Mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), introduced to the Olympic Mountains during the 1920's, are regarded now by the National Park Service as unwelcome additions to the unique biota of Olympic National Park (3,700 km2). We report results of studies of mountain goat biology and of management activities conducted in 1981-92. Thirty-five endemic forms of plants and animals are currently recognized on the Olympic Peninsula. The native mammalian fauna and the coniferous flora are impoverished compared to the nearby Cascade Mountains (12 fewer mammals, 5 fewer conifers). Goats colonized the Olympic Mountains in about 60 years. The goat population consisted of quasi-independent subpopulations that grew and declined asynchronously. The meta -population was estimated by helicopter census to be 1,1 75 ± 171 (SE) goats in 1983 and 389 ± 106 in 1990; National Park Service removals contributed to the population decline. Mountain goats were removed from the Klahhane Ridge subpopulation to examine changes in demography and physical condition. Initial breeding age declined, litter size increased, and production and recruitment of kids were less variable at lowered goat densities. Changes in demography were associated with increases in live weights and fat reserves. Marked differences in reproductive performance occurred among females. Mountain goats were seasonally migratory and occupied subalpine and alpine areas above 1,520 m during summer. Goats were closely associated with rocks and cliffs at all seasons and ate a wide variety of foods, including four endemic plant taxa. Group size averaged less than three goats during summer and winter. Eighty-four percent of 125 goats tagged on Klahhane Ridge showed fidelity to summer ranges, some for 5-10 years. Interspecific competition for resources between mountain goats and the native fauna could not be demonstrated from the scant data available. Our work demonstrated that introduced mountain goats changed the vegetation of the Olympic Mountains, a finding held in common with all other studies of ungulate grazing systems. Six hundred ninety-nine plots showed that goat herbivory was distributed throughout the park above 1,520 m. Permanent vegetation plots on summer ranges showed that mountain goat herbivory changed the composition of subalpine meadows; disturbance-oriented species (e.g., Achillea millefolium) increased and selected forage species declined (e.g., Festuca idahoensis). The cover of selected forage species was negatively correlated with mountain goat density at sites with initially high levels of goat herbivory. Sixty-six photographic comparisons from Klahhane Ridge also showed that cover of disturbance-oriented species and the amount of exposed mineral soil were related to goat densities. Mountain goat summer range and the habitat of 33 rare plant taxa including 7 peninsula endemics-overlapped considerably. Mountain goats affected and killed individual rare plants by grazing, wallowing, and trampling, but our preliminary studies could not determine trends in rare plant populations subjected to goat herbivory. Circumstantial evidence suggested that goat herbivory may have reduced densities of the rare endemic Astragalus australis var. olympicus on Mount Angeles compared to Blue Mountain. Effects of goats on Astragalus were sporadic--sometimes intense--and had unknown long-term consequences to the survival of the species. Goat management in the park during the 1980's occurred as an experimental management program (1981-87) and as operational management (1988-89). About 693 mountain goats were captured from 1977 to 1989, and personnel gained considerable experience with different capture and removal techniques. During 1981-89, 407 goats were removed from the park. The operational management program was terminated in 1989, when continued goat capture posed unacceptable risks to the capture team. Field sterilizations were attempted on 19 goats(l3 females, 6 males) to evaluate this control technique. The cost and effort required to implement four strategic management options in the future (ranging from elimination to allowing the entire mountain goat population to achieve ecological carrying capacity) were explored using population models. All control or elimination options will be difficult and expensive to achieve in practice. Tactical options available for elimination or intense control of goats are limited to shooting and aerial live capture; currently available sterilization techniques could, at best, partially control the population.


Objective: To analyze the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound in small bowel obstruction in the paediatric population and compare it with surgical findings.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Radiology Department, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad Pakistan from Jun 2018 to Jun 2019.
Methodology: This study enrolled 84 paediatric small bowel obstruction cases who underwent exploratory laparotomy at the Pakistan institute of medical sciences from Jun 2018 to Jun 2019. The clinically suspected cases of small bowel obstruction were referred by paediatric surgery to the Radiology department, where an ultrasound abdomen was performed by a senior resident, exclusively targeting the bowel. The clinical, sonological, and per-operative findings were recorded on a proforma.
Results: The mean age in our study was 3.5±2.7 years. A male gender predominance was noted. The most consistent greyscale feature favouring bowel obstruction was dilated bowel loops, found among 98.7% (76 out of 77) of surgically confirmed cases of bowel obstruction. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound were 98.7%, 71.4%, 97.4%, 83.4% and 94.6% respectively. The sonological cause of obstruction was readily demonstrated among 51 (67%) out of 76 true positive cases. The most common site of obstruction was the distal ileum, with intussusception being the leading cause found among 32% of true positive cases.
Conclusion: The overall diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound in revealing small bowel obstruction is high among the paediatric population.


One of the currently visible requirements of data analysis concerns data privacy. The quest for privacy triggers design challenges in the construction of machine learning models. In this study, we propose a novel and systematic design methodology of fuzzy design rule-based models completed in the following privacy-driven environment. Multidimensional data are available for model design in two different formats: those attributes that are privacy sensitive are provided at the higher nonnumeric level of abstraction represented in the form of information granules, while the remaining ones are available directly. It is shown that the granular manifestation of data becomes beneficial in the formation of the conditions of the rules, whereas numeric attributes are available for the construction of the conclusions of the rules. The generic development scheme is discussed. Some generalization is introduced to cope with a number of data islands associated with the corresponding data owners. It is shown that the formation of the data structure calls for a mechanism of collaborative clustering. A way of handling information granules at different levels of information granularity is discussed. Some illustrative examples are presented.


The functional properties are the intrinsic physicochemical characteristics which affect the behavior of ingredient in food systems during processing, manufacturing, storage and preparation etc. Such functional properties include water and oil binding, emulsification capacities, swelling ability and viscosity. This work is aimed at evaluating the swelling Ability and water binding capacities of Spinous Amarantus (alayahon daji) (AA) Senna accedentalis (tasba) (TB), Phyllantus niruri (mace mai goyo) (MC), Hibiscus sabdrariffa (yakuwan daji) (YD) and Leptadenia hastate (yadiya) (YE) which are commonly consumed in our localities with little or no knowledge about their nutritional properties. AOAC method of analysis as outlined by Adabowale was adopted for the analysis with little modifications. All the samples analyzed showed significant water swelling ability with AA and YD showing the highest values of 1.5±0.06 v/g while TB shows the lowest value of 0.5±0.05 v/g. There was a significant difference (p <0.05) in the WBC values (%) obtained for the different plants analyzed. The results revealed that crude AA has the highest value of 12.48±0.82 and YD has the lowest value of 5.50±0.09. Insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) was also extracted from the samples and evaluated for water binding capacity. The Insoluble dietary fibre (IDF) showed WBC values. The highest values 1.54±0.08g/g and lowest 0.94±0.00g/g were obtained MC and YE respectively. All the crude samples showed significant water binding capacity (WBC) than their respective insoluble dietary fiber (IDF). This is as a result of the structural and chemical composition of the crude samples. However, the research has revealed that both the crude and the IDF samples analyzed has therapeutic potentials.


Introduction The introduction of the bowel cancer screening programme (BCSP) has increased the detection of early colorectal cancers (CRC), including malignant polyps (MP). There remains, however, a lack of data on the ideal management of MPs. Formal operative bowel resection offers the sureity of extensive local resection (and assessment of loco-regional lymph nodes), but at the price of the attendant morbidity/mortality and, in cases of post-polypectomy resections, the specimen is often free of tumour. Endoscopic excision avoids that morbidity/mortality but at the potential price of local recurrence and undetected lymph node spread. The risk of residual disease after local or endoscopic resection based on histological factors is summarised in the ACPGBI position statement.1We aimed to assess outcomes of all patients treated for MPs in a single NHS trust. Method All T1 M0 cancers with a date of diagnosis between 01/04/10–31/03/14 were identified from a prospective, consecutive database of CRCs treated in the Trust, and the demographic, treatment and pathology data items exported. Electronic records of all subsequent endoscopic, radiological and histological tests were then searched to identify subsequent outcomes. Primary outcomes were disease-specific mortality, disease recurrence and metastases. Results Of 1238 CRCs ascertained, 130 (10.3%) fitted the inclusion criteria (T1 M0). Follow-up ranged from 3 to 58 months (median 34). Decision making in respect of local vs. formal surgical resection was based on multi-disciplinary discussion, informed by histopathological criteria where available, co-morbidities and patient preference. 34 (26.2%) underwent immediate formal resection, 68 (52.3%) were managed solely endoscopically, and 28 (21.5%) underwent endoscopic resection followed by completion colectomy (of which 24 had no residual disease). 10 patients died during follow-up, though none due to colorectal cancer or treatment. There was one case of liver metastases (who underwent local excision only, Kikuchi 2) and no local recurrences. Conclusion The low incidence of recurrence and metastases in this cohort reinforces that appropriate local resection of MPs does not negatively affect outcome at intermediate follow-up. The current ACPGBI position statement scoring system appears to appropriately select patients at low risk of residual disease. It is of note that there was no residual disease in 86% of formal resection specimens. There were missing histopathological criteria in many patients due to fragmentation of specimens and lack of synoptic reporting. Improving the proportion of en bloc local resections plus synoptic reporting may reduce the need for 'unnecessary' resections. Disclosure of interest None Declared. Reference Williams JG, et al. Management of the malignant colorectal polyp: ACPGBI position statement. Colorectal Dis.2013;15(Suppl 2):1–38


In this paper we study the interactions of TCP and IEEE 802.11 MAC in Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). We use a Markov chain to capture the behavior of TCP sessions, particularly the impact on network throughput performance due to the effect of queue utilization and packet relaying. A closed form solution is derived to numerically determine the throughput. Based on the developed model, we propose a distributed MAC protocol to alleviate the unfairness problem in WMNs. Our protocol uses the age of packet as a priority metric for packet scheduling. Simulation is conducted to validate our model and to illustrate the fairness characteristics of our proposed MAC protocol. We conclude that we can achieve fairness with only little impact on network capacity.


Digitalization of the national economy is one of the key state tasks. The gradual transition to a digital model of development will increase the competitiveness of Russian products on international markets and it will also contribute to the improvement of national security. Analysis of the implementation of information and communication technologies in the national economy shows significant lag behind the leaders. The positive economic effect of modern digital technologies integration in business model of transport enterprises has been considered on the example of the automotive industry.


The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is currently the gold standard for the diagnosis of diabetes. The recommended preparation for and administration of the OGTT are important to ensure that test results are not affected. Interpretation is based on venous plasma glucose results before and 2 hours after a 75 g oral glucose load.


Using beam-foil spectroscopy, we have observed several new lines in the B IV and B V spectra. This experimental work was combined with theoretical calculations using ab initio and semi-empirical techniques. We have also critically evaluated all previous and recent experimental and theoretical data for these spectra. Complete data on wavelengths and energy levels based on this analysis are tabulated.


Oil, water and gas separation at wellpads with improved technology and compact design has significant advantage for increasing liquid handling from group gathering wellpads and accelerating oil production from fields. Cairn, Oil & Gas vertical of Vedanta Limited is the Operator of RJ/ON block in India with major fields Mangala (M), Bhagyam (B) and Aishwariya (A). Mangala field (75% of MBA production) is the largest onshore oil discovery in India and Bhagyam-Aishwarya fields together contribute to ~25% of the total MBA production. The MBA fields are on water + polymer flood and gradual increase in water production is challenging to process the same oil production volumes. Future field development plans in these fields requires debottlenecking of liquid handling constraints.
 The current paper depicts the fast track modifications planned in various fields and its implementation carried out in Aishwariya field which was limited for produced fluid handling due to capacity constraints at the centralized processing well-pad 8 (AWP-08). These modifications were aimed towards localized produced water treatment and reinjection of 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) into the existing injection manifold at Aishwarya Wellpad. In the first stage, produced water is separated from 3,000 ppm to 300 ppm OIW and in second stage from 300 to <100 ppm OIW with <5 ppm TSS. The existing vessels were retrofitted and modified in field with internals like inlet device, calming baffles, coalescing pack, overflow weir and oil bucket. This enabled additional residence time suiting the given fluid characteristics and efficient separation of the produced fluids. This resulted in accelerating oil production from the field by ~2,000 bopd by opening more shut-in wells and leveraging terminal liquid handling capacity. And with the future ESP upsizing and more infill wells coming online, there is further potential to gain additional oil upto 3000 bopd. The execution of Project commenced in Sep-17 and was commissioned in Dec-17 in a record 3 months' time period including engineering which helped in monetizing early oil production benefit. Based on the success of the local pad separation in Aishwariya field, similar scheme is planned to be implemented in Mangala & Bhagyam wellpads and other small fields with high water production.


dangerous harbinger of what's to come, as the captains of our shrinking industrial economy wring whatever they can from a susceptible, largely unorganized workforce. Deaths and injuries from accidents have been on a steady decline as jobs in steel and auto production, metal mining, and other heavy industries have been shipped overseas. But the ongoing incidence of long-term industrial diseases from exposure to dust, chemicals, and other toxins that are a part of high-tech industries has put new generations of American workers at risk. As Michaels points out, "every year more than four million workers From the triangle Fire to the BP exPlosion A Short History of the Century-Long Movement for Safety and Health


The Mo + PyF101 enhancer variant of Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV) has been very useful in investigating M-MuLV leukemogenesis. When inoculated subcutaneously (s.c.) into neonatal mice, Mo + PyF101 M-MuLV is attenuated for development of disease. Previous studies in mice infected with wild-type M-MuLV have revealed several important preleukemic events, including development of splenic hyperplasia, defects in bone marrow hematopoiesis, and in vivo generation of MCF viruses that arise by recombination in the uninfected mouse. Mo + PyF101 M-MuLV is defective in inducing these effects after s.c. inoculation. In the experiments reported here, a study of Mo + PyF101 M-MuLV infection in rats was carried out. Wild-type M-MuLV is leukemogenic in rats, but infected rats do not form MCF recombinants since they lack the necessary endogenous polytropic envelope sequences. Since Mo + PyF101 M-MuLV's leukemogenic defect is correlated with a failure to generate MCF recombinants, it seemed possible that wild-type M-MuLV might not have a leukemogenic advantage over Mo + PyF101 M-MuLV in rats, where MCF recombinants cannot form. Neonatal Fisher F344 rats were inoculated s.c. or intraperitoneally by wild-type and Mo + PyF101 M-MuLVs. Surprisingly, Mo + PyF101 M-MuLV was completely deficient in leukemogenesis in rats when inoculated by either route while wild-type M-MuLV induced lymphoma with the predicted time course. The leukemogenic defect for Mo + PyF101 M-MuLV resulted from a pronounced defect for establishing infection in rats. Further studies of wild-type M-MuLV in rats indicated that infection was confined almost exclusively to the thymus at early times. In mice wild-type M-MuLV establishes substantial infection in other hematopoietic organs such as spleen and bone marrow as well. Thymic infection was also correlated with a decrease in thymic cellularity at early times.


We treated a patient with keratitis caused by Mycobacterium chelonei (M. chelonei). The patient was a 74-year-old man who had been successfully treated for stromal type herpetic keratitis with topical steroids. The corneal lesions appeared chalky white with indistinct margins and had radial projections in deep level stroma. M. chelonei was found in second corneal scrapings. Topical tobramycin that had sensitivity resolved the keratitis rapidly. M. chelonei keratitis has been reported in only 25 cases so far and this case is the first report in Japan. M. chelonei keratitis occurred mostly in eyes which had been subjected to trauma, surgery, and the use of topical steroids. If these characteristic corneal findings appear in such predisposed eyes, M. chelonei keratitis should be considered.


Four-dimensional (4D) printing, a new technology emerged from additive manufacturing (3D printing), is widely known for its capability of programming post-fabrication shape-changing into artifacts. Fused deposition modeling (FDM)-based 4D printing, in particular, uses thermoplastics to produce artifacts and requires computational analysis to assist the design processes of complex geometries. However, these artifacts are weak against structural loads, and the design quality can be limited by less accurate material models and numerical simulations. To address these issues, this paper propounds a composite structure design made of two materials - polylactic acid (PLA) and carbon fiber reinforced PLA (CFPLA) - to increase the structural strength of 4D printed artifacts and a workflow composed of several physical experiments and series of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) to characterize materials. We apply this workflow to 3D printed samples fabricated with different printed parameters to accurately characterize the materials and implement a sequential finite element analysis (FEA) to achieve accurate simulations. The accuracy of our method is both computationally and experimentally verified with several creative design examples and is measured to be at least 95\%. We believe the presented workflow is essential to the combination of geometry, material mechanism and design, and has various potential applications.


Obituary of the widow of the last president of the Republic of Texas includes biography. Newspaper clipping is from the University of North Texas Archives.


The most obvious obstacles to a big ramp-up in global hydrogen production are well known. They include technological breakthroughs to bring down production costs along with new sources of demand from the power and transportation sectors.
 Less obvious is that a small army of reservoir engineers, geologists, and other subsurface experts will be needed to understand where and how tomorrow's hydrogen hubs will store their clean-burning fuel.
 Bulk storage on the surface is considered by many experts to be simply out of the question. That means large hydrogen projects will need a subsurface component, and some think depleted oil and gas fields—with an emphasis on the latter—may fit the bill. Saline aquifers are being eyed for the role too.
 But as this all suggests, no one has ever attempted to use these formations for hydrogen storage. Just four shallow salt formations, three salt domes in Texas and one salt field in the UK, represent the totality of the world's hydrogen underground storage (HUS) capacity.
 Research is underway to expand HUS in salt formations but that will not solve for the fact that they are not a geologic option for many locations where big industrial players are hoping to produce hydrogen. This includes most of Europe and most of the US outside of its Gulf Coast states.
 By contrast, deeper sedimentary structures of various flavors are in no short supply but lack any material field experience that might help jumpstart the de-risking of storing several Bcf of hydrogen.
 The upstream industry's extensive experience in operating what are the closest analogues—natural gas storage and carbon capture and storage (CCS)—will help that process but there are new challenges when it comes to injecting the universe's smallest molecule into porous media.
 Topping the list is hydrogen's strong propensity to migrate inside a reservoir (laterally and vertically) along with the potential for troublesome chemical and biological reactions.
 Hydrogen may also be clean burning but it offers only about a third of the energy density as methane, which means it needs roughly three times the storage volume to deliver the same energy output to a gas-fired power plant.
 Among those working to bring clarity to such issues is Mojdeh Delshad, a reservoir engineer and professor at The University of Texas at Austin. Her latest research involved using commercial reservoir simulators to model what would happen if selected gas fields and saline aquifers in the US used for CCS or natural gas storage were instead used to store hydrogen.
 "We wanted to know about the challenges of hydrogen, which because of its properties—very low density, very low viscosity—is going to move in the reservoir much more quickly than CO2 and methane. And that's exactly what we found, which means we're going to have to do something differently with hydrogen storage in order to capture and produce what is injected," said Delshad.


This paper reports on the development of QoSOnt: an ontology for quality of service (QoS). Particular focus is given to its application in the field of service-centric systems. QoSOnt is being developed to promote consensus on QoS concepts, by providing a model which is generic enough for reuse across multiple domains. As well as the structure of the ontology itself an example application currently in development - SQRM (service QoS requirements matcher) - is discussed. This application is used to highlight some of the advantages of the ontology including standardisation and the level of machine understanding of QoS specifications which can be achieved.


I was Sitting in a Room: Cybernetic Aesthetics and Victor Burgin's Projection Loops The chapter examines the loops that structure Victor Burgin's projection pieces in relation to works by US composer Alvin Lucier to suggest that a form of cybernetic and post-digital aesthetics is operative in each, resulting in similar ethical and political agendas regarding agency, space and attentiveness. Burgin's discussion of his digitally-modified panoramas addresses the 'zero degree' of perspective that he crafts in them, suggesting that technological systems of information-gathering and perception simultaneously provide the conditions for a perceiving and understanding subject while removing the subject from the picture through the performance of its subject matter: 'the disembodied point of view'. The desire of the zero degree renders an aesthetics and politics that speak neatly to cybernetic formulations. The chapter argues that the seemingly anti-humanist qualities of cybernetic aesthetics and Burgin's decidedly humanist aesthetic steer actually lead to the same ethical and political agenda regarding agency, space and attentiveness.


In the paper we present an analytical calculation method for determination of the sensitivity of a pulse field magnetometer working with a first order gradiometer. Our considerations here are especially focused on a case of magnetic moment measurements of very small samples. Derived in the work analytical equations allow for a quick estimation of the magnetometer's sensitivity and give also the way to its calibration using the sample simulation coil method. On the base of the given in the paper calculations we designed and constructed a simple homemade magnetometer and performed its sensitivity calibration.


The goal of Ayurveda is prevention is better than cure There are a total of 9152 COVID-19 cases reported in India (till April 13, 2020), 308 people were died because of this disease, and 856 patients were treated successfully in our Country This virus can easily affect or harm those individuals who have an infection, less immunity and especially who all have been aged more than sixty Most of the countries are worried only for their people's life (health) In contrast, the developing countries like India that has a large population have to consider about the livelihood for people like Below Poverty Line (BPL) or those living in slum areas, equally with their life The main aim of the article is to aware the people not only Urban but also among Rural and needy individuals to adopt the Ayurveda lifestyle during Covid19 outbreak For this to study various methods which are described in Ayurveda for boosting immunity among various individuals This study is a review type of article All information and references have been collected and compiled from various avail-able Ayurvedic classics texts Research articles are also searched from various websites related to Covid19 outbreak and its effect on needy individuals All matters have been analysed for some discussion, and an attempt has been made to rule out some conclusions During this lockdown, people are mostly living a sedentary lifestyle which not only weakens their immune system but also make them more susceptible to infections Hence Ayurveda is a science of life that is mainly focusing on strengthening persons by boosting their immune system through improving our lifestyle by using medicines, diets, meditation and activities like Yoga This article will give insights about poor people and effective strategy to threat COVID-19 through Ayurveda in India


This paper presents a set-membership approach for the coordinated control of a fleet of UAVs aiming to search and track an a priori unknown number of targets spread over some delimited geographical area. The originality of the approach lies in the description of the perturbations and measurement uncertainties via bounded sets. A set-membership approach is used to address the localization and tracking problem. At each time step, sets guaranteed to contain the actual state of already localized targets are provided. A set containing the states of targets still to be discovered is also evaluated. These sets are then used to evaluate the control input to apply to the UAVs so as to minimize the estimation uncertainty at the next time step. Simulations considering several UAVs show that the proposed set-membership estimator and the associated control input optimization are able to provide good localization and tracking performance for multiple targets.


In the last twenty years, research in metal-O2 batteries has been one of the most exciting interdisciplinary fields of electrochemistry, energy storage, materials chemistry, and surface science. The mechanisms of oxygen reduction and evolution play a key role in understanding and controlling these batteries. With intensive efforts from many prominent research groups, it becomes clear that the instability of superoxide in the presence of Li ions (Li+) and Na ions (Na+) is the fundamental root cause for the poor stability, reversibility, and energy efficiency in aprotic Li-O2 and Na-O2 batteries. Stabilizing superoxide with large K ions (K+) provides a simple but elegant solution. Superoxide-based K-O2 batteries, invented in 2013, adopt the one-electron redox process of O2/potassium superoxide (KO2). Despite being the youngest metal-O2 technology, K-O2 is the most promising rechargeable metal-air battery with the combined advantages in low costs, high energy efficiencies, abundant elements, and good energy densities. However, the development of the K-O2 battery has been overshadowed by Li-O2 and Na-O2 batteries because one might think K-O2 is just an analogous extension. Moreover, due to the lower specific energy and the high reactivity of K metal, K-O2 is often underestimated and deemed unsuitable for practical applications. The objective of this Perspective is to highlight the unique advantages of K-O2 chemistry and to clarify the misconceptions prompted by the name "superoxide" and the judgement bias based on the claimed theoretical specific energies. We will also discuss the current challenges and our perspectives on how to overcome them.


This paper examines the issue of export taxes on primary commodities; almost 40 countries applied export taxes in recent years. The case of Argentina, which is a prominent user of the export tax and a leading exporter of soybean products, is then considered. In 2006, it taxed exports of soybeans, soybean meal and soybean oil, respectively, at 23.5 percent, 19.3 percent, and 20 percent. We simulate the effects of altering these taxes. Removing export taxes on soybean oil and meal, but continuing the tax on soybeans causes exports of meal and oil to rise and exports of soybeans to fall. Exports of each product increase when taxed uniformly at 10 percent. Removal of the taxes on all products increases exports of each product. Devaluation of the Argentinean peso by about 60 percent in 2002 likely affected these exports more than the changes in the export tax that were considered.


This paper develops a bio-economic model to explore the effect on illegal hunting, wildlife conservation, and human welfare of the most common instruments of two different designs of Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) currently in existence. First, it is demonstrated that the distribution of game meat and money transfers to the local people fails if not explicitly linked to the conservation objective. Second, the analysis shows that ICDPs relying on such a link, implemented as a risk of being excluded from the project if caught in illegal hunting, may reach their goal of improved wildlife conservation and human welfare. The theoretical model is illustrated by numerical calculations using data from the Serengeti in Tanzania.


Neuromodulation is becoming part of clinical armamentarium for treatment of a variety of lower urinary tract conditions in female urology. Its increased usage stems from need of patients who have exhausted all other therapeutic options for their complex and poorly understood lower urinary tract disorders. Currently neuromodulation may consist of the use of sacral nerve stimulation (SNS) and injectable therapies. Herein, we will discuss the background and development of SNS, its current indications, methods of patient selection and will review the results of the recent published literature on SNS. In addition, we will discuss some of the newer developments in SNS such as Bion device and the future direction in integration of SNS in female urology.


Abstract Although tree mortality is an essential process in forests, tree death still remains one of the least understood phenomena of forest development and dynamics. Therefore, we focused on annual mortality rates together with annual felling rates in the Slovak and Czech forests. We used data from the long-term national monitoring (periods of 1988–2017 in Slovakia and 1992–2017 in the Czech Republic). More than 24.6 thousand trees were assessed together in both countries. We calculated mortality and felling rates derived from two variables: basal area and number of trees. For these purposes, we selected five tree species/genera, specifically: Norway spruce, pines, European beech, oaks and common hornbeam. We recorded large inter-annual fluctuations of mortality rates in all tree species/genera. In both countries, spruce and pines had the highest mortality rates, while beech had the lowest mortality rates. Confrontation of long-term climatic data (especially annual precipitation totals) with mortality data indicated that drought was probably the most relevant factor causing tree death. On the other hand, no significant temporal trend, either increasing or decreasing, in tree mortality was found for any tree species/genera. As for all five selected tree species/genera together, significantly higher mean annual mortality rate derived from the number of trees was found in the Czech Republic (1.09%) than in Slovakia (0.56%). This finding indicates that tree mortality is often caused by combined effects of external unfavourable factors and competition pressure in forest stands.


The die-hard viewpoint of an influential figure like President M.T. Steyn of the Republic of the Orange Free State (1896–1902) led to the lengthening of the Anglo-Boer War by more than a year. The reasons for Steyn leading the Free State into this war, the reasons for his call not to surrender and the effect of the war on the Afrikaner, is discussed in this article. An ethical discussion of factors indicating a bitter end, is also on the cards. There was a strong realisation among the representatives of the Republics of the Free State and the Transvaal in 1902 that this is the end of the war.


Icy deposits surrounding Planum Boreum, Mars, contain crucial information for deciphering paleoclimate and past geologic processes at the martian north pole. One such deposit, Abalos Mensa, is an enigmatic wedge of material located near the ~ 1 km high Rupes Tenuis. Its unique location and lobate morphology have fostered formation hypotheses that assume either fluvial or aeolian erosion of a once‐larger ice deposit. The aeolian scenario posed previously requires impact shielding of ancient basal unit material to provide an erosional remnant which seeds later deposition, while the fluvial hypotheses invoke cryovolcanism beneath the younger north polar layered deposits (NPLD) and associated outflow to erode the adjacent chasmata. Here we combine newly available radar sounding data, high‐resolution imagery, digital elevation models, and atmospheric modeling to examine internal structure and infer both the mechanisms for, and timing of, Abalos Mensa formation. From this integrative approach, we conclude that Abalos Mensa formed as a distinct feature via atmospheric deposition following erosion of Rupes Tenuis and grew concurrently with the rest of Planum Boreum as the NPLD accumulated. The required processes are consistent with those observed today: no exotic phenomena (cryovolcanism, fluvial activity, or impact shielding) appear necessary to explain the formation of Abalos Mensa.


Tear production was measured pre treatment and at different intervals post treatment for different lacrimal gland tumors. The differences in tear production was correlated with the histopathology of the tumor and the treatment whether it was excisional or combined treatment


Transcription measurements with single cell resolution are critical to understanding variable responses in immunity, measuring stochastic noise in gene expression, and assessing the disease and developmental state of heterogeneous populations. The latter is particularly important in stem cell science, developmental biology, and cancer, where minority cells may be most significant. To see these populations requires the quick and cost-effective measurement of hundreds to thousands of individual cells. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is a sensitive method for quantitative analysis of transcript levels that provides excellent sensitivity and dynamic range in the detection of transcripts. However, the use of RT-qPCR is generally limited to ensemble measurements of bulk cells or plasma, and is blind to minority cell populations. This aggregation obscures the underlying biological response and variability. To address this limitation, we exploit recent advances in scalable microfluidics to develop robust lab-on-chip technology capable of highly parallel and cost-effective measurements of transcript levels from single cells. The microfluidic device integrates single-cell capture, lysis, reverse transcription of contained RNA, and precise measurement of cDNA using RT-qPCR. We demonstrate this system in the study of microRNA expression in a cell line representing chronic myelogenous leaukemia, pluripotency markers in differentiating human embryonic stem cells, and the detection of somatic mutations in a primary breast cancer sample. The ability to screen isolated cells by simultaneously measuring the fraction of cells expressing a specific gene and quantifying the abundance of expression, may provide a new modality for the early detection of disease such as cancer.


Accurate exchange-correlation (XC) potentials for three-dimensional systems─via solution of the inverse density functional theory (DFT) problem─are now available to test the quality of DFT approximations. Herein, the exact XC potential for seven molecules─dihydrogen at four different bond-lengths, lithium hydride, water, and ortho-benzyne─are computed from full configuration interaction reference densities. These are compared to model XC potentials from nonlocal (B3LYP, HSE06, SCAN0, and M08-HX) and semilocal/local (SCAN, PBE, and PW92) XC functionals. Whereas for most systems, relative errors in the ground-state densities are O(10-3-10-2), the model XC potentials have much higher errors of O(10-1-100). Among the model XC functionals, SCAN0 offers the best agreement with the exact XC potential, underlining the significance of satisfying exact conditions as well as including nonlocal effects in XC functionals. This work indicates that tests against the exact XC potential will provide a promising new direction for building more accurate XC functionals for DFT.


The present study was designed to find out whether pressor responsiveness to vasopressin (AVP) is altered in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) in comparison with their normotensive controls (WKY). Blood pressure and heart rate changes after injection of graded doses of 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 ng of AVP (Calbiochem) i.v. were compared in 9 conscious, unrestrained spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and 11 normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats, chronically instrumented with venous and arterial catheters. The threshold dose necessary to elicit a significant increase in blood pressure and reduction of heart rate was lower in WKY than in SHR. At each dose level the blood pressure elevation persisted for a longer period in WKY than in SHR. Bradycardia was greater in WKY than in SHR both in absolute terms and in relation to the blood pressure increase. Thus, the results reveal diminished pressor responsiveness to moderate doses of AVP in SHR in spite of suppressed reflex bradycardia. It is suggested that the peripheral action of AVP on the vascular system is attenuated in SHR.


Sea urchin (Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus) arylsulfatase(Ars) gene contains a long (622 bp) polypyrimidine:polypurine (Pyr-Pur) sequence in its 5' flanking region. The Pyr-Pur sequence inserted into a plasmid was sensitive to S1 nuclease at a low acidic pH (pH 5) when the plasmid was negatively supercoiled. From the distribution pattern of S1 sites in the Pyr-Pur region it is concluded that a (CT)11:(GA)11 tract in this region could adopt an unusual DNA configuration distinct from the usual B-form. Another feature of the Pyr-Pur sequence is that this (CT)11:(GA)11 tract is sandwiched by two oligo(dC):oligo(dG) stretches (G-strings) that are located at almost an equal distance from both ends of the (CT)11:(GA)11 tract. Mobility shift assay and DNase-I footprinting revealed that the gastrula nuclei contain nuclear proteins that interact with two distinct oligo(dG):oligo(dG) tracts (G-strings) in the Pyr-Pur region. The possibility is suggested that G-strings may be related to formation and stabilization of an unusual DNA configuration of a (CT)11:(GA)11 tract.


A total of 7,806 nucleotide positions derived from one mitochondrial and eight nuclear DNA segments were used to provide a robust phylogeny for members of the order Artiodactyla. Twenty-four artiodactyl and two cetacean species were included, and the horse (order Perissodactyla) was used as the outgroup. Limited rate heterogeneity was observed among the nuclear genes. The partition homogeneity tests indicated no conflicting signal among the nuclear genes fragments, so the sequence data were analyzed together and as separate loci. Analyses based on the individual nuclear DNA fragments and on 34 unique indels all produced phylogenies largely congruent with the topology from the combined data set. In sharp contrast to the nuclear DNA data, the mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data showed high levels of homoplasy, failed to produce a robust phylogeny, and were remarkably sensitive to taxon sampling. The nuclear DNA data clearly support the paraphyletic nature of the Artiodactyla. Additionally, the family Suidae is diphyletic, and the nonruminating pigs and peccaries (Suiformes) were the most basal cetartiodactyl group. The morphologically derived Ruminantia was always monophyletic; within this group, all taxa with paired bony structures on their skulls clustered together. The nuclear DNA data suggest that the Antilocaprinae account for a unique evolutionary lineage, the Cervidae and Bovidae are sister taxa, and the Giraffidae are more primitive.


Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) systems have been widely adopted as value propositions by companies in all industries in order to create or extend the services and products they offer. However, developing AI/ML systems has presented several engineering problems that are different from those that arise in, non-AI/ML software development. This study aims to investigate how software engineering (SE) has been applied in the development of AI/ML systems and identify challenges and practices that are applicable and determine whether they meet the needs of professionals. Also, we assessed whether these SE practices apply to different contexts, and in which areas they may be applicable. We conducted a systematic review of literature from 1990 to 2019 to (i) understand and summarize the current state of the art in this field and (ii) analyze its limitations and open challenges that will drive future research. Our results show these systems are developed on a lab context or a large company and followed a research-driven development process. The main challenges faced by professionals are in areas of testing, AI software quality, and data management. The contribution types of most of the proposed SE practices are guidelines, lessons learned, and tools.


In this paper a three-dimensional model for determination of a microreactor's length is presented and discussed. The reaction of thermocatalytic decomposition has been implemented on the base of experimental data. Simplified Reynolds-Maxwell formula for the slip velocity boundary condition has been analysed and validated. The influence of the Knudsen diffusion on the microreactor's performance has also been verified. It was revealed that with a given operating conditions and a given geometry of the microreactor, there is no need for application of slip boundary conditions and the Knudsen diffusion in further analysis. It has also been shown that the microreactor's length could be practically estimated using standard models.


The objective of the study was to (1) evaluate land suitability for coconut (cocos nucifera L.) production in relation to soil physical properties, (2) identify the soil physical constraints and (3) study their effect on the morphological adaptation of coconut roots. Soil physical properties were found to be significantly related to coconut yield (R=81.37; p<0.01). Multiple regression with cluster analysis of soil physical properties vs coconut yield enabled classification of soil series into three major groups namely (a) highly (b) moderately and (c) less productive series. It was observed that the high soil compaction which limited the available water and aeration capacity of soils resulted in retardation of the activity of coconut roots. Water stress due to soil compaction was found to induce production of more inactive roots by suberization and dehydration processes. Scanning electron microscopic image showed that soil compaction and water stress, reduced the cell volume per unit area of the absorption zone and the number of pores in respiratory organs of coconut roots resulting in retardation of water and nutrient absorption, and air exchange processes. This in turn malfunctions of absorption cells and respiratory organs of roots resulted in retardation of growth of coconut seedlings. The practical importance of these findings in formulation of land suitability maps for coconuts is discussed.


Abstract Supervised and unsupervised seismic facies extraction methods are slowly gaining popularity in the hydrocarbon exploration and production workflows. The unsupervised clustering is data driven, is not biased by the interpreter beyond the choice of input data, and brings out the natural clusters present in the data. There are several competing unsupervised clustering techniques, each having advantages and disadvantages. Our 3D multi-attribute analysis is based on Kohonen self-organizing maps (SOM), which are one of the most commonly used unsupervised classification algorithms. The Mississippi lime resource play of northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas provides a particularly challenging problem. Here, the seismic facies are diagenetic (limestone, non-porous chert, and highly porous tripolitic chert) or structural (fractured chert and limestone) rather than stratigraphic. Skilled interpreters can recognize the different facies although they are not able to accurately define their diagenetic or tectonic history. During the past several years, over 4700 wells have been drilled in the Mississippi lime play. Such dense drilling provides a means of calibrating the computer-generated "natural" clusters that represent the data. Using a 3D seismic survey acquired in Osage County, Oklahoma, we use SOM to represent the Mississippi lime play. The 256 prototype vectors (potential clusters) reduce to only three or four distinct clusters. The predicted clusters correlate well with an independent facies classification using post-stack impedance inversion. This workflow automatically differentiates depositional packages characterized by subtle changes in the stratigraphic column as well as lateral changes in texture.


We describe the clinical, imaging and cytopathological features of solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas (SPTP) diagnosed by endoscopic ultrasound-guided (EUS-guided) fine-needle aspiration (FNA). A 17-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with complaints of an unexplained episodic abdominal pain for 2 mo and a short history of hypertension in the endocrinology clinic. Clinical laboratory examinations revealed polycystic ovary syndrome, splenomegaly and low serum amylase and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels. Computed tomography (CT) analysis revealed a mass of the pancreatic tail with solid and cystic consistency. EUS confirmed the mass, both in body and tail of the pancreas, with distinct borders, which caused dilation of the peripheral part of the pancreatic duct (major diameter 3.7 mm). The patient underwent EUS-FNA. EUS-FNA cytology specimens consisted of single cells and aggregates of uniform malignant cells, forming microadenoid structures, branching, papillary clusters with delicate fibrovascular cores and nuclear overlapping. Naked capillaries were also seen. The nuclei of malignant cells were round or oval, eccentric with fine granular chromatin, small nucleoli and nuclear grooves in some of them. The malignant cells were periodic acid Schiff (PAS)-Alcian blue (+) and immunocytochemically they were vimentin (+), CA 19.9 (+), synaptophysin (+), chromogranin (-), neuro-specific enolase (-), a1-antitrypsin and a1-antichymotrypsin focal positive. Cytologic findings were strongly suggestive of SPTP. Biopsy confirmed the above cytologic diagnosis. EUS-guided FNA diagnosis of SPTP is accurate. EUS findings, cytomorphologic features and immunostains of cell block help distinguish SPTP from pancreatic endocrine tumors, acinar cell carcinoma and papillary mucinous carcinoma.


A particle physics workshop for UK primary schools has been designed and trialed in 2016-2017 as a collaboration between the University of Birmingham and the Odgen Trust. The workshop allows young children (ages 8–11) to learn the world of fundamental particles, use creative design to make particle models, and learn creatively about how particles interact. The initial resources were reviewed and improved, based on the feedback received from school teachers and communicators. The final workshop has been delivered in many primary schools in UK in 2017-2020, receiving very positive evaluation and clear evidence of impact. A set of primary school teachers have been trained to deliver the workshop. Resources specifically created for teachers and educators have been made available on the University website. Despite particle physics is often classified as a subject too difficult and abstract for primary schools, the workshop uses familiar concepts to children that make particle physics accessible and enjoyable. The workshop explores the ability of young children to be imaginative and creative and exploits it to teach them the fundamentals of particle physics in a fun way. Most importantly, the workshop is effective in enthusing children to modern science and gives a wider understanding of how science works. The resources have been used in the Playing with Protons events for teachers at CERN, and have been translated in Greek and Italian.


Ovarian cancers usually develop chemoresistance after prolonged exposure to chemotherapeutic drugs, such as paclitaxel. Drug resistance is mainly developed via overexpression of p-glycoprotein encoded by multi-drug resistance 1 (MDR1) which effluxes various cytotoxic drugs and inhibit their accumulation within the cell. The expression of MDR1 was shown to be regulated by cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), a rate limiting enzyme of prostaglandin (PG) biosynthesis, which plays important roles in tumor development and progression in various human cancers. Thus, we have investigated whether a selective COX-2 inhibitor (NS398) attenuates the expression levels of MDR1 in taxane-resistant human ovarian cancer cell lines (HeyA8-MDR and SKOV3ip2-TR), leading to increased sensitivity to paclitaxel. MTT assay, flow cytometry analyses, Rhodamine 123 efflux assay, Western blotting and realtime RT-PCR were performed. Single treatments of paclitaxel or selective COX inhibitors did not significantly reduce cell viability of HeyA8-MDR and SKOV3ip2-TR. However, combination treatments of paclitaxel with NS398 or even with a selective COX-1 inhibitor (SC560) significantly enhanced paclitaxel sensitivity resulting in increased apoptosis of both cell lines expressing COX-2, but not COX-1. Increased apoptosis in cells treated with paclitaxel and SC560 suggests that COX inhibitor-induced increased sensitivity to paclitaxel in taxane-resistant ovarian cancer cells is PG independent. It is consistent with the result that the addition of PGE 2 did not reverse the synergistic effects of SC560 or NS398 with paclitaxel on cell viability. While selective COX inhibitors did not affect survival of these cell lines, Western blotting and realtime RT-PCR showed that they significantly reduced highly maintained basal levels of MDR1 mRNA and p-glycoprotein, respectively. Furthermore, in combination treatment with paclitaxel, both NS398 and SC560 significantly suppressed paclitaxel-induced overexpression of p-glycoprotein. In conclusion, our results suggest that COX inhibitors could be a potent therapeutic tool to promote paclitaxel sensitization of taxane-resistant ovarian cancer via suppression of p-glycoprotein which mainly contributes efflux of chemotherapeutic agents. Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr 5115.


Less-resourced languages are usually left out of phonetic studies based on large corpora. We contribute to the recent efforts to fill this gap by assessing how to use open-access, crowd-sourced audio data from Lingua Libre for phonetic research. Lingua Libre is a participative linguistic library developed by Wikimedia France in 2015. It contains more than 670k recordings in approximately 150 languages across nearly 740 speakers. As a proof of concept, we consider the Inventory Size Hypothesis, which predicts that, in a given system, variation in the realization of each vowel will be inversely related to the number of vowel categories. We investigate data from 10 languages with various numbers of vowel categories, i.e., German, Afrikaans, French, Catalan, Italian, Romanian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Basque. Audio files are extracted from Lingua Libre to be aligned and segmented using the Munich Automatic Segmentation System. Information on the formants of the vowel segments is then extracted to measure how vowels expand in the acoustic space and whether this is correlated with the number of vowel categories in the language. The results provide valuable insight into the question of vowel dispersion and demonstrate the wealth of information that crowd-sourced data has to offer.


The state of the art of non-destructive acoustic tests provides information on the type of transducers and on the number of tests to be conducted in order to obtain satisfactory mappings on the surfaces of the elements under test, to trace shape and size of defects, both in Test Method for Transparency (with emitter and received transducer arranged in corresponding points on two opposite surfaces) either by using Tomographic Methods [3]. The main problem in this type of analysis is related to the strong attenuation of the signals in reception, which often have amplitudes of the same order of magnitude of noise. For this reason, in this work we use cross-correlation between emitted chirp signal and the relative received signal, that allows to assess significant amplitudes. For this paper one refers to tests using Test Method for Transparency applied on a grid of points. The aim of this work is to assess how the relative position between the transducers and the defects affect the accuracy of the results obtained. To implement this study, we use orthogonal chirp signals. The study is performed using a specimen of steel of dimensions (34×135×8) mm3 with three defects consisting of holes of 1 mm diameter with different depth. To do the simulations we used the commercial finite element software COMSOL in the frequency domain. In a second phase experimental verifications will be made to verify the obtained results and to tune the model. The instrumentation is as follows: function generator NI PXIe-6251 (NI PXI1042 chassis), TiePie Arbitrary Wave Form Generator, Handyscope HS5 and Krautkramer SEB 10 KF-3 @10MHz double probes.


Preoperative preparation for the patient with adrenal disorders is directed toward restoring the intravascular volume and the electrolyte concentrations to normal. Hypertension and hypokalemia may be controlled by restricting sodium intake and administration of the aldosterone antagonist spironolactone. Patients taking steroids preoperatively must be adequately replaced throughout the perioperative phase at times of maximum stress.


Idiopathic narcolepsy is associated with deficient hypocretin transmission. Narcoleptic symptoms have recently been described in paraneoplastic encephalitis with anti-Ma2 antibodies. The authors measured CSF hypocretin-1 levels in six patients with anti-Ma2 encephalitis, and screened for anti-Ma antibodies in patients with ideopathic narcolepsy. Anti-Ma autoantibodies were not detected in patients with idiopathic narcolepsy. Four patients with anti-Ma2 encephalitis had excessive daytime sleepiness; hypocretin-1 was not detectable in their cerebrospinal fluid, suggesting an immune-mediated hypocretin dysfunction.


Abstract The floor polish removal (FPR) and reapplication (FPA) are important cleaning tasks in public buildings that have hard floor surfaces. Usually, the FPR and FPA are conducted once or twice a year, during the periodic cleaning of these buildings. The FPR can be performed either chemically (CFPR) or by using dry scrubber (DFPR), when the polish is ground from the floor. In this study, cleaning workers' exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter (PM) during the FPR and FPA, and the differences in the exposures between the two FPR methods were investigated. In total, three buildings located in Central Finland were included, and total of six cleaning workers (two per building) participated in the study. In Buildings 1 and 2, the CFPR and FPA were performed and in Building 3, the DFPR was conducted. TVOC (total volatile organic compounds) concentrations in the breathing zone of the workers during the CFPR were 8,740 and 390 µg/m3 (SD 3,290 and 180 µg/m3) for Buildings 1 and 2, respectively. During the DFPR in Building 3, the average TVOC concentration was 400 µg/m3 (SD 180 µg/m3, stationary sampling). The TVOC concentrations during the FPA were high, 1,640 and 2,170 µg/m3 on average (SD 1,570 and 930 µg/m3) for Buildings 1 and 2, respectively. Glycol ethers were the most prominent VOCs during the CFPR and FPA, whereas carboxylic acids were the most common during the DFPR. The inhalable dust concentrations in the workers' breathing zone were noticeably higher during the DFPR (1.55 mg/m3 on average, SD 0.01 mg/m3) than the CFPR (0.24 mg/m3 on average, SD 0.05 mg/m3). Finnish occupational exposure limit value for organic inhalable dust is 5 mg/m3. As the products used during the CFPR and FPA contain glycol ethers and ethanolamines that are absorbed via the skin as well, the use of skin protection is recommended. Whereas the use of FFP3 respirators and skin protection are recommended during the DFPR to prevent the PM exposure.


The Extensible Markup Language (XML) has become an increasingly popular format for representing and exchanging data. Its flexible and exstensible syntax makes it suitable for representing both structured data and textual information, or a mixture of both. The popularization of XML has lead to the development of a new database type. XML databases serve as repositories of large collections of XML documents, and seek to provide the same benefits for XML data as relational databases for relational data; indexing, transactional processing, failsafe physical storage, querying collections etc.. There are two standardized query languages for XML, XQuery and XPath, which are both powerful for querying and navigating the structure XML. However, they offer limited support for full-text search, and cannot be used alone for typical Information Retrieval (IR) applications. To address IR-related issues in XML, a new standard is emerging as an extension to XPath and XQuery: XQuery and XPath Full Text 1.0 (XQFT). XQFT is carefully investigated to determine how well-known IR techniques apply to XML, and the chracateristics of full-text search and indexing in existing XML databases are described in a state-of-the-art study. Based on findings from literature and source code review, the design and implementation of XQFT is discussed; first in general terms, then in the context of Oracle Berkeley DB XML (BDB XML). Experimental support for XQFT is enabled in BDB XML, and a few experiments are conducted in order to evaluate functionality aspects of the XQFT implementation. A scheme for full-text indexing in BDB XML is proposed. The full-text index acts as an augmented version of an inverted list, and is implemented on top of an Oracle Berkeley DB database. Tokens are used as keys, with data tuples for each distinct (document, path) combination the token occurs in. Lookups in the index are based on keywords, and should allow answering various queries without materializing data. Investigation shows that XML-based IR with XQFT is not fundamentally different from traditional text-based IR. Full-text queries rely on linguistic tokens, which --- in XQFT --- are derived from nodes without considering the XML structure. Further, it is discovered that full-text indexing is crucial for query efficiency in large document collections. In summary, common issues with full-text search are present in XML-based IR, and are addressed in the same manner as text-based IR.


We present a reactive navigation algorithm for safe operation of hospital beds in dynamic environments. The proposed navigation is implementation efficient in the sense that it does not require any measurements from the velocities, shapes, dimensions or orientations of the obstacles. Furthermore, it is applicable for a variety of real world scenario where the natures and the motions of the obstacles are not known, and the shapes of the obstacles may be time-varying and deforming. The only information available for computation of control signals is the minimum distance from the hospital bed to the closest obstacle. The mathematically rigorous analysis of the proposed navigation algorithm is presented and its performance is demonstrated by the computer simulations and real world experiments with a hospital bed control system (Flexbed).


The widespread co-existence of misspecification and weak identification in asset pricing has led to an overstated performance of risk factors. Because the conventional Fama and MacBeth (1973) methodology is jeopardized by misspecification and weak identification, we infer risk premia by using a double robust Lagrange multiplier test that remains reliable in the presence of these two empirically relevant issues. Moreover, we show how the identification, and the resulting appropriate interpretation, of the risk premia is governed by the relative magnitudes of the misspecification J-statistic and the identification IS-statistic. We revisit several prominent empirical applications and all specifications with one to six factors from the factor zoo of Feng, Giglio, and Xiu (2020) to emphasize the widespread occurrence of misspecification and weak identification. JEL Classification: G12


This paper considers communication network design problems that arise in the real world, with large numbers of nodes - and link and switch costs dependent upon their traffic capacity. Such costs, in turn, depend upon network topology so are not fixed at the start of, or through, any optimisation process. Realistic topological restrictions are also discussed. The limitations of conventional approaches – both constructive and search based – are noted and the requirements of practical optimisation methods explored. Two workable approaches to network design - one an established local search variant, another a more novel geometric approach – are introduced and combined. Various simple and compound algorithms, ranging from exhaustive search to fast heuristic are compared with experimental results given in conclusion.


A new class of quasi-cyclic LDPC codes whose parity-check matrices are arrays of circulant permutation matrices constructed based on cyclic subgroups of finite fields is presented. This class of codes contains several known classes of algebraic quasi-cyclic LDPC codes as subclasses. Experimental results show that the codes constructed perform very well over the AWGN channel when decoded with iterative decoding based on belief propagation. This class of new QC-LDPC codes contains a subclass of codes which have large minimum distances. Combinatorial expressions for the ranks of the parity-check matrices of a subclass of codes constructed based on fields of characteristic two are given.


In five patients with chronic intractable ureteral obstruction, a fine-bore nephrostomy tube was placed in a subcutaneous tunnel to drain the kidney without an external appliance. Good quality of life was achieved for 6 months to 2 years. When conventional intraluminal stents cannot be used, consideration should be given to subcutaneous diversion rather than long-term nephrostomy tubes.


Feedback from massive stars is believed to be a key element in the evolution of molecular clouds. We use high-resolution 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations to explore the dynamical effects of a single O7 star-emitting ionizing photons at 1049 s−1 and located at the centre of a molecular cloud with mass 104 M⊙ and radius 6.4 pc; we also perform comparison simulations in which the ionizing star is removed. The initial internal structure of the cloud is characterized by its fractal dimension, which we vary between and 2.8, and the standard deviation of the approximately log-normal initial density PDF, which is σ10 = 0.38 for all clouds. (i) As regards star formation, in the short term ionizing feedback is positive, in the sense that star formation occurs much more quickly (than in the comparison simulations), in gas that is compressed by the high pressure of the ionized gas. However, in the long term ionizing feedback is negative, in the sense that most of the cloud is dispersed with an outflow rate of up to ∼10−2 M⊙yr−1, on a time-scale comparable with the sound-crossing time for the ionized gas (), and triggered star formation is therefore limited to a few per cent of the cloud's mass. We will describe in greater detail the statistics of the triggered star formation in a companion paper. (ii) As regards the morphology of the ionization fronts (IFs) bounding the H ii region and the systematics of outflowing gas, we distinguish two regimes. For low , the initial cloud is dominated by large-scale structures, so the neutral gas tends to be swept up into a few extended coherent shells, and the ionized gas blows out through a few large holes between these shells; we term these H ii regions shell dominated. Conversely, for high , the initial cloud is dominated by small-scale structures, and these are quickly overrun by the advancing IF, thereby producing neutral pillars protruding into the H ii region, whilst the ionized gas blows out through a large number of small holes between the pillars; we term these H ii regions pillar dominated. (iii) As regards the injection of bulk kinetic energy, by ∼1 Myr, the expansion of the H ii region has delivered a mass-weighted rms velocity of ∼6 km s−1; this represents less than 0.1 per cent of the total energy radiated by the O7 star.


The effects of two glucocorticoid compounds (Dexamedium; Intervet. Voreen; Boehringer Ingelheim) were tested in 20 healthy and 28 ketotic dairy cows. Both compounds induced an increased blood glucose concentration and a temporary decrease in the milk yield of healthy dairy cows. Dexamedium reduced the milk yield only of cows producing 25 or more kg milk daily. Of 28 ketotic cows 22 were treated with one of the two glucocorticoid compounds, while the remaining six were treated orally with propylene glycol. After treatment all but one of the cows improved clinically within one week. Biochemical analysis of blood samples revealed that after treatment with any of the three therapeutic compounds some animals responded inadequately to therapy or relapsed after initial recovery.


Hanke Zhiyan (written by Dooyo Higuchi and published in 1749), held in the Fujikawa collection of Kyoto University Library, recorded in detail the process by which Higuchi was assigned by the government to heal Korean envoys. The name, age, symptoms, diagnosis and medicine of 14 patients were described in detail in this book. It could be known from the recording that Korean envoys suffered from a variety of diseases and Dooyo Higuchi (a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor of Japan), with a solid academic foundation and plenty of experience, could give specific diagnoses and flexible therapies. Hanke Zhiyan described full and accurate medical exchanges between Japan and Korea, and was a vivid reflection of medical exchanges in the history of the two countries.


stand from the section on alveolar carbon dioxide levels that the indirect Fick principle was used to measure the cardiac output, via the carbon dioxide rebrcathing technique. The technique can actually be used during exercise to measure cardiac output as described by Jones and Campbell (1982) and there are many studies using the techniquc in both pregnant subjects (e.g. Knuttgen and Emerson 1974) and nonpregnant (c.g. Ferguson et al. 1968). However, there is a serious problem with the use of this technique in pregnancy. The methodology depends on the slope of the carbon dioxide dissociation curve in order to work out the content of carbon dioxide in arterial and venous blood from the partial pressures measured, for use in the Fick equation. Wc have strong evidence (Ward, Broughton Pipkin, Symonds & Skene; submitted for publication) that the characteristics of the carbon dioxidc dissociation curve are quite different in pregnancy. The slope of the curve is significantly less steep and this change is apparent by 10 weeks gestation. In practical terms, the cardiac output results obtained using the rebreathing technique with the 'standard' dissociation curve in a pregnant woman will substantially underestimate the true cardiac output. This renders the technique less suitable for use In pregnancy as, although it is noninvasive, it is neccssary to construct a dissociation curve for each subject on every occasion thc technique is used to measure cardiac output. S. J. Ward F. Broughton Pipkin Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology The Universily of Nottingham Queen's Medical Centre Nottingham NG7 2UH C O R R E S P O N D E N C E 399


The Geant Dormant (Sleeping Giant) mine is a vein-type gold deposit that contrasts with Archean shear-related (mesothermal) deposits in the preductile deformation timing of the quartz gold-bearing veins and in their high sulfide content. Gold mineralization is centered about a felsic complex that intrudes a volcano-sedimentary succession composed of mafic sills, interbedded pelagic sediments, and mafic pillowed and felsic lavas. The felsic complex includes a dacitic subvolcanic dome and a swarm of polyphase plagioclase-porphyritic and quartz and plagioclase-porphyritic dikes. All felsic rocks are cogenetic and have calc-alkalic affinity (Zr/Y nearly equal 12), whereas all mafic rocks, including postmineralization dikes, are cogenetic and tholeiitic (Zr/Y nearly equal 2.5). Strata were built from two different volcanic sources: a proximal felsic and a distal mafic one in a deep submarine setting (>3.150 m). Three successive mineralizing events are recognized: (1) a sea floor-related gold-poor event, characterized by sericite, chlorite, and quartz alteration with disseminations and stringers of gold-bearing pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite affecting rocks of paleo-sea-floor origin; (2) an autometasomatic event affecting only the dacitic dome, expressed by chloritization and dissemination of auriferous pyrite; and (3) quartz sulfide vein-style gold mineralization, with only weak chlorite-sericite or no altered selvages. The gold-bearing vein network was formed during the last stage of a four-stage volcanogenic hydrothermal system as indicated by the parallelism between volcanic and hydrothermal evolutionary patterns. At stage 1, diffuse sea floor-related hydrothermal fluids altered and mineralized lavas and Fe-rich sediments. Stage 2 involves the sealing of the hydrothermal system by injection of a 1-km-thick stack of impermeable mafic sills. During stage 3, the mineralizing system was reactivated by the emplacement of the dacitic dome. Stage 4 involves injection of quartz and plagioclase-porphyritic dikes along active synvolcanic faults. These dikes served as conduits for the ascension of mineralizing fluids through the volcanic pile. Gold, and related quartz and sulfides, precipitated in open fractures developed mainly in mafic rocks near these dikes. Vein formation is a consequence of the specific two-source volcanic pile. The exogenic voluminous mafic sills disturbed the evolution of a volcanogenic hydrothermal system related to the felsic center. Renewed felsic activity generated fractures for vein formation, enhanced by pressurization of mineralizing fluids at near-lithostatic pressure within the impermeable host sequence. Gold enrichment from stage 1 to stage 4 is consistent with the proposed evolution and most likely related to boiling of the mineralizing fluids during vein formation.


In this era of stiff competition employee performance is the key driving force for organizational success, at the same time pressure become the part & parcel in organizations for keeping employees motivated to win the competitive race. But undue pressure can causes stress which undermines performance .Stress is ubiquitous phenomenon and a straining condition that has a negative impact on an individual's physical, physiological, personal and family life. Now days, due to the rapid changes and intense competition the banking sector employees are among the victims of stress. This study has been carried out to investigate the causes of job stress (job demand, work life conflict), the impact of job stress on employee job behaviours (job performance, job satisfaction) and outcomes of job stress (turnover intention, burnout) and also the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction is explored. A questionnaire(scales having 38 items) measured against 5 point Likert-type scale is used to evaluate the relationship among variables of interest which analyzed through statistical tests of regression, correlation and reliability of the measures was confirmed. The regression analysis results show that there is no significant relationship among job demands, Job stress and job performance, but variables of job demand, work life conflict, and job stress has a significant positive relationship with each other and same is the case for turnover intention, burnout & job satisfaction which depend upon the stress faced by the banking employees .There is significant positive correlation between job commitment and Job satisfaction. Theoretical implication of this study will be for diverse organizations for understanding the factors that are causing the stress among employees and how to get rid from this evil of stress to increase employee satisfaction, performance and commitment. Recommendations to reduce the stress level are also discussed and focus of future studies is mentioned.


The changes in magnesia-spinel bricks from preheater cement kilns using alternative fuels were studied. An analysis of the wear mechanism of bricks was made based on the evolution of apparent porosity, the variation of their chemical compositions and investigation of their microstructure in relation to the internal temperature gradient. The investigation shows that persistence of a coating on the basic refractory lining of the sintering zone does not only effectively protect it against the direct influence of the temperature and corrosive reactions with components of the sintered Portland clinker, but also alleviates the influence of volatile components of the kiln atmosphere on the refractories. Dramatic variations of the volatile components in the kiln atmosphere with simultaneous change of manufactured cement clinker type may lead to coating disappearance and direct exposure of the lining to the influence of the high temperature and aggressive corrosion by components of the sintered Portland clinker and the kiln atmosphere. Excess of chloride and SO 3 leads to MgO corrosion. Substantial excess of R 2 O (R = K, Na) leads to intensive corrosion of main components in the colder part of bricks and weakening of the bricks texture.


The physical properties of nanocrystals depend on the crystallite size that correlates with the characteristics of the crystal structure. This research aims to estimate the crystal size and elasticity parameters of ZnO:Ce nanocrystals based on x-ray profile analysis using the sizestrain pot method. Nanocrystal of ZnO:Ce was synthesized using the precipitation method with a calcination temperature of 500 oC. X-ray diffraction measurements were used to analyze the crystal structure of ZnO:Ce. Identification of x-ray diffraction peaks revealed the formation of ZnO:Ce nanocrystals with hexagonal wurtzite structure and lattice parameter smaller than bulk ZnO. The crystal size of 112 nm and the correlation coefficient of 0.97 obtained from the sizestrain plot method is greater than the Scherrer formula. These results indicate that lattice strain contributes significantly to the broadening of the spectrum profile of x-ray diffraction peaks of ZnO:Ce nanocrystal.


Abstract Objectives: If a skeletal anterior open bite malocclusion is treated by orthognathic surgery directed only at the mandible, the lower jaw is repositioned upward in a counter-clockwise rotation. However, this procedure has a high risk of relapse. In the present study, the key factors associated with post-surgical stability of corrected skeletal anterior open bite malocclusions were investigated. Material and methods: Eighteen orthognathic patients were subjected to cephalometric analysis to assess the dental and skeletal changes following mandibular surgery for the correction of an anterior open bite. The patients were divided into two groups, determined by an increase or decrease in nasion-menton (N-Me) distance as a consequence of surgery. Changes in overbite, the displacements of molars and positional changes in Menton were evaluated immediately before and after surgery and after a minimum of one year post-operatively. Results: The group with a decreased N-Me distance exhibited a significantly greater backward positioning of the mandible. The group with an increased N-Me distance experienced significantly greater dentoalveolar extrusion of the lower molars. Conclusions: A sufficient mandibular backward repositioning is an effective technique in the prevention of open bite relapse. In addition, it is important not to induce molar extrusion during post-surgical orthodontic treatment to preserve stability of the surgical open bite correction.


For a cone-beam three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) scanning system, voxel size is an important indicator to guarantee the accuracy of data analysis and feature measurement based on 3D-CT images. Meanwhile, the voxel size changes with the movement of the rotary stage along X-ray direction. In order to realize the automatic calibration of the voxel size, a new and easily-implemented method is proposed. According to this method, several projections of a spherical phantom are captured at different imaging positions and the corresponding voxel size values are calculated by non-linear least-square fitting. Through these interpolation values, a linear equation is obtained that reflects the relationship between the voxel size and the rotary stage translation distance from its nominal zero position. Finally, the linear equation is imported into the calibration module of the 3D-CT scanning system. When the rotary stage is moving along X-ray direction, the accurate value of the voxel size is dynamically exported. The experimental results prove that this method meets the requirements of the actual CT scanning system, and has virtues of easy implementation and high accuracy.


The article considers the problem of the influence of market principles on the fields of science and higher education on a material provided by the United States' experience in the commercialization of education, which is reflected in R. Geiger's book "Knowledge and Money". Geiger emphasizes that the extension of market principles to the academia leads to paradoxical results: increased funding and the quality of the student audience while reducing the enlightening and cultural functions of the university. The book sequentially explores the main aspects of this paradox, as well as its historical dynamics and the causes of it. The concluding part of the article briefly substantiates the relevance of the research conducted in the book in the Russian context of educational reforms, which include a significant expansion of the commercial sector in universities.


Lipoprotein glomerulopathy (LPG) is a dominant inherited kidney disorder characterized by lipoprotein thrombi in glomerular capillaries. Single-amino-acid mutations in apoE have been associated with the development of the disease, although the mechanism is unknown. In an effort to gain mechanistic insight linking the presence of such mutations and the development of LPG, we evaluated the effects of three of the most common apoE3 variants associated with this disease, namely R145P(Sendai), R147P(Chicago), and R158P(Osaka or Kurashiki), on the structural and conformational integrity of the protein. All three variants were found to have significantly reduced helical content, to expose a larger portion of hydrophobic surface to the solvent, and to be significantly thermodynamically destabilized, often lacking functionally relevant unfolding intermediates. Furthermore, all variants were aggregation prone and had enhanced sensitivity to protease digestion. Finally, although the variants were able to form discoidal lipoprotein particles, discrete subpopulations of poorly formed or aberrant particles were evident. Furthermore, these lipoprotein particles were thermodynamically destabilized and aggregation prone. Overall, our data suggest that these mutations induce a generalized unfolding of the N-terminal domain of apoE3 toward a molten-globule-like structure. ApoE3 N-terminal domain unfolding due to mutation may constitute a common mechanism underlying the protein's association with the pathogenesis of LPG.


The purpose was to examine whether adults with profound mental retardation (PMR) have the ability to learn and transfer a motor skill to a novel situation. In Experiment 1, novel task transfer performance was examined. Six male adults with PMR threw beanbags three different distances during acquisition, followed by four novel transfer distances and a novel implement (a horse shoe). In Experiment 2, a 48-hr and a 1-week delayed retention test was used with 6 different males with PMR who practiced three beanbag-throwing distances and then performed two familiar and two novel distances for each retention test. Analyses indicated that, with concurrent visual information of the target, adults with PMR can throw accurately on retention and transfer tests and can generalize beanbag throwing skill to horseshoe-throwing. The prototype model of memory representation seems to explain the findings better than the exemplar model. In addition, random practice of skill variations appears to be an effective teaching stra...


A mechanistic modeling approach to predicting machining forces for grooved tools is developed. The models are solely based on the grooved tool geometry and the specific cutting energy and friction energy for flat tools. Special grooved tools (M2 grade HSS) were designed and fabricated and orthogonal cutting tests were performed to validate the model. The workpiece material used was Al 6061-T6. The force predictions from the model are found in good agreement with the measured forces. The effects of groove design parameters on the cutting forces are also determined.


First results of numerical and physical experiments for the ring waveguide resonator on surface acoustic waves are presented. The structure consists of a gold interdigital transducer in the form of a ring placed on the Z cut of aluminum nitride crystal. Excitation of radial modes is investigated. The electrical admittance frequency dependence of such resonator does not have sidelobes. A high quality factor is achievable.


Molecular containers have raised an increased interest over the last decade. These supramolecular architectures have found applications in catalysis, molecular sensing or as insulators for key intermediates, among others. In this study, we describe the synthesis and binding properties of a tetraguanidinium macrocycle which forms robust complexes with diverse calix[4]arene tetraoxoanions through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. The binding behaviour and affinity strength of these constructs have been measured by NMR and isothermal titration calorimetry. Besides, VT NMR experiments show that this novel cyclic tetracation is able to stabilise the cone conformation of these calix[4]arenes. Preliminary NMR-binding experiments between a tetraguanidinium calix[4]arenate and quinolinium or isoquinolinium salts suggest an effective increase in the cavity volume of these supramolecular constructs.


Mining has been central to the social and economic narrative of Southern Africa, and has been a key provider of investment, employment, government revenue and infrastructure in the region. In South Africa, the Johannesburg-Pretoria metropolitan area, which serves as the region's economic and financial hub, developed because of the local gold supply. In the early years, mining developed on the back of migrant workers from across Southern Africa who toiled in the mines under poor conditions. Many ex-miners suffer from vocational diseases to this day. While mining has helped build the economies of Southern Africa, it has come at social and environmental costs that cast a long shadow. Inequality is also high in many Southern African countries, suggesting that mining has not translated into inclusive growth. This report attempts to examine and weigh the various benefits and costs that mining has brought to the Southern Africa region. Data limitations are significant, restricting authoritative conclusions on whether the benefits from mining are positive or negative, on balance, for Southern African societies. The emphasis of this report is thus on taking stock of various benefits and costs associated with mining, while drawing on available information and thought experiments to highlight the potential trade-offs and how they affect stakeholder groups: workers, investors, governments, communities, and the rest of the economy. The countries this report focuses on are Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.


Measurements of the optical properties of soot, emphasizing refractive indices, are reported for visible wavelengths (350-800 nm). The experiments considered soot in the fuel-lean (overfire) region of buoyant turbulent diffusion flames in the long residence time regime where soot properties are relatively independent of position in the overfire region and residence time. Flames fueled with acetylene, propylene, ethylene, and propane that were burning in still air provided a range of soot physical and structure properties. Measurements included soot composition, density, structure, gravimetric volume fraction, and scattering and absorption properties. These data were analyzed to find soot fractal dimensions, refractive indices, refractive index functions, and dimensionless extinction coefficients assuming Rayleigh-Debye-Gans scattering for polydisperse mass fractal aggregates (RDG-PFA theory). RDG-PFA theory was successfully evaluated using measured scattering properties. Soot fractal dimensions were independent of both fuel type and wavelength, yielding a mean value of 1.77 with a standard deviation of 0.04. Refractive indices were independent of fuel type within experimental uncertainties and were in reasonably good agreement with earlier measurements for soot in the fuel-lean region of diffusion flames due to Dalzell and Sarofim (1969). Dimensionless extinction coefficients were independent of both fuel type and wavelength, yielding a mean value of 5.1 with a standard deviation of 0.5, which is lower than earlier measurements for reasons that still must be explained.


A multicenter, retrospective study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for thromboembolism and efficacy of therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation. The primary prevention group consisted of 1,819 Japanese patients (mean age 64 years). During the mean follow-up period of 4.6 years. 158 patients developed cerebral thromboembolism or peripheral embolism (1.9%/year). The annual rate of thromboembolic complications was 0.9% for patients without underlying heart disease which was significantly lower compared with that for patients with underlying heart disease (p < 0.001). The annual rate was 1.4% among patients treated with aspirin (alone and in combination with other drugs except for warfarin), 1.4% with warfarin (alone and in combination with other drugs) and 1.1% with ticlopidine. The risk was lower for patients receiving these drugs (2.2%/year, p < 0.001). Among 801 patients not receiving treatment for thromboembolism, the annual rate was 0.9% for patients without underlying heart disease, which was significantly lower compared with patients with underlying heart diseases (e.g., 2.5% for ischemic heart disease and 2.1% for mitral valve disease, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis using quantification method II revealed hypertension, sick sinus syndrome and left ventricular dysfunction (> or = NYHA class II) as risk factors for embolism. Although limited due to its retrospective nature, the present study suggests that the risk for embolism seems low in patients with atrial fibrillation but is not associated with underlying heart diseases or other risk factors, and antiplatelet treatment seems beneficial for these patients.


Rituximab (Rituxan; Genentech, Inc, South San Francisco, CA and IDEC Pharmaceutical Corporation, San Diego, CA), the first monoclonal antibody available for the systemic treatment of cancer, yields a 48% response rate in patients with refractory low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This preliminary report describes the use of rituximab, instead of standard chemotherapy, in 39 previously untreated patients with stages II-IV low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma All patients received rituximab 375 mg/m2 by intravenous infusion for 4 consecutive weeks and were evaluated for response at week 6. Patients with stable disease or an objective response received repeat 4-week courses at 6-month intervals, for a maximum of four treatment cycles. At initial evaluation for response at week 6, 21 of 39 patients (54%) had objective responses and 14 (36%) had stable disease or a minor response. Response rates were similar in patients with follicular and small lymphocytic lymphoma (52% v 57%, respectively). Seven additional responses were reported either before or after the second course. Currently, the overall response rate is 72%, with 18% complete responses. The progression-free survival rate at 1 year is 77%. Treatment was well tolerated. The high level of activity suggests that initial treatment with rituximab is a reasonable option in this group of patients, and that repeat maintenance courses at 6-month intervals are feasible and well tolerated. Further follow-up evaluation is necessary to determine the merits of this approach compared with traditional chemotherapeutic treatment.


We address the problem of effectively composing skills to solve sparse-reward tasks in the real world. Given a set of parameterized skills (such as exerting a force or doing a top grasp at a location), our goal is to learn policies that invoke these skills to efficiently solve such tasks. Our insight is that for many tasks, the learning process can be decomposed into learning a state-independent task schema (a sequence of skills to execute) and a policy to choose the parameterizations of the skills in a state-dependent manner. For such tasks, we show that explicitly modeling the schema's state-independence can yield significant improvements in sample efficiency for model-free reinforcement learning algorithms. Furthermore, these schemas can be transferred to solve related tasks, by simply re-learning the parameterizations with which the skills are invoked. We find that doing so enables learning to solve sparse-reward tasks on real-world robotic systems very efficiently. We validate our approach experimentally over a suite of robotic bimanual manipulation tasks, both in simulation and on real hardware. See videos at http://tinyurl.com/chitnis-schema.


"There is a vast literature on water in the Middle East, but few studies that take on such a balanced approach as Water Wisdom. The book makes a great addition to academic libraries around the world and for scholars involved in water policy studies."-Aaron Wolf, Oregon State University "This comprehensive, informed, and balanced volume provides invaluable insights into the roots of the water management challenges in the Middle East and charts a course for resolving this pressing issue."-James D. Wolfensohn, former Quartet Special Envoy for Gaza Israel and Palestine are, by international criteria, water scarce. As the peace process continues amidst ongoing violence, water remains a political and environmental issue. Thirty leading Palestinian and Israeli activists, water scientists, politicians, and others met and worked together to develop a future vision for the sustainable shared management of water resources that is presented in Water Wisdom. This book is model for those who believe that water conflict can be an opportunity for cooperation rather than violence. ALON TAL is on the faculty of Ben Gurion University of the Negev where he conducts interdisciplinary research on water management, biodiversity, desertification, and development policy. Previously he was the founding director of Adam Teva Vadin (The Israel Union for Environmental Defense), Israel's leading environmental advocacy organization; the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies; and chairman of Life Environment, Israel's Green NGO Umbrella Group. ALFRED ABED RABBO is on the faculty of Bethlehem University, Palestine, specializing in environmental chemistry with a particular interest in water science, and is the founder and director of the university's Water and Soil Environmental Research Unit. He is on the board of Friends of the Earth Middle East and is the author and coauthor of many books and publications.


Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to learn about the enduring symptoms and disability faced by many survivors of SARS-CoV-2. In their prospective cohort study of 242 survivors of severe COVID-19 in New York City, Dr. Frontera et al. reported that a majority (87%) suffer from some degree of ongoing cognitive, psychiatric, or functional disability 12 months after hospitalization. In response, Dr. Machado referenced neuroimaging data that associate SARS-CoV-2 with structural brain changes—notably a reduction in gray matter volume—which may account for some of these lasting cognitive symptoms. The exchange between Dr. Machado and the investigators further emphasizes the effects of hypoxemia and the inflammatory sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection as mediators of chronic brain dysfunction. In addition, Dr. Frontera drew some parallels to the downstream effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and Alzheimer disease pathology, which warrant further exploration.