This paper describes the development of a mathematical model of a differential pressure cell, and its application in MATLAB. The model is also examined in SIMULINK, for the purposes of comparison of the model with the real world. Furthermore we also describe the application of a system identification method, using a multifrequency binary test signal, for comparison with the mathematical model. The method is applied to a pneumatic differential pressure cell. The exploration of the mathematical model shows that whilst the majority of the subsystems are nonlinear, they can adequately be approximated by Taylor polynomials. This facilitates the modelling of the subsystem elements as linear agents. The identification results show that the cell, composed of three main components, the diaphragm, pilot relay flapper/nozzle and the feedback bellows, has an overall first order linear response.


In this book, Stehr and Grundmann outline the theoretical significance and practical importance of the growing stratum of experts, counsellors and advisors in contemporary society, and claim that the growing spectrum of knowledge-based occupations has led to the pluralisation of expertise. As decision makers in organizations and private citizens, for various reasons, increasingly seek advice from experts, the authors examine the nature of expert activity, and suggest that the role of experts needs to be distinguised from other roles such as professionals, scientists, or intellectuals. Experts, they argue, perform knowledge based activities that mediate between the context of knowledge creation and application. Existing approaches tend to restrict the role of the expert to scientists, or to conflate the roles of professionals with experts. In avoiding such restrictions, this book sets out a framework to understanding the growing role of expertise in a better way. Experts provides thought-provoking discussion that will be of interest to postgraduate students and academics working within the fields of social theory, knowledge, and consumption.


Importance Handing over the care of a patient from one anesthesiologist to another occurs during some surgeries and might increase the risk of adverse outcomes. Objective To assess whether complete handover of intraoperative anesthesia care is associated with higher likelihood of mortality or major complications compared with no handover of care. Design, Setting, and Participants A retrospective population-based cohort study (April 1, 2009-March 31, 2015 set in the Canadian province of Ontario) of adult patients aged 18 years and older undergoing major surgeries expected to last at least 2 hours and requiring a hospital stay of at least 1 night. Exposure Complete intraoperative handover of anesthesia care from one physician anesthesiologist to another compared with no handover of anesthesia care. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was a composite of all-cause death, hospital readmission, or major postoperative complications, all within 30 postoperative days. Secondary outcomes were the individual components of the primary outcome. Inverse probability of exposure weighting based on the propensity score was used to estimate adjusted exposure effects. Results Of the 313 066 patients in the cohort, 56% were women; the mean (SD) age was 60 (16) years; 49% of surgeries were performed in academic centers; 72% of surgeries were elective; and the median duration of surgery was 182 minutes (interquartile [IQR] range, 124-255). A total of 5941 (1.9%) patients underwent surgery with complete handover of anesthesia care. The percentage of patients undergoing surgery with a handover of anesthesiology care progressively increased each year of the study, reaching 2.9% in 2015. In the unweighted sample, the primary outcome occurred in 44% of the complete handover group compared with 29% of the no handover group. After adjustment, complete handovers were statistically significantly associated with an increased risk of the primary outcome (adjusted risk difference [aRD], 6.8% [95% CI, 4.5% to 9.1%]; P < .001), all-cause death (aRD, 1.2% [95% CI, 0.5% to 2%]; P = .002), and major complications (aRD, 5.8% [95% CI, 3.6% to 7.9%]; P < .001), but not with hospital readmission within 30 days of surgery (aRD, 1.2% [95% CI, −0.3% to 2.7%]; P = .11). Conclusions and Relevance Among adults undergoing major surgery, complete handover of intraoperative anesthesia care compared with no handover was associated with a higher risk of adverse postoperative outcomes. These findings may support limiting complete anesthesia handovers.


Generic placement of Nearctic species of Ochodaeinae has lagged behind changes in generic concepts in the group. In order to place Nearctic species into the appropriate genus-level taxa, several nomenclatural changes are made. The new generic name Xenochodaeus is proposed for species with an elongate, subparallel sulcus on the propygidium and a longitudinally impressed mentum. The genus contains 6 species. Xenochodaeus americanus (Westwood), new combination, is valid and is removed from synonymy with X. musculus (Say), new combination. A neotype is designated for Odontaeus musculus. Ochodaeus opacus LeConte is synonymized under X. americanus. Other new combinations include Xenochodaeus luscinus (Howden), X. planifrons (Schaeffer), X. simplex (LeConte), and X. ulkei (Horn). The new generic name Cucochodaeus is proposed for species having the propygidial sulcus absent, stridulatory peg absent, and possessing 9 antennomeres. The genus contains 1 species, C. sparsus (LeConte), new combination. Ochodaeus mandibularis Linell is placed into synonymy with C. sparsus. Ochodaeus gnatho Fall is transferred to the genus Codocera Eschscholtz, resulting in C. gnatho (Fall), new combination. Two new combinations result from Nearctic species transferred to Neochodaeus Nikolajev: N. repandus (Fall) and N. striatus (LeConte). Three Nearctic species are transferred to Parochodaeus Nikolajev, resulting in new combinations: Parochodaeus californicus (Horn), P. duplex (LeConte), and P. peninsularis (Horn). A lectotype is designated for Ochodaeus kansanus Fall, and that same specimen is designated as the neotype of Ochodaeus duplex (LeConte), objectively synonymizing O. kansanus with O. duplex. A checklist of Nearctic species and key to Nearctic genera are provided.


This overview paper outlines the global energy imbalance. The IEA has also said that the increased use of nuclear power would help meet the increase in energy demand, enhance the security of energy supply and mitigate carbon emissions. Nuclear energy alone is not a panacea, but it is likely in the near future to have an increasing role as part of the global energy mix. The global status of nuclear power, reasons for renewed interest in it and public perceptions of it are briefly considered.


This research examines the use of external information by managers in larger industrial companies, with special reference to use of electronic information services. Five different industries are selected for study - oil, pharmaceutical, construction, electronics and retail. Evidence on the areas and sources of external information of most importance to managers, including electronic sources, was sought by means of a questionnaire survey distributed to managers in marketing, finance, corporate planning, computer systems and management services and to company librarians! information officers. The questionnaire was completed by 122 managers from fifty-one companies and followed up by case study interviews with eleven selected respondents.All respondents agree on the importance of industry market trends and competitor activities as the main areas of external information and on the personal communications network and industry publications as the prime sources. Information of the organization's broader environment is viewed as less important, Company libraries, where they exist, are not always highly regarded or fully exploited as sources of information by managers. The research shows that electronic information services are not in general rated highly as an information source. The main reason for the lack of use by managers appears to be lack of content relevance, but lack of awareness, pricing structure and accessibility are also contributory factors. Videotex services are held in low regard by their users and non-users alike. Commercial databases, on the other hand, are valued by their main user group, which consists of librarians from the pharmaceutical industry and from larger oil companies. Type of industry, type of respondent and size of company are all important variables in use of electronic information services. The research identifies four different approaches to external information use - individual, library, systems and information management. In spite of the acknowledged importance of external information, the informal approach is still prevalent. There is no extensive use of electronic services in companies which do not have an established library structure and there are few examples of a properly structured ' information management' approach which combines both internal and external sources.


BACKGROUND
The evidence-based practice guidelines for the management of chronic spinal pain with interventional techniques were developed to provide recommendations to clinicians in the United States.

OBJECTIVE
To develop evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for interventional techniques in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic spinal pain, utilizing all types of evidence and to apply an evidence-based approach, with broad representation by specialists from academic and clinical practices.

DESIGN
Study design consisted of formulation of essentials of guidelines and a series of potential evidence linkages representing conclusions and statements about relationships between clinical interventions and outcomes.

METHODS
The elements of the guideline preparation process included literature searches, literature synthesis, systematic review, consensus evaluation, open forum presentation, and blinded peer review. Methodologic quality evaluation criteria utilized included the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) criteria, Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) criteria, and Cochrane review criteria. The designation of levels of evidence was from Level I (conclusive), Level II (strong), Level III (moderate), Level IV (limited), to Level V (indeterminate).

RESULTS
Among the diagnostic interventions, the accuracy of facet joint nerve blocks is strong in the diagnosis of lumbar and cervical facet joint pain, whereas, it is moderate in the diagnosis of thoracic facet joint pain. The evidence is strong for lumbar discography, whereas, the evidence is limited for cervical and thoracic discography. The evidence for transforaminal epidural injections or selective nerve root blocks in the preoperative evaluation of patients with negative or inconclusive imaging studies is moderate. The evidence for diagnostic sacroiliac joint injections is moderate. The evidence for therapeutic lumbar intraarticular facet injections is moderate for short-term and long-term improvement, whereas, it is limited for cervical facet joint injections. The evidence for lumbar and cervical medial branch blocks is moderate. The evidence for medial branch neurotomy is moderate. The evidence for caudal epidural steroid injections is strong for short-term relief and moderate for long-term relief in managing chronic low back and radicular pain, and limited in managing pain of postlumbar laminectomy syndrome. The evidence for interlaminar epidural steroid injections is strong for short-term relief and limited for long-term relief in managing lumbar radiculopathy, whereas, for cervical radiculopathy the evidence is moderate. The evidence for transforaminal epidural steroid injections is strong for short-term and moderate for long-term improvement in managing lumbar nerve root pain, whereas, it is moderate for cervical nerve root pain and limited in managing pain secondary to lumbar post laminectomy syndrome and spinal stenosis. The evidence for percutaneous epidural adhesiolysis is strong. For spinal endoscopic adhesiolysis, the evidence is strong for short-term relief and moderate for long-term relief. For sacroiliac intraarticular injections, the evidence is moderate for short-term relief and limited for long-term relief. The evidence for radiofrequency neurotomy for sacroiliac joint pain is limited. The evidence for intradiscal electrothermal therapy is moderate in managing chronic discogenic low back pain, whereas for annuloplasty the evidence is limited. Among the various techniques utilized for percutaneous disc decompression, the evidence is moderate for short-term and limited for long-term relief for automated percutaneous lumbar discectomy, and percutaneous laser discectomy, whereas it is limited for nucleoplasty and for DeKompressor technology. For vertebral augmentation procedures, the evidence is moderate for both vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. The evidence for spinal cord stimulation in failed back surgery syndrome and complex regional pain syndrome is strong for short-term relief and moderate for long-term relief. The evidence for implantable intrathecal infusion systems is strong for short-term relief and moderate for long-term relief.

CONCLUSION
These guidelines include the evaluation of evidence for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in managing chronic spinal pain and recommendations for managing spinal pain. However, these guidelines do not constitute inflexible treatment recommendations. These guidelines also do not represent a "standard of care."


This paper presents the development of a novel visual speech recognition (VSR) system based on a new representation that extends the standard viseme concept (that is referred in this paper to as Visual Speech Unit (VSU)) and Hidden Markov Models (HMM). The visemes have been regarded as the smallest visual speech elements in the visual domain and they have been widely applied to model the visual speech, but it is worth noting that they are problematic when applied to the continuous visual speech recognition. To circumvent the problems associated with standard visemes, we propose a new visual speech representation that includes not only the data associated with the articulation of the visemes but also the transitory information between consecutive visemes. To fully evaluate the appropriateness of the proposed visual speech representation, in this paper an extensive set of experiments have been conducted to analyse the performance of the visual speech units when compared with that offered by the standard MPEG-4 visemes. The experimental results indicate that the developed VSR application achieved up to 90% correct recognition when the system has been applied to the identification of 60 classes of VSUs, while the recognition rate for the standard set of MPEG-4 visemes was only in the range 62-72%.


: The 6th decade of this century was particularly important for transplantation immunology. The universality of allograft rejection by normal hosts had won general acceptance and, experimentally, several means of abrogating host reactivity to allografts were discovered. These included sub-lethal whole body irradiation, administration of certain corticosteroid hormones and inoculation of very young animals with living cellular inocula from the future graft donor--i.e., classic, neonatal tolerance. The latter was particularly important since it indicated the feasibility of a specific, permanent solution to the clinical allograft problem. Radiation and drug-induced tolerance in adult subjects came along and chemical immunosuppressants, which led to successful clinical use of azathioprine. The important rediscovery of ALS pointed towards the development and clinical application of monoclonal antibodies many years later. With the development of immunogenetics and transplantation biology came recognition that the conceptus is a highly successful allograft, raising the question of how it is able to withstand rejection by its immunocompetent mother for the duration of pregnancy. Hopefully, knowledge of the principle(s) involved when they are finally elucidated will be applicable to clinical allograft recipients. Although functional hypoantigenicity of the syncytial trophoblast probably plays a major role in protecting the allogeneic conceptus, a strong case now exists that local, cell-based, immunosuppressive and immunoprotective activity within the placenta and decidua, mediated by suppressor and other cells, is important.


It is shown that balanced $n$-bit Gray codes can be constructed for all positive integers $n$. A balanced Gray code is one in which the bit changes are distributed as equally as possible among the bit positions. The strategy used is to prove the existence of a certain subsequence which will allow successful use of the construction proposed by Robinson and Cohn in 1981. Although Wagner and West proved in 1991 that balanced Gray code schemes exist when $n$ is a power of 2, the question for general $n$ has remained open since 1980 when it first attracted attention.


Virginia's only montane pine barren, located in the Warm Springs Mountain Nature Preserve in the Allegheny Highlands of western Virginia is likely threatened by successional changes initiated by a history of fire suppression. Dominated by early successional fire adapted species, such as dwarfed Pinus rigida (Mill.) and Quercus ilicifolia (Wangenh.), this shrubland is home to numerous rare plants and invertebrates. We used vegetation analysis and dendrochronology to document establishment and recruitment patterns and to identify successional trends at this site. Tree establishment of the dominant tree species (P. rigida and Quercus rubra L.) peaked following the last known fire event in the early 1930s. Vegetation analysis revealed an absence of P. rigida seedling recruitment as well as a low density of fire adapted species such as Q. ilicifolia. In contrast, Q. rubra is represented in a variety of age classes and shade tolerant trees such as Acer rubrum (L.) and Pinus strobus (L.) are beginning to establish. A dense understory of ericaceous shrubs and a thick litter layer appear to inhibit recruitment of P. rigida and other early successional species pointing to the need for active management in the form of prescribed burns, which have been effective in other pine barrens.


This paper calls for an ethical turn in communication. It offers a
re-evaluation of Weaver's metaphor on communication as
exchanges of information and develops Buber's and Peters'
ideas on communication as manifestation of the ethical, where the ethical is
described as openness to otherness and communication is viewed as a tension
between reproduction of Self and reconciliation with alterity. It argues that mutuality is not a necessary
condition for the ethical because it involves intimacy that can only be discrete, and that end of theodicy is not the end of the ethical because the
ethical is a space of profound intimacy, beyond preachment. Extreme cases of
annihilation of otherness such as genocides in all
their stages and variations, can't be described as rational in some cases than others and have deeper roots than modernity.
The ethical turn within socio-political conflicts and genocidal process meets
challenges such as the patriarchal order, implantations and involvement of the third, dehumanization, isolation for
larger contexts, traumatic disorders, and states of denial. However, the
potential of communication as reconciliation is enhanced by insights in intercultural communication, nurturing of hybrid
cultures, and distance taking techniques such as time distance, attention/topic shift, emotions such as feelings of awe and art.


What must linguistic knowledge be like if it is to figure in the description and explanation of the various phenomena pre-theoretically classified as linguistic? All linguists and philosophers of language presuppose some answer to this critical question, but all too often the presupposition is tacit. In this collection of sixteen previously unpublished essays, a distinguished international line-up of philosophers and linguists address a variety of interconnected themes concerning our knowledge of language:
Knowledge in Linguistics: Noam Chomsky's claim that ordinary speakers possess complex structures of linguistic knowledge was a trigger for the cognitive revolution nearly fifty years ago. This and an associated claim, that linguistics is essentially in the business of rendering such knowledge explicit, have been the target of an evolving series of sceptical objections ever since.
Understanding: Is linguistic understanding a special kind of semantic knowledge? If so, what kind? Topics covered include the viability of recent attempts to fuse Chomsky's cognitivism with Davidson's truth-theoretic approach to interpretation; the merging of linguistic and non-linguistic meaning in non-sentential speech; linguistic understanding as a kind of perception; and the objectivity of semantic knowledge.
Linguistic externalism: Some regard externalist intuitions about reference as a vital contribution to our understanding of language, mind, and metaphysics; others see them as a curious but relatively unimportant component of folk linguistics, where the folk are late-twentieth-century analytic philosophers. So just what is the relation between externalist intuitions and our grasp of language?
Epistemology through language: The linguistic turn in philosophy may have come full circle, but advances in epistemology and other areas of philosophy can still take the form of a better appreciation of language and our relation to it.
The book includes a very useful terrain-mapping and agenda-setting introduction.


Noise is one of the most important harmful elements in industrial environments
causing auditory and non-auditory disorders. One of the non-auditory effects of noise is reducing
efficiency and production quality. The aim of the present study was to survey the effects of exposure on
selected sound pressure levels in performing skill tasks.
Materials & Methods: In the laboratory environment, Gold Wave was used to create sound pressure
levels of 40, 60, 80 and 100 dB, respectively. The participating subjects in the study were requested to
carry out the test of Two-Hand Coordination with starting the noise and after 1 to 2 minutes pause. The
testing time and number of errors were registered and recorded.
Result: The results revealed that there was no significant correlation between the interaction of sound
pressure level and gender in the testing time (P=0.96%). The findings also showed that the mean of
testing time had no statistical significance for males and females (p=0.51%). However, a significant
difference was observed by the average of the testing time in sound pressure of different levels (P <
0.001).
Conclusion: Noise is an effective factor on accuracy and speed of skill tasks performance. Increasing
sound pressure leads to higher error rates in performing skill tasks


For wave-variable-based teleoperation systems, the performance of trajectory tracking is not ensured due to a bias term introduced by the wave communication channel. This paper proposes a new method that can improve the trajectory tracking performance. The key idea is that the wave in the forward path is augmented by the user-perceived force and slave control force. The passivity of the augmented teleoperation system can be maintained by tuning the bandwidth of the low-pass filter, as demonstrated via an example. Therefore, the system stability can be always guaranteed. Both the simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the scheme.


Tax lawyers are abuzz over Tax Court Judge David Laro's aggressive application of the substance-over-form doctrine in ACM Partnership v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-115. In that case, Judge Laro rejected Colgate-Palmolive's use of the contingent payment installment sales rules to shelter $100 million of gain. In contrast, Tax Court Judge John O. Colvin recently rejected the Service's substance-over-form argument in Estate of Brown v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1997-195, thereby permitting control of the Cincinnati Bengals football team to pass to the children of the team's founder free of over $30 million of estate tax. The decision creates a quasi-business judgment rule in the estate tax - whatever a closely held company and the estate planning advisers of a major shareholder decide to do to shift control of the company to the shareholder's children seemingly is automatically imbued with a business purpose as long as an unrelated shareholder receives sufficient cash to go along with the transaction. Although the technique may be difficult for other sports plutocrats to replicate, Estate of Brown gives credence in the estate tax context to matters of form rightfully scorned by ACM Partnership in the income tax context.


An efficient and accessible procedure for the synthesis of substituted pyrazoles was described. The method involves cyclocondensation reaction of chalcones with 2,4-dimethylphenylhydrazine hydrochloride in the presence of catalytic amount of hydrochloric acid to obtain pyrazole derivatives in good yields. The synthesized new compounds were characterized by spectral studies and elemental analysis; and evaluated in vitro for their antimicrobial susceptibilities.


ABSTRACT PET-CT has become a pivotal tool for staging patients with lymphomas and the PET response adapted treatment is emerging as a rational therapeutic approach. The improved sensitivity and spatial resolution due to technical innovations increased the performance of the last generation PET-CT systems particularly in the detection rate of the small lesions with low metabolic rate. This may change the role of the screening with 18F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG) PET-CT in the staging and clinical management of the very indolent lymphomas, classified, so far, as FDG-non avid in which the use of the PET-CT is not yet recommended. Moreover the increased sensitivity will allow to reduce the quantity of radiotracer injected and, therefore, the patient radiation exposure. A risk-adapted therapy requires early prognostic indicators. There is increasing evidence of the potential prognostic value of quantitative parameters obtained from initial staging FDG PET-CT in patients with high-grade lymphomas. In addition to the standardized uptake value (SUV), more recently, new parameters, the metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG), appeared of particular interest as a prognostic pointer in DLBCL and PMBCL. A significant amount of false positive findings in PET imaging is due to the FDG uptake by inflammatory cells that leads to an overestimation of the viable tumor cell fraction, particularly after immunochemotherapy or radiotherapy. For these reasons, 18F-fluorothymidine (FLT), a biomarker for proliferative activity, is intensively studied as a valid alternative for FDG to predict therapy response: initial promising results have been obtained in MCL, DLBCL and FL. Infections due to neutropenia are not uncommon after chemotherapy and to distinguish between reactive lymphadenopathy and residual or relapsed disease is sometimes very challenging, particularly in patients with HIV-associated lymphoma. Though the quantitative PET metrics may help the qualitative analysis, a correct interpretation of PET findings can only be made in the context of the overall patient's clinical and laboratory data. In exceptionally difficult cases, short-term follow-up may be helpful and when treatment decision includes aggressive options, a biopsy of PET-positive lesions may be required. Disclosure: The author has declared no conflicts of interest.


Copulas have become an important analytic tool for characterizing multivariate distributions and dependence. One is often interested in simulating data from copula estimates. The process can be analytically and computationally complex and usually involves steps that are unique to a given parametric copula. We describe an alternative approach that uses \probability{proportional{to{size" (PPS) random sampling with weights formed from the copula likelihood function. The method is flexible and can be applied to parametric and nonparametric marginal density estimates. The precision of the simulation can be calibrated by adjusting the density of the multidimensional grid used in the simulation process. The approach is fully transparent to any copula function with continuous random variables. An example evaluates a number of goodness-of-fit criteria and provides strong support for the validity and practicality of the method.


During analysis of new or existing ammunition the bore resistance profile is of particular importance as it gives the engineer valuable insight into tuning propellant parameters and charge loads. Finite Element Analysis can be a useful tool in estimating bore resistance profiles of conceptual ammunition before the rounds are prototyped and tested. However, many assumptions go into launch models that can affect the bore resistance profile obtained. This presentation covers many of the assumptions made during launch modeling and features within Finite Element Analysis and compares their influence on the obtained bore resistance curve. Factors such as rigid vs. Lagrangian elements, surface smoothing, mesh densities, helical meshing techniques, and results across multiple software packages will be evaluated.


In this paper, the mechanical behaviors of the articular cartilage defect repaired area were studied under cyclic compression loading, and also discussed the material parameters index of tissue engineered cartilage (TEC) and loading frequency might prove beneficial. A dual-phase fiber-reinforced porous elastic model of articular cartilage was established by finite element software COMSOL, in which depthdependent mechanical parameters of cartilage was considered. The stress distribution in the repaired area, the displacement difference between two adjacent paths on both sides of the repaired interface and the stress respond of the solid matrix to the cyclic loading was studied numerically. The mechanical environment of the repaired area changed significantly. At the same frequency, the TEC with lower elastic modulus (0.1 MPa, 0.3 MPa), the maximum value of stress and the displacement difference between adjacent paths were lower in the repaired area. The peak-peak value of stress respond curves of solid matrix to cyclic loading at higher frequency (0.5 Hz) was lower than that at lower frequency (0.1 Hz) in each layer. According to the numerical simulation results in this paper, the TEC with elastic modulus (0.3 Mpa) and the cyclic loading at frequency (0.5 Hz), the mechanical environment of the repaired area was better than other conditions. This work has some guiding significance for the development of biomedical basis and patients in clinical care and rehabilitation training technology.


A series of BODIPY-containing microporous organic polymers was synthesized via a Sonogashira–Hagihara cross-coupling reaction of a BODIPY derivative with triple polymerisable groups and a range of aryl–alkyne monomers. All of the polymers show high isosteric heats of CO2 adsorption (23.3–27.3 kJ mol−1) because the incorporation of heteroatoms (N, B, F) from the BODIPY unit into the polymer skeleton enhanced the binding affinity between the pore wall and CO2 molecules. The aryl–alkyne monomer has a large influence on the surface area and CO2 adsorption performance of the resulting polymers. The polymer BDPCMP-3 shows a high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area of up to 725 m2 g−1, while BDPCMP-2 with a low surface area of 582 m2 g−1 shows a high CO2 uptake ability of 2.25 mmol g−1 at 1.13 bar/273 K with a CO2/N2 adsorption selectivity of 32.3.


Given a graph $G=(V,E)$ and a positive integer $t\geq2$, the task in the vertex cover $P_t$ ($VCP_t$) problem is to find a minimum subset of vertices $F\subseteq V$ such that every path of order $t$ in $G$ contains at least one vertex from $F$. The $VCP_t$ problem is NP-complete for any integer $t\geq2$ and has many applications in real world. Recently, the authors presented a dynamic programming algorithm running in time $4^p\cdot n^{O(1)}$ for the $VCP_3$ problem on $n$-vertex graphs with treewidth $p$. In this paper, we propose an improvement of it and improved the time-complexity to $3^p\cdot n^{O(1)}$.
The connected vertex cover $P_3$ ($CVCP_3$) problem is the connected variation of the $VCP_3$ problem where $G[F]$ is required to be connected. Using the Cut\&Count technique, we give a randomized algorithm with runtime $4^p\cdot n^{O(1)}$ for the $CVCP_3$ problem on $n$-vertex graphs with treewidth $p$.


Background Physical activity reduces, whereas exposure to air pollution increases, the risk of premature mortality. Physical activity amplifies respiratory uptake and deposition of air pollutants in the lung, which may augment acute harmful effects of air pollution during exercise. Objectives We aimed to examine whether benefits of physical activity on mortality are moderated by long-term exposure to high air pollution levels in an urban setting. Methods A total of 52,061 subjects (50–65 years of age) from the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health cohort, living in Aarhus and Copenhagen, reported data on physical activity in 1993–1997 and were followed until 2010. High exposure to air pollution was defined as the upper 25th percentile of modeled nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels at residential addresses. We associated participation in sports, cycling, gardening, and walking with total and cause-specific mortality by Cox regression, and introduced NO2 as an interaction term. Results In total, 5,534 subjects died: 2,864 from cancer, 1,285 from cardiovascular disease, 354 from respiratory disease, and 122 from diabetes. Significant inverse associations of participation in sports, cycling, and gardening with total, cardiovascular, and diabetes mortality were not modified by NO2. Reductions in respiratory mortality associated with cycling and gardening were more pronounced among participants with moderate/low NO2 [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.72 and 0.55; 95% CI: 0.41, 0.73, respectively] than with high NO2 exposure (HR = 0.77; 95% CI: 0.54, 1.11 and HR = 0.81; 95% CI: 0.55, 1.18, p-interaction = 0.09 and 0.02, respectively). Conclusions In general, exposure to high levels of traffic-related air pollution did not modify associations, indicating beneficial effects of physical activity on mortality. These novel findings require replication in other study populations. Citation Andersen ZJ, de Nazelle A, Mendez MA, Garcia-Aymerich J, Hertel O, Tjønneland A, Overvad K, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ. 2015. A study of the combined effects of physical activity and air pollution on mortality in elderly urban residents: the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health cohort. Environ Health Perspect 123:557–563; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408698


This thesis seeks to establish a connection between abstract thought
and material practice. It does so by focusing on the relation between the
transcendental philosophy of time and the socio-technics of time-keeping
practices.
The thesis begins with a discussion of Kant's philosophy of time as
outlined in the Critique of Pure Reason. It argues that Kant's discovery of the
transcendental coincides with the development of an entirely new conception
of time. This new conception overturns classical thought by making a
distinction between the abstract form of time and the empirical phenomena of
movement and change.
The second chapter maps the transcendental philosophy of time on to
the history of capitalist time-keeping. This history includes: the invention and
development of the mechanical clock, temporal standardization and the
increasing importance of the equation 'time = money. The aim in bringing
these two spheres together is to show, both that Kant's philosophy of time
owes much to his empirical surroundings, and also that capitalist time can
only be understood through the temporal abstraction of transcendental
thought. This link between Kant and capitalism is blocked, however, by a
dividing line which separates the philosophical nature of time from the
empirical changes of history.
In order to surpass this problem the thesis turns to the work of Deleuze
and Guattari whose 'transcendental materialism' connects the abstract
production of time with empirical innovations. This is accomplished by
replacing the classical conception of a transcendent eternity with the
immanent materiality of an exterior plane. This plane - which they call Aeonis
composed of thresholds, or singular events which make no distinction
between time and that which occurs in time. The final chapter explores the
dawn of the third millennium - or Y2K - as constituting one such Aeonic event.


Despite efforts in reducing the number of dental traumas, most current studies indicate that the incidence of dental trauma remains unchanged and is at a relatively high level for children and young adults. When reviewing the literature on prevention, it is clear that until now the main focus has been on making and promoting mouthguards. The majority of the published studies on mouthguards have focused on materials used and how those behave and protect in vitro. The few epidemiologic studies that have been published on the possible protectiveness of the mouthguards in vivo are mostly of low level of evidence, and even those studies do not all agree on how much they actually protect the dentition. To compound the problem is the fact that the proportional ratio of dental trauma in organized sports is low compared with injuries that occur during children's play or leisure activities. It could be argued that the best strategic measure for preventing dental and oral injuries is education on both how to avoid them and what to do if an injury occurs. The demand of evidence-based dentistry and medicine calls for large prospective studies with randomized intervention to investigate the actual protection of mouthguards and faceguards. In addition, more emphasis should be placed on which is the best and most constructive way to educate youngsters and teenagers on how to avoid traumatic injuries to their teeth by using contemporary means like the Internet and apps.


This study examined the proximate and mineral compositions of wheat bread fortified with honey beans, soybeans and melon by using standard methods. Non-fortified wheat bread was used as the control. Results of the proximate analysis showed that wheat-melon bread had the highest moisture content (29.30 %), fat content (17.14 %), and ash content (2.08 %). Wheat-beans bread had the highest crude fibre (5.73 %) while the protein content was highest in wheatsoybeans bread (9.73 %). The protein content of the melon, bean and soya bean enriched breads increased by 9 %, 16.5 % and ~26 % respectively. Carbohydrate content increased in all samples with wheat-soybean bread having the highest and wheat-melon-bread the least. Results of the mineral analysis showed the presence of Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium, Manganese, Iron, Copper, Zinc and Phosphorus. Meanwhile, Co, Cr, Cd, Pb and Ni were not detected in all the bread samples. The results showed increase in the mineral content of the three breads and only wheat-soybean bread showed decrease Mn. The significant increases in amounts of protein and minerals indicated that supplementation of wheat flour with soybean flour would greatly contribute to the daily dietary needs and improve the nutritional quality of wheat bread. Fortification of wheat bread with soybeans and other plant materials should therefore be encouraged.


The Food Sanitation and Foodhandling Training of Employees in Chinese Restaurants in Rochester, New York: A Pilot Study by Jing-Jing Wu Foodbome illness outbreaks in the foodservice industry are a continuing health problem. An official statistical report published by the CDC(1988) about foodbome disease from 1983 to 1987, foodservice establishments accounted for 77 percent of the reported foodbome illness outbreaks. This report also listed Chinese food and fried rice as two major vehicles of foodbome illnesses. The main reason for all reported foodbome bacterial illness was improper temperature control of food. Public perception of poor sanitary conduction in Chinese restaurants is an ever present problem. The purpose of the study was to survey Chinese restaurants in Rochester area to access the extent of food sanitation training of employees(cooks, kitchen staffs and servers). The findings in the study were based upon primary research conducted through surveying(telephone interviews and personal interviews) and observation. The sample was selected from Chinese restaurant listings of official Rochester Telephone Yellow Pages of 1991 and Rochester City Directory of 1991. From the sample of 53 Chinese restaurants, 40(75.5%) participated in this study; seven refused to participate and six were out of business. The survey results showed that the average numbers seats were 118, 30(75%) were open a whole year(365 days), they were in business an average of 6 years, the main menu styles were Mandarin, Peking, Cantonese, Szechuan, and Hunan. Thirtyseven(92.5%) restaurants purchased foods from local food distributors and 75% purchased seafood, dried foods and special Chinese ingredients from China Town in New York City. Almost all Chinese restaurants were family owned and operated businesses and the major workers were the owner's or manager's family members. The average full time and part time employees per restaurant numbered 6.3 persons and 2.4 persons. Sixty percent of the restaurants in Rochester had no food sanitation training of employees. The official records and survey results were different on the inspection frequency by health department. The official records showed that 5 restaurants which responded to the telephone survey, were reported as out of business, 19 restaurants had more inspections than were reported in survey, 7 restaurants that had training also had one to three public complaints, and 7 restaurants that had complaints provided no training. From the survey results, we could not find any direct correlation between food sanitation training of employees and inspection frequency by health department. Thus, food sanitation training of employees in Chinese restaurants was most likely ineffective. The study recommends all Chinese restaurant operators should realize how vulnerable they are to food safety hazards and be responsible for protecting customers from foodbome illness. Furthermore, they need to begin HACCP system, take self-inspection and train their employees in food sanitation principles and practices for safe food and preventing foodbome illness.


This report presents the results of the repeatability evaluation for the 3rd International Competition on Verifying Continuous and Hybrid Systems (ARCH-COMP'19). The competition took place as part of the workshop Applied Verification for Continuous and Hybrid Systems (ARCH) in 2019, affiliated with the Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet of Things (CPS-IoT Week'19). In its third edition, twenty-five tools submitted artifacts through a Git repository for the repeatability evaluation, applied to solve benchmark problems for eight competition categories. The majority of participants adhered to new requirements for this year's repeatability evaluation, namely to submit scripts to automatically install and execute tools in containerized virtual environments (specifically Dockerfiles to execute within Docker). The repeatability results represent a snapshot of the current landscape of tools and the types of benchmarks for which they are particularly suited and for which others may repeat their analyses. Due to the diversity of problems in verification of continuous and hybrid systems, as well as basing on standard practice in repeatability evaluations, we evaluate the tools with pass and/or failing being repeatable.


ObjectiveCardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in postmenopausal women. Danshen, the dried root of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, has been used clinically in China to treat CVD and dyslipidemia in postmenopausal women, and its major active ingredients have been found to have an estrogenic effect. The aim of this study was to elucidate the underlying mechanism of danshen's protective effects on vascular function in an ovariectomized (OVX) hyperlipidemic rat model. MethodsThirty-five 6-month-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: sham-operated rats with low-fat control diet + vehicle, sham-operated rats with high-fat diet (HFD) + vehicle, OVX rats with HFD + vehicle, OVX rats with HFD + 17&bgr;-estradiol (1 mg kg−1 d−1, PO), and OVX rats with HFD + danshen aqueous extract (600 mg kg−1 d−1, PO). After 12 weeks of treatment, gains in body weight and serum lipid profile levels in rats were measured and histological examination of livers was carried out. Vascular function was evaluated by measuring relaxation responses. Molecular mechanisms were also analyzed in isolated aorta. ResultsTreatment with danshen aqueous extract reduced body weight gain, improved serum lipid profiles, and prevented formation of fatty liver induced by HFD and OVX. In addition, danshen could increase endothelial-dependent vasorelaxation and displayed vasoprotection in OVX rats fed with HFD, primarily by stimulating nitric oxide (NO) production, up-regulating the mRNA expression of endothelial NO synthase, and down-regulating the mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor &agr;, intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in the isolated aortas. ConclusionsWe conclude for the first time that danshen aqueous extract could protect OVX rats fed with HFD from endothelial dysfunction. Its effect may be related to its abilities to normalize serum lipid profiles and enhance NO availability in the vascular system. Our findings indicate that danshen aqueous extract could be a promising natural supplement for postmenopausal women for preventing CVD.


PavloviC, M., 2012. EU CaP reforms related to production and marketing of hops. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 18: 847-872 Since its inception, the common agricultural policy (CaP) has been under constant internal and external reform pressures. This study belongs to a Health Check of the EU's latest CaP reform phase, which started in 2007. it analyzes the main effects of the CaP reform in 2003 (decoupled aid, as established by Council Regulation 1782/2003) on the hop industry sector. The research results demonstrate to what extent the CaP measures supporting hops have affected the production decisions of farmers in the EU's traditional hop production areas. There were three judgment criteria considered and discussed: (i) the extent to which the CAP reform has influenced the profitability of hops (production areas, capital investments); (ii) the extent to which the effects on production vary between, on the one hand, countries adopting fully decoupled support and, on the other, countries adopting partial coupling; and (iii) the extent to which producer groups contributed to stabilizing markets. The results illustrate that there was no evidence that CAP measures introduced after the reform had a significant influence on the production decisions of farmers in the traditional hop production areas from 2004 to 2008.


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BACKGROUND

Bronchiectasis is a major contributor to chronic respiratory morbidity and mortality worldwide. Wheeze and other asthma-like symptoms and bronchial hyperreactivity may occur in people with bronchiectasis. Physicians often use asthma treatments in patients with bronchiectasis.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effects of inhaled long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA) combined with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in children and adults with bronchiectasis during (1) acute exacerbations and (2) stable state.

SEARCH METHODS

The Cochrane Airways Group searched the the Cochrane Airways Group Specialised Register of Trials, which includes records identified from the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE and other databases. The Cochrane Airways Group performed the latest searches in October 2013.

SELECTION CRITERIA

All randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of combined ICS and LABA compared with a control (placebo, no treatment, ICS as monotherapy) in children and adults with bronchiectasis not related to cystic fibrosis (CF).

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Two review authors extracted data independently using standard methodological procedures as expected by The Cochrane Collaboration.

MAIN RESULTS

We found no RCTs comparing ICS and LABA combination with either placebo or usual care. We included one RCT that compared combined ICS and LABA with high-dose ICS in 40 adults with non-CF bronchiectasis without co-existent asthma. All participants received three months of high-dose budesonide dipropionate treatment (1600 micrograms). After three months, participants were randomly assigned to receive either high-dose budesonide dipropionate (1600 micrograms per day) or a combination of budesonide with formoterol (640 micrograms of budesonide and 18 micrograms of formoterol) for three months. The study was not blinded. We assessed it to be an RCT with overall high risk of bias. Data analysed in this review showed that those who received combined ICS-LABA (in stable state) had a significantly better transition dyspnoea index (mean difference (MD) 1.29, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.40 to 2.18) and cough-free days (MD 12.30, 95% CI 2.38 to 22.2) compared with those receiving ICS after three months of treatment. No significant difference was noted between groups in quality of life (MD -4.57, 95% CI -12.38 to 3.24), number of hospitalisations (odds ratio (OR) 0.26, 95% CI 0.02 to 2.79) or lung function (forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC)). Investigators reported 37 adverse events in the ICS group versus 12 events in the ICS-LABA group but did not mention the number of individuals experiencing adverse events. Hence differences between groups were not included in the analyses. We assessed the overall evidence to be low quality.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

In adults with bronchiectasis without co-existent asthma, during stable state, a small single trial with a high risk of bias suggests that combined ICS-LABA may improve dyspnoea and increase cough-free days in comparison with high-dose ICS. No data are provided for or against, the use of combined ICS-LABA in adults with bronchiectasis during an acute exacerbation, or in children with bronchiectasis in a stable or acute state. The absence of high quality evidence means that decisions to use or discontinue combined ICS-LABA in people with bronchiectasis may need to take account of the presence or absence of co-existing airway hyper-responsiveness and consideration of adverse events associated with combined ICS-LABA.


Each December 10 as the world celebrates Human Rights Day--the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948--the world community builds solidarity and a unified vision. In this column we 1) describe the need for professional commitment to human rights to transcend bland neutrality; 2) compare key human rights documents with the central core values of librarianship; and 3) identify outstanding examples of library actions in service to human rights. Commitment Transcending Neutrality Human rights--the assumption that all human beings, by virtue of their existence, deserve certain rights and dignity--is most eloquently defined in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. (1) What is the responsibility of the librarian to serve the cause of human rights? The oft-cited neutrality of a balanced collection is increasingly, and rightfully, being called into question. In a 2004 presentation before the Texas Library Association, professor Robert Jensen discussed "The Myth of the Neutral Professional" and observed: The ideology of political neutrality, unfortunately, keeps professionals such as journalists, teachers, and librarians--as well as citizens--from understanding the relationship between power and the professions. Any claim to such neutrality is illusory; there is no neutral ground on which to stand anywhere in the world. (2) Doctors have found ways to advance their professional commitment to human rights with a number of organizations performing specialized tasks. For example, Doctors without Borders is specially organized to be nonthreatening to oppressive governments so as to be able to heal in an apolitical environment. We see medical professionals speaking up about the ethics of torture, the tragedy of HIV/AIDS infections, and the ravages of war on populations that subsequently starve, are cut off from medicines, and endure epidemics caused by poor health policies. We also find evidence of other human rights activities, such as the headline "Physicians for Human Rights Opposes Confirmation of Alberto Gonzales to be Attorney General; Opposition is a First for the Human Rights Group," describing the work of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), a group that first organized around banning land mines and along with other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. (3) This group also lobbied to attack the constitutionality of the death penalty for juveniles and mobilizes the health professions to promote health by protecting human rights. Lawyers also have engaged in professional activities to advance human rights. Amnesty International is certainly a well-known human rights advocacy program. We see lawyers tirelessly working for human rights at the American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League, the International Human Rights Law Group, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and many more. The library profession has a rich history of alignment with human-rights issues, movements, and declarations. Librarians have long been aware of the many ways human rights values intersect with the values of our profession. We may not be personally activist, or profess to be activist, but the library profession, like medicine and law, is bound to uphold its values. Human rights values permeate library policies beyond the professional round tables inhabited by intellectual freedom, social responsibilities, and international relations. As we carry on with our duties as public service librarians, we should keep in mind our history of human rights advocacy, and note the work we do today as a continuation of the commitment to the contributions of our programs, collections, and services toward keeping an open society, a public space where democracy lives. …


It is well-known that dam-reservoir interaction has significant effects on the response of dams to the earthquakes. This phenomenon should be considered more exactly in the seismic design of dams with a rational and reliable dynamic analysis method. In this research, seismic analysis of the dam-reservoir is studied as a wave propagation problem by using Legendre Spectral element method (SEM). The special FEM and SEM codes are developed to carry out the seismic analysis of the damreservoir interaction system. The results of both SEM and FEM models are compared considering the accuracy and the time consumption of the analysis. Attractive spectral convergence of SEM is obtained either by increasing the degree of the polynomials in the reservoir or by the number of elements of dam. It is shown that all boundary conditions of the reservoir domain in the SEM are evaluated by the exact diagonal matrices. The SEM leads to the diagonal mass matrix for both dam and reservoir domains. The stiffness matrices obtained from the SEM are more sparse than the corresponding stiffness matrices in the FEM consequently the SEM needs a significant less time consumption of the analysis.


Today, most countries in the world are gearing up by innovation, seeking to increase productivity and improve their economic situation, and one of the important centers for innovative activities is the incubator centered companies. The majority of companies based in incubator centers are startups companies. Considering that the failure rate of new firms in the early years of formation is greater, research should be conducted on the success factors of these companies. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the key factors for the success of knowledge-based companies Relied on academic incubator centers and it was carried out with the Meta synthesis method. Meta synthesis requires that the researcher carry out a thorough and in-depth review, combining the findings of relevant qualitative research. Using the Meta synthesis method, evaluated over 38 articles in the field of knowledge-based companies. Content mining was used to extract the dimensions and codes, and the significance and priority of each was determined by the use of the quantitative Shannon entropy method. 13 codes, 4 general concepts and 2 categories were identified by reviewing 38 articles. Shannon's entropy was determined based on the results of the quantitative analysis. To evaluate the quality, the results are presented to one of the experts to be examined by the Kappa index Using SPSS software; a significant number of 0.000 and an index value of 0.706 were calculated. So it can be claimed that the extraction of the codes had a good reliability. The most important factor for the success of the companies located in the incubator centers of Sistan and Baluchistan University is the marketing and sales capabilities that have the highest coefficient and have the highest rankings in total. Based on the findings, it was found that the factors of marketing and sales capabilities, the presence of specialized staff and information technology related infrastructure (software, hardware, network, and brain ware), respectively, have the most impact on the success of knowledge-based companies Relied on university incubator centers.


The question has been the following: can the regional oxygenation monitoring change our clinical practices in neonatal intensive care? Fifty newborns of gestational age ≤ 32 weeks were recruited for regional oxygenation continuous monitoring immediately after their admission. Of these newborns 44 showed a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) with a left to right shunt. In these subjects, a progressive decrease of the renal oxygenation (rSO 2 ) up to values of 59.6 ± 3.6% and an increase of the renal oxygen extraction fraction (rFTOE) to 50.9 ± 3 were observed during the first hours of monitoring. The cerebral oxygenation (cSO 2 ) instead, remained relatively constant at 64.5(± 4.2%)-69.7(± 5.6%) with a cerebral oxygen extraction fraction (cFTOE) between 28.6 ± 4.7 and 24.6 ± 6.5. Renal oxygenation improved in almost all the subjects, except that in three, up to values of rSO 2 of 75(± 1.0%)-82.2(± 4.9) with a rFTOE of 20.1(± 14.8)-13.4(± 3.5) after a three-six hours treatment with dopamine at 5-7.5 μg/kg/min. These data, together with echodoppler findings, have allowed us to modify our approach to the newborn with PDA and the left-right shunt. It now consists in using dopamine as soon as ductal shunt has been left to right and waiting until the hemodynamic stability persists or until the end of the first week of life prior to consider the closure of the duct by cyclooxygenase inhibitors. Besides, 42 newborns with a post-natal age ≥ 2 weeks were selected and submitted to a regional oxygenation monitoring once hematocrit had been less than 30%. Sixteen out of 42 newborns showed a decline of rSO 2 to 50 ± 5% and a rFTOE of 45 ± 3, with a cSO 2 of 69 ± 3% and a cFTOE of 23 ± 4. Of the 26 newborns with normal values of regional saturation, 10 showed a decrease of rSO 2 to 50 ± 3 with a rFTOE of 45 ± 3 when the hematocrit fell to 20-22%. After a packed red cell transfusion, a progressive rise of the rSO 2 to 83.8 ± 9.4 and a decline of the rFTOE to 8.1 ± 3.4 were observed. These changes started at the end of the transfusion and became stable in the following 12-24 hours. An increase of the cSO 2 to 82.2 ± 2.9 and a decrease of the cFTOE to 12.2 ± 2.90 were observed after the transfusion and after the progressive normalization of the renal oxygenation as well. On the basis of these results, in our Unit only the newborns with a hematocrit ≤ 30 and clear sinking renal saturation values are transfused. In the light of the reported observations, we recognize to the regional oxygenation monitoring a precise role in the process of personalization of the newborn cares in intensive contexts. Despite the requirement for wider observations, the information drawn by the variations of the regional oxygenation in different pathophysiologic processes can substantially help in the prevention of the organ damage, particularly the brain, that upsets still today the results of the neonatal intensive cares. Proceedings of the 9 th International Workshop on Neonatology · Cagliari (Italy) · October 23 rd -26 th , 2013 · Learned lessons, changing practice and cutting-edge research


ABSTRACT Finding ways of improving the health and wellbeing of older men is an important challenge for public health. This review aimed to assess evidence for the effects of Men's Sheds and other gendered social activities on the health and wellbeing of older men, and to consider their effective components and theoretical frameworks. A scoping review using standardised search criteria and terms identified 31 relevant papers of sufficient quality for inclusion. Analysis was informed by guidance on interpretative and narrative synthesis and a quality assessment tool designed for reviewing disparate data from different disciplines and research paradigms applied. The review found some limited evidence that Men's Sheds and other gendered social activities may have impact on the mental health and wellbeing of older men, but little evidence of the impact on physical health. Qualitative data provided valuable insights into how and why complex psycho-social activities can affect participants, but there was a lack of longitudinal evidence drawing on validated health and wellbeing measures. Key components of successful interventions included accessibility, range of activities, local support and skilled co-ordination. A variety of theoretical frameworks were employed. As yet, there is no conclusive evidence that Men's Sheds and other gendered interventions confer health and wellbeing benefits on older men. Studies in this field to date are few and of variable quality. Larger and more robust mixed-methods studies, including randomised designs, are needed.


The research was conducted to determine if grace and courtesy lessons could increase the peer to peer reliance in a new community of 12 children ranging in age from thirty-three months to four years old at a private Montessori school in a metropolitan area. It is rare to experience starting a new community and only having 12 children of the same relative age in a Montessori school. The study was conducted with grace and courtesy lessons, given an average of three times a week, on how to ask other peers for help and how to offer help to others. Data was collected over a six week period. The collected data showed whether or not the language from the grace and courtesy lessons was being used between the children. The results showed that the children were not yet functionally independent in many of the tasks that they were being asked to help with and therefore still had to ask an adult for assistance. Future research could repeat this process in a year's time when there is a broader age range of children or could focus on grace and courtesy lessons on how to resolve conflicts and encounters with children through practiced language.


Predicting an adversary's capabilities, intentions, and probable vectors of attack is in general a complex and arduous task. Cyber space is particularly vulnerable to unforeseen attacks, as most computer networks have a large, complex, opaque attack surface area and are therefore extremely difficult to analyze. Abstract adversarial models which capture the pertinent features needed for analysis, can reduce the complexity sufficiently to make analysis feasible. Game theory allows for mathematical analysis of adversarial models; however, its scalability limitations restrict its use to simple, abstract models. Computational game theory is focused on scaling classical game theory to large, complex systems capable of modeling real-world environments; one promising approach is coevolution where each player's 'fitness is dependent on its adversaries. In this paper, we propose the Coevolutionary Agent-based Network Defense Lightweight Event System (CANDLES), a framework designed to coevolve attacker and defender agent strategies and evaluate potential solutions with a custom, abstract computer network defense simulation. By performing a qualitative analysis of the result data, we provide a proof of concept for the applicability of coevolution in planning for, and defending against, novel attacker strategies in computer network security.


The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a standards-based reform in which 45 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have agreed to participate. The reform seeks to anchor primary and secondary education across these states in one set of demanding, internationally-benchmarked standards. Thereby, all students will be prepared for further learning and work in a competitive global economy regardless of the sociodemographic variation associated with their "zip code," that is, the location of their neighborhood or school. This article examines the role and meaning of equity within the Common Core at a level beyond "zip code." It does so using data from interviews with Common Core policy entrepreneurs and qualitative analysis of interview data. Findings are considered against a conceptual framework of equal, equalizing, and expansive views of equity. The findings indicate that policy entrepreneurs hold primarily an equal view of equity, in accord with meritocratic and functional purposes of schooling, more so than equalizing or expansive views. The latter views emphasize compensatory purposes that focus on narrowing achievement gaps. From this analysis, we identify the paradox of equity in education policy: The successful launch of a policy that relies on existing paradigms of standards-based reform and an equal conception of equity helps tether educational outcomes to student background.


The Swedish Transport Administration's (STA) vision is to make the good journey possible by providing individuals and the business community with the best options for transport and travel. The STA has divided their clients into various customer groups depending on their needs and demands for the good journey. The tourism industry is one of the major strategic customer groups identified by the STA. The demands and needs from the tourism industry have been described in a customer group document. The tourism industry is dependent on good road services and sign-posting. It must be made easy for the tourist to find their way to their destination and also made possible to find and use environmentally friendly options for their travel needs. STA can in the best way possible meet the demands and needs from the tourist industry by enhancing the tourist signs and information along the roads, by developing dialogue between the tourist industry and STA and by supporting mobility management. The STA has worked together with the tourism industry on a national and regional level in order to enhance the possibility for regional development of the tourism industry. We have found that a lot more can be done if we increase the knowledge and coordination of issues important for tourism development. In this paper we will describe the tools and methods used to create a strategy for the tourism industry. The survey has been divided into three different steps, which are: state of the art, co-operation with the tourism industry and economic analysis and effects describing the tourism industry. The tourism strategy will help the SRA to clarify the goal for our services and co-operation with the tourism industry and to identify key areas for achieving our goal.


Understanding mathematics teacher noticing has been the focus of a growing body of research, in which student work and classroom videos are often used as artifacts for surfacing teachers' cognitive processes. However, what teachers notice through reflecting on artifacts of teaching may not be parallel to what they notice in the complex and demanding environment of the classroom. This article used a new technique, side-by-side coaching, to uncover teacher noticing in the moment of instruction. There were 21 instances of noticing aloud during side by side coaching which were analyzed and classified, yielding 6 types of teacher noticing aloud, including instances in which teachers expressed confidence, struggle, and wonder. Implications for coaching and future research on teacher noticing are discussed.


Myosin-V is a microtubule-based motor responsible for promoting organelle movements around the cell, particularly the movement of melanophores around melanocytes. During mitosis, the activity of myosin-V is decreased, probably by phosphorylation, as the microtubule machinery is co-opted into spindle assembly and membrane traffic shuts down. Karcher et al. (see the Perspective by Cheney and Rodriguez) describe the precise phosphorylation site that is present in the organelle-binding carboxyl terminal of the protein. The authors suggest that such phosphorylation to abrogate cargo binding may be used more generally. R. L. Karcher, J. T. Roland, F. Zappacosta, M. J. Huddleston, R. S. Annan, S. A. Carr, V. I. Gelfand, Cell cycle regulation of myosin-V by calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. Science 293, 1317-1320 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text] R. E. Cheney, O. C. Rodriguez, A switch to release the motor. Science 293, 1263-1264 (2001). [Full Text]


Research and development agencies, as well as policy makers and agri-food enterprises, need reliable data to support informed decisions that can improve the sustainability of agricultural landscapes. We present a review of agricultural sustainability assessment frameworks (ASAF) that identifies the features most relevant to monitoring progress towards sustainability goals for agricultural landscapes. This qualitative review considers a variety of approaches for defining goals and for selecting stakeholders, spatial and temporal boundaries, indicators, and analytical approaches. We focused on assessment frameworks that (i) include environmental, social, and economic implications of agriculture; (ii) are applicable to multiple, non-specified farm system types; (iii) are described in an English language, peer-reviewed publication; (iv) have been developed for use at a farm system to regional spatial scale; (v) engage stakeholders; (vi) provide case studies; and (vii) could be used in a variety of contexts across the globe. Based on the review, we provide recommendations for further development and use of assessment frameworks to better address the needs of agricultural research, extension, and development organizations. We recommend an agro-ecosystem approach to help stakeholders identify appropriate indicators for their situation. Assessment methods need to be flexible enough for adaptation to a spectrum of agricultural landscapes and changing environmental conditions, and remain relevant as farmers and other stakeholders acquire new information, resources, and different management techniques. We find that to address information gaps across different scales from farm to region will require creativity and some reliance on local knowledge systems to support adaptive management. Assessment results should communicate relationships among ecosystem services and socio-economic activities affected by agricultural landscapes. Visualization tools can facilitate understanding of trade-offs and synergies among sustainability goals as reflected by individual indicators.


ABSTRACT Inhibition or inactivation of InhA, a fatty acid synthase II (FASII) enzyme, leads to mycobacterial cell lysis. To determine whether inactivation of other enzymes of the mycolic acid-synthesizing FASII complex also leads to lysis, we characterized the essentiality of two β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthases, KasA and KasB, in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Using specialized transduction for allelic exchange, null kasB mutants, but not kasA mutants, could be generated in Mycobacterium smegmatis, suggesting that unlike kasB, kasA is essential. To confirm the essentiality of kasA, and to detail the molecular events that occur following depletion of KasA, we developed CESTET (conditional expression specialized transduction essentiality test), a genetic tool that combines conditional gene expression and specialized transduction. Using CESTET, we were able to generate conditional null inhA and kasA mutants. We studied the effects of depletion of KasA in M. smegmatis using the former strain as a reference. Depletion of either InhA or KasA led to cell lysis, but with different biochemical and morphological events prior to lysis. While InhA depletion led to the induction of an 80-kDa complex containing both KasA and AcpM, the mycobacterial acyl carrier protein, KasA depletion did not induce the same complex. Depletion of either InhA or KasA led to inhibition of α and epoxy mycolate biosynthesis and to accumulation of α′-mycolates. Furthermore, scanning electron micrographs revealed that KasA depletion resulted in the cell surface having a "crumpled" appearance, in contrast to the blebs observed on InhA depletion. Thus, our studies support the further exploration of KasA as a target for mycobacterial-drug development.


Volume II was the first volume of the ancient county of Middlesex (absorbed into Greater London north of the Thames in the twentieth century) to be published and has been long out of print. It covers general topics dealing with all the ancient county except the City of Westminster. The archaeological record is supplemented by an inventory of medieval moated sites; other articles expand upon aspects of political, social and economic history. The volume also contains the first seven topographical articles on individual parishes: Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Feltham, Hampton with Hampton Wick, Hanworth, Laleham and Littleton - all part of Spelthorne hundred in the extreme south-west of the county. The history of Hampton Court Palace is included in the parish accounts, complete with architectural description and plan made by Sir Charles Peers, and a survey of the pictures and gardens. The text is illustrated by fine pen and ink drawings characteristic of early VCH volumes.


This paper argues that design research may benefit from investigations, explorations and innovations in the means of conducting and of conveying design research from qualitative methods in the social sciences. The paper examines how inter-disciplinary and intermethodological experimentation as a mode of knowledge building. At the end of the paper we draw out a manifesto that proposes potential actions concerning design research methods which ought to be applicable for designers and design researchers, but also for social scientists engaging with the changing nature of production-related inquiry and critique in which design increasingly features.


Livestock farms sit at the interface between humans, livestock species and wildlife. However, limited data exist on mosquito-vertebrate host interactions on farms in the United Kingdom. This thesis therefore aimed to understand mosquito-vertebrate host interactions on UK livestock farms using a combination of field collections, colony mosquito experiments and molecular techniques for species identification and blood meal analysis.
Field collections conducted between 2012 and 2014 yielded a total of 22 693 adult mosquitoes comprising 7 genera and 18 species. Fifteen species displayed human biting activity as assessed by human landing catch, with a maximum observed biting pressure at a single farm of up to 89 bites per 25 minutes at sunset. The avian biting rate, as assessed by the use of chicken-baited traps, was considerably lower than the human biting rate, but demonstrated the ornithophilic activity of three mosquito species, two of which had not previously been collected by such an approach in the UK.
Field-caught blood-fed mosquitoes were subjected to a three-stage, targeted analysis, demonstrating that a single DNA extract from an engorged mosquito abdomen provides sufficient DNA for species delineation of Anopheles maculipennis s.l., blood meal identification and detection of myxoma virus. This study implicated Anopheles atroparvus, for the first time, in the transmission of myxomatosis between wild rabbits. The blood meals of over 900 mosquitoes of nine species were identified, revealing feeding on 5 mammalian and 14 avian hosts. Importantly, this study identified key potential vector species Culex pipiens f. pipiens as feeding on both resident and migratory birds.
Collectively, these results demonstrate that UK livestock farms support ornithophagic, mammalophagic and anthropophagic mosquito populations which, at certain farms, can lead to a severe nuisance biting pressure on humans. The described feeding of potential vector species, such as newly-established Culex modestus, on farm-associated domestic and wild hosts, suggests that certain mosquito species could play a role in facilitating future pathogen transmission cycles on livestock farms in the case of a novel incursion.


Mental rotation concerns the cognitive processes that allow an agent mentally to rotate the image of an object in order to solve a given task, for example to say if two objects with different orientations are the same or different. Here we present a system-level bio-constrained model, developed within a neurorobotics framework, that provides an embodied account of mental rotation processes relying on neural mechanisms involving motor affordance encoding, motor simulation and the anticipation of the sensory consequences of actions (both visual and proprioceptive). This model and methodology are in agreement with the most recent theoretical and empirical research on mental rotation. The model was validated through experiments with a simulated humanoid robot (iCub) engaged in solving a classical mental rotation test. The results of the test show that the robot is able to solve the task and, in agreement with data from psychology experiments, exhibits response times linearly dependent on the angular disparity between the objects. This model represents a novel detailed operational account of the embodied brain mechanisms that may underlie mental rotation.


Statistics and research results show that in recent decades, before the coronavirus pandemic, the EU's labour market witnessed an increase in female employment rates. Women's employment seems to have been more resilient than men's to the economic and financial crisis in 2008. This was due in part to long-term developments and changes in the institutional framework, but also to women's tendency to work in particular sectors and accept flexible working arrangements (such as part-time work or teleworking). The coronavirus crisis, however, has had a harsher impact on women than on men when it comes to the labour market. One of the main reasons is that men tend more to work in sectors considered as essential economic activities (with the exception of healthcare), whereas women's work often involves contact with customers and clients, making teleworking impossible. Women have also been faced with increased childcare needs, reducing their ability to work, while enjoying a lower level of social protection owing to their working arrangements. Although EU legislation takes account of the situation of women in the labour market, and a number of legislative and non-legislative initiatives have recently been taken at EU level, a number of challenges remain. Areas where action is required include: the harmonisation of retirement schemes, to take the specific nature of women's careers into account; better reconciliation of work and family life by means of more flexible employment arrangements; and action to address the perennial gender pay gap.


Use of drilled disc specimens was investigated with both numerical and experimental studies to determine direct tensile strengths of rock materials. A new loading apparatus with rods to insert into the drill holes of discs has been designed and manufactured to supply tension by using the compression test presses. In addition to the use of popular compressive presses for direct tension, elimination of the gluing in the standard direct tensile strength test method is a significant advantage to make possible both hard and soft rocks to be tested. The Brazilian test discs with the diameter of NX size and length to diameter ratio of 0.5 were used in tests. Different loading apparatus designs were analyzed and ideal angle of contact between rock and the loading rods was assessed to be 50° within various choices investigated in this study. The drilled discs were determined to fail due to the crack initiation under the condition of uniaxial tensile stress distribution at sidewalls of the hole. In addition to the drilled disc tension test, standard direct tensile strength tests were also carried out to take as reference and compare the results obtained from different methods. According to the results of both numerical and experimental studies, an equation was suggested to determine uniaxial tensile strengths of drilled disc specimens with 20 mm hole diameter and the contact angle of 50°.


2D semiconductors have shown great potential for application to electrically tunable optoelectronics. Despite the strong excitonic photoluminescence (PL) of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), their efficient electroluminescence (EL) has not been achieved due to the low efficiency of charge injection and electron–hole recombination. Here, multioperation‐mode light‐emitting field‐effect transistors (LEFETs) consisting of a monolayer WSe2 channel and graphene contacts coupled with two top gates for selective and balanced injection of charge carriers are demonstrated. Visibly observable EL is achieved with the high external quantum efficiency of ≈6% at room temperature due to efficient recombination of injected electrons and holes in a confined 2D channel. Further, electrical tunability of both the channel and contacts enables multioperation modes, such as antiambipolar, depletion,and unipolar regions, which can be utilized for polarity‐tunable field‐effect transistors and photodetectors. The work exhibits great potential for use in 2D semiconductor LEFETs for novel optoelectronics capable of high efficiency, multifunctions, and heterointegration.


This colloquium examines the theoretical modeling of nonequilibrium low-temperature (tens of thousands of degrees) plasmas, which involves a juxtaposition of three distinct fields: atomic and molecular physics, for the input of scattering cross sections; statistical mechanics, for the kinetic modeling; and electromagnetic theory, for the simultaneous solution of Maxwell's equations. Cross sections come either from single-scattering beam experiments or, at very low energies (<0.5 eV), from multiple-scattering experiments on "swarms" in gases—the free diffusion or large Debye length limit of a plasma, where they are embedded in transport coefficient data. The same Boltzmann kinetic theory that has been developed to a high level of sophistication over the past 50 years, specifically for the purpose of unfolding these transport data, can be employed for low-temperature plasmas with appropriate modification to allow for self-consistent rather than externally prescribed fields. A full kinetic treatment of low-temperature plasmas is, however, a daunting task and remains at the developmental level. Fortunately, since the accuracy requirements for modeling plasmas are generally much less stringent than for swarms, such a sophisticated phase-space treatment is not always necessary or desirable, and a computationally more efficient but correspondingly less accurate macroscopic theoretical model in configuration space at the fluid level is often considered sufficient. There has been a proliferation of such fluid modeling in recent times and this approach is now routinely used in the design and development of a large variety of plasma technologies, ranging from plasma display panels to plasma etching reactors for microelectronic device fabrication. However, many of these models have been developed empirically with specific applications in mind, and rigor and sophistication vary accordingly. In this colloquium, starting from the governing Boltzmann kinetic equation, a unified, general formulation of fluid equations is given for both ions and electrons in gaseous media with transparent and internally consistent approximations, all benchmarked against established results. Thereby a fluid model is obtained that is appropriate for practical application but at the same time is based on a firmer physical foundation.


Background There has been considerable expansion in online postal self-sampling (OPSS) STI services in many parts of the UK, driven by increasing demand on sexual health services and developments in diagnostics and digital health provision. This shift in service delivery has occurred against a backdrop of reduced funding and service fragmentation and the impact is unknown. We explored characteristics of people accessing and using OPSS services for STIs in the UK, the acceptability of these services and their impact on sexual health inequalities. Methods A scoping review was conducted of studies published in English-language based on pre-agreed inclusion/exclusion criteria, between 01 January 2010 and 07 July 2021. Nine databases were searched, and 23 studies that met the eligibility criteria were included. Studies were appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results Study designs were heterogeneous, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods analyses. The majority were either evaluating a single-site/self-sampling provider, exploratory or observational and of variable quality. Few studies collected comprehensive user demographic data. Individuals accessing OPSS tended to be asymptomatic, of white ethnicity, women, over 20 years and from less deprived areas. OPSS tended to increase overall STI testing demand and access, although return rates for blood samples were low, as was test positivity. There were varied results on whether services reduced time to treatment. OPSS services were acceptable to the majority of users. Qualitative studies showed the importance of trust, confidentiality, discretion, reliability, convenience and improved patient choice. Conclusion OPSS services appear highly acceptable to users. However, uptake appears to be socially patterned and some groups who bear a disproportionate burden of poor sexual health in the UK are under-represented among users. Current provision of online self-sampling could widen health inequalities, particularly where other options for testing are limited. Work is needed to fully evaluate the impact and cost-effectiveness of OPSS services.


Dina Iordanova's Cinema of the Other Europe is a book film scholars should have on their shelves for ready reference. Generally speaking, books on cinema written by professors in university film departments are brushed lightly aside by those critics who haunt film festivals and write extensively on directors of choice. And since many of these university editions stem from an in-depth analysis of videotapes and DVDs supplied for classroom courses and film seminars, they are overlooked by the film historian as being a trifle "academic" meaning: tedious, partial, pedantic, even dogmatic. By the same token, the research academician specializing in the sociology, psychology, and semantics of the cinema tend to dismiss "over the top" eulogies by the film critics whose so-called expertise stems from a portfolio of interviews with favourite directors, while paying little attention to the sociopolitical context from which certain key films were formed.


function optimally under severe conditions for long operating periods. One other factor emerging from the automotive standpoint is ways to improve the vehicular fuel economy. Part of the reason is driven by the challenge faced by the U.S. automotive industry to boost Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) by 20 percent by 2016. In addition, the U.S. government has established a goal of raising CAFE to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, a doubling of the existing CAFE. The desire to improve fuel economy has also moved to the heavy-duty diesel vehicles, as the U.S. government established requirements for reducing carbon dioxide emissions in August 2011 by 10 to 20 percent for 2018 model year vehicles. The objective is to not only reduce emissions but also improve fuel economy. The U.S. EPA predicts a savings of 530 million barrels of oil over the lifetime of vehicles built between the 2014 and 2018 model years. One of the main ways to address fuel economy has been through the reduction of engine oil viscosity. This is ongoing for passenger car motor oils (PCMOs) but is in its initial phase for heavy-duty diesel engine oils (HDDEOs). Both the new PCMO specification, GF-6, and the new HDDEO specification, PC-11, are under development, and each will be split into two categories to take into account the use of lower-viscosity oils. One of the categories will be backward integrated to cover lubricants used in current and older engines. The second category is for lower-viscosity engine oils. These two additives are helping lubricant suppliers improve fuel economy and comply with new engine oil specifications. TECH BEAT


Testing and rejecting the null hypothesis is a routine part of quantitative research, but relatively few organizational researchers prepare for confirming the null or, similarly, testing a hypothesis of equivalence (e.g., that two group means are practically identical). Both theory and practice could benefit from greater attention to this capability. Planning ahead for equivalence testing also provides helpful input on assuring sufficient statistical power in a study. This article provides background on these ideas plus guidance on the use of two frequentist and two Bayesian techniques for testing a hypothesis of no nontrivial effect. The guidance highlights some faulty strategies and how to avoid them. An organizationally relevant example illustrates how to put these techniques into practice. A simulation compares the four techniques to support recommendations of when and how to use each one. A nine-step process table describes separate analytical tracks for frequentist and Bayesian equivalence techniques.


The first targeted agents approved for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) gefitinib and erlotinib, have an impressive activity in the presence of activating mutations of the EGFR gene. However, all patients develop acquired resistance principally through secondary mutations (T790M), HER2 amplification, MET amplification, and other molecular aberrations. An attempt to overcome EGFR TKI resistance has been through the development of irreversible blockers. Afatinib is an irreversible inhibitor of the tyrosine kinase activity of all members of the HER family. The pharmacologic properties of afatinib (formation of covalent bonds, inhibition of other family members, and in vitro and in vivo activity on T790M mutation positive tumors) made this drug particularly appealing to study in clinic. Therefore, an intense program of clinical research (LUX-Lung program) was started and clinical results have shown very encouraging activity profiles in patients harboring EGFR activating mutations and in those with acquired resistance to reversible TKIs.


Hepatoprotective potential of methanolic extract of Clerodendrum infortunatum Linn. (MECI), which was widely used in Indian indigenous system of medicine, was studied against carbon tetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Methanol extract at the dose of 100 and 200 mg/kg was administered daily along with carbon tetrachloride once in 72 hours for 14 days. The study was evaluated by assaying the serum biochemical parameters glutamate pyruvate transaminase (ALT), glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin and total protein. Malondialdehyde (MDA) level, as well as reduced glutathione (GSH) content and catalase activity (CAT) was determined to explain the possible mechanism of the activity. The substantially elevated serum enzymatic levels of AST, ALT, ALP and total bilirubin were restored towards normalization significantly by the extract. Silymarin was used as standard reference and exhibited significant hepatoprotective activity against carbon tetrachloride induced haptotoxicity in rats. MDA concentration was decreased, while the liver antioxidative enzyme activity was elevated in all the MECI treated rats. All the results were compared with standard drug silymarin. In addition, histopathology of liver tissue was investigated to observe the morphological changes, showed the reduction of fatty degeneration and liver necrosis. The results of this study revealed that methanol extract of C. infortunatum has moderate hepatoprotective activity. This effect may be due to the ability of the extract to inhibit lipid peroxidation and increase in the anti-oxidant enzymatic activity.


Numerous studies in population genetics have been based on analyzing the sample frequency spectrum (SFS) summary statistic. Most SFS-based inference methods can display pathological behavior in optimization: some demographic model parameters can degenerate to 0... The sample frequency spectrum (SFS), which describes the distribution of mutant alleles in a sample of DNA sequences, is a widely used summary statistic in population genetics. The expected SFS has a strong dependence on the historical population demography and this property is exploited by popular statistical methods to infer complex demographic histories from DNA sequence data. Most, if not all, of these inference methods exhibit pathological behavior, however. Specifically, they often display runaway behavior in optimization, where the inferred population sizes and epoch durations can degenerate to zero or diverge to infinity, and show undesirable sensitivity to perturbations in the data. The goal of this article is to provide theoretical insights into why such problems arise. To this end, we characterize the geometry of the expected SFS for piecewise-constant demographies and use our results to show that the aforementioned pathological behavior of popular inference methods is intrinsic to the geometry of the expected SFS. We provide explicit descriptions and visualizations for a toy model, and generalize our intuition to arbitrary sample sizes using tools from convex and algebraic geometry. We also develop a universal characterization result which shows that the expected SFS of a sample of size n under an arbitrary population history can be recapitulated by a piecewise-constant demography with only κn epochs, where κn is between n/2 and 2n−1. The set of expected SFS for piecewise-constant demographies with fewer than κn epochs is open and nonconvex, which causes the above phenomena for inference from data.


Positive mental health (PMH) is an important construct for understanding the full continuum of mental health. Some socially disadvantaged populations experience a paradoxically high level of PMH despite negative social experiences including discrimination. The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence and culturally salient correlates of PMH among a cross-sectional sample of 218 American Indian adults living with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although 17.1 percent of individuals in this sample met Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) criteria for depression, 51.5 percent were in flourishing PMH. Perceived discrimination was negatively associated with PMH, and participation in traditional cultural activities was positively associated with PMH. Traditional cultural activities did not appear to buffer the impact of discrimination on PMH. This study contributes to strengths-based research with American Indian communities, furthers our understanding of correlates of PMH, and documents comparatively high rates of flourishing mental health in our sample relative to previously published studies with diverse samples.


Modern scientific theory of propagation of light and sound (word) is the most important theory under the wave system in modern physics. According to this theory light and sound (word) propagate one place to other on the basis of their won frequencies. The frequency of light is far-Thousands of million and billion hertz in a second than sound. That is why light comes first than sound (Word). Above mentioned characteristics regarding light and sound have been observed firstly by a Dutch physicist Cristin Huygens. That very observation regarding the characteristics of light and sound (word) especially their propagation became the base and aim (achievement) among next coming generation and among them, in fact, after a long time, Thomas Young and Fresnel became the heroes of this goal. Both (physicist) scientists experimented the realities of the observed and after much satisfaction made a solid theory upon it established by the name"the theory of propagation of light and sound." The oldest literature of the world, in Sanskrit (literature) also there is a deep concern upon light and sound (word) and this has been much discussed. Not only the origin and characteristics of scientific light and sound but also especially their travelling from the sun to the earth. Related to this, there are several examples in old Sanskrit literature. In Rigveda Samhita there are separate suktas like savitr and vac (sound) has been deeply discussed. Yati devah savita paravatah means the light of the sun comes from haven to the earth. Also in many branches of modern Sanskrit literature there are special attentions especially on travelling of light and sound (word) and by their different opinions rise so many important themes that are impossible even now in modern physics theory. Propagation of light and sound, this theory became weak in the eyes of Sanskrit literature which needs much and more modifications.