Permeability development in magmas controls gas escape and, as a consequence, modulates eruptive activity. To date, there are few experimental controls on bubble growth and permeability development, particularly in low viscosity melts. To address this knowledge gap, we have run controlled decompression experiments on crystal-free rhyolite (76 wt. % SiO 2 ), rhyodacite (70 wt. % SiO 2 ), K-phonolite (55 wt. % SiO 2 ) and basaltic andesite (54 wt. % SiO 2 ) melts. This suite of experiments allows us to examine controls on the critical porosity at which vesiculating melts become permeable. As starting materials we used both fine powders and solid slabs of pumice, obsidian and annealed starting materials with viscosities of ~10 2 to ~10 6 Pa s. We saturated the experiments with water at 900˚ (rhyolite, rhyodacite, and phonolite) and 1025 ˚ C (basaltic andesite) at 150 MPa for 2-72 hours and decompressed samples isothermally to final pressures of 125 to 10 MPa at rates of 0.25-4.11 MPa/s. Sample porosity was calculated from reflected light images of polished charges and permeability was measured using a bench-top gas permeameter and application of the Forchheimer equation to estimate both viscous ( k 1 ) and inertial ( k 2 ) permeabilities. Degassing conditions were assessed by measuring dissolved water contents using micro-Fourier-Transform Infrared ( µ -FTIR) techniques. All experiment charges are impermeable below a critical porosity ( φ c ) that varies among melt compositions. For experiments decompressed at 0.25 MPa s -1 , we find the percolation threshold for rhyolite is 68.3 ± 2.2 vol.%; for rhyodacite is 77.3 ± 3.8 vol.%; and for K-phonolite is 75.6 ± 1.9 vol.%. Rhyolite decompressed at 3-4 MPa s -1 has a percolation threshold of 74 ± 1.8 vol.%. These results are similar to previous experiments on silicic melts and to high permeability thresholds inferred for silicic pumice. All basaltic andesite melts decompressed at 0.25 MPa s -1 , in contrast, have permeabilities below the detection limit (~10 - 15 m 2 ), and a maximum porosity of 63 vol.%. Additionally, although the measured porosities of basaltic andesite experiments are ~10-35 vol. % lower than calculated equilibrium porosities, µ -FTIR analyses confirm the basaltic andesite melts remained in equilibrium during degassing. We show that the low porosities and permeabilities are a consequence of short melt relaxation timescales during syn-and post-decompression degassing. Our results suggest that basaltic andesite melts reached φ c > 63 vol. % and subsequently degassed; loss of internal bubble pressure caused the bubbles to shrink and their connecting apertures to seal before quench, closing the connected pathways between bubbles. Our results challenge the hypothesis that low viscosity melts have a permeability threshold of ~30 vol. %, and instead support the high permeability thresholds observed in analogue experiments on low viscosity materials. Importantly, however, these low viscosity melts are unable to maintain high porosities once the percolation threshold is exceeded because of rapid outgassing and collapse of the permeable network. We conclude, therefore, that melt viscosity has little effect on percolation threshold development, but does influence outgassing.


We consider online optimization procedures in the context of logistic regression, focusing on the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). We introduce a second-order algorithm close to the EKF, named Semi-Online Step (SOS), for which we prove a O(log(n)) regret in the adversarial setting, paving the way to similar results for the EKF. This regret bound on SOS is the first for such parameter-free algorithm in the adversarial logistic regression. We prove for the EKF in constant dynamics a O(log(n)) regret in expectation and in the well-specified logistic regression model.


This paper develops an approach for the integration of GPS, inertial measurements from accelerometers and gyros, and differential wheel speed sensors for land vehicle navigation. Incorporating differential wheel speed sensor information into land vehicle navigation provides a solution for eliminating large errors caused by vehicle motions while also reducing errors from sideslip. Extended Kalman and Unscented filtering algorithms are designed with a six degree of freedom model. In order to incorporate differential wheel speed information properly, the effective wheel radius must also be estimated as part of the overall estimation approach. Simulation results show the performance of the filters for cases of GPS/INS with and without the wheel speed sensor.


In the period 1977-1983, 183 adult patients with soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities were treated in the Netherlands Cancer Institute. One hundred and seventy-one patients had initially operable tumors. Fifteen patients (8.2%) developed regional lymph node metastases (RLNM) during the course of their disease. Only two patients (1.2%) developed RLNM as first site of tumor recurrence. The incidence of RLNM varied according to the histological subtypes: liposarcoma: 1/64, fibrosarcoma: 1/12, tendosynovial sarcoma: 5/24, unclassifiable sarcoma: 3/8. The outcome in patients with RLNM was invariably fatal. In all cases with RNLM distant metastases were present either at the time RLNM were found or shortly afterwards (median 4 months). Based on this experience we now consider RLNM in soft tissue sarcoma an expression of systemic tumor spread, which should be treated as such. We find no indication for elective lymph node dissection as part of the initial treatment of soft tissue sarcoma of any histological subtype. Therapeutic lymph node dissection might be indicated as part of the palliative management.


The Troodos ophiolite in Cyprus, formed in a Cretaceous (92 Ma) supra-subduction
zone setting, is considered to be one of the best-preserved ophiolite complexes in the
world. This ophiolite hosts several dozen Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS)
deposits that are up to ~20 Mt in size and were exploited for both sulfur and base metals.
VMS deposits have been shown to originate through leaching of metals during
hydrothermal alteration of the sheeted dike complex. A recent study [1], has performed
mass balance calculations by considering the protolith composition and the secondary
mineral assemblages, and thus was able to quantitatively constrain the release of base
metals from the altered sheeted dikes. These authors report bulk metal contents of
basaltic andesite glass protoliths and variably altered facies rocks from the epidosite
zone of the Troodos ophiolite, and suggest that Cu was totally lost during the early
stages of alteration owing to complete breakdown of igneous sulfides originally present
in the protoliths, whereas the release of other base metals (Ni, Zn, Mn, Co) towards
mineralizing fluids was controlled by the secondary mineral assemblage, i.e., the
relative abundance of epidote and chlorite ± amphibole. This interpretation stresses the
role of silicate minerals in the redistribution of metals during hydrothermal alteration of
the sheeted dike complex, and contrasts with the common assumption that accessory
phases, such as sulfides, control base metal concentrations within mineralizing fluids in
VMS systems.
Here we propose to test this hypothesis by providing measurements of the metal
contents of sulfide minerals contained in various lithologies from the Troodos ophiolite.
We report laser-ablation ICPMS analyses of 14 base and precious metals (Ti, Cr, Mn,
Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Zr, Mo, Ag, W, Pt, Au, and Pb) in sulfides present in samples
representative of different stratigraphic levels and chronological stages of the
hydrothermal alteration within the ophiolite complex. Preliminary results show a large
variability of metal concentration and behavior depending on the lithology. Igneous
sulfides present in least-altered metabasalts from the upper part of the crust are notably
enriched in Co, Ti, Cu, Pb, Mn and Ag. They likely contain most of the bulk metal
budget of the primary lavas. Importantly, numerous sulfides are still preserved in the
epidotized sheeted dike complex, and remain enriched in Co, Ti, Pb, Mn (while Cu and
Ag appear to have been remobilized). The sulfide-bearing quartz veins corresponding to
the discharge upwelling of hydrothermal fluids show very low metal concentrations,
with the exception of Ni, Pb and Cu. Finally, the massive sulfide deposits are made of
Cu-, Zn-, and Co-rich pyrite and Pb-, Mo-, Zn- (and Ti-) rich chalcopyrite. These
observations suggest that sulfides may have a significant role in controlling the
progressive release of some metals during the different steps of hydrothermal alteration,
and need to be considered in conjunction with the secondary silicate minerals.
[1] Jowitt S.M. et al. (2012). J. Geochem. Explor., 118, 47-59.


This work presents a numerical model for tsunami propagation and inundation, which solves two-dimensional shallow water equations using a finite-volume Godunov-type numerical scheme incorporating a Harten–Lax–van Leer–contact (HLLC) approximate Riemann solver. To improve the computational efficiency for high-resolution tsunami simulations that commonly cover large spatial domains, the model is implemented for graphics processing units using compute unified device architecture (CUDA). The accelerated tsunami model is used to simulate an idealised dam-break case involving 1 million uniform computational cells and a laboratory tsunami propagation and run-up test with complex domain topographic features. Compared with a Fortran code for the same numerical scheme running on a standard personal computer, the model is able to reduce computational time by more than 40 times.


To investigate the feasibility and changes of biological characteristics before and after synovial mesenchymal stem cells (SMSCs) labelled by super paramagnetic iron oxide (SPIO). The rabbit SMSCs were isolated, cultured, purified and identified in vitro. After adding the different concentrations of SPIO-labelled liquid, the cells were incubated 24 h in 37°C carbon dioxide incubator. The labeled-cell samples were observed by Prussian blue staining, transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the cell biology before and after the labeling was compared. The blue stained particles could be seen in the cytoplasm; the SPIO label was positive in 95% SMSC cells. With the concentration of the label liquid increasing, the blue-stained cytoplasm became darker. A large number of high electron density particles could be seen in the cytoplasm and in the pinocytosis vesicles by TEM, which suggested SPIO label positive. When the SPIO concentration was (12.5~50) μg/mL, the differences in cell proliferation and cell viability between the SMSCs after labelling and the SMSCs before labelling were not significant; when the concentration was over 100 μg/mL, the cell proliferation and cell viability were inhibited. A certain concentration range of SPIO can safely label the rabbit SMSC according to this study, which is important for solving the problem of tracing SMSCs in the joints.


This paper examines whether corporate disclosure tone conveys credit risk-relevant information to the credit default swaps (CDS) market. Using a large sample of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 10-K and 10-Q filings, I find that the change in CDS spreads over the three-day window surrounding the SEC filing date is positively associated with the pessimism of the language used in the 10-K or 10-Q filing. Consistent with nonlinear payoff functions for creditors, this association is more pronounced for reference entities with speculative credit ratings. These findings indicate that the tone of periodic SEC filings is useful for CDS investors to evaluate the reference entity's credit risk. In addition, I find stronger reaction of CDS spreads to disclosure tone when the CDS contract has shorter maturity, equity short sellers are more active, or the reference entity has lower visibility (i.e., smaller size or lower analyst coverage). Overall, these results support the view that disclosure tone has information content for investors in the CDS market in particular and the debt market in general.


Relationships between tropical cyclogenesis (TCG) in the Australian region and modes of various atmospheric and oceanic parameters are investigated for the period 1968-2006. Seven thermal and seven dynamic variables describing the state of moisture transport and wind flow patterns in the atmosphere were analysed. In order to identify the dominant modes of each variable, an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) is applied. The three leading modes of each variable were then considered. This study corroborates previous work showing that El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the leading contributor to TCG in the all-Australian, Western and Eastern Australian regions. The ENSO-linked first EOF of the streamfunction at sigma level 0.2101 shows the strongest relationship with TCG variations in the all-Australian and Eastern regions correlating at 0.73 and 0.62, respectively. In the western Australian region, the first EOF of environmental vertical wind shear shows the strongest skill. TCG frequency in the Northern region is mainly affected by the large-scale wind patterns of the subtropics and mid-latitudes such as the subtropical jet and the Rossby wave train.


In Modern era, every business is dependent on the Internet. The Network is growing so quickly that now at this stage no one can ever imagine anything without use of internet. But at the same time security over network is very important because of the vulnerability of data to eavesdropping. To protect the data from eavesdropping, it must be appropriately encrypted before sending over the network. There are two types of algorithms, keyed and keyless, exist to protect data. The keyed algorithms are efficient but to avoid the overhead of key generation and key management, keyless algorithms are getting popularity now days. The proposed algorithm "Optimal Keyless Algorithm for Security" represents a new way of using data itself to create a protective shield. The algorithm provides security at both character level as well as bit level. The number of rounds and the number of shifts applied at bit level are made data dependent to increase the security level, is a major advantage of the algorithm. The system is proposed with the motive to provide highest security level with minimum execution time in terms of encryption and decryption. This paper presents simulation results of proposed algorithm and its comparison with the commonly used JS keyless algorithm. General Terms Security, Cryptography, Key, Keyless, Encryption, Decryption


What can the rise and success of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez tell us about populism? Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser takes an in-depth look at the lessons the EU's leaders can draw from Chavez to deal with the recent rise of populist movements in Europe. He argues that opponents to populism must understand that populists are not only representing real constituencies of society, but that opposition to them can be a source of further reinforcement and radicalisation.


In the early 1960s banking was faced with a paper-handling crisis. Banks were unable to keep on top of the rising number of checks and were unable to retain bookkeeping staff. The development of an automated bookkeeping and proofing system by Bank of America and Stanford Research Institute is described. SRI and BofA worked together to create ERMA (electronic recording machine-accounting) and to develop the MICR (magnetic-ink character recognition) check coding system. It is argued that the work on the project demonstrates the necessity of senior executive involvement, strong leadership, and innovative engineering.<<ETX>>


This paper discusses results from an exploratory study in which Quality of Experience aspects related to mobile video watching were investigated in a semi-living lab setting. More specifically, we zoom in on usage patterns in a natural research context and on the subjective evaluation of high and low-resolution movie trailers that are transferred to a mobile device using two transmission protocols for video (i.e., real-time transport protocol and progressive download using HTTP). User feedback was collected by means of short questionnaires on the mobile device, combined with traditional pen and paper diaries. The subjective evaluations regarding the general technical quality, perceived distortion, fluentness of the video, and loading speed are studied and the influence of the transmission protocol and video resolution on these evaluations is analyzed. Multinomial logistic regression results in a model to estimate the subjective evaluations regarding the perceived distortion and loading speed based on objectively-measured parameters of the video session.


The effective ways of error correction in teaching musical harmony have been neglected. Making students realize their mistakes and have them think over them are assumed to be helpful in harmony teaching. In this sense, correction code technique is thought to be beneficial for students to realize their mistakes and solve them on their own. Forty eight volunteer participants took a harmonization test and the experimental group received written corrective feedback via correction codes whereas the control group was corrected traditionally. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of correction code technique on enhancing their understanding of 4-parts harmony. The results showed that experimental group improved more than control group between pre-test and post-test, F (1, 46) = 4.719, p < 0.035, ω2 = 0.051. Finally, students were asked open-ended questions allowing them express their feelings and reflect on the process. The data acquired from qualitative and quantitative parts of the study suggested that correction code technique was an effective way of error correction in 4-parts harmony.

 Key words: Correction codes, error correction, 4-parts harmony, music education, written feedback.


Abstract The ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) is extensively analyzed using the most advanced three-dimensional MHD codes. It is shown that the NCSX is stable to finite-n MHD modes, including the vertical mode, external kink modes and ballooning modes. However, high-n external kink modes that peak near the plasma edge are found to be weakly unstable. A global calculation shows that finite-n ballooning modes are significantly more stable than the local infinite-n modes.


Genetic counseling may be offered to families with melanoma and to individuals with multiple melanomas to better understand the genetic susceptibility of the disease, the influence of environmental factors, the inheritance of the risk, and behavior that decreases the risk of dying from melanoma, including specific dermatological follow‐up such as total body photography and digital dermoscopy. Genetic testing may be offered to those individuals with more than a 10% chance of being a carrier of a mutation. This risk varies according to the incidence of melanoma in the country and sun behavior. In countries with a low‐medium incidence of melanoma, genetic testing should be offered to families with two cases of melanoma or an individual with two primary melanomas. In countries with a high incidence, families with three cases of melanoma, with two melanomas and one pancreatic adenocarcinoma, or patients with three primary melanomas, may benefit from genetic testing.


OBJECTIVE
The goal of the present study was to examine whether sexual minority young adults are more vulnerable to developing cardiometabolic risk following exposure to stressful life events than heterosexual young adults.

METHOD
Data came from the National Longitudinal Study for Adolescent Health (Shin, Edwards, & Heeren, 2009; Brummett et al., 2013), a prospective nationally representative study of U.S. adolescents followed into young adulthood. A total of 306 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) respondents and 6,667 heterosexual respondents met inclusion criteria for this analysis. Measures of cumulative stressful life events were drawn from all 4 waves of data collection; sexual orientation and cardiometabolic biomarkers were assessed at Wave 4 (2008-2009).

RESULTS
Gay/bisexual men exposed to 1-2 (β = 0.71, p = .01) and 5+ (β = 0.87, p = .01) stressful life events had a statistically significant elevation in cardiometabolic risk, controlling for demographics, health behaviors, and socioeconomic status. Moreover, in models adjusted for all covariates, lesbian/bisexual (β = 0.52, p = .046) women with 5+ stressful life events had a statistically significant elevation in cardiometabolic risk. There was no relationship between stressful life events and cardiometabolic risk among heterosexual men or women.

CONCLUSION
Stressful life events during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood place LGB young adults at heightened risk for elevated cardiometabolic risk as early as young adulthood. The mechanisms underlying this relationship require future study.


Background. Most heart transplant (HTx) recipients develop hypertension, characterized by increased peripheral vascular tone and endothelial dysfunction. Reduced levels of nitric oxide (NO) have been found in essential hypertension, and herein we investigated the possible role of altered concentrations of NO in posttransplant hypertension. Methods. Plasma levels of the NO-derived end products NO2-+NO3-, the endogenous inhibitor of NO synthase asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), and the inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-&agr; were examined in 65 stable hypertensive long-term (6 years [range 1–13]) survivors of HTx. HTx recipients were compared with 39 individuals with essential hypertension and 25 normotensive controls. Results. Hypertensive HTx recipients had raised NO2-+NO3- levels in plasma, positively correlated with 24-hour mean blood pressure (BP). In contrast, individuals with essential hypertension had decreased NO2-+NO3- concentration comparing controls, inversely correlated with 24-hour mean BP. Moreover, although TNF-&agr; levels were significantly raised in HTx recipients compared with both healthy controls and individuals with essential hypertension, it was positively correlated to 24-hour BP and NO2-+NO3-. Although only a slight increase was found in essential hypertension, no correlations were found in these nontransplant individuals. Finally, although asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) tended to be raised in essential hypertension, this endogenous nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor was significantly decreased in HTx recipients compared with normotensive controls. Conclusion. Our findings suggest that different mechanisms may be operating in the pathogenesis of posttransplant compared with essential hypertension, with persistent inflammation, raised NO2-+NO3-, and decreased ADMA levels characterizing the former group.


Aim: To test whether intramuscular injection of 30 μg adrenaline decreased the incidence of respiratory distress and hypoglycaemia in term infants delivered by elective caesarean section before active labour. Method: The study was randomised and double-blinded. A total of 270 neonates were assigned to intramuscular treatment with saline (0.30 ml) or 30 μg adrenaline (0.30 ml) immediately after birth. The primary endpoint was referral to the neonatal ward because of respiratory distress or a blood glucose level <1.8 mmol/l measured 2 h after birth. The first 50 infants were monitored with pulse oximetry to disclose potential side effects. Results: Pulse-oximetry recordings revealed a modest systemic effect by intramuscular adrenaline as the heart rate and the haemoglobin oxygen saturation were significantly higher in infants who received adrenaline. In contrast, the incidence of respiratory distress and hypoglycaemia was 14% among infants treated with adrenaline compared with 7% in those who received saline injection (p = 0.048). Conclusion: Intramuscular injection of 30 μg adrenaline does not reduce the incidence of respiratory distress or hypoglycaemia after elective caesarean section. Trial registration number: NCT00322660.


This article is about young people who have experienced both
homelessness and unemployment, with their interacting impacts. While 'young people' is usually understood to include those beyond childhood and up to 25 years of age, the homelessness services that initiated YP4 decided that the project should focus on people in the first one-third of their expected working lives. Thus the eligible age group for YP4 was 18−35 years. In practice, 75 per cent of participants were aged 25 years and under. This paper
presents a more detailed descriptive profile than has previously been published regarding the circumstances of young people living with homelessness and unemployment. This profile confirms and adds quantification to previously published material on the complex disadvantages experienced by these young people. Our findings are indicative of the circumstances of the broader population of young Australians in these circumstances.


It has been suggested that water in confined regions presents different properties than bulk water, mainly because of the changes in water population species that may be induced by the adjacent walls of different polarities in terms of hydrogen bond formation. In this context, it would be expected that lipids in the gel and the fluid states should offer different templates for water organization. The presence of water pockets or defects in lipid bilayers has been proposed to explain the insertion of charged and polar peptides and amino acids in membranes. In this work, we provide direct evidence by means of FTIR spectroscopy that water band profiles are changed whether lipids are in the solid state, in the gel state after heating and cooling across the phase transition, or in the fluid state. The different bands found in each case were assigned to different H-bonded water populations in agreement with the exposure of carbonyl groups.


In this paper, we apply the idea of T-duality to projective spaces. From a connection on a line bundle on $\mathbb P^n$, a Lagrangian in the mirror Landau-Ginzburg model is constructed. Under this correspondence, the full strong exceptional collection $\mathcal O_{\mathbb P^n}(-n-1),...,\mathcal O_{\mathbb P^n}(-1)$ is mapped to standard Lagrangians in the sense of \cite{nz}. Passing to constructible sheaves, we explicitly compute the quiver structure of these Lagrangians, and find that they match the quiver structure of this exceptional collection of $\mathbb P^n$. In this way, T-duality provides quasi-equivalence of the Fukaya category generated by these Lagrangians and the category of coherent sheaves on $\mathbb P^n$, which is a kind of homological mirror symmetry.


Abstract Degradation of archaeological artefacts sometimes leads to unusual corrosion products. Techniques have been used to analyse the upper disc of a rare Roman inkwell. Made of leaded bronze and decorated with silver and copper, the object was well preserved in spite of some changes. Corrosion products have been analysed and found to be mainly lead corrosion products. Among them, lead sulphates and lead phosphates such as anglesite and hydroxypyromorphite have been identified and detected all over the surface. The object was discovered during excavations in the middle of a field in which cereals were cultivated. These particular corrosion products were attributed to the result of specific interactions between the metallic alloy and residues of agricultural fertilizers and soil amendments, extensively used for decades in this field. This information is significant because of the nature of the changes.


A method for designing a period-to-analog converter is described. The device accepts input signals of varying frequency and converts the period of the waveform to a time inverse voltage Vi(t). This voltage is sampled at the end of the period, and this information is held over the following interval. The analog derived from the input signal is a voltage proportional to the repetition rate. The approach to generating the time inverse voltage is based on Willer's general method of approximating decaying functions with a sum of exponential functions. The described method has been utilized to develop a device for monitoring physiological signals. Results demonstrating the performance of the instrument are presented. The method is directly applicable to function generation in general and could be of importance for analog computers.


Until now, irregular sound change due to frequency (first mentioned as early as 1846 by Diez, the founder of the comparative grammar of the Romance languages) has been considered as something sporadic, affecting only the vocabulary, whereas, to the present writer's mind, irregular sound change due to frequency, which concerns also reductions in morphemes, especially in inflectional ones (which are even more frequently used than words), is the third essential factor of linguistic evolution, in addition to regular sound change and analogical development: in any text of any language, more or less one third of the words show an irregular sound change due to frequency.


The omission of the Wiggins Content Scales occurred because of the number of items deleted as well as the addition of items to the MMPI-2. The purpose of this study is to compare scorings of the items on the Wiggins Scales of the MMPI and the items that remain on these scales on the MMPI-2. The scales of Religious Fundamentalism and Authority Conflict appear to be those most seriously affected by the item change on the MMPI-2. The scales Depression and Family Conflict maintained all of their items, and the remaining nine were not found to be statistically different when the two scorings were compared.


Introduction: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is quite common among patients with thalassemia, and it can lead to cardiac failure and even death in those patients. Methods: This current cross-sectional study was conducted with 155 patients with β-thalassemia major and thalassemia intermedia referring to Razi Hospital Rasht, Iran in a recent year. All patients underwent echocardiography and the data (including age, sex, thalassemia type, splenectomy history, deferoxamine usage, hydroxyurea usage, hemoglobin, and ferritin level) were collected by a researcher-made checklist. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software. Results: The prevalence of PH was 13.7% in this study. There was a correlation between sex, thalassemia type, deferoxamine usage, and ferritin level with a prevalence of PH. However, there was not a significant relationship between splenectomy history, hydroxyurea usage, and hemoglobin level with PH prevalence (P = 0.187, P = 0.035, and P = 0.178, respectively). Conclusions: The findings of the study represented that the proposed variables can cause and exacerbate cardiac complications and may have a correlation with the disease's side effects. By conducting more studies and designing a more promising interventional study with a higher sample size, using the results of this study and similar studies, a step could be taken to identify patients susceptible to exacerbation of cardiac complications earlier. By treating them, we may be able to increase their chance of survival in the long run.


A numerical model is presented for the simulation of double-diffusive natural convection in a triangular solar collector. This design is encountered in greenhouse solar stills where vertical temperature and concentration gradients between the saline water and transparent cover induce flows in a confined space. This phenomenon plays an important function in the water distillation process and in the biological comfort. In this doublediffusion problem, the ratio Br of the relative magnitude thermal and compositional buoyancy and Rayleigh numbers are key parameters. Finite element technique is used to solve the governing equations. Numerical results are presented for the effect of the abovementioned parameters on local heat and mass transfer rate. In addition, results for the average heat and mass transfer rate are offered and discussed for the mentioned parametric conditions. Some interesting results are found in this investigation.


Given a ciphertext, is it possible to prove the deletion of the underlying plaintext? Since classical ciphertexts can be copied, clearly such a feat is impossible using classical information alone. In stark contrast to this, we show that quantum encodings enable certified deletion. More precisely, we show that it is possible to encrypt classical data into a quantum ciphertext such that the recipient of the ciphertext can produce a classical string which proves to the originator that the recipient has relinquished any chance of recovering the plaintext should the decryption key be revealed. Our scheme is feasible with current quantum technology: the honest parties only require quantum devices for single-qubit preparation and measurements; the scheme is also robust against noise in these devices. Furthermore, we provide an analysis that is suitable in the finite-key regime.


minimizes the depression of activity due to lead (de Barriero, 1969). Conversely, although GSH is an essential cofactor for &-aminolaevulinate dehydratase, excessive concentrations of GSH lower the activity of the enzyme (Moore et al., 1971). Ethanol oxidation substantially alters the redox potential of the cell and, in doing so, alters the [GSH]/[GSSG] ratio in the cell. It is therefore suggested that, although lead depresses GSH concentrations and thus lowers 8-aminolaevulinate dehydratase activity, and ethanol raises GSH concentrations and lowers the activity, these two in conjunction act in opposite directions and lead to an effective maintenance of activity.


Proceedings: AACR 107th Annual Meeting 2016; April 16-20, 2016; New Orleans, LA

Intercellular heterogeneity is pivotal in carcinogenesis and tumor development and plays a central role in advanced metastatic disease, therapeutic resistance, and recurrence at the cellular, tissue and whole organism levels. Rapid advances in single-cell analysis technologies have enabled unprecedented insights into cellular machinery. Yet, the ultimate goal of directly correlating the cellular function with the transcriptional profile of a single cell for comprehensive interrogation of the dynamics of cellular variability remains elusive. We present a study on alterations in intercellular diversity in terms of functional and transcriptional phenotypes in the context of selective pressure based on integrated, multiplexed single-cell measurements of cellular respiration and gene transcription levels in the same single cells. Utilizing a Barrett's esophagus premalignant progression model, we investigated alterations in the intercellular diversity resulting from adaptation to the episodes of acute hypoxia that generated stringent selective pressure on a panel of human esophageal epithelial cell lines representing different stages (metaplasia and dysplasia) in the progression. We correlated alterations in cellular respiration with the expression levels of genes involved in the glycolysis and hypoxia response pathways in the same individual cells. Using dimensionality reduction approaches combined with multiparameter analysis we found evidence that population-level functional heterogeneity can be recapitulated and maintained by a small (∼10%) sub-population of cells that survive selective pressure. By combining functional and molecular profiling of the same individual cells we identified unique errant cellular functional phenotypes of individual cells that would remain hidden otherwise, but may harbor clues to phenotypic cancer progression dynamics. To our knowledge, this study is the first successful demonstration of an integrated, multiparameter approach to elucidate how heterogeneity at the transcriptional level manifests in the physiologic profile of individual cells at different stages of pre-malignant progression.

Citation Format: Laimonas Kelbauskas, Shashanka Ashili, Jia Zeng, Aida Mohammadreza, Kristen Lee, Dmitry Derkach, Benjamin Ueberroth, Weimin Gao, Thomas Paulson, Hong Wang, Yanqing Tian, Dean Smith, Brian Reid, Deirdre Meldrum. Single-cell analysis of functional heterogeneity dynamics in premalignant progression revealed by combined interrogation of functional and transcriptional phenotypes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-027.


2D hand-object pose estimation is the key to the success of many computer vision applications. The main focus of this task is to effectively model the interaction between the hand and an object. To this end, existing works either rely on interaction constraints in a computationally-expensive iterative optimization, or consider only a sparse correlation between sampled hand and object keypoints. In contrast, we propose a novel dense mutual attention mechanism that is able to model fine-grained dependencies between the hand and the object. Specifically, we first construct the hand and object graphs according to their mesh structures. For each hand node, we aggregate features from every object node by the learned attention and vice versa for each object node. Thanks to such dense mutual attention, our method is able to produce physically plausible poses with high quality and real-time inference speed. Extensive quantitative and qualitative experiments on large benchmark datasets show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art methods. The code is available at https://github.com/rongakowang/DenseMutualAttention.git.


The effects of post-thermal diffusion of Al into heavily Al-doped ZnO (AZO) on its electrical, optical, and structural properties were investigated. Notably, the thermal diffusion of Al led to a significant enhancement of the optical transmittance-e.g., the transmittances at 550 nm were 90.4% and 96.7% before and after Al thermal diffusion, respectively. The structural analysis revealed that the improved optical transmittance was due to the combined effects of improved crystallinity, smoother surface, and the presence of transparent Al-O. However, the electrical properties of the AZO films after Al thermal diffusion were degraded-e.g., the sheet resistance was increased by 24% after thermal diffusion, which might be attributed to the generation of internal defects due to the heavy Al doping.


Whether states can use force against terrorists based in another country is much discussed. The relevant provisions of the UN Charter do not provide a conclusive answer, but have to be interpreted. The present article suggests that in the course of the last two decades, the Charter regime has been re-adjusted, so as to permit forcible responses to terrorism under more lenient conditions. In order to illustrate developments, it juxtaposes international law as of 1989 to the present state of the law. It argues that the restrictive approach to anti-terrorist force obtaining 20 years ago has come under strain. As far as collective responses are concerned, it is no longer disputed that the Security Council could authorize the use of force against terrorists; however, it has so far refrained from doing so. More controversially, the international community during the last two decades has increasingly recognized a right of states to use unilateral force against terrorists. This new practice is justified under an expanded doctrine of self-defence. It can be explained as part of a strong international policy against terrorism and is part of an overall tendency to view exceptions to the ban on force more favourably than 20 years ago. Conversely, it has led to a normative drift affecting key limitations of the traditional doctrine of self-defence, and increases the risk of abuse.


How does a non-coding RNA evolve in cells? To address this question experimentally we evolved a trans-splicing variant of the group I intron ribozyme from Tetrahymena over 21 cycles of evolution in E.coli cells. Sequence variation was introduced during the evolution by mutagenic and recombinative PCR, and increasingly active ribozymes were selected by their repair of an mRNA mediating antibiotic resistance. The most efficient ribozyme contained four clustered mutations that were necessary and sufficient for maximum activity in cells. Surprisingly, these mutations did not increase the trans-splicing activity of the ribozyme. Instead, they appear to have recruited a cellular protein, the transcription termination factor Rho, and facilitated more efficient translation of the ribozyme's trans-splicing product. In addition, these mutations affected the expression of several other, unrelated genes. These results suggest that during RNA evolution in cells, four mutations can be sufficient to evolve new protein interactions, and four mutations in an RNA molecule can generate a large effect on gene regulation in the cell.


Film and literature have fascinated audiences for as long as each respective form has been available, but often times for differing reasons. Whereas each form has intricate and unique ways of conveying imagery, crafting narrative, and exposing realities about our world, both mediums are incredibly distinct from one another. Because of these differences, finding similarities that give equal merit to both art forms can be an arduous task. Fortunately, by looking at the ways each medium approaches landscape through the lens of semiotic theory, a level foundation emerges that reveals the unique ways each medium is able to engage with place. By assessing the specific methods prevalent in P.D James's 1992 novel The Children of Men and Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 film Children of Men, film and literature will display their unique ways of interacting with the inherent gap understood through semiotic theory. Eventually this will reveal literature and film's unique ways of communication as well as their ability to allow readers and viewers to insert their own experiences into a specific text and interpret the semiotic discourse for themselves.


There is no current universally accepted definition for quality of life (QOL). One source defined the concept of QOL as how an individual measures the goodness of different aspects of their life. These assessments include one's emotional reactions to life events, disposition, sense of fulfillment, and satisfaction with personal relationships and work (Theofilou, 2013). Another definition encompasses the person's level of functioning and overall satisfaction and well-being of their life (Lavdaniti & Tsitsis, 2015). QOL can be influenced by many factors, including physical health and certain disease processes. One disease in particular that can significantly affect one's QOL is cancer. Cancer can be physically and psychologically wearing both during treatment and even in survivorship. In cancer survivors, QOL encompasses physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being (Lavdaniti & Tsitsis, 2015). A particularly vulnerable group of cancer patients that may struggle more with QOL, both during and after treatment, are adolescents. As survival rates increase for adolescents with cancer it is important to measure outcomes such as health related QOL (Russell, Hudson, Long, & Phipps, 2006). Paying attention to health related QOL in adolescent cancer survivors is relevant due to the number of adolescents diagnosed each year. Based on statistics from 2014, 10,380 children younger than 15 years old and 5,000 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 will be diagnosed with cancer (America Society of Clinical Oncology, 2014). The aim of our literature review is to further explore the QOL of adolescents going through cancer treatment. Furthermore, we are determined to suggest strategies to improve this QOL based on reliable research. Through the literature, we will explore quality of life in general, effects of cancer on adolescent patients, both physically and psychologically, and examine which methods would be most beneficial in helping to improve an adolescent with cancer's QOL. This information will be QUALITY OF LIFE IN ADOLESCENTS WITH CANCER 3 presented as the thesis project for the Lee Honors College for the researchers Alexis Guastella and Molly Ryan. Purpose and Background Information The purpose of this literature review is to determine the current research on QOL of adolescents going through cancer treatment and to establish effective techniques to improve it. This area is of importance to research because over 80% of pediatric oncology patients live at least five years after being diagnosed (National Cancer Institute, 2014). With that being said, they will be living longer and ultimately desire to live a satisfying and healthy life. It is known information that patients that are actively in treatment have a compromised QOL (Monteiro, Torres, Morgadinho, & Pereira, 2013). Cancer treatments are typically painful and psychologically weakening. These issues should be taken into consideration when measuring QOL. Factors that lead to low QOL of life include nausea, pain, anxiety, perceived physical appearance, worry, and fatigue (Hsu & Tu, 2013; Scarpelli et al., 2008). The focus of most health care providers is to treat the pain and physical side effects, while the psychological side effects are often overlooked. Rarely are oncology and hematology patients assessed for symptoms other than pain (Stromgren, Niemann, Tange, Farholt, Sonne, Ankersen, ... & Kurita, 2014). Treating the patient holistically, both physically and psychologically, will lead to the best patient outcomes.


Glucocorticoids (GCs) are essential for many aspects of normal brain development. However, there is growing evidence from a number of species that exposure of the fetal brain to excess GC, at critical stages of development, can have life-long effects on behavior and neuroendocrine function. The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis, which is central to the integration of the individual's endocrine and behavioral response to stress, appears highly sensitive to excess GC exposure during development. A number of animal studies have shown that exposure to synthetic GCs in utero results in adult offspring that exhibit hyperactivity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. This will have a long-term impact on health, inasmuch as increased life-long exposure to endogenous GC has been linked to the premature onset of diseases associated with aging. The mechanisms involved in the permanent programming of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal function and behavior are not well understood. Synthetic GCs are used extensively to promote pulmonary maturation in fetuses at risk of being delivered before term. Therefore, it is important that we understand the potential long-term consequences of prenatal GC exposure on brain development as well as the underlying mechanisms involved. This review will explore the current state of knowledge in this rapidly expanding field.


In the past few decades a lot of theoretical and experimental researches have been done to understand the physical phenomena characterizing nuclear accidents. In particular, after the Three Miles Island accident, several reactors have been designed to handle successfully LOCA events. This paper presents a comparison between experimental and numerical results obtained for the "2 inch Direct Vessel Injection line break" in SPES-2. This facility is an integral test facility built in Piacenza at the SIET laboratories and simulating the primary circuit, the relevant parts of the secondary circuits and the passive safety systems typical of the AP600 nuclear power plant. The numerical analysis here presented was performed by using TRACE and CATHARE thermal-hydraulic codes with the purpose of evaluating their prediction capability. The main results show that the TRACE model well predicts the overall behaviour of the plant during the transient, in particular it is able to simulate the principal thermal-hydraulic phenomena related to all passive safety systems. The performance of the presented CATHARE noding has suggested some possible improvements of the model.


This paper deals with the problem of the ranking of generalized fuzzy numbers. Our aim is to give a possibility to rank any non-identical generalized fuzzy numbers. The majority of existing approaches fail to rank fuzzy numbers in certain cases and give equality when in fact fuzzy numbers are different. We explore and extend Chen and Lu's approach that is good enough in terms of computational effort and efficiency in case of large quantity of fuzzy numbers. Chen and Lu's algorithm ranks fuzzy numbers based on the left and right dominance established by α-cuts. The only drawback of this algorithm is that it does not differentiate fuzzy numbers in some situations. We suggest an extension of the algorithm to solve this problem. We apply our algorithm to fuzzy risk analysis problems, particularly those concerning risks to choose among several alternatives.


A simple reproducible and efficient method for the determination of terbutaline sulphate in pharmaceutical dosage form has been developed using spectrophotom etric method. The linear dynamic range was 4 to 20 mcg/ml with a coefficient of correlation 0.9993. The validity of the described procedure was assessed analytical parameters were calculate and a full statistical evaluation was performed. The proposed meth od was successfully applied to the determination of terbutaline sulphate in pharmaceutical formulations without any interference from common excipients. The reproducibility of the method is 99.87 - 100.66%.


Purpose: To present baseline images of the vitreous, retina, and choroid from the macula to the periphery in normal patients using a novel montaging technique of spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Methods: Twenty-six normal eyes of 22 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Montaged images of four radial optical coherence tomography scans through the fovea were obtained from each subject. Results: In the macula, there were six identifiable retinal layers as well as four bands in the outer retina. In the periphery, the ganglion cell layer was not identifiable. The external limiting membrane, the second band, and the retinal pigment epithelium were continuously delineated from the macula to the periphery. The third band was not visible in the periphery. Conclusion: Spectral domain optical coherence tomography montaged images provide wide-angle images of the vitreous, retina, and choroid, allowing for evaluation of peripheral findings and examination of relationships between peripheral and posterior disease. The maximum scan length achieved here was 36 mm. The scan length is approximately three times than that provided by conventional posterior scanning and is consistent with known dimensions of the eye. This method is achievable with current commercially available devices and may contribute to decision making in clinical practice.


In this note a Lyapunov function for a 2-D time invariant discrete linear system is introduced, using the 2-D system model given by Roesser [1]. The Lyapunov function may be used to investigate the asymptotic stability of the 2-D system. Previous work dealing with asymptotic stability of 2-D systems [3]-[5] is based upon the location of roots of the characteristic polynomial in the closed polydisk \overline{U}^{2} .


Background: Urachal remnants are fairly common. Patients may display urachal disease, or urachal remnants may represent an incidental finding. These lesions are more common in the pediatric population, and may give rise to malignant tumors, essentially adenocarcinomas, in adults mainly. Aim: To study the prevalence of intestinal-type epithelium in pediatric and adult urachal remnants. Materials and methods: Histological findings in 39 pediatric and 22 adult specimens sent as urachal remnant, or for a suspicion of urachal tumor were available for review. Results: An epithelial lining was seen in 80.7% of the non-neoplastic cases, and was mainly of the transitional type. Foci of intestinal-type epithelium or scattered goblet cells within a transitional epithelium were identified in 10.9% of all non-neoplastic epithelial remnants, more frequently so in the pediatric cohort. Squamous epithelium was also seen, either as sole finding, or in association with transitional epithelium in 17.4% of the cases. Adenocarcinoma was observed in 3 adult patients and a high-grade intestinal-type adenoma in a further adult patient. Cytokeratin 20 and CDX-2 reactivity was seen in all three adenocarcinomas and in the adenoma, whereas cytokeratin 7 was negative in an enteric-type adenocarcinoma. No b-catenin nuclear delocalization was observed. Conclusion: The intestinal-type epithelium is thought to originate either from cloacal inclusions or from enteric rests, or to result from metaplasia. Dysplasia and invasive adenocarcinoma may further develop. Intestinal foci being diagnosed by histology only, surgical resection is recommended to avoid the rare development of adenocarcinoma. Consensus for surgical resection of urachal remnants is however lacking, since urachal remnants may also involute.


In this paper, we propose an interferometric approach for visualizing and measuring the quasi-static strain experienced by fibre Bragg grating sensors. The method makes use of a simple bi-polished silicon sample acting like an etalon tuneable filter. The Bragg wavelength shift can be evaluated by analysing the overall interferometric signal achieved by tuning the etalon tuneable filter angularly. A fast Fourier transform method is applied for phase retrieval. The choice of the silicon sample is determined by the low-cost and well-developed silicon technology and fabrication, the easy design and tuneability of the spectral response, and the possibility of integrating on the same sample also the circuitry for electronic control. The principle of operation of this method is described and results obtained by employing such a configuration are reported.


To evaluate treatment outcome and morbidity of stereotactic external-beam irradiation (SEBI) in pediatric patients, we reviewed 14 children treated with SEBI, using a 10-MV isocentric linear accelerator at McGill University between 1988 and 1994. The median follow-up was 46 months (range 6–82 months). The median age was 14 years. There were 8 low-grade astrocytomas, 3 neuromas and 4 other histologies. Twelve patients received fractionated treatments. The median collimator diameter was 2.5 cm (range 1–5 cm). The median biological effective dose delivered to the entire tumor volume was 57 Gy for astrocytomas and 43 Gy for the other histologies. The overall actuarial survival rate and disease-free survival rate at 5 years were 83 and 62%, respectively. For the patients with low-grade astrocytomas, the 5-year survival and disease-free survival rates were 100 and 60%, respectively. Four children had recurrence at a median of 37 months. Four patients developed treatment-related complications: 1 had edema alone, 2 had necrosis and 1 had edema associated with necrosis. Neither the physical nor radiobiological parameters were predictive of the treatment outcome or the treatment complications. Stereotactic irradiation is a valid option for progressive nonresectable tumors in children.


In finance, durations between successive transactions are usually modelled by the autoregressive conditional duration model based on a continuous distribution omitting frequent zero values. Zero durations can be caused by either split transactions or independent transactions. We propose a discrete model allowing for excessive zero values based on the zero-inflated negative binomial distribution with score dynamics. We establish the invertibility of the score filter. Additionally, we derive sufficient conditions for the consistency and asymptotic normality of the maximum likelihood of the model parameters. In an empirical study of DJIA stocks, we find that split transactions cause on average 63% of zero values. Furthermore, the loss of decimal places in the proposed model is less severe than in correct treatment of zero values in continuous models.


Laboratory and field investigations were conducted to study the food habit of Chinese perch Siniperca chuatsi (Basilewsky) from first feeding through adult stage. Only fish larvae were consumed by Chinese perch larvae (2-21 days from hatching), and the presence of zooplankton did not have any significant effect on their survival rate. The ability of Chinese perch to feed on zooplankton is clearly limited by some innate factor. Instead of gill rakers, Chinese perch larvae have well-developed sharp teeth at the first feeding stage, and are well adapted to the piscivorous feeding habit unique to the larvae of Chinese perch, e.g. they bite and ingest the tails of other fish larvae. At the first feeding stage (2 days from hatching), daily rations were both very low, either in light or complete darkness. Although early-staged Chinese perch larvae (7-17 days from hatching) could feed in complete darkness, their daily rations were always significantly higher in light than in complete darkness. Late-staged Chinese perch larvae (21 days from hatching) were able to feed in complete darkness as well as in light, similar to the case of Chinese perch yearlings. Chinese perch yearlings (total length, 14-16 cm) consumed prey fish only and refused shrimp when visual cues were available (in light), but they consumed both prey when visual cues were not available (in complete darkness), suggesting that prey consumption by Chinese perch yearlings is affected by their sensory modality in predation. Both prey were found in the stomachs of similar-sized Chinese perch (total length, 14-32 cm) from their natural habitat, suggesting that shrimp are consumed by Chinese perch at night. Prey selection of Chinese perch with a length >38 cm, which consumed only fish in the field, appears to be based upon prey size instead of prey type. These results suggest that although environmental factors (e.g. light intensity) affect prey detection by Chinese perch, this fish is anatomically and behaviourally predisposed to prey on live fish from first feeding. This makes it a difficult fish to cultivate using conventional feeds.


Background: There are limited data on complications in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) admissions receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Methods: Adult (>18 years) admissions with AMI receiving ECMO support were identified from the National Inpatient Sample database between 2000 and 2016. Complications were classified as vascular, lower limb amputation, hematologic, and neurologic. Outcomes of interest included temporal trends, in-hospital mortality, hospitalization costs, and length of stay. Results: In this 17-year period, in ~10 million AMI admissions, ECMO support was used in 4608 admissions (<0.01%)—mean age 59.5 ± 11.0 years, 75.7% men, 58.9% white race. Median time to ECMO placement was 1 (interquartile range [IQR] 0–3) day. Complications were noted in 2571 (55.8%) admissions—vascular 6.1%, lower limb amputations 1.1%, hematologic 49.3%, and neurologic 9.9%. There was a steady increase in overall complications during the study period (21.1% in 2000 vs. 70.5% in 2016). The cohort with complications, compared to those without complications, had comparable adjusted in-hospital mortality (60.7% vs. 54.0%; adjusted odds ratio 0.89 [95% confidence interval 0.77–1.02]; p = 0.10) but longer median hospital stay (12 [IQR 5–24] vs. 7 [IQR 3–21] days), higher median hospitalization costs ($458,954 [IQR 260,522–737,871] vs. 302,255 [IQR 173,033–623,660]), fewer discharges to home (14.7% vs. 17.9%), and higher discharges to skilled nursing facilities (44.1% vs. 33.9%) (all p < 0.001). Conclusions: Over half of all AMI admissions receiving ECMO support develop one or more severe complications. Complications were associated with higher resource utilization during and after the index hospitalization.


The aim of the present work was to simulate the oxygenation of the whole retina under normal conditions as well as during retinal ischemia. A differential equation describing how oxygen is transported from blood to tissue, diffuses through the tissue and is consumed according to Michaelis–Menten kinetics was constructed. The outer retina was divided into three regions of which one was set to have consumption. The inner retina was considered as one uniform region with respect to maximal rate of oxygen consumption and blood flow. The results suggest that extreme hyperoxia would be needed to make the choroid capable of supplying the whole retina during total retinal artery occlusion and moreover confirm that light might to some extent be beneficial. As supplying 100% oxygen by nose cannula or common oxygen mask can hardly increase the arterial oxygen tension to the levels needed to rescue the whole retina, the effects of oxygen treatment of total retinal artery occlusion are expected to be modest, both in darkness and light, unless a non-rebreather face mask system is used.


Traveling wave tubes (TWTs) are vacuum devices invented in the early 1940s for amplification of radio frequency power. These devices are critical for radar, communications, and electronic warfare missions in the military, as well as in commercial applications. The physics-based design and simulation code CHRISTINE-1D was used in the past to explore different TWT circuit designs and to automate the process of parameter estimation. However, the current capability of CHRISTINE-1D allows optimization of only helix TWT designs and includes a limited number of optimization goal functions. In addition, the current optimizer in CHRISTINE-1D employs a modified steepest descent method to carry out the optimization process. The objectives of this paper are threefold: (1) to investigate optimization techniques that may be better suited for this problem (for example, simplex type methods such as Nelder-Mead and Dividing Rectangles); (2) to allow optimization of nonhelix TWTs; and (3) to implement new optimization goal functions. Finally, to show the feasibility of our approach, we apply our optimization algorithms to the problem of designing a folded waveguide slow-wave circuit.


There is; an emergence of Internet applications that have real-time requirements. These applications require IP to support guaranteed capacity, higher priority and lower packet loss rate. To address this, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is developing a set of protocols and standards for Integrated Services on the Internet. Using RSVP and policies to manage the allocation of network resources in order to provide different levels of service is a topic of great interest to service providers. Currently, it is not possible to dynamically reallocate resources during an application's session. This paper discusses how policies in conjunction with new service class can provide a more enhanced network resource allocation by allowing for this dynamic reallocation.


Presented in this paper are the results of closed-loop control experiments using a virtual permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive implemented on a field- programmable gate array (FPGA) card connected to an external controller. The FPGA-based PMSM motor drive is implemented on an eDRIVEsim simulator, based on the RT-LAB platform. The eDRIVEsim simulator implements 2 types of motor drive models, Park (d-q) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA), on an FPGA card of the simulator. The FPGA-based motor model is designed with Xilinx System Generator (XSG) blockset with no HDL hand coding. Both motor models compute motor currents using a phase-domain algorithm solver that can take into account the instantaneous variation of inductance and non-sinusoidal induced voltage. The FEA-type model uses inductance and Back-EMF profiles computed with JMAG-RT. The d-q model uses sinusoidal induced Back-EMF voltage and phase inductance values computed from Ld and Lq using the well-known Park transformation. A 3-phase IGBT inverter implemented in the FPGA chip drives the PMSM machine. The PWM controller is designed using Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP) methodology based on Simulink. It is implemented on an separate RT-LAB system using standard Opal-RT FPGA-based I/O cards for Analog Input capture and PWM generation. The paper presents results from the closed-loop control of the PMSM drive in both current control and speed control modes and discusses the advantages of using such a virtual test bench for motor drives.


Based on the multi-sensor system, one energy-saving control method is provided to extend the working period of solar street lamp. The multi-sensor system applies infrared and sound sensors to collect and recognize the signal of man body, and then controls the switch time of lamp based on the lighting-control method, and adjusts the output power and lighting luminance dynamically. This new control method in this paper optimizes the distribution of storage batteries, and achieves the purpose of extending lighting period.


Rapidly shrinking tolerances and increasing fidelity of emerging additive layer systems are beginning to afford a new opportunity: the ability to design below the macroscopic scale. This is resulting in the engineering of hybrid materials in which every element of their properties can be prescribed at the point of design conception. Richard Beckett of the Digital Manufacturing Centre (DMC), London, and the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, and Sarat Babu of Betatype explore a potential new architecture that encompasses a scalar hierarchy of matter, enabling design to take place concurrently at scales ranging from the micrometre to the metre.


Rites of passage are rituals or ceremonies signifying an event in a person's life, indicative of a transition from one stage to another, as from adolescence to adulthood. The same can also be explained as ceremonies that mark important transitional periods in a person's life, such as birth, puberty, marriage, having children, and finally death. They usually involve ritual activities and teachings designed to strip individuals of their original roles and prepare them for new roles. Rites of passage are ceremonial events, existing in all historically known societies that mark the passage from one social or religious status to another. This paper elaborates on the importance of culture and traditions of childbirth among Apatanis and assesses the wealth of rites, customs, and traditions as wellas the wish of the people to have large families. This study helps tolearn more about the process of childbirth, associated with religious rites of theApatani people, viewed with the eyes of those that lived it in the last century. The analysis of the goal of this study uses theanalysis of secondary data and quality method of data collection through interviewson site, study of various primary and secondary sources of data as well as old publicationslinked with this study. The findings of this study point out that theApatanis has rich traditions, rites, practices, customs, and experiences that providea combination of the typical dresses of the area, diverse cuisine, and songs and dances formoments of joy of childbirth.


Introduction Minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass grafting (MIDCAB) offers arterial revascularization of the left anterior descending coronary artery especially in lesions unsuitable for percutaneous coronary interventions. By avoidance of sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass its invasivity is less than that of conventional bypass surgery. Methods A literature search of all published minimal invasive direct coronary artery bypass grafting studies was performed for the period from January 1995 through November 2011. Additionally, the authors reviewed their experience in more than one thousand patients treated by minimal invasive direct coronary artery bypass grafting within the last 14 years at their institution. Results Early mortally ranged from 1.2 to 1.3%. Midterm mortality ranged up to 3.2%. At 6-month follow up 3.6% grafts were occluded and 7.2% had a significant stenosis which resulted in target vessel revascularization in 3.3% of cases. The conversion rate to sternotomy or cardiopulmonary bypass ranged between 1.2 and 6.2%. Conclusions In the past MIDCAB was predominantly used in patients with isolated lesions of the left anterior descending coronary artery. In combination with percutaneous interventions it provides an attractive option for full revascularization in multi vessel disease especially in older patients with significant comorbidities. Overall minimal invasive direct coronary artery bypass grafting is associated with few perioperative complications and with high graft patency rates in the mid-term and long-term course.


Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been confirmed to play vital roles in tumorigenesis. LncRNA MYU has recently been reported as an oncogene in several kinds of tumors. However, MYU's expression status and potential involvement in ovarian cancer (OC) remain unclear. In this study, we explored the underlying role of MYU in OC. Methods and results: The expression of MYU was upregulated in OC tissues, and MYU's overexpression was significantly correlated with the FIGO stage and lymphatic metastasis. Knockdown of MYU inhibited cell proliferation in SKOV3 and A2780 cells. Mechanistically, MYU directly interacted with miR-6827-5p in OC cells; HMGA1 is a downstream target gene of miR-6827-5p. Furthermore, MYU knockdown increased the expression of miR-6827-5p and decreased the expression of HMGA1. Restoration of HMGA1 expression reversed the influence on cell proliferation caused by MYU knockdown. Conclusion: MYU functions as a ceRNA that positively regulates HMGA1 expression by sponging miR-6827-5p in OC cells, which may provide a potential target and biomarker for the diagnosis or prognosis of OC.


Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare immunodeficiency disorder. The inability of phagocytic cells to kill catalase-positive organisms, such as Staphylococcus and Aspergillus species, causes recurrent infections, persistent inflammation, and granuloma formation. The imaging findings in nine cases of CGD were studied. Recurrent pulmonary infection was the most common abnormality (seven cases). Its complications included pulmonary abscesses, bronchiectasis, mediastinal abscesses, osteomyelitis, sepsis, and brain abscesses. Suppurative cervical adenitis was the second most common abnormality (four cases) and was also the presenting abnormality in the youngest patient (aged 31 days). Abdominal manifestations included hepatosplenomegaly, recurrent hepatic and splenic abscesses, necrotic mesenteric adenopathy, and gastric outlet obstruction. Osteomyelitis occurred in two cases secondary to hematogenous spread or spread of contiguous infection from the lung. Persistent infections led to formation of chronic inflammatory masses and granulomas in five cases. With improvements in therapy, the prognosis of CGD patients has improved and the general consensus is that most patients will survive into adulthood. Hence, radiologists are more likely to encounter the complications of CGD and should familiarize themselves with the spectrum of imaging findings.


Air transport has evolved into a safe infrastructure due to a comprehensive set of safety standards covering all relevant aspects of flying. However, each standard has evolved independently and imposes specific, historically motivated, requirements that are not necessarily compatible. New challenges arise, such as punctuality and cost consciousness. General information technology trends, such as COTS and network-centric solutions, offer new opportunities to improve responsiveness and reduce time-to-market. The applicable air transport software safety standards for a specific integrated system are discussed. A comparison is made with software safety standards from the process, nuclear and medical industry, focussing on lessons-learned. The air transport case illustrates the need for and an opportunity to innovate software safety standardisation and certification and provides guidance for such standard innovation.


Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a disabling condition worldwide that presents as pain, maldigestion, and diabetes. It is usually perceived as alcohol related, or classified as idiopathic otherwise. However, this is true only for Western countries. Asian CP comprises not only alcohol‐related CP but also tropical pancreatitis (TP). Tropical pancreatitis is a unique entity commonly found in South Asia. It shares similar presentations with other CPs for pain and maldigestion. However, its diabetes is more ketosis resistant. Non‐surgical approach like endoscopic therapy plus extracoporeal shock wave lithotripsy provides better outcome for TP than other CPs, because of its less strictured pancreatic duct that is more amenable to endoscopic stone clearance. Diagnosis of CP in Asia mainly relies on image studies such as ultrasonography ± computed tomography (CT) scan, and non‐invasive tests on fecal chymotrypsin, serum trypsin, and serum pancreatic isoamylase. Endoscopic ultrasonography and intestinal tubing tests are used mainly in some research centers. Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is another CP originated from Asia in large series and subsequently being recognized in the West. AIP patients seldom present with maldigestion until the disease progresses to a very late stage and this occurs in less than one third of patients. In contrast, AIP is usually presented as pseudotumor of the pancreatic head, causing obstructive jaundice. Immunoglobulin G4 level is typically elevated in AIP and can be used as a marker for responsiveness. Without a need of surgery, steroids are the standard treatment. Those who relapse and are resistant to steroids should be placed on long‐term immunosuppressive agents.


Due to its broad range of applications, handwritten character recognition is widespread. Processing application forms, digitizing ancient articles, processing postal addresses, processing bank checks, and many other handwritten character processing fields are increasing in popularity. Since the last three decades, handwritten characters have drawn the attention of researchers. For successful recognition, several methods have been suggested. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of handwritten character recognition using a neural network as a machine learning tool.


The frequency of fever days was measured in 67 patients with acute leukemia in the initial phase until remission was obtained or the patient died. A total of 3411 hospital days were studied. Three antibiotic schedules were examined between 1970 and 1975. There were 50% fever days when penicillin and streptomycin were combined as initial antibiotics, 37% when cephalosporin and gentamycin were used, and 31% when, in addition, semi-isolation was used prophylactically and granulocytes were given in a therapeutic attempt (0.05 greater than p greater than 0.01). The corresponding frequencies of early death were 9/21 (43%), 6/23 (26%) and 5/23 (22%). Early death occurred on an average 14, 23 and 21 days after admission. The frequencies of remission (complete and partial) were 8/21 (38%), 12/23 (52%), and 13/23 (57%). A randomized subgroup (12 patients) with intestinal sterilization was studied separately. It had 28% fever days, which is significantly less (p less than 0.01) than in the 13 patients given the same systemic antibiotics without intestinal sterilization. Fever was significantly lower (0.05 greater than p greater than 0.01) on the day after a series of granulocyte transfusions than before, although only 10(9) granulocytes were given. However, this fever reduction may have been due to concomitant antibiotics.


We investigated the effects of the matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13)-selective inhibitor, 5-(4-{4-[4-(4-fluorophenyl)-1,3-oxazol-2-yl]phenoxy}phenoxy)-5-(2-methoxyethyl) pyrimidine-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-trione (Cmpd-1), on the primary tumor growth and breast cancer-associated bone remodeling using xenograft and syngeneic mouse models. We used human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells inoculated into the mammary fat pad and left ventricle of BALB/c Nu/Nu mice, respectively, and spontaneously metastasizing 4T1.2-Luc mouse mammary cells inoculated into mammary fat pad of BALB/c mice. In a prevention setting, treatment with Cmpd-1 markedly delayed the growth of primary tumors in both models, and reduced the onset and severity of osteolytic lesions in the MDA-MB-231 intracardiac model. Intervention treatment with Cmpd-1 on established MDA-MB-231 primary tumors also significantly inhibited subsequent growth. In contrast, no effects of Cmpd-1 were observed on soft organ metastatic burden following intracardiac or mammary fat pad inoculations of MDA-MB-231 and 4T1.2-Luc cells respectively. MMP13 immunostaining of clinical primary breast tumors and experimental mice tumors revealed intra-tumoral and stromal expression in most tumors, and vasculature expression in all. MMP13 was also detected in osteoblasts in clinical samples of breast-to-bone metastases. The data suggest that MMP13-selective inhibitors, which lack musculoskeletal side effects, may have therapeutic potential both in primary breast cancer and cancer-induced bone osteolysis.


Background: There are only few studies about diabetes in rural area in Indonesia. Epidemiological study are needed to formulate health policy of disease management in specific area. The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of diabetes and knowledge of diabetes among the community in Nangapanda Village, Ende District, East Nusa Tenggara. Methods: A cross-sectional study "Ende Diabetes Study" was conducted in Nangapanda Village. This study use cluster random sampling method to a total number of 19756 residents in Nangapanda village. From the sampling frame of 1800 adult subjects who underwent screening with glucometer in 2008 and 2009, 125 subjects have been diagnosed as diabetes or impaired fasting glucose (IFG). All of the subjects who were diagnosed as diabetes or IFG from the previous screening and 218 subjects from control (normal subjects in the 2008 and 2009 screening) were included in the present study. Each subject underwent general anamnesis, nutritional interview, complete physical examinations, and laboratory test (blood and urine). The data were analyzed using SPSS 13.0. Ressult: There were 343 subjects in this study. The prevalence of diabetes in Nangapanda using blood glucose criteria (using fasting and post-glucose load values) was 2%; using post glucose load criteria, the prevalence of DM was 1.56%; while with HbA1c criteria, the prevalence was 2.83%. The prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) was 2.2%, and IFG was 6.2%. A number of 71.1% Nangapanda residents have sufficient knowledge about diabetes. Conclusion: Prevalence of diabetes in Nangapanda (using fasting and post-glucose load criteria) was 2% and 1.56% (using post-glucose load values). As much as 71.1% of Nangapanda residents have sufficient knowledge about diabetes. (Med J Indones. 2013;22:30-8) Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Ende Diabetes Study, prevalence, rural Indonesia


The open-framework alkaline-earth metal borophosphate, lithium dicopper(II) borophosphate dihydroxide, LiCu2BP2O8(OH)2, was synthesized hydrothermally. Its structure may be regarded as a layer formed via BO4 and PO4 tetrahedra bonding together with distorted CuO6 and LiO6 octahedral units. Each P atom is connected to B, Li and Cu atoms through a bridging O atom. The B atom lies on a crystallographic twofold axis and the Li atom lies on a center of symmetry. The two metal centers are connected to each other by Cu—O—Li bonds.


Author(s): Schmidgall, Jonathan Edgar | Advisor(s): Bachman, Lyle F | Abstract: Research suggests that listener perceptions of a speaker's oral language use, or a speaker's comprehensibility, may be influenced by a variety of speaker-, listener-, and context-related factors. Primary speaker factors include aspects of the speaker's proficiency in the target language such as pronunciation and grammatical accuracy, and domain-related skills (e.g., teaching skills). Listener factors include proficiency in the target language, attitudes towards the speaker, familiarity with the speaker's native language or accent, familiarity with the speaker's topic, and familiarity with non-native speakers or speech in general. Finally, a variety of contextual factors may play a role including the norms of interaction or interpretation, speech form and content, and purpose of communication. Although previous research has identified many of these factors, none of the studies reviewed have attempted to integrate many of these factors into a larger conceptual model. Research that has examined the relationships between several of these factors has been limited by small sample sizes, constrained or inauthentic speech samples, and homogenous groups of speakers or listeners.The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among naive listener perceptions of oral language use and speaker, listener, and contextual factors within a single model, using the framework of structural equation modeling. The conceptual model evaluated by this study may be viewed in several different ways: first, as an interactive model of oral language use centered on listener perceptions of the speaker; second, as a model of the relationships among teacher- and student-related factors that influence a teacher's comprehensibility to students in an academic domain.The results of this study support an interactional perspective on oral language use which holds that both speaker- and listener-related factors influence comprehensibility. In this study, comprehensibility was predicted by speaker-related factors including components of oral proficiency and teaching effectiveness, and listener-related factors such as perceptions of the speaker's personality, attitude towards the speaker, and interest in the speaker's topic. The results have practical implications for language teaching and education policy, and emphasize an important consideration for oral proficiency assessments in this domain: providing sufficient information about "real world" constructs to make appropriate decisions.


Performances of spectrally efficient multi level modulation schemes in chaotic optical communication systems are demonstrated numerically. In this paper we report usage of multi level modulation schemes in the form of QDPASK (quadrature differential phase amplitude shift keying) and IHAP (independent hybrid amplitude/phase modulation). Return to zero (RZ) pulse profiled QDPASK signal is added to the chaotic waveform and successfully retrieved. IHAP modulation of chaos is carried out and successful recovery of data is shown along with comparison with RZ-QDPASK. Successful recovery of message encoded in both schemes is shown heralding in improvement of bit rate 3 times than the ordinary chaotic optical communication system with only amplitude encoding


During the early 1930s the private trading banks came under sustained attack from sections of the Australian Labor Party and the Country Party, and from supporters of Major C.H. Douglas. Repeated calls for bank nationalisation or "socialisation of credit" or "social credit" heightened tensions within the banks and conservative political circles. In response, the banks secretly funded a nationwide campaign in support of the Lyons government in the lead-up to the 1934 federal election. While the campaign was successful, the outcome resulted in the establishment of a Royal Commission to investigate the banking sector. The Royal Commission's recommendations and the Lyons government's proposed banking legislation were about providing greater government control of the sector. Opposition from the Bank of New South Wales and its supporters during the late 1930s helped forestall the legislation. The onset of war and, in 1941, initiatives from the federal Curtin Labor government and the National Security (Wartime Banking Control) Regulations ended what was a decade-long struggle waged by the trading banks against greater government control of the banking sector.


Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the factors involved in the pathogenesis of various gastrointestinal diseases and may play a potential role in certain extra-intestinal diseases. H. pylori infection are mainly acquired during childhood, and it has been reported that in endemic areas of China the infection rates are extraordinarily higher in HSP children, particular those with abdominal manifestations. Furthermore, eradication therapy may ameliorate Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) manifestations and decrease the recurrence of HSP. Therefore, results suggested that detection of H. pylori infection by appropriate method ought to be applied in HSP children. Current evidences indicate that local injury of gastric mucosa and immunological events induced by H. pylori infection are involved in the development of HSP. Increased serum IgA, cryoglobulins, C3 levels, autoimmunity, proinflammatory substances and molecular mimicry inducing immune complex and cross-reactive antibodies caused by H. pylori infection might play their roles in the course of HSP. However, there are no investigations confirming the causality between H. pylori infection and HSP, and the pathogenesis mechanism is still unclear. More bench and clinical studies need to be executed to elaborate the complex association between H. pylori and HSP.


Acalypha hispida leaf extracts are used locally for the treatment of skin infections. We sought to obtain laboratory-based evidence for this practice by evaluating the antibacterial activity of this extract against local isolates of bacteria obtained from skin lesions and wounds. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts were evaluated using the agar well diffusion method against Staphylococcus aureus , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Streptococcus pyogenes , Escherichia coli , Klebsiella species, and Salmonella typhimurium . S. aureus (ATCC standard and local) and Ps. Aeruginosa isolates were sensitive to all the extracts but one. E. coli (ATCC standard and local), S. enterica serovar typhimurium and Klebsiella species were only sensitive to the soxhlet leaf extracts while S. pyogenes was sensitive to only the ethanolic soxhlet extract. Though there was no statistically significant difference in the antibacterial activity of the 5-days and 14-days neat extracts obtained by soaking in water (p = 0.13) and ethanol (p = 0.08), their antibacterial activity decreased with longer soaking periods. Likewise, there was no significant difference in the antibacterial activity of the neat water and ethanolic soxhlet extracts (p = 0.48). The results show that A. hispida leaf extracts showed some in vitro antibacterial activity and that aqueous extraction using heat would be the preferred option. Keywords : Acalypha hispida , antibacterial, skin infections, aqueous extract, ethanolic extract Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences Vol. 5 (2) 2006: 12-16


Members of my research laboratory combine clinical, genetic, and molecular biologic approaches to the study of congenital strabismus. Strabismus, which is misalignment of the eyes, affects 2–4% of the population and causes loss of binocular vision and amblyopia (vision loss in a structurally normal eye). The cause of strabismus when it occurs in the absence of structural brain abnormalities is generally unknown. In the last decade, we have focused our research studies on understanding the genetic etiology of a series of complex strabismus syndromes in which eye movement in at least one direction is limited or paralyzed. We are discovering that these disorders result from mutations in genes necessary for the normal development and connectivity of brainstem ocular motoneurons, including PHOX2A, SALL4, KIF21A, ROBO3, and HOXA1, and we now refer to these syndromes as the "congenital cranial dysinnervation disorders," or CCDD.


Traditional credit scorecards are generalized additive models (GAMs) with step functions as the component functions. The shapes of the step functions may be constrained in order to satisfy the PILE (Palatability, Interpretability, Legal, Explain-ability) constraints. Before 2003, FICO used Linear Programming to find the traditional scorecard that approximately maximizes divergence subject to the PILE constraints. In this paper, I introduce the Liquid Scorecard, that allows the component functions to be, at least partially, smooth curves. I use Quadratic Programming and B-Spline theory to find the Liquid Scorecard that exactly maximizes divergence subject to the PILE constraints. FICO uses aspects of this technology to develop the famous FICO Credit Score.


The bright red gape of the nestling common cuckoo Cuculus canorus has often been supposed to act as a supernormal stimulus to elicit provisioning from its foster parents. Parents of three main host species were tested for their response to their own nestlings with artificially reddened gapes. Robins, dunnocks and reed warblers allocated no more food to red-mouthed nestlings than to control nestlings in the same nest, and manipulations of the gape colour of whole broods of reed warblers revealed no effect on provisioning rates. Our data do not support the hypothesis that there is a universal parental preference for redder gapes in opennesting passerines, or that the bright red gape of nestling cuckoos has evolved to exploit parental preferences in these three hosts. We suggest that although mouth colour has little influence on the allocation of feeds resulting from sibling competition and begging intensity in these species, it may have a role under certain conditions.


This work proposes Pointy, a software assisted hardware pointer prefetcher for Java applications. Pointy exploits the strengths of both software and hardware. Its runtime software component communicates points-to relationships between objects to the underlying hardware. This points-to information is maintained and tracked in any managed runtime that implements automatic garbage collection. Pointy stores the object connectivity information in a separate hardware structure and uses it to generate timely pointer prefetches. To achieve a low-cost hardware implementation, Pointy spills the object metadata to the conventional memory hierarchy and retrieves it only when needed. Taking advantage of its hybrid design, Pointy can selectively communicate points-to metadata to the hardware based on class profiling that is readily available at the runtime level, while impractical to extract at the hardware level. Experimental results show that Pointy improves performance for pointer intensive benchmarks even in the presence of conventional prefetchers. When used in conjunction with traditional prefetchers, such as striding and next line, Pointy improves application performance by 53% for SpecJBB 2005 and by 72% on average1, which represents a speedup of 19% and 18%, respectively, compared to traditional prefetchers.


Semantic models of the environment can significantly improve navigation and decision making capabilities of autonomous robots or enhance level of human and robot interaction. We present a novel approach for semantic segmentation of street scene images into coherent regions, while simultaneously categorizing each region as one of the predefined categories representing commonly encountered object and background classes. We formulate the segmentation on small blob-based superpixels and exploit a visual vocabulary tree as an intermediate image representation. The main novelty of our approach is the introduction of an explicit model of spatial co-occurrence of visual words associated with superpixels and utilization of appearance, geometry and contextual cues in a probabilistic framework. We demonstrate how individual cues contribute towards global segmentation accuracy and how their combination yields superior performance compared with the best known method on the challenging benchmark dataset which exhibits diversity of street scenes with varying viewpoints, a large number of categories, captured in daylight and dusk.


The current crisis in Ukraine has not only caused endless human suffering, but also implies to the European Countries neighboring at Ukraine borders an important humanitarian task. However, currently in some journals concerns are raised against an immediate aid policy and towards uncontrolled receiving of refugees. These critics refer to the financial challenge of the European Community and raise concerns towards health hazards and public health risks probably linked to this humanitarian crisis.


A general class of hypercube structures is presented in this paper for interconnecting a network of microcomputers in parallel and distributed environments. The interconnection is based on a mixed radix number system and the technique results in a variety of hypercube structures for a given number of processors N, depending on the desired diameter of the network. A cost optimal realization is obtained through a process of discrete optimization. The performance of such a structure is compared to that of other existing hypercube structures such as Boolean n-cube and nearest neighbor mesh computers.


Current context-aware services make the assumption that the context they are dealing with is correct. However, in reality, both sensed and interpreted context is often imperfect. In this paper, we describe an architecture that supports the building of context-aware services that assume context is imperfect and allows for the refinement of this imperfect context by mobile users in aware-environments. We discuss the architectural mechanisms and design heuristics that arise from supporting this refinement over space and time. We illustrate the use of our architecture and heuristics through two example context-aware services, an In-Out Board for the home and a situation-aware reminder tool.


A new dispersion relation, and associated stability criteria, is derived for low-n external kink and infernal modes, and is applied to modelling the stability properties of quiescent H-mode like regimes. The analysis, performed in toroidal geometry with large edge pressure gradients associated with a local flattening of the safety factor, includes a pedestal, sheared toroidal rotation and a vacuum region separating the plasma from an ideal metallic wall. The external kink-infernal modes found here exhibit similarities with experimentally observed edge harmonic oscillations.


Richard Trim makes an attempt to track the evolution of the use of metaphors in languages/ literatures across Europe. The European literature from the pre-Christian Greek and Roman times through medieval literatures exhibits a strong linkage in the figurative use of language(s) but in the modern European languages he finds a tendency to exhibit differences in metaphor coinages, which is primarily due to the influence of various social-religious movements. Trim claims, for example, that ''despite a common cultural heritage, European languages reveal a distinct cleavage in the second phase of the drugs scenario'' (70). While presenting ''a case study of the evolution of love metaphor,'' he remarks: ''Different cultural concepts of love are reflected in metaphor. These differences are often explained by a culture's history which, particularly in the case of English, is often linked to religion'' (174–75). He describes an episode from 1930 in which the anthropologist Audrey Richards recounts his experience among the Bemba of Northern Rhodesia: ''an English folk-fable about a young prince who climbed glass mountains, crossed chasms, and fought dragons, all to obtain the hand of the maiden he loved. The Bemba were plainly bewildered,'' but ''finally, an old chief voicing the feelings of all those present asked: 'Why not take another girl''' (174). There is a useful discussion on homonymy and polysemy (92ff.) where the author looks at the creation and expansion of metaphors through such sense relations. He also accounts for vagueness and ambiguity, culture specific metaphors (like colour terms), and theories of culture/metaphor, including John Searle's description of ''dead metaphors.'' Prototype theory, although much critiqued, does offer ''a starting point in understanding how basic metaphor structures are extended to new metaphor creation'' (18). The use of mother tongue/country can, for example, be seen as an extension of the ''core'' concept 'mother.' Since in Latin both mother and father were used with these connotations, one finds, for example, the German ''father-land'' (vaterland). He suggests that ''most figurative concepts are in some way conceptually linked to others. They appear at different levels: one word or multiple word metaphors or metonyms, a short idiomatic phrase or proverbial expression, long passages of personification or extensive areas of experience involving the conceptualization of a single mapping base'' (19). Metaphor Networks provides a rich critical overview of various theories of metaphor. It will be of immense value to scholars, and students of semantics, translation, and historical linguistics.