[1] This work presents a study of midlevel, mixed-phase clouds using satellite (remote sensing) and aircraft (in situ) observations. In this study, we analyze coincident multisatellite and in situ aircraft measurements of three mixed-phase cloud cases during an intensive field experiment (C3VP/CLEX-10) to better understand the microphysics and radiative properties and provide a foundation for the improvement of the satellite retrieval algorithms for these clouds. For the selected cases, various aspects observed from different instruments are presented and compared for these clouds. It is found that many areas in the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud phase product classified as "unknown" are more appropriately classified as "mixed phase" based on CloudSat and CALIPSO data as well as C3VP/CLEX-10 aircraft measurements. The aircraft measurements show that a significant amount of supercooled liquid water exists at or near cloud top at very low temperatures for these midlevel, mixed-phase clouds, contrary to the assumptions used in the CloudSat retrieval algorithms. The spatial distribution of liquid water content and ice water content and other cloud properties are examined for both the satellite remote sensing and in situ probe measurements. CloudSat and airborne radar reflectivity data are also compared through a structure function analysis. Radiative transfer simulations based on the aircraft and satellite observations indicate the importance of proper assignment of cloud phase within retrieval algorithms and numerical models, which use similar assumptions.


Purpose: Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors most often arise from the anatomically discernible peripheral nerve or neurofibroma.Methods: A 55-year-old man had a rapidly growing pedunculated large mass on the sacrolumbar junction for 2 years. He has congenital neurofibromatosis type I. He had multiple caf-au-lait spots and multiple neurofibromas on the entire body. The mass developed from a subcutaneous nodule on the sacrolumbar junction and grew rapidly. The preoperative punch biopsy revealed a malignant peripheral nerve tumor. The mass was completely excised with 1cm free margin above the deep fascial plane. Results: There was no evidence of recurrence of tumor for 19 months of follow-up examination.Conclusion: Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor is very rare and has unique feature. We report a successful case of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor with the review of the literatures.


Impact of aeration on growth of silver barb, Puntius gonionotus during fingerling rearing was studied through a 100-d rearing experiment conducted in 18 concrete tanks of 50 m2 (10 × 5 × 1.2 m) size. Fry (0.74 ± 0.27 g, 35 ± 6 mm) were stocked in the experimental tanks at three stocking densities (25, 50, and 75 fry/m2) and were evaluated with and without provision of 6 h (2400–0600 h) of night time aeration. Aeration resulted in higher pH and dissolved oxygen regime and increased fingerling length and weight. The results suggest a rearing density of 75/m2 to be ideal for rearing fry to fingerling of this species when aeration is provided, whereas, under non-aerated condition, rearing the fry to fingerling stage at 50/m2 was found advantageous over those at 25 and 75/m2.


The molecular conformations of three N-alkyl-2-(methylsulfanyl)nicotinamide derivatives, namely N-cyclohexyl-2-(methylsulfanyl)nicotinamide, C13H18N2OS, (I), N-isopropyl-2-(methylsulfanyl)nicotinamide, C10H14N2OS, (II), in which there are two molecules in the asymmetric unit which were chosen to form a hydrogen-bonded pair, and N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-(methylsulfanyl)nicotinamide dihydrate, C9H12N2O2S·2H2O, (III), are compared with those of four unsubstituted N-alkylnicotinamide compounds. The substituted compounds show a higher degree of torsion of the pyridine ring with respect to the amide group than do the unsubstituted compounds, with dihedral angles in the range 40-60° for the former and 20-35° for the latter. In (I) and (II), the supramolecular structure is defined by amide-N to carbonyl-O chains. In (III), the nicotinamide molecules are linked by hydrogen bonds to two water molecules resulting in two linked chains of rings which form the three-dimensional network.


Increasing anthropogenic pressures on the coastal marine environments impact these ecosystems via a variety of mechanisms including nutrient loading, leading to eutrophication and increases in algal blooms. Here, we use a metagenomics approach to assess the taxonomic and functional changes of the microbial community throughout a nutrient enriched mesocosm phytoplankton bloom. We tested four different nutrient treatments consisting of either nitrate and phosphate or nitrate, phosphate and silicate, administered on the first day or continuously for the first two weeks of the experiment. Our results show a shift in the taxonomic composition of the community over time that is dependent on the nutrient addition regime. Significant differences in the functional potential of the communities were detected, with an interaction between bloom period (pre-bloom, bloom and post-bloom) and nutrient treatment (p = 0.004). A sharp drop in functional similarity was observed in the first week in all treatments and after 20 days had not returned to pre-bloom levels. Changes within energy metabolism pathways showed a remarkable enrichment of the dissimilatory nitrate reduction pathway in the post-bloom period. Eukaryotic oxidative phosphorylation and photosynthetic antenna proteins were more abundant during the bloom, especially in the continuous treatment with silicate. Our results suggest that continuous (i.e. chronic) nutrient enrichment has a larger effect on the functioning of marine systems compared to a single (i.e acute) addition. A deep under standing of the functional and taxonomic shifts in the community during blooms is essential to reverse or mitigate human impacts on coastal environments.


Regardless of their race, U.S. and European participants exhibit a White leader prototype, associating being White and leadership. It is unclear if this association is a function of cultural exposure (suggesting other races would be associated with leadership in non-White cultures) or White dominance (even in non-White cultures, being White is associated with leadership). To test these competing explanations, this study recruited Chinese locals (n=71) and Canadian locals (n=101), measuring their responses on a leader Implicit Association Test and a leader generation task. On both measures, relative to Canadian locals, Chinese locals exhibited an association between being Chinese and leadership rather than being White and leadership, supporting a cultural exposure explanation. Exposure to Chinese and Western media yielded additional support for the cultural exposure explanation. A cultural exposure explanation indicates that, to reduce racial bias in leader prototypes, expose individuals to a racially dive...


Contemporary studies in the field of education cannot afford to neglect the ever present interrelationships between power and politics, economics and consumption, representation and identity. In studying a recent cultural phenomenon in government schools, it became clear that a methodological tool that made sense of these interlinked processes was required. The Circuit of Culture (the Circuit) was refined as a tool of cultural analysis by British cultural theorists in the late 1990s. This paper will provide a brief history of the Circuit, some of its applications and critique, and an overview of the way the Circuit has been utilised to explore a topical cultural phenomenon involving the commodification of international student programs in Australian government schools (Leve, 2011). This study draws on the Circuit to open the way for an exploration of the multiple interrelated processes involved in the construction and management of an education commodity. The Circuit emphasizes the moments of production, representation, consumption, regulation and identity, and the interrelated articulations of these moments. It is found to be a useful and flexible tool for exploring the contemporary significance of, and possibilities for, the increasingly complex multiple modes and relationships of each of these significant moments in the construction and maintenance of an education commodity.


It has been documented that the dwarfi ng genes, Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b, can reduce wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) coleoptile length (CL), but their effects on number of roots (RN) and root length (RL) have not been determined. Our objectives were to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling CL, RN, and RL and to determine if any of the QTL correspond to wheat dwarfi ng genes. A population consisting of 159 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was derived from the cross of Rio Blanco (Rht-B1b, Rht-D1a), a semidwarf cultivar with short CL, and IDO444 (Rht-B1a, Rht-D1a), a tall germplasm with long CL. The CL, RN, longest root length (LRL), and total root length (TRL) were evaluated at two temperature regimes (18 and 22°C). A major QTL mapped to the Rht-B1 locus on chromosome 4B explained 64% of the phenotypic variation for CL, 9% for LRL, 26% for TRL, and 14% for plant height. The CL of the semidwarf RILs was signifi cantly less than that of the tall lines while the reverse results were observed for LRL and TRL. Our results indicated that the Rht-B1 gene had the pleiotropic effect of decreasing CL while increasing LRL and TRL. None of the six QTL for RN were mapped to the regions containing the Rht-B1 locus although semidwarf RILs had more roots than the tall lines. This study suggested that selection of the Rht-B1b allele tended to increase root biomass, perhaps ameliorating its negative effect of reduced CL.


The contents of the E. coli Genetic Stock Center database and the availability in electronic form of the subset of information most relevant to sequence databases are described. The database uses the long-standing Stock Center records (developed and curated by Dr B.J.Bachmann) in describing genotypes of mutant derivatives of E.coli K-12 in terms of alleles, structural mutations, mating type, and plasmids as well as the derivation, names and originators of the strain, and references. The database includes descriptions of mutations, mutation properties, genes, gene properties, and gene products, with EC number identifiers for enzymes. Sequence information is not included, but entries refer to sequence database accession numbers for sequenced regions. A gene is described as a subtype of a more general category of chromosome interval called Site. Since sites are used to describe any chromosomal interval, mapping information is associated with sites. Alleles are described as mutations of those sites and they are not primary map objects, but inherit map position information from the corresponding site description. The database design is intended to preserve richness of detail where it is known and uncertainty of measurements or information as it occurs in order to represent the stock center records as accurately as possible.


A balance model of milk synthesis was developed. The model balances carbon flow into and out of the gland and generates sufficient energy and reducing equivalents to meet synthetic requirements. Calculated uptakes of glucose, acetate, and betahydroxybutyrate were sufficient to meet gland requirements. Estimated uptakes of essential amino acids were less than output in milk and had to be adjusted to balance the model. Triacylglyceride fatty acid uptake from blood plasma was less than required for milk fat synthesis. A possible uptake of other plasma fatty acids was postulated to balance the model. Availability of glucose and oxidizable substrate suggested 42% of reducing equivalents for fat synthesis were generated in the pentose cycle and the remainder (58%) by isocitrate dehydrogenase. The balance model was used to formulate a dynamic model with equations to trace fates of isotopically labeled carbons from a variety of substrates. These were used to evaluate effects of changing nutrient availability and rate constants upon patterns of tracer distribution in products and to identify experimental data required to define rate constants uniquely in the model. Additional data are required to define equations for a number of key reactions that exhibit nonlinear kinetics in vivo.


Passing over the ocean surface, typhoon absorbs heat from the sea water as it needs the heat as its 'fuel'. The process is via evaporation of water. Subsequently, the sea surface temperature (SST) in that area will significantly decrease. Due to strong typhoon wind water is evaporated from the surface layer of the ocean, the amount of water mass in that area is lost, but the same amount of salt will remain, causing sea surface salinity (SSS) to increase. Strong winds induced by typhoons will also cause turbulence in the water, causing entrainment, where cold deeper water is brought up to the surface layer of the ocean, which will consequently increase its SSS and change the isothermal layer and mixed layer depth (MLD). Here, isothermal layer means the ocean layer where temperature is almost constant and MLD is the depth where salinity is almost constant. This paper focuses on the effect of typhoons on SST, SSS, isothermal layer and MLD by taking 15 typhoons in the Northwest Pacific throughout 2009 typhoon season (typhoons Lupit and Ketsana are used as examples in results) into consideration. Temperature and salinity data from selected Array of Regional Geostrophic Oceanography (ARGO) floats close to the individual typhoon's track are used in this study. The results showed that SST decreased up to 2.97°C; SSS increased up to 0.44 pss and majority of the typhoons showed deepening of isothermal layer (between 39.8 m and 4.6 m) and MLD (between 69.6 and 4.6 m) after the passage of typhoons. Passing of each individual typhoon also removed significant amount of heat energy from the affected area. The highest amount of heat of 841 MJ m - 2 to the lowest of 30 MJ m -2 was calculated during the study period. For comparison purpose, an equivalent amount


A Conservative Party election victory in 1979 inaugurated a post-consensus era in British politics and culture. Decisively opposed to a lingering sense of national collectivity, prime minister Margaret Thatcher's new government promised to liberate all of its constituents from unwanted, outdated social solidarities. But the Thatcher ascendancy redefined liberty by identifying it with divisiveness, and paradoxically by stimulating new constraints. The new government encouraged a resurgence of English nativism, xenophobia, and nostalgia for the British Empire's centrality in international affairs. And it tried to contain the impact of immigrant communities on the languages, literatures, and traditions of Britain. While political and economic conservatism flourished, however, the project of cultural containment was largely unsuccessful. In the age of Thatcher, immigrant novelists such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Timothy Mo, Salman Rushdie, and V. S. Naipaul were transforming the Anglophone literary landscape. Their fiction brought international attention to contemporary British writing, consolidated the Windrush generation's contribution to the English novel, and ensured that geographies, vernaculars, and political histories of India, China, Japan, and the West Indies would have a lasting prominence in English letters. In 1981 Rushdie's Midnight's Children won the Booker Prize, a major international award for English fiction. Since then, the prize (renamed the Man Booker Prize in 2002) has gone to Anglophone novelists who hail from Australia, Ireland, Canada, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, and Scotland more than it has to writers born in England.


Handwritten signature recognition can be divided into online (or dynamic) and off-line (or static) recognition. Online recognition refers to a process that the signer uses a special pen called a stylus to create his or her signature, producing the pen locations, speeds and pressures, while off-line recognition just deals with signature images acquired by a scanner or a digital camera. In general, offline signature recognition is a challenging problem. Unlike the on-line signature, where dynamic aspects of the signing action are captured directly as the handwriting trajectory, the dynamic information contained in off-line signature is highly degraded. Handwriting features, such as the handwriting order, writing-speed variation, and skillfulness, need to be recovered from the grey-level pixels. The presented work is focused on development of robust algorithm for verification of hand written signature verification. The goal of an automatic signature verification system is to confirm or invalidate the presumed identity of the signer from information obtained during the Recognition of the signature.


The Antarctic notothenioid Pagothenia borchgrevinki was collected from the stenothermal waters of McMurdo Sound in the summers of 2004, 2005 and 2006. Acclimation ability at 4° C was tested in healthy P. borchgrevinki and in individuals infected with x-cell gill disease. All healthy fish successfully acclimated to 4° C, establishing compensatory changes in resting oxygen consumption rate (Rrest) and critical swimming speed (Ucrit) during a 1 month acclimation period, which were maintained during a longer, 6 month acclimation period. In contrast, individuals infected with x-cell disease were unable to acclimate to 4° C, demonstrating significantly reduced survival rates compared with healthy individuals at 4° C. Measurements of Rrest suggest that limitations in the ability of x-cell fish to uptake oxygen from the external milieu may have a negative effect on their survival at 4° C.


One reason learning the geometry of latent neural manifolds from neural activity data is difficult is that the ground truth is generally not known, which can make manifold learning methods hard to evaluate. Probabilistic population codes (PPCs), a class of biologically plausible and self-consistent models of neural populations that encode parametric probability distributions, may offer a theoretical setting where it is possible to rigorously study manifold learning. It is natural to define the neural manifold of a PPC as the statistical manifold of the encoded distribution, and we derive a mathematical result that the information geometry of the statistical manifold is directly related to measurable covariance matrices. This suggests a simple but rigorously justified decoding strategy based on principal component analysis, which we illustrate using an analytically tractable PPC.


ZnO thin film has been widely applied in high-frequency acoustic microscopy using single element transducer. It needs mechanical scanning which is much more time-consuming than electronic scanning with transducer array. However, one of the challenges in the implementation of ZnO transducer array is the patterning of small scale features in the array elements. In this paper, a controllable wet-chemical etching method is investigated to fabricate high-frequency ZnO-based ultrasonic transducer arrays. The wet-chemical etchant is NH4Cl aqueous solution with a concentration of 10 wt% and the etching rate is 53 nm/min at room temperature. A ZnO array is achieved with a small ratio (0.25) of lateral etching to vertical etching. Finite element method is employed to calculate acoustic field, electrical impedance and crosstalk of the transducer. The characteristics of the transducer are measured and compared to the theoretical predictions. This etching method provides a possibility to acquire a pitch of a λ in a 300 MHz array. It indicates that the proposed wet etching is promising in the fabrication of high-frequency ZnO transducer arrays.


Abstract Preprints are the highest-in-demand, and often the shortest-lived, documents in the field of high-energy physics. In the 1990s, this document form was becoming increasingly available fulltext on the World Wide Web, and the Fermilab Information Resources Department needed also to make Fermilab preprints available electronically. In this paper, the author describes the processes the Department underwent in moving preprint delivery, access and storage largely (but not completely) out of the print realm and into the electronic realm. Challenges, milestones, and cost-savings are all discussed.


This Brief of Amici Curiae Legal Scholars in Support of Equality in Support of Respondents filed in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia addresses the propriety of an analogy to race discrimination in public accommodation cases involving sexual orientation discrimination. The race analogy in sexual orientation cases proceeds as follows: Advocates and judges widely agree that courts should, and would, reject a religious exemption claim by a public accommodation—such a foster care agency—seeking to turn away an African-American or interracial couple based on the public accommodation's religious beliefs that Blacks are inferior to whites or that the races should not mix. The race analogy in today's religious exemption cases is attractive to LGBT-rights advocates because the Court has—in the 1960s case of Piggie Park v. Newman—rejected a religious exemption claim in the context of racial discrimination in public accommodations.

The amicus brief addresses two common arguments made by exemption seekers against the race analogy. First, today's exemptions seekers bristle at the comparison to Piggie Park and to the vendors of the 1960s who sought to justify racial discrimination based on religious beliefs. They contend that the vendors of the 1960s were actually racists using religion as a cover for their bigotry. In contrast, today's wedding vendors contend that they are asserting honorable and sincerely held religious beliefs that justify sexual orientation discrimination. This amicus brief asserts that the race analogy and the honorableness of today's exemption seekers are not mutually exclusive because (1) the exemption seekers of the 1960s were viewed as honorable and sincere by courts and the public alike; and (2) courts need not look behind the asserted religious belief to validate or critique it, but must instead accept the asserted belief at face value; any normative characterization of the asserted religious belief is thus irrelevant assessing the propriety of the race analogy.

Second, today's exemption seekers argue that the race analogy is improper because race is subject to strict scrutiny in an equal protection analysis, whereas sexual orientation is subject to, at most, intermediate scrutiny. This argument fails because it is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of two things that are not commensurate: the relationship between the equal protection tiers of scrutiny, on one hand, and claims for religious exemptions from antidiscrimination law, on the other.

The amicus brief concludes that analogizing to race in this case requires no improper governmental assessment of religious beliefs, just as courts made no such assessment in the 1960s. The race analogy, including an analogy to Piggie Park, should thus be used in the Fulton case and others like it.


The quality of the micromechanical retention between the enamel prisms exposed through acid etching and adhesive system can be influenced by the relationship between the angle of the exposed enamel prisms and the external surface/restorative material. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine the influence of the enamel cavosurface beveling in different cavity sizes on the angle relation between enamel prisms and the restorative material. For this research, 30 human permanent molars were used and divided into three groups according the isthmus aperture of class I cavities (1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 of the intercuspal distance). Cavosurface angle beveling was performed in each tooth buccal or palatal/lingual side, and a resin composite restoration was placed. Each restored tooth was sectioned in buccal/palatal direction followed by analysis in scanning electron microscope. Means of the angles observed between enamel prisms and the restorative material were registered and statistically analyzed by Kruskal‐Wallis test. Results showed higher mean angle values for beveled groups when comparing with the values observed in the unbeveled margins (p < .05) regardless of the isthmus aperture, being 1/4 (beveled = 48.36°; unbeveled = 20.71°), 1/3 (beveled = 39.75°; unbeveled = 29.15°), and 1/2 (beveled = 37.02°; unbeveled = 26.34°). It was also observed that in some unbeveled cavities, there were the presence of laterally exposed enamel prisms (0°), mainly in more conservative cavities. It was concluded that the presence of higher angles values occurred in the samples with beveled margins, without presence of laterally exposed enamel prisms.


NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) transfers electrons from NADPH to cytochrome P450, and catalyzes the one-electron reduction of many drugs and foreign compounds. Various forms of spectrophotometric titration have been performed to investigate the electron-accepting properties of CPR, particularly, to examine its ability to reduce cytochrome c and ferricyanide. In this study, the reduction of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) by CPR was assessed as a means of monitoring CPR activity. The principle advantage of DPPH is that its reduction can be assayed directly in the reaction medium by a continuous spectrophotometry. Thus, electrons released from NADPH by CPR were transferred to DPPH, and DPPH reduction was then followed spectrophotometrically by measuring A(520) reduction. Optimal assay concentrations of DPPH, CPR, potassium phosphate buffer, and NADPH were first established. DPPH reduction activity was found to depend upon the strength of the buffer used, which was optimal at 100 mM potassium phosphate and pH 7.6. The extinction coefficient of DPPH was 4.09mM(-1) cm(-1). DPPH reduction followed classical Michaelis-Menten kinetics (K(m) = 28 microM, k(cat) = 1690 min(-1)). This method uses readily available materials, and has the additional advantages of being rapid and inexpensive.


Within the power generation community, the rotating detonation engine (RDE) is only growing in popularity with its increased performance, simple mechanism, and operation. Although significant testing is underway to characterize the RDE for integration with conventional gas turbines, this entire system is still at a relatively low technology readiness level. In the midst of RDE research, there is an initiative to understand solid particle seeding effects in the detonation performance. Under investigation at the University of Central Florida is a Department of Energy (DOE) 6 inch RDE, with a solid particle seeder in parallel with its H2 and air flow lines. Previous work on this system involved carbon particle detonation; however, the tested particles were taken one step further to include more sustainable, greener hydrocarbon particles. Testing of powdered sugar, peanut flour, and cornstarch, along with previous carbon black tests have shown not only successful detonability, but a noticeable effect on the detonation wave dynamics. Side by side with a particle burning model being developed, an operational map can be determined for the hydrocarbon particles particularly, which can be tuned with the local flow conditions to achieve peak operability while replacing fuels with sustainable alternatives that could even be grown.


The corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete is estimated to affect more than 50% of the 575,000 bridges in the United States. One approach to mitigating this problem is to use corrosion-inhibitive compounds admixed into the concrete paste. This study sought to examine the corrosion inhibition performance of a series of compounds admixed into high-quality concrete and to delineate the effects of these compounds on the concrete with regard to the corrosion process. A series of eight compounds were admixed into Type A4 concrete. The compounds tested were aminoethylethanolamine, aminothiophenol, di-sodium Beta-glycerophosphate, calcium nitrite, di-n-butyl sulfoxide, lithium nitrate, sodium metasilicate, and nitrilotriphosphonic acid. Concrete blocks were cast, into which were placed 0.009-in.-diameter 1040 steel wires. The corrosion rate was assessed via a resistance change measurement (RCM) of these wires over time using a temperature-corrected four-point resistance measurement. The time-to-open circuit for the wires was also monitored. RCM was compared to (1) electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results of tests conducted in a simulated pore solution, and (2) chloride permeability measurements of the concrete as per ASTM C 1202. The effect of the admixtures on the compressive strength and density of the concrete was also assessed. RCM and time-to-open circuit results showed that four test inhibitors had equal or better corrosion prevention at 2 years of testing compared to a widely used commercial mix (DCI). These test inhibitors included di-sodium Beta-glycerophosphate (0.283 mol/cu ft and 0.815 mol/cu ft), aminoethylethanolamine (0.815 mol/cu ft), lithium nitrate (0.815 mol/cu ft), and sodium metasilicate (0.815 mol/cu ft). After 100 weeks, 33% to 44% of the wires were active in concrete admixed with these test compounds, whereas only 25% of the wires were active in concrete admixed with DCI. This research has also shown that the performance of a corrosion inhibitor in high-quality concrete is a function of numerous interrelated factors that are not predicted from any single laboratory test. These tests provide promising results for alternative inhibitive admixtures for standard Type A4 concrete. It is recommended that additional tests be conducted on concrete mixtures containing slag and fly ash using multiple concentrations of the four most promising inhibitors. Further testing may lead to the implementation of a better corrosion-inhibiting admixture, thus increasing the service life of bridges.


Recent studies have demonstrated that aberrant long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) expression are suggested to be closely associated with multiple human diseases, lung cancer included. However, the roles of lncRNAs in lung cancer are not well understood. In this study, we used microarrays to investigate the aberrantly expressed lncRNAs in the mouse lung adenocarcinoma with P53 knockout and the KrasG12D mutation. Results revealed that 6424 lncRNAs were differentially expressed (≥ 2‐fold change, P < .05). Two hundred and ten lncRNAs showed more than 8‐fold change and conserved across human and were further analysed in the primary mouse lung adenocarcinoma KP cells, which were isolated from the p53 knockout and the KrasG12D mutation mice. Among all the 210 lncRNAs, 11 lncRNAs' expression was regulated by P53, 33 lncRNAs by KRAS and 13 lncRNAs by hypoxia in the primary KP cells, respectively. NONMMUT015812, which was remarkably up‐regulated in the mouse lung adenocarcinoma and negatively regulated by the P53 re‐expression, was detected to analyse its cellular function. Results showed that knockdown of NONMMUT015812 by shRNAs decreased proliferation and migration abilities of KP cells. Among those aberrantly expressed lncRNAs in the mouse lung adenocarcinoma, NONMMUT015812 was a potential oncogene.


A system is described for mapping oxidative DNA damage (sites sensitive to formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase and single-strand breaks) at nucleotide resolution in the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our 3' end labelling method is sensitive and was first developed using the well-studied inducer of oxidative DNA damage, methylene blue (MB) plus light. We treated yeast DNA in vitro with this so as to maximise levels of damage for assay development. Unfortunately, MB does not remain in yeast cells and yeast DNA repair mutants sensitive to active oxygen species are not sensitive to this agent, thus for in vivo experiments we turned to a polycyclic aromatic, RO 19-8022 (RO). This resulted in oxidative DNA damage when light was applied to yeast cells in its presence. The spectra of enzyme-sensitive sites and single-strand breaks induced by MB in vitro or by RO plus light in vivo or in vitro were examined in two yeast reporter genes: the nuclear MFA2 and the mitochondrial OLI1. The experiments revealed that most of the enzyme-sensitive sites and single-strand breaks induced by MB or RO plus light are at the same positions in these sequences, and that these are guanines.


Several sets of Eu-doped Y3Al5O12 (YAG) ceramic samples were synthesized by the vacuum sintering technique. Their structural, optical and magnetic properties were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, optical absorption, time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance. Multiple annealing in different atmospheres was employed to understand the nature of strong specific absorption bands peaking at about 250, 370 and 550 nm in the case of these ceramics. The influence of sintering aids used during the preparation of ceramics (such as tetraethyl orthosilicate and/or magnesium oxide) on the optical properties is thoroughly studied. The charge transfer transition in the EuY2+ + F+ pair center is suggested to explain the nature of these absorption bands which is also supported by the peculiarities of the Eu2+ 5d–4f and F+/F luminescence occurrence. Application potential of the studied ceramics in the industrial implementation is discussed as well.


SETTING
Conventional approaches to tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and resistance testing are slow. The Xpert® MTB/RIF assay is an emerging molecular diagnostic assay for rapid TB diagnosis, offering results within 2 hours. However, the cost-effectiveness of implementing Xpert in settings with low TB prevalence, such as the United States, is unknown.

OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of incorporating Xpert into TB diagnostic algorithms in the United States compared to existing diagnostics.

DESIGN
A decision-analysis model compared current TB diagnostic algorithms in the United States to algorithms incorporating Xpert. Primary outcomes were the costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) accrued with each strategy; cost-effectiveness was represented using incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER).

RESULTS
Xpert testing of a single sputum sample from TB suspects is expected to result in lower total health care costs per patient (US2673) compared to diagnostic algorithms using only sputum microscopy and culture (US2728) and improved health outcomes (6.32 QALYs gained per 1000 TB suspects). Compared to existing molecular assays, implementation of Xpert in the United States would be considered highly cost-effective (ICER US39992 per QALY gained).

CONCLUSION
TB diagnostic algorithms incorporating Xpert in the United States are highly cost-effective.


Tracking and identifying articulated objects have received growing attention in computer vision in the past decade. In market-based optical motion capture (MoCap) systems, an articulated movement of near-rigid segments is represented via a sequence of moving dots of known 3D coordinates, corresponding to the captured marker positions. We propose a segment-based articulated model-fitting algorithm to address the problem of self-initializing identification and pose estimation utilizing one frame of data in such point-feature tracking systems. It is ultimately crucial for recovering the complete motion sequence. Experimental results, based on synthetic pose and real-world human motion capture data, demonstrate the performance of the algorithm.


Childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in developed countries and is becoming a major cause for concern in the developing world. The causes of childhood obesity are complex and multifactorial, involving the interaction between individual genetics and environmental and developmental factors. Among the environmental factors, there is a growing interest in understanding the possible relationship between the so-called environmental obesogens and the development of obesity in children. Exposure to these obesogens such as phthalates, bisphenol A, or parabens, has been identified as a promoter of obesity through different mechanisms such as the alteration of adipocyte development from mesenchymal progenitors, the interference with hormone receptors, and induced inflammation. However, less attention has been paid to the inheritance of epigenetic modifications due to maternal exposure to these compounds during pregnancy. Thus, the aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge of epigenetic modifications due to maternal exposure to those obesogens during pregnancy as well as their potential implication on long-term obesity development in the offspring and transgenerational inheritance of epiphenotypes.


In this paper, when the framed structures are subjected to lateral load and sustained load, the elastic rigidity of composite girder varies with the change of moment and rotation angle. In this case, an approximate equation on the elastic rigidity of composite girder is described by the constant value of elastic rigidity. Analytical assumption is that rotation of both angle of composite girder are equal. The principal parameters are sustained load, section of steel girder, thickness of slab, column width, shape of column section (H and box), and depth of deck plate. The elastic rigidity of composite girder varies with these. Therefore, this dispersion is described by the method of least squares. The constant value on the elastic rigidity of composite girder is calculated by using steel girder rigidity and composite effect, which has nothing to do with lateral load and sustained load. This analysis was calculated by 1512 cases with the principal parameters. We propose that the constant value on the elastic rigidity of composite girder shows rigidity ratio and composite effect relation. Where, when equivalent moment of inertia in composite girder under positive bending divided by the moment of inertia in steel girder, composite effect. And when an approximate elastic rigidity of composite girder divided by elastic rigidity of steel girder, rigidity ratio.


The feeding ecology of the caridean shrimp Palaemon peringueyi in the temporarily open/closed Kasouga Estuary, Eastern Cape, was examined during summer and winter employing stomach fullness index (SFI) analysis. Mean SFI values for male and female shrimp during summer ranged from 0.85% to 2.36% and from 0.56% and 2.61% body dry weight, respectively. During winter, SFI values for males and females were lower, and varied between 0.23% and 1.56% and 0.36% and 1.84% body dry weight, respectively. There were no significant differences in the SFI values between males and females during the two seasons. A peak in the feeding activity for both sexes was observed during the daytime during both summer and winter. For both males and females, non-linear regression analysis best explained the change in SFI over time. The gut evacuation rate constants (k) of males and females during summer were estimated at 0.43 h−1 and 0.30 h−1, respectively. These values correspond to a daily food intake equivalent to 16.2% body dwt for males and 11.1% body dwt for females. During winter, the gut evacuation rates of the shrimp were estimated at 0.35 h−1 for males and 0.28 h−1 for females. The daily ration for adult male and female shrimp during winter was estimated at 6.1% and 6.8% body dwt, respectively. The lower estimates obtained during winter appear largely to reflect the influence of the reduced water temperatures on the metabolic activities of the shrimp.


Purpose: There is a high demand on distance learning due to COVID 19 pandemic As a result, the information technology centers of any educational institution are playing important role in maintaining the quality of education It is very vital to assess and enhance the IT service performance The motivation behind this research paper is to measure the operational excellence by applying gap analysis technique The SERVQUAL tool is used in this research study in the information technology centers in three universities in United Arab Emirates Design/methodology/approach: The research study is conducted by calculating the perception and expectation scores (performance-based model) The gap scores (expected scores minus perceived-based model) are examined using SERVQUAL tool The methodology is using survey questionnaire to collect data from 200-250 users of IT service centers from each university The questionnaire has 22 questions, which represent the 22 items of five SERVQUAL dimensions The survey participants concluded that the SERVQUAL is a useful tool for IT center service quality in the three educational institutions presented in this paper Findings: The SERVQAUL identified the gaps in service quality of IT centers for these institutions The perception and expected scores of SERVQUAL in three IT centers of these institutions are also illustrated The perception results are tabulated versus the expected results as well as the gaps are calculated Moreover, we demonstrated the comparison between the average perception and the expected dimension scores results for each university As a result, the averages of each dimension's items is calculated and the benchmarking between universities is done in terms of average expected and perception scores Research limitations/implications: We can conclude that the three universities should focus on the responsiveness dimension as it gets the lowest average gap scores This study is cross sectional that is done on the users only In addition, the decision makers' and service providers' feedback can be studied and more elaborated Originality/value: These scores can be used in business excellence models' criteria Some of these models can be Malcolm Baldrige or European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) SERVQUAL can be integrated within the Malcolm or EFQM to enhance performance and continuous improvement © 2020 Universidade do Minho All rights reserved


The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of C60 single crystals grown under double temperature gradient (DTG) and single temperature gradient (STG) techniques were investigated at room temperature. The results show that the PL emission intensity increases first and then decreases with increasing illuminated power density for the C60 single crystals grown by both DTG and STG techniques. Furthermore, one main peak with a shoulder peak can be clearly distinguished at low illumination, while only one main peak without the shoulder peak can be seen at high illumination. The main peak undergoes a continuous blue shift and broadening with the increase of illuminated power density. The difference of PL emission energy at the same illumination density of DTG and STG samples may correlated with the degree of both the orientational disorder of C60 molecule and lattice perfectness. The Laue diffraction patterns show that the DTG sample has stronger strains and poorer crystalline quality than the STG sample.


We study the implications of electoral corruption for resource allocation, factor market equilibrium and inequality. We focus on the control of the voting of agricultural workers by landlords and show that if the employment relationship is subject to moral hazard then the resulting rents conceded by employers give them a comparative advantage in controlling the political activities of their workers. This generates an added incentive to own land and leads to inefficiently high land concentration. We test the predictions of the model by examining in detail the effects of the introduction of the secret ballot in Chile in 1958.


Phantom limb pain (PLP) is one of the most difficult chronic pain syndromes to treat. Pain intensity can be extremely high with profound effects on quality of life 1 . Unfortunately, pharmacologic interventions leave up to 50% of patients with chronic PLP 2,3 . Behavioral treatments such as motor imagery and mirror therapy are promising in reducing PLP 4 , but are not customarily utilized during the acute post-surgical timeframe when symptoms first occur. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Following revascularisation the majority of patients obtain symptom relief and improved quality of life. However, myocardial ischaemia may recur or persist in a significant patient subset. Symptom recurrence is usually attributed to inaccurate evaluation of epicardial stenosis, incomplete revascularisation or stent failure and disease progression. However, technological advances with modern imaging and/or physiological evaluation of epicardial plaques have not solved this issue. Conversely, recent clinical studies have shown that abnormal coronary vasomotion and increased myocardial resistance are frequent determinants of post-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) myocardial ischaemia. Strategies to enhance prediction of post-PCI angina include proper selection of patients undergoing revascularisation, construction of clinical prediction models, and further invasive evaluation at the time of coronary angiography in those with high likelihood.


Deep classifiers may encounter significant performance degradation when processing unseen testing data from varying centers, vendors, and protocols. Ensuring the robustness of deep models against these domain shifts is crucial for their widespread clinical application. In this study, we propose a novel approach called Fourier Test-time Adaptation (FTTA), which employs a dual-adaptation design to integrate input and model tuning, thereby jointly improving the model robustness. The main idea of FTTA is to build a reliable multi-level consistency measurement of paired inputs for achieving self-correction of prediction. Our contribution is two-fold. First, we encourage consistency in global features and local attention maps between the two transformed images of the same input. Here, the transformation refers to Fourier-based input adaptation, which can transfer one unseen image into source style to reduce the domain gap. Furthermore, we leverage style-interpolated images to enhance the global and local features with learnable parameters, which can smooth the consistency measurement and accelerate convergence. Second, we introduce a regularization technique that utilizes style interpolation consistency in the frequency space to encourage self-consistency in the logit space of the model output. This regularization provides strong self-supervised signals for robustness enhancement. FTTA was extensively validated on three large classification datasets with different modalities and organs. Experimental results show that FTTA is general and outperforms other strong state-of-the-art methods.


TREATMENT OF DYSMENORRHCEA. TO THE EDITORS OF THE rROVINCIAL MIEDICAL JOURNAL. GENTLEMEN,-Somc months ago I addressed an inquiry to the members of the association as to the best mode of treating dysmenorrhcea, which elicited many replies, and as many different plans of treating that most troublesome disease. Since that period I have adopted the recommendations proposed, but, I regret to add, with very partial success, although the treatment has been modified according to tlhe constitution of the patient and particular form of the affection. I am still of opinion that the most speedy and effectual remedy in a great majority of cases is tile local abstraction of blood; yet, as this course is frequently objected to, and cannot be regularly practised, some other means must be resorted to. As a general remedy, I have found more benefit from the following draught, administered twice a day, for three or four days previous to the expected period, than from any other:Extract of stramonium, half to one grain; Tincture of hyosciamus, one drachin; Camphor mixture, eleven drachms. I wish it was in my power to add that I had found any meanis equally successful in relieving the distressing and debilitating discharge which follows painful menstruation; and shall feel obliged for any suggestions as to the best mode of alleviating so common a disease. Your obedient servant, JONATHAN TOOGOOD. Bridgwater, March 20, 1843.


The operating hypothesis for using nanoparticle precursors to generate thin-film chalcogenide photovoltaics absorbers in Gen 2 PV is that the final crystalline film resulted from thermal treatment would mirror the original nanoprecursors composition. In addition, melting point depression as a result of the nano-confinement would enable relatively low processing temperatures. With nanoparticles melting occurring at several hundred degrees lower than the melting point in bulk, the thermal treatment of NP precursors enables fabrication of uniform, crystalline thin-films on inexpensive substrates that only sustain moderate annealing temperatures (such as soda lime glass, SLG). A narrow particle size distribution contributes to film uniformity and enables film thickness control. Therefore, tremendous efforts have been reported toward rigorous control of nanoparticles size and composition. Our efforts, focused on two iron chalcogenides: Fe2SiS4 and Fe2GeS4, demonstrate that processing often compromises the compositional control and final film purity, given that the reactivity associated with nano-confinement also leads to elemental loss during annealing. We report our findings related to thermal processing (annealing) and discuss current strategies to mitigate the elemental loss during annealing.


A common issue in stability analyses preformed in connection to Gota River and otherwatercourses is how the undrained shear strength of the clay should be modeled in transitionbetween land and river. This issue is in Sweden relatively unexplored and only a fewguidelines and publications are available regarding the subject. Furthermore, geotechnicalfield investigations are relatively expensive when preformed in the water areas which resultsin a limited surveyed data. The consequence of these aforementioned factors frequentlycreates underestimated, undrained shear strength. This will eventually result in a misleadingoverall safety factor in the analysis.The aim of the thesis has been to suggest a model of how the undrained shear strength shouldbe modeled in the labeled transition zone, based on a large amount of geotechnical surveysand the geological history. Geotechnical investigations have been studied in five sections inthe southern region of the Gota River. These studies include measured; undrained shearstrength, consolidation conditions and basic material properties of the clay. The results ofthese studies show that the shallow sediments in the river bed, has significantly lowerundrained shear strength than the corresponding level at the shore. The clay layer which hasthis lower shear strength corresponds to the actual water depth. In deeper areas of the riverbed the shear strength is similar from land to the river area. The undrained shear strengthseems to have a parable increment in this clay layer with lower shear strength.Several empirical calculations have been performed and compared to the geotechnical surveysto examine how well the undrained shear strength can be estimated, primarily the area of theriver bed with lower strength. It has been shown that the empirical estimation requires a lot ofknowledge, in particular consolidation conditions and stress distribution as a result of loadingand unloading.Furthermore, a simple stress analysis has been performed in Plaxis to illustrate the effectivestress distribution as well as the stress dispersion as a result of loading and unloading in anhomogeneous clay. The result shows in particular that the stress dispersion effects arisingcollaterally at both loading and unloading.A generalized stability analysis was executed to reveal how the different ways to model theundrained shear strength affects overall safety factor. This analysis resulted in a significantlyhigher overall safety factor, when the undrained shear strength was modeled according to themeasured results than how it has been modeled in many previously investigations.It may finally be noted that the uncertainties regarding how the undrained shear strengthshould be modeled in many cases has resulted in a conservative way to model the undrainedshear strength. in which the consequence has been an underestimated overall safety factor.


clinical trial comparing wholc abdominal radiotherapy, mephalan, and intraperitoneal chromic phosphate: A National Cancer Institute of Canada Trials Group report. J Clin Oncol6, 1251-1263. Mackintosh J . , Buckley C. H., Tindall V. K.. Lind M. J., Anderhon H. 61 Crowther D. (1989) The rolc of postoperative alkylating agent therapy in earlystage epithelial ovarian cancer. Br J Obstet Gynaecol Y6, 353-357.


Background: Losartan and glimepiride are commonly used drugs to treat chronic diseases of hypertension and diabetes; they are both substrates of CYP2C9. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible interaction of losartan and glimepiride both in vitro (rat liver microsomes) and in vivo (healthy Sprague-Dawley rats). Methods: In rat liver microsomes, 1-10 μmol/l losartan and glimepiride were coincubated, and the inhibitory effect was analyzed. In the subsequent pharmacokinetic study, 15 healthy Sprague-Dawley rats received administrations of 5 mg/kg losartan or 1 mg/kg glimepiride or a coadministration. Results: In the rat liver microsome system, glimepiride showed a slight inhibition of losartan at concentrations of 1-10 μmol/l, whereas losartan exhibited no inhibitory effect on glimepiride. In vivo, glimepiride did not modify the plasma concentration of losartan and its metabolite E-3174. The alteration of an increased AUC and Cmax was observed in the pharmacokinetic parameters of glimepiride and hydroxy glimepiride. Conclusions: Glimepiride did not affect losartan pharmacokinetics in rats, while losartan potently altered glimepiride metabolism; this result was inconsistent with the in vitro outcome. The mechanism requires further investigation. In clinical settings, attention should be paid to the interaction of these two drugs in the human body as well as the possible adverse reactions of glimepiride.


The hydrodynamic equations for a cylindrically layered sample of smectic A liquid crystal are considered. Governing equations for the flow, pressure and smectic layer undulations are derived using a perturbation ansatz. Expressions for the radial flow velocity and the layer displacement are derived analytically and presented in the purely radial flow case. An expression for the relaxation rate is found and a bound for the spatial wave number is determined when zenithal flow is also considered. Plots of the solutions are given for illustration. Vindication of previous results is discussed.


One of the intriguing questions regarding cell motility concerns the mechanism that makes stationary cells move. Here, we provide the first physical evidence that the onset of breast cancer cell motility in response to insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) correlates with lowering of adhesion strength from 2.52 +/- 0.20 to 1.52 +/- 0.13 microdynes/microm2 in cells attached to fibronectin via alpha5beta1 integrin. The adhesion strength depends on the dose of IGF-I and time of IGF-I treatment. Weakening of cell-matrix adhesion is blocked significantly (p < 0.01) by the catalytically inactive IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR) and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI-3 kinase) inhibitor LY-294002, but it is unaffected by mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitor UO-126 and Src kinase inhibitor PP2. Sustained blockade of Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) with Y-27632 down-regulates adhesion strength in stationary, but not in IGF-I-treated, cells. Jasplakinolide, a drug that prevents actin filament disassembly, counteracts the effect of IGF-I on integrin-mediated cell adhesion. In the absence of growth factor signaling, ROCK supports a strong adhesion via alpha5beta1 integrin, whereas activation of the IGF-IR kinase reduces cell-matrix adhesion through a PI-3K-dependent, but ROCK-independent, mechanism. We propose that disassembly of the actin filaments via PI-3 kinase pathway contributes to weakening of adhesion strength and induction of cell movement. Understanding how cell adhesion and migration are coordinated has an important application in cancer research, developmental biology, and tissue bioengineering.


Background The immunoglobulin-like glycoprotein CD226 (DNAX accessory molecule-1) represents receptor-activating cytotoxic T lymphocyte and natural killer cells taking part in tumor surveillance, the pathogenesis of inflammation, and autoimmune disorders. The aim of the present study is to analyze the association between polymorphisms rs763361 and rs727088 in the CD226 gene and their impact on the pathogenesis of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and methods Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) were used to genotype the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs763361 and rs727088 of the CD226 gene in 302 NSCLC patients and 389 ethnicity matched healthy controls. Results The frequencies of the T allele and TT genotype of rs763361 (T allele odds ratio [OR] 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14–1.77; TT genotype OR 2.73, 95% CI 1.70–4.39), as well as the G allele and GG genotype of rs727088 (G allele OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.50–2.39; GG genotype OR 4.62, 95% CI 2.31–9.20) in the NSCLC patients were significantly higher than that of normal controls, indicating that both of these two SNPs as risk factors were associated with NSCLC (P<0.05). Results of stratified analysis revealed that the polymorphism of rs727088 was associated with lymph node invasion and clinical stage cancer (P<0.05). However, there was no association between SNP rs763361 and clinical characteristics. Conclusion Our results demonstrated that CD226 gene polymorphisms (T allele of rs763361 and G allele of rs727088) as risk factors were associated with NSCLC.


We describe a selective and sensitive single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing of genes from rice cultivars by using DNA photoligation. This SNP typing method facilitates qualitative determination of genes from indica and japonica rice, and showed a high degree of single nucleotide specificity.


We revisit the problem of predicting directional movements of stock prices based on news articles: here our algorithm uses daily articles from The Wall Street Journal to predict the closing stock prices on the same day. We propose a unified latent space model to characterize the "co-movements" between stock prices and news articles. Unlike many existing approaches, our new model is able to simultaneously leverage the correlations: (a) among stock prices, (b) among news articles, and (c) between stock prices and news articles. Thus, our model is able to make daily predictions on more than 500 stocks (most of which are not even mentioned in any news article) while having low complexity. We carry out extensive back testing on trading strategies based on our algorithm. The result shows that our model has substantially better accuracy rate (55.7%) compared to many widely used algorithms. The return (56%) and Sharpe ratio due to a trading strategy based on our model are also much higher than baseline indices.


Nowadays, most of bridge networks are complete or close to completion. The biggest challenge railroad/highway agencies and departments of transportation face is the maintenance of these networks, keeping them safe and serviceable, with limited funds. To maintain the bridges effectively, there is an urgent need to predict their remaining life from a system reliability viewpoint. And, it is necessary to develop the maintenance models based on system reliability concept. In this paper, maintenance models are developed for preventive maintenance and essential maintenance by using system reliability and lifetime distributions. The proposed model is applied to an existing railroad bridge. The optimal maintenance strategy of this bridge is obtained in terms of service life extension and cumulative maintenance cost.


Authors study digestive atresia mortality in relation to different parameters such as type of atresia, weight at birth and associated malformations. Mortality increases depending on whether the atresia be single or multiple, this increase being quite obvious when single or multiple atresia is associated with trisomy.


We present a novel feature extraction method named local patterns of gradients (LPOGs) for robust face recognition. LPOG uses block-wised elliptical local binary patterns (BELBP), a refined variant of ELBP, and local phase quantization (LPQ) operators directly on gradient images for capturing local texture patterns to build up a feature vector of a face image. From one input image, two directional gradient images are computed. A symmetric pair of BELBP and a LPQ operator are then separately applied upon each gradient image to generate local patterns images. Histogram sequences of local patterns images' nonoverlapped subregions are finally concatenated to form the LPOG vector for the given image. Based on LPOG descriptor, we propose a novel face recognition system which exploits whitened principal component analysis (WPCA) for dimension reduction and weighted angle-based distance for classification. Experimental results on three large public databases (FERET, AR, and SCface) prove that LPOG WPCA system is robust against a wide range of challenges, such as illumination, expression, occlusion, pose, time-lapse variations, and low resolution. In addition, comparison with other systems shows that LPOG WPCA significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods. Computationally, timing benchmarks also demonstrate that our LPOG method is faster than many advanced feature extraction algorithms and can be applied in real-world applications.


Vulnerability to occlusion is one of the main issue in visual tracking. In this proposal, we exploit the local grid features to build a robust tracker. To improve performance under occlusion, local and global features are modeled for a target tracking. Cooperating with the novel features, a new segmentation and similarity measurement are proposed for exploring the local grid advantages. Experimental results show that our tracker outperforms other two effective visual tracking methods under occlusion.


Background In 2012, Israel's National Center for Infection Control initiated a national stewardship programme that included mandatory annual reporting of antimicrobial use. Here we present nationwide Israeli data for the period 2012 to 2017. Aim The goal of this study was to detect trends in antimicrobial use in Israel following the introduction of the stewardship programme, as part of an assessment of the programme's impact. Methods In this retrospective observational study, data were collected from Israel's health maintenance organisations (HMOs), acute care hospitals and post-acute care hospitals (PACHs). Acute care hospital data were collected for general medical and surgical wards, and medical/surgical intensive care units (ICUs). Data were converted into defined daily doses (DDD), with use rates presented as DDD per 1,000 insured/day in the community and DDD per 100 patient-days in hospitals and PACHs. Trends were analysed using linear regression. Results Antimicrobial use decreased across sectors between 2012 and 2017. In the community, the decrease was modest, from 22.8 to 21.8 DDD per 1,000 insured per day (4.4%, p = 0.004). In acute care hospitals, antibiotic DDDs per 100 patient-days decreased from 100.0 to 84.0 (16.0%, p = 0.002) in medical wards, from 112.8 to 94.2 (16.5%, p = 0.004) in surgical wards and from 154.4 to 137.2 (11.1%, p = 0.04) in ICUs. Antimicrobial use decreased most markedly in PACHs, from 29.1 to 18.1 DDD per 100 patient-days (37.8%, p = 0.005). Conclusion Between 2012 and 2017, antimicrobial use decreased significantly in all types of healthcare institutions in Israel, following the introduction of the nationwide antimicrobial stewardship programme.


The form taken by the radiation condition in the local coordinate system, pertinent to the determination by perturbation methods of the radiation from curved radiating structures, is not the same as it is at very great distances. Specifically, it may contain a term that appears as if it were an incoming or growing wave. A detailed analysis is made of the appropriate form of the condition in cylindrical and toroidal systems, and is applied to the calculation of radiation from curyed dielectric slabs and fibers.


Introduction. Effective implementation of preventive strategies is a cornerstone element of cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction (MI). We aimed to assess knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors among subjects after acute coronary syndrome treated with percutaneous intervention scheduled to in-hospital cardiac rehabilitation, and to evaluate the association between the level of their awareness and burden of cardiovascular risk. Material and methods. This cross sectional study included 205 consecutive subjects (153 males, 52 females, aged 62 ± 9 years). Data covering burden of arterial hypertension, overweight, dyslipidemia, diabetes, smoking habit, low level of physical activity, elderly, male gender and a history of familial heart disease were retrieved form medical records and anamnesis. Knowledge and awareness of modifiable and non-modifiable cardiovascular risk factors were assessed by a questionnaire. Results. The surveyed patients usually had 5 risk factors (mean 4.53 ± 1.43). The best awareness concerned their own body mass (98%) and blood pressure level (74%). The subjects had suboptimal knowledge regarding recommendations of secondary prevention (< 50% of correct answers). In 20 questions investigating knowledge about risk factors, the patients most frequently gave 11 correct answers (mean 54 ± 18%). There was no association between burden of specific risk factors and patients' awareness of these factors, excluding the fact that diabetics knew their glucose level (odds ratio 2.9; 95% confidence interval 1.5–5.6, p < 0.01). There was no correlation between patients' knowledge and the number of risk factors they had (r = –0.02, p = 0.2). Conclusions. Despite significant burden of cardiovascular risk, the level of awareness regarding this issue remains insufficient. Also, risk factor burden does not determine the patients' knowledge. There is a need for education about secondary prevention to improve attitudes among patients after MI.


An explicit model for carbon dioxide (CO2) solubility in an aqueous solution of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) has been proposed and an expression for the heat of absorption of CO2 has been developed as a function of loading and temperature. A rate-based steady-state model for CO2 absorption into an AMP solution has been proposed, using both the proposed expression for the CO2 solubility and the expression for the heat of absorption along with an expression for the enhancement factor and physicochemical data from the literature. The proposed model has successfully been applied to absorption of CO2 into an AMP solution in a packed tower and validated against pilot-plant data from the literature. © 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2006


The Tavreh mercury prospect, a listwaenite-type alteration/mineralization system, is located c. 90 km west of Khoy in northwestern Iran. Tavreh is hosted within the Khoy ophiolite zone. Three types of listwaenites have been recognized in the Khoy ophiolite: silica, silica-carbonate and carbonate. Of these three, Hg mineralization at Tavreh is spatially and genetically associated with the silica-type listwaenite, also known as berberite. Alteration and mineralization at Tavreh are restricted to a faulted contact between shale and serpentinite. The Tavreh listwaenite is inferred to form from the hydrothermal alteration of brecciated serpentinite. Major mineralogical changes resulting from this alteration include the decomposition of serpentine-group minerals and the formation of silica phases. In this study, the mass changes of 18 listwaenites from Tavreh were assessed relative to the least altered serpentinites. To illustrate these changes quantitatively a comparative analysis of three different methods of calculating mass change was undertaken using Grant's isocon analysis, MacLean's equation and Gresens' equation. Results from the three methods are similar. Listwaenite alteration was associated with a large increase in SiO2 (44.4, 36.2, 63.9%, respectively). MgO and loss on ignition were depleted (−34.8, −36.9, −36.6; −8.5, −9.3, −8.3%, respectively) and Al2O3 was relatively unchanged (0.7, 0.6, 0.9%). Mercury is the most enriched rare element in altered rock (375.1, 346.8, 474.6 ppm). Arsenic, Pb, Au and Sb were also enriched. The intensity of mass changes of the various alteration components increases significantly from the serpentinite wall rock towards the listwaenite alteration and the ore-bearing zone. Therefore, the mass balance method can probably be used to locate mineral deposits from a few hundred metres and to explore for blind mineral deposits.


Objectives Ambulance workers are exposed to high levels of emotional demands, which could affect sickness absence. Being a male dominated occupation, it is hypothesised that ambulance workers adhere to more traditional male role norms than men in other occupations. The aim is to investigate if adherence to traditional male role norms modifies the effect of emotional demands on sickness absence/presenteeism. Methods Data derive from MARS (Men, accidents, risk and safety), a two-wave panel study of ambulance workers and fire fighters in Denmark (n = 2585). Information was collected from questionnaires measuring emotional demands using COPSOQ and the Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI). The primary outcomes, self-reported absenteeism and presenteeism and mental health (SF-12) are analysed using Linear and Poisson regressions. Results Emotional demands were associated with higher levels of sickness absenteeism and presenteeism, and poor mental health (p<0.01 in all cases). Subgroup analyses showed no differences in the effect of emotional demands on sickness absence, whereas the subgroup with low MRNI-score showed relatively stronger associations between emotional demands and presenteeism. Additional analysis showed that participants with high MRNI-score were more affected by emotional demands in terms of their mental health than participants with lower MRNI-score. Conclusions The study confirms the association between emotional demands and absenteeism, and furthermore showed that the effect of emotional demands on mental health varies according to adherence to traditional male role norms. The presentation will furthermore include results from prospective analyses on not-yet collected follow-up data on absenteeism taken from a national register.


In the paper we deal with problems of the relation of leisure time and health. Based on the research done using a method of standa rdized leading dialogue, data were evaluated and interpreted with regard to probl em solving.  e main problem was a question about mutual in€ uence and cooperati on of categories of leisure time and health, which was put to respondents aged  ' een and older


The repair of road pavement and manhole has been resulted long construction times and traffic jams, environmental pollution from construction wastes, and budget waste due to excessive construction costs. In order to resolve such problems, we have developed the new construction method using C-ring, which can fix and raise the manhole securely. This technology is the method by driving in a wedge after inserting C-ring and expanding it in order to raise manhole to the regular height. This has been approved by the test reports of KOLAS(Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme), and was confirmed safety, durability and reliabilty in result. In this paper we approved this technology was able to short working times to around 20% and construction costs to around 50% with compare other construction methods. Also, environmental pollution and civil complaints will be prevented because there will be no longer any noises, vibrations, dust, or construction wastes.


In 1950, Otto Pollak claimed in his book the criminality of women, that female offenders were preferentially treated in a criminal justice system dominated by men and thus characterised by male notions of chivalry. Pollak presumed that offending women were placed on pedestals, treated gallantly and protected from punishment, with the result that their criminal activity was less likely to be detected, reported, prosecuted, or sentenced harshly. Since Pollak, the question of gender difference in judicial processing has undergone extensive international scrutiny. After more than five decades of research, discussion and debate, what can we now say about Pollak's claim. Do women, in comparison to men, receive different judicial outcomes and, if so, is this 'fair', 'just' or 'legitimate'? To answer these questions, this paper begins by briefly summarising both international and national research that has considered the issue of gender difference in criminal court outcomes, particularly sentencing and remand. The ramifications of these research findings are then considered with reference to ongoing feminist debates surrounding issues of gender equality, equity and difference.


Modern software development is a team-based effort supported by tools, processes, and practices. One integral part is automated testing, where developers incorporate automated tests on multiple levels of system abstraction, from low-level unit tests to high-level system tests and Graphical User Interface (GUI) tests. Furthermore, the common practices of code reviews allow collaboration on artifacts based on discussions that improve the artifact's quality and to share information within the team. However, the characteristics of GUI-based tests, due to the level of abstraction and visual elements, introduce additional requirements and complexities compared to code or lower-level test code review, delimiting the practice benefits.The objective of this work is to propose a tool-supported workflow that enables active collaboration among stakeholders and improves the efficiency and effectiveness of team-based development of GUI-based tests.To evaluate the workflow, and show proof of concept, a technical demonstrator for merging of GUI-based tests was to be developed. However, during its development, we encountered several unforeseen challenges that forced us to halt its development. We report the negative results from this development and the main challenges we encountered, as well as the rationale and the decisions we took towards this workflow.In conclusion, this work presents a negative research result on a failed attempt to propose a tool-supported workflow that enables active collaboration on GUI-based tests. The outcome and learnings of this work are intended to guide future research and prevent researchers from falling into the same pitfalls we did.


Background: Use of enhanced recovery pathways (ERPs) can improve patient outcomes, yet national implementation of these pathways remains low. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ; funder), the American College of Surgeons, and the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patent Safety and Quality have developed the Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery—a national effort to catalyze implementation of practices to improve perioperative care and enhance recovery of surgical patients. This review synthesizes evidence that can be used to develop a protocol for elective total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA). Study Design: This review focuses on potential components of the protocol relevant to surgeons; anesthesia components are reported separately. Components were identified through review of existing pathways and from consultation with technical experts. For each, a structured review of MEDLINE identified systematic reviews, randomized trials, and observational studies that reported on these components in patients undergoing elective TKA/THA. This primary evidence review was combined with existing clinical guidelines in a narrative format. Results: Sixteen components were reviewed. Of the 10 preoperative components, most were focused on risk factor assessment including anemia, diabetes mellitus, tobacco use, obesity, nutrition, immune-modulating therapy, and opiates. Preoperative education, venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis, and bathing/Staphylococcus aureus decolonization were also included. The routine use of drains was the only intraoperative component evaluated. The 5 postoperative components included early mobilization, continuous passive motion, extended duration VTE prophylaxis, early oral alimentation, and discharge planning. Conclusion: This review synthesizes the evidence supporting potential surgical components of an ERP for elective TKA/THA. The AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery aims to guide hospitals and surgeons in identifying the best practices to implement in the surgical care of TKA and THA patients.


The objective of this thesis is to comprehend the complexity of the underlying basis of acupuncture. Acupuncture needling is investigated in order to establish a multiscale model that takes into account the complexity of biology but is mathematically simple enough to run simulations.Acupuncture is one of the oldest practices in the history of medicine and is the core of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Once needles are inserted in the right locations, called acupoints, they are manipulated via manual needling to stimulate the acupoint. The physiological reactions of acupuncture needling lead to therapeutic effects which can be explained by a series of interactions between the skin and the nervous, the endocrine, and the immune systems.In the present work, the thrusting and lifting of an acupuncture needle inserted in subcutaneous connective tissue is modeled. A porous media model is used to run simulations and compute the pressure and shear stress affecting the organization of fibers and of isolated cells in their matrix. A mathematical model was conceived to take into account cell signaling. There is ample evidence that needle manipulation in acupuncture can cause degranulation of mastocytes directly through a physical stress to occur. Activated mastocytes rapidly release granules containing chemical mediators. These chemical mediators play a key role recruiting mastocytes in their environment and are known to affect the excitability of nerve endings as well as local microcirculation permeability and size for the appropriate transfer of long-term acting endocrine signals. The process is sustained by the recruitment of mastocytes through chemotaxis.


This report describes the background, and related theories, results and reflections based on a research - innovation (R&I) model comprising multi-stakeholder co-creative workshops. The resulting new concepts, solutions and prototypes produced in a short limited time-scale are extraordinary compared to the outcome of standard research and innovation approaches. The developed prototypes and work-processes and the performed R&I model have in a positive way changed attitudes among many key stakeholders, leading to the start of new R&D programs pushing development of citizen centric services towards building a foundation for "positive living areas".


Recent clinical trials have moved iodine‐131 (I‐131) metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) therapy into frontline management of high‐risk neuroblastoma. With this expansion, it is reasonable to anticipate the need for intensive care level resuscitations. Radiation exposure remains the greatest risk to health care professionals managing these patients. We combined shock simulation scenario data with actual radiation dosimetry data to create a care model allowing for aggressive, prolonged in situ resuscitation of a critically ill pediatric patient after I‐131 MIBG administration. This model will maintain a critical care provider's radiation level below 10% of the annual occupational dose limit (5 mSv, 500 mrem) per patient managed.


From the world's most comprehensive parrot collection (see Watchbird Vol. 32 No. 1) has grown a conservation organisation of immense importance worldwide. The Loro Parque Foundation (LPF) was founded in 1994 as a non-profi t, non-governmental organisation to assist the conservation of threatened and endangered parrots. At that time 95 species out of the approximate total of 330 were at risk of extinction. Since then LPF has directed the equivalent of about $2.7 million to save species and their habitats. How this has been achieved will be the subject of my third article. In this article I will describe how the parrots themselves have been responsible for raising much of this funding. Approximately US$560,000 has already been allocated for conservation projects in 2005. It all started in 1994 when ownership of all the parrots in Loro Parque, Tenerife, and in the breeding centre were transferred to the Foundation. This was an enormous commitment that has probably benefi ted parrot conservation more than any other single act. One of its major sources of income is derived from the sale of the young raised in the Foundation's breeding centre. It had been the ambition of Wolfgang Kiessling, founder of the park and president of the Foundation, that it should have the finest parrotbreeding facility in the world. Opened in 1998, the new facility is located a few kilometres south of Loro Parque, 200m (650ft)above sea level. Covering an area of 30,000 sq metres (7.4 acres) it houses approximately 2,600 parrots; the number can vary by 300 either way according to the time of year. At the end of 2004 they represented the unprecedented total of exactly 350 species and sub-species. the young birds that are maturing, are like a Noah's Ark of parrots. Virtually all parrots known in aviculture are here, some represented by multi-generations going back at least to the 1980s. Exceptions include four Australian species that are not held legally outside their native country: the three smallest lorikeets and the Glossy Cockatoo. In the breeding facility two distinct sections house parrots from different environments. One area is covered (high above the aviaries) in black mesh. This blocks out 50% of sunlight and is used to house species from rainforest; they need a darker and more humid environment. The second area has a ceiling of a light blue nylon mesh, suitable for housing parrots from more open areas, such as the Australian outback. The first priority is that the parrots should be kept in pleasant conditions. I must say that many people would like to live in such agreeable surroundings! The theme of dense planting, palm trees and fl owering shrubs, which characterises the park, is repeated here. One walks into a pleasant airy and green atmosphere of rows of aviaries, divided by banana plants, Scheffl era trees, flowering lilies and many other plants that provide a visual barrier between breeding pairs, plus shade and shelter. It is like a garden city, with the houses replaced by aviaries. In all there are about 1,200 aviaries and suspended cages, the latter being in the minority.


The first major attempt to employ the reflection method in California was made in 1931. The first results were disappointing, but by the early part of 1932 a prospect near Merced was successfully mapped. The correlation method was found to have limited applicability and the dip method was generally adopted. Most of the early work was performed with wide spacing of stations and lines since very close control was not considered necessary to discover the larger structural features which were then of greatest interest. As a result of this early reflection work several important oil fields were discovered among which are the Wilmington and Rio Bravo fields. A brief history of the discovery of these two fields is given and the seismic maps are compared with the later geologic maps compiled from well data.


FIELD: food industry. SUBSTANCE: method envisages recipe components preparation, whenever required - cutting, drying of vegetal raw materials specified in the method versions in a convective way till intermediate moisture content, maintenance under pressure during heating till the temperature is no lower than 100°C, depressurisation to atmospheric value with simultaneous swelling of vegetal raw materials, additional drying in microwave field till dry substances content is no less than 85% and glazing with solid vegetal fat, mixing of 3.2%-fat milk, sandwich butter, whole milk condensed with sugar, dry whole milk, dry cheese milk whey, sugar sand, wheat flour, vanillin and drinking water, pasteurisation, homogenisation, cooling, freezing, glazed vegetal raw materials introduction in the process of freezing, packing and hardening to produce the target product. EFFECT: ice cream is enriched with biologically active substances of vegetal raw materials and has unique organoleptic properties due to pop-corn consistency of vegetal raw materials introduced into the ice cream composition. 87 cl


OBJECTIVES
The present study was conducted to test the hypothesis that preshaped polylactic acid (PLA) implants loaded with recombinant human bone morphogenic protein 2 (rhBMP-2) can induce bone formation in a rat ectopic model.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Two groups of porous cylindrical poly-DL-lactic acid implants of 8-mm diameter were produced by gas foaming with CO(2), incorporating 48 and 96 microg rhBMP-2, respectively, into each implant. Blank PLA implants were used as controls. The release of BMPs and the induction of alkaline phosphatase were assessed in vitro. Osteoinduction in vivo was tested by insertion of 15 implants from each group into the gluteal muscles of Wistar rats. Five implants from each group were retrieved after 6, 13 and 26 weeks and assessed using flat panel volume detector computed tomography and light microscopy.

RESULTS
Both groups of implants showed increased release of rhBMP-2 during the first 24-48 h, with a slightly higher amount being released from the implants with 48 microg. Release during subsequent intervals was <100 ng/72 h in the low-concentration group and >100 ng in the group with 96 microg rhBMP-2. Implants with 95 microg rhBMP-2 exhibited bone formation in vivo on the outside of the implants across the observation period of 26 weeks with invasion of bone into the pores, whereas implants with 48 microg rhBMP-2 failed to induce the formation of bone tissue. No bone formation was found in the control implants.

CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that release rates of rhBMP-2 for ectopic bone induction have to be >100 ng/72 h to maintain the osteoinductive activity of the tested porous PLA implants. This slow release system may have impact on alveolar bone augmentation procedures when used as individually preformed osteoinductive implants.


With the rapid changes of world population, people are likely to come into contact with others with diverse backgrounds and experiences.  Accordingly, Thai graduates are often required to have intercultural communication skills. The skills are parts of professional communication skills that the students should be acquired so as to respond to employers' demand. As such, institutions are placing more consideration on intercultural communication competence (ICC). This study, therefore, aims to: 1) investigate teachers' perceptions of ICC; and 2) investigate how teachers integrated ICC into their classes/lessons. Six novice EFL teachers from Thai universities were interviewed. Then, the interview data was transcribed and grouped into themes. According to the findings, overall, the participants have various understanding of ICC. For the ICC's integration, participants' answers can be categorized into five main groups, which are: 1) intercultural attitudes, 2) knowledge, 3) skills of interpreting and relating, 4) skills of discovery and interaction, and 5) critical cultural awareness. This study shows the teachers' perceptions of ICC and how they could integrate ICC in classes. The results also reveal that the teachers are willing to intercorporate activities regarding ICC into their teaching contexts.  Pedagogical implications of this study are proposed. On the basis of these findings, the pedagogical implications and suggestions are included in this paper.


A serological survey was performed of 1788 cattle, goats and sheep on 13 islands in the Lesser Antilles. Sera were tested by microscopic agglutination (MAT) using a panel of 22 live antigens. Evidence of past exposure, at a titer of > or = 100, was found in 101 animals (5.6%). Antibodies were more common in cattle and goats (7.2% in each) than in sheep (1.7%). Seroprevalence was highest in cattle in Martinique (20%) and in goats in St. Vincent (23%). The predominant serogroups were Sejroe (largely confined to cattle in Martinique), Autumnalis, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Grippotyphosa, and Cynopteri. Eleven cattle from Martinique and 2 sheep with titers of > or = 800 showed evidence of recent infection.


Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is recommended to prevent the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Although an effective treatment, the uptake in the United States remains low. Pharmacists are well-positioned to initiate the conversation with patients about PrEP, but few studies exist exploring their unique roles. The objective of this study was to characterize Tennessee pharmacists' perceptions about access to PrEP. A qualitative study was used to gather the data that consisted of virtual Focus Groups over four months in 2021 from practicing Tennessee pharmacists. Emails were sent to all Tennessee licensed pharmacists to recruit them to participate in the study. Recruitment continued until Thematic Saturation was obtained. The corpus of data was audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by the research team. Thematic Analysis revealed two themes: (1) Barriers to accessing PrEP; (2) Potential solutions to address barriers identified. These findings highlighted barriers and identified solutions to improve access to PrEP in Tennessee; additional financial assistance programs and marketing programs targeting patients and providers are needed to enhance PrEP access.


Gelatin is a commonly used material for analog experiments in geophysics, investigating fluid-filled fracture propagation (e.g., magmatic dikes), as well as fault slip. Quantification of its physical properties, such as the Young's modulus, is important for scaling experimental results to nature. Traditional methods to do so are either time consuming or destructive and cannot be performed in situ. We present an optical measurement technique, using shear waves. Polarizing filters enable visualization of the deviatoric stresses in a block of gelatin, so shear wave propagation can be observed. We demonstrate how the wave velocity can be measured and related to the Young's modulus, show how the results are comparable to another methodology and discuss processing techniques that maximize the measurement precision. This methodology is useful for experimentalist, as it is simple to implement into a laboratory setting, can make precise, time-efficient estimates of the material strength and additionally is non-destructive and can be performed in situ.


The main approach behind the present numerical investigation is to estimate the air flow rate into the pipe through the louvers from the atmosphere. The present numerical investigation has been performed by solving conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy along with two equation-based k-ɛ models for a louvered horizontal cylindrical pipe by the finite volume method. The existing experimental results of a wall constraint jet have been matched with the numerical results. The numerical computations show that the air suction rate into the pipe increased with the increase in the louvers opening area and number of nozzles used. With all other parameters remain fixed, an optimum protrusion of the nozzle was found where the suction rate was found to be the highest for a given nozzle flow rate. It was also found from the numerical investigation that there exists an optimum pipe diameter corresponding to the three times of nozzle diameter where the maximum air suction rate was achieved.


Results from two surveys show that balanced science has had little impact on either student attitudes or A-level uptake. Causes of the fall away from Physics at A-level must be sought elsewhere.


This paper investigates how institutions in urban settings potentially identify, frame, and operationalise biodiversity conservation policies. It adopts the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD) to analyse a case study regarding the retention of ecologically mature trees in urban green space in Canberra, Australia. The research investigates; what are the structural and institutional arrangements that catalyze or inhibit biodiversity conservation in urban green space? Specifically, the IAD framework is applied to explore the institutional structures and the role of key decision-makers in the conservation and management of ecologically mature trees in urban green space. Ecologically mature trees represent an exclusive habitat for many species and are key structures for conserving biodiversity in urban settings. The results suggest the application of the IAD 'rules-in-use' analysis reveals that ecologically mature trees are inconsistently managed in Canberra, leading to conflicting approaches between institutions in managing urban biodiversity. It suggests that a more structured and replicable institutional analysis will help practitioners to empirically derive a more comprehensive understanding of the roles of institutions in supporting or inhibiting biodiversity conservation in urban settings. The research finds that developers, asset managers, and other stakeholders could benefit from explicitly mapping out the defined rules, norms and strategies required to negotiate economically, socially and environmentally achievable outcomes for biodiversity conservation in urban green space.


In light of today's competitive economy, flexibility has become increasingly important to our research and enterprise activity and we needed to be able to respond to peaks and troughs in demand. As our current permanent academic staffing base did not have the capacity to provide support to research activity, and to avoid lengthy recruitment processes when research funding is granted and immediate start-up of projects is required, we established a Research Pool (RP) to maintain a consistent resource of research assistance so that we could be reactive to the research and consultancy opportunities that were available to us. The RP has been in place since March 2012, successfully providing support to over 50 projects with a total of 7500 hours worked. They work alongside academic researchers to deliver support to a variety of client groups; analysing data, interpreting results, performing and transcribing individual and focus group interviews, literature reviews, data collection, design of databases and providing general research assistant support to projects. The RP can be drawn on for quick/short-term and long-term input to projects. This poster outlines how the RP was established and how it has provided essential support over a three year period. Key messages: How: To establish a Research Pool; A Research Pool operates; The Research Pool contributes to research activity.


Out-of-distribution (OOD) generalization is a critical ability for deep learning models in many real-world scenarios including healthcare and autonomous vehicles. Recently, different techniques have been proposed to improve OOD generalization. Among these methods, gradient-based regularizers have shown promising performance compared with other competitors. Despite this success, our understanding of the role of Hessian and gradient alignment in domain generalization is still limited. To address this shortcoming, we analyze the role of the classifier's head Hessian matrix and gradient in domain generalization using recent OOD theory of transferability. Theoretically, we show that spectral norm between the classifier's head Hessian matrices across domains is an upper bound of the transfer measure, a notion of distance between target and source domains. Furthermore, we analyze all the attributes that get aligned when we encourage similarity between Hessians and gradients. Our analysis explains the success of many regularizers like CORAL, IRM, V-REx, Fish, IGA, and Fishr as they regularize part of the classifier's head Hessian and/or gradient. Finally, we propose two simple yet effective methods to match the classifier's head Hessians and gradients in an efficient way, based on the Hessian Gradient Product (HGP) and Hutchinson's method (Hutchinson), and without directly calculating Hessians. We validate the OOD generalization ability of proposed methods in different scenarios, including transferability, severe correlation shift, label shift and diversity shift. Our results show that Hessian alignment methods achieve promising performance on various OOD benchmarks. The code is available at \url{https://github.com/huawei-noah/Federated-Learning/tree/main/HessianAlignment}.