Nitrogenous inhibitors of respiration, namely, KCN, NaN3 and NH2OH, which promote the germination of cocklebur {Xanthium pennsylvaniicum Wallr.) seeds, enhanced the accumulation of cyanogenic compounds. Urea and cyanamide, which were ineffective, did not. Part of the exogenously applied KCN was converted to cyanogenic glycosides and lipids, but these compounds were only produced at low levels in NaN3-treated seeds. Exposure to NH2OH caused a slight accumulation of both types of cyanogenic compounds. Thiourea, effective in stimulating germination, did not increase the cyanogenic compounds, which suggests that the mechanism of its effect on germination is different from that of other nitrogenous compounds. Thiocyanate had a slightly promotive effect and caused minor increases in the levels of cyanogenic compounds. Ethylene increased the metabolic utilization of the accumulated cyanogens in response to KCN or NaN3. The response to ethylene of seeds in secondary dormancy was restored only after pre-treatment with KCN or NaN3. The response occurred once the level of cyanogens had increased. By contrast, enhancement of the effects of KCN and NaN3 on germination by propyl gallate or benzohydroxamate, inhibitors of CN-resistant respiration, was accompanied by the increased accumulation of cyanogens within the seeds that had been exposed to KCN or NaN3 in combination with the other types of respiratory inhibitors. Thus, it is suggested that endogenous cyanogens might be involved in the germination of cocklebur seeds.


In this paper, we propose a MAC protocol: throughput-maximized MAC protocol (TM-MAC), based on the characteristics of ultra wideband (UWB) technology. In TM- MAC, we implement concurrent multiuser access instead of mutual exclusion method, such as TDMA and random access. For multiuser interference, we establish a model to adaptively adjust the data transmission rate to ensure a satisfied signal to noise ratio (SNR) at receiver side. We also analyze the relationship among the theoretical maximum channel capacity, the achievable maximum channel capacity and the maximum data transmission rate. According to the network topology, TM-MAC re-divides network into subsets, in which communication pairs can make communication simultaneously to enhance throughput and to exploit as fast as possible data transmission rate for reliable communication. For subset formation, we propose a general analytical framework, which captures the unique characteristics of shared wireless channel and allows to model a large class of systemwide throughput maximization issue via the specification of per-link utilization functions. Simulation results demonstrate that TM-MAC can implement throughput maximization to shorten latency and to enhance network processing capability.


Background Vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) has, in many instances, become the treatment of choice in patients with abdominal catastrophes. This study describes the use and outcome of ABThera KCI® VAC in the Region Southern Denmark covering a population of approximately 1.202 mill inhabitants. Method A prospective multicenter study including all patients treated with VAC during an eleven-month period. Results A total of 74 consecutive patients were included. Median age was 64.4 (9–89) years, 64% were men, and median body mass index was 25 (17–42). Duration of VAC treatment was median 4.5 (0–39) days with median 1 (0–16) dressing changes. Seventy per cent of the patients attended the intensive care unit. The 90-day mortality was 15%. A secondary closure of the fascia was obtained in 84% of the surviving patients. Only one patient developed an enteroatmospheric fistula. Patients with secondary closure were less likely to develop large hernias and had better self-evaluated physical health score (p < 0,05). No difference in mental health was found. Conclusion The abdominal VAC treatment in patients with abdominal catastrophes is safe and with a relative low complication rate. Whether it might be superior to conventional treatment with primary closure when possible has yet to be proven in a randomized study.


The question about the effectiveness of companies in maintaining their own communities versus benefiting from the ones owned by consumers remains open. We examine differences between firm-managed and customer-managed brand communities regarding the impact of perceived psychographic homogeneity, availability of virtual avenues and relationship with the brand on the community's influence on members and the assessments and intentions of community participants. Data were obtained from 555 respondents in two leading Microsoft XBOX brand communities in Brazil. Results indicate that management of the community of origin is the moderator of all considered relationships. Also, the most favorable effects for the company occur in the community that is not directly controlled and managed by the company itself. Brand loyalty, however, is higher for members of the official brand community. Guidelines on how companies can benefit from consumer-managed communities are discussed.


A generalized model for devolatilization of large coal particles typically encountered in a fixed or moving bed gasifier has been developed. Two models were developed, one which does not consider diffusion of the volatile matter from the coal during devolatilization and the other which does consider diffusion of volatile species through the coal matrix. Both models predict a time-temperature history of the particle in a convective heat transfer environment.


I. Introduction. Among the geological specimens obtained from Cyrenaica by Prof. J. W. Gregory, during a journey through that province of Northern Africa in the summer of 1908, are a considerable number of molluscan remains, which it has been my privilege to study and report upon in the following notes. It may be at once mentioned that the more important part of this collection will be presented by Prof. Gregory to the Geological Department of the British Museum (Natural History). Speaking generally, the shells are badly preserved, and some consist merely of internal casts; hence only one new species has been made, namely, Æquipecten cyrenaicus, referred to the Priabonian horizon—a more useful purpose, it is hoped, being served in the endeavour to show relationships to already described forms. The specimens are, however, easily divisible into various groups of the Kainozoic System, none offering characters that would indicate their attribution to the Mesozoic or any older series of the sedimentary rocks. The more ancient specimens are the most numerous and probably of greatest importance, since they denote such horizons as the Lutetian, Priabonian, Aquitanian, and Vindobonian: those of later age belonging both to the earlier and to the newer deposits of the post-Pliocene Epoch. The rocks associated with the Lutetian and Priabonian fossils are full of nummulites and occasional specimens of Orthophragmina; while those that form the matrix of the Aquitanian and Vindobonian specimens exhibit foraminiferal organisms such as Operculina, Amphistegina, Lepidocyclina, etc., but no nummulites. This is interesting confirmation of


The central cause of strain on today's IP network infrastructure steins from the industries striving to extend the network to carry voice and other advanced services that it was not designed for. This thesis develops the reasons why more sophisticated mechanisms are required for ensuring that the best-effort infrastructure becomes both predictable and controllable, if the current IP infrastructure is to replace circuit switched networks. The main theme of the thesis are the IP traffic engineering (IPTE) traffic engineering algorithms that were developed by the author. The goal of the proposed approach is to compute a set of Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) link weights to balance network load, while honouring bandwidth, hop count and propagation delay constraints of the traffic. The proposed solution is built on classical OSPF routing and additionally uses the multi topology concepts that were recently proposed as an extension to OSPF. Using Multi Topology OSPF (mt-OSPF), multiple routing planes can be implemented. Each Multi Topology (MT) routing plane is assigned its own link metrics and thus traffic can be routed independently. Given a traffic demand matrix and the network topology, the algorithm computes a set of link weights using a search heuristic. The optimisation is cost function based, so that individual constraints can be taken into account per routing plane. Using this approach, constraint information remains in the "offline" IPTE algorithms and thus no extra constraint awareness is required at layer 3. Since recent Cisco implementations of mt-OSPF and Multi Topology IS-IS (M-ISIS) provide the required multi topology routing support, no major changes at the router level are required for the approach to be realised. Extensive simulations presented in this thesis show that IPTE has the potential to provide the differentiated routing and load balancing that it was designed for. In addition the simulations show that load is balanced more evenly across the network than with standard shortest path routing on inverse capacity link weights. A network management system is discussed that acts as the binding element for all enabling components. A simplified architecture for such a management system is presented and it is discussed how several traffic engineering mechanisms could coexist with IPTE on one network infrastructure. The use of the authors IPTE approach in the context of this management system is discussed in depth: Dangers associated with potential network disruption caused by frequent link weight modifications are analysed from both intra- and inter-domain point of view. A strategy for solving the problem of disruptions caused by link weight changes is presented by using several network planes to migrate traffic, rather than causing disruptions to a "live" plane through link weight modification and resulting OSPF routing table updates. The strategy is simulated, showing that any detrimental effects of the transition are avoidable. However, the work is ongoing and the results presented are indicative. Overall the thesis presents an approach for traffic engineering using traditional routing techniques, to (1) preserve the original intrinsic advantages of the IP design and (2) help ready IP networking for the much more restricting requirements of the future mutiservice network. It presents algorithms, simulations and frameworks showing how the work fits into the current IP networking world.


Empirical analyses of the effects of public and private pensions on household saving impose strong assumptions in order to obtain a tractable empirical model: fixed retirement and pension claiming ages, no borrowing constraint, little or no uncertainty, and no institutional restrictions on pension claiming. I specify a richer version of the life cycle model that relaxes these assumptions. I calibrate, solve, and simulate the model and use the results to study three issues: (1) How much household wealth is crowded out by pensions? (2) Can linear regression analysis accurately estimate the magnitude of crowdout when the assumptions used in the empirical analysis are invalid? (3) How valuable are pensions to households? Simulation results indicate that private pensions in the US crowd out less than $0.15 of household saving per dollar of pension wealth. Crowdout by Social Security is larger at $0.33, but far smaller than the one-for-one offset predicted by a stylized version of the life cycle model. Regression estimates of crowdout using the simulated data are systematically larger than simulated crowdout, indicating that empirical estimates of crowdout are quite sensitive to the assumptions required in order to use the regression approach. The welfare analysis implies that, conditional on Social Security, DB pensions are worth less than their expected present discounted value to households, while DC pensions are worth more than their dollar value. In the absence of a private pension, Social Security is worth 50% more to households than its expected dollar value.


Objective:The aim of this study was to assess the effect of H. pylori eradication on ulcer recurrence in North American duodenal ulcer patients by examining only treatment studies that met rigorous methodologic criteria. Methods: Data sources were computerized bibliographic searches from 1983, review of reference lists, communication with companies that manufacture medications used for H. pylori therapy in the U.S., andH. pylori investigators, review of open presentations to the Food and Drug Administration, and review of abstracts from annual scientific meetings. Criteria for study inclusion were double blind, randomized North American trials of H. pylori therapy for duodenal ulcer, scheduled endoscopic follow-up exams for>6 months, andH. pylori cure documented>4 wk after completion of therapy by at least two endoscopic biopsy tests. Seven relevant trials were identified. Data were abstracted independently and disagreement was resolved by consensus. We obtained missing data and identified erroneous assessments through contact with an author or sponsor of all studies.Results:The common odds ratio for ulcer recurrence was 0.20 (95% CI, 0.13–0.31) and 2.8 patients would need to be successfully treated to prevent one ulcer recurrence at 6 months. The pooled ulcer recurrence rate at 6 months in patients withH. pylori eradication was 20%.Conclusion:Results of North American studies of highest methodological quality confirm thatH. pylori eradication markedly decreases ulcer recurrence. Nevertheless, 20% of patients in these studies had ulcer recurrence within 6 months, despite successful cure of infection and no reported use of NSAIDs. NonH. pylori, non-NSAID ulcers may be more common in the U.S. than previously believed. (Am J Gastroenterol 1998;93: 1409–1415. © 1998 by Am. Coll. of Gastroenterology) INTRODUCTION


Chemical biology has a major role to play in helping society recover from its failure to maintain a sufficient pipeline of agents to treat infectious diseases that are long neglected, newly emergent, or evolving to drug-resistant states. How we develop anti-infectives is shaped by our view of infectious disease. In the 19th century, human infectious disease was seen as microbes growing in a human test tube. We now know that microbial adaptation to the host environment can make different genes essential in vivo than are required for growth in vitro. For example, hypoxic, oxidative, nitrosative, acidic, carbohydrate-poor micro-environments encountered by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in vivo are strikingly different from standard culture conditions in which anti-Mtb agents are traditionally screened. Such conditions in the host force Mtb subpopulations into non-replicative persistence accompanied by phenotypic tolerance (that is, non-genetic resistance to conventional antimicrobials). Therefore, this lab has used synthetic compounds, natural products and known drugs in high-throughput screens against isolated Mtb enzymes or whole mycobacteria with a focus on the following targets. Each is non-essential in standard culture but is essential for Mtb in an infected host: the E2 and E3 components of pyruvate dehydrogenase, which double as components of peroxynitrite reductase; the pathways that control intra-mycobacterial pH homeostasis, including a serine protease encoded by Rv3671c; the nucleotide excision repair pathway; and the proteasome. This talk will focus on a novel class of proteasome inhibitors that are the first to display marked selectivity for the proteasomes of a pathogen over that of its host. The compounds act as suicide substrate inhibitors for the Mtb proteasome but as simple substrates for the human proteasome. The distinction may be attributable to non-conserved residues outside the active site that control the movement of a loop when the inhibitor binds. If pathogen-selective proteasome inhibitors can be used to treat infectious disease, they would add inhibition of protein degradation to the short list of processes targeted by current antimicrobial agents, almost all of which inhibit synthesis. The work on proteasome inhibitors was a collaboration between Gang Lin in this laboratory with Dongyang Li and Huilin Li at Brookhaven National Labs, Haiteng Deng at Rockefeller University and L. P. Sorio de Carvalho, J. D. Warren, H. Tao and others at Weill Cornell.


Bio‐and GenomeBank, Denmark (RBGB) is a nationwide infra‐structure. Danish CancerBiobank (DCB) is a biobank in RBGB. The aim is to describe the degree of biological material collected and stored in DCB for patients diagnosed with primary ovarian cancer registered in The Danish Gynecologic Cancer Database (DGCD). Furthermore, to investigate the concordance between predicted organ of disease registered in RBGB at time of sampling (presumed diagnosis) with final diagnosis for patient. Data extraction from DGCD and DCB. Biological materials are present for 1.347 (62%) of 2.172 patients with primary ovarian cancer (OC). The median age of OC patients were 68 years (range: 18–90 years). Median age of patients with biological material in DCB was 67 years and for patients without biological material in DCB 69 years (p ≤ 0.0001). The histological subtypes for the 1347 OC patients with biological material were 911 (68%) serous adenocarcinoma, 97 (7%) endometrioid adenocarcinoma, 80 (6%) mucinous adenocarcinoma, 58 (4%) clear cell carcinoma, and for 201 (15%) no information were registered. For 327 patients (24%), the presumed diagnosis was hematological with a final diagnosis of OC. Using clinical data and biological material including pre‐analytical data regarding the biological material the possibility for translational research is optimal. Furthermore, information registered through daily working procedures may propose the need for additional biomarkers to aid clinicians to stratify patients to treatment in correct fast‐track packages.


A study was undertaken to evaluate the thermosonic gold‐wire bonding capability to Ti‐Pd‐Cu‐Ni‐Au thin film metallisation on newly developed polymer hybrid integrated circuits (POLYHICs). (The POLYHIC technology incorporates alternating layers of polymer and metal added to conventional Hybrid Integrated Circuits which provide for increased interconnection density.) Destructive wire‐pull strengths were measured as a function of varying wire‐bonding machine operating parameters of wedge bond force, wedge bond time, temperature, and ultrasonic energy. All data were evaluated and compared with wire bonding under similar conditions to thin film circuits on Al2O3 ceramic. The results for wedge‐bond associated failures indicated that machine operating parameters of wedge bond force, time and ultrasonic energy similarly affected the average wire‐pull strength for both the ceramic and POLYHIC circuits. Pull strengths for equivalent metallisation schemes and bonding parameters were generally slightly higher and more tightly distributed for bonds made to metal films on ceramic. A strong correlation was found to exist between wire‐pull strengths and surface topography (as measured by a profilometer technique) of the thin film metallisation for the POLYHICs which had both smooth and rough metallisation surfaces for metal films on top of the polymer. The results indicated that rough metallisation bonded more easily and yielded much higher wire‐pull strengths. Also, rougher films were shown to effectively increase the parameter‐operating windows for producing reliable wire bonds. A semi‐quantitative analysis was developed to help explain this correlation. Surface topography effects were also found to be a key factor when evaluating wire bondability as a function of substrate bonding temperature. Wedge‐bond strength was essentially independent of temperature for bonds made to rougher metallisation while a strong temperature dependency was found when wire bonds were made to smoother films.


Bangladesh is a low-lying riverine country where a large number of populations live in the saline zone. Salinization is a burning issue around the world that affect the plant growth as well as crop production. Due to soil salinization, a fifth of the world's agricultural land has been spoiled. From the geographical setting, Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to the impact of various natural hazards and disasters. Sundarbans also experienced such natural hazards and disasters, e.g., tsunamis, floods, and cyclones every year for being its location. Moreover, the study area's salinization level is increasing daily. As a result, the plants in the study area are facing a critical situation due to the rapidly changing saline levels. The study attempted to analyze rhizosphere bacteria isolated from wild-type varieties of Sundarbans to endure salt tolerance. This study was conducted using primary and secondary data. Wild-type variety and soil samples were collected from the Sundarbans. To isolate salt-tolerant bacteria, different concentrations of salt were used. The salt tolerance isolates were used to observe the role of seed germination and plant growth. The isolated salt-tolerant bacteria showed their effects on plant growth and seed germination in saline soil. Bacillus and Acinetobacter bacterial species were identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, which promoted plant growth and seed germination at a high salt level. Since rhizosphere bacteria play an essential role in enduring salt tolerance, it can be a straightforward and eco-friendly strategy to reduce plant salt stress.
J. of Sci. and Tech. Res. 4(1): 71-80, 2022


Objectives: The association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and insulin resistance (IR) remains controversial. Sleep apnea and obesity may increase IR and inflammation by different mechanisms. This study investigated the relationship between sleep apnea and obesity with IR, and pro-inflammatory state. Method: A total of 133 consecutive subjects who were referred for polysomnography. 112 were documented to have OSA defined as apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) >5 and 21 control subjects with AHI 30). Result: IR was higher in the obese patients with OSA than in the non-obese patients with OSA and control group. However, AHI and BMI were the determinants of IR as independent of each other in all subjects according to multivariable linear regression analyses. All of inflamatory cytokines (CRP, hs CRP, TNF-α, IL-6) were significantly higher in the obese patients with sleep apnea than in the control group. All of inflammatory cytokines showed significant associations with BMI while did not AHI, AI, ESS. Conclusion: It may be considered that the impairment in glucose homeostasis is associated with both sleep disorders and obesity. Obesity in patients with OSA cases aggravate of IR and inflammation.


We extend our previous study on VPOE (virtual private operation environment) to provide DDOS (distributed denial of service) prevention in a distributed heterogeneous environment (Wei Yu et al., IEEE Trans. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 2002). We introduce our integrated middleware-based defense system to support this service by studying two important components, middleware box and domain agent. Our technology includes the following: (1) we adopt network-based middlewares which are realized by special devices inserted in various locations of the network and which cooperate to achieve the defense mission objectives; (2) we take generic primitive and role-based approaches; with network primitives, middlewares are programmable entities and can change their roles during the system run-time according to the system defense requirements; (3) we take generic signaling control protocols by which middlewares can cooperate with each other effectively to achieve the high defense performance globally. Middlewares provide transparent services to applications and make our solution both upward and downward compatible. Thus, our technology can easily be deployed with the current infrastructures. By using the generic middleware box control protocols and network primitives, the middleware boxes can cooperatively share the countermeasure information and easily change their roles in run-time to prevent DDOS attacks efficiently. In this sense, our defense system can adaptively deploy the defense strategy according to the dynamic network attack situation. As a result, our technology is effective and can be used in a large system.


We carefully reconsider the problem of classifying broad-absorption line quasars (BALQSOs) and derive a new, unbiased estimate of the intrinsic BALQSO fraction from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR3 quasi-stellar object (QSO) catalogue. We first show that the distribution of objects selected by the so-called 'absorption index' (AI) is clearly bimodal in log AI, with only one mode corresponding to definite BALQSOs. The surprisingly high BALQSO fractions that have recently been inferred from AI-based samples are therefore likely to be overestimated. We then present two new approaches to the classification problem that are designed to be more robust than the AI, but also more complete than the traditional 'balnicity index' (BI). Both approaches yield observed BALQSO fractions around 13.5 per cent, while a conservative third approach suggests an upper limit of 18.3 per cent. Finally, we discuss the selection biases that affect our observed BALQSO fraction. After correcting for these biases, we arrive at our final estimate of the intrinsic BALQSO fraction. This is fBALQSO= 0.17 ± 0.01 (stat) ± 0.03 (sys) with an upper limit of fBALQSO? 0.23 . We conclude by pointing out that the bimodality of the log AI distribution may be evidence that the BAL-forming region has clearly delineated physical boundaries.


This article argues that regulation 3(2)(b), read with regulation 3(2)(c), issued pursuant to section 23(f) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 ("1995 Act"), is invalid and ought to be set aside on judicial review. It is argued that they are inconsistent with sections 5(1)(c), (2), (5) and (9)(a) of the 1995 Act. This article shows that, whereas regulation 3(2)(b) requires a foreigner seeking citizenship to be physically present in South Africa and not be absent from the Republic for more than 90 days in each of the five years preceding the date of application for citizenship, no such physical presence requirement is contained in section 5(1)(c), or in section 5 of the 1995 Act in general, if read holistically. Section 5(1)(c) merely requires that an aspirant citizen be ordinarily resident in South Africa for five continuous years immediately preceding the lodgement of an application for citizenship. In the context of section 5(1)(c), the term "ordinarily resident" is interpreted as not requiring a physical presence in South Africa for any period of time during a calendar year. Rather, it merely requires that a foreigner must have sufficiently strong ties to South Africa to support a finding that his real home is there. Therefore, it is hypothesised that the Minister of Home Affairs acted ultra vires the 1995 Act when he issued regulations 3(2)(b) and (c).


Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor antagonist is the standard of care in acute coronary syndromes. Additionally, novel P2Y12 receptor antagonists such as prasugrel and ticagrelor are even recommended over clopidogrel in certain clinical guidelines. Despite the fact that clopidogrel is fraught with significant variability in on-treatment platelet reactivity, the novel P2Y12 receptor antagonists come at the price of increased side effects and cost. Therefore, alternative or supplementary antiplatelet therapies are needed. Cilostazol, a phosphodiesterase III inhibitor, has been shown to significantly improve high on-treatment platelet reactivity in patients receiving both aspirin and clopidogrel and has antiproliferative effects (inhibiting neointimal hyperplasia and smooth muscle proliferation), thus reducing the risk of restenosis after coronary stent implantation. Further, cilostazol in addition to aspirin and clopidogrel versus DAPT in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention showed that triple antiplatelet therapy (TAPT) was associated with a significantly greater platelet inhibition, reduced major adverse cardiovascular events, target lesion revascularization, and target vessel revascularization with no increased risk for a hemorrhagic event. Moving forward, larger randomized controlled trials are required comparing TAPT versus DAPT (clopidogrel, prasugrel or ticagrelor on top of aspirin).


Joint diagonalization of a set of positive (semi)-definite matrices has a wide range of analytical applications, such as estimation of common principal components, estimation of multiple variance components, and blind signal separation. However, when the eigenvectors of involved matrices are not the same, joint diagonalization is a computationally challenging problem. To the best of our knowledge, currently existing methods require at least $O(KN^3)$ time per iteration, when $K$ different $N \times N$ matrices are considered. We reformulate this optimization problem by applying orthogonality constraints and dimensionality reduction techniques. In doing so, we reduce the computational complexity for joint diagonalization to $O(N^3)$ per quasi-Newton iteration. This approach we refer to as JADOC: Joint Approximate Diagonalization under Orthogonality Constraints. We compare our algorithm to two important existing methods and show JADOC has superior runtime while yielding a highly similar degree of diagonalization. The JADOC algorithm is implemented as open-source Python code, available at https://github.com/devlaming/jadoc.


A 3-year-old patient with biopsy-proven herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) encephalitis developed a clinical condition consistent with systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic rheumatoid arthritis (SoJIA) and responsive to synthetic interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor therapy. This suggested both a temporal relationship between HHV-6 infection and the development of SoJIA and the likely involvement of IL-1 in his disease. This case adds to the current experience of IL-1 receptor antagonist therapy in SoJIA. In addition, it suggests that future prospective studies in new-onset SoJIA should include an evaluation for HHV-6 infection.


Sustainable financial markets play an important role in the functioning of human society. Still, the detection and prediction of risk in financial markets remain challenging and draw much attention from the scientific community. Here we develop a new approach based on combined network theory and machine learning to study the structure and operations of financial product markets. Our network links are based on the similarity of firms' products and are constructed using the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) filings of US listed firms. We find that several features in our network can serve as good precursors of financial market risks. We then combine the network topology and machine learning methods to predict both successful and failed firms. We find that the forecasts made using our method are much better than other well-known regression techniques. The framework presented here not only facilitates the prediction of financial markets but also provides insight and demonstrate the power of combining network theory and machine learning.


Abstract The cotton industry is Australia's fourth largest export earner. However, area of cotton harvested and production have been declining in recent years. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to identify the structural problems and to examine the prospects for improved cotton production. The findings of this study revealed that low relative prices, competition with other alternative enterprises for factor inputs, high cost of production, shortage of water, and chemicals impact on environment are the limiting factors for the industry's development. However, there is potential for improved cotton production, and Australia has to undertake research and development strategies in order to develop improved cotton varieties that resist insect attacks, reduce chemical use, maintain high yields, and improve quality of cotton and water management.


While knowledge about peripheral arterial disease (PAD) appears well disseminated, the condition still goes largely undiagnosed and untreated. We reviewed the current literature and found that PAD is a common condition that is equally prevalent in men and women. Most cases are asymptomatic and more so in women. Having PAD increases morbidity and mortality, as well as concomitant cardiovascular disease. Given the lack of symptoms in most patients, we recommend diagnosing PAD using non-invasive instruments such as the Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI). This paper deals with the diagnosis, epidemiology and risk factors for PAD.


Application scenarios such as legacy data migration, Extract-TransformLoad (ETL) processes, and data cleaning require the transformation of input tuples into output tuples. Traditional approaches for implementing these data transformations enclose solutions as Persistent Stored Modules (PSM) executed by an RDBMS or transformation code using a commercial ETL tool. Neither of these is easily maintainable or optimizable. A third approach consists of combining SQL queries with external code, written in a programming language. However, this solution is not expressive enough to specify an important class of data transformations that produce several output tuples for a single input tuple. In this paper, we propose the data mapper operator as an extension to the relational algebra to address this class of data transformations. Furthermore, we supply a set of algebraic rewriting rules for optimizing expressions that combine standard relational operators with mappers. Finally, experimental results report the benefits brought by some of the proposed semantic optimizations.


Wireless power transfer technologies enable power transfer to loads through air. The contactless power transformer is a key element of it. In this work, a new transformer with metamaterial is proposed, through which the power transfer distance increases. The electromagnetic properties about metamaterial are discussed at first. Then, the finite element analyses of this transformer are presented as well. The magnetic field distributions and the computational results show that this type of transformer can enlarge the power transfer range of a wireless power transfer system.


Background Age at diagnosis has been shown to be an independent prognostic factor of localized renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in several studies. We used contemporary statistical methods to reevaluate the effect of age on the cancer-specific survival (CSS) of localized RCC. Methods and Findings 1,147 patients with localized RCC who underwent radical nephrectomy between 1993 and 2009 were identified in our four institutions. The association between age and CSS was estimated, and the potential threshold was identified by a univariate Cox model and by martingale residual analysis. Competing risks regression was used to identify the independent impact of age on CSS. The median age was 52 years (range, 19–84 years). The median follow-up was 61 months (range, 6–144 months) for survivors. A steep increasing smoothed martingale residual plot indicated an adverse prognostic effect of age on CSS. The age cut-off of 45 years was most predictive of CSS on univariate Cox analysis and martingale residual analysis (p = 0.005). Age ≤45 years was independently associated with a higher CSS rate in the multivariate Cox regression model (HR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.05–2.40, p = 0.027) as well as in competing risks regression (HR = 3.60, 95% CI = 1.93–6.71, p = 0.001). Conclusions Increasing age was associated with a higher incidence of cancer-specific mortality of localized RCC. Age dichotomized at 45 years would maximize the predictive value of age on CSS, and independently predict the CSS of patients with localized RCC.


Gravitational coupling of the propagation four-vectors of matter wave functions is formulated in at space-time. Coupling at the momentum level rather than at the "force-law" level greatly simplifies many calculations. This locally Lorentz-invariant approach (G4v) treats electromagnetic and gravitational coupling on an equal footing. Classical mechanics emerges from the incoherent aggregation of matter wave functions. The theory reproduces, to first order beyond Newton, the
standard GR results for Gravity-Probe B, deflection of light by massive bodies, precession of orbits, gravitational red shift, and total gravitational-wave energy radiated by a circular binary system. Its predictions differ markedly from GR for the gravitational-wave radiation patterns from rotating massive systems, and for the LIGO antenna pattern. G4v predictions of total radiated energy from highly eccentric Kepler systems are slightly larger than those of similar GR treatments. A detailed treatment of the theory is in preparation. However the generation and detection of gravitational waves is exactly the same as the corresponding treatment for electromagnetic waves given in
Collective Electrodynamics, (hereinafter referred to simply as CE) and therefore separable from the material in preparation. It therefore seems advisable to make the gravitational-wave material available, since
its predictions should be testable as data from Advanced LIGO becomes available over the next few years. The presentation is somewhat more detailed than would be "normal," simply to make the approach clear and accessible to non-specialists.


Although volcanoes provide some of nature's most spectacular phenomena, and have been the objects of record since the earliest days of science, the accumulation of data in the past 150 years has until very recently only served to emphasize the extent of their unknown characteristics. In the last decade however there have been notable advances, both in the observation of volcanoes and volcanic rocks, and in the spectacular development of ideas about the mobility of the crust that enable volcanicity to be related to the structure of the Earth. These ideas led the Volcanic Studies Group of the Geological Society of London, and the Volcanological Research Committee of the Royal Society to consider holding a symposium to take stock of the position in the year that the Upper IVIantle Project was scheduled to end. The meeting, arranged principally to consider Tertiary and Recent volcanic rocks, fell into four groups of papers which generally coincided with the half-day sessions: oceanic rocks (Chairman, Professor J. Sutton, F.R.S.); island-arcs and continental margins (Chairman, Professor W. A. Deer, F.R.S.); and continental volcanicity (Chairmen, Professor F. H. Stewart, F.R.S. and Professor K. C. Dunham, F.R.S.). Included in the last session were papers dealing with the evidence from the only direct methods of investigation of the Upper Mantle, plutonic xenoliths and the kimberlites, and some of the papers that quantify the chemistry and kinematics of volcanicity.


Purpose This study investigated the patterns of opioid co-prescription with benzodiazepine and other concomitant medications among opioid users. Opioid dose in each type of co-prescription was also examined. Patients and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among opioid users receiving concomitant medications at an outpatient tertiary hospital setting in Malaysia. Opioid prescriptions (morphine, fentanyl, oxycodone, dihydrocodeine and tramadol) that were co-prescribed with other medications (opioid + benzodiazepines, opioid + antidepressants, opioid + anticonvulsants, opioid + antipsychotics and opioid + hypnotics) dispensed from January 2013 to December 2014 were identified. The number of patients, number of co-prescriptions and the individual mean opioid daily dose in each type of co-prescription were calculated. Results A total of 276 patients receiving 1059 co-prescription opioids with benzodiazepine and other co-medications were identified during the study period. Of these, 12.3% of patients received co-prescriptions of opioid + benzodiazepine, 19.3% received opioid + anticonvulsant, 6.3% received opioid + antidepressant and 10.9% received other co-prescriptions, including antipsychotics and hypnotics. The individual mean opioid dose was <100 mg/d of morphine equivalents in all types of co-prescriptions, and the dose ranged from 31 to 66 mg/d in the co-prescriptions of opioid + benzodiazepine. Conclusion Among the opioid users receiving concomitant medications, the co-prescriptions of opioid with benzodiazepine were prescribed to 12.3% of patients, and the individual opioid dose in this co-prescription was moderate. Other co-medications were also commonly used, and their opioid doses were within the recommended dose. Future studies are warranted to evaluate the adverse effect and clinical outcomes of the co-medications particularly in long-term opioid users with chronic non-cancer pain.


General Matrix to Matrix multiplication (GEMM) is the cornerstone for a wide gamut of applications in high performance computing (HPC), scientific computing (SC) and more recently, deep learning. In this work, we present a customizable matrix multiplication framework for the Intel HARPv2 CPU+FPGA platform that includes support for both traditional single precision floating point and reduced precision workloads. Our framework supports arbitrary size GEMMs and consists of two parts: (1) a simple application programming interface (API) for easy configuration and integration into existing software and (2) a highly customizable hardware template. The API provides both compile and runtime options for controlling key aspects of the hardware template including dynamic precision switching; interleaving and block size control; and fused deep learning specific operations. The framework currently supports single precision floating point (FP32), 16, 8, 4 and 2 bit Integer and Fixed Point (INT16, INT8, INT4, INT2) and more exotic data types for deep learning workloads: INT16xTernary, INT8xTernary, BinaryxBinary. We compare our implementation to the latest NVIDIA Pascal GPU and evaluate the performance benefits provided by optimizations built into the hardware template. Using three neural networks (AlexNet, VGGNet and ResNet) we illustrate that reduced precision representations such as binary achieve the best performance, and that the HARPv2 enables fine-grained partitioning of computations over both the Xeon and FPGA. We observe up to 50x improvement in execution time compared to single precision floating point, and that runtime configuration options can improve the efficiency of certain layers in AlexNet up to 4x, achieving an overall 1.3x improvement over the entire network.


A method is offered to model the complex trajectories of closed circular DNA supercoils and knots. The trajectories are approximated by polygons and analytical expressions of the curves are generated from the polygons with B‐spline functions. The resulting curves are used to evaluate the writhe and elastic energy of a series of interrelated supercoils, and to generate detailed atomic models of the deformed double helix.


Studies investigating tool use in animals that are not known tool users in the wild are important in helping to understand how and under what circumstances this ability might arise. Tool use appears to be uncommon in great tits (Parus major), with only a single documented observation in which a wild great tit used conifer needles to extract larvae from crevices in trees. In a laboratory-based experiment, we examined whether wild-caught great tits could learn to use tools in a similar manner. We presented the birds with two different tool use tasks in which they would need to use either a stick or a hook to extract an otherwise inaccessible meal worm from a transparent plastic tube. First, the birds passed a simpler training criterion (pulling a tool with an attached food reward) that aimed to reduce the difficulty of the task. Nevertheless, none of the individuals learnt to use tools in either of the two tasks. This result stands in stark contrast to the abilities of some corvids and parrots, which can learn to use tools in captivity, even though some of them are not tool users in the wild. We believe that tool use might be difficult for some birds to learn since the skills required for this ability seem not to be part of their natural foraging behaviour. (Less)


In improving the software maintenance activity, it is essential to automatically detect duplicate or similar bug reports stored in the repository, and then reusing its solution if possible. Thus, a bugFix Recommender System is proposed to assist user to get a recommendation of a solution from duplicate or similar bug reports that available in the repository. The proposed system acts like a help desk system. The system is developed based on Case-Based Reasoning approach and natural language processing techniques. This paper discusses in details the framework of the proposed system. The system has potential to provide benefits to triagers as well as end-users. © 2015 Published by ISICO


Here we present the entropic dynamics formalism for networks. That is, a framework for the dynamics of graphs meant to represent a network derived from the principle of maximum entropy and the rate of transition is obtained taking into account the natural information geometry of probability distributions. We apply this framework to the Gibbs distribution of random graphs obtained with constraints on the node connectivity. The information geometry for this graph ensemble is calculated and the dynamical process is obtained as a diffusion equation. We compare the steady state of this dynamics to degree distributions found on real-world networks.


Phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylases (PC) were purified from a wild strain and an aspartate-producing mutant of Brevibacterium flavum to electrophoretic homogeneity. The molecular weights of the enzymes were determined to be 4.1 X 10(5) by the gel-filtration technique. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the enzyme gave only one protein band with a molecular weight of 1.07 X 10(5). The enzyme was labile and stabilized by substrate PEP, activators, metallic cofactors, an allosteric inhibitor and ammonium sulfate. The mechanism for the PC reaction was rapid equilibrium random Bi Bi with a dead end complex, enzyme-bicarbonate-Pi. The KmS for PEP and bicarbonate were 2.5 and 0.63 mM, respectively, and the apparent KmS were not affected by the secondary substrate concentrations. Dissociation constants for Pi of enzyme-Pi and the dead end complex were 5.0 and 16 mM, respectively. Aspartate inhibition was completely competitive with both the substrates, PEP and bicarbonate, with an inhibitor constant of 0.044 mM. An activator, acetyl-CoA, did not alter the apparent Km for bicarbonate but decreased that for PEP. The activator constants for the enzyme-PEP complex and free enzyme were 6.3 and 40 microM, respectively. Double reciprocal plots of reaction rate against PEP concentration were not linear at lower PEP concentrations. Hill coefficients for PEP were 1.6 in the absence of any effectors, 1.0 in the presence of acetyl-CoA, and 2.3 in the presence of aspartate. As to the mutant enzyme, only the inhibitor constant for aspartate was increased, being 0.18 mM, but other constants, coefficients, as described above, and specific activity were almost the same as those of the wild-type enzyme.


In this paper, we present an algorithm for computing the bounds on energy-efficiency of digital very large scale integration (VLSI) systems in the presence of deep submicron noise. The proposed algorithm is based on a soft-decision channel model of noisy VLSI systems and employs information-theoretic arguments. Bounds on energy-efficiency are computed for multimodule systems, static gates, dynamic circuits and noise-tolerant dynamic circuits in 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. As the complexity of the proposed algorithm grows linearly with the size of the system, it is suitable for computing the bounds on energy-efficiency for complex VLSI systems. A key result presented is that noise-tolerant dynamic circuits offer the best trade off between energy-efficiency and noise-immunity when compared to static and domino circuits. Furthermore, employing a 16-bit noise-tolerant Manchester adder in a CDMA receiver, we demonstrate a 31.2%-51.4% energy reduction over conventional systems when operating in the presence of noise. In addition, we compute the lower bounds on energy dissipation for this CDMA receiver and show that these lower bounds are 2.8/spl times/ below the actual energy consumed, and that noise-tolerance reduces the gap between the lower bounds and actual energy dissipation by a factor of 1.9/spl times/.


Phase-randomized optical homodyne detection is a well-known technique for performing quantum state tomography. So far, it has been mainly considered a sophisticated tool for laboratory experiments but unsuitable for practical applications. In this work, we change the perspective and employ this technique to set up a practical continuous-variable quantum random number generator. We exploit a phase-randomized local oscillator realized with a gain-switched laser to bound the min-entropy and extract true randomness from a completely uncharacterized input, potentially controlled by a malicious adversary. Our proof-of-principle implementation achieves an equivalent rate of 270 Mbit/s. In contrast to other source-device-independent quantum random number generators, the one presented herein does not require additional active optical components, thus representing a viable solution for future compact, modulator-free, certified generators of randomness.


Recent results show that a nonsmooth time invariant feedback control law can be used to stabilize an axi symmetric rigid body using only two control torques to the zero equilibrium This method however may require a signi cant amount of control e ort especially for initial conditions close to an equilibrium manifold In this paper we propose a modi cation of the previous control law which reduces the control e ort required The new control law renders the equilibrium manifold unstable and drives the trajectories of the closed loop system into a safe region where the original control law can be subsequently used


This case study finds that disrespect by international expatriate managers towards local employees triggered long-term industrial unrest in the Indian subsidiary of the global car maker Toyota. Whilst innovative production models and their tools provide economic advantage to the company, the interaction of the application of the lean production model within the context of host country institutions often creates workplace disputation and unrest due to unilateralism and managerial hegemonies that overrides local customs and norms. The power of multinational enterprises to override or ignore institutional resistance and to inflict disrespect towards the local workforce can result in worker resistance, a lack of trust, and ongoing industrial unrest. This case study demonstrates how a lack of respect of local customs and workers grievances had long-lasting consequences in terms of the subsequent conflict and a poor industrial relations climate at the production plant in India.


Federated Edge Learning (FEL) enables a massive number of edge devices (e.g. smart phones) to train machine learning models collaboratively. Due to the inherent unreliability of participating edge devices and the unpredictable network conditions, the final model accuracy is largely determined by the communication time between edge devices and the parameter server (PS). However, there exists very limited work to quantify the influence of the communication time in FEL and show how to minimize its negative impacts from a theoretic perspective. In this paper, we are among the first to develop a formal model of the communication time in FEL and its influence on the final model accuracy. In our work, the set of edge devices involved in each global iteration is defined as the ECP (Engaged Client Pool). We model the communication time cost as a function with respect to the response time distribution of individual devices and the ECP size. By incorporating communication time cost into the convergence rate analysis, we propose the ECPA and H-ECPA algorithms to automatically adjust the size of the ECP so as to maximize the model accuracy in both homogeneous and heterogeneous networks. We also analyze how the tail shape of response time affects the convergence rate, and prove that the heavy tail shape can significantly lower the model accuracy. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments with real datasets, and the results confirm the correctness of our analysis and demonstrate the superiority of our proposed algorithms.


Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) was used to quantitatively determine the contents of glycyrrhizic acid, glycyrrhetinic acid, morphine and sodium benzoate in compound liquorice tablets. The detection wavelength was 228 nm and the applied voltage was 14 kV. Borax solution of 50 mmol/L was used as the background electrolyte and hydrochlorothiazide as the internal standard. There were all good linear relationships between the concentrations and the relative areas of glycyrrhizic acid, glycyrrhetinic acid, morphine and sodium benzoate. Their average recoveries were 98.2%, 97.3%, 97.1% and 97.5%, respectively. The method is simple, rapid and accurate.


In the Albany Study cohort of 1910 men, first examined between 1953 and 1955, 27-year mortality was least at relative weights between 100 and 109% of those considered desirable according to the 1959 Build and Blood Pressure Study. Mortality was greater at lower and higher weights. This association of weight and mortality was substantially stronger during the first 15 years after characterization than in the remaining 12 years. In contrast to the Albany Study, the 1979 insurance study and a study by the American Cancer Society reported minimum mortality for men at average weight by height, which is 15-20 pounds above the 1959 insurance standards. Other studies have reported minimum mortality at above-average weights. Perhaps the concept of an unvarying 'desirable' weight should be abandoned.


Background: Mining Software Process (MSP) helps distill important information about software process enactment from software data repositories. An increasing amount of research effort is being dedicated to MSP. These studies differ in various aspects (e.g., topics, data, and techniques) of MSP. Objective: We aim to study the state of the art on MSP from following aspects, i.e., research topics, data sources, data types, mining techniques, and mining tools. Method: We conducted a systematic mapping study on the research relevant to MSP at both microprocess and macroprocess levels. Results: Our mapping study identified 40 relevant studies that can be grouped into microprocess and macroprocess levels. The identified mining techniques have been mapped onto the associated mining tools that fall into four types. Driven by the three research questions which represented in a meta-model, the findings revealed the correlations among the research topics, data sources, data types, mining techniques, and mining tools. Conclusion: It is observed that in order to discover the software process model or map, the main data source is from industrial project. Current mining techniques for microprocess research are mostly business process mining or sequence mining techniques used to recover descriptive software process. In addition, various machine learning algorithms and novel proposed methods are used to improve the accuracy of macroprocess level factors (e.g., software effort estimation).


The biodesulfurization process of coal from the municipality of Puerto Libertador (Cordoba, Colombia) with high-sulfur content (S pyritic = 1.03%, S organic = 0.9%, S sulfates = 0.1%) was carried out in a 4,000 L stirred tank reactor. A mixed culture of A. ferrooxidans and A. thiooxidans was used. The process was configured in a discharge-charge system at room temperature with the pH controlled at 1.8±0.1, 4 mg/L of dissolved oxygen, and a coal particle size -3/4" (dp<19.05 mm). Two residence times (D2: 8 days and D1: 4 days) were evaluated. The best results showed 59.22% of pyritic sulfur oxidation with a residence time of 4 days. These results show good expectations for a process which can be applied without having to grind the coal to a fine size. On the other hand, liquid effluents, produced during the biodesulfurization process, were neutralized to a pH of between 7.5-8.5, by adding lime. The neutralization reached removals of 100% total iron, 69.81% sulfates, and 66.09% total solids.


ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore Swedish mothers' beliefs about youth well-being and in relation to gender, education, and relationship characteristics. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to study reports provided by 1074 mothers based on open-ended survey questions and mother–youth relationship measures. Fourteen sub-themes were identified that encompassed five broader themes: academic and cognitive, emotional and psychological, physical, recreational, and social well-being. Theme combinations were also identified from individual reports. Although mothers' beliefs were not moderated by youths' gender, mothers with higher formal education reported more broadly across themes than mothers with less formal education. No significant differences were observed between mothers' beliefs and mother–youth relationship characteristics. Situated within a Swedish context, these results lift mothers' view about youth well-being as a multifaceted phenomenon, including similarities and differences with contemporary theories and studies. Future research needs to explore how these beliefs matter for parents, youth and their well-being across cultures.


Clinico-pathopsychological and catamnestic investigation was performed in 82 patients with manic-depressive psychosis featuring the mixed affective states. The typology of these states was developed. Their appearance in both nosological forms was a malign prognostic sign indicating the disease exacerbation with its progredience enhanced and the disadaptation increased in terms of social activities and labor.


Mast cells represent a heterogeneous and multifunctional cells population distributed throughout tissues. Their participation in the response to chronic hypoxia is discussed in consideration to their role in the angiogenesis and remodeling of pulmonary vasculature, including relevance of proangiogenic factors, mediators and proteolytic enzymes released by activated mast cells. Possible mechanism of mast cells activation by hypoxia is considered.


BACKGROUND Postoperative debridement after functional endoscopic sinus surgery has become an accepted part of the surgical management of chronic sinusitis. Debridements are traditionally stressed as an essential part of maintaining sinus ostium patency, reducing pooling of mucus, preventing infection, and critical to long-term success. This stress arose mostly from theoretical considerations, and from an association in the literature with excellent long-term outcomes. Impairment of mucociliary function persists for 3 to 12 weeks after surgery, and stagnant blood and mucus may act as a culture medium for microbes to perpetuate an immune response. During debridement procedures, blood and mucus are suctioned, bone chips are removed, fibrin clot and early synechiae are cleared, and residual bony partitions may be taken down as the mucosal edema resolves. The frequency of debridements is highly variable from one surgeon to the next and one case to another. Greater inflammation at the time of surgery is associated with greater postoperative scarring, and possibly higher rates of revision surgery. In these cases, frequent and aggressive debridement may be warranted. However, postoperative debridements are uncomfortable for patients, time consuming for the surgeon and clinic staff, require specialized sinus instruments in the office, multiple patient visits, and carry potential for epistaxis. Additionally, removal of crusts within the first week can be a source of new epithelial injury. Despite these reservations, serial postoperative debridements are performed by many surgeons. Yet, little evidence supports its need or defines the extent to which it is necessary.


We report a case of atypical polypoid adenomyoma (APA) concomitantly identified with complex atypical endometrial hyperplasia (CAH) in the uterus. Since an initial endometrial smear revealed atypical endometrial cells, a diagnosis of CAH was made. Even though a concomitantly performed uterine cervical smear contained both atypical epithelial and stromal cells, the diagnosis of APA was not initially made because the cytological criteria for APA had not been established. Histologically, we recognized both CAH in the uterine corpus and APA in the lower uterine segment in the hysterectomy material. Retrospectively, the cells in the first cervical smear were interpreted as part of APA because the same types of cells were observed in the intraoperative cytology sample. Although the APA and CAH lesions were interposed by normal endometrium, estrogen was suspected to be the common etiological factor. Reports regarding the cytology of APA are currently scarce. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing cytological presentation of association of APA with CAH in addition to the first cervical smear of APA containing both epithelial and stromal components. Identification of abnormal proliferation of epithelium and stromal cells of smooth muscle origin is useful in the cytological diagnosis of APA. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Since the beginning, quantum mechanics has raised major foundational and interpretative problems. Foundational research has been an important factor in the development of quantum cryptography, quantum information theory and, perhaps one day, practical quantum computers. Many believe that, in turn, quantum information theory has bearing on foundational research. This is largely related to the so-called epistemic view of quantum states, which maintains that the state vector represents information on a system and which has led to the suggestion that quantum theory needs no interpretation. I will argue that this and related approaches fail to take into consideration two different explanatory functions of quantum mechanics, that of accounting for classically unexplainable correlations between classical phenomena and that of explaining the microscopic structure of classical objects. The epistemic view provides no answer to what constitutes the main question of interpretation: How can the world be for quantum mechanics to be true? I will then review three different approaches to understanding quantum mechanics, namely, Bohmian mechanics, Everett's relative states, and Cramer's transactional interpretation. I will show that these approaches answer the above question, as well as other foundational ones. This paper is written from the perspective that different logically consistent interpretations, far from leading to confusion, in fact contribute to increased understanding of the theory.


On April 1, 1958, the authors collected a male hummingbird, tentatively identified in the field as Calypte co&e, in southern Clark County, Nevada. Upon comparison of this individual with various kinds of North American hummingbirds in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology we realized that it possessed combinations of colors and morphologic characters not typical of any recognized species. The specimen was reidentified as a hybrid between the Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus plutycwcus) and the Costa Hummingbird (Culypte costue) because it seemed to show the intermediate features one might expect from such a cross. The fact that a hybrid between these species had previously been reported (Huey, 1944) probably influenced this identification. However, subsequent critical examination of the specimen has brought forth evidence which points to the fact that this specimen is the result of interbreeding between the Broad-tailed Hummingbird and the Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus ulexandri) and that Calypte costue was not involved. A survey of the literature concerning hybrid hummingbirds from North America revealed that such a cross has not been reported heretofore. Two other facts also became evident, first, that most previously reported hybrid specimens have been only briefly and incompletely described, and second, that the number of hybrid specimens does not equal the number of reports of hybrids. The lack of correspondence between specimens and reports has three causes: (1) loss or destruction of hybrid specimens, (2) the listing of more than one parental combination for a single specimen, and (3) the reporting of hybtidization without specimen evidence. The fragmentary descriptions of the previously reported hybrids, the general paucity of information concerning these birds, and the ease with which we misidentified our specimen suggest that re-examination and redesctiption of the existing specimens of hybrid hummingbirds from North America is in order. Accordingly, we have assembled the seven available specimens of hybrids involving the genera Archilochs, Culypte, Sehphorus, and SteZZuZu. Berlioz (1929, 1930) has pointed out that natural hybridization is merely indicated, not proved, by a specimen showing intermediacy between two well-known species. To this we may add that once a specimen is determined to be a natural hybrid, assumptions as to the parentage of such a bird are also only "best guesses" and cannot, except in rare instances, be established with certainty. The parentage of most natural hybrids is determined under the assumption that hybridization produces no traits characteristic of genera or species other than those involved in the particular cross. In attempting to ascertain the origins of the hybrid birds discussed here, we have made a second basic assumption, that hybridization occurs most readily where one or both of the presumed parental species is rare. It is believed that low population levels of one or both species can favor hybridization because of the difficulty in finding conspecific mates (Miller, 1955:318; Sibley and Short, 1959: 181).


Utilization of industrial solid wastes in concrete would help environmental abatement, in solving solid waste disposal problems. Fly ash is the waste from the coal industries and poses serious problems of disposing. This present study focuses on the utilisation of Fly ash as a replacement to cement. In the present investigation the study of effect of elevated temperatures with sudden cooling on the properties of fly ash is dealt .The cement is replaced by flyash in proportions of 5% ,10%,15%,20%,25%,30% and concrete is exposed to elevated temperatures of 200°C, 400°C, 600°C , 800°C and 1000 o C followed by sudden cooling. The various strength parameters studied are compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength as per the relevant IS standards.. The experimental results indicate significant improvement in strength properties of plane concrete with replacement of cement by fly ash when it is subjected to elevated temperature with sudden cooling. Therefore it is feasible to adopt fly ash as a partial replacement of cement when it is exposed to elevated temperature with sudden cooling and can be effectively used for structural concrete.


The concept of the cell cycle is used to describe the repetition of events that lead to the duplication of cellular organelles during cellular replication. Compounds that affect cellular transition through the cell cycle have the potential to be effective anti-cancer agents. Here we describe the use of digital widefield fluorescence microscopy in conjunction with different fluorescence assays to monitor cell cycle progression in live and fixed human tissue culture cells.


Using a combination of molecular modeling and spectroscopic experiments, the naturally occurring, pharmacologically active hypericin compound is shown to form a stable complex with the dimeric form of β-lactoglobulin (β-LG). Binding is predicted to occur at the narrowest cleft found at the interface between monomers in the dimeric β-LG. The complex is able to preserve the fluorescence and singlet oxygen photosensitizing properties of the dye. The equilibrium constant for hypericin binding has been determined as Ka=1.40±0.07µM(-1), equivalent to a dissociation constant, Kd=0.71±0.03µM. The complex is active against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Overall, the results are encouraging for pursuing the potential application of the complex between hypericin and β-LG as a nanodevice with bactericidal properties for disinfection.


The holding of the 2019 Election is a historic event for the Indonesian Nation, because it is the first election that combines the Election of President and Vice President with the Legislative Election. Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections regulates the Campaign mechanism, one of which relates to the use of Campaign Props, yet the regulation in its implementation still violates the use of campaign props. With the interest of investigating this problem, this study used the research methodology in the form of sociological juridical research on primary data collected from field research. The results of this study showed the campaign props that violate the provisions of the legislation derived from installation, and some props are still installed even though the campaign period has finished. The solution of this research is advocating the need for close supervision of the installation of campaign props and outreach for election participants and the winning team not to violate the provisions of the election law.


This article investigates on the connection between singularity analysis and Hirota method i.e. a direct method to obtain the multi-soliton solutions of nonlinear waves equations. This includes equations with single bilinear form and coupled system of bilinear forms, together with the use of Hirota D-operator and various types of transformation. In general, finding the proper substitution to obtain the Hirota bilinear form is not an easy task. Singularity analysis is used to formulate this suitable transformation. This analysis is applied to Korteweg-de Vries (KdV), modified KdV and nonlinear Schroedinger (NLS) equations.


Background Decreasing tuberculosis (TB) mortality is constrained by diagnostic and treatment delays. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently actively recommended the point-of-care Alere Determine Lipoarabinomannan Ag assay (AlereLAM) to assist in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in specific HIV-infected outpatients. Objectives The primary objective of this study was to compare time to ambulatory TB treatment in HIV-infected adults with CD4 ≤ 100 cells/μL before and after ('primary comparison groups') availability of AlereLAM. In pre-specified subgroups, we prospectively assessed AlereLAM-positive prevalence. Method Clinicians prospectively performed AlereLAM in HIV-infected adults with TB symptoms and either CD4 ≤ 100 cells/μL or 'seriously ill' criteria. In a retrospective arm of equal duration, clinicians retrospectively collected data on HIV-infected adults with CD4 ≤ 100 cells/μL who initiated TB treatment. Results A total of 115 prospectively eligible adults (of whom 55 had CD4 ≤ 100 cells/μL) and 77 retrospectively eligible patients were included. In the primary comparison groups, the retrospective and prospective arms had similar age and sex distribution. With availability of AlereLAM, the time to TB treatment decreased from a median of 4 to 3 days (p = 0.0557). With availability of AlereLAM, same-day TB treatment initiation rose from 9.1% to 32.7% (p = 0.0006). In those with CD4 ≤ 100 only, those with 'seriously ill' criteria only, and in those meeting either, or both, of these criteria, AlereLAM was positive in 10.5%, 21.9%, 34.8% and 48.4% respectively. Conclusion Availability of AlereLAM led to more patients initiating same-day TB treatment. Using both CD4 ≤ 100 and 'seriously ill' criteria gave the greatest yield. Results of this study have informed local policy design.


The use of radioactive source porosity measurements is strictly prohibited in Bohai Bay, China. As an alternative, logging-while-drilling nuclear magnetic resonance (LWD-NMR) has been applied.
 In one block of the Bohai Bay field, it is a big challenge to identify and quantify hydrocarbon reservoir sections due to little resistivity contrast between reservoirs and water zones. LWD-NMR technology and the azimuthal resistivity tool is able to solve this challenge. The low-gradient LWD-NMR tool not only measured porosity also provide T2 distributions, which can be used for fluid type characterization. The azimuthal resistivity tool has a deep azimuthal resistivity measurement that can identify nearby bed boundaries, up to 5 m from the borehole, while drilling. This information is available in real-time to the operator for decisions while drilling. The combination of the two measurements is capable of differentiating physical properties of the reservoir and providing information on fluid types. Thus, the operator can easily make decisions to optimize the wellbore placement and perform an accurate petrophysical evaluation of the reservoir.
 A pilot hole and a horizontal hole are presented in this paper to show the advantages of LWD-NMR and the azimuthal resistivity respectively. In the pilot hole, the LWD-NMR has been used for fluid typing which can give a clear petrophysical interpretation of the reservoir fluids. Because in this low-resistivity contrast reservoir, it is difficult to differentiate oil zones (10+ Ohmm) and water zones (9- Ohmm) from resistivity data. The light oil, however, shows a much slower NMR T2 relaxation time than the water. Based on the identification of oil versus water by NMR in the pilot hole, three horizontal wells were successfully drilled in the oil zone. In one of them, LWD-NMR and azimuthal resistivity have been employed simultaneously for optimal wellbore placement by enabling to drill in the best part of the reservoir. The LWD-NMR measurements indicated reliably the presence of hydrocarbons and provided important reservoir properties. The azimuthal resistivity measurements identified the reservoir boundaries and the distance to them.
 Under complex reservoir conditions as encountered in Bohai Bay, azimuthal resistivity and LWD NMR prove to be an accurate and robust source-less measurement combination. LWD NMR can effectively replace the traditional density-neutron source measurements for porosity. More importantly, the combination with azimuthal resistivity provides the operator with additional critical information for optimal wellbore placement and strengthening the confidence in petrophysical interpretation results.


Knowledge about the mechanisms of herbicide resistance provide valuable insights into evolving weed populations in response to selection pressure and should be used as a basis for designing management strategies for herbicide-resistant weeds. The selection pressure associated with reactive management against glyphosate-resistant Lolium spp. populations would have favored the herbicide resistance to ACCase- and ALS-inhibitors. This work was aimed to determine the sensitivity of 80 Argentinean Lolium spp. populations to ALS- and ACCase-inhibitor herbicides for use in wheat or barley and to study the mechanisms of resistance involved. Sensitivity to pinoxaden and iodosulfuron-mesosulfuron were positively correlated (r = 0.84), even though both affect different target sites. Inhibitors of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) increased the sensitivity to pinoxaden and iodosulfuron-mesosulfuron in 94% of herbicide-resistant populations and target-site ACCase resistance mutations were detected only in two cases. Polymorphic variants were obtained with a pair primer designed on P450 sequences, cluster analysis discriminated around 80% of susceptible and P450-metabolic resistant plants sampled from a single population or different populations. Five markers corresponding to herbicide sensitivity were identified to be significantly associated with phenotypic variance in plants. Resistance to ALS- and ACCase-inhibitor herbicides were closely related, challenging the rotation of herbicides of both sites of action as a practice against resistance. In that sense, the use of pinoxaden and iodosulfuron-mesosulfuron would have provoked a selection on P450 genes that conduced a convergence of P450-metabolism based resistant Lolium spp. populations, which was detected by markers in a contribution to elucidate the molecular basis of this type of resistance.


We present PISCES (Privacy Incorporated and SeCurity Enhanced Systems) framework, which aims at establishing foundations for implementing Privacy and Security by Design (PSD) in the scope of the Internet of Things (IoT). PISCES operates a strict separation between data provider and data controller, where providers are managers of their data privacy, and controllers are accountable for the privacy and protection of the data provided. This role separation is ensured by the Controller Smart Data System (CSDS) of the Smart Data System (SDS), that handles data along with its privacy settings (metadata), defined by the user, offering the possibility of private data management for IoT. The SDS also balances user privacy against the need to access information in case of law-enforcement organization activities (e.g., police investigations in fight against crime). This is made possible thanks to the building of a Privacy Validation Chain (PVC) allowing the data owner and/or any intermediary (data controllers, data processors) to know easily by whom, and to which purpose, the data is used, thus asserting that the user rights are respected or not. Finally, PISCES is thought for Internet users and service providers to get a reasonable bargain when monetizing user data; it makes necessary to define fair and mutually acceptable conditions for using the services and the data. These conditions can give incentives for the user to allow more access to his data and for the service provider to allow free usage to some services.


We measured the density and specific gravity at room (20 degrees C) and body (37 degrees C) temperatures of spinal anesthetic solutions, which have been commercially prepared in Japan. Solutions investigated were; (1) 0.4 % and 0.5 % tetracaine (T) in water, 0.5 % T in normal saline, 5 % glucose and 10 % glucose, (2) 0.3 % dibucaine in 5 % sodium chloride: (P), (3) 0.24 % dibucaine with 0.12 % tetracaine in 9.5 % glucose: (N); (4) 3 % lidocaine in 8.5 % glucose: (X); and (5) 0.5 % bupivacaine in water containing preservatives: (M). We also determined the density and specific gravity of normal human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in Japanese (n = 10) at 37 degrees C. Each local anesthetic solution was classified into hyperbaric, isobaric or hypobaric solution. Thirty seven centigrade 0.5 % T in normal saline and 37 degrees C 0.5 % M in water had the density comparable to 37 degrees C human CSF and were considered to be relatively isobaric solutions. Our data demonstrated that human CSF had various densities. Therefore, it is possible that these isobaric solutions would vary their pharmacodynamic profiles in intrathecal use according to individual CSF characteristics and temperature of the solution.


This paper considers the grinding parameters, which affect the initiation and propagation of surface and sub-surface cracks formed during the surface grinding of engineering ceramics. The results given in this paper are chosen from a much larger series of experiments, and can be shown to be representative in correlating the principal grinding parameters with a number of observed and measured properties. During grinding tests, for a range of grinding conditions, acoustic emission (AE) measurements, 3-D surface topography measurements, and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images are brought together in an effort to relate the initiation and propagation of surface and sub-surface cracks with specific grinding parameters. Subsequent results from three point bend tests carried out on ground specimens are also used to confirm the type and extent of sub-surface cracking produced during grinding.


Ingemar Hedenius (1908–1982) was a professor of philosophy, and one of Sweden's most famous public intellectuals in the decades following the Second World War. This was primarily due to his 1949 work Tro och vetande (English: Belief and Knowledge) in which he criticized religion, and his subsequent activity in the promotion of atheism and criticism of the relationship between church and state. This article engages with Hedenius's life and works, but has a particular focus on his "afterlife". The article utilizes theories of cultural memory to examine how Hedenius has been remembered since his death. I argue that Hedenius and his Tro och vetande in Sweden have taken the role of a node, or inescapable orientation point, of discussions of atheism, belief and knowledge, and the validity of Christian truths. Hedenius's memory continues to loom large over religion and nonreligion in Sweden to this day. The material used as primary sources in this article include scholarly works of philosophy, theology and history, by renowned Swedish academics, but it also contains interpretations of Hedenius in the wider public debate, not least as expressed by the Swedish Humanist Association, who regard him as a main inspiration for their activities.


Abstract This study explores the journey motif in Italian cinema, with a particular emphasis on Salvatores' quintessential road movies Marrakech Express and Puerto Escondido and two recent lesser known variations of the genre, Davide Ferrario's Figli di Annibale and Marco Risi's Tre mogli. Attention is paid to Edward Said's trope of exile which he associates both with the negative connotations of loss and exclusion and with the positive connotations of exile as critical perspective. In considering the clash between forced mass exile and willed homelessness, the suggestion is made that road movies, by centring on the contemporary figure of the voluntary exile in a period when Italy is being invaded at its margins (and thus challenged at its very core) by displaced persons in search of political asylum and economic opportunity, implicitly draw attention to this binary of inclusion and exclusion. It is argued that the figure of the solitary exile or expatriate, while cast as a post-modern nomad, remains tied to the discourses of modernity and the colonial project.


This paper introduces a novel adversarial example generation method against face recognition systems (FRSs). An adversarial example (AX) is an image with deliberately crafted noise to cause incorrect predictions by a target system. The AXs generated from our method remain robust under real-world brightness changes. Our method performs nonlinear brightness transformations while leveraging the concept of curriculum learning during the attack generation procedure. We demonstrate that our method outperforms conventional techniques from comprehensive experimental investigations in the digital and physical world. Furthermore, this method enables practical risk assessment of FRSs against brightness agnostic AXs.


The infrared-absorption spectra of accepters confined in the center of GaAs/A1(x)Ga(1-x)As quantum wells in the presence of an external magnetic field have been calculated. The calculations are based on a four-band effective-mass theory in which the valence-band mixing as well as the mismatch of the band parameters and the dielectric constants between well and barrier materials have been taken into account. The dipole transition rule is assumed for the infrared absorption. The oscillator strengths of allowed transitions between the acceptor ground states and excited states, corresponding to the transitions G, D, and C in bulk GaAs, are calculated for different well widths in the range 50-200 Angstrom with an external magnetic field up to 10 T. The oscillator strength of these infrared acceptor transitions exhibits a strong polarization dependence.


Telephone based spoken dialogue systems have the potential to automate many routine tasks. Yet, to become widely accepted they must be natural, easy to use, efficient, and robust. We introduce the Conference Room Reservation System (CRRS), a mixed-initiative natural dialogue system used routinely by the employees of our lab. The CRRS allows callers to reserve or cancel rooms by simply stating their constraints in a natural way. The system prompts for missing information and offers alternative solutions if the original constraints cannot be satisfied. Our system uses Nortel Networks' OpenSpeech continuous speech recognizer with barge-in, a robust natural language parser, and a mixed-initiative discourse manager. We describe the overall system with an emphasis on the discourse manager. We present an analysis of real data collected over several months. We then discuss the issue of defining dialogue performance metrics that are independent of the room occupancy rate.


This article presents results of research focused on the Analysis discipline, in Mathematics courses, with the background of a perspective of how the discipline has been structured in the Brazilian scenario, with respect to their goals, contents and bibliography. At first we saw, briefly, how course coordinators and teachers of the discipline understand the role of analysis in this major. Secondly, and constituting the main objective of this paper, we present what the undergraduates and mathematics teachers of basic education think about this discipline, through a qualitative research inspired by a phenomenological position. After the methodological procedures, three open categories were found: "The presence of the analysis in the Mathematics major", "The analysis as body of knowledge" and "The Analysis and the opening the horizon of possibilities as a teacher", which were interpreted in order to transcend the manifestations of each individual in a comprehensive synthesis movement. Finally, a third time, we present some proposals in progress and future prospects for studies about analysis education.


Introduced in the late sixties, non-innocent (or redox) ligands have been extensively studied for their unusual and intriguing chemical behavior. Their ability to delocalize and/or provide electrons to the metal center of organometallic complexes confers them undisputable chemical interest and has proved valuable in the development of novel synthetic methodologies. This review will focus on the chemistry and applications of low-valent iron complexes bearing potentially non-innocent ligands. Because of the elusive nature of these ligands, and whenever possible, theoretical calculations and analysis of spectroscopic data will be presented in an effort to provide insights into the catalytic activity of the complexes.


Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA) is a type of educational assessment that is designed to measure specific knowledge structures and processing skills in students so as to provide information about their cognitive strengths and weaknesses (Leighton & Gierl, 2007). CDA has been instrumental in turning the attention of practitioners to more diagnostic, descriptive, and fine-grained levels of feedback. Different statistical, psychometric models, called Cognitive Diagnostic Models (CDMs), have been proposed to extract this kind of information from both diagnostically and non-diagnostically designed tests. These models provide two sets of information to the test users: information on mastery/non-mastery patterns of sub-skills for testtakers and information on the diagnostic power of test items. Due to its novelty and relative complexity of its procedures, cognitive diagnostic assessment is still far from achieving its proper place in educational assessment. This paper aims at providing an easy-to-grasp account of CDA's theoretical foundation and its procedures of test analysis. The present paper first focuses on what and why of CDA in education and second language acquisition. In this part, theoretical underpinnings of CDA, psychometric models of practicing the analyses, model selection, and studies in SLA are presented. The second section presents how these foundations are put into practice in a stepwise manner. Four main steps are delineated in conducting a CDA analysis. The procedural steps are then exemplified using real data for analysis. The paper concludes with an account of the limitations and untapped areas in CDA.


We rederive the dressed atom and the exciton polariton within the same framework to make clear that their major difference only comes from the number of electrons available for photoexcitations. This allows to analytically show how the decrease of the excited-state lifetime transforms the photon number time evolution from oscillations?at the stimulated Rabi frequency for an atom and the vacuum one for semiconductors?to an exponential decay identical for both. Although the matter ground state is in both cases coupled not to a continuum but to a discrete state, broadened by lifetime, this decay yet follows a Fermi golden rule, however having a different scale for the energy conservation. Our work actually provides a clean justification for using the golden rule for exciton absorption.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the interaction between salinity, growth, and enzymatic antioxidants in cotton, cowpea and sorghum. Salt stress significantly reduced plant growth, especially in cowpea. Na+ and Cl- concentrations increased in leaves and roots of these three species, especially for cotton at 4.0 and 8.0 dS/m, in relation to control. Salinity significantly increased lipid peroxidation levels in cowpea, whereas in cotton these levels were reduced. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzyme activities in leaves were not changed by saline treatments at 4.0 and 8.0 dS/m. However, reductions were observed in the SOD activity in cotton at 8.0 dS/m NaCl and in CAT activity in sorghum at 4.0 and 8.0 dS/m. The growth results obtained confirmed the highest cotton tolerance and the highest cowpea susceptibility to salinity, while antioxidant enzyme activities changes suggest that cotton constitutive enzyme system seems to be more efficient than the others.

 Key words: Salt stress, antioxidant enzymes, inorganic solutes, Gossipium hirsutum, Vigna unguiculata, Sorghum bicolor.


An adequate theory of partial computable functions should provide a basis for deening computational complexity measures and should justify the principle of computational induction for reasoning about programs on the basis of their recursive calls. There is no practical account of these notions in type theory, and consequently such concepts are not available in applications of type theory where they are greatly needed. It is also not clear how to provide a practical and adequate account in programming logics based on set theory. This paper provides a practical theory supporting all these concepts in the setting of constructive type theories. We rst introduce an extensional theory of partial computable functions in type theory. We then add support for intensional reasoning about programs by explicitly re-ecting the essential properties of the underlying computation system. We use the resulting intensional reasoning tools to justify computational induction and to deene computational complexity classes. Complexity classes take the form of complexity-constrained function types. These function types are also used in conjunction with the propositions-as-types principle to deene a resource-bounded logic in which proofs of existence can guarantee feasibility of construction.


This study aimed to evaluate the microtensile bond strength (microTBS) of photo- and dual-cure adhesives to sound and caries-affected dentin using total- and self-etch techniques. Human third molars with occlusal caries were prepared as previously described by Nakajima and others (1995). Dentin surfaces were bonded with Optibond Solo Plus (Kerr; photo-cure adhesive) or Optibond Solo Plus + Dual-cure activator (Kerr; dual-cure adhesive) with total- and self-etch technique. Clearfil AP-X (Kuraray) was used for composite buildups. Following storage in distilled water at 37 degrees C for 24 hours, the teeth were sectioned into 0.7-mm thick slices to obtain sound and caries-affected dentin slabs, then trimmed to form hour glass shapes with a 1 mm2 cross-sectional area. The specimens were subjected to microtensile testing using EZ-test (Shimadzu) at 1 mm/minute. Data were analyzed using three-way ANOVA and Student's t-Test (p<0.05). Bond strengths to sound dentin with photo- and dual-cure adhesives using total- and self-etch techniques were significantly higher than those to caries-affected dentin. Dual-cure adhesive significantly decreased bond strengths both to sound and caries-affected dentin. The total-etch technique showed no beneficial effect on caries-affected dentin compared with the self-etch technique. Scanning electron microscopic observation of the resin-dentin interfaces revealed that hybrid layers in caries-affected dentin were thicker than those observed in sound dentin with photo- and dual-cure adhesives. Resin infiltration into dentinal tubules of caries-affected dentin was hampered by the presence of mineral deposits.


In Table 1 of the report "Judgments of sameness and difference: experiments on decision time" by D. Bindra, J. A. Williams, and J. S. Wise (17 Dec., p. 1625), the entries for experiment 2 under columns 1 and 2, "Test condition" and "Response," should have read as follows: "... same?" Yes "... different?" No "... same?" No "... different?" Yes Reprints have been corrected.


Piece selection is one of fundamental operations for mobile P2P file sharing applications, to some extent, it would affect the integrity of file what users obtain. Having investigated the feature of piece selection algorithm of BitTorrent carefully, a new piece selection algorithm based on seed control is presented in this paper. Comparing with the piece selection algorithm of BitTorrent, the proposed one(PSASC) requires seed to control the piece selection in order to avoid its repetition. The-set-covering problem and greedy approximation algorithm are utilized to analyze time complexities of piece selection algorithm of BitTorrent and PSASC, and the simulation is given. Results indicate that the time complexity of PSASC outperforms that of BitTorrent, and shorten the time that all pieces on seed are allocated into mobile P2P network. Finally, based on PSASC, the relation between the n pieces on seed and the mean time T~ that each piece has been downloaded is obtained by M/M/1/m/m queuing model.


Ventilator displays of tidal volume are often used to guide ventilator settings for patients receiving mechanical ventilation. It is therefore important that these volumes are accurately measured. However, as has been shown in several studies, the volumes displayed at the ventilator can be substantially different from volumes measured at the endotracheal tube. Especially when small tidal volumes are used, as with infants and children, such discrepancies may have significant adverse consequences for the patient. Many ventilators measure tidal volumes at the expiratory valve of the ventilator. Such a measurement does not compensate for the compliance of the ventilator circuit, or for variations in the circuit setup, which may explain the aforementioned discrepancies between displayed and actual delivered tidal volume. In the Servoi ventilator (Maquet, Sweden) special software is installed to compensate for ventilator circuit compliance. It has been shown by Heulitt et al in healthy pigs, that volumes can be accurately measured at the expiratory valve of this ventilator by using this software. However, thus far it has not been verified in human infants or children with varying pulmonary disorders/conditions. The main objective of our study is to compare tidal volumes measured at the expiratory valve of a Servoi ventilator equipped with the above-mentioned software with (expiratory) tidal volumes measured at the endotracheal tube with the use of a pneumotachometer (Novametrix Medical Systems, Wallingford, Connecticut, USA). Infants and children (age 1 day–16 years) with varying pulmonary disorders receiving endotracheal mechanical ventilation with a Servoi ventilator will be included. We hypothesise that, despite the use of the software compensating for ventilator circuit compliance, there will still be a difference between tidal volume measured at the expiratory valve and tidal volume measured at the endotracheal tube. In October 2008 our first results will be presented at the 2nd Congress of the European Academy of Paediatrics.


A patient with a sarcoma of the tibia associated with multiple bone infarcts and a history of alcoholism, is presented. This is a rare association. The possible aetiological role of bone infarcts in relation to the development of a sarcoma is discussed.


Reducing traffic delay is of crucial importance for the development of sustainable transportation systems, which is a challenging task in the studies of stochastic shortest path (SSP) problem. Existing methods based on the probability tail model to solve the SSP problem, seek for the path that minimizes the probability of delay occurrence, which is equal to maximizing the probability of reaching the destination before a deadline (i.e., arriving on time). However, they suffer from low accuracy or high computational cost. Therefore, we design a novel and practical Q-learning approach where the converged Q-values have the practical meaning as the actual probabilities of arriving on time so as to improve the accuracy of finding the real optimal path. By further adopting dynamic neural networks to learn the value function, our approach can scale well to large road networks with arbitrary deadlines. Moreover, our approach is flexible to implement in a time dependent manner, which further improves the performance of returned path. Experimental results on some road networks with real mobility data, such as Beijing, Munich and Singapore, demonstrate the significant advantages of the proposed approach over other methods.