This study assessed the impact of public sector reforms programmes on the human resources management and civil service of the Nigerian public service. Data for the study were mainly secondary data complemented with primary data collected from stakeholders in the public service that have experienced various reforms in their career. Findings suggest that the impact of reforms on HRM and CSR were largely marginal. The positives of the reforms are mainly in the areas of improvement in salaries and functionality of pension and retirement benefits by making it contributory. These improvements in emoluments narrowed the incentives between public and private sectors and tend to attract skilled hands to the public sector that otherwise would not have been the case. However, all other policy initiatives that were aimed at ensuring effective and efficient use of scarce resources, transparency and accountability by civil servants, incentives and promotion by merit and value for money were at various stages of policy reversal, delayed implementation, and outright abandonment by compromising civil servants that selectively implement only those reforms that suits and benefits their interests. Further, successive regimes after that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007) who initiated most of the reforms, did not have or could not provide enough political will to sustain the benefits and the tempo of these reforms.


Data augmentation is a common practice to help generalization in the procedure of deep model training. In the context of physiological time series classification, previous research has primarily focused on label-invariant data augmentation methods. However, another class of augmentation techniques (\textit{i.e., Mixup}) that emerged in the computer vision field has yet to be fully explored in the time series domain. In this study, we systematically review the mix-based augmentations, including mixup, cutmix, and manifold mixup, on six physiological datasets, evaluating their performance across different sensory data and classification tasks. Our results demonstrate that the three mix-based augmentations can consistently improve the performance on the six datasets. More importantly, the improvement does not rely on expert knowledge or extensive parameter tuning. Lastly, we provide an overview of the unique properties of the mix-based augmentation methods and highlight the potential benefits of using the mix-based augmentation in physiological time series data.


In the past few years, cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a safe and effective alternative for treatment of cancers that do not respond to classical treatments, including those types with high aggressiveness. New immune modulators, such as cytokines, blockers of CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4) and PD-1(programmed cell death protein 1)/PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1), and interaction or adoptive cell therapy, have been developed and approved to treat solid and hematologic carcinomas. In these scenarios, cytotoxic lymphocytes (CL), mainly cytotoxic T cells (Tc) and natural killer (NK) cells, are ultimately responsible for killing the cancer cells and eradicating the tumor. Extensive studies have been conducted to assess how Tc and NK cells get activated and recognize the cancer cell. In contrast, few studies have focused on the effector molecules used by CLs to kill cancer cells during cancer immunosurveillance and immunotherapy. In this article, the two main pathways involved in CL-mediated tumor cell death, granule exocytosis (perforin and granzymes) and death ligands, are briefly introduced, followed by a critical discussion of the molecules involved in cell death during cancer immunosurveillance and immunotherapy. This discussion also covers unexpected consequences of proinflammatory and survival effects of granzymes and death ligands and recent experimental evidence indicating that perforin and granzymes of CLs can activate nonapoptotic pathways of cell death, overcoming apoptosis defects and chemoresistance. The consequences of apoptosis versus other modalities of cell death for an effective treatment of cancer by modulating the patient immune system are also briefly discussed. Clin Cancer Res; 21(22); 5047–56. ©2015 AACR. See all articles in this CCR Focus section, "Cell Death and Cancer Therapy."


The international law discipline engaged in vigorous debate over the legality of the 2003 Iraq invasion. However, once the furor over the invasion died down, and attention turned to management of the ongoing reality of Coalition occupation of Iraq, the legality debate risked seeming redundant. While the mainstream debate answers questions as to whether the invasion was legal, its usefulness is limited if it does not answer other important legal questions. What role has international law played in the Iraq invasion and its aftermath? What role will the invasion play in the evolution of international law? Taking a Third World approach to the Iraq invasion can help better answer these questions and shed light on legal aspects of the war that were ignored or obscured by the mainstream debate. The first and larger part of this paper will discuss some of these issues. The latter part of this paper will consider the potential limits of Third World approaches as a critical methodology.


ABSTRACT The transformation process and added value creation in Austrian hospitals can be divided into primary health care (core) processes, support processes and the overarching management processes. In conjunction with the increased focus on service and resource shortages, the important role of support processes comes more into focus. Hence, the question: What challenges and possible solutions with regard to the management of support processes in hospitals are being discussed and prioritized by the decision makers in Austrian hospitals? The methodological approach included an expert workshop and an online survey. The online survey focused on the challenges and solutions in terms of support processes in the hospital from the perspective of the Chief Executive Directors and Administrative Directors. The focus is on the optimization of internal structures and processes. Furthermore, it becomes clear that the desire for transparency is especially attended to by established indicators and criteria. It also becomes apparent that the enhanced engagement with external stakeholders and approaches are of minor importance. In future, however, it seems necessary to increasingly consider and develop the external demands and opportunities in terms of integrated networking, not only with respect to the primary care processes, but also in terms of support processes.


There are several materials used in building construction projects. The choice and use of these materials depend on availability, local conditions, technology available and practices of the industry among others. Therefore, this study assessed factors influencing lack of knowledge of properties of materials by the building project supervisors and the effects of not considering their properties during execution of the projects in the study areas. Using survey design to obtain the relevant information through questionnaire administration, a sample size of 222 professionals involved in various building projects design and supervision and urban development in the study areas were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used to analyse the data collected. The findings revealed that non familiarity with the properties of fresh concrete (4.07), neglect of considerations for strength of materials during execution of building projects (4.06) (F=106.476; p<0.05). Building failure (3.83), and building collapse (3.42); F (129.749; <0.05). These were the factors and effects of not considering properties of materials in the study areas, thereby leading to structural failure. It was recommended that Building Ccollapse Preventive Guide of Nigeria should be organising on the job training for construction workers in the informal sector of the construction industry. <br>


Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative disorder characterized by increased proliferation or abnormal accumulation of granulocytic cell line without the depletion of their capacity to differentiate. A reciprocal chromosomal translocation proceeding to the 'Philadelphia chromosome', involving the ABL proto-oncogene and BCR gene residing on Chromosome 9 and 22 respectively, is observed to be attributed to CML pathogenesis. Recent studies have been unraveling the crucial role of genomic 'dark matter' or the non-coding repertoire in cancer initiation and progression. The intricate cross-talk between competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) provides a scaffold to systematically functionalize the miRNA response element harboring non-coding RNAs and incorporate them with the protein-coding RNA dimension in complex ceRNA networks. This network of coding and non-coding transcriptome linked by shared miRNAs evidently offers a platform to elucidate the complex regulatory interactions at the post-transcriptional level in human cancers. In this context, analyzing CML, from the perspective of the ceRNA hypothesis, surely craves intensive attention and a comprehensive discussion. Here, we performed RNA-seq data analysis to retrieve Lymphoblastoid and CML coding as well as non-coding repertoire and constructed a ceRNA network for the CML cell line, considering the non-cancer lymphoblastoid cell line as the control. We investigated if any alteration exists in the ceRNA landscape of the transcripts which are exhibiting differential expression across the two cell lines and observed that the major ceRNA regulators vary in cancer network when compared with the Lymphoblastoid network. The top ranked significant functional modules in the ceRNA network display cancer associated attributes and reveal putative regulators in CML pathogenesis.


The Festival of Art, Science and Technology updates its curatorship and its exhibition project for the seventh edition, this time online. In view of the pandemic caused by Covid-19, artistic exhibitions are being adapted or even innovated in different programs, applications and platforms to be made available on network. In the case of works of art and digital technology there is a complicating element, interaction. In view of the limitations of the exhibition of interactive works in loco this year, it is proposed to think of the space-time distance as an online exhibition strategy. Both to discuss and design an exhibition that meets the specifics of FACTORS and the demands of the networks, as well as to question and propose ways of showing the Festival, resized to the public as an event, more instigating and complex in the context of culture.


The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) over carbon-supported gold nanoparticles (AuNP) was investigated using a broad variety of (electro)analytical methods, including linear sweep voltammetry with a rotating disk electrode (LSV-RDE), sample-generation tip-collection mode of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SG/TC-SECM), as well as full cell tests with highly sensitive online gas chromatography (GC). In contrast to most other studies, this work focuses on the low-overpotential region (0 to -0.4 V vs RHE) where initial product formation is already detected and addresses micro- to macro-sized electrodes. The sub-10 nm AuNPs supported on three different carbon supports (CNTs and carbon blacks) were pretreated in H2/Ar to remove the stabilizer used during AuNP synthesis. LSV-RDE points toward different CO2RR mechanisms at the samples, additionally confirmed by the SG/TC-SECM and full cell tests with online GC. Besides H2 and CO, the AuNP supported on carbon nanotubes showed significant evolution of H2CO in contrast to the other two samples, which was additionally confirmed by accumulating the product during chronoamperometric RDE experiments followed by mass spectroscopic analysis. Surface analysis indicated a complete removal of residual thiolate stabilizer molecules exclusively at the AuNPs supported on carbon nanotubes, which may result in a change in the adsorption geometry or reaction mechanism at this sample. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the combination of these multiple methods to investigate the CO2RR in the low-overpotential region.


In this paper, we propose a visual saliency location calculation from the point of view of recreation blunder. The picture limits are first extricated by means of super pixels as likely signs for foundation layouts, from which thick and scanty appearance models are developed. To start with, we figure thick and scanty recreation mistakes on the foundation formats for each picture district. Second, the reproduction blunders are proliferated in light of the settings acquired from K-implies bunching. Third, the pixel-level remaking blunder is registered by the incorporation of multi-scale recreation mistakes. Both the pixel level thick and scanty reproduction blunders are then weighted by picture conservativeness, which could all the more precisely recognize saliency. What's more, we present a novel Bayesian mix technique to join saliency maps, which is connected to coordinate the two saliency measures in light of thick and scanty recreation mistakes. Trial comes about demonstrate that the proposed calculation performs positively against 24 cutting edge techniques as far as accuracy, review, and F-measure on three open standard remarkable question discovery databases.


This paper presents a novel robust adaptive trajectory linearization control (RATLC) method for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems using radial basis function neural networks (RBFNN). TLC is a promising nonlinear tracking and decoupling control method, which has experienced growing interests and popularity recently. However it may exhibit poor performance when uncertainties exist and turn large. Radial basis function neural networks are introduced to approximate the uncertainties online from available measurements. A robust adaptive signal is added to compensate for the estimation error of the neural network output. Conditions are derived which guarantee ultimate boundedness of all the errors in the combined system. Excellent disturbance attenuation ability and strong robustness of the proposed RATLC method are demonstrated by an numerical example.


The fundamental frequency feature is essential for Automatic Speech Recognition because its patterns convey a paralanguage and its tuning normalizes other speech features. Human speech is multidimensional because it is minimally represented by three variables: the intonation (or pitch), the formants (or timbre), and the speech resolution (or depth). These variables represent the hidden states of the local glottal variation, the vocal tract response, and the frequency scale, respectively. Computing them one by one is not as efficient as computing them together, so this article introduces a new speech feature extraction approach. The article is introductory; it focuses on the basic concepts of our new approach and does not elaborate on all applications. It demonstrates that the unit of a cepstral value, which is a spectral value of spectrums, is a unit of acceleration since its discrete variable, the quefrency, can be expressed in Hertz-per-microsecond. The article shows how to produce refined voice analysis from robust estimates and how to reconstruct speech signals from feature spaces. And it concludes that the pitch track of the new approach is as good as two open-source pitch extractors. Combining multiple processes, attenuating background noises, and enabling distant-speech recognition, we introduce the Speech Quefrency Transform (SQT) approach as well as multiple quefrency scales. SQT is a set of frequency transforms whose spectral leakages are controlled per a frequency-modulation model. SQT captures the stationarity of time series onto a hyperspace that resembles the cepstrogram when it is reduced for pitch track extraction.


Partial deduction is known as an optimization technique in logic programming. In the context of abductive logic programming, however, we present in this paper that normal partial deduction does not preserve explanations for abductive reasoning. Then we provide an alternative method of partial deduction, called abductive partial deduction, which is shown to preserve the meanings of abductive logic programs. A method of partial abduction is also introduced as an optimization for abductive reasoning in logic programs.


Ammonia is considered as a practical hydrogen carrier, as it can be stored in liquid form at moderate pressures and temperatures and is commonly produced and transported today. Ammonia could be used directly as a Gas Turbine fuel to replace current hydrocarbon-based fuels, but its low reactivity and propensity to produce high NOx will require major combustor design changes. Alternatively, ammonia can be fully or partially converted back into hydrogen and nitrogen before using it as a fuel with additional equipment and penalty on cycle performance. Another option is to replace only part of the natural gas with ammonia to minimize the changes of combustion properties and hence combustor design. Although this only partially decarbonizes the fuel, it may be a viable intermediate step to reduce the gas turbine footprint in the short term and with minimum hardware changes to the GT. This experimental and numerical study investigates combustion of methane-ammonia blends with a simplified version of the non-DLE Siemens Energy SGT-A35 turbine combustion system (Rich-Quench-Lean system, RQL) at pressures up to 8 [bar] and powers up to 100 [kW]. The effect of ammonia/methane ratios and Primary Zone Equivalence Ratio (PZER) on emissions of NOx, CO and N2O has been investigated for different pressures and power. A pressure exponent has been extracted based on this experimental data to provide an order of magnitude of NOx emissions at engine conditions. To complement these experimental results, a simple Chemical Reactor Network (CRN) has been used to support the experimental results further. The experimental results showed that even small amounts of ammonia in methane result in unacceptably high NOx emissions for all Primary Zone temperatures and pressures investigated. Although increasing pressure reduces NOx emissions (as previously reported), extrapolation to engine conditions showed that the order of magnitude of NOx emissions will remain unacceptably high. It is also shown that flame stability becomes insufficient for fuels containing more than 40–50 [% by vol.] of NH3 as blow out occurred for these fuels. Furthermore, the results showed that N2O emissions are very low for rich Primary Zone Equivalence Ratios and increase approximately exponentially with decreasing equivalence ratios, but remained below 10 [ppm] for cases at higher pressures. Finally, the CRN results reproduced the experimental trends qualitatively well for %NH3 variations but PZ ER variations and absolute values could not be matched for all cases simultaneously without re-tuning of the CRN.


We use a dataset which codes executive power for 564 ethnic groups in 130 countries on a seven-point scale to show that ethnic groups that gain political power benefit economically. This effect holds for groups that enter government, the extensive margin, and for groups that concentrate more power onto themselves, the intensive margin. Both these effects disappear in the presence of strong political constraints on executive power. Institutional constraints are even effective in preventing favoritism when groups concentrate all power in the executive onto themselves.


This paper introduces a method to compensate for shadow in a computer vision system for a robot soccer team. For a non-uniform lighting, a simple color classification based on a fixed threshold will fail. The shadow compensation method uses a lighting model to perform the color classification based on the albedo ratio. The system has been tested on the robot soccer team that participates in Robocup 2005. The system performed well with improving percentage of the correct classification.


Superconductivity is found in 50% K-doped EuFe2As2 samples below 33 K. Our results from electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and 57Fe and 151Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy provide clear evidence that the ordering of the Fe moments observed at 190 K in undoped EuFe2As2 is completely suppressed in our 50% K-doped sample; thus there is no coexistence of the Fe magnetic order and the superconducting state. However, short range ordering of the Eu moments coexists with the superconducting state below 15 K. A bump in the susceptibility well below Tc as well as the broadening of the Fe Mössbauer line below 27 K evidence an interplay between the Eu magnetism and the superconducting state.


Fe2+ is of considerable importance in plant growth and crop production. However, most Fe elements in nature favor existing in the trivalent state, which often causes the deficiency of Fe2+ in plants. Here, we report the Fe valence state change from Fe3+ to Fe2+ by using leaves. This valence state change was confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in Fe-Cl@leaves. Fourier transform infrared and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy demonstrated that aromatic ring groups were included in leaves, and cation-π interactions between Fe cations and the components containing aromatic rings in leaves were measured. Further, density functional theory calculations revealed that the most stable adsorption site for hydrated Fe3+ cation was the region where hydroxyl groups and aromatic rings coexist. Moreover, molecular orbital and charge decomposition analysis revealed that the aromatic rings took the major part (59%) of the whole net charge transfer between leaves and Fe cations. This work provides a high-efficiency and eco-friendly way to transform the Fe valence state from Fe3+ to Fe2+, and affords a new insight into the valance change between plant organisms with cations.


BACKGROUND
Students with low socio-economic status (SES) are typically depicted as low performers and more likely to fail in school. However, a group of students, despite their background, manage to succeed in school. The capacity to overcome adversities and achieve successful educational outcomes is referred to as Academic Resilience. Research on the relationship between personality traits and academic performance shows that conscientiousness is a crucial factor in predicting academic success and resilience. However, it has also been shown that achievement is a result of an interaction between conscientiousness and students' interest in the subject.

AIMS
The study aims to investigate how students' school-related perseverance and interest predict academic achievement among resilient and non-resilient pupils over time in the Swedish compulsory school setting.

SAMPLE
Study subjects were a subset (N = 1,665) of the sampled compulsory school students from the 1992 birth cohort in the evaluation through follow-up (ETF) database.

METHODS
Multigroup structural equation modelling (SEM) with latent variable interaction was used. Measurement invariance was tested to examine the comparability of the constructs across groups.

RESULTS
The results suggest that resilient students rely heavily on both perseverance of effort and interest in school subjects to succeed in their education. For the non-resilient group, the later perseverance level was conditioned on the level of the interest, and neither their early nor later grade interest was related to their achievement.

CONCLUSIONS
The academically resilient students displayed more consistency in interest and perseverance over time, which might explain their relative success compared to the non-resilient group.


There are a number of process design that available in the literature in order to develop a new parallel mechanism that can be applied to the solar farm. However, the best ways to develop a new mechanism still have a challenge. Therefore, this project provides a systematic process design with include the kinematics derivation, mechanical and hardware development, and software development. This project aims to design and development of a Dual Axes Solar Tracking (DAST) based on 2RPS (Revolute-Prismatic-Spherical) -1S (Spherical) parallel mechanism by implementing the systematic process design. The focus is on a two degree-of-freedom (DOF) parallel mechanism – which encloses a closed loop in the structure. Based on MATLAB simulation and real prototyping motion result is show that the movement position of the solar panel has similarity. In summary, both method simulation and prototyping are able to represent a two DOF parallel mechanism. At the same time, the comparative analysis is able also to validate the equation of kinematics that derives from Denavit-Harternberg (DH) methods.


This article summarizes some of the content and conclusions of the author's recent book, Consumer Product Innovation and Sustainable Design, which discusses the innovation, design and evolution of six consumer products –bicycles, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, electric lamps, television and mobile (cell) phones – from their original inventions to the present. It discusses common patterns of innovation, how environmental concerns and legislation have influenced design, and some of the effects these products have had on the environment and society. The article also uses lessons from the successes and failures of examples of these products to draw out guidelines for designers, engineers, marketers, managers and educators on how to design successful new products and to design for the environment. It concludes with trends and sustainability challenges for future consumer product design and innovation.


Acknowledgements We would like to thank S. Mathews for kindly sharing genomic DNA for some taxa used in this study. J. Sullivan, L. Harmon, E. Roalson, J. Beaulieu, B. Moore, N. Nürk, M. Pennell, T. Peterson, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions or comments on the manuscript. J. Beaulieu, L. Harmon, C. Blair and the University of Idaho Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies (NIH/NCRR P20RR16448 and P20RR016454) for computational aid. Funding for this work was provided by NSF DEB–1210895 to DCT for SUC, NSF DEB–1253463 to DCT, and Graduate Student Research Grants to SUC from the Botanical Society of America (BSA), the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB), the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT), and the University of Idaho Stillinger Herbarium Expedition Funds. Premise of the study Clade specific bursts in diversification are often associated with the evolution of key innovations. However, in groups with no obvious morphological innovations, observed upticks in diversification rates have also been attributed to the colonization of a new geographic environment. In this study, we explore the systematics, diversification dynamics, and historical biogeography of the plant clade Rhinantheae in the Orobanchaceae, with a special focus on the Andean clade of the genus Bartsia L.. Methods We sampled taxa from across Rhinantheae, including a representative sample of Andean Bartsia species. Using standard phylogenetic methods, we reconstructed evolutionary relationships, inferred divergence times among the clades of Rhinantheae, elucidated their biogeographic history, and investigated diversification dynamics. Key results We confirmed that the South American Bartsia species form a highly supported monophyletic group. The median crown age of Rhinantheae was determined to be ca. 30 Ma, and Europe played an important role in the biogeographic history of the lineages. South America was first reconstructed in the biogeographic analyses around 9 Ma, and with a median age of 2.59 Ma, this clade shows a significant uptick in diversification. Conclusions Increased net diversification of the South American clade corresponds with biogeographic movement into the New World. This happened at a time when the Andes were reaching the necessary elevation to host an alpine environment. Although a specific route could not be identified with certainty, we provide plausible hypotheses to how the group colonized the New World.


A set of closed-form expressions is derived for the capacitance per unit length of the most common two-dimensional VLSI interconnection structures. The results have been obtained by using an approximate electromagnetic analysis of two coupled interconnect conductors over a ground plane (silicon substrate). We assume that the electric field meets the boundary conditions of a single isolated infinite line; therefore the boundary conditions for the conductors in the structure are approximately satisfied. It is shown by the numerical results that the derived formulas in this paper can provide an easy-to-use and fast-to-compute solver that results in accurate and reliable capacitance per unit length values.


Black phosphorus (BP) has drawn great attention owing to its tunable band gap depending on thickness, high mobility, and large Ion/ Ioff ratio, which makes BP attractive for using in future two-dimensional electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, its instability under ambient conditions poses challenge to the research and limits its practical applications. In this work, we present a feasible approach to suppress the degradation of BP by sulfur (S) doping. The fabricated S-doped BP few-layer field-effect transistors (FETs) show more stable transistor performance under ambient conditions. After exposing to air for 21 days, the charge-carrier mobility of a representative S-doped BP FETs device decreases from 607 to 470 cm2 V-1 s-1 (remained as high as 77.4%) under ambient conditions and a large Ion/ Ioff ratio of ∼103 is still retained. The atomic force microscopy analysis, including surface morphology, thickness, and roughness, also indicates the lower degradation rate of S-doped BP compared to BP. First-principles calculations show that the dopant S atom energetically prefers to chemisorb on the BP surface in a dangling form and the enhanced stability of S-doped BP can be ascribed to the downshift of the conduction band minimum of BP below the redox potential of O2/O2-. Our work suggests that S doping is an effective way to enhance the stability of black phosphorus.


The fatigue life of the titanium alloy centrifugal impeller is estimated based on strain life method. a) Equivalent Strain Method and b) Smith Watson Topper Method are used. The probabilistic analysis of fatigue life is carried out by Weibull distribution method. The fatigue life of the impeller is assessed through cyclic spin test. The results are compared. The Equivalent Strain Method is found non conservative. The average fatigue life of the impeller is estimated as 12000 cycles by SWT method, which is found more closer to test results. The reliability improvement from 95% to 99% reduces the fatigue life around 18%.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


It is important to predict the intensity distribution in focusing plane for designing the X-ray compound refractive lenses. On the basis of analyzing the structure of X-ray compound lenses and comparing it with Fraunhofer diffraction system, it is concluded that the X-ray focusing system can be regarded as a kind of Fraunhofer diffraction system. Therefore, a method based on Fourier spectrum analysis is presented to predict the intensity distribution in the focusing plane for the X-ray lenses. A brief analysis on the relationship between the parameters of X-ray lenses and their focusing performance is also given in this paper.


This working paper analyzes the endogenous creation of financial intermediaries. We construct an occupational choice model where agents differ amongst themselves in their accumulated assets and skill level. Every period these agents have to choose among three occupations: a worker, an entrepreneur or a banker. Financial intermediaries (bankers) have access to a transaction technology through which they can first attract funds from depositors and then assign these funds to borrowers. In the process of intermediation, bankers and entrepreneurs face financial constraints, so that the allocation of capital is not fully efficient. In our model, intermediating assets consumes productive resources, and any agent is free to choose that occupation. In this manner intermediating activities improve on the allocation of resources but at a cost. We analyze to what extent this activity approximates the economy to the constraintefficient


Massive hemoptysis in patients with advanced thoracic malignancies can be difficult to manage. Frequently, the bleeding source is not amenable to either bronchial artery embolization or surgical resection. Isolation of the bleeding source by endobronchial tamponade is an alternative management option. This is commonly achieved by the use of double-lumen endotracheal tubes or the placement of endobronchial balloons. Although effective, these approaches are not permanent solutions and may require prolonged intubation. We describe here an alternative, novel approach to endobronchial tamponade that does not require prolonged mechanical ventilation. We present a case in which massive hemoptysis from a left lower lobe cavitary lung cancer was successfully tamponaded and ultimately stopped by the placement of 2 covered self-expanding bronchial stents, allowing the patient to be extubated and to undergo further palliative therapy. No recurrent episodes of hemoptysis occurred throughout the patient's lifetime.


Antenna measurement errors occur due to reflections and diffractions within the measuring chamber. In order to extract and correct the undesired signals, a technique based on test-zone field compensation and spherical wave expansion is applied to Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR) and Spherical Near-Field (SNF) measurements of a base transceiver station antenna. The required spherical test-zone field is acquired by simulating the corresponding measurement environment with the multi-level fast multipole method. Due to the numerical complexity of the problem, only the parts of the chamber with a significant influence on the measurement results are modeled. Comparing the determined directivities after applying the correction method, an exact overlap is achieved between the SNF and CATR solution.


This project gives a detailed study of the Design and Performance analysis of series fed patch antenna array for 60 GHz system applications. The patch array designed in this project will act as an active element and can be used as the feed antenna of the dielectric flat lens antenna which is highly directive at 60 GHz. CPW (Coplanar Waveguide) is used as the feeding technique of the antenna array because it has lower transmission loss, lower profile especially on high frequency band. The purpose of the array is to perform the beam scanning with the shift in the frequency over the complete range of V-Band i.e. 57 GHz to 64 GHz. The designs are simulated in HFSS which is a high frequency simulator for designing such antennas. Due to the low profile and small weight of these antennas, they are constructed in microstrip technology which allows easy integration with printed circuits. For the fabrication of antennas Laser machine LPKF and photolithographic process are used.


This paper is concerned with reducing the barriers imposed on the flexibility and responsiveness of automated manufacturing systems by current control software technology. The general question that is addressed by this research is, how can insights be gained from the manufacturing system that can assist the control system in meeting this goal of responsive behavior? The approach that is taken is to investigate appropriate means of integrating available manufacturing system information into the control system. A framework for integrating status information to control an automated assembly line is introduced that combines both transient information (e.g. station queue length) and steady‐state information (e.g. station gradient estimates) obtained by observing the operation of the assembly line. It is shown that, through the use of an appropriately designed fuzzy‐logic controller (FLC), the combined information results in flow time performance superior to that achieved using the transient or steady‐state measures individually.


Mobile-government (m-government) is the initial stage of the development of the futuristic trends of the e-government. There are several features of advanced technologies of mobile platforms, including smartphone applications, internet facilities; integrated personal computer platforms are promising developments for incorporation into various socio-economic systems. In the same purview, the growth of the technology of m-government has been tremendous. An evolution of the practice of m-government can lead to excellent communication patterns between the government and the voting population. The current study evaluates the various features of m-government, its implementation, the process of general incorporation into the system of governance. This study focuses on the generic challenges surrounding the application of m-governments across different locations in the world, its relevance to the citizens, as well as reviewing the potential requirements and possible challenges in its implementation. This current study reviews existing literature to understand the various benefits of the technology of m-government with the primary focus of this study is to determine the methods of enhancement of government information regardless of the time and location. A detailed review of existing literature pertinent to m-government and compiles the findings on the definition, usability, challenges, and implementation of m-government was conducted. Findings suggest a need for the development of a model for technical, political and social assessment of user intent for adoption for mobile services in particular. It effectively establishes a relationship between various drivers of m-government and user acceptance.


The presence of the virulence markers K1 capsule, serum resistance, aerobactin, S and P/PR fimbriae were examined in a total of 395 E. coli strains from different extraintestinal infections and in 81 faecal isolates of healthy volunteers using specific DNA probes and classical phenotypic methods. All markers were more frequently detected when genotypic assays were applied. The simultaneous occurrence of 3-4 virulence determinants was typical for isolates derived from patients with septicaemia or meningitis. Isolates from blood cultures and cerebrospinal fluid were expressing the virulence phenotypes to a greater extent than isolates from urine or faeces. The use of colony hybridization with specific oligonucleotide and polynucleotide probes for the detection of virulence determinants has been proven to be more specific and reliable than phenotypic approaches.


A Collection of Oriental and Classical Antiquities in Jutland Between 1784 and 1803 there existed at Aarhus an interesting private museum of antiquities and coins belonging to the ex-premier 0. Høegh Guldberg, Lord Lieutenant of Aarhus County; the majority of the objects contained therein are now in the National Museum in Copenhagen. When in 1949 a chair of classical archaeology was inaugurated in the University of Aarhus three of Guldberg's antiques, figs. 1 and 2, returned to Aarhus. This time they formed part of a type collection of objects from the ancient Mediterranean and West-Asiatic cultures which was deposited by the National Museum to serve as study material in the University courses. In 1951 the classical antiquities and casts belonging to the Art Museum at Aarhus were transferred to the University; the antiquities were formerly in the possession of the sculptor Vilhelm Bissen who is said to have acquired them in Italy (One of them is illustrated in fig. 3).In addition the University Collection has received a number of gifts and has purchased other specimens in the art market. Among the more important recent acquisitions the first to be mentioned is an Egyptian mummy of the 21st dynasty with its mummy-board and coffin, figs. 4 and 5; according to the inscriptions it is the remains of the priestess Ta-ba-set of Amon's temple at Thebes, and it presumably came from the Deir al-Bahri cache. Western Asia is represented by an Astarte figurine from Central Syria, fig. 6, which is of the same type as local works of art of the period 1900-1750 B.C. The Attic kylix with a red-figured interior picture, fig. 7a-b, is reported to have been found at Athens in 1860 or 1866; its shape and decoration date it to the late archaic period and make an attribution to the Pithos Painter plausible. A group of pottery and a few iron objects, fig. 8 a-e, seem to have been taken from a 7th century tomb in South or Central Etruria; Etruscan, too, is the jug fig. 9, of the late 7th century B.C. A late archaic bearded terracotta head, evidently Tarentine, fig. 10, and a kantharos of Gnathia ware or rather a related Central Italian manufacture, fig. 11, close the enumeration; the latter specimen was found in the Baths of Nero at Rome, a statement which is likely to mean that the cup belonged to a Hellenistic burial in a lower stratum.At the end of the article the collection of casts is briefly dealt with. It was mainly acquired in the years 1877-1906, most of it under the supervision of the famous art-historian Julius Lange, who died in 1896.P.J. Riis


Using data of the Highly Suprathermal Time-Of-Flight sensor of the Charge, Element, and Isotope Analysis System on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft located at Lagrangian point L1 near Earth, we have measured proton spectra in the energy range 60 keV-2 MeV associated with the Bastille Day coronal mass ejection of 2000 July 14-16. For the same event, the power spectral densities of the magnetic field fluctuations in the solar wind have been measured with the magnetometer on board the Advanced Composition Explorer in the frequency range from about 0.05 mHz to 0.5 Hz. Within 0.11 AU upstream of the main shock, the flux of protons in the energy range 150 keV-2 MeV decreases much more rapidly with distance from the shock than is expected from diffusion in typical solar wind magnetic turbulence. In the same upstream region, the excitation of hydromagnetic waves in the frequency range 0.25-3 mHz and with power spectral density levels of up to 100 times the typical levels in the ambient solar wind is observed.


Although the presence of cryptic host specificity has been documented in Blastocystis, differences in infection rates and high genetic polymorphism within and between populations of some subtypes (ST) have impeded the clarification of the generalist or specialist specificity of this parasite. We assessed the genetic variability and host specificity of Blastocystis spp. in wild howler monkeys from two rainforest areas in the southeastern region of Mexico. Fecal samples of 225 Alouatta palliata (59) and A. pigra (166) monkeys, belonging to 16 sylvatic sites, were analyzed for infection with Blastocystis ST using a region of the small subunit rDNA (SSUrDNA) gene as a marker. Phylogenetic and genetic diversity analyses were performed according to the geographic areas where the monkeys were found. Blastocystis ST2 was the most abundant (91.9%), followed by ST1 and ST8 with 4.6% and 3.5%, respectively; no association between Blastocystis ST and Alouatta species was observed. SSUrDNA sequences in GenBank from human and non-human primates (NHP) were used as ST references and included in population analyses. The haplotype network trees exhibited different distributions: ST1 showed a generalist profile since several haplotypes from different animals were homogeneously distributed with few mutational changes. For ST2, a major dispersion center grouped the Mexican samples, and high mutational differences were observed between NHP. Furthermore, nucleotide and haplotype diversity values, as well as migration and genetic differentiation indexes, showed contrasting values for ST1 and ST2. These data suggest that ST1 populations are only minimally differentiated, while ST2 populations in humans are highly differentiated from those of NHP. The host generalist and specialist specificities exhibited by ST1 and ST2 Blastocystis populations indicate distinct adaptation processes. Because ST1 exhibits a generalist profile, this haplotype can be considered a metapopulation; in contrast, ST2 exists as a set of local populations with preferences for either humans or NHP.


Authentication is a very important process for securing web applications. Username and password are two parameters commonly used for user authentication on the administrator's login page. However, such the two authentication parameters can be easily breached so that they can become a vulnerability that adversary parties can use to conduct malicious activities. For example, the attackers can commit a crime such as data modification or theft or even more dangerous take over administrator services of a system. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the security mechanism by adding additional factor of authentication other than username and password. In this study, an improvement in authentication mechanisms was carried out by applying MAC Address-based access control as an additional authentication factor. In this method, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used in mapping the users Internet Protocol (IP) address to their MAC address during validation process. The experimental results showed that the addition of the MAC address made the authentication process resistant to Dictionary Attack and Shoulder Surfing Attack.


BACKGROUND
Cholinergic agents reduce allodynia after nerve injury in animals and may be useful in the treatment of neuropathic pain. Intrathecally administered neostigmine and neuronal nicotinic agonists are more potent in female than in male rats against acute thermal noxious stimuli. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is also a sex difference in the antiallodynic effects of intrathecal cholinomimetic agents in two models of allodynia and to test their pharmacologic mechanisms.

METHODS
Male and female rats with indwelling intrathecal catheters received injections of neostigmine, bethanechol (muscarinic agonist), RJR-2403 (neuronal nicotinic agonist) alone or with atropine (muscarinic antagonist), mecamylamine (nicotinic antagonist), phentolamine (alpha-adrenergic antagonist), or saline control. The effect of these agents was determined on mechanical allodynia produced by either intraplantar injection of capsaicin or ligation of spinal nerves.

RESULTS
Neostigmine and RJR-2403 but not bethanechol were more potent in female than in male rats in reducing allodynia after nerve injury, and antagonist studies were also consistent with a nicotinic component to explain this sex difference. Phentolamine did not reverse neostigmine's effect. In contrast, for capsaicin-induced allodynia, neostigmine plus mecamylamine but not neostigmine or RJR-2403 was more potent in female than in male rats.

CONCLUSIONS
These data demonstrate a sex difference of intrathecal neostigmine after nerve injury-induced allodynia similar to that observed in normal animals that received acute noxious thermal stimulation. However, this sex difference is not universal to all pain models because it was not present after intradermal capsaicin injection, nor is its interaction with spinal noradrenergic mechanisms consistent in all models.


Generative models that produce point clouds have emerged as a powerful tool to represent 3D surfaces, and the best current ones rely on learning an ensemble of parametric representations. Unfortunately, they offer no control over the deformations of the surface patches that form the ensemble and thus fail to prevent them from either overlapping or collapsing into single points or lines. As a consequence, computing shape properties such as surface normals and curvatures becomes difficult and unreliable. In this paper, we show that we can exploit the inherent differentiability of deep networks to leverage differential surface properties during training so as to prevent patch collapse and strongly reduce patch overlap. Furthermore, this lets us reliably compute quantities such as surface normals and curvatures. We will demonstrate on several tasks that this yields more accurate surface reconstructions than the state-of-the-art methods in terms of normals estimation and amount of collapsed and overlapped patches.


Abstract - We present unique continuation results for two over-determined problems: one involving a Kirchoff plate equation and one involving a related thermoelastic system, both with variable coefficient transmission coefficient and zero Cauchy data on an arbitrarily small portion of the boundary. Besides being of interest in themselves, both these two unique continuation results are critically invoked in the solution of a controllability problem (exact in the mechanical variables {w,wt} and, simultaneously, approximate in the thermal variable θ) of thermoelastic plates, by means of boundary controls, either in the hinged/Dirichlet boundary conditions, or else in the clamped/Dirichlet boundary conditions [E-L-T.1]-[E-L-T.3].


for the publication. In the paper on the classification of the Dinosauria, I do not adopt the names given on p. 562 ; but use the name Ornilhischia for the order of which Omosaurus is an example, there named Omosauria ; while the name Sanrischia is used for the order comprising allies of Cetiosaurus, there named Cetiosauria. I shall be glad if this erratum is corrected on p. 562, so that the names which appear there may not be quoted, and may be considered not to have been published.


This paper will discuss the process of the MA program ePedagogy / Visual Knowledge Building during the first semester of the academic year 2005 – 2006. This MA program is a joint venture between the Universities of Helsinki, Hamburg and INHOLLAND. This publication will discuss and evaluate the concrete steps (in terms of learning process) during this first semester. In particular the role of the eTutor will get special attention.
This publication is based on the principle of action research. Hart & Bond defines action research as "it is a form of reflective inquiry which enables practitioners to better realise such qualities in their practice. The tests for good action research are very pragmatic ones. Does it improve the professional quality of the transactions between practitioners and clients/colleagues? This action research approach is being realised upon three main sources. As an eTutor and member of the staff of this program I weekly filled in an "Evaluation Log" in
which the following questions are centralized:

1. What happened (this week)
2. Significant experience
3. Reflection
4. Actions

Secondly I used a little survey which was being used by the staff to evaluate the first semester. All the three Universities filled in a form with the following questions concerning the education and organisation:

Education
1. What do you consider most hindering in your teaching?
2. What do you consider most beneficial in your teaching?
3. What kind of teaching methods do you prefer in this program?
4. Do you think the course offers are attractive for the target group?
5. How do you evaluate student's engagements and motivation in your courses?
6. What can / should be improved in terms of collaborative learning activities and processes?

Organisation
1. In what specific context do you spot organisational constraints?
2. Does your organisation recognise and support the MA program?
3. What is your short-, mid- and long term vision on this program?

Thirdly an important source for this action research approach was the International Seminar which was hold in the middle of February 2006. In this seminar the changes based on the questions of the questionnaire were discussed and implemented. The theoretical framework in this publication is based on the dissertation of Karel Kreijns (Sociable CSCL Environments). In this dissertation he discussed the collaborative cognitiveand
epistemic performance in a CSCLE. The social presence theory takes a central position in this dissertation.

In this paper the pitfalls and barriers concerning a sociable CSCLE are being discussed and evaluated. This paper describes, the interventions the staff took, in order to improve the educational context of the program. From this perspective we looked very carefully to the barriers and pitfalls in our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). We found evidence for the fact that a good CSCLE consists at least a good balance between Content, Community and Pedagogy. In the program we emphasised our focus (too much) on content and (too) little on community and pedagogy. The community was poor because of the fact that we used three content learning
systems, which didn't stimulate the group processes. Pedagogy was too much based on individual eTutor behaviour. In January 2006, after the courses were ended, the Universities organised a little survey. In
this survey was shown that we have to some interventions to improve the learning process. At the International Seminar in February 2006 eTutors and students discussed the problems. The following interventions are being considered and implemented:

1. The use of three Virtual Learning Environments should be decreased. Especially the INHOLLAND / Blackboard system doesn't reflect the open source philosophy. Besides this the accessibility of this system is not very easy for foreign students
2. The collaborative aspect should be increased, by emphasising the interdisciplinaryand international co-operation. The formation of international subgroups is implemented.


Mapping of homoeologous chromosomes of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has always been a top priority for wheat breeders. During present work, easier, cheaper and q uicker RA PD (Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA) primers were mapped on homoeologous group 1 and 3 chromosomes of common wheat. Wheat genetic stocks viz; Nullisomic-tetrasomic lines were used for mapping of RAPD primers. A total of 43 RAPD primers were tested, out of which, five primers viz; GLA-10, GLA-11, GLA-14, GLA-20 and GLB-15 were found useful and these primers amplified DNA fragments specific for chromosomes 1D, 3D, 1B, 3B and 1D, respectively. These five RAPD primers can reliably be used as marker s for the wheat homoeologous chromosomes 1B, 3B, 1D and 3D.


We, the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Journal of Applied Statistics have retracted the following article, which was due to appear in a special issue: Muhammad Ijaz, Wali Khan Mashwani, Atilla Göktaş & Yuksel Akay Unvan (2021): A novel alpha power transformed exponential distribution with real-life applications, Journal of Applied Statistics. DOI: 10.1080/02664763.2020.1870673. The Editor-in-Chief and the Publisher are cognisant of clear evidence that the findings presented are unreliable. The probability distribution is only valid if α > 1 and numerous mathematical properties in Section 2 have been shown to be incorrect. This has then impacted at least two figures in the article. We are further cognisant that the article contained a number of similarities to previously published papers where some of the findings had been published without proper cross-referencing including: Gupta, R.D. and Kundu, D. (2001), Exponentiated Exponential Family: An Alternative to Gamma and Weibull Distributions. Biom. J., 43: 117–130. https://doi.org/10.1002/1521-4036(200102)43:1<117::AID-BIMJ117>3.0.CO;2-R. We have been informed in our decision-making by our corrections and editorial policies and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as 'Retracted'. The Editor-in-Chief and the Publisher would like to thank the anonymous reader/s for their comments which alerted JAS to these major errors in the first instance.


Abstract Background Irisin and fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) are intricately involved in metabolic syndrome (MetS) and prediabetes (preDM) pathophysiology. This study aimed to compare and correlate irisin and FGF1 plasma levels, adiposity, atherogenicity and hematological indices in 29 normoglycemic MetS and 30 newly diagnosed drug naive prediabetic (PreDM) MetS patients vs. 29 lean and normoglycemic controls. Materials and methods Irisin and FGF1 plasma levels were measured using colorimetric assays. Intergroup comparisons were conducted by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Spearman's rank correlation was also examined. Results The mean circulating irisin levels (ng/mL) were significantly higher in the normoglycemic (but not prediabetic) MetS group (p < 0.01), while the mean circulating FGF1 levels (pg/mL) were markedly lower in the prediabetic (but not normoglycemic) MetS group (p < 0.05). Of note unlike FGF1, irisin in the MetS (both normoglycemic and prediabetic;N=59) groups correlated significantly and positively with each of waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), body mass index (BMI), body adiposity index (BAI) and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) but not the non-HDL-C. Distinctively MetS-irisin negatively associated with the non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratio, total cholesterol (TC)/HDL-C ratio and the low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C)/HDL-C ratio, but positively with the red cell distribution width (RDW). In the same pool of 59 MetS reruits; Neither biomarker had a relationship with the visceral adiposity index (VAI), the lipid accumulation product (LAP), the conicity index (CI), the waist-hip ratio (WHR), the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), the blood ratios or the atherogenicity index of plasma (AIP). Conclusions As any potential molecular crosstalk of irisin and FGF1 in MetS or its related dysregularities cannot be ruled out; Conversely the utility of irisin and FGF1 as surrogate prognostic biomarkers and putative pharmacotherapeutic targets in the predtion/prevention/management of diabetes and MetS is strongly suggested.


Some new ideas for reconstructing permittivity profiles in planar and cylindrical objects illuminated by TEM-, TE- or TM-polarized waves are presented in this paper. For a planar medium, an improved renormalization technique along with a revised version of the nonlinear Riccati differential equation describing the direct problem are introduced. A nonlinear Riccati-similar differential equation for the cylindrical case has also been derived here for the first time, which helps reconstructing radially varying permittivity profiles in a way parallel to that of the planar case. The above-mentioned renormalization technique has been used for the cylindrical case as well to solve the inverse problem making use of a Hankel transform. The method represents fundamental bases for a three-dimensional generalization, which is essential for microwave imaging used, e.g., in biomedical applications and for the diagnostic of diseases in trees and vegetation. A known permittivity profile has been taken to generate synthetic reflection-coefficient data by solving the nonlinear equations describing the direct problems using MATLAB. These data have been used in conjunction with the proposed technique to reconstruct the permittivity profile. About 50-100 data points over the wavelength range from a minimum value (ranging from one-tenth to one-fifth of a typical length in the structure) to infinity have been used for the reconstruction. Reconstructed profiles have been compared to the original ones for a number of cases. Deviations of less than 2% have been achieved.


The effects of supplementing a total parenteral nutrition solution with a nucleoside and nucleotide mixture on mucosal adaptive processes after massive bowel resection were studied. Male Wistar rats (n=30) underwent 80% small intestine resection, were randomized into two groups and received either standard total parenteral nutrition (TPN) or TPN supplemented with a nucleoside and nucleotide mixture (2.5 mL.kg-1.d-1). An additional five rats, fed a nonpurified diet and not resected, were used as controls. After 4 or 7 d, rats were killed and samples were collected for mucosal indices and intestinal enzymatic activities (disaccharidases and diamine oxidase). After massive small bowel resection and TPN, residual jejunal mucosal wet weights, villus heights, protein and RNA contents on d 4 and 7, and total wet weights and DNA contents on d 7 were significantly lower than in the control group. Administration of the nucleoside and nucleotide mixture resulted in significantly higher residual jejunal total and mucosal weights, proteins, DNA, RNA contents, and the ratio of proliferating cell nuclear antigen positive cells per crypt than did the standard TPN solution on d 7. However, disaccharidase and diamine oxidase activities were not affected by supplementation with the nucleoside and nucleotide mixture. Our data suggest the supplementation of a nucleoside and nucleotide mixture to a TPN solution can attenuate the initial mucosal atrophy and improve intestinal cell turnover after massive bowel resection, but the supplementation has little effect on enterocyte enzymatic activities.


OBJECTIVES
Although fluid resuscitation guided by central venous oxygen saturation (SvcO2) is currently considered the gold standard in sepsis therapy, few studies have described hemodynamic and perfusion parameters during this procedure. This study aims to describe these parameters during septic shock without resuscitation and after 12 hours of goal-directed resuscitation.

METHODS
Thirteen anesthetized pigs (35-45 kg) had peritonitis caused by fecal inoculation (0.75 g/kg). After developing persistent hypotension, both groups were given antibiotics and randomized either to the control group (n=7) or the experimental group (n=6). In the control group, hemodynamic control was optimized to maintain a central venous pressure of 8-12 mmHg, a urinary output above 0.5 mL/kg/hour and a mean arterial blood pressure above 65 mmHg. The experimental group received the above target therapy in addition to maintaining a SvO2 above 65%. The interventions included lactated Ringer's solution and norepinephrine for both groups and dobutamine in the SvO2 group. The animals were treated for 12 hours or until death.

RESULTS
Untreated sepsis was associated with significant reductions in SvO2, PvO2, cardiac output and central venous pressure in addition to increased arteriovenous oxygen saturation and veno-arterial CO2 differences. Following resuscitation, these parameters were corrected in both groups. Goal-directed resuscitation was associated with a better hemodynamic profile, characterized by higher SvO2, cardiac output and central venous pressure.

CONCLUSIONS
Non-resuscitated sepsis showed a hemodynamic profile suggesting hypovolemia, with worsened perfusion and hemodynamics, which is reversed upon fluid resuscitation. Goal-directed resuscitation is associated with significantly improved hemodynamic and perfusion parameters.


Covid-19 is a respiratory tract disease caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The Covid-19 disease was first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is primarily transmitted through human contact, and the World Health Organization has proclaimed a global pandemic (WHO). Symptoms of Covid-19 can range from asymptomatic to mild and severe. One way to diagnose Covid-19 disease can be done by examining lung abnormalities on the results of a Computed Tomography Scan (CT-Scan) of the lungs. However, determining the diagnostic results requires high accuracy and a long time. For this reason, an automated system is needed to make it easier for medical personnel to diagnose Covid-19 disease quickly and accurately. One of the automated systems with computer assistance in detecting abnormalities in CT-Scan images of the lungs is to perform pattern recognition


Ceiling fan is considered the most effective for most types of fans, as they effectively distribute air in the room to make drafts throughout the room. Most of South East Asia especially in Malaysia, ceiling fans will be installed even though some houses use air conditioning as their cooling system. Ceiling type fans are extensively used in dwellings, offices and many other types of buildings to circulate air and thereby reduce the cost of heating during cold weather and air-conditioning during hot weather. Thus, the suitable cleaning tools are needed to clean the ceiling fan blades efficiently. There are three problems faced when cleaning the ceiling fan which are position issues which the consumers need to use ladder to clean the ceiling fan blade especially on the upper part of the blade. Furthermore, consumers faced problems in time consuming and inappropriate design of cleaning tool which most of the dust will falling down to the floor during cleaning activities and due to that, the users need to clean the floor after clean the ceiling fan blades. Solution to the problems, a new design of vacuum nozzle is proposed. From the result obtained, the wind speed and room temperature are increase and decrease respectively after cleaning by the super nozzle vacuum. Based on the result of super nozzle testing, cleaning ceiling fan blades only took less than one minute. The results also show by using super nozzle vacuum cleaner, people will have no difficulty to clean their ceiling fan blades.


In proteomics, it is essential to quantify proteins in absolute terms if we wish to compare results among studies and integrate high-throughput biological data into genome-scale metabolic models. While labeling target peptides with stable isotopes allow protein abundance to be accurately quantified, the utility of this technique is constrained by the low number of quantifiable proteins that it yields. Recently, label-free shotgun proteomics has become the "gold standard" for carrying out global assessments of biological samples containing thousands of proteins. However, this tool must be further improved if we wish to accurately quantify absolute levels of proteins. Here, we used different label-free quantification techniques to estimate absolute protein abundance in the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. More specifically, we evaluated the performance of seven different quantification methods, based either on spectral counting (SC) or extracted-ion chromatogram (XIC), which were applied to samples from five different proteome backgrounds. We also compared the accuracy and reproducibility of two strategies for transforming relative abundance into absolute abundance: a UPS2-based strategy and the total protein approach (TPA). This study mentions technical challenges related to UPS2 use and proposes ways of addressing them, including utilizing a smaller, more highly optimized amount of UPS2. Overall, three SC-based methods (PAI, SAF, and NSAF) yielded the best results because they struck a good balance between experimental performance and protein quantification.


This thesis is a response to an emergent discourse on the relationship between the visual arts and the Anthropocene. The latter—the stratigraphic designation for a new geological epoch—has accrued a popularity within the contemporary art-world that is rarely afforded to a concept from the earth sciences. The uptake in Anthropocene-themed exhibitions, publications, and think-pieces reflects the concept's promise of an art-making and art-critical methodology that may foster a revised relationship to nature in the age of climate change.   Despite the new-found fashionability of the term, this relationship between art and the Anthropocene has neither been comprehensively demonstrated, nor disproved. Consequently, the purpose of this thesis is to undertake this necessary interrogation.   Firstly, this is an engagement with the competing philosophies and intentions that have attached themselves to the Anthropocene label as it progressed from a straightforward geological statement, into a profound suite of assertions regarding the relationship of humanity to our planet. The influence of the posthumanist ecological philosopher, Timothy Morton, is a particular focus for understanding what the aesthetic theory of the Anthropocene consists of. Taken together, this theory is a promise of a new relationship with the natural world through the jettisoning of Romantic fantasies of nature in favour of an engagement with a sub-discursive, material world.   Secondly, this theory is read against ecologically conscious contemporary art works. The practices of Pierre Huyghe, Simon Starling, and Conor Clarke speak to the same concerns as the aesthetic Anthropocene. Reading these works through the lens offered by the stratigraphic concept investigates and tests the capability of the aesthetic Anthropocene for delivering its promises of an art without nature, and a new engagement with our environments.   Ultimately, the innovations of the aesthetic Anthropocene are novel, plentiful, but unconvincing. As a theory, it is beset by flaws and contradictions which undermine its applicability and critical potential. Consequently, ecologically conscious art does little to reflect the aims and aspirations of the aesthetic Anthropocene, rendering it an unhelpful tool for understanding the geological present.


Ancillaries in the travel industry are now a major stream for revenue and profitability. Ancillaries are optional products or services whose sales depend on an individual's personal preference and their trip context. Conventional pricing strategies for ancillaries based on poorly optimized or static business rules do not respond to changing market conditions or trip context.

We present a dynamic pricing model developed in conjunction with Deepair solutions, an AI technology provider for travel suppliers. Our models provide dynamic, customer-interaction-specific pricing recommendations, to increase revenue. The unique nature of personalized pricing provides the opportunity to search over the market space to find the optimal price-point for each customer, without violating customer privacy.

We present an A/B testing deployment framework on an airline's website. Embedded in it are three models for dynamic pricing of ancillaries, with increasing levels of sophistication: (1) a two-stage forecasting and pricing model using a logistic mapping function; (2) a two-stage model with a deep neural network for forecasting, followed by pricing using discrete exhaustive search; (3) a single-stage end-to-end deep neural network that recommends the optimal price. In an outer loop, we introduce an online adaptive model-selection framework that adaptively routes customer requests to the above models. This is modeled as multi-armed bandit problem, which we solve using Thompson sampling.

We evaluate the performance of these models based on offfine and online evaluations, and their real-world business impact. Offline experiments show that deep learning algorithms outperform traditional machine learning techniques for this problem. In online testing, our AI-driven pricing outperforms human rule-based approaches, improving conversion by 17% and revenue per offer by 25%. Additionally, our adaptive model-selection approach outperforms a uniformly random selection policy by improving the expected revenue per offer by 43% and conversion score by 58% in a simulation environment.


ABSTRACT Objective In pediatric concussion, there has been a shift to consider how pre-injury profiles, such as self-efficacy, affect the recovery trajectory. The aim of this study was to investigate normal ranges of self-efficacy (overall, academic, social, emotional) in youth and to explore its relationship with the effects of daily stressors, operationalized as concussion-like symptoms, demographic factors, pre-injury/learning related factors, and concussion history. Methods A cross-sectional study of 1300 uninjured youth 13–18 years old (1111 males, 189 females) was conducted by secondary analysis of clinical pre-injury/baseline concussion data. Demographic information, concussion-like symptoms (Post-concussion Symptom Inventory), and self-efficacy (Self-efficacy Questionnaire for Children) were self-reported. Results The most reported concussion-like symptoms were common stress symptoms and there was a strong negative relationship with self-efficacy. Males reported higher self-efficacy than females, but no age effects were observed. Pre-injury factors including learning disability, ADHD, special education, IEP, mental health challenges, history of headaches/migraines, and concussion history were associated with significantly lower overall self-efficacy. Conclusions These normative ranges and predictive model can be used to provide a benchmark of self-efficacy to indicate how youth may respond to a concussion, and to inform clinical care during recovery.


With the continuing improvement of wheat, there is a need to provide assistance in the identification of newly registered wheat varieties. Sixteen such wheats are described in this Supplement according to the characters explained in 'Australian wheat varieties: identification according to plant, head and grain characteristics', Second Edition, by R. W. Fitzsimmons, R. H. Martin and C. W. Wrigley (CSIRO: Melbourne, 1983).

In addition, descriptions of eight Australian triticales are provided in this Supplement as an appendix, in view of the increasing popularity of this close relative of wheat.


Designers routinely explain their designs to one another using sketches and verbal descriptions of behavior, both of which can be understood long before the device has been fully specified. But current design tools fail almost completely to support this sort of interaction, instead not only forcing designers to specify details of the design, but typically requiring that they do so by navigating a forest of menus and dialog boxes, rather than directly describing the behaviors with sketches and verbal explanations. We have created a prototype system, called assistance, capable of interpreting multimodal explanations for simple 2-D kinematic devices. The program generates a model of the events and the causal relationships between events that have been described via hand drawn sketches, sketched annotations, and verbal descriptions. Our goal is to make the designer's interaction with the computer more like interacting with another designer. This requires the ability not only to understand physical devices but also to understand the means by which the explanations of these devices are conveyed.


The system-level value of wide bandgap power semiconductors of higher efficiency, smaller size and weight, and more sustainable energy usage in our power supplies and motor drives is being demonstrated now. Gallium nitride (GaN) power FETs are replacing silicon (Si) power MOSFETs in applications from 48 V to 800 V. Silicon carbide (SiC) is replacing legacy IGBTs in applications >800 V. The previous barriers to implementing what was theoretically possible with these technologies included manufacturability, reliability, system complexity, and cost (Table 1). But over just the last few years with numerous advancements, it's clear that those challenges have been addressed as 10's of millions of units of GaNFast power ICs have been shipped in mass production in applications from fast mobile chargers to gaming systems to notebook computer adapters, and more.


Social relationships are dynamic and evolve with shared and personal experiences. Whether the functional role of social neuromodulators also evolves with experience to shape the trajectory of relationships is unknown. We utilized pair bonding in the socially monogamous prairie voles as an example of socio-sexual experience that dramatically alters behaviors displayed toward other individuals. We investigated oxytocin-dependent modulation of excitatory synaptic transmission in the nucleus accumbens as a function of pair bonding status. We found that an oxytocin receptor agonist decreases the amplitude of spontaneous Excitatory Postsynaptic Currents (EPSCs) in sexually naive virgin, but not pair-bonded, female voles, while it increases the amplitude of electrically evoked EPSCs in paired voles, but not in virgins. This oxytocin-dependent potentiation of synaptic transmission relies on the de novo coupling between oxytocin receptor signaling and endocannabinoid CB1 receptor signaling in pair bonded voles. Blocking CB1 receptors after pair bond formation increases the occurrence of a specific form of social rejection – defensive upright response – that is displayed towards the partner but not towards a novel individual. Altogether, our results demonstrate that oxytocin's action in the nucleus accumbens is changed through social experience in a way that regulates the trajectory of social interactions as the relationship with the partner unfolds, potentially promoting the maintenance of a pair bond by inhibiting aggressive responses. These results provide a mechanism by which social experience and context shift oxytocinergic signaling to impact neural and behavioral responses to social cues.


Abstract Clinacanthus nutans (Burm. f.) Lindau (C. nutans) has been reported to lower blood glucose level; however, evidence on its efficacy in lowering diabetic complications is limited. The antidiabetic properties of C. nutans aqueous leaf extract on serum metabolic indices, sorbitol production, and aldose reductase enzyme activities in the kidneys, lens, and sciatic nerve of type II diabetic (T2D) rats were evaluated. All rats except normal control rats were fed with a high‐fat diet for 8 weeks to induce obesity and subsequently injected with 35 mg/kg streptozotocin to induce type II diabetes. Aqueous leaf extract of C. nutans (100 and 200 mg kg−1 day−1) and quercetin (10 mg kg−1 day−1) were fed orally for 4 weeks. Diabetic rats administered with C. nutans at 100, 200 mg kg−1 day−1 and quercetin had significantly (p < 0.05) lower fasting blood glucose levels post‐intervention: 14.2, 14.0, and 19.9 mm, respectively, compared with the untreated group (22.1 mm). Total cholesterol was significantly (p < 0.05) lower in the C. nutans groups in comparison with the diabetic control group. Levels of F2‐isoprostane, a marker of oxidative stress, were attenuated in the presence of the extract. Aldose reductase enzyme activity increased by 64, 99, and 0% and total antioxidant activities by 22, 29, and 126%, respectively. Sorbitol levels in the kidney, lens, and nerve were reduced in diabetic rats administered with C. nutans and quercetin group (by 8, 16, and 3%, respectively). The protective effect of the extract to the liver and kidney was confirmed through liver and kidney enzyme markers and histological analyses. The C. nutans has the potential to attenuate T2D‐induced metabolic perturbations and complications related to sorbitol accumulation.


This thesis explores various detailed improvements to semi-supervised learning (using labelled data to guide clustering or classification of unlabelled data) with fuzzy c-means clustering (a 'soft' clustering technique which allows data patterns to be assigned to multiple clusters using membership values), with the primary aim of creating a semi-supervised fuzzy clustering algorithm that shows good performance on real-world data. Hence, there are two main objectives in this work. The first objective is to explore novel technical improvements to semi-supervised Fuzzy c-means (ssFCM) that can address the problem of initialisation sensitivity and can improve results. The second objective is to apply the developed algorithm on real biomedical data, such as the Nottingham Tenovus Breast Cancer (NTBC) dataset, to create an automatic methodology for identifying stable subgroups which have been previously elicited semi-manually.

Investigations were conducted into detailed improvements to the ss-FCM algorithm framework, including a range of distance metrics, initialisation and feature selection techniques and scaling parameter values. These methodologies were tested on different data sources to demonstrate their generalisation properties. Evaluation results between methodologies were compared to determine suitable techniques on various University of California, Irvine (UCI) benchmark datasets. Results were promising, suggesting that initialisation techniques, feature selection and scaling parameter adjustment can increase ssFCM performance.

Based on these investigations, a novel ssFCM framework was developed, applied to the NTBC dataset, and various statistical and biological evaluations were conducted. This demonstrated highly significant improvement in agreement with previous classifications, with solutions that are biologically useful and clinically relevant in comparison with Sorias study [141]. On comparison with the latest NTBC study by Green et al. [63], similar clinical results have been observed, confirming stability of the subgroups.

Two main contributions to knowledge have been made in this work. Firstly, the ssFCM framework has been improved through various technical refinements, which may be used together or separately. Secondly, the NTBC dataset has been successfully automatically clustered (in a single algorithm) into clinical sub-groups which had previously been elucidated semi-manually. While results are very promising, it is important to note that fully, detailed validation of the framework has only been carried out on the NTBC dataset, and so there is limit on the general conclusions that may be drawn. Future studies include applying the framework on other biomedical datasets and applying distance metric learning into ssFCM.

In conclusion, an enhanced ssFCM framework has been proposed, and has been demonstrated to have highly significant improved accuracy on the NTBC dataset.


Summary Statement Service industry metrics (the net promoter score) are being introduced as a measure of UK healthcare satisfaction. Lower limb arthroplasty, as a 'service', scores comparably with the most successful commercial organisations. Background Satisfaction with care is important to both the patient and the payer. The Net Promoter Score, widely used in the service industry, has been recently introduced to the UK National Health Service as an overarching metric of patient satisfaction and to monitor performance. This questionnaire asks 'customers' if they would recommend a service or products to others. Scores range from −100 (everyone is a detractor) to +100 (everyone is a promoter). In industry, a positive score is well regarded, with those over 50 regarded as excellent. Our aims were to assess net promoter scores for joint arthroplasty, to compare these scores with direct measures of patient satisfaction, and to evaluate which factors contributed to net promoter response. Methods 6912 individuals undergoing primary lower limb joint replacement over a five year period (Jan 2007 – Dec 2011) took part in a prospective cohort study at a single NHS University hospital. Net promoter score, clinical outcomes as measured by PROMS (Oxford Hip or Knee Score and SF-12 score), multi-faceted patient satisfaction questionnaire, demographic data and length of hospital stay were recorded. Data was collected preoperatively and at 1 year post-surgery. Multivariate regression was performed to determine which factors could predict an outcome of 'promoter' and 'detractor' at 1 year post-surgery. Significance was accepted at p = 0.1 to accommodate the confounding effect of other variables. Results Net promoter scores for knee and hip replacements were 49 and 71 respectively. Strong correlation was seen between overall satisfaction and whether the patient would recommend the operation to another (r = 0.637), though regression of these factors was modest (R 2 = 0.406). Only 4 factors were relevant to the net promoter response: pain relief (OR 2.13, CI 1.83 – 2.49), meeting expectations (OR 2.57, CI 2.24 – 2.97), hospital experience (OR 2.33, CI 2.03 – 2.68) and arthroplasty type (OR 2.31, CI 1.68 – 3.17). These factors drove a model able to explain 95% of the variation in net promoter score. Conclusions This is the first analysis of net promoter score for joint arthroplasty, and demonstrates values that compare favourably with the services provided by the most successful commercial organizations. The UK Department of Health describes this score as a measure of patient satisfaction. This is perhaps not completely accurate, as only a third of the variation in one response can be explained by the other, suggesting that although clearly related, these concepts are not the same. Pain relief, meeting of expectations of surgery, the hospital experience and whether the hip or knee joint is replaced are the only relevant factors in determining the net promoter response. Factors thought to influence clinical outcome such as depression, number of comorbidities, age and gender carry no influence with this metric.


Ha, ha!"), with varying results (for example, a few fish turn into a tidal wave, necessitating a quick page turn on the reader's part to rescue the cats). After being dried off from this last incident ("Just blow on the page"), the cats are feeling a bit sleepy, and so it's back to the blanket, with a page turn to tuck them in again. The simple and minimal text is playful and amusing, and it's seamlessly integrated into the page-turning action; little ones will be delighted with their active role in these kitty capers. Schwarz's illustrations employ loosely brushed ink touched with collage and colored pencil, with the scratchy washes of the red, turquoise, and gold of the cats accented by heavy, scribbly black outlines against a creamy background. Supervision is probably a good plan with the youngest members of the audience, but the thick paper of the flaps is pretty solidly attached. This won't completely appease catless youngsters desirous of feline ownership, but it does amusingly capture some of the pleasures of child-cat play, and even those usually indifferent to feline charm should find this a lot of fun. JH


The frequency of association of spore loci with the "old" and "new" ends of rod-shaped sporangia in batch cultures of Bacillus megaterium ATCC 19213 was estimated by phase contrast microscopy. The analysis was facilitated by (i) the association of most of the sporangia into chains of two to five sporangia and (ii) the occurrence of two types of cross wall distinguishable by their degree of splitting. It was concluded that a newly formed spore is located at the "old" end of a sporangium. By inference, the sporulation division septum locus is distal to the ultimate normal cell division septum, i.e., proximal to the "old" pole of the B. megaterium sporangium. This result is discussed in relation to deoxyribonucleic acid segregation during sporulation.


This study aims at appropriating the social and print media construct and coverage of human rights violations in the post Eelam war between Indian Tamil fishermen and their conflict with Sri Lankan Navy in the Palk Bay. The alleged intrusion of the Indian trawlers into the Sri Lankan water and the rebuttal by Sri Lankan Navy leading to the torture, arrest and at times, death of Indian fishermen is being widely articulated and debated in Indian and foreign media. An attempt has been made here using the framing theory to investigate how human rights violations were constructed in Indian print media (Dinamani and The Hindu) and socials media (Twitter).


Under international law, it is uncontested that the victims of gross and systematic human rights violations have the right to reparation. International tribunals have granted collective reparations as the most appropriate kind of reparation for these violations. This has been re-affirmed by the recent decision on reparations of the International Criminal Court in the Lubanga case. Since gross and systematic human rights violations involve large numbers of victims, collective reparations seem to be appropriate as they seek to provide redress to groups and communities. Yet, while there is a trend of international tribunals adjudicating gross human rights violations resorting to collective reparations, these reparations face numerous ambiguities such as the lack of a single definition and clear guidelines for the identification of their beneficiaries. This article examines the experience of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, pioneer of collective reparations, in the identification of beneficiaries of gross and systematic human rights violations.


Learning, creativity, and innovation are considered as the axis of the activities of all educational and entrepreneurbased institutions. Learning style of students as one of the factors effective in learning and academic progress has always been taken into consideration. By identifying the learning style and rate of creativity of individuals, each style can be a more appropriate teaching method adopted by teachers and also a more correct method of learning by learners. Accordingly, the main goal of the present article is to identify the differences of learning styles of individuals in different academic majors and the rate of the creativity of individuals in each learning style. The present methodology employed in this research is of descriptive-correlational research design. The statistical population consists of all the last-year students at the high school level in the city of Ghaen. The statistical sample consisted of 115 girls and 117 boys selected by classified sampling. Kolb's learning style inventory and Abedi creativity were used to collect the required data. These two tools are standardized, therefore their validity is verified. On the other hand, the reliability of the Kolb's inventory and that of Abedi's creativity were 0.74 and 79.5, respectively. To analyze the data obtained by Chi-square tests, one-way analysis of variance, Pierson covariance and stepwise regression were employed. The results show that there is a meaningful difference between the creativity of the students with diverging and assimilator learning styles. Learning styles of students of different branches are also different. Creativity of the students of Mathematics is more than that of the Humanities and there is also a meaningful negative relation between concrete experiential learning methods and creativity (r=0.702 and p<0.01).


In the sex-worker population, the priority of harm minimisation has been to minimise disease transmission through educating the workers on safe-sex practices. This harm-minimisation approach assumes that by educating the sex workers on HIV/AIDS and informing them of their responsibility in preventing transmission, they would make rational choices to protect themselves and others. However, the assumption that sex workers are vectors of diseases marginalises and blames them without considering the implications of poverty, gender, public fear, and law. For a more effective health approach in the sex industry, it is hence vital to consider structural and political issues such as poverty and law. Within this context, public-health workers have been challenged to take a more holistic approach to health promotion for sex workers. In addition to taking into consideration the health of the workers, their human rights and the need to create a safer working environment were also considered in the risk-management and harm-minimisation assessment of the sex industry. Within the broad context of harm minimisation commenced the advocacy for the decriminalisation of the sex industry. It was envisaged that by repealing the laws which criminalised sex-work activities, the autonomy of the sex workers and their capability to protect themselves would increase. It was theorised that under a decriminalised system, human rights and set standards for working environments would improve the health and safety of the workers. This chapter examines whether there have been gains for sex-worker health and safety in a decriminalised environment. It examines the main threats to health and safety identified by the participants: risks to sexual health, risks of violence and exploitation, and risks to emotional health.


The investigated SiC nanowires were prepared by the "shape memory process" technique. Depending on the processing parameters, nanowires with different chemical compositions, i.e., with varying amount of Si, C, and O were obtained. The permittivity of the SiC nanowires was measured in the frequency range between 1 and 18 GHz, which revealed that the permittivity, both real and imaginary parts, depends mostly on the C content of the nanowires. A higher C concentration in the nanowires gives rise to a higher permittivity.


ARTICLE INFO India is the world's third largest producer of coconut after the Philippines and Indonesia. India alone accounts for about 70% of the world production of coir and coir products. The total output of coir and coir products in India is estimated to be around Rs.1500.00 crore including exports of Rs.350.00 crore. All the parts of coconut orchard such as coconut husk, shell, copra, coconut water are useful. Coconut husk is used in coir industry, shell as a fuel, copra as food, coconut water as nutritious liquid. There are many farm equipment's and tools which are developed for the post harvesting operation of horticultural crops. The dehusking of a coconut is regarded as the most time consuming, tiring, and difficult operation to perform and involves much human drudgery. Many attempts has been done to perform coconut dehusking manually as well as mechanized. Dehusking with traditional hand tools like machete or a spike depends on the skill of worker and involves training. Nowadays there is shortage of such skilled workers. The mechanized or the power operated machines are developed to eliminate the drawbacks of manual tools. Such manual tools and machines are developed all over the world and a very few have become popular, rest got vanished due to their limitations. The reasons for the failure of these tools include unsatisfactory and incomplete dehusking, breakage of the coconut shell while dehusking, spoilage of useful coir, greater effort needed than manual methods, etc. This present work aims to design and develop a semiautomatic coconut dehusking machine with eliminating the above mentioned drawbacks of the existing tools and machines. The machine conceived shall have main parts like deshuking unit mounted on a frame with electric motor as a power source along with speed reducing unit. The dehusking unit shall have a pair of cylindrical rollers with tynes (cutting pins) on its surface. These rollers will rotate in opposite direction with different speeds so that the tynes will penetrate into the husk and tear it away from the shell. The proper tearing of husk from shell occurs when the coconut offers good mesh with the tynes and it depends on the depth of insertion of nut into rollers and profile of tynes. As coconuts varies considerably in size and shape there is a need of adjustment in distance between pair of rollers for desired depth of insertion. Also the suitable profile of tynes is required for effective dehusking. These tynes shall be attached to the cylinders with fasteners so that replacement can be easily done. Keywords— Tynes, Dehusking Unit, Peeling Strength, Penetration Strength, Coir Industry. Article History Received :18 th November 2015 Received in revised form :


This White Paper synthesizes current knowledge about how to make smallholder agriculture in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) more profitable and resilient.
To structure the discussion, we developed a simple conceptual framework based on the CGIAR Research Programs for Dryland Cereals and Grain Legumes, which are led by ICRISAT. The framework links demand drivers, smallholder diversity, product lines, impact pathways, and impacts. Product lines are developed in response to demand drivers, which include not only income and urbanization but also shocks. We distinguish between reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience and how these operate at crop, household, and system level. Smallholder diversity is recognized by developing product lines for two target groups, namely subsistence- and market-oriented farmers. We identify the key demand drivers and shocks that create demand for new technology. Development domains show the role of endowments in determining smallholder demand for different types of product lines...


During the past seven years several reports 1 concerning the use of cotton thread as a suture material have appeared in the literature. These reports were made by general surgeons and were based on the use of cotton sutures in more than 3,000 cases. In most instances the general surgeons were favorably impressed with the use of cotton for suturing certain types of wounds. No reports on the use of cotton as a suture material in clinical ophthalmology were made in a similar seven-year period. Berens and Romaine 2 included cotton thread in their report on the comparative value of sutures employed in surgical procedures on the extraocular muscles, but their experimental work was carried out on rabbits. In the military service I used cotton as a suture material in approximately 50 operations on the eye. It seems to possess features that make it applicable to certain types of ophthalmic


The Rotating Snakes illusion is a motion illusion based on repeating, asymmetric luminance patterns. Recently, we found certain grey-value conditions where a weak, illusory motion occurs in the opposite direction. Of the four models for explaining the illusion, one (Backus and Oruç, 2005) also explains the unexpected perceived opposite direction. We here present a simple new model, without free parameters, based on an array of standard correlation-type motion detectors with a subsequent non-linearity (e.g., saturation) before summing the detector outputs. The model predicts (1) the pattern-appearance motion illusion for steady fixation, (2) an illusion under the real-world situation of saccades across or near the pattern (pattern shift), (3) a relative maximum of illusory motion for the same grey values where it is found psychophysically, and (4) the inverse illusion for certain luminance values. We submit that the model's sparseness of assumptions justifies adding a fifth model to explain this illusion.