Objectives Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have muscle weakness and stiff or painful joints might be at increased risk of falls. The present study prospectively determined the incidence of falls and risk factors in patients with RA who participated in the TOMORROW study (UMIN000003876) that began in 2010. Methods We evaluated anthropometric parameters, bone mineral density, disease activity and the incidence of falls for a period of 4 years in 202 patients with RA (mean age, 58.6 years; medication with biological agents, 54.9%) and 202 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers (Controls; mean age, 57.4 years). Results The incidence of falls did not differ significantly between patients with RA (n=96, 47.5%) and Controls (n=82, 40.6%) within the 4-year period. However, patients with RA fell significantly more frequently than controls (1.39 vs. 0.83 falls/4 years; p <0.05). After adjusting for risk factors for falls, including age, sex, smoking and body mass index, multiple regression analysis revealed history of falls as the parameter most significantly associated with incidence of falls (odds ratio [OR], 3.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.54–6.16; p =0.01) in patients with RA. Furthermore, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (CCP) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-3 levels at entry and mean values for MMP-3, modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ) score and glucocorticoid dosage (GC) over the 4 years were apparently related to the number of falls after adjusting for fall risk factors among patients (CCP, β =0.294; p <0.005; MMP-3 at entry, β =0.184, p =0.008; mean MMP-3, β =0.149, p =0.042; mean mHAQ, β =0.151, p =0.044; mean GC, β =0.154, p =0.029). Conclusions Incidence of falls did not differ significantly between patients with RA and Controls during a 4-year period, but more patients than Controls fell repeatedly. High levels of CCP and high doses of GC appear significantly associated with an increased frequency of falls among patients with RA. Disclosure of Interest K. Mamoto: None declared, K. Inui: None declared, T. Okano: None declared, Y. Sugioka: None declared, M. Tada: None declared, T. Koike Grant/research support from: Takeda Pharmaceutical, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Eisai, Abbott Japan, Teijin Pharma, Banyu Pharmaceutical and Ono Pharmaceutical, H. Nakamura: None declared


The current study investigates whether social interaction without communication between partners may influence preschoolers' flexibility. Fifty-three 5 year old Singaporean children were randomly assigned to three conditions of a block sorting task (Fawcett & Garton, 2005): playing individually, cooperating with another player, and competing against another player. To control for individual differences, before the block sorting task children were given four cognitive tasks testing vocabulary, short-term memory, and executive function, as well as two affective scales on mood and motivation. Separate one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed that although they performed the same on the cognitive tasks and the affective measures, children in the competition condition sorted blocks along significantly more dimensions compared to children in the individual condition. These results suggest that preschoolers' flexibility is sensitive to social contexts.


Objective: To assess the association between 24 hours urinary sodium and potassium excretion with blood pressure (BP) in rural and urban pygmies and Bantus of southern Cameroon. Design and method: In this cross-sectional survey, we compared 100 traditional pygmies (TP) living in equatorial forest (Lolodorf) and their 100 neighbors traditional Bantus (TB) living in Bidjouka village, to 100 contemporary pygmies (CP) and 100 contemporary Bantus (CB) both living in urban environment in Kribi city. Trained observers recorded in each participant lifestyle and socio-demographic data, height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure (BP), and 24 hours urine specimen. Brachial systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were measured in triplicate using an automatic sphygmomanometer (Omron 705 CP). The urinary sodium (UNaC) and potassium (UKC) concentration was determined by flame photometry. Results: Pygmies were younger than Bantus: mean age = 38 ± 16 vs 45 ± 17 years, p = 0.0001. UNaC and UKC were lower in Pygmies than in Bantus (1.91 ± 1.27 g/l vs 2.31 ± 1.11 g/l, and 2.33 ± 1.55 vs 2.65 ± 1.54, respectively, both p < 0.05). UNaC was similar within Pymy and Bantu groups. By contrast, UKC was higher in TP than CP (2.60 ± 1.1 vs 2.06 ± 1.34 g/l, p = 0.013), and in TB than CB (2.98 ± 1.64 vs 2.30 ± 1.34, p = 0.002). Age-adjusted SBP and DBP were lower in pygmies than in Bantus (both P < 0.0001), but were similar between TP and CP. UNaK > 2 g/l significantly increased SBP and DBP in the whole study population and in Bantus (all p < 0.01), but not in Pygmies. Age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension was lower in TP than in CP (4% vs 11%) and in TB compared with CB (19% vs 24%). Multivariate logistic regression model revealed that urban environment, increased age, abdominal obesity, UNaC, and sodium-to-potassium ratio were independent determinants of hypertension in Bantus (all p < 0.05), while increased age and urban environment were independently associated with hypertension in Pygmies (both p < 0.05). Conclusions: This study reveals that hunter-gatherer lifestyle is associated with low UNaC and high UKC which likely explain the lower prevalence of hypertension in Pygmies. Hypertension is more common in Bantus, mostly driven by unhealthy behaviours with high salt diet.


In this paper, the principle of the singular point detection in wavelet domain is analyzed, and the expression of amplitude of the energy function of the digital modulated mixture is derived, and the effect of the additive Gaussian noise is analyzed. A new single channel source number estimation algorithm is proposed based on the energy operator without any prior knowledge. The simulation result shows the efficiency of this algorithm.


Infrared spectroscopy has been used to characterise synthesised hydrotalcites of formula Mg(x)Zn(6 - x)Cr2(OH)16(CO3) x 4H2O and Ni(x)Co(6 - x)Cr2(OH)16(CO3) x 4H2O. The infrared spectra are conveniently subdivided into spectral features based (a) upon the carbonate anion (b) the hydroxyl units (c) water units. Three carbonate antisymmetric stretching vibrations are observed at around 1358, 1387 and 1482 cm(-1). The 1482 cm(-1) band is attributed to the CO stretching band of carbonate hydrogen bonded to water. Variation of the intensity ratio of the 1358 and 1387 cm(-1) modes is linear and cation dependent. By using the water bending band profile at 1630 cm(-1) four types of water are identified (a) water hydrogen bonded to the interlayer carbonate ion (b) water hydrogen bonded to the hydrotalcite hydroxyl surface (c) coordinated water and (d) interlamellar water. It is proposed that the water is highly structured in the hydrotalcite interlayer as it is hydrogen bonded to both the carbonate anion, adjacent water molecules and the hydroxyl surface.


The intestinal epithelium of Lumbricus consists of ciliated and gland cells. The former show striking histological features in the form of intracellular fibrils, pore-rings and variation (probably phasic) in appearance of the free border. The appearance of the epithelium during the expulsion of secretion is described, a process involving co-ordinated changes in both glands and ciliated cells. This process (referred to as extrusion) varies, and depending on the speed at which it proceeds, the two categories of restricted and unrestricted extrusion are defined. In both types ciliated cells assist glands in extrusion, but under certain conditions the events in both kinds of cell may occur independently. It is argued that contraction of the intracellular fibrils would account for all the observed deformations of the ciliated cells during extrusion, and the suggestion that the contractility of the ciliated cells is vested in their fibrils is supported by some other evidence. With this as a nucleus, a suggested mechanism of extrusion is described. The significance of the variable behaviour of the glands during extrusion is considered in relation to existing theories of extrusion, and the classification of glands into holocrine and merocrine.


Are religious experiences, experiences of God or Ultimate Reality are religious experiences merely a product of the human nervous system? In other words, are religious experiences sacred or merely neural? The starting point for this philosophical analysis has been that today, neuroscientists place different explanations at our disposal concerning what religious experiences are and what causes these experiences. For instance, some neuroscientists explain religious experiences in terms of consequences of a damaged, malfunctioning or mentally deranged brain. Others explain them in terms of existential crises. Again other neuroscientists maintain that religious experiences are correlated with the brain as do all human experiences. As the title reveals, the purpose of Sacred or Neural is to investigate the potential of contemporary neuroscientists to explain religious experiences. Therefore, the author particularly analyses and evaluates the research performed on religious experiences of the Canadian neuropsychologist Michael Persinger and the American neurologist Andrew Newberg and his fellow researcher, the late Eugene d'Aquili. The main question asked is in what way and to what extent can neuroscientists explain religious experience? To answer this question, the author establishes specific criteria for when an experience can be considered to be a religious one, she suggests models for how religious experiences can be explained interdisciplinary and presents erroneous and accurate ways of reduction. Her conclusion is that neuroscientists can explain religious experiences in a methodologically restricted way and to a methodologically limited extent. However, also philosophical and theological explanations are limited by their methods. To put it differently, as soon as we explain something, we have to reduce this something in some manner or to some extent, regardless academic discipline. Religious experiences are not sacred OR neural, but sacred AND neural. Hence there is a quest for interdisciplinarity.


Let $M$ be a closed connected manifold, $f$ be a Morse map from $M$ to a circle, $v$ be a gradient-like vector field satisfying the transversality condition. The Novikov construction associates to these data a chain complex $C_*=C_*(f,v)$. There is a chain homotopy equivalence between $C_*$ and completed simplicial chain complex of the corresponding infinite cyclic covering of $M$. The first main result of the paper is the construction of a functorial chain homotopy equivalence between these two complexes. The second main result states that the torsion of this chain homotopy equivalence equals to the Lefschetz zeta function of the gradient flow, if $v$ has only hyperbolic closed orbits.


ABSTRACT This essay traces the aspirations and limits of forgiveness in Prometheus Unbound and asks whether unbinding can ever amount to forgiving. The implications of unbinding are complicated by the manifold forms of bonds and bondage at stake in Shelley's drama and in the world in which he lived, from financial instruments to manacles. Their significance and reach call into question what it might mean to read and to historicize Shelley adequately today. The problem is further complicated by Shelley's understanding of language itself as a kind of bond, exemplified in the drama by the form of the curse, which poses a challenge to straightforward accounts of poetry's liberating power. To understand unbinding as forgiveness transforms both forgiveness and unbinding; rather than heroic liberation, we are confronted with a mournful but resolute kind of critical engagement that calls into question both the fixity of the past and Romanticism's supposed investment in futurity.


THE patient, a little girl aged 5, fell off some railings two years ago on to her forehead, and on the site of the blow there appeared a week or two afterwards a small spot which gradually spread. There was now an atrophic, depressed, yellowish patch about 6 in. long extending backwards from the right supra-orbital notch on to the scalp. No hair was present over the area of the lesion, and hairs pulled out from its margin showed a swollen, clear root-sheath. No micro-organisms could be detected in these swollen root-sheaths. The distribution of the lesion appeared to be strictly that of the right supra-orbital nerve. The mother was quite definite about the history of the blow, and ascribed the onset of the lesion to it.


Total saponins of Panax notoginseng (PNS) were given orally 100 mg/(kg.d) to rabbit for 8 wk. Aortic atherosclerotic plaque formation was restrained as compared to the control group. Radioimmunoassay was used to investigate the effects of PNS on the contents of prostacyclin in carotid artery and thromboxane A2 in blood platelets of rat. Oral administration of PNS 25,50,100 mg/(kg.d) for 10 d, the caused an increase of prostacyclin in carotid artery and a decrease of thromboxane A2 in blood platelets as compared to the control group. These results show that the anti-atherosclerotic action of PNS may be a result of the correction of the unbalance between prostacyclin and thromboxane A2.


Three-wave mixing was used to spectroscopically probe the interface electronic structure of a buried ZnSe/GaAs(001) heterointerface from 1.3 to 4.3 eV. An unusual resonance at 2.72 eV was observed and assigned to a virtual transition between the valence band of ZnSe and a quantum well state at the buried heterointerface. This assignment was confirmed by experiments that combine three-wave mixing with photoinduced band bending. The experiments also indicate the resonance may be a useful probe of defects at the buried interface


25 cultivars of Pumpkin are evaluated systematically during kharif season of 2013-14. Analysis of variance studies indicates significant differences among all the genotypes for all the characters under study. Majority of the characters like fruit diameter, seed cavity length, flesh thickness, placenta weight exhibit moderate PCV, GCV values and fruit weight exhibits higher GCV and PCV values. All the characters exhibited high broad sense heritability. High heritability coupled with high GCA for the characters fruit weight, fruit diameter, seed cavity length suggesting that they can be improved through direct selection due to predominant additive variation. Genetic diversity worked out using Mahalanobis D 2 statistic. Based on D 2 analysis, the genotypes were grouped into 5 different clusters, where the cluster V possessed higher number (8) of genotypes followed by the cluster I (5) cluster IV (5), III (3), II(2) and VI (2). The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between the clusters III, VI and cluster II, III that of minimum in between the Clusters V and Cluster VI. Key words: Genetic diversity, Genetic advance, Heritability, Genetic variability, D 2 analysis.


The paper reports on a study of bond strength between reduced-water-content concrete and tensile reinforcement in spliced mode. Three different diameters (12, 16 and 22 mm) of tensile steel were spliced in the constant moment zone, where there were two bars of same size in tension. For each diameter of reinforcement, a total of nine beams () were tested, of which three beams were with no axial force (positive bending) and the other six beams were with axial force (combined bending). The splice length was selected so that bars would fail in bond, splitting the concrete cover in the splice region, before reaching the yield point. It was found that there was a considerable size effect in the experimental results, i.e., as the diameter of the reinforcement reduced the bond strength and the deflection recorded at the midspan increased significantly, whilst the stiffness of the beams reduced. It was also found for all reinforcement sizes that higher bond strength and stiffness were obtained for beams tested in combined bending than that of the beams tested in positive bending only.


Naphthol AS is a coupling agent of cotton dyeing. 2 elderly women with hyperpigmentation of the neck and limbs are described. Both felt itching on the neck, forearms, and lower extremities and noted hyperpigmentation a month later Both had worn cotton flannel nightdresses in winter. Patch testing with cotton flannel and methanol extracts were positive, but after estraction with methanol, the residual flannel did not react. The methanol extracts of cotton flannel, were analysed. The patients were tested with 5 extracted components; Naphthol AS was found to be the causative agent.


Long-term regimen of psychotropic drugs in depression is particularly indicated in those patients who benefit most from the drugs, namely patients of the "endogenous" or "endogenomorphic" type. Medication over months or even years is indicated for two frequently concurrent reasons: firstly for "maintenance therapy", i.e., medication should be continued after remission of the depressive syndrome because of not yet identifiable "vulnerability" to relapse in many patients and, secondly, for "prophylactic therapy", i.e. medication can be given during apparent psychological health and in the absence of any imminent risk in order to prevent a possible new episode of depression. Long-term regimen of both types of medication is different, though not decisively so. Neither can cure a patient of depression; however, recurrence of the psychopathological syndrome can be successfully prevented. This paper presents a practical and updated discussion of various questions related to long-term regimen with psychotropic drugs used in depression: tricyclic antidepressants, lithium, carbamazepine and others.


Free energies of reaction of simple metal sulfides to form sulfosalt phases in the Ag-Bi-S, Cu-Bi-S, Pb-Bi-S systems at 510 degrees C and the Pb-Sb-S, Sr-Sb-S, and Ag-Sb-S systems at 400 degrees C have been calculated from H 2 S/H 2 gas ratios and alpha s 2 values. Free energies of reaction range from -751 cal/equivalent for Ag 3 SbS 3 at 400 degrees C to - 188 cal/equivalent for CuBi 3 S 5 at 510 degrees C. The generalization that the free energies of reaction are -450 + or - 325 cal/equivalent may be used as a first-approximation in considerations of sulfosalts for which thermochemical data is lacking.


The paper presents mineralogic considerations about gold ores in the Orlik deposit (Czech Republic). Data have been obtained on samples coming from medieval pit. Studies of sulfidic ores revealed typical pyrrhotite-lollingite-arsenopyrite and gold textures. These aggregates were recently linked to certain conditions of LP/MP-HT metamorphic evolution. Documented textures confirm the premetamorphic origin of gold-bearing ores and serious remobilisation of gold. The conditions of older (~329 Ma) migmatite metamorphism with temperatures up to 730 oC and pressure about 6 kbar were sufficient to decompose premetamorphic gold bearing arsenopyrite and form lollingite-pyrrhotite assemblages with the younger generation of arsenopyrite and gold. Also significant remobilisation of gold and sulfides into wall rock was observed. Consequent periplutonic metamorphosis (~327 Ma) with only 500 oC and 2,5 kbars was too weak to significantly affect sulphidic textures, but might be connected with the the decomposition of maldonite into the gold-bismuth myrmekite structures and secondary Bi-minerals.


Recently, the internet is becoming as the most effective tool to interact with many foreign societies especially during COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the digital platform is increasing in many developing countries and at the same time, the chance of fraudulence is also increasing day by day. In the digital world, phishing assaults are emerging as the most common type of social engineering attack. Currently, many websites are targeting to acquire the confidential data, which is stored in websites. Recently, the classification techniques are employed to detect the phishing websites. Many tools are used for anti-phishing purposes; they are blacklist and antivirus software. The confidential data in a fake surrounding has intended the category of leaked data due to the action of attackers. In this scenario, machine learning method is observed as a very effective to classify the phishing and non-phishing web (Uniform Resource Locator) URLs. This classification struggles in classifying the leaked data content-based challenge. Therefore, the proposed algorithm is associated with the content-based classification method along with the rule-based generator algorithm. This research article integrates the content-based classification with a rule-based generator algorithm to improve the overall performance of the system. The updated public online repository called Mendeley dataset is used in the proposed research work. The proposed algorithm is used in 7k phishing and real websites content data for performing feature extraction. The extracted feature is then analyzed with our proposed algorithm to provide better prediction accuracy. Also, the proposed work has Journal of Information Technology and Digital World (2021) Vol. 03/ No. 01 Pages: 44-56 https://www.irojournals.com/itdw/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.36548/jitdw.2021.1.005 45 ISSN: 2582-418X Submitted: 14.03.2021 Revised: 7.04.2021 Accepted: 29.04.2021 Published: 18.05.2021 concluded that, the associate algorithm has achieved better accuracy, when compared to other existing methods.


Increasing our understanding of abuse against women with disabilities has been identified as a major research priority (NIDRR, 1994). Evidence suggests that violence and abuse pose significant health risks for women with disabilities, who are at greater risk for abuse than non-disabled women (Furey 1994; Gill, 1996; Young, Nosek, Howland, Chanpong & Rintala, 1996; Stimpson & Best, 1991; Sobsey, Gray, Wells Pyper & Reimer-Heck, 1991; Sundram & Stavis, 1994; Waxman, 1991). The social context of disability, including factors such as inaccessibility, reliance on support services, poverty and isolation, is critical for understanding women's increased risk for abuse. One critical contextual issue relates to women's use of caregivers or personal assistants. Indeed, abuse by personal assistance providers has been identified by women with disabilities as a particularly significant problem (NIDRR, 1994). Approximately 4.5 million women use personal assistance services (PAS), which are defined as one or more persons assisting another person with tasks which the individual would typically do if they did not have a disability (Litvak, Zukas, & Heumann, 1987). The majority of community-based PAS services are provided by unpaid, informal providers (79%), while approximately 11% of users receive a combination of paid, formal and informal services, and only 10% receive exclusively formal, paid services (Rutgers University Bureau of Economic Research, 1990). For many women with disabilities, access to quality PAS is a critical requirement for personal independence and community living (Litvak & Kennedy, 1991). Abuse has unique meaning for women with disabilities in the context of personal assistance services relationships. This meaning is integrally related to the experiences of dependence and interdependence in disability, and encompasses the life experience of disabled women who may require assistance with personal care, equipment, medication, finances and auxiliary services such as adaptive transportation. Thus, when PAS abuse occurs, women's abilities to engage in daily life activities are compromised along with their personal health and safety. Very little is known about women's experience and management of PAS abuse. The majority of research has focused on the experiences of sexual abuse among children and adults with developmental disabilities (Sobsey, 1994). Only a few studies have focused on women with physical disabilities who did not have cognitive disabilities. Sobsey and Doe (1991) were among the first to report the patterns of sexual abuse and assault among children and adults with developmental disabilities. In their review of 162 reported cases of sexual abuse in North America, the mean age of victims was 19.2 years, with a range of 18 months to 57 years. The majority of victims were women (81.7%) and the majority of offenders were men (90.8%). Over 50% of the abusers had a relationship with the victim that was similar to those found among nondisabled victims of abuse. These included biological family members, acquaintances, strangers, dates and step family members. However, in another 44% of the cases, the abusers had a relationship with the victim that was specifically related to the person's disability. Nearly 28% of these included personal assistance services and health care providers. Three studies have focused on the experiences of abuse among women with physical disabilities and they are also the only studies that have examined other types of abuse among persons with disabilities (Nosek, Young, & Rintala, 1995; Young, Nosek, Howland, Chanpong, & Rintala, 1997; Riddington, 1989). The Disabled Women's Network of Canada (Riddington, 1989) surveyed 245 women, among whom 40% had experienced abuse and 12% had been raped. Spouses and ex-spouses were the most common perpetrators, followed by strangers, parents, service providers, and dating partners. …


Antibiotic producing bacteria were selected using a new screening method. Eight strains of antibiotic producing bacteria, which required a spent medium of fungi for antibiotic production, were isolated. One of them, a potent producer of antibacterial antibiotic, designated strain W-315, had following taxonomical characteristics; aerobic, Gram-negative, rod shaped and polar flagellated. Furthermore, the organism could grow under acidic conditions (pH 4.5) and had a GC content of 64.4 mole per cent. We concluded that the strain W-315 belonged to Gluconobacter sp. When this bacterium was inoculated into Czapek-Dox medium, bacterial growth and antibiotic production did not occur. The antibiotic production was also not observed even when poor growth was observed in Czapek-Dox medium supplemented with ammonium sulfate. The nutritional requirements for the antibiotic production were also discussed.


The changes of the midgut in the females of the tick species Ixodes persulcatus and I. ricinus during the second and third immunizing feeding on rabbits were studied by the histological technics. The alternation of one generation of the digestive cells of nymphal stage and two generations of the digestive cells of adult stage was observed. The generation of secretory cells is absent. The tick completes feeding and drop off when the last generation of the digestive cells is on the initial activity stages. The amount of the blood consumed is not enough for the rhythmical functioning of the midgut. The feeding of tick is broken on the second phase and full satiation does not take place. It is apparently an effect of the interruption of the blood entrance into the midgut cavity of feeding tick as a probable result of anti-ticks resistance of unnatural hosts.


The choice of media for instruction or communication will be influenced by its potential for stimulus recognition, this being an essential part of the perception of the message. Audio stimuli and audio stimuli with visual reinforcement from television are considered, and the conclusion drawn from tests performed is that the visual reinforcement has a considerable beneficial effect. Tests involving repeated stimuli and the recognition of stimuli in the company of other subjects are also described. Again the conclusion is drawn that both conditions of stimulus presentation have a beneficial effect on correct placement scores for recognition.


The purpose of this paper is to study logical implications which are much weaker than the implication of intuitionistic logic. In §1 we define the system SI (system of Simple Implication) which is obtained from intuitionistic logic by restricting the inference rules of intuitionistic implication. The implication of the system SI is called the "simple implication" and denoted by ⊃, where the simple implication ⊃ has the following properties: (1) The simple implication ⊃ is much weaker than the usual intuitionistic implication. (2) The simple implication ⊃ can be interpreted by the notion of provability, i.e., we have a very simple semantics for SI so that a sentence A ⊃ B is interpreted as "there exists a proof of B from A". (3) The full-strength intuitionistic implication ⇒ is definable in a weak second order extension of SI; in other words, it is definable by help of a variant of the weak comprehension schema and the simple implication ⊃. Therefore, though SI is much weaker than the intuitionistic logic, the second order extension of SI is equivalent to the second order extension of the intuitionistic logic. (4) The simple implication is definable in a weak modal logic MI by the use of the modal operator and the intuitionistic implication ⇒ with full strength. More precisely, A ⊃ B is defined as the strict implication of the form ◽(A ⇒ B). In §1, we show (3) and (4). (2) is shown in §2 in a more general setting. Semantics by introduction rules of logical connectives has been studied from various points of view by many authors (e.g. Gentzen [4], Lorentzen [5], Dummett [1], [2], Prawitz [8]. Martin-Löf [7], Maehara [6]). Among them Gentzen (in §§10 and 11 of [4]) introduced such a semantics in order to justify logical inferences and the mathematical induction rule. He observed that all of the inference rules of intuitionistic arithmetic, except for those on implication and negation, are justified by means of his semantics, but justification of the inference rules on implication and negation contains a circular argument for the interpretation by introduction rules, where the natural interpretation of A ⊃ B by ⊃-introduction rule is "there exists a proof of B from A " (cf. §11 of Gentzen [4]).


Relating entities and events in text is a key component of natural language understanding. Cross-document coreference resolution, in particular, is important for the growing interest in multi-document analysis tasks. In this work we propose a new model that extends the efficient sequential prediction paradigm for coreference resolution to cross-document settings and achieves competitive results for both entity and event coreference while providing strong evidence of the efficacy of both sequential models and higher-order inference in cross-document settings. Our model incrementally composes mentions into cluster representations and predicts links between a mention and the already constructed clusters, approximating a higher-order model. In addition, we conduct extensive ablation studies that provide new insights into the importance of various inputs and representation types in coreference.


Reliability is at the center of engineering studies in today's society. Electronic devices keep getting exponentially smaller by day and are now being used in almost everything that is vital in daily life, from the washing machine in the house, to the cell phone in one's pocket. As a result, the drive to better understand the development of these tiny structures has become increasingly significant through the study of Microelectromechanical Systems, also known as MEMS. MEMS are integrated mechanical elements such as actuators, sensors and electronics on silicon substrates. It is an interdisciplinary topic which is innovative to the field of Mechanical Engineering and requires in-depth understanding of electronics. Therefore, fabrication techniques and some of the basic electronics associated with MEMS are introduced in the first section of this study. The main focus in this study is RF MEMS Capacitive switches, which actuate mechanically by electrostatic forces as a result of an applied voltage. The commercial finite element code ANSYS is used for simulations and modeling. 3D models are utilized in the performed analyses. In the first part of the calculations, the spring constants of the membranes are calculated. The spring constant plays a significant role in determining the pull-in voltage for MEMS. switches. Analytically calculated spring constant values are compared with the simulation results. Then, natural frequencies of the various switches are determined. By introducing viscoelastic material properties into the finite element models, the time dependent behavior of the membrane is studied. Transient analysis is perfonned for different hold and release times. Finally, the entire switch behavior is simulated under electrostatic forces using a coupled electrostatic analysis. In order to create the electrostatic forces, an air mesh is modeled by enclosing


Protected area visitation is an important component of ecotourism, and as such, must be sustainable. However, protected area visitation may degrade natural resources, particularly in areas of concentrated visitor activities like trails and recreation sites. This is an important concern in ecotourism destinations such as Belize and Costa Rica, because they actively promote ecotourism and emphasize the pristine qualities of their natural resources. Research on visitor impacts to protected areas has many potential applications in protected area management, though it has not been widely applied in Central and South America. This study targeted this deficiency through manager interviews and evaluations of alternative impact assessment procedures at eight protected areas in Belize and Costa Rica. Impact assessment procedures included qualitative condition class systems, ratings systems, and measurement-based systems applied to trails and recreation sites. The resulting data characterize manager perceptions of impact problems, document trail and recreation site impacts, and provide examples of inexpensive, efficient and effective rapid impact assessment procedures. Interview subjects reported a variety of impacts affecting trails, recreation sites, wildlife, water, attraction features and other resources. Standardized assessment procedures were developed and applied to record trail and recreation site impacts. Impacts affecting the study areas included trail proliferation, erosion and widening, muddiness on trails, vegetation cover loss, soil and root exposure, and tree damage on recreation sites. The findings also illustrate the types of assessment data yielded by several alternative methods and demonstrate their utility to protected area managers. The need for additional rapid assessment procedures for wildlife, water, attraction feature and other resource impacts was also identified.


BACKGROUND
Up to 80% of patients with adrenocortical tumors comprising Conn's or Cushing's syndrome and patients with pheochromocytomas suffer from hypertension. Its implications in cardiovascular disease and its impact on quality of life make it the most important aim in therapeutic efforts. The aim of our study was to assess the long-term results in postoperative blood pressure after adrenalectomy and to evaluate potential risk factors for persistent hypertension.

METHODS
Forty four patients with adrenal hypertension operated on between April 1986 and April 1991 underwent follow-up consisting of exact history, hormonal analysis, and adrenal imaging.

RESULTS
Forty three patients were reexamined, which showed 11 patients (26%) with hypertension at dismissal from hospital and 17 patients (40%) with hypertension after a median of 2 years. Except for two recurrent tumors in adrenocortical carcinoma all patients were surgically cured. Antihypertensive medication could be reduced in 13 of 17 patients with persistent hypertension. Persistent hypertension did not correlate with the degree of preoperative blood pressure elevation, age, and gender, but it did correlate strongly with history of hypertension. Patients with normal blood pressure level after operation had a mean history of 5.7 years versus 11.5 years in patients with persistent hypertension (p < 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS
The success of surgical treatment for adrenal hypertension strongly depends on early diagnosis and surgical intervention.


PhoneFactor is a two-factor authentication service that combines the knowledge-based authenticator with an object-based authenticator in which the object-based authenticator has advantages of hardware token-based systems without requiring the administration overhead of distribution of special hardware to every user in advance. For transaction scalability of this service, we propose a Distributed Real-Time Transaction Memory Cache (DReaM-Cache) approach. In this paper, we present the basic architecture and present reliability models for different data centers and node reliability factors, and show how reliability can be accomplished.


The article views a special character of interaction between the title and the main text in J. Patterson's novels Roses are Red and Violets are Blue . The problem is viewed from the viewpoint of a genre. The peculiarities of the poetics singled out during the analysis show that Patterson transforms the features of both the police novel and the hardboiled detective story as the genres of criminal fiction.


Gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) is a rare tumor with a poor prognosis. Due to its rarity and disparity in prevalence across populations, there is limited data on gastric NEC. TP53 and RB1 genetic alterations or expression were reported for predictive value in neuroendocrine neoplasm and classification in pulmonary large cell NEC. This study investigated the genetic alteration and protein expression of TP53 and RB1 in gastric NEC. Thirty‐nine patients were categorized as type A and B subtypes by p53 and Rb expression. Patients with concurrent abnormal p53 and Rb expression were defined as the type A group, and the remainder were defined as the type B group. Significant differences in TNM stages, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis were observed between the two subtypes. Type A characteristic is an independent predictor for worse overall survival (HR: 3.27; 95% CI: 1.12–9.58; p = .022). We further evaluated and compared immunotherapy‐related markers, including PD‐L1 expression, CD8 T cell infiltration, tumor mutation burden, and microsatellite instability in these two subtypes, whereas no significant differences were detected.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the value of early childhood education as a means of increasing awareness and knowledge about the sun and related skin disease(s).

METHODS
A children's book promoting sun awareness and protection was developed. The next was incorporated into the health education curriculum of two third-grade classrooms (n = 82). The students completed a questionnaire before, immediately after, and 6 weeks after reading the text. Student sun awareness knowledge was compared using descriptive statistics and paired T-tests.

RESULTS
Behaviors and attitudes that resulted in over-exposure to the sun's ultraviolet light were common among third-graders. Primary test areas included the sun's effect on skin, effective sunscreens, skin type, and skin cancer. Test scores showed a marked improvement (40% compared with baseline) in knowledge of sun protection at both posttests. Parents represented the greatest source of information for children (28 of 82) before this study, while doctors and teachers each accounted for only 1 of 82.

CONCLUSIONS
Preventive measures in childhood have the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of sunrelated skin diseases; however, education to date has been directed primarily at presents. This study demonstrated that an educational book for elementary school students can be an effective tool to increase sun awareness and knowledge. The multifaceted approach to prevention recommended here is similar to that of the highly successful dental care campaign, consisting of direct education of children by physicians, teachers, parents, and the media.


Abstract Governance in Vanuatu has been a source of concern for Australia as it forms part of Australia's 'Arc of Instability.' Vanuatu has adopted a modified Westminster system as that system is often advocated as the model for constitutions and governance around the world. In various former colonies local populations were expected to simply absorb its liberal democratic principles apparently on some assumption that such principles were an innate part of human nature. Most readings of history would come to a different conclusion. Vanuatu illustrates this error and the complexities of a society that not only creates a broad challenge for governance, but undermines the credibility of simplistic, universalist approaches of liberal solutions, including institutional transplants, to these challenges. This paper asks questions about the nature and status of law in and governance of society in Vanuatu and then examines various answers, from broad social perspectives and academic sources to interviews conducted among members of the Vanuatu community. It concludes that the system fails as insufficiently attuned to the realities of the society that makes up Vanuatu. That is to say the system fails to effectively address the needs and interests of the population, and fails to sufficiently incorporate the indigenous systems in situ.


We construct a one parameter family of finite time blow-ups to the co-rotational wave maps problem from S-2 x R to S-2, parameterized by nu is an element of (1/2, 1]. The longitudinal function u(t, alpha) which is the main object of study will be obtained as a perturbation of a rescaled harmonic map of rotation index one from R-2 to S-2. The domain of this harmonic map is identified with a neighborhood of the north pole in the domain S-2 via the exponential coordinates (alpha, theta). In these coordinates u(t, alpha) = Q(lambda(t)alpha) + R(t, alpha), where Q(r) = 2arctan r is the standard co-rotational harmonic map to the sphere, lambda(t) = t(-1-nu), and R(t, alpha) is the error with local energy going to zero as t -> 0. Blow-up will occur at (t, alpha) = (0, 0) due to energy concentration, and up to this point the solution will have regularity H1+nu-.


Organic waste management is a growing global concern as cities experience increasing waste generation and the associated climate impact. Traditionally, municipal waste has been managed using a range of solutions, from advanced technologies, such as well-designed sanitary landfills in high capacity countries, to open dumping and burning in low-capacity countries. Composting is a sustainable organics management solution that can potentially be low cost and require less technical capacity than alternative treatment methods. Composting is being adopted as an organic waste management strategy as well as a way to address climate change and agricultural needs. This report focuses on the financing and policy environment that could lead to successful composting projects and the preconditions that must be in place before considering composting as an option. This report will provide an overview of optimal market conditions, common financing options, and enabling policy environments for composting projects globally. This report is structured as follows: 1) Chapter one introduces background information on composting generally and discusses the opportunities and challenges faced in developing countries; 2) Chapter two provides an overview of prevailing market conditions and strategies that would ideally lead to a sustainable composting sector; 3) Chapter three details common financing mechanisms for composting projects that have been used for composting projects globally; 4) Chapter four discusses the policy environments and incentives that promote composting production and market development; 5) Chapter five discusses Austria's decentralized, agricultural model of composting; 6) Chapter six presents success factors behind Waste Concern, a private joint venture formed in Bangladesh; 7) Chapter seven features the organic farm model of composting in Brazil; 8) Chapter eight discusses a public and private composting operation in India; 9) Chapter nine describes a national grant program that powered municipal-scale composting in Sri Lanka; and 10) Chapter ten highlights the history and development of organics recycling in Europe.


Nanoparticle modified polymers have promise as hybrid materials that exhibit properties beyond those predicted by mixing law theories. In the case of metal-oxide nanoparticles in a polymer, it is expected that multifunctional properties of the obtained nanocomposite, including dielectric and mechanical, will be dominated by presence of interface rather than predicted by the inherent properties of individual components. This paper will focus on understanding the role of different types of nanoparticles, namely, titania, silica and alumina and a polymer matrix, Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) in affecting the final dielectric and mechanical properties.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


PECS is a method for developing communication using images to exchange desired objects according to the image, especially for children with autism with non-verbal abilities. PECS has many advantages over other communication learning methods that can encourage autistic children to communicate well. Besides having many advantages, the PECS method itself has many disadvantages. The research conducted was to build an application specifically designed for children with autism by correcting the deficiencies that exist in learning with the PECS method. The application is designed with the guidance of an expert Psychologist Children with Special Needs and refers to previous studies as reference material for application interface design. Application testing involves 4 autistic children from 2 different SLBs. Tests are carried out 2 times for each child to find out the progress of application utilization. The test results show that the proposed application is in accordance with the aesthetic design of the MDA framework that is designed so that it is truly able to be accepted by autistic children while also having a positive impact on them, as well as being able to create a learning environment that is more enjoyable both for children with autism and for teachers.


Introduction Pharyngeal pouches (PPs) commonly present with dysphagia. Perforation of a pouch at gastroscopy is a feared complication. Predicting patients likely to have PPs can enable selection for barium swallow to reduce this risk. PP incidence in a dysphagic population has been reported as 0.3%1. We investigated PP incidence and predictive demographic and clinical features in patients referred to a dysphagia hotline service over a 7 year period.2 Methods Analysis of prospectively collected data on demographics (age, sex) and symptoms (including duration and level of dysphagia, type [solids/liquids, progressive/intermittent], associated symptoms [weight loss, reflux, regurgitation] and outcomes of investigations of 2000 consecutive referrals for dysphagia. Logistic regression determined significant variables for predicting PPs. A consultant ENT surgeon reviewed all barium swallows of PP patients. The local ethics committee ruled the study was within the remit of audit. Results 1775 patients were investigated through the DHL, 37 with PP (1.9% of total, 2.1% of those investigated). One of these was a re-referral, 6 years after initial pouch stapling. 20 were male (54%), mean age 80.1 years (range 58–103 years). Mean age of all patients was 68.1 years (range 17–103), 48.5% male. Two patients had PPs and oesophageal cancer. On logistic regression only age greater than 73 years and symptoms of dysphagia greater than 26 weeks were predictive of PP as final diagnosis (p < 0.001 and 0.005 respectively). Weight loss (5.4 vs 28.5%) and reflux (45.9% vs 60.6%) were less common in PP patients and regurgitation more so (62.2% vs 52.1%) but none of these were significant. Abstract PTU-147 Table Pharyngeal pouch (%) All dysphagia (%) Level of dysphagia Pharyngeal/combination 83.8 25.6 Midsternal 16.2 30.4 Lower/combination 0 42.3 Type of dysphagia Intermittent 49 44 Progressive 43 30 Solids only 81.1 79.7 Both 18.9 19.7 Duration of dysphagia < 26 weeks 51.3 74.8 > 26 weeks 48.7 25.1 Conclusion Pharyngeal pouches in a dysphagic population are more common than previously recognised. Most though not all have pharyngeal level dysphagia. Where gastroscopy was performed as initial investigation, the procedure was likely to be incomplete although no complications occurred. Just over 50% of the PPs were thought likely to be the cause of dysphagia but less than 50% of these underwent surgery (stapling). Disclosure of Interest None Declared References Melleney EM, Subhani JM, Willoughby CP. Dysphagia referrals to a District General Hospital Gastroenterology unit: hard to swallow. Dysphagia 2004; 19:78–82. doi:10.1007/s00455–003–0501–0 Murray IA, Waters C, Maskell G, Despott EJ, Palmer J, Dalton HR Improved clinical outcomes and efficacy with a nurse-led dysphagia hotline service. Frontline Gastroenterol. In press.


The problem of navigating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in an unknown environment is addressed with a novel model predictive control (MPC) formulation, named multitrajectory MPC (mt-MPC). The objective is to safely drive the vehicle to the desired target location by relying only on the partial description of the surroundings provided by an exteroceptive sensor. This information results in time-varying constraints during the navigation among obstacles. The proposed mt-MPC generates a sequence of position set points that are fed to control loops at lower hierarchical levels. To do so, the mt-MPC predicts two different state trajectories, a safe one and an exploiting one, in the same finite horizon optimal control problem (FHOCP). This formulation, particularly suitable for problems with uncertain time-varying constraints, allows one to partially decouple constraint satisfaction (safety) from cost function minimization (exploitation). Uncertainty due to modeling errors and sensors noise is taken into account as well, in a set membership (SM) framework. Theoretical guarantees of persistent obstacle avoidance are derived under suitable assumptions, and the approach is demonstrated experimentally out-of-the-laboratory on a prototype built with off-the-shelf components.


Background and Aim: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare pulmonary vascular disease characterized by increased pulmonary arterial pressure. The PAH patients experience dyspnea and fatigue limiting performance in activities of daily life. The aim of this study was to compare lung function, respiratory muscle strength, and peripheral muscle strength between patients with PAH and healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: Seventeen patients with PAH (4 M, 13 F) and fifteen age-matched healthy controls (7 M, 8 F) participated in this study. Pulmonary function test was performed using spirometry. Respiratory muscle strength was measured using a mouth pressure device. Lower and upper peripheral muscle strength was measured from quadriceps femoris, shoulder abductors a hand held dynamometer, and hand grip was recorded. Results: The mean pulmonary arterial pressure was 63.57±31.77 mmHg. In PAH patients, maximal inspiratory pressure was significantly correlated with mean pulmonary arterial pressure (r=-0.67, p Conclusions: High pulmonary arterial pressure results in reduced peripheral, inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength. Effects of respiratory and peripheral muscle training in patients with PAH needs further investigation.


In recent years programs of private regulation have spread from North America and Europe to developing countries around the world. Though central to debates over public versus private international governance, little is known about the actual operations of these programs, especially in developing countries where weak state regulation has failed for decades to control environmental degradation. This paper assesses the effectiveness in Argentina of two prominent global private environmental regulatory programs'the chemical industry's Responsible Care® program and the Forest Stewardship Council. Argentina presents an intriguing country case because, despite conditions and policies that should support such programs, their implementation there has been stunted when compared against other regional cases. A focus on the demand and supply factors that shape these programs in Argentina reveals that market demand is a necessary but insufficient condition for regime effectiveness. Supply-side factors such as industry characteristics, public policies, and the institutional culture of firms significantly influence program implementation. Some transnational corporations helped export these program to Argentina; however, many others have shown opposition or disinterest, stifling program development. Also, feckless and unstable state agencies have created an institutional environment unfavorable even for private initiatives aimed at bypassing government interference.


of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor Chris Langdon. No. of pages in text. (122) The early life history stages of coral are an essential component determining the recovery potential of coral reefs through sexual reproduction and recruitment. The pelagic larval phase is inherent in all coral species regardless of differing reproductive strategies and is the only time in coral life history where large scale movement is possible allowing for the repopulation of reef areas both within and outside the natal reef habitat. In the face of climate change, the larval dispersal and recruitment phase will take place in a warmer more acidic ocean if we continue on the path of unabated fossil fuel emissions. While much research has focused on how increased temperature or ocean acidification affect coral larvae independently, our understanding of how these factors interact to shape larval response is limited, especially in regards to Caribbean coral species. To gain a better understanding of how the early life history stages of Caribbean coral may be affected by climate change, this dissertation investigates the effects of increased temperature (2.5 °C above historical averages in the Florida Keys) and carbon dioxide levels (900-1000 parts per million CO2) on corals from the Florida Reef tract by investigating the effects on larval metabolism, survivorship, settlement, and post-settlement growth and survival. Additionally, a coupled biophysical model was developed to determine the potential changes in connectivity that may result from the biological effects of increased temperature and ocean acidification on the larval phase. The larval respiratory response of three Caribbean coral species revealed Orbicella faveolata as the most environmentally responsive with significant increases in respiration after 1 day exposure to increased temperature (68% greater than control conditions) with a counteracting effect of ocean acidification significantly decreasing respiration. The changes in metabolism over time correlated with decreased time to competency under elevated temperature in O. faveolata larvae, resulting in a greater number of settlers (76% greater than control) and a relative increase in local retention and self-recruitment rates as revealed by the biophysical model (5 and 7% greater than control respectively). However, when increased temperature occurred in combination with elevated CO2 levels, respiration was not significantly increased relative to control conditions and development of competency is minimally impacted. This resulted in a smaller increase in settlers (13% greater than control) and no significant changes in connectivity patterns. The post-settlement phase was similarly impacted with counteracting effects of increased temperature and ocean acidification on recruit growth. Overall, this dissertation reveals the potential for adaptation to increased temperature in at least one important coral species (Orbicella faveolata) that is greatly diminished when encountered in combination with ocean acidification. These results encourage the reduction of carbon emissions to give coral species the chance to adapt to elevated temperatures through the recruitment of more resilient individuals without the additional stress of ocean acidification.


Decoy state quantum key distribution (QKD) has been proposed as a novel approach to improve dramatically both the security and the performance of practical QKD set-ups. Recently, many theoretical efforts have been made on this topic and have theoretically predicted the high performance of decoy method. However, the gap between theory and experiment remains open. In this paper, we report the first experiments on decoy state QKD, thus bridging the gap. Two protocols of decoy state QKD are implemented: one-decoy protocol over 15 km of standard telecom fiber, and weak+vacuum protocol over 60 km of standard telecom fiber. We implemented the decoy state method on a modified commercial QKD system. The modification we made is simply adding commercial acousto-optic modulator (AOM) on the QKD system. The AOM is used to modulate the intensity of each signal individually, thus implementing the decoy state method. As an important part of implementation, numerical simulation of our set-up is also performed. The simulation shows that standard security proofs give a zero key generation rate at the distance we perform decoy state QKD (both 15 km and 60 km). Therefore decoy state QKD is necessary for long distance secure communication. Our implementation shows explicitly the power and feasibility of decoy method, and brings it to our real-life


In the very near future man will escape from his terrestrial environment and venture into space. The first flights will be limited space voyages circling the earth only one or sereral times at altitudes from 100 to 500 miles. As technological advances permit, these space journeys will become longer in duration and farther from earth until travel between planets in our solar system is accomplished. Ultimately of course, travel outside our solar system is envisioned. The hazards of space flight are numerous. An environment paralleling that of the earth's must be simulated as closely as possible inside the space capsule. In providing such an environment, those problems of air regeneration, temperature control, pressure control, etc., are overcome. One potential hazard from which man in space cannot be effectively protected is radiation. Therefore, the intensity of space radiations and their biological effects must be evaluated prior to prolonged space journeys if such journeys are to be accomplished without undue risk. The aeromedical field laboratory is now studying a space radiation detection system which would be capable of detecting and identifying the several forms of space radiation and the intensity of each form. Once the types and intensities of radiation prevalent in space are ascertained, it will be possible to study, in earth laboratories, the biological effects of most of these radiations.


The foundation of almost all web sites' information architecture is a hierarchical content organization. Thus information architects put much effort in designing taxonomies that structure the content in a comprehensible and sound way. The taxonomies are obvious to human users from the site's system of main and sub menus. But current methods of web structure mining are not able to extract these central aspects of the information architecture. This is because they cannot interpret the visual encoding to recognize menus and their rank as humans do. In this paper we show that a web site's main navigation system can not only be distinguished by visual features but also by certain structural characteristics of the HTML tree and the web graph. We have developed a reliable and scalable solution that solves the problem of extracting menus for mining the information architecture. The novel MenuMiner-algorithm allows retrieving the original content organization of large-scale web sites. These data are very valuable for many applications, e.g. the presentation of search results. In an experiment we applied the method for finding site boundaries within a large domain. The evaluation showed that the method reliably delivers menus and site boundaries where other current approaches fail.


This article explores the interplay between gender and race in two of Hemingway's autobiographical works on Africa: Green Hills of Africa (1935) and Under Kilimanjaro (2005). Unlike most existing scholarship, which has focused on his fictional representations of sexual and racial difference, the article concentrates on Hemingway's own gendered and racialized views as the white male author-persona of these autobiographical texts. Linking masculinity and whiteness, the paper shows how Hemingway's masculinist pose, which hardened through the 1930s, may be connected to his racist attitudes in Green Hills of Africa. Similarly, his more "relaxed" masculinity of the 1950s will be related to his changed racial views in Under Kilimanjaro, wherein he adopts surprisingly progressive views on both women and blacks.


We assessed the efficacy of 5 dose levels of oral rapamycin for prolonging renal allograft survival in pigs. Untreated and triple therapy groups (cyclosporine, azathioprine, and prednisone) served as controls. Immunosuppression was administered for 28 days posttransplant and then stopped. Rapamycin whole-blood concentrations were followed weekly. Chemistry, hematology, and lipid values were monitored post-transplant. For rapamycin-treated pigs, median survival time (MST) correlated with both dose and trough levels (ng/ml). All kidneys had some degree of rejection seen on necropsy. After rejection, pneumonia was the most common cause of death. No specific end-organ toxicity was noted on histopathologic examination. Triglyceride and cholesterol levels increased in all treated pigs (both rapamycin and triple therapy) vs. untreated controls--however, all values were within normal limits. Mean ALT levels increased in weeks 2 to 4 in the higher-dose rapamycin groups but returned to baseline in pigs surviving after the drug was stopped. ALT levels did not increase above twice normal in any group. Creatinine levels correlated with the degree of rejection seen on biopsy. We noted no other toxicities. We conclude that rapamycin, given as oral monotherapy, is an effective and safe immunosuppressant in our large animal renal allograft model. Outcome correlated with dose and whole-blood levels.


Regional climate models suggest that summers in the Great Plains may become increasingly dry during this century, raising concern about the availability of water resources for irrigation and municipal water supplies. While the models predict drier conditions across the region, the impact of climate change on water availability at the local scale will depend largely upon the soils and their ability to store water during dry periods. This study presents a soil water climatology for Kansas using a climatic water balance approach. Monthly observations of temperature and precipitation for the period 1950–2006 are used to calculate climatologies of actual evapotranspiration, soil water utilization and recharge, and runoff at the soil unit level. Results indicate that actual evapotranspiration rates are small across the state during the winter and spring, reaching a maximum during summer. Soil water utilization is greatest during summer in eastern Kansas; soil water recharge is greatest in the spring in central Kansas and during the fall in eastern Kansas. Soil moisture surplus (runoff) is most pronounced in eastern Kansas during spring and early summer, and soil water shortages (deficit) are common year-round in western Kansas and in soils with low field capacities during the summer months.


Momentum exchange theory has been generally used for an analysis of the regenerative turbomachines due to its direct description of the complicate circulatory flow. However, because its application is limited only to linear region and its model equations are incomplete on three variables, it needs further refinements. In the present study it is improved by introducing a central pivot of circulatory flow. Also, by assuming linear circulatory velocity distribution, mean radii of inlet and outlet flows through the impeller are newly suggested. By applying control volume analysis to both linear region and the acceleration region, the governing equation on the circulatory velocity is derived. As a result, systematic performance analysis on the entire region of the incompressible regenerative turbomachines can be carried out based on the proposed model equations.


Transactional analysis can serve as a sophisticated, elegant, and effective system on which to base the practical activities of professionals in psychotherapy, counseling, education, and organizational consultation. It was founded in the 1950s by San Francisco psychiatrist Eric Berne, MD. Transactional analysis has become a worldwide movement with upwards of 10,000 adherents. It is a sophisticated theory of personality, motivation, and problem solving that can be of great use to psychotherapists, counselors, educators, and business consultants.


Incontinence is anything that inhibits the expression of sexuality. Male problems like premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunctions are forms of incontinence. The inability to retain ejaculation or maintain erection long enough to give pleasure to the partner generates feelings of shame and guilt which weaken virility. Feminine sexual dysfunctions like loss of desire, anorgasmia and vaginismus are results of excessive continence due to negative familial and religious education, moral and social values. The sexologist's task is first to find out the origins of the sexual trouble then to propose an adequate treatment.


SunTAN (Sun Training Access Network) is a Web-based, database-driven training system now being deployed at Sun Microsystems Inc. The system provides a powerful virtual classroom learning environment for the company's technical and sales staff. SunTAN provides an array of functions aimed at enhancing users online learning experience, including user management, a course catalog, curriculum maps, and the competency appraisal program. SunTAN integrates these functions behind a single browser interface, delivering an on-demand, flexible, and easy-to-use learning environment. Furthermore, SunTAN's environment also handles all aspects of content delivery, management, and maintenance. Deployed over Sun's intranet, SunTAN has proven that a Web-based, database-driven training system can provide a timely, cost-effective, and efficient way to train employees in a wide geographical area with diverse needs in a short time period.


Stimulation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) with pokeweed mitogen (PWM) induced consistent increases of intracellular levels of cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP within 15 min. Increases of cyclic AMP were observed in both B and T lymphocyte populations, but increase of cyclic GMP was observed only in the B lymphocyte population. The addition of anti-mu antibody to B cells abolished PWM-induced increase of cyclic GMP without any effect on cyclic AMP response. Anti-delta antibody did not show any inhibitory or stimulatory effect on PWM-induced increase of cyclic GMP or cyclic AMP. Pretreatment of B cells with anti-mu antibody at 37 degrees C for 1 hr inhibited PWM-induced increase of cyclic GMP, whereas pretreatment with anti-mu antibody at 4 degrees C did not show any inhibitory effect on PWM-induced increase of cyclic GMP. The effect of anti-mu-pretreatment was reversible and pretreated cells were recovered from the inhibitory effect of anti-mu antibody after 36 hr culture.


Mobile apps exploit embedded sensors and wireless connectivity of a device to empower users with portable computations, context-aware communication, and enhanced interaction. Specifically, mobile health apps (mHealth apps for short) are becoming integral part of mobile and pervasive computing to improve the availability and quality of healthcare services. Despite the offered benefits, mHealth apps face a critical challenge, i.e., security of health-critical data that is produced and consumed by the app. Several studies have revealed that security specific issues of mHealth apps have not been adequately addressed. The objectives of this study are to empirically (a) investigate the challenges that hinder development of secure mHealth apps, (b) identify practices to develop secure apps, and (c) explore motivating factors that influence secure development. We conducted this study by collecting responses of 97 developers from 25 countries - across 06 continents - working in diverse teams and roles to develop mHealth apps for Android, iOS, and Windows platform. Qualitative analysis of the survey data is based on (i) 8 critical challenges, (ii) taxonomy of best practices to ensure security, and (iii) 6 motivating factors that impact secure mHealth apps. This research provides empirical evidence as practitioners' view and guidelines to develop emerging and next generation of secure mHealth apps.


This article gives ethnographic form to Fanon's warning that in the colonial world, "zombies are more terrifying than settlers," by analyzing how racial mythologies produce spatial classifications of Black urban communities as unruly places and how Black individuals challenge their wretched condition by embracing a "program of complete disorder." To do so, the article analyzes the short(ened) life of Paco, a young Black man under house arrest whose retaliatory violence against, and territorial dispute with, the police is an entry point for exploring resistance to urban coloniality in Santiago de Cali/Colombia. The article engages with the field of Black geography to propose a Fanonian reading of contemporary cityscapes as colonial spaces. Such colonial spatialities, it is argued, are not defined merely by subjugation to death but also, as Paco's refusal to be killed may reveal, by an insurgent spatial praxis that might reposition the Black subject in relation to the city and the regime of Law.


Abstract This paper proposes a practical way to predict the welding-induced deformation of 5-mm-thick steel ship panels prefabricated in a Polish shipyard, developed by means of a number of experiments and a body of data collected on the butt welding line using the submerged arc welding technique. The program of the experiments was so designed as to test different welding energy conditions as well as pressure values generated by the devices used during the welding. Subsequently, different welding trials were carefully carried out and data collected to find the most important parameters which contribute to welding deformation. The data obtained were analysed using the Design-ExpertR statistical software, and consideration was given to the data arrangement method that would allow for the most appropriate description of the welding deformation. As a result of the foregoing efforts, an approach to predicting the welding deformation, based on a numerical equation including the main welding parameters, was developed. The accuracy of the equation was partially evaluated and the results turned out to be satisfactory, as the actual and the predicted values were comparable. Another important advantage achieved was the arrangement of data used to compute the welding deformation.


The eyes of 15 rhesus monkeys were evaluated. Various degrees of vitreal syneresis were observed in 28 of the 30 eyes. The observed vitreal structures varied from fine strands randomly spaced throughout the vitreous to thick, intertwining, fibrous networks with some clumping of the collagenous condensate at the fiber junctions. Qualitatively, the degree of syneresis was slightly more extensive in the eight older mature males than in the seven younger animals. In all animals a clear view of the fundus could be obtained with the ophthalmoscope. The vitreous structures may be one cause of variability in ocular dose-response relationships for exposure to laser radiation. The effect on retinal exposure experiments of the finer vitreal structure is considered minimal.


Intersectional analysis, amongst both scholars and social movement activists, has historically focussed on gender, race and class, this has meant that other axes of oppression, such as disability, have remained relatively marginalised (Erevelles 2011). This chapter explores the extent to which disabled women and disability-related issues and interests are included within the UK women's movement. The empirical research draws upon analysis of two large women's civil organizations, and a women's disability collective. The study finds that although the wider women's movement is making steps towards including disabled women and addressing disability-related issues, including via calls for a pedagogy of intersectionality, disabled women themselves do not feel included; indeed, they perceive the wider movement to be ableist and infused with able-bodied and able-minded privilege. The chapter argues that a politics that challenges ableism is required in order to address the marginalisation of disabled women.


A novel acylated flavonol tetraglycoside, kaempferol 3-O-[(E)-p-coumaroyl-(1→2)][α-l-arabinopyranosyl-(1→3)][β-d-glucopyranosyl (1→3)-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl(1→6)]-β-d-glucopyranoside (camellikaempferoside C, 1), together with 2 flavonols and 18 flavone and flavonol glycosides (FGs) (2-21) was isolated from the green tea Lu'an GuaPian (Camellia sinensis L.O. Kuntze). Their structures were identified by spectroscopic and chemical methods. Four acylated FGs (1, 7, 8, 9) were found to inhibit the proliferation and differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes at concentrations of 25, 50, and 100 μM (P < 0.05). Furthermore, we established a rapid UPLC method to quantify nine FGs in six major processing types of tea. The results showed that dark tea had the highest amount of 20 (0.70 ± 0.017 mg/g) and black tea had the highest amount of 8 (0.09 ± 0.012 mg/g), whereas the amounts of 10 and 16 basically decreased with the increasing degree of fermentation and could contribute to the discrimination of different processing types of tea.


ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. Allium cepa, disease resistance, inoculation method ABSTRACT. Black mold (BM), caused by Aspergillus niger Tiegh., is a common onion (Allium cepa L.) postharvest disease under hot and humid storage conditions. This study aimed to develop a BM screening protocol, to evaluate onion cultivars for resistance. The effects of pathogen isolate, inoculum density, incubation temperature, and inoculation method on severity of BM were investigated in designing the screening protocol. Variation in virulence was observed and two highly virulent subcultures, An4-2 and An39-3, were selected for study. Disease severity, both in lesion size and sporulation degree, increased with higher inoculum densities and incubation temperatures. In contrast, small lesions and no sporulation were observed when onion scales were inoculated with 1 × 10 4 spores/mL or incubated at temperatures lower than 20 °C. Inoculation of onion scales or entire bulbs were compared and scale inoculation correlated better with BM incidence in storage. The procedure for BM screening protocol included: wound inoculation of onion slices with 40 µL inoculum suspension of 1 × 10 5 spores/mL, incubation at 25 °C with 12 hour photoperiod, and rating lesion diameter and sporulation 4 days after inoculation. Using this screening protocol, 42 onion cultivars were evaluated and cultivars with better storability such as 'Red Pinoy', 'Serrana', 'Dehydrator No.3', and 'Moonlight' were tolerant to A. niger. These cultivars showed small lesions and no sporulation during screening. On the other hand, cultivars with poor storability like 'Texas Early Grano 502', 'Granex 429', and 'Explorer' exhibited larger lesions with profuse sporulation. Lesion diameter caused by the scale inoculation correlated significantly with bulb storage loss (r = 0.51, P < 0.01) as well as with bulb dry matter (r = -0.48, P < 0.01) and total soluble solids (r = - 0.51, P < 0.01). The screening protocol and tolerant materials are now successfully used in the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center onion breeding program for resistance to black mold.


Ultrasound represents a very compact, low cost method that is non-invasive and does not involve ionizing radiation. A new A-mode ultrasound pulser-receiver system, which digital control module is based on FPGA chip, has been designed and implemented. The pulser-receiver system consists of three parts: digital signal processing module, high frequency pulser and receiver module. The pulser was programmed to generate unipolar pulse trains with 1 cycle, at frequency of 10 MHz, repetition frequency of about 1 KHz, and amplitude of 80 V to drive a 10MHz piezoelectric transducer. Clear ultrasonic pulse echo has been measured in the receiver. Simulations of key components and measured signal of pulser-receiver system have been shown. These results indicate that the system implementation has reached a good performance.


Coral reef fishes typically undergo a pelagic larval phase prior to recruitment to reef habitat. This is potentially risky, but likely to be important in connecting populations and avoiding local crowding. Predation pressures on larvae on and off the reef are likely to differ both in origin and intensity. In this study, we used individual-based models to explore in isolation the effect of elevated levels of larval mortality on the reef in 22 different landscapes. We allowed the movement of highly simplified larvae to evolve through selection and mutation events and tracked emerging strategies over 180 generations. The pressure of increased larval mortality on the reef affected overall popula- tion sizes and selected for higher levels of larval movement. However, the evolution of movement was constrained, and self-recruitment back to the reef of origin was prevalent, with levels rarely dropping below 50%. The evolved strategies were highly landscape specific, suggesting that movement in contiguous reefs is more readily evolved than at isolated reefs. Future development of this simulation approach will provide a valuable research tool for exploring important evolutionary, ecological, and management-based questions.


This report summarizes the current status of wood science and technology programs in North American universities as determined by questionnaires sent to the various institutions. The 25 undergraduate programs in North America were characterized in terms of their growth and academic offerings. Enrollment in undergraduate programs has increased in size during the decade of the '70's while enrollment in graduate programs has leveled off. A typical program has 42 undergraduate and 9 graduate students enrolled. Since 1964 the number of B.S. programs has increased 32%, while the number of M. S. programs has increased by 19%. During the same time period, the number of Ph.D. programs has grown by 69%. The typical program today is very close in academic offerings 10 the ideal program proposed by Ellis. Employment of B.S. graduates is characterized in terms of employing industry, job type, and region. The demand for B.S. graduates is currently 2:1 with future demand expected to be 3:1. Average starting salary data by regions are presented. Respondents favored accreditation of academic programs but believed licensing of wood technologists inappropriate.


OBJECTIVES
We examined whether the neighborhood socioeconomic position predicts the smoking rates after adjusting for individual socioeconomic position indicators.

METHODS
Data were obtained from the 2001 Seoul Health Indicators Survey. The neighborhood socioeconomic position was the residential distribution of the high class (power elites), as measured by the location quotients (LQ) for each administrative dong (district). A high LO denotes a high neighborhood socioeconomic status. The individual socioeconomic position included education, occupation and income. Age-adjusted smoking rates according to the LQ level were computed with the direct method. The total number of subjects in this study (26,022 men and 28,007 women) was the reference. A multilevel logistic regression analysis was conducted with the individuals at the first level and the neighborhoods at the second level to estimate the odds ratios of smoking with 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS
For men, the age-adjusted smoking rates increased with a decrease in the LQ. For women, the relationship between the age-adjusted smoking rate and the LQ was not clear. The odds of smoking for both genders were greater among those subjects with lower incomes and lower education. The manual occupational class had greater odds of smoking than the non-manual class for the males, while the odds ratio of smoking among females with a manual occupation tended to be lower than those females with a non-manual occupation. For the males, the LQ levels independently predicted smoking after adjustment for individual income. However, this relation between the LQ and smoking in males was explained by full adjustment for the individual socioeconomic position indicators (education, occupation and income).

CONCLUSIONS
A low level of neighborhood socioeconomic position was associated with higher smoking rates among the men residing in Seoul. This association between the neighborhood socioeconomic position and smoking in men was explained by the individual socioeconomic position. Anti-smoking efforts to reduce geographical inequality in smoking should be directed at reducing the smoking rates between the individuals with different socioeconomic backgrounds in the metropolitan city of Seoul, South Korea.


Tumor cells were identified in mammary vein blood in ten of 38 (26.6%) patients during total mastectomy with axillary dissection performed as the primary therapy for breast carcinoma (pathological stages I and II). This finding was analyzed with respect to 35 histological characteristics of the primary tumors. The presence of blood-borne tumor cells was inversely related to perineural space invasion, whereas there was no apparent relationship with the remaining 34 characteristics. The significance of blood-borne tumor cells remains unknown.


Diagnosis of epileptic seizures is often based on temporal lobe epileptiform abnormalities appearing on interictal EEG, when reported ictal semiologies are consistent with temporal lobe seizures. It is unclear how often such patients have non-epileptic seizures. We studied 145 patients who had temporal interictal EEG spikes and reported ictal semiology characteristic of temporal lobe seizures, with long-term EEG-video-monitoring (LTM) for presurgical evaluation of medically refractory seizures. Nonepileptic seizures were unexpectedly recorded in 12 of these patients (8%). Outcomes after LTM in patients who had both epileptic seizures and nonepileptic seizures demonstrated that the epileptic seizures usually were controlled with medications. Our observations support LTM as useful in diagnosis of non-epileptic seizures in this group of patients. We suggest that ictal recordings always should be performed before epilepsy surgery, in part to avoid unintentional surgical treatment of nonepileptic seizures.


This paper proposes a survey of the economic literature about nonprofit organisations (NPO), addressing two complementary issues. First, it focuses on goods and services produced by NPOs. Empirical research shows that these organisations are mainly present in the sectors of education, welfare services and health services. Theoretical research tries to find a common factor that links all these different activities and distinguishes between altruism and egoism of agents. When agents behave altruistically and non-market transfers (such as donations) prevail, NPO produce ideological goods and relational goods. When agents behave egoistically and market exchanges prevail, NPO are mainly active in sectors characterised by strong asymmetric information between producers and consumers and in sectors in which collective goods are produced. The paper then examines why NPO seem to be more efficient in producing these goods. On the one hand, in the case of altruistic behaviour of agents, altruism itself is the key variable to explain the efficiency of NPO relative to other organisational forms. On the other hand, in the case of egoism, it emerges that NPO are more trustworthy than other organisations. The trustworthiness stems from the presence of a statutory non-distribution of profits constraint. However, this constraint "attenuates" property rights and can generate inefficiencies. The absence of a market for property rights in the nonprofit sector leaves stakeholders without a mechanism to discipline managers. However, the adoption of an "ethic code" can solve these problems, inducing managers to invest in reputation.


BACKGROUND
Postinfarction ventricular tachycardia (VT) generally involves myocardial fibers surrounded by scar. Calcification of scar tissue has been described, but the relationship between calcifications within endocardial scar and VTs is unclear. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of myocardial calcifications as detected by cardiac computed tomography (CT) and the benefit for mapping and ablation focusing on nontolerated VTs.

METHODS
Fifty-six consecutive postinfarction patients had a cardiac CT performed before a VT ablation procedure. Another 56 consecutive patients with prior infarction without VT who had cardiac CTs served as a control group.

RESULTS
Myocardial calcifications were identified in 39 of 56 patients (70%) in the postinfarction group with VT, compared with 6 of 56 patients (11%) in the control group without VT. Calcifications were associated with VT when compared with a control group. A calcification volume of 0.538 cm3 distinguished patients with calcification-associated VT from patients without calcification-associated VTs (area under the curve, 0.87; sensitivity, 0.87; specificity, 0.88). Myocardial calcifications corresponded to areas of electrical nonexcitability and formed a border for reentry circuits for 49 VTs (33% of all VTs for which target sites were identified) in 24 of 39 patients (62%) with myocardial calcifications. A nonconfluent calcification pattern was associated with VT target sites independent of calcification volume ( P=0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
Myocardial calcifications detected by cardiac CT in patients with prior infarction are associated with VT. The calcifications correspond to areas of unexcitability and represent a fixed boundary of reentry circuits that can be visualized by CT. Calcifications correspond to effective ablation sites in >1/3 of patients with postinfarction VT.


In view of the recent results from the MiniBooNE experiment we revisit the global neutrino oscillation fit to short-baseline neutrino data by adding one, two or three sterile neutrinos with eV-scale masses to the three Standard Model neutrinos. We find that four-neutrino oscillations of the (3+1) type, which have been only marginally allowed before the recent MiniBooNE results, become even more disfavored with the new data. In the framework of so-called (3+2) five-neutrino mass schemes the MiniBooNE results can be nicely reconciled with the LSND appearance evidence thanks to the possibility of CP violation available in such oscillation schemes; however, the tension between appearance and disappearance experiments represents a serious problem in (3+2) schemes, so that these models are ultimately not viable. This tension remains also when a third sterile neutrino is added, and we do not find a significant improvement of the global fit in a (3+3) scheme.


Smart home systems have already become one of the most important applications of Internet of Things. Previously, the investment cost of smart home systems was quite expensive which required a lot of installation issues. However, wireless solutions offered by IoT applications has decreased the investment costs and brought easy, do it yourself solutions. In parallel to this, smart LED light sources and lighting control infrastructure have also been developed. In this study, it's aimed to investigate the latest technological developments in Internet of Things, smart LED lamps and control systems and application areas in residential lighting with regard to new communication protocols and standards. It is also aimed to investigate energy saving opportunities by smart LED lamps in comparison to incandescent lamps, CFLs and LEDs.


In recent years, attention has been focused on pleiotropic directions of effects exerted by vitamin D. Epidemiological data indicate that deficiency of vitamin D in various population groups represents an increasingly widespread phenomenon, while a decreased serum concentration of calcitriol correlates with manifestation of civilization-linked diseases, including visceral obesity. This study aims at a review and synthesis of data linked to relationships between lowered vitamin D concentrations in blood and manifestation of obesity, and potential mechanisms which affect the concentration of the vitamin in conditions of an excessive accumulation of adipose tissue. Several variables are distinguished which can affect the status of vitamin D in obesity, but the key role in this respect is ascribed to the metabolic activity of visceral adipose tissue. Among others, the activity favours sequestration and modulation of calcitriol turnover. On the other hand, the effects of vitamin D on the process of adipogenesis and its involvement in remodelling of adipose tissue are pointed out. Also, several factors of an environmental nature (e.g. time of year/day, dietetic supply of vitamin D), genetic nature (e.g. genetic polymorphisms) and other conditioning (e.g. coexisting diseases, age, content of melanin in skin) cannot be bypassed as they may affect the concentration of vitamin D. Nevertheless, it still remains unresolved to what extent hypovitaminosis D represents the cause and to which it is the effect of obesity.


Researchers train and build specific models to classify the presence and absence of a disease and the accuracy of such classification models is continuously improved. The process of building a model and training depends on the medical data utilized. Various machine learning techniques and tools are used to handle different data with respect to disease types and their clinical conditions. Classification is the most widely used technique to classify disease and the accuracy of the classifier largely depends on the attributes. The choice of the attribute largely affects the diagnosis and performance of the classifier. Due to growing large volumes of medical data across different clinical conditions, the need for choosing relevant attributes and features still lacks method to handle datasets that target specific diseases. This study uses an ensemble-based feature selection using random trees and wrapper method to improve the classification. The proposed ensemble learning classification method derives a subset using the wrapper method, bagging, and random trees. The proposed method removes the irrelevant features and selects the optimal features for classification through probability weighting criteria. The improved algorithm has the ability to distinguish the relevant features from irrelevant features and improve the classification performance. The proposed feature selection method is evaluated using SVM, RF, and NB evaluators and the performances are compared against the FSNBb, FSSVMb, GASVMb, GANBb, and GARFb methods. The proposed method achieves mean classification accuracy of 92% and outperforms the other ensemble methods.


One hundred and sixty four (164) patients were evaluated. Sixty (60) with Sickle cell disease (SSHg.) and ninety seven (97) with Trait (ASHg.); seventeen (17) were normal control group. The study confirmed that the incidence of cardiomyopathy in Trait (ASHg.) is greater than reported by other clinical investigations. Cardiac arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, premature ventricular contractions, bundle branch blocks, and T and ST modifications with sub epicardial isquemia were most significant electrocardiographics changes. The possibility of myocardial infarction in SS patients with low or normal hemoglobin is significant. M-Mode and 2-D echo, demonstrated similar end diastolic volumes in AS and SS patients in which cardiomyopathy were diagnosticated. Patients with cardiac failure, treated with cardiotonics, diuretics and ACE were compensated most frequently. To prevent hemosiderosis, antioxydant (alfatocoferol and Ubiquinones) were used with satisfactory response.


Introduction The seasonality of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is well known, and many analyses have been conducted in temperate countries; however, this is still not well understood in tropical countries. Previous studies suggest that climate factors are involved in the seasonality of these viruses. However, the extent of the effect of each climate variable is yet to be defined. Materials and Methods We investigated the pattern of seasonality and the effect of climate variables on influenza and RSV at three sites of different latitudes: the Eastern Visayas region and Baguio City in the Philippines, and Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Wavelet analysis and the dynamic linear regression model were applied. Climate variables used in the analysis included mean temperature, relative and specific humidity, precipitation, and number of rainy days. The Akaike Information Criterion estimated in each model was used to test the improvement of fit in comparison with the baseline model. Results At all three study sites, annual seasonal peaks were observed in influenza A and RSV; peaks were unclear for influenza B. Ranges of climate variables at the two Philippine sites were narrower and mean variables were significantly different among the three sites. Whereas all climate variables except the number of rainy days improved model fit to the local trend model, their contributions were modest. Mean temperature and specific humidity were positively associated with influenza and RSV at the Philippine sites and negatively associated with influenza A in Okinawa. Precipitation also improved model fit for influenza and RSV at both Philippine sites, except for the influenza A model in the Eastern Visayas. Conclusions Annual seasonal peaks were observed for influenza A and RSV but were less clear for influenza B at all three study sites. Including additional data from subsequent more years would help to ascertain these findings. Annual amplitude and variation in climate variables are more important than their absolute values for determining their effect on the seasonality of influenza and RSV.


Hierarchical autocorrelation in the error term of linear models arises when sampling units are related to each other according to a tree. The residual covariance is parametrized using the tree-distance between sampling units. When observations are modeled using an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck (OU) process along the tree, the autocorrelation between two tips decreases exponentially with their tree distance. These models are most often applied in evolutionary biology, when tips represent biological species and the OU process parameters represent the strength and direction of natural selection. For these models, we show that the mean is not microergodic: no estimator can ever be consistent for this parameter and provide a lower bound for the variance of its MLE. For covariance parameters, we give a general sufficient condition ensuring microergodicity. This condition suggests that some parameters may not be estimated at the same rate as others. We show that, indeed, maximum likelihood estimators of the autocorrelation parameter converge at a slower rate than that of generally microergodic parameters. We showed this theoretically in a symmetric tree asymptotic framework and through simulations on a large real tree comprising 4507 mammal species.


The authors consider a general, analytic approach to the study of workload effects on computer system dependability, where the faults considered are transient and the dependability measure in question is the time to failure, T/sub f/. Under these conditions, workload plays two roles with opposing effects: it can help detect/correct a correctable fault, or it can cause the system to fail by activating an uncorrectable fault. As a consequence, the overall influence of workload on T/sub f/ is difficult to evaluate intuitively. To examine this in more formal terms, the authors establish a Markov renewal process model that represents the interaction among workload and fault accumulation ins systems for which fault tolerance can be characterized by fault margins. Using this model, they consider some specific examples and show how the probabilistic nature of T/sub f/ can be formulated directly in terms of parameters regarding workload, fault arrivals, and fault margins.<<ETX>>


Abstract Texasweed is an annual broadleaf plant belonging to the Euphorbiaceae family and is an emerging problem in southern U.S. rice fields. Field studies were conducted in 2008 and 2009 to study the effect of flood depth on Texasweed survival and growth. The trearments were five flood depths: 0, 10, 15, 20, and 30 cm and two Texasweed growth stages: two- to three-leaf stage and four- to five-leaf stage. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized split-plot design with three replications. Flooding conditions were created by placing potted plants in 1.3 m by 0.7 m by 0.7 m polyvinyl chloride troughs. The effect of flood depth on Texasweed growth and fruit production was evaluated using ANOVA and regression analysis. Texasweed plants were able to survive in floods up to 30 cm; however, growth and fruit production were reduced. Increasing flood depths resulted in increased plant height and greater biomass allocation to stem. Texasweed plants produced adventitious roots and a thick spongy tissue, secondary aerenchyma, in the submerged roots and stem, which may play a role in its survival under flooded conditions. The recommended flood depth for rice in Louisiana is 5 to 10 cm. A 10-cm flood in the present study caused about 30 and 15% biomass reduction in two- to three-leaf and four- to five-leaf stage Texasweed, respectively. The results, thus, suggest that flooding alone may not be a viable option for Texasweed management in drill-seeded rice. However, appropriate manipulation of flooding could enhance the effectiveness of POST herbicides. This aspect needs further investigation. Nomenclature: Texasweed, Caperonia palustris (L.) St. Hil. CNPPA; rice, Oryza sativa L. ORYSA.