Summary.  We consider the prediction problem of a time series on a whole time interval in terms of its past. The approach that we adopt is based on functional kernel nonparametric regression estimation techniques where observations are discrete recordings of segments of an underlying stochastic process considered as curves. These curves are assumed to lie within the space of continuous functions, and the discretized time series data set consists of a relatively small, compared with the number of segments, number of measurements made at regular times. We estimate conditional expectations by using appropriate wavelet decompositions of the segmented sample paths. A notion of similarity, based on wavelet decompositions, is used to calibrate the prediction. Asymptotic properties when the number of segments grows to ∞ are investigated under mild conditions, and a nonparametric resampling procedure is used to generate, in a flexible way, valid asymptotic pointwise prediction intervals for the trajectories predicted. We illustrate the usefulness of the proposed functional wavelet–kernel methodology in finite sample situations by means of a simulated example and two real life data sets, and we compare the resulting predictions with those obtained by three other methods in the literature, in particular with a smoothing spline method, with an exponential smoothing procedure and with a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model.


While traditional wired communication technologies have played a crucial role in industrial monitoring and control networks over the past few decades, they are increasingly proving to be inadequate to meet the highly dynamic and stringent demands of today's industrial applications, primarily due to the very rigid nature of wired infrastructures. Wireless technology, however, through its increased pervasiveness, has the potential to revolutionize the industry, not only by mitigating the problems faced by wired solutions, but also by introducing a completely new class of applications. While present day wireless technologies made some preliminary inroads in the monitoring domain, they still have severe limitations especially when real-time, reliable distributed control operations are concerned. This article provides the reader with an overview of existing wireless technologies commonly used in the monitoring and control industry. It highlights the pros and cons of each technology and assesses the degree to which each technology is able to meet the stringent demands of industrial monitoring and control networks. Additionally, it summarizes mechanisms proposed by academia, especially serving critical applications by addressing the real-time and reliability requirements of industrial process automation. The article also describes certain key research problems from the physical layer communication for sensor networks and the wireless networking perspective that have yet to be addressed to allow the successful use of wireless technologies in industrial monitoring and control networks.


The finite-lattice method of series expansion has been used to extend low-temperature series for the partition function, order parameter and susceptibility of the spin-1 Ising model on the square lattice. A new formalism is described which uses two distinct transfer-matrix approaches in order to significantly reduce computer memory requirements and which permits the derivation of the series to 79th order. Subsequent analysis of the series clearly confirms that the spin-1 model has the same dominant critical exponents as the spin- 1/2 Ising model. Accurate estimates for both the critical temperature and non-physical singularities are obtained. In addition, evidence for a non-analytic confluent correction with exponent Delta 1=1.1+or-0.1 is found.


In the clastic Genesee Group of the Catskill delta, lateral changes of the fauna are believed to reflect onshore-offshore physicochemical gradients. A shoreward increase of infauna is interpreted as adaptation to increased environmental stress. Free immobile taxa were concentrated offshore, while vagile forms, presumably able to cope with shifting substrata, are dominant nearshore. A shorewards replacement of brachiopods by bivalves reflects the eurytopy and infaunal habits of the bivalves.

In Gencsee time, progradation was first rapid, then slow. The sequence is reversed in the superjacent Sonyea Group and the accompanying reversal of faunal patterns is strong evidence of faunal control by the rate of progradation. This indicates the hazardous nature of attempts to trace 'community evolutioneditor' using only a few studies from each period.


Purpose : Ascending cholangitis is the most common complication after Kasai operations. The aim of this study is to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of cefotaxime as an empirical antibiotic on ascending cholangitis after Kasai operations. Methods : Thirty-nine episodes of cholangitis in twenty-nine children who underwent Kasai operations at Seoul National University Children's Hospital from January 1991 to December 2000 were included in this study. Empirical cefotaxime treatments were divided into three groups : cefotaxime and amikacin treatment group(CA group), cefotaxime and gentamicin treatment group(CG group) and cefotaxime treatment group(C group). A diagnosis of cholangitis was made on the basis of unexplained fever(>38°C) and either development of acholic stool or elevation of serum total bilirubin (>1.5 mg/dL). Therapeutic efficacy was judged by elimination of fever up to 72 hours, 120 hours, and 168 hours after antibiotic treatment. Results : There were therapeutic responses in 51%(20/39) up to 72 hours after antibiotic treatment : 54%(13/24) in CA group, 43%(3/7) in CG group and 50%(4/8) in C group. There were therapeutic responses in 69%(27/39) up to 120 hours, in 79%(31/39) up to 168 hours and in 82%(32/ 39) up to 2 weeks. There were no differences in therapeutic efficacy among the three regimens. In 12 of 39 episodes, the etiologic pathogens including Escherichia coli and enterococcus were cultured from the blood. Conclusion : Cefotaxime can be tried as an initial antibiotic in Korean children with ascending cholangitis after Kasai operation prior to the identification of microorganism on culture. However, further evaluation of pathogen and its resistant strain to cefotaxime should be done. (J Korean Pediatr Soc 2002;45:473-481)


Adrenergic beta-2-receptor (ADRB2) is highly expressed in various tissue cells, affecting the susceptibility, development, and drug efficacy of diseases such as bronchial asthma and malignant tumor. However, the transcriptional regulatory mechanism of the human ADRB2 gene remains unclear. This study aimed to clarify whether E2F transcription factor 1 (E2F1) was involved in the transcriptional regulation of the human ADRB2 gene. First, the 5′ flanking region of the human ADRB2 gene was cloned, and its activity was detected using A549 and BEAS-2B cells. Second, it was found that the overexpression of E2F1 could increase promoter activity by a dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. In contrast, treatment of knockdown of E2F1 significantly resulted in a decrease in its promoter activity. Moreover, mutation of the binding site of E2F1 greatly reduced the potential of human ADRB2 promoter transcriptional activity to be regulated by E2F1 overexpression and knockdown. Additionally, by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis, we demonstrated that overexpression of E2F1 elevated the ADRB2 mRNA expression and protein levels while si-E2F1 reduced its expression. Finally, the consequence of the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay showed that E2F1 was able to bind to the promoter region of ADRB2 in vivo. These results confirmed that E2F1 upregulated the expression of the human ADRB2 gene.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the firmness and the sweetness index (SI) of tomatoes with a hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technique within the wavelength range of 1000 1550 nm. The hyperspectral images of 95 tomatoes were acquired with a push-broom hyperspectral reflectance imaging system, from which the mean spectra of each tomato were extracted from the regions of interest. The reference firmness and sweetness index of the same sample was measured and calibrated with their corresponding spectral data by partial least squares (PLS) regression with different preprocessing methods. The calibration model developed by PLS regression based on the Savitzky–Golay second-derivative preprocessed spectra resulted in a better performance for both the firmness and the SI of the tomatoes compared to models developed by other preprocessing methods. The correlation coefficients (Rpred) were 0.82, and 0.74 with a standard error of prediction of 0.86 N, and 0.63, respectively. Then, the feature wavelengths were identified using a model-based variable selection method, i.e., variable importance in projection, from the PLS regression analyses. Finally, chemical images were derived by applying the respective regression coefficients on the spectral image in a pixel-wise manner. The resulting chemical images provided detailed information on the firmness and the SI of the tomatoes. The results show that the proposed HSI technique has potential for rapid and non-destructive evaluation of firmness and the sweetness index of tomatoes.


Importance of the field: Despite the remarkable progress in the treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in the past decade, response to the hypomethylating agents azacitidine and decitabine in non-del(5q) MDS patients remains at ∼ 50%, leaving half of patients needing treatment with essentially no options. As biologic insight into the molecular pathways that account for disease evolution and clinical heterogeneity is expanded, the arsenal of potential drugs that may elicit significant response is also increasing. One of the greatest challenges for the treating physician is to decide when to initiate therapy and which therapy (approved drug or newer agents still in clinical trial) is likely to be the most beneficial. While there is no single answer to these issues, there are several approaches that may be considered, and these are addressed in this review. Areas covered in this review: This review examines the clinical outcomes of the FDA-approved drugs as well as of the promising new therapies that are in current clinical trials. What the reader will gain: The clinician now has multiple treatment options for patients with MDS. It is important to consider multiple factors before initiating therapy with disease-modifying drugs. This review presents some of the decision-making approaches that are in practice at present. Take home message: For the first time, various treatment options are available for patients with MDS. In light of the intense efforts now in progress, the next decade promises to be one of hope and excitement for both MDS patients and treating clinicians.


The purpose of this study was to analyze the arrangement and the material organisation of the balcony and its surrounding on the facade of german multi-family housing from the 1920s to 1930s to clarify the characteristics of the balcony and its surrounding regarding its relationship with the modern balcony. In this study the balcony was assorted into three basic elements as the balcony railing, the solar shading device and the plantation. The results of this study were as follows; the arrangement of the balcony railing on the housing facade could be categorized into the main one type which was the vertical row-arrangement. The main materials used for the balcony railing were the brick, the white and polychrome stucco and the iron. The balcony railing made from the brick and the stucco had the characteristic of a closed railing while it from the iron had the same of a open railing. As the solar shading device like the simple ownings, curtains and parasols installed limitedly by the inhabitant themselves, the horizontal iron bar are installed on the upper part of the center of the brick and stucco railings for the plant-boxes.


Cygnus X-2 appears to be the descendant of an intermediate-mass X-ray binary (IMXB). Using Mazzitelli's stellar code we compute detailed evolutionary sequences for the system and find that its prehistory is sensitive to stellar input parameters, in particular the amount of core overshooting during the main-sequence phase. With standard assumptions for convective overshooting a case B mass transfer starting with a 3.5-M⊙ donor star is the most likely evolutionary solution for Cygnus X-2. This makes the currently observed state rather short-lived, of order 3 Myr, and requires a formation rate > 10−7–10−6 yr−1 of such systems in the Galaxy. Our calculations show that neutron star IMXBs with initially more massive donors (≳4 M⊙) encounter a delayed dynamical instability; they are unlikely to survive this rapid mass transfer phase. We determine limits for the age and initial parameters of Cygnus X-2 and calculate possible dynamical orbits of the system in a realistic Galactic potential, given its observed radial velocity. We find trajectories which are consistent with a progenitor binary on a circular orbit in the Galactic plane inside the solar circle that received a kick velocity ≤200 km s−1 at the birth of the neutron star. The simulations suggest that about 7 per cent of IMXBs receiving an arbitrary kick velocity from a standard kick velocity spectrum would end up in an orbit similar to Cygnus X-2, while about 10 per cent of them reach yet larger Galactocentric distances.


People make subjective judgments about the severity of environmental problems and on future land use relying on certain information, and on their experiences with the problem. This article examines perceptions of the severity of environmental problems, willingness to expend future funds to solve these problems, and future land use for the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina as a function of race. The null hypothesis that there are no racial differences in perceptions was tested. Of those interviewed, 23% of the 399 people were black, 75% were white, and 2% identified themselves as other. Blacks were significantly more willing than whites to spend federal funds to solve environmental problems such as cleaning up the SRS and Superfund sites, fixing ozone depletion, and reducing the threats from radon and high-tension power lines. There were statistically significant racial differences in preferences for future land use at the SRS, with blacks having a higher preference for using it as a preserve, and whites having a higher preference for a research park, camping, hiking, and hunting. These results indicate that the environmental concerns of the blacks interviewed were equal to or stronger than those of the whites. This is in contrast to much of previously published work that shows that blacks exhibit lower concerns and actions than whites for environmental problems.


We have developed a portable confocal microscope (PCM) that uses an inexpensive near-infrared LED as the light source. Use of the spatially incoherent light source significantly reduced the speckle contrast. The PCM device was manufactured at the material cost of approximately $5000 and weighed only 1 kg. Lateral and axial resolutions were measured as 1.6 and 6.0 µm, respectively. Preliminary in vivo skin imaging experiment results showed that the PCM device could visualize characteristic cellular features of human skin extending from the stratum corneum to the superficial dermis. Dynamic imaging of blood flow in vivo was also demonstrated. The capability to visualize cellular features up to the superficial dermis is expected to facilitate evaluation and clinical adoption of this low-cost diagnostic imaging tool.


This essay reconsiders Hamlet's second soliloquy by locating it within the reconstructed contexts of early modern writing on memory and the ars memoriae. Within these, the Aristotelian distinction between remembering and recollecting is shown to be crucial, as is the interwoven series of metaphors through which mnemonic activities were discussed. These metaphors enable Hamlet to misrepresent the reality of his inner life in response to the Ghost's revelations, most notably in his pursuit of mnemonic erasure. Viewed from this perspective, Hamlet emerges not as one burdened by the memory of his father, or by the need to purge himself of it; rather, from the moment the revenge plot is set in motion, Hamlet is shown to struggle against the very lack of vividness with which both his father and the urge to vengeance exist in his mind.


With massive deployment, multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) systems continue to take mobile communications to new heights, but the ever-increasing demands mean that there is a need to look beyond MIMO and pursue the next disruptive wireless technologies. Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is widely considered a key candidate technology block to provide the next generational leap. The first part of this article provides an updated overview of the conventional reflection-based RIS technology, which complements the existing literature to include active and semiactive RIS, and the synergies with cell-free massive MIMO (CF mMIMO). Then, we widen the scope to discuss the surface-wave-assisted RIS that represents a different design dimension in utilizing metasurface technologies. This goes beyond being a passive reflector and can use the surface as an intelligent propagation medium for superb radio propagation efficiency. The third part of this article turns the attention to the fluid antenna, a novel antenna technology that enables a diverse form of reconfigurability that can combine with RIS for ultrahigh capacity, power efficiency, and scalability. This article concludes with a discussion of the potential synergies that can be exploited between MIMO, RIS, and fluid antennas.


In the article the basic attention is paid to comparison of power losses in drives of pumps with various kinds of control. The resulted material focuses in determination of those units of the drive systems where the application of a frequency control is the most advantageous.


Confirmed cases in Australia notified up to 24 May 2020: notifications = 7,135; deaths = 102. The incidence of COVID-19 has markedly reduced since a peak in mid-March. There have been no cases reported in SA, the NT or the ACT in the last four weeks. The numbers of new cases reported from other jurisdictions continue to be very low. Testing rates have been higher across all jurisdictions, with Victoria reporting an 85% testing rate increase and NSW a 40% increase over this period. The positivity rate nationally continues to remain very low at less than 0.1% over the reporting period. Continued high rates of testing are necessary to detect and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the community. Over the past fortnight, 45% of cases acquired their infection overseas. Of cases considered to be locally acquired over this period, most were associated with contacts of confirmed cases or were associated with known outbreaks. The highest rate of COVID-19 continues to be among people aged 65-79 years. Three-quarters of all cases in this age group have been associated with overseas travel, including several outbreaks linked to cruise ships. The lowest rate of disease is in children under 18, a pattern reflected in international reports. A small proportion of cases overall have experienced severe disease, requiring hospitalisation or intensive care with some fatalities. The crude case fatality rate amongst Australian cases is 1.4%. People who are older and have one or more comorbidities are more likely to experience severe disease. A combination of early case identification, physical distancing, public health measures and a reduction in international travel have likely been effective in slowing the spread of the disease in Australia. In addition, the median number of days between symptom onset and diagnostic testing has improved considerably from 7 days in the early phase of the outbreak to 1 day in the latest phase of the epidemic. Internationally, as at 24 May 2020, there have been recent increases in the number of daily cases reported globally. The largest numbers of both cases and deaths have been reported in the United States. Of the confirmed cases reported globally, the case fatality rate is approximately 6.5%. Countries in South America are starting to see rapid acceleration, while the United States is seeing a very slow decline in its daily new case numbers. In the South East Asia region, India and Bangladesh are seeing accelerating epidemics, compounded by the recovery from Cyclone Amphan. Increasing numbers of cases are also being reported in Africa, although the numbers are much smaller. In the Pacific there are very few daily new cases reported.


Electric vertical and horizontal NS and EW components of natural ELF electromagnetic noises were observed through a year from February, 1967, to January, 1968. Mean diurnal variations of the Schumann resonance power were obtained for the first three modes from noise spectra. The variations show completely different patterns for each component, and change considerably month by month. The diurnal amplitude also varies by 1 to 7db from the mean daily values. The results are compared with the diurnal variations derived from the simple theory considering worldwide thunderstorm activity as noise sources. There are fairly good agreements between the experimental and theoretical results, especially for EW component. For vertical and NS components thunderstorm effect from Africa seems relatively smaller then expected. The time of this effect is in local night. This shows that local night conditions of the lower ionosphere as the upper boundary of the earth-ionosphere cavity, make the received intensity of vertical and NS components decrease.


Abstract Background Desoxycorticosterone pivalate (DOCP) is a commonly used mineralocorticoid replacement for dogs with primary hypoadrenocorticism (HA), but manufacturer‐recommended dosing protocols can be cost‐prohibitive. Recent reports also have raised concerns that label dose protocols could be excessive. Objective To investigate the relative efficacy and adverse effects of 2 DOCP dosages in dogs with primary glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid deficient HA. Animals Thirty‐seven dogs, including 19 test population dogs and 18 controls. Methods Randomized controlled double‐blinded clinical trial. Dogs with newly diagnosed primary HA were assigned to standard (2.2 mg/kg q30d, control population) or low‐dose (1.1 mg/kg q30d, test population) DOCP treatment. Clinical and laboratory variables were assessed 10 to 14 days and approximately 30 days after each DOCP treatment for 90 days. Results Mean serum sodium to potassium ratios at reevaluations were ≥32 in both populations throughout the study. No dog developed electrolyte abnormalities warranting medical treatment, although hypokalemia occurred on at least 1 occasion in 9 controls and 6 test population dogs. Urine specific gravities (median, interquartile range) were lower in control dogs (1.022, 1.016‐1.029) as compared to test population dogs (1.033, 1.023‐1.039; P = .006). Plasma renin activity was overly suppressed on 84 of 104 (80.8%) assessments in control dogs whereas increased renin activity occurred on 23 of 112 (20.5%) assessments in test population dogs. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Low‐dose DOCP protocols appear to be safe and effective for treatment of HA in most dogs. Standard‐dose protocols are more likely to result in biochemical evidence of overtreatment.


26 patients with esophageal stricture caused by chemical burn were treated from Nov. 1972 to Nov. 1990. No operative death occurred. Follow-up showed good therapeutic effects 92.3% of the patients. We believe that surgical treatment using colonic interposition as the main procedure may bring about satisfactory results. The indications for dilatation of esophageal stricture, preoperative treatment and selection of reconstruction of the esophagus are discussed.


We present a formalization of the seminal paper byW.W. Armstrong [1] on functional dependencies in relational data bases. The paper is formalized in its entirety including examples and applications. The formalization was done with a routine effort albeit some new notions were defined which simplified formulation of some theorems and proofs. The definitive reference to the theory of relational databases is [15], where saturated sets are called closed sets. Armstrong's "axioms" for functional dependencies are still widely taught at all levels of database design, see for instance [13].


The article presents the results of a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with Somali refugees living in The Netherlands, on their experiences with general practitioners (GPs). The central question is: what are the frames of reference participants use to interpret their experiences? The current situation in The Netherlands appears to be a more significant frame of reference than health care as it was known in Somalia.There is a general narrative in the Somali communities that health care in The Netherlands is not good for Somalis, and feelings of being discriminated against appear to be common. Stories of medical calamities circulating within the communities illustrate and enhance this perception. Consulting practitioners in neighbouring countries is a frequent escape route. The individual narratives show a more varied picture. Critical episodes can be identified, in which encounters with GPs had either a positive or a negative outcome for the individual.The content of positive and negative episodes is analysed.The personal attitude and communication skills of the practitioner appear to be central to building or undermining trust. Depending on their personal experiences, participants identify with the general narrative or keep some distance from it.


Magnesium is an essential biological cation, participating in whole spectrum of biological functions. It is an irreplaceable factor for more than 300 enzymatic reactions, including those that use ATP as chemical energy source. Only about 1% of whole body magnesium is present in plasma. Normal plasma concentrations are in a range: 0.75-1.00 mmol/L. Concentrations lower or higher than in this interval are called hypomagnesemia and hypermagnesemia, respectively. Those are life treathening conditions. Hypomagnesemia requires quick i.v. supplementation with magnesium cation. In addition to hypoamgnesemia, we are nowadays aware of a common "invisible" deficit of magnesium in tissues. This is a result of changing nutrition habits causing an insufficient recommended daily uptake (>300mg daily). Large clinical studies have shown that magnesium status is negatively correlated with incidence and severity of diabetes type 2, metabolic syndrome, hypertension and some arrhythmias. Therefore, food supplementation with magnesium is one of positive therapeutic or prevention options. Future larger clinical studies are expected to provide information on usefulness of supplementation in some other common diseases and syndromes (e.g. migraine, fibromyalgia, coronary artery disease, chronic fatigue syndrome).


In tensor-based morphometry (TBM) group-wise differences in brain structure are measured using high degreeof- freedom registration and some form of statistical test. However, it is known that TBM results are sensitive to both the registration method and statistical test used. Given the lack of an objective model of group variation is it difficult to determine a best registration method for TBM. The use of statistical tests is also problematic given the corrections required for multiple testing and the notorius difficulty selecting and intepreting signigance values. This paper presents an approach to address both of these issues by combining multiple registration methods using Dempster-Shafer Evidence theory to produce belief maps of categorical changes between groups. This approach is applied to the comparison brain morphometry in aging, a typical application of TBM, using the determinant of the Jacobian as a measure of volume change. We show that the Dempster-Shafer combination produces a unique and easy to interpret belief map of regional changes between and within groups without the complications associated with hypothesis testing.


Mitra demonstrates that specific memory erasure causes the observer to be in a different sector of the multiverse, one with a different destiny: events in the future, remote to any possible influence of the observer, having radically different probabilities. The concept only applies to an observer defined by a structure of information, so cannot apply to a human observer as usually defined, as the physical body. However, Everett defines the functional identity of the observer as the contents of the memory, a structure of information. Only such an identity encounters the appearance of collapse. Thus, any observer encountering change of this nature is necessarily of this type, and in principle Mitra's effect would apply. Alteration to the quantum state of the physical environment effective for the observer merely by deletion of a record of observation would seem to require that the universe is primarily an information system, and that physical reality is secondary to the information defining it. This, however, is only the case with respect to the collapse dynamics. The universe is first and foremost a physical reality, as generally understood, defined by the quantum state, with the concomitant linear dynamics. Thus, at any given moment, the effective physical environment of the observer is a Newtonian, relativistic, physical domain, probabilistically defined throughout four-dimensional space-time by the linear dynamics of the quantum state of the environment effective for that observer: here the quantum mechanical frame of reference. With regard to the collapse dynamics, such a domain is of a first, primitive, logical type, while collapse, the change of the quantum mechanical frame of reference, is of a different, second logical type. As Everett makes clear, collapse is a purely subjective phenomenon, and as Tegmark explains, it exists only on the inside view of the quantum mechanical frame of reference. In this regard, and here only, the information process of the collapse dynamics, the establishment of new correlations with the physical environment, is primary, and, in a sense, 'overrules' the linear dynamics of the physical environment.


Insects are associated with multiple microbes that have been reported to influence various aspects of their biology. Most studies in insects, including pest species, focus on the bacterial communities of the microbiome even though the microbiome consists of members of many more kingdoms, which can also have large influence on the life history of insects. In this review, we present some key examples of how the different members of the microbiome, such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, archaea, and protozoa, affect the fitness and behavior of pest insects. Moreover, we argue that interactions within and among microbial groups are abundant and of great importance, necessitating the use of a community approach to study microbial–host interactions. We propose that the restricted focus on bacteria very likely hampers our understanding of the functioning and impact of the microbiome on the biology of pest insects. We close our review by highlighting a few open questions that can provide an in-depth understanding of how other components of the microbiome, in addition to bacteria, might influence host performance, thus contributing to pest insect ecology.


Although remarkable successful in practice, training generative adversarial networks(GANs) is still quite difficult and iteratively prone to cyclic behaviors, as GANs need to solve a non-convex non-concave min-max game using a gradient descent ascent (GDA) method. Motivated by the ideas of simultaneous centripetal acceleration (SCA) and modified predictive methods (MPM), we propose a novel predictive projection centripetal acceleration (PPCA) methods to alleviate the cyclic behaviors. Besides, under suitable assumptions, we show that the difference between the signed vector of partial derivatives at t + 1 and t is orthogonal to the signed vector of partial derivatives at t for GDA, and the last-iterate exponential convergence on the bilinear game. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted by PPCA in GANs setting, and the results illustrate the effectiveness of our approach.


Abstract Primary optic nerve gliomas are most commonly benign pilocytic astrocytomas (World Health Organization [WHO] Grade I) occurring in childhood and following an indolent course. Malignant optic gliomas occur in adulthood and follow an extremely aggressive course, with rapid infiltration of the chiasm, blindness, and death typically within months. A third category of optic glioma, occurring in adulthood, histopathologically benign (WHO Grade I–II) but following an aggressive course, has been rarely reported. The authors describe clinical and histopathologic features of clinically aggressive but histopathologically benign optic nerve gliomas of adulthood. Retrospective review of cases of biopsy-proven optic nerve glioma in the neuro-ophthalmology division of the Jules Stein Eye Institute from 1990 to 2011 was carried out. Cases following an aggressive course were selected for review of clinical, neuroradiologic, and histopathologic features. Three cases were selected for detailed study. Ages ranged from 31 to 45 years. All were initially diagnosed with optic nerve inflammation or benign neoplasm based on clinical and neuroradiologic features, but all suffered neuroradiologic extension and rapid deterioration of vision in the affected eye to no light perception over 3–8 weeks. Optic nerve biopsies were undertaken for the suspicion of malignancy. Features ranged from WHO Grade I (pilocytic astrocytoma, ganglioglioma) in two cases, to WHO Grade II in one case (diffuse astrocytoma, histopathologically benign, but associated with aggressive features such as high p53 [13–21%] and Ki-67 [40%]). The diffuse astrocytoma case subsequently developed extensive intracranial extension suspicious for malignant transformation. These findings indicate that benign optic nerve glioma in adults may be initially misdiagnosed as inflammation, be clinically aggressive, and require excision to prevent further intracranial involvement.


The research was conducted on a sample of 266 respondents of preschool age, aged 4-6 years of both sexes in Preschool Institution "Zvjezdica" Banja Luka. Out of the total number of respondents, the male population consisted of 137 respondents, while female population consisted of 129 respondents. Disorders of the knee joint, X - legs, O - legs and hyperextension of the legs were used to assess the presence of lower extremity deformities. The main goal of the research was to determine the actual state of frequency and structure of lower extremity deformities in preschool subjects in relation to gender and age. The frequencies and structure of deformities of the lower extremities are shown in tabular relation to the sex and age of the subjects. The results of the research indicate a slightly higher frequency of lower extremity deformities in boys compared to girls, and the highest frequency of presence was found in subjects of both sexes aged 4 years, and slightly lower in subjects aged 5 years. It is surprising that the presence of deformities was not determined in subjects of both sexes aged 6 years. However, these results also oblige us to be careful and constantly and continuously monitor the postural status of children in order to timely identify physical disorders and take adequate activities in preventive and corrective work. The obtained results should initiate activities in order to timely diagnose, control and undertake effective programs of corrective exercise in preschool children.


Understanding the impact of data structure on the computational tractability of learning is a key challenge for the theory of neural networks. Many theoretical works do not explicitly model training data, or assume that inputs are drawn component-wise independently from some simple probability distribution. Here, we go beyond this simple paradigm by studying the performance of neural networks trained on data drawn from pre-trained generative models . This is possible due to a Gaussian equivalence stating that the key metrics of interest, such as the training and test errors, can be fully captured by an appropriately chosen Gaussian model. We provide three strands of rigorous, analytical and numerical evidence corroborating this equivalence. First, we establish rigorous conditions for the Gaussian equivalence to hold in the case of single-layer generative models, as well as deterministic rates for convergence in distribution. Second, we leverage this equivalence to derive a closed set of equations describing the generalisation performance of two widely studied machine learning problems: two-layer neural networks trained using one-pass stochastic gradient descent, and full-batch pre-learned features or kernel methods. Finally, we perform experiments demonstrating how our theory applies to deep, pre-trained generative models. These results open a viable path to the theoretical study of machine learning models with realistic data.


In this study, an integrated energy management strategy(IEMS) was proposed for a PHEV(Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle). The IEMS controls the engine on-off considering not only powertrain system(battery SOC, vehicle speed, accelerator pedal, brake pedal) but also thermal system condition such as cabin temperature. Analysis of the integrated powertrain and thermal system was conducted to enhance vehicle performances such as all electric driving range and fuel economy. To investigate the energy flow, the performance simulator was developed based on the integrated powertrain and thermal system model. The powertrain model is composed of the engine, motor-generators, power-split transmission, battery and vehicle dynamics, whereas the thermal system model is composed of the thermal engine, radiator, heater and cabin. From the simulator, the coolant temperature, cabin temperature, engine torque and engine speed were investigated. The developed simulator was validated by vehicle test results. It was found that the proposed IEMS satisfies the demanded cabin temperature while providing improved fuel comsumption compared with the existing energy management system.


In this paper a general formulation procedure and an exact analysis in the frequency domain for switched capacitor circuits with arbitrary inputs including cisoidal, sample-and-hold, and noise, are presented. No topological and duty cycle constraints have been imposed on the circuits. Transfer functions are derived explicitly in terms of circuit matrices. Various special cases of practical interest are discussed in detail. Due to the simple form of the solutions much insight has been gained in understanding the working of switched capacitor circuits. The results are numerically attractive and can be readily programmed for computer-aided design of large size circuits. A simple two-capacitor circuit has been used throughout the text for illustration under various conditions.


Introduction In this article we overview some of the ethical quandaries arising from the use or lack of use of contraception. Although abortion is viewed by the advocates of women's reproductive rights as an integral component of a woman's right to reproductive health, the fact remains that the availability and the provision of quality services in this area should minimise the need for termination of pregnancy. According to some feminists, however, the health hazards and the failure rates attributed to the available contraceptive methods are good reasons to prefer abortion as the method of choice. The weakness of the argument is that it ignores the much greater magnitude of the health and life threats resulting from pregnancy and childbirth. Health care providers have the professional and ethical duty to have a proper and updated knowledge of the benefits and risks e.g. possible side effects and contraindications of the whole spectrum of contraceptive methods in order to provide adequate and comprehensive reproductive health care.


Coastal dune habitats have been declining globally over the last several decades due to rapid urbanization. Within remaining dune systems, dune fixation has resulted in further losses of mobile dunes with negative impacts on their associated species. Some studies suggest vegetation removal can initially promote habitat heterogeneity, and increase availability of suitable habitats for psammophile, xeric and endemic mobile dune species, but longer-term responses are generally unknown. We investigated the temporal trends of four taxonomic groups to determine the effect of vegetation removal on dune assemblages over a 12-year period at an LTER site. Three different forms of removal are investigated here—removal in a grid form on fixed dunes, removal of the wind-facing slope vegetation on semi-fixed dunes and opportunistic off-road driving on disturbed dunes. Results were varied across taxa, highlighting the need for multi-taxa monitoring in conservation and restoration management. Overall, fixed dune treatment had very little effect, while a stronger response was found in semi-fixed treatments in particular for mobile dune indicator species, which showed evidence of recolonization within a few years following treatment. Disturbed dunes were most similar to mobile dunes for animal taxa indicating that pulse removal may not be as effective as continuous press disturbance. Nevertheless, a less destructive form of disturbance such as re-introduction of grazing might be preferable and requires further investigation.


The United States (U.S.) environmental regulatory system relies heavily on self-reports to assess compliance among regulated facilities. However, the regulatory agencies have expressed concerns regarding the potential for fraud in self-reports and suggested that the likelihood of detection in the federal and state enforcement processes is low. In this paper, we apply Benford's Law to three years of self-reported discharge parameters from wastewater treatment plant facilities in one U.S. state. We conclude that Benford's Law alone may not be a reliable method for detecting potential data mishandling for individual facility–parameter combinations, but may provide information about the types of parameters most likely to be fraudulently reported and types of facilities most likely to do so. From a regulatory perspective, this information may help to prioritise potential fraud risks in self reporting and better direct limited resources.


Nowadays, the academic world is faced with various challenges involving fraudulent activities related to publishing. The most important of these concerns the fast growth in predatory journals, a phenomenon that has more victims than others. In response, we have offered papers and proceedings that discuss the issue of predatory journals in trying to increase the awareness of researchers. The unproven hypothesis is that by increasing awareness among junior researchers the numbers of victims will decrease. This hypothesis, however, has never been tested. In this short piece, we try to prove or reject this conjecture.


Combining the exquisite angular resolution of Gaia with optical light curves and WISE photometry, the Gaia Gravitational Lenses group (GraL) uses machine-learning techniques to identify candidate strongly lensed quasars, and has confirmed over two dozen new strongly lensed quasars from the Gaia Data Release 2. This paper reports on the 12 quadruply imaged quasars identified by this effort to date, which is a ∼20% increase in the total number of confirmed quadruply imaged quasars. We discuss the candidate selection, spectroscopic follow-up, and lens modeling. We also report our spectroscopic failures as an aid for future investigations.


It is unclear whether the common finding of improved organizational performance with increasing organizational experience is driven by learning from success, learning from failure, or some combination of the two. We disaggregate these types of experience and address their relative (and interactive) effects on organizational performance in the orbital launch vehicle industry. We find that organizations learn more effectively from failures than successes, that knowledge from failure depreciates more slowly than knowledge from success, and that prior stocks of experience and the magnitude of failure influence how effectively organizations can learn from various forms of experience.


1. Chorio-allantoic grafts were made of entire unincubated blastoderms of the chick. The differentiation which occurred in the grafted blastoderms involved the formation of the following organs and tissues: central nervous tissue, cartilage, mesonephros, smooth muscle of the gut wall, gut, liver, probably epidermis. Cardiac muscle is probably present. The notochord is probably absent. There was practically no resemblance to normal anatomy. 2. The central nervous tissue was always found in the form of tubes. It was differentiated into grey and white matter, the former nearer the lumen of the tubes, the latter more peripheral. A germinal layer lines the tubes. Nerve trunks run off from the nerve tubes, but these show no approach to the normal anatomical arrangement. There has been differential determination between brain and spinal cord; this is indicated by the presence of an eye in one specimen. 3. The endoderm is present as a series of tubes, probably histologically differentiated into intra- and extra-embryonic endoderm. The presence of the liver indicates differential determination within the alimentary canal. 4. Similar grafts were made of fragments of unincubated blastoderms. In connection with the interpretation of these, two important sources of error are indicated: ( a ) the doubt which always exists in regard to the orientation of the cut which divides the blastoderm, ( b ) the variability in the stage attained by chick embryos of equal age. The grafts were thirds of blastoderm, with the exception of one which was a quarter. The plane of section was always parallel to the long axis of the egg, i.e. supposedly transverse to the long axis of the embryo. 5. The following organs and tissues differentiated in the grafts of blastoderm fragments: central nervous system with tubular arrangement, differentiated into grey and white matter, and giving off a few nerve trunks, endoderm in the form of tubes apparently differentiated into extra- and intra-embryonic endoderm, and also apparently with differential determination within the alimentary tract as indicated by the presence of liver in one case. Cardiac muscle is very doubtfully identified in several cases. It should be noted that in several cases the only apparent differentiation was of endoderm tubes. 6. It is concluded that: ( a ) The inhibition of differentiation seen in grafts of fragments of blastoderms is a consequence of the fragmentation and not of the grafting per Se, i.e. it is a result of the isolation of the graft from the embryo as a whole. ( b ) It is probable that the extent of this inhibition varies inversely with the size of the fragment. ( c ) Since a high grade of histological differentiation may be attained in the absence of anything even remotely suggestive of a normal gross anatomy, it is evident that it is not dependent thereon.


Johne's disease was characterized as a significant disease in cattle before the start of the 20th century. The disease causes a chronic wasting away and non-responsive diarrhea, coupled with a long incubation period and difficulty in diagnosis until late in the course of disease. As a result, it has become a costly aggravation to dairy producers over the years. Of even greater concern, however, is the more recent incrimination of the causative agent, Mycobacterium avium subspecies pseudotuberculosis (MAP), as a possible cause of Crohn's disease in humans. Because MAP is present in milk of cows with advanced Johne's disease, and occasionally survives pasteurization, the dairy industry must work proactively to control this disease and reduce the potential for any associated human health risks.


Levodopa preparations remain the preferred drug for Parkinson's disease. However, long-term use of levodopa may lead to a series of motor complications. Previous studies have shown that the combination of levodopa and Zishenpingchan granules (consisting of Radix Rehmanniae preparata, Lycium barbarum, Herba Taxilli, Rhizoma Gastrodiae, Stiff Silkorm, Curcuma phaeocaulis, Radix Paeoniae Alba, Rhizoma Arisaematis, Scorpio and Centipede) can markedly improve dyskinesia and delay the progression of Parkinson's disease, with especially dramatic improvements of non-motor symptoms. However, the efficacy of this combination has not been confirmed by randomized controlled trials. The current study was approved by the Hospital Ethics Committee and was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Register (registration number: ChiCTR-INR-1701194). From December 2014 to December 2016, 128 patients (72 males and 56 females, mean age of 65.78 ± 6.34 years) with Parkinson's disease were recruited from the Department of Neurology of Longhua Hospital and Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. Patients were equally allocated into treatment and control groups. In addition to treatment with dopamine, patients in treatment and control groups were given Zishenpingchan granules or placebo, respectively, for 24 weeks. Therapeutic efficacy was assessed using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, on-off phenomenon, Hoehn-Yahr grade, Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease–Autonomic, Parkinson's disease sleep scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Hamilton Depression Scale, Mini-Mental State Examination, and the Parkinson's Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire. Artificial neural networks were used to determine weights at which to scale these parameters. Our results demonstrated that Zishenpingchan granules significantly reduced the occurrence of motor complications, and were useful for mitigating dyskinesia and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease. This combination of Chinese and Western medicine has the potential to reduce levodopa dosages, and no obvious side effects were found. These findings indicate that Zishenpingchan granules can mitigate symptoms of Parkinson's disease, reduce toxic side effects of dopaminergic agents, and exert synergistic and detoxifying effects.


In this paper, a short review on the void and moisture content studies of fiber reinforced composites for both, synthetic and natural based fibers are presented. The review summarized the research papers in which include experimental and theoretical works that related to the void and moisture content studies. In addition to that, this review paper highlighting a few research studies conducted in literature on the effects of the void and moisture on the mechanical performances of the composite. Few common measurement methods used for the void and moisture determination are discussed here. The aims of this short review, mainly to capture the trend ranging from the recent five years back and summarize the various studies and also to compare and conclude the most common method for the determination of the void and moisture content. This paper is mainly providing a baseline in the selection of the methods for the future work of the author's work with regard to the reduction of the presence of voids and moisture occur during the impregnation process of fiber reinforced composites, especially when using natural-based fiber.


Linoleate (10R)-dioxygenase (10R-DOX) of Aspergillus fumigatus was cloned and expressed in insect cells. Recombinant 10R-DOX oxidized 18:2n-6 to (10R)-hydroperoxy-8(E),12(Z)-octadecadienoic acid (10R-HPODE; ∼90%), (8R)-hydroperoxylinoleic acid (8R-HPODE; ∼10%), and small amounts of 12S(13R)-epoxy-(10R)-hydroxy-(8E)-octadecenoic acid. We investigated the oxygenation of 18:2n-6 at C-10 and C-8 by site-directed mutagenesis of 10R-DOX and 7,8-linoleate diol synthase (7,8-LDS), which forms ∼98% 8R-HPODE and ∼2% 10R-HPODE. The 10R-DOX and 7,8-LDS sequences differ in homologous positions of the presumed dioxygenation sites (Leu-384/Val-330 and Val-388/Leu-334, respectively) and at the distal site of the heme (Leu-306/Val-256). Leu-384/Val-330 influenced oxygenation, as L384V and L384A of 10R-DOX elevated the biosynthesis of 8-HPODE to 22 and 54%, respectively, as measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis. The stereospecificity was also decreased, as L384A formed the R and S isomers of 10-HPODE and 8-HPODE in a 3:2 ratio. Residues in this position also influenced oxygenation by 7,8-LDS, as its V330L mutant augmented the formation of 10R-HPODE 3-fold. Replacement of Val-388 in 10R-DOX with leucine and phenylalanine increased the formation of 8R-HPODE to 16 and 36%, respectively, whereas L334V of 7,8-LDS was inactive. Mutation of Leu-306 with valine or alanine had little influence on the epoxyalcohol synthase activity. Our results suggest that Leu-384 and Val-388 of 10R-DOX control oxygenation of 18:2n-6 at C-10 and C-8, respectively. The two homologous positions of prostaglandin H synthase-1, Val-349 and Ser-353, are also critical for the position and stereospecificity of the cyclooxygenase reaction.


In the quest to promote constant value for money, value management (VM) has been proposed and adopted within the construction industry of countries across the world. To improve the VM process for a more effective outcome, pervasive digital technologies can be employed throughout a project and in the VM process. However, developing countries like South Africa are still lagging in using these emerging technologies. Therefore, this study assessed the digital technologies that can improve the VM process and the barriers hindering their usage within the construction industry. The study adopted a postpositivism philosophical stance with a questionnaire used to gather quantitative data from construction professionals that have participated in VM exercises within the South African construction industry. The data gathered were analysed using mean item score, standard deviation, the Kruskal-Wallis H-test, multiple linear regression and exploratory factor analysis. The study found with high predictive accuracy that digital technologies such as computer-based software, BIM, mobile devices, electronic meeting tools, cloud computing, augmented and virtual realities will significantly impact the overall success of VM practices. Furthermore, the barriers to the effective deployment of these technologies in the VM process can be categorised into (1) cost and awareness, (2) complexities of the VM and digital tools, (3) the construction industry's digital culture, and (4) the availability of technology and expertise. This study provides a theoretical backdrop for future studies exploring the use of digital technologies for VM practices—an aspect that has not gained significant attention in VM discourse in the construction industry.


Using the statistical method, this paper identifies a type of medieval dwellings common to the social elites (princes, boyars, high clergy, and urban patricians) in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia during the 14th to the 16th centuries. Built of wood, masonry or in a mixed system, the house combines a cellar partially raised above the ground level and a high ground floor, resulting in a structure with a tower-like appearance. Its origins can be traced back to medieval Hungary, whence it was brought and imposed by the Romanian and German elites who emigrated to Wallachia and Moldavia during the 14th century. The author considers that its adoption by the Romanian medieval elites resulted as a compromise between the elites' need to assert their social prestige, the relatively low construction costs of this type of dwellings and the practical needs of everyday life.


We report a case of a female in her 80s who was diagnosed with recurrent lung adenocarcinoma after primary surgery. She was treated with a systemic chemotherapy regimen consisting of carboplatin plus paclitaxel until the disease showed progression. On detection of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)mutations, we administered gefitinib, an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, at a dosage of 250 mg daily. After 6 months of gefitinib therapy, laboratory findings revealed elevated serum aspartate aminotransferase(AST)and alanine aminotransferase(ALT)levels(grade 2), indicative of hepatotoxicity. Gefitinib was discontinued and erlotinib was initiated at a dosage of 50 mg daily. She continued the therapy for 3 years, during which her disease stabilized without any further complications or hepatotoxicity. Thus, low-dose erlotinib may be effective and well tolerated by patients with non-small cell lung cancer harboring EGFR mutations who are intolerant to gefitinib.


The topic of 'Industry 4.0' has become increasingly important in both industry and academia since it was first published. Under this trending topic, many related capabilities required by current manufacturing systems have been pointed out in both academia and industry, such as automation, sustainability, and intelligence. Additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the most popular manufacturing systems in the era of Industry 4.0. Although the AM system tends to become increasingly automated and flexible, the issue of energy consumption still attracts attention. It is related to many attributes in different components of an AM system, which are represented as multiple source data, such as process operation data, working environment data, design-relevant data, and material condition data. How to integrate and analyse the multi-source data for AM energy modelling, prediction, and management has become a crucial research question.
This research was structured according to four themes. Firstly, a categorical classification is proposed based on the research gaps between current manufacturing systems and Industry 4.0 requirement. Nine varied applications are generated relying on their classification to provide a roadmap to raise the intelligence level of manufacturing systems to achieve Industry 4.0 requirement. Inspired by this classification, a framework was designed for leading the research of AM energy consumption modelling, prediction, and management. The framework includes four layers, data sensing and collection layer, data pre-process and integration layer, data analytics layer, and knowledge and application layer. This four-layered framework covers the entire knowledge discovery process from data generation to performance presentation.
Secondly, due to multi-source data of the AM systems usually involving nested hierarchies, a hybrid approach is proposed to tackle the issue. This hybrid approach incorporates clustering and deep learning technologies to integrate the multi-source data which is collected by the Internet of Things (IoT), to model energy consumption
iv
for AM systems. Multi-source data is analysed and collected. The data collection methods are introduced within the validation of a selective laser sintering (SLS) system. Results derived using this hybrid approach reveal that it outperforms pre-existing approaches.
Thirdly, while existing studies reveal that AM energy consumption modelling largely depends on the design-relevant features in practice, it has not been given sufficient attention. Therefore, in this research, design-relevant features are examined with respect to energy consumption prediction based on the study of AM energy modelling. By reviewing the literature of Design for AM and analysing some representative design models, AM design patterns are obtained and listed. Two types of design-relevant features are found, part-design features and process-planning features. The AM energy consumption knowledge, hidden in the design-relevant features, is exploited for prediction through a design-relevant data analytics approach.
Finally, methods enabling energy consumption management are provided in this research, which includes framework, modelling, prediction and the optimisation. The energy consumption optimisation method is based on particle swarm optimisation (PSO), and driven by deep learning technology, named as deep learning driven particle swarm optimisation (DLD-PSO). The proposed optimisation method aims to reduce the energy utility by optimising the design-relevant features. Deep learning was introduced to address several issues, in terms of increasing the search speed and enhancing the global best of PSO. The approaches proposed in this research were validated with the data collected from the target AM system, and the results reveal their merits.
The expected main achievement of this research is to pave the way for AM energy consumption modelling, prediction, and management through the advanced data analytics, which provides a feasibility study for achieving Industry 4.0. As such, it offers great potential as a route to achieve a more practical and generalised implementation of digital and intelligent manufacturing.


Stress is an unavoidable and dreaded, yet needed, part of everyday life. Although life's stress are usually thought of as only damaging to physical and mental health, they also motivate people to live actively and productively. Teaching is becoming more challenging as a profession and it is one of the most significant and visible profession in the world. Schools are as important as any other organization in the world. These are tough times to be a teacher. Main objective of this study is to identify sources of work stress in school teachers. Work-Stress Questionnaire by Jaws was adapted to collect data. Random sampling was used to gather the responses of teachers from schools in Jaffna District. Multiple regression was used to find out the impact on the performance of teachers. The stress of the teachers is measured in the questionnaire based on the factors such as Time Management, Work Related stressors, Professional distress, Discipline of the students and Professional investments. The finding of this study is teachers' stress significantly impact on the performance of them.


We have read with great interest the article by Nguyen and colleagues1 on the smoking paradox in the development of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) among patients with psoriasis. The authors present a large population-based study, in which they demonstrate that smoking is positively associated with PsA risk in the general population but negatively associated with PsA risk among patients with psoriasis, thereby suggesting that index event bias could result in the smoking paradox. The reasons for this smoking paradox are difficult to elucidate, but we agree with the authors' emphasis on the …


Background/aim To evaluate the clinical and histopathological effects of fetal brain tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (FBTMSC) and fibrin glue (FG) on the facial nerve (FN) regeneration in rats with traumatic FN injury. Materials and methods Twenty-eight Sprague Dawley rats were included in the study and divided into 4 groups. Traumatic FN injury (FP) was created by a surgical clamp compression to the main trunk of left FN in all groups. In the control group (group 1) no treatment was applied, in group 2 (FBTMSC group) 2 × 106 FBTMSC was injected, in group 3 (FG group) only FG was applied, in group 4 (FBTMSC and FG groups) both FBTMSC and FG were applied to the injured section of the nerve. The FN functions were evaluated clinically, immediately after the procedure and at 3rd, 5th, and 8th weeks postoperatively. The FNs of all subjects were excised after the 8th week; then the rats were sacrificed. The presence of stem cells in the injured zone was assessed using bromo-deoxyuridine (BrdU), and apoptosis was determined by the TUNEL method. Results After the damage, total FP was observed in all subjects. Statistically significant functional improvement was observed in group 4 compared to all other groups (P < 0.005). TUNEL-positive cell count was statistically significantly higher in the control group than the other groups (P < 0.001). TUNEL-positive cell count was statistically significantly lower in group 4 than the other groups. The proportion of BrdU-stained cells in group 4 (5%) was higher than group 2 (2%). Conclusion Clinically and histopathologically FBTMSC applied with FG may play a promising role as a regenerative treatment in posttraumatic FP.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand consumers' purchase intention toward green apparel products using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Specifically, this study aimed to compare US and Chinese consumers to understand how green apparel behaviors differ by a country's green market status and cultural differences.

Design/methodology/approach

By employing two antecedents, man-nature orientation and environmental knowledge into the TPB framework, a theoretical model was proposed and tested to explain how and to what extent each variable affected the purchase intention of US and Chinese consumers. To compare the two countries consumers' purchase intention, moderating effects were proposed. To test this model, a total of 437 valid data sets were collected at universities in the USA and China.

Findings

Findings indicated that the subjective norm was found to have the highest direct influence on purchase intention in both countries. Regarding internal perceived behavioral control (PBC) and external PBC, internal PBC was important for purchase intention in the US consumers while external PBC significantly influenced purchase intention among Chinese consumers. For the USA, two indirect antecedents to purchase intention (man-nature orientation and environmental knowledge) positively influenced variables in the TPB. In contrast, for China, the path between man-nature orientation and attitude toward green apparel products was not supported, but all other paths were supported. Only environmental knowledge (indirect antecedent) positively influenced internal PBC. Country moderating effects were not tested because of lack of supported evidence of invariance tests.

Originality/value

This study is an empirical research that focuses on purchase intention of green apparel products rather than on the production of green textiles, a topic that has received considerable attention in previous studies. This research is based on TPB with specified indirect antecedents to purchase intention. By testing the proposed model, the study explains the paths from two indirect antecedents (i.e. man-nature orientation and environmental knowledge) to the intent to purchase green apparel products. Therefore, academically, this study contributes to understanding the interrelationships among the factors that lead to purchase intention of green apparel products.


Anthropometric measurements provide information regarding the effect of surrounding environment on the appearance of risk factors. This study analyzes sexual dimorphism, nutritional status and body composition of a group of Venezuelan children and adolescents, 6 to 14 years old from the El Hatillo community. An iconometrographic approach based on proportionality, Hull score and contrasted values, was used on all sample by age, gender and nutritional status. This last was assessed by the combination of weight for height, height for age and body mass index, using OMS and national reference values. Results revealed 23.9% and 17.1% with deficit and overweight.. Deficit was more marked on children less than 10 years, the male group on the other hand, showed the most important alteration on those frames variables, in particular at the femur width and sitting height. The weight of evidence at present study suggests that nutritional status assessment, requires body composition analysis in order to obtain a holistic picture of the situation in which, pathologies related to availability of food and life quality conditions are powerful determinants. An Venez Nutr 2010;23 (1): 10-17.


Brassica vegetables are a significant component of the human diet and their popularity is systematically increasing. The interest in plants from this group is growing because of numerous reports focused on their pro-health properties. However, some consumers are not enthusiastic about these vegetables because of their specific bitter taste and sharp, sulfurous aroma. In this study, the volatile composition of 15 Brassica cultivars (five Brussels sprouts, four kohlrabi, three cauliflower and three broccoli), both raw and cooked, was analyzed by solid phase microextraction and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time of flight mass spectrometry (SPME-GC×GC-ToFMS). Differences were found between the analyzed vegetables, as well as different cultivars of the same vegetable. Moreover, the influence of cooking on the composition of volatile compounds was evaluated. All the vegetables were frozen before analyses, which is why the impact of this process on the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was included. The most abundant groups of compounds were sulfur components (including bioactive isothiocyanates), nitriles, aldehydes and alcohols. Cooking in general caused a decrease in the abundance of main volatiles. However, the amount of bioactive isothiocyanates increased in most cultivars after cooking. The effect of freezing on the volatile fraction was presented based on the Brussels sprout cultivars. Most of the changes were closely related to the activity of the lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway enzymes. These are characterized by a marked reduction in alcohol contents and an increment in aldehyde contents. Moreover, important changes were noted in the concentrations of bioactive components, e.g., isothiocyanates. This research included a large set of samples consisting of many cultivars of each analyzed vegetable, which is why it provides a considerable body of general information concerning volatiles in Brassica vegetables.


The motion near a seismic source is synthesized from experimentally obtained seismograms of non-dispersed body waves. The body waves were emitted from an explosive source submerged in a lake with a frozen surface. The seismograms were recorded at several distances by moving the source to a greater depth for each record, while the seismometer remained in a fixed position on the surface ice sheet. All syntheses of the waveform one meter from the source yield the impulsive nature of the source. Deviations between the synthesized one-meter record and the observed one-meter motion are thought to reflect primarily the changing character of the shot medium with depth from the ice.

These results indicate that over the short propagation distances (about three wavelengths for the higher frequencies recorded) through the simple medium of this experiment, the observed waveforms and their associated spectra retain characteristics of the source function. The records also yield some information regarding the nature and structure of the elastic medium about the source.


The use of automatic seismic facies classification techniques has been steadily increasing within E&P interpretation workflows over the past 10 years. It is not yet considered a standard procedure but, with the knowledge of the advantages (and limitations) of the different seismic classification methods, its role in the interpretation process as a successful hydrocarbon prediction tool is anticipated to grow.

This paper reviews and compares the unsupervised classification methods presently used in seismic facies analysis: K-means clustering, principal component analysis (PCA), projection pursuit, and neural networks (vector quantization and Kohonen self-organizing maps). The term "unsupervised" covers all classification techniques relying only on input data and not biased by the desired output. These methods are described, compared, and illustrated by case studies taken from deep offshore Louisiana, west and south Texas, onshore California, and offshore Indonesia.

Seismic data volumes are huge and consist of highly redundant data. It is now established that their analysis can be greatly optimized by applying efficient data reduction algorithms that preserve essential features of the seismic character. The objective of the facies classification process is to describe enough variability of the seismic data to reveal details of the underlying geologic features. The classification process should do this while preserving a synthesis for the seismic signal changes.

In addition to comparing the classification methods, this paper presents relevant information pertaining to data input, data analysis, and data output.

Seismic data, from the statistical point of view, have characteristics like continuity, redundancy, and noise that affect the behavior of the seismic classification techniques.

At first glance, these classification techniques may appear similar. However, their ability to efficiently describe changes in seismic character and their interpretability can vary significantly. These different techniques are compared in this paper for their suitability to describe seismic data in a meaningful manner directly …


Abstract : One hundred thirty-six hours of profile and bulk measurements of momentum, moisture, and sensible heat flux, accompanied by determinations of stability, were made in the marine atmospheric surface layer over the Pacific Ocean from an upwind, low-profile promontory of San Nicolas Island, California, at 33 deg North latitude and 120 deg West longitude. A review of previous marine surface layer profile measurements is presented, and the need for additional high wind speed flux measurements is demonstrated. Extensive analysis of the San Nicolas Island data revealed that the measurements were made upwind and above the internal boundary layer formed by the island. Additionally, a generalized technique was developed for correcting the wind-profile modification induced by the inherent change in elevation associated with many beaches. A comparison with previous profile measurements determined that earlier experimenters had overestimated the accuracy of their humidity measurements and that it was impractical to introduce buoyancy into the stability equation. An analysis performed to determine the relative magnitude of the flux and stability measurement errors associated with both the profile and bulk methods determined that the errors were typically in excess of 100%. Recommendations for future bulk method measurements are presented and a simple two level bulk method is proposed. An extensive bibliography is given, and the topic of horizontal homogeneity of the marine boundary layer is discussed.


This project aims to study and designs a rich Virtual Environment (VE), which allows social interaction between object in the environment. The specific objectives of this project are to (1) study about social interaction in Virtual Environment, (2) develop a VE and add some animations to the objects especially human embodiments (3) model a realistic, detailed and convincing body animation and (4) apply the social interaction in VE as an entertainment. This includes development of human embodiment with some animation added. A PC-based software package from Discreet: 3D Studio Max 7.0 is used for completing this project. The process of developing is broken down into four phases; the preproduction phase, first
production phase which is building and texturing, second production phase or called animating and the postproduction phase. The result is animations consist of 3-5 minutes interaction. The analysis of end result shows the implication of the project and description of the strength and its weaknesses. This project also has given several recommendations on how to improve the future project.


In this personal essay, the author shares something of her own story as a writer and the impact that Heilbrun's pseudonymous detective writer, Amanda Cross, had on her vocation. The message the author received as a young girl growing up in a small town was "ladies don't do this"—with "this" running the gamut from driving pickup trucks to working outside the home as anything but a secretary or a schoolteacher to studying math and physics. To escape her restlessness and anger, this essay's author dove into detective fiction during her teens, but when, at twenty, Amanda Cross entered her life, she felt as though she'd been thumped between the shoulders with a large stick: "a woman who did what Peter Wimsey did, who strolled urbanely through the upper reaches of society, who confronted power without fear, who used her wits to confound both police and academy—she was what I had been waiting for, not a romantic hero." The essay also tells the story of how the sixties seemed a decade in which women could at last reclaim their lives. Now more than ever, this essay argues, we need to remember the courage of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who spent seventy years working for our right to vote. As feminists commemorating Carolyn Heilbrun's work, this essay urges us to carry it on.


The fragile X syndrome is associated with an expanding CGG repeat in the 5' untranslated region of the first exon of the FMR1 gene. Subsequent methylation of the promoter region inhibits expression of the FMR1 gene. In two clinically normal brothers large, expanded CGG repeats and cytogenetically visible fragile sites were found. The FMR1 promoter was unmethylated and both RNA and protein could be detected. This indicates that inactivation of the FMR1 gene and not repeat expansion itself results in the fragile X phenotype. We conclude that repeat expansion does not necessarily induce methylation and that methylation is no absolute requirement for the induction of fragile sites.


Objective: Thin or damaged endometrium remains to be an unsolved problem in the treatment of patients with infertility. The empirical preference for endometrial thickness (EMT) among clinicians is >7 mm, and the refractory thin endometrium, which doesn't respond to standard medical therapies, can be the etiology of recurrent implantation failure (RIF). Autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is known to help tissue regeneration and is widely used in various fields. In the present study, we conducted PRP treatment and investigated its effect on the refractory thin endometrium. Design: Prospective interventional study (https://cris.nih.go.kr/cris, clinical trial registration number: KCT0003375). Methods: Women who had a history of two or more failed IVF cycles and refractory thin endometrium were enrolled in this study. The main inclusion criteria were EMT of <7 mm after more than 2 cycles of previous medical therapy for increasing the EMT. Twenty-four women were enrolled in this study. The subjects were treated with intrauterine infusion of autologous PRP 2 or 3 times from menstrual cycle day 10 of their frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycle, and ET was performed 3 days after the final autologous PRP infusion. 22 patients underwent FET, and 2 patients were lost to follow up. Results: The ongoing pregnancy rate and LBR were both 20%. The implantation and clinical pregnancy rates were 12.7 and 30%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant. The average increase in the EMT was 0.6 mm compared with the EMT of their previous cycle. However, this difference was not statistically significant. Further, EMT of 12 patients increased (mean difference: 1.3 mm), while that of seven patients decreased (mean difference: 0.7 mm); the EMT of one patient did not change. There were no adverse effects reported by the patients who were treated with autologous PRP. Conclusions: The use of autologous PRP improved the implantation, pregnancy, and live birth rates (LBR) of the patients with refractory thin endometrium. We assume that the ability of autologous PRP to restore the endometrial receptivity of damaged endometrium has some aspects other than increasing the EMT. The molecular basis of the treatment needs to be revealed in future studies.


According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study conducted in 2019, smoking tobacco leads to over 8 million deaths each year. Hence, it is crucial to identify optimal smoking cessation therapy. To compare the efficacy of varenicline versus bupropion for smoking cessation by performing a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Protocol was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO). The Patient intervention comparison outcome time (PICOT) format is used in the study. Patients having nicotine use disorder treated with varenicline or bupropion were included, and the continuous abstinence rate (CAR) was assessed at 12, 24, and 52 weeks. The PubMed and Google Scholar databases were systematically searched, and after the screening, RCTs involving a comparison of varenicline and bupropion in smoking cessation were included. We performed a meta-analysis of three RCTs (10110 patients) by RevMan 5.4.1 statistical software to determine the efficacy of varenicline compared with bupropion in smoking cessation. The CAR at 9- to 12-week follow-up of varenicline is superior to bupropion (OR = 1.79, CI range: 1.59-2.02, P < 0.001). Similarly, the CAR of varenicline is superior to bupropion for weeks 9–24 (1.51, 1.32 to 1.72) and weeks 9–52 (1.60, 1.22 to 2.12), suggesting the absolute advantage of varenicline over bupropion for smoking cessation in terms of efficacy. Both varenicline and bupropion are efficacious therapies for smoking cessation. Compared with bupropion, varenicline can significantly improve the CAR at the end of treatment, at 24 weeks, and at 52 weeks of follow-up.


This paper conceptualizes the relationship between Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and manufacturing safety performance. Through a review on systematic literature review (SLR) articles from Emerald database from year 2018 and white papers, this paper proposes a conceptual framework on IIoT for manufacturing safety performance. Usage of sensors and wearables, virtual or augmented reality and AI and industrial automation are hypothesized to be contributing towards the safety improvement in the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing firms that adopt IIoT can minimize human interaction with equipment and thereby improve the overall safety of its employees and reduce workplace injuries. As the topic on the usage of IoT or IIoT in the context of safety is scarce in current academic literature, this conceptualization of the relationship between these variables are expected to pave way for more empirical research and literature enrichment.


Background: Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory condition characterized by relapsing and remitting episodes of inflammation limited to the mucosal layer of the colon.Loop ileostomy might be helpful in the management of the disease. Objective: To evaluate the role of loop ileostomy in the management of ulcerative colitis. Methods: Between Januarys 2008 and January 2018, patients with fulminant ulcerative colitis resistant to medical therapy had been referred to our surgical unit and were included in our study. Assessment of the patients' medical status (serum electrolytes, total serum protein, complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, general stool exam,and abdominal ultrasound and x-rays) and psychological statuswere done and then preoperative status correction followed by defunctioning loop ileostomy operated upon them and followed postoperatively in hospital for the response fortwo weeks of hospitalization. Results: Twenty patients were included in the study, two patients died postoperatively due to comorbidities and pulmonary embolism. Eighteen of twenty patients had a gradual improvement clinically (mucus diarrhea with/without blood, weight gain, fever, psychological and edema) and in hematological and biochemicalvalues (complete blood count, serum albumin protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and electrolytes) within two weeks. Conclusion: Defunctioning loop ileostomy is a simple,less morbidprocedure if compared to other medical treatments which can change the complication features of fulminant ulcerative colitis towards either continue in medical therapy or towards definitive curative surgery and cost effective as it decrease the need for expensive medications.


Abstract Background  There is little consensus regarding management after appendectomy for complicated appendicitis in children. Recent literature suggests that patients may be safely discharged without oral antibiotics after adequate intravenous antibiotics therapy. We conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study comparing the proportion of postoperative organ space infection between patients discharged with and without oral antibiotics after appendectomy followed by intravenous antibiotics therapy for complicated appendicitis. Methods  Using the Diagnosis Procedure Combination database, we identified patients between 3 and 18 years of age who had undergone appendectomy for complicated appendicitis between July 2010 and March 2018. Propensity score–matched analyses were performed to compare outcomes between the groups with and without oral antibiotics. The primary outcome was readmission due to organ space infection within 60 days of discharge and the secondary outcome was 60-day readmission due to any reason. Additionally, we conducted a stabilized inversed probability of treatment weighting analysis as a sensitivity analysis. Results  We identified 13,100 eligible patients who had received oral antibiotics ( n  = 3,501) and who had not received oral antibiotics (n = 9,599). Propensity score matching created 2,769 pairs. Readmissions due to organ space infection were 3.4% and 5.2% in the nonusers and users of oral antibiotics, respectively ( p  = 0.007). The oral antibiotics users also had a significantly higher proportion of readmission due to any reason than the nonusers (5.5 vs. 7.4%, p  = 0.004). The sensitivity analyses demonstrated consistent results. Conclusion  Among children who had undergone appendectomy for complicated appendicitis, oral antibiotics following discharge after adequate intravenous antibiotics therapy may increase organ space infection.


The tumor suppressor protein Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog (PTEN) is a negative regulator of the Akt pathway which promotes proliferation, migration, and self-renewal. PTEN is mutated or deleted in ~40% of glioblastoma (GBM) resulting in increased Akt activity; however almost all GBM9s have increased Akt activity, regardless of PTEN status. This raises the possibility that GBM may inactivate PTEN through means other than mutation or deletion. Treatment with exogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS), like hydrogen peroxide, inactivates PTEN through oxidation in the phosphatase domain. The low oxygen environment of tumors (1%O2) increases ROS levels as compared to normal body tissue (4% O2), and tissue culture conditions (20% O2). Recent data indicate that low to moderate levels of ROS are required for cell maintenance and stem cell renewal while moderate increases in ROS may promote migration, invasion, and proliferation. Indeed, our lab recently found that normal neural stem cells have higher ROS levels, which is required for stem cell renewal. Moreover, data from our lab and others, have found that growing cells under physiological oxygen levels increases ROS and promotes renewal and proliferation. This suggests that the low-oxygen environment of tumors may promote proliferation and tumorigenesis through post-translational modification of proteins, like PTEN. NADPH oxidase (NOX) is a membrane bound complex of proteins that produces a significant amount of endogenous intracellular ROS. While this protein was originally identified in macrophages as being important for immune surveillance, new data suggests that the family of NOX proteins (1-4) has many other biological functions in a variety of different cell types. New data has found that the constitutively active NOX4 acts as an oncogene in several different cancer types by promoting migration, invasion, and proliferation. Within the brain, NOX2 promotes ROS-induced stem cell renewal in normal neural stem cells. Additionally, increased NOX2 expression in GBM patients correlates with shorter survival, while patients with low NOX2 expression generally live longer. Together these data suggest that, through NOX2, the low-oxygen environment of GBM increases ROS levels that oxidize and inhibit PTEN. This novel post-translational modification may increase proliferation and promote tumorigenicity through activation of Akt in cells with intact PTEN. We examined endogenous ROS levels in patient-derived GBM samples and found that increased ROS correlated with faster proliferating cells. Furthermore, low levels of O2 (1%) increased proliferation and Akt activation in a PTEN dependent manner. Both PTEN null and knockdown cells showed no increase in either proliferation or Akt activation over cells grown at room air (20%). Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of Akt abrogated ROS-induced proliferation, suggesting this mechanism functions through the PTEN/Akt pathway. This response was due directly to ROS production, as treatment with antioxidants decreased both ROS production and proliferation at low oxygen and room air. Additionally, we found that growth at 1% O2 led to the oxidation and inhibition of PTEN as seen by Akt phosphorylation. Treatment with apocynin, a NOX2 inhibitor decreased ROS production, proliferation, and Akt phosphorylation, suggesting that ROS-induced proliferation may be mediated through the NOX2 protein. This data not only show PTEN oxidation and inhibition under physiological conditions for the first time, it suggests that the low-oxygen tumor microenvironment may alter PTEN positive GBM to up-regulate the Akt pathway and promote tumorigenesis. Citation Format: Kirsten Ludwig, Harley Kornblum. NOX2 generated reactive oxygen species promotes glioblastoma growth through inhibition of PTEN. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Brain Cancer Research; May 27-30, 2015; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(23 Suppl):Abstract nr B31.


Lion Sankyu Tekko Sdn Bhd (LST) is a subsidiary of The Lion
Group was set up back in 1994. The merge among the pioneer
in pre - engineered steel building systems in Malaysia , PMB
Building System Sdn Bhd and Japan's Sankyu Inc. and Tokyo
Boeki Ltd., the former being one of the subsidiaries of Nippon
Steel Corp. (Japan's largest steel manufactures), was to draw
the decades of expertise and experience in the steel fabrication
and manufacturing industry to ensure the highest quality
structural steel building products at competitive price for the
ASEAN region and beyond.
LST, during the two financial years in operation has sustained
operating loses totaling RM 668 thousand but subsequently
improved over the preceding years. However, the economy
that grew steadily over the last nine years is now applying its
brakes and as a result of financial crisis currently, LST had
made a loss of RM 55 thousand in Financial Statement for the
period ended 31st May 98. This scenario has urged LST to
formulated alternative strategies in order to be better.
SWOT and SPACE MATRIX analysis had been used in this
case to analyze the company position. Various strategies
alternative had been identified and by knowing the company's
distinctive competence, perhaps will provide the company
guidance during unfavorable situation.


This work investigates the using thermal spray coating by Flame as a method to produce high performance cerment coating. In this study , an alumina was added to the self bounding of Ni- Al .This cerment composite materials sprayed through aflame towards a graphite substrate . The aim of the work is to see the effective of laser treatment on the microstructural of the coating layers . The results show that coating consists of different morphology zones surface defects and pores . The laser analysis predicts that remelted all surface particles with a significant high surface tension , producing strongly hardness with improvement in the structurel and mechanical properties. Key words : Cerment composites ; flame spray coating ; laser treatment ; surface engineering


Purpose In earlier analyses, desflurane has been shown to reduce average extubation time and the variability of extubation time by 20% to 25% relative to sevoflurane in adult patients. We undertook this study to determine which agents prompt less recovery time in pediatric patients undergoing minor surgery. Materials and Methods After obtaining Institutional Review Board approval, we retrospectively reviewed the anesthesia records of 499 patients, with an average age of 5 years, who underwent minor surgeries at Severance Eye and Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital between May 2010 and April 2011. Anesthesia was induced with propofol and rocuronium. Anesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane (n=340) or desflurane (n=159) with 50% air/O2. Time from cessation of anesthetics to recovery of self-respiration, eye opening on verbal command and extubation were compared between the two groups. Additionally, the incidences of postoperative respiratory adverse events were also compared. Results Times to self-respiration recovery, eye opening on verbal command, and extubation were significantly faster in the desflurane group than the sevoflurane group (4.6±2.5 min vs. 6.9±3.8 min, 6.6±3.0 min vs. 9.2±3.6 min, and 6.2±2.7 min vs. 9.3±3.7 min, respectively, p<0.005). There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups with respect to adverse respiratory events during the peri-operative period (38.2% vs. 34.6%, p=0.468). Conclusion Emergence and recovery from anesthesia were significantly faster in the desflurane group of children undergoing minor surgery. Desflurane did not result in any differences in respiratory adverse events during recovery compared to sevoflurane.


In wireless asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), the affect of a channel bit error varies significantly from the header to various payloads of a cell. Hence, to make the best available use of the limited channel coding redundancy, the paper proposes a two-rate punctured convolutional code (PCC) scheme with flexible unequal error protection (UEP) to apply to wireless ATM cell. In this paper, their performance on Gaussian, Rayleigh and Ricean fading channels is deeply analyzed further, which shows PCC schemes make significant reductions in cell loss rate (CLR) and good balances for CLR and the payload bit error rate (BER). The paper contains a detailed study of the effect of the code and channel parameters and the contrasting performance of hard and soft decisions on the received symbols. The study clearly highlights the need for soft decisions and channel state information (CSI) to extract the maximum benefit from Viterbi decoding on a fading channel.


The discipline of nursing is enhanced by the contributions of theoricians, researchers and practitioners in nursing who created ways that promote the knowledge development of nursing. The contribution of ontology allows for the clarification of the nature of reality from which stem the visions about phenomena to be studied. In nursing sciences, these visions are embedded in two different paradigms that influence the nature of the focus of the discipline as well. Some statements about the focus of the discipline are analysed and rules allowing for the choice of a coherent heuristic mode are set forth according to the chosen paradigm. The coexistence of paradigms deserves the respect of the different visions and the engagement to evaluate the theories of the discipline in relation with the values grounding our service to the society.


The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and features of a revised computerized adaptive testing (CAT) item pool creation system. This system refines and upgrades the system that is currently in use for the ongoing creation of CAT pools for several large-scale, high-stakes testing programs administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS®). Using data from a large-scale CAT program administered by ETS, an illustrative application of the software is provided to compare pools created using simultaneous partitioning and sequential partitioning. The results of the comparison indicated that simultaneous partitioning was preferable to sequential partitioning in the conditions studied. The paper concludes by identifying and discussing several issues that remain to be investigated in utilizing the revised pool creation system with ETS CAT programs.


Jarosite is a leach residue that can be produced by industrial bulk metal treatment processes and typically has the chemical formula Mx Fe3 (SO4 )2 (OH)6 , where M normally represents a metal cation. The largest source of jarosite is electrolytic zinc processing [1], which worldwide has an annual production of 11-12 Mt and an associated jarosite waste of 5-6 Mt that can cause important challenges due to its classification as a problem waste. Moreover, as zinc ore typically contains many other commercial/critical metals, the content of valuable materials in this material is significant. An analysis of jarosite from Kokkola, Finland shows that it contained as much metal as many present day commercial ores: ~15% iron, 2% zinc, 3 % lead, 150 g/t silver, 0.5 g/t gold, 100 g/t indium and 40 g/t gallium. Until now, jarosite related research has concentrated on its use in landfill and construction purposes [2], though there is increasing interest in finding methods to efficiently reprocess/recycle jarosite into valuable products [3, 4]. The hydrometallurgical process currently under development by VTT and Aalto University exploits jarosite powdery nature to undertake wet chemical processing. This low cost and energy efficient operation is targeted at the recovery of concentrates which contain the major value-added metals.