Collective enforcement of copyright law is an increasingly important element in copyright-based industries. This article suggests that collective enforcement creates two forces: increased compliance with copyright laws; and a tendency for copyright collecting societies to act as monopolists. The interaction of these forces is discussed and the price and output consequences identified. From this position, using the Australian regulatory experience as a guide, the article highlights a number of regulatory shortcomings and suggests a range of principles upon which to base the regulation of copyright collecting societies.


The problem of model matching for finite-state asynchronous sequential machines is examined. In particular, the considered asynchronous machine may receive uncontrollable external inputs, i.e., of which values the controller cannot change or disable. For realizing model matching with a reference model, the asynchronous machine must have additional reachability to deal with transitions by uncontrollable inputs. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an appropriate controller are given in terms of a reachability relation between the machine and the model. A characterization of feasible control laws is derived and algorithms for their design are outlined.


Traditional herbal medicine is very common in the Anatolian regions and has been used for centuries. In this study, it was aimed to show the course of dermatitis in cases of phyto contact dermatitis caused by buttercups when the patients presented at different times after the application. 3 patients who lived in the same region presented at the family practice clinic because of lesions which emerged after the topical application of plants from the Ranunculaceae family for knee pain. The patients presented on the 1st, 4th and 15th day respectively after application and were all diagnosed with irritant phyto contact dermatitis. In Turkey, particularly amongst the elderly, the use of herbal treatments is greater than has been estimated. Therefore, when family practitioners observe lesions particularly on joint surfaces, the use of plant extracts must be questioned.


The effect of urea and concentrated superphosphate additions on the movement of N, P, K, and Ca from the litter and top 10 cm of the mineral soil via the soil solution was evaluated in an upland oak forest using tension lysimeters. The range in total flux values for each element over the study period were: N 24.8 to 1145.3; P 2.0 to 633.3; Ca 70.6 to 553.1; and K 49.5 to 94.0 kg/ha in response to various combinations of N and P fertilizer addition at levels of 0, 550, and 1100 kg/ha N and 0, 275, and 550 kg/ha P. Nitrogen fertilizer addition significantly increased the flux of N and K while reducing the flux of P and Ca. Phosphorus fertilizer addition significantly increased N, P, Ca, and K fluxes. Solubilization of organic matter and the formation of insoluble calcium ammonium phosphate were important processes regulating the flux of N, P, Ca, and K.


Three groups of 12 mice each were maintained at environmental temperatures of 34, 22, and 5 C for a period of about 7 weeks after an intraperitoneal injection of Cs137. Periodic assay of the activity in the whole body and excreta showed that as environmental temperature decreases the excretion of Cs137 increases, probably as a result of the increased metabolic rates associated with low temperatures. Submitted on November 19, 1962


A retrospective chart review describing the rates of occurrence, methods of evaluation, and diagnoses of patients complaining of fatigue in a university family medicine teaching practice was performed. After excluding patients in whom an unequivocal explanation for the fatigue was reached at the initial encounter, 118 patients aged 15 years and over were identified during a two-year study in a practice with about 6,000 active adult patients (9.9/1,000 patients per year). The age and sex distributions of the cases were identical to those of the active patient population. The average laboratory examination cost approximately $48. An average of 2.7 laboratory tests per patient were ordered. Although 12 percent of laboratory tests were abnormal, laboratory tests were important in securing a diagnosis in only 9 of the 118 patients. Clinical diagnoses were classified as either primarily biomedical or primarily psychosocial. Psychosocial diagnoses were identified in 50 percent of patients, while primarily biomedical diagnoses were found in 22 percent. No diagnosis was made in 28 percent of patients. Sixty-eight percent of patients had at least one follow-up visit. Failure to follow up was uncommon in patients with depression or biomedical diagnoses other than viral syndromes but was common with other primarily psychosocial diagnoses.


We investigated electrophysiological correlates of activation to faces, pointillised faces (degraded to a degree still allowing face perception), and their inverted counterparts. Evoked magnetic fields to the four stimulus categories were recorded by 122-channel magnetoencephalography (MEG) in six subjects. Simultaneously recorded 64-channel EEG provided visual evoked potentials in four subjects. Analysis of the onset, peak latencies, and the signal strength of the face enhanced N170 response indicated the following. (1) In general, the MEG and EEG recordings supported each other. (2) Degrading the images delayed both the onset and peak latencies. Degrading the upright faces increased activity in some subjects, but activity to the degraded inverted faces was lower in all subjects. (3) Inversion delayed the onset latency of both the original and degraded faces by 4 – 10 ms on average. A similar shift was found for the peak latency of the inverted original face images. However, their pointillised counterparts peaked on average 26 ms later when inverted. The signal amplitude also reflected a differential effect of inverting original vs degraded faces; whereas original faces evoked larger responses in all six subjects, the signal to inverted degraded faces decreased in four subjects. The findings suggest that the analysis of both the onset (100 – 120 ms) and peak activity (150 – 170 ms) is important for understanding face processing. The effect of inversion on the evoked responses was found to be different for the original and pointillised faces.


Predictive models about the quality changes of silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) fillets stored under variable temperatures were investigated. Electrical conductivity (EC), total aerobic count (TAC), total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N) and sensory score of silver carp fillets stored at 270, 273, 276, 282 and 288 K were determined. Different reaction orders (zero, first and second) were tested; EC, TAC and TVB-N followed a first-order reaction equation; and sensory score followed a zero-order reaction equation based on the total coefficient of determination (ΣR2). The effect of temperature and storage time on the quality of silver carp fillets was modeled by using Arrhenius equation. All the relative errors of validation experiments for EC, TAC and sensory score varied by <13% and for TVB-N varied by <13% within 12 days. Therefore, the models can predict the quality of silver carp fillets effectively within 270–288 K.

Practical Applications

In this work, the efficient quality models for silver carp fillets during refrigerated storage were established. The useful information about quality changes in silver carp fillets stored under different temperatures could be obtained by the predictive models. In addition, fast calculations of the quality changes based on the stored temperature allow optimizing their storage management and reducing the economic losses during cold chain. Therefore, the quality models of silver carp fillets have a brilliant prospect in predicting quality changes during the cold chain.


Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate objective and subjective image qualities of virtual monoenergetic imaging (VMI) in dual-source dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) and optimal kiloelectron-volt (keV) levels for lung cancer. Methods Fifty-nine lung cancer patients underwent chest DECT. Images were reconstructed as VMI series at energy levels of 40, 60, 80, and 100 keV and standard linear blending (M_0.3) for comparison. Objective and subjective image qualities were assessed. Results Lesion contrast peaked in 40-keV VMI reconstructions (2.5 ± 2.9) and 60 keV (1.9 ± 3.0), which was superior to M_0.3 (0.5 ± 2.7) for both comparisons (P < 0.001). Compared with M_0.3, subjective ratings were highest for 60-keV VMI series regarding general image quality (4.48 vs 4.52; P = 0.74) and increased for lesion demarcation (4.07 vs 4.84; P < 0.001), superior to all other VMI series (P < 0.001). Image sharpness was similar between both series. Image noise was rated superior in the 80-keV and M_0.3 series, followed by 60 keV. Conclusions Virtual monoenergetic imaging reconstructions at 60-keV provided the best combination of subjective and objective image qualities in DECT of lung cancer.


A study has been made of the kinetics of lysis induced by various hemolytic agents. The course of bemolysis was followed by mixing lysin with washed human erythrocytes, removing samples from the mixture, and estimating colorimetrically the hemoglobin in the supernatant fluid of the centrifuged samples. Most of the curves (but not all of them, e.g. tyrocidine) obtained by plotting degree of hemolysis against time, were S-shaped. The initiation of lysis by streptolysin S' was delayed, and in this property, streptolysin S' was similar to Cl. septicum hemolysin. None of the other lysins studied exhibited a long latent period preceding lysis. The maximum rate of hemoglobin liberation was found, in the range of lysin concentrations studied, to be a linear function of concentration when theta toxin of Cl. welchii, pneumolysin, tetanolysin, or streptolysin S' was the lytic agent. With comparable concentrations of saponin, sodium taurocholate, cetyl pyridinium chloride, tyrocidine, duponol C, lecithin-atrox venom mixture, or streptolysin O, the relation between rate and concentration was non-linear. The critical thermal increment associated with hemolysis was determined for systems containing pneumolysin, theta toxin, streptolysin S', streptolysin O, tetanolysin, and saponin. The findings concerning the effect of concentration and temperature on the rate of hemolysis provide a basis for classifying hemolytic agents (Tables I and II). Hemolysis induced by Cl. septicum hemolysin was found to be preceded by two phases: a phase of alteration of the erythrocytes and a phase involving swelling. Antihemolytic serum inhibited the first but not the second phase while sucrose inhibited the second but not the first phase.


The article presents an interpretation of the Europeanization of Italian regional policy, developed through an analysis of the domestic impact of EU policy on the policies and strategies for regional development of the Italian state. "Europeanization " refers to the mechanisms and dynamics of national response to supranational policy inputs, with specific attention to factors of resistance and change in domestic institutions and policies. In these terms, Europeanization research underlines the specificity of modes of adaptation and change in defined policy areas and, in particular, their largely policy-driven nature. The Europeanization of regional policy is an exemplary expression of this, as it affects a re-articulation of relationships between national and sub-national actors and institutions, in a context of policy-making that is increasingly subtracted to rules of territorial sovereignty. For national-state actors and institutions, this implies an urgency to redefine criteria for effectiveness and legitimation of their own role in territorial development policies, in response to two fundamental directions of change:- in the relationships between decision-making arenas, marked by multi-level rearticulation of intergovernmental practices;- in the relationships between scales of governance and regulation, marked by a process of "re-territorialization" of politics. A remarkable result of this is the centrality taken by a re-thematization of the meaning of territoriality, putting "locales" central as both objects of national policies and as subjects of their enactment.


RATIONALE: Pathways regulating lung cancer metastasis are not well understood. As with most cancers, metastasis depends on critical interactions between tumor cells and the surrounding tumor microenvironment. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors. In humans, a retrospective study of patients treated with thiazolidinediones (TZDs), which are ligands for PPARγ, demonstrated a 33% reduction in risk of developing lung cancer. However, the effect of PPARγ activation on progression and metastasis of established lung tumors has not been clearly established. Our laboratory has developed a mouse model in which murine lung cancer cells directly injected into the lung of syngeneic mice develop secondary pulmonary tumors and metastasize to the mediastinal lymph nodes, the liver, and the brain. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of the TZD pioglitazone on lung cancer progression using this model. METHODS: Murine non-small cell lung cancer cells stably transfected with firefly luciferase were implanted in the left lung of C57BL/6 wild-type mice. Mice were fed either chow impregnated with pioglitazone (0.05%) or control chow. At various time points following injection, animals were sacrificed and organs were assessed for tumors using ex vivo bioluminescence imaging. Primary tumors were measured with digital calipers, and the number of secondary tumors in the other lung lobes, liver and brain were quantified. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the size of the primary tumor between pioglitazone-treated and control mice at one week. However, primary tumors were significantly larger in pioglitazone-treated animals both 16 and 22 days after implantation of cancer cells. The differences in pulmonary metastases were even more impressive. At both 7 and 16 days, pioglitazone-treated mice showed 2-3 times more secondary pulmonary tumors compared to control animals. By day 25-30, 37.5% of mice fed pioglitazone-impregnated chow developed liver metastases, whereas only 17.6% of mice fed normal chow developed liver metastases. Brain metastases were only detected in mice fed chow impregnated with pioglitazone. CONCLUSION: Treatment of mice with the PPARγ activator pioglitazone unexpectedly accelerates metastasis of established pulmonary tumors. Since selective activation of PPARγ in tumor cells has been shown to inhibit transformed growth and invasiveness, we hypothesize that the metastasis-promoting effects of pioglitazone are mediated through effects on the tumor microenvironment. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2266.


China initiated a major reform for capital taxation in 2004. Completed in 2009, it introduced permanent tax incentives for firms' investment in fixed assets. We explore a unique firm-level dataset from years 2005–2012 and utilize a quasi-experimental design to test the impacts of the reform on firms' investment and productivity. We find that, on average, the reform raised investment and productivity of the treated firms relative to the control firms by 38.4 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively. We also show that the positive effects tend to be strengthened for firms with financial constraints. (JEL D24, D25, G31, H25, O25, P31, P35)


Objectives The aortic annulus diameter measured by transthoracic echocardiography yields lower values than by computed tomography, and echo-based selection of transcatheter aortic valve prosthesis size has been implied to result in more frequent paravalvular leakage. We investigated the relation of preoperative annulus diameter by echo with the ring size of the aortic prosthesis chosen by direct assessment during open-heart aortic valve replacement. Methods Preoperative annulus diameter by echo (from parasternal long-axis cross-sections of the left ventricular outflow tract and aortic valve) and implanted prosthetic diameter (tissue annulus diameter, determined intraoperatively using a sizing instrument) were compared retrospectively in 285 consecutive patients undergoing open-heart aortic valve replacement. Results A total of 285 prostheses (240 biologic and 45 mechanical) were implanted, with prosthetic diameter ranging between 19 and 27 mm. There was a significant linear correlation (P < 0.0001) with r = 0.51, between preoperative annulus diameter by echo (mean 21.8 ± 2.8 mm) and prosthetic diameter (22.9 ± 1.7 mm). Preoperative annulus diameter of patients receiving prostheses no. 21, 23 and 25 mm aortic prostheses (the most frequent prosthesis sizes) were significantly different (P < 0.001) from each other. On average, preoperative annulus diameter by echo underestimated prosthetic diameter by a bias of 1.07 mm. Conclusion Our data confirm that preoperative echo assessment of the aortic valve may slightly underestimates the optimal surgical prosthesis diameter for the aortic valve annulus.


In this paper we describe our experience in teaching two contemporary physics topics --elementary particles and superconductivity-- at high school level. The experience was developed in two years, including topic selection, preparation of instructional materials, teacher training, and classroom implementation.


The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the ethanolic extract of the leaves of Psidium guajava (PGE) on experimentally induced colitis in animal models. Fresh tender leaves of the plant were collected, air-dried, powdered and percolated in 95% ethanol. Acute toxicity test was done according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development guidelines. Five groups of animals of the species Rattus norvegicus, of either sex, weighing 150–200 g, were taken for the study (n=6). Group A and Group B consisted of normal and experimental control animals (3% gum acacia, 10 ml/kg body weight), respectively. Group C and Group D were test groups (PGE 250 mg/kg body weight and PGE 500 mg/kg body weight, respectively) and Group E was administered standard [5-amino salicylic acid (5-ASA) 100 mg/kg body weight]. All animals were pretreated with the respective drugs for 5 days. Colitis was induced next morning in Groups B, C, D and E by administration of 1 ml of 4% acetic acid transrectally. All the animals were sacrificed 48 hours after colitis induction and distal 10 cm of the colon was resected. Colon was weighed for Disease Activity Index (DAI), and scored macroscopically and microscopically. Biochemical assessment included myeloperoxidase (MPO), tissue catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) estimation. Statistical analysis was done by one way analysis of variance, followed by multiple comparison tests. Groups C, D, and E showed a significant (P<0.05) decrease in DAI, and macroscopic and microscopic lesion score, as well as a significant improvement (P<0.05) in MPO, CAT, GSH and SOD levels as compared to Group B. The ethanolic extract of P. guajava leaves showed significant amelioration of experimentally induced colitis, which may be attributed to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant property. Key words: Acetic acid, antioxidant, colitis, Psidium guajava


Antibiotics are drugs used for treating infectious disease such as bacterial infections, fungal infections and some parasitic infection but unwise use may contribute to resistance development and poor management of infectious diseases. Though pattern of antibiotic use was determined in different parts of Ethiopia, it is not known in Dessie referral hospital (DRH). This study aimed to assess antibiotic prescribing pattern in Dessie Referral hospital, Northeast Ethiopia, in January, 2012. Retrospective study was conducted from January 16 to 25, 2012, in the outpatient pharmacies of DRH. Prescription cards from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011 were selected using random sampling techniques and reviewed using pre-tested data collection format. Finally data was edited, coded, tallied and cleaned. Descriptive statistics was computed. On review of 770 prescription papers, 378 (24.37%) antibiotics were prescribed. Antibiotics prescribed with over, under and optimum dose were 19 (5.02%), 13 (3.43%), 346 (91.53%), respectively. About 15 (4%), 10 (2.6%) and 1 (0.3%) of antibiotics were prescribed by incorrect frequency, short and extended duration of administration, respectively. The most common dosage forms of antibiotics prescribed were solutions 120 (33.3%), tablets 103 (27.24%) and capsules 72 (19.04%). Oral route 219 (58%) followed by parental route 135 (35.7%) was the most commonly used route of drug administration.  There was rational use of antibiotics in the hospital though there are some problems that have to be considered.

 Key words: Antibiotics, prescription, drug, pattern.


ABSTRACT Ecological connectivity should be an important consideration in environmental assessment (EA). How often and how thoroughly the analysis of ecological connectivity is integrated in the EA process is, however, unknown. We surveyed EA actors and stakeholders regarding their perceptions of, and experiences with, connectivity analysis in the context of EA. 134 practitioners, regulators, consultants, researchers, and interest groups from all inhabited continents participated. Over 72% of respondents stated that ecological connectivity should always be considered; however, it is often considered too late in the EA process, at a scale of analysis often unsuitable for capturing landscape-scale effects, and relying on overly simplistic metrics or qualitative approaches. This disparity between the availability of a range of quantitative tools and the poor consideration of connectivity in EA raises major concerns about current practice and the feasibility of connectivity analysis in project-based EA. Connectivity consideration will need to be required explicitly and supported by best-practice guidance to address the conditions that should trigger a connectivity analysis, the required types of approaches, and the kind of information required to inform decision-making.


We investigate variations of the location and intensity of auroral currents during two magnetic storm periods based on magnetic field measurements from CHAMP separately for both hemispheres, as well as for the dayside and nightside. The corresponding auroral electrojet current densities are on average enhanced by about a factor of 7 compared to the quiet time current strengths. The nightside westward current densities are on average 1.8 (2.2) times larger than the dayside eastward current densities in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere. Both eastward and westward currents are present during the storm periods with the most intense electrojets appearing during the main phase of the storm, before the ring current maximizes in strength. The eastward and westward electrojet centers can expand to 55° MLat during intense storms, as is observed on 31 March 2001 with D st =−387 nT. The equatorward shift of auroral currents on the dayside is closely controlled by the southward IMF, while the latitudinal variations on the nightside are better described by the variations of the D st index. However, the equatorward and poleward motion of the nightside auroral currents occur earlier than the D st variations. The Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF) can capture the general dynamics of the storm time current variations. Both the model and the actual data show that the currents tend to saturate when the merging electric field is larger than 10 mV/m. However, the exact prediction of the temporal development of the currents is still not satisfactory.


Teacher education faculty at the University of Houston are collaborating with the staff at five elementary schools on an action research project. The evolution of the project is traced from its origins in the professional preparation program through the second year of work with the leader ship teams of the schools. Five dimensions of professional learning are identified: leadership, temporal and physical structures, individuals, interpersonal relationships, and synergy. Data from the second year of the project are considered in terms of the five dimensions. Implications of the project for developing a more collaborative, action-oriented approach to teacher educa tion that can be carried through the novice years of teaching and beyond are discussed.


New series of hyperbranched polyfluorenes containing triarylpyrazoline cores, PFZ10, PFZ20, PFNZ10, and PFNZ20, have been synthesized according to the "A2 + A′2 + B3" Suzuki coupling method. The structures and property of the monomers and conjugated polymers were characterized by elemental analysis, gel permeation chromatography, cyclic voltammetry, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and UV–visible absorption, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and photoluminescence spectroscopies. All these polymers exhibited good solubility in common organic solvents and good thermal stability. The long-wavelength emission of polyfluorenes had been effectively reduced in these hyperbranched polymers. Standard polymer light emitting devices (PLEDs) from PFZ10, PFZ20, PFNZ10, and PFNZ20, with the configuration of ITO/PEDOT/polymer/TPBI/Alq3/Mg:Ag, exhibited good electroluminescence (EL) properties The PLED based on PFNZ10 emitted pure blue light with a low turn-on voltage of 5.3 V and a high EL efficiency of about 1.93%. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5296–5307, 2007


Fulminant amebic colitis is an infrequent complication of amebiasis with a high mortality rate. The presence of a tumoral mass caused by ameba (ameboma) in the rectum or the colon is also of rare occurrence and can cause diagnostic difficulties. We report the case of a pregnant 27 year old patient with the association of both pathologies.


Background: Metabolic syndrome (Mets) is partially heritable. High mobility group AT-hook1 (HMGA1), an architectural transcription factor, affects the homeostasis of glucose. The marked inter-individual differences between T2DM patients in response to oral anti-diabetic drugs have become an issue for effective prescribing and dosing. The objective of this study was designed to assess whether different SNPs of the HMGA1 gene are associated with metabolic syndrome, and clarify the effect of these variants on response to combination therapy of metformin, sitagliptin, and glimepiride used by Mets with diabetes patients.
Methods: From February until Augusts 2022, a total of 91 Iraqi participants (61 patients with metabolic syndrome and 30 controls). The diabetes patients were divided into two groups' responders and non-responders, based on their HbA1c. Polymorphisms in HMGA1 and genotyping were identified by Sanger sequencing of genomic DNA.
Results: The high prevalence of CC and GG genotypes of rs1023028442 and rs112081775 respectively was seen in the Iraqi population. Minor allele frequency of rs1023028442 was higher among metabolic patients without diabetes with (MAF=0.08) compared to the control group with (MAF= 0%). While (MAF=0.1) of rs112081775 was seen in metabolic patients without diabetes compared to (MAF=0.02) in the control group. The non-significant difference in genotyping and allele carriage frequencies of the HMGA1 gene was seen between total metabolic syndrome patients and the control group. Based on their response to therapy non-significant difference was seen between those with wild and carrier genotypes.
Conclusions: This study suggests a lack of association of the rare HMGA1 gene variants with metabolic syndrome risk and response to oral anti-diabetic drugs.


ABSTRACT: Basic research helps to understand clinical knowledge which in turn leads to new fundamental research. Two examples are taken from the studies of the anomalies existing in the brain of patients suffering from Parkinson disease or deafferentation Pain. The researches performed to solve these two problems for the past 40 years (in particular by the author's working group) are replaced in the international context. In Man the precision of stereotaxic technique was improved by using the organisation of the somato-sensory thalamic projection described in animals by the physiologists. In the thalamus of Parkinsonian patients, the presence of cells bursting at tremor frequency led to search for the relations existing between the striato-nigral system and the motor thalamus. In the patients suffering from deafferentation Pain, a special role is attributed to the medial thalamus, whose characteristics were formerly studied in animals. The origin of the deafferentation Pain is nowadays studied in an animal model of this disease.


The generation of subject–verb agreement is a central component of grammatical encoding. It is sensitive to conceptual and grammatical influences, but the interplay between these factors is still not fully understood. We investigate how semantic integration of the subject noun phrase ('the secretary of/with the governor') and the Local Noun Number ('the secretary with the governor/governors') affect the ease of selecting the verb form. Two hypotheses are assessed: according to the notional hypothesis, integration encourages the assignment of the singular notional number to the noun phrase and facilitates the choice of the singular verb form. According to the lexical interference hypothesis, integration strengthens the competition between nouns within the subject phrase, making it harder to select the verb form when the nouns mismatch in number. In two experiments, adult speakers of Dutch completed spoken preambles (Experiment 1) or selected appropriate verb forms (Experiment 2). Results showed facilitatory effects of semantic integration (fewer errors and faster responses with increasing integration). These effects did not interact with the effects of the Local Noun Number (slower response times and higher error rates for mismatching than for matching noun numbers). The findings thus support the notional hypothesis and a model of agreement where conceptual and lexical factors independently contribute to the determination of the number of the subject noun phrase and, ultimately, the verb.


ABSTRACT For the past several decades, public attitudes toward immigrants in the United States have centered on questions of legality and documentation, as well as economic and social impacts of immigration, whether real or imagined, such as employment and criminality. How immigrants, writ large, perceive of and contribute to these debates is insufficiently understood and has been underexplored in research. In this article, we analyze the responses of Central African newcomer immigrant and refugee adolescents in the United States to anti-immigrant political discourse in the year and a half after the 2016 Trump presidential election. Through critical discourse analysis of focus group interviews with these youth, findings are interpreted through an integrated Western and postcolonial philosophical framework of fairness as it relates to legality, race, and inclusion. We conclude by offering implications for schools and their constituents, including civic education that occurs across the curriculum and affords students opportunities to grapple with global challenges related to distribution of power and resources, rights and responsibilities, and justice and injustice.


In this paper, we analyze the impact of buffer-aided full-duplex successive relay selection schemes with energy harvesting capability of relay nodes in amplifying and forward (AF) and decode and forward (DF) relaying environments for the Internet of Things networks. We propose to select a relay pair based on the energy harvested and signal strength at relay and destination to receive and transmit in the same time slot, respectively. Contrary to the previous relay pair selection schemes which are based on the signal strength only and cause the relay overuse problem, the proposed scheme ensures the balanced use of energy of relay nodes. The proposed relay selection scheme is implemented with the time switching (TS) and power splitting (PS)-based energy harvesting models in AF and DF relaying environments separately. Furthermore, we derive the closed-form expression of the outage probability and average throughput for both the TS and PS approaches in the DF and AF relaying modes. We compare the proposed relay selection scheme with the S-MMRS scheme and prove that the proposed scheme significantly reduces the outage probability and improves the average throughput. Furthermore, the analytical findings are reinforced with the extensive Monte Carlo simulations.


The complex network theory provides an approach for understanding the complexity of climate change from a new perspective. In this study, we used the coarse graining process to convert the data series of daily mean temperature and daily precipitation from 1961 to 2011 into symbol sequences consisting of five characteristic symbols ( i.e. , R , r , e , d and D ), and created the temperature fluctuation network (TFN) and precipitation fluctuation network (PFN) to discover the complex network characteristics of climate change in the Tarim River Basin of Northwest China. The results show that TFN and PEN both present characteristics of scale-free network and small-world network with short average path length and high clustering coefficient. The nodes with high degree in TFN are RRR , dRR and ReR while the nodes with high degree in PFN are rre , rrr , eee and err , which indicates that climate change modes represented by these nodes have large probability of occurrence. Symbol R and r are mostly included in the important nodes of TFN and PFN, which indicate that the fluctuating variation in temperature and precipitation in the Tarim River Basin mainly are rising over the past 50 years. The nodes RRR , DDD , ReR , RRd , DDd and Ree are the hub nodes in TFN, which undertake 19.71% betweenness centrality of the network. The nodes rre , rrr , eee and err are the hub nodes in PFN, which undertake 13.64% betweenness centrality of the network.


Background: Despite the 2006 US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for routine HIV testing in health care settings, many persons remain untested. Purpose: To determine physician barriers to HIV testing, we surveyed primary care physicians in community health centers in a high HIV prevalence city. Methods: Primary care physicians were invited via e-mail to participate in a Web-based survey. One hundred and thirty-seven physicians participated (response rate: 43.9%). Results: Fifty-five physicians (41.0%) were unaware of updated CDC HIV testing recommendations. Physicians were unaware that testing should be routinely offered in primary care settings caring for adolescents (62 physicians, 45.6%) and primary care settings caring for adults (33, 24.3%). Physicians were also unaware that teenage years patients aged 13 to 17 years (68, 49.6%) and adult patients aged 18 to 64 years (40, 29.2%) should be routinely HIV tested. Conclusion: With the new 2013 US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations to support routine HIV testing, it is critical to address ongoing physician HIV testing barriers to mitigate the HIV epidemic.


The molecular landscape of non-tobacco-induced primary lung tumors displays specific oncogenetic features. The etiology of these tumors has been largely associated with exposure to well-established environmental lung carcinogens such as radon, arsenic, and asbestos. Environmental carcinogens can induce specific genetic and epigenetic alterations in lung tissue, leading to aberrant function of lung cancer oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. These molecular events result in the disruption of key cellular mechanisms, such as protection against oxidative stress and DNA damage-repair, which promotes tumor development and progression. This chapter provides a comprehensive discussion of the specific carcinogenic mechanisms associated with exposure to radon, arsenic, and asbestos. It also summarizes the main protein-coding and non-coding genes affected by exposure to these environmental agents, and the underlying molecular mechanisms promoting their deregulation in lung cancer. Finally, the chapter examines the anticipated challenges in personalized intervention strategies in non-tobacco-induced lung cancer.


Aims Patients undergoing limb reconstruction surgery often face a challenging and lengthy process to complete their treatment journey. The majority of existing outcome measures do not adequately capture the patient-reported outcomes relevant to this patient group in a single measure. Following a previous systematic review, the Stanmore Limb Reconstruction Score (SLRS) was designed with the intent to address this need for an effective instrument to measure patient-reported outcomes in limb reconstruction patients. We aim to assess the face validity of this score in a pilot study. Methods The SLRS was designed following structured interviews with several groups including patients who have undergone limb reconstruction surgery, limb reconstruction surgeons, specialist nurses, and physiotherapists. This has subsequently undergone further adjustment for language and clarity. The score was then trialled on ten patients who had undergone limb reconstruction surgery, with subsequent structured questioning to understand the perceived suitability of the score. Results Ten patients completed the score and the subsequent structured interview. Considering the tool as a whole, 100% of respondents felt the score to be comprehensible, relevant, and comprehensive regarding the areas that were important to a patient undergoing limb reconstruction surgery. For individual questions, on a five-point Likert scale, importance/relevance was reported as a mean of 4.78 (4.3 to 5.0), with ability to understand rated as 4.92 (4.7 to 5.0) suggesting high levels of relevance and comprehension. Flesch-Kincaid reading grade level was calculated as 5.2 (10 to 11 years old). Conclusion The current SLRS has been shown to have acceptable scores from a patient sample regarding relevance, comprehensibility, and comprehensiveness. This suggests face validity, however further testing required and is ongoing in a larger cohort of patients to determine the reliability, responsiveness, precision, and criterion validity of the score in this patient group. Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2021;2(9):705–709.


PURPOSE
Appropriate cancer pain documentation is one of the quality measures in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI). MedStar Washington Cancer Institute has participated in QOPI since 2008, and documenting a plan of care for moderate to severe pain (which was defined as a pain score of ≥ 4 on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the worst) was identified as an area for improvement.

METHODS
We undertook a structured approach to improve documentation of the plan of care for moderate/severe pain with support from ASCO's Quality Training Program. Our team used standard plan-do-study-act (PDSA) methodology to achieve our goal of 90% documentation. We used a statistical process control chart (p chart) to determine whether our process was under control and to monitor the improvement in the documentation of pain management.

RESULTS
The baseline rate of a documented plan of care for pain was 70%. In January 2014, we implemented action plans including an electronic health record trigger for a pain score of ≥ 4, education for fellows and midlevel providers, and establishment of a faculty consensus on documenting management of pain unrelated to cancer. After these interventions, the pain documentation rate improved to 90%.

CONCLUSION
After one cycle of PDSA, we achieved our goal of a 90% pain documentation rate. To sustain our project, we continued to monitor the pain documentation rate quarterly in 2014 and continue the process of education and orientation to new staff, rotating residents, and fellows.


Assam has more than four thousand old rice mills where large numbers of workers are employed. They are involved in various kind of works namely loading/unloading, spreading, bag opening at feeding, filling, sewing, separate broken rice from husk and bag repairing, respectively. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the rice mill workers health status. A total of 145 rice mill workers were selected from 18 rice mill of Assam. A modified Nordic questionnaire and posture analysis using OWAS method were used. Polar heart rate monitor was used to measure the workers heart rate. The PEFR test was carried out by a Portable micro-quark spirometer for the selected subjects. The analysis of OWAS method indicated that most of the working posture of the workers needed immediate actions to improve working conditions as well as the technical equipment. Rice mill workers are suffered from discomfort feeling in different body parts and maximum discomfort reported in lower back (68.9%). It was observed that loading/unloading type of workers is suffered maximum discomfort manifestation compare to the other types of rice mill workers. Average working heart rate (138.1 beats/min) which was observed in loading/unloading workers which is indicated heavy work load and extremely high category drudgery index. Further, it was observed that the mean value of PEFR is 22.9% and it was lower for second level of experience compared to first level of experience. From the analysis it was concluded that rice mill workers health are highly affected by improper bending posture and work load in dusty condition.


While NLP tools are now widely available, their use can be problematic considering the lack of homogeneity of their input/output format, the variation of the granularity of their information, but also the difficulties to process large amounts of heterogeneous documents in a reasonable time, and their tunability to a specific domain. To address these problems, we propose a configurable platform to enrich very large collections of French and English specialised documents. The platform is a modularized framework. Each module carries out an annotation step by using existing NLP tools and can be tuned to a domain by adding specific resources: named entity recognition, sentence and word segmentation, lemmatisation, POS tagging, term tagging and parsing. Linguistic annotations are recorded in a stand-off XML format. We focus on the robustness of the annotation process to help the creation of annotated corpora from the web. We have tested the scalability of the platform on two collections of 55,329 biomedical web documents (107 millions of words) and 47,393 Search Engine News (13 millions of words). The collections have been annotated until the term tagging, respectively in 35 hours and 3 hours.


Abstract : The threat of radiological attack against the United States is viewed as credible, imminent, and capable of inflicting lasting negative impacts on domestic society. The United States is pursuing detection/denial and public preparedness strategies in order to prevent and minimize the effects of a possible radiological terrorist attack. This thesis surveys the prevalence of radiological material in society, as well as major U.S. programs to secure international trade, U.S. borders, and radiological material, and to prepare the public in order to determine their effectiveness against the threat of radiological attack. The research conducted indicates that U.S. government strategies against the radiological threat favor costly and problematic technological detection programs over public preparedness strategies, which are not optimized or resourced to address the general public's fear of radiation, fatalism toward terrorism preparedness, and skepticism of the government as a credible source of information on terrorism and radiation. This thesis concludes that the government should empower the Weapons of Mass Destruction czar with strategic oversight and technology funding-approval authority to de-conflict and streamline technological detection programs at the national level. It should also improve public education outreach resourcing and capabilities to increase public preparedness, thereby developing the public into a national security asset.


This study analyzes the self-representations of Russian-speaking women with anorexia on YouTube. Using multimodal interaction analysis, the research focuses on how the explanatory model of anorexia and the representation platform influence the narratives produced by vloggers who have experienced or are experiencing anorexia. It is concluded that anorexia is mainly represented in these videos as a weight-related mental health disorder. Although the explanatory model of anorexia shapes self-representations on YouTube, the platform plays an even greater role in the construction of such narratives. This study's findings fill gaps in the existing literature by revealing the joint structural influences that shape storytelling regarding the anorexia experience. The theoretical perspective utilized in this article could be further applied in research examining media representations of other mental health conditions.


Biological and photo-physiological interactions between phytoplankton functional types; a five year study in the western English Channel. James Richard Fishwick Sampling at the western English Channel observatory dates back approximately 1 00 years, with a more complete sampling programme since 1988. The data set in this study was collected over a five year period between 2001 and 2005. The variables measured allow for a more complete understanding of the ecosystem, this is the only study to have reported the photo-physiology measurements over such time scales. The western English Channel is situated in a boundary zone between the oceanic waters of the Northern Atlantic and the coastal waters of the English Channel. This study has provided substantial evidence that the phytoplankton functional type (PFT) succession is governed by the environmental drivers (irradiance, surface water temperature and nutrient availability) and as the environmental conditions vary each year so does the phytoplankton seasonal succession. The relationships between the phytoplankton pigment assemblage, with particular interest to the ratios of chlorophyll a, photo-synthetic and photo-protective carotenoids to total pigment concentration, are investigated. The chlorophyll a to Total pigment ratio (Chla/TP) is reported to increase in conditions conducive for growth and decrease when conditions are less favourable, this is related to both PFTs synthesising Chla preferentially in periods of growth and a shift in the community structure. The photo-physiology of the PFT community indicated relatively high values of FviFm throughout the whole time series, adding further evidence of community shifts where PFTs adapted to the particular conditions. The crpsn was shown to be one of the mechanisms by which PFTs adapt to the environmental conditions. crpsn is high in low light regimes and is reduced when irradiance levels are high. The optical absorption by phytoplankton is shown to correlate with the pigment ratio (Chla/TP) and to a lesser extent


Soil water content and above-ground biomass accumulation, above 10 cm high, were measured monthly in a flooded savanna ecosystem under grazing pressure and under cattle exclusion, during two growth cycles. Near-to-the-ground and below-ground biomass were measured three times during this period. Besides, composition, species richness and diversity were obtained through a floristic inventory. Despite a relatively high floristic richness and diversity, Panicum laxum is the dominant species throughout the study area, while three other perennial grasses, Paspalum chaffanjonii, Leersia hexandra and Axonopus purpusii, also reach high values of cover and biomass. Each of them reacts specifically to flooding, drought and grazing conditions. This ecosystem shows a strongly seasonal behaviour, with primary production, mortality and decomposition sharply timed by soil relative water content. Both drought and water excess seem to limit plant production, even more during wet years when the savanna might remain flooded for up to 4 mo. Some structural and functional differences between the grazed and the protected systems are demonstrated, but under the actual, relatively low stocking rate, the grazed savanna produces as much forage as the ungrazed one.


In a randomized experimental trial, the intrapleural was compared with the intraperitoneal anesthesia (pentobarbital), in guinea-pig (24 animals). Best results were observed in the intrapleural injection group: sedation and recuperation developed more quickly than the peritoneal group. Accidents and/or adverse reactions were not observed in either group. The author consider this technique useful for surgical procedures, in experimental surgery and for research, in guinea-pig.


Federated learning using fog computing can suffer from the dynamic behavior of some of the participants in its training process, especially in Internet-of-Vehicles where vehicles are the targeted participants. For instance, the fog might not be able to cope with the vehicles' demands in some areas due to resource shortages when the vehicles gather for events, or due to traffic congestion. Moreover, the vehicles are exposed to unintentionally leaving the fog coverage area which can result in the task being dropped as the communications between the server and the vehicles weaken. The aforementioned limitations can affect the federated learning model accuracy for critical applications, such as autonomous driving, where the model inference could influence road safety. Recent works in the literature have addressed some of these problems through active sampling techniques, however, they suffer from many complications in terms of stability, scalability, and efficiency of managing the available resources. To address these limitations, we propose a horizontal-based federated learning architecture, empowered by fog federations, devised for the mobile environment. In our architecture, fog computing providers form stable fog federations using a Hedonic game-theoretical model to expand their geographical footprints. Hence, providers belonging to the same federations can migrate services upon demand in order to cope with the federated learning requirements in an adaptive fashion. We conduct the experiments using a road traffic signs dataset modeled with intermodal traffic systems. The simulation results show that the proposed model can achieve better accuracy and quality of service than other models presented in the literature.


The multixenobiotic resistance phenotype is characterized by the reduced accumulation of xenobiotics by cells or organisms due to increased efflux of the compounds by P-glycoprotein (P-gp) or related transporters. An extensive xenobiotic database, consisting primarily of pesticides, was utilized in this study to identify molecular characteristics that render a xenobiotic susceptible to transport by or inhibition of P-gp. Transport substrates were differentiated by several molecular size/shape parameters, lipophilicity, and hydrogen bonding potential. Electrostatic features differentiated inhibitory ligands from compounds not catagorized as transport substrates and that did no interact with P-gp. A two-tiered system was developed using the derived structure-activity relationships to identify P-gp transport substrates and inhibitory ligands. Prediction accuracy of the approach was 82%. We then validated the system using six additional pesticides of which tow were predicted to be P-gp inhibitors and four were predicted to be noninteractors, based upon the structure-activity analyses. Experimental determinations using cells transfected with the human MDR1 gene demonstrated that five of the six pesticides were properly catagorized by the structure-activity analyses (83% accuracy). Finally, structure-activity analyses revealed that among P-gp inhibitors, relative inhibitory potency can be predicted based upon the surface area or volume of the compound. These results demonstrate that P-gp transport substrates and inhibitory ligands can be distinguished using molecular characteristics. Molecular characteristics of transport substrates suggest that P-gp may function in the elimination of hydroxylated metabolites of xenobiotics. ImagesFigure 1. AFigure 1. BFigure 1. CFigure 1. DFigure 1. EFigure 1. FFigure 1. GFigure 1. HFigure 2.Figure 2.Figure 2.Figure 2.Figure 2.Figure 2.Figure 3. AFigure 3. B


Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display panels are becoming increasingly popular especially in mobile devices; one of the key characteristics of these panels is that their power consumption strongly depends on the displayed image. In this paper, we propose a new methodology to reduce the energy consumed by OLED displays that relies on image-specific pixel-by-pixel transformations, aimed at preserving the contrast of the image as much as possible while reducing the overall power. Unlike previous approaches, our method focuses specifically on the minimization of time and power overheads to implement the image transformation at runtime. To this end, we propose a transformation that can be executed online in real time, either in software, with low time overhead, or in a hardware accelerator with a small silicon footprint. Despite the great reduction in complexity, our results are comparable to those achieved with more complex approaches in terms of image quality. Moreover, our method allows to easily explore the full quality-versus-power tradeoff by acting on a few basic parameters; thus, it enables the runtime selection among multiple display quality settings, according to the status of the system.


Abstract The study of category-specific effects has produced compelling insights into the structure, organization and functioning of cognitive processes. According to some accounts, the greater intra-category structural similarity for living things (LT) contributes to faster access to superordinate pictorial information, making LT easier to classify than structurally dissimilar items (i.e., nonliving things: NLT). Conversely, LT would be harder to name than NLT, as they must compete with within-domain structurally similar items in order to be properly discriminated. Additionally, it has been reported that men perform better with NLT than women, whereas women surpass men with LT but the reasons for this remain unclear. In the current study, we explored both the visual crowding hypothesis and the effects of gender by testing the performance of 40 healthy participants in classification and naming tasks. Analyses revealed that LT were classified significantly faster than NLT (η p 2 = .11), but named significantly slower (η p 2 = .25). Interestingly, the same results persisted after removing atypical categories that are known to distort the interpretation of data from the analyses. Moreover, we did not find the expected effects of gender. Men were more accurate than women naming NLT (η p 2 = .13), and women did not surpass men in any task.


Looking to understand what drives countries' export growth
in practice, I provide a decomposition of world export growth at the product variety level between new destinations, new products, and growth in value of old varieties. New destinations play a significant role, accounting for 37 percent of the growth in developing countries. By comparison, entry into new product
categories -a margin that has received considerable attention- explains just 7 percent of export growth. Exploring the nature of destination expansion reveals it is neither automatic nor permanent. Even relatively competitive sectors face difficulties penetrating new destinations, and these difficulties are negatively correlated with population size and GDP per capita. Consistent with pervasive experimentation and failure, more than a third of all products in new destinations exported only once to a destination in the sixteen years studied.


Abstract Considering the kinematics of the moving frame associated with a constant mean curvature surface immersed in S 3 we derive a linear problem with the spectral parameter corresponding to elliptic sinh-Gordon equation. The spectral parameter is related to the radius R of the sphere S 3. The application of the Sym formula to this linear problem yields constant mean curvature surfaces in . Independently, we show that the Sym formula itself can be derived by an appropriate limiting process R → ∞.


This paper introduced a cement compound process control system based on PLC and industrial control computer.Through particular describe of system hardware configuration and software programming method,in the point of design and application,the article introduces a new style of inspect and control system make up of PLC and IPC.Programmed by Siemens con- figurable software WinCC V6.0 and C,the system achieves dynamic surveillance and management to produce process.Choose of Siemens S7 315-2DP PLC as the controller and hardware designed by STEP7 V5.2,achieved logical control of whole cement product line and solved the problem of chain startup and stop between equipments.The system got a nice performance of inspect and control in cement build item in Hexi power plants,Linfen.


This study aims to find, analyze and describe the characteristics of street children,child driving factors become street children, and crimes of street children. This type of researchis descriptive penelitinan. The data used to complete this study consists of the data Primary andSecondary Data. Primary data were obtained berdaserkan field research using the StructuredInterview list has been prepared. while secondary data obtained from the relevant institutionsand library materials related to the presence of street children in the city of Pekanbaru. Thetechnique of data pengmbilan is by observation, structured interviews and documentation. Thedata is then processed ririskiky percent described it descriptive.Based on the findings of theresearch field is 1.) Characteristics of street children in the city of Pekanbaru which include sexmen aged 14-16 years, a job selling newspapers, state schools generally do not go back toschool, junior high school level, area of origin of street children is in the province of Riau, hoursof work 4-6 hours per day, capital comes from an agent, revenue Rp10,000 to Rp20,000, usabilitypendapaan to eat, ideals ciata want the driver, hope street children want to go back to school,where living with parents, long become street children 3-4 years 2.) factors driving childrenstreets become street children, who told them to work is their own will and reason to workbecause of economic pressures. 3.) criminal acts of street children include forms of criminal actsare stealing and pickpocketing, the reason of criminal activity because it requires money, victimsof criminal acts asyarakat around, many street children who have experienced violence, violenceis a form of physical violence, abusers thugs, an effort to avoid violence by allowing only whatis experienced, there are street children who had sexual intercourse, sexual intercourse withprostitutes, sexual intercourse is the reason of their own accord, street children into the community,never experienced acts of violence from other communities in the form of physical violence,street children many motorcycle accident, street children ever done hanyab raided and records,street children are not satisfied with the government's treatment of the desired concrete form ofgovernment is skills training and daily needs. Keywords: Profile, Street Children, Pekanbaru


Contextually sensitive and semantically related evidence-based knowledge play an important role in decision-making. Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) are being developed to provide a rich source of up-to-date knowledge of evidence-based best clinical practices. Such knowledge assists healthcare practitioner in specific clinical circumstances at their decision-points. In many studies, it was shown that the effectiveness of CPG could be improved with their computerization. In this paper, we present our CPG-knowledge computerization framework that has been developed and implemented along the lines of knowledge management approaches. This framework adds context, semantics and related meta-information to the CPGs knowledge content using an extended-knowledge component ontology and UMLS. It also transforms them into a set of structured 'extended-knowledge components'. These extended-knowledge components constitute a 'CPG knowledge base', which is used for providing assistance at point of care.


A computable general equilibrium model of the South African economy (IDC-GEM) is outlined. The model is used to analyse the effects on the economy of increases in government spending such as are at the core of the new government's Reconstruction and Development Program. The analysis concentrates on the implications of alternative methods of finance for the program. Results are reported for macroeconomic variables, for the prospects of industries and regions, and for income distribution.


Electromagnetic survey methodology is adapted to use the electric component to directly detect buried resistors and map resistivity contrasts in the near surface. System implementations do not require ground contact because they use capacitive electric-field sensors and an inductive source and may be operated at walking pace. This study outlined theoretical basis, computational modeling, and verification for the methodology. The systems are designed to operate at low enough frequency that any responses are at the resistive limit; as such, the electric fields they measure are insensitive to horizontal layering and absolute conductivity. A surface integral equation algorithm is used to model regular discrete objects in a half-space. Anomalies are controlled by geometry and lateral resistivity contrast rather than by absolute resistivity values. A prototype electrode array system called CARIS 1 reliably detects resistive objects submerged in a saltwater tank, and the measured responses are consistent with numerical modeling. These results provided the basis for further development of the CARIS II system with flexible geometry that is adaptable to detect resistive or conductive targets in any background environment. CARIS is designed to be useful where conventional electromagnetics, ground-penetrating radar, and conventional resistivity face difficulties or fail, and it has easily detected a range of buried targets in the near surface. However, it is quite sensitive to disturbed ground and surface undulation and inhomogeneity.


IPS 400 Introduction to Graduate and Professional Writing (0 Credit Hours) Writing skills are essential for success in graduate study and work in a variety of professional and ministerial settings. This course covers the following topics: academic integrity, grammar, research skills, citation, writing organization, thesis construction and critical thinking. Restricted to Institute of Pastoral Studies students Outcomes: Students will enhance their writing skills and develop analytical and communication skills that are critical to academic and professional writing


In this paper we explore techniques for generating new music using a Variational Autoencoder (VAE) neural network that was trained on a corpus of specific style. Instead of randomly sampling the latent states of the network to produce free improvisation, we generate new music by querying the network with musical input in a style different from the training corpus. This allows us to produce new musical output with longer-term structure that blends aspects of the query to the style of the network. In order to control the level of this blending we add a noisy channel between the VAE encoder and decoder using bit-allocation algorithm from communication rate-distortion theory. Our experiments provide new insight into relations between the representational and structural information of latent states and the query signal, suggesting their possible use for composition purposes.


Purpose – Integrated reporting has been identified as the future of corporate reporting. As it is a relatively new principal, the role of the internal audit activity in respect of integrated reporting has not yet been investigated. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and discuss the role that the internal audit activity can play in respect of integrated reporting. Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual discussion of this paper is based on an objective review of relevant literature, both practitioner and academic. Findings – The internal audit activity through risk based assurance and consulting services and its knowledge of the business is uniquely positioned to contribute towards integrated reporting. Originality/value – This paper identifies the value the internal audit activity can contribute towards integrated reporting.


ABSTRACT Detailed scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micro-texture and mineralogical analysis of lacustrine sediment recovered from Profound Lake (also known as Uruguay Lake), Antarctica, was conducted in the foreland area of the Collins Glacier, King George Island. Very coarse and coarse sand grade size fractions (2 mm – 600 μm) were examined with SEM/energy dispersive spectrometry, while the total sand fraction and fines (silt + clay) were examined using x-ray diffraction to determine relationships to source rock, weathering and transport history and long-term clay mineral weathering, all of which are poorly understood in polar areas. The mineralogy of these sediments was compared with petrographical information of the country rock to identify potential detrital sources. The association of recovered detrital minerals, sometimes strongly pre-weathered, supports release from source rock of basaltic and andesitic compositions. The micro-texture analysis of quartz, magnetite and various plagioclase grains show micro-features that reveal a complex weathering–diagenesis history tentatively extending into the Paleogene. The bedrock was eroded mostly by glacial processes and mechanical action presumed to result from glacial crushing. Alteration minerals, likely the product of pre-weathering, are probably sourced from weathered bedrock during contact with the sub-aerial atmosphere prior to entrainment. However, amorphous silica precipitation indicates weathering subsequent to glacial erosion from the source bedrock. Cracks of variable dimensions are mostly characteristic of either frost weathering or glacial transport, and involve mechanical and chemical processes.


Cluster beam experiments using Stern–Gerlach type measurements yield information about the magnetic properties of transition metal clusters. One of the intriguing results to have come out of such measurements is the observation of a magnetic moment in cobalt clusters that increases with temperature up to about 500 K, before decreasing as the bulk Curie temperature is approached. We argue in this paper that this behaviour can be understood as an artifact of the method of extracting results from raw experimental data, and that the origin of the anomalous behaviour lies in the neglect of the magnetic anisotropy in the analysis.


The generation of contractile forces by living cells often involves linear arrangements of actively interacting polar filaments. We develop a physical description of the dynamics of active fibers based on a general expression for the tension in terms of the filament density and the bundle polarisation. We discuss the long-time behaviour of oriented and of nonpolar fibres, discuss effects of polymerization and depolymerization, and relate this continuum theory to nonlocal descriptions of filament-motor systems. We show that a nonpolar arrangement of filaments suppresses oscillatory instabilities which could be relevant for muscle fibers.


The pharmacokinetic and dynamic interactions among 3 antimalarials, ie quinine, doxycycline and mefloquine was observed in a 26-year-old Thai male patient with falciparum malaria. During the acute episode of the infection, the patient was treated with an intravenous dose of quinine hydrochloride at 600 mg qid, together with an oral dose of doxycycline 100 mg bid. Due to nausea, tinnitus and the persistence of parasitemia in peripheral blood smears, the dose of quinine was reduced 2 days after the first treatment to 300 mg; concurrently oral mefloquine 750 mg was given as 2 divided doses at 24 hours apart. During the course of treatment, the patient developed hearing loss; deafness of the right ear lasted for one week after stopping quinine administration. Higher plasma quinine and lower whole blood mefloquine concentrations than would be expected from the simulation profiles were detected 4 days after the first treatment. However, the concentration of mefloquine was increased upon the cessation of quinine treatment.


Abstract The developmental trend and correlates of adolescent cognitive competence were examined in a 6-year longitudinal study in Hong Kong. From Secondary 1 to Secondary 6 years, the same cohort of high school students responded to validated measures of cognitive competence, socio-demographic status (i.e. gender, family intactness and economic disadvantage) and family processes (i.e. family functioning, father-child subsystem quality and mother-child subsystem quality). Results indicated that there was a rising trend of cognitive competence over the high school years. Adolescents with better family functioning or better father-child or mother-child subsystem quality demonstrated higher initial level of cognitive competence. However, adolescents with better family functioning showed slower growth rate on cognitive competence over time. Finally, teenage boys showed faster growth rate on cognitive competence than did teenage girls.


Cloud Computing is a business model revolution more than a technological one. It capitalized on various technologies that have proved themselves and reshaped the use of computers by replacing their local use by a centralized one where shared resources are stored and managed by a third-party in a way transparent to end-users. With this new use came new needs and one of them is the need to search through Cloud services and select the ones that meet certain requirements. To address this need, we have developed, in a previous work, the Cloud Service Research and Selection System (CSRSS) which aims to allow Cloud users to search through Cloud services in the database and find the ones that match their requirements. It is based on the Skyline and ELECTRE IS. In this paper, we improve the system by introducing 7 new dimensions related to QoS constraints. Our work's main contribution is conceiving an Agent that uses both the Skyline and an outranking method, called ELECTREIsSkyline, to determine which Cloud services meet better the users' requirements while respecting QoS properties. We programmed and tested this method for a total of 10 dimensions and for 50 000 cloud services. The first results are very promising and show the effectiveness of our approach.


The major issues that higher education has recently faced are the shortage of students of school age, the changing environment of higher education and the evolving technology. These challenges have urged the university facilities and space to be managing more efficient and more effective. This study assures that the strong strategy is to operate more like business while retaining unique higher education values and a sound facilities management system and appropriate budget help to ensure that university facilities are good for student and teacher's demand. With such faith, this study explores the facilities/space maintaining status and the facility management system of national universities and collages. It finds that there are some problems to adapt new managing methodologies in national universities and that there are also some gaps and perceived constraints to effective space management. This study proposes the alternatives for the facilities managing system that involves the improvement of manpower structure, the expansion of budget scale and the establishment of appropriate facility management system. Finally it provides the practical tools for the effective space and facilities management such as space charging, space standards, central timetabling, space utilisation survey and facilities performance indication.


SUMMARY It is well known that Parallel Kinematic Mechanisms (PKMs) have an intrinsic dynamic potential (very high speed and acceleration) with high precision and high stiffness. Nevertheless, the choice of optimal dimensions that provide the best performances remains a difficult task, since performances strongly depend on dimensions. On the other hand, there are many criteria of performance that must be taken into account for dimensional synthesis, and which are sometimes antagonist. This paper presents an approach of multiobjective optimization for PKMs that takes into account several criteria of performance simultaneously that have a direct impact on the dimensional synthesis of PKMs. We first present some criteria of performance such as the workspace, transmission speeds, stiffness, dexterity, precision, as well as dynamic dexterity. Secondly, we present the problem of dimensional synthesis, which will be defined as a multiobjective optimization problem. The method of genetic algorithms is used to solve this type of multiobjective optimization problem by means of NSGA-II and SPEA-II algorithms. Finally, based on a linear Delta architecture, we present an illustrative application of this methodology to a 3-axis machine tool in the context of manufacturing of automotive parts.


The use of comparative larval morphology and drumming behavior in stonefly systematics is discussed. A tentative assignment of plesiobehavioric and apobehavioric states to drumming in Plecoptera is made, based upon the described behavior of 46 North American species, representing 8 families and 25 genera. Experiments are described which show that pairs of Perlinella drymo effectively transmit and receive signals at minimum distances of 8 m through a continuous wooden rod, 5-9 mm in diameter. Communication was achieved for shorter distances of 10-200 cm by male and female P. drymo drumming in manilla paper boxes resting on foam rubber pads. Pairs of P. drymo were unable to communicate at distances of 25 cm on a 4.2 kg rock, nor were Pteronarcella badia (Hagen) at a distance of 25 cm, when male and female were on separate, dried aspen limbs.


Abstract Minority Stress Theory posits that discrimination is associated with negative mental health outcomes; however, the location of the perceived discrimination may matter. This study examines whether race, inside-neighborhood discrimination, and their interaction are associated with hazardous drinking, alcohol-related consequences, and depressive/anxiety symptoms in a racially diverse sample of Latino/a adults. Participants (N = 296, 63% male, Mage =41, SD = 12.2) who met criteria for hazardous drinking (4/5 drinks per occasion for females/males, respectively) were separated into two racial groups: those who self-identified as either White (21%, n = 63) or a minoritized race (79%, n = 233). Regression analyses explored whether racial status (White/minoritized race), inside-neighborhood discrimination, and their interaction were associated with hazardous drinking, alcohol-related consequences, and anxiety/depressive symptoms. Perceiving more frequent inside-neighborhood discrimination was associated with greater hazardous drinking (B = 0.03, SE = 0.01, p=.003), alcohol-related consequences (B = 1.92, SE = 3.39, p=.001), and depressive symptoms (B = 0.79, SE = 0.25, p=.001). For anxiety symptoms, the interaction between discrimination and racial status was significant (B = 1.62, SE = 0.76, p=.034); greater perceived inside-neighborhood discrimination was related to more anxiety symptoms only for Latino/a individuals with a minoritized race (but not for those who are Latino/a and White). These findings suggest that perceiving neighborhood discrimination is associated with hazardous drinking, alcohol-related consequences, and depressive symptoms among Latino/a individuals regardless of racial status. Further, Latino/a individuals with a minoritized race who report inside-neighborhood discrimination show greater anxiety symptoms than Latino/a White individuals. Findings highlight the importance of exploring the roles of race and discrimination inside one's neighborhood within the Latino/a population.


There are 5 485 glaciers in the West Kunlun Mountain now, with an area of 8 817.78 km2, more than 3 / 4 of the total area in the whole of Kunlun Mountains. In the West Kunlun Mountain glaciers are concentrated and large in scale. There is Guliya Ice Cap, 376.05 km2 in area, the largest ice cap found in the regions of low and middle latitudes in the world up to now. Observations show that in the Tibetan Plateau air and ice temperatures are lowest around the ice cap. For example, the lowest air temperature at 6 000 m a.s.1. over the ice cap is -60.5 ℃, and the ice temperature is -18.6℃ at the depth of 10 m, and -2.0 ℃ at the bottom. respectively. Annual precipitation is only about 300 mm. All these show that the glaciers are extra-continental or polar type. In this paper the evolution of glaciers arid environment in the West Kunlun Mountains in several typical periods during the past 32 ka are discussed based on the field investigations during 1985- 1987 and 1990- 1992 and on the 14C dating. According to the Guliya ice core records, the extremely low temperature occurred in 23 ka BP. in accordance with the Last Glaciation Maximum. 32- 15 ka BP. Furthermore, the air temperature at that time was 9 ℃ lower than that at present; the annual precipitation was less than 200 mm, whereas the scale of the glaciers was 2.2 times larger and the snow line was 300-400 m lower than that at present, respectively. A glacial advance in the Younger Dryas Event was firstly revealed by the records in the Guliya Ice Cap, which occurred in 10 990 ?190 a BP and 10 553 ?123 a BP respectively according to 14C dating, that is in accordance with those reported in both the docords reveal the Younger Dryas Event occurring during the period of 12.2-10.8 ka BP, when air temperature dropped to the lowest point in 11.05 ka BP, δ18O reduced to -21 .8%, and atmospheric dust content reached the highest value. The ice core records reveal that the climate fluctuated violently in the early Holocene when temperature increased, especially during the last 500 years, resulting in a temperature-dropping event (9.0- 8.0 ka BP), together with glacial advances from 8 287 ?160 a BP to 8 134 ?176 a BP according to 14C dating. During the mid-Holocene. most glaciers on the northern slopes of the Karatax Mountains. adjacent to the Tarim Basin. disappeared, cirques were ice-free. and some soils and paleasols developed on the till during the periods from 7 078 ?340 a BP to 4 603 ?111 a BP according to 14C datings. However, the glaciers with polar features near the highest peak of the West Kunlun Mountains dwindled little at that time. During the late Holocene, global climate came into a new stage. i.e. Neoglaciation. started from 4 000 a BP in the West Kunlun Mountains and can be divided into three obvious sub-stages, i.e. the periods of3 983 ?120 a BP. 3 522 ?1 17 a BP and 2 720 ?85 a BP, respectively. During the Little Ice Age glaciers fluctuated frequently. Now the glaciers in West China are characterized by 2-3 end moraines. It is traditionally considered that the climatic fluctuations occurred in the 16th to 19th centuries during the Little Ice Age. The Guliya ice core records show there were three cold ages in the 15th, 17th. and 19th centuries respectively, the intensity of the third cold age was severer than those of the others.


Floating photovoltaic (FPV) plants in reservoirs can contribute to reduce water evaporation, increase power generation efficiency, due to the cooling process, and reduce competitiveness in land use. Based on this motivation we propose a new methodology for sizing FPV plants in dams of semi-arid regions by using the Flood Duration Curve (FDC). The methodology innovations are: no use of commercial software, the possibility of choosing the reliability level, the application in reservoirs of semi-arid areas of the world and the use of a graphic analysis of the reservoir hydrological behavior. The case studies in the Brazilian and Australian semi-arid consider two scenarios: high reliability level (90%, scenario 1) and low reliability level (70%, scenario 2). The reliability level is linked to the electricity production; the evaporation reduction is proportional to the FPV plant area.


Transitions within medical, veterinarian, and other health professional training, from classroom to workplace, between undergraduate, postgraduate, fellowship phases, and to unsupervised clinical practice, are often stressful. Endeavors to alleviate inadequate connections between phases have typically focused on preparation of learners for a next phase. Yet, while some of these efforts show results, they cannot obliviate transitional gaps. If reformulated as 'not completely ready to assume the expected responsibilities in the next phase', transitions may reflect intrinsic problems in a training trajectory. Indeed, the nature of classroom teaching and even skills training for example, will never fully reflect the true context of clinical training. In various stages of clinical training, the supervision provided to trainees, particularly medical residents, has increased over the past decades. This addresses calls for enhanced patient safety, but may inadequately prepare trainees for unsupervised practice. Transitions often evolve around the question how much support or supervision incoming trainees or junior professionals require. We propose to consider receiving incoming trainees and new employees in clinical workplaces with a conversation about required supervision for discrete tasks, or entrustable professional activities (EPAs). EPAs lend themselves for the question: "At what level of supervision will you be able to carry out this task?". This question can be answered by both the trainee or junior employee and the supervisor or employer and can lead to agreement about specified supervision for a defined period of time. We expect that this "supported autonomy tool" could alleviate stress and enhance continued development after transitions.


Abstract Determining whether increasing temperature or precipitation will dominate the cryospheric response to climate change is key to forecasting future sea-level rise. The volume of ice contained in the ice caps and glaciers of the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is small compared with that of the Greenland or Antarctic ice sheets, but is likely to be affected much more rapidly in the short term by climate change. This study investigates the mass balance of Austfonna, Svalbard's largest ice cap. Equilibrium-line fluxes for the whole ice cap, and for individual drainage basins, were estimated by combining surface velocities measured using satellite radar interferometry with ice thicknesses derived from radio-echo sounding. These fluxes were compared with balance fluxes to reveal that during the 1990s the total mass balance of the accumulation zone was (5.6±2.0)×108 m3 a–1. Three basins in the quiescent phase of their surge cycles contributed 75% of this accumulation. The remaining volume may be attributable either to as yet unidentified surge-type glaciers, or to increased precipitation. This result emphasizes the importance of considering the surge dynamics of glaciers when attempting to draw any conclusions on climate change based on snapshot observations of the cryosphere.


The idea of implementing optical filters by coupling evanescent waves from several diffracted orders into multiple leaky waveguide modes is studied theoretically. Using a dielectric thin-film structure consisting of a coupling grating placed between adjacent waveguides, guided-mode resonance filters exhibiting multiple reflection peaks within a specified wavelength range can be obtained. These peaks originate in the resonant waveguide modes that are excited by the diffracted waves dispersed by the grating. It is shown that this device can be used to realize multiwavelength as well as wide-band spectral filters.


ABSTRACT This article examines the personal papers of Fatima Gabitova, a writer and pedagogue who fell victim to Stalinist repression as a 'wife of an enemy of the people' in the Kazakh SSR. Gabitova's life was in many ways extraordinary, and many of her experiences were hardly typical. Nevertheless, her exposure to Kazakhstan's cultural and political elites and the rich textual archive she left behind provide a highly nuanced window into the lived experience of Stalinism in Kazakhstan. Her writings, which include journals, poetry, letters and memoiristic essays, reveal a highly articulated sense of self that was informed and influenced by the realities of life under Stalinism, but was not ultimately determined by the parameters of the Soviet system. Throughout her personal writings, Gabitova exhibits a complicated ambivalence towards the reality of Soviet rule that demonstrates the broader contradictions of Stalinism as a system that was at once repressive and participatory.


Background: Mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) represents a heterogeneous group of leukemias accounting for 2-5% of all newly diagnosed acute leukemias. Diagnostic criteria for mixed phenotype MPAL have evolved over time, with the World Health Organization (WHO) 2016 criteria now being recognized as the more definitive standard. According to WHO classification, isolated expression of myeloperoxidase (MPO) allows for myeloid lineage assignment in patients with an otherwise typical B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) phenotype, thus meeting criteria for MPAL B/myeloid. Our goal was to determine if there were differences in treatment and survival between this group of patients, classified as MPAL B/myeloid isoMPO, and other MPAL patients. Methods: Data was obtained through a retrospective chart review of pediatric MPAL patients treated between 2001 and 2016 at Children9s Healthcare of Atlanta. Cases were identified through our institutional tumor registry and pathology department flow cytometry database. Cases were eligible if the patients were between ages of 1 and 21 years at diagnosis and the leukemia met the WHO 2016 MPAL criteria. We excluded therapy related cases, non-myeloid cases (rare B/T subtype), and cases with a t(9;22) translocation. Data were extracted from clinical records for patient, disease and treatment related variables. All flow cytometry reports were reviewed by study hematopathologists. Cases were divided into two groups - MPAL B/Myeloid isoMPO and other MPAL cases. MPAL B/myeloid cases were classified as MPAL B/Myeloid isoMPO if there was a single B-lineage blast population expressing MPO as the only WHO MPAL myeloid marker. An event was defined as treatment failure requiring therapy change prior to end of induction (EOI), induction failure, induction death, remission death, or relapse. Event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Groups were compared using the log rank test. Chi-squared test was used for sampling distribution analyses. Results: Of the 35 MPAL cases included in our study, 21 (60%) met criteria for MPAL B/myeloid isoMPO. 20 of these patients were treated with ALL chemotherapy alone. One patient underwent bone marrow transplantation (BMT) due to a low DNA index. None of these patients were switched to myeloid therapy during their treatment course. The other 14 MPAL cases consisted of 5 MPAL B/myeloid (non-isolated MPO), 7 MPAL T/myeloid and 2 MPAL patients with t(v;11q23); MLL rearranged. Of these 14 cases, 10 were treated at least in part with myeloid chemotherapy and 7 proceeded to BMT. 6 of 10 patients in this group who started with ALL induction were switched over to AML therapy, with 3 being changed prior to EOI due to treatment failure. Despite these treatment differences, those with MPAL B/myeloid isoMPO had better outcomes. 3-year EFS was significantly higher at 84% for the MPAL B/myeloid isoMPO group compared to 57% in the other MPAL group (p=0.027 log rank test, Fig 1A). 3-year overall survival was 100% and 68%, respectively (p=0.083 log rank test, Fig 1B). Conclusion: There continues to be no consensus as to how to treat MPAL and the changing definition of MPAL has contributed to the difficulty in treating this rare and heterogeneous disease. While the WHO 2016 criteria have simplified the definition of MPAL, it has created a group of patients as shown here, that may be falsely categorized as MPAL. Our results suggest that MPAL B/myeloid isoMPO patients behave clinically like typical B-ALL patients, and should be treated as such. Consideration should be given to redefining the current MPAL WHO criteria to explicitly exclude these cases. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


SUMMARY: In Corynebacterium glutamicum peptide uptake increases the internal concentration of amino acids and thus triggers amino acid secretion. The peptide uptake system is stimulated by a factor of two in cells grown on pure peptone medium in comparison to peptone media with additional carbon sources. Uptake depends on the proton-motive force and shows a broad substrate spectrum. Peptide uptake is characterized by a K
m of about 230 μM and a V
max of 12 nmol min-1 (mg dry wt)-1 for the peptide lysyl-alanine (Lys-Ala). Lysine secretion in the wild-type of C. glutamicum does not show Michaelis-Menten-type kinetics as reported for the producing strains DG 52-5 and MH 20-22B. The secretion of lysine depends on the composition of the medium in which the cells were grown prior to the initiation of secretion by peptide uptake. The lack of secretion activity when the cells are shifted to peptone medium in the presence of chloramphenicol indicates that protein synthesis is necessary for this regulatory process.


This article seeks to re-examine the intellectual context of commercial policy and regulation in seventeenth-century England. It questions a common assumption about so-called  mercantilist  writers : that they saw trade as in some way finite and therefore won by one nation at the expense of another. Instead, it proposes that the often belligerent attitude of the  mercantilists  towards trade was rooted in an under- standing of the nature of international commerce as both communication and competition. Although writers acknowledged the mutual aspect of trade, they did not see this exchange as automatically equal, but saw it as possible for one party to exploit the other. This situation demanded state action to protect national trading interests in the disputed area of commerce, and thus this  discourse of trade  was linked to political and juridical discourses about international relations. The article shows how this understanding of trade influenced debates about commercial governance in the critical middle decades of the seventeenth century, culminating in the attempt to create a national monopoly through the navigation acts,  securing sovereignty  over the nations trade. The second half of this article examines this in more detail with reference to the ideas of a prominent defender of the 1651 Navigation Act : Benjamin Worsley.


Dilla University, College of Medicine and Health Science, Dilla, Ethiopia Background: COVID-19 first broke out in China, Hubei province on December 29, 2019, since then it took hundreds of thousand lives worldwide. Although all countries are taking varying degrees of measures to curb the dissemination, the virus is still spreading rapidly in all parts of the world. Adherence of people for COVID-19 precaution measures is one of the most important factors which determine the effectiveness of curbing the spread. However, without having a good attitude, the adherence of people toward precaution measures could be challenging. Therefore, this study aims to assess the attitude, practice, and associated factors of Gedeo zone of Southern Ethiopia region residents toward COVID-19 and its prevention. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 600 Gedeo zone residents of Southern Ethiopia. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression were used to determine the association between dependent and independent variables. An adjusted odds ratio with 95% CI was used to show the strength of association. P-value<0.05 was used to decide a statistically significant association. Results: Most of the study participants (90.3%) have a good attitude toward COVID-19 and its prevention. Being a younger age group (AOR=3.82, 95% CI=1.76–19.07), having a diploma and above (AOR=2.53, 95% CI=1.15–7.50), having a chronic medical illness (AOR=2.73, 95% CI=1.01–7.44), and using television/radio as a source of information (AOR=2.65, 95% CI=1.27– 5.54) were significantly associated with a good attitude toward COVID-19. On the other hand, only 20% of the study participants had good practice toward COVID-19 prevention. Educational status (P-value=0.00), occupation (P-value=0.01), and having a chronic medical illness (Pvalue=0.03), and use of religious teaching as information sources (P-value=0.02) were among the factors associated with good practice toward COVID-19 infection. Conclusion: We conclude that, despite the presence of a good attitude in the majority of respondents, much work is needed to improve the poor practice of COVID-19 preventive measures.


Abstract The Kachchh Basin, located in Gujarat (India) at the western trailing edge of the Indian plate, comprises several east–west trending seismically active faults. The Kachchh Basin evolved in two major stages. The first is the rift stage, which correlates with the break-up and separation of the Indian plate in the Late Triassic–Early Cretaceous and synrift sedimentation. The second is the post-Deccan Trap inversion stage, when the basin was periodically uplifted along the existing east–west trending intrabasinal master faults: the Katrol Hill Fault, the Kachchh Mainland Fault, the South Wagad Fault, the Gedi Fault and the Island Belt Fault. The inversion of basin was initiated by the onset of a compressive stress regime in response to the collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate in the far north during the Early Eocene. This is shown by the tilting of the Deccan Trap lava flows along with the underlying Mesozoic sequence and the associated intrusive bodies that occupy the core portions of domal and anticlinal flexures bounded by major fault lines. Seismotectonic data on the prolonged aftershock sequence after the 2001 Bhuj earthquake (Mw 7.7) reveal continuous low-to-moderate seismic activity along multiple faults covering a large area, now identified as the Kachchh Seismic Zone. This article reviews the neotectonic perspective of the active faults with the prime objective of delineating the post-Deccan Trap inversion phase of the Kachchh Basin, with an emphasis on neotectonism with regard to modern seismic activity. The datasets presented are primarily field-based neotectonic data from active fault zones that cover aspects of the tectonic geomorphology, Quaternary stratigraphy, near-surface fault traces and the nature of the fault in the shallow subsurface based on ground-penetrating radar studies. We also attempt a comparative neotectonic evaluation of each active fault in the Kachchh Basin and discuss the constraints for evolving a viable neotectonic model of the basin.


Results on analytical and computational investigations of high frequency dynamics of Josephson junctions, characterized by nonzero capacitance and the second harmonic in the current-phase relation are presented. These attributes each influence on behaviour of integer Shapiro steps and lead to formation of non-integer Shapiro steps. Analytic theory of the integer and non-integer Shapiro steps has been developed for so-called high frequency limit. The analytical and numerical results are compared with experimental data for hybrid heterostructures YBCO/Au/Nb. Detector response for the case of high fluctuation level has been considered as well.


A novel unsupervised deep learning method is developed to identify individual-specific large scale brain functional networks (FNs) from resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) in an end-to-end learning fashion. Our method leverages deep Encoder-Decoder networks and conventional brain decomposition models to identify individual-specific FNs in an unsupervised learning framework and facilitate fast inference for new individuals with one forward pass of the deep network. Particularly, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with an Encoder-Decoder architecture are adopted to identify individual-specific FNs from rsfMRI data by optimizing their data fitting and sparsity regularization terms that are commonly used in brain decomposition models. Moreover, a time-invariant representation learning module is designed to learn features invariant to temporal orders of time points of rsfMRI data. The proposed method has been validated based on a large rsfMRI dataset and experimental results have demonstrated that our method could obtain individual-specific FNs which are consistent with well-established FNs and are informative for predicting brain age, indicating that the individual-specific FNs identified truly captured the underlying variability of individualized functional neuroanatomy.


We report mesoscale control of small molecular 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) crystalline thin films by varying the solute concentration in the fluidic channel method. A stepwise increase in the TIPS-pentacene concentration in the solution enabled us to prepare highly-crystallized ribbons, thin films, and thick films in a mesoscale range, respectively. All three types of deposited films exhibited an in-plane crystalline nature of (001) direction being normal to the substrate as well as crystalline domain growth parallel to the direction of the receding meniscus inside the fluidic channel. In addition, the film's morphology and thickness were found to have a great influence on the field-effect mobility of the transistors, and the highest average and maximum mobilities were achieved from transistors with thin-film semiconductor channels.