Despite the overwhelming evidence in support of the efficacy of dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel, it is also obvious that not all patients benefit from these drugs to the same extent. This interindividual variability in platelet responses may underlie clinical differences in drug efficacy, with potential for optimization of antiplatelet therapy to prevent ischemic events without excessively increasing bleeding risk. This review presents the current evidence regarding platelet function testing for monitoring of antiplatelet therapy, with emphasis on the prognostic value of platelet function testing to predict ischemic and bleeding events. The potential of platelet function testing to provide personalized antiplatelet therapy is also discussed, with an outlook toward the future of platelet function testing in high-risk individuals.


Spoken language perception may be constrained by a listener's cognitive resources, including verbal working memory (WM) capacity and basic auditory per- ception mechanisms. For Japanese listeners, it is unknown how, or even if, these resources are involved in the processing of pitch accent at the word level. The present study examined the extent to which native Japanese speakers could make correct- ness judgments on and categorize spoken Japanese words by pitch accent pattern, and how verbal WM capacity and acoustic pitch sensitivity related to perception ability. Results showed that Japanese listeners were highly accurate at judging pitch accent correctness (M = 93%), but that the more cognitively demanding accent categorization task yielded notably lower performance (M = 61%). Of chief interest was the finding that acoustic pitch sensitivity significantly predicted accuracy scores on both perception tasks, while verbal WM had a predictive role only for the catego- rization of a specific accent pattern. These results indicate first, that task demands greatly influence accuracy and second, that basic cognitive capacities continue to support perception of lexical prosody even in adult listeners.


The purpose of this study was to analyse the health systems in Spain, Italy and Portugal from the perspective of the Southern European countries Social Protection. Through a review of the sanitary regulations, health plans and literature on specific health experiences, published in recent years in Spain, Italy and Portugal, the practices of participation, in these three countries, were studied. Some of the research results are noteworthy: a) Citizens' participation in the decision making process on health has become the focus of attention of the public policies only after the 1990; b) there has been a significant progress in the regulatory framework and in the acknowledgement of users' rights; c) the development and implementation of participatory mechanisms were insufficient and limited to certain regions.


With the advancement of networking and mobile devices, more and more mobile business processes are automated and supported using the technologies. Mobile businesses processes are naturally exposed to uncertainty and dynamic changes that require distributed coordination. In large business organizations, the complexity of the processes also makes central control difficult due to the large number of variables to consider and mobile workers involved. To this end, this paper presents a flexible coordination mechanism for mobile workforce where multiple task assignment models are used together to adapt to dynamic changes and achieve efficiency. The overall system is flexible in that the assignment models are easily added because they are constructed as components, and the switch between assignment models are easy using manual or automated transition between the models. An example application of the model is presented using a real telecommunication organization in Europe where field workers install and repair telecommunication networks for customers.


This study aimed to investigate the expression and clinical significance of HOX Transcript Antisense RNA (HOTAIR) in endometrial carcinoma, and discuss its correlation with transforming growth factor- β1 (TGF-β1) in EC tissue. Sixty patients with EC were enrolled. The EC tissue and cancer adjacent tissue (control) were collected. The expressions of HOTAIR and TGF-β1 mRNA in EC and adjacent tissue were determined using real-time quantitative PCR. Results showed that, the relative expression levels of HOTAIR and TGF-β1 mRNA in EC tissue were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissue (P<0.05). The expression of HOTAIR mRNA was significantly correlated with pathological grade, muscular invasion depth and clinical stage of EC (P<0.05), and that of TGF-β1 mRNA was significantly correlated with muscular invasion depth and clinical stage of EC (P<0.05). In EC tissue the expressions of HOTAIR and TGF-β1 mRNA were positively correlated (r=0.676, P<0.05). There was significant difference of overall survival of patients between high and low HOTAIR expression groups (χ2=4.346, P<0.05). The abnormal expression of HOTAIR may be involved in the occurrence and development of EC. The expression of HOTAIR is positively correlated with TGF-β1 expression in EC tissue.


"The article focuses on the rhetorical strategies used by three early eighteenth-century Swedish travellers to convey their image of Italy. Departing from Chloe Chard's idea of a particular "imaginative topography", designating the rhetorical and theoretical strategies used by Grand Tour travellers to describe a foreign and unfamiliar landscape, I analyse letters and memoirs by the three Swedish in order to show how their experience of Italy are presented and transformed in relation to the conditions and motives preceding their journeys. The three personalities I consider – scientist Anders Celsius (1701-1744), count Nils Bielke (1706-1765) and admiral Carl Tersmeden (1715-1797) – were all, in different ways, representative of a particular period in Swedish history, the Age of Liberty ("Frihetstiden", 1719-1772), that was characterised by fervent cultural and political debates leading to important reforms. The particularities of this time are evident in the travel writings of Celsius, Bielke and Tersmeden. Their often contradictory experiences of Italy are described through hyperboles, similitudes, and other rhetorical devices to express feelings of admiration and, at the same time, dissociation. How these feelings are conveyed in the different texts, with which aims, and, in particular, with which rhetorical strategies, are the questions I direct to their writings in order to present their images of Italy in the Age of Liberty. "


Heart rate reactivity has been conceptualized, at least implicitly, as a unidimensional construct ranging from low to high, reflecting individual differences in adrenergic reactivity to daily stressors. However, an individual's classification as high in heart rate reactivity ignores possible individual differences in the autonomic origins of this reactivity. Sixty-eight women were exposed to orthostatic and speech stressors to determine the psychometric properties (postural stability, convergent and discriminant validity) of heart rate, preejection period, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Results revealed that (a) basal, stress, simple reactivity (stress - baseline), and residualized change indices of heart rate, preejection period, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia were stable across postures and (b) heart rate reactivity was significantly related to preejection period and respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity, whereas the latter two measures were unrelated. Reactivity classifications may therefore be significantly improved by attention to concurrent estimates of the activity of both autonomic branches.


In this study, we examined the mechanical behavior of nanocomposite films based on polyethylene (PE) and pristine PE films. The films were prepared by film blowing and were then cold-drawn at low temperature. The experimental results show that cold drawing significantly enhanced the orientation; with increasing draw ratio (DR), the elastic modulus and tensile strength of the PE films strongly increased, particularly in the presence of the organoclay. To obtain polymeric films suitable for twist wrapping, the films must be sufficiently stiff so that no shrinkage or elastic recovery occur during or after twisting. The elongation at break and the yield strain sharply decreased with orientation, mainly in films upon drawing. According to the mechanical behavior, the twist angle increased with increasing DR and, particularly, with the addition of nanoclay, probably because of the applied DR, which reduced the nanoparticle size and, as a consequence, hindered the applied torsional elastic recovery. Therefore, the nanocomposite film with a higher DR was particularly suitable for twist-wrapping applications. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011


The objective of the paper is to present material and numerical models needed to simulate with accuracy the full carburizing process of an automotive gear. The rough dimensions of the gear studied are 120mm in diameter and 45mm in height. From a numerical standpoint, as the carburizing affects only a thin layer under the surface, the mesh discretization must be adapted. Consequently, anisotropic mesh is used to describe accurately this zone. The temporal discretization must be also adapted to follow carbon diffusion and thermal evolution. The material models represent metallurgical phenomena during the complete carburizing process. The initial heating of the part induces phases transformation due to austenization. Subsequently, while holding at carburizing temperature, boundary conditions are applied to diffuse carbon into the part. While carbon content increases next to the surface, austenitic metallurgical grain growth is also modelled. A final cooling sets the properties of the carburized part. The model takes into account the phase changes using phase transformation diagrams locally adapted to chemical compositions and grain sizes. Simulation is used to predict the in-use properties of the gear at the end of the carburizing process as well as important results such as assessment of distortion and residual stresses. Thermal stresses, volume variation due to phase changes, and transformation plasticity all contribute to establish the final mechanical properties of the part. During the complete process, the material is modelled with an elasto-viscoplastic behavior and mixing methods are used to consider the relative contribution of each phase.


Over the last 10 years, the systemic treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer has progressively moved away from the 'one-size-fits-all' approach to histological subtyping. Currently, there is a progressive implementation of targeted therapies based on specific molecular characteristics such as the EGF receptor sensitizing mutations and the anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearrangements. Despite the availability of effective agents against these abnormalities, acquired resistance is still a major issue. A new generation of tyrosine kinase inhibitors for EGF receptor and anaplastic lymphoma kinase targeting acquired resistance mechanisms have been recently investigated. Several promising tyrosine kinase inhibitors that hit other targets are also in clinical development, including: rat sarcoma gene/MEK, BRAF1, PIK3A, c-mesenchymal-epithelial transition, c-ros oncogene 1, rearranged during transfection, human EGFR 2, FGFR, VEGFR, PDGFR and discoidin death receptor 2. Furthermore, new advances in immunology have been achieved through the discovery of vaccines and immune checkpoint pathways such as the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4, programmed cell death protein 1 and its ligands.


Introduction: The PD-1 receptor-ligand pathway can be used by tumors to evade immune surveillance, thereby allowing neoplastic growth. Pembrolizumab is a highly selective, humanized IgG4/kappa isotype mAb designed to block PD-1 interaction with its ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2, thereby reactivating the immune system to eradicate tumors. Methods: This is a multi-center, non-randomized trial of single agent MK-3475 treatment given intravenously at 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks, in patients with recurrent/metastatic triple-negative (ER, PR, and HER2 negative) breast cancer (TNBC). PD-L1 expression in tumor or stroma was required for study entry. PD-L1 status was determined by immunohistochemical analysis of patient's tumor tissues using the Merck proprietary 22C3 antibody. Primary objectives of this study were to determine the safety, tolerability, and anti-tumor activity of MK-3475 in patients with PD-L1 positive, advanced TNBC. Secondary objectives included assessments of progression-free survival, overall survival, and response duration. Adverse events (AEs) reported in any patient receiving at least 1 dose of study treatment were monitored and graded using NCI CTCAE v. 4.0. Radiographic imaging was obtained every 8 weeks and evaluated by both investigator and an independent radiologist to assess clinical responses as defined by RECIST 1.1. This study (Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01848834) is being conducted in conformance with Good Clinical Practices. Results: A total of 32 female patients with a median age of 50.5 years (range 29 – 72 years) with PD-L1 positive, recurrent/metastatic TNBC were enrolled in the study. Most of these patients had received and progressed on multiple lines of therapy for advanced disease. A preliminary analysis of data collected as of 23May2014 indicates that 5 patients (15.6%) experienced at least one drug-related serious adverse event (SAE); each of 4 patients experienced one of the following: Grade 3 anemia, headache, aseptic meningitis or pyrexia, and a fifth patient experienced disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) with thrombocytopenia and decreased blood fibrinogen. The patient who experienced DIC died. Preliminary analysis of data collected from investigators as of 23May2014 indicates that no patient had a complete response, 16.1% of patients had a partial response, 9.7% had stable disease, and 64.5% had progressive disease. As of 23May2014, all but one of the responders, in addition to three patients with stable disease, remain on treatment. Conclusion: This is the first report of clinical activity of an immune checkpoint inhibitor in TNBC. The preliminary results from this study suggest that single agent MK-3475 is a well-tolerated and effective treatment with significant therapeutic activity in a subset of heavily pre-treated patients with recurrent/metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Citation Format: Rita Nanda, Laura Q Chow, E Claire Dees, Raanan Berger, Shilpa Gupta, Ravit Geva, Lajos Pusztai, Marisa Dolled-Filhart, Kenneth Emancipator, Edward J Gonzalez, Jennifer Houp, Kumudu Pathiraja, Vassiliki Karantza, Robert Iannone, Christine K Gause, Johnathan D Cheng, Laurence Buisseret. A phase Ib study of pembrolizumab (MK-3475) in patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr S1-09.


We model and study the problem of localizing a set of sparse forcing inputs for linear dynamical systems from noisy measurements when the initial state is unknown. This problem is of particular relevance to detecting forced oscillations in electric power networks. We express measurements as an additive model comprising the initial state and inputs grouped over time, both expanded in terms of the basis functions (i.e., impulse response coefficients). Using this model, with probabilistic guarantees, we recover the locations and simultaneously estimate the initial state and forcing inputs using a variant of the group LASSO (linear absolute shrinkage and selection operator) method. Specifically, we provide a tight upper bound on: (i) the probability that the group LASSO estimator wrongly identifies the source locations, and (ii) the $\ell_2$-norm of the estimation error. Our bounds explicitly depend upon the length of the measurement horizon, the noise statistics, the number of inputs and sensors, and the singular values of impulse response matrices. Our theoretical analysis is one of the first to provide a complete treatment for the group LASSO estimator for linear dynamical systems under input-to-output delay assumptions. Finally, we validate our results on synthetic models and the IEEE 68-bus, 16-machine system.


BACKGROUND
 Traditional methods of delivering Advanced Life Support (ALS) training and reaccreditation are resource-intensive and costly. Interactive simulations and gameplay using virtual reality (VR) technology can complement traditional training processes as a cost-effective, engaging, and flexible training tool.

 OBJECTIVE
 This exploratory study aimed to determine the specific user needs of clinicians engaging with a new interactive VR ALS simulation (ALS-SimVR) application to inform the ongoing development of such training platforms.

 METHODS
 Semistructured interviews were conducted with experienced clinicians (n=10, median age=40.9 years) following a single playthrough of the application. All clinicians have been directly involved in the delivery of ALS training in both clinical and educational settings (median years of ALS experience=12.4; all had minimal or no VR experience). Interviews were supplemented with an assessment of usability (using heuristic evaluation) and presence.

 RESULTS
 The ALS-SimVR training app was well received. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed five main areas of user needs that can inform future design efforts for creating engaging VR training apps: affordances, agency, diverse input modalities, mental models, and advanced roles.

 CONCLUSIONS
 This study was conducted to identify the needs of clinicians engaging with ALS-SimVR. However, our findings revealed broader design considerations that will be crucial in guiding future work in this area. Although aligning the training scenarios with accepted teaching algorithms is important, our findings reveal that improving user experience and engagement requires careful attention to technology-specific issues such as input modalities.


This article first summarizes our previous work on Educational Modelling and Visual Editors, to provide the context for our more recent work within the LORNET [1] research network that has led to the development of TELOS, an ontology-based system to support the design, development and delivery of Semantic Web learning environments. Within that system, a central piece is the Scenario Editor that enables the aggregation of resources (actors, activities, operations, documents, tools) into a visual multi-actor workflow/learnflow, which is the central model defining the environment. Another piece is the Ontology Editor that is used to associate execution and domain knowledge semantics to entities in the scenario. Using these tools, a new version of the Planet Game scenario has been build as a case study including an IMS-LD design at level A, B, C. We will analyze the case study to underline how it addresses some difficulties in the use of the IMS-LD specification. Finally, we will discuss the generality of this ontology-driven approach and this contribution to the field of educational modelling. Editors: Laurence Vignollet (Universite de Savoie, France). Interactive elements: Collage authoring tool is published in SourceForge and can be also downloaded from http://gsic.tel.uva.es/collage


Existing Web browsers handle security errors in a manner that often confuses users. In particular, when a user visits a secure site whose certificate the browser cannot verify, the browser typically allows the user to view and install the certificate and connect to the site despite the verification failure. However, few users understand the risk of man-in-the-middle attacks and the principles behind certificate-based authentication. We propose context-sensitive certificate verification (CSCV), whereby the browser interrogates the user about the context in which a certificate verification error occurs. Considering the context, the browser then guides the user in handling and possibly overcoming the security error. We also propose specific password warnings (SPW) when users are about to send passwords in a form vulnerable to eavesdropping. We performed user studies to evaluate CSCV and SPW. Our results suggest that CSCV and SPW can greatly improve Web browsing security and are easy to use even without training. Moreover, CSCV had greater impact than did staged security training.


Background and aims: When to perform oesophagectomy for neoplastic progression in Barrett's oesophagus is controversial. Some resect for high grade dysplasia whereas others defer treatment until intramucosal adenocarcinoma is diagnosed. Interobserver agreement for a diagnosis of high grade dysplasia or intramucosal adenocarcinoma remains unknown and may have therapeutic implications. Methods: Histological slides from 75 oesophagectomy specimens with high grade dysplasia or T1 adenocarcinoma were blindly reviewed by two gastrointestinal pathologists and one general surgical pathologist, and classified as high grade dysplasia, intramucosal adenocarcinoma, or submucosal adenocarcinoma. A subsequent re-review of all 75 cases by the same observers following establishment of uniform histological criteria was undertaken. Interobserver agreement was determined by kappa statistics. Coefficients <0.21, 0.21–0.40, 0.41–0.60, 0.61–0.80, and >0.80 were considered poor, fair, moderate, good, and very good agreement, respectively. Results: Interobserver agreement among all pathologists and between gastrointestinal pathologists when comparing high grade dysplasia with intramucosal adenocarcinoma was only fair (k=0.42; 0.56, respectively) and did not substantially improve on subsequent re-evaluation following establishment of uniform histological criteria (K=0.50; 0.61, respectively). Conclusions: When evaluating resection specimens and after implementation of uniform histological criteria, even experienced gastrointestinal pathologists frequently disagree on a diagnosis of high grade dysplasia versus intramucosal adenocarcinoma. Treatment strategies based on the histological distinction of high grade dysplasia from intramucosal adenocarcinoma using limited biopsy specimens should be re-evaluated.


Berberis aristata (Berberidaceae) is an important medicinal plant and found in the different region of the world. It has
significant medicinal value in the traditional Indian and Chinese system of medicine. The aim of the present investigation
was undertaken to find out the phytochemical presence and Antimicrobial activity of aqueous and alcholic extract of
Berberis aristata. Present study includes determination of phytochemical analysis, antimicrobial study and estimation of
total flavonoid content. Preliminary phytochemical analysis showed the presence of carbohydrate, glycoside, alkaloid and
flavonoid. Total flavonoid content was found to be 0.98%. Antimicrobial activity shows good positive result with gram
positive bacteria. According to observed result it can be said that the concentration of 50µg/ml of plant extracts is the
maximum inhibitory concentration.


The fractional light interception by different parts of vines trained to various systems was estimated by a modified point-quadrat method using an over-row solar are positioning device equipped with a laser to simulate sunbeam position and angle at any latitude and time of the day. Laser readings were also combined with total vine light interception estimates via a line sensor to calculate the total light intercepted by specific canopy components. At each sampling date (late June and September, corresponding to fruit set and full canopy), type and position of organs were directly detected by the laser beam. Regardless of sampling date, the relative amount of light captured by the renewal-fruiting area (nodes 1 to 6) of simple cordon (SC) and double curtain (GDC) was considerably higher than that of spur-pruned cordon (SPC), whose vegetative area (distal to node 6) received about two-thirds of the incoming light. Relative light interception by main and lateral leaves was rather constant for GDC, thus reflecting the negligible regrowth after topping. By contrast, SC and SPC showed a much stronger response to topping which caused an increase of light interception by laterals (19 % for SC and +21 % for SPC). Frequencies of relative intercepted light by main leaves as a function of node position showed a peak around nodes 6-8, a zone where maximum leaf size is attained in all systems and on all dates. Instead, lateral leaves predominantly exposed to light were within the three basal nodes of the lateral shoots. Estimates of relative and total light for different vine parts at any time during the season as detected by laser scanning can objectively assess important characteristics of grapevine training systems, e.g. cluster and basal node exposure to light.


The area of machine learning has made considerable progress over the past decade, enabled by the widespread availability of large datasets, as well as by improved algorithms and models. Given the large computational demands of machine learning workloads, parallelism, implemented either through single-node concurrency or through multi-node distribution, has been a third key ingredient to advances in machine learning. The goal of this tutorial is to provide the audience with an overview of standard distribution techniques in machine learning, with an eye towards the intriguing trade-offs between synchronization and communication costs of distributed machine learning algorithms, on the one hand, and their convergence, on the other.The tutorial will focus on parallelization strategies for the fundamental stochastic gradient descent (SGD) algorithm, which is a key tool when training machine learning models, from classical instances such as linear regression, to state-of-the-art neural network architectures. The tutorial will describe the guarantees provided by this algorithm in the sequential case, and then move on to cover both shared-memory and message-passing parallelization strategies, together with the guarantees they provide, and corresponding trade-offs. The presentation will conclude with a broad overview of ongoing research in distributed and concurrent machine learning. The tutorial will assume no prior knowledge beyond familiarity with basic concepts in algebra and analysis.


ABSTRACT: Critiques of urban regime theory suggest the need for a more nuanced approach to the tangled scalar geographies that constitute urban governance. This article moves towards such an approach by adopting urban regime theory's focus on urban politics but conducts its analyses through a multiscalar lens. It demonstrates how processes operating across multiple scales intersect in the production of local governance. The article focuses on the social production of urban governance in Sydney, Australia, specifically examining the city's changing scalar context and scale politics. It suggests that scale-sensitive regime analyses can make important contributions to theoretical development concerning the multiscalar complexities of governance.


The qualitative indicators of the particles of crushed materials are established in a newly developed small-sized device with a plate seal. Rational operating modes in real laboratory and laboratory production conditions are determined.


Abstract Pedigree indexes were calculated from two, three, and four generations for subsets of 380 Holstein bulls that had been progeny tested. Traits indexed were milk, fat, and type. Only male ancestors were considered. Regression coefficients of Predicted Difference and contemporary deviation on pedigree index usually were highest for pedigree index from three generations for milk and fat. Rank correlations of pedigree indexes from two and three generations were .95 to .98 but from three and four generations were .99 to 1.00. Maternal great-grandsires had detectable influence on genetic merit of bulls even though contribution was small as expected. Maternal great-great-grandsires did not contribute to predictability of pedigree indexes.


A regional microearthquake network has been established in the New Madrid seismic zone to study better the seismic characteristics of this region. The network consists of 16 stations distributed on the borders of and within the head of the Mississippi embayment. The network has a location sensitivity for all earthquakes of mb ≧ 1 occurring within the network. A total of 330 earthquakes has been located within a 1.5° by 1.5° area inside the array during the first 21 months of operation. The spatial distribution of these hypocenters has identified for the first time in this region the existence of linear seismically active zones, corresponding presumably to seismically active faults. Several of these trend N40°E, parallel to the axis of the embayment. Others trend NW; these latter are parallel to and possibly are related to the crest of the Pascola arch which joins the Ozark uplift to the Nashville dome. The linear dimensions of the features identified thus far vary in length from about 25 km to about 100 km. The b value as determined by the number of earthquakes located thus far is about 0.8.


Background: Each year 1.1 million people report having a burn injury, with 45,000 people requiring hospitalization. Patients suffering from a burn, experience one of the most excruciating types of pain, that is most commonly unsuccessfully treated though analgesics. Physical therapy increases a patient's pain thus decreasing a patient's compliance with treatment and willingness to move. Virtual reality has been proven to decrease burn pain, but there is limited information on the effects it has on range of motion and treatment enjoyment. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of VR as a treatment tool to increase ROM and enjoyment as part of cognitive distraction while decreasing reported pain when compared to standard physical therapy in patients with acute burns. Methods: The search between Science Direct, Cinahl and PubMed yielded a total of 242 articles in total which were reviewed based on relevance of titles and abstracts. Prior to reviewing abstracts there were 77s. Prior to reviewing abstracts there were 77 Arch Clin Biomed Res 2022; 6 (1): 94-118 DOI: 10.26502/acbr.50170229 Archives of Clinical and Biomedical Research Vol. 6 No. 1 – February 2022. [ISSN 2572-9292]. 95 duplicates removed, leaving 165 non-duplicate articles. There were 131 articles removed after reading the abstract and finding the articles did not fit within the meta-analysis leaving 34 articles left to review for inclusion/exclusion criteria. After reviewing the articles, 8 studies eligible for this metaanalysis based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria were analyzed though Microsoft Excel. The studies were used for the following three outcome measures: range of motion, pain and enjoyment. Results: Range of motion presented with homogenous results with a grand effect size of 0.19. Pain was found to have homogeneity with grand effect size of -0.45. Enjoyment was the only outcome measure that presented with heterogeneity and a grand effect size of 1.30. Virtual reality was proven to be an effective way to decrease pain and improving enjoyment. Range of motion had a trend to favoring virtual reality; therefore, virtual reality is a feasible treatment tool for patient's suffering from an acute burn injury. Future research is needed to determine the effects of each joint on range of motion, and the correlation between enjoyment and movement. Conclusion: Based on these findings, physical therapists can use VR as a treatment tool to help their patients recover faster with less pain compared to traditional physical therapy. One of the most common complications of a burn injury is contracture formation. This is typically due to decreased movement from the patient during the healing stage, but VR can help improve movement as mentioned above. Having a decrease in pain and an increase in enjoyment can lead to a decrease in anxiety to physical therapy and movement in general thereby leading to better patient outcomes and improve their quality of life.


Streaming media has contributed to a significant amount of today's Internet traffic. Like conventional Web objects (e.g., HTML pages and images), media objects can benefit from proxy caching; but their unique features such as huge size and high bandwidth demand imply that conventional proxy caching strategies have to be substantially revised. This article discusses the critical issues and challenges of cache management for proxy-assisted media streaming. We survey, classify, and compare the state-of-the-art solutions. We also investigate advanced issues of combining multicast with caching, cooperating among proxies, and leveraging proxy caching in overlay networks.


This study investigated the effect of differing educational backgrounds on the appraisal of dance postures. In an earlier study (Van Wieringen, el al., 1982) 20 still photographs of postures displayed by a female dancer were judged by 42 nonart university students on a semantic differential of 20 bipolar 7-point rating scales. A principalcomponent analysis with VARIMAX rotation gave a three-factor structure, very similar to Osgood's well-known Activity, Evaluation, and Potency (Osgood, et al., 1957). The last factor, however, tended to fuse with Activity. In the present study the same 20 postures were rated by 45 subjects. These subjects were, on the basis of the hypothesis that differing educational backgrounds would give rise to differences in appraisal, divided into four subgroups, viz., nonart university students (n = 26), subjects with a nonart profession (n = 9), art-school students (n = 5), and students at an academy of dance (n = 5). On this occasion only four rating scales were used, uiz., 'passive-active', 'simple-complex', 'coarse-graceful', and 'unpleasantpleasant'. In the earlier study the first two scales loaded highest on the Activity factor, rhe latter two on the Evaluation factor. The scores on the first two scales were combined (by averaging) for an Aaivity score and scores on the last two scales for an Evaluation score. For each posture both the Activity and Evaluation scores were averaged over subjects in each subgroup. The resulting mean Activity scores and Evaluation scores assigned to postures by nonart students showed significant Spearman rank correlations (7.) with the factor scores of these postures on respectively the Activity and Evaluation dimension in the earlier study (r. = .94, P < .O1 and 7. = .75, p < .01, respectively). This indicates that the four scales represented these two dimensions fairlv well. Correlations between the mean Activity scores assigned to the postures by the four different subgroups were all significant; r. varied from .8G to .97. With regard to the mean Evaluation scores, only those assigned by the nonart student and nonart professional groups (fa = .91, # < .01) and those assigned by the art school and dance academy groups (r. = .GO, p < .01) showed significant correlations, while neither of the other between-group correlations were significant at the 5% level; r. varied from .20 to .44. These results suggest that, in judging postures in dance, activity judgements are not influenced by educational background, while aesthetic appraisal ('Evaluation') does show such an influence. With regard to the latter appraisal nonart students seem to agree with nonart professionals and art smdents with students in dance, while no such agreement seems to exist between the nonart subgroups and the art and dance subgroups. Further research on such educational background differences is planned; the postures to be judged, however, being replaced by video-taped dance-phrases.


How the nucleolus is segregated during mitosis is poorly understood and occurs by very different mechanisms during closed and open mitosis. Here we report a new mechanism of nucleolar segregation involving removal of the nucleolar-organizing regions (NORs) from nucleoli during Aspergillus nidulans mitosis. This involves a double nuclear envelope (NE) restriction which generates three NE-associated structures, two daughter nuclei (containing the NORs), and the nucleolus. Therefore, a remnant nucleolar structure can exist in the cytoplasm without NORs. In G1, this parental cytoplasmic nucleolus undergoes sequential disassembly releasing nucleolar proteins to the cytoplasm as nucleoli concomitantly reform in daughter nuclei. By depolymerizing microtubules and mutating spindle assembly checkpoint function, we demonstrate that a cycle of nucleolar "segregation" can occur without a spindle in a process termed spindle-independent mitosis (SIM). During SIM physical separation of the NOR from the nucleolus occurs, and NE modifications promote expulsion of the nucleolus to the cytoplasm. Subsequently, the cytoplasmic nucleolus is disassembled and rebuilt at a new site around the nuclear NOR. The data demonstrate the existence of a mitotic machinery for nucleolar segregation that is normally integrated with mitotic spindle formation but that can function without it.


There are several reasons why a firm would want to pay a bribe to a high-level official when bidding for a large scale project. One reason is to induce the corrupt official and/or his agent to manipulate their evaluation of contract proposals in favor of the firm. In my analysis, I am examining the case where a firm competes to win a government contract. To win the award, the firm may choose to comply with a demand by the corrupt government official for a share of the value of the project to avoid being excluded from trade. The contribution of my paper is that it models the competition between the firm and the corrupt official as a contest where the corrupt official is expending costly efforts in trying to expropriate part of the value of the public project and the firm is also expending costly efforts in trying to protect its profits. Contests have been used to analyze lobbying, rent-seeking, advertising, litigation, arms races, and sports events. A contest is a game in which players exert costly effort in order to win a certain prize. The players' probabilities of winning the prize are determined by the use of a probabilistic choice function that depends on the efforts of adversaries. I incorporate the preferences of the corrupt official and the enforcement of property rights in my model where I am able to shed some light on the impact of these two important variables on social welfare. My results show that with complete information and no corruption, the economy will arrive at an equilibrium that is socially optimal in the sense that social welfare is maximized. In this case the public procurement project will be awarded to the firm that provides the competitive world quality at the competitive world price. In the case of complete information and corruption, my results show that corrupt officials' preferences towards corruption in countries with weak enforcement of property rights play an essential role in determining whether we will arrive at an equilibrium that is socially optimal. I argue that in such countries aligning the incentives of corrupt government officials with that of society is necessary in combating corruption and plays a more important role than strengthening the enforcement of property rights.


Acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is characterized by the presence of circulating antibodies directed towards ADAMTS13. This results in the formation of large platelet aggregates that occlude the microvasculature giving rise to thrombocytopenia and micro-angiopathic hemolytic anemia in patients with TTP who lack functional ADAMTS13. Antibodies directed towards the spacer domain of ADAMTS13 are present in the majority of patients with acquired TTP. We have previously isolated a panel of human monoclonal antibodies directed towards ADAMTS13 from the immunoglobulin repertoire of one patient with acquired TTP employing phage display. To further extend these observations we obtained a panel of human anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies from a second patient with acquired TTP. Sequence analysis revealed that the variable heavy chain domains of the majority of anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies were encoded by germline gene segment VH1–69. The VH1–69 encoded antibody II-1 and the previously described antibody I-9, which was also encoded by VH1–69 were selected for further study. Epitope-mapping studies employing a hybrid ADAMTS13 variant containing the spacer domain of ADAMTS1 showed that both antibodies were directed towards the spacer domain. Both antibodies inhibited ADAMTS13 activity as measured by cleavage of FRETS-VWF73 substrate and also inhibited cleavage of VWF multimers under static conditions as well as under flow on the surface of endothelial cells. We subsequently developed an assay to monitor the presence of VH1-69 encoded antibodies in plasma of patients with acquired TTP using the anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibody G8 which specifically reacts with human antibodies that use the VH1-69 gene segment. Analysis of a large cohort of patients with acquired TTP revealed that antibodies reactive with the spacer domain of ADAMTS13 express the VH1-69 derived idiotype that is recognized by monoclonal antibody G8. These results support the notion that VH1-69 derived human antibodies directed towards the spacer domain of ADAMTS13 develop in the majority of patients with acquired TTP.


Fertilizationis a means or method used for fertilizer through the leaves and plant part slain.The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of fertilization and foliar fertilizer concentration is best for seedling growth aloes (A. malaccensisLamk.). The samples used were aloe plant seeds that have been aged 3 months were taken from CV. Earth Partners II, Land of a Thousand Village, city Binjai, North Sumatra. Nursery heldon the 4th floor of buildings Forestry Faculty of Agriculture, University of North Sumatra, which was conducted in November-January2013. The results showed that the frequency of the treatment of liquid foliar fertilizer application significantly affected the height and number of leaves.Treatment of liquid foliar fertilizer concentration significantly affected the number of leaves.The interaction frequency and concentration of liquid foliar fertilizer application significantly affected height and number of leaves. Keywords: fertilization, a garwood , frequency, concentration


Proximal airways of very preterm neonates (<32 weeks of gestation) are highly compliant structures and are susceptible to pressure-induced deformation. In previous studies we have documented tracheal barotrauma in the preterm animal model (rabbit pups and lambs). These studies have defined increases in tracheal dimensions and decreases in tracheal compliance consequent to positive pressure application. These changes are associated with a propensity towards collapsibility and are similar to those observed with tracheomalacia. Tracheal volume deformation was measured in 16 very preterm neonates 6-8 days after extubation. The mean ± SD values of birthweight and gestational age were 847±68 gms and 27±0.6 weeks, respectively. The study group was individually control-matched for weight and gestational age. The study group received ventilatory support for a mean of 25.4±4.9 SD Says with a BP200 pressure-limited, time-cycled ventilator®. The control group did not receive ventilatory support beyond the first hour of resuscitative efforts. By roentgenographic evaluation, the mean ± SD intrathoracic tracheal width was 2.74±0.31mm in the control group compared to 3.79±0.29mm in the study group (38%, p<0.001). A tracheal volume deformation of 91% (p<0.001) was calculated in the study group. These data are suggestive of underlying mechanical deformation of the immature tracheal wall. The resultant tracheomegaly and associated tracheomalacia would lead to increased dead space ventilation and increased work of breathing.


Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) are the most popular features for automatic audio classification (AAC). However, MFCCs are often not robust in adverse environment. In this paper, a minimum classification error (MCE)-based method is proposed to extract new and robust spectro-temporal features as alternatives to MFCCs. The robustness of the proposed new features is evaluated on noisy non-speech sound of RWCP Sound Scene Database in Real Acoustic Environment database with Aurora 2 multi-condition training task-like settings. Experimental results show the proposed new features achieved the lowest average recognition error rate of 3.17% which is much better than state-of-the-art MFCCs plus mean subtraction, variance normalization and ARMA filtering (MFCC+MVA, 4.31%), Gabor filters with principle component analysis (Gabor+PCA, 4.43%) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA, 4.20%) features. We thus confirm the robustness of the proposed spectro-temporal feature extraction approach.


Previous colostrum trials have been conducted with serum IgA levels and upper respiratory tract infections and reports document beneficial immunomodulatory effects after colostrum supplementation and no adverse effects. Having previously demonstrated that colostrum supplementation in athletes increased S-IgA levels, it was hypothesized that colostrum and egg yolk supplementation would decrease upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). Twenty-five female subjects and 24 male subjects volunteered for the study and were randomly assigned into a placebo and a Transfer Factor group (n = 22 placebo, n = 26 Transfer Factor) to take two capsules every day for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, there was no difference between the placebo and Transfer Factor groups in S-IgA levels, days sick, severity of illness, and severity of symptoms. In conclusion, during a 6-week supplementation protocol with 600 mg/d (420 mg of colostrum, 180 mg of egg yolk) of Tri-Factor Transfer Factor, there was no increased salivary IgA and reduced frequency and duration of cold and flu symptoms compared to placebo in a sample of healthy young adults.


Fulfilling the ultimate objective of a ''good'' overall quality of all waters is questionable in terms of the high costs entailed and the lack of adequate legal enforceability. The new EU water framework directive institutionalizes ecosystem-based objectives and planning processes at the level of the hydrographic basin as the basis for water resource management. The directive, affecting 27 countries, marks an important trend towards an ecosystem-based approach for water policy and water resource management. In this paper, after a overview of the WFD implementation in Italy, problems related to a case study and adopted decision making tools are shown. Area of the case study is Parco del Cilento, a protected area in Southern Italy, in which water quality monitoring, proposed in the normative, has been performed on a river. During the period from February 2001 to July 2002, 2570 samples were collected and the water quality of the Mingardo river was analyzed. The results obtained have allowed a preliminary definition of the chemical, physical and biological water quality of the river as well as its classification according to the WFD outlines. Non parametrical statistical procedures have also been proposed as possible water quality management tools for the application of the EU water framework directive.


Layered double hydroxides (LDH) are a class of ionic lamellar solids with positively charged layers of two kinds of metallic cations and exchangeable hydrated anions. Quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) measurements are performed in this type of LDH structured hydrated hydrotalcite sample to study the dynamical behaviour of the water in geometric confinement within the layers. Dynamical parameters correspond to the confined water molecules revealed that depending on the amount of excess water present, behaves differently and approaches bulk values at high concentration. Both translational and rotational dynamical parameters showed that at very low concentration of excess water, water molecules are attached to the surfaces and show the confinement effect.


Diabase dikes and sills were intruded during a Late Proterozoic phase of extensional tectonics in the northern Canadian Cordillera. This event is strongly expressed in the depositional pattern of formations immediately below and above the base of the Windermere Supergroup. Rb–Sr isochron dates of 766 ± 24 and 769 ± 27 Ma have been obtained for two of the these diabase sheets, which intruded the Tsezotene Formation of the Mackenzie Mountains Supergroup. The emplacement of the diabase sills and dikes may be related to either of two volcanic events in the region, one documented, the other inferred. In either case, emplacement of the diabase at approximately 770 Ma is close to the boundary between the Mackenzie Mountains Supergroup and the overlying Windermere Supergroup, precedes a regional glaciation (Shezal tillite), and reflects a strong accentuation of the west-facing Cordilleran miogeocline.


The thermal conductivity estimation for the soil is an important step for many geothermal applications. But it is a difficult and complicated process since it involves a variety of factors that have significant effects on the thermal conductivity of soils such as soil moisture and granular structure. In this study, regression was performed with the extreme gradient boosting algorithm to develop a model for estimating thermal conductivity value. The performance of the model was measured on the unseen test data. As a result, the proposed algorithm reached 0.18 RMSE, 0.99 R2, and 3.18% MAE values which state that the algorithm is encouraging.


Large-scale radio continuum surveys have good potential for discovering new Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs). Surveys of the Galactic plane are often limited in the Galactic latitude of |b| ~ 5 degree. SNRs at high latitudes, such as the Cygnus Loop or CTA~1, cannot be detected by surveys in such limited latitudes. Using the available Urumqi 6 cm Galactic plane survey data, together with the maps from the extended ongoing 6 cm medium latitude survey, we wish to discover new SNRs in a large sky area. We searched for shell-like structures and calculated radio spectra using the Urumqi 6 cm, Effelsberg 11 cm, and 21 cm survey data. Radio polarized emission and evidence in other wavelengths are also examined for the characteristics of SNRs. We discover an enclosed oval-shaped object G150.3+4.5 in the 6 cm survey map. It is about 2.5 degree wide and 3 degree high. Parts of the shell structures can be identified well in the 11 cm, 21 cm, and 73.5 cm observations. The Effelsberg 21 cm total intensity image resembles most of the structures of G150.3+4.5 seen at 6 cm, but the loop is not closed in the northwest. High resolution images at 21 cm and 73.5 cm from the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey confirm the extended emission from the eastern and western shells of G150.3+4.5. We calculated the radio continuum spectral indices of the eastern and western shells, which are $\beta \sim -2.4$ and $\beta \sim -2.7$ between 6 cm and 21 cm, respectively. The shell-like structures and their non-thermal nature strongly suggest that G150.3+4.5 is a shell-type SNR. For other objects in the field of view, G151.4+3.0 and G151.2+2.6, we confirm that the shell-like structure G151.4+3.0 very likely has a SNR origin, while the circular-shaped G151.2+2.6 is an HII region with a flat radio spectrum, associated with optical filamentary structure, H$\alpha$, and infrared emission.


Thai traditional massage is a widely used massage technique in Thailand and is presently accepted by local Thai Ministry of Public Health. The technique is promoted but not well accepted internationally. There is a concern about the effectiveness as well as safety of this local wisdom. After a recent episode of concurrent acute heart attack and Thai traditional massage in a patient, the issue of possible adverse effects of Thai traditional massage is being widely discussed.


Abstract Nine CMS analogues from different cytoplasmic sources and their common maintainer were crossed with four perfect restorers from PET-1 source to develop of 40 sunflower hybrids. The experiment was conducted during spring season 2011 and 2012 two years continuously, under two different water environments, normal irrigated and water stress environment, where irrigation was stopped after the anthesis. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the sources for day to flowering, days to maturity and seed yield under both the environments, both the years and pooled over the years. The variance due to GCA and SCA showed that gene action was additive for maturity whereas, non-additive genetic effect was observed for days to flowering and seed yield under both the environments. The CMS analogues E002-91A (H. annuus), PKU-2A (H. annuus), and ARG-3A (H. argophyllus) were recorded as good combiner for early flowering in both the environments. The CMS analogs E002-91A and ARG-3A were observed good combiners for early flowering, early maturity and high seed yield, whereas, NC-41B from conventional CMS source H. petiolaris (PET-1) was recorded good combiner for late flower and early maturity and poor combiner for seed yield under both the environments. Among testers P69R was recorded good combiner for late flowering under normal water environment while, in water stress it was good combiner for early flowering but it was not good for seed yield. RCR-8297 was recorded for good combiner for late maturity and high seed yield under both the environments. The SCA estimates were highest in cross E002-91A×RCR-8297 and PKU-2A×P124R and ARG-6A×RCR-8297 for early flowering and early maturity under both the environments. These new cytoplasmic male sterility sources can be substitute of the classical (PET-1) source with added advantage for early maturing and high yielding.


Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation. When viewed through a social class lens, privilege, power, and control are emphasized. Low SES and its correlates, such as lower education, poverty, and poor health, ultimately affect the society as a whole. Additionally, Mortality differences within society are greater than indicated by social class based on occupation alone. Irrespective of social class, men with greater material assets have lower rates of mortality from all causes than men less well endowed, independent of a wide range of lifestyle and biological factors. These findings suggest that mortality differences within our society are closely related to relative wealth. Inequities in wealth distribution, resource distribution, and quality of life are increasing globally. Each employee may differ at least with any one of socio economic variables related to them. Hence the differing employee satisfaction with organization among different employees is analyzed from point of view of their socioeconomic variable. In this study, the factors that influence the employee satisfaction with organization among the selected respondents has been studied in terms of the social status of employees.


Summary
Diseases and malfunctions of the gastro intestinal tract belong to the most common illnesses in humans. This includes infections, caused by bacteria and fungi as well as food intolerances against a variety of dietary products. The prevalence of such diseases is increasing due to either bacterial resistances or changes in alimentary behavior.
Peptide drugs are a promising class of active pharmaceutical ingredients that have the potential to overcome the drawbacks of conventional small molecules such as increasing bacterial resistances. Since peptides regulate a variety of functions in the human body, they offer attractive therapeutic strategies such as enzyme replacement therapy or hormone substitution. However, oral delivery of peptide drugs is challenging mainly due to their low physical and chemical stability and poor bioavailability. Therefore, formulation of such compounds is challenging and only a few products exist on the market.
Functionalized Calcium Carbonate (FCC) was recently introduced as a new pharmaceutical excipient. FCC is a microparticulate material composed of calcium carbonate and hydroxyapatite with a high porosity of up to 60%, and an average particle size of approx. 10 μm. It shows excellent compaction behavior due to a nano-structured surface and it combines properties of nanoparticles such as high surface area with the processibility of larger particles.
The aim of this thesis was to explore the possibilities of using FCC for the delivery of sensitive biomolecules such as enzymes, proteins, and peptides via the oral cavity respecting the requirements of a multiparticulate mucoadhesive system. Further, the goal was to improve analytical methods to study material distribution within the porous particles in order to finally improve loading and coating processes.
Therefore, FCC was loaded with the two model substances lysozyme and bovine serum albumin. Release was measured in a customized flow cell, showing that lysozyme was released after 100 minutes, while considerable amounts of BSA remained adsorbed to the particles surface. Structural integrity and enzymatic activity of the released model substances were compared to unloaded material and were shown to be unchanged.
A two-step fluidized bed process, which allows drug loading and mucoadhesive coating of FCC was developed and mucoadhesion was assessed in a flow cell on porcine mucosa from the colon. The process is suitable for scale up and the produced particles showed good mucoadhesion in vitro. Release rate was found to be lower compared to uncoated particles, this was mainly attributed to a reduced surface area of the agglomerated particles.
Loaded particles were imaged by focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy to reveal the internal structure as well as intraparticulate material distribution. The findings were compared to results from mercury intrusion porosimetry mercury intrusion porosimetry in order to point out limitations of each method. It was concluded, that material distribution is dependent on a materials physical properties, and that a combination of the two methods is required for the correct interpretation of material distribution within porous microparticles.
Colloidal electrospray was investigated in a pilot study for its potential to load and coat individual particles. Preliminary trials showed promising results in terms of producibility, particle morphology, and size.
Generally, FCC is a suitable carrier for the models BSA and lysozyme and potentially other peptide drugs. However, poor release of BSA suggests further investigation on adsorption phenomena and how to avoid these. Mucoadhesion of the particles was good in vitro, although its performance in vivo still needs to be evaluated. With the gained knowledge on material distribution and the internal structure of FCC, new loading methods to promote material deposition in deeper regions of the particle should be considered. This might include further investigation of the colloidal electrospray process.


Marine algae play an important role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In this investigation, we have determined the substrate specificity factor of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase from several marine chromophytic and rhodophytic algae. The enzymes were purified to homogeneity and all possessed significantly higher substrate specificity factors than the enzymes from terrestrial plants, green algae, or bacteria. There are substantial differences in the sequence in a helix 6 of the large subunit of these enzymes, which is intriguing since residues of this region had been previously shown to influence the ability of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase to discriminate between CO2 and O2, presumably by influencing the adjacent flexible loop 6 region. Sequence divergence at this and other key regions might contribute to the substantial differences in the substrate specificity factor of the chromophyte/rhodophyte enzyme. Initial studies on probing the basis for the high substrate specificity factor employed single amino acid substitutions in the recombinant cyanobacterial ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase. Residues in the vicinity of loop 6 were changed to reflect the corresponding residues in the chromophyte/rhodophyte large subunit. Some changes in the substrate specificity factor were noted, as were alterations in other important kinetic parameters. Since marine algae show little evidence of photorespiratory metabolism, the high substrate specificity of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase is consistent with the physiology of these organisms. The results of this study provide further evidence that the properties of this enzyme may evolve or change according to the environment in which the host organism is found.


Recently, label distribution learning (LDL) has drawn much attention in machine learning, where LDL model is learned from labelel instances. Different from single-label and multi-label annotations, label distributions describe the instance by multiple labels with different intensities and accommodate to more general scenes. Since most existing machine learning datasets merely provide logical labels, label distributions are unavailable in many real-world applications. To handle this problem, we propose two novel label enhancement methods, i.e., Label Enhancement with Sample Correlations (LESC) and generalized Label Enhancement with Sample Correlations (gLESC). More specifically, LESC employs a low-rank representation of samples in the feature space, and gLESC leverages a tensor multi-rank minimization to further investigate the sample correlations in both the feature space and label space. Benefitting from the sample correlations, the proposed methods can boost the performance of label enhancement. Extensive experiments on 14 benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of our methods.


SPA is a preliminary agreement on the sale and purchase agreement whose existence is recognized by Law No 1 of 2011 on Housing and Settlement (as lex), an agreement of this kind can be allocated to the object of the agreement in the form of fixed objects. The journal aims to determine: 1) Mechanism Creation Act Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) by the Public in the process of transfer of rights on the ground. 2) As a result of the Law of Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) as an Agreement.The method of this journal Sociological Juridical approach. Data were collected from literature research and field research. Data collection tool is the study of literature and interviews. Data was analyzed using qualitative approach by using inductive-deductive logic thinking.The results showed that: 1) Making mechanism Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) by the Public in the transition process of land rights by submitting the data themselves form: ID, KK, Certificate etc. From the data obtained all the documents submitted Copied accordance with the original, which will be attached to the Minutes of Deed Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) 2) The legal consequences of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) as a preliminary agreement (voor overeenkomst) is binding on the party who made it, where the parties both sellers and prospective buyers agreed to purchase land and buildings.Keywords: Transition on Land; Sale; SPA.


Vitrimers are a class of covalently cross-linked polymers that have drawn great attention due to their fascinating properties such as malleability and reprocessability. The state of art approach to improve their mechanical properties is the addition of fillers, which, however, greatly restricts the chain mobility and impedes network topology rearrangement, thereby deteriorating the dynamic properties of vitrimer composites. Here, we demonstrate that the integration of sacrificial bonds into a vitrimeric network can remarkably enhance the overall mechanical properties while facilitating network rearrangement. Specifically, commercially available epoxidized natural rubber is covalently cross-linked with sebacic acid and simultaneously grafted with N-acetylglycine (NAg) through the chemical reaction between epoxy and carboxyl groups, generating exchangeable β-hydroxyl esters and introducing amide functionalities into the networks. The hydrogen bonds arising from amide functionalities act in a sacrificial and reversible manner, that is, preferentially break prior to the covalent framework and undergo reversible breaking and reforming to dissipate mechanical energy under external load, which leads to a rarely achieved combination of high strength, modulus, and toughness. The topology rearrangement of the cross-linked networks can be accomplished through transesterification reactions at high temperatures, which is accelerated with the increase of grafting NAg amount due to the dissociation of transient hydrogen bonds and increase of the ester concentration in the system.


The ratification of the US Constitution forced Pennsylvanians to adapt their democratic, extra-governmental political practices to the new federal government. This chapter looks at how these practices evolved in the early 1790s, investigating gubernatorial and legislative elections, as well as the creation of Democratic-Republican Societies and the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. These activities focused on opposing the actions of George Washington's administration, defending popular political activity against the Federalist policies including Alexander Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey. The chapter particularly focuses on the events of the Whiskey Rebellion, looking at how Pennsylvanians from all corners of the state developed political institutions as they sought to resolve the long-running tensions which led to violence. Ultimately, the resolution of the Whiskey Rebellion vindicated a vision of popular sovereignty in which non-violent, representative political action, rather than an appeal to federal authority, proved most successful.


The installed wind energy capacity in Europe today is 20 GW, while the projections for 2010 according to the Kyoto protocol and the EC directives is up to 40-60 GW. The large-scale integration of wind energy emerges the use of advanced operational tools for short-term forecasting of the wind production in the next hours up to the next 2-7 days. End-users (independent power producers, electric companies, transmission system operators, etc) recognize the contribution of wind prediction for a secure and economic operation of the power system. Especially, in a liberalized electricity market, prediction tools enhance the position of wind energy compared to other forms of dispatchable generation. The paper presents in detail the state-of the-art on the methods, the software tools and the relevant R&D projects for wind power forecasting. The paper finally presents experience by end-users that run operationally such prediction systems today as stand-alone applications or interfaced to EMS/DMS systems. The paper reviews the related literature on wind power prediction. Emphasis is given on operational tools such as WPPT, Prediktor, Zephyr, Previento, SIPREOLICO, LocalPred, More-Care etc. The various models or tools are classified using criteria like: · The type of implemented approach i.e. timeseries (neural networks, ARMA etc) or physical. · The specific spatial scale focused by the models (regional, wind park scale, micro-scale). · The on-line performance of the prediction tools and their coupling to Energy Management Systems.


In recent studies, new species and sections were described in Agaricus subg. Spissicaules. We intended to update this subgenus by including all these recent taxa, some interesting sequences retrieved in GenBank, and two new collections from the Punjab Province, Pakistan. Both morphological and phylogenetic approaches were used. Maximum Likelihood tree based on rDNA ITS sequences revealed that the sequences of the new specimens from Pakistan form a clade with five sequences from India retrieved from GenBank. For the seven samples of this clade, we described the new species Agaricus radiatosquamulosus based on the morphology of the two collections from Pakistan. This new species, which belongs to the recently proposed A. sect. Fulventes was compared to the three other species of this section. Except for the small-sized A. nanofulvus, the other species are difficult to recognize without DNA sequence data. The four species differ from each other at a poly T in ITS2. In addition, each of them is distributed on different continents. Agaricus radiatosquamulosus is the first report of a species of A. subg. Spissicaules in Pakistan. In addition, a sequence from GenBank identified as A. lanatoniger matches with another sample from New Zealand in A. sect. subrutilescentes. In absence of formally published taxonomic treatment, we provisionally named these samples A. cf. lanatoniger.


Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), caused by a strange reason and characterized by a bad clinical prognosis, is an advanced, long-time, and irreversible interstitial lung disease (ILD). In recent years, it has been confirmed that a pyroptosis is a phlogistic form of programmed cellular demise. At the same time, the expression of the pyroptosis-participant gene (PPG) in IPF and their pertinence behind prognosis remains indistinct. In this research, we identified 17 pyroptosis regulators that were distinguishingly expressed entre IPF and controls. The ground on these distinguishingly expressed genes (DEGs), entire IPF conditions could be uncoupled into two subtypes. The prognostic significance of respective PPG for surviving was assessed to find a polygenes signature doing with a Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) pack (GSE28042). Via putting into use the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression approach, a 6-gene signature was structured and ranged entire IPF sicks in GSE28042 into a shallow-threat or high-threat group. IPF sicks in the shallow-threat group revealed meaningfully upper survival chances than those in the high-threat group (pvalue < 0.001). Exploiting the mid threat-score from GSE28042, IPF sicks from another GEO cohort(GSE70866-GPL17077) were separated into two threat subgroups, and the shallow-threat set had augmented overall survival (OS) time ( P = 0.0018). United the clinical characteristics, the threat-score was a sole element for forecasting the overall survival of IPF sicks. Function enrichment analyses bespoke that modification of morphology or physiology of other organisms, killing of cellular of other organisms, and disruption of cellular of other organisms biological processes were increased in the high-threat group. GSEA(Gene Set Enrichment Analysis) showed that cancer- and autoimmune disease-participant "KEGG" gene sets were highly enriched in the high−threat phenotype. In general, PPGs play a crucial role in IPF and can be done to forecast the prognosis of IPFs, and our consequences suggest that the high-threat group of IPF may be linked with the response of other organisms and autoimmunity as well.


Different patch antenna array configurations for Simultaneous Wireless Information and Wireless Power Transfer — SWIPT — were simulated and evaluated. The scope of the work is to provide configurations that can be used to minimise the interference between information and power transfer as well as provide some beamforming capabilities. Our assumption for all the evaluated structures are that two receive antennas are used for RF energy harvesting and one antenna is used for information exchange. The choice for two antennas for energy harvesting is based on that a differential DC output full-wave rectifier is used. Our analysis is based on patch antennas.


This manual describes the current fluorometric procedures used by the U.S. Geological Survey in dye tracer studies such as time of travel, dispersion, reaeration, and dilution-type discharge measurements. The advantages of dye tracing are (1) the low detection and measurement limits, and (2) the simplicity and accuracy of measuring dye tracer concentrations using fluorometric techniques. The manual contains necessary background information about fluorescence, dyes, and fluorometers and a description of fluorometric operation and calibration procedures as a guide for laboratory and field use. The background information should be useful to anyone wishing to experiment with dyes, fluorometer components, or procedures different from those described. In addition, a brief section is included on aerial photography because of its possible use to supplement ground-level fluorometry.


Motivation plays a vital role in training to achieve a goal, which is an achievement. Motivation to practice is beneficial for measuring the level of motivation of gateball athletes in Palopo. The population in this study consist of 19 gateball athletes in Palopo, ten males and nine females. The number sample is 19 gateball athletes from Palopo. Data collection in this study used a questionnaire (questionnaire) via Google form. Quantitative descriptive research methods and data analysis techniques use a Likert scale. The study's results provide an overview of the coach as a factor that influences the training program and seeks to maintain the athlete's training motivation. The training motivation of Gateball athletes is in the reasonably good category of 43%. Based on the classification of training motivation per indicator of the athletes themselves by 37%, type of performance results by 37%, classification of competition atmosphere by 47%, and task or performance classification by 37%. This study concludes that the training motivation of gateball athletes in Palopo is in the Fairly Good category.


We have previously reported the preventive effects of light resistance exercise (voluntary tower climbing exercise) after ingestion of a high-protein snack (HPS) on muscle loss in glucocorticoid-injected rats. However, such studies have not been performed in humans. In this cross-over study, we examined the effect of light resistance exercise after ingestion of HPS on plasma branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) concentrations in humans. Seven healthy young adult females (aged 22.1+/-1.2 y) participated in this study. They were assigned to either an exercise group or a control group. Seven days after the first experiment, they were crossed over to the opposite intervention. The subjects ingested HPS (15 g protein, 18 g sugar) 3 h after breakfast (basal meal). The plasma BCAA concentrations increased at 30 min after HPS ingestion. The subjects in the exercise group performed light resistance exercise (15 min dumbbell exercise using 300 g brown-rice-filled fabric dumbbells) when the plasma BCAA concentrations were increased (60 min after the snack ingestion). The control group maintained a resting position during the experiment. Changes in the plasma BCAA concentrations between 60 and 90 min after HPS ingestion increased continuously in the control group (+27 micromol/L) but decreased in the exercise group (-37 micromol/L). Therefore, light resistance exercise after HPS ingestion may be effective for utilization of plasma BCAA in humans.


Photoelectrode sensitization is an important step of metal-free organic dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) preparation. We describe an easy and flexible means for improving organic dye content of ZnO electrodes and avoiding the formation of aggregates by the use of amphiphilic fatty acids as co-adsorbents. A series of fatty acids with variable hydrophobic alkyl chain length has been studied and the D149 indoline dye loading and the recombination step have been optimized. The best performances were measured with butyric acid and octanoic acid. Computing and experimental results show that they present an alkyl chain length compatible with the dye molecule size and structure and provide an efficient re-generation of the oxidized dye by iodide. We also demonstrate that they act as efficient recombination barriers. Moreover the DSSC durability was markedly improved with octanoic acid compared to solar cells without co-adsorbent or with the common cholic acid co-adsorbent. The carrier lifetime increased upon the aging process irrespective of the co-adsorbant due to the increase of the photoelectrode chemical capacitance.


Since effective customer segmentation can enhance the overall performance of a business, marketers should put effort in the conceptualization of a well-structured segmentation model. The existing literature provide good guidelines for this and previous research has identified multiple models and variables which can be used while segmenting customers. However, both, the relevance and/or importance of these variables as well as the correct combination or sequence in which these variables should be used has not been researched yet. This study shows, based on the information gathered from five different companies, which previous defined variables in literature should be used by vendors operating in metal industries in order to segment their clients. The underlying assumption being used indicates that better customer segmentation leads to better market orientation and eventually to better overall business performance. Therefore, the company with the highest score on market orientation performance can be considered as most effective regarding customer segmentation practices. The findings show that company size, industry, product and brand-use, size of order, buyer-seller relationships and finally the purchasing function of an organization are the characteristics that should be used by marketers in exactly this sequence and combination in order to be most effective. Besides the investigation in the customer segmentation variables, this research investigated as well whether different segments receive different treatments or not. Findings of the research show that both economical aspects and relational aspects, which are both positively influencing supplier satisfaction, are important determiners in receiving preferred customer status.


Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a kallikrein-like serine protease until recently thought to be prostate specific, has been demonstrated in various nonprostatic tissues and body fluids. PSA has been also found in human endometrium and amniotic fluids, even if the significance of this novel expression is unclear. In this study, we have demonstrated by multiple techniques that human placental tissue, obtained at delivery from normal full-term pregnancies, synthesizes and secretes PSA. RT-PCR showed the presence of PSA messenger ribonucleic acid; biochemical, chromatographic, and immunological studies revealed the expression of both free and complexed PSA forms; immunoelectron microscopy indicated the syncytiotrophoblast as the site of PSA synthesis and secretion. Moreover, in vitro experiments demonstrated that PSA production and secretion are up-regulated by 17beta-estradiol, a pregnancy-related steroid hormone. These results suggest that human placenta is a source of the PSA present in amniotic fluid and maternal serum during pregnancy.


While the volatility of job creations has been studied extensively, the survival chances of new jobs are less researched. The question when and how to expand a firm is of importance, both from the firms and from a macro perspective. Adjustment cost theories and arguments about option values of investment in firm expansion make predictions about the timing, sequencing and form of firm expansions. When we analyze 21 years of job creation in Austria, we find that the survival of new jobs (and of new firms) depends upon the state of the business cycle at the time of job creation, on the number of jobs created, and on firm age. Jobs in new firms last longer than new jobs in continuing firms.


In this paper, a new scheme in smart home systems technology is proposed using embedded multimedia gateway to provide intelligent control of home appliances. The proposed gateway has an embedded module needed to act as protocol glue that incorporates wireless options such as Short Message Service (SMS) router with wireless local area network (WI-FI) for intelligent automation and higher speed of home appliances connectivity. Wireless fidelity technology (WI-FI) is selected as mechanism due to its transmission range within 100m which suits the smart home requirement for automation and control thus justifies the Personal Area Network (PAN) for mobile device connectivity. This interface model will be between in-home-networks and external communication environment, whereas embedded multimedia gateway module acts as storage media for information interchange and server between systems using mobile devices within a smart home. Embedded multimedia gateway module sits at the core of the home network, acts as residential gateway and enables bi-directional communication and data transfer channel among networked appliances in the home and across the Internet. The proposed embedded multimedia gateway had been implemented and verified that the system can be a core device for smart home environment functionality.


Identifying the etiology of allergic contact dermatitis is a rewarding yet challenging endeavor. Not all allergic contact reactions are eczematous in appearance. The most reliable clinical clue to the allergic nature of the dermatitis is its geographic distribution. Once a list of culprit allergens has been identified by patch testing, the practitioner must identify the relevant allergen(s) and counsel the patient in avoidance. For most individuals, allergen avoidance results in resolution of the dermatitis; however, some patients will require continuing symptomatic therapy despite avoidance. For those patients unable to avoid known allergens, immunosuppressant therapies (including phototherapy) or barriers can be beneficial. Currently, hyposensitization is not a viable alternative for the treatment of allergic contact dermatitis.


Abstract Purpose: The article discusses selected methodological issues of natural and social sciences with particular consideration of behavioural economics to highlight the significance of experimental research. Design approach: The order of the issues covered is as follows: (a) science as a product of a research community, (b) basic cognitive activities in science, (c) a short description of social sciences, (d) a discussion on the methods applied in behavioural economics. Findings: The article offers a description of research procedure, its objectives and the methods applied therein; it has been stressed that testing theories and hypotheses involves exposing them to falsification; it has been emphasised that research conducted within the framework of social sciences is more difficult than in the case of natural sciences because of the large number of independent variables and the possible interaction between the researcher and research participants. Practical implications: The content presented in the article highlights the value of scientific findings as opposed to common-sense knowledge adopted with the disregard of the principles of proper methodology. Value: The authors believe that the emergence of behavioural economics was an attempt to overcome certain deficiencies in the methodology of classical economics by means of experimental research.


A Distributed Denial-of-Service attack affects the bandwidth or resources of a targeted system. By flooding networks and disrupting access to services, it may cause damage on multimedia network services and Internet Service Providers. In the paper, we propose to analyze the behavior of packet flows and adopt a priority queue-based algorithm that assign packets from normal users to a high priority queue and packets from suspected attackers to a low priority queue. Simulations in network simulator, NS2, prove our proposed priority queue-based scheme is effective in blocking attacking traffic while maintaining constant flows for legitimate users.


Introduction: Tetracycline antibiotics are broad-spectrum bacteriostatic drugs. These antibiotics are known for their chelating activity with polyvalent metallic cations such as calcium. The drugs have the ability to cross the placental barrier, reaching high concentrations in the hard dental tissues of the foetus and causing permanent pigmentation and enamel hypoplasia. The same effect can be observed in children on tetracycline therapy during teeth genesis. Materials and methods: A research was conducted in the online databases of `Google Scholar` and `PubMed`, using the keywords: `Tetracycline antibiotics`, `pigmentation`, `deciduous teeth` Several articles from Pharmacology and Paediatric Dentistry textbooks were also taken into consideration. The publications presented in the study were selected based on their relevance to the topic. Results: Superficial pigmentation can be initially seen in the cervical area where the enamel is the thinnest. The pigmentation varies from yellow to gray or brown depending on the relation between dose and body weight. The total dosage and the length of the therapy determine the severity of the pigmentation. The intensity of the staining also correlates with the stage of ontological development of the individual during which the drug was administrated. Tetracycline-related pigmentation in the deciduous dentition can occur from the beginning of the second trimester to eleven months after the birth and for the permanent dentition- the period between the end of the third trimester and 8 years. Conclusion: Tetracycline has the propensity of affecting the development of teeth in the foetus. Care must be taken with the drug`s intake to prevent any long-term consequences in children`s dentition. The usage of the antibiotic from pregnant women and children under 8 years of age is contraindicated.


Hybrid photonic-plasmonic cavities have emerged as a new platform to increase light-matter interaction capable to enhance the Purcell factor in a singular way not attainable with either photonic or plasmonic cavities separately. In the hybrid cavities proposed so far, mainly consisting of metallic bow-tie antennas, the plasmonic gap sizes defined by lithography in a repeatable way are limited to minimum values \approx 10 nm. Nanoparticle-on-a-mirror (NPoM) cavities are far superior to achieve the smallest possible mode volumes, as gaps smaller than 1 nm can be created. Here, we design a hybrid cavity that combines a NPoM plasmonic cavity and a dielectric-nanobeam photonic crystal cavity operating at transverse-magnetic (TM) polarization. The metallic nanoparticle can be placed very close (<1 nm) to the upper surface of the dielectric cavity, which acts as a low-reflectivity mirror. We demonstrate through numerical calculations that this kind of hybrid plasmonic-photonic cavity architecture exhibits quality factors, Q, above 10^{3} and normalized mode volumes, V , down to 10^{\num{-3}}, thus resulting in high Purcell factors (FP \approx 10^5), whilst being experimentally feasible with current technology. Our results suggest that hybrid cavities with sub-nm gaps should open new avenues for boosting light-matter interaction in nanophotonic systems.


A 53-year-old man with chronic myeloid leukaemia developed significant hepatic dysfunction when treatment was changed from imatinib (because of drug-induced rash) to dasatinib. Liver function tests returned to normal 77 days after cessation of therapy and have remained normal despite recommencement of dasatinib. Although the pathogenesis for the significant hepatic dysfunction is unclear, this case illustrates the reversibility of this event with dose interruption and that dasatinib can be safely recommenced for ongoing treatment.


Invasive species removal is a common focus in restoration ecology, but the ultimate goal of native plant species recovery and habitat recovery is often elusive. Control of invasive Tamarix spp. shrubs in the American Southwest has only sometimes led to increased native species cover; this is of particular concern for the protection of the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax extimus trailii, abbr. SWFL) that nests readily in Tamarix when native Salix canopy is absent. If we can identify the conditions that lead to more native trees as well as habitat protection for the SWFL, we can prioritize restoration efforts more effectively and reduce conflict between conservation goals. To determine whether reduction in the invasive Tamarix led to more Salix cover (and thus no net loss in SWFL habitat), we compiled data on vegetation, soils, and geographic conditions in 260 sites where Tamarix had been subject to control efforts and 132 positive and negative reference sites. We found that (1) reduction in Tamarix only increased Salix cover in wetter sites, and was greater when a particular, low-disturbance removal method was used; however the increase did not typically compensate for the overall losses in canopy cover, and (2) Salix cover was generally highest in locations with low drought stress, as reflected by soil properties, distance to water, and climate. These results suggest that the presence and recovery of Salix is dependent on its relatively narrow environmental niche, in contrast with Tamarix's broader one. Thus, although abundance of Salix and Tamarix was negatively correlated, this is likely because of Salix's different niche, as much as or more than direct interspecific competition. Our findings demonstrate that removal of an invasive species does not necessarily lead to reestablishment of the native species they appeared to displace. We suggest that in the case of promoting habitat for SWFL and other birds, outcomes of restoration activity can be improved by focusing Tamarix removal efforts on sites more likely to promote Salix growth based on environmental characteristics.


Agroclimatic conditions and agricultural research and development (R&D) including plant breeding activities by the public sector are some of the most significant exogenous factors in the agricultural sector. However, the effects of the interactions between these two sets of factors on agricultural productivity have not been studied widely in developing countries, despite potentially important implications on their plant breeding strategies. Using three‐wave panel data of agricultural households in Nigeria and spatial data on various agroclimatic parameters, we show that agricultural productivity and technical efficiency at the agricultural household level is significantly positively affected by the similarity of agroclimatic conditions between locations where agricultural households are located, and locations where major plant breeding institutes are located. These results hold after controlling for various socioeconomic characteristics of these households, including their physical distances to the breeding institutes. Findings are robust across parametric and nonparametric specifications such as Data Envelopment Method, and after addressing potential endogeneity of agroclimatic similarity and agricultural inputs variables in the production function. Productivity effects due to the locations of plant breeding institutes and resulting agroclimatic similarity can be potentially sizable given Nigeria's past productivity growth speed.


This paper describes a method for decision making using argumentation. The method is intended to produce the decision considered most likely to promote the agent's ams ans aspirations. First, the problem situation is formulated in terms of an Action-Based Alternating Transition System, representing the actions available to the agents relevant to the situation, and their consequences, taking into account the possible effects of the choices of the other relevant agents. Next, arguments are constructed by instantiating an argumentation scheme designed to justify actions in terms of the values they promote and subjecting these instantiations to a series of critical questions to identify possible counter arguments. The resulting arguments are then organized into a Value-Based Argumentation Framework (VAF), so that a set of arguments acceptable to the agent can be identified. Finally the agent must select one of the acceptable actions to execute. The methodology is illustrated through the use of a detailed case study.


In this paper we prove some common fixed point theorems for a pair of self mappings which possess the property E.A and satisfy certain sufficient conditions in the setting of a fuzzy metric space.


Abstract The paper is devoted to a particular case of the nonlinear and nonautonomous control law design problem based on the application of the optimization approach. Close attention is paid to the controlled plants, which are presented by affine-control mathematical models characterized by integral quadratic functionals. The proposed approach to controller design is based on the optimal damping concept firstly developed by V.I. Zubov in the early 1960s. A modern interpretation of this concept allows us to construct effective numerical procedures of control law synthesis initially oriented to practical implementation. The main contribution is the proposition of a new methodology for selecting the functional to be damped. The central idea is to perform parameterization of a set of admissible items for this functional. As a particular case, a new method of this parameterization has been developed, which can be used for constructing an approximate solution to the classical optimization problem. Applicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach are confirmed by a practical numerical example.


For nearly 250 years, beginning with Linnaeus in 1758 and continuing through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, birds have been given scientific and vernacular names created by deliberate, conscious, and methodological taxonomical naming processes. On the other hand, Zulu names for birds, for centuries only residing in oral tradition, have only found their way into print through being recorded in writing. In this process, oral knowledge is recast as written knowledge. This article looks at the first hundred years of such recording of Zulu names, beginning with the first settlers and explorers in what is now KwaZulu-Natal and continuing through to the publication of Samuelson's dictionary in 1923. The article, and its planned follow-up article, looks at the contribution of various lexicographers, including Bishop Colenso, the Reverend AT Bryant, and CM Doke and BW Vilakazi, and then interfaces their dictionaries with various works on southern African birds, beginning with Layard's 1867 Birds of South Africa, looking closely at Woodward and Woodward's 1899 Natal Birds, and ending with the seventh edition of Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, published in 2005. The primary focus is on how the Zulu oral tradition of bird knowledge has increasingly been revealed to the Western world through the efforts of naturalists and lexicographers. The article concludes with a brief look at recent developments in Zulu bird names between 2013 and 2017.


A relevant activity in the requirements engineering process consists in the identification, assessment and management of potential risks, which can prevent the system-to-be from meeting stakeholder needs. However, risk analysis techniques are often time- and resource- consuming activities, which may introduce in the requirements engineering process a significant overhead. To overcome this problem, we aim at supporting risk management activity in a semi-automated way, merging the capability to exploit existing risk-related information potentially present in a given organisation, with an automated ranking of the goals with respect to the level of risk the decision-maker estimates for them. In particular, this paper proposes an approach to address the general problem of risk decision-making, which combines knowledge about risks assessment techniques and Machine Learning to enable an active intervention of human evaluators in the decision process, learning from their feedback and integrating it with the organisational knowledge. The long term objective is that of improving the capacity of an organisation to be aware and to manage risks, by introducing new techniques in the field of risk management that are able to interactively and continuously extract useful knowledge from the organisation domain and from the decision-maker expertise.


Information security is one of the most critical issues in wireless networks as the signals transmitted through wireless medium are more vulnerable for interception. Although the existing conventional security techniques are proven to be safe, the broadcast nature of wireless communications introduces different challenges in terms of key exchange and distributions. As a result, information theoretic physical layer security has been proposed to complement the conventional security techniques for enhancing security in wireless transmissions. On the other hand, the rapid growth of data rates introduces different challenges on power limited mobile devices in terms of energy requirements. Recently, research work on wireless power transfer claimed that it has been considered as a potential technique to extend the battery lifetime of wireless networks. However, the algorithms developed based on the conventional optimization approaches often require iterative techniques, which poses challenges for real-time processing. To meet the demanding requirements of future ultra-low latency and reliable networks, neural network (NN) based approach can be employed to determine the resource allocations in wireless communications.

This thesis developed different transmission strategies for secure transmission in wireless communications. Firstly, transmitter designs are focused in a multiple-input single-output simultaneous wireless information and power transfer system with unknown eavesdroppers. To improve the performance of physical layer security and the harvested energy, artificial noise is incorporated into the network to mask the secret information between the legitimate terminals. Then, different secrecy energy efficiency designs are considered for a MISO underlay cognitive radio network, in the presence of an energy harvesting receiver. In particular, these designs are developed with different channel state information assumptions at the transmitter. Finally, two different power allocation designs are investigated for a cognitive radio network to maximize the secrecy rate of the secondary receiver: conventional convex optimization framework and NN based algorithm.