The quality of steel plate products is determined by the number of defects and the process problems are estimated by shapes of defects. Therefore pinholes defects of cold rolled steel have to be controlled. In order to improve productivity and quality of products, within each production process, the product is inspected by an adequate inspection system individually in the lines of steelworks. Among a number of inspection systems, we focus on the pinholes detection system. In this paper, we propose an embedded system using FPGA which can detect pinholes defects. The proposed system is smaller and more flexible than a traditional system based on expensive frame grabbers and PC. In order to detect consecutive defects, FPGAs acquire two dimensional image and process the image in real time by using correlation of lines. The proposed pinholes detection algorithm decreases arithmetic operations of image processing and also we designed the hardware to shorten the data path between logics due to decreasing propagation delay. The experimental results show that the proposed embedded system detects the reliable number of pinholes in real time.


Studies examining the association between laboratory measures of stress-related cardiovascular (CV) reactivity and responses to psychological challenges in the natural environment have yielded mixed results. Frequently, single laboratory tasks have been used to predict responses to natural stressors on a single occasion of measurement. Because aggregation broadens the range of stimuli sampled and reduces measurement error, laboratory-to-life generalizability should be more easily detected when multiple predictor and criterion observations are used. Sixty students in a public speaking course were administered multitask assessments of CV reactivity during two laboratory sessions and during two in-class public speech assignments. CV responses to the classroom speeches were greater among those who showed larger responses in the laboratory, and these associations became stronger as measures were aggregated across multiple samples of behavior. These results support the generalizability of CV reactivity as a measure of individual difference, and they help to shed light on previous inconsistent findings in this area.


This paper compares results of rigorous calculations of light scattering by a distribution of coated spheres with the measured light scattering of marine Chlorella. The elastic scattering properties of any organism are described completely by the 16-element scattering matrix that gives all the intensity and polarization information as a function of angle. Fitting the angular dependence of several matrix elements affords a much more stringent test of scattering calculations than does fitting only one, such as the phase function or linear polarization. The added requirements of this test significantly narrow the range of acceptable optical models and thereby permit better characterization of the scattering medium. Measurements of several elements of the scattering matrix of laboratory cultures of Chlorella were obtained with a scanning polarization-modulation nephelometer. The results for these elements were best fit by calculations based on a model of a Gaussian distribution of spheres with a relative complex refractive index of l.OS(t-0.005)-0.05i(~0.005) and a 60-nm coating of index1.13(+0.005)-0.04i(f0.005) to approximate the cell membrane. Good agreement was obtained for only a very narrow range of particle parameters. Experimental results were broken into spherical and nonspherical contributions to evaluate the effects of nonsphericity.


Constant changes in technology for course delivery, along with constant changes in the technological social landscape, challenge the instructional technologist when it comes to nailing down the appropriate teaching technology for online or distance learning courses. This paper focuses on the ongoing problem of how to best teach online courses in the computer information systems (CIS) field for a graduate master's program. Although it is generally thought that specific methods should be used to extend traditional electronic communication tools such as email, discussion forums, and live chats, there is no universal agreement as to what those tools should be. The foci of this research are to 1) shed light on current teaching practices, 2) make suggestions for methods which augment traditional email, forums, and chats, 3) to measure email interaction in two CIS core courses, and 4) to glean information based on the email interaction captured. Leaping onto the current flavor of the month online community like Twitter, Facebook, etc. is considered as an addition at the coursesite level, but is probably not a good idea where university policies, standards, and accreditation play a role. Additionally, the collaborative learning that social networks encourage may not be appropriate for all learning disciplines, especially in the fields of computer science and mathematics.


Recent developments in knowledge of the structure of the central Atlantic clearly indicate that the magmatic crust is very thin and locally discontinuous in large areas of this ocean. Specifically, extensive outcrops of serpentinized mantle peridotites have been discovered along the present-day spreading axis away from fracture-zone scarps. These peculiar aspects of the present-day structure of a slow-spreading major ocean are found in the ophiolites of the western Alps as well as in the Ligurian ophiolites of the Apennines. This indicates that recent interpretations of the Alpine-Apennine ophiolites as remnants of poorly evolved "abnormal" ocean basins must be reconsidered.


Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Derek Walcott and a Caribbean theatre of revelation 2. August Wilson's theatre of the blues 3. Jack Davis and the drama of Aboriginal history 4. Wole Soyinka and the Nigerian theatre of ritual vision 5. Athol Fugard and the South African 'workshop' play 6. Badal Sircar's third theatre of Calcutta 7. Girish Karnad and an Indian theatre of roots Conclusion Further reading list Index.


For the present, the primary obligations of this communication are to acknowledge that the electrocardiographic patterns of myocardial ischemia, injury, and necrosis may appear in asymptomatic, young white males who have low-intensity systolic murmurs; to record that any implication that these electrical deviations result from obstructive coronary disease cannot be substantiated by coronary arteriography; and to suggest that individuals possessing these diagnostic features may represent a distant, recognizable clinical entity the etiology of which remains obscure.


This study evaluates the cost of aircraft noise in Berlin, Germany, on the background of the home-voter hypothesis, which has received increasing attention in the literature. First, we use exogenous variation in airport noise provided by a series of effective and announced closures and extensions of airports to identify adjustments in the property market. Second, we integrate the results of the property market analysis into a spatial analysis of a direct referendum on an airport closure. Our results indicate that aircraft noise is costly. We observe significant positive market adjustments to reductions in aircraft noise. Consistently, voters supported the closure of a city airport where aircraft noise was present and positive price adjustments from a past announcement had occurred. Homeowners had significantly stronger preferences than renters, which is in line with the home-voter hypothesis. We conclude results from direct referenda on public initiatives should be interpreted with care when it comes to evaluating (expected) environmental effects.


Abstract Objectives (1) To investigate sex differences in molar wear in known‐age Cayo Santiago rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and, (2) To explore sex differences in body weight and molar eruption timing as factors influencing sex differences in molar wear. Materials and methods Data set I comprises wear scores, ages and body weights of 212 living monkeys included in the 1985 roundup. Data set II consists of molar wear measurements taken on 2D images of 103 of these monkeys' dental remains. Ordinal logistic regression was used to analyze the first data set. General linear models were used to analyze the second. Results Males generally exhibited more wear than females at equivalent chronological ages, though results varied by tooth type for the second data set. Male body weight in the full 1985 living sample was significantly related to dental wear, when age was taken into account; however, when males less than 8 years of age were eliminated from the sample, the association between dental wear and weight became statistically insignificant. Analysis of the second data set suggested no statistically significant sex difference in dental wear for third molars, despite the approximately 2 year sex difference in eruption age for this tooth type. Discussion This study suggests that body weight in males might be a predictor of dental wear and that if it is, body weight might also influence sex differences in dental wear. Sex differences in dental eruption timing do not appear to explain sex differences in dental wear in this sample.


The goal of this work was to enhance tellurite
toxicity against Gram positive bacteria, especially Staphyloccocus aureus. Using a combination of assays (growth
inhibition zones, growth curves, and minimal inhibitory concentrations),
tellurite toxicity against this bacterium was tested in the presence of various SH- and OH-containing compounds. Results showed
that the noxiousness of tellurite was strongly enhanced in the presence of
2-mercaptoethanol or dithiothreitol. The potentiating effect was observed in S. aureus ATCC 6538 (the model organism
of this study) and in other Gram positive bacteria such as Bacillus subtillis ATCC 6051 and the methicillin-resistant S. aureus strain 622-4. No enhancing effect was observed in Gram negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli BW25113, Salmonella Typhimurium LT2 and Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 11388. These
results open new perspectives for studying the treatment of multidrug-resistant
Gram positive bacteria, which are responsible for numerous nosocomial infections.


ABSTRACT Both policy and research emphasise the significant role that addressing controversial issues plays in democracy and citizenship education. However, less work has examined what forms of democratic learning are promoted when controversial issues are addressed in specific ways. This article is rooted in action research and, through an analysis of student perspectives, explores the potential for democratic learning when Forum Theatre (FT) is used to address controversial issues in religious education (RE). FT facilitates critical democratic education; hence, it centres on power asymmetries, empowerment and transformation. The findings indicate that this critical pedagogical approach empowers students to become political and moral agents in the search for nonoppressive solutions and that FT promotes education both through and for democracy. However, an explicit goal in FT and critical pedagogy is to critically examine the interconnectedness between micro-oppressions and macro-structures. This was not achieved in the FT exercises in this study: this article discusses the possible reasons for this result, along with recommendations for further reinventions of FT in the context of RE, controversial issues and democratic learning.


The marrow of the Inner-Party Supervision Regulations is democratic supervision,and it embodies the fundamental principles of the Inner-Party democratic supervision: the principle of equality, of independence, of openness, of the masses, of effiency and of ruling by law. The regulation will alter the state of supervision's key point being deflected and the right not being supervised, the phenomenon of supervision system being empty and authority being absent, the status of supervision means being deviated and supervision being imbalanced, the situation of supervision consciousness being diverged and lacking in confidence.


INTRODUCTION
The theoretical advantages of the Ho-Yag laser make it the ideal instrument for current use in arthroscopic meniscectomy. Short term results showed less patient discomfort, rapid recovery and less post operative pain and swelling. The purpose of this single blind prospective randomized study was to compare the results of arthroscopic meniscectomy performed mechanically to those obtained with the Ho-Yag laser, with a minimum follow up of one year.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Eighty meniscectomies in 76 patients were included with a mean follow up of 19.5 months (extremes 12-35 months). The mean age was 42.5 years (extremes 18-65 years). The laser group included 39 patients while the mechanical group included 37 patients. In the Ho-Yag laser group, energy never exceeded 30 watts. During arthroscopic meniscectomy, no other surgical procedure was allowed i.e. chondroplasty, ligament surgery. Prior to arthroscopy, all patients underwent a clinical evaluation including: Pain and Lysholm score assessment. This was repeated in the post operative period at the 10th, 30th day and at last follow up. 37 patients also had a standard X ray at last follow up (anterior-posterior, lateral, and schuss views).

RESULTS
No statistically significant difference was observed in global clinical results between both techniques. Even if mechanical meniscectomy showed better results, the laser remained best when used in degenerative medial meniscal tears with minimal cartilaginous lesions. In degenerative medial meniscal tears with severe cartilaginous lesions, mechanical meniscectomy showed significantly better results (p = 0.048). X ray control was normal in 47 p. 100 of the laser group and in 80 p. 100 of the mechanical group. The difference was statistically significant (p = 0.038). Narrowing of the joint space was observed in 45 p. 100 of laser group and in 18 p. 100 of mechanical group. Iterative arthroscopy was necessary in 4 cases (3 laser and 1 mechanical) for residual pain. Severe chondrolysis was present in 2 cases following laser meniscectomy. In the 2 other cases a complement of meniscectomy for residual lesions allowed good results. No bony necrosis was observed after laser meniscectomy.

CONCLUSION
According to the results of this study and the high cost of the laser, we do not recommend the laser as a routine technique for arthroscopic meniscectomy.


This essay outlines the use of an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) treating pulp and paper wastewater during its start-up period. For this purpose, a pilot with four chambers and overall volume of 45 liters was fed continuously through the equalization tank of Mazandaran wood and paper wastewater treatment plant, in the north of Iran. The influent was classified as low strength slowly biodegradable wastewater. The average soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of the influent were about 1,130 and 320 mg/L, respectively. Results show that the start-up was accomplished in 90 days in which the ABR reached its maximum SCOD removal of 60%. This was achieved at the controlled mesophilic temperature (37 °C) and optimum hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 hours. In spite of the influent characteristics, the performance of ABR has not been inhibited and mostly influenced by HRT. The gradual hydrolysis and acidogenesis were observed within the ABR. The majority of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal takes place in the first chamber. In addition, the concentrations of readily biodegradable organics (BOD to COD ratio) have been increased and doubled through the reactor. Moreover, the total values of pH, volatile fatty acids and alkalinity remained constant. Consequently, this system can be approved for application as a pretreatment unit for paper mill industrial wastewater treatment plants.


Currently, vehicular communications have become a reality used by various applications, especially applications that broadcast video in real time. However, the video quality received is penalized by the poor characteristics of the transmission channel (availability, non-stationarity, the ration of signal-to-noise, etc.). To improve and ensure minimum video quality at reception, we propose in this work a mechanism entitled "Secure and Efficient Transmission of Videos in VANET (SETV)". It's based on the "Quality of Experience (QoE)" and using hierarchical packet management. This last is based on the importance of the images of the stream video. To this end, the use of transmission error correction with uneven error protection has proven to be effective in delivering high quality videos with low network overhead. This is done based on the specific details of video encoding and actual network conditions such as signal to noise ratio, network density, vehicle position and current packet loss rate (PLR) not to mention the prediction of the future DPP.Machine learning models were developed on our work to estimate perceived audio-visual quality. The protocol previously gathers information about its neighbouring vehicles to perform distributed jump reinforcement learning. The simulation results obtained for several types of realistic vehicular scenarios show that our proposed mechanism offers significant improvements in terms of video quality on reception and end-to-end delay compared to conventional schemes. The results prove that the proposed mechanism has showed 11% to 18% improvement in video quality and 9% load gain compared to ShieldHEVC.


Directing energy and charge transfer processes in light-harvesting antenna systems is quintessential for optimizing the efficiency of molecular devices for artificial photosynthesis. In this work, we report a novel synthetic method to construct two regioisomeric antenna molecules (1-D2A2 and 7-D2A2), in which the 4-(n-butylamino)naphthalene monoimide energy and electron donor is attached to the perylene monoimide diester (PMIDE) acceptor at the 1- and 7-bay positions, respectively. The non-symmetric structure of PMIDE renders a polarized distribution of the frontier molecular orbitals along the long axis of this acceptor moiety, which differentiates the electron coupling between the donor, attached at either the 1- or the 7-position, and the acceptor. We demonstrate that directional control of the photo-driven charge transfer process has been obtained by engineering the molecular structure of the light-harvesting antenna molecules.


Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are very popular nowadays and offer reliable solutions to many classification problems. However, training deep neural networks (DNN) is time-consuming due to the large number of parameters. Recent research indicates that these DNNs might be overparameterized and different solutions have been proposed to reduce the complexity both in the number of parameters and in the training time of the neural networks. Furthermore, some researchers argue that after reducing the neural network complexity via connection pruning, the remaining weights are irrelevant and retraining the sub-network would obtain a comparable accuracy with the original one. This may hold true in most vision problems where we always enjoy a large number of training samples and research indicates that most local optima of the convolutional neural networks may be equivalent. However, in non-vision sparse datasets, especially with many irrelevant features where a standard neural network would overfit, this might not be the case and there might be many non-equivalent local optima. This paper presents empirical evidence for these statements and an empirical study of the learnability of neural networks (NNs) on some challenging non-linear real and simulated data with irrelevant variables. Our simulation experiments indicate that the cross-entropy loss function on XOR-like data has many local optima, and the number of local optima grows exponentially with the number of irrelevant variables. We also introduce a connection pruning method to improve the capability of NNs to find a deep local minimum even when there are irrelevant variables. Furthermore, the performance of the discovered sparse sub-network degrades considerably either by retraining from scratch or the corresponding original initialization, due to the existence of many bad optima around. Finally, we will show that the performance of neural networks for real-world experiments on sparse datasets can be recovered or even improved by discovering a good sub-network architecture via connection pruning.


In a chip-multiprocessor with a shared cache structure, the last level cache is shared by multiple applications executing simultaneously. The competing accesses from different applications degrade the system performance, resulting in non-predicting executing time. Cache partitioning techniques partition the shared cache for multiple applications. The aim of traditional cache partitioning mechanism, Utility-based Cache Partition (UCP) for example, is to lower the overall miss rate of shared cache. But the lowest miss rate doesn't mean the highest performance (IPC). This paper investigates IPC-based Cache Partitioning (IPC-CP), an IPC performance oriented dynamic cache partitioning method. We design a Miss Rate Monitor to collect miss rate information of competing applications at run-time. Then the information collected is inputted to a Miss-Rate to IPC model to get the corresponding IPC performance. Lastly, we get the optimal cache partitioning based on IPC optimum objective function. Our evaluation, on top of a four cores CMP processor with 20 multi-programmed workloads shows that IPC-CP improves throughput by up to 53% and on average 9% over UCP.


Abstract Tropical fish farms provide a prime habitat for the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, which is an invasive, stinging ant that has spread throughout the southern United States. Stings can be a serious health hazard to hypersensitive individuals, and the presence of large populations can interfere with operational activities. The most efficient method of controlling fire ants is the application of ant bait. However, most fish farmers are reluctant to use baits or other chemical methods of control because of the unknown risk to fish. Baited stations in combination with maps generated by geographical information system software were used to estimate locations of fire ant nests. Maps of estimated fire ant locations encompassed from 10 to 100% of actual fire ant nests surveyed when there was a minimum of a single fire ant within a station. Low percentages of overlap between mapped areas and fire ant nests were associated with low nest densities and when higher ant count thresholds were used to indicate positive stations. Ant bait containing the insect growth regulator methoprene was broadcast between ponds, with some unavoidable bait entry into ponds. Fire ant nest densities declined 57% within 4 months. In contrast, nest densities increased 86% in untreated areas. During the summer, fire ant populations declined an average of 68% and increased 110% for treated and untreated areas, respectively. Fire ant nest densities and populations began to increase by December in both treated and untreated areas. No obvious fish mortality related to the ant baiting was noted during the study.


IntroductionData linkage for health research purposes enables the answering of countless new research questions, is said to be cost effective and less intrusive than other means of data collection. Nevertheless, health researchers are currently dealing with a complicated, fragmented, and inconsistent regulatory landscape with regard to the processing of data, and progress in health research is hindered.
AimWe designed a qualitative study to assess what different stakeholders perceive as ethical and legal obstacles to data linkage for health research purposes, and how these obstacles could be overcome.
MethodsTwo focus groups and eighteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were held to collect opinions and insights of various stakeholders. An inductive thematic analysis approach was used to identify overarching themes.
ResultsThis study showed that the ambiguity regarding the `correct' interpretation of the law, the fragmentation of policies governing the processing of personal health data, and the demandingness of legal requirements are experienced as causes for the impediment of data linkage for research purposes by the participating stakeholders. To remove or reduce these obstacles authoritative interpretations of the laws and regulations governing data linkage should be issued. The participants furthermore encouraged the harmonisation of data linkage policies, as well as promoting trust and transparency and the enhancement of technical and organisational measures. Lastly, there is a demand for legislative and regulatory modifications amongst the participants.
ConclusionsTo overcome the obstacles in data linkage for scientific research purposes, perhaps we should shift the focus from adapting the current laws and regulations governing data linkage, or even designing completely new laws, towards creating a more thorough understanding of the law and making better use of the flexibilities within the existing legislation. Important steps in achieving this shift could be clarification of the legal provisions governing data linkage by issuing authoritative interpretations, as well as the strengthening of ethical-legal oversight bodies.


The opsonization of type 1 and type 25 pneumococci in the rabbit lung early in the course of experimental pneumonia was studied. Bacteria washed from the lungs of animals with type 1 pneumonia were coated with IgG, IgA, and complement within 24 hr of infection; these bacteria were not phagocytized. Both type 1 and type 25 pneumococci, when incubatd in concentrates of nonimmune bronchopulmonary washings (BPC), adsorbed IgG, IgA, and C3, but neither type of pneumococci was opsonized. Killing of pneumococci by surface phagocytosis, with or without the use of nonimmune BPC, was not demonstrated. When nonimmune serum was used, opsonization of type 25 pneumococci depended on the presence of heat-labile adsorbable factors, and when immune serum and immune BPC were used, opsonization was dependent on adsorbable factors. Depletion of serum complement with cobra venom factor before infection with type 25 pneumococci resulted in severe bacteremic pneumonia in the rabbit, but immunization before complement depletion allowed animals to clear type 25 pneumococci from the blood and lungs within 24 hr. Thus, opsonization is required for efficient clearance of pneumococci from the lung, and in the nonimmune animal, complement is also required for clearance.


Discussions on ethics in palliative care often concentrate on issues like patient autonomy or euthanasia. However, the reality in the developing world begs discussion on an entirely different set of problems altogether. One should have a good death, no doubt, but one should also have an opportunity for a good life. Globalization unfortunately seems to worsen many of the burdens of the developing world, like the negative influence of the mighty pharmaceutical industry. Continuing medical education offered only by the pharmaceutical industry instills bias into the minds of most medical professionals. Prescription practices by many professionals are influenced by the industry; so much so, inexpensive drugs or formulations are abandoned in favor of expensive ones, adding to the burden of a much-suffering individual. Palliative care should have been a major force against such evils, but it seems to get more clinical and institutionalized with time, with the social issues taking a back seat. Unethical research practices and preferential treatment in drug availability are practices that continue to marginalize the less privileged. Adoption of the dominant ideology from the West in the developing world also raises problems like cultural unsuitability. Considering that the bulk of the suffering in the world is in poorer countries, these issues need to be addressed.


Administration of the DSIP improved resistance against stress in rats with septal or amygdalar brain lesions, the latter structures playing an important part in the resistance mechanisms. Bilateral lesion of these structures significantly decreased the resistance against emotional stress in rats.


Background : The mutational status of immunoglobulin VH genes (IgVH) is an important prognostic marker in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), but its determination remains unadapted to routine practice. Several reports have showed that ZAP-70, whose expression can be detected by flow cytometry, can be considered as a reliable surrogate marker of IgVH mutational status. We recently conducted a gene expression profiling study of 18 cases of CLL, which pointed out 2 other genes which might also discriminate CLL groups: the lipoprotein lipase ( LPL ) and the disintegrin and metalloprotease 29 ( ADAM29 ) genes which were overexpressed preferentially in unmutated (UM) and mutated (MT) cases respectively.

Methods : We analyzed frozen cells obtained at diagnosis for 127 CLL patients (87 Binet stage A, 40 stage B or C). LPL , ADAM29 and house keeping GAPDH gene expression were measured by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 111 cases, and ZAP-70 protein by flow cytometry in 107 cases, both analyses being performed in 93 cases. LPL and ADAM29 were also quantified in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC, n=4) and purified B cells (n=3) of healthy individuals. We correlated the results with the previously determined IgVH mutational status and clinical outcome.

Results : With a cut-off value determined to be 1 for the LPL/GAPDH copy number ratio, LPL expression had a positive predictive value (PPV) of 68% for UM cases and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 85% for MT patients. Alternatively ADAM29 expression ( ADAM29/GAPDH > 3) had a PPV of 77% for MT cases and of 86% for UM cases. Combining LPL and ADAM29 RNA quantifications by a simple 1:1 ratio (L/A ratio; threshold=1) provided slightly better results than those obtained with ZAP-70 (positivity threshold = 20%) for PPV of UM status (90% vs 76%) and similar results for NPV of MT status (90% vs 91%). Simultaneaous usage of L/A ratio and ZAP-70 expression allowed an almost perfect (73/74) assessment of the IgVH status in 80% (74/93) of patients with concordant results (L/A+, ZAP-70+ or L/A-, ZAP-70-). Serial measurements of L/A ratio and ZAP-70 expression showed that both parameters can change over time (median follow-up 38 months, range 6–159) in a fraction of patients (5/25 tested). ADAM29 was not detected while LPL was present at very low levels or absent in PMBC or purified B cells from healthy donors. The IgVH mutational status, ZAP-70 and L/A ratio were predictive of event-free survival for the whole cohort and for stage A patients. However only the L/A ratio was significantly associated with a shorter survival (p=0.03) for stage B/C patients.

Conclusions : Combination of LPL and ADAM29 mRNA quantification provides a good surrogate marker of the IgVH mutational status in CLL patients. Used in association with ZAP-70, it represents an reliable alternative to the sequencing of IgVH genes. In addition, it might constitute a more powerful prognostic marker than IgVH mutational status or ZAP-70.


Various Lamp phosphors, including [Ca10(PO4)6(Cl,F):Sb:Mn], (Y,Eu)2O3 (YOE), BaMgAl10O17:Eu (BAM), and (La,Ce)PO4:Ce:Tb (LAP), with or without flux, have been synthesized by a microwave processing technique in a multimode microwave furnace operating at 2.45 GHz. The microwave-synthesized phosphors were comprehensively characterized for particle size, specific surface area, brightness, and luminescence. Although most properties of the microwave-synthesized phosphors were comparable to that of the conventional products, the kinetics of the phosphor synthesis was substantially enhanced in the microwave processing. As a result, the soaking time at the final temperature was reduced by up to 90% compared to a conventional process. In addition, the required synthesis temperature was also lowered by 100200°C in microwave process, compared to the conventional process for these lamp phosphors. Certain improved property was also observed in some microwave synthesized samples. The mechanism and advantages of microwave process for the lamp phosphor synthesis through solidstate reaction are addressed.


Even though IDEs are often a central tool when learning to program in CS1, many teachers still lean on paperbased exams. In this study, we examine the "test mode effect" in CS1 exams using the Rainfall problem. The test mode was two-phased. Half of the participants started working on the problem with pen and paper, while the other half had access to an IDE. After submitting their solution, all students could rework their solution on an IDE. The experiment was repeated twice during subsequent course instances. The results were mixed. From the marking perspective, there was no statistically significant difference resulting from the mode. However, the students starting with the paper-based part tended to make more errors in their code, but after the computer-based reworking phase, they matched or exceeded the level of the students who started with the computer-based phase. We also discuss the reliability of automatic assessment that is based on a unit test suite that was developed for the purposes of this study.


R a d i c a l P h i l o s o p h y 1 8 2 ( N o v e m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3 ) Can anthropology be philosophy, and if so, how? For philosophers, the matter has been and often remains quite simple: anthropology's concern with socio-cultural and historical differences might yield analyses that philosophy can put to use (provided that it condescends to examine them), but only rarely does anthropology conceive its material at a level of generality or in relation to metaphysical issues in their positivity that would allow it to really do philosophy, especially of an ontological kind. Anthropologists, on the other hand, tend not to disagree, whether out of a preference for local problems or from the more canny recognition that even the best philosophers prove quite adept at mistaking modern ideological values for transcendental concepts. Such perspectives, however, are proving outmoded in the face of a now sizable group of thinkers, ranging from Bruno Latour and Isabelle Stengers to Marilyn Strathern to François Jullien, whose questions, concepts, objects and methods belong in different ways to both anthropology and philosophy, and who moreover propose that certain aspects of anthropology – analyses of scientific practices, knowledge of cultural variation, and an old thing called structuralism – are key to a new metaphysics as empirical, pluralistic and comparative as transcendental, unifying and general. One of the chief instigators of this new approach is the Brazilian anthropologist and now philosopher Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, whose 2009 Métaphysiques Cannibales perhaps marks the first case of an 'actual' anthropologist, in the disciplinary sense, explicitly undertaking such a philosophy. (And 'real' philosophers agree: the book was published alongside those of Étienne Souriau, Tristan Garcia and Graham Harman in the Presses Universitaires de France series, edited by Quentin Meillassoux, Patrice Maniglier and others, entitled 'MétaphysiqueS'.) A native of Rio (and carioca irony) who did fieldwork with a Northeastern Amazonian Indian group known as the Arawaté, Viveiros de Castro is widely known in social anthropology for showing that what falls under the domain of 'social' and 'human' relations for such Amazonian peoples is so broad – animals, plants, spirits are all conceived as persons – that modern distinctions between nature and culture, animals and humans, and even descent and marriage ties are effectively inverted. A generalized 'potential' or 'virtual affinity' obtains ('affinity' is the kinship term for relations established through marriage) wherein beings, because they are all initially related and thus 'social', must be established as 'natural' and substantial in the same way that conventional, cultural ones elsewhere have to be. The means of doing that, from hunting to ritual to shamanism, involve contending with the additional fact that every relatable entity is conceived as having, whatever its bodily form, a soul – intentionality and apperception – of a 'human' character, and that all beings thus perceive themselves as humans, and other beings as either animals or cultural artefacts. Jaguars, for example, are thought to see themselves as humans, to see humans as human prey like peccarys and monkeys, and their own food as that of humans (blood as manioc beer). Successfully negotiating one's relations with other beings therefore requires adopting their perspectives, as shamans do when they become animals, in order to know what they see things as being, and thereby in turn anticipating and knowing them as definite beings. What emerges from this 'perspectivist' universe, Viveiros de Castro continually emphasizes, is an ontology that reverses the terms of one of our most fundamental metaphysical dualisms. Because perspectivism confers on all beings the same ontological status, and distinguishing between them requires knowing the differences between their bodies, 'culture' becomes the underlying domain uniting beings in Amazonia and nature the differential, separating one. A 'multinaturalism' effectively prevails that is the converse of our naturalist multiculturalism. Yet how Amazonian cosmology might function as a metaphysics for us goes well beyond its upsetting of our certainties about nature and culture and right to the core of contemporary philosophical debate. Although Métaphysiques Cannibales might appear to confirm, as nothing else has, that the forms of thought of indigenous peoples accord a central role to relations, virtualities and becomings in the way Deleuze claimed, Amerindian thought flips more than just the metaphysical poles by which modernity orients itself but also the very terms by which even critical, minor philosophies have conceptualized them. Viveiros From anthropology to philosophy


Recently, innovation and internationalization strategies have explained firm success. Some authors argue that innovation settles internationalization while some others point that internationalization settles the firm's innovation level. This work unifies these theories, arguing that both are a single strategy of the firm. We also argue that both theories are founded in the same set of variables like technological capabilities, technology investment, alliances and firm decision structure. Tests are based on correlation and regression analysis. We demonstrate the existence of a relationship between innovation and internationalization that can't be explained by separating them into separate theories.


Four dimensional chemical shift imaging was used to map the relative peak heights of phosphorus metabolites of the liver and overlying skeletal muscle of a normal subject and two patients. The technique provides 31P spectra localised on a voxel-by-voxel basis and may be valuable in mapping heterogeneous structural and metabolic changes in disease.


In order to assess the viability of enjoying improvements in the world of language testing and the proposed approaches of alternative assessment in EFL contexts, the current research was an attempt to shed light on the role of interactionist and interventionist models of dynamic assessment (DA) on promoting speaking of Iranian language learners. Therefore, five students enrolling in intermediate language learning courses in Chabahar maritime university were selected randomly. Using an adopted typology for interactionist DA and an adopted regulatory scale for interventionist DA, the researcher found that interactionist DA help learners to gain mastery over speaking problems and perform better through negotiated interaction with the teacher. Besides, the results of t-test showed that students gained better scores on post-test following an interventionist mediatory session. On top of that, for learners and teachers to benefit from these findings, the most frequent interactionist strategies used by the researcher were transcribed and presented in a diagram. These findings have implication for language teachers, curriculum designers and test-developers.


A high-affinity (Km = 2.7 x 10(-7) M) energy-requiring methionine-transport system has been characterized in RM 46 and RM 48, two different PAO methionine auxotrophs of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. After 8 s of transport 40--60% of the methionine label in the alcohol extract appears in S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) with the remaining activity in free methionine. Methionine transport required a high degree of structural specificity for transport. Stimulation of transport occurred by addition of glucose or organic acids. The ability of a given substrate to stimulate transport was related to the type of carbon source used for growth. Transport was sensitive to sulfhydryl reagents and required oxidative phosphorylation, as indicated by the inhibitory effects of anaerobiosis, cyanide, and arsenate. The degree of inhibition by arsenate correlated with the level of ATP in the cell. Rapid transport in a SAM-deficient mutant (TM 1) and inhibition by arsenate of transport in this mutant suggested that SAM formation was not directly linked to transport and that ATP supplied energy for transport. Inhibition by arsenate was more severe in glucose- compared to citrate-stimulated cells. This result was also observed with proline transport indicating that this was not a peculiarity of the methionine-transport system. These data emphasize the close link between glucose metabolism, ATP levels, and transport. This ATP level is not so critical for transport in cells metabolizing citrate.


A digital filter with finite impulse response is developed for interpolating a bandlimited signal at an arbitrary point from uniform or non-uniform integral samples. The convergence of approximation is established via a closed form upper bound on the error of interpolation. The accuracy of interpolation is further demonstrated with numerical experiments. The proposed method has potential applications in the design of interferometers and integrating sensors.


Online controlled experiments, in which different variants of a product are compared based on an Overall Evaluation Criterion (OEC), have emerged as a gold standard for decision making in online services. It is vital that the OEC is aligned with the overall goal of stakeholders for effective decision making. However, this is a challenge when the overall goal is not immediately observable. For instance, we might want to understand the effect of deploying a feature on long-term retention, where the outcome (retention) is not observable at the end of an A/B test. In this work, we examine long-term user engagement outcomes as a time-to-event problem and demonstrate the use of survival models for estimating long-term effects. We then discuss the practical challenges in using time-to-event metrics for decision making in online experiments. We propose a simple churn-based time-to-inactivity metric and describe a framework for developing & validating modeled metrics using survival models for predicting long-term retention. Then, we present a case study and provide practical guidelines on developing and evaluating a time-to-churn metric on a large scale real-world dataset of online experiments. Finally, we compare the proposed approach to existing alternatives in terms of sensitivity and directionality.


BACKGROUND
Children with multiple disabilities account for a small percentage of implantees in a cochlear implant program, but they remain the most challenging group for which to predict benefit from the implant and for cooperation with habilitation postoperatively.

PURPOSE
To assess the relationship of pre-implant functional disabilities with postoperative speech perception scores and determine the feasibility of predicting outcome with a cochlear implant in a multiply disabled pediatric population.

RESEARCH DESIGN
Retrospective cohort study.

STUDY SAMPLE
Sixty-six children with a cochlear implant and at least one additional disability.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
We retrospectively examined the relationship between pre-implant Graded Profile Analysis (GPA) scores and postimplant speech perception scores. A pre-implant functional disability score (based on the Battelle developmental screen) was applied to the same cohort of patients and its association with postimplant speech perception scores was examined.

RESULTS
The functional disability score significantly predicted high (k > 24) and low (k < 7) speech perception scores (p < 0.001 and p < .0001) and had excellent discrimination ability (c statistic = 0.88 and 0.93 respectively). The GPA score was not significantly associated with speech perception scores (p = 0.519 and p = 0.146) and demonstrated no ability to discriminate postimplant speech perception scores in this implant population (c statistic = 0.49 and c = 0.57).

CONCLUSIONS
Prediction of outcomes following cochlear implantation in multiply disabled children can be facilitated using this newly developed functional disability score as an adjunct to traditional candidacy assessments.


To slove the problem that the implementation of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Vegas does not consider the impact of TCP's segment size on Round-Trip Time (RTT) while calculating RTT and the smallest RTT (base _rtt), this paper proposes a modified congestion control mechanism for TCP Vegas. It first groups segments on the basis of segments size and updates base _rtt based on groups. In congestion avoidance phase, TCP Vegas changes its window size according to the measured RTT of the segment corresponding to the latest received ACK and the base _rtt retrieved from the group that the segment belongs to. Simulations illustrate that the enhanced TCP Vegas can achieve higher throughput up to 40 percent.


An effective leader must have a clear vision and a strong will to stand by it, even in turbulent times. At the same time, though, it is also equally important to be open-minded and flexible enough to respond objectively to new information without being prejudiced by prior information. This paper illustrates how these seemingly contradictory qualifications are related and determined in a model of intrapersonal conflicts. We consider a decision maker who is capable of deceiving herself and manipulating information in some particular way to construct a rosy view of the world. There is a cost of doing so, however, because a distorted belief leads to a distorted action which is in general less efficient. This tradeoff creates a tension within herself and constrains the extent of information manipulation, thereby allowing us to identify the determinants of vision and flexibility. Among other things, we show that vision and flexibility are substitutes, and their respective levels depend crucially on attributes such as self-confidence level and fragility as well as the strength of willpower. JEL Classification Codes: D03, D99.


Humans and animals can flexibly choose their actions based on different information, ranging from objective states of the environment (e.g., apples are bigger than cherries) to subjective preferences (e.g., cherries are tastier than apples). Whether the brain instantiates these different choices by recruiting either specialised or shared neural circuitry remains debated. Specifically, domain-general accounts of prefrontal cortex (PFC) function propose that prefrontal areas flexibly process either perceptual or value-based evidence depending on what is required for the present choice, whereas domain-specific theories posit that PFC sub-areas, such as the left superior frontal sulcus (SFS), selectively integrate evidence relevant for perceptual decisions. Here we comprehensively test the functional role of the left SFS for choices based on perceptual and value-based evidence, by combining fMRI with a behavioural paradigm, computational modelling, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Confirming predictions by a sequential sampling model, we show that TMS-induced excitability reduction of the left SFS selectively changes the processing of decision-relevant perceptual information and associated neural processes. In contrast, value-based decision making and associated neural processes remain unaffected. This specificity of SFS function is evident at all levels of analysis (behavioural, computational, and neural, including functional connectivity), demonstrating that the left SFS causally contributes to evidence integration for perceptual but not value-based decisions.


Precision-cut tissue slices have been applied by many researchers because they represent an organ mini-model that closely resembles the organ from which it is prepared, with all cell types present in their original tissue-matrix configuration. Preparation and incubation methods of precision-cut tissue slices from various tissues are discussed and recommendations are given for optimal handling and culturing to retain optimal viability and functional integrity. The potential of precision-cut tissue slices from several organs to predict metabolite profiles and metabolic clearance of novel drugs, the involvement of transporters and the induction and inhibition of drug metabolism is discussed. To allow regular use of tissue slices in drug discovery and development, improvement of cryopreservation methods for precision-cut tissue slices is of great importance. It is concluded that the use of tissue slices in the pharmaceutical industry and in academic research can contribute significantly to obtain relevant information about metabolism and drug–drug interactions in various organs and pharmacokinetics of novel chemical entities in man, and thereby to the development of safe drugs.


A computational efficient Bayesian inference framework based on stochastic simulation algorithms is presented for calibrating the parameters of large-order linear finite element (FE) models of bridges. The effectiveness of stochastic simulation tools to handle large-order linear models in Bayesian analysis is demonstrated by calibrating a high fidelity FE model of the Metsovo bridge with several hundreds of thousands of DOF, using experimentally identified modal frequencies and mode shapes based on ambient vibration measurements collected from a wireless mobile measuring system. The mode shapes of the bridge are assembled using the identified modal characteristics from a number of different sensor configurations, involving reference and moving sensors, optimally placed on the bridge deck to adequately cover the whole bridge span. The identified finite element models and their uncertainties are representative of the initial structural condition of the bridge and can be further used for structural health monitoring purposes.


A 37-year-old HIV-positive Gambian woman presented with spastic weakness of the right leg six years after receiving treatment for tuberculous meningitis (TBM). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spine showed a multiloculated syrinx in the thoracic spinal cord extending from the T2 to the T11 level. Syringomyelia and syringobulbia have been reported as complications of TBM. We describe the first case of syringomyelia as an uncommon late complication of treated TBM in the setting of HIV infection. Early recognition of this rare entity may avoid irreversible neurological sequelae.


In this work a generalized iterative back-projection algorithm for the 2-D reconstruction of resistivity data is proposed. The need for such an algorithm derives from the analysis of the limitations of the existing approximate algorithms. Further, it can reconstruct data from any array as well as from unconventional electrode arrangements. The merits and limitations of the algorithm are discussed and examples of its performance with synthetic data are given. Extensive tests of the algorithm with real data obtained from archaeological sites are presented as well. Despite its inherent limitations the algorithm proved to be reliable and noise insensitive and produced good quality reconstructions.


Traditionally the diagnosis of a disease is done by medical experts with experience, clinical data of the patients and adequate knowledge in identifying the disease. Such diagnosis is found to be approximate and time-consuming since it purely depends on the availability and the experience of the medical experts dealing with imprecise and uncertain clinical data of the patients. Hence, to improve decision making with uncertain data and to reduce the time consumption in diagnosing a disease, several simulated diagnosis systems have been developed. Most of these diagnosis systems are designed to possess the clinical data and symptoms associated with a specific disease as knowledge base. The quality of the knowledge base has an impact not only on the consequences, but also on the diagnostic precision. Most of the existing systems have been developed as an expert system that contains all the diagnosis facts as rules. Notably, applying the concept of a fuzzy set has shown better knowledge representation to improve the decision making process. Therefore an attempt is made in this paper to design and develop such diagnosis system, using a rough set. The system developed is evaluated using a simple set of symptoms that is added to clinical data in determining diabetes and its severity.


The authors present the method of transcranial Doppler sonography and that technic of this method, too. Briefly describe the clinically important physical parameters. They present the possibility of use this method in clinical practice, referring the frequency analysis, the investigation of flow figures in the cerebrovascular diseases, respectively in stenosis, occlusions, malformations of blood vessels and the diagnostic possibilities in aneurysms.


One social drinker in fifty becomes a drunkard. Why? What changes him? How does he differ from his companions? Experts have offered many explanations. Some have asserted that physiologic or somatic changes precede alcoholism, and that chronic alcoholism may result from causes as organic as those of Addison's disease. Williams, the author of the book under review, is a pioneer in this field. For a decade, he has hammered home the concepts of biochemical individuality and genetotrophism. Each person has a distinct biochemical structure, which charts his susceptibility to infections, to mental illness, to drugs, or to alcohol. The genetotrophic concept infers that one may be born with a great need for certain nutritional elements. Williams believes that these two factors—biochemical individuality and the genetotrophic concept—favor alcoholism in man. In this book, he presents his thesis, adduces his evidence, and appeals for action. People write books for many reasons: to


With references of historical materials and modern literature regarding acupoint characteristic, a secondary analysis on the concept, origin, related factors and research methods in present research of acupoint characteristic is performed. The acupoint characteristic should be considered as an acupoint inherent attribute that could explain physiological and pathological manifestations at the same time, including location attribute and function attribute, which is related with time and treatment method. Some re-thinking on acupoint characteristic is proposed as well as advice on further research method and direction, hoping to promote the research development of acupoint characteristic.


The cell cortex, a thin film of active material assembled below the cell membrane, plays a key role in cellular symmetry-breaking processes such as cell polarity establishment and cell division. Here, we present a minimal model of the self-organization of the cell cortex that is based on a hydrodynamic theory of curved active surfaces. Active stresses on this surface are regulated by a diffusing molecular species. We show that coupling of the active surface to a passive bulk fluid enables spontaneous polarization and the formation of a contractile ring on the surface via mechanochemical instabilities. We discuss the role of external fields in guiding such pattern formation. Our work reveals that key features of cellular symmetry breaking and cell division can emerge in a minimal model via general dynamic instabilities.


Twenty-five consecutive acute Monteggia lesions in children were treated during a six-year period. The series included a very rare case of a Type-II Monteggia lesion not previously reported in children. All patients, except one, were treated by closed reduction. In two instances, after a successful reduction the unstable radial head was fixed with a percutaneous Kirschner wire inserted through the capitulum with the elbow flexed 90 degrees. This was done to avoid immobilizing the elbow in an acutely flexed position. On follow-up (average, thirty-four months), all the end results were excellent.


This paper presents an autonomous multiple model (AMM) estimation algorithm for systems with sudden parameter changes. Estimates of a bank of Kalman filters (KFs) are merged based on a newly defined likelihood function. The function is composed of two measures, one for weighting the filters during the steady state mode and the other for weighting when there is a change in the parameters. Compared to the interacting multiple model (IMM) method, the KFs do not interact but compete on the basis of the likelihood function without any necessity for the mixing step. The proposed algorithm is demonstrated for estimating the residual magnetic moment (RMM) affecting the spacecraft dynamics. The numerical results show that the Competing AMM (CAMM) guarantees higher steady state accuracy than the IMM with a simpler algorithm structure.


Objectives: The Korean version of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is the most widely used tool validated instrument for measuring and the level of disability associated with low back disorders. We wanted to validate use of the Korean version of the ODI in Korean farmers with low back pain. Methods: The object of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the ODI. The Korean version was tested on 53 farmers (62.3±10.3 years of age) with low back-related disorders. We investigated the Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity of the ODI. The Test-retest reliability was assessed in 30 farmers within a time interval of approximately 14 to 18 days. Differences between the Korean version of the ODI and the Short Form 12 (SF-12), which includes 8 domains (general health, physical functioning, role-physical limitation, bodily pain, role-emotional limitation, mental health, vitality, social functioning) were analyzed for construct validity. The correlation of the Korean version of the ODI with the SF-12 was analyzed, as well. Results: The intra-class correlation coefficient of test-retest reliability was 0.854. Reliability estimated by the internal consistency reached a Cronbach's alpha of 0.879. The correlation between 7 domains of the SF-12 except for the mental health domain and the Korean version of the ODI was statistically significant (p<0.05). Four domains (general health, physical functioning, role-physical limitation, bodily pain) that measured physical status all showed high correlations (p<0.01), as did a domain that measured mental status (role-emotional limitation) (p<0.01). Conclusions: The results showed that the Korean version of the ODI is a reliable and valid instrument to measure the level of disability in Korean farmers with low back-related disorders. The use of this instrument is recommended for future clinical trials in Korea.


This study was aimed to analyze the sensory characteristics and keeping quality of raw and heat treated (63°C for 30 minutes, 72°C for 15 seconds and 100.5°C for 10 minutes) camel milk. The sensory scores for taste (36.3, 34.8 and 33.2), texture (24.4, 24.0 and 22.3) and overall acceptability (7.4, 7.7 and 7.0) in comparison to control (32.2, 21.4 and 6.9) were observed at 63°C for 30 minutes, 100.5°C for 10 minutes and 72°C for 15 seconds, respectively. Statistically, the difference was significant (p<0.05) in between control and heat treated samples, however, the insignificant (p>0.05) among different treatments. The scores for colour was 7.6, 7.5 and 7.3 (72°C/15sec, 100.5°C/10min and 63°C/30min, respectively) than that of control (7.8). Statistically, the variation was nonsignificant (p>0.05) among different heat treatments and time combinations. The keeping quality of camel milk also enhanced under different heat treatments and storage temperatures. Heat treated (100.5°C/10min, 63°C/30min, 72°C/15sec) and raw camel milk were spoiled on 76, 64, 56 and 24 hrs, respectively at ambient temperature, while at the refrigeration temperature, the shelf life was 42, 39, 27 and 18 days, respectively. Statistical analysis showed the significant difference ((p<0.05) among all heat treatments and time combinations. It was found that the heat treatment (63°C/30min) was the best for sensory characteristics because it received the highest score for taste and texture while the heat treatment (100.5°C/10min) was the best for the shelf life as the highest keeping quality of camel found at that temperature.


The growth of diatoms in the Southern Ocean, especially the region surrounding the West Antarctic Peninsula, is frequently constrained by low dissolved iron and other trace metal concentrations. This challenge may be overcome by mutualisms between diatoms and co-occurring associated bacteria, in which diatoms produce organic carbon as a substrate for bacterial growth, and bacteria produce siderophores, metal-binding ligands that can supply diatoms with metals upon uptake as well as other useful secondary compounds for diatom growth like vitamins. To examine the relationships between diatoms and bacteria in the plankton (diatom) size class (> 3 µm), we sampled both bacterial and diatom community composition with accompanying environmental metadata across a naturally occurring concentration gradient of macronutrients, trace metals and siderophores at 21 stations near the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). Offshore Drake Passage stations had low dissolved iron (0.33 ± 0.15 nM), while the stations closer to the continental margin had higher dissolved iron (5.05 ± 1.83 nM). A similar geographic pattern was observed for macronutrients and most other trace metals measured, but there was not a clear inshore-offshore gradient in siderophore concentrations. The diatom and bacteria assemblages, determined using 18S and 16S rDNA sequencing respectively, were similar by location sampled, and variance in both assemblages was driven in part by concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorous, dissolved manganese, and dissolved copper, which were all higher near the continent. Some of the most common diatom sequence types observed were Thalassiosira and Fragilariopsis, and bacteria in the plankton size fraction were most commonly Bacteroidetes and Gammaproteobacteria. Network analysis showed positive associations between diatoms and bacteria, indicating possible in situ mutualisms through strategies such as siderophore and vitamin biosynthesis and exchange. This work furthers the understanding of how naturally occurring gradients of metals and nutrients influence diatom-bacteria interactions. Our data suggest that distinct groups of diatoms and associated bacteria are interacting under different trace metal regimes in the WAP, and that diatoms with different bacterial partners may have different modes of biologically supplied trace metals.


Recently, phosphospecific flow cytometry has emerged as a powerful tool to analyze intracellular signaling events in complex populations of cells because of its ability to simultaneously discriminate cell types based on surface marker expression and measure levels of intracellular phosphoproteins. This has provided novel insights into the cell- and pathway-specific nature of immune signaling. However, we and others have found that the fixation and permeabilization steps necessary for phosphoprotein analysis often negatively affect the resolution of cell types based on surface marker analysis and light scatter characteristics. Therefore, we performed a comprehensive profile of >35 different murine surface marker Abs to understand the effects of fixation and permeabilization on surface Ag staining. Fortuitously, ∼80% of the Abs tested resolved cell populations of interest, although with decreased separation between positive and negative populations and at very different titers than those used on live cells. The other 20% showed either complete loss of separation between populations or loss of intermediately staining populations. We were able to rescue staining of several of these Ags by performing staining after fixation, but before permeabilization, although with limited fluorophore choices. Scatter characteristics of lymphocytes were well retained, but changed dramatically for monocyte and neutrophil populations. These results compile a comprehensive resource for researchers interested in applying phosphospecific flow cytometry to complex populations of cells while outlining steps necessary to successfully apply new surface marker Abs to this platform.


Two approaches are considered in an attempt to mollify previous observations regarding the very negative impact that voter abstentions can have on Plurality Rule, Negative Plurality Rule and Borda Rule when voters' preferences are assumed to be statistically independent. The first option is to add a degree of dependence among voters' preferences, and the second is to consider extensions of these three voting rules by using each as the basis for a two-stage elimination election procedure. The end result in both cases is that improved results are indeed observed for both Condorcet Efficiency and the probability that a Borda Paradox is observed for larger values of voter participation rates. The very disturbing result is that both of these options actually tend to make things worse with voter participation rates of 40% or less, and voter participation rates are observed in practice at this level.


This colloquium serves as a conceptual and experiential platform to stage the insights generated on the case method by the faculty who have taught and/or trained at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA). It comprises three sections titled Contexts (including Technology and Culture), Institutions, and Futures. The institutions comprise IIM, Ahmedabad, IIM, Bangalore, and IIM, Indore though the primary focus remains on the curricular and pedagogical innovations at IIMA. The insights on the future of the case method in India that emerged from the colloquium are the following: The availability of information and communication technologies in the emerging milieu is not a threat but an opportunity to reinvent the method; this, however, requires breaking from the 'classical method' in order to innovate. The changing demographics of the classroom necessitate a greater appreciation and sensitization to how cultural differences can affect the receptivity to the case method. The written analysis of cases (WAC) was and will continue to remain the site for introducing the case method to the incoming students of the Post-Graduate Programme (PGP) at IIMA. Communication skills can be taught effectively if a performative dimension is built into the case discussion through role plays. Many of the cases used in the IIMs reflect the ethos of a socialist, pre-liberal era of the Indian economy. There is a pressing need to develop cases that reflect the economic developments of recent times. The case method will continue to be the mainstay of the forthcoming PGPX (PGP for executives) at IIMA since the greater work experience of the participants will make it possible to combine 'inductive and personalized' forms of learning. An examination of the barriers to effective case teaching and writing at IIM, Bangalore reveals that a formal review process may help to increase the standard of cases and teaching notes. The institutionalization of the case method in a new IIM requires enormous efforts on the part of both individual faculty (with prior exposure to the method) and the institute as a whole. The learnings from the experiment at IIM, Indore are relevant to understanding what is at stake in the replication of the method in a new institution. The Socratic Method is not synonymous with the case method; it is not the instructor�s task to invoke the dialectical method in response to an 'inner voice,' but an attempt to facilitate the learning process. The method persists despite adverse conditions in many institutions. Questions of form remain more important than content in teaching through this method since it helps to negotiate the gap between 'management reality' and 'methodical management.' The method should move from a mere 'post-mortem' of a business situation to a dynamic orientation and facilitate active learning through the realization of the dictum that 'the past is in the present as in the future.' The case method will continue to structure the education of managers in the future despite changes in the nature of competition, the organizational environment, etc. However, it may be necessary to supplement the case method with field-based projects to generate the habit of decision-making; this will also make the learning contemporary for the participants.


For at least the past decade, the social service sector has been pressed by external forces to develop models of interagency collaboration. While many organizations use strategic partnerships, joint service delivery models, and even mergers to remain viable in climates of competition, few agencies have explored the possible rewards of sharing development and fundraising tasks. This article examines an innovative collaborative fundraising entity forged by three child welfare organizations in the New York City area. The authors conducted structured interviews with key stakeholders at each of the three agencies to describe the model as implemented by the agencies as well as begin to identify the organizational and executive characteristics that may make such models successful. The article concludes with a discussion of recommendations and suggestions for organizations interested in pursuing similar collective efforts, in addition to providing areas of consideration for agency executives.


Abstract Manchester University offered the first full time, undergraduate Medical Informatics degree programme in the UK. The B.Sc. in Medical Informatics was conceived in 1992 and its first cohort of students, taking the three year version, graduated in 1996; those students taking the four year version of the undergraduate degree will graduate in July 1997. The paper describes our somewhat turbulent experience of the first four years, highlighting both the difficulties and successes of launching an inter-disciplinary degree. First, the story of the programme's development is given by way of an introduction and to establish a suitable context for describing the programme in more detail. Then, after presenting the aim and objectives of the programme, we describe the overall structure of the course, and reflect upon certain key issues for establishing Medical Informatics as a distinct, academic discipline.


Adrenocortical nycthemeral (day-night alteration) and hypoxic stress responses of rats were evaluated 48 h following 70% hepatectomy. Morning plasma and adrenal corticosterone concentrations of hepatectomized (H) rats at 0800 hours were significantly higher than those of sham (S) operated animals. Although both groups showed significant nocturnal elevations in these parameters at 2000 hours, the nocturnal rises in plasma corticosterone levels were 75% and 223% in H and S rats, respectively, yet the absolute steroid levels did not differ between the groups. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) response of H animals to hypoxia was assessed by measuring plasma corticosterone levels at various times before, during and after exposure to 10% O2 at ground level. Curvilinear analysis of the plasma steroid levels revealed a significantly slower corticosterone rise during the hypoxic phase in H than S animals, as well as a much slower return to baseline levels after the hypoxic stimulus was terminated. The latter indicates a decreased hepatic capacity to inactivate steroids in H animals, while the sluggish activation of the HPA system by hypoxia may be due to altered neuroendocrine control resulting from prior exposure of feedback sites to elevated basal plasma corticosterone levels.


Digitalisation seems to have reached enough momentum to dominate discussions regarding the state and future of public service broadcasting (PSB) in recent years. Starting from a background overview of the main developments in PSB (policy, structure and content) since its inception, the article analyses current debates regarding the future of PSB. The most heard stakeholders, the dominant positions, discourses and arguments regarding the position of PSB in the 'new' digital, interactive, personalised media future are identified. Next, and crucially, this article intends to lay bare the technological determinism implicit in much of this debate and the implications for the way in which the discussion is being held. Taking instead a social constructivist point of view, the article concludes with an analysis of the way in which the main goals of access, universality and quality can be reinterpreted in the light PSB's position in a changing society.


About 15-25% of aging population suffers from swallowing difficulties, and this creates an increasing market need for food mass customization. Food industry is investigating mass customization techniques to meet individual needs on taste, nutrition and mouthfeel. Three dimensional (3D) food printing is a potential solution to overcome drawbacks of current food customization techniques such as lower production efficiency and high manufacturing cost. This study introduces the first generation food printer concept designs and functional prototypes that target to revolutionize customized food fabrication by 3D printing (3DP). Different from robotics-based food manufacturing technologies designed to automate manual processes for mass production, 3D food printing integrates 3DP and digital gastronomy technique to customize food products. This introduces artistic capabilities into domestic cooking, and extends customization capabilities to industrial culinary sector. Their applications in domestic cooking or catering services can not only provide an engineering solution for customized food design and personalized nutrition control, but also have potential to reconfigure customized food supply chains. In this paper, the selected prototypes are reviewed based on fabrication platforms and printing materials. A detailed discussion on specific 3DP technologies and their associate dispensing/printing process for 3D customized food fabrication with single and multi-material applications are reported. Lastly, impacts of food printing on customized food fabrication, personalized nutrition, food supply chain, and food processing technologies are reported and discussed.


Attentional orientation to a spatial cue and reorientation—after invalid cueing—are mediated by two distinct networks in the human brain. A bilateral dorsal frontoparietal network, comprising the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and the frontal eye fields (FEF), controls the voluntary deployment of attention and may modulate visual cortex in preparation for upcoming stimulation. In contrast, reorienting attention to invalidly cued targets engages a right-lateralized ventral frontoparietal network comprising the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and ventral frontal cortex. The present fMRI study investigated the functional architecture of these two attentional systems by characterizing effective connectivity during lateralized orienting and reorienting of attention, respectively. Subjects performed a modified version of Posner's location-cueing paradigm. Dynamic causal modeling (DCM) of regional responses in the dorsal and ventral network, identified in a conventional (SPM) whole-brain analysis, was used to compare different functional architectures. Bayesian model selection showed that top-down connections from left and right IPS to left and right visual cortex, respectively, were modulated by the direction of attention. Moreover, model evidence was highest for a model with directed influences from bilateral IPS to FEF, and reciprocal coupling between right and left FEF. Invalid cueing enhanced forward connections from visual areas to right TPJ, and directed influences from right TPJ to right IPS and IFG (inferior frontal gyrus). These findings shed further light on the functional organization of the dorsal and ventral attentional network and support a context-sensitive lateralization in the top-down (backward) mediation of attentional orienting and the bottom-up (forward) effects of invalid cueing.


The study of fossil bone assemblages has brought up evidence of the existence in the Pleistocene of faunal communities with no modern analogues. This is notably the case for Palaeolithic archaeological sites that have yielded, in the same stratigraphic layers, remains of species that are rarely sympatric in present-day ecosystems. The Mousterian – layer C – and Châtelperronian – layer B – of Grotte XVI (Dordogne, France) provide examples of such "composite" faunas: high proportions of Red deer (21 % and 34 % of the total number of identifiable remains of ungulates, respectively), Roe deer (17 % and 14 %) and Reindeer (42 % and 26 %) have been described in the same assemblages. In order to better interpret these no-analog communities, large mammal remains from layers B and C of Grotte XVI are reanalysed here. Taxonomic identifications, taphonomic data (cortical surface states, anthropic marks, evidences of carnivore activity, etc.), season-of-death estimates and bone refits (intra- and inter-layers) are combined and analysed as part of a three-dimensional spatial study of the faunal assemblages.


as regards number of axioms. Dickey replaces one of Dickson's seven axioms by an alternate form and is then able to eliminate two others, while Chinthayamma reduces Dickey's set to four axioms by a similar replacement. All three sets contain one implication, the remaining axioms being identities. It may be presumed that if the sequence of improvements were continued it would eventually converge to a set due to Huntington 1225 which consists of only three identities and one less primitive (which may be introduced by a single identity). The papers of Iseki and Ohashi give new characterizations of Boolean algebras as varieties of rings, the original result in this direction being due to Stone 4992. These new systems arise from work of both authors along with that of Blakley on new axioms for commutative rings (Blakley, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 15 (1968), p. 730; Iseki and Ohashi, Proceedings of the Japan Academy, vol. 44 (1968), pp. 920-922; and Ohashi, ibid., pp. 915-919). Iseki has five axioms: (1) r + 0 = r, (2) r-\ = r, (3) ((-r) + r)-a = 0, (4) ((ay + bx) + cr)r = b(rx) + (a(yr) + cr), (5) 1 • r = r. Ohashi replaces (4) and (5) by


This document was written for the National Low-Level Waste Management Program to provide guidance for managers and site operators who need to select ground-water transport codes for assessing shallow-land burial site performance. The guidance given in this report also serves the needs of applications-oriented users who work under the direction of a manager or site operator. The guidelines are published in two volumes designed to support the needs of users having different technical backgrounds. An executive summary, published separately, gives managers and site operators an overview of the main guideline report. Volume 1, titled ''Guideline Approach,'' consists of Chapters 1 through 5 and a glossary. Chapters 2 through 5 provide the more detailed discussions about the code selection approach. This volume, Volume 2, consists of four appendices reporting on the technical evaluation test cases designed to help verify the accuracy of ground-water transport codes. 20 refs.


This studio course engages the thresholds, constructs, and narratives of the Negev/Naqab Desert and uses critical architectural practice to counter settler colonial perceptions of emptiness and unsettle the legacies of technocratic infrastructures while confronting the Western and Eurocentric gaze that genericizes desert ecologies and cultures. The work seeks fulsome desert imaginaries, inclusive of erased and marginalized histories and cultures and spatializes conditions of migration, erasure, and power through a series of exercises that engage the depth of the desert. Students work in open-ended, hybrid approaches to create deep cartographies and layered perspectival readings that reveal the interdependent cultural and climatic worlds of the Negev/Naqab.


The recommendation framework is vital tool for efficient E-commerce contacts between customers
and retailers. Efficient and friendly contacts to find the right product have a huge effect on the sales
results. In the basis of a technical approach, four of the program model guidelines are: collective
filtering, content-based and demographic filtering. Collaborative filtering is considered superior to
other methods in the list. Of necessity, in terms of fortuity, novelty and precision, it provides
advantages. The DLSARS Framework is a deep learning-based sentiment analysis for the DLSARS
recommendation system that uses deep learning models for a proposed system. The dataset selected
for this research is synthetic dataset which consists of huge number of reviews for every product.
The proposed models display superiorities and compare the findings with other existing models. The
proposed DLSARS frame with bigram approach is superior to the other domain on the E-commerce
domain.


An experiment was performed to test the effectiveness of a comparative approach of teaching world cultures to secondary school students. With the comparative approach, cross-cultural comparisons are employed rather than the traditional presentation of one culture at a time. It was hypothesized that students receiving a comparative curriculum would perform better than conventionally taught students on two indices. As expected, comparative students did perform significantly better on a test of course content. However, no effect upon cultural openmindedness of students occurred as a result of a comparative approach. Discussion centered on practical problems of implementing an innovative world cultures curriculum. A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO TEACHING WORLD CULTURES Timothy J. Pettibone and Joseph M. Petrosko New Mexico State University Educators have recently cited the deficiencies of secondary school and primary school curricula in providing students with an appreciation of nonAmerican cultures. Much of the problem lies with the nature of social studies curriculum in general. As Dunfee & Sagl (1966, p. 15) note, "Not only is social studies one of the newest areas of the curriculum; it is also one of the least understood, most misinterpreted areas." Political events; and social movements in recent years have thrust the so-called 'Third World" nations into prominence. There is need for innovation in social studies curriculum. But little has been done in evaluating new approaches toward presenting social studies material. For example, a recent review (Skettering & Sundeen, 1969) notes that little research in social studies education has been performed in the last decade. The present report describes an innovative curriculum approach in the teaching of world cultures on the secondary level. Maximal use was made of community resources and facilities. The project was initiated in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania school system in the spring of 1969. The Nationalities Service Center (NSC) of Philadelphia, a community organization supported by the United Fund and which promotes cross-cultural programs at all age levels, presented a program proposal to officials of the Philadelphia Board of Education. Under this program a


Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, and especially the Mu-rhythm over the sensorimotor cortex that relates to the activation of the mirror neuron system (MNS), were acquired from two subject groups (orchestral musicians and nonmusicians), in order to explore action representation processes involved in the perception and performance of musical pieces. Two types of stimuli were used, i.e., an auditory one consisting of an excerpt of Beethoven's fifth symphony and a visual one presenting a conductor directing an orchestra performing the same excerpt of the piece. Three tasks were conducted including auditory stimulation, audiovisual stimulation, and visual stimulation only, and the ac quired signals were processed using fractal [time-dependent fractal dimension (FD) estimation] and statistical analysis (analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney). Experimental results showed significant differences between the two groups while desychronization of the Mu-rhythm, which can be linked to MNS activation, was observed during all tasks for the musicians' group, as opposed to the nonmusicians' group who exhibited similar response only when the visual stimulus was present. The mobility of the conductor was also correlated to the estimated FD signals, showing significantly higher correlation for the case of musicians compared to nonmusicians' one. The present study sheds light upon the difference in action representation in auditory perception between musicians and nonmusicians and paves the way for better comprehension of the underlying mechanisms of the MNS.


The demand to increase performance while conserving power has led to the invention of multi-core systems. The software until now had the convenience of gaining better performance over faster processors without any need for a change. The advances in the multi-core hardware have shifted the responsibility of software performance from hardware architects to software developers. To harness the true power of the multi-core, the software must utilize the available cores and memories. In this thesis, we focus on the issue of multi-core memory mapping which is an area of active research. The availability of multiple memories creates several possibilities for memory mapping. Further, with an increase in the number of memories and application parameters there is an exponential increase in the number of possible mappings. In this context, the challenge is to find techniques which automate the process of finding an efficient mapping for a given use case. The use case under consideration is an automotive software running on a multi-core electronic control unit (ECU). The proposed techniques help to optimize memory accesses by performing efficient memory mapping and reduce the runtime on a system which employs a non uniform memory access (NUMA) characteristic. The optimal memory mapping problem is NP-complete, it is tackled using integer linear programming (ILP) for smaller problems and heuristics to practically solve bigger problems. We also propose metaheuristics as an add-on to mitigate the drawbacks of ILP and heuristics. The experiments on the dual-core ECU hardware show that our flash memory mapping techniques reduce runtime by 2.76% when caches are enabled and up to 8.73% when caches are disabled. Also, the benefit of the ILP technique for RAM is 50.48% when compared to the placement of all the variables in global RAM.


IntroductionTo minimize the risk of cross-infection between the patient and the medical staff, it is necessary to use individual protective measures such as gloves. According to the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), protective gloves should always be used upon contact with blood, mucosa, injured skin or other potentially infectious material.Materials and MethodsThe aim of the study was to evaluate, through quasi-observation, the use of protective gloves by medical staff according to the guidelines issued by the CDC and WHO. The results were subject to statistical analysis (p < 0.05).ResultsDuring 1544 hours of observations, 3498 situations were recorded in which wearing protective gloves is demanded from the medical staff. The overall percentage of the observance of using gloves was 50%. The use of gloves depended significantly on the type of ward, profession, performed activity, number of situations that require wearing gloves during the observation unit and the real workload. During the entire study, as many as 718 contacts with patients were observed in which the same gloves were used several times.ConclusionWearing disposable protective gloves by the medical staff is insufficient.

http://ijomeh.eu/pdf-2188-2217?filename=The use of protective.pdf


The small-scale distribution and retention mechanisms of white perch (Morone americana) and striped bass (M. saxatilis) early-life stages were investigated in the upper Chesapeake Bay estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM). Physical measurements and biological collections were made at fixed-location stations within the ETM during three research cruises in 1998 and two in 1999. Results were compared with mapping surveys of physical properties and organism distributions above, within, and below the ETM. Physical conditions at the fixed stations differed markedly among cruises and between years due to differences in freshwater flow and wind. In each year, striped bass and white perch larval concentrations were highest in waters of salinity 1–4. Larvae were more abundant in the ETM region in 1998, a high-flow year, suggesting that the ETM provides favorable nursery habitat when low salinity waters and the ETM coincide in high freshwater-flow conditions. In 1998, the earliest pelagic life stages of fish larvae (eggs, yolk-sac larvae) and the copepod Eurytemora affinis, an important prey of feeding larvae, apparently were retained in deep, landward-flowing water within the salt front and ETM region. Statistical analyses indicated that distributions of white perch and striped bass post-yolk-sac larvae were associated with E. affinis distributions and suggested that retention of larval fish could result from tracking prey. Comparing fixed-station and mapping approaches demonstrates the importance of sampling at different spatial scales within the ETM region and suggests that larvae are faced with trade-offs between selecting zones of high retention or high visual-feeding success.


Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection causes various gastric diseases, among them H. pylori-associated gastritis characterized by diffuse redness of the gastric mucosa. The haemoglobin index (IHb) of the fundic mucosa is an objective parameter of the extent of mucosal redness, but it is unclear whether or not IHb can be used as a diagnostic marker for H. pylori infection. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the correlations between IHb of the fundic mucosa and H. pylori infection, inflammatory cell infiltration, and inflammatory mediator production. Methods: IHb of the fundic mucosa was measured in 108 patients with various gastric diseases (group 1), and values were compared between H. pylori-positive and H. pylori-negative patients. Fifteen patients with H. pylori infection from group 1 underwent H. pylori eradication therapy and IHb was measured before and after treatment. Both IHb and inflammatory cell infiltration were assessed in 61 patients (group 2). In 31 patients from group 2, the expression of interleukin (IL)-8 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) messenger RNA (mRNA) was assayed in gastric biopsy specimens by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: IHb levels were significantly higher in H. pylori-positive patients than in H. pylori-negative patients (P < 0.001). IHb was decreased at one month after the eradication of H. pylori (P < 0.001). IHb was higher in patients with infiltration by both mononuclear cells and neutrophils (P < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between the IHb level and the expression of IL-8 mRNA (P < 0.001), as well as between IHb and iNOS mRNA expression (P < 0.05). Conclusions: There were significant correlations between IHb of the gastric mucosa and H. pylori infection, inflammatory cell infiltration, and IL-8/iNOS mRNA expression, suggesting that IHb is a reliable marker of H. pylori infection for use during follow-up endoscopy after H. pylori eradication therapy.


The structure of a sodium-calcium exchange protein provides insight into the mechanism of Ca2+ transport through the cell membrane. Calcium ion (Ca2+) signaling is essential to many cellular processes, from fertilization to apoptosis (cell death). Stable Ca2+ levels are achieved through tightly regulated and coordinated cellular processes. Alterations in Ca2+ levels are involved in many pathological conditions, including stroke and heart failure (1). After Ca2+ stimulation, the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX)—a ubiquitous Ca2+ export protein residing in the plasma membrane—participates in the restoration of resting levels of Ca2+ in excitable cells. On page 686 of this issue, Liao et al. (2) report the structure of a prokaryotic homolog of NCX, revealing a symmetrical protein scaffold and ion-binding pocket that provides detailed insights into the Na+/Ca2+ exchange process.


This thesis is about coffee and small scale farmers in Chiapas Mexico producing and commercializing fairtrade coffee. About 125 million families are depending on the income from coffee. Coffee is produced in underdeveloped countries in the south and consumed by developed countries in the north. It is the second most traded commodity after oil on the worlds exchange markets. The coffee bean travels through a long commodity chain before reaching our coffeecups and there are many hands who wants their share of the coffee price. Not much is left for the poor farmers and the situation is unsustainable. The coffee crisis in 1989 triggered mexican farmers to initiate a model for a fairtrade solution.


We consider dark matter production during the inflaton oscillation epoch. It is conceivable that renormalizable interactions between dark matter and inflaton may be negligible. In this case, the leading role is played by higher dimensional operators generated by gravity and thus suppressed by the Planck scale. We focus on dim-6 operators and study the corresponding particle production in perturbative and non-perturbative regimes. We find that the dark matter production rate is dominated by non-derivative operators involving higher powers of the inflaton field. Even if they appear with small Wilson coefficients, such operators can readily account for the correct dark matter abundance.