Despite vehicle instability problems caused by gusts of wind on freeways located in mountain or seaside areas, current national highway design standards overlook their detrimental effects, and if higher design speed freeways being proposed now by the government are in operation, the strong effect of the gust of wind becomes a highway alignment design issue. This paper presents the vehicle movements and their resulting safety effects by checking vehicle sliding and overturn based on vehicle dynamic analysis for the case when a gust of wind blows to vehicles negotiating curves on higher speed freeways. In this analysis, vehicle types, curve radii, motorist responsive time to vehicle driving path changes, and vehicle speeds are systematically arranged to get vehicle sliding and overturn values in each different conditions. The results showed that there were little overturn possibilities when wind speed would stay in 50m/sec with higher than 600 meter curve radii. Interestingly it was also found in sliding checks that, although being safe at less than 15.0m/sec wind speed levels, there appeared the need of vehicle travel prohibitions when the wind speed could exceed 25.0m/sec level. The findings in this research is of information in future higher speed freeway designs, and particularly useful when designing freeways passing frequent gust wind areas.


Abstract This article presents an empirical study on selected aspects of the orthographic performance of mono- and bilingual students in German. Particular attention is paid to the question whether a connection can be drawn between the orthographic performance of the bilingual students in German and their first language. For this purpose, a corpus is analyzed with data from approx. 800 test students. One group is monolingual in German, one is bilingual German–Turkish and one is bilingual German–Russian. A highly significant influence of Russian resp. Turkish on the performance to differentiate between tense and lax vowels is found. This corresponds to expectations insofar as in opposition to German, neither in Turkish nor in Russian, tense and lax vowels are distinguished phonologically. In other areas of orthography, this influence of the first language is not measurable or not to the same extent.


Abstract Tire overturning moment measurements have traditionally been used primarily for rollover threshold analysis and have often been ignored for linear range maneuvers. This paper explains how overturning moment is related to aligning torque for a tire under tractive force. This relationship can be used to develop a better understanding of tire properties necessary to achieve better steering refinement. A free rolling overturning moment measurement is shown to provide useful information for aligning torque performance. For example, force and moment test results are shown to illustrate the concepts.


The space environment presents various challenges when designing systems and selecting materials for applications beyond Earth's atmosphere. For mission success, these challenges must be considered. One of the detrimental aspects of the space en- vironment is Atomic Oxygen, AO. Only present in harmful quantities in Lower Earth Orbit, LEO, AO causes significant damage to materials by breaking molecular bonds. California Polytechnic State University's, Cal Poly's, space environments laboratory features an apparatus capable of simulating this environment. Very thin or short samples were tested to observe the mass loss due to erosion of the sample material. Recent modifications to the system allow it to expose surfaces of three dimensional objects to AO rather than only those two dimensional objects. Simulating this effect on taller samples makes available the opportunity to test coupons that are then used in additional testing to measure the effect of that erosion on other properties. Challenges in adapting the AO system are explored and addressed, as well as some possible use cases for future work. As a use case, bending moment specimens were exposed to AO prior to testing in four point bending. Multiple regression models were constructed to determine variables contributing to slope changes between specimen pairs' linear-elastic regions of force-displacement graphs. Results show that AO exposed specimens had significantly gentler slopes in the linear elastic region of the force-displacement curve, meaning that AO exposure reduced structural rigidity of the coupons.


As the technologies of electronic device have advanced these days, most of mechanical systems are designed with electronic control unit to take advantage of firmware flexibilities. On-board diagnosis, which detects the system malfunction and identifies potential source of error with its own diagnostic criteria, and fail-safe that can switch the mode of operation in view of recognized error characteristics enables easy maintenance and troubleshooting as well as system protection. This paper dealt with the development of diagnosis and fail-safe function for proportional flow control valve. All type of errors related to valve control system components are investigated and assigned to a specific hexadecimal codes. Cumulative error detection algorithm is applied in order for the sensitivity and reliability to be appropriate. Embedded simulatro which runs simultaneously with system program provides the virtual error simulation environment for expeditious development of algorithm. The diagnosis function was verified both with solenoid valve and embedded simulator test.


In the present study 800 clinical samples were collected and subjected to biotypes studies. Whereas the present study proved candidates isolates revealed many of biotypes belong the same species of Klebsiella and Raoultella. Furthermore, this study also demonstrated that isolates which had been candidates to Vitek-2 system,revealed different probabilities,the probability of identification were as follow , excellent 54.7%, very good 7.5%, good 24.5%, acceptable13.2% and low discrimination 1.88% and sum of (excellent ,very good and good ) was 86.7%. Also there was high degree of coalition to the level of species and subspecies. In this study we suggested that Vitek 2 system is the best methods to detect biotyping of pathogenic microorganism before studying phylogenetic analysis of microorganisms.


OBJECTIVE
To determine how often patients with rheumatic joint disease consult their general practitioner (GP), and if there are disease and patient characteristics that influence GP consultation of gonarthrosis/coxarthrosis patients.

DESIGN
Prospective record investigation.

SETTING
Seven GP centres in the southeast of the Netherlands.

METHOD
All patient contacts were registered prospectively in the seven GP centres: 46 concerned patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 122 patients with gonarthrosis/ coxarthrosis. Patient and disease characteristics were collected on intake sheets.

RESULTS
Three-quarters of the RA patients were periodically seen (mostly by a specialist), and 47% of the gonarthrosis/coxarthrosis patients (as often by their GP as by a specialist). Of the RA patients and of the gonarthrosis/coxarthrosis patients 74% and 89% respectively consulted their GPs in one year (the average numbers of contacts were 4.7 and 5.0); 50% and 57% did so because of the chronic joint disease (with 2.2 and 1.6 contacts respectively). No disease characteristics and only a few patient characteristics (arthroplasty, chronic use of medication) of patients with gonarthrosis/coxarthrosis influenced GP consultation.

CONCLUSION
Patients with rheumatic joint disease often consult their GP, but not always because of this illness. If they consult their GP, they usually do so more than once a year.


Information and Communication Technologies management is now increasingly challenging in a highly digital and connected world, with different services emerging for different clients with heterogeneous infrastructures, software, assets, different service requirements, security risks increasing, organizational structures not flexible to adjust. These are some of the variables to manage in Information and Communication Technologies departments. This paper aims to present a literature review to support the design of an approach for service operation management in a medium-sized organization, to improve operational efficiency, cost optimization and stakeholder satisfaction, relevant topics in any organization strategy. The applied methodology includes a literature study related with the frameworks Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The main results underlying the literature review were based on the use of keywords in the subject domain.


In this paper, an ultra-wideband (UWB) upconverter is proposed that has automatic self-calibrating circuits for the in-phase/quadrature mismatch correction and the local (LO) leakage suppression. The proposed self-calibrating circuits have been devised to have UWB functionality without help of the baseband processor. In addition, calibrating circuits do not need any additional analog-to-digital converter or sample-and-hold capacitors that are used to store and update the minimum power because the proposed calibrators find the solution from informations in current state. To verify the performance, the upconverter was applied to an UWB transmitter (Tx), operating from 3.1 to 4.8 GHz and from 6.3 to 9 GHz in 65-nm CMOS. The measured data shows UWB performance for the sideband rejection up to 9 GHz and the LO leakage suppression up to 5 GHz, respectively. The automatically calibrated Tx has error vector magnitude of lower than -20 dB, output 1-dB compression point of -6 dBm, LO leakage of lower than -43 dBm, and sideband suppression ratio of higher than 45 dBc with current consumption of 175 mA from a 1.2-V power supply for all supporting bands and time frequency codes defined in WiMedia UWB specifications.


The electron-hole interaction in conjugated polymers is considered for both a short chain and an infinite-long polyene. The attraction and repulsion between the electron and hole for different interactions are analysed. Excitonic states should exist in the attractive region.


Background: Extremity arterial injuries are an important cause of loss of life/limb after trauma. Early intervention is important for the good outcome. Objectives: The objective of this study is to review the pattern of presentation and study the factors that influences the outcome of extremity arterial injuries in our hospital. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study of all patients with injuries to the extremity arteries requiring surgical intervention from July 2007 to June 2015. Data obtained included biodata, ischemic time, arteries involved, surgical intervention, and outcomes and analyzed using SPSS version 22. Setting: Our hospital is the main referral hospital for vascular trauma serving four adjoining states in Nigeria and is linked to major cities by at least 3 Trunk-A federal roads. Subjects: The subjects are patients who were managed in our cardiovascular surgical unit for the study duration (July 2007–June 2015) who had extremity arterial injuries. Results: A total of 36 patients presenting with 40 arterial injuries in 37 limbs were studied. The mean age was 28.4 ± 10.3 years with male preponderance (88.9%). Gunshot injuries were the most common cause of arterial injuries (37.8%), followed by assault (27%). The mean time from injury to presentation for acute injuries was 20.4 h but 23 of the patients (63.8%) presented to the accident and emergency department within 12 h of injury. A limb salvage rate of 64.9% was achieved though ischemic times of ≥12 h were associated with poor outcomes. Conclusion: Prolonged ischemic time is associated with poor outcomes. Efforts should be put in place to reduce the limb ischemic times.


The growth of mass communications including the internet has accelerated the trend toward globalisation, which is viewed by some as leading to the loss of regional identity, culture and heritage. Similarly, within the commercial sector, globalisation can be seen to fuel the dominance of international brands insensitive to regional culture. Conversely, new technology can be used to help different cultures to co-exist and learn from each other, and can also be taken as an opportunity for regional cultural commerce to be widely promoted. Within this context, the CIPHER project aims to develop innovative technologies and methodologies that enable the celebration and exploration of national and regional heritage on a global scale.


Study Design. Case description. Objectives. To present a case of a missed diagnosis of penetrating spine injury by wood and review of the literature. Summary of Background Data. Penetrating spinal injuries by wood are rare injuries. Less than 10 cases with penetrating spine injuries by a wooden fragment had been reported earlier. Methods. A 23-year-old man had fallen from 3 m high tree and sustained a penetrating wound on his right lower back. As the direct radiographic evaluation was normal, the diagnosis of foreign body was missed. Eventually, the diagnosis was made on admission of the patient with purulent discharge from his wound, 1-week postprimary closure. Hypoesthesia of S1, S2, and S3 alone, were noted neurologically. The computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of patient revealed an intraspinal foreign body pierced through the S1–S2 interlaminary space. Extraction of the wooden fragment was then performed by limited S1 laminectomy and the dural defect was also repaired. Results. With appropriate antibiotherapy, patient recovered, with no sequela. Conclusion. Due to its density and radiologic properties, it is not unusual for wood to be overlooked, unless detailed imaging with computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging is used.


A chemical precipitation method was used to prepare cobalt complexes of 2,6-diamino-3,5-dinitropyridine-1-oxide/carbon nanotube (Co–ANPyO/CNTs) nanocomposites. The structure and thermal analyses indicate that Co–ANPyO nanoparticles are well dispersed on the surface of CNTs with an average particle size of about 10 nm, the content of Co–ANPyO nanoparticles in nanocomposites is about 73.4 wt%. The thermal decomposition mechanism of Co–ANPyO and Co–ANPyO/CNTs nanocomposites were predicted based on thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC) and thermolysis in situ rapid-scan FTIR (RSFTIR) results. The thermal decomposition of Co–ANPyO and Co–ANPyO/CNTs nanocomposites contains two exothermic processes in the temperature range of 25–490 °C. The first exothermic process for Co–ANPyO/CNTs nanocomposites shifts towards lower temperatures compared to that of Co–ANPyO. The main products of the final residues for Co–ANPyO and Co–ANPyO/CNTs nanocomposites at 490 °C are Co3O4 and CoO, respectively. The catalytic performance of Co–ANPyO and Co–ANPyO/CNTs nanocomposites on thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) was investigated by TG-derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), DSC, non-isothermal kinetic and α–T kinetic curves analyses. The possible catalytic mechanism was also discussed and proposed. During the thermal decomposition process of AP with Co–ANPyO/CNTs nanocomposites, Co–ANPyO/CNTs nanocomposites might decompose and form Co3O4/CNTs and CoO/CNTs nanocomposites as high activity catalysts, which could accelerate the thermal decomposition of AP. Thus, Co–ANPyO/CNTs nanocomposites not only lower the decomposition temperature and activation energy, but also enhance the total heat of AP, which could not be achieved by the CNTs and Co–ANPyO alone. The way of preparing Co–ANPyO/CNTs nanocomposites presented in this work can be expanded to other energetic additives/CNTs nanocomposites used for AP and AP based propellants.


It is a fundamental value of the surgical profession to improve care for its patients. In the last 100 years, the principles of prospective quality improvement have started to work their way into the traditional method of retrospective case review in morbidity and mortality conference. This article summarizes the history of "improvement science" and its intersection with the field of surgery. It attempts to clarify the principles and jargon that may be new or confusing to surgeons with a different vocabulary and experience. This is done to bring the significant power and resources of improvement science to the traditional efforts to improve surgical care.


Recently engine sound quality is becoming more noticeable as noise level in a vehicle passenger compartment has been decreasing. It is necessary to reduce such discomforting noise as rumbling noise in order to improve engine sound quality. This paper describes the experimental study to find out causes of rumbling noise in an engine structure and several investigations to reduce rumbling noise. Some new approaches have been introduced to evaluate the influence of an combustion impact, the movement of a crankshaft, timing of rumbling noise and so on. The result shows that the primary cause of rumbling noise is the movement of a crankshaft due to the impact of combustion and next is the vibration characteristics of the engine-transmission assembly (power plant). Finally superior engine sound quality is achieved by increasing counterweights and stiffness of a crankshaft and also by optimizing the spark advance and improving vibration characteristics of various engine parts


This paper presents an advanced leg module developed for HRP-2, a new humanoid robotics platform, which has been developed in phase two of the Humanoid Robotics Project (HRP), a five year program sponsored by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI) from 1998FY to 2002FY. The biped locomotion ability of HRP-1, the humanoid robotics platform developed in phase I is to be improved so that HRP-2 can cope with rough terrain and can prevent possible damage to the robot body caused by tipping over. In this paper, the mechanisms and specifications of the leg module, the electrical system, the simulation results utilized for deciding specifications, and some experimental results are presented.


We propose a novel probabilistic model for visual question answering (Visual QA). The key idea is to infer two sets of embeddings: one for the image and the question jointly and the other for the answers. The learning objective is to learn the best parameterization of those embeddings such that the correct answer has higher likelihood among all possible answers. In contrast to several existing approaches of treating Visual QA as multi-way classification, the proposed approach takes the semantic relationships (as characterized by the embeddings) among answers into consideration, instead of viewing them as independent ordinal numbers. Thus, the learned embedded function can be used to embed unseen answers (in the training dataset). These properties make the approach particularly appealing for transfer learning for open-ended Visual QA, where the source dataset on which the model is learned has limited overlapping with the target dataset in the space of answers. We have also developed large-scale optimization techniques for applying the model to datasets with a large number of answers, where the challenge is to properly normalize the proposed probabilistic models. We validate our approach on several Visual QA datasets and investigate its utility for transferring models across datasets. The empirical results have shown that the approach performs well not only on in-domain learning but also on transfer learning.


Some cases of late-onset (regressive) autism may involve abnormal flora because oral vancomycin, which is poorly absorbed, may lead to significant improvement in these children. Fecal flora of children with regressive autism was compared with that of control children, and clostridial counts were higher. The number of clostridial species found in the stools of children with autism was greater than in the stools of control children. Children with autism had 9 species of Clostridium not found in controls, whereas controls yielded only 3 species not found in children with autism. In all, there were 25 different clostridial species found. In gastric and duodenal specimens, the most striking finding was total absence of non-spore-forming anaerobes and microaerophilic bacteria from control children and significant numbers of such bacteria from children with autism. These studies demonstrate significant alterations in the upper and lower intestinal flora of children with late-onset autism and may provide insights into the nature of this disorder.


Gene coding Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) is one of genes relating the growth of many fish species, including striped catfish. In this study, cDNA coding to protein IGF2 was isolated from total RNA extracted from liver tissue of catfish, then was amplified through reverse transcription PCR and standard PCR with IGF2 specific primer pair to generate the 642bp-in-size PCR product. The sequence of this cDNA-IGF2 is similar up to 95% to the cDNA-IGF2 gene sequence of catfish included in family Ictalurus. Based on that sequence, 3 primer pairs were designed to amplify 3 regions of IGF2 gene from genomic DNA extracted from fins of catfish, which have 900bp, 1500bp and 1200bp in length. That 3 regions were sequenced and assembled to give the final sequence with 3387bp in length of IGF2 gene, which includes 4 exons coding to IGF2 protein, and is similar up to 96% to sequence of mRNA coding to IGF2 protein of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus and that of blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus. Determining the structure of IGF2 gene of striped catfish Pangasianodon hypophthalmus enable us to further examine its function and genetic variation.


We propose a nonlinear prediction (NOP) method for functional time series. Conventional methods for functional time series are mainly based on functional principal component analysis or functional regression models. These approaches rely on the stationary or linear assumption of the functional time series. However, real data sets are often nonstationary, and the temporal dependence between trajectories cannot be captured by linear models. Conventional methods are also hard to analyze multivariate functional time series. To tackle these challenges, the NOP method employs a nonlinear mapping for functional data that can be directly applied to multivariate functions without any preprocessing step. The NOP method constructs feature space with forecast information, hence it provides a better ground for predicting future trajectories. The NOP method avoids calculating covariance functions and enables online estimation and prediction. We examine the finite sample performance of the NOP method with simulation studies that consider linear, nonlinear and nonstationary functional time series. The NOP method shows superior prediction performances in comparison with the conventional methods. Three real applications demonstrate the advantages of the NOP method model in predicting air quality, electricity price and mortality rate.


In this paper we focus on the dimensional properties of the exchange-correlation (XC) density functional. Due to its universal character, the exact XC functional can be used to describe electron systems confined in any number of dimensions. However, we show that the most popular XC models (the local density and the generalized gradient approximations) fail in this respect. This limitation can be avoided by using nonlocal models, such as the weighted density approximation (WDA). Concretely, we demonstrate that the same WDA functional gives accurate XC energies and pair-correlation functions for both three-dimensional (3D) and 2D homogeneous electron gas. The practical consequences of these dimensional properties are evident when applying the XC functional models to a simple, but more realistic, quasi-2D electron system.


Bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) is a serious disease of potato. It can be managed with cultural practices, but only if farmers understand the technologies, and the reasons behind them. Face-to-face extension methods, like farmer field school (FFS), can teach these messages to smallholders, but other methods may also be useful. This paper compares FFS with two lesscostly methods: "community workshops" and radio, and presents follow up surveys of these three extension methods. Community workshops were almost as effective as FFS for teaching most ideas; radio spots were less effective, especially for ideas that require demonstration, but they reach a much larger audience. The three extension methods gave the most different results for time-consuming technologies, where a more compelling demonstration may convince farmers to adopt a task that adds work to an already busy day. Extension methods should be chosen for the particular context. The more complicated, tedious, and counter-intuitive a new technology is, the more important it may be to use a more intensive extension method and the less likely that a mass media will be successful.


Regularization techniques are widely used to improve the generality, robustness, and efficiency of deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs). In this paper, we propose a novel approach of regulating DCNN convolutional kernels by a structured filter bank. Comparing with the existing regularization methods, such as $\ell_1$ or $\ell_2$ minimization of DCNN kernel weights and the kernel orthogonality, which ignore sample correlations within a kernel, the use of filter bank in regularization of DCNNs can mold the DCNN kernels to common spatial structures and features (e.g., edges or textures of various orientations and frequencies) of natural images. On the other hand, unlike directly making DCNN kernels fixed filters, the filter bank regularization still allows the freedom of optimizing DCNN weights via deep learning. This new DCNN design strategy aims to combine the best of two worlds: the inclusion of structural image priors of traditional filter banks to improve the robustness and generality of DCNN solutions and the capability of modern deep learning to model complex non-linear functions hidden in training data. Experimental results on object recognition tasks show that the proposed regularization approach guides DCNNs to faster convergence and better generalization than existing regularization methods of weight decay and kernel orthogonality.


The safe disposal of both high-level and low-level radioactive waste is a problem of increasing national attention. A full-scale incineration and solidification process to dispose of suspect-level and low-level beta-gamma contaminated combustible waste is being demonstrated at the Savannah River Plant (SRP) and Savannah River Laboratory (SRL). The stabilized wasteform generated by the process will meet or exceed all future anticipated requirements for improved disposal of low-level waste. The incineration process has been evaluated at SRL using nonradioactive wastes, and is presently being started up in SRP to process suspect-level radioactive wastes. A cement solidification process for incineration products is currently being evaluated by SRL, and will be included with the incineration process in SRP during the winter of 1984. The GEM alumnus author conducted research in a related disposal solidification program during the GEM-sponsored summer internship, and upon completion of the Masters program, received full-time responsibility for developing the incineration products solidification process.


This research was conducted to investigate the effect of anode depth and conductivity of electrolyte solution on required energy for plasma generation in plasma electrolysis. The experimental parameters were composed of different depth of anodes (0, 15, 25, 45, and 65 mm) and various solution conductivity. The difference in electrolyte solution conductivities is presented by different concentration of Na2SO4 (0.01, 0.02, 0.03, and 0.05 M). A batch reactor (diameter 130 mm, height 190 mm) with tungsten electrodes (cathode diameter 6 mm and anode diameter 0.5 mm) was used by applying a continuous cooling system. Current was observed in various voltage (40 – 400 V) for 30 second in each voltage. Energy consumption for vapor formation and discharge plasma found higher at deeper position of anode. At higher conductivity of electrolyte solution, although energy consumption for vapor formation was observed lower, energy consumption for plasma discharged was found higher.


Dr. P. A. R. Nell writes: Bradbury (1985) presented a brave attempt at a crustal-scale model of the Dalradian. New work in the critical area of Glen Lyon (Nell 1984) suggests that Dr Bradbury's model of Dalradian structure needs revision. The concept of a Knapdale–Tummel downbend as an 'antithetic rootless rotation zone' is fundamental to Bradbury's interpretation (e.g. Bradbury 1979a, Bradbury 1985; Bradbury et al. 1979); however, the evidence from Glen Lyon shows that this structure is not of regional importance. The Tay Nappe, Bradbury et al. 1979 proposed, was extruded by Dl–D3 pure shear in the Tummel steep belt accommodated by northwesterly-directed movement on the Boundary and Killiecrankie Slides, with rolling round the Tummel downbend. The major problems with this interpretation are: 1. The Boundary Slide cuts across folds associated with the early Tay Nappe. The D2 fold equivalent to the Ben Lui fold in Glen Lyon (the 'net F2 antiform', Fig. 1) folds a stack of F1 folds. These folds face southwards into the 'flat belt' of the Tay Nappe on the upper, gently dipping limb of the D2 antiform, but face upwards to the north-west on the lower limb. As the Boundary Slide is not folded along with these F1 folds but remains parallel to the S2 cleavage, and is folded by later folds, movement on the slide in the central Highlands is confined to D2 'times'. It is clear that on a larger scale, from Dalmally to Schichallion, and at Braemar, the Boundary Slide continues as an integral


A non-commutative Feynman graph is a ribbon graph and can be drawn on a genus g 2-surface with a boundary. We formulate a general convergence theorem for the non-commutative Feynman graphs in topological terms and prove it for some classes of diagrams in the scalar field theories. We propose a non-commutative analog of Bogoliubov-Parasiuk's recursive subtraction formula and show that the subtracted graphs from a class Ωd satisfy the conditions of the convergence theorem. For a generic scalar non-commutative quantum field theory on d, the class Ωd is smaller than the class of all diagrams in the theory. This leaves open the question of perturbative renormalizability of non-commutative field theories. We comment on how the supersymmetry can improve the situation and suggest that a non-commutative analog of Wess-Zumino model is renormalizable.


Within the EU FP7 project SILENV, noise and vibration measurements were carried out on several ships. These objective measures were accompanied by subjective measures recorded through questionnaires. With this, we developed models describing the relationship between the levels of noise and vibration on board ships and subjective ratings on comfort of passengers and performance of crew. The various ordinal subjective ratings that were obtained were reduced through correlation, factor analyses and common sense. Rated annoyances were used to predict passenger discomfort, work quality impairments to predict crew performance. The relationship between dependent (subjective ratings) and independent variables (explanatory variables and noise/vibration levels) appeared to be non-linear. Models with good fitness and highly significant model parameters were obtained by binomial logistic regression. Ordinal subjective ratings were therefore transformed into dichotomous variables using the categories "a little" or less, and "moderately" and up (annoyed, work impaired). As such, the models predict the probability of feeling discomfort or work quality impairment on an individual basis or as a proportion of a population with a given demography. Besides level, age was predictive for noise annoyance too – the higher the age, the less annoyed – and gender for vibration annoyance – males being less susceptible to vibration than females. The models can be used to evaluate the effect of countermeasures intended to increase human comfort and performance and may serve to assess advisable levels of noise and vibration.


The spectral structure of oceanic incoherent Doppler sonar data is analyzed with Fourier and two finite-parameter modeling methods (Spectral Moment Estimation (SME) and AutoRegressive (AR)). Fourier spectral analysis, applied to long-range segments of echo return data, validates a theoretical point scattering model. It is demonstrated that Fourier spectral techniques, applied to data from incoherent sonar systems, cannot be used to probe oceanic spectral and velocity fields on the scales that frequently are important in oceanographic applications. The finite-parameter methods model the spectral structure on closely spaced range intervals. The SME method calculates the first moment of the Doppler spectrum at each range interval and the AR method provides spectral estimates at these same intervals. Trade-offs in estimating scatterer radial velocity using the various algorithms are considered. It is shown that a frequency-integrated AR technique has velocity estimation performance comparable to the SME method. In addition, the AR technique reveals that several regions of data possess asymmetric spectral structure. The implications of this spectral structure for oceanic velocity estimates are discussed.


The paper concerns a general variational derivation of all the state equations of a continuum medium with dissipative interfaces in the context of the Strong Discontinuities Approach. The kinematics is based on an enhanced enrichment displacement field, that satisfies a priori the boundary conditions and the continuity requirements. The variational formulation is established for a damaging material under general constitutive hypotheses. The numerical implementation of the strong discontinuity is developed within the Elements with Embedded Discontinuities method. Some considerations about the numerical implementation and the equilibrium condition at the interface are presented.


Alpha-synuclein (aSyn) has implications in pathological protein aggregations observed in neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. There are currently no approved prevention and cure for these diseases. In this context, matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) provide an opportunity because MMPs are broad-spectrum proteases and cleave aSyn. Previously, we showed that allosteric communications between the two domains of MMP1 on collagen fibril and fibrin depend on substrates, MMP1 activity, and ligands. However, allosteric communications in MMP1 on aSyn-induced aggregates have not been explored. Here we report quantification of allostery using single molecule measurements of MMP1 dynamics on aSyn-induced aggregates by calculating Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) between two dyes attached to the catalytic and hemopexin domains of MMP1. The two domains of MMP1 prefer open conformations, with the two domains well-separated. These open conformations are inhibited by a single point mutation E219Q of MMP1 and tetracycline, an MMP inhibitor. A two-state Poisson process describes the interdomain dynamics. The best-fit parameters for a Gaussian fit to the distributions of FRET values provide the two states. The ratio of the kinetic rates between the two states comes from the ratio of fitted areas around the two states. The decay rate of an exponential fit to the correlations between FRET values provides the sum of the kinetic rates. Since a crystal structure of aSyn-bound MMP1 is not available, we performed molecular docking of MMP1 with aSyn using ClusPro. We simulated MMP1 dynamics using different docking poses and matched the experimental and simulated interdomain dynamics to determine the most appropriate pose. We performed virtual screening against the potential ligand-binding sites on the appropriate aSyn-MMP1 binding pose and showed that lead molecules differ between free MMP1 and substrate-bound MMP1. In other words, virtual screening needs to take substrates into account for substrate-specific control of MMP1 activity. Molecular understanding of interactions between MMP1 and aSyn-induced aggregates may open up the possibility of degrading pathological aggregates in neurodegeneration by targeting MMPs. Significance We have quantified MMP1 interdomain dynamics on aSyn-induced aggregates by a two-state Poisson process. Histograms and correlations of FRET values determine the kinetic rates of interconversion between the two states. We quantify the conformational dynamics of the whole MMP1 and allosteric communications by the two-dimensional matrix of correlations between every pair of amino acids from experimentally-validated all-atom simulations. The two-dimensional correlations lead to a Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix and a measure of Shannon entropy describing the conformational fluctuations. As such, we address the quantification of allosteric communications, a leading challenge in defining allostery. We report that the potential ligand-binding sites and lead molecules change for MMP1 upon binding alpha-synuclein and depend on the binding pose selected. This suggests that one needs to take the substrate into account while targeting MMPs.


image that sociobiology has created for itself. The field in fact has a good deal of internal housekeeping to do in figuring out what has been solidly established, what are current active research quLestions, what is speculation, and what is just plain nonsense parading as "science." These questions should be dealt with if the concerns of people who fear resurgance of 19thand 20th-century "scientific" racism are to be dealt with. Thomas P. Wilson Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9430, USA E-mail: uilsonnalishauw .sscf. ucsb edu


EEcient multicast communication provides one of the best avenues for scaling bandwidth intensive applications. Current multicast routing mechanisms perform well for multicast groups which reach a long-term, steady-state distribution of membership. However , when the membership migrates throughout the network, current routing techniques may perform poorly. Recent techniques for IP multicast involve selection of a \core" router through which multicast communication is routed. We propose to adapt this routing scheme to eeciently support dynamic groups, by allowing the core to migrate. As part of our work we provide solutions to several problems that are more general, including (1) estimating multicast tree band-width using unicast information and (2) a variation on soliciting responses from a limited number of participants to avoid message implosion.


We previously reported a naturally occurring BF intersubtype recombinant viral protein U (Vpu) variant with an augmented capacity to enhance viral replication. Structural analysis of this variant revealed that its transmembrane domain and α-helix I in the cytoplasmic domain (CTD) corresponded to subtype B, whereas the α-helix II in the CTD corresponded to subtype F1. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the role of the Vpu cytoplasmic α-helix II domain in viral release enhancement and in the down-modulation of BST-2 and CD4 from the cell surface. In addition, as serine residues in Vpu amino acid positions 61 or 64 have been shown to regulate Vpu intracellular half-life, which in turn could influence the magnitude of viral release, we also studied the impact of these residues on the VpuBF functions, since S61 and S64 are infrequently found among BF recombinant Vpu variants. Our results showed that the exchange of Vpu α-helix II between subtypes (B→F) directly correlated with the enhancement of viral release and, to a lesser extent, with changes in the capacity of the resulting chimera to down-modulate BST-2 and CD4. No differences in viral release and BST-2 down-modulation were observed between VpuBF and VpuBF-E61S. On the other hand, VpuBF-A64S showed a slightly reduced capacity to enhance viral production, but was modestly more efficient than VpuBF in down-modulating BST-2. In summary, our observations clearly indicate that α-helix II is actively involved in Vpu viral-release-promoting activity and that intersubtype recombination between subtypes B and F1 created a protein variant with a higher potential to boost the spread of the recombinant strain that harbours it.


In time-invariant (TI) channels, the maximum likelihood channel estimator (MLCE) needs no matrix inversion if equally spaced pilots or a training symbol is used in an OFDM system. This optimality vanishes in time-variant channels since CFR dispersion destroys the orthogonality between subcarriers. However, our analysis results show that TI-MLCE is still useful to provide complete CIRs under our low-complexity modification. We provide both analysis and simulation results to demonstrate our claim. Satisfactory performance is observed that more than 60% complexity is saved in the extension.


In this paper, the optimization of single-period inventory problem under uncertainty is analyzed. Due to lack of historical data, the demand is subjectively determined and represented by a fuzzy distribution. Uncertain demand causes an uncertain total cost function. This paper intends to find an analytical method for determining the exact expected value of total cost function for a fuzzy single-period inventory problem. To determine the optimum order quantity that minimizes the fuzzy total cost function we use the expected value of a fuzzy function based on credibility theory. The closed-form solutions to the optimum order quantities and corresponding total cost values are derived. Numerical illustrations are presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method and to analyze the effects of model parameters on optimum order quantity and optimum cost value. The proposed methodology is applicable to other inventory models under uncertainty.


Health benefits have been associated with the consumption of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Linseed oil is rich in long chain omega-3 PUFA, but can generate toxic compounds due to its high susceptibility to oxidation. The nature of the emulsifier can affect both lipolysis and oxidation during digestion since these phenomena occur at the oil-water interface. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of low-molecular weight surfactants (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), Citrem), protein (sodium caseinate, fish gelatin) and polysaccharides (gum arabic, modified starch) on the structure of linseed oil emulsions, lipolysis and formation of reactive oxidation species during in vitro digestion. The emulsion stabilized with Citrem underwent extensive coalescence in the gastric phase, which strongly decreased the extent of lipid digestion and reduced the formation of oxidation markers relative to other emulsions. Emulsions stabilized by proteins and modified starch showed aggregation with partial coalescence in the gastric phase, but protein-stabilized emulsions showed better resistance to oxidation. This study shows that emulsifier properties affect the susceptibility of the emulsion to aggregation and coalescence in the gastrointestinal environment, and strongly influence the extent of lipid digestion and the formation of reactive oxidation products. These findings point out the importance of the choice of the emulsifier to control the lipid digestibility and the protection of sensible lipids thus promoting optimal nutritional properties in omega-3-enriched foods.


The clustered wireless sensor networks are incapable of satisfying the resource efficiency and trust system because of the high overhead and low dependability. A Light Weight and Dependable Trust System (LDTS) is used which employees the Clustering Algorithm. The nodes are registered in every network and the Cluster Head is identified based on the number of connections. Base Station acts as an Intermediate Node to Monitor the Data Transaction. The LDTS uses a self-adaptive feedback model for trust evaluation. Eventhough this enhances the energy efficiency and confirms the trustworthiness of nodes that participate in the communication, there are certain drawbacks. The trust values can be analyzed by an intruder and also there is no authentication for the messages being transmitted. The main characterestics of WSN's are their limited processing, storage, bandwidth and energy. After considering all these issues, in the proposed system, a lightweight simple and robust key generation algorithm is used. This algorithm provides authentication and security for trust messages as well as data messages and results in the design of an energy-efficient, trustworthy and secure communication model in wireless sensor networks.


Two factors, safety and utility, are basic in the design of disposal wells. Every means must be taken to insure the safety of the installation so that the environment is protected against inadvertent pollution. Also, the well must be designed for maximum utility so that continued disposal of the waste is assured. Disposal wells are of two general types--those which are considered open-hole completions and those which are "normal" completions (casing is run to total depth). Open-hole completions are common in those areas, such as along the Gulf Coast, where the disposal zones are in slightly consolidated or unconsolidated sands. These wells utilize gravel-packed screen sections and are generally similar in design to large-capacity water wells. Other open-hole completions are made in those areas where the disposal zones are in competent rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and sandstone that do not require casing. In places where the disposal liquid may attack the cement of a sandstone or adversely effect a limestone or dolomite, casing is required for the full depth of the hole. Casing may be of ither plastic materials or some of the more costly metals, such as stainless steel, Hastelloy, Carpenter 20, or zirconium. Tubing and packer requirements vary depending on the nature of the waste stream. Lined tubing is required in almost every case to avoid excessive corrosion. Tubing lining may be either sprayed-on plastic or thin-gage metallic alloys swedged to the base metal. Packers must be made of the same materials as the tubing to insure longevity. In some wells, hydraulic seals are used rather than packers. Such an installation is satisfactory if injection is always under pressure. In every case, safety of the injection-well installation is a paramount consideration.


Particle-mediated (gene gun) in vivo delivery of the murine interleukin 12 (IL-12) gene in an expression plasmid was evaluated for antitumor activity. Transfer of IL-12 cDNA into epidermal cells overlying an implanted intradermal tumor resulted in detectable levels (266.0 +/- 27.8 pg) of the transgenic protein at the skin tissue treatment site. Despite these low levels of transgenic IL-12, complete regression of established tumors (0.4-0.8 cm in diameter) was achieved in mice bearing Renca, MethA, SA-1, or L5178Y syngeneic tumors. Only one to four treatments with IL-12 cDNA-coated particles, starting on day 7 after tumor cell implantation, were required to achieve complete tumor regression. This antitumor effect was CD8+ T cell-dependent and led to the generation of tumor-specific immunological memory. By using a metastatic P815 tumor model, we further showed that a delivery of IL-12 cDNA into the skin overlying an advanced intradermal tumor, followed by tumor excision and three additional IL-12 gene transfections, could significantly inhibit systemic metastases, resulting in extended survival of test mice. These results suggest that gene gun-mediated in vivo delivery of IL-12 cDNA should be further developed for potential clinical testing as an approach for human cancer gene therapy.


Landslides, earthquakes and other natural disasters are expected to increase in the Arctic, yet our ability to make informed decisions about safety is tightly limited by lack of data. As part of the Integrated Arctic Observation System (INTAROS) project, geophones were installed by residents in Greenland and by University of Bergen in Svalbard in 2018. The purpose of the installations was to explore challenges and benefits of community-based data collection for seismological monitoring in the Arctic region. Raspberry Shake units with one/three-component velocity sensors were selected for the deployment, due to their user-friendly configuration, easy installation, and well established digital platform and web services. The purpose of engaging community members in the use of geophone sensors was to monitor earthquakes, cryoseisms (events generated by ice mass), and landslides. We report our findings with respect to challenges regarding the installation and operation of the Raspberry Shake sensors at both locations. Connecting community-based recordings with permanent seismological networks improved both the detection capability and the data support for understanding seismic events in Greenland. In contrast, finding suitable locations for deployments in Longyearbyen turned out to be challenging, because most buildings are constructed on poles due to the permafrost and indoor space is expensive. Promoting citizen seismology in the Arctic could improve monitoring of seismic events in the Arctic while simultaneously raising community awareness of natural hazards.


For a two-way contingency table with nominal explanatory and response variables, Goodman and Kruskal (1954), and Theil (1970) proposed the measures which describe the proportional reduction in variation from the marginal distribution to the conditional distributions of the response. This paper proposes a generalization of those measures. The measure is expressed by using the Patil and Taillie's (1982) diversity index. Special cases of the proposed measure include the Goodman and Kruskal's and the Theil's measures.


A wave front dividing interferometer was devised in which half of a highly spatially coherent beam deflected by an x-ray prism is overlapped with another half. By placing the samples in the two beams and the x-ray imaging detector closely downstream of the sample, the differential phase of the sample is recorded on the imaging detector. The separation of the two paths at the sample plane, the amount of shear, was 2.2 μm in the present experiment. This is easily controllable by changing the distance between the sample and the imaging detector. Phase retrieval using the fringe scanning method was successfully demonstrated for various kinds of weakly absorbing samples.


The percentage of aseptic loosening of different types of total hip prostheses in 771 cases has been evaluated. The time of follow-up ranged between 1/2 and 6 years. In prostheses of the Charnley-Müller type of loosening was 7.8% in the Charnley-Müller-Weller type with a 2-year shorter follow-up it was 2.4%. No loosening was found during the last 2 1/2 years when the prosthesis of Beck was used, which has an increased femoral shaft-neck angle and a longer stem. When a longer neck was used, the loosening averaged 5.6%. In cases of normal neck-length it was 3.6%. From the biomechanical standpoint it seems preferable to use prostheses with an increased shaft-neck angle. Comparing the rates of loosening as reported in the literature it appears that prostheses where the femur is displaced medially (by a small femoral head or increased shaft-neck angle) show a very low rate of loosening. Models with metal sockets (McKee-Farrar and Weber-Huggler) seem to have a higher rate of loosening than models with polyethylene sockets.


Objective: Previous research has shown a high rate and a unique pattern of suicide in China. We aim to present the current suicide rates and patterns in the Yunnan province, a multi-ethnic region in Southwestern China. Methods: This is a descriptive study based on the 3rd Chinese national mortality survey. We reported the suicide rates by sex, 5-year age group, region (urban or rural), and minority group from 2004 to 2005 in the Yunnan province. Results: We estimated a mean annual suicide rate of 19.82 per 100,000 and a total of 8751 suicide deaths per year. Sex-specific rate estimates were 21.09 per 100,000 and 18.46 per 100,000 for males and females, respectively. The male/female ratio was 1.14. Region-specific rate estimates were 20.60 per 100,000 and 19.18 per 100,000 for rural and urban regions, respectively. The rural-to-urban ratio was 1.07. Suicide accounted for 4.83% of all deaths in the Yunnan province and represented the fifth leading cause of death. In minority groups, the highest suicide rates were found in the Li su minority (50.75 per 100,000), the Jing po minority (36.38 per 100,000), the Meng gu minority (32.65 per 100,000) and the Miao minority (30.75 per 100,000). The lowest rates were found in the Hui minority (0.96 per 100,000) and the Ha ni minority (1.64 per 100,000). Conclusions: The suicide characteristics of this multi-ethnic region of China are different from those of the rest of China and the world, which indicates that the development of a special intervention strategy in multi-ethnic areas for suicide prevention is needed.


Fungal diversity within plant roots is affected by several factors such as dispersal limitation, habitat filtering, and plant host preference. Given the differences in life style between symbiotic and non-symbiotic fungi, the main factors affecting these two groups of fungi may be different. We assessed the diversity of root associated fungi of Rhododendron decorum using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis, and our aim was to evaluate the role of different factors in structuring ericoid mycorrhizal (ERM) and non-ericoid mycorrhizal (NEM) fungal communities. Thirty-five fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were found in roots of R. decorum, of which 25 were putative ERM fungal species. Of the two main groups of known ERM, helotialean fungi were more abundant and common than sebacinalean species. Geographic and host patterning of the fungal assemblages were different for ERM and NEM. The distribution of putative ERM fungal terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) showed that there were more common species within ERM than in the NEM fungal assemblages. Results of Mantel tests indicated that the composition of NEM fungal assemblages correlated with geographic parameters while ERM fungal assemblages lacked a significant geographic pattern and instead were correlated with host genotype. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the NEM fungal assemblages were significantly correlated with latitude, longitude, elevation, mean annual precipitation (MAP), and axis 2 of a host-genetic principle component analysis (PCA), while ERM fungal assemblages correlated only with latitude and axis 1 of the host-genetic PCA. We conclude that ERM and NEM assemblages are affected by different factors, with the host genetic composition more important for ERM and geographic factors more important for NEM assemblages. Our results contribute to understanding the roles of dispersal limitation, abiotic factors and biotic interactions in structuring fungal communities in plant roots.


Tetrahydro-1-benzazepines have been described as potential antiparasitic drugs for the treatment of chagas disease and leishmaniasis, two of the most important so-called `forgotten tropical diseases' affecting South and Central America, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania chagasi parasites, respectively. Continuing our extensive work describing the structural characteristics of some related compounds with interesting biological properties, the crystallographic features of three epoxy-1-benzazepines, namely (2SR,4RS)-6,8-dimethyl-2-(naphthalen-1-yl)-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-1,4-epoxy-1-benzazepine, (1), (2SR,4RS)-6,9-dimethyl-2-(naphthalen-1-yl)-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-1,4-epoxy-1-benzazepine, (2), and (2SR,4RS)-8,9-dimethyl-2-(naphthalen-1-yl)-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-1,4-epoxy-1-benzazepine, (3), all C22H21NO, and two 1-benzazepin-4-ols, namely 7-fluoro-cis-2-[(E)-styryl]-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-1-benzazepin-4-ol, C18H18FNO, (4), and 7-fluoro-cis-2-[(E)-pent-1-enyl]-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-1-benzazepin-4-ol, C15H20FNO, (5), are described. Some peculiarities in the crystallization behaviour were found, involving significant variations in the crystalline structures as a result of modest changes in the peripheral substituents in (1)-(3) and the occurrence of discrete disorder due to the molecular overlay of enantiomers with more than one conformation in (5). In particular, an interesting phase change on cooling was observed for compound (5), accompanied by an approximate fourfold increase of the unit-cell volume and a change of the Z' value from 1 to 4. This transition is a consequence of the partial ordering of the pentenyl chains in half of the molecules breaking half of the -3 symmetry axes observed in the room-temperature structure of (5). The structural assembly in all the title compounds is characterized by not only (N,O)-H...(O,N) hydrogen bonds, but also by unconventional C-H...O contacts, resulting in a wide diversity of packing.


Consistent with a move towards evidence based practice, systematic review of research relating to effective health care practices is having an increasing influence on health care decision making at all levels. This paper explains the systematic review as a specific type of literature review, one that contrasts with less rigorous approaches to assessing current best available research evidence. The use of this process to achieve effective nursing practice is discussed in the context of systematic review in medicine and health services in general. It is asserted that, in the 'information age', understanding and being able to assess the quality of systematic reviews is an essential area of nursing research.


Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be transformed into a community called ASEAN Community by 31 December 2015. This is considered as a quantum leap for ASEAN when it lets people to take part in the process of decision making in any ASEAN policy even though the resistant still exists from some governments of ASEAN ten member states. However, this people-centric approach, instead of state-centric, will be strengthened with the accessibility of online social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube especially by the younger generation in ASEAN. This paper briefly traces the forming of ASEAN until the establishment of the ASEAN Community agenda. This paper also discusses about the importance of social media for political change and how it becomes a tool influencing the people to free expression and the government to easily engage the people. However, there are restrictions imposed to the practice of free expression on social media in ASEAN countries. In overall, social media will be an essential medium for ASEAN in the future especially in giving awareness about peace and security and encouraging more interactions between people in the spirit of a community.


Abstract This article is an exploratory analysis of the use of humor as an essential communication tool. Consistently, the authors found information that upheld humor as a positive tool to be implemented in building and enhancing communication. This article specifically looks at humor in education and therapy, and with groups or teams. In education, humor appears to be a viable way to enhance student learning and to advance the student's knowledge base. Within therapy, humor can be utilized to break a client's resistance, reduce tension, generate catharsis, and increase trust in the client/therapist relationship. Within groups and/or teams, the effects of humor can assist in increasing cohesion and goal attainment. Furthermore, humor can be beneficial in the form of laughter when aimed at the goal or task. This analysis discusses the effects of stress on increasing episodes of laughter, and finds that to discourage the use of laughter may actually reduce task group performance. Overall, in all the aforementioned areas, humor is an important component that needs further research. Suggestions are made for future research along with recommendations for how and when to best utilize humor as part of the intervention process.


To most American reporters present, what was fascinating about the Organization of Latin American Solidarity (OLAS) conference, which took place in Havana during the first ten days of August, were its various sideshows. Some were disturbing, as when Stokely Carmichael, the main attraction besides Fidel himself, quipped that "America is going to fall and I only hope to live long enough to see it." Some were curious, as when leaders of Latin American Communist Parties huddled in corners of the Havana Libre (ex-Hilton) hotel's spacious, marble-floored corridors ironing out a common strategy like conspirators in an old-time Preminger movie. And some were enchanting as when the huge triple-decked outdoor stage of the plush Tropicana night club suddenly came alive with multicolored waterfalls and luscious mulatto girls as naked as Latin Quarter Chorus cuties. But what was truly dramatic during OLAS went almost unnoticed: the birth of a new International.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


Plants play a crucial role in foodstuff, medicine, industry, and environmental protection. The skill of recognising plants is very important in some applications, including conservation of endangered species and rehabilitation of lands after mining activities. However, it is a difficult task to identify plant species because it requires specialized knowledge. Developing an automated classification system for plant species is necessary and valuable since it can help specialists as well as the public in identifying plant species easily. Shape descriptors were applied on the myDAUN dataset that contains 45 tropical shrub species collected from the University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia. Based on literature review, this is the first study in the development of tropical shrub species image dataset and classification using a hybrid of leaf shape and machine learning approach. Four types of shape descriptors were used in this study namely morphological shape descriptors (MSD), Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG), Hu invariant moments (Hu) and Zernike moments (ZM). Single descriptor, as well as the combination of hybrid descriptors were tested and compared. The tropical shrub species are classified using six different classifiers, which are artificial neural network (ANN), random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbour (k-NN), linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and directed acyclic graph multiclass least squares twin support vector machine (DAG MLSTSVM). In addition, three types of feature selection methods were tested in the myDAUN dataset, Relief, Correlation-based feature selection (CFS) and Pearson's coefficient correlation (PCC). The well-known Flavia dataset and Swedish Leaf dataset were used as the validation dataset on the proposed methods. The results showed that the hybrid of all descriptors of ANN outperformed the other classifiers with an average classification accuracy of 98.23% for the myDAUN dataset, 95.25% for the Flavia dataset and 99.89% for the Swedish Leaf dataset. In addition, the Relief feature selection method achieved the highest classification accuracy of 98.13% after 80 (or 60%) of the original features were reduced, from 133 to 53 descriptors in the myDAUN dataset with the reduction in computational time. Subsequently, the hybridisation of four descriptors gave the best results compared to others. It is proven that the combination MSD and HOG were good enough for tropical shrubs species classification. Hu and ZM descriptors also improved the accuracy in tropical shrubs species classification in terms of invariant to translation, rotation and scale. ANN outperformed the others for tropical shrub species classification in this study. Feature selection methods can be used in the classification of tropical shrub species, as the comparable results could be obtained with the reduced descriptors and reduced in computational time and cost.


Abstract: We describe here two types of apoptotic cell death observed in the rat CNS‐derived neuroblastoma B50 and B104 cells. One type was induced by dibutyryl cyclic AMP (DBcAMP) after differentiation, and the other was induced by treatment of proliferating cells with cycloheximide. When B50 and B104 cells were treated with 1 mM DBcAMP in the presence of 0.5% fetal calf serum, they began to extend neurites within 12 h and differentiated into neurons at 24 h, as reported previously. However, further cultivation with DBcAMP for up to 72 h led to flotation and, finally, death. Death was by apoptosis as shown by chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation. Addition of a protein kinase A inhibitor or removal of DBcAMP after differentiation suppressed apoptosis, indicating the involvement of cyclic AMP and protein kinase A in apoptotic cell death. Cell death was also induced in proliferating cells without neurite outgrowth by treatment with cycloheximide. The death was also judged to be by apoptosis based on chromatin condensation and apoptotic body formation, although DNA fragmentation into small sizes was not detected. Both types of cell death showed similar responses to inhibitors for protein kinases and protein phosphatases.


The basic features in the interaction of a rotor wake with a wing in low-speed forward flight are studied using low-speed wind tunnel experiments. The configuration captures several of the aerodynamic interactions in the tiltrotor transition phase, and during wake/empennage interactions. Previous work showed that the pressure field on the wing surface below the rotor is dominated by n-per-rev "blade passage", while the velocity field is dominated by onceper-rev repetition of the vortex geometry, due to vortex interactions. The effect of deflecting trailing edge flaps is studied here. Large area SCV is used to enable velocity field acquisition at various sections and test conditions. Flap deflection modifies the spanwise flow on the wing surface, and causes an apparent lateral shift in the wake interaction. This shift influences the effectiveness of inboard vs. outboard flaps, and opens possibilities for augmenting rolling moments. The paper describes both a unique capability for scanning several cross-sections of a periodic velocity field during such interaction conditions, and the correlation of data from velocity, pressure and force measurements to synthesize the nature of the complex flowfield with its multiple periodicities.


In today's world the data plays an indispensable role. The proper understanding of data and its interpretation lays the foundation for the growth and also the success of company or an organization. As in domains such as business, finance and banking, health sector also produces huge amounts of data. This data needs to be properly analyzed and summarized before the data is modeled for a specific purpose. Generally, clinical data involves stakeholders like doctors, technicians, lab analysts, hospital managers, care providers and insurance agents. Exploratory Data Analysis plays an important role in providing the complete picture of the dataset along with identifying new insights and hidden patterns in the data. As such it becomes the most significant step before actually preprocessing the data. In our paper we have implemented EDA on Statlog heart disease dataset to identify the important variables, correlations between any variables, missing values, outliers and PCA. To verify, whether the process of EDA actually impacts the performance we have utilized machine learning algorithms like Naïve Bayes, Logistic regression, Decision Tree, Support Vector Machine, Random forest. Results indicate that the performance of the prediction model considerably increases after performing EDA regardless of the type of prediction algorithm used. Also the analysis of the dataset with graphical results helps the stakeholders to make better decisions regarding their patients and their treatments. Understanding any clinical data before modeling would prevent erroneous models later and exploratory analysis helps in achieving it.


The Bonferroni multiple testing procedure is commonly perceived as being overly conservative in large-scale simultaneous testing situations such as those that arise in microarray data analysis. The objective of the present study is to show that this popular belief is due to overly stringent requirements that are typically imposed on the procedure rather than to its conservative nature. To get over its notorious conservatism, we advocate using the Bonferroni selection rule as a procedure that controls the per family error rate (PFER). The present paper reports the first study of stability properties of the Bonferroni and Benjamini--Hochberg procedures. The Bonferroni procedure shows a superior stability in terms of the variance of both the number of true discoveries and the total number of discoveries, a property that is especially important in the presence of correlations between individual $p$-values. Its stability and the ability to provide strong control of the PFER make the Bonferroni procedure an attractive choice in microarray studies.


: The paper presents data on the effects of the drugs desferal, ribavirin and homologous (guinea pig) interferon on the course of experimental Marburg fever. Neither ribavirin nor interferon were effective. A moderate response to desferal was noted. It is suggested that tumor necrosis factor may contribute to development of Marburg hemorrhagic fever.


A digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) that achieves a minimum frequency quantization step of 150 Hz without any dithering is presented. The fine digital tuning is obtained through a capacitive degeneration of a portion of the transistor switching pair used in a classical LC-tank oscillator. The new tuning circuitry does not appreciably affect the intrinsic oscillator phase noise and allows to trim the frequency with a programmable resolution for calibration and multi-standard operation. A prototype integrated in 65 nm CMOS technology exhibits a phase noise of @ 1 MHz drawing 16 mA from a supply of 1.8 V, resulting in a FoM of 183 dBc/Hz. The active area is 700 450.


Most models assume that voting behaviour can be summarised by a single additive equation. There are good reasons, however, for believing that some voters place more weight on some considerations than others or use different decision rules. In both cases, a single additive equation will produce misleading accounts of the causal processes. Modellers should therefore allow for such differences. In order to illustrate these propositions, I examine evidence from the 2001 British Election Study, which suggests that some voters place more weight on leaders than others. I end by calling for attention to shift from causal complexity to causal diversity.


A control strategy of two stage twin spool servovalves in the load-sensing mobile applications is presented. The twin spool valve differs from the conventional valve in that it provides the ability to control flow into and out of valves independently. In this paper, the nonlinear valve model and a control scheme for a two stage twin spool servo-valve are developed featuring energy saving. The multiple sliding surface mode control method is then utilized to accomplish the motion control while regulating back pressure. The simulation verifies that the proposed control scheme for the twin spool valve, can offer the more significant energy-saving even with load-sensing pump application than the traditional proportional valves.


This textbook considers the methods used by governments to change the economic and social framework within which agricultural production takes place: by influencing the prices of farm inputs and outputs, by modifying agricultural institutions, and by promoting new technologies in agriculture. The book is organised around a central set of eight policy chapters, covering topics of price policy, marketing policy, input policy, credit policy, mechanisation policy, land reform policy, research policy and irrigation policy. These chapters are preceded by material covering the nature of policy, in the context of the market versus state debate, and the principles used by economists to undertake agricultural policy analysis. They are followed by chapters that examine the status of women in agricultural policy, and that summarise aspects of food policy not covered in the main chapters. This book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses related to agricultural policy, agricultural economics, or rural development in developing countries. It will also be accessible to the non-specialist reader who wishes to obtain an overview of the individual policy topics covered.


Deposition techniques that can uniformly and conformally coat deep trenches and very high aspect ratio pores with uniform thickness films are valuable in the synthesis of complex three‐dimensionally structured materials. Here it is shown that high pressure chemical vapor deposition can be used to deposit conformal films of II–VI semiconductors such as ZnSe, ZnS, and ZnO into high aspect ratio pores. Microstructured optical fibers serve as tailored templates for the patterning of II–VI semiconductor microwire arrays of these materials with precision and flexibility. In this way, centimeters‐long microwires with exterior surfaces that conform well to the nearly atomically smooth silica templates can be fabricated by conformal coating. This process allows for II–VI semiconductors, which cannot be processed into optical fibers with conventional techniques, to be fabricated into step index and microstructured optical fibers.


The article investigates the general principles of legal regulation of administrative services in Ukraine. The concept and types of administrative services. Analyzed the regulations and scientific publications appear in periodicals, mass media and the Internet, covering some issues of administrative services by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the National Police. We consider the operation of the service centers of MIA of Ukraine. The possible directions of improving the quality of administrative services.


In this work, we considered a Hidden Markov Model for the Telecommunication Industry in Nigeria. There are five major mobile service providers presently in Nigeria: MTN, AIRTEL, GLOBACOM, ETISALAT and NITEL. We proposed a model for decision making in this sector by examining the rationale behind customers' brand switching. Our sample comprises of 512 respondents from a total population of 37,083 persons in the University of Benin, which consists of academic staff, non-academic staff and students; using proportional allocation to size in the stratified random sampling. As part of the decision making using the proposed model, we observed a set of marketing strategies and then applied our model to project the mobile service providers that stand a chance of relevance in the sector. Our result suggests that, if subscribers of different networks decide to switch from their current network based on these rationales [Price, Service Quality, Brand loyalty, Price and Trust] in a consecutive period of five years, the best marketing strategies for the mobile service provider [GLOBACOM] in the first three years are Price, Service Quality and Brand loyalty respectively. While the mobile service provider [MTN], should invest in the Pricing System and increase the level of Trust existing between them and their subscribers in the fourth and fifth year respectively. Keywords: Hidden Markov Models; Brand switching; Telecommunication Sector


Recent detection of propyl cyanide (C3H7CN) with both linear and branched structures has stimulated many experimental and theoretical studies. In this theoretical work, we present the spectroscopic properties of the far infrared spectra of these species and we investigate their different paths of formation in the gas phase. Our spectroscopic study concerns the far infrared spectra of iso, anti and gauche propyl cyanide isomers. The equilibrium structures and the potential energy surfaces are calculated using explicitly correlated cluster ab initio methods (CCSD(T)-F12) and a variational procedure designed for non-rigid species and large amplitude motions. Accurate rotational constants, centrifugal distortion constants, potential energy barriers and surfaces are provided. The rovibrational parameters in the ground vibrational states compare very well with experimental data. The low energy vibrational levels correspond to torsional modes. Far infrared energies are calculated up to 500 cm-1 using the variational approach and the vibrational second order theory (VPT2), and a good agreement with previous experimental values is found. We have also investigated the gas phase formation of the different C3H7CN isomers. After several trials of reacting gaseous species, we considered that a possible formation route of the C3H7CN isomers can be from the bimolecular reaction of HCN with propene. At the UMP2(full)/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory, this reaction involves two steps for each isomer; the first one corresponds to the association of the two radicals while the second one corresponds to H transfer. From highly correlated ab initio calculations by means of CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ//UMP2(full)/aug-cc-pVTZ, the geometries, energetics and minimum energy paths of the reactions are obtained. Also, the first step's transition state disappears, as the diradical minimum is much less stabilized with UCCSD(T) than by UMP2(full). We employ the zero curvature tunneling and canonical variational (CVT/ZCT) semiclassical method to predict rate constants for propyl cyanide isomers formation in the gas phase. However, due to the presence of a significant barrier, this reaction leads to very small rate constants. Very recently, we probed reaction mechanisms involving radical addition and we found that these reactions are barrierless and highly exothermic leading to expected fast reactive processes for the formation of propyl cyanide products. The kinetics of such diradical reactions is under study.


Abstract In the present treatise, the stability of the boundary layer under solitary waves is analysed by means of the parabolized stability equation. We investigate both surface solitary waves and internal solitary waves. The main result is that the stability of the flow is not of parametric nature as has been assumed in the literature so far. Not only does linear stability analysis highlight this misunderstanding, it also gives an explanation why Sumer et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 646, 2010, pp. 207–231), Vittori & Blondeaux (Coastal Engng, vol. 58, 2011, pp. 206–213) and Ozdemir et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 731, 2013, pp. 545–578) each obtained different critical Reynolds numbers in their experiments and simulations. We find that linear instability is possible in the acceleration region of the flow, leading to the question of how this relates to the observation of transition in the acceleration region in the experiments by Sumer et al. or to the conjecture of a nonlinear instability mechanism in this region by Ozdemir et al. The key concept for assessment of instabilities is the integrated amplification which has not been employed for this kind of flow before. In addition, the present analysis is not based on a uniformization of the flow but instead uses a fully nonlinear description including non-parallel effects, weakly or fully. This allows for an analysis of the sensitivity with respect to these effects. Thanks to this thorough analysis, quantitative agreement between model results and direct numerical simulation has been obtained for the problem in question. The use of a high-order accurate Navier–Stokes solver is primordial in order to obtain agreement for the accumulated amplifications of the Tollmien–Schlichting waves as revealed in this analysis. An elaborate discussion on the effects of amplitudes and water depths on the stability of the flow is presented.


Investigations were undertaken to study the possible role of oviducal carbonic anhydrase during egg shell formation in 108 layers of Babcock-300 strain of three age groups of 21-24, 32-36 and 68-72 week old during spring and summer. Eighteen layers of each age group were subgrouped in three cyclic positions just after oviposition, 4 and 18 hours after oviposition. The distribution of carbonic anhydrase was significantly (P less than 0.01) higher in shell gland and low in isthmus in all the three age groups during both seasons. Carbonic anhydrase decreased (P less than 0.01) in summer in all three age groups. It was significantly (P less than 0.01) higher in magnum at the 14th h after oviposition in all the three age groups in both seasons, which established a new pattern of activity. Decreased concentration of the enzyme during the thermal stress period might be one of the factors responsible for the thinness of egg shell and for the increase in the number of soft shelled eggs.


The concept of crossed modules was introduced by J.H.C. Whitehead in the
late 1940s and then Loday [27] reformulated it as cat1-groups. Crossed modules
and cat1-groups are two-dimensional generalisations of a group. Loday showed in
[9] that crossed modules can be understood also as 2-groups. In much the same
way, a higher dimensional analogue of crossed modules, the concept of crossed
squares was introduced by Loday and Guin-Valery [27] and then Arvasi [2] linked
it to the concept of higher categorical groups, namely cat2-groups. From the
same point of view, crossed squares and cat2-groups are analogues of a threedimensional
generalisation of a group namely 3-groups. A group can be seen
as a category with one object and morphisms given by the elements and with
composition being the group multiplications. In classical representation theory
the elements of a group can be realised as automorphisms of some object in some
category, particularly in the category of vector spaces over a _eld K (see [13]).
A 2-categorical analogue of the category of vector spaces over a _eld K has been
described by Forrester-Barker [17] as the concept of a 2-category of length 1
chain complexes. Here, we describe a 3-groupoid of length 2 chain complexes as
a 3-categorical analogue of the category of vector spaces over a _eld K. In this
thesis, we _rst construct a 3-groupoid of length 2 chain complexes and describe
it in a matrix language respecting the chain complex conditions. Also, imitating
representations of a group G and homomorphisms of the group G into the general
linear group of a vector space, we discuss representations of a category, which is
a functor into a category of vector spaces over a _eld K. Here we develop a
notion of representation of cat2-groups and crossed squares, which will be de_ned
as 3-functors. This extends the previous work by Forrester-Barker [17] where
he de_ned the representation theory of cat1-groups and crossed modules, which
are given by 2-functors from the categorical dimension two to the categorical
dimension three. The main objective in this thesis is to construct the general
form of the automorphism Aut() after we introduce the path between matrices,
which represents length 2 chain complexes and automorphisms of them.


Fungal colonization was determined for females and cysts of Heterodera glycines on soybean roots or in rhizosphere soil from a Florida soybean field. A total of 1,620 females and cysts were examined in 1991, and 1,303 were examined in 1992. More than 35 species of fungi were isolated from females and cysts. The frequency of fungi colonizing white and yellow females was low, but a high frequency of fungi was encountered in brown cysts, which increased with time of exposure of the cysts to the soil. No single fungal species predominated in the nematode females or cysts in this field. Rarely was a female or cyst colonized by more than one fungus. The common fungi isolated from the females and cysts were Neocosmospora vasinfecta, Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Dictyochaeta coffeae, Dictyochaeta heteroderae, Pyrenochaeta terrestris, Exophiala pisciphila, Gliocladium catenulatum, Stagonospora heteroderae, and a black yeast-like fungus. The communities of common fungal species isolated from cysts in several regions in the southeastern United States appear to be similar.


The function of the second protein tyrosine phosphatase domain (D2) in two-domain protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTP) is not well understood. In CD45, D2 can interact with the catalytic domain (D1) and stabilize its activity. Although D2 itself has no detectable catalytic activity, it can bind substrate and may influence the substrate specificity of CD45. To further explore the function of D2 in T cells, a full-length construct of CD45 lacking the D1 catalytic domain (CD45RABC-D2) was expressed in CD45+ and CD45- Jurkat T cells. In CD45- Jurkat T cells, CD45RABC-D2 associated with Lck but, unlike its active counterpart CD45RABC, did not restore the induction of tyrosine phosphorylation or CD69 expression upon T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation. Expression of CD45RABC-D2 in CD45+ Jurkat T cells resulted in its association with Lck, increased the phosphorylation state of Lck, and reduced T cell activation. TCR-induced tyrosine phosphorylation was delayed, and although MAPK phosphorylation and CD69 expression were not significantly affected, the calcium signal and IL2 production were severely reduced. This indicates that the non-catalytic domains of CD45 can interact with Lck in T cells. CD45RABC-D2 acts as a dominant negative resulting in an increase in Lck phosphorylation and a preferential loss of the calcium signaling pathway, but not the MAPK pathway, upon TCR signaling. This finding suggests that, in addition to their established roles in the initiation of TCR signaling, CD45 and Lck may also influence the type of TCR signal generated.


In an organization, the community itself needs a knowledge sharing (KS) practices among themselves. In order to have a good collaborative working environment, the organization must have an effective method or solution to ensure the community is able to share their knowledge and skills in a proper way. In order to provide a KS platform to the community, a few factor need to study such as what is the appropriate knowledge tools for support collaborative knowledge sharing environment in the organization. Despite on the challenges of using tools to create a collaborative environment in work place, it has been stated in other journal that we need to know whether the environment has been adapted into community after starts using tools. In this case, to study the collaborative KS practices in organization, researcher has chosen a logistic sector in Johor, Tiong Nam Logistic Group (TNLG) to be a case study. The problem faced by TNLG is that they currently do not have any specific platform that can capture and share all the knowledge especially in computer based problems and this will limit the KS among workers. Because of this, TNLG do not know the specific knowledge that they have and they do not know which knowledge that may be important for them to share with colleague. Several methods have been introduced to TNLG in order to resolve the issues. A KS tool will be provided to the communities in TNLG as a platform to share and transfer their knowledge. Methods such as Social Network Analysis, Knowledge Worker Characteristics and questionnaire will be used in this case study. The expected result is divided into two areas which are related to KS network in organization and knowledge worker contribution. The good contributor is expected to have a good knowledge in which this study found that; good knowledge worker has been created after they start to practice the KS collaborative environment by using the KS tool.


Nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (nMOFs) are a unique type of hybrid materials, which are broadly applicable as cargo delivery systems. However, the relatively low material stability and insufficient cancer cell interacting capacity have limited nMOFs' applications in cancer theranostics. Herein, a zirconium-based nMOF UiO-66-N3 was synthesized, and its surface was covalently functionalized with alkyne-containing polyethylene glycol (PEG) via the azide-alkyne click chemistry. After that, F3 peptide was attached for targeting of cancer cells (the material was denoted as UiO-66-PEG-F3). Doxorubicin (DOX) served as a therapeutic drug and a fluorescent label in this study, and it was transported into UiO-66-PEG conjugates with sufficient drug loading efficiency. pH-responsive release of DOX from UiO-66 conjugates was witnessed. The structural integrity of UiO-66-N3 was maintained post the surface modification process. Flow cytometry and confocal fluorescence microscopy revealed that DOX/UiO-66-PEG-F3 had stronger accumulation in MDA-MB-231 cells (nucleolin+) compared with DOX/UiO-66-PEG. In order to track the pharmacokinetic behavior (organ distribution profile) in vivo, the positron-emitting zirconium-89 (89Zr) was incorporated into UiO-66-N3. Similar PEGylation and F3 peptide conjugation resulted in the formation of 89Zr-UiO-66-PEG-F3. Serial positron emission tomography (PET) imaging demonstrated that the preferential accumulation of 89Zr-UiO-66-PEG-F3 in MDA-MB-231 tumors, and their liver clearance was faster than PEGylated UiO-66 using noncovalent methods. Thus, the PEGylated nMOFs using covalent strategies may find broad application in future cancer theranostics.


A technique for local state-space reconstruction is proposed. It is based on the local scalar product of flow vectors coming from a state-space reconstruction of a scalar time series. This technique leads to a set of dimensions in which the regions of the system are well embedded. It is particularly useful for detecting those regions of a high-dimensional system that can be modelled with a low-dimensional system. The simplicity and the effectiveness of the method is shown in the Lorentz attractor and the Mackey-Glass system.


Next-generation DNA sequencing has revolutionized genomic studies and is driving the implementation of precision diagnostics. The ability of these technologies to disentangle sequence heterogeneity, however, is limited by their relatively high error rates. A Several single molecule barcoding strategies have been propose to reduce the overall error frequency. A Duplex Sequencing additionally exploits the fact that DNA is double-strand, with one strand reciprocally encoding the sequence information of its complement, and can eliminate nearly all sequencing errors by comparing the sequence of individually tagged amplicons derived from one strand of DNA with that of its complementary strand. This method reduces errors to fewer than one per ten million nucleotides sequenced.


Cities are the place where people spend the great majority of their daily time. Many cities face a variety of social issues such as: high unemployment, increasing crime rate, migration flows, shifts in types of social interactions and lifestyle. These examples represent only a few of the issues encountered. Increasing the number of cultural offerings of a city may help improve the population's general sense of well-being as well as to increase its attractiveness for investments. However, the topic is delicate, and culture is an asset that must be treated carefully. Hence, enhancing culture as a positive asset to be cultivated may seem to be the perfect solution to overcome these issues. Often, a city's government will assume that enhancing and supporting cultural and creative industries will provide a solution to urban socio-economic crises and the stress of the urban fabric without effectively considering their own particular historical-geographical and socio-political conditions. Sometimes cultural heritage is exploited without giving due consideration to the creative sources of value generation in the city. Thus, this may lead to side effects such as the general risk of attracting socially and economically unsustainable mass tourism; the risk related to the possibility of being trapped by city's own cultural heritage and history acting as obstacles against any possible innovations; the risk of gentrification with a consequential loss of important traditions and social relationships characterising the urban areas.


Gd2Ti2O7 and Gd2Zr2O7 pyrochlores were irradiated with swift heavy ions in order to investigate the effects of the chemical composition on the structural changes induced by high electronic excitation. The XRD results show that the structural modifications induced by irradiation with 93 MeV Xe ions are strongly dependent on the sample composition: Gd2Ti2O7 is readily amorphized, whereas Gd(2)Zr(2)O7 is transformed into a radiation-resistant anion-deficient fluorite structure. Atomistic simulations with the second-moment tight-binding QEq model allow us to calculate the lattice properties of both Gd2Ti2O7 and Gd2Zr2O7, and also to quantify the degree of covalency and ionicity in these compounds. These calculations clearly show that Gd2Ti2O7 is more covalent than Gd2Zr2O7, thus confirming that the amorphization resistance can be related to the covalent character of insulators.


The purpose of this research paper is to find out the relationship of the factors such as retirement benefits, job security and financial crises affecting the turnover of an employee in an organization. The sample data were collected from more than one hundred people working in the private, semi_ government and commercial organization Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. Questionnaires consisting of standardized scales using 5.0 likert scales were self administered. The result revealed that the retirement benefits, job security and financial crises have a very pertinent and significant impact on the Turnover of the Employee. Job security, financial crises and retirement benefits are sensitive problems in a developing country like Pakistan. The result also revealed that the retirement benefits have more positive effect on the turnover than the job security .Similarly, financial crises has a moderate effect on the turnover of the employee. These factors were verified by means of Correlation and Regression Tests. Subsequently, the presented problems when faced by the organization proved the major causes of employees' turnover. In the current competitive economy, human resources in an organization are calculated as the key assets. Implications for the organizational manager have been discussed along with limitations of the studies and direction for future research.

 Key words: Commercial, welfare, pertinent, implication, job security.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a vocational scientific constructivist concept meant for shaping competence-based and networked teaching and learning in vocational education and training (VET).

Design/methodology/approach

VET must enable learners to shape work within the context of conceptions based on the development of society. Refresher trainings cannot realise this. Concepts need a shaping competence-based and networked approach. Teaching and learning networks, learning projects and digital media are the keys to this approach.

Findings

The focus of the planned concept lies on shaping competence-based teaching and learning. This can be realised with innovative teaching and learning networks. Digital media can support this. The planned concept will be justified. The systematic planning of an exemplary learning project will be discussed.

Practical implications

This paper lays the ground to evaluate the relevance and range of shaping competence-based and networked teaching and learning.

Originality/value

The concept was (co-)developed by the University of Rostock. It was tested in first learning projects. These experiences are taken into account. The aim is to emphasise that the intended approach is a justified educational strategy in colleges, companies and other places of learning dealing with VET.


Tourism is one of the largest sectors uses employees in Egyptian economy. In international agencies and hotels chains there are stable rules and policies in layoffs to gain great benefits for both tourism sector and employees. Some managers decide to layoff randomly to cut or reduce costs, but on the other hand, this procedure affects the employees' loyalty. This study aims to show the relationship between random layoffs and employees' loyalty in Egyptian tourism sector. So, the major hypothesis of this study supposes that there is a negative relationship which has statistically significance between layoffs and employees' loyalty in Egyptian tourism sector. This study is applied to agencies and hotels of Luxor, Minia, Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh. The sample was consisted of two groups: the first consists of 110 samples of agencies and hotel employees and the second consists of 36 samples of managers of agencies and hotels. The sample was selected randomly from agencies and hotels. The researchers designed two tools for the sample: a scale to measure employees' loyalty and a questionnaire for agencies and hotels managers to identify layoffs and their reasons. The collected data was analyzed statistically using SPSS V. 19. -         The results of the current study indicated that there is a negative relationship which is statistically significant between layoffs and employees' loyalty. In addition, there is a negative relationship which has statistically significance between economic benefit and layoffs.