Background: Aberrant expression of members of the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases and its downstream pathways is known to play pivotal roles in breast cancer malignancy. HER2-positive breast cancer has an aggressive nature that is driven by HER2 gene amplification. Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare but the most aggressive clinical subtype of breast cancer. Triple-negative breast cancer is an aggressive receptor subtype of breast cancer. More than 30% of cases of each of these groups express EGFR. Emerging therapeutic resistance continues to be a challenge in recurrent and/or metastatic disease. Neratinib is a potent irreversible EGFR, HER2, and HER4 tyrosine kinase inhibitor that blocks signal transduction generated via these receptors. In this study, we sought to identify the optimal targets in different subtypes of breast cancer and synergistic partners to maximize the antitumor effect of neratinib against breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Expression of EGFR and HER2 was assessed via Western blot in 31 breast cancer cell lines, including HER2-targeted drug-resistant cell lines (14 triple-negative breast cancer and 10 HER2-positive). The antiproliferative effects of neratinib were measured using cell proliferation and anchorage-independent colony-formation (soft agar) assays. A reverse-phase protein array was used to profile and validate the signaling networks induced by neratinib-based treatment. To identify the synergistic targets, RNA interference screening of a 779-kinome library was performed under multicellular tumor spheroid culture conditions. Results: In vitro proliferation data demonstrated that neratinib had a nanomolar range of half-maximal inhibitory concentrations in most of the tested cell lines, including T-DM1-resistant HER-2 breast cancer cell lines. Neratinib inhibited colony formation in a dose-dependent manner (P = 0.0001). Reverse-phase protein array data revealed that the efficacy of neratinib correlated with phosphorylated EGFR (R2 = 0.6055) or phosphorylated HER2 (R2 = 0.6734) expression level. Statistical analysis identified the 25 most relevant targets in the RNA interference screening, which we will validate for combinational antitumor effects with neratinib in in vitro and in vivo studies. Conclusion: We determined the efficacy of neratinib and identified target molecules to enhance neratinib efficacy in different breast cancer subtype cell lines with ErbB alterations. Our data inform new combined treatment strategies with neratinib for breast cancer that will lead to innovative designs using optimized neratinib combinations in clinical trials. Citation Format: Bora Lim, Jangsoon Lee, Troy Pearson, Liu Huey, Minha Hwang, Kuicheon Choi, Francesca Avogadri-Connors, Richard E. Cutler, Debu Tripathy, Naoto T. Ueno. Identification of molecular therapeutic targets that enhance the antitumor activity of neratinib in breast cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 825.


In the light of project management, concurrent engineering and agile manufacturing, in relation to the characteristics of the concurrence of developing and batch manufacturing, this text studies the hierarchical information technology of the production management system based on project driving. The operation flow of project-driven hierarchical information system of production management has been designed and implemented. The soft architecture and operating model have been proposed. The coordinating and controlling model based on workflow, queuing theory, and the capability balancing method are established.


A gas / liquid separation assembly (1). The assembly generally includes a container having a separation element serviceable receiving at least one inner (10) structures. It provides a unique baffle structure inlet (36, 39), so that when gas passes through the assembly, the pre-separation of the liquid from the gas. The assembly is particularly applicable to an air / oil separation, such as a compressor. Also disclosed are methods of assembly and use.


Neonatal screening programmes have been introduced in almost all European countries. In practice there are large differences, especially in the panel of conditions that are screened for, often without clear reasons. Policy making on a European level is lacking in contrast to the situation in the USA. Professionals have the knowledge to expand the panels but are dependent on policy-makers for the necessary funds. This paper is a call on the EU Commission to take up a role in providing equal access to neonatal screening for all children within the EU.


ABSTRACT Baker, R.G.V. and McGowan, S.A., 2013. Geographic information system planning for future sea-level rise using evidence and response mechanisms from the past: a case study from the Lower Hunter Valley, New South Wales. One of the greatest challenges of coastal land-use policy is predicting future rates of sea-level rise from different proposed climate change scenarios. This study uses evidence from past higher Holocene and Pleistocene shorelines in southern Australia to develop possible response functions for future sea level modelling. A rule-of-thumb is determined by comparing rising sea levels of the past from relic intertidal biological markers with Antarctic temperature fluctuations during the mid-Holocene. The result is that for every 1°C increase in Southern Hemisphere relative temperatures, there would be, on average, a 0.9-m positive response in mean relative sea levels. Spectral analysis, comparing mean sea-level records from Sydney, Australia; the Southern Hemisphere temperature anomaly data (1850 to 2011); and Antarctic temperature fluctuations from the last 7000 years suggest that there are significantly longer (∼20 y and ∼50 y) periodicities that must be accounted for in any accurate determination of projections for 2100. For southern Australia, past sea-level rise appears to be in phase with Antarctic temperature changes and possible meltwater surges, suggesting that the use of linear sea-level rates per year, whilst convenient for planning, may be physically misleading. The policy response from the past should be a precautionary principle, based on centennial envelopes, capturing possible intermittent rapid surges that can be punctuated by decadinal stillstands. Three past–present–future (PPF) sea-level scenarios are applied to a case study of an area surrounding the Hexham Swamp, Newcastle, Australia. An impact infrastructure audit is undertaken, using a light detection and ranging geographic information system relative to multiple PPF centennial sea-level rise envelopes, to plan in this context for future sea-level rise.


Some experiments on image recovery in microscopy are described. The aperture stop of a microscope objective is partially obscured, and a retroreflecting array is used as an approximate phase conjugator to return the beam through the unobstructed part of the aperture. An application is made to the measurement of the absolute reflectance of small samples by use of a variant of Strong's method.


In looking for criteria by which to assess religious conceptual systems, many philosophers have turned for help to scientific methodology. Perhaps this is because they felt philosophers of science were themselves looking in the right epistemological direction, and had a viable way of describing what they saw. Richard Swinburne has provided a strong, sustained treatment of the application of scientific method to religious truth claims, in The Existence of God. He there makes use of what he sees as 'the close similarities which exist between religious theories and large-scale scientific theories' in assessing the epistemic status of belief in God. The goal of this paper will be to give enough of Swinburne's position to see what criteria might be plucked therefrom, to subject both the criteria and the underlying methodology to scrutiny, and to assess where one must go from here in appraising the truth-claims of religion.


UNLABELLED
BFC is a free, fast and easy-to-use sequencing error corrector designed for Illumina short reads. It uses a non-greedy algorithm but still maintains a speed comparable to implementations based on greedy methods. In evaluations on real data, BFC appears to correct more errors with fewer overcorrections in comparison to existing tools. It particularly does well in suppressing systematic sequencing errors, which helps to improve the base accuracy of de novo assemblies.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION
https://github.com/lh3/bfc

CONTACT
email@example.com

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


This paper presents novel techniques to mitigate the effects of SRAM memory failures caused by low voltage operation in JPEG2000 implementations. We investigate error control coding schemes, specifically single error correction double error detection code based schemes, and propose an unequal error protection scheme tailored for JPEG2000 that reduces memory overhead with minimal effect in performance. Furthermore, we propose algorithm-specific techniques that exploit the characteristics of the discrete wavelet transform coefficients to identify and remove SRAM errors. These techniques do not require any additional memory, have low circuit overhead, and more importantly, reduce the memory power consumption significantly with only a small reduction in image quality.


In this paper, we demonstrate our work on Gaussian Process Occupancy Mapping (GPOM). We concentrate on the inefficiency of the frame computation of the classical GPOM approaches. In robotics, most of the algorithms are required to run in real time. However, the high cost of computation makes the classical GPOM less useful. In this paper we dont try to optimize the Gaussian Process itself, instead, we focus on the application. By analyzing the time cost of each step of the algorithm, we find a way that to reduce the cost while maintaining a good performance compared to the general GPOM framework. From our experiments, we can find that our model enables GPOM to run online and achieve a relatively better quality than the classical GPOM.


During the last years the pressure for energy improvement has increased. However, a one-sided focus on energy efficiency might be introduced at the expense of indoor climate. Therefore, it is essential that energy optimisation is integrated with assessment of indoor climate. A guideline tool with an assessment concept based on the so-called Eco-factor method been developed for an integrated design process. The approach for the guideline is that the whole energy system, regarding both the building and the technical installations, must be considered in order to achieve energy efficient buildings with good indoor comfort and low environmental impact. This requires an integrated design approach of all building elements with involvement of numerous technical disciplines. Since each building is unique there are no allencompassing solutions and, therefore, the guidelines aim to describe the way of working to reach the goal. In order to evaluate the successfulness of different energy system solutions in different building design the assessment concept is using the Ecofactor method The Eco-factor illustrates the impact of two core issues: the energy related environmental impact and the indoor climate. The method consists of an index system based on indicators of physical properties that describes the environmental impact and the indoor comfort on a common score, called the "Eco-factor". The external environmental impact part is based on emissions from operational energy use of different energy sources. All emissions during the energy sources' complete life cycle are considered "from cradle to grave". The indoor climate part considers aspects that are closely interrelated with energy use, namely thermal comfort and indoor air quality. The assessment concept includes a recurrent "assessment phase", where the architect and project-leader discuss different solutions with the client. Different energy solutions are assessed with their influence of the total building performance on energy use and indoor climate. This should prevent that single issues in the design are changed without evaluation of how it affects the total building performance. The Ecofactor method aims to present the evaluation in an easy visible interpretation of the result.


The development and validation of a client version of the Real Relationship Inventory (RRI-C) is reported. Using a sample of clients (n = 94) who were currently in psychotherapy, a 24-item measure was developed consisting of two subscales (Realism and Genuineness) and a total score. This 24-item version and other measures used for validation were completed by 93 additional clients. Results of the present study offer initial support for the validity and reliability of the RRI-C. The RRI-C correlated significantly in theoretically expected ways with measures of the client-rated working alliance and therapists' congruence, clients' observing ego, and client ratings of client and therapist real relationship on an earlier measure of the real relationship (Eugster & Wampold, 1996). A nonsignificant relation was found between the RRI-C and a measure of social desirability, providing support for discriminant validity. A confirmatory factor analysis supported the two theorized factors of the RRI-C. The authors discuss the importance of measuring clients' perceptions of the real relationship.


Shock wave refraction at a sharp density interface is a classical problem in hydrodynamics. Presently, we investigate the strongly planar refraction of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) shock wave at an inclined density interface. A magnetic field is applied that is initially oriented either perpendicular or parallel to the motion of incident shock. We explore flow structure by varying the magnitude of the magnetic field governed by the non-dimensional parameter [Formula: see text] and the inclination angle of density interface [Formula: see text]. The regular MHD shock refraction process results in a pair of outer fast shocks (reflected and transmitted) and a set of inner nonlinear magneto-sonic waves. By varying magnetic field (strength and direction) and inclination interface angle, the latter waves can be slow shocks, slow expansion fans, intermediate shocks, or slow-mode compound waves. For a chosen incident shock strength and density ratio, the MHD shock refraction transitions from regular (all nonlinear waves meeting at a single point) into irregular when the inclined density interface angle is less than a critical value. Irregular refraction patterns are not amenable to an analytical solution, and hence, we have obtained irregular refraction solutions by numerical simulations. Since the MHD shock refraction is self-similar, we further explore by converting the initial value problem into a boundary value problem (BVP) by a self-similar coordinate transformation. The self-similar solution to the BVP is numerically solved using an iterative method and implemented using the p4est adaptive mesh framework. The simulation shows that a Mach stem occurs in an irregular MHD shock refraction, and the flow structure can be an MHD equivalent to a single Mach reflection irregular refraction and convex-forwards irregular refraction that occur in hydrodynamic case. For Mach number M = 2, both analytical and numerical results show that perpendicular magnetics fields suppress the regular to irregular transition compared to the corresponding hydrodynamic case. As Mach number decreased, it is possible that strong perpendicular magnetics promote the regular to irregular transition, while moderate perpendicular magnetics suppress this transition compared to the corresponding hydrodynamic case.


ABSTRACT Hypervirulent invasive group A streptococcus (GAS) isolates inhibit neutrophil infiltration more than pharyngitis isolates do, and the molecular basis of this difference is not well understood. This study was designed to first determine whether natural null mutation of the two-component regulatory system CovRS is responsible for the enhancement of the inhibition of neutrophil recruitment seen in hypervirulent GAS. Next, we examined the role of CovRS-regulated interleukin-8/CXC chemokine peptidase (SpyCEP), C5a peptidase (ScpA), and platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (SsE) in the enhanced innate immune evasion. Invasive isolate MGAS5005 induces less neutrophil infiltration and produced a greater lesion area than pharyngitis isolate MGAS2221 in subcutaneous infections of mice. It is known that MGAS5005, but not MGAS2221, has a natural 1-bp deletion in the covS gene. Replacement of covS Δ1bp in MGAS5005 with wild-type covS resulted in the MGAS2221 phenotype. Deletion of covS from MGAS2221 resulted in the MGAS5005 phenotype. Tests of single, double, and triple deletion mutants of the MGAS5005 sse, spyCEP, and scpA genes found that SsE plays a more important role than SpyCEP and ScpA in the inhibition of neutrophil recruitment and that SsE, SpyCEP, and ScpA do not have synergistic effects on innate immune evasion by MGAS5005. Deletion of sse, but not spyCEP or scpA, of MGAS2221 enhances neutrophil recruitment. Thus, covS null mutations can cause substantial inhibition of neutrophil recruitment by enhancing the expression of the chemoattractant-degrading virulence factors, and SsE, but not SpyCEP or ScpA, is required for CovRS-regulated GAS inhibition of neutrophil infiltration.


AbstractA cloud-resolving model is used to test the hypothesis that radiative cooling by water vapor emission is the primary control on the temperature of tropical anvil clouds. The temperature of ice clouds in the simulation can be increased or decreased by changing only the emissivity of water vapor in the upper troposphere. The effect of the model's fixed ozone profile on stability creates a pressure-dependent inhibition of convection, leading to a small warming in cloud-top temperature as SST is increased. Increasing stratospheric water vapor also warms the cloud-top temperature slightly. Changing the latent heat of fusion reduces the cloud fraction at high altitudes, but does not significantly change temperature at which cloud fraction peaks in the upper troposphere. The relationship between radiatively driven horizontal mass convergence and cloud fraction that causes cloud temperature to be insensitive to surface temperature is preserved when a large model domain is used so that convection aggregate...


A series of earthquakes was recorded along a mapped fault system near Azle, Texas in 2013. To identify the mechanism of seismicity, coupled fluid flow and geomechanical simulation is carried out to model fluid injection/production and the potential onset of seismicity. Sensitivity studies for a broad range of reservoir and geomechanical parameters are performed and the calibrated models are used to identify controlling mechanisms for seismicity in the Azle area, North Texas and its relationship to hydrocarbon production and fluid injection in the vicinity. Geologic, production/injection, and seismicity data are gathered to build a detailed simulation model with coupled fluid flow and geomechanics. Geomechanical simulation results are used to calculate cumulative seismic moment magnitude. Sensitivity analyses for injection well head pressure and earthquake data are performed over a range of reservoir and geomechanical parameters. Influential parameters are selected to perform a pareto-based multi-objective history matching of well head pressures and seismic moments.
 Geomechanical interaction has significant impact on seismicity in the Azle area. Unbalanced loading (overall injection and production) on different sides of the fault generates accumulation of strain change, resulting in the onset of seismicity. Previous studies seem to have significantly underestimated the fluid withdrawal rates, almost by an order of magnitude. The equivalent bottom-hole fluid rate used in this study suggests a drop in reservoir pore pressure which is consistent with the BHP trends. Thus, pore pressure increases may not explain the seismicity near the Azle area, as indicated in previous studies. Instead geomechanical effects and strain propagation to the basement appear to be the dominant mechanisms. The low fault cohesion and minimum horizontal stress obtained from history matching suggest that the faults must be near or at the critically-stressed state before the initiation of fluid production/injection. A sensitivity analysis indicates that the minimum horizontal stress and fracture gradient each play a critical role in the potential risk for seismicity related to fluid injection/production. Streamline flow pattern further proves that there is no fluid movement in the basement formation and the unbalanced loading from different sides of the fault is the controlling mechanism. This is the first study coupling fluid flow and geomechanics in the Azle area and the first to simultaneously calibrate the models with fluid flow and seismicity data.


Hydrophobic surfaces with microscale roughness can be rendered ultrahydrophobic by the addition of sub-micron scale roughness. A simple yet highly effective concept of fabricating hierarchical structured surfaces using a single-step deep reactive ion etch process is proposed. Using this method the complexities generally associated with fabrication of two-tier roughness structures are eliminated. Experiments are conducted on two double-roughness surfaces with different surface roughness, achieved by varying the size of the microscale roughness features. The surfaces are characterized in terms of static contact angle and roll-off angle and compared with surfaces consisting of only single-tier microscale roughness. The robustness of the new hierarchical roughness surfaces is verified through droplet impingement tests. The hierarchical surfaces are more resistant to wetting than the single roughness surfaces and show higher coefficients of restitution for droplets bouncing off the surface. The droplet dynamics upon impingement are explored.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


In this paper, a novel approach for character recognition has been presented with the help of genetic operators which have evolved from biological genetics and help us to achieve highly accurate results. A genetic algorithm approach has been described in which the biological haploid chromosomes have been implemented using a single row bit pattern of 315 values which have been operated upon by various genetic operators. A set of characters are taken as an initial population from which various new generations of characters are generated with the help of selection, crossover and mutation. Variations of population of characters are evolved from which the fittest solution is found by subjecting the various populations to a new fitness function developed. The methodology works and reduces the dissimilarity coefficient found by the fitness function between the character to be recognized and members of the populations and on reaching threshold limit of the error found from dissimilarity, it recognizes the character. As the new population is being generated from the older population, traits are passed on from one generation to another. We present a methodology with the help of which we are able to achieve highly efficient character recognition.


Abstract Following constructivist paradigms for learning, this article explores the relationships between the components of argumentation competence (knowledge, behavior and attitude), their relationships with domain-specific knowledge acquisition, and the differences in argumentation behavior between successful and less-successful students. An exploratory study, with a pre- and post-test design, in an authentic, non-scaffolded, online learning environment was conducted. Contrary to our expectations, no significant relationships between the components of argumentation competence were found. Nevertheless, a significant relationship between argumentation behavior and domain-specific knowledge acquisition was found. Moreover, results suggested that the capacity of students to transfer argumentation behavior to similar argumentation tasks can be related to students' domain-specific knowledge acquisition. Finally, successful students in terms of domain-specific knowledge acquisition scored higher with regard to their argumentation behavior than less-successful students. These findings are discussed followed by theoretical and practical implications and suggestion for future work.


Most of the voting models restrict themselves to the analysis of symmetric equilibria, i.e. equilibria in which "similar" voters make "similar" voting decisions. In this paper we investigate this assumption under costly plurality voting. In any pure strategy equilibrium, if two active voters have the same preference order over candidates, they do vote for the same candidate. However, as an example shows, this type of result cannot be hoped for mixed strategies equilibria.


Network Security Situational Awareness(NSSA) has been a hot research spot in the network security domain. In this paper, a quantification method for NSSA based on conditional random fields(CRFs) was proposed. The data of network attacks from Intrusion Detection System (IDS), the hosts' vulnerabilities and the hosts' states were firstly combined as the network security factors. And then the network security threat degree was defined to quantify the risk of the whole network and classify the attacks. A diverse set of effective features were incorporated in CRFs Model. Finally the experiments on the DARPA 2000 data set generate the explicit network security situational graph. It proves that the method introduced in this paper can represent network risk more accurate and offer a good quantification for the network security situation.


We compare several models that forecast ex-ante Bitcoin one-day Value-at-Risk (VaR), starting from the simplest ones like Parametric Normal and Historical Simulation and arriving at Historical Filtered Bootstrap and Extreme Value Theory Historical Filtered Bootstrap. We also consider Gaussian and Student-t innovation in the GARCH model specification. The performance of all VaR models is validated using both statistical accuracy and efficiency evaluation tests. We evaluate model performances on four VaR confidence level (95%, 99%, 99.5% and 99.9%). We also validate the models under loss function backtests and our results confirm the efficacy of Historical Filtered Bootstrap as a methodology to estimate VaR. Furthermore, we find that the GARCH model with Gaussian innovation provides the best fit in term of estimating ex Ante VaR. In our empirical analysis, we find that, on the observed data (from November 8, 2012, to May 11, 2018), Historical Filtered Bootstrap AR-GARCH with Gaussian innovation correctly estimates VaR for all e. The Parametric Normal and the standard Historical Simulation show their limitations and we suggest to avoid to use them. For backtest based on loss function, we find that for investors' viewpoint it seems better to choice Gaussian innovation in the GARCH specification, while under regulators' viewpoint suggest using Student-t innovation at least in the far tail.


Twenty years after the collapse of the GDR the situation in the new Laender has improved greatly: standards of living for the population have increased substantially, the capital stock in the business sector has been modernized, and also the improved environmental situation and the well developed infrastructure are visible signs for the progress that has been achieved since 1989.1 Nevertheless, in many fields of economic performance there are still substantial gaps between eastern and western Germany. A further problem is that the convergence of macroeconomic indicators, such as per capita GDP or productivity, has been proceeding only slowly for a long time.This raises the question about the causes and the perspectives for the eastern German economy. Another matter of interest is the current course of action as well as the need for action when it comes to economic policies.


Some of the most impressive architectural masterpieces of the past, such as the Cologne Cathedral or the Cathedral in Milan, have taken several centuries for their creation and have involved thousands of people. Today, a glossy office building in Dubai has been built or rather printed in just 17 days, with 29 workers involved. Three-dimensional printing has been identified as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and is increasingly replacing traditional construction methods. There is no doubt that 3D printing will affect the design and production of buildings. Does the fact that 3D printing can be used means that it should replace analog with digital construction?


Societal archives are a selective memory and the voices of the socio-political and economic elites abound in the archive at the expense of the other voices. This is so because of the nexus between political power and archives. In the case of the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ), public sector records and archives predominate. Minorities and the underrepresented are evident by their "silences" and "absences" from the archive. Evidence from an interview, document analysis and review of related literature forms the thrust of this paper. The argument presented is that the appraisal and selection of records by NAZ needs to change as well as its collection development policy to incorporate private archives and related regional and local archives. Zimbabwe needs a transformational discourse as well as research agenda to facilitate the documentation of the underrepresented and minority groups from various sectors of society. Collaborative efforts by NAZ and groups of the marginalised should lay the foundation for achieving integrated societal memory, which will address the imbalances and discontents in the mainstream archival endeavour.


Abstract : The dramatic changes in the world starting in the fall of 1989 will enable the United States to reduce its large military forces in Europe for the first time in 40 years. The collapse of communism and the decline of the Warsaw Pact military threat resulted from the inability of the communist system to provide for their people economically. Everyone agrees that there is no longer an imminent threat of a war in Europe between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. But before the United States dismantles its military forces, there is a need to look at the rest of the world. Ethnic struggles, nationalism, radical religious fundamentalism, terrorism, and insurgencies are occurring everywhere and especially in areas where the U.S. has vital interests and relations with friendly governments. Many Third World nations have large, modern, well-equipped armies and the predisposition to use them to achieve their political aims. More than ever the U.S. needs strategic mobility in the air and on the sea to be able to deter conflicts and exert its influence toward peace. This paper looks at the capabilities and requirements for strategic mobility and discusses ways to innovatively use the dwindling resources to achieve the greatest capability. With a dramatically smaller Army and fewer forces forward deployed around the world, the need for strategic airlift and sealift is increasing not decreasing.


I must admit that, after more than a decade of teaching and researching political parties, I found being selected to and participating in the 1980 Democratic National Convention an exhiliarating experience. The Alabama delegate-selection process was a very competitive primary with extensive activity by the Carter and Kennedy organizations and by the individual delegate candidates. In varying degrees, the delegate candidates stumped their constituencies with personal appearances, letters, rallies, sample ballots, newspaper ads, group endorsements, and assorted other campaign gimmicks. The selection process consisted primarily of a statewide primary (1) to allocate Alabama's delegates and alternate delegates among the presidential candidates, and (2) to elect the members of that delegation. Over 500 candidates ran for the 45 delegate and 32 alternate delegate positions in that primary. The primary actually was conducted by congressional district, with 33 candidates running for four delegate and three alternate delegate positions in my CD. The ballot was structured by sex (females listed first) and the voter was instructed to vote for up to four females and up to four males. Delegates were allocated to presidential candidates according to a formula which was roughly proportional; and individual delegates were selected by an equally fair but more complex formula.


Using the high time-resolution and 64 ms resolution data of the burst and transient source experiment, we performed an autocorrelation analysis of the energy dependence of burst pulse width in short gamma-ray bursts. A method free from potential cosmological effects has been proposed. This allows us to use a sample with a size comparable to that used for long and bright bursts. Our result shows that the profiles of short bursts exhibit a very good power-law between profile width and photon energy, with an index ~ -0.3. This result is consistent with a united origin of the bimodal distribution.


A computationally efficient algorithm for multiple source localization, using the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm, for the wideband sources in the near field of a sensor array/area, is presented. The basic idea is to decompose the observed sensor data, which is a superimposition of multiple sources, into individual components in the frequency domain and then estimate the corresponding location parameters associated with each component separately. Instead of the conventional alternating projection method, we propose to adopt the EM algorithm in this paper; our method involves two steps, namely Expectation (E-step) and Maximization (M-step). In the E-step, the individual incident source waveforms are estimated. Then, in the M-step, the maximum likelihood estimates of the source location parameters are obtained. These two steps are executed iteratively and alternatively until the pre-defined convergence is reached. The computational complexity comparison between our proposed EM algorithm and the existing alternating projection scheme is investigated. It is shown through Monte Carlo simulations that the computational complexity of the proposed EM algorithm is significantly lower than that of the conventional alternating projection algorithm.


Assemblages associated with intertidal rocky shores were examined for large scale distribution patterns with specific emphasis on identifying latitudinal trends of species richness and taxonomic distinctiveness. Seventy-two sites distributed around the globe were evaluated following the standardized sampling protocol of the Census of Marine Life NaGISA project (www.nagisa.coml.org). There were no clear patterns of standardized estimators of species richness along latitudinal gradients or among Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs); however, a strong latitudinal gradient in taxonomic composition (i.e., proportion of different taxonomic groups in a given sample) was observed. Environmental variables related to natural influences were strongly related to the distribution patterns of the assemblages on the LME scale, particularly photoperiod, sea surface temperature (SST) and rainfall. In contrast, no environmental variables directly associated with human influences (with the exception of the inorganic pollution index) were related to assemblage patterns among LMEs. Correlations of the natural assemblages with either latitudinal gradients or environmental variables were equally strong suggesting that neither neutral models nor models based solely on environmental variables sufficiently explain spatial variation of these assemblages at a global scale. Despite the data shortcomings in this study (e.g., unbalanced sample distribution), we show the importance of generating biological global databases for the use in large-scale diversity comparisons of rocky intertidal assemblages to stimulate continued sampling and analyses.


Angiogenesis is important for successful fracture repair. Aging negatively affects the number and activity of endothelial cells (ECs) and subsequently leads to impaired bone healing. We previously showed that implantation of lung-derived endothelial cells (LECs) improved fracture healing in rats. In this study, we characterized and compared neonatal lung and bone marrow-derived endothelial cells (neonatal LECs and neonatal BMECs) and further asses3sed if implantation of neonatal BMECs could enhance bone healing in both young and aged mice. We assessed neonatal EC tube formation, proliferation, and wound migration ability in vitro in ECs isolated from the bone marrow and lungs of neonatal mice. The in vitro studies demonstrated that both neonatal LECs and neonatal BMECs exhibited EC traits. To test the function of neonatal ECs in vivo, we created a femoral fracture in young and aged mice and implanted a collagen sponge to deliver neonatal BMECs at the fracture site. In the mouse fracture model, endochondral ossification was delayed in aged control mice compared to young controls. Neonatal BMECs significantly improved endochondral bone formation only in aged mice. These data suggest BMECs have potential to enhance aged bone healing. Compared to LECs, BMECs are more feasible for translational cell therapy and clinical applications in bone repair. Future studies are needed to examine the fate and function of BMECs implanted into the fracture sites.


Bridges buckled by film stress can generate a vertical displacement resulting in three‐dimensional structures. We have demonstrated a micromirror lifted by buckled bridges and a vertical comb drive actuator. The structures show rounded profiles in a stable manner. The detailed profiles of the bridges and the lifted micromirrors are examined. The relations between the lateral design and its effect on the vertical profile and the dynamic characteristics are studied. Copyright © 2010 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


OBJECTIVES
To find the profile of the Family Planning (FP) service, the contraceptive methods used, prescribed and asked for, evaluating the knowledge acquired in the prior informative talk.

DESIGN
A crossover observational study.

SETTING
Family Planning service in Telde (Gran Canaria).

PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS
317 users for whom a clinical record was opened in 1992/3.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Average age was 28.23 +/- 0.75 (SD 6.76); 77.6% were married, 66.56% without paid work and 22.71% with medium or higher education. 62.77% were from our Health Area. 82.33% attended on their own initiative. 2.26 +/- 0.07 (SD 0.59) contraceptive methods per user were used, with 71.87% medically monitored. 98.74% had used hormonal contraception (HC). The average number of pregnancies was 1.45 +/- 0.13 (SD 1.2), with the first being on average at age 22.16 +/- 0.48 (SD 3.74). 32.67% used barrier methods and 35.31% hormonal ones (36.4% smoked), with significant differences for age-groups, the referring professional and the number of children. 60% asked for an IUD and 37.38% HC, where significant differences were found for marital status, age groups, educational level and the number of children.

CONCLUSIONS
We must strengthen the FP service so that people can make the most of their sexual and reproductive lives, increasing coverage for adolescents to prevent unwanted pregnancies and avoid uncontrolled risky contraceptive methods. The information in the prior talks should be improved, which would make the questionnaires administered more valid.


We employ a unique hand-collected dataset and a novel methodology to examine systemic risk before and after the largest U.S. banking crisis of the 20th century. Our systemic risk measure captures both the credit risk of an individual bank as well as a bank's position in the network. We construct linkages between all U.S. commercial banks in 1929 and 1934 so that we can measure how predisposed the entire network was to risk, where risk was concentrated, and how the failure of more than 9,000 banks during the Great Depression altered risk in the network. We find that the pyramid structure of the commercial banking system (i.e., the network's topology) created more inherent fragility, but systemic risk was nevertheless fairly dispersed throughout banks in 1929, with the top 20 banks contributing roughly 18% of total systemic risk. The massive banking crisis that occurred between 1930{33 raised systemic risk per bank by 33% and increased the riskiness of the very largest banks in the system. We use Bayesian methods to demonstrate that when network measures, such as eigenvector centrality and a bank's systemic risk contribution, are combined with balance sheet data capturing ex ante bank default risk, they strongly predict bank survivorship in 1934.


BackgroundMetoclopramide is frequently prescribed as an adjuvant for the post-pyloric placement of nasoenteric tubes (NETs). However, the efficacy and safety of metoclopramide remain controversial. The latest meta-analysis showed that metoclopramide was not beneficial in adults. Thus, this study aimed to reevaluate the effect of metoclopramide on the post-pyloric placement of NETs.MethodsA systematic search of PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang data was conducted up to August 2020 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing metoclopramide with placebo or no intervention. The effect sizes of eligible studies were pooled using the relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) in a random-effects model. Trial sequential analysis (TSA) was used for the primary outcomes (the success rate of the post-pyloric placement of NETs).ResultsSeven eligible RCTs that included 520 participants were identified. The results of the pooled effect sizes showed that metoclopramide significantly facilitated the post-pyloric placement of NETs (RR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.11–1.97; P = 0.007; I2 = 37%). However, the risk of bias assessment and the TSA results indicated that the qualities of the RCTs and the sample sizes were insufficient to confirm the efficacy of metoclopramide. Further subgroup analysis revealed that successful post-pyloric placement was more pronounced in studies in which spiral NETs were employed (RR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.41–2.43; P < 0.001; I2 = 0%). Additionally, a significant increase in the success rate was also observed for post-D1 (reaching the second portion of the duodenum or beyond), post-D2 (reaching the third portion of the duodenum or beyond), and post-D3 (reaching the fourth portion of the duodenum or beyond) placement of spiral NETs. Overall adverse events were minimal.ConclusionsThe evidence accumulated so far was not strong enough to demonstrate metoclopramide's beneficial effects on the post-pyloric placement of NETs; however, it might be effective for spiral NETs. Further high-quality, large-sample RCTs are required to elucidate the effects of metoclopramide.Trial registrationPROSPERO CRD42019123424 (10 July 2019)


Purpose: Long volume sarcomas are usually treated with a two‐isocenter technique. Due to the sharp dose gradients at the field edges, 3 mm setup uncertainties can cause up to 30% dose variations in the overlap region, potentially increasing dose to the bone and risking subsequent fracture. This dose variation is conventionally reduced by using junction shifts. We have developed a two‐isocenter IMRT technique to spare bone and simultaneously control the junction dose. The technique uses extended dose gradients throughout a junction region to improve the tolerance to setup uncertainties and inverse planning to develop complimentary dose gradients. Methods: An initial dose gradient across a 4–6 cm junction region is induced either with segmented inferior parallel‐opposed beams or using variable dose target junction volumes. Superior IMRT fields, which overlap the junction region, are put and optimize doses superiorly and establish a complementary dose gradient to the initial gradient. Then, segments beams are removed and replaced by inferior isocenter fields to complete dose coverage in the junction region and inferior target. Results: Four lower extremity sarcoma cases have been planned with this technique in Pinnacle 7.6c, demonstrating the following advantages over the conventional technique: Improvement in junction dose uniformity: ±5% target dose heterogeneity for the segments‐induced method and ±3% for the variable‐dose‐volumes method vs. 7% for the conventional moving junction techniques; Improvement in potential error control: for 3 mm setup uncertainties, a): ±5% junction target dose shifts vs. up to ±10% hot or cold spots in the conventional treatment; b): Maintained bone sparing dose in junction vs. risk of increased bone dose. Conclusion: A technique has been developed to permit the application of IMRT to long limb sarcomas with both critical structure sparing and stable junctioning. This technique has applications to other sites where abutting fields offer treatment or efficiency advantages.


Results are presented of a pot experiment on the responses of Themeda australis and Poa labillardieri to increasing levels of substrate phosphorus and nitrogen. The species were grown either alone or together. When grown alone both species responded to increasing phosphorus and nitrogen and there was a significant interaction between the two elements in shoot growth per half-pot. There was no effect of increasing phosphorus without added nitrogen and no effect of increasing nitrogen without added phosphorus. At intermediate and high levels of substrate phosphorus there was a significant competitive effect between the shoot weight per half-pot and the tiller number of Themeda and Poa plants when grown together, irrespective of the nitrogen level. Poa always had a greater shoot dry weight and more tillers when grown with Themeda than when grown alone, and conversely Themeda a lower shoot dry weight and less tillers when grown with Poa than when grown alone. Chemical analyses of 22-week-old plant tissue showed that in Poa plants grown with Themeda the phosphorus and nitrogen contents were significantly greater than in Poa plants grown alone, at both intermediate and high levels of substrate phosphorus. The enhanced ability of Poa plants to absorb nutrients and grow in response to a low level of added phosphorus at the expense of Themeda plants when the two species are mixed in pots is similar to their response in the field in southern New South Wales. A description of the statistical treatment of the results, especially the competitive effect between Themeda and Poa when grown together, is appended.


Lignin, which is the most abundant aromatic polymer in nature, was used as a green substitute for the toxic bisphenol A. In particular, the ability of epoxidized lignin to simultaneously serve as a cross-linker and rigid segment was investigated. The epoxidized lignin was preferably reacted with a monofunctional amine, which acted as a chain extender, to evaluate its performance as a cross-linker, and in the presence of poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether as a soft segment to adjust the resin properties. Different poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether/lignin stoichiometric ratios were tested, whereas the amine/epoxy equivalent ratio was fixed at 1:2. Some of the remarkable resin samples were subjected to differential scanning calorimetry analysis and compared with blank samples that did not include lignin in the composition. Moreover, the evolution over time of the molecular weight distribution of the selected compositions was analyzed by gel permeation chromatography until the solubility in tetrahydrofuran was appreciable.


On the 29th of March 2017 the British government invoked article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union, triggering a two year period of negotiations before Britain exits from the European Union. Hardly in doubt since the outcome of the national referendum, Britain's eventual exit from the political and economic union is now all but certain.

Brexit will have a profound impact on economics, trade and international relations not only within Europe but globally, as the changing relationship between several of the globe's major economic powers ripples across the international economy. It is unclear what kind of compromise if any will emerge over the next two years; lurking in the background of negotiation is the spectre of World Trade Organisation trading rules and punitive trading conditions - a looming cliff edge beyond which the UK plummets out of existing treaties. Nevertheless what Brexit means for business in the UK and beyond has become clearer in recent months, and what it means is prolonged uncertainty. The shape of the final settlement will likely evolve during the years and decades following Brexit itself. Uncertainty itself is becoming the defining context of international business in the wake of the British referendum vote, and business success over the next decade may come to turn on management of uncertainty and mitigation of risk.


The book brings out many facts about the Indian experience in joint ventures (JV) with the MNCs. Itgives quite a few thought provoking incidents / learnings that can help the future strategist / organisations to do a better negotiation with MNCs. The factors contributing to technological assimilation namely training, vendor development, research and development, etc., have been dealt with very lucidly, substantiated with relevant data.


Antibodies to hepatitis A virus were sought for among residents of 6 "départements" of West-Central France during a routine medical check up provided by the national health insurance system to all affiliated persons. Among them 5,641 subjects (aged 6 to 60) were randomly selected to a sample size of 256 +/- 15 male or female subjects for each five-year age group. Anti-HAV were detected in 51% of the screened population. The prevalence was less than 5% in the 6-15 age group and increased by successive steps to exceed 90% in the subjects over 50. The highest increase was observed between the 26-30 (39%) and the 31-35 (57%) age groups. This study confirms the influence of socio-economical factors on the anti-HAV prevalence rate. Factors such as profession or scholar education were previously known, but the housing conditions and especially the number of siblings were identified in our present report. In relation to this low prevalence of anti-HAV among young adults, one may fear an increase of overt hepatitis cases which are known to be more frequent in adults than in infants or children. Moreover any break in hygiene may expose the population to an epidemia. Only active immunization with a vaccine against hepatitis A could efficiently prevent these individual and community-related risks.


We introduce the notion of relevant information loss for the purpose of casting the signal enhancement problem in information-theoretic terms. We show that many algorithms from machine learning can be reformulated using relevant information loss, which allows their application to the aforementioned problem. As a particular example we analyze principle component analysis for dimensionality reduction, discuss its optimality, and show that the relevant information loss can indeed vanish if the relevant information is concentrated on a lower-dimensional subspace of the input space.


Oxidation studies were performed at 1100°C, 900°C and 700°C in dry air and air containing fixed partial pressures of water vapor on specimens of Ni base superalloys and coatings on these alloys that form α-alumina scales under oxidizing conditions. The materials studied included Rene N5, PWA1484, CMSX4, diffusion aluminide coatings (with or without Pt addition) on Rene N5, Thermal Barrier Coatings on Rene N5, and a Ni-8wt%Cr-6wt%Al model. All of these alloys and metallic coatings are normally α-alumina-formers under oxidization conditions. The observed important effects of water vapor include: • Increased severity of cracking and spalling of α-alumina scales in wet environments especially for those systems with alumina only moderately adherent in dry air; • Water vapor affects the nucleation and growth of α-alumina scales - the growth rate of α-alumina is increased in water vapor conditions; • Thicker oxides form during oxidation in wet air than dry air. The transient oxidation phenomenon is affected by the presence of water vapor due to more rapid growth of NiO during the transient period. The selective oxidation of aluminum is inhibited in water vapor conditions; even more adverse effects of water vapor are observed as the oxidation temperature is lowered. • Spinel phase forms on top of the alumina scales during long term oxidation. Current results indicate that nickel diffusion at alumina grain boundaries significantly contributes to the formation of new spinel phase at the oxide/gas interface and water vapor is found to enhance this process. Mechanisms for these observations are proposed.


In this work, we propose a novel framework for density forecast combination by constructing time-varying weights based on time series features, which is called Feature-based Bayesian Forecasting Model Averaging (FEBAMA). Our framework estimates weights in the forecast combination via Bayesian log predictive scores, in which the optimal forecasting combination is determined by time series features from historical information. In particular, we use an automatic Bayesian variable selection method to add weight to the importance of different features. To this end, our approach has better interpretability compared to other black-box forecasting combination schemes. We apply our framework to stock market data and M3 competition data. Based on our structure, a simple maximum-a-posteriori scheme outperforms benchmark methods, and Bayesian variable selection can further enhance the accuracy for both point and density forecasts.


In this paper, various bounded confidence opinion dynamic algorithms are examined to illustrate the effect of a stubborn minority groups on opinion dynamics. A notion of variable opinion stubborn agent is defined and it is shown that stubborn minorities are able to fully control the opinions of a Hegselmann-Krause opinion dynamic system through deliberate slow variation in the opinions of stubborn agents. Furthermore, an upper bound for the change rate of stubborn agents to preserve connectivity and control other flexible agents is given. Moreover, a method based on population and growing confidence bound is presented to achieve both unanimity and stubborn opinion rejection. To support the proposed method simulation results are provided.


The paper discusses features of realizing the genre of the Russian literary satirical fairy tale in D.L. Bykov's creativity. The aim of the research is to reveal specific features of literary fairy tales using an example of works of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and M. Gorky and to track their influence on D.L. Bykovs literary fairy tales. Fairy tales of the latter, on the one hand, have absorbed a part of traditions of a satirical literary fairy tale, and on the other, have become a new word in the Russian literature, close to a postmodernism.


Using eleven two-photon resonances in Xe and Kr, a comparative study of the resonant third harmonic generation and saturation properties in the 70.9-75.5-nm extreme ultraviolet (XUV) region was made. The fundamental deep ultraviolet radiation was produced in a nonlinear crystal beta-BaB(2)O(4). The two-photon resonances 5p-6p'[1/2](0) and 8p[1/2](0) in Xe, as well as the 4p-5p[1/2](0) and [5/2](2) resonances in Kr, are useful for efficient tunable XUV generation in the 71-92-nm region.


Background Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). The recommended treatment for TB is based on the use of first-line drugs, including pyrazinamide (PZA). PZA is also a drug used in the treatment of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) because of its main effect against the latent stage. The main cause of resistance to PZA is mutations in the pncA gene, which compromise the activity of the encoded enzyme pyrazinamidase (PZAse), which hydrolyzes PZA into POA, the active antituberculosis molecule. The mechanism of action of PZA requires that POA is expelled from the bacterium by an efflux mechanism. After that, if the extracellular medium is sufficiently acidic, POA is protonated and returns to the cytosol, releasing the proton and repeating the cycle, resulting lethal to the bacteria. The efflux pump responsible for extruding the POA to the extracellular environment is not yet known. Mycobacterium smegmatis is naturally resistant to PZA and has a 900-fold faster POA efflux rate than MTB, and has the advantage to be a faster growing mycobacterium. Methods In the present study we have silenced the transcription of several genes encoding efflux pumps in M. smegmatis by CRISPRi (CRISPR interference). These genes (MSMEG_0250, MSMEG_3815, MSMEG_0241, MSMEG_5046 and MSMEG_0410) were homologous to efflux pump genes in MTB. POA efflux rate was measured, and a quantitative Wayne's test was performed after silencing each gene. Results Silencing of MSMEG_0250, resulted in approximately 5-fold decrease in the POA efflux rate in M. smegmatis (P<0.0001). None of the other silenced genes showed a notable decrease in POA efflux rate.


Macroecological data are usually structured in space, so taking into account spatial autocorrelation in regression and correlation analyses is essential for a better understanding of patterns and processes. Many methods are available to deal with spatial autocorrelation, but there are some difficulties when one is dealing with huge geographical extents and fine-scale data. So, we propose a relatively simple and fast computer-intensive approach to deal with Principal Coordinate of Neighbor Matrices (PNCM)/Moran's Eigenvector Mapping (MEM) analyses for large datasets, using global richness pattern of sharks as a model. We performed a variance partitioning approach by regressing species richness against environmental variables and spatial eigenvectors derived from PCNM. Due to the large number of ocean grid cells (> 9000), we ran the analyses 1000 timesby randomly subsampling each time 50 to 4500 cells and compared the distribution of the variance partitioning components, as well as the slopes of the environmental variables. We also estimated Moran's I coefficients for regression residuals to check if spatial eigenvectors took into account spatial autocorrelation. Comparing statistics of analyses with different sample sizes, we note that although the environmental component increases linearly, other components (unique space and shared) of the most important variables stabilize with about 1000 cells, whereas all other smaller effects tend to stabilize between 2500 and 3000 cells. Besides that, PCNM eigenvectors were able to control spatial autocorrelation very well. We showed that shark richness patterns are strongly and positively correlated with temperature range, according to the well-known pattern of distribution for the taxon, and strong negatively correlated with oxygen supplies, which are higher in polar zones where  ice acts as a barrier to sharks. Our approach clearly shows that it is possible to perform a robust evaluation of global patterns of diversity using eigenvector approaches based on a resampling strategy and allows effective computation of the variance partitioning even when dealing with large datasets.


The objective of this study is to document the practices of PERMATA educators at seven PERMATA Centers under study.In addition, the study will focus on the learning and teaching experiences of all the stakeholders, they are the educators, parents, children and community.The study examined seven PERMATA centers on their structural and process quality that exists in each of the center. These are captured in the form of interviews,
observations and documents.Firstly, all PERMATA centers under study have a standard infrastructure; a purpose built childcare center or a single bungalow. Within these centers you see ample space for activities, setting up corners (music, reading), rooms for different purposes (store, surau, kitchen), toilets and bathroom for boys and girls, wash area, and multi-functional indoor and outdoor properties spaces for creative play.All these reflect the emphasis on conducive and quality environment in the PERMATA centers.
Secondly, PAPN has its own PERMATA curriculum and is used in all the PAPN centers throughout the country. The educators based their practices on modules which covers two areas: caring/nurturing and learning.These two areas covers six aspects: health and cleanliness, healthy food, exercise and well-being, care for safety and environment, train
to managing oneself, and routine and transition. These areas are then translated into practices which are in module forms.There are also guidelines on the implementation of activities according to age group.Thus, PAPN has a curriculum which covers all the various development in the child that will enable it to develop a holistic child.The data collected revealed that these PAPN centers do have documents that showed the educators were qualified as they possessed a degree (irrespective of the area) and undergone a six weeks training on PERMATA program.In addition, there are also those with limited experience working in childcare centers. This reflects the seriousness of the government to ensure the PERMATA children are handled by educators who are not only passionate but qualified to handle the children.Studies have stressed this criteria as a vital aspect in childcare development; providers, educators, teachers with qualified educational
background.Qualified educators tend to know their responsibilities and roles. Thus, the seven centers displayed their organizational chart, information on children's' enrolment, time table,
menu, as well as children's work and activities were all found on the walls in each of the
center.This enables parents and community providers know the schedule and happenings
at the center. This information is also a way of communicating with other stakeholders on
current situation at the center.It allows parents and others to have a better understanding of the running of the PERMATA center.Once parents are aware and understand the rules and regulations at the PERMATA center then it would be easier for them to get involved.Parental involvement is a unique feature in PERMATA.Parents are required to be present at the center four hours a month or an
hour a week. During this time parents and guardians get involved in many ways.There were those who helped with the domestic chores at the center, while others assisted the educators to bath, dress and feed the children.A few were seen directly involved in the children's activities such as teaching and playing with the children and prepare instructional materials.Parental involvement is an important feature of a quality childcare center.Centers that nurture parents' involvement has shown to produce children who are
socio-emotionally stable, more confident and enjoy going to school. PERMATA belief in this and have organized a parent-teacher committee that becomes a platform for educators and parents to work together at the center.Community providers are an additional support to the educators and parents at PAPN.These comprised the professionals and specialists; banking institutions, medical and
dental team, local library.Dental and health talk are a routine at the centers but these are actually the initiative of the medical department which renders free public services to the
community. However, this opportunity has allowed parents to learn health practices which they can perform at home with the children.Similarly, the local library provides activities for children and the educators utilize this service for the development of the children.Thus, community-PAPN relationship provides activities that not only benefit the children but also educate the parents. These activities enriched the curriculum and
presents learning opportunities for children at PAPN.Finally, the researchers proposed that PAPN centers could be set as the PERMATA Laboratory Childcare Center in states or districts where it is located.This is based on the findings that revealed PAPN as a childcare center that fulfils most of the criteria of a quality centre.Even though PAPN has all the aspects that qualify it as a quality childcare center however, there is still room for improvement.Suggestions and recommendations are made to ensure PAPN maintains the "best" practices.


Considering recent increases in anthropogenic N loading, it is essential to identify the controls on N removal and retention in aquatic ecosystems because the fate of N has consequences for water quality in streams and downstream ecosystems. Biological uptake of nitrate (NO3−) is a major pathway by which N is removed from these ecosystems. Here we used data from the second Lotic Intersite Nitrogen eXperiment (LINX II) in a multivariate analysis to identify the primary drivers of variation in NO3− uptake velocity among biomes. Across 69 study watersheds in North America, dissolved organic carbon:NO3− ratios and photosynthetically active radiation were identified as the two most important predictor variables in explaining NO3− uptake velocity. However, within a specific biome the predictor variables of NO3− uptake velocity varied and included various physical, chemical, and biological attributes. Our analysis demonstrates the broad control of elemental stoichiometry on NO3− uptake velocity as well as the importance of biome‐specific predictors. Understanding this spatial variation has important implications for biome‐specific watershed management and the downstream export of NO3−, as well as for development of spatially explicit global models that describe N dynamics in streams and rivers.


The authors studied the effect of one of the thymus preparations, thymostimulin, on the growth of experimental cerebral glioma. It was found that independent administration of thymostimulin at the beginning or in the second half of the latent period of tumor growth had no essential effect on the survival of rats. Injection of thymostimulin during chemotherapy with fluorafur increased the survival of rats considerably, both in early and in late immunotherapy.


In this study, the characteristics of body type of Chinese-korean Women between 15 and 17 Years Old Living in China were reviewed by analysing factors and groups in order to provide basic data required to research body types. The following are study results. 1. The study examined average, standard deviation, the minimum value and the maximum value of the 72 items gained from measuring Chinese-korean women between 15~17 years old living in China, and found that 21 items showed more than 4.0 standard deviation among the entire measurements. 2. The current study conducted a factor analysis for the 72 items in order to extract and compare components of body types among Chinese-korean women between 15~17 years old living in China. As a result, 9 factors were extracted, and characteristic values were ranged from 1.15 to 24.71 while the accumulated contributory rate was 75.98%. 3. Chinese-korean women between 15 and 17 years old living in China were classified into three types. Among the 72 items, it was observed that there were differences among groups in 64 items including 15 height items, 10 width items, 16 circumference items, 5 thickness items, 17 length items and weight, excluding neck width, head thickness, shoulder angle, head height, face length, waist back length, scye depth and waist to kip length. 4. As a result of proportion comparison using body indexes of Korean women between 15 and 17 years old living in China and Korea, it was found that, in height item, when regarding the height as 100, Korean women between 15 and 17 years old living in China tended to have longer lower half of the body in relation to the height compared to the Korean.


Cloud Computing (CC) offers a lot of services that are widely used in Information Technology. These services include sharing of data, information applications and infrastructure, cost reduction, increased storage and flexibility. Despites these services and benefits that CC provides to its user. However, unreliable security, data redundancy and disaster recovery are some of cloud computing challenges. With the existence and introduction of several data security technique, intruders or hackers do not relent in their efforts in developing means of accessing private and important data in the cloud. There are different approaches for securing data in the cloud such as cryptography, steganography, and digital watermarking and so on. This paper presents the combination of Blowfish algorithm (symmetric cryptography) and font properties text steganography to improve the security of data stored in the cloud. Blowfish as a fast and secure symmetric cryptography algorithm was used to change the readable secret data known as plaintext into unreadable format known as cipher text, and then text steganography was applied to the cipher text to change the visibility of the cipher text. The experimental results obtained showed that the proposed system provides reliable security for documents that are store in the cloud. Keywords : Cryptography, Steganography, Digital Watermarking, Cloud Computing, Security.


Fetal circulation differs from adult circulation in a variety of ways to support the unique physiologic needs of a developing fetus. Vascular structures formed early in gestation provide an initial platform for gas exchange and nutrient delivery. Specialized circulatory structures required for systemic circulation then form later in gestation to support the metabolic needs of the fetus before birth.


Modern functionalist approaches to syntax were pioneered in the 1920s by the scholars associated with the Linguistic Circle of Prague and Prague-based functionalism is a dynamic force today. Nevertheless, citations of this work by North American functionalists are few and far between. This paper sets out to explain that state of affairs. It pinpoints the profound theoretical differences between mainstream North American and Czech approaches that have led to partisans of the former losing interest in the latter. The paper argues that, on the other hand, Praguian functional syntax has a great deal in common with more 'formal' functionalist approaches and with much work in formal semantics. Not surprisingly, then, recent years have seen increasing productive collaboration between North American and Western European practitioners of these approaches and members of the Prague School.


In nature surfaces are rarely uniform, so terms such as 'surface', 'stomatal' or 'canopy' resistance usually indicate some kind of average over a population of sub-areas, each with its own separate resistance. Questions then arise as to how gross measurements of these resistances should be interpreted in terms of the components, or how components should be aggregated into representative single values. Aggregation schemes have been published by Raupach (1991, Vegetatio 91, 105–120) and Lhomme (1992, Agriculture and Forest Meteorology 61, 11–21), but these are different for reasons that were not explained. This paper develops the idea that averaging schemes should be designed to serve particular purposes, and that they can be varied to suit these purposes. It is shown that the 'effective' resistances defined by Raupach and Lhomme preserve different quantities. A further averaging scheme is developed which preserves both correct transpiration rate and CO2 flux when used in the Penman-Monteith equation and an equation describing assimilation. All of these schemes are fairly complex, so the work provides a warning against naive use of effective variables.


We develop a field theory description of non-dissipative string fluids and construct an explicit mapping between field theory degrees of freedom and hydrodynamic variables. The theory generalizes both a perfect particle fluid and pressureless string fluid to what we call a perfect string fluid. Ideal magnetohydrodynamics is shown to be an example of the perfect string fluid whose equations of motion can be obtained from a particular choice of the Lagrangian. The Lagrangian framework suggests a straightforward extension of the perfect string fluid to more general anisotropic fluids describing higher dimensional branes such as domain walls. Other modifications of the Lagrangian are discussed which may be useful in describing relativistic superfluids and fluids containing additional currents.


Citizenship acquisition is viewed as the key indicator of political incorporation into US society and one motivated by the desire to formally engage in the civic realm, but we know naturalization is undertaken for many reasons. What we know less about is what motivates particular groups. Through surveying 74 lower socio-economic immigrants of color initiating the naturalization process at free citizenship clinics in the Boston, Massachusetts area in the northeastern United States in fall 2019, we examine the stated motivations to naturalize. The survey data reveal that the desire to engage politically is the most commonly cited primary motivation to naturalize (44%), followed by a desire to feel safer in the US (29%). When looking at primary and secondary motivations, 66% cite the ability to vote, and 59% cite the desire to feel safer. The combined motivations of security and political engagement suggest a "threat-opportunity" model of citizenship acquisition, whereby immigrants assess the external socio-political threats and seek to neutralize them through both naturalizing and then engaging politically to change the environment. At the same time, statistically significant relationships between motivations and ethno-racial group and country of origin suggest additional factors must be examined.


Patient: Female, 44-year-old Final Diagnosis: Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1-associated pneumonia and diffuse alveolar hemorrhage Symptoms: Dyspnea Medication:— Clinical Procedure: Bronchoalveolar lavage Specialty: Infectious Diseases Objective: Rare disease Background: We report a case of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) caused by Legionella pneumophila serogroup (SG) 1 and review the existing literature to identify risk factors and determine the prognosis of patients with Legionella pneumonia-associated DAH. Case Report: A 44-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital following the presentation of dyspnea for a few days. Chest computed tomography (CT) findings revealed "crazy-paving" pattern in the right upper lobe implicating DAH and consolidation in the lower lobe. Analysis of the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid revealed DAH, with further analyses identifying L. pneumophila SG 1 as the causative agent. The patient was successfully treated with levofloxacin and a red blood cell transfusion and discharged on the 32nd day of hospitalization. A literature review of 6 reported cases (including our case) of Legionella pneumonia-associated DAH revealed that the median age of patients with DAH was 59 years (range, 44–75 years), involving female patients in 4 cases (67%) and the use of immunosuppressive drugs in 2 cases (33%). Three cases were BAL Legionella polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive and 4 cases were diagnosed using a urinary Legionella antigen test (one case was simultaneously PCR-positive). These infections were caused by L. pneumophila SG 1 in three cases and SG 3 in one case. Mechanical ventilation was used in 5 cases (83%) and one patient had an unfavorable prognosis. Steroids for DAH were used in 5 cases (83%), and 2 cases responded to this treatment. Conclusions: Our case highlights that clinicians should be aware of Legionella spp. as a cause of DAH in an immunocompe-tent host with "crazy-paving" pattern on chest CT, and perform a urinary antigen test and BAL PCR for diagnosis.


The stochastic Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) plays an important role in array processing because several advanced high-resolution direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation methods are known to achieve this bound asymptotically. In the paper, the stochastic CRB on the DOA estimation accuracy is studied in the general case of an arbitrary unknown noise field parameterised by a vector of unknowns. Explicit closed-form expressions for the CRB are derived and its properties are examined theoretically and by practically relevant numerical examples.


The dragonfly conservation needs to be protected by maintaining the existence of their living place which in a large number is waters. This research was conducted using survey method at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah and Ragunan Zoo, South Jakarta. The sampling was done using purposive sampling by selecting 3 habitat around the waters in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) and another 3 habitats around the water in Taman Margasatwa Ragunan (TMR). The line transec was made drawing a line a long 50 m in northern, 50 m in shouter, 50 m in western and 50 m in eastern of the waters or the lake which each wide was 1  meter to the left and 1 meter to the right. Based on the result of this research, the dragonfly diversity has two different families which are Libellulidae and Ghomphidae. Family of Libellulidae in this research area has five different species which are Orthetrum sabina, Pantala flavescens, Orthetrum testaceum, Neurothemis terminata, Brachythemis contaminate. Meanwhile, Family of Ghomphidae has one species which is Ictinogomphus decoratus. Indeks value of diversity in TMII shows that the dragonfly relatively high and TMR it's relatively low. Indeks value of distribution in two location is about over 0,81 it means that the distribution of dragonfly species is relatively high


Background: Because of doubts about the sufficiency of convention indicators to continually gauge innovative outcomes at the firm level, a burgeoning stream of scholars has shifted their empirical efforts to the theoretical development of non-technical innovations.
Aim: This study investigates the contribution of non-technical, innovative, entrepreneurial and marketing endeavours to the development of superior entrepreneurship through two types of firm capabilities.
Setting: Over several stages, a structured questionnaire form was formulated. Firstly, an extensive review of previous similar research was performed to identify the adoptable scale items. After adjusting the scales based on the feedback from the pre-testers, the final questionnaire comprised 55 items measured on a five-point Likert-type scale.
Methods: A total of 155 valid questionnaires, with the inclusion of late-responses, were obtained and this represented a response rate of 22%. Particularly, a conceptual model connecting market orientation, organisational learning, non-technical innovation and entrepreneurship was tested using partial least square path modelling.
Results: In considering the criticality of innovation as the fulcrum of service-based delivery, our model advances the existing empirical approaches with a more intangible dimensionality of innovative efforts. Overall, the model distinguishes that small service firms engaging in dual modes of non-technical innovation strategically nurture intangible capabilities, which in turn provides them with enduring performance outcomes in outperforming competitors.
Conclusion: The findings could assist small firms in accomplishing new value creation via non-technical innovations.


There is compelling evidence that warming of the climate system due to human influence is taking place. The mechanisms for these processes include increasing levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. In May 2013, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere exceeded 400 ppm for the first time in several hundred millennia. Levels of carbon dioxide in the remote atmosphere have increased by 0.28 and 2.93 parts per million (ppm) per year since 1960. Ongoing increases in levels of GHGs can be expected to result in a rise in global temperatures, which could trigger a wide range of risk scenarios. A level of 450 ppm is considered to be the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide at which temperature change can still be limited to 2 °C. This is a benchmark of climate change specified so as to limit the dangerous effects of climate change. The international community has initiated a series of programmes to address GHG emissions, underpinned by a significant effort to develop robust emission inventories: however, these initiatives have had limited success in limiting the rising trends in GHG emissions. The key issues encountered during these programmes include: population and economic growth; scientific credibility; political priorities; outsourcing of emissions; and difficulties in implementing renewable energy technologies. In this context, the scientific community has an ongoing role to produce data and analysis to link individual, corporate and state actions and policies to evaluations of GHG emissions, and analysis of evidence for changes in the global climate. The scientific and policy communities should continue to engage with the public, to provide reliable information about the vitally important issues associated with global climate change. Public support for positive action and investment to mitigate climate change is essential to support the decisions which will need to be taken in the coming decades.


Homozygous alpha-thalassaemia Hb Bart is a very rare illness in North America and Western Europe, but is a common cause of NIHF especially in South East Asia. It causes severe hydrops fetalis with lethal outcome and maternal complications as preterm labour, pre-eclampsia and retained placenta. A case report of an immigrant from Laos with preterm labour and fetal ascites, but without signs of pre-eclampsia is demonstrated. Fetal heart rate (FHR) trace and biophysical profile were pathological, while umbilical Doppler flow was normal due to hypoxaemia, but with hypervolumina and a high cardiac output. An amniocentesis and puncture of the ascites were performed, but FBS was not successful. Before receiving the results a caesarean section had to be done for deterioration of the FHR trace. A 1,370-g female infant was born who died of cardiovascular failure due to an alpha-thalassaemia Hb Bart and respiratory distress 5 days post partum. The parents had both an alpha-zero-thalassaemia. alpha-Thalassaemia is still a very unknown illness in Germany, but with the increasing numbers of immigrants from South East Asia it should be considered at the differential diagnosis of hydrops fetalis. A prenatal diagnosis should be offered to parents with alpha-zero-thalassaemia.


Chicago Cubs fans, for whom the compound adjective "long-suffering" was coined, have an unfortunate and self-flagellating habit of referencing the year 1969 as empirical evidence of their unwavering loyalty to a lofty ideal in the face of a catastrophic reality. Like an army of William Faulkners, they echo in unison the Nobel Laureate's sentiments that to attach oneself to a grand cause requires a sacrifice born of the agony and sweat of the human spirit. The Cubs of '69 were such a cause. I would venture to argue, however, that 1969 has become so mythic in Cubs' lore that it often stands isolated from other years, like a disembodied limb looking for its owner or a lost migratory bird forlornly gazing into an alien horizon. (1) I'd like to think of 1969 as the beginning of a larger tragedy, a tragic trilogy if you will, that ends in the dog days of August 1971, nearly two years after the conclusion of the most unforgettable year in Cubs history. In 1971 Leo Durocher was still the aging manager of the team that retained the nucleus of players who brought him to the brink of mythic stardom just two summers before. This time, though, Durocher would be playing the role of King Lear to the array of Cubs players who alternated between playing Regan and Goneril. And there would be no Cordelia to offer reconciliation or redemption. On August 24, 1971, the day after Cubs' hurler Milt Pappas gave up an 0-2 checked-swing double to the Houston Astros' Doug Rader that resulted in a second straight loss for the home team at Wrigley Field, Durocher called a clubhouse meeting in which he berated his players for their lack of effort and sloppy play. In the much-chronicled closed-door-affair, Durocher singled out Pappas for his poor pitch selection but then surprised his team by suddenly softening his tone and inviting anyone who wished to clear the air to do so, adding that no repercussions would follow. One by one several veteran players rose to criticize Durocher's handling of the team, and the meeting soon escalated into a shouting match between Durocher and Cubs' captain Ron Santo, who had to be restrained by Billy Williams and Jim Hickman. "I grabbed Leo and had him around the neck," Santo reminisced later. "I could have killed him." (2) After Santo, Pappas, Joe Pepitone, and Kenny Holtzman took turns accusing Durocher of insensitive and feckless managing, Durocher announced that he was quitting and left the clubhouse for his office, only to change his mind when an apologetic but still seething Santo approached him with a peace offering. Ten days later on September 4, Cubs' owner Philip K. Wrigley took the unusual step of taking out a full-page ad to offer a public letter of endorsement of Durocher in each of the four Chicago daily newspapers. The eight-paragraph letter concluded with a slap at the dissident players, saying, "Leo is the team manager and the 'Dump Durocher Clique' might as well give up. He is running the team, and if some of the players do not like it and lie down on the job, during the off season we will see what we can do to find them happier homes. P.S. If only we could find more team players like Ernie Banks." (3) HOLTZMAN Less than a year later, Durocher was no longer the Cubs' skipper, having been fired during the 1972 All-Star break, with the Cubs' record standing at 46-44--10 games back of Pittsburgh and in third place in their division. In the wake of his departure and the rebuilding of the team during the ensuing years, revelations about Durocher's degrading behavior toward his players became more specific and more public. Reports surfaced that Durocher frequently called Holtzman "kike" in front of his teammates, referred to third baseman Santo as "wop," and gave the college-educated Don Kessinger the moniker "dumb hillbilly." (4) Other demeaning remarks, directed at other players, suggest that Durocher was at best an insensitive handler of young players and at worst a bigot who could not abide any sign of intelligence or independence in any of his charges. …


The concept of literary «hypertextuality», which was coined by Gerard Genette in Palimpsestes , has characterized an important area of the post-estructuralistic paradigm. On the other hand, the theory of «imitation» represents the basis of the Renaissance poetics. In this article the relations between both concepts are tried to be highlighted. At the same time, their validity for interpreting the classical texts is tested. As an example, the Garcilaso's sonnet VIII has been chosen. Through a brief description of the commentaries about a famous lyrical motive —that of the «espiritus vivos y encendidos»-, the understanding of the sonnet is seen to be enriched not only with the catalogue of its sources and linguistic exchanges but also with the discovery of the metric and generic links between a hypertext and its (possible) hypotexts . After discussing Garcilaso's thematic sources, it is possible for his poem to be located in a tradition which goes back, beyond the Dante's Canzone «Donna ch'avete», to the Sicilian sonnets in the thirteenth century. The study of the prepetrarchist sources might help to improve our understanding of the Spanish Renaissance Literature from a transtextual and hermeneutic point of view.


A new approach to simulating rotational cooling using a direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is described and applied to the rotational cooling of ammonia seeded into a helium supersonic jet. The method makes use of ab initio rotational state changing cross sections calculated as a function of collision energy. Each particle in the DSMC simulations is labelled with a vector of rotational populations that evolves with time. Transfer of energy into translation is calculated from the mean energy transfer for this population at the specified collision energy. The simulations are compared with a continuum model for the on-axis density, temperature and velocity; rotational temperature as a function of distance from the nozzle is in accord with expectations from experimental measurements. The method could be applied to other types of gas mixture dynamics under non-uniform conditions, such as buffer gas cooling of NH3 by He.


Investment arbitrators' authority has been a focus of attention today, e.g. regarding the extent of their powers to interpret and apply the law, to conduct arbitral proceedings, to dissent from their fellow co-arbitrators, and with regard to their duty to be impartial and independent. Two hundred years ago, practitioners, arbitrators and states confronted similar challenges, and through legal doctrines, treaties and practices a path was laid out for future generations of practitioners and arbitrators, where clear legal lines were drawn to distinguish between arbitrators' procedural and substantive powers and their duties with regard to each of them. The consent and sovereignty of states were duly deferred to by arbitrators and umpires, limiting their job to settle a case. Thus, arbitrators had the duty of impartially interpreting and applying the law of nations, i.e. the natural law, and to deliver a final and binding award. Arbitrators were not bound by precedents, and if they made an unjust or unfair decision, beyond the law, countries could refrain from complying with it, which limited arbitrators' interpretive powers. In conclusion, not much has changed to date with regard to the procedural powers given to arbitrators. The authority delegated to them by states was to strictly settle the case; no power to develop the law was ever given, which still applies now. Hence, the only important change that has been introduced today is that of claiming the so-called inherent power to help in the development of investment law, which is being driven mainly by arbitrators, and not by states.


We report the histopathologic and immunohistochemical findings of a patient who suffered from primary progressive aphasia for 13 years. During the course of his illness, he was diagnosed as having Pick's disease, based on gradually progressive mild personality changes and MRI findings of severe bilateral temporal lobe atrophy. There was severe neuronal loss in the temporal gyri, intense gliosis throughout the cortex, and mild gliosis of the temporal white matter, without any changes typical for Alzheimer's disease or Pick's disease. Using the antibody Alz-50, we found many Alz-50-positive neurons that exhibited a granular or diffuse cytoplasmic stain without fibrous structures in the temporal and parietal cortex, but no ubiquitin or β (A4) protein-reactive cells, nor spongiform changes. Staining for Alz-50 and ubiquitin did not reveal the presence of Pick bodies or Lewy bodies. We consider this case to be an example of nonspecific cortical degeneration. Our findings stress the need for histopathologic verification of the primary progressive aphasia syndrome.


This paper introduces a new visualization platform for investigating cascading failures in power grids. The proposed visualization platform could let people "watch" the cascading behavior under different initial triggers, and help them understand how a failure propagates from one or more local substations to the whole power grid. In this study, the ArcMap is adopted to take charge of visualizing a power grid network and the user interface. All scripts to support this platform, e.g. constructing a power grid network and simulating cascading failures, are written in Python, a popular industrial computer language. The power grid around Bay Area is used to test the proposed visualization platform and investigate the single node (i.e. substation) failure cases. The proposed visualization platform successfully demonstrated how the failure of a node can propagate in the power grid and cause large-scale power outage.


A study of aqueous humor specimens from 50 patients with active uveitis of undetermined etiology revealed that six of these patients had organisms in their aqueous which were morphologically indistinguishable from Treponema pallidum . The organisms from five of these six reacted specifically with rabbit anti-T pallidum globulin. Fifteen of the 50 uveitis patients had at least one reactive or weakly reactive serological test for syphilis, including 12 who had reactive or borderline positive fluorescent treponemal antibody (FTA-ABS) test results. Neither history of syphilis, physical examination, nor serological status of the patients could be correlated with the presence of intraocular organisms. Aqueous humor was obtained at surgery from 50 patients having senile cataracts, nonreactive serological test results, no history of syphilis, and no other clinically evident ocular disorder. No organisms resembling T pallidum were found in this control group.


Methods for the preparation of peroxynitrite and its physical and chemical properties are considered. The pathways, mechanisms and kinetics of the decomposition and best-studied reactions with hydrocarbons, dimethyl sulfoxide and other substrates are analysed. The emphasis is placed on the nature of reactive species in peroxynitrite reactions and on the reasons for its high and polyfunctional reactivity. The biochemical role of this important inorganic oxidant formed in vivo is outlined.


Unlike Flaubert, the 'hermit of Croisset', who turned away from his age in an attitude of ironic detachment, Emile Zola embraced his century in a way no French writer had done since Balzac. Zola's ambition was to emulate Balzac by writing a comprehensive history of contemporary society. Through the fortunes of his Rougon-Macquart family, he examined methodically the social, sexual and moral landscape of the late nineteenth century along with its political, financial and artistic contexts. Zola is the quintessential novelist of modernity, understood in terms of an overwhelming sense of tumultuous change. 'Why read Emile Zola?' asks Sandy Petrey in his chapter in this volume, answering himself thus: 'Because his representation of society's impact on the individuals within it memorably depicts what it means to be a human being in the modern world.' The motor of change was the rapid expansion of capitalism, with all that that entailed in terms of the altered shapes of the city, new forms of social practice and economic organisation, and heightened political pressures. Zola was fascinated by change, and specifically by the emergence of a new, mass society. Henri Mitterand has argued that Zola was 'the first novelist . . . to make the crowd a character in itself' ['le premier romancier . . . a faire de la foule un personnage en soi']; while Henry James noted Zola's ability to 'make his characters swarm', arguing that it was both the 'fortune' and the 'doom' of the Rougon-Macquart cycle to 'deal with things almost always in gregarious forms, to be a picture of numbers , of classes, crowds, confusions, movements, industries'.


Abstract South Dakota State University has developed a hands-on program that addresses the preharvest management factors that influence beef carcass value to aid producers in their management and marketing decisions. The 3-d program includes live cattle and carcass evaluation, beef carcass fabrication, a harvest demonstration, sensory panel, and presentations on topics including live market cattle evaluation, health, and disposition in relation to carcass quality, feeding and management, and value-added beef cuts. To evaluate program effectiveness, data were collected from all programs held between 2013 and 2019. Participants were asked to evaluate their perceived value for each program component, as well as their knowledge of the industry prior to and after completing the program. Upon completion of the 2018 Beef 2020, a focus group of program alumni was assembled to better understand participant experiences, application of the material, and guide future programming. The recommendations of the focus group were implemented during the 2019 program. Component value scores are reported in a box and whisker plot and participant knowledge was evaluated using a paired t-test with significance determined at P < 0.05. Special attention was given to the results of 2019 compared to previous years to determine the efficacy of the program changes. Overall, the average value scores for the sessions all ranked above 8 on a scale of 1–10, indicating a relatively large value to participants. Knowledge of carcass traits, carcass value, and management factors that influence those traits increased after participation in the Beef 2020 program (5.18 vs. 7.67 ± 0.16; P < 0.0001). The use of a focus group was concluded to be an effective means of assessing program value, strengths, and weaknesses. The Beef 2020 program can be used as a model for other Extension professionals to create programs intended to link livestock producers to their end products.


We propose a physics-inspired, unrolled-deep-learning framework for off-resonance correction. Our forward model includes coil sensitivities, multi-frequency bins, and non-uniform Fourier transforms hence compatible with fat/water imaging and parallel imaging acceleration. The network, which includes data-consistency terms and CNN modules serving as proximal operators, is trained end-to-end using only synthetic random field maps, coil sensitivities, and noise-like images with statistics (smoothness) mimicking natural signals. Our aim is to train the network to reverse off-resonance irrespective of the type of imaging, and hence generalizable to any anatomy and contrast without retraining. We demonstrate initial results in simulations, phantom, and in-vivo data.