The head coaches at smaller colleges usually have other job responsibilities that include teaching, along with the responsibilities of coaching, recruiting, scheduling, and other coaching-related jobs. There is often a dual role involved for these coaches who try to juggle two different jobs that sometimes require different skill sets and involve different responsibilities that may lead to role conflict. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the level of job satisfaction of coaches in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). This study also sought to determine if there were differences in coaches' levels of job satisfaction based on their personal and specific job characteristics. Finally, the study also identified specific job responsibilities that coaches perceived to have enhanced their levels of job satisfaction and which responsibilities coaches perceived were barriers to higher levels of job satisfaction. The Great Plains Conference is an organization of 13 small faithbased colleges in South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. The Great Plains Athletic Conference head coaches from 10 different sports were emailed a survey that focused on job satisfaction and personal and job characteristics. The coaches who completed the survey were very satisfied overall with their jobs. The two job characteristics that gave coaches the most job satisfaction were the opportunity to work with young people and the enjoyment that comes from working with a team. There were also many significant differences found based on personal and job characteristics. Non-coaching job responsibilities were the most significant barrier to job satisfaction. The functional role of the teacher-coach model has a long history. College coaches who work at small colleges and universities are required to perform other tasks and have other responsibilities. The economy and college financing determine if the teacher-coach model is necessary at different institutions. Coaches enjoy working at colleges and have a high level of job satisfaction despite having to teach and be responsible for other tasks. History indicates that many smaller colleges cannot afford to hire and pay full-time coaches for many sports. College presidents, athletic directors, and coaches need to understand the aforementioned circumstances. Those administrators involved in hiring college coaches, directing college athletics, and the college coaches themselves may benefit from knowing what characteristics lead to high job satisfaction. The college head coaches in this study drew job satisfaction from working in a faith-based institution. As coaches at small colleges, it is important to them to focus on the things that give them job satisfaction and to realize that coaching positions at smaller colleges will usually require other job responsibilities.


Purpose: National guidelines do not include routine pGCSF as primary prophylaxis (PP) for patients receiving chemotherapy associated with a low risk for febrile neutropenia (FN). Inappropriate pGCSF can increase patient morbidity, financial burden, and overall health care costs. In 2013, an interdisciplinary group at TCI implemented a QI project to reduce inappropriate PP pGCSF in patients with lung cancer; this included prescriber education and modification of chemotherapy orders by risk of FN in the electronic medical record (EMR). Inappropriate pGCSF was reduced from 28% to 4%. In this 5-year follow up study we analyzed pGCSF use in lung cancer patients. Methods: We conducted a review of lung cancer patients who received pGCSF with chemotherapy initiated between January 2016 and August 2018. PP pGCSF use was appropriate if prescribed with chemotherapy regimens with a high risk (>20%) for FN, or intermediate risk (10%–20%) if other accepted FN risk factors were present. PP use with FN low-risk (<10%) chemotherapy was considered inappropriate. Treating physicians were anonymously surveyed about their practices. Results: 294 patients with lung cancer received 1,353 doses of pGCSF during the study period. 58 (20%) were treated at TCI by subspecialty thoracic oncologists and 236 (80%) were treated at regional network sites. 100/294 (34%) patients received low-risk regimens. 62/100 (62%) patients treated with low-risk regimens received 311 doses of PP pGCSF (inappropriate use). 5/62 (8%) of inappropriate use occurred at TCI; 57/62 (92%) at network sites. Of 130 patients who received an intermediate risk regimen, 99 (76%) received PP pGCSF. At least one risk factor for FN was identified in 80/99 (80%) of these patients; age >65 and prior chemotherapy or radiation were the top-cited factors. 33/294 (11%) patients were hospitalized for FN during the study period; 7/100 (7%) received low-risk regimens, 15/130 (11.5%) intermediate-risk, and 11/46 (24%) high-risk regimens. All physicians responding to the survey indicated awareness of guidelines and EMR risk identification. Conclusion: After initial success at our center, we found that guideline-based alignment of pGCSF prescribing in lung cancer patients was not sustained. Despite reported familiarity with guidelines for PP pGCSF use, this analysis suggests an opportunity for re-education and further EMR modification. Based on July 2018 CMS average sales price, reduction in inappropriate use presents a potential cost savings of $1.5 million during the study.


The purpose of this thesis is to study the flow of dense colloidal suspensions into micronsized capillaries at the particle level. Understanding the flow of complex fluids in terms of their constituents (colloids, polymers, or surfactants) poses deep fundamental challenges, and has wide applications in many industrial processes. Through the use of a novel experimental procedure we find results contrasting with the predicted bulk rheological behaviour of dense colloidal systems and propose an alternative approach based on the analogy with granular systems. Quantitative predictions which successfully explain the data are obtained. In order to obtain quantitative information on the dynamics of the system, we image the flow using a fast confocal microscope and identify the trajectories of each particle. Due to the nature of the flow, conventional techniques for locating and tracking the particles fail to yield satisfactory results. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a novel technique which allows us to successfully track the particles in strongly non-uniform flow fields (published, 2006). We focus our attention on three main aspects of the flow: concentration gradients, velocity profiles and time behaviour. We initially discuss the occurrence of concentration gradients along the flow direction and relate them to the local flow profiles. We observe high density regions where the velocity is uniform across the channel (complete plugs) and lower density regions where shear is present. The observed concentration profiles can be qualitatively explained by considering the relative flow between the solvent and the suspended particles. The flow profiles in the presence of shear consist of a plug in the centre while shear occurs localized adjacent to the channel walls, reminiscent of yield-stress fluid behaviour. However, the observed scaling of the velocity profiles with the flow rate strongly contrasts yield-stress fluid predictions. Instead, the velocity profiles can be captured by a theory of stress fluctuations originally developed for chute flow of dry granular media (published ,2007). We extend the model to our case and discuss it as a function of a series of parameters (boundary conditions, volume fraction, channel size, etc.) highlighting differences and similarities with granular media. Finally we discuss the time behaviour of complete plug flows relating it to the microscopic dynamics of the particles. At variance with dilute systems, dense systems exhibit velocity fluctuations when driven into channels by a constant pressure difference. We find that there exists a threshold value of the flow rate below which oscillations in the velocity are absent and above which their frequency scales as a power law of the flow rate. Despite quantitative predictions on this issue that are still missing, we present a microscopic description of the phenomenon highlighting the interplay between the particles and the solvent.


Results are presented of a study to identify capital costs associated with converting industrial and utility boilers from conventional high-sulfur fossil fuels to low-sulfur products from selected coal conversion processes. The boilers of concern include all industrial and utility size equipment in the 10 to the 7th power to 10 to the 10th power Btu/hr capacity range. The substitute fuels include solvent refined coal (SRC) in the solid and hot liquid (melted) phases as well as lower-Btu gas. The cost assessment methods used in the study showed that conversion to liquid SRC is the most expensive alternative. Converting coal-fired boilers to solid SRC is the least expensive alternative for these types of boilers. Between the costs of converting to SRC in either phase lie those costs for converting to the gaseous fuels. A significant result of the study is that the costs of all conversion strategies increase exponentially with boiler capacity: cost appears to be a weak function of boiler design. (GRA)


Our rich diversity of life on Earth is the outcome of over three billion years of evolutionary history. It has been shaped by forces such as continental drift, ice ages, fire, weather, and the interaction of all the different species that inhabit the earth. Now, it is increasingly being altered by the dominant species of the planet, humans. From the dawn of agriculture over 10,000 years ago, through the industrial revolution of the past three centuries, the human species has reshaped Earth's landscapes on an ever-larger and lasting scale. Despite growing awareness and increasing investments in environmental protection, pressure on the world's natural resources and ecosystems continues to increase rapidly. The impacts of human activities envelop every aspect of the natural world. No ecosystem on Earth is free from pervasive human influence (World, 2006). Global warming, pollution, and the unabated use of the Earth's natural resources have given rise to questions of our planet's continued ability to sustain us. Global atmospheric changes, such as ozone depletion and climate change, only add to the stress. Global warming poses an extraordinary challenge. The world's leading scientists tell us that a gradual warming of our climate is under way and will continue. This long-term warming trend poses serious risk to the world's economy and to the environment. It poses even greater risks for poorer countries that are far less able to cope with a changing climate and for low-lying countries where a rise in sea level will cause significant damage. Meeting the challenges of global warming will require sustained effort over decades--on the part of governments, that must establish regulations and modify them as we learn more about climate change and as technological solutions begin to manifest themselves; on the part of industry, which must innovate, manufacture, and operate under a new paradigm where climate change will drive many decisions; and on the part of the citizens of the world, who must not only be educated on the effects of climate change but who must also switch to a more Earth-friendly path in purchases and lifestyles. While the earth has always undergone changes in its climate and environment, the potential importance of human contributions affecting changes on a global scale has emerged comparatively recently. Global public opinion, like American public opinion, has been most recently influenced by the unprecedented drought in Brazil, the melting Arctic ice, the recent hurricane season, and a torrent of scientific findings. The Science of Climate Change Global warming is shorthand for "climate change," and the term is correct if you realize that it's referring to the average temperature of the earth over the years; not the temperatures at particular times and places. Climate change is a much better term to use than global warming because much more than warming is involved, although the changes begin with the average temperature of the earth increasing. Studying past climates can help put the twentieth century warming into a broader context, lead to better understanding of the climate system, and improve projections of future climate temperatures. Because widespread, reliable instrumental records are available only for the last 150 years or so, scientists must estimate climatic conditions in the more distant past by analyzing proxy evidence from sources such as tree rings, corals, ocean and lake sediments, cave deposits, ice cores, boreholes, glaciers, and documentary evidence. Starting in the late 1990s, scientists began combining proxy evidence from many different locations around the world in an effort to construct an estimate of surface temperature changes that have occurred over broad geographic regions during the last few hundred to few thousand years. Controversy arose because many people interpreted this result as definitive evidence of anthropogenic causes of recent climate change, while others criticized the methodologies and data that were used. …


In this paper we point out an overlooked structure of SLAM that distinguishes it from a generic nonlinear least squares problem. The measurement function in most common forms of SLAM is linear with respect to robot and features' positions. Therefore, given an estimate for robot orientation, the conditionally optimal estimate for the rest of state variables can be easily obtained by solving a sparse linear-Gaussian estimation problem. We propose an algorithm to exploit this intrinsic property of SLAM by stripping the problem down to its nonlinear core, while maintaining its natural sparsity. Our algorithm can be used together with any Newton-based iterative solver and is applicable to 2D/3D pose-graph and feature-based problems. Our results suggest that iteratively solving the nonlinear core of SLAM leads to a fast and reliable convergence as compared to the state-of-the-art back-ends.


We conduct an empirical investigation of the relative importance of competing hypotheses that attempt to explain observed differentials in overage pricing. Our analysis makes several contributions. First, we use tobit techniques to estimate the parameters of the model. Second, we include a number of variables that are not available in previous analysis. Specifically, we use borrower and lender characteristics that go beyond gender and race. Third, we are able to consider the impact of the bargaining capabilities of individual loan officers on the overages paid by borrowers, including minorities and women. Using proprietary data from different branches of a particular bank, this paper demonstrates that a large component of the explained variance in overages traces to variables proxying for the degree of competitiveness in the markets associated with these loans, and to differences in the bargaining power and expertise of both loan officers and borrowers. We find differences in overages collected from different ethnic groups, and though it is far too soon to conclude that this is due to bigotry, to the extent that our models are well-specified, this would probably constitute discrimination from a regulatory perspective. Variables controlling for risk prove less effective in explaining overages, perhaps because our sample includes only loans that were actually approved and made. Thus, they all represent relatively good risks, and might not display enough risk variation to detect.


Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) are a key population engaging in pharmaceutical opioid analgesic (PO) use, yet little is known about patterns of illicit PO use among this group. Objectives: The aims of this research were to measure the prevalence and frequency of lifetime and past-month illicit PO use and injection in a sample of regular PWID, to examine patterns of past-month illicit PO use within individuals over time, and to identify factors independently associated with past-month illicit PO use. Methods: Data were drawn from a prospective cohort study of regular PWID (N = 666) in Melbourne, Australia. Data from five waves of annual data collection (including baseline) were analyzed descriptively and using generalized estimating equations (GEE). Results: At baseline, 59% of participants reported lifetime illicit PO use and 20% reported past-month use, predominantly through injecting. Most illicit PO users at baseline transitioned to nonuse of illicit POs across the study period. In multivariable GEE analysis, factors associated with past-month illicit PO use included past-year arrest [adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.39], opioids other than heroin as drug of choice (AOR: 5.14), experiencing poorer physical health (AOR: 0.98) and a range of other drug use variables. Conclusions: We found little evidence of ongoing illicit PO use among those followed up, with illicit PO use linked to polydrug use more broadly. Nonetheless, trends in illicit PO use among PWID should continue to be monitored and harm reduction interventions implemented to reduce the associated public health risks.


Differences have been observed in the milling and functional properties of different rice cultivars, particularly between hybrid and pureline cultivars. Co-mingling of rice cultivars commonly occurs during harvest, storage and drying operations. Thus, there is a need to study the effect of co-mingling on the milling and functional properties of rice cultivars. Two longgrain, hybrid (H) cultivars CL XL745 and CL XL729 and two long-grain, pureline (P) cultivars CL 151 and Wells were used to prepare CL XL745/CL 151 (H/P), CL XL745/CL XL729 (H/H) and Wells/CL 151 (P/P) co-mingles, mixed in various proportions. Milled rice yield (MRY), head rice yield (HRY), surface lipid content (SLC), head rice color, head rice chalkiness and gelatinization and pasting properties of head rice flour were measured for individual lot samples, as well as the above mentioned co-mingled samples. Kernel dimensions, total lipid content (TLC), chalkiness and bulk density of brown rice samples of the individual cultivar lots were also studied to determine the effect of brown rice properties of individual cultivar lots on the milling and functional properties of co-mingled samples. The MRYs, HRYs, head rice chalkiness and pasting properties of the co-mingled samples increased or decreased with the increasing percentage of a given cultivar in the co-mingled samples. The differences in head rice whiteness and yellowness of the co-mingled samples milled to the same DOM were negligible, indicating that co-mingling did not affect the color of rice after milling to the same DOM. An investigation of gelatinization curves showed that the co-mingled samples retained characteristics of the gelatinization properties of the individual cultivars used in those comingles. For example, the onset gelatinization temperature (To) of a co-mingled sample was equivalent to the To of that cultivar in the co-mingle with the lower To. These findings will help to make key decisions regarding the use of co-mingles depending on the brown rice, milling and functional properties of the individual cultivar lots used for co-mingling.


Seizure is the main factor that affects the quality of life of epileptic patients. The diagnosis of epilepsy, and hence the identification of epileptogenic zone, is commonly made by using continuous Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal monitoring. Seizure identification on EEG signals is made manually by epileptologists and this process is usually very long and error prone. The aim of this paper is to describe an automated method able to detect seizures in EEG signals, using knowledge discovery in database process and data mining methods and algorithms, which can support physicians during the seizure detection process. Our detection method is based on Artificial Neural Network classifier, trained by applying the multilayer perceptron algorithm, and by using a software application, called Training Builder that has been developed for the massive extraction of features from EEG signals. This tool is able to cover all the data preparation steps ranging from signal processing to data analysis techniques, including the sliding window paradigm, the dimensionality reduction algorithms, information theory, and feature selection measures. The final model shows excellent performances, reaching an accuracy of over 99% during tests on data of a single patient retrieved from a publicly available EEG dataset. Keywords—Artificial Neural Network, Data Mining, Electroencephalogram, Epilepsy, Feature Extraction, Seizure Detection, Signal Processing.


No other Sanskrit work approaches the "Bhagavadgita "in the influence it has exerted in the West. Philosophers such as Emerson and the other New England Transcendentalists were deeply affected by its insights, a dozen or more scholars, including Annie Besant and Mahatma Gandhi, have attempted its translation, and thousands of individuals struggling with the problems divided loyalties have found comfort and wisdom in its pages. The "Bhagavadgita "("Song of the Lord") tells of the young and virtuous Prince Arjuna who is driven to lead his forces into battle against an opposing army composed of close relatives and others whom he loves. The Lord Krsna, appearing in the poem as Arjuna's friend and charioteer, persuades him that he must do battle, and we see Arjuna changing from revulsion at the thought of killing members of his family to resignation and awareness of duty, to manly acceptance of his role as warrior and defender of his kingdom. The "Bhagavadgita" is a self-contained episode in the "Mahabharata," a vast collection of epics, legends, romances, theology, and metaphysical doctrine that reflects the history and culture of the whole of Hindu civilization. The present edition forms a part of J. A. B. van Buitenen's widely acclaimed translation of this great work. Here English and Sanskrit are printed on facing pages, enabling those with some knowledge of Sanskrit to appreciate van Buitenen's accurate rendering of the intimate, familial tone and directness of the original poem.


Activation of the immune system can guard against pathogens that cause disease, but the same mechanisms gone awry can lead to autoimmune diseases or allergies. For instance, atopic dermatitis, an inflammatory skin disease that is frequently associated with hay fever or asthma, appears to involve abnormal cytokine production by T helper type 2 (TH2) cells. Dillon et al. cloned a gp-130-like cytokine receptor with four splice variants, which they called IL-31RAv1 to 4. When IL-31RA was expressed in a lymphoid cell line together with OSMR (oncostatin M receptor), a receptor in the same family, the cells proliferated in response to conditioned medium from activated T cells. The authors identified cDNA from an activated T cell library that encoded a novel 164-amino acid protein that also stimulated proliferation. The protein, which they called IL-31, activated STATs (signal transducers and activators of transcription) in cells transfected with OSMR and either IL-31RAv3 or IL-31RAv4. IL-31 was expressed in activated T cells, particularly TH2 cells. Transgenic mice that overexpressed mouse IL-31 under the control of a lymphocyte-specific promoter developed pruritis and hair loss, as did mice to whom IL-31 was administered by osmotic pump. In a mouse model of airway hyperresponsiveness, exposure of presensitized mice to antigen stimulated IL-31RA expression in lung; when this response was compared in two mouse strains with different susceptibility to TH2-mediated diseases, the increase in IL-31RA expression was greater in the more susceptible strain. If IL-31 is involved in mediating dermatitis and hyperresponsive airway disease, its identification and characterization may lead to more effective strategies for preventing and treating these disorders. S. R Dillon, C. Sprecher, A. Hammond, J. Bilsborough, M. Rosenfeld-Franklin, S. R. Presnell, H. S. Haugen, M. Maurer, B. Harder, J. Johnston, S. Bort, S. Mudri, J. L. Kuijper, T. Bukowski, P. Shea, D. L. Dong, M. Dasovich, F. J. Grant, L. Lockwood, S. D. Levin, C. LeCiel, K. Waggie, H. Day, S. Topouzis, J. Kramer, R. Kuestner, Z. Chen, D. Foster, J. Parrish-Novak, J. A. Gross, Interleukin 31, a cytokine produced by activated T cells, induces dermatitis in mice. Nat. Immunol. 5, 752-760 (2004). [Online Journal]


— Web applications are widely adopted and their correct functioning is mission-critical for many businesses. At the same time, web applications tend to be error-prone and implementation vulnerabilities are readily and commonly exploited by attackers. The design of countermeasures that detect or prevent such vulnerabilities, or protect against their exploitation is an important research challenge for the fields of software engineering and security engineering. In this paper, we focus on one specific type of implementation vulnerability, namely broken dependencies on session data. This vulnerability can lead to a variety of erroneous behavior at run time and can easily be triggered by a malicious user by applying attack techniques such as forceful browsing. This paper shows how to guarantee the absence of run-time errors due to broken dependencies on session data in web applications. The proposed solution combines development-time program annotation, static verification and run-time checking to provably protect against broken data dependencies. We have developed a prototype implementation of our approach building on the JML annotation language and the existing static verification tool ESC/Java2, and we successfully applied our approach to a representative J2EE based e-commerce application. We show that the annotation overhead is very small, that the performance of the fully automatic static verification is acceptable, and that the performance overhead of the run-time checking is limited.


Background Barrett oesophagus (BO) occurs as a consequence of prolonged gastro-oesophageal reflux and it may precede the development of oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Aims The aim of this study was to accurately assess Cdx2 expression in the oesophageal metaplasia–dysplasia–adenocarcinoma sequence. Method The expression of the transcription factor Cdx2 in Barrett metaplasia, high-grade glandular dysplasia and adenocarcinoma was investigated using immunohistochemistry. Results The results confirmed previous immunohistochemistry and PCR-based investigations, indicating that Cdx2 was expressed by intestinal metaplasia in the oesophagus. In addition, upregulation followed by linear downregulation of Cdx2 expression through the oesophageal metaplasia–dysplasia–adenocarcinoma sequence was demonstrated for the first time. Conclusion Such downregulation of Cdx2 expression could be in keeping with a role as a tumour suppressor gene, but a simpler explanation would be downregulation of a differentiation marker.


Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are about 140 million people with alcohol abuse worldwide and almost about 50 percentage of men and 75 percentage women do not consume alcohol. The mechanisms that causes alcohol abuse are 50–60 percentage genetically influence and 40–50 percentage environmental factors. Objective: The present study aims to assess alcohol abuse and associated factors among health science student of Jimma University, Ethiopia. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from 26 Jan to 02 Feb, 2017 G.C on 338 subjects to assess alcohol abuse and associated factors among the students of Institute of Health Science, Jimma University, Ethiopia. The necessary data were collected through self- administered questionnaires; the data were analyzed manually by using tally sheet, pen, pencil and scientific calculator. The result of the study was presented using frequency tables, graphs, pie-charts and described based on the findings. Result: Out of the total population (1559) of which 338 participants, 190 (56.2 percentage ) of male drink alcohol and 28 (8.3 percentage) of the female students drink alcohol. From the total participants, 90 (41.2 percentage ) of them responded that factors that lead them to alcohol drinking were peer pressure. Hundred participants (4.5 percentage ) drink alcohol 2–3 times per week and 38 (17.43 percentage ) of them drink alcohol daily. Sex and monthly income had highly statistically significant association. The result was analyzed manually by using scientific calculator and computer then presented by cross-tabulation descriptive statics. Conclusion and Recommendation: Significant number of students of Institute of Health Science, Jimma University, Ethiopia had abuse alcohol. Most of them drink alcohol due to peer pressure and others were due to ignorance of the harmfulness of the alcohol, and it's easily availability around the campus. Therefore, students of Institute of Health Science, Jimma University, Ethiopia should pay attention for recreational facilities meant for the youth to spend their time in a fruitful manner rather than drinking alcohol. Health education should be rendered to the University students and its advantages and disadvantages should be clearly explained. Keywords: World Health Organization (WHO), alcohol, Jimma University, students Cite this Article Notiro T, Bekele A. Assessment of Alcohol Abuse and Associated Factors among Other Health Science Students of Jimma University, South West Ethiopia. Trends in Drug Delivery . 2017; 4(2): 1–10p.


From the Publisher:
If you've ever been responsible for a network, you know that sinking feeling: your pager has gone off at 2 a.m., the network is broken, and you can't figure out why using a dial-in connection from home. You drive into the office, dig out your protocol analyzer, and spend the next four hours trying to put things back together before the staff shows up for work.
When this happens, you often find yourself looking at the low-level guts of the Internet protocols: you're deciphering individual packets, trying to figure out what is (or isn't) happening. Until now, the only real guide to the protocols has been the Internet RFCs — and they're hardly what you want to be reading late at night when your network is down. There hasn't been a good book on the fundamentals of IP networking aimed at network administrators — until now. Internet Core Protocols: The Definitive Guide contains all the information you need for low-level network debugging. It provides thorough coverage of the fundamental protocols in the TCP/IP suite: IP, TCP, UDP, ICMP, ARP (in its many variations), and IGMP. (The companion volume, Internet Application Protocols: The Definitive Guide, provides detailed information about the commonly used application protocols, including HTTP, FTP, DNS, POP3, and many others). It includes many packet captures, showing you what to look for and how to interpret all the fields. It has been brought up-to-date with the latest developments in real-world IP networking.
The CD-ROM included with the book contains Shomiti's "Surveyor Lite," a packet analyzer that runs on Win32 systems, plus the original RFCs, should you need them for reference.Together, this package includes everything you need to troubleshoot your network — except coffee.


The Anglo American economic model, together with its corporate governance practices, is frequently regarded as the optimal instrument for achieving competitiveness and enhancing investor confidence, even by countries which do not share the culture and tradition from which it originated. Its corporate governance structures, shareholder friendly laws and liquid capital markets with high levels of disclosure are regarded as mechanisms which can enable 'global' standards of efficiency, transparency and accountability to be achieved. Many countries outside of the US and UK are encouraged by the international financial community to attract foreign business and investment by emulating this model. But to what extent is this model suitable for countries outside of those in which it was developed? This article examines this issue in relation to South Korea, an economy traditionally based on a state-led developmental model, but which has since the 1990s, experimented with the Anglo American model. Whilst many academics support the implementation of the Anglo American economic system on the basis that it will enable its economy to be competitive, others have counted the significant costs post implementation and have proposed alternative paths to economic growth. Some have gone so far as to suggest that the government should reject the Anglo American system altogether and instead, modernise the traditional state-guided growth model. This article argues that Korean policy makers need not adopt the Anglo American model wholesale, but can create an optimal environment for growth by combining the strengths of its traditional economic model with those under the Anglo American system. TRANSFERRING THE ANGLO AMERICAN SYSTEM TO SOUTH KOREA: AT WHAT COST, AND ARE THERE ALTERNATIVES?


The traditional understanding of "disabled" means to have a physical, mental, or emotional limitation. It is unfortunate that the word has negative connotations because we all have the ability to do some things and not others. An individual's disabilities, traditional or otherwise, do not diminish the person or detract from the universal tenet that all people are inherently equal and entitled to be treated with dignity. Generally, it is unproductive to compare the circumstances of one group with another for the purpose of discerning which group has it better or worse. Struggles by different groups to achieve equality have different concerns and are entitled to be "recognized" independently and within broader contexts. Struggles for equality are just that: we all want to be equal human beings before the law.


One of the problems in collaborative networks of documentation centers is the lack of interoperability between the different types of systems and applications used. The metadata is created in various places, time and using a number of tools and applications, data structures, content types, formats, and standards that may vary according to local needs. Exchange specifications that identify a minimum set of common requirements can be used for to facilitate the exchange and re-use of data. This paper summarizes FAO's experience in the efficient management and use of multilingual bibliographic CDS/ISIS databases, applying DC metadata standards and tools for search and exchange of bibliographic metadata. It explains in detail different approaches on how the bibliographic data from the CDS/ISIS databases can be converted and exported according to the Dublin Core (DC) and Agricultural Metadata Element Set (AgMES) based metadata set for cohesive and efficient platform-independent exchange of metadata. The second point is how different database applications can be united in a common search interface using DC elements. In addition, export features of DOS-, WINDOWSand WEB-based CDS/ISIS application systems tools are compared. A number of examples on how the data in various input and storage formats can be reformatted without any modifications to the existing CDS/ISIS database and applications. The experience was gathered while working with FAO's on-line library catalogue (FAOBIB) and the International Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology (AGRIS). The solution adopted was to use the Dublin Core (DC) and Agricultural Metadata Element Set (AgMES) based metadata set for the platform-independent exchange of metadata between existing databases.


This article argues that the balance of evidence and argument supports a shift from the conventional `separate democratic peace' position that liberal states are peace prone only in relations with other liberal states to the view that they are also more peace prone in relations with non-liberal states than usually thought. The article reviews a range of recent empirical studies that either support or are consistent with this turn and also critiques a number of existing democratic peace theories. Those theories that maintain the view that democracies are peace prone in general are criticized for failing to differentiate the circumstances in which liberal states do and do not go to war. Those theories supporting the predominant `separate' democratic peace position are criticized for failing to explain why liberal states should be peace prone only in relations with other liberal states. The force of this argument challenges scholars to re-specify the extent (and limitations) of liberal state peace proneness and to develop a theoretical explanation of this broader but more complex relationship between liberal states and peace.


Understanding the solubility of polysaccharides is extremely important for their food applications as most functions of polysaccharides including stability, emulsifying property, drug delivery, membrane forming properties, etc., are all achieved in aqueous solution. This chapter aims specifically at the mechanism of solubility of polysaccharides from the molecular level. General understandings of the solubility including definition, testing methods, and the solution behaviors were provided; the relationships between polysaccharide solubility and the structural features in terms of molecular weight, degree of branching, charging properties, chain flexibility, and the special groups were all discussed. With all the information provided, the molecular modification and further applications of polysaccharides in both food and nonfood areas could be promoted.


This paper explores the international spillover effects of ageing through capital markets when countries have diff erent pension systems. We use a two-country two-period overlapping-generations model, where the two countries only differ in their pension schemes. Two forms of population ageing are considered, namely, an increase in longevity and a fall in fertility. It is shown that, in the long run, a country using a funded pension system experiences negative spillovers from the fact that the other country uses a pay-as-you-go system. The short-run spillovers, however, are opposite to the spillovers in the long run.


Abstract. During the oceanic anoxic event 2 (OAE 2) in the Mid-Cretaceous Period, widespread black shale (BS) formation occurred, reflecting perturbations in major biogeochemical cycles. Here we present geochemical and biomarker data of the OAE 2 from a shelf setting situated at about 100–150 m water depth (Wunstorf, Germany). Our data support that processes inducing BS deposition were related to orbital cyclicity in Wunstorf and that they were not restricted to the time of the OAE 2 carbon isotope excursion. Correlations of total organic carbon (TOC) and δ15N and high relative abundances of functionalized hopanoids (including 2-methylated structures) suggest that BS were formed during times of imbalanced nutrients with high phosphorus inputs and increased cyanobacterial nitrogen fixation. Periods of BS formation were also characterized by enhanced growth of dinoflagellates and bacteriovorous ciliates, the latter supporting the presence of a stratified water body. The lack of biomarkers specific for green sulfur bacteria excludes photic zone euxinia during OAE 2 in Wunstorf. Conflicting maturities and biomarker distributions in kerogen and extractable organic matter and, interestingly, a negative correlation of the diagenetically resistant 2-methyl hopane hydrocarbons with TOC indicate a complex depositional setting at Wunstorf. This might have been induced by high continental runoff during BS formation and the accompanying mobilisation of refractory OM from the shelves and near shore areas.


PATIENT SAFETY HAS BEEN A PRIORITY IN HEALTH CARE since Hippocrates admonished physicians to "first do no harm." Even so, the Institute of Medicine found in 2000 that approximately 98 000 patients die from preventable medical errors each year. Recent US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates project that 270 individuals die each day from hospital-acquired infections. Despite substantial efforts and investments, widespread and substantial improvement is not evident. The problem is not in knowing what to do. Techniques, tools, and some best practices are available, and many health care organizations are making efforts to apply them. The importance of creating a "culture of safety" has also been noted. This involves continuous vigilance or mindfulness, learning, and accountability. A greater emphasis on safety over productivity and on teamwork over individual autonomy, increased standardization and simplification, and the implementation of an environment in which personnel are encouraged and feel comfortable to report errors and mistakes are needed. Although creating a culture of safety is important, creating a culture of systems is a more fundamental challenge. In this Commentary, the term systems means systems of care that occur both within and across organizations. For example, in studies involving causes of adverse events in cardiac surgery, more than two-thirds were classified as nontechnical or systemsoriented issues including delays and missing equipment, and more of these problems occurred in cases with adverse outcomes than in successful cases. The greatest barrier to patient safety and safety culture is the inherent fragmentation of the US system of care. Safety will improve when the underlying system of care improves.


Accurately selecting modulation rates for time-varying channel conditions is critical for avoiding performance degradations due to rate overselection when channel conditions degrade or underselection when channel conditions improve. In this paper, we design a custom cross-layer framework that enables: 1) implementation of multiple and previously unimplemented rate adaptation mechanisms; 2) experimental evaluation and comparison of rate adaptation protocols on controlled, repeatable channels as well as residential urban and downtown vehicular and nonmobile environments in which we accurately measure channel conditions with 100- s granularity; and 3) comparison of performance on a per-packet basis with the ideal modulation rate obtained via exhaustive experimental search. Our evaluation reveals that SNR-triggered protocols are susceptible to overselection from the ideal rate when the coherence time is low (a scenario that we show occurs in practice even in a nonmobile topology), and that "in situ" training can produce large gains to overcome this sensitivity. Another key finding is that a mechanism effective in differentiating between collision and fading losses for hidden terminals has severely imbalanced throughput sharing when competing links are even slightly heterogeneous. In general, we find trained SNR-based protocols outperform loss-based protocols in terms of the ability to track vehicular clients, accuracy within outdoor environments, and balanced sharing with heterogeneous links (even with physical layer capture).


Study Design: This was a post hoc analysis of a prospective FDA-IDE study. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a 2-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) or cervical disk arthroplasty (CDA) at relieving headaches associated with cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy at 10 years postoperative. Background: To our knowledge, there is no large, prospective study that has examined the efficacy of cervical spine surgery for relieving headaches associated with radiculopathy or myelopathy at 10 years postoperative. Materials and Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of a prospective FDA-IDE study for the Prestige LP versus ACDF for radiculopathy or myelopathy due to 2 levels. Preoperatively and out to 10 years, their Neck Disability Index documented if they had headaches (0: no headaches; 1: infrequent slight; 2: infrequent moderate; 3: frequent moderate; 4: frequent severe; 5: nearly constant). Results: Three hundred ninety-seven patients were randomized to CDA (209) or ACDF (188). Preoperatively 86% had headaches and 55.9% (52.2% of CDA, 60.1% of ACDFs) had frequent moderate, severe, or nearly constant headache (grades 3–5). By 6 weeks postoperative, 64.4% had headaches and only 12.5% had grades 3–5 headaches (9.3% of CDA and 16% of ACDFs). The benefit lasted to the 10-year follow-up such that 60.3% had any headaches and 16.8% had grades 3–5 headaches (10.9% CDA; 24.3% ACDF). Conclusions: These results suggest that 86% of patients with radiculopathy or myelopathy complain of headaches preoperatively, with 55.9% having frequent or constant, moderate to severe headaches (grades 3–5). By 6 weeks postoperative, only 12.5% had grades 3–5 headaches. At 10-year follow-up, 16.8% had grades 3–5 headaches. Both arthroplasty and ACDF are often effective at alleviating headaches associated with radiculopathy or myelopathy.


Abstract Following the civil war of 1996–2006, there was a dramatic increase in the labor mobility of young men and the inclusion of young women in formal education, which led to the transformation of the political landscape of rural Nepal. Mobility and schooling represent a level of prestige that rural people regard as a prerequisite for participating in local community politics. Based on a fieldwork in two villages of Panchthar district in eastern Nepal, this article explores how these changes strengthen or weaken women's political agency and how this is reflected in their participation in community politics. It analyzes how formal education and mobility either challenge or reinforce traditional gendered norms which dictate a lowly position for young married women in the household and their absence from community politics. The article concludes that women are simultaneously excluded and included from community politics. On the one hand, their mobility and decision-making powers decrease with the increase in the labor mobility of men and their newly gained education is politically devalued when compared to the informal education that men gain through mobility, but on the other hand, schooling strengthens women's political agency in some political spheres and they occasionally exercise political power behind the scenes.


Indirect volume rendering is a widespread method for the display of volume datasets. It is based on the extraction of polygonal iso-surfaces from volumetric data, which are then rendered using conventional rasterization methods. Whereas this rendering approach is fast and relatively easy to implement, it cannot easily provide an understandable display of structures occluded by the directly visible iso-surface. Simple approaches like alpha-blending for transparency when drawing the iso-surface often generate a visually complex output, which is difficult to interpret. Moreover, such methods can significantly increase the computational complexity of the rendering process. In this paper, we therefore propose a new approach for the illustrative indirect rendering of volume data in real-time. This algorithm emphasizes the silhouette of objects represented by the iso-surface. Additionally, shading intensities on objects are reproduced with a monochrome hatching technique. Using a specially designed two-pass rendering process, structures behind the front layer of the iso-surface are automatically extracted with a depth peeling method. The shapes of these hidden structures are also displayed as silhouette outlines. As an additional option, the geometry of explicitly specified inner objects can be displayed with constant translucency. Although these inner objects always remain visible, a specific shading and depth attenuation method is used to convey the depth relationships. We describe the implementation of the algorithm, which exploits the programmability of state-of-the-art graphics processing units (GPUs). The algorithm described in this paper does not require any preprocessing of the input data or a manual definition of inner structures. Since the presented method works on iso-surfaces, which are stored as polygonal datasets, it can also be applied to other types of polygonal models.


In the winter of 1780, a disagreement over Universalism broke out in the Philadelphia Baptist Church. Led by their minister Elhanan Winchester, many church members adopted Universalism, while others resisted giving up their Calvinist belief in particular salvation. Opponents condemned this new tenet as perilous to orthodox Christianity; the salvation of all humans meant that even "bad men and angels from hell" would attain saving grace. The Anti-Universalists used discourse that played on fears of Catholicism, immorality and atheism to confront this threat. Winchester and the proponents of Universalism utilized democratic language to expand Protestant identity by advocating one religion for all. The inclusiveness of Universalism appealed to some of the Revolutionary generation who wished for an efficacious faith that was both rational and spiritual. Universalists endorsed a religion that fit the social and political context of the new nation. Their compassionate theology would benefit Americans by enhancing personal piety, promoting spiritual community, and uniting all Protestants. The argument over Universalism in Philadelphia started as a local event and became part of a national discussion about the nature of deliverance. The controversy spawned in Pennsylvania occurred in a locality familiar with religious interaction but intensified through the burgeoning print and denominational networks of the late eighteenth century. Instigated by an active laity, dissemination of this debate relied upon connections among denominational leaders. Though the rift over Universalism in the Philadelphia Baptist Church transpired at the micro level, it was linked to an ongoing religious dialogue among Protestants in the Atlantic world.


What is the relation between the material, conventional symbol structures that we encounter in the spoken and written word, and human thought? A common assumption, that structures a wide variety of otherwise competing views, is that the way in which these material, conventional symbol-structures do their work is by being translated into some kind of content-matching inner code. One alternative to this view is the tempting but thoroughly elusive idea that we somehow think in some natural language (such as English). In the present treatment I explore a third option, which I shall call the "complementarity" view of language. According to this third view the actual symbol structures of a given language add cognitive value by complementing (without being replicated by) the more basic modes of operation and representation endemic to the biological brain. The "cognitive bonus" that language brings is, on this model, not to be cashed out either via the ultimately mysterious notion of "thinking in a given natural language" or via some process of exhaustive translation into another inner code. Instead, we should try to think in terms of a kind of coordination dynamics in which the forms and structures of a language qua material symbol system play a key and irreducible role. Understanding language as a complementary cognitive resource is, I argue, an important part of the much larger project (sometimes glossed in terms of the "extended mind") of understanding human cognition as essentially and multiply hybrid: as involving a complex interplay between internal biological resources and external non-biological resources.


An important unresolved challenge in the theory of regularization is to set the regularization coefficients of popular techniques like the ElasticNet with general provable guarantees. We consider the problem of tuning the regularization parameters of Ridge regression, LASSO, and the ElasticNet across multiple problem instances, a setting that encompasses both cross-validation and multi-task hyperparameter optimization. We obtain a novel structural result for the ElasticNet which characterizes the loss as a function of the tuning parameters as a piecewise-rational function with algebraic boundaries. We use this to bound the structural complexity of the regularized loss functions and show generalization guarantees for tuning the ElasticNet regression coefficients in the statistical setting. We also consider the more challenging online learning setting, where we show vanishing average expected regret relative to the optimal parameter pair. We further extend our results to tuning classification algorithms obtained by thresholding regression fits regularized by Ridge, LASSO, or ElasticNet. Our results are the first general learning-theoretic guarantees for this important class of problems that avoid strong assumptions on the data distribution. Furthermore, our guarantees hold for both validation and popular information criterion objectives.


Pronunciation by analogy (PbA) is a data-driven method for relating letters to sound, with potential application to next-generation text-to-speech systems. This paper extends previous work on PbA in several directions. First, we have included full pattern matching between input letter string and dictionary entries, as well as including lexical stress in letter-to-phoneme conversion. Second, we have extended the method to phoneme-to-letter conversion. Third, and most important, we have experimented with multiple, different strategies for scoring the candidate pronunciations. Individual scores for each strategy are obtained on the basis of rank and either multiplied or summed to produce a final, overall score. Five strategies have been studied and results obtained from all 31 possible combinations. The two combination methods perform comparably, with the product rule only very marginally superior to the sum rule. Nonparametric statistical analysis reveals that performance improves as more strategies are included in the combination: this trend is very highly significant (p < 0:0005). Accordingly for letter-to-phoneme conversion, best results are obtained when all five strategies are combined: word accuracy is raised to 65.5 relative to 61.7 for our best previous result and 63.0 for the best-performing single strategy. These improvements are very highly significant (p 0 and p < 0:00011 respectively). Similar results were found for phoneme-to-letter and letter-to-stress conversion, although the former was an easier problem for PbA than letter-to-phoneme conversion and the latter was harder. The main sources of error for the multistrategy approach are very similar to those for the best single strategy, and mostly involve vowel letters and phonemes.


Multiple key agreement (MKA) protocols allow two parties to generate two or more session keys in one session, which will be used for future secure communications in public network. In recent years, many MKA protocols have been proposed. However, most of them do not consider ephemeral key compromise resilience, and some of them still exists security flaws. In this paper, we analyze the scheme proposed by Dehkordi and Alimoradi in 2011, which is announced with stronger security. We will present ephemeral key compromise attack and impersonation attack against Dehkordi and Alimoradi's protocol. For overcoming these security flaws, we also propose an improvement of Dehkordi and Alimoradi's protocol.


Abstract The European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is a widely distributed and serious economic pest to corn production in the U.S. Genetic variability of O. nubilalis was studied in 18 sub-populations in the upper Midwestern United States using amplified fragment length polymorphism. The relatively low GST values indicate that more variation exists within populations than between populations. High gene flow (Nm) values were indicated across the entire O. nubilalis population; the lowest degree of gene flow was in the northern samples (Nm = 1.96) and the highest degree of gene flow was in the southern samples (Nm = 2.77). The differences observed in the respective regions (north vs. south) may be explained by the voltinism patterns (univoltine vs. multivoltine, respectively) of O. nubilalis: southern multivoltine populations have opportunities for multiple matings for the duration of the year, further mix alleles. AMOVA results also indicated that most of the genetic variation was within sub-populations (≈ 81% of total variation); less variation (≈ 13%) was detected among populations within each of the three regions as designated for this study. However, the most striking and unexpected result was the low percentage of variation between all groups (≈ 6%), further supporting implications of a high degree of gene flow. These results provide support for current requirements of refugia corn planting in Bt-corn management. These results also indicate that if resistance to Bt were to evolve in O. nubilalis, quick action would be necessary to deter the rapid spread of the gene for resistance.


This book provides an exposition of function field arithmetic with emphasis on recent developments concerning Drinfeld modules, the arithmetic of special values of transcendental functions (such as zeta and gamma functions and their interpolations), diophantine approximation and related interesting open problems. While it covers many topics treated in 'Basic Structures of Function Field Arithmetic' by David Goss, it complements that book with the inclusion of recent developments as well as the treatment of new topics such as diophantine approximation, hypergeometric functions, modular forms, transcendence, automata and solitons. There is also new work on multizeta values and logalgebraicity. The author has included numerous worked-out examples. Many open problems, which can serve as good thesis problems, are discussed.


It is likely that a significant number of cases of THL will continue to be misdiagnosed unless appropriate cytochemical and immunologic markers are incorporated into the panel of studies performed at diagnosis. The clinical findings are nonspecific. With the possible exception of skin infiltration, the frequency of symptoms and signs appear to approximate those of intermediate grade lymphomas. Most commonly, it is the histopathological features that suggest the histiocytic nature of a malignant process, but these alone are not sufficient to secure the diagnosis. Thus, in the absence of a clearly defined lymphoid origin, it is the detection of specific histiocytic markers that establishes a lymphoma as THL. Only the recognition and careful study of additional cases will potentially enable clinical investigators to identify any unique characteristics and distinguish this disease from other lymphomas. For the present, it would appear that the treatment indicated for a patient with diffuse large cell lymphoma would also be appropriate for a comparable patient with THL. Although long-term disease-free survival in THL is possible, there are presently inadequate data to estimate curability.


Many studies have emphasized the beneficial effect of niobium on the physical metallurgy of Ni-Cr-Fe alloy 718. Among the different strengthening actions of niobium, such as solid solution hardening and carbide precipitation, the precipitation of niobium with nickel in a strengthening phase γ" (Ni3Nb) during the aging heat treatment has the largest influence on the mechanical properties of alloy 718. The improvement of the niobium distribution and diffusion in the Ni-matrix may allow a more homogenized repartition of γ" precipitates and seems then to be an effective way to upgrade the mechanical properties. As γ" precipitates decompose to the stable δ phase at very long aging times, the study of the effect of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen concentrations on precipitation and dissolution of the δ phase may give information on γ" precipitation and on niobium distribution. It is the purpose of the present work to examine the role that the alloy content of interstitial species plays with the niobium-rich δ phase evolution in alloy 718. Alloy 718 samples were heat treated under hydrogenated argon at 980°C for 0 to 96 hours in order to gradually curb the content of interstitial species by reaction with the reducing atmosphere. Chemical analyses realized by glow discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS) confirmed the reduction of the concentration of these species. Specimens were solution-treated for 1h at 1050°C in an inert atmosphere and furnace cooled. Some of the samples were then aged at 920°C for times ranging from 10 min to 1 hour. The precipitation was measured quantitatively in terms of volume fraction and the morphology of the precipitates was appreciated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The differences in the precipitation kinetics and in the microstructure evolution for each interstitial concentration are then discussed.


A frank and honest memoir by Britain's former ambassador to Kabul which provides a unique, high-level insight into Western policy in Afghanistan. For three years, from 2007 until 2010, Sherard Cowper-Coles was on the diplomatic frontline in Kabul as the West's mission in Afghanistan sank deeper into crisis. First as British Ambassador and, later, as the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative, he witnessed at first hand a struggle that by the time he left was swallowing billions of pounds of taxpayers' money a year, and had already cost the lives of more than 2,000 coalition troops, including nearly 350 British soldiers, as well as tens of thousands of Afghans, in and out of uniform. In Cables from Kabul he offers a ringside seat in this unfolding drama in a high-octane narrative that transports the reader from the backstreets of Kabul and fly-blown villages of the Helmand Valley to the corridors of power in London and Washington. Packed with colourful portraits of major political and diplomatic players such as President Karzai and the US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, the book gives a rich flavour of embassy life in one of the most dangerous places on earth. With his unique, high-level insight into the West's policy in Afghanistan, Cowper-Coles raises fundamental questions about the viability of the whole Afghanistan project, even after the death of bin Laden. While paying fulsome tribute to the bravery of our soldiers and the tactical success they are undoubtedly achieving at a local level, he asks whether this will be enough to secure within three years the wider strategic goal of stabilising Afghanistan to the point where the Afghan authorities can govern the country without outside intervention. As Our Man in Kabul, nobody is better placed to tell this story. Powerful, witty and astonishingly frank, Cables from Kabul explains how we got into the quagmire of Afghanistan, and how we can get out of it.


This study aimed to assess the acute effects of Peppermint and Chamomile herbal teas on cognitive performance and mood in healthy young adults. A single factor independent groups design was employed. One hundred and eighty undergraduate students volunteered to take part in the study for which they received course credit. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three treatments: Peppermint tea, Chamomile tea or hot water (Control). Mood scales were completed and participants then consumed their drink over a ten minute period and rested for twenty minutes. Cognitive performance was assessed using a tailored version of The Cognitive Drug Research (CDR) computerised assessment system. Post testing mood scales were then completed. Data were analysed using independent groups ANOVAs followed by Tukey post hoc comparisons. The analysis revealed that Peppermint tea significantly improved long term memory and speed of memory compared to both Chamomile and control treatments. Chamomile tea significantly slowed speed of attention and impaired working memory compared to the Peppermint treatment. Peppermint tea significantly increased subjective alertness compared to the Chamomile and control conditions. Chamomile significantly increased subjective calmness compared to the Peppermint treatment. The data show that acute consumption of Peppermint and Chamomile teas can impact on cognition and mood in healthy adults in contrasting directions. The enhancing and arousing effects of Peppermint and calming/sedative effects of Chamomile observed are in keeping with the purported properties of these herbs and suggest beneficial effects can be drawn from their use.


Abstract. Flux towers measure ecosystem-scale surface–atmosphere exchanges of energy, carbon dioxide and water vapour. The network of flux towers now encompasses ∼ 900 sites, spread across every continent. Consequently, these data have become an essential benchmarking tool for land surface models (LSMs). However, these data as released are not immediately usable for driving, evaluating and benchmarking LSMs. Flux tower data must first be transformed into a LSM-readable file format, a process which involves changing units, screening missing data and varying degrees of additional gap-filling. All of this often leads to an under-utilisation of these data in model benchmarking. To resolve some of these issues, and to help make flux tower measurements more widely used, we present a reproducible, open-source R package that transforms the FLUXNET2015 and La Thuile data releases into community standard NetCDF files that are directly usable by LSMs. We note that these data would also be useful for any other user or community seeking to independently quality control, gap-fill or use the FLUXNET data.


The practice of taking a photo every day and sharing it online has increased in popularity across social media and image-sharing websites. This paper explores the potential well-being benefits of participating in this practice, examining the different social and creative ways in which participants use it. We interviewed sixteen people who currently participate in photo-a-day projects, and identified with the concept that participation in these projects had positive wellbeing benefits. Data were analysed using a grounded and iterative approach. Analysis focused on how participants derived well-being benefits in photo-a-day projects. Photo-a-day projects enabled participants to look differently at the world. There was something satisfying to participants about noticing the world around them more, perhaps giving a sense of being more alive because they were more aware. The negative impacts on well-being mainly centred around the rules and constraints of the projects, including feeling obliged to respond to comments. Nevertheless, photoa-day projects gave a sense of agency and choice, focused around a pleasant goal. Sharing photos could enhance social connections and lead to new relationships. The structure of taking one photo every day encouraged reminiscence, looking back on positive experiences and negative experiences overcome.


To mitigate the effects of a new roadway through sensitive forests and wetlands of the South March Highlands in Ottawa, a series of four wildlife‐only culverts were installed along with another six hydraulic culverts carrying watercourses. Terry Fox Drive is a four‐lane arterial road that fragments wildlife habitat and created a physical barrier to existing wildlife movements between habitats. Several species of mammals, reptiles and amphibians, along with a local population of Blanding's turtle, an endangered species, was at risk of increased road mortality from traffic. The Wildlife Guide System (WGS) integrates ten long box culverts (1.2 m X 1.8 m X ~50 m), three 0.60 m square catch‐basin 'skylights' in each, 907 m of 0.80 m high armour‐stone guide walls and 1.2 m high containment fencing throughout the 2.1 km forested section. Guide walls and fencing included 40 cm overhangs slanted towards the habitat to avoid turtles from scaling the barrier. Galvanized, welded wire fencing fabric with 50 mm X 100 mm openings was used on 75 mm diameter steel posts. A level railway crossing remains the only gap in the WGS where animals can access the road. Camera traps were used over a three year study period, immediately following construction, to determine if local wildlife was using the WGS. Road mortality was assessed on Terry Fox Drive and five other nearby roads. Over the three‐year period, culverts were monitored for 42,799 hours and a total of 6,033 animals were observed representing 24 species. Frogs, raccoons and rabbits were the most common users, but also fisher, porcupine, skunk, long‐tailed weasel, turtles and coyote were observed. Ten Blanding's turtles passed through the culverts, two in 2011 and eight in 2013. Over the same period however, two Blanding's turtles were killed by vehicles at the level railway crossing and two near unmaintained sections of the fencing. Over all species, of the ~70 road kills reported, about 1/3 were on Terry Fox Drive near the level crossing. The results suggest that the WGS, at a cost of $958K effectively mitigate road impacts on wildlife and is useful as a mitigation tool for reducing impacts to slow‐moving animals like Blanding's turtle. We have learned that the armour stone walls degrade quickly (partly due to theft) and may be unsustainable in an urban setting. Shorter, poured concrete walls would perform better, for longer periods, be safer, and the fencing would be easier to be tied in. The fencing design was good, but requires maintenance to ensure holes and damages are repaired. Cutting grass behind the fence on slopes is problematic for the maintenance crew. The addition of skylights was an inexpensive addition that although untested, appears to be effective at reducing the 'tunnel effect' that effect animal movements.


The relative rates of biodegradation and stripping and volatilization of nonspeciated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in wastewater treated with aerobic activated‐sludge processes can be quantified using a newly developed procedure. This method was adapted from the original aerated draft tube reactor test that was developed to measure biodegradation rate constants for specific volatile pollutants of interest. The original batch test has been modified to include solid‐phase microextraction(SPME) fibers for sampling in the gas phase. The experimental procedure using SPME fibers does not require specific identification and quantitation of individual pollutants and can be used to evaluate wastewater with multiple VOCs. To illustrate use of this procedure, laboratory experiments were conducted using biomass and wastewater or effluent from three activated‐sludge treatment systems. Each experiment consisted of two trials: a stripping‐only trial without biomass and a stripping plus biodegradation trial using biomass from the activated‐sludge unit of interest. Data from the two trials were used to quantify the rates of biodegradation by difference. The activated‐sludge systems tested were a laboratory diffused‐air reactor treating refinery wastewater, a full‐scale surface aerated reactor treating a petrochemical wastewater, and a full‐scale diffused‐air reactor treating a variety of industrial effluents. The biodegradation rate constant data from each laboratory batch experiment were used in model calculations to quantify the fraction emitted (fe) and the fraction biodegraded (fbio) for each system. The fe values ranged from a maximum of 0.01 to a maximum of 0.32, whereas fbio values ranged from a minimum of 0.40 to a minimum 0.95. Two of these systems had been previously tested using a more complicated experimental approach, and the current results were in good agreement with previous results. These results indicate that biodegradation rate constant data from this laboratory method can be successfully used to predict the fate of VOCs in field‐scale treatment units, and thus could potentially be used for demonstration of compliance with wastewater VOC emission regulations.


Bayesian nonparametric mixture models based on the Dirichlet process (DP) have been widely used for solving problems like clustering, density estimation and topic modelling. These models make weak assumptions about the underlying process that generated the observed data. Thus, when more data are collected, the complexity of these models can change accordingly. These theoretical properties often lead to superior predictive performance when compared to traditional finite mixture models. However, despite the increasing amount of data available, the application of Bayesian nonparametric mixture models is so far limited to relatively small data sets.

In this paper, we propose an efficient distributed inference algorithm for the DP and the HDP mixture model. The proposed method is based on a variant of the slice sampler for DPs. Since this sampler does not involve a pre-determined truncation, the stationary distribution of the sampling algorithm is unbiased. We provide both local thread-level and distributed machine-level parallel implementations and study the performance of this sampler through an extensive set of experiments on image and text data. When compared to existing inference algorithms, the proposed method exhibits state-of-the-art accuracy and strong scalability with up to 512 cores.


Summary Background Early development of cardiac hypertrophy may be beneficial but sustained hypertrophic activation leads to myocardial dysfunction. Regulation of the repolarizing currents can be modulated by the activation of humoral factors, such as angiotensin II (ANG II) through protein kinases. The aim of this work is to assess the regulation of IK and IK1 by ANG II through the PI3-K pathway in hypertrophied ventricular myocytes. Material/Methods Cardiac eccentric hypertrophy was induced through volume-overload in adult male rats by aorto-caval shunt (3 weeks). After one week half of the rats were given captopril (2 weeks; 0.5 g/l/day) and the other half served as control. The voltage-clamp and western blot techniques were used to measure the delayed outward rectifier potassium current (IK) and the instantaneous inward rectifier potassium current (IK1) and Akt activity, respectively. Results Hypertrophied cardiomyocytes showed reduction in IK and IK1. Treatment with captopril alleviated this difference seen between sham and shunt cardiomyocytes. Acute administration of ANG II (10−6M) to cardiocytes treated with captopril reduced IK and IK1 in shunts, but not in sham. Captopril treatment reversed ANG II effects on IK and IK1 in a PI3-K-independent manner. However in the absence of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition, ANG II increased both IK and IK1 in a PI3-K-dependent manner in hypertrophied cardiomyocytes. Conclusions Thus, captopril treatment reveals a negative effect of ANG II on IK and IK1, which is PI3-K independent, whereas in the absence of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition IK and IK1 regulation is dependent upon PI3-K.


Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) regulate various biological functions and are involved in a variety of diseases. Eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5, EPA), one of the omega-3 PUFA, has been reported a number of actions including suppression of platelet aggregability and decrease in serum lipids and is well known to be useful in preventing the atherosclerotic diseases. In this paper, we demonstrated that highly purified ethyl eicosapentaenoate (EPA-E) prevents cholesterol (CH) gallstone formation in hamster model. Repeated administration of EPA-E to animals fed a lithogenic diet for 6 weeks decreased the incidences of both CH crystal and CH gallstone formations in gallbladder bile. Contrary, bezafibrate, one of fibric acid derivative which were reported to increase CH saturation index (CSI) in bile, significantly increased the incidences of CH crystal and gallstone formations. EPA-E did not affect the CSI, but markedly increased biliary phospholipid concentration. In the same model, ethyl palmitate (16:0), ethyl oleate (18:1), ethyl linolate (18:2, omega-6) and ethyl arachidonate (20:4, omega-6) had no effects both on biliary lipids composition and CH gallstone formation. These result suggest the benefit of EPA-E in the prevention of CH gallstone.


The previous decade has witnessed a surprising number of states move to legalize cannabis for both medical and recreational use. This movement has caused controversy regarding the uncertainty of the effect of legalization on criminal activity. While few empirical studies have shed light on recent legalization and crime, economic theory suggests that a reduction in prohibitions ought not to cause an increase in criminal activity. This study examines the effect of the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado on crime rates among all individuals as well as those 21 years of age and under using a synthetic control method to construct a counterfactual state of Colorado. The results indicate that crime increases in all categories in Colorado, with an especially significant increase in property crime committed by adults.


The early twenty-first century has witnessed a boom in oil and natural gas production that promises to turn the United States into a new form of petrostate. This boom raises various questions that scholars have begun to explore, including questions of risk governance, federalism, and export policy. Relatively neglected, however, have been questions of why the technological revolution behind the boom occurred and what this revolution teaches about innovation theory and policy. The boom in U.S. shale gas production reflected long-gestating infrastructure developments, a convergence of technological advances, government-sponsored research and development, the presence or absence of intellectual property rights, rights in tangible assets such as land and minerals, and tax and regulatory relief. Consequently, the story behind the boom reaches far beyond the risk-taking and persistence of George Mitchell, whose independent production company achieved pioneering success with hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") in Texas' Barnett Shale. Indeed, the broader story demonstrates how a blend of distinct policy levers, reasonably adjusted over time, can combine to foster a diverse innovation ecosystem that provides a robust platform for game-changing innovation. As exemplified by this story, the centrality of other policy levers can mean that patents play only a modest role even in spurring technological development by profit-driven private players. Finally, the Article demonstrates how. Such lessons can helpfully inform efforts either to extend the United States' "fracking revolution" abroad or to develop other potentially revolutionary technologies such as those associated with renewable energy. Lessons drawn from this case study include "negative lessons" about the possibility and even likelihood of downsides of a technological boom or the policies used to promote it — for example, environmental damage that more careful regulation of a developing technology such as fracking might have avoided. Anticipatory and continuing attention to such potential downsides can help prevent innovation-promoting policies from becoming "sticky" in a way that undercuts innovation's promise and popular appeal.


Abstract Wheat grain dormancy is a multigenic trait controlled both by R genes conferring red testa pigmentation and by other genes, at least one of which has a major effect in the embryo. Enhanced grain dormancy and red test colour are inherited as pleiotropic effects of dominant R alleles at triplicate loci in hexaploid wheat. However, polymorphism for R genes cannot account for the wide variation in dormancy observed among different redgrained varieties. A variety of different dominant R alleles all have equivalent effects on dormancy when introgressed into white-grained wheats, although the latter vary in dormancy both in the absence and in the presence of dominant R alleles. As a result, certain redgrained genotypes can exhibit intermediate dormancy, similar to that of some white-grained genotypes with different genetic backgrounds. A new major gene (Phs) was identified as controlling the difference between two red-grained cultivars with widely different dormancies. The Phs gene appeared to exert its effect in the embryo of the grain, in contrast to R gene expression in maternal testa tissue. Discrete genetic functions thus underlie physiologically distinct mechanisms of coatimposed dormancy and embryo-imposed dormancy in wheat


The aim of this research was to describe training and racing patterns, and causes of wastage in New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorses. Two separate studies were performed. The first involved analysis of data from before and after construction of a new training track at the Matamata Racing Club. Comparisons of measures of performance failed to detect any adverse impact that could be attributed to the new track. The second involved a longitudinal study over a 34-month period, and that involved 1,571 horses. Duration of training preparations and spell periods were associated with horse age, and with the reason for ending a training preparation. Most horses began a training preparation doing slow work and then progressively advanced to a first start. Incidence rates were estimated for starts per 100 training-days, and other summary measures were estimated including training-days to first start, and between successive starts. A total of 834 musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) were observed, resulting in either a spell period, retirement, or death of the horse. There were 165 respiratory disease events, and 58 conditions involving other body systems. Multivariate statistical models were used to explore risk factors for different types of MSI. Older horses were at higher risk of lower limb MSI, and injury to either the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) or suspensory apparatus (SA), while they were at lower risk of shin soreness and other conditions. Male horses had higher risk of tendon and ligament injury than females. Lower risk of injury was observed in Autumn and Winter months compared with December, and in the 1999-2000 year relative to 1997-1998. Measures of cumulative exercise intensity showed a complex relationship with risk of injury that varied with type of injury. The risk of SDFT and SA injury was higher for those preparations without starts, while that for shin soreness was increased after the first start. For lameness conditions other than shin soreness or injury to the SDFT, the hazard was increased after the first start in a preparation, but the magnitude of effect was dependent on the number of days from the beginning of a preparation to the first start.


Background and aim: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder and is the most commonly diagnosed one by gastroenterologists. In this study, we aim to explore the frequency of IBS among medical students in Qassim, and the factors associated with this disorder among them. Materials and methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among medical students of all academic levels in three local universities in Qassim region; Qassim University, Unizah as well as Alrajhi colleges of medicine. Data for the study were collected throughout the 1st semester of the academic year 2015-2016 using a validated, self-administered, and anonymous paper questionnaire. The questionnaire included three main sections: Demographics, Rome III criteria and hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS). Results: Among 511 students completed the study and of those 70 (13.7%) had IBS. Senior medical students are 3.61 times more likely to have IBS than juniors (p<0.001). Depression was significantly associated with IBS (p=0.042). Stepwise logistic regression showed that chronic health problems, more advanced academic level and personal history of IBS were significant predictors for IBS. Conclusion: The prevalence of IBS is 13.7% among medical students in Qassim region. Depression, age, living situation, advanced academic years, family or personal history, or an episode of travellers' diarrhoea were the main predictors of IBS. Offering psychological and emotional support along with stress management courses in order to deal with stress is recommended.


Human society has used freshwater from rivers, lakes, groundwater, and wetlands for many different urban, agricultural, and industrial activities, but in doing so has overlooked its value in supporting ecosystems. Freshwater is vital to human life and societal well-being, and thus its utilization for consumption, irrigation, and transport has long taken precedence over other commodities and services provided by freshwater ecosystems. However, there is growing recognition that functionally intact and biologically complex aquatic ecosystems provide many economically valuable services and long-term benefits to society. The short-term benefits include ecosystem goods and services, such as food supply, flood control, purification of human and industrial wastes, and habitat for plant and animal life—and these are costly, if not impossible, to replace. Long-term benefits include the sustained provision of those goods and services, as well as the adaptive capacity of aquatic ecosystems to respond to future environmental alterations, such as climate change. Thus, maintenance of the processes and properties that support freshwater ecosystem integrity should be included in debates over sustainable water resource allocation.

The purpose of this report is to explain how the integrity of freshwater ecosystems depends upon adequate quantity, quality, timing, and temporal variability of water flow. Defining these requirements in a comprehensive but general manner provides a better foundation for their inclusion in current and future debates about allocation of water resources. In this way the needs of freshwater ecosystems can be legitimately recognized and addressed. We also recommend ways in which freshwater ecosystems can be protected, maintained, and restored.

Freshwater ecosystem structure and function are tightly linked to the watershed or catchment of which they are a part. Because riverine networks, lakes, wetlands, and their connecting groundwaters, are literally the "sinks" into which landscapes drain, they are greatly influenced by terrestrial processes, including many human uses or modifications of land and water. Freshwater ecosystems, whether lakes, wetlands, or rivers, have specific requirements in terms of quantity, quality, and seasonality of their water supplies. Sustainability normally requires these systems to fluctuate within a natural range of variation. Flow regime, sediment and organic matter inputs, thermal and light characteristics, chemical and nutrient characteristics, and biotic assemblages are fundamental defining attributes of freshwater ecosystems. These attributes impart relatively unique characteristics of productivity and biodiversity to each ecosystem. The natural range of variation in each of these attributes is critical to maintaining the integrity and dynamic potential of aquatic ecosystems; therefore, management should allow for dynamic change. Piecemeal approaches cannot solve the problems confronting freshwater ecosystems.

Scientific definitions of the requirements to protect and maintain aquatic ecosystems are necessary but insufficient for establishing the appropriate distribution between societal and ecosystem water needs. For scientific knowledge to be implemented science must be connected to a political agenda for sustainable development. We offer these recommendations as a beginning to redress how water is viewed and managed in the United States: (1) Frame national and regional water management policies to explicitly incorporate freshwater ecosystem needs, particularly those related to naturally variable flow regimes and to the linking of water quality with water quantity; (2) Define water resources to include watersheds, so that freshwaters are viewed within a landscape, or systems context; (3) Increase communication and education across disciplines, especially among engineers, hydrologists, economists, and ecologists to facilitate an integrated view of freshwater resources; (4) Increase restoration efforts, using well-grounded ecological principles as guidelines; (5) Maintain and protect the remaining freshwater ecosystems that have high integrity; and (6) Recognize the dependence of human society on naturally functioning ecosystems.


Article history: Received 1 August 2011 Available online 10 August 2011 In competitive electricity markets, power needed for the network's reserve is purchased from the ancillary service market. In this market, producing units and buyers alike announce their offers. As will be seen, energy market and reserve market implementation is possible with simultaneous method and serial method by choosing each of the methods based on the type of market and other conditions. In this paper, the energy market and the active power reserve market are simulated in two formations as serial and simultaneous for a uniform pricing system. In each method, limitations of transferring power over the lines, based on available transfer capacity (ATC), is considered alongside the other constraints in the energy market and the active power reserve market. Then, during network overload, economic dispatch is accomplished between winner units in the reserve market by using a linear optimization problem, and needed power is provided from these units at a minimal cost. Finally, our proposed methods are implemented on an IEEE 39-bus test system and results are analyzed. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved


ABSTRACT Aim: Palbociclib, a selective oral inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6, is in phase 2 and 3 clinical trials across multiple oncology indications. Objectives of this analysis were to describe the population PK of palbociclib in cancer pts, identify significant covariates, and provide individual PK predictions. Methods: This analysis was based on pooled data from 183 pts treated with palbociclib isethionate salt capsules in 3 studies. Compartmental PK models were tested with food effect in the base model. Graphic inspection and stepwise covariate modeling were used to assess covariates of interest based on the metabolic mechanism, including demographic factors, laboratory test variables, and concomitant medications. The significant covariates included in the final model were evaluated for clinical importance by calculating the magnitude of effects on PK parameters. Diagnostic plots, visual predictive check (VPC), and standardized VPC were used for model evaluation. Results: Palbociclib PK was best described by a 2-compartment model with 1st order absorption. Population typical values were estimated to be 60.2 L/h for apparent oral clearance (CL/F) and 2710 L for volume of central compartment (V2/F) (inter-patient variability: CL/F, 36.2%; V2/F, 30.2%); the absorption rate constant and absorption lag time were estimated to be 0.367 1/h and 0.658 h, respectively. The relative bioavailability and absorption lag time of palbociclib were increased by 16.0% and 28.8%, respectively, when taken with a high-fat meal versus fasted conditions. Baseline body weight (BWT) and age were significant covariates on CL/F; BWT was a significant covariate on V2/F. However, they were not considered clinically important. Other tested covariates (liver enzymes, creatinine clearance, co-administration of acid-reducing agents) were not significant covariates on relevant PK parameters of palbociclib. Model evaluation showed no bias in model predictions. Conclusions: The population PK model of palbociclib was well defined. Results support the recommendation that no dose adjustment is necessary for age, BWT, sex, pts with mild or moderate renal impairment, or pts with mild hepatic impairment. Disclosure: W. Sun: Employment: Pfizer; D.D. Wang: Employment: Pfizer Stock ownership: Pfizer.


The studies in this dissertation investigated the processing and interpretation of coordinate sentences involving verb phrase (VP) anaphors by obtaining converging evidence from off-line measures sensitive to conscious preference and on-line measures sensitive to real-time processing. The studies in Chapters 2, 3, and 4 investigated the effects of anaphoric form by comparing sentences involving a null VP-anaphoric phrase (e.g. did too) with those involving an overt VP-anaphoric phrase (e.g. did it too). The results indicated that participants were highly accurate in comprehending both forms and interpret both forms similarly; nonetheless, anaphoric form did affect processing, suggesting a number of conclusions. First, in contexts where multiple anaphoric forms are grammatical and there is a single highly- accessible antecedent, comprehenders expected the least informative anaphoric form possible, as reflected in higher naturalness ratings for the null VP-anaphoric condition. Second, violations of this expectation elicited additional processing at the anaphor, as reflected in increased initial processing for the overt VP-anaphoric condition. Finally, variation in when the anaphoric relationship can be detected resulted in variation in processing, as reflected in a reversal pattern whereby the null VP-anaphoric condition was later associated with increased processing. Inspired by the natural linking between anaphora and parallelism, the study in Chapter 5 then investigated the processes underlying parallelism effects in coordinate sentences involving VP anaphors. This study used a cross-modal priming methodology to evaluate the activation of a verb from the first conjunct throughout the two conjuncts. The results indicated that activation related to the initial presentation of the verb decayed relatively quickly. Then, reactivation occurred immediately following a coordinating conjunction (i.e. and) and was sustained throughout the second conjunct. Since this reactivation renders the first conjunct highly- accessible, the results of this study suggested that effects related to parallelism and anaphoric form may be generated by similar underlying processes. By way of conclusion, the findings presented in this dissertation were interpreted in the context of a new model of the processing of coordinate sentences involving VP anaphors that highlights the interplay of prior experience and the immediate context in generating expectations that affect processing and interpretation


Lectures on Macroeconomics provides the first comprehensive description and evaluation of macroeconomic theory in many years. While the authors' perspective is broad, they clearly state their assessment of what is important and what is not as they present the essence of macroeconomic theory today. The main purpose of Lectures on Macroeconomics is to characterize and explain fluctuations in output, unemployment and movement in prices. The most important fact of modern economic history is persistent long term growth, but as the book makes clear, this growth is far from steady. The authors analyze and explore these fluctuations. Topics include consumption and investment; the Overlapping Generations Model; money; multiple equilibria, bubbles, and stability; the role of nominal rigidities; competitive equilibrium business cycles, nominal rigidities and economic fluctuations, goods, labor and credit markets; and monetary and fiscal policy issues. Each of chapters 2 through 9 discusses models appropriate to the topic. Chapter 10 then draws on the previous chapters, asks which models are the workhorses of macroeconomics, and sets the models out in convenient form. A concluding chapter analyzes the goals of economic policy, monetary policy, fiscal policy, and dynamic inconsistency. Written as a text for graduate students with some background in macroeconomics, statistics, and econometrics, Lectures on Macroeconomics also presents topics in a self contained way that makes it a suitable reference for professional economists.


BACKGROUND
Few studies have evaluated the potential influence of Helicobacter pylori on biomarkers for diabetes.

METHODS
We conducted cross-sectional analyses using data from 7417 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (aged ≥18 years) and 6072 participants in NHANES 1999-2000 (aged ≥3 years) to assess the association between H. pylori and levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c).

RESULTS
There was no association between H. pylori and history of self-reported diabetes. Helicobacter pylori seropositivity, especially H. pylori cagA positivity, was positively associated (P < .01, NHANES III; P = .02, NHANES 1999-2000) with HbA1c levels after excluding individuals with history of diabetes and controlling for potential confounders. There was also a synergistic interaction between H. pylori and higher body mass index (BMI), such that increased levels of HbA1c associated with having both H. pylori and higher BMI were greater than the sum of their individual effects (P for interaction < .01). This interaction was observed consistently in both NHANES III and NHANES 1999-2000 and for H. pylori cagA positivity in NHANES III.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings indicate a role of H. pylori in impaired glucose tolerance in adults that may be potentiated by higher BMI level.


Compressed sensing (CS) comprises a set of relatively new techniques that exploit the underlying structure of data sets allowing their reconstruction from compressed versions or incomplete information. CS reconstruction algorithms are essentially nonlinear, demanding heavy computation overhead and large storage memory, especially in the case of multidimensional signals. Excellent review papers discussing CS state‐of‐the‐art theory and algorithms already exist in the literature, which mostly consider data sets in vector forms. In this paper, we give an overview of existing techniques with special focus on the treatment of multidimensional signals (tensors). We discuss recent trends that exploit the natural multidimensional structure of signals (tensors) achieving simple and efficient CS algorithms. The Kronecker structure of dictionaries is emphasized and its equivalence to the Tucker tensor decomposition is exploited allowing us to use tensor tools and models for CS. Several examples based on real world multidimensional signals are presented, illustrating common problems in signal processing such as the recovery of signals from compressed measurements for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signals or for hyper‐spectral imaging, and the tensor completion problem (multidimensional inpainting). WIREs Data Mining Knowl Discov 2013, 3:355–380. doi: 10.1002/widm.1108