Dyer, B. Insight into the development and competitiveness of male UK-based stand-up paddleboard flatwater distance racing from 2013 to 2017. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2018-An analysis of 2 stand-up paddleboard "distance" events was undertaken to investigate any change in their participation, racing behavior, and whether such events should be approached differently by practitioners. The completion time paddler-to-paddler gap was investigated as a means of assessing the performances in 2 flatwater distance events from 2013 to 2017. The level of participation at these events had not noticeably changed. An analysis indicated that both events did not significantly change in their completion time paddler-to-paddler range from year to year when looking at 3 subgroups (p > 0.05) and did not differ significantly in behavior when normalized against each other (p > 0.05). Post hoc tests revealed that the paddler time gaps at an event held in 2015 were significantly different when compared with all the other years it had taken place (p < 0.05). The use of a performance intensity chart indicated that there was different finishing paddler-to-paddler gap behavior between the 2 events. Ultimately, it is proposed that athletes and coaches should be aware that 2 events with the same generic classification of being designated a "distance event" may warrant different training methodologies and tactical decision-making.


Twenty one cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/brain tissue (16 CSF and 5 brain tissue) from patients clinically suspected of herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) were collected during one year period and was subjected for the detection of HSV type I and type II antigen by direct Immunofluorescence (DIF). Paired serum and CSF samples obtained from 12 patients were tested for herpes simplex virus antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence test. Of the 21 cases, two were positive for HSV-1 antigen in CSF and one in brain tissue by DIF. Virus specific IgG antibody in paired CSF and serum samples was positive in one case only. In none, virus could be grown in verocell line. In 2 Patients antemortem diagnosis was possible and parenteral acyclovir could be administered in one case that recovered following treatment. Thus, besides antibody detection, direct immunofluorescence is an useful and rapid method for the early diagnosis of HSE.


Appropriate canopy management and proper application of fertilizer under different growing conditions and agronomic practices can obtain reliable yield of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.). The objective of this study was to determine the effects of pruning level in first year and fertilizer rate of combined NPK in the first and second years on growth and yield of three-year old physic. A split plot design with four replications was used. Three pruning levels of 50, 75 and 90 cm from the ground were assigned in main plots and combinations of NPK fertilizers at the rates of 0, 312.5 and 625 kg ha-1 were arranged randomly in subplots. All pruning levels from the ground did not have significant effects on branch number and branch length (cm), whereas application of fertilizer did increase branch number and branch length especially at the rate of 312.5 kg ha-1. Harvest in the second year gave higher yield (1,559 kg ha-1) than did in the first year (1,180 kg ha-1) for all treatments, suggesting that it is not necessary to prune physic nut every year in commercial plantations. It is recommended to prune the three-year old physic nut at 70 cm from the ground. Pruning at 90 cm from the ground is possible but not at 50 cm. it is also recommended to apply fertilizer to the three-year old physic nut under rainfed conditions at the rate not exceeding 312.5 kg ha-1 and this should be based on soil analysis. Application of higher rates depressed yield


The electric dipole matrix elements connecting the 1s2 1S and 1snp1P states of the helium isoelectronic sequence are calculated exactly to first order in inverse powers of the nuclear charge Z and the differences from the Hartree-Fock approximation are shown to correspond to virtual transitions of the 1s electrons. Comparison of the oscillator strengths predicted by a screening approximation with more accurate values reveals a regular variation in the error contained in the screening approximation, the correction of which allows the prediction of oscillator strengths and probabilities of 1s2 1S – 1snp1P transitions for all values of n and all values of Z within a probable error of 2% (table 5). Values of the photoionization cross-sections at the spectral heads are also presented.


Cervical myelopathy is a clinical syndrome resulting in symptoms of neurologic deficits due to prolonged spinal cord compression or ischemia in the cervical spine. Spinal cord compression can be caused by ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament and hypertrophy of ligamentun flavum in addition to degenerative cervical spondylosis, degenerative disc disease, and progressive cervical kyphosis. Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a series of disease entities caused by spinal cord compression by various non-traumatic and non-infectious causes. The pathophysiology of DCM includes spinal cord structure and function abnormalities caused by both static and dynamic factors. Surgical decompression for patients with moderate to severe cervical myelopathy not only inhibits the progression of neurological deterioration, but also improves functional status, pain, and quality of life. However, the role of nonsurgical treatment in patients with mild spinal cord compression is controversial. In general, patients with cervical myelopathies who do not undergo surgery have a poor prognosis. Appropriate surgical treatment is recommended when spinal cord compression is confirmed on image study in patients with reasonable symptoms of cervical myelopathy. The patient's overall health, degree of compression, presence of concurrent cervical radiculopathy, and cervical spine alignment, in addition to lesion location and etiology, should be considered when determining an appropriate surgical procedure. This review covers the updated issues, including pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, differential diagnosis, and available treatments for DCM.


Recent national and international reports have expressed concern about the quality of initial teacher education programs. A key concern is the disconnect between theory and practice highlighting the need for authentic tertiary assessment to deepen preservice learning.

This doctoral research is focused on the development of an effective teacher professional identity and how this impacts on practice. Metaphor and critical reflection were used as tools to illuminate connections between preservice teacher beliefs, their professional identity and their practice. In response to the literature, the researcher developed a tertiary course to facilitate a self-study inquiry for preservice teachers situated in a five-week professional experience. The self-study inquiry was designed to build their capacity to determine the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of their practice by coming to know themselves better.

Design-based research sought to capture the effectiveness of the self-study inquiry in making explicit to preservice teachers their beliefs about teaching and learning, their image of self as teacher as revealed through metaphor and their pedagogy used in practice. Iterative cycles of design were used in a systematic and flexible way to determine impact professional identity. Multiple forms of data, including surveys, written metaphors and principles of pedagogy and artefacts of authentic practice were gathered to inform how the elements of the self-study inquiry process contributed to the shaping through understandings about their beliefs, professional identity and practices.

The results indicate that all preservice early childhood teachers envisaged themselves as social constructivists and were able to analyse evidence of their practice to determine its effectiveness to varying degrees of proficiency, ranging from a minimal understanding (Level 2) to an advanced understanding (Level 5). The findings from this study afford the following contributions to knowledge: the North Philosophy of Education Metaphor Taxonomy and the North 5Is model of inquiry, which is an effective five-step process (Interrogate, Illuminate, Innovate, Investigate and Iterate) designed to guide the self-study inquiry. In addition, three models were developed to contribute to the formation of an effective preservice teacher identity. First, is a new envisioning model to scaffold the imagining of self as teacher; second, is a new model to guide a holistic approach to critical reflection; and third, is a model to guide the formation of an effective teacher professional identity in initial teacher education expanded from an existing published model of factors which influence teacher identity.

The self-study inquiry is a powerful pedagogical tool in initial teacher education for shifting surface learning to deep learning by creating an authentic context for professional growth as evidenced by the findings of this study.


Abstract This work sketches how SDSS ugr colors and Kepler 2 in halo fields can identify red giants 50 – 100 kpc distant with minimal metallicity bias. For these mildly-reddened, metal-poor giants, (g-r)o yields the effective temperature Teff to 100 K. K2 can detect the p-mode oscillations of red giants and measure their frequency of maximum power νmax. This sets the luminosity Lbol and thus the distance, plus an estimate of metallicity [Fe/H].


In flexoelectricity, a strain gradient can induce polarization and a polarization gradient can induce mechanical stress. In this paper, in order to identify the contributions of each strain gradient component, the flexoelectric theory is reformulated by splitting the strain gradient tensor into mutually independent parts. Two sets of orthogonal higher-order deformation metrics are inherited and perfected to reformulate the internal energy density for isotropic materials. The deviatoric stretch gradient and the symmetric part of the rotation gradient are proved to disappear in the coupling of strain gradient to polarization and, moreover, the independent higher-order constants associated with the coupling of strain gradient to strain gradient reduce from five to three. The constitutive relations are then reformulated in terms of the new deformation and electric field metrics, and the governing equations and boundary conditions are derived according to the variational principle of electric enthalpy. On the basis of the present simplified flexoelectric theory, a flexoelectric Bernoulli–Euler beam theory is specified. Solutions for a cantilever subjected to a force at the free end and a voltage cross the thickness are constructed and the size-dependent direct and inverse flexoelectric effects are captured.


This study examines the influence of capital structure on profitability of listed Nigerian banks and data was obtained of listed banks on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) from 2008 to 2012 covering a period of five years. For this study, expofactor descriptive research design was adopted and multiple regression technique was applied. The dependant variable for the study is Return on Assets (ROA) measured as Earnings before tax (EBT) divided by total assets. The independent variables are total debts to total assets ratio (LEVI) and equity to total assets (LEVII). The findings of this study show that capital structure has a significant positive influence on the profitability of Nigerian banks during the period of study. Therefore, it was recommended that Directors and management should use both equity and debt in financing the business because there is a significant positive relationship between capital structure and profitability of listed banks in Nigeria. Management should endeavour to finance their activities with equity and debts as supported by the pecking order theory and agency theory.


Orgotein is being increasingly used in the treatment of some inflammatory disorders. Up to now no hypersensitivity reaction has been reported. We present the case of an allergic reaction demonstrated by both, "in vivo" and "in vitro" tests. This finding further supports the need for an adequate control during and after orgotein administration.


Achieving proper designs of nanosensors for highly sensitive and selective detection of toxic environmental gases is one of the crucial issues in the field of gas sensor technology, because such designs can lead to the enhancement of gas sensor performance and expansion of their applications. Different geometrical designs of porous tungsten oxide nanostructures, including the mesocages, hollow spheres and nanowires, are synthesized for toxic gas sensor applications. Nanosensor designs with small crystalline size, large specific surface area, and superior physical characteristics enable the highly sensitive and selective detection of low concentration (ppm levels), highly toxic NO2 among CO, as well as volatile organic compound gases, such as acetone, benzene, and ethanol. The experimental results showed that the sensor response was not only dependent on the specific surface area, but also on the geometries and crystal size of materials. Among the designed nanosensors, the nanowires showed the highest sensitivity, followed by the mesocages and hollow spheres—despite the fact that mesocages had the largest specific surface area of 80.9 m2 g − 1, followed by nanowires (69.4 m2 g − 1), and hollow spheres (6.5 m2 g − 1). The nanowire sensors had a moderate specific surface area (69.4 m2 g − 1) but they exhibited the highest sensitivity because of their small diameter (∼5 nm), which approximates the Debye length of WO3. This led to the depletion of the entire volume of the nanowires upon exposure to NO2, resulting in an enormous increase in sensor resistance.


A persistent underrepresentation of certain racial and ethnic minorities in American medical education contributes to health disparities and hinders physician training by mitigating the benefits of a diverse learning environment. In 2007, the University of California (UC) instituted Programs in Medical Education (PRIME) to prepare physician leaders to work in underserved communities. To determine the effect of PRIME on underrepresented minority (URM) admissions, this study examines data from UC San Diego School of Medicine by way of an interrupted time-series analysis. Results indicate the program increased the proportion of URM matriculants. It also protected the proportion of URM applicants from decreasing the year of its implementation. A year-to-year decrease in the matriculation yield of URM students from California partially explains the increase in URM students from out-of-state. Lastly, statistical modeling found no evidence of an autoregressive component; meaning one year's measures did not influence those of the subsequent time point.


The Cleanroom software development This paper is a report of an application of the methapproach is intended to produce highly reliable od described in [Albrecht83]. software by integrating formal methods for specification and design, nonexecution-based program deBerger85 velopment, and statistically based independent testing. In an empirical study, 15 three-person teams Berger, J. O. Statistical Decision Theory and developed versions of the same software system Bayesian Analysis, 2nd Ed. New York: Springer(800-2300 source lines); ten teams applied CleanVerlag, 1985. room, while five applied a more traditional apCovers the foundations and concepts of statistical proach. This analysis characterizes the effect of decision theory, including situations where data are Cleanroom on the delivered product, the software incomplete. This book approaches statistics from development process, and the developers. the business perspective where not all of the data The major results of this study are the following. 1) are available. It introduces the probability of acMost of the developers were able to apply the techcuracy of the data into the statistical calculations, niques of Cleanroom effectively (six of the ten statistics based on probable accuracy of the data Cleanroom teams delivered at least 91 percent of (Bayesian), is not appreciated by the mathematical the required system functions). 2) The Cleanroom approach to statistics. teams' products met system requirements more completely and had a higher percentage of successBernstein81 ful operationally generated test cases. 3) The source code developed using Cleanroom had more Bernstein, L. "Software Project Management comments and less dense control-flow complexity. Audits." J. Syst. and Software 2, 4 (Dec. 1981), 4) The more successful Cleanroom developers mod281-287. ified their use of the implementation language; they Abstract: This paper shows how project audits can used more procedure calls and IF statements, used be used to uncover project strengths and fewer CASE and WHILE statements, and had a weaknesses. Three audits are described and findlower frequency of variable reuse (average number ings of the audit teams are summarized. Audits of occurrences per variable). 5) All ten Cleanroom helped identify organizational problems, lacking teams made all of their scheduled intermediate management discipline, and software testing approduct deliveries, while only two of the five nonproaches useful to other projects. The issue of Cleanroom teams did. 6) Although 86 percent of product sales versus disciplined project managethe Cleanroom developers indicated that they ment was faced in all three audits. How this issue missed the satisfaction of program execution to was handled is discussed and related to the success some extent, this had no relation to the product or lack of it for each project. quality measures of implementation completeness and successful operational tests. 7) Eighty-one perThis paper illustrates one method of status evalucent of the Cleanroom developers said that they ation. would use the approach again. This paper can be used to illustrate quality-based Bersoff80 life cycles. Bersoff, E. H., V. D. Henderson, and S. G. Siegel. Software Configuration Management. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980. 16 Draft For Public Review SEI-CM-21-1.0 Software Project Management field of software cost estimation, including the This book contains the most complete description of major estimation techniques available, the state of software configuration management available. It the art in algorithmic cost models, and the outprovides a fairly complete rationale for what to do standing research issues in software cost estimaand why. The authors have their own conceptual tion. breakdown of the subject that does not map one-forone onto the organization of this module. The book This is a short summary of the thesis of [Boehm81]. also does not clearly explain how to perform configuration management tasks. Boehm84b Boehm, Barry W., Terence E. Gray, and Thomas Bersoff84 Seewaldt. "Prototyping Versus Specifying: A MulBersoff, Edward H. "Elements of Software Configutiproject Experiment." IEEE Trans. Software Eng. ration Management." IEEE Trans. Software Eng. SE-10, 3 (May 1984), 290-302. SE-10, 1 (Jan. 1984), 79-87. Abstract: In this experiment, seven software teams Abstract: Software configuration management developed versions of the same small-size (2000(SCM) is one of the disciplines of the 1980's which 4000 source instruction) application software prodgrew in response to the many failures of the softuct. Four teams used the Specifying approach. ware industry throughout the 1970's. Over the last Three teams used the Prototyping approach. ten years, computers have been applied to the soluIn this experiment, seven software teams Abstract: Software configuration management developed versions of the same small-size (2000(SCM) is one of the disciplines of the 1980's which 4000 source instruction) application software prodgrew in response to the many failures of the softuct. Four teams used the Specifying approach. ware industry throughout the 1970's. Over the last Three teams used the Prototyping approach. ten years, computers have been applied to the solution of so many complex problems that our ability to The main results of the experiment were the followmanage these applications has all too frequently ing. failed. This has resulted in the development of a 1) Prototyping yielded products with roughly series of "new" disciplines intended to help control equivalent performance, but with about 40 the software process. percent less code and 45 percent less effort. This paper will focus on the discipline of SCM by first placing it in its proper context with respect to 2) The prototyped products rated somewhat the rest of the software development process, as lower on functionality and robustness, but well as to the goals of that process. It will examine higher on ease of use and ease of learning. the constituent components of SCM, dwelling at 3) Specifying produced more coherent desome length on one of those components, configusigns and software that was easier to interation control. It will conclude with a look at what grate. the 1980's might have in store. The paper presents the experimental data supportThis paper is good background reading for a lecture ing these and a number of additional conclusions. on SCM. This paper provides an example of an alternative development cycle. Boehm81 Boehm, Barry W. Software Engineering Economics. Boehm87 Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1981. Boehm, Barry W. "Improving Software ProductivThis book must be read by every teacher or potenity." Computer 20, 9 (Sept. 1987), 43-57. tial teacher of project management. Since economic This article is an excellent short summary of the matters are intricately involved in most aspects of realistic factors involved in increasing the producsoftware project management, the bulk of this book tivity of software developers. Boehm's explicit is usable in a course on that subject. Chapters 1-3 belief is that the quality of management is the most and 33 should be read first, followed by 4-9. These important factor in the success of a project. An chapters provide basic background knowledge esextensive selected bibliography by productivity facsential to every project management teacher. tor ("getting the best from people," "eliminating rework," etc.) is included. Boehm84a Boehm, Barry W. "Software Engineering EconomBoehm88 ics." IEEE Trans. Software Eng. SE-10, 1 (Jan. Boehm, Barry W. "A Spiral Model of Software De1984), 4-21. velopment and Enhancement." Computer 21, 5 (May Abstract: This paper summarizes the current state 1988), 61-72. of the art and recent trends in software engineering Yet another example of a risk-reduction life cycle. economics. It provides an overview of economic analysis techniques and their applicability to software engineering and management. It surveys the SEI-CM-21-1.0 Draft For Public Review 17 Software Project Management ing functions geared to maintaining delivered softBranstad84 ware are described. The suggested software manBranstad, Martha, and Patricia B. Powell. "Software agement practices result from the experience of a Engineering Project Standards." IEEE Trans. Softsmall (approximately 100 employees) software enware Eng. SE-10, 1 (Jan. 1984), 73-78. gineering company that develops and maintains computer systems supporting real-time interactive Abstract: Software Engineering Project Standards commercial, industrial, and military applications. (SEPS) and their importance are presented in this paper by looking at standards in general, then This paper can be used as an illustration of alterprogressively narrowing the view to software stannative quality assurance techniques. dards, to software engineering standards, and finally to SEPS. After defining SEPS, issues associBuckley84 ated with the selection, support, and use of SEPS are examined and trends are discussed. A brief Buckley, Fletcher J., and Robert Poston. "Software overview of existing software engineering standards Quality Assurance." IEEE Trans. Software Eng. is presented as the Appendix. SE-10, 1 (Jan. 1984), 36-41. This paper is useful as an overview if no specific Abstract: This paper describes the status of softstandard is used in class. ware quality assurance as a relatively new and autonomous field. The history of its development from hardware quality assurance programs is disBrooks75 cussed, current methods are reviewed, and future Brooks, Frederick. The Mythical Man-Month: Esdirections are indicated. says on Software Engineering. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975. The book was "reprinted This paper provides useful information for introducwith corrections" in January 1982. ing quality assurance. Brooks wrote a true classic in the field of software Cave78 engineering. Most of the text can be mined for Cav


This paper studies the influence of socioeconomic variables on fertility. 7 socioeconomic variables are used as independent variables and fertility measures as dependent variables for the analysis. A path analysis model examines the causal factor for fertility changes in India at different points in time: 1971 1975 1981 and 1985. Results show that 1) the influence of socioeconomic variables on fertility is different during the past decades in India 2) the socioeconomic variables which influence the crude birth rate may not be the same as those for the total fertility rate and the general fertility rate 3) during the recent period the female literacy rate alone made a major dent in the crude birth rate 4) health and female literacy also influence the total fertility rate and the general fertility rate and 5) during the recent period literacy and health (bed-population ratio) had great influence on the general fertility rate.


: Scientists will undertake the first clinical study using gene therapy against HIV by giving cells the gene for a double ribozyme, which cleaves HIV's genetic RNA material at two distinct sites. The double ribozyme has exhibited more potent anti-HIV effects in cell cultures than the single ribozyme, the U5 hairpin, used in previous studies and may be less vulnerable to resistance. In phase I of the proposed study, white blood cells will be removed from six HIV-infected volunteers on AZT therapy with CD4 counts greater than 250. CD4 cells will be selected out, proliferated, and infected with a harmless virus shell containing the gene for the double ribozyme. Cells will be infused back into the body and tracked for number and longevity.


Background and aim: According to the most recent curriculum for the Swedish upper secondary school1, the students should be able to differentiate between British and American English. Furthermore, they should be able to keep to one of the varieties, as this is a prerequisite of writing correct texts in English. In the present thesis, young Swedes' awareness of grammatical differences between British and American standard English and which variety they use are investigated. The investigation is conducted by means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was composed of three parts. The first part consisted of sentences written in English that the informants had to judge as written prevailingly in British or American English. In the second part, the informants had to translate sentences from Swedish to English, and then judge them as British or American. The third part of the questionnaire comprised questions concerned with language use and attitude, as well as questions on basic information such as the informants' age, education and mother tongue. Results and conclusions: Nine informants fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The informants' judgments of the sentences in English suggest that they are not entirely able to differentiate between British and American English. Moreover, their translations of the Swedish sentences indicate that the informants mix British and American English. Furthermore, they are not aware of which variety they use and the majority does not know whether they prefer British or American English. In addition, the findings could support the emergence of Euro-English, a Mid-Atlantic variety.


The case study research strategy offers the field of Information Technology a strong qualitative analysis method. Currently available descriptions of the method can however be considered lacking in process structure. This article establishes the need for a rigorous, methodological approach to case study research and describes the proposed Information Technology Case Study Research Methodology (IT.CSRM). In particular benefits of the IT.CSRM will be described where applied to studies characterised by a commercial requirement, short timeframe, and inexperienced researchers.


Several indigenous sulfite-resistant yeasts were isolated at the microbial succession stage of yeast flora during spontaneous fermentation of Campbell Early grapes using a YPD plate that contained 200 mg/L or 500 mg/L potassium metabisulfite. When they were applied to the wine fermentation using the Campbell Early grape and apple juices, strains S13 and D8 showed strong alcohol fermentation and good flavor production. They were identified as Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the phylogenetic analysis based on their ITS 1-5.8S-ITS II DNA sequences. The two yeast strains grew to a high cell density in the YPD media supplemented with 40%(w/v) glucose. They also grew rapidly in the YPD media at 40°C. While strain S13 showed some differences in cell density at the two temperatures, no marked difference was observed during the culture of strain D8. The strains grew relatively well at pH 5.0 and 9.0 compared with pH 7.0, which was the optimum pH for their growth. Especially, strain S13 cultivated in the YPD media at pH 9.0 grew to 93% of the growth of strain D8, which was obtained at pH 7.0.


Cyanobacteria possess an inducible mechanism which enables them to concentrate inorganic carbon (Ci) within the cells. An inactivation library was used to raise the high-CO2-requiring mutant of Synechococcus PCC 7942, IL-2, impaired in HCO3- transport. Analysis of the relevant genomic DNA detected several modifications, probably due to the single crossover recombination, leading to inactivation of ORF467 (designated ictB) in IL-2. IctB contains 10 trans-membrane regions and is homologous to several transport-related proteins from various organisms. Kinetic analyses of HCO3- uptake in the wild type and IL-2 suggested the presence of two or three HCO3- carriers exhibiting different affinities to HCO3-.


Background. Intracranial solitary plasmacytoma is extremely rare and its location in the clivus is unusual; its clinical presentation is very varied and the diagnostic images are similar to the other tumors in skull-base. Case presentation. 47-year-old woman with initial diagnosis of pituitary macroadenoma, attended with headache, nausea, vomiting, diplopia in the right eye and paralysis of her abducent nerve. She was reoperated by transsphenoidal endoscopic approach, concluding in solitary clivus plasmacytoma by biopsy and immunohistochemistry. Conclusions. Clivus is an unusual location for intracranial plasmacytoma. Early diagnosis, complete study and careful follow-up are required due to its high progression to multiple myeloma.


We investigate the Zeeman field effects on the bulk superfluid properties and the collective modes in two-dimensional (2D) attractive atomic Fermi gases with Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling. In the presence of a large spin-orbit coupling, the system undergoes a quantum phase transition to a topological superfluid state at a critical Zeeman field. We show that the nonanalyticities of the thermodynamic functions as well as other physical quantities at the quantum phase transition originate from the infrared singularities caused by the gapless fermionic spectrum. The same argument applies also to the BCS-BEC evolution in 2D fermionic superfluids with $p$- or d-wave pairing. The superfluid density $n_s$ and the velocity of the Goldstone sound mode $c_s$ behave oppositely in the normal and the topological superfluid phases: they are suppressed by the Zeeman field in the normal superfluid phase, but get enhanced in the topological superfluid phase. The velocity of the Goldstone sound mode also shows nonanalyticity at the quantum phase transition. For large Zeeman field, we find $n_s\rightarrow n$ and $c_s\rightarrow \upsilon_{\rm F}$, where $n$ is the total fermion density and $\upsilon_{\rm F}$ is the Fermi velocity of noninteracting system. The unusual behavior of the superfluid density and the collective modes can be understood by the fact that the spin-orbit-coupled superfluid state at large Zeeman field can be mapped to the $p_x+ip_y$ superfluid state of spinless fermions.


Many stream restoration projects do not include a requirement for long-term monitoring after the project has been completed, resulting in a lack of information about the success or failure of certain restoration techniques. The National Risk Management Research Laboratory, part of the U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development, evaluated the effectiveness of stream bank and channel restoration as a means of improving in-stream water quality and biological habitat in Accotink Creek, Fairfax City, Va., using discrete sampling and continuous monitoring techniques before and after restoration. This project monitored the effects of a 549 m (1,800 linear-ft) restoration of degraded stream channel in the North Fork of Accotink Creek. Restoration, which was intended to restore the stream channel to a stable condition, thereby reducing stream bank erosion and sediment loads in the stream, included installation of native plant materials along the stream and bioengineering structures to stabilize the stream channel and bank. Results of sampling and monitoring for 2 years after restoration indicated a slight improvement in biological quality for macroinvertebrate indices such as Virginia Stream Condition Index, Hilsenhoff Biotic Index, and Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera taxa; the differences were statistically significant at 90% level of confidence with the power of greater than 0.8. However, indices were all below the impairment level, indicating poor water quality conditions. No statistically significant differences in chemical constituents and bacteriological indicator organisms were found before and after restoration as well as upstream and downstream of the restoration. The results indicated that stream restoration alone had little effect in improving the conditions of in-stream water quality and biological habitat, though it has lessened further degradation of stream banks in critical areas where the properties were at risk. Control of storm-water flows by placing best management practices in the watershed might reduce and delay discharge to the stream and may ultimately improve habitat and water quality conditions.


Land colonization was a major event in the history of life. Among animals, insects had a staggering terrestrialization success, due to traits usually associated with post-embryonic life stages, while the egg stage has been largely overlooked in comparative studies. In many insects, after blastoderm differentiation, the extraembryonic serosal tissue wraps the embryo and synthesizes the serosal cuticle, an extracellular matrix that lies beneath the eggshell and protects the egg against water loss. In contrast, in non-insect hexapods such as springtails (Collembola) the early blastodermal cells synthesize a blastodermal cuticle. Here, we investigate the relationship between blastodermal cuticle formation and egg resistance to desiccation in the springtails Orchesella cincta and Folsomia candida, two species with different oviposition tenvironments and developmental rates. The blastodermal cuticle becomes externally visible in O. cincta and F. candida at 22 and 29% of embryogenesis, respectively. To contextualize, we describe the stages of springtail embryogenesis, exemplified by F. candida. Physiological assays showed that blastodermal cuticle formation supports egg viability in a dry environment, significantly contributing to hatching success. However, protection differs between species: while O. cincta eggs survive at least 2 hours outside a humid environment, the survival period recorded for F. candida eggs is only 15 minutes, which correlates with this species' requirement for humid microhabitats. We suggest that the formation of this protective cuticle is an ancestral trait among hexapods, predating and facilitating the process of terrestrialization that occurred during insect evolution.


Two diarylethene derivatives 1 a and 2 a containing a 2,5-diaryl-3-thienyl group have been designed and synthesized. The pK(a) values of these compounds change upon photoirradiation. They have a phenol group as a proton source and a pyridinium group as an acceptor unit at each end of the pi-conjugated chain. The cyclization/cycloreversion reactions can be used to control the length of the pi-conjugated chain between the proton source and the acceptor. The change in the pi-conjugated chain length caused the pK(a)-switching.


Hispanics are less likely to undergo screening tests for colorectal cancer and cervical cancer than non-Hispanic whites. Compliance with mammography, fecal occult blood testing (FOBT), colonoscopy, and cervical smears (PAP) and barriers for compliance were studied. A descriptive study was performed with 194 ambulatory patients while they attended routine medical visits. Women are more likely than men to undergo a colonoscopy. Conversely, FOBT was most likely reported by men. Reasons for compliance with FOBT differed by gender. Men were most likely to avoid FOBT due to lack of knowledge whereas women reported that physicians do not recommend the procedure. Both men and women reported that lack of physician's recommendation was their primary reason for not undergoing a colonoscopy. Men tend to report lack of knowledge about colonoscopy procedure. A higher mammogram utilization rate was reported by women older than 40 years. PAP smears were reported by 74% of women older than 21 years. The major reasons for avoiding mammography and PAP tests were having a busy schedule, fear, and feeling uncomfortable during the procedure. In a multivariate regression analysis, occupational status was found to be a predictor for compliance with FOBT and colonoscopy.


We describe Hokusai, a real time system which is able to capture frequency information for streams of arbitrary sequences of symbols. The algorithm uses the CountMin sketch as its basis and exploits the fact that sketching is linear. It provides real time statistics of arbitrary events, e.g. streams of queries as a function of time. We use a factorizing approximation to provide point estimates at arbitrary (time, item) combinations. Queries can be answered in constant time.


Joint intent detection and slot filling is a key research topic in natural language understanding (NLU). Existing joint intent and slot filling systems analyze and compute features collectively for all slot types, and importantly, have no way to explain the slot filling model decisions. In this work, we propose a novel approach that: (i) learns to generate additional slot type specific features in order to improve accuracy and (ii) provides explanations for slot filling decisions for the first time in a joint NLU model. We perform an additional constrained supervision using a set of binary classifiers for the slot type specific feature learning, thus ensuring appropriate attention weights are learned in the process to explain slot filling decisions for utterances. Our model is inherently explainable and does not need any post-hoc processing. We evaluate our approach on two widely used datasets and show accuracy improvements. Moreover, a detailed analysis is also provided for the exclusive slot explainability.


To decompose forest biomass, microorganisms use specific enzymes from the class of oxidoreductases and hydrolases, which are produced by bacteria and soil fungi. In post-agricultural forest soils, bacteria adapt more easily to changing ecological conditions than fungi. The unique features of bacteria, i.e., tolerance and the ability to degrade a wide range of chemical compounds, prompted us to conduct research that contributes to the improvement of the broadly understood circular management of biomass production and economic efficiency. This study aimed to analyze changes in the microbiological activity and the activities of dehydrogenases, catalase, β-glucosidase, urease, arylsulfatase, acid phosphatase, and alkaline phosphatase in the soil sampled from under Picea abies (Pa), Pinus sylvestris (Ps), Larix decidua (Ld), Quercus robur (Qr), and Betula pendula (Bp), after 19 years. The control object was unforested soil. The studies allowed one to demonstrate the relationship between the activity of soil enzymes and the assemblages of culturable microorganisms and bacteria determined by the metagenomic method and tree species. Thus, it is possible to design the selection of tree species catalyzing enzymatic processes in soil. The strongest growth promoter of microorganisms turned out to be Quercus robur L., followed by Picea abies L., whereas the weakest promoters appeared to be Pinus sylvestris L. and Larix decidua M.


As to alloxan, the frog Rana tigrina was found to be sensitive to streptozotocin also. An intravenous injection of 200 mg/kg body weight streptozotocin caused a delayed hyperglycemia which returned to normal levels after 120 hrs of the injection. The beta-cells of the endocrine pancreas underwent degranulation and necrosis and the hyperglycemia seems to be due to the deficiency of insulin. There was no visible effect on the alpha-cells, however. Unlike alloxan, streptozotocin did not induce nephrotoxicity in frogs.


Information Retrieval, Summarization and Question Answering need accurate linguistic information with a much higher coverage than what is being recently offered by currently available parsers, so we assume that the starting point of any interesting application in those fields must necessarily be a good syntactic -semantic parser. The system presented in the paper has undergone extensive testing and the parser has been trained on available testsuites and the Remedia corpus texts, one of which will be commented in some detail.


Magnetic field tomography (MFT) was used to extract estimates for distributed source activity from average and single trial MEG signals recorded while subjects identified objects (including faces) and facial expressions of emotion. Regions of interest (ROIs) were automatically identified from the MFT solutions of the average signal for each subject. For one subject the entire set of MFT estimates obtained from unaveraged data was also used to compute simultaneous time series for the single trial activity in different ROIs. Three pairs of homologous areas in each hemisphere were selected for further analysis: posterior calcarine sulcus (PCS), fusiform gyrus (FM), and the amygdaloid complex (AM). Mutual information (MI) between each pair of the areas was computed from all single trial time series and contrasted for different tasks (object or emotion recognition) and categories within each task. The MI analysis shows that through feed‐forward and feedback linkages, the "computation" load associated with the task of identifying objects and emotions is spread across both space (different ROIs and hemispheres) and time (different latencies and delays in couplings between areas)—well within 200 ms, different objects separate first in the right hemisphere PCS and FG coupling while different emotions separate in the right hemisphere FG and AM coupling, particularly at latencies after 200 ms. Hum. Brain Mapping 11:77–92, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


We explore a novel approach for handwriting recognition tasks whose intrinsic vocabularies are too large to be applied directly as constraints during recognition. Our approach makes use of vocabulary constraints, and addresses the issue that some parts of words may be written more recognizably than others. An initial pass is made with an HMM recognizer, without vocabulary constraints, generating a lattice of character-hypothesis arcs representing likely segmentations of the handwriting signal. Arc confidence scores are computed using a posteriori probabilities. The most confidently recognized characters are used to filter the overall vocabulary, generating a word subset manageable for constraining a second recognition pass. With a vocabulary of 273000 words, we can limit to 50000 words in the second pass and eliminate 39.3% of the word errors made by a one-pass recognizer without vocabulary constraints, and 18.3% of errors made using a fixed 30000-word set.


Converging evidence from controlled experiments suggests that the mere processing of a number and its attributes such as value or parity might affect free choice decisions between different actions. For example the spatial numerical associations of response codes (SNARC) effect indicates the magnitude of a digit to be associated with a spatial representation and might therefore affect spatial response choices (i.e., decisions between a "left" and a "right" option). At the same time, other (linguistic) features of a number such as parity are embedded into space and might likewise prime left or right responses through feature words [odd or even, respectively; markedness association of response codes (MARC) effect]. In this experiment we aimed at documenting such influences in a natural setting. We therefore assessed number-space and parity-space association effects by exposing participants to a fair distribution task in a card playing scenario. Participants drew cards, read out loud their number values, and announced their response choice, i.e., dealing it to a left vs. right player, indicated by Playmobil characters. Not only did participants prefer to deal more cards to the right player, the card's digits also affected response choices and led to a slightly but systematically unfair distribution, supported by a regular SNARC effect and counteracted by a reversed MARC effect. The experiment demonstrates the impact of SNARC- and MARC-like biases in free choice behavior through verbal and visual numerical information processing even in a setting with high external validity.


Gastric rupture is extremely rare in childhood beyond the neonatal period and the etiology of this condition in preschool children remains obscure. We report a case of 6 year old girl who sustained sudden and lethal gastric rupture. The young patient was affected by Incontinentia Pigmenti (IP), a genetic disease; she had an episode of nausea and vomiting the day before admission to the emergency ward. Abdominal X-ray showed free air in the abdominal cavity, an emergency laparotomy detected a wide perforation of posterior gastric wall. The post-operative course was complicated by a cardiac arrest and an autopsy was performed. Histological examination showed ulcerations and erosions in gastric mucosa with thrombosis in the blood vessel in the submucosa and it suggested Intestinal Neuronal Dysplasia (IND) type B. An eventual correlation between the three diseases that affected our patient was investigated. After a review of literature we have found that the presence of IP not appears to be associated with the other two diseases; so, in our case, it can be considered as a pre-existing pathology. About IND, even if it was never described any case in which this condition has determined gastric rupture, we think, on the basis of clinical and histological findings, that it has determined an increase of pressure at gastrointestinal level, with serious stomach distension until fatal gastric rupture.


This study investigated college EFL teachers' attitudes toward task-based language teaching (TBLT), regarding their familiarity with the idea of TBLT, their actual use of TBLT, and contextual factors that impede the implementation of TBLT in the higher education context in China. The study described here is a questionnaire survey with 26 valid responses. Results of this study are derived from discussion concerned with qualitative and quantitative data. The findings in the study show that though there are constraints from various aspects (including, the teaching materials, large class size etc.) for the successful implementation of TBLT, TBLT as a communicative teaching approach received very positive feedback from teachers. The majority of the teachers in this study hold positive views towards TBLT even though they have a low-level understanding of principles and practices of TBLT. The results addressed the issues existed in the pre-service and in-service training of Chinese EFL teachers. This study also highlighted the need for the Chinese ELT teachers to further develop their professional skills in terms of their competence to deal with large class size teaching, material development and English proficiency. Based on the findings, suggestions for teacher education and further development were made. This research is intended to yield informative insights regarding sustainable curriculum change management, policy implementation and professional development of English teachers in the Chinese EFL context.


Objective . To report the clinical feasibility and diagnostic performance of first trimester fetal neurosonography in a low-risk population. Materials and Methods . Prospective study including all fetuses with a low combined screening test scanned at 11-14 weeks of gestation. The aim of this study was to report the rate of visualization of the different fetal intra-cranial structures, as suggested by the ISUOG guidelines for the second trimester fetal neurosonography, at the time of the 11-14 weeks scan. The fetal central nervous system (CNS) structures assessed were interhemispheric fissure, frontal and posterior horns, thalami, third ventricle, peri-callosal artery and corpus callosum, cerebellum and cerebellar vermis. Results . 167 fetuses were included. The interhemispheric fissure was assessed in all cases. Anterior and posterior horns of the cerebral ventricles were clearly differentiated in 98.5% and 98.7% of cases, while third ventricle in 45.2%. The pericallosal artery was visualized in 99.2% of cases while there was a direct visualization of the corpus callosum in only 15% of cases. Fetal cerebellum was clearly identified in 93.5% of cases and cerebellar vermis in 91%. Conclusions . This is the first study exploring the diagnostic performance of first trimester fetal neurosonography at the time of the 11-14 weeks scan. First trimester assessment can identify most of the supra and infra tentorial intracranial


This encyclopedic global survey of leguminous root nodulation, the result of 45 years of research by O. N. Allen and Ethel K. Allen, is the only one of its kind, a massive effort incorporating all of the 750 known genera of" Leguminosae," which, in turn, include nearly 20,000 species. The volume contains a comprehensive taxonomic account of the family "Leguminosae" as a framework for the author s census report of the nodulating and non-nodulating genera and species. The main body of the work consists of synopses of 750 leguminous genera arranged alphabetically. Each is described taxonomically within its proper tribe and subfamily, in accordance with accepted classification systems. All of the nodulation data from the survey are further summarized in tabular alphabetical listings of genera under each of the three subfamily categories. Throughout the volume there are previously unpublished personal observations, both those of the authors and of the many scientists whom they have contacted and worked with during their more than four decades of research."


Significant interest in applying Deep Neural Network (DNN) has fueled the need to support engineering of software that uses DNNs. Repairing software that uses DNNs is one such unmistakable SE need where automated tools could be beneficial; however, we do not fully understand challenges to repairing and patterns that are utilized when manually repairing DNNs. What challenges should automated repair tools address? What are the repair patterns whose automation could help developers? Which repair patterns should be assigned a higher priority for building automated bug repair tools? This work presents a comprehensive study of bug fix patterns to address these questions. We have studied 415 repairs from Stack Overflow and 555 repairs from GitHub for five popular deep learning libraries Caffe, Keras, Tensorflow, Theano, and Torch to understand challenges in repairs and bug repair patterns. Our key findings reveal that DNN bug fix patterns are distinctive compared to traditional bug fix patterns; the most common bug fix patterns are fixing data dimension and neural network connectivity; DNN bug fixes have the potential to introduce adversarial vulnerabilities; DNN bug fixes frequently introduce new bugs; and DNN bug localization, reuse of trained model, and coping with frequent releases are major challenges faced by developers when fixing bugs. We also contribute a benchmark of 667 DNN (bug, repair) instances.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Purpose: Multiple melanoma GWAS have identified significant associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and melanoma. As multiple variants within a given genetic locus may contribute to disease risk in different individuals, a novel computational approach to analyzing GWAS data by 'wide-locus' region has been shown to increase analytical power, and, in other diseases, has led to the discovery of new susceptibility loci. To date, this approach has not been applied to the study of germline genetic risk factors for melanoma. We applied this method to publically available melanoma GWAS data to identify novel germline risk factors for melanoma.

Methods: We re-analyzed data from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center melanoma GWAS study (dbGap accession: phs000187.v1.p1). In the original study, 1,977 cases and 1,047 controls of European ancestry were genotyped on an Illumina OMNI1-Quad chip. We age-matched cases and controls using "age-censoring" to account for differences in melanoma risk across different age groups. Biostatistical analysis of 'wide-loci' was performed across all SNPs to evaluate risk loci based on the influence of neighboring SNPs. The re-analysis was performed by individuals blinded to specific results of the original study. Genome-wide significance for each wide locus was based on number of regions examined, and was set at p<10−6.16.

Results: Using the 'wide-locus' approach, we identified 21 risk loci on 16 chromosomes that met genome-wide significance. Firstly, we replicated all of the genome-wide significant findings of the original, single-SNP analysis, identifying specific SNPs at HERC2 and wide loci at MC1R and AFG3L1 that met genome-wide significance. Secondly, we identified additional SNPs not replicated to genome-wide significance in the original analysis but previously discovered in other populations. These additional SNPs reside in the MC1R, OCA2, CPNE7, DBNDD1, and AFG3L1 loci. Finally, we identified 15 new candidate loci meeting genome-wide significance, with the most significant findings located at KLK12 (associated with carcinogenesis in other cancers), PDE8 (involved with cAMP intra-cellular signaling and immune activation), and LY86 (involved in immune cell activation).

Conclusion: Applying 'wide-locus'-based statistical analysis to melanoma GWAS data replicated the findings of prior single-SNP analyses and identified multiple, new candidate risk loci worthy of further investigation.

Citation Format: Rachel M. Cymerman, Benedetta Bigio, Martin P. Seybold, David Polsky, Knut M. Wittkowski. A novel computational re-analysis of published GWAS data suggests new risk loci for melanoma susceptibility. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4627. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4627


Although the eminent Spanish novelist and anticlericalist Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (1867-1928) received little scholarly attention outside his homeland for several decades, he gained significantly greater international notice in the latter half of the twentieth century. His novel of 1903, La Catedral, published in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America six years later as The Shadow of the Cathedral, is a scathing indictment of the conservative Roman Catholic religious establishment in Spain. Blasco Ibáñez faulted its intolerant monopoly on national spiritual life for much of the country's cultural, political, and economic backwardness. Relying heavily on the subsequently discredited nineteenth-century belief that Andalusian Spain had been a model of religious toleration under Islamic hegemony for many generations following the Moorish invasion in the eight century and that this had fostered a golden era of cultural flourishing, he argued for the dismantling of Catholic privilege in favour of secularism, toleration, and pluralistic religious freedom to spur the country out of its stagnancy. This article explores both the construction and recent dismantling of the myth of religious harmony in Moorish Spain and how that perception of the Middle Ages is used rhetorically in The Shadow of the Cathedral.


Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is one of the most common types of salivary gland malignancy in the head and neck, and its aggressive ability to invade and metastasize is an important reason for its poor survival rates. Our previous investigations confirmed that autophagy-associated gene expression is closely associated with the occurrence and development of ACC. On this basis, the present study further investigated hypoxia-induced autophagy and its role in tumor invasion. Cobalt chloride (CoCl2) was used to mimic hypoxia. The results of the present study indicated that autophagosome formation and upregulation of autophagy-associated microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 and Beclin 1 were observed in ACC-M cells in response to CoCl2. The hypoxia-inducible factor 1α/B cell lymphoma 2/adenovirus E1B 19K-interacting protein 3 signaling pathway was involved in hypoxia-induced autophagy in ACC. Furthermore, inhibition of autophagy by chloroquine markedly attenuated the tumor invasion induced by mimetic hypoxia in ACC. These results suggested that hypoxia-induced autophagy may serve as a potential target for the future treatment of ACC.


Objective: to analyze the biomechanical parameters of the eye fibrous membrane and the biomechanical glaucoma factor (screening index for low-pressure glaucoma) studied by the Oculus Corvis ST device in various clinical situations.Patients and Methods: the study included 382 eyes, 181 eyes with glaucoma (47 %), 201 eyes without glaucoma (53 %). Patients were divided into groups: without glaucoma, with glaucoma (POAG, NTG, PEG), with keratotomy, depending on the CCT and axial length. Corneal tomography and biomechanical parameters were measured using Pentacam (Oculus) and Corvus ST, respectively.Results in patients without glaucoma, the stiffness of the eye increases with age (increasing SSI). Even higher SSI in the PEX group. Higher BGF values compared to the control. With PEG, the CCT is thinner, p = 0.005, bIOP is higher than p = 0.038, SSI is higher than p = 0.00 than in the control. With NTG, the CCT is thinner, p = 0.002, bIOP is lower than p = 0.000, DA ratio, R is higher (p = 0.000) than in the control. In all groups, BGF is higher than in the control (POAG p = 0.016, PEG and NTG p = 0.000). With ketatotomy, DA ratio, R and SP-A1 p = 0.000, lower than with myopia, and SST is higher, p = 0.000, BGF is almost twice as high. With a thin cornea, the DA ratio, R, SP-A1 (p = 0.000) and SSI p = 0.044 are lower than in the control, BGF is higher than p = 0.000. With a axial length of more than 24.00 mm below the DA ratio p = 0.034, BGF above p = 0.000.Conclusion: with age, with different CCT, with increasing axial length, with different forms of glaucoma and keratotomy, the indicators of the fibrous membrane of the eye change.


The quest for suitable reductants for the extraction of iron from ores at minimal energy requirements and maximum degree of metallization is attracting growing researchers' attention. In the present work, an attempt is made to use non-contact charcoal in the reduction of run-off mine goethite ore at heating temperatures above 570oC. The reduction mechanism adopted is in accordance with Levenspiel's relations for the shrinking core model. The first stage is concerned with the diffusion of gaseous reactant through the film surrounding the particle to the surface of the solid where Goethite hematite is reduced by CO from wood charcoal to magnetite (3Fe2O3 + CO → 2Fe2O3 + CO2). The second stage involves the penetration of a gaseous reactant through the blanket of ash to the surface of the unreacted core where magnetite is reduced to wustite (Fe3O4 + CO → 3FeO + CO2). The final stage is the reaction of the gaseous reactant with solid at the reaction surface, which is described by the stoichiometry equation where the product consists of fluid and solid (FeO + CO → Fe + CO2). This non-contact charcoal reduction approach is adopted to maximize the benefit of using CO/CO2 gases from charcoal for reduction without the need for beneficiation and concentration. The rate-controlling steps for the reduction kinetics of average particle size 5, 10, 15, and 20 mm at 570, 700, 800, 900, and 1000oC are studied after heat treatment of the ore-wood charcoal in activated carbon reactor at total reduction time of 40 minutes based on literature. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis are done to investigate the spectrometric phase change and metallic components of the ore sample after reduction, respectively. The average percentage metallic iron content of 56.6, 60.8, and 61.7% and degree of metallization of 91.62, 75.96, and 93.6% are achieved from the SEM/EDX analysis of the reduced ore sample at reduction temperature of 570, 800 and 1000oC, respectively. The sharp drop in the degree of metallization of the reduced ore samples is observed at intermediate temperatures 700, 800, 900oC of the reduction. This indicates the tendency of high carbon deposit at the wustite stage of the reduction process at the least temperature and residence time of 5700C and 10 minutes, respectively. This study demonstrates that diffusion through the ash layer is the controlling resistance of the overall reduction process.


DONN BAYARD DIED ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2002, in Dunedin at the age of 62. With his death, a very important Southeast Asian archaeologist passed away, one who had played a central role in the ferment the field experienced in the 1960s and 1970s. However, no matter how important his contributions were to Southeast Asian archaeology, they constituted only a limited segment of this remarkable man's career and life. I first met Donn Bayard in the spring of 1969, when I came to the University of Hawai'i for graduate studies. Donn was one of two advanced graduate students of Bill Solheim's who had worked with him in Thailand and were part of the exciting discoveries and claims arising from that work. The other student was Chester Gorman. In many ways, Chet and Donn made an unlikely pair, but they shared a few things in common. One was their excitement about their work in Thailand, another was their dedication to Solheim, and a third was their low opinion of anything that had to do with establishment. Bayard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood in Chicago, a background that would underlie his life-long concern for social justice. He won a small scholarship to Columbia University, where he tried out chemistry and geology, but eventually settled on anthropology, receiving his B.A. in 1961. Columbia offered a heady intellectual atmosphere that suited Bayard's critical mind, but the cost of attending this private school was prohibitive. After literally starving through his years at Columbia, Bayard came to the University of Hawai'i in 1963, where he first focused on linguistics, an interest that would reemerge years later. He had not only a true gift for languages but, more importantly, he was deeply interested in the meaning of words and how they were used in social contexts. His study of the "fire rocket song" in Northeastern Thailand, while he was doing archaeological fieldwork there, is an example of this interest, which eventually led him to sociolinguistics. Bayard completed his master's degree in linguistic anthropology in 1966 with a thesis on "The Cultural Relationship among the Polynesian Outliers." Meanwhile, however, Bill Solheim had begun his archaeological survey program in Thailand, based on the very simple notion that almost nothing was known about the prehistory of that country and that an effort should be made to close that gap. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Solheim initiated a "salvage archaeology" program in Northeastern Thailand, organized in collaboration between the University of Hawai'i and the Fine Arts Department of Thailand. Gorman worked with Solheim in this program from the start; Bayard joined in the third season, after test excavations during the second season suggested that bronze artifacts at one of the sites, originally called Nam Phong 7 and later referred to as Non Nok Tha, had considerable antiquity predating the presence of iron. These findings were surprising, since traditional opinion held that metals had been introduced relatively late into Southeast Asia from sources in China and India, in conjunction with the advances of Chinese and Indian civilizations into the eastern and western portions of the subcontinent respectively. More intensive excavations became urgent. In search of good graduate students to help pursue the expanded program, Solheim attracted Donn Bayard into archaeology and assigned him to take on a major excavation of Non Nok Tha in September 1965. He paired the relatively inexperienced student with the highly experienced and sophisticated field excavator Hamilton Parker from Dunedin, New Zealand. The excavation yielded fascinating materials but, due to the extremely hard sediments and complex stratigraphy, progress was very slow. After seven months, work had to be stopped, even though the team had been unable to penetrate the lower levels of the site in most of the area opened up. Thus, Bayard returned to Non Nok Tha in 1968, this time with a National Science Foundation grant of his own, to continue the excavation as his doctoral dissertation fieldwork. …


This case and its companion case, "Toledo Foundry" (UVA-QA-0784), are a supply-chain negotiation for which there is a narrow zone of potential agreement. Locating outcomes in that zone is challenging due to differences in raw material costs (real and perceived), potentially extreme opening offers, lack of commitment to do a deal, and different interpretations of history. The difference in raw material costs can provide an opportunity for mutually beneficial agreements to be reached. The cases are simplified versions of "RMC: Hydra Division" (UVA-QA-0399) and "Akron Foundry" (UVA-QA-0398); the performance criterion for Akron has been simplified. Excerpt UVA-QA-0785 Rev. Apr. 30, 2012 WMC: Hydra Division The letter from the corporate purchasing office came as a complete surprise to Taylor Allston, a purchasing agent for the Hydra Division of WMC. Until that moment, Allston had believed that each of the past three contracts with Toledo Foundry had been good deals; Toledo had made significant concessions during the negotiations in both its quoted raw material costs and in its acceptable profit margin. The letter from corporate stated, however, that Toledo's quoted aluminum costs were "consistently and significantly higher than the prices that we were able to secure for comparable ingot through our centralized raw material purchasing program." Allston was advised that, in the pending negotiation with Toledo, a reduction in the aluminum cost would need to be aggressively pursued so that "it would be in line with the price quoted by WMC's Centralized Purchasing Department." WMC was a $ 10 billion conglomerate with business units ranging from small consumer products to major industrial equipment. The Hydra Division was a relatively small group within WMC, representing less than 5% of sales. Hydra specialized in fluid handling equipment for the agricultural and automotive markets. For the past several years, Toledo had supplied Hydra with aluminum castings for its water-pump housings. Toledo produced the rough castings, and Hydra performed the final milling on the castings, joined the housings with the other components of the pumps, and installed the pumps in its end products. Toledo was one of five small- to medium-size foundries that Hydra used to supply the pump housings. In an effort to maintain multiple sourcing relationships, Hydra would use a different vendor each month and try to spread the business evenly among them. Contract discussions generally occurred during the month preceding the requirement. The contract would be for a specific number of units delivered during the month of the contract. The vendors seemed to have no difficulty making delivery within the designated period. Recent discussions with the vendors had focused on their problems with forecasting and controlling aluminum costs rather than with difficulties in meeting production schedules. . . .


Introduction: It has been shown that poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP1) inhibitors may be useful in the treatment of BRCA1 and 2 hereditary breast cancers due to their deficiency in homologous repair. Many sporadic breast cancers may also be deficient in homologous repair due to deficiency9s in RAD51, RAD54, DSS1, RPA1, NBS1, ATR, ATM, CH1, CHK2, FANCD2, FANCA, FANC or a down regulation of BRCA. Methods: Human breast cancer cell lines representative of basal, Her2/neu, luminal A and luminal B subtypes were treated with PARP1 inhibitors alone or in combination with standard chemotherapeutic agents (alkylating, topoisomerase inhibitors, anti-metabolites, anti-mitotics and/or DNA intercalators) for 72 hours. IC50 values were determined by standard dose response curves of the PARP1) inhibitors (AZD2281, ABT888, AG14361), standard chemotherapeutic agents alone and in combination with each other. PARP1 inhibitor pharmacodynamic, PARP1 activity assays and the quantification of molecular markers from the apoptotic, DNA repair and mitotic pathways were also performed and correlated with IC50 values. Results: There was no statistical difference in the IC50 of PARP1 inhibitors for BRCA1, non-BRCA1 triple negative or luminal human breast cancer tissue. Significant enhancement of chemotherapeutic cytotoxicity by PARP1 inhibitors was observed in not only hereditary (BRCA1 & BRCA2) breast cancer but, in sporadic breast cancer also. The results suggest that many sporadic breast cancers are deficient in homologous recombination and their ability to preserve DNA and chromosomal fidelity. Conclusion: PARP1 inhibitors in combination with chemotherapy may be effective in treating sporadic breast cancer. Citation Information: Clin Cancer Res 2010;16(7 Suppl):A42


Objective: The timing of tracheostomy (TR) in severe stroke patients receiving mechanical ventilation has not been determined. In this study, we compared some prognostic indicators of early tracheostomy (ET) and late tracheostomy (LT). A meta-analysis was performed to obtain a higher level of evidence of the timing of TR in patients with severe stroke receiving mechanical ventilation. Methods: The study was a retrospective single-center study. We divided the severe stroke patients who received TR from June 2020 to June 2022 into the ET group and LT group. The demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics and prognostic indices were compared. For this meta-analysis, we systematically searched PubMed and other databases. The compared prognostic indicators included mechanical ventilation time, ICU length of stay (LOS), total LOS, ventilator-related pneumonia (VAP) incidence, and mortality. Results: A total of 61 patients were included in our study, including 32 patients in the ET group and 29 patients in the LT group. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the NIHSS score in the ET group was higher than that in the LT group ( P < 0.05). In terms of outcome indicators, compared with the LT group, the median mechanical ventilation time in the ET group was shortened by 5.5 days ( P = 0.034). The ICU LOS and total LOS in the ET group were significantly lower than those in the LT group (median 14.5 days vs 22 days, P = 0.004; 21 days vs 27 days, P = 0.019). The meta-analysis showed that ET could significantly shorten the ICU LOS (MD −3.89 [95% CI: −6.86, −0.92]) and the total LOS (MD −7.70 [95% CI: −8.57, −6.83]) and significantly reduce the occurrence of VAP (OR 0.75 [95% CI: 0.64, 0.87]). Conclusion: The results of our retrospective study and meta-analysis support that ET can shorten the ICU LOS and total LOS and reduce the occurrence of VAP. Therefore, it has a positive effect on the prognosis of patients with severe stroke who need mechanical ventilation support.


Drought affects a region's economy intensively and its severity is based on the level of infrastructure present in the affected region. Therefore, it is important not only to reflect on the conventional environmental properties of drought, but also on the infrastructure of the target region for adequate assessment and mitigation. Various drought indices are available to interpret the distinctive meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological characteristics of droughts. However, these drought indices do not consider the effective assessment of damage of drought impact. In this study, we evaluated the applicability of satellite-based drought indices over North Korea and South Korea, which have substantially different agricultural infrastructure systems to understand their characteristics. We compared satellite-based drought indices to in situ-based drought indices, standardized precipitation index (SPI), and rice yield over the Korean Peninsula. Moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM), and global land data assimilation system (GLDAS) data from 2001 to 2018 were used to calculate drought indices. The correlations of the indices in terms of monitoring meteorological and agricultural droughts in rice showed opposite correlation patterns between the two countries. The difference in the prevailing agricultural systems including irrigation resulted in different impacts of drought. Vegetation condition index (VCI) and evaporative stress index (ESI) are best suited to assess agricultural drought under well-irrigated regions as in South Korea. In contrast, most of the drought indices except for temperature condition index (TCI) are suitable for regions with poor agricultural infrastructure as in North Korea.


As is well known , it is the application of runoff flood forecasting that is extraordinary significant for us. A detailed detection of the flood forecasting process has been carried out using powerful artificial neural network in this paper. Learning algorithmof wavelet neural network was produced by extruding it in BP idea.The determination of network hiddenlayer nodes utilizes the medthod of tring fault. Activation function belongs to morlet wavelet function,and the modle of net structure belongs to 371. It is shown that the reliable prediction accury could be provided by using this model for predicting and analysising for the flood data of solar Da in 1996.


Information technology is very essential in changing the banking industry worldwide. Introduction of internet banking offers banking firms a new leading edge of opportunities and challenges. Extensive application and adoption of this knowledge and skills allows banks to create solutions and plans to attract consumers to their internet banking services, thus enabling these institutions in gaining a greater share in the business industry. In Tanzania, we are still behind on the long run track of internet banking. We are far off mainly because internet banking is a new industry hence the acceptance and the use of internet banking is limited. To date very little research has been conducted on factors which influence consumer adoption of internet banking therefore, there is a need for this study. This study investigates attitudes of Tanzanians banking customers towards the adoption of internet banking. This research is specifically targeted to people in Nyamagana District in Mwanza region . The research framework   based on the diffusion of innovation theory was used to identify factors that would influence the adoption of internet banking. This report has reviewed current literature and opinions about this innovative banking technology. It has also focused factors like: consumer demographic characteristics, consumer perceptions toward internet banking characteristics and social influences that affect consumer adoption on this mode of banking. It has also looked at how the extensive of internet banking can be measured. Explanations of the methodology used in conducting 425 interviews to obtain primary information for this study is given. Results of the 425 interviews and the analysis of these results; with graphs and figures to determine the extent that the factors studied influence customer adoption of internet banking, is also analyzed. The research objectives were tested by using descriptive statistics tools such as bar graphs and statistical tables so as to measure the relationship between consumers' demographic characteristics and the adoption of internet banking. Bar graphs and statistical tables were used to describe differences between users and non-users in terms of their perceptions of internet banking. The key findings reveal that demographic factors including age, income, education level and occupation have a relationship with the adoption of internet banking. Psychological factors including perceived relative advantage, perceived compatibility, perceived complexity, perceived risk, and perceived cost were found to influence the adoption of internet banking. Social influences including opinions of friends, parents and colleagues were not found to be significant factors to influence the adoption of internet banking in the Tanzanian context. The theoretical contributions and the practical implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented. Keywords: Internet Banking; Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs);Retail Banking.


A system design for performing low-level image processing tasks in real time is presented. The design is based on large processor-per-pixel arrays implemented using integrated circuit technology. Two integrated circuit architectures are summarized: an associative parallel processor and a parallel processor employing DRAM cells. In both architectures, the layout pitch of one-bit-wide logic is matched to the pitch of memory cells to form high-density processing element arrays. The system design features an efficient control path implementation, providing high processing element array utilization without demanding complex controller hardware. Sequences of array instructions are generated by a host computer before processing begins, then stored in a simple controller. Once processing begins, the host computer initiates stored sequences to perform pixel-parallel operations. A programming framework implemented using the C++ programming language supports application development. A prototype system employs associative parallel processor devices, a controller, and the programming framework. Three sample applications, smoothing and segmentation, median filtering, and optical flow, establish the suitability of the system for real-time image processing.


DNA and protein are the fundamental biological sequences. DNA is a fundamental molecule that plays a vital role in the processes of life. Proteins synthesized by DNA in a cell are the building blocks of every living organism. There is a variety of reasons behind the alignment of biological sequences. Biological sequence alignment helps to discover functional and structural similarity of sequences. Biologists work with these aligned sequences to construct phylogenetic trees, characterize protein families, and predict protein structure. Sequence alignment is an extremely promising field of research that is characterized by very high computational complexity. Stochastic optimization is needed for sequence alignment, as it generates efficient solutions to the problem. The objective of this study is to survey recent trends in stochastic optimization for sequence alignment as means of a guide for researchers who are interested in the sequence alignment problem.


A nonlinear dynamic model of the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process has been developed and analyzed to obtain insight into the design of an appropriate control structure.


We have developed tools to help us analyze transfer logs from a production High Performance Storage System (HPSS) system at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). These tools provide graphical displays of data transfer performance over relatively short (24 hour or less) time spans.


This essay elaborates a critical geographical perspective on neoliberalism that emphasizes (a) the path–dependent character of neoliberal reform projects and (b) the strategic role of cities in the contemporary remaking of political–economic space. We begin by presenting the methodological foundations for an approach to the geographies of what we term "actually existing neoliberalism." In contrast to neoliberal ideology, in which market forces are assumed to operate according to immutable laws no matter where they are "unleashed," we emphasize the contextual embeddedness of neoliberal restructuring projects insofar as they have been produced within national, regional, and local contexts defined by the legacies of inherited institutional frameworks, policy regimes, regulatory practices, and political struggles. An adequate understanding of actually existing neoliberalism must therefore explore the path–dependent, contextually specific interactions between inherited regulatory landscapes and emergent neoliberal, market–oriented restructuring projects at a broad range of geographical scales. These considerations lead to a conceptualization of contemporary neoliberalization processes as catalysts and expressions of an ongoing creative destruction of political–economic space at multiple geographical scales. While the neoliberal restructuring projects of the last two decades have not established a coherent basis for sustainable capitalist growth, it can be argued that they have nonetheless profoundly reworked the institutional infrastructures upon which Fordist–Keynesian capitalism was grounded. The concept of creative destruction is presented as a useful means for describing the geographically uneven, socially regressive, and politically volatile trajectories of institutional/spatial change that have been crystallizing under these conditions. The essay concludes by discussing the role of urban spaces within the contradictory and chronically unstable geographies of actually existing neoliberalism. Throughout the advanced capitalist world, we suggest, cities have become strategically crucial geographical arenas in which a variety of neoliberal initiatives—along with closely intertwined strategies of crisis displacement and crisis management—have been articulated.


Abstract Studies of pedagogical relationships offer insights into policies and practices which have the capacity to promote progressive change in educational practice for children in poverty. This paper focuses on relationships established in three differently‐located Australian primary schools: Greytown, a medium sized inner‐city school in New South Wales; Mungar, a large suburban school in Queensland; and Meiki, a small rural school in New South Wales. Each school is a designated disadvantaged school and funded accordingly through a federal Disadvantaged Schools Program, is located in a working class area, and is ethnically diverse. The schools' pedagogical responses to children in poverty are contrasted and analysed in terms of their capacity to contribute to socially just outcomes from schooling.


The new Turkish Code of Obligations took effect on 1 July 2012. This article first presents the history of private law in modern Turkey. While taking into consideration recent European legal developments, the article then examines the tort provisions of the new Code in its social, political, and legal context. The abandoned Swiss Draft Project on the Revision and Unification of Civil Liability, the Principles of European Tort Law, and the Draft Common Frame of Reference, among others, are analysed and compared to the solutions adopted by the Turkish legislator. Besides, since they have had a significant influence on the new Code, special attention has been paid to decisions of the Turkish Supreme Court which have also been compared to decisions concerning similar cases taken in other European jurisdictions.


To promote industrial development and economic growth is a vital issue for governments all over the world. The ideals guiding policymakers in their endeavours, strongly influenced by traditional economics and the innovation system approach, are that innovations based on new and advanced knowledge are central for industrial and economic development. As is exemplified through the quote below policymakers have no problem with finding inspiration from regions such as Silicon Valley. The idea that so much could grow in so short time within such small geographical area sent planning bodies from Albuquerque to Zimbabwe scrambling to grow the next Silicon Valley on their own backyard. Sturgeon (2000: p.15) But although the identified "generic" features have been copied, there are few examples of how ambitions to "artificially" create policy supported hightech based business networks and industries have succeeded. One of the few successful examples of policy created high-tech industries often mentioned is the Taiwanese semiconductor industry. The story of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry is impressive as the one of Silicon Valley; in just a few decades a booming industry developed from scratch. One of the most common explanations to the transformation addresses the governing role of the state in coordinating industrial development and creating a successful semiconductor business network. Some of the major factors mentioned were for example the creation of public research institutes, the public provision of R&D, and the subsequent transfer of technologies to a downstream sector created by Taiwanese policy. This envisioned development scenario has been strongly supported in Taiwanese policy circles and forms a foundation of contemporary Taiwanese industrial development policy. However this model of business creation applied to other industrial areas has been widely criticized for not fulfilling it promises. To investigate this issue, this paper takes a different and complementary view of the emergence of a Taiwanese semiconductor business network. Based on a resource interaction perspective the study aims to increase the understanding of forced network creations. The findings argue that the understanding that a network was created by policy is clearly an oversimplification which omits several important factors in the emergence of the semiconductor business network.


The purpose of this study is to examine if resiliency levels of disabled individuals doing sports varies according to some variables or not. 143 disabled individual (115 male and 28 female) living in the provinces of Konya and Karaman constitutes the study's population. Personal information form and "Resiliency Scale" developed by Gurgan (2006a) were used to evaluate the researchers in this study. Resiliency levels of disabled people were examined in terms of age, gender, marital status and educational level. SPSS 19 statistical software package was used for the evaluation of the obtained data. Test of normality of data was performed with One–Sample Kolmogorov–Simirnov test and it was seen that data has not shown a normal distribution. For this reason, non-parametric tests, Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis test batteries were used in testing of these data. The error performance parameter was accepted as 0,05 in this study. As a result, it is found that disabled individuals doing sports show significant difference according to age and educational level in terms of their resiliency levels. It wasn't found any significant difference in terms of marital status and gender. Keyword: Resiliency, Resiliency for disabled individuals.


Primary elections and membership ballots are becoming more common as a means of selecting candidates in European parties. This article assesses the likely implications of these changes for party cohesion by examining the American experience of primaries and contrasting US candidate selection with the membership ballots and primaries recently adopted by parties in the UK and Spain. It is argued that, in the absence of state regulation of candidate selection in European parties, these changes are unlikely to undermine party organizations as primaries have in the US. Instead, the European experience suggests that party leaders have been able to retain ultimate control over candidate selection, and that the democratization of the process has been more formal than real.


Computerized tomography (CT) scan and radionuclide (Rn) scan findings on 77 psychiatric patients were compared to evaluate the relative efficacy of these two procedures in the diagnosis on intracranial disease. CT scan detected significant abnormalities in 23 patients (29.9%) while the Rn scan was positive in only five patients (6.5%). This is almost a fivefold difference in the detection rate of abnormalities between the CT and RN scan. Thirty-four of the 77 patients were diagnosed with organice brain syndrome (OBS) according to the criteria by Feighner et al. CT scan exclusively determined the contributing causes in 20 (58.8%) of these patients. In contrast, none of the Rn studies could exclusively contribute to a diagnosis of OBS. It is concluded that the routine use of both diagnostic procedures hardly seems justifiable in terms of patient benefit and increased cost.


It is necessary to develop community empowerment initiatives in the Covid era, one of which entails holding workshops on the use of garden medicinal herbs. Socialization and workshop in this program is aimed at increasing the empowerment of rural communities in optimizing garden yields and independent, creative, and innovative entrepreneurship for the people of Dusun Tegalsari. When evaluation and monitoring were carried out a month following the program, the training activities went smoothly and successfully. As a result, there is an increase in public knowledge of the use of medical plant cultivation to boost income through the development of new products.


Obesity is a lipid metabolism disorder caused by genetic, medicinal, nutritional, and other environmental factors. It is characterized by a complex condition of excess lipid accumulation in adipocytes. Adipogenesis is a differentiation process that converts preadipocytes into mature adipocytes and contributes to excessive fat deposition. Saikosaponin A (SSA) and saikosaponin D (SSD) are triterpenoid saponins separated from the root of the Bupleurum chinensis, which has long been used to treat inflammation, fever, and liver diseases. However, the effects of these constituents on lipid accumulation and obesity are poorly understood. We investigated the anti-obesity effects of SSA and SSD in mouse 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The MTT assay was performed to measure cell viability, and Oil Red O staining was conducted to determine lipid accumulation. Various adipogenic transcription factors were evaluated at the protein and mRNA levels by Western blot assay and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Here, we showed that SSA and SSD significantly inhibited lipid accumulation without affecting cell viability within the range of the tested concentrations (0.938–15 µM). SSA and SSD also dose-dependently suppressed the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPα), sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), and adiponectin. Furthermore, the decrease of these transcriptional factors resulted in the repressed expression of several lipogenic genes including fatty acid binding protein (FABP4), fatty acid synthase (FAS), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL). In addition, SSA and SSD enhanced the phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and its substrate, acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), and inhibited the phosphorylation of extracellular-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and p38, but not c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK). These results suggest that SSA and SSD inhibit adipogenesis through the AMPK or mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways in the early stages of adipocyte differentiation. This is the first study on the anti-adipogenic effects of SSA and SSD, and further research in animals and humans is necessary to confirm the potential of saikosaponins as therapeutic agents for obesity.


We report the results of a multi-wavelength investigation of the O4 V star 9 Sgr (= HD 164794). Our data include observations in the X-ray domain withXMM-Newton, in the radio domain with the VLA as well as optical spectroscopy. 9 Sgr is one of a few presumably single OB stars that display non-thermal radio emission. This phenomenon is attributed to synchrotron emission by relativistic electrons accelerated in strong hydrodynamic shocks in the stellar wind. Given the enormous supply of photospheric UV photons in the wind of 9 Sgr, inverse Compton scattering by these relativistic electrons is a priori expected to generate a non-thermal power law tail in the X-ray spectrum. Our EPIC and RGS spectra of 9 Sgr reveal a more complex situation than expected from this simple theoretical picture. While the bulk of the thermal X-ray emission from 9 Sgr arises most probably in a plasma at temperature3 10 6 K distributed throughout the wind, the nature of the hard emission in the X-ray spectrum is less clear. Assuming a non-thermal origin, our best fitting model yields a photon index of2: 9f or the power law component which would imply a low compression ratio of1:79 for the shocks responsible for the electron acceleration. However, the hard emission can also be explained by a thermal plasma at a temperature2 10 7 K. Our VLA data indicate that the radio emission of 9 Sgr was clearly non-thermal at the time of the XMM-Newton observation. Again, we derive a low compression ratio (1.7) for the shocks that accelerate the electrons responsible for the synchrotron radio emission. Finally, our optical spectra reveal long-term radial velocity variations suggesting that 9 Sgr could be a long-period spectroscopic binary.


Selecting medical students continues to be a fertile area of research, and large-scale longitudinal studies are now starting to appear. This article describes a study of 5444 applicants to medicine, with successful applicants followed for up to 9 years. From these applicants 1788 students commenced medicine and, after exclusions and dropouts, 927 were followed to graduation (7 years); 261 of these were followed into 2 years of general practice training.


Within One-vs-Rest (OVR) classification, a classifier differentiates a single class of interest (COI) from the rest, i.e. any other class. By extending the scope of the rest class to corruptions (dataset shift), aspects of outlier detection gain relevancy. In this work, we show that adversarially trained autoencoders (ATA) representative of autoencoder-based outlier detection methods, yield tremendous robustness improvements over traditional neural network methods such as multi-layer perceptrons (MLP) and common ensemble methods, while maintaining a competitive classification performance. In contrast, our results also reveal that deep learning methods solely optimized for classification, tend to fail completely when exposed to dataset shift.


Autoantibody to mitotic spindle associated antigen (MSA) was examined in sera from patients with positive mycoplasma pneumoniae particle agglutination (PA) test along with various autoimmune diseases and healthy subjects by means of indirect immunofluorescence (IF) using HEp-2 cells as substrates. Anti-MSA antibody was identified in 9 patients sera including 7 out of 180 sera with positive mycoplasma pneumoniae PA test, one with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and one with scleroderma (PSS) respectively. Five of 9 sera with positive anti-MSA antibody contained anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) including 4 with speckled staining ANA and one with homogeneous + nucleolar staining ANA. Two collagen diseases sera positive for anti-MSA antibody showed negative mycoplasma pneumoniae PA test. In addition, there was no correlation between the presence of anti-MSA antibody and the titers of mycoplasma pneumoniae PA test. Our results indicated that anti-MSA antibody was not limited to such connective tissue diseases as previously described by other workers. It would be speculated that mycoplasma pneumoniae infection might induce anti-MSA antibody production.