Abstract Heparanase activity is involved in cancer growth and development in humans and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the heparanase gene (HPSE) have been shown to be associated with tumors. In this study, we investigated whether SNPs in HPSE were a risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by undertaking a comprehensive haplotype-tagging, case-control study. For this, six haplotype-tagging SNPs (htSNPs) in HPSE were genotyped in 400 HCC patients and 480 controls by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. A log-additive model revealed significant correlations between the HPSE polymorphisms rs12331678 and rs12503843 and the risk of HCC in the overall samples (p = 0.0046 and p = 0.0055). When the analysis was stratified based on hepatitis B virus (HBV) carrier status, significant interactions between rs12331678 and rs12503843 and HBV were observed. Conditional logistic regression analysis for the independent effect of one significant SNP suggested that rs12331678 or rs12503843 contributed an independent effect to the significant association with the risk of HCC, respectively. Our findings suggest that the SNPs rs12331678 and rs12503843 are HCC risk factors, although the potential functional roles of these two SNPs remain to be fully elucidated.


In science, reproducibility means that a scientific experiment can be repeated by another scientist with the same result. This is of particular importance to verify the results as well as to show the usefulness and reusability for further research. However, the exclusive publication of the research results in a scientific journal is usually not sufficient. In addition to research results, also research data as well as research software need to be published and made public available in order to enable researcher to gain new insights and thus advance research. However, the reproducibility and reusability of research data and research software typically is hindered by several barriers. Therefore, this work intends to first provide an overview of the current situation and issues in this particular topic and furthermore sketch our vision of standards-based Research Object Archives containing scientific publications, software, data, metadata and licenses in order to tackle the existing problems.


The acquisition of food and household necessities has been dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as people are asked to minimize travel to avoid exposure, supply chains are disrupted, transit services are reduced, and stores and restaurants have closed or modified operations. Aided by technology, online retailers and delivery services are filling some gaps left by the disruption. However, the ability to access goods and services varies substantially across different subgroups of the population. This project aims to capitalize on this unique opportunity to understand activity and travel behavioral change during this dynamic period of crisis and recovery, examine the ways new technologies may be used in household provisioning, and identify the most common barriers faced by vulnerable subgroups, such as the elderly, low-income, or disabled populations. There is a limited window of opportunity to capture how households respond as local, state, and federal governments impose and lift restrictions, brick-and-mortar establishments close and potentially reopen, and e-commerce and delivery services adjust. In this project, the research team uses a mixed-methods study to collect critical information to evaluate the extent to which people modify their shopping behavior, either by choice or necessity, to meet their provisioning needs during the COVID-19 crisis and the following recovery. First, a two-wave cross-sectional survey will be administered to a sample (N~4,000) from Oregon and Arizona with varying location, demographic, and economic characteristics. This longitudinal, comparative study responds directly to a critical research gap and advances behavioral science by providing empirical evidence to support and test theories of behavioral change and technology adoption. Second, qualitative interviews and/or focus groups will be conducted with key informants working with the population most vulnerable to complications with COVID-19, and therefore most constrained by social distancing guidelines. Here, the focus will be on the strategies used in provisioning, challenges experienced, and assessment of unmet need. The findings of this research will be critical for emergency planning but also for understanding the ever-changing mechanism used to access retail and service opportunities (whether in-person vs. online), and the opportunities for future interventions to remedy barriers to accessing food that are relevant after the pandemic recovery.


Nano fluids consist of thermal conductivity enhancement compared to the base fluid, but the cost of synthesizing of nanoparticles hinders its industrial applications. Recently, it was found that graphene nanolayers can be obtained by shear exfoliation of liquids. Moreover, graphene synthesizes by relatively abandon material graphite. In contrast to conventional heat transfer liquid like water, nanofluids are not transparent to solar thermal applications. It has been proven beyond doubt that kerosene, diesel and gasoline based nanofluids heat transfer coefficient enhancement would improve their efficiency of applications. In this paper water, kerosene, gasoline and diesel based nanofluids containing graphene nanolayers were prepared by shear exfoliation of fluids. Presents of graphene nanolayers were confirmed by scanning electron microscopic images. A spectrophotometer used to measure the stability of water, kerosene, gasoline and diesel nanofluids. Absorption of water-graphene nanofluid was examined to analyze the effectiveness of water based nanofluid for the solar collectors.


This paper describes a 0.18-mum CMOS direct-conversion dual-band triple-mode wireless LAN transceiver. The transceiver has a concurrent dual-band low-noise amplifier for low power consumption with a low noise figure, a single widely tunable low-pass filter based on a triode-biased MOSFET transconductor for multi-mode operation with low power consumption, a DC-offset compensation circuit with an adaptive activating feedback loop to achieve a fast response time with low power consumption, and a SigmaDelta-based low-phase-noise fractional-N frequency synthesizer with a switched-resonator voltage controlled oscillator to cover the entire frequency range for the IEEE WLAN standards. The transceiver covers both 2.4-2.5 and 4.9-5.95 GHz and has extremely low power consumption (78 mA in receive mode, 76 mA in transmit mode-both at 2.4/5.2 GHz). A system noise figure of 3.5/4.2 dB, a sensitivity of -93/-94 dBm for a 6-Mb/s OFDM signal, and an error vector magnitude of 3.2/3.4% were obtained at 2.4/5.2 GHz, respectively


The Brazilian Public School Math Olympics (Olimpiada Brasileira de Matematica das Escolas Publicas, or OBMEP) has been held yearly since 2005, aiming at motivating students to study Mathematics and improving basic education. In this paper we evaluate the OBMEP´s impact on school performance in Mathematics, using regression combined with propensity score analysis, and do a cost-benefit analysis. The results show that OBMEP has a positive and statistically significant impact on school performance in Mathematics among nineth-graders. This impact increases for schools that participate in repeated editions of OBMEPs and is larger in higher test score percentiles. The cost-benefit analysis shows that the benefits of OBMEP in terms of the participants´ future income outweigh its costs.


"Evolutionary search techniques such as Genetic Algorithms (GA) have recently gained considerable attention. They have been used for solving a wide range of problems including function optimisation and learning. In this paper, a new global search technique, called Probabilistic Global Search (PGS), is presented. Results of benchmark tests indicate that this technique performs better than genetic algorithms on a wide range of problems.

 PGS is a stochastic search technique. It works by generating points in the search space according to a probability distribution function (PDF) defined over the search space. Each axis is divided into a fixed number of intervals with equal probability density. The probability densities of intervals are modified dynamically so that points are generated with higher probability in regions containing good solutions. The algorithm includes four nested cycles:
 1. Sampling
 2. Probability updating
 3. Focusing
 4. Subdomain cycle
 In the sampling cycle (innermost cycle) a certain number of points are generated randomly according to the current PDF. Each point is evaluated by the user defined objective function and the best point is selected. In the next cycle, probabilities of regions containing good solutions are increased and probabilities decreased in regions containing less attractive solutions. In the third cycle, search is focused on the interval containing the best solution after a number of probability updating cycles, by further subdivision of the interval. In the subdomain cycle, the search space is progressively narrowed by selecting a subdomain of smaller size centred on the best point after each focusing cycle.

 Each cycle serves a different purpose in the search for a global optimum. The sampling cycle permits a more uniform and exhaustive search over the entire search space than other cycles. Probability updating and focusing cycles refine search in the neighbourhood of good solutions. Convergence is achieved by means of the subdomain cycle.

 The algorithm was tested on highly non-linear, non-separable functions in ten to hundred variables. Results are compared with those from three versions of GAs. In most cases PGS gives better results in terms of the number of times global optima were found and the number of evaluations required to find them.

 The application of the technique to non-parametric optimisation problems is further illustrated using an example from conceptual structural design."


Speaking skills have been neglected in many language curricula and assessments at tertiary level, producing students who are viewed as structurally competent but communicatively deficient. An increasing emphasis on the communicative approach has given prominence to the importance of spoken language, but misinterpretations of communicative pedagogy and cultural resistance to these practices has meant that this approach has not always been successful. These issues are complicated further by the presentation of new approaches to language teaching as discrete packages that reject what has happened previously. A genre based approach, derived from the principles of systemic functional linguistics, is offered as a comprehensive framework for incorporating a universal understanding of language teaching.This thesis asks in what ways a genre-based approach assists the development of Japanese students' speaking abilities. The theoretical underpinnings of the genre-based approach were used to design a syllabus focused on students' speaking skills. This syllabus intervention was applied to numerous English as a foreign language classes at the tertiary level in Japan. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed during an action research process via an emic perspective, with qualitative data analysed inductively. Conclusions were based upon thorough triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data collected from a range of sources and at different times. Findings of this study suggest that the genre-based approach provides a framework for addressing students' speaking skills in a principled and logical manner, allowing students to improve their skills in casual conversation, lengthening their spoken utterances, and reducing feelings of anxiety and frustration in speaking. This framework allows teachers to incorporate elements of both fluency and accuracy in their classrooms, whilst maintaining a primary focus on spoken communication. However, findings indicated that the efficacy of a genre-based approach relies heavily on a number of corresponding pedagogical factors.Firstly, a genre-based syllabus provides opportunities for integrating Assessment for Learning strategies, and it is vital to incorporate these strategies into syllabus design. The authenticity of texts is another key component of achieving desired results under such an approach. When selecting authentic texts, however, careful consideration is also needed to ensure that the notion of the "native speaker" is replaced with a concept of mutual intelligibility. Such cogitation is essential in order to bridge the gap between teacher expectations and student achievement. The necessity for student and teacher training in these various approaches, as well as their implementation in the classroom, demand considerable time and effort. Such an investment of resources must be considered before embarking on similar interventions, but findings suggest that this engagement is justified.


Objective According to the International Diabetes Federation, the most important challenge for prevention is now to identify social and environmental modifiable risk factors of diabetes. In this regard, long work hours have recently been linked with diabetes, but more high-quality prospective studies are needed. We evaluated the relationship between long work hours and the incidence of diabetes among 7065 workers over a 12-year period in Ontario, Canada. Research design and methods Data from Ontario respondents (35–74 years of age) to the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey were prospectively linked to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan database for physician services and the Canadian Institute for Health Information Discharge Abstract Database for hospital admissions. Our sample consisted of actively employed participants with no previous diagnoses of diabetes. Cox proportional hazard regression models were then performed to evaluate the relationship between long work hours (≥45 hours per week) and the incidence of diabetes. Results Long work hours did not increase the risk of developing diabetes among men. However, among women, those usually working 45 hours or more per week had a significantly higher risk of diabetes than women working between 35 and 40 hours per week (HR: 1.63 (95% CI 1.04 to 2.57)). The effect was slightly attenuated when adjusted for the potentially mediating factors which are smoking, leisure time physical activity, alcohol consumption and body mass index. Conclusion Working 45 hours or more per week was associated with an increased incidence of diabetes among women, but not men. Identifying modifiable risk factors such as long work hours is of major importance to improve prevention strategies and orient policy making.


Today's contaminated materials—soil and water—have been investigated and analyzed by geotechnical engineers for a long time. No other branch of engineering is better positioned, from a knowledge and experience viewpoint, to help clean and protect the earth's surface. Granted, when our work was almost exclusively related to infrastructure construction, we were more interested in the mechanical behavior of these materials; our concerns were generally with shear strength and compressibility. However, the increasing concern over toxic contamination of soil and ground water has led many of us to expand our practice to contribute to the cleanup of the earth's surface and subsurface. Our field has broadened beyond the original scope of soil mechanics and foundation engineering. Yet some geotechnical engineers look at this growing geo-environment field with reluctance, even with disdain. They treat this new practice as somehow less noble, perhaps because it is driven by regulations. However, the technical challenges are every bit as tough as those we have faced when designing foundations for heavy structures, large water impoundments, deep excavations, or earthquakes-resistant structures. Because we have expanded into the restoration and protection of the environment, we must improve our understanding of other soil properties.


The dynamic behavior of disturbances in the vicinity of a pair of magnetically connected three-dimensional null points is examined. The aim is to investigate how nonlinear disturbances lead to strong localized currents that initiate magnetic reconnection at the separator. The problem is formulated in an incompressible cylindrical geometry by superposing arbitrary disturbance fields onto a "background" two-null field. Two different regimes are found for the dynamic evolution, depending on the relative strengths of the background magnetic and velocity fields. In one regime, disturbance pulses split into ingoing and outgoing components, which propagate along the background field lines. In the other "flux pileup" regime, a strong driving flow localizes the disturbances toward the null point pair. Current structures aligned with the spines, fans, and separator present in the field are found to result, and the structure of these currents and their scaling with resistivity is investigated.


Recent trends suggest that India might very well be at the "tipping point" of the transition in its agriculture-dependent population. A large proportion of the youth in the countryside are trying to severe their links from farming. The paper attempts to identify the drivers of this process of withdrawal and assess the odds of an average farmer's move out of agriculture. Results of the study indicate that occupational mobility tends to be higher among younger farmers and they are found to be more sensitive to income differentials between farm and non-farm occupations, farm prices, and interest rates. Further, this study finds that the availability of irrigation does not have any significant impact on the withdrawal behavior. The small and marginal farmers express a great desire to quit farming, possibly because of the low viability of smallholder agriculture. But as the land size increases, the tendency towards withdrawal gains among the large holder category as well, thus suggesting a U-shape relationship between farm size and the willingness towards withdrawal. Interestingly, all these factors seem to become more dominant and their coefficients improve for villages farther removed from towns. Thus, the importance of the proximity to urban areas for occupational choice seems to be indicated.


The large-scale vertical moist thermodynamic structure of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) was documented using the first 2.5 yr (2002–05) of version 4 atmospheric specific humidity and temperature profiles from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). In this study, this issue is further examined using currently available 7-yr version 5 AIRS data (2002–09) to test its dependence on the AIRS data record lengths, AIRS retrieval versions, and MJO event selection and compositing methods employed. The results indicate a strong consistency of the large-scale vertical moist thermodynamic structure of the MJO between different AIRS data record lengths (2.5 vs 7 yr), different AIRS retrieval versions (4 vs 5), and different MJO analysis methods [the extended empirical orthogonal function (EEOF) method vs the multivariate empirical orthogonal function (MEOF) method].

The large-scale vertical moist thermodynamic structures of the MJO between the AIRS retrievals and the ECMWF Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) products are also compared. The results indicate a much better agreement of the MJO vertical structure between AIRS and ERA-Interim than with the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis, although a significant difference exists in the magnitude of moisture anomalies between ERA-Interim and AIRS. This characterization of the vertical moist thermodynamic structure of the MJO by AIRS and ERA-Interim offers a useful observation-based metric for general circulation model diagnostics.


The von Neumann entanglement entropy is a useful measure to characterize a quantum phase transition. We investigate the nonanalyticity of this entropy at disorder-dominated quantum phase transitions in noninteracting electronic systems. At these critical points, the von Neumann entropy is determined by the single particle wave function intensity, which exhibits complex scale invariant fluctuations. We find that the concept of multifractality is naturally suited for studying von Neumann entropy of the critical wave functions. Our numerical simulations of the three dimensional Anderson localization transition and the integer quantum Hall plateau transition show that the entanglement at these transitions is well described using multifractal analysis.


Objective: To study the efficacy and side-effect of rh-endostatin injection (YH-16, Endostar), combined with the chemotherapy on the advanced digestive tract tumour.
Methods: 56 patients were divided into two groups, Endostar combined with chemotherapy was administrated to the treatment group (28 cases), and the control group (28 cases) only received chemotherapy.
Results: 56 patients completed two or six cycles. In the treatment group, there were 9 cases achieved PR, 15 cases SD, and 4 case PD; and in the control group, there were 7 cases achieved PR, 14 cases SD, and 7 cases PD. Between the two groups, the Objective Response Rate (PR) were 32.1% (9/28) and 25.0% (7/28), and Disease Control Rate (DCR) were 85.7% (24/28) and 75.0% (21/28) respectively. The Quality Of Life (QOL) between two groups improved on 23 cases (82.1%) and 14 cases (50.0%). The toxicities between two groups showed no significant difference.
Conclusion: The QOL of patients may be improved significantly by endostar combined with chemotherapy and the efficacy was increased, but side effects were not improved.


Every time a new technology creates legal problems, we face in a particular context the general question of relative institutional competence. Do we turn first to the judiciary, allowing time for a gradual solution derived from common law methods, or do we look instead to the federal legislature for an instant global solution? This Article endorses the judicial approach, suggesting that Congress is particularly likely to err when rapidly changing technology creates a perceived crisis, and when the strongest reasons for not legislating are abstract and inchoate. The Article examines three legal questions raised by computer technology, two the subject of recently enacted federal statutes and the third dealt with solely by the judiciary. The author concludes that both of the factors that maximize the potential for legislative error are present in most cyberlaw questions, and that the judiciary has therefore been more successful than Congress at responding to the legal problems arising from this new technology.


Chemoprevention is an active cancer preventive strategy to inhibit, delay or reverse human carcinogenesis using naturally occurring or synthetic chemical agents. In recent years, it has emerged as one of the major approaches for reducing cancer. Nrf2 is a member of the NF-E2 family of nuclear basic leucine zipper transcription factors. In the cell nucleus, Nrf2 binds to the 5' upstream regulatory antioxidant response element (ARE) regions of phase II genes and accelerates their transcription. Under basal conditions, Nrf2 concentration in the cell is low because of continuous ubiquitination by the Culln3-based (Cul3) E3 ligase ubiquitination complex and degradation (Zhang 2006). Therefore, phase II gene expression is suppressed under basal conditions. Keap1 serves as a bridge between Nrf2 and Cul3 and binds both proteins. When cells are under oxidative stress, signals are transmitted to the Keap1-Nrf2 complex, which interrupts ubiquitination of Nrf2 and increases its concentration in cells, including the nucleus. Consequently, protective phase II enzymes are up-regulated by the increasing level Nrf2 in the nucleus (Yamamoto, Itoh et al. 2003).
The Keap1-Nrf2 system has been shown to play an important role in the chemoprevention process. However, how the Keap1 protein interacts with transcription factor Nrf2 is still unclear. In this thesis, an ultrafiltration mass spectrometry screening assay was developed for characterizing protein-protein interactions. To minimize the interference from trypsin acting on the protein target during the binding assay, a trypsin deactivation step was included in the assay. This step significantly reduced the activity of trypsin remaining in the peptide mixture used in the binding incubation. This ultrafiltration mass spectrometry method should be suitable for use as an alternative to H/D exchange or protein footprinting to study protein-protein interactions. In this investigation, the Keap1 tryptic peptide 337QSLSYLEAYNPSDGTWLR354 was identified as having the highest affinity for the Neh2 domain of Nrf2. These results support the view that the human Kelch domain (amino acid 327-amino acid 609) is at least in part responsible for association between Keap1 and Nrf2.


California's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 limits California's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020 to their 1990 level. Global climate change is a pressing environmental problem, and the best possible public policies will be required to address it. Therefore, analyses of prospective policies must themselves be of high quality, so that policymakers can reasonably rely on them when making the critical decisions they inevitably will face. In 2006, three studies were released indicating that California can meet its 2020 target at no net economic cost — raising questions about whether opportunities truly exist to substantially reduce emissions at no cost, or whether studies reaching such conclusions may simply severely underestimate costs. This paper provides an evaluation of these three California studies. We find that although opportunities may exist for some no-cost emission reductions, these California studies substantially underestimate the cost of meeting California's 2020 target. The studies underestimate costs by omitting important components of the costs of emission reduction efforts, and by overestimating offsetting savings that some of those efforts yield through improved energy efficiency. In some cases, the studies focus on the costs of particular actions to reduce emissions, but fail to consider the effectiveness and costs of policies that would be necessary to bring about such actions. While quantifying the full extent of the resulting cost underestimation is beyond the scope of our study, the underestimation is clearly economically significant. A few of the identified flaws individually lead to underestimation of annual costs on the order of billions of dollars. Hence, these studies do not offer reliable estimates of the cost of meeting California's 2020 target. Better analyses are needed to inform policymakers. While the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 sets a 2020 emissions target, critical policy design decisions remain to be made that will fundamentally affect the cost of California's climate policy. For example, policymakers must determine emission targets for the years before and after 2020, the emission sources that will be regulated to meet those targets, and the policy instruments that will be employed. The California studies do not directly address the cost implications of these and other policy design decisions, and their overly optimistic findings may leave policymakers with an inadequate appreciation of the stakes associated with decisions that lie ahead. As such, California would benefit from studies that specifically assess the cost implications of alternative policy designs.Nonetheless, a careful evaluation of the California studies highlights some important policy design lessons that apply regardless of the extent to which no-cost emission reduction opportunities actually exist. In particular, policies should be designed to account for uncertainty regarding emission reduction costs, much of which will not be resolved before policies must be enacted. Also, consideration of the different market failures that lead to excessive GHG emissions makes clear that to reduce emissions cost-effectively, policymakers should adopt a market-based policy (such as a cap-and-trade system) as the core policy instrument. The presence of specific market failures that may lead to some no-cost emission reduction opportunities suggests the potential value of additional policies that act as complements, rather than alternatives, to a market-based policy. However, to develop complementary policies that efficiently target such no-cost opportunities, policymakers need better information than currently exists regarding the specific market failures that bring about those opportunities.


Socioeconomic status (SES) is one among important indicators to evaluate the health status and nutritional status of a family. It is a position attained by any individual within a system of hierarchical social structure. Various attempts have been done in past by eminent scholars and medical scientists to formulate a group of composite indexes to determine SES of an individual or a family living in urban or rural areas. The scales have included various composite indexes to take into account details pertaining to an individual or any family. Among all the available SES, the most widely used and popular scale in our country is "Modified Kuppuswamy SES" which is mostly used for urban areas. In this paper, we have aimed at revising and providing an "Updated Modified Kuppuswamy SES" for the year 2020.The scale was initially developed by Kuppuswamy in the year 1976 including index parameters like education, occupation, and total income which was further modified in later years to include head of families educational status, occupational status and overall aggregate income of the whole family, pooled from all sources. The Kuppuswamy SES has included 3 parameters and each parameter is further classified into subgroups and scores have been allotted to each subgroup which have been defined later in this paper. The total score of Kuppuswamy SES ranges from 3-29 and it classifies families into 5 groups, "upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, upper lower and lower socio-economic class." Due to limitations, the Kuppuswamy SES needs regular update for income levels which is based on changing CPI values which makes the scale vulnerable to fluctuations over time.

Keywords: Socioeconomic scale, Kuppuswamy scale, 2019 Update, Economic status.


Current differentiable renderers provide light transport gradients with respect to arbitrary scene parameters. However, the mere existence of these gradients does not guarantee useful update steps in an optimization. Instead, inverse rendering might not converge due to inherent plateaus, i.e., regions of zero gradient, in the objective function. We propose to alleviate this by convolving the high-dimensional rendering function, that maps scene parameters to images, with an additional kernel that blurs the parameter space. We describe two Monte Carlo estimators to compute plateau-reduced gradients efficiently, i.e., with low variance, and show that these translate into net-gains in optimization error and runtime performance. Our approach is a straightforward extension to both black-box and differentiable renderers and enables optimization of problems with intricate light transport, such as caustics or global illumination, that existing differentiable renderers do not converge on. Our code is at github.com/mfischerucl/prdpt.


Direct energy conversion is the only potential means for producing electrical energy from a fission reactor without the Carnot efficiency limitations. This project was undertaken by Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratories, The University of Florida, Texas A&M University and General Atomics to explore the possibilities of direct energy conversion. Other means of producing electrical energy from a fission reactor, without any moving parts, are also within the statement of proposed work. This report documents the efforts of General Atomics. Sandia National Laboratories, the lead laboratory, provides overall project reporting and documentation.


This book is a welcome addition to the literature on the geotechnical properties and engineering behaviour of glacial soils and complements EGSP28 (Griffiths & Martin 2017), which has a greater engineering geological and geomorphological focus. What I like most about the book is the way the author has assembled a range of diagrammatic, tabular and graphical information to inform and illustrate the discussion. This combines published observations and recommendations, codes of practice provided in British Standard and Eurocode guidelines, and the author's own data and knowledge, to present the reader with a consolidated source of information. Even if your interest is not with glacial soils per se, you may still find much of value in this book, and for two reasons. First, as the author states, glacial soils are among the most variable soil types known to geologists, and by addressing this variability he covers a wide range of soils in his analysis and discussion. For example, there are properties of alluvium, colluvium, landslide debris and non-glacial clay soils to which much of the discussion might apply. Second, the text provides a detailed review of techniques of ground investigation, soil characterization, and the design and construction of earthworks and geotechnical structures, much of which is not necessarily restricted to glacial soils alone. Early chapters set the scene of glacial phases and timescales, and describe how glacial geology, as a specialist discipline, has evolved. Models are used to outline the formation of glacial soils and explain how these soils vary in composition and structure. Glacial soils are categorized into primary and secondary materials, the former comprising sub-glacial traction and melt-out tills and the latter glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine deposits. Mechanisms of deposition are outlined in each case and the typical landforms associated with each are described. Till is further classified into matrixand clast-dominated material and the engineering distinction between these various categories is emphasized throughout the book. The pervading message is their inherent variability, and recommendations are made on how best to accommodate this variability in sampling, in situ and laboratory testing, analysis, design and materials-handling during construction. Detailed consideration is given, for example, to the effects of fissuring in glacial tills, anisotropy in glaciolacustrine materials and the difficulties of sampling in glaciofluvial deposits. Guidance is provided on the most suitable approaches to strength and stiffness determination and the assessment of soil structure, fabric and permeability. The behaviour and performance of glacial soils in natural slopes, earthworks and tunnelling are covered in detail, as are techniques of ground treatment and slope stabilization. The discussion is wide-ranging and well-illustrated and combines soil mechanics with engineering practicability to provide an informative review. The use of glacial soils as foundation materials is examined in detail, with 55 pages, for example, dedicated to piled foundations. The design and construction of retaining structures and ground anchors are also covered, considering earth pressures, design and limit state. Useful case studies are provided from Europe and North America that illustrate the complexities of ground engineering in glacial soils and describe the design and construction techniques employed to overcome some of the difficulties encountered. To summarize, this book delivers what it says on the cover: the engineering of glacial deposits. The composite nature and inherent variability of these soils are emphasized throughout, and practical guidance is provided on how to assess their properties and behaviour for ground engineering purposes.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the interaction between elements of national culture and leadership styles, and empirically compare leadership styles of Nigerian and United States managers in financial institutions. Leadership styles of Initiating Structure and Consideration were measured with the Leadership Opinion Questionnaire and used to estimate, evaluate and explain the influence of national cultural values, gender, age, religious belief, and educational qualifications on leadership behavior of business managers from both countries. Completed questionnaires from 103 U.S. and 108 Nigerian respondents, with reliability coefficients (Cronbach's Alpha) ranging from .71 to .81 were analyzed. Results of this study revealed significant differences in Initiating Structure and Consideration leadership styles between the United States and Nigerian managers in financial institutions and lend support to Hofstede's 1985 findings. The differences were primarily due to the influence of national culture. The combined effect of gender and country of nationality also demonstrated significance in Initiating Structure leadership style. No significant differences were found in the two leadership styles considered due to age, religious belief or educational qualifications. Results of this study will be useful to the international business community, especially firms seeking business ventures in Nigeria for training employees for assignments in Nigeria or hiring qualified Nigerians for management level positions. INTRODUCTION This research explores the interaction between elements of national culture and leadership styles, and empirically compares leadership styles of United States and Nigerian managers in financial institutions. The basic theory in this research is the two-factor theory of leadership (The Ohio State University Leadership Studies), which narrowed the description of leadership behavior into two separate dimensions, Initiating Structure and Consideration. Other supporting theories included those developed by Hofstede (1980), Gibson (1995), and Safranski and Kwon (1988). Leadership styles of Initiating Structure and Consideration (Fleishman, 1989) will be used to estimate, evaluate and explain the influence of national cultural values, gender, age, religious belief, and educational qualification on leadership styles of managers from both countries. Knowledge and understanding of cross-cultural and cross-national similarities and differences in leadership styles between these two countries will benefit the international business community, especially multinational corporations considering joint ventures or foreign direct investment (FDI) in Nigeria. These firms can use the results of this study to prepare and train their management staff for assignments in Nigeria or hire qualified Nigerians for top management positions. People from different cultures develop certain patterns of life, philosophy and value systems, which influence their behavior and leadership styles. Business experience abroad has shown how widely these leadership styles vary from country to country, and from culture to culture (Trompenaars, 1993). In order to lead effectively in another culture, a leader must understand the social values, customs, norms, leadership behavior and work-related cultural values of the host country's workforce (Fatehi, 1996). Cultural differences influence leadership styles, norms, role expectations, and traditions governing the relationship among various members of society. These are strong determinants of effective leadership behavior in a society (Fatehi, 1996). Fatehi argues that what constitutes a good leader in one culture may not constitute a good leader in other cultures. He stated that in the United States of America, for example, people would prefer democratic leaders who seek input from subordinates before making decisions. In other cultures, such would be regarded as incompetence or lack of knowledge on the part of the leader. …


The energy detection process for enabling opportunistic spectrum access in dynamic primary user (PU) scenarios, where PU changes state from active to inactive at random time instances, requires the estimation of several parameters ranging from noise variance and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to instantaneous and average PU activity. A prerequisite to parameter estimation is an accurate extraction of the signal and noise samples in a received signal time frame. In this paper, we propose a low-complexity and accurate signal samples detection algorithm as compared to well-known methods, which is also blind to the PU activity distribution. The proposed algorithm is analyzed in a semi-experimental simulation setup for its accuracy and time complexity in recognizing signal and noise samples, and its use in channel occupancy estimation, under varying occupancy and SNR of the PU signal. The results confirm its suitability for acquiring the necessary information on the dynamic behavior of PU, which is otherwise assumed to be known in the literature.


A process was developed to evaluate the economic benefits from constructing and operating a wind energy project. The process uses an economic input/output analysis in conjunction with Monte Carlo simulation. Process results estimate the number of jobs and amount of spending that will occur in the analysis region because of the construction and operation of a wind energy project. Results from the proposed process may be used to garner community and governmental support for projects. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory jobs, Economic Development and Impacts (JEDI) model, developed specifically for wind energy projects, is used. As there is uncertainty in some of the required input parameters, the Monte Carlo simulation allows the input parameters to be entered as a range. The results of the JEDI model with the Monte Carlo simulation analysis produce a distribution for jobs, salaries and wages, and economic output during construction and operations. The results of the Monte Carlo simulation also provide a sensitivity analysis for each of the JEDI outputs. Two northern Arizona counties, Coconino County and Navajo County, were analysed to demonstrate the process. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This article presents the design of a conversational agent whose goal is to coach people who wish to improve their food lifestyle. The data gathering method is easy and especially fast in order to simplify the life of the user. The goals are defined by the user and the follow-up is done daily. Two choices are available to the user: reduce his consumption of meat or consume more fruits and vegetables. User tests were conducted with 36 people. Only 11% of the challenges were successful, but in 65% of cases, the tester has managed to improve its consumption compared to before.


The proportion of older persons in the world is increasing due to the gradual decline in death rates and rise in life expectancy, catching many governments totally unprepared. In South Sudan, the number of older persons was projected to increase by 1.1% of the total population in 2016 (UNDESA 2016). Even though there has been an upsurge in the population of the older persons, there exists little social and legal protection for them, becoming more vulnerable to abuse and neglect. The constitution recognizes the rights of older persons, however, there is need for adequate laws and policies to protect these rights and ensure their needs and concerns are addressed. This paper recognizes vulnerability of the older persons, highlights basic elderly rights and advocates for special treatment and full realization of their rights. It also draws a number of lessons from other countries such as Kenya, South Africa, India, and Mauritius, offering useful insights for South Sudan. Finally, the paper advocates for a timely formulation of policies and laws for the protection of older persons in South Sudan1.


Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) methods for slopes and Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls were developed based on probability theory. The complexity in developing LRFD for slopes and MSE walls results from the fact that (1) the representation of spatial variability of soil parameters of slopes using Gaussian random field is computationally demanding and (2) LRFD of MSE walls requires examination of multiple ultimate limit states for both external and internal stability checks. For each design case, a rational framework is developed accounting for different levels of target probability of failure (or target reliability index) based on the importance of the structure. The conventional equations for loads and resistance in the current MSE wall design guides are modified so that the equations more closely reproduce the ultimate limit states (ULSs) in the field with as little uncertainty as possible. The uncertainties of the parameters, the transformation and the models related to each ULS equation are assessed using data from an extensive literature review. The framework used to develop LRFD methods for slopes and MSE walls was found to be effective. For LRFD of slopes, several slopes were considered. Each was defined by the mean value of the strength parameters and unit weight of each soil layer and of the live load. (1) Gaussian random field theory was used to generate random realizations of the slope (each realization had values of strength and unit weight that differed from the mean by a random amount), (2) a slope stability analysis was performed for each slope to find the most critical slip surface and the corresponding driving and resisting moments, (3) the probability of failure was calculated by counting the number of slope realizations for which the factor of safety did not exceed 1 and dividing that number by the total number of realizations, (4) the mean and variance of the soil parameters was adjusted and this process repeated until the calculated probability of failure was equal to the target probability of failure, and (5) optimum load and resistance factors were obtained using the ultimate limit state values and nominal values of driving and resisting moments. For LRFD of MSE walls, (1) the First-Order Reliability Method was successfully implemented for both external and internal limit states and (2) a reasonable RF value for each limit state was calculated for different levels of target reliability index.


Telepathology began in Japan in the early 1990s in response to advances in computing and telecommunications equipment development and a dearth of pathologists. Telepathology in Japan is most often used for rapid intraoperative pathological diagnosis using frozen section, followed by second opinions and consultation. Intraoperatively, telepathology is used to determine malignancy, metastasis of malignant tumors, and the extent of excision. Infrastructure and equipment has evolved from analog lines to digital lines like integrated services digital network (ISDN) and asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), and recently to fiber optics. The use of communications satellites is also being considered. Image quality is being improved to Hi-Vision (HDTV), and from still images to real-time video. Digital microscopy has been introduced, and is used in education and consultation.


The stories of Giovanni Verga (1840-1922) are wonderful evocations of ordinary Italian life, focusing in particular on his native, Sicily. In an original and dynamic prose style, he portrays such eternal human themes as love, honour and adultery with rich and colourful language. The inspiration for Mascagni's opera, "Cavalleria Rusticana" depicts a young man's triumphal return home from the army, spoilt when he learns that his beloved is engaged to another man. Verga's acute awareness of the hardships and aspirations of peasant life can be seen in stories such as "Nedda", "Picturesque Lives" and "Black Bread", while others such as "The Reverend" and "Don Licciu Papa" show the dominance of the church and the law in the Sicilian communities he portrays so vividly.


Abstract This thesis is based on a case study of the drawn out legal process on the question of establish a limestone quarry in Bunge Ducker in north Gotland (Sweden). The current fields are located next to areas that are protected by virtue of being EU-certified Natura 2000-areas. Despite this, the Swedish governments and courts have not agreed in witch national interest that should be prevail when decisions are made on this issue. This phenomenon are reflected in the judicial process and different court have evaluate information differently in the case. A change among governmental actors where priority is given to the importance of national interest have occur in the later part in the process. This bachelor thesis in political science will search for explanation for the policy change in the dispute of establish a limestone in Bunge Ducker with help from the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF).  Keywords: Bunge Ducker, policy change, ACF, national interest


The use of electrical motor cortex stimulation (EMCS) for post-stroke pain was established in Japan and has spread globally. EMCS has been used for the treatment of neuropathic pain, Parkinson's syndrome, and recovery of motor paresis. Since 2000, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been developed for the treatment of various neurological disorders. rTMS is a non-invasive method with almost no adverse effects. In the USA, rTMS of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was approved for the treatment of major depression in 2008. rTMS of the primary motor cortex (M1) has been studied worldwide for the treatment of neuropathic pain, Parkinson's disease, motor paresis after stroke, and other neurological problems. For neuropathic pain, high-frequency rTMS of M1 is safe and significantly effective for consecutive 14 days. After cessation of rTMS, pain gradually returned within two weeks. For 'Kaifukuki' rehabilitation, high-frequency rTMS of affected M1 seemed to be effective for recovery of hand function. And even after cessation of rTMS, the recovery would be better than usual rehabilitation for two weeks. New methods and devices for rTMS therapy are under development, and rTMS of the M1 is likely to be established as an effective therapy for some neurological disorders.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Pertussis or whooping cough is a respiratory disease caused by Bordetella pertussis or, to a lesser extent, by B. parapertussis. Vaccines against pertussis have been widely used for more than 50 years and have led to a significant reduction of morbidity and mortality. However, even in countries with a high vaccine coverage, the disease is still not well controlled. Surveillance is urgently needed. Areas covered: This review summarizes surveillance methods and gives examples that may be used when setting up a surveillance program or analyzing an outbreak. Expert commentary: Pertussis surveillance is urgently required in order to define the burden of disease, to adapt vaccine strategies according to the type of pertussis vaccine used and to follow the evolution of the bacteria.


This paper describes how learning sustainability can be integrated into skillsbased courses by combining the elements of a new model of sustainability pedagogy with skills-based content. The author argues that educators have a moral responsibility to teach sustainability in all aspects of higher education, including skills-based courses. Using a thematic approach is one way that educators can integrate sustainability learning into skills-based courses. This paper provides a model for integrating sustainability pedagogy within existing courses designed to teach specific skills. Grounded in a literature base on the nature of sustainability pedagogy, this article describes the process of integrating a sustainability theme into one skills-based course, academic writing. Shifting to a sustainability theme such as sustainable food systems allowed for purposeful learning about sustainability while at the same time engaged students' interest and led to improved academic writing skills.


European energy markets have undergone a major transformation as they have advanced towards market liberalisation and it is vital that the details of these developments be carefully examined. The success of liberalisation is based on smart regulation, which has been capable of providing solutions to unforeseen events in the process. Our paper seeks to contribute to existing understanding of the unexpected consequences of the liberalisation process in the power system by examining a natural experiment that occurred in Spain in 2009. In that year, the electricity supply by distribution system operators (DSOs) disappeared. This positive change in retail market competition, as we demonstrate in this paper, has had an unexpected effect in terms of the system's balancing requirements. We undertake a rigorous assessment of the economic consequences of this policy change for the whole system, in terms of its impact on final electricity prices.


Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health so as to reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well being. The World Health Organisation which was created in 1948, where some 190 countries exchange their knowledge and experience with the aim of making possible the attainment by all citizens of the world a level of health that will permit them to lead a socially and economically productive life. Unfortunately Africa is riddled with corruption, debt, conflicts, wars, rape, child soldiers, HIV/AIDS, land mines, unemployment and the list is endless; which are formidable barriers and challenges to health promotion.

(SA Fam Pract 2005;47(10): 39-42)


Duranta erecta is popularly grown as an ornamental plant in tropical and semi-tropical gardens. Current demands for the shrub have prompted the need for effective propagation methods. In this study, the influence of indole-3butyric acid (IBA) hormone concentration and media on rooting of D. erecta propagated from tip cuttings under greenhouse conditions were investigated. IBA hormone was used in three concentrations (2500, 5000, and 7500 ppm) and 0 ppm was the control. The study consisted of three media types (river sand, pine bark, a mixture of peat and perlite at a 1:1 ratio). The experiment was arranged in a 3×4 factorial layout in Randomized Complete Block Design replicated 3 times. Cutting survival, root length and number, shoot length and number were analysed. There was no interaction (P>0.001) between IBA concentration and media for all the measured parameters. The results showed that the optimum concentration of IBA is 5000 ppm, beyond which were inhibitory in all parameters except on root length. Type of media influenced survival and shoot number with pine bark giving the highest but did not affect root number, root length and shoot number.

 Key words: Duranta erecta, rooting, cuttings, media, river sand, pinebark, peat-lite.


Abstract A series of 19 novel pyrido-imidazodiazepinones, with modulations of positions 2, 3 and 4 of the diazepine ring were synthesised and screened for their in vitro cytotoxic activities against two melanoma cell lines (A375 and MDA-MB-435) and for their potential toxicity against NIH-3T3 non-cancerous cells. Selected compounds were also evaluated on the NCI-60 cell line panel. The SAR study revealed that the molecular volume and the cLogP of compounds modified at position 2 were significantly correlated with the activity of these compounds on melanoma cell lines. Moreover, introduction of a heterocyclic group at position 2 or an azido-alkyl chain at position 4 led to compounds displaying a significantly different activity profile on the NCI-60 cell line panel, compared to phenyl-substituted compounds at position 2 of the diazepinone. This study provides us crucial information for the development of new derivatives active against melanoma. Graphical Abstract


Combining ability estimates were studied for seed yield, yield components and other morphological traits in six sesame parental lines and their 15 F1  hybrids crossed in half diallel for two consecutive seasons 2012/2013 - 2013/2014 at Gadaref University Farm, Gadaref, Sudan. Combining ability analysis revealed that both additive and non additive types of gene actions were important in the studied traits. For days to 50% flowering and days to maturity, Khidir was the only parent that scored negative general combining ability (GCA) effects in both seasons. Therefore it was desired to be selected for earliness. For seed yield kg/ha and the yield related characters viz., 1000- seed weight and the yield per plant, significant positive SCA effects were observed by the crosses, Kenana-2 X Gd 002SPSN-12 and Promo X Gd2002SPSN.12,  whereas, negative significant effects were showed by  Gadarif-1 XUmshagera. The rest of the crosses combinations were inconsistent across the seasons, some of them recorded a positive value in one season and a negative values in another one. Khidir and Promo recorded a positive significant GCA effects for the yield and its components at least in one season. Moreover, Promo was the best combiner with other parental lines for earliness since it recorded negative SCA values. Therefore, Khidir, Promo and Gd2002SPSN.12 could be recommended to produce progeny having high yield and early maturing hybrids, through recurrent selection or reciprocal cross.

 Key words: Combining ability, sesame hybrids, sesame yield, yield components.


Poland is in the process of liberalizing and modernizing its electric power system. Given its heavy reliance on coal and a consequent history of often severe environmental externalities associated with power production, the nature of capacity expansion in Poland has important environmental and social implications. To better understand capacity expansion in Poland, we constructed a data set of the Polish power sector for use with the Elfin capacity expansion planning model. Using Elfin, we derived four scenarios and several sensitivities for new generating capacity construction. These scenarios simulate choices among several generic generating technologies made to achieve the lowest overall net present cost of operating the power system through 2015. We find that natural gas is a highly desirable fuel for future power generation in Poland, but primarily as a peaking resource. As the current system is inflexible and peaking capacity appears to be the most pressing need, this result is not surprising. However, when nuclear power is included as a generation option, natural gas is less desirable than the Polish Power Grid Company (PPGCo) has suggested, and, despite the PPGCo's claims to the contrary, nuclear power cannot be ruled out in Poland on economic grounds alone. In the unconstrained Elfin scenarios, using PPGCo assumptions, nuclear power is attractive, especially after 2010. The attractiveness of nuclear generation proves sensitive to certain input variables, however, notably fixed operating and maintenance cost, and possible carbon taxes. Moreover, we find that the effectiveness of conservation efforts designed to reduce airborne emissions is limited under scenarios in which nuclear generation is adopted.


This scientific opinion describes the influence of genetic parameters that have affected the welfare of commercial broilers. There is a lack of robust scientific data for Europe on welfare outcome indicators and these should be recorded independently and made publicly available. The major welfare concerns that have a genetic basis and that may interact with management factors to lead to poor welfare include skeletal disorders, contact dermatitis, ascites and sudden death syndrome. Most of these are linked with fast growth rates. There are also numerous interactions between the environment and the genetic traits that can seriously adversely affect welfare in areas such as lighting regimes, litter management, dietary deficiencies and contamination, air quality and temperature. In the risk assessment the probability of exposure to a hazard, and the magnitude of the poor welfare effects (consequences) of that exposure were estimated. The major risk scores were unbalanced body conformation, high stocking density, fast growth rate, low light intensity and wet litter. The top ranking environmental hazards were high stocking density, low light intensity and wet litter. It was recognised by the experts that probabilities vary from region to region, country to country and among different types of farming system. Recommendations include better data collection in Europe, greater selection strategies for improved welfare traits with birds being selected and tested for their subsequent rearing and production environments by the breeders. Finally, a high priority should be given to decreasing the proportion of birds with the higher gait scores, and to include contact dermatitis and other welfare traits in the selection schemes.


The legislative framework for education in South Africa enforces the democratisation and transformation of education consistent with the values of human dignity, equity, human rights, and freedom. As ex officio members of School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and professional managers of schools, principals should play a pivotal role in providing transformative leadership for social justice in these schools. The purpose of this study was to examine, through a social justice framework, how teachers and learners who are SGB members perceive and experience the principals' leadership in Soweto secondary schools. Five schools were purposefully sampled for this qualitative case study. Data were collected through semi-structured focus group interviews and follow-up individual interviews. Findings suggest that learners and teachers experience sampled schools as democratically untransformed with a climate fraught with unfairness, inequity, disregard for human rights, and intolerance of diversity. The leadership behaviour of principals is perceived as a barrier to democratic transformation and social justice and this engenders resistance and threatens management effectiveness. Keywords : learners; principals; secondary schools; social justice; Soweto; teachers; transformative leadership


The paper discusses the development and conventions for use of a classroom observation tool designed to support secondary school teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand to develop respectful learning relationships and culturally responsive pedagogy in their classrooms. This tool was created within a programme of teacher professional development to support the improvement of indigenous Māori students' achievement and engagement in learning. The Ministry of Education recognised the need for an extensive change in practices across the entire education sector that required a shift in thinking and behaviour. The observation tool was therefore designed to support formative assessment, focused on change, through deliberate and democratic professionalism. Initial data, whilst not conclusive, suggest this tool has the potential to support more effective cultural relationships and responsive pedagogy in classrooms thus improving learning and engagement among Māori students through increased self-efficacy, pride and a sense of themselves as culturally located.


A unique series of convict portraits was created at Tasmania's Port Arthur penal station
in 1873 and 1874. While these photographs are often reproduced, their author
remained unidentified, their purpose unknown. The lives of their subjects also
remained unexamined. This study used government records, contemporary newspaper
reportage, convict memoirs, historical research and modern criminological theory to
identify the photographer, to discover the purpose and use of his work, and to develop
an understanding of the criminal careers of these men.
The photographer was probably the penultimate commandant of Port Arthur, Adolarius
Humphrey Boyd. Rather than representing the entire inmate population at the time of
the station's closure, the project photographed only the men who were probably
regarded as a risk to the community. The purpose of these photographs was assumed to
be associated with policing but, unlike the practice in Britain and Europe, this turned
out not to be the case. Instead, these images were adhered to each man's Hobart Gaol
record. Tasmanian police refused to adopt the practice of circulating images of
offenders, claiming that their local knowledge was sufficient. This confidence was
misplaced. Most of these men were arrested by members of their own community,
exploding the myth of mateship.
In asking why these men continually reoffended, I developed criteria based on modern
theories of recidivism, and tested the life experience of these men against them. I found
that this group of men met all the pre-conditions developed by criminologists for
recidivism. In Britain and Tasmania they were chronically disadvantaged. In Tasmania
they were brutalised as convicts, tainted forever by their time at Port Arthur and, as a
result, rejected by society as emancipists. The criminal sub-culture, defiantly opposed
to conventional standards of respectability, offered them acceptance.
These photographs played their part in a society and a regime fated to create recidivists.
They proved to their subjects, and to the world, that the subjects were outcasts. Almost
150 years later, they continue to affirm the criminal identity of these former Port
Arthur inmates.


In recent years, home automation has become so popular due to its numerous advantages. The home environment has witnessed a rapid introduction of network enabled digital technology. This technology comes with new and exciting opportunities to increase the connectivity of different devices within the home for the purpose of home automation. This paper aims at designing a basic home automation system of controlling multiple appliances which can be monitored and accessed from anywhere in the world with very low cost. The technology incorporates Raspberry Pi and the web server. The Raspberry Pi and Arduino integrated with Nrf modules are used to monitor the home environment appliances, and the readings are passed to the web server designed. The parameters or commands sent through web page are monitored frequently and if any threats found the mobile connected to this web server is alerted through an alarm or message. The user can access this application from anywhere in the world. The result produced is low cost advantageous and absolute. Performance Analysis of different protocols (MQTT, HTTP and CoAP) is estimated using visualizations.


BACKGROUND
Prolonged intermittent renal replacement therapy (PIRRT) is a dialysis modality for critically ill patients that in theory combines the superior detoxification and haemodynamic stability of the continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) with the operational convenience, reduced haemorrhagic risk and low cost of conventional intermittent haemodialysis. However, the extent to which PIRRT should replace these other modalities is uncertain because comparative studies of mortality are lacking. We retrospectively examined the mortality data from three general intensive care units (ICUs) in different countries that have switched their predominant therapeutic approach from CRRT to PIRRT. We assessed whether this practice change was associated with a change in mortality rate.

METHODS
Data were analysed from ICUs in New Zealand, Australia and Italy. The study population comprised all patients requiring renal replacement therapy from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2005 (n = 1347), the period of time spanning the change from CRRT to PIRRT in each unit. Poisson regression models were used to estimate the incident rate ratio (IRR) for death, comparing the periods before and after change to PIRRT in each unit. Estimates were adjusted for patient illness severity (APACHE II score) and for the underlying time trend in mortality rate over time.

RESULTS
The change from CRRT to PIRRT was not associated with any increase in mortality rate, with an adjusted IRR of 1.02 (0.61-1.71). The IRR was virtually identical in the three ICUs (P-value = 0.63 for the difference in the IRR between ICUs).

CONCLUSIONS
Switching from CRRT to PIRRT was not associated with a change in mortality rate. Pending the results of a randomized trial, our study provides evidence that PIRRT might be equivalent to CRRT in the general ICU patient.


Problem statement: Electro-hydraulic actuators are widely used in motion control application. Its valve needs to be controlled to determine direction of the motion. Mathematical modeling is a description of a system in terms of equations. It can be divided into two parts; physical modeling and system identification. The objective of this study was to obtain mathematical model of an electro-hydraulic system using system identification technique by estimating model using System Identification Toolbox in MATLAB. Approach: Experimental works were done to collect input and output data for model estimation and ARX model was chosen as model structure of the system. The best model was accepted based on the best fit criterion and residuals analysis of autocorrelation and cross correlation of the system input and output. PID controller was designed for the model through simulation in SIMULINK. The controller is tuning by Ziegler-Nichols method. The simulation work was verified by applying the controller to the real system to achieve the best performance of the system. Results: The result showed that the output of the system with controller in simulation mode and experimental works were improved and almost similar. Conclusion/Recommendations: The designed PID controller can be applied to the electro-hydraulic system either in simulation or real-time mode. The self-tuning or automatic tuning controller could be developed in future work to increase the reliability of the PID controller.


Nowadays processing systems are asked to support increasing complex and demanding high-performance applications, especially in the signal processing and video processing domains. The design of these systems are becoming extremely challenging because of several factors. Among them the most relevant are: The advent of the parallel era The sequential general purpose processor era during which performance increased more than two-fold every year, is definitely over. There has been no further increase in leading edge processor performance for over five years now and all projects aimed at breaking the 4 GHz barrier have been canceled by the major processor manufacturers. So as to continue increasing the computing power of computer systems, manufacturers have to use several slower processing cores, while trying to minimize the power consumption. Sequential reference softwares are no longer adapted Up to now, sequential software have proven to be the winning approaches for exploiting the potential of each new generation of sequential processors. But the advent of the new parallel era changes the way systems are implemented and sequential reference software used as specification base are no longer appropriate starting points for designing complex systems. The increasing demanding functionality and performance In parallel with miniaturization and the necessity to handle severely resource-constrained implementation platforms, the functionality and complexity of large classes of systems continue to increase making them from many respects comparable to ordinary desktop personal computers. A mixture of different types of timing and quality constraints make overall system architecture design, resource allocation and scheduling more important and challenging topics than ever before. Additionally, the market asks companies to build efficient systems while using the minimum of resources as fast as possible. Due to the level of complexity reached by high-demanding digital systems, it is no longer reasonable to handle such systems at low levels of abstraction (e.g. VHDL/Verilog or C/C++). A solution to the problem is to higher the level of abstraction at which the design of such systems is performed. But for raising the level of abstraction, the need for portable parallelism is primordial so as to be able to implement all kind of systems on a wide range of target platforms. Thus, enabling portable parallelism should be a primordial requirement for the development of this level of abstraction and the associated methodology and tools. However, creating a new abstraction layer may incur in the risk of loosing contact with implementation details and accuracy necessary for achieving efficient implementations. This work focuses on tackling such problem by using the CAL data flow language as main abstraction at the basis of the design process. The attempt of solving such challenging problem consists in building an environment for enabling high level design space exploration of complex parallel application for seamless implementation on heterogeneous platforms using CAL. It includes the extraction of metrics (static analysis and profiling) with the intention to use them as a basis for partitioning and scheduling heuristics aiming at finding the most efficient partitions. It also implies developing methodologies for guiding designers in the optimization of the high level specifications. Finally, a holistic approach has been defined in form of a complete design flow starting from CAL specifications down to implementations. Where traditional approaches are faced to traverse, at each iteration of the design flow, all the levels of abstraction for testing a design solution, the use of CAL as an abstraction layer enables designers to separate clearly three domains of concerns that are made orthogonal: functionality, partitioning and implementation. The separation of these domains of concerns eases the design space exploration and leads to an increase in productivity in the design of complex systems. This work leads to the creation of several new design tools: (1) profiling tools which extracts metrics from CAL programs and (2) exploration tools which include partitioning and scheduling heuristics and performance evaluation. These tools have been implemented with the aim of guiding designers in the high level design space exploration of systems in order to achieve efficient implementation. A systematic methodology has been also elaborated and has been tested successfully on a real world applications. Thanks to the metrics extracted from the CAL program, the design bottlenecks of a MPEG-4 SP video decoder have been identified and removed at a high level of abstraction, leading to improvements up to 7 times faster implementation.


The specimens were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 groups with 10 teeth each. The data were analyzed by means of one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post-hoc tests (pGroup4 (5.99±1.36)> Group3 (5.27±1.56)>Group5 (2.02±0.86)>Group2 (1.65±0.69). No significant differences were observed between Groups2 and 5.

Keywords: Er,cr:ysgg laser; Cojet-prep; Fissurotomy-bur; Etching; Fissure sealant

Introduction:
The properties of an ideal sealing material include biocompatibility, retention, and resistance to abrasion and wear . The success rate of fissure sealants depends on factors, such as retention and resistance to shear bond strength (SBS) associated with the quality of the adhesion between the sealant material and the enamel . Prior to sealant application, it is important that the tooth surface and fissure areas are free of gross plaque and debris that might interfere with sealant penetration. The use of phosphoric acid is a well-accepted and standard method for roughening enamel surfaces. However, remaining debris and pellicle might not be removed by means of conventional prophylaxis and acid etching. Therefore, several preparations and cleaning techniques used on the tooth surface before sealant application have been suggested. A widening of the fissures with rotary instrumentation is yet another type of fissure conditioning that has been recommended prior to sealant application. This is known as the invasive pit-and-fissure technique used to clean the fissure entrance, permit inspection of incipient caries, and determine the degree of possible caries extension toward the dentinoenamel junction. Results of clinical studies have been encouraging for caries prevention, but they do not conclusively support the routine practice of fissure preparation before sealant application . There is limited and conflicting evidence that mechanical preparation with a bur results in higher retention rates in children.

Materials and Methods:
Fifty partially or totally impacted human mandibular third molar teeth, free of caries and without any other microscopic defects, were assigned for extraction and extracted after obtaining the informed consent form signed by the patients, as this was an in vitro study. The teeth were stored in distilled water at 4o C for a maximum of one month. After surface debridement with hand scaling instruments and cleansing with a slow-speed hand piece and a brush with a fluoride-free pumice, root sections 2 mm below the cementoenamel junction were taken. The crowns were bisected longitudinally in a mesiodistal direction and the buccal and lingual surfaces were selected for experimentation. Coronal sections were embedded in polyester resin and the surface of each specimen was polished using 200-grit and 600-grit silicon carbide paper in a mechanical grinder (EcoMet®, Buehler®, Lake Bluff, IL, USA). The overlying enamel was flattened to create an enamel surface area of 3 mm in diameter. The specimens were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 groups with 10 teeth each (Table 1). For the acid-etching procedure (Group 1), the enamel buccal/ lingual surfaces of the teeth were first air dried and then etched for 20 sec with a 35% orthophosphoric acid gel (Scotchbond™ etchant delivery system, 3M ESPE, St. Paul, USA) rinsed for 15 sec and air dried for 10 sec. 3 mm diameter etched enamel surface was obtained.
Following these procedures, cylindrical transparent gelatin tubes (Tygon Micro Bore PVC Tubing, Small Parts, Miami Lakes, FL, USA) (diameter of 3 mm and height of 2 mm) were placed on substrate surfaces. It was light-cured for 40 sec (Curing light XL 3000™, 3M Dental Products, St. Paul, USA), and the matrix was subsequently removed. After storing the specimens for 24 h in distilled water at 37o C, we tested them in shear mode by using a shear knife-edge blade in a universal testing machine (Instron Corporation, Canton, MA, USA) with a crosshead speed of 0.5mm/ second. We compared the mean bond strengths using a one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post-hoc tests (p<0.05).

Results:
the mean SBS and standard deviations for all groups. The following SBS values (mean±SD values-MPa) were obtained: Group 1 (8.47±1.30) > Group 4 (5.99±1.36) > Group 3 (5.27±1.56) > Group 5 (2.02±0.86) > Group 2 (1.65±0.69). Group 4 had higher SBS values than Group 3, although no significant differences were found. In addition, no significant differences were observed between Groups 2 and 5.

Discussion:
It is recognized that studies examining the various alternative roughening methods to the acid-etch technique used for surface roughening necessary for the adhesion of fissure sealants to the enamel surface are limited. A SBS test provides insight into the adhesion of these materials and serves as a screening mechanism for predicting clinical performance .
Phosphoric acid is one of the best methods to bond resins to enamel.. Generally, 10- 37% orthophosphoric acid is applied to both the enamel and the dentin [3,20].In this study, we used a 35% orthophosphoric acid gel and found that acid .Acid etching results in chemical changes that can modify the organic matter and decalcify the organic component. As a result of this demineralization, enamel becomes more susceptible to caries attack, which is induced by plaque accumulation around the bonded fissure sealant. Hossain reported an increase in the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio achieved during laser irradiation that resulted in caries inhibition.


This paper discusses challenges in enabling teleoperation over the Internet for the specific case of real systems which exhibit fast dynamics. A distributed client-server architecture is proposed to provide the necessary level of interactivity for supervision and tuning, without compromising the essential control tasks. Enabling features include realtime simulation and augmented-reality visualization to enhance the user perception of the distant ongoing operations. The proposed approach is illustrated through the remote control of an inverted pendulum.


Speculative property developers, criticised for building dog boxes and the slums of tomorrow, are generally hated by urban planners and the public alike. But the doors of state governments are seemingly always open to developers and their lobbyists. Politicians find it hard to say no to the demands of the development industry for concessions because of the contribution housing construction makes to the economic bottom line and because there is a need for well located housing. New supply is also seen as a solution to declining housing affordability. Classical economic theory however is too simplistic for housing supply. Instead, an offshoot of Game Theory - Market Design – not only offers greater insight into apartment supply but also can simultaneously address price, design and quality issues. New research reveals the most significant risk in residential development is settlement risk – when buyers fail to proceed with their purchase despite there being a pre-sale contract. At the point of settlement, the developer has expended all the project funds only to see forecast revenue evaporate. While new buyers may be found, this process is likely to strip the profitability out of the project. As the global financial crisis exposed, buyers are inclined to walk if property values slide. This settlement problem reflects a poor legal mechanism (the pre-sale contract), and a lack of incentive for truthfulness. A second problem is the search costs of finding buyers. At around 10% of project costs, pre-sales are more expensive to developers than finance. This is where Market Design comes in. Matching buyers and sellers Market Design argues individuals will cooperate where there is an advantage in doing so. This is the premise of the "sharing economy". Much of the innovation in the sharing economy also reflects another insight of Market Design; that markets can be constructed in different ways to serve different purposes. Our interest here is in two-sided matching markets, which is a common design for e-commerce. Buyers are aggregated on one side of the market and sellers on the other with a market manager. Think Airbnb or Uber. Aggregating potential buyers of apartments would resolve the issue of searching for presales: taking the process from looking for needles in the haystack to shooting fish in a barrel. Both buyers and developers would need to be registered participants, and the market manager would be responsible for recruiting participants and matching development opportunities to buyers. Pre-identification of buyers would avoid much of the cost of pre-sales and search time. In addition there could be real-time communication and customer segmentation that permitted developers to take account of the actual expressed preferences of the buyers. An expanded apartment product range and cost reduction should make apartments more attractive to owner-occupiers, reducing settlement risk. The same can be said of having more owner-occupiers and fewer investors. Keeping developers honest However, as one financier (who agreed to be interviewed but not identified) rightly noted, developers can be expected to pocket the savings. Residential development is oligopolistic so there needs to be a source of competition to put pressure on prices, and who better than consumers themselves? DIY apartment developers, what we call "deliberative" developers, now comprise 10% of all new housing in Berlin, and it has taken off in Europe. Deliberative developers make cost savings in the order or 25-30% and get the type and high quality product they want. Financing constraints have meant deliberative development in Australia has been the preserve of the well heeled, but support from impact investors for example, would enable ordinary households access to such self-help schemes. One further change however is required. Planning schemes need to impose density restrictions (in the form of height limits, floor space ratios or bedroom quotas) in urban localities where housing demand and land values are high in order to dampen speculation and de-risk development by creating certainty. Building a model that encourages owner-occupiers The existing development model relies on capturing uplift in site value, and suits investors (incentivised by tax concessions) seeking rental yields in the short term and capital gains in the longer term. The price of land in the vicinity of redevelopment sites is then pushed up as landholders' expectation of future yield is raised. It is a vicious circle in which developers seek to compensate for these higher prices through increased dwelling yields, smaller apartments and reduced amenity, further alienating would be owner-occupiers from the market. However restrictions on over-development of larger infill sites needs to be offset by permitting intensification of "greyfield" suburbs. Aggregating existing housing lots to enable precinct regeneration, and moderate height and density increases would permit better use of airspace, delivering housing designs that can optimise land use while retaining amenity. Redesigning the market and supporting deliberative development are the keys to achieving good, affordable apartments. Andrea Sharam is Research Fellow housing & homelessness at Swinburne University of Technology. Lyndall Bryant is Lecturer in Property Economics at Queensland University of Technology. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.


Aim: Metal-on-metal hip arthroplasty is developed to address specific complications experienced with the use of cementless hip arthroplasty. However, there is a lack of comparative studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival, complications and functional outcome of the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) and compare it to the cementless Omnifit hip prosthesis. Materials and methods: We retrospectively compared a cohort BHR (n = 104) and Omnifit (n = 117) prostheses. Outcome measures included Oxford Hip Score (OHS), Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score - Physical function Short Form (HOOS-PS) and EuroQol EQ-5D. Survival and complications were registered. Results: Survival was 86% in the BHR group and 92% in the Omnifit group after six years follow-up. Survival distributions were not significantly different. Prognostic factor for revision in the BHR group was a smaller femoral component size. The BHR group had significantly better OHS, HOOS-PS and EQ-5D scores and less pain in rest and during weight bearing compared to the Omnifit group. Conclusion: The BHR has significant better functional outcome and less pain than the Omnifit cohort, however, because of high revision rates and severe complications, general use is not recommended. Specific complications for the Omnifit femoral component are thigh pain and aseptic loosening, for which a revision offers a solution.


OBJECTIVE
To report current recommendations made by veterinarians for rehabilitation after surgical treatment of cranial cruciate ligament (CrCL) disease.

STUDY DESIGN
Anonymized electronic survey.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Veterinarians performing CrCL stabilization.

METHODS
An electronic survey was created to collect information on general attitudes toward postoperative rehabilitation and recommendations regarding therapeutic modalities and bandaging. Quantitative data are reported by descriptive statistical analysis, percentage of responses, or mean (±SD). The recommendations for postoperative bandaging beyond 24 hours and for postoperative rehabilitation after extracapsular stabilization compared with after tibial osteotomy were tested by using Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests, with P < .05 considered statistically significant.

RESULTS
The data analysis included 376 responses (13% response rate). Most (71%) respondents consistently recommended postoperative rehabilitation. Rehabilitation was more than twofold more likely to be recommended after extracapsular stabilization than after osteotomies (P = .0142). Most respondents did not recommend bandaging beyond 24 hours postoperatively (P = .00012).

CONCLUSION
Most respondents recommended either formal or informal postoperative rehabilitation therapy.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
If the survey respondents are representative of veterinarians performing CrCL surgery, the current attitude is supportive of postsurgical rehabilitation. Most respondents would welcome evidence-based guidelines for rehabilitation protocols.


Toward a Better Understanding of Recent Warming of the Central West Antarctic Ice Sheet from Shallow Firn Cores Jessica Williams Department of Geological Sciences, BYU Master of Science Previous studies have shown significant warming through the 1990s in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS); but the records used in those studies end in early 2000, preventing trend analysis into the latest decade. Fourteen new snowpits and firn cores were collected in 2010 and 2011, which have been combined with previous cores to extend the isotopic records over WAIS. Significance of these isotopic patterns across WAIS was determined and is used to re-evaluate the warming of the West Antarctic interior over recent decades. We find that isotopic records longer than 50 years are needed to assess climate trends due to decadal variability. When assessed over periods greater than 50 years, there is a statistically significant warming trend over central WAIS. However, the isotopes in the 2000s are anomalously low in the isotopic records, which challenge the recent suggestion that the warming trend is accelerating. We attribute the isotopic low over the most recent decade to the coupling effect of anomalously low temperatures over central WAIS and associated increase in sea ice in the adjacent seas. This work strongly indicates that decadal variability and likely climate trends are both driven, at least in part, by atmospheric variability in the tropics as well as at high latitudes.


In this article we delve into tensions lived by teachers when there is no coincidence between intentions and desires of curricular plan and lived experience. By means of a narrative inquiry we go deep on a high school teacher´s experience and we pause in a short time period in which he lived a disagreement with the educational inspection and the official curriculum. Later, through an exegetical analysis, we relate the teacher´s story with the scientific literature, in order to open new questions and thoughts that help to live tensions in a fruitful way. The analysis points out to three dimensions where tensions are lived: needs, language and time. Finally, the study of these tensions shows that their origin is located in an epistemological framework. It means, they are the result of a friction between different educational knowledge perspectives, which turn out to be different ways of dealing with planning and teacher work.


Background New generation of sequencing platforms coupled to numerous bioinformatics tools has led to rapid technological progress in metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to investigate complex microorganism communities. Nevertheless, a combination of different bioinformatic tools remains necessary to draw conclusions out of microbiota studies. Modular and user-friendly tools would greatly improve such studies. Findings We therefore developed ASaiM, an Open-Source Galaxy-based framework dedicated to microbiota data analyses. ASaiM provides a curated collection of tools to explore and visualize taxonomic and functional information from raw amplicon, metagenomic or metatranscriptomic sequences. To guide different analyses, several customizable workflows are included. All workflows are supported by tutorials and Galaxy interactive tours to guide the users through the analyses step by step. ASaiM is implemented as Galaxy Docker flavour. It is scalable to many thousand datasets, but also can be used a normal PC. The associated source code is available under Apache 2 license at https://github.com/ASaiM/framework and documentation can be found online (http://asaim.readthedocs.io/) Conclusions Based on the Galaxy framework, ASaiM offers sophisticated analyses to scientists without command-line knowledge. ASaiM provides a powerful framework to easily and quickly explore microbiota data in a reproducible and transparent environment.


The excerpt from Bertold Brecht's play Die Mutter fits well the character Professor Braile was. A singular man, a rare, perhaps a unique combination of a highly skilled heart surgeon, a devoted professor, an adroit scientist, a successful entrepreneur and the linchpin of a loving family. An unchallenged leader in the field of cardiovascular surgery among us and the personification of the example to be followed by the younger generation in our country. His unparalleled and extraordinary achievements in life were made possible because of his energetic, persevering, and tireless personality, where every word out of his mouth resonated his real passion for the profession. Nicknamed "the heart mender" in his biography, his endeavor allowed the country to master the production of a wide range of cardiovascular-related medical supplies, making possible the access to heart surgery through the public healthcare system to every patient in need, regardless of how little they earned or saved. And unquestionably contributing to make the Brazilian heart surgery powerful and recognized worldwide.


Internal waves are present both in the atmosphere and the oceans. Internal waves
transport momentum across long distances and their breaking provides energy for
mixing. The mechanisms of internal wave dissipation and breaking is not completely
understood. We are interested in understanding how internal waves propagate and
reflect off sloping topography such as the continental shelf and dissipation. We conducted
a series of laboratory experiments to study the energy flux of propagating
and reflecting mode-1 vertically trapped internal waves in a linearly stratified salt
water fluid. The internal waves are generated by a wave generator that is capable
of producing monochromatic vertical mode-1 internal waves. In our experiments, we
record a video in a rectangular section of the tank where these waves propagate along
the length of the tank (5m) and reflect back. We repeated this for 3 different types
of end wall boundary conditions : no slope, supercritical slope and subcritical slope.
Their quantitative measurements of the structure and amplitude of the internal waves
are measured using an optical technique called synthetic schlieren from which we can
extract the energy flux of the wave. We use a complex demodulation function called
the Hilbert transform to filter out internal waves on the basis of the sign of their wave
vector. We employ this technique to filter out the generated waves that are travelling
left to right from their reflection that are travelling right to left. From the filtered
data we can understand how much energy from incoming waves is present in reflected internal waves and how internal waves dissipate across experiments from all the cases
and across different wave generator amplitudes. The analysis of energy flux of internal
waves during propagation and reflection using Hilbert transform is helpful as it brings
insight into phenomena that are difficult to observe during field studies. Comparison
between the reflected energy efficiency across the 3 types of experiments improves our
understanding of how waves reflect from different end boundaries, and also sheds light
on the how dissipation changes when we change wave generator amplitude.


With Pharmamanagement my goal was to create an extremely user friendly web app which people of any technical ability can use it. As people who may not be familiar with how use computers as much as the younger generation will be ordering prescriptions off my app. I aimed to fix the problems pharmacies are having in their everyday life. The app should be easy to use and a crisp feel to it. The app is constantly looking to grow and add new ideas. I have explored ideas which I can add to Pharmamangement so it can evolve even more. The app will allow a user to order their prescription online before they arrive at the pharmacy. Users will also be able to look up information about the product in which they have been prescribed. The app will show local pharmacies nearby to your location and hopefully the app will be able to check if they have your prescription in stock


Abstract Through the perspective of world-ecology, one of the most recent approaches in international relations, we aim to analyse global capitalism as an ecological project based on the appropriation of human and extra-human nature oriented to support capital accumulation process. Agriculture and its labour force occupy a central role in maintaining the world-system in which global chains, international migrations and centre-periphery relationships interact. This paper shows how global processes occur at this intersection. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the analysis of the current world-system through this innovative approach, developed mainly by Jason W. Moore, and then show how the world-system's structure and its crisis have articulated a highlyinternationalized production model whose most significant effect has been the generation of large migrations of cheap labour across the planet. It is also proposed to descend to the local context to highlight examples because the organization of work at this territorial scale is representative of global agricultural production.