Enhancing the depth perception in laparoscopic surgery is very important. Towards this goal, we have designed a foldable mechanism for mounting two small cameras that enable stereo vision in a laparoscope. The challenge addressed here is to fold the two cameras, the entire mechanism, and the actuating wires within a tube of 15 mm diameter. The mechanism is pre-loaded with springs so that it will automatically deploy into a desired configuration upon pushing it out of the tube. Furthermore, in the deployed configuration, the mechanism can be manipulated by pulling on the actuating wires to change the stereo-base distance between the two cameras for focusing at different depths inside the abdomen. A 2X-scale working prototype has been made and experiments have been conducted on some typical simulated tasks of surgery. The results of the experiments indicate that depth perception improves with the mechanism presented here.


A two-dimensional moving mesh algorithm is developed to simulate the general motion of two rotating bodies with relative translational motion. The grid includes a background grid and two sets of grids around the moving bodies. With this grid arrangement rotational and translational motions of two bodies are handled separately, with no complications. Inter-grid boundaries are determined based on their distances from two bodies. In this method, the overset concept is applied to hybrid grid, and flow variables are interpolated using a simple stencil. To evaluate this moving mesh algorithm unsteady Euler flow is solved for different cases using dual-time method of Jameson. Numerical results show excellent agreement with experimental data and other numerical results. To demonstrate the capability of present algorithm for accurate solution of flow fields around moving bodies, some benchmark problems have been defined in this paper. Keywords— Moving mesh, Overset grid, Unsteady Euler, Relative motion.


The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the necessity of distinguishing a semantic-functional class of stance adverbials in Lithuanian. Following Biber  et al.  (1999) and Hasselgard (2010) an attempt is made to show that alongside circumstance adverbials there are also linking adverbials and stance adverbials in Lithuanian. The means of realization of stance adverbials in Lithuanian is not only adverbs but also so called modal words ( galbūt 'maybe',  tikriausiai  'most probably'), various particles ( taigi  'therefore',  visgi  'still', 'nevertheless'), CTPs ( manoma  'it is believed',  natūralu  'naturally'), various adverbial clauses ( kaip matyti  'as it is seen, as one can see',  kaip žinoma  'as is known') but also prepositional phrases ( pasak X  'according to X'). The article devotes much attention to the semantic classification of the basic types of stance adverbials, which has been illustrated by the language data collected from the Corpus of Academic Lithuanian (Corpus Academicum Lithuanicum – CorALit – http://coralit.lt). The paper also touches upon the process of adverbialization and its relationship to grammaticalization which presupposes the desemanticization and (inter)subjectivization of the linguistic expressions under analysis. Many Lithuanian verbal and adjectival CTPs like  žinoma  'it is known',  suprantama  'it is understood',  tarkim  'let's say' can develop into stance adverbials and further into discourse markers by losing any links to the original lexical meaning of the verb they have evolved from.


Algal blooms, particularly those dominated by dinoflagellates, are widespread in marine ecosystems and can have devastating ocean and human health impacts. The factors that lead to their demise are not well characterized but are thought to include a combination of physical, chemical, and biological factors. Previous studies have isolated bacteria that kill dinoflagellates in laboratory experiments, but little is known about the impact that such algicidal bacteria exert on natural blooms. In this dissertation, I investigated the possibility that algicidal bacteria can impact the population dynamics of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum, a species that causes large and long-lived blooms off the coast of Southern California. I used a combination of laboratory experiments and field sampling to try to link knowledge about model systems in controlled experiments with the complex world of natural blooms in the environment. Chapter one is a review of the current knowledge about the impact of algicidal bacteria in the sea. In chapter two, I report the isolation of algicidal bacteria that induced the formation of temporary cysts in L. polyedrum laboratory cultures as a probable defense mechanism against bacterial colonization. In chapter three, I report bacterial colonization intensities in various L. polyedrum cultures and in two natural blooms, suggesting a relationship between algal population dynamics and bacterial colonization intensity. In chapter four, I report a novel interaction of algicidal bacteria on L. polyedrum motility mediated by excreted putative proteases, and describe decreased motility at the end of an L. polyedrum bloom, suggesting algal cells were unhealthy before bloom decline. In chapter five, I report the novel cultivation of a globally widespread and abundant marine bacterium from the Roseobacter group that killed L. polyedrum cultures by attachment. Using species-specific DNA probes, I studied the colonization of this bacterium on L. polyedrum cells in a natural bloom and found increased colonization during the bloom decline phase, suggesting a direct effect of this algicidal bacterium on bloom dynamics.


This paper analyzed the deviation of tunneling current for bottom gate voltage of sub-10 nm asymmetric double gate MOSFET. The asymmetric double gate MOSFET among multi gate MOSFET developed to reduce the short channel effects has the advantage to increase the facts to be able to control the channel current, compared with symmetric double gate MOSFET. The increase of off current is, however, inescapable if aymmetric double gate MOSFET has the channel length of sub-10 nm. The influence of tunneling current was investigated in this study as the portion of tunneling current for off current was calculated. The tunneling current was obtained by the WKB(Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin) approximation and analytical potential distribution derived from Poisson equation. As a results, the tunneling current was greatly influenced by bottom gate voltage in sub-10 nm asymmetric double gate MOSFET. Especially it showed the great deviation for channel length, top and bottom gate oxide thickness, and channel thickness.


The upper limit to the power at which trap detectors have a linear response was recently measured. We have complemented these measurements by testing traps with an applied bias voltage at several visible wavelengths. We used Hamamatsu S1337-1010 silicon photodiodes, and also briefly tested the S5227-1010 photodiode. Application of a bias voltage increases the linearity limit by a factor of more than 10 for very narrow beams and of more than 30 for wide beams. No irreversible changes were detected even for the highest irradiance measured (33 W/cm2 at 406 nm). The minimum bias voltages required for linearities of 99 %, 99.8 % and 99.95 % are presented for several beam sizes.


We present a novel ground-state energy estimation algorithm that is robust under global depolarizing error channels. Building upon the recently developed Quantum Exponential Least Squares (QCELS) algorithm [Ding, Lin, PRX Quantum, 4, 020331, 2023], our new approach incorporates significant advancements to ensure robust estimation while maintaining a polynomial cost in precision. By leveraging the spectral gap of the Hamiltonian effectively, our algorithm overcomes limitations observed in previous methods like quantum phase estimation (QPE) and robust phase estimation (RPE). Going beyond global depolarizing error channels, our work underscores the significance and practical advantages of utilizing randomized compiling techniques to tailor quantum noise towards depolarizing error channels. Our research demonstrates the feasibility of ground-state energy estimation in the presence of depolarizing noise, offering potential advancements in error correction and algorithmic-level error mitigation for quantum algorithms.


BOLLMANN, A., et al.: Response of Atrial Fibrillatory Activity to Carotid Sinus Massage in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation. In some cases carotid sinus massage (CSM) may induce AF, whereas it may terminate AF in others. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of CSM on atrial fibrillatory frequency using spectral analysis of the surface ECG. Continuous ECG recordings were made in 19 patients (12 men, 7 women, mean age 61 ± 11 years) with AF. Unilateral CSM was performed in the standard fashion to one randomized bifurcation of the carotid artery at a time. Ventricular rate and fibrillatory frequency were assessed in 30‐second ECG segments at baseline and during CSM. The frequency content of the fibrillatory baseline was quantified using digital signal processing (filtering, subtraction of averaged QRST complexes, and Fourier transformation). CSM resulted in a relative change in fibrillatory frequency of 4.5 ± 3.9% (range 0%–13%). In 8 (42%) patients an increase in fibrillatory frequency was found (6.4 ± 0.5 vs 6.8 ± 0.5 Hz, P = 0.012). In 9 (47%) patients a decrease in fibrillatory frequency occurred (6.5 ± 0.8 vs 6.1 ± 0.8 Hz, P = 0.008) without AF termination. The remaining two patients showed no change in fibrillatory frequency. CSM on the contralateral side after 2 minutes produced fibrillatory frequency changes in the same direction in all patients with a good reproducibility in its magnitude (r = 0.59, P = 0.05). Calcium channel blockers were more frequently used (78% vs 25%, P = 0.044) in patients with a decrease in fibrillatory frequency compared to patients with a frequency increase. There were no significant changes in ventricular rate during CSM. In conclusion, two different responses of atrial fibrillatory frequency to CSM were found. This might explain why CSM may facilitate AF induction in some cases and AF termination in others. Calcium channel blocker treatment may prevent an increase in fibrillatory frequency provoked by CSM suggesting a blunted electrical remodeling process.


We anesthetized and blood sampled wild big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in Fort Collins, Colorado (USA) in 2001 and 2002 and assessed effects on survival. Inhalant anesthesia was delivered into a specially designed restraint and inhalation capsule that minimized handling and bite exposures. Bats were immobilized an average of 9.1±5.1 (SD) min (range 1–71, n=876); blood sample volumes averaged 58±12 μl (range 13–126, n=718). We randomly selected control (subject to multiple procedures before release) and treatment (control procedures plus inhalant anesthesia and 1% of body weight blood sampling) groups in 2002 to assess treatment effects on daily survival over a 14-day period for adult female and volant juvenile bats captured at maternity roosts in buildings. We monitored survival after release using passive integrated transponder tag detection hoops placed at openings to selected roosts. Annual return rates of bats sampled in 2001 were used to assess long-term outcomes. Comparison of 14-day maximum-likelihood daily survival estimates from control (86 adult females, 92 volant juveniles) and treated bats (187 adult females, 87 volant juveniles) indicated no adverse effect from anesthesia and blood sampling (juveniles: χ2=22.22, df=27, P>0.05; adults: χ2=9.72, df=18, P>0.05). One-year return rates were similar among adult female controls (81%, n=72, 95% confidence interval [CI] =70–91%), females treated once (82%, n=276, 95% CI=81–84%), and females treated twice (84%, n=50, 95% CI=74–94%). Lack of an effect was also noted in 1-yr return rates of juvenile female controls (55%, n=29, 95% CI=37–73%), juveniles treated once (66%, n=113, 95% CI=58–75%), and juveniles treated twice (71%, n=17, 95% CI=49–92%). These data suggest that anesthesia and blood sampling for health monitoring did not measurably affect survival of adult female and volant juvenile big brown bats.


We propose a plasmonics-based optical polarization rotator. The proposed device is designed using skewing phenomena of propagation waves at the slotted waveguide with metal film by 3D-FDTD method. A metal film on the waveguide acts to rapidly rotate the optical polarization, because it has characteristics of slow group velocity according to the metal-clad optical waveguide. We have overcome the high propagation loss of metal-clad structures by using a buffer layer. The length of designed polarization rotator is just 5 μm for 90 % polarization


The aim of this paper is to give an account of Aquinas's doctrine of moral dimension of pursuit of truth. The article is divided into three sections. First of them deals with the notion of truth in epistemic perspective (judgment and truth). The second one is about truth inasmuch as a certain good and end not only of intellect but of human being. In the third one the consecuences of the previous statements are given. It is about the rol of intellectual and moral virtues in knowledge and in the pursuit of truth. In this final section the main topic of the paper is a central issue: love for truth is need to reach, truth given that virtue is defined as ordo amoris.


The mobile devices are free to move haphazardly and organize themselves arbitrarily. In other words, ad hoc network do not rely on any fixed infrastructure. The Communication in MANET takes place by using multi-hop paths. Nodes in the MANET share the wireless medium and the topology of the network changes erratically and dynamically. In MANET, breaking of communication link is very frequent, as nodes are free to move to anywhere. Due to this network partition, mobile nodes in one partition are not able to access data hosted by nodes in other partitions, and hence significantly degrade the performance of data access. So to deal with this problem, we apply data replication techniques. Most of the mobiles have limited amount of storage and bandwidth. So it is impossible for them to hold all the data needed for replica. To overcome this problem we are implementing some of the following techniques: The One-To-One Optimization (OTOO) Scheme, the Reliable Neighbor (RN) Scheme and Reliable Grouping (RG) Scheme.


Previously, we reported that in Citrus plants, nitrate influx through the plasmalemma of roots cells follows a biphasic pattern, suggesting the existence of at least two different uptake systems, a high and low affinity transport system (HATS and LATS, respectively). Here, we describe a novel inducible high affinity transport system (iHATS). This new nitrate transport system has a high capacity to uptake nitrate in two different Citrus rootstocks (Cleopatra mandarin and Troyer citrange). The iHATS was saturable, showing higher affinity than constitutive high affinity transport system (cHATS) to the substrate NO3-. The Vmax for this saturable component iHATS was higher than cHATS, reaching similar values in both rootstocks. Additionally, we studied the regulation of root NO3- uptake mediated by both HATS (iHATS and cHATS) and LATS. In both rootstocks, cHATS is constitutive and independent of N-status. Concerning the regulation of iHATS, this system is up-regulated by NO3- and down-regulated by the N status and by NO3- itself when plants are exposed to it for a longer period of time. LATS in Cleopatra mandarin and Troyer citrange rootstocks is repressed by the N-status. The use of various metabolic uncouplers or inhibitors indicated that NO3- net uptake mediated by iHATS and LATS was an active transport system in both rootstocks.


Cultural heritage consists of tangible and intangible manifestations that identify a population and give their peculiar traits, through exercise research referenced in this article, there has been evidence that the parent municipality Quindio Salento, still houses its streets cooking utensils and traditional houses that serve as traces of a past that is disappearing culinary collective memory, due to the absence of measures to protect and conserve the cultural heritage of this city that even has a great beauty as its main attraction , has missed its cultural, historical and heritage as fundamental elements to enrich and make this destination unique.


In this work, a generalized force-field methodology for the relaxation of large moir\'e heterostructures is proposed. The force-field parameters are optimized to accurately reproduce the structural degrees of freedom of some computationally manageable cells relaxed using density functional theory. The parameters can then be used to handle large moir\'e systems. We specialize to the case of 2H-phased twisted transition-metal dichalcogenide homo- and heterobilayers using a combination of the Stillinger-Weber intralayer- and the Kolmogorov-Crespi interlayer-potential. Force-field parameters are developed for all combinations of MX$_2$ for $\text{M}\in\{\text{Mo},\text{W}\}$ and $\text{X}\in\{\text{S},\text{Se},\text{Te}\}$. The results show agreement within 20 meV in terms of band structure between density functional theory and force-field relaxation. Using the relaxed structures, a simplified and systematic scheme for the extraction of the interlayer moir\'e potential is presented for both R- and H-stacked systems. We show that in-plane and out-of-plane relaxation effects on the moir\'e potential, which is made both deeper and wider after relaxation, are essential. An interpolation based methodology for the calculation of the interlayer binding energy is also proposed. Finally, we show that atomic reconstruction, which is captured by the force-field method, becomes especially prominent for angles below 4-5$^\circ$, when there is no mismatch in lattice constant between layers.


OBJECTIVES
Functional assessment in stroke recovery extends beyond formal testing and evaluation. Stroke survivors themselves continuously engage in the process of reckoning their functional capacities as they go about their everyday lives. This process is called benchmarking. The aim of this article is to discuss and illustrate how it operates in three areas of experience--self-definition, comorbidity and age, and the tasks of daily life.

METHODS
Benchmarking data are drawn from in-depth qualitative interviews with male stroke survivors of various ages and from three ethnic groups (Hispanic, African American, and non-Hispanic White).

RESULTS
The results show that the benchmarking process is evident in all social categories in which survivors fall, but specific kinds of benchmarks may be more prominent in some categories than others.

DISCUSSION
The lessons provided by everyday functional assessment for understanding the stroke experience, as well as directions for further study, are discussed in the conclusion.


Mixing of neighboring data points in a sequence is a common, but understudied, effect in physical experiments. This can occur in the measurement apparatus (if material from multiple time points is pulled into a measurement chamber simultaneously, for instance) or the system itself, e.g., via diffusion of isotopes in an ice sheet. We propose a model-free technique to detect this kind of local mixing in time-series data using an information-theoretic technique called permutation entropy. By varying the temporal resolution of the calculation and analyzing the patterns in the results, we can determine whether the data are mixed locally, and on what scale. This can be used by practitioners to choose appropriate lower bounds on scales at which to measure or report data. After validating this technique on several synthetic examples, we demonstrate its effectiveness on data from a chemistry experiment, methane records from Mauna Loa, and an Antarctic ice core.


The article presents analysis of the influence of ingate size on the Lost Foam casting process. In particular, analysis of simulation tests has been carried out to determine the ingate size influence on the rate of filling of the mould cavity, pressure in the gas gap and size of the gas gap. A specially prepared mathematical model of the process and an original calculation algorithm were used in simulation tests of full-mould casting. The tests have indicated that the increase of the ingate size results in the increase of filling rate and increase of pressure of gases in the gas gap. However, significant influence on mould cavity filling occurs only when the ingate size is less than ~1 cm 2 .


Background: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) comprise a group of hematological malignancies that prevail in elderly patients. MDS patients require regular monitoring and personalised treatment, which is generally not curative. Access to specialized MDS centers is warranted. In the UK, the level of support to improve quality of care and quality of life (QoL) for such patients is poorly understood. We performed a survey in MDS patients to better evaluate the level of satisfaction of current care and unmet needs.
 Materials and Methods: A paper based survey was conducted in the UK in MDS patients referring to the MDS UK Patient Support Group. Total of 962 questionnaires were distributed (862 by newsletter; 100 posted to a random set of MDS UK members). Patients willing to take part sent back the completed survey by prepaid envelope. The survey covered 139 items on demographics, referrals, access to health care, financial impact, disease information, treatment and patient reported outcomes (PRO), including the instrument QOL-E.
 Results: One hundred seventy one patients of mean age 69±10 years (95 males, 76 females) completed the survey. Median duration of MDS was 3 (IQR 1-5) years. Level of education was secondary school in 30%, college degree in 33%, and university degree in 37%. Sixty-six percent was living with a spouse, 12% with others, while 23% lived alone. Seventy-eight percent was retired. Thirty-four percent lived in rural vs 67% in urban areas. Thirty-three percent had other long-standing illness. While most patients were referred to hematologists within 8 weeks, 13% had a referral > 26 weeks from first signs and symptoms. Most saw a hematologist after 1 to 3 visits but for 25% of patients this required at least 4 General Practitioner (GP) visits. With GPs unfamiliar with MDS, 35% took 4 or more visits to refer their patients. One third of patients does not know or recall their initial diagnosis and 38 continue to not know their MDS subtype. Knowledge of disease type and prognosis was poorer in those with lower incomes. Staff explained MDS as bone marrow failure to 62%, a blood disorder to 42% and refractory anemia to 29%, while the terms pre-leukemia/blood cancer/malignant condition was used for only 43%. Satisfaction with the level of verbal information at diagnosis was experienced in 39%, associated with income (p=0.048). Most patients received written information and found it useful. Change of employment due to MDS occurred in 19% and 15 cases retired because of disease. At the time of the survey, almost half of the patients referred absence of symptoms or only mild symptoms that did not impact on abilities while 15% required assistance. However, 65% referred symptoms at diagnosis that consisted of fatigue in 76%, dyspnea in 62%, bruising in 32%, infections in 18%, and bleeding in 12%. Ninety seven cases had received transfusions and 60 were red blood cell transfusion dependent (RBC-TD) at the time of the survey, declaring compromised abilities, compared to 41% of the transfusion free (RBC-TF) patients (p<0.0001). Further, RBC-TD patients were spending more time worrying about MDS compared to RBC-TF (p=0.007) with a higher emotional burden (p=0.004). Treatments were growth factors (38%) and erythropoiesis stimulating agents (67%), 17% received iron chelation and high risk MDS treatment was given in 25%.
 QOL-E showed good reliability in all domains (Cronbach alfa >0.7) except sexual domain. Scores were significantly lower (worse QoL) in RBC-TD patients in all domains. Physical issues caused by MDS as perceived by patients strongly correlated with all QOL-E domains (P<0.0001). Duration of MDS correlated with QOL-E functional well-being (p=0.01).
 Conclusions: Overall, MDS patients in the UK were dissatisfied with the verbal information provided at diagnosis, leading them to look up potentially unreliable information online. However, written information was useful. Most patients stated that their GP was unfamiliar with MDS at diagnosis thus increasing time to referral. RBC-TD patients experienced MDS as a worrisome disease, with a high emotional burden, resulting in a significantly worse QoL. TD patients have unmet needs requiring additional support and time from staff, but also carers and support groups, showing a clear demand for more discussions between healthcare staff, patients and support sources, to maximise the care and advice available.

 Oliva: Novartis: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Other: Royalties, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Sanofi: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; La Jolla: Consultancy. Agberemi:Novartis: Research Funding; Janssen: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding. Wintrich:Janssen: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.


This text is a revised edition of a previous book, Psychiatry for the Family Physician . The new title would indicate that it is directed to a wider audience; however, its primary focus remains the family physician. All texts of this gender are based on the indivisibility of body and mind. The author pays lip service to this same theme by indicating the fusion of psychological and social aspects with biological determinants. In the clarification of the various clinical syndromes one cannot find the synthesis explicit in this text. The first chapter, entitled "Emotions and Illness," is a succinct introduction to the psychological determinants of the sick role. If he is then asked what it is about a strep throat, pneumonia or cancer that scares him, his answer might include: He fears the pains and suffering that he believes the illness causes. He worries about being helpless. He fears loss of


Background Prior osteoporotic fractures are strongly associated with the subsequent fractures. To prevent this, the diagnosis of osteoporosis following an osteoporotic fracture is important. The measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) is the first step for the diagnosis and management of osteoporosis. Therefore, the purposes of this study are 1) to evaluate the rate of BMD measurement after osteoporotic fracture in Korean population; and 2) determine the associated factors with BMD measurement after fractures among Korean patients. Methods From database of Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service, we identified patients with osteoporotic fractures happened in 2010. The BMD examinations were evaluated by using procedure codes. We evaluated the rate of BMD measurement within 6 months after fracture according to gender, age group (10-year incremental), type of insurance, residency area (rural vs. urban), type of medical institute, department, history of depression, rheumatoid arthritis, medical history suggestive of secondary osteoporosis, osteoporosis-induced drug, and number of family members. Results During study period, about a half (53.9%) of patients with osteoporotic fractures had BMD measurement. Men, younger age, urban residency, and depression history were associated with low rate of BMD measurement. However, increasing age, use of glucocorticoid use, osteoporosis-inducing comorbid disease including rheumatologic disease, and osteoporosis-induced drug user were associated with higher likelihood of BMD measurement. Conclusions Our results showed that about a half of patients with osteoporotic fractures had BMD measurement in South Korea, and provided the basic information to encourage management after fracture by educating not only patient but also physician about post-fracture management.


Peroxiredoxins are highly conserved and abundant peroxidases. Although the thioredoxin peroxidase activity of peroxiredoxin (Prx) is important to maintain low levels of endogenous hydrogen peroxide, Prx have also been shown to promote hydrogen peroxide-mediated signalling. Mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathways mediate cellular responses to a variety of stimuli, including reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here we review the evidence that Prx can act as both sensors and barriers to the activation of MAPK and discuss the underlying mechanisms involved, focusing in particular on the relationship with thioredoxin.


Notwithstanding the rosy short-term fiscal scenarios being advanced in Washington, the demographic transition presents the United States with a very serious fiscal crisis. In 30 years there will be twice the number of elderly, but only 15 percent more workers to help pay Social Security and Medicare benefits. A realistic reading of the government demographic projections suggests a two thirds increase in payroll tax rates over the next three to five decades. However, these forecasts ignore macroeconomic feedback effects. In particular, they ignore the possibility that the nation will have more capital per worker as the number of elderly wealth-holders rises relative to the number of young workers. More capital per worker would mean higher worker productivity, higher real wages, and the lower return to capital that worries Wall Street. It would also mean a bigger payroll tax base and a smaller rise in tax rates. On the other hand, a higher payroll tax will leave workers with less after-tax income out of which to save and, therefore, fewer retirement assets than would otherwise be the case. Thus capital deepening is not a foregone conclusion. This study develops a dynamic general equilibrium life-cycle simulation model to study these conflicting forces. The model is the first of its kind to admit realistic patterns of fertility and lifespan extension. It also features heterogeneity, within as well as across generations, and, thus, can be used to study both intra- and intergenerational equity. Unfortunately, our baseline demographic simulation, which assumes the continuation of current social security policy, shows deteriorating macroeconomic conditions that will exacerbate, rather than mitigate, our fiscal problems. Real wages per effective unit of labor fall 4 percent over the next 30 years and 10 percent over the century. For Wall Street, this bad news about real wages is good news about the real return on capital, which rises 100 basis points by 2030 and 300 basis points by 2100. The model's gradual capital shallowing reflects the concomitant major rise in tax rates. In 2030, payroll tax rates and average income-tax rates applied to wages are 77 and 9 percent higher, respectively, than in 2000. Together, these tax hikes raise


An extended object-oriented model for exploring semantics in aggregation hierarchies is presented. The extension is mainly based on a general distinction between aggregation references and association references and a support for type inheritance in both specialization and aggregation abstractions. The author formally describes notions of aggregation reference and aggregation hierarchy and introduces the concept of aggregation inheritance as a type composition mechanism for sharing specifications among types. The similarities and differences between aggregation inheritance and subtype inheritance are analyzed. It is shown that a combination of these two types of inheritance provides a powerful mechanism for abstract implementation of behavior and for enhancing the extensibility of the object model.<<ETX>>


Regulatory capitalism—a social, political, and economic order characterized by a proliferation of both markets and state and nonstate attempts to regulate markets and business conduct—creates the opportunity for theoretically and politically significant research on compliance. The plural and decentered nature of regulation, and therefore of compliance, in regulatory capitalism creates significant complexity and difficulty for social scientists in the conceptual definition and operationalization of regulatory compliance, however. We survey the different ways in which empirical researchers have studied business compliance with regulation, and their strengths and weaknesses. In doing so, we review and interrogate the literature on regulatory compliance to understand what it is that researchers study when we study business compliance with regulation, and what we might have been missing or assuming.


The book presents a description of the Persian dialect of Herat as one of the most representative dialects of Khorasan, illustrated by texts recorded by the author from native dialect speakers during his field research in Afghanistan. It summarizes the results of a series of studies in Persian dialectology accomplished by the author. The description of the dialect covers phonology (including the major alterations of vowels and consonants), morphology, syntactic elements, and prepositions etc. Special attention is given to verbs, their stems and conjugation. The work also includes a review of some lexical peculiarities and a vocabulary of dialectal and common words used in Herati. Some grammatical issues are presented in the supplements.


In this paper, novel cooperative automatic repeat request (ARQ) methods with network coding are proposed for two-way relaying network where two communicating nodes are assisted by a relay node at the cooperative retransmission phase upon failed transmission of a packet. The proposed approach integrates network coding into cooperative ARQ (C-ARQ), aiming to improve the network throughput by reducing the number of retransmissions. For successive retransmission, three different methods for choosing the retransmitting node are considered. The throughputs of the methods are analyzed and compared. The analysis is based on a binary Markov channel, which takes the correlation of the channel coefficients in time into account. Analytical results show that the proposed use of network coding enhances throughput performance up to 15% compared with C-ARQ without network coding and 40% compared with traditional ARQ when the relay channel conditions are better than the direct channel between two communicating nodes. It is also observed that correlation can have a significant effect on the performance of the proposed cooperative network coded ARQ (C-NC-ARQ) approach. In particular, the proposed approach is advantageous for moderately fast to slow fading channels where channel correlation coefficient varies from 0.5 to 1.


Abstract Internationally, problem gambling is elevated in Armed Forces veterans compared to the general population. Here, we re-examined the prevalence of problem gambling in veterans and non-veterans residing in England using an established large dataset and investigated whether gambling was associated with length of service, common mental health disorders, substance abuse, or financial management history. Using the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, 257 post-national service veterans and 514 age- and sex-matched controls were compared. Veterans had significantly higher rates of problem gambling than non-veterans. Male veterans were more likely than non-veterans to have experienced a traumatic event. The relationship between veteran status and problem gambling was not explained by differences in mental health conditions, substance abuse, or financial management. No differences were found for length of service. Further research is required with larger samples targeting problem gambling and Armed Forces experience in the United Kingdom population using contemporary diagnostic criteria.


It is beautifully bound in cloth, with an attractive wrap and frontispiece in full color, and retains the thirty duotone illustrations which appear in the original edition. Henry Van Dyke, after saying that he has studied carefully certain passages of importance in the book-the creation of man, the coming of Christ, His victory on the Cross, and the promise of Heaven-in which the teachings of the Bible are unchanged and in words that a child can understand, adds: "I wish I could have had a book like this for my children when they were young." In it the Bible loses nothing of its Scriptural significance. GEO. B. EAGER.


We propose an improved algorithm for counting the number of Hamiltonian cycles in a directed graph. The basic idea of the method is sequential acceptance/rejection, which is successfully used in approximating the number of perfect matchings in dense bipartite graphs. As a consequence, a new bound on the number of Hamiltonian cycles in a directed graph is proved, by using the ratio of the number of 1-factors. Based on this bound, we prove that our algorithm runs in expected time of $O(n^{8.5})$ for dense problems. This improves the Markov chain method, the most powerful existing method, a factor of at least $n^{4.5}(\log n)^{4}$ in running time. This class of dense problems is shown to be nontrivial in counting, in the sense that it is $#$P-Complete.


. The encryption processes and cryptosystems are very important. We use them to protect our private information over the Internet. Cellular automata are ones of the computational models that can also be used in cryptosystems. The advantage of the cellular automata is their abilities to work in parallel, and thus can reduce the encryption time. Some applications require the encryption time to be small, so this paper aims to reduce the encryption time of the cellular automata cryptosystems. We propose a new technique to permit the cryptosystems to get the avalanche effect faster. This avalanche effect is one of the desired properties for cryptosystems. In the proposed technique, the new type of neighbor is defined, a sequence of neighbor tuples. We apply our technique to Seredynski and Bouvry's work, and the results show that the number of iterations can be reduced up to three times. This makes our cellular automata cryptosystems run faster. The relationship between the size of the neighbor and the size of the cellular automata, and the effect of neighbor sequences to the hardware implementations are left for further studies.


Abstract There has been an increase in the use of social network sites as a marketing medium for commercial products and services. The aim of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of social network sites in influencing both consumer perception of quality of sports products and consumer intention to purchase sports products. A Facebook page of a fictitious brand of sports shoes was set up. The control group (n=57) was exposed to a page with only minimal information about sports shoes while the experimental group (n=59) was presented with additional information on the wall page consisting of 'likes' votes and positive comments about sports shoes. The findings suggest that online social influence not only can affect consumer perception of quality of a sports brand but also consumer buying intention. However, the effect that social influence has on purchase intention is limited to consumers with a low level of sports involvement and participation.


Unique in situ measurements of CO, O3, SO2, CH4, NO, NOx, NOy, VOC, CN, and rBC were carried out with the German Deutsches Zentrum für Luft‐ und Raumfahrt (DLR)‐Falcon aircraft in the central U.S. thunderstorms during the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry experiment in summer 2012. Fresh and aged anvil outflow (9–12 km) from supercells, mesoscale convective systems, mesoscale convective complexes, and squall lines were probed over Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and Kansas. For three case studies (30 May and 8 and 12 June) a combination of trace species, radar, lightning, and satellite information, as well as model results, were used to analyze and design schematics of major trace gas transport pathways within and in the vicinity of the probed thunderstorms. The impact of thunderstorms on the O3 composition in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (LS) region was analyzed. Overshooting cloud tops injected high amounts of biomass burning and lightning‐produced NOx emissions into the LS, in addition to low O3 mixing ratios from the lower troposphere. As a dynamical response, O3‐rich air from the LS was transported downward into the anvil and also surrounded the outflow. The ΔO3/ΔCO ratio was determined in the anvil outflow region. A pronounced in‐mixing of O3‐rich stratospheric air masses was observed in the outflow indicated by highly positive or even negative ΔO3/ΔCO ratios (+1.4 down to −3.9). Photochemical O3 production (ΔO3/ΔCO = +0.1) was found to be minor in the recently lofted pollution plumes. O3 mixing ratios within the aged anvil outflow were mainly enhanced due to dynamical processes.


There are some buildings within most scenery spots. They take the environment go to bad. The main reason is that more and more hotels are built. After field monitoring and analyzing the tendency of the environment in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, we found that the effect of the hotels is more evident than that of the others. The most glaring change is the declining of the water quality in Jinbian stream. Main expression is blue green algae breeding quickly. The main reason is that phosphate content surpass the set standard in the discharging waste water from Luoguta, the reception area in the upstream. A threshold model for the most fragile environment factor was given in this paper: L={(C N-C 0)Q+KXUC NQ}/P·R-L 0. On condition of no surpassing the set water standard in Jinbian stream, the most fragile environment factor , that is phosphate content≤0.02,we computed the dynamic threshold series for tourist lodgings in the upstream of Jinbian stream:the most quantity of beds in Spring,Summr,Autumn and Winter is 1186,3057,545 and 333. The scale of building in the upstream of Jinbian has built in excess of the threshold


We present a new algorithm, Prioritized Sweeping, for e cient prediction and control of stochastic Markov systems. Incremental learning methods such as Temporal Di erencing and Qlearning have fast real time performance. Classical methods are slower, but more accurate, because they make full use of the observations. Prioritized Sweeping aims for the best of both worlds. It uses all previous experiences both to prioritize important dynamic programming sweeps and to guide the exploration of state-space. We compare Prioritized Sweeping with other reinforcement learning schemes for a number of di erent stochastic optimal control problems. It successfully solves large state-space real time problems with which other methods have


In order to evaluate the composition and distribution characteristics of inorganic elements in Laminaria japonica, this study employed inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS) to detect the inorganic elements and used high performance liquid chromatography tandem ICP-MS(HPLC-ICP-MS) to determine the content of different arsenic species in L. japonica from diffe-rent origins. Micro X-ray fluorescence(Micro-XRF) was used to determine micro-area distribution of inorganic elements in L. japonica. The results showed that the average content of Mn, Fe, Sr, and Al was high, and that of As and Cr exceeded the limits of the national food safety standard. According to the results of HPLC-ICP-MS, arsenobetaine(AsB) was the main species of As contained in L. japonica. The more toxic inorganic arsenic accounts for a small proportion, whereas its content was 1-4 times of the limit in the national food safety standard. The results of Micro-XRF showed that As, Pb, Fe, Cu, Mn, and Ni were mainly distributed on the surface of L. japonica. Among them, As and Pb had a clear tendency to diffuse from the surface to the inside. The results of the study can provide a basis for the processing as well as the medicinal and edible safety evaluation of L. japonica.


With the high complexity and density of future nano-system, many aspects such as synchronization system control and system test will be difficult to manage. Clock signals will be suffer from low power supplying and high structural broking rate. As a result, clock fault become an inevitable problem in nano-circuits Self-detection and selfrecovery for clock signal in systems are an important field of research in order to find solutions to these problems. In this paper, we propose a novel compact and powerful architecture for clock fault detection in high speed nanoelectronic system. The totally new conception of time to voltage conversion is employed in our structure which can convert fault of time to the fault of voltage, which can be easily detected. The proposed circuit can work in very wide bandwidth and for different duty cycle by changing the charging and discharging capacitors. To illustrate the detection capability by the diction circuit, a prototype CMOS design of this proposed circuit is presented. Simulation result shows that the proposed architecture is very suit for integration to nano-electronic circuit design to detect the fault of the clock. These instructions give you basic guidelines for preparing camera-ready papers for AP's conference proceedings.


The beginning of the French Revolution led, in Quebec, to a general questioning of its «feudal » society that the British conquerors had preserved and the Sons of Liberty had been unable to alter. The Montreal Gazette, edited by the printer Fleury Mesplet (1734-1794), a friend of Benjamin Franklin, reflected the Canadians' favourable reaction to the revolutionary movement. The storming of the Bastille became a sign of hope for the middle classes and caused panic among the church dignitaries and the nobles who had survived the British conquest in 1760. A study of the Montreal Gazette in 1789 reveals the acceleration of the movement for political and social reform in the former «Nouvelle France ».


An integrated seismic facies analysis of the Willows-Beehive Bend gas field, using three-dimensional seismic data has led to improved identification of reservoir facies, depositional environments, and reservoir parameters. These three-dimensional data were interpreted together with cores, time-based wireline logs, synthetic seismograms, and six regional two-dimensional seismic lines. The three productive formations studied include (1) the Eocene Princeton Gorge fill, which represents a submarine canyon fill; (2) the Upper Cretaceous Kione Formation, which is composed of shelf and deltaic facies; and (3) the mud-rich Upper Cretaceous Forbes Formation, which represents deep water slope and submarine-fan facies. The Princeton Gorge fill consists of an upper shale-dominated facies and a lower sand-rich channel-dominated facies. These channel fills are sinuous, 0.4-0.8 km wide, trend north to south, and have the best reservoir quality of the field. Two facies are recognized in the Kione Formation: a sand-rich deltafront facies and a mud-rich prodelta facies. The delta-front facies shows west to east progradation across the survey area and has good reservoir quality. The prodelta deposits are transitional into the prograding shale-dominated slope deposits of the upper Forbes Formation. This slope facies contains shale-rich submarine-canyon and gully fills that trend northwest to southeast are 0.8-1.6 km wide,more » and locally contain sinuous sandy channel fills. The middle Forbes Formation consists of two turbidite facies: middle submarine-fan channel/levee complexes and lower fan depositional lobes. The channel/level complexes are sinuous, trend north to south, and are approximately 0.8-2.4 km wide, whereas the depositional lobes are 3-4 km in diameter.« less


FCRL4 and FCRL5 are two members of the human Fc receptor like family with the capacity to regulate antigen receptor signaling. FCRL4 was shown to bind IgA, whereas FCRL5 binds IgG. Although the expression of FCRL4 and FCRL5 on human B cell subsets has each been individually evaluated, no study thus far addressed their potential co-expression. Here we report that three distinct subpopulations of CD38lowIgD-memory B cells exist in human tonsils, one that co-expresses FCRL4 and FCRL5, another that is FCRL5 single-positive, and a third that lacks both proteins. We found that the FCRL5+FCRL4+ subset expresses the highest levels of surface FCRL5, CD11c, FAS, PD-1, CD32, CCR1, CCR5 and CCR6 protein, as well as the lowest levels of LAIR-1 and CD21 among the three memory B cell populations. Furthermore, microarray analysis demonstrated that the three memory B cells subsets each possess distinct gene expression profiles. The FCRL5+FCRL4− memory B subset overexpressed dozens of immunoglobulin variable genes compared to the other two subsets, in addition to the transcription factors XBP1, PRDM1 and IRF4 that drive plasmablast and plasma cell differentiation. These results suggest that the FCRL5+FCRL4− memory B subset is committed to become plasmablast. Using KREC assay we established that the FCRL5+FCRL4+ subset underwent more rounds of cell divisions than the other two subsets. The low number of cell divisions measured in the FCRL5+FCRL4− subset suggests that the cells bypassed the germinal center. The surprising association of FCRL4 and FCRL5 expression with distinct memory B cell subsets could point to the functional role of these FCRL proteins and their immunoglobulin ligands to drive B cell development.


Abstract Cells of the archaebacterium Methanosarcina barkeri were grown strictly anaerobic in defined media. 57Fe-Mössbauer Spectroscopy of methanol grown cells oxidized in the presence of air demonstrated only the state of Fe3+ whereas active cells under reducing conditions offered spectra of two additional iron sites in the Fe2+ state. Furthermore the 57Fe hyperfine interaction data at different temperatures gave evidence that cells cultivated with methanol or acetate as substrate contained ferredoxin like compounds.


The damping of Toroidal Alfven Eigenmodes in Joint European Torus (JET) [P. H. Rebut and B. E. Kenn, Fusion Technol.FUSTE811, 13 (1987)] plasmas is investigated by using a reduced kinetic model. Typically no significant damping is found to occur near the center of the plasma due to mode conversion to kinetic Alfven waves. In contrast, continuum damping from resonance near the plasma edge may be significant, and when it is, it gives rise to damping rates that are compatible with the experimental observations.


In this paper a new iterative method is used to convert analog signals to digital (A/D) using sigma delta modulator (SDM). If intelligent reconstruction technique is used for decoding, either signals with higher bandwidth can be digitized or simpler circuitry can be utilized. An optimal family of SDM has recently been devised in order to improve performance of A/D converters. In this work, we improve performance of A/D converters even more, by combining this optimal family of SDM with iterative methods.


This paper considers, through a multidisciplinary study, the management and regulation of animal health and welfare when taking account of the biological and epidemiological characteristics that determine control. The paper considers how science informs the analysis that contributes to the management and governance of animal diseases. This is a timely study as DEFRA, the central government department responsible, is engaged in an active consultation on the question of cost sharing and regulation of animal diseases. DEFRA has introduced a draft Animal Health Bill, which includes the creation of an Animal Health Organisation, an independent regulatory agency for animal health and welfare. Such an independent agency will help address the importance of scientific advice and its inclusion in the decision-making by policy makers. The paper also addresses the role of science and scientists in the collaboration with lawyers, economists and political scientists in the setting of criteria for policy makers. The research used in writing the paper is from a project that embraces different disciplines and engages with how science, law and policy may be evaluated in the case study of animal diseases. The conclusions draw together the strands of analysis across the various disciplines and are intended to set the agenda for future research in this area. This may also inform the approach eventually adopted by the Government in the current discussion of the creation of the Animal Health Organisation.


Ageing population is at the center of the looming health care crisis in most parts of developed and developing world. Australia like most of the western world is bracing up for the looming ageing population crisis, spiraling health care costs and expected serious shortage of health care workers. Assistive Service robots and companion robots are being seen as one of the ways for supporting aged care facilities to meet this challenge and improve the quality of care of the elderly including mental and physical health outcomes, as well as support the health care workers in personalizing care. In this paper the authors report on design and first ever field trial of Matilda, a human like assistive communication (service and companion) robot in appearance and attributes (e.g., voice, expressions, gestures, emotions) in nursing homes in Australia. The work demonstrates Matilda's ability to break intergeneration technology barriers with elderly, engage elderly in group and one to one activities for improving personalization of care and wellbeing.


Objective. To elucidate the optimum preoperative biliary drainage method for patients with pancreatic cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Material and Methods. From January 2010 through December 2014, 20 patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer underwent preoperative biliary drainage and NAC with a plastic or metallic stent and received NAC at Hiroshima University Hospital. We retrospectively analyzed delayed NAC and complication rates due to biliary drainage, effect of stent type on perioperative factors, and hospitalization costs from diagnosis to surgery. Results. There were 11 cases of preoperative biliary drainage with plastic stents and nine metallic stents. The median age was 64.5 years; delayed NAC occurred in 9 cases with plastic stent and 1 case with metallic stent (p = 0.01). The complication rates due to biliary drainage were 0% (0/9) with metallic stents and 72.7% (8/11) with plastic stents (p = 0.01). Cumulative rates of complications determined with the Kaplan-Meier method on day 90 were 60% with plastic stents and 0% with metallic stents (log-rank test, p = 0.012). There were no significant differences between group in perioperative factors or hospitalization costs from diagnosis to surgery. Conclusions. Metallic stent implantation may be effective for preoperative biliary drainage for pancreatic cancer treated with NAC.


The quantum yield of CO2 assimilation (QY) is generally lower in C3 relative to C4 plants at warm temperatures, and differs among the C4 subtypes. Here, we investigated whether variations in QY are linked to light absorption or conversion efficiency. We grew six representative grasses with C3, C3-C4 and C4 photosynthesis under full (control) or 20% (shade) sunlight, and measured the in vivo activity and stoichiometry of PSI and PSII, leaf spectral properties and pigment contents, and photosynthetic enzyme activities. Overall, shade reduced leaf photosynthesis, absorptance, especially in the green region, as well as carotenoids/chlorophylls and chlorophyll a/b ratios in C4 more than non-C4 species. Amongst C4, NADP-ME species had the highest QY and cyclic electron flow (CEF), and the NAD-ME species underwent the greatest reduction in leaf absorptance and pigments and PSII contents under shade, whist CEF and PSII/PSI were unaffected. These results demonstrate that the greater efficiency of the CO2 concentrating mechanism in NADP-ME grasses at low light depends on light absorption and harvesting properties in addition to coordination between the C3 and C4 cycles. This is important for maximising light energy absorption and providing the right ATP/NADPH ratio while minimising photoinhibition under variable light conditions. SUMMARY STATEMENT Changes in leaf absorptance, pigment contents and photosystems stoichiometry underpin photosynthetic efficiency and responses of closely related C3, C3-C4 and C4 grasses under shade


: In this paper, we consider two kinds of technologies distinguished by their level of productivity and associated costs, such that one technology increases the quantity of output more than the alternative technology. The firm must then decide in which technology to invest and when to invest in the chosen R&D project so as to maximize profit. To solve this problem, we formulate it as an optimal stopping problem for the firm. Using this analysis, we endogenously obtain the firm's expenditure on R&D investment and numerically locate the R&D investment thresholds for the firm's projects.


Malignant meningiomas have a high mortality rate and short survival time and currently have no effective treatment. In our study, proteomics analysis was performed to identify highly expressed proteins as therapeutic targets in malignant meningiomas. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assays were performed to verify the effect of LB-100 on the growth of malignant meningiomas. In addition, immunoblotting was used to verify the expression of B7-H3 and phosphorylation of STAT1 (Tyr701) in tissues and cells. Our results show that STAT1 and CD276 (B7-H3) regulated by PP2A were enriched in GO_IMMUNE_EFFECTOR_PROCESS and GO_REGULATION_OF_IMMUNE_SYSTEM_PROCESS. The immunotherapy target protein B7-H3 was confirmed to be upregulated in malignant meningiomas compared with meningothelial (p = 0.0001) and fibroblastic (p = 0.0046) meningiomas. In vitro, the PP2A inhibitor LB-100 suppressed the growth and invasion of malignant meningioma cells. Notably, the PP2A inhibitor LB-100 increased the phosphorylation of STAT1, thereby increasing the expression of the immune checkpoint protein B7-H3 in malignant meningioma cells in vitro. In conclusion, B7-H3 was found to be upregulated in malignant meningiomas. The PP2A inhibitor LB-100 increased the phosphorylation of STAT1 and B7-H3 expression, which could increase the sensitivity of malignant meningiomas to B7-H3 targeted immunotherapy.


Research has demonstrated that Parkinson's disease can have adverse psychological effects on caregivers. Very few studies have focused on the experiences of spouses who are not primary caregivers or who do not identify as primary caregivers. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of spouses who are not primary caregivers or do not identify as primary caregivers. Twelve Israeli women, spouses of men with Parkinson's disease, were interviewed using a semi-structured in-depth approach. Thematic analysis revealed five themes: before diagnosis, at diagnosis, after diagnosis, interpersonal ways of coping, and intrapersonal ways of coping. A dynamic of oscillation between confronting and avoiding losses was indicated. Non-death losses were mostly unacknowledged among spouses' social circles. Results were interpreted in the context of grieving processes after diagnosis. Findings suggest a need for psychological interventions aimed at creating safe spaces for spouses to engage in a grieving process after diagnosis.


Significance Cure of autoimmune type 1 diabetes (T1D) requires both reversal of autoimmunity and regeneration or resupply of insulin-producing β cells. We have observed that combination therapy with induction of haploidentical mixed chimerism and administration of gastrin and epidermal growth factor (EGF) cures firmly established T1D. The predominant source of β cell regeneration in mice comes from reactivation of dysfunctional insulinlo β cells and transdifferentiation of α cells. These studies have provided insights into β cell regeneration mechanisms in firmly established autoimmune T1D, in particular, reactivation of the insulinlo β cells after reversal of autoimmunity by induction of haploidentical mixed chimerism. These studies also provide a preclinical scientific basis for the feasibility of cure of long-standing T1D in humans. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) results from the autoimmune destruction of β cells, so cure of firmly established T1D requires both reversal of autoimmunity and restoration of β cells. It is known that β cell regeneration in nonautoimmune diabetic mice can come from differentiation of progenitors and/or transdifferentiation of α cells. However, the source of β cell regeneration in autoimmune nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice remains unclear. Here, we show that, after reversal of autoimmunity by induction of haploidentical mixed chimerism, administration of gastrin plus epidermal growth factor augments β cell regeneration and normalizes blood glucose in the firmly established diabetic NOD mice. Using transgenic NOD mice with inducible lineage-tracing markers for insulin-producing β cells, Sox9+ ductal progenitors, Nestin+ mesenchymal stem cells, and glucagon-producing α cells, we have found that both reactivation of dysfunctional low-level insulin expression (insulinlo) β cells and neogenesis contribute to the regeneration, with the latter predominantly coming from transdifferentiation of α cells. These results indicate that, after reversal of autoimmunity, reactivation of β cells and transdifferentiation of α cells can provide sufficient new functional β cells to reach euglycemia in firmly established T1D.


This paper presents ESPRIT, an automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) system for testing single stuck-at faults in combinational logic. ESPRIT generates test patterns by performing fault simulation on random patterns derived from nonuniformly distributed input signal probabilities. The system computes input signal probabilities that minimize a testability cost function. Using ESPRIT, we have observed orders-of-magnitude reduction in the number of random trials required to obtain a given fault coverage.


Cell mediated immunity is currently thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of oral mucosal lichen planus (OMLP). However, literature reveals there is no large scale data of immunohistochemistry (IHC) study on these immune cell populations. The aim of this study was to assess and compare immune cell surface identification markers CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19 and CD83 between the OMLP (n=40) and non-specific inflammatory lesions (as control group) (n=10) qualitatively and quantitatively. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests have been used to make comparison between the test and control group, p values of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. T cell surface markers (CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+), B cells (CD19+) and mature dendritic cells (CD83+) showed intense immunostaining in OMLP tissues with a significantly higher expression of positive cells than in the control group (p<0.05). CD3, CD4 and CD8+ve T cells were the predominant inflammatory cell type in OMLP rather than CD19+ B cells, supporting the role of Th1 cells in the pathogenesis of OMLP. CD83 + mature dendritic cells were present in the least number and were mostly localized to areas where there were aggregates of lymphocyte. There was a positive correlation and direct relationship between T and B lymphocyte subsets whereby as one subset increased, the other follows.


When William Friedkin's psycho thriller Cruising was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival and hit cinemas worldwide in 1980 it was mainly misunderstood: the upcoming gay scene dismissed it as an offence to their efforts to open up to society and a distorted image of homosexuality, prompting the distributors to add a disclaimer that preceded the picture: Genre audiences were confused about the idea of a sexualized cop thriller with procedural drama that frequently turns into a horror film with the identity of the killer changing with each murder. Seen from today's perspective, Friedkin's film turned out to be an enduring cult classic documenting the gay leather scene of the late 1970s as well as providing a stunning image of identity crisis and an examination of male sexuality in general. In the fading years of the New Hollywood era (1967–1976), William Friedkin—the 'New Hollywood Wunderkind', with an Academy Award for his cop drama, The French Connection (1971), and following the tremendous success of his horror film, The Exorcist (1973)—proves once more the strength of his unique approach in combining genre and auteur cinema to create a fascinating film that turns 40 in 2020. This book dives into the phenomenon that is Cruising: it examines its creative context and its protagonists, as well as explaining its ongoing popularity.


The construct of heavy-work investment (HWI) is bi-dimensional, revolving around the investment of both time and effort at work. The current paper expands the research thinking and joins the pioneering studies that explore HWI as a relatively new concept in the work-related literature (since 2012). The prime aim of this conceptual paper is to develop a model regarding the intricate relationships between the dimensions of HWI and their work outcomes (with emphasis on possible conditional factors). In particular: (1) we refine the definition of HWI by accounting for the different levels of time and effort investment and (2) we outline multiplex propositions with regard to possible (positive and negative) outcomes of HWI, considering different moderators that can potentially impact these associations. Finally, we offer practical implications for human resource management.


Recent policy debates about the future of Social Security and Medicare have been dominated by the issue of personal versus societal responsibility. Significant changes now being considered would increase the level of privatization and tilt these programs away from defined benefit toward defined contribution models. This annual volume of the National Academy of Social Insurance examines the concept of introducing choice into the Social Security and Medicare programs, how it would be defined and structured, and what sort of safeguards would be needed to protect program participants. The ideas, from representatives of the public and private sectors, range from "tinkering" to "overhauling" the programs to make them more responsive and cost-effective. The contributors provide an overview of the history and fundamental values of social insurance, discuss options for reforming Social Security and Medicare, review the benefits and drawbacks of expanding choice options, explore the types of mechanisms needed to protect consumers if market-based reforms are adopted, and address the political likelihood of Social Security and Medicare reforms. The essays in this volume give parameters to the debate over the future of Social Security and Medicare, and reflect the range and diversity of views which will shape these two hallmark social insurance programs for decades to come.


AIMS: To develop and validate an analytical procedure for the quantitation of pepsins and gastricsin in human gastric juice and to assess its potential in a controlled gastric secretory study. METHODS: High performance ion-exchange chromatography was used to separate human pepsin 1, 3a, 3b, 3c and gastricsin from gastric juice. Computed chromatographic areas for each enzyme were quantified by relation to a known amount of a secondary standard porcine pepsin. The assay procedure was validated by recovery and analytical precision studies. Gastric secretions after pentagastrin and insulin stimulation from 10 patients with portal hypertension were used to assess the potential of the analytical procedure. RESULTS: The assay precision varied from 1.5 to 9.0% within batch and 7.5 to 18.1% between batch, with about 100% recoveries of porcine pepsin A from human gastric juice over the assay range 0.025-0.5 mg/ml. A fourfold increase in combined pepsin and gastricsin concentration was observed following pentagastrin and insulin stimulation. The mean percentage content of pepsins 3a, 3b, 3c, and 1 in non-stimulated gastric juice were 4%, 72%, 12% and 1.4%, respectively, and did not change significantly after gastric stimulation. An approximate doubling of the percentage of gastricsin (10% to 20%) relative to the pepsins was observed, however, after both insulin and pentagastrin stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: This procedure for quantifying individual human pepsins and gastricsin in gastric juice is simple and reliable. It may be of considerable importance in determining the mechanisms involved in the control and secretion of these digestive enzymes in man, including the effect of anti-ulcer drugs and our understanding of the pathophysiology of peptic ulcer disease.


Mark Hamilton* (Chair) (Chair, British Fertility Society (BFS): Clinician) Allan Pacey (Secretary, BFS: Andrologist) Mathew Tomlinson (Chair, Association Biomedical Andrologists: Andrologist) Daniel Brison (Scientist Representative BFS Committee: Embryologist) Lawrence Shaw (Clinician, Private Sector) Cathy Turner (BFS Nurse Representative, London) Laura Witjens (Chair, National Gamete Donation Trust (NGDT)) Pip Morris (Donor Recruitment Manager, (NGDT)) Clare Brown (Chair, Infertility Network UK (INUK)) Olivia Montuschi (Donor Conception Network (DCN)) Joanne Adams (Donor Recruitment Manager, Manchester, Andrologist) Brian Lieberman (Clinician, NHS & Private sector) Jennifer Speirs (BFS Counsellor Representative, Edinburgh)


Abstract This research evaluated the impact of the Olympic Games on the host city's residential property market, both before and after the Games. Using a time series approach between 1990 and 2003, this paper examines various indicators to measure the effect of the 2000 Olympics on the Sydney property market. The research shows that although the Olympics were held for only ten days, its influence on the surrounding market in a direct and indirect manner was substantial. It appears that the lasting effect of the Games on the property market remained strongest in the general vicinity of the Olympic Village, and then gradually weakened over time in areas located further away from this precinct. It emphasised the role of urban planning both before and after the event, and how to use a major sporting event to gentrify a suburb.


In the last decade, an enormous amount of attention has been paid to piezoelectric harvesters due to their flexibility in design and the increasing need for small-scale energy generation. As a result, various energy review papers have been presented by many researchers to cover different aspects of piezoelectric-based energy harvesting, including piezo-materials, modeling approaches, and design points for various applications. Most of these papers have tried to shed light on recent progress in related interdisciplinary fields, and to pave the road for future prospects in the development of these technologies. However, there are some missing parts, overlaps, and even some contradictions in these review papers. In the present review of these review articles, recommendations for future research directions suggested by the review papers have been systematically summed up under one umbrella. In the final section, topics for missing review papers, concluding remarks on outlooks and possible research topics, as well as potentially misleading strategies, have been presented. The review papers have been evaluated based on their merits and subcategories and the authors' choice papers have been presented for each section based on clear classification criteria.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurological disorders in humans with an overall prevalence of 1:1000 with the incidence increasing to as high as 3.4% among people aged 75 years.1,2 The clinical phenotype includes resting tremor, muscular rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural instability. The signs and symptoms of the disease are the consequence of a striatal deficiency of dopamine resulting from neuronal death in the substantia nigra. It is characterised by the presence of the Lewy body, an intracytoplasmic inclusion body found in many brain regions which is not entirely specific to, but is a highly sensitive marker for, Parkinson's disease.

The pathogenesis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease is unknown. For the overwhelming majority of PD patients, the disease has previously been thought to occur sporadically. However, there is increasing evidence of a genetic contribution to the disorder.1,3 Recently, two studies have investigated familial aggregation of PD using large, population based, case-control studies. Elbaz et al 4 reported an odds ratio of 3.2 for the presence of PD in first degree relatives (parents and sibs) of 175 cases as compared to 481 controls. Analyses stratified by age showed this aggregation to be stronger for younger PD patients. Familial aggregation of PD in Iceland was studied using a cohort of 772 cases, with 560 having onset of disease at >50 years of age.5 In this study, the odds ratio for PD was 6.7 for sibs and 3.2 for offspring of affected subjects. These studies are consistent with others reporting the risk to be anywhere from two to 14 times higher for first degree relatives as compared to the risk in members of unaffected families.6–9

Genetic linkage analyses in families with either autosomal dominant forms of PD or with an autosomal recessive, juvenile form …


The increasing size and cost of composite structures combined with the increased loading requirements placed on such components has heightened the need for performing durable and thoroughly analyzed composite repairs. Precise applications of composite repairs possess many difficulties from both a maintenance and engineering standpoint. The composite repair engineer is often limited by the repair materials and processing equipment that are available, the data to define the loads placed on the structure, and physical limitations such as the inability to remove a panel from the aircraft, heat sinks, and underlying structure. This presentation describes the repair configuration, materials and analysis techniques for performing the precise design and analysis of wet layup composite repairs."


Many anticancer drugs produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) that directly or indirectly lead to toxicities. As a conduit to drug development we have identified S-glutathionylated (post-translational addition of glutathione to susceptible cysteine residues) serine proteinase inhibitors (serpin9s A1 and A3) as plausible biomarkers for drug exposure in both rodent and human blood. Commercial mouthwashes often contain redox-altering agents such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and/or ethanol. Oxidative damage in buccal mucosa cells is associated with etiology of oral cancers and we hypothesized that these cells may also serve to provide a surrogate tissue source for biomarker analysis to measure S-glutathionylated proteins. Using an approved clinical protocol for exfoliated buccal cell samples, we have identified a number of S-glutathionylated proteins, including actin, in samples from volunteers following standard treatments with a commercial mouthwash containing H2O2 (1.5%). Their identities are similar to those discovered using in vitro experiments with the human buccal cell line TR146. Our current data show a time and dose-dependent increase in S-glutathionylation of buccal cell sample profiles in normal volunteers following four days of exposure dosing to H2O2 containing mouthwash. Increases in protein S-glutathionylation occurred immediately following exposure and remained for 30min following treatments. Higher levels of S-glutathionylation were maintained with each subsequent daily exposure. These increased levels of S-glutathionylation preceded the transcriptional activation of ROS sensitive genes, incuding ATF3. The identification of biomarkers that evaluate the effects of oxidative stress in the oral cavity may define at-risk populations for oral cancer and may be useful as direct biomarkers for the impact of drugs on general redox status. Citation Format: Christina L. Grek, Yefim Manevich, Danyelle M. Townsend, Kenneth D. Tew. S-Glutathionylation of buccal mucosal cell proteins as biomarkers of oxidative stress. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3546. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-3546


Gain, refractive index, and the linewidth enhancement factor, or /spl alpha/-parameter, are measured in broad-area InGaAs-GaAs single-quantum-well semiconductor lasers using below-threshold amplified spontaneous emission spectra and a far-field filtering technique. The /spl alpha/ parameter is shown to increase dramatically with increasing carrier density and wavelength. Modes propagating in the transparent substrate of the lasers are shown to have a significant influence on the measured value of /spl alpha/.


In the present study, water extracts from banana and red beetroot peels were evaluated as a potential source of biologically active compounds for the formulation of edible films. Using spectrophotometric and HPLC-DAD methodologies, banana peel extract was found to be a valuable source of dopamine (156.08 mg L−1), while red beetroot peel extract was abundant in red-violet pigments betacyanins (90.1 mg betanin L−1). The biological activity of the extracts was studied by determining their effects on macromolecular models, including DNA (plasmid phiX RF1 DNA), protein (bovine serum albumin), and lipid (linoleic acid) models, as well as on continuous human cell lines of colon cancer Caco-2 and hepatocellular liver cancer Hep G2 at concentrations of 0.2 and 1 mg mL−1. Results showed that the extracts had no adverse effects and both were further used for the formulation of edible films using alginate in combination with three types of plant proteins—rice, peanut, and pumpkin. In general, edible films based on banana peel extract were characterized by better bioactive properties compared with the films based on red beetroot peel extract. The addition of peanut proteins into the formulations resulted in the most desirable bioactive profile of the formulated edible films, including total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity. Aside from the control sample prepared only with the alginate, the highest dopamine content was determined in the film with incorporated pumpkin proteins (10.72 mg g−1 dw), while the sample prepared with peanut proteins was richest in betacyanins (175.58 mg betanin g−1 dw).


Conducting research responsibly is an essential part of ethical research (Steneck & Bulger, 2007). When research is not conducted responsibly, the result is often research misconduct, which may cause harm to research participants (Aita & Richer, 2005). Although numerous methods and policies have been developed, both to prevent and to deal with research misconduct, such effects are ongoing (Howard Stone, 2001). A study conducted in the United States of America (USA) by Heitman, Olsen and Anestidou (2007) suggested that postgraduate biomedical students did not have sufficient knowledge of conducting research responsibly. This study aimed to adapt Heitman et al.'s (2007) study to social science postgraduate students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Although findings indicated that the participants had adequate knowledge of conducting research responsibly, the variables hypothesised to have an impact on the results – such as age, research experience, and research training – did not produce any significant findings.


In recent years, several different maternal blood markers of fetal Down's syndrome have been discovered and biochemical screening for this disorder is now routine in many centres. When screening with more than one marker, a method is needed to combine information o n the individual marker levels in order to classify each result as positive or negative. One approach is to estimate the risk of a Down's syndrome pregnancy for the given combination of marker levels and maternal age, regarding any risk exceeding, say, the 95th centile (usually about 1 in 250) as positive. A second approach, advocated in two recent Prenatal Diagnosis articles (Kratzer et al., 1991; Bogart and Jones, 1991) and originally suggested by White et al. (1989), is to form an 'aneuploidy index' by taking the product of the marker levels or the ratio between them and regarding the result as positive if the index is extreme. The index approach makes it easier to determine whether a result is positive or negative but this is likely to be achieved at the cost of a loss of detection. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the index is arbitrary and may not take full account of the relative discriminatory power of the individual markers and the correlation between them. For example, the index of White et al. (human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) divided by alphafetoprotein (AFP)) gives equal weight to both hCG and AFP (e.g., the index is 3 if hCG is elevated to 3 multiples of the median (MOM) but A F P is 1 MOM, and if hCG is 1 MOM but AFP is reduced to 0.33 MOM), whereas hCG is more discriminatory than A F P and should be given more weight. Secondly, the index ignores maternal age. That may not be important if screening is restricted to young women but if it is used across all ages the loss of detection will be substantial. It has been estimated that using the 95th centile of the hCG/AFP index as a cut-off level, the detection rate would be 38 per cent compared with 44 per cent using the 95th centile of risk based on hCG and A F P without maternal age and 55 per cent including maternal age (Cuckle et al., 1989). The two recently published indices are ways of combining information on hCG, and free alpha-subunit of glycoprotein together with progesterone to screen for Down's syndrome in the first trimester or AFP in the second. Until sufficient data have been published on the multivariate frequency distribution of these markers, potential screening efficiency cannot be adequately judged. When such data become available, it will also be possible to compare the indices with formulae for Down's syndrome risk based on the same markers derived by standard logistic regression or possibly multivariate Gaussian analysis. HOWARD CUCKLE Institute of Epidemiology and Health Services Research, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Leeds. 34 f f yde Terrace, Leeds LS2 9LN. U .K .


When Jeffrey Isaac approached us to review some recent works in American politics from a comparative perspective, we gladly accepted the task, believing it important to help overcome what some see as the "splendid isolation" of American politics. Indeed, the invitation arrived at a propitious time because, after completing our most recent book, we critically reflected on the fact that we had unfortunately written almost nothing on the oldest, and one of the most diverse, democracies in the world, the United States. We thus agreed to contribute some thoughts on the matter, recognizing the limits of our knowledge of the entire field of American politics, but acknowledging, too, our belief that the current distancing of the study of America from the analysis of other democracies impoverishes modern political science.


Background: Despite huge success in the treatment of HER2 amplified/overexpressed breast cancers, resistance is challenging problem even to combinations of HER2 targeting inhibitors. Multiple mechanisms of resistance have been studied and the PI3K-mTOR pathway inhibition is critical for the efficacy of HER2 inhibitors. Activating mutations in PIK3CA can overlap with HER2 overexpression and have been shown to confer resistance to HER2 inhibitors including trastuzumab (T) in preclinical studies. Methods: HER2+/T-sensitive/ PIK3CA wild type (BT474) and HER2+/ PIK3CA mutated (HCC1954) cells were used for this study. The impact of PIK3CA mutation on the effect of HER2 and dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors was assayed by immunoblot, proliferation and apoptosis assays. PI3K signaling was examined by immunoblot for phosphoproteins in the HER2-PI3K-mTOR signaling cascade. The combination of dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor (GDC-0980) with HER2 antibodies (T or T-DM1) was studied in HER2 amplified models with wild type or mutant PIK3CA . Results: Our data showed that 1) PIK3CA mutation in HER2+ cells was responsible for resistance to the HER2-specific antibody trastuzumab, 2) T-resistance conferred by this activating PIK3CA mutation was overcome by blockade of the PI3K-mTOR pathway with GDC-0980, 3) T-DM1 and GDC-0980 combination treatment greatly induced apoptosis of both BT474 and HCC1954 cells as indicated by Annexin V staining, 4) in mice bearing HER2+/T-sensitive/ PIK3CA wild type xenografts (BT474), T or T-DM1 blocked tumor growth. The addition of a dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor more significantly blocked tumor growth when compared to control group, 5) in a HER2+/ PIK3CA mutant xenograft (HCC1954), dual PI3K/mTOR inhibition with GDC-0980 in combination with T or T-DM1 was required for blocked of tumor growth and tumor regression, and 6) immununo-staining of tumors from GDC-0980 treated mice showed growth inhibition (Ki67), and a decreased in associated angiogenesis (CD31). Conclusion: These results suggest that the combination of GDC-0980 may be a potential strategy for the treatment of trastzumab-resistant breast cancer mediated by activating mutation of PIK3CA and this combination also provides benefit to HER2+/ PIK3CA wild type tumors. Citation Format: Pradip De, Yuliang Sun, Jennifer Carlson, Lori Friedman, Nandini Dey, Brian Leyland-Jones. Dual inhibition of the PI3K-mTOR signaling in combination with HER2 inhibitor is necessary for maximal antitumor activity in HER2+ breast cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Targeting the PI3K-mTOR Network in Cancer; Sep 14-17, 2014; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(7 Suppl):Abstract nr A15.


In this chapter, I describe the elements and possible reasons for Hungary's recent transition from a liberal to an illiberal democratic system, and will attempt to explain both the unique and the more typical features of this change. I use the term 'constitutional counter-revolution' to describe the Hungarian constitutional restoration.1 At the same time, my view is that the illiberal turn, which significantly weakened the rule of law safeguards instituted by the 1989–1990 constitutional process, has not resulted in the restoration of either the singleparty state or police state structures. I think that the Hungarian constitutional system after 2010 is better characterized as a kind of 'democradura', rather than as a dictatorship.2 Let us first discuss the characteristics of the constitution-making process both in 1989 and in 2010.


Superconducting RF (SRF) cavities have been used in modern accelerators. Among the factors that limit the maximum RF voltage of SRF cavities and the maximum RF power delivered by them, the major limitation comes from multipacting (MP) in the cavity and waveguide. The vacuum waveguide of CESR (Cornell Electron-positron Storage Ring) RF system is the case where parallel plates can be used for simulating MP inside of the waveguide. To investigate, the importance of the number of gap crossings on secondary emission in two-sided multipactor, Monte Carlo (MC) method within a parallel plate model is employed, using a wide range of parameters. It is found that in order to arrive at a correct estimate for the threshold value of secondary yield (above which secondary electron multipaction occurs), one needs to consider a larger number of gap crossings than is usually done in simulations. Numerical simulation demonstrates an increase in the number of gap crossings may raise the electron population or the number of secondary emission yield averaged over the number of electrons impacts (MY), to significant levels producing MP phenomenon, changing the assessment of the threshold value of the secondary yield.


Preoperative chemoradiation therapy increases the risk of pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF) after laryngectomy. In this report, we describe the use of a free jejunal patch flap and a deltopectoral flap for surgical treatment of a large PCF. A 52‐year‐old man underwent salvage laryngectomy and right neck dissection after concurrent radiotherapy for laryngeal carcinoma. On postoperative day 5, a pharyngeal fistula and neck abscess occurred with the right internal jugular vein thrombosis. We sutured the pharyngeal mucosa to the cervical skin to avoid carotid artery exposure, and we also ligated the right internal jugular vein. The PCF developed afterwards. The patient was being fed through a nasogastric tube and the fistula had increased in size. At the time of surgery, the external orifice became 5 cm × 5 cm in size. We performed the repair with a free jejunal patch flap and a deltopectoral flap. The harvested jejunum was opened along its antimesenteric border to design a sufficient free jejunal flap to cover the large PCF. A deltopectoral pedicled flap was used to reconstruct the neck skin defect to resurface the free jejunal patch flap. Both flaps survived. The patient could resume an oral diet 2 weeks after surgery. At 1 month after surgery, the skin pedicle of the deltopectoral flap was divided. There was no contracture or stricture 3 years after surgery and he maintained a regular diet. Reconstruction with a free jejunal patch flap and a deltopectoral flap may be a suitable method for repair of a large PCF. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microsurgery 37:61–65, 2017.


There is no single behaviour path for migrants after arrival in the destination country. The cases of their successful integration in the host country social environment are not rare, and healthy immigrant effect, indeed, often occurs showing that not always shift to the new living conditions, culture and food traditions preclude healthy food habits of the migrants. However, there are still many factors, both individual and social environment-related, which increase overweight and obesity risk. Quantitative and qualitative research findings have shown that food insecurity can be simultaneously a cause and a consequence of migration. Including religious identities, food has largely become a distinctive factor of the identities of individuals and communities. The distribution of eating habits from migrant source countries, in particular, from Africa to the host European countries is dramatically changing the European cultural dimension. Food has appeared to be one of the main factors of migrants' integration in European countries. Food insecurity is a critical push factor. Current research emphasised that integration programmes should rely not only on basic language and cultural aspects but also on food, improving the contribution of the food traditions of migrants, while also inspiring in this field interactions and contributions via this medium among long-standing and newly-forming societies. This article focuses on key food challenges, which migrants face in destination countries and factors as causes of these challenges. We also discuss barriers to migration policy change and provide possible ways to mitigate these barriers.


ABSTRACTAn increase in seismic velocity with depth is a common rock property, one that can be encountered practically everywhere. Overburden pressure increases vertical stress, producing a nonlinear elastic response. Application of a conventional nonlinear theory to this problem leads to transverse isotropy, with explicit relationships between nonlinear constants and elastic anisotropy parameters. These relationships can be used in velocity "depth trend" removal and in computing offset-dependent corrections for stacking and migration. Assumptions about small static stress and the use of linearized solutions for its evaluation are invalid for overburden problems — more accurate approximations are required. Realistic tomography models should account for elastic anisotropy as a basic feature. Our theory gives an accurate fit to well and stacking velocity data for the Los Angeles Basin. Overburden stress is a likely cause of shear-wave generation by underground explosions.


We conduct empirical panel data analysis to detect the catching- up effect in growth and the possibility to form different convergence clubs in selected Europe and Asian economies. In particular, we seek to investigate if the selected countries are able to catch- up to the growth level of developed economy of the United Kingdom (U.K.). The control variables used to test for conditional convergence include inflation, trade, net inflow of foreign direct investment, total population and government consumption expenditure. Our results reveal that all economies except Turkey and India are able to catch- up with U.K. economy. The economies in both regions of Europe and Asia are able to form their convergence clubs.


Background Much of what is known about COVID-19 risk factors comes from patients with serious symptoms who test positive. While risk factors for hospitalization or death include chronic conditions and smoking; less is known about how health status or tobacco use is associated with risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among individuals who do not present clinically. Methods Two community-based population samples (including individuals randomly and nonrandomly selected for statewide testing, n= 8,214) underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing in nonclinical settings. Each participant was tested for current (viral PCR) and past (antibody) infection in April or June of 2020. Before testing, participants provided demographic information and self-reported health status and tobacco behaviors (smoking, chewing, vaping/e-cigarettes). Using descriptive statistics and a bivariate logistic regression model, we examined the association between health status and use of tobacco with SARS-CoV-2 positivity on either PCR or antibody tests.Results Compared to people with self-identified "excellent" or very good health status, those reporting "good" or "fair" health status had a higher risk of past or current infections. Positive smoking status was inversely associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Chewing tobacco was associated with infection and the use of vaping/e-cigarettes was not associated with infection. Conclusions In a statewide, community-based population drawn for seroprevalence studies, we find that overall health status is associated with infection rates. Unlike in studies of COVID-19 patients, smoking status was inversely associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity. More research is needed to further understand the nature of this relationship.


In this article, we introduce a new effective model for the Kantowski-Sachs spacetime in the context of loop quantum gravity, and we use it to evaluate departures from general relativity in the case of Schwarzschild black hole interior. The model is based on an effective Hamiltonian constructed via the regularized Thiemann identities in the $\bar \mu$-scheme. We show that, in contrast with the $\mu_o$-scheme studied in [1], the classical limit imposes certain alterations of Thiemann identities as well as restrictions on the choice of regulators. Once we define the Hamiltonian, we derive the equations of motion for the relevant variables and proceed with the solving using numerical methods, focusing on a specific choice of $\bar \mu$. We establish that for a Schwarzschild black hole interior, the effective dynamics leads to a resolution of the classical singularity and the emergence of an anti-trapped region bounded by a second Killing horizon. We then perform a comparison of the dynamical trajectories and their properties obtained in the new model and some models present in the literature. We finally conclude with few comments on other choices of the regulators and their consequences.


AbstractThis article becomes the first product for the assessment about the impact of social inclusion policies on differents Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of the colombian Caribbean region. And it´s focused in two key aspects, the first one, it is the analysis of the impact of policies aimed to ensure the access and permanence of vulnerable population belong at the seven public university of the colombian Caribbean region; and another hand, the analysis about the supporting awarded to students matriculated among 2005 and 2011, and its impact on desertion rates. The information consulted was the senior and scademics agreement, and also rectoral Resolutions concerning about benefits giving to this population, and the 'SPADIES' database. As results it was found that affirmative actions implemented by HEIs, are academics, financial and in another type, benefiting 52.7% of their matriculated students. Finally, for students of social strata 1 and 2 levels, affirmative actions have sought to improve the permanence conditions through financial support.


In the current era, the amount of data generated from various device sources and business transactions is rising exponentially, and the current machine learning techniques are not feasible for handling the massive volume of data. Two commonly adopted schemes exist to solve such issues scaling up the data mining algorithms and data reduction. Scaling the data mining algorithms is not the best way, but data reduction is feasible. There are two approaches to reducing datasets selecting an optimal subset of features from the initial dataset or eliminating those that contribute less information. Overweight and obesity are increasing worldwide, and forecasting future overweight or obesity could help intervention. Our primary objective is to find the optimal subset of features to diagnose obesity. This article proposes adapting a bagging algorithm based on filter-based feature selection to improve the prediction accuracy of obesity with a minimal number of feature subsets. We utilized several machine learning algorithms for classifying the obesity classes and several filter feature selection methods to maximize the classifier accuracy. Based on the results of experiments, Pairwise Consistency and Pairwise Correlation techniques are shown to be promising tools for feature selection in respect of the quality of obtained feature subset and computation efficiency. Analyzing the results obtained from the original and modified datasets has improved the classification accuracy and established a relationship between obesity/overweight and common risk factors such as weight, age, and physical activity patterns.