YouTube, as a new social media platform, has become "viral" in Indonesia since 2010. Many Indonesian youths have become popular as YouTubers (users of YouTube who actively upload videos on YouTube). Data from Google Marketing indicate that Indonesia is the country with the largest population by viewing time on YouTube in the Asia Pacific in 2015. YouTube is also the most viewed social media site in Indonesia (data by Alexa.com, 2016). One of the famous Indonesian YouTube channels is Last Day Production (also known as LDP), which regularly uploads situational dramas, skits, and parodies. All of the cast members in LDP videos are young Chinese-Indonesians under 30 years old. On the eve of Indonesian National Day of 2016, LDP uploaded the video entitled Tipikal Anak Muda Indonesia (Stereotypes of Indonesian Youths). The video portrayed how Indonesian youth now envisage their nationalism. LDP created this video in collaboration with young famous Indonesian YouTubers and musicians such as Eka Gustiwana, Aulion, and Kevin Anggara. This video later trended in Indonesia around August 2016. This article uses the approach of cyberculture theory and utilizes visualizing methods. Unit analyses of this research are the viral video, text, music, and whatever else the LDP have portrayed in the video.


This paper presents a half-face dictionary integration (HFDI) algorithm for representation-based classification. The proposed HFDI algorithm measures residuals between an input signal and the reconstructed one, using both the original and the synthesized dual-column (row) half-face training samples. More specifically, we first generate a set of virtual half-face samples for the purpose of training data augmentation. The aim is to obtain high-fidelity collaborative representation of a test sample. In this half-face integrated dictionary, each original training vector is replaced by an integrated dual-column (row) half-face matrix. Second, to reduce the redundancy between the original dictionary and the extended half-face dictionary, we propose an elimination strategy to gain the most robust training atoms. The last contribution of the proposed HFDI method is the use of a competitive fusion method weighting the reconstruction residuals from different dictionaries for robust face classification. Experimental results obtained from the Facial Recognition Technology, Aleix and Robert, Georgia Tech, ORL, and Carnegie Mellon University-pose, illumination and expression data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, especially in the case of the small sample size problem.


Alfred's Basic Piano Library: Popular Hits answers the often expressed need for popular music to be used as supplementary music for students. Soon after beginning piano study, students can play attractive versions of the best-known melodies of today. This book is a compilation of Level 1A and Level 1B of Alfred's Basic Piano Library Popular Hits books, and correlates page-by-page with Lesson Book Complete Level 1 of Alfred's Basic Piano Library. Titles: All About That Bass (Meghan Trainor) * Baby (Justin Bieber) * Batman Theme * Believer (American Authors) * Cantina Band (from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) * Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) * Clouds (Zach Sobiech) * Cool Kids (Echosmith) * Everything Is Awesome (Awesome Remixx!!!) (from The LEGO Movie) * I'll Stand by You (The Pretenders) * Iron Man (from Iron Man) * Just the Way You Are (Amazing) (Bruno Mars) * Let It Go (from Walt Disney's Frozen) * Mamma Mia (from Mamma Mia!) * May the Force Be with You (from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) * Minecraft (from Minecraft) * Moog City (from Minecraft) * The Quidditch World Cup (from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) * Theme from Superman * When Can I See You Again? (from Walt Disney's Wreck-It Ralph) * Wreck It, Wreck-It Ralph (from Walt Disney's Wreck-It Ralph).


The number of patients diagnosed with pulmonary nodules increased as more patients with high risk of lung cancer choose low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans for the screening of cancer. Clinicians might get two questions from the patients: what is the definite diagnosis of the nodule? What should we do? We have already got many guidelines trying to solve these problems. There are also several prediction models for pulmonary nodules. However, guidelines are not suitable for all types of patients, and the reality of patients is more complicated. Here we reported a 58-year-old man with a lung nodule in the right upper lobe, which was occasionally found during a period of pneumonia. We suggested two periods of follow-up, and the patient was also admitted to a clinical trial about circulating tumor cells (CTCs). He finally accepted surgical excision with a pathologic diagnosis of adenocarcinoma. This case suggests that: we might suggest CT surveillance for patients with solid nodules about 8 mm maximum diameter; three-dimensional reconstruction of CT scans could provide more information about the details of nodules; CTCs counts of peripheral blood could be considered as a potential clue for malignancy.


This paper contributes to debates about geographies of responsibility. In contrast to much of the previous literature in this field, which has concentrated on teasing out the intimate interconnections between different people, places and spaces, in this paper we highlight the limits to such connections, focusing on more unsettled versions of responsibility. Our critique draws on postcolonial readings to highlight two limitations of responsibility: its availability as an ethical gesture that can be ascribed even where it is not practised; and its imputed agency that makes it possible for responsible agency to be usurped by the global North. This starts to muddy the water of responsibility, showing how it may involve refusal, denial, withdrawal and contamination. More problematised enigmatic and risky versions of responsibility arise from these critiques. In particular, we argue that in considering responsibility as practice, a recognition of the provisional, contaminated and complex myriad of power relations involved may signal a move towards more ambivalent versions and visions that acknowledge the vulnerabilities and disconnections involved in geographies of responsibility.


BACKGROUND
Advances in medical science and improved lifestyles have reduced mortality rates in Australia and most western countries. This has resulted in an ageing population with a concomitant growth in the number of people who are living with chronic illnesses. Indeed a significant number of younger people experience more than one chronic illness. Large numbers of these may require repeated admissions to hospital for acute or episodic care that is superimposed upon the needs of their chronic conditions.

AIM
To explore the issues that circumscribe the complexities of caring for people with concurrent chronic illnesses, or comorbidities, in the acute care setting and postdischarge.

METHODS
A literature review to examine the issues that impact upon the provision of comprehensive care to patients with comorbidities in the acute care setting and postdischarge.

FINDINGS
Few studies have investigated this subject. From an Australian perspective, it is evident that the structure of the current health care environment has made it difficult to meet the needs of patients with comorbidities in the acute care setting and postdischarge. This is of major concern for nurses attempting to provide comprehensive care to an increasingly prevalent group of chronically ill people.

CONCLUSION
Further research is necessary to explore how episodic care is integrated into the on-going management of patients with comorbidities and how nurse clinicians can better use an episode of acute illness as an opportunity to review their overall management.


Engaging young science learners today requires a plethora of tools that oftentimes leverages technology in novel ways. This paper describes the use of several 21st century technologies to engage science learners in locally relevant climate science research projects and the presentation of these projects in an entirely online virtual student conference. Case studies demonstrating the use of and effectiveness of 21st century technologies and GLOBE protocols are also included. Through technology, students were able to find out more about distant locations and their own environ ments, talk to scientists, and make studying climate science personally relevant. Finally, the implementation and structure of the GLOBE Virtual Student Conference is described.


The 1995 ruling of the European Court of Justice in Bosman was a pivotal point in the relationship between the European Union and sport. It has had an immense impact upon professional team sports, most notably football, in terms of liberalising the transfer system and abolishing player quotas. This paper will chart the development of a European sports law policy generally and will specifically discuss two current proposals concerning the reintroduction of playing quotas in football. We will examine the legality of these proposals with reference to Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and will evaluate the political context within which these proposals have been promulgated. It will be suggested that a possible solution, which should end legal uncertainty, could be the adoption of a collective agreement or directive based on the methodology of reflexive labour law.


Introduction: Today, philosophers have introduced the ultimate goal in higher education institutions as critical thinking skills. Thus this study was conducted to compare the critical thinking skills between years of education of bachelor students in Fasa University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This study was conducted on 150 Studying BSc students in various terms from Fasa University of Medical Sciences in 2015 Academic year. The instrument used was the California Critical Thinking Skills Test, Form B (CCTST, FB) composed of 34 multiple choice questions. The data was analyzed using independent t-test and ANOVA by SPSS software. Results: The mean score for critical thinking of students was 11.35 ± 2.7. The total score of critical thinking and all of that's dimensions were higher for girls compared with boys (P-Value < 0.05). But no significant difference was observed between different years of study and different majors. Conclusion: The mean of scores was lower than moderate and doesn't show significant improvement during the studying years. Based on these findings and considering the necessity of development of critical thinking skills among students of medical sciences, revising the existing educational programs and the use of appropriate methods of teaching critical thinking to students during their education seems necessary.


The long-term effect of inorganic and organic fertilization in a vegetable crop rotation on soil chemical and biochemical properties was investigated in a trial in southern Spain. Two crops were grown in succession, potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) and a mixed-cropped strawberry-onion (Fragaria vesca L.-Allium cepa L.). Total organic carbon (TOC), Kjeldahl-N, bicarbonate-extractable P (Olsen-P), ammonium acetate extractable-potassium (AAE-K), microbial biomass carbon (Cmic), and enzyme activity (dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, protease, and alkaline phosphatase) were determined in soils in the seventh and eighth year of management comparison. The metabolic quotient (qCO 2 ) and the Cmic to TOC ratio were also calculated. Organically fertilized soils showed significant increases in TOC and Kjeldahl-N, available-P, AAE-K, microbial biomass C, and enzymatic activities compared with those found under inorganically fertilized soils. The qC02 values were greater in inorganic than in organic fertilized plots indicating a lower microbial community respired at a greater rate in inorganic fertilized soils. The Cmic to TOC ratio in organic plots was lower than in inorganic plots indicating that microorganism in inorganically fertilized soils could have a better efficiency in the conversion of C sources to microbial biomass. Long-term organic fertilization positively affected soil organic matter content, thus improving soil chemical and biological fertility under arid environmental conditions in southwest Spain. However precautions must be taken as excessive accumulation of some nutrients, particularly N and P, can arise from the long-term use of compost.


This study attempted to outline and describe how non-governmental
organisastions (NGOs) can effectively contribute to the community
development education of the urban poor and the plantation communities in
the country. This is a qualitative study using the case study design. A local
non-governmental organisation: Alaigal was chosen for this case study.
The first part of the study explained the contribution of various NGOs
all over the world, especially highlighting their activities and contribution
towards community educational development. The objective of this study was
to outline the growth of Alaigal; list out the programmes and how these
programmes brought self-awareness and community education development
to the respective communities.
The data collection was done by interviewing the Alaigal committee
members and the resident committee members such as Kg. Chekkadi.
Observation and participation in some of their programmes and documents
such as articles from magazine Alaigal's publications and seminar papers
provided more information.Alaigal's programmes were community activities in Kg. Chekkadi,
Klabang Estate and Kg. Jelapang Barn and networking activities with other
NGOs such as Rural Development program, Election Campaign and Wage
referendum campaign. Other programmes include social programmes for the
urban poor and plantation communities and providing consultancy and
advocacy services to those facing industrial problems such as SOCSO benefits,
unfair dismissal and others. These activities were documented by observation
and interviewing.
The books, pamphlets and newsletters published by Alaigal, made the
community to be aware of the problems faced by a section of the people in our
society. These programmes brought self-awareness among the members of the
society who are who are now aware and ready to seek for their basic rights in
a democracy way. These programmes and publications provided non-formal
education and self-awareness which helped to empower the members of the
communities to achieve self reliance and community development.The services provided by NGOs supplement the governments effort in
bringing about economic growth and community educational development to
the marginalized communities. Thus, government should encourage and foster the growth of NGOs in the country for the development and prosperity of the
nation.


In recent years, Forex (FX) interventions have been routinely used by the Bank of Israel as well as by other central banks as an additional monetary instrument, with the objective of moderating appreciation trends of the domestic currency. This paper analyzes the immediate effect of the Bank of Israel's FX interventions on the exchange rate and the persistence of this effect over time. To identify this effect, we first measure the intraday impact of FX intervention using a novel high-frequency, minute-by-minute dataset of interventions between 2009 and 2017. Next, we use our intraday measure to estimate the persistence of FX intervention shocks over longer horizons (in trading days), where we base our empirical approach on the potential outcome framework and the Local Projections method. We find that FX intervention shocks – that is, unexpected FX purchases – cause, on impact USDILS exchange rate depreciation in over 90 percent of the cases. We also find that this effect has a persistent impact on the nominal effective exchange rate for about 40–60 trading days, which are equivalent to between 2 and 3 calendar months. Based on this finding we infer that between 2013 and 2017 interventions caused the level of the exchange rate to depreciate by about 2–3 percent on average, where the effect of each intervention varied with its intensity. We stress that these results reflect the contribution of unexpected FX purchases given the fact that the discretionary intervention regime was in place throughout the investigated period, and not the effect of the presence of the regime itself.


International students experience lots of food related challenges when they migrate from their home country to a new country. One such food related challenge international students in Halifax experience is dietary changes, due to the lack of availability of their cultural foods. Consequently, the aim of this study is to assess international students' food acculturation patterns in Halifax, in order to explore whether (un)availability of international students' cultural foods influences whether they maintain their culture of origin, conform to the culture of their host, or integrate within their host and home country's culture. A quantitative methodology is employed in this study, in order to examine the relationship between (un)availability of international students' cultural foods and the food acculturation pattern of international students in Halifax. The results of this study show that international students' food acculturation patterns are dependent on the (un)availability of their cultural foods in Halifax. However, the experiences of (un)availability of cultural foods by international students are influenced by: the medium through which international students' cultural foods are available to them: in Halifax grocery stores, ethnic stores or ethnic restaurants in Halifax and where international students live in Halifax (either off-campus or on-campus). Factors that might influence the acculturation patterns of international students, based on the availability and accessibility of their cultural foods are gender and origin.


Background A physically active lifestyle has the potential to prevent cognitive decline and dementia, yet the optimal type of physical activity/exercise remains unclear. Dance is of special interest as it complex sensorimotor rhythmic activity with additional cognitive, social, and affective dimensions. Objectives To determine whether dance benefits executive function more than walking, an activity that is simple and functional. Methods Two-arm randomized controlled trial among community-dwelling older adults. The intervention group received 1 h of ballroom dancing twice weekly over 8 months (~69 sessions) in local community dance studios. The control group received a combination of a home walking program with a pedometer and optional biweekly group-based walking in local community park to facilitate socialization. Main outcomes Executive function tests: processing speed and task shift by the Trail Making Tests, response inhibition by the Stroop Color-Word Test, working memory by the Digit Span Backwards test, immediate and delayed verbal recall by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, and visuospatial recall by the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVST). Results One hundred and fifteen adults (mean 69.5 years, SD 6.4) completed baseline and delayed baseline (3 weeks apart) before being randomized to either dance (n = 60) or walking (n = 55). Of those randomized, 79 (68%) completed the follow-up measurements (32 weeks from baseline). In the dance group only, "non-completers" had significantly lower baseline scores on all executive function tests than those who completed the full program. Intention-to-treat analyses showed no group effect. In a random effects model including participants who completed all measurements, adjusted for baseline score and covariates (age, education, estimated verbal intelligence, and community), a between-group effect in favor of dance was noted only for BVST total learning (Cohen's D Effect size 0.29, p = 0.07) and delayed recall (Cohen's D Effect size = 0.34, p = 0.06). Conclusion The superior potential of dance over walking on executive functions of cognitively healthy and active older adults was not supported. Dance improved one of the cognitive domains (spatial memory) important for learning dance. Controlled trials targeting inactive older adults and of a higher dose may produce stronger effects, particularly for novice dancers. Trial registration Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ACTRN12613000782730).


The study provides a comparative analysis of the devolution and empowerment process in 14 case studies drawn from eight countries in southern Africa. Each case study examined the extent to which policy and legislation devolves significant control over decision making and benefit flows to communities; the legitimacy and power of different community institutions and their relationship with other stakeholders such as local authority structures, NGOs, donor agencies, and the private sector; and lastly the relationship and divisions between different actors and groupings in the community. The impacts of devolution were found to differ considerably among case studies both within and between countries,of the countries from which they derive. The study revealed that while some empowerment schemes appear to be marked success others appear doomed to failure, or if one is more optimistic, have resulted in the development of capacity within certain organisations but are unlikely to result in sustainable systems of natural resource management.In the countries studied, there have been progress towards CBNRM and a more away from the previous, largely unsuccessful, centralised command and control approaches to natural resources management.In some cases the move to community -based management has been more successful in empowering local communities than in others. In most instances there is little evidence, with the possible exception of specific case studies in Nambia and Malawi, to demonstrate that devolved authority has resulted in more sustainable natural resource management. The assumption is that if true community control is in place then sustainable NRM still require attention and further research effort. The study also revealed a range of factors and conditions that may help contribute to the success of CBNRM initiatives and the empowerment of local communities. The chances of CBNRM succeeding appear greater in situations where high value resources are involved, which have the potential to provide communities with an income stream which give incentive to participate and comply with rule and regulation..


Title of Document: IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGNOSTICS AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT FOR ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS Brian A. Tuchband, M.S., 2007 Directed By: Chair Professor Michael G. Pecht, Department of Mechanical Engineering An assessment has been undertaken to identify the state-of-practice for prognostics and health management of electronics. Based on a review of the prognostic approaches, case studies, publications, and the extent of intellectual property of numerous organizations, I identified the companies, universities, and government branches that are currently researching, developing, and/or implementing prognostics for their products and systems. Next, I developed a sensor selection process such that an optimal sensor system can be chosen prior to in-situ life cycle monitoring of electronic products and systems. I developed a questionnaire that can be used to understand the monitoring requirements of a particular PHM application, and identified criteria that one needs to consider in the sensor selection process in order to make the relevant tradeoffs. Finally, I provided guidelines on sensor selection to help a user validate their final selection. The process was demonstrated for two circuit card assemblies inside an avionics unit. IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGNOSTICS AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT FOR ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS


Background: Prostate cancer (PC) incidence and progression may be influenced by dietary factors, but little is known about the acceptability of dietary modification to men at increased risk of PC. Qualitative interviews with men participating in the ProDiet study were undertaken to explore the feasibility of implementing dietary interventions for the prevention of prostate cancer. Methods: An interview study nested within the ProDiet randomised feasibility trial of dietary interventions to prevent a PC diagnosis. Men (n = 133) who previously participated in community based prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing without PC but who were at increased risk of the disease were randomly allocation to both lycopene (lycopene or placebo capsules or lycopene rich diet) and green tea (green tea or placebo capsules or green tea drink) for 6 months. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants shortly after randomisation, to investigate attitudes towards dietary modification for PC prevention and dietary information. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed to identify common themes. Results: Interviews were conducted with 21 participants aged 52-72 years with PSA levels between 2.5 and 2.95 ng/ml, or a negative prostate biopsy result. Most men identified the major causes of cancer in general to include diet, environment, ageing and genetic factors. This contrasted sharply with men ' s uncertainty about PC aetiology, and the function of the prostate. Men were confused by conflicting messages in the media about dietary practices to promote health overall, but were positive about the potential of lycopene and green tea in relation to PC prevention, valuing their natural components. Furthermore these men wanted tailored dietary advice for PC prevention from their clinicians, whom they considered a trusted source of information. Conclusion: Men at elevated risk of PC reported uncertainty about PC aetiology and the role of diet in PC prevention, but enthusiasm for dietary modifications that were perceived as ' simple ' and ' natural ' . The men looked to clinicians to provide consistent disease specific dietary advice. These factors should be taken into consideration by clinicians discussing elevated PSA results with patients and those planning to embark on future trials investigating dietary modification interventions for the prevention of a PC diagnosis.


Analyses of the viability of biofuels as alternatives to fossil fuels have often adopted a technocratic approach that focuses on environmental consequences, but places less emphasis on the impact that biofuels may have on vulnerable populations. This Article fills the gap in the existing literature by evaluating biofuels through the lens of environmental justice – including climate justice and food justice. The Article examines the impact of biofuels on the global food system and on the planet's most food-insecure populations. It concludes that the laws and policies promoting the cultivation of biofuels have contributed to global malnourishment by raising food prices and accelerating the large-scale acquisition of arable lands in poor countries that deprive local communities of the land and water necessary to grow food (a phenomenon known as land-grabbing). Ironically, the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of many biofuels exceed those of the fossil fuels they replace. Instead of mitigating climate change, the promotion of biofuels threatens to intensify an industrial model of agricultural production that degrades local ecosystems, exacerbates climate change, and intensifies food insecurity. The Article concludes by discussing governance strategies to foster a more equitable and sustainable approach to bioenergy that respects, protects, and fulfills the human right to food.


Since the discovery of the essential fatty acids (EFA) namely linolenic acid (18:2n-6) and {X-linolenic acid (18:3n-3) in 1929 there has been a tremendous amount of research carried out on their possible sources, metabolism, physiological functions, deficiency symptoms, status assessments and dietary requirements for most animal species including man. They are termed essential fatty acids as they cannot be synthesised by the mammalian cellular system and must be derived from dietary sources. They are also essential functionally as they are required for the well being and health of the animals, including man.

Linolenic and {X-linolenic acid are widely distributed in nature, where they are found in plants, and together with their polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) metabolites are also
found in many animal products. The EFA occur in a variety of vegetable oils such as corn, cottonseed, safflower, soybean, sunflower, olive, linseed and palm oil. Grass represents a rich source of EFA providing herbivores with adequate supplies of these fatty acids.


This book provides a detailed and extensive survey of EC tax legislation and case law. Accordingly, it deals at some length with the legislation and case law on VAT (which is almost completely harmonized at the EC level) and excise duties. It also covers the recent legislation on company taxation, concentrating in particular on the Parent-Subsidiary Directive. A distinctive feature of the book is the detailed analysis of the legislation and its interpretation by the European Court. The book also contains an analysis of the impact of the tax sphere of the provisions of the EC Treaty, including Article 95 on the prohibition of fiscal discrimination against EC goods and the treaty articles on the free movement of persons, services, and capital. With the generalist lawyer in mind, the book contains an introduction to VAT and to the basic principles of company taxation. Since the focus of the book is EC and the language of the international tax world is English, the book should have an appeal for tax and EC lawyers throughout the EC, including the new entrant states.


Our patient was refered to hospital for a malignant mesthelioma 22 years after the prior diagnosis of a mesothelioma in his brother. Their family history included others cancers. No exposure to asbestos was documented in brother's history. Literature is rich with family mesothelioma reports. Most of them are linked to an occupationnal asbestos exposure. But, some studies suggest that family genetic factors are involved in the development of mesothelioma: (genetically transmitted mesotheliomas in Turkish families in Cappadoce, family clustering of cancers including mesotheliomas, inhibition of tumor suppressor genes (INK4A, p53, Nf2...), a small proportion of mesothelioma among asbestosis exposed workers. Many studies suggest an interaction between genetic and environment. A genetic predisposition could lead to an increased susceptibility to carcinogenic factors.


This paper presents a teaching experiment aiming at constructing the meaning of axial symmetry through the mediation of a "duo of artefacts", made up by a digital artefact and a manipulative one. The meaning of the term "mediation" is described and used from a dual perspective, joining General Didactics and Mathematics Education. Herein, we describe an interactive book, created in a Dynamic Geometry Environment and a teaching sequence, based on the use of such a digital artefact, combined with a manipulative one. The main potential of the interactive book is based on the possibility to drag geometric objects and observe the effects of the dragging. The sequence has been experimented with a 4th grade class and the activities have been videotaped and analysed. Results have been analysed through the cited dual perspective and reveal how the mediation of the duo of artefacts can foster the construction of the mathematical meaning. In this paper we show how the digital artefact, acting in synergy with the manipulative artefact, seems to exploit the potential of the sequence in terms of embodied involvement of the pupils in their cognitive process.


A nonlinear, dynamic empirical model, based on a Volterra-like approach, was previously proposed by the authors for the time-oriented characterization of sample/hold (S/H) and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) devices. In this paper, the experimental procedure for model parameter measurement is presented, as well as techniques devoted to the implementation of the model in the framework of the main commercial CAD tools for circuit analysis and design. Examples of simulations, performed both in the time and frequency domain on the model obtained for a commercial device, are proposed, which show the model's capability of pointing out the dynamic nonlinear effects in the S/H-ADC response.


Atherosclerosis is one of the most common major complications associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Recent research suggests that the major culprits are modified proteins like LDL and albumin. Hence, this
study focuses on the analysis of small dense LDL (sd LDL), oxidised LDL (ox LDL) and ischemia modified
albumin (IMA) in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with and without dyslipidemia and compare with healthy
subjects. Further, correlate atherogenic indices (ox LDL/HDL and sdLDL/HDL) with glycated haemoglobin
in these groups. 90 subjects aged between 30-60 years of both the genders were divided into 3 groups
namely diabetic dyslipidemia (Group1), diabetic non dyslipidemia (Group2) and normal (group3). Serum
lipid profile, ox LDL and IMA were estimated by spectrophotometric methods, sd LDL by calculation
and glycated Hb by HPLC. Ox LDL showed an apparent increase in diabetics (group 1and 2) compared to
normal. Though sd LDL levels in diabetic patients remained normal, the values doubled in dyslipidemic
diabetics. sd LDL/HDL ratio was significantly high in both group1and 2 compared to normal. Furthermore,
there was a significant positive correlation of this ratio with glycated Hb in both groups of diabetes. Serum
IMA also increased significantly in diabetes with dyslipidemia compared to non dyslipidemic diabetics.
The study highlights the fact that in diabetics, oxidatively modified proteins like LDL and albumin may
increase with hyperglycemia even before dyslipidemia sets in. Hence, ox LDL and sd LDL may be included
in the battery of extended lipid profile to monitor cardiovascular complications in diabetes.


In this work, a cobalt Schiff base complex (CoSB) immobilized at the surface of Fe3O4@SiO2‐NH2 nanoparticles was synthesized and characterized using different characterization techniques such as Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD). The prepared nanocomposite (Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2/CoSB) was applied as a sensitive modifier in carbon paste electrode (CPE) for simultaneous determination of acetaminophen (AC) and chlorpheniramine (CP). The Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2/CoSB/CPE exhibited good electrochemical response towards the detection of AC and CP. In addition, an excellent separation between the voltammetric signals for these analytes at the surface of modified electrode was observed.  The suggested methodwas effectively employed for concentration variation studies of a mixture containing these drugs. The dynamic linear ranges of 5.0 × 10−7 to1.0 × 10−3 M and 8.0 × 10−6 to 1.0 × 10−3 M with detection limits 4.0 × 10-7 M and 5.0 × 10-6 M (for S/N = 3) were achieved for AC and CP, respectively. The performance of the presented electrochemical nanosensor was assessed by quantifying the two drugs in spiked human blood serum and in tablets.


It's a simple enough question, it seems: Is an apple living? First, define "life." Then apply the definition. Finally, arrive at a definitive answer. Isn't that clarity one of the great virtues of scientific knowledge?

But seasoned biologists know well that "life" is not easily defined. Like other scientific concepts, a single, apparently simple term hides substantial complexity. Others may realize that too, with just a little bit of reflection. For example, imagine using the question about apples to open the first day of a biology class and to spark a lively independent discussion among students:

                   — • —

> The answer is obvious. If an apple has been picked from the tree, it's no longer living .
>
> Yes, I agree the answer is simple and obvious [another student weighs in]. But you are wrong. Another apple tree might grow from it. So it's clearly living .
>
> Well, yes, the seeds may be living, but not the whole apple .
>
> So, then, the fruit was not living when it was still on the tree?
>
> No, I didn't say that. When it's on the tree, the fruit grows. When it falls off, it no longer has a source of nourishment. It can't survive without nourishment .
>
> True [adds someone else]. But it does continue to ripen. That shows that it's still active .
>
> Until someone eats it! Then it's dead! [Laughter.]
>
> Or it begins to rot. Dead things rot .
>
> Hey, not all of it rots. What about the seed? That is the link to the next generation. Where do you think apple trees come from? An apple can reproduce. That makes it living .
>
> But a seed isn't active. It isn't growing. Can you really call it living before it sprouts?
>
> Yes, unless you think you can create life out of …


In this thesis we show that it is possible to create an intelligent agent capable of emulating the human ability to control CFD simulations and provide similar benefits in terms of performance, overall reliability and result accuracy. We initially consider the rule-based approach proposed by other researchers. It is argued that heuristic search is better suited to model the techniques used by human experts. The residual graphs are identified as the most important source of heuristic information relevant to the control decisions. Three different graph features are found to be most important and dedicated algorithms are developed for their extraction.

A heuristic evaluation function employing the new extraction algorithms is proposed and implemented in the first version of the heuristic control system (ICS 1.0). The analysis of the test results gives rise to the next version of the system (ICS 2.0). ICS 2.0 employs an additional expert system responsible for dynamic pruning of the search space using the rules obtained by statistical analysis of the initial results. Other features include dedicated goal-driven search plans that help reduce the search space even further. The simulation results and overall improvements are compared with non-controlled runs. We present a detailed analysis of a fire case solution obtained with different control techniques. The effect of the automatic control on the accuracy of the results is explained and discussed. Finally, we provide some indications for further research that promise to provide even greater performance gains.


BACKGROUND
Distraction osteogenesis (DO) emerges to be a promising alternative to the traditional method of bone lengthening, by which a significant skeletal and soft tissue enlargement can be obtained in the hypoplastic area in a short period. Manipulations of the newly created callus (regenerate), during DO or as a single step molding procedure at the end of the distraction process, may be necessary to correct the mandibular position.

AIM
To report the efficacy of callus molding (CM) - floating bone concept in the vertical lengthening of ramus by DO and creating a gonial angle in the difficult case of vector selection or surgically induced asymmetry.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Retrospective analysis of patients who underwent DO of mandible followed by CM for correction of mandibular asymmetry at authors centers from 2008 to 2014 formed the study group. Only the mandibular distraction cases were included in the study. After the 5 days of latency period, the mandible was distracted at the rate of 1 mm/day. At the end of DO, CM was completed in the 1-3 weeks before consolidation. CM was done either by removing the lower screws with distractor in place or after removal of distractor based on case selection. Secondary maxillary correction by Le Fort I osteotomy using bone graft and further occlusion is corrected by postorthodontics if necessary. Splints were used during CM for predetermined occlusion. In all the cases, postoperative intermaxillary fixation was maintained for 8 weeks for stable ossification of the callus.

RESULTS
The study group consist of four and five cases of external and internal distraction, respectively. Of the 9 patients who underwent DO, 6 were females and 3 were males. The mean age of the population ranged from 10 to 21 years with a mean age of 18 years. The average distracted length of the mandible was 23.55 mm ranging from 20 to 26 mm with the standard deviation of 1.95. The mean deviation of the mandible (crossbite) at the end of distraction was around 8.23 mm ranging from 5 to 12 mm with the standard deviation of 2.17. Of the total 9 cases, only in 3 cases CM is done during DO and the rest 6 cases the CM is done after removal of the distractor. Secondary maxillary correction by Le Fort I osteotomy was done for 4 cases, and postorthodontic correction was done in 3 cases. In all the 9 cases, 100% results (as assessed clinically and radiographically) achieved with the creation of perfect gonial angle.

CONCLUSIONS
CM plays a crucial role in those cases where proper vector orientation is hindered because of anatomical difficulty for osteotomy cuts and parallel fixation of the distractor to ramus resulting in cross-bite with deviation toward the undistracted side. Manipulation of the regenerates would provide a precise achievement of gonial angle, minimizing the need for secondary corrections, and diminishing treatment duration and costs.


The sales techniques that work best...have always worked best. An incisive look at four legendary sales pros, and how their strategies still apply today. Sales theories come and sales theories go, but nothing beats learning from the original masters. The Giants of Sales introduces readers to the techniques developed by four legendary sales giants, and offers concrete examples of how they still work in the 21st century.The book reveals how:In his quest to sell a brand new product known as the cash register, John Henry Patterson came up with a repeatable sales process tailor-made for his own sales force . Dale Carnegie taught people how to win friends and influence customers with powerful methods that still work . Joe Girard, listed by Guinness as the world's greatest salesman, didn't just sell cars, he sold relationships...and developed a successful referral business . Elmer Wheeler discovered fundamental truths about persuasion by testing thousands of sales pitches on millions of people, and achieved great success in the middle of the Great DepressionPart history and part how-to, The Giants of Sales gives readers practical, real-world techniques based on the time-tested wisdom of true sales masters.


The normality of death has dissolved in the context of society through the passage of time. Death has been celebrated before in the past as a part of life. In the contemporary era, death is being revisited with a heightened social awareness wherein it is explored in different facets of interdisciplinary studies, ranging from technological to cultural studies. Because of this phenomenon eventually people will begin to ask: What comes after death? The afterlife is a realm of uncertainty and of possibilities. Different academic fields such as neurology, psychology, psychiatry, philosophy and the like extensively deconstruct, and in their own ways, define the realm of the afterlife. Its ambiguous yet mysterious nature provides us with the opportunity to further explore intangible and unmappable landscapes that are beyond human comprehension. Possibilian Landscapes imagines the idea of the afterlife through David Eagleman's book on his philosophy on Possibilianism, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. It explores the possibilities of afterlife dimensions as a means of creating new spatial translations in architecture, which would eventually lead to the expounding of the discourse of the relationship between architecture and reality. In this book, she selected stories that possess strong cues in spatial visualization, with each story having different spatial notions that the author would like to probe, provoke and explore. The author questions reality through architecture using the afterlife as a platform, adapting and exploiting the energy of the contemporary wave of the afterlife as it sweeps today's society.


The struggle over marijuana regulation is one of the most important federalism conflicts in a generation. Since 1996 twenty states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes and, in November 2013, Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana for adult recreational use. In the fall of 2013, the federal Department of Justice ("DOJ") announced it will not prioritize enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states with their own robust marijuana regulations, specifying eight federal enforcement priorities to help guide state lawmaking. This announcement has been widely interpreted to signal that the federal government will not enforce its stricter marijuana laws against those complying with the new Washington and Colorado laws so long as the new state regulatory regimes effectively prevent the harms the DOJ has identified as federal priorities. Yet even if the federal government voluntarily refrains from enforcing its drug laws against those complying with robust state regulatory regimes, the ancillary consequences flowing from the continuing federal prohibition remain profound. Banks, attorneys, insurance companies, and potential investors concerned about breaking federal law are reluctant to provide investment capital, legal advice, or numerous other basic professional services necessary for businesses to function and navigate complex state and local regulations. And consumers face the risk of severe legal consequences.The Article explains why, even if it wished to do so, the DOJ could not simply shut down all state marijuana legalization efforts using the federal government's preemption power under the Supremacy Clause. We suggest an incremental and effective solution that would allow willing states to experiment with novel regulatory approaches while leaving the federal prohibition intact for the remaining states. The federal government should adopt a cooperative federalism approach that allows states meeting specified federal criteria – criteria along the lines that the DOJ has already set forth – to opt out of the federal Controlled Substances Act ("CSA") provisions relating to marijuana. In opt-out states certified by the Attorney General, state law would exclusively govern marijuana-related activities and the CSA marijuana provisions would cease to apply. Federal agencies could continue to cooperate with opt-out states and their local governments to jointly enforce marijuana laws, but state law rather than the CSA would control within those states' borders. Equally important, nothing would change in those states content with the status quo under the CSA. This proposed approach embodies the best characteristics of federalism by allowing some states to experiment while maintaining a significant federal role to minimize the impact of those experiments on other states.


This paper reports a descriptive case study investigating the use of a computer-based programming environment (CPE), Stagecast Creator TM (SC) for collaborative fifth grade modeling in science. SC is a non-linear, object-oriented CPE that uses visual program language (PL). The purpose of the study was to investigate and provide rich descriptions of student approaches to scientific modeling through the use of a visual PL. I analyzed student activities and conversations working with SC during an after-school club using contextual inquiry, analysis of student conversation and artifact analysis. The findings suggest that the visual CPE influences learning in a particular direction. The purpose of student work was to create representations of natural phenomena. Despite this, students in the study used SC for creating games. They focused on the overall story underlying their games which they then translated into programmable rules. This was in conflict with SC's object-oriented interface, suggesting that despite assumptions for the opposite, object-oriented interface may pose difficulties to young science learners. However, telling the story of individual causal agents supported collaborative scientific modeling among learners in the study. Programming in SC was much easier than other traditional CPEs, but reading their programs was less tangible.


We present an overview and preliminary analysis of computed thermoelectric properties for more than 48 000 inorganic compounds from the Materials Project (MP). We compare our calculations with available experimental data to evaluate the accuracy of different approximations in predicting thermoelectric properties. We observe fair agreement between experiment and computation for the maximum Seebeck coefficient determined with MP band structures and the BoltzTraP code under a constant relaxation time approximation (R2 = 0.79). We additionally find that scissoring the band gap to the experimental value improves the agreement. We find that power factors calculated with a constant and universal relaxation time approximation show much poorer agreement with experiment (R2 = 0.33). We test two minimum thermal conductivity models (Clarke and Cahill–Pohl), finding that both these models reproduce measured values fairly accurately (R2 = 0.82) using parameters obtained from computation. Additionally, we analyze this data set to gain broad insights into the effects of chemistry, crystal structure, and electronic structure on thermoelectric properties. For example, our computations indicate that oxide band structures tend to produce lower power factors than those of sulfides, selenides, and tellurides, even under the same doping and relaxation time constraints. We also list families of compounds identified to possess high valley degeneracies. Finally, we present a clustering analysis of our results. We expect that these studies should help guide and assess future high-throughput computational screening studies of thermoelectric materials.


We characterize experimentally and theoretically the collective electronic excitations in two prototypical layered transition-metal dichalcogenides, NbSe2 and Cu0.2NbS2. The energy- and momentum-dependent dynamical structure factor was measured by inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) spectroscopy and simulated by time-dependent density-functional theory. We find good agreement between theory and experiment, provided that Nb semicore states are taken into account together with crystal local-field effects. Both materials have very similar spectra, characterized by two main plasmons at 9 and 23 eV, which we show to both have pi + sigma character on the basis of a detailed analysis of the band structure. Finally, we discuss the role of the layer anisotropy in the dispersion of these plasmons.


Author(s): Iweze, Daniel Olisa | Abstract: Towards the later part of the nineteenth century and early part of twentieth century, the British colonial government's attempt at conquering the Western lgbo people and bringing them under her effective imperial control was met with stiff resistance. In order to subdue the people, the British resorted to the use of military force that eventually culminated in the outbreak of Ekumeku War between the British and the people in Asaba hinterland from 1898 to 1911. Extant literature on the British colonial administration's incursion on the Western lgbo area and the peoples' display of patriotic bravery in confronting the superior weaponry of the British troops by prominent historians such as Ohadike and Igbafe overly concentrated on the British conquest and the peoples' resistance movement as exemplified in the Ekumeku movement. These scholars had given marginal attention to the roles played by the indigenous people who were either coerced by the British officials or driven by mundane benefits, cooperated and collaborated with the British in crushing the Ekumeku forces, and assisted them in realizing their economic and political interests. It is against this background that this paper examines the nature of co-operation the British received from the "loyal" local people in the course of establishing their presence in that part of southern Nigeria. The paper further looks at the factors that made locals collaborate with the British by abandoning the popular struggle of their people. The paper assesses the consequences of action of the indigenous collaborators in terms of how they were perceived by their people throughout the period of British colonial control of the area. The paper concludes that the British colonial government's conquest and subsequent colonization of Western lgboland and Nigeria as a whole should not be treated only as one of indigenous traditionalist resistance, but largely an era, when the co-operation and collaboration of the indigenous people were significant in the British imperial conquest and consolidation of colonialism in that part of southern Nigeria.


The ability of an adaptive hypermedia system to create tailored environments depends mainly on the amount and accuracy of information stored in each user model. Some of the difficulties that user modeling faces are the amount of data available to create user models, the adequacy of the data, the noise within that data, and the necessity of capturing the imprecise nature of human behavior. Data mining and machine learning techniques have the ability to handle large amounts of data and to process uncertainty. These characteristics make these techniques suitable for automatic generation of user models that simulate human decision making. This paper surveys different data mining techniques that can be used to efficiently and accurately capture user behavior. The paper also presents guidelines that show which techniques may be used more efficiently according to the task implemented by the application


Tensor decompositions are powerful tools for dimensionality reduction and feature interpretation of multidimensional data such as signals. Existing tensor decomposition objectives (e.g., Frobenius norm) are designed for fitting raw data under statistical assumptions, which may not align with downstream classification tasks. In practice, raw input tensors can contain irrelevant information while data augmentation techniques may be used to smooth out class-irrelevant noise in samples. This paper addresses the above challenges by proposing augmented tensor decomposition (ATD), which effectively incorporates data augmentations and self-supervised learning (SSL) to boost downstream classification. To address the non-convexity of the new augmented objective, we develop an iterative method that enables the optimization to follow an alternating least squares (ALS) fashion. We evaluate our proposed ATD on multiple datasets. It can achieve 0.8% - 2.5% accuracy gain over tensor-based baselines. Also, our ATD model shows comparable or better performance (e.g., up to 15% in accuracy) over self-supervised and autoencoder baselines while using less than 5% of learnable parameters of these baseline models


Pricing options involves a volatility input. Since volatility is not directly observable and it also varies stochastically over time, volatility risk is a significant concern for most option traders. Not surprisingly, then, there has always been considerable interest in the CBOE's VIX volatility index, although relatively little trading of derivatives based on it. The original VIX was a weighted average of Black-Scholes implied volatilities, which made it (in principle) a good estimator of future volatility, but hard to replicate with traded securities. The original VIX has been recently replaced by a new formula that is not model dependent. In this article, Carr and Wu review the old VIX (now called the VXO) and the new VIX and present a wide variety of results on their behavior. An interesting difference is that the new VIX, squared, is a good hedge for realized variance. This makes the new VIX a better underlier for volatility derivative contracts, which are now being launched into the marketplace by the CBOE. The article examines the performance of the two indices as forecasts of realized volatility, and shows how the VIX responds around an uncertainty diminishing information event, meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee. Carr and Wu also obtain interesting results on the market's volatility risk premium from direct measurement of risk neutral volatility in the VIX.


– The purpose of this paper is to intend as a contribution to the performance evaluation of Third Sector organisations (TSOs). The Italian experience on the development and adoption of harmonised indicators is considered here as an example of problems and possible solutions. , – Preliminary analysis shows that, in the Italian situation, two main gaps exist. The first one relates to the incomplete statistical information on the magnitude and performance of TSOs; the second is related to the lack of a set of harmonised indicators. To address these problems, two initiatives have been recently set up in Italy. On the one hand, the newly presented "National Strategy on Social Corporate Responsibility – 2012-2014" has been oriented to fill the statistical gap, by extending the compilation of socio-economic and environmental accounts to TSOs; on the other hand, a joint initiative of the Italian Statistical Institute and the CSR Manager Network Italia towards the harmonisation of the "Global Reporting Initiatives-quantitative performance indicators" and the standards of the Italian statistical system. Within the second initiative, a specific sub-set of performance indicators for TSOs is proposed and presented in this paper. , – The Italian experiences reported here, together with the set of proposed indicators, can be used to improve data collection and to move towards a common framework for performance evaluation in the TSOs. , – The main contribution of the proposed set of indicators is to: first, provide standard definitions and clear calculation methods; second, define quantitative measurements allowing for aggregation; and third, promote data collection and performance evaluation in a context, as the Italian one, where statistical information for TSOs is largely incomplete.


The discovery of six distinct polymorphisms in the genetic sequence encoding for the cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) protein has stimulated numerous investigations in an attempt to characterize their population distribution and metabolic activity. Since the CYP2C9*1, *2 and *3 alleles were discovered first, they have undergone more thorough investigation than the recently identified *4, *5 and *6 alleles. Population distribution data suggest that the variant *2 and *3 alleles are present in approximately 35% of Caucasian individuals; however, these alleles are significantly less prevalent in African-American and Asian populations. In-vitro data have consistently demonstrated that the CYP2C9*2 and *3 alleles are associated with significant reductions in intrinsic clearance of a variety of 2C9 substrates compared with CYP2C9*1; however, the degree of these reductions appear to be highly substrate-dependent. In addition, multiple in-vivo investigations and clinical case reports have associated genotypes expressing the CYP2C9*2 and *3 alleles with significant reductions in both the metabolism and daily dose requirements of selected CYP2C9 substrates. Individuals expressing these variant genotypes also appear to be significantly more susceptible to adverse events with the narrow therapeutic index agents warfarin and phenytoin, particularly during the initiation of therapy. These findings have subsequently raised numerous questions regarding the potential clinical utility of genotyping for CYP2C9 prior to initiation of therapy with these agents. However, further clinical investigations evaluating the metabolic consequences in individuals expressing the CYP2C9*2, *3, *4, *5, or *6 alleles are required before large-scale clinical genotyping can be recommended.


Author(s): Larsen, PH; Carvallo Bodelon, JP; Goldman, CA; Murphy, S; Stuart, E | Abstract: The energy service company (ESCO) industry has a well-established track record of delivering energy and economic savings in the public and institutional buildings sector, primarily through the use of performance-based contracts. The ESCO industry often provides (or helps arrange) private sector financing to complete public infrastructure projects with little or no up-front cost to taxpayers. In 2014, total U.S. ESCO industry revenue was estimated at $5.3 billion. ESCOs expect total industry revenue to grow to $7.6 billion in 2017—a 13% annual growth rate from 2015-2017. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) were asked by the U.S. Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) to update and expand our estimates of the remaining market potential of the U.S. ESCO industry. We define remaining market potential as the aggregate amount of project investment by ESCOs that is technically possible based on the types of projects that ESCOS have historically implemented in the institutional, commercial, and industrial sectors using ESCO estimates of current market penetration in those sectors. In this analysis, we report U.S. ESCO industry remaining market potential under two scenarios: (1) a base case and (2) a case "unfettered" by market, bureaucratic, and regulatory barriers. We find that there is significant remaining market potential for the U.S. ESCO industry under both the base and unfettered cases. For the base case, we estimate a remaining market potential of $92-$201 billion ($2016). We estimate a remaining market potential of $190-$333 billion for the unfettered case. It is important to note, however, that there is considerable uncertainty surrounding the estimates for both the base and unfettered cases.


The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) represents a challenge to university teachers to adapt their evaluation systems, directing them towards continuous assessment. The integration of competence-based learning as an educational benchmark has also led to a perspective more focused on student and with complex learning situations closer to reality; however, its evaluation entails an increase in lecturers' workload and a continuous demand for students due to the diversity of evaluation tests required to assess each aspect of competences. After a period in which the changes have been introduced and within the framework of educational innovations cross-cutting project named "Analysis of the UPM Degree Programmes Evaluation Procedures and Proposal for Improvements" (EVALUA)", supported by the Educational Innovation Department, the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM) considered to analyse the assessment systems and the ways to improve them, at both levels bachelor's and master's degree programmes. The methodology is based on the model "Working with People", which for the first time at the UPM, creates a participatory process with students and lecturers aimed at knowing their opinion and their feelings about the evaluation process and the potential for improvement. Eight focus groups were developed, with 33 students and 39 university teachers in total. The results indicate that the perception of students and lecturers regarding the evaluation systems have many common points, as well as the need to undertake an improvement strategy for integrating actions from all three model dimensions, seeking a balance in joint work among lecturers, university administrators and students.


Preoperative knowledge of the renal vascular anatomy is important for selection of the appropriate feline renal donor. Intravenous urograms (IVUs) have been performed routinely to screen potential donors at the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (VHUP), but the vascular phase views lack sufficient detail of the renal vascular anatomy. Computed tomography angiography (CTA), which requires a helical computed tomography (CT) scanner, has been found to provide superior renal vascular anatomic information of prospective human renal donors. The specific aims of this study were as follows: 1) develop the CTA technique for the feline patient; and 2) obtain preliminary information on feline renal vessel anatomy in potential renal donors. Ten healthy, potential feline renal donors were anesthetized and imaged using a third-generation helical CT scanner. The time delay between i.v. contrast medium injection and image acquisition, and other parameters of slice collimation, slice interval, pitch, exposure settings, and reconstruction algorithms were varied to maximize contrast medium opacification of the renal vascular anatomy. Optimal CTA acquisition parameters were determined to be: 1) 10-sec delay post-i.v. bolus of iodinated contrast medium; 2) two serially acquired (corresponding to arterial and venous phases) helical scans through the renal vasculature; 3) pitch of 2 (4 mm/sec patient translation, 2 mm slice collimation); and 4) 120-kVp, 160-mA, and 1-sec exposure settings. Retrospective reconstructed CTA transverse images obtained at a 2-mm slice width and a 1-mm slice interval in combination with two-dimensional reformatted images and three-dimensional reconstructed images were qualitatively evaluated for vascular anatomy; vascular anatomy was confirmed at surgery. Four cats had single renal arteries and veins bilaterally; four cats had double renal veins. One cat had a small accessory artery supplying the caudal pole of the left kidney. One cat had a left renal artery originating from the aorta at a 90 degrees angle with the cranial mesenteric artery. CTA of the feline renal vascular anatomy is feasible, and reconstruction techniques provide excellent anatomic vascular detail. CTA is now used routinely at VHUP to screen all potential feline renal donors.


Data parallel training is commonly used for scaling distributed Deep Neural Network ( DNN ) training. However, the performance benefits are often limited by the communication-heavy parameter synchronization step. In this work, we take advantage of the domain specific knowledge of DNN training and overlap parameter synchronization with computation in order to improve the training performance. We make two key observations: (1) the optimal data representation granularity for the communication may differ from that used by the underlying DNN model implementation and (2) different parameters can afford different synchronization delays. Based on these observations, we propose a new synchronization mechanism called Priority-based Parameter Propagation (P3). P3 synchronizes parameters at a finer granularity and schedules data transmission in such a way that the training process incurs minimal communication delay. We show that P3 can improve the training throughput of ResNet-50, Sockeye and VGG-19 by as much as 25%, 38% and 66% respectively on clusters with realistic network bandwidth.


Summary form only given. Some automatic parallelization and optimization techniques for irregular scientific computing are proposed. These techniques include communication cost reduction for irregular loop partitioning, interprocedural optimization techniques for communication preprocessing when the irregular code has the procedure call, global vs. local indirection arrays remapping methods, and OpenMP directive extension for irregular computing.


In me remarks I make an attempt to point out such conditions of innovation in science as: philosophical traditions, as well institutional relations and personalities of researchers themselves. The analyses made in them are making the basis for formulating a general thesis stating that innovation in every case has a relative character, i.e. it is dependent not just from time and place of the research made, but also from such conditions that make what could be and often was perceived as scientific innovation under one set of circumstances cannot be perceived as such on other. The diverse character of these conditions sets a fact that it is hard to design innovation in science and to assess their scale.


This Encyclopedia on American history and law is the first devoted to examining the issues of civil liberties and their relevance to major current events while providing a historical context and a philosophical discussion of the evolution of civil liberties. Coverage includes the traditional civil liberties: freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition. In addition, it also covers concerns such as privacy, the rights of the accused, and national security. Alphabetically organized for ease of access, the articles range in length from 250 words for a brief biography to 5,000 words for in-depth analyses. Entries are organized around the following themes: * organizations and government bodies * legislation and legislative action, statutes, and acts * historical overviews * biographies * cases * themes, issues, concepts, and events. The Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties is an essential reference for students and researchers as well as for the general reader to help better understand the world we live in today.


Transmission systems are under stress and need to be upgraded. Better utilization of the existing grid provides a fast and cheap alternative to building new transmission. One way to improve the utilization of the transmission network is power flow control via flexible ac transmission system (FACTS) devices. While FACTS devices are used today, the utilization of these devices is limited; traditional dispatch models (e.g., security constrained economic dispatch) assume a fixed, static transmission grid even though it is rather flexible. The primary barrier is the complexity that is added to the power flow problem. The mathematical representation of the DC optimal power flow, with the added modeling of FACTS devices, is a nonlinear program (NLP). This paper presents a method to convert this NLP into a mixed-integer linear program (MILP). The MILP is reformulated as a two-stage linear program, which enforces the same sign for the voltage angle differences for the lines equipped with FACTS. While this approximation does not guarantee optimality, more than 98% of the presented empirical results, based on the IEEE 118-bus and Polish systems, achieved global optimality. In the case of suboptimal solutions, the savings were still significant and the solution time was dramatically reduced.


This study investigates how second language (L2) listeners' perception is affected by two factors: the listeners' experience with the target dialect – North American English (NAE) vs. Standard Southern British English (SSBE) – and talkers' language background: native vs. non-native talkers; i.e. interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit (ISIB) talker effects. Two groups of native-Korean-speaking listeners with different target English dialects – L1-Korean listeners of English as a second language (ESL) in the USA and L1-Korean ESL listeners in the UK – were tested on the identification of 12 English vowels spoken by native and non-native (L1-Korean) talkers of NAE and SSBE. The results show that the L2 listeners' experience with the target dialect had a significant impact on the accuracy of their identification of the L2 vowels. However, no ISIB-talker effects were observed for the L1-Korean listener groups regardless of the listeners' differences in experience with the two varieties of English. The study adds to the L2 sound acquisition literature and the ISIB literature by looking into L2 learners' identification of L2 vowels, taking into account the learners' differences in experience with two standard varieties of English (NAE and SSBE) and the interaction between the learners' experience with the two varieties and ISIB-talker effects. It also sheds some light on the issue of adult L2 learners' ability to learn the vowels of a new target variety.


Road transport has a major effect on the air quality in London and Bangkok. As an aid to decision making to control and manage air pollution, air quality models are useful tools and are now applied worldwide. This research aims to modify and adapt a selected screening line source air quality model used in the UK for application in Bangkok as general tools for air quality assessment. The emphasis is on models as an aid to assess various scenarios involving traffic and emissions management. The research also aims to assess air quality in the future years and to propose scenarios to improve air quality in Bangkok. A screening air quality model, suited to this task, was selected from amongst available alternatives: the CAR, DMIRB, LEZ, and GRAM models. The DMRB and GRAM models fitted the requirements of the current research. The GRAM model gave better performance than the DMRB model on the predictions of NO2 and CO, except for PMIO in Bangkok. As the DMRB model requires urban background to be specified whereas GRAM calculates the total concentration including urban background levels, it was decided to select the GRAM model and to adapt it from its current UK orientated formulation to make it applicable to Bangkok. Various parameters were examined to identify the differences between London and Bangkok conditions. Following this a new model for predicting NO2 and PMIO was developed, called the Bangkok GRAM model, whose performance in Bangkok was shown to be better than the UK GRAM model. Future projections were also studied and indicated that the NO2 and PMIO levels in London will decrease in future, but that exceedences will still occur. The introduction of more stringent emissions controls and the early introduction of proposed vehicle emissions standards are the additional measures expected to reduce UK urban emissions by up to 30%. Under the current policy on emission reduction in Bangkok the model predicted little decline in NO2 and PMIO concentrations at very busy roadside sites for up to 2010, and continual increase in the future. Scenarios of additional measures are proposed. The emission reduction approach gives significant reductions in NO2 and PM1o concentrations in Bangkok. The model development has clarified where the main uncertainties lie in urban modelling and emphasises the need to describe re-suspended dust accurately, especially in Bangkok.


Here, we report a simple way to prepare stretchable polypyrrole (PPy)-based actuator materials that can be operated over a wide dynamic strain range and generate useable actuation displacements and pressures. The stretchable actuators were prepared as a laminated composite of PPy and a gold-coated roughened rubber sheet. By manipulating the corrugated surface of the rubber substrate, the stretchability of PPy was greatly improved. Gold-coated rubbers could be stretched to 30 percent without significant change in electrical resistance. The corrugated PPy/gold/rubber laminates successfully showed 1 percents of actuation strain even when prestretched to 24 percent. The actuation strains were smaller than for similar free-standing PPy films and a detailed analysis of the effects of corrugation and of the rubber substrate are presented to predict actuation strain under various prestretch strains.


It is shown that the use of slabs instead of rods makes it possible to fabricate Faraday isolators and Faraday mirrors operating at a multikilowatt power. Analytical dependences of thermally induced depolarization in Faraday devices on radiation power and on slab aspect ratio have been obtained.


Best management practices in green lodging are sustainable or "green" business strategies designed to enhance the lodging product from the perspective of owners, operators and guests. For guests, these practices should enhance their experience while for owners and operators, generate positive returns on investments. Best management practices in green lodging typically starts with a clear understanding of each lodging firm's role in society, its impact on the environment and strategies developed to mitigate negative environmental externalities generated from the production of lodging goods and services. Negative externalities of hotel operations manifest themselves in energy and water usage, waste generation and air pollution. Hence, best management practices in green lodging are dynamic, cost effective, innovative, stakeholder driven and environmentally sound technical and behavioral solutions that attempt to ameliorate or eliminate the negative environmental externalities associated with lodging operations, while simultaneously generate positive returns on green investments. Thus, best management practices in green lodging should reduce lodging firms' operating costs, increase guest satisfaction, reduce or eliminate the negative environmental impacts associated with hotel operations while simultaneously enhance business operations.


Historic sites, memorials, national parks, museums... We live in an age in which heritage is ever-present. But what does it mean to live amongst the spectral traces of the past, the heterogeneous piling up of historic materials in the present? How did heritage grow from the concern of a handful of enthusiasts and specialists in one part of the world to something which is considered to be universally cherished? And what concepts and approaches are necessary to understanding this global obsession? Over the decades, since the adoption of the World Heritage Convention, various 'crises' of definition have significantly influenced the ways in which heritage is classified, perceived and managed in contemporary global societies. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the many tangible and intangible 'things' now defined as heritage, this book attempts simultaneously to account for this global phenomenon and the industry which has grown up around it, as well as to develop a 'toolkit of concepts' with which it might be studied. In doing so, it provides a critical account of the emergence of heritage studies as an interdisciplinary field of academic study. This is presented as part of a broader examination of the function of heritage in late modern societies, with a particular focus on the changes which have resulted from the globalisation of heritage during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Developing new theoretical approaches and innovative models for more dialogically democratic heritage decision making processes, Heritage: Critical Approaches unravels the relationship between heritage and the experience of late modernity, whilst reorienting heritage so that it mighht be more productively connected with other pressing social, economic, political and environmental issues of our time. © 2013 Rodney Harrison. All rights reserved.


Despite series of reforms designed to improve the basic education system in Ghana, the quality of education remains low. This chapter uses a political settlement analysis to explore why this is the case. Focusing on the issue of teacher accountability and performance, we argue that a key reform—decentralization—remains a highly contested process. The current system generates insufficient incentives for effective forms of policy implementation and accountability to emerge at scale. The evidence suggest that improving educational quality depends on reform-minded coalitions made up of state and non-state actors, and a stable political settlement at the district level. We conclude that where good practice is experienced, it is as a result of efforts by these coalitions to devise and enforce local-level solutions to local problems.


Background: The Intentional Relationship Model addresses the use of different therapeutic approaches according to client needs, but also the therapist's need to manage the relational challenges that inevitably arise in therapeutic encounters. However, measures of therapist self-efficacy related to managing such challenges have not been previously developed. Aim: This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of a new measure, the Norwegian self-efficacy for managing interpersonal events (N-SEMIE). Methods: Occupational therapy students (n = 106) completed the instrument along with sociodemographic information. Factor analysis was performed using Principal Components Analysis in combination with Parallel Analysis, and internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach's α and inter-item correlations. Results: All scale items belonged to the same latent factor (factor loadings 0.72-0.84), and Cronbach's α was 0.94 (mean inter-item correlation 0.60) for the scale items. Conclusion: The N-SEMIE scale is unidimensional; the items have very high internal consistency; and the scale may be useful in research and audits related to therapist management of the interpersonal aspects of occupational therapy practice.


Background: Contamination of aquatic habitats due to toxicity and accumulation of heavy metals leading to serious damage to organisms and their advance to the food chain. Chrome is one of these heavy metals for the three and six-valence oxides used in industry. Health risks such as carcinogenic hexavalent chromium have been For this reason, removal and reduction of environment is essential. Target of this study hexavalent chromium biosorption by waste stabilization pond algae is of the aquatic environment. Methods: This study was a fundamental applied; In this batch reactor, variables Was investigated pH(3,5,7,9,11), Contact time(30,60,120,180,240,300min), The concentration of hexavalent chromium(0.5,1,5mg ) And the concentration of algae(0.25, 0.5, 1, 3g). Liquid mixed municipal wastewater treatment stabilization pond was used for insemination. For the investigate the effects of variables pH, contact time, the concentration of hexavalent chromium values in a 250 ml Erlenmeyer flask prepared and various amounts of dried algae (0.25-0.5-1- 3 g) were added to it. Then became the shakers. After mixing, the filter paper was passed. The lab temperature was centrifuged for min10-5 rpm 2700 rpm. Then it was read at a wavelength absorbed by 540 nm. . Then collected was data to Excel and SPSS software. Finally was used for hexavalent chromium adsorption isotherm model equation of Langmuir and Freundlich. Results: This study shows that PH, contact time, the concentration of hexavalent chromium and chromium concentrations of algae optimal absorption by algae concentrations, respectively, in5 mg / l, min 120, 0.5 mg / l and is 1gr. Average maximum absorption of chromium Wastewater stabilization ponds by algae 97/2, respectively. Correlation coefficients absorption curves of these models showed that Cr (VI) adsorption isotherm on wastewater stabilization pond algae follows (= R). nConclusion: The results showed that wastewater stabilization pond algae as a biological absorption, very high ability to absorb their hexavalent chromium from aqueous solutions. In addition with advantages such as low cost, no need for skilled workers, low excess Chemical waste sludge, metal restore capabilities have been further considered.n


Rembrandt, Velazquez, and Toshusai Sharaku have been called the greatest portrait artists of all time. Of the three, Sharaku's name is undoubtedly the least widely known. This comparative obscurity may be due to the fact that Sharaku was ignored in his own country and time, Japan of the eighteenth century, and remained in obscurity until his powerful portraits of Kabuki actors were discovered over one hundred years later by Western artists and critics. Another possible reason for Sharaku's lesser reputation is that his artistic career spanned scarcely ten months, after which his critics hounded him from the art world. Added to this is the fact that virtually no records have come down to us that reveal his identity - the man himself is a mystery shrouded in a mystery. Despite these obstacles, however, many of the works of Sharaku have survived, and anyone with an eye for powerful, unflinching art will them infinitely worthy of their attention. Although we are still largely ignorant as to the identity of Sharaku, a few clues have come to light. The last section of the book, thus, is given over to the description of documents and works of art that may eventually lead to a fuller portrait of this great portrait artist.


The structure of layers of GaSb grown on InAs substrates has been investigated by means of high-resolution x-ray diffraction. The samples were grown in Oxford using the metal–organic vapour phase epitaxy facility to produce high-quality single-crystal layers with thicknesses between 60 and 3000 A. The x-ray scattering experiments were performed with a Philips MRD diffractometer in Oxford and with the XMaS facility at the ESRF. The results show that the scattering for layers with a thickness below Tc' ~ 1250 A is different from the scattering for those with larger thicknesses. The scattering from the thinner layers shows that the in-plane lattice constant of the GaSb is very close to that of the InAs substrate and that the strain does not vary through the film, while the measured diffuse scattering is in good agreement with calculations of the scattering from isolated 60o dislocations. The thicker layers show no diffuse scattering but single-Gaussian Bragg peaks and the scattering is that expected from a mosaic layer with a large concentration of 60o dislocations. Analysis of the peak parameters shows that the average in-plane lattice constant is intermediate between those of bulk GaSb and bulk InAs and that there is a changing strain through the film. The critical thickness Tc for GaSb on InAs is calculated as about 204 A. We argue that between 204 and 1250 A there are only a few dislocations, but thicker films are relaxed by spontaneous creation of a dislocation network. The results demonstrate the power of high-resolution x-ray scattering for studying non-destructively the structures of thin films containing dislocations, and show that there is a marked change in the scattering for layers above the critical thicknesses Tc and Tc'.


With the development of computer game technologies, gameplay becomes very realistic in many sports games, therefore providing appealing play experience to game players. To get the victory in a football pitch, the team composition is pretty important. There is little research on the automatic team composition in sports games particularly in a popular game of Pro Evolution Soccer (PES). In this paper, we consider the team composition as one team player recommendation problem since a team is composed of several players in a game. Subsequently, we aim to recommend a list of sufficiently good football players to game players. We convert the team player recommendation into one optimization problem and resort to the greedy algorithm-based solutions. We propose a coverage function that quantifies the degree of soccer skills to be covered by the selected players. In addition, we prove the submodularity of the coverage function and improve a greedy algorithm to solve the function optimization problem. We demonstrate the performance of our techniques in PES2018.


Abstract. In the Everest region, Nepal, ground-based monitoring programmes were started on the debris-free Mera Glacier (27.7° N, 86.9° E; 5.1 km2, 6420 to 4940 m a.s.l.) in 2007 and on the small Pokalde Glacier (27.9° N, 86.8° E; 0.1 km2, 5690 to 5430 m a.s.l., ~ 25 km north of Mera Glacier) in 2009. These glaciers lie on the southern flank of the central Himalaya under the direct influence of the Indian monsoon and receive more than 80% of their annual precipitation in summer (June to September). Despite a large inter-annual variability with glacier-wide mass balances ranging from −0.67 ± 0.28 m w.e. in 2011–2012 (Equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) at ~ 5800 m a.s.l.) to +0.46 ± 0.28 m w.e. in 2010–2011 (ELA at ~ 5340 m a.s.l.), Mera Glacier has been shrinking at a moderate mass balance rate of −0.08 ± 0.28 m w.e. yr−1 since 2007. Ice fluxes measured at two distinct transverse cross sections at ~ 5350 m a.s.l. and ~ 5520 m a.s.l. confirm that the mean state of this glacier over the last one or two decades corresponds to a limited mass loss, in agreement with remotely-sensed region-wide mass balances of the Everest area. Seasonal mass balance measurements show that ablation and accumulation are concomitant in summer which in turn is the key season controlling the annual glacier-wide mass balance. Unexpectedly, ablation occurs at all elevations in winter due to wind erosion and sublimation, with remobilised snow potentially being sublimated in the atmosphere. Between 2009 and 2012, the small Pokalde Glacier lost mass more rapidly than Mera Glacier with respective mean glacier-wide mass balances of −0.72 and −0.23 ± 0.28 m w.e. yr−1. Low-elevation glaciers, such as Pokalde Glacier, have been usually preferred for in-situ observations in Nepal and more generally in the Himalayas, which may explain why compilations of ground-based mass balances are biased toward negative values compared with the regional mean under the present-day climate.


Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) patients produce large amounts of dilute urine. NDI can be congenital, resulting from mutations in the type-2 vasopressin receptor (V2R), or acquired, resulting from medications such as lithium. There are no effective treatment options for NDI. Activation of PKA is disrupted in both congenital and acquired NDI, resulting in decreased aquaporin-2 phosphorylation and water reabsorption. We show that adenosine monophosphate–activated protein kinase (AMPK) also phosphorylates aquaporin-2. We identified an activator of AMPK, NDI-5033, and we tested its ability to increase urine concentration in animal models of NDI. NDI-5033 increased AMPK phosphorylation by 2.5-fold, confirming activation. It increased urine osmolality in tolvaptan-treated NDI rats by 30%–50% and in V2R-KO mice by 50%. Metformin, another AMPK activator, can cause hypoglycemia, which makes it a risky option for treating NDI patients, especially children. Rats with NDI receiving NDI-5033 showed no hypoglycemia in a calorie-restricted, exercise protocol. Congenital NDI therapy needs to be effective long-term. We administered NDI-5033 for 3 weeks and saw no reduction in efficacy. We conclude that NDI-5033 can improve urine concentration in animals with NDI and holds promise as a potential therapy for patients with congenital NDI due to V2R mutations.


Background: Preterm birth is a significant cause of infant deaths particularly during the neonatal period. Study of these births may assist in predicting the survival of those born preterm, and in turn may help in reducing the causes and undesired outcomes. Objective: This study was designed to explore the chance of survival among babies admitted to intensive care units in Basrah Maternity and Children Hospital. Method: The study was a follow up study carried out on 440 babies who were born preterm and were admitted for reasons related to their prematurity to neonatal intensive care units in Basrah maternity and children hospital in 2012, of whom 408 were successfully followed up until the end of the neonatal period (birth to 28 days). Results: Most of the babies were males (58.8%), singleton (93.1%), delivered by normal vaginal delivery (74.01%), moderately preterm (53.4%) and of birth weight range 1500< 2500 grams(62.5%). Logistic regression analysis to identify independent predictors of survival showed that neonatal outcome (the probability of surviving the neonatal period) was significantly and independently related to birth weight and gestational age. Other variables [sex, type of delivery and type of birth(single, twin and multiple] could not significantly predict survival in the present study. Conclusions: It is concluded that the problem of neonatal mortality in Basrah is similar to that reported for other developing and neighboring countries. In our study the neonatal mortality rate was 27.94%, mostly in the first 24 hours of life. Two significant predictors could be identified as undesired predictors of survival; namely; low birth weight and shorter gestational age. We highly recommend a larger scale study on issue of neonatal survival. Perhaps improved care of mothers and neonates reduce the risk of both preterm birth and neonatal death.


This paper deals with the representation of the female self in graphic autobiographies through the dynamics of words and pictures, and with its similarities with and differences from the inscription of the male graphic autobiographical self according to feminist autobiographical theories of subject-hood. To that end, it compares four graphic autobiographies: namely, Art Spiegelman's Maus (1973–1991), Joe Sacco's Palestine (1993–2001), Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (2000–2003) and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home (2006). Whereas women's autobiographical self is supposed to be relational, collective, split, fluid, multiple, displaced, embodied and marginal, men seemingly represent themselves as distanced, appropriative of others, autonomous, heroic and exceptional. Women appear to be more interested in the personal, domestic and private, while men are considered to be more concerned with the political, public and professional. At the structural level, women's autobiographies are acclaimed to be more fragmented with frequent gaps, silences, ambiguities, humour and uncertainties in the story, whilst men's autobiographies are said to be written in a self-assertive linear and progressive manner. By exploring how relational and individualistic the subjects of the graphic autobiographies are, the main argument of this piece is that both female-authored texts display more stereotypically feminine characteristics than both male-authored texts, and that both male-authored texts portray more features that are associated with the masculine than both female-authored texts.


In "Speech and Phenomena, " Jacques Derrida situates the philosophy of language in relation to logic and rhetoric, which have often been seen as irreconcilable criteria for the use and interpretations of signs. His critique of Husserl attacks the position that language is founded on logic rather than on rhetoric; instead, he claims, meaningful language is limited to expression because expression alone conveys sense. Derrida's larger project is to confront phenomenology with the tradition it has so often renounced--the tradition of Western metaphysics.


The carbon isotopic composition of the C37-alkenones has been used in various paleoceanographic studies to estimate the ancient surface water CO2 concentration [CO2aq]. A number of recent culture, field and sediment studies, however, indicate that the carbon isotopic fractionation in haptophyte algae is predominantly controlled by physiological processes and environmental factors other than the ambient [CO2aq]. The most prominent factors are algal growth rate, nutrient availability, light intensity, the carbon uptake mechanism, and the carbon source. To what extent these different factors might affect the carbon isotopic signal of alkenones ultimately preserved in the sediment is still under debate. Causes of uncertainty are the individual strenghts and weaknesses of the different methodological approaches. Culture experiments, for example, cannot perfectly recreate the sum of natural growth conditions and physical processes affecting the carbon isotopic signal in the field and its preservation in the sediment. On the other hand, core-top data represent several hundred to a couple of thousand years and therefore only reflect an average.Here, we present the first study testing the effects of [CO2aq] on the alkenone isotopic signal under natural bloom conditions in a semi-closed system. In a series of 9 floating mesocosms in a Norwegian fjord a bloom of Emiliania huxleyi was followed over a three week period. The mesocosms were covered by gas tight tents. The atmospheric and seawater pCO2 were manipulated to achieve different CO2 levels in the tent atmosphere ranging from pre-industrial (190 ppmv) to year 2100 levels (680 ppmv) as predicted by the IPCCs report. We found that during the exponential growth phase the isotopic fractionation of alkenones decreased by 5 to 7 per mill and reached a plateau during the stationary phase. During the stationary phase the alkenone content per cell increased from 1-2 pg/cell to 6-8 pg/cell. Between the [CO2aq] treatments we observed an alkenone isotopic difference of only 2 per mill. These results indicate that changes in algal physiology and/or environmental conditions occuring during the course of an algal bloom strongly affect alkenone isotope fractionation. This effect overrides a comparatively small variation in the alkenone isotopic signal due to [CO2aq]. Implications for alkenone isotopic fractionation as a paleo-production or paleo-nutrient proxy will be discussed.


In the southeastern USA, columnaris disease (caused by Flavobacterium columnare) typically affects catfish raised in earthen ponds from early spring until late summer. Recently, unusually severe outbreaks of columnaris disease occurred at the E. W. Shell Fisheries Center located in Auburn, AL, USA. During these outbreaks, catfish and other aquaculture and sport fish species that were in ponds located within the same watershed were affected. Our objective was to investigate the genetic diversity among F. columnare isolates recovered from different sites, sources, and dates to clarify the origin of these outbreaks and, ultimately, to better understand the epidemiology of columnaris disease. A total of 102 F. columnare isolates were recovered from catfishes (channel catfish Ictalurus puntactus, blue catfish I. furcatus, and their hybrid), bluegill Lepomis microchirus, Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus, largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, egg masses, and water during columnaris outbreaks (from spring 2010 to summer 2012). Putative F. columnare colonies were identified following standard protocols. All isolates were ascribed to Genomovar II following restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the 16S rRNA gene. Genetic variability among the isolates was revealed by amplified fragment length polymorphism. Date of isolation explained most of the variability among our isolates, while host was the least influential parameter, denoting a lack of host specificity within Genomovar II isolates. The susceptibility of each of the isolates against commonly used antibiotics was tested by antibiogram. Our data showed that 19.6 and 12.7% of the isolates were resistant to oxytetracycline and kanamycin, respectively.