This study measures the damages that surface ozone pollution causes within the Chinese agricultural sector under 2014 conditions. It also analyzes the agricultural benefits of ozone reductions. The analysis is done using a partial equilibrium model of China's agricultural sector. Results indicate that there are substantial, spatially differentiated damages that are greatest in ozone-sensitive crop growing areas with higher ozone concentrations. The estimated damage to China's agricultural sector range is between CNY 1.6 trillion and 2.2 trillion, which for comparison is about one fifth of 2014 agricultural revenue. When considering concentration reduction we find a 30% ozone reduction yields CNY 678 billion in sectoral benefits. These benefits largely fall to consumers with producers losing as the production gains lead to lower prices.


The significance of cardiovascular diseases in mortality is indisputable. It is well-established that cardiovascular diseases are more prevalent among individuals with obesity. This study aimed to determine the predictive value of easily accessible hematological and biochemical parameters in assessing cardiovascular risk among obese patients. The study was designed as an observational retrospective. Department of Family Medicine, study was carried out between 25/06/2022 to 30/10/2022. The data of 439 obese patients were analyzed retrospectively. Using the online Heart Score system, the patients were classified into low, medium, high, and very high cardiovascular risk categories. The hemogram and certain biochemistry values of the patients at the time of admission were examined. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted to discriminate cardiovascular risk classes based on laboratory values. Markers with high diagnostic value, including a high area under the curve (AUC) value, sensitivity, and specificity, were presented. Significant differences were observed between the groups in terms of age, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, glucose, HbA1c, hemoglobin, platelet count, neutrophil (NEU) count, and platelet-lymphocyte ratio parameters (P < .05). The white blood cell count and NEU count of patients in the high-risk groups were found to have significantly higher AUC values compared to the moderate-risk group (AUC values of .737 and .779, respectively). The white blood cell and NEU parameters were found to have a positive predictive value in estimating the degree of cardiovascular risk. These parameters can potentially serve as biomarkers in identifying individuals at high risks for cardiovascular diseases.


Summary form only given. Audio signal processing has long been the obvious approach to problems such as microphone array processing, active noise control, or speech enhancement. Yet, it is increasingly being challenged by black-box machine learning approaches based on, e.g., deep neural networks (DNN), which have already achieved superior results on certain tasks. In this talk, I will try to convince that machine learning approaches shouldn't be disregarded, but that black boxes won't solve these problems either. There is hence an opportunity for signal processing researchers to join forces with machine learning researchers and solve these problems together. I will provide examples of this multi-disciplinary approach for audio source separation and robust automatic speech recognition.


A stereoselective synthesis of the BCDE fragment of brevetoxin A has been completed. anti-Glycolate aldol, glycolate alkylation, and ring-closing metathesis reactions were employed as key bond-forming events. A convergent assembly strategy was employed that relied on a Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons union of two complex fragments. Subsequent cyclization and dehydration led to efficient generation of an intermediate endocyclic enol ether, which was advanced to a tetracyclic fragment. [reaction: see text]


We consider the use of multiple antennas at the transmitter and/or the receiver to provide open-loop spatial diversity in a multiuser wireless data network. With channel quality information (CQI) available to the transmitter, and by always scheduling the transmission to the active user having the best channel conditions at the time of scheduling, another form of diversity, termed multiuser diversity, is obtained in a data system. This paper provides an analysis of the interaction between these two forms of diversity. From a network point of view, we prove that the asymptotic sum rate, in the limit of a large number of active homogeneous users and subject to the same average total transmit power, is inversely related to the number of transmit antennas for independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) flat Rayleigh fading channels. In the case of i.i.d. flat Rician fading, the asymptotic sum rate also depends inversely on the number of transmit antennas, but directly on the number of receive antennas. Numerically, we show that the total diversity gain is also constrained by finite CQI quantization and channel fading statistics.


Globally, the empowerment of historically disadvantaged groups, economically, is not uncommon. As such preferential policies geared towards transformation have been a common feature especially towards advancement of historically disadvantaged groups. One such empowerment policy has been that of Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOPs). Globally, employee empowerment schemes are considered to be part of many public and private companies and despite the availability in various forms of employee ownership programs, ESOPs have proven to be met with much success in comparison. ESOPs have been implemented successfully by many international companies in many different sectors. Construction companies, banks, insurance companies, textile manufacturers, architectural firms, health care providers, hotels and resorts and many other industries have successfully employed ESOPs, (Rosen et al 2005). Despite the availability of many empowerment schemes, ESOPs have received the most universal acceptance and support. However, despite their perceived success in terms of acceptance, how ESOPs have fared internationally has been highly dependent on mainly the various company and country circumstances and as such offer varying accounts of success.


Keywords: computer vision ; navigation ; [VRAI] Note: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Reference LSRO2-REPORT-2004-001 Record created on 2005-02-04, modified on 2017-05-10


Annoyance due to environmental odour exposure is in many jurisdictions evaluated by a yes/no decision. Such a binary decision has been typically achieved via odour impact criteria (OIC) and, when applicable, the resultant separation distances between emission sources and residential areas. If the receptors lie inside the required separation distance, odour exposure is characterised with the potential of causing excessive annoyance. The state-of-the-art methodology to determine separation distances is based on two general steps: (i) calculation of the odour exposure (time series of ambient odour concentrations) using dispersion models and (ii) determination of separation distances through the evaluation of this odour exposure by OIC. Regarding meteorological input data, dispersion models need standard meteorological observations and/or atmospheric stability typically on an hourly basis, which requires expertise in this field. In the planning phase, and as a screening tool, an educated guess of the necessary separation distances to avoid annoyance is in some cases sufficient. Therefore, empirical equations (EQs) are in use to substitute the more time-consuming and costly application of dispersion models. Because the separation distance shape often resembles the wind distribution of a site, wind data should be included in such approaches. Otherwise, the resultant separation distance shape is simply given by a circle around the emission source. Here, an outline of selected empirical equations is given, and it is shown that only a few of them properly reflect the meteorological situation of a site. Furthermore, for three case studies, separation distances as calculated from empirical equations were compared against those from Gaussian plume and Lagrangian particle dispersion models. Overall, our results suggest that some empirical equations reach their limitation in the sense that they are not successful in capturing the inherent complexity of dispersion models. However, empirical equations, developed for Germany and Austria, have the potential to deliver reasonable results, especially if used within the conditions for which they were designed. The main advantage of empirical equations lies in the simplification of the meteorological input data and their use in a fast and straightforward approach.


This experiment was conducted to investigate the endophytic bacterium Herbaspirillum spp effect on seed germination and sprout growth of tartary buckwheat. Inoculant concentration (%v/v) and seed soaking time were applied 10, 20 and 40% and 0, 4, 8, 12 hour, respectively. The experiment was carried out in a growth chamber maintained temperature at 20, 25 and 30°C without light for 7 days. Results showed that, 10 to 20% (v/v) inoculant concentration by 4 to 8 h seed soaking time at 20°C temperature increased seed vigor rate and total seed germination rate 80-95% and 90-100%, respectively. On the other and, seed inoculation with Herbaspirillum spp. increased hypocotyl length (13-15 ㎝), root length (8-11 ㎝), total fresh weight (135-296 g) and total dry weight (7-10 g), compared to control. It is indicated that sprouts growth and yield depends on inoculation concentrations, seed soaking time and temperature. Therefore, it would be suggested that seed inoculation with Herbaspirillum spp. at concentration of 10 to 20% (v/v), soaking time 4 to 8 h and temperature 20°C promote seed germinations and sprout growth rate of tartary buckwheat.


The effects of different nutrient sources (nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon) on the growth status and glycogen reserves in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 and Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 were studied. The two cyanobacteria grew well on suitable nutrient sources, for example, nitrate (sodium nitrate), phosphate (two potassium hydrogen phosphate) or inorganic (sodium carbonate, dicarbonate) and organic (sodium acetate, glucose) carbon. On the contrary, the growth rate decreased markedly when grown on ill-suited nutrient sources, for example, ammonium (ammonium chloride), organic nitrogen (urea), pyrophosphate (sodium pyrophosphate) and organophosphate (D-Glucose,6(dihydrogen phosphate) sodium salt (1:2), adenosine-triphosphate). The yield of phycocyanin and chlorophyll a was higher when grown on suitable than ill-suited nutrient sources, whereas, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) were higher on ill-suited than suitable nutrient sources, and the glycogen reserves presented the same variation tendences as peroxidase. These results indicate that the nutrient sources used in this study were involved in regulation of (1) the contents of pigments and glycogen, (2) energy and electron transport efficiencies of photosynthesis, and (3) activity level of SOD and POD in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and Anabaena sp. PCC 7120.


Despite technological advances in renal replacement therapy, the preservation of health and quality of life for individuals on dialysis still remains a challenge. The high morbidity and mortality in dialysis warrant further research and insight into the clinical domains of the technique and practice of this therapy. In the last 20 years, the focus of development in the field of hemodialysis (HD) has centered around adequate removal of urea and other associated toxins. High-dose HD offers an opportunity to improve mortality, morbidity, and quality of life of patients with end-stage kidney disease. However, the uptake of this modality is low, and the risk associated with the therapy is not fully understood. Recent studies have highlighted the evidence base and improved our understanding of this technique of dialysis. This article provides a review of high-dose and home HD, its clinical impact on patient outcome, and the controversies that exist.


BACKGROUND
 The impact of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes B and C on the clinical, immunologic, and virologic outcomes of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with chronic HBV infection remains largely unknown.

METHODS
 Between January 1997 and December 2008, we enrolled 96 HIV-infected patients with HBV genotype B coinfection and 49 with genotype C coinfection; the patients were followed prospectively until December 2010. Clinical and immunologic outcomes in the context of HBV genotypes as well as the emergence of HBV DNA mutations conferring lamivudine resistance (rtM204I/V) were determined.

RESULTS
 The median duration of lamivudine-containing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was 2.80 years (interquartile range, 1.73-5.92 years). The 2 groups of HIV-infected patients were comparable in age, sex, baseline HIV profiles, and liver function profiles. Compared with HIV-infected patients with HBV genotype C coinfection, those with genotype B coinfection had a higher risk of hepatitis flares (43.8% vs 26.5%; P = .04), liver disease-related death (9.4% vs 0%; P = .03), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion (61.5% vs 25.0%, P = .03), and development of lamivudine resistance (31.3% vs 12.2%; P < .0001). No differences were observed between the 2 groups in terms of the development of hyperbilirubinemia, cirrhosis, or virologic and immunologic responses to HAART.

CONCLUSIONS
 Although therapeutic responses to long-term lamivudine-containing HAART were comparable between HIV-infected patients with HBV genotypes B and C coinfection, patients with genotype B coinfection were more likely to experience acute exacerbations of hepatitis, HBeAg seroconversion, lamivudine resistance, and liver disease-related death than those with genotype C coinfection.


Summary Crustal-scale thrusts of the western Alps are characterized by W to WNW directed movements of several hundreds of kilometres. In the internal zones, prominent lineations mark these slip directions. In the central Alps, coeval right-lateral strike slip (Insubric fault) and N-NNW vergent thrusting (Helvetic and more external thrusts) occurred during the upper Tertiary, on crustal-scale faults. It is proposed that WNW directed convergence between NW Apulia and Europe was accommodated mainly by the combination of movements on three first-order faults: in the central Alps, this oblique convergence is partitioned in two components (thrust and strike slip) at a deep fault bifurcation; in the western Alps, it accounts for the observed thrusts. This direction of convergence in the western and central Alps is markedly different from the coeval relative motion of Africa and Europe (N to NNW directed convergence). It implies either specific movements of Apulia with respect to Africa, or the lateral extrusion of NW Apulia during the indentation of the African promontory during the collision.


Building on results of Haagerup and Schultz, we decompose an arbitrary operator in a diffuse, finite von Neumann algebra into the sum of a normal operator and an s.o.t.-quasinilpotent operator. We also prove an analogue of Weyl's inequality relating eigenvalues and singular values for operators in a diffuse, finite von Neumann algebra.


Background: Nutritional changes during and after tuberculosis (TB) treatment have not been well described. Aim: Determine the mean change in body mass index (BMI), fat mass (FM) and fat free mass (FFM) as measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) at baseline and after 2months of TB treatment. Methods: A prospective study was performed in a teaching hospital of Tunis. Patients followed up for pulmonary TB were included. At radiographs, lung disease extent was graded according to an international classification of TB. BMI and height-normalized indices of FFM and FM as measured by BIA (SC-240MA classIII, Tanita coporation, Tokyo, Japan) were assessed at baseline and after 2 months of standard TB treatment. Patients were studied in the morning after an overnight fast. Patients lost to follow up were excluded. Results: Of the 58 participants who were available, 9 were excluded due to lack of anthropometric follow-up data. Data about 49 participants were analyzed (16women and 33men). The mean age was 41.9±14.5years. At baseline, 15patients had an advanced lung disease. The mean BMI was 19.5±9.1 Kg/m2. Initial values of FFM and FM were respectively 47.4±9.2Kg and 9.9±8.5Kg. At 2 months of TB treatment, there was a significant improve in BMI, FFM and FM. The improvement was higher in FFM (p 0.05). Improvement in all parameters was significantly lower in patients with initially advanced lung disease (p=0.03). Conclusion: During the intensive phase of TB treatment patients with active pulmonary TB have significantly improved weight, FFM and FM. The improvement seems to be lower in men with advanced lung disease.


Constructive learning algorithms o er an approach for incremental construction of potentially near-minimal neural network architectures for pattern classi cation tasks. Such algorithms help overcome the need for ad-hoc and often inappropriate choice of network topology in the use of algorithms that search for a suitable weight setting in an otherwise a-priori xed network architecture. Several such algorithms proposed in the literature have been shown to converge to zero classi cation errors (under certain assumptions) on a nite, non-contradictory training set in a 2-category classi cation problem. This paper explores multi-category extensions of several constructive neural network learning algorithms for pattern classi cation. In each case, we establish the convergence to zero classi cation errors on a multicategory classi cation task (under certain assumptions). Results of experiments with non linearly separable multi-category data sets demonstrate the feasibility of this approach to multi-category pattern classi cation and also suggest several interesting directions for future research. This research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation grant IRI-9409580 to Vasant Honavar.


Historically, the mortality of early‐life stages of marine fishes was supposed to be mostly caused by poor feeding during a critical period and aberrant drifting away from favorable recruitment areas. While fish larvae may display remarkable swimming abilities, Hjort's aberrant drift hypothesis has rarely been tested. In this study, we measured critical swimming speed (Ucrit) of settlement‐stage larvae of six coastal, warm temperate Mediterranean fish species, for which no data were previously available (Sparidae: Boops boops, Diplodus annularis, Spicara smaris, Spondyliosoma cantharus; Pomacentridae: Chromis chromis; Mugilidae sp.). Their swimming speeds were comparable with those of other temperate species, but also with the speeds of tropical species, which are considered as very fast swimmers. Mugilidae were the fastest (29.2 cm s−1), followed by Pomacentridae (22.8 cm s−1) and Sparidae (11.6 cm s−1). Most larvae swam in an inertial regime (Reynolds number > 1000). Those swimming speeds were then implemented in a Lagrangian model of the competency period of these species, set in the same area (the Ligurian Sea) and at the same time (June 2014) as the observations. In this modeling experiment, directional swimming strongly increased the proportion of successful settlers, independent of mesoscale hydrological structures. Fish larvae could settle on the coast from as far as tens of kilometers offshore, in just 4 d. These findings suggest that aberrant drift is unlikely to occur for strong swimming temperate larvae and show that larval behavior should be considered on equal footing with ocean currents when assessing larval fish dispersal.


PURPOSE/METHODS
We present two cases of Descemet's membrane detachment, the first one after extracapsular cataract extraction with scleral tunnel incision and the other after clear corneal incision used for phacoemulsification cataract extraction. These two cases were treated with intracameral injection of 20% sulfur hexafluoride gas (SF(6)).

RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS
Both cases responded satisfactorily to treatment. After four months of follow-up, the corneas remain clear with a visual acuity of 0.9 and 0.8, respectively. The relative facility of the 20% sulfur hexafluoride gas (SF(6)) technique, its safety, and good prognosis, makes it the treatment of choice in this disease.


The authors contend that the research on sex at work reveals an interesting paradox. At work, women are perceived as using sex to their advantage, yet in practice, they are hurt by sex at work. On the other hand, men who are perceived as concerned with business display more sexual behavior than women at work and may benefit from it. This paradox contains three components: actual behavior, the impacts of sex at work, and beliefs and stereotypes concerning women and men. This paper examines the research relevant to this paradox. It begins by tracing the development of research on sexual behavior in the workplace, from its early emphasis on defining and documenting sexual harassment through other findings concerning sexual nonharassment. In order to understand sex at work, several frameworks or theories are discussed, with special emphasis on the concept of sex-role spillover. The sex-roll spillover perspective is then used to tie together the three components of the paradox: behavior, impacts, and beliefs.


New formaldehyde-free and isocyanate-free bioplastics and biofoams were prepared by reacting ovoalbumin and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) at a moderate temperature. Analysis by C-13 NMR revealed a reaction between dimethyl carbonate and the amino and/or hydroxyl groups of the side chain of amino acids. The densities were between 0.6 and 1.1 g/cm(3) for the obtained plastics. Thermal and mechanical resistances peaked at 175 degrees C and 7.7 MPa, respectively. The Brinell hardness was 2. The prepared foam exhibited a density of 0.1 g/cm(3) and an open cell structure. Impregnation with hexamethylene diamine (DAH) allowed for the preparation of materials with elastic mechanical behavior through the reaction of DAH and DMC. The new plastics and foams derived from ovoalbumin protein were markedly more environmentally friendly.


We all suffer from the lack of an established, unified terminology and of a general agreement on the basic categories in the discipline concerned with regional questions (Regional Science?). The author puts forward an interpretation of the concept development hoping to contribute to the elucidation of some problems in this field. He introduces the concept of regional development intuitively, with the help of some general principles, defining it as a policy and its realizing mechanism which is meant to increase efficiency in the process of social reproduction (production — distribution — exchange — consumption) by influencing the spatial existence of society. In a narrow meaning this includes the theoretical (ideological) and acitivity system which — in full knowledge of spatial relationships — to change the existing spatial conditions for presumed or real benefits. In a broader meaning regional development also includes the means used for realizing this policy and the objects it creates since the latter cause irreversible changes in space for a shorter or longer period of time. Consciousness is a specific difference in such a way that it counts not only on accidental and spontaneous phenomena but makes use of the already functioning automatisms as well. After these considerations the author places the concept of regional development in the system of cognate ideas, distinguishing it from the development of settlement networks and larger areas, or, better to say, unites them all in the same concept. The content of the concept is detailed in a description of the general tasks, main objectives, agents and means of regional development. In conclusion the author mentions some issues presumed to gain importance in the (near) future which, at the same time, represent important tasks for scientific research. By striving to extend the concept of regional development beyond the generally accepted scope the author intends to provide a broader basis for the analysis of regional political issues. His views can be questioned or accepted — in either way reactions can contribute to better theoretical or practical results.


An ad hoc wireless network provides infrastructureless data networking, where users have network services while they are continually moving. Instructureless, and mobility are properties of the ad hoc wireless networks. Furthermore, each move of the mobile host affects the change of network topology, and affects the change of the transmission route. There are numerous routing protocols developed for ad hoc wireless networks, and they may be generally categorized as table-driven or source-initiated on-demand. However, the properties of the ad hoc wireless networks still affect those routing algorithms. The ad hoc backup node setup routing protocol (ABRP) is proposed to lead us pay move attention on the intrinsic properties of the ad hoc wireless networks. It provides a more complete consideration of the routing quality. According to the proposed ABRP, the destination can receive some more routes in a period of time. Those routes from the source node to the destination node may give us ways to analyze and find some good backup routes to get more help for reconnection when a link failure occurs. The backup route information can be saved in a specific on-the-route node. The enables the backup routes to be rapidly found and traced back to these nodes when there are situations such as disconnection or connection loss. Moreover, the ABRP provides a backup node mechanism to reconnect maintenance quickly, so meeting the property of ad hoc wireless networks.


The purpose of this study is to describe school and community relationship planning, to find out the implementation of school and community relations, and to find out the principal to evaluate the implementation of school and community relations. This research uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive method. The subjects of the study are the principal, the vice principal of the public relations department, and the teacher. The data collection techniques used are observation, interviews, and documentation. The data analysis technique used in this study is the triangulation technique. After conducting research, it can be concluded that the relationship between the school and the community is going well, because the school has planned, implemented and evaluated the program of public relations activities. The techniques used in carrying out school relations with the community at SMK Muhammdiyah Delanggu include group face-to-face meeting techniques, individual face-to-face meeting techniques and publication techniques. The results of the study show that the management of school and community relations includes planning, implementation and evaluation. Schools and communities are two inseparable spheres. School as a place of learning and community is a place to apply and reap learning results. Therefore, the relationship between school and society is a form of external communication that is carried out on the basis of responsibility and purpose.


What barriers do Native American and Alaskan Native students face in higher education? How are these barriers to student success being addressed theoretically and practically? To engage these questions, this special issue of the American Indian Culture and Research Journal seeks to open this dialogue and create a compilation that professors and service providers may use to enhance American Indian studies and other academic curricula. Contributors to this special issue explore a broad range of educational, cultural competence, mental health, advocacy, and efficacy concerns.


In this paper, we put forward novel theories and their empirical formulae for pixel distribution and plane-light-path design in optical fibre process tomography (OFPT), by which the novel OFPT structure parameters can be easily calculated according to the engineering requirements. The designed OFPT system can be used in the circular cross-section of cylindrical space in industry process monitoring and control to measure the medium distribution and contents, such as measurements for two-phase flows.


This paper investigates the performance of the zero-forcing (ZF) and minimum mean-square error (MMSE) equalizers in MIMO frequency selective channels under zero-padding (ZP) transmission. It was previously known that the SISO zero-forcing ZP receiver achieves full diversity; this paper shows that the MIMO version of this receiver is suboptimal in diversity. The MMSE ZP is also investigated, showing that it exhibits an intricate error behavior that depends not only on channel memory and antenna configuration, but also on transmission rate. This behavior is fully characterized in closed form, revealing that the MMSE ZP receiver attains the (optimal) diversity of a ML receiver but only at small spectral efficiencies. Thus MMSE ZP works better than ZF ZP, but not quite as well as ML. To further improve the performance, lattice-reduction aided equalization in the frequency-selective channel is investigated. It is shown that lattice-reduction-aided zero forcing equalizer as well as MMSE equalizer achieve the maximum spatial and temporal diversity at all spectral efficiencies.


Developing software by teams which adopted the agile development methodology such as Scrum seems totally natural in industry. On the other hand, students belonging to graduate schools of information science who have some experience on the agile team software development are rare. In the initial education on the Scrum, there exists some challenges. The first one is a concept of self-organization. In the Scrum project, members of the team determine how best to accomplish the tasks by themselves. However, it is challenging for students with less experience on team software development to cultivate the self-organizing team by themselves. The 2nd one is inequality on task assignment. In the Scrum project, each member pulls tasks to perform, and do not wait to be assigned by Project Manager. The assignment behavior may cause inequality on task assignment. As a result, such inequality may also cause inequality on learning opportunities to acquire skills and knowledge on the process and the product. In this paper, we propose quantitative assessment methods for the Scrum project with using TiDD(Ticket Driven Development) for the initial education on the Scrum framework and web application production. We report on our basic PBL(Project-Based Learning) course which involved 49 students. The use of quantitative criteria enabled students and teachers to assess the Scrum projects in the viewpoints of quality, assignment, and delivery of projects.


This report makes a call for why the digital economy matters for developing countries and what they need to consider when developing a national digital strategy. The world is undergoing a digital revolution with significant implications for global economies and livelihoods. This revolution is predicated on the ever-increasing pace of technological innovation and diffusion. Digital technologies and their attendant applications are reshaping whole domains of human activity, and are spreading across the world faster than previous waves of technological innovation. The digital revolution is thus too important for any country to overlook. As outlined in Section II, the digital economy can be harnessed for inclusive and sustainable growth: digital technologies make life easier for citizens and consumers, raise the productivity of workers and firms, and help governments extend key services to those who need them most. However, this does not just happen randomly: governments must engage in strategic planning to maximise the development impact of digitalisation and ensure that its benefits are evenly distributed. Using the experience of leading economies in the digital space, Section III looks at some of the broad and generic enabling factors that developing countries can develop and use as foundations for their digital economies. The concluding section, Section IV, examines three key lessons developing countries can learn from other countries' digital experiences. It provides some guiding principles around thinking about how to craft a national digital strategy that builds on top of the enablers of the digital economy.


The concept of operational performance metrics and associated measurement issues is explored for deployed robotic systems. The focus is on performance of mobility and robotic arm autonomy exercised on the NASA Mars Exploration Rovers surface mission. This planetary rover mission has been underway for nearly 3 years since January 2004 using two rovers performing separate missions. The autonomy functions of surface navigation, short‐distance approach to surface science targets, and robotic placement of armmounted instruments on science targets are considered. Operational metrics that measure performance of these functions relative to system requirements are advocated. Specific metrics are defined and computed using telemetry from the rovers' multiyear operations on Mars and applied to rate performance during their respective missions. An existing methodology is applied to compute metrics with respect to required performance and to aggregate multiple metrics into a composite performance score for each rover. The formulation is augmented to accommodate importance weights that add flexibility in use of the metrics by different potential endusers, e.g., sponsors, program managers, systems engineers, and technologists. A brief example illustrates the application and effect of importance weights on overall rover performance scores. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Single barrier magnetic-tunnel-junctions (MTJs) with the layer structure of Ta(5)/Cu(30)/Ta(5)/Ni79Fe21(5)/Ir-22 Mn-78(12)/Co60Fe20B20(4)/Al(0.8)-oxide/Co60Fe20B20(4)/Cu(30)/Ta(5) [thickness unit: nm] using the amorphous Co60Fe20B20 alloy as free and pinned layers were micro-fabricated. The experimental investigations showed that the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio and the resistance decrease with increasing dc bias voltage from 0 to 500 mV or with increasing temperature from 4.2 K to RT. A high TMR ratio of 86.2% at 4.2 K, which corresponds to the high spin polarization Of Co60Fe20B20, 55%, was observed in the MTJs after annealing at 270D C for 1 h. High TMR ratio of 53.1%, low junction resistance-area product RS of 3.56 kU/m m(2), small coercivity H-C of L 4 Oe, and relatively large bias-voltage-at-half-maximum TMR with the value V-1/2 of greater than 570 mV at RT have been achieved in such Co-Fe-B MTJs.


The seed of Nigella sativa commonly called 'black seed' has been used in different civilizations for centuries to treat various animal and human diseases. Thymoquinone is chemically 2-methyl-5-isopropyl-1, 4-benzoquinone monoterpene molecule and it is the main constituent in black seeds responsible for most of the pharmacological characteristics. The current review aims to discuss the effect of thymoquinone based on experimental evidence in reducing the risk of certain chronic issues such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, hepatopathy, hypertension, and obesity in the shadow of available literature. However, clinical trials are recommended to prove the studied effects of thymoquinone in humans.


Lactobacillus rhamnosus B10 (L. rhamnosus B10) isolated from the baby feces was given to an alcohol mice model, aiming to investigate the effects of L. rhamnosus B10 on alcoholic liver injury by regulating intestinal microbiota. C57BL/6N mice were fed with liquid diet Lieber-DeCarli with or without 5% (v/v) ethanol for 8 weeks, and treated with L. rhamnosus B10 at the last 2 weeks. The results showed that L. rhamnosus B10 decreased the serum total cholesterol (1.48 mmol/L), triglycerides (0.97 mmol/L), alanine aminotransferase (26.4 U/L), aspartate aminotransferase (14.2 U/L), lipopolysaccharide (0.23 EU/mL), and tumor necrosis factor-α (138 pg/mL). In addition, L. rhamnosus B10 also reduced the liver triglycerides (1.02 mmol/g prot), alanine aminotransferase (17.8 mmol/g prot) and aspartate aminotransferase (12.5 mmol/g prot) in alcohol mice, thereby ameliorating alcohol-induced liver injury. The changes of intestinal microbiota composition on class, family and genus level in cecum were analyzed. The intestinal symbiotic abundance of Firmicutes was elevated while gram-negative bacteria Proteobacteria and Deferribacteres was decreased in alcohol mice treated with L. rhamnosus B10 for 2 weeks. In summary, this study provided evidence for the therapeutic effects of probiotics on alcoholic liver injury by regulating intestinal flora.


This work describes two methods to fit the inelastic neutron-scattering spectrum S(q, ω) with wavevector q and frequency ω. The common and well-established method extracts the experimental spin-wave branches ω n (q) from the measured spectra S(q, ω) and then minimizes the difference between the observed and predicted frequencies. When n branches of frequencies are predicted but the measured frequencies overlap to produce only m < n branches, the weighted average of the predicted frequencies must be compared to the observed frequencies. A penalty is then exacted when the width of the predicted frequencies exceeds the width of the observed frequencies. The second method directly compares the measured and predicted intensities S(q, ω) over a grid {q i , ω j } in wavevector and frequency space. After subtracting background noise from the observed intensities, the theoretical intensities are scaled by a simple wavevector-dependent function that reflects the instrumental resolution. The advantages and disadvantages of each approach are demonstrated by studying the open honeycomb material Tb2Ir3Ga9.


This article is the first part of a research on interpreting students' and teachers' discourse in science classes. Its aim is to contribute to the understanding of the construction of knowledge that emerges through verbal messages between teacher and student in interaction. A four-level analisis is developed. Firstly the observable class features are described; secondly different categories of teacher and student interventions are presented. At the third level, inferences on didactical aspects are drawn from the previous levels. At the fourth level the sequence of the subject-matter organization in studied for each curriculum item. Finally the communication problem from a didactical point of view is discussed.


To determine the viability of the immunodeficiency virus in the laser plume after carbon dioxide (CO2) laser irradiation, multiple samples of culture medium containing concentrated simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVMAC at 1000 TCID50 cultured from HUT 78 cells) were irradiated with a continuous-wave CO2 laser at variable irradiances (from 400 W/cm2 for 5 seconds to 1600 W/cm2 for 300 seconds). The resultant plume was collected and cultured for the presence of SIV. A positive control consisted of handling an infected specimen identically to the test specimens, with the exception of CO2 laser irradiation. All test cultures remained negative over an 8 week incubation period, while the control was positive for viable SIV within 7 days. These results suggest that SIV is not viable in the laser plume after CO2 laser irradiation. Further investigation is necessary before extrapolating these results to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Treatment with poxvirus-based active immunotherapies shows evidence of robust immune responses against a variety of tumor-associated antigens in preclinical and clinical studies. Poxvirus-based immunotherapies in development include PSA-targeted PROSTVAC, now in Phase 3 clinical development; CV-301 (targeting CEA and MUC-1); as well as MVA-BN-HER2 and MVA-BN-Brachyury (targeting HER-2 and the transcription factor Brachyury, respectively). Evidence of robust and productive anti-tumor efficacy in preclinical models was accompanied by treatment-emergent infiltration of tumors by activated cytotoxic CD8 T cells producing high amounts of IFNγ.

Treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors such as anti-PD-1 antibodies is showing significant clinical benefit by re-activating dormant tumor-specific T cells. Furthermore, preclinical studies have shown further synergistic efficacy by combining PD-1 blockade with inhibition of LAG-3, which acts independently of PD-1 to modulate T cell function. We hypothesized that poxvirus-based active immunotherapy may provide even greater improvements to patient outcome when used in combination with immune checkpoint blockade, by inducing new productive tumor-specific responses. This may be especially important in patients lacking an endogenous T cell response against their tumors.

In therapeutic CT26-HER2 solid and metastatic tumor models, mice were administered MVA-BN-HER2 immunotherapy alone or in combination with anti-PD-1 and/or anti-LAG-3 antibodies. Synergistic benefit for anti-tumor efficacy was observed when combining MVA-BN-HER2 immunotherapy with anti-PD-1 alone, while combination with anti-LAG-3 alone had little effect. Notably, a further enhancement occurred when MVA-BN-HER2 immunotherapy was combined with PD-1 and LAG-3 blockade as shown by complete tumor regression in 20/20 mice. Subsequent rejection of HER-2 negative tumors 6 months after the original challenge revealed that immune responses were durable and included antigen spread to additional tumor antigens.

Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in untreated tumors were PD-1hi and LAG-3+, a more exhausted phenotype. Poxvirus-based immunotherapy led to the induction of activated TILs characterized by low to mid-levels of PD-1 expression. While PD-1 blockade prevented binding to PD-L1 it also caused an increase in LAG-3 expression on T cells. Together these data provide further rationale for why combination therapy of poxvirus-based immunotherapy with inhibition of PD-1 plus LAG-3 resulted in synergistic efficacy in preclinical tumor models.

Overall these data demonstrate that combining complementary immune-based therapies such as poxvirus-based active immunotherapy and PD-1 plus LAG-3 immune checkpoint blockade result in synergistic anti-tumor efficacy.

Citation Format: Barbara Sennino, Susan P. Foy, Ryan B. Rountree, Tracy dela Cruz, Evan J. Gordon, Veronica Xavier, Felicia Kemp, Alex Franzusoff, James Breitmeyer, Stefanie J. Mandl. Poxvirus-based active immunotherapy synergizes with PD-1 plus LAG-3 immune checkpoint inhibition to enhance antitumor efficacy in preclinical models. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-234. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-LB-234


The Preisach (1935) model has been discussed and extended in papers concerned with ferromagnetic phenomena. More recently, there is a growing interest in the Preisach model as an object of mathematical study. The author summarizes some of these results. Continuity properties and the inverse operator are discussed, and extensions to the so-called moving model are presented. >


The island of Syros, Greece is part of the Attic-Cycladic blueschist belt, formed during Mesozoic Eurasia-Africa subduction. The rocks of Syros can be broadly divided into three tectono-stratigraphic units: (I) metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks (marble-schist sequence), (II) remnants of oceanic crust with fault-bounded packages of blueschist/eclogite-facies mafic rocks and serpentinite (mafic-ultramafic rocks) and (III) the Vari gneiss, which is a tectonic klippe. Low-temperature, high-pressure assemblages are found on several islands in the Cyclades. The best preserved of these rocks are on Syros and Sifnos islands. Mineral compositions and peak metamorphic assemblages are similar on both islands. Both islands are considered to share similar P-T histories with highest-pressure mineral assemblages reflecting conditions of at least 15 kbar and about 500°C.


By studying treatment contrasts and ANOVA models, we propose a generalized minimum aberration criterion for comparing asymmetrical fractional factorial designs. The criterion is independent of the choice of treatment contrasts and thus model-free. It works for symmetrical and asymmetrical designs, regular and nonregular designs. In particular, it reduces to the minimum aberration criterion for regular designs and the minimum G 2 -aberration criterion for two-level nonregular designs. In addition, by exploring the connection between factorial design theory and coding theory, we develop a complementary design theory for general symmetrical designs, which covers many existing results as special cases.


Abstract The paper proposes control schemes for a multi-quadrotor system flying in formation. The underactuated quadrotor model is highly nonlinear. The control objective is two-fold: to maintain the formation structure in flight along a geometric path and to follow a timing law that dominates the rate of advancement of the group and the arrival times to an assigned site. The paper suggests control strategies for a string-like formation (where all vehicles involved are linked by a virtual thread) and for a rigid formation. The concepts of flat system and virtual formation play essential roles in the current approach. We assume that whenever needed free flow of accurate information between the group members is available. The paper is concentrated on the low level relevant control issues. The leading vehicle governs the overall group motion. However, the control scheme allows formation splitting and merging (assuming the relevant data are available by communication/sensing means) during the group motion. Simulation results conclude the study.


In this paper, a flotation that implementing desliming in anticipation aimed at comprehensively recycling lithium from iron tailings in Kangding, Sichuan is put forward. Component of the iron tailings mainly with mica, limonite and chlorite which can result the serious sliming easily. Spodumene as the only desired mineral, the average grade of iron tailings is 0.76% Li2O. After predesliming process, the combined modifying agent Na2CO3-NaOH is used to inhibit mica, and the Laboratory-made collector QA-7 served as the collector to recycling spodumene. The results indicated that, via the Design-expert8.0 software to optimize the dosage of the regulators, the optimal dosage of Na2CO3-NaOH and QA-7 are selected as 1700g/t and 800 g/t, respectively. Meanwhile, via the predesliming-one roughing-five cleaning-two scavenging and middlings back to the flowsheet in turn process, the Li2O concentrate grade reached 5.71% with a recovery of 75.78% after a closed circuit experiment. In addition to realizing comprehensive utilization of iron tailings, the treatment is also a technical reference for handling the similar secondary resource.


Proposed alternatives to GDP as a measure of social welfare or human progress are briefly evaluated. Four main categories are considered: ISEW and GPI based on corrections of GDP, sustainable or green(ed) GDP, genuine savings or investments and composite indexes. All these alternatives turn out to suffer from various shortcomings. Nevertheless, several of them represent a considerable improvement over GDP information in approximating social welfare. This gives support to the idea that we should not wait to give less importance and attention to GDP (per capita) information in public decision making until a perfect alternative indicator is available.


nomena as the disturbance of sex-ratios in declining populations, when, for example, if there are five males to every female it might cause little harm to take a male, but a disaster to take a female. Finally, it seems time that much conservation legislation was revised to give better protection for potentially rare new forms while they are identified, perhaps by providing general protection for all harmless wildlife. In areas with restrictions on collecting anything at all, revision may also be needed to permit the preservation of natural casualties. W. R. P. Bourne, 3 Contlaw Place, Milltimber, Aberdeen AB1 ODS, Scotland.


This study has been planned as a means of throwing more light on certain psychotherapeutic techniques and methods in order that a more valuable, direct, and understandable method of treating neurotic patients may some day be worked out. The specific problem is to understand and recognize more clearly various actions in Edwards and Kelly's (5) \Role Therapy" to learn what in the therapy benefited the patient, and discover how and to what kind of disorders it might be most effectively applied. This paper is an attempt to help explain, criticize, and continue with the problem, as described and studied by its authors in 1940 . The present study is attempting to prove no hypothesis or theories. Rather it is exploratory in nature. Edwards has already shown that her method was helpful as an economical treatment for some disorders. This investigation is only an application of her methods to cases and, through seeing what they do or do not do, work out certain improvements or modifications whereby her techniques may be refined and validated.


: This article explores the functions of secondary girl characters in English-language American and Canadian girls' Bildungsromane. Previously, we have explored girls' literature as a distinct genre, framed in the theory of genre as social action, and our past scholarship examines the ways in which pre-WWII girls' Bildungsroman stories emphasize girls' eventual integration into their communities. Rather than having adventures, as in boys' coming-of-age texts, we have noted ways in which the main girl characters grow "down" into social restrictions, usually as (potential) wives and mothers. Secondary female characters in these girls' stories are compared, contrasted, or conflated with their close peers as they grow to womanhood, whether they function as the protagonists' "bosom friend," a rival or "frenemy," a sibling, or a classmate. However, without the same coming-of-age expectations of a text's or series' heroine, these secondary female characters often demonstrate alternate paths to womanhood, highlighting diversities or serving as a warning to the girl protagonists on their journeys.


The pattern of renal diseases in children presented to the tertiary pediatric nephrology center at King Abdulaziz University Hospital was reviewed respectively over the period of 8 years (20052012). A total of 850 children were seen. Male: female ratio is 2:1. Median (range) age at presentation was 9 (0.01-16) years. Fifty-five percent were Saudi and 45% were from various nationalities. Underlying etiology was congenital or inherited disease in 55.5% of the children. Glomerular diseases were the most common in acquired causes while obstructive uropathy was the most common in congenital causes. Non-neurogenic neurogenic bladder was the most common underlying diagnosis of children with urological abnormalities (28%), followed by posterior urethral valve (26%). Nephrotic syndrome was the most common of glomerular diseases with 31% with steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome. Renal impairment was present in 315 children with low glomerular filtration rate; chronic kidney disease stage 2 in 88, stage 3 in 84, stage 4 in 35 and stage 5 in 108. In conclusion, childhood congenital or inherited renal diseases were the majority. Non-neurogenic neurogenic bladder was the most common urological abnormality and nephrotic syndrome was the most common glomerular disease with high percentage of steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome. A considerable percentage presented with advanced chronic kidney disease.


Computerized systems are revolutionizing modern ships' bridges and maritime operations. Central components in this are Integrated Navigation Systems (INS) and Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) which provide the maritime navigator with the ship's position and displays it in electronic charts. The integrity of these systems if of great importance for the safety and security of maritime operations, but is a little studied topic. In this paper we investigate the integrity of navigation systems, though a survey of INS's on the market (n=22), a survey of known cyber incidents and attacks targeting the integrity of navigation systems, and a discussion of cryptographical measures to ensure the integrity of navigation data in INS's.


A communication system can often be represented as an interconnection of stations and links. The assumption is that the system is subject to enemy attack aimed at isolating stations from each other. Vulnerability criteria are defined, and asymptotic and recurrence relations are given for computing the vulnerability of several classes of networks with a large number of stations. Based on the analysis procedures, optimum synthesis procedures are suggested. A simple model is analyzed first, then the results of the analysis are extended to include systems with repair, memory, and to those whose interconnections depend on distance. The main objective of this paper is to show under what conditions asymptotic expression for vulnerability can be derived.


As and P desorption processes from (001) oriented GaAs, InAs, GaP, and InP surfaces during metalorganic chemical vapor deposition are investigated by surface photo-absorption. The reflectivity varies from that of a group V stabilized surfaces, formed by the supply of AsH3 or PH3, to that of a group III metal surface during the desorption of group V species in hydrogen carrier gas. This reflectivity change can be described by first-order kinetics. The rate equation including the activation energy can be obrained from the Arrhenius plot of the desorption rate constants. The desorption rate increases in the order of GaP, GaAs, InAs, and InP in the substrate temperature range of 400~640°C. The observed desorption activation energies suggest that the desorption species are As2 for GaAs (450~560°C) and InAs (400~460°C), P2 for GaP (500~620°C) and InP (below 390°C), and P for InP (above 390°C).


We thank Drs Hughes and Rai for their interest in our paper [1]. Hughes and Rai used the Ambu aScope in 20 patients and decided that it would be unethical to test this device formally on patients in a clinical trial. Yet they exposed 20 patients to what they subsequently believed to be a poorly performing, potentially dangerous device; we would suggest that all of the features they describe could have been tested in the laboratory on a manikin. Furthermore, obtaining fully informed consent from patients when a clinician wishes to use a newly introduced device for the first time is difficult, and consequently, the first-time evaluation of a newly introduced device in the clinical environment could itself be considered unethical. The primary outcome measure in our study was time to placing the fibrescope. Tip surface collision count (secondary outcome and not the 'key issue') has been used before as an outcome measure of fibrescope handling skills in patients [2] and manikins [3, 4]. The crossover study design used in our study allowed participants to apply their skills to each of the tested devices in order to determine which one of the two handled better. When each participant's level of skill, as measured by the tip surface collision count, is applied to two devices, then the collision count associated with handling each device is a useful indicator of the comparative ease of handling. Therefore, we still consider it perfectly reasonable to have used tip surface collision count as an outcome measure in our study. We consider that manikin-based research is an absolutely necessary first-line research exercise to obtain initial information on a newly introduced device [5, 6], as this does not expose patients to unnecessary risk. Only when devices have been shown to have a similar performance to other established devices in manikins should they then be used in clinical trials on patients. Of course, researchers should apply the same rigorous research design criteria to manikin-based as they do to patient-based studies. We are aware of at least two examples where manikin-based studies exposed a badly designed and inefficient piece of equipment [7, 8]. The recently published 4th National Audit Project (NAP4) [9] reported significant patient harm from devices for which the potential for harm was established in previously published manikin studies of those devices [7, 10]. When evaluating a new device, manikin studies should come before human ones since they may prevent poorly performing and ⁄ or dangerous devices from being used on patients.


Despite the recent advances in the integration of lexical tone and intonation in phonological theory, all too often the study of intonation and the study of lexical tone are viewed as belonging to different research traditions. This collection strengthens the integrated approach by studying tone and intonation within a common framework, and by tracing their interaction in specific prosodic systems. Some papers deal with the structural properties of lexical tone andintonation, while others focus on the historical development of prosodic systems. The volume also includes a re-evaluation of a classic paper on thetypology of tone rules, and a survey of features signalling question intonation in African languages.


MOTIVATION
Hidden Markov models can efficiently and automatically build statistical representations of related sequences. Unfortunately, training sets are frequently biased toward one subgroup of sequences, leading to an insufficiently general model. This work evaluates sequence weighting methods based on the maximum-discrimination idea.

RESULTS
One good method scales sequence weights by an exponential that ranges between 0.1 for the best scoring sequence and 1.0 for the worst. Experiments with a curated data set show that while training with one or two sequences performed worse than single-sequence Probabilistic Smith-Waterman, training with five or ten sequences reduced errors by 20% and 51%, respectively. This new version of the SAM HMM suite outperforms HMMer (17% reduction over PSW for 10 training sequences), Meta-MEME (28% reduction), and unweighted SAM (31% reduction).

AVAILABILITY
A WWW server, as well as information on obtaining the Sequence Alignment and Modeling (SAM) software suite and additional data from this work, can be found at http://www.cse.ucse. edu/research/compbio/sam.html


As a part of the structural reform of the Chinese government, administrative reform has attracted much attention. Under the guidance of the central government, the key content of the transformation of government functions is adapting to the development of a new economic society over a 10-year period from 2013. Administrative reform is based on the continuous promotion of administrative standardization, normalization, and the abolition of administrative examinations. At the same time, as one system design element, the central government delegates authority to local governments. The State Council recommends that local governments seek models of administrative licensing reform that are suited to local needs through an "encouragement and punishment" mechanism. As a result of our fieldwork research, we have found that the model of reform used for the administrative examination and approval system generally converged into two models, the Concentrated Permit Model and the Lean Government Model. By comparing and analyzing these two models, this paper looks at how to equalize administrative services while maintaining regional diversity through the trial and error of local governments in their efforts to undertake administrative reform in China.


Modern design-for-test (DFT) practices not only simplify test generation but also make it much easier to diagnose problems uncovered in electrical test. In fact, many diagnostics steps can be automated enough to enable batch processing of large quantities of fail data captured during production test. Hidden in these fail data is very valuable information about the product design, manufacturing process, and interactions between the two. The embedded tutorial provides an overview of some of the analysis methods that are being used and/or prototyped in the industry, as well as the underlying data sharing between the design and manufacturing areas that is required for and enabled by the analyses.


Prior to implementing a disease management (DM) strategy, a needs assessment should be conducted to determine whether sufficient opportunity exists for an intervention to be successful in the given population. A central component of this assessment is a sample size analysis to determine whether the population is of sufficient size to allow the expected program effect to achieve statistical significance. This paper discusses the parameters that comprise the generic sample size formula for independent samples and their interrelationships, followed by modifications for the DM setting. In addition, a table is provided with sample size estimates for various effect sizes. Examples are described in detail along with strategies for overcoming common barriers. Ultimately, conducting these calculations up front will help set appropriate expectations about the ability to demonstrate the success of the intervention.


Carbon dioxide is pollutant in natural gas that could reduce the heating value of the natural gas and cause problem in transportation due to corrosive to the pipeline. This study aims to evaluate the effects of feed gas flow rate on CO2 absorption through super hydrophobic hollow fiber contactor. Polyethyleneglycol-300 (PEG-300) solution was used as absorbent in this study, whilst the feed gas used in the experiment was a mixture of 30% CO2 and 70% CH4. There are three super hydrophobic hollow fiber contactors sized 6 cm and 25 cm in diameter and length used in this study, which consists of 1000, 3000 and 5000 fibers, respectively. The super hydrophobic fiber membrane used is polypropylene-based with outer and inner diameter of about 525 and 235 μm, respectively. In the experiments, the feed gas was sent through the shell side of the membrane contactor, whilst the absorbent solution was pumped through the lumen fibers. The experimental results showed that the mass transfer coefficient, flux, absorption efficiency for CO2-N2 system and CO2 loading increased with the feed gas flow rate, but the absorption efficiency for CO2-N2 system decreased. The mass transfer coefficient and the flux, at the same feed gas flow rate, decreased with the number of fibers in the membrane contactor, but the CO2 absorption efficiency and the CO2 loading increased.


Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems may experience significant inter-carrier interference (ICI) when used in time- and frequency-selective, or doubly selective, channels. In such cases, the classical symbol estimation schemes, e.g., minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) and zero-forcing (ZF) estimation, require matrix inversion that is prohibitively complex for large symbol lengths. An analysis of the ICI generation mechanism leads us to propose a novel two-stage equalizer whose complexity (apart from the FFT) is linear in the OFDM symbol length. The first stage applies optimal linear preprocessing to restrict ICI support, and the second stage uses iterative MMSE estimation to estimate finite-alphabet frequency-domain symbols. Simulation results indicate that our equalizer has significant performance and complexity advantages over the classical linear MMSE estimator in doubly selective channels.


. It is shown that any subset E of a plane over a finite field F q , of cardinality | E | > q determines not less than q − 12 distinct areas of triangles, moreover once can find such triangles sharing a common base. It is also shown that if | E | ≥ 64 q log 2 q , then there are more than q 2 distinct areas of triangles sharing a common vertex. The result follows from a finite field version of the Beck theorem for large subsets of F 2 q that we prove. If | E | ≥ 64 q log 2 q , there exists a point z ∈ E , such that there are at least q 4 straight lines incident to z , each supporting the number of points of E other than z in the interval between | E | 2 q and 2 | E | q . This is proved by combining combinatorial and Fourier analytic techniques. We also discuss higher-dimensional implications of these results in light of recent developments.


Observations made with the Heinrich Hertz Telescope of CO millimeter and submillimeter emission toward a sample of 22 proto-planetary nebula (PPN) candidates resulted in detections of 12 sources in the CO J = 2-1 line. Of these 12, seven sources were also detected in the J = 4-3 line. These 4-3 transitions are the highest yet observed in all but one of these PPNs. Statistical equilibrium/radiative transfer models were calculated for the CO emission in the circumstellar envelopes (CSEs), assuming various power-law density distributions. These models were compared with the intensity and profile shape of the observed spectra. For the region of the CSE probed by CO emission, the density laws must be steeper than inverse squared and are consistent with power laws between ρ ∝ r-3 and r-4. These radial density distributions imply that the mass loss was not constant but increased during the last part of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase. Mass-loss rates at the end of the AGB for the three best-constrained sources are found to be 7.7 × 10-5 M☉ yr-1 (IRAS 22272+5435), 2.3 × 10-5 M☉ yr-1 (IRAS 07134+1005), and 1.3 × 10-5 M☉ yr-1 (IRAS 17436+5003) for the case of ρ ∝ r-3. These time-varying mass-loss rates can be integrated to calculate the enclosed envelope masses ejected in the past ~10,000 yr. The ejected envelope masses close to the star lie in the range 0.02-0.30 M☉; these values are consistent with theoretical models, which indicate that <20% of the stellar mass loss occurs in the last 10,000 years of the AGB. These results are in contrast to some recent dust studies based on infrared emission, however, in which much higher envelope masses are determined. The density laws, mass-loss rates, and enclosed envelope masses that we derive furnish important constraints for evolutionary models of stars in the late AGB and during the transition to the planetary nebula phase.


As known, improving launcher thrust is the goal that the mankind is pursuing. There is no saturation phenomenon in the ironless permanent-magnet linear motor (IPMLM); hence, the thrust of IPMLM has a linear relationship with current through windings to provide larger thrust. The topology of IPMLM determines that its thrust fluctuation is smaller than that of an iron permanent-magnet linear motor. In this paper, the model of an air-gap magnetic field is established by the magnetic charge model and the image method for global optimization of IPMLM thrust. All dimensions of IPMLM are described by motor thickness and three ratio coefficients (i.e., α, β , and γ). The cooling power of the cooling system under different temperature gradients, which determines current density of winding, is calculated by Comsol software. Different values of α, β, and γ mean that each dimension of IPMLM is different, the current density in different windings being subject to constraint condition pcu ≤ Q. Therefore, we can obtain the variation of current density with dimension and the variation of thrust with dimension. For obtaining maximum thrust in the same volume, the size ratio among magnetic structure, winding structure, and cooling structure is derived by the thrust analytical expression. The distribution of the IPMLM thermal field is analyzed by a 3-D finite-element method, and this optimization method of IPMLM thrust density is proved by experiment.


In contrast to the current host-centric architecture, Information-Centric Networking (ICN) adopts content naming instead of host address and in-network caching to enhance the content delivery, improve the data distribution, and satisfy users' requirements. As ICN is being incrementally deployed in different real-world scenarios, it will exist with IP-based services in a hybrid network setting. Full deployment of ICN and total replacement of IP protocol is not feasible at the current stage since IP is dominating the Internet. On the other hand, re-designing TCP/IP applications from ICN perspective is a time-consuming task and requires a careful investigation from both business and technical point of view. Thus, the coexistence of ICN and IP is one of the suitable solutions. Towards this end, we propose a simple yet efficient coexistence solution based on Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technology. We define a set of communication regions and control virtual functions. A gateway node is used as an intermediate entity to fetch and deliver content over regions. The simulation results show that the proposed approach is valid and allow content fetching and delivering from different ICN and/to IP regions in an efficient manner.


Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) strategies are crucial for controlling DC–AC power converters. In particular, transformerless inverters require specific PWM techniques to improve efficiency and to deal with leakage ground current issues. In this paper, three hybrid PWM methods are proposed for a DCM-232 three-phase topology. These methods are based on the concepts of carrier-based PWM and space vector modulation. Calculations of time intervals for active and null vectors are performed in a conventional way, and the resulting waveforms are compared with a carrier signal. The digital signals obtained are processed using Boolean functions, generating ten signals to control the DCM-232 three-phase inverter. The performance of the three proposed PWM methods is evaluated considering the reduction in leakage ground current and efficiency. The proposed modulation techniques have relevant performances complying with international standards, which make them suitable for transformerless three-phase photovoltaic (PV) inverter markets. To validate the proposed hybrid PWM strategies, numerical simulations and experimental tests were performed.


This paper presents a binary feedback flow control scheme which uses the gradient of the system performance function to generate feedback from the network to the data sources. The setting of the single bit congestion indication communicated back to the users is based upon the sign of the gradient of the system performance function. The proposed scheme uses a simple gradient optimization method and a neural model of the system dynamics to determine the gradient of the performance function. Simulation results are presented to compare the performance of the proposed scheme to the conventional queue thresholding approach.


Although infection with SARS-CoV-2 appears to be less dangerous for children and adolescents, research indicates that the measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have had and continue to have negative effects on children's and adolescents' mental health and physical activity (PA). Due to the different health policies, country-specific studies as well as studies in different phases of the pandemic are important to obtain a differentiated picture of the effects of the pandemic. This study set out to investigate children's and adolescents' PA, stress, and well-being as well as the associations between these two variables during a phase of a gradual decline in measure to contain the pandemic in Germany. For this purpose, 1293 children and adolescents in a rural area of a federal state in Germany were investigated. The results indicated that children and adolescents felt sadder and less well during this period than children and adolescents before the pandemic. Results also revealed that they were more physically active than children and adolescents before the pandemic as well as in the second lockdown but less active than in the first lockdown. Both well-being and sadness were positively associated with the PA. The study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the situation of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.


There is a growing need for the use of active systems, systems that act automatically based on events. In many cases, providing such active functionality requires materializing (inferring) the occurrence of relevant events. A widespread paradigm for enabling such materialization is Complex Event Processing (CEP), a rule based paradigm, which currently relies on domain experts to fully define the relevant rules. These experts need to provide the set of basic events which serves as input to the rule, their inter-relationships, and the parameters of the events for determining a new event materialization. While it is reasonable to expect that domain experts will be able to provide a partial rules specification, providing all the required details is a hard task, even for domain experts. Moreover, in many active systems, rules may change over time, due to the dynamic nature of the domain. Such changes complicate even further the specification task, as the expert must constantly update the rules. As a result, we seek additional support to the definition of rules, beyond expert opinion. This work presents a mechanism for automating both the initial definition of rules and the update of rules over time. This mechanism combines partial information provided by the domain expert with machine learning techniques, and is aimed at improving the accuracy of event specification and materialization. The proposed mechanism consists of two main repetitive stages, namely rule parameter prediction and rule parameter correction. The former is performed by updating the parameters using an available expert knowledge regarding the future changes of parameters. The latter stage utilizes expert feedback regarding the actual past occurrence of events and the events materialized by the CEP framework to tune rule parameters. We also include possible implementations for both stages, based on a statistical estimator and evaluate our outcome using a case study from the intrusion detection domain.


The combined use of immunotherapy and radiation therapy is emerging as a potentially effective treatment for patients with immunogenic tumors such as melanoma; however, evidence for long-term treatment outcomes is lacking. Herein, we summarize our previously described case study of a patient with metastatic melanoma treated with two cycles of ipilimumab, followed by stereotactic body radiotherapy to two of seven liver metastases, with two additional cycles of ipilimumab. In the longest follow-up to date, we report a successful treatment outcome at 6.5 years. Our patient remains in complete remission, with no evidence of disease or recurrence 6.5 years after treatment. He continues to manage chronic hypophysitis developed secondary to immunotherapy and has developed osteopenia from prolonged systemic glucocorticoid use. The use of radiotherapy in combination with targeted immune therapy appears to be an effective treatment strategy, with long-lasting efficacy.


The research work described in this thesis deals with studying the ultimate resolution capabilities of electron and ion beam lithography (EBL and IBL respectively) with a focus on resist and exposure processes. The aim of this research was to enlarge knowledge and improve methods on the formation of ultra-high resolution structures. Research sub-projects were defined to focus on specific aspects of ultra-high resolution lithography. The results of these sub-projects form the basis of this thesis.

After a short introduction to the principles of lithography, the key points to high resolution technology and the scope of the thesis (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 summarizes the most outstanding and successful attempts performed so far by researchers in the field to improve parameters influencing the lithographic process to achieve formation of ultimately small features at the highest density. The purpose of Chapter 2 is to give reader an understanding of complexity of the lithography process and to give insight into variable ways how to optimize. Therefore the emphasis is given to the experimental results on optimization of each lithography step. First, results on different methods of beam quantification and optimization of crucial parameters in the exposure system are presented. Next, the various tricks to optimise the lithographic process during resist treatments and post-exposure steps as well as during the most important steps – exposure, development and drying are discussed. The last part of this chapter focuses on experimental results of exposure of inorganic resist materials and exposure using ultra thin resist layers as exponents of ultimate resolution.

The thesis research started with establishing a quantitative picture of the high resolution electron beam exposure process in ultra thin hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) resist layers. These results are presented in Chapter 3. Three important contributions to quantitative electron beam patterning in the 2-10 nm regime are considered. First of all, electron beam measurements with an advanced knife-edge structure described in this chapter pointed to a minimum e-beam diameter of approximately ~3.9 nm in our lithography system, to be compared with the theoretical estimate of 3 nm. Then, it was demonstrated that adjustment of the beam focus by erroneous beam optimisation due to aging in the marker performance accounts for a broadening of smallest features up to about 3 nm. Additionally the linewidth broadening of about 13 nm in comparing 'thin' (5 nm) and 'thick' (50 nm) resist layers is attributed to a different density in the secondary electron (SE) exposure of the resist. The combined results provided a quantitative picture of limiting factors for the achievement of ultimate resolution.

In chapter 4 the impact of resist thickness on the resolution performance of HSQ electron beam resist is investigated. Thickness of the resist layer was found to have a substantial influence on sensitivity, contrast and surface morphology. Dependence of electron cascade processes on thickness was shown to contribute to the variation of the resist sensitivity and the consequent linewidth broadening with increase of resist thickness. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations were used to get an insight into the exposure process and the energy transfer to the resist. The results of the MC modeling were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results and the proposed mechanism on sensitivity loss and structure linewidth broadening with increase of resist thickness. The molecular cluster size was shown to increase significantly with smaller resist thickness which enhances the surface roughness for ultra thin resist layers. Vacuum drying of resist films was demonstrated to result in smoothening of the resist surface, while it had no strong influence on the ultra high resolution patterning capability of HSQ resist.

In Chapter 5, the influence of the exposure temperature on the performance of HSQ resist in ultra high resolution electron beam lithography was investigated. Dependencies of the HSQ contrast and sensitivity with respect to the temperature during exposure were obtained. Besides the increase of sensitivity at elevated temperature up to 90 oC, a slight degradation of the contrast was observed with exposure temperature rise. An activation energy ~1.6 kcal/mol was obtained from the linear region of the Arrhenius plot of the sensitivity vs. temperature. It was shown that ultra high resolution structures formed at elevated temperatures exhibit improved uniformity in combination with less sensitivity to overdose. The observed effects were attributed to several mechanisms. Amplification of thermally activated processes and their influence on the the resist sensitivity and molecular weight distributions between original and irradiated resists was proposed as the main mechanism which determines contrast and consequent resist resolution with exposure temperature variation. Complementary to the main mechanism, a slight decrease of diffusion range of SE and a decrease of structure's porosity with a rise of exposure temperature due to enhanced cross linking could take place.

In Chapter 6 a method for improving the aspect ratio of ultrahigh-resolution structures in negative electron-beam resist is provided. The idea of this method is formation of a protective "cap" on top of the resist structure by means of electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID) in a self-aligned approach. This way the pattern transfer capabilities maybe enhanced. The process is implemented by a combination of electron-beam lithography and EBID during exposure of the resist material in the presence of a precursor gas. As the result, aspect ratios up to 20% and 14 % higher were obtained for Pt precursor (methylcyclopentadienyl(trimethyl)platinum) and TEOS precursor, respectively. It was shown that the absolute feature-height improvement achieved by means of EBL+EBID compared to conventional EBL is most prominent for thicker resist layers. This effect was related to an enhanced development speed in thicker layers. Tungsten precursor showed no aspect ratio improvement at all. It was demonstrated that erosion of the deposited cap material during development is a serious drawback. It was concluded that the combined EBL+EBID method requires further optimization, whereby the type and flux of precursor gas, the process temperature, and the developer conditions (strength, composition) are the most important parameters.

Chapter 7 deals with an investigation of the lithographic process with a scanning sub-nanometer helium ion beam. The lithographic performance of both the positive tone poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and the negative tone HSQ resist were studied. It was demonstrated that the scanning He+ ion beam has a very high resolution (down to 6±1 nm features in HSQ). Additionally, superior low proximity effect as compared to electron beam exposure was demonstrated. It enabled the formation of extreme high-density features down to pitch of 14 nm in HSQ resist. Furthermore, He+ ion exposure was shown to be several times more effective than electron beam exposure at the same acceleration voltage, whereas the contrast was found to be almost equal. HSQ and PMMA resists exhibited respectively 4 and 17 times higher sensitivities for helium ions than for electrons at the same energy of 30 keV. Dependence of sensitivity on He+ ions energy was found to correlate with the electronic stopping power of ions in resist. Overall, He+ ion beam lithography was shown as a very promising technique for the formation of ultrahigh resolution structures of a high density and having feature sizes far into the sub-10-nm range.

In chapter 8, the response of Al2O3 material to bombardment with He+ ions and consequent development was investigated and partly compared to lithographic behavior of WO3. Positive tone and negative tone resist behavior after alkaline development was observed for Al2O3 depending on the exposure dose. Observed lithographic behavior of Al2O3 was ascribed to the role of the material density, structural order and defects influencing the solubility of Al2O3 during development. Exposure to He+ ions does not reduce Al2O3 to metallic state contrary to the heavier atomic weight transition metal oxide WO3. Sub-surface bubbles were not observed after He+ ion beam exposure within investigated dose range. Finally, sub-10-nm patterning of Al2O3 was demonstrated in a negative tone exposure mode.

In conclusion, the results presented in this thesis demonstrate several ways of optimizing the lithographic process to ultimate performance. Optimization of the lithographic system, exposure of resists at elevated temperatures, utilization of ultra thin layers, combination of EBL and EBID, exposure of several resist materials with helium ion beam were undertaken. Successful outcome of each step brought additional understanding of the ultra-high resolution lithographic process together with a number of useful findings, which make patterning of sub-10-nm structures at high density more feasible.


Large shift of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectrum of gold nanoparticles was attained by electrochemical oxidation of the nanoparticle surface. This oxidation occurred in a cell consisting of a pair of indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes with water medium between the electrodes. On one side of the ITO electrode, the gold nanoparticles were adsorbed. The LSPR spectrum was moved consecutively to the red by increasing the applied positive voltage. By the application of 5 V to the cell, the spectrum shift as large as 55 nm was obtained. Though the spectrum shift has already been observed by changing liquid crystal (LC) orientation surrounding gold nanoparticles, the amount of the shift was not large (11 nm). That was because the variation of the effective refractive index of LC was rather small. Our large shift due to electrochemical oxidation resulted from the large refractive index of Au-O. The upper limit of the LSPR spectrum shift by our method is estimated to be 138 nm.


Coupling phase-stable single-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses to scanning tunneling microscope (STM) junctions enables spatio-temporal imaging with femtosecond temporal and Angstrom spatial resolution. The time resolution achieved in such THz-gated STM is ultimately limited by the sub-cycle temporal variation of the tip-enhanced THz field acting as an ultrafast voltage pulse, and hence by the ability to feed high-frequency, broadband THz pulses into the junction. Here, we report on the coupling of ultrabroadband (1-30 THz) single-cycle THz pulses from a spintronic THz emitter (STE) into a metallic STM junction. We demonstrate broadband phase resolved detection of the tip-enhanced THz waveform via THz-field-induced modulation of ultrafast photocurrents across the junction. Comparison to the unperturbed far-field THz waveform reveals the antenna response of the STM tip. Despite tip-induced low-pass filtering, frequencies up to 15 THz can be detected in the enhanced near-field, resulting in THz transients with a half-cycle period of 115 fs. We further demonstrate versatile phase and polarity control of the THz waveform depending on the STE excitation conditions and magnetization, and show that up to 2 Volts THz bias at 1 MHz repetition rate can be achieved in the current setup. Finally, we find a nearly constant THz voltage and waveform over a wide range of tip-sample distances, which by comparison to numerical simulations confirms the quasi-static nature of the THz pulses. Our results demonstrate the suitability of spintronic THz emitters for ultrafast THz-STM and provide insight into the femtosecond response of defined nanoscale junctions.


Radiochromic film dosimetry has been extensively used for intravascular brachytherapy applications for near field within 1 cm from the sources. With the recent introduction of new model of radiochromic films, GAFCHROMIC EBT, with higher sensitivity than earlier models, it is promising to extend the distances out to 5 cm for low dose rate (LDR) source dosimetry. In this study, the use of new model GAFCHROMIC EBT film for 125I seed dosimetry in Solid Water was evaluated for radial distances from 0.06 cm out to 5 cm. A multiple film technique was employed for four 125I seeds (Implant Sciences model 3500) with NIST traceable air kerma strengths. Each experimental film was positioned in contact with a 125I seed in a Solid Water phantom. The products of the air kerma strength and exposure time ranged from 8 to 3158 U-h, with the initial air kerma strength of 6 U in a series of 25 experiments. A set of 25 calibration films each was sequentially exposed to one 125I seed at about 0.58 cm distance for doses from 0.1 to 33 Gy. A CCD camera based microdensitometer, with interchangeable green (520 nm) and red (665 nm) light boxes, was used to scan all the films with 0.2 mm pixel resolution. The dose to each 125I calibration film center was calculated using the air kerma strength of the seed (incorporating decay), exposure time, distance from seed center to film center, and TG43U1S1 recommended dosimetric parameters. Based on the established calibration curve, dose conversion from net optical density was achieved for each light source. The dose rate constant was determined as 0.991 cGy U(-1)h(-1) (+/-6.9%) and 1.014 cGy U(-1)h(-1) (+/-6.8%) from films scanned using green and red light sources, respectively. The difference between these two values was within the uncertainty of the measurement. Radial dose function and 2D anisotropy function were also determined. The results obtained using the two light sources corroborated each other. We found good agreement with the TG43U1S1 recommended values of radial dose function and 2D anisotropy function, to within the uncertainty of the measurement. We also verified the dosimetric parameters in the near field calculated by Rivard using Monte Carlo method. The radial dose function values in Solid Water were lower than those in water recommended by TG43U1S1, by about 2%, 3%, 7%, and 14% at 2, 3, 4, and 5 cm, respectively, partially due to the difference in the phantom material composition. Radiochromic film dosimetry using GAFCHROMIC EBT model is feasible in determining 2D dose distributions around low dose rate 125I seed. It is a viable alternative to TLD dosimetry for 125I seed dose characterization.


Raster devices, such as digital plotters, CRT or plasma panel displays, and matrix or ink jet printers, represent 'straight' lines in quantized fashion as a sequence of unit axial and unit diagonal steps. Dichotomons run lengths and periodic repetitive patterns in these incremental or digital lines provide a basis by which the step sequences for quantized lines can be treated in compressed form for storage or transmission. Earnshaw recently published a paper describing an investigation of two compaction alternatives encoding either run lengths or repeated patterns. This paper describes a simple algorithm to incorporate both run length and repeated pattern encoding for step sequence compaction. Also illustrated is the similarity in form of the repetitive loop used to generate either runs or single steps and either full lines or periodic patterns; initial parameter values differ, but the subsequent iterative process is identical.


This paper describes the design and implementation of the micro controller-based system for protecting power transformer. The system includes facilities for discrimination between internal fault current and magnetizing inrush current, differential protection, over current protection, over voltage protection and under voltage protection. In this paper, software and hardware of micro controller based system have been explained and designed. The design implementation and testing of the system are also presented.


This paper presents a very practical type-2-fuzzistics methodology for obtaining interval type-2 fuzzy set (IT2 FS) models for words, one that is called an interval approach (IA). The basic idea of the IA is to collect interval endpoint data for a word from a group of subjects, map each subject's data interval into a prespecified type-1 (T1) person membership function, interpret the latter as an embedded T1 FS of an IT2 FS, and obtain a mathematical model for the footprint of uncertainty (FOU) for the word from these T1 FSs. The IA consists of two parts: the data part and the FS part. In the data part, the interval endpoint data are preprocessed, after which data statistics are computed for the surviving data intervals. In the FS part, the data are used to decide whether the word should be modeled as an interior, left-shoulder, or right-shoulder FOU. Then, the parameters of the respective embedded T1 MFs are determined using the data statistics and uncertainty measures for the T1 FS models. The derived T1 MFs are aggregated using union leading to an FOU for a word, and finally, a mathematical model is obtained for the FOU. In order that all researchers can either duplicate our results or use them in their research, the raw data used for our codebook examples, as well as a MATLAB M-file for the IA, have been put on the Internet at: http://sipi.usc.edu/ ~ mendel.


Introduction. The professional burnout syndrome is a well defined clinical entity that has attracted increasing volumes of research throughout the world, a direct consequence of chronic personal stress that appears in professionals that provide intensive and prolonged care to persons in conditions of necessity or dependence. The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of the syndrome in Colombian general surgeons and to evaluate associated factors. Materials and methods. By means of an observational and analytical cross sectional study we measured the investigated the syndrome in 259 Colombian general surgeons that attended the XXXIV National Congress of Surgery in August, 2008. Results. The incidence of the syndrome, defined as a high degree of emotional fatigue associated with profound depersonalization and reduced index of personal accomplishment, was 20%. The only associated factor with the development of the syndrome was the desire to change the working place (OR=2.95, IC95% 1.59-5.5). There appeared also an association with the occurrence of biological accidents within the past six months (OR=2.01, IC95% 1.08-3.74). The impact of this entity on the professional activity was documented by the finding that 66% of surgeons were at risk of developing the syndrome if there were to work at a single site. Discussion. The present study is an objective evaluation of the perceptions by the general surgeons of Colombia regarding their labor activity. We found unexpected results in respect to the perception in the surgical environment. The study represents a major effort by the participating institutions towards the search of factors that may have positive or negative influence on the labor working conditions of the surgeons in our country, which should aid in a better comprehension of the problems inherent to the current General System of Social Security in Health.


Checkpointing is a fault-tolerant technique for restoring faults and restarting jobs quickly. The algorithms for checkpointing on distributed systems have been under study for years. These algorithms can be classified into three types: coordinated, uncoordinated and communication-induced algorithms. In this paper we propose a new communication-induced checkpointing algorithm that has a minimum checkpointing count equivalent to the periodic checkpointing algorithm, and relatively short rollback distance at fault situations. The proposed algorithm is compared with the previously proposed communication-induced checkpointing algorithms with simulation results. In the simulation, the proposed algorithm produces better performance than other algorithms in terms of task completion time in both fault-free and fault situations.


The MicroBlower Sustainable Soil Vapor Extraction System is a cost-effective device specifically designed for remediation of organic compounds in the vadose zone. The system is applicable for remediating sites with low levels of contamination and for transitioning sites from active source technologies such as active soil vapor extraction to natural attenuation. It can also be a better choice for remediating small source zones that are often found in "tight zones" that are controlled by diffusion rate. The MicroBlower was developed by the Savannah River National Laboratory at the US Department of Energy's Savannah River Site to address residual volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination after shutdown of active soil vapor extraction systems. In addition, the system has been deployed to control recalcitrant sources that are controlled by diffusion rates. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The general acceleration of trade globalisation over the last decade - or a growing interdependence of economies via trade, production and financial market linkages - has engendered several macroeconomic implications for the euro area. This paper focuses on assessing the key impacts on the euro area macroeconomy through an analysis of prospective channels, stylised facts and review of relevant empirical findings. It takes a long-term perspective over a period predominantly characterised by the rapid growth of globalisation, nothwithstanding the more recent interruption to the growth of global trade and capital flows that emerged towards the end of 2008 associated with the global financial turmoil and the associated downturn in global economic activity. Following an overview of the salient aspects of globalisation, which highlights the increasing openness of the euro area in terms of both trade and capital flows as well as the global reduction in transportation and information costs and the rise in the effective global supply of labour, the paper then assesses the external impacts of globalisation on the euro area, focussing on trade performance, export specialisation and import prices. It then investigates euro area domestic adjustment to globalisation with a supply-side focus, analysing separately impacts on productivity, labour markets and prices.


Swerving on a board when an institution closes provides one with a wealth of frustrations and anxieties, both concerns for the institution, its employees, its clients, and oneself as possibly financially vulnerable. In today's economy more and more board members may find themselves faced with this uncomfortable task. Hopefully this article will make such a board member aware of some of the pitfalls and some of the necessary actions, minimizing the damage and chaos that inevitably results. Even when a closing is well orchestrated, the process is painful, but a well-designed board oversight plan can minimize problems and frustrations.