A gamma-ray imaging system has been developed for acquiring stereo images of the distribution of radiopharmaceuticals in breast tissue. The system consists of a small field-of-view gamma-ray camera mounted to a stereotactic biopsy table. The camera is mounted on a rotational arm such that it can be used to image the breast from two 15/spl deg/ stereo views. These stereo images can be used to determine the three dimensional spatial location of a region of focal uptake. Once the location of this region is determined, this information can be used as a guide for stereotactic core needle biopsy. The accuracy that the spatial location of a source could be determined was investigated by moving a point source within the field of view. Measurements indicate that the source could be localized to within 1 mm. A center-of gravity calculation was used to localize the centroid of the image of the source and this was used to determine the spatial location. A comparison of the operation of the gamma imaging system and an X-ray imaging system has been done using a dual modality phantom. These measurements indicate that the spatial location of an isolated source can be determined by the gamma imaging system to within approximately the same accuracy as the X-ray system. Collimators were tested to determine the spatial resolution in the transverse dimension and the impact of this transverse resolution on the axial resolution was investigated. The performance of this gamma-guided stereotactic biopsy system will be presented.


This book deals with the inner life of the capitalist firm. There we find numerous conflicts, the most important of which concerns the individual employment relationship which is understood as a principal-agent problem between the manager, the principal, who issues orders that are to be followed by the employee, the agent. Whereas economic theory traditionally analyses this relationship from a (normative) perspective of the firm in order to support the manager in finding ways to influence the behavior of the employees, such that the latter – ideally – act on behalf of their superior, this book takes a neutral stance. It focusses on explaining individual behavioral patterns and the resulting interactions between the actors in the firm by taking sociological, institutional, and above all, psychological research into consideration. In doing so, insights are gained which challenge many assertions economists take for granted.


Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) promote Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission by augmenting HIV infectiousness and susceptibility. In our society, especially in rural areas, males are common visitors to STI clinic than females who are generally traced as a contact. This difference may be due to the asymptomatic nature of infections in females, lower awareness among women of need for availing medical facilities, or their frequent consultation in gynecological clinics instead of STI clinics. Aim: To determine the prevalence, clinical profile, and the pattern of STIs in males and the prevalence of HIV infection in them at a rural-based tertiary care center. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of male cases attending STI clinic between January 2008 and December 2009 was carried out. Diseases were diagnosed on the basis of clinical morphology of the lesion, and HIV and Venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL) testing was done in all cases. Results: Of 23 433 male patients presenting at the Skin/VD department, 201 were diagnosed to have STI. Most common age group affected was 25 to 44 years (59.7%). Incidence of STI was high among married individuals (77.2%). Herpes genitalis was most common STI in 49 (24.37%) cases. Viral infections (herpes genitalis, genital warts, and molluscum contagiosum) accounted for 62.2% of cases. Prevalence of HIV in STI was 2.48%. Conclusions: The persistent and recurrent nature of viral infections is responsible for their increasing trend in the current STI scenario. HIV and STIs are perfect examples of epidemiologic synergy as they are core transmitters of each other. STI being higher in married individuals further underlines the importance of contact tracing, counseling, and prompt management of the partners.


BACKGROUND
 Social media coverage is increasingly used to spread the message of scientific publications. Traditionally, the scientific impact of an article is measured by the number of citations. At a journal level, this conventionally matures over a 2-year period, and it is challenging to gauge impact around the time of publication.

 OBJECTIVE
 We, therefore, aimed to assess whether Web-based attention is associated with citations and to develop a predictive model that assigns relative importance to different elements of social media coverage: the #SoME_Impact score.

 METHODS
 We included all original articles published in 2015 in a selection of the highest impact journals: The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Nature, Cell, and Science. We first characterized the change in Altmetric score over time by taking a single month's sample of recently published articles from the same journals and gathered Altmetric data daily from the time of publication to create a mixed effects spline model. We then obtained the overall weighted Altmetric score for all articles from 2015, the unweighted data for each Altmetric component, and the 2-year citation count from Scopus for each of these articles from 2016 to 2017. We created a stepwise multivariable linear regression model to develop a #SoME_Score that was predictive of 2-year citations. The score was validated using a dataset of articles from the same journals published in 2016.

 RESULTS
 In our unselected sample of 145 recently published articles, social media coverage appeared to plateau approximately 14 days after publication. A total of 3150 articles with a median citation count of 16 (IQR 5-33) and Altmetric score of 72 (IQR 28-169) were included for analysis. On multivariable regression, compared with articles in the lowest quantile of #SoME_Score, articles in the second, third, and upper quantiles had 0.81, 15.20, and 87.67 more citations, respectively. On the validation dataset, #SoME_Score model outperformed the Altmetric score (adjusted R2 0.19 vs 0.09; P<.001). Articles in the upper quantile of #SoME_Score were more than 5 times more likely to be among the upper quantile of those cites (odds ratio 5.61, 95% CI 4.70-6.73).

 CONCLUSIONS
 Social media attention predicts citations and could be used as an early surrogate measure of scientific impact. Owing to the cross-sectional study design, we cannot determine whether correlation relates to causation.


The safety systems of nuclear power plants rely on low-voltage power, instrumentation and control cables. Inside the containment area, cables operate in harsh environments, characterized by relatively high temperature and gamma-irradiation. As these cables are related to fundamental safety systems, they must be able to withstand unexpected accident conditions and, therefore, their condition assessment is of utmost importance as plants age and lifetime extensions are required.
Nowadays, the integrity and functionality of these cables are monitored mainly through destructive test which requires specific laboratory. The investigation of electrical aging markers which can provide information about the state of the cable by non-destructive testing methods would improve significantly the present diagnostic techniques.
This work has been made within the framework of the ADVANCE (Aging Diagnostic and Prognostics of Low-Voltage I\&C Cables) project, a FP7 European program. This Ph.D. thesis aims at studying the impact of aging on cable electrical parameters, in order to understand the evolution of the electrical properties associated with cable degradation. The identification of suitable aging markers requires the comparison of the electrical property variation with the physical/chemical degradation mechanisms of polymers for different insulating materials and compositions. The feasibility of non-destructive electrical condition monitoring techniques as potential substitutes for destructive methods will be finally discussed studying the correlation between electrical and mechanical properties.
In this work, the electrical properties of cable insulators are monitored and characterized mainly by dielectric spectroscopy, polarization/depolarization current analysis and space charge distribution. Among these techniques, dielectric spectroscopy showed the most promising results; by means of dielectric spectroscopy it is possible to identify the frequency range where the properties are more sensitive to aging. In particular, the imaginary part of permittivity at high frequency, which is related to oxidation, has been identified as the most suitable aging marker based on electrical quantities.


The Asian Tropopause Aerosol Layer (ATAL) represents an accumulation of aerosol in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere associated with the Asian Summer Monsoon. Here we simulate the ATAL for summer 2013 with the GEOS‐Chem chemical transport model and explore the likely composition of ATAL aerosols and the relative contributions of regional anthropogenic sources versus those from farther afield. The model indicates significant contributions from organic aerosol, nitrate, sulfate, and ammonium aerosol, with regional anthropogenic precursor sources dominant. The model underestimates aerosol backscatter in the ATAL during summer 2013, compared with Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite instrument. Tests of a more physically based treatment of wet scavenging of SO2 in convective updrafts raise sulfate, eliminating the low bias with respect to CALIPSO backscatter in the ATAL, but lead to an unacceptable high bias of sulfate compared with in situ observations from aircraft over the United States. Source apportionment of the model results indicate the dominance of regional anthropogenic emissions from China and the Indian subcontinent to aerosol concentrations in the ATAL; ~60% of sulfate in the ATAL region in August 2013 is attributable to anthropogenic sources of SO2 from China (~30%) and from the Indian subcontinent (~30%), twice as much as in previously published estimates. Nitrate aerosol is found to be a dominant component of aerosol composition on the southern flank of the Asian Summer Monsoon anticyclone. Lightning sources of NOx are found to make a significant (10–15%) contribution to nitrate in the ATAL for the case studied.


The influence of the West Midlands Economic Planning Council on government decisions since 1965 can be traced through the use of pressure-group and decision-making theories. Crucial to its influence is the nature of its interaction with other groups in the region. A pressure-group methodology is necessary because the Planning Council is only an advisory committee within the structure of government and does not reflect the creation of a regional governmental process. Conflict between local authorities and economic affluence have held back regional consciousness in the West Midlands, although the Planning Council1 s "Economic Appraisal" ( 1971) recorded the growing apprehensions about the state of the region's economy. The inability of the W.M.E.P.C. to influence decisions enough to promote a coherent regional strategy led to continuing intra regional conflict between local authorities. The Planning Council did, however, act as a catalyst for the formation of the Standing Conference and developed closer relations with L.A's via this medium. The difficulties for the W.M.E.P.C. in transcending intra- regional conflict were seen in North East Warwickshire, the latter pursuing its own lobby to deal with its employment problems, partly a consequence of the Planning Council's neglect of the area's needs. The W.M.E.P.C. assumed a central role in the attack on the Government's I.D.C. policy through the "Economic Appraisal". The Working Party that produced the Report included formal representatives of major economic groups. There was a favourable response to the Report in the West Midlands, followed subsequently by a modification of Government policy. The success of the National Exhibition Centre lobby, in turn, illustrates the disadvantages under which the W.M.E.P.C. has laboured. This lobby did not involve the Planning Council in the effort to secure the agreement of the Government to the project. For all the weaknesses of the regional administrative innovations of 1965, the repercussions have not been inconsiderable in the widest context.


Crowdsourcing is an online, distributed problem solving and production model already in use by for-profit organizations such as Threadless, iStockphoto, and InnoCentive. Speculation in Weblogs and wisdom of crowds theory assumes a diverse crowd engaged in crowdsourcing labor. Furthermore, and as crowdsourcing is in some ways similar to open source software production, prior research suggests that individuals in the crowd likely participate in crowdsourcing ventures to gain peer recognition and to develop creative skills. The present study tests these assumptions in the crowdsourcing community at iStockphoto. An online survey obtained 651 responses from iStockers to demographic and motivations questions. Results indicate that the desire to make money, develop individual skills, and to have fun were the strongest motivators for participation at iStockphoto, and that the crowd at iStockphoto is quite homogenous and elite. These data have implications for future research into crowdsourcing, particularly regarding notions of professionalism and investment in online communities.


Objective:Civil rights may cover different aspects of citizens' lives. All the members of the society should have equal access to the public facilities and public transportation system. Barriers and obstacles in society may limit the accessibility of these facilities to the disabled people. Method:This article contains a part of the results in a phenomenological study of the Disability Rights. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe experiences of disability rights among 11 physically disabled that were living in Tehran, Iran. The study involves secondary analysis of in-depth transcribed interview data, using colazzi's method. Results:A total of 655 descriptive expressions were categorized in to 25 preliminary structural elements (sub themes). 7 essential structural elements (themes) emerged from an analysis of the sub themes. One of these themes was right to access which was emerged from an analysis of 6 sub themes. Conclusion:These sub themes that were obtained from an analysis of descriptive expressions of the participants, are: right to access to housing, right to access to education and information, right to access to job facilities, right to access to medical care and rehabilitation, right to access to rest, leisure and sport and right to access to places and transportation system. The right to access theme, was then categorized in to the civil rights field. In this article we will describe the right to access as it was experienced by those physically disabled people who participated in the interviews.


There has been much work published in recent years on the use of vibration characteristics to detect damage in bridges. Almost all of this work has been based on the assumption that the vibration is linear, i.e. the natural frequencies are not dependent on the amplitude of oscillation. The aim of the work presented here was to investigate the possibility of using changes in the non-linear vibration characteristics to detect damage in reinforced concrete bridges. These changes in the non-linear vibration characteristics were studied by conducting impact excitation vibration tests o reinforced concrete beams. The non-linearities were detected by examining the changes in fundamental frequency over time (and hence over amplitude of vibration). Several time-frequency distribution estimation tools are discussed including the discrete Fourier Transform moving window, the auto-regressive model moving window, harmonic wavelets and examples of the Cohen class of bilinear time-frequency distributions. A detailed investigation into these various distribution predictors was conducted to assess which is most suitable for analysing the vibration signals to detect changes in frequency with time. To understand the non-linearities in the vibration characteristics, a time-stepping model was described. The model is capable of including damage in the form of a moment-rotation relationship over the cracked region. It was validated for linear vibrations against theoretical values and the representation of a non-linear mechanism using the model was compared with experimental data. Static load tests were also conducted on the beams at various damage levels. They involved the use of vibrating wire strain gauges to investigate the moment-rotation behaviour over the cracked region. Several possible non-linear crack mechanisms are discussed and two of them are assessed using the vibration and the static load tests. Future experimental work is proposed to study the possible non-linear mechanisms further. The beam tests demonstrated that there is a change in non-linear vibration behaviour with damage. The change is greatest at low levels of damage and after the beam has been loaded to 30% of the failure load in three-point loading there is a reversal in the trend and a slight reduction in non-linearity with further damage.


The relationship between fact and fiction is still a key concern in contemporary research on literary autobiographies. This dissertation turns to the early stages of modern Italian autobiography in order to investigate how the authors themselves dealt with this problem. An analysis of the so-called Venetian novelistic autobiography (late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century) shows a conflict between fact and fiction which indicates the authors' insecurities as to the very nature of autobiographical truth. In studies on this cluster of Venetian autobiographies (Carlo Gozzi, Carlo Goldoni, Giacomo Casanova, Lorenzo Da Ponte), Gozzi's Memorie inutili (1797) have been neglected until the critical revival of his work during the last decades. However, as this study demonstrates, Gozzi's memoirs are a clear example of narrative recreation of life. Moreover, Gozzi expresses his doubts on the nature of truth in a particular way. Novelistic fiction and the 'objective' truth of the so-called intellectual memoirs (popular in early-eighteenth century Italy) influenced the Venetian authors: as autobiography became more private and sentimental, they had difficulties to embed a 'subjective' truth. This study shows that the expression of their consciousness of the subjective character of truth invites the reader to pay attention to the fictionalizing effects of writing. It examines how this authors' awareness can be inferred from the presence of rhetorical strategies. The first chapter offers a general overview of the critical debate on autobiography (from the 1970s onwards), while focusing on various methods used to analyze the blend between fact, fiction and writing. The genre is conceived of in terms of a so-called autobiografiction in order to point out all elements (auto, bio and 'graphy') that influence autobiographical fiction. Further, this dissertation focuses on the role of writing during the process of generating a personal truth. The second chapter shows that a literary analysis is needed in order to consider the manipulating power of writing in (Venetian) autobiography. From the third chapter onwards, a stylistic approach demonstrates how the reconstruction of a subjective truth is both hidden and revealed. This study examines how, on a meta-autobiographical level, the Venetian authors express a consciousness of the written manipulation of reality. An analysis of the interferences between the rhetoric of truth and that of silence demonstrates that the first is undermined by both an exaggerated insistence on truth and the rhetoric of silence. This thesis argues that this kind of hesitation (communicated to the reader) between indicating and hiding the manipulation is linked to a new form of narrative and to the ever increasing presence of private content. The last two chapters are a case study of Gozzi's autobiographical love affairs, a typical theme of Venetian autobiography. The fourth chapter demonstrates how, stylistically, a rhetoric of abundance embraces the functions of the rhetorics of truth and silence, torn between a naturalistic and anti-naturalistic representation. The fifth chapter shows how thematic reiteration undermines the true-to-life content. As rhetorical devices are strongly concentrated in Gozzi's stories about his love affairs, they crystallize the fallacies of writing conceived to induce a personal truth.


A certain class of English adjectives known as a-adjectives resist appearing attributively as prenominal modifiers (e.g. ??the afraid boy, ??the asleep man). Boyd & Goldberg 2011 had offered experimental evidence suggesting that the dispreference is learnable on the basis of categorization and statistical preemption : repeatedly witnessing predicative formulations in contexts in which the attributive form would otherwise be appropriate. The present reply addresses Yang's (2015) counterproposal for how a-adjectives are learned and his instructive critique of statistical preemption. The counterproposal is that children receive evidence that a-adjectives behave like locative particles in occurring with certain adverbs such as far and right. However, in an analysis of the 450-million-word COCA corpus, the suggested adverbial evidence is virtually nonexistent (e.g. *far alive, *straight afraid). In fact, these adverbs occur much more frequently with typical adjectives (e.g. far greater, straight alphabetical). Furthermore, relating a-adjectives to locative particles does not provide evidence of the restriction, because locative particles themselves can appear as prenominal modifiers (the down payment, the outside world). The critique of statistical preemption is based on a 4.3-million-word corpus analysis of child-directed speech that suggests that children cannot amass the requisite evidence before they are three years old. While we clarify which sorts of data are relevant to statistical preemption, we concur that the required data is relatively sparsely represented in the input. In fact, recent evidence suggests that children are not actually cognizant of the restriction until they are roughly ten years old, an indication that input of an order of magnitude more than 4.3 million words may be required. We conclude that a combination of categorization and statistical preemption is consistent with the available evidence of how the restriction on a-adjectives is learned.


Industrial ecology is a young discipline that considers industrial and commercial enterprises as an ecosystem analogous to biological ecosystems. Its organising principle is that industrial systems should emulate the best features of biological ecosystems, thereby reducing energy and material consumption and waste generation. The benefits of such operations are reduced environmental damage and increased sustainability for both natural resources and human activities. This overview is not intended for experts in the field. Its purpose is to acquaint a more general audience with the genesis, principles, and practice of industrial ecology. To that end, the paper reviews the basic principles of industrial ecology, discusses some means for implementing them, and provides examples of their applications. In addition, the paper discusses the formation, both spontaneous and directed, of eco-industrial parks; and the role and training of engineers, scientists and others in applying industrial ecology principles. Finally, the current status and some of the current controversies about industrial ecology are briefly explored.


System logs contain messages from a wide range of applications. They are the natural starting point when troubleshooting a system. The usual approach for analysing system logs is to write a number of regular expressionsto match specific keywords and events. When the number of expressions grows large, the analysis solution becomes unmaintainable. In addition, the use of regular expressions requires the system administrator to have extensive knowledge of the system at hand. This thesis presents methods for performing log analysis without regular expressions. This is an area of system administration that has attracted very few researchers. Therefore, little published research is available on the subject. Much effort has been put into the task of generating patterns from log file. These patterns are an important prerequisites for statistical analysis. Patterns could also be used to identify transactions for use in Markov models. None of the existing pattern mining algorithm for system logs produce satisfactory results. To solve the task at hand, a new method for mining patterns is developed. Several different approaches were tested. An approach based on inserting log lines into a tree structure turned out to be a very promising. It outputs good quality patterns and its resource use is moderate. Log analysis without prior knowledge of the system at hand have been proven difficult. This thesis shows that methods where some basic knowl- edge of systems in general is exploited, are the most promising ones. Other approaches based on Markov models and neural networks are suggested in this thesis, but they have not been tested to full extend and require some more work before being useful.


This book outlines the development of the divine classifiers in the Egyptian script system from the beginning of writing to the end of the Old Kingdom. The first part discusses the falcon on the standard and the ways in which ancient Egyptian writing system expressed the idea of divine kingship. The seated bearded man is the focus of the second part, in which the author follows the sign from its first appearance as a classifier of foreign peoples to its identification with the god Osiris. The third part is dedicated to divine markers and the structure of the divine category in the Pyramid Texts. This part surveys the special orthographic constraints of the Pyramid Texts, as well as the evolution of the female divine classifiers. Although the book concentrates on orthographic processes, it takes into account the broader religious context of the Old Kingdom. Hence, the relations between the sun-god Re and the king, as well as the special role of the Great God in the private inscriptions and the appearance of Osiris as a foreigner are also discussed.... Download ebook, read file pdf The Evolution of Divine Classifiers in the Old Kingdom


This Article suggests a "better-outcome" understanding of the better law approach to the choice-of-law question. Traditionally this approach has been promptly dismissed following the objection to substantive evaluation of the relevant laws and the inherent difficulty in determining which law is "better." By shifting the focus from the merits of the content of laws to the desirable results of the particular litigation, this Article suggests an alternative version of better law. This vision of the better-law approach not only addresses the criticism traditionally mounted against it, but also represents the return of this approach to its intellectual roots of classical legal realism. Using as an example one of the most significant decisions in common law choice-of-law history, Chaplin v. Boys, the Article demonstrates the presence of this version of better law in the underlying reasoning of that case.


Ignoring primitive terms leads to an infinite regress. The alternative is to account for an intuitive understanding (immediate insight) into the meaning of such terms. The current investigation proceeds on the basis of an idea of the structure of the various modes of being (modi/modalities) within which concrete (natural and social) entities function. Examples of primtive terms are given from disciplines such as mathematics, physics and logic and they are related to the general idea of a modal aspect. It is argued that primitive terms are not isolated but reveal their meaning only through their interconnections with other primitive terms that are embedded in other modal aspects. However, although primitive terms are found within the various aspects, the meaning of an aspect only comes to expression through its coherence with other aspects, evinced in modal analogies that are qualified by the core meaning of an aspect. There appears to be two options, either reduce what is irreducible or merely provide (partial) synonymous terms for given primitives. The former happens when other unique (primitive) terms are used to define a specific one and the latter when the attempted 'definitions' revert to terms with which the original terms could be meaningfully replaced. It is been pointed out that the coherence between primitives invites every academic discipline to account for the meaning attached to the analogies of primitive terms it is employing, without exploring this additional theme any further.


Abstract A new Miocene decapod fauna is described from the Navidad Formation of coastal Chile. The fauna includes five callianassoid taxa, none of which is preserved sufficiently to identify to species level. New species include Calappilia? chilensis, Hepatus spinimarginatus, Proterocarcinus navidad, Pilumnus cucaoensis, and Pinnixa navidadensis. A possible rhizopine member of the Pilumnidae Samouelle, 1819, is described. Trichopeltarion levis Casadío et al., 2004, previously known from the late Oligocene of western Argentina, was also recovered from these rocks. Calappa circularis Beurlen, from the lower Miocene Pirabas Formation in Brazil, is herein referred to Calappilia. This report greatly increases the known number of fossil decapods from Chile and sets the stage for paleobiogeographic comparison of the decapod faunas of Chile and Argentina.


We report the case of an adult male patient who was admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of vivax malaria complicated with renal insufficiency and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The patient was treated with intravenous artesunate. He was intubated and mechanically ventilated and taken up for haemodialysis in view of worsening renal parameters. He developed tachycardia a few hours later. ECG showed sinus tachycardia. Tachycardia persisted though the blood pressure was normal, there was no evidence of bleeding, and the heart was clinically normal. We tried to control the heart rate with diltiazem, adenosine and metoprolol but the tachycardia persisted. The heart rate was finally controlled with amiodarone. The patient improved, was weaned off from the ventilator and extubated. His renal functions gradually improved. Oral amiodarone was continued and there was no recurrence of tachycardia. We present this case to highlight the interesting association of vivax malaria with persistent, difficult to treat tachycardia.


This Article constructs a linguistics-based framework to consider patent claim construction and demonstrates that the often-told story that claim construction is broken is, in fact, wrong. Rather, it is the underlying conversations that comprise the patent acquisition process that are to blame. In Part I of this Article, I use linguistics to describe the characteristics of everyday conversation, as well as how it is interpreted. In Part II, I explain what patent conversations look like and how they are similar to and different from everyday conversation. In Part III, I apply the theories of interpreting everyday conversation to patent conversation. Breaking from tradition, I assert that claim construction is not broken; much claim construction methodology aligns with how we interpret everyday conversation. Claim construction is as good as it can be, given linguistic limitations. The problem is the patent conversation itself, specifically the communications that occur between the inventor and the Patent Office that give rise to an issued patent. I close, in Part IV, by explaining how cooperation can-and should-be injected into the patent conversation and how a cooperative patent conversation leads to improved claim construction.


Opportunistic fungal pathogens are a concern because of the increasing number of immunocompromised patients. The goal of this research was to test a simple extraction method and rapid quantitative PCR (QPCR) measurement of the occurrence of potential pathogens, Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus, A. terreus and A. niger, in home tap water and a hospital water supply. Water samples were taken from the kitchen tap in the homes of 60 patients who were diagnosed with legionellosis. Water samples were also taken from three locations in a hospital that generated all of its hot water by flash heating. Opportunistic infectious agents Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus, A. terreus and A. niger were measured using QPCR. Aspergillus terreus DNA was found in 16.7% and A. fumigatus DNA in 1.7% of the samples taken from the kitchen tap. None of the Aspergillus species were found in any of the hospital water samples.The development of a simple DNA extraction method along with QPCR analysis is suitable for rapid screening of tap water for opportunistic fungal pathogens. This simple method can be used to obtain pathogen occurrence results in about 3 h, instead of waiting days to weeks for culture data. Obtaining pathogen occurrence data in a timely manner could promote the elimination of the pathogens from the water supply of immunocompromised patients.


This paper presents a comparison of various estimates of the open solar flux, deduced from measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field, from the aa geomagnetic index and from photospheric magnetic field observations. The first two of these estimates are made using the Ulysses discovery that the radial heliospheric field is approximately independent of heliographic latitude, the third makes use of the potential-field source surface method to map the total flux through the photosphere to the open flux at the top of the corona. The uncertainties associated with using the Ulysses result are 5%, but the effects of the assumptions of the potential field source surface method are harder to evaluate. Nevertheless, the three methods give similar results for the last three solar cycles when the data sets overlap. In 11-year running means, all three methods reveal that 1987 marked a significant peak in the long-term variation of the open solar flux. This peak is close to the solar minimum between sunspot cycles 21 and 22, and consequently the mean open flux (averaged from minimum to minimum) is similar for these two cycles. However, this similarity between cycles 21 and 22 in no way implies that the open flux is constant. The long-term variation shows that these cycles are fundamentally different in that the average open flux was rising during cycle 21 (from consistently lower values in cycle 20 and toward the peak in 1987) but was falling during cycle 22 (toward consistently lower values in cycle 23). The estimates from the geomagnetic aa index are unique as they extend from 1842 onwards (using the Helsinki extension). This variation gives strong anticorrelations, with very high statistical significance levels, with cosmic ray fluxes and with the abundances of the cosmogenic isotopes that they produce. Thus observations of photospheric magnetic fields, of cosmic ray fluxes, and of cosmogenic isotope abundances all support the long-term drifts in open solar flux reported by Lockwood et al. [1999a , 1999b].


ABSTRACT The molecular polymorphism displayed by apolipoprotein E (APOE) has been listed as a risk factor for susceptibility to various disorders, such as those associated with lipid metabolism, arteriosclerosis, coronary artery disease (CAD), and Alzheimer disease. To evaluate the role of APOE genotypes as risk factors for Alzheimer disease, CAD, and atherosclerosis in the Kurdish population of Kermanshah, Iran, we studied the frequencies of APOE alleles *2, *3, and *4 and genotypes in 914 healthy Kurdish subjects (514 men and 400 women). The highest frequency of APOE in the Kurdish population was found for APOE*3 (87.87%). The APOE*2 and APOE*4 allele frequencies were 6.66% and 5.45%, respectively. Distribution of APOE genotypes and alleles was not significantly different between male and female subjects (p > 0.05). Interestingly, the order of the frequency of APOE alleles (*3 → *2 → *4) in the Kurdish population was quite different from that reported for most populations in the world (*3 → *4 → *2). The findings of the present study can be used to identify individuals with high risk of CAD and atherosclerosis and suggest a preventive measure to reduce their susceptibility.


Previous attempts in mice to correct a rare inherited immune disorder, called Hyper IgM X-linked immunodeficiency, have failed because standard gene therapy raised risks for cancer. Now Weill Cornell Medical College researchers believe they've found a way around that problem. Reporting in the July 25 issue of Nature Medicine, the investigators used a gene therapy strategy called trans-splicing to successfully correct the disease in mice without increasing malignancy risk. Trans-splicing effectively corrects the mutation at a later step in the genetic process -- at the level of messenger RNA (mRNA). "The next step is to consider moving it to the clinic. Here at Weill Cornell we have the facility for doing that, and as we develop the safety data, our plans are to move it to humans," said lead researcher Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, Chairman of the Department of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Hyper IgM X-linked immunodeficiency is a rare disease affecting a few hundred children and young adults in the United States. Caused by a genetic breakdown in immune antibody production, individuals with this disease "can't make the right array of antibodies to protect against pathogens in the environment," leaving them vulnerable to lethal infections, Dr. Crystal explained. Although bone marrow transplants can help prolong life, a majority of patients affected with the disorder die before reaching the age of 30. Luckily, advances in genomics may someday give these patients a new treatment option. "In the immune system, immune cells are primarily made in the bone marrow, so if we want to attack this by trying to correct it genetically, we know that's where the cells are that we want to correct," Dr. Crystal explained. Reduced production of an immune cell protein called CD40 ligand lies at the heart of Hyper IgM X-linked immunodeficiency. Previous studies in mice used standard gene therapy -- where doctors simply introduce a "normal" gene into bone marrow stem cells -- to try and repair the problem. However, standard gene therapy caused the gene responsible for CD40 ligand production to work overtime, producing excessive amounts of the protein. According to Dr. Crystal, too much CD40 ligand can be as bad as too little, in that it can trigger lymphomas. "So by putting in the normal gene, but having it turned on all the time, the mice developed cancer," he said. His team of researchers decided to attack the problem from a different angle. As Dr. Crystal explained, the gene-regulated production of cellular proteins occurs in a step-by-step fashion, with DNA producing a second molecule, called messenger RNA (mRNA), which works to produce cellular proteins like CD40 ligand. "Unfortunately, individuals with Hyper IgM X-linked immunodeficiency make mRNA that has a mutation in it, so they can't make the CD40 ligand protein," Dr. Crystal said. With trans-splicing, "we are putting in a gene that makes a piece of correct 'decoy' mRNA that's attractive to the genetic process. This means that the natural mRNA, as it's being processed or 'spliced,' integrates into our decoy instead. In this way it repairs the genetic defect." Fixing the problem at the mRNA level leaves DNA gene regulation intact, getting around the problem of excessive CD40 ligand production that occurs with standard gene therapy. The result? In mice bred with X-linked immunodeficiency with Hyper IgM, treatment with this trans-splicing gene therapy "not only repaired the genetic disease, but also avoided cancers," Dr. Crystal said. Treated mice successfully fended off infection with Pneumocystis carinii, a type of pneumonia that can prove lethal to people with this illness. Dr. Crystal noted that this gene therapy technique might also be used to treat a wide range of genetic illnesses. "We're simply correcting at the second step, at the level of mRNA," he said. The next step for his team at Weill Cornell is to test out the technique in humans. According to Dr. Crystal, preparations for clinical trials are already underway. Study co-researchers include Drs. Minoru Tahara, Robert G. Pergolizzi, and Hiroyasu Kobayashi, of the Weill Cornell Department of Genetic Medicine; Drs. Anja Krause and Karsta Leuttich, of the Weill Cornell Belfer Gene Therapy Core Facility; and Dr. Martin L. Lesser, of the Biostatistics Unit at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Research Institute, in Manhasset, New York. This research received funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the Will Rogers Memorial Fund, Los Angeles; and The Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation, Greenwich, CT. For more information, please contact: Jonathan Weil; Office of Public Affairs; NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell; 525 East 68th Street, Box 144; New York, NY 10021; Tel.: 212.821.0560; Fax: 212.821.0576; Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


According to the precepts that C-10 amino-artemisinins display optimum biological activities for the artemisinin drug class, and that attachment of a sugar enhances specificity of drug delivery, polarity and solubility so as to attenuate toxicity, we assessed the effects of attaching sugars to N-4 of the dihydroartemisinin (DHA)-piperazine derivative prepared in one step from DHA and piperazine. N-Glycosylated DHA-piperazine derivatives were obtained according to the Kotchetkov reaction by heating the DHA-piperazine with the sugar in a polar solvent. Structure of the D-glucose derivative is secured by X-ray crystallography. The D-galactose, L-rhamnose and D-xylose derivatives displayed IC50 values of 0.58–0.87 nM against different strains of Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) and selectivity indices (SI) >195, on average, with respect to the mouse fibroblast WEHI-164 cell line. These activities are higher than those of the amino-artemisinin, artemisone (IC50 0.9–1.1 nM). Notably, the D-glucose, D-maltose and D-ribose derivatives were the most active against the myelogenous leukemia K562 cell line with IC50 values of 0.78–0.87 µM and SI > 380 with respect to the human dermal fibroblasts (HDF). In comparison, artemisone has an IC50 of 0.26 µM, and a SI of 88 with the same cell lines. Overall, the N-glycosylated DHA-piperazine derivatives display antimalarial activities that are greatly superior to O-glycosides previously obtained from DHA.


We developed a methodology to analyze the effects of management practices on landscape structure and function to be used in the assessment of sustainability in intensively managed forest landscapes. It is based on modeling and simulation of landscape and stand structure as well as biological and physical processes. The methodology includes a landscape structure model and several forest stand-level models to simulate the dynamics of landscapes and stands as a function of management rules. It also includes habitat models to evaluate landscape quality and spatial characteristics of vertebrate habitat, and a hydrologic model to simulate water and sediment yield at the subarea and watershed levels. The application of this methodology to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) program in eastern Texas indicated that this is an effective way to evaluate effects of sustainable forestry programs on landscape structure and processes. During simulation years, the habitat of pine warbler, the species used as an example to illustrate the methodology, became apparently fragmented under the SFI scenario. This fragmentation was caused mainly by narrow, forested streamside management zones dissecting pine stands and should have little negative influence on the pine warbler habitat. Sediment yield at the landscape level decreased by the implementation of SFI measures, particularly by the reduction of channel degradation. FOR .S CI. 51(4):321-333.


"The Power-Conflict Story" explains patterns of behavior in major world rivalries since 1816. Kelly M. Kadera carefully lays out the dynamic connections between two rival nations' power relationship and their conflictual interactions with one another. Rivals accumulate power and use conflict as a method of reducing their opponent's power level. But conflict is costly because it invites reciprocation from the opponent who has similar motives. Applying the formal model that she has developed, Kadera makes some interesting and novel predictions about which types of rivals win and what strategies they use. The empirical record on national power levels and interstate conflict convincingly support these predictions. Examples include the rise of the United States as a world power and the corresponding fall of British hegemony near the turn of the last century; Germany's unsuccessful attempt to overtake Britain during the Second World War; and Russia's rivalry with China during the early 1900s.One of the central contributions of the book's explanation of interstate rivalry is the integration of two opposing schools of thought, balance of power theory and power transition theory. This integration is accomplished by the author's dynamic formal model that emphasizes fluctuations in conflict behavior under different power relationships as well as shifts in power levels resulting from natural growth and resource depletion. The formal model and its analysis are presented in a conversational manner, making it accessible to the reader.The"Power-Conflict Story" will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, world history, formal modeling, applied mathematics, numerical methods, and research methodology.Kelly M. Kadera is Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Iowa.


We propose a model of distributed timed systems where each component is a timed automaton with a set of local clocks that evolve at a rate independent of the clocks of the other components. A clock can be read by any component in the system, but it can only be reset by the automaton it belongs to.

There are two natural semantics for such systems. The universalsemantics captures behaviors that hold under any choice of clock rates for the individual components. This is a natural choice when checking that a system always satisfies a positive specification. However, to check if a system avoids a negative specification, it is better to use the existentialsemantics--the set of behaviors that the system can possibly exhibit under some choice of clock rates.

We show that the existential semantics always describes a regular set of behaviors. However, in the case of universal semantics, checking emptiness turns out to be undecidable. As an alternative to the universal semantics, we propose a reactivesemantics that allows us to check positive specifications and yet describes a regular set of behaviors.


A new approach is presented for the thermal characterisation of composite materials from resin transfer moulding (RTM) processing. The methodology is based on the use of genetic algorithms as the estimation procedure. The use of these algorithms allows simultaneous estimation of all unknown thermal properties, namely the thermal conductivities perpendicular and parallel to the fibre plane, the volumetric capacity, and a contact resistance between the composite sample and a copper component inside the mould. Both the thermal conductivity parallel to the fibre plane and the volumetric capacity were estimated as functions of temperature. The comparison of the estimated properties with previous results obtained from three successive analyses (differential scanning calorimetry, one-dimensional and two-dimensional analyses) shows the robustness and reliability of the genetic algorithm procedure for simultaneously estimating several thermophysical parameters.


Design is increasingly recognized as an instrument of power. We explore power in the context of the Swedish welfare state and care institutions, which are undergoing political and structural reconfiguration as new technologies are introduced. Our aim is to better understand the effects of designed technologies within care institution and over care workers. Through our research, we have identified deviances, or gaps, between institutional policies and daily working practices, in which workers must cope within a grey zone of legality. Against this backdrop, we bring together and discuss concepts from philosopher Michel Foucault and sociologist Dorothy Smith in order to frame issues of power relevant to design. We elaborate upon these issues through a discussion of our project set in Swedish elder care institutions. Three 'research through (critical) design' examples illustrate ways and extents to which power is exerted over care workers. We discuss effects upon their subjectivity, including how their knowledge and agency can risk being ignored or overruled. Ultimately, we argue for design research to examine and articulate the (powerful) role of design in such contexts. We see this as a form of 'De-Scription' and active 'mapping' that can open up for wider debate and reconfigurations of power.


Yukio Mishima (b. 1925) was a brilliant writer and intellectual whose relentless obsession with beauty, purity, and patriotism ended in his astonishing self-disembowelment and decapitation in downtown Tokyo in 1970. Nominated for the Nobel Prize, Mishima was the best-known novelist of his time (works like Confessions of a Mask and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion are still in print in English), and his legacy-his persona-is still honored and puzzled over. Who was Yukio Mishima really? This, the first full biography to appear in English in almost forty years, traces Mishima's trajectory from a sickly boy named Kimitake Hiraoka to a hard-bodied student of martial arts. In detail it examines his family life, the wartime years, and his emergence, then fame, as a writer and advocate for traditional values. Revealed here are all the personalities and conflicts and sometimes petty backbiting that shaped the culture of postwar literary Japan. Working entirely from primary sources and material unavailable to other biographers, author Naoki Inose and translator Hiroaki Sato together have produced a monumental work that covers much new ground in unprecedented depth. Using interviews, social and psychological analysis, and close reading of novels and essays, Persona removes the mask that Mishima so artfully created to disguise his true self. Naoki Inose, currently vice governor of Tokyo, has also written biographies of writers Kikuchi Kan and Osamu Dazai. New York-based Hiroaki Sato is an award-winning translator of classical and modern Japanese poetry, and also translated Mishima's novel Silk and Insight.


Background: People's knowledge and awareness towards the disease can help in the formation of the design of Behaviour Change Communication campaigns to influence acceptance and use of any control measures.

Aims: To study the knowledge and practices regarding commonly occurring mosquito borne diseases among people of urban and rural areas of Rajkot District.

Material and Methods: Multistage sampling method was used. Total 432 households, 216 each from urban and rural areas, were studied. Selection of areas was based on Annual Parasite Incidence. Six areas from urban and six talukas form rural areas were studied. Data were collected using a pretested semi structured questionnaire during the high transmission season (July 2011 to October 2011) of mosquito borne diseases. Data were entered in Microsoft Excel and analysis was done using Epi Info 6.

Results: 87.96%respondents knew that mosquito transmits malaria.75.93% respondents did not know how dengue is transmitted. Fever (95.60%) and chills (71.06%) were the most common malaria symptoms told by respondents. 85.65%respondents were not knowing about dengue symptoms. 48.84% told joint pain as chikunguniya symptom. 90.05% respondents associated water collection to mosquito breeding place. 90.51% respondents knew that mosquito borne diseases can be prevented by using personal protective measures. 23.84% of the respondents did not use anything for prevention against mosquito bites.

Conclusion: Knowledge regarding malaria was found satisfactory but knowledge regarding other mosquito borne diseases was unsatisfactory. Knowledge regarding prevention of mosquito borne disease was good and majority of the households were using preventive measures against mosquito bites.


The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of anthropogenic and natural sources of contamination on the groundwater quality of the unconfined aquifer system of the Soutpansberg Basin around Tshikondeni. Fifteen groundwater samples were collected and analysed for physical and chemical parameters. Groundwater samples were analysed for pH, EC, TDS, major cations (Na+, Ca+2, K+, and Mg+2), major anions (Cl−, SO4−2, NO3−, CO3− and HCO3−). Groundwater in this area was found to be above the desirable Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and World Health Organisation (WHO) limits for domestic and irrigation purposes. After the physicochemical analysis of groundwater, samples shows that, the type of water that predominates in the study area is Na+-K+-Ca+2-Mg+2 type during the summer of the year 2008, based on hydro-chemical facies. Interpretation of hydro-geochemical data suggests that leaching of ions followed by weathering and anthropogenic impact (mainly mining and agricultural activities) control the chemistry of groundwater in the study area. Groundwater suitability for drinking purpose was also evaluated by the synthetic pollution index (SPI), it suggested that most of the samples fall in seriously polluted categories. The calculated values of SAR, Na%, RSC, PI, and MH have shown that except at few locations, most of groundwater samples are not suitable for agricultural and domestic purposes.


Critiques of Neoclassical Economics extend, unsurprisingly, to its mathematical structure. The discussion has largely focused on General Equilibrium Theory (GET), a formalism developed by Léon Walras over a century ago. Internally consistent, but highly unrealistic, GET lacks predictive power, and has been a historical failure. As an alternative, this article proposes a methodology largely developed by Gräbner et al. (2019), in which Agent-Based Models (ABMs) are linked with existing Equation-Based Models (EBMs) as a means of developing a more powerful formalism. The approach is illustrated by application to the Arrow-Debreu (AD) model of Neoclassical theory, and the Kuznets Curve of Developmental Economics. Broader implications for the social and natural sciences are briefly considered.


A revolution over the open data approach has gained importance over the last decade. This revolution is based on the information and communication technology and has been catalyzed by open government directives that have emerged. In this paper we present preliminary results of our approach based on dashboards showing selected open government data as a key element for trends visualization, prediction evaluation and decision support.


Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Among them, colorectal cancer is linked with diet as the epithelial cells of colon and rectum come in direct contact with diet. Diets rich in phenolic constituents are associated in eradicating various noncommunicable diseases including cancer. This work illustrates antiproliferative effects of honey and its phytochemicals against colorectal cancer to limelight. Honey and its phytochemicals are found to inhibit the cancer growth. Changes like activation of caspase-3, caspase-8, polyadenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase cleavage, boost in ROS level activating mitochondrial pathway, lipid layer breakage, DNA fragmentation, increase of G0/G1 phase cells, up-regulation of Bax regulators and p53 dependent apoptosis are significant. It is high time for scientists to initiate more trails using honey and its phytochemicals against some immune-deficient animal models of colon cancer and in low- and high-risk human individuals to validate honey as a mighty sword against colon cancer. This review promulgates honey and its phytochemicals as candidates in colon cancer prevention. Practical Application: Colon cancer is the third largest cause of cancer death worldwide. The standard chemotherapeutic agents are usually noneffective in the latter stages of cancer. As colorectal cancer is more prone to the diet consumed, scientists have explored many dietary compounds to treat this particular type of cancer. In our review, we highlight the effect of honey and its phenolic constituents against the colon cancer cells. Various, in vitro experiments done are enlisted. This review also emphasis the need of numerous studies that are needed to be initiated to explore the anticancer effect of crude honey specifically. As honey is one of the ingredients used in daily life, honey can also be used in chemoprevention against colon cancer.


The purposes of this study are to investigate teachers' perceptions of differentiated instruction and its implementation in day-to-day teaching within the classroom. A small sample of thirty-seven middle school teachers participated in this study. Thirty-three of them completed a fifty-item survey and four participated in a semi-structured individual interview. The findings support the premise that teachers know what differentiated instruction is theoretically or conceptually, but may not be implementing the corresponding strategies in their classrooms. One important implication of this study is that future staff development should continue to reinforce the necessity of differentiated instruction, correct the various misconceptions about differentiated instruction, and provide adequate training for the actual implementation of differentiated instruction.


Abstract This paper presents a novel system using Augmented Reality and Expert Systems to enhance the quality and efficiency of shop-floor operators. The novel system proposed provides an adaptive tool that facilitates and enhances support on the shop-floor, due to its ability to dynamically customize the instructions displayed, dependent upon the competence of the user. A comparative study has been made between an existing method of quality control instructions at a machining line in an automotive engine plant and this novel system. It has been shown that the new approach outcompetes the existing system, not only in terms of perceived usability but also with respect to two other important shop-floor variables: quality and productivity. Along with previous research, the outcomes of these test cases indicate the value of using Augmented Reality technology to enhance shop-floor operators' ability to learn and master new tasks.


A typical animal genome contains several genes encoding G protein α subunits, but the Arabidopsis genome appears to encode just one. Two reports show that this one Gα is busy regulating physiological functions in plants. Wang et al. found that Gα mediates abscisic acid regulation of stomatal pore size, thus affecting water conservation in the plant. Ullah et al. show that the same protein is involved in regulation of cell proliferation. Ellis and Miles provide a Perspective on the articles. X.-Q. Wang, H. Ullah, A. M. Jones, S. M. Assmann G protein regulation of ion channels and abscisic acid signaling in Arabidopsis guard cells. Science 292, 2070-2072 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text] H. Ullah, J.-G. Chen, J. C. Young, K.-H. Im, M. R. Sussman, A. M. Jones, Modulation of cell proliferation by heterotrimeric G protein in Arabidopsis. Science 292, 2066-2069 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text] B. E. Ellis, G. P. Miles, One for all? Science 292, 2022-2023 (2001). [Full Text]


Biogas production from soybean curd industry waste water was studied in laboratory scale to improve the application of anaerobic digestion process. The problem with the soybean curd waste water was the fact that it does not sufficiently contain anaerobic microorganisms required in biogas production. Therefore, it is necessary to add a well-developed population of anaerobic microorganisms to accelerate the start-up of the anerobic digestion. This research was aimed to verify the influence of the addition of active digester effluent into the soybean curd waste water batches in an anaerobic digestion process. Batch experiments were done in two digesters. The first digester was only fed with soybean curd waste water while the second digester was fed with soybean curd waste water and active digester effluent from a digester processing cow manure which was very rich in anaerobic microorganism consortium. The results indicated that soybean curd industry waste water did not contain methanogenic bacteria but there existed some acidogenic bacteria. The addition of active digester effluent accelerated the anaerobic digestion start-up and directed the process pathway towards methanogenic process so that more methane was obtained. The high methane content obtained (more than 64% volume) was very potential for power generation. The capacity of soybean curd industry must be as high as 697.13 kg soybean per day to generate the electric energy of 8.4 kWh.


ABSTRACT The literature on citizenship policies is flourishing, yet we know little of which naturalisation requirements majorities and minorities find reasonable, and how they view existing citizenship regimes. Drawing on original survey data with young adults in Norway (N = 3535), comprising immigrants and descendants with origins from Iraq, Pakistan, Poland, Somalia and Turkey, as well as a non-immigrant majority group, this article examines whether perceptions of ideal citizenship criteria and assessments of Norway's current rules differ between groups. In terms of ideal citizenship criteria, we find a striking similarity across groups when looking at six different dimensions of citizenship policy. When merged into an index and estimated in a multivariate regression model, we find that both immigrants and descendants are significantly more liberal than natives are, yet the differences are small. When assessing the semi-strict citizenship regime in Norway, we find that immigrants are significantly more positive towards the current rules than natives. The results lend little support to recent work on 'strategic' and 'instrumental' citizenship and point instead to a close to universal conception of the terms of membership acquisition in Norway. This suggests that states may operate with moderate integration requirements while maintaining the legitimacy of the citizenship institution.


Researchers are giving a mixed reception to a draft U.S. government plan to do more stringent funding reviews of certain kinds of H5N1 avian influenza research—and perhaps even require some studies to be kept secret. The proposal, presented last week at a meeting of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, is the latest fallout from the controversy surrounding two studies in which scientists engineered the H5N1 virus and led to a voluntary moratorium on such potentially risky "gain-of-function" studies. The new proposal seeks to help biosecurity experts for funding agencies identify problematic experiments before they begin.


The accuracy of reported sample results is contingent upon the quality of the assay calibration curve, and as such, calibration curves are critical components of ligand binding and other quantitative methods. Regulatory guidance and lead publications have defined many of the requirements for calibration curves which encompass design, acceptance criteria, and selection of a regression model. However, other important aspects such as preparation and editing guidelines have not been addressed by health authorities. The goal of this publication is to answer many of the commonly asked questions and to present a consensus and the shared views of members of the ligand binding assay (LBA) community on topics related to calibration curves with focus on providing recommendations for the preparation and editing of calibration curves.


We propose a novel method of extracting a human silhouette from a golf swing movie taken by a mobile phone camera for automatic golf swing diagnosis. The difficulties of the task are that we cannot use the background subtraction method and that the camera is not fixed. First we correct small camera movements during a swing sequence by tracking features in the obvious background. Based on the fact that the histogram of the pixel value (hue and brightness) at the background pixel distributes in a narrow interval, we classify each pixel into three categories: background pixel, human pixel, and mixture pixel. We propagate pixel values of the background from the background pixels to the mixture ones. Finally we apply a graph cut method to extract the human silhouette at each image. Experimental results showed that the proposed method is promising.


A computer program provides semiautomatic control of a moveable robot used to perform optical calibration of video-camera-based optoelectronic sensor systems that will be used to guide automated rendezvous maneuvers of spacecraft. The function of the robot is to move a target and hold it at specified positions. With the help of limit switches, the software first centers or finds the target. Then the target is moved to a starting position. Thereafter, with the help of an intuitive graphical user interface, an operator types in coordinates of specified positions, and the software responds by commanding the robot to move the target to the positions. The software has capabilities for correcting errors and for recording data from the guidance-sensor system being calibrated. The software can also command that the target be moved in a predetermined sequence of motions between specified positions and can be run in an advanced control mode in which, among other things, the target can be moved beyond the limits set by the limit switches.


Background The measurement of human fetal-maternal blood concentration ratio (logFM) of chemicals is critical for the risk assessment of chemical-induced developmental toxicity. While a few in vitro and ex vivo experimental methods were developed for predicting logFM of chemicals, the obtained experimental results are not able to directly predict in vivo outcomes. Methods A total of 55 chemicals with logFM values representing in vivo fetal-maternal blood ratio were divided into training and test datasets. An interpretable linear regression model was developed along with feature selection methods. Cross-validation on training dataset and prediction on independent test dataset were conducted to validate the prediction model. Results This study presents the first valid quantitative structure-activity relationship model following the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines based on multiple linear regression for predicting in vivo logFM values. The autocorrelation descriptor AATSC1c and information content descriptor ZMIC1 were identified as informative features for predicting logFM. After the adjustment of the applicability domain, the developed model performs well with correlation coefficients of 0.875, 0.850 and 0.847 for model fitting, leave-one-out cross-validation and independent test, respectively. The model is expected to be useful for assessing human transplacental exposure.


One of the most important problems in improving file system performance is to design effective block replacement schemes for the buffer cache. Recently, replacement schemes making use of regularities of references such as sequential and looping references were proposed and shown to be more effective than purely recency or frequency based schemes such as LRU. However, these schemes classify access patterns at the granularity of an application or a file, and thus cannot discern multiple access patterns within the same file and have to redetect the same access patterns that appear in multiple files. In this paper, we propose a Program Counter based Classification (PCC) technique that reduces the overhead and improves the accuracy of the classification techniques in previous pattern based replacement schemes. In addition to accurately recognizing access patterns as in previous schemes, PCC is able to (1) recognize, without additional training, the reoccurrence of the same access pattern even if they appear in multiple files, and (2) differentiate concurrent access patterns within a single file. We show via trace-driven simulations that the performance gain of PCC compared to UBM is substantial. In particular, the hit ratio improves by as much as 25% and the execution time is reduced by as much as 14% compared to the UBM scheme for the traces we considered. Key Phrases: Energy managment, instruction based prediction.


Fewer than 200 fish species are found in freshwater habitats in Australia, of which 144 are confined exclusively to freshwater. At least 22 species of exotic freshwater fish have been introduced into Australia, and 19 of these have established self-sustaining populations. However, the parasite fauna of both native and exotic freshwater fishes in Australia is poorly known. This is particularly the case in the south-west of Western Australia, where there have been no previous comprehensive studies of the parasites of 14 native species and nine or more exotic species of fish found in freshwater habitats.

This study represents a survey of the parasites of freshwater fishes in the South West Coast Drainage Division and reports 44 putative species of parasites in 1429 individual fishes of 18 different species (12 native and six exotic) from 29 locations. Parasites were found in 327 (22.88%) fishes, and of the infected fishes, 200 (61.16%) were infected with only one species of parasite and 127 (38.84%) were infected with two or more species of parasites. For helminth and arthropod parasites, which were more comprehensively surveyed than protozoan and myxozoans, I found 37 species compared to 77 species found in a recent study of fishes from the East Coast Drainage Division.

The present study demonstrated that parasitic infection was significantly more common in native fish species (mean prevalence of infection with any species of parasite = 0.36 ± 0.09) than in exotic fish species (0.01 ± 0.12). Parasites were found in all native fish species, but in only two exotic fish species that were examined. Parasite regional and component community diversity were estimated by species richness (the number of species, S) and by an index of taxonomic diversity (HT). Both parasite species richness and parasite taxonomic diversity were significantly greater in native fish species (mean S = 10.5 ± 2.3; mean HT = 1.19 ± 0.14) than in exotic fish species (mean S = 1.6 ± 3.3; mean HT = 0.27 ± 0.20). These relationships were consistent over all geographic locations that were sampled. The reduced parasite load of exotic species compared to native species has been previous reported across a wide range of taxa. It is thought to arise partly because founding populations of hosts have a low probability of harbouring the species' total parasite fauna, and partly because parasites that infect introduced exotic species may not be able to maintain their life cycle in the new environment. It has been suggested that a reduced parasite load increases the competitive ability of exotic species compared to native species (the parasite release hypothesis) and this may partly explain the abundance and apparent competitive success of exotic over native species of freshwater fish in the South West Coast Drainage Division.

For native species of fish, there were major differences among species in both prevalence of parasitic infection and parasite community diversity, but this variation was not related to fish size, whether the fish were primarily freshwater or primarily estuarine, or whether they were primarily demersal or pelagic.

In this study, I report two new parasites in south western Australian waters. Both are copepod parasites; Lernaea cyprinacea and a new species of Dermoergasilus. The Dermoergasilus appears to be native to the south-west of Western Australia and has been described as Dermoergasilus westernensis. It differs from previously described species in the genus principally by the armature of the legs. This new species was found on the gills of freshwater cobbler, Tandanus bostocki and western minnow, Galaxias occidentalis in two different river systems.

Lernaea cyprinacea is an introduced parasitic copepod found on the skin and gills of freshwater fishes in many areas of the world. The parasite has not previously been reported in Western Australia. We found infestations of L. cyprinacea on four native fish species (G. occidentalis; Edelia vittata; Bostockia porosa; T. bostocki) and three introduced fish species (Carassius auratus; Gambusia holbrooki; Phalloceros caudimaculatus) at two localities in the Canning River, in the south-west of Western Australia. The parasite has the potential to have serious pathogenic effects on native fish species, although it appears to be currently localised to a small section of the Canning River.

Over all localities from which fishes were sampled in the present study, the proportion of native freshwater fishes with parasitic infections and the component community diversity of the parasite fauna of native fishes were both negatively related to habitat disturbance, in particular to a suite of factors (river regulation, loss of riparian vegetation, eutrophication and presence of exotic fish species) that indicate increased human usage of the river and surrounding environment. The reduced parasite load and diversity in native fishes from south-west rivers with greater human usage was due principally to the loss of a number of species of trematode, cestode and nematode endoparasites which use fishes as intermediate hosts. Other studies have also found that endoparasites with complex life cycles are most likely to be adversely affected by environmental changes, presumably because any environmental changes which impact on either free-living parasite stages or on any of the hosts in the complex train of parasite transmission will reduce parasite population size and may cause local extinction of the parasite species.

The most heavily infected species of native freshwater fish in the South West Coast Drainage Division was T. bostocki with 96% of all individuals containing at least one species of parasite. As with most freshwater fishes of south-west Australia, T. bostocki is limited in its distribution to waterways with relatively low salinity. The degree of parasitism and histopathology of internal and external organs in T. bostocki from the Blackwood River was examined over a period of rapid, seasonal changes in water salinity. As salinity increased, the infracommunity richness and prevalence of ectoparasites on the skin of fishes decreased, while the infracommunity richness and prevalence of endoparasites increased. This was associated with a decrease in histopathological lesion scores in the skin and an increase in histopathological lesion scores in internal organs, particularly the intestine. I hypothesise that the seasonal spike in salinity had two contrasting effects on parasitic infections of T. bostocki. Firstly, it increased the mortality rate of parasites directly exposed to water, leading to a decrease in ectoparasitic infection and associated pathology. Secondly, it suppressed immune function in fish, leading to a decreased mortality rate of parasites not directly exposed to water and a more severe pathological response to endoparasitism.


The genesis, classification and soil-landscape relationships of three major
landscapes and fourteen soils in Kedah were studied.
The BRIS soils are sandy, structureless, loose, highly leached and have a very
low water holding retention and cation exchange capacity (CEC). Soils on the
youngest and the oldest ridges are Entisols. Spodosols are found in the middle ridges.
Podzolisation is also discussed.
The marine coastal plain soils are poorly drained, clayey and have a high CEC
(> 20 cmol(+)kg-l soil) due to the presence 2: 1 clay minerals. Soil formation is
strongly influenced by the activities of man, parent materials, physiography, climate
and sea water. The plough layer and plough sole are formed by the continual addition
of organic matter and wet ploughing. Desalination is accomplished by bunding and
by flushing the soils with fresh irrigation water. The influence of climate is
manifested by deep vertical cracks and gypsum crystals during the dry season.
Profile development improves towards the hinterland due to progressively higher
physiographic positions, lower ground water table, higher leaching intensity and
improved drainage. Three of the soils are Entisols (Fluvaquents) because the organic
carbon at 1.25 m is greater than 0.2% although they are more appropriately classified
as Inceptisols (Tropaquepts) due changes in the soil colour and the structures. A
Vertisol was identified.
Soils of the pediplains and the P surfaces are characterised by a lateritic
layer. Lateritic soils on P surfaces in eastern Kedah have larger and more angular
boulders and gravels. The gravels on the pediplain proper are finer and more rounded
due to more cycles of pedimentation. Etchplains and remnants of pediplains (R.O.P.)
are absent in the P/P3 surfaces and are uncommon in the pediplains. Lateritic soils
in northern Kedah are Ultisols and in southern and eastern Kedah, Oxisols; this being
due to differences in the parent materials and climate.


The overall purpose of this thesis and the four independent studies it builds upon is to examine how categorizations and identity positions are constructed and negotiated in the educational program Swedish for immigrants (SFI) both historically and among participants in the program at the beginning of the 21th century. The analytical focus is on the discourses that frame the development of the SFI program with a specific interest in categorizations and identity in relation to gender, language and national belonging. The empirical material includes historical texts (curricula, commission reports, public inquiries, political propositions, laws) from 1965 to 2010, as well as approximately 95 hours of audio and video recorded data and ethnographic field notes from five SFI classrooms. The results are presented primarily in the four articles but partly also in the thesis itself.Our analysis in the first study, that takes a sociohistorical perspective as a point of departure, indicates shifts in discourses with regards to the categories and aims of the educational program, thus, making certain identity positions more accessible than others at specific times. Using the approach of nexus analysis, the theoretical framework employed in the second study approaches language policies n terms of a dialectical elationship between policy and the learning that takes lace in the language focused classroom. Feminist and postcolonial frameworks re employed ore pecifically in the third and fourth studies. The historical nalysis presented in article three shows how the categories of "immigrant" and Swedes" ave been produced and negotiated in discourses on gender and gender quality in the SFI program since the early 1970s. The fourth study highlights he omplex relationship between gender equality and integration policies, as well as he perception of gender equality as a central part of Swedishness", negotiated in he everyday conversations in the SFI classroom. Overall, the results illuminate he circulation of discourses both cross ime and between policy and classrooms. oreover, it contributes to a critical discussion about the intersection of language, ender and national elonging in the negotiation of boundaries between insiders and outsiders in Swedish society.


The monomeric guanosine triphosphatase Rac controls major aspects of neutrophil function including chemotaxis, phagocytosis, and production of reactive oxygen species. However the guanine-nucleotide exchange factors or GEFs that regulate Rac activity are not well described. Welch et al. purified a phosphatidylinositol(3,4,5) trisphopsphate [PtdIns(3,4,5)P3]-activated Rac-GEF from pig neutrophils and then cloned the respective human gene encoding the protein they named P-Rex1. In vitro, P-Rex1 was not only directly activated by PtdIns(3,4,5)P3, but it was synergistically activated by direct interaction with G protein (heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein) βγ subunits. Similar synergistic activation was observed in transfected insect SF9 cells. Such regulation of P-Rex fits nicely with its proposed role as a coincidence detector monitoring signals from Gi-coupled receptors in neutrophils, which release Gβγsubunits and activate Gβγ-sensitive phophoinositide-3 kinase to generate PtdIns(3,4,5)P3. The authors anticipate the P-Rex1 may also function in other cells by stimuli that cause coinicident activation of type 1A phosphoinositide 3-kinase and Gi or Go proteins. H. C. E. Welch, W. J. Coadwell, C. D. Ellson, G. J. Ferguson, S. R. Andrews, H. Erdjument-Bromage, P. Tempst, P. T. Hawkins, L. R. Stephens, P-Rex1, a PtdIns(3,4,5)P3- and Gβγ-regulated guanine-nucleotide exchange factor for Rac. Cell 108, 809-821 (2002). [Online Journal]


East Mere Hide, Wicken Fen (2012) arises from work carried out as part of an AHRC-funded project, Landscape Quartet, which explores practical strategies for ecological sound art and their significance. Listening and walking, usually over a number of days, have become integral to my practice methodology as the initial stage for any performance. In essence facilitating a multisensory fusion of being and doing that binds feelings of place and self across a variety of registers (including not only sound, but also, for example memory, physicality, encounters with non-human animals and vegetation, imagination, smell-sound-sight, pre-cognitive and pre-conscious intuitions, and so on), and initiates a process of attunement from which artistic responses surface: responses that can be understood as being 'in', 'of' and 'for' the environment. As a complement to this listening/walking method I have developed a performance set-up that allows for improvised location-specific electronic performance. Technically, this comprises of vibrational speakers that play through any suitably resonant material within the environment, live sampling and gestural sound modification achieved through an iPad/Kaoss Pad combination. Any resulting improvised performance is intended as a direct and holistic response to my experience of and engagement with place, both leading to the point of performance as well as the actual performance. Audio and video documentation of the performance then form the basis for an additional and complementary process of working with these same experiences and encounters, pursuing the same theme of participative environmental arts practice but across other modes of presentation. 'To regain the currents of life, and of sensory awareness, we need to join in the movements that give rise to things rather than casting our attention back upon their objective and objectified forms. We need, in a word, to undo the operation of inversions, abandoning the fixities of genes, images, recordings and landscapes for the generative movements, respectively, of life, light, sound and weather.' (Ingold 2011: 97) Ingold, T. (2011). Being Alive: essays on movement, knowledge and description. London: Routledge.


Rather than a natural aspect of life, adherence to the medical model within longterm care (LTC) homes has framed death as something to be avoided and a failure of the system. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to contribute to the ongoing discussion in the literature regarding the experience of dying and death in a LTC home from the perspective of bereaved family members. Interviews were conducted with eight family members who had a relative die in a LTC home within the preceding 12 months. Interviews with participants focused on their experiences while their relative approached the end-of-life, at the time of death, and after their death. My findings resulted in the overall theme of Respecting the Life and Death. Within this theme, I found that taking a compassionate approach to care; staff, families, and residents coming together for care; and the continuation of care all supported residents on their end-of-life journey. The findings of this research call attention to the multifaceted nature of dying beyond physiological care and work to address ways to provide quality end-of life care.


In a time of great need for Britain, a small coterie of influential businessmen gained access to secret information on industrial mobilisation as advisers to the Principal Supply Officers Committee. They provided the state with priceless advice, but, as "insiders" utilised their access to information to build a business empire at a fraction of the normal costs. Outsiders, in contrast, lacked influence and were forced together into a defensive "ring" – or cartel – which effectively fixed prices for British warships. By the 1930s, the cartel grew into one of the most sophisticated profiteering groups of its day. This book examines the relationship between the private naval armaments industry, businessmen, and the British government defence planners between the wars. It reassesses the concept of the military-industrial complex through the impact of disarmament upon private industry, the role of leading industrialists in supply and procurement policy, and the successes and failings of government organisation. It blends together political, naval, and business history in new ways, and, by situating the business activities of industrialists alongside their work as government advisors, sheds new light on the operation of the British state. This is the story of how these men profited while effectively saving the National Government from itself.


Computations have predicted good thermoelectric performance for a number of Zintl phases when doped n-type. Combined with the successful experimental realization of n-type KGaSb4, KAlSb4, and Mg3Sb2 with zT>1, this has fueled efforts to discover novel n-type dopable Zintl phases. However, a majority of Zintl phases exhibit strong proclivity toward p-type doping and prior successes in finding n-type dopable Zintls were largely serendipitous. Herein we use modern first-principles defect calculations to study trends in the dopability of Zintl pnictides and find that the average oxidation state of the anion is a useful chemical guide to identify novel n-type dopable phases. Specifically, we observe that Zintl pnictides with average oxidation of the anion near -1 are n-type dopable. The trend is mainly a consequence of the high formation energy of native acceptor defects (e.g. cation vacancies) and the resulting absence of charge (electron) compensation. Using the oxidation state guide in conjunction with a descriptor of thermoelectric performance, we conduct a large-scale materials search and identify promising candidates that are n-type dopable.


The effect of ultrasonic waves upon foam extrusion has been investigated by using a special die attached to an extruder. The die consists of a special ultrasonic horn, having a circular channel, that vibrates at 20 KHz. Various ultrasonic amplitudes and flow rates were employed during extrusion of a foamed polystyrene. Ultrasonic waves were found to affect both die pressure as well as physical and mechanical properties of the foam. Increases in the amplitude of the ultrasonic waves resulted in a decrease of the pressure at the die entrance. The density of the foam was found to increase with an increase of the amplitude and a decrease of the flow rate. Extrudate swell was found to decrease with an increase in the amplitude. Ultrasonic waves also influenced cell size and distribution in extruded samples: increases in amplitude resulted in reduced cell size and in narrowing their distribution. These effects are likely caused by break up of large cells or by disruption of coalescence of small cells. The tensile strength and Young's modulus of samples of extruded foam were found to increase with ultrasonic treatment. A unique correlation of these mechanical properties with the density of the foam was established.


Tribological performances of innovative lubricant additives based on IF-WS2 and other transition metal dichalcogenides like MoS2 nanoparticles have been widely investigated in recent years. The boundary lubrication regime is the main target for the benefits of well-tested or potential additives, since the film thickness of the lubricating base is no longer sufficient to preserve separation of the opposing metal surfaces. Among the various investigated materials, nanocarbons such as fullerenes and nanotubes have proven attractive and promising tribological properties in terms of friction reduction and anti-wear action. In this work experiments have been carried out on a pin-on-disc tribometer to get assessment about the effectiveness of such additives as friction reducers in boundary and mixed lubrication regimes. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes of different geometric characteristics (diameter, length, thickness) were obtained by catalytic CVD. Several tests, performed on arrays of operating conditions in terms of speeds and loads, have aimed to underline the friction loss saving of the lubricated pair by varying nanoadditive concentration in the oil formulation. AISI 316 steel pins with different surface finish have been used to consider the effect of roughness parameters, while the counterpart surface is an X155Cr13MoKu steel disc, 60 HRC.


We consider a minimal extension of the Standard Model (SM), which leads to unification of the SM coupling constants, breaks electroweak symmetry dynamically by a new strongly coupled sector and leads to novel dark matter candidates. In this model, the coupling constant unification requires the existence of electroweak triplet and doublet fermions singlet under QCD and new strong dynamics underlying the Higgs sector. Among these new matter fields and a new right handed neutrino, we consider the mass and mixing patterns of the neutral states. We argue for a symmetry stabilizing the lightest mass eigenstates of this sector and determine the resulting relic density. The results are constrained by available data from colliders and direct and indirect dark matter experiments. We find the model viable and outline briefly future research directions.


Loss of bone in the mandible after tooth removal is associated with anatomic and aesthetic complications and instability of the mandibular complete denture. This continuing bone loss is not limited to alveolar bone; portions of the basal bone may also be resorbed. Thus, mandibular complete denture is the most unstable, unretentive, conventional prosthesis fabricated in routine dental practice. Root-form endosteal implants cannot always be placed in advanced atrophic mandibles without autogenous bone grafting (from either the iliac hip crest or another site) or bone regeneration. The ramus frame implant (RFI) is indicated when the atrophy in the mandible is advanced. An RFI is an immediate, totally implant-supported prosthesis, which can use homologous grafting material and platelet-rich plasma for increased bone regeneration. The third-generation RFI provides all of the benefits of the first- and second-generation RFIs as well as improvements provided by computed tomography and computer-aided design/stereolithography applications: planning, simplified placement, improved grafting, predictable manufactured components, and retrievability.


Abstract This article presents an overview of multi-agent system models of land-use/cover change (MAS/LUCC models). This special class of LUCC models combines a cellular landscape model with agent-based representations of decision making, integrating the two components through specification of interdependencies and feedbacks between agents and their environment. The authors review alternative LUCC modeling techniques and discuss the ways in which MAS/LUCC models may overcome some important limitations of existing techniques. We briefly review ongoing MAS/LUCC modeling efforts in four research areas. We discuss the potential strengths of MAS/LUCC models and suggest that these strengths guide researchers in assessing the appropriate choice of model for their particular research question. We find that MAS/LUCC models are particularly well suited for representing complex spatial interactions under heterogeneous conditions and for modeling decentralized, autonomous decision making. We discuss a range of possible roles for MAS/LUCC models, from abstract models designed to derive stylized hypotheses to empirically detailed simulation models appropriate for scenario and policy analysis. We also discuss the challenge of validation and verification for MAS/LUCC models. Finally, we outline important challenges and open research questions in this new field. We conclude that, while significant challenges exist, these models offer a promising new tool for researchers whose goal is to create fine-scale models of LUCC phenomena that focus on human-environment interactions.


The neuroprotective effect of baicalein is generally attributed to inhibition of 12/15-lipoxygenase (12/15-LOX) and suppression of oxidative stress, but recent studies showed that baicalein also activates hypoxia-inducible factor-α (HIF1α) through inhibition of prolyl hydrolase 2 (PHD2) and activation of the phosphatidylinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway. Yet, the significance and regulation of prosurvival cytokines erythropoietin (Epo) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), two transcriptional targets of HIF1α, in baicalein-mediated neuroprotection in neurons and astrocytes remains unknown. Here we investigated the causal relationship between the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and Epo/VEGF expression in baicalein-mediated neuroprotection in primary rat cortical neurons and astrocytes. Our results show that baicalein induced Epo and VEGF expression in a HIF1α- and PI3K/Akt-dependent manner in neurons. Baicalein also protected neurons against excitotoxicity in a PI3K- and Epo/VEGF-dependent manner without affecting neuronal excitability. In contrast, at least a 10-fold higher concentration of baicalein was needed to induce Epo/VEGF production and PI3K/Akt activity in astrocytes for protection of neurons. Moreover, only baicalein-induced astrocytic VEGF, but not Epo expression requires HIF1α, while PI3K/Akt signaling had little role in baicalein-induced astrocytic Epo/VEGF expression. These results suggest distinct mechanisms of baicalein-mediated Epo/VEGF production in neurons and astrocytes for neuroprotection, and provide new insights into the mechanisms and potential of baicalein in treating brain injury in vivo.


This paper attempts to explain why indirect objects and aspectual se in Spanish are ungrammatical in the periphrastic passive. The claim is that se is accusative and since accusative is not available in passive, these se are ungrammatical in passive. An appeal to parallel patterns by indirect object la of laista dialects of Spain, which is overtly accusative, lends support to this approach. The technical account of accusative case on indirect object se relies on Multiple Agree with v. The Multiple Agree account generates concrete predictions regarding (non-) intervention effects with ethical, benefactive and alienable possessor datives. These predictions are tested and the results are positive, supplying support to the overall analysis.


One of four short talks regarding the implementation of institutional figshare within New Zealand. This talk covers why Group sites appeal to researchers, provides a few examples from 2019, and explains the creation workflow used at the University of Auckland. Delivered at figshare fest New Zealand 2019, 30 October, an event hosted by the Centre for eResearch and Libraries and Learning Services at the University of Auckland and sponsored by figshare.


Because they are user-friendly, consumer devices such as smartphones and digital cameras have greatly contributed to the development of teledermatology. Most of the time, teledermatology aims at providing homecare (or retirement residence) nurses with advice from a distant expert in skin disorders' evaluation (chronic wounds and skin cancers mainly). This emerging medical practice is supposed to provide the patient with the same quality of medical care as an "in person" – consultation. The main goals for developing teledermatology are to limit public expenses and stress for elderly people associated with medical transport. Up to now, mobility has been the main criteria to choose devices to practice teledermatology. However, no study has yet evaluated nor compared image quality produced by such devices. Now the question is: what criteria can be used to define image quality in the specific field of teledermatology? Could medical devices found in dermatological practices replace such consumer devices to improve image quality sent on teledermatology networks? In order to answer both questions, we have listed the different (medical as well as consumer) devices usually used for teledermatology and in dermatological practices. Then we evaluated several optical criteria and selected a few of them (even a combination of them) that appear to be the most relevant for the teledermatology practice focusing on chronic wounds' care, the latter skin disorder requiring specific performances. The main conclusion of this work is the need for the development of a dedicated device that will produce standardized images during non-standardized procedures typical of the teledermatology activity.