The healing of a corneal epithelial defect is essential for preventing infectious corneal ulcers and subsequent blindness. We previously demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the corneal stroma, through a paracrine mechanism, yield a more favorable therapeutic benefit for corneal wound re‐epithelialization than do MSCs in the corneal epithelium. In this study, MSCs were grown on a matrix with the rigidity of the physiological human vitreous (1 kPa), corneal epithelium (8 kPa), or corneal stroma (25 kPa) for investigating the role of corneal tissue rigidity in MSC functions regarding re‐epithelialization promotion. MSC growth on a 25‐kPa dish significantly promoted the wound healing of human corneal epithelial (HCE‐T) cells. Among growth factors contributing to corneal epithelial wound healing, corneal stromal rigidity selectively enhanced transforming growth factor‐beta (TGF‐β) secretion from MSCs. Inhibitors of TGF‐β pan receptor, TGF‐β receptor 1, and Smad2 dose dependently abrogated MSC‐mediated HCE‐T wound healing. Furthermore, MSCs growth on a matrix with corneal stromal rigidity enhanced the ability of themselves to promote corneal re‐epithelialization by activating matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression and integrin β1 production in HCE‐T cells through TGF‐β signaling pathway activation. Smad2 activation resulted in the upregulation of MMP‐2 and −13 expression in HCE‐T cells, whereas integrin β1 production favored a Smad2‐independent TGF‐β pathway. Altogether, we conclude that corneal stromal rigidity is a critical factor for MSC‐induced promotion of corneal re‐epithelialization. The activation of the TGF‐β signaling pathway, which maintains the balance between integrin and MMP expression, in HCE‐T cells is the major pathway responsible for MSC‐mediated wound healing. Stem Cells 2016;34:2525–2535


The Government has unveiled a vision for emergency care that transforms the way A&E services are delivered in England. Provision of new style departments will introduce significant extra challenges for those having estates and facilities responsibilities. Health Estate Journal examines the vision in depth.


Background Secukinumab (SEC) is approved for the treatment of active PsA in adults with inadequate response to DMARDs. The FUTURE 2 (F2) trial showed superiority of SEC 150 mg and 300 mg over placebo for the primary outcome of ACR20 response at week 24 and for multiple secondary outcomes, with efficacy sustained to week 52. The ADEPT trial compared adalimumab 40 mg (ADA) with placebo in biologic-naïve patients. In F2, patients could switch from placebo (from week 16); for both trials all had switched after week 24. In the absence of direct comparison or a continuous common placebo arm, matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC) can assess relative efficacy. MAIC adjusts for differences in patient characteristics at baseline, reducing the effective sample size (ESS) for the therapy arm in one trial, but matching this with the population of the therapy arm from another trial, thus simulating head-to-head comparison. Objectives To assess the relative efficacy of SEC 150 mg and 300 mg vs. ADA using F2 and the published ADEPT trial. Methods Patient-level data from the SEC arms of the F2 trial (n=200 across SEC doses) were weighted to match patient baseline characteristics for the ADA arm of ADEPT (n=151). Logistic regression was used to determine weights for age, body weight, sex, race, methotrexate use, presence of psoriasis (≥3% body surface area), mean PASI score, dactylitis, enthesitis, mean HAQ-DI and previous biologic therapy. Weighted outcomes from F2 (ESS: n=36 for SEC 150 mg; n=38 for SEC 300 mg) were compared with data from ADEPT (both trials used non-responder imputation). Pairwise comparisons using relative risks (RRs) were performed and results are presented as RR (95% CI) and probability of response (95% CI) for ACR20, 50 and 70 at week 48. For PASI75 and 90, ADA week 48 results are compared with SEC week 52 data (the nearest data point). Results In the MAIC, both SEC doses had higher mean ACR20, 50 and 70 responses than ADA, with statistical significance for SEC 150 mg (RR: 1.41 [1.14–1.76], p=0.002) and SEC 300 mg (RR: 1.31 [1.03–1.66], p=0.027) at ACR20 and for SEC 300 mg (RR: 1.41 [1.03–1.92], p=0.032) at ACR50. The ACR20, 50 and 70 response rates were 79.6% (72–88), 57.1% (47–67) and 32.4% (23–42) respectively for SEC 150 mg; 73.5% (64–83), 61.4% (51–71) and 42.9% (33–53) for SEC 300 mg; and 56.3% (48–64), 43.7% (36–52) and 29.8% (23–37) for ADA. Findings were consistent across sensitivity analyses which also showed significance for SEC 300 mg at ACR70. PASI 75 and 90 response rates were numerically better for SEC 300 mg: 71.1% (57–86) and 52.2% (36–68) than ADA: 58.0% (46–70) and 46.4% (35–58). SEC 150 mg rates were 51.2% (38–64) and 40.8% (28–54) respectively. Conclusions When adjusted for patient baseline characteristics, SEC was associated with numerically higher response rates for joint and skin outcomes with statistically significantly higher responses vs. ADA for ACR endpoints at week 48. The next level of evidence will be a head-to-head to substantiate these findings. Disclosure of Interest P. Nash Grant/research support from: Novartis, Consultant for: Novartis, I. McInnes Consultant for: Novartis, Janssen, Abbvie, Pfizer and UCB, P. Mease Grant/research support from: Corrona, Speakers bureau: Corrona, Merck and Novartis, H. Thom Consultant for: Novartis Pharma AG and for a short time in 2015 for Eli Lilly, S. Cure: None declared, E. Palaka Employee of: Novartis, K. Gandhi Shareholder of: Novartis, Employee of: Novartis, S. Mpofu Shareholder of: Novartis, Employee of: Novartis, S. Jugl Shareholder of: Novartis, Employee of: Novartis


Winnicott's Fear of breakdown is an unfinished work that requires that the reader be not only a reader, but also a writer of this work which often gestures toward meaning as opposed to presenting fully developed ideas. The author's understanding of the often confusing, sometimes opaque, argument of Winnicott's paper is as follows. In infancy there occurs a breakdown in the mother–infant tie that forces the infant to take on, by himself, emotional events that he is unable to manage. He short‐circuits his experience of primitive agony by generating defense organizations that are psychotic in nature, i.e. they substitute self‐created inner reality for external reality, thus foreclosing his actually experiencing critical life events. By not experiencing the breakdown of the mother–infant tie when it occurred in infancy, the individual creates a psychological state in which he lives in fear of a breakdown that has already happened, but which he did not experience. The author extends Winnicott's thinking by suggesting that the driving force of the patient's need to find the source of his fear is his feeling that parts of himself are missing and that he must find them if he is to become whole. What remains of his life feels to him like a life that is mostly an unlived life.


Lateral solid phase epitaxy (L-SPE) of boron (B) doped amorphous Si films onto SiO2 patterns was investigated. The L-SPE rate in B-doped films was found to be about 8 times higher than that in undoped films and the L-SPE length measured from the pattern edge was twice enhanced by the doping effect. It was also found that the L-SPE rate in B-doped samples is proportional to the amount of B atoms introduced in the Si film, if the maximum concentration of B atoms does not exceed the solid solubility limit in Si.


The primary purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that reduced leptin signaling is necessary to elicit the cardiovascular and metabolic responses to fasting. Lean (Fa/?; normal leptin receptor; n = 7) and obese (fa/fa; mutated leptin receptor; n = 8) Zucker rats were instrumented with telemetry transmitters and housed in metabolic chambers at 23 degrees C (12:12-h light-dark cycle) for continuous (24 h) measurement of metabolic and cardiovascular variables. Before fasting, mean arterial pressure (MAP) was higher (MAP: obese = 103 +/- 3; lean = 94 +/- 1 mmHg), whereas oxygen consumption (VO(2): obese = 16.5 +/- 0.3; lean = 18.6 +/- 0.2 ml. min(-1). kg(-0.75)) was lower in obese Zucker rats compared with their lean controls. Two days of fasting had no effect on MAP in either lean or obese Zucker rats, whereas VO(2) (obese = -3.1 +/- 0.3; lean = -2.9 +/- 0.1 ml. min(-1). kg(-0.75)) and heart rate (HR: obese = -56 +/- 4; lean = -42 +/- 4 beats/min) were decreased markedly in both groups. Fasting increased HR variability both in lean (+1.8 +/- 0.4 ms) and obese (+2.6 +/- 0.3 ms) Zucker rats. After a 6-day period of ad libitum refeeding, when all parameters had returned to near baseline levels, the cardiovascular and metabolic responses to 2 days of thermoneutrality (ambient temperature 29 degrees C) were determined. Thermoneutrality reduced VO(2) (obese = -2.4 +/- 0.2; lean = -3.3 +/- 0.2 ml. min(-1). kg(-0.75)), HR (obese = -46 +/- 5; lean = -55 +/- 4 beats/min), and MAP (obese = -13 +/- 6; lean = -10 +/- 1 mmHg) similarly in lean and obese Zucker rats. The results indicate that the cardiovascular and metabolic responses to fasting and thermoneutrality are conserved in Zucker rats and suggest that intact leptin signaling may not be requisite for the metabolic and cardiovascular responses to reduced energy intake.


This paper provides new evidence on the existence and nature of imperfect information in health insurance markets that has important implications for assessing market-based health care reform proposals. Empirical research has traditionally concentrated on testing for positive correlation between coverage and risk predicted by standard moral hazard and adverse selection models. Recent theoretical advances demonstrate that the lack of such correlation does not signal the absence of informational asymmetries and is consistent with more complex models with unobserved risk-aversion. I extend the empirical literature by testing for selection on more than one type of latent information risk type and risk-aversion type. In order to separate an incentive (moral hazard) effect from effects of selection on multiple types of unobservables, I specify a hybrid endogenous treatment model with explicit modeling of indicators of latent attitudes toward risk-taking behavior. The model is estimated using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. I use data from the 2000 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), which contains a set of attitudinal variables necessary to estimate the model. Although the overall selection effect appears to be insignificant, the results indicate that individuals do, in fact, possess private information which increases their propensity to be insured and to utilize health care. This suggests that lack of conditional correlation between insurance coverage and health care utilization results from informational asymmetries of multiple types inducing selection in opposite directions. In addition, I find strong evidence of moral hazard in outpatient


Anaplastic thyroid cancer represents a rare, highly aggressive form of thyroid cancer with a poor prognosis and an overall survival ranging from 5 to 12 months. Unfortunately, treatment options remain limited, even for patients with a targetable driver mutation. Here, we present a case of a patient with a BRAF V600E-mutated, PD-L1 positive (tumor proportion score of 95%) anaplastic thyroid cancer refractory to standard therapies, including debulking surgery, followed by chemoradiation, who had further progressed on PD-1 monotherapy, and was unable to tolerate BRAF/MEK inhibition. Ongoing treatment with FS118, a bispecific LAG-3/PD-L1 antagonist, has afforded 3 years of disease control, including a late confirmed partial response, with excellent tolerability. Given this response, further investigation is required to delineate the mechanism by which dual PD-L1/LAG-3 blockade by FS118 overcomes initial PD-1 pathway resistance, and therefore, identify which patients are most likely to benefit. Simultaneously, expanded use should be considered for those with refractory disease, especially if PD-L1 positive. Insights Dual PD-L1/LAG-3 blockade may be an effective treatment strategy for refractory metastatic tumors, including anaplastic thyroid cancer.


This paper furthers the study of creative design by taking a situated view of novelty. A set of computational experiments is performed utilizing an agent-based model of a design team, and resulting data is used to examine the influence of a change in a situation (or a design frame) on the perception of a design's novelty in terms of its difference from existing or possible designs. The experiments demonstrate that, over the course of designing, solutions which were regarded as novel, can become not novel. They also show that a solution which was not seen as novel in one situation can be assessed as novel when a situation changes. The results, therefore, emphasize the importance of studying novelty as a situated measure.


Workflows are the semantically appropriate composite activities in heterogeneous computing environments. Such environments typically comprise a great diversity of locally autonomous databases, applications, and interfaces. Much good research has focused on the semantics of workflows, and how to capture them in different extended transaction models. Here we address the complementary issues pertaining to how workflows may be declaratively specified, and how distributed constraints may be derived from those specifications to enable local control, thus obviating a centralized scheduler. Previous approaches to this problem were limited and often lacked a formal semantics.


The medicinal species fafia (Hebanthe eriantha), is a product of extractivism in the region of the Paraiba Valley, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, with endangered genetic variability. This study did an agronomical characterization and an analysis of active compounds of five accessions. This research is a partnership of UNESP-Botucatu Medicinal Plants Laboratory, Paraiba Valley Center (APTA) and CPQBA-UNICAMP Agrotechnological Division. A field experiment using completely random blocks with five accessions and seven replications was used. The stem and leaf wet/dry weights, root wet/dry weight, length of the longest stem, foliar area, foam index and pfaffic acid content samples were evaluated. Accession I1800 had root dry weight, stem and leaf dry weight, and foliar area greater than other accessions (176.16 g/plant, 7.301 kg/plant, 155.04 cm2 ). Pfaffic acid content was similar to other accessions (0.640-0.366 %mm-1) Among all five accessions, there is a positive correlation among the foliar area and stem and leaf dry weight and between the foliar area and root dry weight.


Sharp as well as thick interface models have been developed to describe austenite‐to‐ferrite transformation kinetics. By comparing the results of these models it turns out that the diffusion processes in the interface can be described by an effective mobility, which is several orders of magnitude smaller than the intrinsic one. For a sufficiently low amount of substitutional solutes the interface velocity is not influenced by bulk diffusion of substitutional components. This work confirms that diffusion processes in the interface (solute drag) and diffusion of interstitial components like carbon control the kinetics of the austenite‐to‐ferrite transformation in low‐alloyed steels. As an example the austenite‐to‐ferrite transformation kinetics for a dual phase steel grade is simulated. The models are compared with and verified by the results of experimental investigations.


Large and expensive mechanical equipment such as wind turbines generally has limited fault datasets from real-world operations for digital model development. This often leads to poor accuracy in implementing a model based on the life prediction. To address this data shortage issue in developing deep learning models, a remaining useful life prediction approach is proposed in this paper, which combines digital twin technology with transfer learning theory and the embedded convolutional long short-term memory (CLSTM) extended model. First, the main bearing of a direct-drive wind turbine is mapped to the digital world using digital twin technology, allowing the fault datasets of main bearings to be generated and thereby ensuring the model is trained sufficiently with a balanced dataset. The CLSTM network then performs convolutional operations on input-to-state and state-to-state transitions, thereby integrating the time dependence and time-frequency characteristics of the data. Meanwhile, transfer learning is used to transfer the trained model to the wind field for real-world fault diagnostics and the life prediction of the main bearings. Finally, the approach is applied to predict the life of the main bearings, and is also compared with other methods of similar type. The results verified that the proposed approach can effectively overcome the low data density of large equipment, greatly improving the accuracy of life prediction.


Faecal samples from 238 patients with gastroenteritis were examined by direct electron microscopy using grids with thin carbon film. Of these samples 18 were found to contain Norwalk agent-like particles, calicivirus, astrovirus and parvovirus-like particles. Immune electron microscopy was performed on a serum pair and faeces from one of the patients with astrovirus. An antibody response was demonstrated, suggesting that the virus was the etiological agent of the infection.


Plate-tectonic processes have long been thought to be the major cause of the Cenozoic global carbon cycle, and global cooling by uplift of the Tibetan Plateau through enhancing silicate weathering and organic carbon burial and/or by weathering of obducted ophiolites during the closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean. However, the imbalance resulting from accelerated CO2 consumption and a relatively stable CO2 input from volcanic degassing during the Cenozoic should have depleted atmospheric CO2 within a few million years; therefore, a negative feedback mechanism must have stabilized the carbon cycle. Here, we present the first almost-complete Paleogene silicate weathering intensity (SWI) records from continental rocks in the northern Tibetan Plateau showing that silicate weathering in this tectonically inactive area was modulated by global temperature. These findings suggest that Paleogene global cooling was also strongly influenced by a temperature feedback mechanism, which regulated silicate weathering rates and hydrological cycles and maintained a nearly stable carbon cycle. It acted as a negative feedback by decreasing CO2 consumption resulting from the lower SWI and the kinetic limitations in tectonically inactive areas.


But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood self-condemned. For before certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. After they came, however, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, "If you, a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how is it that you force the Gentiles to become Jews?" (Galatians 2.11-14)


This essay attempts to show that sophisticated consequentialism is able to accommodate the concerns that have traditionally been raised by feminist writers in ethics. Those concerns have primarily to do with the fact that consequentialism is seen as both too demanding of the individual and neglectful of the agent's special obligations to family and friends. Here, I argue that instrumental justification for partiality can be provided, for example, even though an attitude of partiality is not characterized itself in instrumental terms.


INTRODUCTION The modern technical-and-economic paradigm reflecting interaction of the technological mode with the socio-economic environment (Glazyev, 2012, p.8-27) considers an innovation activity as a key factor of competitiveness of a national and regional economy. According to the authors, the innovative potential of a region is a set of opportunities for a social and economic system of the region and the economic situation prevailing in it to create the conditions for development of innovative processes and formation of the prospects for implementation of innovative projects. Estimation of an innovative potential is faced with many difficulties as it has to deal with the knowledge and ideas which are not codified, but "stored" in the minds of people and are concentrated in an organizational routine (Oslo Manual, 2006). A prerequisite for solution of this problem to the extent, in which it is possible at all, is isolation of resource components of an innovative potential each of which has a specific functional purpose: material and technical, informational, educational, financial, human, and other (Matveykin, Dvoretskiy, et al., 2007, p.265). In determining an innovative potential at the level of big socio-economic systems to which regions are included, non-formalizable or weakly formalized parameters of society begin to be of particular importance that, when considering the lower levels of innovative processes organization are assumed as unchangeable external environment parameters. For example, with an increase in size and, consequently, in the level of spatial hierarchy of a society where innovative processes proceed, social relations which are essential for their development become mostly of cultural type which is determined by the attitude of agents (as defined by P. Bourdieu) to the existing cultural and historical situation. Although these relations exist only in human mind, his/her real purposeful behavior makes them as if they actually exist (Peregudov, 1989, p.367). At the regional level, an innovative system is multi-functional innovative network structures combining actors which goals and ways of action are quite different (Planque, 2002). The need to balance and / or removal of contradictions between purposes of actors' activity defines the growing role of social resources of innovation activity that include social responsibility, cultural and historical identity, awareness of the value of solidarity position, and thus ensure stability and social cohesion of the regional community which is basis of the innovation process. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK In the middle of the XX century the scientific community has been realized that any economic process, including diffusion of innovations, is socially defined and develops within a complex system of interpersonal relations. In this regard, it is necessary to use a special economic approach which studies not only the economic situation, but also the social context for analysis of elements of innovation diffusion. It is developed mainly within the framework of the institutional paradigm which has emerged in the late XIX century in the United States, and by the middle of the XX century took shape of a leading area of economic research. In contrast to the neoclassical school in which under the influence of cartesianism a concept of "rational economic man" was formed that seeks to maximize the utility function, institutionalism considers a man in relation to the cultural and institutional environment (Hodgson, 2000, p. 317) focusing on endogenous nature of institutions. For the study of social phenomena within the framework of institutional research, structural and functional analysis is chosen most often which allows us to represent the social reality in the form of a system to which the unity of its structural and functional components is peculiar. Since we are talking about establishing of relationships between the phenomenon of social institutions, social relations and the diffusion of innovation that are not amenable to formalization and mathematical modeling, the authors focus on the regulatory toolkit. …


Scientific, experimental methodology was previously considered to be the only acceptable approach to educational research. Two important principles of experimental design are: • to balance individual differences within study populations and so achieve generalizable results, and • to attempt to isolate the effects of a single resource for evaluation purposes. Problems with this approach were reported in the literature of the 1970s (Elton and Laurillard, 1979; MacDonald and Jenkins, 1979) when the influence on learning of individual and contextual factors was recognized. Similar issues emerged during the 1980s and early 1990s, (Bates, 1981; Spencer, 1991) when the inability to identify which single or combined factors supported learning became a recurrent problem. It was clear that prior knowledge, approaches to learning, provision of appropriate scaffolding, complementary combinations of resources and various contextual factors all influenced the quality of learning outcomes. It was concluded that evaluations must be designed to account for these factors, rather than to balance or disregard them as was previously the norm (Kemmis, 1987, Gunn, 1995). DOI: 10.1080/0968776970050107


Although lipomas of the hand are frequently encountered, a massive tumor involving one-half of the palm and extending into the fourth finger has been reported only once before. The case history of a 45-year-old male who underwent surgical removal of such a massive palmar lipoma is presented. Lipomas of the hand are discussed and the literature summarized. Details of the surgical evaluation and management of a massive lipoma of the hand are presented to assist other surgeons in handling similar cases.


OBJECTIVE
To study variation features of the hepatitis B virus polymerase gene in chronic hepatitis B patients before and after lamivudine treatment.

METHODS
From the serum samples of five CHB patients both before and after 12 months' lamivudine treatment, HBV polymerase gene was amplified and positive DNA fragments were cloned into JM105. Twenty positive clones of every sample were checked with mismatched polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and YMDD variants were sequenced.

RESULTS
Among five patients after 12 months lamivudine treatment, M552I mutations in two patients with HBV DNA rebounding and D553G mutation in one non-responder were detected except in two patients with negative HBV DNA.

CONCLUSIONS
D553G mutation is probably one of the reasons which caused non-responsiveness to the lamivudine treatment. The mutations of YMDD motif that occurred after lamivudine treatment are caused by the induction of the drug.


We study the 2D scattering of axions from an accelerator like quadrupole magnet using the eikonal approximation in order to learn whether or not such a setup could serve as a new possible method for detecting axions on terrestrial experiments. The eikonal approximation in 2D is introduced and explained. We also apply the eikonal approximation to two known cases in order to compare it with previous results, obtained using Born's approximation, and discuss its correctness.


The charge transport across a pentacene/SAM interface has been studied by scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) as a function of temperature and film thickness in order to obtain information on the transport mechanisms and in particular on the importance of interfacial OH-groups on n-transport in organic semiconductors. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of pentacene thin films deposited on a mercaptoundecanol self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on Au(111) reveal an asymmetric behaviour. At positive sample bias the onset currents shift towards higher voltages for decreasing temperatures, whereas such changes are not seen at negative bias. For lower temperatures, the variation of current onset with layer thickness is absent. These observations are explained by OH-groups at the SAM-surface effectively acting as charge traps. When electrons are caught in these traps at the organic-organic interface, charge transport is severely affected. Imaging of the SAM after loading the traps suggests that the attachment of electrons to the OH-groups exposed at the organic surface is a reversible process.


Motor protein molecules such as heavy meromyosin (HMM), one of the major components of skeletal muscle, were arranged linearly on a mechanically deposited fluoropolymer thin film substrate in order to regulate the direction of movement generated by the motor protein. The fluoropolymer film consisted of many linear parallel ridges whose heights and widths were 10 to 20 nm and 10 to 100 nm, respectively. The fluoropolymer ridges adsorbed HMM molecules that were applied onto the film. Actin filaments labeled with rhodamine-phalloidin were observed under a fluorescence microscope moving linearly on the HMM-coated ridges. The observation indicates that HMM molecules were aligned on the fluoropolymer ridges while retaining their function. The velocity of actin movement was measured in this system.


Many modern storage systems used for large-scale scientific systems are multiple use, independently administrated clusters or grids. A common technique to gain storage reliability over a long period of time is the creation of data replicas on multiple servers, but in the presence of server failures, ongoing corrective action must be taken to prevent the loss of high value and low value data. Such a system is difficult to control, and replica management is typically handled in an ad hoc manner. In this work, we claim that repairing prioritized faults is a scheduling problem, founded on the need to minimize a risk-based error function, E. Citing experiments on a prototype replica system for molecular simulations, we apply concepts from control system theory to analyze and handle the application of corrective action


Electropolishing of niobium cavities is conventionally conducted in high viscosity electrolytes consisting of concentrated sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids. The use of dangerous and ecologically damaging chemicals requires careful attention to safety protocols to avoid harmful worker exposure and environmental damage. We present an approach for electropolishing of niobium materials based on pulse reverse waveforms, enabling the use of low viscosity aqueous dilute sulfuric acid electrolytes without hydrofluoric acid, or aqueous near-neutral pH salt solutions without any acid. Results will be summarized for both cavity and coupon electropolishing for bulk and final polishing steps. With minimal optimization of pulse reverse waveform parameters we have demonstrated the ability to electropolish single-cell niobium SRF cavities and achieve at least equivalent performance compared to conventionally processed cavities. Cavities are electropolished in a vertical orientation filled with electrolyte and without rotation, offering numerous advantages from an industrial processing perspective. Shielding, external cooling and high surface area cathodes are adaptable to the bipolar EP process.


The treatment of dentinogenesis imperfecta represents a challenge for the dental practitioner. The aim of this case report was to describe the chronology and problems encountered in the long-term rehabilitation of a young girl suffering from dentinogenesis imperfecta with severe attrition. A 2-stage treatment over a period of 9 years is described and discussed. This treatment comprised an initial treatment to restore esthetic appearance and function during primary and mixed dentitions and a complete prosthetic rehabilitation in a second stage to protect permanent teeth with low-fusion ceramicmetal individual crowns. Discovery of a follicular cyst is also reported and its treatment is described.


An introduction into the theory and experimental background of particle physics and the ATLAS
detector is given. The transition radiation tracker (TRT) which is vital to the particle tracking
and identification is then described giving particular creedence to the calibration. The automation
of this calibration is explained. The second half of this thesis and the central part dwells on the
analyses searching for beyond Standard model physics at the ATLAS detector using same-sign
dilepton pairs (e±e±, e±μ± , μ±μ± ) during both the 7 TeV and 8 TeV data taking periods at the
Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In both searches no significant excess from the standard model
(SM) was seen. Limits were set on the fiducial cross-section for new physics as a function of
invariant mass. Exclusion limits are also derived for a specific model of doubly charged higgs
boson production and are seen to improve from the 7 TeV analysis to the 8 TeV analysis.


Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC

RNA splicing is an important regulatory mechanism of gene expression providing various functions for specific cells including cancers. In this study, we investigated global alternative splicing pattern in neuroblastoma using Affymetrix exon array (HuEx) and deep sequencing approach (RNA-Seq). Exon array profiling was performed on 47 neuroblastoma samples in stage 1 and stage 4 with normal or amplified MYCN copy number (stage 1-, 4- and 4+). Principal component analysis demonstrated distinct splicing pattern in three groups of samples. In stage 4- compared with stage 1- tumors, differentially spliced candidate genes (n=355) had little overlap with genes showing whole gene expression changes (n=158), and most of them were involved in different biological processes. In contrast, a larger number of genes exhibited either exon-level splicing, gene-level expression, or both changes in stage 4+ versus stage 1- tumors. To validate exon array results, we performed transcriptome sequencing of selected samples with stage 1-, 4-, or 4+ neuroblastomas. The concept of splicing index was adapted to measure RNA splicing by short sequence reads. Both exon array and deep sequencing data demonstrated differential splicing of microtubule-associated genes, which may play an important role in enhanced genomic instabilities and tumor development. In conclusion, our results demonstrated a significant contribution of alternative or aberrant splicing to neuroblastoma development. The identification of differentially spliced genes and pathways in high risk neuroblastomas may be essential to the understanding of cancer biology and the discovery of diagnostic biomarkers or therapeutic targets in neuroblastoma.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2225.


Background. Graft arteriosclerosis (GA) is an important factor limiting long-term outcomes after organ transplantation. We have used a chimeric humanized mouse system to model this arteriopathy in human vessels, and found that the morphologic and functional changes of experimental GA are interferon (IFN)-γ dependent. This study evaluated whether 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, described as inhibitors of IFN-γ production, affect GA in our model. Methods. C.B.-17 severe combined immunodeficiency-beige mice were transplanted with human artery segments as aortic interposition grafts and inoculated with allogeneic human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or replication-deficient adenovirus encoding human IFN-γ. Transplant arteries were analyzed from recipients treated with vehicle vs. atorvastatin or simvastatin at different doses. The effects of statins on T-cell alloresponses to vascular endothelial cells were also investigated in vitro. Results. Graft arteriosclerosis-like arteriopathy induced by PBMCs was reduced by atorvastatin at 30 mg/kg/day or simvastatin at 100 mg/kg/day that correlated with decreased graft-infiltrating CD3+ T cells. Circulating IFN-γ was also reduced, as were graft IFN-γ and IFN-γ-inducible chemokine transcripts and graft human leukocyte antigen-DR expression. Graft arteriosclerosis directly induced by human IFN-γ in the absence of human PBMCs was also reduced by atorvastatin, but only at the highest dose of 100 mg/kg/day. Finally, atorvastatin decreased the clonal expansion and production of interleukin-2, but not IFN-γ, by human CD4+ T cells in response to allogeneic endothelial cells in coculture. Conclusions. Our results suggest that a benefit of statin administration in transplantation may include amelioration of GA primarily by inhibiting alloreactive T-cell accumulation and consequent IFN-γ production and secondarily through suppression of the arterial response to IFN-γ.


: Sulphur (S) deficiency in plants is widespread throughout the world. In soil S can be found in organic and inorganic forms. The contribution of the S organic fractions in meeting plant requirements in S is not well known. This study aimed to evaluate the variation of the mineral and organic S fractions in an Entisol where Marandu palisadegrass (Brachiaria brizantha) was fertilized with N and S. A fractionated 52 factorial experiment was carried out in a greenhouse, in a randomized block design, with four replications. Combinations of five N rates with five S rates, supplied as NH4NO3 and CaSO4.2H2O, were studied. Plants were harvested three times and the soil was sampled at each harvest. The total S content in the plant material was determined. Four soil S fractions were determined: inorganic SO4 S, ester bonded S, carbon-bonded S, and residual S. The 400-40 mg dm-3 N-S combination resulted in more S removed from the soil by the grass than the treatments with N or S supply alone. Inorganic SO4 S in the soil was increased by S application. The carbon-bonded S did not change in the soil, in any sampling time, with any N-S combination. The ester bonded S was increased, and apparently did not follow any N and S fertilizations. Except for the combination 400N-0S, the residual S fraction decreased as the time progressed. The variations of the S organic fractions in soil indicate that part of the S requirement of Marandu palisadegrass may be supplied by the residual S fraction.


Video-based eye tracking commonly relies on the positional difference between the pupil center and the first-surface corneal reflection of a light source (CR) to map the line of sight. In this paper, a new structured illumination configuration, utilizing an array of IREDs to illuminate the eye, is proposed to address two common problems in current systems: 1) loss of CR during extreme eye movements, and 2) specular reflection artifacts being mistaken for the desired CR. The design provides reliable difference vectors even during extreme eye movements. The challenge of spurious specular reflections is solved by a two-stage processing approach. First, potential CRs and the pupil are isolated based on statistical information in an eye image. Second, genuine CRs are distinguished by a novel CR location prediction technique. A prototype implementation in the RIT lightweight eye tracker [Babcock, J., et al., 2004] is described.


Scytalidium lignicolum acid protease B, a pepstatin-insensitive acid protease, was modified by 1,2-epoxy-3-(p-nitrophenoxy)propane (EPNP) with the concomitant loss of its enzyme activity, and an EPNP-labeled peptide was isolated from the thermolysin-digest of the modified enzyme by HPLC. The amino acid sequence of the peptide was determined to be Ile-Leu-Glu-Thr-Gly, which corresponds to the sequence of residue Nos. 51-55 of the enzyme. The results of treatment of the labeled peptide with hydroxylamine suggested that the EPNP moiety is ester-linked to Glu53 of the enzyme. The amino acid sequence around Glu53 of the acid protease B showed high homology with those around the active site Asp residues of calf chymosin and porcine pepsin. These results show that it is highly possible that Glu53 of the acid protease B is one of the amino acid residues involved in its catalytic activity.


The number of deaths associated with cardiovascular events remains constant in many countries due to new therapeutic approaches for prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis. This condition is widely attributable to unhealthy outcomes in its association with risk factors such as smoking and sedentary behavior. Risk factors play a significant role in the progression of coronary artery disease. We conducted a review of the literature with the purpose of identifying primary risk factors for coronary disease, lifestyle change interventions, and expectations for a reduction in cardiovascular events on the basis of evidence-based health education strategies. In addition, we sought to contextualize this review so that nurses are trained to use these findings in their practice at different levels of care.


ABSTRACT The article investigates the factors shaping the number and content of interpellations, a form of parliamentary questions by members of parliament (MPs) in post-regime change Hungary. Four theoretical propositions regarding the functions of interpellations are examined in this context: political control; policy-oriented information seeking; parliamentary group leadership; and constituency service. A new database of 4096 observations for the period between 1990 and 2014 is compiled in order to analyse these hypotheses. Computer-assisted content analysis techniques and count data regressions are used to describe the text of interpellations in terms of their geographical and policy content. Results show that opposition MPs interpellate more, whereas representatives of single-member districts and regional lists interpellate less than their peers. Representatives from single-member districts and regional lists make more reference to local issues in general, but not to their own district or county. Finally, policy specialisation increases the likelihood of submitting pertinent parliamentary questions.


Recent studies have provided experimental information about the initial stage of protein complex formation, the encounter complex. This stage is particularly important in the weak and transient complexes formed between electron transfer proteins and their partners. These studies are discussed and the role of the encounter complex is interpreted in terms of the specific requirements that the biological function puts on these complexes.


The generation of ultrashort light pulses is essential for the advancement of attosecond science. Here, we show that attosecond pulses approaching the Fourier limit can be generated through optimized optical driving of tunneling particles in solids. We propose an ansatz for the wave function of tunneling electron-hole pairs based on a rigorous expression for massive Dirac fermions, which enables efficient optimization of the waveform of the driving field. It is revealed that the dynamic sign change in the effective mass due to optical driving is crucial for shortening the pulse duration, which highlights a distinctive property of Bloch electrons that is not present in atomic gases, i.e., the periodic nature of crystals. These results show the potential of utilizing solid materials as a source of attosecond pulses.


This article introduces a new program transformation in order to enhance the numerical accuracy of floating-point computations. We consider that a program would return an exact result if the computations were carried out using real numbers. In practice, roundoff errors due to the finite representation of values arise during the execution. These errors are closely related to the way formulas are evaluated. Indeed, mathematically equivalent formulas, obtained using laws like associativity, distributivity, etc., may lead to very different numerical results in the computer arithmetic. We propose a semantics-based transformation in order to optimize the numerical accuracy of programs. This transformation is expressed in the abstract interpretation framework and it aims at rewriting pieces of numerical codes in order to obtain results closer to what the computer would output if it used the exact arithmetic.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder where recent evidence suggests pathogenesis may be mediated by inflammatory processes. The molecular architecture of the disease remains to be fully elucidated. We performed single-nucleus transcriptomics and unbiased proteomics using postmortem tissue obtained from the prefrontal cortex of 12 individuals with late-stage PD and age-matched controls. We analyzed ∼80,000 nuclei and identified eight major cell types, including brain-resident T cells, each with distinct transcriptional changes in line with the known genetics of PD. By analyzing Lewy body pathology in the same postmortem tissue, we found that α-synuclein pathology is inversely correlated with chaperone expression in excitatory neurons. Examining cell-cell interactions, we found a selective abatement of neuron-astrocyte interactions and enhanced neuroinflammation. Proteomic analyses of the same brains identified synaptic proteins in prefrontal cortex that were preferentially downregulated in PD. Strikingly, comparing this dataset to a regionally similar published analysis for Alzheimer's disease (AD), we found no common differentially expressed genes in neurons, but identified many shared differentially expressed genes in glial cells, suggesting that disease etiology in PD and AD are likely distinct. These data are presented as a resource for interrogating the molecular and cellular basis of PD and other neurodegenerative diseases. One Sentence Summary We provide an extensive single cell analysis profiling nearly 80,000 brain nuclei from prefrontal cortex of late-stage Parkinson's disease brains, demonstrate that α-synuclein pathology is inversely correlated with chaperone expression in excitatory neurons, found a selective abatement of neuron-astrocyte interactions with enhanced neuroinflammation, and augmented the study with proteomic analysis and cross-comparisons with Alzheimer's disease datasets, providing valuable insights into the pathways of neurodegeneration and a deep definition of the underlying molecular pathology for Parkinson's disease.


The objective of this article is to apply empirical methods to delineate the relevant market for various types of meat in the Czech Republic during the period of 2006–2010. This procedure may be useful when there is little availability of micro-data and the complete SSNIP test approach is not feasible, but when the prices can be obtained at an aggregated level. The methods employed ranged from the visual assessment, simple correlation analysis and testing of the law of one price, to the more complex cointegration analysis and testing of Granger causality. The application of the methodology is used both for the geographical delineation and for the product delineation. We reach the following conclusions: For the chicken meat, the market in the Czech Republic can be considered independent both geographically and by product. For the pork meat, the relevant market includes, apart from the Czech Republic, also Germany and Slovakia. The relevant beef meat market includes the Czech Republic and Germany.


This thesis addresses the use of Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) for exploratory cluster analysis over ubiquitous data streams, where two complementary problems arise: first, to generate (local) SOM models over potentially unbounded multi-dimensional non-stationary data streams; second, to extrapolate these capabilities to ubiquitous environments. Towards this problematic, original contributions are made in terms of algorithms and methodologies. Two different methods are proposed regarding the first problem. By focusing on visual knowledge discovery, these methods fill an existing gap in the panorama of current methods for cluster analysis over data streams. Moreover, the original SOM capabilities in performing both clustering of observations and features are transposed to data streams, characterizing these contributions as versatile compared to existing methods, which target an individual clustering problem. Also, additional methodologies that tackle the ubiquitous aspect of data streams are proposed in respect to the second problem, allowing distributed and collaborative learning strategies. Experimental evaluations attest the effectiveness of the proposed methods and realworld applications are exemplified, namely regarding electric consumption data, air quality monitoring networks and financial data, motivating their practical use. This research study is the first to clearly address the use of the SOM towards ubiquitous data streams and opens several other research opportunities in the future.


Distributed multiple-input multiple-output (D-MIMO) system has become a promising technique for next generation wireless networks, which offer considerably high throughput and link reliability over conventional point-to-point MIMO. This is achieved by packing multiple antennas at one end of the wireless channel into spatially separated multiple radio ports (RPs). Performance analysis of such distributed antenna systems (DASs) having different propagation paths pertaining to individual RPs becomes a challenging task as the communicating channel experiences combined effect of both small and large-scale fading, also known as composite fading. Composite fading is more realistic for systems like DAS and relay systems, and in such systems small-scale fading alone does not provide accurate statistical distribution of fading channels. In this dissertation, we consider D-MIMO wireless channels experiencing Nakagami-Inverse Gaussian (G) and Rayleigh-Inverse Gaussian (RIG) composite distributions and investigate the uplink performance of such systems in terms of ergodic capacity, average symbol error rate (SER) and outage probability (OP). We begin with the discussion on state-of-the-art composite distributions in modelling single-input single-output (SISO) and MIMO channels. Then the widely used Rayleigh-Gamma
(a.k.a. K) and Nakagami-Gamma (a.k.a. KG) distributions are reviewed in detail, and the
performance of MIMO systems over such channels are compared with RIG and G distributions, respectively in subsequent part of this dissertation. To this end, a reparametrized KG (KG(R)) model is proposed in the formulation of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) distribution for SISO communication system. In the analysis of Inverse Gaussian (IG) shadowed composite fading channels, upper and lower bounds of ergodic capacity for optimal detectors are evaluated over G fading D-MIMO channels. However, the analysis of exact ergodic capacity and other performance measures can not be accomplished due to the unavailability of joint channel statistics of non-Gaussian fading channels. In order to perform in-depth characterization of channels operating over G distribution, we consider a point-to-point MIMO system with orthogonal space-time block code (OSTBC) transmit diversity technique. Interestingly, the MIMO OSTBC channel can be transformed into an equivalent scalar channel that significantly simplifies the mathematical exercise for analysis. Detailed analytical investigation is performed for MIMO OSTBC systems considering aforementioned figure of merits.
In subsequent analysis, we consider low complexity linear zero forcing (ZF) detector
which requires closed form density function of pseudo inverse of D-MIMO channel matrix. Therefore, analytically tractable Rayleigh distribution is assumed here as small-scale fading component that leads to RIG composite distribution in modelling D-MIMO channels. The presence of spatial correlation was also taken into consideration which is experienced frequently in multi-antenna scenarios. We first demonstrate the effects of spatial correlation on spatially multiplexed point-to-point MIMO system in reference to beamforming system which is highly immune to such correlation. In the next part of the analysis, a systematic characterization of RIG distribution is provided in modelling D-MIMO channels with ZF detectors in presence of transmit antenna correlation. Closed-form expressions of exact ergodic capacity, their approximations in high and low SNR regime and ergodic capacity bounds are found. The analytical expressions of average SER and OP are also deduced in tractable form. Additionally, we propose to formulate simplified expressions of average SER as well as OP in high SNR regime and assess their approximation accuracy. In further analysis of this dissertation, a D-MIMO system is considered in massive MIMO scenario and the performance of the resulting distributed massive MIMO (DM-MIMO) system is evaluated in detail. We consider two different D-MIMO architectures with the base station (BS) containing large number of antennas. The architecture of DM-MIMO-I system is analogous to the D-MIMO systems described earlier. For instance, in uplink scenario the RPs having multiple antennas of a DM-MIMO-I system are placed at arbitrary locations and simultaneously communicate with the centrally located BS. Here, the instantaneous output SNR of kth subchannel is formulated by applying the law of large numbers. On the other hand, the DM-MIMO-II architecture comprises of multiple BSs or remote access units (RAUs), distributed across the cell and arbitrarily located mobile unit. The performance of such
systems are evaluated for both finite and infinite number of RAU antennas. In the latter case, approximated SNR is expressed as a sum of unequal IG random variables and subsequently the closed-form expressions of asymptotic ergodic capacity and average SER are formulated. The correctness of theoretical analysis presented in this dissertation are corroborated through Monte-Carlo simulations. In light of this, the efficacy of considered systems are investigated in various severity of shadowing environments including light, average and frequent heavy shadowing. Moreover, the implications of fading and shadowing parameters, number of antennas, positions of RPs, locations of RAUs, antenna correlation, etc. on system performance are investigated.


In this paper computer simulation of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) curves was applied to determine the size, shape, and distribution of secondary phases formed in the aluminum matrix during dynamic ageing. SAXS patterns were registered in transmission mode for Al-Mg-Si alloys foils. For the first time the spatial distribution of dispersed phase particles was accounted during the simulation of scattering curves. Scattering curves were simulated in the large angular range to improve the accuracy of the results. The method of SAXS was preliminarily tested on similar samples after artificial ageing to validate the used approach.


This article compares the language ideologies of language experts (both academic and nonacademic) in online news media in Lithuania, Norway and Serbia. The results will reveal that language is understood in diametrically opposed ways amongst Lithuanian and Serbian academic experts on the one, and Norwegian academic experts on the other hand. Lithuanian and Serbian academic experts are influenced by modernist ideas of language as a single, homogenous entity, whose borders ideally match the borders of an ethnic group. Norwegian academic experts function in the public sphere as those who try to deconstruct the modernist notion of language by employing an understanding of language as a cognitive tool that performs communicative and other functions. On the other hand, non-academic experts in all the three countries exhibit a striking similarity in their language ideologies, as the great majority expresses modernist ideals of language.


Multiprocessor SoCs are no longer an advanced research topic for academia. Ninety percent of SoCs designed in 130 nm include at least one CPU. Most popular multimedia platforms are already multiprocessor SoCs. This roundtable brings together key players from the semiconductor industry and from academia to discuss the challenges and opportunities brought by this new technology.


The third and fourth intensity moments are calculated for a stochastic electromagnetic field whose quadrature components obey joint Gaussian statistics. From these moments the skewness and excess coefficients are derived and compared to the expressions for Rice-Nakagami and log normal statistics. The joint Gaussian intensity moments depend on three moments of the scattered electromagnetic waves, the inphase and quadratrue variances and the correlation coefficient; these three moments are calculated in the first Born approximation to illustrate application of the joint Gaussian results to interplanetary radio star scintillations. With this approximation, observations of skewness versus scintillation index are related to combinations of correlation length and spectral index for the solar wind electron number density fluctuations. This weak scattering relationship suggests a number of observational tests of the joint Gaussian hypothesis. (AIP)


Future vehicular networks are expected to deploy short-range communication technology for inter-vehicle communication. In addition to vehicle-to-vehicle communication, users will be interested in accessing the multimedia-rich Internet from within the vehicular network. This motivates a compelling application of Co-operative Networking in the Vehicular Ad-Hoc network where the Ad Hoc network extends and complements the Internet. The broadcast nature of the wireless medium drives us to explore different design paradigms from the ones used in typical wired settings.A new paradigm in content delivery on the Internet using peer-peer swarming protocols is emerging [1,2]. We propose SPAWN, a simple cooperative strategy for content delivery in future vehicular networks. We study the issues involved in using such a strategy from the standpoint of Vehicular Ad-Hoc networks. Several enhancements to a popular swarming protocol (BitTorrent) are discussed including a gossip mechanism that leverages the inherent broadcast nature of the wireless medium, and a piece-selection strategy that uses proximity to exchange pieces quicker. Preliminary results show that SPAWN increases the perceived performance of the network, resulting in faster downloads for popular files.


In her book, Geneva Smitherman makes a substantial contribution to an understanding of Black English by setting it in the larger context of Black culture and life style. In addition to defining Black English, by its distinctive structure and special lexicon, Smitherman argues that the Black dialect is set apart from traditional English by a rhetorical style which reflects its African origins. Smitherman also tackles the issue of Black and White attitudes toward Black English, particularly as they affect educational policy. Documenting her insights with quotes from notable Black historical, literary and popular figures, Smitherman makes clear that Black English is as legitimate a form of speech as British, American, or Australian English.


This essay discusses some of the ways in which De iure praedae may be understood to constitute a republican text. It is my argument that the 'Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty' should be firmly located within the over-arching republican discourse of the juvenilia, although the text's republican content is not immediately apparent. On close examination, a republican sub-text is detectible through the author's treatment of the discursive object of the text, the Dutch East India Company (the VOC), a corporate body. By attempting to legitimate the VOC's natural right to wage just war, Grotius invests a private entity with a public mark of sovereignty. This investiture of a non-state actor with public international legal personality forces a careful reappraisal of two central characteristics of seventeenth-century republican thought: (i) the divisibility of sovereignty, and (ii) the fluid demarcation between the 'public' and the 'private' spheres. I conclude that the VOC may be accurately denoted a 'corporate sovereign', an entity whose legal personality is derived from the corporatist principles that underlined early republican and federalist theory.


The Internet backplane protocol, or IBP, supports logistical networking to allow applications to control the movement and storage of data between nodes. The protocol's name reflects its purpose: to enable applications to treat the Internet as if it were a processor backplane. IBP provides access to remote storage and standard Internet resources and directs communication between them with the IBP API. In short, the motivation behind IBP is to design, develop, implement, and deploy a layer of middleware that allows storage to be exploited as part of the Internet. IBP alpha versions have been in use since February 1999, and version 1.0 has been available since March 2001. The article describes the IBP API and presents some examples that show its strategic potential for builders of distributed applications. We also discuss a layered approach to functionality and deployment that uses IBP as a basic service and builds more useful services on top of it.


The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been monitoring the performance of a 1- kW/sub AC/ United Solar Systems Corporation (USSC) roofing system over the 6-year period from October 1998 to September 2004. This paper investigates the performance and reliability of this system. The annual degradation and seasonal fluctuation of the system's power output are calculated using the PVUSA power rating regression model. The system performance is also examined using the additional performance parameters of yield, reference yield, and performance ratio, which allow for a somewhat less complicated data collection and analysis. The data indicate that the system has exhibited stable performance over time, with an overall degradation rate comparable to that found in crystalline silicon systems.


Kuantan River Basin (KRB), is an important watershed of Kuantan District which has been experiencing floods since decades. The incomplete information of hydro-meteorological data, and insufficient rainfall and streamflow gauging stations remain the key factors influenced on flood forecasting accuracy. This study aimed to cope with the problem by bridging the gap of missing hydro-meteorological data using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) model. Three rainfall event categories (extreme, heavy, and moderate) were used to evaluate the model's capability in simulating flood events. The research was covered 4 objectives; (i) to evaluate the performance of microphysics (MP) and cumulus (CU) schemes parameterization for WRF model,(ii) to identify the best physical schemes combination of WRF for precipitation forecasting at KRB iii) to determine GIS-based hydrological model parameters for KRB, and (iv) to quantify the ability and accuracy of proposed flood forecasting framework based on a coupled semi-distributed hydro-meteorological model. Performance of 48 combinations of WRF schemes including 8 MP and 6 CU schemes were first evaluated to simulate single rainfall event. Then selected top 5 best WRF schemes combinations were further investigated to determine the highest performance scheme to simulate events for all categories in KRB. All the obtained results were validated against the observed rainfall data. HEC-HMS model integrated with ArcGIS was used estimate flood hydrographs. Statistical indices include Percentage Error (PE), Nash-Sutcliff Efficiency (NSE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Hit Rate (HR), False Alarm Ratio (FAR), Proportion of Correction (PC), Threat Score (TS) and Bias (B) were applied to evaluate the model performances. The results of the 48 schemes simulations revealed that all the parametrized schemes were found less sensitive to HR and FAR. an average range of PC (0.61 to 0.67), TS (0.55 to 0.67), and RMSE (41.8 to 54.4) indicated the parametrization of WSM6GF, SBUBMJ, LinGF, MDMBMJ, and MDMGF performed relatively better to simulate the event Comparison results of objective (ii) identified SBUBMJ as the most suitable schemes to capture spatial and temporal rainfall in KRB with mean average PE of ±5.1%, ±20.2%, ±23.7% for extreme, heavy, and moderate rainfall, respectively. In HEC-HMS streamflow calibration and validation processes showed that the parameters Soil Conservation Service- Curve Number (SCS-CN) and Storage Coefficient (R) were found to be sensitive to the model performance. Validation results of the coupled WRF and HEC-HMS simulation revealed satisfactory performance in simulating heavy rainfall events with NSE ranges from 0.59 to 0.65 and 0.73 to 0.83, PE for peak discharge ranges from -23.30% to -36.37%, and peak-volume ranges from -20.8% to -28.9%. Good agreement between the models was identified in moderate rainfall events with NSE ranges 0.73 to 0.83, PE for peak discharge ranges from -6.89% to 14.48%, and peak volume range from 4.7% to 4.9%. For the extreme events, the models indicated low performance with NSE ranges from 0.40 to 0.06, PE of peak discharge from -15.74% to 17.23%, and peak volume from -14.65% to -26.06%. From the overall analysis, the study has determined that WRF model can be applied as the best alternative meteorological input to be used for sparse rainfall gauge areas or areas where rainfall observation stations fail to function. Hence the model framework is significant in providing reliable information on flood forecasting by considering about average percentage error of about ±16% to ±25% flow discharge values.


Human activity recognition (HAR) through wearable devices has received much interest due to its numerous applications in fitness tracking, wellness screening, and supported living. As a result, we have seen a great deal of work in this field. Traditional deep learning (DL) has set a state of the art performance for HAR domain. However, it ignores the data's structure and the association between consecutive time stamps. To address this constraint, we offer an approach based on Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) for structuring the input representation and exploiting the relations among the samples. However, even when using a simple graph convolution network to eliminate this shortage, there are still several limiting factors, such as inter-class activities issues, skewed class distribution, and a lack of consideration for sensor data priority, all of which harm the HAR model's performance. To improve the current HAR model's performance, we investigate novel possibilities within the framework of graph structure to achieve highly discriminated and rich activity features. We propose a model for (1) time-series-graph module that converts raw data from HAR dataset into graphs; (2) Graph Convolutional Neural Networks (GCNs) to discover local dependencies and correlations between neighboring nodes; and (3) self-attention GNN encoder to identify sensors interactions and data priorities. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work for HAR, which introduces a GNN-based approach that incorporates both the GCN and the attention mechanism. By employing a uniform evaluation method, our framework significantly improves the performance on hospital patient's activities dataset comparatively considered other state of the art baseline methods.


book will be a useful addition to the library of academicians in marketing and other disciplines, and also to research practitioners. The technician who wishes to go back to original sources has a wealth of references at the end of each paper. The nonspecialist finds citations leading to further and more comprehensive examinations of the subject matter. The book should stimulate greater use of unobtrusive measures in marketing research and guide readers interested in using them. JONATHAN N. GOODRICH Indiana University


work in intelligent text retrieval systems have shown improvements in knowledge representation techniques, irrespective of user-specific tasks viz. classification or categorization, summarization, indexing and ranking. Text miners have begun extracting and aggregating key concepts by slowly shifting from utilizing the explicitly available ontologies towards machine generated ones. In the present communication, the authors present text mining experiments in the closed-world domain to rank the documents, here chosen as academic realm. The proposal offers a two-stage hybrid tool, where a confusion matrix obtained from suitably chosen naive-bayes classifier is used to arrive at similarity matrix, that is put to hierarchical agglomerative clustering procedures. This is extended to render an accurately precise hierarchical topic and sub-topic sequencing in the considered domain of context. The resulting accuracy of term-to-term arrangements in topic hierarchy were found promising as the same was found to be preferred, when consulted with subject experts.


Abstract The approximately 608 Ma Old Fort Point Formation (OFP) is a unique, mixed siliciclastic and carbonate stratigraphic marker horizon exposed locally over an area of about 35 000 km2 within the Neoproterozoic Windermere Supergroup (WSG) of the southern Canadian Cordillera. Paleogeographically, these strata were deposited by a variety of deep-marine processes in slope to basin-floor settings along the continental margin of Laurentia (ancestral North America). The OFP ranges from approximately 60 to 450 m thick and comprises three informal lithostratigraphic members, which stratigraphically upward are the Temple Lake (TLM), Geikie Siding (GSM) and Whitehorn Mountain (WMM) members. The TLM and GSM are generally uniform in thickness and lithofacies and are interpreted to reflect basin-wide, synchronous deposition. The TLM is characteristically composed of variably coloured fine-grained rocks that stratigraphically-upward grade from siltstone to rhythmically bedded limestone-siltstone couplets. These fine-grained strata represent deposition during a major, post-glacial eustatic rise that essentially terminated the supply of coarse-grained siliciclastic sediment into the deep-water part of the Windermere basin. These strata are then gradationally overlain, although over an interval only <0.5–2 m thick, by strata of the GSM that stratigraphically-upward become progressively more organic-rich. The GSM is interpreted to have accumulated during terminal transgressive and highstand conditions, likely in anoxic bottom-water below a postulated pycnocline. The youngest member of the OFP is the WMM. The base of the WMM is almost always sharp and locally marked by scours more than 100 m deep. This surface is interpreted to be the result of an abrupt fall of relative sea level related to regional tectonic uplift, which in turn caused widespread mass wasting on the slope, and locally the formation of deeply incised submarine canyons. Sediment that accumulated in the canyons and more distally on the basin floor during the ensuing lowstand and early transgression was composed of remobilized slope sediment mixed with texturally and mineralogically immature clastic sediment derived directly from the hinterland. As transgression proceeded, the shelf eventually became flooded and shut-off the hinterland sediment supply. At the same time (late transgression and/or highstand), however, new, more landward canyons formed, or existing canyon heads eroded headward and reactivated the slope-basin floor transport system. This time, however, sediment was made up of a mixture of texturally and mineralogically mature palimpsest siliciclastic and carbonate shelf sediments. Notwithstanding its unique lithological and geochemical characteristics, strata of the OFP are underlain and overlain by a thick monotonous succession of mostly siliciclastic deep-marine sandstones and mudstones, suggesting that deposition of the OFP represented only a short-term anomaly superimposed on a much longer-term history of physical and geochemical stability throughout the Neoproterozoic deep-water Windermere basin.


Strategic resilience is achievable at different stages and with different instruments. The most used ones in normal times of equilibrium are related to the capacity of regaining stability and maintaining the continuity of institutions, relations and expected objectives, at a strategic level. The new pandemic and the turbulent world with tectonic level of changes makes resilience enter in a new era where dynamic adaptability and pro-active action should be the needed instruments in order to acquire the suitable level of resilience at a strategic level. This could mean, however, to maintain just the core tasks and basic objectives of the defence and security systems and to have the ability to give up institutional physical premises as well as to adapt details, nuances, doctrines, embracing creativity, welcoming inventive solutions and building the capacity to reform during crises at the same time with the effort to meet public requirements and to fulfil current normal day by day missions.


Humans are unique among the primates in many characteristics, especially the primary and secondary sexual characters. One of these characteristics is that human males are the only member of the old world simian group (apes and old world monkeys) without a baculum. The loss of this bone in Homo sapiens is considered with respect to its function and appearance in other hominids. It is hypothesized that its loss in humans is related to upright posture, mating systems, and sperm competition. I predict that as more fossils are discovered or bones associated with current collections reexamined. all hominids before, and possibly including Homo erectus will be found to possess a baculum. Keywords: human mating systems, penis, sperm competition, bacula, human evolution 1. Introduction Modern man is anatomically unique amongst his near relatives the primates, most obviously in being hairless, erect and wholly bipedal. Sexual characters are especially different in Homo Sapiens (Short, 1981) and can be divided into two categories, primary and secondary. Primary characters are those directly related to copulation and are formed early in development. These include the organs of gamete transfer, as well as grasping appendages to secure the female. Secondary sexual characteristics, which become evident during puberty and adulthood, have received more attention, usually under the term sexual selection (Darwin, 1871; Trivers, 1972). Humans are distinctly different from other primates with regard to several primary sexual characters, including concealed ovulation (Benshoof and Thornhill,1979; Alexander and Noonan,1979; Burley, 1979; Smith, 1984, but see Sillen-Tullberg and Moller, 1993), possession of a hymen (Burley, 1979; Katchadorian, 1990; Hobday et al., in press), and permanent breasts (Short, 1980; Cant, 1981; Smith, 1984; Caro, 1987). An additional difference is that the human penis lacks a baculum (Hill, 1972; Short, 1979). In this paper I shall first explain the form and function of both bacula and penis and summarize likely functions, offer a possible explanation for the enlargement of the penis and loss of the baculum in H. Sapiens, and finally consider some comparative evidence to support my hypothesis. 2. The Baculum What is a Baculum?. The baculum (also called a penis bone, os priapi, or os penis) is a heterotypic hone present in the penis of various male mammals. Morphologically it is the most diverse of all bones and is often elongated. The distal end is complex in shape with great interspecific variability, implying that it has been subject to much selection (Eberhard, 1985; Dixson, 1987a, b; Fooden 1988). A female counterpart, the os clitordoris or baubellum, is present in some species (Hershkovitz, 1977; Hancox, 1987; Williams-Ashman and Reddi, 1991). Both form from ossification of the mesenchyme tissues within the organ. Because bacula growth occurs with maturity, it has been used to age males of some species (Hancox, 1987; Chen et. al., 1988). A baculum is found in 6 orders of Eutherian mammals (Table 1). It may have evolved separately in each mammal order in which it occurs (Hershkovitz ,1977). Of the non-primate orders, only in the Carnivore family Hyeniidae is the baculum absent. In the primates it is found in all the Catyrrhini (Hill, 1972), all prosimians but Tarsius, while in the Platyrrhini it is absent in several genera belonging to different families (Ateles, Lagothrix, Alouatta and some specimens of Chiropotes and Cacajao) (Hershkovitz, 1977; Dixson, 1987a, b). Among the apes and old world monkeys, H. Sapiens is the only member without a baculum (Table 1). These species are considered the most specialized members of their respective groups, and the lack of bacula is considered degenerative (Hershkovitz, 1977). In species with a baculum it is often a major element of the penis, and so it is logical to first consider the function of the penis. …


The study explored the relative effectiveness of morphological analysis training and context clue training on multidimensional EFL vocabulary knowledge. A total of 90 college English learners were equally and randomly assigned to three groups: a morphological analysis group, a context clue group, and a control group. Vocabulary development was measured in four dimensions: inferencing, grammar, meaning, and collocation. The ANOVA results indicated that both experimental groups outperformed the control group in multiple aspects of word knowledge. In addition, in the word inferencing and meaning tests, the morphological group demonstrated significantly better performance; while the context clue group showed superior word grammar and collocation knowledge. Relevant implications are discussed based on the findings.


This paper presents a novel technique by which non-Gaussian vibrations are synthesized by
generating a sequence of random Gaussian processes of varying root-mean-square (rms)
levels and durations. The technique makes use of previous research by the authors which
shows that non-Gaussian vibrations from wheeled vehicles comprise of a sequence of
Gaussian segments. Synthesis is achieved by creating a modulation function which is then
applied, by means of a purposed-designed amplifier module, to a Gaussian random signal
itself generated by a standard laboratory random vibration controller. This technique yields
nonstationary, non-Gaussian random vibrations that statistically conform to the desired
spectral and statistical (rms) distribution functions and are typical of those generated by
wheeled vehicles. Results from experiments using such a Statistical Vibration Synthesizer
system demonstrate the effectiveness of the method and its relevance for evaluating the
effects of nonstationary random vibrations on consignments and passengers alike.
Paper presented at the 11th International Forum for Road Transport Technology (IFRTT) Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology (HVTT)symposium.


Beta-adrenergic binding sites have been identified and characterized on murine lymphocytes. The binding sites are of two distinct classes, a high affinity class which has an apparent dissociation constant of about 1 x 10(-9)M and numbers about 500 sites per cell, and a higher capacity binding class that appears to be more characteristic of a non-specific binding site. The binding of a beta-adrenergic radioligand at concentrations about equal to the Kd (dissociation constant) for the high affinity site can be competed for with classical adrenergic ligands, is reversible and does not display cooperative interactions.


Democracy is subject to constant and seemingly interminable contestation in academic and policy contexts, and yet, empirically and methodologically robust analysis of what the term means in practice for actual citizens has remained an area of relative lacuna. Admittedly, large-N surveys
 have attempted to address this research gap by examining attitudes to numerous components of democracy, but without the fine-grained detail required to overcome simply reproducing the focus on liberal procedural, Western precedent-based, top-down approaches to understanding such a complex
 and varied political system. This article proposes a methodological approach, based on the requirements of comparative political theory and research into how people view democracy. This allows us to explore political attitudes and the meaning of democracy with a bottom-up approach using the
 methods of repertory grid and in-depth interviews. Singapore is a particularly exciting case for comparative political science: although it has all the advantageous conditions that, according to classic modernization theory, promote the development of democracy, it is still not a democracy.
 To what extent will the conceptualization of democracy by citizens in a country like Singapore resemble theoretical definitions, and how suitable do they consider democracy to be for Singapore? What are their expectations for a good government or regime? This article examines what highly educated
 Singaporeans, ranging in age from their twenties to their forties, think about democracy. In doing so, the article also pursues the goal of comparing methods between repertory grid interviews and in-depth interviews in order to work out potential interfaces, and points of connection, between
 the two methods to allow for the most productive research outcomes. We find that, conceptually, these Singaporeans' perceptions of democracy appeared very similar to what is usually discussed as electoral democracy in established literature. When evaluating the performance of a government
 or a regime, however, liberal ideas of freedom and fairness competed with more pragmatic approaches that reflect the principles of progress and success as well as community and performance-focused orientations. As a result, our respondents did not prioritize democratic practices as much as
 other aspects of governance like e ciency. Our findings on the influence of state ideology on highly educated young people in Singapore strengthen the arguments of political myth as an integration and legitimization strategy in autocratic regimes and democratizing strong states or regimes
 with a particularly pronounced ideological hegemony.


Recent advancement in Generative Adversarial Networks in speech synthesis domain[3],[2] have shown, that it's possible to train GANs [8] in a reliable manner for high quality coherent waveform generation from mel-spectograms. We propose that it is possible to transfer the MelGAN's [3] robustness in learning speech features to speech enhancement and noise reduction domain without any model modification tasks. Our proposed method generalizes over multi-speaker speech dataset and is able to robustly handle unseen background noises during the inference. Also, we show that by increasing the batch size for this particular approach not only yields better speech results, but generalizes over multi-speaker dataset easily and leads to faster convergence. Additionally, it outperforms previous state of the art GAN approach for speech enhancement SEGAN [5] in two domains: 1. quality ; 2. speed. Proposed method runs at more than 100x faster than realtime on GPU and more than 2x faster than real time on CPU without any hardware optimization tasks, right at the speed of MelGAN [3].


The Internet Chess Club, or ICC, is a highly successful virtual gaming community. This paper examines the evolution from its 1995 inception as a pure gaming community to the present day as a successful business with over 26,000 paid members. We give a particular focus on the underlying qualities the ICC possesses in order to succeed and grow such as utilization of real-world credibility indicators (titles), a robust economic system, and mechanisms for user-contributed feature extensions. As ICC expands in scope and scale, its segmentation strategies are analyzed as well as the impact of these extensions on its business strategy. The paper also discusses a novel method of data collection in an online community; the use of a participant/observer software agent to poll the community at regular intervals at collect data as well as promote a voluntary questionnaire as part of its service to the ICC community. Data collected by the agent in its first month of operation are analyzed and discussed.


THIS PAPER describes the exploratory development of a microprocessor-controlled PABX telephone called the Touch Phone. Advanced hardware and software techniques have been utilized in the system design to implement new interface concepts for a user-friendly PABX telephone set. With its interactive capability, the user can easily gain access to the many features of a modern PABX system with minimal memorization. The user enters commands by touching "buttons" on a touch-sensitive screen that are drawn by the self-contained microprocessor. With the guidance of tree-like structured menus presented on an electroluminescent (EL) display panel, the user can interactively select the various features and options provided by the PABX system. The goals of the Touch Phone are to make the man-machine interaction simple and precise.


As pointed out by Buffenoir and Roche in [BR1], the Quantum Lorentz Group has a formal R-matrix and a formal ribbon element. It is possible to describe the action of them in the infinite dimensional quantised representations of the principal series. Given a knot diagram, it is thus possible to make a formal Reshetikin-Turaev evaluation of a numerical knot invariant. After the observation that for some knots the infinite series obtained converges, a related Vassiliev invariant type approach for a knot invariant is tried. This yields a class of knot invariants parametrised by irreducible infinite dimensional representations of the Lorentz Group, taking values in the ring of formal power series over the field of complex numbers. A relation with the coloured Jones Polynomial is obtained. The analytic properties of such power series expansions will be considered in a separate work, namely [FM]. Introduction The main aim of this article is to show what a possible path to define knot invariants out of the infinite dimensional representations of the Lorentz group is. Supported by Praxis XXI, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Av D. Carlos I, N 126, 1200 Lisboa Portugal Presently in a PhD program at the Mathematics Department of the University of Nottingham under the supervision of Dr John W. Barrett email address: email@example.com


Distribution networks in the UK have been designed in order that electrical power is provided by large scale generating stations via the transmission network. A distribution network typically operates at voltages up to and including 132 kV with the end customers directly connected. Legislations introduced by the present UK government state that 10% of the total UK energy should be provided from renewable sources, and 10GWe of combined heating power (CHP) should be provided by 2010. This will inevitably lead to a large increase in distributed generation in the UK by 2010. Distributed (embedded) generation is defined as that generation connected directly to the distribution network. The gas turbine is used extensively in these new schemes. It is commonly used in CHP schemes where use is made of the waste heat present in the gas turbine exhaust gases for industrial processes or domestic heating. A far more beneficial practice with respect to the distribution network is to utilize the gas turbine in a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant. This paper presents the results of the transient performance of a CCGT plant when connected to the distribution network (Chilvers (1)).


In 2019, Wayne Journell published a book, which is called unpacking fake news that gives an overview of the issue of fake news, and how teachers can teach students to handle such fake news. This book started by showing how the fake news work and impact people's beliefs, especially in the political field. This book also gives a reader an overview of historical events of fake news and why teenagers are more susceptible to fake news. This book provides readers with assessment tools that help students to evaluate and distinguish between fake and real news and includes educational approaches and strategies that teachers can use to help their students be more critical thinkers.


Osteoarthritis is a major health concern in living populations, as well as being one of the most common pathological lesions identified in the archaeological record. The aetiology of the disease remains unclear, with a multi-factorial influence of physical strain, age, genetics, and obesity. Previous studies have identified a relationship between the presence of knee osteoarthritis on the distal femoral joint and the morphology of the intercondylar notch, patellar groove, and medial condyle. The current study expands this research to investigate the relationship between distal femoral, distal humeral, and proximal ulnar joint morphology and osteoarthritis with 3D shape analysis techniques. These methods provide a more detailed analysis of joint morphology in order to determine any relationship between 3D shape and osteoarthritis. The results indicate a complex relationship between joint shape and knee osteoarthritis, with eburnated right femora showing a statistically significant association. The shapes associated with eburnated or affected femoral joints can be explained by osteophyte development, and therefore likely represent systematic shape changes and not a particular joint shape predisposing individuals to the condition. There was no identifiable relationship found in the proximal ulna or distal humerus, indicating that joint shape is unlikely to influence the development of the condition in the elbow joint and that any shape changes produced by osteoarthritis are not systematic or quantifiable. The joints analysed in this study were highly influenced by asymmetry, sexual dimorphism, and allometry, resulting in a small sample size of affected joints in many datasets. Further analyses of large skeletal samples are needed to more thoroughly investigate the possible relationship of distal femoral joint shape and osteoarthritis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This thesis examines the response of two medium-sized cities, the French city of Reims and the English city of Leicester, to the challenges of globalisation that have intensified since the 1980s. The end of the long post-war economic boom marked by the mid-1970s economic crisis led to global changes that both cities encountered, such as deindustrialisation, the rise of unemployment, urban austerity and inner-city decline. The economic depression of the 1980s marked a turning point for the regeneration policies of Britain and France with municipalities looking to provide a better image of the city in order to adapt and resist the effects of globalisation. I argue that less prominent cities as opposed to 'global' or capital cities warrant detailed attention in the global context. Within the homogenous frame of globalisation, both cities adopted different strategies that depended on different political structures, as well as local governance and historical legacies. Recent debates on globalisation have emphasised a process of homogenisation that overlooks the changes that take place at a local level. Local contexts are an important index for understanding the impact of globalisation on the urban environment. The scholarly contribution of this research will enhance our understanding of medium-sized cities and the political, economic and cultural processes of adaptation within an age of globalisation.


Clay minerals are one of the potential good adsorbent alternatives to activated carbon because of their large surface area and high cation exchange capacity. In this work the adsorptive properties of natural bentonite and kaolin clay minerals in the removal of zinc (Zn 2+ ) from aqueous solution have been studied by laboratory batch adsorption kinetic and equilibrium experiments. The result shows that the amount of adsorption of zinc metal ion increases with initial metal ion concentration, contact time, but decreases with the amount of adsorbent and temperature of the system for both the adsorbents. Kinetic experiments clearly indicate that adsorption of zinc metal ion (Zn 2+ ) on bentonite and kaolin is a two-step process: a very rapid adsorption of zinc metal ion to the external surface is followed by possible slow decreasing intraparticle diffusion in the interior of the adsorbent. This has also been confirmed by an intraparticle diffusion model. The equilibrium adsorption results are fitted better with the Langmuir isotherm compared to the Freundlich model. The value of separation factor, RL from Langmuir equation give an indication of favourable adsorption. Finally from thermodynamic studies, it has been found that the adsorption process is exothermic due to negative ∆H 0 accompanied by decrease in entropy change and Gibbs free energy change (∆G 0 ). Overall bentonite is a better adsorbent than kaolin in the the removal of Zn 2+ from its aqueous solution.


Exact indications for urgent, early and late thoracotomy are given on the basis of a great clinical experience of the authors. Specific features of the operation, principles of the management of postoperative patients are described. The general postoperative lethality from chest injuries of the patients was 9.5%.


It present a strategic analysis of manufacturer-retailer interaction in a dual channel setting and an analytical model that incorporates the key trade-offs regarding the channels. we study how a manufacturer can effectively manage his direct online channel and an independent retail channel when the channels compete in providing better service to end consumers. We suggest dual channel strategies to the manufacturer by integrating a consumer channel choice model with the manufacturer and the retailerpsilas operational decisions.The manufacturer earns a higher profit margin in the direct channel. whereas, he can share the inventory risk with the retailer in the retail channel. In the model, the strategic interaction between the manufacturer and the retailer is driven by a consumer channel choice model that considers the consumerspsila willingness-to-wait and product availability concerns as well as the relative convenience of shopping from the channels. The analysis illustrates how the manufacturer can use the dual channel structure to his advantage. We characterize the manufacturerpsilas optimal wholesale price when contracting with the retailer, and the resulting channel mix. The key features of the model include availability-based service competition between the channels, and a detailed consumer channel choice model based on the service levels at each channel. The model enables us to identify various insights into dual channel management. It address availability-based service competition in a dual channel setting , focusing on the strategic interaction between the manufacturer and the retailer. In addition, we contribute to the literature by developing a detailed consumer channel choice model to drive the manufacturerpsilas and the retailerpsilas operational decisions.


Netherlands indies occupies a position somewhat unique in the sphere of colonial administration, or at least did so until its conquest by the Japanese. For one thing, it is not a dependency of the 'mother country' for it forms a component part, along with the Netherlands, Curacao and Surinam, of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As such its nationals are Dutch subjects and stand on an equal footing, legally, with the citizens of other sovereign nations. In the event of legal controversy involving a resident of the Netherlands Indies and a citizen of another nation, the principles of private international law, better known in this country as conflict of laws, come into play to determine what body of legal rules, which of the two legal systems shall be applied in the particular case. The position of the Indies with respect to Holland—or Curacao or Surinam—introduces another, somewhat different, aspect of conflict of laws. For interregional law, as it has been termed, does not involve diverse sovereignties but concerns controversies that arise between subjects of the same state, controversies that flow from the fact that Indies private law is not identical to that of the Netherlands.


Genetic algorithm is easy to fall into premature and Powell algorithm depends on the initial value, according to the characteristics of these two algorithms, in this paper, we combined the two optimization algorithms, the optimal parameter solution which is obtained by genetic algorithm is used as the initial value in Powell algorithm, and then Powell algorithm is used to obtain global optimization parameter solution. In the process of optimizing, the maximum gradient of mutual information is used for measuring the similarity between the two registered images. The experiment shows that the registration algorithm proposed in this paper can do more effectively and more accurately work than the optimizing algorithm based on mutual information and genetic algorithm. And the registration accuracy could achieve sub-pixel.


Intrapleural injection of zymosan into rats induces acute inflammation characterized by plasma leakage and cellular influx. The level of type II phospholipase A2 (PLA2) increased in the pleural fluid as well as in exudating leukocytes after the injection of zymosan. Rather low PLA2 activity was found in cell lysates, though treatment of such lysates at low pH increased the PLA2 activity drastically. The appearance of "acid-extracted" PLA2 activity in leukocytes preceded that of the extracellular enzyme activity, suggesting that pleural leukocytes might be one of the origins of the extracellular enzyme. Treatment of exudating pleural leukocytes with purified rat type II PLA2 elicited the production of prostaglandin E2, but not platelet-activating factor appreciably. These findings indicate that type II PLA2 might play a role in the progression of inflammation through the production of eicosanoids in the present inflammation model.