This research seeks to identify and analyze the market competition for the Jiangsu Express industry. In 331 prefecture-stage towns, there are around 13,000 self-operated shops. SF Express made a total profit of 57.48 billion yuan in 2016. To retain a competitive edge, express businesses must have a recognizable brand. Franchising may assist in enhancing the enthusiasm of the company in a short period. Other problems persist, including high staff turnover and loss of customer satisfaction. This in-depth essay addresses private express companies' issues. The quality of customer service, and positive company culture, are all critical elements in employee satisfaction and financial success. Private Express Industry's strategy is comprised of all of these elements. According to these results, employee satisfaction and company profitability are linked and is critical to corporate success. According to this study, incentives, company culture, and customer service are all essential drivers of profit choices. This research examined policymakers' views toward outcome-based profitability. Future policymaker views will be explored via this research. This study's results may have economic implications. Future research in other developing countries may use this study's research methodology as a starting point. Future studies may investigate the long-term impact of Corporate Profits behaviour and the prevalence of Private Express Industry knowledge in different business sectors and industries.


The differential ability of various μ-opioid receptor (MOP) agonists to induce rapid receptor desensitization and endocytosis of MOP could arise simply from differences in their efficacy to activate G proteins or, alternatively, be due to differential capacity for activation of other signaling processes. We used AtT20 cells stably expressing a low density of FLAG-tagged MOP to compare the efficacies of a range of agonists to 1) activate G proteins using inhibition of calcium channel currents (ICa) as a reporter before and after inactivation of a fraction of receptors by β-chlornaltrexamine, 2) produce rapid, homologous desensitization of ICa inhibition, and 3) internalize receptors. Relative efficacies determined for G protein coupling were [Tyr-d-Ala-Gly-MePhe-Glyol]enkephalin (DAMGO) (1) > methadone (0.98) > morphine (0.58) > pentazocine (0.15). The same rank order of efficacies for rapid desensitization of MOP was observed, but greater concentrations of agonist were required than for G protein activation. By contrast, relative efficacies for promoting endocytosis of MOP were DAMGO (1) > methadone (0.59) ≫ morphine (0.07) > pentazocine (0.03). These results indicate that the efficacy of opioids to produce activation of G proteins and rapid desensitization is distinct from their capacity to internalize μ-opioid receptors but that, contrary to some previous reports, morphine can produce rapid, homologous desensitization of MOP.


Why is war, with all its terror and destruction, so seemingly attractive to humankind? "The Antique Drums of War" provides a deeply thoughtful and provocative consideration of the sources of war: in archaic instincts, social ritual, animal behavior and evolutionary logic, mythmaking, and psychology. It traces the continuity of such aspects of war as unit size, tactics, and the function of uniforms from primitive beginnings through recent wars. The actual experiences of men in battle, drawn from the personal reminiscences of soldiers from various periods of history, give a sense of immediacy to the narrative. James H. McRandle portrays modern war, despite its dispassionate, computerized brutality, as a kind of ritual that resembles in many of its particulars the ritual of war as practiced since the earliest ages of humanity. But ritual is only one of the characteristics of the institution of war. Mythmaking, psychological techniques, social forces, instinctive responses to fear, and aggressiveness are all martialed and manipulated through ritual to serve war's purposes. Some of Mcrandle's conclusions will be controversial, particularly his argument that warfare served to promote gene flow between separated and isolated groups of "Homo erectus" and early "Homo ""Sapiens." Throughout, his novel approaches and use of eclectic intellectual perspectives will stimulate those concerned about the possible causes of war and war's possible remedy.


Different contexts in daily life often require varying levels of cognitive flexibility. Previous research has shown that people adapt their level of flexibility to match changing contextual demands for task switching in cued-switching paradigms that vary the proportion of switch trials within lists of trials. Specifically, the behavioral costs of switching as opposed to repeating tasks scale inversely with the proportion of switches-a finding referred to as the list-wide proportion switch (LWPS) effect. Previous research found that flexibility adaptations transferred across stimuli, but were specifically tied to task sets, rather than block-wide changes in flexibility state. In the current study, we conducted additional tests of the hypothesis that flexibility learning is task specific in the LWPS paradigm. In Experiments 1 and 2, we used trial-unique stimuli and unbiased task cues to control for associative learning tied to stimulus or cue features. Experiment 3 further tested whether task-specific learning occurred even for tasks performed on integrated features of the same stimuli. Across these three experiments, we found robust task-specific flexibility learning, which transferred across novel stimuli and unbiased cues and occurred regardless of stimulus-feature overlap between tasks. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).


Many features of the wireless ad hoc networks (WAHNs) like resource limitation, multi- hop communication, dynamic topology and lack of infrastructure make them very attractive and rise many very challenging optimization problems. In this paper we consider some preprocessing techniques usually used to reduce the size and, consequently, the solution time for several combinatorial optimization problems in telecommunication networks. In particular, for the Minimum Power Multicasting problem (MPM) in WAHNs, we describe the related network and mathematical models and subsequently propose some original reduction procedures, based on the graph model representation.


The topic of marine unexploded ordnance (UXO) mapping is becoming one of the most significant technology challenges of environmental characterization and remediation. For obscured object detection and characterization, magnetic and electromagnetic methods have been the primary sensor modalities used in terrestrial applications. However, while some marine systems have been developed and deployed, detection performance has been generally poor, particularly against small targets, and limited discrimination ability has been demonstrated. In this paper, we will review both the detection and discrimination requirements for magnetic and electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensor modalities and will discuss some systems either under development or at a conceptual stage. The paper focuses on data requirements and does not address the engineering required to effectively deploy the sensors.


The article by Newman and Maisels1 in the current issue of Pediatrics is the latest in their crusade to prove that the prevailing management of neonatal jaundice is of unproven efficacy, probably risky, definitely wasteful of resources, and, therefore, should be changed.2-6 There is no doubt that the status of neonatal jaundice has been reduced to that of an "expensive nuisance." It is very common, but, in the great majority of the cases, it is not accompanied by any other clinical or laboratory abnormality, has no diagnostic value, and disappears in a few days without sequelae. The current status of neonatal jaundice contrasts with the respect and fear it generated in the past.


For the assembly of multi micro objects in micromanipulation, the first task is to identify multi micro parts. We present an improved support vector machine algorithm, which employs invariant moments based edge extraction to obtain feature attribute and then presents a heuristic attribute reduction algorithm based on rough set's discernibility matrix to obtain attribute reduction, with using support vector machine to identify and classify the targets. The visual servoing is the second task. For avoiding the complicated calibration of intrinsic parameter of camera, We apply an improved broyden's method to estimate the image jacobian matrix online, which employs chebyshev polynomial to construct a cost function to approximate the optimization value, obtaining a fast convergence for online estimation. Last, a two DOF visual controller based fuzzy adaptive PD control law for micro-manipulation is presented. The experiments of micro-assembly of micro parts in microscopes confirm that the proposed methods are effective and feasible.


This paper reinvestigates the performance of risk-based multifactor models. In particular, we generalize the Bayesian methodology of Shanken (1987b) and Kandel, McCulloch and Stambaugh (1995) from mean-variance efficiency to the ICAPM notion of multifactor efficiency. This methodology uses informative priors and provides a flexible framework to deal with the severe small sample problems that arise when estimating performance measures. We also introduce and theoretically justify a new inefficiency metric that measures the maximum correlation between the market portfolio and any multifactor efficient portfolio, which is used in conjunction with three other existing inefficiency measures. Finally, we present new empirical evidence that neither the two additional Fama-French (1992) factors nor the momentum factor move the market portfolio robustly closer to being multifactor efficient or robustly decrease pricing errors relative to the CAPM.


Deregulation has brought down the boundaries of the banking industry, allowing new entrants and enabling a greater degree of competition. Into this scenario arrived the Internet – another radical technological innovation with the potential to change the structure and nature of banking. Many banks have adopted the Internet as a delivery channel (indeed, some banks have set up as Internet‐only delivery). This paper reports a Delphi study of the Internet momentum in banking. Informed by diffusion of innovation theory, the study sought to discern the key issues and to explore the future of Internet banking. The results show that Internet banking is a very important issue in retail banking. However, the Internet will contribute as part of a multi‐channel (bricks and clicks) strategy, rather than as a stand‐alone (clicks only) strategy. The developing functionality of Internet banking may enable some banks to achieve competitive advantage through delivering higher perceived customer value.


After a brief survey of the mechanism of biquanides treatment and their indications and contraindications with the peroral treatment of diabetes mellitus, the adverse effects of that treatment are stressed upon, manifested mainly in lactacidosis. The latter is indicated to be most frequently found during the treatment with tenformin, rarely -- with buformin and most rarely and in a lighter form -- with metformin. That uneven effect of biquanide preparations is associated with a certain difference in their pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. On the other hand -- those adverse effects result most frequently from unproper treatment carried outnot observing the indications and particularly the contraindications and surpassing the therapeutic doses. Very good results are reported, that were obtained by the authors, in the treatment with metform of 70 diabetic patients with insulin-independent type of diabetes and body overweight, that failed to respond to the treatment with a reducing diet or a diet and sulfurea preparations and resistant to insulin. Indications for that treatment are presented as well as the necessity of strict observation of the contraindications for its administration.


A long-range research project was undertaken by the American Concrete Pipe Association to investigate the nature of the loading imposed on a concrete pipe when it is buried at a significant depth below the surface of the ground. The project consisted of an experimental and an analytical phase. The data from the experimental programs were used to assist in the development of a comprehensive finite-element program which can simulate the behavior of buried pipelines. This paper presents an overview of the entire project and describes in detail the structural aspects of the experimental phases of the research program.


The "true-cut" disposable biopsy needle was used for 95 needle biopsies in 42 patients who were suspected to have a recurrence or metastases of low lying gynaecological cancer. Up to 3 biopsies per patient were obtained. In 21 patients the clinical suspicion of malignant was verified by microscopic examination. The needle biopsies were done as often by the vaginal as by the rectal route. Because of the low incidence of complications the needle biopsy was recommended for the definite diagnosis and follow-up examination of suspicious low lying gynaecological tumors.


Intermetallic lithium compounds have found a wide range of applications owing to their light mass and desirable electronic and mechanical properties. Here, by compressing pure lithium and zinc mixtures in a diamond-anvil cell, we observe a direct reaction forming the stoichiometric compound LiZn, at pressures below 1 GPa. On further compression above 10 GPa, we observe the formation of Li2Zn, which is the highest lithium content compound to be discovered in the Li-Zn system. Our results constrain the structures of these compounds and their evolution with pressure, furthering our understanding of potentially useful light volume-efficient energy storage materials.


This paper focuses on supply flexibility, i.e., the ability of the purchasing function to respond in a timely and cost effective manner to changing requirements of purchased components, in terms of volume, mix and delivery date. It is argued that managerial actions may have different effects on different dimensions of supply flexibility. More specifically, we aim to answer the following research questions: what is the effectiveness of the different supply flexibility sources? Are there any variables that could moderate the relationship between supply flexibility sources and supply flexibility? We perform a regression analysis of the effectiveness of the different supply flexibility sources. In particular, we conduct a stepwise regression, setting the supply flexibility sources as independent variables, and the three dimensions of supply flexibility (identified in the factor analysis) as dependent variables. In order to refine the models and increase the generalisability of the study, some control variables (i.e., firm revenue and flexibility focus) are also included in the regression analysis. Results suggest that each dimension of supply flexibility is associated with a particular group of sources, i.e., the sources used to increase a certain dimension of supply flexibility (e.g., supplier responsiveness) may be ineffective for another dimension (e.g., adaptability).


Cheongyukjang, a Banga food, is a heavy soy-soup prepared by boiling cheonggukjang, sea foods, and meats. Soybeans roasted at 140 C for 21.0 min and 220 C for 6.0 min, respectively, were used for cheonggukjang preparation. Distributions of isoflavones in raw soybeans, roasted soybeans, cheonggukjang, and cheongyukjang were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. The total isoflavones in roasted soybeans, cheonggukjang and cheongyukjang were about 79-80, 56-65, and 47-50% of those in raw soybeans, respectively. Roasting caused significant increases in acetyl derivatives and β-glucoside isoflavones, and significant decreases in malonyl derivatives (p < 0.05). The major isoflavones in cheonggukjang and cheongyukjang were β-glucosides. Succinyl-β-daidzin and succinyl-β-genistin, which are recognized as new metabolites of isoflavones, were not detected in raw and roasted soybeans. Peak areas of succinyl-β-genistin were higher than thse of succinyl-β-daidzin, in both cheongyukjang and cheonggukjang.


The known antimitotic agent eleutherobin and the briarane diterpenoids erythrolides A and B have been isolated from cultured specimens of Erythropodium caribaeorum in amounts comparable to those reported from wild-harvested reef animals. The novel diterpenoid aquariolide A, having an unprecedented highly rearranged carbon skeleton (named aquariane), has also been found. The aquariane skeleton can be formally derived from the briarane skeleton by sequential di-pi-methane and vinyl-cyclopropane rearrangements. [structure: see text]


CHAO DENG: Optimal Design and Control of Finite-Population Queueing Systems (Under the direction of Professor Nilay Tanık Argon and Professor Vidyadhar G. Kulkarni) We consider a service system with a finite population of customers (or jobs) and a service resource with finite capacity. We model this finite-population queueing system by a closed queueing network with two stages. The first stage, which represents the arrivals of customers for service, consists of an automated station with ample capacity. The second stage, which represents the service for customers, consists of multiple service stations which share the finite service resource. We consider both discrete and continuous service resources. We are interested in static or dynamic allocation of the service resource to the service stations in the second stage in order to optimize a given system measure. Specifically, a static allocation refers to a design problem, while a dynamic allocation refers to a control problem. In this thesis, we study both. For control problems, we specify a parallel-series structure for service stations. We first consider dynamically allocating a single flexible server under both preemptive and nonpreemptive policies. We characterize the optimal policies of dynamically scheduling this single server in order to maximize the long-run average throughput of the system. In the special case of a series system, we show that the optimal policy is a sequential policy where each customer is served by the single server sequentially from the first station until the last one. For a parallel system, we show that there exists an optimal policy which gives the highest priority to the station that has the largest service rate. We also propose an index policy heuristic for the general parallel-series system and compare its performance as opposed to the optimal policy by a numerical study. Finally, we study dynamically allocating a finite amount of continuous service resource for the parallel system. For design problems, we consider allocating a finite amount of service resource which is continuously divisible and can be used at any of the service stations. Suppose that service times at a service station are exponentially distributed and their mean is a strictly increasing and concave function of the allocated service resource. We characterize the optimal allocation of the continuous resource in order to maximize the long-run average throughput of the system. We first show that the system throughput is non-decreasing in the number of customers. Then, we study the optimization problem in three cases depending on the population size of customers in the system. First, when there is a single customer, we show that the optimal allocation is given by a set of optimality equations. Secondly, when the number of customers approaches infinity, we show that the optimal allocation approaches to a limit. Finally, for any finite number of customers, we show that the system throughput is bounded up by a limit. Moreover, under a certain condition, we show that the system throughput function is Schur-concave.


Abstract Objective: To investigate the effects of sexual education provided via WhatsApp on the level of sexual knowledge and sexual myths in midwifery students in Turkey. Methods: Students were randomly divided into WhatsApp education, conventional education, and control groups. Data were collected using a Questionnaire Form, the Sexual Health Knowledge Test, and the Sexual Myth Scale. Results: Post-education and one-month-follow-up the Sexual Health Knowledge Test medians in the control group (24.0 and 27.0 respectively) were significantly lower than those of the WhatsApp (31.0 and 32.5 respectively) and conventional education groups (30.5 and 32.0 respectively) and Sexual Myth Scale medians in the control group (70.0 and 67.0 respectively) were significantly higher than those of the WhatsApp (55.5 and 60.0) and conventional education groups (53.0 and 55.0, respectively) (p < .001). There was no difference between WhatsApp and conventional education groups in terms of the Sexual Health Knowledge Test and Sexual Myth Scale scores (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Sexual education provided by conventional methods and via WhatsApp increased sexual health knowledge and decreased sexual myths.


OBJECTIVE In THA, ceramic-on-ceramic wear couples are increasingly used. A restricted range of motion (ROM) due to unfavourable implant design or positioning may cause impingement or dislocation, which can result in failure of ceramic inserts. METHODS By means of a 3-D CAD program different hip joint movements were simulated and the effects of ceramic hip implant design and position on the range of motion were analysed. RESULTS To offer sufficient ROM and to minimise risk of impingement and dislocation, inclination angle of the acetabular cup should be 45 degrees, cup anteversion 15 degrees and stem antetorsion 0 degrees to 10 degrees. In regard to implant design, acetabular cups with slightly- recessed ceramic inserts should be used. Prosthetic systems with an elevated liner or with a mushroom-shaped femoral head are associated with limited ROM and increased risk of mechanical failure. The ratio of head to neck diameter should never be less than 2 : 1. Larger heads not only increase ROM, but also the stability of the prosthesis against dislocation. Thereby, the wear rate of ceramic-on-ceramic couples is not increased, in contrast to polyethylene. CONCLUSION Considering certain criteria for ceramic hip implants regarding implant positioning, design and handling, ceramic-on-ceramic couples can be used with low risk of revision surgery and they can also reduce the prosthesis loosening associated with wear in young and active patients.


The purpose of this study was to clarify the sialogogic effect iveness of cevimeline gargle. Sequential comparison tests were conducted on healthy adult males and females who received both cevimeline and a placebo. The effect was evaluated by measuring the amount of saliva using the Saxon test and Mucus, and by recording the subjects' own perceptions of oral mucosal moisture reported according to 4 levels. First, ten subjects' measurements were taken before gargling, as well as 5 minutes, 90 minutes and 3 hours after gargling. For the cevimeline treatment, the amount of saliva reached the maximum level within 5 minutes after gargling, and a significant salivary secreting effect(p<0. 05-p<0. 001)was observed up to 90 minutes after gargling. The degree of oral moisture also reached the maximum level within 5 minutes after gargling with cevimeline, and a significant moisture effect(p<0. 05-p<0. 001)persisted up to 3 hours after gargling. After safety profiles were determined to be acceptable, an additional 19 subjects entered the study and the same results were observed. The present data, indicating that cevimeline gargle increases the saliva in healthy individuals for at least 3 hours, will be useful in clinical trials of cevimeline gargle for patients with salivary secretion disorder.


Background: Streblusol E, a phenolic phytoconstituents of Streblus asper is a potential antihepatitis B viral agent. Objective: Current study is to mechanistically analyze the probable site of action for streblusol E. Material and methods: Streblusol E has been docked with EF3- CaM adenylyl cyclase(1PK0), deoxycytidine kinase(2NOA), human nucleoside diphosphate kinase(3FKB), human Hepatitis B Viral Capsid(1QGT) and hepatitis B X-interacting protein(3MSH) proteins using GRIP docking methodology. Results: Results revealed its preferential intractability towards 1PK0 i.e. EF3-CaM adenylyl cyclase and 1QGT i.e. human hepatitis B viral capsid(HBCAG) compared with reference ligand like adefovir diphosphate(active metabolite of adefovir), lamivudine, tenofovir monophosphate(active metabolite of tenofovir) and tenofovir diphosphate(active metabolite of tenofovir). Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics studies did affirm that Streblusol E possessed all the desired drug Likeness potential. According to Derek Nexus predictions, Streblusol E did not carry potential toxicities like carcinogenicity, mutagenicity genotoxicity and developmental toxicity, providing further impetus for discovery and clinical development of semi-synthetic analogs of Streblusol E. Conclusion: The present study successfully denotes the docking studies and ADMET profile of streblusol E from Streblus asper. SciForum


In this study, we experimentally validated the possibility of estimating the angle of departure (AoD) using multiple signal classification (MUSIC) with only WiFi control frames for beamforming feedback (BFF), defined in IEEE 802.11ac/ax. The examined BFF-based MUSIC is a model-driven algorithm that does not require a pre-obtained database. This is in contrast with most existing BFF-based sensing techniques, which are data-driven and require a pre-obtained database. Moreover, BFF-based MUSIC affords an alternative AoD estimation method without requiring access to the channel state information (CSI). Extensive experimental and numerical evaluations demonstrate that BFF-based MUSIC can successfully estimate the AoDs for multiple propagation paths. Moreover, the evaluations performed in this study reveal that BFF-based MUSIC, where BFF is a highly compressed version of CSI in IEEE 802.11ac/ax, achieves an error of AoD estimation that is comparable to that of CSI-based MUSIC.


In the international area of sport and national educational spheres traditional and/or indigenous games are instrumental in resisting cultural imperialism, developing a national identity and branding national unity. Local research and educational programmes are proliferating and may benefit from scientific inquiry. The aim of this paper is to provide a framework for categorizing indigenous games of South Africa that could be utilized for research and implementation. This paper draws on the National Indigenous Games Research Project of 2001/2002 in which 11 tertiary institutions collaborated. They collected data from 6489 participants through questionnaires, triangulated with focus groups, case studies, observations and visual recordings. The sample is representative of an ethnic, gender, geographic (urban and rural), and socio-economic diversity in all nine provinces of the Republic of South Africa. This paper offers a rationale for an ethno-scientific taxonomy, representing a culturally informed reconstruction of South African children's games as microcosm of their lived experiences. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation Vol. 28(2) 2006: 1-13


Cache coherence protocols of current shared-memory multiprocessors are difficult to verify. Our previous work proposed an extension of Lamport's logical clocks for showing that multiprocessors can implement sequential consistency (SC) with an SGI Origin 2000-like directory protocol and a Sun Gigaplane-like split-transaction bus protocol. Many commercial multiprocessors, however, implement more relaxed models, such as SPARC Total Store Order (TSO), a variant of processor consistency, and Compaq (DEC) Alpha, a variant of weak consistency. This paper applies Lamport clocks to both a TSO and an Alpha implementation. Both implementations are based on the same Sun Gigaplane-like split-transaction bus protocol we previously used, but the TSO implementation places a first-in-first-out write buffer between a processor and its cache, while the Alpha implementation uses a coalescing write buffer. Both write buffers satisfy read requests for pending writes (i.e., do bypassing) without requiring the write to be immediately written to cache. Analysis shows how to apply Lamport clocks to verify TSO and Alpha specifications at the architectural level.


High-frequency (200 to 15,000 Hz), high-resolution seismic reflection profiles can be a valuable tool in the exploration for offshore hydrocarbon accumulations. The occurrence of hydrocarbons (particularly natural gas) either in the water column or shallow subbottom can result in strong acoustic impedance (density × velocity) contrasts which may produce a number of anomalous seismic responses including: (1) water-column anomalies, which are strong reflections that rise from the ocean bottom into the overlying water column as a result of natural gas seepage; (2) subbottom amplitude anomalies ("bright spots") that, when found along geologic structures, may indicate shallow hydrocarbon accumulations; (3) seismic smears, which are "turbid," chaotic, high-amplitude events that may indicate shallow, gas-charged sediments; and (4) seismic wipeouts, transparent zones commonly found below seismic smears or water-column anomalies indicating total reflection and/or absorption of seismic energy in an overlying zone of gas. A high-frequency, high-resolution seismic reflection profile survey of the continental margin off northern Santa Cruz County, California, using both a 300-joule "uniboom" and a 1-kilojoule sparker has resulted in the detection of all four of these seismic anomalies. The shelf here is cut diagonally by the San Gregorio fault zone which marks the southeast boundary of the Outer Santa Cruz basin. Northeast of the San Gregorio fault, the shelf is dissected by the Monterey Bay fault zone. More than 100 water-column anomalies (gas seeps) have been detected, some of which rise over 50 m (160 ft) into the overlying water column. Most water-column anomalies correlate with subbottom geologic structures such as anticlines, faults, and truncated, tilted strata. Several subbottom amplitude anomali s, seismic smears, and seismic wipeouts have also been detected and correlated with structures. All these anomalies have been found in association with the middle Miocene Monterey Formation, the late Miocene Santa Cruz Mudstone, and the Pliocene Purisima Formation. Samples of natural gas have also been collected from a shallow End_Page 521------------------------------ coastal water well. Geochemical analyses indicate the presence of 74 to 91% methane, 7 to 23% nitrogen, ~ 2% carbon to dioxide, and < 1% ethane. The gas appears to be thermogenic in origin as it has ^dgr13C values of -29.51 to -32.5 ^pmil PDB. Oil-saturated sandstones have also been dredged from a depth of 700 m (2,300 ft) in Ascension submarine canyon, further indicating the natural seepage of hydrocarbons in this area. We interpret these natural hydrocarbon seeps to be the result of migration from depth along active faults within the San Gregorio and Monterey Bay fault zones. High-frequency, high-resolution seismic reflection surveys in unexplored offshore areas may yield evidence for hydrocarbons that are not detectable with conventional, deep-penetrating, low-frequency (< 100 Hz) seismic reflection systems, and thus may be very valuable in the search for oil and gas accumulations. End_of_Article - Last_Page 522------------


To this day five Gobio gobio subspecies in northern, western and central Anatolia, in Turkey have been classified. Some subspecies were described based on 2-4 specimens by Battalgil (1942, 1944), Ladiges (1960), Bănărescu & Nalbant (1973), Bănărescu (1992), Bănărescu (1999). In this study, Gobio gobio specimens from the type localities of various running waters and lakes of north, northwest and central Anatolia were collected and ANOVA (analysis of variance), cluster analysis and canonical discriminant analysis were applied to fifty variables (eight meristic and forty-two metric characters derived from thirty-four measured or counted variables) to show the main differences between them. From these statistical analyses, Gobio gobio specimens were placed in one of three groups: G1 Beysehir and Aksehir Lake; G2 Sakarya River Basin, Gerede and Melendiz Stream; G3 Insuyu Stream, southwards from Tuz Lake. Measurements Standard length/Head height (SL/hH), Head length/Head height (C/hH), Standard length/Head length (SL/C), Predorsal distance/Postdorsal distance (pD/poD), Standard length/Postdorsal distance (SL/poD) and Standard length/ Predorsal distance (SL/pD) were important characteristics for distinguishing the populations of Gobio gobio.


Large-scale solar-driven water splitting is a way to store energy, but it requires the development of practical and durable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts. The present paper aims to investigate the mechanism of the OER, local pH, high-valent metal ions, limitations, conversions, and details during the OER in the presence of FeNi foam using in situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. This research also explores the use of in situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for detecting species on foam surfaces during the OER. The acidic media around the electrode not only limit the process but also affect the phosphate ion protonation and overall catalysis effectiveness. The study proposes that FeNi hydroxides serve as true catalysts for OER under neutral conditions, rather than FeNi phosphates. However, phosphate species remain crucial for proton transfer and water molecule adsorption. Changes observed in pH at the open-circuit potential suggest new insights concerning the coordination of Ni(II) to phosphate ions under certain conditions. By extrapolating the Tafel plot, the overpotential for the onset of OER was determined to be 470 mV. Furthermore, the overpotentials for current densities of 1 and 5 mA/cm2 were 590 and 790 mV, respectively. These findings offer valuable insights into the advancement of the OER catalysts and our understanding of the underlying mechanism for efficient water splitting; both are crucial elements for the purpose of energy storage.


As data traffic volume continues to increase, caching of popular content at strategic network locations closer to the end user can enhance user experience and ease the utilization of highly congested links in the network. A key challenge in the area of proactive caching is finding the optimal locations to host the popular content items under various optimization criteria. These problems are combinatorial in nature and therefore finding optimal and/or near optimal decisions is computationally expensive. In this paper a framework is proposed to reduce the computational complexity of the underlying integer mathematical program by first predicting decision variables related to optimal locations using a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). The CNN is trained in an offline manner with optimal solutions and is then used to feed a much smaller optimization problems which is amenable for real-time decision making. Numerical investigations reveal that the proposed approach can provide in an online manner high quality decision making; a feature which is crucially important for real-world implementations.


The authors present a study of the fracture patterns in onshore exposures of the Rolvsnes granodiorite. The methodology adopted is state-of-the art and includes some novel features that could eb highlighted further in the text. The results are well described and illustrated in figures including the supplementary files. The discussion of biases in the data is useful and the authors conclusion that they have identified a multiscale fracture hierarchy is justified. The study will be interesting to those working on fracture reservoirs generally and adds to our growing knowledge of fractured basement systems.


Learning to read the Qur'an is actually not difficult, boring, or time-consuming. There are only three important stages that need to be mastered, which are mastering the Arabic letters (Hijaiyyah) and their variations, mastering the diacritical marks (harakat), and actively practicing them. Moreover, the Qur'an itself possesses miraculous and supra-rational energy. In the process of learning, we do not need to worry about difficulties, because Allah has guaranteed ease in learning the Qur'an, as stated in the Qur'an: "And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?" (Surah al-Qamar: 17). The truth of Allah's promise can be proven by ourselves, as the Qur'an is indeed easy to learn for anyone who is willing to take it as a lesson. Research will be conducted on the implementation of the Tsaqifa Method, an alternative method for learning to read the Qur'an for adults who are not yet able to read, with only 5 meetings. This method was developed by Ustadz Umar Taqwim, S.Ag. and published by the Adz Dzikr Islamic Foundation, Center for Qur'anic Reading and Writing Learning (PPBTA) Tsaqifa Method in Magelang. This method is suitable for those who are busy and have limited time to learn the Qur'an. The aim of this research is to improve the skills of reading the Qur'an in Dukuh Wonorejo, Sepat Masaran Village, Sragen through the implementation of the Tsaqifa Method. Therefore, the title of this research is "The Implementation of the Tsaqifa Method in Improving Qur'anic Reading Skills in Sepat Masaran Village, Sragen." From the results of the assessment of the score range of Qur'anic reading training using the Tsaqifa method, it can be seen that the score range of 90-100 (fluent) was achieved by 4 participants, the score range of 80-90 (standard) was achieved by 4 participants, and the score range of 70-80 (satisfactory) was achieved by 18 participants. From this analysis, it can be concluded that the Tsaqifa method has an effect that is spread across a wide age range, from children to the elderly. Although there is variation in the participants' ability to read the Qur'an, comments from the trainer indicate that the majority of participants have shown progress and need further practice at home to improve their Qur'anic reading skills. Overall, the Tsaqifa method can be considered effective in helping participants understand and read the Qur'an, regardless of age and initial skill level of the participants. The improvements achieved by participants who have undergone this training can be seen from the comments of the trainer, which show that most participants have shown progress in their ability to read the Qur'an.


We have solved the well known and important problem of particle degeneracy for particle filters. Our filter is roughly seven orders of magnitude faster than standard particle filters for the same estimation accuracy. The new filter is four orders of magnitude faster per particle, and it requires roughly three orders of magnitude fewer particles to achieve the same accuracy as a standard particle filter. Typically we beat the EKF or UKF accuracy by approximately two orders of magnitude for difficult nonlinear problems.


Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), especially Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), are vulnerable to security and safety issues that threaten the lives of the people. Unlike manual vehicles, the security of communications and computing components of AVs can be compromised using advanced hacking techniques, thus barring AVs from the effective use in our routine lives. Once manual vehicles are connected to the Internet, called the Internet of Vehicles (IoVs), it would be exploited by cyber-attacks, like denial of service, sniffing, distributed denial of service, spoofing and replay attacks. In this article, we present a deep learning-based Intrusion Detection System (IDS) for ITS, in particular, to discover suspicious network activity of In-Vehicles Networks (IVN), vehicles to vehicles (V2V) communications and vehicles to infrastructure (V2I) networks. A Deep Learning architecture-based Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) autoencoder algorithm is designed to recognize intrusive events from the central network gateways of AVs. The proposed IDS is evaluated using two benchmark datasets, i.e., the car hacking dataset for in-vehicle communications and the UNSW-NB15 dataset for external network communications. The experimental results demonstrated that our proposed system achieved over a 99% accuracy for detecting all types of attacks on the car hacking dataset and a 98% accuracy on the UNSW-NB15 dataset, outperforming other eight intrusion detection techniques.


Abstract The Australian arid zone has quite large resources of surface water. For example in western New South Wales an average of 7 runoff events are observed each year and in these the median depth of runoff is about 0.4mm, or 400m3/km2, providing at least 2.8 ML/km2/yr of surface water. The key to utilisation of this water is to catch it where it is, when it occurs. Simple earthworks, constructed with a blade mounted on a tractor, can be used to direct water from natural small channels to a point of concentration where it can be protected from evaporation and seepage losses, say in an excavated hole or "tank". Even with 90% loss of the stored water a constant supply of at least 700 litres/km2/day would be available, enough to provide an adequate supply for the average Australian household.


Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks are frequenlty used for data sharing over mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) due to their decentralization and high tolerance to failures. However, P2P networks do not perform well on MANETs. Structured P2P networks have a high level of unsuccessful queries due to the message drops, while unstructured networks saturate quickly due to the high number of messages sent. This work proposes ameliorations to both P2P approaches. Our solutions reduce the average energy consumption and delay in unstructured approaches at the expense of a smaller loss on the success ratio, while in structured approaches our modifications increase the success ratio at the expense of average energy consumption and delay.


An empirical pseudopotential calculation has been carried out to study the anisotropy of Compton profiles between (100) and (111) directions of GaP. Compared to a purely local potential an l-dependent non-local potential is seen to explain the experimental anisotropy rather well. The contributions of the first and the second bands to the total measured anisotropy are found to cancel each other. This is found to be true even for Si. This means that the measured Compton profile anisotropies in compound and elemental semiconductors cannot be viewed in terms of the differences in the nature of the lowest band. Core-orthogonalization correction was found to have negligible effect on the Compton profiles.


The purpose of this investigation was to explore the effects of a short-term leisure education program using value clarification strategies upon the leisure functioning of 14-21 year old young people with spina bifida. The Leisure Diagnostic Battery, Long Form Version A was used to collect pretest and posttest data from four  young people with spina bifida who were involved in a six-week leisure education program. The data were considered using visual inspection techniques. The findings revealed that these individuals functioned adequately in leisure, were cognizant of the barriers prohibiting involvement in recreation activities, were knowledgeable about various aspects related to recreation activity involvement, and preferred social and physical recreation experiences.


The purpose of this research wants to know the effect both grammar mastery and critical thinking towards student's descriptive writing skill. It wants to know the effect of grammar mastery towards student's descriptive writing skill. And then, it wants to know the effect of critical thinking towards student's descriptive writing skill. Research method is a survey research which is taken from 90 students that are chosen randomly sampling technique at private senior high school in Karawang. There are several instruments, which are used in viewing the relationship between two independent variables (grammar mastery and critical thinking) and one dependent variable (descriptive writing skill), namely: (1) multiple choice test to measure the level of knowledge grammar mastery, (2) questionnaires to measure the level of cognitive in critical thinking, and (3) writing test to measure student's ability in terms of descriptive writing skill. Data analysis technique used SPSS Version 16.0. The result of the research shown that (1) both grammars learned by student and critical thinking ability have effects on the student's writing skill. This is evidence of the value both independent variables are F count = 339,539 and sig as big as 0,000 0,05.


OBJECTIVE
To observe the effects of heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) overexpression on doxorubicin (Dox) induced mortality and cardiac dysfunction in a transgenic (TG) mouse model.

METHODS
A linear DNA constituted of alpha-myosin heavy chain (alpha-MHC) promoter, human Hsp27cDNA and poly A was microinjected into fertilized eggs to generate transgenic mice and mice containing the transgene were identified by polymerase chain reaction and independent transgenic lines were established. Following successful transmission, tissues including heart, lung, liver, brain, skeleton muscle, spleen and kidney were screened by Western blot to confirm the cardiac specific expression of the transgene. TG and wild type littermates (WT) received a single dosage of Dox injection (25 mg/kg IP) or saline injection and observed for 5 days. Mice mortality was noticed and left ventricular (LV) hemodynamics were measured at day 5 in surviving mice. Cardiomyocyte apoptosis was evaluated by TUNEL assay at day 3 post Dox or saline injections in a separate group.

RESULTS
Three independent transgenic lines were generated, and all of them expressed cardiac specific Hsp27. Five days mortality was significantly reduced in TG group than that in WT group post Dox (P < 0.01), Dox induced cardiac dysfunction and cardiomyocyte apoptosis were also significantly attenuated in TG mice compared to WT mice (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Overexpression of Hsp27 reduced mortality, attenuated left ventricular dysfunction and cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by Dox in a transgenic mouse model.


Interest in applications based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) is on the rise, with corporations worldwide shifting from simply exploring DLT's potential to creating productive business cases. However, despite the existence of numerous DLT applications, developers are still lacking proper tools and instruments for evaluating system behavior (e.g., performance) of their applications on different distributed ledgers before deployment. Since the behavior of such applications is highly dependent on the characteristics of the distributed ledger they are built upon and changing the distributed ledger after deployment of an application is difficult, selecting the wrong ledger can have severe negative consequences. To address the issue, we conducted an extensive literature review to identify and synthesize published modeling and simulation approaches for distributed ledgers. Based on the results, this paper also presents a research agenda to improve modeling of the system behavior of distributed ledgers and to support the development of distributed ledgers and viable DLT applications. In doing so, we facilitate informed decision-making for suitable modeling or simulation approach, which helps application developers to identify a suitable distributed ledger before implementing an application. In addition, our work contributes to science, as we provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of extant simulation and modeling approaches in DLT that accumulates the current state-of-the-art in the rapidly growing DLT field.


Background The Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) is the largest knee osteoarthritis (OA) observational cohort. It provides the possibility to study the evolution of OA structural changes over time and the associated risk factors. It also allows the potential disease-modifying OA drug (DMOAD) effects to be explored in patients over time. Objectives To determine, using data from participants enrolled in the progression cohort of the OAI, the effects of existing meniscal extrusion on the extent of cartilage loss and structural changes over time, and response to pharmacological treatment including the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate (Glu/CS). Methods Knee OA patients were stratified based on the presence/absence of medial meniscal extrusion at baseline and on whether or not they received conventional OA pharmacological treatment (analgesics/non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs]) and/or Glu/CS for 24 consecutive months. The main outcomes were knee structural changes including the cartilage volume measured by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and of loss of joint space width (JSW). Results Participants reported taking (+) (n=300) or not taking (−) (n=300) OA treatment (analgesics/NSAIDs). The participants with meniscal extrusion had more severe disease at baseline. In the −analgesics/NSAIDs group with meniscal extrusion, participants taking Glu/CS had significantly reduced loss of cartilage volume at 24 months in the medial tibiofemoral compartment (p=0.02) and lateral plateau (p=0.05). No effect of Glu/CS was observed in patients without extrusion. In the +analgesic/NSAIDs group without meniscal extrusion, those taking Glu/CS had significantly reduced loss of cartilage volume in the global knee (p=0.055), medial compartment (p=0.05), lateral plateau (p=0.007), and trochlea (p=0.04). No effect of Glu/CS treatment occurred in participants with extrusion. No significant reduction in JSW was found between those taking (+) and not taking (−) Glu/CS treatment. Conclusions This study confirms that combined administration of Glu/CS has significant protective effects on structure in knee OA. The presence of meniscal extrusion was found to be an important factor that can influence the drug effect on cartilage volume. X-rays were found to be much less sensitive than MRI at documenting the protective effect of treatment on structural changes. Disclosure of Interest : J.-P. Pelletier Shareholder of: ArthroLab Inc., Consultant for: Bioiberica, C. Roubille: None declared, F. Abram Employee of: ArthroLab Inc., P. Delorme: None declared, J.-P. Raynauld Consultant for: ArthroLab Inc., J. Martel-Pelletier Shareholder of: ArthroLab Inc., Consultant for: Bioiberica DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.2248


A scanning microscope is described which is capable of a point resolution of 0.5 nm. We have demonstrated that it can produce the same kinds of micrographs as a conventional microscope. However, by using several detectors to produce signals corresponding to different groups of transmitted electrons we are able to produce an image contrast closely proportional to Z, the atomic number. Such a system is very promising for the study of stained molecules.


When petroleum explorers estimate geological probability of success (POS) and success case volumes for their prospects, they commonly suffer from various biases and fallacies that result in poor assessments. Using a data set of 25 exploration wells drilled by Lundin Petroleum on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) during the 5-yr period from 2011 to 2015, I demonstrate the base rate neglect fallacy in petroleum exploration. Lundin explorers consistently and significantly underestimated the geological POS and overestimated the success case volumes relative to the available base rate information on historical exploration success rates and sizes of previously discovered fields in the NCS area. These findings are consistent with previous studies of exploration track records of the industry and individual companies. Explorers erroneously tend to ignore the base rates likely because they do not see them as relevant to the evaluation of their specific prospects. As a result, exploration portfolios generally fail to deliver on promise. However, base rate neglect fallacy can be mitigated and eliminated. Explorers should make an effort to learn the base rates relevant to their prospects and integrate them with prospect evaluations, and managers should ensure that modeled portfolio outcomes are consistent with relevant base rates.


A siphon-based algorithm for deadlock prevention of a type of Petri nets called S3PMR, which is a subclass of S3PGR2, is presented in this correspondence. The proposed method is an iterative approach by adding two kinds of control places called ordinary control (OC) places and weighted control (WC) places to the original model to prevent siphons from being unmarked. An OC place with ordinary arcs, which optimally prevent a siphon from becoming unmarked, is employed whenever it is possible, and otherwise, the WC places that adopt a conservative policy of controlling the release of parts into the system are used. Furthermore, this algorithm is not only for the subclass Petri nets but also for S3PR, ES 3PR, S2LSPR, and S3PGR2 nets. The authors prove the liveness and reversibility of the controlled net, and hence establish the correctness of the deadlock prevention policy. Finally, numerical experiments indicate that the proposed policy appears to be more permissive than closely related approaches in the literature


The Orion MIDEX mission is a 1.2m UV-visual observatory orbiting at L2 that will conduct the first-ever high spatial resolution survey of a statistically significant sample of visible star-forming environments in the Solar neighborhood in emission lines and continuum. This survey will be used to characterize the star and planet forming environments within 2.5 kpc of the Sun, infer global properties and star formation histories in these regions, understand how environment influences the process of star and planet formation, and develop a classification scheme for star forming regions. Based on these findings a similar survey will be conducted of large portions of the Magellanic Clouds, extending the classification scheme to new types of regions common in external galaxies, allowing the characterization of low mass star forming environments in the Magellanic Clouds, study of the spatial distribution of star forming environments and tracing of star formation history. Finally the mission will image a sample of external galaxies out to ~5 Mpc. The distribution of star forming region type will be mapped as a function of galactic environment to infer the distribution and history of low-mass star formation over galactic scales, and characterize the stellar content and star formation history of galaxies. We present in this paper an update on the development of the mission and the hardware necessary to deliver its required performance.


Height loss during the day is attributed to gravitational loading of intervertebral discs. Previous research demonstrated treadmill running could maximize magnitude of vertical spinal creep (VSC) response. To date, previous studies have not yet investigated time of day when performing treadmill running has effects on VSC response. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of diurnal variation on VSC response after treadmill running. Sixty healthy subjects were recruited. Subjects were randomly assigned into either treadmill running or control groups. Each subject was asked to visit the lab on three consecutive days. The first day included familiarization sessions. The subsequent two consecutive days was to perform treadmill running or normal daily activity. Each subject was measured VSC responses using height loss stadiometer. For the intervention group, subjects were asked to perform treadmill running. For the control group, subjects were asked to continue normal daily activities during the experimental trials. Subjects were measured VSC responses after the completion of test trials. Paired t-test revealed significant increases in VSC responses in the treadmill running group for morning (p = 0.007) and afternoon sessions (p = 0.023). However, the time of day had no significantly effects on magnitude of VSC responses.


For several weeks, an 18-year-old man has been bothered by itchy ears. He has seasonal allergies that are well controlled with oral antihistamines. He has not been exposed to contactants and has not used any nutritional supplements or new shampoos or conditioners. He works out at a gym 5 days a week.


Nanoplankton and picoplankton abundance and community grazing on picoplankton were deterrnined in surnmer and autumn at several stations in a productive coastal environment (Georges Bank. NW Atlantic Ocean) and in an oligotrophic oceanic ecosystem (Sargasso Sea). Ranges of heterotrophic nanoplankton (HNAN) abundance were 1.2 to 3.6 X 103 ceils rnl-' on Georges Bank, and 2.2 to 6.8 X 10' ceiis ml-' in the Sargasso Sea. Ranges of phototrophic nanoplankton (PNAN) abundance in these ecosystems were 1.9 to 6.0 X 103 and 1.3 to 4.7 X 102, respectively. Mixotrophic nanoplankton (MNAN), operationaiiy defined here as chloroplast-bearing nanoplankton that ingested fluorescent tracers, comprised an average of 12 to 17% of PNAN in surface waters in both environments during August and October. Mixotrophs at specific stations constituted as much as 38% of total PNAN abundance on Georges Bank and 30 % in the Sargasso Sea. Mixotrophs represented up to 39 % of the total phagotrophic nanoplankton abundance (MNAN/[MNAN + HNAN]). Community grazing impact was estimated from the disappearance of fluorescent prey surrogates (fluorescently labeled bacteria, FLB; cyanobacteria, FLC; and <3 pm algae, FLA). Absolute grazing rates (total picoplankton cells removed d-') on Georges Bank exceeded those in the Sargasso Sea due to the greater abundances of predators and prey. However, there was overlap in the specific grazing losses at the 2 sites (ranges = 0.08 to 0.38 d-' in the coastal ocean and 0.05 to 0.24 d-' in the oligotrophic ocean). Rates of bactenvory were in approximate balance with rates of bactenal production (3H-thymidine uptake), but production exceeded bacterivory on Georges Bank during the surnmer cruise. These data are among the first documenting the impact of grazing on picoplankton in these environments, and they are consistent with the prediction that nanoplanktonic protists are major predators of picoplankton. While the proportion of phototrophs that are phagotrophic was highly variable, our study indicates that algal mixotrophy is widespread in the marine environment, occurring in both coastal and oligotrophic sites, and should be considered quantitatively in microbial food web investigations.


Aim: To evaluate caries experience and prevalence associated to social and preventive factors in 3-6-year-old children of a Pastoral Community from Limeira, Brazil. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out through an epidemiologic research about the oral conditions of 110 children registered at the Children's Pastoral Community from the city of Limeira, SP, Brazil. Intraoral examination was performed by a trained dentist and the parents/caregivers filled out a questionnaire in order to outline the children's profile with respect to gender, parental education and oral health. Results: Differences related to gender were not detected (p= 0.3404). The most frequent periods of breastfeeding were 0 to 2 months (36.36%) and 2 to 6 months (35.45%), corresponding to 71.81% of the cases. The time bottle feeding pointed to two most frequent categories: 1) more than 12 months (35.45%) and 2) between 2 and 6 months (22.63%). Regarding parental education, the majority of the sample has not completed primary school (38.32%). It was observed a larger number of decayed teeth in male children (63.39%). Caries experience was significantly higher in children who were breastfed for only 2 months of life (41.96%). Children that did not use baby bottle or did not use a baby bottle for more than 1 year presented a smaller dmft, corresponding to 29.17% and 28.33%, respectively. Time of use of bottle and pacifier presented a significant association (p<0.05). Conclusions: The implementation of adequate strategies and actions is needed to reinforce oral health conditions in risk groups.


Oleanolic acid (OA), a triterpenoid known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, is commonly present in several medicinal plants but its anticoagulant activities have not been studied. Here, the anticoagulant properties of OA were determined by monitoring activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), prothrombin time (PT), fibrin polymerization as well as cell-based thrombin and activated factor X (FXa) generation activities. Data showed OA prolonged aPTT and PT significantly and inhibited thrombin catalyzed fibrin polymerization. In addition, OA inhibited the activities of thrombin and FXa and inhibited the generation of thrombin or FXa in human endothelial cells. OA also inhibited TNF-α-induced tissue factor expression on human endothelial cells. In accordance with these anticoagulant activities, OA showed an anticoagulant effect in vivo. These results indicate that OA possesses antithrombotic activities and suggest that daily consumption of a herb containing OA may be preventing thrombosis in pathological states.


The need to exchange large amounts of real-time data is constantly increasing in wireless communication. While traditional radio transceivers are not cost-effective and their components should be integrated, software-defined radio (SDR) ones have opened up a new class of wireless technologies with high security.  This study aims to design an  SDR  transceiver was built using one type of modulation, which is 16 QAM, and adding a  security subsystem using one type of chaos map, which is a  logistic map, because it is a very simple nonlinear dynamical equations that generate a random key and  EXCLUSIVE  OR with the originally transmitted data to protect data through the transmission. At the receiver, the data will be recovered  using the same key, the received data is the same at the sender, so this result shows that the transceiver work normally and calculates the BER at the end each time the SNR changed. Our results indicate that the designed transmitter and receiver perform as usual and finally calculate the bit error rate when the signal to noise ratio is changed. The evaluation of BER indicates that simulated values are smaller than theoretical ones obtained using the BER tool. when SNR is equivalent to 7 dB, the theoretical and simulated BER obtained is 0.01695 and 0.00199, respectively. Designing soft defined radio transceiver using MATLAB  R  2011a  and system generator ISE14.1/SIMULINK.


The hyperfine interactions of the 2+ rotational level of Dy/sup 160/ at 87 kev in dysprosium -iron garnet were measured at 94 deg K using the technique of Mossbauer absorption. A comparison with previous similar measurements in Dy/ sup 161/ together with the knowledge of the g factor of the Dy/sup 161/ ground state from spin resonance experiments gave a value of 0.48 plus or minus 0.07 for the g factor of the 2+ rotational level of Dy/sup 160/. The sign of the spectroscopic quadrupole moment of this state was negative. The ratio of quadrupole moments Q sub 160 (2+)/Q sub 161 (ground state) was -0.77 plus or minus 0.25. Comparing a model dependent estimate of Q sub 160(2+) with a value of Q obtained from the experimental results, a value of about 0.2 is obtained for the Sternheimer shielding factor. (auth)


Contemporary society is going through a series of changes as a result of globalization. Transformations in the cultural aspect of society are reflected in the change of norms, which include "the negative prescriptions (categorical prohibitions) concerning people's behavior, the violation of which results in the appropriate sanctions" (Sotsiologia: Entsiclopedia 2003) , - the taboo. Publications on the topic of taboo in mass media, productions of films with the titles containing the word "taboo", Internet blogs and journals written by representatives of different ethnic cultures in English and Russian have served as the material for the present analysis aimed at understanding how globalization affects the transformations in content and structure of proscriptive norms in different cultures. The investigation shows that the changes in the taboo systems are realized both in the violation of the prohibitive norms - detabooisation, and in the emergence of new taboos. Both aspects are expressed in verbal and non-verbal forms. One of the brightest manifestations of non-verbal violation of the traditional prohibitions is relationships between sexes: sexual relationships in younger age and before marriage, group- and homosexual love have become a norm in many world cultures. Another example of non-verbal break of taboo is global spread of obscene gestures. In verbal communication taboo is realized in the avoidance of particular language and themes in certain communicative situations. (Sternin 2000) Among the themes which are no more considered to be forbidden in different cultures are sexual relationships and connected with it naming certain parts of the human body; diseases connected with the intimate parts of the body. Parents not loving their children is no longer considered to be a shameful theme which has developed into a popular topic of a 'child-free' lifestyle. The result of the verbal detabooisation is the widely-discussed reduction of restrictions on the use of obscene language. A new kind of breaking the taboo is the way of using obscene language in the internet with the help of 'liturgatives' (term by G. Gusseinov 2008) - crossing out the text which might be perceived as indecent. The other tendency in the way taboo systems are changing is emergence of new taboos. Internet is one of the generators of new taboos, e.g., the notion of a password has gone beyond the military or detective discourse and has become part of everyday use. Analysis of the material shows among the new non-verbal taboos are the natural smell of the body, public display of a child's naked body. The globalization of young age as a value of society is leading to the rejection of old age. New taboos are also caused by the global spread of the concept of tolerance which is manifested in the use of euphemisms for the ethnic names. There is also evidence that the concept of tolerance underlies avoidance of naming unpleasant things on the whole. Taboos as well as norms are situational, that is the system of permitting and prohibiting norms regulates communication in different situations. The investigation shows that the notion of situational appropriacy is being transformed. Changes are observed in institutional discourse, e.g. in the Russian academic discourse the refusal from impersonality is caused by the influence of the English language academic culture. Changes in the fundamental values of society caused by globalization are also reflected in subcultures, e.g. the use of obscene language is considered to be the norm in rap texts irrespective of the language they are written in. "Rebellion against the norms" (Bauman 2000) is fed by mass media. Thus, numerous reality shows have lifted the prohibition to discuss and display personal life in public. The shift of the focus from the socially important aspects of life to the personal ones is the illustration of the spreading individualism as a globalizing value. Mass media have also broken the conventional restrictions on the display of violence which has become commonplace on TV and in cinema. Due to the fundamental power of taboo, descriptions of breaks of taboo are often accompanied by the epithet "shocking" and its synonyms. However, due to the nature of detabooisation regular and repetitive violation of prohibition leads to the loss of its power and to the conversion of the taboo into the norm. Detabooisation also results from the possibility of breaking norms as prohibition can only have power when the breach of it is followed by punishment. In modern society, due to the spread of multi-culturalism and pluralism of values the issue of sanctions has become questionable. Besides, due to the spread of tolerance as one of the key concepts of modern society communicative response is being limited. Discursively, the urge to break taboos is strengthened by the rational argumentation which plays off against the irrational nature of taboo. Analysis has shown that the changes in the taboo systems in different cultures are connected with the global process of emancipation. Modern world has placed freedom in the first place in the list of its values (Z. Bauman 2001) which can be illustrated by the frequency of appeal to the concept of freedom as an argument in favour of breaking taboos. The concept of freedom is often verbalized with the help of lexical units with the meaning of 'being beyond the boundaries' and interpreted with the help of the metaphor "open - close". Presumably, striving for the rejection of internal moral restrictions and the blurring of the boundaries are the interconnected aspects of one trend of globalization. Many values which underlie the process of detabooisation reflect the predominant influence of western cultures on the other world cultures as one of the dimensions of globalization. Analyzed discourse about transformations in the prohibitive norms not infrequently refers to the influence of American culture. Having its roots in the core of linguo-culture taboo is the reflection of fundamental values of society. Naturally, radical global changes in the norms provoke resistance of cultures affected. Like many other aspects of resistance to globalization, the opposition to the transformation of cultural prohibiting norms to a significant extent appeals to the threat of ethnic or national disintegration. In sum, the current tendencies of detabooisation and the emergence of new taboos are caused by the process of globalization and reflect the transformations in the value systems of the world cultures.


[1] In recent years a number of magnetotelluric (MT) surveys have been carried out in the southern branch of the Iberian Variscan Massif, namely in the Ossa Morena Zone (OMZ) and its neighboring areas, the South Portuguese Zone (SPZ) and the Central Iberian Zone (CIZ), in order to determine the geoelectrical structure of this transpressive orogen and gain insight into its internal architecture. New MT data collected across the OMZ complete a dense database that covers the whole belt and its boundaries. This paper presents an integrative three-dimensional model of the available MT data from the apparent resistivities (four components), impedance phases and geomagnetic transfer functions from 61 stations. Given the location of the study area, near the Atlantic Ocean, coast effect on the data was analyzed as well as the stability of the mesh due to the strong resistivity contrasts. A mesh of 80 × 77 × 76 cells was finally used, with an average cell size of 4 × 4 km in the horizontal direction, and increasing thickness in the vertical direction from 25 m in the shallower layers to 5 km in the deepest ones. The most striking feature is, in addition to the conductive anomalies associated with the sutures between the SPZ-OMZ and the OMZ-CIZ, a conductive layer which spans the whole Ossa Morena middle to lower crust. The top of this conductive layer is interpreted as a major decollement between the granulitic basement and the overlying meta-sedimentary pile.


The reliability of infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) emissions to measure star formation rates (SFRs) in galaxies is investigated for a large sample of galaxies observed with the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) and the Photodetector ArrayCamera and Spectrometer (PACS) instruments on Herschel as part of the Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) project. We build flux-limited 250-mu m samples of sources at redshift z \textless 1, cross-matched with the Spitzer/MIPS and GALEX catalogues. About 60 per cent of the Herschel sources are detected in UV. The total IR luminosities, L-IR, of the sources are estimated using a spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting code that fits to fluxes between 24 and 500 mu m. Dust attenuation is discussed on the basis of commonly used diagnostics: the L-IR/L-UV ratio and the slope, beta, of the UV continuum. A mean dust attenuation A(UV) of similar or equal to 3 mag is measured in the samples. L-IR/L-UV is found to correlate with L-IR. Galaxies with L-IR \textgreater 10(11) L-circle dot and 0.5 \textless z \textless 1 exhibit a mean dust attenuation A(UV) of about 0.7 mag lower than that found for their local counterparts, although with a large dispersion. Our galaxy samples span a large range of beta and L-IR/L-UV values which, for the most part, are distributed between the ranges defined by the relations found locally for starburst and normal star-forming galaxies. As a consequence the recipe commonly applied to local starbursts is found to overestimate the dust attenuation correction in our galaxy sample by a factor of similar to 2-3. The SFRs deduced from L-IR are found to account for about 90 per cent of the total SFR; this percentage drops to 71 per cent for galaxies with SFR \textless 1M(circle dot) yr(-1) (or L-IR \textless 10(10) L-circle dot). For these faint objects, one needs to combine UV and IR emissions to obtain an accurate measure of the SFR.


During the last 20 years, focus has shifted from haloperoxidases to flavin-dependent and non-heme-iron halogenases because of their proven involvement in the biosynthesis of halogenated metabolites in different organisms and the regioselectivity of their reactions. During the first 10-12 years, the main research topics were the detection of halogenases as well as the elucidation of three-dimensional structures and reaction mechanisms. This Review mainly deals with studies on halogenating enzymes published between 2010 and 2015. It focusses on the elucidation of the involvement of halogenating enzymes in halometabolite biosynthesis, application of halogenases in in vivo and in vitro systems, in vivo modification of biosynthetic pathways in bacteria and plants, improvement of enzyme stability, broadening of substrate specificity, and the combination of biocatalysis with chemical synthesis to produce new compounds.


Abstract The early life history of the federally endangered Tidewater Goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi) and its sister species the Arrow Goby (Clevelandia ios) has been poorly documented to date. Both are endemic to estuarine habitats throughout the California coast, however, habitat use differs between these two species. The Arrow Goby is commonly found in fully marine tidal bays and mudflats. The Tidewater Goby, however, prefers lagoons with some degree of seasonal isolation from the sea. Here, we used otoliths to examine the larval duration, size at settlement, and growth rates of newly settled gobies collected from 18 estuaries in California. The Tidewater Goby had a larval duration that was ∼2 days shorter than the Arrow Goby (23.95 vs. 26.11 days, respectively), but a larger size at settlement based on back-calculated size (12.38 vs. 10.00 mm SL) due to a faster larval growth rate (2.86 vs. 2.60 µm/day−1). There are several reasons that could explain these differences in larval traits, such as differences in temperature or food resources between the two estuary types, or the faster, annual life cycle of the Tidewater Goby relative to the Arrow Goby.


This paper develops a method of welding two thin sheets of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) with a heated pin, thus allowing construction of a relationship between the weld temperature and weld strength. Constructing a relationship between weld strength and temperature is necessary for modeling many welding processes, including laser transmission welding. An experimental approach to establishing this relationship is required because of the complex melting behavior of PVC. The designed experimental device uses a single heated pin to weld samples by using varying pressure and temperature for one second dwell time. An electro‐mechanical loadframe pulled the welded samples until joint failure occurred, thereby allowing determination of the weld strength. An experiment varying welding pin temperature and joining pressure found the temperature to be a highly significant determiner of weld strength, while the pressure was found to be not significant. A transient numerical heat transfer model was used to calculate the weld interface temperature for each pin temperature. The relationship established in this paper can be used to predict the weld strength from the temperature output from models of alternative welding methods. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 13:110–115, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers.


This paper reports the effect of constant heating and progressive on carbon dioxide permeation characteristics in asymmetric hollow fiber polysulfone membranes. Glassy polymers are easily plasticized with the presence of plasticizing agents such as carbon dioxide. Constant heating were applied to the membranes to suppress CO2 induced plasticization. Membranes treated with constant temperature heating exhibits lower pressure-normalize flux for both carbon dioxide and methane compared to untreated membranes. This was probably due to densification of membrane skin layer during heating process. Denser skin layer increases the resistance in the membrane which resulted in decreased of pressure-normalize flux. A higher density of membrane skin layer was achieved by progressive temperature heat treatment. This further increased the resistance in the membrane resulted in a lower value of pressure normalized-flux. With the application of different feed pressure, an almost linear value of CO2 pressure-normalize flux shows that plasticization is successfully suppressed by heat treatment. From the results provided in this study, it can be concluded that plasticization of polysulfone hollow fiber membrane is successfully suppressed by heat treatment process.


The bamboo species Guadua angustifolia has a long cultural tradition in the coastal lowlands of West Ecuador. Despite its excellent mechanical properties and versatility, it has mostly been used as a raw material for low-cost housing, while further product development has been very limited until now. In the last years, a Guadua revival seems to have occurred and improved building techniques together with other commercial applications are slowly getting momentum. This article analyses the actual development of the bamboo sector in Ecuador and its future perspectives, including the pitfalls and bottlenecks. The analysis is based on the experiences and observations of the authors as representatives of INBAR in Ecuador between the beginning of 2001 until the beginning of 2003 and their interviews with various stakeholders. The bamboo sector in Ecuador is still in the initial stage of development and the first investments in artisanal workshops and in industrial applications are now being developed. However, the production chain is hardly organized, the actors lack strategic planning and the activities in the different stages of the chain are not synchronized. The challenge is to link the processing industry to a rural supply system benefiting the impoverished part of the population. The management and primary processing of Guadua culms could become an important income source for Ecuador's rural poor, provided that they are supported in the acquirement of basic skills and the development of small enterprises. Moreover, planting Guadua has several environmental advantages and, thus, may offer a win-win scenario resulting in genuine sustainable development. This article tries to answer the question if Ecuador is on the right track towards such development and whether this trend stands on its own, or could be exemplary for other countries in South America with large bamboo resources.


Objectives To determine the frequency and causes of delayed emergency department presentation in critically ill patients who did not have acute myocardial infarction and to evaluate whether factors such as age, gender, prior medical advice, lack of insurance, or low educational level are associated with delayed presentation. Design Prospective, descriptive analysis. Setting Emergency department and medical intensive care unit of an urban county hospital. Patients All adult patients admitted from the emergency department to the medical intensive care unit for reasons other than unstable angina, acute myocardial infarction, or stroke over two 9-wk blocks. Interventions Within 72 hrs of intensive care unit admission, patients or their families were interviewed to determine time elapsed between the onset of symptoms and patient emergency department presentation and to elicit reasons for delays in seeking medical treatment. Measurements and Main Results We interviewed 155 of 173 (90%) of eligible patients and found that 58% waited >24 hrs before presenting to the emergency department. The most commonly cited primary reason for delays were beliefs that symptoms were not serious enough for emergency care (31%) and that symptoms would resolve spontaneously (29%). Most (55%) sought medical treatment only at the urging of family members or other advocates. Although variables such as lack of insurance and low educational level were not associated with delayed presentation, male gender and having sought medical advice before presenting to the emergency department were significantly associated with delay (p = .036 for each). Conclusions Because of poor understanding of the gravity and natural progression of their symptoms, most critically ill patients waited >24 hrs to present to our emergency department. Education on warning symptom recognition for serious illnesses may be warranted not only for patients themselves but also for family members and caregivers.


A successful cost-effective exploratory operation in a remote, harsh (cold) climate is largely dependent upon the attention given to logistics management and planning. Since the discovery of oil and other mineral resources in the Arctic, significant interest has been generated in exploring this and other extreme environments in the interest of seeking knowledge and potential resources. Although numerous experiences of long-duration remote sites in the Arctic is documented, a comprehensive dynamic logistics system for short-duration explorations is lacking. In this paper, logistics components for short-duration research and development operations at remote sites with extreme climatic explosures are identified. The framework of a dynamic management and planning system for logistics is presented. A preliminary nationwide survey of experts, active in planning short-duration explorations in remote extreme environments, estimated the time required for each logistic component of a hypothetical research operation in the Arctic. The results of the survey, showing optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic logistic activity times (procurement/lease/contract/delivery), were used to develop a PERT scheduling network.


The human MUC7 gene encodes a low-molecular-mass mucin glycoprotein that functions in modulation of microbial flora in the oral cavity and respiratory tracts. MUC7 gene expression is tissue- and cell-specific, with dominant expression in salivary gland acinar cells. To begin to understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for controlling MUC7 gene expression, we analyzed the promoter activity of MUC7 5'-flanking region in a human lung epithelial cell line A549. We demonstrated that MUC7 gene is expressed constitutively in this cell line and is upregulated by TNF-alpha stimulation. The promoter activities of a 2,762-bp fragment of the human genomic DNA (-2,732/+30 bp) and its deletion series, subcloned into a luciferase reporter vector, were characterized at the basal level and under stimulation by TNF-alpha. The results indicated that the minimal functional MUC7 promoter is in the region of -138/+30 bp. This region also revealed the greatest increase in the promoter activity upon TNF-alpha stimulation. Two putative AP1-binding elements and one NF-kappaB-binding element were identified within the proximal promoter. Further analyses demonstrated that mutations of these elements dramatically reduced specific DNA-protein binding ability and reporter gene expression. AP1 elements played an essential role in the constitutive expression, while the NF-kappaB element was crucially important in the response to TNF-alpha stimulation, demonstrating that TNF-alpha activates MUC7 transcription via NF-kappaB signaling pathway.


The aggregation behavior of amphiphilic block copolymer polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) at the air–water interface was investigated through surface pressure measurements (isotherms, compression–expansion hysteresis and compression relaxation experiments), Brewster Angle Microscopy (BAM) imaging and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) imaging. It is found that PS-b-PAA (Mn = 11490 g mol−1, PAA wt%∼62%) forms a stable Langmuir monolayer on the water surface (pH = 7) by using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as the spreading solvent. The aggregation of block copolymer is induced by an initial diffusion of DMF into water from the interface. Upon compression of the film, the pseudoplateau observed in the Langmuir isotherm corresponds to a "pancake-to-brush" transition with the PAA chains gradually dissolving in the water subphase and stretching underneath the PS cores. Based on the isotherms and the BAM images, it is suggested that the polymer chain dynamics in spreading solutions with different concentrations at the time of solvent diffusion influence the interfacial behavior of block copolymers significantly. The Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films prepared at different surface pressures from different spreading solution concentrations were scanned by AFM. A variety of morphologies such as wormlike, porous and reticulate structures, and dots were observed. The isotherms and AFM images show the spreading solution concentration and surface pressure dependence of the aggregation behavior of PS-b-PAA copolymer at the air–water interface.


In Natural Language Processing (NLP), we often need to extract information from tree topology. Sentence structure can be represented via a dependency tree or a constituency tree structure. For this reason, a variant of LSTMs, named Tree-LSTM, was proposed to work on tree topology. In this paper, we design a generalized attention framework for both dependency and constituency trees by encoding variants of decomposable attention inside a Tree-LSTM cell. We evaluated our models on a semantic relatedness task and achieved notable results compared to Tree-Lstmbased methods with no attention as well as other neural and non-neural methods and good results compared to Tree-Lstmbased methods with attention.


Criteria of various weak and strong type weighted inequalities are established for singular integrals and maximal functions defined on homogeneous type spaces in the Orlicz classes.


Abstract The biodiversity hotspot strategy initially pinpointed ten tropical forest regions for conservation protection. It has since mushroomed to include 34 global regions spanning six continents and accounting for nearly 16 percent of the earth's surface area. In this paper, we analyze the coincidence of biodiversity protection efforts and the extraction of biological specimens for drug development within African hotspot regions. We also discuss the work that the hotspot concept does to order and enframe specific locations for the dual purposes of resource conservation and extraction in Madagascar. We maintain that hotspot science has done a great deal to facilitate the bioprospecting industry's access to genetic resources in some of the most well endowed ecological settings in the world. Ultimately, this begs the question of what sort of relationship exists between hotspot conservators and actors whose involvement with hotspot ecologies is geared explicitly toward the extraction of plant and other biological materials for commercial gain.


Change is scary, especially when the world of technology, lecturers (digital immigrants) and students (digital natives) come together with learning in mind. Developing blending learning by integrating e-learning into an existing undergraduate Problem Based Learning (PBL) curriculum requires adaptable lecturers and the time for students to become habitual users of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The occupational therapy curriculum at the University of the Witwatersrand has traditionally been delivered via PBL, but the increasing need to improve throughput rates and meet the diversity of learning needs of the students has driven the strategy towards blended learning. This study investigates the effect of habituation (student experience in using e-learning automatically) on student performance in one PBL module. A retrospective two-cohort design was used to review the students' access to the VLE and their performance on the summative assessments of the PBL module of two concurrent academic cohorts. Data were analysed descriptively and statistically for significance (Mann-Whitney U) and effect size (Cohen's d and Hedge's g). There was a significant difference between the two cohort's access to the VLE (p≤0.002) indicating higher habituation to blended learning in the second cohort, who had more exposure to e-learning due to their second year of using VLE. There was a small but relevant effect size (average d=0.31) in all three measures of student performance when comparing two cohorts. The average of the student marks on each measure shifted from a failing to a passing average. This study shows that the habituation of blended learning into an existing curriculum results in improved academic performance. Keywords: curriculum design, blended learning, connectivism, e-learning, developmental assessment Keywords :  curriculum design, blended learning, connectivism, e-learning, developmental assessment


Tumor recurrence is one of the most important risk factors that can negatively affect the survival rate of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. However, the key regulators dictating this process and their exact mechanisms are understudied. This study aimed to construct a gene co-expression network to predict the hub genes affecting CRC recurrence and to inspect the regulatory network of hub genes and transcription factors (TFs). A total of 177 cases from the GSE17536 dataset were analyzed via weighted gene co-expression network analysis to explore the modules related to CRC recurrence. Functional annotation of the key module genes was assessed through Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses. The protein and protein interaction network was then built to screen hub genes. Samples from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were further used to validate the hub genes. Construction of a TFs-miRNAs–hub genes network was also conducted using StarBase and Cytoscape approaches. After identification and validation, a total of five genes (TIMP1, SPARCL1, MYL9, TPM2, and CNN1) were selected as hub genes. A regulatory network of TFs-miRNAs-targets with 29 TFs, 58 miRNAs, and five hub genes was instituted, including model GATA6-MIR106A-CNN1, SP4-MIR424-TPM2, SP4-MIR326-MYL9, ETS1-MIR22-TIMP1, and ETS1-MIR22-SPARCL1. In conclusion, the identification of these hub genes and the prediction of the Regulatory relationship of TFs-miRNAs-hub genes may provide a novel insight for understanding the underlying mechanism for CRC recurrence.


In addition to its regular legislative competencies, the Maastricht Treaty authorized the European Parliament (EP) to launch non-legislative reports. In this study, a special type of non-legislative reports, own-initiative reports, are analyzed by means of regression analysis. Thereby the individual characteristics of the Members of Parliament (MEP) and the legislative competencies of the committees are accounted for. The results reveal a considerable difference in the activity level of committees and MEPs with regard to preparing own-initiative reports. Firstly, high levels of legislative competence of the EP committees correspond to a low interest in drawing up own-initiative reports. Secondly, on the individual level, being a member in a prestigious but legislative relatively powerless committee increases the chances of authoring own-initiative reports. Thus, those committees with few or no legislative competencies use own-initiative reports to gain more influence over those policy areas, where the European Parliament holds only few or no legislative competencies.


The effects of acetazolamide on the CO2 output and on the O2 uptake during hyperventilation have been investigated. Nine healthy men were given acetazolamide orally in doses of 10–12 mg/kg body wt. All showed a decrease in CO2 output during hyperventilation performed 2 hr after the dosage as compared to values obtained in tests without premedication. The mean reduction was about 12%. During these tests no significant change was recorded in the O2 uptake. The decreased output of CO2 is presumed to be caused by an inhibition by acetazolamide of the carbonic anhydrase present in the erythrocytes.

Submitted on May 12, 1961


Three decentralized control problems are considered in a fractional setup for two-channel multivariable systems. All three problems are instances of decentralized control or local output feedback problems. The problems are: (i) making the system stabilizable and detectable through the first channel via dynamic output feedback around the second channel, (ii) the first problem with the constraint of internal stability, and (iii) the decentralized stabilization problem. All three problems are equivalent as far as the solvability conditions are concerned. A characterization of all solutions in each case is given. The results apply to a class of systems having fractional representations over an arbitrary principal ideal domain. >


The human immune system evolved in response to pathogens. Amongst these pathogens, malaria has proven to be one of the deadliest and has exerted the most potent selective pressures on its target cell, the red blood cell. Red blood cells have recently gained recognition for their immunomodulatory properties, yet how red cell adaptations contribute to the host response during critical illness remains understudied. This review will discuss how adaptations that may have been advantageous for host survival might influence immune responses in modern critical illness. We will highlight the current evidence for divergent host resilience arising from the adaptations to malaria and summarize how understanding evolutionary red cell adaptations to malaria may provide insight into the heterogeneity of the host response to critical illness, perhaps driving future precision medicine approaches to syndromes affecting the critically ill such as sepsis and ARDS.


Background: Empirical studies on widely used model-based development tools such as MATLAB/Simulink are limited despite the tools' importance in various industries. Aims: The aim of this paper is to investigate the reproducibility of previous empirical studies that used Simulink model corpora and to evaluate the generalizability of their results to a newer and larger corpus, including a comparison with proprietary models. Method: The study reviews methodologies and data sources employed in prior Simulink model studies and replicates the previous analysis using SLNET. In addition, we propose a heuristic for determining code-generating Simulink models and assess the open-source models' similarity to proprietary models. Results: Our analysis of SLNET confirms and contradicts earlier findings and highlights its potential as a valuable resource for model-based development research. We found that open-source Simulink models follow good modeling practices and contain models comparable in size and properties to proprietary models. We also collected and distribute 208 git repositories with over 9k commits, facilitating studies on model evolution. Conclusions: The replication study offers actionable insights and lessons learned from the reproduction process, including valuable information on the generalizability of research findings based on earlier open-source corpora to the newer and larger SLNET corpus. The study sheds light on noteworthy attributes of SLNET, which is self-contained and redistributable.


The empirical mode decomposition (EMD) represents any time series into a finite set of basis functions. The bases are termed as intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) which are mutually orthogonal containing minimum amount of cross-information. The EMD successively extracts the IMFs with the highest local frequencies in a recursive way, which yields effectively a set low-pass filters based entirely on the properties exhibited by the data. In this paper, EMD is applied to explore the properties of the multi-year air temperature and to observe its effects on climate change under global warming. This method decomposes the original time-series into intrinsic time scale. It is capable of analyzing nonlinear, non-stationary climatic time series that cause problems to many linear statistical methods and their users. The analysis results show that the mode of EMD presents seasonal variability. The most of the IMFs have normal distribution and the energy density distribution of the IMFs satisfies Chi-square distribution. The IMFs are more effective in isolating physical processes of various time-scales and also statistically significant. The analysis results also show that the EMD method provides a good job to find many characteristics on inter annual climate. The results suggest that climate fluctuations of every single element such as temperature are the results of variations in the global atmospheric circulation. Keywords—Empirical mode decomposition, instantaneous frequency, Hilbert spectrum, Chi-square distribution, anthropogenic impact.


Wear is an important source of information supporting our tasks in everyday life. This paper presents the idea of using wear as a new visual attribute for visualizing the computational wear of digital objects, which is defined as a set of attributes resulting from the history of user interactions on the digital objects. As a case study to investigate the feasibility of the proposed idea, we succeeded in visualizing the computational wear of WWW sites with the icons of physically worn appearance.