Axiomatic design and design structure matrix (DSM) are two popular design methods at the moment, while most related researches only apply the basic ideas of axiomatic design or DSM to some cases. This paper first analyses the disadvantages of both axiomatic design and DSM. After deep investigations, the paper then puts forward that there are strong complementarities between axiomatic design and DSM. Based on the complementarities between axiomatic design and DSM, it is proposed that axiomatic design's design matrix (DM) can be transformed into corresponding DSM for structural evaluation. In this way, axiomatic design and DSM can benefit from each other. The logic of integration between axiomatic design and DSM is interpreted in this paper. A computer aided conceptual design system has been developed to enable the integration of axiomatic design and DSM.


Dengue fever is a major public health threat, especially for countries in tropical climates. In order to investigate the spread of dengue fever in neighboring communities, an ordinary differential equation model is formulated based on two previous models of vector-borne diseases, one that specifically describes dengue fever transmission and another that incorporates movement of populations when describing malaria transmission. The resulting SIR/SI model is used to simulate transmission of dengue fever in neighboring communities of differing population size with particular focus on cities in Sri Lanka. Models representing connections between two communities and among three communities are investigated. Initial infection details and relative population size may affect the dynamics of disease spread. An outbreak in a highly populated area may spread somewhat more rapidly through that area as well as neighboring communities than an outbreak beginning in a nearby rural area.


Background: Compassion fatigue, or the physical, mental, and emotional state experienced by professionals that assist others in distress, has been well documented in several caring professions such as nurses, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians. Until the current study, it has only rarely been examined in police samples despite their high rates of stress and suicide which is a likely result of a depletion of compassion satisfaction, or the pleasure an officer gets from relating to and helping others. Aim: This study documents findings from an ongoing study of compassion fatigue amongst a sample of US urban police officers which suggests the possibility of a future risk for high burnout. Conclusion: Very low levels of compassion fatigue were found in the sampled police officers in comparison to what would be expected from the general population. Where compassion fatigue was found in the sampled police, it was significantly correlated to the level of compassion satisfaction. A potential cause for concern is that the incidence of levels of reported compassion satisfaction were also low in the sample (in the bottom quartile compared to the general population). This suggests a possibility of higher numbers of burnout in the future given the role of compassion satisfaction as a buffer against compassion fatigue in policing.


This paper presents a theoretical discussion conceptualising some of the problems evident in analysing patterns of
crime and disorder on public transport, and the environments within which such crimes occur. The public transport
system is a multifaceted arena, with a complex interaction of settings (buses, trains and trams), facilities (stops,
stations and interchanges) and users (staff and passengers). The design of these facilities, and the internal (inside a
vehicle) and external (that a vehicle traverses) environments may all influence the level of crime experienced on the
system. Thus, examining the manifestation of crime on public transport systems becomes a highly complex process.
Current methods of crime analysis focus on 'static' crime events with a precise location (x,y co-ordinate). However
on public transport crime may occur on a moving vehicle (non-static), and it is difficult to define a single location
for this. For the purposes of analysis, it is contended that non-static crimes have a location, between two points and
two times, represented as a single snapshot of time. Thus, in addition to analysing static crime events (points and
areas), attention should also be focussed on how to analyse non-static (linear) crime events. Two possible
techniques for such analysis are presented, alongside a discussion of the difficulties in collecting accurate and
consistent data on crime on public transport. It is anticipated that an increase in the availability of such data will
enable future empirical testing of the ideas presented.


Title of Document: HIGH FREQUENCY GENERATION FROM CARBON NANOTUBE FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS USED AS PASSIVE MIXERS Andrew Jacob Tunnell, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Directed By: Professor Ellen D. Williams, Department of Physics The high mobilities, low capacitances (due to small sizes), and high current densities of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNT FETs) make them valid candidates for high frequency applications. The high cost of high frequency measurement equipment has been the largest hurdle to observing CNT transistor behavior at frequencies above 50 GHz. One economic solution to this barrier is to use an external harmonic mixer to convert high frequency signals to lower frequencies where they can be detected by a standard spectrum analyzer. By using this detection method, a new regime of high frequency CNT FET behavior is available for study. In this dissertation, we describe the design and fabrication of CNT FETs on quartz substrates using aligned arrays of CNTs as the device channel. The nonlinear input voltage to output drain current behavior of the devices is explained and approximated to the first order by using a Taylor expansion. For the high frequency mixing experiments, two input voltages of different frequencies are sourced on the gate of the devices without any device biasing. The input frequencies are limited to 100 kHz to 40 GHz by the signal generators used. The nonlinearities of the fabricated CNT FETs cause the input frequencies to be mixed together, even in the absence of a source-drain bias (passive mixing). The device output is the drain current, which contains sum and difference products of the input frequencies. By using an external harmonic mixer in combination with a spectrum analyzer to measure the drain current, output frequencies from 75 to 110 GHz can be observed. Up to 11 th order mixing products are detected, due to the low noise floor of the spectrum analyzer. Control devices are also measured in the same experimental setup to ensure that the measured output signals are generated by the CNTs. The cutoff frequencies from previous passive mixing experiments predict that our devices should stop operating near 13 GHz, however our measurement setup extends and overcomes these cutoffs, and the generation of high frequency output signals is directly observed up to 110 GHz. This is the highest output frequency observed in CNT devices to date. HIGH FREQUENCY GENERATION FROM CARBON NANOTUBE FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS USED AS PASSIVE MIXERS


The present work analyzes the hydrologic conditions leading to the triggering
of debris flows in an alpine region. The overall analysis has been split in two parts: the first part of the analysis has been carried out at a regional and decadal scale to improve our knowledge of rainfall thresholds for debris-flow occurrences, of the uncertainty related to rainfall estimation at debris-flow initiation sites, and of the main morphometric characteristics of debris-flow triggering locations; in the second part a focus has been devoted to the analysis of the hydrologic response of some watersheds for a selection of events with the help of detailed input information, both topographic and hydrological. The study area is upper Adige River basin (Northern Italy), which occupies a distinctive hydrometeorological niche, characterized by high frequency of orographic thunderstorms.
The first part of the thesis analyzes the debris-flow triggering issue at regional and decadal-scale (2000-2010). A morphometric characterization of debris-flow triggering locations has been carried out in terms of slope-area analysis. The characterization was carried out dividing considered debris flows in classes of rainfall duration, rainfall intensity and considering also the potential relation with the different geologic settings. Another issue under investigation is related to rainfall threshold estimation (from raingauges network) for debris-flow occurrence and the uncertainty related to this estimation. First, a set of rainfall thresholds has been derived adopting a frequentist approach. The rainfall estimation procedure used for threshold identification was based on two major sources: records from the nearest gauge and an Inverse Distance interpolation of all the available records at regional and decadal scale. Thresholds have been analyzed considering all the available points and also trying to group debris-flow occurrences according to seasonal occurrence, different storm characteristics and homogeneous geologic setting. The level of uncertainty related to rainfall threshold estimation has been analyzed in detail The estimation problem is especially severe for the location of the debris flows, with raingauges that are commonly located at low elevation (e.g., in the valley floors) and debris flows that originate at high elevations, in the head part of the mountain catchments. The rainfall estimation procedure used for the uncertainty assessment, is the one based on the nearest raingauge, which is used as a proxy to estimate the rainfall that has resulted in debris flows. The objective is to investigate the impact of the uncertainty inherent in the estimation of rainfall on the definition of a threshold for possible debris-flow occurrence, and on the operational use of the threshold for prediction purposes. These effects are likely to depend on two factors: the space-time rainfall variability and the distances between the debris-flow locations and the raingauges on both the horizontal and the vertical planes. Three main problems are considered: (i) the effect of the rainfall sampling problem on the estimation of the parameters of the threshold model, (ii) the effect of applying a number of procedures to filter the rainfall information on the threshold model estimation, and (iii) the examination of the impact of the precipitation sampling problem on the performance of the threshold as a predictor of debris-flow occurrence. These aspects are examined here based on a simulation experiment. The methodology examines the intensity-duration thresholds derived from a set of raingauge locations that is assumed to represent debris flow/landslide points (DFR) and an equivalent set of raingauges assumed to have the role of closest available measurement (MR). A set of reference rainfall thresholds is used to identify the rainfall events at DFR that "triggered debris flows (i.e. exceed the threshold). For these same events, the corresponding rainfall thresholds are derived from MR observations. Comparison between the rainfall thresholds derived from DFR and MR, revealed that uncertainty in rainfall estimation has a major impact on estimated intensity-duration thresholds. Specifically, results showed that thresholds estimated from MR observations are consistently underestimated. Evaluation of the estimated thresholds for warning procedures, showed that while detection is high, the main issue is the high false alarm ratio, which limits the overall accuracy of the procedure. Overall performance on debris-flow prediction was shown to be good for low rainfall thresholds and poor for high rainfall thresholds examined. Finally different interpolation techniques have been applied to a set of gauges close to the DFR to assess the eventual improvement brought by the interpolation procedure. Results on this showed that interpolation can improve estimates specifically in the case of poor DFR-MR correlation, while in the other cases, especially considering intense and/or localized storms, the benefits of considering interpolated value in respect to only one near gauge is not so significant.
In the second part of the thesis the hydrometeorological and hydrological controls of these events are examined through analyses of three storm systems occurred on October 3-4, 2006, June 20-21 2007 and September 3-4, 2009. The first storm system generated a moderate flash flood along the main streams with almost no debris flows in the tributaries, the second triggered a large number of debris flows and was characterized by a minor runoff response for the major streams, and the third resulted in both a relevant flash flood response and widespread debris flows. These events have been examined by using per-event calibrated radar rainfall data, providing an important input for the evaluation of a distributed hydrological model, and by using a database reporting location and information related to the events. Raingauge and streamflow data, debris flow spatial information and observations are used along with the distributed model to analyze the hydrological and geomorphic responses to these
rainstorms. The striking contrast in flood and geomorphic responses between the three floods is related to contrasts in the antecedent moisture conditions and in the space-time structure of the triggering storm. Rainfall-runoff modeling has permitted estimating discharge and runoff volumes in a number of small ungauged catchments in which debris-flow volumes had been assessed by means of post-event surveys. The computation of sediment concentration by volume using model-estimated water runoff has resulted in realistic values. The relations between water peak discharge and debris-flow volumes show higher correlation coefficients than those involving morphometric variables and rainfall amounts.


Widespread species found in disturbed habitats are often expected to be human commensals. In island systems, this association predicts that dispersal will be mediated by humans. We investigated the biogeographical relationships among populations of a widespread tree skink that inhabits coastal forest and human‐cultivated plantations in Southeast Asia. We sought to determine whether populations of the emerald tree skink, Lamprolepis smaragdina, dispersed via mechanisms that were not human‐mediated ('natural' dispersal) or whether dispersal was mediated by humans. The latter scenario predicts low levels of genetic differentiation across a species' range, coupled with a genetic signature of recent range expansion.


In this letter, we propose a new level-set-based energy functional for the purpose of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image segmentation into Gamma homogeneous regions. The segmentation of SAR images is a difficult problem due to the presence of speckles, which can be modeled as strong multiplicative noise. Our proposed energy functional is designed to get a stationary global minimum. As a result, the level set function that evolves by the Euler-Lagrange equation of the energy functional has a unique stationary convergence state. Moreover, it is easy to set a termination criterion on the curve evolution via a level set by using our energy functional. The experimental results on both synthetic and real SAR images demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.


Assessing visual similarity in-the-wild, a core ability of the human visual system, is a challenging problem for computer vision methods because of its subjective nature and limited annotated datasets. We make a stride forward, showing that visual similarity can be better studied by isolating its components. We identify color composition similarity as an important aspect and study its interaction with category-level similarity. Color composition similarity considers the distribution of colors and their layout in images. We create predictive models accounting for the global similarity that is beyond pixel-based and patch-based, or histogram level information. Using an active learning approach, we build a large-scale color composition similarity dataset with subjective ratings via crowd-sourcing, the first of its kind. We train a Siamese network using the dataset to create a color similarity metric and descriptors which outperform existing color descriptors. We also provide a benchmark for global color descriptors for perceptual color similarity. Finally, we combine color similarity and category level features for fine-grained visual similarity. Our proposed model surpasses the state-of-the-art performance while using three orders of magnitude less training data. The results suggest that our proposal to study visual similarity by isolating its components, modeling and combining them is a promising paradigm for further development.


During the 1960s large trenched expressways were introduced into our urban centres to accommodate the booming vehicular traffic.
These expressways were built on an enormous scale, often traversing entire cities. Unfortunately, some neighbourhoods have been
divided and now share a noxious physical boundary. The Vine Street Expressway in Philadelphia, the Cross Bronx Expressway in
New York and the Decarie Expressway in Montreal are examples of such thoroughfares. They are noisy, polluted and uninspiring spaces. The auto-centric mindset with which these expressways were designed with is being challenged. A desire to make cities more sustainable, healthy and accessible for their citizens is emerging. Given the decreased mobility issues that would arise if these structures were to be completely eliminated, it is necessary to explore
architectural solutions to remedy the destructive effects these massive
artefacts have on the urban fabric. Through surgical interventions along the Decarie Expressway in Montreal, I will investigate
realistic if slightly optimistic solutions in which we can foster a symbiotic relationship between these massive trenched urban vehicular infrastructures and the surrounding urban space. The large scale of
interventions allows for the exploration of the inherent possibilities for
expressive structural bridging solutions over the expressway, new
configurations of urban public space by utilizing the captured space
over the infrastructural thoroughfare and a productive urban fabric which begins to address the potential of a hybrid urbanism of the twenty first century.


The purpose of this paper is to study the equilibrium real exchange rate (ERER) in 5 CEE transition economies, namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. In so doing, we combine the fundamental equilibrium exchange rate (FEER) approach developed by Williamson (1994) with the behavioural equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) approach advocated by Clark and MacDonald (1998). Our analysis is based on the theoretical model proposed by Montiel (1999) which defines internal balance in terms of the relative price of nontradables and determines external balance in terms of net foreign assets. The empirical part of the paper consists in estimating a VAR-based 3-equation cointegration system. Long-term equilibrium values for relative prices are determined by using relative productivity and private consumption, while the current account, representing external balance, is linked to terms of trade and openness ([X+M]/GDP). In order to derive the ERER and then to compute total misalignment, we finally substitute the long-run values for external and internal balances in the simultaneously estimated cointegration relationship connecting the RER with relative prices and the current account. Results show that the gap between observed real exchange rate developments and the path of the equilibrium real exchange rate differs substantially among the 5 transition countries.


Square lighting poles with sharp or round corners have been observed to exhibit large amplitude oscillations with a frequency that is near that of their first mode. This frequency is one order of magnitude lower than that of the vortex shedding frequency for the observed wind speeds. As such, lock-in resonance between the vortex shedding and the poles motions has been ruled out as the cause of these oscillations. In this work, numerical simulations of flows over square cylinders with different aspect ratios and cross-sectional shapes have been carried out to explore and quantify low-frequency variations of the aerodynamic forces and their sources. The results show that low-frequency components are a basic aspect of the flow over finite length cylinders and are associated with the three-dimensional flow characteristics near the free end of the cylinder. This aspect is related to the loss of synchronization of the vortex shedding which, in turn, results in variations of the mean drag coefficient along the cylinder. This ability to numerically simulate the flow over a lighting pole and detailed results, as presented here, could be used to overcome wind tunnel test limitations imposed by the size of the test section and blockage ratio, and of meeting geometric similarity requirements for high aspect ratio configurations. Consequently, results from such simulations could play an important role in improving code specifications which, to date, have been based on wind tunnel simulations.


Again Erikson is giving the "Zeitgeist" its due: all his writings are pervaded by heavy draughts of actuality. Thus, "Zeitgeist" was midwife to his latest book, Insight and Responsibility , as it must be to all relevant statements. Physicists, as Oppenheimer put it, have "known sin" and it came to them in dramatic fashion. But so did psychoanalysts and possibly most behavioral scientists have knowledge that rests heavily on their soul, antithetically to its supposed liberating effect. Anatol Rapoport just published Strategy and Conscience , a critique of rationalism undiluted as a guide to those who guide our destiny. Another, and to psychiatry much more relevant event, is a project by a group of workers in political science, sociology, and psychiatry to gather, sift, examine, and evaluate the evidence of the social and ethical impact psychiatric activity has had on the American scene in the 1960's. So the search into the


This study advances theory and practice by developing a five-stage Supply Chain Resilience (SCRES) building model and clarifying how Supply Chain Integration (SCI) supports SCRES in relation to natural disasters. The study employs a case-study research design and relies on structural-contingency theory. It identifies three main performance indicators of successful SCRES building and provides strong guidance for unified SCRES measure development. Finally, among other findings, the government is recognised as an important stakeholder and trust is inductively captured as important for SCRES building.


The presence of angels among early-stage financiers of new technology-based firms should improve chances of eventual venture capital financing. Reasons to expect that firms with private investment would have easier access to venture capital are discussed. This study presents findings that support this expectation. A total of 57% of the firms that had received private investor financing had also received financing from institutional venture capitalists; only 10% of firms that had not received angel financing obtained venture capital. Angel investor financing was a significant explanatory variable (among others) of differences between venture capital recipients and firms that had not received venture capital. It would appear that angels help firms to become more ready for future stages of investment by, among other contributions, being closely involved with the firms in which they invest. They usually provide advice and networking opportunities. They also serve on Boards of Directors and Advisors, and provide hands-on assistance and business intelligence. Angels also fulfill an important accreditation role. Overall, this study provides empirical support for the expectation that involvement of angels can substantially increase the attractiveness of firms to institutional venture capitalists.


Electrophysiological techniques were used to determine the electrical properties of the collecting duct (CD) cell in the isolated cortical collecting duct from obstructed (UUOOK) and contralateral (UUOCK) kidneys in rabbits 24 h after unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO); results were compared with those from sham-operated kidneys. The lumen-negative transepithelial voltage and the basolateral membrane voltage (VB) were decreased in the UUOOK, and increased in the UUOCK. The transepithelial conductance (GT) was decreased in parallel with an increase in the fractional apical membrane resistance (fRA) and a decrease in apical membrane conductance in the UUOOK. By contrast, the GT was increased in parallel with increases in apical and basolateral membrane conductances in the UUOCK. The amiloride-sensitive changes in apical membrane voltage (VA), GT and fRA were lower in the UUOOK, but greater in the UUOCK. The changes in VA and GT upon raising the perfusate K+ concentration and upon addition of luminal Ba2+ were decreased in the UUOOK, and increased in the UUOCK. Addition of ouabain to the bath resulted in a smaller depolarization of VB in the UUOOK, but in a greater depolarization in the UUOCK. Upon lowering bath Cl-, the change in basolateral membrane electromotive force (delta EMF) was increased in the UUOOK, and decreased in the UUOCK. Reversely, upon raising bath K+, the delta EMF was decreased in the UUOOK, and increased in the UUOCK. We conclude: (a) the conductances of Na+ and K+ in the apical membrane, and active Na(+)-K+ pump activity and relative K+ conductance in the basolateral membrane are decreased in the UUOOK, and increased in the UUOCK; (b) the relative basolateral membrane Cl- conductance was increased in the UUOOK, and decreased in the UUOCK.


As Napoleon prepared for his journey to the island of Elba in the spring of 1814, his young aide-decamp, Anatole de Montesquiou-Fezensac, begged to share in his idol's exile. Just a week or so prior, Sosthènes de La Rochefoucauld gathered a mob to topple the statue of Napoleon from atop the Colonne Vendôme. Yet, Sosthènes and Anatole, first cousins and three years apart in age, did not let their partisan political identities break their family bond. This paper will use the example of these two men and their relatives to explore the familial and class connections that continued to bind members of the old French nobility. For the Montesquious and La Rochefoucaulds the cataclysmic social and political changes of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries did not sever the pre-existing bonds of blood and class.


Using time-resolved ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy we investigated the electron-lattice energy transfer in small copper nanospheres with diameters ranging from 3.2 to 23 nm, either embedded in a glass or dispersed in a solvent. Electron-lattice scattering rate is shown to increase with size reduction, in agreement with our previous results obtained on gold and silver nanoparticles in the low excitation regime. We attribute this effect to the reduction of the screening efficiency of electron–phonon interactions close to the nanoparticle surface. To understand the discrepancy between the results on the electron-lattice scattering in different metals reported in the literature (reduction, no dependence or increase with nanoparticle size), we discuss the experimental conditions required for the accurate determination of electron-lattice energy transfer time from time-resolved investigations in the weak and strong excitation regimes and present power-dependent experiments on gold nanospheres in solution. Our findings are derived from a theoretical analysis based on the two-temperature model predictions and on a complete modeling of the nanoparticle transient extinction cross-section through the resolution of Boltzmann equation in the presence of hot electrons.


Simple, short, and compact hashtags cover a wide range of information on social networks. Although many works in the field of natural language processing (NLP) have demonstrated the importance of hashtag recommendation, hashtag recommendation for images has barely been studied. In this paper, we introduce the HARRISON dataset, a benchmark on hashtag recommendation for real world images in social networks. The HARRISON dataset is a realistic dataset, composed of 57,383 photos from Instagram and an average of 4.5 associated hashtags for each photo. To evaluate our dataset, we design a baseline framework consisting of visual feature extractor based on convolutional neural network (CNN) and multi-label classifier based on neural network. Based on this framework, two single feature-based models, object-based and scene-based model, and an integrated model of them are evaluated on the HARRISON dataset. Our dataset shows that hashtag recommendation task requires a wide and contextual understanding of the situation conveyed in the image. As far as we know, this work is the first vision-only attempt at hashtag recommendation for real world images in social networks. We expect this benchmark to accelerate the advancement of hashtag recommendation.


Understanding the employment dynamics of disadvantaged families is increasingly important. We estimate duration models describing these dynamics for disadvantaged single mothers and use them to conduct a rich set of counterfactual analyses. We use a misreporting model to correct for "seam bias," the problem that too many transitions are reported between reference periods in panel data. We find effects of demographics, minimum wages, unemployment rates, and maximum welfare benefits, but not policy changes introduced through state welfare waivers, on employment dynamics. We find that two commonly used ad hoc methods of addressing seam bias perform substantially worse than our approach.


Objectives: Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) is a nonsurgical therapy for the arrest and pre- vention of dental caries with demonstrated clinical efficacy. Approximately 20% of children receiving SDF fail to respond to treatment. The objective of this study was to develop a pre- dictive model of treatment nonresponse using machine learning. Methods: An observational pilot study (N=20) consisting of children with and without active decay and who did and did not respond to silver diamine fluoride provided salivary samples and plaque from infected and contralateral sites. 16S rRNA genes from samples were amplified and sequenced on an Illu- mina Miseq and analyzed using QIIME. The association between operational taxonomic units and treatment nonresponse was assessed using lasso regression and artificial neural networks. Results: Bivariate group comparisons of bacterial abundance indicate a number of genera were significantly different between nonresponders and those who responded to SDF therapy. No dif- ferences were found between nonresponders and caries-active subjects. Prevotella pallens and Veillonella denticariosi were retained in full lasso models and combined with clinical variables in a six-input multilayer perceptron. Discussion: The acidogenic and acid-tolerant nature of retained bacterial species may overcome the antimicrobial effects of SDF. Further research to validate the model in larger external samples is needed.


R. A. SHARPE. Validity and the paradox of confirmation. The philosophical quarterly (St. Andrews), vol. 14 (1964), pp. 170-173. In stating the paradox the author writes "we may conclude that a white shoe confirms the hypothesis 'All crows are black,' or more precisely, the statement 'This white shoe is not a crow' confirms the hypothesis 'All crows are black' . . . [But] 'This white shoe is not a crow' reflects ordinary usage and is therefore analytically true in natural languages." Hence it is necessary, and the paradox is dissolved because " Necessary statements do not confirm factual generalizations." DAVID KAPLAN


1. The description and analysis of animal behaviour over long periods of time is one of the most important challenges in ecology. However, most of these studies are limited due to the time and cost required by human observers. The collection of data via video recordings allows observation periods to be extended. However, their evaluation by human observers is very time-consuming. Progress in automated evaluation, using suitable deep learning methods, seems to be a forwardlooking approach to analyse even large amounts of video data in an adequate time frame. 2. In this study we present amulti-step convolutional neural network system for detecting animal behaviour states, which works with high accuracy. An important aspect of our approach is the introduction of model averaging and post-processing rules to make the system robust to outliers. 3. Our trained system achieves an in-domain classification accuracy of >0.92, which is improved to >0.96 by a postprocessing step. In addition, the whole system performs even well in an out-of-domain classification task with two unknown types, achieving an average accuracy of 0.93. We provide our system at https://github.com/Klimroth/Video-Action-Classifier-for-African-Ungulates-in-Zoos/tree/main/mrcnn_based so that interested users can train their own models to classify images and conduct behavioural studies of wildlife. 4. The use of a multi-step convolutional neural network for fast and accurate classification of wildlife behaviour facilitates the evaluation of large amounts of image data in ecological studies and reduces the effort of manual analysis of images to a high degree. Our system also shows that post-processing rules are a suitable way to make species-specific adjustments and substantially increase the accuracy of the description of single behavioural phases (number, duration). The results in the out-of-domain classification strongly suggest that our system is robust and achieves a high degree of accuracy even for new species, so that other settings (e.g. field studies) can be considered.


The extraordinary network challenges presented by high energy nuclear and particle physics experiments has created a need for network monitoring both to understand present performance and to allocate resources to optimize performance between laboratories, and the universities and institutes collaborating on present and future experiments. The resulting Internet end-to-end performance monitoring project is called PingER. The monitoring infrastructure reflects the wide geographical spread of the collaborations, and involves a large number of research and commercial networks. The architecture of the data acquisition and methodology of the analysis have evolved over several years, and are described here in their present state. The strengths and weaknesses of the project are reviewed, and the derived metrics are discussed in terms of their diagnostic functions. The observed short-term effects and long-term trends are reviewed, and plans for future developments are described.


In this paper, we propose a new multivariate Laplace distribution from normal variance mixture models, called as Type II multivariate Laplace distribution. Unlike the original multivariate Laplace distribution whose all components must have the same value for the mixing variate, the random components in the new distribution could have different value for its own mixing variate and are correlated only through the dependence structure of the normal random vector. Thus, it contains the multiplication of independently identical distribution univariate Laplace distributions as a special case if the normal covariance matrix is diagonal. A tractable stochastic representation is used to derive the probability density function and other statistical properties. The maximum likelihood estimates of parameters via an ECM (expectation/conditional maximization) algorithm and the Bayesian methods are derived. Some simulation studies are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed methods. Applications in two real data sets indicate that the Type II multivariate Laplace distribution could have a better performance and is distinct from the original one.


BACKGROUND
The neurological prognosis of asphyxia is poor and the effect of advanced airway management (AAM) in the prehospital setting remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the association between AAM with adrenaline injection and prognosis in adult patients with asystole asphyxia out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).

METHODS
This study assessed all-Japan Utstein cohort registry data between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2019. We used propensity score matching analyses before logistic regression analysis to evaluate the effect of AAM on favorable neurological outcome.

RESULTS
There were 879,057 OHCA cases, including 70,299 cases of asphyxia OHCAs. We extracted the data of 13,642 cases provided with adrenaline injection by emergency medical service. We divided 7,945 asphyxia OHCA cases in asystole into 5,592 and 2,353 with and without AAM, respectively. After 1:1 propensity score matching, 2,338 asphyxia OHCA cases with AAM were matched with 2,338 cases without AAM. Favorable neurological outcome was not significantly different between the AAM and no AAM groups (adjusted odds ratio: 1.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.5-2.5). However, the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (adjusted odds ratio: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.5-1.9) and 1-month survival were improved in the AAM groups (adjusted odds ratio: 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1-1.9).

CONCLUSIONS
AAM with adrenaline injection for patients with asphyxia OHCA in asystole was associated with improved ROSC and 1-month survival rate but showed no differences in neurologically favorable outcome. Further prospective studies may comprehensively evaluate the effect of AAM for patients with asphyxia.


The rising average age of passengers, the chronic illnesses that passengers suffer from and the stress of flying are just some of the factors that contribute to emergencies in flight. Passengers at risk are those with heart or respiratory problems. Cardiopulmonary arrest, burns and gastrointestinal problems are the main reasons for first aid. The purpose of this review is to present the most common emergency health problems that may occur during a flight, as well as the first aid equipment available on the aircraft. To achieve this goal, a literature review of articles related to this field in Pubmed and Google Scholar databases was carried out in the period 2010-2020.
Most conditions are treated by the crew with a simple painkiller. However, there are more complex conditions that require a different treatment, such as oxygen administration to patients with respiratory problems. In some cases, medical advice and assistance is sought from passengers who are healthcare professionals. Some companies require crews to be trained and certified every two years for the use of automated external defibrillators, as well as cardiopulmonary resuscitation. All aircrafts have an emergency medical kit with a limited number of drugs and universal precaution kit in cases where there is a risk of communicable disease. Due to the spread of COVID-19, the World Health Organization has issued specific guidelines for both protecting crews from the virus and treating a passenger who may have been infected with the virus.


SIR,-In your leading article on "Birth weight" (9 July, p 79) you state that obstetricians, paediatricians, and mothers "are increasingly concerned about the quality rather than the quantity of children." I have always considered this overworked phrase to be the rather silly and empty-headed catch cry of women's lib and the Family Planning Association, but when it comes from the BMJ it gives me pause and makes me wonder if my judgment was too peremptory. Could you please explain for your less enlightened readers exactly what you mean ? I can understand that if one has £x to spend one could choose one Rolls-Royce rather than five cheaper cars (pace British Leyland), but when it comes to human beings how is the fashionable two-child family of higher quality than a six-child one ? Or, if parents have two high-quality children and then unpatriotically add a few more, does the quality of the original fortunate siblings gradually decline ? I cannot see how in human affairs quality and quantity are mutually exclusive-unless one has the temerity to observe that, in general, the poor have more children than the rich. There ought by now to be experimental evidence to show that the offspring in modern two-child families are of higher quality than those of the less pessimistic prewar days. To my simple observation the proof of your proposition is completely lacking; but its frequent restatement does harm to the confidence of parents and even to the nation itself.


The major mechanism for generating diversity of neuronal connections beyond their genetic determination is the activity-dependent stabilization and selective elimination of the initially overproduced synapses [Changeux JP, Danchin A (1976) Nature 264:705–712]. The largest number of supranumerary synapses has been recorded in the cerebral cortex of human and nonhuman primates. It is generally accepted that synaptic pruning in the cerebral cortex, including prefrontal areas, occurs at puberty and is completed during early adolescence [Huttenlocher PR, et al. (1979) Brain Res 163:195–205]. In the present study we analyzed synaptic spine density on the dendrites of layer IIIC cortico–cortical and layer V cortico–subcortical projecting pyramidal neurons in a large sample of human prefrontal cortices in subjects ranging in age from newborn to 91 y. We confirm that dendritic spine density in childhood exceeds adult values by two- to threefold and begins to decrease during puberty. However, we also obtained evidence that overproduction and developmental remodeling, including substantial elimination of synaptic spines, continues beyond adolescence and throughout the third decade of life before stabilizing at the adult level. Such an extraordinarily long phase of developmental reorganization of cortical neuronal circuitry has implications for understanding the effect of environmental impact on the development of human cognitive and emotional capacities as well as the late onset of human-specific neuropsychiatric disorders.


We describe the design, fabrication, and characterization of high-reflectivity broadband mirrors operating in the near-infrared (700-1000 nm) wavelength range. The mirrors consist of 1-D and 2-D subwavelength resonant gratings (SWGs) fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. A very good agreement between numerical and experimental results is obtained. The mirror response can be tailored by adjusting the geometrical parameters of the gratings, with the grating period as the main parameter. The optimized mirrors reflect strongly (> 95%) over a fractional optical bandwidth Δλ/λ of about 12% and 7.5% for 1-D and 2-D gratings, respectively. The important and somewhat surprising feature of these gratings is that high reflectivities have been achieved, despite the fact that silicon exhibits significant absorption in this wavelength range.


Abstract A brief review of the literature on the actinomycosis of the central nervous system and particularly on that of the spinal cord is given. The authors observation concerns a 7-year-old boy with a clinical diagnosis of congenital defect of sacrum, suppuration of dermoid with fistula in the sacral region, epiduritis, cauditis. At the necropsy the actinomycosis of the lower thoracic and lumbar parts of the spinal cord with the involvement of bone and soft tissue in the sacral region and formation of scarring fistula was found.


Vomiting is a common, unpleasant and distressing symptom. It is associated with a large number of medical conditions, and although the facility for vomiting varies in different individuals, it may be a symptom of negligible importance, but on the other hand it may be a symptom of gravest importance to the patient. It is one of those ingrained and natural reflexes which occurs spontaneously, and is associated primarily with the instinct of growth, and its corollary, nutrition, in which it forms a natural defence against the ingestion of harmful and poisonous substances. Consequently, it is necessary for the surgeon, to whose province the most important and serious aspects of vomiting belong, to be familiar with its more obscure origins in order to appraise the relative importance of its differential diagnosis.


Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a tumor predisposition syndrome with significant renal cystic and solid tumor disease. While the most common renal tumor in TSC, the angiomyolipoma, exhibits a loss of heterozygosity associated with disease, we have discovered that the renal cystic epithelium is composed of type A intercalated cells that have an intact Tsc gene that have been induced to exhibit Tsc‐mutant disease phenotype. This mechanism appears to be different than that for ADPKD. The murine models described here closely resemble the human disease and both appear to be mTORC1 inhibitor responsive. The induction signaling driving cystogenesis may be mediated by extracellular vesicle trafficking.


In this paper, we report a simple, sensitive and selective colorimetric visualization of dopamine (DA) using dithiobis(succinimidylpropionate) (DSP)-modified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as probes and ferric ions as cross-linkers. Via the standard amine coupling reaction between the amino groups of DA and activated carboxyl groups of DSP, DA molecules can be assembled onto the surface of DSP-AuNPs. Accordingly, Fe(3+) ions induce a change of DSP-AuNPs in color and UV-vis absorbance by coordinating to the catechol groups of the anchored DA. The pH dependence and mechanism of this method are discussed. A detection limit of 2 nM was obtained, which is lower than those achievable with currently used chromatographic and electrochemical techniques. The feasibility for the detection of DA in artificial cerebrospinal fluid has been demonstrated.


Patients with chronic granulomatous disease are uniquely susceptible to infection with catalase-producing bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella, Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescans are common infecting organisms. A 17-month-old boy with Corynebacterium aquaticum bacteremia is reported. This is only the third documented infection with this non-JK diphtheroid and the first case infection in a patient with chronic granulomatous disease. It is likely that our patient's underlying immune defect predisposed him to infection with this unusual, catalase-producing organism. Although these bacteria are common contaminants and rarely infecting agents, true infection should be considered in patients with chronic granulomatous disease from whom a diphtheroid is isolated.


A technique based on the surface integral equation is applied for the analysis of antenna radiation in the presence of an arbitrarily shaped dielectric radome terminated by a conducting surface. The equivalence principle is used to characterize the effect of the radome on the transmitted field in terms of equivalent surface electric and magnetic currents which radiate in an unbounded medium. A set of coupled integral equations involving these currents is obtained by using the boundary conditions on the tangential components of the total fields. The adaptive integral method is applied to solve the integral equations so that electrically large radomes can be analyzed. The radiation patterns of dipole arrays with dielectric radomes of superspheroidal shape are also presented.


European countries face a large challenge in retrofitting their aging building stock, which they need to embark on, in order to reach European Union (EU) energy and emission reduction targets. Despite significant policy interventions, refurbishment rates remain low and the refurbishments that are carried out often do not meet the energy savings targeted by the EU, for example nearly Zero-Energy Building standards (nZEB). One of the key reasons for the lower than expected energy savings is that current refurbishment approaches tend to focus predominantly on energy efficiency improvements for individual buildings. The integrated energy systems perspective that can be leveraged at a multi-building scale – and is related to possible interactions between building sizes, scales, and the different systems – is not taken into consideration in most refurbishment concepts. The result are suboptimal renovation solutions which do not reach the full energy demand reduction potential of the refurbished building(s).
This paper introduces a methodology for a tool that aims to develop economically and environmentally optimal nZEB refurbishment concepts for multi-building scale refurbishment actions. Increasing the scale of a refurbishment from a single building to a multiple building, or even a building portfolio, will allow to generate economies of scale (both for solution and workforce cost) and facilitate the integration of renewable energy generation. The tool applies the Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) and Lifecycle Cost Assessment (LCC) methods, which makes it possible to optimize refurbishment concepts, both with respect to economic and environmental criteria. Thanks to a multidimensional optimization approach, based on an evolutionary algorithm that can automatically find the Pareto-boarder for a given design space, Pareto-optimal refurbishment concepts are generated. Refurbishment options presented this way can help housing companies prioritize refurbishment needs and actions in their building portfolios, as well as evaluate and select between different refurbishment approaches in line with overarching targets.


[Purpose] To examine whether resistance training for elderly community-dwellers performed with an interocclusal splint resulted in greater lower extremity muscle strength and better balance than resistance training performed without an interocclusal splint. [Subjects and Methods] Eighty-eight elderly persons using Japanese community day centers were randomly divided into two groups: an intervention group (n=45), which performed resistance training with an interocclusal splint; and a control group (n=43), which performed resistance training without an interocclusal splint. The resistance training program comprised a 40-min session performed twice a week for 12 weeks. Outcome measures were the chair stand test (CST), timed up and go test (TUG), and one-leg standing test (OLST). Assessments were conducted before the intervention and every 2 weeks after the start of the intervention. [Results] There was a significant group × time interaction for the OLST, with the intervention group showing significant improvement from 8 to 12 weeks compared to the control group. For the CST and TUG, no significant differences were found between the two groups throughout the 12 weeks. [Conclusion] Resistance training with an interocclusal splint improved the balance ability of elderly community-dwellers more effectively than resistance training without an interocclusal splint.


There were about 900 hotspots of artisanal and small scale gold mining (ASGM) in Indonesia that recovered gold through amalgamation and cyanidation techniques. Amalgamation technique causes mercury (Hg) pollution to the soil. This study was a preliminary study that aimed to isolate Hg-resistant endophytic and rhizosphere microorganisms from pioneer grasses in the Hg-polluted soil. The most potential microorganism will be used for Hg phytoremediation in the future study. Pioneer grasses were collected from the abandoned gold mining area in Central Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara. Total microorganisms were counted using Colony Forming Unit (CFU) or Standard Plate Count. The microorganism colony was characterized based on morphological characteristics. Hg-resistant endophytic and rhizosphere microorganisms were successfully isolated from pioneer grass (Cynodon dactylon and Eleusine indica) in the study site. The colonies of rhizosphere microorganisms were diverse morphologically compared to endophytic microorganisms based on the number of isolated microorganisms, 20 isolates and 17 isolates, respectively. The density of rhizosphere microorganisms was higher (96%) than endophytic microorganisms (4%). The density of rhizosphere bacteria and fungi were 47x103 and 2x103 CFU g-1, respectively. However, the density of endophytic bacteria and fungi were only 2x103 and 1x103 CFU g-1, respectively.
Keywords: endophytic microorganism, Hg-resistant, microorganism density, rhizosphere microorganism


This paper investigates an optimal quantizer design problem for multisensor estimation of a hidden Markov model (HMMs) whose description depends on unknown parameters. The sensor measurements are simply binary quantized and transmitted to a remote fusion center over noisy flat fading wireless channels under an average sum transmit power constraint. The objective is to determine a set of optimal quantization thresholds and sensor transmit powers, called an optimal policy, which minimizes the long run average of a weighted combination of the expected state estimation error and sum transmit power. We analyze the problem by formulating an adaptive Markov decision process (MDP) problem. In this framework, adaptive optimal control policies are obtained using a nonstationary value iteration (NVI) scheme and are termed as NVI-adaptive policies. These NVI-adaptive policies are adapted to the HMM parameter estimates obtained via a strongly consistent maximum likelihood estimator. In particular, HMM parameter estimation is performed by a recursive expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm which computes estimates of the HMM parameters by maximizing a relative entropy information measure using the received quantized observations and the trajectory of the MDP. Under some regularity assumptions on the observation probability distributions and a geometric ergodicity condition on an extended Markov chain, the maximum-likelihood estimator is shown to be strongly consistent. It is shown that the NVI-adaptive policy based on this sequence of strongly consistent HMM parameter estimates is (asymptotically, under appropriate assumptions) average-optimal. Essentially, it minimizes the long run average cost of the weighted combination of the expected state estimation error and sum transmit power across the sensors for the HMM with true parameters in a time-asymptotic sense. The advantage of this scheme is that the policies are obtained recursively without the need to solve the Bellman equation at each time step, which can be computationally prohibitive. As is usual with value iteration schemes, practical implementation of the NVI-adaptive policy requires discretization of the state and action space, which results in some loss of optimality. Nevertheless, numerical results illustrate the asymptotic convergence properties of the parameter estimates and the asymptotically close to optimal performance of the adaptive MDP algorithm compared to the performance of an MDP based dynamic quantization and power allocation algorithm designed with perfect knowledge of the true parameters.


Shia Endowment Office-AL Imam AL Kadhum  college for Islamic sciencePurpose of search: show the cause of alteration of the logical term at third century AH, comparatively with the second century AH.
Method  of search :analyses of the terms and the language words in their meaning comparatively.
The more importance of search:The translation is elasticity act ,so why, the translator could use many words ,The aim way in the translation is Metaphor and The translation depends on the wealth language and culture of translator.


The characteristic of delayed enhancement MRI is high spatial resolution, which makes it possible to evaluate the degree of damage to the myocardium from the inner to the outer membrane of patients with ischemic heart disease. Therefore, this MRI technique is unique in its ability to detect myocardial condition and is necessary to obtain high-quality images. We experienced artifacts induced by TFE factor increase with delayed enhancement of IR-T1TFE. The purpose of this study was to determine the cause of such artifacts. IR-T1TFE changed signal intensity with phase direction as the TFE factor increased. Streak artifacts occurred because signal intensity caused changes with phase direction. Increases in TFE factor prolonged data collection time, such that marked artifacts were created because of changes in signal intensity. Ghost artifacts occurred because signal intensity changed between shots. When the TFE factor was increased, the difference in signal intensity was diminished between shots. The interval of acquired noise decreased in the raw data. Therefore, the interval of ghost artifacts became wider on images.


Here is a volume of thirteen brief essays on the practical questions of the moral and religious life. Some of the subjects are, "Self Seeking," "The Abiding Life," "Our Divine Touchstone," "Loss of Conscience," "Skepticism," "Our Work" and "Our Unconscious Faults." They are all good and helpful. This kind of work has in recent times fallen into the back-ground, but when well done it is well worth doing. In these essays the style IS good, the thinking strong and vigorous, the illustrations apt and illuminating, the conclusions sound and greatly needed in our modern life. The book ought to have a wide reading.


Afghanistan which is known as the heart of Asia and strategic hub, has been burning in political parties and world super powers vicarious fight. Simultaneously, with the conflicts it would like to keep abreast with the world development. In consideration of speed of technology and improvements of world, globalization of education is one of the controversial issues. Education plays a key and an important role in taking decisions, social, economic and cultural activities in human society. For this reason, it minimum decreases human separations and makes countries' profits closer to each other. Human thoughts and knowledge simply break the limitations and pave the ground for human interactions. Information of this review has taken from national and international libraries, magazines and articles. This study has considered as a limit of library and has used thoughts and ideas of scientists and theorists about globalization. Result of study shows that how globalization affects on country's education that has faced problems and opportunities in their education. By consideration of effective and active plan we can reach out the problems. We can change weak points to strong points simultaneously with world. Despite of all accompanying countries cooperation and attention for developing education system and rehabilitation of Afghanistan, still there are lots of challenges for standardizing education system. By presenting objective suggestions and struggling to build standardized education system, we can achieve our goals.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze patient perspectives of the use of financial incentives in a hypertension intervention. Study Setting. Twelve Veterans Affairs primary care clinics over a 9-month period.

STUDY DESIGN
Qualitative semistructured interviews conducted with 54 hypertensive veterans participating in an intervention to promote guideline-consistent therapy. Intervention components included an intervention letter requesting patients talk with their providers, an offer of U.S.$20 to bring in the letter to their provider, and a health educator phone call.

DATA COLLECTION METHODS
Semistructured interviews were conducted. Transcripts were coded for thematic content. The financial incentive theme was then subcoded for more detailed analysis.

PRINCIPLE FINDINGS
Most participants (n=48; 88.9 percent) stated the incentive had (or would have) no effect on their decision to initiate a discussion with their provider. Some participants articulated reservations about the effectiveness and/or appropriateness of financial incentives in health care decisions; however, a few expressed the opinion that there may be some potential benefits to the use of financial incentives if they encourage patients to be active in their health care.

CONCLUSION
The findings of this study raise questions about the appropriateness and unintended consequences of employing patient-directed financial incentives in health care settings.


Electronic government (e-government) holds the potential to provide a long list of benefits, including easier access to public information, enhanced citizen involvement, more efficient public service, and increased accountability. This article introduces a competing values approach as a conceptual framework for identifying e-government value and describing potential e-government effectiveness models: organizational learning, digital democracy, information security, and cost efficiency. Using data from a survey of South Korean public officials, this article identifies e-government values as perceived by public officials. This research also analyzes public officials' perceptions of partial failures in their e-government efforts and appropriate consequences for failing to achieve e-government goals. The article concludes with a number of suggestions for e-government effectiveness and management leadership.


CSI's newest publication, Robots on the Battlefield, looks closely at how robotization is changing our understanding of warfare in the 21st Century. This work, a joint project with the French Army's military academy at St. Cyr - Coetquidan, features articles on the legal, ethical, technical, and tactical aspects of military robotization. The conclusions and predictions for the future of warfare in this collection will challenge common assumptions about the character of war in the near future, and will be of great interest to commanders, operational & strategic planners, and national level policy makers


A new analytical method using 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone modified SiO2 nanoparticles as solid-phase extractant has been developed for the preconcentration of trace amounts of Cd2+ in different samples. Conditions of the analysis such as preconcentration factor, effect of pH, sample volume, shaking time, elution conditions and effects of interfering ions for the recovery of analyte were investigated. The adsorption capacity of nanometer SiO2-DHAQ was found to be 85.83μmol/g at optimum pH and the detection limit (3σ) was 0.60ng/mL. The extractant showed rapid kinetic sorption. The adsorption equilibrium of Cd2+ on nanometer SiO2-DHAQ was achieved within 20 min. Adsorbed Cd 2+ was easily eluted with 6mL of 1M hydrochloric acid. The maximum preconcentration factor has been found to be 66.70. The method was applied for the determination of trace amounts of Cd2+ in different samples.


Simian adenovirus, SV11, readily transformed hamster embryo cell cultures in vitro and produced tumors in vivo when inoculated into newborn hamsters. Foci consisting of small, loosely attached, rounded cells could be seen as early as 7 days postinoculation. Many of these cells contained several nuclei or the nucleus was multilobed. The cells grew without extensive cell to cell contact or formed small chains or clusters when passaged in vitro. This pattern of cell morphology and growth has not been reported with other simian or human adenovirus-transformed cells. Linearity of foci formation with virus dilution was observed when the virus multiplicity was less than 3 plaque-forming units (PFU)/cell. The PFU to focus-forming units ratio for SV11 was found to be 2 × 104 to 4 × 104, which is approximately 5- to 10-fold and 50- to 100-fold lower than those reported for simian adenovirus, SA7, and human adenovirus type 12, respectively. Cells transformed by SV11: (i) produced tumors when inoculated into young hamsters, (ii) contained tumor antigen which reacts with serum obtained from hamsters bearing SV11 passaged tumors, and (iii) could be propagated in vitro through an indefinite number of generations.


Microplasmas have attracted more and more attention due to their unique characteristics, and breakdown voltage is an important parameter for microplasma devices, particularly for addressable arrays of microplasma devices. However, small changes in shape or interface would bring obvious change in breakdown voltage. In this paper, five groups of simulations of breakdown voltage were operated under different geometry parameters to develop the trend of breakdown voltage following geometrical size under different operation pressures. The drift-diffusion approximation model is adopted in these simulations. The simulation results show that breakdown voltage will increase with the increase in the microcavity depth and thickness of the dielectric. Therefore, the breakdown voltage will reduce when microcavity width increases. The less is the microcavity size, the less is breakdown voltage, and the higher is the pressure corresponding to minimum breakdown voltage, which shows that the decrease in microcavity size can develop operation pressure and decrease breakdown voltage obviously.


Text classification has become one of the most important techniques in text mining. A number of machine learning algorithms have been introduced to deal with automatic text classification. One of the common classification algorithms is the k-NN algorithm which is known to be one of the best classifiers applied for different languages including Arabic language. However, the k-NN algorithm is of low efficiency because it requires a large amount of computational power. Such a drawback makes it unsuitable to handle a large volume of text documents with high dimensionality and in particular in the Arabic language. This book, therefore, introduces a high performance parallel classifier for large-scale Arabic text that achieves the enhanced level of efficiency, scalability, and accuracy. The parallel classifier based on the sequential k-NN algorithm. We tested the classifier using the OSAC corpus. We studied the performance of the parallel classifier on a multicomputer cluster. The results indicate that the parallel classifier has very good speedups and scalability and is capable of handling large document collections with higher classification results.


Twitter is an electronic medium that allows a large user populace to communicate with each other simultaneously. Inherent to Twitter is an asymmetrical relationship between friends and followers that provides an interesting social network like structure among the users of Twitter. Twitter messages, called tweets, are restricted to 140 characters and thus are usually very focused. We investigate the use of Twitter to build a news processing system, called TwitterStand, from Twitter tweets. The idea is to capture tweets that correspond to late breaking news. The result is analogous to a distributed news wire service. The difference is that the identities of the contributors/reporters are not known in advance and there may be many of them. Furthermore, tweets are not sent according to a schedule: they occur as news is happening, and tend to be noisy while usually arriving at a high throughput rate. Some of the issues addressed include removing the noise, determining tweet clusters of interest bearing in mind that the methods must be online, and determining the relevant locations associated with the tweets.


Taeniasis and cysticercosis are neglected food-borne diseases that pose challenges to food safety, human health and livelihood of rural livestock farmers. Cysticercosis reduces the market value for pigs and cattle by making pork and beef unsafe for consumption. In this research, deterministic and continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) models are formulated and analyzed to study the transmission dynamics of taeniasis and cysticercosis in humans, pigs and cattle. To study the dynamics of the diseases, we derived the basic reproduction numbers R01 for T. saginata and R0 for T. saginata and T. solium parasitic infections by next generation matrix method. Global stability for models' equilibria are established by Lyapunov functions, Metzler matrix approach and cooperative systems theory whereas the normalized forward sensitivity index is employed to determine the sensitive parameters. The multitype branching process is adopted to compute the probability of diseases' extinction or outbreak. The optimal control and cost-effectiveness analyses are used to determine the disease's optimal strategy and most cost-effective strategy for disease's control respectively. Analysis shows that both the disease free and endemic equilibria exist. The disease free equilibria are globally asymptotically stable when R01 < 1 and R0 < 1 whereas the endemic equilibria are globally asymptotically stable when R01 > 1 and R0 > 1. Sensitivity analysis for T. saginata bovine cysticercosis and human taeniasis model shows that T. saginata eggs to cattle transmission coefficient, human and cattle recruitment rates, the probability of humans to contract taeniasis, the open defecation rate by humans with taeniasis and the rate of eating raw or undercooked infected beef are the most pos itive sensitive parameters whereas the natural mortality rates for humans, cattle and T. saginata eggs, and the proportion of unconsumed infected beef are the most negative sensitive parame ters. Sensitivity results for taeniasis and cysticercosis transmission dynamics model due to T. solium and T. saginata tapeworms in humans, pigs and cattle show that human's recruitment, the probability of humans to acquire taeniasis and the open defecation rate by humans with taeniasis are the most positive sensitive parameters whereas the T. saginata natural mortality rate is the most negative sensitive parameter. CTMC model results for T. saginata bovine cys ticercosis and human taeniasis show that the probability of diseases' extinction is high when the diseases emerge from a small number of T. saginata eggs or from infected cattle and there is major diseases' outbreak when the diseases emerge from infectious beef. On the other hand, CTMC model results for taeniasis and cysticercosis transmission dynamics due to T. solium and T. saginata tapeworms in humans, pigs and cattle indicate that the probability of disease's ex tinction is high when the diseases emerge from humans with cysticercosis or a small number of taenia eggs in the environment. However, there is a major outbreak when the diseases emerge from humans with taeniasis or from infectious pork and beef. Basing on sensitivity analysis, various control strategies were designed. The T. saginata optimal control results indicate that i a strategy which targets improving meat cooking and treatment of infected humans is the opti mal strategy. The T. solium and T. saginata model results show that a strategy which combines meat inspection, treatment of humans with taeniasis and improving hygiene and sanitation is the most effective strategy for diseases' control. Thus, to control the diseases at minimal cost, we recommend that more efforts be directed to treat humans with taeniasis and improve meat inspection, meat cooking, and hygiene and sanitation.


: Strain No. 41042, an actinomycete isolated from a soil sample, was found to produce 5-azacytidine and new antibiotics, mycoplanecins. Yellowish brown to yellowish orange color of colonies on agar media, formation of globose to subglobose sporangia bearing motile spores and presence of meso- and hydroxy-diaminopimelic acid and glycine in the cell wall ascribed this strain to genus Actinoplanes. From its morphological, cultural and physiological characteristics, this strain was determined to be a new subspecies of Actinoplanes awajinensis and designated as A. awajinensis subsp. mycoplanecinus subsp. nov. Production of mycoplanecins was carried out by conventional submerged culture: the highest antibiotic titer obtained was 145 micrograms/ml.


The current outbreak of monkeypox infection has caught the attention of people worldwide. Updated data showed a dramatic increase in the number of patients in many non-endemic countries. An emergence of monkeypox together with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused a tremendous burden on the healthcare system, globally. The aim of this review was to briefly describe the current situation, transmission, clinical features, diagnosis, and prevention of the disease. Oral manifestations of monkeypox as well as those of similar viral diseases were elaborately delineated. The outbreak of monkeypox in non-endemic regions has expanded to at least 47 countries with more than 4,100 new infections. The clinical features in non-endemic regions are atypical and different from those in central and western Africa. Milder symptoms with no death cases have been observed. The oral mucosa is often involved and oral lesions may initially be manifested before the rash spreads to the face and other parts of the body. The diagnosis of monkeypox is mainly based on clinical presentations and laboratory investigations. Prevention by avoiding close contacts with patients and sick animals and providing vaccination to those who have a primary contact with patients is essential. Oral manifestations may occur prior to skin eruptions, suggesting that dentists and dental personnel should be well aware of the nature of the disease. Prevention and public awareness of the disease are crucial for mitigating further human-to-human transmission.


Background: Intra- and postprocedural thrombosis are major complication of aneurysmal coil embolization, stent-assisted coiling, and pipeline embolization. The common but unproven practice of dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and a P2Y12 inhibitor in neuro-endovascular patients is inferred from the cardiology literature without large clinical trials to support it in neuro-endovascular patients. Objective: We conducted an electronic survey to identify practice variations surrounding the use of oral antiplatelets in patients undergoing endovascular neuro-interventional procedures across neuro-endovascular centers in the United States. Methods: An electronic survey was distributed via the Web. Any practicing neuro-intensive care unit (ICU), neuro-interventional or stroke physician, pharmacist, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner was eligible to respond to this survey between June and October 2017. Results: A total of 33 responses were collected during the survey period. A response rate of 16% was calculated after taking into account all comprehensive stroke centers in the United States. Aspirin and clopidogrel was the standard-of-care antiplatelet regimen utilized in the majority of institutions (82%). Alternatively, 4 institutions used monotherapy (aspirin [n = 2], clopidogrel [n = 1], either aspirin or clopidogrel [n = 1]) and 2 institutions reported practitioner-dependent practices. Just under half of the centers reported ticagrelor as the primary alternative in clopidogrel nonresponders (48%). Conclusion: Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel appears to be standard of care in this setting based on our survey. About half of responding institutions use ticagrelor in cases where clopidogrel resistance is suspected. Large society-wide patient registries are needed to provide data for future safety and efficacy studies.


In this paper, an innovative frequency domain joint estimation algorithm for synchronization parameter and channel impulse response (CIR) in direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems is proposed. The algorithm is based on the expectation-maximization (EM) method. It can provide accurate estimation of channel state information and synchronization parameter for a DS-CDMA receiver even with a simple equalization module (e.g., an one-tap multiplier based frequency domain equalizer (FDE)), and a radio receiver with this approach performs better than a costly multi-tap multiplier based equalizer, such as the time domain equalizer (TDE). A generic receiver architecture based on the frequency domain equalization for a composite radio, which works in both CDMA and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modes, is also proposed. The Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of the proposed estimator and its optimization scheme are derived. This architecture can be implemented with an iterative approach, and the results demonstrate that this adaptive receiver performs very well with a relatively low cost.


We were extremely interested in Dr Orko's letter (Anaesthesia 1985; 40: 382-3). In our early studies on atracurium in patients with chronic renal failure,' we found it necessary to use needle electrodes to assure a supramaximal stimulus to the ulnar nerve at the wrist-the thick leathery skin of these patients seemed to affect skin impedance adversely. Subsequently, we have had similar problems with oedematous patients in acute renal failure. In such patients, we consider that ECG electrodes cannot be used with impunity, although we have used them routinely in all our studies. We were surprised recently, however, when we anaesthetised a diabetic patient for ophthalmic surgery, who was neither in renal failure nor oedematous and who apparently had normal skin texture, to find that it was impossible to elicit a satisfactory mechanical response at the wrist, not only with ECG, but also with needle electrodes. It proved impossible to monitor her neuromuscular function by clinical methods and we concluded that this was due to peripheral neuropathy. It seems that, in the patient Dr Orko describes, any or all of these conditions could have been present but, unfortunately, we have no solution to offer him!


This paper provides the description of concepts and implementation of the SOLUM Library. The purpose of SOLUM is to create complex dynamic 3D worlds based on a few parameters and definitions, removing detailed and complicated issues on this process. The idea behind SOLUM is to make the whole process of creating a complex 3D enviroment as clear and easy to undestand as possible, liberating application designers and programmers for other tasks.


In times of economic downturn, the discourse of employability puts the spotlight on Vocational Education and Training (VET), hoping to find a quick solution to youth unemployment. As the ET2020 strategy points out, each EU country should seek systems which provide the best means for all citizens to realise their potential as well as ensure sustainable economic prosperity. In Spain, where the number of unemployed young people is soaring, this statement requires further investigation. Concerned with how detached this discourse seems from the Spanish context this paper presents results obtained from fifteen Intermediate VET students, their daily barriers to finding a source of income and having a meaningful and valuable job. It argues that a more comprehensive approach to the situation of VET students can be found in the Capability Approach developed by Amartya Sen and the concept of oppression developed in the political writings of Iris Marion Young, rather than narrowly skills-based strategies.


Capsaicin is used to investigate the role of peripheral sensory nerve fibers. In previous studies of rats treated by injection of capsaicin into the skin of the neck, 'spontaneous' lesions in the head and neck region were observed. In this study, the course of development over time, the regional distribution and the innervation of capsaicin-induced dermal lesions were assessed in young male Sprague-Dawley rats. In one experiment, capsaicin was administered subcutaneously by injection in the skin of the neck. In a second experiment, capsaicin was injected in the back by a long needle that tunneled under the skin and allowed the capsaicin to be deposited in the subcutaneous fat of the neck. The density and the distribution of dermal nerve fibers were investigated by immunohistochemistry, using antisera against a panneuronal marker, protein gene product 9.5 (PGP), and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). In the first experiment, rats developed lesions in the neck area 11 days after injection. In the second experiment, lesions appeared in the skin of the back and occasionally in the neck area 10 days after injection. Development of lesions in the afflicted areas was paralleled by local reduction in the density of CGRP-immunoreactive (IR) nerve fibers, 80% in the first experiment and 72% in the second. The number of PGP-IR fibers was likewise reduced, by 39 and 41%, respectively. The density of the CGRP-IR fibers in the wound area was the same as in the adjacent, nonlesioned skin. The healing of the capsaicin-induced lesions was slow compared with surgical wounds in control animals. The wounds healed with hypertrophic scars. The healing process in the skin of the back was associated with the proliferation of CGRP-IR fibers. The study shows cutaneous lesions to appear in the region of the subcutaneous deposition of capsaicin. A uniform depletion of capsaicin-sensitive nerve fibers in the area of deposition suggests that an additional factor is needed to induce lesions. Possibly, impaired nociception in the afflicted area results in more vigorous grooming behavior and this, in turn, in a local skin damage.


In the short story "Los Merengues" the sense is determined retrospectively. The short story is oriented to the conjunctionconsumption of some candy, an objective that the main character does not come to achieve. The affective-cognitive incompetency of the protagonist boy is presupposed, this incompetency undervalues the practical means the boy has: the money. His program of appropriation clashes against the counterprogram of conservation of disjunction played by the opponent, this counterprogram finally wins. The contract is denied, the conflict prevails. The resulting frustration arise deception and malcontent, along with the project of construction of another objective: revenge. Upon the passional scheme of rage, this analysis explores the dimensions of competence, the structures of interaction, the phenomena of ascending and descending tensivity, the valences of values and the construction of bodies.


Aluminum foams with low relative density, especially less than 0.1, persist unique physical, mechanical and acoustic properties. There is a need of this modern material for special applications and scientific research. However, preparation of this super-light metal foam is quite difficult for the cell size of the foams would increase with its porosity. In this study, carbon fibers are used as novel stabilize additive for aluminum foams and the influence of alloying elements on cell wall thickness and area of Plateau border are studied. The results indicate that the cell wall thickness and bubble coarsening rate of the foam would decrease much when Mg is added into the melt and the relative density of prepared foam can be as low as 0.08. Results of compressive tests reveal the fact that these aluminum foams show a lower compressive strength. The plastic deformation region of this new foam is long and it performs good energy absorption capacity.


The conditions leading to the activation/differentiation of T-helper (Th) cells dedicated for B-cell antibody production are still poorly characterized. We now demonstrate that interleukin-6 (IL-6) promotes the differentiation of naive T lymphocytes into helper cells able to promote B-cell activation and antibody secretion. IL-6-driven acquisition of B-cell help capacity requires expression of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), but not STAT4 or STAT6 transcription factors, suggesting that the ability to provide help to B cells is not restricted to a well-defined Th1 or Th2 effector population. T cell-specific STAT3-deficient mice displayed reduced humoral responses in vivo that could not be related to an altered expansion of CXCR5-expressing helper T cells. IL-6 was shown to promote IL-21 secretion, a cytokine that was similarly found to promote the differentiation of naive T cells into potent B-cell helper cells. Collectively, these data indicate that the ability to provide B-cell help is regulated by IL-6/IL-21 through STAT3 activation, independently of Th1, Th2, Th17, or follicular helper T cell (T(FH)) differentiation.


A new method of continuous registration of the cardiac heat production was developed for the quantitative assessment of the levels of metabolic processes in cardiac hemodynamic reactions. The method is based on the technique of coronary arteries catheterization and extracorporeal perfusion, coronary sinus catheterization with a special catheter equipped with miniature-temperature transducer and a device designed for transformation of blood temperature values into the electrical signals. The data on the changes in cardiac heat production during cardiovascular adrenergic reactions and in conditions of acute myocardial ischemia have been obtained. It has been shown that changes in myocardial heat production depend significantly on the direction of shifts in the cardiac function and associated alterations in the level of myocardial metabolic processes.


The investor's appetite for global investment has accelerated since the mid 1990s. International or cross border property investment has boomed, and indirect property investment (investing through securities such as REITs, and through unlisted funds) has become commonplace. International real estate investment through unlisted funds has become the approach of choice, and has included 'core' strategies, through which capital has been allocated largely to developed markets, and 'opportunity funds', which have also allocated capital to developing and emerging markets. In a previous paper presented at IRERS 2008, Baum (2008a) related the number of unlisted real estate funds investing in developing economies to simple economic and demographic variables. Using all markets outside north America and Europe as an imperfect proxy for the developing world, we showed that the popularity of markets was explained largely by population and GDP per capita, but that there were interesting outlier observations countries receiving much more, or much less, investment than the model predicted. In this second paper in a series of three, we show that academic literature suggests that distortions in international capital flows may be explained by a combination of formal and informal barriers. Through a limited survey of investors, we have further refined our understanding of these barriers in the real estate context. This is the first such examination of the inhibitions to a free flow of crossborder real estate capital. In a third paper we will use a more extensive survey of investors and fund managers to examine how these theories explain current practice, and will suggest specific reasons for certain countries receiving more, or less, investment than their fair share. The implications of this third paper will be relevant for investors in their choice of target markets and for governments wishing to attract more cross-border capital.


We examined whether the differing growth responses to varying concentrations of soil P by grasses common to the mulga shrublands of south-west Queensland were due to differences in their ability to utilize sparingly soluble sources of P in two glasshouse trials. The uptake of three sparingly soluble sources of mineral P (amorphous FePO4, crystalline FePO4 (strengite), and amorphous AlPO4) was compared with that of a soluble P source, KH2PO4, over 34 days. All P sources were uniformly labelled with 32P. For the four grasses studied (Cenchrus ciliaris, Aristida armata, Digitaria ammophila and Thyridolepis mitchelliana), the addition of strengite produced the lowest yields and plant P content, followed by FePO4, and then AlPO4 and KH2PO4. Recovery of the labelled P by the grasses was in the order: strengite < FePO4 < AlPO4 < KH2PO4. C. ciliaris recovered more of the added strengite, but less FePO4 and AlPO4, than the other grasses. There were no differences in specific activity between the grasses for KH2PO4. Where soil treatments were the same, there was no evidence that these species differed in their ability to utilize sparingly soluble sources of mineral P. The reutilization of P from 32P labelled plant residues by two grasses was examined in a second experiment. The experiment consisted of a factorial combination of two species (D. ammophila and A. armata ) and a control (non-planted pots), two phosphorus systems (low and high P), and four harvests (15, 23, 31, and 39 days). The net release of P from the residues was significantly increased in the presence of plants but was not affected by the species present. D. ammophila and A. armata obtained similar proportions of their P content from the added residues (6.6%).


Conducting poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene)/polypyrrole (PPy) polyHIPE (polymerized high internal phase emulsion) composite foams were synthesized via chemical oxidative polymerization method. The effect of solvent and dopant type on the surface morphology and electrical conductivity of composite foams has been investigated. SEM micrographs showed that the morphology of PPy thin film on the internal surface of poly(styrene/divinylbenzene) (poly(St-co-DVB) polyHIPE support foam strongly depends on the solvent and dopant type used. Incorporation of dodecylbenzene solfunic acid-sodium salt (DBSNa) as a dopant in chloroform solvent resulted in formation of a PPy thin film with higher molecular compact structure and electrical conductivity on the support foam as compared to other solvents and another dopant used. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy was used to correlate the electrical conductivity of composite foams to their PPy structural parameters. As expected, the extended conjugation length of PPy in the presence of DBSNa dopant is the main reason for higher electrical conductivity of resultant composite foam. Electrical conductivity measurements revealed that the chemical aging of various conducting foams follows the first-order kinetic model, which is a representative of a reaction-controlled aging mechanism. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013


Military and civilian organizations in the U.S. operate separate but parallel emergency aeromedical services. Despite common origins, military and civilian approaches and methods have diverged. This article compares and contrasts the capabilities, priorities, safety, equipment, training and personnel of the largest military service, the U.S. Army, to civilian rotary wing (helicopter) emergency aeromedical programs. The different successes of military and civilian emergency aeromedical programs can be considered for use to improve the services of each. In general, Army programs operate larger aircraft and utilize two pilots per aircraft. Safety is a high priority and the Army aeromedical safety record is excellent. The Army also places a high degree of emphasis on crashworthiness and protective gear for the crew. Most civilian air Emergency Medical Service (EMS) programs operate small to moderate-sized aircraft flying with a single pilot. The recent safety record has improved dramatically. Civilian programs may add to their safety by considering two pilots and incorporating the crashworthy and protective advancements made by the military. Civilian programs fly with two highly trained medical technicians, nurses or physicians, equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment. Army helicopters fly with one lesser-trained medical crewmember and less equipment. Improved combat casualty care and battlefield survival may be possible by increasing both the number and training of the medical attendants on Army aircraft. Language: en


This paper discusses a new approach to scientific and artistic computing that allows one to use the creative process of music performance to interact with n-dimensional data sets. Using a unique multi-user instrument, the AlloSphere, a three-story metal sphere in an echo-free chamber that immerses approximately twenty-five researchers in 4-Pi stereo radians of interactive visual and audio data, new scientific discoveries and emergent art transform science and art into a new field.


Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 provides for formal settlements of investigations by the European Commission into suspected infringements of Articles 81 or 82 EC. This paper analyses the origin and optimal use of this provision, the procedure for the adoption of commitment decisions, the content and effect of such decisions, and the scope for judicial review. It also explores the possibilities of informal settlement, and of settlements that include the payment of a fine.


Although rare, aneurysms are well-known pregnancy-related vascular diseases. They are influenced by hormonal, mechanical, and genetic factors and may be associated with high incidence of maternal and fetal mortality. We present a case of a pregnancy-related common iliac aneurysm, ruptured 5 days after delivery. The source of bleeding was recognized during the second emergency laparotomy for hemoperitoneum and retroperitoneal hematoma. The treatment consisted of excision and substitution of the common iliac artery (totally involved) by an autologous saphenous vein graft. The outcome for the patient was good. We underline that the only way to avoid a fatal event is to know and to think about this rare but very important complication that may occur during pregnancy or shortly after delivery.


The U.S. East Coast has the potential for offshore wind deployment and contribute to the energy demands of the area. A safe and cost-effective development of offshore wind farms requires detailed and accurate meteorological and oceanographic (MetOcean) analysis and, thus, a wave and hydrodynamic database has been produced along the U.S. East Coast.
 The high-resolution wave and hydrodynamic models are calibrated and validated against various NOAA measurements along the U.S. East Coast. The wave model open lateral boundaries are forced by spectral data from a global wave model. Wind forcing for both models were taken from CFSR wind fields, and the hydrodynamic model was also forced by atmospheric pressure field. Spatially and temporally-varying water level and depth-averaged currents were used to force the wave model. The hydrodynamic model was forced by tidal elevations at the boundaries. The model's resolution varies from 15 km along the offshore boundaries to approximately 3 km near the coastline. Wave spectra resolution was of 25 frequencies and 16 directions.
 New wave model features are explored, including the effect of atmospheric stability on wave growth, the air-sea density ratio and the current impact on the wave growth rate. These processes are now included during the calibration process of the wave model.
 Hydrodynamic model results show good agreement with surface elevation measurements, with no bias and small errors. Results of the wave model show overall good results, although some overestimation of the extreme events is noticeable for the studied cases.
 The high-quality wave and hydrodynamic models developed within this work will serve as a MetOcean database for developers or alternatively as forcing for establishing local high-resolution (100s m resolution) models, i.e. for complex bathymetry at specific wind farm sites.
 Further work includes longer-term validations, data assimilation and assessment of other processes such as bottom friction and their impact on the estimation of extreme waves.


Physiological parameter monitoring may be useful in many different groups of the population, such as infants, elderly people, athletes, soldiers, drivers, fire-fighters, police etc. This can provide a variety of information ranging from health status to operational readiness. In this article, we focus on the case of first responders and specifically fire-fighters. Firefighters can benefit from a physiological monitoring system that is used to extract multiple indications such as the present position, the possible life risk level, the stress level etc. This work presents a wearable wireless sensor network node, based on low cost, commercial-off- the-self (COTS) electronic modules, which can be easily attached on a standard fire-fighters' uniform. Due to the low frequency wired interface between the selected electronic components, the proposed solution can be used as a basis for a textile system where all wired connections will be implemented by means of conductive yarn routing in the textile structure, while some of the standard sensors can be replaced by textile ones. System architecture is described in detail, while indicative samples of acquired signals are also presented.


Sex pheromones form an important facet of reproductive strategies in many organisms throughout the Animal Kingdom. One of the oldest known sex pheromones in vertebrates are proteins of the Sodefrin Precursor-like Factor (SPF) system, which already had a courtship function in early salamanders. The subsequent evolution of salamanders is characterized by a diversification in courtship and reproduction, but little is known on how the SPF pheromone system diversified in relation to changing courtship strategies. Here, we combined transcriptomic, genomic, and phylogenetic analyses to investigate the evolution of the SPF pheromone system in nine salamandrid species with distinct courtship displays. First, we show that SPF originated from vertebrate three-finger proteins and diversified through multiple gene duplications in salamanders, while remaining a single copy in frogs. Next, we demonstrate that tail-fanning newts have retained a high phylogenetic diversity of SPFs, whereas loss of tail-fanning has been associated with a reduced importance or loss of SPF expression in the cloacal region. Finally, we show that the attractant decapeptide sodefrin is cleaved from larger SPF precursors that originated by a 62 bp insertion and consequent frameshift in an ancestral Cynops lineage. This led to the birth of a new decapeptide that rapidly evolved a pheromone function independently from uncleaved proteins.


Infection of chick embryo cell (CEC) cultures with influenza virus results in the appearance of neuraminidase activity lost by the cells as a result of cultivation. Neuraminidase activity is associated mainly with the lysomal cell fraction. Different distribution of neuraminidase activity in lysosomes with various densities, different reaction to sodium ethylene diamine tetracetate (EDTA) and differenct optimal pH suggest that at early stages of viral infection the cell enzyme is activated and by the 7th hour of infection viral neuraminidase is synthesized.