This paper presents the results of initial fieldwork on Online dating (netto-jô konkatsu, koikatsu) and other types of internet-based partner matching options in Japan, focusing on the possibilities for textual and interactional self-representation on different sites and apps available to single Japanese. This includes widespread international apps like Tinder and Grindr, along with local apps like 9 Monsters, a popular gay app that also incorporates light gaming functions, or Zexy En-Musubi, a revolutionarily egalitarian site aimed at heterosexual singles specifically seeking marriage. I approach this question by looking at the different technological affordances for profile creation using these services, and the ways users engage with those affordances to create profiles and to search for partners, based on examinations of websites, apps, and public profiles; interviews with website producers; and ethnographic interviews with past and current users of Online dating services. I primarily argue that self-presentation in Japanese Online dating hinges on the use of polite speech forms towards unknown readers, which have the power to flatten out gendered speech differences that are characteristic of language ideologies in Japan (Nakamura 2007). However, dominant cultural ideas about gender, sexuality, and marriage—such as patriarchal marriage structures—may still be "baked into" the structure of apps (Dalton and Dales 2016). Studying Online dating in Japan is critical because of its growing social acceptance. While in 2008 the only "respectable" site was a Japanese version of Match.com, in 2018 there are numerous sites and apps created by local companies for local sensibilities. Where Online dating was already established, in the West, there was little sociological study of it while it was becoming popular, in part because research on the internet also lacked respectability. By looking at Japan, where acceptance is growing but Online dating has not yet been normalized, we can gain a deeper understanding of its gender, sexuality, romance, and marriage practices. Japan's experiences can also potentially provide a model for understanding how Online dating practices might develop elsewhere. In the US, Online dating faced many of the stigmas that it continues to face in Japan—such as that it was "sleazy," "sketchy," or desperate. In spite of these stigmas, however, Online dating grew slowly until it suddenly exploded (Orr 2004). Will it explode in Japan? By looking at how people use these sites, this paper also hopes to shed light on the uptake of Online partner matching practices.


Programmatic advertising is an actively developing industry and research area. Some of the research in this area concerns the development of optimal or approximately optimal contracts and policies between publishers, advertisers and intermediaries such as ad networks and ad exchanges. Both the development of contracts and the construction of policies governing their implementation are difficult challenges, and different models take different features of the problem into account. In programmatic advertising decisions are made in real time, and time is a scarce resource particularly for publishers who are concerned with content load times. Policies for advertisement placement must execute very quickly once content is requested; this requires policies to either be pre-computed and accessed as needed, or for the policy execution to be very efficient. We formulate a stochastic optimization problem for per publisher ad sequencing with binding latency constraints. Within our context an ad request lifecycle is modeled as a sequence of one by one solicitations (OBOS) subprocesses/lifecycle stages. From the viewpoint of a supply side platform (SSP) (an entity acting in proxy for a collection of publishers), the duration/span of a given lifecycle stage/subprocess is a stochastic variable. This stochasticity is due both to the stochasticity inherent in Internet delay times, and the lack of information regarding the decision processes of independent entities.In our work we model the problem facing the SSP, namely the problem of optimally or near-optimally choosing the next lifecycle stage of a given ad request lifecycle at any given time. We solve this problem to optimality (subject to the granularity of time) using a classic application of Richard Bellman's dynamic programming approach to the 0/1 Knapsack Problem. The DP approach does not scale to a large number of lifecycle stages/subprocesses so a sub-optimal approach is needed. We use our DP formulation to derive a focused real time dynamic programming (FRTDP) implementation, a heuristic method with optimality guarantees for solving our problem. We empirically evaluate (through simulation) the performance of our FRTDP implementation relative to both the DP implementation (for tractable instances) and to several alternative heuristics for intractable instances. Finally, we make the case that our work is usefully applicable to problems outside the domain of online advertising.


The author develops a Petri-net-based shop-floor controller with a modular structure. This structure is made possible through the use of adaptive Petri nets. The controller is then analyzed using the theory of Petri nets. The issue of automatic recovery of the controller from failures is discussed. It is shown that in the presence of conflicts, the recovery scheme depends on the scheduling policies.<<ETX>>


In this paper, a three-dimensional, two-phase transport model of liquid-feed direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), which is based on the multiphase mixture formulation and encompasses all components in a DMFC using a single computational domain, is specifically studied and simulated by a combined finite element-upwind finite volume discretization along with Newton's method, where flow, species, charge-transport and energy equations are simultaneously addressed. Numerical simulations in 3D are carried out to explore and design efficient and robust numerical algorithms for the sake of fast and convergent nonlinear iteration. A more reasonable source term of water transport equation, and a series of efficient numerical algorithms and discretizations are specifically designed and analyzed to assist in achieving this goal. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that the convergent and correct physical solutions can be attained within 100 more steps, against the oscillating and long-running nonlinear iterations (up to 5000 steps) operated by standard finite element/volume method without new numerical techniques.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


Objective: We carried out a study to investigate the association of IL-4R I75V (rs1805010), Q576R (rs1801275) and S503P (rs1805015) polymorphisms with the development of AR in a Chinese population.
Methods: Between October 2012 and May 2015, 326 patients with AR and 412 healthy control participants were recruited. IL-4R I75V (rs1805010), Q576R (rs1801275) and S503P (rs1805015) were amplified and genotyped by polymerase chain reaction coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis was employed to evaluate the association between IL-4R I75V (rs1805010), Q576R (rs1801275) and S503P (rs1805015) polymorphisms and AR risk.
Results: This study included 184 females and 142 males in AR patients, and 209 females and 203 males in controls. The mean ages of AR patients and controls were 35.82 ± 11.24 and 37.22 ± 12.07 y, respectively. We observed that the GG genotype of IL-4R Q576R (rs1801275) was associated with a reduced risk of AR when compared with the AA genotype of Q576R (rs1801275) (OR=0.43, 95% CI=0.26-0.71, P=0.001). A significant linkage disequilibrium was found between rs1805010 and rs1801275 (D=0.79, r2=0.02). The G-A-T (OR=0.32, 95% CI=0.24-0.42) and G-G-T (OR=0.18, 95% CI=0.12-0.27) haplotypes showed a decreased risk of AR, while the A-A-T revealed an increased risk (OR=4.07, 95% CI=3.25-5.09).
Conclusion: Our study suggests that the IL-4R Q576R (rs1801275) genetic polymorphism is associated with the development of AR, and the G-A-T, G-G-T and A-A-T haplotypes contribute to the susceptibility to AR. The nurses and doctors would provide health education to these high risk individuals.


Systemic corruption has become the norm in South Africa. This is evident in the recent Transparency International's Corruption Index. During the Zuma Administration, the scale and magnitude of corruption intensified and the term "state capture" was used to describe this phenomenon. Given the dramatic developments of February 2018 which witnessed the stepping down of President Jacob Zuma and his replacement by President Cyril Ramaphosa, there was hope that the new president's promised "New Dawn" would result in reversing state capture, and more broadly, the politics of patronage. Whilst the Ramaphosa Administration has undertaken several measures to undo state capture including a cabinet reshuffle and the appointment of new boards at South Africa's trouble State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), much more needs to be done. Drawing on international best practice from Bulgaria to Tunisia and Hong Kong, this article proposes concrete recommendations to undo state capture.


Abstract The present study examined the concurrent contributions of parent–child and teacher–child relationship quality to Turkish children's antisocial behaviour, with a specific focus on the moderating role of teacher–child relationships (closeness and conflict) on parent–child relationships when predicting antisocial behaviour. Participants were 94 children (56 boys) with mean age of 7.05 years (SD = .88) enrolled in 24 classrooms from five elementary schools in a suburban school district in Turkey. Mothers reported on their relationship with children and teachers reported on their relationships with children as well as children's antisocial behaviour. SAS PROC MIXED was used to test hierarchical regression models of children nested within classrooms. Results showed that teacher–child conflict moderated the association between parent–child conflict and children's antisocial behaviour. Such that, higher parent–child conflict was related to higher levels of antisocial behaviour at the context of higher levels of teacher–child conflict. In addition, teacher–child closeness also moderated the association between parent–child conflict and children's antisocial behaviour. Such that when teacher–child closeness was at average or high levels, lower levels of parent–child conflict was related to lower levels of antisocial behaviour. Teacher–child conflict was positively associated with children's antisocial behaviour. Limitations and future directions of the current study are discussed.


Background: Recently it was shown that the relative lack of diagnostic interventions conducted in women mediated the negative association between female sex and diagnosed disease. However, it remains unknown whether women and men receive disease diagnoses in an equal frequency after diagnostic interventions have been performed in general practice. Methods: We used generalized linear mixed-effect models to assess the association between diagnostic interventions and disease diagnoses when patients presented with common somatic symptoms and studied whether the association differed between female and male patients. Results: In 34,268 episodes of care (61.4% female) physical examinations and specialist referrals were associated with more disease diagnoses (OR = 2.32; 95% CI = 2.17–2.49 and OR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.27–1.49, respectively), whereas laboratory diagnostics were associated with fewer disease diagnoses (OR = 0.50; 95% CI = 0.47–0.54). Significant interaction terms showed that women presenting with back pain, tiredness, arm and/or leg symptoms and tingling extremities were provided with fewer disease diagnoses after diagnostic interventions were performed than men. We found no significant interaction term that indicated that men were provided with fewer disease diagnoses after a diagnostic intervention than women. Conclusion: Especially when patients present with the mentioned symptoms, general practitioners should be aware that diagnostic interventions yield fewer disease diagnoses in female patients than in men. Yet, performing fewer diagnostic interventions in women with these symptoms will further exacerbate sex differences in disease diagnoses.


SUMMARY

In this paper, we conduct ambient noise seismic tomography of northwestern China and adjacent regions. The data include 9 months (2009 January to 2009 September) three-component continuous data recorded at 146 seismic stations of newly upgraded China Provincial Digital Seismic Networks and regional Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan networks. Empirical Rayleigh and Love wave Green's functions are obtained from interstation cross-correlations. Group velocity dispersion curves for both Rayleigh and Love waves between 7 and 50 s periods were measured for each interstation path by applying the multiple-filter analysis method with phase-matched processing. The group velocity maps show clear lateral variations which correlate well with major geological structures and tectonic units in the study region. Shear wave velocity structures are inverted from Rayleigh wave and love wave dispersion maps. The results show that the Tibetan Plateau has a very thick crust with a low-velocity zone in its mid-lower crust. Along the northern margin of the plateau where a steep topographic gradient is present, the low-velocity zone does not extend to the Tarim basin which may indicate that crustal materials beneath the Tarim basin are colder and stronger than beneath the plateau, therefore inhibit the extension of mid-lower crustal flow and deformation of the Tibetan Plateau, resulting in very sharp topography contrasts. In the northeastern margin with a gentle topographic gradient toward the Ordos platform, the low-velocity zone diminishes around the eastern KunLun fault. Meanwhile, our results reveal obvious lateral velocity changes in the crust beneath the Tarim basin. In the upper crust, the Manjaer depression in the eastern Tarim basin is featured with very low velocities and the Bachu uplift in the western Tarim basin with high velocities; in the mid-lower crust, the northern Tarim basin in general displays lower velocities than the southern part along latitude ∼40° N with an east–west striking, which is consistent with the high magnetic anomaly zone and may be related to the central suture belt connecting the south and north of Tarim basement blocks together in Pre-Sinian.


This matched case-control study deals with the effect of the individual travelling speed on the risk of involvement in a road accident. The cases were cars involved in injury accidents dealt with within the framework of an in-depth accident investigation programme. The matched controls were cars passing the same road site as the crash-involved car, in the same conditions but without being involved in an accident. Only normal weather, daytime and free-flow conditions were considered. Overall, 52 cases and 817 controls were used. The speeds were obtained from kinematic reconstructions for the crash-involved cars, and using a laser speed gun for the controls. A significant positive relationship is found between the individual travelling speed and the risk of injury accident. Nevertheless, this study has limitations, due to the relatively small number of cases and to the data used (kinematic reconstructions always involve some degree of interpretation).


In maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis, the estimates of unique variances can often turn out to be zero or negative, which makes no sense from a statistical point of view. In order to overcome this diculty, we employ a Bayesian approach by specifying a prior distribution for the variances of unique factors. The factor analysis model is estimated by EM algorithm, for which we provide the expectation and maximization steps within a general framework of EM algorithms. Crucial issues in Bayesian factor analysis model are the choice of adjusted parameters including the number of factors and also the hyper-parameters for the prior distribution. The choice of these parameters can be viewed as a model selection and evaluation problem. We derive a model selection criterion for evaluating a Bayesian factor analysis model. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to investigate the eectiveness of the proposed procedure. A real data example is also given to illustrate our procedure. We observe that our modeling procedure prevents the occurrence of improper solutions and also chooses the appropriate number of factors objectively.


An increase in the incidence of cardiovascular disease has generally been observed in postmenopausal women, but there have been few studies of the association between menopausal state and atherosclerosis. In this study 294 premenopausal and 319 postmenopausal women aged 45 to 55 were examined radiographically for calcified deposits in the abdominal aorta, which have been shown to represent intimal atherosclerosis. Aortic atherosclerosis was present in eight (3%) of the premenopausal women and in 38 (12%) of the postmenopausal women. After adjustments for age and other indicators of cardiovascular risk women with a natural menopause had a 3.4 times greater risk of atherosclerosis than premenopausal women (95% confidence interval 1.2 to 9.7; p less than 0.05); women who had had a bilateral oophorectomy had a 5.5 times greater risk (1.9 to 15.8; p less than 0.005). No excess risk of atherosclerosis was observed among women who had had a hysterectomy without removal of both ovaries. These results suggest that when oestrogen production stops, either naturally or after surgery, the risk of atherosclerosis is increased.


Cisplatin and platin given in LD50 to mice caused significant changes in hepatic metabolism. There was enhanced lipid peroxidation with accumulation of malonic dialdehyde, dienic conjugates, Schiff bases, decreased antiradical activity and alterations in the fractional composition of phospholipids with higher concentrations of membranotoxic ingredients. There was also an increase in the serum activity of transaminases and alkaline phosphatase.


To study whether the veneering technique will have an impact on zirconia grain and the bonding type and relationship on interface between zirconia and veneer porcelain. Materials and methods: After sintered, zirconia was annealed for 15 minute to finish the phase transition from m to t.4 types of veneer porcelains were sintered and observed with SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and TEM (transmission electron microscopy). Results: With etching time extending, it appeared that many materials loosed and corrosional pit deepened, enlarged in the veneer porcelain, which made crystallize structure move into veneering surface. Composition of interface mainly was amorphous glass matrix and zirconia. Energy spectrum analysis showed that there was no remnant glass composition in the zirconia side departing from interface. SEM showed that crystal in veneering side did not participate interface bonding. Conclusion: The interface between 4 types of veneer porcelains and zirconia bonded well. Veneering sintering technique didn't change lattice structure of zirconia, which still was tetragonal structure. The specific bonding property of interface still remained to be analyzed further to determine.


Learning is a process that depends on experience and long-term change curveassociated with individual understanding. To be able to evaluate the understanding of individuallearning is necessary methods to analyze and dig up the information and eventually came to theconclusion that can be used as a foundation in terms of understanding learning. In this paperthe authors evaluate the understanding of the language programming in AMIK BSI and STMIKNusa Mandiri Jakarta using Principal Component Analysis and Fuzzy Principal ComponentAnalysis. The final result obtained using the method of Principal Component Analysis concludedthat as many as 63.640% using a flowchart, 25.683% using pseudo-code and 10.676% using aprogram in understanding learning syntax of programming languages. While the discharge ofdiscernment using Fuzzy Principal Component Analysis concluded that as many as 10.179%using a flowchart, 7.055% using pseudo-code and 5.275% use in understanding learningprogram syntax of programming languages.


Today's political climate overflows with admonitions to "get involved," as if entering the political fray is the great cure-all for almost any conceivable social problem. This advice may be a recipe for disaster. Staying out of politics is sometimes wiser. Pursuing non-political options may even be best given the inherent difficulties of the political pathway. In this volume, Robert Weissberg offers a corrective to a view that has evolved into a civic religion. A nearly missionary flavor infuses the very notion of political activism, and it is especially prevalent among those on the ideological spectrum's left, though hardly unknown among conservatives. Getting involved, it is said, will do everything from improve our education to make us healthier (or, for conservatives, reduce immorality). This benefit is grossly oversold, especially given our gridlock-mired political system, one that greatly limits what can be accomplished. Even the most worthy causes face stiff opposition, and for every winner, there are countless losers. Academics in particular have promoted politics as the great remedy for social and economic ills, but this prescription rests on flawed, often myopic research that may have a hidden (liberal statist) ideological agenda. We cannot safely assume that those befuddled by economic tasks will eventually become adroit political players. Furthermore, research often demonstrates zero about political progress that results from political activism, though it persuasively asserts that such gains have been made. Scholars also forget that most goals that can be pursued in the civic realm can also be sought through private channels. Millions of parents, for example, have secured better educations for their children simply by abandoning public education, not battling "the system." This volume constitutes both a powerful challenge to the dogma that political activism is an unqualified good, and a strong case that in many instances following the private route may be the superior option. It will be of interest to political scientists, sociologists, and students of public policy.


Ultra wideband (UWB) is a kind of wireless communication system which can perform high data rate with nano-second pulses of baseband, and has recently received much attention for short-range applications. Thus a high sensitivity of timing synchronization between modulation and demodulation is required. Timing synchronization error named timing jitter between transmitter and receiver has been introduced and their properties have been analyzed in some papers. However, there are not many methods brought forward to improve the system performance in the scenarios that deteriorated jitter existents. We consider this problem and offer a method to resist the adverse effect by timing jitter to the whole system by adopting a new designed correlator reference signal in UWB receiver. This reference signal is formed corresponding to the timing jitter distribution of the received pulses waveforms to increase the jitter robust performance. From the simulation results of different UWB modulation systems, better performance can be achieved by adopting this reference signal in the receiver than the conventional schemes.


Abstract Measurements of δ13C and δ18O values of the riverine tufa samples dated by the accelerating mass spectrometry-14C method have been used for discussion of land-cover change in the catchment area of the Xiangshui River, SW China during the late Holocene. The results show that tufa was deposited in this short river only between c. 4280 and c. 110 years BP. Based on the characteristics of δ13C values of the complete tufa profile in the river, three stages of land-cover conditions in the headwater area could be identified. The earliest, Stage I, contained the most extensive vegetation cover with mainly C3 plants, as shown by the lightest δ13C value, whereas the latest, Stage III, had the least land cover, reflected by the heaviest δ13C value. By comparison of speleothem and historical records, it was found that the land cover in Stage I was controlled mainly by climate change, whereas the land-cover changes in the later two stages were most probably related to major human disturbance (land use), especially since the Qin Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, in the headwater area of the river.


As a newly emerging multivariate statistical process monitoring method, non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) and its variants avoid the positive and negative cancellations between the extracted features because of the purely additive combination of non-negative components. Thus, they make a good match with this reality that the negative values of both observations and decomposed components are physically meaningless in many kinds of industrial processes. However, these methods are effective only for linearly separable problems and are not suitable for dealing with nonlinear process monitoring. In this article, the kernel-based method is integrated into the projective NMF (KPNMF) to improve the accuracy of fault detection, and the appropriate multiplicative update method is proven to be convergent. Furthermore, inspired by the false nearest neighbors (FNNs) method, a new dimensionality reduction approach (KPNMF-FNN) is presented to further reduce the original variables for determining the smallest dimension regression vector needed. Compared with the traditional methods, the proposed approach can greatly reduce the time and storage space required on the premise of maintaining a high fault detection rate and low false alarm rate. The experimental results on the Tennessee Eastman benchmark process and the pumping unit system show that the proposed algorithms have excellent performance and can effectively detect faults under the circumstances of retaining only the top 60% of the original variables.


Abstract In 2014, the Santos-operated Cooper Basin Joint Venture hydraulically fracture-stimulated 465 zones from tight-gas-sand and unconventional reservoirs. Microseismic monitoring technology was introduced to reduce the technical risk associated with frack programs through higher confidence in calibrated and optimized frack models for conventional-sand, tight-sand, and shale targets. This would provide cost reductions through minimizing zones of frack overlap and reserves enhancement via optimized field-development planning through targeted infill field development via early recognition of well placement, spacing and identified drainage patterns, and frack-stage spacing.


This paper outlines a software architecture where zero-copy operations are used comprehensively at every processing point from the Application layer to the Physical layer. The proposed architecture is being used during feasibility studies on advanced networking technologies for the CMS experiment at CERN. The design relies on a homogeneous peer-to-peer message passing system, which is built around memory pool caches allowing efficient and deterministic latency handling of messages of any size through the different software layers. In this scheme portable distributed applications can be programmed to process input to output operations by mere pointer arithmetic and DMA operations only. The approach combined with the open fabric protocol stack (OFED) allows one to attain near wire-speed message transfer at application level. The architecture supports full portability of user applications by encapsulating the protocol details and network into modular peer transport services whereas a transparent replacement of the underlying protocol facilitates deployment of several network technologies like Gigabit Ethernet, Myrinet, Infiniband etc. Therefore, this solution provides a protocol-independent communication framework and prevents having to deal with potentially difficult couplings when the underlying communication infrastructure is changed. We demonstrate the feasibility of this approach by giving efficiency and performance measurements of the software in the context of the CMS distributed event building studies.


Design of 1-D submicrometer periodic gratings aimed at the enhancement of the short-circuit current density in thin-film silicon solar cells is investigated. A rigorous full-wave analysis is carried out to determine the absorption in amorphous (a-Si:H) and microcrystalline (μc-Si:H) silicon solar cells on substrates with gratings featuring different geometrical characteristics. Maximal photocurrent densities Jph are evaluated in both superstrate (p-i-n) and substrate (n-i-p) configurations, taking into account the nonconformal growth of the layers on the gratings. The Jph relative to that of corresponding flat solar cells was found to be 1.34, 1.24, 1.23, and 1.38 times higher for p-i-n a-Si:H, μc-Si:H-based structures, and n-i-p a-Si:H, μc-Si:H based structures, respectively.


Sustainability scientists often face a difficult task to conduct research or carry out preliminary investigations around coastal areas in developing countries, due to the limitation in the availability of topographical and bathymetry data. These limitations can be particularly important for the case of ports, on which the livelihoods of many fishing communities depend on. Often, cost is cited as a reason regarding the absence of any such data. However, in the present technical note the authors highlight how existing "low-level" surveying methods can be inexpensive and allow sustainability scientists to conduct a reasonably accurate survey for less than 1,000 USD, provided that researchers possess a reasonable knowledge of mathematics and geometry (high-school equivalent).


Productive engagement of MHC class I by inhibitory NK cell receptors depends on the peptide bound by the MHC class I molecule. Peptide:MHC complexes that bind weakly to killer cell Ig-like receptors (KIRs) can antagonize the inhibition mediated by high-affinity peptide:MHC complexes and cause NK cell activation. We show that low-affinity peptide:MHC complexes stall inhibitory signaling at the step of Src homology protein tyrosine phosphatase 1 recruitment and do not go on to form the KIR microclusters induced by high-affinity peptide:MHC, which are associated with Vav dephosphorylation and downstream signaling. Furthermore, the low-affinity peptide:MHC complexes prevented the formation of KIR microclusters by high-affinity peptide:MHC. Thus, peptide antagonism of NK cells is an active phenomenon of inhibitory synapse disruption.


Mountain glacierized headwaters are currently witnessing a transient shift in their hydrological and glaciological systems in response to rapid climate change. To characterize these changes, a robust understanding of the hydrological processes operating in the basin and their interactions is needed. Such an investigation was undertaken in the Peyto Glacier Research Basin, Canadian Rockies over 32 years (1988–2020). A distributed, physically based, uncalibrated glacier hydrology model was developed using the modular, object‐oriented Cold Region Hydrological Modelling Platform to simulate both on and off‐glacier high mountain processes and streamflow generation. The hydrological processes that generate streamflow from this alpine basin are characterized by substantial inter‐annual variability over the 32 years. Snowmelt runoff always provided the largest fraction of annual streamflow (44% to 89%), with smaller fractional contributions occurring in higher streamflow years. Ice melt runoff provided 10% to 45% of annual streamflow volume, with higher fractions associated with higher flow years. Both rainfall and firn melt runoff contributed less than 13% of annual streamflow. Years with high streamflow were on average 1.43°C warmer than low streamflow years, and higher streamflow years had lower seasonal snow accumulation, earlier snowmelt and higher summer rainfall than years with lower streamflow. Greater ice exposure in warmer, low snowfall (high rainfall) years led to greater streamflow generation. The understanding gained here provides insight into how future climate and increased meteorological variability may impact glacier meltwater contributions to streamflow and downstream water availability as alpine glaciers continue to retreat.


OBJECTIVES
e-Health refers to the organisation and delivery of health services and information using the internet and related technologies. We investigated the perceptions of primary care staff towards e-health initiatives in the NHS Connecting for Health programme and whether front-line staff are ready to implement such changes.

DESIGN
Twenty participants from different professional groups were purposively selected for interview, based on their current computer usage. The same practice staff were subsequently observed in order to gain an insight into how they use computers.

SUBJECTS
Practice staff (doctors, nurses, practice managers and receptionists) who will be expected to use new information technology and primary care trust (PCT) staff who are involved in its implementation were selected to participate in this study.

SETTING
A north London PCT with 62 general practices. Four practices were selected for the study.

RESULTS
Analysis of the interviews and the observational data yielded six recurrent themes that have a bearing on readiness to use information and communication systems to support clinical care: perceptions of technology and NHS Connecting for Health; issues relating to resources; patient choice; matters relating to confidentiality and security; political pressures; and how information technology is currently used within primary care.

CONCLUSIONS
At the time of the study the systems that form part of NHS Connecting for Health, apart from the Quality Management and Analysis System (QMAS), were not implemented across the PCT. All the practices in the study acknowledged the benefits new technology would bring to the workplace, but there were also some common concerns, which suggest that staff working in primary care practices are not ready for e-health. Successful implementation of the NHS Connecting for Health programme rests on identifying, acknowledging and overcoming these concerns. A different approach might be required for those practices that have made very little progress in using email or moving towards an electronic patient record. This study suggests that a mistrust of technology and fears as to the heavy initial workload involved in becoming fully computerised have dissuaded some practices from embracing e-health. If NHS Connecting for Health is to be a success, implementation teams might need to focus initially on practices that have been reluctant to use technology to support both clinical care and the day-to-day work of the practice.


We introduce the notion of sortability and $t$-sortability for a simplicial complex and study the graphs for which their independence complexes are either sortable or $t$-sortable. We show that the proper interval graphs are precisely the graphs whose independence complex is sortable. By using this characterization, we show that the ideal generated by all squarefree monomials corresponding to independent sets of vertices of $G$ of size $t$ (for a given positive integer $t$) has the strong persistence property, when $G$ is a proper interval graph. Moreover, all of its powers have linear quotients.


This paper describes different approaches of realtime GMM (Gaussian mixture method) background subtraction algorithm using video sequences for hand image segmentation. In each captured image, the segmentation takes place where pixels belonging to the hands are separated from the background based on background extraction and skin-color segmentation. A time-adaptive mixture of Gaussians is used to model the distribution of each pixel color value. For an input image, every new pixel value is checked, deciding if it matches with one of the existing Gaussians based on the distance from the mean in terms of the standard deviation. The best matching distribution parameters are updated and its weight is increased. It is assumed that the values of the background pixels have low variance and large weight. These matched pixels, considered as foreground, are compared based on skin color thresholds. The hands position and other attributes are tracked by frame. That enables us to distinguish the hand movement from the background and other objects in movement, as well as to extract the information from the movement for dynamic hand gesture recognition


For the theoretical and practical problems in ammunition and fuse average trajectory consistency test, starting from basic features of analytical statistics and application characteristics of ammunition, the problems in current test methods were pointed out, such as: the t test method is not used for ammunition with different dispersion, the antiaircraft weapons test does not consider the situation of air shooting, the randomness of test sample size is too big, the evaluation criteria of test results is not reasonable. Improvement suggestion for test method and test point selection is proposed. A new evaluation criteria of average trajectory consistency is put forward based on damage efficiency. By analyzing average trajectory consistency test results of a certain type of armor piercing projectile, prefabricated fragment ammunition and grenade, the correctness and availability of new evaluation criteria is proved.


The application of program synthesis techniques to the generation of technology-sensitive VLSI physical design tools is described. The architecture and implementation of a particular software generator (called ELF) targeted at the generation of maze routing software is described. ELF strives to meet the demands of the target technology by automatically generating maze router implementations to match the application requirements. ELF has three key features. First, a very high level language, lacking data structure implementation specifications, is used to describe algorithm design styles. Second, application-specific expertise about routing and application independent code synthesis techniques are used to guide search among alternative design styles for algorithms and data structures. Third, code generation is used to transform the resulting abstract descriptions of selected algorithms and data structures into final, executable code. Code generation is an incremental, stepwise refinement process. Experimental results are presented covering several correct. fully functional routers synthesized by ELF from varying high-level specifications. Results from synthetic and industrial benchmarks are examined to illustrate ELF's capabilities. >


The aim of this study was to analyse the peel resistance of silver plated wires examined in an intraoral setting. In this study, a 0.016 × 0.016 inch silver plated stainless steel wire and a 0.016 × 0.016 inch Teflon-coated nickel-titanium wire were investigated. The brackets of ceramic and stainless steel were bonded to the first and second bicuspids of two subjects. We investigated peel resistance of the wires three times, at the moment of setting, after 2 days, and after 1 week by using the following: 1) intraoral photographs, 2) stereoscopic microscope photographs, 3) color measurements, and 4) analysis of the surface properties of the silver plated wire after testing by scanning electron microscopy and Energy- Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The silver plated wire turned black at the slot part of the brackets after 2 days but did not show peeling. The underlying metal was clearly exposed on the Teflon-coated wire. For the silver plated wire, the L* value decreased considerably 2 days after setting, while for the Teflon-coated wire, it decreased between 2 days to 1 week post setting. Sulphur atoms were detected on the silver plated wire. There was no significant peeling observed on the silver plated wire in between the bracket slots over a week. However, the wire turned black in the slot part of the brackets after 2 days.


A great deal of criminal activity in America goes unrecorded, largely because it is not reported to the police. This pool of unrecorded crime has several consequences: it limits the deterrent capability of the criminal justice system, it contributes to the misallocation of police resources, it renders victims ineligible for public and private benefits, it affects insurance costs, and it helps shape the police role in society. This report examines these problems in light of new crime-victim data gathered in a national sample of the general population. The data suggest that, compared with those incidents which were reported to the police, the reservoir of unreported crime contains a disproportionate number of less serious incidents involving small financial loss, little serious injury, and less use of weapons. Race, in particular, was unrelated to the reporting of crime in the United States in 1973.


: An open controlled study of efficacy of the vitamin B complex (milgamma) has been performed in 38 patients with vertebrogenic lumbosacral radiculopathy suffered from moderate or severe pain during 1 month or longer. Patients have been randomized into 2 equal groups: in the main group milgamma has been prescribed in the combination with diclofenac; patients of the control group have received diclofenac only. Treatment efficacy has been assessed by clinical scales in the 10th and 24th days, and by the results of telephone interview after 3 and 6 months. A trend to higher efficacy of the treatment of the main group compared to that of the control group assessed with the Visual Analogue Scale was observed during all the study but the difference reached the level of statistical significance only to the 24th day. The assessment of qualitative characteristics of pain with the Neuropathic Pain Scale revealed decreasing of intensive, acute and sensitive pain only in patients of the main group. The moderate or substantial improvement was noted in 66% patients received the combination therapy and only in 34% patients received diclofenac. At the 3rd months, between-group differences were still significant (the pain was absent or minimal in 63% patients of the main group and 34% of the control one). The results revealed the potentiation of analgesic effect of diclofenac by the vitamin B complex. Using of milgamma in combination with NSAIDS leads to the rapid and long-standing regress of pain syndrome in patients with lumbosacral radiculopathy.


Objectives Online testing for STIs might complement regular care provided by general practitioners or STI clinics. Two types of online testing can be distinguished, self-testing and self-sampling (sending sample to a laboratory for diagnosis). Online testing can occur without consultation with a healthcare professional, therefore information given by providers is essential for informed decision-making. We aimed to enumerate online test providers in the Netherlands focusing on chlamydia tests, to evaluate information using quality indicators and to gain insight on the proportion of online testing in the STI testing arena. Methods We performed a systematic internet search to identify online STI test providers. Twenty quality indicators were evaluated on their websites; indicator scores were weighted by level of importance (expert opinion). High scoring providers were recommended, on the condition that the sensitivity and specificity of the test were above 95% and providers included a follow-up procedure in case of a positive result. Finally, providers were contacted to inquire about the number of sold tests, positivity rates and demographic characteristics of testers. Results Five out of 12 identified self-sample test providers could be recommended, versus zero out of eight self-test providers. Self-sample test providers gave complete and correct information on more indicators (67%) compared with self-test providers (38%). In 2015, an estimated 30 000–40 000 self-sample tests were purchased, and 12 000–25 000 self-tests, which is roughly 10%–15% of the total number of STI tests. Conclusion This evaluation shows that some online self-sample test providers could be put forward as way of STI testing complementing regular testing options. None of the self-test providers were recommended. Regularly evaluating online test providers is advised to improve quality of the information on the websites. Finally, self-testing might not be suited for all populations as most information is provided in written format only.


BACKGROUND
Lactase enzyme supplements and probiotics with high beta-galactosidase activity may be valid treatment options for the lactose intolerance. Aim of this study was to assess whether supplementation with tilactase or Lactobacillus reuteri when compared to placebo affects hydrogen breath excretion and gastrointestinal symptoms in lactose intolerant patients during lactose breath test (H,-LBT).

METHODS
Sixty lactose intolerant patients participated in the study and were randomized to three 20 patients-treatment groups: tilactase group (tilactase 15 minutes before control H2-LBT); placebo group (placebo 15 minutes before control H2-LBT); Lactobacillus reuteri group (LR) (LR b.i.d. during 10 days before control H2-LBT). The outcomes were LBT normalization rate, and influences of treatments on both mean maximum hydrogen concentration and clinical score.

RESULTS
LBT normalization rate was significantly higher in tilactase and LR groups with respect to placebo. Tilactase was significantly more effective than LR in achieving LBT normalization (p <0.01). Both significant reduction of mean peak H2 excretion and improvement of the mean clinical score were observed in tilactase and LR groups after treatment with respect to placebo (p <0.0001). Tilactase was significantly more effective than LR in reducing both mean peak hydrogen excretion and mean clinical score.

CONCLUSIONS
In lactose intolerants, tilactase strongly improves both LBT results and gastrointestinal symptoms after lactose ingestion with respect to placebo. Lactobacillus reuteri also is effective but lesser than tilactase. This probiotic may represent an interesting treatment option for lactose intolerance since its use is simple and its effect may last in the time after stopping administration.


Faces represent complex, multidimensional, meaningful visual stimuli and developing a computa- tional model for face recognition is difficult (Turk and Pentland, 1991). We present a hybrid neural network solution which compares favorably with other methods. The system combines local image sam- pling, a self-organizing map neural network, and a convolutional neural network. The self-organizing map provides a quantization of the image samples into a topological space where inputs that are nearby in the original space are also nearby in the output space, thereby providing dimensionality reduction and invariance to minor changes in the image sample, and the convolutional neural network provides for partial invariance to translation, rotation, scale, and deformation. The convolutional network extracts successively larger features in a hierarchical set of layers. We present results using the Karhunen-Loe transform in place of the self-organizing map, and a multilayer perceptron in place of the convolu- tional network. The Karhunen-Lo` eve transform performs almost as well (5.3% error versus 3.8%). The multilayer perceptron performs very poorly (40% error versus 3.8%). The method is capable of rapid classification, requires only fast, approximate normalization and preprocessing, and consistently exhibits better classification performance than the eigenfaces approach (Turk and Pentland, 1991) on the database considered as the number of images per person in the training database is varied from 1 to 5. With 5 images per person the proposed method and eigenfaces result in 3.8% and 10.5% error respectively. The recognizer provides a measure of confidence in its output and classification error approaches zero when rejecting as few as 10% of the examples. We use a database of 400 images of 40 individuals which con- tains quite a high degree of variability in expression, pose, and facial details. We analyze computational complexity and discuss how new classes could be added to the trained recognizer.


Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) frequently present with distant metastases at the time of diagnosis and the liver is the most frequent site of spreading. The early identification of metastatic disease represents a major prognostic factor for GEP-NENs patients. Radical surgical resection, which is feasible for a minority of patients, is considered the only curative option, while the best management for patients with unresectable liver metastases is still being debated. In the last few years, a number of locoregional and systemic treatments has become available for GEP-NEN patients metastatic to the liver. However, to date only a few prospective studies have compared those therapies and the optimal management option is based on clinical judgement. Additionally, locoregional treatments appear feasible and safe for disease control for patients with limited liver involvement and effective in symptoms control for patients with diffuse liver metastases. Considering the lack of randomized controlled trials comparing the locoregional treatments of liver metastatic NEN patients, clinical judgment remains key to set the most appropriate therapeutic pathway. Prospective data may ultimately lead to more personalized and optimized treatments. The present review analyzes all the locoregional therapy modalities (i.e., surgery, ablative treatments and transarterial approach) and aims to provide clinicians with a useful algorithm to best treat GEP-NEN patients metastatic to the liver.


Ongoing global climate change presents serious challenges in conservation biology, forcing us to revisit previous tools and principles based on how species may respond to novel climatic conditions. There is currently a major gap between predictions of species vulnerability and management strategies, despite the fact that linking these areas is fundamental for future biodiversity conservation. Herein, we evaluate what drives vulnerability to climate change in three Iberian endemic water beetles, representing three independent colonizations of the same habitat, employing comparative thermal physiology, species distribution models and estimations of species dispersal capacity. We derive conservation strategies for each species based on their differential capacity to persist and/or potential to shift their ranges in response to global warming. We demonstrate that species may be affected by climatic warming in very different ways, despite having broadly similar ecological and biogeographical traits. The proposed framework provides an effective complement to traditional species vulnerability assessments, and could aid the development of more effective conservation strategies in the face of global warming.


This paper presents the results of the numerical simulation of the 1993 terrorist attack at the New York World Trade Center. Aim of this work is to compare the results of the simulation with the actual damage suffered by the structure, in order to discuss and explore the possibility of extending the use of such simulation tools (widely used for industrial products) also to the design and optimization of large structures.The work involves the state of art in numerical simulation (based on finite elements method) coupled with modeling the high strain-rate effect on mechanical behavior of materials.The results show a strong concordance with the historical data of the event. This leads tohypothesize future scenarios (even normative ones) in the field of large structures design and safety improvement against impulsive events.


BACKGROUND Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIP) aim to reduce violent-injury recidivism by providing intensive case management services to high-risk patients who were violently injured. Although HVIP have been found effective at reducing recidivism, few studies have sought to identity how long their effects last. Additionally, prior studies have been limited by the fact that HVIP typically rely on self-report or data within their own healthcare system to identify new injuries. Our aim was to quantify the long-term recidivism rate of participants in an HVIP program using more objective and comprehensive data from a regional health information exchange. METHODS The study included 328 patients enrolled in Prescription for Hope (RxH), an HVIP, between January 2009 and August 2016. We obtained RxH participants' emergency department (ED) encounter data from a regional health information exchange database from the date of hospital discharge to February 2017. Our primary outcome was violent-injury recidivism rate of the RxH program. We also examined reasons for ED visits that were unrelated to violent injury. RESULTS We calculated a 4.4% recidivism rate based on 8 years of statewide data, containing 1,575 unique encounters. More than 96% of participants were matched in the state database. Of the 15 patients who recidivated, only five were admitted for their injury. More than half of new violence-related injuries were treated outside of the HVIP-affiliated trauma center. The most common reasons for ED visits were pain (718 encounters), followed by suspected complications or needing additional postoperative care (181 encounters). Substance abuse, unintentional injuries, and suicidal ideation were also frequent reasons for ED visits. CONCLUSION The low, long-term recidivism rate for RxH indicates that HVIPs have enduring positive effects on the majority of participants. Our results suggest that HVIP may further benefit patients by partnering with organizations that work to prevent suicide, substance use disorders, and other unintentional injuries. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic study, level III.


Risk measurement of the software projects is presented based on analogies with financial risk measure models. Financial risk measure models assign a monetary value to a risk event to gauge the financial impact of the risk event on the financial investment. Estimated software cost is modeled as a financial investment and financial risk measure models are adopted to measure the monetary loss due to a risk event associated with the estimate cost of a software project. Further risk measure models are utilized for resource contingency planning needed to combat the worst case risk events.


This dissertation is concerned with the planning processes in transportation and infrastructure investments and the aim is to improve risk assessment, risk valuation and risk management. Many of the results presented in this thesis are also applicable to a wider range of questions.


Objective: In our part of the world poverty and illiteracy has adversely affected our core objective of pregnancy i.e. healthy mother and healthy child. Exploring the role of a routinely used drug in reducing the duration of labor could be a breakthrough. Present study was planned accordingly to evaluate the effect of phloroglucinol (PHL).
Materials and Methods: It was a Randomized controlled trial conducted at Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Combined Military Hospital, Bahawalpur from January 2019 to June 2019. This study included 60 cases of age 18 to 40 years, having singleton pregnancy and in active first stage of uncomplicated labor. Patients with history of multiple pregnancies, obstetrical and surgical complications and cardiorespiratory diseases were excluded. The cases were placed randomly into Group A & Group B and given intravenous PHL and a placebo respectively. After this, duration of the first stage of labor was recorded in minutes from when there was 3-4 cm cervical dilatation with regular uterine contractions to complete cervical dilation i.e. 10 cm and descent of the presenting fetal part.
Results: Mean duration of active first stage of labor in experimental group A (230.20 ± 52.96 minutes) was significantly higher than that of control group B (345.30 ± 50.57 minutes).
Conclusion: This study concluded that intravenous PHL has efficiently reduced the duration of active first stage of labor in these randomly selected nulliparous and multiparous women. PHL is a useful drug serving the purpose of a spasmolytic, analgesic and labor augmentation at the same time.


Below replacement fertility in many countries has lead to a renewed public interest in policies that may encourage young people to have more children. The Nordic countries are sometimes in focus in this respect, as their fertility rates remain relatively high in spite of very high female labour force participation. The key question is therefore whether there is a connection between generous public policies that facilitate childbearing and employment, and fertility. Using Norway as example and reviewing existing research evidence I conclude that generous family policies may be necessary, but not sufficient, to sustain fertility at a reasonable level. In particular, adverse macroeconomic conditions and rising unemployment have counteracting effects, as demonstrated by falling fertility rates in Sweden in the mid-1990s.


Demands for increased wireline data throughput necessitate multi-gigahertz clock sources of ever-greater fidelity. This article demonstrates a 14-GHz bang-bang digital phase-locked loop (BBPLL) with 143-fs rms jitter (integrated from 1 kHz to 100 MHz) to clock a 56-Gb/s PAM-4 transceiver. The low jitter is achieved with an <italic>LC</italic>-based digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) having a tuning range of 2 GHz, a frequency resolution of 1.2 MHz/LSB, and a low phase noise of −104 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset. All PLL digital functions are consolidated in a single, fully synthesized digital signal processing unit operating at 3.5 GHz or 10<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> the reference clock frequency. Limit cycles are minimized without the aid of a time-to-digital converter through substantial reduction of loop latency using a look-ahead digital loop filter. Various design techniques exploiting the advanced 7-nm FinFET technology are discussed, including noise reduction and tank <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${Q}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> enhancement. Closed-loop phase noise performance is accurately predicted using an industry-standard digital event-driven simulator with dramatically reduced computation effort compared to analog or mixed-mode simulators. Here, the accuracy and computational burden of calculating 1/<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${f}^{\alpha }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> noise is overcome by pre-calculating the DCO and reference phase noise profiles. The results obtained from these simulation techniques show very close agreement with experimental measurements. This 7-nm FinFET PLL occupies a competitive 0.06 mm2 and consumes 40 mW.


BACKGROUND Testicular maldescent affects 1 % of all 1 year old boys. The observation of familial undescended testis (UDT) was confined to the description of individual cases respectively particular families. The aim of our study was to evaluate the frequency of a positive family history and the frequency of associated urological anomalies in family members and to calculate the risk for new born male individuals to have UDT if a family member is affected. PATIENTS AND METHODS 74 patients who underwent surgery because of UDT and 374 matched controls without UDT (control group) were interviewed by means of a special questionnaire. We asked for a family history of UDT, as well as for other urogenital anomalies respectively organ alterations (varicocele, hydrocele, hypospadia, testicular cancer, renal anomalies) and reviewed the medical records. For statistical analysis the odds ratio were calculated. RESULTS 85/374 (22.73 %) of the analysed patients had family members with UDT versus 28/374 (7.5 %) of the control group. Brothers were involved in 37.3 %, fathers in 35.2 %, uncles in 23.5 %, cousins in 16.5 %, great-cousins in 8.2 % and grandfathers in 7.1 %. The familial cluster (risk for UDT in new born male) is 3.6-fold over all (2.306; 5.727), 6.9-fold if a brother and 4.6-fold if the father is affected. The rate of family members with UDT and/or other urogenital anomalies in the patients group was nearly 2-fold higher as in the control group (14 % versus 7.8 %). CONCLUSIONS In our series the presence of UDT is much more frequently present than described in the literature so far. Due to the high familial cluster and the higher percentage of a positive family history for UDT and/or other urogenital anomalies in patients with UDT, a genetic predisposition is probable. Male descendants show a 3.6-fold increased risk in relation to the normal population, if a family member is already affected.


OBJECTIVES
Although research on health limitations has investigated gender differences in health and mortality, gender differentials in individual-level trajectories have been studied less frequently. Moreover, there are no studies on the relationship between course types and subsequent mortality. We investigate course types, explore confounding by socioeconomic and demographic correlates, and pose the question of whether the gender gap in morbidity results from differences in the onset of, and/or survival with, health limitations.

METHODS
Using the German Socioeconomic Panel, we identify individual trajectories of health limitations and use multinomial logistic regressions to explore confounding and the relationship with mortality.

RESULTS
The frequency of stable trajectories without limitations is lower among women because they tend to experience courses that involve extended periods of limitations and deteriorating health. Women also experience more frequently improvement after deterioration. The female mortality advantage is particularly large after health deterioration.

DISCUSSION
Health limitations do not make men and women more equal in the face of death. Our results are consistent with earlier studies showing that mortality selection and differences in chronic conditions may explain the gender gap in health and mortality. We extend previous research showing that the female health disadvantage is largely the result of their mortality advantage.


Bulk rheological properties of viscoelastic fluids have been extensively studied in macroscopic shearing geometries. However, little is known when an active microscopic probe is used to locally perturb them far from the linear-response regime. Using a colloidal particle dragged periodically by scanning optical tweezers through a viscoelastic fluid, we investigate both, its linear and nonlinear microrheological response. With increasing particle velocity, we observe a transition from constant viscosity to a thinning regime, where the drag force on the probe becomes a nonlinear function of the particle velocity. We demonstrate that this transition is only determined by the ratio of the fluid's equilibrium relaxation time and the period of the driving.


Melanins represent an important class of natural pigments present in plants and animals that are currently considered to be promising materials for applications in optic and electronic devices. Despite their interesting properties, some of the basic features of melanins are not satisfactorily understood, including the origin of their intrinsic paramagnetism. A number of experiments have been performed to investigate the electron spin resonance (ESR) response of melanin derivatives, but until now, there has been no consensus regarding the real structure of the paramagnetic centers involved. In this work, we have employed electronic structure calculations to evaluate the ESR parameters of distinct melanin monomers and dimers in order to identify the possible structures associated with unpaired spins in this biopolymer. The g-factors and hyperfine constants of the cationic, anionic and radicalar structures were investigated. The results confirm the existence of at least two distinct paramagnetic centers in melanin structure, identifying the chemical species associated with them and their roles in electrical conductivity.


ABSTRACT: This study focuses on student and faculty perceptions about inclusive instructional practices in teacher training degree programs in three different universities (two in Spain and one in the USA). We synthetize this framework into four dimensions: (a) identifying students' needs and strengths, (b) accessibility to physical spaces and materials, (c) methodologies and strategies to engage students, and (d) valuing diversity as a resource. A mixed methodology (questionnaire and interviews) was used to collect the information. Six hundred fifty-three university students and 35 faculty from the different education colleges participated in this study. Findings reveal the perceptions of students and faculty regarding both effective practices for diverse inclusive university classrooms as well as barriers to inclusion that affect learning in the participating institutions. Results reflect serious discrepancies between students and faculty members.


Background: One of the sustainable development goals is reducing the global maternal mortality burden with maternal mortality ratio (MMR) being one of the indicators to track the progress. Unfortunately, there is paucity of MMR data, especially at subnational levels. Standard household survey methods used in maternal mortality estimation are very resource intensive. The indirect sisterhood method offers a cheaper alternative. Although the results may be retrospective and not very useful in tracking progress, it provides useful information for advocacy. Objective: This article determines the proportion of deaths that was due to maternal causes, lifetime risk of maternal death, and MMR in two rural communities in northwestern Nigeria. Methodology: The indirect sisterhood method for estimation of maternal mortality was used to collect information from a sample of 1905 women within the reproductive age group in two rural communities, in Kaduna state, northwestern Nigeria. Results: There were a total of 416 deaths among ever married sisters of the respondents, of which 50% were due to maternal causes. The lifetime risk of maternal death is one in 11, whereas the MMR was 1400 per 100,000 live births. Conclusion: The maternal mortality indicators in these two communities are higher than the national rates and this underscores the need for the generation of subnational data and the scaling up of maternal mortality indicators. It also underpins the need to focus on social determinants like maternal education and early marriage in the course of reducing maternal mortality.


This essay reconsiders the politics of African American literature after the Civil War by focusing on revenge as a response to the wrong of slavery. Though forgiveness dominates literary and historical scholarship, I assemble an archive of real and imagined instances of vengeance in black-authored texts from the period following formal emancipation to the dawn of the twentieth century: the petitions of the freedmen of Edisto Island, South Carolina; the minutes of the 1865 Virginia State Convention of Colored People; the narrative of the ex-slave Samuel Hall; and the Colored American Magazine's coverage of the lynching of Louis Wright. Reading these works alongside Pauline E. Hopkins's Winona (1902), I show how her novel develops a philosophy of righteous revenge that reclaims the true meaning of justice in a democracy. Ultimately, this archive can help us not only to examine anew a neglected literary period but also to reimagine racial justice, then and now.


Game theory is central to understanding human behavior and relevant to all of the behavioral sciences—from biology and economics, to anthropology and political science. However, as The Bounds of Reason demonstrates, game theory alone cannot fully explain human behavior and should instead complement other key concepts championed by the behavioral disciplines. Herbert Gintis shows that just as game theory without broader social theory is merely technical bravado, so social theory without game theory is a handicapped enterprise. This edition has been thoroughly revised and updated. Reinvigorating game theory, The Bounds of Reason offers innovative thinking for the behavioral sciences.


This paper examines household income inequality in the South African October Household Survey datasets between 1995 and 1999, the Labour Force Survey 2000, and the Income and Expenditure Surveys 1995 and 2000. The paper reflects both on changing patterns of income inequality in South Africa, and on the quality and comparability of the data employed. We employ several measures of income inequality, employing nominal income and expenditure data from South Africa over the 1995-2000 period. Results prove sensitive to the choice of welfare measure. Furthermore, results from income data and expenditure data provide contrasting results. On self-reported income data, our findings are that inequality measures increased over the 1995 - 2000 time period. While we do not attach much credence to the evidence for reasons attaching to data quality, there is nevertheless evidence suggesting that the general increase in inequality for the African race group also hides a decrease in inequality for the bottom 1/3 of the income distribution, and (more unambiguously) a widening of inequality for the middle 1/3 of the income distribution for Africans. There is also some evidence of a narrowing inequality amongst rich households for the population as a whole. This suggests that there is at least some evidence consistent with a successful redistribution of income from richest to poorest households, though this has not yet reversed the high aggregate level of inequality in South Africa. Evidence from inequality measures based on expenditure data reverse the findings based on self-reported income. Where there is evidence of an increase in inequality, in most instances this proves to be statistically insignificant. On some measures African as well as total population inequality has declined significantly, and for a number of racial groups inequality has remained unchanged. The central conclusion of the paper is therefore that there is much contradictory evidence that emerges from household level data on income inequality - suggesting that the choice of data set is non-trivial in drawing inference on income inequality in South Africa


The Indo-Pacific lionfish, Pterois volitans, has invaded most of the Tropical Western Atlantic in the last few years. The degree to which populations of this invasive species can be controlled by native predatory fish (mostly grouper), is controversial with conflicting reports. Here, we review the evidence of two recent papers and point out some of the difficulties in inferring predator-limitation purely from observational data. A negative relationship has been found between large-bodied grouper and lionfish during early colonisation though the degree to which this is caused by direct predation versus behavioural mechanisms is unclear. Evidence to the contrary from a recent study suffers confounding effects of habitat quality, fishing, and dispersal and therefore remains equivocal.


Objective: MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) has been shown to play an important role in cancer prognosis. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic effect of miR-21 from tissues and serum on survival of the patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Relevant studies were identified by searching PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of total and subgroup analyses, for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), were calculated to investigate the association between miR-21 expression and CRC prognosis. Results: Our analysis included eleven studies (3,669 subjects). In addition, four studies explored the association between miR-21 and DFS, and ten studies focused on the prognostic value of miR-21 for OS. Our results indicated that increased miR-21 expression of tissues predicted both poor DFS and OS in patients with CRC (DFS: HR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.20–2.10; OS: HR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.23–1.90). Consistent results were observed among colon cancer and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction subgroups. Conclusion: Meta-analysis indicated that miR-21 predicted recurrence and poor survival in patients with CRC. miR-21 may be more suitable to predict cancer prognosis in colon cancer patients.


Many state-of-the-art segmentation algorithms rely on Markov or Conditional Random Field models designed to enforce spatial and global consistency constraints. This is often accomplished by introducing additional latent variables to the model, which can greatly increase its complexity. As a result, estimating the model parameters or computing the best maximum a posteriori (MAP) assignment becomes a computationally expensive task. In a series of experiments on the PASCAL and the MSRC datasets, we were unable to find evidence of a significant performance increase attributed to the introduction of such constraints. On the contrary, we found that similar levels of performance can be achieved using a much simpler design that essentially ignores these constraints. This more simple approach makes use of the same local and global features to leverage evidence from the image, but instead directly biases the preferences of individual pixels. While our investigation does not prove that spatial and consistency constraints are not useful in principle, it points to the conclusion that they should be validated in a larger context.


If we look in the past at the evolution of society and education, we can resume that for generation the access to education was available just for some classes of the society and that there were relevant differences between poor and rich countries. Those times had changed, society has evaluated and the development of the new technologies had provided the path to a new revolution. Today we are facing a new challenge: the globalization of education.
Teachers, students and administrative staff from all educational institutes must respond with solutions to all new situations because, when we are facing a new innovation a day, there is no discoverable precedent we can follow. So, maybe, the solution is to be creative and open mind.
As a response to the globalization it is essential to build social connections between learners.
This paper is aiming to analyze the social media phenomenon and its role in the educational process. The goal is to analyze the utility of social network in the educational process.
In the case study we are going to present we had set up a private class community on a social media platform, a community that it is use to share ideas, opinions, to learn about thing you didn't know you don't know. Social networks, through their options, are developing a great path for students to find out their voice and to engage with the community. They provide great opportunities for teaching, learning and sharing. Even more, one of the basic element of social networking is the user profile - which gather information about age, gender, areas of interest, lifestyle, etc - can provide information for the teacher with which he can guide the students in forming an identity in the online environment. Also, through students post it can be developed a small network of strong links related to the course theme.
Social network are promoters of self-expression, communication and collaboration, self-assertion and personality. All these aspect and more will be presented in the paper, but we must mention that we are still learning how to best use it to enhance the learning experience with students and how to adapt it to best learning outcomes.


Abstract Objectives: Youth and young adults with pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) are vulnerable to executive dysfunction; however, some patients do not demonstrate functional deficits despite showing abnormalities on structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cognitively intact adults with MS have shown enhanced activation patterns relative to healthy controls on working memory tasks. We aim to evaluate whether cognitively preserved pediatric-onset MS patients engage compensatory recruitment strategies to facilitate age-normative performance on a task of working memory. Methods: Twenty cognitively preserved patients (mean age=18.7±2.7 years; 15 female) and 20 age- and sex-matched controls (mean age=18.5±2.9 years; 15 female) underwent neuropsychological testing and 3.0 Tesla MRI, including structural and functional acquisitions. Patterns of activation during the Alphaspan task, a working memory paradigm with two levels of executive control demand, were examined via whole-brain and region of interest (ROI) analyses. Results: Across all participants, lower accuracy and greater activation of regions implicated in working memory were observed during the high demand condition. MS patients demonstrated 0.21 s longer response time than controls. ROI analyses revealed enhanced activation for pediatric-onset MS patients relative to controls in the right middle frontal, left paracingulate, right supramarginal, and left superior parietal gyri during the low executive demand condition, over and above differences in response time. MS patients also demonstrated heightened activation in the right supramarginal gyrus in the high executive demand condition. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that pediatric-onset MS patients may engage compensatory recruitment strategies during working memory processing. (JINS, 2019, 25, 432–442)


Genetic Algorithm (GA) is a stochastic adaptive algorithm whose search method is based on simulation of natural genetic inheritance and Darwinian striving for survival. The GA has been adapted to study the problem of designing a stable sliding mode which yields robust performance in variable structure control systems. For various cases, we show that GA is viable and has great potential in the design of sliding mode control systems. Assigning eigenvalues in a specified range yields better results than assignment at exact locations.


A new bioartificial pancreas, in which rat islets within a Millipore chamber are perifused with blood ultrafiltrate (polyacrylonitrile membrane), has been developed and its function evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Use of ultrafiltration (instead of diffusion) permitted rapid transmission of changes in blood glucose to the islet compartment (less than 10 min). To determine whether ultrafiltrate of Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer (KRBB) and blood could support normal islet Bcell function, insulin secretion of freshly isolated islets in response to a 20-mM glucose challenge was examined during perifusion with KRBB and then with ultrafiltrate produced either from KRBB itself or from blood of normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. In the latter case, perifusate was reinfused to the animals, whose plasma glucose and insulin were then measured. Insulin responses to glucose were virtually identical when the same islets were perifused with KRBB and then with ultrafiltrate of KRBB (47 ± 12 versus 41 ± 9 ng/100 islets/24 min), or when islets were perifused with KRBB and then with ultrafiltrate produced from blood of normal rats (69 ± 6 versus 73 ± 11 ng/100 islets/24 min). When five diabetic rats were connected to the device containing 600 islets, their plasma glucose decreased from 19.8 ± 1.2 to 6.1 ± 0.5 mM (P < 0.001) within 120 min without overshoot hypoglycemia, and remained normal for up to 6 h. Plasma insulin increased from 2.0 ± 0.1 to 11.4 ± 1.4 ng/ml (P < 0.02) at 30 min and then decreased to 2.9 ± 0.6 ng/ml. After intravenous glucose administration (0.5 g/kg, N = 4), plasma insulin increased twofold within 15 min, and glucose disappearance rates were identical to those obtained in four normal rats (K = 2.13 ± 0.18 versus 2.23 ± 0.09, NS). These results indicate that ultrafiltrate of KRBB and blood can acutely support normal islet B-cell function, and that ultrafiltration can provide satisfactory glucose-insulin kinetics for an implantable closed-loop insulin delivery system, in which nonsyngeneic islets may be protected against immune rejection.


A report is given on Canadian hospital library standards as recently developed and incorporated in a new Guide to Hospital Accreditation, 1977. The new Canadian standards are compared with MLA recommendations to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. Their development is sketched and the contribution from Quebec of a model of hospital classification is examined. This model provides differential minimal library standards based on the function of the hospital rather than on its size alone. Use of these minimal standards as a practical means of developing hospital libraries is discussed and their implications for accreditation visits are underlined.


The emotions impact every single process in an individual's life. An analysis of the scientific works selected by a Google search based on the terms 'emotions, Vygostky, Leontiev' shows that the complexity of the topic is multiplied by the complexity, mixture and fragmentary nature of the approaches applied to the investigation of the emotions. The aim of this work is to revisit the works of Vygotsky and Leontiev relating to the emotions underpinning the identification of notions, features and functions of the emotions. A novel research methodology, the development of the system of external and internal perspectives, was implemented. The investigation into the emotions was based on the theories of Vygotsky and Leontiev: activity theory, law of development, psychological system, word meaning, concept formation, and the unity of language. The theoretical analysis resulted in the definition of notions, features and functions of the emotions. The limitations of the research were identified. Further research directions are proposed.


ARSTRACT
 The invasive Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) has been evident in the North Carolina Piedmont, United States for 90 yr but has failed to spread further north. We investigated the mechanisms preventing this expansion. The Argentine ant ceases foraging at temperatures below 5°C and we hypothesized that winter soil temperatures at higher latitudes restricted foraging long enough to cause colony starvation. We tested if the Argentine ant could successfully feed at temperatures below 5°C and found that colonies would starve. We subjected Argentine ant nests to a range of sub- and above-freezing temperatures and measured worker mortality at various time intervals. We found that Argentine ant colonies will collapse after 8.5 d at 5°C Argentine ants can escape ambient cold temperatures by moving nests into the soil column. We tested how deeply into the soil Argentine ant queens and workers need to move to survive winter in North Carolina. Soil temperatures in the North Carolina Piedmont do not fall below 5°C for longer than nine consecutive days; therefore, Argentine ant colonies need only to retreat a few centimeters into the soil column to escape unsuitable temperatures. Winter soil temperature data from four climate stations situated from latitudes 35°, the current Eastern United States latitudinal limit for Argentine ant population expansion, to 39° were searched for periods where soil temperatures would have led to colony extirpation. North of their current distributions, extended periods of soil temperatures below 5°C regularly occur, preventing Argentine ant colonies from persisting.


The pig provides many examples of how principles of behavioural ecology and sociobiology can lead to insights into farm animal behaviour. According to parent-offspring conflict theory, parents should tend to give a level of parental investment somewhat below that solicited by the young. When closely confined during lactation, sows can do little to limit the amount of contact with the piglets, and the young stimulate a prolonged, high level of lactation. Certain alternative housing systems allow the sow to limit the stimulation she receives, and the resulting reduction in lactation can actually be advantageous to both parties. Communal care of offspring has both advantages and disadvantages in various species; these may help to explain why communal care occurs to a limited extent in pigs, and why sows isolate their litters in early lactation. Neonatal competition and mortality among newborn piglets have strong parallels in the "facultative siblicide" which adjusts brood size in numerous species of birds. These species typically produce slightly more young than are normally raised, and the number of siblings that survive is determined by the ability of the smaller young to withstand intense competition. The hypothesis that pigs have evolved a similar system of brood reduction may explain why piglet mortality is such an enduring problem and requires solutions different from those that work for other domestic species. Resource defence theory provides a functional framework for studies of aggressive behaviour. Factors determining the defensibility of a resource include its degree of clumping in time and space, and these suggest ways to reduce competition for food and other resources. However, aggression involved in establishing social dominance is more likely to be influenced by manipulating traits of the competing animals (competitive ability, familiarity) rather than the defensibility of resources. We conclude that principles of behavioural ecology and sociobiology provide a useful functional and evolutionary perspective to complement other approaches to the study of farm animal behaviour.


Glucosidase I initiates the processing of the oligosaccharide, Glc3Man9GlcNAc2, in newly assembled glycoproteins by excising the distal alpha 1,2-linked glucosyl residue in the oligosaccharide. Earlier, the enzyme purified from the ER of rat and bovine mammary gland has been found to have M(r) of 85 kDa, as examined by SDS-PAGE along with a domain structure in which a 39 kDa lumenally-oriented region is anchored to the ER through a transmembrane segment and a short cytoplasmic tail. These studies were further extended to include the enzyme from several different tissues of the rat, mouse, guinea pig and bovine mammary glands, sheep liver and pig kidney. Using anti-rat glucosidase I antibody as a probe and several biochemical parameters such as SDS-PAGE analysis, trypsin-catalyzed digestion, ConA-binding, endo H susceptibility and peptide mapping analysis by cleavage of the tryptophanyl peptide linkages within the enzyme, it was found that glucosidase I in all of the tissue sources examined has an M(r) of 85 kDa and is cross-reactive to anti-rat glucosidase antibody. The enzyme is a high mannose glycoprotein, and has domain features in its structure; the enzyme from mouse, rat, guinea pig and bovine mammary glands and sheep liver is sequentially cleaved by trypsin to generate fragments of 69, 55 and 39 kDa. The rate of release of the different fragments differs for different sources, indicating some evolutionary changes in its primary structure. The trypsin-released fragments from pig kidney enzyme are 69, 45 and 29 kDa in size, identical to the same observed earlier for pig liver.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Orchestrating relations between its American security ally and increasingly crucial Chinese trading partner constitutes perhaps the major foreign policy challenge now confronting Australia. The Howard government insists that it can pursue such diplomacy without having to choose between the US and China in the event of a future great power regional confrontation. Both Washington and Beijing, however, appear intent on pulling Australia into their own orbits of influence. This article contends that neither of them will be content to allow Australia to apply a 'discriminate engagement' policy toward their own regional interests if Sino–American strategic competition intensifies over Taiwan or throughout the Asia–Pacific region. It reviews Chinese and American strategic expectations regarding Australia and their response to that country's relations with the other, and outlines growing policy imperatives that Australia must confront in order to overcome current anomalies in its 'dual strategy' directed toward China and the United States.


Band structures near yrast lines of the Z = N doubly magic nucleus 56Ni are investigated with the configuration-dependent cranked Nilsson–Strutinsky approach. The observed deformed bands are confirmed as highly deformed and their properties are explained theoretically. The calculated transition quadrupole moments Qt, ~1.7 eb at low spin as well as the kinematic and dynamic moments of inertia J(1) and J(2) for configurations of interest are found to be generally in good agreement with the observed results. Two terminating states at 20+ and 29− for the two observed bands and other terminations in 56Ni are also predicted. It is found that the configuration-dependent cranked Nilsson–Strutinsky approach is better in the description of nuclear properties and band structures at high spin than other models.


Fluorescent self assembled monolayers (SAMs) on glass were previously developed in our group as new sensing materials for metal ions. These fluorescent SAMs are comprised by fluorophores and small molecules sequentially deposited on a monolayer on glass. The preorganization provided by the surface avoids the need for complex receptor design, allowing for a combinatorial approach to sensing systems based on small molecules. Now we show the fabrication of an effective microarray for the screening of metal ions and the properties of the sensing SAMs. A collection of fluorescent sensing SAMs was generated by combinatorial methods and immobilized on the glass surfaces of a custom-made 140 well microtiter-plate. The resulting libraries are easily measured and show varied responses to a series cations such as Cu2+, Co2+, Pb2+, Ca2+ and Zn2+. These surfaces are not designed to complex selectively a unique analyte but rather they are intended to produce fingerprint type responses to a range of analytes by less specific interactions. The unselective responses of the library to the presence of different cations generate a characteristic pattern for each analyte, a "finger print" response.


This technical report describes the outcomes of a pilot study for the identification of drivers of emerging risks and their interactions in the domain of biological risks to animal, plant and public health. Steps were taken towards a structured approach for identification of drivers of emerging biological risks and their interactions. The pilot study was based on three steps. Step 1 involved a consultation of the Animal health and welfare (AHAW) and Biological hazards (BIOHAZ) Panels through an adapted Delphi approach with the overall objective of identifying drivers and emerging issues. Step 2 involved a workshop using General Morphological Analysis (GMA) to structure the complex domain of drivers of emerging risk and their interaction. Step 3 involved discussion of the results of step 1 and 2 with the EFSA AHAW, BIOHAZ and Plant health (PLH) Panels and the EFSA Scientific Committee by discussion of the outcomes in their plenary meetings and by written consultation. The outcomes of this pilot study provide conclusions on the applicability of the approach proposed as a tool to achieve a proactive assessment of emerging risks in the domain of biological risks to animal, plant and public health. The technical report also provides recommendations on steps to be taken to further develop the approach outlined in this report and to continue to explore further tools to identify emerging biological risk. © European Food Safety Authority, 2014


Introduction Blood cholesterol is likely a risk factor for prostate cancer prognosis and use of statins is associated with lowered risk of prostate cancer recurrence and progression. Furthermore, use of statins has been associated with prolonged time before development of castration resistance (CR) during androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer. However, the efficacy of statins on delaying castration-resistance has not been tested in a randomised placebo-controlled setting. This study aims to test statins' efficacy compared to placebo in delaying development of CR during ADT treatment for primary metastatic or recurrent prostate cancer. Secondary aim is to explore effect of statin intervention on prostate cancer mortality and lipid metabolism during ADT. Methods and analysis In this randomised placebo-controlled trial, a total of 400 men with de novo metastatic prostate cancer or recurrent disease after primary treatment and starting ADT will be recruited and randomised 1:1 to use daily 80 mg of atorvastatin or placebo. All researchers, study nurses and patients will be blinded throughout the trial. Patients are followed until disease recurrence or death. Primary outcome is time to formation of CR after initiation of ADT. Serum lipid levels (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and trigyserides) are analysed to test whether changes in serum cholesterol parameters during ADT predict length of treatment response. Furthermore, the trial will compare quality of life, cardiovascular morbidity, changes in blood glucose and circulating cell-free DNA, and urine lipidome during trial. Ethics and dissemination This study is approved by the Regional ethics committees of the Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Science centre, Tampere, Finland (R18065M) and Tarto University Hospital, Tarto, Estonia (319/T-6). All participants read and sign informed consent form before study entry. After publication of results for the primary endpoints, anonymised summary metadata and statistical code will be made openly available. The data will not include any information that could make it possible to identify a given participant. Trial registration number Clinicaltrial.gov: NCT04026230, Eudra-CT: 2016-004774-17, protocol code: ESTO2, protocol date 10 September 2020 and version 6.


The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other nation. Mass Incarceration Nation offers a novel, in-the-trenches perspective to explain the factors – historical, political, and institutional – that led to the current system of mass imprisonment. The book examines the causes and impacts of mass incarceration on both the political and criminal justice systems. With accessible language and straightforward statistical analysis, former prosecutor turned law professor Jeffrey Bellin provides a formula for reform to return to the low incarceration rates that characterized the United States prior to the 1970s.


Sporisorium reilianum is a phytopathogenic fungus that produces the maize head smut. Hydrolytic enzymes such as xylanases have not been studied in this basidiomycete, although these enzymes are widely used within the industry. In this study, the characterization of a xylanase produced by S. reilianum grown in submerged and solid-state fermentation using different culture media was performed. Submerged fermentation with a medium containing birch xylan and yeast extract showed the highest xylanase activity (12.6 U/mL). The enzyme, purified through ion exchange chromatography, had a molecular weight of 42 kDa, as determined by SDS-PAGE, and a Km and Vmax of 1.72 mg/mL and 2.48 μmol/mL/min, respectively. The optimal values of pH and temperature were 5.0 and 70 °C, respectively. The enzyme showed activity over a broad range of temperatures and pHs. Zn2+, Fe3+, and Mn2+ ions increased xylanase activity. Sequence protein analysis showed 100% similarity with the theoretical protein encoded by the sr14403 gene of S. reilianum, encoding a putative endo-Beta-1,4-xylanase. This is the first report on the production and purification of a xylanase from this fungus, which has interesting biochemical characteristics for application in biotechnological processes.


EU standards and rules concerning energy efficiency in the building sector are pushing to achieve ever-higher performances. This also represents a strong driver for innovative construction techniques, inducing manufacturers to invest professional and financial resources in the development of building components that can meet the highest quality and performance standards. During the last decades, many components have been developed to improve the energy efficiency of the building envelope. This paper summarizes three research activities entrusted by private companies to the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna from 2009 to 2012, aiming at increasing the energy performances of building components and systems. Several themes had to be addressed: two different dry construction systems and a range of installation configurations for airtightness for high quality windows. Although focused on different and specific issues, some criteria common criteria were applied on all three researches: it allowed to outline an approach suitable to be applied in further contexts.


Equations of guiding-center motion without the coordinate singularity at the magnetic axis have been derived from the guiding-center Lagrangian. The poloidal magnetic flux is suggested to be included as one of the nonsingular coordinates for the computation of the guiding-center orbit. The numerical results based on different nonsingular coordinates are verified using the GCM code which is based on canonical variables. A comparison of numerical performance among these nonsingular coordinates and canonical coordinates has been carried out by checking the conservation of energy and toroidal canonical momentum. It is found that by using the poloidal magnetic flux in the nonsingular coordinate system, the numerical performance of nonsingular coordinates can be greatly improved and is comparable to that of canonical variables in long-time simulations.