The flow behaviour and ductility of the Al-alloy AA7075, Mg-alloy AZ80 and Ti-alloy Ti-6Al-4V were investigated in quasi-static and dynamic compression tests at strain rates in the range 0.001 s -1 ≤e ≤5000 s -1 and temperatures between 20°C and 450°C. For strain rates e≤100 s -1 , the compression tests were carried out using a numerical controlled hydraulic testing machine. High strain rate experiments with e ≥ 1000s -1 were performed on a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar. Using of experimentally determined flow curves, the effect of strain rate and temperature on the compressive deformation at fracture was determined, showing that the forces required for forming, as well as the limits of possible deformation are controlled by strain rate und temperature. Under dynamic loading, both of AA7075 and AZ80 show an increase of the deformation at fracture with increasing strain rate whereas the Ti-6Al-4V shows a decrease of it. The investigated mechanical material behaviour (strain hardening, strain rate sensitivity and thermal softening) and metallographic investigations of the deformed specimens in dynamic compression tests allow an explanation for character, formation and evolution of damage in the deformed material. Constitutive material law, whose parameters are determined from the experimental data, can be applied to describe the influence of strain rate and temperature on the mechanical material behaviour under compression tests. This material law is to be implemented into the FE simulation, in order to determine the local stale of stress and strain at time of the fracture.


A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS IN THE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION (FINANCE) AT JOMO KENYATTA UNVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY


Need to put it in writing? Don't type a word without this crucial resource! Your company's identity, products, services, and strengths are all represented by its written communications. From business plans and sales presentations to newsletters and e-mail marketing, the way the company comes across on a page or screen can make the difference between big success and big trouble. The AMA Handbook of Business Documents takes the guesswork out of preparing firstclass written pieces of every type. Packed with dozens of sample documents and practical tips, this handy guide is everything you need to create: Proposals • Memos • E-mails • Press releases • Collection letters • Speeches • Technical, research and lab reports • Sales letters • Policies and procedures • Warning letters • Announcements • And much more Suited equally to executives, entrepreneurs, managers, and administrative staff—anyone charged with putting a business's intentions into words—The AMA Handbook of Business Documents is a versatile, powerful, and indispensable toolbox.


The materialistic dogmatic are the richest foremost wonderful of an grouping. The completion or nervous breakdown of an contract is abundantly amour on the caliber of the kinsmen spry apropos in. deport oneself unconditioned and twinkling generosity alien cultivate of kin, organizations cannot proceed and prosper. In pretence the fastening to gain the goals or the activities of an agreement, accounting, they whoop to draft b plead union close to gain skills, horizon and undertake. seniority execution recital, they essay to shun the genuine as definitely as the collapse in pushed b onwards promulgate nigh of the decide in upon sadness .


This gentleman is not clinically depressed therefore starting antidepressants and referral to the community mental health team are not appropriate. Although family and friends' support is considered first level support in bereavement, it is not practical in this situation as the only family member lives abroad. Practical advice on what to do in the event of a death and for access to self-help leaflets can be found at www.cruse.org.uk/ home and www.moodjuice.scot.nhs.uk/Bereavement. asp. Bereavement counselling can be organised through www.cruse.org.uk/home.


Mechanical properties of cells have been shown to have a significant role in disease, as in many instances cell stiffness changes when a cell is no longer healthy. We present a high-throughput microfluidics-based approach that exploits the connection between travel time of a cell through a narrow passage and cell stiffness. The system resolves both cell travel time and relative cell diameter while retaining information on the cell level. We show that stiffer cells have longer transit times than less stiff ones and that cell size significantly influences travel times. Experiments with untreated HeLa cells and cells made compliant with latrunculin A and cytochalasin B further demonstrate that travel time is influenced by cell stiffness, with the compliant cells having faster transit time.


Plasma fibrinogen (PF) is a commonly used marker of coagulation and inflammation, particularly in physical activity (PA) interventions, to assess change in cardiovascular disease risk. However, such studies have shown equivocal results. Since many physiological factors" baseline measures influence the potential for change due to exercise intervention, few of these studies have considered PF baseline measures.PURPOSE Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether 24 weeks of accumulative brisk walking could decrease plasma fibrinogen and whether baseline PF affects the outcomes.METHODS 52 non-smoking sedentary males (54 ± 8.1 years), who were asymptomatic of cardiovascular disease and diabetes completed a 24-week randomised controlled walking trial. Participants were randomly allocated into one of the following three groups: control (CON); single bout of brisk walking per day (SBW); or accumulative bouts of brisk walking (ABW). Each walking group performed 30 minutes of walking ≥65% HRmax per day on 5 days of the week, with ABW accumulating their walking in 3×15 or 2×15 minute bouts. Pre- and post-intervention fasting blood samples were collected. The samples were assessed using a clotting technique and analysed using a one-way ANOVA and also two-way ANCOVA, with baseline plasma fibrinogen as a co-variate. One-way ANOVA was employed to assess differences between groups at baseline and Pearson"s correlations were used to assess the relationships.RESULTS There was a main effect of walking compared to CON on PF using one-way ANOVA (P=0.027) and ANCOVA (P=0.039). PF increased by 0.18 ± 0.66 g·L-1 in CON, but decreased by -0.34 ± 0.57 g·L-1 in SBW (P=0.268) and -0.30 ± 0.62 g·L-1 in ABW. However, when applying one-way ANOVA to the delta scores, the decrease in PF observed in SBW (P=0.052) approached significance, but not ABW (P=0.077), whereas applying an ANCOVA determined that ABW (P=0.040) significantly decreased PF but not SBW (P=0.268). Despite there being no significant differences between groups at baseline, Pearson's correlation demonstrate that those with higher baseline PF generally reduced PF greater than those with lower baseline PF.CONCLUSION The data suggest that baseline PF affects changes in PF and baseline PF should be considered when investigating the effect of interventions on PF.


The origination of novel genes is an important process during the evolution of organisms because it provides critical sources for evolutionary innovation. Addressing how novel genes emerged and acquired novel and adaptive functions is of fundamental importance. Here we summarize the newest advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms and genome-wide patterns of new gene origination and new gene functions. We pay special attention to the origins of noncoding RNA genes and de novo genes, whose processes had been previously overlooked but are gaining increasingly visible importance. We then introduce recent findings that have opened a path to the study of the evolution of novel functions and pathways via novel genes. We also discuss the important issues and potential developments in the field.


This research inquires into the value of two common 'management technologies', namely ISO 9001 and project management. To avoid certain methodological problems, we study the value of these micro-level practices by inductively analysing macro-level data, specifically the intensity of project management and ISO 9001 certification (termed project management score and ISO 9001 score) in different countries against national measures of wealth and innovation. There is no correlation between ISO 9001 score and innovation, while high ISO 9001 scores are correlated with decreasing levels of wealth. The project management score is positively correlated with wealth and with innovation, though very high project management scores are negatively correlated with innovation. The study includes a cluster analysis which finds that, with one exception, countries tend to adopt either project management or ISO 9001 but not both. The analysis indicates that project management is more likely to be associated with high innovation and high wealth than ISO 9001.


OBJECTIVE
To test a CellProfiler pipeline for automated counting and characterization of gamma-H2AX foci in color images of human cultured cells.

STUDY DESIGN
A431 cells were irradiated and stained for gamma-H2AX foci detection. Sets of color images were analyzed visually, and findings were compared with those using FociCounter and CellProfiler software.

RESULTS
The CellProfiler pipeline includes some proprieties not present in FociCounter, such as the automatic detection of nuclei, the detection of touching nuclei and the rejection of nuclei that touch the border of the image. The time required for manual operation is associated with the number of images analyzed visually or by FociCounter but not for the CellProfiler program. CellProfiler reduced manual operation time and is about 4 times faster than semiautomatic detection using FociCounter and 10 times faster than visual counting.

CONCLUSION
We conclude that CellProfiler and FociCounter are reliable tools for measuring gamma-H2AX foci. However, CellProfiler overcomes the limitations of the FociCounter program and is able to detect nuclei automatically, saving considerable manual operation.


This article was aimed at deeply discussing the development of madrasah and sciences in Islamic society from the socio-historical perspective. In the past, Islamic education was only implemented informally at homes, kuttab and mosque. In further development, after the Muslim community began to form, education was organized in a formal form, so that Islamic education later became one of the pillars of Islamic civilization. In this case, formal form of Islamic education is characterized by the emergence of madrasah as an educational institution and as well as an educational path. Inside the madrasah there is a pedagogical process of communication between educators of learners, from which it is expected to lead to the achievement of instructional goals. It can be said that historically the birth of a madrasah became a symbol of the awakening of the Islamic educational system. In the history of madrasah development in Indonesia, there are two types of madrasah, madrasah diniyah and non-diniyah madrasah. Madrasah diniyah is a religious education institution whose curriculum is 100% religious material. The non-diniyah madrasah is a religious education institution whose curriculum, in addition to religious material, covers a general subject with a diverse percentage.


None of the existing backcalculation procedures is guaranteed to give a reasonable, effective elastic layer modulus for every deflection basin measured. The differences of results among various backcalculation programs are magnified by the differences if distinct analysts using the same program but applying different input parameters. A more experienced analyst often obtain better results. Some of the difficulties, such as the deviation of pavement material properties from the linear elastic, isotropic, and homogenous assumptions, the uncertainty of input parameters (for example, the deflection measurement), and the limitation of basin matching techniques, may only be dealt with by informed engineering judgment. A knowledge-based expert system approach as described in this paper may be used to generate more consistent and better estimations of in situ pavement material properties by combining numerical computations with a pavement experts knowledge and judgment. A knowledge base which serves as an intelligent pre- and postprocessor to the backcalculation program is developed. The knowledge base may be revised easily as better understanding emerges.


Distal humeral nonunions are challenging to manage. We share our experience of using total elbow arthroplasty (TEA) for a series of 7 chronic nonunions following trauma. The mean: age at TEA was 72 years; number of operations per patient before TEA was 2.3; time from sustaining a distal humerus fracture to TEA was 10 years. The means for Oxford elbow score: pre-TEA was 9.4 (3 to 14); post-TEA was 41.4 (34 to 47). Average follow-up was 24 months (6 to 62 mo). A Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test showed improvement in Oxford elbow score post-TEA was highly significant (P=0.002). Pre-TEA range of motion was essentially flail due to instability of the nonunion. Post-TEA all patients achieved functional range of pain-free motion with a minimum arc of 10 to 130 degrees with mean flexion of 137 degrees (130 to 150 degrees). We conclude that TEA can achieve excellent functional and patient reported outcomes following distal humeral nonunions even after multiple surgeries and a considerable delay.


A microphone amplifier is described which possesses good noise characteristics at all gain settings and the capability of handling large input signals without appreciable distortion at low gain settings. A single potentiometer is used as the gain control to 1) vary the negative feedback to provide high overload capability at low gain, and 2) attenuate the output to provide a minimum gain of zero. The circuit is developed from a two-transistor building block.


The purpose of this study is to experimentally analysis the eletrokinetic phenomena and remediation characteristics developed during the application of electrokinetic remediation technique to unsaturated soils contaminated by heavy metals. In the laboratory a series of column tests are performed on degree of saturation for shooting range soil. The test results indicated that Pb is mainly removed under unsaturated conditions by electromigration within diffuse double layer, and if the initial containment concentration is below cation exchange capacity and equals to adsorption per unit soil solid weight, the remedial efficiency decreases with the decreasing of transport efficiency due to the changes in the degree of saturation in the electric gradient of 1V/cm.


Knowledge sharing activities are indicators for professional growth. It consists of inconceivable diverse and complex patterns through which professionals gain more from each other. This type of knowledge sharing experience is essential for professional growth. Ordinarily, except engage in certain activities, professionals do not benefit much from each other. The process that unfold in what the professionals know best is through the process of sharing tacit knowledge. Librarianship as a profession is at its critical point where issues to contend with emerges, based on current trends in library and information sciences. The dynamics that surround users' diverse information needs and technological changes have become critical factors to consider. Librarians in the academic environment in Zimbabwe have no option than to tap into the newly launched Zimbabwe Transitional Stabilization Programme (TSP). This programme lay emphasis on quality service delivery and research collaboration. This article therefore investigates how knowledge sharing can strengthen librarians' resilience and innovative drive to adjust to constant change. The quantitative research approach was employed in this study. The quantitative (survey) collected data from respondents through the questionnaire instrument. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. Findings from the data gathered revealed that, innovative strategies for current and future practices on knowledge sharing among librarians were infused. The knowledge sharing patterns among librarians in Zimbabwe has becomes more deepened. Proposed ways in rendering services in line with current trends in professional development have created more awareness among academic librarians such that, professional associations and their special interest groups (SIG) have place emphasis on the importance of knowledge sharing. Cooperation and collaboration becomes the cornerstone for the survival of professionals in a digital economy. Several factors such as lack of support from institutions, negative attitude among others has interfered with knowledge sharing. Knowledge sharing has also brought unprecedented opportunities for professional growth. The study recommends praxis-oriented strategies through which capacity building in knowledge sharing be attained in the different university libraries in Zimbabwe.


This study investigated the treatment of textile-dyeing wastewater by using an electrical discharge technique (positive pulsed corona discharge). The high-voltage electrode was placed above the surface of the wastewater while the ground electrode was submerged in the wastewater. The electrical discharge starting at the tip of the high voltage electrode propagated toward the surface of the wastewater, producing various oxidative radicals and ozone. Oxygen was used as the working gas instead of air to prevent nitrogen oxides from forming. The simulated wastewater was made up with amaranth, which is a kind of azo dye. The results obtained showed that the chromaticity of the wastewater was almost completely removed within an hour. The ultraviolet/visible spectra of the wastewater treated by the electrical discharge revealed that the total hydrocarbon level also decreased significantly.


Diaphorina citri is the insect vector of the disease, Huanglongbing (HLB) which is the most devastating citrus disease worldwide. It is necessary to identify potential risks; this can be done based on favorable thermo-pluviometrical conditions for the vector. The present study aims to identify potential risks in the Nuevo Leon citrus region in areas, which have not yet been devastated by the citrus disease. The presence of HLB and the population growth of the D. citri will be influenced by four factors involved in the epidemiological system: the disease-prone host citrus fruits; the pathogen agent; the biology of the vector; and the climate conditions that foster the vector establishment and reproduction. With information from 65 weather stations, some indices were estimated: potential generations of the vector per year, days with favorable temperature and suitable rainy days for the vector, area planted with citrus fruits, and finally, the potential risk index. This shows that the Nuevo León citrus region is a HLB free region. The method can be applied to citrus producing areas which have not been devastated by the citrus disease worldwide.


The study of signal transduction processes using antisense oligonucleotides is often complicated by low intracellular stability of the antisense reagents or by nonspecific effects that cause toxicity. Here, we introduce a new class of antisense molecules, so-called GeneBlocs, which are characterized by improved stability, high target RNA specificity, and low toxicity. GeneBlocs allow for efficient downregulation of mRNA expression at nanomolar concentrations, and they do not interfere with cell proliferation. We demonstrate these beneficial properties using a positive readout system. GeneBloc-mediated inhibition of tumor suppressor PTEN (phosphatase and tension homologue detected on chromosome 10) expression leads to hyperactivation of the phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase pathway, thereby mimicking the loss of PTEN function and its early consequences observed in mammalian cancer cells. Specifically, cells treated with PTEN GeneBlocs show functional activation of Akt, a downstream effector of PI 3-kinase signaling, and exhibit enhanced proliferation when seeded on a basement membrane matrix. In addition, GeneBlocs targeting the catalytic subunit of PI 3-kinase, p110, specifically inhibit signal transduction of endogenous or recombinant PI 3-kinase. This demonstrates that GeneBlocs are powerful tools to analyze and to modulate signal transduction processes and, therefore, represent alternative reagents for the validation of gene function.


Field observation was carried out during July 2016 in Minamata Bay of Yatsushiro Sea, measured data of temperature and salinity of five stations has been used for comparing the numerical simulation based on Princeton Ocean Model (POM). Simulation results showed deviations existed between simulated and measured data, especially the salinity field, which was probably caused by the increased precipitation during plum rain season. Therefore, a new precipitation module and modified heat flux forcing for POM were built to present the rainfall effect of salinity and temperature. It is indicated that the accuracy of predicted temperature and salinity was improved to some extent. In contrast with the previous simulation, deviations were reduced significantly. Nevertheless, simulation results of new model under rainy and sunny conditions showed the cooling impact of precipitation was slight, which may be caused by the daytime observation and solar radiation was dominated. However, this study has shown that precipitation effect is an important factor for surface numerical simulation during rainy season.


Large-amplitude seismograms with extremely long duration have been recorded in the Valley of Mexico. Recently, we came to recognize important effects of the Mexican Volcanic Belt (MVB) on the seismograms. We interpret strong motions observed in the MVB by analyzing the three components of surface and borehole accelerograms recorded during the 14 September 1995 earthquake ( M S 7.3). The target period range is between 0.1 and 10.0 sec, with emphasis on a 2.0- to 3.0-sec period range. In the lake-bed zone inside the valley, wave types of seismic motions are identified by calculating theoretical amplification of various seismic waves and cross-correlation functions between surface and borehole recordings. In the MVB, propagation velocities of dominant surface waves are estimated by analyses of recordings and are compared with theoretical velocities, and 2D/3D wave-propagation simulations for the MVB and the Mexico City Basin are performed. Our conclusions are the following. (1) We suggest that, while strong motions observed in the lake-bed zone are a mixture of P, S , Love, and Rayleigh waves, fundamental-mode Love waves are dominant. (2) Surface waves are found to be much more heavily amplified than S waves in the soft lake-bed deposit. (3) We confirm that the MVB is an important structure to amplify seismic motions. The lake-bed deposit, together with the basin structure, proves to remarkably amplify surface waves. (4) In the lake-bed deposit, quality factors are found to be about 3 in the long-period range of more than 1.5 sec.

Manuscript received 24 March 2003.


Quantum cascade (QC) lasers are compact and versatile light sources suitable for a broad range of absorption spectroscopy based molecular sensing applications. However, for most of such sensing applications, single-mode operation of QC lasers is a prerequisite. Conventional single-mode QC lasers, e.g., distributed feedback (DFB) [1] or external cavity QC lasers [2], have much higher cost than multi-mode simple ridge QC lasers, mainly due to their complicated and demanding device fabrication or time-consuming system integration and alignment processes. In order to achieve more cost-effective single-mode QC lasers, we demonstrate a novel type of laser cavity design which consists of an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder (AMZ) interferometer structure monolithically integrated in a conventional Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity with simple ridge waveguide and as-cleaved facets. Strong wavelength selectivity is introduced by the properly designed AMZ interferometer whose transmission spectrum comprises equidistantly spaced narrow peaks, which in turn selects a specific FP mode associated with the entire laser cavity near the optical gain spectrum peak, effectively facilitating single-mode operation of the laser. Continuously wavelength-tunable single-mode operation of QC lasers is achieved in pulsed mode from 80 K to room temperature and in continuous-wave (CW) mode with high side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) up to ~35 dB. The observed spectral characteristics of the tested lasers are described with satisfying accuracy by our model developed for such cavity structures. The fabrication process for such AMZ interferometer type cavities is identical to that for simple ridge lasers, therefore providing a promising solution to achieving more cost-effective single-mode QC lasers.


The elimination of unwanted cells by programmed cell death is a common feature of animal development. Genetic studies in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and the mouse have not only revealed the molecular machineries that cause the programmed demise of specific cells, but have also allowed us to get a glimpse of the types of pathways that regulate these machineries during development. Rather than serving as a broad overview of programmed cell death during development, this review focuses on recent advances in our understanding of the regulation of specific programmed cell death events during nematode, fly, and mouse development. Recent studies have revealed that many of the regulatory pathways involved play additional important roles in development, which confirms that the programmed cell death fate is an integral aspect of animal development.


This article presents Tibetan terms and expressions for arms and armour originating in Tibetan sources as per research conducted for the Wörterbuch der Tibetischen Schriftsprache, a dictionary database that includes sources ranging from the eight to the nineteenth centuries. This survey shows that Tibetan literature bears testimony to the existence of a broad variety of arms and armour in Tibet, which are mentioned in various contexts: Bon or Buddhist sources, historiographical or mythical accounts. By tracing these terms' etymological origins and focusing on the actual use of weapons, we may gain a clearer understanding of the origin, use, and value of arms and armour in Tibetan culture.


This paper describes a learning journey which started with a COL-supported webinar series addressing 'Learning Design leading to Sensitisation for Online Course Development using OER'. The webinar OER materials were hosted on Moodle and required participants to complete a series of related online activities interspersed between the synchronous sessions. The high-level output of this stage was the drafting of an institutional, faculty, or departmental action plan to propagate deeper understanding and new skills at an institutional level. The second stage was the refinement of these Action Plans using a Results-Based Management approach, with the third stage being the COL-supported implementation of these plans. // In a COL collaboration with the Southern African Development Community Centre for Distance Education (SADC-CDE), the first cohort of 39 participants were drawn from four educational institutions: College of Open Schooling (COS) at Botswana Open University (BOU); Institute for Adult Education (IAE) in Tanzania; Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre (LDTC); and Namibia College of Open Learning (NAMCOL). COS BOU, LDTC, and NAMCOL continued this journey through to the final (3rd) implementation stage. // A revised webinar programme was repeated for the West African Sub-region (WASR) under a COL collaboration with the Regional Training and Research Institute for Distance and Open Learning (RETRIDOL). This involved 39 participants from Cameroon, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia, drawn from educational institutions and national education ministries. Although this cohort did not progress to the 2nd stage of action plan refinement supported by COL, intentions were to refine plans at a national level for the WASR States. // Throughout the webinar series regular online reflections were encouraged using the Moodle blog, and a final reflection based on the Brookfield Critical Incident Questionnaire was undertaken at the conclusion of each cohort experience. Useful feedback was obtained indicating factors that sparked engagement and what constituted challenges for each cohort. // Finally, findings relating to the two cohorts' engagement and experience of their journeys are presented, and achievements of participating institutions and countries with reference to their goals and plans are recognised. Lessons learned by the project leader and collaborators are identified, and potential improvements suggested. The projects took place during the Covid-19 pandemic within which all participating institutions and the facilitator were in lockdown in their home countries (2020/2021) and experienced associated challenges.


Objectives : Methamphetamine (MA) use continually increases in world wide. MA users present diverse psychiatric comorbidities. The presence of these comorbid symptoms is positively correlated with poorer treatment outcomes and greater utilization of health care services. Depressive symptoms, in particular, are considered to be some of the most common psychiatric symptoms in this population Our study aimed to investigate depressive symptom severity-related clinical characteristics in male Korean methamphetamine (MA) users.
Methods : The inclusion criteria were as follows: (i) male; (ii) age �� 18 years; (iii) a diagnosis of stimulant use disorder, especially for amphetamine-type substances, according to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5); and (iv) positive urine test for MA at the time of admission. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (i) patients who were diagnosed with cognitive disorders, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorders; and (ii) patients who were diagnosed with significant physical illnesses, such as cerebrovascular, cardiovascular , or neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, a total of 200 Korean male patients with MA use disorder were included in our study. By reviewing the medical records of 200 male MA users hospitalized in a substance addiction treatment center of South Korea, the clinical characteristics in a MA abstinent state, including scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Symptom Checklist-90-R Revised (SCL-90-R), and Korean Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (KWAIS) were collected. Analyses of covariances (ANCOVAs) for continuous variables and binary logistic regression analyses for discrete variables were used to compare the clinical characteristic scores among four groups that were defined by the severity of their depressive symptoms (i.e., minimal, mild, moderate, and severe).
Results : After adjusting for the effects of age, marital status, employment status, monthly income, age of first MA use, pursuit of euphoria, gastrointestinal symptoms, insomnia, hallucination, and cigarette smoking, a greater severity of depressive symptoms was significantly correlated with greater prevalence of aggression (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.065, P = 0.004) and irritability (aOR = 2.051, P = 0.001), greater scores on the BAI (F = 22.480, P < 0.0001) and all the items of SCL-90-R, and lower scores on the verbal intelligence quotient (F = 2.699, P = 0.047) of the KWAIS.
Conclusions : Our findings demonstrate a potential relationship between depressive symptom severity and other clinical characteristics among male patients with MA use disorder. Thus, depressive symptoms may be an important clinical concern for psychiatric treatment of MA users.


Recent observations within the Indonesian exit passages and internal seas highly resolve the arrival and passage of a semiannual Kelvin wave. In mid-May 1997, surface and subsurface currents were to the southeast at a mooring located south of Java in the South Java Current, while local wind forcing was northwestward. Subsequent northward fluctuations in the geostrophic current through Lombok Strait and in observed currents from two moorings located in Makassar Strait are commensurate with the speed and passage of a Kelvin wave through the region. The Kelvin wave was due to westerly wind forcing in the remote equatorial Indian Ocean during the semiannual April/May monsoon transition period. This was confirmed through a simple remote wind-forced analytical Kelvin wave model of velocity at the South Java Current mooring location and sea level in Lombok Strait and also in the numerical general circulation model of Murtugudde et al. [1998]. Warm temperature anomalies measured at the south Java mooring and within Makassar Strait are associated with the passage of the Kelvin wave. Salinity anomalies measured at the south Java mooring are consistent with an Indian Ocean source. The observed passage of the Kelvin wave during May 1997 unambiguously demonstrates for the first time that equatorial Indian Ocean remote wind forcing may on occasions influence the internal Indonesian seas


OBJECTIVE
To measure Derp1 and Blot5 allergen levels in asthmatics' homes in Hongkong.

METHODS
Seventy houses were enrolled for a mite indoor environment study. Dust samples were obtained from two sites of each patients' house: bed and floor. Derp1 and Blot5 levels were quantified by a two-site monoclonal antibody-based ELISA technique.

RESULTS
The levels of Derp1 allergens found in bed (geometric mean (GM) 3.43 microg/g of dust; 95%CI, 1.89-4.96 microg/g) and on the floor (GM 1.12 microg/g of dust; 95%CI, 0.71-1.53 microg/g) indicated significant differences (P=0.005). However, the levels of Blot5 allergens found in bed (GM 19.00 microg/g of dust; 95%CI, 0.89-38.90 microg/g) and on the floor (GM 6.14 microg/g of dust; 95%CI, 0.40-11.90 microg/g) showed no statistically significant difference. In addition, in regards to the exposure index for Derp1 and Blot5 allergens found in bed and on the floor, 17.6% in bed and 8.6% on the floor had levels of Blot5 > or = 10 microg/g of dust, higher than those obtained for Derp1 (7.2% and 0% in bed and on the floor respectively, P<0.05); higher percentages in bed and on the floor (25.0% and 35.7%) were observed for levels of Blot5 = 0 microg/g of dust as compared with Derp1 in bed and on the floor (4.3% and 14.5% respectively, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Derp1 and Blot5 are the major allergens found in this regional study, Blot5 is a more potent allergen in Hongkong, probably reflecting the high level of exposure to Blomia tropicalis (Bt). Bt and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dp) allergens should be included for precise diagnosis and effective immuno-therapeutic treatment of mite allergy in Hongkong.


Purpose of reviewLack of a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched family donor is a major obstacle limiting the use of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) to cure thalassemia major. Use of alternative donors, if found well tolerated enough, may be a viable option for transplantation in this setting, allowing to expand the number of patients treatable by HSCT. This review will provide an overview of alternative HSCT approaches in thalassemia major. Recent findingsWith the introduction of high-resolution molecular HLA-typing techniques, the outcome of matched unrelated donor HSCT recipients has become comparable with that of patients given matched family donor HSCT. On the contrary, the use of unrelated cord blood transplantation has been limited by the risk of graft failure and slow hematopoietic recovery, although novel techniques of ex vivo graft manipulation are emerging as promising strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Although experience with haploidentical HSCT in thalassemia major is still limited, currently explored platforms hold the potential to extend the access to HSCT to thalassemia major patients lacking an HLA-matched either related or unrelated donor. SummaryThe significant advances achieved in transplantation techniques, both in the matched unrelated and in the haploidentical setting, are expected to significantly broaden the applicability of HSCT to patients with thalassemia major.


This study comparatively evaluated the titers of the bacterial agglutination (BA) antibody for Bordetella pertussis, anti-pertussis toxin (PT) antibody, and anti-filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) antibody in the serum of medical staff members. The geometric means of the anti-PT and anti-FHA antibody titers were 5.83 and 17.17 EU/mL, respectively. The positive rates of the BA antibodies against Tohama and Yamaguchi strains (> or = 40x), and anti-PT and anti-FHA antibodies (>10 EU/mL) were 81.3, 72.9, 43.8, and 68.8%, respectively. A high anti-PT antibody titer (>94 EU/mL) was found in 1 staff member, but this individual had no recent respiratory symptoms. The titers of the BA antibody against the Yamaguchi strain were weakly associated with the anti-PT antibody titers, but the BA antibody titer was not useful for predicting anti-PT antibody positivity. The seroprevalence of anti-pertussis antibody among medical staff was heterogeneous, suggesting that this group could be at high risk for pertussis. Judgments made using BA antibody or anti-PA antibody results differ, and thus careful evaluation of anti-pertussis antibody titers is necessary. Prompt and accurate diagnostic tools are crucial for infection control in the hospital setting.


Bullous emphysema is an important risk factor for lung cancer. Here, we report the case of a 56-year-old man who underwent surgical treatment for primary lung cancer arising from the wall of a bulla. Chest computed tomography (CT) had revealed a nodule arising from the bulla wall. This nodule showed positive uptake of (18)fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) during positron emission tomography (PET)-CT. However, repeat CT performed after 2 months showed a spontaneous decrease in the tumor size. Exploratory resection revealed non-small cell lung cancer, which was confirmed by the findings of intraoperative frozen-section analysis; therefore, right upper lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection were performed. The postoperative, pathological diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma arising from the wall of a bulla. From this case, we infer that lung cancer arising from the wall of a bulla may spontaneously regress, and FDG/PET is a useful tool to diagnose lung tumor in patients with pulmonary bullous disease.


Background and aim: Car crashes are among the prevalent incidents seriously threatening public health. This study aimed to assess the survival and quality of hospital care for patients of car accidents in Western Azerbaijan, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,697 trauma victims admitted to Imam Khomeini hospital in Urmia, Iran, during 2016. The data, including systolic pressure, Glasgow Coma Scale, respiratory rate prior to admittance, severity of injuries based on surgery description, limbs and brain computed tomography scan, and diagnostic ultrasound by an specialist, were collected from medical records. The survival chance of patients was estimated using Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS). To evaluate the quality of hospital service, Z and W statistics were utilized.
Results: Out of 1,697 admitted victims, 1,226 (72.3%) and 471 (27.7%) subjects were male and female, respectively. The patients were within the age range of 15-54 years, including 901 (75%) male and 296 (25%) female subjects. The predominant educational levels were under diploma and illiterate in male and female patients, respectively. The mean values of the Revised Trauma Score for the recovered and deceased patients were 7.75±0.38 and 6.19±1.59, respectively; however, the mean values of the Injury Severity Score for the recovered and deceased patients were 14.57±13.72 and 52.03±27.02, respectively, indicating a statistically significant difference between the two groups. The number of observed mortalities was 69; nevertheless, the expected mortalities were 60 cases. Furthermore, the quantified W and Z statistics were -9 and 0.02, respectively.
Conclusions: The results showed that the observed mortality exceeded the expected morality indicating the low quality of hospital care.


This study was undertaken to establish whether the Fc-receptor function of circulating monocytes (CM) and/or of splenic macrophages (SM) is modified during the course of minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) of childhood. The Fc-receptor function of SM was ascertained by measuring the spleen to liver uptake ratio 40 min after IV injection of heat-damaged autologous erythrocytes labeled with 99Tc, whereas the Fc-receptor function of CM was determined by a "rosetting" test. The Fc-receptor function was followed in six girls presenting with a MCNS and receiving no therapy at the time of testing. The Fc-receptor function of SM was decreased in five patients during an acute phase of MCNS. In four of these five patients, the Fc-receptor function of CM was also altered. No significant correlations were observed between the Fc-receptor blockade and the C3, C3d, C4, C3PA or immune complex-plasma levels. The Fc-receptor blockade was persistent in three girls during remission. A prior incubation of CM with trypsin did not completely reverse the Fc-receptor blockade. Further studies are now being pursued in order to determine whether this persisting abnormality is inherited and mainly observed in relapsing nephrotic syndrome.


ABSTRACT Theories that view emotions as being related in some way to moral judgments suggest that condemning moral emotions should, at a minimum, be understood by laypeople to coincide with judgments of moral disapproval. Seven studies (total N = 826) tested the extent to which anger and disgust align with this criterion. We observed that while anger is understood to be strongly related to moral disapproval of people's actions and character, disgust is not (Studies 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, and 3), and that, in contexts where disgust expressions are thought to coincide somewhat with moral disapproval, part of the reason is that the expression is perceived as anger (Study 4). Expressions of sadness are also construed as communicating anger in such contexts (Study 5). We discuss our findings in terms of rethinking how we should consider disgust as a moral emotion.


The effect of lysolecithin and lecithin on gastric mucin viscosity, permeability to hydrogen ion, and degradation by pepsin was investigated. Preincubation with lysolecithin produced a marked decrease in the glycoprotein viscosity. This decrease was concentration-dependent and at 10 mM lysolecithin reached a value of 74%. A 25% increase in mucin viscosity was obtained with 10 mM lecithin. Permeability measurements showed that 10 mM lecithin increased the retardation ability of the glycoprotein to hydrogen ion by 11%, whereas a 12% decrease in the retardation capacity of the glycoprotein was obtained with 10 mM lysolecithin. The results of peptic activity assay indicated that whereas lecithin had no effect on the rate of mucin proteolysis, the lysolecithin exerted significant (75%) stimulatory effect. The results suggest that lysolecithin in the stomach weakens the integrity of the protective mucus layer by promoting peptic degradation, reducing the ability to resist acid penetration, and decreasing viscosity of its mucin component.


We address the problem of compressive phase retrieval (CPR) based on generative prior. The problem is ill-posed and requires structural assumptions. CPR techniques impose sparsity prior on the signal to perform reconstruction from compressive phaseless measurements. Recent developments in data-driven signal models in the form of generative priors have been shown to outperform sparsity priors with significantly fewer measurements. However, it is possible to improve upon the performance of generative prior based methods by introducing structure in the latent-space. We propose to introduce structure on the signal by enforcing sparsity in the latent-space via proximal method while training the generator. The optimization is called as proximal meta-learning (PML). Enforcing sparsity in the latent space naturally leads to a union-of-submanifolds model in the solution space. The overall framework of imposing sparsity along with PML is called as sparsity-driven latent space sampling (SDLSS). We demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed framework over the state-of-the-art deep phase retrieval (DPR) technique on MNIST and CelebA datasets. We evaluate the performance as a function of the number of measurements and sparsity factor using standard objective measures. The results show that SDLSS performs better at higher compression ratio and has faster recovery compared with DPR.


Naturally existing materials often acquire unique functions by adopting a gradient structure with gradual change in their microstructure and related properties. Imparting such an elegant structural control into synthetic materials has been a grand challenge in the field. Here, the concept of gradient structure into macroscopic carbon nanotube (CNT) films is employed and the CNT arrangement from well‐aligned array to completely random distribution, in a continuous and smooth way, is changed. Gradient films with tailored aligned‐to‐random transition rate or multilevel hierarchical structures with repeated transition have been fabricated. Local deformation and mechanical properties are directly related to the arrangement of CNTs and can be tailored by Herman's orientation factor; in particular, the elastic modulus and stiffness span over several orders of magnitude from aligned to random regions within a single monolithic film. Controlled synthesis of macroscopic CNT gradient structures with tunable mechanical properties opens a potential route toward manufacturing biomimetic functional materials with locally optimized design.


In IoT communications we have networks comprising of nodes which are capable of sensing a parameter, processing it and transmitting it. Primarily, the networks are employed in environmental sensing and monitoring. As these networks are data centric, the cryptographic parameters like authentication, confidentiality, integrity and availability are strongly needed. The nodes in such networks are resource constrained in terms of memory, bandwidth and power. Due to this limitation traditional Asymmetric Public Key cryptographic algorithms are not well suited for such networks.
In this paper, the suitability and usage of ECC in these networks has been discussed. Using TinyOS as platform and Tiny ECC, this paper presents how ECC provides a better Asymmetric alternative compared to other PKI's in these networks. The paper also presents a light weight node authentication protocol i.e. an Identity Authentication Protocol using ECC. This protocol has been simulated in TinyOS using Tossim and Simulator.


Having attended Sapics 2015, the single largest gathering of supply chain management professionals in Africa, Tristan Wiggill learns that the supply chain of today is a highly complex animal.


Decreases in Fe status have been reported in military women during initial training periods of 8-10 weeks. The present study aimed to characterise Fe status and associations with physical performance in female New Zealand Army recruits during a 16-week basic combat training (BCT) course. Fe status indicators - Hb, serum ferritin (sFer), soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), transferrin saturation (TS) and erythrocyte distribution width (RDW) - were assessed at the beginning (baseline) and end of BCT in seventy-six volunteers without Fe-deficiency non-anaemia (sFer 10 mg/l at baseline or end. A timed 2·4 km run followed by maximum press-ups were performed at baseline and midpoint (week 8) to assess physical performance. Changes in Fe status were investigated using paired t tests and associations between Fe status and physical performance evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficients. sFer (56·6 (sd 33·7) v. 38·4 (sd 23·8) µg/l) and TS (38·8 (sd 13·9) v. 34·4 (sd 11·5) %) decreased (P<0·001 and P=0·014, respectively), while sTfR (1·21 (sd 0·27) v. 1·39 (sd 0·35) mg/l) and RDW (12·8 (sd 0·6) v. 13·2 (sd 0·7) %) increased (P<0·001) from baseline to end. Hb (140·6 (sd 7·5) v. 142·9 (sd 7·9) g/l) increased (P=0·009) during BCT. At end, sTfR was positively (r 0·29, P=0·012) and TS inversely associated (r -0·32, P=0·005) with midpoint run time. There were no significant correlations between Fe status and press-ups. Storage and functional Fe parameters indicated a decline in Fe status in female recruits during BCT. Correlations between tissue-Fe indicators and run times suggest impaired aerobic fitness. Optimal Fe status appears paramount for enabling success in female recruits during military training.


Machine learning (ML) inference is a real-time workload that must comply with strict Service Level Objectives (SLOs), including latency and accuracy targets. Unfortunately, ensuring that SLOs are not violated in inference-serving systems is challenging due to inherent model accuracy-latency tradeoffs, SLO diversity across and within application domains, evolution of SLOs over time, unpredictable query patterns, and co-location interference. In this paper, we observe that neural networks exhibit high degrees of per-input activation sparsity during inference. . Thus, we propose SLO-Aware Neural Networks which dynamically drop out nodes per-inference query, thereby tuning the amount of computation performed, according to specified SLO optimization targets and machine utilization. SLO-Aware Neural Networks achieve average speedups of $1.3-56.7\times$ with little to no accuracy loss (less than 0.3%). When accuracy constrained, SLO-Aware Neural Networks are able to serve a range of accuracy targets at low latency with the same trained model. When latency constrained, SLO-Aware Neural Networks can proactively alleviate latency degradation from co-location interference while maintaining high accuracy to meet latency constraints.


Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are an interesting system for the realization of solar cells, as they offer an enhanced light absorption compared to bulk Si. However, due to their large surface, nanowire solar cells suffer from high surface recombination which results in small carrier lifetimes. They therefore need perfect passivation. The use of an amorphous silicon heteroemitter on such structures enables a good surface passivation and therefore enables a higher open circuit voltage (VOC) than in crystalline core–shell structures. In this paper, we present the realization of radial junction SiNW solar cells by the vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) growth of n‐doped SiNWs and subsequent coating by amorphous silicon in a PECVD process. The cells were contacted using atomic layer deposition of a transparent conductive oxide (aluminum‐doped zinc oxide) as a front contact. The results of the SiNW solar cells are compared to a planar device to exclude the influence of the supporting wafer structure. The onset presented in this paper can possibly be used to realize SiNW based solar cells on low cost materials, as VLS enables the growth of SiNWs on almost any kind of surfaces.


There are many customs and traditions that have effectively given the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria group identity and social cohesion.  And the kola nut is one of those realities. However, it is not only the Igbo that cherish and reverence the kola nut. In fact, kola nut is a  highly prized fruit among the people of West Africa where its importance is seen in the social and religious customs of the people. But the Igbo lay special claim to kola nut and view it as the king of all fruits on earth because of the roles it play; hence, the kola is seen among the Igbo as a symbol of acceptance, cooperation and solidarity. Thus, the objective of this study is to examine the historical origin of the kola nut based on the Igbo ancestral myths and the symbolic interpretations of the different lobes of the Cola acuminata. The study will also investigate the significance and functions of the kola nut and how the influence of modernization is eroding its traditional values. The study is basically qualitative. It utilized existing literature on kola nut with oral sources in order to enhance our knowledge on kola nut. The study's findings reveal that kola nut consumption and functions are part of Africa's indigenous traditions that survived colonial intrusion, although the influence of modernization is greatly threatening the ritual functions and the traditional values. The study, thus, concludes by recommending that the Igbo should restore the significance and values of the kola nut by planting more kola nut trees in order to increase its availability and affordability as a source of hospitality and acceptance. Again, the Igbo communities and leaders should create a  platform where the origin, significance and values of the kola nut must be taught and passed from generation to generation.


The social behavior of students who are seriously emotionally disturbed sets them apart from their normative classroom peers. This article provides a quantitative analysis of intervention studies dealing with the social behavior of seriously emotionally disturbed students. Social behavior was broadly defined as including social skills deficits, behavior under inadequate stimulus control, and inappropriate behavior in the classroom. Of the 28 studies located, 11 dealt with some aspect of social skills and 17 with inappropriate classroom behavior. Each study was analyzed with respect to (a) the age, gender, and classification of the subjects; (b) the setting, referral source, and therapist; (c) the dependent and independent variables; (d) type of evaluation design used; (e) reliability of the dependent and independent variable; (f) social validation; (g) programmed generalization, maintenance, and follow-up; (h) measurement of collateral behaviors; (i) functional analysis of the target behavior; and (j) efficacy rating of the results on a 3-point scale. The results are presented and discussed in terms of current status and implications for future research.


GPR18 has been proposed to play a role in the progression of metabolic disease and obesity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of selective GRP18 ligands (the antagonists PSB-CB5 and PSB-CB27 and the agonist PSB-KK1415) on body mass and the development of metabolic disorders commonly accompanying obesity. Experiments were carried out on female Wistar rats. In order to determine the anorectic activity of the investigated ligands, their effect on food and water intake in a model of excessive eating was assessed. Lipid profile, glucose and insulin levels as well as alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase activity in plasma were also evaluated. Potential side effects were examined in rat models of pica behavior and conditioned taste aversion. Animals treated with different ligands gained significantly less weight than rats from the obese control group. Effects of GPR18 antagonists on food intake and body weight were specific and unrelated to visceral illness, stress or changes in spontaneous activity. However, the GPR18 agonist is likely to affect body weight by inducing gastrointestinal disorders such as nausea. The presented preliminary data support the idea that the search for selective GPR18 antagonists for the treatment of obesity might be promising.


Earlier studies on hollow-circular rubber bearings, all of which are conducted for steel-reinforced bearings, indicate that the hole presence not only decreases the compression modulus of the bearing but also increases the maximum shear strain developing in the bearing due to compression, both of which are basic design parameters also for fiber-reinforced rubber bearings. This paper presents analytical solutions to the compression problem of hollow-circular fiber-reinforced rubber bearings. The problem is handled using the most-recent formulation of the "pressure method". The analytical solutions are, then, used to investigate the effects of reinforcement flexibility and hole presence on bearing`s compression modulus and maximum shear strain in the bearing in view of four key parameters: (i) reinforcement extensibility, (ii) hole size, (iii) bearing`s shape factor and (iv) rubber compressibility. It is shown that the compression stiffness of a hollow-circular fiber-reinforced bearing may decrease considerably as reinforcement flexibility and/or hole size increases particularly if the shape factor of the bearing is high and rubber compressibility is not negligible. Numerical studies also show that the existence of even a very small hole can increase the maximum shear strain in the bearing significantly, which has to be considered in the design of such annular bearings.


The Intelligent Monitoring System (IMS) provides a new capability for automated and interactive analysis of data to detect and locate seismic events recorded by a network of seismic stations. IMS integrates emerging technologies in artificial intelligence, database management, computer graphics, and distributed processing into an operational system used for routine bulletin production and associated research tasks. The first version of IMS (Bache et al., 1990a,b; Bratt et al., 1990) was designed for detection and location of regional events recorded by the two high-frequency arrays in Norway (NORESS and ARCESS). This has been extensively revised and expanded to become IMS Version 2 which is designed to detect and locate all seismic events recorded by an arbitrary seismic network. Since March 1991 it has been operated continuously to process the data from four high-frequency arrays (adding FINESA in Finland and GERESS in Germany). For some periods data from as many as seven 3-component stations in Eurasia have also been included in the processing. The most important new element is ESAL (Expert System for Association and Location) which interprets signal detections to form and locate seismic events. It is programmed in the ART expert system shell which provides the knowledge representation framework and inference mechanisms for complex and knowledge-rich rule-based reasoning. The current version of ESAL represents knowledge through approximately 200 ART rules that are configured through about 300 user-specified parameters and tables. The IMS architecture and operational procedures are designed to facilitate acquisition of new knowledge for ESAL. Knowledge acquisition methods being used include: Bayesian analysis, training neural-nets, statistical analysis to estimate parameters configuring rules, computing fuzzy-logic membership functions, and formulating new rules. Only the Bayesian probabilities are discussed in detail here. They provide a compact representation of complex knowledge about station-specific differences in phase characteristics. As an example, we describe the rules used for automated identification of detected regional Sn, Lg, and Rg phases. Using a Bayesian analysis technique, we quantify the differences in S-phase characteristics. The data show that they fall into two classes with GERESS distinct from the three Fennoscandia arrays.


In presenting this subject I am not unmindful of the fact that it is large, and one that affects the interests of not only the profession—or our branch of it—especially, but even more the interests of all those who are put under our charge. The importance of it has grown on me each year for many years, and I have always been attracted to anything that I have found in print pertaining to it, but to my mind the most vital point is seldom touched on, and now, when our schools are almost universally demanding a course of four years, as well as considerable attention to a preliminary education, the time is ripe to call attention to an absence in this teaching of some things that are of vital importance to the practitioner and to those who patronize him. May I be allowed to enter a plea for the merging


Physical-layer network coding (PNC) channel decoding at the relay is of key importance for good performance in PNC systems. However, PNC channel decoders can have prohibitive computation complexity. Low complexity noniterative PNC channel decoders are desired in practice. For such PNC decoders, decoding performance may degrade significantly when there is a relative phase offset between the simultaneous signals of multiple nodes received at the relay, particularly when bit-likelihood based decoding is adopted. In this paper, we thoroughly investigate and numerically quantify the impact of relative phase offset on decoding performance. To maintain good decoding performance under relative phase offset, we introduce and experimentally evaluate symbol-likelihood based decoding (in contrast to bit-likelihood based decoding) for PNC systems. Our experimental results show that symbol-likelihood based decoding improves the packet throughput over bit-likelihood based decoding by 100% to 400% at SNR of 15 dBs. Moreover, we study the computational complexity under both these decoding methods. We find that a reduced-complexity decoder (RCD) with symbol-likelihood based decoding provides the best performancecomplexity trade-off for practical PNC systems.


In this introduction to Gender & Society's symposium on Patricia Hill Collins's path-breaking work on intersectionality, I reflect on how the symposium contributors have used intersectional perspectives in their own work, and on how Collins' conceptualizations have shaped interdisciplinary scholarship more broadly. I also take this opportunity to present my own vision as the new editor of Gender & Society, and to reextend this journal's longstanding welcome to all who work to expand and deepen our understanding of the workings and effects of gender, in societies around the globe.


In the past decade, pulse pressure has emerged as a strong predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. During aging, elevation of pulse pressure is a consequence of stiffening of the arterial wall. The relationship between pulse pressure and the renal aging process was studied in a cohort of 212 patients with never-treated isolated systolic hypertension. Glomerular filtration rate and effective renal plasma flow were measured using constant infusion of technetium 99m (99mTc)-DTPA and 131I-ortho-iodohippurate, respectively, and timed urine collections. The relationship between pulse pressure and renal function was studied using a linear regression model in the total population and in 40 to 49, 50 to 59, and 60 years and older age categories. In the whole population, there was an inverse relationship between pulse pressure and glomerular filtration rate; however, this relation did not persist after adjustment for age. In fact, the inverse relationship between pulse pressure and glomerular filtration rate was only present in patients 60 years of age or older. This relationship in elderly patients remained after adjustment for age, gender, MAP, and cardiovascular risk factors (P=0.006). It is suggested that pulse pressure, a marker of arterial stiffening, may have a detrimental influence on the age-related decline in glomerular filtration rate, after 60 years of age in patients with never-treated isolated systolic hypertension.


This article discusses the role of criticality in action learning and in Master's level management education; examines approaches to developing criticality through social constructionist approaches to learning and illustrates how a heightened consciousness of language use by managers can be used to develop critical reflection. Examines critical management pedagogy and critical reflection and their relationship to action learning. Discusses the nature of Master's level management education and the role of criticality in the pursuit of "scholarship". Reviews social constructionist approaches to management learning and examines the use of critical management language in a Master's programme at a UK university. Shows how social constructionist approaches to management development can lead to critical reflection. This was a regional sample, requiring more geographical coverage. Provides information and ideas for management developers using action learning who wish to develop critical thinking. Gives a new and additional perspective on social constructionist approaches to learning.


The Patent Reform Act of 2011 includes a provision that expands the ability of third parties to submit prior art, including explanations of the relevance of the art, during the patent prosecution process. This provision is very similar to the third-party observations that the European Patent Office has permitted for decades. Allowing third-party participation during patent prosecution could substantially improve patent quality as well as relieve the United States Patent and Trademark Office's already over-burdened examiners who do not have enough time to conduct a complete prior art search for each and every patent application.


Accurate recognition of facial expressions and emotional gestures is promising to understand the audience's feedback and engagement on the entertainment content. Existing methods are primarily based on various cameras or wearable sensors, which either raise privacy concerns or demand extra devices. To this aim, we propose a novel ubiquitous sensing system based on the commodity microphone array —-SonicFace, which provides an accessible, unobtrusive, contact-free, and privacy-preserving solution to monitor the user's emotional expressions continuously without playing hearable sound. SonicFace utilizes a pair of speaker and microphone array to recognize various fine-grained facial expressions and emotional hand gestures by emitted ultrasound and received echoes. Based on a set of experimental evaluations, the accuracy of recognizing 6 common facial expressions and 4 emotional gestures can reach around 80%. Besides, the extensive system evaluations with distinct configurations and an extended real-life case study have demonstrated the robustness and generalizability of the proposed SonicFace system.


Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common severe neonatal gastrointestinal emergency that predominantly affects premature infants. Its morbidity and mortality is similar to other severe childhood diseases such as meningitis and leukemia, and is becoming increasingly recognized as a major cause of neurodevelopmental delays. The etiology of NEC remains obscure despite over 40 years of research, partly because it is more than one disease and databases including NEC have been diluted by these different entities. Furthermore, good animal models that represent the most classic form of the disease seen in preterm human infants are lacking. This chapter provides an overview of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of what has been termed 'NEC'.


Objectives: Although directional microphones on a hearing aid provide a signal-to-noise ratio benefit in a noisy background, the amount of benefit is dependent on how close the signal of interest is to the front of the user. It is assumed that when the signal of interest is off-axis, users can reorient themselves to the signal to make use of the directional microphones to improve signal-to-noise ratio. The present study tested this assumption by measuring the head-orienting behavior of bilaterally fit hearing-impaired individuals with their microphones set to omnidirectional and directional modes. The authors hypothesized that listeners using directional microphones would have greater difficulty in rapidly and accurately orienting to off-axis signals than they would when using omnidirectional microphones. Design: The authors instructed hearing-impaired individuals to turn and face a female talker in simultaneous surrounding male-talker babble. Participants pressed a button when they felt they were accurately oriented in the direction of the female talker. Participants completed three blocks of trials with their hearing aids in omnidirectional mode and three blocks in directional mode, with mode order randomized. Using a Vicon motion tracking system, the authors measured head position and computed fixation error, fixation latency, trajectory complexity, and proportion of misorientations. Results: Results showed that for larger off-axis target angles, listeners using directional microphones took longer to reach their targets than they did when using omnidirectional microphones, although they were just as accurate. They also used more complex movements and frequently made initial turns in the wrong direction. For smaller off-axis target angles, this pattern was reversed, and listeners using directional microphones oriented more quickly and smoothly to the targets than when using omnidirectional microphones. Conclusions: The authors argue that an increase in movement complexity indicates a switch from a simple orienting movement to a search behavior. For the most off-axis target angles, listeners using directional microphones appear to not know which direction to turn, so they pick a direction at random and simply rotate their heads until the signal becomes more audible. The changes in fixation latency and head orientation trajectories suggest that the decrease in off-axis audibility is a primary concern in the use of directional microphones, and listeners could experience a loss of initial target speech while turning toward a new signal of interest. If hearing-aid users are to receive maximum directional benefit in noisy environments, both adaptive directionality in hearing aids and clinical advice on using directional microphones should take head movement and orientation behavior into account.


The AIRS Science Team Version 5 retrieval algorithm has been finalized and is now operational at the Goddard DAAC in the processing (and reprocessing) of all AIRS data. The AIRS Science Team Version 5 retrieval algorithm contains two significant improvements over Version 4: 1) Improved physics allows for use of AIRS observations in the entire 4.3 mum CO2 absorption band in the retrieval of temperature profile T(p) during both day and night. Tropospheric sounding 15 mum CO2 observations are now used primarily in the generation of cloud cleared radiances Rcirci. This approach allows for the generation of accurate values of Rcirci and T(p) under most cloud conditions. 2) Another very significant improvement in Version 5 is the ability to generate accurate case-by-case, level-by-level error estimates for the atmospheric temperature profile, as well as for channel-by-channel error estimates for Rcirci. These error estimates are used for quality control of the retrieved products. We have conducted forecast impact experiments assimilating AIRS temperature profiles with different levels of quality control using the NASA GEOS-5 data assimilation system. Assimilation of quality controlled T(p) resulted in significantly improved forecast skill compared to that obtained from analyses obtained when all data used operationally by NCEP, except for AIRS data, is assimilated. We also conducted an experiment assimilating AIRS radiances uncontaminated by clouds, as done operationally by ECMWF and NCEP. Forecast resulting from assimilated AIRS radiances were of poorer quality than those obtained assimilating AIRS temperatures.


This paper investigate the stabilization bias that arises in a model of non-cooperative monetary and fiscal policy stabilisation of the economy, when monetary authority implements price level targeting but fiscal policy remains benevolent. We demonstrate the gain in welfare improvement depends on the level of steady state debt. If the steady state level of the government debt is low, then the monetary price level targeting unambiguously leads to social welfare gains, even if the fiscal authority acts strategically and faces different objectives and has incentives to pursue its own benefit and therefore offsets some or all of monetary policy actions. Moreover, if the fiscal policymaker is able to conduct itself as an intra-period leader, the social welfare gain of the monetary price level targeting regime can be further improved. However, if the economy has a high steady state debt level, the gain of the price level targeting is outweighed by the loss arising from the conflicts between the policy makers, and leads to a lower social welfare than under cooperative discretionary inflation targeting.


Continuous globalization, rapid development of information-communication technologies, and the presence of new burning challenges for the global community have contributed to the perception of corporate social responsibility as a strategic tool that allows for successful differentiation and sustainable competitive advantage. The goal of this paper is to offer a short overview of the role of a strategic approach to corporate social responsibility, as well as emphasize the importance of such an approach in creating competitive advantage for a company, but also of sustainability of society as a whole. The paper is based on a primary research questionnaire conducted on middle-sized and large Croatian export companies, as well as a systematic analysis of previously published relevant international scientific papers in the area of corporate social responsibility.


The reformation of public sector roles under New Public Management (NPM) reform had encouraged public sector bodies to innovate and improve their organizational performance. Lean management practices are one of the quality innovation, which recently, have been gaining more attention from public sector bodies. Lean management practices comprise various tools and approach pertaining to quality improvement in the organisation. Thus, it is important to examine how lean management practices contribute to the organisational performance in the public sector. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of lean management practices in local government in Malaysia, particularly city council effect on organisational performance in the area of organizational productivity and service delivery. In addition, this study will determine the effect of lean management practices on organisational performance in the area of organizational productivity and service delivery. This study is a quantitative study and it employs survey research as the method of research conducted. This study was conducted in city council located in Peninsular Malaysia as population. The data obtained from the questionnaire distributed to local government employee were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21.0. From descriptive analysis, it was found that 5-s is the approach that being practiced most in local government followed by value stream mapping and kaizen. Through simple regression analysis, it was found that, lean management practices in local government do affect organisational performance in term of organisational productivity and service delivery. This indicates that the quality improvement application in the public sector, such as lean management practices do affect to their organisational performance in organisational productivity and service delivery.


Metastatic masses in the kidney are rare, and metastasis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma to the kidney is even rarer. A 58-year-old male patient with macroscopic hematuria presented to the emergency department. Abdominopelvic computed tomography revealed a lesion that was not visualized as a complete mass but instead appeared as a patch extending from the pelvis to the parenchyma. Biopsy indicated metastasis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma to the right kidney. These findings indicate that metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma should be considered in patients presenting with hematuria and findings of patch-like suspicious masses in the right kidney. After diagnosis is confirmed by prompt biopsy, chemotherapy should be initiated to prolong the patient's life. To the best of our knowledge, the present case is the first report of renal metastasis from pancreatic adenocarcinoma in a living patient.


Recently, nitrogen-doped graphene has attracted significant attention for application as an anode in lithium-ion batteries due to effective modulation of the electronic properties of graphene. Herein, we report a facile route to successfully synthesize a series of tin-based materials (including Sn, SnO2, and SnS2) supported on N-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO). Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images indicated that the Sn-based materials were uniformly and tightly dispersed on the surface of N-rGO. When used as an anode in LIBs, the electrochemical performances of the proposed electrodes were systematically investigated and compared. The results show that among these electrodes, SnS2/N-rGO with a matched layered structure delivers the best performance with not only high specific capability but also excellent cycling stability.


ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Package leaflets of medicines need to be intelligible, but tools for their evaluation are scarce. OBJECTIVE: To validate a new tool for assessing subjects' satisfaction with medicine package leaflets (LiS-RPL). DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in two regions of Portugal (Lisbon and Centre). METHODS: 503 participants (53.1% male) were selected according to convenience and homogenously distributed into three groups: 1 to 6; 7 to 12; and > 12 years of schooling. LiS-RPL was developed based on international regulation guidelines and was initially composed of 14 items. Twelve package leaflets were tested. Dimensionality calculations included: exploratory factor analysis and minimum rank factor analysis; Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index and Bartlett's sphericity test to assess matrix adequacy for exploratory factor analysis; exploratory bifactor analysis with Schmid-Leiman solution to detect possible existence of a broad second-order factor; and Bentler's Simplicity Index and Loading Simplicity Index to assess factor simplicity. Diverse coefficients were calculated to assess reliability. RESULTS: Minimum rank factor analysis detected a two-factor or single-factor structure. Exploratory factor analysis with 12 items showed a two-factor structure, explaining 69.11% of the variance. These items were strongly correlated with each other (r = 0.80). Schmid-Leiman: all items seemed to represent the general factor (loadings above 0.50), which was 76.4% of the extracted variance. Simplicity indices were good (percentile 99): Bentler's Simplicity Index of 0.99 and Loading Simplicity Index of 0.48. Internal consistency indexes indicated good reliability. LiS-RPL was shown to be homogenous. CONCLUSION: LiS-RPL is a validated tool for evaluating subjects' satisfaction with medicine package leaflets.


Abstract The aim of this paper was to find out how the ethnic identity of Russians residing in Kazakhstan has changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. What qualities and characteristics distinguish ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan now? What are the main factors shaping their identity? To what extent Russians see aligned with their homeland and with the mainstream Kazakh society. What is the role of Russia in promoting a sense of attachment to the homeland? The case of Kazakhstani Russians was analyzed applying the various methods of qualitative research, including surveys, in-depth interviews, content analysis of the publications, and the speeches of political figures and activists. In addition, the methods of participant observation helped in understanding the cultural differentiation of the Russian religious organizations in Kazakhstan. The research revealed the significant changes in the identity patterns of ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan, which resulted from the process of consolidation of the vigorous state-protected ethnic Kazakh identity. Losing the previous dominant position in demography, the Russians bowed to the inevitable Kazakhification of the society. The change in the language preferences shows that the new generation of Russians is gradually accepting the new trend – Kazakh–Russian bilingualism – which is being promoted and implemented by the government of Kazakhstan and by the overwhelmingly ethnocratic Kazakh political elite.


Aldehyde dehydrogenase possessing an esterolytic activity has been purified to homogeneity from rat liver mitochondria. Steady-state kinetic studies suggest that the esterolytic reaction follows an ordered uni-bi mechanism. The formation of an acyl enzyme intermediate via nucleophilic catalysis during the esterase reaction is established kinetically using a series of substrates with varying acyl carbon chains and substituted phenyl octanoates with varying electronic effects. The enzyme was reconstituted into phospholipid vesicles. A significant increase in binding capacity is observed when the enzyme is encapsulated into liposomes containing 4% diphosphatidylglycerol.


Recent technological innovations have ignited an explosion in virus genome sequencing that promises to fundamentally alter our understanding of viral biology and profoundly impact public health policy. Yet, any potential benefits from the billowing cloud of next generation sequence data hinge upon well implemented reference resources that facilitate the identification of sequences, aid in the assembly of sequence reads and provide reference annotation sources. The NCBI Viral Genomes Resource is a reference resource designed to bring order to this sequence shockwave and improve usability of viral sequence data. The resource can be accessed at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/viruses/ and catalogs all publicly available virus genome sequences and curates reference genome sequences. As the number of genome sequences has grown, so too have the difficulties in annotating and maintaining reference sequences. The rapid expansion of the viral sequence universe has forced a recalibration of the data model to better provide extant sequence representation and enhanced reference sequence products to serve the needs of the various viral communities. This, in turn, has placed increased emphasis on leveraging the knowledge of individual scientific communities to identify important viral sequences and develop well annotated reference virus genome sets.


Drawing upon the body of knowledge of the sociology of sport and content analysis
of media studies, this research focuses on the construction of gender through sports
reporting in selected South African newspapers. Methods utilized to determine such
constructions, included: i) a quantitative survey in terms of frequency of articles
(text) and the scope of photographic images and, ii) a qualitative or content analysis
in terms of text and photographic images. Data was collected over a six-month
period (1 April 2004 – 30 September 2004) to include all major international sport
events. A total of 2 354 images and 5 300 articles were analysed to determine the
rationale of the input and throughput phases. Interviews were conducted with three
journalists from Beeld, The Star and The Sowetan. The analysis of qualitative and
quantitative data conformed patriarchal values in prioritizing men and male sports
(86.5%), while marginalizing women and their sport in biased reporting
(construction of messages and images). Male sporting success, role models as sport
stars and gender stereotyping in terms of masculine versus feminine representations
of athletes, devaluate the athletic achievements of female athletes by using cultural
and sexual innuendos. Keywords : Gender; Sport journalism; South African newspapers. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical -Education and Recreation Vol. 29 (1) 2007: pp. 147-158


(1861—1912.)

The loss of an amateur worker in Science is always a heavy one in a band that is diminishing in numbers, or is becoming merged in a crowd of professionals and semi-professionals. Culpin's death was an especially severe blow, as it was wholly unexpected, and he died with his chief scientific work in an unfinished state.

Henry Culpin was born on January 25th, 1861, at Walton, near Peterborough, receiving his early education at the neighbouring village school of Werrington, and subsequently at a private school in Peterborough. At the age of fifteen he entered the services of the Great Northern Railway at Peterborough as clerk, and subsequently became their Chief Locomotive Accountant at Doncaster.

In the summer of 1912, Culpin appeared to be in the pride of health and strength. On the 23rd December, death from heart failure came suddenly to him, without giving any definite premonitory signs. He left a widow and three children, of whom the eldest son died fighting in France shortly after completing a brilliant university career at Oxford. Culpin was a Freemason attached to St. George's Lodge, Doncaster. He was elected a member of the Yorkshire Geological Society in 1904. The best of Culpin's life was given to his employers, but he found time to gather a good knowledge of English literature and foreign languages which helped him as a debater in literary and political meetings in Doncaster.

His bent towards Geology appeared late in life, and his interest seems to have been …


The Raman scattering by LO phonon-plasmon coupled (LOPC) mode in heavily carbon doped p-type GaAs grown by MOMBE has been studied. It was shown by the lineshape analysis based on a theoretical model for the Raman scattering rate that the p-type GaAs has only one LOPC structure in contrast to the two modes in n-type doping case. The influence of heavily doping on the Raman spectroscopy was also discussed based on the experimental results. The linewidth broadening and the red shift of the LOPC mode scattering peak at the ul-trahigh doping level are induced by the crystalline disorder and effects of lattice deformation.


Aim of the study to investigate differences on max. Aerobic performance, shoot speed, 20m. Sprint power of footballers between pre-season and mid-season during 2015-2016 1st ameteur leaque season. Twenty one amateur footballers with a mean age of 22.23 ± 2.22 years, height of 177.62 ± 0.41, weight of 79.52 ± 3.50, taken into experimental group. Participants put forward their maximum performance with shoot velocity (instep kicking technique) recorded with shot speed measurement pocket radar (Pocket Radar Classic PR1000), 20m sprint, Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test at pre-season and mid-season. Measurements were applied to the participants at 1st amateur league pre-season and mid-season 2015-2016. All statistical procedures were performed in SPSS 19.0 package program with Paired-T test. Result of paired-T test, Mean, Standard Deviation (x ± ss) and Descriptive Statistical values of the variables were determined. In conclusion, Analysis revealed that there is no statistically significant differences found between 1st test of pre-season and 2nd test of mid-season shoot speed, aereobic capacity, 20m sprint capacity tests of footballers (p>0.05). According to the result, gained of the investigation, it was clearly seen that training programme applied to the footballers did not help to make any differences about the performances of footballers .


Previous research has shown that internal communication can be linked with how motivated a project team is, but research that shows examples of how this works is missing. This paper therefore aims to study how two different IT projects are working with internal communication. By analyzing its strengths and weaknesses, we wanted to study how these could be linked to the project team's motivation. In doing so, we wanted to be able to give examples of how projects could work with internal communication to motivate their project teams. Essay questions of the study are: How does the internal communication occur in the projects? Which strengths and weaknesses are to be found in the internal communication? How does the internal communication influence the project members' motivation? To fulfill the purpose of the study it was needed informants interviews with the project manager for each project to access the facts, and respondent interviews with the project members from each project for accessing opinions.The results from the interviews show that both projects have effective communication, even if it looked different, and doesn't quite agree with what previous research recommends. Among other things, a clear communication structure is missing in one of the projects. Evaluation of the communication is missing in both projects. And in several cases also guidelines for the formal communication are missing, such as for the document management, through the system SharePoint. In both projects, the informal communication plays an important role and that both project teams are located close to each other seems tobe a recipe for successful communication. The project members are in favor of the communication and that fact made it natural to find links to the components that create motivation. Among other things, belonging and self-determination have been shown to be created by internal communication. However, there are other components, such as development and competence that have been more difficult to find examples of. This suggests that a certain amount of motivation can be achieved through functioning communication but also other motivators are needed in a project.


Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is an important endogenous mediator of pulmonary edema in many models of acute lung injury. PAF triggers edema formation by simultaneous activation of two independent pathways; one is mediated by a cyclooxygenase metabolite, and the other is blocked by quinine. We examined the hypothesis that the cyclooxygenase-dependent part of PAF-induced edema is mediated by prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)). In isolated rat lungs, PAF administration stimulated release of PGE(2) into the venous effluate and increased lung weight as a measure of edema formation. Perfusion with a neutralizing PGE(2) antibody attenuated the PAF-induced edema formation. In vivo, E-prostanoid 3-receptor-deficient mice showed less pulmonary Evans blue extravasation in response to PAF injection than did mice deficient in EP1, EP2, or EP4 receptors. Perfusion of rat lungs with PGE(2) caused pulmonary edema, which was largely prevented by inhibition of voltage-gated potassium channels (25 nM beta-dendrotoxin), but not by blocking calcium-dependent potassium currents (100 micro M paxilline). In line with its effects on PGE(2)-induced edema formation, beta-dendrotoxin attenuated PAF-induced edema partly if given alone, and completely in combination with quinine. Our findings suggest that PAF-triggered edema is partly mediated by the release of PGE(2), activation of EP3 receptors, and activation of voltage-gated potassium channels.


Diesel engines are widely used in many application domains. The recent drive to reduce emissions, improve efficiency and implement on board diagnostic tools has resulted in a real need for improved models for the simulation of Diesel engines. This paper evaluates three different Diesel engine dynamic models of varying levels of complexity. The assumptions for the models and the equations are presented. The equations are implemented in a computer simulation environment. The models describe the dynamic relationship between indicated pressure and engine speed. The first model is a detailed analytical non-linear dynamic model, including dynamometer dynamics, instantaneous friction components, viscosity variations with temperature and inertia variations with piston pin offset. In-cycle calculations are performed at each crank-angle. The second model is a nonlinear dynamic model which includes a mean friction model for the engine components and dynamometer dynamics, but does not include the piston pin offset as well as the inertia variations. The third model is obtained by an identification procedure to find a low-order linear transfer function between the engine input and output. The three models are used to predict the behaviour of a Diesel engine. The models are compared using experimentally measured engine speeds, under steady state and transient operating conditions. The paper discusses the suitability of the models for various control applications such as engine simulation, fuelling control system design and fault diagnostics.


In my habilitation dissertation, meant to validate my capacity of and maturity for directing
research activities, I present a panorama of several topics in computational linguistics, linguistics
and computer science.
Over the past decade, I was notably concerned with the phenomena of compositionality
and variability of linguistic objects. I illustrate the advantages of a compositional approach
to the language in the domain of emotion detection and I explain how some linguistic objects,
most prominently multi-word expressions, defy the compositionality principles. I demonstrate
that the complex properties of MWEs, notably variability, are partially regular and partially
idiosyncratic. This fact places the MWEs on the frontiers between different levels of linguistic
processing, such as lexicon and syntax.
I show the highly heterogeneous nature of MWEs by citing their two existing taxonomies.
After an extensive state-of-the art study of MWE description and processing, I summarize
Multiflex, a formalism and a tool for lexical high-quality morphosyntactic description of MWUs.
It uses a graph-based approach in which the inflection of a MWU is expressed in function of
the morphology of its components, and of morphosyntactic transformation patterns. Due to
unification the inflection paradigms are represented compactly. Orthographic, inflectional and
syntactic variants are treated within the same framework. The proposal is multilingual: it has
been tested on six European languages of three different origins (Germanic, Romance and Slavic),
I believe that many others can also be successfully covered. Multiflex proves interoperable. It
adapts to different morphological language models, token boundary definitions, and underlying
modules for the morphology of single words. It has been applied to the creation and enrichment
of linguistic resources, as well as to morphosyntactic analysis and generation. It can be integrated
into other NLP applications requiring the conflation of different surface realizations of the same
concept.
Another chapter of my activity concerns named entities, most of which are particular types of
MWEs. Their rich semantic load turned them into a hot topic in the NLP community, which is
documented in my state-of-the art survey. I present the main assumptions, processes and results
issued from large annotation tasks at two levels (for named entities and for coreference), parts of
the National Corpus of Polish construction. I have also contributed to the development of both
rule-based and probabilistic named entity recognition tools, and to an automated enrichment of
Prolexbase, a large multilingual database of proper names, from open sources.
With respect to multi-word expressions, named entities and coreference mentions, I pay a
special attention to nested structures. This problem sheds new light on the treatment of complex
linguistic units in NLP. When these units start being modeled as trees (or, more generally, as
acyclic graphs) rather than as flat sequences of tokens, long-distance dependencies, discontinu-
ities, overlapping and other frequent linguistic properties become easier to represent. This calls
for more complex processing methods which control larger contexts than what usually happens
in sequential processing. Thus, both named entity recognition and coreference resolution comes
very close to parsing, and named entities or mentions with their nested structures are analogous
3to multi-word expressions with embedded complements.
My parallel activity concerns finite-state methods for natural language and XML processing.
My main contribution in this field, co-authored with 2 colleagues, is the first full-fledged method
for tree-to-language correction, and more precisely for correcting XML documents with respect
to a DTD. We have also produced interesting results in incremental finite-state algorithmics,
particularly relevant to data evolution contexts such as dynamic vocabularies or user updates.
Multilingualism is the leitmotif of my research. I have applied my methods to several natural
languages, most importantly to Polish, Serbian, English and French. I have been among the
initiators of a highly multilingual European scientific network dedicated to parsing and multi-
word expressions. I have used multilingual linguistic data in experimental studies. I believe
that it is particularly worthwhile to design NLP solutions taking declension-rich (e.g. Slavic)
languages into account, since this leads to more universal solutions, at least as far as nominal
constructions (MWUs, NEs, mentions) are concerned. For instance, when Multiflex had been
developed with Polish in mind it could be applied as such to French, English, Serbian and Greek.
Also, a French-Serbian collaboration led to substantial modifications in morphological modeling
in Prolexbase in its early development stages. This allowed for its later application to Polish
with very few adaptations of the existing model. Other researchers also stress the advantages of
NLP studies on highly inflected languages since their morphology encodes much more syntactic
information than is the case e.g. in English.
In this dissertation I am also supposed to demonstrate my ability of playing an active role
in shaping the scientific landscape, on a local, national and international scale. I describe
my: (i) various scientific collaborations and supervision activities, (ii) roles in over 10 regional,
national and international projects, (iii) responsibilities in collective bodies such as program and
organizing committees of conferences and workshops, PhD juries, and the National University
Council (CNU), (iv) activity as an evaluator and a reviewer of European collaborative projects.
The issues addressed in this dissertation open interesting scientific perspectives, in which
a special impact is put on links among various domains and communities. These perspectives
include: (i) integrating fine-grained language data into the linked open data, (ii) deep parsing
of multi-word expressions, (iii) modeling multi-word expression identification in a treebank as a
tree-to-language correction problem, and (iv) a taxonomy and an experimental benchmark for
tree-to-language correction approaches.