"Urban freight distribution" or "urban distribution" can be defined as the art of enabling a city's incoming, outgoing, and internal flows of goods to be organized as well as possible. Currently, one of the biggest constraints is environmental pressure. One of the strategies for satisfying that constraint is "clean delivery", using electric vehicles. This strategy requires logistics to be organised by locating specific logistics facilities (platforms) close to the cities, in particular to cope with the limited ranges of such vehicles. With the aim of preventing occupational accidents and diseases, this manner of organising logistics was analysed. The method used was based on an ergonomics approach to analysing the activities of the platform employees and of the drivers. The results highlight a certain number of difficulties and risks related to those activities and have made it possible to define avenues to be explored for improving working conditions and prevention. The method incorporates the systemic view that urban distribution constitutes the final link in the supply chain. Its activity is therefore seen as being potentially dependent to an extent on the activities of the other links in the supply chain. Thus, in terms of occupational accident and disease prevention, an "act elsewhere" approach has been imagined. This approach is designed to be deployed in a given work situation in order to improve not only that situation but also the work situation that is connected to it.


To obtain approval to market a drug, a manufacturer must disclose significant amounts of research data to the government agency that oversees the approval process. The data often include information that could help advance scientific progress, and are therefore of great value. But current laws in both the United States and Europe give secrecy great weight. This Article proposes an obligatory sealed-bid auction of the sensitive information based on the experience with similar auctions in mergers and acquisitions, to balance manufacturers' interest in secrecy and the public interest in disclosure.


OurCity is a site-specific digital artwork designed to solicit, aggregate and visualize citizens' views on the cities in which they live. It aims to allow people to have their voice heard in a way which is fun and engaging and reduces the gap between citizens and policymakers. OurCity builds on our previous work, VoiceYourView (Whittle et al 2010) which used similar data aggregation techniques but a completely different visualization of user-generated data. This paper revisits the key results from VoiceYourView and hence uses OurCity as an additional validation exercise to assess whether VoiceYourView results are generalizable.


Abstract: This paper introduces a new sensorless rotor position detection technique for switched reluctance motor drives. Two unexcited phases are probed simultaneously with fixed length current pulses from the main converter and the resultant current magnitudes are used to determine the rotor position, independent of motor parameters. The operation of the new technique is explained and the drive system is detailed. The technique is applicable to SR motors of phase number of four and greater. The sensing circuit is modelled, and theoretical and experimental results are presented.


Pedaridium maya Vaz de Melo, Halffter & Halffter (2004) was described recently from Mexico (Quintana Roo, Chiapas, and Campeche) and Guatemala and is known nowhere else. It is isolated geographically and morphologically from other species of the genus. During a year of monthly systematic samplings (August 2001 to July 2002) in Tigre Grande, Tzucacab, Yucatan (19°42'36" N, 89°02'28"W), three permanent 'necro' traps and three temporary 'copro' traps (Morón & Terrón 1984) captured five adult specimens of P. maya . Collection data are: MEXICO: YUCATAN, Tzucacab, Tigre Grande, 20-VIII-17IX-2001, NTP80, L.N. Peraza, col. (1f); MEXICO: YUCATAN, Tzucacab, Tigre Grande, 15-V-12-VI2002, NTP80, L.N. Peraza, col. (2m, 1f); MEXICO: YUCATAN, Tzucacab, Tigre Grande, 10-12-VI2002, copro trampa temporal, L.N. Peraza, col. (1f). The specimens are deposited in the entomological collection of the Instituto de Ecología, A.C. (IEXA), Xalapa, Veracruz. They represent the first records for the State of Yucatan and were captured in May, June, and August in tropical medium subperennifolious forest at 70 m altitude, with annual precipitation between 1000 and 1200 mm. In Tigre Grande, P. maya was captured with 26 other species of Scarabaeidae of the genera Canthon Hoffmansegg (3 species), Deltochilum Eschscholtz (3), Pseudocanthon Bates (1), Sisyphus Latreille (1), Eurysternus Dalman (1 species), Onthophagus Latreille (6 species), Copris Müller (2 species), Dichotomius Hope (1 species), Canthidium Erichson (2 species), Ateuchus Weber (1 species), Coprophanaeus Olsoufieff (1 species), Phanaeus MacLeay (2 species), and Uroxys Westwood (2 species). This communication is a contribution to the project "Systematics and ecology of phytophagous and saprophagous insects" of the Departamento de Entomología (902-08), Instituto de Ecología, A.C. (CONACYT).


Body weight has risen in defiance of health and appearance norms. The social epidemics of overeating and slimming were driven by market forces and the psychology of eating: restrained eating is easily disinhibited by stress. For men, the rise in body weight was associated with the decline of family eating and exposure to greater food variety. For women, the cult of slimming was associated with mating competition, driven initially by adverse sex ratios. Food abundance made a mockery of the rational consumer. Paradoxically, the costs of abundance fell more heavily on the poor, who have had less access to the resources of self-control.


Objectives: Schizophrenia is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder that affects approximately 1% of the population. Estrogens may play an important role in the etiology and treatment of this disorder. They mediate effect by either estrogen receptors. GPR30 is an alternative G protein-coupled receptor distinct from the classical estrogen recep-tors (ER𝛼 and ER𝛽). We aimed to investigate the association between GPR30 gene SNP rs3808350 and gonadal hormone (estrogen and testosterone) levels, and their association with development of schizophrenia, in a Turkish population. Methods: A total 117 schizophrenia patients and 123 control individuals were genotyped with method Real-Time PCR. Results: In the comparison of the patients and the control group with regard to the SNP genotype and allele frequencies did not show significant differences. However, there was a significant decrease in the pre-sence of AA+AG genotypes in the patient group. There were significant differences in terms of estrogen, testos-terone. In the patient group, estrogen and testosterone levels were lower than the control group. Conclusions: This is the first study examining allele and genotype frequencies of GPR30 gene SNP rs3808350 in schizophrenia patients. Because of effects of gene polymorphisms may differ in the population from the population, we may suggest that role of GPR30 gene SNP rs3808350 in development of schizophrenia must be investigated in different and wider populations.


To assess the natural history of ventricular extrasystoles (VE), a 5-year follow-up of 52 professional endurance athletes was made. All remained well during this period. Forty-four accepted to undergo repeat extensive noninvasive cardiologic examination. In the 23 athletes still in activity at the second study the prevalence of total and complex VE at 24-hour Holter monitoring was substantially unchanged, while in the 21 subjects who had stopped training, complex VE were no longer present (p = 0.01 vs. baseline). Echocardiographic dimensional parameters were significantly higher in the still active athletes than in the no longer active subjects; however, in the latter, left ventricular mass index was still greater than in a group of 40 sedentary subjects previously studied (107 vs. 81 g/m2; p = 0.001). High-intensity physical training does not seem to be harmful in athletes with complex VE, without evidence of underlying cardiac disease.


BACKGROUND Plasma fibrinogen level has been recognized as an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis and its thrombotic complications in adults. The present study aimed to clarify the association between plasma fibrinogen levels and cardiovascular risk factors in Japanese children. METHODS A total of 294 schoolchildren (145 boys and 149 girls) aged 10–13 years in a town in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, were surveyed in 2000 for body mass index (BMI), plasma fibrinogen, serum C-reactive protein (CRP), serum total cholesterol, serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, hemoglobin (Hb) A1c, and ratio of serum total cholesterol to serum HDL cholesterol (TCHR). RESULTS The mean value and standard deviation of plasma fibrinogen level among the schoolchildren was 226.0 ± 39.7 mg/dL for boys and 245.3 ± 40.9 mg/dL for girls; significantly higher for girls. Among plasma fibrinogen tertiles, serum CRP tended to increase with plasma fibrinogen in both boys and girls. An increasing trend was also found in serum total cholesterol in boys, and in TCHR, HbA1c and BMI in girls. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed significant associations of plasma fibrinogen with serum CRP and HbA1c in both sexes, with TCHR in boys, and with BMI in girls. CONCLUSIONS Plasma fibrinogen levels were associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as serum CRP, TCHR, HbA1c, and BMI in Japanese schoolchildren.


We assessed factors which may affect union in 32 patients with nonunion of a fracture of the diaphysis of the femur and 67 comparable patients whose fracture had united. These included gender, age, smoking habit, the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) the type of fracture (AO classification), soft-tissue injury (open or closed), the type of nail, the mode of locking, reaming v non-reaming, infection, failure of the implant, distraction at the fracture site, and the time to full weight-bearing. Patients with severe head injuries were excluded. Both groups were comparable with regard to gender, Injury Severity Score and soft-tissue injury. There was no relationship between the rate of union and the type of implant, mode of locking, reaming, distraction or smoking. There were fewer cases of nonunion in more comminuted fractures (type C) and in patients who were able to bear weight early. There was a marked association between nonunion and the use of NSAIDs after injury (p = 0.000001) and delayed healing was noted in patients who took NSAIDs and whose fractures had united.


Photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE, photosynthetic capacity per unit leaf nitrogen) is one of the most important factors for the interspecific variation in photosynthetic capacity. PNUE was analysed in two evergreen and two deciduous species of the genus Quercus. PNUE was lower in evergreen than in deciduous species, which was primarily ascribed to a smaller fraction of nitrogen allocated to the photosynthetic apparatus in evergreen species. Leaf nitrogen was further analysed into proteins in the water-soluble, the detergent-soluble, and the detergent-insoluble fractions. It was assumed that the detergent-insoluble protein represented the cell wall proteins. The fraction of nitrogen allocated to the detergent-insoluble protein was greater in evergreen than in deciduous leaves. Thus the smaller allocation of nitrogen to the photosynthetic apparatus in evergreen species was associated with the greater allocation to cell walls. Across species, the fraction of nitrogen in detergent-insoluble proteins was positively correlated with leaf mass per area, whereas that in the photosynthetic proteins was negatively correlated. There may be a trade-off in nitrogen partitioning between components pertaining to productivity (photosynthetic proteins) and those pertaining to persistence (structural proteins). This trade-off may result in the convergence of leaf traits, where species with a longer leaf life-span have a greater leaf mass per area, lower photosynthetic capacity, and lower PNUE regardless of life form, phyllogeny, and biome.


We study the problem of computing the probability that a given stochastic context-free grammar (SCFG), G, generates a string in a given regular language L(D) (given by a DFA, D). This basic problem has a number of applications in statistical natural language processing, and it is also a key necessary step towards quantitative ω-regular model checking of stochastic context-free processes (equivalently, 1-exit recursive Markov chains, or stateless probabilistic pushdown processes). We show that the probability that G generates a string in L(D) can be computed to within arbitrary desired precision in polynomial time (in the standard Turing model of computation), under a rather mild assumption about the SCFG, G, and with no extra assumption about D. We show that this assumption is satisfied for SCFG's whose rule probabilities are learned via the well-known inside-outside (EM) algorithm for maximum-likelihood estimation (a standard method for constructing SCFGs in statistical NLP and biological sequence analysis). Thus, for these SCFGs the algorithm always runs in P-time.


In this paper a set of methods identifying minijet from final state particles in the relativistic heavy ion collision events is established and the parameter dependence has been investigated in Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV using a multiphase transport model (AMPT). It is found that the number of minijets reduces with the increasing of collision parameter and raises with the increasing of c.m energy. Furthermore, we analyze the rapidity and momentum distribution inside minijets identified using this method.


It is well known that adjacent contours can reduce the visual acuity of single letters. Although this has traditionally been considered only in terms of a neural-based interaction, it has recently been suggested that the information content in the stimulus may account for the interaction. Here we ask the question, "Do similar interference effects occur for the discrimination of low-contrast letters whose size is larger than that corresponding to the resolution limit?" If so, previous acuity-based interaction results may be of more general importance. We show that while there are interference effects of nearby contours, they are of a form different from that observed at the resolution limit. In particular, the contrast polarity of the nearby contour is unimportant, which in turn suggests that a physical explanation is inappropriate. Also, the discrimination of an easily resolvable, unflanked Landolt C target requires information over a much wider spatial-frequency range than its counterpart at the resolution limit.


There are different cycles involved in the gait. In order to detect the pathological gait, it is necessary to understand the normal gait. During walk, various parameters were calculated to do analysis for providing further gait training. The aim of this study is to do the investigation and precise identification of deviation in gait pattern. Experimental study is done on thirty-one test subjects suffering from gait impairment. Further, data analysis on subjects is done to measure their gait parameters for usability in their walking aids. Favorable measuring parametric results were obtained and found satisfactory on comparing with standard walking system. The system is capable of determining the standard of care for the assessment and treatment of patients with balance, dizziness and mobility problems.


We read with interest the article by Mori et al . about a 64-year-old female with a history of rheumatoid arthritis starting 8 years earlier, who developed Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) 3 days prior to admission for chest pain and dyspnoea (1). No definite trigger for TTS was detected but cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) suggested the presence of pericarditis, which was assumed not to have been causative (1). We have the following comments and concerns.


The phenomenon of child sexual abuse (CSA) remains topical in Zimbabwe. Statistics, literature and debate reflect not only increased scientific interest in child sexual abuse and its potential effects but also growing public concern about this form of child maltreatment. The sexual abuse of children crosses cultural and economic divides. Sexual abuse can lead to long-lasting, even life-long consequences and is a serious problem on individuals, families and societies. Social workers by nature of their work, intervene at the individual, family and societal level. This paper will explore the definition of CSA, its effects and prevention strategies. The paper adopts Meili's model of prevention which suggests prevention of CSA at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. The authors conclude that social workers in Zimbabwe have a role to play at all the three levels of intervention. KEY TERMS : Child sexual abuse (CSA), social work, prevention, Meili's model.


Recently computers have enabled users to walk through cyberspace using interactive virtual reality techniques. An avatar in cyberspace can allow a virtual face-to-face communication environment. The article realizes an avatar which has a real face in cyberspace to construct a multi-user communication system by voice transmission through a network. A voice from a microphone is transmitted and analyzed, then mouth shape and facial expression of the avatar are synchronously estimated and synthesized in real time. The author also introduces an entertainment application of a real time voice driven synthetic face. This project is named "Fifteen Seconds of Fame" which is an example of an interactive movie.


This study examined the extent to which ambivalence moderates the relationship between attitudes and screening behaviour in a clinical setting using an objective measure of behaviour. For this study 979 pregnant women eligible for prenatal Down syndrome screening completed questionnaire measures of attitudes, ambivalence and intentions towards undergoing the test. Screening behaviour, assessed by test uptake, was determined from medical records. Attitudes predicted intentions to undergo the test and screening behaviour. The correlations between attitudes and intentions and between attitudes and behaviour were greater in women with lower levels of ambivalence (r = 0.85 and r = 0.58, respectively) than in those with higher levels of ambivalence (r = 0.50 and r = 0.27, respectively). Regression analyses revealed that ambivalence moderated the relationships between attitudes and intention and between attitude and behaviour. In addition, a three-way interaction was found between ambivalence, attitudes and intention when predicting behaviour. Given that behaving consistently with attitudes is central to making an informed choice, ambivalence appears to undermine the making of such choices.


Fitting process carried out in automobile transmission assembly line is classified into three classes; heat fitting, press fitting, and their combined fitting. Heat fitting is a method that heats gear to a suitable range under the tempering temperature and squeezes it toward the outer diameter of shaft. Its stress depends on the yield strength of gear. Press fitting is a method that generally squeezes gear toward that of shaft at room temperature by press. Another method heats warmly gear and safely squeezes it toward that of shaft. Warm shrink fitting process for automobile transmission part is now gradually increased, but the parts (shaft/gear) assembled by this process produced dimensional change in both outer diameter and profile of the gear. So that it may cause noise and vibration between gears. In order to solve these problems, we need an analysis of warm shrink fitting process, in which design parameters are involved; contact pressure according to fitting interference between outer diameter of shaft and inner diameter of gear, fitting temperature, and profile tolerance of gear. In this study, an closed form equation to predict contact pressure and fitting load was proposed in order to develop optimization technique of warm shrink fitting process and verified its reliability through the experimental results measured in the field and FEM, that is, thermal-structural coupled field analysis. Actual loads measured in the field have a good agreement with the results obtained by theoretical and finite element analysis and also the expanded amounts of the outer diameters of the gears have a good agreement with results.


A method for achieving a temperature-independent output voltage using a single n-channel device is presented. The underlying theory is presented with the measurement results. The output voltage was measured to have a temperature coefficient of 13 ppm/ degrees C. Three CMOS process technologies were examined and the output voltage reference was found to vary between 1.17 and 1.18 V.


Droplet based microfluidic systems have been shown to be most valuable in biology and chemistry research. However droplet modulation and manipulation requires still further improvement in order to make this technology feasible particularly for biological applications. On demand generation of droplets and droplet synchronization, which is crucial for coalescence, remain largely unanswered. The present study describes a simple and robust droplet generator based on a piezoelectric actuator which is integrated into a microfluidic device. The droplet generator is able to independently control the droplet size, rate of formation and distance between droplets. Moreover, the droplet uniformity is especially high, deviating from the mean value by less than 0.3%. The cross flow and T-junction configurations are tested and show no significant differences, yet the inlet to main channel ratio is found to be important. As this ratio increases, droplets tend to be generated in bursts instead of individually. The physical mechanisms involved are discussed, providing insight into optimized design of such systems.


This document was produced under the supervision of Juan Carlos Feres, Chief of the Social Statistics Unit, Statistics and Economic Projections Division, ECLAC, and was written by Pablo Villatoro, Consultant in the Division. Marcelo Mino and Elizabeth Rivera both contributed to this study, while Carlos Vergara and Ernesto Ottone made valuable comments and suggestions. The production of the document was funded by the EUROsociAL Programme of the European Commission. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean wishes to thank those whose financial cooperation made the production and publication of this document possible PREFACEThis book was prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC);, with the support of the EUROsociAL Programme of the European Commission. Against a background of marked change linked with globalization and the technological revolution - and with its foundations being eroded by new forms of exclusion that need to be urgently addressed - social cohesion is becoming an increasingly important issue in Latin America and the Caribbean. Different phenomena - widening social, economic and cultural divides, pressures on the ability to govern States, the disappearance of traditional sources of belonging, and a waning interest in public affairs - are currently posing a threat to social cohesion in the region . If social cohesion policies are to be framed it is vital to reach agreement on the meaning of the term itself and the best ways of measuring it. ECLAC has devised a concept of social cohesion in which emphasis is laid on the relationship between social inclusion and exclusion mechanisms, on one hand, and people's perceptions of and reactions to the way in which those mechanisms work on the other. As a further contribution to that effort, this publication presents a system of indicators that covers all the dimensions and components needed to monitor social cohesion in the countries of the region. The proposed system is intended not only to provide operational tools for decision-makers to monitor the situation and trends in every area of social cohesion, but also to contribute to discussion of the subject, so that it will play a leading role in the policies pursued by the countries of the region.


We study variation of patterns formed by multi-pulse laser-matter interactions when the number N of pulses is increased. Variation of N causes formation of vortex filament bundles, thick filaments, ribbons, and tubular-ribbons. Their straight and the angular bistable coiling are caused by a double-valley twisting potential emerging from the Landau-Ginzburg twisting potential. In addition, such a coiling undergoes a conformational change brought by propagation of a Davidov's-like soliton. These structures called "complexes" become interconnected into a network on a 2D lattice. Further increase of N induces a 3D supercomplex network. For N greater than a certain critical value, the organizational pattern breaks down into simpler structures.


After Union Oil's discovery of large offshore reserves of gas in the early 1970s, Thailand was presented with an opportunity to reduce its almost complete dependence on oil imports for its commercial energy supplies. This, however, required considerable changes in the structure of its energy supply and the creation of a new industry in which Thailand had no previous experience. Faced with this challenge, the government of Thailand investigated several possible alternative scenarios, and associated the World Bank, which had a long experience in the power sector, the major potential gas consumer. This cooperation, involving the public sector, the international oil industry, and the international financial community resulted in one of the first successful developments of nat ral gas by an international oil company for the purpose of meeting the domestic demand of a developing country. The paper presents the various issues that had to be faced during the preparation and implementation of this project and elaborates on its possible value for other countries. End_of_Article - Last_Page 959------------


This thesis deals with the digestion and metabolism of carbohydrates in Arctic charr, Eurasian perch and tilapia. Two sources of carbohydrates, native starch (wheat) and chitin (zygomycete biomass), were evaluated.

Gut tissue of Arctic charr displayed significant chitinase activity, of both endo- and exo-chitinase forms. Moreover, the distribution pattern along the gastrointestinal tract of Arctic charr differed between endo-chitinase and exo-chitinase. The endo-chitinase activity in stomach tissue and in the distal intestine was several hundred-fold higher than the exo-chitinase activity in stomach tissue. The greatest exo-chitinase activity was found in the distal intestine fed a zygomycete-based diet. Disturbed intestinal integrity and increased uptake rate of the amino acid lysine were observed in the distal, but not proximal, intestine of fish fed the zygomycete-based feed.

A ¹HNMR metabolomics approach revealed no differences in metabolic profile in liver tissues of Arctic charr fingerlings fed a zygomycete-based diet and a fish-meal based diet.

The inclusion of wheat starch did not affect α-amylase activity in gut tissue of Arctic charr and Eurasian perch. Overall, α-amylase activity was correlated with the trends obtained for starch digestibility. The apparent digestibility (AD) of crude protein, starch, crude fat and energy differed between the fish species, with on average higher values for all parameters in Eurasian perch than in Arctic charr. Within fish species, dietary starch level had no effect on AD of dry matter, crude protein, crude fat and energy.

Studies of the metabolic response to wheat starch inclusion in Arctic charr and tilapia using ¹HNMR base metabolomics indicated metabolic effects in tilapia, while inclusion of starch in the diet of Arctic charr resulted in partial or negligible metabolism effects. Thus there are species-related differences in the metabolic response to dietary starch inclusion.


One of the unique outcomes of the Uruguay Round (UR) of negotiations that led to the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was the formation of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) with compulsory jurisdiction to settle trade disputes between WTO member countries. This marked a shift from the diplomatic, power-oriented approach to a rule-based regime to settle trade disputes. An interesting question in the context of settling trade disputes in the WTO is - 'what is the applicable law for the DSB?'. Is it limited to WTO law enshrined in the covered agreements or can the entire body of public international law be used in settling disputes between WTO member countries? This paper endeavours to answer this question by providing a critique of certain issues raised by Professor Joost Pauwelyn in his paper, which argues that the entire body of public international law is applicable law for the DSB. Professor Pauwelyn has argued that the substantive jurisdiction of WTO panels is limited to claims under the WTO covered agreements, but the applicable law is the entire gamut of public international law. Professor Pauwelyn distinguishes between claims based on non WTO law from defence made on non WTO law. In other words, according to Professor Pauwelyn, a WTO member country cannot bring a case in the DSB against another member country for not honouring a non WTO public international law obligation, but can use public international law as a defence to deviate from its WTO obligations. The paper offers the critique by analysing the DSU provisions and the WTO jurisprudence that do not support Professor Pauwelyn's argument.


Learning objects (LOs) can be a valuable tool to diffuse pedagogical innovation among teachers. We suggest that LOs repositories should be structured so to become a means to improve the pedagogical quality of teachers' work, and motivate them to get involved both as users and co-constructors. In this paper we describe LODE (learning objects discussion environment), a collaborative environment where users share their experience on LOs by commenting the items in the repository, expliciting relations among them and contributing new LOs. A prototype was used with a group of trainee high school teachers. The outcomes of this experience show novice teachers' interest and appreciation for this approach


Near misses in which safety plays a critical role are significant to organizations. However, how people in safety-critical organizations can learn from near misses and in the future avoid the associated negative consequences still remains unresolved. Drawing on goal orientation theory, we explored how individuals' goal orientation influences their response in a near-miss situation, mediated by counterfactual thinking. We conducted a field study with 141 construction workers and car-accessory-manufacturing workers in China. The results indicated that upward counterfactual thinking mediated the positive relationship between learning goal orientation and safety participation, whereas downward counterfactual thinking mediated the negative relationship between performance goal orientation and safety participation. The findings together highlight the significance of goal orientation and counterfactual thinking in influencing people's safety behavior in the workplace.


Motivation: The generation of time series transcriptomic datasets collected under multiple experimental conditions has proven to be a powerful approach for disentangling complex biological processes, allowing for the reverse engineering of gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Most methods for reverse engineering GRNs from multiple datasets assume that each of the time series were generated from networks with identical topology. In this study, we outline a hierarchical, non-parametric Bayesian approach for reverse engineering GRNs using multiple time series that can be applied in a number of novel situations including: (i) where different, but overlapping sets of transcription factors are expected to bind in the different experimental conditions; that is, where switching events could potentially arise under the different treatments and (ii) for inference in evolutionary related species in which orthologous GRNs exist. More generally, the method can be used to identify contextspecific regulation by leveraging time series gene expression data alongside methods that can identify putative lists of transcription factors or transcription factor targets. Results: The hierarchical inference outperforms related (but nonhierarchical) approaches when the networks used to generate the data were identical, and performs comparably even when the networks used to generate data were independent. The method was subsequently used alongside yeast one hybrid and microarray time series data to infer potential transcriptional switches in Arabidopsis thaliana response to stress. The results confirm previous biological studies and allow for additional insights into gene regulation under various abiotic stresses. Availability: The methods outlined in this article have been implemented in Matlab and are available on request. Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com Supplementary Information: Supplementary data is available for


Ontologies have become a popular research topic in many communities. In fact, ontology is a main component of this research; therefore, the definition, structure and the main operations and applications of ontology are provided. Web content consists mainly of distributed hypertext and hypermedia, and is accessed via a combination of keyword based search and link navigation. Hence, the ontology can provide a common vocabulary, and a grammar for publishing data, and can supply a semantic description of data which can be used to preserve the ontologies and keep them ready for inference. This paper provides basic concepts of semantic web, and defines the structure and the main applications of ontology.


Abstract The paper aims to investigate current approaches to the management of public sport facilities by local governments. In the Czech Republic, local clubs traditionally played a key role in providing sport to the public. With decreasing participation in organized sport, a significant number of clubs have been forced to transfer their facilities to local governments and the sport position of local authorities has strengthened considerably in recent years. In consequence, there have been alterations in the management of public sport facilities. The findings of statistical analysis emphasize an increasing role of specialized organizations at the expense of in-house management or external provision (facilities hired out to sport clubs). Moreover, local population and type of facility were found to be the possible reasons for different approaches. In-house management is associated with smaller municipalities whereas most of their facilities have the character of public goods. In contrast, publicly funded organizations and municipal enterprises appear in municipalities with larger populations providing sport facilities of regional importance in the form of mixed goods. Finally, clubs, as representatives of external provision, mostly provide sport facilities primarily intended for their own purposes - club goods. In the context of recent works and contemporary trends in sport participation, the research findings indicate that different forms of management may have significant effects not only on efficiency of public budgets but also on conditions for sport at local level - especially on targeting those who would participate in sport if they had access to new opportunities or leisure programs.


From its formation until melting, sea ice is subject to diverse chemical, physical and structural processes that affect its properties and the role that it plays in the Arctic Ocean. During sea ice formation, it incorporates particles and their associated chemical species (metals, nutrients, contaminants, etc.) but excludes chemical dissolved solutes. In the open Arctic Ocean, sea ice intercepts chemical species from the atmosphere and, presumably in a minor proportion, may also incorporate some chemical solute compounds from the surface waters that can be scavenged by sea-ice sediments. Thus, sea ice drift becomes an important and relatively rapid agent for the transport and distribution of particulate matter and chemical compounds in the Arctic Ocean. Eventually, these materials are released into the underlying water column during melting. This discharge occurs on a relatively short timescale, enhancing sedimentation rates and biological productivity in ice ablation areas. Pb-210 and Be-7 are natural particle-reactive radionuclides with half-lives of 22.3 y and 54 d, respectively, and can be used as tracers of sea-ice processes. A first aim of this work is to estimate the sediment load of sea ice and the associated sediment flux to the water column in the Fram Strait by melting. Through mass balance of the distribution of both Pb-210 and Be-7, considering their atmospheric inputs, interception of sea-ice and inventories in the ocean and ice, the load of sea-ice sediments would range from 5 to 100 g/m2. This would lead to an annual release of sediments in the Fram Strait of 10 to 240 g/m2·y. These estimates are consistent with sediment fluxes estimated by using sediments trap deployed in the area, as well as with direct observations of presence of sediments in sea ice. A second result derived from the study of the distribution of Be-7 in the Arctic Ocean is the efficiency of sea ice in intercepting and accumulating the atmospheric inputs of chemical species such as metals, nutrients or organic contaminants, which can be of up to 44%. The redistribution of this load and the eventual release in ablation areas such as the Fram Strait during melting periods of relatively short duration points to the relevance of sea ice as a transport agent of atmospherically deposited load, that should receive further attention in terms of its impact in biogeochemical cycles in the area..


The use of mobile phone technology has increasingly been advocated to assist small‐scale farmers. Accordingly, numerous studies have been conducted on the impact, effectiveness, user's attitude, assessment, empowerment, and the potential use of mobile phone technology in agriculture. This study explores the challenges that small‐scale farmers in sub‐Saharan Africa face when using a mobile phone technology in crop farming projects and proposes areas for future improvement. The study used a systematic literature search conducted by authors at 3 levels, in which 134 studies initially identified were then narrowed to 11. These 11 studies generated 7 projects that use specialized applications in a farming value chain. The findings from the study indicate some of the challenges faced by small‐scale farmers, including the lack of their involvement in the initial phase of the invention process. Other obstacles include low trust and transparency, inappropriate use of foreign language (English) in a local cultural context, bureaucracy, and theft of mobile phones. On the basis of these results, the authors conclude that there are generalized factors for understanding deficiencies experienced by small‐scale farmers, which ought to be understood by all crop farming stakeholders. These factors can be used by software engineers to design future technologies beneficial to small‐scale farmers.


H.264/AVC is adopted as a next generation moving picture compression standard. Context-based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC) is the major entropy coding algorithm employed in H.264/AVC. Although the performance gain of H.264/AVC is mostly resulted from CABAC, it is difficult to implement a high-throughput decoder due to its decoding complexity. Although CABAC excludes a multiplication, the algorithm is basically sequential and needs large computations to compute some important variables, which are range, offset and context variables. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve fast decoding performance. In this paper, a prediction scheme is proposed to decode maximally two bits at a time and thus to reduce overall decoding time. A CABAC decoder based on the proposed prediction scheme reduces total cycles by 24% compared to conventional decoders.


The generally accepted Financial Accounting Standards are considered to be complicated to apply to business entities that do not have public accountability. Based on this IAI issued SAK ETAP (Financial Accounting Standards Entity Without Public Accountability) that can accommodate the accounting needs for entities that do not have public accountability. SAK ETAP is a standard that regulates the accounting treatment of MSMEs and cooperatives in Indonesia, but all cooperative activities are also guided by the latest laws and government regulations issued by the relevant ministers in this case the Regulation of the Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (K -UKM) of the Republic of Indonesia No. 12 of 2015, concerning General Guidelines for Cooperative Accounting. This study aims to analyze the application of SAK ETAP in the financial statements Kopdit CU. The Real Work of Pematang Siantar. Kopdit CU. The real work of Pematang Siantar is a cooperative in the saving and loan business. The method of this research is comparative descriptive analysis. It was found that the financial statements of CU Kopdit. The real work of Pematang Siantar 2017 has not presented the Financial Statement in accordance with SAK ETAP.


Air flowing is called the wind. Because of sun, the wind always exists. The wind energy is from the sun, it is a renewable energy resource. Wind-turbine is the equipment to convert the wind dynamic energy into the electrical energy. Unfortunately, the wind energy is uncertain and unstable. How to use the energy source is the engineering topic. This paper introduces a method to obtain a stable energy from wind.


Professor Lily Kahng's article, The Taxation of Intellectual Capital, highlights the distortion contained in the current tax rules governing capitalization. Her article emphasizes that U.S tax law systematically fails to require capitalization for self-created, high-value intangible assets. Professor Kahng's contribution is to situate the problem in a broader, interdisciplinary context and to use the knowledge gained from that context to suggest specific reforms. In the process, Professor Kahng explores the definitional boundaries of "intellectual capital" and considers potential objections to capitalization of the costs of intellectual capital. As a result, Professor Kahng's article fosters a richer, contextualized conversation about a significant shortcoming of the tax system.


AIM: This study aimed to evaluate and compare clinical performance of composite in regard to colour, marginal staining, surface roughness and chipping in anterior teeth using direct and indirect technique. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 60 anterior teeth were selected for this study and were randomly divided into 2 groups. Facial reduction of 0.75-1 mm was done in both groups. In Group A (n=30), veneer preparation was done directly by incremental layering technique. In Group B (n=30), putty impression was taken, a cast was made and composite build up was performed on the cast. The prepared veneer was placed into visible light cure chamber for uniform curing. It was then loaded with the luting cement and gently seated on labial surface. Veneers were evaluated at baseline, 3, 6 months for colour stability, marginal staining, surface roughness and chipping according to modified USPHS criteria (Ryge's criteria). Score of Alpha, Bravo and Charlie were assigne d, and the results were statistically analysed using Chi square test. RESULT: No statistical difference was found in Group A and B at 0, 3, 6 months in all parameters. CONCLUSION: Clinical performance of direct and indirect technique for composite curing was found similar in the present study .


: With the debates on climate change and sustainability, a reduction of the share of cars in the modal split has become increasingly prevalent in both public and academic discourse. Besides some motivational approaches, there is a lack of ICT artifacts that successfully raise the ability of consumers to adopt sustainable mobility patterns. To further understand the requirements and the design of these artifacts within everyday mobility adopted a practice-lens. This lens is helpful to get a broader perspective on the use of ICT artifacts along consumers' transformational journey towards sustainable mobility practices. Based on 12 retrospective interviews with car-free mobility consumers, we argue that artifacts should not be viewed as 'magic-bullet' solutions but should accompany the complex transformation of practices in multifaceted ways. Moreover, we highlight in particular the difficulties of appropriating shared infrastructures and aligning own practices with them. This opens up a design space to provide more support for these kinds of material-interactions, to provide access to consumption infrastructures and make them usable, rather than leaving consumers alone with increased motivation.


The linkage between relative sea-level change, shelf-edge architecture, and evolution of Maastrichtian basin-floor fans in the Washakie Basin, Wyoming, has been investigated at the scale of lobes, lobe complexes, and submarine fans using 630 wireline logs. The basin-floor fan deposits of two adjacent clinothems form lobate shapes on the toe of slope and basin floor. The earlier lobe complexes of the two clinothems are only weakly developed (from no deposition to up to 3.9 km3 respectively in Clinothems 9 and 10), indicating small volumes of sandy sediment delivered to deep water. The lobe complexes (up to 6.4 km3 of each lobe complex) of Clinothem 9 aggraded with fixed slope channels and without strong basinward or lateral migration (40–170 m aggradation, 4–8 km progradation with 4 km lateral shift) and did so in concert with a highly aggradational shelf edge (50 m/100 ky with 5.5 km progradation) during a period of interpreted relative sea-level rise. In contrast, the deep-water lobe complexes (up to 11.5 km3 of each lobe complex) of Clinothem 10 prograded continuously for 15–18 km on the basin floor (with 60–210 m aggradation) coeval with a flattish shelf-edge progradation (25 km/100 ky with 25 m aggradation) and an interpreted minimal sea-level rise or stillstand. The depocenters of lobe complexes in Clinothem 10 switched laterally (7–14 km) by compensational stacking and slope-channel avulsions. During the late development of both clinothems, the deep-water lobe complexes became smaller (up to 1.9 and 6.1 km3 respectively in Clinothems 9 and 10) or retreated concurrently with shelf flooding. Washakie Basin deep-water fans thus evolved through stages of initiation, aggradation or progradation, and retreat of lobe complexes. The submarine-fan growth stages of these deep-water depocenters were surprisingly well linked to coeval changes in shelf-edge trajectory between successive, ca. 100 ky maximum flooding events on the shelf. We suggest that the close linkage of lobe-complex stacking pattern with shelf-edge behavior was because the Washakie Basin formed under greenhouse conditions with a continuously high, Laramide sediment discharge to the deep-water fans while the feeder deltas were at the shelf edge, despite significant sediment reworking of shelf-edge deltas by waves and tides.


Author(s): Hoch, Katrina | Abstract: Government transparency is understood to be a bedrock principle of American democracy, yet the judiciary branch is often exempted from this ideal. Secrecy exists in all branches of government, but in the judiciary it's often viewed as essential for proper ethics rather than as a threat to them. The judiciary has some important transparency traditions such as published opinions and open trials. However, the judiciary has held back from many modern transparency practices. This dissertation explores how the federal judiciary has been partially exempted from the modern expectation of transparency. The current understanding is that more information is always better for democracy, but the ambivalent relationship between this formulation and the judiciary suggests the story is more complicated. Katrina Hoch addresses this puzzle by looking at the history of government transparency, both as a concept and as a set of policies and practices, and by analyzing three judicial realms: Supreme Court confirmation battles, the debate over cameras in the courtroom, and the Supreme Court Justices' public image. This research includes hearing transcripts, case law, legislation, news reports, historical records from the American Bar Association and the Judicial Conference, field visits to the Supreme Court and Supreme Court press office, popular books about the Court, entertainment media and secondary sources. While government transparency and the federal judiciary were always structured around different principles, contemporary transparency practices have sharpened the tension between them. New developments in journalism, media economics, technology, political culture and political institutions have reshaped the meaning and practice of transparency, and the resulting new forms include the "personalization of politics" and the "performance of transparency." The judiciary has been resistant to these changes because courts operate differently from other government institutions and judges have a unique role. However, several recent developments have contributed to the personalization of the judiciary. This personalization is linked to a new mode of legitimation, one based on engagement with the public. This shift has characterized the way all public officials seek legitimation, but it is a much bigger change for the judiciary, because judges have traditionally cultivated distance rather than familiarity


Performance has always been a major concern among computers and microprocessors. So have the qualities of the applications that are executed by these processors. When the multicore evolution began, programmers faced a shift in programming paradigms required to utilize the full potential of these processors. Now that the same evolution has reached the market of mobile devices, the developers focusing on mobile platforms are facing the same challenge.This thesis focuses on assessing some of the possible application quality gains that can be achieved by adopting parallel programming techniques for mobile platforms. In particular, throughput performance, low-latency performance and power consumption.A Proof of Concept application was developed to measure these specific qualities using a streamed data parallel approach. By adopting proper parallel programming techniques to utilize the multicore processor architecture, it was possible to achieve 90% better throughput performance or the same latency quality with 60% lower CPU frequency. Unfortunately, the power consumption could not be accurately measured using the available hardware.


This is a hermeneutic phenomenological study based on the Van Manen's framework, that aimed to distinguish the meanings of the experiences lived in the state of coma and its impact on the being and living process. It was developed with four participants, three males and one female. Based on the analysis of the information three themes were identified: the unexpected as reality; the singularity of the modified states of consciousness, and the transformation of the being and living process. The coma emerged as an unexpected and unique process, permeated by different and modified states of consciousness; and possibly the unconsciousness as a state of inner life; and having a great impact on the life process of the participants. Finally we addressed some implications for the nursing care.


The stereoselectivity of the pharmacokinetics and of the pharmacodynamics of the oral anticoagulant acenocoumarol (AC) and of two of its potential metabolites, the amino (AM) and the acetamido (AA) derivatives, were investigated in the rat. The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics were investigated following the acute subcutaneous (1 mg/kg) administration of the pure enantiomers. For AC and AA, the S(-)-enantiomer was preferentially eliminated, whereas for AM the R(+)-enantiomer showed the shortest half-life. The differences in elimination between the AC enantiomers were entirely due to differences in total clearance, 183 +/- 14 and 714 +/- 148 ml X h-1 X kg-1 (+/- SD) for R(+)- and S(-)-AC. Also the differences in elimination between the AM enantiomers were mainly due to differences in body clearance, 50 +/- 13 and 18 +/- 4 ml X h-1 X kg-1 for R(+)- and S(-)-AM. For S(-)-AA the higher total clearance as well as the smaller volume of distribution accounted for its 2-fold higher rate of elimination. Acetylation of AM, i.e. the conversion to AA, which accounted for about 50% of its total clearance was stereoselective for R(+)-AM. The renal clearance of AA which accounted for 50-60% of the AA clearance was not selective for one of the AA enantiomers. Stereoselectivity in plasma protein binding was observed, the differences, however, were small. Thus, stereoselectivity in plasma protein binding did not account for the observed differences in the pharmacokinetics. The differences in anticlotting activity between the enantiomers of AC and AM were determined mainly by their pharmacokinetics.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Exendin-4 is a 39 amino acid peptide produced in the salivary gland of the Gila monster lizard. It has a 53% amino acid homology to the incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). Exendin-4 induces insulin release through activation of the GLP- 1 receptor but is a much more potent insulinotropic agent than GLP-1. Of critical importance for its potential use as a treatment for diabetes is its much longer biological effect in vivo. Previous studies involving once daily administration of exendin-4 over 13 weeks to db/db mice demonstrated that it lowers hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), a marker of mean blood glucose levels. Food consumption in the treated animals dropped over the first 4 days and then increased to a level comparable with that of the untreated animals. In this study, we initially examined the effect of once daily injections (over 14 days) on the food consumption of Zucker fatty rats. We observed an immediate reduction in food intake which then leveled off(after 5 days) to match that of the untreated animals. Subsequently we injected the same animals twice daily (treatment period of 56 days in total) and observed a sustained reduction in food intake and weight-gain. This was matched by a reduction in the critical parameters of HbA1c, fasting blood glucose and plasma insulin. MRI imaging of the abdominal regions of the animals showed that initially only the amount of fat deposited in the sc region was reduced after 4 weeks exendin-4 treatment. At the 8-week time point there was a corresponding decrease in the amount of visceral fat deposition. The combination of appetite reduction, decreased fat deposition and an improvement in the parameters associated with glucose intolerance makes a case for the use of exendin-4 as a treatment for diabetes.


Designing equivariance as an inductive bias into deep-nets has been a prominent approach to build effective models, e.g., a convolutional neural network incorporates translation equivariance. However, incorporating these inductive biases requires knowledge about the equivariance properties of the data, which may not be available, e.g., when encountering a new domain. To address this, we study how to discover interpretable equivariances from data. Specifically, we formulate this discovery process as an optimization problem over a model's parameter-sharing schemes. We propose to use the partition distance to empirically quantify the accuracy of the recovered equivariance. Also, we theoretically analyze the method for Gaussian data and provide a bound on the mean squared gap between the studied discovery scheme and the oracle scheme. Empirically, we show that the approach recovers known equivariances, such as permutations and shifts, on sum of numbers and spatially-invariant data.


Piled foundations are one of the first aspects of scheme design a structural engineer needs to consider during a project's development. It is at this crucial stage that, without any specialist input, the structural engineer must make recommendations based on the typically limited knowledge they have on the subject.
This Technical Guidance Note describes the method by which bored piles are designed using the current UK codes of practice, i.e. BS EN 1997 (Eurocode 7). It explains how to interpret soil conditions and design piles to match what has been discovered following a site investigation.

The note does not address the types of piling systems that are available, nor the technical issues concerning their installation; these questions are covered in Technical Guidance Note Level 1, No. 23 Introduction to piling.

The note explains how to design what is essentially a buried column of concrete to resist forces from the superstructure that are applied to it. It concerns the design of a single pile and not one that is part of a group. For information on how grouped piles differ in their design approach, the reader is directed to Cl. 6.3.3 of BS 8004:2015.


A narrative review of risks of acetaminophen to the fetus is conducted. Prenatal exposure to acetaminophen is associated with cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, communication problems, hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, attention and executive function problems, language delay, lower intelligence quotient, behavioral problems, shorter anogenital distance in male infants, decreased relative numbers of hematopoietic stem cells in cord blood, wheeze, and asthma. Paternal preconception acetaminophen use for 8 day or more is associated with ADHD. A systematic review and meta-analysis showed significant association between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and child asthma risk. Exposure for 29 day or more is probably danger. However, we cannot assert that exposure for 28 day or less is safe. At the present moment, any public organizations or academic associations have not declared the danger of acetaminophen in pregnancy. Each article has poor power to show risks of acetaminophen, however, the integration of the articles that showed adverse effects of acetaminophen may have power to show them. We should recognize that acetaminophen is danger in pregnancy. However, acetaminophen is the safest medicine as analgesics for nociceptive pain and antipyretics in childhood and pregnancy. Fever and pain during pregnancy themselves are probably associated with adverse gestational outcomes. Acetaminophen should be used at the lowest effective dosage and for the shortest time. We should use acetaminophen in pregnancy only when needed and no safer option for pain or fever relief is available. I would like public organizations or academic associations to declare danger (or safety) of acetaminophen in pregnancy.


Health-care organizations are beginning to apply the principles of total quality management (TQM). Implementing TQM in a health-care laboratory requires incorporating quality improvement (QI) and quality planning (QP) with quality laboratory practices (QLP), quality control (QC), and quality assurance (QA) to provide a complete quality management system. QI and QP can be initiated by developing a strategic plan as a pilot QI project. QI project teams are then introduced to accomplish the highest priority goals. This implementation approach improves strategic planning by using group problem-solving tools and techniques, such as process flow charts, brainstorming, nominal group, fishbone diagrams, consensus decision making, and Pareto analysis. The approach also improves the success of project teams by providing a clear management agenda and a commitment to project-by-project QI.


We demonstrate an application of the ontology driven methodology to develop trajectory simulations in a function-oriented style. We adopt a model based approach to software development, guided by the domain engineering process, to promote knowledge and software reuse. MATLAB Simulink® block definitions have been generated from the function specifications in the Trajectory Simulation Ontology, called TSONT. MATLAB implementations of the blocks have been generated from the DAVE-ML definitions of the functions, which are incorporated in TSONT. Finally, the simulation has been put together by manually connecting the blocks.


Well-calibrated building simulation models are key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and optimizing building performance. Current calibration algorithms do not leverage data collected during previous calibration tasks. In this paper, we employ attentive neural processes (ANP) to meta-learn a distribution using multi-source data acquired during previous calibration. The ANP informs a meta-learned Bayesian optimizer to accelerate calibration of new, unseen tasks. The few-shot nature of our proposed algorithm is demonstrated on a library of residential buildings validated by the United States Department of Energy (USDoE).


Variations of unique and tailored composite microstructures have been observed in nature and have served as templates for the development of new synthetic materials. Microstructures are studied in fish scales for their penetration resistance, in spider webs for energy absorption, and in seashells and bone for their strength and toughness. However, it has proven difficult to reproduce the properties found in natural materials, due to the interaction between the intricate structures at different length scales. Rather than attempting to replicate these materials (biomimetics), the focus of this work is to use a bio-inspired pattern generation algorithm to search for new topologies that outperform traditional composite structures due to their naturelike design. The bio-inspired pattern generation algorithm employed in this research is known as the Gray-Scott model. This model was selected due to its unique ability to manufacture patterns that propagate with time, allowing the reinforcement volume fraction of the composite structure to be controlled. The model is capable of producing Turing patterns, propagating wave fronts, homogeneous oscillations, and chaos. Traditionally, Turing models have been primarily studied for their applications in morphogenesis and pattern development. However, this research extends the application of the Gray-Scott model by investigating the patterns as physical load bearing structures. A methodology was developed by which the patterns can be converted to structures, analyzed for a desired mechanical property, and optimized via Bayesian machine learning algorithms that yield an improvement of the average quality of structures produced by almost a factor of 10.


Traditional Extravehicular Activity (EVA) spacesuits incorporate either hard or soft upper torso subassemblies as part of their architecture. In either case, these components are of a specific, fixed size and lack provisions to make significant sizing adjustments across the envelope of the torso. To address this limitation, this project furthered the Morphing Upper Torso (MUT) concept, an innovative pressure garment that allows for resizing of the torso and precise repositioning of the neck, scye and waist planes. This concept was initially developed several years prior, and analytical and experimental models of the full MUT design (in which the back hatch of a rear-entry torso is interconnected with the waist ring, helmet ring and two scye bearings) have been used to demonstrate the feasibility of this novel space suit concept. These previous efforts showed that the torso could be expanded to facilitate donning and doffing, and then contracted to match different wearer's body dimensions. Using the system of interconnected parallel manipulators, suit components can be accurately repositioned to different desired configurations. The project described herein furthered this novel concept, focusing on development of higher fidelity mockups and updated analytical tools and models. New higher fidelity mockups were designed and fabricated, incorporating Link-net as the restraint layer. Link-net is a unique "netting" material created and manufactured exclusively by David Clark. In this application, Linknet may provide advantages in the MUT architecture, due to its ability to self stow. When the MUT is reconfigured and resized to smaller dimensions than the restraint is designed, ideally the restraint material will stow underneath the resizable linkages, and will not buckle, dive in, or create hot spots, as is potentially the case with traditional woven fabrics utilized as a pressure garment restraint. Additionally, various sizing mechanisms were considered and design trades performed to choose a design that allows quick, reliable, mechanical adjustments of the linkages. Ideally the crewmember must be able to quickly make adjustments to the torso size after donning the suit. If it is a suitport-compatible suit, these adjustments must be made with the suit pressurized. Concepts that are optimal for both unpressurized resizing and pressurized resizing were designed. Finally, the analytical models have been updated in this project to reflect the current baseline exploration suit geometry. Using these updated analytical models and the higher fidelity mockups, analysis was performed to quantify a reasonable range of sizing adjustments for a wearable prototype, as well as outlining the sizing architecture to outfit the entire future crewmember population.


The relationship between ethnic diversity and social cohesion has long been a question of interest for both academics and policy-makers. In recent years, in the era of increasing 'super-diversity' and the associated 'crises of multiculturalism' (Lentin, A. and Titley, G. 2011, The Crises of Multiculturalism: Racism in a Neoliberal Age, London: Zed), this question has taken on renewed urgency for many western democracies. Indeed, as Merlin Schaeffer identifies in his opening chapter, 'The entire literature on ethnic diversity and social cohesion is engaged in a dispute on the question of whether ethnic diversity is one of the contextual factors eroding trust and engagement' (2014:12). Symbolic of this has been the work of Robert Putnam. His broader findings about the importance and possibilities of 'social capital' found a cross-over audience, exciting interest amongst politicians and media commentators, but his findings on the, apparently initially negative, relationship between increased ethnic diversity and levels of trust in neighbourhoods, have been more troubling. Such findings have been used in different countries to attack both further immigration and even the existence per se of significant ethnic diversity. For instance, in the UK, David Goodhart suggested a direct and negative relationship between increased ethnic diversity and the social solidarity that necessarily underpins the welfare state.


Abstract : We expose some of the truths about COTS, discounting some exaggerated claims about the applicability of COTS, particularly with regard to using COTS in safety critical systems. Although we agree that COTS has great potential for reduced development and maintenance time and cost, we feel that the advocates of COTS have not adequately addressed some critical issues concerning reliability, maintainability, availability, requirements risk analysis, and cost. Thus we illuminate these issues, suggesting solutions in cases where solutions are feasible and leaving some questions unanswered because it appears that the questions cannot be answered due to the inherent limitations of COTS. These limitations are present because there is inadequate visibility and documentation of COTS components.


The IETF TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) protocol
provides support for flow-level multipathing for both unicast and
multi-destination traffic in networks with arbitrary topology. Active-
active access at the TRILL edge is the extension of these
characteristics to end stations that are multiply connected to a TRILL
campus as discussed in RFC 7379. In this document, the edge RBridge
(Routing Bridge, or TRILL switch) group providing active-active access
to such an end station is represented as a virtual RBridge. Based on
the concept of the virtual RBridge, along with its pseudo-nickname,
this document specifies a method for TRILL active-active access by
such end stations.


In an earlier study, we had forecasted 39 million with diagnosed diabetes in 2050 in the U.S. (1,2). However, since then, national diabetes incidence increased (3) and the relative risk of death among people with diabetes declined (4,5). These changes will impact future forecasts.

Incorporating these changes, we now project 48.3 million people with diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. in 2050. We also present age-, sex-, and race/ethnicity-specific forecasts, with Bayesian CIs, of the number of people with diagnosed diabetes through 2050.

We used a discrete-time (1-year intervals), incidence-based Markov model with three states (no diagnosed diabetes, diagnosed diabetes, and death) (1). In each cycle of the model, projections are developed for 808 population subgroups defined by age, sex, and race/ethnicity.

We estimated the age-, sex-, and race/ethnicity-specific prevalence and incidence of diabetes from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (6–9) and modeled data for 1984–2004 to improve the precision of 2004 estimates.

Models were fit using Bayesian methods with improper flat priors applied to logistic regression. We assessed adequacy of model fit using posterior predictive P values (10). Estimated prevalence of diagnosed diabetes for 2000 and 2004 were 4.35 and 5.37%, respectively, and estimated incidence were 0.42 and 0.53% per year, respectively. The age-, sex-, and race/ethnicity-specific 2004 prevalence estimates were combined with U.S. population data for 2004 (11 …


The morphological and cytofluorometric analysis of the age structure of yeast populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida boidinii and Candida tropicalis were carried out. The phase of cell preparation for budding and three phases of budding were accounted in morphological analysis. The latter was determined by the ratio of size of a mother cell and a bud. Cytofluorometric analysis was carried out by flow cytofluorometry of 20,000 cell which were stained by ethidium bromide. A simple method to determine the share of yeast cells in different phases of the cell cycle was proposed. The data obtained by cytofluorometry and by morphological analysis of population's age structure correlate between themselves.


static and dynamic aspects of component assembly. The static metrics measure complexity and criticality of component assembly, wherein complexity is measured using Component Packing Density and Component Interaction Density metrics. Further, four criticality conditions namely, Link, Bridge, Inheritance and Size criticalities have been identified and quantified. The complexity and criticality metrics are combined to form a Triangular Metric, which can be used to classify the type and nature of applications. Dynamic metrics are collected during the runtime of a complete application. Dynamic metrics are useful to identify super-component and to evaluate the degree of utilisation of various components. In this paper both static and dynamic metrics are evaluated using Weyuker's set of properties. The result shows that the metrics provide a valid means to measure issues in component assembly. We relate our metrics suite with McCall's Quality Model and illustrate their impact on product quality and to the management of component-based product development.


Although frequently silent, mineral and bone disease (MBD) is one of the most precocious complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and is omnipresent in patients with CKD stage 5. Its pathophysiology is complex, but basically, disturbances in vitamin D, phosphate, and calcium metabolism lead to a diverse range of clinical manifestations with secondary hyperparathyroidism usually being the most frequent. With the decline in renal function, CKD-MBD may induce microstructural changes in bone, vascular system and soft tissues, which results in macrostructural lesions, such as low bone mineral density (BMD) resulting in skeletal fractures, vascular and soft tissue calcifications. Moreover, low BMD, fractures, and vascular calcifications are linked with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and all-cause mortality. Therefore, a better characterization of CKD-MBD patterns, beyond biochemical markers, is helpful to adapt therapies and monitor strategies as used in the general population. An in-depth characterization of bone health is required, which includes an evaluation of cortical and trabecular bone structure and density and the degree of bone remodeling through bone biomarkers. Standard radiological imaging is generally used for the diagnosis of fracture or pseudo-fractures, vascular calcifications and other features of CKD-MBD. However, bone fractures can also be diagnosed using computed tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and vertebral fracture assessment (VFA). Fracture risk can be predicted by bone densitometry using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), quantitative computed tomography (QTC) and peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQTC), quantitative ultrasound (QUS) and most recently magnetic resonance micro-imaging. Quantitative methods to assess bone consistency and strength complete the study and adjust the clinical management when integrated with clinical factors. The aim of this review is to provide a brief and comprehensive update of imaging techniques available for the diagnosis, prevention, treatment and monitoring of CKD-MBD.


We present a novel approach for tracking locally planar regions in an image sequence and their grouping into larger planar surfaces. The tracker recovers the affine transformation of the region and therefore yields reliable point correspondences between frames. Both edges and texture information are exploited in an integrated way, while not requiring the complete region's contour. The tracker withstands zoom, out-of-plane rotations, discontinuous motion and changes in illumination conditions while achieving real-time performance for a region. Multiple tracked regions are grouped into disjoint coplanarity classes. We first define a coplanarity score between each pair of regions, based on motion and texture cues. The scores are then analyzed by a clique-partitioning algorithm yielding the coplanarity classes that best fit the data. The method works in the presence of perspective distortions, discontinuous planar surfaces and considerable amounts of measurement noise.


The features of mitotic regimen of lymphogranuloma were established in examinations of 50 involved lymph nodes in patients with lymphogranulomatosis: increased mitotic activity and the number of pathological mitoses from lymphoid prevalence to lymphoid exhaust. In all the types of metaphase was the predominant stage of mitosis. Significant differences were found in the mitotic regimen and various subtypes of nodular sclerosis.


A novel oligonucleotide probe, with duplex mutation primers, which comprised a normal reverse primer labelled with a fluorophore at its 5′-end and a single-base mismatched complementary oligonucleotide labelled with a quencher at its 3′-end, was designed. Its application in the detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA of serum was investigated; results were compared with those obtained using a commercial TaqMan kit. There was a good linear correlation in the range of 102∼107 copies/ml (r2 = 0.999) with the method. Intra-experimental coefficients of variation (CVs) were 0.70%∼7.80%, and inter-experimental CVs were 0.78%∼9.02%, respectively. There was no significant difference of HBV genome number tested by the two methods (p<0.05) in 132 hepatitis B patients; HBV DNA was not detected in any serum samples of 20 healthy volunteers by the two methods.


There is no general consensus on which classifier performance metrics are better to use as compared to others. While some studies investigate a handful of such metrics in a comparative fashion, an evaluation of specific relationships among a large set of commonly-used performance metrics is much needed in the data mining and machine learning community. This study provides a unique insight into the underlying relationships among classifier performance metrics. We do so with a large case study involving 35 datasets from various domains and the C4.5 decision tree algorithm. A common property of the 35 datasets is that they suffer from the class imbalance problem. Our approach is based on applying factor analysis to the classifier performance space which is characterized by 22 performance metrics. It is shown that such a large number of performance metrics can be grouped into two-to-four relationship-based groups extracted by factor analysis. This work is a step in the direction of providing the analyst with an improved understanding about the different relationships and groupings among the performance metrics, thus facilitating the selection of performance metrics that capture relatively independent aspects of a classifier's performance.


Shadow IT is relatively new and emerging phenomenon which is bringing number of concerns and risks to the organizational security. Past literature has mostly explored the "negative" effects of the Shadow IT phenomenon, including, for example, the security aspect where Shadow systems are said to undermine the official systems and endanger organizational data flows. However, the question of how Shadow IT can contribute to leverage user's innovation has not been adequately addressed. We used three methods to understand if Shadow IT can be an important source of innovation for firms: 1) Single case study with international firm that adopted Shadow IT; 2) Interviews with 15 IT executives and 3) Focus group using twitter as enabling tool to interact with 65 IT professionals. We offer a new perspective on how Shadow IT practices can leverage user's innovation. The study offers novel insights on the role of Shadow users in the organizational innovation process and how they contribute to new innovations by using Shadow IT. Not only this user led innovation through Shadow IT brings positive outcomes for the employee, but it also reveals the path to follow for organizations to increase their innovation capabilities.


The increasing number of campus shooting incidents in the recent years has prompted campuses to develop emergency notifications systems to keep the students alert. Merely deploying mass notification systems on college campuses does not guarantee that it will be effective. Student compliance plays a very important role in establishing effectiveness of these systems. The aim of the study is to identify the factors that affect immediate compliance in active shooter incidents on campus. We use focus group interviews as the main methodology for determining these factors and examining why and how those factors affect a student's decision to comply. This paper also establishes how the intentions to comply vary among different groups of students. Results of this research contribute to developing strategies to improve the efficiency of campus emergency notification systems.


: Regulatory responses to the financial crisis have positioned themselves apart from the prevailing image of errant bankers, irresponsible borrowing/lending, and 'moral panic'. Instead, a range of innovative policy agendas have sought to foster a new ethos of resilience : financial networks are rephrased as (one among several) complex, inter-dependent systems that must adapt to a range of global uncertainties. Once recognised, regulators (and network agents alike) can begin to model the likelihood of system wide 'events', such as sovereign defaults, capital flight/crunch, even terrorist attacks, in a manner that (supposedly) enhances both their predictability and the efficacy of contingency planning. In broad terms, the goal of such regulation is to foster evolution through resilient networks, embracing the reality of risk, while building adaptable relationships throughout the system. In this working paper, we map one instantiation of financial resilience embodied in the Bank of England's recent turn to complexity modelling and its correlative, somewhat metaphorical, ethos of 'clear thinking' in 'complex times'. In our view, there is much scope for innovation within such moves; in particular, we highlight the potential return of 'local agency' in the discourse of financial resilience – through ideas about local banking, reciprocity, and inclusion. However, by engaging the more critical literature on resilience, we argue that important dilemmas are likely to remain for policy makers who try to marry complexity with clarity in a financial system that remains politically contested and contestable . We conclude by outlining a pragmatic agenda for further experimentation.


How do we define a high-quality school librarian? Decades of educational researchers have attempted to link teacher characteristics—such as how teachers are prepared, which credentials they carry, and years of experience—to student outcomes. These researchers have contended that individual educator attributes may have a direct effect on what and how much their students learn. School librarians are also teachers who have direct student contact, and although numerous studies have indicated that school librarian preparation, licensure, and other background characteristics are promising areas for further direct exploration, researchers have yet to examine if, how, and why school librarians' certification or preparation positively impacts students' learning outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to compare findings from causal educational research to findings from descriptive school librarianship research to discern possible areas of causal alignment that warrant further investigation. In this study, we present a subset of a larger mixed research synthesis of causal educational research related to student The Preparation and Certification of School Librarians Volume 22 | ISSN: 2165-1019 achievement, contextualized with existing school librarianship research, to draw relationships between classroom teacher and school librarian preparation and characteristics and to shape researchable conjectures about school librarians' effects on learner outcomes.


The dynamics of the somatic and psychic symptoms was studied in patients hospitalized for pulmonary tuberculosis complicated or not with neurotic anxiety reactions and in patients with this tuberculosis complicated with diabetes. As a result of comparative analysis a significant diminution of psychic resistance was noted in patients with neurotic anxiety reactions during pulmonary tuberculosis, which probably reduced the probability of achieving sputum-negativity at expected term. These observations suggest the necessity for an explanatory hypothesis. Attention is called to the necessity of raising of the importance of elementary psychotherapy in phthisiatric practice.


INTRODUCTION
Persistent sexual arousal disorder (PSAS) is a poorly documented condition characterized by persistent genital arousal in the absence of conscious feelings of sexual desire.

AIM
To determine whether there are replicable features associated with PSAS, to describe salient characteristics of women reporting this condition, and to determine predictors of distress.

METHODS
A 46-item Internet survey containing demographic information, symptom description, triggers, exacerbation and relief measures, distress ratings, and life and sexual satisfaction was placed on a secure server.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Frequency analyses of descriptive data, and stepwise multiple regression analysis to identify independent predictors of level of distress.

RESULTS
Of the 103 respondents, most were in good health, well educated, and in long-term relationships. Ninety-eight percent of respondents met at least one criterion for PSAS and 53% met all five criteria. Involuntary genital and clitoral arousal persisting for extended time periods, genital arousal unrelated to subjective feelings of sexual desire, and genital arousal not relieved with orgasms were the most frequently endorsed features associated with this syndrome. Symptom triggers included sexual stimulation, masturbation, stress, and anxiety. Distress about the condition was low in 25%, moderate in 35%, and high in 40% of respondents. The strongest predictors of distress were intrusive and unwanted feelings of genital arousal (P < 0.0001), continuous symptoms (P < 0. 001), feelings of unhappiness (P < 0.03), shame (P = 0.0001) and worry (P = 0.01), reduced sexual satisfaction (P < 0.004), enjoyment of symptoms some of the time (P = 0.01), and relationship status (P < 0.004).

CONCLUSIONS
The results of this research support the description of a condition (persistent sexual arousal) involving involuntary genital and clitoral arousal unrelated to subjective feelings of sexual desire which persists despite one or more orgasms and which usually feels intrusive and unwanted. Varying levels of distress were identified with this condition as well as a variety of primarily negative emotional reactions.


Background—Fibrinogen is both central to blood coagulation and an acute-phase reactant. We aimed to identify common variants influencing circulation fibrinogen levels. Methods and Results—We conducted a genome-wide association analysis on 6 population-based studies, the Rotterdam Study, the Framingham Heart Study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease/KORA Augsburg Study, and the British 1958 Birth Cohort Study, including 22 096 participants of European ancestry. Four loci were marked by 1 or more single-nucleotide polymorphisms that demonstrated genome-wide significance (P<5.0×10−8). These included a single-nucleotide polymorphism located in the fibrinogen &bgr; chain (FGB) gene and 3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms representing newly identified loci. The high-signal single-nucleotide polymorphisms were rs1800789 in exon 7 of FGB (P=1.8×10−30), rs2522056 downstream from the interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) gene (P=1.3×10−15), rs511154 within intron 1 of the propionyl coenzyme A carboxylase (PCCB) gene (P=5.9×10−10), and rs1539019 on the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 isoforms (NLRP3) gene (P=1.04×10−8). Conclusions—Our findings highlight biological pathways that may be important in regulation of inflammation underlying cardiovascular disease.


It is assumed that the relationship between the judged and the actual magnitudes reflects the nature of transformation applied by the perceptual system in processing the stimulus inputs. The differences in exponents between memory and perception conditions when estimating distance between two spots by only viewing has been pointed out by a few researchers. It is of interest to explore whether this difference can be observed when estimating distance by travelling the straight paths between two spots. The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of distance estimation under a moving situation, and confirm whether the perception-memory differences in exponents are observed. The characteristics of distance estimation when actually travelling the paths seem to be different from that under a viewing condition in which the subjects view the two predetermined spots from an observation point and estimate the straight distance between two spots. The data obtained in this research provides a new finding on the basic characteristics of human's distance estimation. Future research should confirm the finding under more realistic (including the ascent and descent or closed paths) moving situations.


The knowledge of off-design performance for a given gas turbine system is critical particularly in applications where considerable operation at low load setting is required. This information allows designers to ensure safe operation of the system and determine in advance thermo-economic penalty due to performance loss while operating under part-load conditions.In this paper, thermo-economic analysis results for the intercooled, reheat (ICRH) and recuperated gas turbine, at the part-load conditions in cogeneration applications, have been presented.Thermodynamically, a recuperated ICRH gas turbine based cogeneration system showed lower penalty in terms of electric efficiency and Energy Saving Index over the entire part-load range in comparison to the other cycles (non-recuperated ICRH, recuperated Brayton and simple Brayton cycles) investigated.Based on the comprehensive economic analysis for the assumed values of economic parameters, this study shows that, a mid-size (electric power capacity 20 MW) cogeneration system utilizing non-recuperated ICRH cycle provides higher return on investment both at full-load and part-load conditions, compared to the other same size cycles, over the entire range of fuel cost, electric sale and steam sale values examined. The plausible reasons for the observed trends in thermodynamic and economic performance parameters for four cycles and three sizes of cogeneration systems under full-load and part-load conditions have been presented in this paper.Copyright © 2001 by ASME


The bending level structure of the quasilinear X+ 3B1 ground electronic state of the amidogen cation NH2+ was studied by pulsed-field-ionization zero-kinetic-energy photoelectron spectroscopy using a near-infrared vacuum-ultraviolet two-photon ionization sequence via selected rovibronic levels of the A 2A1 state of NH2. The careful selection of the intermediate levels permitted to optimize the transition intensities to the lowest vibrational levels of the cation in the photoionization step and to overcome the low sensitivity of previously employed single-photon ionization schemes. For the first time, all bending levels of the cationic ground state with quantum numbers upsilon2,lin + < or =4, N+ < or =4, and /K+/ < or =2 could be observed, enabling a detailed characterization of the large-amplitude bending vibration. The rotational structure corresponds to that of an effectively linear molecule in all observed vibrational levels. The bending vibrational structure which shows marked deviations from a harmonic behavior was analyzed in terms of a semirigid bender model. The bending potential function was obtained from a fit to the experimental data. The height of the barrier at the linear geometry and the bond angle at the potential minimum were determined to be 231.8(22) cm(-1) and 152.54(4) degrees , respectively, and all bending levels are located above the maximum of the barrier.


Introduction Septoplasty, or surgical correction of the deviated septum, is an elective, routinely performed rhinologic procedure to address nasal airway obstruction. In many cases, resected septal cartilage and bone fragments are sent for pathologic review, although there is no consensus on this practice. We reported two cases of incidentally diagnosed lymphoma after elective septoplasty and discussed clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management. Methods Retrospective chart review of two patients who underwent septoplasty at a tertiary academic medical center and found to have incidental lymphoma based on histopathology. Results Two patients who underwent septoplasty had an incidental diagnosis of lymphoma on pathologic analysis. One patient was noted to have an S-shaped septal deviation that produced bilateral nasal obstruction. She underwent a difficult septoplasty, in which the mucoperichondrial flap was firmly adherent to the underlying septum and bone. Final pathology demonstrated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. She was treated with chemoradiation and remained free of disease at 59 months. The other patient had a history of nasal trauma, which produced left septal deviation. He underwent an uncomplicated septoplasty, with pathology that demonstrated low-grade B-cell lymphoma. Because there was no evidence of active disease, the decision was made to not treat and to observe the patient clinically. Conclusions This is the first reported series of septal lymphoma incidentally diagnosed on routine septoplasty. Although histopathologic review of specimens from routine nasal and sinus surgery is not routinely performed, this report highlighted the importance of this process, on a case-by-case basis, in detecting unexpected malignancies that otherwise were clinically silent.


©2013 The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers This paper presents a sensor system to predict behavior patterns that occur when patients leave their beds. We originally developed plate-shaped sensors using piezoelectric elements. Existing sensors such as clip sensors and mat sensors require restraint of patients. Moreover, these sensors present privacy problems. The features of our sensors are that they require no power supply or patient restraint. We evaluated our system using a basic experiment to predict seven behavior patterns with machine-learning algorithms without setting thresholds. We obtained a result of predicted behavior patterns related to bed-leaving using only six sensors installed under a bed. Especially, our system can correctly detect behavior patterns of lateral sitting, which is a position that occurs when a patient tries to leave from the bed, and terminal sitting, which is the position immediately before bed-leaving. They were discerned from other behavior patterns.


Composite multipath fading/shadowing environments are frequently encountered in different realistic scenarios. These channels are generally modeled as a mixture of Nakagami-m multipath fading and log-normal shadowing. The resulting composite probability density function (pdf) is not available in closed form, thereby making the performance evaluation of communication links in these channels cumbersome. In this paper, we propose to model composite channels by the G-distribution. This pdf arises when the log-normal shadowing is substituted by the inverse-Gaussian one. This substitution will prove to be very accurate for several shadowing conditions. In this paper we conduct a performance evaluation of single-user communication systems operating in a composite channel. Our study starts by deriving an analytical expression for the outage probability. Then, we derive the moment generating function of the G-distribution, hence facilitating the calculation of average bit error probabilities. We also derive analytical expressions for the channel capacity for three adaptive transmission techniques, namely, i) optimal rate adaptation with constant power, ii) optimal power and rate adaptation, and iii) channel inversion with fixed rate.


Background Of the errors occurring in drug treatment, about 24% take place during the step of administration (Mission nationale d'expertise et d'audit hospitaliers (MeaH) 2008). Poon et al, showed in 2010 that the Bar Code Medicines Administration (BCMA) reduced drug administration errors by 41.4% and serious potential adverse drug events by 54.1%. Drug prescribing, dispensing and administration have been computerised in the 13 geriatric units at the University Hospital (CHU) of Toulouse. Since January 2012, an additional device has been deployed in 8 wards: barcode readers have been installed to read barcodes on the drug packaging to make administration safer. Purpose A quality indicator was developed in order to analyse the use of barcode readers in care units in real time, to directly reduce drug administration errors. This indicator is a management tool to ensure that the BCMA system does not deviate over time. Materials and Methods The indicator was designed with the help of a computer specialist. The request is based on an Access file that extracts administration data from the Disporao prescription software. Two parameters are determined: the number of doses administered by BCMA and the number of administered doses that could be scanned; the ratio of these two elements reflects the use of barcode readers by nurses. Results The training of 89 nurses was completed in June 2012. The indicator showed that nurses scan an average of 70% of unit doses. The objective is to scan more than 95% of unit doses. Investigations are underway to understand the reasons for incompleteness (temporary nursing staff not trained, incorrect prescriptions, faulty hardware, for example) and make corrective actions. Conclusions Optimization of the deployment of BCMA in the Geriatric units of Toulouse CHU allows us to plan the development of this practise over a large number of clinical departments at a later date. No conflict of interest.


In recent years, a technological breakthrough in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields have been reflected in the development of more complex, safe and effective dosage forms to improve the administration, delivery, disposition and stability of drugs, as well as at creating more biocompatible and biodegradable materials. As a result, modified release devices and functional coatings which improve the effectiveness and efficacy of drugs have been generated. This advancement has been achieved by physical or chemical modification of natural or semisynthetic polymers which stabilize and protect drugs against harsh environmental factors. Therefore, the development of novel excipients with a high functionality and robustness has become an important quest. Among these materials, polyvinyl alcohol is one of the most versatile and biocompatible, since by chemical or physical modification its properties are modulated, improving drug stability, drug targeting, and ensures patient compliance. Freezing-thawing cycles, heat treatment and formation of composites are the most significant physical modifications to improve the performance of polyvinyl alcohol. On the other hand, the chemical modifications by cross-linking with aldehydes, carboxylic acids, sodium tetraborate, epichlorohydrin have enhanced the physical and mechanical properties, such as the oil sorption ability, oxygen and waterproof characteristics, mechanical strength, drug diffusion and rate of swelling.

 Key words: Polyvinyl alcohol, composites, crosslinking, pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.