The present study describes a high-voltage pulsed-power process of concrete fragmentation which enables to recover clean aggregates and hydrated cement paste (HCP). This HCP conveys valuable elements - Ca, Si, Fe, Al - that would potentially reduce energy and natural resources consumption as well as CO2 emissions of the clinker making process, if it were introduced in the raw mix of the clinker kiln. Overall environmental benefits of this up-cycling chain depend on the mineralogical composition of the cement paste, which in turn depends on the operational conditions of the concrete fragmentation process. To date, only scarce data are available to assess this recycling scheme. In this framework, our study tackle the subject by putting forward an experimental investigation of the pulsed-power process, coupled with a calculation methodology to assess the environmental benefits associated with the recycling of the obtained hydrated cement paste in clinker manufacturing. The proposed methodology leads the way to a comprehensive environmental assessment of concrete recycling schemes, based on a forthcoming LCA study that will make use of the results presented.


Denoising speech signals represent a challenging task due to the increasing number of applications and technologies currently implemented in communication and portable devices. In those applications, challenging environmental conditions such as background noise, reverberation, and other sound artifacts can affect the quality of the signals. As a result, it also impacts the systems for speech recognition, speaker identification, and sound source localization, among many others. For denoising the speech signals degraded with the many kinds and possibly different levels of noise, several algorithms have been proposed during the past decades, with recent proposals based on deep learning presented as state-of-the-art, in particular those based on Long Short-Term Memory Networks (LSTM and Bidirectional-LSMT). In this work, a comparative study on different transfer learning strategies for reducing training time and increase the effectiveness of this kind of network is presented. The reduction in training time is one of the most critical challenges due to the high computational cost of training LSTM and BLSTM. Those strategies arose from the different options to initialize the networks, using clean or noisy information of several types. Results show the convenience of transferring information from a single case of denoising network to the rest, with a significant reduction in training time and denoising capabilities of the BLSTM networks.


A 10-bit 2.5 MS/s SAR A/D converter is presented. In the circuit design, an R-C hybrid architecture D/A converter, pseudo-differential comparison architecture and low power voltage level shifters are utilized. Design chal- lenges and considerations are also discussed. In the layout design, each unit resistor is sided by dummies for good matching performance, and the capacitors are routed with a common-central symmetry method to reduce the nonlin- earity error. This proposed converter is implemented based on 90 nm CMOS logic process. With a 3.3 V analog supply and a 1.0 V digital supply, the differential and integral nonlinearity are measured to be less than 0.36 LSB and 0.69 LSB respectively. With an input frequency of 1.2 MHz at 2.5 MS/s sampling rate, the SFDR and ENOB are measured to be 72.86 dB and 9.43 bits respectively, and the power dissipation is measured to be 6.62 mW including the output drivers. This SAR A/D converter occupies an area of 238 214 m 2 . The design results of this converter show that it


Serum cholesterol fractions and triglycerides were determined in 68 female hospital patients over 90 years of age with senile dementia of Alzheimer type (AD; n = 22) with multi-infarct dementia (MID; n = 23) or without dementia (n = 23). There were no significant differences in serum HDL cholesterol levels between the three groups, but the ratio of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) to total cholesterol was lower in MID patients than in patients without dementia. In all three groups the concentrations of serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) and triglycerides were relatively low and the concentration of HDLC was normal. The concentrations of serum triglycerides and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol were significantly (P less than 0.05) higher in MID patients than in AD patients. The mean levels of serum total cholesterol and LDLC were significantly (P less than 0.001) higher in MID patients than in patients without dementia. The mean levels of LDLC of AD patients were higher than in patients without dementia. The results do not support the suggestion that HDLC levels may be of diagnostic value in multi-infarct dementia.


Numerous issues are being raised towards survival of unorganised retailing or whole sale markets vis-a-vis organised agri-food retail in India. The purpose of present study is to provide an over view of how existing apple supply chains is working in India and various businesses associated with it. The study is of exploratory in nature and explores unorganised and big retail chains dependency on each other for apple supply chain. The paper also describes production and price curves from farm to end customer for India descriptive research. The primary information was collected through personal interview and by observation method and secondary data is collected from APMC and other published sources. The paper brings forth factors for maximising return on investment to excel in unorganised business and impact of agri-food retail chains on unorganised retailing in India. The paper also discusses innovations in unorganised retail sector and concludes with hurdles and challenges for establishment of organised retailing in India. Supply chain partners will be able to understand the business better as well as will be able to further increase their business and profits.


Evolution of Cenozoic surface environments is a process of transition from greenhouse world to icehouse world. Review of studies on developments of continental ice sheets, associated sea level change, deep water circulation, and atmospheric circulation revealed close association among them. The transition occurred through steps of significant and abrupt changes, between such steps the surface environmnent was more or less stable. Timing of such steps is correlatable to tectonic events in many cases. Examination of their close correlation may give a clue to solve the operation mechanism of the surface environment system.


Global stability is one of the failure modes that must be analysed for retaining walls. Limit equilibrium analysis of walls using slope stability software tends to result in a factor of safety that is either too high (circular surfaces) or too low (V-shaped non-circular surfaces). Finite element analysis (FEA) of walls provides a better solution but can be time-intensive and expensive. The primary aim of this project is to compare the results of FEA models with a simpler analytical bearing capacity method that uses Meyerhof's load inclination correction factors. In particular, cases were examined where Rammed Aggregate Pier reinforcing elements (RAPs) support a mechanically stabilised earth (MSE) retaining wall. For this project, several FEA models replicating these cases were created. Geometric parameters included the area ratio of RAP to matrix soil, or "replacement ratio", and the dimensions of the MSE wall. Each geometric configuration was then iterated over a range of undrained strength for the matrix soil, resulting in a different factor of safety for each model. A spreadsheet was also created containing the necessary calculations for the Meyerhof bearing capacity method. The factor of safety from the Meyerhof method was compared to the factor of safety computed for each corresponding FEA model. The results show an excellent relationship between the computed factors of safety for FEA models and the bearing capacity method, especially for factors of safety ranging from 1 to 1.5. At factors of safety above about 1.5, the critical failure mode becomes sliding rather than global stability, and the two methods diverge. The major implications of this research are that a complex FEA model can potentially be replaced by the simpler analytical Meyerhof bearing capacity method. Wall designers will benefit from a quick check on the global stability of a retaining wall without having to spend the time and money on more expensive FEA modelling.


The Internet is moving from the traditional desktop network paradigm to a ubiquitous paradigm where a multitude of small computing devices such as computer chips and smart sensors are involved in daily activities and routines. This means that a rapidly growing amount of devices are connected to the Internet. At the same time, infrastructure-less and self-configuring systems like Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET) are gaining popularity since they provide a possibility for mobile devices to share information with each other without being dependent on a core infrastructure. Routing security in MANETs is, however, a significant challenge to wide scale adoption. One of the most severe security threats to MANET routing is the wormhole attack due to its ability to disrupt a significant proportion of network traffic, while simultaneously being difficult to detect. This paper provides an overview of recent research findings on wormhole attack detection in MANETs collected from a joint research project with Arcada University of Applied Sciences in Finland and The Open University, UK.


The culture filtrate of a strain of Bacillus subtilis decomposed ribonucleic acid into 5•Œ-nucleotides and into other intermediates which released orthophosphate by an arsenateresistant phosphatase. Under the best conditions examined in these experiments, about 50 per cent of ribonucleic acid was converted into 5•Œ-nucleotides. The culture filtrate of a strain of Bacillus brevis showed slight activities of ribonuclease and/or phosphodiesterase which produced 5•Œ-nucleotides from ribonucleic acid, but showed


Non-human primates have an important translational value given their close phylogenetic relationship to humans. Studies in these animals remain essential for evaluating efficacy and safety of new therapeutic approaches, particularly in aging primates that display Alzheimer's disease (AD) -like pathology. With the objective to improve amyloid-β (Aβ) targeting immunotherapy, we investigated the safety and efficacy of an active immunisation with an Aβ derivative, K6Aβ1−30-NH2, in old non-human primates. Thirty-two aged (4-10 year-old) mouse lemurs were enrolled in the study, and received up to four subcutaneous injections of the vaccine in alum adjuvant or adjuvant alone. Even though antibody titres to Aβ were not high, pathological examination of the mouse lemur brains showed significant reduction in intracellular Aβ without inflammatory or haemorrhagic changes. Moreover, a trend for cognitive improvement was observed in the vaccinated primates, which was probably linked to Aβ clearance. This Aβ derivative vaccine appeared to be safe as a prophylactic measure based on the brain analyses and because it did not appear to have detrimental effects on the general health of these old animals.


Bovine serum albumin (BSA) diluents containing lactose, raffinose or sucrose were not different (P greater than 0.05) in their ability to maintain stallion sperm viability, as determined by percentage motile spermatozoa (PMS) and their rate of forward movement (RFM), when stored at 37 or 5 degrees C for 24 h. These diluents did promote a higher (P greater than 0.05) PMS and RFM, when compared with BSA diluents containing arabinose or galactose. The BSA-arabinose and BSA-galactose diluents did not differ (P less than 0.05) in their ability to support sperm viability and were detrimental to spermatozoa. The fertility of freshly collected and diluted spermatozoa was not different (P greater than 0.05) when extended in BSA diluents containing lactose, raffinose or sucrose. There was no difference (P greater than 0.05) in PMS and RFM of frozen-thawed stallion spermatozoa when the spermatozoa were frozen, thawed and incubated at 37 degrees C for 180 min in BSA diluents containing lactose, raffinose or sucrose. Spermatozoa from 6 of 8 stallions did not survive the freezing process. A one-cycle conception rate of 32% was obtained from frozen-thawed spermatozoa extended in BSA diluents containing lactose, raffinose or sucrose. This rate was 78% of the conception rate obtained when the same mares were inseminated with fresh semen in a subsequent study (41%).


A model for the thermodynamic properties of rhombohedral oxide solid solutions in the system Fe2O3-FeTiO3-MgTiO3-MnTiO3 (containing minor amounts of Al2O3) is presented. The model accounts for temperature and compositionally dependent long-range cation-order and the related high to low symmetry structural phase transition. The model is calibrated from the cation-ordering data of Harrison and others (2000; Harrison and Redfern, 2001) and experimental data on Fe+2Ti ⇔ (Fe+3)2 exchange between rhombohedral oxide and spinel from Lattard and others (2005) and Evans and others (2006). Successful calibration require introduction of an energetic contribution attributed to short-range cation-order, which reduces the configurational entropy of the solid solution. The resultant thermodynamic model for the rhombohedral oxides is internally consistent with the model for spinel solid solutions of Sack and Ghiorso (1991a, 1991b) and with the endmember thermodynamic properties database of Berman (1988); a new model equation for the isobaric heat capacity of ulvöspinel (cubic Fe2TiO4) is proposed and values of the enthalpy of formation, −1490.417 kJ/mol, and third law entropy, 184.199 J/K-mol, at 298.15 K and 105 Pa are recommended. The new model forms the basis of a revised FeTi-oxide geothermometer/oxygen barometer, which is applied to a newly compiled dataset of natural two oxide pairs from silicic volcanic rocks. Results are compared to previous formulations with the general conclusion that the new model gives a better estimate of oxidation state for magmas that equilibrated under conditions more oxidizing than the nickel-nickel oxide buffer. Estimates of oxygen fugacity are fairly insensitive to analytical uncertainties in oxide compositions. By contrast, temperature estimates are especially sensitive to analytical error and to the abundances of "minor" constituents. Application of the geothermometer to oxide pairs that grew under conditions where the rhombohedral phase was cation disordered (that is high temperature or at oxygen fugacities greater by about one log10 unit than the nickel-nickel oxide buffer) results in an uncertainty due solely to analytical error of at least 50°C and sometimes as high as 100 °C. Temperature estimates from the new geothermometer can be made using either the Fe+2Ti ⇔ (Fe+3)2 exchange or Fe+2 ⇔ Mg exchange between the two oxides. Comparison of the two temperature estimates provides a means of evaluating the internal consistency of coexisting oxide compositions and assessing the extent of disequilibrium. Temperatures calculated from the new model are found to be consistent with experimental phase relations for the stability of cummingtonite in silicic volcanics. Other petrologic constraints on derived temperatures are examined including limits on the width of the miscibility gap and the development of self-reversed remanent magnetization in the rhombohedral series. Software that implements the new thermodynamic model and the two-oxide geothermometer/oxygen barometer is available from http://www.ofm-research.org/.


Following deglaciation of the Cook Inlet region of Alaska approximately 16 000 years ago, anadromous threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) rapidly colonized emerging lakes and rivers forming resident, freshwater populations. Although the precise body shape of the ancestral marine population is unknown, marine sticklebacks sampled from both Pacific and Atlantic sites present remarkably little body shape variation among populations, which suggests that the morphology of any of the marine populations could be used to represent the ancestral phenotype. To infer the net evolutionary trajectories of body shape change in the Cook Inlet radiation, derived body shapes of lacustrine samples were compared to the presumptive, primitive body shape, represented by the mean shape of two anadromous samples from Cook Inlet. In general, some derived body shape traits are shared by all freshwater populations but many traits evolved in opposite directions. The principal axes of shape variation among freshwater sample means were computed using Principal Components Analysis. The strong correlation between the direction of the principal component axes and lake habitat variables suggest that populations evolved toward selection peaks that are biased along the component axes due to biotic and abiotic features of the lakes.


To compare the physicochemical and gel properties of mung bean starches prepared by different purification methods, starches from Korean Eohul variety and Chinese mung bean (MB) with or without hull using alkaline solution or water as solvent were purified. The optimum conditions for making muk were investigated. Apparent amylose and total dietary fiber contents, water binding capacity, solubility and pasting properties by RVA were analyzed. The characteristics of starch gels (10% dry basis) were measured for 0 and 4 day stored at 4℃. The protein and ash contents were significantly different (p<0.05) and lowered in starch from dehulled MB using alkaline solution. The starches from dehulled MB using alkaline solution showed the lowest color differences. Apparent amylose contents of Eohul and Chinese starches showed 37.06-39.03% and 31.57-32.74%, respectively. Chinese starch was higher in water binding capacity but lower in solubility at 85℃ than others. Peak, trough, cold, and breakdown viscosities of Eohul starch were higher than those of Chinese one. Mung bean starch gel made immediately exhibited clear and glossy appearance but became whiter like milk. The crystallinities of starch and starch gel showed A and B types, respectively. The hardness, gumminess, and resilience of starch gel made immediately and hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, and resilience of 4 day stored gels were different significantly (p<0.05). Especially, Eohul starch gels purified from hulled MB showed higher resilience (bending property) and hardness. Therefore, it was suggested that high quality muk would be made using MB starch purified from hulled Korean mung bean using water as solvent.decreased in contain more than 20% of SGP added groups. The optimal concentration of SGP was found in the range of less than 10%.


Shape memory alloy (SMA) has great potential to develop light and compact artificial muscle (AM) due to its muscle-like high power-to-weight ratio, flexibility and silent operation properties. In this paper, SMA self-sensing properties are explored and modeled in depth to imitate the integrated muscle-like functions of actuating and self-sensing for SMA-AM based on the investigation of SMA electrical resistivity (ER). Firstly, an ER transformation kinetics model is proposed based on the simulation of SMA differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curves. Then a series of thermal-electrical-mechanical experiments are carried out to verify the validity of the ER model, whereby the SMA-AM self-sensing function is well established under different stress conditions. Finally the self-sensing capability is further demonstrated by its application to a novel SMA-AM-actuated active ankle-foot orthosis (AAFO).


Abstract. Regional estimates of the effects of ozone pollution on forest growth depend on the availability of reliable damage functions that estimate a representative ecosystem response to ozone exposure. A number of such damage functions for forest tree species and forest functional types have recently been published and subsequently applied in terrestrial biosphere models to estimate regional or global effects of ozone on forest tree productivity and carbon storage in the living plant biomass. The resulting impacts estimated by these biosphere models show large uncertainty in the magnitude of ozone effects predicted. To understand the role that these damage functions play in determining the variability of estimated ozone impacts, we use the O-CN biosphere model to provide a standardised modelling framework. We test four published damage functions describing the leaf-level, photosynthetic response to ozone exposure (targeting Vcmax or net photosynthesis) in terms of their simulated whole-tree biomass responses against field data from 23 ozone filtration/fumigation experiments conducted with European tree species at sites across Europe with a range of climatic conditions. Our results show that none of these previously published damage functions lead to simulated whole-tree biomass reductions in agreement with the observed dose-response relationships derived from these field experiments, and instead lead to significant over- / or underestimations of the ozone effect. By re-parameterising these photosynthetic based damage functions we develop linear, plant functional type specific dose-response relationships, which provide accurate simulations of the observed whole-tree biomass response across these 23 experiments.


The paper addresses the problem of designing a robust parameter dependent quadratically stabilizing output/state feedback model predictive control for linear polytopic systems without constraints using original sequential approach. For the closed-loop uncertain system, the design procedure ensures stability, robustness properties and guaranteed cost.


Numerous biomimetic molecular catalysts inspired by methane monooxygenases (MMOs) that utilize iron or copper-oxo species as key intermediates have been developed. However, the catalytic methane oxidation activities of biomimetic molecule-based catalysts are still much lower than those of MMOs. Herein, we report that the close stacking of a μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer onto a graphite surface is effective in achieving high catalytic methane oxidation activity. The activity is almost 50 times higher than that of other potent molecule-based methane oxidation catalysts and comparable to those of certain MMOs, in an aqueous solution containing H2O2. It was demonstrated that the graphite-supported μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer oxidized methane, even at room temperature. Electrochemical investigation and density functional theory calculations suggested that the stacking of the catalyst onto graphite induced partial charge transfer from the reactive oxo species of the μ-nitrido-bridged iron phthalocyanine dimer and significantly lowered the singly occupied molecular orbital level, thereby facilitating electron transfer from methane to the catalyst in the proton-coupled electron-transfer process. The cofacially stacked structure is advantageous for stable adhesion of the catalyst molecule on the graphite surface in the oxidative reaction condition and for preventing decreases in the oxo-basicity and generation rate of the terminal iron-oxo species. We also demonstrated that the graphite-supported catalyst exhibited appreciably enhanced activity under photoirradiation owing to the photothermal effect.


ABSTRACT Parliaments have long been overlooked as national human rights actors. Yet given their powers to oversee the executive, and functions that can ensure laws, policy and practice are in compliance with the state's international human rights commitments, they have significant potential in supporting the international human rights system and improving the implementation of international standards at the domestic level. Building on previous UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly resolutions encouraging human rights engagement by parliaments, in June 2018 the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a set of draft principles aimed at strengthening the interaction of parliaments with the national and international systems, and placing them as an active part of the national human rights system through the establishment of dedicated parliamentary human rights committees. In the context of these ongoing efforts, this article considers the potential for the new (soft) standards for parliamentary human rights mechanisms, critically assessing the UN initiative. It discusses the challenges inherent in formal parliamentary engagement on human rights through committees, particularly at the international level, argues for necessary safeguards, and makes proposals for further research and institutional initiatives to solidify parliaments' role as effective national human rights actors.


The so called "Postcholecystectomy Syndrome" may be due to various pathological biliary causes. While a very small number of patients may have symptoms attributable to problems related to cholecystectomy. Twenty five patients underwent a second operation on the bile ducts after cholecystectomy, cholecystostomy and choledocho-duodenostomy by micro and minilaparotomy between December 1990 and December 1996. The second most common causes for reexploration were cystic duct and gallbladder remnants (16%). After incomplete cholecystectomy they usually find that the cystic duct stump and the alot triangle embedded in inflamed scar tissue. For this reason the surgical risk is to high with laparoscopic surgery to reoperate for these pathological changes.


Samples of myocardium from four areas of ischemic and infarcted canine ventricle were examined over a 20-day period for content of the three adenine nucleotides as well as inosine, hypoxanthine, adenosine, and inosine monophosphate. The adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content of central and peripheral areas within the infarct fell to 11% and 8% of control, respectively, 1 day after coronary occlusion. The total adenine nucleotide (TAN) content in these areas fell to 17% of control and showed no significant recovery during the period of study. In the functional myocardium immediately surrounding the infarct the ATP content was depressed to 58% control after 1 day, and the TAN content was also depressed. In the healthy myocardium near the apex, the ATP content was significantly depressed only at the 3-day sample period. Adenine nucleotide derivatives were detected only at 30 min in the central ischemic area. The absence of the nucleoside and nucleobase compounds formed during adenine nucleotide degradation is attributed to their high membrane diffusibility. Loss of these compounds is considered a contributing factor in the prolonged depression of adenine nucleotide content in both ischemic and non-ischemic regions.


The scope of the article was to study the perspectives of the using of wood derived fillers (WDF) from waste of different origin as fillers of polypropylene. The WDF used in this study was hard wood flour (HW), birch veneer polishing dust (VD) and tetra-pack carton cellulose fiber (TC). Some mechanical strength parameters, water uptake in the static and cyclic test and resistance to fungal decay of polypropylene (PP) composites containing these three types of WDF were studied and compared with similar loading (40 wt %) talc-filled PP. Composites containing TC and VD fibers as filler showed the highest flexural strength at three test temperatures (−40, +20, and +40°C) and flexural modulus and tensile strength at plus temperatures. On the other hand talc-filled PP exhibited greatest flexural modulus at minus temperature, greatest impact strength at room temperature and best flow ability. Significant difference was observed between PP composites with HW and VD fillers regarding water uptake in cyclic tests, however flexural strength and modulus change of composites were reversible after drying. No weight loss of WDF/PP composites was observed after 6 week exposure to brown- and white-rot fungi, however, degradation of the surface of samples was detected by SEM. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010


This contribution aims to share the experience gained with the implementation of a pilot project of language revival in four Otomi communities of the Valle del Mezquital, Hidalgo, Mexico. To account for the diverse and, at the same time, complex mosaic of various social, cultural, and political factors, examples are presented resulting from ethnographic findings. Examining ideological factors that affect the formation of speeches, decision making and implementation of actions, the author proposes a common approach for the revitalization of endangered languages. This approach combines academic and the speaker's community's personal interests in recovering their ancestral knowledge, and linguistic practices that have been displaced mainly by the increasing use of Spanish. In the light of the author's experience, some aspects require a more thorough investigation to conceive and establish more effective and relevant language planning.


In this work, we tackle the problem of adapting a real-time recommender system to multiple application domains, and their underlying data models and customization requirements. To do that, we present Uptrendz, a multi-domain recommendation platform that can be customized to provide real-time recommendations in an API-centric way. We demonstrate (i) how to set up a real-time movie recommender using the popular MovieLens-100k dataset, and (ii) how to simultaneously support multiple application domains based on the use-case of recommendations in entrepreneurial start-up founding. For that, we differentiate between domains on the item- and system-level. We believe that our demonstration shows a convenient way to adapt, deploy and evaluate a recommender system in an API-centric way. The source-code and documentation that demonstrates how to utilize the configured Uptrendz API is available on GitHub.


The late imperial Chinese state made a concerted effort to regulate the bodies of the dead. The statutes and substatutes of the Qing Code not only specified how and when corpses were to be buried, but they also criminalized the exposure, manipulation, alteration, and destruction of dead bodies. Through an examination of legal cases related to the crime of "uncovering graves" ( fazhong ), this article explores the uses and abuses of corpses in early nineteenth century China. It argues that dead bodies presented a unique problem for the state. On the one hand, laws related to uncovering graves were intended to keep corpses in their proper places. Once a corpse was buried, it was supposed to be fixed—ritually, materially, and spatially. Unfortunately, this ideal could never be fully realized, since corpses were always in motion. They decomposed; they shifted in the earth; they were exposed by soil erosion; and they were subjected to degradation over time. Moreover, they were disturbed, moved, manipulated, gathered, divided, circulated, and even consumed medicinally by others. In other words, many corpses had interesting and eventful social lives. This article explores some of these lives in an effort to illuminate how the state attempted to manage and control intractable bodies during the nineteenth century.


� ABSTRACT: � 3D network analysis for indoor provides strong decision support for users in searching optimal routes on applications such as emergency services, transportation, security and visitor guiding. Genetic algorithm is used to solve non-linear problems with complicated constraints. Therefore, the implementation of genetic algorithm into route finding algorithms is needed. This paper explains the demand using genetic algorithm approach on dynamic network routing problems especially for 3D navigation. Abilities of genetic algorithm is investigated as a search strategy and necessitates of genetic algorithm on use for 3D dynamic network routing is presented.


On September 11, 2001, the turbulence that is characteristic of the post-Cold War international system came to bear fully on the Canadian-American relationship. Rumors that the highjackers entered the U.S. from Canada put Canadians immediately on the defensive. Though erroneous, these rumors reflected a willingness on the part of Americans to see the Canadian border as a source of vulnerability. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, American officials intensified their criticism of Canada for the laxness of the latter's immigration and refugee policies and for their failure to adequately police the country's borders.


This study investigates developers' land acquisition and housing developments to assess factors that influence utilisation of the acquired land for housing development and strategic approaches that could drive mass housing developments. A sample of 141 members of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) and 31 heads of units in the Land Bureau were surveyed. Weighted mean score and factor analysis were used to identify the barriers limiting housing developments and strategies that could enhance developers' housing initiatives. Findings revealed that the total number of housing units developed is insignificant in the study location, and eight groups of barriers were identified by developers as limiting their housing initiatives. Weak land institutional frameworks and inconsistency in government regulations and policy were recurring themes. These barriers are germane to housing development in the urban fringe of a growing African mega-city that needs 500,000 new housing units annually for the next 10 years to bridge the housing gap. The study recommends an efficient land reform framework to remove policies and regulations that impede timely land documentation, administration and housing development and to include developers through cooperative ventures.


A hardware detector for constant envelope quadrature-quadrature phase-shift keying (CEQ/sup 2/PSK) is proposed. It uses appropriate hard decisions; yet, it achieves optimum probability of bit error performance, unlike the suboptimum detector of Saha and Birdsall. This optimum performance is verified through Monte Carlo computer simulations. Additionally, a more correct expression is given for the probability of bit error performance for CEQ/sup 2/PSK, which gives the gain over nonconstant Q/sup 2/PSK as 1.44 dB, rather than the previously published value of 1.76 dB.


Background Sclerotherapy is currently one of the main therapies used in venous and macrocystic lymphatic malformations. Only a few hospitals offer bleomycin as an alternative to treat vascular malformations. Our hospital has used this drug since 2012. Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the use of bleomycin in vascular malformations after 2 years of use. Material and methods Our survey was a retrospective study of patients receiving an injection of bleomycin. A data collection form was developed. The amount injected was determined by the size of the malformation (posology was a maximum of 1 mg/kg, without exceeding 15 mg per session). Results 30 patients were included. Average age was 19 years (5–44): 40% were <15 years old, 40% were 15–25 years old and 20% were >25 years old. The sex ratio was 1/3 (M/F). The head was the most frequently affected area (45%), then the legs, and the arms, which were less frequently affected. Among the 30 patients included, 69% had an isolated venous vascular malformation and 16% a venous vascular malformation coupled with a syndrome. Patients received an average of 9 mg (2–15) of bleomycin per session with an average of 2 therapy sessions. Time lapse between 2 sessions was about 3–6 months. 75% of patients had a positive evolution of their malformation while 25% had a poor response. Few adverse effects were identified, the main ones being post injection fatigue and nausea, local swelling and inflammation. No major complications, especially pulmonary fibrosis, were observed. The current protocol of bleomycin is too interindividual; the second injection is planned only if patients feel they need it. A new protocol has been implemented at the neuroradiology department. For each new patient, 2 systematic injections (1 mg/kg) at an interval of 6 weeks are now provided. The post assessment sclerotherapy is performed 2 months after, using a clinical examination and Doppler. Conclusion The results of our study were similar to those found in the published scientific literature. Bleomycin sclerotherapy has a major interest in vascular malformations. It was found to be safe as there were no serious complications observed. References and/or Acknowledgements All rights reserved. No conflict of interest.


Aortic valve replacement with a pulmonary autograft (Ross procedure) was pioneered by Donald Ross in 1967. The advantages of the autograft valve include freedom from anticoagulation, hemolysis, and infection, optimal hemodynamic performance, and growth potential. Various materials have been used for the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT). Currently, a cryopreserved pulmonary allograft is accepted worldwide as a useful material for this procedure. Pulmonary allografts cannot be utilized in Japan, and thus other valves and materials must be used instead. The acceptance of these procedures has been slow because of the technical demands of the operations and the inherent need for reconstruction of the RVOT, thereby placing two valves at risk. In the past 20 years, the Ross procedure has been increasingly considered for pediatric patients with a wide spectrum of congenital abnormalities.


The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine, how thermal imaging could help in advancing nursing methods and offer some new usage targets of thermal imaging for the behoof of a patient. By using CAT S60 cellular phone with an inbuilt Flir thermal camera, thermal pictures were taken from voluntary subjects in order to find out if thermal imaging with CAT S60 phone could help in treatment of a patient. Thermal camera images were taken in order to find out temperature changes in whole body, limbs and extremities. By using thermal imaging in nursing the beginning of treatment could be hastened and the monitoring of the state of a patient would be more efficient thus improving the prognosis of a patient. The benefit of the method is, that it is non-invasive, cheap and easy to use (inside a cellular phone) thus being a clear advantage.
 The results of different usage methods seen in thermal images suggest that thermal imaging with CAT S60 phone could be used to improve nursing methods and may also for its part to help in diagnosis. The present preliminary observations via thermal images showed, that the resolution of CAT S60 phone was sufficient to detect changes in human body temperature in home life. This may suggest the usage of the CAT S60 phone in home care services.


A 1980s song by the Police said "Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break . . . I'll be watching you." As acute and critical care nurses, we often feel we are under this type of scrutiny. I think we practice our profession visibly every shift. Knowing that our words, actions, and, many times, even our thoughts affect the lives of others is serious stuff. Becoming certified is a visible way of demonstrating acquisition of the knowledge deemed essential for the safe care of the vulnerable patients we serve.


The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) uses the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-2 as the host receptor for target cell entry. The extent and distribution of ACE-2 has been associated with the clinical symptoms of coronavirus disease (COVID)-19. Here we show by immunofluorescence analysis that the ACE2 is abundantly expressed in oral mucosa, particularly in the surface epithelial cells suggesting that these cells could represent sites of entry for SARS-CoV-2. Further, together with the reports on ACE2 ectodomain shedding, we discuss the rationale for the hypothesis that the ACE-2 measurement in saliva could be a marker for COVID-19 infection during early phase following SARS-CoV-2 exposure.


Six hundred forty-three patients had retinal detachment surgery during 81/2 years; 17.6% were under the age of 30 years. Analysis of this group of patients showed that males were more commonly affected than females (68%). Trauma was the most frequent cause, reported in 40% of cases. Dialysis was the commonest retinal break, occurring in 51% of patients, and 73% of these occurred in the inferior temporal quadrant. In patients with a history of trauma, the type of the retinal break produced and operative success was related to the severity of ocular damage, with more successful outcomes in nontraumatic cases and fewer of these in cases of ocular perforation.


Fault management in high performance cluster networks has been focused on the notion of hard faults (i.e., link or node failures). Network degradations that negatively impact performance but do not result in failures often go unnoticed. In this paper, we classify such degradations as soft faults. In addition, we identify consistent performance as an important requirement in cluster networks. Using this service requirement, we describe a comprehensive strategy for cluster fault management.


Background Echinococcus multilocularis causes alveolar echinococcosis (AE), a rising zoonotic disease in the northern hemisphere. Treatment of this fatal disease is limited to chemotherapy using benzimidazoles and surgical intervention, with frequent disease recurrence in cases without radical surgery. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying E. multilocularis infections and host-parasite interactions ultimately aids developing novel therapeutic options. This study explored an involvement of unfolded protein response (UPR) and endoplasmic reticulum-stress (ERS) during E. multilocularis infection in mice. Methods E. multilocularis- and mock-infected C57BL/6 mice were subdivided into vehicle, albendazole (ABZ) and anti-programmed death ligand 1 (αPD-L1) treated groups. To mimic a chronic infection, treatments of mice started six weeks post i.p. infection and continued for another eight weeks. Liver tissue was then collected to examine inflammatory cytokines and the expression of UPR- and ERS-related genes. Results E. multilocularis infection led to an upregulation of UPR- and ERS-related proteins in the liver, including ATF6, CHOP, GRP78, ERp72, H6PD and calreticulin, whilst PERK and its target eIF2α were not affected, and IRE1α and ATF4 were downregulated. ABZ treatment in E. multilocularis infected mice reversed, or at least tended to reverse, these protein expression changes to levels seen in mock-infected mice. Furthermore, ABZ treatment reversed the elevated levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interferon (IFN)-γ in the liver of infected mice. Similar to ABZ, αPD-L1 immune-treatment tended to reverse the increased CHOP and decreased ATF4 and IRE1α expression levels. Conclusions and significance AE caused chronic inflammation, UPR activation and ERS in mice. The E. multilocularis-induced inflammation and consecutive ERS was ameliorated by ABZ and αPD-L1 treatment, indicating their effectiveness to inhibit parasite proliferation and downregulate its activity status. Neither ABZ nor αPD-L1 themselves affected UPR in control mice. Further research is needed to elucidate the link between inflammation, UPR and ERS, and if these pathways offer potential for improved therapies of patients with AE.


Like any system, a marketing channel will thrive only to the extent it can secure critical resources from the environment. Using a resource dependence perspective, the authors hypothesize that a weaker member's access to relatively munificent output markets can mitigate a power advantage held by the channel partner that otherwise is used to bureaucratize the channel and endanger the quality of the channel relationship. The authors use a structural equation model to analyze data from dealer informants in the auto industry. The results suggest munificence affects the internal workings of the channel.


To infer the molecular evolution of polymeric beta-fructosidase SUC genes of the yeast Saccharomyces, we have cloned and sequenced a new SUC gene from S. cariocanus and determined the sequence similarity of beta-fructosidases within the genus Saccharomyces. The proteins of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its five sibling species (S. bayanus, S. cariocanus, S. kudriavzevii, S. mikatae, S. paradoxus) have high degree of identity - 90-97%. The invertase of S. bayanus is the most divergent among the proteins studied. The data obtained indicated that the yeast invertases are highly conservative. In the coding regions of the SUC genes the pyrimidine transitions were the most abundant event due to silent changes mainly in the third codon position. There is only one, probably, non-telomeric SUC gene in each of the Saccharomyces species. In S. cerevisiae, S. bayanus, S. kudriavzevii, S. mikatae and S. paradoxus the SUC gene have been mapped on chromosome IX, whereas in S. cariocanus this gene is located in chromosone XV, in the position of translocation.


Recently, an enhanced hexagon-based search (EHS) algorithm was proposed to speedup the original hexagon-based search (HS) by exploiting the group-distortion information of some evaluated points. In this paper, a second version of the EHS is proposed with a new point-oriented inner search technique which can further speedup the HS in both large and small motion environments. Experimental results show that the enhanced hexagon-based search version-2 (EHS2) is faster than the HS up to 34% with negligible PSNR degradation.


Introduction: The discovery of the key role of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and its downstream signaling effectors in the pathophysiology of colorectal cancer (CRC) has resulted in the clinical use of targeted therapies in the treatment of metastatic CRC (mCRC). However, clinical benefit to EGFR blockade is observed in only a subgroup of CRC patients wild type for KRAS andNRAS. Genomic characterization of patient derived xenograft (PDX) models of mCRC have revealed additional resistance mechanisms to the EGFR MAb cetuximab including amplification of MET, HER2 and mutations in ERBB2, EGFR, FGFR1, PDGFRA, and MAP2K1 (Bertotti et al. 2011, 2015). However, not all resistance is understood and the biochemical signaling correlates of sensitivity and resistance remain incompletely understood. Phosphoproteomics allows for comprehensive protein phosphorylation profiling, and thereby may shed new insights into the biology of CRC and the molecular basis of cetuximab response. Aim: To identify aberrant signaling pathways, predictive biomarkers, and alternative drug targets in genomically-annotated CRC PDX models by mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics. Methods: We performed LC-MS/MS based phosphoproteome profiling (van der Mijn et al. 2015; Piersma et al. 2015) on untreated CRC PDX models lacking KRAS, NRAS or BRAF mutation (n = 20). For comparison, KRAS, BRAF or NRAS-mutant and MET or HER2 amplified models (n = 21) were analyzed. Phosphopeptides were captured by phosphotyrosine antibodies and titanium dioxide. MS/MS data was searched using MaxQuant. Phosphoproteome data (ion intensities and spectral counts) were correlated with drug sensitivity. Dedicated bioinformatics was used to identify hyperactive kinases and signaling pathways in individual tumors. Results: The dataset contained 13.418 tyrosine-, serine- and threonine-phosphorylated peptides derived from 4588 proteins, including 237 phosphorylated kinases. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of phosphopeptide intensities revealed subclusters enriched for sensitive and resistant models. Among cetuximab-resistant models, HER2 and MET were identified as hyperphosphorylated and hyperactive driver kinases, confirming the genomic annotation. Sensitivity to combination treatment of both EGFR and driver kinases was observed previously, providing proof-of-principle of the use of phosphoproteomics for the identification of driver kinases. Conclusion/Future: This project is uncovering the phosphoproteomic landscape of colorectal tumors and will yield a better understanding of signaling pathways involved, with an emphasis on identifying activated drug targets and predictive biomarkers in this disease, in relation to KRAS/NRAS/BRAF status and response to anti-EGFR therapy. Citation Format: Robin Beekhof, Mariette Labots, Jaco C. Knol, Tim R.A. Schelfhorst, Nicole van Grieken, Sander R. Piersma, Thang V. Pham, Andrea Bertotti, Livio Trusolino, Henk M.W. Verheul, Connie R. Jimenez. Mapping the metastatic colorectal cancer phospho-proteome for predicting response to cetuximab. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 880.


In this paper, we introduce a model of hooliganism to study how different types of policing can be expected to affect violence and the number of hooligans in violent supporter clubs. Hooligans differ in their preferred level of fighting, and obtain utility also from social identity that belonging to a supporter club gives. We find that an increase in discriminative policing, like intelligence units, always reduces violence. Indiscriminate policing, such as the use of teargas or random jailing of potential law breakers, may, however, backfire and result in smaller and more brutal groups.


Building on ethnographic research, this article focuses on briefly presenting the history of social, economic and cultural changes of the sienese travertine extraction and transformation in the Rapolano Terme stoneworking district. The research is based on findings from interviews with quarrymen and stoneworkers, key photographs and documents contained in a variety of archives, which together provide an overall view of the narrative of this territorial identity. The aim of the text, as the author points out, is to look at how the craft continuity and transmission changes contribute to current processes of heritagisation built on the connections between economic potential, history, art, and skilled labour.


This paper examines the impact of migrant networks on the labour market trajectories of Bangladeshis in Italy. The survey had two stages and two main methodological tools, firstly, a household questionnaire was administrated among a sample of households at the origin and secondly, socio-economic information was collected on all of their destination. A three-stage probabilistic sampling design was applied. Findings reveal a heterogeneous pictures, such as the likelihood of employment in the first year abroad and found that migrant networks reduce the probability to be employed. In addition, only close family members have effect on the likelihood to work; extended kinship and friendship have no influence on employment probability at arrival. Indeed, immediate family members are presumably more likely to take in charge and put up the newly arrived migrant, a burden that may weigh too heavily on weaker ties. Moreover, findings from the models on the type of first occupation suggest that jobs found later are more likely to be semi-skilled or skilled. On the other hand, extended kinship and friendship ties prior to migration as well as pre-established male networks appeared positively correlated with the likelihood to work in the current year of the migration spell. Finally, pre-migration ties in Italy lead to the perpetuation of the pre-existent ethnic niche developed by the Bangladeshi in small trade activities of a rather precarious nature. Of course, the structure of the labour market at destination and the historical links between countries are probably, in their turn, responsible for these dynamics.


Development of magnesium alloys, which exhibit high strength and high ductility (fracture toughness), is critical for ensuring safety and reliability in structural applications. It is well-known that grain re nement and/or alloying are impressive strategies to attain such properties in metallic materials. In the former case, grain boundaries of magnesium and its alloys have unique characteristics, e.g., sites for non-basal dislocation activity and occurrence of partial grain boundary sliding. As a result, strength as well as ductility (fracture toughness) tend to increase and improve with grain re nement. In the latter case, 29 types of solid solution elements, which have a maximum solubility of more than 0.1 at%, can dissolve in magnesium. Several elements are generally added to magnesium simultaneously to achieve good mechanical properties via a synergistic effect. In industrial elds, ternary magnesium alloys such as Mg-Al-Zn and Mg-Zn-Zr alloys, which have negrained structures, have been widely used; however, there is no still clear and systematic understanding of the impact of various alloying elements on properties for magnesium. In this paper, we review recent results on the effect of solid solution alloying elements on ductility (fracture toughness), with focusing on polycrystalline binary magnesium alloys. Regarding the toughness, crack-propagation behavior and/or fracture behavior are quite sensitive to the alloying element, regardless of the grain size. Twin boundaries in particular are recognized as harmful defects, because the act as crack-propagation site. Nevertheless, changing the electric bonding behavior through alloying has the potential to increase toughness. As for the ductility, alloying elements also dramatically affect the room-temperature plastic deformation; activation of not only non-basal dislocation slip but also grain boundary sliding plays a notable role in enhancing the elongation-to-failure in tension. [doi:10.2320/jinstmet.J2018067]


This study has investigated the comparability of computer-based testing writing prompts in the Test of English as a Foreign LanguageTM (TOEFL) for examinees of different native language backgrounds. A total of 81 writing prompts introduced from July 1998 through August 2000 were examined using a 3-step logistic regression procedure for ordinal items. An English language ability (ELA) variable was created by summing the standardized TOEFL Reading, Listening, and Structure scale scores. This ELA variable was used to match examinees of East Asian (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) and European (German, French, and Spanish) language groups. Although about one third of the 81 prompts were initially flagged because of statistically significant group effects; the effect sizes were too small for any of those flagged prompts to be classified as having an important group effect.


This paper outlines the theoretical underpinnings of the consociational power-sharing approach and its presence in the political system of the post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina. The power-sharing framework used in this study provides insights into the theory of consociationalism as a power-sharing approach and tries to contribute to our understanding of the presence and relevance of this model to the Bosnian political system. The consociational framework emphasises the role of the political elites in providing the political stability and economic prosperity in the heterogeneous societies. It has four main features: grand coalition, proportional representation, segmental autonomy and mutual veto. The functioning and performance of this model depends, to a large extent, on factors that are conducive to elite cooperation. These factors are: population size, balance of power among segments, multiparty system, segmental isolation, nature of social cleavages, overarching loyalties and tradition of elite accommodation. This paper shows that all features of consociationalism exist in the post-Dayton Bosnian political system. However, grand coalitions are always made after the elections and mainly for the distribution of positions in the executive bodies of state apparatus and without any strategic platform and goals to be achieved and accounted for, agreed in advance. Proportionality has been mainly replaced with the parity-giving rise to imbalanced representation in state institutions. Segmental autonomy has been misconceived and veto power has been used to block all legislation beneficial to the state.


When applying transport policies or business strategies to a trans- portation system, different effects, such as environmental and economic effects, typically appear. Simulation can be used to predict such effects for a given pol- icy or strategy, and we argue that to fully capture such effects there is a need to model the underlying decisions and actions in the transport chain. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss some important transport chain responsibilities and roles that need to be captured in a simulation model in order to study these types of effects. The roles concern basic functionality related to using and providing services, and the responsibilities include decisions and actions that concern ordering of products and transports, and planning of how to use resources and infrastructure. We contribute with a framework, which on an abstract level describes responsibilities, roles and interactions that are important to consider in an agent-based transport chain simulation model. We argue that our framework can be used as assistance when developing an agent-based transport simulation model. To illustrate how the framework can be realized, we briefly describe an agent-based simulation tool called TAPAS.


Introduction: Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) is an enzyme which converts tryptophan (Trp) into kynurenine (Kyn) in many cell types. IDO1 has a critical role in immunosuppressive mechanisms that permit tumor cells to escape the immune system when Trp and Kyn level decrease and increase in the microenvironment, respectively. Therefore, IDO1 has been one of the first targets that have really been purposed for immuno-oncology (I-O) applications and immunotherapies development. A potent and selective IDO1 inhibitor such as Epacadostat (EPA) can significantly enhance the antitumor activity by restoring the body9s natural ability to recognize and to fight cancer. In this study, using quantitative mass spectrometry imaging (QMSI, we went further than only quantifying the metabolites and the drug. Both target exposure and engagement studies were handled in CT26 mouse tumor model, plasma and whole blood. Methods: Undifferentiated colon carcinoma CT26 cell line was implanted into mice. Tumors, plasma and blood were sampled from two groups: one treated group (3 mice, 100mg/Kg of EPA 2 hours before sampling), and one control group of 2 mice. All samples were stored at -80°C until use. 1,5-diaminonaphthalene (1,5-DAN) matrix mixed to internal standards was sprayed onto tumor tissue sections of 10 µm thickness using the automatic TM Sprayer (HTX Technologies, LLC) prior analysis. Data acquisition was performed using 7T MALDI-FTICR (SolariX XR, Bruker Daltonics) at 120 µm spatial resolution in full scan negative mode. Acquired data were treated with MultimagingTM software (ImaBiotech). Histological staining was applied afterwards. Quantitative results of Trp, Kyn and EPA in whole tumors, plasma and blood were then confirmed by LC-MS/MS analysis. Results: Using both QMSI and LC-MS/MS technologies, quantification was realized for the two endogenous metabolites and the drug. Thus, using a potent and selective IDO1 inhibitor, EPA, CT26 model validation was possible. As expected, a decrease of Kyn/Trp ratio was noticed in treated CT26 tumors (-24%), plasma (-57%) and blood (-45%) compared to control samples. By inhibiting IDO1 and decreasing Kyn in tumor cells, EPA increases and restores the proliferation, activation and regulation of various immune cells. This promoted infiltration of active immune cells into the tumor microenvironment is an important feature of many immunotherapies. It is marked by glycolysis signatures and adenosine-inosine metabolism. Citation Format: Lauranne Poncelet, Rima Ait-Belkacem, Bruno Gomes, Stefan Linehan, Gregory Hamm, Jonathan Stauber. Impact of IDO inhibitor on tryptophan and kynurenine pathway reflected in the tumor microenvironment and highlighted using quantitative mass spectrometry imaging [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3512.


Low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) is pragmatically defined as disordered bowel function after rectal resection leading to a detriment in quality of life. This broad characterization does not allow for precise estimates of prevalence. The LARS score was designed as a simple tool for clinical evaluation of LARS. Although the LARS score has good clinical utility, it may not capture all important aspects that patients may experience. The aim of this collaboration was to develop an international consensus definition of LARS that encompasses all aspects of the condition and is informed by all stakeholders.


In Korea, open spaces of urban housing do not serve residents as "regular living areas". We carried out research on the "streets" of urban housings in that the meaning of traditional "streets", playing roles which are not only means of passage but also boundary of life, cannot include present meaning of "streets" of the urban housing. This research is to propose the direction of planning Community Streets for the recovery of the public - and communal urban housing's streets, researching the present employment condition of Community Streets that were prepared recently. Working with 3 complexes which have been completed since 2000, We studied the present employment condition and planned signification, according to the conditions of their surroundings, the physical conditions of Community Streets, and the relationship among main apartment buildings, open spaces, and facilities. From this study, We came up with several suggestions that can present the planning line of Community Streets. Therefore this research is to create the Community Streets for the activity of the streets, the recovery of the community, and improvement of ambulatory environment.


This paper proposes an improved design methodology of the double-sided LC-compensated capacitive power transfer (CPT) system considering the inductance detuning. Compared to the perfect-resonant scenario, this paper shows that the inductance detuning has the benefit to achieve the soft-switching condition for the CPT system, and the output current and internal voltage stresses can also be maintained within the desired range. The contributions of this paper are summarized in three parts. First, it analyzes the impacts of the inductance variations on the system frequency property, including the input current, output current, and internal capacitor voltage stresses. Second, it proposes three principles to detune the inductances as the methodology to design a CPT system. Third, a prototype is implemented, which achieves 368.5 W power transfer across a 400 mm × 400 mm × 4 mm glass layer with 91.8% dc–dc efficiency. Experimental results validate that the proposed design principles are satisfied, showing that the output current is within the desired range, the input soft-switching condition is achieved, and the internal voltage stresses are within the safety limit. Moreover, the efficiency and frequency properties are also validated by the experimental results, showing a wide power range of the high-efficiency operation (higher than 90%) and a wide frequency bandwidth of the soft-switching operation (from 0.96 to 1.12 MHz).


Biomechatronics is an engineering subject in which biomimetics as a method is one of its two supporting pillars: biology for engineering, or Bio4Eng. This is contrasted with biocompatible design, or Eng4Bio, examples of which are human-serving systems, such as exoskeletons, and biomedical engineering. The paper aims to illustrate that the research fields of biomimetics, biomechatronics, and biomedical engineering are not in competition but mutually supportive. The current attempts to place biomechatronics under the umbrella of biomimetics or biomedical engineering are therefore not expedient; they deprive the subject of its strength of combining Bio4Eng and Eng4Bio at any time in a task-related manner. In addition to research and development, however, the training of the specialists supporting the subjects must not be disregarded and is therefore described based on a proven design.


Young Carers are children and young people (CYP) between the age of 5-18years who provide care for a family member who has an illness or disability. The prevalence of Young Carers (YCs) in the UK is high and rising rapidly; the most recent census in England and Wales (2011) highlighted 177,918 YCs known to services, and an increase of almost 19% between 2001 and 2011. Local authorities have a legal responsibility to identify, assess and support YCs in their role.
Most research in this area has focused on the vulnerabilities and risk factors of YCs. This current research, using IPA, has set out to have a bottom-up exploration of the experiences of YCs, placing the CYPs' views at the centre of the study and looking at the meaning they make of the role as well as the support that they receive. The study took a positive psychological perspective by being open to the positive and the negative impact of the caring experience.
A sample of 8 YCs (4 female and 4 male) ranging from the age of 11 to 18 years took part in individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Participants were recruited from a multi-cultural inner London local authority YCs' project. The YCs cared for either parents, grandparents or siblings.
The findings of this study concurred with previous research, highlighting that YCs endure physical and psychological hardship; but this study demonstrated that they also identify benefits of the caregiving role and some YCs have adapted various ways to manage the impact of caring. The study also finds that YCs value support such as the YCs' group, but many expressed the need for more individual support, especially for the younger YCs.
The author outlines the implications of the findings for Educational Psychologists, referring to various skills of assessment and intervention which they could implement to identify and support YCs so that their wellbeing is promoted. The author suggests further longitudinal mixed methods research to explore the potential of this suggestion.


Purpose of review Aortic valve disease is relatively common and encompasses both congenital and acquired forms. Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is the most common type of cardiac malformation and predisposes to the development of calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD). Since the description of the link between NOTCH1, BAV and CAVD approximately a decade ago, there have been significant advances in the genetic and molecular understanding of these diseases. Recent findings Recent work has defined the congenital cardiac phenotypes linked to mutations in NOTCH1, and in addition, novel etiologic genes for BAV have been discovered using new genetic technologies in humans. Furthermore, several mouse models of BAV have been described defining the role of endothelial Notch1 in aortic valve morphogenesis, whereas others have implicated new genes. These murine models along with other cell-based studies have led to molecular insights in the pathogenesis of CAVD. Summary These findings provide important insights into the molecular and genetic basis of aortic valve malformations, including BAV, specifically highlighting the etiologic role of endothelial cells. In addition, numerous investigations in to the mechanisms of CAVD demonstrate the importance of developmental origins and signaling pathways as well as communication between valve endothelial cells and the underlying interstitial cells in valve disease onset and progression.


A seismological study of the pulsating PG1159 stars PG2131+066 and PG 1707+427 is presented. We perform extensive adiabatic computations of g-mode pulsation periods of PG1159 evolutionary models with stellar masses ranging from 0.530 to 0.741 M⊙. We constrain the stellar mass of PG2131+066 and PG 1707+427 by comparing the observed period spacing of each star with the theoretical asymptotic period spacings and with the average of the computed period spacings. We also employ the individual observed periods to find representative seismological models for both stars.


Cancer survivors who are depressed are twice as likely to die prematurely as those who are not depressed, according to a new prospective population-based study by Dutch researchers. Lead author Floortje Mols, PhD, assistant professor of medical psychology and neuropsychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, found that 38% of depressed patients with lymphoma, multiple myeloma, endometrial, or colorectal cancer died over a 10-year period, compared with 19% without depression, after adjusting for major clinical predictors (May 2013, Journal of Cancer Survivorship). "Depression is the most commonly studied psychological variable with respect to cancer mortality," Mols said. This study is one of a growing number that report a statistical correlation among mortality, depression, or stress in cancer patients and survivors. According to David Spiegel, MD, professor of medicine at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., just as many oncologists now view pain as a symptom to be treated, they should also consider depression (which is two to three times higher in cancer patients than in the general population) a symptom to be treated to improve quality of—and possibly extend—life. In 1989, Spiegel found that women with metastatic breast cancer who participated in a year of supportive-expressive therapy not only had an improved the quality of life but also lived 18 months longer than control subjects (37 vs. 19 months; October 1989, The Lancet). Since that landmark report, many studies have explored an association between depression and survival, some of which found a statistical correlation, whereas others did not. Overall, Spiegel counts 15 randomized controlled studies in the field to date, eight of which do show a statistical correlation. These and many nonrandomized studies have provoked controversy and criticism. "Support groups may affect the quality of life, but available scientific evidence does not support the idea that support groups or other forms of mental health therapy can help patients with cancer live longer," according to the American Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.org/treatment/). One of the strongest critics is James Coyne, PhD, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, who says that serious study design problems have plagued this body of research, partly because few if any were designed to examine mortality, and partly because better medical care is often a confounding factor in these trials. "The danger in studies like these is that they give patients false hope [of longer survival] and they don't distinguish between a diagnosis of depression and depressive symptoms," Coyne said. development have similar structures, iniparib is the only one that carries a carboxyl group that can swivel around an amino bond, which weakens its ability to bind PARP. "Had they shown the structure to me, I would have told them it wasn't likely to be a good PARP inhibitor," he said. The company pursued the drug anyway. "Iniparib had shown activity in triplenegative breast cancer, thus providing the rationale for further investigation," said Musto. Although the company declined to discuss the drug's mechanism of action, Calvert speculated that Sanofi researchers suspected that the drug had a metabolite that was active. Nevertheless, iniparib is an example of how not to develop a drug, said Paul Workman, PhD, deputy director of the Institute of Cancer Research in London. "Demonstrating target inhibition at pharmacologically active drug doses and pharmacokinetic exposures in an animal model is essential in modern drug discovery. Following this, the same biomarkers must be used to show target engagement and pathway modulation in early-stage clinical trials. Failure to do so leads to uninformed decisions and late-stage failures." The drug's failure would not have been so dramatic had it not also slowed the pace of research. Since data on iniparib were so impressive, "companies held back development programs for fear of being scooped," Robson said. Further complicating the issue, when the drug failed, it created uncertainty. "There was a degree of pessimism among everyone: patients, the advocacy community, and even the research community, who questioned whether it was worth continuing to pursue the class altogether," Robson added. With iniparib now a relic of PARP history, however, other true PARP inhibitors are charging ahead. Trials with patients carrying BRCA mutations suggest high response rates, even in patients who have grown resistant to all other forms of therapy. "They look like they may be effective as single agents in BRCA mutation carriers," Carey said, "which still makes them an exciting class of drugs."


Abstract An operational method of combining observations with short-period forecasts of the same quantities is described. The method amounts to performing an interpolation in the field of apparent forecast errors, as defined by the available observations, by a linear least-squares technique similar to Gandin's. Statistics on the errors of observation and prediction are required. The spatial autocorrelations of the forecast error depend on the particular forecast model employed, the forecast period, etc. Those statistics necessary for the assimilation of synoptic data with four-level baroclinic 12-hr forecasts have been derived. They appear to be approximately homogeneous and isotropic and to vary slowly with season. Asynoptic data can be handled by allowing for variations with forecast period. Some practical problems in the determination of empirical statistics are discussed.


Abstract Borate minerals composed of [Bφ3] triangles and/or [Bφ4] tetrahedra (φ = O or OH) commonly exhibit complex polymerizations to form diverse polyanion groups. High-resolution solid-state magic angle spinning (MAS) 11B and 25Mg NMR spectroscopy at moderate to ultrahigh magnetic fields (9.4, 14.1, and 21.1 T) allows for very accurate NMR parameters to be obtained for the borate dimorphs, inderite, and kurnakovite, [MgB3O3(OH)5·5H2O]. Improved agreement between experimental results and ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations using Full Potential Linear Augmented Plane Wave (FP LAPW) with WIEN2k validates the geometry optimization procedures for these minerals and permits refinements of the hydrogen positions relative to previous X-ray diffraction crystal structures. In particular, the optimized structures lead to significant improvements in the positions of the H atoms, suggesting that H atoms have significant effects on the 11B and 25Mg NMR parameters in inderite and kurnakovite. This study shows that combined high-resolution NMR spectroscopy and ab initio theoretical modeling provides an alternative method for the refinement of crystal structures, especially H positions.


Abstract This work presents the results of a numerical study of the working processes of burning lignite in a vortex furnace with swirling countercurrent flows. The results of computer simulation of the processes of burning lignite with a moisture content of 30%, an ash content of 20% and 35% and a higher calorific value of Qрв = 13.9 MJ/kg and 9.7 MJ/kg, respectively are given. The fields of temperature distribution, gas velocity and particle trajectory in the volume and at the outlet of the furnace are determined. The values of the swirling flow velocity near the exit from the furnace reach 150-170 m/s. Mechanical underburning is 3.7% and 9.4% depending on the ash content. The results of a numerical study have showed that the diameter of lignite particles affects their combustion process: coke particles with an initial diameter from 25 microns to 250 microns burn out by 96%. The furnace provides a complete combustion of pulverized coal particles - 99.8% and of volatiles - 100% at volumetric heat stress in the 2500 kW/m3 furnace. The afterburning of fuel particles containing carbon is ensured by their circulation


Combustion Characteristics of Ethanol as Main Chamber Fuel with Methane-fueled Pre-chamber Fahad Amer Almatrafi Pre-Chamber combustion systems are gaining popularity in Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) with the increasing emissions regulations due to their advantages in improving fuel economy by increasing the lean limit and cutting emission, especially NOx. In pre-chamber Combustion, flame jets shoot out from the pre-chamber orifices into the main chamber and generates several ignition points that promote a rapid burn rate of the lean mixture (air-excess ratio (λ) >1) in the main chamber. This work focused on studying two different fuels in the main chamber, lean limit, combustion efficiency (ηc), and emissions. A single-cylinder heavy-duty engine equipped with a narrow throat active pre-chamber was used. Two fuels were tested in the main chamber, Methane (CH4) and Ethanol (C2H5OH), the first fuel is used as a baseline, while keeping the pre-chamber fueled by Methane only. The engine was operated at a fixed speed, intake pressure, and spark-timing. The amount of fuel injected was varied to attain different global λ, then at each global λ; the amount of fuel injected to the Pre-chamber was varied to observe the effect of the pre-chamber λ. Different air intake temperatures were tested to see the effect on combustion efficiency. Results from the study showed an increase in the lean-limit using Ethanol in the main chamber compared to using only Methane in both chambers. However, lower ηc than that of the Methane was reported; this is due to a combination of the narrow-throat feature and the high heat of vaporization of Ethanol, ηc showed improvement when the air intake temperature increased.


The recent trend in action recognition is towards larger datasets, an increasing number of action classes and larger visual vocabularies. State-of-the-art human action classification in challenging video data is currently based on a bag-of-visual-words pipeline in which space-time features are aggregated globally to form a histogram. The strategies chosen to sample features and construct a visual vocabulary are critical to performance, in fact often dominating performance. In this work we provide a critical evaluation of various approaches to building a vocabulary and show that good practises do have a significant impact. By subsampling and partitioning features strategically, we are able to achieve state-of-the-art results on 5 major action recognition datasets using relatively small visual vocabularies.


OBJECTIVE
To study the digestibility of protein and amino acids in lysine-rich genetically modified (GM) rice and its parental rice.

METHODS
Eight Wuzhishan Mini-pig Inbred-line as the experimental animals, T-cannulas were equipped at their terminal ileums by surgical operation. Six of them, which were well-healed and with good appetite, were fed with lysine-rich genetically modified rice and its parental rice, and digesta of each pig was collected and analyzed respectively for comparing their apparent digestibility (AD) and true digestibility (TD). The endogenous amino acids losses were determined by casein diet method.

RESULTS
The AD and TD of protein are very similar in the two types of rice. There are no statistical differences in the AD of all amino acids except for Cysteine, and there are no statistical differences in the TD of all 18 amino acids.

CONCLUSION
The lysine-rich GM rice has no statistical difference with its parental rice in terms of protein and amino acid digestion and absorption in Wuzhishan mini-pigs.


One open problem in the AI & Law community is how to provide computers with a basic understanding of legal concepts, and their relationship with legal texts and with the legal lexicon. We propose to add a layer to connect the linguistic description of the provisions to syntactic patterns using FramNet that can be exploited thought NLP tools. A deep-parsing and shallow-semantics approach has been devised to interpret and retrieve the characterizing components of legal modificatory provisions. In this paper we single out the case of efficacy suspension and show how FrameNet approach can provide profit especially to isolate temporal parameters and their interpretation.


Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is a major cause of childhood mortality and morbidity in Bangladesh. The aim of this study is to identify the significant risk factors for ARI in children less than five years of age. The data in this study comes from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2004. In this study, a child was considered as having experienced ARI if she or he had cough in the last two weeks preceding the survey with any one of the three symptoms of short but rapid breathing, difficulty of breathing or labored inspiration. Logistic regression was used on various independent variables to find the risk factors. Results showed that child's age, sex, body weight and Vitamin A deficiency were correlated with prevalence of ARI. Additionally mother's characteristics like age, malnutrition, education level, and family's socio-economic status were found to be associated. Recommendations include more specific knowledge of ARI to adolescent mothers from the lowest wealth quintile. A community service which could include home visiting for health education, supplementation of vitamin A, and advice would be an advantage if provided for poor or teenaged pregnant women. This in turn would reduce low birth weight incidence, and subsequently reduce incidence of ARI among these children.


Acute pancreatitis (AP) can be complicated by inflammatory disorders of remote organs, such as lung injury, in which Jumonji domain-containing protein 3 (JMJD3) plays a vital role in proinflammatory responses. Currently, we found that JMJD3 expression was upregulated in the pancreas and lung in an AP male mouse model, which was also confirmed in AP patients. Further experiments revealed that the upregulation of JMJD3 and proinflammatory effects were possibly exerted by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or oxidized-mtDNA from tissue injury caused by AP. The release of mtDNA and oxidized-mtDNA contributed to the infiltration of inflammatory monocytes in lung injury through the stimulator of IFN genes (STING)/TLR9-NF-κB-JMJD3-TNF-α pathway. The inhibition of JMJD3 or utilization of Jmjd3-cKO mice significantly alleviated pulmonary inflammation induced by AP. Blocking mtDNA oxidation or knocking down the TLR9/STING pathway effectively alleviated inflammation. Therefore, inhibition of JMJD3 or STING/TLR9 pathway blockage might be a potential therapeutic strategy to treat AP and the associated lung injury.


In this study, the effects of economic growth, renewable and non-renewable energy production and trade openness on ecological footprint for Turkey were investigated. By using the annual data for the period 1980-2016, the short- and long-term relationship with the Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) was examined. In addition, a prediction model is presented with the Multivariate Gray Prediction Model (NMGM) method. According to the findings obtained from the ARDL model, economic growth, renewable and non-renewable energy production have a positive effect of 0.166, 0.1431 and 0.1118, respectively, on the ecological footprint in the long run. In the short run, economic growth, renewable energy production and non-renewable energy production has the same effect of 0.1941, 0.1673 and 0.1308 on the ecological footprint. In addition, no effect of trade openness on the ecological footprint has been detected, both in the long and short run. The originality of this study is to investigate the short- and long-term effects of economic growth and trade openness on the ecological footprint, in addition to the amount of renewable energy production and non-renewable energy production in Turkey, using the ARDL model. In addition, another originality of this study is a dynamic evaluation of the ecological footprint for Turkey and the determination of the impact values of the variables that affect the ecological footprint. ARIMA models, in which the dependent variable is estimated with its own past values, are generally used as estimation models. Likewise, univariate gray estimation models also make estimations with the dependent variable's own past values. Another unique aspect of this study is the use of a gray estimation model, in which the variables that have been shown to have a significant short- and long-term relationship with ARDL are also included in the model.


Background: Between-visit communications can play a vital role in improving intermediate patient outcomes such as access to care and satisfaction. Secure messaging is a growing modality for these communications, but research is limited about the influence of message content on those intermediate outcomes. We examined associations between secure message content and patients' number of health care visits. Methods: Our study included 2,111 adult patients with hypertension and/or diabetes and 18,309 patient- and staff-generated messages. We estimated incident rate ratios (IRRs) for associations between taxonomic codes assigned to message content, and the number of office, emergency department, and inpatient visits. Results: Patients who initiated message threads in 2017 had higher numbers of outpatient visits (p < 0.001) compared with patients who did not initiate threads. Among patients who initiated threads, we identified an inverse relationship between outpatient visits and preventive care scheduling requests (IRR = 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.86-0.98) and requests for appointments for new conditions (IRR = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.92-0.99). Patients with higher proportions of request denials or more follow-up appointment requests had more emergency department visits compared with patients who received or sent other content (IRR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.03-1.34 and IRR = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.07-1.23, respectively). We identified a positive association between outpatient visits and the proportion of threads that lacked a clinic response (IRR = 1.02; 95% CI: 1.00-1.03). Discussion: We report on the first analyses to examine associations between message content and health care visits. Conclusions: Our findings are relevant to understanding how to better use secure messaging to support patients and their care.


The relationship between standardized serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration and incident anemia in the United States (U.S.) is unclear. The purpose of our study was to examine the association between serum 25(OH)D and anemia risk. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the U.S. population participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2001 and 2018. A generalized linear model and restricted cubic spline (RCS) plot curve were constructed to assess the relationship between serum 25(OH)D concentration and anemia incidence. Additionally, the association between serum 25(OH)D concentration and red blood cell (RBC) count and hemoglobin (HB) levels was investigated using generalized additive models with smooth functions. Subgroup analysis also was performed. A total of 29933 individuals were included in our research. After adjusting for known confounding variables, compared with the lowest quartile, the odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for association of serum 25(OH)D with anemia across the second, third, and fourth quartiles were 0.735 (0.651, 0.829), 0.527 (0.461, 0.602), and 0.696 (0.611, 0.792), respectively. Serum 25(OH)D concentration was associated with anemia risk in a U-shaped pattern, as shown by an RCS plot (P for nonlinearity <0.001). In addition, RBC count and Hb levels initially increased and then decreased as serum 25(OH)D levels increased. Serum 25(OH)D concentration and risk of anemia are associated with a U-shaped curve in the U.S. general population. Serum 25(OH)D concentration in the range 59.7–70.3 nmol/l was associated with anemia incidence <1. Therefore, the risk of anemia can be reduced by close monitoring and appropriate vitamin D supplementation.


In recent years, a considerable amount of work has been devoted to the question of which processes are responsible for the formation of complex words in the syntax. Standardly, complex words are formed by means of head-movement in a bottom-up fashion with heads low in the tree moving up successive-cyclically to a higher position thereby forming complex words. In contrast to this view, it has been claimed that word formation can also proceed top-down (Embick and Noyer 2001). Under this approach, heads move in a successive-cyclic fashion to a position that is lower in the tree thereby creating complex words as well. While upward movement is normally taken to apply in core syntax, downward movement is an operation of the post-syntactic component. In this paper, we investigate the properties of negative verb clusters in the two FinnoUgric languages Meadow Mari (henceforth Mari) and Udmurt and set out to defend the following claims: (i) Negation in Mari and Udmurt forms a complex unit with the highest verb of the clause. This is in contrast to related languages like Finnish where the negative auxiliary is a syntactically free element that can be separated from the main verb. (ii) The complex unit consisting of the verb and negation (plus inflectional material) is formed via post-syntactic lowering. Evidence for this approach comes from the distribution of inflectional categories like tense and agreement and the placement of adverbial clitics, which, in the presence of negation, display optionality as to whether they are interleaved inside the verb cluster or occur in cluster-peripheral position. We argue that this pattern can be derived by treating these clitics as phrase-structurally ambiguous in that they project their


329 MJA 197 (6) · 17 September 2012 Pharmacoepidemiology of testosterone prescribing in Australia, 1992–2010 TO THE EDITOR: Could Handelsman comment on whether he considered opioid-associated hypoandrogenism when describing the increasing prescribing of testosterone?1 Opioid-induced androgen deficiency has become more recognised, and is one of the most common causes of testosterone deficiency among men in many communities.2,3 It may be that the increase in opioid prescribing4 has complemented the promotion of testosterone therapy.


At the moment global climate change is one of the most prominent environmental and energy issues of our life time. Currently CO2 levels in the atmosphere stand at 387 ppm, almost 40% higher since the start of the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years. About 96% of these carbon emissions are the result of using fossil fuels. Another problem is that the fossil fuel reserves will be exhausted within 200 years and the nuclear energy within 260 years. Something has to be done to stop the addiction of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide emissions! However investing in renewable energy is still expensive but high energy prices, CO2 emissions, rising temperatures, fossil fuels depletion and the demand to be less dependent on other countries makes it more and more attractive to invest in renewable energy, like solar energy, wind energy, biomass, geothermal energy, tidal power and hydro power. Not all renewable energy sources are suitable in the Netherland. Geothermal energy, still unknown by a lot of people, has a very good potential to succeed in the Netherlands. The average temperature of the Dutch subsurface at a depth of 2,000 meters is around 75 – 80 °C. This energy is very suitable to heat houses, afterwards the rest heat can be used to heat low heat demanding facilities like swimming pools and greenhouses. In spite of the good potential, geothermal energy is still used on a small time scale in the Netherlands. Hopefully DAP can make a change in this by making more people aware that geothermal energy has a great potential for the Netherlands. The Netherlands has a geothermal potential of 90,000 PJ in heat. The benefits of geothermal energy are that it is clean and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Also geothermal power plants have average availabilities of 90% or higher, compared to 75% for coal power plants. The greenhouse gas emissions of the geothermal plants are only 91 gCO2/kWh, this is very low compared to other fuels. The annual Dutch CO2 emission is nearly 180 Mt CO2 at present, of which approximately 100 Mt CO2/year emitted by the energy and manufacturing industry. The biggest emitters are large point sources like the power generation sector and large energy-consuming industries like oil and gas processing, iron and steel, cement and chemicals production. CCS can lower the emissions from the large point sources by capturing the carbon dioxide. CCS is not a new technology, this proven technique is already used for nearly 100 years for industrial purposes or to increase oil or gas production. CCS technology can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from large industrial sources and coal-fired power stations by approximately 85 - 90% depending on the used type of capture technology. Also transportation of CO2 is not a new technology in the Netherland because there is already a pipeline of 85 km from the Shell refinery in Pernis to greenhouses in the Westland area. However, large-scale CCS will require a new transportation infrastructure to link sources and sinks. In densely populated countries such as the Netherlands this can become a considerable challenge, think of Barendrecht. Even though the Netherlands has a very good storage potential there is a spatial mismatch between CO2 sources and sinks. When a new energy source is discovered the first and most important thing to know is how much energy (quantity) can be extracted from this source. But what we really need to know is the work potential (quality) of this energy source, in our case a geothermal well beneath the TU Delft. Work potential is the amount of energy which can be extracted as useful work, this property is called exergy. The maximum available power from the DAP geothermal reservoir is 0.66 MW and is obtained at a flow rate of 180 m3. It is not smart to increase the production rate above 200 m3 because the losses are increasing faster than the extra gained exergy. The invested energy in materials and drilling are minor compared to the energy needed for capture and compression. Over 94% of the total energy demand is needed to capture the CO2 over a life-time of 30 years.


The paper extends the result of Harman and Pronzato [Stat. & Prob. Lett., 77:90–94, 2007], which corresponds to p = 0, to all strictly concave criteria in Kiefer's φp-class. We show that, for any given design measure ξ, any support point x∗ of a φp-optimal design is such that the directional derivative of φp at ξ in the direction of the delta measure at x∗ is larger than some bound hp[ξ] which is easily computed: it requires the determination of the unique root of a simple univariate equation (polynomial when p is integer) in a given interval. The construction can be used to accelerate algorithms for φp-optimal design and is illustrated on an example with A-optimal design. keywords Approximate design; optimum design; support points; design algorithm MSC 62K05; 90C46


By combining biological studies and modeling work, the dynamics of running on horizontal terrain and climbing pure vertical surfaces have been distilled down to simple reduced order models. These models have inspired distinct control and design considerations for robots operating in each terrain. However, while the extremes are understood, the intermediate regions of moderate slopes have yet to be fully explored. In this paper, we examine how cockroaches vary their behavior as slope is changed from horizontal to vertical, with special care to examine individual leg forces when possible. The results are then compared with a lateral leg spring based (LLS, horizontal running) and Full–Goldman based (FG, vertical running) models. Overall, from the experimental data, there appears to be a continuous shift in the dynamics as slope varies, which is confirmed by similar behaviors exhibited by the LLS and FG models. Finally, by examining the stability and efficiency of the models, it is shown that there are stability limits related to the amount of energy added by the front versus rear legs. This corresponds to the shift in leg usage demonstrated by the biological experiments and may have significant implications for the design and control of multi-modal robotic systems.


Objective: A Korean version of Trail Making Test (TMT) led to reduced clinical use in Korea because of lower completion rate. The current study examines multiple TMT versions in effort to identify which type might accurately detect cognitive decline with higher completion rate.
Methods: Three versions of TMT including the original TMT, TMT-Korean Letter (TMT-K), and TMT-Black and White (TMT-B&W) were utilized. A total of 62 participants were included, comprised of 30 cognitively normal controls (NC) and 32 mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Three TMT versions were administered to subjects with other neuropsychological tests.
Results: TMT-B&W completion time as well as that of Original TMT and TMT-K was successful in distinguishing MCI from NC adjusted for age, sex and educational level. TMT-B&W also showed a high correlation with other neuropsychological tests that represent frontal executive function. Regarding completion rate in MCI patients, Original TMT and TMT-K were not successfully completed (62% and 60.6%, respectively) compared with TMT-B&W (90.1%).
Conclusion: As TMT-B&W showed higher completion rate than others and revealed significant correlation with frontal executive function, this culture-fair measure can vitalize TMT task with increased applicability in Korean elderly adults who are unfamiliar with the sequence of English or Korean alphabet.