In this paper, a contrast enhancement method using dynamic range separate histogram equalization (DRSHE) is proposed. Histogram equalization (HE) method is widely used for contrast enhancement. However, HE is not suitable for consumer electronic products directly because it may cause side-effects such as washed out appearance and false contouring due to the significant change in brightness. DRSHE separates the dynamic range of histogram into k parts and resizes the grayscale range based on its area ratio. Then intensities of histogram are uniformly redistributed in resized grayscale range. DRSHE uses weighted average of absolute color difference (WAAD) in order to emphasize the edge of original image and moderate the histogram variation effectively. We introduced a linear adaptive scale factor to reduce excessive changes in brightness. The experimental results show that DRSHE suppresses unintended changes in brightness and preserves naturalness of the original image compared with conventional methods.


Callus cultures of Taxus baccata L. cv. stricta were induced from hypocotyl and leaf explants on Woody Plant medium (hormone-free or additionated with phytohormones). Under continuous dark condition, adventitious roots were regenerated from hypocotyl- and leaf-derived callus cultures. Antibodies raised in rabbits against 10-succinyl-10-deacetylbaccatin III were used for the detection and the semi-quantitative determination of 10-deacetylbaccatin III in Taxus cultures. The presence of 10-deacetylbaccatin III in callus extracts was confirmed by TLC, HPLC using a photodiode array detector and mass spectrometry (CI-MS). The highest equivalent content of the taxoid derivatives (7.83 mg/100 g dry wt.) was detected in an extract from leaf-derived callus.


As one of the earlier investigators of lesions of the vascular system occurring in the rabbit after intravenous injections of adrenalin 1 I have been interested in the observation of Drs. Miles and Johnstone 2 concerning the frequent occurrence of spontaneous arterial lesions. These investigators suggest that the vascular lesions, ascribed by many observers to the injection of adrenalin, are in reality of spontaneous origin. In support of this view they present the results of the examination of a large number of normal rabbits in which lesions similar to those produced by adrenalin occurred with equal or greater frequency. The inevitable conclusion is either that the spontaneous lesions are common and that the individuals working with adrenalin have been careless about their controls, or that rabbits of certain localities, or those raised or kept under certain conditions, are peculiarly prone to spontaneous lesions. The first of these conclusions has been


Yarmohammadi et al describe the Memorial Sloan Kettering experience in treating 20 patients with refractory chylous ascites following retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, largely in patients with germ cell tumors. They report 90% resolution of chylous ascites with the use of Denver shunts in these refractory cases. Certainly, if one does enough of these procedures, one will encounter cases that are refractory to conservative measures. Once chylous ascites is diagnosed following RPLND at our institution, initial conservative measures include a paracentesis and placement on a low-fat diet of less than 10 gm per day. If the fluid significantly reaccumulates, we then place a peritoneal drain rather than repeated paracenteses and institute TPN and restrict diet to only sips of clear liquid for comfort. We believe prompt escalation of care minimizes the duration of ascites. We have found this algorithm resolves the vast majority of cases. However, patience is a virtue, especially in the setting of high volume ascites that can take 6 to 8 weeks to resolve in this manner. In the rare instances when this fails to resolve the chylous ascites, our interventional radiologists will perform therapeutic lymphography by injecting lipidol, which occludes the lymphatic leak due to its irritating effect on the lymphatic channels. This avoids the theoretical risks of DIC with Denver shunts as well as the most common shunt occlusion complication. Nonetheless, the high success demonstrated in this series of Denver shunts is evidence they have a place in the armamentarium for these difficult refractory cases.


The goal of speech enhancement is typically to recover clean speech from noisy, reverberant, and often bandlimited speech in order to yield improved intelligibility, clarity, or automatic speech recognition performance. However, the acoustic goal for a great deal of speech content such as voice overs, podcasts, demo videos, lecture videos, and audio stories is often not merely clean speech, but speech that is aesthetically pleasing. This is achieved in professional recording studios by having a skilled sound engineer record clean speech in an acoustically treated room and then edit and process it with audio effects (which we refer to as production). A growing amount of speech content is being recorded on common consumer devices such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops. Moreover, it is typically recorded in common but non-acoustically treated environments such as homes and offices. We argue that the goal of enhancing such recordings should not only be to make it sound cleaner as would be done using traditional speech enhancement techniques, but to make it sound like it was recorded and produced in a professional recording studio. In this paper, we show why this can be beneficial, describe a new data set (a great deal of which was recorded in a professional recording studio) that we prepared to help in developing algorithms for this purpose, and discuss some insights and challenges associated with this problem.


Fate of the iodine isotopes and resulting organ exposures have been studied using the four-compartment model proposed by BROWNELL to account for the metabolism of this element. Mathematical equations have been established for this model from biological data accepted in the human. They have been used to calculate the amounts of iodine-131 in the thyroid and in the remaining body as a function of time in case of a single or a chronic contamination; in this latter case three phases have been considered: rise, equilibrium and decrease after removal of the contaminating source. The importance of the daily stable iodine intake from the food has been emphasized. Some of these theoretical results have been checked by experiments on eight volunteers. Calculations have been extended to nine other iodine isotopes in order to determine the exposure doses of the thyroid and the remaining body for a single or a chronic contamination; maximum permissible concentrations in water and in air have also been computed. It appears that some I.C.R.P. recommendations for maximum permissible body burden must be revised. © 1965 Health Physics Society.


Directional cell-to-cell movement of auxin is mediated by asymmetrically localized PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin efflux transporters. The polar localization of PINs has been reported to be modulated by phosphorylation. In this study, the function of the phosphorylation sites of the PIN3 central hydrophilic loop (HL) was characterized. The phosphorylation sites were located in two conserved neighboring motifs, RKSNASRRSF(/L) and TPRPSNL, where the former played a more decisive role than the latter. Mutations of these phosphorylatable residues disrupted in planta phosphorylation of PIN3 and its subcellular trafficking, and caused defects in PIN3-mediated biological processes such as auxin efflux activity, auxin maxima formation, root growth, and root gravitropism. Because the defective intracellular trafficking behaviors of phospho-mutated PIN3 varied according to cell type, phosphorylation codes in PIN3-HL are likely to operate in a cell-type-specific manner.


Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) integrase (IN) is not only a key molecule for HIV genomic integration but also is important in other steps of HIV-1 replication, including reverse transcription, nuclear import, chromatin targeting, virus release and maturation. In this study, we investigated whether expression of the HIV-1 IN C-terminal domain (CTD) polypeptide could affect viral replication. We found that expression of T7 or YFP tagged INcwild type (WT) and mutant INc215, 9AA in virus-producing cells decreased HIV-1 infectivity roughly 3-7 fold in HeLa-?-Gal- CD4/CCR5, CD4+MT4 and C8166 T cells. We further observed that the Pr55gag processing in progeny viruses produced from cells expressing the T7-INcWT or T7-INc215, 9AA was largely inhibited. Results from one-cycle HIV-1 replication revealed that the expression of the IN CTD lead to a moderate inhibition of incoming virus infection by affecting the events prior to integration. By using a lentiviral vector system, we generated a stable CD4+ C8166 T cell line expressing either T7-INcWT or T7-INc215, 9AA and demonstrated that both cell lines became resistant to HIV-1 infection. We conclude that the expression of the HIV-1 IN CTD polypeptide alone can inhibit virus replication by impairing virus maturation and interfering with early step(s) of the viral life cycle.


A new set of benchmarks has been developed for the performance evaluation of highly parallel supercom puters. These consist of five "parallel kernel" bench marks and three "simulated application" benchmarks. Together they mimic the computation and data move ment characteristics of large-scale computational fluid dynamics applications. The principal distinguishing feature of these benchmarks is their "pencil and paper" specification—all details of these benchmarks are specified only algorithmically. In this way many of the difficulties associated with conventional bench- marking approaches on highly parallel systems are avoided.


The method of choosing a configuration of a high availability distributed control platform (HA DCP) for transport software-defined networks is considered.To provide fault tolerance to single controller failures the following aspects are affected in this problem: the choice of the controller instance location in the nodes of the transport SDN, the choosing of the primary and backup controllers for each switch, determining the optimal number of active controllers for distributed control platform. The minimization of delays in the transmission of control messages between the controller and the switch is a criterion for optimizing the controller placement. In the case of a single controller failure, the management of the switches is distributed among the active backup controllers. A complex method for solving this problem is proposed, including algorithms on graphs, clustering algorithms, and an algorithm for solving the Boolean linear programming problem, which allows selecting the location of the controllers in the network and the configuration of the primary and backup controller for each switch. The proposed method is implemented as a software tool. An experimental investigation of the developed method on the topologies of real transport networks is carried out.


Understanding the relationship between molecular structure and solid-state arrangement informs about the design of new organic semiconductor (OSC) materials with improved optoelectronic properties. However, determining their atomic structure remains challenging. Here, we report the lattice organization of two non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) determined using microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) from crystals not traceable by X-ray crystallography. The MicroED structure of o-IDTBR was determined from a powder without crystallization, and a new polymorph of ITIC-Th is identified with the most distorted backbone of any NFA. Electronic structure calculations elucidate the relationships between molecular structures, lattice arrangements, and charge-transport properties for a number of NFA lattices. The high dimensionality of the connectivity of the 3D wire mesh topology is the best for robust charge transport within NFA crystals. However, some examples suffer from uneven electronic coupling. MicroED combined with advanced electronic structure modeling is a powerful new approach for structure determination, exploring polymorphism and guiding the design of new OSCs and NFAs.


Increasing concern on chronic radiation injuries should be treated properly for life-saving improvement of wound management and quality of life. Recently, regenerative surgical modalities should be attempted with the use of noncultured autologous adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) with temporal artificial dermis impregnated and sprayed with local angiogenic factor such as basic fibroblast growth factor, and secondary reconstruction can be a candidate for demarcation and saving the donor morbidity. Autologous adipose-derived stem cells, together with angiogenic and mitogenic factor of basic fibroblast growth factor and an artificial dermis, were applied over the excised irradiated skin defect and tested for Patients who were uneventfully healed with minimal donor-site morbidity, which lasts more than 1.5 years.


Comprehensive introduction to non-binary error-correction coding techniques Non-Binary Error Control Coding for Wireless Communication and Data Storage explores non-binary coding schemes that have been developed to provide an alternative to the Reed Solomon codes, which are expected to become unsuitable for use in future data storage and communication devices as the demand for higher data rates increases. This book will look at the other significant non-binary coding schemes, including non-binary block and ring trellis-coded modulation (TCM) codes that perform well in fading conditions without any expansion in bandwidth use, and algebraic-geometric codes which are an extension of Reed-Solomon codes but with better parameters. Key Features: Comprehensive and self-contained reference to non-binary error control coding starting from binary codes and progressing up to the latest non-binary codes Explains the design and construction of good non-binary codes with descriptions of efficient non-binary decoding algorithms with applications for wireless communication and high-density data storage Discusses the application to specific cellular and wireless channels, and also magnetic storage channels that model the reading of data from the magnetic disc of a hard drive. Includes detailed worked examples for each coding scheme to supplement the concepts described in this book Focuses on the encoding, decoding and performance of both block and convolutional non-binary codes, and covers the Ktter-Vardy algorithm and Non-binary LDPC codes This book will be an excellent reference for researchers in the wireless communication and data storage communities, as well as development/research engineers in telecoms and storage companies. Postgraduate students in these fields will also find this book of interest.


: Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) hydrolyzes the membrane lipid phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdInsP2) to generate 1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG) and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3). Both molecules serve as second messengers to carry out various cellular functions in mammals. In the present study, we demonstrate that many organic and inorganic nutrients cause the elevation of InsP3 concentrations in cultured soybean cells. This elevation of InsP3 content is sustained for several hours following treatment with Murashige-Skoog (MS) inorganic nutrients. Phosphate and calcium are the major components in MS salts responsible for the increase in InsP3 levels. DNA synthesis, a measure of cell growth, was significantly suppressed by the PI-PLC-specific inhibitor 1-(6-{[17β-3-methoxyestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-17-yl]amino}hexyl)-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione (U-73122), whereas its near-identical analogue 1-(6-{[17β-3-methoxyestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-17-yl]amino}hexyl)-2,5-pyrrolidinedione did not cause any suppression. Activation of PI-PLC by MS salts increased DNA synthesis and abolished the suppression of DNA synthesis caused by U-73122. Thus, we conclude that the higher cellular concentration of InsP3 induced by MS treatment is involved in DNA synthesis.


In recent times, much research is progressing forward in the field of speech emotion recognition (SER). Many SER systems have been developed by combining different speech features to improve their performances. As a result, the complexity of the classifier increases to train this huge feature set. Additionally, some of the features could be irrelevant in emotion detection and this leads to a decrease in the emotion recognition accuracy. To overcome this drawback, feature optimization can be performed on the feature sets to obtain the most desirable emotional feature set before classifying the features. In this paper, semi-nonnegative matrix factorization (semi-NMF) with singular value decomposition (SVD) initialization is used to optimize the speech features. The speech features considered in this work are mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, linear prediction cepstral coefficients, and Teager energy operator-autocorrelation (TEO-AutoCorr). This work uses k-nearest neighborhood and support vector machine (SVM) for the classification of emotions with a 5-fold cross-validation scheme. The datasets considered for the performance analysis are EMO-DB and IEMOCAP. The performance of the proposed SER system using semi-NMF is validated in terms of classification accuracy. The results emphasize that the accuracy of the proposed SER system is improved remarkably upon using the semi-NMF algorithm for optimizing the feature sets compared to the baseline SER system without optimization.


D seismic data in Osage County, Oklahoma is interpreted for basement features that influence overlying sedimentary layers. The 3D survey is on the Chautauqua platform about fifty miles North West of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Stratigraphy of the work area spans Pennsylvanian to Precambrian formations, with basement depth averaging around 4,000 ft. Our goal is to track probable faults and fractures through the granite basement and demonstrate association with shallow structures as an aid in understanding the structural evolution of the area. Osage county has a long history of petroleum production from Penn. and Miss. reservoirs, is near the mineralized lead-zinc mine district of NE Oklahoma, and has been the target of recent deep drilling to test helium potential. We interpret the seismic data using open source software, OpendTect. Our initial attempt to interpret fractures involved picking in time slices, but that method resulted in fault surfaces that are irregular and discontinuous. Marking events in vertical section results in a clear, continuous fault surface. This workflow will be applied in further deep event mapping. Our work may result in a better understanding of basement rocks of Osage county and aid future exploration for unconventional Mississippian petroleum targets and mineral resources.


This paper addresses a prevailing assumption in single-agent heuristic search theory- that problem-solving algorithms should guarantee shortest-path solutions, which are typically called optimal. Optimality implies a metric for judging solution quality, where the optimal solution is the solution with the highest quality. When path-length is the metric, we will distinguish such solutions as p-optimal.


Some minor corrections to Heyde and Seneta (1972) are made, and new convergence rate results given. Estimation by recurrence methods is discussed, as announced earlier.


PURPOSE
This study examined the effectiveness of an institutional intervention aimed at decreasing prevalence of tobacco use over a 4-year period.

METHODS
Participants were undergraduate students (N = 2,293) enrolled at a large Midwestern university between 2007 and 2010. In 2008, tobacco use was banned on campus. Additionally, campus-wide tobacco cessation services and information were provided to all students. A self-report measure assessing demographics and tobacco use prevalence was administered at baseline and at 3 timepoints over the following 3 years.

RESULTS
Results indicated that smokeless tobacco use decreased significantly after the ban. Members of fraternities (a high-risk group) reported significant decreases in smokeless tobacco use for the first 2 years following the ban; however, this trend did not persist during the 3rd year of assessment. Off-campus residents displayed similar trends as fraternities.

CONCLUSIONS
It appears that a campus-wide tobacco ban is an effective prevention method for decreasing smokeless tobacco use. However, initial decreases in smokeless tobacco use may not persist for some at risk groups, namely members of fraternities and students living off-campus. Future studies should examine prevalence of use over longer periods of time with a particular focus on at risk groups. Overall, this study lends considerable support for efforts toward tobacco-free campuses.


Intestinal pseudoobstruction is characterized by signs and symptoms of recurrent intestinal obstruction in the absence of an identifiable mechanical lesion. Underlying illnesses that have been associated with intestinal pseudoobstruction include scleroderma, amyloidosis, various endocrinopathies (eg, hypothyroidism), narcotic or laxative abuse, and electrolyte disturbances (eg, hypokalemia). Although the underlying cause of idiopathic intestinal pseudoobstruction is unknown, the primary pathophysiologic dysfunction in patients with idiopathic pseudoobstruction is a disorganization or lack of smooth muscle contractility that results in disordered peristalsis or aperistalsis involving bowel and/or urinary bladder.
 The clinical manifestations of the motility disorder associated with chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudoobstruction include periodic vomiting, abdominal distension, constipation, urinary retention, and weight loss.


Background Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by the American College of Rheumatology as chronic widespread pain referred for at least 3 months. In 2010, a new diagnostic criteria was proposed and includes symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disorder and memory. Currently, pelvic floor dysfunctions and urinary incontinence (UI) are considered public health problems with high prevalence and great impact on quality of life (QoL) and on women's self-esteem. Physiotherapists have been working to create a new treatment proposal that can cover all aspects of FM, however there are few studies that include pelvic floor evaluation and urinary continence of this population. Objectives To assess the strength of the pelvic floor and urinary loss in women with FM. Methods We evaluated 126 sexually active women, aged between 19 and 65 years, with and without medical diagnosis of FM, matched for age and menopausal status, in a single center. The exclusion criteria were sexually transmitted or neurological diseases, pregnancy and use of medications with urinary side effects (urinary loss or retention). We collected in a single interview personal and gynecological data, applied the King Health Questionnaire (KHQ) for incontinent women and accomplished the evaluation of pelvic floor muscle strength according to the Oxford Classification Modified and perineometry. The participants signed the Informed Consent Form. We used for statistical analysis t test for independent variables and Mann-Whitney Test for the others. Results The FM patients presented the weaker pelvic floor (p<0.001) and had lower values in perineometry (p=0.04) than control women. Regarding urinary loss, 64.5% reported UI against 26.6% of women without FM. In the KHQ evaluation, in General Health and Emotions domains, women with FM presented worse performance (p<0.001 and p=0.046, respectively). Conclusions Urinary incontinence is a frequent finding in FM, and it could be related to the degree of strength of the pelvic floor muscles. This condition affects negatively QoL, especially with regard to emotions and general health. References Wolfe, et al. The American College of Rheumatology Preliminary Diagnistic Criteria for Fibromyalgia and Measurement of Symptom Severity. Arthritis Care & Research, v.2, n.5, pg. 600–610, 2010. Jones, K. D. et al. Pelvic Floor and Urinary Distress in Women with Fibromyalgia. Pain Management Nursing, v. 16, n. 6, p. 834–840, Dec 2015. Acknowledgements This study received funds from CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - Government Research Agency) with scholarship to one of the co-authors. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Galanthamine and lycorine are known to possess important biological activities, widely distributed alkaloids in the members of Amarryllidaceae family. Also galanthamine is used for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. In this study, the contents of these alkaloids have been quantitatively analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with diode array detector (DAD) in the aerial parts and bulbs of Galanthus fosteri Baker collected from Akdag, Amasya during flowering and fruiting seasons. The chromatographic separation was performed using an isocratic system with a mobile phase of trifluoroacetic acid-water-acetonitrile (0.01:90:10) applied at a flow rate 1mL/min using diode array detector. A simple extraction method utilizing columns pre-packed with diatomaceous earth (Extrelut ®) was used. Validation procedures displayed that the method was specific, accurate and precise.


Y-Titanylphthalocyanine (Y-TiOPc) is widely used as the photoconductor for laser printers. However, little is known about its crystal structure. An attempt has therefore been made to grow single crystals from water containing solution on the assumption that the Y-phase includes water. An autoclave was utilized for the crystal growth so as to suppress the solvent evaporation and thus to increase the solubility of TiOPc. The single crystals have successfully been obtained, but these are found to be phase I according to the structure analysis. However, our single crystal exhibits an intense, Y-phase-like reflection around 790 nm as revealed from polarized reflection measurements on single crystals. The present fact evidently indicates that the Y-like layer of TiOPc is formed on the surface (thickness at least 2500 A) and that the core of the single crystal is phase I. The present interpretation is also borne out by X-ray diffraction analysis on powders as well as XPS measurements monitoring Ols and Ti2p signals.


The human dopamine 2 receptor Taq1A allele has been implicated as a vulnerability factor for alcohol dependence in a number of studies and reviews. To determine whether this allele is associated with alcoholism, the authors conducted a Human Genome Epidemiology review and meta-analysis. Forty-four studies with 9,382 participants were included. An odds ratio of 1.38 (95% confidence interval: 1.20, 1.58; heterogeneity, 50.5%) was found for the A1A1 + A1A2 versus the A2A2 genotype. Sensitivity analyses suggested lack of ethnic matching as a possible source of heterogeneity; a small, significant association was detected in studies with ethnic-matched controls (odds ratio = 1.26, 95% confidence interval: 1.02, 1.56; heterogeneity, 37%). Significant associations were also found in analyses restricted to studies reporting use of blinding and those with adequate screening of controls for alcohol dependency. For the A1A1 versus the A1A2 + A2A2 genotype, the odds ratio was 1.22 (95% confidence interval: 1.05, 1.43; heterogeneity, 0%). Sensitivity analyses on groups of studies reporting use of ethnic-matched controls and those that screened controls for alcohol dependency still showed significant associations. The relatively small effect for the association of the A1 allele, or another genetic variant linked to it, with alcohol dependence indicates a multigene causality for this complex disorder.


The present study has been undertaken with an objective to find out a suitable medium for the long-term stability and storage of the ct-DNA structure in aqueous solution. For this purpose, the potential of a pyrrolidinium-based dicationic ionic liquid (DIL) in stabilizing ct-DNA structure has been investigated by following the DNA-DIL interaction. Additionally, in order to understand the fundamental aspects regarding the DNA-DIL interaction in a comprehensive manner, studies are also done by employing structurally similar monocationic ionic liquids (MILs). The investigations have been carried out both at ensemble-average and single molecular level by using various spectroscopic techniques. The molecular docking study has also been performed to throw more light into the experimental observations. The combined steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and circular dichroism measurements have demonstrated that DILs can effectively be used as better storage media for ct-DNA as compared to MILs. Investigations have also shown that the extra electrostatic interaction between the cationic head group of DIL and the phosphate backbone of DNA is primarily responsible for providing better stabilization to ct-DNA, retaining its native structure in aqueous medium. The outcomes of the present study are also expected to provide valuable insights in designing new polycationic IL systems that can be used in nucleic acid-based applications.


Transmission lines are affected by Aeolian vibration, which causes strands to break and eventually causes an entire line to break. In this paper, a method for monitoring strand breaking based on modal identification is proposed. First, the natural frequency variation of a conductor caused by strand breakage is analyzed, and a modal experiment of the LGJ-95/15 conductor is conducted. The measurement results show that the natural frequencies of the conductor decrease with an increasing number of broken strands. Next, a monitoring system incorporating a fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based accelerometer is designed in detail. The FBG sensor is mounted on the conductor to measure the vibration signal. A wind speed sensor is used to measure the wind speed signal and is installed on the tower. An analyzer is also installed on the tower to calculate the natural frequencies, and the data are sent to the monitoring center via 3G. Finally, a monitoring system is tested on a 110 kV experimental transmission line, and the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) method and stochastic subspace identification (SSI) method are used to identify the natural frequencies of the conductor vibration. The experimental results show that SSI analysis provides a higher precision than does STFT and can extract the natural frequency under various wind speeds as an effective basis for discriminating between broken strands.


Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have become an increasingly popular approach for demonstrating polygenic influences on complex traits and for establishing common polygenic signals between different traits. PRSs are typically constructed using pruning and thresholding (P+T), but the best choice of parameters is uncertain; thus multiple settings are used and the best is chosen. This optimization can lead to inflated type I error. To correct this, permutation procedures can be used but they can be computationally intensive. Alternatively, a single parameter setting can be chosen a priori for the PRS, but choosing suboptimal settings result in loss of power. We propose computing PRSs under a range of parameter settings, performing principal component analysis (PCA) on the resulting set of PRSs, and using the first PRS-PC in association tests. The first PC reweights the variants included in the PRS with new weights to achieve maximum variation over all PRS settings used. Using simulations, we compare the performance of the proposed PRS-PCA approach with a permutation test and a priori selection of p-value threshold. We then apply the approach to the Mayo Clinic Bipolar Disorder Biobank study to test for PRS association with psychosis using a variety of PRSs constructed from summary statistics from the largest studies of psychiatric disorders and related traits. The PRS-PCA approach is simple to implement, outperforms the other strategies in most scenarios, and provides an unbiased estimate of prediction performance. We therefore recommend it to be used PRS association studies where multiple phenotypes and/or PRSs are being investigated.


Definiing requirements for process control systems is a complex task. Specification documents for such systems typically contain a mixture of engineering drawings, control loop diagrams, and narrative text. Because this type of document lacks an overall organizational framework, checking for completeness, correctness, and consistency is extemely difficult. Structured Analysis provides a well-developed framework for describing requirments for typical `data processing' systems. Organized around a `data flow diagram', the Structured Analysis Requirements document clearly describes data interfaces, transformation of intput data into output data, and data storage requirements. Unfortunately, process control systems have complex `dynamic' requirements interrelated with data processing requirements. For example, data may be continuously available but processed only at critical times; or input data to a system may have to be `locked out' based on a complex combination of external and internal conditions. Traditional Structured Analysis cannot describe these dynamic requirements effectivly. This paper describes an extension of Structured Analysis to describe process control system requirements. The specification document is organized around two interrelated `pictures' of the system with a `state transition diagram' supplementing the data flow diagram to clarify system dynamics. The technique has been sucessfully applied to a number of systems, including some involving simultaneous control of a number of interrelated processes. The use of the technique is illustrated on a bottling system. The example draws on elements from several systems successfully modelled by these techniques.


Signage represents more than directions or policies; it is informational, promotional, and sets the tone of the environment. To be effective, signage must be consistent, concise, and free of jargon and punitive language. An efficient assessment of signage should include a complete inventory of existing signage, including an analysis of the types of signs, its location, language, and its design. This article outlines the steps involved in a comprehensive signage audit, which along with a literature review, provides the foundation for creating a signage policy, best practices guidelines, and a branding strategy for future signage.


Due to their simplicity triangle meshes are often used to represent geometric sugaces. Their main drawback is the large number of triangles that are required to represent a smooth surface. This problem has been addressed by a large number of mesh simpl8cation algorithms which reduce the number of triangles and approximate the initial mesh. Hierarchical triangle mesh representations provide access to a triangle mesh at a desired resolution, without omitting any information. In this talk we present an infrastructure for discrete geometry processing, including algorithms for 30 reconstruction, curvature computation, reverse engineering, mesh reduction, interactive multiresolution modeling and progressive transmission of arbitrary unstructured triangle meshes.


Aerosols emitted by antropogenic activity are in relationship to their emission source and exhibit distinguishable characteristics (size, metal concentration and density) that can often univocally identify the source. Nevertheless, different processes can characterize industrial plants that produce the same product. Due to this, dusts emitted by the same source can have different chemical composition and physical properties. This paper reports the analysis carried out on dusts emitted by two cement plants that produce Portland cement, according to a substantially similar technological cycle, realized using the same raw materials. The most important difference between the two cement plants is that one uses a long kiln while the other utilizes a short one equipped with cyclon preheater and precalciner. This causes differences to be noticed in the composition of the dusts emitted by the two plants.


The concept of technical debt has been explored from many perspectives but its precise estimation is still under heavy empirical and experimental inquiry. We aim to understand whether, by harnessing approximate, data-driven, machine-learning approaches it is possible to improve the current techniques for technical debt estimation, as represented by a top industry quality analysis tool such as SonarQube. For the sake of simplicity, we focus on relatively simple regression modelling techniques and apply them to modelling the additional project cost connected to the sub-optimal conditions existing in the projects under study. Our results shows that current techniques can be improved towards a more precise estimation of technical debt and the case study shows promising results towards the identification of more accurate estimation of technical debt.


The precise alignment of a 3D model to 2D sensor images to recover the pose of an object in a scene is an important topic in computer vision. In this work, we outline a registration scheme to align arbitrary standard 3D models to optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images in order to recover the full 6 degrees of freedom of the object. We propose a novel similarity measure which combines perspective contour matching and an appearance-based Mutual information (MI) measure. Unlike previous work, the resulting similarity measure is optimized using an evolutionary particle swarming strategy, parallelized to exploit the hardware acceleration potential of current generation graphics processors (GPUs). The performance of our registration scheme is systematically evaluated on an object tracking task using synthetic as well as real input images. We show that our approach leads to precise registration results, even for significant image noise, small object dimensions and partial occlusion where other methods would fail.


Nowadays, both academia and the industry have discussed e-commerce video advertisements. However, the advertising effects and effective duration of e-commerce video advertisements mostly remain in qualitative analysis and lack quantitative analysis. In this article, using the Amazon platform, two sets of the same headset with different brand names are launched at the same time, and only one set of headsets is placed with video ads to carry out the experiment. After ten months, complete e-commerce data was obtained. Data analysis proved that: video advertising attracted a large number of consumers, which greatly increased the sales of headphones; the effective duration of video advertising was 15 weeks. This research provides an experimental method that can be quantified and analyzed for the research on the effect of video advertising on e-commerce platforms.


The influence of maternal dietary zinc intake and recombinant human interleukin-1 alpha (rhIL-1 alpha) administration on metallothionein gene expression and the distribution of 65Zn were investigated. Pregnant rats were fed diets containing 1, 5, 30 or 180 mg Zn/kg diet in an equalized regime from d 13-20 of gestation. Metallothionein gene expression was examined by Northern blot and dot blot hybridization using combined 60-mer oligonucleotides specific for rat metallothionein-1 and -2 genes. Expression was progressively depressed in the fetal livers and livers and kidneys of dams fed diets marginal (5 mg/kg) and deficient (1 mg/kg) in zinc content. Administration of rhIL-1 alpha increased expression in maternal liver, placenta and in fetal liver of dams fed adequate or deficient diets. Kinetics of intravenously administered 65Zn showed that in response to rhIL-1 alpha, there was a higher uptake by the maternal liver and bone marrow with less 65Zn uptake by bone, intestine and plasma activity compared to controls. No change was observed in 65Zn taken up by the placenta or transferred to the fetus. Alteration of metallothionein gene expression could represent, in part, the mechanism whereby altered effects of zinc metabolism and function are mediated during fetal development.


Formation of swift heavy ion tracks requires extremely fast energy transfer between excited electrons and a lattice. However, electron-phonon energy exchange is too slow, as known from laser-irradiation experiments and calculations. We resolve this contradiction noticing that electron-phonon coupling is not the sole mechanism of energy exchange between electrons and ions: heating of electrons also alters potential energy surface of atoms, accelerating them and increasing their kinetic energy.


This study aimed to evaluate the quality of Internet information on smoking cessation using a cross‐sectional survey design. The characteristics and content of 89 Web sites containing smoking cessation information were evaluated. The quality of these sites were measured by the information quality tool (IQT), quality scale (QS) and DISCERN. The most widely reported types of information were the risks of smoking (65.2 per cent of sites) and nicotine replacement therapy (77.8 per cent of sites). Most (59.7 per cent) of the sites containing treatment information were evidence‐based. The Web sites were of variable quality and the quality of sites produced by non‐commercial organisations (e.g. universities) was significantly higher than those produced by commercial organisations (e.g. pharmaceutical companies) and private practices. Sites containing some evidence‐based information had significantly higher quality scores than sites containing no evidence‐based information. These findings have implications for practice and further research and these are discussed in the paper.


MexAB-OprM is a constitutively expressed multidrug efflux system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using isogenic pump mutants, the contributions of the MexAB-OprM efflux pump and the outer membrane barrier to multiple antibiotic resistance were evaluated by assessing the influence of pump inactivation and outer membrane permeabilization on antibiotic susceptibility. Both pump inactivation and increased outer membrane permeability enhanced antibiotic susceptibility, although maximal susceptibility was achieved when the two were combined. Thus, inhibition of antibiotic efflux pumps and permeabilization of the outer membrane constitute an effective approach to reversing the antibiotic resistance of this organism.


A methanolic extract of W. somnifera root inhibited the specific binding of [3H]GABA and [35S]TBPS, and enhanced the binding of [3H]flunitrazepam to their putative receptor sites. The extract (5 micrograms) inhibited [3H]GABA binding by 20 +/- 6 per cent whereas a concentration of 1 mg of the extract produced 100 per cent inhibition. The extract (5-100 micrograms) produced 20 +/- 4 to 91 +/- 16 per cent enhancement of [3H]flunitrazepam binding. In functional studies using 36Cl-influx assay in mammalian spinal cord neurons, W. somnifera root extract increased 36Cl-influx in the absence of GABA. This effect on 36Cl-influx was blocked by bicuculline and picrotoxin; and enhanced by diazepam. These results suggest that the W. somnifera extract contains an ingredient which has a GABA-mimetic activity.


A pot experiment was carried out throughout two successive seasons 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 in the Nursery of the Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt, to evaluate the effect of applying organic compost and mineral NPK fertilizer 19:19:19 in presence or absence of biofertilizers Nitrobine (containing Azotobacter chroococcum and Azospirillum barasilense) and Phosphorein (containing phosphate dissolving bacteria) on growth, flowering, bulbs production, total chlorophylls and mineral contents of Narcissus Tazetta L. plants . The mineral NPK fertilizer was added at three rates (1.0 , 2.0 or 3.0g/pot/month)four times during the growing seasons. Organic compost was added to the soil before planting at three rates of 5.0, 10.0 or 15.0 g/pot. The biofertilizers were added at the rate 10.0 g/pot. The results included, generally, that all biofertilizer treatment significantly increased most of the studied leaf characteristics (number of leaves/plant, leaf length and width, leaves fresh and dry weight), flowering parameters (number of flowers/ spike, fresh weight of flowers per plant spike length and diameter ) bulb circumference, fresh and dry weights of bulbs, root dry weight ,total chlorophylls and mineral content of leaves (N,P and K). It was noticed that the interaction effect of applying biofertilizers with gradual amounts of mineral fertilizer resulted in significant gradual increases in most of the studied characteristics. The same trend of results was observed as a result of applying gradual rates of organic compost combined with mineral fertilizer. The interaction effect between biofertilizers inoculation in the soil amended with organic J.Agric.&Env.Sci.Alex.Univ.,Egypt Vol.9 (1)2010 47 compost with increasing mineral fertilizer rates caused a gradual significant increase in leaf and flower characteristics, flower quality and the produced bulb characteristics.The best results were obtained with application of organic compost and mineral fertilizer at rates of 15.0g and 3.0 g/pot , respectively in the presence of the biofertilizer , which increased all leaf, flowering parameters and bulbs characteristics, roots dry weight and total chlorophylls. The study recommends that application of organic compost at the rate of 15.0g/pot with 3.0 g/pot of mineral fertilizer and inoculation with biofertilizer is the best treatment for producing high quality of narcissus (Narcissus Tazetta, L. ) bulbs under Egyptian conditions.


Kimura disease (KD) is a rare, idiopathic chronic inflammatory disorder that usually presents as unilateral painless lymphadenopathy or soft tissue swelling of the head and neck region in young Asian males. The disease lacks pathognomonic clinical and cytomorphological features and can be mistaken for many reactive and malignant conditions. We report three cases of KD presenting as bilateral swelling of the head and neck region, and describe the cytomorphological features of each. In the correct clinical setting, a polymorphous lymphoid aspirate with eosinophils and Warthin‐Finkeldey giant cells should raise a suspicion of KD and prompt further work up.


The TU Dublin Short Story Competition, is run by the Library TU Dublin, Tallaght Campus, in conjunction with the Red Line Book Festival run by South Dublin County Libraries.


Identifi cation of tradeoff s among physiological and morphological traits and their use in cost – benefi t models and ecological or evolutionary optimization arguments have been hallmarks of ecological analysis for at least 50 years. Carnivorous plants are model systems for studying a wide range of ecophysiological and ecological processes and the application of a cost – benefi t model for the evolution of carnivory by plants has provided many novel insights into trait-based cost – benefi t models. Central to the cost – benefi t model for the evolution of botanical carnivory is the relationship between nutrients and photosynthesis; of primary interest is how carnivorous plants effi ciently obtain scarce nutrients that are supplied primarily in organic form as prey, digest and mineralize them so that they can be readily used, and allocate them to immediate versus future needs. Most carnivorous plants are terrestrial – they are rooted in sandy or peaty wetland soils – and most studies of cost – benefi t tradeoff s in carnivorous plants are based on terrestrial carnivorous plants. However approximately 10% of carnivorous plants are unrooted aquatic plants. Here we ask whether the cost – benefi t model applies equally well to aquatic carnivorous plants and what general insights into tradeoff models are gained by this comparison. Nutrient limitation is more pronounced in terrestrial carnivorous plants, which also have much lower growth rates and much higher ratios of dark respiration to photosynthetic rates than aquatic carnivorous plants. Phylogenetic constraints on ecophysiological tradeoff s among carnivorous plants remain unexplored. Despite diff erences in detail, the general cost – benefi t framework continues to be of great utility in understanding the evolutionary ecology of carnivorous plants. We provide a research agenda that if implemented would further our understanding of ecophysiological tradeoff s in carnivorous plants and also would provide broader insights into similarities and diff erences between aquatic and terrestrial plants of all types.


We have evaluated the modulation of degenerative events at the retinal and optic nerve level in a rat model system. Degeneration was ameliorated in aging rats by the combined oral administration of -lipoic acid and superoxide dismutase. Twenty four month-old rats were fed ad libitum with a diet supplemented by these two compounds. Positive control rats received a compound-free diet, while the negative control group consisted of untreated young animals. The cyto-protective effects of -lipoic acid and superoxide dismutase were investigated by morphological analysis of retinal and optic nerve head sections. The level of nuclear DNA damage was assessed by TUNEL fluorescent reaction. Lipo-peroxidation assays evaluated the oxidative stress and consequent alteration of the cell membrane function. Apoptotic phenomena were investigated by immuno-localization and Western blotting to measure the expression of caspase-3 and inducible nitric oxide synthase. The results reported in this work provide evidence that-lipoic acid and superoxide dismutase counteract the degenerative damage in aging animals, reducing the effects of oxidative stress. Keywords-lipoic Acid; Apoptosis; Oxidative Stress; Rat Model


Multicast is message propagation from a source node to a number of destination nodes. Multicast could become the bottleneck for the performance of processes and systems. The main parameters for evaluating a multicast are time and traffic. Optimizing multicast time and traffic is proven to be NP-hard. In this paper, we propose improvements on two tree based multicast algorithms, PAIR and DIAG, in 2D mesh and torus networks. We prove that MDIAG generates optimal or optimal plus one multicast time in 2D meshes. MDIAG has lower complexity than DIAG, but might generate more traffic. MPAIR generates the least traffic, has the same complexity as PAIR and better complexity than DIAG, but might generate more time. The average time generated by both algorithms in a 2D torus is almost half the average time generated in a 2D mesh for the same algorithm. The average traffic generated by both algorithms in a 2D torus is less than the average traffic generated in a 2D mesh in most cases for the same algorithm. Extensive simulations of the algorithms show that they perform better than existing ones.


Purpose: We investigated ocular accommodative responses and pupil diameters under different light intensities in order to explore whether changes in light intensity aid effective accommodation function training. Methods:A total of 29 emmetropic and myopic subjects (age range: 12–18 years) viewed a target in dynamic ambient light (luminance: 5, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 and 3000 lux) and static ambient light (luminance: 1000 lux) at a 40 cm distance with refractive correction. Accommodation and pupil diameter were recorded using an open-field infrared autorefractor and an ultrasound biological microscope, respectively. Results: The changes in the amplitude of accommodative response and pupil diameter under dynamic lighting were 1.01 ± 0.53 D and 2.80 ± 0.75 mm, respectively, whereas in static lighting, those values were 0.43 ± 0.24 D and 0.77 ± 0.27 mm, respectively. The amplitude of accommodation and pupil diameter change in dynamic lighting (t = 6.097, p < 0.001) was significantly larger than that under static lighting (t = 16.115, p < 0.001).The effects of light level on both accommodation and pupil diameter were significant (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Accommodation was positively correlated with light intensity. The difference was about 1.0 D in the range of 0–3000 lux, which may lay the foundation for accommodative training through light intervention.


Changes in the lipid contents different soft body tissues of Lamellidens marginalis (70-77 mm in shell length) were collected from Godavari river at Paithan 49 km away from Aurangabad city. The lipid content maximum found in foot during summer and maximum showed in gonad during monsoon and winter season. The freshwater bivalve shows maximum changes in the lipid contents from gonad, as it undergoes different stages like development, maturation and spawning during different seasons.


Objectives: Cardiac tamponade represents a life-threatening condition that may complicate almost any cause of pericarditis. We conducted a 10-year prospective survey on patients with cardiac tamponade requiring an emergency drainage. Methods: From 1996 to 2005, 114 consecutive patients were admitted to the University Hospital of Brest for medical cardiac tamponade. Data on medical history, and volume, characteristics and histology of the pericardial fluid as well as short- and long-term follow-up data were collected. Results: Malignant disease was the primary cause of medical tamponade (74 patients; 65%), followed by viral history (11; 10%) and intra-pericardial bleeding due to anti-coagulation treatment (4; 3%). In 12 cases, aetiology remained unknown (10%). Pericardiocentesis was immediately performed in 80 cases and surgical pericardiotomy in 34. The mean volume drained was 593 ± 313 ml. In-hospital mortality was 10% without any difference between malignant and non-malignant diseases (p = 0.8). One-year mortality was 76.5% in patients with malignant disease and 13.3% in those without malignant disease (p < 0.0001). Median survival in case of malignant disease was 150 days. Conclusion: Compared to previously published data, our survey shows a decrease in some historical causes of tamponade such as tuberculosis, myxoedema or uraemia. The leading cause is currently malignant disease, which carries a very poor prognosis.


We propose a neural network-based approach to the homogenization of multiscale problems. The proposed method uses a derivative-free formulation of a training loss, which incorporates Brownian walkers to find the macroscopic description of a multiscale PDE solution. Compared with other network-based approaches for multiscale problems, the proposed method is free from the design of hand-crafted neural network architecture and the cell problem to calculate the homogenization coefficient. The exploration neighborhood of the Brownian walkers affects the overall learning trajectory. We determine the bounds of micro- and macro-time steps that capture the local heterogeneous and global homogeneous solution behaviors, respectively, through a neural network. The bounds imply that the computational cost of the proposed method is independent of the microscale periodic structure for the standard periodic problems. We validate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed method through a suite of linear and nonlinear multiscale problems with periodic and random field coefficients.


We report a case of non-sideroblastic refractory anaemia which evolved to a double lymphomyeloproliferative disorder. At presentation, bone marrow appearances and peripheral blood pancytopenia without myelomonocytosis were consistent with a diagnosis of non-sideroblastic refractory anaemia. Subsequently, the patient developed pronounced myelomonocytosis and lymphocytosis with prolymphocytes. Light and transmission electron microscopy as well as surface marker studies were compatible with a diagnosis of prolymphocytic transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia/prolymphocytic leukaemia associated with myelomonocytic leukaemia. The pathogenesis of such double lympho-myeloproliferative disorders is discussed in the light of the evidence for common lymphoid and myeloid progenitor cells and some recent advances in the immunology of the myelodysplastic syndromes.


This presentation discusses preparing school library media specialists for resource description and access (RDA). In particular, the authors present the basic Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) and Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD) concepts and discuss them in the context of RDA implementation. The authors provide the correlation between AACR2 and RDA, including specific examples of a variety of formats: monograph, electronic resource, AV, etc. Lastly, the authors discuss implementation options and vendor(s) interaction.


Author(s): Wilson, Alistair; Medina, Michael; Smith, Jennifer; Husted, Cynthia A., Ph.D. | Abstract: In this study we used organotypic cerebellar slice cultures from neonatal rat pups in combination with scanning laser confocal microscopy to monitor the cellular events associated with the formation of central nervous system (CNS) myelin. Our images showed the migration of neural precursor cells, differentiation of these cells into glial cells and neurons, and the subsequent myelination of neuronal axons. Both light and confocal microscopy provided valuable information on morphological changes associated with neural differentiation and the formation of CNS tissue. The combined use of confocal microscopy with cerebellar slice cultures holds promise for evaluating the effects of agents that promote myelination. This in turn will help with understanding of demyelination and myelin repair in disorders such as multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury.


Many paradigmatic forms of animal rights and environmental activism have been classed as terrorism both in popular discourse and in law. This paper argues that the labelling of many violent forms of direct action carried out in the name of animal rights or environmentalism as 'terrorism' is incorrect. Furthermore, the claim is also made that even those acts which are correctly termed as terrorism are not necessarily wrongful acts. The result of this analysis is to call into question the terms of public debate and the legitimacy of anti-terrorism laws targeting and punishing radical activism.


Objectives:This study summarizes statistical methods which have been used in the 153 original articles of the Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association published in 2002 and 2003. Methods:It deals with the appropriate statistical methods and some common errors for researchers. Results:Among the original articles, 41 statistical uses contain errors. Many cases of errors are found in the χ2-test and the ttest. This study detects uses of statistical errors and suggests right statistical methods. Conclusion:In order to improve the validity of original articles published in the Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association, a more clearly stated statistical uses and closer editorial attention to statistical methods are needed


This paper describes the design and implementation of CMS, an intelligent knowledge-based tool to help organization members execute organizational procedures. CMS is aimed at automating the relationships and roles of organization members, rather than just transactions, so that a procedure can be executed by groups of problem solvers acting autonomously, cooperatively and collaboratively to achieve the collective goal. This collaborative process model supports the definition, execution, monitoring, and dynamic modification of organizational procedures, and is implemented as an object oriented knowledge-based system. The author's primary intent in this paper is to document the implementation strategy he employed, which is based on the integration of object-oriented programming within the logic programming environment of Prolog. This integration proved to be a powerful application development environment preserving the best features of both technologies.<<ETX>>


For several years, the wine industry has experienced structural changes, primarily due to the international context. Now, it has to face the challenge of sustainable development. Since the wine industry constitutes a significant asset in many countries, this paper addresses the issue of wine firms' performance by attempting to define how it is analysed in the literature in order to determine whether it succeeds in facing and addressing this current question. In this aim, we propose a systematic literature review on 'performance * wine' in the abundant scientific literature from 1975 to 2012. It demonstrates the substantial interest in this concept but also underlines the various meanings of performance according to the dimensions, indicators and players considered. The central finding of this paper is that both theoretical and empirical works fail to cover the sustainable issues faced by this industry, especially concerning the social and territorial dimension. Consequently, the paper identifies research gaps that must be filled to better understand and improve wine firms' global performance.


In the world of cryptocurrency-related malware, mining Monero (XMR) is a growing threat for organizations. In this paper we will explain why Monero is appealing for malicious actors, and how to leverage publicly available sources for hunting of Monero-related activities. We will heavily rely on automation and other open-source projects to achieve our objectives.


Using the equivalent ARMA model representation of the mixed random errors, we propose Klaman filter design methods for aided INS(Inertial Navigation System) which contains the gyroscope mixed random errors. At first step, considering the characteristic of indirect feedback Kalman filter used in the aided INS, we perform the time difference of equivalent ARMA model. Next, according to the order of the time differenced ARMA model, we achieve the state space conversion of that by two methods. If the order of AR part is greater than MA part, we use controllable or observable canonical form. Otherwise, we establish the state apace equation via the method that several step ahead predicts are included in the state variable, where we can derive high and low order models depending on the variable which is compensated from gyroscope output. At final step, we include the state space equation of gyroscope mixed random errors into aided INS Kalman filter model. Through the simulation, we show that both the high and low order filter models proposed give less navigation errors compared to the conventional filter which assume the mixed random errors as white noise.


Motivation and Needs of Artistic Workers from Generation Y. A Case Study of a Music Institution

The aim of the work is to analyse the motivational system used in one of the musical cultural institutions in Poland and to identify the motivating factors (motivators) for the work of the artists employed in it, representing the Generation Y. The first – theoretical – part contains selected motivational theories and the characteristics of Generation Y. The empirical part is a description of the results of the research carried out by the author.

A critical analysis of the literature and the results of surveys as well as interviews conducted in a cultural institution will allow the author to answer the following research questions: What are the current premises and needs of Generation Y when they start working in a public cultural institution? What are the motivating and demotivating factors for a Generation Y employee of a public cultural institution?

In order to research the topic, the author chose the case study method. A large (over 200 people) public institution promoting musical culture served as a model. Only a group of artistic creators (choir and orchestra with the decision-makers) from Generation Y (people born between 1980 and 2000) was subjected to the test.

The research showed the diversity of such occurring employee needs: stabilisation of employment, belonging to a team and the need for closer contact with art. The main motivating factors for work are also stable employment, but also finances, a friendly atmosphere and a possibility of professional development. Among the demotivators, the Millennials indicated the inadequacy of earnings in relation to work, lack of respect and poor working conditions.


Modal cross-couplings are sometimes neglected in the prediction of sound field and structural responses of vibroacoustic systems where an enclosed sound field is coupled to a vibrating boundary structure. In such systems, there are two types of modal cross-couplings and they are commonly referred to as acoustic modal cross-coupling (ACC) and structural modal cross-coupling (SCC). The prediction errors generated from neglecting either of these cross-couplings are dependent not only on the modal properties of the vibroacoustic system (e.g., modal densities, dampings, etc.), but also on whether the sound field or the structure is directly driven. However, the physical mechanisms and characteristics of both cross-couplings are not well understood and, consequently, the conditions when ACC or SCC has a significant contribution to the system responses become unknown. This paper presents a mathematical description which allows the two types of modal cross-couplings to be studied independently. This description is then used to obtain the physical mechanisms and features of both cross-couplings. The effects of each type of cross-couplings on the system responses are then investigated and the general conditions under which these modal cross-couplings may be ignored are underlined.


An autostereoscopic display composed of a directional backlight, an image display panel, a striped half-wave plate, and a polarized lenticular lens array is proposed. The directional backlight emitting the parallel light can redirect the cones of light to lenticular lens array and reduce the chromatic spatial-interference effect. The striped half-wave plate, located in front of the image display panel, transformed the polarization direction of the lights from the directional backlight into two mutually perpendicular directions. The polarized lenticular lens array not only can divide the light from the left and right view images to send to left and right eyes but also can reduce the crosstalk of the stereoscopic images. The proposed autostereoscopic display can produce high quality stereoscopic images without crosstalk at the optimal viewing distance.


Models with a large number of parameters are prone to over-fitting and often fail to capture the underlying input distribution. We introduce Emix, a data augmentation method that uses interpolations of word embeddings and hidden layer representations to construct virtual examples. We show that Emix shows significant improvements over previously used interpolation based regularizers and data augmentation techniques. We also demonstrate how our proposed method is more robust to sparsification. We highlight the merits of our proposed methodology by performing thorough quantitative and qualitative assessments.


Mata kucing dammar has long become remarkable export commodity, most of which unfortunately is still in natural form (chunk-shapped exudates) obtained from the tapping of its host trees ( ). Accordingly, such dammar still contains large amount of impurities thereby lowering its qualities or trade values. Consequently, this necessitates a thorough purification attempt to enhance the dammar's added-value. The dammar purification prevalently uses organic solvent. However, the market demand for the solvent-free dammar products currently tends to increase commensurate with the advancement in dammar usage for drugs/ medicine and food industries. In relevant, purification of mata-kucing dammar was experimented using manual heating system, rather than organic solvent. Result revealed physico-chemical properties of the heat-purified dammar were not significantly different from those of natural dammar (without purification treatment) as well as of the solvent-purified dammar. Even, with respect to ash content (impurities) and toluene insolubility, the heat-purified dammar seemed to be better than the natural dammar. GC-MS analysis revealed there were five major chemical compounds with relatively large contents in heat-purified dammar. Such phenomena were similar to those in the natural dammar, with the contents of those compounds in the heat-purified dammar slightly higher.


V. P. Mikhailov, K. V. Yumashev, P. V. Prokoshin, S. I? Jmako, I. V. Bodnar,* International Laser Center, Belarusian State University, 7 Kurchatov Si., Minsk 220064, Belarus In this letter we report on CuInS&e,(,-,,doped glasses used as a saturable absorber for passive mode-locking of a Nd: YAG and Nd:YA1O3 lasers. Ultrashort pulses of 16 ps duration with 20 pJ of energy (for Nd:YA103 at 1.08 pm) and 36 ps duration with 30 pJ of energy (for Nd: YAG at 1.064 Fm) are achieved, respectively The bleaching relaxation time of CuInSSe-doped glass saturable absorber is found to be -11 ps. The optical damage threshold for CuInSSe-doped glasses estimated from the intensity dependent transmittance measurements with the use of single laser pulses of 15 ps duration, is 70 GW/cm2. The two CuInSSe-doped glass saturable absorber samples used were silicate glass plates containing semiconductor microcrystallites of CuInS1.2Sen (sample X-06) and CuInS1.&1.n (sample X-05). The average diameter of microcrystallites in both samples was -200 A. The two samples had slightly different CuInSSe bandgap wavelengths; 1.088 Fm for sample X06 and 1.168 pm for sample X-05. The single-pulse intensity-dependent transmittance and the transient absorption change measurements were performed at the wavelength of 1.08 pm with the totally automated picosecond transient absorption spectrometer based on laser pump-probe technique.' The pump (probe) pulse width was -15 ps. Figure 2


Gene expression analysis provides genome-wide insights into the transcriptional activity of a cell. One of the first computational steps in exploration and analysis of the gene expression data is clustering. With a number of standard clustering methods routinely used, most of the methods do not take prior biological information into account. Here, we propose a new approach for gene expression clustering analysis. The approach benefits from a new deep learning architecture, Robust Autoencoder, which provides a more accurate high-level representation of the feature sets, and from incorporating prior system-wide biological information into the clustering process. We tested our approach on two gene expression datasets and compared the performance with two widely used clustering methods, hierarchical clustering and k-means, and with a recent deep learning clustering approach. Our approach outperformed all other clustering methods on the labeled yeast gene expression dataset. Furthermore, we showed that it is better in identifying the functionally common clusters than k-means on the unlabeled human gene expression dataset. The results demonstrate that our new deep learning architecture can generalize well the specific properties of gene expression profiles. Furthermore, the results confirm our hypothesis that the prior biological network knowledge is helpful in the gene expression clustering.


Stuffed toys live with all ages and hold them in some physical and mental aspects. With the soft feel and cute characters, stuffed toys play with them, sleep together and listen to their complaints. These roles of stuffed toys show that people imagine stuffed toys are inter-active creature. Indeed, there are many stories and movies in which stuffed toys work as living characters. However, stuffed toys in real world are just dolls and they cannot move and react.


This thesis investigates the role states play in promoting and directing a country's development. More specifically, it is examined, which factors determine differences in state performance and why different types of states form. This is done through a comparative case study of Botswana and Zambia, two southern African countries that after a similar start into independence developed very differently. By looking at those two cases it is found that in both countries the level of congruence between precolonial, colonial and post-colonial state had a strong influence on the type of state that formed after independence. Further, it is found that the respective states played a key role in determining developmental success or failure. Botswana's strong developmental state was able to lead Botswana towards successful economic
development. Zambia's development, on the other hand, suffered greatly under its neo-patrimonial state for years. These findings support arguments for an increased focus on the state as an agent of development and raise questions concerning the, until recently, highly influential neo-liberal arguments for a minimal state and free market forces.


Abstract: Sustainability is today's most important benchmarking criteria to measure performance in organisations. Thus, the measure of critical sustainable practices plays a vital role in determining sustainable performance. This research paper attempts to identify fundamental dimensions of sustainable practices which contribute to sustainable performance in private universities of Malaysia. In line with this, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was carried out to identify fundamental constructs that define the sustainable performance of private universities (PUs). A series of pre and post analysis were conducted using survey questionnaire to draw inferences on the topic. The EFA technique was used to regroup the components related to indicators of sustainable practices into a limited set of components based on shared variance. EFA is generally used to sum up data so that relationships and patterns among constructs can be easily understood and interpreted. Eventually, four factor constructs emerged in this study. These  offered a meaningful relationship pattern which contributed to the sustainable performance indicators of private universities in Malaysia.


Background

The occurrence of traffic accidents is a public health problem present throughout Brazil. These accidents generate consequences of personal, social and economic nature. Thus, our objective is to analyze the costs of accidents involving motorcyclists, according to the type of accident, with or without victim, using data taken from traffic accident reports provided by the Military Police in the years 2013 to 2015.
Methods

The data extracted from these reports were analyzed based on the reports of the Institute of Applied Economic Research and the Informatics Department of the Unified Health System. To arrive at the corrected calculation, the accumulated Consumer Price Index for each year was also used.
Results

In Jataí, 1,118 traffic accidents were recorded, 256 without victims and 862 with victims in the analyzed period. Such accidents cost the municipality more than fifteen million reais from 2013 to 2015, costs that involve production losses for society, medical-hospital costs, early retirements, and police and judicial costs. This database was also used to generate a map showing the density of accidents for the same period, which made it possible to identify the neighborhoods with the highest traffic occurrences in the city of Jataí.
Conclusions

These data are tools that enable a deep reflection on the subject, besides serving as a parameter for establishing road safety policies, mapping the occurrences, as well as improving factors that minimize traffic accidents. Analysis of these data makes it possible to understand the expenses and describe the places where traffic accidents occurred in the city of Jataí, GO, Brazil.


This paper presents the use of a commercial quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to investigate live-cell activity in water-based toxic solutions. The QCM used in this research has a resonant frequency of 10 MHz and consists of an AT-cut quartz crystal with gold electrodes on both sides. This QCM was transformed into a functional biosensor by integrating with polydimethylsiloxane culturing chambers. Rainbow trout gill epithelial cells were cultured on the resonators as a sensorial layer. The fluctuation of the resonant frequency, due to the change of cell morphology and adhesion, is an indicator of water toxicity. The shift in the resonant frequency provides information about the viability of the cells after exposure to toxicants. The toxicity result shows distinct responses after exposing cells to 0.526 μM of pentachlorophenol (PCP) solution, which is the Military Exposure Guidelines concentration. This research demonstrated that the QCM is sensitive to a low concentration of PCP and no further modification of the QCM surface was required.


During the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), state-owned or public banks lent relatively
more than domestic private banks in many countries. However, data limitations have
hindered a thorough assessment of what led public banks to better maintain lending
during the GFC. Using a novel bank-level dataset covering 25 emerging market
economies, we show that public banks lent relatively more during the GFC because
they pursued an objective of helping to stabilize the economy, rather than because they
had superior fundamentals or access to public or depositors' funding. Nonetheless,
their countercyclical behavior seems unique to the GFC rather than a regular
characteristic of public banks before and after the GFC.


We appreciate Dirk Berg-Schlosser's discussion of our article. He makes a number of positive comments and also expresses some doubts, raising important issues that should be clarified. In this limited space, we will not address all of the diverse matters he discusses, but will concentrate on his major points. Berg-Schlosser expresses concerns about our measurements, arguing that the indicators we used to measure a society's available resources, its emphasis on emancipative values and its degree of effective democracy are based on 'guesstimates'. This is true in the sense that any measure in the social sciences involves a certain amount of measurement error. Berg-Schlosser's critique, however, is pointless insofar as he fails to provide evidence for his claim that there are better indicators of a society's resources, its emphasis on emancipative values and its degree of effective democracy than the ones we used – and we doubt that he could, because any alternative indicators of which we are aware correlate strongly with the ones we used (usually at r = 0.8 or 0.9). For example, Berg-Schlosser criticizes our measure of effective democracy, asserting that Singapore would obtain a medium democracy score using this measure. This conclusion is false. We measure effective democracy by combining two separate components. First, we use the Freedom House scores for liberal and political rights as an indicator of the extension of rights. Then we weight the extension of rights by the elite corruption scores provided by Transparency International, using the inverse of these scores as a measure of 'elite integrity' or 'rule of law'. We consider 'elite integrity' as the factor deciding how effective or ineffective a given extension of rights is in light of actual elite behavior. Mathematically, this is expressed by multiplying the extension of rights with the degree of 'elite integrity'. This procedure prevents high levels in one of the two components compensating for low levels in the other, because multiplication is sensitive to discrepancies. Hence, Berg-Schlosser is wrong in claiming that our measure would locate Singapore at a medium level


The article deals with data concerning medical activities in the course of rendering medical assistance for servicemen in hospitals for Air-Landing Troops. Main indices of the work in the hospitals are analyzed. The structure of hospitalized patients according to contingents and inpatient departments are examined. The results of servicemen 'treatment are offered.


Abstract The article presents the results of landscape analysis of the surroundings of Lake Rzecin in Noteć Forest depicted on cartographic materials. Morphometrical analysis and analysis of changes in the water conditions of Lake Rzecin were conducted. Thanks to many cartographic data, changes in lake geometry could be observed during almost the whole of the last two centuries. The results show that the major impact on the rate of lake level decrease in the last two hundred years was due to melioration works. Two periods of rapid decrease in the lake surface can be observed during this time. The first occurred as a result of the creation of Rzecin Ditch, which probably took place in the middle of the 19th century; the second, in all likelihood, with its cleaning out; the exact date of this operation is not known but the results of map analysis suggest that it could have happened between 1958 and 1966. Due to these two events the lake surface decreased by 73.6% during the analysed period. Apart from this phenomenon the lake surface area seems to be quite stable: there were some fluctuations; however, changes did not exceed more than 5%. That is why it can be assumed that the human factor has the biggest influence on succession rate of the lake ecosystem. Analysis of the map collection shows that during the last two centuries there were no huge changes in the local landscape; however, other historical sources do not confirm this. According to them, not only man but also fires and insect gradations had an enormous influence on the Noteć Forest ecosystem. Nonetheless, land use structure within the Rzecin Ditch catchment area did not change a great deal; the most significant modification was the increment of forested areas from 74.1 up to 85.1 %.


This Article examines a growing phenomenon: even as the Supreme Court has steadily contracted the scope of tribes' regulatory authority, many tribes have in recent years passed innovative laws and ordinances, often extending well beyond any comparable initiatives at the state or local level. Recently, for example, the Navajo Nation passed a comprehensive taxation scheme designed to discourage the consumption of unhealthy food items and to subsidize the purchase of healthy ones — a scheme far more ambitious than the soda tax efforts that have stalled in many cities and states. Likewise, amid national controversy over marijuana legalization, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe sought to open a "marijuana resort" in a state with strict anti-marijuana policies; meanwhile, other tribes have moved in the opposite direction, banning on-reservation use of drugs and alcohol even where it would be allowable under state law.

Yet while we are accustomed to thinking of states as Brandeisian laboratories of democracy that pioneer innovations from which other jurisdictions can benefit, no ready model exists for how states and tribes should interact within the realm of regulatory experimentation. In practice, state reactions to tribal innovations have ranged from indifference to hostility to imitation, and few doctrines or practices exist to mediate issues that may arise from state-tribal regulatory conflict. Against this unsettled backdrop — which includes 2016's inconclusive Supreme Court decision in Dollar General Corp. v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians — this Article explores what contribution tribal regulation can and should make to the larger patchwork of regulatory innovation among states. It attempts, first, to survey some notable instances in which tribes have engaged in regulatory experimentation. It then considers the ways in which tribal innovation has affected and been affected by neighboring states, and the degree to which these effects resemble comparable dynamics in the interstate context. It closes by recommending several policies — among them tribal autonomy, clear delineation of tribal and state law's respective territorial scope, and possible federal involvement — that may serve to foster a productive climate in which states and tribes can mutually influence and learn from each other.


We discuss computational and qualitative aspects of the fractional Plateau and the prescribed fractional mean curvature problems on bounded domains subject to exterior data being a subgraph. We recast these problems in terms of energy minimization, and we discretize the latter with piecewise linear finite elements. For the computation of the discrete solutions, we propose and study a gradient flow and a Newton scheme, and we quantify the effect of Dirichlet data truncation. We also present a wide variety of numerical experiments that illustrate qualitative and quantitative features of fractional minimal graphs and the associated discrete problems.


Sir,—I thank Taylor and Kirby1for drawing attention to the cost effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation but feel that the issue should be opened to further debate.

Cardiac rehabilitation, like any therapeutic intervention, should of course be subjected to economic evaluation. However, it is not sufficient to focus solely on effectiveness measures without taking into consideration issues such as health related quality of life (HRQOL).2 Indeed, in reporting the study by Oldridge et al 3 the authors have highlighted this point. While the adaptation of the 1988 Oldridge data to current UK cost-utility figures for selected cardiovascular interventions can be justified, interpretation of the figures may be misleading. Of particular note is the fact that if HRQOL factors are ignored then the current £6900/quality adjusted life year gained …


A molecular approach to quantum computing is demonstrated. The vibrational normal modes of molecules in an ensemble are used to encode qubit systems. In each mode a certain degree of excitation is referred to as |0>, another degree of excitation in the same mode is referred to as |1/spl rarr/. For the realization of quantum gates within and between the qubits, single shaped femtosecond laser pulses in the IR-regime is applied.


Abstract:  Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) represents a rare but aggressive and lethal form of locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) and frequently with HER‐2 neu overexpressed or amplified. We retrospectively identified 16 newly diagnosed HER‐2/neu‐positive IBC patients who were treated with preoperative trastuzumab. We determined the pathological complete response rate (pCR) when trastuzumab was added to preoperative chemotherapy in patients with HER2/neu‐positive IBC. Furthermore, we assessed the expression of CXCR4 in metastatic recurrence sites. Ten patients (62.5%) achieved a pCR. Six patients (37.5%) achieved a partial response. Median follow‐up of all patients was 24.2 months. Four (25%) patients have experienced a progression, of which three were in the brain. Two‐year progression‐free survival was 59.4% (95% CI 35–100). High expression of CXCR4 was detected in the brain metastases. We conclude that in spite of high pCR rates among women with HER‐2/neu‐positive IBC treated with neoadjuvant trastuzumab‐based regimens the outcome remains dismal and brain recurrences are frequent. CXCR4 may represent a novel therapeutic target.


A country cannot go well without involving international trade because of the interconnected world economy. Every nation involves international trade for its economic welfare and some factors influence a lot to involve international trade. The influencing factors are factor endowments, trade policies, exchange rate, inflation rate, disposable income, and others. Bangladesh is doing well in international trade in recent years compared to eighty's decade, although the country is experiencing a negative trade balance regularly. The low-cost labour is an important influential factor that the country is using efficiently. National and intentional trade policies are influencing a lot of the international trade, for example, Venezuela, North Korea, Iran, and some other countries cannot involve in international trade expectedly due to the sanction of the USA. The economic diplomacy of Bangladesh is helping a lot but it could have improved. The inflation rate of Bangladesh was stable after 2012 which helps to maintain the international trade balance. Besides, the Exchange rate and foreign currency reserve are the motivational factors of international trade because domestic currency value is an important determinant of international trade. Bangladeshi BDT maintains an almost stable exchange rate with USD but after COVID-19 the rate fluctuated at a lower rate. To involve in international trade, there is no opportunity to avoid the influence of these factors or elements.
Keywords: International Trade, factor endowments, trade policies, exchange rate, inflation rate, disposable income.


Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass and micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue which results in consequent increase in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture and more common in post-menopausal women and elderly people. Fractures in osteoporotic bones can be prevented by simple methods like early detection by certain investigative methods like DEXA and its treatment. A questionnaire was devised to assess knowledge of osteoporosis, its risk factors, risk reducing factors, complications and required treatment along with investigations. It was completed by 97 patients who attended the orthopedic outpatient department. Overall knowledge about osteoporosis was poor. 57.73% patients were aware about osteoporosis, 50.01% were aware about its preventive measures, regarding risk factors (for alcohol only 33.33% could identify it as a risk factors, similarly for smoking scored 29.62%, malnutrition had 16.66%, lack of exercise had 3.7%, gender scored 11.11% and drugs scored 5.55%). Merely 29.89% and 7.21% were aware about the complications and investigations respectively. Knowledge about osteoporosis amongst patients was found low. There is a need for public to be made more aware about osteoporosis and its causes. With the help of social media and national campaigns, people can be well educated about this disorder. Keywords: Osteoporosis, Fracture, Post-menopausal, Systemic, Skeletal, DEXA


There are many factors that generate the early deterioration of the concrete structure. As the one of the representative factors, we can think an invasion of the water, air and so on. The water and air invade in inside void along the capillarity and they become the cause that the durability like corrosion of layer department due to freezing and thawing, inside steel frame corrosion, and so on blacks. Therefore with covering permeability covering waterproofing material of fluid condition in outer wall, intercepting the deterioration factor due to the infiltration of water from outside and for salt damage of concrete layer department, freezing damage and neutralization, it needs to improve durability of structure. This study separately examined physical and chemical specific of quality liguid siliceous of waterproofing material. Therefore as this applys the construction site, it improves the durability of concrete structure. Further this presents the application plan from the construction market against the new material.


This article describes a successful experience teaching Wilder's Pullman Car Hiawatha to theater graduate students at the University of Colorado Boulder. Students read the play alongside Bertolt Brecht's The Exception and the Rule and Langston Hughes's Don't You Want to be Free? They prepared a comparative analysis of the three plays, and then the author turned their attention to the character of Harrison, a Black man who serves as the Pullman car porter. The author outlined the major role that Pullman car porters played in civil rights struggles in the United States and observed that Wilder puts Harrison in charge of the stage near the end of the play. In discussion, students found other representations of race and power in the play; notably, these included Wilder's allusion to histories of Native American displacement. They also explored perspectives drawn from ecocriticism, disability studies, and critiques of modernity.


The molecular mechanisms of the development of teratocarcinomas from stem cells are largely unknown. To determine which genes are associated with the transformation of these cells, we have performed oligonucleotide microarray analysis, using Affymetrix U74A GeneChips, on both cell cultures and tumors in nude mice. We identified 68 genes that significantly differed in expression between the ES cell culture and the teratocarcinoma cell line, SCC-PSA1, and 51 genes with statistically different expression patterns between the ES cell tumors and the teratocarcinomas (P < .00005). We found that there were 20 genes that had common expression patterns in both groups. We also examined the role of the transition from in vitro to in vivo by comparing ES cell culture to ES cell tumor, and teratocarcinoma cell line to teratocarcinomas. We identified 22 genes that were upregulated in the ES cell tumors and 42 that had a decreased expression in the tumor (P < .0001). In comparing SCC-PSA1 to its tumor, we identified 34 upregulated genes and 25 downregulated genes (P < .001). There were only 10 genes in common from these two lists. GenMapp search revealed that several pathways, especially the cell cycle pathway, are actively involved in the induction of teratocarcinomas. Our results indicate that many key development genes may play a key role in the transformation of ES cells into teratocarcinoma cells.


Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) decreased the mortality of patients with HIV infection, but its effects on the metabolism of lipoproteins, carbohydrates and adipose tissue are a common cause for seeking treatment. Our purpose is to present the current knowledge available regarding the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of these conditions. A discussion about the limitations of the current evidence is included. HIV-related dyslipidemia is multifactorial. Prior to the treatment, hypertriglyceridemia is found frequently, usually with low cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels. Antiretroviral agents, especially some protease inhibitors, have adverse effects on plasma lipids. Nutritional recovery and lipodistrophy exacerbate the lipid abnormalities. Hypertriglyceridemia (usually moderate to severe) and moderate hypercholesterolemia (< 300 mg/dL) are the most common end-results. Subcutaneous fat of the face and limbs decreases and it is deposited in the neck and in the abdomen. The diagnosis and treatment of these conditions are controversial due to the lack of appropriate evidence. The metabolic complications of HAART could be a leading cause of mortality in the near future. Thus, longitudinal studies, including subjects from several ethnic groups are needed to identify the main factors involved in the pathophysiology and to assess several therapeutical and preventive strategies. Collaboration between HIV specialists and other health professionals (i.e. endocrinologists) will be required to accomplish these goals.


Owing to the inherent uncertainty of diagnostic tasks, diagnostic advice should be offered in a probabilistic, rather than deterministic form. Since the late fifties a lot of effort has been invested in constructing probabilistic diagnosis rules. Much less has been done to devise rational tools for evaluating them ; conventional error rates reflect but one aspect of performance in a rather crude way. The aim of this paper and its successors is to offer a body of evaluation tools. After defining a general framework and stating its limitations we apply some graphical techniques to the acute abdominal pain data that will serve as illustration in the next papers as well: dot diagrams, the triangular diagram for the three-disease case, and three tabular representations based on categorization of the probabilities, viz. the usual (forced) classification matrix, from which various classification rates are read off; the classification matrix with doubt, in which uncertain and confident diagnoses are distinguished; and the exclusion matrix, which spots diseases that are judged improbable. Together these matrices give a good first impression of the behaviour of a probabilistic diagnosis system. The outlined techniques of later papers are needed for a more complete analysis.


This study was performed to assess the nutritional status of the elderly residing in a silver town. A survey was conducted in April, 2005 for fifty two healthy persons (men 18, women 34) aged over 65 years living in a private silver town of Busan Metropolitan City, Korea. General data were collected using questionnaires at homes of the subjects and food consumption data for 3 days were obtained by investigating the individual leftovers from the meals served at the foodservice facilities by well-trained graduate students of the Department of Food & Nutrition. Nutrient intake was calculated from food consumption data using Can Pro (version 3.0, Korea). Average daily intake of energy was 1077.6 ㎉ in men and 974.2 ㎉ in women. Average protein intake of the men and women amounted to 85.5 g and 67.7 g, respectively. The consumption of cereals contributed 45.3% of energy intake for all subjects. Only 1.1% of calcium intake was from milk and milk products. Almost 100% of the elderly did not reach 75% of estimated energy requirement (EER) in energy intake and 75% of estimated average requirement (EAR) in folic acid intake. Percentages of the subjects who consumed protein above 125% of EAR were 100% and 91% in men and women, respectively. All subjects consumed above EAR in dietary intake of protein and iron. These data suggest that nutrient intake of the elderly living in the silver town would be inadequate, and thus the efficient management of foodservice is necessary to improve the nutritional status of the elderly living in the silver town.