In this paper, the power distribution in the breast and heart model is analyzed during the microwave breast cancer treatment with the incidence of plane wave based on the simulated results by FEKO. Three cases of needle insertion with different diameters are considered to find the best convergence effects on the tumor region. Comparing the simulated results, the conclusion can be drawn that when the direction of needle insertion is parallel with the polarized direction of incident plane wave, and the needle has a relatively larger diameter of 1.6mm, the power convergence on the tumor region has better effects than other cases, and meanwhile the power that reached the heart region is much smaller than that in the breast region, i.e. heart is in good condition.


The cosmological black holes are black holes living not in an asymptotically flat universe but in an expanding spacetime. They have a rich dynamics in particular for their mass and horizon. In this article we perform a natural step in investigating this new type of black hole: we consider the possibility of a \textit{charged} cosmological black hole. We derive the general equations of motion governing its dynamics and report a new analytic solution for the special case of the charged Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi equations of motion that describe a charged cosmological black hole. We then study various relevant quantities for the characterization of the black hole such as the C-function, the effect of the charge on the black hole flux and the nature of the singularity. We also perform numerical investigations to strengthen our results. Finally we challenge a model of gamma ray burst within our framework.


High-quality and emotionally validated material is a necessary basis for well-designed experiments in affective cognition and neuroscience research. Videos of existing databases are recorded using and viewed on devices that were current at the time of the design. With the continuous transition to more recent, higher-resolution devices, new databases are needed, and older ones need to be regularly updated. This is particularly true for virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) which, due to the proximity of the eyes to the screen, are extremely prone to low-resolution effects, resulting in unclear images. However, current databases typically feature high intra-variability, combining videos of varied length and quality, which can be problematic when looking at time domain features and physiological signals. In our study, 60 online videos, 30 seconds long were rated by 86 participants in an online survey using a novel class of affective sliders. Mean arousal and valence ratings were calculated for all videos and used for video classification into positive, neutral, and negative categories identified through cluster analysis. Mean ratings showed a parabolic, u-shape curve of arousal and valence present in other similar studies. Two-step clustering has successfully identified 3 clusters we selected and placed 88.3% of videos in the cluster we predicted. Our results suggest that online questionnaires could provide an easier way to update video databases with similar effectiveness as lab-based experiments. Videos and rating table are available for download at: https://gnacek.com/affective-video-database-online-study


The genus Oligosarcus currently comprises 24 valid species distributed in the major river basins of South America. In this group, nine species were cytogenetically investigated, and found to share a diploid number of 50 chromosomes. Despite the conservation of the diploid number, variations in the karyotypic formula, number and position of the nucleolar organizer regions, and longitudinal bands have been described between both species and populations. In this study, we present cytogenetic and molecular data from Oligosarcus pintoi specimens from the Keller River, a tributary of the Ivaí River (Upper Paraná basin), using DNA barcoding and cytogenetic markers (C-band, silver-stained nucleolar organizer regions, and fluorescence in situ hybridization of 18S and 5S rDNA). The genetic inferences reached after analyzing the cytochrome c oxidade subunit 1 gene allowed us to confirm the identity of the individuals with 2n = 50 chromosomes. However, one specimen contained a medium subtelocentric supernumerary chromosome (2n = 51). This is the second record of additional chromosomes in O. pintoi, thereby confirming the existence of a supernumerary chromosome in allopatric populations of this species, a fact that demonstrates an evolutionary path that is divergent from other populations and/or species of Oligosarcus analyzed so far, contributing to the karyotypic diversification of the group.


Representation is a major and multifaceted concept of modern politics. Through open and regular elections, it shields the democratic character of representative governments, compelling politicians to pursue the interests of their constituencies and become responsive to their demands. But since the concept of representation is so embedded in the day-to-day workings of democratic regimes, it has largely lost significant traces of its history that shed light on its political dawn. The instrumentalization of the concept by representative governments in order to assess their democratic legitimacy obfuscates its seminal ambiguities and the history of conflicts about its meaning and institutional functions.


Mufflers have been widely used to reduce the noise level emitted from various vehicles. The simple and high accuracy simulation model for muffler is highly requested by designers in evaluation stage of preliminary design. In this paper, the simulation model was developed by using SysNoise application in LMS Virtual Lab. The basic geometry of simple expansion chamber muffler was proposed for simulation and evaluation in terms of transmission loss (TL). The developed model via simulation had been verified by comparing the predicted TL of simple expansion chamber muffler with the experimental data in literature. It can be observed that simulation results have good agreement with the experimental data from literature. In addition, simulation-based muffler analysis also was conducted for parametrical studies in order to enhance the TL of muffler. As a conclusion, the computational acoustic model based on Finite Element Method (FEM) was successfully developed for prediction of TL on mufflers.


A cross-sectional online survey was conducted using multiple online channels, where hundreds of responses were recorded from seven different countries, in order to provide a better understanding of the global public opinion about the awareness, perception and attitude about climate change. The results reflected that majority of people believe in the actual happening of Climate Change both by natural as well as anthropogenic causes. While most respondents believed in the anthropogenic causes of climate change, some people still displayed their confidence in the natural causation of climate change and thus affirmed their awareness of its natural causes. There was however, a difference of opinion regarding the mechanism behind the greenhouse effect. The respondents also provided their opinion on the impact of carbon aerosols on the atmospheric temperature. Further, the respondents were optimistic on the issue of climate change reversal and had also preferred some mitigation steps such as the use of geo-engineering over adjusting to the existing impacts of climate change. Although, people confirmed their belief in the human-induced nature of climate change, yet their agreement of having faced bizarre things about climate change like the lack of consensus among the scientists and climate change being a hoax shows their unawareness about the appropriate knowledge and the propaganda against this planetary emergency. Therefore, this study could prove helpful for policy makers and other stakeholders as it shows how much is done and how much more is pending.


Type I modular polyketide synthases (PKSs), which are responsible for the biosynthesis of many biologically active agents, possess a ketosynthase (KS) domain within each module to catalyze chain elongation. Acylation of the KS active site Cys residue is followed by transfer to malonyl-ACP to yield an extended β-ketoacyl chain (ACP = acyl carrier protein). To date, the precise contribution of KS selectivity in controlling product fidelity has been unclear. Six KS domains from trans-acyltransferase (trans-AT) PKSs were subjected to a mass spectrometry based elongation assay, and higher substrate selectivity was identified for the elongating step than in preceding acylation. A close correspondence between the observed KS selectivity and that predicted by phylogenetic analysis was seen. These findings provide insights into the mechanism of KS selectivity in this important group of PKSs, can serve as guidance for engineering, and show that targeted mutagenesis can be used to expand the repertoire of acceptable substrates.


7-9S RNA has been isolated from polyribosomes of HeLa S-3 cells in S phase. These RNA species direct the synthesis in vitro of all five classes of human histones when they are added to a protein-synthesizing system derived from mouse ascites tumor cells. The histones synthesized in vitro have been identified by two kinds of acrylamide gel electrophoresis, and by paper electrophoresis of tryptic digests. By use of the ratio of tyrosine to tryptophan incorporation as an index of contamination, it was determined that less than 10% of the 7-9S RNA is translated into proteins other than histones.


As many other nuclear markers, e.g. steroid receptors, Ki-67 epitopes are differentially expressed in tumour cell nuclei. It is unclear whether this phenomenon represents tumour cell heterogeneity, different stages of the cell-cycle or a biological phenomenon with prognostic impact. We analysed 104 primary adult soft tissue sarcomas (ASTS), formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded, by APAAP and LSAB immunohistochemistry, epitope retrieval technique and 2 anti-Ki-67 antibodies (MIB-1 and Ki-S-5). Expression was evaluated by 4 indexes/1000 tumour cells: a) A-index: sum of all (weak, moderate and strong stained) Ki-67-nuclei, b) the weighed R-index: sum of all strong stained Ki-67+ nuclei x3, moderate stained nuclei x2 and weak stained nuclei x1, c) ID1-index: sum of all strong stained Ki-67+ nuclei, and d) ID2-index: sum of all strong and moderate stained Ki-67+ nuclei. Prognostic impact was analysed by Kaplan-Meier and logrank statistics with respect to overall survival. Quantitative Ki-67 expression did not vary significantly if determined by MIB-1 or Ki-S-5. The A-index turned out to be the strongest prognostic parameter within the whole group of ASTS as well as within each single sarcoma type investigated. Significant (p < 0.05) correlations between A-index and overall survival existed in LMS, LPS, MFH, SS, while a trend to significance (p = 0.06) was observed in MPNST. Quantitative evaluation of all three differential expression levels is necessary to obtain the most comprehensive prognostic informations of proliferation markers in ASTS.


Logic would suggest that women with low sexual desire do not acquire sexually transmitted infections. However, this may not be the case. Until recently, it has been considered that sexual activity in women is initiated by desire, which produces arousal. This leads to orgasm and resolution.1, 2 In practice, sexual desire and arousal are not isolated psychological and physiological states but interdigitate and feed back on each other. In a new relationship a woman's sexual desire is often spontaneous.3 In effect this means that thoughts of her partner or seeing him are sufficient to produce an urge to want sexual relations to take place. This produces both mental excitement and bodily arousal (for example, vaginal lubrication, uterine "tenting," breast enlargement). These sensations (arousal) feed back to produce a greater desire for intercourse. However, it is also well recognised that women are less attentive to genital sensations than men, and indeed may lubricate and vasocongest in the vulva and vagina in the absence of mental sexual excitement.

The DSM IV definition of low sexual desire, or to be more precise, hypoactive sexual desire disorder is "persistently or recurrently deficient (or absent) sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity. …


The paper outlines a language identification system from speech with the help of deep learning. In a multilingual country like India, language identification systems have a wide variety of applications. For this, a custom speech database of seven Indian languages from IIIT-Indic has been taken. Preprocessing is done in order to avoid the noise interference and the disturbances in the audio signal. After subsequent framing and windowing, the spectrograms are extracted and fed to a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). Utterances in languages: Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu are utilized in this study. A mixture of speech utterances from binary combination of these languages is used in this analysis. The performance of the system is measured in the form of accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score and confusion matrix. For the data set analyzed, a maximum accuracy of 99.5% is achieved for Bengali vs Kannada and 99% for Kannada vs Malayalam.


Forward rates in the money market are systematically higher than realised spot rates, reflecting an unobservable term premium. This paper uses a Kalman filter specification to produce time-varying estimates of the term premia in New Zealand and Australia. Three time series specifications are used to examine the properties of the premia, such as the average size, volatility, and the degree of mean reversion.


The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, which is mandated under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights with promoting and protecting human rights in Africa, has attracted considerable criticism for being an ineffectual body. One of the complaints is that the Charter based regime lacks an effective system of remedies. This paper examines whether this criticism is justified. An analysis of the jurisprudence of the African Commission proves that the Commission is patiently constructing a concept of reparations which has some similarities with that developed by the UN Human Rights Committee.


It is generally accepted that the implementation of high-intensity resistance exercise training can cause several physiological adaptations such as strength and in recent years, many individuals have been attracted to weight training to increase the strength. One of the most important variables which affect strength improvement is training system and two common systems of resistance exercise training are single set and multiple sets. Choosing which training system is better is still open to question. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of 8 weeks single set versus multiple sets resistance exercise training on upper and lower body muscular strength among untrained male adults. Twenty-four healthy untrained males (age: 20.5 ± 1.8 years, body height: 174.9 ± 4.2 cm, body mass: 72.3 ± 3.2 kg, and body fat mass percentage: %18.2 ± 1.3) were randomly selected and assigned into two groups: single set (SS) and multiple sets (MS). Both groups trained for eight weeks with 70-80% of 1RM with 8-10 repetitions for 3 days per week which SS and MS groups performed one set and three sets of each exercise, respectively. Upper and lower body muscular strength using one-repetition maximum were measured before and after the intervention. Results reported there were significant increases in upper and lower body muscular strength in both groups after the intervention (p < 0.05), and upper and lower body muscular strength increased more significantly in MS group compared with SS group (%12.70 increase in SS group and %23.43 in MS group). The results showed MS resistance exercise training had a better effect significantly to improve upper and lower body muscular strength after 8 weeks of resistance exercise training among untrained male adults.


Background and Aim: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among Iranian women. Early diagnosis of the disease is vitally important in successful treating of it and reducing its mortality and care-cost burden. In our country,the major causes of mortality and other unfavorable complications of the disease are due to late referring of women. So far, the nature of this behavior has not been studied. The present qualitative study was done on a number of Tehran women to clarify the concepts of breast cancer control and prevention; and factors affecting this procedure. Materials and Methods: A content analysis with a qualitative approach (Grounded Theory) was conducted in depth on 31 women through semi-structured (individual and group) interviews. Data collection continued to saturation point .Data analysis was done by means of constant comparative analysis method, using theoretical sampling and constant comparison analysis Results: The study was done on 31 females aged 49±8.05, of whom 54.8% were in employment and 45.1% were housewives. Education level was average in 48.3% of the cases and 27% of them were married. Individual and social factors were the two effective categories that shaped the women's behavior , which regarded women's early detecting behavior and respective factors were classified into 3 categories: Inappropriate attitude toward behavior, Inadequate risk-perception , and inefficient perceived data. The mentioned concepts are the same obstacles and frustrations which may occur in detecting breast-cancer behavioral procedure, together with a shade of subjective behavior. Conclusions: Controlling is a multidimensional concept which has individual and social aspects but individual intentional rate is higher. After final analysis of the obtained data, inappropriate attitude towards control and prevention of breast cancer was taken as the central variable and conscious persuasion was recognized as the corrective factor. Health promotion of women, who make up half of the active population of the country, is one of the requirements of stable development and planning appropriate methods to warn women of health risks is among health education missions. The indispensable factor in this respect is attention to women's attitude construct and qualitative studies seem to define behavioral situations better than quantitative methods; and, thus, help planning educational interventions. Therefore, it is suggested that defining the concept of breast-cancer control and prevention according to routine quantitative methods and comparing it with the results of the present study should be taken into account.


The effect of a MoS2 substrate on the structural and electronic properties of stanene were systematically investigated by first-principles calculations. The Brillouin zone of isolated stanene has a Dirac cone at the K point. MoS2 helps to open an energy gap at the K point, whereas contributes no additional transport channels near the Fermi level. Our results suggest that the carrier mobility remains large, which makes the stanene/MoS2 heterostructure a competitive material for electronic applications. Subsequently, strain engineering study by changing the interlayer spacing between stanene and MoS2 layer and changing lattice constants indicates that the energy gap at K point can be effectively tuned to meet the demands of experiments and device design in nanoelectronics. Moreover, a large enough strain leads to a metal–semiconductor phase transition to make the intrinsic semiconductor turn into self-doping phase. Our study indicates that MoS2 is a good substrate to promote the development of Sn-based nanoelectronics.


The equipment number of Small module reactor (SMR) is significantly less than that of commercial reactor, and accordingly, the number of fixed fire ignition sources and the ignition frequency are much less. Based on the analysis of the design characteristics of Small Module Reactor, this paper develops a preliminary research and innovation on the internal fire ignition frequency evaluation method of Small Module Reactor, and implements a sensitivity analysis on the commercial reactor ignition frequency methods. The result indicates the fire ignition frequency would increase 51% if the NUREG/CR-6850 generic ignition frequency data are adopted. However, the design characteristics of SMR can be better reflected in this innovative method, which needs more attention in the future.


In this review, we intend to clarify the underlying ideas and the relations between various multigrid methods ranging from subset decomposition, to projected subspace decomposition and truncated multigrid. In addition, we present a novel globally convergent inexact active set method which is closely related to truncated multigrid. The numerical properties of algorithms are carefully assessed by means of a degenerate problem and a problem with a complicated coincidence set.


Design, fabrication and evaluation of Ka-band monolithic voltage controlled oscillators using GaInP/GaAs Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBTs) as the active device are described. The employed HBTs have an emitter area of 2/spl times/1,5 /spl mu/m/spl times/10 /spl mu/m and a self-aligned base. The varactor diode is formed from the base-collector junction of the HBT structure. The oscillators are realized in a common emitter configuration and show tuning ranges of about 1 GHz at center frequencies of 35 GHz, 37 GHz and 40 GHz. Best measured phase noise at 1 MHz off carrier is -107 dBc/Hz.<<ETX>>


Pressure pulsing technology is an innovative method that has been developed with the aim of overcoming preferred flow paths associated with remediation techniques that rely on the injection of reagents. Numerical and field experiments were conducted to assess how pressure pulsing affects groundwater flow and solute transport during reagent injection. A series of field experiments were performed at two field sites where a monitoring network designed to capture the breakthrough of solutes delivered from an injection well was installed. Pressure pulsing and conventional injection methods were used at each site. One site was comprised of fine sand with low heterogeneity, while the other was moderately heterogeneous with discrete layers varying from fine sand to silt. The data suggest that breakthrough was more uniform for the pressure pulsing injections; however, this difference was minor and complicated by sorption of some of the tracers employed. The groundwater flow and solute transport modeling exercise simulated the rapid boundary pressure modulation that occurs in association with pressure pulsing. Two‐dimensional (2D) simulations revealed that repeated sudden onset of injection cessation produces brief periods of gradient reversal and the development of a mixing zone near the injection well. The spatial extents of this mixing zone were found to be highly dependent upon the hydraulic diffusivity of the medium, with medium heterogeneity and pulsing frequency playing secondary roles. Three‐dimensional (3D) numerical simulations were used to benchmark the observations from one of the field sites. The results from the modeling effort showed that solute breakthrough from a pressure pulsing injection is more dispersed relative to a conventional injection as a result of the mixing zone phenomenon; however, we were unable to directly observe this mixing zone using the instrumentation deployed at the two field sites.


The authors study the formulation of atomic scattering in the impact parameter approximation. They first note that the asymptotic conditions for the case of Coulomb interactions are not defined unequivocally within the impact parameter approximation. They then show that any ambiguity can be waived when the impact parameter approximation is derived as the eikonal limit of the quantum equations. Finally, in showing the uniqueness of a minimal form of asymptotic conditions, they provide a proof of the celebrated prescription presented by Cheshire (1964).


Immunotherapy is revolutionizing the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer by targeting immune checkpoint proteins, including programmed death-1, programmed death ligand 1 and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4. Several immune checkpoint inhibitors, including programmed death ligand 1 inhibitors, programmed death-1 inhibitors and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 inhibitors, were approved for the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Programmed death ligand 1 expression is currently the only predictive biomarker for immune checkpoint inhibitors to guide the treatment strategy in these patients. However, programmed death ligand 1 expression is not a perfect biomarker for predicting the efficacy of immunotherapy. Therefore, various biomarkers such as tumour mutation burden, tumour microenvironment, gut microbiome and T-cell receptor repertoire have been proposed to predict the efficacy of immunotherapy more accurately. Additionally, combining different biomarkers may provide a more accurate prediction of response to immunotherapy. This article reports the review of the latest evidence of the predictive marker of immunotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.


This paper has a two-fold purpose:
1) to clarify the difference between contact and weak-contact interactions (called point interactions in [A] in the case $N=2$) in three dimensions and their role in providing spectral properties and boundary conditions.
2) to analyze the same problem in two dimensions.
Both contact and weak-contact are "zero range interactions" or equivalently self-adjoint extension of the symmetric operator $\hat H_0$, the free hamiltonian for a system of $N$ particles, restricted to functions that vanish in some neighborhood of the \emph{contact manyfold} $ \Gamma = \cup_{i,j} \{ x_i - x_j = 0\} \;\; i \not= j =1 \ldots N $.
The \emph{hamiltonian formulation} of a weak-contact interaction requires the presence of a zero energy resonance.
Both can be obtained, for $N \geq 3$, as scaling limit, in the strong resolvent sense, of hamiltonians with two-body central potentials of very short range; the scaling is different in the two cases.
The contact "potential" is a distribution on the "contact manyfold"; the laplacian is now two dimensional and the scaling properties under dilation of the laplacian are now the same as those of the contact interaction.
This makes a major difference in the spectral properties. Contact interaction defines now a hamiltonian system.
In two dimensions one can consider a hamiltonian system of three particle of mass $m$ having as potential a contact potential and \emph{the product of two weak-contact potentials}. In the limit $ m \to \infty$ their wave functions have vanishingly small support and the system may be regarded as a \emph{point with internal structure}; the spectrum has an essential singularity at the bottom of the continuous part. The Wave Operator for the interaction with a fourth particle extends to a bounded map on $L ^p $ for all $ 1 < p < \infty $ [E,G,G]


An electrical resistivity investigation was carried out in parts of the College of Education
(Technical) Asaba to delineate the subsurface lithologic units with special emphasis on the competence and suitability for engineering foundations. A total of ten (10) vertical electrical sounding and two (2) horizontal profiling stations were covered within the study area using the Schlumberger and dipole-dipole configurations. The acquired data was analyzed using WinResist and RES2DINV Software; the subsurface within the study area is composed of mostly 3 geoelectric layers: topsoil, clay/sandy clay/clayey sand and sand. The second and third layers have relatively low resistivity ranging between 29 – 94 Ωm and consist of incompetent clayey material underlying about 60 % of the investigated study area. The interpreted field results showed a significant clay overburden that is over 5 m thick. A fourth layer of sand with resistivity values ranging between 451 – 1258 Ωm was encountered at depths between 4.9 – 11.5 m; the thickness of this layer with reference from the borehole log is greater than 20 m. It is therefore recommended that the incompetent clayey material be avoided or excavated before constructing any structure.


A probe for detecting low-temperature EPR with a microphone for magnetically dilute systems is described. It works in a liquid helium bath cryostat. First results obtained with this apparatus on Al2O3:Cr4+, GaAs:V and GaP:V are presented.


ABSTRACT
 The citrus mealybug, planococcus citri (Risso) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), is the main grapevine pest in vineyards in some countries, such as Spain and Brazil. In Galician vineyards (northwestern Spain), mealybug population levels are low because the accumulated degree-days are lower than in other grapevine-growing areas. The main problem caused by mealybugs is the transmission of viruses, even at low infestation levels. The active period of citrus mealybug in the study vineyard lasted from July until December, with an important movement peak at the end of July and August and a lower peak in November. The mealybug mainly moved upward along arbor-trained plants, and there were no important downward movements at the end of the season as has been described for other grapevine mealybugs. The mealybugs were normally restricted to the woody organs and were only present on leaves, branches, and green canes (always close to woody parts) in plants with high infestations. The movement of mealybugs between plants does not seem to take place by contact between green organs. Passive aerial transport and movement of pruning remains may play an important role in mealybug movement and thus in spread of the virus. The number of mealybugs carrying Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3) was found to represent ≈75% of mealybugs caught in a GLRaV-3 infected vineyard.


Minority business owners face challenges in accessing credit due to banking industry-wide trends moving away from small-dollar loans and because many have less formal credit information. Online lenders have emerged to meet this market demand, using various sources of data besides credit scores to assess creditworthiness. These platforms help minority business owners who have limited credit data. However, online lenders may suffer liquidity problems during a recession, when business owners may be especially in need of funding.
This Note advocates for programs that incentivize online lenders to invest in low-income and minority communities. Specifically, this Note outlines a proposal for a community development financial institution fund-like subsidy system that offers federal grants to online lenders that invest in certain low-income communities and businesses, upon the condition that these lenders will maintain enough capital reserves to ensure they can continue providing credit during a recession. Such a program can help ensure minority business owners have consistent access to credit.


This paper presents the results of a full-scale field experiment on the stability of a slurry-filled diaphragm wall trench. The objective of this experiment was to observe the failure pattern of a slurry-supported trench excavated in sandy ground. Ground responses, including settlement and lateral deformation of the surrounding ground adjacent to the experimental trench, were carefully monitored during the experiment. The stability of the trench was examined by lowering the slurry level in stages. The trench was deliberately failed. Field observations indicated that the experimental trench failed in 2 h in a progressive sliding pattern that resulted in a near-hemispherical cave-in of the adjacent ground. In this paper, a failure mechanism of the trench is proposed and an analytical method is adopted to back-analyze the stability of the trench. The stability of the trench and the failure pattern can be accurately analyzed using the method of Tsai and Chang.Key words: full-scale experiment, field test, slur...


Techniques developed for handing inverse-power-law potentials in atomic physics are applied to the tensor one-pion exchange potential to determine the regions in which it can be treated perturbatively. In S-, P and D-waves the critical values of the relative momentum are less than or of the order of 400 MeV. The RG is then used to determine the power counting for short-range interaction in the presence of this potential. In the P -and D-waves, where there are no low-energy bound or virtual states, these interactions have half-integer RG eigenvalues and are substantially promoted relative to naive expectations. These results are independent of whether the tensor force is attractive or repulsive. In the 3S1 channel the leading term is relevant, but it is demoted by half an order compared to the counting for the effective-range expansion with only a short-range potential. The tensor force can be treated perturbatively in those F -waves and above that do not couple to P or D-waves. The corresponding power counting is the usual one given by naive dimensional analysis.


Relax-and-Fix (RF) heuristics are normally executed using parameters determined by trial-and-error. Using numerical methods, the parameters of the Relax-and-Fix heuristic can be optimized. In this thesis, the definition of a Relax-and-Fix parameter is reviewed. Then, the parameters are optimized using two different methods. At first, a method which seeks optimal subproblem orders for the RF heuristic is introduced. Secondly, the subproblem sizes of the RF heuristic are made dynamic, to check if the commonly used homogeneous subproblem size can be improved.


We used data in Germany IVF registar 1998 from 86 (94.6%) centers which take upon IVF procedures. The total documentary were treated 46730. The cultivated data were 45459. The visible is increase number of group which use IVF procedures and growth IVF/ICSI centers with options KRYO preservations. In Germany 1998, IVF ICSI, KRYO and GIFT procedures were treated 30,009 women, on an average 1,515 cycles per year. The endurance leaning of children was amoung 2 and 8 years for both procedures. In stimulated cycles on an average were taken 9.04 eggs (follicule punction). During IVF procedures it was 22.64% clinical pregnancy and ICSI procedures 23.53% clinical pregnancy. In most of the cases cycles were stimulated with long gonadotropine protocol, with GnRH-agonists, after suppression adenohypophysis. Considering pregnancies and abortions in addiction to chosen gonadothropine it was not possible to confirm significant difference neither for IVF of ICSI procedures. Results of therapy showed clear addiction to age of women and become worse after 39 the year of life and distintcly less after 49th year for both procedures. During transvaginal ultrasonography follicule punction reported is 253 (0.67%) complications. Severe cases such as ovarial hyperstimulation syndroms (OHSS III) were reported in 1.12% cases.


Bright-field transmission electron microscopy images, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images, energy dispersive spectroscopy profiles, and high-resolution x-ray diffraction curves showed that a high density of ZnSe nanostructures with a small size was formed on the Cl-doped ZnSe thin films grown on GaAs substrates. The formation of the ZnSe nanostructures was attributed to the strain energy resulting from the existence of the compressive strain generated by the accumulation of Cl impurities on the surface of the ZnSe thin film and from the residual strain existing in the ZnSe thin film with a thin thickness.


SUMMARY The scientific literature (including some of the most high-profile papers) on the ecological and fisheries effects of permanent no-take marine reserves is dominated by examples from hard tropical and warm temperate ecosystems. It appears to have been tacitly assumed that inference from these studies can directly inform expectations of marine reserve effects in cooler temperate and cold temperate waters. Trends in peer-reviewed studies indicate that the empirical basis for this assumption is tenuous because of a relative lack of research effort in cooler seas, and differences between tropical and temperate regions in ecology, seasonality, the nature of fisheries and prevailing governance regimes.


The parametrization of the polarized molecular orbital (PMO) method, which is a neglect-of-diatomic-differential-overlap (NDDO) semiempirical method that includes polarization functions on hydrogens, is extended to include the constituents that dominate the nucleation of atmospheric aerosols, including ammonia, sulfuric acid, and water. The parametrization and validation are based mainly on CCSD(T)/CBS results for atmospheric clusters composed of sulfuric acid, dimethylamine, and ammonia and on M06-2X exchange-correlation functional calculations for other constituents of the atmospheric aerosols. The resulting model, called PMO2a, is parametrized for molecules containing any type of H, C, or O, amino or ammonium N, and S atoms bonded to O. The new method gives greatly improved electric polarization compared to any other member of the family of NDDO methods. In addition, PMO2a is shown to outperform previous NDDO methods for atomization energies and atmospheric aerosol reaction energies; therefore, its use can be recommended for realistic simulations.


This paper presents a methodology for coordination of multiple robotic agents moving from one location to another in an environment embedded with sensor motes. Sensor motes placed at strategic locations such as intersections coordinate robots in a way as to minimize the congestion, thus ensuring the continuous flow of robot traffic. A robot's path to its destination is computed by the network in terms of the next waypoints to reach and local navigation to the next waypoint is achieved through a reactive navigation system. The motes are capable of identifying robots in their proximity based on signal strength. A mote controls the flow of agent traffic around it with the help of the data it collects from the messages received from the robots and other surrounding motes in the network. The coordination of traffic is achieved through two methods, one that assigns priorities to pathways leading to the intersection based on the traffic density and the other based on the popular method of reservation. Extensive comparisons show the performance gain of the current method over existing ones. Transferring the burden of coordination to the network releases more computational power for the robots to engage in critical assistive activities.


The evaluation of involving computerized information technologies in medical practice, especially at extra microsurgery has been carried out. It has been also used the experience of treating more then 1250 patients with open traumas of extremities, damages anatomic structures in different levels. We detected the role of using computerized information technologies with illustrations at giving emergency help to patients with heavy tissue destructions of extremities, peculiarities of dysfunction in their anatomies with comparing of traditional ways at revealing information. Moreover it was pointed the important necessity of huge material performed by computer system, at time of operation .


Students are not exposed to enough real-life data. This paper describes how a community of scholars seeks to remedy this deficiency and gives the pedagogical details of an ongoing project that commenced in the Fall 2004 semester. Fostering deep learning, this multiyear project offers a new active-learning, hands-on interdisciplinary laboratory program in which engineering, geoscience, and meteorology students are encouraged to participate actively. Storms, tornadoes, and hazardous weather cause damage and loss that could be minimized through enhanced radar technologies and longer warning lead times. To study these topics, the program has generated a unique, interdisciplinary research-oriented learning environment that will train future engineers and meteorologists in the full set of competencies needed to take raw radar data and transform them into meaningful interpretations of weather phenomena.


Molecular data suggest that the traditional Rallidae (rails) are polyphyletic and that some species actually belong to a clade that is the sister taxon of the Heliornithidae (sungrebes). This clade includes the African taxon Sarothrura and the Madagascan Mentocrex and has been termed Sarothruridae. It was noted that White-spotted Flufftail Sarothrura pulchra and Sungrebe Heliornis fulica share a distinctive morphology of the hypotarsus, which guides the tendons for the flexor muscles of the toes. Owing to the scarcity of skeletons in osteological collections, however, other species of the Sarothruridae and Heliornithidae have not yet been studied. Here, the hypotarsus of extant and fossil members of the Ralloidea is examined. It is shown that the characteristic hypotarsus morphology is also present in Buff-spotted Flufftail Sarothrura elegans (Sarothruridae), Madagascan Wood Rail Mentocrex kioloides (Sarothruridae), and African Finfoot Podica senegalensis (Heliornithidae). Grey-throated Rail Canirallus oculeus, by contrast, which was traditionally considered closely related to Sarothrura and Mentocrex, exhibits the hypotarsus morphology found in the Rallidae. To foster future communication, it is here proposed to use the taxon name Heliornithes for the clade including Heliornithidae, Sarothrura, and Mentocrex. A previously unknown derived hypotarsus morphology is described, which characterizes the rallid taxon Porphyrio (swamphens) and may be functionally correlated with the fact that the species of this taxon manipulate food items with their feet.


Parietaria judaica pollen extract was separated by preparative isoelectric focusing and showed two allergenic components (A1 and A2) heterogeneously distributed within the pH gradient (pH 3-10). By fused-rocket immunoelectrophoresis, A1 was detected from pH 3 to 10, whereas A2 was only found at pH values below 8. Both components, A1 and A2, showed IgE-binding ability throughout their pH ranges, as determined by crossed-radio immunoelectrophoresis. In addition, all the preparative isoelectric focusing fractions contained the main allergenic polypeptide of P. judaica (Pj10) when analyzed by SDS-PAGE. This polypeptide was shown to be a glycopeptide or to be bound to a glycoprotein with alpha-D-mannopyranoside or alpha-D-glycopyranoside residues. Implication of charged sugar residues in the wide distribution of P. judaica allergens in a pH gradient is discussed.


The fundamental goal of an electric utility is to provide the power supply in the most reliable and economical way. However, the components of a power distribution system are exposed to faults, or service outages, which in some cases may cause the disconnection of one or more customers of the distribution system. In order to reduce the duration of faults and improve service quality indices in power networks, utilities have installed protection devices, such as reclosers, in appropriate locations in the power distribution networks, due to its ability of coordination with other device and the radial characteristics of distribution system. In addition, the recloser can clear temporary faults and isolate failed feeders without interrupting the service of the whole circuit. This paper presents a methodology for optimization of reclosers placement in distribution networks. A mathematical model of Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) is used, with the purpose to minimize the SAIDI or SAIFI quality indices. For the model, an objective function is defined, with its respective restrictions to obtain the appropriate locations. This objective function is run in the GAMS software to model and solve optimization problems. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is evaluated on a test system and in a conventional real distribution system.


The main focus of the battery management system is the estimation of the battery's State of Charge (SOC) which is an indicator to determine the driving range of an electric vehicle. The Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) algorithm is the most promising for SOC estimation when the system is running. The EKF state estimation algorithm is sensitive to the process noise covariance matrix Q and measurement noise covariance matrix R. Inappropriate noise covariance matrices reduce the accuracy and make divergence in state estimation. In this paper, the Sunflower Optimization algorithm (SFO) is used to optimize the noise covariance matrices before applying EKF for online SOC estimation. This simply indicates that the iterative SFO does not affect the instantaneous response of EKF in online estimation because the SFO is only performed once to determine the optimal values. The effectiveness of the proposed identification is examined through the constant discharge rate test and dynamic stress test. As observed, the performance indices such as maximum error, Mean Absolute Error, Mean Square Error and Root Mean Square Error of both SOC and voltage obtained by the proposed SFO-EKF are low compared to the other three methods. Besides accuracy, the proposed method quickly converges even when the initial SOC is inaccurate. The simulation results show that the proposed method has high accuracy and a better convergence rate in terms of estimating SOC under static and dynamic operating conditions.


We investigated the matrix fluids in a fractured aquifer in French Brittany (Ploemeur, national observatory site). We used four wells close to each others, two of them being pumped for several hours. The four wells were monitored during the whole experiment for chemical composition (major and trace elements) and dissolved gases content: CFC, SF6, Rn, noble gases and He isotopes. After an equilibration phase, the chemical and gas concentrations evolve during the relaxation phase following pumping. The production of matrix fluids is evidenced through the following observations: * CFC concentrations decrease, indicating waters with longer residence time; * He, Rn and SF6 concentrations increase with time, indicating a potential production mechanism. SF6 and Rn production have indeed been measured in this aquifer. However, it is interesting to notice that these three elements do not have the same reactivity. they do not have similar production mechanisms and diffusion coefficients; * Some chemical elements such as silica increase indicating silicate alteration processes; * The redox conditions also vary with time during the relaxation phase, indicating more reduced conditions with U concentration increases; * Ar increases also indicate either an Ar production or a recharge temperature of 5°C. This experiment shows that fluids with various compositions in fractured aquifers are related to various degree of micro- and macro-porosity, and may be associated to various pumping conditions.


Deploying multiple supply voltages (multi-Vdds) on one chip is an important technique to reduce dynamic power consumption. In this work we present an optimality study for resource binding targeting designs with multi-Vdds. This is similar to the voltage-island design concept, except that the granularity of our voltage island is on the functional-unit level as opposed to the core level. We are interested in achieving the maximum number of low-Vdd operations and, in the same time, minimizing switching activity during functional unit binding. To the best of our knowledge, there is no known optimal solution to this problem. To compute an optimal solution for this problem and examine the quality gap between our solution and previous heuristic solutions, we formulate this problem as a min-cost network flow problem, but with special equal-flow constraints. This formulation leads to an easy reduction to the integer linear programming (ILP) solution and also enables efficient approximate solution by Lagrangian relaxation. Experimental results show that the optimal solution computed based on our formulation provides 7% more low-Vdd operations and also reduces the total switching activity by 20% compared to one of the best known heuristic algorithms that consider multi-Vdd assignments only


The author analyzed the frequency of congenital malformation, studied by him at the obstetric clinic "Saint Antoine" in Paris. Perinatal infant mortality was determined--11.310/00 of 2105 deliveries with 2121 alive born children. Twenty four newborns died perinatally, of whom 10 had grave malformations. The relative part of pregnancy with malformations in forming perinatal infant mortality was 41.66% in the examined group of deliveries. The relative frequency of congenital anomalies was 1.99%, which was close to the mean frequency for France during the last decade. The frequency of grave anomalies was analysed as a factor, which was presented as determining the dynamics of perinatal infant mortality.


Eight freshwater near-drowning victims were treated in the General Intensive Care Unit. The most prominent findings upon arrival were respiratory failure, hypoxemia and coma. Routine treatment, including mechanical ventilation and brain resuscitation, was initiated in all patients. Six patients were discharged fully recovered from the unit on the 3rd to 6th day; one patient who recovered fully but had amnesia was discharged after 8 months; and one patient remained decerebrated and died 5 months later. A more aggressive treatment of near-drowning victims is justified and recommended.


PURPOSE
The object of our study was to apply percutaneous stop-flow technique to advanced pelvic cancer in order to evaluate its feasibility, standardize the procedure and obtain preliminary results.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
April to December 1997 we submitted ten patients with advanced pelvic cancer to percutaneous stop-flow technique. Seven patients had a pelvic recurrence from carcinoma of the rectum, two patients had inoperable recto-sigmoid cancer, and another one had a local recurrence of ovarian cancer. All treatments were performed under general anesthesia. A stop-flow balloon catheter was placed via a transfemoral arterial and venous access above the aortocaval bifurcation and below the emergence of renal arteries and veins. The pelvic district was isolated by filling the balloon catheters and pneumatic cuffs at the thigh, and the antineoplastic agents (cisplatinum, 80 mg/m2 followed by mitomycin C, 30 mg/m2) were sequentially infused by means of an extracorporeal circuit. Blood flow was interrupted for a maximum of 20 min to limit tissue damage, especially of the anal sphincter. Hemofiltration was run during the last 3 min of stop-flow and in the following minutes, achieving at least 5 liters of ultrafiltration. Morphological response was evaluated by CT or MR scan performed prior to and 40 days after the treatment.

RESULTS
Over a 2-year follow-up 2 of our 10 patients are alive and 8/10 have died (median survival 9.6 months). Death followed tumor progression in 6 cases; one patient died during the procedure and another one after 7 days, both secondary to pulmonary embolism. Complications included intra-arterial rupture of the balloon in one case and a large inguinal hematoma 10 days after the treatment, requiring hospitalization. No patient showed positive morphological response; two patients only showed stable disease.

CONCLUSIONS
This trial supports the feasibility of using the percutaneous stop-flow procedure in an angiography room setting; the stop-flow technique failed to permit the effective control of the tumors.


Migration disorders are congenital brain malformations. These anomalies may be overlooked in CT studies. We present four cases with migration disorders. All have both CT and MRI studies. Comparison of the images of CT and MRI at corresponding levels is demonstrated. The superiority of MR images to CT in delineating the migration and sulcation disorders is discussed.


Faced with ever-increasing pressure to innovate, firms consider universities to be significant sources of knowledge. Such knowledge flow can take place in a variety of ways such as academic publications and contract research, but also in more collaborative modes such as joint research projects. This paper focuses on a specific collaborative model, in which firms and universities are involved together in a PhD project. We analyze the effects of project management, communication, and supervision characteristics on the success of such PhD projects using a survey conducted at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. We conclude that management decisions, supervision and communication characteristics have a significant impact on the ultimate success of a project. Among other things, the choice of university supervisor plays a pivotal role. Success is more likely if there is joint decision-making by both university and partner. We believe our findings help universities and firms to collaborate successfully.


This paper describes a microcomputer system designed to take raw drilling data combined with measured rock properties such as porosity and permeability to produce output in the form of depth plots. User-selected parameters include porosity, permeability, formation pressures such as pore, fracture, or overburden, rock properties such as Poisson's ratio or bulk modules, and bottomhole and formation temperatures. Data entry can be done via multiplexor from a data gathering system, through a data communication link, or by manual input. The system allows either raw or partially processed data to be supplied, and can be run either online in real time at the wellsite or offline at a remote location. The data is processed sequentially by the system, with each calculation or processing module performing a specific operation on the data. The calculation modules used for any data set are selected by the user from a base menu. These modules can be removed, added or changed as desired by the client or operator, allowing easy tailoring and expansion of the system. Output from the system goes to disk for storage and to a drum plotter. This enables continuous monitoring of the borehole parameters as the well is drilled, and enhances themore » value of the data.« less


Stock price synchronicity since the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has been significant due to its strong relationship with the economic development and capital market stability of a country. Using data from 2006–2011, the study examines whether the mandatory adoption of IFRS reduces stock price synchronicity in the Asian context. The study utilizes a sample of 1,800 firm-year observations for firms in four Asian markets—China, Hong Kong, Israel, and the Philippines—where IFRS have been mandatory since 2009. The empirical model, relating to stock price synchronicity with the adoption of IFRS, and other firm-specific control variables were analysed using both univariate and multivariate techniques. Different types of panel data estimates were used and compared so as to interpret the results with the best-suited parameters for different data sets for different markets. The empirical results support the argument that, for all four markets considered, IFRS adoption improves the information environment through the capitalization of firm-specific information into stock prices, thereby reducing the stock price synchronicity. Along with IFRS adoption, other firm-specific control variables are found to have significant influence on stock price synchronicity, such as cross-listings in foreign stock exchanges in China and Philippines, the Herfindahl index in Hong Kong, and the percentage of foreign sales in Israel.

Keywords: International Financial Reporting Standards, Stock Price Synchronicity, Information Environment, Mandatory Adoption of IFRS, Asian Markets

To cite this document: Archana Patro and V. K. GUPTA, "Impact of International Financial Reporting Standards on Stock Price Synchronicity for Asian Markets", Contemporary Management Research, Vol.12, No.1, pp. 61-88, 2016.

Permanent link to this document:
http://dx.doi.org/10.7903/cmr.14160


For the multiple linear regression problem, a number of alternative estimators to ordinary least squares (OLS) have been proposed for situations in which multicollinearity is present among the explanatory variables. Multicollinearity may have several adverse effects on estimated coefficients in a multiple regression analysis. This paper investigates the relative efficiency of these 12 alternative estimators from the point of view of mean squared error (MSE) by the Monte Carlo simulation, and discusses the practical implication of the use of such estimators. The results of this study are that OLS, Ridges, BYS and ITR estimators are more efficient than the others, when multicollinearity is not present. However, when multicollinearity is present, Ridges, GRB, BYS, ITR and PCA estimators are more efficient than OLS for almost all values of σ. Ridges have uniformly smaller MSEs than OLS. Relative efficiencies of these estimators vary with the value of σ. In the interval of small σ. Ridges are more efficient than the others, but, for large σ, each of GRB, BYS, ITR, PCA and LAT is more efficient. From our experiment in which these 12 estimators are applied to the economic data of France, we find that, while OLS has the negative coefficient, some of these alternative have positive appropriate values, where regression coefficient must have the positive sign from the point of view of Economics. Therefore, we can conclude that these alternative estimators are effective for the practical regression problem with multicollinearity.


Abstract Objectives: Health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in patients with celiac disease is reduced compared to the general population. We investigated the association between HR-QOL and clinical, laboratory findings using the previously validated CD-QOL (celiac disease-specific quality of life) instrument in patients with celiac disease. To our knowledge, no study has previously explored the relationship between HR-QOL and clinical, laboratory parameters in celiac patients. Materials and methods: Patients who received care at the Allegheny Health Network Celiac Center, Pittsburgh, PA were asked to complete the CD-QOL questionnaire. A cross sectional study with predetermined clinical and laboratory parameters was performed. Data collected included IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) antibody titers, iron studies, calcium, vitamin A, B12, 25 OH vitamin D, and E levels. Correlation between clinical findings and CD-QOL was also assessed. Results: Seventy-eight out of 124 patients who completed the questionnaire was included in the analysis. Patients with concomitant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) had significantly reduced HR-QOL with CD-QOL score of 52.4 ± 11.3 vs. 44.6 ± 12.9 in those without IBS (p = .009). There was no difference in HR-QOL in relation to IgA tTG titers or vitamin D levels. Of note, there was a trend towards correlation between higher level of vitamin E and better QOL (r = −0.236, p = .074). Conclusions: Celiac patients with concomitant IBS have reduced HR-QOL. There was no statistically significant association between HR-QOL and laboratory parameters or levels of micronutrients.


A heat-stable factor in the serum of normal rabbits adsorbed by zymosan at 16 C in the presence of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid has been found to enhance the uptake of an encapsulated strain of Staphylococcus aureus (Smith diffuse) by the isolated perfused rabbit liver. This opsonin does not appear to be a rate-limiting component of the hemolytic complement system, properdin, immunoglobulins G or M. It does, however, require the presence of a heat-labile cofactor(s) for expression of its activity.


Abstract. Through several years of development, the city of Lhasa has become one of the most populated and urbanized areas on the highest plateau in the world. In the process of urbanization, current and potential air quality issues have been gradually concerned. To investigate the current status of air pollution in Lhasa, various gas pollutants including NOx, CO, SO2, and O3, were continuously measured from June 2012 to May 2013 at an urban site (29.40° N, 91.08° E, 3650 m a.s.l.). The seasonal variations of primary gas pollutants exhibited a peak from November to January with a large variability. High mixing ratios of primary trace gases almost exclusively occurred under low wind speed and showed no distinct dependence on wind direction, implying local urban emissions to be predominant. A comparison of NO2, CO, and SO2 mixing ratios in summer between 1998 and 2012 indicated a significant increase in emissions of these gas pollutants and a change in their intercorrelations, as a result of a substantial growth in the demand of energy consumption using fossil fuels instead of previously widely used biomass. The pronounced diurnal double peaks of primary trace gases in all seasons suggested automobile exhaust to be a major emission source in Lhasa. The secondary gas pollutant O3 displayed an average diurnal cycle of a shallow flat peak for about 4–5 h in the afternoon and a minimum in the early morning. Nighttime O3 was sometimes completely consumed by the high level of NOx. Seasonally, the variations of O3 mixing ratios displayed a low valley in winter and a peak in spring. In autumn and winter, transport largely contributed to the observed O3 mixing ratios, given its dependence on wind speed and wind direction, while in spring and summer photochemistry played an important role. A more efficient buildup of O3 mixing ratios in the morning and a higher peak in the afternoon was found in summer 2012 than in 1998. An enhancement in O3 mixing ratios would be expected in the future and more attention should be given to O3 photochemistry in response to increasing precursor emissions in this area.


We consider the Kondo effect arising from a hydrogen impurity in graphene. As a first approximation, the strong covalent bond to a carbon atom removes that carbon atom without breaking the $C_{3}$ rotation symmetry, and we only retain the Hubbard interaction on the three nearest neighbors of the removed carbon atom which then behave as magnetic impurities. These three impurity spins are coupled to three conduction channels with definite helicity, two of which support a diverging local density of states (LDOS) $\propto 1/ [ | \omega \ | \ln ^{2}( \Lambda /| \omega \ | \ ) \ ] $ near the Dirac point $\omega \rightarrow 0$ even though the bulk density of states vanishes linearly. We study the resulting 3-impurity multi-channel Kondo model using the numerical renormalization group method. For weak potential scattering, the ground state of the Kondo model is a particle-hole symmetric spin-$1/2$ doublet, with ferromagnetic coupling between the three impurity spins; for moderate potential scattering, the ground state becomes a particle-hole asymmetric spin singlet, with antiferromagnetic coupling between the three impurity spins. This behavior is inherited by the Anderson model containing the hydrogen impurity and all four carbon atoms in its vicinity.


This thesis focuses on the challenge of achieving the goal of universal primary education in a context that is characterised by wide-ranging disparities in the education prospects of different social groups. An overall history of state failure to provide for universal education, and the patterns of exclusion and deprivation that constrain the participation of large sections of Indian rural populations provide the background to recent policy efforts to address the problem of low education participation. The thesis argues that concerted effort is required on the part of households and of the state if future efforts to achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) are to be more successful than the past. It analyses new approaches which recognise the importance of challenging inequality in access to education, the role of community organisations in the process of stimulating participation in education, and the need for the reform of the administrative apparatus of the state into a more responsive, flexible institution.

The coproduction framework facilitates the analysis of the means through which different institutional actors can co-operate in the production of goods and services. Recognition of the importance of social norms and networks that aid co-operation between different actors, and of the importance of effective governance on the part of the state in constructing positive relations between different actors are the strengths of the framework. However, the framework also has limitations. The thesis principally identifies the following: the assumption of shared orientations between users about the value of the good or service concerned, and the implicit assumption of homogeneity among service users and lack of attention paid to inequality and exclusion. Further, the thesis argues that there is insufficient empirical attention to the informal relations within which processes of implementation are embedded. Evidence of limitations is provided through application to a rural district, where the interface between state, community organisations and households in relation to primary education services is studied. Centrally, the thesis argues that the analysis of norms that perpetuate the reproduction of patterns of education exclusion is essential to identify the types of production processes and relationships that are necessary for inclusive and universal education.


Recent research has suggested that changes in temperature and precipitation events due to climate change have had a significant impact on the availability and timing of streamflow. In this study, monthly temperature and precipitation data collected over 29 climate divisions covering the entire Colorado River basin and monthly natural flow data from 29 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauge locations along the Colorado River are investigated for trend or step changes using parametric and nonparametric statistical tests. Temperature increases are persistent (at least 10 climate divisions over 6 months in trend analysis) throughout the year over the Colorado River basin, whereas precipitation only notably increased over 17 climate divisions (during trend analysis) during February and remained relatively unchanged otherwise. These results correspond with changes in naturalized streamflow throughout the year. Streamflow increases are recorded between November and February but exhibit a decreasing trend over the traditional peak runoff season (April through July). Under trend analysis, 18 flow stations exhibited increasing trends in January and 19 flow stations exhibited decreasing trends in June. It is likely that increasing temperature trends have affected the character of precipitation in the Colorado River basin, causing a change in the timing of runoff events.


Aim Soil microbial community structure and functional genes are critical to the cycling of carbon and nutrients in forest soils. As afforestation practices increasingly promote different functional traits tree species, it becomes critical to understand how they influences soil microbial community structures and functional genes, which directly influence soil biogeochemical processes. Methods We used fungi ITS and bacteria 16S rDNA to investigate soil microbial communities and functional genes in three monoculture plantations consisting of a non-native evergreen conifer (Pinus sibirica), a native deciduous conifer (Larix gmelinii), and a native deciduous angiosperm (Betula platyphylla) to compare with two 1:1 mixed-species plantations (P. sibirica and L. gmelinii, P. sibirica and B. platyphylla).Results The fungal community structure of the conifer-angiosperm mixed plantation was similar to that of the non-native evergreen conifer, and the bacterial community structure was similar to that of the angiosperm monoculture plantation. Fungal communities were strongly related to tree species, but bacteria communities were strongly related to soil nitrogen. Microbial co-occurrence patterns varied according to plantation types and altered soil nutrient cycling. Microbial communities in forest plantations of conifer-angiosperm mixed plantation contribute to soil nitrogen fixation and coniferous mixed plantation contribute to soil carbon fixation. Conclusions Our results provide a comparative study of the soil microbial ecology in afforestation of different functional trains species. This knowledge enhances the understanding of the relative control of soil microbial community structure.


The paper presents the performance of digital modulation using space-time block coding (STBC) for four transmit antennas. After reviewing the concept of STBC, the system model of wireless communication using digital modulation with STBC is described. We worked on the building of the system step by step. System performances have been simulated using MATLAB.


This article discusses the effects of long-term care facility traits on the maltreatment of older people. Participants in this quantitative, descriptive study were staff working at 24 of the 300 long-term facilities for older people in Israel. Slightly more than half of the sample reported abuse of older residents in the previous 12 months, manifesting in one or more types of maltreatment. High staff turnover was associated with a greater risk of mental or physical neglect, and the total number of maltreatment incidents.


Taschen's Decorative Art series, whose six installments now span the 20th century up through the 1970s, carefully reproduces the best of Studio Magazine's Decorative Art yearbook. Published annually from 1906 until 1980, the yearbook was dedicated to the latest currents in architecture, interiors, furniture, lighting, glassware, textiles, metalware, and ceramics. Since the publication went out of print, the now hard-to-find yearbooks have become highly prized by collectors and dealers. So how can the rest of us have a look? Taschen, of course! Preserving the yearbooks' original page layouts, Taschen's new Decorative Art books bring you an authentic experience of each decade's design trends and styles. Collect them all!This new installment in Taschen's Decorative Art series takes us back to the Roaring Twenties, a time of great optimism and technological progress which saw the birth of new materials and styles in building and design. The Art Deco movement, a great departure from Art Nouveau, surfaced in the early 20s, drawing influences from Futurism, Cubism, Neo-Classicism, and Egyptian and African Art. While Art Deco, flaunting excess and luxury, largely dominated the style of the 1920s, another new movement, Modernism, began to make itself known towards the end of the decade. For the first time, materials such as concrete, plate glass, and tubular metal were beginning to appear; following the dictum ""form follows function,"" utilitarian simplicity and classic geometry were the Modernists' driving principles, as seen in the work of Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, and Ludwig Mies van de Rohe, to name a few.Moving from the spirit of the Jazz Age to the cool simplicity of LeCorbusier's early ""machines for living,"" Decorative Art 1920s is a fabulous tour through the groundbreaking innovations of interior design and architecture in the century's wildest decade.


The puncture technique for revealing of retroperitoneal hematoma in injured is described. Retroperitoneal hematoma has been revealed in 69 of 315 injured.


Autonomous vehicles promise numerous improvements to vehicular traffic: an increase in both highway capacity and traffic flow because of faster response times, less fuel consumption and pollution thanks to more foresighted driving, and hopefully fewer accidents thanks to collision avoidance systems. In addition, drivers can save time for more useful activities. In order for these vehicles to safely operate in everyday traffic or in harsh off-road environments, a multitude of problems in perception, navigation, and control have to be solved. This paper gives an overview of the most current trends in autonomous vehicles, highlighting the concepts common to most successful systems as well as their differences. It concludes with an outlook into the promising future of autonomous vehicles.


The two fungicides analysed in this paper, Thiram (TH) and Ziram (ZI) are among the most common residues found in fruit and vegetables sold in Italy. These compounds were tested in "in vitro" lymphocyte cultures, from 16 individuals, at different concentrations (Thiram 5 x 10(-8) M; 5 x 10(-7) M; 5 x 10(-6) M and Ziram 1 x 10(-7) M; 1 x 10(-6) M; 1 x 10(-5) M) in order to ascertain if they are able to modify sister chromatid exchange and/or micronuclei frequencies. Both fungicides produced a significant increase in SCE and Micronuclei frequencies. The two highest doses of TH and ZI were found to be cytotoxic for most of the individuals and were not included in the statistical analysis. With regard to the Proliferation Rate Index (i.e. the number of first, second, third or more mitoses), no difference was found between controls and treated cultures.


INTRODUCTION
Predisposing factors in chronic hyperplastic candidosis (CHC) have been poorly recognized. This study aimed at assessing the prevalence of Candida spp. in areas of the oral mucosa showing greater prevalent rate of CHC, such as the retrocomissural area, the lateral borders of the tongue, and the hard-palate mucosa in four groups of individuals presenting predisposing factors as follows: Smoking habits (group I); patients with low salivary flow rate (SFR) (hyposalivation - group II); patients with loss of vertical dimension of occlusion (LVDO -group III); and control subjects (group IV).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 44 individuals (age 4090 years, mean: 55.8 years) were divided into four groups: Group I (11 smokers); group II (10 hyposalivation patients); group III (10 LVDO patients); and group IV (control, 13 healthy subjects). All individuals were tested for Candida-pseudohyphae form by direct examination and for Candida spp. culture growth in samples obtained from the retrocomissural, tongue's lateral border, and hard-soft palatal mucosa.

RESULTS
Direct examination showed a statistically significant prevalence rate for pseudohyphae (p < 0.05) on the retrocomissural and on tongue's lateral borders of individuals with LVDO. A statistically significant (p < 0.05) culture growth for Candida spp. was found on the retrocomissural areas of those with hyposalivation and with LVDO, and on the palate mucosa and on the tongue's lateral borders in the smokers and in the individuals with LVDO when compared with those of the control group.

CONCLUSION
While direct examination is effective for detecting pseudohyphae, LVDO and tobacco smoking seem to be factors of relevance to the development of CHC.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Since CHC has been linked to a high rate of malignant transformation, this study analyzes some clinical (and exogenous) factors that may contribute to the development of CHC and addresses some preventive measures to reduce its incidence.


Exogenous silicon (Si) can enhance plant resistance to various abiotic factors causing osmotic stress. The objective of this research was to evaluate the application of 1 and 2 mM Si to plants under normal conditions and under osmotic stress. Morelos A-98 rice seedlings, were treated with 1 and 2 mM SiO2 for 28 d. Subsequently, half of the plants were subjected to osmotic stress with the addition of 10% polyethylene glycol (PEG) 8000; and continued with the addition of Si (0, 1 and 2 mM SiO2) for both conditions. The application of Si under both conditions increased chlorophyll b in leaves, root volume, as well as fresh and dry biomass of roots. Interestingly, the number of tillers, shoot fresh and dry biomass, shoot water content, concentration of total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a/b ratio, and the concentration of total sugars and proline in shoot increased with the addition of Si under osmotic stress conditions. The addition of Si under normal conditions decreased the concentration of sugars in the roots, K and Mn in roots, and increased the concentration of Fe and Zn in shoots. Therefore, Si can be used as a potent inorganic biostimulant in rice Morelos A-98 since it stimulates plant growth and modulates the concentration of vital biomolecules and essential nutrients.


The automated reader of the AutoScan -4 microbiological panels detects fungi growth in various biological substrates present in the MicroScan panel wells. The purpose of this study was to relate the biotype identified by the MicroScan with the species causing the criptococcosis, in order to obtain identification in the shortest possible period. The evaluation included 82 Cryptococcus spp. strains isolated from clinical samples between 1995 and 2004. To guarantee the purity of the strains they were also identified by conventional methods; to identify the species we used L-canavanin-glycine-bromthymol blue medium (CGB). We also used the fast yeast identification MicroScan panel with the purpose of determining the "biotype". The MicroScan revealed 27 different "biotypes". Of the 82 isolates typed with the CGB medium, 91.46% corresponded to C. neoformans and 8.5% to C. gattii. No significant difference was found among the "biotypes" and the species (p<0,05). Nevertheless, there was a statistically significant difference between the assimilation of pnitrophenil-N-acetyl-s-D-glucosamine (NAG) (p<0.05) by the C. gattii and the C. neoformans species. The fast yeast identification MicroScan panel was not able to differentiate between both species.


[1] Solar X-ray and UV radiation (0.1–320 nm) received at Earth's surface is an important aspect of the circumstances under which life formed on Earth. The quantity that is received depends on two main variables: the emission of radiation by the young Sun and its extinction through absorption and scattering by the Earth's early atmosphere. The spectrum emitted by the Sun when life formed, between 4 and 3.5 Ga, was modeled here, including the effects of flares and activity cycles, using a solar-like star that has the same age now as the Sun had 4–3.5 Ga. Atmospheric extinction was calculated using the Beer-Lambert law, assuming several density profiles for the atmosphere of the Archean Earth. We found that almost all radiation with a wavelength shorter than 200 nm is attenuated effectively, even by very tenuous atmospheres. Longer-wavelength radiation is progressively less well attenuated, and its extinction is more sensitive to atmospheric composition. Minor atmospheric components, such as methane, ozone, water vapor, etc., have only negligible effects, but changes in CO2 concentration can cause large differences in surface flux. Differences due to variability in solar emission are small compared to this. In all cases surface radiation levels on the Archean Earth were several orders of magnitude higher in the 200–300 nm wavelength range than current levels in this range. That means that any form of life that might have been present at Earth's surface 4–3.5 Ga must have been exposed to much higher quantities of damaging radiation than at present.


This paper presents the design methodology, simulation results and implementation details of a low noise amplifier (LNA) designed to operate over the whole range of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) frequencies (1164MHz to 1615.5MHz). This LNA works over combined (but overlapping) frequency bands of all three GNSS constellations (GNSS consist of the American Global Positioning System (GPS), European Galileo system and the Russian GLONASS system). Designed to be unconditionally stable with gain of over 18dB and noise figure of 2dB over a considerable bandwidth of about 450MHz, the achieved results conformed quite well to the specifications. Final implementation results include a gain of 18.5dB at the centre frequency with a nominal variation of ±1.3dB over the desired bandwidth. The noise figure obtained is 2.18dB and the amplifier stability range extends from 0Hz to 9GHz. Very high degree of linearity is achieved with output ldB compression at +13dBm and output third order intercept at +23dBm. This paper describes results at every stage of design, simulation and implementation along with a solution against typical low frequency instability by a small trade-off in noise figure.


BACKGROUND
There are few randomised studies comparing anti-emetic drugs for the prevention of nausea and vomiting in patients treated with fractionated radiotherapy. The aim of the study was to compare the anti-emetic efficacy of 8 mg dose ondansetron twice a day with placebo.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred eleven patients who were to commence a course of 10 or more daily fractionated radiotherapy including the abdomen were included in the study. The patients recorded daily emesis, nausea and bowel habit and graded weekly symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and lack of appetite. The EORTC C30 questionnaire was completed.

RESULTS
67% of patients given ondansetron had complete control of emesis compared with 45% of patients with placebo (P < 0.05). The number of emetic episodes recorded on the worst day was 1.4 for the ondansetron group and 3.1 for the placebo group (P < 0.01). Patients given ondansetron had fewer days with emesis and nausea compared with placebo (P < 0.05). The mean sum score of patients weekly grading of symptoms showed that the ondansetron group had less inconvenience than the placebo group (P < 0.05). This difference persisted during the first three weeks, but not thereafter. Similarly, some quality of life measures showed significant differences in favour of the ondansetron group. More patients (n = 13) withdrew due to lack of efficacy in the placebo group compared with patients (n = 8) in the ondansetron group.

CONCLUSIONS
The present study illustrates that prophylactic anti-emetic administration of ondansetron is effective in preventing nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing fractionated radiotherapy of the abdomen.


P2Y12 receptor is an attractive target for the anti-platelet therapies, treating various thrombotic diseases. In this work, a total of 107 6-aminonicotinate-based compounds as potent P2Y12 antagonists were studies by a molecular modeling study combining three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR), molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to explore the decisive binding conformations of these antagonists with P2Y12 and the structural features for the activity. The optimum CoMFA and CoMSIA models identified satisfactory robustness and good predictive ability, with R2 = .983, q2 = .805, = .881 for CoMFA model, and R2 = .935, q2 = .762, = .690 for CoMSIA model, respectively. The probable binding modes of compounds and key amino acid residues were revealed by molecular docking. MD simulations and MM/GBSA free energy calculations were further performed to validate the rationality of docking results and to compare the binding modes of several compound pairs with different activities, and the key residues (Val102, Tyr105, Tyr109, His187, Val190, Asn191, Phe252, His253, Arg256, Tyr259, Thr260, Val279, and Lys280) for the higher activity were pointed out. The binding energy decomposition indicated that the hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions play important roles for the binding of compounds to P2Y12. We hope these results could be helpful in design of potent and selective P2Y12 antagonists.


The incidence of occupational dermatoses among the forest workers of a limber company has been investigated. In the survey 73.69% of the occupational dermatoses observed were contact dermatitis, predominantly due to sawdust and sap. Insect bites, mycotic infections and staphylococcal and streptococcal infections were seen. The results of the survey and preventive measures are discussed.


Learning to learn (L2L) trains a meta-learner to assist the learning of a task-specific base learner. Previously, it was shown that a meta-learner could learn the direct rules to update learner parameters; and that the learnt neural optimiser updated learners more rapidly than handcrafted gradient-descent methods. However, we demonstrate that previous neural optimisers were limited to update learners on one designated dataset. In order to address input-domain heterogeneity, we introduce Multi-Task Learning to Learn (MTL2L), a context aware neural optimiser which self-modifies its optimisation rules based on input data. We show that MTL2L is capable of updating learners to classify on data of an unseen input-domain at the meta-testing phase.


Manure can provide valuable nutrients, especially N, for grass forage, but N availability is limited because of high NH 3 volatilization losses from standard surface-broadcast application. Field experiments were conducted for 2 yr at two sites in Vermont to evaluate effects of broadcast or banded liquid dairy manure and broadcast N fertilizer on grass yield and N utilization. Treatments were applied to orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) on a well-drained silt loam and to reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) on a somewhat poorly drained clay soil. Manure was applied three or four times per year at rates of 25 or 50 m 3 ha -1 either by broadcasting or by trailing-foot spreading in narrow bands. Fertilizer N was broadcast at 0, 28, 56, and 84 kg N ha -1 on separate plots at the same time as each manure application. Fertilizer N increased yields significantly to the medium rate (224 kg ha -1 yr -1 ) on orchardgrass and the high rate (252 kg ha -1 yr -1 ) on the reed canarygrass site. The high rate of banded manure produced 80 to 110% of the yields from the high N fertilizer rate. Yields from the trailing-foot, banded manure application were 6 to 14% higher than those from broadcast manure in the two site-years where method had a significant effect. Fertilizer N equivalence of manure averaged 44% with banded and 34% with broadcast application. We conclude that surface-banding manure with a trailing-foot applicator has the potential to provide benefits over conventional broadcast application by improving N utilization and increasing yield.


Mukha ( mouth or oral cavity) is one of the important parts of our body. The digestive system starts from mukha so it is important to maintain proper oral hygiene for our overall health status. Mukhapaka is a commonest disease of oral mucosa found in India as well as all over the world. Mukhapaka can be correlated with stomatitis or mouth ulcers as per modern science. Oral ulceration is encountered frequently in our daily practice. Stomatitis is curable & not considered a threat to life but these ulcers have a significant negative impact on oral health, affecting the quality of life. It also affects normal activities like eating & swallowing. Sometimes brushing & talking also becomes painful. In Ayurveda  various treatment modalities are described for mukhapaka. I have selected one of them to establish the efficacy of Gandush on mukhapaka in my present case study.


OBJECTIVE
A comprehensive and machine-understandable cancer drug-side effect (drug-SE) relationship knowledge base is important for in silico cancer drug target discovery, drug repurposing, and toxicity predication, and for personalized risk-benefit decisions by cancer patients. While US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug labels capture well-known cancer drug SE information, much cancer drug SE knowledge remains buried the published biomedical literature. We present a relationship extraction approach to extract cancer drug-SE pairs from the literature.

DATA AND METHODS
We used 21,354,075 MEDLINE records as the text corpus. We extracted drug-SE co-occurrence pairs using a cancer drug lexicon and a clean SE lexicon that we created. We then developed two filtering approaches to remove drug-disease treatment pairs and subsequently a ranking scheme to further prioritize filtered pairs. Finally, we analyzed relationships among SEs, gene targets, and indications.

RESULTS
We extracted 56,602 cancer drug-SE pairs. The filtering algorithms improved the precision of extracted pairs from 0.252 at baseline to 0.426, representing a 69% improvement in precision with no decrease in recall. The ranking algorithm further prioritized filtered pairs and achieved a precision of 0.778 for top-ranked pairs. We showed that cancer drugs that share SEs tend to have overlapping gene targets and overlapping indications.

CONCLUSIONS
The relationship extraction approach is effective in extracting many cancer drug-SE pairs from the literature. This unique knowledge base, when combined with existing cancer drug SE knowledge, can facilitate drug target discovery, drug repurposing, and toxicity prediction.


The history of lunacy administration can be traced back with reasonable certainty to 1339, the assumed date of the Statute de Prerogativa Regis, which limited the King's jurisdiction (already existing) over the estates of idiots or natural fools, whose profits he was to take, but for whom he was to find necessaries. For anyone 'that beforetime hath had his wit and memory' and should 'happen to fail of his wit' or, as would now be said, became a lunatic or of unsound mind, the King was to keep his estate safe and maintain him and his household competently out of the profits, but the King was to take nothing for his own use. By the Statute 32 Hen. VIII, c. 46 (1540), which established the Court of the King's Wards, the residue on the lunatic's death was to be paid over to his Executors or Administrators.


Objective: To evaluate the relationship between buccal bone thickness and gingival phenotype of the anterior maxilla after clinical and tomographic evaluation.
Methods: 120 teeth were analyzed clinically and in cone beam computed tomography scans. The data obtained from the CT scans corresponded to the thickness of the gingival margin, thickness of the buccal bone board in two regions: 2 and 4 mm apical to the bone crest (EO2 and EO4, respectively) and distance from the cemento-enamel junction to the bone crest. Clinically, the data obtained corresponded to the transparency of the probe in the gingival sulcus and tooth format. The data were grouped and related to the positioning of the tooth in the arch.
Results: Tomographically, the measurements showed that the distance from the cemento-enamel junction to the bone crest was higher in canines when compared to the central incisors. The gingival thickness also presented lower values in canines when compared with central incisors. Regarding bone thickness, the values found were similar for all teeth. Only seven teeth had bone thickness> 1,00 mm in EO2. In EO4, only four teeth had bone thickness> 1,00 mm. It was determined with statistical relevance that the bone thickness in EO2 was thicker in relation to EO4 for all groups except for element 21. In the present study it was verified that the non-visibility of the probe is related to bone thickness ≥ 0,96mm, that is, thick bone phenotype. Regarding gingival thickness and probe transparency, our research showed that probe visibility is related to values ≥ 1,04 mm. Thirteen of the tweenty patients presented triangular tooth shape, and only seven presented square shape.
Conclusion: It was not possible to accurately and reliably identify the relationship between the transparency of the probe with the buccal bone thickness. However, the visibility of the periodontal probe is associated with measurements of the gingival direction and of the finer vestibular bone plate, but without statistical significance. In the present study, there was statistical significance between the values of thickness of the buccal bone board, in the measurements of 2mm and 4mm apical to the bone crest. Associate largest measurements in the region at 2 mm and the smaller values of thickness at 4 mm apical to the bone crest.


Introduction: Curcumin is a bright yellow chemical produced by some plants like Turmeric. The anti-inflammatory effects of Curcumin were recorded in some studies. This study was done to investigate the effects of the Curcumin on the physiological functions of rat blood monocytes. Methods: This study was an experimental one. The study population consisted of 20 rats randomly categorized into the treatment and control groups . Curcumin was orally administered to treatment group in daily doses of 200 mg/kg from the beginning of the study and continued for 4 weeks. The control rats received PBS at the same volume . At the ends, the blood samples were taken from the rats and the monocytes were isolated under a ficoll-hypaque gradient. Isolated monocytes were challenged with opsonized yeast and the functions were evaluated. Results: The results showed that the monocytes isolated from the control and treatment groups have not shown any significant differences in phagocytosis after challenge with opsonized yeast (p=0.1). Nevertheless, the respiratory burst (P=0.009) and nitric oxide production (P=0.03) were decreased in curcumin treated rat compared to the control rats. Albeit, the biological activities of monocytes in the treatment group was increased compared to the monocytes isolated from the control group (P=0.0001). Conclusions: Collectively, it seems that curcumin is a natural source to intervene the monocytes functions especially in autoimmune diseases so that monocytes hyperactivity causes immunopathological conditions.


Leaf area changes affect solar radiation interception (K*), interception efficiency (eint) and extinction coefficient (k) of an orange tree top (cv. Pera-Rio). In order to measure radiation transmitted through the crown a mobile sensor was horizontally installed below the crown and 0.65 m from the trunk, moving around it at 3 rpm. The model used for k determination (Monsi & Saeki theory) was assessed with independent data to estimate K*. With absence of leaves, it was detected an intense interference of trunk and branches on eint, with a minimum value of 0.52. The results were also distinct in obtaining k, when the best fit was found with a quadratic rather than a linear equation, again influenced by woody structures. Simulation of K* using extinction coefficient (k) was statistically classified as good.


A number of studies have questioned how successfully paid land diversion has been adapted to address broad environmental policy concerns. Similar evaluations of cost-sharing programs have not been performed. This paper uses a revealed preference approach to estimate the implicit decision criteria used to allocate federal cost-sharing funds in Maryland, during the fiscal years 1994 through 1996. Funds appear to have been awarded preferentially to projects that enhanced agricultural productivity and farm profitability. In contrast to findings regarding the CRP, however, our results do not indicate that cost share awards in Maryland were inconsistent with stated environmental quality priorities. (JEL Q24, Q25)


A self-organizing neural network model that resembles Kohonen's feature map model is presented in this paper. Unlike conventional feature maps which require static neighborhood relations to be defined a priori, our model is characterized by its use of dynamic neighborhood relations which change as learning proceeds. In particular, the neighborhood relations between neurons in a feature map are determined by an underlying Gabriel graph, which represents two neurons as neighbors if and only if the smallest hypersphere enclosing the two corresponding weight vectors encloses no other weight vectors. We show empirically that this network model works consistently well in the vector quantization tasks tested. More importantly, our model can adapt to data manifolds which may not be handled well using conventional self-organizing feature maps.<<ETX>>


A wireless ad-hoc network consists of wireless mobile terminals forming a temporary network without any deployed infrastructure or centralized administration. Energy efficiency is an important issue in wireless ad-hoc networks because the battery power of terminals is limited. We propose an energy efficient MAC algorithm based on reservation and scheduling for wireless ad-hoc networks. We evaluate the performance of our proposed MAC scheme with respect to the number, of delayed slots, the channel utilization, and the energy efficiency. Then, we derive the fair threshold energy level for the pseudo base station (PBS) reselection in the proposed MAC.


1. Over the last 40 years a range of therapeutic strategies has been introduced for the long term treatment of hypertension. 2. Although safe effective agents are available a significant number of patients are unable or unwilling to take these drugs as long term treatment. 3. Both insufficient efficacy and adverse effects justify the search for new antihypertensive strategies. 4. Recent developments include orally active angiotensin (AT1) receptor antagonists (ARA) which appear to offer the benefits of prevention of angiotensin II effects without the adverse effects of bradykinin potentiation, such as cough, which limit the usefulness of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. 5. Imidazoline receptor agonists offer the potential of centrally active antihypertensives without the adverse effects of sedation and dry mouth. Further clinical experience is necessary to confirm whether the clinical efficacy and good tolerability are confirmed with long term use. 6. Both ARA and imidazoline preferring substances offer the bonus of a desirable haemodynamic profile in patients with heart failure and may open new therapeutic avenues in the management of cardiac failure.


Abstract The semideciduous seasonal forest, physiognomy that covered almost the entire interior of the Sao Paulo state, is currently represented by only 5% of its original area. This paper presents a survey of mimosoid clade in one of the last areas of continuous vegetation of the state, the Serra do Japi. Twenty four species belonging to eight genera were sampled, of which Mimosa (7 spp.), Inga (6 spp.), Senegalia (5 spp.) and Anadenanthera (2 spp.) were the most diverse genera. The arboreal taxa prevail on this area. Inventoried species are well distributed in the different vegetation types of Brazil. Twelve species are new records for the Serra do Japi and one species to the state. Six species are endemic to Brazil ( Abarema langsdorffii, Inga subnuda, I. sessilis, Leucochloron incuriale, Mimosa furfuracea, Senegalia grandistipula ) and two only occur in the Mata Atlântica ( Inga subnuda e Senegalia grandistipula ).The main diagnostic characters to distinguish the genera, were the types of leaf and fruit, presence of extrafloral nectaries and number and fusion of stamens, and for the species, presence of glands in specific locations, presence of thorns, trichomes and stipules, and number of leaflets.