Background: Research of ultrasound use in physiotherapy and daily practice has led to its use as an everyday tool. Methods: The aims were: (1) Checking the proposed systematic review protocol methodology; (2) evaluating the evidence from the last five years; and (3) coordinating the work of the team of reviewers in performing a complete systematic review. Thus, this is a pilot study prior to a full systematic review. The findings in databases related to health sciences with the meta-search engine Discovery EBSCO, Covidence, and Revman were used. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were described for eligibility. Results: Search provided 1029 references regarding the lumbar region on ultrasound scans. Of these, 33 were duplicates. After Covidence, 996 studies were left for screening. A full-text reading brought one randomized clinical trial (RCT). Conclusions: Validity and reliability references were found. The most suitable points were novice versus expert, and ultrasound versus electromyography (EMG) with just one RCT cohort, and observational and case reports. The lines of investigation increasingly endorsed the validity of using ultrasound in physiotherapy. Post-acquisition image analysis could also be a future line of research.


Author(s): Bradstreet, Charlotte Elizabeth | Advisor(s): Currie, Elliott P | Abstract: In spite of overall crime declines, gang violence remains a serious problem in many large cities. This is particularly true in Los Angeles, where youth are five times more likely to be in street gangs compared to their counterparts living elsewhere. Agencies use a variety of approaches to combat the gang problem. Research indicates these methods include various suppression, program, and street outreach efforts, and there is certain rhetoric about the importance of collaboration across various entities in these endeavors. What is less explicit in the literature is a discussion of how gang prevention and intervention work, particularly that driven by street outreach organizations and individuals, actually occurs in practice. This project is a qualitative case study of one such effort in Los Angeles. Using participant observation and in-depth, semi-structured interviews, this study provides a close look at who these street outreach interventionists are; the types of tasks they perform on a daily basis and the ways they interact with other key players in this effort; the individual qualities necessary to carry out these responsibilities; the obstacles and challenges to prevention and intervention work; the host of identified needs for the continuation and expansion of street outreach efforts; and various implications of these findings.


With the adoption of Personal Health Records (PHRs) integrated with Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and the increase of accessibility to data, institutions have the possibility of exchanging medical information with their patients. Involving the patient reported data has the potential to improve the quality of care and safety and create a feedback loop between patients and health professionals. The objective of this study is to describe a user-centered design of a module for medication list with reconciliation functionalities managed by the patients themselves, and connected to their EHR for supervision and medical validation. We conducted 42 interviews (31 patients and 11 general practitioners). From the interviews, we performed qualitative analysis and extracted the main findings from comments in both groups. Correctitude rate was 57 to 100%, and satisfaction of use (SUS) maximum was 96% and 92%. These findings may be relevant to patients, health care providers, and policymakers.


Materials on the study of relationship between the activity of immunoreactive insulin and the degree of an increase in the level of anti-influenza antibodies, induced by vaccine strains, are presented. A short-term decrease in the activity of insulin, more pronounced in donors immunized with adsorbed chemical influenza vaccine, and an increase in the antibody level, mainly in the group of donors receiving killed influenza vaccine, have been noted.


Prior statements have recommended restriction from competitive sports participation for all athletes with ICDs. Recent data, however, suggests that many athletes can participate in sports without adverse events. In the ICD Sports Registry, 440 athletes, aged 8-60 years, 77 of which were high-level interscholastic athletes, who had continued to practice sports, were prospectively followed for 4 years, with no deaths or failures to defibrillate during practice, and no injuries related to arrhythmia or shock during sports. Shocks did occur, for ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias. While more athletes received shocks during physical activity than at rest, there were no differences between competition or practice, versus other physical activity. Programming with higher rate cut-offs and longer durations was associated with fewer inappropriate shocks, with no increase in syncope. Based on this study, current recommendations now state that returning to competition may be considered for an athlete with an ICD. In considering this decision, the underlying disease and type of sport should be discussed, and shared decision-making between doctor, patient, and often family, is critical.


Oman traditionally was characterized by a dichotomy between the economic systems of the coast and interior, evident in the spatial market structure and the role of markets in the urban settlements. Muscat was the point of attachment of the coastal system to the Indian Ocean trade network. The coastal system spatial structure of trade was dendritic, i.e., tree-like, with a well-defined hierarchy of market centers. Trade flowed vertically between levels of the hierarchy. The interior economy was based on traditional agriculture and animal husbandry. Local trade patterns and market structures in the interior Imamate show a number of mini systems, rather than a single coherent system as on the coast. Modern development has seen the linkage of markets. On the coast, horizontal linkages filled in the dendritic structure, and in the interior, the mini systems were linked. There are now also many linkages between the two former systems, so that the market structure of Oman today forms a coherent whole.


Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum, of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a disease that periodically strikes the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Breeding for resistant wheat varieties is an effective method of disease control. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of exotic FHB resistance quantitative trait loci (QTL), singly and in combination, on FHB resistance in soft red winter wheat (SRWW). Three FHB resistance QTL on chromosomes 3BS (Fhb1), 2D, and 5A were introgressed from nonadapted Chinese cultivar Ning7840 into the adapted SRWW cultivar McCormick. Eight near-isogenic lines (NIL) were developed by marker-assisted backcrossing. The NIL that combined 3BS and 2DL expressed the highest resistance and lowest deoxynivalenol (DON) content in four environments that included three field and one greenhouse studies. These results indicate that the combination of just two QTL (3BS and 2DL) would be useful to breed for improved FHB resistance in SRWW in the mid-Atlantic region.


Intermittent structures, such as thin current sheets, are abundant in turbulent plasmas. Numerical simulations indicate that such current sheets are important sites of energy dissipation and particle heating occurring at kinetic scales. However, direct evidence of dissipation and associated heating within current sheets is scarce. Here, we show a new statistical study of local electron heating within proton-scale current sheets by using high-resolution spacecraft data. Current sheets are detected using the Partial Variance of Increments (PVI) method which identifies regions of strong intermittency. We find that strong electron heating occurs in high PVI (>3) current sheets while no significant heating occurs in low PVI cases (<3), indicating that the former are dominant for energy dissipation. Current sheets corresponding to very high PVI (>5) show the strongest heating and most of the time are consistent with ongoing magnetic reconnection. This suggests that reconnection is important for electron heating and dissipation at kinetic scales in turbulent plasmas.


In this paper, we introduce the first large vocabulary speech recognition system (LVSR) for the Central Kurdish language, named Jira. The Kurdish language is an Indo-European language spoken by more than 30 million people in several countries, but due to the lack of speech and text resources, there is no speech recognition system for this language. To fill this gap, we introduce the first speech corpus and pronunciation lexicon for the Kurdish language. Regarding speech corpus, we designed a sentence collection in which the ratio of di-phones in the collection resembles the real data of the Central Kurdish language. The designed sentences are uttered by 576 speakers in a controlled environment with noise-free microphones (called AsoSoft Speech-Office) and in Telegram social network environment using mobile phones (denoted as AsoSoft Speech-Crowdsourcing), resulted in 43.68 hours of speech. Besides, a test set including 11 different document topics is designed and recorded in two corresponding speech conditions (i.e., Office and Crowdsourcing). Furthermore, a 60K pronunciation lexicon is prepared in this research in which we faced several challenges and proposed solutions for them. The Kurdish language has several dialects and sub-dialects that results in many lexical variations. Our methods for script standardization of lexical variations and automatic pronunciation of the lexicon tokens are presented in detail. To setup the recognition engine, we used the Kaldi toolkit. A statistical tri-gram language model that is extracted from the AsoSoft text corpus is used in the system. Several standard recipes including HMM-based models (i.e., mono, tri1, tr2, tri2, tri3), SGMM, and DNN methods are used to generate the acoustic model. These methods are trained with AsoSoft Speech-Office and AsoSoft Speech-Crowdsourcing and a combination of them. The best performance achieved by the SGMM acoustic model which results in 13.9% of the average word error rate (on different document topics) and 4.9% for the general topic.


The article highlights the main methodological and strategic aspects of supply chain management under crisis economic conditions. The authors defined the essence of the concept of «supply chain». In the supply chain structure, it is possible to distinguish complete logistics chains, which, in turn, contain all key links and stages of the reproduction process, starting from raw material sources and ending with final consumers. New tasks related to the formation of rational logistics chains, supply chains and the construction of effective systems of their management have been analyzed. Comparative characteristic of supply chain management models is given. The key characteristic features include structural and conceptual, the level of interconnection with the enterprise strategy, the breadth of the set of activities, intra-organizational connections, inter-organizational connections, value forming factors, information support, etc. A new vision of economic transformation is established in logistics practice. Integration into global production networks will allow countries (especially Ukraine) to reveal their comparative advantages by focusing on specific tasks and industries. Modern production systems, which have become the end result of the dynamism of production factors, distribution and production networks, have been studied. The critical problems regarding the choice of existing corporate strategies by enterprises for their further effective expansion have been highlighted. The strategies available in the global economy have been analyzed, their advantages and disadvantages have been highlighted. In general, to establish the cumulative impact of all business processes on the level of performance of the supply chain, which will allow us to approach the measurement of the level of their synergistic effect, it is necessary to ensure constant monitoring of indicators in two areas: process and system. Under crisis economic conditions (in particular, instability of markets, destruction of well-established supply chains, in particular, due to military actions), there is a need for a quick response, complete modernization, and adaptation of the proposed logistics services throughout the supply chain. It has been proposed to form and offer a market of the latest, perfect, adaptive services to clients, which will allow balancing the unpredictability of the market with the need to obtain a stable, growing level of profitability.


MAKING OF A VOICELESS YOUTH: CORRUPTION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA'S HIGHER EDUCATION Amra Sabic-El-Rayess This research has analyzed a set of structural elements, procedures, and behaviors within Bosnia and Herzegovina's (thereafter, "Bosnia" or "B&H") higher education that have jointly created an encouraging space for the increasing and self-serving utilization of higher education by the country's post-war elite. Of the particular interest is this elite's impact on the forms of educational corruption, which have shifted away from standard bribing processes and moved toward more complex favor reciprocation networks. This process has ensured that today's corruption is perceived as a norm in Bosnia's higher education. Its prevalence has disrupted existing social mobility mechanisms and created a duality in the social mobility process so that the unprivileged still work hard to obtain their degrees while those with social connections are reliant on Turner's (1960) sponsorship model. The analysis goes beyond dissecting corruption's impact on modes of social mobility by redefining Hirschman's (1970) notions of voice, exit, and loyalty within higher education and expanding his theoretical framework to adequately capture and understand the unique set of coping mechanisms that has emerged within Bosnia's corrupt higher education. I reinterpret the voice mechanism that Hirschman sees as a political tool capable of bringing about change as, ironically, severely diminished in its power when observed within a corrupt environment. I further reformulate the notion of exit and contextualize it within the corrupt Bosnian educational system by differentiating amongst various types of exit. In the process, the study finds that Bosnian students often remain in the same educational institution despite the high level of perceived corruption. By ignoring their immediate surroundings and rather than departing physically as Hirschman would expect, students choose to exit mentally from the corrupt operational framework in which they continue to function physically. Lastly, with hard-work and morality marginalized, the question remains open on when the youth will push the educational system in Bosnia toward a tipping point, regain their voice, and transform from an indolent mass to an active reformer. Projects requiring greater transparency of the exam and grading procedures, enhancing external support, and providing spaces for disclosure and adequate management of incidences of corruption, when and if detected, would constitute a meaningful starting point that would help incentivize change. In the absence of concern with the current level of educational corruption, however, the dominance of the incompetent elites will only continue to dilute the effectiveness of the aid being poured into the EU's broader nation-building agenda for post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina.


The fimbria-fornix (FF) is the main subcortical input to the hippocampus. It has been shown that FF lesions facilitate performance on a standard-delay two-way active avoidance task (AA2), thought to involve implicit memory. The hippocampal region is required for explicit or relational memory. It has been proposed that the hippocampus and related structures might associate events that are separated in space or time and detect elements shared in common by such discontiguous episodes. Therefore, FF lesions would be expected to impair performance on a trace paradigm, which introduces an interval between the CS (conditioned stimulus) and the US (unconditioned stimulus) and is generally considered a model of explicit memory. We predicted that FF lesions would impair memory in a trace AA2 procedure, while the same lesions would facilitate memory in a standard delay version of the task. To test this hypothesis, two experiments were carried out in 102 male Wistar rats. The first experiment characterized the trace paradigm using this kind of conditioning and demonstrated that control rats were able to acquire and retrieve (24 h and 11 days postacquisition) the association between the CS (tone) and the US (electric foot shock) when a trace interval (5, 10, or 20 s) was interposed between both stimuli. In the second experiment, we investigated the effects of FF electrolytic lesions on the same task using delay and trace (10-s trace interval) paradigms. Surprisingly, FF lesions facilitated the acquisition and the 24-h retention of the AA2 not only on the standard delay paradigm, but also with the trace paradigm. We suggest that facilitative effects could be a result of impairment in contextual learning.


Motivations. Tumor cell lines are widely used as in vitro models and as screening tools in cancer research. A significant portion of cell lines have been reported to be misidentified, potentially generating misleading data interpretation. Correct assessment of cell line genetic identity is therefore critical to cancer biology studies as well as to drug discovery. Several methods may be applied to authenticate cell lines, but DNA fingerprinting based on the detection of Short Tandem Repeats (STR) has emerged as the standard approach. STR profiles for several commercial cell lines can be retrieved from sparse literature reports or from vendor databases, however these are mainly based on the analysis of 8 loci, except for the NCI60 panel, on which 16 loci were profiled. Inconsistencies can be found in allele designation among the different authors, mainly when more than two alleles per locus are present, as is frequently found in tumor cell lines. A resource to facilitate literature interrogation is represented by the Cell Line Integrated Molecular Authentication database (CLIMA), but to date there are no reported comprehensive databases containing 16 loci profile sets generated in parallel. Here we disclose the in-house generation of a homogeneous 16 loci dataset, reporting the STR profiles for a panel of about 300 tumor cell lines, representative of diverse solid and circulating tumor types. Our intent was to facilitate the management of the internal cell bank, by assessing the identity and stability over time of the tumor cell lines used for research, with the highest accuracy in discrimination and with an optimized score for profile similarity checking. The STR database can be linked to Nerviano Medical Sciences (NMS) internal database, which contains information on cell line origin, morphology, growth conditions, as well as known somatic mutations (from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Cosmic database), thus making it a comprehensive integrated platform for cell line utilization in drug discovery. Our plan is to make the STR database available to the scientific community. Methods. DNA fingerprinting is based on the simultaneous amplification of highly polymorphic STR sites, which are short DNA sequences with a varying number of repeats in each cell line. Genetic abnormalities in tumor cell lines can result in more than two alleles at each locus, which complicates the analysis. Most STR profiles reported so far are based on the analysis of a limited number of STR loci, usually 8. The probability for two individuals to share the same STR profile is estimated to range from ~10-8 for 8 loci to ~10-17 for 16 loci. A 16 loci profile can be beneficial in cancer research, due to the intrinsic genetic instability of tumor cells that may result in allele acquisition or loss. In the current study we performed a 16-loci STR fingerprinting analysis on a panel of about 300 commercially available cancer cell lines. DNA was prepared directly from frozen cells, using NucleoSpin Tissue (Macherey-Nagel), and then analysed using AmpFlSTR Identifiler Plus PCR Amplification kit (Applied Biosystems), that amplifies simultaneously 15 tetranucleotide repeat loci and the amelogenin gender marker. For a more accurate comparison of STR profiles in different cell lines, we have introduced a modification to the standard calculation of similarity scores to account for partial allele identity at each locus, allowing a more precise definition of the level of similarity, which is particularly relevant when multiple alleles are present. This is obtained by applying the following formula that calculates the number of identical alleles at each locus, divided by the total number of alleles: given a cell line A and a cell line B, the score is defined as the identified sum of similarities at each i-th locus s(i) normalized by the number of not empty loci, where s(i) = 2 x [alleles(A) = alleles(B)] / [#alleles(A) + #alleles(B)]. Based on a preliminary sensitivity analysis, the similarity score threshold to classify two cell lines as identical was set at 80%. Results. A DNA fingerprinting analysis based on 16 loci was performed on a panel of about 300 widely used tumor cell lines, purchased at NMS over several years from diverse providers. Using an established cut off of 80%, we found that all cell lines were correctly classified, suggesting that the cell line panel is genetically stable over time. As expected, an overall pairwise analysis of all the different cell line profiles revealed a generally low similarity degree (less than 50%), with no evidence for any similarity bias due to tumor type. The main outcome of this study is the availability of a large 16 loci STR dataset of tumor cell lines, which was integrated as a fundamental part of the NMS Cell Bank database. The STR dataset can be easily interrogated and distributed for use as a reliable reference for cancer research.


Objective: To enhance patient participation during (oncological) encounters, this study aims to gain insight into communication barriers and supportive interventions experienced by elderly patients with cancer.
Method: A mixed method design, including both quantitative (secondary survey data analysis) and qualitative (interviews) methods. Survey data were used to identify communication barriers and need for supportive interventions of elderly cancer patients, compared to younger patients. Next, interviews provided in-depth insight into elderly patients' experiences and underlying mechanisms.
Results: A majority of the 70 participating elderly cancer patients (53%) felt confident in communicating and participating during medical encounters. However, 47% of patients experienced barriers to effectively communicate with their healthcare provider and felt the need for supportive interventions. The 14 interviewed patients mentioned barriers and facilitators related to attributes of themselves (e.g. feeling sick, self-efficacy), the provider (e.g. taking patient seriously) and the healthcare system (e.g. time constraints).
Conclusions: Although many elderly cancer patients feel confident, offering support to patients who feel less confident in communicating with their provider is recommended.
Practice implications: The outcomes of this study can be used as a first step for developing interventions for elderly cancer patients to overcome communication barriers, and help providers to facilitate this process. (aut. ref.)


Nowadays, banks play a significant role in the economy. Thus, its fail extends beyond stakeholders, companies and organization. But may reach to threaten the entire economy. Such an institution better to depend on an early warning system to prevent the costly fail of it. Financial distress prediction (FDP) refers to a method of utilizing statistical models to predict business failure or difficulties that may face banks. A famous earlier model suggested by Altman in which use by the current study to assess the soundness of Iraqi private banks and to find out if such a model could be appropriate to predict financial failure. The model applied to two groups of Iraqi private banks. The first group involves already failure banks; in contrast, the second group comprises Non-failure banks. The study finds that the Altman model unable to predict financial distress in Iraqi private bank with worthwhile accuracy. Therefore, it is inapplicable as applied in other business environments.


Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate bone levels with root-analog stepped implants by radiographic analysis over a 10-year period. Materials and Methods: One hundred fifty-three implants placed in 93 patients were examined after 10-year follow-up. The implant diameters were 3.8 to 6.5 millimeters (mm), whereas the lengths were 10 to 15 millimeters (mm). One hundred seven implants were restored with single crowns or fixed partial dentures, 46 with bar or ball-retained overdentures. Radiographs were taken after surgery, after the insertion of the prosthesis, after 5 and 10 years of loading. Vertical and horizontal bone levels were measured at each control. Results: After 10 years, the mean vertical bone defect (VBD) for all implants was 1.8 mm, whereas the horizontal bone loss was 0.4 millimeters (mm). Implants inserted in the mandibular frontal area lost statistically significant more bone (3.1 ± 1.9 millimeters [mm]) than implants placed in the maxillary frontal area (1.4 ± 1.8 millimeters [mm]; P-value [P] = 0.00). The VBD of implants placed in the mandibular (1.6 ± 2.2 millimeters [mm]) and maxillary posterior region (1.9 ± 2.0 millimeters [mm]) did not show significant differences (P-value [P] = 0.06). Conclusion: The implants showed VBD a moderate range (mean 1.8 mm after 10 years) depending of the implant sites (maxillary frontal area less than mandibular frontal area).


Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) is a process algebra, designed for modeling and analyzing the behavior of concurrent systems. Several security protocols are modeled with CSP and verified using model-checking or theorem proving techniques successfully. Unlike other authentication protocols modeled using CSP, each of the Efficient Multi-chained Stream Signature (EMSS) protocol messages are linked to the previous messages, forming hash chains, which introduces difficulties for modeling and verification. In this paper, we model the EMSS stream authentication protocol using CSP and verify its authentication properties with model checking, by building an infinite state model of the protocol which is reduced into a finite state model.


The fundamental problems in drug discovery are based on the process of molecular recognition by small molecules. The binding specificity of DNA-small molecule is identified mainly by studying the hydrogen bonding and polar interactions. Majority of the minor groove binders and their mechanism of action at the molecular level are not well studied. As these small molecules can act as effective therapeutic agents against many diseases, there is a need to have the detailed mechanistic insights on how they interact with DNA. In this study we have investigated the binding mechanism and stability of the complexes using molecular modeling methods. The molecular docking studies were performed to explore the exact binding sites and affinity inside the DNA minor grove. A 5ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for the DNA minor groove binders has been performed using AMBER and GROMACS program. Further, to study the systematic deviation of docked complexes during MD simulation, RMSD as a function of time have been analyzed and it has been found that RMSD variation obtained using AMBER and GROMACS MD simulation are approximately same. The binding free energies between the DNA and minor groove binders were calculated and decomposed by molecular mechanics/generalized born surface area (MM-GBSA) and Molecular Mechanics/Poisson−Boltzmann Surface Area (MM-PBSA) methods. The comparative and systematic analysis presented in this study can provide guidance for the choice of MD methods and the designs of new potent inhibitors targeting DNA.


This paper discusses how the concentrations of Pr3+, Ce3+, and F− ions affect the spectral composition of the emission, the thermally stimulated luminescence, and the kinetic parameters of the luminescence damping of ceramic samples of Gd2O2S:Pr, Ce. The mechanisms by which absorption bands appear in the 340–390-nm region are discussed. The dopant concentrations that provide high transparency and rapid damping of the x-ray luminescence of ceramic samples of Gd2O2S:Pr, Ce are determined. © 2006 Optical Society of America.


The analysis of the HBV genome revealed the existence of 10 genotypes, named A–J. Evidence of the influence of the different genotypes in the natural history and treatment response to nucleoside/nucleotide analogues or interferon-based regimens is scant. HBV genotype F is one of the most prevalent circulating genotypes in South America and the Arctic Circle. Since most of the available information on HBV is from Asia, the US and Europe, it refects their predominant genotypes: A, B, C and D. To date, the evidence is not fully confirmed, but it appears that genotype F chronic hepatitis B is associated with a more aggressive course of liver disease, refected by higher histological indexes, a higher risk of development of hepatocellular carcinoma and a higher rate of liver-related mortality. In terms of treatment response, the available data is, unfortunately, even more limited; however, what data is available suggests acceptable and similar response rates to pegylated interferon-α2a in genotype F compared to genotype A. Response rates to nucleoside/nucleotide analogues is not influenced by genotype. The review of this limited data sheds light on the necessity to conduct further studies in South America and the Arctic Circle in order to better understand the different aspects of HBV genotype F, especially in relation to treatment response.


Next-generation mesoscale numerical weather prediction system, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, is a designed for dual use for forecasting and research. WRF offers multiple physics options that can be combined in any way. One of the physics options is radiance computation. The major source for energy for the earth's climate is solar radiation. Thus, it is imperative to accurately model horizontal and vertical distribution of the heating. Goddard solar radiative transfer model includes the absorption duo to water vapor, O3, O2, CO2, clouds and aerosols. The model computes the interactions among the absorption and scattering by clouds, aerosols, molecules and surface. Finally, fluxes are integrated over the entire shortwave spectrum from 0.175 μm to 10 μm. In this paper, we develop an efficient graphics processing unit (GPU) based Goddard shortwave radiative scheme. The GPU-based Goddard shortwave scheme was compared to a CPU-based single-threaded counterpart on a computational domain of 422 × 297 horizontal grid points with 34 vertical levels. Both the original FORTRAN code on CPU and CUDA C code on GPU use double precision floating point values for computation. Processing time for Goddard shortwave radiance on CPU is 22106 ms. GPU accelerated Goddard shortwave radiance on 4 GPUs can be computed in 208.8 ms and 157.1 ms with and without I/O, respectively. Thus, the speedups are 116 × with data I/O and 141× without I/O on two NVIDIA GTX 590 s . Using single precision arithmetic and less accurate arithmetic modes the speedups are increased to 536× and 259×, with and without I/O, respectively.


ABSTRACT In this study, we have identified the effects of socio-demographic and economic factors of household heads and households on monthly expenditures of fresh and frozen fruit and vegetable in Turkey using the bivariate Tobit model. The results show that both the probability and monthly spending levels of household fruit and vegetable consumption increase with increasing in age of household heads, educational levels of household heads, married household heads, household income, and the number of adults in a family, while male-headed households, working household heads, the households that receive in-kind help from the government or private sector, and the use of internet at home decrease both the likelihood and spending levels of fruit and vegetable consumption in Turkey. The results in the study may contribute to the stakeholders to identify and implement effective marketing strategies and also develop more effective policies for the government to improve nutritional levels for certain dwellings for which the government include them in the certain state-initiated benefit program.


Abstract Authentic and constructive learning experiences that include analysis of primary source documents are necessary elements of effective social studies teaching (Bailyn, 1994; Leinhardt, Stainton, & Virji, 1994; Wineburg & Wilson, 1991; Young & Leinhardt, 1998). This study examines the abilities of 70 fifth and seventh grade students to complete individual and multiple primary source document analyses based on their current background knowledge. Three researchers coded by grade, level of response (content), and type of processing (analysis of written discourse connectors and organization of written discourse) the completed document analysis tool responses. Rather than relying on others to interpret history for them, findings indicate that engaging students with primary source documents exercises the critical-thinking skills needed to analyze and interpret historical documents. However, this can be a very challenging task for students at this level. After connecting the study's results to current research, the article concludes with a set of practical suggestions.


Many veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) are starting or returning to college after active military service. According to a survey of soldiers in the 1/34 Brigade Combat Team 79.8% were interested in starting or returning to college (Pfeffer, 2007). However, veterans' experiences are vastly different than those of typical college students; consequently military service members have needs that are not met in new student orientations. Additionally, student veterans have strengths and assets that most college students do not possess. There are a limited number of studies examining the experiences of veterans entering or re-entering college and the existing studies looked at veterans attending large universities or community colleges, which leaves a gap in the research of what happens for veterans attending midsized liberal arts universities (Ackerman, DiRamio, & Mitchell, 2009; Rumann & Hamrick, 2010). The present study used the qualitative method of grounded theory to uncover the themes of service members' experiences on midsized liberal arts campus and thus develop an understanding of what supports would be beneficial to veterans on entering or re-entering post-secondary education and what strengths veterans believe they have developed through their military experience. Some of the themes that were revealed include student veterans' perceptions of fellow students' and veterans not in college attitudes, attitudes towards other students, disclosure of their veteran status to students and faculty, awareness of other student veterans, post-graduation plans, and special services that student veterans feel would be helpful.
Keywords: student veterans, military, grounded theory, social support


A tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) gene encoding a precursor of polyphenol oxidase(PPO) was transcribed and translated in vitro. The import, targeting, and processing of the [35S]methionine-labeled precursor protein (pPPO) were studied in isolated chloroplasts. The protein was routed to the thylakoid lumen in two steps. The 67-kD precursor was first imported into the stroma in an ATP-dependent step. It was processed to a 62-kD intermediate by a stromal peptidase. Translocation into the lumen was light dependent and involved processing of the 62-kD to the 59-kD mature form. The mature polypeptide was soluble in the lumen and not bound to thylakoids. This two-step targeting pattern was observed in plastids from a variety of plants including pea (Pisum sativum L.), tomato, and maize (Zea mays L.). The ratio between the intermediate and mature forms observed depended on the plant species, leaf age, growth conditions, and illumination regime to which the plants had been subjected. Cu2+ was not required for pPPO import or processing. Furthermore, low concentrations of Cu2+ (1–5 [mu]M) markedly inhibited the first import step. Tentoxin specifically inhibited pPPO import, leaving the precursor bound to the envelope membrane. The two-step routing of pPPO into chloroplasts, typical of thylakoid lumen proteins, is consistent with the two-domain structure of the transit peptide and appears to be a feature of all plant PPO genes isolated so far. No evidence was found for unorthodox routing mechanisms, which have been suggested to be involved in the import of plant PPOs. The two-step routing may account for some of the multiplicity of PPO observed in vivo.


ABSTRACT Recombinant canarypox virus vectors containing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) sequences are promising vaccine candidates, as they replicate poorly in human cells. However, when delivered intramuscularly the vaccines have induced inconsistent and in some cases transient antigen-specific cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) responses in seronegative volunteers. An attractive way to enhance these responses would be to target canarypox virus to professional antigen-presenting cells such as dendritic cells (DCs). We studied (i) the interaction between canarypox virus and DCs and (ii) the T-cell responses induced by DCs infected with canarypox virus vectors containing HIV-1 genes. Mature and not immature DCs resisted the cytopathic effects of canarypox virus and elicited strong effector CD8+ T-cell responses from chronically infected HIV+ individuals, e.g., cytolysis, and secretion of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) and β-chemokines. Furthermore, canarypox virus-infected DCs were >30-fold more efficient than monocytes and induced responses that were comparable to those induced by vaccinia virus vectors or peptides. Addition of exogenous cytokines was not necessary to elicit CD8+ effector cells, although the presence of CD4+ T cells was required for their expansion and maintenance. Most strikingly, canarypox virus-infected DCs were directly able to stimulate HIV-specific, IFN-γ-secreting CD4 helper responses from bulk as well as purified CD4+ T cells. Therefore, these results suggest that targeting canarypox virus vectors to mature DCs could potentially elicit both anti-HIV CD8+and CD4+ helper responses in vivo.


The surface quality and contouring accuracy of die cavities directly influences the surface roughness of the products. Different types of complex surfaces of products have become popular in product design in recent years and consequently 5-axis machining techniques become a mainstream in the manufacturing of the die and moulds used in products mentioned above, because of their features and flexibility. This research applies Taguchi method to find out a set of optimal machining parameters in five-axis milling process. The table rotating-tilting type five-axis machine is used to perform the experimental cutting. The cavity of die is modeled as convex half spherical surface, and the material of die is NAK 80 die steel. The four parameters studied are cutting speed, feed rate, tool paths, and contact points, and each of these factors has three levels. The target of this study is the feature of smaller-the-better that is minimization of the surface roughness. The experimental results show that the optimal parameters are moderate cutting speed and contact points, higher feed rate, five-axis tool path. ANOVA analysis indicates that the tool path influences the surface roughness most, which accounts for about 86%. Using optimal parameters to machine a roughly machined concave spherical surface can reach its roughness to 0.234μm, and the roundness error about 0.0314mm. It is believed that the results and method presented in the paper give a good reference for industry applied.


This is an excellent overview of Anselm Kiefer's long career. Over the past four decades, Anselm Kiefer has produced a diverse body of work in painting, sculpture and installation that has made him among the most important artists of his generation. His subject-matter ranges over sources as diverse as Teutonic mythology and history, alchemy and the nature of belief, all depicted in a bewildering variety of materials, including oil paint, dirt, lead, models, photographs, woodcuts, sand, straw and all manner of organic material. By adding found materials to the painted surface of his immense tableaux, he invents a compelling third space between painting and sculpture.


The purpose of this research was to characterize an olive core collection using some agronomic characters and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and to determine SSR markers associated with the content of fatty acids in olive oil. SSR marker analysis demonstrated the presence of a high amount of genetic variation between the olive cultivars analyzed. A UPGMA dendrogram demonstrated that olive cultivars did not cluster on the basis of their geographic origin. Fatty acid components of olive oil in these cultivars were determined. The results also showed that there was a great amount of variation between the olive cultivars in terms of fatty acid composition. For example, oleic acid content ranged from 57.76 to 76.9% with standard deviation of 5.10%. Significant correlations between fatty acids of olive oil were observed. For instance, a very high negative correlation (-0.812) between oleic and linoleic acids was detected. A structured association analysis between the content of fatty acids in olive oil and SSR markers was performed. STRUCTURE analysis assigned olive cultivars to two gene pools (K = 2). Assignment of olive cultivars to these gene pools was not based on geographical origin. Association between fatty acid traits and SSR markers was evaluated using the general linear model of TASSEL. Significant associations were determined between five SSR markers and stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids of olive oil. Very high associations (P < 0.001) between ssrOeUA-DCA14 and stearic acid and between GAPU71B and oleic acid indicated that these markers could be used for marker-assisted selection in olive.


Empirical risk minimization (ERM) provides a principled guideline for many machine learning and data mining algorithms. Under the ERM principle, one minimizes an upper bound of the true risk, which is approximated by the summation of empirical risk and the complexity of the candidate classifier class. To guarantee a satisfactory learning performance, ERM requires that the training data are i.i.d. sampled from the unknown source distribution. However, this may not be the case in active learning, where one selects the most informative samples to label, and these data may not follow the source distribution. In this article, we generalize the ERM principle to the active learning setting. We derive a novel form of upper bound for the true risk in the active learning setting; by minimizing this upper bound, we develop a practical batch mode active learning method. The proposed formulation involves a nonconvex integer programming optimization problem. We solve it efficiently by an alternating optimization method. Our method is shown to query the most informative samples while preserving the source distribution as much as possible, thus identifying the most uncertain and representative queries. We further extend our method to multiclass active learning by introducing novel pseudolabels in the multiclass case and developing an efficient algorithm. Experiments on benchmark datasets and real-world applications demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed method compared to state-of-the-art methods.


How should we make theoretical sense of Haiti's instability in the past two decades? The central hypothesis of this study is that the 29-year Duvalier dicatatorship was stabilized through the paramilitary. In the past two decades, unofficial and illegitimate paramilitaries have continued to be a constant factor in Haitian politics, each of them attempting to secure partisan political power, but none with a monopoly on coercion. Consequently, the type of institution that was most able to stabilize Haiti from 1957-1986, albeit at a horrendous cost, has been the most prominent de-stabilizing force since that time. Morris Janowitz once explained that weak regimes often enhance their chances of survival by utilizing paramilitary forces. What he called "enhanced regime consolidation," Janowitz hypothesized that, if constitutional methods and regular forces fail to maintain stability, the military must adjust its use efforce to maintain itself in power.1 A ruling coalition has to be expanded to build a "minimum level of political consensus," whose strength will depend on the types of institutional and political adaptations used to manage developing political crises. If past military structures prove unsuccessful in managing intense civil-military and other conflicts, then, after a period of "political learning," the ruler may decide that the best way to dominate the state and civil society is to reduce the scope of his or her goals and to rely increasingly on paramilitary forces to consolidate the regime. These paramilitary forces expand, no matter what type of regime exists: quasidemocratic, junta, or a single dominant leader. By relying on paramilitary forces, which lack supervision and accountability, stability is achieved at the cost of the rule of law. Janowitz underscores that paramilitarism is a worldwide trend in which elites rely upon paramilitary forces, a la Clauswitz, "as political elements in continuous internal bargaining."2 Janowitz noted that the use of paramilitary forces had greatly expanded over the first postcolonial decade in new countries, as well as in the old military regimes of the Western Hemisphere.3 "The role of paramilitary agencies in the internal security operations of a developing nation articulates with the political tactics of the regular military's leaders."4 They are not particularly concerned with traditional, nonpolitical crime.5 Joel Migdal's concept of the "politics of survival" suggests why paramilitary threats also emerge from outside regimes, which feel insecure and adopt defensive mechanisms that others find threatening. This occurs where the established patterns of interaction throughout society strongly resist assertions of state authority. According to Migdal, "these struggles are over whether the state will be able to displace other organizations in society that make rules against the wishes and goals of state leaders."6 Conflicts between state officials and local "strongmen" result in some of the latter exerting their superior power against the state. In a weak state, strongmen can have much more at stake and more resources than leaders, and can successfully fight the state's new initiatives and repression. This battle over sovereignty often results in the strongmen consolidating their resources against future state attempts at reform. Reformist efforts, as Tocqueville suggests, induce more resistance, which in turn inspire a ratcheting up of the state's coercive power. In theory, the best way to reduce state terror and terrorism by anti-system forces is generally through deterrence, democratization, equitable economic development, and development of the rule of law through efficient and just policing, due process, and effective prosecution in the courts. These tasks, under conditions of inefficient government (or what we will argue is tantamount to anarchy), are too risky in the short term for security-conscious leaders to attempt. In the absence of effective state institutions and protection of human rights, Haitians have established gangs and paramilitary forces or utilized vigilante street-justice and lynchings, while rulers have armed themselves as well. …


In recent years, communication systems with multiple anten nas at the transmitter and at the receiver have gained considerable interest. Layered architectures like the V-B LAST scheme are a strong candidate to exploit the capacity advantages of multiple antenna systems leading to practica l w reless communication schemes with very high data rates. The combination with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), called MIMO-OFDM, with per-antenna-coding is one of the most likely implementatio ns f multilayer architectures in frequency selective environments. In this paper, we present a novel, computatio n l efficient implementation of successive interference cancellation (SIC) for coded MIMO-OFDM. It utilizes a paral lelized version of the Sorted QR Decomposition (SQRD) to achieve the same optimized detection order for all subcarriers in order to exploit the error correction capability of the code within the SIC. In comparison to other schemes known from literature our approach requires only a fraction of computational complexity with almost the same performance.


R abbi lerner's editorial in this issue of Tikkun provoked disagreement among some of the members of our editorial board, so we decided to invite a founder of the Move to Amend movement, David Cobb, and some others to participate with Rabbi Lerner in a roundtable discussion of his perspective. A transcription of the discussion — edited for space and clarity — appears below. We invite you to join this debate as well: please send your comments to email@example.com.


A small knowledge base was created by organizing the Human Genome Project (HGP) and its related issues in ``Science'' magazines between 1996 and 2000. This base revealed the stunning achievement of HGP and a private venture and its impact on today's biology and life science. In the mid1990, they encouraged the developement of advanced high throughput automated DNA sequencers and the technologies that can analyse all genes at once in a systematic fashion. Using these technologies, they completed the genome sequence of human and various other organisms. These fruits opened the door to comparative genomics, functional genomics, the interdisprinary ˆeld between computer and biology, and proteomics. They have caused a shift in biological investigation from studying single genes or proteins to studying all genes or proteins at once, and causing revolutional changes in traditional biology, drug discovery and therapy. They have expanded the range of potential drug targets and have facilitated a shift in drug discovery programs toward rational target-based strategies. They have spawned pharmacogenomics that could give rise to a new generation of highly eŠective drugs that treat causes, not just symptoms. They should also cause a migration from the traditional medications that are safe and eŠective for every members of the population to personalised medicine and personalised therapy.


Currently, the different pollutant emissions caused by the use of fossil energies are an increasingly important concern and numerous studies aim at developing technological solutions allowing the progressive replacement of the fossil energies by more sustainable and less harmful energy sources. In the context of heating for domestic applications, the prospective substitution of gas or fuel oil boilers by electrical heat pumps is typically a part of this problematic. This Ph.D thesis participates, in the frame of an industrial partnership, in the development of a high performance domestic heat pump through the study of the control circuits of the high speed electrical drive, mandatory for such heating systems. In order to generalize the presented work, this study is completed by considerations about high speed drives tailored for generation. The differences and similitudes between motor and generator modes are presented in the whole document. The first part of this document is constituted of an introductory chapter allowing to place this study in its context and to define the main concepts and hypothesis used all along this document. The second part of this document, formed by two chapters, is dedicated to the study of the structure of the power electronics. Chapter 2 covers the systematic choice of a topology and its specific command strategy for the implementation of the machine interface stage. Two commonly encountered solutions are compared regarding their adequacy with a previously defined optimal command criterion. Chapter 3 is dedicated to the study of the intermediate DC/DC converter. Based on the Energetic Macroscopic Representation, a formal study is conducted in order to show that the use of a multilevel topology can lead to increasing the whole drive performance and decreasing the power electronics circuits size. The control aspects are covered in the third part of this thesis. In chapter 4, a survey of sensorless technics is presented. The specific features of some sensorless technics are discussed regarding their adequacy with the consequences of the choice of the machine interface state topology and command strategy. Chapter 5 is dedicated to control strategies allowing to regulate the speed in the case of a motor mode and the torque in a generator mode. The two last parts of this document conclude it. The fourth part, constituted of chapter 6, presents the experimental validations of the various theoretical results described all along the document. The last chapter is the final conclusion of this work. The conducted work is summarized, the main results are described, and the perspectives for future works are given.


Background Poor medication adherence in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) had a negative impact on disease outcomes. In this study, we aimed to determine predictors of low adherence in the Chinese IBD populations and also aimed to compare a self-reported scale to a pharmacy refill index in assessing adherence of 5-ASA and azathioprine taken by Chinese IBD patients. Patients and Methods Adult patients with IBD who had been taking 5-ASA or azathioprine for at least 3 months were recruited from hospital outpatient clinics. The MPR was calculated from previous six-month pharmacy refill data and the self-reported Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) was issued through QR code questionnaires. Intentional and unintentional adherence scores were calculated according to specific items. Non-adherence was defined as MMAS-8 scores <6 or MPR < 0.8. Results The response rate in the IBD patients was as high as 97%. 5-ASA non-adherence rate assessed by MPR was 30% and 37% by MMAS-8, and azathioprine non-adherence rate assessed was 33% by both MPR and MMAS-8. In a linear regression analysis, MPR value was significantly correlated with MMAS-8 score in 5-ASA group (r=0.4, p=0.003), and significantly correlated with unintentional adherence score (r=0.47, p<0.001). No significant correlation was observed between MPR value and MMAS-8 score in azathioprine group. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that age (OR: 1.08; 95% CI: 1.02–1.13; P=0.0015) and previous abdominal surgery (OR: 3.18; 95% CI: 2.09–4.27; P=0.04) were associated with high medication adherence. While patients who had small intestine lesion (OR: 0.09; 95% CI: 0.01–0.17; P=0.006) were associated with low adherence. Conclusion Predictors of low adherence were young age, lesions on small intestine, whereas previous abdominal surgery was a protective factor. This study also demonstrated that the MMAS-8 scale was a valid instrument for assessing 5-ASA adherence in IBD patients. Unintentional non-adherence was significantly related to the total non-adherence, which would allow to use the tool to seek ways for adherence improvement.


Yersinia enterocolitica is an enteropathogenic bacterium that causes gastrointestinal disorders, as well as extraintestinal manifestations. To subvert the host's immune response, Y. enterocolitica uses a type III secretion system consisting of an injectisome and effector proteins, called Yersinia outer proteins (Yops), that modulate activation, signaling, and survival of immune cells. In this article, we show that galectin-1 (Gal-1), an immunoregulatory lectin widely expressed in mucosal tissues, contributes to Y. enterocolitica pathogenicity by undermining protective antibacterial responses. We found higher expression of Gal-1 in the spleen and Peyer's patches of mice infected orogastrically with Y. enterocolitica serotype O:8 compared with noninfected hosts. This effect was prevented when mice were infected with Y. enterocolitica lacking YopP or YopH, two critical effectors involved in bacterial immune evasion. Consistent with a regulatory role for this lectin during Y. enterocolitica pathogenesis, mice lacking Gal-1 showed increased weight and survival, lower bacterial load, and attenuated intestinal pathology compared with wild-type mice. These protective effects involved modulation of NF-κB activation, TNF production, and NO synthesis in mucosal tissue and macrophages, as well as systemic dysregulation of IL-17 and IFN-γ responses. In vivo neutralization of these proinflammatory cytokines impaired bacterial clearance and eliminated host protection conferred by Gal-1 deficiency. Finally, supplementation of recombinant Gal-1 in mice lacking Gal-1 or treatment of wild-type mice with a neutralizing anti-Gal-1 mAb confirmed the immune inhibitory role of this endogenous lectin during Y. enterocolitica infection. Thus, targeting Gal-1–glycan interactions may contribute to reinforce antibacterial responses by reprogramming innate and adaptive immune mechanisms.


The lack of a basic understanding of its essential components has been an obstacle for reliable, efficient, and reusable messaging services in sensornets. To address this problem, this dissertation identifies the basic components of sensornet messaging and studies the related algorithmic design issues. More specifically, we propose the messaging architecture SMA that consists of three components: traffic-adaptive link estimation and routing (TLR), application-adaptive structuring (AST), and application-adaptive scheduling (ASC). TLR deals with dynamic wireless links as well as the impact of application traffic patterns on link dynamics; AST and ASC control the spatial and temporal flow of data packets to support application-specific in-network processing and QoS requirements. To provide an instance of TLR, we propose the routing protocol Learn on the Fly that solves the problem of precisely estimating wireless link properties in the presence of varying network conditions. Then, we study ASC from the perspective of in-network processing and QoS provisioning. Taking packet packing as an example of in-network processing, we study the problem of scheduling packet transmissions to improve messaging efficiency. For the basic problem of reliable and real-time data transport in event-detection sensornets, we propose the protocol Reliable Bursty Convergecast that innovates the window-less block acknowledgment scheme and the retransmission-aware differentiated contention control. The architecture SMA provides a framework for sensornet messaging, and the study of TLR and ASC provides algorithmic references for instantiating SMA. This part of the dissertation work has also provided dependable messaging services for several real-world sensornet systems.
The second part of this dissertation addresses the challenges that complex faults and large system scale bring to the design of fault-tolerant protocols. To this end, we propose the concept of local stabilization. In a locally-stabilizing system, fault impact is locally contained around where the fault has occurred, and the time taken for the system to stabilize depends only on the size of the fault-perturbed region instead of the system size. For shortest path routing, a basic problem in messaging, we propose a locally-stabilizing protocol LSRP. The concept of local stabilization and the algorithmic approach of LSRP are generically applicable to other networking and distributed computing problems.


Model solutions for implementing a measurement program do not always fit an organization without tailoring. The sizes and maturities of the processes vary from organization to organization. In an organization with mature software processes, carefully adjusting the created solution for a measurement program to the environment-specific needs and options can save considerable effort. The article demonstrates the real-world application of the Nokiaway software metrics program and how it benefited in its divergence from a typical goal-question-metric approach.


Pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) is a rare, pediatric soft-tissue sarcoma that mainly occurs in the pleural cavity or lungs. Patients with PPB present with nonspecific symptoms mimicking pneumonia or respiratory distress syndrome. Herein, we report a 3-year-old, female case of PPB presenting with fever, cough, chest pain, and progressive shortness of breath. Chest X-ray demonstrated near complete opacification of the right hemithorax with a mild shift of mediastinum to the left, which could be due to large, right-sided pleural effusion. However, any underlying pneumonic consolidation or mass could not be excluded. On ultrasound, small right-sided pleural effusion was confirmed. However, complex cystic mass with fine septation within the pleural cavity was also identified. A recommendation was made to place a chest tube to decrease the compressive effect on the cardiovascular system and contralateral lung and help the patient with his worsening respiratory compromise. Two days after, initial insertion of the chest tube, tissue fragments were draining out from the tube, which was sent for pathologic evaluation. Histopathologic examination revealed a tumoral lesion composed of spindle cells admixed with islands of cartilage and primitive dark cells, which showed a positive reaction to S-100, vimentin, and desmin in immunohistochemical staining. The findings were consistent with a diagnosis of PPB. The patient received neoadjuvant therapy and then underwent surgical resection. The main interesting feature of the case was tissue collection from the chest tube with no need for biopsy or any other invasive procedure to obtain the tissue samples required for histopathologic analysis.


Background Acute vertebro-basilar stroke (AVBS) often results in significant mortality and morbidity if recanalization is not achieved. Restoration of blood flow can be achieved with intravenous thrombolysis (IVT), endovascular therapy, including thrombolysis, mechanical thrombectomy or stenting or a combination of these therapies. Recent evidence suggests recanalization rates may be higher with endovascular techniques as compared to IVT alone; however, endovascular intervention is not without faults. By introducing an intra-arterial catheter, damage to the endothelial wall may occur resulting in increased risk of secondary thrombus formation. Antiplatelet and/or anticoagulation therapy is often prescribed post-operatively to maintain vessel patency, but their use exposes patients to higher risk of hemorrhagic complications. Because of the rarity of AVBS, there has been limited data available on the management of patients after receiving endovascular intervention. In this study, we performed a systematic review on a decade of relevant English literature to evaluate the safety and efficacy of post-operative administration of antiplatelet and/or anticoagulation therapy in AVBS patients. Methods A literature review was conducted using Pubmed and Ovid databases to identify papers published from 1/1/2005 to 12/31/2015 on topics related to endovascular intervention in patients presenting with AVBS by using "basilar artery occlusion," "mechanical thrombectomy," or "basilar artery thrombosis" as keywords. Manual sorting further reduced the list until only relevant papers remained. Data including but not limited to patient demographics, occlusion location, intervention, pre- and post-operation assessment, post-operative medications, and complications were collected. The exclusion criteria limited selection to studies with >5 patients, data on post-intervention treatment, and 3 month follow-up. Good outcome was defined as modified Rankin scale ≤2. (We have requested data from studies with missing information and it will be included in the final analysis.) Results After application of the selection criteria on initial screening [PubMed (n=2121), Ovid (n=3622)], we included 5 studies with 85 patients. Median age was 69%±11. 63% patients were male. Post procedure, 17% patients were on antiplatelet therapy (APT), 19% patients were on anticoagulation therapy (ACT) and 29% patients were on both. 35% patients were on no treatment. Patients on any treatment (APT or ACT or both) fared better than patients on no treatment (p<0.001) with a predictably higher rate of hemorrhagic complications (17% versus 0%; p=0.046). No statistical difference was observed in patients on APT versus ACT in respect to good outcome or hemorrhagic complications. Conclusion Preliminary analysis of this ongoing systematic review did not show any differences in outcome or hemorrhagic complications in patients with AVBS on APT versus ACT post intervention. Either modality of treatment was superior to no treatment with a higher risk of hemorrhagic complications. Disclosures M. Weber: None. N. Khan: None. F. Siddiqui: None. J. Blessman: None. A. Elias: None.


OBJECTIVES
We evaluated advertising code violations using the US Beer Institute guidelines for responsible advertising.

METHODS
We applied the Delphi rating technique to all beer ads (n = 289) broadcast in national markets between 1999 and 2008 during the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament games. Fifteen public health professionals completed ratings using quantitative scales measuring the content of alcohol advertisements (e.g., perceived actor age, portrayal of excessive drinking) according to 1997 and 2006 versions of the Beer Institute Code.

RESULTS
Depending on the code version, exclusion criteria, and scoring method, expert raters found that between 35% and 74% of the ads had code violations. There were significant differences among producers in the frequency with which ads with violations were broadcast, but not in the proportions of unique ads with violations. Guidelines most likely to be violated included the association of beer drinking with social success and the use of content appealing to persons younger than 21 years.

CONCLUSIONS
The alcohol industry's current self-regulatory framework is ineffective at preventing content violations but could be improved by the use of new rating procedures designed to better detect content code violations.


This paper first presents a spectral integral method (SIM) for electromagnetic scattering from homogeneous dielectric and perfectly electric conducting objects straddling several layers of a multilayered medium. It then uses this SIM as an exact radiation boundary condition to truncate the computational domain in the finite-element method (FEM) to form a hybrid SIM/FEM, which is applicable to arbitrary inhomogeneous objects. Due to the high accuracy of the SIM, the sampling density on the radiation boundary requires less than five points per wavelength to achieve 1% accuracy. The efficiency and accuracy of the developed methods have been demonstrated with several numerical experiments for the TMz case. The TEz case can be obtained by duality


Abstract Introduction. This study explores the relationship among three variables—cognitive load, foreign language anxiety, and task performance. Cognitive load refers to the load imposed on working memory while performing a particular task. The authors hypothesized that anxiety consumes the resources of working memory, leaving less capacity for cognitive activities, and impeding effectiveness. Method. The participants were 88 non-English major students enrolled in a 4-year program at a technical university in Taiwan. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale was em-ployed to examine their anxiety levels; the Cognitive Load Subject Rating Scale was utilized to measure their cognitive load while engaging in an English listening comprehension task. Results. The students with higher foreign language anxiety also incurred a higher cognitive load. Foreign language anxiety and cognitive load were in negative correlation with listening comprehension. Discussion. Learners who experience more anxiety incur a heavier cognitive load and receive lower test scores. To enhance learning effectiveness, instructors are encouraged to identify anxiety-provoking situations and provide a supportive learning environment so that the lear-ners can devote their complete working memory resources to the learning tasks.


Despite the curative potential of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy, only small subsets of patients achieve tumor regression while many responders relapse and acquire resistance. Monitoring treatment response and detecting the onset of resistance are critical for improving patient prognoses. Here we engineered ICB antibody-sensor conjugates known as ICB-Dx by coupling peptides sensing the activity of granzyme B (GzmB), a T cell cytotoxic protease, directly on αPD1 antibody to monitor therapeutic responses by producing a fluorescent reporter into urine. To develop biomarkers that indicate mechanisms of resistance to ICB, we generated B2m-/- and Jak1-/- tumor models and performed transcriptomic analyses to identify unique protease signatures of these resistance mechanisms. We then built a multiplexed library of αPD1-Dx capable of detecting early therapeutic response and illuminating resistance mechanisms during ICB therapy.FITC-labeled GzmB substrates were synthesized (CEM) and conjugated to αPD1 antibody. B2m-/- and Jak1-/- tumors were generated from WT MC38 cells using CRISPR/Cas9. For tumor studies, 106 cells were inoculated s.c. in B6 mice. Tumor mice were treated with αPD1 or IgG1 isotype conjugates (0.1 mg), and urine was collected at 3 hours. Tumor RNA was isolated with RNEasy kit (Qiagen) and prepared for sequencing with TruSeq mRNA kit (Illumina).To synthesize αPD1-Dx, we coupled FITC-labeled GzmB substrates to αPD1 antibody (figure 1a). In MC38 tumors, systemic administration of αPD1-Dx lowered tumor burden relative to control treatment while producing significantly elevated urine signals that preceded tumor regression (figure 1b, c). To investigate the ability to monitor tumor resistance to ICB, we developed knockout tumors to model B2m and Jak1 mutations, which are observed in human patients. in vivo, B2m-/- and Jak1-/- MC38 tumors were resistant to αPD1 monotherapy (figure 1d). Tumor RNA sequencing revealed that gene expression was altered during αPD1 treatment only in WT tumors. Importantly, B2m-/- tumors showed very different expression profiles than Jak1-/- tumors during αPD1 treatment, indicative of unique regulation of resistance (figure 1e). We used differential expression analyses to discover unique protease signatures associated with these two resistance mechanisms. Finally, a multiplexed library of αPD1-Dx engineered to monitor both tumor and immune proteases detected early on-treatment responses and stratified B2m-/- from Jak1-/- resistance with high diagnostic validity (figure 1f).Abstract 17 Figure 1Monitoring response and resistance with ICB-Dx(a) αPD1-Dx can reinvigorate T cell response and monitor protease activities in the tumor microenvironment. (b) Growth curves of WT MC38 tumors treated with αPD1- or IgG1-Dx (ANOVA). (c) Urine signals detect treatment response to αPD1 monotherapy (ANOVA). (d) Growth curves of B2m-/- and Jak1-/- tumors treated with αPD1- or IgG1-Dx (ANOVA). (e) TSNE plot showing RNA profiles of WT, B2m-/-, Jak1-/- tumors treated with αPD1 or isotype control. (f) ROC curves of random forest classifiers built from urine signals that differentiate on-treatment response from on-treatment resistance and B2m-/- from Jak1-/- resistance.We have engineered activity sensors that accurately detect therapeutic responses and stratify resistance mechanisms noninvasively from urine, thereby potentially expanding the precision of ICB therapy to benefit cancer patients.All animal studies were approved by Georgia Tech IACUC (A100193)


We analyzed data from 81 ABO-incompatible marrow transplants performed between 1972 and 1980. Patients with high anti-red blood cell antibody levels pretrans-plant had a significantly increased probability of antibody return post-transplant. This was true for IgG and for IgM as independent variables. However, the return of antibody post-transplant had no effect on engraft-ment, survival, or blood product requirements post-transplant. Patients who received ABO-incompatible marrow had a similar time to engraftment, survival, and incidence of rejection and graft-versus-host disease as patients receiving ABO-compatible transplants. Neither pretransplant treatment regimen nor the development of graft-versus-host disease had an effect on post-transplant antibody levels. ABO-incompatible marrow transplants can be performed with no greater morbidity or mortality than ABO-compatible grafts. The procedures for antibody removal may be useful in other organ transplant settings.


: We propose a detailed analysis of heterogeneity in households' responses to water conservation programs (price increase, voluntary and mandatory conservation) during periods of water shortage. Using a unique dataset covering water consumption of all residential users in Los Angeles (California) during the drought (1988-1992), we show that households generally were responsive to the conservation measures but that the magnitude of households' responses varies depending on the instrument and on households' characteristics, in particular the size of their lot. Price elasticity is estimated between –0.29 and –0.47 in the high season (June-October), and between 0 and –0.19 in the low season (November-May). Results suggest that the voluntary conservation program [resp. mandatory conservation program] induced a reduction in water use which varies from 1 to 13% [resp. 21% to 29%] depending on the season and the size of the lot. The achieved reduction in consumption is however very similar across households. These data also allow us to compare the effectiveness of price and non-price policies in terms of water savings. Finally, welfare calculations suggest that households with the smallest lot sizes (and lowest income) suffered the greatest loss during the implementation of the water conservation programs.


In this paper, wake effect is explicitly incorporated in the reliability evaluation of a wind farm. Energy loss resulting from this effect is included in calculating the reliability indices. Three models for wake effect are discussed and the Jensen model is used in this research. In this model, wind shade, shear effect, and wind direction are also reflected. After incorporating the wake effect, the Monte Carlo technique is used to compute reliability indices. Wind farm model and correlation between load and wind speed are considered. The proposed methodology is applied to a wind farm using wind speed data from the National Renewal Energy Laboratory and load from IEEE Reliability Test Systems. The simulation results show that the proposed techniques are effective and efficient in practical applications.


Abstract:This article considers the role that armed Plong (Pwo) Karen Buddhist strongmen play as moral authorities in their home communities, rather than their coercive and extractive qualities. Based on eighteen months of fieldwork in Hpa-an district, Karen State, it demonstrates that their ability to act as moral authorities in their home communities is embedded in elaborate social notions of interdependency. These are related to the specific formation of Karen personhood and the importance of being 'faithful' (in Plong Karen, thout kyar) to each other. In describing how one strongman and his extractive debt relations are configured according to Plong Karen social ethics, the article demonstrates that a core feature of their moral authority is interwoven in a Buddhist cosmological understanding of moral leadership and the public performance of merit-making activities. It argues that the use of public performances of morality through donation ceremonies play a powerful role in mitigating the ways in which illicit economic activities and extractive debt relations are regarded as incommensurate with Plong Karen values.


Automation systems are a manifestation of the concept of science that led to development of nowadays technology. In general automation is concept of human science that is used to run a process where there is no longer direct human intervention ranging from the beginning of the process until completion. This research is intended to create a automated a robotic system camera pan and tilt movements with a view to be implemented into a variety of forms of applications, such as KAP (Kite Aerial Photography), security camera, stealth cam, camera traps and etc. This research uses some mechanicsm of rigging as a medium for system the camera Arduino microcontroller is used as the controller of the controlling the camera movement. The system of controlled the movement of the camera by using time delay. The results showed that the robotics system of this research has succeeded in making a camera capable of autonomous moving to state time delay.


Abstract. As modern vehicles are sophisticated IoT devices with intelligence, capable of connecting to external infrastructure and utilizing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, communications need to be secured so that cyberattacks do not reach their destination. In addition, the various organs of the car (sensors, communications, and controls) can have weaknesses that lead to accidents or potential fatalities. Automakers have a major responsibility for the safety of their customers and should not ignore important security research, but should ensure that important security measures are implemented that are less likely to attack your vehicle. This paper addresses the relevant attacks and threats to modern vehicles and presents a security analysis and possible countermeasures. We discussed the future of modern and autonomous vehicles and concluded that further countermeasures must be taken to create a future-proof concept.


In this article, we propose an analysis of pseudogapping in Hybrid Type-Logical Categorial Grammar (Hybrid TLCG; Kubota 2010; Kubota and Levine 2012). Pseudogapping poses a particularly challenging problem for previous analyses in both the transformational and the nontransformational literature. We argue that the flexible syntax-semantics interface of Hybrid TLCG enables an analysis of pseudogapping that synthesizes the key insights of both transformational and nontransformational approaches, at the same time overcoming the major difficulties of each type of approach.


Elderly people have weakened immune functions and suffer from many underlying chronic diseases. They are at high risk of contracting COVID-19. Most of the patients who died of COVID-19 were either elderly persons or patients with underlying diseases. Therefore, it is important to improve the knowledge and awareness of the prevention of COVID-19 among the elderly. In this guideline, we analyze the susceptibility of the elderly to critical illness, and the causes of this vulnerability. Based on the characteristics of the prevention and control of COVID-19 among elderly people, we propose recommendations from three perspectives: infection source, transmission route, and susceptible population. These measures can help reduce the infection of the elderly with COVID-19. Keywords:  Elderly people, COVID-19, prevention, SARS-CoV-2


The authors present a case of renal oncocytoma with numerous intracytoplasmic lumina in a 45-year-old woman, with an emphasis on the ultrastructural findings of so-called oncoblasts. The tumor was located in the upper pole of the left kidney, measuring about 3.3 cm in diameter. Histologically, it was composed of solid nests or acinar growths of so-called oncocytic tumor cells with numerous intracytoplasmic lumina and scattered foci of so-called oncoblasts. The luminal surface was positive for Hale's colloidal iron stain. A very small number of glycogen-containing cells were found scattered in a few nests. Immunohistochemically, tumor cells were positive for cytokeratin and epithelial membrane antigen, but negative for vimentin and carcinoembryonic antigen. The Ki-67 labeling index was 1.2%. All of the Ki-67-positive cells were oncocytes. So-called oncoblasts were negative for Ki-67. Ultrastructural examination revealed that the predominant tumor cells had cytoplasm packed with round mitochondria and the mitochodria had lamellar long cristae. So-called oncoblasts showed scant cytoplasm with a moderate number of small mitochondria. Some of them showed pyknosis which can be regarded as mitochondrial involution. The authors believe that so-called oncoblasts are damaged or involuted oncocytes rather than precursors of oncocytes.


This paper develops an algorithm for probabilistic production cost credit evaluation of wind turbine generators(WTG) with multi-state. Renewable energy resources such as wind, wave, solar, micro hydro, tidal and biomass etc. are becoming importance stage by stage because of considering effect of the environment. Wind energy is one of the most successful sources of renewable energy for the production of electrical energy. Case study demonstrates that the wind speed credit in view point of economics can be assessed by using the proposed methodology.


Background: Sports activities are performed in accordance with moral values and principles. The purpose of this research is to examine the decision-making attitudes of young sports students based on age, gender, license status, and sports branch type. Material and Methods: The "Moral Decision-Making Scale in Youth Sports" developed to evaluate the moral decision-making attitudes of young athletes was used as a data collection tool in this research. A five-point Likert scale was used to evaluate the scale items. Results: The athletes' views regarding moral decision-making attitudes were found to be for the Acceptance of Cheating dimension for the Acceptance of Gamesmanship dimension; and for the Keep Winning in Proportion dimension. It was determined that there was a significant difference in the student athletes' moral decision-making attitudes depending on gender, the type of sports played and being a certified athlete. Conclusions: Sports fields are the places where young athletes exhibit their skills and abilities in competitions. In these competitions, it should be emphasized to young athletes that respecting the values of the sport and following the rules is more important than winning and that they should stay away from negative behaviors such as cheating or gamesmanship.


A new nutraceutical carrier, chitosan-coated nano-size liposome, which is itself bioactive, is made from phosphatidylcholine (pc) and cholesterol by the sonication method. Different factors related to the size of the liposomes such as the ratio of the pc and cholesterol and the time of sonication are investigated. At the 40 : 60 ratios of pc and cholesterol with 12 min sonication, the smallest liposomes, with mean diameter ∼82 nm, were obtained. Incorporation of chemically labile active ingredients into the chitosan-coated liposomes prevented chemical degradation, which is shown for vitamin E (VE). After VE was loaded to the liposomes, the size of chitosan-coated liposomes increased to 144 nm. The loading efficiency and payload of VE were investigated by loading different amounts of VE to the liposomes which were prepared with different ratios of pc and cholesterol. Chitosan-coated nano-coated nano-size liposomes appeared to be promising VE carriers, with highest loading efficiency over 99% and payload over 27%. The stability of VE-loaded liposomes suspension during the 8 weeks storage is over 90% under 4°C.


The Hydraulic Institute has just completed the task of developing a new ANSI/HI standard on Rotodynamic (Centrifugal) Slurry Pumps covering nomenclature, definitions, applications, and operation. The standard provides examples of all the different types of pumps available and has an extensive section on definitions. Slurries and their effect on performance and wear are covered. A slurry service class is established which then is used to limit velocities and head produced per pump to give acceptable wear. A special section deals with mechanical seals and a new method for determining flange loads is presented and guidelines are given for commissioning, start-up etc. The head limits and the performance derating are of special interest when centrifugal slurry pumps are applied to thickened tailings and paste-like slurries. For Newtonian liquids, the Hydraulic Institute's Viscosity Correction Method (ANSI/HI 2004) provides a procedure widely used for viscous effects on the performance. For the homogeneous flow of viscous slurries, the new slurry standard refers to an applicable viscosity to use with the method and to "consult the pump manufacturer for guidance regarding nonNewtonian slurry pump performance." Experimental performance results are presented here and applied to the viscosity correction method for a simulated tailings product slurry characterized by a fully sheared yield stress of about 100 Pa, evaluated from pipeline data. The pump was a GIW-LCC type three-vane all metal unit with a 0.3m-diameter impeller having an open shroud with a simple auger-like inducer. Results are also given for an underground hydraulic fill product characterized by a Newtonian kinematic viscosity which is 1300 times that for water. The different results obtained here point out the strong influence the rheological behavior has on the choice of pump size and the power requirement.


ObjectiveThe global COVID pandemic has highlighted the need for the reporting of enhanced serology data from laboratory testing data. Qualitative results alone do not provide detailed data to understand levels of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence within a populace. To enable this, a minimum data set is required to support standardised data reporting.
ApproachThe CO-CONNECT project is concerned with the response to COVID within the UK and how datasets can be made Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). One aspect of this is a focus upon improving granular levels of COVID serology testing data being reported by national laboratories to the National Pathology Exchange (NPEx). A study was conducted to ascertain the essential data elements that could formulate a COVID Serology Data Standard (CSDS). Three NHS laboratories acting as pilot studies and NPEx have been actively involved with the development of the CSDS, together with clinicians and academics from the CO-CONNECT project.
ResultsFeedback from clinicians, academics and NPEx has been collected, together with NHS laboratory feasibility analysis to derive a minimum set of data elements that form a proposed data standard to standardise the reporting of laboratory COVID serology data for the UK. The proposed CSDS comprises twelve data elements in total, grouped into four main areas, (1) subject identifier and test date and time, (2) analyser types, test kits and samples, (3) qualitative results and (4) quantitative results. To further support the standardisation effort, a proposed Health Level Seven (HL7) message structure has been created to enable the reporting of the CSDS data elements to NPEx.
ConclusionThe CSDS has been created to help augment levels of reported granular data for laboratory COVID serology testing. If adopted, this could enable healthcare professionals to better understand the calibration of assays across multiple analyser types and thus antibody response levels.


The efficiency of wood vinegar mixed with each individual of three plants extract such as: citronella grass (Cymbopogon nardus), neem seed (Azadirachta indica A. Juss), and yam bean seed (Pachyrhizus erosus Urb.) were tested against the second instar larvae of housefly (Musca domestica L.). Steam distillation was used for extraction of the citronella grass while neem and yam bean were simple extracted by fermentation with ethyl alcohol. Toxicity test was evaluated in laboratory based on two methods of larvicidal bioassay: topical application method (contact poison) and feeding method (stomach poison). Larval mortality was observed daily and larval survivability was recorded until the survived larvae developed to pupae and adults. The study resulted that treatment of wood vinegar mixed with citronella grass showed the highest larval mortality by topical application method (50.0%) and by feeding method (80.0%). However, treatment of mixed wood vinegar and neem seed showed the longest pupal duration to 25 day and 32 days for topical application method and feeding method respectively. Additional, larval duration on treated M. domestica larvae was extended to 13 days for topical application method and 11 days for feeding method. Thus, the feeding method gave higher efficiency compared with the topical application method. Keywords—Housefly (Musca domestica L.), neem seed (Azadirachta indica), citronella grass (Cymbopogon nardus) yam bean seed (Pachyrhizus erosus), mortality.


In this paper we initiate the study of quasi Yamabe soliton on 3-dimensional
contact metric manifold with Q\varphi=\varphi Q and prove that if a
3-dimensional contact metric manifold M such that Q\varphi=\varphi Q admits a
quasi Yamabe soliton with non-zero soliton vector field V being point-wise
collinear with the Reeb vector field {\xi}, then V is a constant multiple of
{\xi}, the scalar curvature is constant and the manifold is Sasakian. Moreover,
V is Killing. Finally, we prove that if M is a 3-dimensional compact contact
metric manifold such that Q\varphi=\varphi Q endowed with a quasi Yamabe
soliton, then either M is flat or soliton is trivial.


This specification defines a framework for interacting North bound
(AAA/Policy) servers of the Client resides in Cloud and/or Distributed
Network environment with High-Availability to achieve fewer use-cases.
First, NAS Client resides in Cloud or Virtualized or Distributed
Network Access System to perform Authorization, Authentication and
Accounting procedures with AAA Servers. Second, AAAA/Policy Servers
provide dynamic policy information for subscribers of supporting in
NAS Clients resides in Cloud or Virtualized or Distributed Network
environment. Finally, Handling of Accounting related issues in better
way for subscribers supported in Cloud or Virtualized or Distributed
Network environment under High- Available conditions.


Solar to chemical energy conversion could provide an alternative to mankind's unsustainable use of fossil fuels. One promising approach is the electrochemical reduction of CO2 into chemical products, in particular hydrocarbons and oxygenates which are formed by multi-electron transfer reactions. Here, a nanostructured Cu–Ag bimetallic cathode is utilized to selectively and efficiently facilitate these reactions. When operated in an electrolysis cell, the cathode provides a constant energetic efficiency for hydrocarbon and oxygenate production. As a result, when coupled to Si photovoltaic cells, solar conversion efficiencies of 3–4% to the target products are achieved for 0.35 to 1 Sun illumination. Use of a four-terminal III–V/Si tandem solar cell configuration yields a conversion efficiency to hydrocarbons and oxygenates exceeding 5% at 1 Sun illumination. This study provides a clear framework for the future advancement of efficient solar-driven CO2 reduction devices.


The Twin Composite Steel Box Girder Bridges Over Minmi Creek are part of the Hunter Expressway Alliance Project n F3 to Kurri Kurri Section, a road infrastructure project consisting of 13 kilometres of new freeway construction and local road adjustments. In conjunction with the adjoining design and construct project, the completed project will provide 40 kilometres of dual two lane carriageways between the F3 Interchange in the west and the New England Highway west of Braxton. The Alliance comprised Roads and Maritime (RMS), Thiess, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Hyder Consulting. The twin bridges carry the east and westbound carriageways of the expressway over Minmi Creek. Each carriageway has a constant width between kerbs of 10.7m and 10.5m respectively and allows for provision of 3 lanes in the future. The bridges are single span simply supported structures with an overall deck length of 57m and a skew of 46 degrees approximately. The superstructure of each bridge consists of two 2800 mm deep steel trough girders with a 230 mm minimum thick composite deck slab comprising 75 mm thick precast concrete permanent formwork panels and a 155 mm thick cast-in-place reinforced concrete slab.


Scientific knowledge about the use of natural products with functional properties, consumer demand for high‐quality products, as well as legislative actions to reduce the use of synthetic food additives have led to an increase in the use of products from natural sources. This chapter aims to provide context information about the potential commercial uses of extracts from natural sources obtained by various extraction techniques, illustrating their importance in industry and identifying the scope of the techniques and aspects discussed in the following chapters. The main commercial applications of extracts from natural sources discussed here comprise their use as colorants, functional food, nutraceuticals, flavors and fragrances, preserving agents, and edible/non‐edible oils and fats applied to cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries. However, due to their nature, natural products are complex and therefore several aspects must be considered for each application, including importance, chemical characteristics of main compounds present and possible mechanisms of action.


In this paper I will propose a reader-centered theory of literary description. Drawing on the divide between conceptual interpretation and pre-conceptual storyworld imagery, I will look into which descriptive devices may be particularly productive of the two reading strategies, respectively. Whereas novels and short stories often intermingle the strategies by and large, isolated passages of the same texts usually do not have an equal potential to elicit both. The reasons to study description from a reader-centered perspective, while making it a pilot notion in tackling the dialectics of interpretation and imagery, are twofold: Firstly, description pertains largely to the generation of imaginary storyworlds. However, passages rich in description are often regarded as indicators of narrative mediation, a view that suggests availability to higher-order interpretation. Secondly, description has mainly been defined in terms of its semantics. Yet a comprehensive account of what description is should also encompass a theory of what it does.


Motivated by typo correction in password authentication, we investigate cryptographic error-correction of secrets in settings where the distribution of secrets is a priori (approximately) known. We refer to this as the distribution-sensitive setting. We design a new secure sketch called the layer-hiding hash (LHH) that offers the best security to date. Roughly speaking, we show that LHH saves an additional logH0(W ) bits of entropy compared to the recent layered sketch construction due to Fuller, Reyzin, and Smith (FRS). Here H0(W ) is the size of the support of the distribution W . When supports are large, as with passwords, our new construction offers a substantial security improvement. We provide two new constructions of typo-tolerant password-based authentication schemes. The first combines a LHH or FRS sketch with a standard slow-to-compute hash function, and the second avoids secure sketches entirely, correcting typos instead by checking all nearby passwords. Unlike the previous such brute-force-checking construction, due to Chatterjee et al., our new construction uses a hash function whose runtime is proportional to the popularity of the password (forcing a longer hashing time on more popular, lower entropy passwords). We refer to this as popularity-proportional hashing (PPH). We then introduce a framework for comparing different typo-tolerant authentication approaches. We show that PPH always offers a better time / security trade-off than the LHH and FRS constructions, and for certain distributions outperforms the Chatterjee et al. construction. Elsewhere, this latter construction offers the best trade-off. In aggregate our results suggest that the best known secure sketches are still inferior to simpler brute-force based approaches.


Instincts are innate, unconscious means by which Nature operates in all forms of life including animals and human beings. In humans however, with progressive evolution of consciousness, instincts become increasingly conscious and regulated by egoic functions. Biological instincts associated with the lower-unconscious such as survival, aggressive, and reproductive instincts are well known in general psychology. The higher-unconscious, which is unique to human beings, may be said to have its own instinctual processes referred to here as the 'metaphysical instincts'. In traditional spiritual practices awakening the metaphysical instincts has often been done at the expense of suppressing the biological instincts—a process referred to as spiritual bypassing. This essay discusses how the metaphysical instincts initially expressed as the religious impulse with associated beliefs and behaviors may be transformed and made fully conscious, and integrated with the biological instincts in integral yoga and psychology in order to achieve wholeness of personality.