Population genomic screening has been demonstrated to detect at-risk individuals who would not be clinically identified otherwise. However, there are concerns about the increased utilization of unnecessary services and the associated increase in costs. The objectives of this study are twofold: (1) determine whether there is a difference in healthcare utilization and costs following disclosure of a pathogenic/likely pathogenic (P/LP) BRCA1/2 variant via a genomic screening program, and (2) measure the post-disclosure uptake of National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guideline-recommended risk management. We retrospectively reviewed electronic health record (EHR) and billing data from a female population of BRCA1/2 P/LP variant carriers without a personal history of breast or ovarian cancer enrolled in Geisinger's MyCode genomic screening program with at least a one-year post-disclosure observation period. We identified 59 women for the study cohort out of 50,726 MyCode participants. We found no statistically significant differences in inpatient and outpatient utilization and average total costs between one-year pre- and one-year post-disclosure periods ($18,821 vs. $19,359, p = 0.76). During the first year post-disclosure, 49.2% of women had a genetic counseling visit, 45.8% had a mammography and 32.2% had an MRI. The uptake of mastectomy and oophorectomy was 3.5% and 11.8%, respectively, and 5% of patients received chemoprevention.


The goal of a cow-calf producer is to produce a calf each year per cow. Research suggests that first year heifers struggle breeding back with their second calf because of the adjustments to new range/main herd conditions and the partitioning of nutrients between gaining weight, milk production, and gestation. This study was conducted at the V-V ranch at the University of Arizona for five years and looked at the effects on young cows when calves were weaned from first year heifers at 80 days rather than 205 days. Early weaning allows for gestational benefits because they are given the opportunity to adapt to herd conditions by applying feed resources to the in utero fetus and their own body condition rather than lactation. All first year heifers were included over three years, and were randomly assigned to two groups, normal weaning (NW) or early weaning (EW). This resulted in 122 heifers in the group whose calves were EW and 119 heifers in the group whose calves were NW. Heifers that were in the EW group bred back at a 27% higher rate in their second year, and had 15% greater longevity in the herd. Calves that were in utero when the nursing calves were early EW were 16.4 kg heavier at weaning. Part of this was due to the age of the calf and part to gestational health. EW was an effective strategy for improving reproductive performance of first year heifers as well as their survival rate in the herd to 5 years of age. It also resulted in improved performance for their in utero calves.


The stanford two-mile linear accelerator uses 240, single-input-port, four output-port, S-band, rectangular-waveguide networks to feed RF energy sixty to seventy feet from the klystrons above ground to ten-foot-long, disk-leaded, circular-waveguide, accelerator sections below ground. During installation it is necessary to permanently adjust the phase lengths of the four network branches to be within /spl plusmn/4.5 electrical degrees of the design lengths for RF wave and electron beam synchronization. A modulated reflection phase-length comparison method is used, whereby a small signal is sent into each branch and reflected, in turn, by a diode switch, which is turned on and off at a 1 kHz rate. A null occurs in the amplitude modulation of the sum of a large reference signal and the small reflected signal, when the two signals are nearly in-phase quadrature. The reflectors are placed so that the network branches are properly adjusted when the nulls from all branches occur for the same setting of a variable phase shifter in the measurement line. Small mismatches and multiple power divisions do not affect the accuracy of this method. Frequency, temperature, and air pressure are the main environmental conditions affecting the measurement and are discussed along with the design of the reflecting diode switch, which is mounted in a vacuum-sealed waveguide flange.


We discuss the emission of submillimeter waves from optically excited coherent wave-packet oscillations in quantum-well structures in terms of the emitted power. The material dynamics are treated in a two-band real-space density-matrix approach; the radiation process, by conventional antenna theory. Excitation geometries that assist cooperative radiation from all points of the excited spot are proposed. We consider amplification by phase-locked feedback of the terahertz wave to the emitter in a resonator. Our results lead to concepts for optimized power extraction from coherent terahertz sources.


Technogenic impact on the geological environment inevitably leads to a change in the properties of rocks. Engineering structures quite often directly interact with rocks, therefore, reliable determination of their properties is an urgent task in construction. From a practical point of view, knowledge of not only the physical and mechanical properties of rocks, but also their characteristics in contact with technogenic impact is of great interest. This determines the relevance of studying the characteristics of changes in the properties of rocks under the influence of technogenic factors. The aim of the work is to consider the issues of changing the properties of rocks under the influence of technogenic factors of the geological environment. Technogenic impact on the geological environment is classified according to various criteria, and is divided into global, zonal, regional and local categories. The authors rightly give preference to the following operating factors: pressure, fluctuations in the stress state, hydrogeological conditions, changes in the composition of groundwater, etc. Particular attention is paid to rock swelling, rock salinization and the influence of various microorganisms on rocks. In the article of the above authors, it is proposed to consider in detail the orohydrographic conditions of the studied geological environment, geomorphological conditions of the territory, geological structure, hydrogeological conditions (upstream, groundwater, interstratal waters), geo-dynamic conditions (all processes and phenomena expressed in a given territory), as well as to study the composition (mineral, granulometric, chemical), the state of rocks (moisture, density, porosity) and properties of rocks (strength, deformation and geological) - for a comprehensive assessment of the surrounding geological environment. Attention is also paid to the dynamic impact, i. e. the factors of liquefaction, thixotropy and other soil deformations are given.


We introduce some epistemic extensions of G\"odel logic, and consider a Kripke-based semantics with both fuzzy propositions and fuzzy accessibility relations. We adopt belief as our epistemic operator, then discuss on different fuzzy implications to explain why our chosen semantics for belief is appropriate. We propose a fuzzy version of traditional muddy children problem. Next, we establish three Hilbert-style derivation systems $K_F, B_F$ and $T_F$, and prove soundness and completeness theorems with respect to some appropriate class of Kripke models.


Based on the test results, a section of working bodies was selected for strip tillage, theheight, the length of the soil disks were determined experimentally. As well as the test result acceptable for strip tillage is a combination of working bodies, consisting of a one cutting paws with a soilproviding high rates of soil crumbling quality well as cleansing them of stubble and roots.


OBJECTIVES
Oral health is essential to maintaining good overall health, and access to dental care is necessary for the early detection, prevention and control of oral diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a significant disruption in the provision of dental services globally. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on dental services provided in Australia through the Child Dental Benefits Schedule.

METHODS
This study was a retrospective analysis of Medicare data on utilization of the Child Dental Benefits Schedule obtained from the Australian Government. Data were analysed for the period February to September 2020, with the number of services provided per month across five categories (diagnostic, preventive, restorative, endodontic and oral surgery) compared with the monthly average for 2019 (95% CI) and the same month for 2019. Total services by month were reported for 2017, 2018 and 2019 to compare the yearly trend with 2020. Differences in services provision by State/Territory were also described.

RESULTS
Over the period of March to September, there were 881 454 fewer dental services provided in 2020 than 2019, with the largest decline seen in April. There was a greater decline in preventive and diagnostic services, and a smaller decline in endodontic and oral surgery services. A second wave of COVID-19 in Victoria saw 198 609 fewer dental services provided in that state from July to September 2020 than 2019. Dental service provision had still not returned to normal levels across Australia by September 2020.

CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the provision of dental services to children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who already experience higher levels of dental disease and disadvantage in accessing dental care. Although the restriction of dental services was deemed necessary in order to minimize the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the dental setting, the impact of these restrictions on oral health will be long lasting. Given the chronic and progressive nature of dental disease, the deferral of necessary dental care is likely to contribute to poorer oral health and long-term problems for many Australians.


A simple procedure at room temperature using non-toxic and cost-effective precursors has been developed to prepare magnetic Prussian blue/graphene oxide (PB/Fe3O4/GO) nanocomposites for the removal of radioactive cesium in water. Taking advantage of the combined benefits of GO and magnetic PB nanoparticles, PB/Fe3O4/GO nanocomposites exhibit excellent removal efficiency (over 90% for 50 ppm Cs+) and rapid separation from an aqueous solution by an external magnetic field. In addition, the adsorption behavior of these adsorbents fits well with the Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Sorption of 70.25% Cs+ to PB/Fe3O4/GO was finished in less than 30 min, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 55.56 mg g−1. The improved adsorption efficiency and capacity of PB/Fe3O4/GO can be attributed to the anchoring technology, which reduced the aggregation of nanoparticles and increased the effective adsorption surface of the adsorbent. These nanocomposites present a high selectivity to Cs+ and extract it in trace amounts. The removal mechanism of Cs+ was revealed for the first time to be H+-exchange and/or ion trapping. The temperature and pH value both affect the sorption performance. The composites were stable in natural water, seawater, and acidic/basic solutions ranging from pH = 4 (HNO3) to 10 (NaOH) with negligible leaching of Fe.


Abstract:  In cartilage and bone‐producing cells, proliferation and growth are balanced with terminal differentiation. Maintaining this balance is essential for modeling, growth, and maintenance of the skeleton. Cartilage growth follows a program regulated by hormones and cytokines interacting with a counter‐regulatory system in which hedgehog and parathyroid hormone (PTH)‐rP signals are key elements. This maintains chondrocyte proliferation and, at specific sites, allows differentiation. Bone is produced by differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells on a scaffold of mineralizing cartilage. However, bone, once formed, is continually resorbed and replaced. Thus, maintenance of bone mass requires retention of stem cells and preosteoblasts in undifferentiated division‐competent stages. Maintenance of the undifferentiated states is poorly understood, whereas the rate of osteoblast formation is regulated in part by PTH and insulin‐like growth factor. The precursor pool is also subject to depletion by differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells to nonbone cells including adipocytes. In the aging skeleton, disordered balance between bone formation and resorption is in major part due to immune dysregulation that increases formation of bone‐degrading osteoclasts; tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α is a major intermediate in this process.


Over the last 25 years, the terminology of skin and soft tissue infections, as well as their classification for optimal management of patients, has changed. The so-called and recently introduced term 'acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections' (ABSSSIs), a cluster of fairly common types of infection, including abscesses, cellulitis, and wound infections, require an immediate effective antibacterial treatment as part of a timely and cautious management. The extreme level of resistance globally to many antibiotic drugs in the prevalent causative pathogens, the presence of risk factors of treatment failure, and the high epidemic of comorbidities (e.g. diabetes and obesity) make the appropriate selection of the antibiotic for physicians highly challenging. The selection of antibiotics is primarily empirical for ABSSSI patients which subsequently can be adjusted based on culture results, although rarely available in outpatient management. There is substantial evidence suggesting that inappropriate antibiotic treatment is given to approximately 20–25% of patients, potentially prolonging their hospital stay and increasing the risk of morbidity and mortality. The current review paper discusses the concerns related to the management of ABSSSI and the patient types who are most vulnerable to poor outcomes. It also highlights the key management time-points that treating physicians and surgeons must be aware of in order to achieve clinical success and to discharge patients from the hospital as early as possible.


Abstract : Basic properties of noradrenaline release were studied in primary cultures of thoracolumbar postganglionic sympathetic neurons taken from 1‐3‐day‐old NMRI mice. After 7 days in vitro, the cultures were preincubated with [3H]noradrenaline and then superfused and stimulated electrically. Conventional trains of pulses (for example, 36 pulses at 3 Hz) as well as single pulses and brief high‐frequency trains (for example, four pulses at 100 Hz) elicited a well‐measurable overflow of tritium, which was abolished by 0.3 μM tetrodotoxin or omission of Ca2+, but not changed by 1 μM rauwolscine. In trains of one, two, four, six, eight, or 10 pulses at 3 Hz, the evoked overflow of tritium remained constant from pulse to pulse at 1.3 mM Ca2+, but declined slightly at 2.5 mM Ca2+. Tetraethylammonium at 10 mM selectively increased the overflow elicited by small pulse numbers and especially by a single pulse. In trains of 10 pulses delivered at 0.3, 1, 3, 10, 30, or 100 Hz, the evoked overflow of tritium increased from 0.3 to 30 Hz and then declined at 100 Hz. This relationship was particularly pronounced at low Ca2+ concentrations (for example, 0.3 mM) Tetraethylammonium at 10 mM selectively increased the overflow elicited by low frequencies of stimulation. It is concluded that primary cultures of mouse postganglionic sympathetic neurons can be used to investigate release of [3H]noradrenaline. The release is well measurable, even upon a single electrical pulse. It agrees with release in intact sympathetically innervated tissues in a number of fundamental properties, including the pulse number and frequency dependence. The preparation may be of special interest in conjunction with genetic manipulations in the donor animals.


Aims This study aimed to characterise seasonal variation, co-infection rates, susceptible groups (by gender, age and co-morbidities) and selected clinical features of childhood human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infection. Methods The study was a retrospective analysis of 656 HMPV-positive respiratory samples collected from paediatric patients aged 0–15 years processed from January 2010 to December 2013 using real time PCR assays. In addition, 200 HMPV-positive samples from January 2012 to January 2013 were cross-referenced with electronic discharge summaries and descriptive statistical analyses of selected clinical features were performed. Results 377 of 656 (57%) HMPV-positive samples were from male patients. HMPV was most frequently detected in children aged 6–9 months and the median age of patients studied was 15 months. Seasonal patterns of HMPV infection varied from year to year. The peak in HMPV-positive isolates occurred between February and May. 117 of 656 (17.5%) samples were positive for other respiratory viruses in addition to HMPV. The most common co-infections were due to rhinovirus (58/656, 8.84%) and adenovirus (36/656, 5.49%). 81 (40%) of the 200 fully-characterised patients were hospitalised, 7 (3.5%) of whom required intensive care (ICU) or high dependency (HDU) admission. Rashes were reported in 14 (7%) and febrile seizures in 9 (4.5%) of 200 patients. These clinical features were more common in children with co-infections [6/40 (15%) and 4/40 (10%) respectively]. Conclusions Male gender is suggested as a predisposing factor for HMPV infection, along with younger age. Seasonal variation of HMPV infection in Scottish children appears different to the reported winter peaks of other studies, with peak incidence occurring between February and May in our dataset. Co-infection is common, and most frequently associated with rhinovirus or adenovirus. Rashes and febrile seizures are relatively common in HMPV-positive patients, especially those co-infected with other respiratory pathogens. Human metapneumovirus is a significant cause of morbidity in children. Further, larger-scale epidemiological research appears warranted, along with work to develop new therapies aimed at targeting HMPV.


Most major rivers in the southwestern United States have been hydrologically altered to meet human needs. Altered hydrological regimes have been associated with declines in native riparian forests. Today, many riparian areas have little or no regeneration of native riparian species and are now dominated by exotic Saltcedar (Tamarix chinensis Lour.). Success of riparian restoration efforts at least partially depends on the number of seedlings surviving the first growing season. Seedling survival is influenced by many abiotic and biotic factors including competition from other plants and available soil moisture, which is partially dependent on soil texture. In this study, we evaluated the relative importance of four soil categories (sandy loam, loam, silt, and clay), rate of soil moisture decline, salinity, beginning‐ and end‐season Saltcedar density, initial Cottonwood (Populus deltoides Marshall subsp. wislizenii (Wats.) Eckenw.) seedling density, percent vegetation cover by potential dominant competitors Pigweed (Amaranthus L.) and Barnyard grass (Echinochloa crusgalli L., Beauv.), and average total vegetation height to Cottonwood seedling survival. Factors influencing seedling survival differed among the four soil types. Rate of moisture decline was important in sandy soils, whereas vegetation height influenced seedling survival in loamy soils. Overall, models of seedling survival in all the four soil types indicated rate of moisture decline as the single most important variable influencing Cottonwood survival. High initial densities of Saltcedar were correlated to higher survival in Cottonwood seedlings. Therefore, it is important to identify soil texture and understand soil moisture decline rates when proposing riparian Cottonwood restoration.


Xenon is frequently used as a general anesthetic in humans, but the mechanism remains an issue of debate. While for some membrane proteins, a direct interaction of xenon with the protein has been shown to be the inhibitory mechanism, other membrane protein functions could be affected by changes of membrane properties due to partitioning of the gas into the lipid bilayer. Here, the effect of xenon on a mechanosensitive ion channel and a copper ion-translocating ATPase was compared under different conditions. Xenon inhibited spontaneous gating of the Escherichia coli mechano-sensitive mutant channel MscL-G22E, as shown by patch-clamp recording techniques. Under high hydrostatic pressure, MscL-inhibition was reversed. Similarly, the activity of the Enterococcus hirae CopB copper ATPase, reconstituted into proteoliposomes, was inhibited by xenon. However, the CopB ATPase activity was also inhibited by xenon when CopB was in a solubilized state. These findings suggest that xenon acts by directly interacting with these proteins, rather than via indirect effects by altering membrane properties. Also, inhibition of copper transport may be a novel effect of xenon that contributes to anesthesia.


Raphionacme vignei E. A. Bruce (Apocynaceae) is a plant of the traditional African pharmacopoeia, whose parts are used in the treatment of various pathologies. Water-soaked R. vignei tubers are edible. The objective of this study was to isolate triterpenoids from the acetonic extract of R. vignei tubers, evaluate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of each molecule. The isolated compounds, characterized by NMR and mass spectrometry, is composed of  six  triterpenoids:  beta-amyrin  dodecanoate  1(DDQ1),  lupeol  dodecanoate 2(DDQ2),  beta-amyrin  acetate  3(DDQ3),  lupeol  acetate  4(DDQ4),  luepol  5(DDQ5)  and β-sitosterol   6(DDQ6).   These   molecules   (DDQ2,   DDQ3,  DDQ4,  DDQ5,  DDQ6)  are anti-inflammatory  in  carrageenan  induced  rat  paw  edema,  with  better  anti-inflammatory power for DDQ2 and DDQ4, which would be related to the presence of acetate function and cycle  E.  DDQ2  and  DDQ4 are also analgesic in acetic acid induced contortions and the removal  test  of  rat  tail  on  the  heating plate. The analgesic action of DDQ2 and DDQ4, superior to that salicylic acetyl acid, identical to that morphine, suggests a central action of these two molecules. The potent analgesic effect of DDQ2 and DDQ4, could be attributed to the presence of cyclopentane and isoprene substitution in position 19 of the lupane family. DDQ2  and  DDQ4  represent  a  potential  for  the  synthesis  of  structural  analogues  with analgesic and/or anti-inflammatory properties.


Classifying the sub-categories of an object from the same super-category (e.g., bird) in a fine-grained visual classification (FGVC) task highly relies on mining multiple discriminative features. Existing approaches mainly tackle this problem by introducing attention mechanisms to locate the discriminative parts or feature encoding approaches to extract the highly parameterized features in a weakly-supervised fashion. In this work, we propose a lightweight yet effective regularization method named Channel DropBlock (CDB), in combination with two alternative correlation metrics, to address this problem. The key idea is to randomly mask out a group of correlated channels during training to destruct features from co-adaptations and thus enhance feature representations. Extensive experiments on three benchmark FGVC datasets show that CDB effectively improves the performance.


Purpose: To compare the accuracy with which electron beam tomography (EBT) and -MIBI scanning measure myocardial perfusion valve. Materials and Methods: Twenty-two subjects [normal volunteers (n = 6), patients in whom ischemic heart disease was diagnosed (n = 5), and those in whom ischemic heart disease was suspected but who were found to be normal (n = 11)] were involved in this study. EBT was performed after bolus injection of contrast media (50 ml of Iopamiro 370 or Optiray 350, 3 ml/sec). The myocardium was divided into 16 segments according to the classification devised by the American Society of Echocardiography, and each myocardial perfusion value was calculated by post-image processing. A pharmacologic stress test was performed in all subjects except four patients with acute myocardial infarction, and myocardial perfusion reserve ratios were assessed. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed after the injection of 20 mCi of -MIBI. Any segments with moderate to severe photon defect on visual analysis of SPECT were identified and perfusion values determined by EBT in normal and ischemic segments were compared. Results: No difference in myocardial perfusion was found between volunteers and the suspected group. Their perfusion values were 0.710.14 ml/g/min in the resting state and 1.160.24 ml/g/min on the stress test and the myocardial perfusion reserve ratio was, therefore, 1:1.680.38. In ischemic patients, -MIBI scanning revealed a perfusion defect in 28 segments, and on EBT the measurement obtained was 0.540.19 ml/g/min. The remaining 324 perfusion segments shown by SPECT to be normal showed a perfusion value of 0.790.22 ml/g/min on EBT. Conclusion: Compared with -MIBI scanning, the measurement of myocardial perfusion by EBT provides absolute quantification of perfusion value and more detailed anatomic information.


Wireless Video Sensor Network (WVSN) are gaining increasing popularity due availability of low cost CMOS camera and miniaturization of hardware. For many applications it is difficult to have pre-engineered deployment of video camera sensors which leads to redundancy. Due to sectored coverage and random deployment, it becomes challenging to model video sensor coverage to identify redundancy and suppress redundant video transmission. Several efforts have been made to model coverage redundancy considering 2-dimensional coverage. Field of View (FoV) of the camera sensor is in 3-dimensions, thus it is very difficult to model the coverage and identify overlap area for realistic camera. 3-dimensional coverage is largely an unexplored problem. In this paper, a realistic 3-dimensional pyramid camera coverage is assumed and backup set of nodes are computed. Backup set of a node is a set of video sensor nodes which collectively covers coverage area of the node under consideration. The approach presented in the paper identifies minimal sized set of backup nodes which can be used to adaptively duty cycle the video capture and transmission. The result shows that number of nodes required to remain active to cover the sensor field is reduced and in turn average energy consumption of the network also reduces.


This paper presents a newly developed, simultaneous neural speech-to-speech translation system and its evaluation. The system consists of three fully-incremental neural processing modules for automatic speech recognition (ASR), machine translation (MT), and text-to-speech synthesis (TTS). We investigated its overall latency in the system's Ear-Voice Span and speaking latency along with module-level performance.


Ethiopia has grown on average 10 % annually for more than a decade and the country is the fifth fastest growing economy among the 188 IMF member countries. As such, growth in one sector of the economy does not automatically transform into equal benefits for the population. This study specified an empirical investigation of the relationship between the economic growth of Ethiopia and its determinant as studies in this area are inadequate. Alongside this backdrop, the data span for the study was the annual data from 1974 to 2013, and employed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Approach to Co-integration. Error Correction Model (ECM) was used in order to examine the long-run and short run relationship between the dependent variable (real GDP) and its determinant independent variables.The findings of the bounds test confirmed that there was the steady long run association between the real GDP, Physical capital, human capital, export, foreign aid, external debt and inflation. Moreover, the empirical results reveal that physical capital, human capital, export, foreign aid and inflation were found the positive impact on economic growth both in the long run and short run, whereas external debt affects economic growth negatively but, statically significant both in the long run and short run. Conversely, the study reveals that total export of goods and service, foreign aid and inflation were statistically insignificant at 5% level on the GDP growth of Ethiopia in the long run.


Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 150 loci associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk. Most association signals are located in noncoding regions of the genome, and uncertainty remains over the causal gene in the vast majority of cases. Motivated by the overall aim of accelerating the translation of genetic discoveries into molecular mechanisms for disease pathogenesis, the work presented in this thesis sought to identify candidate causal genes, and to study their roles in human beta cell function. The causal mechanism for non-coding variants at the CDKN2A/B locus has remained elusive, though animal models have implicated Cdkn2a in beta cell function. To determine the effect of CDKN2A haploinsufficiency on glucose homeostasis in humans, I analysed data from oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests in individuals carrying rare CDKN2A loss-offunction mutations. Compared with controls, carriers displayed increased insulin secretion, impaired insulin sensitivity, and reduced hepatic insulin clearance. Follow-up studies in the human beta cell line, EndoC-βH1, demonstrated cell-cycle independent effects of CDKN2A on insulin secretion. At the PAM/PPIP5K2 locus, two non-synonymous variants in PAM are associated with both T2D risk and insulinogenic index. To elucidate a causal mechanism, I investigated possible local and extra-pancreatic roles of PAM in beta cell function. I demonstrated that PAM deficiency results in reduced insulin content and altered dynamics of insulin secretion in EndoC-βH1 and primary beta cells. I also identified the amidated granular packaging protein Chromogranin A as an endogenous PAM substrate, establishing a direct link to granulogenesis in human beta cells. Lastly, to enable systematic, large-scale prioritization of causal genes for T2D risk, I performed a high-throughput RNAi screen for beta cell dysfunction. Among 300 genes selected from 75 risk loci, I identified significant hits at half of these regions. The hits were highly enriched for known monogenic diabetes genes, but also revealed the poorly characterised transcription factor ZMIZ1 to be one of the strongest regulators of insulin secretion. Silencing of ZMIZ1 in primary human islets subsequently revealed a core beta cell network to be negatively affected, highlighting a plausible causal mechanism. Overall, this thesis has addressed a significant outstanding challenge in the translation of genetic signals into disease mechanisms. Using a range of different strategies, including genetic data, candidate gene biology, and functional genetic screening, the work has successfully identified several candidate causal mechanisms for beta cell dysfunction at T2D risk loci. These results provide a deeper understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underpinning disease predisposition, and thus highlight potential new therapeutic applications.


In this paper, we present Neural k-Opt (NeuOpt), a novel learning-to-search (L2S) solver for routing problems. It learns to perform flexible k-opt exchanges based on a tailored action factorization method and a customized recurrent dual-stream decoder. As a pioneering work to circumvent the pure feasibility masking scheme and enable the autonomous exploration of both feasible and infeasible regions, we then propose the Guided Infeasible Region Exploration (GIRE) scheme, which supplements the NeuOpt policy network with feasibility-related features and leverages reward shaping to steer reinforcement learning more effectively. Additionally, we equip NeuOpt with Dynamic Data Augmentation (D2A) for more diverse searches during inference. Extensive experiments on the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) demonstrate that our NeuOpt not only significantly outstrips existing (masking-based) L2S solvers, but also showcases superiority over the learning-to-construct (L2C) and learning-to-predict (L2P) solvers. Notably, we offer fresh perspectives on how neural solvers can handle VRP constraints. Our code is available: https://github.com/yining043/NeuOpt.


The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) recently published (March 2012) their interventional procedural guidance (421) for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for aortic stenosis.1 This document replaced the previous guidance 266 which was issued in June 2008.2

The recent NICE guidance deserves comment on a number of fronts.

The timing of delivery of the guidance is problematic. The 2-year outcomes of the only randomised trial (the Partner US trial) with this technology was publicly presented, and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 26th March 2012.3 ,4 To decide the content of the guidance and publish it without the content of these two landmark papers appears a strange decision. 'Process' should surely fall into line with the 'best' recommendations for patients. It is difficult to understand why the two publications could not be more closely aligned as it is clear that the dates of publication of the 2-year Partner data were known well in advance.

If we now turn to the specifics of the guidance, it is worth just reviewing the data on which it is based. The world literature is split between one randomised clinical trial (the Partner US trial) and a myriad of single and multicentre registries (either independent or industry sponsored). The guidance has chosen to concentrate on the SOURCE Registry5 and the UK National Registry.6 The reasons for this are never explained or justified. The SOURCE registry is a multicentre, company sponsored, single-device registry (the Edwards Sapien first-generation valve). The UK TAVI Registry is a multidevice, multicentre non-sponsored Registry.

The main change in the guidance was …


Understanding speech in the presence of acoustical competition is a major complaint of those with hearing difficulties. Here, a novel perceptual learning game was tested for its effectiveness in reducing difficulties with hearing speech in competition. The game was designed to train a mixture of auditory processing skills thought to underlie speech in competition, such as spectral-temporal processing, sound localization, and auditory working memory. Training on these skills occurred both in quiet and in competition with noise. Thirty college-aged participants without any known hearing difficulties were assigned either to this mixed-training condition or an active control consisting of frequency discrimination training within the same gamified setting. To assess training effectiveness, tests of speech in competition (primary outcome), as well as basic supra-threshold auditory processing and cognitive processing abilities (secondary outcomes) were administered before and after training. Results suggest modest improvements on speech in competition tests in the mixed-training compared to the frequency-discrimination control condition (Cohen's d  = 0.68). While the sample is small, and in normally hearing individuals, these data suggest promise of future study in populations with hearing difficulties.


Abstract The contributions of the Lithuanian geologist Česlovas Pakuckas (1898–1956) (in Poland – Czesław Pachucki) to Pleistocene geology are of major significance, and he is regarded as the pioneer of modern glaciomorphological investigations of the Baltic marginal highlands in Lithuania and Poland. Pakuckas published his first paper on the glacial morphology of south Lithuania in 1934, followed in 1936 with one on the orientation marginal moraines in the east Lithuanian highlands and their origin, and in 1938 with another on the glacial morphology of south Lithuania. His ideas on glacial morphology were presented at the First Conference of Lithuanian and Latvian geologists held in Kaunas in 1940. Working in Poland after World War II, Pakuckas continued his glaciomorphological research and compiled data on the correlation of end moraines of NE Poland and south Lithuania with those in west Belarus as well as the Peribalticum. He concluded that during the Last Glaciation, the continental glacier was not a single ice sheet but consisted of a number of flows, each dependent on topography and each with its specific glacial centre. In Lithuania, Pakuckas defined one large field of lateral moraines, the so-called Baltic Highland consisting of the Sūduva, Dzūkija and Aukštaitija highlands. He traced this formation SW as the Mazurian arc of lateral moraines (in NE Poland) and found that the Švenčionys–Naroch or north Belarus field of lateral moraines extend to the NE of the Baltic Highland.


Surprising videos, e.g., funny clips, creative performances, or visual illusions, attract significant attention. Enjoyment of these videos is not simply a response to visual stimuli; rather, it hinges on the human capacity to understand (and appreciate) commonsense violations depicted in these videos. We introduce FunQA, a challenging video question answering (QA) dataset specifically designed to evaluate and enhance the depth of video reasoning based on counter-intuitive and fun videos. Unlike most video QA benchmarks which focus on less surprising contexts, e.g., cooking or instructional videos, FunQA covers three previously unexplored types of surprising videos: 1) HumorQA, 2) CreativeQA, and 3) MagicQA. For each subset, we establish rigorous QA tasks designed to assess the model's capability in counter-intuitive timestamp localization, detailed video description, and reasoning around counter-intuitiveness. We also pose higher-level tasks, such as attributing a fitting and vivid title to the video, and scoring the video creativity. In total, the FunQA benchmark consists of 312K free-text QA pairs derived from 4.3K video clips, spanning a total of 24 video hours. Extensive experiments with existing VideoQA models reveal significant performance gaps for the FunQA videos across spatial-temporal reasoning, visual-centered reasoning, and free-text generation.


Background: In the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, follow-up of patients with trigeminal neuralgia post radio-frequency ablation (RFA) of the Gasserian ganglion was restricted because of closure of pain clinic services (PCSs) at our institution, travel restrictions, and fear of contracting COVID-19 infection by hospital visit. Periodic follow-ups are a must in this group of patients. Because the access to pain medications and consultations remained restricted, we tried identifying the factors predisposing to these difficulties in patients. Methods: We had contacted patients telephonically, who underwent RFA at our institution in the past 5 years as the PCS had not re-started to follow up with in-person consultation. Demographics, socio-economic factors, clinical factors, literacy status, distance to the health care system, and current health status were noted. Collected data were analyzed descriptively, and correlations were calculated between the predictors for difficulty in follow-up to access the medications and consultations. Results: Out of 121 patients who underwent RFA in the past 5 years, 73 were accessible on phone. Of these, 42.46% (31/73) patients had difficulty in accessing either medications or consultation. The literacy status of the patient was the strongest predictor (0.044) with a negative correlation (-1.216). Difficulty in accessing PCS was associated with a poor health status (p-0.032) and higher pain scores (0.066). Conclusion: Along with the clinical factors, we have to overlook other factors in predicting difficulty to access PCS in trigeminal neuralgia patients post the RFA status. Difficulty in access to pain medicines and/or consultations was associated with a poor health status and higher pain scores.


Since the second half of 2015, the price of pork has come into a new round of rising cycle, especially from January to April of 2016, pork prices continued rising. Excessive rising of pork prices sparks people's concern about CPI rising. It is of practical significance to discussing the fluctuation cycle of pork price and its relationship with CPI. In this context, we do empirical research on pork cycle and price fluctuations with CPI relationships. From January 2000 to March 2016, based on a total of 195 samples, using Eviews6.0 metrology software, we draw the following conclusions: fluctuations in the price of pork did Granger cause CPI, the impact of pork price fluctuations on the CPI was significant and the effect significantly was enhanced after certain lag; CPI did not Granger cause pork price fluctuations, CPI had no significant effect on the price of pork; pork price was affected by its own large contribution, and there was a certain time lag effect of the impact; CPI had a positive impact on itself, for its contribution is relatively large. Finally we put forward relative strategies.


ZnCdO nanowires with up to 45% Cd are demonstrated showing room temperature photoluminescence (PL) down to 2.02 eV and a radiative efficiency similar to that of ZnO nanowires. Analysis of the microstructure in individual nanowires confirms the presence of a single wurtzite phase even at the highest Cd contents, with a homogeneous distribution of Cd both in the longitudinal and transverse directions. Thermal annealing at 550 °C yields an overall improvement of the PL, which is blue-shifted as a result of the homogeneous decrease of Cd throughout the nanowire, but the single wurtzite structure is fully maintained.


This paper study the clinical effect of octreotide in the treatment of cirrhosis with upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage.A total of 90 patients with cirrhosis and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage treated in our hospital from January 20167 to January 2018 were randomly divided into two groups: the observation group and the control group, with 45 cases in each group. The control group was treated with pituitrin and the observation group was treated with octreotide. The hemostasis time, treatment effect and adverse reaction rate of the two groups were compared. In the observation group, 30 patients with hemostasis within 24 ± 1.0 hours, 9 patients with hemostasis within 72 ± 2.0 hours, 4 patients with hemostasis after 72 hours, and 2 patients without hemostasis were significantly better than those in the control group (P < 0.05); in the observation group, 43 (95.56) patients with effective rate were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05); in the observation group, 4 (8.89) patients with adverse reactions were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The difference was statistically significant.In the treatment of liver cirrhosis and upper gastrointestinal bleeding patients, octreotide has significant effect. The patients have faster hemostasis, higher treatment efficiency, lower adverse reaction rate, significantly improve the hemostasis rate and reduce the mortality rate. It is worth popularizing and applying clinically.


Based on the Ruderman-Sutherland (or shortly R-S) model, the mechanisms of gamma-ray emission from pulsars are discussed. We mainly consider the influences of magnetic fields on photon absorption. The concept of generation order parameters for pulsars is refined. The generation order parameters are proven to be monotonically and smoothly related to the spectral index and the mean photon energy. The agreement between the calculated results and the observational data is good. The radiation conversion efficiency is also introduced. Based on these concepts, observational quantities such as luminosities, fluxes, mean photon energies and others are calculated and listed in tables. Finally, we discuss the influence of both electric and magnetic fields on the photon absorption.


Gradient boosting relies on linearly combining diverse and weak hypotheses to build a strong classifier. In the class imbalance setting, boosting algorithms often require many hypotheses which tend to be more complex and may increase the risk of overfitting. We propose in this paper to address this issue by adapting the gradient boosting framework to a non-linear setting. In order to learn the idiosyncrasies of the target concept and prevent the algorithm from being biased toward the majority class, we suggest to jointly learn different combinations of the same set of very weak classifiers and expand the expressiveness of the final model by leveraging their non-linear complementarity. We perform an extensive experimental study using decision trees and show that, while requiring much less weak learners with a lower complexity (fewer splits per tree), our model outperforms standard linear gradient boosting.


Abstract Bumblebees are important pollinators in mountainous regions. The highland region of Sichuan and Chongqing (together, Sichuan in the former broad sense) includes part of the greatest hotspot of bumblebee diversity worldwide, with half of the species of China and more than a fifth of the world's species. In this paper we present the first review of this diverse but particularly poorly known fauna, drawing on 6705 bees from selective samples made by the authors during field work and from museum collections, together with 1123 literature records (an overlapping set). Among this material we recognise 56 species that have 847 names (including infrasubspecific names). One new species, Bombus (Pyrobombus) wangae, is described from Sichuan and Gansu. B. laesus is found to have a colour pattern in this part of its range that was previously undescribed. Six species are recorded from the Sichuan‐Chongqing region for the first time (B. avanus, B. branickii, B. difficillimus B. humilis, B. norvegicus, B. tibetanus), of which B. avanus is only the second published record worldwide. One species, B. braccatus, is endemic to Sichuan and is confirmed as extant in 2005. We provide diagnoses and keys to species for both sexes. Colour variation is described, distributions within the Sichuan‐Chongqing region are mapped, altitudinal and seasonal activity are plotted, and the authors' records of food plants are listed.


Dysregulation of inflammation induced by noninfectious stress conditions, such as nutrient deprivation, causes tissue damage and intestinal permeability, resulting in the development of inflammatory bowel diseases. We studied the effect of autophagy on cytokine secretion related to intestinal permeability under nutrient deprivation. Autophagy removes NLRP3 inflammasomes via ubiquitin-mediated degradation under starvation. When autophagy was inhibited, starvation-induced NLRP3 inflammasomes and their product, IL-1β, were significantly enhanced. A prolonged nutrient deprivation resulted in an increased epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), leading to intestinal permeability. Under nutrient deprivation, IL-17E/25, which is secreted by IL-1β, demolished the intestinal epithelial barrier. Our results suggest that an upregulation of autophagy maintains the intestinal barrier by suppressing the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes and the release of their products, including proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-17E/25, under nutrient deprivation.


This study examined the parents and teachers' perceived strategies for reducing truancy among secondary school students. The population for the study is all the parents and teachers from Onitsha Education Zone in their first year in-service training, University of Nigeria Nsukka. The sample for the study comprised of 91 teachers and 207 parents randomly drawn from parents and teachers offering Educational Psychology 1 (Edu2 11). A 25-item instrument named Perceived Strategies for Curbing Truancy Questionnaire (PSCTQ) was used to collect data. The instrument was validated with the estimated reliability coefficient of 0.97. Three research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the research questions while t-test statistics was used to test the hypothesis. The result showed that parents and teachers have the same perception of the strategies for reducing truancy. However, the result statistically revealed significant difference in the scores of parents' and teachers' perception. It is recommended that parents should provide the needed materials for their children's schooling and also encourage them in their academic work. Teachers should vary the teaching methods they use in the classroom to motivate the students; and they should also report truancy cases of the students to their parents.


To assess whether trial participants who ceased efavirenz (EFV) because of neuropsychiatric events had elevated plasma concentrations, we performed a retrospective case–control study. EFV levels were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography in stored plasma from 35 cases and 75 matched controls. All had taken EFV for at least 4 weeks. Median EFV concentrations did not differ (P = 0.77). Measurement of EFV levels in plasma collected at variable times after the last dose did not predict central nervous system intolerance.


During infection, the influenza A virus RNA polymerase produces both full-length and aberrant RNA molecules, such as defective viral genomes (DVG) and mini viral RNAs (mvRNA). Subsequent innate immune activation involves the binding of host pathogen receptor retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) to viral RNAs. However, not all influenza A virus RNAs are strong RIG-I agonists. Here we show that potent innate immune activation by mvRNAs is determined by transient RNA structures, called template loops (t-loop) that stall the viral RNA polymerase. The effect of t-loops depends on the formation of an RNA duplex near the template entry and exit channels of the RNA polymerase, and their effect is enhanced by mutation of the template exit path from the RNA polymerase active site. Overall, these findings provide a mechanism that links aberrant viral replication to the activation of the innate immune response.


In conventional prospecting, scalar CSAMT measurement simplicity and low operational cost. Since the stru cture of earth's conductivity is complex, the scalar CSAMT The complex condition s need or tensor CSAMT, to interpret interpretation. A full sol ution 1D CSAMT forward modeling and used to interpret both vector and scalar CSAMT data. constrained inversion was interpretations. The results indicate the importanc e of vector CSAMT data in complex geological system.


We investigated the self-regulatory strategies people spontaneously use in their everyday lives to regulate their persistence during aversive activities. In pilot studies (pooled N = 794), we identified self-regulatory strategies from self-reports and generated hypotheses about individual differences in trait self-control predicting their use. Next, deploying ambulatory assessment (N = 264, 1940 reports of aversive/challenging activities), we investigated predictors of the strategies' self-reported use and effectiveness (trait self-control, demand types). The popularity of strategies varied across demands. In addition, people higher in trait self-control were more likely to focus on the positive consequences of a given activity, set goals, and use emotion regulation. Focusing on positive consequences, focusing on negative consequences (of not performing the activity), thinking of the near finish, and emotion regulation increased perceived self-regulatory success across demands, whereas distracting oneself from the aversive activity decreased it. None of these strategies, however, accounted for the beneficial effects of trait self-control on perceived self-regulatory success. Hence, trait self-control and strategy use appear to represent separate routes to good self-regulation. By considering trait- and process-approaches, these findings promote a more comprehensive understanding of self-regulatory success and failure during people's daily attempts to regulate their persistence.


Sensor webs are the most recent generation of data acquisition systems. The research presented looks at the concept of sensor webs from three perspectives: node, user, and data. These perspectives are different but are nicely complementary, and all extend an enhanced, usually wireless, sensor network. From the node perspective, sensor nodes collaborate in response to environmental phenomena in intelligent ways; this is referred to as the collaborative aspect. From the user perspective, a sensor web makes its sensor nodes and resources accessible via the WWW (World Wide Web); this is referred to as the accessible aspect. From the data perspective, sensor data is annotated with metadata to produce contextual information; this is referred to as the semantic aspect. A prototype that is a sensor web in all three senses has been developed. The prototype demonstrates the ability of managing information in different knowledge domains. From the low-level weather data, information about higher-level weather concepts can be inferred and transferred to other knowledge domains, such as specific human activities. This produces an interesting viewpoint of situation awareness in the scope of traditional weather data.


Traditional network security protocols depend on exchanging the security keys between the network nodes, and thus opposing the network to different classes of security threats. In this paper, a multi-agent system for cryptographic key generation is proposed for real-time networks. The proposed key generation technique generates a 256-bit security key for the advanced encryption standard (AES) algorithm using the textural features of digital images. By implementing this key generation technique at both the sender and receiver network nodes, the process of exchanging the security keys through the network would be eliminated, and thus making communication between network nodes robust against different security threats. Simulation results over a real-time network show the efficiency of the proposed system in reducing the overhead of the security associations performed by the IPsec protocol. On the other hand, the proposed agent-based system shows a high efficiency in guaranteeing the quality-of-service (QoS) of the real-time requests in terms of miss-ratio and total average delay through applying the best scheduling algorithm.


. We present Veech's proof of Sarnak's theorem on the M¨obius flow which say that there is a unique admissible measure on the M¨obius flow. As a consequence, we obtain that Sarnak's conjecture is equivalent to Chowla conjecture with the help of Tao's logarithmic Theorem which assert that the logarithmic Sarnak conjecture is equivalent to logaritmic Chowla conjecture, furthermore, if the even logarithmic Sarnak's conjecture is true then there is a subsequence with logarithmic density one along which Chowla conjecture holds, that is, the M¨obius function is quasi-generic.


Purpose: The purpose of the article is to critically analyse State Bank of Pakistan's Shariah governance framework (SGF) which is indeed a backbone for the survival of Islamic banking institutions (IBIs). Shariah compliance along with other contemporary standards makes it more challenging for the staff to ensure satisfaction of all stakeholders of IBIs. Besides profitability, IBI customers need complete satisfaction that their funds have been administered according to the Shariah law  and returns are from permissible business operations.
Design/methodology/approach: SGF was analysed for making inferences by systematically and objectively identifying special characteristics of the framework for IBIs. Utilising interpretive and naturalistic approach including both observational and narrative based  discourses associated with ground realities, the article outlines pragmatic modifications in existing framework to bridge the gap between Shariah boards and the board of directors.
Findings: Over the years Shariah governance mechanisms have significantly groomed  in Pakistan, however, the need and room for improvement always remains for further developments . SGF enables convenient operations of IBIs with predetermined set of instructions and objectives. Nevertheless, IBIs need continuous monitoring and handholding to implement the SGF in true   spirit. This article critically analysed updated SGF (2018) through content analysis and identified a few important gaps in the existing SGF. Those gapes such as absence of   It has been observed that lack of performance evaluation of Board of Directors (BoD) and Shariah Board (SB) is important impediment  in the development and expansion of IBIs.
Originality/Value: Current study identifies  that existing SGF is devoid of determining  key performance indicators (KPIs) for IBIs in terms of Shariah compliance and performance of BoDs and SBs. Therefore, this article concluded with proposed new Shariah governance framework for IBIs to ensure close liaison between BoD and SB through Board's Committee of Shariah Governance (BCSG) with the provision of indicators for Shariah compliance ratings of IBIs.


Israel Lyons grew up among the academic luminaries of mid–eighteenth–century Cambridge, but his humble Jewish origins prevented him from becoming a member of the university. Nevertheless, his precocious mathematical genius and his botanical enthusiasm led to a publication on fluxions at the age of 19, and a survey of Cambridge flora a few years later. His botanical skills made him Oxford's choice to lecture on the principles of botany to the young Joseph Banks and 60 of his fellow students, and his mathematical abilities made him the Astronomer Royal's choice for one of the first two computers for the Nautical Almanac. Eventually chosen, through Banks's patronage, as the astronomer for the 1773 voyage toward the North Pole, led by the Hon. Constantine Phipps, F.R.S., his career ended with a tragically early death at the age of 36, but his contemporary fame had been considerable and his achievements were remarkable in the light of his background.


With almost ten years of nationwide dialogue and experimentation with the legal implementation of smart growth concepts at the state and local levels, this paper pauses to consider whether and to what extent success has been realized. The one certainty in this dynamic intersection of land development and conservation is that there is no one best model adaptable to all fifty states. Rather, to accommodate national diversity in local government structure, cultural relationships of people to the land, and differences in geography and a sense of place, the best lesson learned is that advocates and lawmakers alike must shape and adopt politically palatable policies, programs, and regulations to best fit their unique jurisdictional sustainability needs. However, with the realization that a lot of innovation is taking place at the state level in furtherance of smart growth initiatives also comes the reality that if states fail to continue to promote and refine these programs, the United States will lose the fight for sustainability. This paper examines the recent efforts by states to provide localities with the tools necessary to curb sprawl and to promote sustainable communities.


V-I properties of YBCO bulk superconductor (QMG: YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub x/ bulk single crystal containing Y/sub 2/BaCuO/sub x/ particles) were measured using pulse current at 77 K and 87 K to obtain basic data for super-normal transition. Because of its high Jc property QMG is a promising bulk material for HTC-FCL application. I-shaped QMG rods having cross section of 0.5 mm/spl times/1.0 mm were prepared to measure voltage due to pulse current. The plots of InV vs. InI yielded a straight line with a slope ranging from 5.8 to 7.9 at 77 K. By changing the amplitude and duration of pulses the time from the start of feeding current till the occurrence of quench were obtained for various amplitudes of pulse current. In this experiment, it is considered that the quench did not occur in the whole rod but only in a small part.


Chronic stress is a major problem in organisations and police are at particular risk due to regular exposure to traumatic stressors on the job. This research was initiated by the New South Wales Police Force (NSWPF) to address this problem. It focuses on the development and evaluation of resilience-training programs. Resilience training aims to equip participants with coping skills that can help them to "bounce back from adversity" and be resilient. Key research questions included: Can a brief training course enhance the long-term resilience of police recruits and prevent future psychological injuries? What is the most appropriate resilience training design? What factors are related to better outcomes for resilience training? Drawing on a broad literature review covering stress, policing, coping, emotion regulation, developmental psychopathology and occupational health psychology, we designed a resilience-training program that was universal (to be provided to all officers), preventative (designed to prevent future injuries), and targeted to address transdiagnostic factors that were related to the development of a range of stress-related pathology (especially PTSD and depression). The program was informed by an understanding of risk and protective mechanisms that shape the impact of stressors together with the literature on stress interventions. In order to reduce experiential avoidance and promote coping flexibility, the program incorporated content from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The research program involved three studies. Studies 1 and 2 were conducted with recruits at the NSWPF Academy while study 3 was conducted with 3rd year psychology students. The program design was updated between the studies to address issues that were identified, and to explore study-specific hypotheses. In line with the existing literature, in study 1 we found that the targeted mechanisms of change accounted for a large amount of variance in the mental health outcome measures indicating that the intervention was directed at important factors that serve to build resilience. However, findings of high levels of RESILIENCE TRAINING IN THE WORKPLACE 4 attrition, poor training engagement and poor knowledge retention demonstrated problems with training transfer. Program changes were made to address these problems in study 2, with an emphasis on motivating practice through coaching calls and a focus on stages of change. Key findings were that participants who practised the skills during the coaching period experienced significant reductions in stress, t(14) = 3.25, p < .01, PTSD symptoms, t(14) = 2.46, p < .05, and a significant increase in mindfulness, t(14) = -3.05, p < .01. Study 3 built on studies 1 and 2 with a particular focus on homework, stages of change and the replacement of coaching calls with performance aids (in the form of both a Smartphone App and traditional workbook). There were some promising findings, with improvements across time, including a reduction in experiential avoidance, t(53) = -2.01, p = .05, and increases in values progress, t(53) = 2.06, p < .05, and instrumental support , t(53) = 2.09, p < .05. The participants' change pathway was found to significantly moderate the impact of the training program on practice amount, F(2,49) = 7.17, p < .05, anxiety, F(2, 49) = 4.04, p < .05, perceived stress, F(2,49) = 3.95, p < .05, resilience, F(2,49) = 6.05, p < .01, values progress, F(2,49) = 4.10, p < .05, with the biggest improvements in wellbeing mainly found for participants who were already in an action stage of change for stress management, followed by participants who moved into progress. While practice method was not found to impact on well-being scores, it was found to impact practice quality, t(35.11) = -2.65, p < .05. In conclusion, it appears as if a brief training course can have positive outcomes but more work needs to be done to investigate long-term resilience; the resilience training design needs to be focused on the core constructs of coping and emotion regulation, protective mechanisms and training transfer; and better outcomes are achieved when the training motivates participants to progress along the stages of change and practice the skills. While there is more work to be done the research outlined in this thesis has contributed to moving resilience training forward. RESILIENCE TRAINING IN THE WORKPLACE 5


Manipulation of light energy flow within the tight focus not only is important to the fundamental study of light-matter interactions but also underpins significant practical applications. However, the coupling between the electric and the magnetic fields of a focused light beam sets a fundamental barrier for independent control of these field components, restricting the focal energy flow primarily in the axial direction. In this paper, a 4π microscopic configuration is theoretically proposed to untangle the tight relation between the electric field and the magnetic field in a subwavelength-scale focal voxel. By independently altering the amplitudes of different field components in the focal region, energy flow with three-dimensionally unlimited orientation and ultra-high orientation purity (more than 90%) can be generated. This result expands the flexibility of energy flow manipulations and holds great potential in nanophotonics such as light scattering and optical force at subwavelength dimensions.


The public value framework, with its call for more entrepreneurial activities by public managers, has attracted concern and criticism about its implicit breaching of the politics/administration dichotomy. This article explores the role of political astuteness not only in discerning and creating public value, but also in enabling public managers to be sensitive to the dichotomy. We employ a conceptual framework to identify the skills of political astuteness, and then articulate these in relation to identifying and generating public value. Drawing on a survey of 1,012 public managers in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, and in-depth interviews with 42 of them, we examine the perceptions and capabilities of public managers in producing value for the public while traversing the line (or zone) between politics and administration. We conclude that political astuteness is essential to both creating value and maintaining allegiance to democratic principles.


We report the detection of a cool stellar component at the center of the planetary nebula (PN) Me 1-1 and present optical spectra of the system. From measurements of nebular emission lines, we have derived electron temperature, density and chemical composition. Heavy elemental abundances deduced from collisionally excited lines (CELs) are compared with those derived from optical recombination lines (ORLs). The electron temperature and density deduced from the nebular analysis were used to calculate the nebular continuum emission, which was then subtracted from the observed spectrum in order to obtain the spectrum of the cool stellar component apparent in the observed spectrum. We calculate B and V magnitudes of the cool companion and obtain a color index of B − V = 1.20. By comparing the spectrum of the cool star with standard spectra in Pickles's 1998 Stellar Flux Library, we find that the cool component has the spectral type of a K3-4 bright giant. Our analysis suggests that Me 1-1 is probably a yellow symbiotic system.


Adhesive capsulitis is a problem for the orthopedic surgeon due to the difficulty of treatment. Although it is self-limited, few patients will wait for spontaneous resolutions while suffering pain and progressive loss of motion. Our aim was to modify the course of the disease and to shorten recovery time by combining intensive physiotherapy with intra-articular infiltration and gentle manipulation. 49 patients with 50 frozen shoulders were enrolled in the study. All patients were treated initially with physiotherapy for 4-8 weeks. If no improvement was noted the affected shoulder was infiltrated and gently manipulated. 27 of 49 patients (55%) improved dramatically with the initial physiotherapy regimen. They achieved full or nearly full range of motion, with significant relief of pain. 22 patients were infiltrated and manipulated. Elevation improved significantly from an average of 110.95 to 165.71 degrees (p < 0.001), external rotation from an average of 9.52 to 43.57 degrees (p < 0.001) and internal rotation also improved significantly (p < 0.001). Self assisted physiotherapy is the corner stone of treatment in adhesive capsulitis. When pain and limitation of passive range of motion persist, infiltration and gentle manipulation dramatically shortens the debilitating process.


Cost–benefit analysis is a key component in the evaluation of economic development strategies. In this new, updated version of his earlier book, Project Appraisal for Developing Countries, Robert Brent provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to recent developments in project appraisal.


Abstract Purpose To perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the mGES into Dutch and investigate its construct validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and floor and ceiling effects in a large cohort of community-dwelling older adults. Materials and methods We translated the British version of the mGES into Dutch, back into English, and had a native English speaker review the final version. Next, we included 223 community-dwelling older adults from the 'Veilig in Beweging Blijven' (VIBE) cohort (69.8 [67.6–74.3] years old, 155 (69.5%) female), who filled out both the mGES and the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) twice, with a month in between. Construct validity was assessed by Spearman's correlation between the scores on the mGES and the FES-I. Internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability was assessed with the intra class correlation coefficient (ICC(2,1)). Results Construct validity (rho = −0.81, p < 0.001), internal consistency (α = 0.95), and test-retest reliability (ICC(2,1)=0.90, 95%CI = [0.87–0.92]) were all excellent. Ceiling effect was observed in 44 (19.7%) participants which suggest caution when evaluating the mGES for fit and confident older adults. Conclusion The Dutch mGES is a valid and reliable tool to assess confidence in walking and is suggested as a tool for evaluating self-efficacy after interventions aimed at improving gait. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Assessment and rehabilitation of gait may be affected by self-efficacy of walking performance. We show that the Dutch translation of the modified gait efficacy scale is a valid and reliable tool for assessing self-efficacy of walking. A ceiling effect was observed that was associated with muscle strength and symptoms of depression. The results of the present study underline the use of the modified gait efficacy scale in the assessment and evaluation of self-efficacy of walking in rehabilitation.


The background of this research concerns the background by the number of severely malnourished children are increasing each year. Currently the data processing system and the calculation of the nutritional status of children under five are still using manual systems. Reporting nutritional status of children still using paper media which resulted in the frequent occurrence of data redundancy toddlers and infants often data loss occurs. To the authors conducted in-depth research that focuses on how to do the reporting and determination of the nutritional status of infants is more effective and efficient utuk always monitoring early childhood development. So in scientific research, the writer make an application determinants of nutrition in infants to help health centers in Mount harbor reporting and monitoring. This application method is used to support the assessment of nutritional status of children in health centers Mount Labuan is Simple Additive Weighting (SAW). SAW method is to find a weighted summation of rating the performance of each alternative on all attributes (Fishburn, 1967) (MacCrimmon, 1968). This method is the most famous and most widely used in dealing with situations of Multiple Attribute Decision Making (MADM). MADM itself is a method used to find the optimal alternative of a number of alternatives to certain criteria.


Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease related to tooth loss in adults. Infliximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody against TNF-α and is prescribed for the treatment of systemic inflammatory diseases. This study aimed to investigate the role of infliximab on experimental periodontal disease (EPD). EPD was induced by passing a 3.0 nylon thread around the upper left second molar in Wistar rats. Animals were either treated with intravenous infliximab (1, 5, 7, and 10 mg/kg) or saline solution 30 min before the periodontitis induction and were followed until they were sacrificed on the 11th day. A subset of rats was euthanized on the third day for analysis of gingival myeloperoxidase (MPO) and the blood MPO granulocyte index. In addition, we analyzed the bone loss index (BLI), the periodontal histopathological score, and the periodontal collagen network using confocal microscopy. We also analyzed metalloproteinase-1/-8, RANK, RANK-L, and osteoprotegerin in maxillary tissue by immunohistochemistry Gingival MPO, IL-1β, TNF-α were measured by ELISA. EPD caused leukocytosis, significant increases in BLI and gingival pro-inflammatory cytokines and cell infiltrates, with worse histopathological scores and periodontal collagen derangement. Infliximab (5 mg/kg) reduced granulocyte blood counts, gingival IL-1β, TNF-α, and MPO levels, diminished MMP-1/-8, RANK, and RANK-L bone immunolabeling with better periodontal histopathological scores and collagen network in comparison with the challenged saline group. We concluded that infliximab had significant anti-inflammatory and bone-protective effects in Wistar rats challenged by periodontitis.


The coronavirus crisis has damaged the U.S. economy. This paper uses the stock returns of 125 sectors to investigate its impact. It decomposes returns into components driven by sector-specific factors and by macroeconomic factors. Idiosyncratic factors harmed industries such as airlines, aerospace, real estate, tourism, oil, brewers, retail apparel, and funerals. There are thus large swaths of the economy whose recovery depends not on the macroeconomic environment but on controlling the pandemic. Macroeconomic factors generated losses in industries such as production equipment, machinery, and electronic and electrical equipment. Thus, reviving capital goods spending requires not just an end to the pandemic but also a macroeconomic recovery.


Preconditioning the heart by brief coronary (CAO) or mesenteric artery occlusion (MAO) can protect against damage during subsequent prolonged CAO and reperfusion. The role of bradykinin (BK) in remote cardiac preconditioning by MAO is investigated by antagonizing the BK B(2) receptor [Hoechst 140 (HOE-140)] or simulating local BK release by mesenteric intra-arterial infusion. Anesthetized male Wistar rats (n = 6-8) were treated with HOE-140 or saline before starting the preconditioning protocol, CAO, MAO, or non-preconditioned control. Infarct size related to risk area [ratio of infarct area to area at risk (IA/AR)] was determined after 3 h of reperfusion following a 60-min CAO. IA/AR was 62 +/- 5% in controls and not affected by HOE-140 (58 +/- 6%). CAO as well as MAO significantly protected the heart (IA/AR, 37 +/- 3 and 35 +/- 5%), which was prevented by HOE-140 (IA/AR, 71 +/- 6 and 65 +/- 7%, respectively). Brief intramesenteric BK infusion mimicked MAO (IA/AR, 26 +/- 3%). Pretreatment with hexamethonium could abolish this protection (IA/AR, 67 +/- 4%). These data indicate an important role for BK in remote preconditioning by MAO. Results support the hypothesis that remote preconditioning acts through sensory nerve stimulation in the ischemic organ.


Summary form only given. The next grail sought by HPC community is the exascale, 100 times the current scale. This target will not be reached easily as many challenges are uprising. The first challenge, the Energy consumption, has become a strict constraint now with a limit set to 20MW (twice as the current top supercomputers). Multiplying the computing elements will imply to drastically reduce the power consumption of each of them. The second challenge will be to keep it cool as: first the overall power envelope, 20MW, include the energy for cooling and second, because 20MW will be turned into heat by joule effect. And the operating temperature of electronic must be bounded otherwise, the leakage (and thus the power consumption) increases and the reliability decreases. This brings us to a third challenge regarding the reliability of the machine, the number of components will be tremendous, thus, the probability of having failing ones will increase. It has to be managed in such a way that applications will not be impacted by the failures. Finally, The last challenge is related to the software stack of these supercomputers, how will we manage billions of threads, how will we debug it, … New paradigms are currently being studied, for instance Bag of tasks, that try to tackle these aspects. These are the challenges we have to solve!! In this presentation, brightened up with insight into Bull roadmap, we present a possible future.


Summary Polymers are susceptible to degrade under reservoir conditions due to impact of various factors. It is well known that synthetic polymers such as partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) are more prone to mechanical and chemical degradation. However, biological degradation by microorganisms is deemed to be the primary property changing mechanism in case of biopolymers. Thus, for a sound technical and economic viability using polymer flooding, it is important to include this possible phenomenon to complete the analysis of the biopolymer behavior in the reservoir. Mathematical modelling of oil recovery by polymer injection involving biodegradation has so far not been investigated and documented extensively in the literature. In this paper, two numerical approaches as well as a distinct analytical solution are presented which allow quantitative analysis of the biodegradation impact on the polymer flooding. The analytical model assumes radial flow with the polymer degradation rate proportional to its concentration (decay model). For the first numerical approach, this kinetic model is generalized for realization on a real reservoir model. The other numerical approach is more sophisticated and considers explicitly biopolymer together with bacterial population in-situ. In this case, the model distinguishes clearly between the planktonic and the sessile bacterial communities. Biodegradation process, the mass exchange between polymer molecules and bacteria, is described by the chemical reaction equations. We adapted a CMG STARSTM for numerical solution of the model which was applied to interpret a pilot test with biopolymer. A reasonable history match was achieved for the polymer injection well using bottomhole pressure as the primary control parameter, although this was not considered as unique. Our primary focus lies on the characteristic degradation time, which is an explicit input parameter in the first model. We estimated the characteristic degradation time in the model from the outcomes of the multiwell and multiple huff and puff tests. However, the challenge lies in the estimation of this value, due to the complex kinetic of the model in the second approach.


As a key factor in the climate model, cloud phase is an important prerequisite to performing cloud property retrievals from remote sensor measurements. The ability to infer cloud phase using cloud emissivity spectra is investigated by numerical simulations. It is shown that for emissivity below 0.95, several spectral features such as the slopes, the ratios and the differences of the emissivity are consistent with the variation of cloud phase in some spectral regions. Specifically, these features include the slope of the cloud emissivity between 800 and 900 cm(-1), the slope of the cloud emissivity between 900 and 1 000 cm(-1), the difference in the mean emissivity between above-mentioned two regions, the ratio of the emissivity at 862.1 cm(-1) to the emissivity at 989.8 cm(-1), the difference in the emissivity between 862.1 and 989.8 cm(-1), the ratio of the emissivity at 1 900.1 cm-1 to the emissivity at 2 029.3 cm-1, the ratio of the mean emissivity for far-infrared region to the emissivity at 900 cm(-1). A cloud phase classifier is proposed based on support vector machines (SVM). A series of simulations including various cloud patterns are performed. The RBF kernel function parameters and the penalty factor of SVM are selected by using the genetic algorithm. The phase determination algorithm is applied for collecting data from the AERI at the SGP site. The results from the ground-based multisensor cloud phase classifier proposed by Shupe are used to validate the phase determination algorithm. It is found the two results are consistent in general. 30% clouds are indicated as opaque due to its high emissivity. The cloud with small lidar's depolarization is misclassified as clear sky by the Shupe method. It can be concluded that the proposed algorithm considering the spectral information (spectral slopes, ratios and differences) is efficient for cloud phase determination of thin cloud.


Abstract We present the Northern HIPASS Optical/Infrared Catalogue (NOIRCAT), an optical/near-infrared counterpart catalogue for the Northern HIPASS catalogue (NHICAT). Of the 1002 sources in NHICAT, 655 (66%) have optical counterparts with matching optical velocities. A further 87 sources have optical counterparts with matching velocities from previous radio emission line surveys. Assuming a dark galaxy to be an isolated HI source with no detectable stars, no candidate dark galaxies have been confirmed.


Abstract Spicy foods and chili peppers contain the primary ingredient capsaicin, which has potential health benefits. However, their efficacy in some health outcomes is also fiercely disputed, and some side effects have been confirmed. To assess the quality and strength of the associations between spicy food and chili pepper consumption and different health outcomes. An umbrella review is performed in humans. Eleven systematic reviews and meta‐analyses with a total of 27 findings are identified. The health effect of consuming spicy food and chili peppers is unclear. Furthermore, the characteristics and context of different world regions and populations should be carefully considered. Direct correlations exist in esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, and gallbladder cancer. However, negative connections are reported in metabolism, mortality, and cardiovascular disease. Dose–response analysis reveals a significant nonlinear relationship between gastric cancer risk and capsaicin intake. The consumption of spicy foods and chili peppers is typically safe. However, high‐quality proof is available to confirm this conclusion.


Using a simple discharge circuit, we have investigated effects of the circuit parameters on glow-to-arc transition behaviour. A direct current power source is used with a capacitor and resistors. Plasma is generated between thoriated tungsten electrodes at atmospheric pressure in argon. Current and voltage are recorded while capturing plasma images.A variation of the charge on the capacitor causes a fluctuation in discharge current. Due to the current fluctuation, the electric power dissipated between the electrodes increases during a temporary glow phase and decreases during a temporary arc phase. The cathode tip has been heated in the glow mode and a glow-to-arc transition occurs finally. The current fluctuation can be reduced by increasing the resistance. The temporary arc and glow durations are affected by the time constant of the circuit.


Landfill leachate is produced many years after a landfill site closes. Hence, treatment by "natural methods", as e.g. constructed wetlands, with low management requirements is attractive. Constructed wetlands usually provide both shallow and deep areas with aerobic and anaerobic zones, which is suitable for nitrification followed by denitrification of the ammonium-rich leachates. Full-scale treatment systems are influenced by climatic variables that affect the microbial community. Also, the operational strategy can have a considerable impact on both activity and composition of the microorganisms. Many studies have measured inflow/outflow water quality in treatment systems. Such "black box" studies describe the treatment efficiency but add little to an increased understanding of theorganisms performing the treatment or the spatial distribution of their activities and treatment processes. In this thesis we investigated seasonal and annual changes in potential nitrification and denitrification, and in the corresponding bacterial communities in constructed wetlands treating landfill leachates. Variations in the potential activity in full-scale systems were investigated over several years, using short-term incubation. The composition of the bacterial communities was investigated using a group-specific PCR primer pair targeting the 16S rRNA genes or a primer pair targeting the funtional gene nosZ. The PCR products were analysed by denaturing gradient gelelectrophoresis and subsequent nucleotide sequencing and phylogentic analysis. A stable ammonia-oxidising bacterial (AOB) community composition and potential ammonia-oxidation (PAO) were detected in the system with a year-round operation. On the other hand, changes in the AOB community composition which followed the operational schedule were detected in the overland flow area (OFA) running seasonally. Furthermore, the influence of operational strategy was indicated by a low PAO in the wastewater overland flow area and compact constructed wetland receiving high hydraulic loads, indicating the value of aeration. Higher PAO was detected in the OFAs where the hydraulic load followed literature guidelines. All systems supported diverse AOB communities, represented by several Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira populations. The number of different populations detected in these wetlands was much higher than reported in municipal wastewater treatment plants, and differed from those in a parallel OFA treating municipal wastewater. Furthermore, the large variation in both potential activity and sequences detected in replicate samples suggests that such systems are spatially heterogenic.


Abstract : Terrorist and transnational criminal organizations are evolving into enormous national security threats. Their embrace of advanced information and communications systems has significantly enhanced their organizational efficiency as well as provided them with an exceptional disruption weapons system. The US's heavy reliance upon the information infrastructure, along with the disruptive and destructive capabilities of cyberterror and cybercrime, have created a potentially very dangerous situation. In addition, the proliferation of advanced weapons systems into terrorist hands, including WMDs, requires the US to reassess its counter-terror and crime policy. The current strategy in place to combat these entities is lacking, as can be seen by the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings. The employment of an aggressive, proactive strategy that focuses on information operations is necessary to constrain these growing threats. The proactive strategy is accompanied by new significant costs. However, when compared to the cost of current US strategy, proactive measures are seen to provide enormous overall savings. The proactive strategy is comprised of three elements: intelligence collection, disruption and destruction. Today's advanced technologies provide the US with the tools and weapons necessary to engage in and win the war against terror and crime.


Wi-Fi based indoor positioning achieves increasing attention for modern location based services due to its benefit of cost effectiveness. However, multipath propagation characteristics and interferences in indoor environment cause variability of Received Signal Strength (RSS) typically high, resulting in high positioning error. In this research, localization performance of path-loss model based indoor positioning technique and RSS Fingerprinting technique, which are the most popular Wi-Fi based indoor positioning techniques, are analyzed on two different Wi-Fi frequency bands: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. According to the comparative analysis of experimental results, the RSS fingerprinting based indoor positioning achieves higher positioning accuracy than the path-loss model based approach for both frequency bands as RSS variability is high in indoor environment and estimating position information directly from the RSS value in path-loss model based approach causes high positioning error. Results also indicate that applying 5GHz frequency band in the test-bed indoor environment shows better performance for less interference from devices using existing 2.4GHz frequency band.


A simple competitive immunoassay was developed for the measurement of isoprothiolane in rice, soil, and water samples. It employed the avian antibodies (IgY) that recognized isoprothiolane as a capture reagent and isoprothiolane—alkaline phosphatase conjugate as an enzyme label. The assay depended on the competitive binding between the anti-isoprothiolane antibody and isoprothiolane derived from rice, soil, and water samples for binding sites with immobilized isoprothiolane-ovalbumin (OVA) conjugate. The concentration of isoprothiolane in the rice, soil, and water samples was quantified by the ability of the pesticide present in the samples to inhibit the binding of the enzyme conjugate to the antibody and subsequently the color formation in the assay. The assay was specific to isoprothiolane with a limit of detection of 2 ng/mL. Mean analytical recovery of isoprothiolane in different rice matrices was 87.20%–98.02%, for soil samples recovery was 74.24%–111.20%, and water samples recovery was 35.2%–95.73%. The precision of the assay was satisfactory. The assay compared favorably with gas chromatography (GC) in its ability to accurately measure isoprothiolane in the different rice, soil, and water samples.


Extracting a proper dynamic network for modeling a time-dependent complex system is an important issue. Building a correct model is related to finding out critical time points where a system exhibits considerable change. In this work, we propose to measure network similarity to detect proper time intervals. We develop three similarity metrics, node, link, and neighborhood similarities, for any consecutive snapshots of a dynamic network. Rather than a label or a user-defined threshold, we use statistically expected values of proposed similarities under a null-model to state whether the system changes critically. We experimented on two different data sets with different temporal dynamics: the Wi-Fi access points logs of a university campus and Enron emails. Results show that, first, proposed similarities reflect similar signal trends with network topological properties with less noisy signals, and their scores are scale invariant. Second, proposed similarities generate better signals than adjacency correlation with optimal noise and diversity. Third, using statistically expected values allows us to find different time intervals for a system, leading to the extraction of non-redundant snapshots for dynamic network modeling.


We welcome you to the second issue of the NSW Public Health Bulletin that is devoted to aspects of influenza pandemic planning and response. Recent simulation exercises designed to test preparedness for pandemic influenza, Exercise Cumpston 06 on a national scale and Exercise Paton in NSW, have shown that the public health system in NSW has made substantial progress in preparing for what many consider to be an inevitable event. Of equal, if not greater, importance is a recognition that the work done has strengthened the health system's capacity to meet a much wider range of challenges. This work is the focus of this issue of the Bulletin.


This paper is concerned with model decoupling and H, robust-performance control of a vehicle active suspension system. Firstly, the full-vehicle suspension system with 7 degrees-of-freedom is decoupled into heave-pitch and roll-warp subsystems using linear transformations. Secondly, the uncontrollable mode in the roll-warp subsystem is removed using the derived geometrical constraint equation; Thirdly, based on the LMI method, robust H, output-feedback controllers are designed for the decoupled suspension system. Finally, the system's performance is evaluated by computer simulations, which demonstrate that the active suspension system has better ride and handling performance than the passive system, and the performance can be maintained despite significant levels of uncertainty in the actuator dynamics.


Testing the performance of a server that handles massive connections requires to generate massive virtual client connections and to model realistic traffic. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to generate massive virtual clients and realistic traffic. Our approach exploits the Windows I/O completion port (IOCP), which is the Windows NT operating system support for developing a scalable, high throughput server, and model-based testing scenarios. We describe implementation details of the proposed approach. Through analysis and experiments, we prove that the proposed method can predict and evaluate performance data more accurately in cost-effective way.


The Zubair Formation is the most significant sandstone reservoir in Iraq which deposited during the Barremian. The study area is located in the central part of Iraq at the Kifl oil field, in the northern part of the Mesopotamian Zone. The petrographic study showed that quartz mineral is the main component of the sandstone in Zubair Formation with very low percentage of feldspar and rare rock fragments to classified as quartz arenite sandtone. There are five lithologic changes (lithofacies) that have characterized the studied succession: - well sorted quartz arenite, poorly sorted quartz arenite, poorly sorted graywacke, sandy shale, and shale.  These lithofacieses were deposited in the deltaic environments as three associated facies [delta plane, delta front and distributary channel]. The different lithofacies contributed to division of the Zubair Formation into three distinct rock units, which had been used in interpreting and distributing the suggested environments. The lower part of Zubair Formation is characterized by wide spread mud - dominated delta plain associated facies. The presence of the delta plain facies overlaying the unconformity surface (SB1) refer to the transgressive system tract (TST). This stage ended with occurrence of the channel fill deposit to mark a high-stand system tract (HST). This stage has ended with the delta plain facies again to mark a high-stand system tract (HST). The fluctuation point between the TST and HST is represented by a maximum flooding surface. The middle part of Zubair Formation is characterized by moderate to well sorted quartz arenite sandstone with bands of the shale overlaying the sand body.  This succession was deposited in the delta front environment with steps of sea level stillstand during the high stand stage. The HST in this part ended with sea level rise (TST) to mark the upper part of the Zubair Formation with appeared the delta front facies. While the upper part is represented by alternative of delta front and delta plain facies as four cycles. The sea level rise was marked the end of this stage when deposition the upper part of Zubair Formation, and the beginning of deposition the Shuaiba Formation as shallow marine carbonate.


The United States has grown increasingly diverse in its social and cultural composition. Higher education institutions in the USA have actively encouraged multicultural infusion both in curriculum development and campus activities. This article discusses a higher education multicultural design project that was based on students' research and documentation of four generations of personal family history. By understanding aspects of personal heritage, self-awareness of bias and prejudice can be more easily understood thereby offering opportunity for maturity through appreciation and acceptance of others. The impact of the personal history design project on students will be described as well as application of the project in the K—12 environment. Implications for K—12 teachers will also be discussed.


Aim:  Parenting programmes have been shown to improve children's adjustment and reduce problem behaviour; however, little research has addressed outcomes for Indigenous families. The aim of this project was to assess the impact and cultural appropriateness of a parenting programme tailored for Indigenous families, an adaptation of the evidence‐based Group Triple P – Positive Parenting Program.


Since the Common Law of England gained the force of law in Nigeria, customary laws have been described as archaic and barbaric. In order to be validly applied as a law, they have to undergo the repugnancy tests set out by the colonial masters. As a result, it is observed that the worth and application of customary laws seem to have diminished. The Common Law of England became applicable alongside statutory legislations and valid customary laws but the customary laws are only valid subject to passing the repugnancy tests set up by the colonial masters. The questions are: Why are customary laws inferior to English laws? Why customary laws are subjected to repugnancy tests for acceptability? This paper seeks to revisit the concept of colonialism and its sting on the development of customary laws and also examine the effects of the repugnancy tests on the development of these laws.
Keywords- Customary law, Colonialism, Repugnancy tests, Received english law, Common law, Volksgeist, Nigeria, Inferiority