The family of generalized Petersen graphs $G(n, k)$, introduced by Coxeter et al. [4] and named by Mark Watkins (1969), is a family of cubic graphs formed by connecting the vertices of a regular polygon to the corresponding vertices of a star polygon. The Kronecker cover $\mathrm{KC}(G)$ of a simple undirected graph $G$ is a a special type of bipartite covering graph of $G$, isomorphic to the direct (tensor) product of $G$ and $K_2$. We characterize all the members of generalized Petersen graphs that are Kronecker covers, and describe the structure of their respective quotients. We observe that some of such quotients are again generalized Petersen graphs, and describe all such pairs.


In this work we propose a variational reconstruction algorithm for enhancement and denoising of flow fields that is reminiscent of total-variation (TV) regularization used in image processing, but which also takes into account physical properties of flow such as curl and divergence. We point out the invariance properties of the scheme with respect to transformations of the coordinate system such as shifts, rotations, and changes of scale. To demonstrate the utility of the reconstruction method, we use it first to denoise a simulated phantom where the scheme is found to be superior to its quadratic (L2) variant both in terms of SNR and in preservation of discontinuities. We then use the scheme to enhance the quality of pathline visualizations in an application to 4D (3D+time) flow-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging of blood flow in the aorta.


This study aimed to examine five pillars of Islam and their relationship with physical and spiritual health. The five pillars of Islam are the foundation of Muslim life, considered mandatory by believers, and Muslims are required to observe them with utmost dedication. They are summarized as Shahadah, Salah, Zakat Saum, and Hajj. he first pillar of Islam, declaration of faith (Shahadah) includes the most important concept, which is the complete submission to the will of Allah (SWT) by obeying and believing in Him. Spirituality in general is defined as "religious belief or the spiritual quality of something", "a search for the sacred", "personal growth, or an encounter with one's own inner dimension". The World Health Organization (WHO) mentions spiritual health as one of four dimensions to well-being; physical, mental, social, and spiritual". Moreover, holistic nursing practice includes treating people as a whole and attending to a client's physiological, psychological, and spiritual needs. Thus, this study intends to further explore the unitary aspect of Islam that infuse each of the pillars, and their effects on physical, spiritual well-being and nursing implications associated with it. Five pillars of Islam are discussed from the Quran, Alhadith, and Sunnah (the sayings and traditions of the Prophet) as baselines, and further additions from the knowledge of the Islamic scholars. And it is noted that our practices based on the five pillars of Islam have not only positive effects on physical but also spiritual health. This paper pointed out that while performing obligatory duties as stipulated by Islam, one could achieve spiritual enhancement as well as physical strength and well being.


The conformational equilibria of 3-methyl-3-silathiane 5, 3-fluoro-3-methyl-3-silathiane 6 and 1-fluoro-1-methyl-1- silacyclohexane 7 have been studied using low temperature C-13 NMR spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. The conformer ratio at 103 K was measured to be about 5(ax):5(eq) - 15:85, 6(ax):6(eq)-50:50 and 7(ax):7(eq)-25:75. The equatorial preference of the methyl group in 5 (0.35 kcal mol(-1)) is much less than in 3-methylthiane 9 (1.40 kcal mol(-1)) but somewhat greater than in 1-methyl-1-silacyclohexane 1 (0.23 kcal mol(-1)). Compounds 5-7 have low barriers to ring inversion: 5.65 (ax -> eq) and 6.0 kcal mol(-1) (eq -> ax) (5), 4.6 kcal mol(-1) (6), 5.1 kcal mol(-1) (Me-ax -> Me-eq), and 5.4 kcal mol(-1) (Me-eq -> Me-ax) (7). Steric effects cannot explain the observed conformational preferences, like equal population of the two conformers of 6, or different conformer ratio for 5 and 7. Actually, by employing the NBO analysis, in particular, considering the second order perturbation energies, vicinal stereoelectronic interactions between the Si-X and adjacent C-H, C-S, and C-C bonds proved responsible.


This updated and expanded Second Edition of "The Adhesion Molecule FactsBook" has nearly double the number of entries of the First Edition, and provides a compendium of the major cell surface adhesion molecules. The introductory chapters detail the organization of the data in the entries section, provide a background to the main adhesion molecule families, and inform the reader how to access information on adhesion molecules on the Internet. The entries have been designed to allow the reader to quickly establish the main structure and functional features of each molecule and where to find information. It covers: alternative nomenclature, tissue distribution and regulation of expression; ligands; gene organization and chromosomal location; protein structure and molecular weights; amino acid sequence of the most commonly studied organisms; PIR, SWISSPROT, and EMBL/GenBank accession numbers; biological function; and key references.


In 1867 the total number of buffaloes in the trans-Missouri region was conservatively estimated at fifteen million. By the end of the 1880s that figure had dwindled to a few hundred. The destruction of the great herds is the theme of this book. Mari Sandoz's canvas is vast, but it is charged with color and excitement-accounts of Indian ambushes, hairbreadth escapes, gambling and gunfights, military expeditions, famous frontier characters (Wild Bill Hickok, Lonesome Charlie Reynolds, Buffalo Bill, Sheridan, Custer, and Indian Chiefs Whistler, Yellow Wolf, Spotted Tail, and Sitting Bull).


1 Faculdade de Medicina de São José do Rio Preto, Hospital de Base, São José do Rio Preto, SP, Brazil. Conflicts of interest: none Introduction: An increased nasal tip projection is sometimes necessary to achieve an appropriate proportion between nasal tip and dorsum. Numerous techniques and tactics have been described for this purpose using cartilaginous grafts obtained from the nasal septum, auricular concha, and costal cartilage. When this increased projection must be discrete, the use of excess lateral alar cartilage in the form of "pseudo-flaps" is proposed. Methods: In primary open rhinoplasty, excess alar cartilage, which is generally removed, was used to produce "pseudo-flaps". The cartilages were folded over themselves in the form of a "French soldier's suspender" over the domes of the alar cartilage and supported by interdomal soft tissue padding raised over the domus. It was kept detached, and relocated to the nasal tip and was contained by "pseudoflaps" of the alar cartilages sutured there or covering the columella's structural graft. Thirty-six patients underwent surgery using this technique. Results: Thirty-five had good results and one had a nasal tip abscess, caused by endonasal exposure to a non-absorbable suture, which was removed. A second intervention was then performed using a new auricular graft, but the result was still unsatisfactory. The "pseudoflaps" method is relatively simple for those performing nasal surgery. Conclusion: The nasal tip can be projected discretely using the excess of alar cartilage "pedicled" in the domus. ■ ABSTRACT


In order to investigate the role of extracellular matrix receptors of the integrin family in establishing the spatial organization of epidermal kerotinocytes, we used immunofluorescence microscopy to examine the expression of a range of integrin subunits during development of human palm and sole skin. All of the integrins expressed during development were also present in mature epidermis and were largely confined to the basal layer of keratinocytes in a pericellular distribution. The alpha 3 and beta 1 subunits were expressed prior to the initiation of stratification and did not change in abundance or distribution during subsequent development. alpha 4 and beta 3 were not detected at any time in the epidermis. Every other subunit examined showed spatial or temporal changes in expression. Staining for alpha 1 was strong before stratification and until mid-development, but was greatly decreased in neonatal epidermis. alpha 2 was first detected in small patches of basal cells prior to stratification, and thereafter was found in the entire basal layer, with greater staining in developing sweat glands. alpha 5 was not expressed until mid-development, and then primarily in developing sweat glands, with faint expression in neonatal epidermis. alpha v was detected following stratification, in developing sweat glands, and occasionally in neonatal epidermis. alpha 6 and beta 4 were peribasally expressed before stratification, but thereafter became concentrated at the basal cell surface in contact with the basement membrane, co-localizing with hemidesmosomes as determined by staining with bullous pemphigoid antiserum. We also examined the distribution of three known ligands for keratinocyte integrins: laminin and collagen type IV were present in the basement membrane zone at all stages of development, whereas fibronectin was only evident there until about 13 weeks estimated gestational age. Finally, we found that the changes in integrin expression that occur on initiation of stratification in vivo could be reproduced in organ cultures of developing skin; such cultures therefore provided a useful experimental model for further studies of the role of integrins in epidermal stratification.


Fluoropyrimidines, including 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and its oral prodrugs capecitabine and tegafur, are among the most commonly prescribed anticancer drugs for the adjuvant and palliative treatment of various types of solid malignancies, including colorectal cancer, gastric cancer and breast cancer. The major lines of research described in this thesis focus on the treatment optimization of fluoropyrimidine therapy, in terms of both safety and efficacy. The studies include clinical pharmacogenetic, pharmacokinetic, and phase I-II trials with fluoropyrimidines. In 568 patients with advanced colorectal cancer treated with capecitabine-based chemotherapy the effect of genetic polymorphism within the primary fluoropyrimidine inactivating enzyme dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase was investigated. Five polymorphism were predictive for development of grade ? 3 diarrhea, of which the clinically most relevant polymorphism was DPYD*2A. All patients polymorphic for DPYD*2A experienced any type of severe toxicity of treatment, which was lethal in one patient. In a prospective study, patients intended to undergo treatment with capecitabine or 5-FU were prospectively screened for presence of the DPYD*2A polymorphism prior to start of therapy. Polymorphic patients were treated with an initially ? 50% reduced fluoropyrimidine dose during the first two cycles, which was further dose-titrated based on clinical tolerability. Toxicity by genotype-guided dosing was compared to toxicity in historical DPYD*2A controls having received full dose treatment (n=40 variant allele carriers obtained from 9 cohort studies including a total of 3391 patients). A total number of 1600 patients was prospectively genotyped prior to start of therapy, of which 17 were heterozygously polymorphic for DPYD*2A. With a median fluoropyrimidine dose intensity of 48% (range 24-91%) per cycle, the DPYD*2A patients could be safely treated. Thereby, the risk of grade ? 3 toxicity reduced from 70% in historical controls to 15% by genotype-guided dosing. Drug-induced death reduced from 10% to 0%. In addition, upfront genotyping proved to be cost-effective. In another study the effect of gastric surgery on the systemic exposure to capecitabine was investigated in patients with gastric cancer. A total and partial gastrectomy resulted in a faster absorption, a higher maximum concentration, and a higher total systemic exposure of capecitabine compared to patients with an intact stomach. Three phase I-II trials were conducted: one investigated the combination of docetaxel, oxaliplatin and capecitabine in 33 patients with advanced gastric cancer. The overall response rate was 46% including two complete responses. Median progression-free and overall survival were 6.9 and 11.6 months. Febrile neutropenia occurred in 14% of the patients. A second phase I-II trial was performed in 18 patients with anal cancer treated with simultaneous-integrated boost radiation therapy (33x1.8/1.5 Gy 3x1.8 Gy boost) with concomitant capecitabine and mitomycin-C on day 1. Predominant grade ? 3 toxicities included dermatitis within the radiation area (61%), fatigue (22%) and pain (6%). 72% of the patients achieved a complete response. A third phase I-II trial investigated the combination of everolimus with capecitabine in patients with advanced solid malignancies. 18 patients were recruited, the recommended dose was everolimus 10 mg/day continuously plus capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 bid for 14 days in three-weekly cycles. Toxicities remained mostly grade ? 2.


Overlap syndrome, which is known as the coexistence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), was first defined by Flenley. Although it can refer to concomitant occurrence of any of the pulmonary diseases and OSA, overlap syndrome is commonly considered as the coexistence of OSA and COPD. This disease has unique adverse health consequences distinct from either condition alone. Given the high prevalence of each solitary disease, overlap syndrome is also likely to be common and clinically relevant. Despite the fact that overlap syndrome has been described in the literature for nearly 30 years, paucity of evaluations and studies limited the discussion on diagnosis, prevalence, pathophysiology, treatment, and outcomes of this disease. This review article addresses these issues by reviewing several recent studies conducted in Iran or other countries. This review suggests that overlap syndrome has worse outcomes than either disease alone. Our findings accentuated the urgent need for further studies on overlap syndrome and all overlaps between OSA and chronic pulmonary disease to provide a deeper insight into diagnosis and non-invasive treatments of this disease.


This gallery of orthopedic devices is designed as a quick reference for readers who wish to identify an unfamiliar device in the extremities or pelvis (1), specifically a device used for fracture fixation or in joint arthroplasty. The basic goal of fracture fixation is to stabilize the fractured bone, to enable fast healing of the injured bone, and to achieve early mobility and full function of the injured extremity. The basic principles of fracture fixation and the complications associated with them were discussed in previous RadioGraphics articles, as well as other references (2-8). Herein, we illustrate many of the fracture fixation devices found in everyday practice (Figs 1-27). In addition, in a previous article, we illustrated the most commonly used joint prostheses and addressed important points for the correct recognition and radiologic evaluation of these devices (9). Proper placement of these devices and complications associated with them were also discussed (3-10). Herein, we present an overview of many common joint prostheses (Figs 28-43). In summary, we provide a comprehensive overview of important orthopedic devices frequently found in the extremities and pelvis. It is intended to allow the reader to identify a device generically and to understand its purpose. It is important to understand the purpose of and proper function for a medical device, but it is not important-and is probably impossible-to describe every device by its proper brand name. For a detailed discussion of a particular device, the reader should refer to the appropriate references cited. A gallery of spinal devices and devices found in the head, neck, chest, abdomen, and pelvis will appear in a subsequent article (11).


I devise a numerical method of high order in space (FDMHS) to simulate flow past a finite plate and a semi-infinite plate. The method solves the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation in the stream function-vorticity formulation. The focus is to study a fundamental problem in fluid dynamics, namely, flow past sharp edges. Resolving this flow structure is difficult, in particular at early times. The difficulty is due to the fact that large velocity gradients and vorticity are present in a very thin boundary layer attached to the plate initially. FDMHS is a splitting method, implicit in time and uses compact fourth order finite differences. FDMHS has demonstrated satisfactory performance in our numerical simulations. For the finite plate case, three background flow are used: impulsively started, uniformly accelerated, and oscillating. Resolved computations show structure of the boundary layer separation and roll-up from very early times to relative large times. For the impulsively started, the details of vorticity structure at early times have been studied. We resolved the region of negative vorticity along the plate induced by and entrained into the leading vortex. A secondary entrainment of positive vorticity into the region of negative vorticity is also found. The maximum velocity decays as t−1/4 over a large initial time interval. For the uniformly accelerated, we show evolution in the appropriate non-dimensional variables, and find agreement with scaling laws observed in experiments. For the oscillating, we compared the viscous simulation using FDMHS with an inviscid vortex sheet method. Both are in excellent agreement at early times. There are difference at later times most likely caused by wall vorticity which is not accounted for by the vortex sheet model. The shed circulation is independent of viscosity initially for all three background flows. The effect of viscosity on the vorticity evolution and on quantities such as the shed circulation, core trajectory and vorticity, vortex size and


Abstract Autonomous vehicles use sensing and communication technologies to navigate safely and efficiently with little or no input from the driver. These driverless technologies will create an unprecedented revolution in how people move, and policymakers will need appropriate tools to plan for and analyze the large impacts of novel navigation systems. In this paper we derive semiparametric estimates of the willingness to pay for automation. We use data from a nationwide online panel of 1260 individuals who answered a vehicle-purchase discrete choice experiment focused on energy efficiency and autonomous features. Several models were estimated with the choice microdata, including a conditional logit with deterministic consumer heterogeneity, a parametric random parameter logit, and a semiparametric random parameter logit. We draw three key results from our analysis. First, we find that the average household is willing to pay a significant amount for automation: about $3500 for partial automation and $4900 for full automation. Second, we estimate substantial heterogeneity in preferences for automation, where a significant share of the sample is willing to pay above $10,000 for full automation technology while many are not willing to pay any positive amount for the technology. Third, our semiparametric random parameter logit estimates suggest that the demand for automation is split approximately evenly between high, modest and no demand, highlighting the importance of modeling flexible preferences for emerging vehicle technology.


The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered an increased demand for health services. Public health facilities are becoming increasingly inadequate to provide care for the increasing COVID-19 cases. Therefore, positioning the private health facilities (PHFs) to contribute to the COVID-19 outbreak response is highly required. To position PHFs for an improved COVID-19 outbreak response, guidelines that provide clarity on the role of PHF in the COVID-19 outbreak response need to be developed. Specific regulations should be tailored towards the government acting as a financial risk protector for PHF. Also, equity in the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) across the public and PHF from the Federal Government should be ensured. Moreover, subsidies should be provided on PPE, including goggles, hand sanitizers, and face masks. Furthermore, the purchase of PPE could be made by PHF on a large scale at subsidized costs via the PHF professional bodies and associations. Moreover, a comprehensive assessment of the human and infrastructural capacity of PHF needs to be conducted regarding the COVID-19 response. Results obtained from such assessment would inform on the existing human resources needs of the private sector and opportunities by which PHF's capacity could be enhanced. In addition, assessing the extent of representativeness of PHF in the existing rapid response team needs to be conducted. All challenges delimiting the active involvement of the PHF should be addressed. Additionally, adequate support systems need to be developed and well-placed to promote the involvement of the PHF in the outbreak response.


Abstract Soil nutrient supply is likely to change in the Arctic due to altered process rates associated with climate change. Here, we compare the responses of herbaceous tundra and birch forest understory to fertilization, considering both above- and below-ground responses. We added nitrogen and phosphorus to plots in both vegetation types for three years near Abisko, northern Sweden, and measured the effect on above- and below-ground plant community properties and soil characteristics. Fertilization increased ground-layer shoot mass, the cover of grasses, and tended to enhance total root length below-ground, while it reduced the cover of low statured deciduous dwarf-shrubs. The only statistically significant interaction between vegetation type and fertilization was for grass cover, which increased twofold in forest understory but sixfold in tundra following fertilization. The lack of interactions for other variables suggests that the ground layers in these contrasting vegetation types have similar responses to fertilization. The nutrient-driven increase in grass cover and species-specific differences in productivity and root characters may alter ecosystem dynamics and C cycling in the long-term, but our study indicates that the response of birch forest understory and tundra vegetation may be consistent.


A continuous study in a rotating biological contactor (RBC) reactor was carried out using polyurethane foam (PU) surface-immobilized with live fungal biomass of Neurospora crassa with wheat bran adsorbent/substrate for the removal of color from synthetic Congo red (CR) dye wastewater. The experiments were conducted at 303 K, pH 6, to study the effect of various operational parameters on the CR dye decolorization process. Experimental data confirmed that the amount of biomass produced and % color removal of CR increased with the increase in the number of discs, disc rotation speed, % disc submergence in the liquid medium, wheat bran dosage, and air flow rate. The maximum color removal of 90.15% was obtained using 50 mg L–1 inlet dyestuff concentration, 20 discs, 16 rpm, 40% disc submergence, 1.5 L min–1 air flow rate, 1 mL min–1 dye solution flow rate and 12.5 g L–1 wheat bran dosage. The activities of various extracellular enzymes of the fungus were measured during the decolorization of synthetic dye wastewater. The results reveal that the cellulase enzyme has a significant role in the decolorization process with its maximum activity and chemical oxygen demand removal being 1,284 U L–1 and 93.34%, respectively at the end of 240 h.


Saudi Arabia, which spends less on research and education per capita than almost all other countries, announced last week that it will commit $2.6 billion to build the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in the desert. Undergraduate degrees in diverse fields including biotechnology and computer science will be offered beginning in 2008, with enrollment restricted to Saudis and some foreign "outstanding Muslim students," says a Saudi official. There are no plans yet for a Ph.D. program.

This is the latest step in a recent push for scientific development in the Arab world. But the bottleneck is not money, says Rabi Mohtar, an agricultural engineer at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, who is working with the Qatar Foundation to boost science in the region. The lack of prestige and opportunities in the sciences drives the vast majority of Arab researchers abroad to study and work. However, "having big educational investments will hopefully raise the level of public awareness," he says, and may entice Arab scientists back home.


Background: The most common congenital abnormality of esophagus is esophageal atresia (EA) that can occur with or without tracheoesophageal fistula. Other associated anomalies are the leading cause of death in these patients. The present study aimed to evaluate the main complication, outcomes and cause of death in neonate with EA repaired in Amirkola Children's Hospital (ACH), Iran within a 13 years period. Methods: This cross sectional study was done on infants that underwent surgical repair for EA in Amirkola Children's Hospital during 1994-2007. All information such as demographic, birth weight, type of atresia, associated anomaly, complication of surgery, duration of hospital stay and cause of death were obtained from patient medical records. Results: Of all 37 studies cases with the mean gestational age (±SD) 37.2±1.7 weeks and the mean birth weight 2601±504 gram, 3 cases were preterm. The most frequent type was EA with lower segment fistula to trachea. In 37.8% cases there was an associated anomaly that the cardiac anomalies were more common. Surgical complication was seen in 59.5% of cases and 11 of them died in hospital that 63% of them had associated anomaly. Conclusions: Association of other congenital anomalies plays an important role in the survival of patients.


This study examined barriers of sustainable rural development from perspective of experts in Department of Rural Development in Razi University, Institute of Rural Research & Development, and Organization of Rural Cooperatives in Kermanshah (N=42).The sample size was estimated by population census. The main research instrument for data collection was pre-tested questionnaire. Validityof questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data analysis was performed by SPSS version 18 .The results showed that the main obstacles to sustainable rural development in the province of Kermanshah were five factors: : 1- Physical- Structural; 2- Investment problems; 3- Weak policymaking; 4- Agricultural Production risk; and 5- Lack of skill


We define a copula process which describes the dependencies between arbitrarily many random variables independently of their marginal distributions. As an example, we develop a stochastic volatility model, Gaussian Copula Process Volatility (GCPV), to predict the latent standard deviations of a sequence of random variables. To make predictions we use Bayesian inference, with the Laplace approximation, and with Markov chain Monte Carlo as an alternative. We find our model can outperform GARCH on simulated and financial data. And unlike GARCH, GCPV can easily handle missing data, incorporate covariates other than time, and model a rich class of covariance structures.


Sir Francis Bacon, statesman, essayist and philosopher, studied law and rose to high office as Lord Chancellor. He had enormous influence on the change of direction for scientific method from speculative and philosophical in the Aristotelian tradition to experimental and factual. Bacon's philosophical influence extended to Locke and through him to subsequent English schools of psychology and ethics. Abroad, his influence also extended to Leibniz, Huygens and Voltaire who called him 'le pere de la philosophie experimentale'. This edition contains all Bacon's philosophical works as well as translations, plus literary and professional works, and includes illuminating introductions and explanatory footnotes by the three editors as well as a new introduction by Graham Rees.


Only a few rich nations are currently at replacement levels of fertility and many are considerably below. We believe that changes in the status of women are driving fertility change. At low levels of female status, women specialize in household production and fertility is high. In an intermediate phase, women have increasing opportunities to earn a living outside the home yet still shoulder the bulk of household production. Fertility is at a minimum in this regime due to the increased opportunity cost in women's foregone wages with no decrease in time allocated to childcare. We see the lowest fertility nations (Japan, Spain, Italy) as being in this regime. At even higher levels of women's status, men begin to share in the burden of child care at home and fertility is higher than in the middle regime. This progression has been observed in the US, Sweden and other countries. Using ISSP and World Values Survey data we show that countries in which men perform relatively more of the childcare and household production (and where female labor force participation was highest 30 years ago) have the highest fertility within the rich country sample. Fertility and women's labor force participation have become positively correlated across high income countries. The trend in men's household work suggests that the low fertility countries may see increases in fertility as women's household status catches up to their workforce opportunities. We also note that as the poor nations of the world undergo the demographic transition they appear to be reducing fertility faster and further than the current rich countries did at similar levels of income. By examining fertility differences between the rich nations we may be able to gain insight into where the world is headed.


One of the main purposes of the Food and Agriculture Program at IIASA is to build a series of national agricultural models, covering the relevant parts of the world's food production and consumptions.

China, having 22% of the world's population and producing 13,22% of the agricultural production, cannot be neglected in this context. As the first step of investigations, a problem assessment has been prepared. One should stress that the agricultural development in China as discussed in this paper, can be drastically changed in the nearest future. According to the latest information, new agricultural price policies have been introduced, which may have decisive effects. The basic problem, however, of, whether China will be able to feed her population, is a more complex one and depends on a series of different factors. This is an attempt to give a short summary of them.


For numerous domains, including for instance earth observation, medical imaging, astrophysics,..., available image and signal datasets often involve irregular space-time sampling patterns and large missing data rates. These sampling properties may be critical to apply state-of-the-art learning-based (e.g., auto-encoders, CNNs,...), fully benefit from the available large-scale observations and reach breakthroughs in the reconstruction and identification of processes of interest. In this paper, we address the end-to-end learning of representations of signals, images and image sequences from irregularly-sampled data, i.e. when the training data involved missing data. From an analogy to Bayesian formulation, we consider energy-based representations. Two energy forms are investigated: one derived from auto-encoders and one relating to Gibbs priors. The learning stage of these energy-based representations (or priors) involve a joint interpolation issue, which amounts to solving an energy minimization problem under observation constraints. Using a neural-network-based implementation of the considered energy forms, we can state an end-to-end learning scheme from irregularly-sampled data. We demonstrate the relevance of the proposed representations for different case-studies: namely, multivariate time series, 2D images and image sequences.


Spin-Dependent Light Emission Spintronic devices exploit electronic currents that are spin polarized, which have an excess of one spin current over the other. One way to detect this polarization would be to create a light-emitting diode that is sensitive to spin polarization. Along these lines, Nguyen et al. (p. 204) constructed a bipolar device in which an organic semiconductor was sandwiched between two ferromagnetic contacts whose relative polarization could be controlled by an applied magnetic field. Magneto-electroluminescence of the order of ∼1% was observed at a bias voltage of ∼3.5 V. The use of a deuterated organic polymer interlayer improved spin transport relative to polymers with hydrogen side groups, and a thin LiF buffer layer on the ferromagnetic cathode improved electron injection efficiency. The light emission from an organic light-emitting diode depends on the spin polarization of the injected current. The spin-polarized organic light-emitting diode (spin-OLED) has been a long-sought device within the field of organic spintronics. We designed, fabricated, and studied a spin-OLED with ferromagnetic electrodes that acts as a bipolar organic spin valve (OSV), based on a deuterated derivative of poly(phenylene-vinylene) with small hyperfine interaction. In the double-injection limit, the device shows ~1% spin valve magneto-electroluminescence (MEL) response, which follows the ferromagnetic electrode coercive fields and originates from the bipolar spin-polarized space charge–limited current. In stark contrast to the response properties of homopolar OSV devices, the MEL response in the double-injection device is practically independent of bias voltage, and its temperature dependence follows that of the ferromagnetic electrode magnetization. Our findings provide a pathway for organic displays controlled by external magnetic fields.


Although sex-role stereotyping in children's books is a consistent focus of research, the study of the gender role stereotyping of parenting in children's media is less common, despite a developing academic interest in the changing social meanings of fathering and mothering in contemporary societies. Previous analysis, though scarce, has suggested that fathers are under-represented in general and when present, are less likely to be seen expressing affection towards, or caring for, children than mothers. In this study we revisited representations of mothers and fathers in children's picturebooks, updating previous research via numerous methodological developments. A content analysis of a representative sample of all young children's picturebooks featuring representations of parents was undertaken. The results offered qualified support for previous research, and found additional differences in terms of presence around the home, emotional expression, appearances with, and contact with, children. The significance of the finding of no difference between parental sex in terms of childcare activity and explicit nurturing activity is considered in terms of a possible shift from invisible to involved fatherhood.


The Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative (OAEI) aims at comparing ontology matching systems on precisely defined test cases. These test cases can be based on ontologies of different levels of complexity and use different evaluation modalities. The OAEI 2022 campaign offered 14 tracks and was attended by 18 participants. This paper is an overall presentation of that campaign.


: We propose and demonstrate a non-destructive method for loss measurement in optical guided structures. In the proposed approach, the device under test does not require connectors at its ends, thus making this technique available for both optical fibers and integrated optical waveguides. The loss measurement is feasible over a broad range, from low (0.2 dB/km) to high (of the order of 1 dB/mm) loss values. This method is validated through measurements performed on a microstructured holey fiber and on a photonic crystal waveguide. The obtained results are in good agreement with theoretical calculations and measurements obtained by other approaches.


Background and aims: This prospective trial was designed to compare the performance characteristics of five different screening tests in parallel for the detection of advanced colonic neoplasia: CT colonography (CTC), colonoscopy (OC), flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS), faecal immunochemical stool testing (FIT) and faecal occult blood testing (FOBT). Methods: Average risk adults provided stool specimens for FOBT and FIT, and underwent same-day low-dose 64-multidetector row CTC and OC using segmentally unblinded OC as the standard of reference. Sensitivities and specificities were calculated for each single test, and for combinations of FS and stool tests. CTC radiation exposure was measured, and patient comfort levels and preferences were assessed by questionnaire. Results: 221 adenomas were detected in 307 subjects who completed CTC (mean radiation dose, 4.5 mSv) and OC; 269 patients provided stool samples for both FOBT and FIT. Sensitivities of OC, CTC, FS, FIT and FOBT for advanced colonic neoplasia were 100% (95% CI 88.4% to 100%), 96.7% (82.8% to 99.9%), 83.3% (95% CI 65.3% to 94.4%), 32% (95% CI 14.9% to 53.5) and 20% (95% CI 6.8% to 40.7%), respectively. Combination of FS with FOBT or FIT led to no relevant increase in sensitivity. 12 of 45 advanced adenomas were smaller than 10 mm. 46% of patients preferred CTC and 37% preferred OC (p<0.001). Conclusions: High-resolution and low-dose CTC is feasible for colorectal cancer screening and reaches sensitivities comparable with OC for polyps >5 mm. For patients who refuse full bowel preparation and OC or CTC, FS should be preferred over stool tests. However, in cases where stool tests are performed, FIT should be recommended rather than FOBT.


STORE AND FORWARD ROUTING FOR SPARSE PICO-SATELLITE SENSOR NETWORKS WITH DATA-MULES Trevor Joseph Koritza Satellites are playing an increasingly important role in collecting scientific information, providing communication services, and revolutionizing navigation. Until recently satellites were large and very expensive, creating a high barrier to entry that only large corporations and government agencies could overcome. In the past few years the CubeSat project at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) has worked to refine the design and launching of small, lightweight, and less expensive satellites called pico-satellites, opening space up to a wider audience. Now that Cal Poly has the launch logistics and hardware under control, a new problem has arisen. These pico-satellites are within communication range of a ground station only 40 minutes a day. This, combined with their 1200 bps communication speed, limits the usefulness of the satellite missions to those only transmitting small amounts of data back to Earth. This thesis proposes a novel protocol that allows a sparse network of pico-satellites to communicate among one another and to larger satellites called data mules, which relay the information back to the ground station at much higher speeds. The data mules are able to provide higher speeds because they are larger satellites with less power constraints. This protocol makes it possible for a pico-satellite to send more data over a given amount of time with less end-to-end delay. When every satellite has large amounts of data almost three times as much aggregate data can be sent through the network, and almost five times more data can be sent if only a single satellite has large amounts of data to send. The end-to-end delay is cut almost in half when sending 1 MB of data per day per satellite and is decreased by a factor of at least three when sending large amounts of data from only one satellite.


Determining what to pay for cash rental rates is a big problem for most farmers. Typically, crop budgets are used for this decision. However, problems arise from this approach because the average revenue contained in the budget is often not the true marginal revenue. Farm size differences certainly affect the average and thus the marginal revenue. This paper calculates the true marginal revenue per acre so that a better estimate can be made of the cash rental rate. Farm analysis data is used to calculate the total revenue per acre. The first derivative then gives the marginal revenue.


Initially the study focussed on the factors affecting the ability of the police to solve crimes. An analysts of over twenty thousand police deployments revealed the proportion of time spent investigating crime contrasted to its perceived importance and the time spent on other activities. The fictional portrayal of skills believed important in successful crime investigation were identified and compared to the professional training and 'taught skills' given to police and detectives. Police practitioners and middle management provided views on the skills needed to solve crimes. The relative importance of the forensic science role. fingerprint examination and interrogation skills were contrasted with changes in police methods resulting from the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and its effect on confessions. The study revealed that existing police systems for investigating crime excluding specifically cases of murder and other serious offences, were unsystematic, uncoordinated, unsupervised and unproductive in using police resources. The study examined relevant and contemporary research in the United States and United Kingdom and with organisational support introduced an experimental system of data capture and initial investigation with features of case screening and management. Preliminary results indicated increases in the collection of essential information and more effective use of investigative resources. In the managerial framework within which this study has been conducted, research has been undertaken in the knowledge elicitation area as a basis for an expert system of crime investigation and the potential organisational benefits of utilising the Lap computer in the first stages of data gathering and investigation. The conclusions demonstrate the need for a totally integrated system of criminal investigation with emphasis on an organisational rather than individual response. In some areas the evidence produced is sufficient to warrant replication, in others additional research is needed to further explore other concepts and proposed systems pioneered by this study.


Common visual recognition tasks such as classification, object detection, and semantic segmentation are rapidly reaching maturity, and given the recent rate of progress, it is not unreasonable to conjecture that techniques for many of these problems will approach human levels of performance in the next few years. In this paper we look to the future: what is the next frontier in visual recognition? We offer one possible answer to this question. We propose a detailed image annotation that captures information beyond the visible pixels and requires complex reasoning about full scene structure. Specifically, we create an amodal segmentation of each image: the full extent of each region is marked, not just the visible pixels. Annotators outline and name all salient regions in the image and specify a partial depth order. The result is a rich scene structure, including visible and occluded portions of each region, figure-ground edge information, semantic labels, and object overlap. We create two datasets for semantic amodal segmentation. First, we label 500 images in the BSDS dataset with multiple annotators per image, allowing us to study the statistics of human annotations. We show that the proposed full scene annotation is surprisingly consistent between annotators, including for regions and edges. Second, we annotate 5000 images from COCO. This larger dataset allows us to explore a number of algorithmic ideas for amodal segmentation and depth ordering. We introduce novel metrics for these tasks, and along with our strong baselines, define concrete new challenges for the community.


The N1 Grid is Sun's vision, strategy, and architecture-and a set of products-that redefine the nature of data center computing. The N1 Grid architecture uses the network, physically and logically, as its fundamental organizing principle.This book enables the reader to implement service-centric data center solutions through the use of N1 Grid-based principles and architectures, which are more efficient and flexible. It opens with an overview of how this approach evolved and then takes the reader through the process of preparing, architecting, and implementing N1 Grid-based solutions.


Background: International collaborators face challenges in the design and implementation of ethical biomedical research. Evaluating community understanding of research and processes like informed consent may enable researchers to better protect research participants in a particular setting; however, there exist few studies examining community perspectives in health research, particularly in resource-limited settings, or strategies for engaging the community in research processes. Our goal was to inform ethical research practice in a biomedical research setting in western Kenya and similar resource-limited settings. Methods: We sought to use mabaraza , traditional East African community assemblies, in a qualitative study to understand community perspectives on biomedical research and informed consent within a collaborative, multinational research network in western Kenya. Analyses included manual, progressive coding of transcripts from mabaraza to identify emerging central concepts. Results: Our findings from two mabaraza with 108 community members revealed that, while participants understood some principles of biomedical research, they emphasized perceived benefits from participation in research over potential risks. Many community members equated health research with HIV testing or care, which may be explained in part by the setting of this particular study. In addition to valuing informed consent as understanding and accepting a role in research activities, participants endorsed an increased role for the community in making decisions about research participation, especially in the case of children, through a process of community consent. Conclusions: Our study suggests that international biomedical research must account for community understanding of research and informed consent, particularly when involving children. Moreover, traditional community forums, such as mabaraza in East Africa, can be used effectively to gather these data and may serve as a forum to further engage communities in community consent and other aspects of research.


Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs) have been proposed in the 1970s as cheap planar concentrators for residential applications and nowadays represent a novel idea with excellent perspectives for building integration photovoltaics. The interest in LSCs has increased in the last years, due to improved stability of luminescent dyes, the introduction of quantum dots and nanorods and the overall reported increase in module efficiency. Computational methods have been suddenly applied as an important tool for the description of light dynamics in LSCs. With "raytracing methods" light is described as particle-like (photons) and each particle is tracked. It is precious tool for the description of absorption/reemission events, refraction and internal reflection in LSCs. It is also a very useful approach for the description of LSC edge effects, which may be well described by means of basic geometrical optics and are the subject of this work. The impact of scattering layers on the backside of LSCs is analysed in detail both experimentally and computationally. Results give evidence of the non-wavelength dependent impact of backside diffusers to the external quantum efficiency of LSCs and thus to their overall performance. A possible design of LSC as smart windows in photovoltaic facades is also suggested, where the benefits of the edge effects described are taken into account.


There are several publications dedicated to the description and analysis of change detection between two gray-value images. This paper introduces new methods to detect moving objects between multiple images and to detect changes between color images or any type of multispectral images. We are not aware of methods giving the possibility of detecting color changes and changes between multiple frames. All the proposed change detectors are based on the Gramian determinant, which provides low computational cost and is easy to implement. These features are very important due to the additional complexity of change detection between multiple as well as color images.


The sensitivity of ultrasonic measurements can be increased significantly by using nonlinear techniques instead of conventional linear ultrasonics. The nonlinear ultrasonics, based on a harmonic generation technique also known as collinear wave interaction, is used widely in practice due to its simplicity in implementation. The amplitudes of harmonics which are monitored with this technique not only originate in a test specimen, but also in electronics, the acoustic channel and the surrounding medium. This makes interpretation of the measurement results extremely complex.
 Noncollinear wave mixing is an alternative technique to harmonic generation. This technique has multiple advantages in comparison with harmonic generation, and it is easy to implement in industrial applications when in-line and real-time measurements are required. With a proper selection of measurement conditions for noncollinear wave mixing it is possible to measure a nonlinear material response without an influence of nonlinearities in the electr5onics, the acoustic channel and the surrounding medium.
A mathematical model for prediction of nonlinear wave amplitude coefficients is presented in this thesis. All possible noncollinear wave interactions can be analyzed with this model and the nonlinear wave amplitued coefficients in isotropic solids can be predicted. Based on this model, a procedure is proposed for the selection of the optimal measurement conditions for noncollinear wave mixing experiments.
Three measurement techniques were developed based on noncollinear wave mixing. Firstly, a method was developed for the phase velocity measurement in an isotropic solid. The phase velocity in a solid can be determined with this method when one of the wave velocities (shear of longitudinal) is known. This method does not require an estimation of the phase time-of-flight and wave propagation path. It is only necessary to measure the wave incident angles.

Secondly, a method was developed to monitor the curing process of epoxy and experimental results were analyzed. This method enables in-line and real-time measurements of the epoxy cure dynamics in a thin layer (thickess about 0.2 mm), with detection of the minimum viscosity, the gel onset, the gel peak and vitrification points.

Thirdly, a method was developed and the experimental results were analyzed for physical ageing measurements in glassy thermoplastics. The physical ageing dynamics and the current physical age in thermoplastic can be determined with this method.

The results of this study demonstrate that more accurate and more sensitive characterization of engineerig materials can be achieved by making use of advanced ultrasonic measurement techniques.


The rise of administrative patent validity review since the America Invents Act has rested on an enormous expansion of Patent Office authority. A relatively little-known aspect of that authority is the agency's statutory ability to intervene in Federal Circuit appeals from adversarial proceedings in its own Patent Trial and Appeal Board. The Patent Office has exercised this intervenor authority frequently and with specific apparent policy objectives, including where one of the adverse parties did not participate in the appeal. Moreover, until recently, there has been no constitutional inquiry into the Article III standing that the Patent Office must establish in order to intervene in this way.
The Patent Office's pattern of strategic intervention intersects in important ways with the constitutional limits that the agency must observe. Thus far, every intervenor brief that the agency has filed has been in full or partial defense of the PTAB's position or of some larger structural value associated with administrative adjudication, never in opposition to the PTAB's stance. Where the Patent Office did choose to intervene on appeal, the outcomes below were usually defeats for the patent owner (about 80%), and the agency's position was to affirm the defeat. And where the Patent Office intervened specifically to stand in for a litigant absent on appeal, the absent litigant was always a prevailing patent challenger — never a prevailing patent owner. Meanwhile, since the Patent Office began intervening in Federal Circuit appeals, the relative share of interventions by private parties has declined, and the remainder has shifted to a pattern of more concentrated, multi-party interventions. This suggests a net offloading onto the Patent Office of the responsibility to intervene.
The observed Patent Office preference for specific outcomes and policies is constitutionally important because the agency's ability to intervene will often rest on its ability to show Article III standing. Piggybacking on another party's standing will not always be enough, especially where the litigant in the case below is absent from the appeal or where the agency's position is different (especially broader) than what its friendly appellate party seeks. In light of these findings, the Federal Circuit's forthcoming decision in Knowles Electronics v. Matal, No. 2016-1954, can do much to clarify the constraints upon the use of intervenor authority as an instrument of Patent Office policy.


During the autumn of 2007, approximately 210 m of near-surface seismic reflection data were recorded over Priddis, Alberta as part of the University of Calgary's Geophysics Summer school program. This seismic experiment constituted the first attempt of the CREWES project to acquire seismic data using a land streamer. The 60 channel seismic land streamer consisted of 20 3C geophones with 1-m takeout spacing and a 12 lb. sledgehammer with handle trigger as the seismic source. The 2007 Priddis land streamer seismic survey produced data that imaged up to 50 m of the near surface layers, with prominent reflections at around 50-60 ms and 300 ms.


Modeling Enterprise Architecture requires representing multiple diagrams of an enterprise, which typically shows the multiples business entities, IT systems, even software components and the services they offer. This could be done by a team of stakeholders having different backgrounds. One way to do this is to structure the model into hierarchical levels each of which can be of interest of just some, not all, stakeholders. Due to the differences in their background, stakeholders – the modelers may not want to use a single modeling approach, even a widely-recognized one, to build the enterprise model, which can be shared by the whole team. Developing a modeling framework that can be applied uniformly throughout the entire enterprise model and that can be used by all stakeholders is challenging. First, the framework should have a uniform approach to specifying the services offered by business entities, IT systems and software components and to describing their implementation across hierarchical levels. Second, the framework should allow the stakeholders to represent the service specification and the service implementation of multiple business entities and IT systems, even within the same hierarchical level. Third, the services offered by those entities and systems should be represented at different levels of granularity. Last but not least, the modeling framework should maintain the well-formedness of the enterprise model and the consistency between different diagrams opened by different stakeholders of the team. Today, there exist a few modeling methods or development processes in the field of Enterprise Architecture, as well as in software and system modeling that can address these issues to some extent. Among them, Adora, KobrA and OPM best meet the aforementioned four criteria, although they were not initially developed for modeling Enterprise Architecture. As a study on the state of the art, we analyzed these methods with respect to the four aforementioned modeling challenges. In this thesis, we define a modeling language and present a computer-aided tool for modeling Enterprise Architecture hierarchically. This modeling language allows the modeler to structure an enterprise into hierarchical levels, in terms of both organization and services. The computer-aided modeling tool helps the modeler visually build her model across levels and brings all levels together to make a coherent, well-formed model. Enterprise models can be visually built and represented in a notation that is based on the Unified Modeling Language using this tool. The modeling language is formally defined in Alloy – a lightweight declarative language based on first order logic and set theory. The data manipulated in the tool is verified against the Alloy code that formalizes the language. The modeling language and the computer-aided modeling tool constitute a hierarchy-oriented framework called SeamCAD that specifically address the four aforementioned issues. This framework has been applied several projects, both in industry and academic settings. We evaluated it by inviting external practitioners, researchers and master's students in our university to use it and to give their feedback.


According to estimates made by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute in March of 1999, there are several macro factors that will significantly impact U.S. and global agriculture over the next decade. Factors leading to near-term price pressure are contrasted with likely implications for the longer term. In general, the longer run estimated consequences for global agriculture are more positive, but with the strong likelihood of low price pressure lingering over the next two to three years.


Rice is one of the most essential staple foods for a large part of the world's human population and has a large influence on human nutrition, the livelihood and food security of several billion people living across the globe. Similar to other Asian countries, the rice crop plays an important role in Malaysian society as it fosters agricultural activity and is a major source of employment for many Malaysian farmers. However, the advent of free trade agreements, including the Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) and the WTO accession, pose challenges for the Malaysian rice production as the sector must compete with low-cost exporting countries. This outcome implies the need for not only structural changes in trade, but also adjustments at the farm level to improve efficiency and competitiveness. Further developments in the rice sector will therefore depend on the availability of sufficient, relatively low-cost and high-quality rice, or in other words, on the competitiveness of rice production.
In line with that, the primary objective of this dissertation is to look into a competitiveness assessment of rice production in Malaysia. Furthermore, the work aims to analyze the changes in farm level efficiency over time for rice farms in Malaysia and to gain insight into the factors that determine the distribution of efficiency and competitiveness. Finally, by establishing the linkage between both comparative advantage/competitiveness and technical efficiency, the results of this research would then provide us with a foundation for understanding the information, the measurements and the characteristics associated with each method and how this link may contribute to explaining competitiveness. Overall, this newly accumulated knowledge has the potential to guide the direction of the policy's effects.
In order to achieve the established goals, the dissertation adopts a new extension to the Policy Analysis Matrix approach proposed by Monke and Pearson (1989) using farm level survey data. The measurement of competitiveness in agriculture is often based on the average farms or aggregate data. If the farms that are summarized in this manner are heterogeneous, inferences based on aggregated measure can be misleading. As means of addressing misrepresentative information and the pitfalls of using aggregated data, this extension will allow us to take farm level heterogeneity into account and study the distributions of the competitiveness scores for each rice farm. Subsequently, we conduct an empirical technical efficiency analysis with unobserved heterogeneity and employ a recent fixed effect model. The static decomposition of competitiveness, which is presented by linking comparative advantage/competitiveness and technical efficiency, concludes this PhD dissertation.


This study examines the effect of softwood raw-material properties on pulp quality. Logs of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norway spruce (Picea abies), and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) were the raw materials. Wood from Scots pine and Norway spruce was further classified by age as (a) pulpwood (mature wood and older thinnings) or (b) young wood (first thinnings and top wood). Pulpwood from loblolly pine served as the reference. Logs in each category were chipped and screened into discrete chip fractions. Chips were cooked in the laboratory using a displacement batch kraft process, and the pulps were bleached to 89% ISO. Results for cooking characteristics, bleachability, pulp strength, and optical properties are presented. Younger wood gave lower yields and strength but superior optical properties. Scots pine showed the best bleachability, while Norway spruce had the best reinforcing ability. Loblolly pine was more difficult to cook and bleach. Delignification was retarded with increasing chip thickness, but rejects occurred only with the thickest chips studied (over 8 mm). Application : demonstrates the effects of wood properties (species, age) and chip thickness on pulp yield, quality, and uniformity. The results emphasize the potential benefits of segregating incoming wood by species and age.


THE IDEA OF "OTHERNESS" REGARDING the sense of difference and distance Labrador people feel from their Newfoundland neighbours, and the emic expression of this view in language, is the subject of this paper. Folklorist Gerald Pocius has written: In a sense, all identity deals with the issue of contrast. We can argue that there can be no identity (individual, regional or national) without contrast of other persons or groups. Identity first centers on the individual and how we experience differences among those in our immediate context. The construction of individual and community identities has as much to do with actual confrontations with "the other" as anything. (Pocius 2001: 1) Labrador is a place of contradictions: part of a province which glories in its insularity, yet located on the mainland, and situated at a point where the north meets the east, displaying the powerful cultural traits of both places. This paper discusses the idea of "otherness" as it relates to identity construction in Labrador.


Objective : This review evaluates the impact of exercise-induced changes in local immunity and the role of monitoring salivary IgA to identify the risk of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI).
Data sources : Data was sourced from primary research published in referred journals between 1980 - March 2003. Unpublished data from our own research has been included where appropriate.
Study section : Only studies utilising salivary IgA (Sal-IgA) to monitor mucosal immune status and evaluate changes in Sal-IgA in response to exercise at various intensities, in individuals of differing ages and fitness levels, and following dietary interventions were included. The relationship between Sal-IgA and URTI was assessed.
Data synthesis : There is considerable analytical and biological variance in the measures of Sal-IgA. High intensity exercise-induced Sal-IgA suppression may persist for several hours or days. Repeated, high intensity exercise in some individuals can elicit long-term Sal-IgA suppression, which is reversible. Moderate exercise enhances local immunity, which is greater in aerobically fitter individuals. Lower levels of Sal-IgA are associated with an increased risk of URTI in elite endurance athletes of varying ages, sports and fitness. A role for monitoring Sal-IgA has only been demonstrated for the long-term prediction of URTI risk on an individual basis. Sal-IgA is only a marginal predictor of short-term risk due to a high degree of analytical and biological variability.
Conclusions : Moderate exercise has the potential to improve mucosal immunity, while repetitive intense exercise can be immunosuppressive. Monitoring of Sal-IgA can be useful in research and clinical settings, but requires consideration of the factors affecting mucosal immune status.


Natural fruit and vegetable juices are rich in minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, which makes them ideal for the health of the body and offers high protection against many conditions. However, many patients are not aware that consuming them concurrently with drugs can cause significant drug interactions, some of which are even life-threatening. Juices that could change the effectiveness of drugs include grepfruit juice, apples, blueberries, lemons, oranges etc. Thus, in order to reduce the appearance of these unwanted events and to assure the patient with an effective drug therapy, the attending physician should inform and educate patients on the correct way of the drug administration.


This paper introduces an advanced engineering simulation procedure for the nonlinear finite element method (FEM) based high-speed shattering case of shelled edible agricultural products. A high-speed impactor which is targeted at the Pecan fruit (kernel-in-shell) was considered in this case study. Physical compression tests were conducted on Pecan fruit specimens and experimental deformation characteristics were utilized to describe realistic material models in the FEM based engineering simulation. Subsequently, a reverse engineering approach was employed in the solid modeling stage and the Pecan shell shattering case under high-speed loading was simulated, considering the explicit dynamics approach. The effect of the high loading rate on the deformation characteristics of the Pecan fruit components was observed. Visual outputs from the simulation revealed the shattering behavior of the Pecan fruit components under defined boundary conditions. In addition to useful visual simulation outputs, time-dependant stress distributions on the Pecan fruit under high-speed loading rates were represented using graphs. Simulation results have revealed that maximum equivalent stress values were 7.1 (MPa), 5.1 (MPa), and 0.336 (MPa) for shell, packing material, and kernel, respectively. Maximum reaction force at impact was calculated as 996,000 (N). This work contributes to further research into the use of nonlinear numerical method based high-speed deformation simulation studies for shelled edible agricultural products.


Measurements of the efficiency of photosystem (PS) II have become widespread in bio- logical oceanography, and various forms are used to assess the 'health' of marine phytoplankton and to help estimate primary productivity. Absolute values of PS II efficiency depend to some extent on the measuring system, but changes in PS II efficiency are most commonly interpreted in terms of cel- lular acclimations to changing irradiance (including photoacclimation and photoinhibition) and nutri- ent availability (especially N and Fe). Recent measurements of phytoplankton viability in the surface ocean have revealed that in many regions phytoplankton assemblages may contain large proportions of dead cells. The effect of these dead cells on apparent PS II efficiency is largely unknown. By mix- ing live and dead cells and measuring PS II efficiency, we show that the presence of photosyntheti- cally non-functional (dead) cells has surprisingly little effect; in a number of species, mixtures in which 50% of the cells were dead had values of 0.5, similar to values often found in natural assem- blages. A simple model indicates that the non-linear nature of the fluorescence ratio is responsible for this unexpected result. We conclude that relatively high values of PS II efficiency cannot be used as evidence of low mortality. Our findings highlight the need for more information on the physiological status of both eukaryotic and prokaryotic microalgae in nature.


Besides a sufficient energy supply, concepts for accommodations require an intelligent water management. Using the example of quarters that do not have water and energy access, a dynamic simulation model is presented in which a rainwater harvesting concept is implemented and simulated over one year using MATLAB-Simulink. The aim is to minimize respectively suspend the use of fossil energy sources and to guarantee the provision of decentralized clean drinking water. Since traditional water bodies, e.g. groundwater, are increasingly polluted and depleted, utilisation of alternative sources is prudent. Especially in rural areas, where access to drinking water is scarce, rainwater is suitable for providing potable water. Besides its beneficial chemical water properties, it is easily accessed in a decentralized manner, which makes it a preferred choice in areas with sufficient precipitation. However, access to rainwater is limited by its occurrence and contamination, calling for proper storage, utilisation, and treatment strategies. For this purpose, a rainwater harvesting system, including different water and energy management systems, was modelled and implemented using the site of the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity in Cambodia as an example. For the simulation, a precipitation generator was implemented using real historical rain event data. An appropriate rainwater treatment process was chosen, consisting of a microfiltration and a subsequent ultrafiltration unit removing bacteriological loads entirely. Both were modelled and implemented dynamically. Using the site of the Angkor Centre of Conservation of Biodiversity, a complete rainwater harvesting plant was implemented including harvest, storage, and utilization of rainwater. Further, a renewable energy * Corresponding author Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems Year 2017 Volume 5, Issue 4, pp 626-644 627 management strategy is developed, using photovoltaic modules and batteries. It was shown that the cumulative runoff meets the water demand of the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity and that the energy demand of the rainwater system as well as the site can be met by the installed photovoltaics on the existing roof area.


We report the first case of a patient with EVALI with evidence of HLH. In this report, we describe the case of a 17-year-old boy with progressive respiratory failure requiring extracorporeal support who met clinical criteria for a presumptive diagnosis of electronic cigarette or vaping-associated acute lung injury (EVALI), with clinical, pathologic, and laboratory evidence of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and macrophage activation syndrome (MAS). The patient in our report had a history of tetrahydrocannabinol and nicotine electronic cigarette use for months leading up to his presentation of fever, headache, emesis, and weight loss with respiratory distress. Multiple potential diagnoses were explored, and the patient's respiratory status improved, and he was initially discharged from the hospital. Roughly one week later, the patient was readmitted for worsening respiratory distress. The patient then met sufficient criteria for a potential diagnosis of HLH and MAS (elevated ferritin level, inflammatory markers, and cytopenia) to warrant a bone marrow aspirate, which revealed rare hemophagocytic cells. Given the severity of his symptoms and laboratory evidence of HLH and MAS, the patient was started on a course of steroids and anakinra. Although laboratory markers improved after treatment, the patient's respiratory failure worsened, ultimately progressing to a need for mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal support and leading to worsening multiorgan system failure and, ultimately, death. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient with a presumptive diagnosis of EVALI with evidence of HLH and MAS, raising the possibility that macrophage activation may play a role in the pathogenesis of EVALI.


Background: Vector control plays a critical role in the prevention, control and elimination of vector-borne diseases, and interventions of vector control continue to depend largely on the action of chemical insecticides. A global survey was conducted on the lifecycle management practices of vector control insecticides at country level to identify gaps to inform future strategies to improve efficacy of interventions and reduce the side effects of chemicals used on health and the environment.Methods: A survey by questionnaire was disseminated among all WHO Member States on the lifecycle management practices of vector control insecticides at country level. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics.Results: Responses were received from 94 countries, indicating a response rate of 48%. Capacity for insecticide resistance monitoring has been established in part of the countries, often with external support; however, this capacity was lacking from other countries. Procurement of vector control insecticides was often taking place at decentralized levels, over which the central authorities lacked control, for example, to select the product or assure quality of the product. Moreover, some countries experienced problems with estimating the correct amounts for procurement, especially for emergency purposes. Countries across regions showed shortcomings in worker safety, pesticide storage practices, and pesticide waste disposal. Shortcomings were most pronounced in countries of the European & Others Group, most of which have long been relatively free from mosquito-borne diseases but have recently faced challenges of re-emerging vector-borne diseases.Conclusions: Critical shortcomings in the management of vector control insecticides are common in countries across regions, with risks of adverse pesticide effects on health and the environment. Advocacy and resource mobilization are needed at regional and country level to address these challenges.


The signal transduction pathway for A1 adenosine receptor in airway smooth muscle from allergic rabbits was studied by investigating the effect of the selective A1 adenosine-receptor agonist N6-cyclopentyladenosine (CPA) on tissue levels of inositol 1,4, 5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5)P3] measured by protein binding assay. CPA caused a rapid, transient, and concentration-dependent elevation of Ins(1,4,5)P3 in airways from allergic rabbits. The agonist also produced a concentration-dependent contraction of the airway preparations from these animals. Both the Ins(1,4,5)P3 and contractile responses generated by CPA were attenuated by the phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitor U-73122, indicating the coupling of these responses to PLC. The CPA-induced Ins(1,4,5)P3 production observed in the allergic rabbit tissues was also inhibited by the adenosine-receptor antagonist 8-( p-sulfophenyl)-theophylline, suggesting that the effect was mediated by A1 adenosine receptors. On the other hand, the A2 adenosine-receptor agonist CGS-21680 was ineffective in altering the tissue concentration of Ins(1,4,5)P3, indicating that A2 adenosine receptors may not be involved in the activation of PLC in the allergic rabbit airway smooth muscle. In this preparation, the Gi-Go inhibitor pertussis toxin (PTX) attenuated the CPA-induced Ins(1,4,5)P3 accumulation, providing evidence that the generation of Ins(1,4,5)P3 by A1 adenosine-receptor stimulation is coupled to a PTX-sensitive G protein(s). The results suggest that activation of A1 adenosine receptors in allergic rabbit airway smooth muscle causes the production of Ins(1,4,5)P3 via a PTX-sensitive G protein-coupled PLC, and this signaling mechanism may be involved, at least in part, in the generation of contractile responses. It is hypothesized that this process may contribute to adenosine-induced bronchoconstriction in allergic asthma.


The goal of decision-making during the execution of the fuzzy front end (FFE) is to develop a creative new product concept. Although intuitive decision-making has been found to increase new product creativity, the theoretical knowledge base as to why and under which conditions intuition use during the process of generating a creative outcome is beneficial, is rather limited. Therefore, this study develops a conceptual framework theorizing why and under which conditions using intuition in FFE execution decision-making may or may not be (as) beneficial for new product concept creativity. To develop this framework, the authors combine a creativity perspective of the FFE and a dual-processing perspective of intuition. Interviews with eight FFE practitioners are used to support and illustrate the framework development. The theorizing leads the authors to postulate that intuition use may be beneficial to making generation and evaluation decisions during FFE execution because of the capabilities of the unconscious mind from which intuition results. However, the framework acknowledges that, due to the shortcomings of the unconscious mind, intuition may not be as beneficial to FFE decision-making in some situations. The authors believe that this framework offers researchers a fertile area for further research and practitioners better insight into when intuition might be effective in FFE execution decision-making.


Although the spectra of drop radii in rain showers are broad, the supernumerary bows are caused by only those drops with radii of about 0.25 mm. The angle of minimum deviation, the rainbow angle, is a function of drop size, being large for big drops, owing to drop distortion, and large for small drops, owing to interference. Between these extremes, there is a minimum rainbow angle. The drops that cause it give rise to the supernumerary bows.


A ligase regulates repression of the Foxp3 promoter to restrict differentiation of natural regulatory T cells. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) promote immune tolerance and protect against autoimmunity. Tregs develop in the thymus, and their differentiation and acquisition of suppressive function require expression of the transcription factor Foxp3. Although several transcription factors have been identified that turn on Foxp3 gene expression, how Foxp3 remains turned off in non-Tregs is not well understood. Liu et al. have demonstrated that a regulator of cytokine signaling, PIAS1, represses Foxp3 expression by chromatin modification. PIAS1 promoted the methylation of the Foxp3 promoter by recruiting methyltransferases to inhibit expression. PIAS-deficient mice have more Treg cells than controls, and they appear to be protected against the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a mouse model for multiple sclerosis. B. Liu, S. Tahk, K. M. Yee, G. Fan, K. Shuai, The ligase PIAS1 restricts natural regulatory T cell differentiation by epigenetic repression. Science 330, 521–525 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


We present a turnover based adaptive HELLO protocol (TAP), which enables nodes in mobile networks to dynamically adjust their HELLO messages frequency depending on the current speed of nodes. To the best of our knowledge, all existing solutions are based on specific assumptions (e.g., slotted networks) and/or require specific hardware (e.g., GPS) for speed evaluation. One of the key aspects of our solution is that no additional hardware is required since it does not need this speed information. TAP may be used in any kind of mobile networks that rely on HELLO messages to maintain neighborhood tables and is thus highly relevant in the context of ad hoc and sensor networks. In our solution, each node has to monitor its neighborhood table to count new neighbors whenever a HELLO is sent. This turnover is then used to adjust HELLO frequency. To evaluate our solution, we propose a theoretical analysis based on some given assumptions that provides the optimal turnover when these assumptions hold. Our experimental results demonstrate that when this optimal value is used as the targeted turnover in TAP, the HELLO frequency is correctly adjusted and provides a good accuracy with regards to the neighborhood tables.


Purpose – Since non-family employees form a large portion of employees in many family firms and they play an important role in the transgenerational survival of those firms, the purpose of this paper is to explore how family influence factors affect non-family employees' organizational identification and then organizational attachment, which can consequently influence their turnover intentions.
Design/methodology/approach – In this conceptual paper, the paper attempts to answer two important research questions: What are the family firm-specific determinants of nonfamily employees' organizational identification in family firms? How does nonfamily employees' organizational identification affect their tenure in family firms? Thereby, the paper develops a conceptual model linking family influence dimensions (i.e. power, experience, and culture), nonfamily employees' organizational identification, organizational attachment, and turnover intentions within the domain of the stewardship theory.
Findings – The model presented in this paper can help scholars and family business managers better understand the idiosyncratic family influence dimensions that can affect nonfamily employees' perceptions and intentions associated with their tenure in family firms. If family firms can limit the negative effects of family influence factors, make the best use of the positive effects, and integrate key nonfamily employees into the family firm through helping them satisfy their higher-order needs, they can uninterruptedly move forward toward achieving long-term competitive advantages and superior performance.
Research limitations/implications – Aside from the antecedents of nonfamily employees' organizational identification that are pointed out in this paper, there may be other determinants that are beyond the scope of this paper. The governance structure and strategic orientations are some of the possibilities constituting avenues for future research.
Social implications – Family firms with great employee care cannot only increase employees' loyalty to their firms, but also help them develop work-life balance.
Originality/value – This paper is one of the only attempts to use social identity theory to explain non-family employees' organizational identification and attachment in family firms that can affect their turnover intentions. Not only does this add to our knowledge of family firm human resources management and provide new directions for future research, but it also suggests the usefulness of social identity theory in family business research.


In recent decades, the world's various fisheries have seen a number of problems, primarily depletion of fish stocks due to overfishing. While the UN has created some soft law, including sustainable fishing standards, to deal with the problem of fisheries depletion, no binding international laws currently exist. Several entities have decided to deal with the problem on their own, through eco-labeling programs. The Marine Stewardship Council, a private entity not directly affiliated with the government of any country, has created such a program. In addition, some governments have created similar programs, including Japan through its Marine Eco-Label Japan program. While the Marine Eco-Label Japan program is fairly new and therefore difficult to fully evaluate, it seems as though private programs such as the Marine Stewardship Council are better situated to run eco-labeling programs than state-run entities. Private entities such as the Marine Stewardship Council lack many of the pressures faced by state-run programs such as Marine Eco-Label Japan where governments have a strong interest in the fishing industry's success. By running an independent program with an unbiased third party certification scheme and making the governance of the program visible, programs such as the Marine Stewardship Council are able to run efficient certification schemes while maintaining


We developed a continuous roll-to-roll redox-welding and embedding method for the fabrication of electrodes of silver nanowire (AgNWs) networks. The roll-to-roll welding method involved a sequence of oxidation and reduction reactions in an aqueous solution. The redox-welding significantly decreased the sheet resistance of the AgNW film owing to the strong fusion and interlocking at the nanowire junction, while the optical transmittance was maintained. The first oxidation step using HNO3 generated ionized silver (Ag+) which got re-deposited onto the nanowire junctions via an autocatalytic reaction. The oxide layers, which formed on the nanowire surface by both air exposure and the first step of oxidation, were removed by the second reduction step using NaBH4. The redox-welded AgNW electrodes exhibited a sheet resistance of 11.3 Ω sq-1 at the optical transmittance of 90.5% at 550 nm. Furthermore, redox-welding of the AgNWs significantly enhanced their mechanical robustness compared to that of the as-coated AgNWs. The redox-welded AgNWs embedded in a UV curable resin, using a roll-to-roll embedding process, were successfully applied as anode electrodes for large-area and flexible organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The device performance is superior to that of a device based on the as-coated AgNW electrode, and is also comparable to that of a device using commercial ITO as the electrode. The redox-welding and embedding processes provide a facile and reliable method for fabricating large-area transparent flexible electrodes for next-generation flexible optoelectronic devices.


This article asks whether competition can ameliorate the consequences of cognitive error. Consumers differ cognitively, some being more prone to err (the "naive") than others (the "sophisticated"). Competition among firms is analyzed with a search equilibrium model. Firms offer an exploitative contract or a naive contract to a consumer population partitioned in two ways: some consumers are sophisticated while others are naive, and some consumers search for preferred contracts while others visit one firm. There are two principal results. First, when consumers shop, neither contract type is priced monopolistically, and competitive pricing sometimes obtains. Second, when enough consumers are sophisticated and the naive have a relatively low willingness to pay for their preferred contract, exploitative contracts decline in frequency and may actually vanish. These results suggest that while decision makers should continue to ask if consumers suffer from cognitive error, they also should ask whether markets do, or could be helped to, ameliorate error's consequences.


The article starts with the observation of A. F. Chalmers, philosopher of science, that there is neither a common concept of science, nor a common concept of scientific method which could be applied for every scientific branch in every stage of its evolution. The uncertainty of the definition of modern science could be indicated as the first problem in the discussion on the scientific character of law. The second problem arises when one tries to define the concepts of legal science and jurisprudence. The author of the article states that these concepts represent different approaches towards legal research: legal science focuses on value-neutral criteria, ideas, characteristics, considers legal norms as objectively existing social facts. Jurisprudence, in its turn, analyzes legal practice ant its methods "from the inside", emphasizes legal knowledge, reasonableness, just decisions. According to some European legal scholars whose thoughts are discussed in the article, it is reasonable to indicate the specific branches of theoretical legal sciences, such as, for example, general theory of law, philosophy of law, history of law, law sociology, law and economics, law epistemology, law methodology, law and artificial intelligence studies, as well as general jurisprudential discourse.


Emergency material demand forecast of earthquake disaster includes pre-disaster and post-disaster forecast, but study on the pre-disaster forecast is relatively rare at present, this paper focus on the problem of the pre-disaster forecast using CBR (case-based reasoning) method, the purpose is to control the emergency material reserve scale at a reasonably range. First of all, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to calculate the weight of each characteristic attribute for the earthquake disaster emergency demand case. Then according to the different type of characteristic attribute, calculating the similarity degree between characteristic attribute respectively. Next, using the nearest neighbor method to calculate the similarity degree between cases. Finally, using the algorithm based on the analytic method to revise the demand data of similar case set, to get reasonable demand forecast result, the demand forecast result can be used as a decisionmaking basis that control the emergency material reserve scale.


Recent research in rodents and humans revealed that Whole-Body Vibration (WBV) is beneficial for cognitive functions. However, the optimal WBV conditions are not established: contrary to vertical WBV, side-alternating WBV was not investigated before. The present study investigated the short-term effects of side-alternating WBV in standing and sitting posture on specific cognitive function of young adults. We used a balanced cross-over design. Sixty healthy young adults (mean age 21.7 ± 2.0 years, 72% female) participated. They were exposed to three bouts of two-minute side-alternating WBV (frequency 27 Hz) and three control conditions in two different sessions. In one session a sitting posture was used and in the other session a standing (semi-squat) posture. After each condition selective attention and inhibition was measured with the incongruent condition of the Stroop Color-Word Interference Test. WBV significantly (p = 0.026) improved selective attention and inhibition in the sitting posture, but not in the standing posture. The sitting posture was perceived as more comfortable, joyous and less exhaustive as compared to the standing posture. This study demonstrated that side-alternating WBV in sitting posture improves selective attention and inhibition in healthy young adults. This indicates that posture moderates the cognitive effect of WBV, although the effects are still small. Future studies should focus on the working mechanisms and further optimization of settings, especially in individuals who are unable to perform active exercise.


In this paper we present two approaches for extracting the surface profile as well as obtaining 3D imaging of near field objects by usage of partial coherence and digital holography. In the first approach a light source with given temporal partial coherence is used to illuminate a near field object. The reflected light is interfered with the reference source. By computing the local contrast of the generated fringes one may estimate the 3D topography and the profile of the object. This approach extracts the 3D information from a single image, and its accuracy does not depend on triangulation angle like in fringe projection methods. The second approach is tomography based. There we illuminate the object from several slightly different angles, and for each we compute the wrapped phase using digital holography techniques. Combining the wrapped phase estimation from several points of projection allows calculating the unwrapped phase and therefore the true profile of even a phase-only object. Increasing the number of points of view decreases the relative error of the estimated profile.


Recent scholarship suggests that immersive virtual worlds may be especially well suited for friendship formation on the Internet. Through 65 semi-structured interviews with residents in highly-populated portions of the virtual world Second Life, we explore the nature of friendship within the immersive virtual world, examining friendship claims and expectations and the specific features of the virtual world that enable friendships to emerge. Results reveal that friendships in Second Life are common but not necessarily dependent on features such as co-presence and shared activities that are unique to the virtual world. Instead, frequent, text-based communication facilitates the emergence and maintenance of friendship in Second Life.


This report describes the results of a survey conducted in spring (October) 2006 in the Ring and Stitt Rivers, comprised of a single, spring seasonal sampling event for macroinvertebrates and fish.

This report forms part of what is now a routine biomonitoring exercise for the Ring and Stitt catchments, previously reported in autumn and spring 2005 and autumn 2006 (Davies et al. 2005a, b; 2006), which was preceded by a detailed survey conducted in 2003/04 (Davies et al. 2004).

The primary aims of this monitoring are to:
• describe the status of macroinvertebrate and fish assemblages in the Ring and Stitt Rivers;
• evaluate changes over time and relate these to environmental conditions (especially habitat and water quality) and management actions (e.g. remediation of Hercules mine, management of wastewaters and drainage in the Rosebery area).

The Ring River has been found to be in a highly degraded ecological condition with low abundances and diversity of macroinvertebrates throughout, and a complete absence of fish (Davies et al. 2004; 2005a, b; 2006). The ecological condition of the Stitt River was found to be less impaired than the Ring, though sites in the lowest reaches approached the condition of Ring River reaches.

The current monitoring program follows the protocol use by Davies et al. (2004), with sampling of instream fauna at a number of sites in the Ring River and selected tributaries, in the Stitt River both upstream and downstream of pollution sources, and in a reference river the Sterling.

Monitoring is being conducted annually with one sampling event in each of spring and autumn. This report provides a summary of the spring 2006 survey data. A detailed analysis of trends in all data for both river systems since 2003/04 will be reported in the Autumn 2007 report.


OBJECTIVE Natriuretic peptides (NPs) have been characterized as vascular hormones that regulate vascular tone via guanylyl cyclase (GC), cyclic GMP (cGMP), and cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGK). Recent clinical studies have shown that plasma NP levels were lower in subjects with the metabolic syndrome. The present study was conducted to elucidate the roles for NP/cGK cascades in energy metabolism. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We used three types of genetically engineered mice: brain NP (BNP) transgenic (BNP-Tg), cGK-Tg, and guanylyl cyclase-A (GCA) heterozygous knockout (GCA+/−) mice and analyzed the metabolic consequences of chronic activation of NP/cGK cascades in vivo. We also examined the effect of NPs in cultured myocytes. RESULTS BNP-Tg mice fed on high-fat diet were protected against diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance, and cGK-Tg mice had reduced body weight even on standard diet; surprisingly, giant mitochondria were densely packed in the skeletal muscle. Both mice showed an increase in muscle mitochondrial content and fat oxidation through upregulation of peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor (PPAR)-γ coactivator (PGC)-1α and PPARδ. The functional NP receptors, GCA and guanylyl cyclase-B, were downregulated by feeding a high-fat diet, while GCA+/− mice showed increases in body weight and glucose intolerance when fed a high-fat diet. NPs directly increased the expression of PGC-1α and PPARδ and mitochondrial content in cultured myocytes. CONCLUSIONS The findings together suggest that NP/cGK cascades can promote muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and fat oxidation, as to prevent obesity and glucose intolerance. The vascular hormone, NP, would contribute to coordinated regulation of oxygen supply and consumption.


From the Publisher:
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