It has been suggested that dorsal and ventral pathways support distinct aspects of language processing. Yet, the full extent of their involvement and their inter-regional connectivity in visual word recognition is still unknown. Studies suggest that they might reflect the dual-route model of reading, with the dorsal pathway more involved in grapho-phonological conversion during phonological tasks, and the ventral pathway performing lexico-semantic access during semantic tasks. Furthermore, this subdivision is also suggested at the level of the inferior frontal cortex, involving ventral and dorsal parts for lexico-semantic and phonological processing, respectively. In the present study, we assessed inter-regional brain connectivity and task-induced modulations of brain activity during a phoneme detection and semantic categorization tasks, using fMRI in healthy subject. We used a dynamic causal modeling approach to assess inter-regional connectivity and task demand modulation within the dorsal and ventral pathways, including the following network components: the ventral occipito-temporal cortex (vOTC; dorsal and ventral), the superior temporal gyrus (STG; dorsal), the dorsal inferior frontal gyrus (dIFG; dorsal), and the ventral IFG (vIFG; ventral). We report three distinct inter-regional interactions supporting orthographic information transfer from vOTC to other language regions (vOTC -> STG, vOTC -> vIFG and vOTC -> dIFG) regardless of task demands. Moreover, we found that (a) during semantic processing (direct ventral pathway) the vOTC -> vIFG connection strength specifically increased and (b) a lack of modulation of the vOTC -> dIFG connection strength by the task that could suggest a more general involvement of the dorsal pathway during visual word recognition. Results are discussed in terms of anatomo-functional connectivity of visual word recognition network.


ABSTRACT A revision of the American species of the genus Crateva (Capparaceae) recognizes four species: (1) C. palmeri, a CentralAmerican species with short, stubby, pubescent inflorescences distinguished by the furfuraceous trichomes, leaflets sessile or with short petiolules to 4 mm, and short axis of infructescences, 1–6 cm. Unpublished isotypes, local names, and uses of C. palmeri are cited herein; (2) the widespread and glabrous C. tapia, ranging form Mexico to Argentina and the Lesser Antilles. Its variable floral morphology is discussed, and local names and uses are also reported for this species. Among its synonyms, Cleome arborea, Crataeva benthamii, and C. radiatiflora are lectotypified, and unpublished types are published for C. benthamii, C. benthamii var. leptopetala, C. radiatiflora, and C. glauca; (3) C. urbaniana, an endemic to Cuba and Dominican Republic, which is characterized by having flowers apetalous and (4−)6(−7) sepals. Unpublished isotypes are also published for C. urbaniana; and, (4) C. yarinacochaensis sp. nov., a local endemic of theAmazonian rainforests around Lago Yarinacocha, an old lake close to the Rio Ucayali ca. 4–6 km NW of Pucallpa, in the Department of Ucayali, eastern Peru. This new species is characterized by the elongate glabrous inflorescences on leafless or new-leaved branches, flowers with linear ovaries, and the fruits are highly distinctive narrowly-oblong or oblong-elliptic pepos with attenuate apex. A generic description and a key for the American species of Crateva is herewith provided.


In this paper, a comparative experimental assessment of computer vision-based methods for sign language recognition is conducted. By implementing the most recent deep neural network methods in this field, a thorough evaluation on multiple publicly available datasets is performed. The aim of the present study is to provide insights on sign language recognition, focusing on mapping non-segmented video streams to glosses. For this task, two new sequence training criteria, known from the fields of speech and scene text recognition, are introduced. Furthermore, a plethora of pretraining schemes is thoroughly discussed. Finally, a new RGB+D dataset for the Greek sign language is created. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first sign language dataset where sentence and gloss level annotations are provided for a video capture.


Market concentration ratio is argued to be an important driver of the firm performance. The measurement of its
influence, however, is difficult since it is considered to be an endogenous variable. This paper applied the
instrumental variables (IVs) approach using the SCP paradigm to model company performance. A panel analysis
is carried out against a sample of 641 companies listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia, over the period 2001 to 2006. The Durbin-Wu-Hausman (DWH) test results provide some support for the contention that the market concentration ratio variables are endogenous for SIC and Bursa classifications. After the market concentration ratio variables have been instrumented, it has a positive impact on firm performance. In addition, firm performance was found to be positively related to leverage, but negatively affected by firm capital intensity and openness.


The Italian case is emblematic of the liberalization of gambling and the drive towards its commercialization, taking place in several countries. Despite an uncertain political-legal framework, public services for addiction treatment are adapting to face the challenge posed by gambling. Therefore, a qualitative study was conducted within a sample of public services for addiction (Ser.T.) of an Italian region, involving professionals dedicated to gambling. The Author has attempted to identify the theoretical and practical approach adopted by organizations and professionals, through the comparison with the "chronic disease model" and "public health model".


This paper investigates how first-year students learn programming through lectures involving team-based activities. Although programming instruction has traditionally been performed through individual means, advocates of "pair-programming" provide support for collaborative learning in software engineering. While these studies have explored dyads of programming students, this study goes further and investigates the effects of learning introductory computer programming in teams of four or five students. The primary research questions being investigated in this paper include: 1) how do team-based activities affect student participation?, 2) do team-based activities improve learning outcomes on programming assignments?, and 3) did student-reported effort, time, and value of programming change between the two years? To answer these questions, data was collected from an introductory engineering course contributing five weeks to programming instruction. Two sets of data have been collected: the initial set from an entirely individual, module version of the curriculum (Fall 2016), and the second set from a curriculum with added lectures and team-based activities (Fall 2017). Homework performance data were collected from the set of problems common to both years, along with the results of a survey taken by students about their perceptions of the programming portion of the course. Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference in overall homework scores between the two years, but there was a significant increase in scores on programming projects, which were a set of more challenging problems at the end of Chapters 2-5 homework assignments. Average number of attempts per problem and number of problems completed did not change significantly between the two years. Results of the survey show that students generally perceived a lower workload and felt that the programming material was more valuable to them with in-class lectures and team activities. Future direction based on this study indicate the potential need for more in-class instruction, either in the form of more team activities or lectures. Pair programming, dyads, has been shown to be successful in the literature and will be considered in this course in the future.


This paper presents a brief and systematic study on reproduction services in academic libraries using copiers and printers for the use of students in higher education institutions. Services are compared by many students and the prices paid for printing and photocopying in libraries. From data analysis, the decision making about service is easy for whom has the responsability to take administrative decisions in a service unit.


Extranodal lymphomas account for as many as 40% of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, and most arise in the gastrointestinal tract, but other mucosal organs may be involved, especially the upper aerodigestive tract. Low-grade B-cell lymphomas arising in the gastrointestinal tract and other mucosae have been found to recapitulate the structure and cytologic features of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). Histologically low-grade MALT lymphomas are characterized by centrocyte-like B-cells with a phenotype similar to that of so-called marginal zone B-cells. Tumors evolving from MALT are generally rare among lymphomas of the upper aerodigestive tract, but a few cases of laryngeal lymphomas derived from MALT have been reported. Primary MALT lymphoma of the larynx should always be considered in tumors with histopathologic features of low-grade B-cell lymphoma, or so-called pseudolymphoma


Objective: Congenital coronary artery anomalies (CCAs) are rare, clinically benign, and majority are diagnosed incidentally during coronary angiography or an autopsy. Identification of CCA is important for management by cardiologists or cardiac surgeons, and also few cases of CCA are potentially serious which may cause sudden cardiac death. We performed a retrospective, single-center study to evaluate the clinical profile, incidence, pattern, and atherosclerotic involvement of CCA in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Methods: Coronary angiographies performed in adult patients during the study period of 2 years were screened for CCA. These patients were retrospectively analyzed in terms of clinical characteristics and angiographic profiles. Results: Of 4481 angiograms screened, 86 patients were found to have CCA with the incidence of 1.91%. Nearly 76.7% were male and 23.3% were female, with a mean age of 53.02 ± 10 years. Anomalies of origin and course were most common (94.18%) followed by anomalies of termination (5.81%), with right coronary artery (RCA) being the most common artery. Anomalous origin of RCA from the left sinus of Valsalva and separate origin of left anterior descending artery and left circumflex artery were both found to be the most common types. The incidence of atherosclerosis in anomalous vessels was 52.32%. Conclusions: CCAs were diagnosed incidentally during coronary angiography and had male predominance with conventional risk factors. The incidence of CCA was slightly higher than that of the previous angiographic studies, but the pattern of anomalies was similar with majority being benign. Anomalous vessels did not predispose to atherosclerotic involvement as compared to normal vessels in the same patients.


Background Using surrogate biomarkers for disease progression as endpoints in neuroprotective clinical trials may help differentiate symptomatic effects of potential neuroprotective agents from true slowing of the neurodegenerative process. A systematic review was undertaken to determine what biomarkers for disease progression in Alzheimer's disease exist and how well they perform. Methods MEDLINE and Embase (1950–2011) were searched using five search strategies. Abstracts were assessed to identify papers meriting review in full. Studies of participants with probable Alzheimer's disease diagnosed by formal criteria were included. We made no restriction on age, disease duration, or drug treatment. We only included studies with a longitudinal design, in which the putative biomarker and clinical measure were both measured at least twice, as this is the only appropriate study design to use when developing a disease progression biomarker. We included studies which attempted to draw associations between the changes over time in the biomarker used to investigate disease progression and a clinical measure of disease progression. Results Fifty-nine studies were finally included. The commonest biomarker modality examined was brain MRI (17/59, 29% of included studies). Median follow-up in included studies was only 1.0 (IQR 0.8–1.7) year and most studies only measured the putative biomarker and clinical measure twice. Included studies were generally of poor quality with small numbers of participants (median 31 (IQR 17 to 64)), applied excessively restrictive study entry criteria, had flawed methodologies and conducted overly simplistic statistical analyses without adjusting for confounding factors. Conclusions We found insufficient evidence to recommend the use of any biomarker as an outcome measure for disease progression in Alzheimer's disease trials. However, further investigation into the efficacy of using MRI measurements of ventricular volume and whole brain volume appeared to be merited. A provisional 'roadmap' to improve the quality of future disease progression biomarker studies is presented.


Tumor segmentation in oncological PET images is challenging, a major reason being the partial-volume effects that arise from low system resolution and a finite pixel size. The latter results in pixels containing more than one region, also referred to as tissue-fraction effects. Conventional classification-based segmentation approaches are inherently limited in accounting for the tissue-fraction effects. To address this limitation, we pose the segmentation task as an estimation problem. We propose a Bayesian method that estimates the posterior mean of the tumorfraction area within each pixel and uses these estimates to define the segmented tumor boundary. The method was implemented using an autoencoder. Quantitative evaluation of the method was performed using realistic simulation studies conducted in the context of segmenting the primary tumor in PET images of patients with lung cancer. For these studies, a framework was developed to generate clinically realistic simulated PET images. Realism of these images was quantitatively confirmed using a two-alternative-forced-choice study by six trained readers with expertise in reading PET scans. The evaluation studies demonstrated that the proposed segmentation method was accurate, significantly outperformed widely used conventional methods on the tasks of tumor segmentation and estimation of tumor-fraction areas, was relatively insensitive to partial-volume effects, and reliably estimated the ground-truth tumor boundaries. Further, these results were obtained across different clinical-scanner configurations. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the efficacy of an estimation-based approach to PET segmentation.


This paper presents the optimal design and operation of a micro power generation process that consists of a reactor, a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and two burners in a stack fed with ammonia and butane fuels. Hydrogen is produced from ammonia decomposition, while butane is catalytically oxidized to produce heat and maintain the stack at a sufficiently high temperature. In the first part, a novel model is developed for predicting the steady-state performance of the process. Subsequently, this model is used as a basis to study and determine the optimal design and operation of the system. The optimization problem is formulated so that the consumption rate of utilities (ammonia and butane) is minimized, while meeting a specified power demand and maintaining the stack at its thermal equilibrium. The dependence of the optimal design and operating strategy on the operating temperature and the heat losses of the system is emphasized.


The formation of myofibrils in the developing leg muscle of the 12-day chick embryo was studied by electron microscopy. Myofilaments of two varieties, thick (160–170 A in diameter) and thin (60–70 A in diameter), which have been designated myosin and actin filaments, respectively, on the basis of their similarity to natural and synthetic myosin and actin filaments, appear in the cytoplasm of developing muscle cells. There is a greater than 7:1 ratio of thin to thick filaments in these young myofibers. The free myofilaments become aligned in the long axis of the cells, predominantly in subsarcolemmal locations, and aggregate into hexagonally packed arrays of filaments. The presence of Z band material or M band cross-bridges do not appear to be essential for the formation or spacing of these aggregates of filaments. Formation of the Z band lattices occurs coincidentally with the back-to-back apposition of thin filaments. An hypothesis concerning myofibril growth, based on the self-assembly characteristics of the filaments, is presented.


Testing of three-dimensional (3D) stacked ICs (SICs) is starting to receive considerable attention in the semiconductor industry. Since the die-stacking steps of thinning, alignment, and bonding can introduce defects, there is a need to test multiple subsequent partial stacks during 3D assembly. We address the problem of test-architecture optimization for 3D stacked ICs to minimize overall test time when either the complete stack only, or the complete stack and multiple partial stacks, need to be tested. We show that optimal test-architecture solutions and test schedules for multiple test insertions are different from their counterparts for a single final stack test. In addition, we present optimization techniques for the testing of TSVs and die-external logic in combination with the dies in the stack.


Cyclophilin B (CypB) is an endoplasmic reticulum-resident protein that regulates collagen folding, and also contributes to prolyl 3-hydroxylation (P3H) and lysine (Lys) hydroxylation of collagen. In this study, we characterized dentin type I collagen in CypB null (KO) mice, a model of recessive osteogenesis imperfecta type IX, and compared to those of wild-type (WT) and heterozygous (Het) mice. Mass spectrometric analysis demonstrated that the extent of P3H in KO collagen was significantly diminished compared to WT/Het. Lys hydroxylation in KO was significantly diminished at the helical cross-linking sites, α1/α2(I) Lys-87 and α1(I) Lys-930, leading to a significant increase in the under-hydroxylated cross-links and a decrease in fully hydroxylated cross-links. The extent of glycosylation of hydroxylysine residues was, except α1(I) Lys-87, generally higher in KO than WT/Het. Some of these molecular phenotypes were distinct from other KO tissues reported previously, indicating the dentin-specific control mechanism through CypB. Histological analysis revealed that the width of predentin was greater and irregular, and collagen fibrils were sparse and significantly smaller in KO than WT/Het. These results indicate a critical role of CypB in dentin matrix formation, suggesting a possible association between recessive osteogenesis imperfecta and dentin defects that have not been clinically detected.


First interview:

Abstract: In his 3 May/June interview with Barry Teicher, Bill Cronon discusses the ideas behind, inception, and first years of the Chadbourne Residential College (CRC) from 1996-2000. Cronon relates how his own experiences at Oxford and Yale Universities influenced his ideas about learning in community and how his personal academic journey brought him back to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He then goes on to detail the challenges and rewards of articulating a vision for CRC, selling it to University Housing, choosing and changing the physical space of Chadbourne Hall, promoting the vision of community among students, and establishing CRC rituals. This interview was conducted for inclusion in the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Oral History project.

Key Words: Childhood; Undergraduate study; Oxford University; Yale University residential college system; Goals upon returning to UW; Honors program; Origins and early planning for Chadbourne Residential College (CRC); CRC governance; Diversity in CRC; Staff members; CRC opening activities; CRC activities; Richard Keeling and Mary Layoun.

Second interview:

Abstract: In his four March 2008 interviews with Troy Reeves, Bill Cronon talks about his stories and memories of his early years in Madison WI; his education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oxford University and Yale University; important influences on his scholarship and personal life; and his work in environmental history, geography, and the Chadbourne Residential College, He includes facts about his family?s ancestry; his precociousness as a young man; his memories of high school and college; his mentors Dick Ringler, E. David Cronon and Howard Lamar; and the numerous awards and distinctions he has received. He also details his research program, publications throughout his career, and his observations about colleagues and the departments with which he has been affiliated. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the UW?Madison Oral History Program general collection.

Keywords: Cronon family; Great Depression; Green Lake, WI; family vacations in U.S. West; Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin (pre-merger) and UW?Madison; Yale University; Cronon, E. David; Memorial High School (Madison, WI); Caving in Wisconsin; student newspapers; Nan Fey; Vietnam Conflict?U.S. homefront; student protest; Cronon?s 1960s political upbringing; E. David Cronon; Richard Ringler; 1970s Energy Crisis; Oxford University; Rhodes Scholarship; Danforth Fellowship; Coventry, England; Edmund Morgan; Changes in the Land; Howard Lamar; Nature?s Metropolis; MacArthur Fellowship; The American Experience; History department; History of Environmental History; UW?Madison?Environmental Studies Program; UW?Madison?Center for History & Environment (CHE)


Road traffic accidents and associated injuries are a major public health problem in developing countries. Timely rescue, first-aid and trauma care and subsequent transportation of road accident victims (RAVs) to health facility help reduce the accident and injury outcomes. Available evidence suggests that RAVs stand a greater chance of survival if attended to and cared for timely. This exploratory qualitative study set out to explore the experiences of residents of the communities along the Kasoa-Mankessim highway in Ghana (an accident-prone highway) in administering pre-hospital care to RAVs. It also explores the nature of assistance (trauma services) given. Data for the study came from a purposive sample of 80 respondents from 15 communities along the road network through structured interview schedules. We found that the majority of the respondents had little knowledge and/or professional training in first-aid and emergency trauma care to road accident victims. The skills and knowledge exhibited were acquired through years of first-aid and rescue services to road accident victims. The 'scoop and run' method of first-aid care was widely used. The study recommended that the relevant agencies such as the Ghana Health Service, Ghana Red Cross Society, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Fire Service and the National Ambulance Service should train and equip residents along accident-prone highways to rescue and administer first-aid and pre-hospital care to RAVs. Furthermore, the emergency contact numbers of these agencies should be made available to the stakeholders in the communities so they can call for assistance in the event of emergencies.


The gas temperature and the absolute density of the argon level in an 80 W inductively coupled low-pressure argon - mercury plasma are determined for three different argon filling pressures. This is done by measuring the line profile of the transition in argon, using a tuneable laser diode. Since the width of this argon line is found to depend on the kinetic heavy particle temperature only, radial profiles of the gas temperature can be obtained. It turns out that the maximum gas temperature in this discharge (550 - 810 K depending on the filling pressure) is significantly higher than that in a common tubular fluorescent lamp. From the radial distribution of the argon 4s density it can be concluded that the maxima of the electron density and of the electron temperature are situated close to the coil. It is also found that the position of these maxima depends on the argon filling pressure.


Different diagnostic information has been employed in JET to identify the level of interaction between lower hybrid waves and fast ions accelerated up to few MeV by ion cyclotron waves. It is found that up to 25% of the lower hybrid power can be absorbed by fast ions under specific plasma conditions. Fourier analysis of neutron emission rates and fast ion energy signals during lower hybrid modulation experiments show that the level of interaction depends on the relative position of the cyclotron resonance and the lower hybrid absorption layers.


Naturalistic driving studies seek to perform the observations of human driver behavior in the variety of environmental conditions necessary to analyze, understand and predict that behavior using statistical and physical models. The second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) funds a number of transportation safety-related projects including its primary effort, the Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS), and an effort supplementary to the NDS, the Roadway Information Database (RID). This work seeks to expand the range of answerable research questions that researchers might pose to the NDS and RID databases. Specifically, we present the SHRP 2 NDS Video Analytics (SNVA) software application, which extracts information from NDS-instrumented vehicles' forward-facing camera footage and efficiently integrates that information into the RID, tying the video content to geolocations and other trip attributes. Of particular interest to researchers and other stakeholders is the integration of work zone, traffic signal state and weather information. The version of SNVA introduced in this paper focuses on work zone detection, the highest priority. The ability to automate the discovery and cataloging of this information, and to do so quickly, is especially important given the two petabyte (2PB) size of the NDS video data set.


Overall frameworks of agent-based autonomous control of distributed satellite systems (DSS) are put forward. Till now, study on spacecraft autonomy at home and abroad is still in the early stage, and there are not any guidelines or frameworks to follow. We hold that it is necessary and feasible to adopt complex adaptive system (CAS) theory to instruct the research on autonomous control of DSS. The frameworks cover three aspects of theoretical foundations, technical routes and implementation methodologies. Basic concepts and kernel thoughts of CAS theory are introduced briefly; Main process to realize autonomy of DSS is discussed and Agent-based methods including design and evaluation method, modeling method, satellite autonomy architecture and autonomous mechanisms of physical and behavioral characteristics are investigated. Conclusions and future work schemes are given in the end


Background

The International Organization for Standardization has recommended monitoring and evaluation of quality laboratory services to ensure accuracy and reliability of diagnoses. The extent of accuracy and reliability of medical laboratory diagnoses in Tanzania has been scarcely documented. Through strengthening laboratory management towards accreditation (SLMTA) program, the researcher evaluated changes in quality indicator.

Objective

The evaluation aimed at determining the effect of SLMTA program on external quality assessment participation and performance of public laboratories in Iringa and Morogoro in Tanzania.

Methodology

A comparative laboratory-based cross-sectional design was conducted in Kilosa and Turiani districts in Morogoro region and Iringa Municipal and Mufindi district in Iringa region. External quality assessment (EQA) level of participation was assessed by observing how frequent the laboratory performs PTs, and the number of laboratory tests that are involved in EQA. A total of 178 EQA proficiency malaria, HIV and Haemoglobin (Hb) test results from the public laboratories were gathered by using a checklist. Eighty test results were from SLMTA laboratories (59 from Turiani and 21 from Mafinga lab) while 98 were from non-SLMTA laboratories (63 from Kilosa and 35 from Ngome laboratory). Data were analyzed using software to prepare contingency tables for test sensitivities, specificities, and predictive values. Statistics such as percentage distributions and cross-tabulations were used to analyze data.

Findings

SLMTA and non- SLMTA labs are participating regularly in EQA for HIV rapid tests (RTs), however, their participation is not regular for malaria and Hb tests. Proficiency test (PT) performance for HIV RTs in SLMTA laboratory category was 64%, while in non-SLMTA was 85%. PT performance for malaria test in non SLMTA was 44%, while it was zero percent in SLMTA lab category. Test performance for Hb was zero percent in SLMTA labs and no datum for Hb PTs available in non SLMTA laboratories. The sensitivity and specificity for HIV RTs was 100% in both laboratory categories (SLMTA and non-SLMTA).


Federated learning enables multiple institutions to collaboratively train machine learning models on their local data in a privacy-preserving way. However, its distributed nature often leads to significant heterogeneity in data distributions across institutions. In this paper, we investigate the deleterious impact of a taxonomy of data heterogeneity regimes on federated learning methods, including quantity skew, label distribution skew, and imaging acquisition skew. We show that the performance degrades with the increasing degrees of data heterogeneity. We present several mitigation strategies to overcome performance drops from data heterogeneity, including weighted average for data quantity skew, weighted loss and batch normalization averaging for label distribution skew. The proposed optimizations to federated learning methods improve their capability of handling heterogeneity across institutions, which provides valuable guidance for the deployment of federated learning in real clinical applications.


Absolute value coding is introduced as a method for significantly reducing temporal drift within a motion compensated predictive video codec in the presence of loss. Drift reduction both improves error resilience and enables scalability by omission of parts of the bit-stream. In conjunction with matching pursuits, the system can be used to provide a displaced frame difference codec using fixed length codewords, which further improves error resilience and facilitates simple bit-stream editing.


This article first presents an analysis of the two most important macro variables: inflation and growth. In respect to inflation that faces a daunting landscape at the present time, China can still hold the inflation rate at an appropriate level in 2008. In consideration to a world economic slowdown and primary goods price trends as well as domestic price hikes and production overcapacity, inflation should be able to be kept in check in 2008. In regards to growth, this article employs the Phillips curve equation to arrive at a potential growth rate of 9.4% for China in 2008. Over the next couple of decades, however, the potential growth rate is projected to decline. Subsequently, this article discusses the challenges facing the tightening monetary policy: the trade-off between growth and inflation, the quagmire of liquidity control, the different interest rate movement episodes of China and the Unites States at different stages of economic cycles, and the temporary expediency nature of taming inflation through currency appreciation. Nevertheless, monetary policy still has a positive role to play and China should remain steadfast in pursuing monetary austerity policies. Last but not least, the article presents an outlook for the future.


Obtaining tight worst-case execution-time (WCET) estimations of real-time tasks is crucial since overly-pessimistic estimations are deemed impractical. One way of making WCET estimations tighter is to incorporate more program-flow information e.g., context-sensitive loop bounds, infeasible-path and same-path information, etc. In this paper we present and evaluate a completely automatic analysis that dynamically derives program-flow information to use in WCET analysis. Flow information is derived by a combination of test-data generation and parsing of program-execution traces to obtain flow-fact hypotheses which are then fed to a model checker to establish their correctness. Experimental evaluation shows that our method help achieve considerable tightness in WCET estimations at a manageable cost.


The aim of this study was to assess morphological and morphometrical alterations of oral squamous epithelial cells in type 1 HIV infected individuals. Oral smears were collected from tongue and buccal mucosa of 30 HIV infected (experimental) and 30 non-infected (control) individuals by liquid-based exfoliative cytology. The cells were morphologically analyzed and the nuclear area (NA), the cytoplasmic area (CA) and the nucleus-to-cytoplasm area ratio (NA/CA) were calculated. No morphological differences were found between the groups. The mean values of CA were decreased in tongue (P=.00006) and buccal mucosa (P=.00242) in HIV infected individual, while mean values of NA were increased (P=.00308 and .00095, respectively) in the same group. NA/CA ratio for experimental group was increased in both collected places, with P=.00001 (tongue) and P=.00000 (buccal mucosa). This study revealed that HIV infection was able to induce morphometrical changes on the oral epithelial cells.


Pharmaceutical companies, like many other types of companies, are incentivized to create, manufacture, and distribute new products, in part due to the legal protections of patent law. However, the tension between patent rights and the public good has been heightened as pharma companies developed new vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Wealthy governments paid well for vaccines and received ample supplies, while low- and middle-income countries struggled to obtain access to any vaccines. Some countries called for pharmaceutical companies to waive their patent protections for vaccines in order to facilitate the worldwide manufacture and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. This paper will examine the rationale of patent protection and patent waiver issues, then compare these concepts with ethical constructs and a Jewish perspective.


Over the past 30 years Calgary has doubled in size, from a population of 640,645 in 1985 to 1,230,915 in 2015. During that time the City has had five different mayors, hosted the Winter Olympics, and expanded the C-Train from 25 platforms to 45. Calgary's Metropolitan Area has grown too, with Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks and Cochrane growing into full-fledged cities, ripe with inter-urban commuters.* And with changes to provincial legislation in the mid-'90s, rural Rocky View County and the Municipal District of Foothills are now real competitors for residential, commercial and industrial development that in the past would have been considered urban. In this metropolitan system, where people live, their household structure, and their place of work informs the services they need to conduct their daily lives, and directly impacts the spatial character of the City and the broader region. In sum, Metropolitan Calgary is increasingly complex. Calgary and the broader metropolitan area will continue to grow, even with the current economic slowdown. Frictions within Calgary, between the various municipalities in the metropolitan area, and the priorities of other local authorities (such as the School Boards and Alberta Health Services) will continue to impact the agendas of local politicians and their ability to answer to the needs of their residents. How resources – whether it is hard infrastructure, affordable housing, classrooms, or hospital beds – are allocated over space and how these resources are funded, directly impacts these relationships. This technical paper provides my perspective as an urban economist on the efficient allocation of resources within a metropolitan system in general, with reference to Calgary where appropriate, and serves as a companion to the previously released "Reflections on Calgary's Spatial Structure: An Urban Economists Critique of Municipal Planning in Calgary." It is hoped that the concepts reviewed herein effectively expand upon and supplement the discussion in the former paper. The urban economic perspective adopted in this paper is itself not inconsistent with the public economics perspective but it pays more attention to space, and metropolitan transportation and land use policy, and less to tax policy and intergovernmental fiscal arrangements. I will explore the following sources of inefficiency within a metropolitan system: 1) local public goods, 2) externalities, and 3) economies of scale, starting with a short background on classic market failure and second-best policy.


The following theorem is proved: if a finite -group admits an automorphism of order having exactly fixed points, then it contains a subgroup of -bounded index that is solvable of -bounded derived length. The proof uses Kreknin's theorem stating that a Lie ring admitting a regular (that is, without nontrivial fixed points) automorphism of finite order , is solvable of -bounded derived length . Some techniques from the theory of powerful -groups are also used, especially, from a recent work of Shalev, who proved that, under the hypothesis of the theorem, the derived length of is bounded in terms of , , and . The following general proposition is also used (this proposition is proved on the basis of Kreknin's theorem with the help of the Mal'tsev correspondence, given by the Baker-Hausdorff formula): if a nilpotent group of class admits an automorphism of finite order , then, for some -bounded number , the derived subgroup is contained in the normal closure of the centralizer . The scheme of the proof of the theorem is as follows. Standard arguments show that may be assumed to be a powerful -group. Next, it is proved that is nilpotent of -bounded class. Then the proposition is applied to . There exist explicit upper bounds for the functions from the statement of the theorem.Bibliography: 22 titles.


AIMS
To assess the error rate in plain film interpretation amongst urgent care doctors in the context of minor trauma, to determine where such errors occur and whether they affect patient care, and to identify possible causative factors.

METHODS
Five thousand X-ray interpretations occurring between March and August 2021 across six urgent care clinics were included in this retrospective study. Data analysis focused on demographic data, site of injury, the experience of the doctor interpreting the X-ray, and whether any change in management occurred following an error.

RESULTS
Six hundred and seventy-three X-ray interpretation errors occurred (13.5%), with 171 of these (3.4%) resulting in a change in patient management. Chest and elbow X-rays were misinterpreted most often. Both the age of the patient and training of the urgent care doctor had a significant effect on this error rate. The main impacts on patient management were cast removal and recall for review in the urgent care centre or an orthopaedic clinic.

CONCLUSIONS
X-ray misinterpretation occurs at equivalent rates in urgent care when compared to the emergency department. Errors occur more commonly with paediatric patients and for doctors with less urgent care-specific training. These errors rarely result in any serious impact on patient management.


Phosphate-shelled brachiopods differ in filter-feeding lifestyle, with Lingula anatina an active infaunal burrower, and Discinisca tenuis a shallow marine epibenthic animal. The shells of these biomineralized organisms are built of organophosphatic constituents, the organic fibres/sheets reinforced with calcium phosphate (Ca-phosphate) to provide a sophisticated ultrastructural robustness. This investigation studied the nature of organic fibres in order to improve our understanding of how design principles are relevant to biominerals. Unlike the powdered samples that were commonly used in previous studies, for the first time organic fibres were isolated and the shell fractions were purified, in order to study the content and nature of the biopolymer fibres. Ultrastructural analysis, thermal gravimetric analysis and spectroscopic analyses reveal that the core polysaccharide framework is composed of layers of β-chitin sheets that are coated with a fibrous protein matrix. The chitin matrix in Lingula shells, 26.6 wt.%, is about two-fold higher wt.% compared to Discinisca shells,12.9 wt.%. After thermal gravimetric analysis, skeletal imaging of these shells shows important differences. Discinisca contains just a single layer that is ~21.0 µm thick. In contrast, Lingula exhibits two separate layers: the thicknesses of the primary- and secondary-layers are ~20.3 µm and ~8.1 µm, respectively. Taken together, the data shows that the chitin matrix contributes to increased skeletal strength, making Lingula highly adapted for life as an active burrower. In comparison, Discinisca contains less chitin and lives as attached epibenthos in a shallow marine environment.


A description is given of a phoneme-based speech recognition method using a linear model to represent the contextual variations in acoustic features caused by the phonemic context. A feature vector in a phonetic segment is decomposed into a context-independent vector, a context-dependent vector, and a residual vector. The context-independent vector is calculated by weighting a coefficient matrix to a context vector obtained from acoustic and/or phonetic data dynamically. Algebraic formulas for the maximum-likelihood estimations of the parameters in the model are derived by statistical modeling of the residual vector. For example, the proposed model achieved 97.9% word accuracy while the whole-word template model obtained 95.1% word accuracy.<<ETX>>


Whereas a large number of empirical studies have been devoted to analyzing the relationship between measures of income and globalization (defined by openness to international trade), much less attention has been paid to the analysis of well-being for the various subgroups of population and their causal associations with globalization. To address this gap in the literature, this paper first analyzes the quality of life (QOL) of 'poor' and 'non-poor' population segments of 40 African countries over a period of 1980-2000, and then examines their causal association with openness to trade. In order to understand the impact of openness to trade on the well-being of poor, we assume the causal chain Openness_ Income_ Poverty_ Well-being of poor and empirically examine link by link for Africa. The first link of the chain is from openness to growth. The second link in the causal chain from openness to well-being is the interrelationship between growth and poverty. The third link of the chain is from reduction in poverty to improvement of well-being. The major findings of this paper are: First, nearly every well-being indicator declines as the poor's population share increases; second, the tendency for QOL to decline with increasing poor's population share is common to the African and non-African countries; third, women suffer a double QOL disadvantage in areas of health and education as the poor's share of population increases; and fourth, globalization has improved incomes of African countries, however, there is a no significant decline in poverty and improvement in well-being of the poor over the period. We discuss the key challenges faces by African countries to beneficially engage in the world economy.


We report the case of a 70-year-old woman with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction of the anterior wall, complicated by ventricular septal rupture (two septal defects--VSDs) with symptoms of cardiogenic shock. After 6 weeks of conservative treatment with inotropes and intra-aortic balloon support, the patient underwent surgical repair of VSDs with good clinical outcome.


Introduction: Amalgam, the most commonly used restorative material, is composed of nearly 50% mercury and 69% silver. It cannot be disposed along with biomedical waste (BMW) because mercury-contaminated waste cannot be incinerated or autoclaved. Objectives: To assess the knowledge and observance of proper mercury hygiene and amalgam waste management among general dental practitioners (GDPs). Materials and Methods: A confidential questionnaire containing 14 questions regarding handling and disposal of amalgam was randomly distributed to 175 GDPs in Chandigarh, Panchkula, and Mohali. A response rate of 78% was obtained, and results were statistically analyzed. Results: Out of total dentists surveyed, 71% were found to be using amalgam as restorative material, 63% were doing <5 amalgam restorations per week. Only 6.5% of dentists placed rubber dam during removal and replacement of amalgam restorations. Fifty-five percent of dentists used high-volume evacuation. Filter was used only by 6% dentists. For 98%, dentists' evacuation drained into regular drain. Eighty-six percent of dentists never used amalgamator. Only 31% of dentists stored leftover amalgam scrap in radiographic fixer. Fifty-one percent of dentists disposed the bottle of leftover amalgam scrap along with BMW. One hundred percent of dentists disposed amalgam-contaminated gloves and cotton along with BMW. Only 17% of GDPs periodically monitored mercury vapors in their dental operatories. Conclusion: There exists a significant lack of knowledge regarding mercury hygiene and amalgam waste disposal among GDPs. Guidelines on mercury management need to be strongly implemented to prevent contamination of environment by mercury.


Local wind systems, such as sea or lake breezes, strongly affect the transport and dispersion of atmospheric trace gases. Based on its size and location, the artificial lake of Balbina in the Amazon - can be expected to give rise to a lake/forest breeze regime. During the period 2 to 28 July 2002, within the LBA/CLAIRE-2001 experiment, we have continually measured the ozone concentrations (O3) and the wind directions close to the Balbina dam. We found that there is indeed a well established breeze system, with lake breezes prevailing during mid-day (10 to 14 LT) while forest breezes prevail from the afternoon to early morning (16 to 8 LT). During the latter period radioactive cooling in the forest creates a strong local thermal contrast. The average daily ozone concentration was 8.7 ppbv, with an average of 10.6 ppbv during the day, and 3.5 ppbv at night. When local winds came from the lake, even at night, ozone concentrations were greater compared to breezes coming from the forest.


OBJECTIVE
With increasing life span osteoporosis becomes a more recognized problem in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The aim of this cross-sectional study in 75 adult patients with CF (mean age 25.3 years) was to assess the prevalence of low bone mineral density (BMD) by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and, for the first time, by quantitative ultrasound (QUS), and to identify predicting factors.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Bone status was assessed at the lumbar spine (L2-L4) and the femoral neck by DEXA, and at the calcaneus by QUS (stiffness index). These data were correlated with a variety of clinical and anthropomorphic variables. Biochemical markers of bone turnover such as osteocalcin, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, crosslinks in urine, 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OH vitamin D), parathyroid hormone, calcium and free testosterone were determined by standard assays.

RESULTS
The mean BMD T score (+/-s.e.m.) was -1.4+/-0.17 at the lumbar spine, and -0.54+/-0.16 at the femoral neck. The mean T score of the calcaneal stiffness index was -0.83+/-0.19. Based on a lumbar spine T score <-2.5 by DEXA, 27% of the patients had osteoporosis. Multiple regression analysis showed that the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and the use of oral glucocorticoids were independent predictors of low lumbar spine BMD, whereas body mass index (BMI) and the use of oral glucocorticoids were independent predictors of low femoral neck BMD. The stiffness index correlated moderately with BMD (0.49-0.62, P<0.0001). QUS had a sensitivity and specificity of only 57% and 89% respectively for diagnosing 'osteoporosis' (based on a femoral neck T score <-2.5 by DEXA). Positive and negative predictive values were 36% and 95% respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Low BMD is frequent in adults with CF and is most strongly correlated with disease severity (BMI, FEV1) and the use of glucocorticoids. Calcaneal QUS might help to screen out patients with a normal BMD, but sensitivity and specificity were not sufficiently high to replace DEXA in these patients.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

Cellular microvesicles (100 nm-1µm) are shed into the circulation from many different cell types including; platelets, erythrocytes and endothelial cells. They have major potential as novel biomarkers as they have been shown to be implicated in a multitude of pathological conditions. However, developments in this area are constrained by limitations in the technology available for their measurement.

Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) (NanoSight Ltd, Amesbury) offers the potential to both enumerate and speciate (through fluorescent markers) these microparticles in a rapid manner. In this method a laser beam passes through a suspension at a low angle. The particles scatter light which is collected onto a CCD (or sCMOS) camera by a microscope-type configuration. Particles between 10-2000 nm are tracked individually and their diffusion coefficient, and therefore size, calculated directly from their speed.

Therefore, this characterization method gives a direct measurement of the concentration and size distribution of the particles in the field of view. If the particles are fluorescently labelled, then the concentration and size distribution are those of the labelled particles only, allowing a proportion of labelled particles to be calculated. However, this requires a combination of aspects to be identified and optimised during the process. This talk will look at some of the challenges and considerations that need to be taken during the protocol development and measurement.

It will also review the application of the technique in this field, compare and contrast it to other applicable technologies such as various forms of electron microscopy (EM) and to flow cytometry.

Citation Format: Sonja Capracotta, Pauline Carnell, Andrew Malloy, Patrick Hole, Bob Carr. Using Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) to characterize cellular microvesicles. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1869. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1869


When acquiring information using imaging techniques, one wants to achieve the best possible resolution in order to obtain valuable results. In the ideal scenario the size of the smallest resolved object features is limited by the wave properties of light, with a number of techniques developed to overcome this limit. In real life measurements the image quality is additionally deteriorated by the non-uniformities in refractive index along the beam propagation path, called aberrations. Adaptive Optics, introduced in 1950's independently by Horace Babcock and Vladimir Linnik is a set of methods used to overcome the effect of aberrations and thus improve the image quality. Initially used in military applications for tracking satellites, it later found civilian applications as advances in computing made it practical. Adaptive Optics use principles of feedback control to correct aberrations, and thus a measurement of controlled variable is required. The most commonly measured quantity is first derivative of wavefront provided by the Shack-Hartmann sensor. Another possibility is to measure wavefront Laplacian, i.e. curvature, using the sensor proposed by Roddier in 1988. With the correct use of this sensor the deformable mirror actuators are decoupled from each other, enabling fast and accurate control of high order systems and potentially analog feedback loop. In this thesis, the Roddier curvature wavefront sensor is studied. A number of modifications in the original sensor geometry and operating principles are made in order to make the system more robust and easy to implement in laboratory environment. Performance of the modified curvature wavefront sensor is evaluated in both simulation environment and physical setup. Finally, application of the curvature sensor to measure wind velocity is demonstrated.


We have studied the transport properties of an AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs single heterostructure using a Monte Carlo method, focusing in particular on the effect of the polar interaction between electrons and phonons. A two-valley ( Gamma and L) model for both GaAs and AlxGa1-xAs layers has been used, which includes size quantization effects through the numerical self-consistent solution of the coupled Schrodinger-Poisson equations. The optical mode description is given in terms of the dielectric continuum model (DCM); within this model the alloy is described by a two-pole dielectric function, which depends on the Al composition. We have then evaluated the scattering probabilities for the confined electrons interacting with half-space and interface modes. These rates are inserted in our Monte Carlo code to study the electron response to an electric field applied along the heterointerface.


We have tested the expression of alkaline phosphatases in a mutant strain of Escherichia coli deficient in dipZ, a gene coding for a protein involved in cytochrome c biogenesis, and the isogenic wild-type strain. The yield of soluble and active human placental alkaline phosphatase was significantly reduced in the mutant but could be fully recovered by expression of dipZ subcloned in a vector with low copy number. Overexpression of E. coli alkaline phosphatase was unaffected in the mutant with or without dipZ co-expression.


Two hundred and ten commercial, straight run day-old Vencobb broiler chicks belonging to single hatch were purchased from local hatchery, wing banded, weighed and randomly allotted into seven treatment groups with three replicates of ten chicks each. The chicks were reared in broiler cages in a gable roofed, open sided house. All the chicks were provided with uniform floor, feeder and waterer space and were reared under standard management conditions throughout the experimental period of six weeks. The treatments were T -Control; T -0.2% Ginger powder; T -0.2% Pepper powder; T -0.2% Curry leaf powder; T -0.2% Ginger 1 2 3 4 5 + 0.2% pepper; T -0.2% Ginger + 0.2% Curry leaf powder and T -0.2% Pepper + 0.2% Curry leaf powder. The 6 7 mean body weight (g/bird) of broilers at 6 weeks of age fed with different inclusion levels of dried ginger, pepper and curry leaf powder differ significantly (p<0.05) among treatment groups at six weeks of age. The feed conversion ratio was significantly (p<0.01) superior in ginger-curry leaf (T ) and pepper-curry leaf powder 6 (T ) fed groups compared to control. But the feed consumption did not differ significantly among treatment 7 groups because of isocaloric and isonitrogenous diet. The mean return over feed cost of T and T was 2 5 significantly (p<0.01) higher when compared to other treatment groups at sixth week of age. The carcass characteristics viz. pre-slaughter, New York dressed, eviscerated weights, ready-to-cook percentage, abdominal fat percentage and giblets weight did not differ significantly between the treatment groups fed different levels of dried ginger, pepper and curry leaf powder from 1-6 weeks of age.


For a safe design of geosynthetic reinforced structures the long term behavior and especially the available resistant tensile force over the time under variable boundary conditions, such as temperature, chemical influences or loading conditions, has to be well known and understood. The known effects on the tensile strength, are considered in the design by applying so called reduction factors, e.g. for creep, installation damage or chemical degradation. Those reduction factors are determined separately without considering a possible interdependency. The main mechanism of the chemical degradation of polyester in high alkaline environment is the so called alkaline or "external" hydrolyses. In contrast to the internal hydrolyses, which provokes an evenly distributed, very slow degradation of the whole cross-section of the synthetic material, the external degradation generates a much faster "surface corrosion" with creation of fissures or cracks. If this does occur while the material is loaded, the fissures are widened and their propagation are dramatically accelerated. This results in much faster loss of strength. The paper reports on the consequence on the long term tensile strength if a PET reinforcement in high alkaline environment is subjected to tensile load.


Abstract Identifying correlates of brain response to food cues and taste provides critical information on individual differences that may influence variability in eating behavior. However, a few studies examine how brain response changes over repeated exposures and the individual factors that are associated with these changes. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined how brain response to a palatable taste and proceeding cues changed over repeated exposures and how individual differences in weight, familial obesity risk, dietary restraint and reward responsiveness correlate with these changes. In healthy-weight adolescents (n = 154), caudate and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) response increased with repeated cue presentations, and oral somatosensory cortex and insula response increased with repeated milkshake tastes. The magnitude of increase over exposures in the left PCC to cues was positively associated with body mass index percentile (r = 0.18, P = 0.026) and negatively associated with dietary restraint scores (r = −0.24, P = 0.003). Adolescents with familial obesity risk showed higher cue-evoked caudate response across time, compared to the low-risk group (r = 0.12, P = 0.035). Reward responsiveness positively correlated with right oral somatosensory cortex/insula response to milkshake over time (r = 0.19, P = 0.018). The results show that neural responses to food cues and taste change over time and that individual differences related to weight gain are correlated with these changes.


The interfacial shearing and "peeling" stresses in an elongated bimaterial assembly, adhesively bonded at the ends and subjected to the change in temperature, are predicted, based on an approximate structural analysis (strength-of-materials) model. The stresses in the bonded joints due to the thermal expansion (contraction) mismatch of the adherend materials within the bonded areas ("local" mismatch), as well as the stresses, caused by the thermal mismatch of the adherend materials within the unbonded midportion of the assembly ("global" mismatch), are considered. The interaction of the "local" and the "global" stresses is evaluated and analyzed. It is shown that if the bonded joints are made long enough, the maximum stresses in the assembly will not be different from the stresses in an assembly with a continuous adhesive layer, no matter how long the unbonded midportion of the assembly might be. The obtained results can be helpful in the stress–strain evaluations and physical (mechanical) design of bimat...


Innovation is a complex process and has multiple dimensions. In assessing the linkage between innovation and productivity, most of studies, due to data limitations, use only one single indicator to measure innovation. This paper argues that this practice may systematically bias against certain groups of companies or industries since they often engage in different innovation activities to achieve their different business objectives. To better measure innovation, this paper develops an innovation index, a linear combination of multiple innovation indicators based on a latent variable model. The proposition is supported by evidence from a rich micro dataset for Canadian manufacturing firms.


Agriculture production and farm incomes in India are frequently affected by natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, storms, landslides, earthquakes etc. Susceptibility of agriculture to these disasters is compounded by the outbreak of epidemics and man-made disasters such as fire, sale of spurious seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, price crashes etc. All these events severely affect farmers through loss in production and farm income, and they are beyond the control of the farmers. With the growing commercialization of agriculture, the magnitude of loss due to unfavorable eventualities is increasing. The question is how to protect farmers by minimizing such losses. For a section of farming community, the minimum support prices (MSP) for certain crops provide a measure of income stability. But most of the crops and in most of the states, MSP is not implemented. In recent times, mechanisms like contract farming and futures trading have been established which are expected to provide some insurance against price fluctuations directly or indirectly. But agricultural insurance is considered an important mechanism to effectively address the risk to output and income resulting from various natural and manmade events. Agricultural Insurance is a means of protecting the agriculturist against financial losses due to uncertainties that may arise agricultural losses arising from named or all unforeseen perils beyond their control


Purpose. This study examined the reconviction rates of a cohort of sexual offenders released from prison in England and Wales during 1979. A 21-year follow-up period was used and sexual, violent and general reconvictions assessed.

Method. The sample consisted of all adult male sexual offenders discharged from prison in England and Wales during 1979 (N = 419). Criminal conviction histories were obtained for the sample from the Offenders Index and sexual, violent and general reconvictions were calculated, over a period of 21 years (1979-2000).

Results. A quarter (24.6%) of the sample received a reconviction for a sexual offence over the 21-year follow-up period, 21.7% received a violent reconviction and 61.8% received a general reconviction. A proportion of the sample received their first sexual reconviction 5, 10 or 15 years after being discharged from custody, thus remaining at risk of reconviction for many years.

Conclusions. The findings from this study give a unique insight into the long-term offending of discharged sexual offenders in England and Wales and have implications for the supervision of such offenders.


After a justificationist period, William P. Alston has tried to eliminate justification from the epistemology of belief. He introduced a list of epistemic desiderata all of which contribute to the positive status of beliefs and none of which has an exclusive and decisive role so that it could be isolated as the property of being justified. Careful examination reveals, however, that this list includes fewer desiderata than advertised. Truth-conducive desiderata are most important for Alston, and these are five; during his discussion, however, Alston reduces these desiderata to only one, the reliability of process, which has an externalist character. Besides this desideratum, there is one other group of desiderata, all of which have an internalist character. What Alston has in fact done, then, through the presentation of his anti-justificationist list, is to separate externalist and internalist elements for the positive status of belief and to give an independent role to each. Since Alston regards the truth-conducive group as the most important, however, and since he has failed to show a real pluralism in this group, we may conclude that he continues to have a monistic approach to the evaluation of beliefs, which belies his alleged pluralism.


On the way to achieve mass customization production systems have to obtain the capability of rapid reconfiguration of not only physical components but also from control point of view. Evolvable Production System targets highly adaptable mechanical and control solutions that can enhance reusability and interoperability of modules, enabling lifetime extension of the modules. The focus of EPS paradigm is to achieve overall system adaptability by autonomous modules which are dedicated to specific processes with the capability of short deployment time at shop floor without reprogramming effort. From the operational point of view EPS brings significant enhancements considering shop floor dynamics and performances therefore positioning of EPS principles and approaches in production system typology from different perspectives is essential. This has been done by two means which are process flow structure and customer order decoupling point location.


The Food Industry Research and Development Institute conducted a nationwide survey of food consumption in Taiwan in 1999. A sample of 1200 consumers responded to a questionnaire, which asked whether there was a use/visit experience in the past year for each of six types of food markets: traditional vegetable market, supermarket, hypermarket, consumer cooperative, chain convenience store, and grocery store. Questions also asked which types of food markets consumers used most frequently for the purchase of fresh foods, planned purchases or occasional purchases of processed foods, and what factors influenced consumers to choose their most frequently used market. Nearly 84 percent of surveyed consumers have used/visited traditional vegetable markets in the past year, while 47 percent choose traditional markets as their most frequented marketplace for buying fresh food in Taiwan. Some 81 percent of surveyed consumers have used or visited a supermarket in past year, while 17.7 percent and 29.0 percent choose supermarkets as the most frequented marketplace for planned and occasional purchases of processed foods, respectively. We apply stepwise logistic regression to identify significant sociodemographic factors (such as gender, age, and others) which influence the choice of each of the six major types of food markets and to identify the promotional factors which positively or negatively influence consumers' preferences for the most often used market. Female consumers have almost four times higher odds of frequently using traditional vegetable markets in the past year. The unmarried, divorced/widowed, and/or those who had higher family monthly incomes demonstrate lower odds of frequently using traditional markets. For purchases of fresh foods, female respondents, older consumers, and/or those living in northern Taiwan have higher odds of choosing traditional vegetable markets as the most frequently used market, while occupation "chief," and those with higher levels of education have lower odds of choosing traditional markets. Price level influences consumers positively in choosing traditional vegetable markets, while products with mark registrations, such as GMP or CAS, negatively influence this choice. For planned purchases of processed foods, older consumers are more likely than others to choose traditional vegetable markets, and price level is also a positive influence for choosing these markets. For occasional purchases of processed foods, manual laborers and/or those living in northern Taiwan have higher odds of choosing traditional vegetable markets, while unmarried respondents have lower odds. Price level and products with nutrition labeling are positive promotional factors influencing consumers to choose traditional vegetable markets. For the other five market types, sociodemographic factors influence consumers' choices of markets differently in each case, but marketing factors also influence choices of which type of marketplace to use most frequently.


Photodynamic therapy (PDT) and neoadjuvant chemotherapy have been used for treating localized tumors. However, each has its shortcomings such as limited efficacy to larger tumors and systemic side effects. We proposed a novel prodrug strategy by combining PDT and localized chemotherapy, which overcomes the problems of PDT and chemotherapy. A prodrug is composed of a photosensitizer and an anticancer drug connected via singlet oxygen (SO)-cleavable linker. Thus, SO generated by the illumination (690 nm) of the prodrug will not only directly damage tumors but also release active drug to kill surviving cancer cells. In our recent paper, we demonstrated the concept of our visible/NIR-activatable prodrug expressing the combination effect of PDT and local chemotherapy. We prepared CMP-L-CA4 where CMP = core-modified porphyrin (photosensitizer), CA4 = combretastatin A-4 (anticancer drug), and L = aminoacrylate linker (SO-cleavable linker) and its pseudo-prodrug (CMP-NCL-CA4: NCL = non-cleavable linker). CMP-L-CA4 showed desirable characteristics such as > 80% drug release in test tubes in 10 min, 6 times reduction in IC50 by illumination, and bystander effect. On the other hand, CMP-NCL-CA4 showed smaller increase in IC50 by illumination and did not show the bystander effect. Consistent with the in vitro results, CMP-L-CA4 showed significantly better antitumor effect than CMP-NCL-CA4. Recently, we developed improved prodrugs using phthalocyanine (Pc) as a photosensitizer. In our presentation, we will show our newer biological data with the prodrugs supporting our novel prodrug strategy. Citation Format: Pallavi Rajaputra, Moses Bio, Gregory Nkepang, Youngjae You. Visible/NIR-activatable prodrug strategy for treating local tumors by the combination of photodynamic therapy and local chemotherapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 4919. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4919


Summary: Our studies in children with rheumatic diseases have led to the identification of two of the oldest cytokines, type I interferon (IFN) and interleukin 1 (IL‐1), as important pathogenic players in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic onset juvenile arthritis (SoJIA), respectively. These findings were obtained by studying the transcriptional profiles of patient blood cells and by assessing the biological and transcriptional effect(s) of active patient sera on healthy blood cells. We also identified a signature that can be used to promptly diagnose SoJIA from other febrile conditions. Finally, our pilot clinical trials using IL‐1 blockers have shown remarkable clinical benefits in SoJIA patients refractory to other medications.


Mobile Ad-hoc Networks are increasingly deployed in military networks as well as special kinds of civil law enforcement and emergency operation domains. Compared to wired and other types of wireless networks, MANETs are particularly vulnerable to a wide range of attacks and require high security and privacy guarantees due to their critical mission. Research efforts have focused on developing secure routing protocols for MANETs but very little attention has been given to the data plane and the information we can extract about the actual communication links. Wireless networks that require high levels of security may use data path information to validate routing information. In this paper, we develop a scheme that allows us to track and validate mobile node connectivity in order to identify potential malicious behavior. We propose a novel algorithm to accomplish connectivity tracking based on a space-efficient Bloom filter data structure and the use of aggregate signatures. We present simulation results on a real network trace that show the effectiveness of our design.


This classroom study examined the role of low-achieving students' self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviors and their teacher's scaffolding of SRL while using a Web-based water quality simulation environment to learn about ecological systems. Forty-nine 11th and 12th grade students learned about ecology and the effects of land use on water quality by collaboratively using the RiverWebSM water quality simulation (WQS) during a two-week curriculum on environmental science. The students' emerging understanding was assessed using pretest and posttest scores. Students' self-regulatory behaviors and teacher's scaffolding of SRL were assessed through an analysis of their discourse during several collaborative problem-solving episodes. Findings indicate that students learned significantly more about ecology after working collaboratively with the WQS. However, these learning gains were quite small and were related to the self-regulatory behaviors observed by the dyads and teacher's scaffolding and instruction. Analyses of video data indicate that a large amount of time was spent by the dyads and teacher in using only a few strategies, while very little time was spent on planning, monitoring, and handling task difficulties and demands. Further analysis revealed that both the dyads and teachers were using low-level strategies (e.g., following procedural tasks, evaluating the content, searching, and selecting informational sources in the WQS) to learn about the topic. Our results provide a valuable initial characterization of the complexity of self- and co-regulated learning in a complex, dynamic, technology-enhanced, student-centered science classroom. We will discuss how the results will be used to inform the design of computers as MetaCognitive tools designed to foster students' learning of conceptually challenging science topics.


A capsule robot that moves utilizing the internal force between the shell and the sliding mass and the friction between the shell and the environment is named Â?internal force-static frictionÂ? capsubot. The new driving mode is used in the active gastrointestinal examination robot system, which is a novel and meaningful attempt. In this paper, for the operation mechanism and movement characteristics of capsubot, a new type of electromagnetic driver has been designed. The driver is optimized and analyzed by magnetic circuit method and finite element method. Then we manufacture the prototype of the capsubot. The driver has big output power, a small size and a high weight proportion of the sliding mass and the shell, which has been proved by the experiment. The speed on the table is 45.8mm/s.


In some systems, including copper niobium, it has been found that as the scale of the two phases decreases, there is an anomalous increase in strength. Mechanisms of this strengthening have been postulated, but a general theory has yet to be developed. A model system to study the co-deformation of fine scale materials was developed and characterized. An aluminum 18.5at.% zinc alloy was selected and discontinuously precipitated to produce 100% transformation and an interlamellar spacing of 240nm. The material was tested using strain rate jump tests to determine the temperature sensitivity, tensile tested to determine work hardening and the temperature sensitivity, wire drawn to study the effect of large plastic deformation and finally tension compression tested to determine internal stresses. The bulk properties of the two phases are well known allowing for a detailed analysis of the composite properties when combined with the mechanical results. The material showed increased strength above the rule of mixture prediction from bulk properties due to a fine scale microstructure . Although the lamellar material had a much higher strength than the rule of mixtures would predict, the overall strength of the alloy did not approach that of more conventional high strength aluminum alloys. The material was found to be temperature and rate dependent, with an increased work hardening rate as the temperature was decreased. Temperature was found to play a key role in the stress partitioning between the two phases. Temperature dependent relaxation processes lowered the stress partitioning between the hard and soft phases as the temperature was increased. Therefore, stress relaxation must be minimized to maximize the strengthening found in fine scale materials.


The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) enhances cellular invasiveness and confers tumor cells with cancer stem cell like characteristics, through transcriptional and translational mechanisms. The mechanisms maintaining transcriptional and translational repression of EMT and cellular invasion are poorly understood. The Drosophila homologue of DACH1, the Dac gene is a key member of the retinal determination gene network that specifies organismal development. The dachshund (dac), eya1, eyes-absent (eya), twin of eyeless (toy), teashirt (tsh) and sinoculues (so) are expressed in progenitor cells, contributing to development of the eye and genitalia. Loss of DACH1 expression contributes to the expansion of neural progenitors, muscle satellite cell differentiation and breast cancer stem cells. In recent studies Dachshund repressed breast cancer stem cell expansion. DACH1 expression is reduced in a variety of human cancers including prostate, ovarian and human breast cancer. Herein, the cell fate-determination factor Dachshund (DACH1), suppressed EMT via repression of cytoplasmic translational induction of Snail by inactivating the Y box-binding protein (YB-1). In the nucleus, DACH1 antagonized YB-1-mediated oncogenic transcriptional modules governing cell invasion. DACH1 blocked YB-1-induced mammary tumor growth and EMT in mice. In basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) the reduced expression of DACH1 and increased YB-1, correlated with poor metastasis free survival. The loss of DACH1 suppression of both cytoplasmic translational and nuclear transcriptional events governing EMT and tumor invasion may contribute to poor prognosis in BLBC. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P1-07-05.


The mixed-signal and analog design on a pre-diffused array is a challenging task, given that the digital array is a linear matrix arrangement of minimum-length transistors. To surmount this drawback a specific discipline for designing analog circuits over such array is required. An important novel technique proposed is the use of TAT (Trapezoidal Associations of Transistors) composite transistors on the semi-custom Sea-Of-Transistors (SOT) array. The analysis and advantages of TAT arrangement are extensively analyzed and demonstrated, with simulation and measurement comparisons to equivalent single transistors. Basic analog cells were also designed as well in full-custom and TAT versions in 1.0μm and 0.5μm digital CMOS technologies. Most of the circuits were prototyped in full-custom and TAT-based on pre-diffused SOT arrays. An innovative demonstration of the TAT technique is shown with the design and implementation of a mixed-signal analog system, i. e., a fully differential 2 order Sigma-Delta Analog-to-Digital (A/D) modulator, fabricated in both full-custom and SOT array methodologies in 0.5μm CMOS technology from MOSIS foundry. Three test-chips were designed and fabricated in 0.5μm. Two of them are IC chips containing the full-custom and SOT array versions of a 2-Order Sigma-Delta A/D modulator. The third IC contains a transistors-structure (TAT and single) and analog cells placed side-by-side, block components (Comparator and Folded-cascode OTA) of the Sigma-Delta modulator.


A number of spectroscopic surveys have been carried out or are planned to study the origin of the Milky Way. Their exploitation requires reliable automated methods and softwares to measure the fundamental parameters of the stars. Adopting the ULySS package, we have tested the effect of different resolutions and signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) on the measurement of the stellar atmospheric parameters (effective temperature Teff, surface gravity log g, and metallicity [Fe/H]). We show that ULySS is reliable for determining these parameters with medium-resolution spectra (R ~ 2000). Then, we applied the method to measure the parameters of 771 stars selected in the commissioning database of the Guoshoujing Telescope (LAMOST). The results were compared with the SDSS/SEGUE Stellar Parameter Pipeline (SSPP), and we derived precisions of 167 K, 0.34 dex, and 0.16 dex for Teff, log g and [Fe/H] respectively. Furthermore, 120 of these stars are selected to construct the primary stellar spectral template library (Version 1.0) of LAMOST, and will be deployed as basic ingredients for the LAMOST automated parametrization pipeline.


Getting more value from knowledge ? especially from a firm's own hard-won knowledge ? is one of the central challenges facing companies today. Many organizations have approached this problem in recent years by making big investments in IT systems, but the payoff has often been disappointing. Companies would do better to emulate the innovative giants of the Internet ? Google, eBay and Amazon ? whose success has in part derived from their ability to make it easy for customers to find what they are looking for, to browse for products and services, and to evaluate potential purchases.

These are exactly the things that are hard to do in most companies. That is, employees find that it is not intuitive to search for information in company repositories; they cannot easily browse within categories of knowledge; and they are not given the context they need in order to evaluate the quality of the knowledge they do find. The authors assert that if organizations apply the basic, proven approaches of the Internet success stories to capture the attention of their employees, they should be able to improve their ROI on sunk IT costs, while increasing knowledge-worker productivity.


The study to assess the current state of public access to lakeshores in Iceland was done as little has been written on the subject and landowners and the public are not well-informed about their rights. The objective was to gather information about laws and regulations concerning accessibility, investigate the current situation at two particular locations regarding access to lakeshores and whether municipalities and landowners are fulfilling their obligations to allow and facilitate certain access to these areas. A lakeshore area by lake Elliðavatn was investigated as well as the lakeshore area Þorsteinsvik by lake
Þingvallavatn. Methods used were the same as landscape architects and planners use to analyse and design areas, whether in rural or urban landscapes; document and landscape analysis as well as accessibility and visual analysis. Expectations turned out to be exaggerated as the areas were far from being used to their full potential. Conclusions include a need for evaluating every location separately as conditions vary greatly and the laws and regulations must be clearer to better serve the interest of the public. Municipalities and landowners were not doing fulfilling their obligations to allow and facilitate access to the study areas.


to see in Greek art a poetics of pain, though for reasons different from Winckelmann's. Hirt's achievement was to correct the blindness of both to what Dönike calls the "Nachahmung des Gewaltsamen" by reinterpreting the works on which their arguments relied (the Laokoon, the Apollo Belvedere, the Niobe group) and by drawing attention to sculpture that they had ignored. As Dönike notes, this strategy was born of the cicerone's intimate familiarity with art on the ground. Yet his careful analysis of Hirt's rhetoric reveals an equally wishful departure from observable reality, as Hirt builds on impressions and projections to support his core theory that not the objectively beautiful (das objektiv Schöne) but rather a principle of adequacy of expression to theme that included the option of formally beautiful representations of pain or ugliness (das Charakteristische) had been the central tenet of Greek aesthetics. Dönike is judicious in gauging the value and limits of such a theory; his intention is not to cast Hirt as a rediscovered genius, but to demonstrate in detail how his work interacted with that of the Weimarischen Kunstfreunde (Goethe, Johann Heinrich Meyer, Carl Ludwig Fernow) in the period 1796 –1806. Thus Dönike shows how, despite reservations about Hirt's ideas, Schiller and Goethe also saw merit in his argument, and may have elected to print his work in Die Horen partly to counter the Schlegels' competing notion of the "characteristic" as a distinguishing attribute of modern poetry. Parsing the evidence with good philology and carefully tracing the issues at stake both in the texts and the art they address, he relates how Goethe conceived "Über Laokoon" more as a corrective to Hirt than as the attack some (Hirt included) have seen in it, how Hirt answered Goethe's essay, then still unpublished, in a "Nachtrag über Laokoon," and how Goethe may then have emended his manuscript in response to Hirt's objections. What emerges in just under four hundred pages of rich, erudite, and pleasingly readable prose (Dönike is clearly at home not just with aesthetic theory, but also with art and its literature; the bibliography alone is nearly worth the price of admission) is a mesh of very fi ne weave and signifi cant density, whose usefulness should extend beyond the ostensible Q.E.D. that Hirt had a point about violent emotion in ancient art, raising questions that Goethe & Co. proved unable to resolve. For the intricate discursive patterns that Dönike traces—the fl ux of aesthetic theses, antitheses and syntheses, projections and slips that characterize these texts, and with them the moment in which the classical ideal encountered the violence of modernity—are themselves data from which an answer to Butler might possibly be distilled.


It is well known that skin thickness will decrease in the years after menopause. Women may have climacteric symptoms including those associated with skin alterations as early as during the perimenopausal period. This study was performed to compare the skin thickness of women in their premenopause (N = 31), perimenopause (N = 35) and early postmenopause (N = 46). The mean skin thickness in each group was 2.28 +/- 0.39 mm., 2.18 +/- 0.35 mm. and 2.02 +/- 0.36 mm. respectively. The skin thickness of women in the early postmenopausal group was significantly lower than those in the premenopausal group, but no difference was found between premenopausal and perimenopausal group nor between perimenopausal and early postmenopausal group. Furthermore, we found no correlation between skin thickness and chronological age. In conclusion, the decline in skin thickness of women entering menopause requires a period of time to undergo significant alterations and the study revealed a significant reduction of skin thickness as early as in the course of the early postmenopausal period.


Our understanding of the environmental and health risks from nanotechnologies is still limited, which may result in stagnation of nanoinnovation. This emphasizes the need for an integrative assessment and adaptive management of the long-term risks from manufactured nanomaterials (MN) along the entire supply chains of nano-enabled products towards developing more sustainable nanotechnologies. Sustainable nanotechnology is being touted as a holistic and pragmatic concept that can guide incremental nanotechnology development amidst significant data gaps and uncertainty. The new European SUN (Sustainable Nanotechnologies) project is based on the hypothesis that the current knowledge on environmental and health risks from MN, whilst limited, can nevertheless guide more sustainable nanomanufacturing. SUN applies an integrated approach that estimates risks along the complete lifecycles of nano-enabled products. It aims to give clear answers to questions from regulatory authorities, and open new possibilities for innovators to design greener nanotechnologies. This will be achieved through development and application of new methods and tools for prediction of long-term exposure, effects and risks for humans and ecosystems (services), practices for risk prevention and management and tools to streamline effective decision making about safer products and processes. In order to achieve this, SUN will combine Risk Assessment and Lifecycle Assessment to develop a user-friendly software-based Decision Support System (DSS) for practical use by industries and regulators. The industrial partners in SUN will validate the DSS against real case studies in terms of risk/benefit and insurance costs. This validation will culminate in guidelines for safe nanoscale product and process design.


Accumulated reactive oxygen species (ROS) directly contribute to biomacromolecule damage and influence various inflammatory responses. Reactive oxygen species act as mediator between innate and adaptive immune cells, thereby influencing the antigen-presenting process that results in T cell activation. Evidence from patients with chronic granulomatous disease and mouse models support the function of ROS in preventing abnormal autoimmunity; for example, by supporting maintenance of macrophage efferocytosis and T helper 1/T helper 2 and T helper 17/ regulatory T cell balance. The failure of many anti-oxidation treatments indicates that ROS cannot be considered entirely harmful. Indeed, enhancement of ROS may sometimes be required. In a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), absence of NOX2-derived ROS led to higher prevalence and more severe symptoms. In patients with RA, naïve CD4+ T cells exhibit inhibited glycolysis and enhanced pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) activity, leading to ROS exhaustion. In this "reductive" state, CD4+ T cell immune homeostasis is disrupted, triggering joint destruction, together with oxidative stress in the synovium.


Single crystal ZnO nanowires doped with indium are synthesized via the laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition method. The conductivity of the nanowires is measured at low temperatures in magnetic fields with directions both perpendicular and parallel to the wire axes. A quantitative fit of our data is obtained, consistent with the theory of a quasi-one-dimensional metallic system with quantum corrections due to weak localization and electron-electron interactions. The anisotropy of the magneto-conductivity agrees with theory. The two quantum corrections are of approximately equal magnitude with respective temperature dependences of T(-1/3)and T(-1/2). The alternative model of quasi-two-dimensional surface conductivity is excluded by the absence of oscillations in the magneto-conductivity in parallel magnetic fields.


Pokémon Go has captured the imagination of the twenty-first century gamer with its fusion of the real world and the gaming world. Now that the Poké-dust has settled, what impact has the first month of this interactive game had on the legal liability of the developers Nintendo, Niantic, The Pokémon Company or the gamers themselves?


Previously, we demonstrated that 24 h of bilateral ureteral obstruction (BUO) and short-term release of BUO was associated with a decrease in the expression of aquaporin-2 (AQP2), polyuria, and a reduced urinary concentrating capacity (10). The purposes of the present study were to examine whether BUO and the long-term release of BUO (BUO-R) for 3, 14, and 30 days were associated with changes in the expression of renal AQP1, AQP2, and AQP3 and whether such changes were associated with parallel changes in urinary output and urinary concentrating capacity. Rats (n = 4-7 in each group) were kept in metabolic cages for measurements of urinary output. Kidneys were removed to determine the expression levels of AQP1, AQP2, and AQP3 by semiquantitative immunoblotting. AQP2 was downregulated after 24 h of BUO (42 +/- 3%). Downregulation of AQP2 persisted 3 (43 +/- 14%; P < 0.01) and 15 days after BUO-R (48 +/- 11%; P < 0.01) but was normalized 30 days after BUO-R. AQP3 showed a similar pattern. Moreover, AQP1 was downregulated in response to BUO (65 +/- 7%) and remained downregulated 3 days after BUO-R (41 +/- 5%), 14 days after BUO-R (57 +/- 8%), and 30 days after BUO-R (59 +/- 5%). BUO-R resulted in a significant polyuria that gradually decreased, although it remained significant at day 30. Urinary concentrating capacity remained significantly impaired when determined 3, 14, and 30 days after BUO-R in response to a 24-h period of thirst (1,712 +/- 270 vs. 2,880 +/- 91 mosmol/kgH2O at day 30, P < 0.05). In conclusion, the expression of AQP1, AQP2, and AQP3 were long-term downregulated after BUO-R, suggesting that dysregulation of aquaporins located at the proximal tubule, thin descending limb of the loop of Henle, and the collecting duct may contribute to the long-term polyuria and impairment of urinary concentrating capacity associated with obstructive nephropathy.


Stronger, faster, lighter, safer, smarter - these are the textiles of tomorrow. From the carbon-fibre bicycle frame to the cardiac constraint sock and the Mars Pathfinder landing airbags, material innovations surround us. Our landscape, our buildings, our vehicles, our clothes and our bodies all benefit from these highly engineered performance textiles. Featuring examples of fully realized products from all classes of technical textiles - architectural, product design, apparel, medicine, transportation, aerospace, industry and the environment - Extreme Textiles highlights successful collaborations between design, industry and science. Large, full-colour illustrations and essays by some of today's most influential designers and scientists trace the extraordinary developments made in textiles over the last twenty years and suggest what is to come. Tradition, technology, beauty and strength are joined together in the materials and products presented in this volume. Whether exploring space, running a marathon or fashioning the latest trend, these extreme textiles will inspire us every day, making us stronger, faster, lighter, safer and smarter.


valuable as a practical working classification as long as it is appreciated that many members of this group are aetiologically distinct. Current trends in leukaemia are covered by R. Doll (the incidence of leukaemia and environmental factors); F. G. H. Hayhoe (clinical and cytological differentiation of leukaemia); H. E. M. Kay (marrow transplantation); and D. A. G. Galton (chemotherapy). This catholic selection is rounded off by three complementary lectures on coagulation mechanisms in which R. M. Hardisty discusses the haemostatic process, a considerable undertaking achieved in roughly 14 pages of text; G. I. C. Ingram makes comments on disordered blood coagulation with the same commendable brevity and J. F. Ackroyd describes the pathogenesis of purpura. The underlying motive for such a symposium is very praiseworthy, and it is sensible that the lectures given should be made available for more general reference. For this to be successful, however, publication should follow as closely as possible upon delivery and it is a pity that nine months elapsed before general distribution. The price is high for this kind of book and it would seem preferable to aim at a cheaper and possibly more rapidly produced publication; by their nature, lectures of this sort remain extant for only a short period of time and are seldom of value for reference purposes beyond the half-life of a 'paperback'. One possible economy would be the exclusion ofphotographic illustrations which do not contribute very much to the text: those reproduced from colour plates in another publication are frankly disappointing. One can hope for a second symposium in a year or so: it will be interesting to see how markedly the subject matter and emphasis change. J. L. STAFFORD


The uses of robots are changing from static environments in factories to encompass novel concepts such as Human-Robot Collaboration in unstructured settings. Pre-programming all the functionalities for robots becomes impractical, and hence, robots need to learn how to react to new events autonomously, just like humans. However, humans, unlike machines, are naturally skilled in responding to unexpected circumstances based on either experiences or observations. Hence, embedding such anthropoid behaviours into robots entails the development of neuro-cognitive models that emulate motor skills under a robot learning paradigm. Effective encoding of these skills is bound to the proper choice of tools and techniques. This paper studies different motion and behaviour learning methods ranging from Movement Primitives (MP) to Experience Abstraction (EA), applied to different robotic tasks. These methods are scrutinized and then experimentally benchmarked by reconstructing a standard pick-n-place task. Apart from providing a standard guideline for the selection of strategies and algorithms, this paper aims to draw a perspectives on their possible extensions and improvements


In this article we introduce GMU, a genuine partial replication protocol for transactional systems, which exploits an innovative, highly scalable, distributed multiversioning scheme. Unlike existing multiversion-based solutions, GMU does not rely on a global logical clock, which represents a contention point and can limit system scalability. Also, GMU never aborts read-only transactions and spares them from distributed validation schemes. This makes GMU particularly efficient in presence of read-intensive workloads, as typical of a wide range of real-world applications. GMU guarantees the Extended Update Serializability (EUS) isolation level. This consistency criterion is particularly attractive as it is sufficiently strong to ensure correctness even for very demanding applications (such as TPC-C), but is also weak enough to allow efficient and scalable implementations, such as GMU. Further, unlike several relaxed consistency models proposed in literature, EUS has simple and intuitive semantics, thus being an attractive, scalable consistency model for ordinary programmers. We integrated the GMU protocol in a popular open source in-memory transactional data grid, namely Infinispan. On the basis of a large scale experimental study performed on heterogeneous experimental platforms and using industry standard benchmarks (namely TPC-C and YCSB), we show that GMU achieves linear scalability and that it introduces negligible overheads (less than 10%), with respect to solutions ensuring non-serializable semantics, in a wide range of workloads.