This report was prepared by the Energy Information Administration, the independent statistical and analytical agency within the Department of Energy. Unless referenced otherwise, the information contained herein should be attributed to the Energy Information Administration and should not be construed as advocating or reflecting any policy position of the Department of Energy or any other organization. Service Reports are prepared by the Energy Information Administration upon special request and are based on assumptions specified by the requester. Preface and Contacts The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is the independent statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. EIA provides timely, high-quality energy information and prepares objective, transparent analyses for use by the Congress, the Administration, and the public. EIA does not, however, take positions on policy issues. Because of EIA's statutory independence with respect to the content of its energy information program, the analysis presented herein is strictly its own and should not be construed as representing the views of the Department of Energy or the Administration. The model projections in this report are not statements of what will happen but of what might happen, given the assumptions and methodologies used. EIA does not propose, advocate, or speculate on future legislative and regulatory changes. All laws are assumed to remain as currently enacted; however, the impacts of scheduled regulatory changes, when defined, are reflected. EIA's Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting (OIAF) and Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels (CNEAF) prepared this report. General questions concerning industry statistics described in the report can be directed to Scott Sitzer


Applicationof N, P, and K Fertilizer Based on Site-Specific Nutrient Management for An increase of Productivity of Soybean. Soybean productivity in Indonesia is still low, it is about 1.25 t ha-1.This is due to the same dose of fertilizer in all location.In this case, fertilization is on the recommendation i.e. 25-75 kg urea ha-1 + 50-100 kg SP-36 ha-1 + 50-100 kg KCl ha-1 for soybean in all locations.Though each location farmland have different levels of soil fertility. Soybean commodities can compete with other plants when minimum productivity of 2.18 t ha-1 of dry beans, it is able to provide a higher profit than corn. To that end, soybean fertilizer recommended by site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) by using the method of paddy soil test device, and dry soil test device that can determine soil nutrient classes to categories of low, medium and high.N fertilizer on soil classes, including low, medium, and high dose respectively at 174, 152, and 117 kg urea ha-1. For P fertilizer application on soil nutrient classes, including low, medium, and high doserespectively at 104,80, and 40 kg ha-1 SP-36. Likewise K fertilizer application on soil nutrient classes, including low, medium, and high each at doses of 210, 190, and 150 kg ha-1 KCl. In addition, supported by the use of new varieties of soybean large seed that high productivity and achieve the results expected in all locations soybean.Then the government provides support for input subsidies in the form of primary production facilities such as seed, fertilizer, and pesticides that farmers are interested in returning to planting soybeans and soybean prices ensure incentives for farmers. Things like this will spur farmers to increase productivity so that soybean self-sufficiency is achieved. In the end domestic soybean demand can be met so that the government no longer to import soybeans.


This research investigates the outcomes of school communities who leverage an antiracist political agenda to address the racial achievement gap. In New York City, the Equity and Excellence for All agenda is a series of programs and mandates designed to improve student achievement through an antiracist, equity driven lens. This chapter examines policy implementation with an understanding of preexisting school culture conditions that impact policy efficacy. Toward this goal, this research is part of a larger body of work that prioritizes data from the vantage point of students, teachers, and school leaders. A multi-methods study, this research leverages a priori quantitative analysis to articulate distinction in school race culture and then qualitative analysis to capture the counter narrative of the marginalized who are situated in the educationally stratified spaces.


We revisit the gauge hierarchy problem with the emphasis on the chiral property of the Standard Model. We present a model realizing a gauge hierarchy. Along this line, we also comment briefly on the "very light" axions and the upper bound on $\theta_{\rm QCD}$.


The effects of random errors in positioning the elements of uniform phased arrays on the scanning pattern are investigated. Expressions for the mean and variance of the element pattern and the complete array pattern are given and a typical computer-simulated array is also studied. The curves show that the sharp dips which occur at some scan angles in the case of the hypothetical error-free array are filled in, and the blindness is completely removed for large values of the error parameter \sigma . A simple feeding system is presented to partially correct the element phasing for the element positioning errors.


This paper deals with a new variable microwave power distributor and a connector between a deck plate and a input power waveguide for indoor microwave wireless power transmission. We design a new type connector built in the 3-stage coaxial line structure, and calculate the return loss of the connector at 2.45GHz. Newly designed connector shows the excellent return loss performance less than -30dB at the operating frequency of 2.45GHz. And we show a power distributor in which the dividing ratio of the power is controlled mechanically by three rotary fins. The distributor can control the dividing power from 4.5% to 58% with the variance of 5% output power. The experimentally tested results of the distributor are good agreement with the simulation within the return loss of 1%.


Since recognition of differences between men and women's outcomes from acute coronary syndromes (ACS) more than two decades ago, many researchers have investigated possible reasons. Attention has focused on physiological causes and on differences in management after a diagnosis is made (eg, women are less likely to be referred for cardiac catheterisation and percutaneous coronary interventions).1 Investigators have also examined upstream processes: patient-related factors, such as symptom characteristics,2 symptom recognition and treatment-seeking delay,3 which can prolong time-to-treatment, and system-related factors, such as health professionals' clinical decision-making,4 have been studied extensively. A focus on the critical first minutes and hours after presentation to an emergency department (ED) with symptoms of ACS is particularly relevant since the processes and decisions undertaken during this time shape the clinical trajectory on which patients with symptoms of ACS travel.

Mnatzaganian5 and colleagues report a retrospective, 5-year, population-based study of patients presenting to three EDs in Melbourne, Australia, with a main or secondary complaint of non-traumatic chest pain (n=76 216 presentations). The investigators examined sex differences in four aspects of care: (1) urgency score assigned by triage nurses; (2) time-to-examination by an ED physician; (3) troponin testing; (4) admission to a specialty unit, as well as in-hospital mortality. Multivariable models were constructed that adjusted for symptoms; arrival mode, time and day of week; main presenting symptom and triage score; diagnosis of myocardial infarction; comorbidities; other acute conditions associated with the chest pain presentation (eg, cardiac arrest, respiratory distress); whether admitted to the hospital; type of admission unit and a 'relative index of inequality', derived from postal code–based socioeconomic status. For each outcome, models for two age categories (18–54 years and 55 years and older) were constructed separately.

The investigators found that for every outcome examined, …


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Biliary cystadenoma and cystadenocarcinoma constitute less than 5% of intrahepatic cysts originating from the bile duct. The aims of this study were to characterize the clinical and pathologic aspects of these lesions, and also to discuss the treatment and prognosis of them.

METHODOLOGY
We reviewed the clinical records of six patients with intrahepatic biliary cystadenoma and four patients with cystadenocarcinoma who had undergone operation from January, 1990 to January, 2006 at Hanyang University Medical Center.

RESULTS
Biliary cystadenoma mainly affected women compared to biliary cystadenocarcinoma. Both tumor have nonspecific symptom and were usually diagnosed by computed tomography and ultrasonography. These tumors were usually large, multilocular, and cystic in appearance. The pathologic findings revealed multiple cystic masses lined with cuboidal to columnar epithelium. The nature of cystic fluid was mostly mucous type. Of 10 patients in whom the lesions were completely excised, 8 patients are alive.

CONCLUSIONS
Surgical resection of the tumor, including a margin of surrounding normal liver parenchyma, was the only curative method. Any therapy short of complete excision leads to local recurrence and risk of malignant transformation. Complete resection of a biliary cystadenoma and radical resection of a biliary cystadenocarcinoma seems to offer a chance for long-term survival.


Basing on surveys on the current status of partially fitness club coaches, this paper makes a study of the operational state of them by means of documents, interviews, questionnaires, concept investigation and mathematical statistics. What's more, this paper applies sports marketing and other aspects of the sports industry knowledge with experts predicts to build a theoretical framework of our commercial fitness club management, aiming at providing theoretical support for the management of fitness club coaches to the unstained, stable and healthy development in Qingdao.


Author(s): Spenst, Renee O. | Abstract: Lepidium latifolium (perennial pepperweed) is a widespread and invasive weed that is problematic throughout the western United States, and internationally. The aim of this research is improve understanding of L. latifolium biology and ecology and the influence of each on control efficacy in San Francisco Estuary tidal wetlands, with particular regard for variation along the salinity gradients in the estuary. To address these issues, I conducted three discrete but related analyses: 1) examined how seed germination and viability of perennial pepperweed change with increasing salinity in San Francisco Estuary tidal wetland sites. 2) determined if salinity, flooding, and native vegetation cover, influenced recruitment of L. latifolium from early developmental stages through inflorescence production. 3) assessed the relative importance of environmental constraints to L. latifolium distribution; then compared the role of pepperweed, relative to recognized environmental constraints, in determining other wetland species distributions; and assessed the effect of prior year L. latifolium cover on native and non-native species. 4) evaluated response to herbicide treatments in low and high density L. latifolium stands and examined post-treatment changes in native abundance at three tidally-influenced sites representing salinity gradients in the estuary. My research indicates that salinity influences every early life history stage, from viability and germination through inflorescence development and seed production. Adult plants respond to salinity at a regional scale, with declining abundance corresponding to increasing salinity. Within sites salinity continues to be a significant determinant of abundance, but plants are more closely tied to foliar nitrogen and flooding surrogates (mean soil particle size, and elevation). Patterns of herbicide efficacy resembled patterns of recruitment such that plants weakened by salinity, and more so by the combination of salinity and flooding were most susceptible to treatments. Recommended control programs will evaluate site attributes as well as control probabilities in the development of a comprehensive management strategy.


Importance: There are limited data on immune responses after COVID-19 vaccine boosters in individuals receiving primary immunisation with BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) or AZD1222 (AstraZeneca) Objective: To assess SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses before and after booster vaccination with BNT162b2 in adults receiving two BNT162b2 or AZD1222 vaccine doses at least 6 months previously, as part of the United Kingdom national immunisation schedule Design: Prospective, cohort study Setting: London, England Participants: 750 immunocompetent adults aged [≥]50 years Interventions: A single dose of BNT162b2 administered at least six months after primary immunisation with two doses of BNT162b2 given <30 days apart (BNT162b2-control) or [≥]30 days apart (BNT162b2-extended) compared to AZD1222 given [≥]30 days apart (AZD1222-extended) Main Outcome and Measures: SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibody geometric mean titres (GMTs) before and 2-4 weeks after booster Results: Of 750 participants, 626 provided serum samples for up to 38 weeks after their second vaccine dose. Antibody GMTs peaked at 2-4 weeks after the second dose, before declining by 68% at 36-38 weeks after dose 2 for BNT162b2-control participants, 85% at 24-29 weeks for BNT162b2-extended participants and 78% at 24-29 weeks for AZD1222-extended participants. Antibody GMTs was highest in BNT162b2-extended participants (942 [95%CI, 797-1113]) than AZD1222-extended (183 [124-268]) participants at 24-29 weeks or BNT162b2-control participants at 36-38 weeks (208; 95%CI, 150-289). At 2-4 weeks after booster, GMTs were significantly higher than after primary vaccination in all three groups: 18,104 (95%CI, 13,911-23,560; n=47) in BNT162b2-control (76.3-fold), 13,980 (11,902-16,421; n=118) in BNT162b2-extended (15.9-fold) and 10,799 (8,510-13,704; n=43) in AZD1222-extended (57.2-fold) participants. BNT162b2-control participants (median:262 days) had a longer interval between primary and booster doses than BNT162b2-extended or AZD1222-extended (both median:186 days) participants. Conclusions and Relevance: We observed rapid serological responses to boosting with BNT162b2, irrespective of vaccine type or schedule used for primary immunisation, with higher post-booster responses with longer interval between primary immunisation and boosting. Boosters will not only provide additional protection for those at highest risk of severe COVID-19 but also prevent infection and, therefore, interrupt transmission, thereby reducing infections rates in the population. Ongoing surveillance will be important for monitoring the duration of protection after the booster.


Pantograph Robot Mechanism is considered a type of parallel manipulator which has been developed largely for industrial applications that need high accuracy and speed. Whereas, it needs a high-performance controller to track preselected trajectory planning. It is also able to carry higher weights than the open-chain mechanism with suitable accuracy and stability; this is because it consists of four active links and one passive link, instead of two links as in the open chain. This study presents a mathematical model for a closed chain pantograph mechanism, where the boundary conditions are taken into account. A complete MATLAB Simulink has been developed to simulate the dynamics of the pantograph robot mechanism. To validate the proposed mathematical model of the pantograph, the corresponding Simscape model had been developed. Also, three different tracking controllers were designed. The first control is the PID controller which had optimized by Flower Pollination (FP) optimization. The second control is an enhanced Nonlinear PID (NLPID) controller where its parameters were obtained by Flower Pollination (FP) optimization based on the effective objective function. The third control is the model reference adaptive control. A comparative study between the control techniques was accomplished. A rectangular trajectory was selected to be a position reference of the end effector of the pantograph robot. This task was done using the proposed controllers to investigate the performance. The results show that the model reference adaptive control has a better performance compared to the NLPID and PID controllers. The end effector has a less rise time and settling time with high accuracy in the case of the model reference adaptive control.


Predictive maintenance attempts to evaluate the condition of equipment and predict the future trend of the equipment's aging, in order to reduce costs when compared to the two traditional approaches: corrective and preventive maintenance. This prediction requires an accurate prognostic model of aging. In solid insulation, the ultimate goal of prognostics is to predict the advent of failure, i.e., insulation breakdown, in terms of remaining useful life (RUL). One fault is electrical treeing, which is progressive thus leading to potentially catastrophic failure. Research has shown that diagnosis of faults can be achieved based on partial discharge (PD) monitoring [1], i.e., phase-resolved and pulse sequence analysis (PSA). This work will explore the extension of this concept towards predicting evolution of the defect: moving beyond diagnostics towards prognostics. To do this, there is a need for further investigation of prognostic features within PD characteristics leading up to breakdown. In this work, a needle-plane test arrangement was set up using a hypodermic needle and pre-formed silicone rubber as test samples. The visual observations and tree growth measurements were made using a digital microscope. PD data was captured using a radio frequency (RF) sensor and analysed using PSA. The main idea of the PSA approach is the strong relationship between two consecutive pulses caused by PD activities, which can give an understanding of the local degradation processes [1]. As for electrical treeing, a breakdown indicator in PSA is the appearance of heavily clustered data points that lie diagonally in scatter plots of the differential ratio of voltage and time of consecutive charges (Un = Δun/Δtn) [2,3]. Figure 1 shows an example of a plot that changed to a diagonal line after 14 hours of aging time. This paper investigates the formation of the diagonal line based on the distribution of the plot from the start of electrical treeing until breakdown occurs. Finally, statistical features of the PSA plot are given and will be used for lifetime prediction of insulation samples in future work.


The recrystallization behavior, grain growth kinetics, and corresponding hardness variation of homogenized and 80% cold-rolled FeCoNiCrPd, FeCoNiCrMn, and their quaternary/ternary FCC-structured high/medium entropy alloys (H/MEAs) annealed under different conditions were investigated. Experimental results indicate that the grain size and hardness of these H/MEAs follow the Hall–Petch equation, with the Hall–Petch coefficient KH value being mainly dominated by the alloy's stacking fault energy and shear modulus. The FeCoNiCrPd alloy exhibits the highest hardness of the H/MEAs at the same grain size due to the largest Young's modulus difference between Cr and Pd. The grain growth exponent n, kinetic constant k, and activation energy for grain growth QG of all H/MEAs are calculated. The k can be expressed by the Arrhenius equation with QG, which is attributed to the diffusion rate. The results demonstrate that the QG values of these H/MEAs are much higher than those of conventional alloys; most notable is FeCoNiCrPd HEA, which has an unusually lattice distortion effect that hinders grain growth.


The water-snake Liophis miliaris presents hemoglobin which binds organic polyphosphate through a simple single-site per tetramer (Mol. Wt. 64500) as judged by titration curves of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate either in the presence or absence of inositol hexaphosphate. The site seems to have the same structural nature of that found on other hemoglobins and is able to strongly bind most of the known protein effectors such as inositol hexaphosphate, adenosine triphosphate or 2,3-diphosphoglicerate. The high association constant at pH 7 of reduced nicotinamide for the deoxy hemoglobin of about K(D) = 7 x 10(6) M-1 compared to human hemoglobin (K(D) = 7 x 10(5) M-1), and to that of adenosine triphosphate (its natural erythrocytic polyphosphate) still higher of about K(D) = 10(11) M-1, shows clearly the very high affinity of this snake hemoglobin for such allosteric effector. The results besides corroborating the dimer-tetramer transition mechanism proposed to describe the oxygen transport by the hemoglobin of Liophis miliaris--may explain the difficulties to obtain the oxy dimeric conformation of the protein by usual hemolysis and stripped off procedures.


ABSTRACT: The epidemiology of scabies for the last twelve years has been studied in Turkey. Information was obtained from three regions (Istanbul. Ankara and Erzurum) having different climates. There has been an increase in scabies in the years following 1969 in Ankara and Erzurum and from 1967 on in Istanbul. it reached Us maximum in 1978 in Erzurum. while this peak had been observed in early 1970s in other regions. Scabies incidence has significantly increased and de creased in winters and summers respectively, has been found to affect particularly the age group 15–44. and was observed more frequently in men than in women. Scabies seems to be moving to the eastern parts of Turkey.


Reader Engagement, Interpretation, and Identification: Children's Letters to the Christmas Annual Jultomten
The article examines a selection of children's letters sent to the editor of the Swedish annual Christmas publication Jultomten (Father Christmas) during three years at the turn of the century 1900. The aim is to show how children responded to the editor's invitation to write letters to the journal, how the children commented on some of the images, and how their appreciation and involvement were articulated in terms of reader engagement, interpretation, and identification. For this purpose, the letters were analyzed with the help of visual literacy theories and methods, which focus on primary school children's picture (and picturebook) reception. The results show that the children's response to the chosen images varies according to their level of involvement and degree of visual literacy competence.


Vague words and expressions are present throughout the standards that comprise the accounting and auditing professions. Vagueness is considered to be a significant source of inexactness in many accounting decision problems and many authors have argued that the neglect of this issue may cause accounting information to be less useful. On the other hand, we can assume that the use of vague terms in accounting standards is inherent to principle based standards (different from rule based standards) and that to avoid vague terms, standard setters would have to incur excessive transaction costs. Auditors are required to exercise their own professional judgment throughout the audit process and it has been argued that the inherent vagueness in accounting standards may influence their decision making processes. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the decision making process of auditors and to investigate whether vague accounting standards create a problem for the decision making process of auditors, or lead to a better outcome. This paper makes the argument that vague standards prompt the use of System 2 type processing by auditors, allowing more comprehensive analytical thinking; therefore, reducing the biases associated with System 1 heuristic processing. If our argument is valid, the repercussions of vague accounting standards are not as negative as presented in previous literature, instead they are positive.


This paper examines how the ownership structure and board of directors' features determine the managerial opportunistic behavior exemplified in the management of accounting earnings. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the relationship of firm‐level and country‐level corporate governance systems on the earnings management in the Spanish corporate sector. Results reveal that the varying efficiency of the corporate governance systems is reflected in the way in which accounting discretion is performed. We found evidence that earnings management is reduced as the voting rights of the controlling shareholder increased and that there is an inverse U‐shaped relationship between insiders' ownership and the earnings manipulation. Regarding the board characteristics, we observe that larger, independent boards, those with a larger proportion of female members, and those with an audit committee compounded by a greater proportion of outside independent directors oversee managers more efficiently, constraining their capacity to manage earnings. To the contrary, board duality increases the likelihood of opportunistic manipulation of financial reporting. We found that when the institutional environment improves in the Spanish context, the discretionary power of the corporate sector to overstate the financial statements is reduced. The findings prove the necessity of reinforcing the rules and regulations toward a more transparent disclosure of the financial statements.


1. The gastropyloric receptor (GPR) cells are stretch-sensitive muscle receptors in the crab stomatogastric nervous system that use both 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) and acetylcholine as cotransmitters. Brief stimulation of these afferent neurons causes two gastric mill neurons to be recruited into the pyloric motor pattern. 2. The GPR cells evoke complex synaptic potentials in the lateral gastric (LG) and medial gastric (MG) motor neurons, two component neurons of the gastric mill central pattern generator. When the gastric mill is quiescent (as often happens in vivo), GPR stimulation transiently inhibits LG and MG. After this transient inhibition, these cells undergo a prolonged excitation during which they fire bursts of action potentials at a constant phase relation to the pyloric motor pattern. 3. To determine the causes for this effect, we examined the effects of GPR stimulation on these two cells and on the inferior cardiac motor neuron, which is electrically coupled to them. When GPR is stimulated, all three cells receive rapid biphasic synaptic potentials that are blocked by nicotinic antagonists, followed by a slow, prolonged depolarizing potential. 4. The slow, prolonged depolarizing potential is not blocked by nicotinic or muscarinic cholinergic antagonists but is mimicked and occluded by exogenously applied serotonin. 5. The prolonged excitation, mediated at least in part by serotonin, may be responsible for the recruitment of the gastric mill neurons into the pyloric motor pattern. Thus sensory input can directly exert prolonged modulatory effects that change the functional cellular composition of pattern-generating circuits.


This study aimed to investigate the incidence and effect of non-genetic factors on reproductive disorders in the Hardhenu cattle population over a period of 11 years (2010-2021). The study included a total of 1340 cattle for calculating the incidence of reproductive disorders and analysed the occurrence of different reproductive disorders. In the present study, retention of placenta had highest frequency, accounting for approximately 18.36% of the incidence, followed by repeater cows (11.19%), metritis (6.27%), dystocia (0.60%), anestrus (0.45%) and prolapse (0.37%). Chi-square analysis revealed a significant relationship between the year and the incidence of reproductive disorders (p < .05). Logistic regression analysis of temporal variability of reproductive disorders was also analysed, with an increase in the odds from 2014 to 2020, peaking in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. Logistic regression analysis showed that season and parity did not significantly influence the incidence of reproductive disorders. However, period of calving had a significant impact. Cows calving between 2008 and 2014 had a significantly lower odds ratio (0.13, 95% CI: 0.06-0.30), indicating a decreased risk, while those calving between 2014 and 2017 had a higher odds ratio (0.59, 95% CI: 0.38-0.90), suggesting an increased risk of reproductive disorders. Compared to parity 3, parity 1 (1.344, 95% CI: 0.869-2.08) and parity 2 (1.193, 95% CI: 0.768-1.851) showed highest odds ratio. Similarly, the odds ratio for winter (1.64, 95% CI: 0.93-2.89), summer (1.71, 95% CI: 0.89-3.26) and rainy season (1.64, 95% CI: 0.92-2.91) was higher as compared to autumn. The present results provided valuable insights into the incidence of various reproductive disorders and associated risk factors in Hardhenu cattle. These results can be utilized for targeted interventions to enhance reproductive health and overall productivity in dairy cattle.


We present a framework for solving long-horizon planning problems involving manipulation of rigid objects that operates directly from a point-cloud observation, i.e. without prior object models. Our method plans in the space of object subgoals and frees the planner from reasoning about robot-object interaction dynamics by relying on a set of generalizable manipulation primitives. We show that for rigid bodies, this abstraction can be realized using low-level manipulation skills that maintain sticking contact with the object and represent subgoals as 3D transformations. To enable generalization to unseen objects and improve planning performance, we propose a novel way of representing subgoals for rigid-body manipulation and a graph-attention based neural network architecture for processing point-cloud inputs. We experimentally validate these choices using simulated and real-world experiments on the YuMi robot. Results demonstrate that our method can successfully manipulate new objects into target configurations requiring long-term planning. Overall, our framework realizes the best of the worlds of task-and-motion planning (TAMP) and learning-based approaches. Project website: this https URL.


Geographically dispersed Fog Computing architecture ubiquitously connected to a range of heterogeneous nodes at the edge of the network can provide cooperative flexible, and variable computations, communications, and storage services. Several fog computing methods, models, and techniques have been used to solve cloud issues. The fuzzy theory has also been used in many aspects of fog computing. Objectives: This work presents a systematic literature review of the use of fuzzy theory in Fog Computing, highlighting the main practical motivations, classification types in research approaches, fuzzy methods used, popular evaluation tools, open issues, and future trends. Methods: The investigations were systematically performed using fuzzy theory in fog computing, and four databases which are ScienceDirect, Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and IEEE Xplore Digital Library from 2015 to 2022, were used to analyse their performance evaluation, architecture, and applications. Results: 94 articles were selected based on fuzzy theory in fog computing using different methods, models, and techniques, based on the proposed exclusion and inclusion criteria. The results of the taxonomy were divided into five major classes: task and resource management, intrusion detection systems, trust management, and healthcare services. Discussion: Applications requiring real-time, low latency, and quick responses are well suited for fog computing. These studies show that resource sharing improves the fog computing architecture by delivering reduced latency, distributed processing, improved scalability, better security, fault tolerance, and privacy. Conclusion: The majority of the time, research areas on fuzzy theory in fog computing are crucially significant. We conclude that this review will enhance research capacity, thereby expanding and creating new research domains.


This article presents a case study for skills-directed intervention aiming to help healthy siblings of children with cancer control their emotions and gain self-control skills. Case study application of the intervention was with a boy aged 9 years and 8 months who had the verbal, cognitive, and motivational ability to learn and apply the skills. Intervention included the "Feeling Wheel" to enhance emotional identification, expression, understanding, acceptance, and control. Intervention also focused on teaching him to observe his automatic thoughts, change them to mediated ones, engage in internal dialogue, and seek/adopt alternative behaviors to gain self-control. In postintervention feedback, he reported less anxiety than previously, less inclination toward negative thinking, and more empowerment to deal with day-to-day difficulties he encountered.


The purpose of this study was to determine the creep/sintering characteristics of thermally sprayed zirconia coatings and attempt to understand the influence of microstructure on the creep resistance of deposits. The major modification, compared with more typical practice, was employment of powder feedstock with agglomerated sub-micron size particles (Nanox), which is compared to one of the best commercially available powders (HOSP). Thick plasma sprayed coatings were prepared and their physical and mechanical properties were characterized. Creep/sintering experiments were then conducted to investigate the response of the materials when exposed to high temperatures under load. The results showed that it could be possible to correlate the splat thickness to the creep behaviour of the coatings.


During the excavation of a series of post--medieval boat nousts at Hurnip's Point, Deerness, Orkney, in 1991 it was discovered that one of the nousts had been constructed against the side of an earlier cairn. Topographical and geophysical surveys showed the cairn to be tadpole--like in shape with a total length of some 60m. Exploratory excavation of the `tail' of the cairn suggested that the monument was probably a Neolithic passage grave.


One presents a complex data acquisition structure used for the monitoring and diagnosis of a system used for electric power transmission in the zone of large power source. The structure is also used for the optimization of power network operation in order to use the network also for the transmission of electric signals other than those of 50 Hz. The schematic of the monitored system is presented, the test points are specified. The tests are performed with three independent synchronized data acquisition systems that can acquire up to 24 electrical quantities. The hardware and software solutions are described. Examples of using the presented solutions to record some electric quantities are provided. Real time information are obtained using the data acquisition structure along with the software packages dedicated to the data analysis and processing. At the end waveforms recorded in various points of the power group are provided.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now categorizes skin cancer as epidemic. Nearly 90% of these deadly cancers start from sun exposure during the childhood years. This makes sun exposure in school-age children a serious public health risk, also one that school nurses can address. Solar radiation is now classified as a "known human carcinogen," with ultraviolet rays joining the ranks of other known cancer-causing elements such as tobacco, arsenic, and radon. Sun exposure to unprotected skin results in painful burns, premature aging, cataracts, and weakened immune systems. School nurses can use the new CDC guidelines along with other local and state resources to develop a specific skin cancer prevention program for their schools. They are in a pivotal position to partner with students, parents, administrators, teachers, and coaches to reduce the occurrence of skin cancer in children. The article describes one high school's skin cancer prevention project.


The global financial crisis that started with the U.S. subprime market meltdown is the most severe since the Great Depression, but it shares much commonality with historic cycles of market manias, panics and crashes. An exposition of the key dimensions of the crisis, such as excess liquidity, leverage, and risk-taking, draws attention to the interplay of unique policy, institutional, and market factors in an evolving global economy. These factors also underlie prevailing attitudes of policymakers, investors, and market institutions that are likely to effect future market upheavals. Expanding on insights from the Scripture, in particular lessons from the experiences of the Old Testament personalities of Joseph and Daniel as well as Biblical teachings on indebtedness and risk-bearing, elements of a framework of Biblical perspectives on market fragilities are discussed. Stewardship principles for the Christ follower, whether in the role of policymaker, corporate manager, or investor, are suggested.


This paper describes the detection of a paraprotein in blood or urine in 12 of 260 patients with 'idiopathic' proteinuria, most of whom presented with the nephrotic syndrome. None had myeloma at presentation and only two have developed it. Initial clinical and biochemical findings did not suggest paraprotein-associated disease, total serum globulins and individual immunoglobulin levels usually being in the normal range. In seven of the 12 cases the paraprotein was detected only after repeated analysis of serum and urine specimens over months or years. Renal histopathology varied from case to case and is described in detail; amyloid deposition did not occur in patients who excreted kappa chain Bence Jones protein and was extensive in only three. One of these eventually developed myeloma. Patients were aged 27--69 years at onset and were observed without specific therapy for up to 56 months. Glomerular filtration rate tended to decline and proteinuria persisted. All patients have now been treated by a chemotherapeutic regimen consisting of 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU), cyclophosphamide, melphalan, and prednisolone, in repeated short courses. In some patients, particularly those who had kappa Bence Jones protein, there was striking improvement. Overall survival is good, eight patients being alive 17--90 months after the onset of symptoms. The importance of repeated search for paraprotein in apparently idiopathic renal disease in adults is emphasized.


The baby hatch is a prefabricated structure, easily reachable, formed by two small rooms; it offers total anonymity to the women who leave their baby, and maximum security to the small child. The mother who decides to leave a child enters a room without passing through control, must open a tilting window and lay him in a cradle located in an adjoining room, which is maintained at a constant temperature in all four seasons. An alarm, activated by a volumetric and contact sensor, immediately draws the attention of the first aid triage operators. A camera frames only the bed where the child lies and does not take a picture of the face of the person who puts the child in it.


Abstract This paper presents an enhanced haptic-enabled master-slave teleoperation system which can be used to provide force feedback to surgeons in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). One of the research goals was to develop a combined-control architecture framework that included both direct force reflection (DFR) and position-error-based (PEB) control strategies. To achieve this goal, it was essential to measure accurately the direct contact forces between deformable bodies and a robotic tool tip. To measure the forces at a surgical tool tip and enhance the performance of the teleoperation system, an optical force sensor was designed, prototyped, and added to a robot manipulator. The enhanced teleoperation architecture was formulated by developing mathematical models for the optical force sensor, the extended slave robot manipulator, and the combined-control strategy. Human factor studies were also conducted to (a) examine experimentally the performance of the enhanced teleoperation system with the optical force sensor, and (b) study human haptic perception during the identification of remote object deformability. The first experiment was carried out to discriminate deformability of objects when human subjects were in direct contact with deformable objects by means of a laparoscopic tool. The control parameters were then tuned based on the results of this experiment using a gain-scheduling method. The second experiment was conducted to study the effectiveness of the force feedback provided through the enhanced teleoperation system. The results show that the force feedback increased the ability of subjects to correctly identify materials of different deformable types. In addition, the virtual force feedback provided by the teleoperation system comes close to the real force feedback experienced in direct MIS. The experimental results provide design guidelines for choosing and validating the control architecture and the optical force sensor.


The aim of this paper is to present a non-exhaustive set of 36 design patterns for interactive social applications used by older adults. This proposal represents a reliable starting point for designers/developers to easily incorporate usability in interfaces for said technology promoting technology acceptance, use and adoption among older adults. The proposed patterns were based on previous efforts commonly presented as a design criteria and guidelines to describe usability issues in this kind of interfaces, reinforcing those alternatives by specifying related usability issues and providing solutions in a pattern-fashion useful for designers/developers. Pertinence of the patterns was analyzed through a usability study implementing «heuristic evaluation» technique (frequently used in Human-Computer Interaction to obtain users' perception on a particular design). The study was conducted from two perspectives: the vantage point from experts, and the perception of a social group of older adults. The analysis revealed the proposed patterns are conducive to create well-designed interfaces able to provide a better user experience, encouraging a positive impact in the quality of life in older adults.


ABSTRACT The entomopathogenic properties of Brevibacillus laterosporus UNISS 18 against insects are well documented. Here, we report the whole-genome sequence of this strain, which revealed the presence of several insecticide action-related genes. The deriving genetic information will help to elucidate the mechanisms underlying strain specificity and virulence against diverse target pests.


Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) combine cyber capabilities (computation and/or communication) with physical capabilities (motion or other physical processes). Cars, aircraft, and robots are prime examples, because they move physically in space in a way that is determined by discrete computerized control algorithms. Designing these algorithms to control CPSs is challenging due to their tight coupling with physical behavior. At the same time, it is vital that these algorithms be correct, since we rely on CPSs for safetycritical tasks like keeping aircraft from colliding. In this course we will strive to answer the fundamental question posed by Jeannette Wing:


OBJECTIVES
This paper aims to explore the cost-effectiveness of reduced doses or discontinuation of etanercept biosimilar (Yisaipu) in patients with moderately active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODS
A discrete event simulation model was developed to project lifetime medical costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) in moderately active RA. Strategies starting with Yisaipu 50 mg/week for nine months following Yisaipu 50 mg/week, 25 mg/week or MTX maintenance were compared. Resource consumptions related to RA were estimated from the perspective of the Chinese health care system. An endpoint of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) response was used to estimate the utility scores. Uncertainty in model parameters was analysed by sensitivity analyses.

RESULTS
When using ACR as an endpoint for determining successful treatment, strategies starting with Yisaipu 50 mg/week for nine months following Yisaipu 50 mg/week or 25 mg/week maintenance showed the greatest number of QALYs gained (nearly 11.9 and 11.3 with or without rituximab after the failure of Yisaipu, respectively). If decision makers use a threshold of 3×the per capita GDP of China or Shanghai City in 2012, then the strategies most likely to be cost-effective are initial treatment with Yisaipu 50 mg/week for nine months following MTX maintenance and Yisaipu 25 mg/week maintenance, respectively. Results were sensitive to the cost of Yisaipu.

CONCLUSIONS
The analysis indicates that, in China, replacing branded etanercept with Yisaipu is likely to be a cost-effective strategy in patients with moderately active RA.


Most of the current station plazas are now left behind as spaces for road traffic in order to deal with increasing traffic demands especially in suburban areas. This paper aims to examine a methodology for the improvement of the spatial design of station plazas that can restore the inherent functions of plazas, open spaces for conviviality and sociability. Firstly, the method to determine an appropriate environmental space rate for station plazas was developed in order to strike a balance between road space for traffic and environmental space for people. Based on this consideration, the necessity to set up a new additional standard for station plaza planning was addressed. Secondly, the paper developed a system of indicators to assess social usability that enables us to identify problematic station plazas among existing ones. Finally, design principles for the improvement of station plazas with higher usability were proposed


The migration of wild birds plays an important role in the transmission and spread of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, posing a severe risk to animal and human health. Substantial evidence suggests that altered gut microbial community is implicated in the infection of respiratory influenza virus. However, the influence of H5N1 infection in gut microbiota of migratory birds remains unknown. In January 2015, a novel recombinant H5N1 virus emerged and killed about 100 migratory birds, mainly including whooper swans in Sanmenxia Reservoir Area of China. Here, we describe the first fecal microbiome diversity study of H5N1-infected migratory birds. By investigating the influence of H5N1 infection on fecal bacterial communities in infected and uninfected individuals, we found that H5N1 infection shaped the gut microbiota composition by a difference in the dominance of some genera, such as Aeromonas and Lactobacillus. We also found a decreased α diversity and increased β diversity in infectious individuals. Our results highlight that increases in changes in pathogen-containing gut communities occur when individuals become infected with H5N1. Our study may provide the first evidence that there are statistical association among H5N1 presence and fecal microbiota compositional shifts, and properties of the fecal microbiota may serve as the risk of gut-linked disease in migrates with H5N1 and further aggravate the disease transmission.


We are interested here in the reactivity of magnetic nanoparticles at the electrode-electrolyte interface with the aim of the electrochemical synthesis of magnetic and conductive liquids (electronic conduction). The reactivity of charged colloidal particles occurs through a two steps process, the first being the approach toward the electrode with a possible adsorption phenomenon and the second step, the electron transfer. In this first paper we focus on the approach and the deposition of well-defined gamma-Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles onto conductive substrates like mercury and gold under different conditions in order to vary the interactions particle/substrate especially the electrostatic interactions. The approach of the particles near the electrodes is estimated from the electrochemical currents related to the transformation of the particles. This electrochemical method is validated by coupling several techniques on gold electrodes: direct imaging by atomic force microscopy and study of kinetics by reflectometry. The results show that the electrochemical currents are always associated to adsorption of the particles, so that the electrochemical method can be used to estimate the adsorption of the particles, thus to follow the kinetics. The influence of the electrostatics on the occurrence of adsorption highly depends on the nature of the substrate and on the nature of the colloidal suspension. (ions, pH, ionic strength): whereas electrostatics governs the deposits in some cases, it is totally dominated by other interactions in other cases. Therefore, it seems difficult to predict a priori the existence of adsorption. However, when a deposit occurs, the kinetics and the maximal coverage of the substrates are controlled by the electrostatic interactions between the particles already adsorbed and those, close to the interface, in the bulk of the solution.


Introduction: Among endocrine disorders commonly encountered in pediatric age group, thyroid diseases are more frequent. Congenital hypothyroidism is one of the major problems in this age with worldwide incidence of 1:30004000 live birth and in India it is 1:2500-2800. Objectives: The aim of this study is to know the prevalence of thyroid diseases in newborn and children by hormonal evaluation. Methodology: We have studied 50 children suspected of having signs and symptoms of thyroid diseases. Hormonal evaluation was done by the estimation of serum TSH, T3 and T4. Results: Out of total 50 children, 16 were detected with abnormal hormone level and diagnosed having thyroid diseases. Out of 16 affected children, 4 had congenital hypothyroidism (25%), 6 had subclinical or acquired hypothyroidism (37.5%), 3 had autoimmune thyroiditis (18.75%) and 3 had goiter with graves disease (18.75%). Conclusion: Congenital hypothyroidism is one of the major preventable thyroid disease if diagnosed early. Other thyroid diseases commonly seen in pediatric age are subclinical hypothyroidism, autoimmune thyroiditis, goiter and rarely hyperthyroidism.


Based on the principle of Fresnel diffraction and Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm, an effective method for designing binary optical diffractive elements (BODE) is presented. The objective light distribution, generated by a BODE designed by this method, is not sensitive to laser mode. A BODE, used in quenching treatment of CO2 laser, was designed and fabricated by photolithography and ion etching techniques. The element could transform a CO2 laser beam into rectangle beam shape with dimensions 12 mm×2 mm. The experimental results are satisfactory for the quenching treatment .


Abstract Purpose: The aim of this study was to study temporal changes in metabolite profiles in patients with post-acute coronary syndrome (ACS), in particular prior to the development of recurrent ACS (reACS). Methods: BIOMArCS (BIOMarker study to identify the Acute risk of a Coronary Syndrome) is a prospective study including patients admitted for ACS, who underwent high-frequency blood sampling during 1-year follow-up. Within BIOMArCS, we performed a nested case-cohort analysis of 158 patients (28 cases of reACS). We determined 151 metabolites by nuclear magnetic resonance in seven (median) blood samples per patient. Temporal evolution of the metabolites and their relation with reACS was assessed by joint modelling. Results are reported as adjusted (for clinical factors) hazard ratios (aHRs). Results: Median age was 64 (25th–75th percentiles; 56–72) years and 78% were men. After multiple testing correction (p < 0.001), high concentrations of extremely large very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) particles (aHR 1.60/SD increase; 95%CI 1.25–2.08), very large VLDL particles (aHR 1.60/SD increase; 95%CI 1.25–2.08) and large VLDL particles (aHR 1.56/SD increase; 95%CI 1.22–2.05) were significantly associated with reACS. Moreover, these longitudinal particle concentrations showed a steady increase over time prior to reACS. Among the other metabolites, no significant associations were observed. Conclusion: Post-ACS patients with persistent high concentrations of extremely large, very large and large VLDL particles have increased risk of reACS within 1 year.


Serial bone marrow aspirates were taken from a single site in each of nine individuals. The colony forming capacity of these samples, measured by culturing the cells in semi-solid agar in diffusion chambers, fell as the aspirate volume increased. Comparison of the results from different individuals showed that this effect was consistent within the group and may be useful as a simple method for standardizing results from human bone marrow cultures.


: This article addresses the problem that fluctuations in the torque of an internal combustion engine (ICE) lead to additional energy losses, as it causes fluctuations in the speed and kinetic energy of the car. These losses increase as the frequency of oscillations of the torque of the internal combustion engine approaches the frequency of free (natural oscillations) of the running gear of the car in the longitudinal direction. If there is an elastic connection between the traction force and the movement of the car, the movement of the latter can be represented as complex. At the same time, the portable movement is uniform, and the relative movement is oscillatory. This article presents the results of the study of these losses for cars with mechanical and combined electromechanical drive wheels. Analytical expressions are obtained, which allows to take into account additional energy losses including the tangential rigidity of the tire and the rigidity of the suspension in the longitudinal direction. When using a combined electromechanical drive of the drive wheels as well as in the case of a mechanical transmission of a car, the resonance is dangerous. But with the increase in the share of torque k em on the wheel generated by the electric motor, the relative additional energy losses for the movement of the car are reduced.


Summary form only given. We present an approach to the admission control, resource allocation and routing problem in connection-oriented networks that offer multiple services to users. Users' preferences are summarized by means of their utility functions, and each user is allowed to request more than one type of service. Each requested service may be delivered over one of many possible routes, and must satisfy certain quality of service (QoS) requirements. We assume that the relation between QoS and resource allocation is given, and incorporate it as a constraint into a static optimization problem. The objective is to determine the amount of required resources and route for each type of service so as to satisfy the QoS requirements and maximize a welfare function that is equal to the sum of the users' utilities. We describe a competitive market economy that achieves the objective and satisfies the informational constraints imposed by the nature of the decentralized resource allocation and routing problem. We briefly describe the market economy, the problem's information structure and market mechanism.


Hearing threshold of 40 patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 and 20 healthy controls were determined using pure tone audiometry of frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 Hz and evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOAEs). The hypoacusis was bilateral, progressive and neurosensory nature, affecting the higher frequencies. Subjects with diabetes type 2 were more likely to have a hearing loss than were subjects without diabetes (95% vs 65%). This difference was statistically significant. Hearing loss was significantly correlated with age and duration of diabetes. Evoked otoacoustic emissions found out only in 2 patients with normal hearing. The results suggest that EOAEs doesn't show subclinical cochlear damage in diabetic patients because of the significant hearing loss.


The charge-density-wave transition in TiSe (2), which results in a commensurate (2x2x2) superlattice at temperatures below approximately 200 K, presumably involves softening of a zone-boundary phonon mode. For the first time, this phonon-softening behavior has been examined over a wide temperature range by synchrotron x-ray thermal diffuse scattering.


The extraction of high quality total ribonucleic acid (RNA) has become an essential step for downstream plant molecular biology research. In oil palm, several total RNA extraction protocols have been reported across specific tissues using either conventional method or commercial kits. To our knowledge, there is no specific total RNA extraction method described for oil palm whole fruit which contains lipids, polysaccharides, protein, polyphenols and other secondary metabolites. Here, a modified cetyltrimethylammonium bromidelithium chloride (CTAB-LiCl) method with addition of phenol was established to extract total RNA across various oil palm tissues, especially for whole fruit at eight weeks after anthesis (WAA) and 15 WAA. To assess the extracted total RNA, quality and quantity as well as integrity were evaluated using spectrophotometer and bioanalyser, respectively. It was found that modified CTAB-LiCl method with addition of phenol was able to produce good quality (both A260/A280 and A260/A230 ratios > 1.8) and intact (RIN > 7.4) total RNA. Furthermore, reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was successfully performed across all total RNA extracted using two reference genes (PD00569 and pOPEA01332) and one gene of interest, ethylene-responsive transcription factor-3 like, designated as PD00088. The results indicated that the method is suitable for extraction of total RNA from whole fruit as well as other oil palm tissues and is amenable to RT-qPCR.


We propose a new approach to value-directed belief state approximation for POMDPs. The value directed model allows one to choose approximation methods for belief state monitoring that have a small impact on decision quality. Using a vector space analysis of the problem, we devise two new search procedures for selecting an approximation scheme that have much better computational properties than existing methods, Though these provide looser error bounds, we show empirically that they have a similar impact on decision quality in practice, and run up to two orders of magnitude more quickly.


Geographic Information Retrieval (GIR) is a specialized branch of traditional Information Retrieval (IR), which deals with the information related to geographic locations. One of the main challenges of GIR is to quantify the spatial relevance of documents and generate a pertinent ranking of the results according to the spatial information needs of user. Most of the current methods judge the relevance of documents just based on textual and spatial similarity with the query, and ranked the results with a linear combination of these similarity measures. We consider relevance ranking as a much more dynamic problem stemming from real world application such as location based mobile services, where user not only seek information but there is a decision making involved with the search i.e. to visit the location. In this paper we discuss current ranking phenomenon in geographic information retrieval, present different relevant parameters based on our initial study, and argue for the need of a formal relevance framework and ranking mechanism for geographical information retrieval. We approach GIR ranking as a spatial decision problem to support user's activity, and propose the idea to explore decision-theoretic framework and probabilistic representation for geo relevance formalization.


This paper presents a method for 3D surface reconstruction using a deformable model, which integrates fuzzy techniques, deformable model and the level set method. In order to make the result much less sensitive to the initial conditions and noise, fuzzy external forces that drive the model towards surface of object are developed based on a adaptive fuzzy segmentation algorithm. We represent the deformable model as a level set of a 3D scalar function so that the deformable model can reconstruct the 3D surface of the object with complex geometries and topologies. Results of several experiments are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.


A method using gradient-based optimization is introduced for the design of wing profiles with the aim of natural laminar flow, as well as minimum wave drag. The Euler equations of gasdynamics, the laminar boundary-layer equations for compressible flows on infinite swept wings, and the linear parabolized stability equations (PSE) are solved to analyze the evolution of convectively unstable disturbances. Laminar‐turbulent transition is assumed to be delayed by minimizing a measure of the disturbance kinetic energy of a chosen disturbance, which is computed using the PSE. The shape gradients of the disturbance kinetic energy are computed based on the solutions of the adjoints of the state equations just named. Numerical tests are carried out to optimize the RAE 2822 airfoil with the aim to delay simultaneously the transition, reduce the pressure drag coefficient, and maintain the coefficients of lift and pitch moments. Constraints are also applied on the geometry. Results show a reduction of the total amplification of a large number of disturbances, which is assumed to represent a delay of the transition in the boundary layer. Because delay of the transition implies reduction of the viscous drag, the present method enables shape optimization to perform viscous drag reduction.


This study investigates relationships between teacher characteristics and teachers' beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning and the extent to which teachers claim awareness of their students' mathematical dispositions. A professional background survey, a beliefs and awareness survey, and a teacher mathematical knowledge assessment were administered to 259 novice upper-elementary and 184 novice middle-grades teachers. Regression analyses revealed statistically significant relationships between teachers' beliefs and awareness and teachers' mathematical knowledge, special education certification, race, gender, and the percentage of their students with free and reduced meal status. This report offers interpretations of findings and implications for mathematics teacher education.


CARE In the U.S., healthcare is a $2.4 trillion industry, and health information technology costs exceed $65 billion per year. Healthcare expenditures are currently at 17% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product and are expected to rise to 20% by 2017. Improving the information available to physicians and streamlining the delivery of quality care can help stem rising healthcare costs. Through enormous investment in research, the needed information is often available but located in a variety of sources that are difficult and time consuming to use. Due to time constraints, physicians are rarely able to conduct online searches to sufficiently answer patient-specific, clinical or administrative questions at the point of care. Existing search engines don't fit the particular physician needs and preferences giving either too little or too much information. MedSocket is an innovative and patent-pending search engine that implements an information retrieval system from a physician's point-of-view. Also accessible from mobile devices, it will provide convenient and useful access to medical information sources to answer all types of questions. MedSocket offers a single user interface and is highly customized to search medical information, enabling a simultaneous search of the best online resources; a user's personal digitized knowledge stored in notes, emails or documents; and a hospital or departmental intranet. To achieve an optimal search experience, it integrates into electronic health record systems and offers many levels of personalization. MedSocket will utilize the user's medical context, query different content sources (set by user), and deliver only results most relevant to the user. Allowing easy and instant access to current research results, MedSocket will speed the information delivery to the patient's bedside, which currently could take as long as 17 years. MedSocket has the capability to greatly improve care delivered by physicians and make a significant impact on the U.S. healthcare system.


To date, multinational corporations have had no direct human rights obligations under international law. Nonetheless, international lawyers can no longer ignore the increasing role of non-state actors in international society. This chapter first explores the factual and normative dimensions of international corporation responsibility for human rights violations. It then analyzes existing mechanisms and new proposals for enhancing the accountability of transnational corporations, either through the use of 'soft' instruments, domestic jurisdictional mechanisms or through the extension of international individual criminal responsibility to corporations. This chapter will argue that to date no attempt to take on direct international corporate responsibility has led to the inclusion of corporations as formal participants in the international legal system.


A "slicing structure" or a hierarchical partition of the display space is an efficient way to present photo collections. However, with different aspect ratios or areas of basic blocks, the prevalent framework creates a number of irregular dead spaces that remain unfilled. In this paper, an efficient solution to reduce or completely eliminate these dead spaces is developed by globally adjusting positions and sizes of basic blocks. The gutter thickness is also uniquely specified to augment the aesthetic appeal. We present a detailed description of the aesthetic solution with experiments to demonstrate its efficiency.


A fundamental challenge in large-scale multiagent systems (MAS) is to enhance network-related dynamical processes such as establishing social convention in a decentralized fashion by regulating the behavior of the artificial autonomous agents. In my dissertation, I plan to study the specific problem of communication convention formation as a dynamic semiotic process over a large-scale MAS. In a semiotic process, a group of artificial agents collectively invent and negotiate about a shared language system that is used for communication. The landscape of the communication system will be captured through a hierarchy of interdependent networks where a semiotic network is built on top of an agent network. I propose a network theoretic investigation to determine its implications on the dynamic convention formation process and plan to develop a generalized theory of communication convention suitable for large-scale networked MAS. This theory will support predictions of system properties such as convergence dynamics across different temporal regions. Finally, an effective convention formation mechanism based on the generalized theory will be presented and evaluated for a real-world application domain.


Introduction Ampicillin is a new broad-spectrum penicillin that should be a useful and safe antimicrobial agent for the treatment of ocular infections. This agent is an acid stable semisynthesized substance and as such is absorbed well after oral administration. It is currently available from Bristol Laboratories for oral use as Polycillin, 250 mg capsules. This study was undertaken to determine the ocular penetration of ampicillin in human subjects after oral administration. Ampicillin levels in aqueous and blood plasma were determined after administration of a single dose of 250 mg, 1,000 mg, or 2,000 mg orally. In addition, the ocular and plasma levels were determined in several patients who received multiple doses of ampicillin. Studies at the relatively low dosage of 250 mg were prompted by the previous observations of its excellent ocular penetration in rabbits 1 and the suggestions by Bunn et al 2 that a dose of 250 mg


Narasimham Committee in 1991 and the licensing of the new private sector banks through the next two decades inaugurated an era of change. Meanwhile, the opening-up of the economy to increased participation by foreign players created greater opportunities for foreign banks to work with their multinational clients in India. In the more recent past, foreign banks have followed Indian corporate entities in their outbound expansions. The survival of the banking system in India through the financial crisis has demonstrated its strengths and most foreign banks present in India believe that India is a market with undeniable potential.
After the setting up of Foreign Banks in India, the banking sector has become competitive and customer friendly. In that, four foreign banks have set up shop in the recent past. At present, there are 43 foreign banks operating in India with a network of 334 branches.


Nested relations, built up from atomic types via product and set types, form a rich data model. Over the last decades the nested relational calculus, NRC, has emerged as a standard language for defining transformations on nested collections. NRC is a strongly-typed functional language which allows building up transformations using tupling and projections, a singleton-former, and a map operation that lifts transformations on tuples to transformations on sets. In this work we describe an alternative declarative method of describing transformations in logic. A formula with distinguished inputs and outputs gives an implicit definition if one can prove that for each input there is only one output that satisfies it. Our main result shows that one can synthesize transformations from proofs that a formula provides an implicit definition, where the proof is in an intuitionistic calculus that captures a natural style of reasoning about nested collections. Our polynomial time synthesis procedure is based on an analog of Craig's interpolation lemma, starting with a provable containment between terms representing nested collections and generating an NRC expression that interpolates between them. We further show that NRC expressions that implement an implicit definition can be found when there is a classical proof of functionality, not just when there is an intuitionistic one. That is, whenever a formula implicitly defines a transformation, there is an NRC expression that implements it.


'EchoCath, Inc, Princeton, NJ, and 'h4ayo Foundation, Rochester, MN Abstract - The Rayleigh resolution criterion, or its near analogue, the full-width, half-maximum beam width, is not appropriate for comparing the imaging performance of scanned-beam, medical ultrasound imaging systems: these criteria ignore the low-level outlying parts of the beam that have a significant impact on the image of such wide dynamic range systems. We propose a resolution metric for such systems that is the radius of a spherical void (in a uniformly backscattering continuum) that produces a given (averaged) dip in backscattered signal power when scanned. Which beam pattern produces the best "cystic resolution" (as we call this measure) is dependent upon the dynamic range of the beam patterns are compared using using the old imaging system. The imaging performance of several resolution criteria and this new metric.


Since the 1950s the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has grouped the states into eight regions based primarily on cross-sectional similarities in their socioeconomic characteristics. This paper groups states into regions based on the similarities in their business cycles. We applied k-means cluster analysis to the cyclical components of Stock-Watson-type indices estimated at the state level to group the 48 contiguous states into eight regions with similar cycles. We then compare the cohesion of the regions so defined with the cohesion of the BEA regions. Finally, we examine how that definition affects the results of some recent regional business cycle analysis.


The activity system is the unit of analysis, the analytic lens at which learning is perceived, in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT, hereafter AT). Pictorially, the activity system is represented as a triangular structure of interconnected relationships formed between its six components (subject, object, community, instruments, rules, and division of labour). The significance of the activity system hinges on its capacity to define and analyse contradictions. Contradictions is a hallmark concept within AT defined as "sources of change and development" driving the activity system (Engestrom, 2001, p 137). With an aim to understand the activity system, I first give a brief overview of its historical development, followed by an analysis of the ways in which the mathematics educational community has operationalised this unit of analysis. I argue that the activity system ought to be methodologically used in ways that allow researchers to broaden the exploration of contradictions. In particular, I suggest that nesting the activity system within broader institutional and cultural-historical contexts provides an innovative view adept for the analysis of contradictions.


The Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) project provides an integrated, globally covered dataset. The dataset obtained in CEOP buildup phase 1 includes in-situ data at 16 reference sites, model outputs at two numerical weather prediction centers as well as satellite products that cover the period from July to September, 2001. Based on this dataset at the reference sites, we indicate that gaps between prediction and observation are less for some variables (air temperature, humidity, and net radiation) than for other variables (shortwave radiation, and longwave radiation, sensible heat, latent heat). These gaps are not only caused by observing errors and modeling errors, but also by the footprint mismatching. Through the comparison, we suggest that downward shortwave radiation is generally overestimated, and downward longwave radiation is underestimated. However, the differences between observations and model output cannot be simply deemed as model errors in most cases. Instead, their differences may be related to the representativeness of in situ observations. Model intercomparisons suggest that the representative scales may be correlated with model uncertainties. * Corresponding author address: Kun Yang, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan. e-mail: email@example.com


In Sweden the Consumer Sales Act (Konsumentkoplagen 1990:932) is applied on sales of movables, when the seller is a businessman and the buyer is a consumer. The law was modified in 2002 after an EU-initiated directive - Directive on the Sales of Consumer Goods and Associated Guarantees (1999/44/EC). The directive applies to all member states in the EU and sets out the minimum level of consumer protection, which the member states are required to implement into national law.

The implementation of the directive into the Consumer Sales Act modified some of the previous rules in the act and altered the balance between the buyer and the seller. One clear example of this, which is thoroughly examined in the thesis is the 20 a §. This paragraph states that - Unless proven otherwise, a defect which becomes apparent within six months of delivery of the goods shall be presumed to have existed at the time of delivery unless this presumption is incompatible with the nature of the goods or the defect. The consequence for sales of horses, as with sales of all movables, is that through the incorporation of the 20 a §, the burden of proof has been reversed during the first six months after delivery. The rule creates a situation for the seller where he is bound to guarantee that the goods, i.e. the horse will not go through any changes during six months use, in spite of new conditions for the animal such as different living environment and different treatment, fodder, riding techniques, training etc.

By comparing different laws created to protect consumers, interesting conclusions can be drawn. The most relevant and interesting comparison when it comes to sale of horses is between the Consumer Sales Act and the Consumer Services Act (Konsumenttjanstlagen 1985:716) These two consumer laws are constructed for the same purpose – to protect the consumer in relation to a businessman. However, the Consumer Services Act does not apply to services related to live animals (whilst the Consumer Sales Act does). The legal persons who are considered as businessmen and consumers in both acts are in fact often the same persons. The businessman selling a horse to a consumer is often the same businessman who offers services to the consumer. The difference is that when buying a horse, the consumer is protected by the Consumer Sales Act and any agreement that limits the level of protection set out in the Consumer Sales Act is null and void. When the same consumer is buying services from the same businessman he is not in the same advantageous position since services related to live animals are excluded from the Consumer Services Act. The situations regarding services related to live animals are instead regulated through specific agreements between the parties. In my opinion, the legislator can not possibly have observed this distinction between the different laws. To make an amendment to the Consumer Sales Act, where sale of live animals are excluded, does hereby not seem impracticable, but rather the logical step to take. Furthermore the preparatory motives to the Consumer Sales Act do not handle any questions regarding live animals, while the motives to the Consumer Services Act do handle the matter thoroughly. This stresses the need for this important question to be investigated and regulated further.

The law that regulates the purchase or sales of horses are regulated in the same way as any sales of goods, due to the fact that horses and other living animals are regarded as movables and unascertained goods. Applying the Consumer Sales Act on live animals creates problems in a number of ways. The legal system seeks to balance the relationship between the buyer and the seller. When it comes to sale of horses this balance is pushed to far in favour of the consumer, since the seller during the first six months after a sale bears all risks for an animal that he has no control or influence over .To modify the legal system in order to restore the balance there must be an amendment to the Consumer Sales Act whereby sales of horses should be exempt from the Consumer Sales Act. Instead sales of horses should be governed by the Sale of Goods Act (Koplagen 1990:931). If the purchase of a horse is regulated by the Sale of Goods Act, then the purchase could be regulated through a standard agreement, specifically suited to the special demands attributable to the sale of Horses, which in my opinion would facilitate the sale of horses, to the benefit of both the consumer and the horse industry.


There has been a worldwide epidemic increasing in the prevalence of sedentary, overweight and obesity that comes with modernity and urbanization (Wang et al., 2002). The consequence is the development of insulin resistance (IR) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). This is classically defined as a metabolic disease that occurs due to a higher IR that leads to a slow setting of lower insulin production (more relative than absolute), in general in adult age. T2D is associated also with a genetic predisposition. The majority of T2D individuals are overweight or obese and the ones who do not, at least present increased abdominal adipose mass (ADA, 1997). The rising prevalence of overweight and obesity is happening also in children and adolescents (Pinhas-Hamiel et al., 1996; Willi & Egede, 2000; Rosenbloom et al., 1999). The metabolic syndrome (MS), which physiopathology is based on IR, shows the same trend in children and adolescents (Jago et al., 2008), as well as isolated pre-diabetes (Li et al., 2009). In parallel, it has been seen an elevation in the number of type 1 diabetes (T1D) cases and its establishment at a younger age (EURODIAB ACE Study Group, 2000). T1D is characterized primarily by a pancreatic beta cell destruction, which may lead to ketosis. It can be classified as autoimmune (with positive anti-islet, anti-insulin, anti-GAD, anti-IA2 and/or anti-IA2 beta antibodies) or idiopathic, in which no autoantibodies can be detected, and occurs more frequently in individuals of African-American or Asian origin. Multiple genetic predisposition and environmental factors are involved with T1D (ADA, 1997). At least one of those autoantibodies is present in 85-90% of T1D on diagnosis. The treatment for T1D consists of multiple insulin injections, known as intensive treatment, to obtain adequate glycemic control and therefore prevent micro (The DCCT Research Group, 1993) and macrovascular (Nathan et al., 2005 and 2003) chronic complications. However, it can be followed by weight gain most of the times (Arai et al., 2008), which can amplify the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in spite of good glycemic control. This weight gain can start on puberty and persist along adulthood (Särnblad et al., 2007). Therefore, some of these patients present clinical features of both T1D and T2D, confounding its classification. This phenotype was initially called double diabetes (DD) (Libman & Becker, 2003; Becker et al.,


Complex and persistant neuropsychiatric symptoms may appear due to different causes affecting certain parts of the brain. They may sometimes present as a psychiatric disorder without neurological symptoms.
Organic personality disorder is one of the psychiatric disorder following traumatic brain injury. Affective instability, impulsivity, agression, apathy or paranoid thoughts are basic symptoms.
In this paper, we report a case with psychiatric symptoms developed 2 months after the middle cerebral artery aneurysm surgery and considered due to the possible damage of the right medial temporal lobe.


Dependent type-theory aims to become the standard way to formalize mathematics at the same time as displacing traditional platforms for high-assurance programming. However, current implementations of type theory are still lacking, in the sense that some obvious truths require explicit proofs, making type-theory awkward to use for many applications, both in formalization and programming. In particular, notions of erasure are poorly supported. In this paper we propose an extension of type-theory with colored terms, color erasure and interpretation of colored types as predicates. The result is a more powerful type-theory: some definitions and proofs may be omitted as they become trivial, it becomes easier to program with precise types, and some parametricity results can be internalized.


Elementary state-space concepts are used to derive a transparent solution to the stationary H control problem. The main contribution of this solution is a novel representation of suboptimal controllers in terms of a pair of parametric Riccati equations with a coupling constraint. Unlike the classical parametrization in terms of linear fractional transformation, this state-space representation has a homogeneous Riccati formulation which should help to make the most out of the suboptimal controller diversity. Potential applications include the design of reduced-order controllers and more generally the selection of suboptimal controllers to meet or optimize additional constraints.


Maize production in Western Ethiopia is constrained by non-sustainable cropping practices, particularly repeated conventional tillage and insufficient N fertilization.  A change in these cropping practices have usually a profound influence on soil chemical properties of which some may affect crop performance.  Field trials were therefore conducted to determine the integrated effects of tillage system and nitrogen fertilization on the pH, extractable phosphorus and exchangeable K of Nitisols at five sites using maize as test crop from 2000 to 2004 in Western Ethiopia. Three tillage systems (MTRR = minimum tillage with residue retention, MTRV = minimum tillage with residue removal and CT = conventional tillage) and three N levels (the recommended rate and 25% less and 25% more than this rate) were combined in factorial arrangement with three replications. After five years the influence of the tillage systems on pH, extractable P and exchangeable K was confined to the upper 0-7.5 cm. The soil was acidified much more with MTRR than with either MTRV or CT. However, MTRR resulted in higher contents of extractable P and exchangeable K than MTRV and CT.  Application of N fertilization for five consecutive years significantly decreased pH irrespective of tillage system. Neither extractable P nor exchangeable K were affected by N fertilization. The enhanced soil acidification that coincides with MTRR may impact negatively on maize production in the long run without a proper liming program. Liming is currently not a common practice in Western Ethiopia because of resource poor farmers. This aspect should be taken into account when the replacement of CT with MTRR is recommended. The findings of this study could be useful to other highland regions in Africa where cropping on Nitisols is common.

 Key words: Conventional tillage, crop residues, minimum tillage, plant nutrients, soil acidity.


We demonstrate that the universal conductance fluctuations (UCF) can be used as a direct probe to study the valley quantum states in disordered graphene. The UCF magnitude in graphene is suppressed by a factor of four at high carrier densities where the short-range disorder essentially breaks the valley degeneracy of the K and K' valleys, leading to a density dependent crossover of symmetry class from symplectic near the Dirac point to orthogonal at high densities.


A large portion of the Galaxy (l = 123°-164°, b = -6° to -35°), which samples regions of the Local (Orion) spiral arm and the more distant Perseus arm, has been mapped with the Wisconsin Hα Mapper (WHAM) in the [S II] λ6716 and [N II] λ6583 lines. By comparing these data with the maps from the WHAM Hα Sky Survey, we begin an investigation of the global physical properties of the warm ionized medium (WIM) in the Galaxy. Several trends noticed in emission-line investigations of diffuse gas in other galaxies are confirmed in the Milky Way and extended to much fainter emission. We find that the [S II]/Hα and [N II]/Hα ratios increase as absolute Hα intensities decrease. For the more distant Perseus arm emission, the increase in these ratios is a strong function of Galactic latitude, b, and thus of height, z, above the Galactic plane, while the [S II]/[N II] ratio is relatively independent of Hα intensity. Scatter in this ratio appears to be physically significant, and maps of [S II]/[N II] suggest that regions with similar ratios are spatially correlated. The Perseus arm [S II]/[N II] ratio is systematically lower than local emission by 10%-20%. With [S II]/[N II] fairly constant over a large range of Hα intensities, the increase of [S II]/Hα and [N II]/Hα with |z| seems to reflect an increase in temperature. Such an interpretation allows us to estimate the temperature and ionization conditions in our large sample of observations. We find that WIM temperatures range from 6000 to 10,000 K, with temperature increasing from bright to faint Hα emission (low to high [S II]/Hα and [N II]/Hα), respectively. Changes in [S II]/[N II] appear to reflect changes in the local ionization conditions (i.e., the S+/S++ ratio). We also measure the electron scale height in the Perseus arm to be 1.0 ± 0.1 kpc, confirming earlier, less accurate determinations.


The Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) Experimentation Directorate (J9)'s recent Joint Urban Operations (JUO) experiments have demonstrated the viability of Forces Modeling and Simulation in a distributed environment. The JSAF application suite, combined with the RTI-s communications system, provides the ability to run distributed simulations with sites located across the United States, from Norfolk, Virginia to Maui, Hawaii. Interest-aware routers are essential for communications in the large, distributed environments, and the current RTI-s framework provides such routers connected in a straightforward tree topology. This approach is successful for small to medium sized simulations, but faces a number of significant limitations for very large simulations over high-latency, wide area networks. In particular, traffic is forced through a single site, drastically increasing distances messages must travel to sites not near the top of the tree. Aggregate bandwidth is limited to the bandwidth of the site hosting the top router, and failures in the upper levels of the router tree can result in widespread communications losses throughout the system. To resolve these issues, this work extends the RTI-s software router infrastructure to accommodate more sophisticated, general router topologies, including both the existing tree framework and a new generalization of the fully connected mesh topologies used in the SF Express ModSAF simulations of 100K fully interacting vehicles. The new software router objects incorporate the scalable features of the SF Express design, while optionally using low-level RTI-s objects to perform actual site-to-site communications. The (substantial) limitations of the original mesh router formalism have been eliminated, allowing fully dynamic operations. The mesh topology capabilities allow aggregate bandwidth and site-to-site latencies to match actual network performance. The heavy resource load at the root node can now be distributed across routers at the participating sites.


Background: PGE1 has been studied for prevention of CI-AKI in several RCTs and significant heterogeneous results exist. Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials up to December 26, 2017 for RCTs comparing PGE1 with placebo or other active medications for the prevention of CI-AKI in patients. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used for pooling dichotomous data, while mean difference and 95% confidence interval for pooling continuous data. Results: Seven RCTs involving 1760 patients were included in this meta-analysis. All these 7 trials reported the incidence of CI-AKI and compared with placebo or other treatment options, PGE1 was associated with a reduced risk of CI-AKI (OR: 0.38, 95% CI: 0.28–0.53; P < .001) and only a trend for lower post procedure serum creatinine (Scr) levels compared with control groups at 48 hours (MD: −0.03 mg/dL, 95% CI: −0.08 to 0.02 mg/dL; P = .25; 6 trials combined). But the postprocedure Scr levels were significantly reduced in PGE1 groups compared with control groups at 72 hours (MD: −0.07 mg/dL, 95% CI: −0.11 to −0.04 mg/dL; P < .001; 4 trials combined). We also meta-analyzed the postprocedure cystatin C (CysC) at 24 and 48 hours with 2 trials. There were lower postprocedure CysC levels in PGE1 groups than those in control groups (MD: −0.18 mg/L, 95% CI: −0.33 to −0.03 mg/L; P = .02 at 24 hours and MD: −0.14 mg/L, 95% CI: −0.23 to −0.06 mg/L; P = .001 at 48 hours). Conclusions: PGE1 provides effective nephroprotection against CI-AKI and may act as a part of effective prophylactic pharmacological regimens.


In this paper, we describe software modules that provide both visual and haptic feedback to the student, and evaluate their effectiveness. The system integrates software modules with a haptic interface that can augment teaching and learning in a required undergraduate engineering Dynamics course. Students can change parameters, predict answers, compare outcomes, interact with animations, and feel the results using a haptic interface. Three software modules were evaluated in two separate studies. The first study focused on subjective ratings based on student opinions. The second study assessed the effect of the modules on students' conceptual understanding for force and motion using a pretest/posttest design. The results revealed that the practice with the modules significantly improved the conceptual understanding of the targeted concepts. In addition, students showed a significant preference by stating that the modules would increase their interest in Dynamics as a subject and their engagement in the Dynamics course.


Prescribed opioids are routinely used for many postoperative patients. However, these medications have daunting adverse effects on the body's innate pain management system--the action of the beta-endorphins. The prescribed opioids not only severely impair the function of the mu-opioid receptors, but also inhibit the release of beta-endorphin. This is unfortunate, because beta-endorphin appears to be a much more potent agonist of the mu-opioid receptor than opioids. In addition, beta-endorphin indirectly elevates dopamine, a neurotransmitter related to feelings of euphoria. Therefore, by prescribing opioids, practitioners may inadvertently prolong and increase the overall intensity of the postoperative patients' pain as well as herald anhedonia. This article highlights the relationships between prescribed (exogenous) opioids, beta-endorphins, mu-opioid receptors, wellness, mood, and postoperative pain. The role of patient education, opioid alternatives, and additional recommendations regarding pain control in the postoperative patient are also discussed.


In this paper, we present an approach for conditioned and composed image retrieval based on CLIP features. In this extension of content-based image retrieval (CBIR) an image is combined with a text that provides information regarding user intentions, and is relevant for application domains like e-commerce. The proposed method is based on an initial training stage where a simple combination of visual and textual features is used, to fine-tune the CLIP text encoder. Then in a second training stage we learn a more complex combiner network that merges visual and textual features. Contrastive learning is used in both stages. The proposed approach obtains state-of-the-art performance for conditioned CBIR on the FashionIQ dataset and for composed CBIR on the more recent CIRR dataset.


Angina pectoris constitutes the only currently approved indication for nitroglycerin therapy. Recent demonstrations that intravenously administered vasodilators can quickly improve the hemodynamics of left ventricular failure1-3have led to widespread interest in the nitrates as potentially useful agents for long-term vasodilator therapy.4-6This has led to a rekindling of questions concerning the pharmacological efficacy of nonparenterally given nitrates and the use of hypotensive agents in acute myocardial infarction. Newer issues have also arisen regarding the mechanism of action of nitrates and their long-term effects in congestive heart failure. Controlled studies using objective hemodynamic criteria have clearly shown that orally administered nitrates are pharmacologically active.4-6It is likely that the high doses employed in these trials at least partially explain the departure from earlier animal studies that demonstrated lack of effect of orally administered nitrates due to hepatic biotransformation.7Whereas the hemodynamic efficacy of orally given nitrates


Silicon dioxide films are sputter deposited on polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) in an oxygen‐argon atmosphere at 200 °C. Electrical conduction and breakdown are measured at various gate fields and temperatures. In addition to the Fowler–Nordheim tunneling current reported for thermal oxide, the sputter‐deposited films have another, newly identified high‐activation‐energy current as electrical conduction mechanisms. The high‐activation‐energy current contribution to the total current is considerably reduced by increasing the oxygen mixing ratio and/or by decreasing the sputtering gas pressure, resulting in a considerable total current reduction. High‐activation‐energy current contributes little to the triggering of breakdown, unlike Fowler–Nordheim tunneling injections. In contrast to polysilicon thermal oxide, sputter‐deposited films on polysilicon have no observable field enhancement in Fowler–Nordheim tunneling current, which indicates smooth surfaces. Thus, electrical properties in oxygen‐argon sp...


Doped ceria is considered as an electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cell applications. The introduction of dopants in the ceria lattice will affect its electronic structure and, in turn, its ionic conductivity. Simulation of these issues using density functional theory becomes complicated by the random distribution of the constituent atoms. Here we use the generalized gradient approximation with on-site Coulomb interaction in conjunction with the special quasirandom structures method to investigate 18.75% and 25% Y, Gd, Sm, Pr, and La doped ceria. The calculated lattice constants and O migration energies allow us to explain the behavior of the conductivity as obtained in experiments.


We apply the recently developed asymmetric ARDL cointegration methodology of Shin et al. (2011) to analyse the relationship between agricultural financing and economic growth of Tanzania. In this approach, short run and long run asymmetries are introduced via positive and negative partial sum decompositions of exogenous variables, and the model is estimable by standard OLS. Our findings reveal supporting evidence of asymmetric interactions among the examined variables in the short run and long run. The findings further reveal that endogenous variables react differently to positive and negative shocks of exogenous variables. Positive shocks of agricultural financing have considerably larger positive impacts on economic growth compared to negative shocks, while any unfavourable economic conditions would clobber agricultural financing. In light of our findings, we conclude that the existing asymmetric relationship between agricultural financing and economic growth should be taken into account and the government should increase its financing of the agriculture sector.