the interferometer employs broadband illumination to improve rejection of out-of-focus light. A prototype reflectometry system based on the new interferometer achieved an axial resolution of less than 10 μm within a probing depth of 1 mm in samples containing particulate scatterers and specularly reflecting objects. Options for mechanical and electronic scanning are discussed.


Introduction The coexistence of different information systems that are unable to communicate is a persistent problem in healthcare and in integrated home care in particular. Theory and methods Physically federated integration is used for design of the underlying technical architecture to implement a mobile virtual health record for integrated home care. A user centered system development approach is followed during design and development of the system. Results A technical platform based on a service-oriented approach where database functionality and services are separated has been developed. This guarantees flexibility with regard to changed functional demands and allows third party systems to interact with the platform in a standardized way. A physically federated integration enables point-of-care documentation, integrated presentation of information from different feeder systems, and offline access to data on handheld devices. Feeder systems deliver information in XML-files that are mapped against an ideal XML schema, published as an interface for integration with the information broker, and inserted into the mediator database. Conclusions A seamless flow of information between both different care professionals involved in integrated home care and patients and relatives is provided through mobile information access and interaction with different feeder systems using the virtual health record.


A summary of rescue excavations at the Romano-British Shrine site at Rocester, Staffordshire, dating from the late first to mid-second centuries AD. Parts of two enclosures identified as being associated with the adjacent Roman fort complex were also dug, and pits revealed several unusual finds, including an alter fragment. A small, stone building in one of the enclosures has been identified as a shrine.


Globalization has been defined as the process whereby "events happening in one place … impact upon many other places, often remote in time and space" (Urry 2003: 39). This paper examines the impact of two globally available linguistic resources — the quotatives be like and go — in two spatially discontinuous localities. The investigation of the local processes that are involved in the adoption and negotiation of these global newcomers provides a holistic as well as a particularized view on the sociolinguistic mechanisms of globalization. I will demonstrate that by way of creatively adapting linguistic innovations, speakers can participate in global trends, yet do so in a highly localized and idiosyncratic manner. A micro-linguistic analysis of the emerging local practises allows us to situate localized linguistic processes into a "wider picture of structural becoming" (Blommaert 2003: 613), and provides one step forward towards our understanding of the development and/or maintenance of social spatiality.


With many industrialized societies bearing the cost of an increasingly sedentary on the health of their populations there is a need to find new ways of encouraging physical activities to promote better health and well being. Exergaming is a term used to describe video games that also provide exercise as part of the experience and is thus a possible means of encouragement, particularly for an audience that may be reluctant to undertake more conventional forms of exercise. With the increasing power of mobile phones and the recent emergence of personal heart rate monitors, aimed at dedicated amateur runners, there is now a possibility of enabling Mobile Exergaming incorporating realtime physiological data along with other general fitness applications designed to promote well being. In this paper we present a novel heart rate and movement controlled Mobile Exergame inspired by the old arcade classic Space Invaders which we have termed Health Defender which forms part of a general health monitoring software for mobile phones called Heart Angel. Player experience shows the potential for mobile exergaming and that as the technology becomes more prevalent is a real possibility for improving health and well being.


Female Ooencyrtus kuvanae (Howard) were attracted to odors from gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), egg masses in a 4-way olfactometer. Responses to egg mass odors varied with the difference of larval diet of the host. The number of gypsy moth generations on a particular larval diet also appeared to affect parasitoid orientation to the resulting egg masses. The plant species on which gypsy moth larvae fed affected characteristics of both the egg masses and the emerging wasps. Gypsy moth egg masses derived from plant-fed larvae had larger, but fewer, eggs than those derived from larvae fed artificial diet. The effects of host larval food on egg parasitoid emergence appeared in the 2nd generation, apparently because wasp developmental substrate affected their fecundity. O. kuvanae that developed in eggs derived from oak-fed gypsy moths produced more offspring than those that developed in eggs derived from tamarack-fed gypsy moths, regardless of subsequent ovipositional substrate. The offspring sex ratio was influenced by the ovipositional and parental substrates. The proportion of females was highest in larval treatments and egg mass sections that yielded the largest eggs. O. kuvanae generally parasitized more eggs in the section of the egg mass that was laid first by the gypsy moth.


The use of ceramics with painting goes back to prehistoric times. As the aesthetic sensibility of humanity and the visual alphabet evolve, the geometric stacks that started with dotts, lines and spots have reached an infinite variety of visual accumulation carried on the picture plane with the possibilities provided by a rich form language. In Islamic ceramics, it has been particularly seen that with the use of white angobe and clay, pictorial depictions seen in ceramics and tiles have enriched both at composition, subject and color. Combining the art of tile with various painting techniques can be an innovative way of maintaining this richness with free painting techniques. Thus the way of reinterpreting it with contemporary approaches is opened by the inner dynamics of the art of tile are preserved without losing its past. The meeting of various painting techniques, which have common points with underglaze painting techniques, will open up new forms of expression on the tile surfaces. As the new production suggestions, associated with the art of tile art will expand and multiply the vocabulary, also its expected an interest as a fertile field of production for the artists who will bring together the art of the past tile freely with experimental methods. In this study, the results obtained by collective use of underglaze painting technique, free paint applying techniques and tile tradition on tile and stone paste surfaces and on three dimensional forms will be shared.


Abstract. Average monthly precipitation, the original Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and a recent adaptation to Europe, the Self Calibrated PDSI (scPDSI) have been used here to analyse the spatial and temporal evolution of drought conditions in the Mediterranean during the 20th century. Monthly, seasonal and annual trends were computed for the period 1901–2000 and also for the first and second halves of this period. The statistical significance of trends was obtained with a modified version of the Mann-Kendall test that accounts for serial auto-correlation. The results show a clear trend towards drier conditions during the 20th century in most western and central Mediterranean regions, with the exceptions of northwestern Iberia and most of Turkey that reveal an increase of moisture availability. A Generalized Extreme Values (GEV) analysis was applied to the maximum and minimum regional values of scPDSI, with results pointing towards a significant decline of absolute extreme values in central areas (Italy and Balkans) and a less clear picture emerging in western (Iberia) and eastern (Turkey) realms. The inter-annual variability of the scPDSI index series is shown to be more realistic than the corresponding PDSI version, fitting better the drought episodes sequence and magnitude described in the literature for each sub-region. We assess the decadal and inter-annual variability of the scPDSI for each sub-domain and evaluate the role played by the major teleconnection patterns, and by several sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. The main driver of scPDSI in western and central Mediterranean areas is the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) pattern that is also relevant during the following spring and summer seasons with anti-correlation values below −0.60. The second most important mode corresponds to the Scandinavian Pattern that is significantly associated to the scPDSI between winter and summer over central Mediterranean (correlation values around 0.50). Finally, the teleconnection and SST analysis has allowed us to calibrate a stepwise regression model, enabling the forecasting of summer drought conditions six months in advance. The final model obtained is capable of reproducing the observed scPDSI time series fairly well, with a correlation coefficient of 0.79 (0.77 after cross-validation) and a significant gain over climatology (SSc=59%), while the corresponding result against persistence is more modest (SSp6=11%).


We explore the links between social capital and labor market networks at the neighborhood level. We harness rich data taken from multiple sources, including matched employer-employee data with which we measure the strength of labor market networks, data on behavior such as voting patterns that have previously been tied to social capital, and new data – not previously used in the study of social capital – on the number and location of non-profit sector establishments at the neighborhood level. We use a machine learning algorithm to identify important potential social capital measures that best predict neighborhood-level variation in labor market networks. We find evidence suggesting that smaller and less centralized schools, and schools with fewer poor students, foster social capital that builds labor market networks, as does a larger Republican vote share. The presence of establishments in a number of non-profit oriented industries are identified as predictive of strong labor market networks, likely because they either provide public goods or facilitate social contacts. These industries include, for example, churches and other religious institutions, police departments, fire and rescue services including volunteer fire departments, country clubs, mayors' offices, chamber music groups, hobby clubs, and museums.


The dozen essays brought together here, alongside a newly-written introduction, contextualize and exemplify the recent "empirical turn" in Beckett studies. Characterized, above all, by recourse to manuscript materials in constructing revisionist interpretations, this approach has helped to transform the study of Samuel Beckett over the past generation. In addition to focusing upon Beckett's early immersion in philosophy and psychology, other chapters similarly analyze his later collaboration with the BBC through the lens of literary history. Falsifying Beckett thus offers new readings of Beckett by returning to his archive of notebooks, letters, and drafts. In reassessing key aspects of his development as one of the 20th century's leading artists, this collection is of interest to all students of Beckett's writing as well as "historicist" scholars and critics of modernism more generally.


1. Recent changes in European agricultural policy have led to measures to reverse the loss of species-rich grasslands through the creation of new areas on ex-arable land. Ex-arable soils are often characterized by high inorganic nitrogen (N) levels, which lead to the rapid establishment of annual and fast-growing perennial species during the initial phase of habitat creation. The addition of carbon (C) to the soil has been suggested as a countermeasure to reduce plant-available N and alter competitive interactions among plant species.

2. To test the effect of C addition on habitat creation on ex-arable land, an experiment was set up on two recently abandoned fields in Switzerland and on two 6-year-old restoration sites in the UK. Carbon was added as a mixture of either sugar and sawdust or wood chips and sawdust during a period of 2 years. The effects of C addition on soil parameters and vegetation composition were assessed during the period of C additions and 1 year thereafter.

3. Soil nitrate concentrations were reduced at all sites within weeks of the first C addition, and remained low until cessation of the C additions. The overall effect of C addition on vegetation was a reduction in above-ground biomass and cover. At the Swiss sites, the addition of sugar and sawdust led to a relative increase in legume and forb cover and to a decrease in grass cover. The soil N availability, composition of soil micro-organisms and vegetation characteristics continued to be affected after cessation of C additions.

4. Synthesis and applications. The results suggest that C addition in grassland restoration is a useful management method to reduce N availability on ex-arable land. Carbon addition alters the vegetation composition by creating gaps in the vegetation that facilitates the establishment of late-seral plant species, and is most effective when started immediately after the abandonment of arable fields and applied over several years.


The binuclear manganese metalloenzyme human arginase I (HAI) is a potential protein drug for cancer chemotherapy, in that it is capable of depleting extracellular l-Arg levels in the microenvironment of tumor cells that require this nutrient to thrive. Substitution of the native Mn(2+)(2) cluster with a Co(2+)(2) cluster in the active site yields an enzyme with enhanced catalytic activity at physiological pH (∼7.4) that could serve as an improved protein drug for L-Arg depletion therapy [Stone, E. M., Glazer, E. S., Chantranupong, L., Cherukuri, P., Breece, R. M., Tierney, D. L., Curley, S. A., Iverson, B. L., and Georgiou, G. (2010) ACS Chem. Biol. 5, 333-342]. A different catalytic mechanism is proposed for Co(2+)(2)-HAI compared with that of Mn(2+)(2)-HAI, including an unusual Nε-Co(2+) coordination mode, to rationalize the lower K(M) value of L-Arg and the lower K(i) value of L-Orn. However, we now report that no unusual metal coordination modes are observed in the cobalt-reconstituted enzyme. The X-ray crystal structures of unliganded Co(2+)(2)-HAI determined at 2.10 Å resolution (pH 7.0) and 1.97 Å resolution (pH 8.5), as well as the structures of Co(2+)(2)-HAI complexed with the reactive substrate analogue 2(S)-amino-6-boronohexanoic acid (ABH, pH 7.0) and the catalytic product L-Orn (pH 7.0) determined at 1.85 and 1.50 Å resolution, respectively, are essentially identical to the corresponding structures of Mn(2+)(2)-HAI. Therefore, in the absence of significant structural differences between Co(2+)(2)-HAI and Mn(2+)(2)-HAI, we suggest that a higher concentration of metal-bridging hydroxide ion at physiological pH for Co(2+)(2)-HAI, a consequence of the lower pK(a) of a Co(2+)-bound water molecule compared with a Mn(2+)-bound water molecule, strengthens electrostatic interactions with cationic amino acids and accounts for enhanced affinity as reflected in the lower K(M) value of L-Arg and the lower K(i) value of L-Orn.


The design and sensitivity aspects of five stages tenth order active bandpass filter suitable for signal processing in electronic circuits are introduced. Simulation process performed is started by evaluating the voltage transfer function of the filter using the nodal approach to the second order activenet work model which represents each stage. The sensitivity analysis with respect to some parameter changes such as resonance frequency and quality factor is treated for proper choice of component values. The computational difficulties in the analog domain manipulations that arises through the cascaded arrangement of the filteris overcome by factorizing the terms in the denominator of the stated voltage transfer function with the aid of MATLAB 7.10.0(R2010a)software program. It was found that the increasing in the quality factor increases the magnitude, phase responses, higher deviation in magnitude sensitivity due to change in resonance frequency and lower frequency range due to change in quality factor. An increasing in the resonance frequency results in a better impulse and step response. The phase sensitivity due to change in resonance frequency shows that an increase in the quality factor gives higher deviation and this deviation is less in t he sensitivity due to change in the quality factor. The simulation process of the circuit is done via the introduction of the Multisim software package version 9.0.155, offers good agreements with the results obtained.


Overview This paper argues there's a need for a whole-of-government approach to Australia's external fisheries policy that recognises clear linkages between fisheries and foreign, trade, and strategic policy. Extending and complementing current stakeholder engagement practices is the key to this approach. Regional fishery management organisations (RFMOs) and arrangements allow Australia to promote a strong approach on sustainable and responsible fishing practices and develop regional instruments to protect our fish stocks and wider regional interests.


In this article, we examine the relationship between metrics documenting politics-related Twitter activity with election results and trends in opinion polls. Various studies have proposed the possibility of inferring public opinion based on digital trace data collected on Twitter and even the possibility to predict election results based on aggregates of mentions of political actors. Yet, a systematic attempt at a validation of Twitter as an indicator for political support is lacking. In this article, building on social science methodology, we test the validity of the relationship between various Twitter-based metrics of public attention toward politics with election results and opinion polls. All indicators tested in this article suggest caution in the attempt to infer public opinion or predict election results based on Twitter messages. In all tested metrics, indicators based on Twitter mentions of political parties differed strongly from parties' results in elections or opinion polls. This leads us to question the power of Twitter to infer levels of political support of political actors. Instead, Twitter appears to promise insights into temporal dynamics of public attention toward politics.


A switch in receptor balance switches liver endothelial cells from promoting regeneration to stimulating fibrosis. Chronic injury transforms the regenerative response of the liver into a fibrotic response. Understanding how hepatic vascular endothelial cells switch from signaling regeneration to promoting fibrosis should enable the development of therapeutic strategies to promote liver repair without exacerbating injury. Ding et al. used conditional endothelial cell–specific knockout of the chemokine receptors CXCR4 and CXCR7 and the fibroblast growth factor receptor FGFR1 with either acute or chronic liver injury models in mice to investigate how the liver vascular endothelial cells undergo this profibrotic transition. The proregenerative signal involves activation of CXCR4 and CXCR7, which can form heterodimers, by the chemokine SDF-1 to stimulate the activity of the transcription factor Id. Knockdown of either CXCR4 or CXCR7 in cultured liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) prevented the SDF-1–induced increase in Id abundance. In response to acute liver injury, mice with conditional endothelial cell-specific knockout of CXCR7 showed exacerbated damage and a reduction in the Id-dependent increase in the expression of genes encoding regeneration-promoting factors in LSECs. In two chronic liver injury models, the abundance of CXCR4-encoding transcripts increased and that of CXCR7-encoding transcripts decreased, which was reflected in a decrease in the abundance of CXCR7. In the chronic injury mouse model, endothelial cell-specific CXCR7 knockout increased the abundance of the fibrotic indicators smooth muscle actin and collagen and increased liver damage. Experiments with cultured human LSECs suggested that FGF-2 mediated the switch in receptor balance from CXCR7 predominating to CXCR4 predominating. LSECs isolated from mice exposed to the chronic liver injury paradigm exhibited an increase in FGFR1 signaling, represented by increased phosphorylation of extracellular-regulated signaling kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) and of the adaptor FRS2, and the increase peaked midway through the injury-inducing treatment. Endothelial cell-specific knockout of FGFR1 prevented (i) the switch in the abundance of CXCR4 and CXCR7, (ii) stimulation of phosphorylation of ERK1/2, (iii) reduction in the abundance of proregenerative factors, (iv) deposition of fibrotic markers, and (v) liver damage in the chronic liver injury model. Similarly, profibrotic events and liver injury were reduced in mice with the endothelial cell–specific knockout of CXCR4. Thus, chronic injury appears to induce excessive FGFR1 signaling, leading to a switch in chemokine receptor abundance that shifts the vascular niche from sending out a proregeneration signal to sending out a profibrosis signal. B.-S. Ding, Z. Cao, R. Lis, D. J. Nolan, P. Guo, M. Simons, M. E. Penfold, K. Shido, S. Y. Rabbany, S. Rafii, Divergent angiocrine signals from vascular niche balance liver regeneration and fibrosis. Nature 505, 97–102 (2014). [PubMed]


The international legal discourse on belligerent occupation has traditionally regarded the phenomenon of occupation as a fact of international life which, once established, generates normative consequences: the application of the law of occupation. Accordingly, its focus has been on the manner with which an occupying power complies, or fails to comply with specific obligations under this law. Virtually no discussion exists as to the legality of the phenomenon itself. This article proposes to expand this discourse by inquiring into the nature of the normative regime of occupation, as distinct from the legality of specific actions undertaken within it. Such an inquiry, rather than regarding the phenomenon of occupation as merely a fact of power, identifies a norm which governs the phenomenon, thereby making it possible to differentiate between legal and illegal occupations. This identification involves a legal construction relating to both the normative order which is generated by an occupation and to the normative order which generates the legal regime of occupation. Focusing on the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory conquered in 1967, the article argues that this occupation has become illegal both intrinsically (that is, in terms of the normative regime of occupation) and extrinsically (that is, in terms of the international legal order which generates the normative regime of occupation as an exception to the normal order of sovereign equality between states: the situation is exceptional due to the severance of the link between sovereignty and effective control). Section I advances this proposition.The intrinsic legality of an occupation is to be measured in relation to three interrelated fundamental legal principles: (a) Sovereignty and title in an occupied territory is not vested in the occupying power; under contemporary international law, and in view of the principle of self-determination, said sovereignty is vested in the population under occupation; (b) The occupying power is entrusted with the management of public order and civil life in the territory under control. In view of the principle of self-determination, the people under occupation are the beneficiaries of this trust. The dispossession and subjugation of these people is thus a violation of this trust, and (c) The occupation is temporary, as distinct from indefinite. The violation of each of these principles, as distinct from the violation of a specific norm which reflects an aspect of these principles, renders an occupation illegal. Further, these principles are interrelated: the substantive constraints on the managerial discretion of the occupant elucidated in principle (a) and (b) respectively, generate the conclusion that it must necessarily be temporary, and the violation of the temporal constraints expressed in principle (c) cannot but violate principles (a) and (b), thereby corrupting the normative regime of occupation. This occupation is illegal. This is the nature of the Israeli occupation. The extrinsic legality of an occupation is to be measured by its exceptionality. Once the boundaries between the exception and the rule are blurred, the occupation becomes illegal. The Israeli occupation has thus blurred these boundaries. Section II substantiates this argument. Concluding Section III focuses on the indeterminacies of this occupation as reflecting both its essential feature and its legitimizing mechanism, and proceeds to consider the normative consequences of an illegal occupation.


Recommender Systems are a perfect example for automatic Machine Learning (aML) – which is the fastest growing field in computer science generally and health informatics specifically. The general goal of ML is to develop algorithms which can learn and improve over time and can be used for predictions and decision support – which is of the central interest of health informatics. Whilst automatic approaches greatly benefit from big data with many training sets, in the health domain experts are often confronted with a small number of complex data sets or rare events, where aMLapproaches suffer of insufficient training samples. Here interactive Machine Learning (iML) may be of help, which can be defined as "algorithms that can interact with agents and can optimize their learning behaviour through these interactions, where the agents can also be human". Such a human can be an expert, i.e. a medical doctor, and this "doctor-in-the-loop" can be beneficial in solving computationally hard problems, e.g., subspace clustering, protein folding, or k-anonymization of health data, where human expertise can help to reduce an exponential search space through heuristic selection of samples. Therefore, what would otherwise be an NP-hard problem, reduces greatly in complexity through the input and the assistance of a human expert agent involved in the learning phase. Important future research aspects are in the combined use of both human intelligence and computer intelligence, in the context of hybrid multi-agent recommender systems which can also make use of the power of crowdsourcing to make use of joint decision making – which can be very helpful e.g. in the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.


This book provides a comprehensive collection of Cases and Materials On Marine Insurance Law. The sources included here are not always readily accessible. Each chapter is introduced with a brief resume of the general principles,before the facts of each case are summarised and the extracts of the relevant parts of judgments reproduced.

The significance of the judicial extracts, the statutory materials and standard terms are then discussed with particular emphasis on important and problematical areas of the law.This book will be indispensable not only to postgraduate students of law, in-house lawyers, insurance brokers and claims adjusters, but also to students of maritime studies, legal practitioners and a wide range of professionals within the shipping industry who may wish to have at hand a convenient source of information.

Whilst the book is a companion to the authors The Law of Marine Insurance, it is also structured to stand as a marine insurance text in its own right.


Games of incomplete information, or Bayesian games, are an important game-theoretic model and have many applications in economics. We propose Bayesian action-graph games (BAGGs), a novel graphical representation for Bayesian games. BAGGs can represent arbitrary Bayesian games, and furthermore can compactly express Bayesian games exhibiting commonly encountered types of structure including symmetry, action- and type-specific utility independence, and probabilistic independence of type distributions. We provide an algorithm for computing expected utility in BAGGs, and discuss conditions under which the algorithm runs in polynomial time. Bayes-Nash equilibria of BAGGs can be computed by adapting existing algorithms for complete-information normal form games and leveraging our expected utility algorithm. We show both theoretically and empirically that our approaches improve significantly on the state of the art.


parameters and related impacts on different sectors in Uganda until 2080 under different climate change scenarios (called Representative Concentration Pathways, RCPs). RCP2.6 represents the low emissions scenario in line with the Paris Agreement; RCP6.0 represents a medium to high emissions scenario. Model projections do not account for effects of future socioeconomic impacts. Agro-ecological zones might shift, affecting ecosystems, biodiversity and crop production. Models project regionally varying changes in species richness and tree cover in response to climate change.


We investigate how corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) can rapidly attain central positions in venture capital syndication networks. Using data of CVC investments by U.S. corporations between 1996 and 2005, we complement prior research, which suggests that centrally positioned VCs predominantly invest together with other centrally positioned VCs. While we find clear support for the social network theory arguments that prior central positions in syndication networks significantly explain future network positions of CVCs, we also find a negative interaction effect between past centrality and corporate resources. This finding implies that resources of CVCs can substitute for their lack of prior centrality and allow them to gain rapidly central positions in rigid VC syndication networks.


Abstract A need for research on young children's mental health has been identified. Moreover, there is a need to enhance teachers' skills regarding health promotion work in preschool. The aim of the study is to examine the impact of a specific course on mental health promotion among Swedish preschool teachers. Data were gathered through interviews and documentation. A qualitative content analysis was used. Three categories: 'attention', 'belonging' and 'personal growth' – and six subcategories emerged from the analysis. The latent content of these categories is described in the theme: 'Increased awareness, in thoughts and actions, of promoting mental health may create a sense of trust at preschools'. The results show that a specific course to promote mental health enhanced the teachers' awareness of mental health which improved their work with children. This contributed to the development of a sense of trust at preschools, which is important to children's mental health.


Streptomyces clavuligerus produces the potent beta-lactamase inhibitor clavulanic acid, which is used in conjunction with other beta-lactam antibiotics. Although the genome of S. davuligerus has not yet been sequenced, tools were developed to study the metabolic flux distribution (fluxomics) and gene expression (transcriptomics) at genome scale. A Streptomyces clavuligerus-specific genome-scale metabolic network was derived from the network reconstructed for the close relative S. coelicolor (Borodina et al., 2005), removing reactions unique to S. coelicolor and adding the ones known to take place in S. clavuligerus. This metabolic network was then used to perform Flux Balance Analysis. Genome-scale transcription analysis was also made possible by customising S. coelicolor DNA microarrays thanks to the addition of 80 S. clavuligerus-specific probes, corresponding to most of the sequenced S. clavuligerus genes, to the 8,000 S. coelicolor probes, including probes for the genes of the clavulanic acid cluster. These genome- scale methodologies were applied to S. clavuligerus grown in chemostat and batch cultures. Macromolecular compositions at two dilution rates (0.02h-1 and 0.05h-1) and in different growth phases were analysed in order to obtain reliable flux data. Flux distribution was simulated accurately and predicted supplements such as threonine, malate, pyruvate or citrate that might lead to increased antibiotic production. The customised DNA microarrays demonstrated that the genes of the clavulanic acid cluster are regulated differently in batch and in chemostat culture. The analysis of the transcription data also predicted that the use of supplements such as glycine or thymidine could lead to increased clavulanic acid production. Finally, the gene expression patterns showed that S. clavuligerus might be using an alternative pathway to metabolise glycerol during clavulanic acid production. In batch culture, the fluxomic and transcriptomic data showed no correlation, while some correlation was observed in chemostat culture. This demonstrated that chemostat culture is more useful than batch culture when performing genome-scale analysis. However, batch culture remains a valuable tool to assess gene co-expression or to study a switch between two phases of growth.


According to Sagnak and Kuruoz (2017) authenticity is established when one maintains their intrinsic values and beliefs in all aspects of their life, therefore their values, beliefs, attitudes and self-identity shapes their actions.Authentic leadership encompasses four areas. These include, self-awareness which is understanding one's strengths, limitations, and values and how they affect others (Azanza, Moriano, & Molero, 2013). Balanced processing, which encourages analyzing all relevant information from differing views before making a decision (Azanza et. al., 2013). Relational transparency which is openly sharing the authentic self by sharing knowledge, displaying openness with true thoughts, feelings, and trust (Sagnak & Kuruoz, 2017). Finally, internalized moral perspective, which is self-regulation by guiding actions with moral standards and values (Sagnak & Kuruoz, 2017) (Azanza et. al., 2013). Studies have shown that authentic leadership is positively associated with increased employee job performance, increased job satisfaction, and improved work engagement through honest and transparent relationships with employees (Azanza et. al., 2013). Authentic leaders display fairness, justice, empathy, respect, trustworthiness, reliability, and believability (Waite, McKinney, Smith-Glasgow, & Meloy, 2014). For this paper I will research into the background and history of authentic leadership theory, provide an in depth analysis and explanation of the concepts of authentic leadership, and finally include an application regarding relevance to nursing leadership and personal practice.


Does fear cause us to "circle the wagons" and favor those in our in-group? Or does fear of the "other" cause us to recognize our common humanity and become more charitable to those we might otherwise consider outsiders? The measurement of this effect is confounded by the fact that some groups respond more strongly to fear than others. We run an online experiment on a nationally representative sample in South Korea in which we induce fear via the autobiographical emotional memory task method and examine the impact on donations to either an in-group charity (the Korean Red Cross) or one that caters to an out-group (the Korea Support Center for Foreign Workers). We find that, while the reported level of fear is negatively correlated with donations to the out-group, the induced fear caused by the experimental intervention is positively correlated with donations to the out-group. We also find that the fear effect depends on political views, media exposure, and social preferences. We confirm our experimental results by looking at how regional attitudes toward out-groups have shifted over time and compare those changes to the average level of reported fear during the COVID-19 pandemic. Places that report the most fear of COVID-19 also have had the greatest increases in prosocial attitudes toward out-groups.


A study was initiated in 1997 to introduce the culture of supplementing low rates of NP fertilizers with farmyard manure (FYM) in the maize based farming system of western Oromia. The treatments were 0/0, 20/20, 40/25 and 60/30 kg N/P ha −1 and 0, 4, 8, and 12 t FYM ha −1 in factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The experiment was conducted at Laga Kalla, Walda, Shoboka, Harato, and Bako Research Center using BH-660 hybrid maize. The FYM used for the experiment was well decomposed under shade and spot applied together with the P fertilizer at planting; N was applied in split form. The residual effects of FYM were investigated for Laga Kalla, Walda and Shoboka during the 1998 cropping season. Statistical analysis revealed that the N/P fertilizers and FYM significantly ( p< 0.05) increased grain yield in all locations except for Walda in 1997. Interactions of FYM and NP fertilizer rates were significant (p ≤ 0.05) at all locations except for Shoboka. The application of FYM alone at rates of 4, 8, and 12 t ha −1 produced average grain yields of 5.76, 5.61 and 5.93 t ha −1 , respectively, compared to 3.53 t ha −1 for the control treatment in 1997. There were significant residual effects of FYM and NP fertilizers applied in 1997 on maize grain yields in 1998. Laboratory analysis confirmed that considerable amounts of macronutrients and small amounts of micronutrients were supplied by FYM. Based on the results of this study, the integrated use of properly managed FYM and low rates NP fertilizers could be used for maize production in the areas under consideration. Moreover, sole applications of FYM on relatively fertile soils like Walda and Harato are useful in maintaining soil fertility and are encouraging for resource poor farmers.


INTRODUCTION
Obesity and cardiovascular disease are inextricably linked and the health community's response to the current epidemic of adolescent obesity may be improved by the ability to target adolescents at highest risk for developing cardiovascular disease in the future. Overweight manifests early as autonomic dysregulation and current methods do not permit differentiation of overweight adolescents or young adults at highest risk for developing cardiovascular disease.

AIM
This study was designed to test the hypothesis that scaling exponents motivated by nonlinear fractal analyses of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) differentiate overweight, otherwise healthy adolescent/young adult subjects at risk for developing prehypertension, the primary forerunner of cardiovascular disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The subjects were 18-20year old males with Body Mass Index (BMI) 20.1-42.5kg/m(2). Electrocardiographic inter-beat (RR) intervals were measured during 3h periods of bed rest after overnight fasting and ingestion of 900Cal high-carbohydrate and high-fat test beverages on separate days. Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA), k-means cluster and ANOVA analyses of scaling coefficients α, α(1), and α(2), showed dependencies on hourly measurements of systolic blood pressure and on premeasured BMI.

RESULTS
It was observed that α value increased during the caloric challenge, appears to represent metabolically-induced changes in HRV across the participants. An ancillary analysis was performed to determine the dependency on BMI without BMI as a parameter. Cluster analysis of the high-carbohydrate test beverage treatment and the high-fat treatment produced grouping with very little overlap. ANOVA on both clusters demonstrated significance at p<0.001. We were able to demonstrate increased sympathetic modulation of our study group during ingestion and metabolism of isocaloric high-carbohydrate and high-fat test beverages.

CONCLUSION
These findings demonstrate significantly different clustering of α, α1, and α2 and Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) with respect to normal, overweight and obese BMI.


Averaged single trials (AST) allowed the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) response to auditory stimuli to be measured at high temporal (1 s) and spatial (0.1 cm3) resolution. Using this paradigm we investigated the transient signal response to 100-ms tone bursts in trains of between 100 ms and 25.5 s in total duration. We have demonstrated that the fMRI response to such auditory stimuli is approximately linear for trains of 6 s and longer, but that shorter stimuli produce signals that are larger than might be expected from the response to the longer stimuli. This nonlinear behavior can be modeled if an adaptive response to each stimulus is assumed. A study using a novel paradigm was also performed in order to study the influence of scanner noise during fMRI experiments on the auditory system response to tones. This study demonstrated that the temporal response to 700-ms tone stimuli is modified when performed in the presence of scanner gradient noise, the modification being a small but significant increase (P < 0.05) in the magnitude of the response. Finally the ability to measure the onset of functional activation using the AST method was examined. It was found, with the aid of computer simulation that a sampling rate of one image per second is adequate to distinguish temporal responses. Using the data acquired in this study, onset times were calculated for the auditory cortex, and these results are consistent with current models of functional activation.


Many entities in the real world that a software system has to interact with, e.g., for controlling or monitoring purposes, exhibit different behaviour phases in their lifetime, in particular depending on whether or not they are functioning correctly. That is, these entities exhibit not only a normal behaviour phase but also one or more abnormal behaviour phases associated with the various faults which occur in the environment. These faults are referred to as environmental faults. In the object-oriented software, real-world entities are modeled as objects. In a classbased object-oriented language, such as C++, all objects of a given class must follow the same external behaviour, i.e., they have the same interface and associated implementation. However this requires that each object permanently belong to a particular class, imposing constraints on the mutability of the behaviour for an individual object. This thesis proposes solutions to the problem of finding means whereby objects representing real-world entities which exhibit various behaviour phases can make corresponding changes in their own behaviour in a clear and explicit way, rather than through status-checking code which is normally embedded in the implementation of various methods. Our proposed solution is (i) to define a hierarchy of different subclasses related to an object which corresponds to an external entity, each subclass implementing a different behaviour phase that the external entity can exhibit, and (ii) to arrange that each object forward the execution of its operations to the currently appropriate instance of this hierarchy of subclasses. We thus propose an object-oriented approach for the provision of environmental fault tolerance, which encapsulates the abnormal behaviour of "faulty" entities as objects (instances of the above mentioned subclasses). These abnormal behaviour variants are defined statically, and runtime access to them is implemented through a delegation mechanism which depends on the current phase of behaviour. Thus specific reconfiguration changes at the level of objects can be easily incorporated to a software system for tolerating environmental faults.


With the rise of e-Learning in engineering education, understanding the impact of individual differences on the ways students communicate and collaborate on-line has become increasingly important. The research described here investigates the influence of cognitive style on the interactions within student social networks in an on-line learning environment, with a particular focus on student engagement, patterns of communication, and the self-directed creation of sub-groups (i.e., cliques). The Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI) was used to assess cognitive style, and UCINET software was used to analyze the interactions of two cohorts of Systems Engineering students throughout a series of asynchronous on-line discussion forums across two graduate-level courses. Among the findings, the highly heterogeneous style composition of the cliques formed by the students suggests that e-Learning environments may mask cognitive differences that have been shown to create conflict in face-to-face student interactions. Links between cognitive style, expansiveness, influence, leadership, and students' choices between resident and on-line programs are also discussed.


The conformal coating of a 50 nm-thick layer of copper nanoparticles deposited with pulse chemical vapor deposition of a copper (I) guanidinate precursor on the cladding of a single mode optical fiber was monitored by using a tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) photo-inscribed in the fiber core. The pulse-per-pulse growth of the copper nanoparticles is readily obtained from the position and amplitudes of resonances in the reflection spectrum of the grating. In particular, we confirm that the real part of the effective complex permittivity of the deposited nano-structured copper layer is an order of magnitude larger than that of a bulk copper film at an optical wavelength of 1550 nm. We further observe a transition in the growth behavior from granular to continuous film (as determined from the complex material permittivity) after approximately 20 pulses (corresponding to an effective thickness of 25 nm). Finally, despite the remaining granularity of the film, the final copper-coated optical fiber is shown to support plasmon waves suitable for sensing, even after the growth of a thin oxide layer on the copper surface.


The purpose of page layout is to consciously arrange text and graphics on a page in a way that supports the reading process and allows the reader to effortlessly follow the flow of information. It should blend words and images into an effective whole. Many of the basic principles of page layout in use today date back to the times when book printing was born in the Renaissance. The Industrial Revolution and Gestalt theory likewise have left their distinctive imprints on page design. The page designer's job, then, is to read and digest the text before making specific style choices and creating a layout that supports the writer's message.


Objective● Describe the diverse determinants of national health and how they are compositely graded in health care system rankings.● Articulate intrinsic reasons why equity should not be subsumed within other evaluative categories.● Design an equity-limited ratings framework for limiting maximum ratings of inequitible healthcare systems.IntroductionHealthcare systems are often evaluated using comparative health care rankings. Simulations have shown that maximally inequitable health care systems can perform well in published, influential health care system rankings by excelling in non-equity categories1, resulting in highly ranked yet grossly inequitable healthcare systems. Recently, despite below average equity rankings, the healthcare systems of Australia and New Zealand ranked among the top four in The Commonwealth Fund's international comparative study Mirror, Mirror 20172. Equity rankings should logically limit non-equity rankings given the insignificance of healthcare system improvements to those lacking adequate healthcare coverage. We analyzed whether an equity-limited ranking methodology would limit overall rankings for significantly inequitable healthcare systems while maintaining the general findings of the Commonwealth Fund study.MethodsWe reanalyzed The Commonwealth Fund's 2017 international health care system comparison using a modified, equity-limited methodology. For each country, maximum non-equity domain summary scores were limited to the equity domain summary score. Countries were ranked using the mean of the five domain-specific performance scores. Overall rankings were compared to the original rankings.ResultsSeven of eleven countries had an overall rank change in the equity-limited model. Countries with above average overall ratings but poor equity ratings had the greatest changes in overall rank. Australia's overall ranking decreased from second to seventh, thereby matching its equity ranking of seventh. New Zealand changed from fourth to eighth overall, matching its equity ranking as well. Other changes were less significant, with changes of only one overall rank position. Notably, the bottom three countries and the top country were unchanged.ConclusionsEquity-limited ranking methodologies can prevent inequitable health care systems from attaining high overall ratings. Such equity-limited rankings are logical considering the diminished significance of health care system improvements to those lacking adequate health coverage. Methodologies that incorporate equity limits should be used to produce fairer rankings that respect the dignity and rights of all individuals.References1. Reisman S, Blumenkranz Z. Comparative health care system rankings can obscure maximal inequities: A simulation study.Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) 69th Annual Conference. 2018, June.2. Schneider EC, Sarnak DO, Squires D, Shah A, Doty MM. Mirror, Mirror 2017: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care. The Commonwealth Fund. 2017, July.


Nickel/zirconia-based nanostructured electrodes for solid oxide fuel cells su ff er from poor stability even at intermediate temperature. This study quanti fi es the electrochemical and microstructural degradation of nanostructured electrodes by combining 3D tomography, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and mechanistic modeling. For the fi rst time, the electrochemical degradation of nanostructured electrodes is quanti fi ed according to the fractal nature of the three-phase boundary (TPB). Using this hypothesis an excellent match between modeling and the electrochemical response is found. The origin of the degradation in microstructure and electrochemical performance can be found in the initial fractal roughness of the TPB at a length scale not detectable with state-of-the-art tomography at 30 nm resolution. This additionally implies that the hydrogen electro-oxidation takes place within 4 nm from the geometric TPB line, revealing that the electrochemical reaction zone cannot be regarded anymore as a one-dimensional line when dealing with nanoparticles.


Students in sports economics courses might better learn the basic concepts by running their own franchise. A simple game, based on the card game War, is easy and inexpensive to implement. Students quickly grasp the importance of weighing marginal benefits, both in terms of team record and marginal revenue, against the costs of improving their team. In addition, students learn that even the best-laid plans can, under some circumstances, result in disappointment. Extensions of the basic game help teach students the dynamics of revenue sharing, television contracts, salary caps, and other concepts.