Inspired by, among other things, a coffee pot and a fishbowl, on April 14, 1996, Jennifer Ringley launched Jennicam. In a self-described "social experiment," whose diverse objectives included connecting with family and friends and challenging mainstream media images of women with "perfect hair and perfect friends," regularly refreshed still images of Ringley's home were uploaded to the web, where they were accessible (at least for some time) to anyone with an Internet-connected computer. Jennicam depicted everything from Ringley's empty couch to her cat to her working at her computer to her having sex with her boyfriend. It inspired considerable commentary and analysis, including among feminists struggling to understand the depth, breadth, meaning, and potential of voluntary personal exposure in this brave new networked world.Jennicam is considered by many to represent the first of a growing number of "webcam girls" who are estimated by some to number in the hundreds of thousands. Many of these "webcam girls" are young women determined to harness the power of new communication technologies, such as the Internet, in efforts to oppose socially imposed mainstream definitions of gender and sexuality. They do so within the broader context of a societal turn toward exposure, micro-celebrity and "reality" television, and toward a contemporary flouting of the perceived puritanism of prior feminisms, feminisms that some have argued unnecessarily shamed women in relation to their sexuality and denied them the ability to explore and assert their sexuality as a form of social empowerment. Directly raising long-standing unresolved tensions about identity, privacy, sexuality, and pornography, Jennicam and its ensuing iterations invite further debate and analysis within the feminist community. In this chapter, I will pursue these themes in three parts.First, I will discuss the evolution of the Jennicam experiment with a focus on Ringley's own description of her project. Second, I will draw out the interlocking themes of identity, privacy, and pornography resonating within Anita Allen's 2000 analysis of various webcam experiments by women. Third, I will highlight some of the ways in which Allen's analysis both raises and invites further exploration of these historically contested themes in feminist work. In conclusion I suggest that technological moments such as these offer feminists fresh space for dialogue on these issues and for an interrogation of the continuing relevance of prior positions taken in relation to them. While remaining open to the idea that past insights may no longer carry the resonance that they once seemed to, we ought not to foreclose the possibility that aspects of them may continue to be relevant to the ongoing struggle for a lived social equality for women.


The Anchorage Metropolitan area sustained catastrophic damage and loss of life during the 1964 Prince William Sound earth-quake (M W = 9.2). Current geologic and geo-physical data indicate that the area is subject to future major earthquakes related to the underlying subduction zone and possibly to nearby shallow faults. A major cause of destruction during the 1964 earthquake was ground failure. The cause of most of these failures has been directly linked to the Bootlegger Cove Formation, although there has been disagreement as to whether the failures were due to seismically induced liquefaction of sands or fabric collapse of sensitive silty clays. Our research has focused on one of these landslides and consisted of in situ geo-technical testing, undisturbed sampling, and laboratory testing of acquired samples. Based upon standard and electric-cone penetration tests, we conclude that the sand strata within the formation are non-liquefiable. Static and cyclic laboratory tests of the cohesive facies of the formation demonstrate that for peak horizontal accelerations above 0.2 g the shear strength of some facies decreases 25% to 30%. Further, we find that if the seismic loading continues on the order of a few minutes the strain-softened facies may undergo additional strength reduction to a residual shear strength ranging from 28% to 33% of the original undrained strength. This model for soil failure can be applied to all of the major Anchorage landslides, which we believe resulted from strength degradation of a cohesive silty clay facies under long-duration accelerations between 0.2 and 0.4 g.


The coagulability of the blood is often one of the most important factors with which the clinician must deal. In all cases of bleeding, it is essential to determine whether the cause is a delayed coagulation of the blood or some other factor, such as local infection and injury of blood vessels. This is especially true in purpura, hemophilia, bleeding in the new-born and jaundice, and in preoperative examination of patients. An accurate method of estimating this property of the blood is therefore essential for the proper handling of such cases. For clinical use, the method must be simple and require little apparatus. Many methods have been advocated to determine the clotting time, their very number indicating that none is quite satisfactory. A complete and comprehensive review of all these methods up to 1907 is found in a paper by Hinman and Sladen. 1 Since that time, a number of modifications


The conventional methods of biomass gasification to hydrogen and synthesis gas have been carried out at high temperature. The purpose of this study is catalyst development for energy efficient power generation by catalytic gasification of biomass at lower reaction temperature. We have tested Rh/CeO2/SiO2 catalysts with various CeO2 content in cellulose gasification. We have found that the optimum content was 35wt% CeO2. From the comparison between our catalyst and conventional methods (steam reforming Ni catalyst, dolomite, noncatalyst) in terms of C-conversion to gas and cold gas effi-ciency, Rh/CeO2/SiO2 (35) catalyst exhibited much higher performance than other methods. It is suggest-ed that our catalyst can enhance the energy efficiency of power generation utilizing biomass gasification.


—We investigate the problem of finding tight inner approximations of large dimensional positive semidefinite (PSD) cones. To solve this problem, we develop a novel decomposition framework of the PSD cone by means of conical combinations of smaller dimensional sub-cones. We show that many inner approximation techniques could be summarized within this framework, including the set of (scaled) diagonally dominant matrices, Factor-width k matrices, and Chordal Sparse matrices. Furthermore, we provide a more flexible family of inner approximations of the PSD cone, where we aim to arrange the sub-cones so that they are maximally separated from each other. In doing so, these approximations tend to occupy large fractions of the volume of the PSD cone. The proposed approach is connected to a classical packing problem in Riemannian Geometry. Precisely, we show that the problem of finding maximally distant sub-cones in an ambient PSD cone is equivalent to the problem of packing sub-spaces in a Grass- mannian Manifold. We further leverage existing computational method for constructing packings in Grassmannian manifolds to build tighter approximations of the PSD cone. Numerical experiments show how the proposed framework can balance between accuracy and computational complexity, to efficiently solve positive-semidefinite programs.


As interdisciplinary courses are developed, instructors and researchers have to grapple with questions of how students should make connections across disciplines. We explore the issue of interdisciplinary reconciliation (IDR): how students reconcile seemingly contradictory ideas from different disciplines. While IDR has elements in common with other frameworks for the reconciliation of ideas across contexts, it differs in that each disciplinary idea is considered canonically correct within its own discipline. The setting for the research is an introductory physics course for biology majors that seeks to build greater interdisciplinary coherence and therefore includes biologically relevant topics such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and chemical bond energy. In our case-study data, students grapple with the apparent contradiction between the energy released when the phosphate bond in ATP is broken and the idea that an energy input is required to break a bond. We see students justifying context-dependent modeling choices, showing nuance in articulating how system choices may be related to disciplinary problems of interest. This represents a desired end point of IDR, in which students can build coherent connections between concepts from different disciplines while understanding each concept in its own disciplinary context. Our case study also illustrates elements of the instructional environment that play roles in the process of IDR.


This work develops a model-aware autoencoder networks as a new method for solving scientific forward and inverse problems. Autoencoders are unsupervised neural networks that are able to learn new representations of data through appropriately selected architecture and regularization. The resulting mappings to and from the latent representation can be used to encode and decode the data. In our work, we set the data space to be the parameter space of a parameter of interest we wish to invert for. Further, as a way to encode the underlying physical model into the autoencoder, we enforce the latent space of an autoencoder to be the space of observations of physically-governed phenomena. In doing so, we leverage the well known capability of a deep neural network as a universal function operator to simultaneously obtain both the parameter-to-observation and observation-to-parameter map. The results suggest that this simultaneous learning interacts synergistically to improve the the inversion capability of the autoencoder.


Abstract:How might performance contribute to a reversal of the social values and political systems that have produced climate chaos, plunging countless species into crisis and catastrophe? What recognitions would such a reversal require? What misrecognitions must it defeat?


In this paper, we investigate a communication system in which unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used as relays between ground-based terminals and a network base station. We develop an algorithm for optimizing the performance of the ground-to-relay links through control of the UAV heading angle. To quantify link performance, we define the ergodic normalized transmission rate (ENTR) for the links between the ground nodes and the relay, and derive a closed-form expression for it in terms of the eigenvalues of the channel correlation matrix. We show that the ENTR can be approximated as a sinusoid with an offset that depends on the heading of the UAV. Using this observation, we develop a closed-form expression for the UAV heading that maximizes the uplink network data rate while keeping the rate of each individual link above a certain threshold. When the current UAV relay assignments cannot meet the minimum link requirements, we investigate the deployment and heading control problem for new UAV relays as they are added to the network, and propose a smart handoff algorithm that updates node and relay assignments as the topology of the network evolves.


In anticipation of possible regulations regarding mercury emissions, research efforts sponsored by DOE, EPRI, and others are investigating the risks posed by mercury emissions, improved techniques for measuring those emissions, and possible control measures. The focus in the control research is on techniques that can be used in conjunction with existing flue-gas-cleanup (FGC) systems in order to minimize additional capital costs and operational complexity. Argonne National Laboratory has supported the DOE Fossil Energy Program for over 15 years with research on advanced environmental control technologies. The emphasis in Argonne`s work has been on integrated systems that combine control of several pollutants. Specific topics have included spray drying for sulfur dioxide and particulate-matter control with high-sulfur coal, combined sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides control technologies, and techniques to enhance mercury control in existing FGC systems. The latter area has focused on low-cost dry sorbents for use with fabric filters or electrostatic precipitators and techniques for improving the capture of mercury in wet flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) systems. This paper presents results from recent work that has studied the effects of several oxidizing agents in combination with typical flue-gas species (e.g., nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide) on the oxidation of Hg{sup 0}.


The excitation of the HCN laser fuelled with hydrocarbons and nitrogen or nitrogen-containing compounds is discussed. It is proposed that the reaction of nitrogen atoms with organic radicals produces vibrationally excited HCN and leads to a population inversion. The proposed role of nitrogen atoms is consistent with the reported behaviour of the laser. A possible HCN chemical laser system is briefly discussed.


The function of a protein generally is determined by its three-dimensional (3D) structure. Thus, it would be useful to know the 3D structure of the thousands of protein sequences that are emerging from the many genome projects. To this end, fold assignment, comparative protein structure modeling, and model evaluation were automated completely. As an illustration, the method was applied to the proteins in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast) genome. It resulted in all-atom 3D models for substantial segments of 1,071 (17%) of the yeast proteins, only 40 of which have had their 3D structure determined experimentally. Of the 1,071 modeled yeast proteins, 236 were related clearly to a protein of known structure for the first time; 41 of these previously have not been characterized at all.


Evolutionary taxonomy has all but succumbed to cladistic methodology, but it continues to exert considerable influence in the realm of higher classification. Some systematists accept cladistic methods in phylogeny inference, but allow paraphyly in formal classifications. Most important, however, many traditional classifications based on paraphyletic groups (e.g. 'Reptilia') remain in force, deeply entrenched in the literature. Cladists have argued that such paraphyletic classifications can mislead comparative biologists into false evolutionary generalizations, but this assertion has rarely, if ever, been supported by example. This paper provides a case study, illustrating in detail the influence of a traditional paraphyletic classification of squamate reptiles on the historical development of ideas regarding the evolution of sensory modes (chemoreception vs. vision) in the group. The paraphyletic classification is shown to have led to false generalizations and incorrect conclusions stemming directly from the fact that the classification did not reflect accurately the phylogeny of Squamata, particularly the cladistic relationships of Gekkota. This study provides direct evidence that evolutionary generalization must be rooted in the branching pattern of phylogeny and not the potentially arbitrary categorical ranks of traditional taxonomies. It further supports recent calls for a truly phylogenetic taxonomy that has as its philosophical core the concept of descent.


Background Accurate identification of Chinese herbal medicines is the basis for their research and utilization. Molecular identification can effectively differentiate original plants from counterfeit plants. The quality of genomic DNA is an important factor affecting molecular identification. However, the processing can lead to DNA degradation of the herbal medicines, which can make it difficult for their molecular identification. Objectives To establish a genomic DNA degradation model of Gentiana crassicaulis Radix to evaluate the effects of processing methods and storage times on genomic DNA integrity. Materials and Methods A genomic DNA degradation model of G. crassicaulis—the original plant source of the Chinese herbal medicine G. crassicaulis Radix—was established using a steam heating method. Genomic DNA integrity of G. crassicaulis Radix was evaluated using capillary electrochromatography (CEC) fingerprinting and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of DNA barcoding markers following different processing and drying methods, including slicing (sliced roots), no slicing (whole roots), stoving, air drying, and sweating. Results CEC fingerprinting and DNA barcoding PCR effectively evaluated genomic DNA integrity. Compared to whole roots, sliced roots better helped maintain genomic DNA integrity. As the storage time increased, the integrity of the genomic DNA reduced; the integrity of the genomic DNA of sliced roots was greater than that of whole roots. Furthermore, the interactions between slicing and drying methods possibly reduced the genomic DNA integrity. Conclusion A genomic DNA degradation model and an evaluation system for herbal medicines were established. Our findings can help optimize the method for processing G. crassicaulis Radix and establish the traceability of genuine herbal medicines. Key Message The quality of genomic DNA is an important factor affecting molecular identification, which is essential to determine original plants. The results of our study can help develop a method for processing G. crassicaulis Radix and enable the traceability of genuine herbal medicines.


We present a novel, to the best of our knowledge, patch-based approach for depth regression from defocus blur. Most state-of-the-art methods for depth from defocus (DFD) use a patch classification approach among a set of potential defocus blurs related to a depth, which induces errors due to the continuous variation of the depth. Here, we propose to adapt a simple classification model using a soft-assignment encoding of the true depth into a membership probability vector during training and a regression scale to predict intermediate depth values. Our method uses no blur model or scene model; it only requires a training dataset of image patches (either raw, gray scale, or RGB) and their corresponding depth label. We show that our method outperforms both classification and direct regression on simulated images from structured or natural texture datasets, and on raw real data having optical aberrations from an active DFD experiment.


This paper discusses a riskhenefit analysis approach to the selection of an optimal set of VV&A activities. The approach is an adaptation of MIL-STD-882C (System Safety Program Requirements) to the requirements of establishing the credibility of models and simulations (M&S). Risks and benefits of M&S use are quantified in terms of impact level and probability of occurrence within the context of specific applications. These assessments are then used to determine the level of M&S credibility required to minimize risk and/or maximize benefit. The required level of credibility is then used to select the most appropriate mix of VV&A activities from a standard set of activities that is calibrated to varying levds of required credibility. The end result is an ability to objectively justify the chosen set of VV&A activities, and to monitor the impact of riskhenefit changes on VV&A requirements. (This paper was originally presented at the Summer Computer Simulation Conference in Arlington, Virginia in July, 1997. It is presented here (in modified form) as part of WSC '97 IT10 1 (Establishing Simulation Credibility Through VV&A)).


We have carried out ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations for liquid phosphorus under high temperature and high pressure in order to investigate the microscopic mechanism of the recently observed liquid-liquid phase transition of liquid phosphorus. We have successfully shown by our simulation that the structural phase transition with increasing pressure corresponds to the structural change from the molecular liquid composed of stable tetrahedral P4 molecules to the polymeric liquid with complex network structure and that the calculated structure factors are in good agreement with those obtained by the x-ray diffraction experiments. It is also found from our calculated electronic structure that this structural change gives rise to the nonmetal-metal transition, which is the transition from the nonmetallic molecular liquid to the metallic polymeric liquid.


We describe a simple model for the temperature dependence of the exchange bias and related effects that result from coupling a ferromagnetic thin film to a polycrystalline antiferromagnetic film. In this model, an important source of temperature dependence comes from thermal instabilities of the antiferromagnetic state in the antiferromagnetic grains, much as occurs in superparamagnetic grains. At low enough temperatures, the antiferromagnetic state in each grain is stable as the ferromagnetic magnetization is rotated and the model predicts the unidirectional anisotropy that gives rise to the observed exchange-bias loop shift. At higher temperatures, the antiferromagnetic state remains stable on short time scales, but on longer time scales, becomes unstable due to thermal excitations over energy barriers. For these temperatures, the model predicts the high field rotational hysteresis found in rotational torque experiments and the isotropic field shift found in ferromagnetic resonance measurements.


We demonstrate the successful preparation of multifunctional silica colloids by coating with 2-bromo-2-methylpropionic acid (BMPA)-stabilized quantum dots (BMPA-QDs) and BMPA-stabilized iron oxide particles (BMPA-Fe(3)O(4)), along with amine-functionalized poly(amidoamine) (PAMA) dendrimers, using layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly based on a nucleophilic substitution (NS) reaction between the bromo and amine groups in organic media. The QDs and Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles used in this study were directly synthesized in a nonpolar solvent (chloroform or toluene), and the oleic acid stabilizers were exchanged with BMPA in the same solvent to minimize chemical and physical damage to the nanoparticles. The direct adsorption of nanoparticles via an NS reaction in organic solvent significantly increased the packing density of the nanoparticles in the lateral dimensions because electrostatic repulsion between neighboring nanoparticles was absent. The multifunctional colloids densely coated with nanoparticles showed excellent characteristics (i.e., superparamagnetism, photoluminescence, and magneto-optical tuning properties) with long-term stability in nonpolar solvents. Furthermore, deposition of the nanocomposite colloids onto flat substrates, followed by coating with a low-surface-energy fluoroalkylsilane polymer, produced a densely packed rugged surface morphology in the colloidal films that displayed superhydrophobic properties with water contact angles greater than 150°.


SUMMARY In a general estimation problem, the deviance function generates statistics that are similar to squared standardized residuals. A deviance-based M estimator (DBME) is defined as an adaptively weighted maximum-likelihood estimator, where the weights depend upon the deviances. In both a single-parameter and a regression setting, we give some general conditions under which a DMBE is consistent. For a suitable weighting scheme, these conditions are satisfied in many continuous Cramer-Rao-regular families and in related linear or nonlinear regression cases. The conditions fail (and the estimator is inconsistent) in most discrete families.


Until recently it was commonly believed that when nonantiparallel magnetic fields merge at a current sheet, the geometry must be such that their components parallel to the X line are equal. This condition imposes severe restraints on the merging process when the fields are of unequal magnitude. Two recent calculations, however, strongly suggest that this hypothesis is not correct. It is found that while the incoming field components perpendicular to the X line must reverse across the current sheet, the change in the parallel component is arbitrary.


In this paper, the problem of state feedback control of networked control systems is investigated. A new networked predictive control method is proposed to compensate for the network-induced delay and data dropout. The closed-loop system is modeled as a switched system with time-varying mode-dependent interval delay. Especially, the upper and lower bounds of the delay are also mode-dependent. Using the average dwell time method, a stability criterion is derived for the closed-loop system. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


OBJECTIVE To describe the use of self expanding stents in treating long segment stenosis of aortopulmonary shunts (APS) in adults. DESIGN Clinical records, catheterisation data, cineangiograms, and operation notes of four consecutive patients undergoing stent implantation since December 1994 were studied retrospectively. SETTING A tertiary referral centre for cardiac disease. SUBJECTS Four patients underwent cardiac catheterisation because of clinical deterioration. Their age ranged between 23 and 32 years. The underlying diagnosis was complex cyanotic heart disease in all. Three had a stenotic interposition graft, and one had a classic Blalock shunt. RESULTS There was one technical failure owing to migration of the stent distal to an ostial stenosis. The ability index, resting oxygen saturation, and exercise tolerance improved in the remainder. Their medium term results have been excellent. CONCLUSIONS This technique may further palliate adult patients with complex congenital heart disease, though the long term patency of stents is unknown.


Skeletal populations from the western coast of North America clearly were afflicted with a treponemal disease very different from that previously documented elsewhere in North America. Six populations from west of the Sierra Cascades were compared with 5 sites east of the Cascades. A high population frequency (both in adults and subadults) of pauci-ostotic, periostitis was noted in the six western skeletal populations, identical to that reported previously with bejel in Negev Bedouins, Sudanese Nubians, and the Kit site from Iraq. Early populations, from east of the Cascades, had a very different polyostotic disease pattern, characteristic of yaws, and identical to that previously reported in Guam. Both patterns were clearly distinguished from syphilis, which appears to be a later development (mutation?). This study provides evidence that the treponematoses were transported to the New World by way of at least two migrations, one bringing yaws; the other, bejel. The population with bejel likely derived from a different population than that with yaws. Given the absence of treponemal disease variation in the very wide spectrum of environments represented by the bejel-afflicted populations, it is clear that environment is not the factor determining disease character. This study expands on animal studies documenting that the individual treponematoses are separate diseases and not simply climate-induced variation.


The ubiquity of media in our society and the use of the Internet and in particular the World Wide Web as a convergent medium for a huge diversity of content and formats (movies in cinema and in YouTube, radio and cartoons on the Web and TV, social networks) has been a concern of academics, educators and governments. In what concerns to children audiences, the focus has been on safety and security of children and the correspondent online data protection.
Questions of the impact of subliminal forms of marketing communication target to children start to emerge in a world where marketing strategies and entertainment are more and more connected.
The main goal of this study is to explore what children aged from 8-10 years old think of brands, ads and their purpose. Can they understand the difference between a brand and an advertisement? Do they like/dislike ads from http://www.jualobral.net ? From which place/media/person they recognize brands and ads (even if they don't use or know the product)?
We are interested in questions such us: if children socialize more and more with media, what are the risks and the opportunities? Do they need a media literacy program or do they learn by themselves to distinguish informational and persuasive media?
To answer these questions we have been working with an elementary school community (class) since March 2009. We have been using an ethnographic approach and our conceptual framework is based on the Activity Theory. The activities developed with children (community) are about old and new media learning, supported by the usage of a private Web Site (tool) (http://amigos.realcolegio.pt) and moderated by the researcher.
The question of the engagement with new media and how to design and use such IT platforms at school is also discussed. The relationship of these children with media as "users", as "spectators" and as "creators" has been observed and the results will be presented .


The present study examines the effect of participation of first-year university students in a full-year peer mentoring program as well as indi- vidual differences in motivation in relation to outcome measures of retention and achievement. A sample of 983 first year students com- pleted the Academic Motivation Inventory (Tremblay, 1998) and agreed to provide final grades; 537 students were randomly assigned to partici- pate in the program, while the remainder served as a control group. Mentored students who continued to participate mid-way through the second semester had significantly higher final grades than did students in the control group. There was no effect on retention from year one to year two, however data are being collected on retention and grades for all groups for the length of their undergraduate careers. Students high in anxiety in the mentored group showed achievement comparable to that of low anxiety program participants, whereas students in the control group with high anxiety scored significantly worse on achievement than did their low anxiety counterparts.


Strain-induced lattice mismatch leads to moir\'{e} patterns in homobilayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). We investigate the structural and electronic properties of such strained moir\'{e} patterns in TMD homobilayers. The moir\'{e} patterns in strained TMDs consist of several stacking domains which are separated by tensile solitons. Relaxation of these systems distributes the strain unevenly in the moir\'{e} superlattice, with the maximum strain energy concentrating at the highest energy stackings. The order parameter distribution shows the formation of aster topological defects at the same sites. In contrast, twisted TMDs host shear solitons at the domain walls, and the order parameter distribution in these systems shows the formation of vortex defects. The strained moir\'{e} systems also show the emergence of several well-separated flat bands at both the valence and conduction band edges, and we observe a significant reduction in the band gap. The flat bands in these strained moir\'{e} superlattices provide platforms for studying the Hubbard model on a triangular lattice as well as the ionic Hubbard model on a honeycomb lattice. Furthermore, we study the localization of the wave functions corresponding to these flat bands. The wave functions localize at different stackings compared to twisted TMDs, and our results are in excellent agreement with recent spectroscopic experiments [1].


Understanding the formation of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) present in the centers of galaxies is a key topic in modern astrophysics. Observations have detected the SMBHs with mass M of 10 9 M (cid:12) in the high redshifts galaxies with z ∼ 7. However, how SMBHs grew to such huge masses within the first billion years after the big bang remains elusive. One possible explanation is that SMBHs grew in a short period through the frequent mergers of galaxies, which provides sustainable gas to maintain the rapid growth. In this study, we present the hydrodynamics simulations of the SMBHs' growth with their host galaxies using the GIZMO code. In contrast to previous simulations, we developed a molecular cloud model by separating molecular-gas particles from the atomic-gas particles and then evolving them independently. During major mergers, we showed that the effect of the mass segregation of the atomic and molecular gas particles can enhance the dynamical friction of molecular particles. Consequently, molecular gas is substantially accreted onto the galactic centers that grows SMBHs from 10 6 M (cid:12) to 10 9 M (cid:12) within 300 Myr, explaining the rapid growth of SMBHs, and this accretion also triggers a violent starburst at the galactic center. Furthermore, We examined the impact of minor mergers on the bulge of a Milky-Way-like galaxy and found that the size and mass of the bulge can increase from 0.92 kpc to 1.9 kpc and from 4 . 7 × 10 10 M (cid:12) to 7 × 10 10 M (cid:12) .


As schools use more technology, they are increasingly likely to hire in-house IT support workers. Nothing is known, however, about relationships between teachers and IT workers. This study examines the perceptions of relationships between these occupational groups at an international private school in Singapore. As an international private school, the research venue is self-governed and self-funded. This autonomy allows the school to establish its own hiring practices and management structures devoid of the political interference and delayed responses that might characterise a larger-scale school system. A review of the literature reveals three themes: perceptions of professional status, perceptions of occupational prestige, and perceptions of occupational cultures – each subsequently investigated in terms of the relationships fostered between the two occupational groups. Twelve teachers and seven IT workers participated in detailed semistructured interviews – which were then subjected to qualitative analysis using both open and axial coding. The research findings show that extant literature on each individual occupation is largely validated. Relationships between the two occupations were generally regarded as good, with each side reporting sources of minor irritation with the other. These irritants included exploitation by teachers and lack of prompt service from IT workers. Additional findings include: • Two forms of inter-occupational ambassador exist: the tweeners, whose jobs place them at an intersection between the two groups; and bridgers, who voluntarily seek to strengthen interactions with their occupational counterparts. • Teachers uniformly but sometimes hesitantly claim professional status. IT workers generally deny having professional status on the grounds that they lack complete mastery over their field of work. • Other important elements of relationships include secretaries, communication, occupational cultures, and the geography of offices. The study concludes with suggestions for future research and recommendations for schools to improve relationships between teachers and IT workers.


Supersymmetric quantum mechanics is illustrated by taking the example of Landau levels. These highly degenerate energy levels occur for the planar motion of a charged particle in a uniform magnetic field. The degeneracy of the system allows the levels to be grouped into different towers, connected according to supersymmetric quantum mechanics with appropriate operators.


The Mid-Channel fault is an active blind thrust overlain by a south-vergent anticline in the Santa Barbara channel of southern California. We use high-quality industry seismic reflection data to characterize the 3D geometry of the Mid-Channel fault, and define its lateral extent and interactions with other structures in the region. We use a detailed chronostratigraphic sequence of nine Pleistocene horizons ranging in age from 120 ka to 1.05 Ma to interpret the geometry and deformational history of the Mid-Channel anticline and blind thrust. These precisely dated horizons provide unique insights on the Pleistocene activity of the Mid-Channel fault because of the nearly complete preservation of sediment on the backlimb of the fold. Using a new method of relating structural relief of these horizons to slip on the underlying Mid-Channel fault, we calculate the faults late Pleistocene slip rate. Results indicate that the structure became active between 790 and 710 ka in the eastern part of the Channel and subsequently propagated west along strike. In the east, where the overlying anticline preserves a complete section of syntectonic growth strata, the Mid-Channel fault has a dip-slip rate of 1.8 mm/yr with a range of 1.6–2.1 mm/yr. Based on a map of total displacement, we infer that the maximum dip-slip rate on the Mid-Channel fault along strike is 2.1 ± 0.2 mm/yr, suggesting that it may accommodate about one-third of the observed geodetic contraction across the basin. We explore alternative ways that the fault may extend to depth and interact with surrounding structures, and consider the seismic hazard implications of these scenarios, including estimates of potential earthquake rupture areas, magnitudes, and average recurrence intervals.


Having an entity annotated corpus of the clinical domain is one of the basic requirements for detection of clinical entities using machine learning (ML) approaches. Past researches have shown the superiority of statistical/ML approaches over the rule based approaches. But in order to take full advantage of the ML approaches, an accurately annotated corpus becomes an essential requirement. Though there are a few annotated corpora available either on a small data set, or covering a narrower domain (like cancer patients records, lab reports), annotation of a large data set representing the entire clinical domain has not been created yet. In this paper, we have described in detail the annotation guidelines, annotation process and our approaches in creating a CER (clinical entity recognition) corpus of 5,160 clinical documents from forty different clinical specialities. The clinical entities range across various types such as diseases, procedures, medications, medical devices and so on. We have classified them into eleven categories for annotation. Our annotation also reflects the relations among the group of entities that constitute larger concepts altogether.


The problem of plasma source ion implantation for a deep, plasma-filled, cylindrical hole in a flat plate is considered. The structure of the ion-matrix sheath resulting from the application of a zero-rise-time, negative-voltage pulse to the target is computed. Solutions for the potential structure in and around the hole are presented. It is found that the sheath does not conform completely to the hole until the radius of the hole is larger than the ion-matrix overlap length. Ion trajectories across the sheath are found to impact upon the side walls of the hole at glancing angles, a situation that is unfavourable to implantation.


One goal of the Joint Air-Sea Interaction Experiment (JASIN) was to investigate the structure of the near-surface velocity field and to attempt to quantify what fraction of that field was related to the local wind. Toward that end, in the late summer of 1978, two moorings were deployed in the northern Rockall Trough with oceanographic instrumentation concentrated in the upper 100 m of the ocean. Simultaneous observations were made of the surface winds at each mooring and, adjacent to one of the moorings, of the velocity field at depths from 79 to 1000 m. Energetic, eddy-like circulation dominated the velocity field in the JASIN area at depths shallower than approximately 800 m. However, both the velocity and the vertical shear of horizontal velocity showed variability that increased with proximity to the surface. Empirical orthogonal functions, computed to separate the velocity data into uncorrelated modes of variability, showed that over 97 % of the variability in the upper 300 m was distributed among only three vertical modes. The first function had little depth dependence; the second had strong depth-independent flow in the depth range of the mixed layer and weak flow in the opposite direction at all depths below; and the third had strong flow near the surface, strong flow in the opposite direction just below the base of the mixed layer, and weaker flow at all other depths. Function 1 alone provided a near-complete description of the velocity variability below 85 m, where the flows associated with the eddy-like circulation and the barotropic semidiurnal tide were the dominant components. At 85 m and above all three functions were necessary to provide a complete description. Temporal variability of function 2 was coherent with the local wind stress at the inertial frequency, but, at lower frequencies, resulted in transport in the mixed layer to the southeast that was not coherent with the local wind. Low frequency temporal variability of function 3 was coherent with the local wind stress; at these frequencies the velocity vector of function 3 nearest the surface was directed to the right of the wind stress vector and the velocity vector just below the base of the mixed layer was directed to the left of the wind stress. Thus, forcing by the local wind can account for some but not all of the increased variability found near the surface.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether maternal literacy level accounts for associations between educational level and the cognitive home environment in low-income families.

DESIGN
Analysis of 369 mother-infant dyads participating in a long-term study related to early child development.

SETTING
Urban public hospital.

PARTICIPANTS
Low-income mothers of 6-month-old infants.

MAIN EXPOSURE
Maternal literacy level was assessed using the Woodcock-Johnson III/Bateria III Woodcock-Munoz Tests of Achievement, Letter-Word Identification Test. Maternal educational level was assessed by determining the last grade that had been completed by the mother.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
The cognitive home environment (provision of learning materials, verbal responsivity, teaching, and shared reading) was assessed using StimQ, an office-based interview measure.

RESULTS
In unadjusted analyses, a maternal literacy level of ninth grade or higher was associated with increases in scores for the overall StimQ and each of 4 subscales, whereas a maternal educational level of ninth grade or higher was associated with increases in scores for the overall StimQ and 3 of 4 subscales. In simultaneous multiple linear regression models including both literacy and educational levels, literacy continued to be associated with scores for the overall StimQ (adjusted mean difference, 3.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-5.7) and all subscales except teaching, whereas maternal educational level was no longer significantly associated with scores for the StimQ (1.8; 0.5-4.0) or any of its subscales.

CONCLUSIONS
Literacy level may be a more specific indicator of risk than educational level in low-income families. Studies of low-income families should include direct measures of literacy. Pediatricians should develop strategies to identify mothers with low literacy levels and promote parenting behaviors to foster cognitive development in these at-risk families.


Large pre-trained vision-language models have shown great prominence in transferring pre-acquired knowledge to various domains and downstream tasks with appropriate prompting or tuning. Existing prevalent tuning methods can be generally categorized into three genres: 1) prompt engineering by creating suitable prompt texts, which is time-consuming and requires domain expertise; 2) or simply fine-tuning the whole model, which is extremely inefficient; 3) prompt tuning through parameterized prompt embeddings with the text encoder. Nevertheless, all methods rely on the text encoder for bridging the modality gap between vision and language. In this work, we question the necessity of the cumbersome text encoder for a more lightweight and efficient tuning paradigm as well as more representative prompt embeddings closer to the image representations. To achieve this, we propose a Concept Embedding Search (ConES) approach by optimizing prompt embeddings -- without the need of the text encoder -- to capture the 'concept' of the image modality through a variety of task objectives. By dropping the text encoder, we are able to significantly speed up the learning process, \eg, from about an hour to just ten minutes in our experiments for personalized text-to-image generation without impairing the generation quality. Moreover, our proposed approach is orthogonal to current existing tuning methods since the searched concept embeddings can be further utilized in the next stage of fine-tuning the pre-trained large models for boosting performance. Extensive experiments show that our approach can beat the prompt tuning and textual inversion methods in a variety of downstream tasks including objection detection, instance segmentation, and image generation. Our approach also shows better generalization capability for unseen concepts in specialized domains, such as the medical domain.


Formal reporting styles refer to news formats or journalistic genres within a media outlet, e.g., news stories as the standard formal reporting style but also interviews as an alternative form of journalistic coverage. Each formal reporting style or news format is associated with specific rules of how to write it. For example, the journalist has to answer the most important W-questions (Who, What, When, Where, Why) at the beginning of a news story whereas feature journalism builds up tension, that is, tells a story and the important questions are answered only in the course of the article. The interview as another example is characterized by the formal interplay between questions (interviewer) and answers (interviewee).
Apart from general reporting styles (news story, interview etc.), some codebooks also measure media-specific reporting styles (e.g. Donsbach & Büttner, 2005 for television). Furthermore, reporting styles can be distinguished between "rather factual" or "rather opinionated" (Seethaler, 2015).
Field of application/theoretical foundation:
Formal reporting styles can be seen as a formal variable of quantitative content analyses and is therefore often part of the "standard repertoire" within codebooks that analyse journalistic (news) coverage. It can be used to identify different news formats (e.g., the share of comments in quality newspapers). It can also be used for research conducted on the norm of separating news and opinion. It may also be helpful in determining the units of analysis within analyses of news coverage. For example, if a news story is followed by an interview with a politician on the same issue, this change in the formal reporting style often means a new unit of analysis in content analyses.
References/combination with other methods of data collection:
Content analyses can also be combined with surveys or qualitative interviews. One example is a study by Schäfer-Hock (2018), in which he examined how journalistic reporting have changed within recent years. In order to gain more in-depth insights into this, he combined the findings of a quantitative content analysis (years 1992 and 2012) with guided interviews conducted with journalists from the analysed newspapers.
Example studies:
Donsbach & Büttner, 2005; Kösters, 2020; Seethaler, 2015

Information on Kösters, 2020
Authors: Raphael Kösters
This study is part of the DFG-project "Media Performance and Democracy" (https://en.mediaperformance.uni-mainz.de/)
Research question: The project investigates how media interpret political topics with regard to political value orientations (value framing) by means of a standardized content analysis. The study aims to answer the question whether the political heterogeneity of modern societies is reflected in media reporting. The analysis is conducted on news coverage about migration.
Object of analysis: The study investigates news coverage on the issue "migration" in German news media: 1) newspapers/ news magazines (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, ZEIT, SPIEGEL, BILD, Rheinische Post, taz, Junge Freiheit, junge Welt); 2) TV (Tagesschau, RTL Aktuell), radio (WDR Aktuell - Der Tag); 4) online (t-online.de, bild.de, spiegel.de, faz.net, tagesschau.de, sueddeutsche.de)
Time frame of analysis: four artificial weeks (without Sundays) in 2014
Info about variable
Variable name: Stilform [reporting style]
Level of analysis: article
Values (in German): 1) Nachricht, Bericht; 2) Reportage, Feature, Portraits; 3) Kommentar, Kolumne, Glosse, Leitartikel; 4) Interview; 8) sonstiges
Reliability: five student coders, Holsti: 0.93
Codebook: attached (in German)

Information on Seethaler, 2015
Authors: Josef Seethaler
Research question: The study is a cross-media analysis of media performance in Austria. Furthermore, media performance indicators are evaluated from the standpoint of different models of democracy (representative liberal, deliberative, participatory).
Object of analysis: 1) newspapers (paid press: Standard, Presse, Kleine Zeitung, Kronen Zeitung, Kurier, Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, Salzburger Nachrichten, Tiroler Tageszeitung, Vorarlberger Nachrichten); 2) newspapers (free dailies: Heute, Österreich); 3) public service/commercial and national/regional radio stations (Ö1, Ö3, FM4, KRONEHIT, ORF – Radio Niederösterreich, Radio Oberösterreich, Radio Steiermark, Radio Wien, 88.6 Wien, Antenne Steiermark, Life Radio Oberösterreich, Radio Arabella Wien, Radio Energy Wien); 4) national public service (ORF eins, ORF 2, ORF III) and commercial (ATV I, ATV II, PULS 4, ServusTV) TV stations; 5) online (derstandard.at, krone.at, oe24.at, orf.at, gmx.at)
Time frame of analysis: March 1, 2018 to July 6, 2018
Info about variable
Variable name: Journalistische Stilform [journalistic reporting style]
Level of analysis: article
Values (in German): 1) tatsachenbetont: (Nachricht, Bericht, Reportage, Feature, Personenporträt, Dokumentation, in der Zeitung: auch Foto als Einzelbild); 2) meinungsbetont: Kommentar, [Print/Online:] Leitartikel, Glosse, Karikatur); 3 Interviews, Talks; 9) nicht entscheidbar
Level of measurement: nominal
Reliability: six coders, Fleiss' Kappa: 0.90
Codebook (in German) available under: https://www.rtr.at/de/inf/SchriftenreiheNr12015/Band1-2015.pdf

Information on Donsbach & Büttner, 2005
Authors: Wolfgang Donsbach, Katrin Büttner
Research question: The study examines the presentation of political news coverage in the most important public service and commercial main German newscasts in 1983, 1990 and 1998 with the aim of revealing changes in the presentation of politics and the extent to which there are convergent trends (? tabloidization).
Object of analysis: news on national politics within four German newscasts: 1) Tagesschau (ARD), ZDF heute, Sat.1 Blick/18.30, RTL Aktuell (in 1983: only Tagesschau and ZDF heute)
Time frame of analysis: for each year, every second day within the last four weeks before election day were analysed: 1) February 7, 1983 to March 6, 1983 (March 6, 1983 = election day); November 5, 1990 to December 2, 1990 (December 2, 1990 = election day); August 31, 1998 to September 27, 1998 (September 27, 1998 = election day)
Info about variable
This variable measures TV-specific formats but also includes general journalistic formats.
Variable name: Darstellungsformen [forms of presentation]
Level of analysis: news report
Values (in German): 1) Anmoderation; 2) Ab- bzw. Zwischenmoderation; 3) Meldung; 4) Nachrichtenfilm; 5) Bericht; 6) Interview; 7) Statement/Redeausschnitt; 8) Kommentar; 9) sonstige Präsentationsform
Level of measurement: nominal
Reliability: four coders, reliability: N.A.
Codebook (in German) available under: http://donsbach.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Codebuch_TV-Nachrichten.pdf

References
Donsbach, W., & Büttner, K. (2005). Boulevardisierungstrend in deutschen Fernsehnachrichten [Tabloidization trend in German TV news]. Publizistik, 50(1), 21–38.
Kösters, R. (2020). Medien als Mittler im Konflikt? Der Streit um die Migration im Spiegel der Berichterstattung [Media as intermediaries in conflicts? The debate on migration in media coverage]. (Doctoral dissertation, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf). Retrieved from https://d-nb.info/1203369883/34
Schäfer-Hock, C. (2018). Journalistische Darstellungsformen im Wandel. Eine Untersuchung deutscher Tageszeitungen von 1992 bis 2012 [Journalistic reporting styles in transition. A study of German daily newspapers from 1992 to 2012]. Wiesbaden: Springer
Seethaler, J. (2015). Qualität des tagesaktuellen Informationsangebots in den österreichischen Medien. Eine crossmediale Untersuchung [News media quality in Austria: A crossmedia analysis]. Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH. Retrieved from https://www.rtr.at/de/inf/SchriftenreiheNr12015/Band1-2015.pdf


Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths, with increasingly more cases arising due to high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy is a standard-of-care for locally advanced head and neck cancer but is frequently ineffective. Research into enhancing radiation responses as a means of improving treatment outcomes represents a high priority. Here, we evaluated a CHK1 inhibitor (CCT244747) as a radiosensitiser and investigated whether a mechanistically rational triple combination of radiation/paclitaxel/CHK1 inhibitor delivered according to an optimized schedule would provide added benefit. CCT244747 abrogated radiation-induced G2 arrest in the p53-deficient HNSCC cell lines, HN4 and HN5, causing cells to enter mitosis with unrepaired DNA damage. The addition of paclitaxel further increased cell kill and significantly reduced tumor growth in an HN5 xenograft model. Importantly, a lower dose of paclitaxel could be used when CCT244747 was included, therefore potentially limiting toxicity. Triple therapy reduced the expression of several markers of radioresistance. Moreover, the more radioresistant HN5 cell line exhibited greater radiation-mediated CHK1 activation and was more sensitive to triple therapy than HN4 cells. We analyzed CHK1 expression in a panel of head and neck tumors and observed that primary tumors from HPV+ patients, who went on to recur postradiotherapy, exhibited significantly stronger expression of total, and activated CHK1. CHK1 may serve as a biomarker for identifying tumors likely to recur and, therefore, patients who may benefit from concomitant treatment with a CHK1 inhibitor and paclitaxel during radiotherapy. Clinical translation of this strategy is under development. Mol Cancer Ther; 15(9); 2042–54. ©2016 AACR.


This paper contextualises and summarises five research projects concerned with the education of artistically talented students in the United States. It reports on over ten years of research and describes the hypotheses, methods and findings of studies linked by their concern for the special needs of the artistically able. Finally, the paper points towards the next stages of the research.


ABSTRACT Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a crucial stimulator for choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Our aim was to develop a reproducible and valid treatment-naive quiescent CNV (i.e. without signs of exudation and with normal visual acuity) rat model by subretinal injection of an adeno-associated virus (AAV)-VEGFA165 vector. The CNV development was longitudinally followed up in vivo by scanning laser ophthalmoscopy/optical coherence tomography, fluorescein and Indocyanine Green angiographies and ex vivo by electron microscopy (EM) and immunohistochemistry. In total, 57 eyes were analysed. In vivo, a quiescent CNV was observed in 93% of the eyes 6 weeks post-transduction. In EM, CNV vessels with few fenestrations, multi-layered basement membranes and bifurcation of endothelial cells were observed sharing the human CNV features. Human VEGF overexpression, multi-layered retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) (RPE65) and macrophages/activated microglia (Iba1) were also detected. In addition, 19 CNV eyes were treated for up to 3 weeks with bevacizumab. The retinal and CNV lesion thickness decreased significantly in bevacizumab-treated CNV eyes compared with untreated CNV eyes 1 week after the treatment. In conclusion, our experimental CNV resembles those seen in patients suffering from treatment-naive quiescent CNV in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and responds to short-term treatment with bevacizumab. Our new model can, therefore, be used to test the long-term effect of new drugs targeting CNV under precisely-defined conditions. Summary: We developed a new treatment-naive quiescent rat choroidal neovascularization model by VEGF overexpression, allowing the long-term investigation of new drugs.


Abstract : Four neuron-specific phosphorproteins and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II were used as model proteins to investigate the role of protein phosphorylation in the regulation of bioreactivity in the nervous system. These studies were carried out at the levels of electrophysiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology, in an attempt to obtain the most comprehensive understanding of their functions. Synapsin I and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II were pressure-injected into the preterminal digit of the squid giant synapse to test directly the possible regulation of neurotransmitter release by these substances. The binding of synapsin I to small synaptic vesicles was examined. The mechanism of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein autophosphorylation and its effects on the actvity of the enzyme were studied. The regional and subcellular distributions of proteins IIIa and IIIb in the nervous system were determined. The regional and subcellular distributions of protein p38 in the nervous system were determined. Two cDNA clones for protein IIIa and IIIb were obtained and sequenced. Keywords: deoxyribonucleic acids.


The Greek Tragedy in New Translations series aims to ' go beyond the literal meaning of the Greek in order to evoke the poetry of the originals'. Such statements ring alarm bells for many scholars; in the case of L. and R.'s Electra, the alarm is less necessary than one might suppose. This is not an accurate reading translation, but it seldom strays very far from the original, and avoids most of the abuses of'modern-idiom' translations. On the other hand, it reads well, and aims to do justice to the poetry of the original. Inaccuracy is occasionally due to misconstruction, once or twice where the sense suffers: e.g. at 974 (Greek text), where Electra demands of Orestes, ' How can it hurt you to avenge our father?', where the Greek (surely significantly?) has 'your father'. The main criticism of the authors' 'freedom' in translation, however, is that often it is unnecessary. Words in dialogue may be suppressed where they are neither awkward nor otiose; again, this sometimes happens where the omission really counts—narpos should surely be retained somehow in 676: 'Give it for him they justly avenge'. The dialogue does flow, but could often do so without being quite so free. At the other extreme, frequently L. and R. embellish the original, particularly in lyric passages. This may enhance poetic effect but will mislead a reader wanting an accurate idea of the effect Euripides achieves. So, for instance, in the 'Achilles' shield' ode we find: 'a firsthand account, Achilles, / of your famous shield, its pulsing designs— / gold come alive!—wrought to bring Trojans down to their knees in fear' (454-7)—this sounds wonderful, but how much of it is actually there in Euripides' text? This is a pity, because L. and R. are quite capable of vividly rendering Euripides' images without these additions. Often in the lyric passages, details which aren't in the original embellish fine translation of what is there:' Then thunder boomed, then Zeus reversed the stars' radiant sweep / and the dazzling sunlight' (727ff.), 'Black night, brood-nurse of golden stars / wrapped in your darkness I walk...' (54-5; italicized phrases not in the Greek).


This study is about parents of kids with autism (ASD). It looks at parent health and how child health insurance affects parents. Parents of kids with ASD report poorer health than parents of kids without ASD. Kids' health insurance affects parents of kids with ASD. Parents of kids with ASD who used private insurance, public insurance, or were uninsured had poorer health. Future research and impacts on policy and practice are discussed. Abstract This study aims to understand the health outcomes of parents with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the interactive effect of child health insurance status. The study utilized 2014-2018 pooled National Health Interview Survey data to construct weighted national estimates and assess main and interaction effect logistic regression models. Findings show parents of children with ASD experienced significantly poorer health compared to parents of children without autism. Insurance status was found to significantly interact with child ASD status. Compared to parents of children without ASD who used private insurance, parents who had a child with ASD who used private insurance, public insurance, or were uninsured were found to have 1.5, 3.2-, and 2.1-times higher odds of poorer health, respectively. Future research and implications on policy and practice are discussed.


Saidah, Irmadamayanti A, Syafruddin. 2015. Growth and productivity of several new superior varieties and locally swamp rice through integrated crop management in Central Sulawesi. Pros Sem Nas Masy Biodiv Indon 1: 935-940. The aim of this research was to identify growth and productivity of several new superior varieties (VUB) and locally swamp rice through the approach of Integrated Crop Management (ICM). The studies were conducted in tidal swamp land of Ogomatanang Village, Lampasio Sub-district, Toli-Toli District, Central Sulawesi Province, from July until October 2012. The method used was a Randomized Block Design with five replications. Five new superior varieties were studied, namely Mendawak, Banyuasin, Dendang, Inpara 3 and Inpara 5, and also two local varieties namely Crystals and Bari-bari. The results showed that: (i) growth of seven varieties studied were good, with low to moderate criteria; (ii) there were two new superior varieties that reach production over 7 t/ha GKP, namely Banyuasin (7.99 t/ha) and Mendawak (7.08 t/ha). Positive preferences (very like-like) farmers to new superior varieties of swamp rice studied were Banyuasin (100%), Mendawak (88%), Inpara 3 (36%), Dendang (4%) and Inpara 5 (0%).


-Cloud computing is a forthcoming revolution in information technology (IT) industry because of its performance, accessibility, low cost and many other luxuries. It provides gigantic storage for data and faster computing to customers over the internet. Cloud computing is a computing model in which tasks are assigned to a combination of connections, software and services accessed over a network. It essentially shifts the data base and application software to the large data centre where the management of data and services may not be completely trustworthy. A CSF (Cloud Security framework) comprising of different techniques and specialized procedures is proposed that can efficiently protect the data from the beginning to the end, i.e., from the owner to the cloud and then to the user .This strategy followed to protect the data, utilizes various techniques such as classification, Indexing of data. Encrypting the data carry forward by through 256-bit AES of SSL, Generation of MAC and XML signature. In this CSF approach, certain drawbacks in the existing system have been overcome by using cluster based index algorithm instead of sensitive rating and 256-bit AES instead of 128-bit RC4 of SSL. Keywords--Advanced Encryption Standard, Cloud Security Framework, Message Authentication Code, Secure Socket Layer.


Preoperative malnutrition is often associated with poor postoperative outcome, yet there is no consensus about whether perioperative nutritional support reduces postoperative complications to the level occurring in well-nourished patients undergoing similar procedures. This is partly because reports evaluating effect of perioperative nutritional support on postoperative outcome vary widely in number of patients studied, primary diagnosis, and duration and quality of perioperative nutritional support. These concerns warrant caution in interpreting reported results, even of randomized studies. However, analysis of published reports suggests that when total parenteral nutrition (TPN) is given to malnourished patients in adequate amounts for greater than or equal to 7-15 d preoperatively, significant improvements in both nutritional status and postoperative clinical outcome are likely to occur. Preoperative total enteral nutrition (TEN) is as effective as TPN in improving postoperative clinical outcome. Postoperative TPN, TEN, and ad libitum oral nutrition are equally effective in reducing postoperative complications. Potential candidates for surgery for whom prompt initiation of preoperative TPN or TEN may reduce operative morbidity and mortality irrespective of nutritional status can be identified on admission.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Since the advent of pharyngography, "eee" phonation has been used to distend the airway during imaging. When imaging shifted to axial CT, "eee" phonation was used to delineate mucosal anatomy better. However, because patients could not phonate for the entire examination (which could take several minutes), the technique was only useful during supplemental imaging, performed after the primary acquisition through the neck. The supplemental images covered a limited area (usually the larynx or supraglottis) and, therefore, could be obtained while patients phonated. Imaging of the neck has now shifted to multidetector CT (MDCT). With a 64-detector MDCT, the entire neck can be imaged in 8 seconds. We evaluated whether "eee" phonation could be used during the entire acquisition through the neck without degrading image quality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-eight patients who performed "eee" phonation during a CT examination of the neck were compared with 96 patients scanned following a breath-hold command. All patients were scanned on the same 64-detector MDCT scanner after intravenous contrast administration. Images were acquired at a 2-mm section thickness and reconstructed at 1-mm intervals. All scanning times ranged from 5 to 7 seconds. Studies were evaluated separately by 2 neuroradiologists for image degradation due to motion. Statistical analysis was performed by using the proportional odds ratio. RESULTS: We found no significant difference in motion during phonation compared with the breath-hold technique. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that "eee" phonation can be performed during an entire image acquisition through the neck, when performed with the speed of the 64-detector scanner, without increasing motion.


Abstract Chronic kidney disease (CKD) in children is an irreversible process that, in some cases, may lead to end-stage renal disease. The majority of children with CKD have a congenital disorder of the kidney or urological tract arising from birth. There is strong evidence for both a genetic and epigenetic component to progression of CKD. Utilization of gene-mapping strategies, ranging from genome-wide association studies to single-nucleotide polymorphism analysis, serves to identify potential genetic variants that may lend to disease variation. Genome-wide association studies evaluating population-based data have identified different loci associated with CKD progression. Analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms on an individual level suggests that secondary systemic sequelae of CKD are closely related to dysfunction of the cardiovascular-inflammatory axis and may lead to advanced cardiovascular disease through abnormal vascular calcification and activation of the renin–angiotensin system. Similarly, genetic variants affecting cytokine control, fibrosis, and parenchymal development may modulate CKD through development and acceleration of renal interstitial fibrosis. Epigenetic studies evaluate modification of the genome through DNA methylation, histone modification, or RNA interference, which may be directly influenced by external or environmental factors directing genomic expression. Lastly, improved understanding of the genetic and epigenetic contribution to CKD progression may allow providers to identify a population at accelerated risk for disease progression and apply novel therapies targeted at the genetic mechanism of disease.


Implementing motion detection algorithms using analog VLSI techniques has proven to be a challenging task due to several obstacles, including the limitations of analog VLSI, the algorithmic limitations brought forward by complex motion detection schemes, and the effect of various types of noise. Insect vision has been an inspiring model for motion detectors, as insects heavily rely on motion detection for navigation, and the natural complexity of their neuro-visual circuitry is also less than that of vertebrates. In an effort to implement the so called template model of insect vision, a comparative study of various analog differentiators was undertaken by implementing different candidates on a test chip. Based on the results, a 64 by 4 motion detector has been designed and fabricated. The chip is designed in a 0.8 micrometer 3M-1P CMOS process, and the 2-D array occupies an area of 1.5 multiplied by 3.1 mm2. Each cell comprises a bipolar-mode photodetector, an adaptive amplifier, the improved analog differentiator, and thresholding circuits.


Decision-tree-based multiclass support vector machine (DTSVM) can solve the problem of unclassified regions that exists in the conventional SVM. But the classification precision and generalization ability of DTSVM classifier depends on the structure of the decision tree. In addition, the training speed of DTSVM becomes slower for more training samples. In this paper, a new measurement of inter-class separability is defined, and an kernel hierarchical clustering algorithm is given by using kernel function to hierarchical clustering, then a fast training algorithm based on K nearest neighbours is given, at last, a SVM algorithm for multiclass classification based on kernel hierarchical clustering (KHC-SVM) is proposed. Experiment results proved the effectiveness of KHC-SVM.


Nowadays, millions of millions of information has been uploaded through the web in different specialization. Such huge amount of information makes difficult for the normal search methods to be effective. This paper discusses search engine in general perception,refinement of search, software components of search engine and finally the detailed way of working of a search engine by an extensive modular architecture of the Search engine and how it can be improved through software testing. The paper suggests new technique for the search engine based on the object oriented architecture. Procedural oriented, structural oriented and object oriented are the general techniques, which are adopted to solve the given statements of the problem. Out of these three techniques, object oriented techniques are broadly used, as they better describe the objects and flexibility to maintain. This paper attempts to demonstrate the power of object oriented software testing at class level, a disciplined approach to improve the product search engine, which is very powerful tool of knowledge engineering and management. In this paper the modular architecture of a search engine is analyzed in an extensive manner with its working. The object oriented technique is analyzed to implement the Search Query Processing class of the search engine. A technique based on class specification is also developed that can be used to generate the test cases at class level testing for object oriented programs. The paper explained how to get the best out of the Internet, working of a search engine in general perception, refinement of search, software components of search engine and finally the detailed way of working of a search engine by an extensive modular architecture of the Search engine. Based on this technique a test model is also developed for generation of test cases. The actual intended behavior is represented by the test model because it is based on the class specification. Although this paper includes discussion of all the test cases of the most crucial class of the search engine, the rest of the classes need to be tested and improvised by the methodology discussed in the paper. Through this paper an attempt is made to implement Object Oriented Approach to improve the performance of the search engine class.


The authors administered a written survey consisting of colour images of 28 tympanic membranes (TM) to four groups of examiners: 86 medical students, 68 paediatric residents, 62 paediatricians and seven expert otoscopists. For each image, examiners were asked to indicate whether redness or bulging of the TM was present and to assign a diagnosis. The odds of diagnosing acute otitis media (AOM) was examined according to perceived redness or bulging of the TM. Medical students and paediatricians attributed approximately equal importance to isolated redness and isolated bulging of the TM. In contrast, experts placed significantly greater importance on isolated bulging of the TM compared with isolated redness of the TM. The authors suggest that training curricula emphasize the strong association between a bulging TM and a diagnosis of AOM, while de-emphasizing the association between TM redness and AOM.


Zhi-Hua Zhou, Nanjing University A CM HA S RECOG NIZ ED 53 of its members as ACM Fellows for major contributions in areas including artificial intelligence, cryptography, computer architecture, high performance computing and programming languages. The achievements of the 2016 ACM Fellows are accelerating the digital revolution, and affect almost every aspect of how we live and work today. "As nearly 100,000 computing professionals are members of our association, to be selected to join the top one percent is truly an honor," explains ACM President Vicki L. Hanson. "Fellows are chosen by their peers and hail from leading universities, corporations and research labs throughout the world. Their inspiration, insights and dedication bring immeasurable benefits that improve lives and help drive the global economy." Underscoring ACM's global reach, 2016 Fellows hail from organizations in Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, India, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The 2016 Fellows have been cited for numerous contributions in areas including cloud computing, computer security, data science, Internet routing and security, large-scale distributed computing, mobile computing, spoken-language processing and theoretical computer science. ACM will formally recognize its 2016 Fellows at the annual Awards Banquet, to be held in San Francisco on June 24, 2017. Additional information about the 2016 ACM Fellows, the awards event, as well as previous ACM Fellows and award winners is available on the ACM Awards site at http://awards.acm.org/. 2016 ACM Fellows


The paper presents a Novel C-5 monosubstituted chemoselctive Indole derivatives, its Schiff base were prepared and characterized (15 examples). The present perspective of the study was to synthesis chemoselctive 5-hydroxy indole derivatives and investigates the role of electronic effect of substituents variation on the antimicrobial activity of Schiff bases. A comparative study of inhibition values were done to get high potent antimicrobial active molecule. The electron withdrawing and donating substituents showing high antifungal and antibacterial activity. This is due to the effect of electron withdrawing groups such as, NO2 and electron donating group OH. This variation is due to change in inductive effect of substituents.


As with prior technological advancements, big data
technology is growing at present and we have to identify what are
the possible threats to overhead the present security systems. Due
to the development of recent technical environment like cloud,
network connected smartphones and the omnipresent digital
conversion of huge volume of all types of data poses more possible
threats to sensitive data. Due to the improved vulnerability big
data requires increased responsibility. During the last two years,
the amount of data that has been created is about 90% of the
whole data created. Strengthening the security of sensitive data
from unauthorized discovery is the most challenging process in all
kind of data processing. Data Leakage Detection offers a set of
methods and techniques that can professionally solve the problem
arising in particular critical data. The large amounts of existing
data is mostly unstructured. To retrieve meaningful information,
we have to develop superior analytical method in big data. At
present we have more algorithms for security which are not easy to
be implement for huge volume of data. We have to protect the
sensitive information as well as details related users with the help
of security protocols in big data. The sensitive data of the patient,
different types of code patterns and set of attributes to be secured
by using machine learning tool. Machine learning tools have a lot
of library functions to protect the sensitive information about the
clients. We recommend the Secure Pattern-Based Data Sensitivity
Framework (PBDSF), to protect such sensitive information from
big data using Machine Learning. In the proposed framework,
HDFS is implemented to analysis the big data, to classify most
important information and converting the sensitive data in a
secure manner.


Abstract:
 Having access to basic in-country biodiversity inventories is essential for informed decision making in, for example, determining priorities in conservation initiatives. To date Angola has suffered from a lack of access to such basic resources. A complete record of the country's plant resources was recently compiled, and for the first time environmental scientists have access to a basic floristic resource. This list was used as the basis for the compilation of the succulent list presented here. A total of 431 indigenous and naturalized taxa (from 422 species) out of a vascular plant flora of 7296 are succulent. The families with most succulent taxa in Angola are the Apocynaceae and Euphorbiaceae, followed by the Asphodelaceae. Euphorbia (with 57 taxa) and Aloe (with 28) are the genera with most succulents in Angola. Angola is the fourth most speciose country in terms of number of succulent taxa, in southern Africa, after South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.


The fish-processing industry, one of the most important industries of coastal Norway, consists of approximately 500 firms employing 12,500 people. This article draws attention to the regional specialisation of the Norwegian fish-processing industry. Changes in the level of activity and in profitability at the regional level can to a large extent be linked to characteristics of the regional production system in different areas. In order to develop a more profitable and market-oriented industry, we argue for a regionalised policy approach that encourages the establishment of inter-firm relations and collective learning processes at the level of the regional production milieux. A regionalisation of the national policy would be the most sustainable way of stimulating more efficient longterm business strategies in this industry.


In order to clarify characteristics of diverticular disease in Japan, 625 patients with diverticular disease were studied. The frequency was 13.3% and increasing with years. The right-sided type was seen in 68.8% and was common in the younger patients. 77 patients were complicated with diverticulitis; 61 presented right sided diverticulitis and 16 left-sided diverticulitis. Most of those with right-sided diverticulitis recovered with medical treatment successfully. Drainage and supplemental appendectomy were recommended procedure for emergency operation. Patients with recurring inflammation should receive elective right hemicolectomy. Intraluminal pressure studies disclosed abnormal motility with high intraluminal pressure of the ascending colon in the patients with right-sided diverticular disease. This abnormal motility might play an important role in the pathogenesis of right-sided diverticular disease.


The current study assessed locus of control, general level of life satisfaction, and self-reported grade-point averages among adults who had experienced either alcoholism within the family of origin, traumatic life events other than alcoholism, or who indicated neither problem during their childhood. Results indicated that both the adult children of alcoholics (ACOA) and traumatic experience (TE) groups had lower life satisfaction scores than the control group. Significantly lower levels of locus of control also were found for the ACOA group in comparison to the control group. There were no significant differences among the three groups based on self-reported GPAs. Results of the current study support the concept that family dysfunction during childhood can influence negatively later life experiences and adjustment.


PurposeIn recent years, many companies have decided to decertify from their previously adopted corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards. The aim of this paper is to explore the phenomenon by focusing on the most important auditable CSR standard: Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000).Design/methodology/approachFirst, an event study is performed on a dataset composed of 136 SA8000 decertified public listed companies to analyse the possible relationship between certification, decertification and firms' operating performance. Second, the authors shed light on the differences between 94 SA8000 (still) certified and the abovementioned 136 decertified firms. Finally, 10 interviews are conducted with decertified firms in the dataset to deepen the outcomes of the previous analyses.FindingsThe results show that, despite an initial positive effect in terms of sales and profitability, decertified companies experienced a reduction in productivity and profitability in the years following the certification, while positive outcomes emerged after the decertification. The study also highlights that certified and decertified firms differ in terms of home country, industry and labour intensity.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature by opening the debate on an important but unexplored research area: the decertification from the most popular CSR standard, i.e. SA8000, and its relationship with firms' performance. In doing this, it also highlights the main differences between decertified and certified companies.


Cross-section slices of Usnea antarctica Du Rietz , Usnea aurantiaco-atra (Jacq.) Bory. and Cladonia sp. at upper, middle and basal positions were prepared, respectively. The element composition and relative content were determined by SEM and EDS at the surface, intermediate and inner layers in each slice, respectively. The result indicated that the composition of element is mostly same in these lichens. The relative content of Al, Si, K and Ca elements is high, and P is close at each position. The result is of benefit to study the structure and physiological characteristics of lichens, and to analyze geological environment in Antarctica.


Any semiorder on a finite set can be reached from any other semiorder on the same set by elementary steps consisting either in the addition or in the removal of a single ordered pair, in such a way that only semiorders are generated at every step, and also that the number of steps equals the distance between the two semiorders. Similar results are also established for other families of relations (partial orders, biorders, interval orders). These combinatorial results are used in another paper to develop a stochastic theory describing the emergence and the evolution of preference relations (Falmagne and Doignon, [7]).


The objective of this paper is to describe an energy-based approach to visualize, identify, and monitor faults that may occur in a water-to-water transcritical CO 2 heat pump system. A representation using energy attributes allows the abstraction of all physical phenomena present during operation into a compact and easily interpretable form. The use of a linear graph representation, with heat pump components represented as nodes and energy interactions as links, is investigated. Node signature matrices are used to present the energy information in a compact mathematical form. The resulting node signature matrix is referred to as an attributed graph and is populated in such a way as to retain the structural information, i.e., where the attribute points to in the physical system. To generate the energy and exergy information for the compilation of the attributed graphs, a descriptive thermal–fluid model of the heat pump system is developed. The thermal–fluid model is based on the specifications of and validated to the actual behavioral characteristics of a physical transcritical CO 2 heat pump test facility. As a first step to graph-matching, cost matrices are generated to represent a characteristic residual between a normal system node signature matrix and a faulty system node signature matrix. The variation in the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the characteristic cost matrices from normal conditions to a fault condition was used for fault characterization. Three faults, namely refrigerant leakage, compressor failure and gas cooler fouling, were considered. The paper only aims to introduce an approach, with the scope limited to illustration at one operating point and considers only three relatively large faults. The results of the proposed method show promise and warrant further work to evaluate its sensitivity and robustness for small faults.


ABSTRACT Carboniferous-Permian rocks make up an important closely-related regional hydrocarbon source-reservoir System covering most basins of the Rocky Mountain and Great Basin Region. The System includes oil and gas accumulations in the Williston Basin and Sweetgrass arch areas in Montana and North Dakota: the Bighorn, Wind River, and Powder River basins of Wyoming; the Uinta, Sand Wash, and Piceance basins of northeast Utah and northwest Colorado; the Paradox Basin of the Four Corners area; and the basins of east-central Nevada. More than 400 hydrocarbon accumulations, at least 20 greater than 100 MM barrels each, are present, including Rangely, the largest Rocky Mountain field, and the central Utah partly-eroded Tar Sand Triangle stratigraphically trapped heavy oil and tar accumulation, arguably the largest (probably 30 billion barrels oil equivalent or more) original in-place hydrocarbon accumulation of the United States. Regional and local detailed palinspastic, stratigraphic, paleotectonic source rock burial depths, and maturity projections aid in geologic analyses of these extensive hydrocarbon deposits. The estimated volume of total original hydrocarbons generated and accumulated in these Late Paleozoic rocks elevates the importance of this System to a major position in the Rocky Mountains-Great Basin oil and gas province.


The impact of a large extraterrestrial object on the Earth can produce a geomagnetic reversal through the following mechanism: dust from the impact crater and soot from fires trigger a climate change and the beginning of a little ice age. The redistribution of water near the equator to ice at high latitudes alters the rotation rate of the crust and mantle of the Earth. If the sea-level change is sufficiently large (>10 meters) and rapid (in a few hundred years), then the velocity shear in the liquid core disrupts the convective cells that drive the dynamo. The new convective cells that subsequently form distort and tangle the previous field, reducing the dipole component near to zero while increasing the energy in multipole components. Eventually a dipole is rebuilt by dynamo action, and the event is seen either as a geomagnetic reversal or as an excursion. Sudden climate changes from other causes such as volcanic eruptions could also trigger reversals. This mechanism may not be the sole cause of geomagnetic reversals, but it can account for the rapid drop of the dipole component preceding a reversal, the predominance of multipole components during a transition, the associations of microtektites, temperature drops and extinctions with reversals, and the possible correlation between peaks in the geomagnetic reversal rate and the times of mass extinctions. The model may also account for the long-term changes in the average rate of reversals. We make several testable predictions.


Background: Patient education is taken into account as one of the key components of comprehensive care as well as one of the significant nursing functions in order to increase community health. In this respect, education materials and written texts can improve patient information up to 50% and consequently meet patient satisfaction. Readability is considered as an integral concept in patient education and an appropriate measure to determine how contents are perceived by readers. Aim: The present study was to measuring the readability level of patient education pamphlets in training hospitals in the city of Mashhad. Method: This study was a descriptive research conducted in 2016. In order to measure the readability level, the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) Readability Test was used. The study sample included 543 patient education pamphlets used by 11 training hospitals in the city of Mashhad along with pamphlets developed by the Office of Vice-Chancellor for Treatment Affairs that were collected through the census method. The SPSS16 software was also employed for data analysis. In terms of descriptive analysis, mean and standard deviation were used. In addition, Cronbach's alpha correlation test was employed for inferential analysis. Results: The average readability level of patient education pamphlets was estimated equivalent to 11th grade (11.35±1.05). Moreover, the minimum and the maximum readability levels of the pamphlets were 9th grade and 15th grade, respectively. Implications for Practice: The results revealed that patient education pamphlets available in training hospitals in the city of Mashhad were endowed with a high level of readability. Thus, the given pamphlets were appropriate to patients with a level of literacy equal to senior university students and they could not be perceived by the public. Considering the importance of readability index in health promotion and increased patient self-care, it was recommended to improve the readability level of patient education materials.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the factors associated with the occurrence of cancer-related fatigue (CRF) one month after surgery in patients with gastrointestinal cancer.

METHOD
The study included 96 patients with gastrointestinal cancer (50 males and 46 females, mean age 62.7 ± 11.4 years). Data of the Cancer Fatigue Scale (CFS), 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), and hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) were obtained before surgery and one month after surgery. The subjects were divided into the following two groups: severe CRF group (CFS score of ≥19 points) and mild CRF group (CFS score of <19 points). Each parameter was compared between the severe and mild CRF groups. The factors associated with CRF were identified by logistic regression analysis involving factors with significant differences between the groups.

RESULT
The CFS score showed a significant interaction, and the CFS score, 6MWD, and HADS score showed significant differences both before and one month after surgery between the two groups. The CFS score was significantly higher in the severe CRF group than in the mild CRF group both before and one month after surgery. Additionally, the 6MWD was significantly lower in the severe CRF group than in the mild CRF group both before and one month after surgery. The factors identified on logistic regression analysis were the preoperative CFS score and preoperative 6MWD.

CONCLUSION
CRF occurring one month after surgery might be affected by preoperative fatigue and preoperative exercise tolerance.


Optimal linear feedback control design is a valuable but challenging problem due to nonconvexity of the underlying optimization and infinite dimensionality of the Hardy space of stabilizing controllers. A powerful class of techniques for solving optimal control problems involves using reparameterization to transform the control design to a convex but infinite dimensional optimization. To make the problem tractable, historical work focuses on Galerkin-type finite dimensional approximations to Hardy space, especially those involving Lorentz series approximations such as the finite impulse response appproximation. However, Lorentz series approximations can lead to infeasibility, difficulty incorporating prior knowledge, deadbeat control in the case of finite impulse response, and increased suboptimality, especially for systems with large separation of time scales. The goal of this two-part article is to introduce a new Galerkin-type method based on approximation by transfer functions with a selection of simple poles, and to apply this simple pole approximation for optimal control design. In Part I, error bounds for approximating arbitrary transfer functions in Hardy space are provided based on the geometry of the pole selection. It is shown that the space of transfer functions with these simple poles converges to the full Hardy space, and a uniform convergence rate is provided based purely on the geometry of the pole selection. This is then specialized to derive a convergence rate for a particularly interesting pole selection based on an Archimedes spiral. In Part II, the simple pole approximation is combined with system level synthesis, a recent reparameterization approach, to develop a new control design method. This technique is convex and tractable, always feasible, can include prior knowledge, does not result in deadbeat control, and works well for systems with large separation of tim


Previous studies on Passiflora edulis (sour passion fruit) rinds reported some biological activities and there is a growing interest on rinds flour as a possible functional food, but its alkaloid composition was not detailed investigated. This work reports on for the first time in the literature the identification of norharman in P. edulis rinds, by using stir bar sorptive extraction combined with ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry [SBSE(EG-Silicone)UFLC-MS/MS)]. This β-carboline alkaloid is suspected to be neurotoxic. Therefore, another purpose of this study was to develop methods of targeted quantification of norharman in P. edulis rinds extracts using polydimethylsiloxane as stationary phase (SBSE(PDMS)) and a copolymer of polydimethylsiloxane and polyethylene glycol as stationary phase (SBSE(EG-Silicone)) combined with high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-Flu) and ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UFLC-MS/MS). Norharman extraction by SBSE(PDMS) and SBSE(EG-Silicone) was optimized and compared, and the analytical performance of SBSE(EG-Silicone) method was superior to that of SBSE(PDMS). The analysis of a sample of dried P. edulis rind indicated (332.16 ± 8.43) pg g of norharman.


Min's glasses are specially manufactured in order to enhance the satisfaction of the wearer and increase treatment effectiveness. We compared the effectiveness of Min's glasses with that of conventional occlusion therapy in amblyopic pediatric patients. We prospectively studied 60 amblyopic patients. For four to 30 months, 24 of the patients were treated with conventional patch occlusion (patch group) and 36 of them were treated with Min's glasses (glasses group). We compared the improvement in visual acuity and the treatment compliance between both groups, according to age (over six and less than six), sex, type of amblyopia, and the duration of treatment. Sixteen patients (66.7%) in the patch group and 32 patients (88.9%) in glasses group showed improvement in visual acuity (p = 0.002). The pre-treatment average log MAR acuity was 0.56 +/- 0.25 in the patch group, and 0.59 +/- 0.25 in the glasses group. The average improvement in visual acuity was a 0.17 log MAR score in the patch group, and a 0.31 log MAR score in the glasses group (p = 0.004). Compliance was 59.54% in the patch group and 83.44% in the glasses group (p = 0.012). The pre-treatment average log MAR acuity was 0.49 +/- 0.23 for children over six years of age in the patch group, and 0.58 +/- 0.28 for children over six years of age in the glasses group. For children over six years of age in the glasses group the improvement in visual acuity (0.29 log MAR score) was greater than for children over six years of age in the patch group (0.06 log MAR score) (p = 0.0003). The pre-treatment average log MAR acuity was 0.55 +/- 0.22 for female patients in the patch group, and 0.60 +/- 0.25 for female patients in the glasses group. Female patients in the glasses group also showed a greater visual acuity improvement (0.29 log MAR score) than female patients in the patch group (0.14 log MAR score) (p = 0.0028). However, there were no differences between the groups in patients less than six years of age and in male patients. In conclusion, Min's glasses were more effective than conventional treatment with a patch in improving visual acuity and encouraging compliance in pediatric amblyopic patients, especially in children over six years of age and in girls.


Seed mass is a critical life-history character in seed evolutionary ecology. Plant species can present responses in seed mass to environment stresses. We tested the hypotheses that seed mass was positively correlated with altitude within species. We selected four congeneric Saussurea species as study objects, and collected their seeds along altitudinal gradients (2100-4200 m a.s.l.) in the alpine area of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Results showed that mean seed mass of the four species were significantly affected by altitude (P < 0.001). There was a general trend of an increase in seed weight with altitude among the populations of the four species. In addition, mean seed mass of four species were not significantly different, but all presented a bigger coefficients of variation within species along altitude gradients. Our results indicate selection pressure within species, with larger seeds occurring at higher altitudes.