In its most basic form, computer graphics technology renders an image of the world from a model. Having refined techniques from vector graphics, computer graphics now includes improved methods to render realistic and informative visual images of models representing microcosms of interest. Computational technology includes mechanisms to compress, communicate and combine text, audio, graphics and video to provide a unified multimedia document. Users can now decide if they want to read a story, watch a video or combine information from multiple sources to create a personalized digital experience. So what future faces computer graphics and multimedia? Can we take the technology to still another level of reality? Let's assume we can expand the scope of computer graphics to produce and render a world model for information or entertainment that surpasses the visual, also representing sound, touch, smell and taste. Although seemingly far out now, I believe computer graphics and multimedia will combine and expand to make such a technology-real reality-possible. Virtual reality (VR) foreshadows this development. I believe real reality, or what may more accurately be called remote reality, lies just around the corner. Real reality will revolutionize our society in many ways. Unlike VR, real reality systems will let users experience and interact digitally with real environments using all the human senses. However, real reality experiences will remain free of time and space constraints. You will be able to experience a remote environment digitally at your convenience wherever you are.


Aminoglycosides are currently used during pregnancy for the treatment of Staphylococcus, Enterobacteriaceae, Listeria monocytogenes, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. The pharmacokinetics of tobramycin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic, was investigated after a 2.5 mg/kg short intravenous infusion and a once-daily dose regime in 18 pregnant women divided into 2 groups of 9 during the second (Group I: from 20 to 28 weeks of amenorrhoea) and the third (Group II: greater than or equal to 28 weeks of amenorrhoea) trimesters of pregnancy (during these period, risks of infectious diseases are increased). Plasma concentrations of tobramycin were measured by fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA). The decrease of clearance (decrement of 27.6%), at 28 weeks and more gestation leads to an increase in the half-life and the MRT observed in the second group (increment of 49% and 41% respectively), whereas the volume of distribution remained unchanged in the two groups. No accumulation of the drug was observed in pregnant women. Pharmacokinetic disorders are correlated with the duration and moreover with the weight deviation of the women i.e., the growth of the conceptus. In 10 cases, a feto-maternal concentration ratio was calculated at delivery using an umbilical cord blood sample. This findings suggest a phenomenon of accumulation in the conceptus. To limit the potential nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity of tobramycin for the mother and the fetus, a once-daily dose regime seems to be an advanced solution for treatment of nonneutropenic pregnant women.


Currently, many applications in Machine Learning are based on defining new models to extract more information about data, In this case Deep Reinforcement Learning with the most common application in video games like Atari, Mario, and others causes an impact in how to computers can learning by himself with only information called rewards obtained from any action. There is a lot of algorithms modeled and implemented based on Deep Recurrent Q-Learning proposed by DeepMind used in AlphaZero and Go. In this document, we proposed deep recurrent double Q-learning that is an improvement of the algorithms Double Q-Learning algorithms and Recurrent Networks like LSTM and DRQN.


This study proposes a parameter estimation technique based on the short-time fractional Fourier transform (STFRFT) for Chirp /Frequency Hopping (Chirp/FH) spread spectrum signal. It is able to detect and estimate parameters for Chirp/FH signal at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). At the end, a comparison between the new method and short-time Fourier transform-based method is provided to illustrate the advantages.


Scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests are used to select exemplary schools in Massachusetts, and the schools thus identified can receive awards from three different programs. This study examined the evidence about the use of MCAS scores to assess school quality. These three programs use MCAS to identify exemplary or mostimproved schools: (1) the Edgerly School Leadership Awards program, a privately funded program that gives 5 to 10 principals $10,000 to be used in the exemplary schools; (2) the Masslnsight Corporation program, a businessbased program that grants awards to 12 schools on the basis of score gains and descriptions of curricula; and (3) the performance ratings of the state Department of Education, which are used to select "Compass" schools for monetary rewards. All three programs portray MCAS score gains as a fair and accurate means of assessing school quality, but evidence from recent years shows that even schools receiving awards do not show steady improvement over 4 years of testing.' Labeling schools as "good" or "bad" on the basis of test scores can be especially misleading when the schools are testing a small number of students. Among other problems, evidence shows that test scores can improve if lower achieving students drop out. Massachusetts accountability and school recognition policies fail to identify in a holistic or authentic way the schools that are "more exemplary" than others, and the use of such scores to recognize schools promotes an inadequate definition of school improvement. An appendix presents data from the Compass Schools for 2002. (Contains 121 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document


The severe deforestation of Brazil s Atlantic Forest and the increasing effects of climate change underscore the need to understand how tree species respond to climate and edaphic factors. To identify the most important environmental drivers of coastal Atlantic Forest diversity and functional composition, we studied 42 plots of coastal Atlantic Forest (restinga), which has a high diversity of plant communities and spans strong environmental gradients. We examined how forest physiognomy and functional composition respond to changes in the environment, hydraulic, and soil properties. We tested different hypotheses relating the roles of nutrients and soil water availability in driving shifts in tropical forest diversity and functioning. We collected wood samples and leaves from ~85% of the plant species identified in the forest inventory and estimated the community-weighted tree height, aboveground biomass, basal area of individual plants, specific leaf area, wood density, and the total tree biomass per community by the sum of all trees aboveground biomass per plot. We measured water table depth and 24 physicochemical soil parameters. Hypotheses relating to these factors were formalized via both generalized additive models and piecewise structural equation models and null models of community assembly. Increasing drought, as reflected by increasing water table depth, coarse sand, and soil concentration of aluminum (>6 cmol/kg), was found to be a primary driver of shifts in all measured functional traits. Water table depth was found to be the main environmental driver of restinga species diversity, but shifts in species richness were largely decoupled from functional richness and functional dispersion. Our results suggest that decreases in soil water availability are a central driver of local phenotype environment matching and that increasing water limitation increases the role of environmental filtering on multiple traits. Our results show that drought leads to a strong convergence (standardized effect size < 1.95) in forest function and leads to shifts to smaller statured forest in particular. These findings reveal important differences in the drivers of forest structure and functioning, suggesting that changes in local spatial variation in soil and moisture variables will be a central issue in restinga management and conservation.


Organic based stabilizers have been considered as a new technology providing environmentally friendly heat stabilizer for PVC pipe production to substitute conventional lead stabilizer as well as calcium zinc stabilizer. In this research, PVC samples stabilized with 5 types of heat stabilizers i.e. 1) commercial lead stabilizer, 2) commercial calcium zinc stabilizer, 3) commercial organic based stabilizer (OBS), 4) 1,3-dimetyl-6-aminouracil (DAU) and 5) eugenol, were investigated. From dynamic mechanical analysis, storage modulus at room temperature of PVC stabilized with DAU was found to provide the highest value among those stabilizers. Glass transition temperature of the PVC stabilized with all types of heat stabilizers was determined to be approximately 99°C except the value of about 89°C in eugenol stabilized PVC. Furthermore, PVC stabilized with commercial lead, calcium zinc stabilizer and commercial OBS could be reprocessed up to at least 5 cycles. Whereas, PVC stabilized with DAU was found to be able to withstand the processing cycle up to 4 cycles. Additionally, PVC stabilized with DAU showed the most outstanding short term thermal stability and can maintain its original color for at least up to 4 processing cycles. Finally, repeated processing of PVC stabilized with each type of heat stabilizers showed negligible effect on mechanical properties for at least up to 3 processing cycles. From the above results, it is evident that DAU showed high potential use as a safe and effective organic based heat stabilizer for PVC to substitute traditional lead or calcium zinc compounds.


Study on sampling sludge from 04 industrial parks in Binh Duong province such
as My Phuoc, Dong An, Viet Huong 1, Song Than 2 to analyze the pollution
criteria to assess the pollution possibility of industrial waste sludge. The research
results show that: at present, the total volume of sludge generated today in the
industrial park fluctuates about 4,450 – 6,255 kg/day, equivalent to dry sludge
volume is 1,035.725 – 1,532.11 kg/day. The estimated volume of dry sludge
generated from industrial parks in the future from 2019 to 2020 ranges from
30,023 to 31,396 kg/day. Most sludge from 04 wastewater treatment plants hadn't
heavy metals (Hg, Pb, Cu, Ni, Cr, Zn, Cd), especially Dong An Industrial park
Treatment plant had Zn, value 49.7 – 49.9 mg/l. The sludge from the wastewater
treatment plants of 04 industrial parks had amount of helminth eggs that exceeds
the USEPA's regulations on pathogens (type A sludge).


The shared task for the 2019 Workshop on Computational Linguistics and Clinical Psychology (CLPsych'19) introduced an assessment of suicide risk based on social media postings, using data from Reddit to identify users at no, low, moderate, or severe risk. Two variations of the task focused on users whose posts to the r/SuicideWatch subreddit indicated they might be at risk; a third task looked at screening users based only on their more everyday (non-SuicideWatch) posts. We received submissions from 15 different teams, and the results provide progress and insight into the value of language signal in helping to predict risk level.


. In line with the growing popularity of process mining, several methodologies have been proposed to guide the conduct of process mining projects. Such methodologies reason that process mining projects start with a concrete question. However, in practice we observe projects with a different starting point, often aimed at exploring the data. Existing methodologies provide limited aid in such situations, and as a result, we wonder: how are questions developed within process mining projects? In this paper, we present the results of an interview study that sheds light on question development in process mining. We provide insights from expert interviewees, resulting in six recommendations that enhance existing methodologies. In doing so, we present concrete examples of how process mining analyses can support question formulation and refinement.


Olivier Corten, and Pierre Klein (eds). The Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties: A Commentary . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Pp. 2176. ISBN: 9780199546640.
Oliver Dorr, and Kirsten Schmalenbach (eds). The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: A Commentary . Berlin: Springer, 2012. Pp. 1423. ISBN: 9783642192913.
Mark Villiger. Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties . Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2009. Pp. 1058. ISBN: 9789004168046.
Commentaries on international law abound and proliferate. To reflect upon this trend in international legal scholarship, three commentaries on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties are reviewed. They are compared with regard to the ways in which they deal with three pertinent issues in the law of treaties: the ascertainment of jus cogens norms, the notion of object and purpose and grounds of invalidity, termination, and suspension. As a scholarly genre, commentaries form part of the legal culture of legal systems. So the review discusses their function in the past, in the present, and in their possible future. Their roots lie in the schools working on Roman law in the Middle Ages. They gained importance for international legal scholarship when international law entered the process of codification. Today, commentaries fulfil several functions in international legal discourse, the most important of which is that they structure this discourse. Digitization will seriously impact on all fields of scholarly publishing. The review concludes by discussing the possible changes in this scholarly genre. Those are accessibility, layout, referencing, inclusion of other media, and the possibility of enhanced discourse within the commentary.


An improved transfer alignment method for a strap-down inertial navigation system (SDINS) is presented here. The alignment accuracy in conventional method is vulnerable to the data latency of a Master INS (MINS) in high maneuverable platforms. We propose a time delay compensation equation considering higher-order terms in the attitude measurement equation of the Kalman filter. The equation incorporates additional information including angular rate, angular acceleration and linear acceleration from the MINS. Simulation results show that the transfer alignment accuracy is significantly improved in the high dynamic environment by incorporating the latency compensation technique.


We investigate theoretically the slow nonexponential relaxation dynamics and associated memory effects of glasses far from equilibrium, which are arguably the most important characteristics of the glass phase. We focus on the electron glass which offers an advantageous starting point compared to other glassy systems both theoretically and experimentally: the model used here is discrete, and experimentally it offers new ways to address these effects by changing a simple experimental parameter —the gate voltage. The full nonlinearized self-consistent model of the dynamics of the occupation numbers in the system successfully recovers the general behavior found in experiments. Our numerical analysis is consistent with both the expected logarithmic relaxation and our understanding of how increasing disorder or interaction slows down the relaxation process, thus yielding a consistent picture of the electron glass, and shedding light on the understanding of glassy behavior in general. We also present a novel finite-size domino effect where the connection to the leads affects the relaxation process of the electron glass in mesoscopic systems. This effect speeds up the relaxation process, and may even reverse the expected effect of interaction; stronger interaction then leading to a faster relaxation.


June p. 423) have been incompletely understood. Sir Hedley accuses us of misreading the description of his life-table analyses. The original article merely states that life-table analyses were carried out, and displays graphs to show the outcomes of these analyses. As no details of the analyses are given it is difficult to see how we could have misread them. From the criteria suggested by Lionel and Herxheimerl for assessing the reports of therapeutic trials we must conclude that the report of the trial by Sir Hedley and his colleagues is unsatisfactory, as the statistical tests are not described nor are important results of the analyses given. Sir Hedley Atkins also glosses over our criticism of the small numbers on which he and his colleagues based their conclusions. It is well known that the effective sample size in a life-table analysis is greater than the number of patients actually followed up for the maximum length of time,2 but obviously cannot be greater than the total number of paients studied. We clearly pointed out how unsatisfactory the numbers studied by Sir Hedley and colleagues are even if all the 370 patients had been followed up for the full 10 years. Now, Sir Hedley very correctly points out that it may be "mischievous" to delay analysis beyond the time when a valid conclusion can be made. Unfortunately, he does not explain how the decision to analyse was made. Was it decided to analyse at the tenyear point or when 370 patients were admitted to the trial, and when was this decision made? Mention is made of monitoring the deaths and recurrences in the trial by means of pegs on extensible threads, but the dangers of an informal sequential analysis as a form of "data snooping" should be well known to Sir Hedley and his colleagues. Surely, a valid sequential analysis, by the sign method3 would have provided a statistical basis for the decision to continue or stop the trial. Finally, Sir Hedley seems to have missed both the points in the penultimate paragraph of our earlier letter. Firstly, we pointed out that both the operation and the radiotherapy differed in the two treatment regimens, producing confounding of main effects in the trial. Any difference found could be due to the difference in surgery, or in radiotherapy, or to to the interaction of the surgery and radiotherapy. The trial carried out by Sir Hedley and his colleagues cannot distinguish among these alternatives, and yet these authors attribute the differences seen to the difference in surgery. The second point we made in this paragraph concerned the immunological effects of radiotherapy. The fact that the radiotherapy may have been suboptimal for tumour destruction does not, as Sir Hedley mistakenly implies, mean that the radiation will have no effect on the une response. Indeed, a suboptimal dose of radiation may well be the most harmful in that it may damage the immune response more than it damages the tumour. Now, it would be churlish to suggest that the trial by Sir Hedley and colleagues is of no value, but we remain fully convinced that the accolade awarded to this paper in your leading article was, to say the least, undeserved. The unfortunate effects of this high praise on practising surgeons who choose not to read the full trial report can hardly be overemphasized, and it is hoped that a retrogressive drift back to radical mastectomy will not take place.-We are, etc.,


Laser surgery is a commonly used technique for tissue ablation or the resection of malignant tumors. It presents advantages over conventional non-optical ablation techniques, like a scalpel or electrosurgery, such as the increased precision of the resected volume, minimization of scars and shorter recovery periods. Laser surgery is employed in medical branches such as ophthalmology or dermatology. The application of laser surgery requires the optimal adjustment of laser beam parameters, taking into account the particular patient and lesion. In this work we present a predictive tool for tissue resection in biological tissue after laser surgery, which allows an a priori knowledge of the tissue ablation volume, area and depth. The model employs a Monte Carlo 3D approach for optical propagation and a rate equation for plasma-induced ablation. The tool takes into account characteristics of the specific lesion to be ablated, mainly the geometric, optical and ablation properties. It also considers the parameters of the laser beam, such as the radius, spatial profile, pulse width, total delivered energy or wavelength. The predictive tool is applied to dermatology tumor resection, particularly to different types of non-melanoma skin cancer tumors: basocellular carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and infiltrative carcinoma. The ablation volume, area and depth are calculated for healthy skin and for each type of tumor as a function of the laser beam parameters. The tool could be used for laser surgery planning before the clinical application. The laser parameters could be adjusted for optimal resection volume, by personalizing the process to the particular patient and lesion.


This paper describes use of advanced battery energy storage systems to support integration of wind generation with power systems. Two wind integration projects using A123 Systems' proprietary Nanophosphate® lithium iron phosphate battery technology are described to provide examples of energy storage applied for wind integration. The first example is the Tehachapi Wind Energy Storage Project by Southern California Edison that will use an A123-built energy storage system to demonstrate use of storage deployed within an electrical network to support wind integration. The second example is use of A123-built energy storage systems to limit the power output ramp rate (MW/minute) of wind generators. The summary includes recommendations for continuing the expanded consideration and use of advanced energy storage as a contributing grid asset, including technical standards development.


Creativity of designers can be enhanced by the application of appropriate triggers. The presence of triggers helps designers to search solution spaces. The searching of a solution space increases the possibility of finding creative solutions. Both representation and content of the triggers or stimulus to which the designers are exposed are believed to play a vital role in the representation and content of the outcome of the designers during problem solving. We studied the effect of representation of triggers on ideas generated by six design engineers while trying to solve a given problem. A variety of representations (video/animation and audio, text, explanation, and others) that are potentially useful to designers for five prespecified triggers were administered to each designer, who generated ideas in response to each trigger–representation combination individually. The effect of representations of these triggers on the content and representation of the solutions generated by the design engineers was studied. The results showed significant influence of the representation of the triggers on the representations, number, and quality of the resulting ideas that were generated.


Current design practices for addiction treatment facilities reflect that of the western perspective on health, providing sterile, monolithic and cold environments. The quest for cleanliness, static and conditioned spaces robs the user of the richness of an engaging experience, isolating them into a sealed box. We further numb and anesthetize patients, disembodying them from the world and hindering their abilities to achieve physical, mental, emotional and spiritual awareness. This disengagement of the natural, human and spiritual realms proliferates the problems facing people with addiction. This thesis proposes an engagement of Anishinabek healing and wellbeing principles to inform the design of addiction healing spaces that stimulate the users, re-engages and enhances one's awareness and understanding of one's self, other beings and place in the world. By incorporating these principles into design, architecture can begin to re-engage the mind, the body, the heart and the soul of people suffering from addiction wellbeing issues.


c-myc is a well-known proto-oncogene encoding a transcription factor that needs to be tightly regulated in order to preserve cell homeostasis. The Promyelocytic Leukaemia gene product PML plays an important role in cell growth and survival, and resides in discrete sub-nuclear structures called Nuclear Bodies (NB). PML is largely involved in gene regulation via recruitment of several transcription factors and co factors to the NB. In this report, I show that Myc partially localizes to the NB and physically interacts with PML, and I demonstrate that PML over-expression affects Myc-mediated transcription of a reporter gene. Comparative analysis of the expression of 40 Myc target genes and of Myc binding to their regulatory regions in wild type and PML knockout mouse embryo fibroblasts was performed. The data show that if PML is absent, although Myc binding to the DNA regulatory sequences is unchanged, the expression profile of several Myc target genes is altered. As deregulation of both activated and repressed Myc target genes occurs, I propose that PML influences Myc transcriptional activity through a mechanism that involves the control of Myc post-translational modifications.


Heart rhythm disorders are presented one of the toughest little studied and, in this regard, current problems in cardiology among different populations living in different climatic and geographical conditions. Changes in normal pesmeker heart activity as identified in diseases of internal organs, and apparently healthy people, civilians and soldiers from various law enforcement agencies. Arrhythmia is a serious problem for both civilian and military health care, in view of the fact that there is a direct correlation with a high risk of cardiovascular complications and sudden (primarily aritmogenic Genesis) death. In addition, arrhythmia entail substantial economic burden in their diagnosis and treatment. Special attention should be paid to heart rhythm disorders in athletes and military personnel at the time of physical training standards. Primarily these are «harmless» violations as episodes or permanent migration of rhythm in the Atria, bradycardia, sinus arrhythmia. On the analysis of the studied Russian and world literature, a definite view on the incidence of various arrhythmias and conduction, residing in various climate and geographical areas, and the data obtained is directly dependent on applied research methodologies.


Prolonged exposure of one eye to a diagonal line grating produces masking or decreased sensitivity for similar test gratings presented to the contralateral eye. These aftereffects are orientationally selective and suggest that narrow orientationally tuned channels found by electrophysiological methods in the visual cortex of the cat and the monkey may have neural correlates in the human brain.


The concept of a digital twin is increasingly appearing in industrial applications, including the field of predictive maintenance. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical system containing all data available on site. This paper presents condition monitoring of ventilation systems through the digital twin approach. A literature review regarding the most popular system faults is covered. The motor current signature analysis is used in this research to detect system faults. The physical system is further described. Then, based on the free body diagram concept and Newton's second law, the equations of motion are obtained. Matlab/Simulink software is used to build the digital twin. The Concordia method and the Fast Fourier Transform analysis are used to process the current signal, and physical and numerical system current measurements are obtained and compared. In the final step of the modeling, specific frequencies were adjusted in the twin to achieve the best simulation. In addition, a statistical approach is used to create a complete diagnostic protocol.


In recent years, the development of intuitive humancomputer interfaces has drawn a growing interest from different research communities. One major aspect of designing such interfaces is to measure or predict the cognitive state and cognitive processes of the user. This ability would enable systems to optimize information presentation for the available cognitive resources, current goals, and cognitive context of the user and give support in critical or difficult situations.

http://www.psychologie.uni-heidelberg.de/ae/allg/mitarb/jf/Putze etal 2012 ICCM.pdf


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common human malignancies, affecting one of 20 persons in areas with high socio-economic standard. In Romania, the frequency of colorectal cancer is growing rapidly placing the country among countries with an average incidence of the disease. There are some etiologic factors involved and treatment of disease is carried out after proper staging. Biochemical mechanisms underlying malignant transformation in colorectal cancer are not all fully understood, therefore our work trying to enter in the path of oxygen metabolism at patients surgically treated. The aim of the study is to follow the production of active metabolites of oxygen, in the dynamics of the surgical procedure, and how the endogenous natural protection systems are activated, following the invasive procedure. Oxidative stress biochemistry assays, realized before and after surgical excision showed a direct relationship between the production of reactive oxygen species and the presence of tumor, without being able to distinguish exactly if malignant tissue is able to induce oxidative stress, or the latter occurs due to neoplastic changes. Based on the results we can say with certainty that the reactive oxygen species ROS primary attack occurs in the lipids, and then the proteins, following activation of endogenous antioxidant defence.


Many early spring bulb species are naturally found in grassy areas such as meadows or lawns. However, few studies have been conducted to define this concept in maintained lawns, especially warm-season lawns such as zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica) or bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon). Four early spring bulb species, including two crocus species (Crocus tommasinianus 'Ruby Giant' and Crocus chrysanthus 'Goldilocks'), reticulated iris (Iris reticulata 'Cantab'), and snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii) were established in a zoysiagrass lawn site in Fall 2010. In Spring 2011 and 2012, five common preemergence herbicides used on lawnswere applied across the plots to determine phytotoxicity. In addition,mowing treatments were started on plots at two timings (15Mar. and 15 Apr.) to determine how mowing might affect survival and performance of the bulb species. Early performance was good for all bulb species and greater than 50% flower production was observed in the first spring (2011) after planting. However, in the subsequent 3 years (2012–14), the only species that persisted and continued to flower adequately each spring was 'Ruby Giant' crocus. Herbicides and mowing did not affect bulb survival or performance in the trial, suggesting that typical lawn management practices will not be deleterious to the bulbs. These results demonstrate that early spring bulbsmay be incorporated into dormant, warm-season lawns, but species and cultivar selection will be crucial for long-term performance.


In June 2008, North Tees and Hartlepool Trust signed up to Patient Safety First. Our objectives were to put patients first and to develop a culture of patient safety. We implemented the intervention discussed here with the aim of preventing harm and reducing in-hospital cardiac arrest and mortality through earlier recognition and treatment of deteriorating patients. Acute illness is exacerbated by "failure to act" on recognised changes (Hillman et al, 2001). Analysis of serious patient safety incidents revealed that 11% of deaths were related to "deterioration not recognised or not acted upon" (National Patient Safety Agency, 2007a). The process can fail by not taking observations, not recognising early signs of deterioration, not communicating observations causing concern and not responding to concerns appropriately (NPSA, 2007b). We focused on improving all these areas.


Structure-based virtual screening (SBVS) is a promising in silico technique that integrates computational methods into drug design. An extensively used method in SBVS is molecular docking. However, the docking process can hardly be computationally efficient and accurate simultaneously because classic mechanics scoring function is used to approximate, but hardly reach, the quantum mechanics precision in this method. In order to reduce the computational cost of the protein-ligand scoring process and use data driven approach to boost the scoring function accuracy, we introduce a docking-based SBVS method and, furthermore, a deep learning non-docking-based method that is able to avoid the computational cost of the docking process. Then, we try to integrate these two methods into an easy-to-use framework, ParaVS, that provides both choices for researchers. Graph neural network (GNN) is employed in ParaVS, and we explained how our in-house GNN works and how to model ligands and molecular targets. To verify our approaches, cross validation experiments are done on two datasets, an open dataset Directory of Useful Decoys: Enhanced (DUD.E) and an in-house proprietary dataset without computational generated artificial decoys (NoDecoy). On DUD.E we achieved a state-of-the-art AUC of 0.981 and a state-of-the-art enrichment factor at 2% of 36.2; on NoDecoy we achieved an AUC of 0.974. We further finish inference of an open database, Enamine REAL Database (RDB), that comprises over 1.36 billion molecules in 4050 core-hours using our ParaVS non-docking method (ParaVS-ND). The inference speed of ParaVS-ND is about 3.6e5 molecule / core-hour, while this number of a conventional docking-based method is around 20, which is about 16000 times faster. The experiments indicate that ParaVS is accurate, computationally efficient and can be generalized to different molecular.


Leukocytapheresis (LCAP) as well as granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis (GMA) using extracorporeal circulation through the column has been used to treat inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis in Japan. We previously reported that GMA improved the peek expiratory flow rate (PEFR) in patients with severe asthma. To evaluate the efficacy of high-dose leukocytapheresis (pulse LCAP) using a large leukocyte-removal filter column (Cellsorba® CS-180S, Asahikasei Kuraray Medical, Tokyo, Japan) in patients with refractory asthma, we conducted a clinical trial. Pulse LCAP was performed 2 sessions at 1-week interval and 5 L of blood was filtered per session. The average PEFR during the 4 weeks just after the second LCAP in each patient was compared with that during the 4 weeks just before the first LCAP as a primary end point. The sum total of asthma control test (ACT) score at 4 weeks after the second LCAP was compared with that just before the first LCAP as a secondary end point. We evaluated the change of the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) in each patient before and after pulse LCAP as a biomarker of eosinophilic airway inflammation. Five patients fulfilled the ATS criteria for refractory asthma participated in this trial up to now. The morning PEFR and the ACT score were increased in all patients. Although FENO was abnormally increased in four patients in spite of the standard therapy, it was decreased after pulse LCAP. Pulse LCAP might serve as a non-pharmacological strategy to induce clinical improvement in patients with refractory asthma through its unique anti-inflammatory effects.


An excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to reduce excessive sugar consumption in South Africa came into effect on 1 April 2018. This study aimed to investigate perceptions of a limited sample of South Africans regarding the sugar-sweetened beverages tax based on certain economic factors, and whether participants perceived any likely benefit from the tax. These perceptions were compared with perceptions identified in selected foreign jurisdictions that have levied such a tax. A survey questionnaire was selected as the primary method of data collection. This questionnaire was administered to post-graduate Accounting students, aged twenty-one years and older, studying at three residential universities in South Africa. An extensive analysis of literature available on sugar-sweetened beverage taxes, both locally and internationally, was conducted. The two main constructs (construct 1: perception of the sugar-sweetened beverage tax and the price of sugar-sweetened beverages and construct 2: the social impact of the sugar-sweetened beverage tax) were analyzed using descriptive statistics. This study found that there is a significant association between gender and perception that the sugary beverage levy will be beneficial to health, with female perceptions of the benefit of the sugary beverage levy being greater than that of males. The study found that perception of the sugar-sweetened beverage tax may depend on several factors, closely linked to individual beliefs and cultures, and thus different populations may have different perceptions of the tax. The findings about sugar-sweetened beverage consumption trends across gender, ethnicities and physical activity groups can help guide targeted strategies to reduce consumption.


Value at Risk (VaR) is one of the most commonly used ways to measure and monitor market risk. At JPMorgan Chase (JPM), very large derivative positions established by Bruno Iksil in the Synthetic Credit Portfolio (SCP) caused the bank's Chief Investment Office (CIO) to exceed its VaR limit for four days in a row in January 2012. In response, the CIO changed to a new VaR model on January 30, which appeared to immediately reduce VaR by half. However, JPM soon discovered that this new VaR model had not been properly implemented and the bank went back to using the previous model. In addition, Iksil, other SCP staff, and their managers also disregarded several other risk metrics and limits during the first quarter of 2012. However, after JPM's Chief Investment Officer learned on March 23 that Iksil and the SCP had breached the CIO's mark-to-market Credit Spread Widening 10% risk limit the day before, she ordered trading of the SCP to be halted immediately.


We present in this paper a new algorithm to co-optimize the problems of test scheduling and core wrapper design under power constraints for core-based SoC (system on chip) designs. The problem of test scheduling is first transformed into a floorplanning problem with a given maximum height (test access mechanism width) constraint. Then, we apply the B*-tree based floorplanning technique to solve the SoC test scheduling problem. Experimental results based on the ITC'02 benchmarks show that our method is very effective and efficient-our method obtains the best results ever reported for SoC test scheduling with power constraint in every efficient running time. Compared with recent works, our method achieves average improvements of 4.7% to 20.1%.


Background: There are glaring racial and rural-urban inequities in stroke outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine whether there were recent changes to trends in racial inequities in stroke treatment and in-hospital mortality, and whether racial inequities differed across rural strata. Methods: Retrospective analysis of Black and White patients >18 years old admitted to US acute care hospitals with a primary discharge diagnosis of stroke (unweighted N=652 836) from the National Inpatient Sample from 2012 to 2017. Rural residence was classified by county as urban, town, or rural. The primary outcomes were intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular therapy use among patients with acute ischemic stroke, and in-hospital mortality for all stroke patients. Logistic regression models were run for each outcome adjusting for age, comorbidities, primary payer, and ZIP code median income. Results: The sample was 53% female, 81% White, and 19% Black. Black patients from rural areas had the lowest odds of receiving intravenous thrombolysis (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.43 [95% CI, 0.37–0.50]) and endovascular therapy (aOR, 0.60 [0.46–0.78]), compared with White urban patients. Black rural patients were the least likely to be discharged home after a stroke compared with White/urban patients (aOR, 0.79 [0.75–0.83]), this was true for Black patients across the urban-rural spectrum when compared with Whites. Black patients from urban areas had lower mortality than White patients from urban areas (aOR, 0.87 [0.84–0.91]), while White patients from rural areas (aOR, 1.14 [1.10–1.19]) had the highest mortality of all groups. Conclusions: Black patients living in rural areas represent a particularly high-risk group for poor access to advanced stroke care and impaired poststroke functional status. Rural White patients have the highest in-hospital mortality. Clinical and policy interventions are needed to improve access and reduce inequities in stroke care and outcomes.


This paper reports a conjoint analysis that explored potential impacts of real-time transit schedule information on mode preference. Conjoint analysis is a stated-preference approach to choice modeling in which respondents are asked to rate hypothetical products or services described by a single level of each of a number of attributes. Respondent ratings are decomposed into "part-worths" describing preferences for each attribute level. Subjects for the study were 500 randomly-sampled emplyees on the University of Michigan Medical Campus. The conjoint data indicate potential significance of real-time transit schedule information for circumstances under which modal choice decisions are made on a day-to-day basis. Stated mode preference is not, however significantly affected by availability of such information when decisions are made on a month-by-month basis. These results should further motivate transit system designers to provide such information, with particular attention paid to developing a highly accessible method of information dissemination.


ABSTRACT:This essay argues that contemporary neuroculture is characterized by a disposition to detect and construct meaningful similarities between the brain and the extracerebral world on the basis of principles of analogy and morphological congruity. It analyzes several examples of this phenomenon, for which the term "the isomorphic imagination" is proposed. The essay focuses on the trope of "patterns" as a medium of such cross-mappings in William Gibson's novel Pattern Recognition (2003), art historian Barbara M. Stafford's study Echo Objects: The Cognitive Work of Images (2007), and recent work in the field of cultural neuroscience; it identifies discourses on affect and plasticity as two important conditions of possibility for the current isomorphic imagination. It is concluded that the study of the isomorphic imagination as a broad material-discursive dispositive can help to understand better the various ways in which the brain is currently related to its worldly and cultural contexts and vice versa.


Abstract : This study comprises an analysis of the air plan for Operation Fortitude, the deception plan covering the invasion of Normandy in 1944. The author describes the foundations of Operation Fortitude by briefly describing the events leading up to the invasion of western Europe and the decisions made regarding the need for a deception operation. Next, the writer describes in detail Operation Fortitude and its sub-plans, Operations Quicksilver I-IV, and shows how all six sub-plans fit into the overall deception campaign. Next, the author discusses the Operation Fortitude air plan, describing the character of air operations in support of the deception, including an analysis of the level of effort expended on the deception and the types of targets the Allies struck. Next, the author analyzes the location and timing of the targets and assesses how they assisted both the deception and the Allied invasion. The author concludes by summing up the unique characteristics of the Operation Fortitude air plan. First, unlike other aspects of Operation Fortitude, the air campaign struck actual military targets with real bombs, and comprised as much as 50 percent of the total Allied bombing effort prior to the invasion. Whereas the spy network and fake wireless transmissions could have been exposed for the sham that they were, the bombing campaign stood was very real and was not readily exposed as a deception. Finally, the author includes an appendix with a transcription of the entire Operation Neptune air plan, which includes the Operation Fortitude targets.


Reliable multicast protocols are an important class of protocols for reliably disseminating information from a sender to multiple receivers in the face of node and link failures. A tree-based reliable multicast protocol (TRAM) provides scalable reliable multicast by grouping receivers in hierarchical repair groups and using a selective acknowledgment mechanism. We present an improvement to TRAM to minimize the resource utilization at intermediate hosts and to localize the effect of slow or malicious receivers on normal receivers. We present an evaluation of TRAM and TRAM++ on a campus-wide WAN without errors and with message errors. The evaluation brings out that, given a constraint on the buffer availability at intermediate hosts, TRAM++ can tolerate the constraint at the expense of increasing the end-to-end latency for the normal receivers by only 3.2% compared to TRAM in error-free cases. When slow or faulty receivers are present, TRAM++ is able to provide the same uninterrupted quality of service to the normal nodes while localizing the effect of the faulty ones without incurring any additional memory overhead.


Isolated perfused Malpighian tubules of the desert beetle Onymacris plana (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) have been subjected to cable analysis under the following conditions: control, adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP), corpora cardiaca homogenate (CCH), and high ambient K (130 mM). In addition, we investigated possible effects of perfusate composition on proximal transtubular potential (Vo) by reducing K, Na, or Cl or by adding ouabain, furosemide, or dinitrophenol. The effects of cAMP, CCH, and high K on Vo and cable parameters were consistent with increased fluid secretion, i.e., diminished input and core resistances and increased virtual short-circuit current, length constant, and luminal diameter. They differed in that CCH had variable effects on Vo and high K did not reduce transepithelial resistance. In terms of their effects on the parameters of a simple equivalent electrical circuit, the responses to cAMP, CCH, and a high ambient K concentration appear to be mediated by different mechanisms. Alterations in perfusate composition were almost without effect.


BACKGROUND
Prior to 1998 the New York Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Manhattan conducted traditional classroom lectures for annual mandatory safety training.

METHOD
Instead of offering the traditional program, the Nursing Education Department planned and implemented a week-long, theme-based, self-paced, interactive training program that included colorful posters, games, models, and opportunities for manipulation of materials. The program titled "Mandatory Cruise 1998" was offered to all medical center employees.

RESULTS
Posttests and reaction evaluations showed learning was both successful and fun.

CONCLUSION
This innovative method proved to be a cost-effective time-saver because compliance was accelerated; particularly significant in the current climate of reduced employee resources.


ABSTRACT A major focus of biogerontology is elucidating the role(s) of the endocrine system in aging and the accumulation of age-related diseases. Endocrine control of mammalian longevity was first reported in Ames dwarf (Prop1df) mice, which are long-lived due to a recessive Prop1 loss-of-function mutation resulting in deficiency of growth hormone (GH), thyroid-stimulating hormone, and prolactin. Following this report, several other GH-related mutants with altered longevity have been described including long-lived Snell dwarf and growth hormone receptor knockout mice, and short-lived GH overexpressing transgenic mice. One of the emerging areas of interest in these mutant mice is the role of adipose tissue in their altered healthspan and lifespan. Here, we provide an overview of the alterations in body composition of GH-related mutants, as well as the altered thermogenic potential of their brown adipose tissue and the altered cellular senescence and adipokine production of their white adipose tissue.


The authors propose a novel method to improve estimation of asset returns for portfolio optimization. This approach first performs a monthly directional market forecast using an online decision tree. The decision tree is trained on a novel set of features engineered from portfolio theory: the efficient frontier functional coefficients. Efficient frontiers can be decomposed to their functional form, a square-root second-order polynomial, and the coefficients of this function capture the information of all the constituents that compose the market in the current time period. To make these forecasts actionable, these directional forecasts are integrated to a portfolio optimization framework using expected returns conditional on the market forecast as an estimate for the return vector. This conditional expectation is calculated using the inverse Mills ratio, and the capital asset pricing model is used to translate the market forecast to individual asset forecasts. This novel method outperforms baseline portfolios, as well as other feature sets including technical indicators and the Fama–French factors. To empirically validate the proposed model, the authors employ a set of market sector exchange-traded funds.


Woolly hair nevus is a rarely acquired disorder of the scalp hair with well-circumscribed patch of curly and unruly hairs which are smaller in diameter than normal surrounding hair. We report a case of progressively evolving multiple woolly hair nevi in a 10-year-old child. Trichoscopy of unruly hairs showed abnormal kinking of hair shafts. Varying diameters of a single hair shaft, damaged cuticle, and trichorrhexis nodosa-like features were observed on hair microscopy. Histopathology showed abnormal bending of hair follicle above the hair bulb and irregularities of inner root sheath near the bulb at the bending. Most of the reported cases of woolly hair nevi had one or two stable patches, but this case presented with four patches which were progressively evolving.


The Transition from post-primary to higher education presents many challenges for students, both personally and academically. Widespread concern regarding students' lack of mathematical preparedness when negotiating the transition to higher education has also been widely documented. The issue of mathematical preparedness is colloquially referred to as the 'Mathematics problem' in the literature and specifically refers to the level of mathematical preparedness and skills of students as they commence their undergraduate studies. Mathematics is considered an important component of many degree programs and many students struggle with the mathematical demands of their degree programs due to inadequate and negative prior experiences. The number of disciplines affected by the existence of the 'mathematics problem' has also broadened to include disciplines classified as soft pure and soft applied. Several reasons are said to have contributed to the 'mathematics problem' within the Irish context and in an attempt to alleviate these concerns and to enable a smooth transition to higher education, the Irish government introduced the Project Maths curriculum. This paper reports on first year undergraduate students' experiences of the Project Maths curriculum and provides insight into whether students' 'mathematical resilience' prepares them for their higher education course.


Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) levels can be measured accurately down to a very low serum concentration with an immunoassay. When the serum TSH level is in the normal range, measuring the T3 and T4 levels is redundant. The objective of this study is to study the relation of TSH levels postoperatively in thyroid surgeries with the timing for thyroxin treatment as a supplemental and suppressive therapy. A prospective cohort study was done on 84 patients underwent thyroid operations in Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital from March 2010 through November 2012. Patients underwent different thyroid operations (lobectomy, subtotal thyroidectomy and total thyroidectomy) for different thyroid pathology. Later, they were followed up by TSH assay in periods of 2, 4, 6 and 12 months postoperatively. Variables were compared by using the analysis of variance, ANOVA test. P – values equal or less than 0.05 and 0.01 were considered to be statistically significant and highly significant, respectively. The mean age of patients was 43.30 ± 10.19 years. The females made the vast majority of study sample (85.7%). Patients were divided into six groups: simple colloid goiters (17 patients), multinodular goiters (32 patients), solitary thyroid nodules (11 patients), Hashimoto's thyroiditis (8 patients), Graves' disease (8 patients) and papillary and follicular carcinomas (8 patients). The study revealed that all patients with malignant thyroid nodules (i.e. those with total thyroidectomies) and the vast majority of patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis were in definite need for thyroxin treatment post-operatively. Other patients were variable in their need and timing of treatment according to the histopathological results and the type of operations. In conclusion; measurement of TSH level postoperatively is a good indicator for need of thyroxin treatment and for dose adjustment with the help of pathological results and the type of surgery.


Usually, when determining the safety margins and reliability of structures and their

elements, it is sufficient to solve the boundary value problem of the theory of elasticity at small

deformations. With the development of innovative technologies and the widespread use of composite

materials, the calculation of materials at large deformations is required. The article formulates a twodimensional

boundary value problem of the theory of elasticity in finite deformations for a rectangular

region with different boundary conditions. The grid equations are compiled by the finite-difference

method. To solve nonlinear grid equations, an effective iterative method is proposed based on the

solution of finite-difference equations and boundary conditions with respect to the sought nodal

values, taking into account nonlinear terms. The distribution of displacements and stresses in a given

area is investigated and the numerical results are compared with the results obtained for boundary

value problems of the theory of elasticity at small deformations.


To the Editor:—In the face of difficult intubation, it is sometimes useful to insert a small-diameter introducer through the laryngeal aperture in the trachea and then pass the endotracheal tube over it. We report a modification of this technique using the Univent bronchial-blocker tube (Fuji System, Tokyo, Japan) in a patient with unanticipated difficult intubation. A 60-yr-old, 67-kg man with lung cancer was scheduled for right upper lobotomy. The patient had been in good health. After achieving the optimal head and neck position, anesthesia induction, and muscle relaxation, laryngoscopy was performed using a Macintosh No. 3 blade by an experienced anesthetist. Only the epiglottis was seen, despite application of external laryngeal pressure, and it was impossible to insert a 7.5-mm ID Univent tube into the trachea. The curvature of the distal end of the tube was changed using a stylet, but the second attempt at intubation also failed. After easy mask ventilation for a few minutes, the bronchial-blocker catheter was protruded maximally from the distal end of the main lumen of the Univent tube. At the third laryngoscopy, the bronchial-blocker catheter was gently advanced along the laryngeal surface of the epiglottis by blind probing. When a clicking sensation was felt with the curved tip, a 50-ml syringe was attached to the proximal end of a hollow lumen of the bronchial blocker. Withdrawal of the syringe plunger aspirated gas without resistance. This indicated that the bronchial blocker was in the trachea, and, therefore, the main body of the Univent tube was passed over it. The main lumen met with resistance under the epiglottis, but rotating its bevel 90° counterclockwise enabled easy advancement into the trachea. Successful intubation was confirmed by capnography during manual ventilation. The operation and the postoperative course were uneventful, except for a moderately severe sore throat, which improved gradually. There are some useful features of the Univent tube as an aid to difficult intubation compared with common bougies. First, special equipment is not needed because the Univent tube is a combination of an endotracheal tube with a bronchial-blocker catheter that can act as an intubating introducer. Second, it is relatively easy to control the direction of the tip of the bronchial blocker by rotating the main lumen. Its direction is also changed by twirling the proximal end of the bronchial blocker in the fingers. Finally, the hollow bronchial blocker (2-mm ID) enables use of the esophageal detector device or of the self-inflating bulb for confirmation of the placement of the catheter tip in the trachea. Successful tracheal placement is also confirmed by feeling a clicking sensation as the catheter tip slides over the tracheal cartilages. In addition, the hollow catheter can be used as a channel for oxygen delivery or as a suction catheter. We have experienced five cases of successful intubation using the Univent tube in which the laryngeal aperture was invisible during laryngoscopy. A possible problem with our technique is traumatic airway complication. Although the bronchial blocker is designed to pass safely into the trachea and bronchus, the bronchial-blocker catheter should be gently advanced. The fiberoptic bronchoscope– aided endotracheal intubation is the most reliable method in patients at risk for difficult intubation. However, the fiberoptic bronchoscope is not always readily available, and an intubation attempt may fail because of an inability to advance the endotracheal tube over the fiberoptic bronchoscope into the trachea. We believe that the Univent bronchial-blocker tube is a useful and simple aid to unanticipated difficult intubation.


The IGARAPE Bahia Cu-Au mineralization is hosted by an Archean, low-grade metavolcano-sedimentary sequence. The orebodies define an ellipsoidal structure and are associated with subvertical breccia units located at the contact between two distinct units of the host sequence. Mineralized breccias include fragments of both footwall and hanging wall, which are cemented by variable amounts of chlorite, siderite, magnetite, chalcopyrite, K-bearing phases and minor U-REE-minerals. Quartz diorite dikes that disrupt the host rocks show a variety of textures, ranging from weakly altered granophyric terms to intensely venulated and brecciated rocks. Hydrothermal alteration of dikes includes propylitization, potassification and local albitization. Based on ore petrology and geochemical data (major elements, REE, oxygen and carbon stable isotopes) it is proposed that the progressive interaction of a hot saline and acid, deep-seated fluid with a low-temperature less saline and oxidizing meteoric solutions is the most likely depositional mechanism of the IGARAPE Bahia mineralization. The resemblance of the alteration styles of mineralized breccias and dioritic dikes suggest that both have interacted with the same hydrothermal fluid. Thus, the dioritic dikes could have been the source of heat and of magmatic fluids during the final stages of epicrustal emplacement.


The study was intended to find out the most profitable method between the relay and tillage growing method of lentil production. For primary data collection, a simple random sampling method was followed. Household survey was conducted in two districts Bardiya and Kailali in 2021 AD. A total of 107 lentil farmers (43 farmers following relay and 64 farmers following tillage practices) were randomly selected from two pockets area (relay and tillage method adopters) of each district. Benefit-Cost (BC) ratio analysis was done to find out the most profitable method of lentil cultivation. Multiple regression model was applied to estimate the factors determining the lentil production. The average BC ratio is 2.18 which indicates that lentil cultivation is profitable with average productivity of 0.64 mt/ha. The total cost incurred per ha in relay and tillage method was NRs. 24345 and NRs. 33549 respectively. Similarly, gross income from relay and tillage method was found NRs. 56160 and NRs 69870, per ha respectively. In between the two popular methods (relay and tillage) of lentil cultivation, the BC ratio was found 2.31 in the relay method compared to 2.08 in the tillage method. Among the several socio-economic independent variables used in the model, the age of the household head and fertilizer application significantly influenced the lentil production. However, lentil production is negatively affected by the practice of intermixed cropping. Hence the result indicates that relay cropping with mono-cropping and appropriate management of fertilizer could play a crucial role to boost the profitability of lentil farming


BACKGROUND
The heterogeneity of ischemic stroke syndromes with treatment of disparate categories may be a factor in clinical stroke trial failure. Recent advances include a multitude of stroke investigative modalities that are noninvasive, allowing more precise mechanistic determination.

MATERIAL/METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed our young stroke patient population for stroke etiology according to the TOAST classification with five different etiological groups. Patients were assessed quantitatively according to the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale for neurological deficit and Rankin Scale for neurological handicap. Investigations included laboratory, Doppler sonograms of the cervicocephalic vessels, cardiac echocardiography and multimodality magnetic resonance imaging in all patients. Statistical analysis was performed, using a logit model for nominal response: log piJ/piJ)=alphaj+betajX.

RESULTS
Amongst young stroke patients (n=133, women n=72) causes included other (n=77/119;65%), large vessel disease (LVD) (n=8/119;7%), small vessel disease (SVD) (n=17/119;14%), unknown (n=3/119;2%) and cardiac (n=14/119;12%). Within the other category at least 20 different etiologies were delineated. There were significant differences among the various categories (multinomial distribution with equal probabilities p=<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS
We recommend an expanded classification for stroke to include large vessel cerebrovascular disease, small vessel cerebrovascular disease, cardiogenic, dissection, prothrombotic states, migraine induced, cerebral venous thrombosis, vasculitides, vasculopathy other, miscellaneous and unknown.


An ultrasonic linear array system has been developed in which dynamic focusing in the receive mode is performed in a digital fashion at every sampling point. In order to reduce the sampling rate, the analytic signal sampling technique is employed and the required Hilbert transformer is realized by analog 90d phase shifters. An ASIC chip for digital focusing which includes variable sampling clock generators and digital delay devices and adders, has been developed. The experimental results show a proper operation of the system


Due to the current military climate, a large number of military service men and women often
experience prolonged and repeated separations from their families due to overseas deployment.
This has been shown to have potentially detrimental effects on the family system, spouse
relationships and on the child.
This study aimed to use qualitative methods to explore the individual experiences of UK mothers who
had children living at home when their husbands deployed overseas. It aimed to examine their views
on how they believed the deployment experience impacted on their children. This included reports
on their experiences of welfare packages offered by the military and related support services. The
study also aimed to highlight any personally developed examples of possible good practice.
A single method design was used, utilising semi-structured interviews following a discovery spine
interview technique. The conducted interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using
thematic analysis based on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and drawing on aspects of
Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis approach (2006).
From the analysis it was shown that it was felt by mothers that deployment affected children both
positively and negatively. For some there were negatively perceived changes in behaviour as well as
significant feelings of loss both in terms of relationship and physical presence. There were also
descriptions of increased negative emotional states and an ongoing experience of maladaptive life
events concurrent with life within a military community.
In positive terms, the experience of deployment was described as prompting beneficial behavioural
changes as well as enabling them to develop more positive aspects to their character. Their
increased thoughtfulness and ability to empathise was seen as a contributing factor to enhancing
their relationships both with the deployed parent and with those who remained at home.
This study highlights the need for increased attention to military children's well-being in the UK and
the under-researched impact of overseas parental deployment on their development and functioning.
It also demonstrates the need for improvements to support services and welfare packages to families
who currently feel unsupported at times of deployment.
It suggests the importance of acknowledging and addressing the concerns of those individuals most
closely affected by these procedures and the benefits that sharing their experience with others in
similar positions can have.


Recent speleothem records from the tropics of both hemispheres document a gradual decrease in the intensity of the monsoons in the Northern Hemisphere and increase in the Southern Hemisphere monsoons over the Holocene. These changes are a direct response of the monsoons to precessiondriven insolation variability. With regard to atmospheric methane, this shift should result in a decrease in Northern Hemisphere tropical methane emissions and increase in Southern Hemisphere emissions. It is plausible that that overall tropical methane production experienced a minimum in the mid-Holocene because of decreased seasonality in rainfall at the margins of the tropics. Changes in tropical methane production alone might, therefore, explain many of the characteristics of Holocene methane concentrations and isotopic chemistry.


This study intends to investigate how a change of fuel type from Heavy Fuel Oil to a ultra-low sulphur hybrid oil affects the indoor air quality on board a passenger ferry. The indoor air quality was assessed with respect to the concentration of NO2, SO2 and TVOC, temperature and relative humidity. The efficiency of the ventilation system on the ferry was estimated by measurements of the levels of CO2. The air on-board the ferry was rather dry and in the engine space also warm. CO2 levels exceeded 1 000 ppm extremely seldom, thus indicating well designed and functioning ventilation. The concentrations of the air pollutants were below the guidelines values for good IAQ. They were also much below the occupational limit values. Living and working on-board this ship is comparable to any other indoor environment. The change of the fuel influenced only the concentrations of SO2.


Objectives: The liver is the most common metastatic site in colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, we evaluated if there is any difference between first-line irinotecan-based and oxaliplatin-based chemotherapies in the duration of time to disease progression (TTP) in CRC patients with only liver metastasis. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with metastatic CRC referred to the Medical Oncology Department at the Faculty of Medicine of Ege University, between January 2002 and December 2010. Seventy-seven patients had only liver metastasis and completed their first-line chemotherapy. Forty-two patients had oxaliplatin-based treatments while 12 also had bevacizumab therapy, and 35 patients had irinotecan-based treatments while 16 also had bevacizumab therapy. Results: Median TTP was 6.70±0.29 months for patients treated with oxaliplatin+5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and 8.33±1.15 months for patients treated with oxaliplatin+5-FU+bevacizumab. TTP was significantly improved for patients who received irinotecan+5-FU+bevacizumab (median TTP, 13.73±2.10 mo) when compared with irinotecan+5-FU (median TTP, 5.13±0.70 mo). Conclusions: Although previous studies showed no survival difference between these 2 chemotherapeutic agents in metastatic CRC, there might be differences in the benefit of delaying the disease progression in subgroup populations. Irinotecan+5-FU with bevacizumab combination chemotherapy may be superior in the first-line treatment of CRC with hepatic only metastasis.


In this work we have studied the optical and magnetic properties of sol–gel synthesized nanocrystalline Ag3(2+x)PrxNb4−xO11+δ (x = 0.0, 0.50 and 1.0; S1–S3) samples. The structural, morphological, optical and magnetic properties of the nanoparticle were investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray profile, optical absorbance spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction results reveal the formation of single-phase monoclinic lattice structure with P2/m in all the samples. The optical absorption spectra indicates charge transfer from O2− to Nb5+ of niobium and 3H4 to 1D2, 3P0, 3P1 and 3P2 of praseodymium (4f2) ions. Magnetic studies reveal that the samples exhibit ferromagnetism at room temperature. EPR lineshapes of the nanoparticles S1–S3 at 77 and 300 K show a broad unresolved isotropic lineshapes due to the relaxation process.


Air-heating vaporizer usually is used to regasify LNG at satellite areas because of the small demand of natural gas there. The co㎜on type of air heating vaporizer which exists in the market is the longitudinally finned type with 8 fins, 55 ㎜ fin length and 2 ㎜ fin thickness. To contribute in developing an efficient air-heating vaporizer, experiment on finned type air-heating vaporizer using 8 fins, 50 ㎜(fin length) with 2 ㎜(fin thickness) which exist in the market and 4 fins, 75 ㎜(fin length) with 2 ㎜(fin thickness), which is proposed, were conducted. Then, both types of vaporizers are compared. The experiments were conducted in one hour by varying the ambient condition and the length of the vaporizer. The ambient air was controlled so that it has the same temperature, humidity and air velocity with air condition in every season available and the length was varied 4000 ㎜, 6000 ㎜ and 8000 ㎜ for each type of vaporizer. Additional experiment with longer duration, i.e. In this experiment, the main aspects in analyzing the characteristics of the air heating vaporizer the inlet-outlet enthalpy difference and the outlet temperature of the working fluid. LN₂ is used to substitute LNG because of safety reason. The results show that the characteristics of the finned type 4fin75le vaporizer are comparable to finned type 8fin50le vaporizer.


The theory of time-modulated circular arrays in respect of generating orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams at harmonic frequencies is analysed. Without using expensive phase shifters in phased arrays, beam steering for OAM beams is achieved using switches connected to array elements. The model of an eight-element time-controlled circular array is derived with the method of time-modulation beam steering techniques. Simulation results show that beam steering for OAM beams is realised, which indicates the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Fibrous cross-β aggregates (amyloids) and their transmissible forms (prions) cause diseases in mammals (including humans) and control heritable traits in yeast. Initial nucleation of a yeast prion by transiently overproduced prion-forming protein or its (typically, QN-rich) prion domain is efficient only in the presence of another aggregated (in most cases, QN-rich) protein. Here, we demonstrate that a fusion of the prion domain of yeast protein Sup35 to some non-QN–rich mammalian proteins, associated with amyloid diseases, promotes nucleation of Sup35 prions in the absence of pre-existing aggregates. In contrast, both a fusion of the Sup35 prion domain to a multimeric non-amyloidogenic protein and the expression of a mammalian amyloidogenic protein that is not fused to the Sup35 prion domain failed to promote prion nucleation, further indicating that physical linkage of a mammalian amyloidogenic protein to the prion domain of a yeast protein is required for the nucleation of a yeast prion. Biochemical and cytological approaches confirmed the nucleation of protein aggregates in the yeast cell. Sequence alterations antagonizing or enhancing amyloidogenicity of human amyloid-β (associated with Alzheimer's disease) and mouse prion protein (associated with prion diseases), respectively, antagonized or enhanced nucleation of a yeast prion by these proteins. The yeast-based prion nucleation assay, developed in our work, can be employed for mutational dissection of amyloidogenic proteins. We anticipate that it will aid in the identification of chemicals that influence initial amyloid nucleation and in searching for new amyloidogenic proteins in a variety of proteomes.


This study, "Leadership in Construction Management among Construction Professionals in the Context of Nepal", was conducted during the period from March to November in 2015. For this purpose, field survey was conducted through semi-structured questionnaire. Sample survey among professional practitioners was conducted in Kathmandu valley. The findings of the study reveal that construction professionals realize the effective leadership in different levels and dimensions in Nepalese construction industries. In addition, the study has shown the relevancy of authentic leadership in order to overcome challenges like corruption and unsophisticated organizational context. At the same time, the study highlights the various requirements to update the priority of leadership traits towards skills, such as, communication, motivation rather than limiting only to hard core skills. Similarly, leadership behavior was found out to be oriented towards higher level people of management. Furthermore, the study has also demonstrated that construction professionals are not adequately strong in key dimensions of authentic leadership. Hence, leadership development should be given equal emphasis on technical and managerial aspects in construction industries along with the professionals in the circumstance of Nepal.


Equational logic is central to reasoning about programs.What is the right equational setting for reasoning about probabilistic programs? It has been understood that instead of equivalence relations one should work with (pseudo)metrics in a probabilistic setting. However, it is not clear how this relates to equational reasoning. In recent work the notion of a quantitative equational logic was introduced and developed. This retains many of the features of ordinary logic but fits naturally with metric reasoning. The present chapter is an elementry introduction to this topic. In this setting one can define analogues of algebras and free algebras. It turns out that the Kantorovich (Wasserstein) metric emerges as a free construction from a simple quantitative equational theory. We give a couple of examples of quantitative analogues of familiar effects from programming language theory. We do not assume any background in equational logic or advanced category theory.


Background: Historically, triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs) were categorized into an ill-defined group that lacked estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. When TNBCs are treated with standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), a pathologic complete response (pCR) is achieved in only 30-50% of the time. In an effort to improve outcomes for chemotherapy - refractory disease, emerging subtypes of TNBC have been identified through advances in molecular profiling leading to the discovery of distinct molecular aberrations which may be targeted. For example, mesenchymal-like TNBCs are a subset with aberrations that activate the PI3K/AKT/mTOR axis. Similar to mesenchymal-like, metaplastic breast cancers are commonly triple negative, refractory to standard therapy, and also harbor a high rate of molecular aberrations that lead to activation of the PI3K pathway. As such, metaplastic tumors may act as a morphologically identified 'surrogate of response' to evaluate the activity of targeted therapy regimens in mesenchymal-like TNBC. Based upon favorable results noted in a phase I trial of liposomal doxorubicin, bevacizumab, and the mTOR inhibitor temsirolimus (DAT) in metastatic metaplastic tumors, we will conduct this single arm phase II trial with neoadjuvant DAT for chemotherapy-refractory mesenchymal-like TNBC. Trial Design: At our institution, women with TNBC who are receiving NAC will be enrolled onto a triaging protocol, where they will be randomized in a 2:1 fashion to be evaluated by a microarray-based predictive signature to determine chemotherapy sensitivity and categorized as chemotherapy-sensitive (CS) or chemotherapy-insensitive (CI). Subsequently, patients will be treated with standard anthracycline-based chemotherapy (AC or FAC) for 4 cycles. Patients with CI tumors with Eligibility Criteria: Female; > 18 years of age; newly diagnosed stage I-III triple negative breast cancer; refractory to standard NAC; LVEF > 50% by Echocardiogram or MUGA; ECOG PS 0-1 Statistical Methods: The primary endpoint is pCR following therapy with DAT. Secondary objectives will include recurrence-free survival and overall survival. Using a Simon optimal two-stage design with alpha = beta = 10%, and then setting the threshold for an acceptable pCR rate at 20%, we would enroll 12 patients into the first stage. If we see 0 patients with pCR, we would stop the study after the first stage. If we see at least one patient with a pCR we will continue to enroll 25 more patients for a total of 37 patients. We would declare the treatment worthy of further study if we see at least 4 patients with pCR out of the 37 patients. This design has a 54% probability of early termination after the first stage if the true pCR probability is 5%. Target Accrual: 37. Citation Format: Rashmi K Murthy, Naoto T Ueno, William F Symmans, Jennifer K Litton, Banu K Arun, Nuhad K Ibrahim, Ricardo H Alvarez, Michael Z Gilcrease, Vicente Valero, Debasish Tripathy, Stacy L Moulder. Phase II single arm study of liposomal doxorubicin (D), bevacizumab (A), and temsirolimus (T) for treatment of triple negative early breast cancer refractory to standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy [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 OT2-2-06.


Arsenic contamination of drinking water is a global problem. Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water for the population in Northern Rajasthan, India. This study consisted of the determination of arsenic content in 39 groundwater samples collected from Hanumangarh, SriGanganagar, Churu and Sikar districts of Northern Rajasthan, where drinking water samples are not treated before it is consumed. The water samples were collected from hand pumps. The arsenic in the drinking water samples were analyzed by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS). The arsenic concentration in drinking water samples ranges from 1.48 μg L-1 in village 3H to 45.10 μg L-1 in village Rajgarh with a mean value of 7.31 μg L-1. The arsenic concentration in 18% of the water samples has been found to be higher than the safe limit of 10 μg L-1 recommended by World Health Organization and United States Environmental Protection Agency


The in-plane dynamic crushing of hexagonal honeycombs was numerically studied by means of explicit dynamic finite element method using ANSYS/LS-DYNA. Under the assumption that the edge length and thickness were the same, the metal honeycomb models filled with convex and concave cells were established. And then the effects of expanding angle and impact velocity on the plateau stress and the energy absorption capacities of hexagonal honeycombs were discussed in detail. Numerical results show that the energy absorption capacities of convex hexagonal honeycombs are stronger than the concave ones. These results will provide some useful guides for the dynamic energy absorption design of cellular materials.


Summary
Individuals often show consistent differences in risk-taking behaviours; behaviours that increase resource acquisition at the expense of an increased risk of mortality. Recently, basal metabolic rate (BMR) has been suggested as a potentially important state variable underlying adaptive individual differences in a range of behaviours, including risk-taking.
We tested the relationship between BMR and risk-taking in free-living great tits (Parus major) using experimental manipulations of perceived predation risk. We compared the latency of individuals to return to feeders following control (human) and predator (model sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus) disturbances at fixed feeder locations. We predicted that if variation in risk-taking is shaped by energetic constraints, high BMR individuals should return to feeders sooner following both disturbance types and show smaller changes in risk-taking as a function of predation danger.
Higher BMR tended to be associated with lower risk-taking following control disturbances but greater risk-taking following predator disturbances, resulting in a significant interaction between BMR and treatment.
Within-individual changes in risk-taking as a function of ambient temperature (a proxy for within-individual changes in energetic constraints) mirrored these results. Lower temperatures tended to be associated with lower risk-taking following control disturbances, but greater risk-taking following predator disturbances, resulting in a significant interaction between temperature and treatment.
The effects of BMR and temperature on variation in risk-taking as a function of perceived predation danger were qualitatively similar, suggesting that energetic constraints play a role in shaping risk-taking. However, the hypothesized mechanism (energetic requirements directly influence the optimal expression of risk-taking behaviour) is insufficient to account for the observed negative relationship between energetic constraint and risk-taking following control disturbances.
We conclude that variation in risk-taking is associated with differences in energetic constraints, including BMR and temperature, but that the relationship is context-specific, here high vs. low perceived predation risk. Further studies are needed to elucidate potential mechanisms that could generate context-specific relationships between energetic constraints and risk-taking.


Power dissipation is an important design constraint in today's CMOS VLSI design and is addressed widely by the researchers across the globe. Switching activity is one of the factors that affect dynamic power in a chip and several publications have suggested various techniques to reduce the same. Reduction of switching activity in the busses attains significance as bus width, bus capacitance and the clock are recording continuous uptrend. In this paper, we propose a technique for bus encoding, which, reduces the number of transitions on the bus and performs better than the existing methods such as bus invert coding and shift invert coding for random data in terms of switching activity, without the need for extra overhead in computation and circuit. However, irrespective of the bus width it needs three extra bits and does not assume anything about the nature of the data on the bus.


Background: The induction of testicular toxicity by bisphenol A (BPA) may involve oxidative stress. Glutamine (Gln) is a rate limiter for the synthesis of glutathione (GSH), which inhibits oxidative stress. Aim: This study assessed the potential of BPA to preserve testicular structure and function in BPA-treated albino rats. Study Settings and Design: Thirty-two adult male albino rats (210–250 g) were randomly allocated to 4 (A-D) of 8 rats per group with the approval of the Research Ethics Committee. Materials and Methods: Groups B-D were orally treated with Gln (20 mg/kg body weight), BPA (50 mg/kg body weight) and Gln (20 mg/kg body weight) + BPA (50 mg/kg body weight) daily for 65 days, respectively. Group A (control) was orally treated with normal saline (0.2 mL) daily for 65 days. At the termination of treatment, the rats were weighed and anaesthetized blood samples were collected and evaluated for gonadal hormones. The testes were weighed and evaluated for sperm parameters, oxidative stress markers and histology. Statistical Analysis Used: The data were analysed using one-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc test. Results: BPA caused a significant (P < 0.001) decrease in testis and body weights, sperm count, volume, motility and normal morphology when compared to the control. BPA significantly (P < 0.001) decreased serum testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, testicular catalase, superoxide dismutase, GSH and GSH peroxidase levels relative to control. Significantly (P < 0.001) increased serum prolactin, estradiol and testicular malondialdehyde levels occurred in BPA-treated rats relative to control. The testes of BPA-treated rats showed sloughing and coalescence of germ cells. However, Gln supplementation prevents BPA-induced testicular toxicity. Gln supplementation restored testis histology. Conclusion: Based on the observation in this study, Gln seems effective against BPA-induced testicular toxicity.


Today, technological innovation is considered an essential component of corporate success. However, investment in R&D will result in innovative products only if research findings are transferred to production. This paper presents the results of a study on the barriers to and facilitators of this transfer process. Data were collected from 60 R&D division managers and 58 production managers from 61 companies in Brazil. Size of the R&D unit and the nature of the technology were considered in the analysis. Recommendations to improve the links between R&D and production are presented. >


Simple, accurate, rapid and highly sensitive Extractive Spectrophotometeric determination method has been developed and validated for estimation of Amphetamine Sulphate in pharmaceutical solid dosage form. The proposed method is based on the principle that Mono and diamines in the dissociated form (Ion) combined with dissociated form of the Acid dye Solochrome black T. The formation of Acid dye complex has been evaluated by carrying TLC, Infra-red spectra. The acid dye-drug complex has lmax at 520 nm. Beer's Lambert Law obeyed in the range of 20-100μg ml-1. The results were validated statistically. The further scope for this method is that it can be applied to body fluid in cases of intoxication.


The development of self-management solutions for (multi-technology, multi-layer) mobile communication networks is driven by their increasing operational complexity. Initial stand-alone SON (Self-Organizing Networks) solutions are already available, but are not sufficient to handle the networks of tomorrow. In this paper we present our approach at developing a unified management framework that integrates the existing and future advanced SON functions across several radio access technologies. The envisioned self-management system comprises (i) an integrated SON management system, in charge of policy transformation/supervision and conflict detection/handling; (ii) advanced multi-RAT/layer SON functions; and (iii) a Decision Support System providing measurement-based assistance for residual operational tasks, such as timely recommendations for targeted new site deployments.


We propose a novel two-dimensional contact-type image sensor using amorphous silicon photo-transistors (APTs) in order to form a compact image scanner. Each pixel of the sensor consists of an APT, a storage capacitor, and an amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (a-Si TFT). We have made a prototype 140×240-pixel sensor with a pixel size of 160 µm square. It is confirmed that the prototype APT sensor can detect an image under room light. Exposure for gray scale images is in the range of 10-1 to 7 lx·s. This TFT-switched, two-dimensional contact-type image sensor is promising for large-area applications because the process for APTs is fully compatible with that for conventional a-Si TFTs.


Despite the recent new ministerial dispositions on the high school's teaching of Chemistry introducing the cross correlation of chemistry concepts and their distribution on the five years long course, the chemistry teaching still remains disjointed from both practise and contacts with real life in specific high schools (Scientific Licei), even though these latter are strictly devoted to the study of all the branches of Natural Sciences, and hence also of Chemical Sciences. As an example, while most of these schools possess a Physics lab, the Chemistry lab is generally absent. This discrimination can be attributed to many factors: 1) the Chemistry laboratory requires specific and very expensive safety structures, 2) the Chemistry laboratory can produce waste substances needing special disposal, 3) in this context the teachers do not possess specific skills, as they are generally graduated in different scientific disciplines. All these facts limit the Chemistry lab implementation and, even when present in the school, its practical use. The lack of a chemistry teaching method based on / or supported by practical experiences can be a serious lack in the learning process leading to students having poor motivations on the study of Chemistry and scarce attitude to acquire a correct understanding of matter composition and related transformations. As a consequence, according to National Scientific Project (Piano Lauree Scientifiche), the UNICAM Chemistry degree course has promoted and evaluated the impact of a 6-8 hours long General Chemistry laboratory [1] to 11 selected Licei of the Marche region and relative Science teachers, to be attended in UNICAM by students of 3rd to 5th year high school. In these experiences, key concepts and chemical reactions themes of the General and Organic Chemistry have been proposed and shown by mean of practical experiences directly performed by the students or small groups of them. In the 2015/2016 academic year, about 400 students have been evaluated at the beginning and at the end of the daylong lab by a multi-answers questionnaire strictly related to the experienced reactions. The analysis of results shows an increase of about 20% of the correct answers after the laboratory experiences.


Large predators are declining worldwide primarily due to hunting and persecution by humans, driven in large part by the livestock industry. Some ranchers are transitioning to "predator-friendly" farming by adopting nonlethal predator deterrents. On very large rangeland properties, such as the vast stations of the Australian arid zone, ending lethal control may in itself reduce livestock losses by enabling the predator's social structure to stabilize. The dingo (Canis dingo), Australia's apex predator, is commonly subjected to eradication campaigns to protect livestock. We analyzed causes of cattle (Bos taurus) deaths on Evelyn Downs, a 2,300-km2 predator-friendly station in central Australia, for 2 years after dingo protection was established. Husbandry-related challenges, associated with deteriorating environmental conditions, were the leading causes of deaths of cattle. Predation by dingoes was minor and declined as the indices of dingo abundance stabilized and social stability increased. Shifting from killing predators to improving husbandry standards is likely to improve livestock survival and welfare.


Thailand has long witnessed a succession of political struggles between the dominant royalist-military alliance and a progressive, pro-democracy movement. Despite the overthrow of royal absolutism in 1932, the royalist-conservative elites successfully managed to restore the political pre-eminence of the monarchy by launching a military coup in 1958. Since then, military takeovers have become a convenient means for the country's traditional elites to repress threats to the monarchy, including popular demands for the rule of law and political liberalization. However, it is misleading to conclude that the standing of the monarchy is exclusively maintained through brute force. Various legal techniques have also been exploited for this purpose—a phenomenon which is the central theme of Eugénie Mérieau's new book, Constitutional Bricolage: Thailand's Sacred Monarchy vs. The Rule of Law. Mérieau positions the Thai monarchy in-between a "British-style" constitutional monarchy and a "Gulf-style" absolutist monarchy (p. 8). In her view, the Thai king's power to sanction, tacitly or otherwise, a succession of coups indicates that, unlike his British counterpart, he is not a mere figurehead. Nevertheless, the author notes that the royalist-conservative elites are reluctant to portray the country's most respected monarch, King Bhumibol, who gave his blessings to many coups during his reign between 1946 and 2016, as a "hands-on" ruler, preferring to depict him instead as a properly "constitutional" monarch (p. 8). Given such oddities, the Thai constitutional apparatus can be best described as a Democratic Regime with the King as the Head of State ('DRKH'), and one which imports and adapts notions about the rule of law and constitutionalism to consolidate elite rule (p. 9). Mérieau demonstrates how the royalist-conservative elites borrow, distort, re-interpret, improvise, indigenize and mix concepts and doctrines on constitutional monarchy and the rule of law from a variety of sources, whether they be civil law, common law or local traditions, to solidify the DRKH (pp. 9–10, 21, 260). As such, this technique of "constitutional bricolage" challenges the orthodox view that the cause of Thailand's unstable democracy is rooted in what Mérieau argues is the absence of an entrenched rule-of-law culture (pp. 12–13).


[1] We analyzed ground magnetometer data for the 10 International Quiet Days during 1996–2007. The data were obtained from 19 stations along 210°magnetic meridian (MM) of the Circum-pan Pacific Magnetometer Network (CPMN) covering both the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. From the daily variations of the geomagnetic field, we deduced the latitude-local time (LAT-LT) diagram of the equivalent Sq current system, which can be regarded as the superposition of the following three current systems: Sq0, Sq1, and Sq2. The Sq0, Sq1, and Sq2 current systems are equivalent current systems for the yearly average, annual variation, and semiannual variation of the Sq field, respectively. We have examined temporal and spatial features of these current systems. The principal features are as follows: (1) The total current intensities of the Sq1 and Sq2 current systems are about 35% and 15% of that of the Sq0 current system, respectively. (2) The Sq0 and Sq2 current systems have a dayside vortex in each hemisphere, while the Sq1 current system has a single vortex centered at the equatorial region in the morning sector (∼1000 LT).


Although very vital world widely,ESP(English for special purpose) teaching in China is still in its infancy.Therefore,this research taking ELP(English for legal purpose) course as an example,tries to produce some valuable suggestions:ESP textbooks should focus on linguistic continuity;a team teaching model should be encouraged;researching into the Target Use Situation is needed.


The posing, refining and sometimes rejecting common explanations of origins may be a fundamental component of any shared human consciousness, relationship or religious community. This article studies Paul's occasional remarks concerning the origins of the Christian tradition with reference to (1) Judaism, (2) Jesus, (3) Paul's own authority, and (4) the faith of Paulinist Christians. It is argued that although the NT book of Acts offers the earliest narrative account of Christian origins, Paul's occasional letters attest an even earlier point in the life of the early church when accounts of origins were a living part of the contested and evolving tradition. Understanding how Paul and Paul's opponents defined the past can shed light on how they addressed issues that they and their communities faced in the present.


This work examined the effect of band power weighting on understanding stimuli synthesized with temporal envelope or Hilbert-fine-structure (HFS) waveforms. The power of modulated carrier in a vocoder model or HFS waveform was level-matched to that of the bandpass filtered signal (matched condition) or equalized across bands (flat condition). The processed stimuli were played to normal-hearing listeners to recognize. For both vocoded and HFS stimuli, there was no significant performance difference between the matched and flat power-weighting conditions, suggesting that band power weighting did not notably influence the intelligibility of stimuli synthesized with temporal information from a few bands.


Off-plane band structure for triangular and square lattice with non-zero kz component were calculated using Plane Wave Expansion Method. Both decreasing, finally breaking down of in-plane band gaps and emerging of new off-plane band gaps were observed with an increasing kz. Kz component dependence of band gap was investigated in both triangular and square lattice, with varied air hole radius and dielectric constant.