A thorough understanding of the failure initiation process is crucial in the development of physicallybased early warning system for landslides and slope failures. Laboratory-scale slope models were constructed and subjected to instability through simulated groundwater infiltration. This is done by progressively increasing the water level in the upslope tank and allowing water to infiltrate laterally towards the toe of the slope. Physical changes in the slope models were recorded by tilt sensors and video cameras. When the model slope was destabilized, the chronology of events occurred in the following sequence: (1) bulging at the toe, (2) seepage at the toe, (3) initial failure of soil mass, (4) piping, (5) retrogressive failure, (6) formation of tension cracks and (7) major failure of soil mass. Tension cracks, piping and eventual failure are manifestations of differential settlements due to variations in void ratio. Finite element analysis indicates that instability and subsequent failures in the model slope were induced primarily by high hydraulic gradients in the toe area. Seepage, initial deformation and subsequent failures were manifested in the toe area prior to failure, providing a maximum of 36 min lead time. Similar lead times are expected in slopes of the same material as shown in many case studies of dam failure. The potential of having a longer lead time is high for natural slopes made of materials with higher shear strength thus evacuation is possible. The tilt sensors were able to detect the initial changes before visual changes manifested, indicating the importance of instrumental monitoring. Keywords: seepage-induced landslides, landslide initiation, wireless sensors, early warning system, Philippines


Trademarks have long suffered from an 'ugly stepsister' status in the realm of intellectual property. Quasi-market regulation tool, quasi-investment property; trademark's historical role as both consumer-information signifier and producer-investment asset has led to increasingly confusing dichotomous treatment under the Lanham Act. The potentially borderless markets of cyberspace, with their new marketing techniques and new competitive spaces, have only heightened this confusion. Stumbling attempts to extend protection for marks under the Lanham Act beyond traditional notions of trademark use and consumer confusion to encompass the investment protection side of trademarks, such as the development of federal dilution and anti-cybersquatting acts, only serve to twist trademark law into unnecessary and ultimately useless contortions. Instead of ignoring the dichotomous nature of trademarks, it is time to 'reboot' the Lanham Act to recognize that the dual role of trademarks cannot be adequately protected by a legal regime that ignores such dichotomies. In such new, competitive spaces on the Internet as domain names, keywords, pop-up advertisements, and metatags, traditional notions of trademark use and consumer confusion have little relevance. It is time to acknowledge the evolved nature of trademarks as both traditional reputation-based source designators and nontraditional information assets, and revise the law to reflect the different protection norms required for these two different types of 'marks.'


Genome-wide significant associations generally explain only a small proportion of the narrow-sense heritability of complex disease (h2). While considerably more heritability is explained by all genotyped SNPs (hg2), for most traits, much heritability remains missing (hg2 < h2). Rare variants, poorly tagged by genotyped SNPs, are a major potential source of the gap between hg2 and h2. Recent efforts to assess the contribution of both sequenced and imputed rare variants to phenotypes suggest that substantial heritability may lie in these variants. Here we analyze sequenced SNPs, imputed SNPs and haploSNPs— haplotype variants constructed from within a sample, without using a reference panel— and show that studies of heritability from these variants may be strongly confounded by subtle population stratification. For example, when meta-analyzing heritability estimates from 22 randomly ascertained case-control traits from the GERA cohort, we observe a statistically significant increase in heritability explained by imputed SNPs even after correcting for principal components (PCs) from genotyped (or imputed) SNPs. However, this increase is eliminated when correcting for stratification using PCs from a larger number of haploSNPs. We note that subtle stratification may also impact estimates of heritability from array SNPs, although we find that this is generally a less severe problem. Overall, our results suggest that estimating the heritability explained by rare variants for case-control traits requires exquisite control for population stratification, but current methods may not provide this level of control.


Forests are sources of wood, non‐timber forest products and ecosystems services and goods that benefit society as a whole, and are especially important to rural livelihoods. Forest landscape restoration (FLR) has been proposed as a way to counteract deforestation and reconcile the production of ecosystem services and goods with conservation and development goals. But limited evidence indicates how large‐scale forest restoration could contribute to improving local livelihoods. Here, we present a conceptual framework to analyze the effects of large‐scale restoration on local livelihoods, and use it to review the scientific literature and reduce this knowledge gap. Most of the literature referred to case studies (89%), largely concentrated in China (49%). The main theme explored was income, followed by livelihoods diversification, off‐farm employment opportunities, poverty reduction, equity and the provision of timber and energy as ecosystem services. Nearly 60 percent of the papers discussed the importance of governance systems to socioeconomic outcomes. The reforestation/restoration programs and policies investigated in the studies had mixed socioeconomic effects on local livelihoods depending on other variables, such as availability of off‐farm jobs, household characteristics, land productivity, land tenure, and markets for forest products and ecosystem services. We conclude that the effects of large‐scale restoration initiatives on local livelihoods may vary due to several factors and is still not clear for many situations; therefore, monitoring over time with clear indicators is needed.


Was the UK price level more stable and predictable before World War I or after World War II? We answer these questions by estimating changes in volatilities of transient and permanent components of inflation over the period 1791-2011. For much of the 19th century, trend inflation and its innovation variance were both close to zero, but transient inflation was variable. After World War II, transient volatility was substantially lower, but trend inflation was higher and more variable. On balance, future price levels were least uncertain on the eve of World War I under the classical gold standard, before the Great Inflation under Bretton Woods, and in the 2000s after the Bank of England adopted a policy of inflation targeting. But they were most stable just before World War I. For price-level stability, the decline in transient volatility was more than counterbalanced by the rise in the level and volatility of trend inflation. For price-level uncertainty, the two forces roughly offset.


Whole-genome sequence has been available from species of two mammalian subclasses (marsupials and eutherian mammals) but not monotreme mammals. Monotremes (platypus and echidna) are the most distant living mammalian relatives to humans, which diverged more than 160 million years ago. In addition to the key phylogenetic position they also feature fascinating biology (e.g. egg-laying, venom, electroreception and multiple sex chromosomes). The recently completed draft genome of the duck-billed platypus fills this gap in comparative genomics, and provides unique insights into the evolution of mammalian genes, regulatory mechanisms and nonprotein-coding sequences. The platypus genome project also revealed first insights into the gene sets underlying the unique biology of monotremes.

Key concepts:

Monotremes are the most basal mammalian group of egg-laying mammals (including platypuses and echidnas) that provide unique insights into the evolution of mammals.

Mammals are a group of animals, which share fur, mammary glands and a placenta. This group includes eutheria (e.g. humans and mice), metatheria (e.g. kangaroos) and prototheria (egg-laying platypus and echidna).

Genomics describes the analysis of sequences of whole genomes.

In Comparative Genomics information on genomes of various species is compared to provide insights into the evolutionary change of different aspects of genomes (e.g. chromosomes, genes, regulatory regions and repeats).

Rapid progress in large-scale DNA sequencing technology allows Genome Projects to determine the sequence of entire genomes of a rapidly growing number of organisms.

Genome composition describes basic characteristics of whole genomes including size, estimated gene number, repeat content and base pair composition.

Genome analysis provides a prediction of most of the genes in a genome, which reveals presence or absence of genes and gives insights into function and evolution of typical characteristics of the species.

All genetic information generated by publicly funded genome projects or published by individual researchers are deposited in Genome databases (also called genome browsers like UCSC or ENSEMBL) which allow searches and comparisons of billions of sequences of hundreds of species.

Keywords:

mammals;
monotremes;
comparative genomics;
genome evolution;
reproduction


Background This study explored some of the problems associated with current procedures for the ascertainment of suicide. Method A sample of 242 deaths which were known to have been self-inflicted was followed up through the coroners' courts where causes of death were legally established. Results Verdicts other than suicide were returned on half of the men, and on one-quarter of the women. Conclusions For suicide statistics to become valid indicators of suicide rates it might be more appropriate to apply the civil, rather than the criminal, standard of proof during inquest proceedings.


This article highlights a number of themes useful in the gendered analysis of democratic consolidation in Latin America by means of a comparative analysis of Argentina and Chile. It starts from the assumption that much of the work on democratization in Latin America--both orthodox and the literature concentrating on women and transitions--produced up until now has been too voluntaristic in its approach. It argues that what is needed particularly in the study of democratic consolidation is an analysis not only of the impact of women and womens organizations on institutions and structures but also of how these institutions and structures can shape and change gender relations and different womens activities. Any gendered analysis of democratic consolidation must begin by examining the terms of transition which while they can be subject to some renegotiation later affect the nature of the subsequent system and the space available to different actors. It is argued that a number of characteristics of the post-transition system are significant: first the impact of more arbitrary populist or presidential systems second the importance of womens organizing both inside and outside the state and party systems and third the existence of an institutionalized party system. (authors)


The EAAE Annual Conference of 2019 is titled 'The Hidden School', aiming to discuss an architecture school's true character, the substance and the quality of architectural education in the broadest sense, and that which is beyond the stated curricula, yet — whether concretely manifested or subliminally perceived — embodies the culture of the school.
The Hidden School can be observed through a range of tacit aspects or conspicuous specificities which make the educational path a unique one. It is the content that can be embedded within the syllabus, learned informally, personified by educators, the attributes and activities of students, or the spaces it takes place in. Bearing this in mind, reading between the curricular lines is crucial in evaluation, but is it possible to develop tools for the assessment of the 'hidden'? If the hidden school exists in parallel or as a background process, a self-generated search for fundamental answers, and its interpretation, manifestation or legibility has a multitude of facets, how can these aspects be captured?
The conference, hosted in 2019 by the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb, focuses upon the subliminal quality of architectural education, that which is beyond the stated curricula and is hard to document through quality evaluation procedures. It can be observed through several indicative aspects, often contributing to the identification of what makes the 'true' spirit or substantial quality of the school and uniqueness or peculiarity of its educational path. It can also be the tacit meaning situated between the lines of the syllabus or generated by the students that contribute to it and the educators that personify it, the various shapes of informal learning, or the spaces it takes place in.


Abstract Biological activity plays a substantial role in the geochemistry of the Earth's surface. Particularly interesting are effects on clay formation because clays are abundant and have high surface-to-volume ratio, resulting in clays making up a large fraction of the overall mineral-fluid interface and having an effective control of mineral reactions. Thus, biological control on clay composition would affect element budget globally and the mineralogy of subsequent diagenetic processes. Biological acceleration of clay production would result in enhanced clay control of mineral reactions and faster organic C sequestration, by adsorption on clay minerals, with implications for the C and related cycles. We investigated the combined effect of microbial activity and water chemistry on the composition of neoformed clay by reacting volcanic glass with natural waters covering a large composition range (fresh water from a lake and a spring, seawater, and hypersaline water). The microbes (bacteria, fungi, and algae) were totally or partially identified using molecular and microscopy techniques. The solid alteration products were analyzed using cryo-SEM to investigate the mineral-microbe interface and TEM-AEM to study the composition of the neoformed clay. The solution chemistry was also investigated. We found that clay composition was controlled mainly by glass chemistry, rather than biological activity, through a mechanism of in situ transformation. The resulting clay was Al-rich (dioctahedral composition). In one case (inorganic experiment, freshwater lake), the specific inorganic conditions of pH and Mg and Si concentration promoted formation of Mg-rich (trioctahedral clay). Microbes, however, did influence clay composition by confining glass grains in biofilms where water chemistry is significantly different from the bulk solution. Alteration in such conditions generated significant amounts of trioctahedral, Mg-rich clay in the hypersaline water experiment, whereas it favored production of dioctahedral, Alrich clay in the freshwater lake experiment. It is thus demonstrated that biofilms can exert an effective control on clay mineralogy.


What is the role of physical activity in the process of human capital accumu-lation? Brain research provides growing evidence of the importance of physical activity for various aspects of cognitive functions. An increasingly sedentary lifestyle could thus be not only harmful to population health, but also disrupt human capital accumulation. This paper analyzes the effects of on-campus recreational sports and exercise on educational outcomes of university students. To identify causal effects, we randomize financial incentives to encourage students' participation in on-campus sports and exercise. The incentives increased participation frequency by 0.26 times per week (47%) and improved grades by 0.14 standard deviations. This effect is primarily driven by male students and students at higher quantiles of the grade distribution. Results from survey data suggest that students substitute off-campus with on-campus physical activities during the day but do not significantly increase the overall frequency. Our findings suggest that students spend more time on campus and are better able to integrate studying and exercising, which may enhance the effectiveness of studying and thus improve student performance.


BACKGROUND
Although breast cancer incidence is higher in black women than in white women among women younger than 40 years, the reverse is true among those aged 40 years or older. This crossover in incidence rates between black and white ethnic groups has been well described, has not been completely understood, and has been viewed as an artifact.

METHODS
To quantify this incidence rate crossover, we examined data for 440 653 women with invasive breast cancer from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database from January 1, 1975, through December 31, 2004. Data on invasive female breast cancers were stratified by race, age at diagnosis, year of diagnosis, and tumor characteristics. Standard descriptive analyses were supplemented with Poisson regression models, age-period-cohort models, and two-component mixture models. All statistical tests were two-sided.

RESULTS
We observed qualitative (ie, crossing or reversing) interactions between age and race. That is, age-specific incidence rates overall (expressed as number of breast cancers per 100 000 woman-years) were higher among black women (15.5) than among white women (13.1) younger than 40 years (difference = 2.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.4 to 2.4), and then, age-specific rates crossed with rates higher among white women (281.3) than among black women (239.5) aged 40 years or older (difference = 41.8, 95% CI = 41.7 to 41.9). The black-to-white incidence rate crossover was observed for all tumor characteristics assessed, although the crossover occurred at earlier ages of diagnosis for low-risk tumor characteristics than for high-risk tumor characteristics. The incidence rate crossover between ethnic groups was robust (ie, reliable and reproducible) to adjustment for calendar period and birth cohort effects in age-period-cohort models (P < .001 for difference by race).

CONCLUSION
Although this ecologic study cannot determine the individual-level factors responsible for the racial crossover in vital rates, it confirms that the age-related crossover in breast cancer incidence rates between black and white ethnic groups is a robust age-specific effect that is independent of period and cohort effects.


The problem of academic failure has been of real concern to the administration and faculty at Syracuse University. The study at hand is concerned specifically with the problem in the College of Home Economics. Through a study of the data known about students at the time of entrance into the College, it was thought that a better basis for selection night be recommended for the admission of students to the College. Such questions as the following arise in the mind of the research worker:
1. Do the group psychological tests given at the University at the time of entrance give us one basis by which we may predict probable academic success or failure?
2. Are the known high school quartiles dependable bases for selection of successful students?
3. Are there factors in the family backgrounds of these students that.may be significant in their selection?
4. Does an objective personality test have validity as a predictive factor in the success of a student?
5. Do we have any anecdotal records that reveal significant differences in personal adjustment between successful and failed students?
6. Are we able to predict the probable success of failed students upon readmission?
7. Do we have any combination of factors that may be significant in predicting the probable success of a student?


Malaria Cloak and Dagger Mosquitoes have a complex immune system capable of effective antiparasite responses; however, malaria transmission is still highly efficient. Molina-Cruz et al. (p. 984, published online 9 May; see the Perspective by Philip and Waters) show that Plasmodium falciparum has a gene product, Pfs47, that makes the parasite's ookinetes "invisible" to the mosquito immune system. Disruption of this mechanism could potentially be used to block malaria transmission. A surface protein of Plasmodium falciparum ookinetes allows them to evade the complement-like responses of Anopheles gambiae. [Also see Perspective by Philip and Waters] Plasmodium falciparum transmission by Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes is remarkably efficient, resulting in a very high prevalence of human malaria infection in sub-Saharan Africa. A combination of genetic mapping, linkage group selection, and functional genomics was used to identify Pfs47 as a P. falciparum gene that allows the parasite to infect A. gambiae without activating the mosquito immune system. Disruption of Pfs47 greatly reduced parasite survival in the mosquito, and this phenotype could be reverted by genetic complementation of the parasite or by disruption of the mosquito complement-like system. Pfs47 suppresses midgut nitration responses that are critical to activate the complement-like system. We provide direct experimental evidence that immune evasion mediated by Pfs47 is critical for efficient human malaria transmission by A. gambiae.


Background: Nephropathiaepidemica (NE) caused by Puumalahantavirus is a mild type of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). An immune-mediated pathogenesis is discussed for NE. Catabolism of tryptophan (Trp) along the kynurenine (Kyn) pathway is dependent on indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme whose activity is induced during immune responses. Because viral infections can induce strong immune responses, we wanted to analyse whether there is a correlation between the severity of HFRS and Kyn or Trp serum concentration.
Methods: We retrospectively studied 60 patients hospitalised with acute Puumalahantavirus infection during an epidemic in Germany in the year 2012. The infection was confirmed by positive antihantavirus IgG and IgM serum antibody. Plasma levels of Kyn and Trp were measured by mass spectrometry on admission in the hospital. Based on median glomerular filtration rate (GFR 32 mL/min/1.73 m2), patients were divided into two groups: with mild (n=21) and severe disease (n=39). Results: Serum Kyn and Kyn/Trp ratios were significantly higher (p<0.0001) in hantavirus-infected patients than in healthy controls. Patients with severe disease had a longer hospital stay than patients with mild disease (p=0.001) and their serum CRP (p=0.004), Kyn (p<0.001) and Kyn/Trp (p=0.001) ratios were significantly higher than those of patients with mild disease. Sensitivity and specificity, as well as logistic regression analysis showed that among the analysed parameters serum Kyn level was the most sensitive and specific inflammatory marker associated with renal function.
Conclusion: High serum Kyn concentrations in patients with NE caused by Puumalahantavirus are associated with a severe course of disease.


The foundations of functional programming languages are examined from both historical and technical perspectives. Their evolution is traced through several critical periods: early work on lambda calculus and combinatory calculus, Lisp, Iswim, FP, ML, and modern functional languages such as Miranda1 and Haskell. The fundamental premises on which the functional programming methodology stands are critically analyzed with respect to philosophical, theoretical, and pragmatic concerns. Particular attention is paid to the main features that characterize modern functional languages: higher-order functions, lazy evaluation, equations and pattern matching, strong static typing and type inference, and data abstraction. In addition, current research areas—such as parallelism, nondeterminism, input/output, and state-oriented computations—are examined with the goal of predicting the future development and application of functional languages.


Social mobility literature widely assumes that socially upward mobile individuals 'alienate' from their 'milieu of origin' while adopting the patterns of acting and thinking of the 'new milieu'. The most frequent underlying concepts are the 'habitus transformation' or even the 'habitus cleft', which presume that the acquisition of a new habitus necessarily involves moving away from the previous one. This article presents three contrasting case studies from a research project among socially upward mobile individuals of Turkish background in Germany to show that the static juxtaposition of 'either … or' is too narrow. Most respondents maintain intensive relations with family and friends from their 'milieu of origin', while at the same time 'assimilating' to the expected habitus in their professional environments and highranking positions. This article suggests borrowing elements from Identity Theory – especially concepts such as hybridity and multiplicity – to show that transformations in individual habitus do not necessarily go along with relevant levels of 'alienation' in neither direction. As a consequence, the authors propose 'habitus diversification' as a more promising concept for including frequent bridging strategies and the active switching between 'habitual' codes and languages.


Mining Genome-Scale Growth Phenotype Data through Constant-Column Biclustering Majed Ateah Alzahrani Growth phenotype profiling of genome-wide gene-deletion strains over stress conditions can offer a clear picture that the essentiality of genes depends on environmental conditions. Systematically identifying groups of genes from such recently emerging high-throughput data that share similar patterns of conditional essentiality and dispensability under various environmental conditions can elucidate how genetic interactions of the growth phenotype are regulated in response to the environment. In this dissertation, we first demonstrate that detecting such "co-fit" gene groups can be cast as a less well-studied problem in biclustering, i.e., constant-column biclustering. Despite significant advances in biclustering techniques, very few were designed for mining in growth phenotype data. Here, we propose Gracob, a novel, efficient graph-based method that casts and solves the constant-column biclustering problem as a maximal clique finding problem in a multipartite graph. We compared Gracob with a large collection of widely used biclustering methods that cover different types of algorithms designed to detect different types of biclusters. Gracob showed superior performance on finding co-fit genes over all the existing methods on both a variety of synthetic data sets with a wide range of settings, and three real growth phenotype data sets for E. coli, proteobacteria, and yeast.


This study examines the spatial and temporal characteristics of high‐wind events (HWEs) based on the National Weather Service high‐wind criteria for 391 first‐order weather stations in the eastern United States from 1973 to 2015. A geographical analysis on the frequency of sustained and gust HWEs shows that the highest occurrences were reported in the Great Plains and Great Lakes, while the lowest number of observations occurred in the Mid‐South and Southeast. Linear trends show that the yearly frequency of sustained and gust HWEs are significantly decreasing (−0.579 days/year) and increasing (0.943 days/year) respectively during the 43‐year study period. These trends do not persist when the HWE data are normalized (long‐term mean is removed from the yearly count), but shows a cyclical anomaly pattern for both sustained and gust winds. Overall, 90 and 82% of all sustained and gust HWEs occur from the northwest or southwest quadrant, but when interpreted from a spatial perspective the mean wind direction of HWEs can be classified into specific regional wind groupings. However, this persistent southwesterly wind direction has gradually shifted to a more southerly (northerly) orientation for sustained (gust) HWEs over the study period.


Abstract. This article describes a pipeline developed to automatically detect and correct motion blur due to the airplane motion in aerial images provided by a digital camera system with channel-dependent exposure times. Blurred images show anisotropy in their Fourier Transform coefficients that can be detected and estimated to recover the characteristics of the motion blur. To disambiguate the anisotropy produced by a motion blur from the possible spectral anisotropy produced by some periodic patterns present in a sharp image, we consider the phase difference of the Fourier Transform of two channel shot with different exposure times (i.e. with different blur extensions). This is possible because of the deep correlation between the three visible channels ensures phase coherence of the Fourier Transform coefficients in sharp images. In this context, considering the phase difference constitutes both a good detector and estimator of the motion blur parameters. In order to improve on this estimation, the phase difference is performed on local windows in the image where the channels are more correlated. The main lobe of the phase difference, where the phase difference between two channels is close to zero actually imitates an ellipse which axis ratio discriminates blur and which orientation and minor axis give respectively the orientation and the blur kernel extension of the long exposure-time channels. However, this approach is not robust to the presence in the phase difference of minor lobes due to phase sign inversions in the Fourier transform of the motion blur. They are removed by considering the polar representation of the phase difference. Based on the blur detection step, blur correction is eventually performed using two different approaches depending on the blur extension size: using either a simple frequency-based fusion for small blur or a semi blind iterative method for larger blur. The higher computing costs of the latter method make it only suitable for large motion blur, when the former method is not applicable.


While it lacks a definite article, Mandarin makes a principled distinction between unique and anaphoric definites: unique definites are realized with a bare noun, and anaphoric definites are realized with a demonstrative, except in subject position. The following proposals account for these facts: (a) bare nouns achieve definite interpretations via a last-resort type-shifting operator ι, which has a unique definite meaning; (b) demonstratives can occur as anaphoric definites because they have a semantic argument beyond their nominal restriction that can be filled by an index; and (c) bare nominal subjects are topics. A principle called Index! requires that indexical expressions be used whenever possible. Mandarin is contrasted with Cantonese, which, like English, is shown to have access to an ambiguous definite article.


A critical review was carried out involving experts from 17 countries, to identify, summarize and evaluate the current understanding related to the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries management (EAF) in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The existing information available at country level, coming from research and monitoring projects and other types of activities, was explored. The evaluation was done following a standardized protocol and using simple semi-quantitative methods. The results highlighted an overall low-medium degree of fulfilment of the requirements of the EAF, with some differences related to the different issues considered. The highest scores were reported for the knowledge related to fleet structure/ behaviour and species/habitat distribution, whereas the lowest scores were reported for modelling, and socio-economic and management issues. Although only semi-quantitative, these results provided an initial picture at a broad regional level on the state of knowledge with a view to a proper implementation of the EAF in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and identified gaps in scientific knowledge that should be covered.


Many models were introduced to estimate the roundabout entry capacity from 1980s until now. In the United States, transportation agencies adopted three different models from 1994 until 2010. The Austroads, the UK, and the HCM 2010 methods. In this paper, these three methods were used to analyze the field traffic data of Al-Quds roundabout, located near Baqubah City, simultaneously by utilizing a system dynamics model. The collected data included turning movements, circulating flows, and field calculated entry capacities whenever possible during the observation period which lasted for 14 consecutive hours. A comparison is then conducted on the resulting entry capacities and their variation over time. The results showed that the calculated capacity according to Austroads method is the highest at all times while the UK method was always a little lower and the HCM 2010 method was always the least on all entries. The UK method capacity estimates were the closest to the field measured capacities for they returned the least RMSE on all entries. Field capacities showed some tendency towards the Austroads results in the north and south bound entries which carry about 66% of the total traffic. While, field capacities showed more proximity towards the HCM capacity results in the east and the west bound entries which carry 34% of


Over the past 20 years, the technological impediments to fabricating electrodes of micrometer dimensions have been largely overcome. These small electrodes can be readily applied to probe chemical events at the surface of tissues or individual biological cells; they can even be used to monitor concentration changes within intact animals. These measurements can be made on rapid time scales and with minimal perturbation of the system under study. Several recent applications have provided important insights into chemical processes at cells and in tissues. Examples include molecular flux measurements at the surface of single cells and through skin—which can offer insights into oxidative stress, exocytosis, and drug delivery—and real-time brain neurotransmitter monitoring in living rats, which reveals correlations between behavior and molecular events in the brain. Such findings can promote interdisciplinary collaborations and may lead to a broader understanding of the chemical aspects of biology.


We aimed to investigate neurophobia among primary care physicians. This study is designed as a descriptive and analytic research. At the 5th-7th meetings of the Family Practice Academy Research Days, volunteered 425 primary care physicians participated in this study. They had answered a questionnaire investigating the participants' interest, knowledge, professional confidence and perceived hardness of neurology by comparing it with other 10 speciality. They replied about the frequency, knowledge, professional confidence and referral rate of several neurological problems/diseases they encounter while practicing in primary care. Lastly they stated their opinions about possible reasons for perceived hardness in neurology with possible solution methods which might help them improving their neurology knowledge and skills. The participant's knowledge level (F=12.063, p<0.001), personal interest (F=8.795, p<0.001) and professional confidence (F=9.245, p<0.001) were lower than cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, nephrology, respiratory and rheumatology compared with neurology. They also perceive it harder compared to these specialities (F=10,214, p<0,001). The expectations were oncology and haematology. Need to know neurophysiology/anatomy, complexity of neurology and the rareness of the opportunity to work with a neurologist is the most common reasons for neurophobia. Headache was the most common problem that they encountered (F=8,512, p<0,001), while they have got the highest knowledge level (F=6,474, p<0,001), professional confidence to manage it (F=3,214, p<0,001) and had lowest referral rate (F=9,521, p<0,001). As conclusion, neurophobia is present inexperienced primary care physicians. Our results must be confirmed and interventional studies are needed to eliminate this condition in primary care.


A novel single-channel color-image watermarking with digital-optics means based on phase-shifting interferometry (PSI) and a neighboring pixel value subtraction algorithm in the discrete-cosine-transform (DCT) domain is proposed. The converted two-dimensional indexed image matrix from an original color image is encrypted to four interferograms by a PSI and double random-phase encoding technique. Then the interferograms are embedded in one chosen channel of an enlarged color host image in the DCT domain. The hidden color image can be retrieved by DCT, the improved neighboring pixel value subtraction algorithm, an inverse encryption process, and color image format conversion. The feasibility of this method and its robustness against some types of distortion and attacks from the superposed image with different weighting factors are verified and analyzed by computer simulations. This approach can avoid the cross-talk noise due to direct information superposition, enhance the imperceptibility of hidden data, and improve the efficiency of data transmission.


The applicability of A1-structures, as introduced by Stasheff (1963) in the setting of algebra, or more specifically in representation theory has gradually grown. With Keller (2002, 2001) and Lu, Palmieri, Wu, and Zhang (2007, 2006), the benefits of A1-algebra structures to the theory of representations and of cohomology of various classes of algebras have been made explicit. By the results in these papers, there is the potential to use A1-structures in modular group cohomology – the group cohomology A1-algebra would determine the corresponding group ring completely. However, the calculational techniques available do not lend themselves easily to calculation of these structures, nor are there particularly many examples at hand. The only examples that do exist in deeper treatment for modular finite group cohomology are the finite cyclic groups.


International Journal of Exercise Science 10(2): 258-265, 2017. Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) can occur after intense exercise and remain for several days. Massage is one means by which DOMS can be reduced; however, the timing of exercise, techniques applied, and timing of application produces differing outcomes. Purpose: To evaluate the effect of a 20-minute Swedish massage immediately after strenuous exercise on DOMS. Procedures: Twenty college students engaged in two sets of a squatting exercise to fatigue and then the right or the left leg was immediately massaged. Effleurage, petrissage, friction and compression manual techniques were used for 10 minutes on the quadriceps and the 10 minutes on the hamstrings and gluteal group, so that each manual technique utilized 2.5 minutes. Participants rated their DOMS 24 and 48 hours later with a single-digit incremental numeric rating scale. Results: Delayed onset muscle soreness in the massaged leg at 24 hours was significantly lower compared to the non-massaged leg (p = .019, Cohen's d = .56), but no significant difference at 48 hours existed between the legs (p = .097, Cohen's d = .49). Additionally, the increase in DOMS from 24 to 48 hours was significant in the massaged leg (p = .043, Cohen's d = .83), but a significant increase between these two time points was not evident in the non-massaged leg (p = .067, Cohen's d = .49). Conclusions. A 20minute Swedish massage immediately after squatting exercise is effective in attenuating DOMS after 24 hours.


We tested the Zeiss BiG-2 GaAsP detector in combination with the bh TCSPC FLIM systems. The outputs of both detector channels were connected to the inputs of a Simple-Tau 152 (SPC-152) dual-channel TCSPC FLIM system via A-PPI-D pulse inverters. The BiG-2 detector was used both at the NDD port of a multiphoton microscope and at the confocal port of a one-photon microscope. In both cases FLIM data were obtained at a sensitivity comparable to the bh HPM-100-40 GaAsP hybrid detectors. The IRF width was 250 ps (FWHM). The decay data were clean, without optical or reflections or leakage of excitation light. The high detection efficiency and the absence of laser background was confirmed by FCS experiments.


St. Paul Island, Alaska, is a potentially active Pleistocene to Holocene volcanic center located in the Bering Sea about 400 km north of the Aleutian arc front. Previous geological mapping and studies of the geology of St. Paul Island have been done only in reconnaissance. This study has been undertaken in order to make the first detailed geological map of the island, to reconstruct its eruptive history and volcanic evolution, and to assess volcanic hazards that may be associated with future eruptions. New geological mapping covers the entire island at a scale of 1:28,000 and includes 17 volcanic units. Eruptive styles on St. Paul have evolved from early, mostly effusive eruptions of primitive lavas that form the platform of the island, to more explosive monogenetic cinder cones emplaced upon the platform, to the polygenetic centers that are forming large shields from repeated eruptions of evolved low viscosity lavas. Lavas erupted are mainly basalts, basanites, and tephrites with MgO contents ranging from 14 to 4 wt% and phenocryst assemblages of olivine ± clinopyroxene and plagioclase. St. Paul's volcanic system as a whole is trending toward the progressive development of shallow crustal magma chambers where cooling and differentiation are occurring. A new 14C date of 3230 ybp has been obtained on the youngest lava flow on St. Paul. Volcanic hazards associated with a future eruption on St. Paul Island are similar to those from dominantly Strombolian style eruptions at other basaltic lava fields. However, because of St. Paul's unique human and wildlife populations, isolated location, and extreme weather conditions in the Bering Sea, volcanic risks may be exacerbated. Assuming a predictable eruption recurrence interval of 7400 years, the probability of an eruption on St Paul Island in future decades is estimated to be extremely small.


Una Marson (1905-1965) was an Afro-Jamaican intellectual who in the 1930s became an internationally famous feminist, Pan-Africanist, poet, playwright, journalist and social activist. Between 1932 and 1936 Marson lived in London and became involved in the burgeoning Pan-African movement and a number of British and international women's and feminist organisations. In 1936, she briefly returned to Jamaica amidst the nationalist movements of the time before journeying back to Britain in 1938, where she remained until 1946. This article builds on and differs from previous scholarship on Marson through its exploration of the changes that took place in her black feminist ideas relating to race, gender and class between 1928 and 1938, and how these influenced her intellectual view concerning black internationalism. This article puts two arguments forward. First, Marson's engagement with Pan-Africanism and her experiences of racism and sexism in London changed her vision of black feminism. Second, this change contributed to her bringing black feminism into the male-dominated sphere of black internationalism. Thus, it calls for more recognition of Una Marson both as a black feminist and a black internationalist


We express the Connes-Chern character of the Dirac operator associated to a b-metric on a manifold with boundary in terms of a retracted cocycle in relative cyclic cohomology, whose expression depends on a scaling/cut-off pa- rameter. Blowing-up the metric one recovers the pair of characteristic currents that represent the corresponding de Rham relative homology class, while the blow-down yields a relative cocycle whose expression involves higher eta cochains and their b-analogues. The corresponding pairing formulae with relative K-theory classes capture information about the boundary and allow to derive geometric consequences. As a by-product, we show that the generalized Atiyah-Patodi-Singer pairing introduced by Getzler and Wu is necessarily restricted to almost flat bundles.


The treatment of the diffraction of electromagnetic waves for light focused by a high numerical aperture lens from a first medium into a second medium [ J. Opt. Soc. Am. A12, 325 ( 1995)] is extended so as to provide an analytical solution for the diffraction integrals by means of polynomial expansion. Methods are proposed and used to eliminate strong oscillations from the diffraction integrals. The aberration function is analyzed and expanded in terms of Zernike polynomials. The Zernike coefficients are obtained, and the error of the expansion is determined. It is shown that when the relative refractive index of the second and first media is larger than unity, the higher-order Zernike coefficients are independent of the refractive index of the second medium. A physical interpretation is given to explain this behavior. Pictorial representation of the first 25 Zernike polynomials is also presented.


We present examples of electron measurements from the PEACE instruments on the Cluster spacecraft in the high-latitude, high-altitude region of the Earth's magnetosphere. Using electron density and energy spectra measurements, we examine two cases where the orbit of the Cluster tetrahedron is outbound over the northern hemisphere, in the afternoon sector approaching the magnetopause. Data from the magnetometer is also used to pinpoint the position of the spacecraft with respect to magnetospheric boundaries. This preliminary work specifically highlights the benefit of the multipoint measurement capability of the Cluster mission. In the first case, we observe a small-scale spatial structure within the magnetopause boundary layer. The Cluster spacecraft initially straddle a boundary, characterised by a discontinuous change in the plasma population, with a pair of spacecraft on either side. This is followed by a complete crossing of the boundary by all four spacecraft. In the second case, Cluster encounters an isolated region of higher energy electrons within the cusp. The characteristics of this region are consistent with a trapped boundary layer plasma sheet population on closed magnetospheric field lines. However, a boundary motion study indicates that this region convects past Cluster, a characteristic more consistent with open field lines. An interpretation of this event in terms of the motion of the cusp boundary region is presented.


Madan M. Rehani, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston
Methods for Eye Lens Dosimetry and Studies On Lens Opacities with Interventionalists
Radiation induced cataract is a major threat among staff working in interventional suites. Nearly 16 million interventional procedures are performed annually in USA. Recent studies by the principal investigator's group, primarily among interventional cardiologists, on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency, show posterior subcapsular (PSC) changes in the eye lens in 38–53% of main operators and 21–45% of support staff. These changes have potential to lead to cataract in future years, as per information from A-Bomb survivors. The International Commission on Radiological Protection has reduced dose limit for staff by a factor of 7.5 (from 150 mSv/y to 20 mSv/y). With increasing emphasis on radiation induced cataracts and reduction in threshold dose for eye lens, there is a need to implement strategies for estimating eye lens dose. Unfortunately eye lens dosimetry is at infancy when it comes to routine application. Various approaches are being tried namely direct measurement using active or passive dosimeters kept close to eyes, retrospective estimations and lastly correlating patient dose in interventional procedures with staff eye dose. The talk will review all approaches available and ongoing active research in this area, as well as data from surveys done in Europe on status of eye dose monitoring in interventional radiology and nuclear medicine. The talk will provide update on how good is Hp(10) against Hp(3), estimations from CTDI values, Monte Carlo based simulations and current status of eye lens dosimetry in USA and Europe.
The cataract risk among patients is in CT examinations of the head. Since radiation induced cataract predominantly occurs in posterior sub-capsular (PSC) region and is thus distinguishable from age or drug related cataracts and is also preventable, actions on awareness can lead to avoidance or even prevention.
Learning Objectives:
1.
To understand recent changes in eye lens dose limits and thresholds for tissue reactions
2.
To understand different approaches to dose estimation for eye lens
3.
To learn about challenges in eye lens opacities among staff in interventional fluoroscopy
Di Zhang, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Tustin, CA, USA Eye lens radiation
dose from brain perfusion CT exams
CT perfusion imaging requires repeatedly exposing one location of the head to monitor the uptake and washout of iodinated contrast. The accumulated radiation
dose to the eye lens can be high, leading to concerns about potential radiation injury from these scans. CTDIvol assumes continuous z coverage and can overestimate eye lens dose in CT perfusion scans where the table do not increment. The radiation
dose to the eye lens from clinical CT
brain perfusion studies can be estimated using Monte Carlo simulation methods on voxelized patient models. MDCT scanners from four major manufacturers were simulated and the eye lens doses were estimated using the AAPM posted clinical protocols. They were also compared to CTDIvol values to evaluate the overestimation from CTDIvol. The efficacy of eye lens dose reduction techniques such as tilting the gantry and moving the scan location away from the eyelens were also investigated. Eye lens dose ranged from 81 mGy to 279 mGy, depending on the scanner and protocol used. It is between 59% and 63% of the CTDIvol values reported by the scanners. The eye lens dose is significantly reduced when the eye lenses were not directly irradiated. CTDIvol should not be interpreted as patient dose; this study has shown it to overestimate dose to the eye lens. These results may be used to provide more accurate estimates of actual dose to ensure that protocols are operated safely below thresholds. Tilting the gantry or moving the scanning region further away from the eyes are effective for reducing lens dose in clinical practice. These actions should be considered when they are consistent with the clinical task and patient anatomy.
Learning Objectives:
1.
To become familiar with method of eye dose estimation for patient in specific situation of brain perfusion CT
2.
To become familiar with level of eye lens radiation
doses in patients undergoing brain perfusion MDCT
3.
To understand methods for reducing eye lens dose to patient
Jong Min Park, Department of Radiation Oncology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea
Eye lens dosimetry in radiotherapy using contact lens-shaped applicator
Dose calculation accuracy of commercial treatment planning systems is relatively low at shallow depths. Therefore, in-vivo measurements are often performed in the clinic to verify delivered doses to eye lens which are located at shallow depth. Current in-vivo dosimetry for eye lens during radiotherapy is generally performed with small in-vivo dosimeters on the surface of patient eyelid. Since this procedure potentially contains considerable uncertainty, a contact lens-shaped applicator made of acrylic (lens applicator) was developed for in-vivo measurements of eye lens dose during radiotherapy to reduce uncertainty. The lens applicator allows the insertion of commercially available metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor
(MOSFET)
dosimeters.
Computed tomography
(CT)
images of an anthropomorphic phantom with and without the lens applicator were acquired. A total of 20 VMAT plans were delivered to an anthropomorphic phantom and the doses with the lens applicator and the doses at the surface of the eyelid were measured using both micro and standard MOSFET
dosimeters. The differences in measured dose at the surface of the eyelid from the calculated lens dose were acquired. The differences between the measured and the calculated doses at the lens applicator, as well as the differences between the measured and the calculated doses at the surface of the eyelid were acquired. The statistical significance of the differences was analyzed. The average difference between the measured and the calculated dose with the lens applicator was 16.8 % ± 10.4 % with a micro MOSFET
dosimeter and 16.6 % ± 10.9% with a standard MOSFET
dosimeter. The average difference without the lens applicator was 35.9% ± 41.5% with micro MOSFET
dosimeter and 42.9% ± 52.2% with standard MOSFET
dosimeter. The maximum difference with micro MOSFET
dosimeter was 46% with the applicator and 188.4% without the applicator. For the standard MOSFET
dosimeter, the maximum difference was 44.4% with the applicator and 246.4% without the applicator. The lens applicator allowed reduction of the differences between the calculated and the measured dose during in-vivo measurement for the eye lens as compared to in-vivo measurement at the surface of the eyelid.
Learning Objectives:
1.
To understand limitations of dose calculation with commercial treatment planning system for eye lens during radiotherapy
2.
To learn about current in-vivo dosimetry methods for eye lens in the clinic
3.
To understand limitations of in-vivo dosimetry for eye lens during radiotherapy
Di Zhang is an employee of Toshiba America Medical Systems


Dr. James Galvin from the New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY moderated the topic "Screen and Intervene: The Importance of Early Detection and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease" with Drs. Gregory Jicha from the University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Center, Lexington, KY, Monica Willis Parker from Emory University's Wesley Woods Geriatric Center, Atlanta, GA, and Pierre Tariot from Banner Alzheimer's Institute, Phoenix, AZ. The discussion focused primarily on: 1) The role of the primary care provider in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease; 2) the importance of screening; 3) the challenges in diagnosis; 4) the role of Alzheimer's disease centers; 5) the clinical symptomatology of Alzheimer's disease; 6) mood changes and Alzheimer's disease; 7) the new revised diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease; 8) the role of biomarkers. (Med Roundtable Gen Med Ed. 2012;1(1):50–58.) ©2012 FoxP2 Media, LLC


Triple antiretroviral therapy combining reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors modifies the prognosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, with dramatic improvement in immune status. The precise impact, if any, of anti-HIV triple therapy on hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is unknown. We describe an unusual case of rapidly evolving HCV-related cirrhosis that paralleled restoration of immune status in an HIV-infected patient and discuss the possible link between such a severe course of hepatitis C and anti-HIV triple therapy.


During the time wood waste not is so reckoned but only exploited to become very low product like household fuel or red brick yard and others, though in fact if processed and developed in such a manner will yield product to have high enough price.
Base growth of tool machine is human being motivation to make product swiftly and efficient, which recognized also industrialize. But in fact first motivation in creating tool machine is correctness, because used tool machine have to earn to make and yield product which quickly big in number accurate and, so that every product if in raft can compatible one otherly. Product of component like this recognized to be to be recognized by product as with nature of can convert, thereby correctness principle is base from nature of can convert in production. While to make and yield as product type in gross with good qualities and also cheap expense in needing machine - special machine for human being hence created kinds of tool machine, what is one among others lathe.
At planning of this wood lathe, maximal measure of wood the processed have diameter to 70 mm, crosscut speed 909,9 mm / minute, hence got the specification of appliance as following : High : 1000 mm, Long : 1300 mm, Wide : 500 mm, Energy : 0,5 HP, Voltage : 220 V/ 50 Hz, Rotation Motor : 1400 rpm, Type : One phase.


42 Abstract— Asian cities face a serious air pollution problem from two and three-wheeled vehicles that run on two-stroke engines [3]. Inexpensive two-wheelers form a staggering 75-80% of the traffic in most Asian cities. Because two-stroke engines burn an oil gasoline mixture, they emit more smoke, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter than the gas run four-stroke engines found in newer motorcycles. Making matters worse, many Asian two-wheelers are converted into three-wheeled "baby taxis" by adding a sidecar. However the vehicle is not designed for the extra weight and the engine burns even dirtier. For small two stroke engine application, it is important that the newer concepts/systems should not adversely affect their existing advantages, particularly those of simplicity and low production and maintenance cost. The present work aims at reducing short circuiting of fresh charge by admitting cooled exhaust gas to pass through reed valves fitted at the upper end of the transfer passage in a crank case scavenged two stroke engine. This resulted in appreciable decrease in specific fuel consumption and in HC/CO emissions. The major work involved in the present work was to design and fabricate aluminium flanges which accommodate the reed valves. And an arrangement has been made at the upper end of the transfer passage in the engine cylinder to fasten the flange. A heat exchanger was fabricated in order to cool the exhaust gas at a temperature of about 400C to avoid the pre-ignition inside the engine cylinder. The performance of the engine was tested using eddy current dynamometer.


This paper addresses the planning and optimisation of a petroleum refinery with consideration to multiple pollutants and greenhouse gases reduction alternatives. The study provides a tool that can be utilised for optimum pollution and greenhouse gases control strategy to achieve a given reduction level. The proposed method is based on a mathematical programming model whose performance is demonstrated through an industrial scale refinery case study with various emissions including sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and CO2. The optimal mitigation alternatives were determined by economic and market analysis, given a stated set of policy priorities. The conflicting objectives due to reducing the different emissions in the model illustrated the importance of using a common purpose model for studying different alternatives for reducing emissions and meeting future environmental regulations. It was found that a decrease of 60% in the overall pollutants and greenhouse gases from the refinery furnaces can be achieved with a cost increase of only 7.4%. [Received: October 18, 2007; Accepted: April 17, 2008]


Both legal scholars and social scientists have leveraged new research evidence on the deterrent effects of the death penalty into calls for more executions that they claim will save lives and new rules to remove procedural roadblocks and hasten executions. However, the use of total intentional homicides to estimate deterrence is a recurring aggregation error in the death penalty debate in the U.S.: by studying whether executions and death sentences affect all homicides, these studies fail to identify a more plausible target of deterrence - namely, those homicides that are punishable by death. By broadening the targets of deterrence, these studies overestimate the number of murders that are averted by the threat of execution. We address this error by focusing on the subset of homicides that have been defined statutorily as capital-eligible to provide a more sensitive indicator of the deterrent effects of the death penalty. We use a public-use data archive based on police descriptions of homicides from 1976-2003 to construct rates of potentially death-eligible killings. We estimate that less than 25% of total criminal homicides are eligible for the capital sanction under the range of current state statutes. We find no changes over time in the rate of these capital-eligible homicides in death penalty states, despite fluctuations in capital punishment over time. Nor are there differences capital-eligible homicides between death penalty and non-death penalty states. We find similar flat trends in Texas, and also in Harris County, the county that supplies the most death cases in Texas. Using hierarchical regression models to fit growth curve trajectories over time and with a rich set of covariates that account for competing influences on homicide rates, we find no deterrent effects either from the presence of the death penalty or from variation over time in the dosage of any of its components in the states. Similar models for Texas counties produced identical results. The results show that none of the distinctive patterns one might expect from marginal death penalty deterrence can be found in the three decades since Gregg. Where the risk of execution goes up in a death penalty state, the death-eligible cases where that risk should make a difference decline no more than the non-death-eligible cases, nor is the proportion of all homicides that risk a capital sanction in death states any smaller in those states than it is in states without any death penalty. The rate of capital-eligible homicides is insensitive over time to variations in the incidence of executions or to the large swings from one decade to the next in the number or rate of non-death-eligible killings. Our search for death penalty deterrence where it should be a strong influence on homicide rates has produced consistent results: the marginal deterrent effect of the threat or example of execution on those cases at risk for such punishment is invisible.


Vincent van Gogh (1853--1890) viewed wheat as a central metaphor of the cycle of life and the creative process. As such, it was a theme that he consistently explored throughout his career. This book examines the artist's personal and visual fascination with wheat, analyzing the significance that the motif----and by extension, the peasant at work in nature----played within the social and cultural framework of 19th-century France and in the works of other artists of the time. Focusing on his Sheaves of Wheat at the Dallas Museum of Art----one of thirteen canvases completed in the last month of his life----this beautiful book features illustrations of Van Gogh's works as well as personal correspondence and letters. Related images by such prominent contemporary artists as Emile Bernard, Jules Breton, Charles F. Daubigny, Paul Gauguin, Jean-Francois Millet, Claude Monet, and Camille Pissarro are also included. Together these works reveal the larger social and political trends of 19th-century France.


This article provides conclusive evidence that the U.S. stock market is highly inefficient. Our results, spanning a 45 year period, indicate dramatic, consistent, and negative payoffs to measures of risk, positive payoffs to measures of current profitability, positive payoffs to measures of cheapness, positive payoffs to momentum in stock return, and negative payoffs to recent stock performance. Our comprehensive expected return factor model successfully predicts future return, out of sample, in each of the forty-five years covered by our study save one. Stunningly, the ten percent of stocks with highest expected return, in aggregate, are low risk and highly profitable, with positive trends in profitability. They are cheap relative to current earnings, cash flow, sales, and dividends. They have relatively large market capitalization and positive price momentum over the previous year. The ten percent with lowest expected return (decile 1) have exactly the opposite profile, and we find a smooth transition in the profiles as we go from 1 through 10. We split the whole 45-year time period into five sub-periods, and find that the relative profiles hold over all periods. Undeniably, the highest expected return stocks are, collectively, highly attractive; the lowest expected return stocks are very scary - results fatal to the efficient market hypothesis. While this evidence is consistent with risk loving in the cross-section, we also present strong evidence consistent with risk aversion in the market aggregate's longitudinal behavior. These behaviors cannot simultaneously exist in an efficient market.


Abstract Pallidotomy is a neurosurgical procedure that involves the creation of discrete lesions within the globus pallidus, in an attempt to relieve the akinetic and hyperkinetic symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Populations undergoing such procedures provide an unprecedented opportunity to test operative theoretical models of subcortical participation in language. This paper reports the effect of circumscribed lesions of the globus pallidus on linguistic functioning, in a 73-year-old female with PD who underwent a bilateral pallidotomy to control dyskinesias, dystonia and unpredictable 'on' and 'off' states. In order to monitor the effects of pallidotomy on language, a linguisticprofile was compiled utilizing a battery of gross and high-level indices of language functioning in addition to an on-line measure of semantic processing, both before and after surgery. Baseline data were obtained one week prior to surgery and follow-up data were collected three months post-operatively. The results confirmed the presence of port-operative changes in language function subsequent to pallidotomy. Comparisons of pre- and post-operative language profiles revealed: (a) general language skills remained largely intact following pallidotomy; (b) post-operative fluctuations in performance on a number of measures of high-level linguistic functioning requiring complex divergent expressive language skills; (c) discrete lesions of the globus pallidus may impair performance on lexical decision tasks utilizing on-line measures of semantic processing, particularly for legal non-words (LNW) and words with few meanings (FM). These findings lend support to a hypothesized role for the globus pallidus in language, possibly via participation in a cortico-striato-pallido-thalamo-corticalloop.


Breast carcinoma is the most common invasive cancer in women worldwide. It metastasizes commonly to bone, lungs, regional lymph nodes and brain. Cardiac metastasis of lung and breast cancers is a known but rare complication of advanced disease with tumour metastasising to pericardium via the locoregional lymphatic system. Here we present a case of 59-year-old female presenting with right upper limb oedema, facial puffiness and features of Superior Vena Cava (SVC) syndrome 15 years after mastectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy, radiotherapy for carcinoma of the right breast. Further evaluation revealed extensive thrombus invading the right internal jugular vein, subclavian vein, SVC with intraluminal extension into right atrium causing ball in a loop obstruction at tricuspid valve. Whole body Positron emission tomography scan confirmed the diagnosis of extensive metastatic disease and patient was managed on palliative therapy. Haematogenous spread and intraluminal growth of metastatic deposits from breast carcinoma 15 years ago is rare and clinical presentation as SVC obstruction has not been reported in our review of literature.


The concept and assessment of general motor ability (GMA) has declined in favour of specialisation and training specificity in athlete development (AD). Early specialisation and a focus on specificity have increased the physical and psychological loading on athletes entering formal development structures or programmes. As a consequence, the use of generic movement training and the use of GMA has significantly decreased. It is suggested that this may be creating athletes who are less adaptable and resilient, with regards to learning new motor skills, transferring skills, and potentially being more prone to injury.
Accordingly, the role of general motor ability in sports performance remains unclear, and there is a lack of research which examines its' potential in facilitating improvement in performance. Alongside the diminished role of GMA, there is obfuscation on the role agility plays in AD. The concept of agility is currently constrained by an overly simplistic interpretation that limits it to reactive directional changes. Developing a novel construct of agility, where it can offer both generic and specific qualities, may support the operationalisation of GMA in contemporary AD programmes. In doing so, this may also help to balance the impact of early specialisation and training specificity. Founded on this rationale the objectives of this thesis were as follows:
1. To provide an overview of GMA and agility, including a reinterpretation of the agility construct.
2. To establish the importance of GMA in AD by examining the association between GMA, physical attributes and technical playing attributes in youth RL players.
3. To explore the mechanisms which may underpin GMA.
4. To investigate the development of GMA and explore the nature of longitudinal changes in GMA between youth RL players and youth school children.
5. To explore the role of GMA in acute skill transfer and describe its role in facilitating athlete resilience and adaptability in motor skill learning.
Addressing the first objective Chapter Two provides a critical overview of GMA and agility in sports performance and AD; specifically reviewing the conceptualisation of GMA and presenting a reinterpretation of the agility construct. The second and third objectives were met using the context of Rugby League (RL). The correlational study in Chapter Three used 33 junior RL players to establish the importance of GMA, concerning the positive relationship with physical and technical playing attributes. In Chapter Four, correlational and predictive analysis on tests of GMA, generic and specific agility on 107 junior RL players were used to explore the mechanisms which may underpin GMA. Importantly, GMA had excellent predictive abilities on the performance of generic and specific agility movements. The results of an analysis of specific kinematic variables of preplanned and reactive change of direction (CoD) tasks suggested movement variability was important in these CoD tasks. Objective four was achieved by employing a quasi-experimental design, 36 youths drawn from two groups were pre and post tested on measures of GMA, generic and specific agility to assess the impact of a generic agility intervention and a physical education (PE) curriculum. GMA is not static; training status and varied practice influence its level. In addressing the final objective, Chapter Six used multilevel modelling to examine the clustering of data on six repeated trials on a novel task in high and low GMA groups. Thirty eight students were assessed for GMA and the evolution of their novel task performance. Better GMA performers were able to outperform participants with low GMA on the novel task; findings being indicative of better skill transfer. In conclusion, the five studies aimed to provide a significant contribution to the scientific knowledge. GMA, operationalised through generic agility, does relate to sport-specific performance.
Better GMA relates to enhanced performance on a complex and novel CoD task. While GMA is in a state of flux and can be improved by various types of physical activity (PA). Further research into the specific nature of generic agility training, for performance and health, to help sustain motor competence and reduce injury is recommended.


Kingston University recently revised its 'Academic Framework', moving from 15 to 30 credit modules with an added emphasis on increasing formative assessment. Following a National HE STEM Programme project transferring Newcastle's Numbas maths eAssessment system to Kingston we would like to share our experiences of using Numbas for low-stakes summative and formative assessments, both in the old 15 credit and new 30 credit frameworks at Kingston: Numbas has been central to our strategy for increasing the formative assessment opportunities in first-year Linear Algebra without increasing our marking load, and for providing students with opportunities for formative feedback that is designed to aid their understanding of the material. The system and our eAssessment questions are publicly available and have successfully replaced a paper-based approach that used static, low-stakes summative assessments, with eAssessments that students use for formative feedback, developing their skills in and outside of timetabled PC labs.

We will present some initial results around the engagement of students and their understanding of key topics (notably Gaussian Elimination), comparing primarily lecture-based teaching with a partially "flipped" approach that emphasised students' own preparation and computer-based self-evaluation using Numbas and Matlab.


ONC201/TIC10 is a small-molecule inducer of the TRAIL gene under current investigation as a novel anticancer agent. In this study, we identify critical molecular determinants of ONC201 sensitivity offering potential utility as pharmacodynamic or predictive response markers. By screening a library of kinase siRNAs in combination with a subcytotoxic dose of ONC201, we identified several kinases that ablated tumor cell sensitivity, including the MAPK pathway–inducer KSR1. Unexpectedly, KSR1 silencing did not affect MAPK signaling in the presence or absence of ONC201, but instead reduced expression of the antiapoptotic proteins FLIP, Mcl-1, Bcl-2, cIAP1, cIAP2, and survivin. In parallel to this work, we also conducted a synergy screen in which ONC201 was combined with approved small-molecule anticancer drugs. In multiple cancer cell populations, ONC201 synergized with diverse drug classes, including the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib. Notably, combining ONC201 and sorafenib led to synergistic induction of TRAIL and its receptor DR5 along with a potent induction of cell death. In a mouse xenograft model of hepatocellular carcinoma, we demonstrated that ONC201 and sorafenib cooperatively and safely triggered tumor regressions. Overall, our results established a set of determinants for ONC201 sensitivity that may predict therapeutic response, particularly in settings of sorafenib cotreatment to enhance anticancer responses. Cancer Res; 75(8); 1–7. 2015 AACR.


This master thesis study was carried out in the area of Wondo Genet in Ethiopia from October 2005 to February 2006. The study is connected to the DOIT-AR project which is an interdisciplinary, action research project which aims at making local communities to primary clients of the research done within the Wondo Genet College of Forestry.

The objective of the study was to better understand how farmers' livelihoods could be understood in the context of khat and how the vulnerability of khat growing farmers could be reduced. The study was connected to the DOIT-AR sub-project "Reducing Farming Household Vulnerability to Hardships as a Basis for Improving Livelihood – A Case Study in Gotu Onoma, Wondo Genet".

Khat is a perennial shrub which leaves are chewed on for their stimulating effect. The use of khat is traditional among Muslims in east Ethiopia, but cultivation and chewing is now spreading to other parts of the country and the use of khat is also wide spread in the world.

This case study was performed with the use of qualitative methods and an action research approach was used. The research is based entirely on interviews and is seen as a participatory process together with three farming families. Beside the three participating farmers, other interviews were performed in order to better understand the farmers' situation.

Sources of vulnerability in connection to khat were identified and possible changes to improve the situation were discussed with the farmers. It was found that khat is a high and steady source of income and secures the livelihood of the farmers throughout the year. In terms of reduced vulnerability together with khat was also mentioned the positive effects of chewing as well as the soil-conservation character of the khat plant. Sources of farmers' vulnerability in connection to khat are; the relation with traders where farmers have an inferior position, the big problem with thieves on khat in the area with breakdown of social ties and a high work-load with watching the khat as outcomes, the more or less haphazard use of pesticides on khat as well as the negative effects of chewing.

It is recommended that more research is done on health effects in connection to khat. An open approach from the government towards khat cultivation and chewing could open up the discussion on the issue, both on social effects and issues of health. More agricultural support, foremost with advice on pesticides could make a considerable difference for the farmers. A common platform between the farmers to meet the problems of thieves, to strengthen the position towards the traders and to learn about pesticides would probably reduce their vulnerability.


We present the first three-dimensional (3D) simulation of the final minutes of iron core growth in a massive star, up to and including the point of core gravitational instability and collapse. We capture the development of strong convection driven by violent Si burning in the shell surrounding the iron core. This convective burning builds the iron core to its critical mass and collapse ensues, driven by electron capture and photodisintegration. The non-spherical structure and motion generated by 3D convection is substantial at the point of collapse, with convective speeds of several hundreds of km s−1. We examine the impact of such physically realistic 3D initial conditions on the core-collapse supernova mechanism using 3D simulations including multispecies neutrino leakage and find that the enhanced post-shock turbulence resulting from 3D progenitor structure aids successful explosions. We conclude that non-spherical progenitor structure should not be ignored, and should have a significant and favorable impact on the likelihood for neutrino-driven explosions. In order to make simulating the 3D collapse of an iron core feasible, we were forced to make approximations to the nuclear network making this effort only a first step toward accurate, self-consistent 3D stellar evolution models of the end states of massive stars.


Professional politicians have increasingly come under public attack in most democratic countries. Yet they have received surprisingly little systematic attention in political science. This book demonstrates that there are both striking similarities between professional politicians in different countries and notable national peculiarities. The introduction develops a common conceptual framework for the chapters to follow. Using Mosca's term and Weber's seminal insights it reconstructs the concept of political class to grasp the degree of common interests shared by politicians of different parties and in different institutions. Thereby, it presents an innovative perspective on politicians. The twenty country chapters written by scholars from sixteen countries both provide up-to-date information on professional politics in their countries and discuss the merits of the theoretical approach. In doing so, they follow a common format thus facilitating a comparative reading of particular aspects. Each chapter looks at the historical process of professionalization, the institutional context of professional politics, the size of the political class in each country, typical career paths, the renumeration of politicians, and recent reform debates.


Background: Although image analysis has shown that the outside-in (OI) technique is associated with different femoral tunnel geometry than the transportal (TP) technique in anatomic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, it is not known whether clinical results differ between the 2 techniques. Purpose: To compare clinical results, second-look arthroscopic findings, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings between the TP and OI techniques in anatomic double-bundle (DB) ACL reconstruction. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: From November 2010 to March 2013, 128 patients were enrolled in this study and were randomly assigned to either the TP group (64 patients) or the OI group (64 patients), and DB ACL reconstructions were performed. At the minimum 2-year follow-up (34.9 ± 10.9 months), 111 patients (86.7%) were evaluated with multiple clinical scores and stability tests (KT-2000 arthrometer, Lachman test, and pivot-shift test). Ninety-three knees were evaluated for graft continuity, graft tension, and synovialization by use of second-look arthroscopy. Seventy-eight knees were evaluated on MRI for graft continuity, femoral graft tunnel healing, and graft signal/noise quotient (SNQ). The primary outcome was KT-2000 arthrometer results. Results were compared between the TP and OI groups. Results: No significant differences were found between the 2 groups in terms of KT-2000 arthrometer results, which was the primary outcome, and other clinical results, with the exception of the postoperative functional test of International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) objective score. The ratio of grade A and B on the postoperative functional test of IKDC objective score was significantly larger for the OI group (51/58) than the TP group (36/53) (P = .005). The second-look arthroscopic findings were not significantly different between the 2 groups in either bundle (P > .05). In addition, MRI findings did not differ significantly between the 2 groups (P > .05). Conclusion: With the exception of the functional test of IKDC objective score, we found that clinical results, second-look arthroscopic findings, and MRI findings did not differ significantly between the OI and TP techniques for anatomic ACL reconstruction, although femoral tunnel geometries differed significantly between the 2 techniques.


Small non-functioning pancreatic NETs (pNETs) ≤2 cm can pose a management dilemma in terms of surveillance or resection. There is evidence to suggest that a surveillance approach can be considered since there are no significant radiological changes observed in lesions during long-term follow-up. However, other studies have suggested loco-regional spread can be present in ≤2 cm pNETs. The aim of this study was to characterise the prevalence of malignant features and identify any useful predictive variables in a surgically resected cohort of pNETs. 418 patients with pNETs were identified from 5 NET centres. Of these 227 were included for main analysis of tumour characteristics. Mean age of patients was 57 years, 47% were female. The median follow-up was 48.2 months. Malignant features were identified in 38% of ≤2 cm pNETs. ROC analysis showed that the current cut-off of 20 mm had a sensitivity of 84% for malignancy. The rate of malignant features is in keeping with other surgical series and challenges the belief that small pNETs have a low malignant potential. This study does not support a 20 mm size cut-off as being a solitary safe parameter to exclude malignancy in pNETs.


Investigation of Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary channel deposits in three sections in northeastern Mexico reveal three lithologically and mineralogically distinct units separated by three or more disconformities. The units include a spherule-rich layer (unit 1), laminated sandstone (unit 2), and rippled sand and shale layers (unit 3). On the basis of paleontological, mineralogical, and geochemical evidence, the K-T boundary is just above the top of unit 3. Although the deposits have previously been interpreted as a tsunami deposit related to a presumed K-T impact at Chicxulub on Yucatan, we have found no evidence of a nearby impact. We suggest that deposition occurred in an incised valley setting and over an extended period of time.


Violence in the United States has been increasing among children and adolescents at alarming rates and is now considered a significant public health concern (Thornton, Craft, Dahlberg, Lynch, & Baer, 2000). In a typical city, 30 to 50 cases of school violence are reported daily, with one half of these cases involving guns (Shafii and Shafii, 2001). The probability that a student will die as a result of violence in an American high school is five times higher than the likelihood in other developed countries (Shafii and Shafii, 2001). As a result, many school leaders have rated safety as a top priority. Typically, school security and safety have been addressed through changes in equipment or personnel, such as installation of metal detectors or hiring of security officers. Yet recent safety initiatives in schools have been more broadly defined to include prevention and intervention programs that target students, schools and communities (Peterson & Skiba, 2000). Examples of these programs are: conflict resolution and peer mediation programs (Aber, Jones, Brown, Chaudry, & Samples, 1998; Reece, Peterson, & Skiba, 2000); development of mechanisms for reporting security concerns and explicit policies pertaining to aggressive or violent behaviors (Gable & Van Acker, 2000; Trump, 1998); education and training of students, staff and teachers on the early and imminent warning signs of violence (Dwyer, Osher, & Warger, 1998); teaching of life skills and pro-social behaviors (Van Acker & Talbott, 1999); increasing cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity (Laurel & Duhaney, 2000); creation and reinforcement of linkages to outside services (Sheras, Cornell, & Bostain, 1996); and preparation for a crisis and its aftermath (Dwyer, Osher, & Hoffman, 2000). Based on the work by Conrad and colleagues (1994), the model depicted in Figure 1 provides a conceptualization of school violence within an ecological health framework. This model shows that school violence is influenced by student, school and community factors that can be modified by prevention and intervention activities. For example, student risk factors may be diminished by enhancing problem solving and anger management skills, while school risk factors may be changed by increasing the physical safety of the building. Although multiple programs have demonstrated efficacy in reducing violence, there are no studies demonstrating the extent to which school personnel perceive a need for such programs or are adopting them in any systematic manner. Furthermore, it is suggested that many schools may face a number of barriers that prevent implementation of such programs, such as limited resources and lack of an infrastructure for new program development (Trump, 1998). Many school officials express concern about available equipment and personnel to teach basic academic courses, let alone expanded programs addressing violence and other psychosocial issues. Moreover, the success of many of these programs depends not only on the commitment of the entire school but community support as well (Aber, Brown, Chaudry, Jones, & Sample, 1996; Orpinas, Kelder, Murray, Fourney, Confroy, & McReynolds, 1996; Wiist, Jackson, & Jackson, 1996). Because of the apparent gap between the need for and dissemination of effective programs, this study was designed to accomplish three aims: 1) to educate school personnel about the effects of violence and evidence-based programs for school safety; 2) to assess perceptions of school personnel about school safety, barriers to violence prevention and systemic response to crisis; and 3) to develop a model for strategic planning that can be disseminated into the community. To address these aims, local mental health experts presented a one-day summer workshop on violence and post-traumatic stress disorder to K-12 school personnel. To address the first aim, presenters discussed causes of violence, attributes of effective prevention and intervention programs to reduce violence, and characteristics of safe schools that have been identified in the published literature on school violence in the past decade. …


Measurements of the status and trends of key indicators for the ocean and marine life are required to inform policy and management in the context of growing human uses of marine resources, coastal development, and climate change. Two synergistic efforts identify specific priority variables for monitoring: Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) through the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) from the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) (see Data Sheet 1 in Supplementary Materials for a glossary of acronyms). Both systems support reporting against internationally agreed conventions and treaties. GOOS, established under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), plays a leading role in coordinating global monitoring of the ocean and in the definition of EOVs. GEO BON is a global biodiversity observation network that coordinates observations to enhance management of the world's biodiversity and promote both the awareness and accounting of ecosystem services. Convergence and agreement between these two efforts are required to streamline existing and new marine observation programs to advance scientific knowledge effectively and to support the sustainable use and management of ocean spaces and resources. In this context, the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON), a thematic component of GEO BON, is collaborating with GOOS, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), and the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR) project to ensure that EBVs and EOVs are complementary, representing alternative uses of a common set of scientific measurements. This work is informed by the Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM), an intergovernmental body of technical experts that helps international coordination on best practices for observing, data management and services, combined with capacity development expertise. Characterizing biodiversity and understanding its drivers will require incorporation of observations from traditional and molecular taxonomy, animal tagging and tracking efforts, ocean biogeochemistry, and ocean observatory initiatives including the deep ocean and seafloor. The partnership between large-scale ocean observing and product distribution initiatives (MBON, OBIS, JCOMM, and GOOS) is an expedited, effective way to support international policy-level assessments (e.g., the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services or IPBES), along with the implementation of international development goals (e.g., the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals).


This dissertation is composed of six chapters. Based on a comparison with other recessions throughout history, the first chapter motivates studying the Great Depression from a trade perspective. The second chapter sets the stage for such an endeavour. It introduces a new macroeconomic dataset for the interwar period and investigates the prelude and global impact of the Great Depression. Highlighting the variation of its severity along two dimensions, depth and duration, within and across countries, it conjectures that trade must have played an important role for the global extent of the crisis. The third chapter tests this conjecture by resurrecting the concept of the trade multiplier. Based on a causal estimate of the multiplier and auxiliary data, it demonstrates that the trade channel can explain significant proportions of the initial depth of the Depression in small open economies. If the fall of trade was important for propagating the Depression, analysing trade frictions is imperative. The fourth chapter thus turns to the analysis of retaliatory trade policies in response to currency devaluations. It shows that tariff retaliation was an important feature of interwar protectionism. Its effects on trade were large, which casts doubts on the unqualified favourable assessment of unilateral currency depreciations. Relating to the literature on the post-war distance puzzle, the fifth chapter assesses the relative importance of tariffs and transport costs during the interwar period. Not only were tariffs the dominant trade friction during this period, but their increase rendered distancerelated trade costs relatively less important. Finally, the sixth chapter draws implications for the academic and political discourse.


This study aims to determine the reletionship between the knowledge of young women about menstruation and hygienic behavior during menstruation at SMA1 Benai , district of Benai, Kuantan Singingi. Number of samples is 70 people who were taken by using a random sampling technique. Instruments used in this study is a questionnaire with 24 statements. Results are analyzed using unvaried analysis and presented in a frequency distribution table. The result of this study indicate s 55,0% of respondents have a high hygienic behavior at the time of menstruation. Respondents with a high knowledge of the 70 respondents who have menstruation hygienic behaviors positive in 22 (55.0%). Respondents with knowledge being the majority have hygienic behavior during menstruation positive in 6 (66.7%). Respondents with a majority having low knowledge on menstruation hygienic behaviors negatively by 12 (57.1%). Statistical analysis showed value P = 0.048 where P value < α (0.05) it can be concluded that there is a significant relationship between knowledge of the hygienic behavior during menstruation. Based on these results, it is suggested to the leaders and teaching staff of SMA 1 Benai to provide education about reproductive health and education about the importance of hygiene during menstruation, so that students will gain a comprehensive knowledge . Keywords : Knowledge, hygienic behavior during menstruation


Hyperspectral imaging systems are well established,
for satellite, remote sensing and geosciences applications. Recently, the reduction in the cost of hyperspectral sensors and
increase in the imaging speed has attracted computer vision
scientists to apply hyperspectral imaging to ground based computer vision problems such as material classification, agriculture,
chemistry and document image analysis. Hyperspectral imaging
has also been explored for face recognition; to tackle the issues
of pose and illumination variations by exploiting the richer
spectral information of hyperspectral images. In this article,
we present a detailed review on the potential of hyperspectral
imaging for face recognition. We present hyperspectral image
aquisition process and discuss key preprocessing challenges.
We also discuss hyperspectral face recognition databases and
techniques for feature extraction from the hyperspectral images.
Potential future research directions are also highlighted


Bean yellow dwarf geminivirus (BeYDV) has been used as a potential vector to improve foreign gene expression, specifically, to achieve higher yields of vaccine proteins in plants. Previously, we have shown that when the BeYDV replication initiator protein Rep was provided in trans , replication and gene expression of GUS were enhanced enormously from a BeYDV expression vector in a transient assay system. In this paper, transgenic lines of Arabidopsis (cv. Columbia) were generated harboring the BeYDV cis -acting elements required for replication. Constructs encoding BeYDV Rep or intronless Rep open reading frames (ORFs) were transiently introduced into transgenic plants via Agrobacterium -mediated infiltration in order to examine the relative levels of replication and expression of the genome-integrated GUS reporter gene. This study shows that expression of Rep protein was regulated in trans from a separate cassette which enabled the rescue, replication and enhancement of the genome-integrated GUS gene in transgenic Arabidopsis . We conclude that Rep expression can be effectively controlled in Arabidopsis plants, and that regulation of Rep expression can result in the amplification of a genome-integrated foreign gene by circumventing the negative effects of gene silencing.


2017 Abstract Introduction: Academic achievement is one of the indicators to which the capability of students to complete their program can be judged. To anticipate students' academic achievement, one can use their attitude toward e-learning and self-regulation. This study aims to investigate the effect of e-learning related attitude as well as self-regulation on academic achievement of students enrolled at Babel University of Medical Sciences. studying at. Method: This cross sectional study investigated 321 out of 3,400 students enrolled at Babol University of Medical Sciences using random stratified sampling method in year 2016-2017 ASK AUTHORS. To collect data, Valtonen E-learning questionnaires and Barnard self-regulation questionnaire were used. To analyze data, Smart-PLS and SPSS were employed. Results: E-learning related attitude had a significant impact on self-regulation and academic achievements. Result also indicated that self-regulation had a significant impact on academic achievement. Concerning study variables according to the year of entry, there was a significant difference between students in attitudes and self-regulation. Students in year four and higher received higher scores than other students. There was a significant difference between students' attitude and self-regulation in terms of admission year, that is, the scores of senior students were higher than those of other students. Conclusion: Attitude to e-learning and self-regulation had a significant impact on the academic achievement. Students' positive attitudes to e-learning will help them to apply more self-regulation techniques during