: The short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a complex entity due to anatomical or functional loss of part of the small bowel originating a clinical picture with severe metabolic and nutritional impairments due to reduction of the effective absorptive surface area of the gut. SBS is one of the causes of a larger entity known as "intestinal failu-Currently, mesenteric vascular accidents are the main cause in adults, followed by inflammatory bowel disease, and radiation enteritis, whereas in children, the main causes are congenital and perinatal diseases. The clinical picture associated with SBS varies according to the length and location of affected small bowel, the presence of underlying disease, the presence or absence of the large bowel and ileocecal valve, and the nature of the underlying disease. Intestinal adaptation is the process by which, throughout 1-2 years, intestinal absorption is reestablished to the situation prior to intestinal resection, and is a key factor determining whether a patient with SBS will progress to intestinal failure and depend on DPN. Intestinal adaptation may take place if the patient does oral intake higher than the usual one (hyperphagia); besides, the bowel may also adapt to secure a more effective absorption per surface area unit, either by increasing the absorptive surface area (structural adaptation) and/or slowing intestinal transit (functional adaptation). These changes are not still clearly established in humans, but there are so in animal models. The presence of nutrients within the intestinal lumen and certain gastrointestinal hormones, particularly GLP-2, have an influence on a successful adaptation process. Patients with SBS are prone to the occurrence of bacterial overgrowth that makes adaptation difficult and worsens the symptoms, besides being a factor for dependence on parenteral nutrition.


Directed electrochemical deposition (DECD) with scanning probes has recently emerged as a bottom-up fabrication alternative to control the 3D morphology at the individual nanostructure level. In order to fabricate functional nanostructures with desired electrical properties, reactivity or stability, it is of utmost importance to control crystal growth. Investigating crystal formation in DECD is not straightforward due to the low fabrication yield and the final structure tending to be an aggregation of multiple particles. Here, we provide a simple method to investigate the early stages of electrochemical growth with atomic force microscopy (AFM). Geometric analysis of AFM topography images provide a rapid and quantitative identification of faceting in nano-crystals, with statistical independence of grain size distribution. We compare the growth evolution in macroscopic electrochemical deposition of Cu on Au with that under directed growth conditions. We find that the directed deposition from micromolar electrolytes in this work is distinctly different than that of conventional copper deposition, but results in similarly shaped spheroidal nuclei as those obtained in macroscopic growth from highly dilute electrolytes. The method presented here opens many possibilities to study in situ electrochemical crystal growth or surface stability in operando under electrochemical conditions.


Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Mobile Telecommunication and Innovation (MSc. MTI)


OBJECTIVE:  To test the null hypothesis that clinical dental trials with adequate random sequence generation together with adequate allocation concealment do not differ in their effect size from trials lacking adequate concealment. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: The oral health section of the Cochrane database was searched online until 20 July 2011. All listed entries, except reviews in protocol stage and duplications, were included. Included systematic reviews were accepted for data extraction if they included bias assessment for random sequence generation and allocation concealment, as well as an analysis report of dichotomous data. From the accepted systematic reviews, datasets including number of observed events and total number of evaluated units for test- and control group; assessment results for selection bias concerning random sequence generation and allocation concealment were extracted. The extracted datasets were statistically analysed. RESULTS: A 28% effect size overestimation in association with the lack of adequate allocation concealment in selected dental randomised control trials was established and the null hypothesis was rejected. CONCLUSION:  Adequate random sequence allocation without adequate concealment of such allocation appears to be insufficient to prevent exaggeration of results due to selection bias in clinical dental trials.


The 1997 re-identification of Massachusetts Governor William Weld's medical data within an insurance data set which had been stripped of direct identifiers has had a profound impact on the development of de-identification provisions within the 2003 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. Weld's re-identification, purportedly achieved through the use of a voter registration list from Cambridge, MA is frequently cited as an example that computer scientists can re-identify individuals within de-identified data with "astonishing ease". However, a careful re-examination of the population demographics in Cambridge indicates that Weld was most likely re-identifiable only because he was a public figure who experienced a highly publicized hospitalization rather than there being any certainty underlying his re-identification using the Cambridge voter data, which had missing data for a large proportion of the population.The complete story of Weld's re-identification exposes an important systemic barrier to accurate re-identification known as "the myth of the perfect population register". Because the logic underlying re-identification depends critically on being able to demonstrate that a person within health data set is the only person in the larger population who has a set of combined characteristics (known as "quasi-identifiers") that could potentially re-identify them, most re-identification attempts face a strong challenge in being able to create a complete and accurate population register. This strong limitation not only underlies the entire set of famous Cambridge re-identification results but also impacts much of the existing re-identification research cited by those making claims of easy re-identification. This paper critically examines the historic Weld re-identification and the dramatic reductions (thousands fold) of re-identification risks for de-identified health data as they have been protected by the HIPAA Privacy Rule provisions for de-identification since 2003. The paper also provides recommendations for enhancements to existing HIPAA de-identification policy, discusses critical advances routinely made in medical science and improvement of our healthcare system using de-identified data, and provides commentary on the vital importance of properly balancing the competing goals of protecting patient privacy and preserving the accuracy of scientific research and statistical analyses conducted with de-identified data.


A transponder-reader payment system includes a fob including a transponder, and a RFID reader for interrogating the transponder. The system may further include a personalization system for populating onto the fob and RFID reader identifying information and security and authentication keys which may be used during mutual authentication of the fob and the reader and for completing a transaction. In exemplary operation, the fob and RFID reader may be personalized, the fob may be presented to the RFID reader for interrogation, the fob and reader may engage in mutual authentication, and fob identifying information may be provided to the reader for transaction completion. In another exemplary embodiment, operation of the transponder-reader payment system may be controlled by an activation circuit. Further, the fob may be responsive to multiple interrogation signals.


The SMTP STARTTLS option, used in negotiating transport-level
encryption of SMTP connections, is not as useful from a security
standpoint as it might be because of its opportunistic nature; message
delivery is, by default, prioritized over security. This document
describes an SMTP service extension, REQUIRETLS, and message header
field, TLS-Required. If the REQUIRETLS option or TLS-Required message
header field is used when sending a message, it asserts a request on
the part of the message sender to override the default negotiation of
TLS, either by requiring that TLS be negotiated when the message is
relayed, or by requesting that recipient-side policy mechanisms such
as MTA-STS and DANE be ignored when relaying a message for which
security is unimportant.


PMP Exam Cram 2 offers concise information mixed with real-world scenarios delivered in an approachable, friendly style. This book is the perfect complement to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK). This Exam Cram 2 will help you make sure you've nailed important concepts and know exactly what the exam will cover. It offers study tips, practice exams, and the famous Cram Sheet for last minute review.The CD includes PrepLogic Practice Tests, Preview Edition, which offers a complete PrepLogic Practice Test, a test engine with two study modes, Practice Test and Flash Review, full exam customization, and a detailed score report.


Both the design and control of a robot play equally important roles in its task performance. However, while optimal control is well studied in the machine learning and robotics community, less attention is placed on finding the optimal robot design. This is mainly because co-optimizing design and control in robotics is characterized as a challenging problem, and more importantly, a comprehensive evaluation benchmark for co-optimization does not exist. In this paper, we propose Evolution Gym, the first large-scale benchmark for co-optimizing the design and control of soft robots. In our benchmark, each robot is composed of different types of voxels (e.g., soft, rigid, actuators), resulting in a modular and expressive robot design space. Our benchmark environments span a wide range of tasks, including locomotion on various types of terrains and manipulation. Furthermore, we develop several robot co-evolution algorithms by combining state-of-the-art design optimization methods and deep reinforcement learning techniques. Evaluating the algorithms on our benchmark platform, we observe robots exhibiting increasingly complex behaviors as evolution progresses, with the best evolved designs solving many of our proposed tasks. Additionally, even though robot designs are evolved autonomously from scratch without prior knowledge, they often grow to resemble existing natural creatures while outperforming hand-designed robots. Nevertheless, all tested algorithms fail to find robots that succeed in our hardest environments. This suggests that more advanced algorithms are required to explore the high-dimensional design space and evolve increasingly intelligent robots – an area of research in which we hope Evolution Gym will accelerate progress. Our website with code, environments, documentation, and tutorials is available at http://evogym.csail.mit.edu.


Over the past decade there has been significant growth in the facilities management (FM) sector resulting in a diverse and highly competitive marketplace. This marketplace engages contractors, in-house teams, suppliers, consultants and professional institutions. Many of these organisations have had to innovate to differentiate themselves from competitors. The subject of this paper is facilities management innovation. More specifically, it examines the introduction of information technology (IT) to support such innovations. Our understanding of how such innovations are brought about is scant. The intention of this paper is to examine the motivations and factors which have brought about 'information system' innovations in the sector based on an examination of a small but diverse collection of case studies. The study specifically considers the route by which the selected innovations came about and the way in which the innovation has diffused throughout the rest of the organisation. The IT innovations identified in case studies include whole life cost modelling, a content management solution, open book partnering, management information portal (fmNet), RFID technology, and capacity and capability planning. Taken together they characterise a sector that is using IT to codify and standardise information such that useful knowledge becomes widely dispersed.


A series of grazed and cut experiments were conducted in Bali and North Sulawesi, Indonesia, between 1992 and 1994, to evaluate a range of selected forages for both intensive and extensive ruminant production under mature, tall coconuts. Yield, botanical composition and persistence of grass–legume mixtures were assessed under regular grazing and cutting regimes. In North Sulawesi, total dry matter yields of most grass–legume treatments were relatively stable over the two-year period but yields of legume components within treatments declined sharply. In Bali, the grazed plots maintained stable yield and legume components over the experimental period but yield and legume components of cut plots declined sharply. Paspalum malacophyllum and Setaria sphacelata cv. Splenda were productive and persistent grasses and formed weed-free swards but did not combine well with prostrate legumes. The erect growth habit of these grasses may limit their suitability in coconut production systems by impeding nut collection. The prostrate species Brachiaria humidicola and Stenotaphrum secundatum were slightly less productive but equally weed-free and persistent, and established rapidly from cuttings. S. secundatum also formed stable associations with prostrate legumes under grazing. Arachis pintoi cv. Amarillo and A. glabrata CPI 93483 were the most persistent of a range of prostrate legumes. The tree legume, Calliandra calothyrsus, showed promise as a productive cut-and-carry species.


Although tremendous success has been achieved for interactive object cutout in still images, accurately extracting dynamic objects in video remains a very challenging problem. Previous video cutout systems present two major limitations: (1) reliance on global statistics, thus lacking the ability to deal with complex and diverse scenes; and (2) treating segmentation as a global optimization, thus lacking a practical workflow that can guarantee the convergence of the systems to the desired results. We present Video SnapCut, a robust video object cutout system that significantly advances the state-of-the-art. In our system segmentation is achieved by the collaboration of a set of local classifiers, each adaptively integrating multiple local image features. We show how this segmentation paradigm naturally supports local user editing and propagates them across time. The object cutout system is completed with a novel coherent video matting technique. A comprehensive evaluation and comparison is presented, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed system at achieving high quality results, as well as the robustness of the system against various types of inputs.


We suggest here a mechanism for the seeding of the primordial density fluctuations. We point out that a process like reheating at the end of inflation will inevitably generate perturbations, even on superhorizon scales, by the local diffusion of energy. Provided that the reheating temperature is of order the GUT scale, the density contrast $\delta_R$ for spheres of radius $R$ will be of order $10^{-5}$ at horizon entry, consistent with the values measured by \texttt{WMAP}. If this were a purely classical process, $\delta_R^2$ would fall as $1/R^4$ beyond the horizon, and the resulting primordial density power spectrum would be $P(k) \propto k^n$ with $n=4$. However, as shown by Gabrielli et al, a quantum diffusion process can generate a power spectrum with any index in the range $0 1$). Thus, the two characteristic parameters that determine the appearance of present day structures could be natural consequences of this mechanism. These are in any case the minimum density variations that must have formed if the universe was rapidly heated to GUT temperatures by the decay of a `false vacuum'. There is then no \emph{a priori} necessity to postulate additional (and fine tuned) quantum fluctuations in the `false vacuum', nor a pre-inflationary period. Given also the very stringent pre-conditions required to trigger a satisfactory period of inflation, altogether it seems at least as natural to assume that the universe began in a flat and homogeneously expanding phase.


The convergence of olfactory sensory axons onto topographically fixed, odorant receptor specific glomeruli in the olfactory bulb (OB) is a complex biological problem. Early in development, axons from olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) extend into the OB where they innervate distinct neuropilar structures called protoglomeruli. Protoglomeruli subsequently segregate into mature glomeruli. The zebrafish is an excellent system in which to study early protoglomerular targeting. At 72 hours post-fertilization, the zebrafish OB contains 12 easily identifiable protoglomeruli. The objective of this thesis work was to identify axon guidance cues and receptors that direct olfactory sensory axons to their protoglomerular targets. Here, I describe a novel role for Sema3D/Nrp1a signaling in protoglomerular targeting. An OR111-7:IRES:Gal4 transgene labels a subset of olfactory axons that target the ventromedially located central zone (CZ) protoglomerulus. Sema3D is expressed in the anterior OB. OR111-7 transgene expressing axons terminate posterior to sema3D expression. In sema3D mutants, a subset of OR111-7 transgene expressing axons misproject to the dorsal zone (DZ) protoglomerulus which is dorsal and anterior to the CZ. Four zebrafish neuropilins (nrps), essential receptor components for class 3 semaphorins, are differentially expressed in OSNs. OR111-7 transgene expressing neurons express nrp1a, nrp1b, and/or nrp2b. Loss of either nrp1a or nrp2b phenocopies sema3D mutants. OR111-7 transgene expressing axons are misguided in nrp1a/+;sema3D-/+ embryos, but not in nrp2b-/+;sema3D-/+ embryos. The phenotype is not accentuated in sema3D;nrp1a double mutants as compared to sema3D or nrp1a mutants. Re-expression of nrp1a in OR111-7 transgene expressing OSNs corrects the DZ targeting error observed in nrp1a mutants. These data support a model wherein sema3D expressed in the anterior OB repels nrp1a and OR111-7 transgene expressing axons towards the CZ. Additional class 3 semaphorins, not previously implicated in olfactory development, are expressed in the olfactory system during development. Mutations in nrp1a, nrp1b and nrp2b result in sema3D independent targeting errors. These findings suggest that many class 3 semaphorins cooperate in protoglomerular map formation. These studies highlight the utility of the zebrafish as a model for the study of early olfactory axon guidance, and provide the foundation for the future study of Semaphorin/Neuropilin signaling in the developing olfactory system. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Neuroscience First Advisor Jonathan A. Raper This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1465


Reliable volume estimation procedures are fundamental to the mission of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. Moreover, public access to FIA program procedures is imperative. Here we present the volume estimation procedures used by the southern FIA program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. The guide presented includes a description of the relevant variables populated in the public FIA database, a description of the set of equations used to estimate tree volume in the south, the volume equations, definition of terms, species-specific (or species group) coefficients for each equation, and examples of estimating individual tree volume.


Abstract Heliotron reactors have several features suitable for a fusion power plant, such as no need for current drive, no plasma current disruptions, suitability for steady-state operation, and a wide space between helical coils useful for maintenance of in-vessel components. According to recent reactor studies based on the experimental results in the Large Helical Device (LHD), the plasma major radius of a heliotron reactor is set to 14 to 16 m in order to install shielding and breeding blankets with total thickness of 1 m. The central toroidal field for the self-ignition is 5 to 6 T under the assumption that the confinement enhancement factor is 1.2 to 1.4 with respect to the LHD. The stored magnetic energy is estimated to be 120 to 150 GJ. Both the major radius and the magnetic energy are three times larger than those of ITER. Its large helical windings, however, can be realized by steady extension from the ITER technology, because cable-in-conduit conductors similar to those for ITER toroidal field coils can be adopted. Improvement of plasma confinement is essential to reduce the number of magnet systems. A roadmap to a heliotron DEMO is discussed.


The thermodynamic properties of the molecular complexes between water and a series of diatomic molecules of atmospheric interest have been explored using the classic large-amplitude motions/quantum harmonic vibrations (CLAM/QHV) model taking into explicit account the rovibrational dynamics of non-rigid molecules. For this purpose, the complete 5D intermolecular potential energy hypersurfaces of the complexes H2OO2, H2OF2, H2OCl2, H2OOH have been explored using the fast scanning technique accounting the molecular PES symmetry as implemented in the ADANIMEHS program. The energies of the unique PES points (the points having an unique structure) have been calculated using a variety of quantum chemical methods up to CCSD(T)/6-311++G(2d,2p). The effect of the intramolecular structural relaxation of monomers on resulting thermodynamic properties has been investigated. The evaluation of the thermodynamic functions and equilibrium constants of the complex formation have been performed using the ADANIMEHS code implementing the CLAM/QHV model. On this basis, the calculated equilibrium constants and thermodynamic functions as well as their temperature dependencies are discussed in comparison with available results obtained with other theoretical models and approaches.


We present improved relative astrometry for stars within the central half parsec of our Galactic Center (GC) based on data obtained with the 10 m W. M. Keck Observatory from 1995 to 2017. The new methods used to improve the astrometric precision and accuracy include correcting for local astrometric distortions, applying a magnitude-dependent additive error, and more carefully removing instances of stellar confusion. Additionally, we adopt jackknife methods to calculate velocity and acceleration uncertainties. The resulting median proper motion uncertainty is 0.05 mas yr−1 for our complete sample of 1184 stars in the central 10″ (0.4 pc). We have detected 24 accelerating sources, 2.6 times more than the number of previously published accelerating sources, which extend out to 4″ (0.16 pc) from the black hole. Based on S0-2's orbit, our new astrometric analysis has reduced the systematic error of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) by a factor of 2. The linear drift in our astrometric reference frame is also reduced in the north–south direction by a factor of 4. We also find the first potential astrometric binary candidate S0-27 in the GC. These astrometric improvements provide a foundation for future studies of the origin and dynamics of the young stars around the SMBH, the structure and dynamics of the old nuclear star cluster, the SMBH's properties derived from orbits, and tests of general relativity in a strong gravitational field.


Energy from the sun is transferred via marine plants, marine herbivores to primary
and secondary carnivores and even man himself with some loss of energy at each stage.
Inorganic materials from sea water are extracted and returned during this sequence of
processes. Some data suggests that open oceans are only about twice as productive as
deserts and that continental shelves are about ten times as productive. Coral reefs
and estuaries may be as much as forty times as productive.
The interrelationships between changes in current patterns, fish, birds and man
in the case of the Peruvian anchovy underlines the interdependence of various components
in marine systems.


Abstract Educational performance based on the learning outcomes of formal schooling in a future knowledge society could be significantly different from that of today. This study investigates the possibilities of developing an educational performance indicator for new-millennium learners (NMLs). The researchers conducted literature reviews, a meeting of experts, pilot studies, and a nationwide survey to define and refine a concept of educational performance required by a knowledge society. The study identified cognitive, affective, and sociocultural domains as core constructs of the indicator. We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to validate the indicator. We have identified three domains with four factors in each have to measure the educational performance of NMLs. Information management, knowledge construction, knowledge utilization, and problem-solving abilities are four factors in the cognitive domain. The affective domain consists of self-identity, self-value, self-directedness, and self-accountability factors. Finally, the sociocultural domain includes social membership, social receptivity, socialization, and social fulfillment factors.


Researchers analyze differences between models of sport training in order to identify the most suitable one. In basketball studies are focused on finding out differences amongst the processes of sport learning and taking decisions. The basketball training load includes the total sum of stimulus to which players are subjected during the preparation process. The aim of this research was to identity differences in training loads amongst the different tasks designed by basketball coaches who used different comprehensive and technical models of teaching/training. Two expert coaches of each training model participated in the study. All tasks performed during 10 training sessions were analyzed. In each task several aspects were studied: opposition, density/intensity, number of performers, competitive load, game area, cognitive involvement, mean heart rate, total time and useful time of the task. After that, the load of the task, value of training, and utilization of the task were calculated. There are statistically significant differences (p < .05) between the proposed tasks under the Comprehensive and Technical Model in the level of opposition, the number of performers, the load of the task, total time, useful time and utilization of tasks. The Comprehensive Model of training increases training load compared to the Technical Model, increasing the level of opposition and the number of players participating in the tasks. It also provides better utilization of tasks. The training process is more effective in practice time under the comprehensive model.


This booklet has been written and created by students studying on BA Hons Art and Design (Foundation) at Belfast School of Art, Ulster University. The concept evolved from a task given to the group as part of their #FouWeds sessions. The students were asked to create a list of questions which would prompt self-reflection, evaluation and motivation.Every Wednesday the entire Year 0 cohort takes part in sessions led by myself, in the newly designed Active Learning Studio. These sessions are part of an innovative pilot project to test the impact of new teaching approaches on student learning. The sessions are structured to develop students study skills, communication skills and build their knowledge and understanding of Art, Design and Media disciplines in a challenging and interactive format.This booklet is the first publication from the project.


Based on the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, this second in a series of three volumes provides resources for an entire year of sermons and offers practical help for preachers and others who use the Revised Common Lectionary. Beginning with Advent, this unique and comprehensive resource deals with lectionary texts for Year C. Each of the four texts--the Old Testament, Psalter, Gospel, and Epistle--for each Sunday and important festival day, including Christmas, Ash Wednesday, and Good Friday, is treated. A brief introduction for the day indicates the general thrust of the texts and the relationships among them, emphasizing in interpretation of the texts themselves. Also included are suggestions concerning the implications of the texts for life today.


Objective: Preclinical actions in the primary assessment of victims of blunt trauma may prolong the time to definitive clinical care. The aim of this study was to examine the duration of performed interventions and to study the effect of on-scene time (OST) and interventions performed before admission to hospital on hospital resuscitation time. Methods: 147 consecutive patients with high-energy blunt trauma aged ⩾15 years were studied prospectively. Prehospital time intervals and interventions were documented and compared with hospital data collected from continuous digital video registration. Analyses were performed with correction for injury severity and type of prehospital medical assistance (emergency medical services (EMS) versus physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS)). Results: Primary survey and initial treatment were initiated and completed within 1 h of arrival of the EMS. 83% of this "golden hour" elapsed out of hospital and 81% (n = 224) of all interventions (n = 275) were carried out before admission to hospital. An increase in the number of prehospital interventions was associated with an increased OST (p<0.001). Subanalyses showed no such correlation in the HEMS group. The HEMS group had a longer mean OST than the EMS group (p<0.001) with relatively more prehospital interventions (p<0.001) and a shorter mean in-hospital primary survey time with fewer in-hospital interventions. Overall, OST and the number of prehospital interventions were not related to in-hospital primary survey time and interventions. Conclusion: For most trauma patients the initial life- and limb-saving care is achieved within the "golden hour". Prehospital treatment occupies most of the golden hour. More prehospital interventions were performed with HEMS than with EMS only, but the higher number of interventions did not result in a longer OST with HEMS. Although the numbers of subsequent in-hospital interventions may be lower, no reduction in time in hospital may be expected from the interventions performed before hospital admission.


Energy and environment continue to be major issues of human mankind. This holds true on the regional, the national, and the global level. And it is one of the problems, where engineers and scientists in conjunction with political will and people's awareness, can find new approaches and solutions to save the natural resources and to make their use more efficient.


Background Push-up exercises are widely used to build strength and endurance in muscles primarily across the upper body, and it is a recommended home-based strengthening exercise. Few biomechanics investigations of push-ups had been done focusing on the activation of upper limb major muscles in different hand positions. However, their results cannot fully explain the workload done by Triceps Brachial (TB), Pectoral Major (PM) and Anterior Deltoid (AD) with substantial quantifiable evidence. Objective The aim of this study is to measure the EMG signals of TB, PM and AD while performing push-ups in five different hand positions. Design and Particpants Twelve subjects performing push-ups using EMG to collect data to compare. The 5 different hand positions are neutral, narrow base, wide base, anterior and posterior positions. The mean of peak EMG signals of three repetitions were extracted for comparison. A non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis H test was applied and followed by Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test as the post hoc paired difference test. A Bonferroni correction of p=0.01 was applied which was derived from p=0.05/5. Results TB were activated significant more in anterior, neutral and narrow base when compared to wide base and posterior position. No significant differences found in PM and AD from different hand positions. Conclusions Higher muscle activation of TB in anterior, neutral and narrow base positions implies that the training effect of TB may be higher in the above-mentioned hand positions. Further study on the increase in muscle strength is needed to ensure the findings.


Efficient hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass into free sugars for the production of bioethanol would allow utilization of an abundant and renewable natural resource. However, complex microcrystalline cellulose in biomass resists digestion. A preferred method to deconstruct cellulose is using enzyme cocktails, but the presence of multiple enzymes with synergistic outcomes for this process complicates direct biochemical analysis as a reliable indicator of deconstruction. Methods to detect release of free sugars rather than direct measurement of enzymatic activity are available but are time-consuming, and do not reflect the production of metabolic inhibitors of microbial growth which may interfere with the subsequent fermentation of sugars to ethanol. The work presented here describes an automated method for detecting the release of free sugars from enzymatic digestion of cellulosic biomass that allows for realtime measurements during the enzyme treatments and provides an indication of metabolic inhibitors that can interfere with subsequent growth of microbes during fermentation.


This paper brings together three themes that have become increasingly important in both research and policy on inequality and disadvantage in the UK: child development, the life course, and social exclusion. It is suggested that there are several aspects of the social exclusion approach that are valuable in both the UK and developing country contexts: multidimensionality; a dynamic, longitudinal perspective requiring a focus on both inter- and intra-generational processes; a concern with the interplay of agency and structure; an emphasis on human development through the life-course; and an emphasis on child development. After a review of the various approaches to social exclusion, with particular attention to the research and policy environments in the UK, the paper presents a summary of research on the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage drawing especially from work on the UK birth cohorts of 1958 and 1970. A key finding from this research is that many childhood disadvantages have a 'pervasive' influence on a wide range of adult disadvantages. The paper concludes with a brief exploration of the relevance for such an approach in developing countries. While not generally couched in social exclusion terms, the major shifts in UN development thinking over the past decade or so, as well as much in research on chronic poverty do resonate with the social exclusion approach as seen in the UK.


Understanding the most efficient design and utilization of emerging multicore systems is one of the most challenging questions faced by the mainstream and scientific computing industries in several decades. Our work explores multicore stencil (nearest-neighbor) computations - a class of algorithms at the heart of many structured grid codes, including PDE solvers. We develop a number of effective optimization strategies, and build an auto-tuning environment that searches over our optimizations and their parameters to minimize runtime, while maximizing performance portability. To evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies we explore the broadest set of multicore architectures in the current HPC literature, including the Intel Clovertown, AMD Barcelona, Sun Victoria Falls, IBM QS22 PowerXCell 8i, and NVIDIA GTX280. Overall, our auto-tuning optimization methodology results in the fastest multicore stencil performance to date. Finally, we present several key insights into the architectural tradeoffs of emerging multicore designs and their implications on scientific algorithm development.


One of the most contentious issues raised during the recent crisis has been the potentially exacerbating role played by mark-to-market accounting. Many have proposed the use of historical cost accounting, promoting its ability to avoid the amplification of systemic risk. We caution against focusing on the accounting rule in isolation, and instead emphasize the interaction between accounting and the regulatory framework. First, historical cost accounting, through incentives that arise via interactions with complex capital adequacy regulation, does generate market distortions of its own. Second, while mark-to-market accounting may indeed generate fire sales during a crisis, forward-looking institutions that rationally internalize the probability of fire sales are incentivized to adopt a more prudent investment strategy during normal times which leads to a safer portfolio entering the crisis. Using detailed, position- and transaction-level data from the U.S. insurance industry, we show that (a) market prices do serve as 'early warning signals', (b) insurers that employed historical cost accounting engaged in greater degrees of regulatory arbitrage before the crisis and limited loss recognition during the crisis, and (c) insurers facing mark-to-market accounting tend to be more prudent in their portfolio allocations. Our identification relies on the sharp difference in statutory accounting rules between life and P&C companies as well as the heterogeneity in implementation of these rules within each insurance type across U.S. states. Rather than promoting a shift away from market-based information, our results indicate that regulatory simplicity may be preferred to the complexity of risk-weighted capital ratios that gives rise, through interactions with accounting rules, to distorted risk-taking incentives and potential build-up of systemic risk.


"Wave" fi elds have long been recognized in marine sediments on the fl anks of basins and oceans in both tectonically active and inactive environments. The origin of "waves" (hereafter called undulations) is controversial; competing models ascribe them to depositional processes, gravity-driven downslope creep or collapse, and/or tectonic shortening. Here we analyze pervasive undulation fi elds identifi ed in swath bathymetry and new high-resolution multichannel seismic (MCS) refl ection data from the Sea of Marmara, Turkey. Although they exhibit some of the classical features of sediment waves, the following distinctive characteristics exclude a purely depositional origin: (1) parallelism between the crests of the undulations and bathymetric contours over a wide range of orientations, (2) steep fl anks of the undulations (up to ~40°), and (3) increases in undulations amplitude with depth. We argue that the undulations are folds formed by gravity-driven downslope creep that have been augmented by depositional processes. These creep folds develop over long time periods (≥0.5 m.y.) and stand in contrast to geologically instantaneous collapse. Stratigraphic growth on the upslope limbs indicates that deposition contributes to the formation and upslope migration of the folds. The temporal and spatial evolution of the creep folds is clearly related to rapid tilting in this tectonically active transform basin.


In one of his last opinions before retiring, Chief Justice Warren Burger acknowledged that the soundness of Roe v. Wade(1) "must be tested by the decisions that purport to follow [it]."(2) Declaring that the Court "should reexamine Roe,"(3) Burger found it astonishing that the Court had rejected a requirement that a second physician be present during the abortion of a viable fetus, given Roe's finding of a compelling governmental interest in the life of a viable fetus. He also objected to the Court's invalidation of informed consent and parental notification regulations. The Chief Justice claimed that that while the Roe Court had clearly rejected the right to abortion on demand, post-Roe decisions had implemented a policy encouraging abortion as a positive good.(4) Thus, while Burger joined Justice Blackmun's majority opinion in Roe,(5) he dissented from Justice Blackmun's majority opinion in Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.(6) Six years later in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Court, sans Burger, was closely divided over the continued soundness of Roe.(7) Four Justices explicitly argued that Roe should be overruled,(8) while two Justices argued that Roe should be reaffirmed and applied in the absolutist manner Burger had found so objectionable.(9) Justices Kennedy, O'Connor, and Souter, who authored the decisive joint opinion, claimed to be reaffirming the essential core of Roe while removing from it, and from the post-Roe decisions, the absolutist elements.(10) The joint opinion purported to accord respect to the relevant state interests, and thus claimed a willingness to uphold abortion regulations so long as the core right of a woman to decide whether or not to abort a non-viable fetus was not violated. In Stenberg v. Carhart,(11) Justice Kennedy played the role of Chief Justice Burger. Kennedy, like Burger before him, complained that the moderate decision he joined was misapplied by the majority to invalidate minimalist abortion regulations. Somehow, the moderate Casey precedent was used to justify the more encompassing Stenberg decision.(12) While Justice Kennedy has not yet called for a reexamination of Roe or Casey, his Stenberg dissent forcefully expressed a sense of betrayal and even moral revulsion regarding the majority's interpretation of Casey. Chief Justice Burger's belief that a precedent must be judged -- and understood -- by the opinions that apply it should be taken seriously. Therefore, it is appropriate to examine why the Roe and Casey doctrines have been expanded to the point where both relevant state interests and traditional rules of constitutional adjudication are now completely submerged. This pattern has not developed randomly, but instead arose from medical, cultural, and psychological factors inherent in the abortion liberty. Particularly because the joint opinion in Casey avoided a reexamination of the abortion liberty by arbitrarily invoking the principle of stare decisis,(13) the Court should engage in a thorough analysis of the nature and structure of abortion liberty in future cases. The Supreme Court's abortion jurisprudence has developed as a part of the broader doctrines of substantive due process and the right of privacy. The question of unenumerated rights posed by these doctrines goes to the heart of the Court's role within our system of government, and can raise troubling issues as to the legitimacy of the Court's decisions. It is one thing for the Court, following the theory of Marbury v. Madison,(14) to invalidate legislation found to be in clear violation of an explicit constitutional command; it is quite another for the Court to claim the authority to invalidate legislation based on rights not mentioned in the Constitution. Unless such unenumerated rights can be firmly grounded in the overall text, structure, history, principles, or jurisprudence of the Constitution, their use to invalidate legislation can appear illegitimate. …


This book details nearly 20 years of research into the outsourcing phenomenon, and is companion to the earlier Palgrave volume Information Systems and Outsourcing: Studies in Theory and Practice. Using an unparalleled database of over 650 longitudinal case studies the authors document and analyses outsourcing's rise prominence in the 1990s, pinpointing trends, practices and lessons. It finds that many of the so-called 'strategic alliances' of this period tended to be straightforward 'fee-for-service contracts in practice. The book develops critieria for making sourcing decisions, and provides details of the practices that work, and those that do not. The authors then detail developments in the IT, business process and offshore outsourcing service markets from 2000 on. They show that, against a background of growth in global revenues, outsourcing provided real promise on costs and service, new models, but also new challenges to client organizations and suppliers alike. Based on their research work, the authors point to thirteen future global sourcing trends from 2009-14. The book documents how organizations have been learning, experientially, and often painfully, how to manage back office outsourcing. But the increased size, importance, complexity of the phenomena, and the risks they engender, suggest that in the next phase, already started in some organizations discussed in the book, research will be into how organizations seek to provide leadership in outsourcing. For the authors, this shift will be a necessary one if governance, control, flexibility and superior business performance are to be outsourcing's consequences.


We present results from air-borne SAR campaigns using the FMCW SAR system COBRA operating at 35 GHz. Thanks to its large bandwidth the theoretical image resolution is below 10 cm in both the range and azimuth dimensions. Highly precise navigation data as well as very accurate synchronization of navigation and SAR data enables equally accurate absolute positioning. The SAR data were focused using a Frequency Scaling Algorithm (FSA) that accounts for the movement of the platform during the long ramp duration. The focusing chain integrates a two-step motion compensation scheme. The geometric and radiometric characteristics of the resulting single look complex (SLC) images were analyzed based on corner reflectors deployed within the test site. The scene was illuminated several times from two opposite directions in a standard strip-map mode. For each track, highly overlapping data segments were focused and geocoded individually. These products were subsequently mosaicked to generate a single geocoded image. Examples of change detection and moving target indication are also given.


Background: Previous studies have suggested that physically active behavior is associated with reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety. It is uncertain whether this relationship is affected by a third underlying factor. The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between physical activity (PA), symptoms of depression and anxiety, and personality traits. Methods: During the period 2006–2008, the third phase of a population-based health survey (HUNT 3) was conducted in the county of Nord-Trondelag in Norway. In total, 38,743 subjects aged 19 years or older completed the self-reported questionnaires on PA, mental health problems and personality in HUNT 3, of which 21,722 (56.1%) were women and 17,021 men (43.9%). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to detect case-level symptoms of depression and anxiety, while the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) was used to measure the stable and consistent personality dimensions extroversion and neuroticism. Analysis focused on the odds of HADS-defined depression and anxiety comparing different levels of PA. Also, the linear trend between PA and personality scores was assessed. Results: The prevalence of depression and anxiety scores above 8 was 9.5% and 14.1% respectively. Distribution of HADS-defined anxiety, scored extroversion, and scored neuroticism was higher among women compared with men, while HADS-defined depression had a higher distribution among men. The results from this cross-sectional study suggest that moderately physically active individuals have significantly lower odds of symptoms of depression and anxiety compared with less physically active individuals (p < 0.05). High PA had no further effect on mental health. A lower risk of HADS-defined anxiety was found among physically active women in comparison with physically active men. In the association with personality, lower levels of PA had a significant negative linear trend than high PA in relation to extroversion score (p < 0.01) and a significant positive linear trend with lower PA than high PA in relation to neuroticism score (p < 0.01). Small and consistent effects of the association between PA and scored extroversion and neuroticism were observed among both women and men. Conclusion: Subjects reporting regular PA were less likely to report symptoms of depression, but only physically active women were associated with lower symptoms of anxiety. Personality may be an important underlying factor in explaining this association, but other possible mechanisms might be more elucidating.


Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)is becoming increasingly popular in optical fiber applications because as data rates increase, the computational requirements involved in electronic dispersion compensation for serial modulation formats become impractical. Some investigations explain that OFDM can be used for the electronic compensation of chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion in single-mode optical fiber systems and for
mode dispersion in multimode systems.
The main goal of this Master thesis is to study on one hand the OFDM systems and on the other, the optical transmission systems and also the combination of the two: optical OFDM systems. A general classification of the present proposals for optical OFDM implementations is presented and two of the
identified schemes, those which lead to more cost-effective solutions, have been studied in deeper detail. These are based on conventional Intensity Modulation and Direct Detection (IM/DD) optical transmission systems. The first system relies on a RF up-conversion stage prior to the optical intensity modulation that allows to modulate the real and imaginary parts of the optical
OFDM signal into the phase and quadrature components of an RF frequency, while the second involves imposing the Hermitian symmetry among the subcarriers in order to obtain an OFDM signal which is purely real.
Starting from a built in demo of the software called Virtual Photonics Inc. (VPI)
a practical investigation about OFDM optical systems has been done. This demo is called Long Haul transmission and implements the RF up-conversion optical OFDM scheme. This demo is only an example restricted to a specific
scenario and offers little flexibility. That is why a new VPI simulation setup has been created by exploiting the Matlab interface provided by VPI where the OFDM coding and decoding have been developed in Matlab code and can be adjusted and modified to any scenario.
Additionally, another VPI simulation setup has been developed which allows to impose the Hermitian symmetry among the subcarriers allowing for the obtention of a purely real OFDM signal to be directly Intensity modulated over an optical carrier.
Results and comparisons of the outcome of both, our simulation setups and the VPI demo, are presented showing good agreement. Moreover, our setups have incorporated several improvements based on the investigation of optical OFDM systems carried out. Also, the functionalities of the software have been exploited to come out with user-friendly setups that allow any researcher in the field to carry out advanced simulations with little effort.


Abstract Early laboratory diagnosis is critical for the optimal management of human malaria, particularly following the introduction of relatively expensive, artemisinin-combination therapies (ACT). The performance of the laboratories and the quality of malaria diagnosis have recently been assessed in 36 healthcare facilities in six districts of Tanzania. Questionnaires, checklists and observations were used to collect information on the availability and functional status of equipment as well as on laboratory personnel and their performance in malaria diagnosis. Together, the surveyed facilities had 112 laboratory staff [almost half (41.1%) of whom were laboratory assistants] and 57 microscopes. Twenty-seven (75.0%) of the healthcare facilities included in the survey had only one functional microscope each. Only seven (12.3%) of the assessed microscopes had been serviced in the previous 2 years. Of the 38 microscopists who were assessed, 24 (63.2%) were re-using microscope slides, 29 (73.5%) were producing bloodsmears of low quality, and 30 (79.0%) were using Field's stain. Although the facility microscopists gave similar results to experienced research microscopists when reading bloodsmears prepared by the survey team, using high-quality reagents (κ=0.769), they appeared far less competent when reading smears stained using the reagents from the study laboratories (κ=0.265–0.489). The quality of malaria diagnosis at healthcare facilities in Tanzania, which is generally poor (largely because of inadequate supplies of consumables and the limited skills of laboratory staff in the preparation of bloodsmears), urgently needs to be improved if the utilization of ACT is to be sustainable.


We report on the emergence of a Dirac point in the dispersion relation of a plasmonic metamaterial. It is realized as a three-dimensional crystal (cubic or orthorhombic) whose lattice sites are decorated by aggregates of gold nanoparticles embedded in a high-index dielectric material. The Dirac-type dispersion lines of the photon modes are not a result of diffraction as in photonic crystals but due to subwavelength features and emerge from the gapless transition from a negative to a positive index band. The Dirac point is manifested as a dip in the spectrum of light transmittance through a finite slab of the metamaterial; however, transmittance does not decrease diffusively but exponentially due to the inherent losses of gold in the given spectral regime.


A long-term satellite-based analysis was performed to assess the impact of environmental factors and human efforts on cyanobacterial harmful blooms (CyanoHABs) dynamics in a typical shallow lake, Lake Taihu. A sub-pixel approach (algae pixel-growing algorithm) was used with 13 years of MOderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data to evaluate changes in bloom extension, initiation date, duration, and occurrence frequency before and after a massive bloom event (2007). Results indicated that the conditions after this event changed, with a general delay in bloom initiation and a reduction in bloom duration. The environmental drivers of daily, monthly and inter-annual CyanoHABs dynamics were analyzed by detrended correspondence analysis, principal components analysis and redundancy analysis. It demonstrated that wind speed was the main driver for daily CyanoHABs dynamics, and CODmn, TP and water temperature were closely related to monthly CyanoHABs dynamics. For the year scale, Tmean and nutrients were the main drivers of CyanoHABs initiation date and duration, and meteorological factors influenced CyanoHABs frequency for the whole lake. Regular monitoring of CyanoHABs by remote sensing is a key element in the continued assessment of bloom conditions in Lake Taihu, and nutrient reduction policies contribute to decrease CyanoHABs occurrence.


Overview For some time now, the governments of a few advanced countries,as well as their unions and some parts of the business sector, have been pressing proposals to establish multilateral rules permitting punitive trade measures to be taken against countries deemed to be failing to uphold core labour standards. The countries most likely to be arraigned would be developing countries. The latter have,however, firmly rebutted these initiatives, which they argue are protectionist both in intent and in effect. This policy study seeks to move the debate beyond the present stalemate onto a more constructive plane. While closely examining the economic arguments in this controversy, it is also concerned with the broader political and moral dimensions. The authors suggest that developing countries are committed to improving core and other labour standards; the reason why, in general, they are unable to implement many of these forthwith and much more widely is not because of the wickedness or perversity of their governments but essentially their economic circumstances and the structure of their economies. It is emphasized that developing countries should continue to adhere fully to these commitments both for intrinsic developmental reasons and also, importantly, so as not to lose the moral argument. A main objective of the study is to provide for developing countries an in-depth background analysis of the diverse and complex issues involved in considering the question of labour standards. The study deals with a wider range of issues than those strictly germane to labour issues in relation to trade. This should assist developing country negotiators in discussions on proposals to make labour standards compulsory irrespective of the forum in which such discussions may occur. The authors' point of departure is the concern of US trade unions over their adverse labour market conditions (loss of jobs in manufacturing, increased wage dispersion and job insecurity, among other things), and the belief that the source of these problems is manufactured imports from the South. In addition, certain sections of business express concern about alleged unfair competition from developing countries. These concerns and beliefs, which are widely shared in one way or another by the broad public in advanced countries, propel the policy drive to link labour standards to trade, or, as frequently described, to introduce a 'social clause' into the multilateral trade rules. A number of arguments and also data are presented to demonstrate that these allegations and fears are not well founded. Moreover, the analysis suggests that, in the case of most of the core labour standards, adopting measures which are tantamount to forcing compliance with ILO core labour standards will not achieve the declared objective of raising labour standards in the South. Indeed, this would be quite the wrong way to go about achieving improved labour standards, both core and otherwise, in developing countries. The study provides a critical assessment of the core ILO conventions with respect to their application to the specific circumstances of developing countries. It also examines the important question of whether these core conventions should be regarded as basic human rights. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the ILO Conventions Nos. 87 and 98 on the freedom of association and on free collective bargaining are too narrow and exclusive. The authors argue (a) for the revision of these conventions, as well as (b) for the inclusion of the right to a decent livelihood as a core convention and also as a fundamental human right, certainly no less significant than the other core conventions. The study suggests that, as economic development proceeds, labour standards normally evolve and improve without requiring international coercive measures. However, the process can be made somewhat quicker with technical and financial assistance and encouragement by the international organizations as well as civil society organizations. In contrast, attempts to enforce labour standards through trade sanctions are likely to cause economic harm to most exporting developing countries, at least in the short to medium term, while doing little or nothing to improve their labour standards. Indeed, under wholly plausible circumstances, this approach could be seriously counterproductive and reduce standards overall. What is more, any cut-back in developing country exports due to sanctions will not provide protection to labour and industry in the advanced countries for long (if that were the objective). This is because the most severe competition for advanced countries comes from the small number of newly industrializing countries (NICs) whose productivity growth rate is much faster than that of advanced countries. In sum, whatever motivates those urging improved labour standards in the South -- protectionism or genuine concern for the welfare of workers in the South -- the analysis suggests that neither in the South nor in the North would labour be best protected by measures to enforce compliance with core labour standards in the South.Further, evidence suggests that there has been greater slippage in labour standards in the North in the recent period than in the South. However, it is argued here that the main cause of this malaise lies in the current processes of economic globalization, which emphasize free trade, free movement of capital, and labour market flexibility within national economies. Most analysts will agree that the last two characteristics disadvantage labour, North and South, and favour capital. Nevertheless, in keeping with the long traditions of internationalism of the working class movements, the paper suggests that they project their own vision of a new global economic order which would respond more fully to the needs and interests of all people, whether they work in the formal or the informal sector in both developing and developed countries. The analysis presented here suggests that the improvement of labour standards in the South would require faster economic growth and structural change, giving due attention also to policy measures to reduce poverty and inequality, including labour market policies. Such a process would be helped if advanced countries themselves were growing faster, which inter alia would help improve labour standards in these countries. It is argued that faster economic growth, North and South, is perfectly feasible on the supply side (in part because of the unrealized potentialities of the information and communications technology (ICT) revolution, as well as the catch-up possibilities of developing countries). However, for this potential to materialize, a trend increase in the long-term rate of growth of real world demand is needed, which, it is suggested, would in turn require new institutional arrangements for a people-friendly globalization. Specifically, this entails among other things close co-operation between leading economies, so that international demand expansion is not thwarted by co-ordination failures and balance of payments disequilibria. It also requires pay co-ordination policies within advanced countries to forestall inflation. The paper sketches out the main elements of this global Keynesian model for realizing the full supply-side potential of the world economy and achieving fast growth, which would interalia lead to an increase in the demand for labour and help raise employment, real wages and labour standards in both the South and the North. This analysis has important policy implications for each of the parties to the controversy -- advanced and developing country governments and trade unions, multinationals, civil society groups and international organizations, among others. These are outlined in Section VII. Although written from the Southern perspective and for the South, it is hoped that the analysis in this policy study would also be found useful by workers and trade unions in the North as well as by the international community as a constructive way forward from the current deadlock.


Faced with economic challenges in the United States, we frequently hear in political discourse the virtues of entrepreneurship as a powerful paradigm for innovation and job creation. Unfortunately, despite this well-intended rhetoric, I believe we are paralyzed as a nation by our inability to enact meaningful legislative initiatives that would advance or nurture U.S. entrepreneurship.The purpose of this paper is to discuss investment options for entrepreneurial ventures and shed light on the appropriateness of private equity as an option by documenting my own first-hand experience as a founding independent director of an entrepreneurial venture that accepted financing from a private equity fund. I also contrast the value proposition of private equity with that required for the success of entrepreneurial and innovative ventures, and argue against the private equity firm investment in entrepreneurial ventures, which at best does not serve the interests of creating successful businesses that nurture innovation and create jobs. The conclusions and insights that follow are based on my years of extensive experience working with many entrepreneurial organizations at all stages of development.


US EPA and many state regulatory agency guidance documents recommend below-foundation vapor sampling as a key element of site investigations to determine if vapor migration from underlying soil into buildings is a completed exposure pathway (USEPA, 2002; WIDHFS, 2003; San Diego County, 2004; PADEP, 2004). If volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are detected below the building foundation, then VOC migration from the subsurface is assumed to be occurring, and further investigation is needed to determine the extent of the VOC impact. These guidance documents are predicated on the assumption that VOCs detected in below-foundation samples have originated from deeper within the subsurface. However, detection of VOCs in below-foundation vapor samples alone is not sufficient to conclude that the VOCs are migrating from the subsurface upward towards a building. VOCs detected in below-foundation vapor samples can originate from indoor sources, migrating down through the slab by diffusion or advection. Commonly referenced conceptual models for vapor intrusion address VOC migration from the subsurface into buildings but do not consider the potential for VOC migration from buildings into the subsurface (USEPA, 2002; Johnson and Ettinger, 1991; Parker, 2003). The advective and diffusive forces that lead to the migration of VOCs from the subsurface into buildings are equally likely to result in the migration of VOCs from buildings into the subsurface when pressure or concentration gradients support such migration. In this paper we present: i) pressure gradient measurements indicating bi-directional advective flow across building foundations, ii) simple modeling indicating that indoor sources of VOCs may cause subsurface impacts through advection across the building foundation, and iii) field data from a site where indoor sources rather than subsurface contamination were the source of VOCs detected in below-foundation vapor samples.


The study was conducted at Akpehe poultry farm, Makurdi. Nigeria. 1700 local chickens belonging to the Tiv and Fulani ecotypes were used for the study. The study was designed to provide information on the distribution of qualitative traits within and between the ecotypes. The distribution of each qualitative traits was measured on the parent populations as well as on their generations. These were computed as the ratio of their frequencies to the total number of birds. Qualitative traits varied within and between the ecotypes. There were indications of qualitative traits modification for adaptation to climatic challenges. Solid black and black colored related plumages and body pigmentations colors were abundant among the Tiv ecotypes. Color patterns with the capacity to repel radiant heat had higher frequencies in the Fulani ecotypes. There were high distribution of single comb type within and between the ecotypes. Solid black and other black-related plumages and body pigments birds can survive among the Tiv ecotypes populations but not within the fulani ecotypes populations. While the Fulani ecotype can survive within the Tiv ecotypes populations


BACKGROUND & AIMS
White people in the United States are several-fold more affected by esophageal adenocarcinoma than black people. It remains unknown whether this racial discrepancy reflects a higher prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms or a higher degree of esophageal damage.

METHODS
A cross-sectional survey followed by endoscopy was performed among employees at a VA medical center. The association between race and GERD symptoms and erosive esophagitis was analyzed in logistic regression analyses controlling for demographic, clinical, and histologic variables.

RESULTS
A total of 496 of 915 people (54%) returned interpretable questionnaires, and endoscopy was performed in 215 participants. The mean age was 45 years, and 336 (68%) were women. Racial distribution was 43% black, 34% white, and 23% other races. Heartburn occurring at least weekly was reported in 27%, 23%, and 24% of these racial groups, respectively. The age-adjusted prevalence of heartburn or regurgitation was not significantly different among the groups. Erosive esophagitis was found in 50 of 215 participants (23%); 31 of these cases were mild. Only one person had Barrett's esophagus (0.4%). For weekly heartburn or regurgitation, black participants had significantly less frequent erosive esophagitis than white participants (24% vs. 50%; P = 0.03). With multiple adjustments, black participants had a persistently lower risk of esophagitis (adjusted odds ratio, 0.22-0.46; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
White and black people in the United States have a similarly high prevalence of GERD symptoms. However, black people have a lower prevalence of esophagitis for the same frequency of GERD symptoms. Barrett's esophagus was rare in this study, even among those with frequent symptoms.


Rapid urbanization has brought environmentally, socially, and economically great challenges to cities and societies. To build a sustainable city, these challenges need to be faced efficiently and successfully. This paper focuses on the environmental issues and investigates the ecological approaches for planning sustainable cities through a comprehensive review of the relevant literature. The review focuses on several differing aspects of sustainable city formation. The paper provides insights on the interaction between the natural environment and human activities by identifying environmental effects resulting from this interaction; provides an introduction to the concept of sustainable urban development by underlining the important role of ecological planning in achieving sustainable cities; introduces the notion of urban ecosystems by establishing principles for the management of their sustainability; describes urban ecosystem sustainability assessment by introducing a review of current assessment methods, and; offers an outline of indexing urban environmental sustainability. The paper concludes with a summary of the findings.


We report on a hybrid 12-dimensional full body state estimator for a hexapod robot executing a jogging gait in steady state on level terrain with regularly alternating ground contact and aerial phases of motion. We use a repeating sequence of continuous time dynamical models that are switched in and out of an extended Kalman filter to fuse measurements from a novel leg pose sensor and inertial sensors. Our inertial measurement unit supplements the traditionally paired three-axis rate gyro and three-axis accelerometer with a set of three additional three-axis accelerometer suites, thereby providing additional angular acceleration measurement, avoiding the need for localization of the accelerometer at the center of mass on the robot's body, and simplifying installation and calibration. We implement this estimation procedure offline, using data extracted from numerous repeated runs of the hexapod robot RHex (bearing the appropriate sensor suite) and evaluate its performance with reference to a visual ground-truth measurement system, comparing as well the relative performance of different fusion approaches implemented via different model sequences


Over two decades of research have indicated that viruses play crucial roles in aquatic food webs as active constituents of the microbial loop and in the population ecology of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms. Over the past 5 years, there has been a sharp increase in reported aquatic virus research, notably in the areas of freshwater viral ecology, viruses of eukaryotic microorganisms and viral genetic diversity. Recent studies of the interactions between viral infection, bacterivory and grazing have demonstrated the complex dynamics of viral infection within aquatic ecosystems. These reports have helped solidify our understanding of the environmental controls on viral abundance, impacts of viral infection upon host community structure and have elucidated new roles of viruses in biogeochemical cycles – such as photosystem gene expression. Previously unrecognised groups of viruses (ribonucleic acid viruses and single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid viruses) have also been revealed as diverse and active components of marine virioplankton assemblages.

Key Concepts:

Viruses are the most numerically dominant organisms on earth, and their abundance varies between habitats, often according to local primary productivity.

Both viral activity and bacterivory contribute significantly to bacterial mortality in aquatic ecosystems, which in turn influence global-scale biogeochemical cycles.

Methodological advances, such as metagenomics and genomics, have greatly facilitated studies of marine viruses and resulted in key discoveries on viral diversity, viral–host gene transfer and viral influence on host cell physiology.

Photosystem genes are common in cyanophage and are hypothesised to enhance viral production rates.

Viral-induced mortality may be a key factor in controlling or terminating algal blooms.

Keywords:

virus;
microbial loop;
mortality;
viriomics;
diversity;
aquatic


OF DISSERTATION THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MODIFIABLE LIFESTYLE FACTORS AND MUSCLE LIPID DEPOTS IN OLDER ADULTS Muscle health declines with age, influencing both muscle strength and performance. Modifiable lifestyle factors may mitigate muscle dysfunction by altering muscle lipid depots. Vitamin D status, dietary intake, and physical activity each play a role in muscle health during aging. Low vitamin D status (measured as 25(OH)D) is prevalent among older adults and has been associated with functional limitations and impaired physical performance. Previously, 25(OH)D concentrations were inversely associated with extramyocellular lipid (EMCL) and our lab observed a significant positive relationship between 25(OH)D concentrations and IMCL. Studies have shown mixed results regarding the effects dietary fat intake interventions have on muscle lipid depots. It is well established that exercise contributes to improved muscle health, but to date studies have not examined the relationship between daily physical activity levels, muscle lipid depots, and local muscle tissue hemodynamics. We used novel noninvasive technology to measure gastrocnemius muscle lipid depots (Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy) and monitor local muscle tissue hemodynamics during a foot plantar flexion exercise (Near Infrared/Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy). The first aim was to further elucidate the relationship between 25(OH)D concentrations, physical function, and muscle lipid depots. We also examined 25(OH)D concentrations and muscle lipid depots differences in older adults with varied body mass index (BMI) and physical activity levels. We observed a negative relationship between 25(OH)D concentrations and EMCL. In females, greater 25(OH)D concentrations and lower EMCL were significant predictors of faster Four Square Step Test times, independent of BMI and age. Greater EMCL and IMCL content were observed with increased BMI, but statistical significance was not reached. The second aim was to retrospectively examine the relationship between dietary fat intake and muscle lipid depots in participants enrolled in a double-blinded placebo-controlled trial. We also investigated the relationship between physical activity levels and local muscle tissue hemodynamics. Increased dietary fat intake ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids (PUFA:SFA) and study intervention (7 days of aerobic training) were the best predictors of lower IMCL content, independent of age, BMI, and physical activity. Compared with individuals with lower physical activity levels, individuals that reported greater physical activity had lower relative blood flow and relative oxygen consumption during and after a foot plantar flexion exercise. Together these findings suggest that increased physical activity, consumption of greater PUFA:SFA, and maintenance of sufficient 25(OH)D concentrations may have favorable effects on muscle lipid depots and contribute to the preservation of muscle health.


In a 1980 sample of U.S. nonfarm households with children and with both spouses employed full time, one-third of the couples included at least one spouse who worked other than a regular day shift. In about one-tenth of the couples the spouses worked entirely different shifts with no overlap in hours. These findings are linked to an earlier study which showed a high prevalence of child care by employed fathers whose wives were employed in certain occupations.


In Ireland, youth work is delivered largely in marginalised communities and through non-formal and informal learning methods. Youth workers operate in small isolated organisations without many of the resources and structures to improve practice that is afforded to larger formal educational establishments. Fundamental to youth work practice is the ability to identify and construct learning experiences for young people in non-traditional learning environments. It is therefore necessary for youth workers to develop a clear understanding of their own learning capacity in order to facilitate learning experiences for young people.
In the course of this research, I attempted to use technology to enhance and support the awareness among youth workers of their own learning capacity by creating a digital video artifact that explores the concept – learning-to-learn. This study presents my understanding of the learning-to-learn competence as, I sought to improve my practice as a youth service manager and youth work trainer.
This study was conducted using an action research approach. I designed and evaluated the digital media artifact – "Lenny's Quest" in collaboration with staff and trainer colleagues in the course of two cycles of action research, and my research was critiqued and validated throughout this process.


This thesis traces the roles and valences of incommunicable, perception-like thought - what I call an 'inner image' - in art's reception. Recent artistic practice and its contextualisations are beholden to a critique of interiority that programmatically outlaws anything like the phantasmata that were central to pre-modern thought or the mental imagery of modern psychology and philosophy of mind. I argue that in the context of these prohibitions an inner image – as both experienced in engagement and facilitated in practice - has a critical-utopian function: critical in its evasion of communicative rationality and naturalized externality, utopian in its non-realization and incongruity with the immediate.

The argument proceeds by conducting close readings of a wide range of art historical situations in which the notion of such an image is problematized: G E Lessing's Laokoon essay; the plays of Villiers de L'Isle-Adam; Roland Barthes's Camera Lucida; the relations between text and materiality in the work of Marcel Broodthaers and Robert Barry. An instructive contrast is provided by examining the role of 'inner images' in scientific practice, specifically their utilisation in recent neuroscientific attempts via brain-imaging to communicate with humans in a vegetative state.

Findings are framed by a critique of positivistic thought, and its relation to the utopian, derived from the Frankfurt School body of theory. It is shown that the excision from the art encounter of inner images - as a taboo on that which is not sensuously realized, which retains a halo of indeterminacy, which does not yet exist - resigns the subject to circumstance. An inner image is then the expression of the subject's capacity as a subject to resist circumstance, if only by turning away.


Abstract This review summarizes the literature on the relation between the development of pleural plaques and non-malignant and malignant disease in cohorts exposed to asbestos and other fibers. The available evidence indicates that, absent any other pleural disease, the presence of pleural plaques does not result in respiratory symptoms or clinically significant impacts on lung function. For certain types of asbestos, the development of pleural plaques is statistically correlated with malignant disease, but the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that pleural plaques without other pleural disease are a marker of exposure, rather than an independent risk factor. Pleural plaques have also developed in cohorts exposed to other fibers that have not proven to be carcinogenic. Risk analyses should be based on the avoidance of known adverse conditions, rather than pleural plaques per se.


Organophosphorus(III) compounds usually take on stable pyramidal structures with a large inversion barrier of 30–35 kcal mol . In contrast, diphenylphosphine-fused Ni(II) porphyrin, where the phosphorus atom is directly attached at the meso-position and embedded in a rigid skeleton, exhibits a considerably planarized phosphorus center. Here we report the synthesis of a mesityl-substituted Ni(II) porphyrin analogue, 6, which allowed an evaluation of the inversion barrier (DG203) by variable temperature H NMR spectroscopy which showed it to be exceptionally small, at 14.0 kcal mol . The observed small inversion barrier has been attributed to conformational constraint imposed by the fused structure. In addition, it was thought that the planar transition state is stabilized by the Ni(II) porphyrin network that allows the contribution of a 22p-aromatic circuit involving phosphorus lonepair electrons. Along this postulate, we attempted to engineer diarylphosphine-fused porphyrins with smaller inversion barriers by replacing the fused benzene rings with five-membered heterocyclic rings such as thiophene, benzothiophene, benzofuran, indole, benzothiophene 1,1-dioxide, and thiophene 1,1-dioxide. In that order, the aromatic character of the heterocycle decreases, which leads to increasing contribution of the 22p-aromatic circuit. Actually, the inversion barrier of the phosphorus center becomes smaller in this order and reaches 8.7 kcal mol 1 for thiophene 1,1-dioxide-fused Ni(II) porphyrin 15, supporting the postulate.


The breeding distribution of the Black Swan in
Tasmania is given and the breeding history of the
species over three years in the principal breeding
area at Moulting Lagoon is described. The incubation
period was found to be 39+ 2 days and
cygnets fly 60 days after the appearance of juvenile
plumage. Floods are the main source of egg
mortality and other factors are relatively unimportant.
Direct observation and statistical
calculations were used to estimate the annual
cygnet production. The statistical methods gave
widely divergent estimates. Shooting over the
breeding ground has an adverse effect upon breeding,
upsetting pair formation. Restriction of this
shooting has re1sulted in a greater cygnet production.
Flooding and autodestruction of habitat
are important factors in breeding success and
recommendations for the management of the
species are given.


This paper is concerned with the use of conversational agents as an interaction paradigm for accessing open domain encyclopedic knowledge by means of Wikipedia. More precisely, we describe a dialog-based question answering system for German which utilizes Wikipedia-based topic models as a reference point for context detection and answer prediction. We investigate two different perspectives to the task of interfacing virtual agents with collaborative knowledge. First, we exploit the use of Wikipedia categories as a basis for identifying the broader topic of a spoken utterance. Second, we describe how to enhance the conversational behavior of the virtual agent by means of a Wikipedia-based question answering component which incorporates the question topic. At large, our approach identifies topic-related focus terms of a user's question, which are subsequently mapped onto a category taxonomy. Thus, we utilize the taxonomy as a reference point to derive topic labels for a user's question. The employed topic model is thereby based on explicitly given concepts as represented by the document and category structure of the Wikipedia knowledge base. Identified topic categories are subsequently combined with different linguistic filtering methods to improve answer candidate retrieval and reranking. Results show that the topic model approach contributes to an enhancement of the conversational behavior of virtual agents.


Background It is important to identify risk factors associated with medical complications during ultra-marathons so that prevention programmes can be developed. Objective To determine risk factors for medical complications during ultra-marathons. Design Prospective study. Setting Two Oceans ultra-marathon (56 km) races. Participants 26 354 race starters. Methods Medical complications (defined as any runner requiring assessment by a doctor at the race medical facility or a local hospital on race day) were recorded over 4 years. Complications were subdivided according to the system that was affected and by final diagnosis. A Poisson regression model was used to determine risk factors for any medical complication and for more common specific complications. Results Risk factors for medical complications during 56 km road races were less running experience (≤1 medal vs 2–4 medals, p=0.0097), and both fastest (<6 vs 6–7 min/km, p=0.0051) and slowest (>7 vs 6–7 min/km, p<0.0001) running pace category. Year of observation was also associated with risk of complications (2009 vs 2008, p=0.0176; 2009 vs 2010, p=0.0007; 2010 vs 2011, p=0.0112). Risk factors for specific common medical complications were: postural hypotension (slowest pace), serious exercise-associated muscle cramping (older age, fastest pace), gastrointestinal complications (slowest pace) and dermatological complications (fastest pace). Conclusions Less experience and running at either a slow or a fast pace were risk factors for complications during 56 km road running. Annual variation may also affect risk. Risk factors for specific medical complications were also identified. These data form the basis of further studies to assist medical staff to plan appropriate care at races.


Background and Aims: Not many studies have explored the correlation between arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) and end-tidal carbon dioxide tension (ETCO2) in surgeries requiring pneumoperitoneum of more than 1 hour duration with the patient in non-supine position. The aim of our study was to evaluate the correlation of ETCO2with PaCO2in patients undergoing laparoscopic nephrectomy under general anaesthesia. Methods: A descriptive study was performed in thirty patients undergoing laparoscopic nephrectomy from September 2014 to August 2015. The haemodynamic parameters, minute ventilation, PaCO2and ETCO2measured at three predetermined points during the procedure were analysed. Correlation was checked using Pearson's Correlation Coefficient Test. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Statistical analysis of the values showed a positive correlation between ETCO2and PaCO2(P < 0.05). Following carbon dioxide insufflation, both ETCO2and PaCO2increased by 5.4 and 6.63 mmHg, respectively, at the end of the 1st hour. The PaCO2-ETCO2gradient was found to increase during the 1st hour following insufflation (4.07 ± 2.05 mmHg); it returned to the pre-insufflation values in another hour (2.93 ± 1.43 mmHg). Conclusion: Continuous ETCO2monitoring is a reliable indicator of the trend in arterial CO2fluctuations in the American Society of Anesthesiologists Grades 1 and 2 patients undergoing laparoscopic nephrectomy under general anaesthesia.


The focus of the investigation is, "Does Mentoring Associate Teachers have benefits for the curriculum mentor in School?"
This is an important question for schools at a time when initial teacher training is becoming more and more school based and with schools being asked to join in partnership schemes with higher education institutions, taking on complex mentoring roles.
The focus was highlighted in this particular project because of a mentoring pilot scheme, carried out in a co-educational comprehensive school. The school consisted of sixty teaching staff and approximately one thousand pupils. Some staff saw the mentoring initiative as a positive move, having benefits for those involved. Other stafl including some members of the senior management team held strong reservations regarding the initiative. Views were expressed that this was 'training on the cheap' that it was politically wrong and served the purpose of the Far Right of the Conservative Government; that the overall purpose of schools was to benefit the learning of the pupils within them and not to be a training ground for would be teachers. It was felt that the education of pupils would suffer by taking teachers away from their primary function.
The pilot scheme gave clear indications that there were indeed benefits to be gained, particularly for those staff involved as curriculum mentors, but also for the school as a whole. As a result of the pilot scheme the school entered into an initial teacher training partnership with a local higher education institution. The pilot study was purely subjective but it paved the way for a more structured, scientific study as to what the benefits of mentoring might be for the curriculum mentor. A questionnaire was constructed, based on teaching competencies and was given to twenty staff who had been involved in some way in the pilot study. The questionnaire raised areas of consensus regarding possible benefits to be gained. From this, semi-structured interview questions were formed to probe more deeply into the responses given. Three experienced
mentors and two newly trained mentors formed the case study.
The nature of the overall findings from the interviews seemed to indicate that mentoring associate teachers did indeed have benefits for the curriculum mentors involved, particularly in the area of becoming a reflective practitioner. The results also indicated that there were implications for what happens in the classroom as practice was changed by some staff in the light of reflection. Other areas of benefits were in the planning and organisation of teaching; in classroom skills and organisation and in the professional development of the curriculum mentors involved.
The implications of the research are important for schools mainly because it does seem to indicate that mentoring can actually help to improve the quality of teaching in school because it helps to develop staff as reflective practitioners by enabling them to articulate and make extrinsic the complex knowledge, skills, values and attitudes necessary for quality teaching and learning to take place.
Therefore, far from initial teacher training being 'training on the cheap' it improves classroom practice and has a beneficial effect on raising achievement within schools. It also implies that schools who refuse to become involved in such partnerships, do so at their peril!


Introduction Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states. Progress has been slow despite the World Health Organization action plan for the prevention and control of NCDs in the region. This paper presents recommendations focused on practical strategies for optimizing NCD management in the ASEAN region. Methods A multidisciplinary group of experts from six ASEAN member states convened for two face-to-face meetings to discuss barriers and possible recommendations for optimizing NCD management, focused on cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders, in the region. Multiple approaches, ie, analysis of insights from the meetings and a review of existing literature on NCD programs in the ASEAN region were followed. The proposed recommendations were also based on selected successful interventions in ASEAN member states, thus providing actionable strategies. Results The gaps identified in NCD management for cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders in the ASEAN region were classified into gaps relating to policies and to clinical and public health practice. The proposed solutions addressing policy gaps include fostering multisectoral public–private partnerships, employing "whole-of-government" and "whole-of-society" approaches and promoting "health-in-all policies approach" to manage issues with financing, accessibility, efficiency and quality of health services. Whereas proposed solutions to bridge clinical and public health practice gaps entail strengthening primary care services, building the capacity of trained healthcare workers and employing collaborative care for holistic management of patients. Conclusion The scale of premature and preventable deaths from NCDs in the ASEAN region remains a serious public health concern and requires a "whole-of-system approach". The interventions proposed in this paper build on regional collaborations and knowledge sharing to help develop a concerted and targeted response to NCDs.


Abstract : Atmospheric turbulence causes tilt distortion that requires telescopes to track and remove image jitter effects. This research develops an adaptive tilt tracking system to measure and compensate for centroid gain volatility while tracking extended objects. The adaptive tracker counteracts deviations in tilt measurement and correction, due to unintended centroid gain changes. Non-adaptive trackers experience sub-optimal bandwidths and possible instabilities. The adaptive tracker utilizes a quadrant (QUAD) cell tilt detector to measure tilt distortion and its centroid gain relates measured intensity imbalances amongst the four cells to tilt distortion. Additionally, this gain becomes a random variable as it is determined by random image spot characteristics. The tracked LEO object and atmospheric seeing govern spot characteristics. This research develops an innovative methodology that rotates the LEO object's image to create a more favorable intensity distribution for the QUAD-cell. Along with image rotation, an adaptive gain term yields significant improvements in QUAD-cell measurement performance, up to 91% for the simulated tilt processes. Using the image rotation and adaptive gain methodology, this research realizes an adaptive tilt tracker model that dithers the fast steering mirror to detect non-optimal centroid gains. Results show the adaptive tracker effectively counteracts centroid-gain deviations.


A new uranyl sulfate of composition Na6[(UO2)(SO4)4](H2O)4 has been synthesized at room temperature and its structure has been determined, along with a Raman spectroscopy characterization. The new compound is monoclinic, space group P 21/ c , with a 9.8005(3), b 9.7183(3), c 20.8263(6) A, β 98.794(2)°, V 1960.27(10) A3, and Z = 4. The structure was solved and refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data on the basis of F 2 for 3996 unique reflections collected with monochromatic Mo K α radiation to R (all) = 2.92%. The structure of this synthetic compound contains a uranyl sulfate cluster with composition [(UO2)(SO4)4]6–. This cluster consists of a uranyl pentagonal bipyramid and four sulfate tetrahedra, three of which are linked to the uranyl pentagonal bipyramid by the sharing of vertices, while the other is linked bidentately, sharing an equatorial edge of the uranyl pentagonal bipyramid. The uranyl sulfate clusters are linked through bonds to Na+ cations and by an extensive H-bonding network. The bidentate linkage in uranyl compounds is an unusual attribute, which has not previously been observed for uranyl minerals. Raman spectroscopy of this novel compound and selected uranyl minerals with similar structures was undertaken in order to compare them in detail. The results are interpreted with regard to the structural features of the studied substances, i.e. , the mode of linkage and corresponding distortions of the tetrahedral units.


Background & Aim: Hereditary hearing loss(HHL) affects one in 1000-2000 newborns and more than 50% of these cases have a genetic base. About 70% of HHL are nonsyndromic with autosomal recessive forms accounting for 85% of the genetic load. Different genes have been reported to be involved, but mutations in GJB2 gene at DFNB1 locus have been established as the basis of autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss. In addition to GJB2 mutations, the deletion of ∆(GJB6-D13S1830) involving GJB6 gene (also localizes to DFNB1 interval) has been detected in many patients heterozygous for one mutation in GJB2 gene. The aim of this project was to study the prevalence of GJB2 mutations in Turk deaf population living in East and West Azarbaijan provinces of Iran. Material & Method: Mutation screening began by Amplification Refractory Mutation System(ARMS) PCR for the detection of 35delG; then, we analyzed all samples excluding 35delG homozygotes by DHPLC and Direct Sequencing for other GJB2 mutations. Results: We screened 276 chromosomes (138 probands) for GJB2 mutations. Seventy five chromosomes (27%) carried GJB2 mutations including 35delG, delE120,-3170G>A, W24X, 363delC, E129k, Q80L, and Y155X. Among them, 35delG had the highest frequency, and Q80L and 363delC were novel mutations which have not been reported in any other populations. Thirty-five patients(25.3%) had biallelic GJB2 mutations and five probands had monoallelic GJB2 mutations. The ∆(GJB6-D13S1830) mutation was not found in heterozygous patients. Polymorphisms found were V1531 and V271. Conclusion: Regarding high prevalence of DFNB1-related hearing loss in the north east of Iran, screening this population for this locus is recommended. Also, in comparison with other countries, our results suggest that other loci and genes can be responsible for nonsyndromic deafness in this population.