The larval ectoparasitoid of Pseudaletia separata, Euplectrus separatae oviposits exclusively on the dorsolateral surface from the 3rd thoracic to the 2nd abdominal segment of the host. Larval parasitoids are well known to be exposed to risks from aggressive defense behavior when they attempt to parasitize a host. E. separatae female sting the host to inject a venom prior to oviposition. At this time the female wasp is exposed to a serious risk from aggressive host behavior. However, the female avoids the risk by moving to a specific segment of the host. The question arose as to how the female wasp recognizes the specific segments of the host. The female wasp mounted the host larva from the posterior dorsal part and moved forward on the host. The female used chemical cues to recognize the posterior part of the host body. Diethyl ether extracts from the last abdominal segments of the host were more attractive to females than extracts from the head. Motionless behavior in the host after the female wasp mounted did not induce the forward movement of the female wasp. Once the female was on the host she used crawling of the host body (peristaltic movement) as a stimulus to move forward on the host. Another key stimulus to cause the parasitoid to cease movement forward on the specific segments of the host was examined. When a host head was attached to the 3rd abdominal segment, the female wasp shifted the oviposition site adequately behind the head on the host body, suggesting that the head is used as a visual cue to pinpoint a suitable oviposition site.


The research articulated in this paper was the reflection of the continued systemic challenges impeding Youth SMME's in accessing entrepreneurial literacy, knowledge and competencies propelling their entities to sustained profit-maximisation. While the Department of Small Business Development is tasked with facilitating the general SMME development, it is felt little progress has been observed in the support of Youth SMME's in the participation of the economic mainstream. It is the firm belief of the authors that knowledgeable Youth SMME's equipped with the appropriate competencies, expertise and skills could irrefutably sustain their entity's operations and positively contribute to economic growth in the country. With the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the SMME's operate in theKnowledge-Based Economy, which is the key driver of innovation, productivity and sustainability. The significance of entrepreneurialism knowledge amongst youth entities could make a profound contribution to the absorption of skills and the associated competitive growth of their entities. While entrepreneurial literacy incentives amongst the policy makers continue to lack result-driven institutional mechanism, youth entities, on the other hand, are required to hit the proverbial entrepreneurial ground running. The research instrument utilised in this paper has been designed to identify the variables that could be associated with the identification of the inhibiting factors for the Youth SMME's to access real-time knowledge in order for them to be armed with current knowledge within the context of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, augment reality and mobile commerce era. Keywords: Youth SMME's, entrepreneurship literacy, programs and policies, Department of Small Business Development, knowledge sharing platforms


ABSTRACT
Using determinations of physiological reactions, nocardiophage sensitivities and recombinant production, subcultures of the type strains of Jensenia canicruria Bisset and Moore were found to be identical to subcultures of the type strains of Nocardia erythropolis (Gray and Thornton) Waksman and Henrici. It was suggested that under the rules of nomenclature, J. canicruria should be reduced to synonymy with N. erythropolis. The inclusion of N. erythropolis in the synonomy of Mycobacterium rhodochrous (Over-beck) Gordon and Mihm was rejected by the authors owing to differences between strains included in the synonymy of M. rhodochrous and the strains of N. erythropolis examined.


ABSTRACT We compared the performance of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay, a new real-time tuberculosis (TB) PCR test, with that of the Amplified Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Direct (MTD) assay using 162 respiratory and nonrespiratory specimens. Based on culture as the gold standard, the overall sensitivity and specificity for all sample types for the Xpert MTB/RIF assay were 90.9 and 89%, respectively, while for the MTD assay, the overall sensitivity and specificity were 97.3 and 87.1%, respectively. A higher proportion of total equivocal results were obtained for the MTD assay, at 10.5% (17/162), while the Xpert MTB/RIF assay generated 5.5% (9/162) of invalid reads.


Aerosol measurements have been made continuously at Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) from 1974 to the present. Condensation nucleus (CN) concentration has been measured using automatic CN counters, and aerosol scattering extinction (σsp) has been measured using a four-wavelength nephelometer. The Mauna Loa Observatory Photochemistry Experiment (MLOPEX) was conducted in 1991–1992 to study intensively many important variables in the field of atmospheric chemistry. Because of a strong diurnal cycle in nearly everything measured at MLO, caused by an upslope-downslope wind system, it is important to develop data-editing criteria that can safely identify background conditions as opposed to other conditions when the site may be contaminated by local sources. Ordinarily, background conditions occur during nighttime downslope wind conditions, and contaminated conditions occur during daytime upslope wind conditions. However, occasionally unusual weather conditions or contamination caused by a local source such as the Mauna Loa caldera can confuse the issue. It is recommended that background aerosol data be chosen during 0000–0800 Hawaiian standard time (HST) to generally avoid upslope wind conditions, and that wind direction and speed, CN, and SO2 data be used if available to further eliminate local pollution episodes. In addition, all data should be examined by a human editor, if possible, in order to recognize certain episodes that may not fit automated criteria.


The modular decomposition is a technique that applies but is not restricted to graphs. The notion of module naturally appears in the proofs of many graph theoretical theorems. Computing the modular decomposition tree is an important preprocessing step to solve a large number of combinatorial optimization problems. Since the first polynomial time algorithm in the early 70's, the algorithmic of the modular decomposition has known an important development. This paper survey the ideas and techniques that arose from this line of research.


Milk proteins can be used as encapsulation walls to increase the bioavailability of active compounds because they can bind hydrophobic, hydrophilic, and charged compounds. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of astaxanthin (ASTA) encapsulation and the functional properties of milk protein and ASTA nanocomposites by ultrasound-assisted pH-shifting treatment of different milk proteins, including milk protein concentrate (MPC), micellar casein (MCC), and whey protein isolate (WPI). The ultrasound-assisted pH shifting treatment of milk protein helped to improve the encapsulation rate of ASTA. Therein, MCC showed the great improvement on encapsulating ASTA after co-treatment with the raised encapsulated rate of 5.11%, followed by WPI and MPC. Furthermore, the nanocomposites of ASTA with milk protein exhibit improved bioavailability, antioxidant capacity, and storage stability. By comparison, MCC-encapsulated ASTA has the best storage stability, followed by MPC, and WPI-encapsulated ASTA has the least stability over a 28-d storage period. The results of intrinsic fluorescence and surface hydrophobicity showed that milk protein underwent fluorescence quenching after binding to ASTA, which was due to the hydrophobic sites of the protein being occupied by ASTA. In general, the nanocomposites of milk protein and ASTA fabricated by using ultrasound-assisted pH-shifting treatment have the potential to be better nano-delivery systems for ASTA in functional foods, especially MCC showed the excellent performance in encapsulation after treatment technique.


Environmental metabolomics, enabled by high-resolution mass spectrometric techniques, have demonstrated the biogeochemical importance of the metabolites which comprise natural organic matter (NOM). However, significant gaps exist in our understanding of the spatiotemporal organization of NOM composition. We suggest that the underlying mechanisms governing NOM can be revealed by applying tools and concepts from metacommunity ecology to environmental metabolomics. After illustrating the similarities between metabolomes and ecological communities, we call this conceptual synthesis 'meta-metabolome ecology' and demonstrate its potential utility using a freshwater mass spectrometry dataset. Specifically, we developed three relational metabolite dendrograms using combinations of molecular properties (i.e., aromaticity index, double-bond equivalents, etc.) and putative biochemical transformations. Using these dendrograms, which are similar to phylogenetic or functional trait trees in ecological communities, we illustrate potential analytical techniques by investigating relationally-informed α-diversity and β-diversity metrics (e.g., MPD, MNTD, UniFrac), and null model analyses (e.g., NRI, NTI, and βNTI). Furthermore, we demonstrate that this synthesis allows ecological communities (e.g., microbes) and the metabolites they produce and consume using the same framework. We propose that applying this framework to a broad range of ecosystems will reveal generalizable principles that can advance our predictive capabilities regarding NOM dynamics.


OBJECTIVES
historically infrainguinal reconstruction using heterogenous grafts has given poor results due to degradation and aneurysmal dilatation of the graft. A recently introduced heterogenous graft, the ProCol (bovine mesenteric vein) graft, may yield improved results. There are no published reports with respect to ProCol in infrainguinal reconstruction and hence we have reviewed our initial experience with this graft.

METHODS
retrospective analysis of six patients in whom infrainguinal reconstruction with ProCol was undertaken between March and August 2001.

RESULTS
the primary patency rate was 0% at 3 months, with grafts failing between 4 and 113 days. Two grafts underwent aneurysmal dilatation.

CONCLUSION
we are unable to recommend use of the ProCol graft in infrainguinal reconstruction.


The spectral organization in a noisy speech is different during noise-only portions and speech portions. Such chaotic difference can be tracked by using negentropy as a measure. Accordingly, a Voice Activity Detector (VAD) based on the negentropy measure of magnitude of spectral components of the pseudo-stationary segments of speech is proposed and has been used for the estimation of noise statistics from the noisy speech signal in very low SNR conditions. The results show the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed method under very noisy conditions.


Hemorrhagic shock was induced in rats by bleeding to 35 mmHg for a period of 4 h. Plasma glucose increased rapidly following the onset of bleeding and reached twice the control value after 30 min. After 2 h hypotension the liver content of glycogen was depleted and subsequently the rats became hypoglycemic. The rise in plasma glucose was accompanied by a rise in plasma cyclic AMP, which was 10-fold after 1 h, but returned towards control values at the end of the hypotensive period. There were no corresponding changes in the cyclic AMP contents of liver, heart or adipose tissue. Blood lactate was increased 10-fold and the lactate/pyruvate ratio was more than doubled, suggesting an increased anaerobic metabolism. Plasma FFA levels fell significantly, while plasma glycerol was unchanged during the hypotensive period. In this hemorrhagic shock model there is an initial phase of glucose mobilization from the liver, which is accompanied by elevated plasma cyclic AMP. This phase is followed by a period of depressed levels of glucose as well as FFA and thus a lack of metabolizable substrates in plasma.


Purpose of reviewThe thrombotic response to vascular injury is an important clinical problem that mediates most vascular disease complications. Thrombus formation involves an integrated response that is influenced by blood flow, multiple cell types, and numerous circulating factors. As a result, modeling of this complex response using in-vitro or in-silico strategies is insufficient. The use of animal models of thrombosis provides a critical tool for the discovery and initial testing of novel therapies for vascular thrombosis. Recent findingsThe literature from 2008 to the present provides significant advances in regard to novel models of arterial thrombosis, novel mechanisms underlying thrombus formation, new models and mechanisms related to thrombotic stroke, and preclinical advances in therapeutics for vascular thrombosis. SummaryThe formation of occlusive thrombi is complex, involving the integration of many molecular interactions and cell types at the site of vascular injury. The identification of strategies to suppress occlusive thrombus formation without undermining normal hemostatic function is the primary goal of this area of study.


This paper presents the basic results of the morphing wing planform optimization of an experimental unmanned air vehicle for minimum drag at steady level flight. The aerodynamic design tool that consists of the three-dimensional panel method, two-dimensional boundary layer solution and generalized reduced gradient method-based optimization is appropriate for fixed wing and morphing wing conceptual and preliminary design. The morphing concept is implemented into the solution with the geometric constraints of the wing planform and the airfoil shape design variables. The drag that is created by other components of the aircraft is calculated according to empirical formulas. Wing drag and aircraft drag comparisons between baseline wing (BASE), optimum fixed wing and morphing wing are discussed with the obtained planform and airfoil shapes.


The interaction of [BH(x)]- and [NH(x)]-containing species gives rise to molecular hydrogen and the establishment of the B-N bond. Up to now, metal amides and ammonia are the commonly used [NH(x)] sources. Herein, urea, an organic carbonyl diamide, was used to react with Ca(BH4)2. A new type of complex hydride Ca(BH4)2·4CO(NH2)2 was synthesized with release of ca. 5.2 wt% hydrogen below 250 °C.


Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are non-hematopoietic stem cells possessing multidifferentiation potential, and were widely used in stem cell transplaination. tissue engineering, organ transplantation and immunotherapy, etc. However, the distribution and differentiation of MSCs after reinfusion directly influence their application. In this paper the "homing" characteristics, mechanisms and significance of MSCs were reviewed.


The trapping of particles or cells using ultrasonic radiation forces is relevant to a range of biological, chemical and medical analyses, for example, those involving cell washing, cell separation or testing of reagents. This work studies the trapping forces within a flow-through chamber designed to detect counterions based on the aggregation position of ion-exchange resin beads. Certain counterions alter the water content of the beads and therefore their acoustic properties; this alters their response to the acoustic field allowing the counterions to be detected by measuring bead position or trapping force. This paper investigates the acoustic radiation force distribution of the device and shows experimentally and computationally that flow rate and resulting fluid drag opposing the longitudinal acoustic radiation forces influence the location of trapped beads. The relationship between location and force is influenced by the uniformity of the axial field and axial displacement of the bead. It is proposed that by characterizing this relationship, the trap location of a resin bead against a constant flow can be used to measure changes in trapping forces and therefore acoustic contrast factor, and as an indicator of certain counterions.


One of Peter Railton's arguments against subjective consequentialism is that it would erase the distinction between truth conditions and acceptance conditions for moral statements. It is assumed that if moral statements describe objective facts, as do scientific facts, then there should be times when, as in science, we are wholly justified via our currently available evidence in accepting a statement which is actually false. This analogy does not hold, because ethics is about the justifiability of our responses to situations, not about facts which entail evidence we may not have complete access to, as is the case in science. For this and other reasons, objective versions of consequentialism should be abandoned, and subjective versions developed.


We extract heart rate and beat lengths from videos
by measuring subtle head oscillations that accompany the cardiac
cycle. Our method tracks features on the head, temporally filters
their trajectories and performs principal component analysis (PCA)
to decompose the trajectories into a set of ID component motions.
It then chooses the component that is most periodic as the pulse
signal. Finally, we identify peaks of the chosen signal, which
correspond to heartbeats. When evaluated on 18 subjects our
approach reported heart rates nearly identical to an
electrocardiogram (ECG) device for all subjects and obtained
similar beat length distributions for 17. In addition we obtained
pulse rate from videos of the back of the head and of sleeping
newborns. Initial findings also show that our method can measure
heart rate from body parts other than the head and can measure
respiration rate by selecting a different frequency band. Finally,
we present visualization techniques such as motion magnification
for subjective analysis of body motions


Persian writing system deviates from the ideal one due to the lack of one-to-one correspondence between graphemes and phonemes. The present study deals with this question that in spite of the absence of short vowels in Persian writing system and one-to-many and many-toone relationships between the graphemes and phonemes, how can Persian speakers read out of vocabulary words? This study introduces a probabilistic-structural method that Persian speakers use to read out of vocabulary words in which structural information (including Persian morphology and morphophonemic rules) as well as Arabic morphological templates are considered. In order to test how the introduced method works, Persian speakers were asked to read a list out of vocabulary words. The mentioned list was used by ID3 and MLP (two methods which are used in machine learning) as input, then the outputs of the method and those of ID3 and MLP were compared with Persian speakers` pronunciations; the results proved that the introduced method functions similar to Persian speakers in reading out of vocabulary words.


Video on demand systems are going to be important services of the future Internet. To achieve scalability and fault tolerance, these systems should rely on distributed video delivery schemes, using peer-to-peer (P2P) networks built among the clients. However, generic P2P data sharing protocols cannot guarantee timely arrival of the video segments. Therefore, they must be adapted to video streaming by restricting P2P delivery into a download window. In this paper we investigate the effect of the frequently occurring phenomenon of incomplete sessions on the efficiency of stored video streaming via P2P data distribution. Through theoretical considerations and a simulation study, we've found that with a P2P download window placed at a fixed distance from the playback position the superfluous downloads can be avoided, and the efficiency of the P2P distribution can be increased.


Patient portals are consumer-centric tools that can strengthen consumers' ability to actively manage their own health and healthcare. The incorporation of patient portals provides the promise to deliver quality, low costs services to the patient population. However, patient portal adoption in large part is based on patient satisfaction. In pertaining literature, little is known about which portal features are associated with higher patient satisfaction. In this article, we extend existing literature by discovering features related to patient portal user satisfaction based on a systematic analysis of user feedback. Using MyChart, a mobile patient portal, we use text mining, N-Gram-based approach, to discover satisfaction features from online user reviews. We then demonstrate the performance of the features selected in predicting user satisfaction using different classifiers. Overall, the results extend existing research and highlight opportunities to improve and to enhance the design of current basic portals to improve users' satisfaction and adherence.


This paper reports and interprets the results of a study of the fundamental physical, chemical, mineralogical, and biological characteristics of the sediments forming in the coastal mangrove swamps of the Ten Thousand Islands and the Whitewater Bay areas, southwestern Florida. The Ten Thousand Islands area (20 miles long and 3½ miles wide) is an offshore archipelago of mangrove islands lying about one mile seaward of a shallowly submerged coastal mangrove forest. Whitewater Bay is a nearly enclosed 13 by 6-mile-wide northwestward-trending embayment at the tip of peninsular Florida. The bay is crowded with mangrove islands, and a broad mangrove forest borders its northern and northeastern sides. Brackish-water conditions prevail in both areas during the rainy summer and early fall months, when runoff from the Everglades discharges through the coastal mangrove forest. During the dry winter and early spring months, normal-marine to hypersaline waters flood these coastal swamps. Surface sediments of the Ten Thousand Islands area are mainly calcareous (shelly) or organic-rich (peaty) calcareous quartz sands and silts, whereas deposits in Whitewater Bay are principally organic-rich shell debris, there being a paucity of quartz. Detrital quartz is the dominant constituent (60-70 per cent) in surface deposits of the Ten Thousand Islands area. The quartz is derived primarily by shoreward drift from Cape Romano Shoals. Tidal currents sweep the quartz into the coastal swamps, where it accumulates in shallow bays and anastomosing waterways. In Whitewater Bay quartz only forms 5-15 per cent of surface deposits, and is swept into the bay from the mainland and adjacent shelf. Calcium carbonate, which is approximately 70 per cent aragonite for both areas, is chiefly contributed by mollusk shells. Particulate calcareous matter decreases shoreward in grain size. The fine-grained calcareous matter is apparently in part comminuted shell debris. In the Ten Thousand Islands area, the fine carbonate is about 80 per cent aragonite; in Whitewater Bay, however, as much as 90 per cent of the fine carbonate is calcite. Particulate calcite is probably formed in the bay, but calcite may be carried into the bay from calcitic muds of the Everglades or derived from outcrops of limestone beneath the coastal forest. The content of organic matter (computed as 1.7 × per cent organic carbon) and the ratio of carbon to nitrogen of both areas increase landward from values near 2.0 per cent and 13, respectively, to values somewhat exceeding 25 per cent and 30 within the coastal swamps. The shoreward increase in both parameters is thought to primarily reflect the increased contribution of terrestrial plant debris (especially mangrove detritus) to the organic content of surface sediments. Mollusks, which form 80-90 per cent of the macrofauna, can be grouped into three principal assemblages for both the Ten Thousand Islands and the Whitewater Bay areas. The areal distribution of these assemblages tends to parallel the coastal area and reflects a shoreward decrease in average water salinity and a broad region near the seaward edge of the coastal forest characterized by a large fluctuation in water salinity. The availability of nearby materials and the strength of distributing forces primarily control the character of the sediments accumulating in the Ten Thousand Islands and Whitewater Bay areas. Surface sediments of these two areas differ chiefly because the prominent source of detrital quartz and strong tidal currents which exists in the Ten Thousand Islands area are essentially lacking within Whitewater Bay.


In this paper, an overview of current state of e-commerce development in Serbia is presented. Also, some important factors influencing e-commerce diffusion are discussed. The factors are divided into four groups: technical factors, which cover e-commerce telecommunication and logistics infrastructure; legal factors, i.e. necessary laws and regulations on e-commerce; economic factors, and psychological factors and local culture. The study showed very strong correlation between broadband internet penetration and internet usage on the one hand and online shopping penetration on the other hand. Also, strong correlation was found between national economic wealth and online shopping penetration. The development of logistics systems in Serbia, national laws and regulations related to e-commerce, e-payment systems and cultural characteristics and habits of Serbian customers are discussed. The results show that despite the notable improvement in the last few years, the level of e-commerce development in Serbia is still far away from EU28 average. Finally, some recommendations for faster e-commerce diffusion are presented.


Kinematic redundancy in robots makes it possible to execute several control tasks simultaneously. As some tasks are usually more important than others, it is reasonable to dynamically decouple them in order to ensure their execution in a hierarchical way or even without any interference at all. The most widely used technique is to decouple the system by feedback linearization. However, this requires actively shaping the inertia and consequently modifying the natural dynamics of the robot. Here, we propose a passivity-based multitask tracking controller that preserves these inertial properties but fully compensates for task-space cross couplings using external-force feedback. In addition, three formal proofs are provided: uniform exponential stability for trajectory tracking, passivity during physical interaction, and input-to-state stability. The controller is validated in simulations and experiments and directly compared with the hierarchical PD+ approach and the feedback linearization. The proposed approach is well suited for safe physical human–robot interaction and dynamic trajectory tracking if measurements or estimations of the external forces are available.


OBJECTIVES
The goals of this study were to determine whether self-reflection is a beneficial exercise for highly self-critical individuals and to examine the effects of self-focused thought including reflection and rumination on mood. This was investigated by measuring the levels of self-criticism, as well as mood before and after exposure to a reflective prompt or a ruminative prompt.

DESIGN
Experimental design with random assignment to reflection, rumination or control groups.

METHODS
243 participants from a sample recruited on prolific provided demographic information and completed measures of current mood and self-criticism. All participants were then asked to remember a time they made a mistake that had a significant impact on them and describe the mistake briefly. Participants were then randomly assigned to a self-focus condition (reflection, rumination or control). After being assigned and completing the prompt, their mood was measured again.

RESULTS
Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to measure the potential combined effects of self-criticism and self-focused thought on change in emotion. The results showed that participants with high levels of maladaptive self-criticism (hated self-subscale) experienced a significant decrease in negative emotions, indicating improved mood.

CONCLUSIONS
This suggests that reflection may be a beneficial exercise for highly self-critical individuals. Participants in the rumination group experienced no significant change in emotion, indicating how rumination can perpetuate negative affect and is therefore an important issue to be addressed in psychotherapy.


A covariance matrix with a special pattern (e.g., sparsity or block structure) is essential for conducting multivariate analysis on high-dimensional data. Recently, a block covariance or correlation pattern has been observed in various biological and biomedical studies, such as gene expression, proteomics, neuroimaging, exposome, and seed quality, among others. Specifically, this pattern partitions the population covariance matrix into uniform (i.e., equal variances and covariances) blocks. However, the unknown mathematical properties of matrices with this pattern limit the incorporation of this pre-determined covariance information into research. To address this gap, we propose a block Hadamard product representation that utilizes two lower-dimensional"coordinate"matrices and a pre-specific vector. This representation enables the explicit expressions of the square or power, determinant, inverse, eigendecomposition, canonical form, and the other matrix functions of the original larger-dimensional matrix on the basis of these"coordinate"matrices. By utilizing this representation, we construct null distributions of information test statistics for the population mean(s) in both single and multiple sample cases, which are extensions of Hotelling's $T^2$ and $T_0^2$, respectively.


Contemporary organizations are often permeated by changes that involve decentralization. Organizations' PR practitioners are consequently searching for communication processes that promote interactivity and employee engagement. The company in this study has implemented an interactive video website in order to internally communicate the company's core values and to get access to how employees have already implemented the core values in their daily work. The interest for using new technology within organizations has surged as IT infrastructures has improved. Surprisingly, there have been rather few studies on such emerging technologies in organizational settings. In this research-in-progress paper, we explore the impact of the use of an interactive video website, comprising four videos promoting a company's core values, on employee interactivity and communicative engagement. Two web surveys are being designed for the study. We are also conducting interviews and observations. Here we present initial results from the first survey and from observing the communicative engagement around the first two videos. The results show that there is an interest for the interactive video website although the employee engagement on the website is modest.


This paper presents a framework to estimate aerodynamic roughness over specific height (zo/H) and zero plane displacement (d/H) over various landscapes in Kelantan State using airborne LiDAR data. The study begins with the filtering of airborne LiDAR, which produced ground and non-ground points. The ground points were used to generate digital terrain model (DTM) while the nonground points were used for digital surface model (DSM) generation. Canopy height model (CHM) was generated by subtracting DTM from DSM. Individual trees in the study area were delineated by applying the Inverse Watershed segmentation method on the CHM. Forest structural parameters including tree height, height to crown base (HCB) and diameter at breast height (DBH) were estimated using existing allometric equations. The airborne LiDAR data was divided into smaller areas, which correspond to the size of the zo/H and d/H maps i.e. 50 m and 100 m. For each area individual tree were reconstructed based on the tree properties, which accounts overlapping between crowns and trunks. The individual tree models were used to estimate individual tree frontal area and the total frontal area over a specific ground surface. Finally, three roughness models were used to estimate zo/H and d/H for different wind directions, which were assumed from North/South and East/West directions. The results were shows good agreements with previous studies that based on the wind tunnel experiments.


Background after more thana decade usingLeflunomide(LFN), is widely known to be effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, there is evidence in the literatureofa higher rate of suspension for toxicity and lack of efficacy compared to other DMARDs such as methotrexate (MTX). Although, those are series with small numbers of patients and short-term follow up. Objectives toevaluate the survival of LFN, and the causes of its suspension in a cohort of patients with RA. Methods retrospectivelongitudinal observational study. Subjects: patients with RA followed in our hospital, treated with LFN, from January 1, 2006 until October 1, 2011. Outcomes: primary outcome: LFN suspension due to: a) adverse event (AE), b) lack of efficacy, c) patient's decision; d) remission or improvement. Secondary outcomes: age, sex, date of diagnosis, date of start and end of treatment with LFN. The data sourcewas our electronic health record. Statistical analysis: a description of the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients included and the causes for suspension using frequency distribution rates and the mean and standard deviation or median and percentiles. Survival techniques are used to estimate the suspension rate of LFN, expressing the incidence per 1000 patient-years (95% CI). Results 322 patients started treatment with LFN during the follow up. 257 were women (79.81%), the mean age at baseline was 59±15 years. The median time from diagnosis of RA was 2.37 years (p25-75: 0,56-5, 68), there were 116 suspensions (38.41%), the 68.97% of them were due to AE, 7.76% to patient's decision, 7.76% due to lack of efficacy, and 6.9% to clinical improvement. 74.78% of the patients with suspensions were women, mean age at the time of suspension was 60±15 years and the median time from diagnosis of RA was 2.64 years (P25-75: 0.73-5.68). The suspension rate was 216 per 1000 (95% CI 180.23-259.35), 277.88 per 1000 in men (95% CI 193-399.88) and 199 per 1000 in women (95% 161-245.87). 83 of the suspensions (71.5%) occurred within the first 6 months of treatment with LFN. 50% of patients had discontinued the drug 3.5 years after starting treatment. AE rate was 149.10 per 1000 (95% CI 119.76-185.636). The suspension rate associated with lack of efficacy was 16.77 per 1000 (95% CI 8.72-32.23). The suspension rate because of clinical improvement was 14.91 per 1000 (95% CI 7.45-29.81). Conclusions the survival of the treatment with LFN is less than 50% at 4 years. The suspension rate was high, mainly due to adverse events. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


With the increasing demand for real-time information on critical performance indicators of business processes, the capturing, transformation and correlation of real-world events with minimal latency are a prerequisite for improving the speed and effectiveness of an organization's business operations. Events often include key business information about their relationship to other events that can be utilized to collect relevant event data for the calculation of business performance indicators. In this paper we introduce an approach for correlating events of business processes that uses correlation sessions to represent correlation knowledge. Correlation sessions facilitate the processing of data across multiple events and thereby enable a calculating of business metrics in near real-time. The benefit over existing approaches is that it is tailored to instrument business processes and business applications that may operate in a heterogeneous software environment. We propose a Java-based, container-managed environment which provides a distributed, scalable, near-real time processing of events and which includes a correlation service that effectively manages correlation sessions. We also show a complete example that illustrates how correlation sessions can be utilized for computing the cycle time of business processes.


This paper reports a novel vibration energy harvester (VEH) design consisting of a double-mass contactless frequency-up converter with buckled clamped-clamped beams. The vibration to electricity conversion is performed through a MEMS silicon micro electrostatic vibration energy harvester (e-VEH) based on in-plane gap-closing interdigitated combs. Despite the fact that the converter itself is designed to resonate at 162 Hz, the use of the bistable stage as mechanical exciter allows a gain factor of hundred when converting low-frequency vibrations (20-40 Hz) into electrical energy.


Eight volunteers with terminal renal insufficiency having consented to the investigation, were given an i.v. bolus administration of 40 pmol biosynthetic human proinsulin on their dialysis-free day. Intravenous blood for the determination of blood glucose proinsulin, insulin and C-peptide was collected in short intervals for 6 hours and thereafter in longer intervals for 24 hours. Proinsulin was determined by immunoradiometric assay with monoclonal antibodies. The proinsulin kinetics were compared with the kinetics of normal volunteers. The behaviour of proinsulin concentration-time is best described with a 3-compartment model. The dominant biological half-life in terminal renal insufficiency was 6.8 hours which signifies a 4.4-fold increase of the normal half-life. The distribution volumes (V1) in the central compartment do not differ in the two groups, whereas the distribution volume after complete distribution (Vss) is significantly increased in renal insufficiency. The total metabolic clearance in renal insufficiency namely 0.63 ml/kg/min is 2.6 times lower compared to normal subjects with 1.67 ml/kg/min. The extra-renal clearance is 39% of the total metabolic clearance rate, whereas the renal clearance comprises 61%. Peripheral conversion from proinsulin to insulin and C-peptide does not occur in terminal renal insufficiency. The basal endogenous proinsulin secretion rate in renal insufficiency does not differ from that of normal volunteers. The following conclusions can be drawn: 1) Hyperinsulinism observed in renal insufficiency can be explained by circulating proinsulin. 2) In the potential therapeutic use of biosynthetic human proinsulin in diabetics with renal insufficiency dosis adjustment according to the remaining renal function would probably be required.


This study examines the consequences of the series of reforms targeting investment banking–related conflicts of interest. The authors compare and contrast optimism biases in analysts' stock recommendations and earnings forecasts across different types of analyst firms in the postreform period of 2004 to 2007 versus the prereform period of 1998 to 2001. The authors document a significant reduction in the relative optimism of sanctioned investment bank analysts' stock recommendations but not in their earnings forecasts. Moreover, the authors find little change in the profitability of their stock recommendations but detect a drop in the accuracy of earnings forecasts made by investment bank analysts. In sum, the reforms achieve the objective of mitigating the apparent optimism in investment bank stock recommendations, but they do not provide benefit to investors in terms of more profitable recommendations or more accurate earnings forecasts.


The initial step in developing injury prevention strategies is to establish the epidemiology of injury. However there has been no published research on injury in Gaelic handball. This study describes the epidemiology of injury in 75 Gaelic handball players utilising a retrospective questionnaire. 88% of participants reported one or more injuries. Injuries to the upper limb were prevalent (52.9%), followed by the lower limb (30.3%). The shoulder (17.6%), finger (10.5%) and ankle (9.8%) were the primary sites of injury. Injuries occurred most frequently in December (9.7%), January (9.7%), February (9.7%) and November (8.7%). Injuries predominantly occurred during games (82.4%). Injuries were primarily severe (54.7%), with 14.6% of participants admitted to hospital due to injury. Given that this is the only study on Gaelic handball to date, prospective epidemiological studies and further research on injury prevention strategies are necessary.


The advanced, long range, hypersonic SpaceLiner concept aims to revolutionize the passenger transportation market through marrying high speed intercontinental travel with the adventure, prestige and allure of private commercial space flight. Designed to carry 50 passengers from Australia to Europe in suborbital flight, the concept itself was proposed in 2005 by the DLR. Since then, it been extensively investigated, most recently within the framework of the EU funded, international FAST20XX and CHATT collaborative projects. However, before SpaceLiner can become a reality, considerable efforts and extensive research are still needed in order to advance the concept through to a mature stage. Throughout the course of existing studies, numerous challenges and considerations spanning various disciplines and areas, including technology, structure, thermo- and aerodynamics, safety, reusability and logistics, have been encountered and explicitly identified. Another critical consideration within the scope of the early phase studies, is the question of expected program cost. In particular, the non-recurring yet prevalent development costs are of interest, with the logical question arising of whether they will be borne by private investors, industry, government institutions, or a combination of the latter. This paper therefore briefly yet categorically outlines the key existing challenges and considerations within the scope and context of the current SpaceLiner design phase. The topics of cost estimation and cost modeling for SpaceLiner are expanded upon in detail and constitute the focus of this paper. Appropriate methods, models and tools to potentially implement during early program cost estimate formulation are also proposed, and their selection justified. How to approach compiling a justifiable and structured cost estimate to address SpaceLiner vehicle development and production is addressed, and operation cost considerations explored. Furthermore, a method and software tool for identifying and establishing a viable business case involving private investment and funding of the SpaceLiner program, is presented and critically discussed.


The composition of cometary ices provides key information on the thermal and chemical properties of the outer parts of the protoplanetary disk where they formed 4.6 Gy ago. This chapter reviews our knowledge of composition of cometary comae based on remote spectroscopy and in-situ investigations techniques. Cometary comae can be dominated by water vapour, CO or CO2. The abundances of several dozen of molecules, with a growing number of complex organics, have been measured in comets. Many species that are not directly sublimating from the nucleus ices have also been observed and traced out into the coma in order to determine their production mechanisms. Chemical diversity in the comet population and compositional heterogeneity of the coma are discussed. With the completion of the Rosetta mission, isotopic ratios, which hold additional clues on the origin of cometary material, have been measured in several species. Finally, important pending questions (e.g., the nitrogen deficiency in comets) and the need for further work in certain critical areas are discussed in order to answer questions and resolve discrepancies between techniques.


Abstract One of the main criticisms of direct democracy is that it places excessive demands on voters. Are citizens competent enough to vote directly on policy issues? When stakes are high, do citizens mainly follow elites' signals or do they decide in line with their issue preferences? This article addresses these questions in a multi-method setting by combining observational and experimental data from an original three-wave panel survey conducted during the 2016 Italian constitutional referendum. In particular, Finite Mixture Models are employed to model voters' heterogeneous strategies of information processing. Findings show that heuristic voting based on government evaluation prevails over policy-related voting. More specifically, less politically sophisticated and partisan voters relied on government assessment as a heuristic, while sophisticated and independent voters based their decisions mostly on their assessment of the reform. Implications for the question of citizens' competence in direct democracy are discussed.


Recognition of personalized content remains a challenge in end-to-end speech recognition. We explore three novel approaches that use personalized content in a neural rescoring step to improve recognition: gazetteers, prompting, and a cross-attention based encoder-decoder model. We use internal de-identified en-US data from interactions with a virtual voice assistant supplemented with personalized named entities to compare these approaches. On a test set with personalized named entities, we show that each of these approaches improves word error rate by over 10%, against a neural rescoring baseline. We also show that on this test set, natural language prompts can improve word error rate by 7% without any training and with a marginal loss in generalization. Overall, gazetteers were found to perform the best with a 10% improvement in word error rate (WER), while also improving WER on a general test set by 1%.


The use of integrated passive components in circuit design and the reliability of this type of circuits are scarcely covered in literature. The fabrication of high-density passive components generates stress in the silicon wafer and the manufacturing reliability of the passive chips is an important issue. The reliability is assessed using various accelerating tests including humidity and thermal stress. Solving the reliability issue calls for process-based actions and desgin-based actions, namely Design-for-Manufacturing. The paper introduces a Design-for-Manufacturing method called stress-relief method. The objective is to increase the design robustness against thermal cycling test. The stress-relief uses sacrificial structures. Various options are detailed in the paper and their respective efficiency is compared with experimental passive thermal cycling. The method does not need any process modification and the required silicon area is small.


4-Methylbenzylidene-camphor (4-MBC), an UV-B ray filter, belongs to the endocrine disrupters involved with alterations in the reproductive axis. Our target was to study the effect of 4-MBC on the neuroendocrine parameters that regulate reproduction in prepubertal and peripubertal male rats, which received this disrupter during embryonic and fetal development. 4-MBC was administered (sc) to female rats since pregnancy onset in doses of 20, 100 and 500 mg/kg/day. The litters were sacrificed at 15 or 30 days old to determine testicular weight, gonadotropin and prolactin serum levels and also GnRH and amino acids release from the hypothalamus. The exposure to 20 mg/kg/day only increased the LH serum levels in 30-day-old males. Doses of 100 and 500 mg/kg/day caused a decrease in testicular weight and in LH, GnRH and glutamate levels, in prepubertal rats (15-day-old specimens), and an increase in, gonadotropin (LH and FSH) con-centration and aspartate levels in peripubertal rats (30-day-old specimens), without changes in testicular weight. Prolactinaemia remained unaltered in all groups. Results obtained show that the administration of high doses of 4-MBC during embryonic and fetal stage inhibits the testicular axis in male rats during the prepubertal stage and stimulates it during peripubertad stage. On the other hand in the case of low doses no significant effects were observed.


In this paper we introduce"Federated Learning Utilities and Tools for Experimentation"(FLUTE), a high-performance open-source platform for federated learning research and offline simulations. The goal of FLUTE is to enable rapid prototyping and simulation of new federated learning algorithms at scale, including novel optimization, privacy, and communications strategies. We describe the architecture of FLUTE, enabling arbitrary federated modeling schemes to be realized. We compare the platform with other state-of-the-art platforms and describe available features of FLUTE for experimentation in core areas of active research, such as optimization, privacy, and scalability. A comparison with other established platforms shows speed-ups of up to 42x and savings in memory footprint of 3x. A sample of the platform capabilities is also presented for a range of tasks, as well as other functionality, such as linear scaling for the number of participating clients, and a variety of federated optimizers, including FedAdam, DGA, etcetera.


There is increasing interest in using m-of-n delay-insensitive codes for robust asynchronous global communication, to support the design of coding-efficient and low-power channels. However, a fundamental obstacle in using these codes has been complex and expensive hardware support. This paper addresses this issue, introducing and evaluating practical completion detector units for 2-of-n codes. Designs are proposed for both return-to-zero (RZ) and non-return-to-zero (NRZ) codes. The RZ designs build on prior work of Piestrak [14]; this paper proposes a small modification to their work to provide a fully timing-robust (i.e. quasi-delay insensitive, or QDI) version. The main contribution of the paper is an efficient completion for NRZ 2-of-n codes. Both detector architectures are modular and simple, composed of basic cells in a binary tree. Initial simulation results were performed on several implementations of a 2-of-9 detector using Cadence's Spectre environment, after mapping to a 90nm standard cell library. The new RZ detector has 35% area reduction and comparable delays and energy to the earlier Piestrak design, but unlike the latter, ensures robust QDI operation. The new NRZ detector is shown to have negligible stabilization time between successive codewords (0.05–0.19 ns) when compared to a recent alternative approach.


The racial composition of couples is a salient indicator of race's impact on mate selection, but how well do those in intimate partnerships know the racial identities of their partners? While prior research has revealed that an individual's race may be perceived differently than how they identify, most of what is known comes frombrief interactions, with less information on established relationships. This study examines whether discrepancies in the reports of a person's race or ethnicity can be identified even within intimate relationships, as well as which relational, social, and attitudinal factors are predictive of divergent or concordant reports. We draw on the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n=3467), a U.S.-based dataset that uniquely provides both the father's self-reported race and Hispanic origin and the mother's report of the father's race and ethnicity. We compare reports of the father's race/Hispanic origin from both parents to assess the extent of mismatch, and we distinguish between whether mothers view the father's race as similar to or different from her own. We find roughly 14% of mothers provide a race and Hispanic origin that is inconsistent with the father's report, with a large share reflecting differences in the self-identified and perceived race of fathers who are reported as Hispanic. Among mismatched reports, mothers are more likely to report a race/ethnicity for the father that matches her own, depressing the number reporting interracial unions. Perceptions of racial homogamy are especially likely when mothers view racial sameness as important to marriage. Further, mismatches are more common in the midst of weak relational ties (i.e. non-marital relationships) and are less common when both parents Du Bois Review. 18:2 (2021) 365–392. © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Hutchins Center for African and African American Research doi:10.1017/S1742058X21000084


Mission critical decision making in enterprises depends heavily on intelligent systems for extracting, analyzing and interpreting information from multiple heterogeneous, distributed data and knowledge sources. It is assumed that data warehouses (DW) and data marts (DM) are required for optimized data accessibility and use. This paper discusses issues with the current DW/DM systems and propose a novel architecture based on multi-agents technology to support information and knowledge extraction over distributed data sources in order to use them in the decision making process. The proposed framework is applied to a real-world project lifecycle case, the EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) project.


The aim of this study was to isolate a potential multifunctional biocontrol agent from bacteria for control of multiple plant diseases as an alternative to fungicides. A total of 201 strains were isolated from soil undamaged by repeated cultivation in Sunchang and their ability to produce antibiotics, siderophores and extracellular enzymes such as protease, cellulase and amylase was investigated. Selected strain SCS3 produced cellulose, protease and amylase. This strain also produced siderophores and showed excellent antifungal activity against various phytopathogens. SCS3 was identified as Bacillus subtilis using 16S rRNA sequencing, and named Bacillus subtilis SCS3. Finally, physiological and biochemical characteristics of B. subtilis SCS3 were examined. From the results, B. subtilis SCS3 was found to be a useful multifunctional biocontrol agent against various phytopathogens.


This thesis aims to increase our knowledge about the characteristics of chemical pulp process and wastewaters and how problematic substances, e.g. wood extractives, could be removed effectively and selectively by coagulation–flocculation with either internal or external water treatment. Characterization was performed by investigating kraft pulp bleaching filtrates, as well as wastewater, before (influent) and after (effluent) the activated sludge treatment by means of a range of chemical analyses and by carrying out size fractionation studies. Cationic polyelectrolytes were used to purify oxygen stage bleaching filtrate, and charge analyses (zeta potential, charge quantity) were carried out in order to understand the coagulation phenomenon. In activated sludge treatment, the enhancement of particle removal, either by filtration or using a chemical in the primary clarifier, would lead to savings in aeration costs and result in a more stable process. Microfiltration already with a large pore size (8 μm) removed 30–50% of the wood extractives from the influent. Separate treatment stages for certain wastewater fractions, e.g. debarking plant effluent, would ensure cost-efficiency. After the activated sludge process, the wood extractives were present as particles (18%) and < 3 kDa fraction (82%). β-sitosterol occurred only in particles in the effluent. The release of harmful components into the environment could be decreased by microfiltration (e.g. 0.45 μm) of the final effluent or using a chemical in the secondary clarifier. Interestingly a huge increase in BOD was realized in the 3 kDa fraction of both influent and effluent, which indicated the presence of toxic substances in the larger fractions. After passing the effluent into the water system, there might be a similar jump in the BOD because the effluent is diluted many-fold. This would contribute to the formation of areas with an oxygen deficit. In the coagulation–flocculation studies, effective and selective removal of wood extractives (92%) from the oxygen stage filtrate was obtained with a cationic polyelectrolyte of medium molecular weight and medium charge density at 72 °C and pH 5–6. The multimodal zeta potential distribution gave more information than the average zeta potential. Aggregation of colloidal particles occurred when only one zeta potential was observed. The number of different zeta potentials diminished with decreasing pH and after exceeding a certain polyelectrolyte dosage level.


Radioligand receptor autoradiography has shown that oxytocin‐ and vasopressin‐binding sites exist in numerous rat brain regions, among which the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) are especially prominent. However, these descriptions did not take into account the numerous subdivisions of the amygdala and the BST. Thus, we have reinvestigated the distribution of these sites in the rat extended amygdala, which is formed by a continuum of structures stretching from the BST to the centromedial amygdala, including parts of the accumbens nucleus, substantia innominata, and transition areas between the amygdala and the striatum. For this purpose, histoautoradiography was used to detect binding sites at the cellular level, and anatomical boundaries were defined on the basis of acetylcholinesterase histochemistry and tyrosine‐hydroxylase immunohistochemistry. Oxytocin‐ and vasopressin‐binding sites were detected in well‐defined subdivisions of both medial and central parts of the extended amygdala, but they almost never coexisted in the same region. Compared with previously reported distributions, our reinvestigation describes novel oxytocin‐ and vasopressin‐binding sites in the lateral and supracapsular BST, in the sublenticular extended amygdala, in the interstitial nucleus of the posterior limb of the anterior commissure, in the marginal zone, in the central amygdaloid nucleus, and in the anterior amygdaloid area. These results indicate that oxytocin‐ and vasopressin‐binding sites represent an important feature of the extended amygdala and may participate in the large variety of functions that characterize this area, including reproductive and ingestive behaviors, conditioned fear and autonomic regulation. J. Comp. Neurol. 383:305‐325, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Abstract 325 Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a human hematopoietic malignancy of the B cell lineage with 5 year survival of only 40%. Most MM patients succumb to progressive disease and therefore novel therapies are urgently needed. MM is characterized by growth of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow microenvironment (ME) leading to bone erosion and fracture. Interactions between tumor and host ME play a critical role in the biology of MM and are a target of most new therapies against this tumor. The dependence of human MM on ME is further illustrated by the preferential requirement for growth of primary MM cells in implanted human fetal bone, but not the murine bone in immune-deficient mice in the scid-hu model. This model is however suboptimal for preclinical testing of novel therapies and there is a major unmet need for development of newer models to study MM and the interactions between human MM and its microenvironment. Some of the barriers to growth and xenotransplantation of human cells in immune-deficient Rag2 −/− Il2rg −/− mice include macrophage-mediated innate immune rejection, as well as non-cross reactive growth factors. In order to overcome these limitations, Rag2 −/− Il2rg −/− mice were genetically engineered to express human versions of the macrophage receptor signal regulatory protein-alpha (SIRPa), as well as several non-cross-reactive growth factors. The combination of these growth factors leads to synergistic enhancement of growth of transplanted human cells in these mice. In order to facilitate the potential ability of these mice to serve as hosts for human MM, these mice were further modified to express a human growth factor that is a critical MM-related cytokine and that is also non-cross reactive between humans and mice. INA-6 is a human IL6 dependent MM cell line that is unable to grow in standard immunodeficient mice such as NOD/ scid/Il2rg −/− , but instead grows only in the implanted fetal bone in the scid-hu model. Injection of genetically humanized mice with INA6 cells led to facile growth of MM cells in the bone, leading to lytic bone disease. Next we tested whether primary tumor cells from MM patients could grow in these genetically engineered mice. Bone marrow mononuclear cells were separated into CD138+ and T cell depleted-CD138- fractions. Injection of either fraction led to growth of MM cells in these mice. These data therefore indicate that the prior inability to reliably grow primary MM cells in mice outside of the scid-hu model was primarily related to the non-cross-reactive cytokines and innate immune barriers mediated by the CD47-SIRPa axis. These data demonstrate that the genetic humanization of immune-deficient mice to modify the bone marrow niche to express non-cross reactive growth factors leads to facile growth of primary human MM cells in vivo. These mice can therefore serve as a valuable tool to test new patient-specific therapies depending on the genetic makeup of the tumor. Further advancement of this model to include growth of autologous immune cells would lead to humanized immune-competent models much needed for patient-specific preclinical testing of novel targets. Similar approaches can also be extended to develop in vivo models for other hematologic malignancies as well. Disclosures: Dhodapkar: Celgene: Research Funding; KHK: Research Funding.


Background and Objective: The majority of studies worldwide, including in Saudi Arabia, have investigated low bone mineral density (BMD) and its associated risk factors in postmenopausal women. The objectives of the current study were as follows: (1) To assess the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis among Saudi men aged 50 years and older and (2) To investigate the factors associated with osteoporosis and osteopenia. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1,022 Saudi men aged 50 years and older. Participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire that assessed sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Anthropometric parameters and biomarkers were measured. Bone densitometry was assessed using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) to measure BMD levels. Results: The prevalence of osteopenia was 40.7% and the prevalence of osteoporosis was 9.3%. Based on the multi variable multinomial regression model, the factors that were significantly associated with osteopenia included low educational level and low body mass index (BMI), while the factors that were significantly associated with osteoporosis included old age, low BMI, smoking and a family history of fragility fractures. Conclusion: Low bone mass is prevalent among Saudi men and is associated with age, education, BMI, smoking and a family history of fragility fractures. Increasing the awareness of osteopenia, osteoporosis and their associated risk factors through education and community programmes will be essential in preventing the development of osteopenia and osteoporosis in the elderly population.


The results for the measurement of aligned magnetizing curves have been reported in order to assess the core losses in an SRM. This paper deals with the problems involved with the experimental measurement of the core losses and compares the experimental results with the results obtained with the software package PC-SRD and the finite element package Flux2D from Cedrat.


In the present study, Erhualian and Pietrain pigs were employed to investigate the breedspecific patterns of hepatic gluconeogenesis by detecting the related enzyme mRNA expression, and to analyse the relationship with the hepatic glucocorticoid receptors and 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) expression. Furthermore, hepatic DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) expression was determined to detect DNA methyltransferase state difference between the two breeds. The results demonstrated that the Erhualian pigs exhibited significantly lower plasma lactate acid concentration, but higher liver lactate acid content than the Pietrain pigs. A significantly higher expression of pyruvate carboxylase (PC), fructose-1, 6-bisphosphatase (FBP) and the mitochondria phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK2) mRNA were observed in Erhualian pigs. The Erhualian pigs demonstrated a significantly higher expression of glucocorticoid receptor and 11β-HSD1 mRNA than the Pietrain pigs, though there was no difference in the hepatic cortisol content between the two breeds. The hepatic DNMT1 mRNA expression in the Erhualian pigs was significantly lower, and the DNMT1 protein content in Erhualian pigs tended to be decreased compared with Pietrain pigs (P=0.066). The results suggest that the Erhualian pigs demonstrated higher hepatic gluconeogenesis capacity in comparison to the Pietrain pigs. The up-regulation of hepatic glucocorticoid receptor and 11β-HSD1 expression may be involved in the enhanced hepatic gluconeogenesis in Erhualian pigs. Moreover, the down-regulation of DNMT1 in Erhualian pigs implies possible involvement of DNA methylation in a breed-specific pattern of hepatic gluconeogenesis.


Abstract : In a low speed plane cascade tunnel, the experiments for the cascades equipped with conventional straight blades, linear inclined blades and curvilinear blades were carried out. Through the comparisons of the experimental results, the improving effects of blade curving on the flow fields are discussed. The experimental results show that using curvilinear blades in the rectangular turbine stator cascades with low aspect ratio can reduce the overall flow loss by 30-40%.


Myocarditis is a focalised or diffuse disease of the myocardium. The principal causal agents are viruses in Europe and North America and a parasite in South America (Chagas' disease). The prevalence of acute myocarditis is variable, related to the periodic cycle of viral epidemics. The diagnosis is difficult to establish because the clinical presentation is variable, ranging from asymptomatic forms to rapidly fatal acute congestive heart failure. The diagnostic tools suffer from lack of sensitivity or specificity. Endomyocardial biopsy, despite its low sensitivity, remains the reference investigation as it provides histological proof of the myocarditis. Myocardial scintigraphy with antimyosin antibodies has the advantage of very good sensitivity but with less specificity. The authors discuss the critical indications and limitations of each investigation.


Global climate changes give us the important task of obtaining information about the spatial distribution of bioclimatic comfort indicators at the global or continental level. One of the most applicable tools can be based on reanalysis data (meteorological gridded data with global coverage). This issue is fully relevant for the territory of Northern Eurasia with its diverse climates, rapid environmental changes, and often sparse network of in situ observations. In this paper, we present a conceptually new dataset for the most popular thermal comfort indices, namely heat index (HI), humidex (HUM), wind chill temperature, mean radiant temperature, physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) and Universal Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI) derived from ERA-Interim reanalysis hourly data for the territory of Northern Eurasia (the area limited by 40° N–80° N, 10° W–170° W). The dataset has horizontal resolution of 0.75° × 0.75° (up to 79 km), temporal resolution of 3 h, and covers the period from 1979 to 2018 (40 years), which corresponds to the standard of the World Meteorological Organization in determining the parameters of the modern climate. Time series of indices are supplemented with a set of 8092 pre-calculated statistical parameters characterizing climatology of the thermal stress conditions. We further present several examples of the North Eurasian Thermal Comfort Indices Dataset (NETCID) data application, including analysis of the spatial heterogeneity of thermal stress conditions, assessment of their changes and analysis of specific extreme events. Presented examples demonstrate a pronounced difference between considered indices and highlight the need of their accurate selection for applied tasks. In particular, for the whole study areas HI and HUM indices show much smaller thermal stress repeatability and weaker trends of its changes in comparison to PET and UTCI indices. NETCID is available for free download at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12629861.


In this paper, we study questions on solvability of some boundary value problems for the Laplace equation with boundary integral-differential operators in the exterior of a unit ball. We study properties of the given integral-differential operators of fractional order in a class of functions which are harmonic outside a ball. We prove theorems on existence and uniqueness of a solution of the problem. We construct explicit form of the solution of the problem in integral form, by solving the Dirichlet problem.


The coalescence of magnetic islands in the low-resistivity eta, Hall-MHD regime is studied. The interaction between the ion inertial length d(i) and the dynamically evolving current sheet scale length deltaJ is established. Initially, d(i) << deltaJ. If eta is such that deltaJ dynamically thins down to d(i) prior to the well-known sloshing phenomena, then sloshing is avoided. This results in eta independent peak reconnection rates. However, if d(i) is small enough that deltaJ cannot be thinned down to this scale prior to sloshing, then sloshing proceeds as in the resistive MHD model.


Serrations have been widely studied in the case of stationary blades, as an efficient method for reducing trailing edge noise. However, most of the problems involving trailing edge noise are related to rotating blades and it is not known how rotation affects the efficiency of serrations. This paper tackles this problem using an efficient analytical model for predicting trailing edge noise radiation for rotating serrated blades. The model combines Howe's low Mach number isolated airfoil theory with Amiet's rotating airfoil technique. The paper also outlines a theory that generalizes Amiet's stationary airfoil the- ory to serrated trailing edges. Three different types of serrations - sinusoidal, sawtooth and slitted-sawtooth - are investigated for a model wind turbine blade element. The inuence of the serrations width, depth, and slits, on noise radiation is compared to known results valid for stationary blades. The best serrations are narrow (relative to the boundary layer thickness) and deep. Rotation has been found to have little impact on the performance of serrations at low Mach numbers.


In the paper, we consider the initial value problem to the higher dimensional Euler equations in the whole space. Based on the new technical which is developed in \cite{Li2}, we proved that the data-to-solution map of this problem is not uniformly continuous in nonhomogeneous Besov spaces in the sense of Hadamard. Our obtained result improves considerably the recent result given by Pastrana \cite{Pastrana}.


This study analyzed the health characteristics and comorbidity of adult men aged 40 years by dividing them into a control group of those without any disease related to fine dust and a patient group with one or more diseases related to fine dust in areas with high levels of fine dust pollution using the sixth and seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2017). Among the general characteristics, the mean age of the patient group was significantly older than that of the control group (p<0.001), and in terms of the health-related characteristics, the frequency of breakfast consumption in the patient group was higher than in the control group (p<0.043). The body measurements were similar in the patient and control groups. Regarding the prevalence of comorbidity, the patient group showed a higher prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and diabetes than the control group, but the differences were not statistically significant. On the other hand, the prevalence of other cancers (except stomach cancer, liver cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer) in the patient group was higher than in the control group (p<0.05). In terms of the clinical characteristics, the glycated hemoglobin levels in the patient group were significantly higher than in the control group (p<0.048). Information on nutrition and health in areas with frequent occurrences of fine dust was obtained through the study results, which can be used as basic data for measures of health and diet management against diseases that will increase in relation to fine dust.


In the field of evolutionary robotics, choosing the correct genetic representation is a complicated and delicate matter, especially when robots evolve behaviour and morphology at the same time. One principal problem is the lack of methods or tools to investigate and compare representations. In this paper we introduce and evaluate such a tool based on the biological notion of heritability. Heritability captures the proportion of phenotypic variation caused by genotypic variation and is often used to better understand the transmissibility of traits in real biological systems. As a proof of concept, we compare the heritability of various robot traits in two systems, one using a direct (tree based) representation and one using an indirect (grammar based) representation. We measure changes in heritability during the course of evolution and investigate how direct and indirect representation can be biased towards more exploration or exploitation throughout the course of evolution. The empirical study shows that heritability can be a useful tool to analyze different representations without running complete evolutionary processes using them.


Surgical site infection (SSI) is an important component of infections acquired from hospital. The most significant feature of vascular surgery different from other surgeries is frequent application of artificial grafts. Once SSI occurs after vascular operations with grafts, it might results in a serious disaster. Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus are the most common pathogenic bacteria for SSI after vascular surgery. Although SSI in vascular surgery often lacks of typical clinical characters, some clinical symptoms, laboratory data and certain imaging procedures may help to diagnose. In most cases of SSI after vascular procedures, the artificial grafts must be removed and sensitive antibiotics should be administered. However, for different cases, personalized management plan should be made depending on the severity and location of SSI.


The National Academy of Engineering's "Fourteen Grand Challenges for Engineering in the Twenty-First Century" identifies challenges in science and technology that are both feasible and sustainable to help people and the planet prosper. Four of these challenges are: advance personalized learning, enhance virtual reality, make solar energy affordable and provide access to clean water. In this work, the authors discuss developing of applications using immersive technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) and their significance in addressing four of the challenges. The Drinking Water AR mobile application helps users easily locate drinking water sources inside Auburn University (AU) campus, thus providing easy access to clean water. The Sun Path mobile application helps users visualize Sun's path at any given time and location. Students study Sun path in various fields but often have a hard time visualizing and conceptualizing it, therefore the application can help. Similarly, the application could possibly assist the users in efficient solar panel placement. Architects often study Sun path to evaluate solar panel placement at a particular location. An effective solar panel placement helps optimize solar energy cost. The Solar System Oculus Quest VR application enables users in viewing all eight planets and the Sun in the solar system. Planets are simulated to mimic their position, scale, and rotation relative to the Sun. Using the Oculus Quest controllers, disguised as human hands in the scene, users can teleport within the world view, and can get closer to each planet and the Sun to have a better view of the objects and the text associated with the objects. In a camp held virtually, due to Covid-19, K12 students were introduced to the concept and usability of the applications. Likert scales metric was used to assess the efficacy of application usage. The data shows that participants of this camp benefited from an immersive learning experience that allowed for simulation with inclusion of VR and AR. Keywords-Augmented Reality; Engineering Challenges; Immersive Technology; Virtual Reality.


Background: Studies indicate that physiological and cognitive aging are causally related and functionally interdependent. However, the relative contribution of physiological factors and cognition to dual-task costs (DTC) of gait parameters has not been well studied. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the trajectory of DTC of gait parameters across the adult age spectrum for both sexes and identified the contributions of physical and cognitive performance to DTC of gait. Methods: A total of 492 community-dwelling adults, aged 21–90 years, were randomly recruited into the study. Participants were divided into 7 age groups, with 10-year age range for each group. Demographic data, height, body mass, education level, and information on comorbidities were recorded. Cognition was measured using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. Physical performance included visual contrast sensitivity, postural sway, hand reaction time, handgrip strength, knee extensor strength, and single-task and dual-task gait assessments. Stepwise multivariable regression was used to examine the association between physical and cognitive performance with DTC of gait parameters. Results: Women were found to have significantly higher DTC of gait speed (p = 0.01), cadence (p < 0.01), and double support time (p < 0.01) than men. However, significant aging effect on DTC of gait speed (p = 0.01), step length (p = 0.01), and double support time (p = 0.01) was observed in men but not in women. Immediate memory was the primary determinant for the DTC of gait speed (β = −0.25, p < 0.01), step length (β = −0.22, p < 0.01), and cadence (β = −0.15, p = 0.03) in men. Besides immediate memory, postural sway (β = −0.13, p = 0.03) and hand reaction (β = 0.14, p = 0.02) were also significantly associated with DTC of step length and cadence, respectively, in women. Conclusion: There were sex differences in the amplitude and trajectories of DTC of gait parameters. The DTC increased with age in men but not in women. Immediate memory was the primary determinant of DTC of gait parameters in men while immediate memory, postural sway, and reaction time were associated with DTC of gait in women. Future studies should investigate the clinical implications of the sex differences in the DTC with fall risks.


Restoration for actual atmospherically blurred images is per- formed using an atmospheric Wiener filter that corrects simultaneously for both turbulence and aerosol blur by enhancing the image spectrum primarily at those high frequencies least affected by the jitter or random- ness in a turbulence modulation transfer function (MTF). The correction is based on weather-predicted rather than measured atmospheric MTFs. Both turbulence and aerosol MTFs are predicted using meteorological parameters measured with standard weather stations at the time and location where the image was recorded. A variety of weather conditions and seasons are considered. Past results have shown good correlation between measured and predicted atmospheric MTFs. Here, the pre- dicted MTFs are implemented in actual image restoration and quantita- tive analysis of the MTF improvement is presented. Corrections are shown also for turbulence blur alone, for aerosol blur alone, and for both together. © 1997 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. (S0091-3286(97)01511-0)


Spatiotemporal variability of the environment is bound to affect the evolution of dispersal, and yet model predictions strongly differ on this particular effect. Recent studies on the evolution of local adaptation have shown that the life cycle chosen to model the selective effects of spatiotemporal variability of the environment is a critical factor determining evolutionary outcomes. Here, we investigate the effect of the order of events in the life cycle on the evolution of unconditional dispersal in a spatially heterogeneous, temporally varying landscape. Our results show that the occurrence of intermediate singular strategies and disruptive selection are conditioned by the temporal autocorrelation of the environment and by the life cycle. Life cycles with dispersal of adults versus dispersal of juveniles, local versus global density regulation, give radically different evolutionary outcomes that include selection for total philopatry, evolutionary bistability, selection for intermediate stable states, and evolutionary branching points. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for life‐cycle specifics when predicting the effects of the environment on evolutionarily selected trait values, such as dispersal, as well as the need to check the robustness of model conclusions against modifications of the life cycle.


The results of experimental studies of bearing capacity and cracking resistance of road slab models made of steel-fiber concrete according to the span loading scheme are presented. The bearing capacity of the models has been fixed at 27.96 kN, which is 2 times higher than the load corresponding to the beginning of cracking (14.8 kN). At the moment of bearing capacity loss, the height of compressed zone was 1 cm, which is one third of its original size. The relative strains before the first crack appeared were 0.1175×10-4 and 0.235×10-4 in the compressed and stretched zones, respectively, and similar limiting relative strains reached values of 3.715×10-4 and 9.235×10-4. The maximum crack opening width was substantially less than in the same tests of the slabs without dispersion reinforcement and was 0.3 mm, which is explained by the more ductile properties of steel fiber concrete, which prevent crack opening. The final deflection in the middle of the plate model span was 10.4 mm, which is 5.5 times greater than the deflection before cracking began (1.9 mm).


This article addresses the jurisdiction of Canadian courts over transboundary pollution. It argues that a tort lawsuit brought by foreign victims of climate change against local greenhouse gas emitters could overcome jurisdictional obstacles, notably the local action rule, and proceed in Canada. The local action rule provides that Canadian courts have no jurisdiction to hear a claim involving foreign land, even when the claim lies solely in tort. It is thought to be a significant jurisdictional obstacle in transboundary environmental disputes involving foreign land. This assumption is misleading. A growing corpus of soft law instruments supports the notion of equal access to the courts of the state of origin for all victims of transboundary pollution. The courts of Canadian provinces have jurisdiction over pollution originating in the province, and the case law is more divided than generally assumed over the effect of the local action rule in tort litigation. The conclusions of this article have important implications for transboundary environmental disputes in Canada and other top greenhouse gas-producing countries. They also highlight a modest but potentially meaningful role for private international law in our global response to climate change.


Compared with other industries, construction has maintained one of the lowest growth rates in productivity and innovation over the last decades. Moreover, low compliance with schedule targets has remained a common issue throughout projects. Therefore, although methodologies developed have benefited productivity in design, construction and operation, meeting client and project objectives becomes challenging without properly integrating organization, information, systems and processes. This perspective introduces the Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) framework. First, this paper studies and reviews VDC since its creation at the Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE) of Stanford University in 2001. After that, a comprehensive bibliographical review of the VDC framework is presented and updated with examples of its application in construction projects, delving into its elements: Client Objectives, Project Objectives, Production Objectives, Controllable Factors, Integrated Concurrent Engineering (ICE), Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Project Production Management (PPM). Finally, the main benefits and project outcomes when applying the VDC framework are presented and discussed, followed by the conclusions and recommendations for future research.


ECMO is used more and more globally, and to date more than 60,000 patients have undergone ECMO treatment. At the ECMO Center Karolinska in Stockholm, Sweden, more than 900 neonatal, pediatric and adult patients with primarily respiratory failure have been treated since 1987. This study investigated 217 consecutive patients of all ages who were treated 1995-2005 at our center, of which 76 % survived treatment. The mean follow-up time was 7.9 years. Of the patients who survived more than 90 days after treatment, 91 % were alive at follow-up 5 years later, similar in all age categories (89-93 %). The highest mortality risk was observed within the first months after ECMO. We conclude that both short and long-term survival is high in all age categories, especially considering the high mortality risk of the patients eligible for ECMO treatment. More studies are needed to evaluate long term prognostic markers, cognitive functions and quality of life, especially in the adult.


A major problem faced by manufacturing organizations is providing efficient and cost-effective responses to the unpredictable changes taking place in global markets and in supply chains. Sales and Operations Planning helps giving better customer service, lower inventory, shorten customer lead times, stabilized production rates. Sales and Operations Planning provides top management with a handle on the business, supporting a company to get and keep demand and supply in balance over time. This paper proposes an approach that would enable small and medium manufacturing organizations to dynamically achieve cost-effective aggregate sales and operations plans exploiting two emerging concepts: agent-based agile manufacturing systems and e-manufacturing. A complex manufacturing system and its supply network is modeled as a multi-agent system and scenarios with respect to the balance between supply and demand are dynamically simulated through the coordinated interactions amongst agents. This paper presents the main features of the proposed system and it finally discusses the benefits highlighted by its application in real industrial contexts.


Introduction. Vaccinations are the most important element in the prevention of infectious diseases. Parents' decisions about vaccinations, including especially non-obligatory (recommended) ones, are influenced by the knowledge and opinions provided by medical personnel. Aim. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of students of the medical university about vaccines for children, with special regard to recommended vaccinations. Material and methods. The study was conducted from January to April 2017 among 116 students of the Medical University of Warsaw. The research method used in the work was a diagnostic survey. The author's questionnaire was used as a research tool. Results. Based on answers provided by the respondents, their attitude, knowledge and evaluation of information provided during university education on vaccination were analyzed with particular emphasis on vaccinations recommended for children. Classes conducted during studies and/or scientific literature according to respondents provide the most reliable knowledge about recommended vaccinations (59%). Respondents agreed that the knowledge provided in the course of vaccinations on recommended vaccinations is insufficient (85%) and this material should be broadened. The lack of providing the latest vaccination guidelines was statistically significantly more often declared in the direction of Nursing, while Midwifery students were the best-rated education group about vaccinations received during the course of studies and had the best knowledge about recommended vaccinations for children. Importantly, students declaring sufficient knowledge about vaccination and at the same time lack of trust in vaccination and reluctance to vaccinate their own children, answered incorrectly the questions regarding the recommended vaccinations. Conclusions. It is necessary to broaden education about vaccinations at medical studies so that medical doctors, nurses, and midwives can shape correct attitudes towards immunization in parents group. In the medical university course of education, particular attention should be paid to the need to update information in the field of vaccinology with the annual National Vaccination Programme and with the guidelines of National Consultants.


BACKGROUND
Hand injuries are the most frequent bodily traumas sustained at work. The aim of the study was to assess hand injuries and the results of their treatment in a group of our patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study covered 275 patients with occupational hand injuries treated in the II Department of Surgery, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, during the years 1987-2000. The injury severity was estimated according to our own injury severity scale and the degree of hand disability according to the norms for certifying permanent posttraumatic disability issued by the Ministry of Health. The control group comprised 924 patients with non-occupational hand injuries treated in our Department in the same period.

RESULTS
The study revealed that occupational hand injuries were more severe than those sustained in other conditions, their treatment was longer and posttraumatic disability more severe.

CONCLUSIONS
More severe occupation-related injuries should be treated in hand surgery specialized centers.


Direct thrust measurements have been made on the NASA NEXT ion engine using a standard pendulum style thrust stand constructed specifically for this application. Values have been obtained for the full 40-level throttle table, as well as for a few off-nominal operating conditions. Measurements differ from the nominal NASA throttle table 10 (TT10) values by 3.1% at most, while at 30 throttle levels (TLs) the difference is less than 2.0%. When measurements are compared to TT10 values that have been corrected using ion beam current density and charge state data obtained at The Aerospace Corporation, they differ by 1.2% at most, and by 1.0% or less at 37 TLs. Thrust correction factors calculated from direct thrust measurements and from The Aerospace Corporation's plume data agree to within measurement error for all but one TL. Thrust due to cold flow and "discharge only" operation has been measured, and analytical expressions are presented which accurately predict thrust based on thermal thrust generation mechanisms.


This study uses microsatellites (SSRs) and nucleotide sequences to explore unresolved questions associated with four of the six Sphagnum species reported for Île Amsterdam: Sphagnum cavernulosum of unknown subgenus, S. complanatum and S. islei of subg. Subsecunda, and plants that initial morphological study placed in subg. Cuspidata. Genetic analyses show that all four species belong to subgenus Subsecunda and that none are allopolyploids. The plants initially placed in subg. Cuspidata are shown to belong to the 'S. africanum' clade of subg. Subsecunda and are closest to the African S. truncatum based on morphology. Sphagnum cavernulosum, S. complanatum, and S. islei are part of the Afro-Australasian clade of subg. Subsecunda, with S. complanatum and S. islei being closely associated with the African 'S. capense' complex and S. cavernulosum, which is morphologically divergent from all extant subgenera in the genus, being an outlier within this clade. Preliminary genetic analyses show S. islei to be closely related to S. complanatum and that they may represent two morphologically divergent genets of one species. The ancestral origins for the Île Amsterdam populations of S. complanatum, S. islei, and S. cf. truncatum are each ultimately based in Africa. Further study is required to determine the ecological and evolutionary significance, if any, provided by the pronounced morphological variation within species and the high morphological divergence among species in subg. Subsecunda. Finally, a prior report of S. recurvum (subg. Cuspidata) possibly occurring on Île Amsterdam is concluded to have been based on laboratory error.


A total of 12,084 patients participated in a maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) screening program in central North Carolina between July 1, 1978, and June 30, 1982. Fifteen open neural tube defects were detected and three others were missed, resulting in a detection rate of 83%. With a cutoff of 2.5 times the normal median, 3.7% of patients screened had a single maternal serum AFP elevation, 2.1% had two successive elevations, and 1.2% became candidates for amniocentesis. Of those patients offered amniocentesis, one in 10 was found to have a fetus with a neural tube defect. No normal fetuses have been aborted. Patients with maternal serum AFP elevations were shown to have a substantially increased risk of fetal loss. Low maternal serum AFP levels were also a significant finding and led to recognition of less advanced gestational age, fetal death, or molar pregnancy in a number of cases.


The purpose of this paper is to present the eddy current method for detection and evaluation of steel reinforcement bars in concrete structures. A multifrequency system with lock-in amplifier is proposed for this purpose. The experimental verification of the developed technique is done and the selected results are presented.


HSS members are desirable for structural applications due to their flexural, compression, and torsional resistance. To allow for increased utilization of hollow structural sections (HSS) in cyclic bending applications, their cyclic flexural stability and local buckling behavior under large rotations must be understood. Experimental tests of HSS with width-thickness (b/t) and depththickness (h/t) ratios of 8.46 to 31.3 and 19.9 to 48.5, respectively, show their suitability for cyclic bending applications provided b/t and h/t are limited. The effect of the b/t and h/t ratios are found to be interdependent and correlate with the occurrence of local buckling and loss of moment capacity with cycling to increased deformation levels. In order to better understand the behavior of HSS beam members under cyclic loads, a finite element model (FEM) that accounts for localized material properties and local buckling behavior is developed and correlated to experimental results. Geometric perturbations of the section geometry are introduced based on an eigenvalue buckling analysis to approximate observed experimental local buckling behavior. From the correlated model, 133 sections are analyzed, with the section sizes spanning from HSS 152.4x50.8x4.8 to HSS 508.0x304.8x15.9, allowing a wide range of b/t and h/t ratios to be considered. The results confirm the interdependence of b/t and h/t on the local buckling behavior and provide a basis for defining limiting values to prevent local buckling and subsequent loss of moment capacity under cyclic bending loads.


The sensilla on the male and female second swimmerets are sexually dimorphic. Female swimmerets contain many long "smooth hairs" (long simple setae) on the coxa and rami. The endopodite of the male swimmeret has an accessory lobe covered with short "bristly spines" (serrate setae). In both sexes the swimmeret rami are lined by "feathered hairs" (plumose setae). The influence of mechanosensory stimulation of these sensilla upon abdominal tonic motor activity was analyzed in an in vitro swimmeret-nerve cord preparation. Movement of several clusters of smooth hairs produced an abdominal extension program by exciting the flexor inhibitor f5, inhibiting the flexor excitors, and activating several extensors. Stimulation of the male bristly spines excited the medium-sized flexor excitors f3 and f4. In both sexes the feathered hairs did not generate any response to mechanical stimulation. We infer that in nongravid females the smooth hairs are involved in receiving mechanosensitive cues to support abdominal extension. Bristly spines may contribute to postural adjustments that assist mating. The long latencies of these responses and their propagation to adjacent ganglia suggest that they are mediated by postural interneurons rather than by direct afferent terminations on postural motoneurons.