An intrinsic drawback with the use of a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) survey methodology is that people who live in households without a connected landline telephone are excluded from the survey sample. This paper presents a pilot of the feasibility of a computer-assisted cell-phone interview (CACI) methodology designed to survey people living in households without a telephone about alcohol use and be compatible with a larger telephone based alcohol sample. The CACI method was found to be an efficient and cost competitive method to reach non-telephone households. Telephone ownership was found to make a difference to the typical occasion amount of alcohol consumed, with respondents from households without telephones drinking significantly more than those with telephones even when consumption levels were controlled for socio-economic status. Although high levels of telephone ownership in the general population mean these differences may not have any impact on population alcohol measures they may be important in sub-populations where telephone ownership is lower.


The concept of civil religion is rooted in the American situation, al though congenial to Judaism. American civil religious rituals such as a presidential inauguration, Thanksgiving, and Memorial Day serve as vehi cles of national religious self-understanding. Since the earliest days of the nation, American Jews have maintained their own interpretations of American civil religion which usually accompanied ideologies of Jewish civil religion. Some writers focused on the shedding of ethnic otherness for rebirth as a new American man, while others affirmed the central val ues of liberty, justice, and freedom as stemming from God's laws. American Jews build their civil religion on the two traditional contradictory tendencies of kinship and consent, at times giving priority to one over the other. Where the saliency of the Jewish political tradition does not en counter a vigorous opposite trend within American society stemming from vernacular folk values, the process of secularization, or the natural rights tradition protecting the individual, American Jews have continued to structure their civil religious consensus and organizational life according to Jewish tenets. However, when conflict occurs between historical Jewish responses and American values, Jewish civil religion tends to accommodate to the American.


The present study provides a meta-analysis of cognitive rehabilitation literature (K = 115, N = 2,014) that was originally reviewed by K. D. Cicerone et al. (2000, 2005) for the purpose of providing evidence-based practice guidelines for persons with acquired brain injury. The analysis yielded a small treatment effect size (ES = .30, d(+) statistic) directly attributable to cognitive rehabilitation. A larger treatment effect (ES = .71) was found for single-group pretest to posttest outcomes; however, modest improvement was observed for nontreatment control groups as well (ES = .41). Correction for this effect, which was not attributable to cognitive treatments, resulted in the small, but significant, overall estimate. Treatment effects were moderated by cognitive domain treated, time postinjury, type of brain injury, and age. The meta-analysis revealed sufficient evidence for the effectiveness of attention training after traumatic brain injury and of language and visuospatial training for aphasia and neglect syndromes after stroke. Results provide important quantitative documentation of effective treatments, complementing recent systematic reviews. Findings also highlight gaps in the scientific evidence supporting cognitive rehabilitation, thereby indicating future research directions.


Wage inequality in America is ballooning. The issue is receiving significant attention in the public discourse but to what avail? It is an issue that affects the entire economy although the suffering thus far has focused primarily on the lower 90% of wage earners. The long-term impacts, however, may be even more encompassing. Regardless of the potential costs, under the currently understood societal roles of corporate leaders and politicians, the issue of wage inequality is currently no one's specific responsibility to address, but everyone's problem. We examine the current wage status of the economic classes, the compensation practices that contribute and potential societal and economic costs if no action is taken. Finally, we consider the roles that potential players currently perform and should consider in the future to strategically address this issue.


The ability of the WRF-ARW (Weather Research and Forecasting-Advanced Research WRF) model to forecast extreme rainfall in the Central Andes of Peru is evaluated in this study, using observations from stations located in the Mantaro basin and GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) images. The evaluation analyzes the synoptic conditions averaged over 40 extreme event cases, and considers model simulations organized in 4 nested domains. We first establish that atypical events in the region are those with more than 27 mm of rainfall per day when averaging over all the stations. More than 50% of the selected cases occurred during January, February, and April, with the most extreme occurring during February. The average synoptic conditions show negative geopotential anomalies and positive humidity anomalies in 700 and 500 hPa. At 200 hPa, the subtropical upper ridge or "Bolivian high" was present, with its northern divergent flank over the Mantaro basin. Simulation results show that the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model underestimates rainfall totals in approximately 50–60% of cases, mainly in the south of the basin and in the extreme west along the mountain range. The analysis of two case studies shows that the underestimation by the model is probably due to three reasons: inability to generate convection in the upstream Amazon during early morning hours, apparently related to processes of larger scales; limitations on describing mesoscale processes that lead to vertical movements capable of producing extreme rainfall; and limitations on the microphysics scheme to generate heavy rainfall.


Background
Despite successful H. pylori (HP) eradication, some individuals remain at risk of developing gastric cancer (GC). Previous studies showed that aspirin was associated with a reduced GC risk. However, whether aspirin can reduce GC risk in HP-eradicated subjects remains unknown. We aimed to determine the chemopreventive effect of aspirin in HP-eradicated subjects.

Methods
We identified subjects who had received a prescription of clarithromycin-based triple therapy for HP between 2003 and 2012 from a territory-wide health care database. The observation period started from commencement of HP therapy (index date), and the follow-up was censored at the end of the study (December 2015), death, or GC diagnosis. Aspirin use was defined as use once or more often weekly. Subjects who failed HP eradication or were diagnosed with GC within 12 months of HP therapy were excluded. The hazard ratio (HR) of GC with aspirin use was calculated by Cox model with Propensity Score adjustment for age, sex, comorbidities, and concurrent medications. All statistical tests were two-sided.

Results
The median follow-up was 7.6 years (interquartile range [IQR] = 5.1-10.3 years), and 169 (0.27%) out of 63 605 patients developed GC. The incidence rate of GC was 3.5 per 10 000 person-years. Aspirin use was associated with a reduced GC risk (HR = 0.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.15 to 0.61). The risk of GC decreased with increasing frequency, duration, and dose of aspirin (all Ptrend < .001).

Conclusions
Aspirin use was associated with a frequency-, dose-, and duration-dependent reduction in GC risk after HP eradication. The effect was most prominent in those who used aspirin daily or for five or more years.


The objective of this paper is to show how the recently proposed method by Giusti, Heintz, Morais, Morgenstern, Pardo \cite{gihemorpar} can be applied to a case of real polynomial equation solving. Our main result concerns the problem of finding one representative point for each connected component of a real bounded smooth hypersurface. The algorithm in \cite{gihemorpar} yields a method for symbolically solving a zero-dimensional polynomial equation system in the affine (and toric) case. Its main feature is the use of adapted data structure: Arithmetical networks and straight-line programs. The algorithm solves any affine zero-dimensional equation system in non-uniform sequential time that is polynomial in the length of the input description and an adequately defined {\em affine degree} of the equation system. Replacing the affine degree of the equation system by a suitably defined {\em real degree} of certain polar varieties associated to the input equation, which describes the hypersurface under consideration, and using straight-line program codification of the input and intermediate results, we obtain a method for the problem introduced above that is polynomial in the input length and the real degree.


There has been an increase in interest in local foods among final consumers in the United States, and there has also been a rise in offerings of local products in restaurants. Here we use Zagat Survey data and restaurant-specific menu information to estimate factors that influence the availability of New York State (NYS) wine in 1,401 NYS restaurants. We focus on wine because the production region is clearly labeled on the menu and because there is a burgeoning wine industry in NYS. Our econometric results indicate that decor ratings, cuisine styles, certain wine list characteristics, and distance to wine regions have a statistically significant impact on the likelihood of NYS restaurants serving local wine.


Distributed computing paradigm such as Cloud and SOA provides the architecture and medium
for service computing which gives flexibility to organisations in implementing IT solutions
meeting specific business objectives. The advancement of internet technology opens up the use
of service computing and broaden the scope into areas classified as utility computing,
computing solutions modelled as services allowing consumers to use and pay for solutions that
includes applications and physical devices. The model of service computing offers great
opportunity in cutting cost and deployment but also presents a case for user demands changes
that is different from the usual service level agreement in computing deployment. Service
providers must consider different aspects of consumer demands in provisioning of services
including non-functional requirements such as Quality of Service, this not only relates to the
users expectations but also managing the effective distribution of resources and applications.
The normal model for meeting user requirements is over-stretched and therefore requires more
information gathering and analysis of requirements that can be used to determine effective
management in service computing by leveraging SOA and Cloud computing based on QoS
factors. A model is needed to consider multiple criteria in decision making to enable proper
mapping of resources from service composition level to resource provision for processing user
request, a framework that is capable of analysing service composition and resource
requirements.
Thus, the aim of the thesis is to develop a framework for enabling service allocation in Cloud
Computing based on SOA and QoS for analysing user requirements to ensure effective
allocation and performance in a distributed system. The framework is designed to handle the
top layer of user requirements in terms of application development and the lower layer of
resource management, analysing the requirement in terms of QoS in order to identify the
common factors that matches the user requirement and the available resources. The framework
is evaluated using Cloudsim simulator to test its effectiveness in improving service and
resource allocation in Distributed Computing environment.
This approach offers a greater flexible to overcome issues of over-provisioning and underprovisioning
of resources by maintaining an effective provisioning using Service Oriented QoS
Enabled Framework (SOQ-Framework) for requirement analysis of service composition and
resource capabilities.


Machine learning models for speech-based depression classification offer promise for health care applications. Despite growing work on depression classification, little is understood about how the length of speech-input impacts model performance. We analyze results for speakerindependent depression classification using a corpus of over 1400 hours of speech from a human-machine health screening application. We examine performance as a function of response input length for two NLP systems that differ in overall performance. Results for both systems show that performance depends on natural length, elapsed length, and ordering of the response within a session. Systems share a minimum length threshold, but differ in a response saturation threshold, with the latter higher for the better system. At saturation it is better to pose a new question to the speaker, than to continue the current response. These and additional reported results suggest how applications can be better designed to both elicit and process optimal input lengths for depression classification.


Born in New York City only fifteen months apart, the Harlem-raised James Baldwin
 and the privileged William F. Buckley, Jr. could not have been more different,
 but they both rose to the height of American intellectual life during the civil
 rights movement. By the time they met in February 1965 to debate race and the
 American Dream at the Cambridge Union, Buckley—a founding father of the
 American conservative movement—was determined to sound the alarm about a
 man he considered an "eloquent menace." For his part, Baldwin
 viewed Buckley as a deluded reactionary whose popularity revealed the sickness
 of the American soul. The stage was set for an epic confrontation that pitted
 Baldwin's call for a moral revolution in race relations against
 Buckley's unabashed elitism and implicit commitment to white supremacy.
 In this article I introduce readers to the story at the heart of my new book
 about Baldwin and Buckley, The Fire Is Upon Us.


We look at the experience of a software developer as multiple entangled strands of activities. Modern development environments provide means to navigate, or to time-travel, along each of those strands. We describe the different strands and the navigation within each. We then discuss their entanglement and what it means for the developer experience. We end up with a call to action, a set of recommendations to improve the developer experience by explicitly considering these strands and their entanglement.


The diagnosis of leprosy continues to be based on clinical symptoms and early diagnosis and treatment are critical to preventing disability and transmission. Sensitive and specific laboratory tests are not available for diagnosing leprosy. Despite the limited applicability of anti-phenolic glycolipid-I (PGL-I) serology for diagnosis, it has been suggested as an additional tool to classify leprosy patients (LPs) for treatment purposes. Two formats of rapid tests to detect anti-PGL-I antibodies [ML immunochromatography assay (ICA) and ML Flow] were compared in different groups, multibacillary patients, paucibacillary patients, household contacts and healthy controls in Brazil and Nepal. High ML Flow intra-test concordance was observed and low to moderate agreement between the results of ML ICA and ML Flow tests on the serum of LPs was observed. LPs were "seroclassified" according to the results of these tests and the seroclassification was compared to other currently used classification systems: the World Health Organization operational classification, the bacilloscopic index and the Ridley-Jopling classification. When analysing the usefulness of these tests in the operational classification of PB and MB leprosy for treatment and follow-up purposes, the ML Flow test was the best point-of-care test for subjects in Nepal and despite the need for sample dilution, the ML ICA test yielded better performance among Brazilian subjects. Our results identified possible ways to improve the performance of both tests.


The economy of Somaliland depends on livestock, which employs about 70% of the population and contributes approximately 60% of GDP and 85% of export earnings. The principal export markets are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Exports to these markets have shown a steady growth in the last four years. Despite recent growth in export volumes, livestock trade takes place in an environment characterized by an underdeveloped legal framework, contract uncertainty and high information costs among other factors. Trade is guided by informal traditional institutions, customs and religious practices that serve as alternatives to formal contracting. The Livestock Marketing Information System (LMIS) was initiated in 2007 to address the constraint of high market information cost. The purpose of the LMIS is to provide timely current information to livestock producers, traders, government officials and other development partners. It collects and disseminates data from three livestock markets (Hargeisa, Burao and Tog Wajaale), the port of Berbera and crossborder market of Lowya Caddo. It is implemented by the Somaliland Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, in collaboration with the Ministry of Livestock, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, the municipalities of Hargeisa, Burao and Tog Wajaale, with the technical support of Terra Nuova and funding from Danish Government. Although several agricultural market information systems exist in developing countries, the validity, reliability and impact of information they generate vary and depend on a number of factors. Some of these include technology used, technical capability of personnel, protocol employed in data capturing, management and transmission among others. Despite the Somaliland LMIS being in operation for eight year, there has been no attempt to evaluate its validity and reliability. To redress this concern, this study provides an appraisal of the validity of the Somaliland LMIS as a decision making tool for stakeholders, identifies its strengths and weaknesses and offers recommendations for improvement. The validity of the system was assessed by focussing on three areas. First, by evaluating the proportion of total Somaliland livestock exports that are traded through the monitored markets. This enabled understand how the LMIS covers the target population. Second, by analysing the extent to which the trends in volumes of livestock traded in monitored markets is explained by shocks and opportunities in both local and international markets; and third by evaluating the type of trends that exist in livestock prices and the main drivers of these trends. Data used were obtained from the LMIS database, comprising weekly traded volumes, weekly price data for different grades of small ruminants, cattle and camels, and weekly export trader numbers for a period 2007–12. The study shows that the LMIS has provided valid data and information over time, noting that the data series exhibited direct and strong relations with shocks and opportunities that have occurred in local and international markets. The LMIS's coverage has been high and consistent for small ruminants, although modest for cattle and camels. A vector autoregressive model applied to quantify the effects of seasonal and occasional factors on price revealed that whereas prices of small ruminants and camels have exhibited secular and upwards trends over time, those of cattle have remained the same. In addition, market structure, seasonal effects as well as shock events were found to only affect the prices of small ruminants. The report presents preliminary recommendations for public and private sectors, with some predicated on further study. 2 Enhancing the provision of livestock marketing information in Somaliland


Computer software was written to randomly select sites for a groundwater-quality sampling network. The software uses digital cartographic techniques and subroutines from a proprietary geographic information system. The report presents the approaches, computer software, and sample applications. It is often desirable to collect ground-water-quality samples from various areas in a study region that have different values of a spatial characteristic, such as land use or hydrogeologic setting. A stratified network can be used for testing hypotheses about relations between spatial characteristics and water quality, or for calculating statistical descriptions of water-quality data that account for variations that correspond to the spatial characteristic. In the software described, a study region is subdivided into areal subsets that have a common spatial characteristic to stratify the population into several categories from which sampling sites are selected. Different numbers of sites may be selected from each category of areal subsets. A population of potential sampling sites may be defined by either specifying a fixed population of existing sites, or by preparing an equally spaced population of potential sites. In either case, each site is identified with a single category, depending on the value of the spatial characteristic of the areal subset in which the site is located. Sites are selected from one category at a time. One of two approaches may be used to select sites. Sites may be selected randomly, or the areal subsets in the category can be grouped into cells and sites selected randomly from each cell.


The current study suggests two models of binaural hearing, which aim to make predictions for inside- and outside-head localisation of a single sound source in the horizontal plane. Both models consider free-field ITDs and ILDs as the memory of sound localisation to which the target interaural disparity is compared. The first model, the characteristic-curve (CC) model acquires the best estimate of a source location by finding the nearest-neighbour of the target ITD and ILD in the characteristic curve of free-field interaural disparities. On the other hand, the second model, the pattern-matching (PM) model, assumes that the excitation-inhibition cell activity pattern suggested by Breebaart et al. [J. Acoust. S. Am., 110(2):1074-1088, 2001] provides the internal representation of the sound localisation cues. Given the uniqueness of EI-patterns, the pattern-matching process operates in each auditory frequency band to give an estimate of the sound source position, which is then frequency-weighted to finally establish the probability function of target location. In the two listening tests presented in the current study, it has been found that both models are capable of predicting many important features of human sound localisation. For example, the inside-head localisation (laterality) of dichotic pure tones has been reasonably well predicted at low source frequencies, 600 Hz and 1200 Hz, by the CC model individualised for each participant. In addition, the prediction of the PM model has been successfully compared to listening test results where the outside-head localisation of the participants was investigated for real and virtual acoustic sources. Given the simplicity and the originality in modelling the central processes of auditory spatial hearing, particularly in handling the ILD information of binaural signals, the predictive scope of the models is regarded as being worthy of further investigation. Furthermore, considering the reasonable predictions made for both lateralisation and localisation of acoustic stimuli, the models developed appear also to be well-suited to the computational evaluation of spatial audio systems.


The disodium salt form of edetate, a heavy metal chelating agent with anti-hypercalcemic and anti-arrhythmic properties. Edetate, a heavy metal antagonist, chelates divalent and trivalent metals, forming soluble stable complexes which are readily excreted by the kidneys, thereby can be used to lower serum calcium concentrations. In addition, this agent exerts a negative inotropic effect on the heart through a transiently induced hypocalcemic state, thereby antagonizing the inotropic and chronotropic effects of digitalis glycosides on the ventricles of the heart. Upon ocular administration, edetate exerts its ophthalmic effect by chelating calcium to form soluble complexes, thereby removing corneal calcium deposits.


Background Community participation interventions such as volunteering have been identified in the UK Government's 'Building the Big Society' policy (2010) as a way of engaging people in their local communities and improving social capital, while the Marmot Review (2010) concluded they may have potential public health benefits such as improving wellbeing and decreasing health inequalities. Internationally, 2011 saw the European 'Year of the Volunteer', while the US Corporation for National and Community Service Strategic Plan (2011-2015) advocates supporting volunteer's wellbeing and prioritising recruitment and engagement of underrepresented populations. Within this context, we examined the effect of formal volunteering on volunteer's physical and mental health and survival, and explored the influence of volunteering type and intensity on health outcomes. Methods We sought evidence from experimental and cohort studies comparing the physical and mental health outcomes and mortality for a volunteering group (intervention) compared with a non-volunteering group (control). We searched electronic databases (Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, CINAHL, ERIC, HMIC, SSCI, ASSIA, Social Care Online, Social Policy and Practice) from inception to January 2013 and used citation tracking. No language, country or date restrictions were applied. Methodological quality was appraised and a risk of bias score generated. Data were synthesised using vote counting and random effects meta-analysis of mortality risk ratios. Results 40 papers were selected: 5 randomised controlled trials (RCTs, 7 papers); 4 non-RCTs; and 17 cohort studies (29 papers). While most cohort studies were large and well designed (25/29 low risk bias, 4/29 moderate risk), most RCTs (4 studies) were at moderate or high risk of bias (e.g. small samples). Cohort studies show volunteering has favourable effects on depression, life satisfaction, wellbeing but not on physical health. However, these findings were largely unconfirmed by experimental studies. Meta-analysis of 5 cohort studies found volunteers to be at lower risk of mortality (risk ratio: 0.78 [95% CI 0.66, 0.90]). There was insufficient evidence to demonstrate a consistent influence of volunteering type or intensity on outcomes. Conclusion Observational evidence suggests that volunteering benefits mental health and survival although the causal mechanisms are unclear and selection effects cannot be discounted. Consequently, there is limited robustly designed research to guide the development of volunteering as a public health promotion intervention. Future studies should explicitly map intervention design to clear health outcomes as well as use pragmatic RCT methodology to test effects.


In Part I, the author explains that it is the adjudication between the conflicting claims of individual liberty, personal autonomy and self-determination versus the preservation of life as a societal value that is at the core of the issue posed by physician-assisted suicide. In Part II, author makes the case against suicide, noting that liberty is not absolute and the state retains powers of sovereignty to curtail an individual's liberty in the face of a countervailing state interest. In Part III, the author discusses the relevant case law relating to the withdrawal of medical treatment. Part IV concludes with a discussion of active suicide as distinguished from passive suicide. The state's interest in preventing overt acts of suicide is far more compelling that an individual's interest in refusing medical care. IS THERE A RIGHT TO PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED


The COVID-19-triggered collapse in oil prices in March and April 2020 was the seventh, and by far the most severe, in a series of such collapses since 1970. This paper, first, compares this most recent collapse and its drivers with previous ones in an event study. It finds that it was associated with an exceptionally severe plunge in oil demand. Second, in a local projections model, this paper estimates the implications of demand- and supply-driven oil price collapses for growth in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). The paper finds that steep oil price collapses were associated with significant and lasting output losses in energy-exporting EMDEs but no meaningful output gains in energy-importing EMDEs. These results are robust to multiple robustness checks.


An aqueous extract of Prunus africana (Hook. f.) Kalkm. (syn. Pygeum africanum) (Hook. f.) (Rosaceae) was administered daily at dosage rates of 10, 100 and 1,000 mg/kg body mass to randomized groups of Sprague Dawley rats. The extract caused a moderate rise in plasma alanine aminotransferase and creatine kinase mainly at rates of 1,000 mg/kg body mass, but it did not cause any significant variations in haematological parameters or in plasma levels of total proteins, albumin, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and blood urea nitrogen at the dosage levels used. There were no overt clinical signs in any of the rats. It was concluded that the extract may contain components that are mildly toxic to the liver and heart of rats after repeated daily oral administrations of 1,000 mg/kg body mass.


A microscope image formation model based on scalar diffraction and Fourier optics has been developed, which takes a slant angle between the optical axis and the observed surface into account. The theoretical investigations of the imaging of line structures using this model show that reflection type microscopes are much stronger influenced by the slant angle than transmission type microscopes. In addition, the slant angle changes the image contrast and the image shape of a line structure, especially its edge. The larger the slant angle, the stronger the decrease of the image contrast, and the less steep the edge slope in both types of microscopes. Furthermore, the larger the numerical aperture of the objective, the less the effect of the slant angle on the line image shape.


We propose a communication- and computation-efficient distributed optimization algorithm using second-order information for solving ERM problems with a nonsmooth regularization term. Current second-order and quasi-Newton methods for this problem either do not work well in the distributed setting or work only for specific regularizers. Our algorithm uses successive quadratic approximations, and we describe how to maintain an approximation of the Hessian and solve subproblems efficiently in a distributed manner. The proposed method enjoys global linear convergence for a broad range of non-strongly convex problems that includes the most commonly used ERMs, thus requiring lower communication complexity. It also converges on non-convex problems, so has the potential to be used on applications such as deep learning. Initial computational results on convex problems demonstrate that our method significantly improves on communication cost and running time over the current state-of-the-art methods.


Ability to form cellular aggregations such as tumorspheres and spheroids have been used as a morphological marker of malignant cancer cells and in particular cancer stem cells (CSC). However, the common definition of the types of cellular aggregation formed by cancer cells has not been available. We examined morphologies of 67 cell lines cultured on three dimensional morphology enhancing NanoCulture Plates (NCP) and classified the types of cellular aggregates that form. Among the 67 cell lines, 49 cell lines formed spheres or spheroids, 8 cell lines formed grape-like aggregation (GLA), 8 cell lines formed other types of aggregation, and 3 cell lines formed monolayer sheets. Seven GLA-forming cell lines were derived from adenocarcinoma among the 8 lines. A neuroendocrine adenocarcinoma cell line PC-3 formed asymmetric GLA with ductal structures on the NCPs and rapidly growing asymmetric tumors that metastasized to lymph nodes in immunocompromised mice. In contrast, another adenocarcinoma cell line DU-145 formed spheroids in vitro and spheroid-like tumors in vivo that did not metastasize to lymph nodes until day 50 after transplantation. Culture in the 3D nanoenvironment and in a defined stem cell medium enabled the neuroendocrine adenocarcinoma cells to form slowly growing large organoids that expressed multiple stem cell markers, neuroendocrine markers, intercellular adhesion molecules, and oncogenes in vitro. In contrast, the more commonly used 2D serum-contained environment reduced intercellular adhesion and induced mesenchymal transition and promoted rapid growth of the cells. In addition, the 3D stemness nanoenvironment promoted secretion of HSP90 and EpCAM-exosomes, a marker of CSC phenotype, from the neuroendocrine organoids. These findings indicate that the NCP-based 3D environment enables cells to form stem cell tumoroids with multipotency and model more accurately the in vivo tumor status at the levels of morphology and gene expression.


This article argues that conventional quantitative and qualitative research methods have largely failed to provide policy practitioners with the knowledge they need for decision making. These methods often have difficulty handling real-world complexity, especially complex causality. This is when the mechanism of change is a combination of conditions that occur in a system such as an organisation or locality. A better approach is to use qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), a hybrid qualitative/quantitative method that enables logical reasoning about actual cases, their conditions and how outcomes emerge from combinations of these conditions. Taken together, these comprise a system, and the method works well with a whole-system view, avoiding reductionism to individual behaviours by accounting for determinants that operate at levels beyond individuals. Using logical reduction, QCA identifies causal mechanisms in sub-types of cases differentiated by what matters to whether the outcome happens or not. In contrast to common variable-based methods such as multiple regression, which are divorced from actual case realities, QCA is case-based and rooted in these realities. The use of qualitative descriptors of conditions such as ways of working engages practitioners, while their standardisation enables systematic comparison and a degree of generalisation about 'why' questions that qualitative techniques typically do not achieve. The type of QCA described in the article requires conditions and outcomes to be dichotomised as present or absent, which is helpful to practitioners facing binary decisions about whether to do (a) or (b), or whether or not an outcome has been achieved.


Does our preoccupation with navigable space distract us from the expressive potential of interactive media? Can our understanding of spatial context in virtual environments (VEs) be expanded to incorporate social reasoning and behavior? Drawing on the theoretical foundations and practice of Architecture, this paper considers the relationship between person and environment in the real world and in navigable real-time three-dimensional digital worlds. The first part discusses the cyclical and bi-directional nature of the person _ environment relationship with interactive involvement as the basis for meaning construction and behavior guidance. The second part considers the differences brought in by the representative nature of computer-based interactive three-dimensional (3D) worlds. The examples for discussion are derived from the rich field of videogames. This is followed by an overview of the principal components of Shenmue II, a role-playing game, and a case-study examination of one interactive sequence from it. The analysis shows that navigable space always carries meaning, reiterates that interactivity is an integral part of spatial experiences and illustrates how construction of mental images is a product of mediation. When VEs are designed to utilize rich agency and expressive mediation devices, they potently overstep the systematic rule-based constraints of their design and become meaningful and engaging as situations that have real-world roots and dramatically significant consequences.


Action research (AR) can be an effective form of 'on the job' training. However, it is critical that AR cycles can be appropriately recorded in order to contribute to reflection and learning. One form of recording is for coresearchers to keep a diary. We found no previous literature describing the use of diaries in AR in sub-Saharan Africa. We therefore use this paper to reflect on how diaries were used by district health management teams in the PERFORM project. We share five lessons from our experience. First, it is important to foster ownership of the diary by the people who are responsible for filling it in. Second, the purpose of keeping a diary needs to be clear and shared between researchers and practitioners from the very beginning. Third, diaries should be allowed to evolve. Fourth, it is a challenge for busy practitioners to record the reflection and learning processes that they go through. Last, diaries on their own are not sufficient to capture reflection and learning. In conclusion, there is no best way for practitioners to keep a diary; rather the focus should be on ensuring that an AR recording process (whether diary or otherwise) is locally owned and complements the specific practice setting.


The correct use of cryptography is central to ensuring data security in modern software systems. Hence, several academic and commercial static analysis tools have been developed for detecting and mitigating crypto-API misuse. While developers are optimistically adopting these crypto-API misuse detectors (or crypto-detectors) in their software development cycles, this momentum must be accompanied by a rigorous understanding of their effectiveness at finding crypto-API misuse in practice. This paper presents the MASC framework, which enables a systematic and data-driven evaluation of crypto-detectors using mutation testing. We ground MASC in a comprehensive view of the problem space by developing a data-driven taxonomy of existing crypto-API misuse, containing 105 misuse cases organized among nine semantic clusters. We develop 12 generalizable usage-based mutation operators and three mutation scopes that can expressively instantiate thousands of compilable variants of the misuse cases for thoroughly evaluating crypto-detectors. Using MASC, we evaluate nine major crypto-detectors and discover 19 unique, undocumented flaws that severely impact the ability of crypto-detectors to discover misuses in practice. We conclude with a discussion on the diverse perspectives that influence the design of crypto-detectors and future directions towards building security-focused crypto-detectors by design.


Introduction The most effective use of trauma center resources helps reduce morbidity and mortality, while saving costs. Identifying critical infrastructure characteristics, patient characteristics and staffing components of a trauma center associated with the proportion of patients needing major trauma care will help planners create better systems for patient care. Methods We used the 2009 National Trauma Data Bank-Research Dataset to determine the proportion of critically injured patients requiring the resources of a trauma center within each Level I–IV trauma center (n=443). The outcome variable was defined as the portion of treated patients who were critically injured. We defined the need for critical trauma resources and interventions ("trauma center need") as death prior to hospital discharge, admission to the intensive care unit, or admission to the operating room from the emergency department as a result of acute traumatic injury. Generalized Linear Modeling (GLM) was used to determine how hospital infrastructure, staffing Levels, and patient characteristics contributed to trauma center need. Results Nonprofit Level I and II trauma centers were significantly associated with higher levels of trauma center need. Trauma centers that had a higher percentage of transferred patients or a lower percentage of insured patients were associated with a higher proportion of trauma center need. Hospital infrastructure characteristics, such as bed capacity and intensive care unit capacity, were not associated with trauma center need. A GLM for Level III and IV trauma centers showed that the number of trauma surgeons on staff was associated with trauma center need. Conclusion Because the proportion of trauma center need is predominantly influenced by hospital type, transfer frequency, and insurance status, it is important for administrators to consider patient population characteristics of the catchment area when planning the construction of new trauma centers or when coordinating care within state or regional trauma systems.


This paper presents a new data flow computer architecture using two types of memory: program memory and token memory. The program memory (PM) stores a data flow program or graph indicating data dependencies among instructions. The PM need not be changed during execution of one program and is duplicated for each processing or functional unit. The token memory (TM) stores mainly currently needed data values and plays a role similar to accumulators or registers in conventional computers. The size of the TM is expected to be relatively small because the data values occupy space in the TM for a very short time. The small scale TM in our architecture makes it possible to reduce the complexity of the switch mechanism between functional units and memories, and the size of the control circuit.


We are, it seems, able to know a wide range of our own thoughts, beliefs, desires and emotions in a special immediate, authoritative way in which we are not able to know the mental states of others, nor indeed a certain range of our own such states. How is this possible What is this special way we have of knowing a certain class of our own mental states What, in fact, is the class of states of which we are able to have such knowledge, and, what is it about this class that enables us to know them in such a distinctive, authoritative way The broad aim of this thesis is to bring out, in answering these questions, an important point of intersection between issues about world-directed consciousness, self-consciousness and introspective self-knowledge. More specifically, starting from the problem of authoritative self-knowledge, the aim of the thesis is threefold: to motivate, to articulate, and to expand upon a particular Sartrian solution to this problem, based on a view of our world-directed conscious states as being in some sense at the same time states of implicit or 'pre- reflective' self-consciousness. In accordance with this threefold aim, the thesis divides into three parts as follows: Part I begins with the problem of authoritative self-knowledge and the standard solutions on offer in the literature: inferential models, perceptual models, and constitutive accounts. It then suggests how a close examination of the shortcomings of these standard approaches ultimately points towards a solution along the above Sartrian lines, ie. based on an understanding of first-order consciousness as involving already itself an implicit form of self-consciousness. Part II then focuses more narrowly on this notion of implicit self- consciousness, proceeding (a) to distinguish it first from other similar-sounding notions in the literature (ie. notions of 'non-conceptual' self-consciousness, higher- order-thought conceptions of consciousness, and constitutive accounts of self- knowledge), moving on then (b) to show how the notion introduced here, contra these others, can indeed provide the basis for a solution to the initial problem of introspective self-knowledge meeting all the desiderata on a successful such theory. Finally, Part III takes on the more concrete issue of how such a form of implicit self-consciousness might, in practice, be seen to be involved in our two main categories of world-directed states, ie. in our cognitive states on the one hand (thoughts, beliefs, perceptual experiences), and in our emotions on the other (desires, fears, hopes, etc). This section of the thesis goes beyond mere concerns about the relation between an implicit form of self-consciousness and the problem of self- knowledge, drawing on both other parts of the philosophical literature and on various parts of the current psychological literature, to make not only more concrete sense of the view of world-directed consciousness here advocated, but to thereby show it to be also plausible independently from the theoretical considerations about self-knowledge initially driving it in this thesis.


Bacteria can resist an antimicrobial agent by producing extracellular enzymes that eradicate or inactivate the antibiotics. Majority of drug/metal resistant Gram negative bacterial isolates showed amylase, β-Lactamase, protease, lipase, gelatinase and urease enzymatic activity. In isolates from site-1, maximum 96%, 74% and 72% of the total isolates showed amylase, lipase and catalase activity, whereas only 46%, 34%, 24% and 20% exhibited β-Lactamase, urease, protease and gelatinase activity respectively. In site-II, 88%, 84%, 74%, 68%, 58% and 56% of the isolates demonstrated lipase, protease, amylase, catalase, gelatinase and urease activity respectively, while only 48% of the isolates showed β-Lactamase activity. In case of site- III, maximum 86%, 74%, 68%, 62%, 56% and 52% of the total isolates exhibited lipase, amylase, β-Lactamase, catalase, urease and protease activity respectively. Whereas, only 46% of the isolates demonstrated gelatinase activity. In case of site-IV, maximum 96%, 80%, 66%, 62% of the isolates showed catalase, protease, β-Lactamase and gelatinase activity respectively. Whereas only 48% and 46% of the isolates demonstrated amylase, lipase and urease activity. In our observation most of the isolates from site I, II, III showing lipase activity its mean the hospital wastewater have been suitable source (carbon, nitrogen, salt and mineral) for growth and production of lipase activity. This result revealed that the presence of multi drug/metal resistance Gram negative bacteria from the hospital wastewater were showing various amylase, protease, lipase, catalase, betalactamase, gelatinase and urease, resistance mechanisms and this drug resistant strains may cause infections to the healthy living things. To reduce the spread of drug/metal resistant isolates from hospital to environment, and use good safety sterilization methods before release of waste materials to the environment or sewage.


In matters of great importance that have financial, medical, social, or other implications, we often seek a second opinion before making a decision, sometimes a third, and sometimes many more. In doing so, we weigh the individual opinions, and combine them through some thought process to reach a final decision that is presumably the most informed one. The process of consulting "several experts" before making a final decision is perhaps second nature to us; yet, the extensive benefits of such a process in automated decision making applications have only recently been discovered by computational intelligence community. Also known under various other names, such as multiple classifier systems, committee of classifiers, or mixture of experts, ensemble based systems have shown to produce favorable results compared to those of single-expert systems for a broad range of applications and under a variety of scenarios. Design, implementation and application of such systems are the main topics of this article. Specifically, this paper reviews conditions under which ensemble based systems may be more beneficial than their single classifier counterparts, algorithms for generating individual components of the ensemble systems, and various procedures through which the individual classifiers can be combined. We discuss popular ensemble based algorithms, such as bagging, boosting, AdaBoost, stacked generalization, and hierarchical mixture of experts; as well as commonly used combination rules, including algebraic combination of outputs, voting based techniques, behavior knowledge space, and decision templates. Finally, we look at current and future research directions for novel applications of ensemble systems. Such applications include incremental learning, data fusion, feature selection, learning with missing features, confidence estimation, and error correcting output codes; all areas in which ensemble systems have shown great promise


The creeping vertical motion of a fluid sphere (drop or gas) or liquid bubbles of different shapes in another immiscible fluid confined by porous boundaries is encountered in several situations in industry and technology. Such flows are generally multi-phase in nature. In this work, we have considered a flow field comprising a non-Newtonian bubble region surrounded by a liquid film of Newtonian fluid. This inner region is bounded by a permeable cylindrical medium pervaded by the same Newtonian fluid. We have studied the interaction features of this multiphase flow in terms of certain practically important geometrical and physical parameters. We have carried out an exact analysis of the governing equations in the three flow fields-Non-Newtonian, Newtonian film and porous regions. The effects of pressure gradient, permeability and rheological parameters on the bubble velocity and the flow in different regions have been discussed.


Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch) cv. 'Oso Grande' was grown in the field from July 1999 to May 2000 in order to investigate the effectiveness of different mulch types on fruit yield, quality (i.e. soluble dry matter, fruit size), leaf nutrient compositions, and normal plant growth parameters in strawberry grown under water stress. Treatments were: (1) bare soil p water stressed (WS), (2) bare soil + unstressed (control), (3) black polyethylene mulch + water stressed (BPM + WS), (4) wheat straw mulch + water stressed (WSM + WS), (5) wheat straw mulch plus black polyethylene mulch + water stressed (WSM + BPM + WS). Water stress was created by irrigating plants once every 3 days at 50% A pan (Epan) evaporation, compared with the control, which received 75% daily. WS caused reductions in all parameters, except water-soluble dry matter concentrations in fruits, compared with the control treatment. Both BPM and WSM improved the fruit yield, fruit size, plant dry matter, leaf area index, and chlorophyll concentrations in leaves in the stressed treatments, while these 2 mulches in combination (BPM + WSM) caused further increases in these parameters. WS enhanced electrolyte leakage by impairing membrane permeability compared with control treatment. Mulching, especially BPM and WSM together, substantially decreased electrolyte leakage. WS reduced leaf concentrations of all nutrients tested (N, P, K, Ca, and Mg). However, mulching, especially BPM and WSM together, enhanced the concentrations of these nutrients, but their concentrations were still lower than those in the control treatment. These results clearly indicate that mulching mitigates negative effects of water stress on plant growth and fruit yield in field-grown strawberry, particularly in semi-arid situations.


Discrete-time diffusion-based generative models and score matching methods have shown promising results in modeling high-dimensional image data. Recently, Song et al. (2021) show that diffusion processes that transform data into noise can be reversed via learning the score function, i.e. the gradient of the log-density of the perturbed data. They propose to plug the learned score function into an inverse formula to define a generative diffusion process. Despite the empirical success, a theoretical underpinning of this procedure is still lacking. In this work, we approach the (continuous-time) generative diffusion directly and derive a variational framework for likelihood estimation, which includes continuous-time normalizing flows as a special case, and can be seen as an infinitely deep variational autoencoder. Under this framework, we show that minimizing the score-matching loss is equivalent to maximizing a lower bound of the likelihood of the plug-in reverse SDE proposed by Song et al. (2021), bridging the theoretical gap.


Electro-assisted extraction of ionic drugs from biological fluids through a supported liquid membrane (SLM) and into an aqueous acceptor solution was recently introduced as a new sample preparation technique termed electromembrane extraction (EME). The applied electrical potential across the SLM has typically been in the range of 1 - 300 V. Successful extractions have been demonstrated even with common batteries (9 V) instead of a power supply. The chemical composition of the SLM has been crucial for the selectivity and for the recoveries of the extraction. Compared to other liquid-phase microextraction techniques (LPME), extraction times have been reduced by a factor of 6 - 17, and successful extractions have been obtained at extraction times of 1 - 5 min, and even down to a few seconds with online microfluidic EME devices. The technique has provided very efficient sample clean-up and has been found well suited for the extraction of sample sizes in the low µL range. Extractions have been performed with both rod-shaped hydrophobic porous fibers and with flat hydrophobic porous sheets as SLM support. The technique has been successfully downscaled into the micro-chip format. The nature of the SLM has been tuned for extraction of drugs with different polarity allowing extractions to be tailored for specific applications depending on the analyte of interest. The technique has been found to be compatible with a wide range of biological fluids and extraction of drugs directly from untreated human plasma and whole blood has been demonstrated. EME selectively extracts the compounds from the complex biological sample matrix as well as allowing concentration of the drugs. With home-built equipment fully acceptable validation results have been obtained.


The thesis studies the export growth, economic growth and real exchange rate in Indonesia. The research is a piece of empirical studies mainly covering the period from 1974 to 1993. Indonesia is an oil-exporting country. Economic recession with high inflation rate in the early eighties prompted the government to undertake a series of economic and financial reforms. It was believed that oil export earnings by itself could not sustain long-term economic growth. Trade reform and devaluation would stimulate high economic growth through diversifying non-oil exports, attracting foreign and domestic capital accumulation. The research presented is a contribution to the study of the linkage between export trade and economic growth on one hand, and export trade and real exchange rate on the other hand in Indonesia. In particular, five issues are examined: 1) The role of export growth in economic development. Export growth may boost a country's demand for output and hence cause higher economic growth. It may also increase economic efficiency through economies of scale and liberalization of exchange control; 2) The issue of export-growth can be extended to the argument of export-led growth hypothesis. The hypothesis states that the continuation of merchandise exports would lead to higher output growth. We examine the validity of the hypothesis in the context of the Indonesian export growth economy; 3) To investigate whether export growth is negatively related to real effective exchange rate volatility by the use of cointegrated VAR approach. Policies to minimize exchange rate volatility reduce unfavourable effects on the volume of exports; 4) Since real exchange rate is an important determinant of exports, its behaviour would be worth examining. We particularly examine whether it is stationary by looking at the theory of purchasing power parity. The nonrejection of the purchasing power parity hypothesis implies stationarity of the real exchange rate; 5) Finally, we examine whether the real exchange rate of Indonesia and that of its trading partners share a common trend. This will be an indication that they can form a common currency area. The idea is incorporated into the theory of generalized purchasing power parity. A common currency policy might therefore contribute to intra- and inter-regional trade in the region of Pacific Rim. Hence the research may shed more insight on economic development in one of the less developing countries.


Gout is a common crystal-induced inflammatory arthritis, the prevalence and clinical complexity of which is increasing in the face of a growing aged population with multiple co-morbidities. Recent epidemiological studies emphasise that lifestyle factors strongly influence the development of hyperuricaemia and gout. Moreover, there is growing evidence that gout is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Acute attacks of gout are extremely painful and disabling, and if repeated attacks go untreated, chronic deforming arthritis ensues. Early diagnosis and appropriate therapy is essential to reduce long-term disability. The identification of monosodium urate crystals via synovial fluid analysis is the gold standard in gout diagnosis. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and oral or intra-articular corticosteroids remain central to the treatment of acute attacks. Prophylactic colchicine use during the intercritical period reduces gout flares, a common complication on initiation of urate-lowering therapy. Allopurinol is the treatment of choice when urate-lowering therapy is indicated. Gout management is suboptimal in many patients because of nonadherence to treatment and the underutilisation of available treatments. When treating to target, a serum uric acid level < 0.35 mmol/l prevents crystal deposition in joints and soft tissues, thereby preventing acute attacks and ongoing inflammation, as well as decreasing the size and number of tophi. Treatment strategies should include attention to cardiovascular risk. The family practitioner is paramount to gout management, which should be individualised. Emphasis should be placed on ongoing education and prevention.


Objective Use of vitamin K antagonist (VKA) versus antiplatelet (AP)/no therapy following bioprosthetic valve implantation remains controversial. The aims of the current study were to (a) systematically review the published literature comparing the use of VKA versus AP/no treatment in such patients and (b) perform a meta-analysis of the risks and benefits of using a VKA compared with AP/no therapy. Methods Five databases were searched including PubMed, Medline, Embase, Ovid and Cochrane for randomised clinical trials and observational studies comparing VKA (group I) versus AP/no therapy (group II). Outcome was after surgical intervention. Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio (OR) was calculated using random-effects meta-analysis for the outcome. Heterogeneity was assessed by I2 statistics. A total of 14 studies were included (two randomised trials, 12 observational studies and one conference abstract, 31 740 patients). Results Between groups I (VKA) and II (AP/no therapy), there were no differences in thromboembolic events (145 (1%) vs 262 (1.5%), OR 0.96 (95% CI 0.60 to 1.52)), all-cause mortality (351 (3.5%) vs 415 (2.9%), OR 1.48 (95% CI 0.87 to 2.50)) or need for redo surgery (47 (3.3%) vs 55 (3.2%); OR 0.81 (95% CI 0.42 to 1.58)). However, there were more bleeding events in group I versus group II (292 (2.6%) vs 189 (1.1%); OR 2.26 (95% CI 1.67 to 3.05)). Conclusions In a meta-analysis of randomised and observational studies of VKA versus AP/no treatment in patients undergoing bioprosthetic valve implantation, there was no benefit of adding a VKA regarding thromboembolism or mortality. However, use of a VKA was associated with increased risk of major bleeding.


Liberalization measures was adopted by the developed and developing countries to realize the benefit from expansion of market size, inflow of low priced product, inflow of foreign capital, increase in productivity, and growth which in turn reduces social problem of unemployment and income and wealth inequality. However, studies conducted in developed and developing countries on measuring the social impact of liberalization (particularly on wage inequality) shows the negative consequences. Studies find that trade and wage inequality are related in long run but in short run there is no evidence to support this argument however, causal impact of wage inequality on trade is found to be exist. For most of the countries, it is found that the main cause of increase in wage inequality is Skill Biased Technological Change (SBTC) which raises the demand for skilled labor and so prices of skilled labor. For few countries, decrease in supply of skilled labor is found to be associated with increase in wage inequality. As far as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is concerned, its effect on wage inequality varies across countries not only in magnitude but also in its direction. From the comprehensive review of literature we found that there are certain unexplored areas, particularly in the context of India, for example effects of traded and non traded goods sector, trade with developing countries, immigration, increase in minimum wages etc. on wage inequality has not been analyzed yet. To make a sound policy based on inclusive growth it is necessary to understand the implication of these issues on wage inequality. Therefore, there is need to carry out the study to address these issues.


Within the context of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Scorecard mechanism developed by the ASEAN Secretariat to monitor the implementation of the AEC Blueprint, the study focuses on the current state, performance and impact of investment liberalization and facilitation, trade facilitation, and transport and logistics services regulatory regime. The analysis was based on survey questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions complemented by secondary data provided by national and international agencies. The study shows that after more than two decades of pursuing market-oriented reforms such as liberalization, deregulation and privatization; there exists a large gap between policy and practice; coordination among government agencies has remained ineffective; governance has been weak; poor infrastructure continues to hamper efficient business operations; and many processes such as registration and applications for permits and licenses have remained complex, problematic, and costly. Many complementary policies and institutions that are necessary to support the reforms and generate supply-side responses leading to employment and growth are missing. If market reforms are to have their intended effects, "behind the border" complementary policies that define the business environment must be addressed, including investment in human capital, infrastructure, and the quality of governance in the country. To move forward, the Philippines should substantially increase infrastructure investment spending and strengthen its weak institutional and regulatory environment. These are necessary to enable us to deepen our integration within the ASEAN region and the global community and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the rising trend of economic integration in the region.


The coal industry in China's industrialbasepositioninindustry, is currently China and beyond for a long time with the main primary energy. However, due to the characteristics of the coal industry's own decision making coal mining operations is very dangerous, even if the technology developed is now, the probability of occurrence of coal mine accidents remains stubbornly high, occur frequently, bring about social insecurity factors, but also to countless families brought a huge threat. So how can weachieve the coal industry safety issue aroused people's attention, has become the primary problem we have now, you want to solve thisproblem, the implementation of the mine sitemonitoring is an important tool. In this paper, through the safety science, management theory and computer network technology, the use of knowledge to undertake a study on coal mine safety, coal mine site monitor ring system design. And domestic and international coal mine safety supervision relevant case analysis to identify the existence of the problems of coal mining enterprises to find a reasonable solution.


In response to herbivory by insects, several plant species have been shown to produce volatiles that attract the natural enemies of those herbivores. Using a Y‐tube olfactometer, we investigated responses of the aphid parasitoid Diaeretiella rapae MacIntosh (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) to volatiles from Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia (Brassicaceae) plants that were either undamaged, infested by the peach‐potato aphid, Myzus persicae Sulzer (Homoptera: Aphididae), or mechanically damaged, as well as to volatiles from just the aphid or its honeydew. In dual‐choice experiments, female D. rapae given oviposition experience on A. thaliana infested with M. persicae were significantly attracted to volatiles from A. thaliana infested with M. persicae over volatiles from undamaged A. thaliana and similarly were significantly attracted to plants that had been previously infested by M. persicae, but from which the aphids were removed, over undamaged plants. Diaeretiella rapae did not respond to volatiles from M. persicae alone, their honeydew, or plants mechanically damaged with either a pin or scissors. We conclude that an interaction between the plant and the aphid induces A. thaliana to produce volatiles, which D. rapae can learn and respond to. Poor responses of D. rapae to volatiles from an A. thaliana plant that had two leaves infested with M. persicae, with the two infested leaves being removed before testing, suggested the possibility that, at this stage of infestation, the majority of volatile production induced by M. persicae may be localized to the infested tissues of the plant. We conclude that this tritrophic interaction is a suitable model system for future investigations of the biochemical pathways involved in the production of aphid‐induced volatiles attractive to natural enemies.


Over the past four decades, the state of Hawaii has developed a system of eleven Marine Life Conservation Districts (MLCDs) to conserve and replenish marine resources around the state. Initially established to provide opportunities for public interaction with the marine environment, these MLCDs vary in size, habitat quality, and management regimes, providing an excellent opportunity to test hypotheses concerning marine protected area (MPA) design and function using multiple discreet sampling units. NOAA/NOS/NCCOS/Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment's Biogeography Team developed digital benthic habitat maps for all MLCD and adjacent habitats. These maps were used to evaluate the efficacy of existing MLCDs for biodiversity conservation and fisheries replenishment, using a spatially explicit stratified random sampling design. Coupling the distribution of habitats and species habitat affinities using GIS technology elucidates species habitat utilization patterns at scales that are commensurate with ecosystem processes and is useful in defining essential fish habitat and biologically relevant boundaries for MPAs.

Analysis of benthic cover validated the a priori classification of habitat types and provided justification for using these habitat strata to conduct stratified random sampling and analyses of fish habitat utilization patterns. Results showed that the abundance and distribution of species and assemblages exhibited strong correlations with habitat types. Fish assemblages in the colonized and uncolonized hardbottom habitats were found to be most similar among all of the habitat types. Much of the macroalgae habitat sampled was macroalgae growing on hard substrate, and as a result showed similarities with the other hardbottom assemblages. The fish assemblages in the sand habitats were highly variable but distinct from the other habitat types.

Management regime also played an important role in the abundance and distribution of fish assemblages. MLCDs had higher values for most fish assemblage characteristics (e.g. biomass, size, diversity) compared with adjacent fished areas and Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs) across all habitat types. In addition, apex predators and other targeted resources species were more abundant and larger in the MLCDs, illustrating the effectiveness of these closures in conserving fish populations. Habitat complexity, quality, size and level of protection from fishing were important determinates of MLCD effectiveness with respect to their associated fish assemblages. (PDF contains 217 pages)


Academic psychology in South Africa appears nearly 100 years old. It therefore seems strange as well as dis concerning that this important basis of psychology has been exposed to relatively little research. The present article flows from a larger study in which it was endeavoured to supplement such research. More specifically it focuses on the profile of academic psychologists, non-academic psychologists and Master's degree students. More than I 000 questionnaires were sent out and 424 (40,8 percent) were returned. The most important findings were that there is an alarming shortage of African language psychologists, male students, young academics, more mature (older) students and non-academics with Ph.D.'s. It also seems that the clinical category dominates the profession, while research psychology is disturbingly underrepresented. The relatively poor membership of the Psychological Society South Africa is another cause for concern. The implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations' are made.


Background Reaction time (RT) is a valuable component of the sport concussion assessment battery. RT is typically measured using computers running specialised software, which limits its applicability in some athletic settings and populations. To address this, we developed a simple clinical test of RT (RTclin) that involves grasping a falling measuring stick. Purpose To determine the effect of concussion on RTclin and its sensitivity and specificity for concussion. Materials and methods Concussed athletes (n=28) and non-concussed control team-mates (n=28) completed RTclin assessments at baseline and within 48 h of injury. Repeated measures analysis of variance compared mean baseline and follow-up RTclin values between groups. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated over a range of reliable change confidence levels. Results RTclin differed significantly between groups (p<0.001): there was significant prolongation from baseline to postinjury in the concussed group (p=0.003), with a trend towards improvement in the control group (p=0.058). Sensitivity and specificity were maximised when a critical change value of 0 ms was applied (ie, any increase in RTclin from baseline was interpreted as abnormal), which corresponded to a sensitivity of 75%, specificity of 68% and a 65% reliable change confidence level. Conclusions RTclin appears sensitive to the effects of concussion and distinguished concussed and non-concussed athletes with similar sensitivity and specificity to other commonly used concussion assessment tools. Given its simplicity, low cost and minimal time requirement, RTclin should be considered a viable component of the sports medicine provider's multifaceted concussion assessment battery.


Development of contemporary international law is determined by its qualitative changes. If contemporary international law was compared with classical international law, the mojor transformation which occurred was in the area of prohibition of use of force and threat of force. As a consequence of this change, international law transformed from the law of war to the law of peace and international security. The article seeks to achieve two aims: 1) to discuss briefly the genesis of the definition of aggression prior to establishment of the United Nations; 2) to disclose the focal issues of the definition of aggression on the basis of the UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 of 1974. Having reviewed the genesis of the definition of aggression prior to the establishment of the United Nations, the author concludes that even prior to World War II international law in the form of international agreements allowed to qualify military use of force as unlawful. According the the UN General Assembly resolution on the definition of aggression of 1974, the elements of aggression are: 1) aggression relating to the use of armed force; 2) aggression is aimed against the sovereignty of a state, territorial integrity and political independence; 3) apart from findings on whether there were acts constituting aggression, it is important to establish the fact of the first use of armed force. After the definition of aggression was adopted in 1974, the UN General Assembly confirmed it in its subsequent resolutions. By these resolutions the United Nations seeks to establish a wider definition of aggression. It is important to emphasize that the International Court of Justice in the case of Nicaragua v. U.S. found that Article 3(g) of the Definition of aggression may be considered as reflecting customary international law. No legal instrument concluded so far provides with a positive definition of economical and ideological aggression. The Statute of the International Criminal Court does not provide a definition of aggression. In the opinion of the author, the question needs more attention of both the United Nations and the international community.


Abstract. The world's ocean and land ecosystems act as sinks for anthropogenic CO2, and over the last half century their combined sink strength grew steadily with increasing CO2 emissions. Recent analyses of the global carbon budget, however, have uncovered an abrupt, substantial ( ∼  1 PgC yr−1) and sustained increase in the land sink in the late 1980s whose origin remains unclear. In the absence of this prominent shift in the land sink, increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations since the late 1980s would have been  ∼  30 % larger than observed (or  ∼  12 ppm above current levels). Global data analyses are limited in regards to attributing causes to changes in the land sink because different regions are likely responding to different drivers. Here, we address this challenge by using terrestrial biosphere models constrained by observations to determine if there is independent evidence for the abrupt strengthening of the land sink. We find that net primary production significantly increased in the late 1980s (more so than heterotrophic respiration), consistent with the inferred increase in the global land sink, and that large-scale climate anomalies are responsible for this shift. We identify two key regions in which climatic constraints on plant growth have eased: northern Eurasia experienced warming, and northern Africa received increased precipitation. Whether these changes in continental climates are connected is uncertain, but North Atlantic climate variability is important. Our findings suggest that improved understanding of climate variability in the North Atlantic may be essential for more credible projections of the land sink under climate change.


In order to improve the energy performance of a district heating and cooling (DHC) system, retro-commissioning was analyzed using visualization method and simulation based on mathematical models, and improved operation schemes were proposed according to simulation analysis results. The first part of this paper describes the system performance through visualizing the current operation modes. The second part introduces the retro-commissioning analysis for the system using mathematical models of each component. The third part studies the energy and cost performance of several improved operation proposals using simulation. The results are as follows.1) The carpet plots of current operation modes can be generated automatically and they are useful to check whether the operation is proper or not. 2) The total system simulation model was constructed. The simulation error of the total energy consumption was 1.5% and the percentage of root mean square error (%RMSE) was 16.3%, which show that the simulation is accurate enough to study the performance of proposed operation.3) System simulations for proposed operation schemes were performed. The simulation results show that the system operation with the optimal temperature set point of cooling water at 22oC can improve the total energy coefficient of the heat pump and cooling tower by 2.2 %. Another proposal is that if the return water temperature from users can be kept at the designed value, which is 13±1 compared with the current average value of 10.5 , the total energy consumption can be reduced by 9.5%, and energy cost can be reduced by 11.6%.


Affective technologies enable the automatic recognition of human emotional expressions and non-verbal signals which play an important part in effective communication. This paper describes the use of user-centred design techniques to establish display designs suitable for feeding back recognised emotional and social signals to trainees during communication skills training. The channels of communication investigated are facial expression, hand gestures, voice emotion recognition and Pentland's 'honest signals'. Ease and understanding of the different feedback methods was assessed using System Usability Scale (SUS) and obtaining qualitative views using semi structured interviews. The SUS revealed that participants preferred consistency of feedback method over ease of understanding the method on initial exposure. The themes identified across all communication channels were comparison to good performance , scale considerations , value of visual display, guidance, explanations and temporal behaviour .


The teaching of Mandarin Chinese can be enhanced by the application of principles underlying the Chinese way of thinking -the Conceptual Sequence Principle (CSP) (Wu 1992:53) and the Principle of Temporal Sequence (PTS) (Tai 1985:61). These are fundamental principles motivating syntactic structures and discourse organisations in Chinese. The two principles capture the most general tendency of Chinese syntactic structures and discourse organisation. CSP accounts for various double (or multiple) nominative constructions typical of the language including Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) and Object-Subject-Verb (OSV) patterns, whereas PTS explains the relative position of verbs in verb compounds and serial verb constructions, and the position of adverbials – typically those of time and location – in relation to the verb in a sentence, as well as the because-therefore discourse pattern (Kirkpatrick 1991:183). An understanding of the two principles will not only enable students to gain insight into the Chinese language and avoid common mistakes caused by the interference of their mother tongue, but also assist them to understand the Chinese way of thinking and achieve interactive competence in the language.


Literature Review It is projected that from 2008 to 2016 there will be a 29% increase in workforce demands for computer system analysts, a 37% increase in demand for jobs for database administrators, and a 38% increase in the availability of jobs for software engineers (U.S. Department of Labor, 2005). Despite increasing demands, women and minorities remain underrepresented in computing fields. This has become a cause for significant concern echoed by a study of corporate executives (Delos, 2008) that found that the lack of minorities and women in computing professions is causing a talent deficit. The executives surveyed blamed the pre-college school system for contributing to the low representation of women and minorities in science and technology fields by not exposing learners to computing through course offerings and/or career counseling. Furthermore, Young (2004) reported that our perception of student computer skills may be inflated. Young's charge was echoed by Wallace and Clariana (2005) who found that incoming college students lack the necessary computer knowledge, skills, and abilities to pursue undergraduate degree programs that are dependent on strong computing skills. The National Science Foundation (NSF) examined the population of students who earned computing and/or technology degrees in 2005. According to the NSF (Chute, 2009), only 25% of the 2005 graduates nationwide were women while 75% were men. When race was considered, only 10% of the 2005 graduates were Black. Further, the enrollment of underrepresented groups in CS and IS programs continues to decline at a significant rate (Clinging, 2006). Clinging (2006) explains that this is influenced by a bias where low expectations foster diminished confidence and reduced success for women and minorities considering and/or attempting to study computing. Compounding the problem is the lack of technology professionals acting as role models and limited exposure to computing professions. Chute (2009) explained that female and minority students who have not been exposed to family members who are successful in technology-related fields are unlikely to be scheduled for math or computer science classes in high school. This was echoed at a 2005 conference held by the NSF (National Science Foundation [NSF], 2005) that reported that many current science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals had family connections or other points of contact in STEM fields that helped to influence and support their decision to select and persist in STEM studies. The result is that underrepresented minority learners who lack family connections and other points of contact are at a disadvantage due to the lack of role models and support. The digital divide remains a significant concern in the United States, with race/ ethnicity, income level, and education contributing to inequalities with the use of computers and reliable and expedient access to the internet (Morgan & VanLegen, 2005). Sax, Ceja, and Teranishi (2001) conducted a nationwide survey of college freshmen and found that level of technological preparedness varied significantly by race, class, and academic background. They explained that these technological disparities are a hindrance to students' academic success. Further, a 2007 study of 748 freshmen students at two public HBCUs, (Buzzetto-More & Sweat-Guy, 2007) found that while the number of students having studied computers had grown it was still significantly lower than what had been reported in the studies conducted at majority serving institutions. Another problem is that when female and minority students arrive on college campuses they find a lack of women and minority faculty in STEM areas. Between 2002 and 2007, the number of underrepresented faculty in the top 100 departments for science and engineering increased by only 0.5 percent rising to 5 percent (Nealy, 2007). Nealy explains that "Underrepresented minorities are projected to constitute almost 32 percent of the American population by 2020; therefore, proactive steps should be taken now in order to insure that the proportionate inclusion of such a large part of the population in science and engineering, throughout all levels of academia," (Nealy, 2007, p. …


Aboriginal and nonaboriginal fishing-dependent communities on the coast of British Columbia, Canada, having lost traditional fisheries management institutions along with significant fishing opportunity, are in the process of rebuilding local and regional institutions to allow their survival. Sometimes, the rebuilding effort involves the creation of largely new institutions. It can also involve the reactivation, reinvention, or repositioning of older ones. We consider the aspirations, strategies, and activities of organizations in two regions of the coast involved in two different fisheries: salmon on the north coast and intertidal clams in the Broughton Archipelago. We analyze what the two regions have in common, as well as their differences, to generate general predictions and recommendations about what preconditions appear to be necessary for success in rebuilding institutions in communities and regions at these scales and what actions are likely to be most effective, according to a body of literature on self-management and comanagement. In both cases, we found favorable conditions in the communities, the external political arena, and in government to support the rebuilding goals of the organizations working in the two regions. Although both areas would benefit from greater financial resources, the most critical need is for external support in the form of alliances, issue networks, and access to multiple sources of power.


IPBES is to perform regular and timely assessments of knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services and their interlinkages at the global level. Also addressing an invitation by the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to prepare a global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services building, inter alia, on its own and other relevant regional, subregional and thematic assessments, as well as on national reports.

The overall scope of the assessment is to assess the status and trends with regard to biodiversity and ecosystem services, the impact of biodiversity and ecosystem services on human well-being and the effectiveness of responses, including the Strategic Plan and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets. It is anticipated that this deliverable will contribute to the process for the evaluation and renewal of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets.


Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have emerged as powerful tools to encode graph-structured data. Due to their broad applications, there is an increasing need to develop tools to explain how GNNs make decisions given graph-structured data. Existing learning-based GNN explanation approaches are task-specific in training and hence suffer from crucial drawbacks. Specifically, they are incapable of producing explanations for a multitask prediction model with a single explainer. They are also unable to provide explanations in cases where the GNN is trained in a self-supervised manner, and the resulting representations are used in future downstream tasks. To address these limitations, we propose a Task-Agnostic GNN Explainer (TAGE) that is independent of downstream models and trained under self-supervision with no knowledge of downstream tasks. TAGE enables the explanation of GNN embedding models with unseen downstream tasks and allows efficient explanation of multitask models. Our extensive experiments show that TAGE can significantly speed up the explanation efficiency by using the same model to explain predictions for multiple downstream tasks while achieving explanation quality as good as or even better than current state-of-the-art GNN explanation approaches. Our code is pubicly available as part of the DIG library at https://github.com/divelab/DIG/tree/main/dig/xgraph/TAGE/.


ABSTRACT The taxonomy of two poorly known species of rhizopine crabs, Ceratoplax truncatifrons Rathbun, 1914, and C. fulgida Rathbun, 1914 (Brachyura Linnaeus, 1758: Pilumnidae Samouelle, 1819) is clarified on the basis of the type material from the Philippines. A new species, C. margarita n. sp., is described from Papua New Guinea. It can be distinguished from the above two species (and all congeners) by its carapace, sternal and gonopod characters.


OBJECTIVE
The twin epidemics of HIV and homelessness present several challenging aspects to the development of programmes for the provision of treatment and care. This paper describes the characteristics of this population being managed by a collaborative effort between the Centre for HIV/AIDS Research, Education and Services, Department of Medicine, University Hospital of the West Indies and the National Council on Drug Abuse.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
A retrospective descriptive study was conducted via review of patients'medical files. Demographic and clinical data of the HIV-infected homeless population were summarized, highlighting issues related to the provision of care, rates of antiretroviral therapy (ART) uptake and subsequent adherence to treatment and known factors associated with HIV transmission.

RESULTS
A total of 12 cases were included in the analysis. There was an average age of 38.0 years (IQR 32.5-49.25) with the majority being female, nine (75.0%). Late stage diagnosis was a common feature. The majority of cases were eligible for ART on first contact, with CD4 counts on average being 284.4 (95% CI 10.9.0, 459.8). Significant risk factors for HIV transmission were also identified as all cases reported being sexual active with limited condom use reported and high reported numbers of lifetime partners, 30 (IQR 25.0-100.0). Other factors identified include eight (66.6%) cases reporting sexually transmitted infection (STI) symptoms, 10 (83.3%) reporting substance abuse and nine (75.0%) reporting sex work.

CONCLUSION
The implementation of combination interventions providing a comprehensive package of services that address the multitude of issues facing the HIV-infected homeless population is required in order to appropriately manage this population.


Online review aggregators, such as TripAdvisor, HotelClub and OpenTable help consumers identify the products and services that best match their preferences. The goal of this study is to understand the impact of online review aggregators on firms and consumers. We adopt Salop's circular city model in which consumers initially do not know the locations of the firms in the product space. The firms decide whether or not to be listed on an online review aggregator's website and choose their prices. When a firm resorts to the aggregator, its location and price become observable to the consumers who visit the website. We consider two different scenarios, depending on the possibility for online firms to offer discounts to the consumers who book online. We show that in equilibrium not all firms will go online – some will remain offline. Online firms attract more customers than their offline counterparts due to reduced mismatch costs, but face a tougher price competition. Comparing the equilibrium prices, profits and the number of firms that go online across the scenarios, we derive interesting conclusions from the private and the social standpoints.


A lot of work has been done in the field of image compression via machine learning, but not much attention has been given to the compression of natural language. Compressing text into lossless representations while making features easily retrievable is not a trivial task, yet has huge benefits. Most methods designed to produce feature rich sentence embeddings focus solely on performing well on downstream tasks and are unable to properly reconstruct the original sequence from the learned embedding. In this work, we propose a near lossless method for encoding long sequences of texts as well as all of their sub-sequences into feature rich representations. We test our method on sentiment analysis and show good performance across all sub-sentence and sentence embeddings.


OBJECTIVES
The present investigation aimed to assess the bone-regenerative potential of two formulations of anorganic bovine-derived mineral bound to a P-15 (ABM/P-15) bone graft - the particulate and the hydrogel forms - in a delayed healing rabbit cranial defect model.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Ten adult male New Zealand White rabbits were used to create two 8 mm transcortical cranial defects per rabbit and each one received randomly the test material (ABM/P-15 carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-hydrogel graft), the standard control material (ABM/P-15 particulate graft) or remained empty as a negative control. The defects were allowed to heal for 2 and 4 weeks. Qualitative and quantitative histological outcomes were assessed on undecalcified sections.

RESULTS
In the defects grafted with the test material, at both time points, there was a marked random migration of the bone substitute particles. As a consequence, the space maintenance provision was lost and new bone formation was reduced compared with the control particulate graft material. The histomorphometric analysis showed that the control material attained better results, with an average of 13.8 ± 1.9% and 18.2 ± 4.4% of new bone at 2 and 4 weeks, compared with 8.5 ± 2.4% and 13 ± 2.9% for the test material. These differences were significant at 2 weeks (P ≤ 0.05), but not at 4 weeks (P>0.05). Additionally, there was a significant difference in the total area of mineralized tissue (new bone plus particles), favoring the standard control over the test material: 43.2 ± 14.4% vs. 14.2 ± 5.3% at 2 weeks and 56.9 ± 4.2% vs. 24.2 ± 9.6% at 4 weeks, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The test ABM/P-15 CMC-hydrogel graft material behaved in this animal model by migration of the graft particles, what determined an unpredictable osseoconduction and, consequently, a decreased quality and quantity of bone regeneration as compared with the osseopromotive behavior exhibited by the standard particulate form of the ABM/P-15 control graft. It is therefore suggested to restrain the application of the hydrogel graft form in non-contained anatomical bone defects.


A large number of today's ab initio calculations, in particular in solid-state physics, are based on density-functional theory using first-principles pseudopotentials. This approach, initially developed for the ground state, is nowadays widely used as a starting point for the calculation of excited-state properties, as, for instance, those involved in optical spectroscopy. In this paper we investigate the validity and the accuracy of the pseudopotential approximation, analyzing how different choices within the latter can influence the calculated electronic response of silicon and silicon carbide. We consider norm-conserving first-principles pseudopotentials, both in the fully nonlocal (Kleinman-Bylander) and the semilocal forms, with different choices for the reference (local) component. The effects of the inclusion of outer-core states in the valence shell are analyzed in order to obtain a detailed comparison with all-electron calculations. We present accurate results for different pseudopotential descriptions of Kohn-Sham and quasiparticle band structures and of many spectroscopic quantities in the linear and the nonlinear response regimes for different momentum transfers $\mathbf{Q}$. Moreover, the effects of the pseudopotential nonlocality have been analyzed for electron-energy-loss spectra in the limit of vanishing momentum transfer. Our results show that the pseudopotential approximation can be quite safely applied to excited-state calculations, even when they involve Kohn-Sham eigenvalues and eigenvectors several tens of eV above the Fermi energy.


Intestinal lymphangiectasia is an uncommon condition that can present diagnostic difficulties. It may be primary or secondary. Treatment of the condition involves management of the effects of lymphangiectasia and also management of the underlying cause (in cases of secondary lymphangiectasia). Patients are usually unwell, requiring multiple investigations, often developing complications and needing considerable in-patient hospital stays. Management is frequently by a multidisciplinary team of health professionals. The following case illustrates all of the above, together with learning points and a general discussion of lymphangiectasia diagnosis and management including the underlying cause in this case.

John, a 9-year-old boy, saw his GP several times with a three-month history of cramping lower abdominal pain, diarrhoea, tiredness, difficulty sleeping and weight loss. He had been passing loose stools 6–8 times a day but without blood or mucus. His weight was 27 kg and height 132 cm, both close to the 25th centile. He looked tired and miserable but general examination was otherwise normal.

His GP considered gastrointestinal pathology and requested a full blood count, urea and electrolytes, liver and thyroid function tests, plasma viscosity, and endomysial antibodies, all of which were normal. Nevertheless, in view of the recurrent visits to the surgery with persistent symptoms, a referral was made to a consultant paediatrician. However, in the meantime, a concerned school medical officer arranged an urgent appointment with the paediatric gastroenterologist.

Five months after the onset of the illness, diarrhoea and malaise continued to be prominent symptoms, to the extent that John had now stopped attending school. There was no family history of bowel disease. A grandfather had recently died from pancreatic carcinoma. On examination John was strikingly thin and weak, with proximal muscle wasting. His weight was 22.8 kg. There were no other abnormal findings on clinical examination and in particular no lymphadenopathy …


Since interventions by the public sector generally commit substantial societal resources, the evaluation of effects and costs of policy interventions is imperative. This Paper outlines why programme evaluation should follow well respected scientific standards and why it should be performed by independent researchers. Moreover, it outlines the three fundamental elements of evaluation research, the choice of the appropriate outcome measure, the assessment of the direct and indirect cost associated with the intervention, and the attribution of effects to underlying causes. The Paper proceeds to outline in intuitive terms that the construction of a credible counterfactual situation is at the heart of the formal statistical evaluation problem. It introduces several approaches, based on both experiments and on non-experimental data that have been proposed in the literature to solve the evaluation problem, and illustrates them numerically.