Although phylogenetic approaches are useful for providing insights into the processes underlying biodiversity patterns, the studies of microbial phylogenetic relatedness are rare, especially for elevational gradients. Using high-throughput pyrosequencing, we examined the biodiversity patterns for biofilm bacterial communities that were scraped from stream stones along an elevational gradient from 1820 to 4050 m in China. The patterns of bacterial species richness and phylogenetic diversity were hollow towards higher elevations. The bacterial communities consisted of closer relatives than expected and displayed increasing terminal phylogenetic clustering towards mountain top. The increasing phylogenetic clustering with elevation contrasts reports for macroorganisms that revealed phylogenetic overdispersion at low or intermediate elevations. Because water temperature showed the strongest correlation with phylogenetic relatedness (r(2)  = 0.516), the elevational pattern in the bacterial phylogenetic structure indicated that environmental filtering possibly due to lower temperature or more frequent temperature fluctuations increased towards higher elevations. Evidence supporting the environmental filtering on bacteria was also reflected by the orderly succession in the relative abundance of different bacterial phyla along the elevational gradient and in the high evenness of bacterial taxa at higher elevations. Overall, our results indicated that ecological processes possibly related to temperature may play a dominant role in structuring bacterial biodiversity along the elevational gradient.


In order to study whether bisphenol A (BPA) can pass into drinking water from polycarbonate barrel and exist in the river and industrial effluent the indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the determination of BPA was established. The results presented an inhibition concentration at 50% absorbance (IC50) of 0.123 mg L -1 , and the limit of detection (LOD) is 9.934 μg L -1 . The specificity of antiserum was proved well because the cross-reactivity with benzene, tert-butylbenzene, hydroquinone and o-hydroxybenzoic acid were found lower than 0.0 1 %, except phenol was 0.2 6 %. The method was found to be reliable and repeatable. It was used for monitoring the concentration of B PA in the barreled drinking water. The results confirmed BPA can pass into barreled drinking water from the polycarbonate barrel and concentration increased as days went on. A certain content of BPA was found in industrial effluent. The results of ELISA were consistent with the results of UV spectrophotometry. BPA could not be found in the water samples obtained from Zhujiang River. The established method shows specific recognition of BPA and could be applied in detection of environmental BPA.


We consider multi-solution optimization and generative models for the generation of diverse artifacts and the discovery of novel solutions. In cases where the domain's factors of variation are unknown or too complex to encode manually, generative models can provide a learned latent space to approximate these factors. When used as a search space, however, the range and diversity of possible outputs are limited to the expressivity and generative capabilities of the learned model. We compare the output diversity of a quality diversity evolutionary search performed in two different search spaces: 1) a predefined parameterized space and 2) the latent space of a variational autoencoder model. We find that the search on an explicit parametric encoding creates more diverse artifact sets than searching the latent space. A learned model is better at interpolating between known data points than at extrapolating or expanding towards unseen examples. We recommend using a generative model's latent space primarily to measure similarity between artifacts rather than for search and generation. Whenever a parametric encoding is obtainable, it should be preferred over a learned representation as it produces a higher diversity of solutions.


Global interest in enhancing accountability and community participation has led many governments to engage socio-spatially marginalised populations left behind by urban development. This article examines an emergent example of these efforts: Ghana's Ministry of Inner City and Zongo Development (MICZD). The MICZD's objective is to improve the social and infrastructural development of zongos, or 'stranger's quarters', which have historically housed Hausa migrants and are associated with slum-like conditions. The study draws on 38 interviews with government stakeholders, community organisations and local leaders as well as on four focus groups with zongo residents. The results reveal four key findings. First, the MICZD's engagement with zongos is perceived as politically motivated, with this viewed negatively by some and positively by others. Second, the MICZD's timeline is perceived differently depending on who is being asked. Third, respondents differ in their prioritisation of physical versus social improvements, with the MICZD focussing on physical interventions and zongo residents focussing on social and economic development. Finally, different groups have varied visions of success for the MICZD. The article concludes by identifying two paths towards more empowering state–society engagement—more continuous engagement and counterbalancing powers—and proposes how lessons from the MICZD can inform engagement with marginalised populations more broadly.


The core restraints of advanced gas-cooled reactors are important structural components that are required to maintain the geometric integrity of the cores. A review of neutron dosimetry for the sister stations Hunterston B and Hinkley Point B identified that earlier conservative assessments predicted high thermal neutron dose rates to key components of the restraint structure (the restraint rod welds), with the implication that some of them may be predicted to fail during a seismic event. A revised assessment was therefore undertaken [Thornton, D. A., Allen, D. A., Tyrrell, R. J., Meese, T. C., Huggon, A.P., Whiley, G. S., and Mossop, J. R., 'A Dosimetry Assessment for the Core Restraint of an Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor,' Proceedings of the 13. International Symposium on Reactor Dosimetry (ISRD-13, May 2008), World Scientific, River Edge, NJ, 2009, W. Voorbraak, L. Debarberis, and P. D'hondt, Eds., pp. 679-687] using a detailed 3D model and a Monte Carlo radiation transport program, MCBEND. This reassessment resulted in more realistic fast and thermal neutron dose recommendations, the latter in particular being much lower than had been thought previously. It is now desirable to improve confidence in these predictions by providing direct validation of the MCBEND model through themore » use of neutron flux measurements. This paper describes the programme of work being undertaken to deploy two neutron flux measurement 'stringers' within the side-core region of one of the Hunterston B reactors for the purpose of validating the MCBEND model. The design of the stringers and the determination of the preferred deployment locations have been informed by the use of detailed MCBEND flux calculations. These computational studies represent a rare opportunity to design a flux measurement beforehand, with the clear intention of minimising the anticipated uncertainties and obtaining measurements that are known to be representative of the neutron fields to which the vulnerable steel restraint components are exposed. (authors)« less


The radical polymerization of acetylene-bearing acrylates to linear clickable polymers represents a synthetic challenge because acetylenes are too reactive to avoid chain branching or cross-linking. Herein, we report a methodology for the synthesis of acetylene-functionalized clickable polymers via conventional free radical polymerization of a novel acrylate bearing tertiary acetylene, 1-ethynylcyclohexyl acrylate (ECA). This methodology allows the acetylene-functionalized polymers to be prepared by conventional free radical polymerizations without the need to protect the acetylene group before polymerization and without the help of an ATRP/RAFT agent. The characteristics of ECA in free radical polymerization and copolymerization including bulk polymerization and conventional solution polymerization at varied concentrations and reaction times were studied. High molecular weight acetylene-functionalized polymers were prepared and were characterized by SEC, 1H-NMR, FTIR and DSC. When ECA was coploymerized with methyl acrylate, as the feed ratio of ECA increased, the rate of the polymerization reaction and the molecular weight of the copolymer decreased while the molecular weight distribution (PDI) slightly increased. The glass transition temperature of PECA was found to be 110 °C by DSC. The acetylene-decorated polymer chains are thermally cross-linkable and photochemically thiol–yne clickable.


Aim: This study aims to develop web-based and user-friendly DTROC software in which clinicians and researchers can perform twoand three-dimensional receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses and calculate diagnostic test performance metrics. Materials and Methods: An illustrative example was presented to implement twoand three-dimensional ROC analyses in medicine. As a case study, three-dimensional ROC analysis in DTROC was applied to the ktemp variable (measurements on the neuropsychometric test for "temporal factor") in the open-access data set named "AL" (Alzheimer's disease neuropsychometric marker dataset). DTROC web-based software was developed using "plotly", "pROC", "dplyr", "shiny", "shinydashboard", "rhandsontable", "shinyBS", "DT", "epiR", "DiagTest3Grp", and "the "shiny" libraries. Results: The developed web-based DTROC software allows clinicians and researchers to analyze two and three-dimensional ROC analyzes, ROC curve comparisons, optimum cut-off calculations, required sample size estimation for diagnosis, and calculate metrics for two/more than two-class diagnostic tests without any programming language knowledge or theoretical background about the analyzes mentioned above. When the results for the ktemp variable in the AL data set used in practice were examined, the volume under the surface was found to be 0.77. According to the application results in DTROC Three-dimensional ROC analysis, it can be said that the ktemp variable has a distinguishing feature in detecting AL. Conclusion: All the comprehensive features of DTROC can be accessed free of charge through a graphical user interface that makes the analysis process very easy for users and automates the analysis process. With all these features, DTROC provides much more comprehensive features and various applications than commercial and free software to achieve two/three-dimensional ROC analyses and calculate diagnostic test metrics for two / more classes.


This paper deals with the genitive case in Russian as present within the NP and the VP. We argue that although semantic factors sometimes condition genitive marking, the Russian genitive is not sensitive to the thematic properties of the head and is therefore closer to the structural cases, assigned on purely configurational grounds. From a semantic point of view, the genitive is often related to quantification, indefiniteness, partitivity and decreased referentiality. The common denominator for all types of genitive studied in this paper appears to be the fact that the nominal in the genitive denotes a property rather than an entity and can be analyzed as an N rather than an NP or a DP.


This joint Bell and Boeing project was established in 1982 in response to the Joint Services Advanced Vertical Lift Program covering a wide performance envelope and multiple tasks. The answer came in the form of the V-22 tilt-rotor, a concept tested earlier by Bell with their 1977 XV-15. The transport aircraft style fuselage of the V-22, able to carry 24 troops, is topped by a wing with a complex flap/aileron system and two swivelling pods housing Rolls-Royce turboshaft engines, each driving enormous three-bladed prop-rotors. The XV-22A prototype first flew on 19 March 1989 and was followed by nine further prototype and development aircraft. The intention was that the USAF would receive the CV-22B for special missions work, the US Marine Corps the MV-22B assault transports and the US Navy the HV-22B CSAR/fleet logistics version, but the technologically challenging program has been set back by fatal accidents and an eighteen month grounding while flight safety issues were addressed. However, it is set to recommence a restricted development program with the intention that the production aircraft will begin to be delivered at the end of 2003 and gain initial operating capability by 2005 making the timing of this comprehensive new book on the aircraft, most apposite.


This documentary gives a graphic and challenging insight into the thinking of a schizophrenic mind. But whose story is it, producer Laura Starecheski's or mental inpatient Issa Ibrahim's? The process of recording a documentary over such a long period of time (ten years) is tough and always difficult to negotiate. What starts out as a journalistic exercise becomes something very different as your relationship develops over time with the people you are recording. Here, it's the narrator who drives the story on, weaving in and out of the interviews and actuality, and it's the strength of the writing that compels the listener to stay with the program or tune out, working in much the same way as a good print feature article. Although the storytelling is strong, there were times when I thought the program could have adopted a less conventional approach to the journalism and the telling of the story. We hear very little interaction between Issa and the journalist, or the journalist and the other interviewees. A stronger aural depiction of the hospital could have added to the listener's understanding of the space itself and Issa's feelings of confinement and isolation, as well as his interactions with hospital staff. The fast-paced intercutting between narration and interview, the 'call/ response' crafting technique, while extremely skillful in this work, creates a rhythm that gives less space for the listener's reflections on what they're hearing. That said, atmospheric music is used extensively in the program and is sensitive and well crafted – adding to both texture and emotional feel. At its heart this is not only a documentary about Issa, his mental illness and his struggle to be released from Creedmoor: its broader story is about the madness of the mental health system, and how it responds to non-compliance. The Hospital Always Wins (53'05") was made for the US public radio show 'State of the Re:Union' (2013). Listed by Harvard University's Nieman's Storyboard as one of the best audio narratives of 2013 in the United States, it is a testament to allowing a story to develop over time, and to the endurance and commitment of producer Laura Starecheski. Reviewer Sharon Davis is an award-winning Australian radio documentary producer and journalist whose body of work spans more than 30 years. She is well-known for her ability to combine the rigour of investigative journalism with the eloquence of fine radio feature making, including observational storytelling. Her features have been broadcast around the world.


This book provides a self-contained introduction to the simulation of flow and transport in porous media, written by a developer of numerical methods. The reader will learn how to implement reservoir simulation models and computational algorithms in a robust and efficient manner. The book contains a large number of numerical examples, all fully equipped with online code and data, allowing the reader to reproduce results, and use them as a starting point for their own work. All of the examples in the book are based on the MATLAB Reservoir Simulation Toolbox (MRST), an open-source toolbox popular popularity in both academic institutions and the petroleum industry. The book can also be seen as a user guide to the MRST software. It will prove invaluable for researchers, professionals and advanced students using reservoir simulation methods.


There is a new theory of information based on logic. The definition of Shannon entropy as well as the notions on joint, conditional and mutual entropy as defined by Shannon can all be derived by a uniform transformation from the corresponding formulas of logical information theory. Information is first defined in terms of sets of distinctions without using any probability measure. When a probability measure is introduced, the logical entropies are simply the values of the (product) probability measure on the sets of distinctions. The compound notions of joint, conditional and mutual entropies are obtained as the values of the measure, respectively, on the union, difference and intersection of the sets of distinctions. These compound notions of logical entropy satisfy the usual Venn diagram relationships (e.g. inclusion–exclusion formulas) since they are values of a measure (in the sense of measure theory). The uniform transformation into the formulas for Shannon entropy is linear so it explains the long-noted fact that the Shannon formulas satisfy the Venn diagram relations—as an analogy or mnemonic—since Shannon entropy is not a measure (in the sense of measure theory) on a given set. What is the logic that gives rise to logical information theory? Partitions are dual (in a category-theoretic sense) to subsets, and the logic of partitions was recently developed in a dual/parallel relationship to the Boolean logic of subsets (the latter being usually misspecified as the special case of 'propositional logic'). Boole developed logical probability theory as the normalized counting measure on subsets. Similarly the normalized counting measure on partitions is logical entropy—when the partitions are represented as the set of distinctions that is the complement to the equivalence relation for the partition. In this manner, logical information theory provides the set-theoretic and measure-theoretic foundations for information theory. The Shannon theory is then derived by the transformation that replaces the counting of distinctions with the counting of the number of binary partitions (bits) it takes, on average, to make the same distinctions by uniquely encoding the distinct elements—which is why the Shannon theory perfectly dovetails into coding and communications theory.


Embedded systems with stringent computing and low power consumption needs within a restricted amount of computing resources may have, on top of this, the need of adapting to different conditions. Many systems may benefit from self-adaptation at run-time. This autonomous adaptation may be originated from different needs: changes in the mission of the embedded control system, changes in the environment, or changes in the control system itself (including faults and how to self-recover from them). In this talk, a review of different techniques for self-adaptation is one. Topics such as self-awareness, scalable performance, dynamic HW and SW adaptation for scalabaility, graceful degradation and fault mitigation techniques for self-healing, will be addressed. The aim is to offer different techniques that may be used in order to increase the autonomy and adaptation capabilities of embedded systems, in general, and of cyber-physical systems, in particular. HW and SW adaptation are a very interesting feature for the new reconfigurable MPSoCs solutions,like the Xilinx Zynq or Zynq UltraScale+ devices, which include a variety of computing resources such as FPGAs, multi-core systems or embedded GPUs.


The International Chamber of Commerce estimates that seven percent of the world trade is in counterfeit goods, with the counterfeit market being worth 500 billion USD in 2004. Many companies already use overt anti-counterfeiting measures like holograms to confine counterfeiting and product piracy. However, current techniques are not suited for automated tests of product authenticity as required in warehouses, or do not provide the required level of security. In this context, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a promising approach, providing an extensible, flexible and secure measure against counterfeiting. Unique product identification numbers together with an infrastructure to seamlessly share RFID-related data over the Internet are a basis of efficient Track & Trace applications. An emerging infrastructure is the EPC Network, which can be used to provide pedigree information of products and makes plausibility checks possible. In this paper, we propose a solution for products requiring authentication mechanisms that go beyond track & trace. Therefore, the evolving EPC Network should comprehend the functionality to handle tags which support strong cryptography. We suggest extending the upcoming EPC Network infrastructure with an EPC Product Authentication Service. Moreover, the development of cost-effective, dedicated authentication devices as well as the belonging standardization is motivated.


Background Renal dysfunction and anaemia are common in patients with acute heart failure (HF). It is not known whether their combined presence has additive prognostic value. We investigated their prognostic value separately and in combination, on prognosis in acute HF patients. Furthermore, we examined whether the improvement in prognosis was comparable between patients with and without renal dysfunction. Methods and results This prospective registry includes 1783 patients admitted to the (Intensive) Coronary Care Unit for acute HF in the period of 1985–2008. The outcome measure was the composite of all-cause mortality, heart transplantation and left ventricular assist device implantation. In patients without renal dysfunction, anemia was associated with worse 30-day outcome (HR 2.91; [95% CI 1.69–5.00]), but not with 10-year outcome (HR 1.13 [95% CI 0.93–1.37]). On the contrary, anemia was found to influence prognosis in patients with renal dysfunction, both at 30 days (HR 1.93 [95% CI 1.33–2.80]) and at 10 years (HR 1.27 [95% CI 1.10–1.47]). Over time, the 10-year survival rate improved in patients with preserved renal function (HR 0.73 [95% CI 0.55–0.97]), but not in patients with renal dysfunction. Conclusion The long-term prognosis of acute HF patients with a preserved renal function was found to have improved significantly. However, the prognosis of patients with renal dysfunction did not change. Anemia was a strong prognosticator for short-term outcome in all patients. In patients with renal dysfunction, anemia was also associated with impaired long-term prognosis.


Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access ( WiMAX) is a technology that bridges the gap between fixed and mobile access and offer the same subscriber experience for fixed and mobile user. Demand for such type of mobile broadband services and applications are growing rapidly as it provides freedom to the subscribers to be online wherever they are at a competitive price and other significant facilities such as increasing amounts of bandwidth, using a variety of mobile and roaming devices. The earliest version of WiMAX is based on IEEE 802.16 and is optimized for fixed and roaming access, which is further extended to support portability and mobility based on IEEE 802.16e, also known as Mobile WiMAX. However, frequent topology changes caused by node mobility make routing in Mobile WiMAX networks a challenging problem. The selection of an appropriate routing protocol is a key issue when designing a scalable and efficient wireless networks. Various routing protocols have been used in wireless networks. In this paper, we investigate different routing protocols and evaluate their performances on 802.16 WiMAX networks. Using simulation, two different routing protocols DSDV and OLSR have been tested. The performance of these routing protocols is evaluated with respect to throughput, end-to-end delay and packet delivery ratio. Results show that DSDV in general performs better than other routing protocols.


The purpose of this article is to gather and analyse the visual appearance and interface of "comprehensive design" within different historic, social and cultural contexts. As elaborated by R. B. Fuller in 1949, the "comprehensive designer" is "an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist and evolutionary strategist", who is to synthesize the knowledge produced by various fields of science and tries to bring balance to the world. The notion of comprehensive design can be seen as a way of designing in regards to and across both small and large scale design activities that perceive the world as an interconnected system. As to answer how this notion was visualized, the article will analyse the interfaces of "comprehensive design" including May's New Frankfurt, Fuller's "World Game", Bonsiepe's Cybersyn project and Archigram's projects which seem to have high relevance in the contemporary efforts in designing a new type of sustainable city.


A sensitive, selective and generic method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of the contents ( g kg−1 range) of both volatile nitrosamines (VNA) and non-volatile nitrosamines (NVNA) in processed meat products. The extraction procedure only requires basic laboratory equipment and a small volume of organic solvent. Separation and quantification were performed by the developed LC–(APCI/ESI)MS/MS method. The method was validated using spiked samples of three different processed meat products. Satisfactory recoveries (50–130%) and precisions (2–23%) were obtained for eight VNA and six NVNAs with LODs generally between 0.2 and 1 g kg−1, though for a few analyte/matrix combinations higher LODs were obtained (3 to 18 g kg−1). The validation results show that results obtained for one meat product is not always valid for other meat products. We were not able to obtain satisfactory results for N-nitrosohydroxyproline (NHPRO), N-nitrosodibenzylamine (NDBzA) and N-nitrosodiphenylamine (NDPhA). Application of the APCI interface improved the sensitivity of the method, because of less matrix interference, and gave the method a wider scope, as some NAs were ionisable only by APCI. However, it was only possible to ionize N-nitroso-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (NTCA) and N-nitroso-2-methyl-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (NMTCA) by ESI. The validated method was applied for the analysis of processed meat products and contents of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), N-nitrosomethylaniline (NMA), N-nitrosoproline (NPRO), NTCA, and NMTCA were found in one or several nitrite cured meat products, whereas none were detected in non-nitrite cured bacon. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Abstract The operation of a heading machine with an out-of-work cutting tool can cause essential reduction of the machine element resource. The diagnostics of the cutting tool breakdown on the longitudinal axial cutting head in the real - time mode can be implemented on the basis of the spectral decomposition of the current of the cutting engine of the cutting unit. The ratio of the coefficients of the spectral decomposition corresponding to the cutting head rotation frequency and its threefold value can be the parameter under the diagnosis.


Biometric verification refers to the automatic verification of a person's identity based on their behavioural and biological characteristics. Among various biometric modalities, the face is one of the most widely used since it is easily acquirable in unconstrained environments and provides a strong uniqueness. In recent years, face recognition systems spread world-wide and are increasingly involved in critical decision-making processes such as finance, public security, and forensics. The growing effect of these systems on everybody's daily life is driven by the strong enhancements in their recognition performance.
The advances in extracting deeply-learned feature representations from face images enabled the high-performance of current face recognition systems. However, the success of these representations came at the cost of two major discriminatory concerns. These concerns are driven by soft-biometric attributes such as demographics, accessories, health conditions, or hairstyles.
The first concern is about bias in face recognition. Current face recognition solutions are built on representation-learning strategies that optimize total recognition performance. These learning strategies often depend on the underlying distribution of soft-biometric attributes in the training data. Consequently, the behaviour of the learned face recognition solutions strongly varies depending on the individual's soft-biometrics (e.g. based on the individual's ethnicity).
The second concern tackles the user's privacy in such systems. Although face recognition systems are trained to recognize individuals based on face images, the deeply-learned representation of an individual contains more information than just the person's identity. Privacy-sensitive information such as demographics, sexual orientation, or health status, is encoded in such representations. However, for many applications, the biometric data is expected to be used for recognition only and thus, raises major privacy issues. The unauthorized access of such individual's privacy-sensitive information can lead to unfair or unequal treatment of this individual.
Both issues are caused by the presence of soft-biometric attribute information in the face images. Previous research focused on investigating the influence of demographic attributes on both concerns. Consequently, the solutions from previous works focused on the mitigation of demographic-concerns only as well. Moreover, these approaches require computationally-heavy retraining of the deployed face recognition model and thus, are hardly-integrable into existing systems.
Unlike previous works, this thesis proposes solutions to mitigating soft-biometric driven bias and privacy concerns in face recognition systems that are easily-integrable in existing systems and aim for more comprehensive mitigation, not limited to pre-defined demographic attributes. This aims at enhancing the reliability, trust, and dissemination of these systems.
The first part of this work provides in-depth investigations on soft-biometric driven bias and privacy concerns in face recognition over a wide range of soft-biometric attributes. The findings of these investigations guided the development of the proposed solutions. The investigations showed that a high number of soft-biometric and privacy-sensitive attributes are encoded in face representations. Moreover, the presence of these soft-biometric attributes strongly influences the behaviour of face recognition systems. This demonstrates the strong need for more comprehensive privacy-enhancing and bias-mitigating technologies that are not limited to pre-defined (demographic) attributes.
Guided by these findings, this work proposes solutions for mitigating bias in face recognition systems and solutions for the enhancement of soft-biometric privacy in these systems. The proposed bias-mitigating solutions operate on the comparison- and score-level of recognition system and thus, can be easily integrated. Incorporating the notation of individual fairness, that aims at treating similar individuals similarly, strongly mitigates bias of unknown origins and further improves the overall-recognition performance of the system.
The proposed solutions for enhancing the soft-biometric privacy in face recognition systems either manipulate existing face representations directly or changes the representation type including the inference process for verification. The manipulation of existing face representations aims at directly suppressing the encoded privacy-risk information in an easily-integrable manner. Contrarily, the inference-level solutions indirectly suppress this privacy-risk information by changing the way of how this information is encoded.
To summarise, this work investigates soft-biometric driven bias and privacy concerns in face recognition systems and proposed solutions to mitigate these. Unlike previous works, the proposed approaches are (a) highly effective in mitigating these concerns, (b) not limited to the mitigation of concerns origin from specific attributes, and (c) easily-integrable into existing systems. Moreover, the presented solutions are not limited to face biometrics and thus, aim at enhancing the reliability, trust, and dissemination of biometric systems in general.


The purpose of this study is to present a learning activity that gamifies an argumentation exercise by combining both a bibliographic research activity and an oral argument. The exercise is organized as a competitive battle to engage and motivate students after training in bibliographic research. Students are divided into four teams of 4–7 students and are involved in a 2-round tournament starting with the semifinal round: the two winners of each semifinal meet in the final and the two losers in a playoff for third place. Each match is divided in two halves of 10 min: one to prepare their work, and the second to present it and interact with the opposite team. At the end, the two spectator teams vote for the winning team, and educators referee having the final decision. A symbolic prize (university goodies) is offered to the final winning team, and each team is graded by the educators on the basis of their two matches. The feedback received from students that participated in this exercise during the 2016–2020 period has been evaluated and corroborates the increase of motivation and teamwork through such activities. At the end, the advantages and limitations of such an activity are discussed.


Chest radiography (CXR) has been used as an effective tool for screening tuberculosis (TB). Because of the lack of radiological expertise in resource-constrained regions, automatic analysis of CXR is appealing as a "first reader". In addition to screening the CXR for disease, it is critical to highlight locations of the disease in abnormal CXRs. In this paper, we focus on the task of locating TB in CXRs which is more challenging due to the intrinsic difficulty of locating the abnormality. The method is based on applying a convolutional neural network (CNN) to classify the superpixels generated from the lung area. Specifically, it consists of four major components: lung ROI extraction, superpixel segmentation, multi-scale patch generation/labeling, and patch classification. The TB regions are located by identifying those superpixels whose corresponding patches are classified as abnormal by the CNN. The method is tested on a publicly available TB CXR dataset which contains 336 TB images showing various manifestations of TB. The TB regions in the images were marked by radiologists. To evaluate the method, the images are split into training, validation, and test sets with all the manifestations being represented in each set. The performance is evaluated at both the patch level and image level. The classification accuracy on the patch test set is 72.8% and the average Dice index for the test images is 0.67. The factors that may contribute to misclassification are discussed and directions for future work are addressed.


There is a lack of teacher education materials that develop equity literacy in content courses for preservice secondary mathematics teachers. In response, we created teacher education curriculum materials for introductory statistics that include an integrated focus on developing equity literacy and critical statistical literacy.
In this article, we provide an overview of our materials' design along with a detailed look at one activity regarding racial demographics and tracking in high school STEM courses. We present evidence regarding the positive impact of these materials on the teacher candidates' competency, value, and likelihood of applying their equity literacy and critical statistical literacy. Implications for mathematics teacher educators working to develop equity literacy together with content knowledge are discussed.


A case of an iatrogenic spinal arteriovenous fistula with progressive paraplegia in a young woman is reported. The fistula was eventually created after repetitive lumbar punctures performed in the process of spinal anaesthesia. Her symptoms were progressed to paraplegia over a period of 2 years. The digital subtraction angiography demonstrated a single-hole fistula, involving the anterior spinal artery and vein. The lesion was occluded by embolization with immediate improvement. The potential mechanism is discussed.


The
rapid expansion of high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) platforms in agronomic
research has led to a major shift in plant science towards time-series
phenotyping that can track plant development through its life stages, providing
an opportunity to dissect the genetic basis of longitudinal traits. Plant
breeders can now phenotype large populations during the growing season and
promote the desirable genetic gain for the traits of interest in specific time points
within their breeding program. The biggest challenge is to use the various
tools in a practical way to understand the many complexities of plant growth
and development and breeding implications. This dissertation explores interdisciplinary
frameworks to assess different applications of HTP for longitudinal traits in soybean
breeding. We provide a review outlining the current analytical approaches in
quantitative genetics and genomics to adequately use high-dimensional phenomic
data. Examples, advantages, and pitfalls of each approach, and future research
directions and opportunities are explored. Among longitudinal traits in
soybean, average canopy coverage (ACC) and above-ground biomass (AGB) are
promising traits to strategic improve yield gain. Soybean ACC is highly
heritable, with a high genetic correlation to yield and can be effectively measured
by unmanned aerial systems (UAS). This study reveals that progeny rows
selection using yield given ACC (Yield|ACC) selected the most top-ranking lines
in advanced yield trials, which emphasizes the value of HTP of ACC for selection
in the early stages of soybean breeding. In addition, we developed a HTP methodology
to predict soybean AGB over several days after planting (DAP) and assessed the
quantitative genomic properties of temporal AGB using random regression models
(RRM). Our results show that AGB narrow-sense heritability estimates fluctuated
over time and the genetic correlation of AGB between DAP decreased as the days
went further apart. Considering the trait heritability, high prediction accuracies
suggest that AGB is a good indicator trait for genomic selection in soybean
breeding. Different genomic regions were found to be associated with AGB over
time with potential time-specific SNPs playing a role in the trait expression.
Similarly, candidate genes were identified with potential different patterns of
expression over time. This study presents novel genetic knowledge for longitudinal
traits in soybean and may contribute to the development of new cultivars with high
yield and optimized AGB. This is the first application of RRM for genomic
evaluation of a longitudinal trait in soybean and provides a foundation that
RRM can be an effective approach to understand the temporal genetic
architecture of a longitudinal trait in other crops.


Shaker-type potassium (K+) channels are composed of pore-forming alpha subunits associated with cytoplasmic beta subunits. Kv beta2 is the predominant Kv beta subunit in the mammalian nervous system, but its functions in vivo are not clear. Kv beta2-null mice have been previously characterized in our laboratory as having reduced lifespans, cold swim-induced tremors and occasional seizures, but no apparent defect in Kv alpha-subunit trafficking. To test whether strain differences might influence the severity of this phenotype, we analyzed Kv beta2-null mice in different strain backgrounds: 129/SvEv (129), C57BL/6J (B6) and two mixed B6/129 backgrounds. We found that strain differences significantly affected survival, body weight and thermoregulation in Kv beta2-null mice. B6 nulls had a more severe phenotype than 129 nulls in these measures; this dramatic difference did not reflect alterations in seizure thresholds but may relate to strain differences we observed in cerebellar Kv1.2 expression. To specifically test whether Kv beta1 is a genetic modifier of the Kv beta2-null phenotype, we generated Kv beta1.1-deficient mice by gene targeting and bred them to Kv beta2-null mice. Kv beta1.1/Kv beta2 double knockouts had significantly increased mortality compared with either single knockout but still maintained surface expression of Kv1.2, indicating that trafficking of this alpha subunit does not require either Kv beta subunit. Our results suggest that genetic differences between 129/SvEv and C57Bl/6J are key determinants of the severity of defects seen in Kv beta2-null mice and that Kv beta1.1 is a specific although not strain-dependent modifier.


BACKGROUND
Antibiotic treatment may disturb the resistance of gastrointestinal flora to colonization. This may result in complications, the most serious of which is Clostridium difficile–associated diarrhea (CDAD).

PURPOSE
To assess the efficacy and safety of probiotics for the prevention of CDAD in adults and children receiving antibiotics.

DATA SOURCES
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Web of Science, and 12 gray-literature sources.

STUDY SELECTION
Randomized, controlled trials including adult or pediatric patients receiving antibiotics that compared any strain or dose of a specified probiotic with placebo or with no treatment control and reported the incidence of CDAD.

DATA EXTRACTION
Two reviewers independently screened potentially eligible articles; extracted data on populations, interventions, and outcomes; and assessed risk of bias. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation guidelines were used to independently rate overall confidence in effect estimates for each outcome.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Twenty trials including 3818 participants met the eligibility criteria. Probiotics reduced the incidence of CDAD by 66% (pooled relative risk, 0.34 [95% CI, 0.24 to 0.49]; I(2) = 0%). In a population with a 5% incidence of antibiotic-associated CDAD (median control group risk), probiotic prophylaxis would prevent 33 episodes (CI, 25 to 38 episodes) per 1000 persons. Of probiotic-treated patients, 9.3% experienced adverse events, compared with 12.6% of control patients (relative risk, 0.82 [CI, 0.65 to 1.05]; I(2) = 17%).

LIMITATIONS
In 13 trials, data on CDAD were missing for 5% to 45% of patients. The results were robust to worst-plausible assumptions regarding event rates in studies with missing outcome data.

CONCLUSION
Moderate-quality evidence suggests that probiotic prophylaxis results in a large reduction in CDAD without an increase in clinically important adverse events.

PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE
None.


Tetraphosphorus decasulfide (P(4)S(10)) in pyridine has been used as a thionating agent for a long period of time. The moisture-sensitive reagent has now been isolated in crystalline form, and the detailed structure has been determined by X-ray crystallography. The thionating power of this storable reagent has been studied and transferred to solvents such as acetonitrile in which it has proven to be synthetically useful and exceptionally selective. Its properties have been compared with the so-called Lawesson reagent (LR). Particularly interesting are the results from thionations at relatively high temperatures (∼165 °C) in dimethyl sulfone as solvent. Under these conditions, for instance, acridone and 3-acetylindole could quickly be transformed to the corresponding thionated derivatives. Glycylglycine similarly gave piperazinedithione. At these temperatures, LR is inefficient due to rapid decomposition. The thionated products are generally cleaner and more easy to obtain because in the crystalline reagent, impurities which invariably are present in the conventional reagents, P(4)S(10) in pyridine or LR, have been removed.


Over the past few years socialist intellectuals and political activists have stressed the need for an alliance between middle-class groups, wage-workers, and the marginalised underclass. The article seeks to unfold the theoretical background of this rather difficult approach by checking out the lower limits of the claimed alliance. Starting with Marx and Engels' downgrading of the lumpenproletariat, it examines two controversial lines in critical theory: on the one hand analyses of supposed shortcomings that regard marginalised groups as unable to become subject of social transformation, and on the other hand (e .g . anarchist or operaist and post-operaist) approaches that bring into focus the particular but coequal ways of the poor and excluded in struggling for change. The article argues for an integrated approach.


Congenital ureteral ectopia is an abnormality in which one or both ureters terminate at a position other than the urinary bladder trigone. This condition is the most frequent reason for early (since birth or weaning) urinary incontinence in dogs (Fossum 2007, Ho and others 2011, Reichler and others 2012). In such cases, early surgical correction of ureteral ectopia is required. In cases of delayed surgical intervention, permanent urinary incontinence, recurrent urinary tract infections, and hypoplasia of the urinary bladder can be noticed (Holt 2008, Ho and others 2011). Little is known about the effective treatment of neutered bitches with concurrent ureteral ectopia and intrapelvic urinary bladder. Ho and others (2011) found only two such patients in a group of 33 dogs. These dogs were treated surgically (correction of ectopic ureters and colposuspension) without satisfactory effects (incontinence after surgery).

This short communication describes the results of surgical treatment of incontinent adult bitches with ureteral ectopia, and small (hypoplastic) intrapelvic urinary bladder.

Nine adult neutered bitches (4.5±2 years old and 34.6±6.59 kg bodyweight), with urinary incontinence were referred (Table 1).

View this table:

TABLE 1:
Summary of surgical correction of ureteral ectopia and intrapelvic urinary bladder in nine neutered adult female dogs with urinary incontinence

The dogs were previously treated pharmacologically (phenylpropanolamine, oestriol and some antibiotics), due to presumed diagnosis of urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence and recurrent episodes of urinary tract infection. Such treatment only resulted in short-term remission of clinical symptoms. Identification of ureteral ectopia included the use of excretory urography and intraoperative examination. Imaging studies were performed in dogs positioned in the right lateral, right oblique, left oblique and dorsal recumbency, and evaluated according to guidelines described by Samii and others (2004). Contrast studies were suggestive of ureteral ectopia. A small intrapelvic urinary bladder was also found in all the dogs (Figs 1 and 2). The urinary bladder …


Objective:To compare outcomes with early corticosteroid withdrawal (CSWD) and chronic low dose corticosteroid therapy (CCS). Summary Background Data:Final, 5-year results from the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of early CSWD (at 7 days posttransplant) are presented. Methods:Adult recipients of deceased and living donor kidney transplants without delayed graft function were randomized to receive prednisone (5 mg/d after 6 months posttransplant) or CSWD. Blinding was maintained for 5 years. This clinical trial is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00650468). Results:Results in 386 patients CSWD (n = 191), CCS (n = 195) are presented (CSWD; CCS). No differences were observed at 5 years in the proportion of patients experiencing: primary end point (composite of death, graft loss, or moderate/severe acute rejection) (30/191 (15.7%); 28/195 (14.4%)), patient death (11/191(5.8%);13/195 (6.7%)), death-censored graft loss (11/191 (5.8%); 7/195(3.6%)), biopsy confirmed acute rejection (BCAR) (34/191 (17.8%); 21/195 (10.8%), P = 0.058), moderate/severe acute rejection (15/191 (7.9%); 12/195 (6.2%)). Kaplan Meier analyses of the primary end point and its components also showed no differences; but BCAR was higher with CSWD (P = 0.04). Increased BCAR episodes were primarily corticosteroid-sensitive Banff 1A rejections: the incidence of antibody-treated BCAR was similar between groups (11/191 (5.8%); 13/195 (6.7%)). No differences in renal function were observed at 5 years: mean serum creatinine (1.5 ± 0.6; 1.5 ± 0.7 mg/dL), or Cockroft Gault calculated creatinine clearance (58.6 ± 19.7; 59.8 ± 20.5 mL/min). CSWD was associated with improved serum triglycerides (evaluated by mean and median change from baseline) at all time points (except at 5 years measured by mean change). Weight change also demonstrated changes favoring CSWD (median change from baseline at 5 years: 5.1 vs. 7.7 kg, P = 0.05). New onset diabetes after transplant (NODAT) was similar with respect to proportions who required treatment (23/107 (21.5%)); 18/86 (20.9%); however, fewer CSWD patients required insulin for NODAT at 5 years (4/107 (3.7%)); 10/86 (11.6%), P = 0.049). Changes in HgA1c values (from baseline) were lower in CSWD patients at all time points except 4 years. Conclusions:Early CSWD, compared with CCS, is associated with an increase in BCAR primarily because of mild, Banff 1A, steroid-sensitive rejection, yet provides similar long-term renal allograft survival and function. CSWD provides improvements in cardiovascular risk factors (triglycerides, NODAT requiring insulin, weight gain). Tacrolimus/MMF/antibody induction therapy allows early CSWD with results comparable to long-term low dose (5 mg/d) prednisone therapy.


The post 2015 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms may bring a substantial change in the way farm payments are paid in Scotland where earlier farm payments were based on historical entitlements. Scottish farms now have to follow a Basic payment Scheme (BPS) which would be determined under a mandatory internal convergence. For the internal convergence there have been a number of proposals put forward by the Scottish government based on land capabilities. This paper examines one of regional payment scenario with and without partially coupled payments and identifies the winners and losers among Scottish farms under that scenario compared to the historical payments they currently are receiving. Farm level data from the 2010 Scottish Farm Accountancy Survey (FAS) was used in a farm level optimising model (ScotFarm) for this study. The results show that a majority of farm types would lose out under proposed CAP reform scenario. Sheep farms however, would benefit the most (6% to 7% on farm net margins) under the fully decoupled payment scenario. The partial coupled calf payments slightly increase beef farm margins but they still fail to improve on whole farm margins on beef farms. Overall, the studied scenarios support extensive farms in expense of all other farm types.


Acknowledgements. Textual Note. Introduction. . 1. Early Criticism of the Victorian Novel from James. Oliphant to David Cecil. The State of the Novel in 1900. University Study of Victorian Literature. Principles of Literary History. The Approach of George Saintsbury. Extract from Saintsburya s The English Novel (1913). E.M. Forster and Critiquing Literary History. The Modernist Construction of Victorian Fiction. David Cecila s View of Victorian Novels and Culture. Extract from Cecila s Early Victorian Novelists (1934). Further Reading. . 2. F.R. Leavis and The Great Tradition. Outline of the Chapter. Leavisa s Influence. The Principles of Leavisa Criticism. The Idea of Tradition. 1980sa Reactions to the Politics of Leavisa Criticism. The Principles of Leavisa The Great Tradition (1948). Its Treatment of Dickens and Leavisa Later Views on Him. Extract from The Great Tradition. . Further Reading. . 3. Feminism and the Victorian Novel in the 1970s. The Influence of 1970sa Feminism. Outline of the Chapter. Ellen Moersa Literary Women (1976). Elaine Showalter and the Female Tradition. Discussion of Showaltera s A Literature of Their Own (1977). 1980sa Response to Showalter. Extract from A Literature of Their Own. . Significance of Gilbert and Gubara s. . The Madwoman in the Attic (1979). The Madwoman Discussed. Gilbertand Gubara s Appraisal of The Madwoman. . Extract from The Madwoman. . Further Reading. . 4. Realism. Preliminary Questions. Outline of the Chapter. Histories of Realism. Ian Watta s The Rise of the Novel (1957) Discussed. The Cartesian Certainties of Realism. Watt Critiqued. Alternative Histories of Realism. Epistemology of Realism. Ioan Williams and Realisma s Certainties. George Levinea s View of Realism and Self--Consciousness. Extract from Levinea s The Realist Imagination (1981). Psychological Coherence in Realism: Bersani. A Future for Astyanax (1976). Politics of Classic Realism and Coherence Criticized in 1980s. Extract from Belseya s Critical Practice (1980). Belsey Critiqued. D.A. Millera s The Novel and the Police (1988) Discussed. The Turn Against Realism in the 1980s. Interest in Gothic. Interest in the not--Said of Realism. The Feminist Recuperation of Realism in 1980s. Extract from Boumehlaa s a Realism and the Ends of Feminisma (1988). New Historicism and Historicizing the Real. Rothfielda s Vital Signs (1992). Nancy Armstrong and Kate Flint. Conclusion. Further Reading. . 5. Social--Problem Fiction. Historicism and Feminism. What is Social--Problem Fiction?. Outline of the First Part of Chapter. Cazamiana s Reading in 1903. The Significance of Raymond Williams. Williamsa s a Structures of Feelinga . Williamsa s Criticisms of Social--Problem Fiction. The Knowable Community in Williamsa s. . The English Novel (1970). Extract from The English Novel. . Williamsa s Generalizations. Sheila Smitha s Particularization of Williams. More Problems Found in Social--Problem Fiction. Brantlingera s Historicization: a Context for Social--Problem. Fiction 1. New Historicism: Further Contexts. Context 2. Gallagher and the Discourse over Industrialism. Context 3. Mary Poovey and the Social Body. Extract from Mary Pooveya s Making a Social Body (1995). Criticisms of New Historicism. Guy and Individualism in the Victorian Mind. Extract from Guya s The Victorian Social--Problem. Novel (1996). Feminism and the Social--Problem Novel. Outline of Second Part of Chapter. Recent Work on Elizabeth Gaskell. Bergmanna s Views on Strong Female Characters. Kestnera s Canon Revision. Nord, Female Novelists, and Transgression. Harman, Female Novelists, and Transformation. The Future of Social--Problem Fiction Criticism. Further Reading. . 6. Language and Form. Outline of the Chapter. Language and The Victorian Novel. General Linguistic Studies of the Novel. Language of Individual Victorian Novelists. Chapmana s Forms of Speech (1994). Relation of Arguments to Thinking about Realism. Other Documentary Work on Victorian Language. Bakhtin and Language Studies. Inghama s Views on Gender and Class. Extract from Ingham The Language of Gender and Class (1996). Bakhtin and Literature Studies. Form and The Victorian Novel. Henry James on Monster Novels. Van Ghenta s Reaction and Emphasis on Unity. Extract from Van Ghent The English Novel. Form and Function (1953). Barbara Hardya s Reaction: the Advantages of Fluidity in Form. Hillis Miller and Form without God. Deconstruction and Incoherence. Garretta s Deconstructionist Views of Multiplot Fiction. Extract from Garretta s The Victorian Multiplot Novel (1980). Keen and Narrative Annexes. Approaches to Form in 1980s and 90s Summarized. Further Reading (Including Narratology). 7. Science and the Victorian Novel. Outline of the Chapter. Early Approaches to Field. Stevensona s Darwin Among the Poets (1932) Discussed. Henkina s Darwinism in the English Novel (1940) Discussed. Cossletta s Work on Overlaps of Science and Literature. Beer on Darwin and Fiction. Extract from Beera s Darwina s Plots (1983). Science and Literature Read Alongside Each Other. Levinea s Study of Novelists Who Did Not Read Science. Levinea s Influential Concept of the One Culture. Extract from Levinea s Darwin and the Novelists (1988). Dickens and Science. 1990sa Interest in Pathology and Mind Sciences. Helen Small and Lovea s Madness. Smalla s Critique of the One Culture Model. Sally Shuttleworth on Psychology. Logan on Hysteria, Wood on Neurology. Eugenics and the Novel. Further Reading. . 8. The History of the Book. Diversity of History of the Book Studies. Outline of the Chapter. Bibliographical Work of Relevance to Victorian Fiction. Butt and Tillotson and the Material Conditions of Authorship. Altick and the Reader. The Three--Volume Novel and Its Problems. Extract from Sutherlanda s Victorian Novelists and Publishers (1976). Feltes and Marxist Readings of Production and Authorship. Feminist Revision of Sutherland Publishing History. Working--Class Fiction Recovered. 1990a s Emphasis on the Reader. Flint and the Woman Reader. Gender and the Marketplace. Catherine Judda s a Male Pseudonyms and Female.a . Authority in Victorian Englanda (1995). Further Reading. . 9. Postcolonial Readings. Range and Diversity of Postcolonialism. Central Interests of Postcolonialism. Outline of the Chapter. Early Views of Victorian Fiction and Empire. Saida s Orientalism (1978) and Its Consequences for Fiction. Spivaka s Critique of Feminism. The Embeddedness of Fiction in Colonial Ideology. Extract from Spivak a Three Womena s Texts and Critique of Imperialisma . Brantlingera s Rule of Darkness (1988) and Explicit Engagements with Empire. Bivona and the Hidden Presence of Empire. Perera and Colonial Anxieties. Sharpe and Fictiona s Collusion with Ideology. Richards and the Imperial Archive. Azim and the Imperial Form of Fiction. Extract from Azima s The Colonial Rise of the Novel (1993). Deirdre David, Women, and the Empire. Meyer and Fictiona s Double Relationship with Colonial Ideology. Extract from Imperialism at Home (1996). Further Reading. Index.


This appendix presents useful basic information, including common abbreviations, useful measurements and data, characteristics of amino acids and nucleic acids, information on radioactivity and the safe use of radioisotopes and other hazardous chemicals, conversions for centrifuges and rotors, characteristics of common detergents, and common conversion factors.


Dreading the moment when the inexorable stoker, grimly lurking behind the rococo-work, should decide that this set of riders had had their pennyworth, and bring the whole concern of steam-engine, horses, mirrors, trumpets, drums, cymbals, and such-like to pause and silence, he waited for her every reappearance. ("On the Western Circuit" 246) The grim stoker, who makes only this one brief appearance in Thomas Hardy's 1891 story, "On the Western Circuit," is the invisible producer of phantasmagoria, embodying all the evils that the steam roundabout's cheery whirl seems to belie. Harmless and beautiful as a ride on the roundabout may seem at first, the reader does not need to have been tutored by "The Fiddler of the Reels" or by the ecstatic dancing scenes in The Return of the Native to know that such a face-flushing holiday from reality will do neither its riders nor onlookers any good. "On the Western Circuit" traces meticulously the consequences of one ill-chosen ride: disaster for a housemaid, Anna; for the admiring onlooker who woos her, Charles Bradford Raye; and for her mistress Edith Harnham, who writes Anna's love letters to the peripatetic Charles and falls in love with him herself. The love triangle may be old, but roundabout love is new. At the story's base is the arrival of a machine that brings urban worries--and urban illusions--into Hardy's rural Wessex. The presence of "steam circuses, as the roundabouts were called by their owners" (245) creates a phantasmagoric effect that engenders a thoroughly mistaken love at first sight, a sort of love impossible in anteindustrial Wessex. The steam circuses do not merely conceal some aspect of reality, but create, in a viewer's eye, an illusion that becomes preferable to reality. When Charles falls in love with what he thinks he sees of Anna on the roundabout, he sets into motion a chain of events designed to recreate or to perpetuate the phantasmatic desire.(1) Out of children, young men, old people, and three pretty girls spinning by on the roundabout, Charles Bradford Raye creates a girl he loves madly. And out of the revolving images and counterimages she sees while riding the roundabout, Anna deludes herself into believing she has chosen Charles. Conceived in a whirl, this love has its existence strengthened and sustained by three subsequent evils, all linked causally, but also poetically, to the roundabout's motion: first, Charles's financial ability to pay for Anna to ride again; second, Charles's job moving with the judicial circuit, which keeps him away so that the enchantment does not wear off; third, a series of letters between Charles and Edith, who eventually pursues a full-blown epistolary romance (under Anna's name) with the absent Charles. A whirl of illusions, in other words, follows on the original visual mistake, allowing a queer emotion--that both is and is not love--to be created. But in the beginning was the image, born of the roundabout. Hardy's distrust of the modern and of technological innovations is evidenced in every one of his works. His novels sometimes seem an almost Luddite rejection of the forces of urbanization and mechanization (not to mention transportation) that were in his day rapidly replacing "homogeneous piles of medieval architecture" (244) with more homogeneous piles of slag, and greenswards with suburbs.(2) He deploys a variety of techniques to convey that distrust. He is fond of curious juxtapositions, for example, as his repeated use of French exiles, and English or German soldiers quartered in Wessex makes clear. He also lets drop a great many references to the metaphysical "ache of modernism"; "vague latter-day glooms and popular melancholies" (246) often afflict his fashionable youths. And there are more than a few pilgrimages to London, as when Caroline Aspent and Ned Hipcroft travel up to see the Great Exhibition (in the 1893 "The Fiddler of the Reels"), or Sam Hobson passes through suburban streets at night with loads of vegetables from the country (in "The Son's Veto," also 1893). …


Purpose of review Despite increased survivorship and the subsequent need for chronic management of cancer, the association of self-management and palliative care is still emerging within cancer care. Routine and timely use of self-management strategies in the palliative setting can help reduce self-management burden and maximize quality of life. In this review, we consider the complementary relationship of self-management and palliative care and how they support living with cancer as a chronic illness. Recent findings Recent studies provide evidence of support among patients, family caregivers and healthcare professionals for integration of self-management interventions into palliative cancer care. As a guiding framework, components of the revised Self and Family Management Framework correspond to the provision of palliative care across the care trajectory, including the phases of curative care, palliative care, end-of-life care and bereavement. Additional work among self-management partners facing cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, that is patients, family caregivers and healthcare professionals, would be useful in developing interventions that incorporate self-management and palliative care to improve health outcomes. Summary There is an increasing acceptance of the complementarity of self-management and palliative care in cancer care. Their integration can support patients with cancer and their family caregivers across the care trajectory.


For seven years, Ingelevics travelled to museums in Europe and North America, sifting through hundreds of old glassplates and negatives that recorded the everyday and, sometimes, extraordinary activities of running a museum. The result of this extensive archeological quest is "Camera Obscured: Photographic Documentation and the Public Museum," an exhibition remarkable not only for the assembled wealth and breadth of images (eighty-nine in total), but for the way in which Ingelevics turns a site of critical inquiry — the museum — back upon itself. Dating from the eighteen-fifties to the nineteen-sixties, the photographs are grouped into subtle thematic sections. These range from behind-the-scenes glimpses of workers preparing natural-history dioramas to desolate gallery rooms filled with empty frames and sandbagged walls (awaiting the onslaught of war), to pre-1872 photographic collection records stored in the crumbling "guard books" of London's Albert and Victoria Museum. Despite the sophistication and eloquence of the images, the photographers who took them were considered technicians, not artists, often as anonymous as the unidentified night cleaners and preparatory workers they documented. Casting a critical eye towards this anonymity, Ingelevics devotes a thematic section of "Camera Obscured" to the work of British photographer Roger Fenton. Famous for the haunting portrayal of the Crimean War, in which a desolate landscape denuded of human traces becomes a metaphysical mediation on human carnage, Fenton's work is zealously catalogued and studied. Yet in the course of Ingelevics's research, he discovered Fenton's short-lived career as the first staff photographer at the British Museum, the photographs now languishing forgotten and neglected in the guard books of The Victoria and Albert Museum. For the exhibition, Ingelevics rephotographs a page from a guard book that contains a 1857 photograph by Fenton, and juxtaposes it against his 1855 The Valley of the Shadow of Death, calling into question the hierarchical ordering of images as well as peoples and things.


Innovating Strategy Process presents a series of reflective essays by established and emerging scholars on the subject of innovation, considering it both as an outcome of strategy and as a process in itself. Contains new ideas and rich case descriptions that will trigger creative thinking about how to design a more innovative strategy process. Offers new conceptual frameworks for analyzing and designing strategy process. Addresses cutting-edge topics, such as play as the means and art as the impetus for strategy-making; the role of emotion in new venture decision-making; and science and entrepreneurship as a source of innovative strategies. Signals the future direction of the field.


Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the content of arsenic in soils used for agriculture in the Ząbkowicki district. The content of arsenic in collected soil samples ranged 1.1-569.5 mg·kg-1. The standard for arable lands of Group B has been exceeded in 24 out of 231 test points. The highest concentrations occurred in the Złoty Stok commune. This is due to the output of arsenic and gold in this area. Exceeding the standard also occurred in neighboring communes: Kamieniec Ząbkowicki and Ziębice. This is due to the blowing and washing pollutions form the source of contamination, the arsenic mines in the Złoty Stok commune.


BACKGROUND
A recent rise in the incidence of prostate cancer and a more favorable outcome have increased the proportions of other causes of death in affected men. Extending the survival of prostate cancer patients thus requires knowledge of all causes of death.

METHODS
Data on the population, cancers, and causes of death were gathered from the nationwide Swedish Family-Cancer Database. A Cox regression model, comparing prostate cancer patients with all other men, was applied. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated both for the underlying cause and for dying with a specific cause listed among multiple causes of death.

FINDINGS
Among 686,500 observed deaths, 62,500 were prostate cancer patients. For underlying causes other than prostate cancer, the highest cause-specific HRs were found for external causes (HR, 1.24; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16-1.31), diseases of the pulmonary circulation (HR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.09-1.37), and heart failure (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.11-1.24). For specific multiple causes, the highest HRs were found for anemia (HR, 2.28; 95% CI, 2.14-2.42), diseases of the pulmonary circulation (HR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.55-1.68), and urinary system disease (HR, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.84-1.96).

INTERPRETATIONS
Prostate cancer patients have a higher risk for dying from various causes other than prostate cancer, including external causes and heart failure. Mechanisms have been proposed linking these elevated risks to both cancer and treatment. More attention should be paid to comorbidities in men with prostate cancer. The present study fulfills a gap in the knowledge of death causes in prostate cancer patients.


We replace the standard Higgs-mechanism by the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism, and investigate its viability through the addition of a new scalar field. As we showed in a previous study, minimal models of this type can alleviate the hierarchy problem of the Higgs-mass through the so-called Veltman conditions. We here extend the previous analysis by taking into account the important difference between running mass and pole mass of the scalar states. We then investigate whether these theories can account for the 750 GeV excess in diphotons observed by the LHC collaborations. New QCD-colored fermions in the TeV mass range coupled to the new scalar state are needed to describe the excess. We further show, by explicit computation of the running of the couplings, that the model is under perturbative control till just above the masses of the heaviest states of the theory. We further suggest related testable signatures and thereby show that the LHC experiments can test these models.


This paper examines portfolio risk management techniques and tools, commonly used in equity and bond portfolios, to: measure, manage and mitigate property market risk / "beta". The techniques used to measure and manage property market risk uses annual historical capital value returns of UK indices (Peter Scott's data from 1920 and MSCI-IPD Data from 1972). These values are then adjusted for inflation and a trend line is established to form a dynamic gauge identifying where we are in the property cycle by indicating when the market is over / undervalued, based off historical metrics. By measuring and monitoring the property market practitioners (asset allocators / fund managers / risk managers) can use an innovative beta risk management tool (MSCI-IPD Futures) to apply "risk on" / "risk off" strategies at specific points in the cycle. Whilst the analysis and approach was applied to the UK property investment market, the approach can be applied to any property market where high quality historical data is evident and where a listed futures market has developed.


India, Pakistan, and China have been dancing a nuclear tango of late, taking steps that have
serious implications for the entire region.
Pakistan has worked assiduously to expand its fissile material stockpile while threatening to lower
its nuclear threshold, claiming that its short-range missile, Nasr/Hatf-IX, is nuclear capable. These
Pakistani moves are apparently meant as a counter to India's Cold Start Doctrine, a plan for
launching a conventional military attack on very short notice, even though New Delhi has denied
its very existence. China, meanwhile, has continued to modernize its missile forces while
fostering strategic ambiguity about its no-first-use nuclear policy. And in response to Pakistani
and Chinese signals, India has publicly emphasized the survivability of its nuclear missiles, the
extension of their range, and the deployment of a nuclear submarine, suggesting a powerful
second-strike nuclear capability.


The localization of critical parameter sets called bifurcations is often a central task of the analysis of a nonlinear dynamical system. Bifurcations of codimension 1 that can be directly observed in nature and experiments form surfaces in three-dimensional parameter spaces. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that combines adaptive triangulation with the theory of complex systems to compute and visualize such bifurcation surfaces in a very efficient way. The visualization can enhance the qualitative understanding of a system. Moreover, it can help to quickly locate more complex bifurcation situations corresponding to bifurcations of higher codimension at the intersections of bifurcation surfaces. Together with the approach of generalized models the proposed algorithm enables us to gain extensive insights in the local and global dynamics not only in one special system but in whole classes of systems. To illustrate this ability we analyze three examples from different fields of science.


Title of Thesis: AUDIO DSP: TIME AND FREQUENCY VARYING GAIN COMPENSATION FOR NON-OPTIMAL LISTENING LEVELS Thorvaldur Einarsson, Master of Science, 2003 Thesis directed by: Professor Carol Espy-Wilson Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Although the human hearing system is very complex, several models exist that explain parts of the hearing system. This thesis uses one of these models, the contours of equal loudness, to make music played at low listening levels sound more like it does at the intended listening level. The perceived frequency balance of music varies with the listening level. This is especially noticeable at low listening levels, where frequencies below 500Hz seem attenuated. Moreover, hearing perception exhibits non-linear dynamic range compression, most evident at low frequencies. A system is designed where filter banks and power measurements estimate the timevarying power of low frequency parts of the audio signal. The time-varying power of each narrow frequency band is compared to the contours of equal loudness, and changes made to get the same frequency balance as at the intended listening level. The thesis covers the design, implementation and performance of this system.


In today's business environment characterized by near-constant change, where international acquisitions and investments picking up the pace modify the configuration of existing organizations, the management of the risk associated with planned and unplanned departures in key positions, the prevention of loss of knowledge and relationships that reside with key employees or simply managing the impact of demographics shifts in the workplace are business imperatives that executives can no longer afford to ignore. Leadership development and succession planning in a dynamic environment is an ongoing process and requires more a special attention to support the organization's mission and goals. The paper discusses the implications of M&A's led changes and how HR leaders can create the right approach to help their organizations sustain the leadership bench necessary to help addressing these imperatives these business risks and support business growth.


A new sensitive, simple and accurate colorimetric approach is suggested of the estimation of salbutamol sulphate drug in pure form, also in different types of pharmaceutical. The approach is established on the conjunction of salbutamol (SLB) drug and the reagent 4-aminoantipyrine (4-AAP) reagent in basic medium to obtain a newly ligand that reacts with cobalt (II) to produce highly intensity red colour complex at 60°C. The water soluble dye is stable and estimated colorimetric ally with maximum absorption at 500 nm. The calibration curve between the concentration and the absorbance shows that the range of concentration was applied by the Beer's law between 2-60 μg/mL. The optimization of the experiential circumstances is examined. The precision and the accuracy for the approach are tested by the average relative standard deviation values (1.32%) and the average recovery values (100.23%) respectively. That it is based on the concentration. The approach sensitivity is obtained by molar absorptivity (0.6558×104 l.cm-1.mol-1). The sensitivity of Sandell is calculated (0.036 μg.cm-2). The analytical data for the approach is matched with the standard method. The general interference from drug additives was examined. The suggested approach is successfully applied on the estimation of SLB in various types of pharmaceutical.


We propose a novel framework for adapting and evolving software requirements models. The framework uses model checking and machine learning techniques for verifying properties and evolving model descriptions. The paper offers two novel contributions and a preliminary evaluation and application of the ideas presented. First, the framework is capable of coping with errors in the specification process so that performance degrades gracefully. Second, the framework can also be used to re-engineer a model from examples only, when an initial model is not available. We provide a preliminary evaluation of our framework by applying it to a Pump System case study, and integrate our prototype tool with the NuSMV model checker. We show how the tool integrates verification and evolution of abstract models, and also how it is capable of re-engineering partial models given examples from an existing system.


Background: Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) in adolescents is a very common problem but the diagnosis is often delayed due to its embarrassing nature, fear of disease and ignorance of the severity of the condition.Case report: We report a case of young girl presented to Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) hospital, Islamabad with heavy menstrual bleeding and severe iron deficiency anaemia. After relevant investigations, blood was transfused. Initially she was managed on tranaxemic acid and Famila-28 but she failed to respond to medical treatment. So examination under anesthesia (EUA) was done which revealed a fibroid of 3*4cm protruding from cervical os and it was avulsed. Hysterocopic examination showed normal endometrium. Fibroid polyp and curettings were sent for histopathology. Her bleeding was settled after surgery. Histopathology revealed leiomyoma with normal secretory phase endometrium. She took famila-28 for the next 3 months and then stopped taking it. During her follow up for the next 3 months, she had normal menstrual cycle with average blood loss without any medication.Conclusion: Cervical leimyoma as a cause of HMB in adolescent girls is a very rare event. Due to the cultural boundaries, pelvic examination is avoided in unmarried girls but in cases of HMB which is unresponsive to medical treatment and there is a suspicion of local cause, pelvic examination is mandatory to rule out the local pathology.


Chen, Yulu Ph.D., Purdue University, May 2015. Circular Bessel Field Statistics and the Pursuit of Far-Subwavelength Resolution . Major Professor: Kevin J. Webb. The statistical description of wave propagation in random media is important for many applications. While polarized light in systems with weakly interacting scatterers and sufficient overall scatter has zero-mean circular Gaussian statistics, the underlying assumptions break down in the Anderson localization and weakly scattering regimes. Although probability density functions for wave intensity and amplitude exist beyond Gaussian statistics, suitable statistical descriptions for the field with strong and weak random scatter were unknown. The first analytical probability density function for the field that is effective in both the Anderson localization regime and the weakly scattering regime is derived by modeling the field as a random phasor sum with a random number of contributing terms. This provides a framework for modeling wave propagation in random media, facilitating random media characterization, imaging in and through scatter, and for random laser design. The resolution of far-field imaging systems is diffraction limited. Super resolution techniques that break the diffraction limit are important in the physical, chemical, and biological sciences, and in technology. An imaging method based on object motion with structured illumination and far-field measurement data that results in far-subwavelength image information is proposed. Simulations show that this approach, with generous detector noise, will lead to the ability to distinguish image features on the nanometer scale with visible light. Along different lines, a perfect negative refractive index can act as a superlens, but realistic materials render this approach ineffective. A method to tune the lens material properties is shown to provide enhanced resolution.


Cocculushirsutus is antipyretic, tonic, lessens thirst, good for fractures and useful in tubercular glands related problems. It is a well-known herb used as first aid remedy in minor injuries. During the present study a rapid, simple, accurate and specific HPTLC method for quantitative estimation of Gallic acid present in the dried leaf powder and callus of C. hirsutus has been developed. The method used in this work resulted in good peak shape and enabled good resolution of Gallic acid from C. hirsutussamples. Gallic acid was identified in invivo (leaf) and in vitro (six weeks old callus) tissues. Presence of isolated Gallic acid was further confirmed by super imposable IR spectra of isolated and authentic samples of Gallic acid. Variation in Gallic acid content in in-vivo and in-vitro samples in C. hirsutuswas observed. In vivoleaf had maximum amount of Gallic acid (0.44%) while minimum amount was found in in vitro callus (0.10 %). High content of Gallic acid in leaf shows its potential of synthesizing Gallic acid. This study is also of practical importance because Gallic acid has quite interest of in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, as substitutes for synthetic antioxidants. The Gallic acid exhibit a wide range of biological effects including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, hepatoprotective, antithrombotic, antiviral, anticarcinogenic and vasodilatory actions.


This report gives deeper insights on how the infrastructure development is being funded in different ASEAN Member States (AMSs) for ASEAN Connectivity. In this regards, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program is also seen as one way to help build the infrastructure in ASEAN. The AMSs are having different levels of infrastructure policy, financing method and financial capacity. The PPP Program has been significantly developed and utilized in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, and recently in Singapore. Whilst Cambodia and Viet Nam have not yet formalized the PPP, private sector participation has become increasingly important in infrastructure development. Laos and Myanmar have potentials, although are facing multiple challenges from lacking of fiscal sources to fiscal sustainability. PPP still takes less significant role in Brunei that has abundant public financial resources to build infrastructure. The differences amongst ASEAN countries mentioned above are seen in many ways. The issues discussed in this report consists of the country fiscal situation, regulatory framework, potential financial sources, the PPP in the ASEAN and PPP in an ASEAN Way. This report is hoped to give broader and better picture of the financing situation in ASEAN's infrastructure development and to help both academies and policymakers in making recommendations and policies regarding infrastructure development in ASEAN for ASEAN Connectivity.


Abstract Zimbabwe, like many other post-colonial African states, has a 'northern problem'. As a metaphor, the concept of 'northern problem' refers to the disgruntled groups in a state claiming a particular history and identity that differ from those of the dominant 'other'. The metaphor does not necessarily imply that these forms of disenchantment and their fissures are found in the northern parts of every African nation-state. Rather, certain groups in a state may not consider themselves to be citizens and also hold the view of state boundaries as fictitious. Matebeleland, in Zimbabwe, serves as an example, with calls for devolution of power or a form of irredentist secessionist bid. The 'northern problem' results from feelings of being dominated, excluded and marginalised in terms of national resource distribution and leadership (power as a resource) arrangements. This article will project into the future challenges that may be faced given the region of Matebeleland as a political hotbed in Zimbabwe and the possibility of violent conflict if their concerns are not addressed. It will also attempt to provide a detailed engagement of the devolution of power conceptualised as part of administrative decentralisation. I conclude by arguing that if the devolution of power is properly implemented, starting with inclusion in the Zimbabwean constitution, the challenge of Matebeleland as a 'northern problem' may cease to pose a threat that is likely to fan secessionist calls.


Regulatory reforms have recently improved 401(k) plan participation rates, but recent decisions by certain courts threaten to reverse that trend. These courts have substituted their free market ideology for fiduciary duties under ERISA in dismissing claims against plan sponsors on the ground that the menu offered was so large as to abrogate the sponsors' ERISA duties. Under the "large menu defense," courts have held that, even assuming a failure to exercise due care in selecting plan options, the employer can nonetheless claim the protection of the employee-control safe harbor under ERISA because, when the plan's menu is sufficiently large, the plan participant is deemed to have exercised legal control over the relevant investment decision. The courts' interpretation of the control safe harbor contradicts the plain meaning of the statute. Far worse, the courts' free market assumption that large menus will increase participants' wealth is empirically false. Research has shown that large 401(k) menus result in lower participation rates, overly conservative allocations, inferior investment options and other adverse effects that, collectively, cost workers billions of dollars every year.


BACKGROUND:
Protease inhibitor monotherapy (PIM) for HIV may exert suboptimal viral control in the central nervous system. We determined whether cerebral blood flow (CBF) and regional brain volumes were associated with PIM, and whether specific cognitive domains were associated with imaging biomarkers.

METHODS:
Cognitive assessment and brain MRI were performed after the final visit of a randomized HIV treatment strategy trial. Participants were virologically suppressed on triple therapy at trial entry and followed for 3–5 years. Thirty-seven patients randomized to ongoing triple therapy and thirty-nine randomized to PIM were studied. Resting CBF and normalized volumes were calculated for brain regions of interest, and correlated with treatment strategy and neuropsychological performance.

RESULTS:
Mean age was 48.1 years (standard deviation 8.6 years), 63 were male (83%) and 64 were white (84%). Participants had median 8.1 years (interquartile range 6.4, 10.8) of antiretroviral therapy experience and CD4+ counts of median 640 cells/mm3 (interquartile range 490, 780). We found no difference between the two treatment arms in CBF or regional volumes. Regardless of treatment arm, poorer fine motor performance correlated with lower CBF in the caudate nucleus (p=0.01), thalamus (p=0.04), frontal cortex (p=0.01), occipital cortex (p=0.004) and cingulate cortex (p=0.02), and was associated with smaller supratentorial white matter volume (decrease of 0.16 in Z-score per -1% of total intracranial volume, 95% confidence interval 0.02–0.29, p=0.023).

CONCLUSIONS:
PIM does not confer additional risk of neurological injury compared with triple therapy. There were correlations between fine motor impairment, grey matter hypoperfusion and white matter volume loss.


Abstract Late Ordovician fossils, including the distinctive Hirnantia brachiopod Fauna, have been found in Lower Palaeozoic successions in Istanbul and Bolu (Yığılca), western Pontides, NW Turkey. The Middle Ordovician (Sandbian) faunas belong to the cooler-water Mediterranean Province, and they are followed by Katian brachiopods including Sulevorthis, Nicolella, Hesperorthis, Glyptorthis, Saukrodictya and Kullervo and ostracods such as Piretella, Eochilina and Klimphores, which represent deposition in warmer waters; however, the Mediterranean Province usually cooler-water brachiopods Drabovia and Leptestiina also occur. The Pendik Formation includes thin bryozoan-rich limestones which probably represent the Boda Global Warming Event. The overlying turbidites contain a Hirnantia Fauna, developed within a brachiopod–diplograptid association. Above them there are characteristic Llandovery (Rhuddanian–Aeronian) brachiopods, such as Leangella, Eoplectodonta, Stricklandia and Hindella with the corals Halysites, Paleofavosites and Streptelasma. In the Bolu area, Katian brachiopods such as Mcewanella, Dalmanella, Glyptorthis, Christiania, Oligorhynchia, Nicolella, Howellites and Drabovinella also occur, but there the overlying Hirnantia Fauna is developed within a Hirnantia–Mucronaspis association. The fauna and sediments indicate that the western Pontides were not very cold during the latest Ordovician. Despite Turkey being placed in higher latitudes by previous authors, it seems more probable that the Pontides were at somewhat lower palaeolatitudes, perhaps at about 40°S in those times; however, the precise palaeogeographical position of the terrane remains uncertain: there are no Hirnantian glaciogenic rocks there, such as are found in the Taurides of southern Turkey.


Nanobiotechnology provides powerful tools for manipulating cells with nanometric resolution and with simultaneous measurement of force with pN resolution. We review the application of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and magnetic tweezers for probing cell nanomechanics. AFM measures the mechanical properties of the cell by indenting its surface by means of a flexible cantilever with a sharp tip at its end. Magnetic tweezers probe cell mechanics by twisting or pulling a magnetic microbead bound to the cell surface. The stress-strain relationship allows us to compute the complex shear modulus of the cell. Lung epithelial cells probed with AFM and magnetic tweezers exhibit a power-law dynamics with a weak exponent. This dynamics conforms to the rheology of soft glassy materials, suggesting that cytoskeleton internal disorder and matrix agitation could govern the mechanical behaviour of the cell.


From an analysis of Fula, this article provides straightforward evidence that the hearer feature is binary. The analysis counts on Local Dislocation to handle mixed placement of subject agreement markers. A novel aspect of the analysis is that a natural class made possible by impoverishment defines the environment in which Local Dislocation applies. Impoverishment has mainly been used to capture syncretism in the past, but the present study shows that it has further potential, especially in the area of mixed placement of agreement markers. The impoverishment operation used is motivated by cooccurrence restrictions that arise in the interaction of person features with number features, falling squarely within the research agenda that tries to ground impoverishment in the logical properties of the feature system.


Vulnerability of a variety of candidate spacecraft electronics to total ionizing dose and displacement damage is studied. Devices tested include optoelectronics, digital, analog, linear bipolar devices, and hybrid devices.


Division of labour in social insect colonies relies on behavioural functional differentiation (specialization) of individuals with similar genomes. However, individual behavioural traits do not evolve independently of each other (behavioural syndromes). A prime example is the suite of behavioural differences in honeybee workers that has evolved in response to bidirectional selection on pollen hoarding of honeybee colonies (pollen-hoarding syndrome). More generally, these differences reflect functional differentiation between nectar and pollen foragers. We demonstrate here that this pollen-hoarding syndrome extends to drones. Similar to what has been shown in workers, drones from the high-pollen-hoarding strain had a higher locomotion activity after emergence, and they initiated flight earlier than did males derived from the low-pollen-hoarding strain, with hybrids intermediate. However, these two behavioural traits were unlinked at the individual level. We also found that social environment (the colony) affects the age at which drones initiate flight. The indirect selection responses of male behaviour suggest that male and worker evolution are not independent and may constrain each other's evolution. Furthermore, we identified three distinct peaks in the probability of flight initiation over the course of the experiment and a decreased phenotypic variability in the 'hybrid' males, contrary to quantitative genetic expectations.


: C- reactive protein [CRP] is an acute phase protein observed in increased quantities in plasma during the infections and presence of any inflammation, which could be a further possible risk factor in systemic inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, diabetes mellitus, and obesity. CRP molecules help as a biological marker for the determination of the inflammatory process when obtained from the gingival crevicular fluid and there is association between periodontitis and CRP levels. These levels are found to be reduced after the non-surgical and surgical periodontal treatment. Therefore, the levels of CRP would play a major role in determination of the inflammatory process.


While there has been a great deal of excitement in view of M-commerce, very little is actually known about conditions and critical success factors for successful introduction of the 3rd generation mobile network services here in Malaysia. This study investigates the factors for successful diffusion of 3G network services and their role in advancing an interactive marketplace. 3G which simply means 3rd generation mobile communications technology has been widely discussed by many telecommunications service providers. It was launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) some 13 years ago. 3G is viewed as an enabler of M-Commerce here in Malaysia. However, true success of this technology depends on various factors. The objective of this study is to investigate significant key enablers of 3G deployment and adoption in Malaysia. An insight into the critical factors to be considered for the deployment of 3G technology in Malaysia and experiences of other countries will be used as a benchmark to understand the mitigating factors of 3G deployment. Critical factors such as cost to of service, interoperability of standards, insufficiency of mobile services or content and deficiency of the laws will be discussed in this study. The study also discusses diffusion barriers and drivers for the rapid service diffusion of 3G mobile networks.


Secure logs are powerful tools for building systems that must resist forgery, prove temporal relationships, and stand up to forensic scrutiny. The proofs of order and integrity encoded in these tamper-evident chronological records, typically built using hash chaining, may be used by applications to enforce operating constraints or sound alarms at suspicious activity. However, the problem of how to automatically detect violations remains open. Low-level inconsistencies, such as gaps in the hash chain, are detectable without knowledge about the application, but existing research stops short of extracting or verifying application-specific log properties. In this paper we contribute the design and implementation of a system for discovering this kind of evidence. We first propose a logical language for applications to express concisely the constraints that apply to their logs and the evidence that can be extracted from them. We offer several algorithms for efficiently and incrementally evaluating these rules. Finally, we present Q, a log analysis package that implements our proposed techniques. It can be used offline as an analyzer for static logs, or online during the runtime of a logging application. Given validity rules and available log data, it presents evidence of correctness and offers counterexamples if desired. We describe Q's implementation and offer early performance results: for a rule set developed for a distributed voting application, we observed that our system could incrementally verify a realistic election-day log at 50 events per second.