We introduce VisIT-Bench (Visual InsTruction Benchmark), a benchmark for evaluation of instruction-following vision-language models for real-world use. Our starting point is curating 70 'instruction families' that we envision instruction tuned vision-language models should be able to address. Extending beyond evaluations like VQAv2 and COCO, tasks range from basic recognition to game playing and creative generation. Following curation, our dataset comprises 592 test queries, each with a human-authored instruction-conditioned caption. These descriptions surface instruction-specific factors, e.g., for an instruction asking about the accessibility of a storefront for wheelchair users, the instruction-conditioned caption describes ramps/potential obstacles. These descriptions enable 1) collecting human-verified reference outputs for each instance; and 2) automatic evaluation of candidate multimodal generations using a text-only LLM, aligning with human judgment. We quantify quality gaps between models and references using both human and automatic evaluations; e.g., the top-performing instruction-following model wins against the GPT-4 reference in just 27% of the comparison. VisIT-Bench is dynamic to participate, practitioners simply submit their model's response on the project website; Data, code and leaderboard is available at visit-bench.github.io.


The EEG, as recorded from electrodes in deep structures of the brain in cases of intractable seizures, has been surveyed to assess its predictive value in the partial epilepsies. In addition to scalp EEGs and depth EEGs in control situations, ictal recordings of tape-recorded seizures and the interictal enhancement of EEG signs by benzodiazepines have been analyzed. All results have been quantified by computer analysis. The predictive value of the EEGs has been assessed in 2 ways: (1) by comparison with the pathology found after surgery and (2) by the long-term clinical status of the patient postoperatively. Twelve cases with lesions found in limbic structures and 6 with cortical involvement are reported. In the latter cases secondary firing of the hippocampus, with its low threshold for seizures, frequently followed, though more rapidly than could be timed by visual inspection alone. Bilateral signs both in scalp EEGs and in depth were a common finding in the cases with limbic lesions. In those patients with marked clinical improvement, follow-up computerized studies of pre- and post-operative scalp EEGs revealed normalization in both hemispheres, leading to the proposal that a focus of defective tissue may impair neuronal function in widely distant regions of the brain.


Abstract Macro-X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is a newly commercially available research tool very useful in the examination of artwork. Its novelty lies in its ability to create maps of the distribution of chemical elements on scales of a few milimetres. In this contribution, its use together with optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the inspection of an illuminated manuscript is reported for the first time. The former technique is used both for mapping the elemental distribution over large parts of the folios – including illuminated initials – and for quantitative analysis of the composition of the smalt pigment, as well as of changes in the composition of iron–gall ink at different pages. The latter, by providing cross-sectional images of painted details, helps in interpreting the XRF results. All of the results shown relate to the examination of a late sixteenth-century-illuminated parchment manuscript (a gradual) originating from the Convent of the Benedictine Sisters in Lviv in the Ukraine.


Generic text embeddings are successfully used in a variety of tasks. However, they are often learnt by capturing the co-occurrence structure from pure text corpora, resulting in limitations of their ability to generalize. In this paper, we explore models that incorporate visual information into the text representation. Based on comprehensive ablation studies, we propose a conceptually simple, yet well performing architecture. It outperforms previous multimodal approaches on a set of well established benchmarks. We also improve the state-of-the-art results for image-related text datasets, using orders of magnitude less data.


Sucralfate is an agent commonly used in the therapy of gastrointestinal ulcers. It binds itself to proteins in the ulcer crater. A selective labeling with pure 99mTc-pertechnetate is possible. For an unequivocal ulcer localization or exclusion, images have to be taken in the upright and supine positions. Encouragement of gastric emptying is useful. Images should be taken at least twice, the last one 4 h after ingestion. The method might be used when endoscopy is difficult, incomplete or contraindicated, and for follow-up during therapy. We recommend it also in the search for the cause of intermittent bleeding.


Background: Three dimensional (3D) echocardiography utilizing two dimensional (2D) matrix array transducer allows true real time acquisition of 3D volume data and permits its subsequent comprehensive analysis in several modes including multi-planar (MP) viewing in infinitely variable planes. Objective: To investigate the feasibility of conducting fetal cardiac evaluation using MP analysis employing a 2D matrix array ultrasound system. Method: The study population consisted of 54 singleton fetuses between 19 to 23 weeks of pregnancy referred for fetal cardiac assessment. A second generation 2D matrix array ultrasound system was used (Sonos7500 Philips, Andover, MA). Following the standard 2D echocardiographic examination, real time 3D echocardiography was performed using a 4 MHz, X4 transducer. Full volume 3D data-stream of the fetal heart was acquired using a simulated heart rate gating and stored for subsequent analysis which was performed offline using proprietary software (QLab version 4, Philips). Procedures for systematic offline image analysis of the previously recorded 3D data stream in multiple variable planes were developed to enable optimal viewing of the fetal cardiac anatomy. Results: Offline MP analysis of full volume 3D data stream allowed dynamic imaging of the fetal cardiac anatomy in all cases. Comprehensive assessment of the ventricular and atrial chambers, outflow tracts and their cross over relationship, and ventricular and atrial septa could be performed in 94.4% (51/54) of cases. As in 2D echocardiography, spine anterior fetal position and extreme maternal habitus contributed to suboptimal imaging in 3 cases. Conclusions: Multiplanar dynamic image analysis with 2D matrix array may significantly simplify prenatal assessment of fetal cardiac anatomy in the human fetus.


In the research field of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), a highly stretchable sensor fiber that can easily be integrated into a sensor glove or finger cot has been required for detecting human hand motions. In this study, we propose a fiber-type highly stretchable strain sensor by slitting an elastic polyurethane (PU) film coated with a conductive polymer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS). A 100-μm-thick PU film coated with 100-nm-thick PEDOT:PSS was slit by a laser cutter with a spot diameter of 125 μm. The width of the sensor fiber was only 214 μm, which is equivalent to a conventional thin 205-μm-diameter fishing line. To investigate the strain sensitivity of the PEDOT:PSS-coated fiber sensor at high stretching (>30%), we evaluated the gauge factor as a function of the concentration of ethylene glycol (EG) in PEDOT:PSS solution. The PEDOT:PSS strain sensor fiber with an EG concentration of 0.75% under 37.5% tensile stretching exhibited the highest gauge factor of 0.16. Finally, the sensors were integrated with thin woven fibers using a flat weave method, and the bending movement of a human finger was detected. The manufacturing method proposed in this study is expected to contribute to the realization of a stretchable strain sensor by the use of a wearable polymer die coating and a slitting apparatus.


This paper presents a link model which captures the queue dynamics when congestion windows of TCP sources change. By considering both the self-clocking and the link integrator effects, the model is a generalization of existing models and is shown to be more accurate by both open loop and closed loop packet level simulations. It reduces to the known static link model when flows' round trip delays are similar, and approximates the standard integrator link model when the heterogeneity of round trip delays is significant. We then apply this model to the stability analysis of FAST TCP. It is shown that FAST TCP flows over a single link are always linearly stable regardless of delay distribution. This result resolves the notable discrepancy between empirical observations and previous theoretical predictions. The analysis highlights the critical role of self-clocking in TCP stability and the scalability of FAST TCP with respect to delay. The proof technique is new and less conservative than the existing ones.


This experimental study assessed the effectiveness of fundraising messages. Based on recent findings regarding the effects of message framing and evidence, effective fundraising messages should combine abstract, statistical information with a negative message frame and anecdotal evidence with a positive message frame. In addition, building on research into social dilemmas, it was hypothesized that information about charity goal attainment (e.g., the contributions of others) should increase donation intentions. The hypotheses were tested in a 2 (goal attainment: yes/no)×2 (framing: positive/negative)×2 (evidence: statistical/anecdotal) factorial design. Abstract information was more effective when combined with a negatively framed message, whereas anecdotal information was more effective when combined with a positive frame. In addition, donation intentions were higher for messages that addressed charity goal attainment issues.


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Antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial misuse are of global concern but affect more the resource-constrained settings. Limited research has been done in Peru in order to address these topics. We interviewed 256 physicians of two hospitals of Lima in order to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices about antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobials use. Most of them agreed that antimicrobial resistance is a problem worldwide and within Peru, but only 20% correctly estimated the level of resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae to third generation cephalosporins. We also developed a network of nine hospitals in Lima to perform a resistance surveillance of key isolates causing bacteremia. We found during a one-year period that Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequently Gram positive isolated (22%). K. pneumoniae and Escherichia coli were the most frequent Gram-negative bacilli, >75% of both produced extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs). ESBL-producers microorganisms had also higher level of co-resistance to ciprofloxacin and gentamicin. Finally, to explore the antimicrobial resistance and molecular characteristics of methicillin-resistant S. aureus, we analyzed isolates from patients and healthcare workers (HCWs). Fifty percent of 338 blood isolates were methicillin-resistant (MRSA); one predominant multidrug-resistant MRSA strain was found in all hospitals (ST 5 spa t149-SCCmec I-, the Cordobes-Chilean clone. MRSA nasal carriage rate of 8.7%, was found among HCWs. The two most common clones circulating among HCWs were also the two predominant among patients with bacteremia. There is a need to implement cost-effective infection control policies to reduce the transmission of multidrug resistant microorganisms in these settings.


Organic polymers have been investigated as active electrode materials in the past few years and although materials with high energy density and tunable redox potential have been developed, their dissolution into the electrolyte and their low electronic conductivity compromised their use in rechargeable batteries. To overcome these drawbacks, seven n-type π-conjugated redox polymers based on 5-alkyl-thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione have been developed for anode materials of rechargeable batteries. The role of the carbonyl group on the electrochemical activity of these polymers has been demonstrated and the effect of the alkyl chain and the comonomer unit on their electrochemical performance. The redox potential of the polymer has been shown to vary over a range of 400 mV and a polymer with a suitable redox potential of 1.55 V vs. Li/Li+ for an anode of a lithium-ion battery has been found.


Aerodynamic noise generated around a step such as front pillars of automobiles, which is transmitted into the cabin through the window glass, can negatively affect the comfort of the passengers. For the reduction of this noise, it is necessary to clarify the acoustic source and process of the propagation of the acoustic waves from the step. To do this, direct aeroacoustic simulations were performed along with wind tunnel experiments for flows around a forward step in a turbulent boundary layer, where the freestream Mach number was 0.1 and the Reynolds number based on the incoming boundary layer thickness, δ, and the freestream velocity was 2.73×10. The computations were performed for the height of h/δ = 0.9 and 3.4, where the effects of the step height on the radiated sound were investigated. The radiated sound becomes more intense for the higher step of h/δ = 3.4 particularly in a low frequency range of St ≤ 1.5, where St is the non-dimensional frequency based on the step height and freestream velocity, due to the occurrence of the large-scale vortices in the separated flow. To elucidate the radiation of the acoustic waves, the pressure fluctuations were decomposed into non-radiating convective and radiating acoustic components by usage of two methods. One is utilizing wavenumber-frequency spectra and the other one is spatial Gaussian filtering for the fluctuations at each frequency, which is proposed in this paper. The results by the former method present that the level of convective components is larger than the acoustic components by 20 – 40 dB. Moreover, the radiating components by the proposed spatial filtering method show that the radiation occurs around the step edge and the reattachment point. It is indicated that the proposed method is effective for the investigation of the acoustic radiation for the pressure fluctuations composed of convective and acoustic components.


Spin-locks are widely used in software for efficient synchronization. However, they cause serious performance degradation on virtualized platforms, such as the Lock Holder Preemption (LHP) problem and the Lock Waiter Preemption (LWP) problem, due to excessive spinning by virtual CPUs (VCPUs). The excessive spinning occurs when a VCPU waits to acquire a spin-lock. To address the performance degradation, hardware facilities, such as Intel PLE and AMD PF, are provided on processors to preempt VCPUs when they spin excessively. Although these facilities have been predominantly used on mainstream virtualization systems, using them in a manner that achieves the highest performance is still a challenging issue. There are two core problems in using these hardware facilities to reduce excessive spinning. One is to determine the best time to preempt a spinning VCPU (i.e., the selection of spinning thresholds). The other is which VCPU should be scheduled to run after the spinning VCPU is descheduled. Due to the semantic gap between different software layers, the virtual machine monitor (VMM) does not have information about the computation characteristics on VCPUs, which is needed to address the above problems. This makes the problems inherently challenging. We propose a framework named AdPtive Pause-Loop Exiting and Scheduling (APPLES) to address these problems. APPLES monitors the overhead caused by excessive spinning and preempting spinning VCPUs, and periodically adjusts spinning thresholds to reduce the overhead. APPLES also evaluates and schedules "ready" VCPUs in a VM by their potential to reduce the spinning incurred by the spin-lock synchronization. The evaluation is based on the causality and the time of VCPU preemptions. The implementation of APPLES incurs only minimal changes to existing systems (about 100 lines of code in KVM). Experiments show that APPLES can improve performance by 3  $\sim$ 49 percent (14 percent on average) for the workloads with frequent spin-lock operations.


The increase of human activities in recent years has led to many adverse effects and accelerated climate change at an important level. Therefore, it is very important to know how species will be affected by climate change. This study aimed to determine how the distribution of Gray wolf (Canis lupus), one of the most important predator species in the ecosystem, will be affected by climate change. The study was carried out using presence data of this species in the Lake District and the changes in the habitats and distribution of Gray wolf according to the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 (HADGEM2-ES) climate scenarios. We conducted mapping and modelling of the current habitat preferences of Gray wolf using MaxEnt method based on the bioclimatic features derived from the Worldclim. 4 bioclimatic variables (BIO12, BIO13, BIO16 and BIO19), and 3 environmental variables (slope, ruggedness, topographic position index) were used in the study. The model and maps of the Gray wolf were compared with the future climate scenarios. In conclusion, it is projected that habitats which are determined as suitable for Gray Wolf will decline significantly due to climate change.


The attitude stabilization of a spacecraft that uses magnetorquers as torque actuators is a very important task. Depending on the availability of angular rate sensors on the spacecraft, control laws can be designed either by using measurements of both attitude and attitude rate or by using measurements of attitude only. The parameters of both types of control laws are usually determined by means of a simple trial-and-error approach. Evidently, such an approach has several draw-backs. This chapter describes recently developed systematic approaches for determining the parameters using derivative-free optimization techniques. These approaches allow to find the parameter values that minimize the settling time of the attitude error or an indirect measure of this error. However, such cost indices depend also on initial conditions of the spacecraft, which are not known in advance. Thus, a min-max optimization problem is formulated, whose solution provides values of the parameters minimizing the chosen cost index under the worst initial conditions. The chapter also provides numerical results showing the effectiveness of the described approaches.


Summary

1. The plankton dynamics of Ace Lake, a saline, meromictic basin in the Vestfold Hills, eastern Antarctica was studied between December 1995 and February 1997.

2. The lake supported two distinct plankton communities; an aerobic microbial community in the upper oxygenated mixolimnion and an anaerobic microbial community in the lower anoxic monimolimnion.

3. Phytoplankton development was limited by nitrogen availability. Soluble reactive phosphorus was never limiting. Chlorophyll a concentrations in the mixolimnion ranged between 0.3 and 4.4 μg L−−1 during the study period and a deep chlorophyll maximum persisted throughout the year below the chemo/oxycline.

4. Bacterioplankton abundance showed considerable seasonal variation related to light and substrate availability. Autotrophic bacterial abundance ranged between 0.02 and 8.94 × 108 L−−1 and heterotrophic bacterial abundance between 1.26 and 72.8 × 108 L−−1 throughout the water column.

5. The mixolimnion phytoplankton was dominated by phytoflagellates, in particular Pyramimonas gelidicola. P. gelidicola remained active for most of the year by virtue of its mixotrophic behaviour. Photosynthetic dinoflagellates occurred during the austral summer, but the entire population encysted for the winter.

6. Two communities of heterotrophic flagellates were apparent; a community living in the upper monimolimnion and a community living in the aerobic mixolimnion. Both exhibited different seasonal dynamics.

7. The ciliate community was dominated by the autotroph Mesodinium rubrum. The abundance of M. rubrum peaked in summer. A proportion of the population encysted during winter. Only one other ciliate, Euplotes sp., occurred regularly.

8. Two species of Metazoa occurred in the mixolimnion; a calanoid copepod (Paralabidocera antarctica) and a rotifer (Notholca sp.). However, there was no evidence of grazing pressure on the microbial community. In common with most other Antarctic lakes, Ace Lake appears to be driven by 'bottom-up' forces.


Although the external knee adduction moment (KAM) during gait was shown to be a quantitative parameter of medial knee osteoarthritis (OA), it requires expensive equipment and a dedicated large space to measure. Therefore, it becomes a major reason to limit KAM measurement in a clinical environment. The purpose of this study was to estimate KAM using a single inertial measurement unit (IMU) during gait in patients with knee OA. A total of 22 medial knee OA patients (44 knee joints) performed conventional gait analysis using three-dimensional (3D) motion capture system. At the same time, we attached commercial IMUs to six body segments (sternum, pelvis, both thighs, and both shanks), and IMU signals during gait were recorded synchronized with the motion capture system. The peak-to-peak difference of acceleration in the lateral/medial axis immediately after heel contact was defined as the thrust acceleration (TA). We hypothesized that TA would represent the lateral thrust of the knee during the stance phase and correlate with the first peak of KAM. The relationship between the peak KAM and TA of pelvis (R = 0.52, p < 0.001), shanks (R = 0.57, p < 0.001) and thighs (R = 0.49, p = 0.001) showed a significant correlation. The root mean square error (RMSE) of linear regression models of pelvis, shanks, and thighs to estimate KAM were 0.082, 0.079, and 0.084 Nm/(kg·m), respectively. Our newly established parameter TA showed a moderate correlation with conventional KAM. The current study confirmed our hypothesis that a single IMU would predict conventional KAM during gait. Since KAM is known as an indicator for prognosis and severity of knee OA, this new parameter has the potential to become an accessible predictor for medial knee OA instead of KAM.


expenditure [PAEE (METs) = energy expenditure ÷ RMR], plus 2 research and 3 commercial ATs to record cadence (steps/min) for each activity. All activities were self-paced and played in random order. ANOVA was used to assess differences in PAEE and cadence across sex and weight status and RMANOVA was used to assess differences between AT and ViDO cadence. Regression analyses assessed the relationships among AT and ViDO cadence and PAEE. RESULTS: Overall, PAEE was higher in boys than girls (6.9±0.3 vs. 6.2±0.3 METs), with no difference between HW and OW children. There was no effect of sex or weight status on AT or ViDO cadence. Four of the five ATs recorded significantly higher cadence for all activities combined (range: 71±5 to 173±15 steps/min) compared to ViDO (37±4 steps/min). When activities were classified by PA intensity (moderate vs. vigorous) or type (sport, play or locomotive), one AT recorded consistently higher cadence than ViDO. Each AT recorded higher cadence (range: 6.5±2.0 to 141.5±69 steps/min) during stationary squats compared to ViDO (1.8±0.7 steps/min). A weak relationship existed among cadence and PAEE (range: r=0.21 to 0.31), with a stronger relationship between ViDO and AT cadence (range: r=0.32 to 0.67). CONCLUSION: None of the ATs consistently recorded an accurate cadence of children's play, sport, and locomotive PA. With the tendency to inflate cadence, caution should be exercised when using activity trackers to determine if children are meeting the recommended dose of daily physical activity.


European Union agricultural subsidies are destroying livelihoods in developing countries. By encouraging over-production and export dumping, these subsidies are driving down world prices of key commodities, such as sugar, dairy, and cereals. Reforming a system in which Europe's large landowners and agribusinesses get rich on subsidies, while smallholder farmers in developing countries suffer the consequences, is an essential step towards making trade fair.


Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) are one of Antarctica's top predators, yet surprisingly little information exists about their year-round movement, habitat, and foraging behavior. Previous attempts to determine the overwinter behavior of Weddell seals were met with limited success due to early tag failure. Conductivity Temperature and Depth – Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDL tags) now make it possible to collect animal movement and oceanographic data on the same scale. These tags are deployed on marine vertebrates with the assumption that oceanographic data collected by miniaturized sensors are on par with standard oceanographic equipment. Movement data collected by the tags, in combination with oceanographic data can be used to study the seasonal habitat preference and foraging behavior of Weddell seals. Tracking data can also be linked to diet to provide a complete picture of the seasonal ecology of the southernmost mammal on Earth. Unlike previous studies which were biased towards prey with indigestible hard parts, stable isotopes can be used to provide a more complete picture of both digestible and indigestible components of prey species.In the first data chapter (chapter 2), I assess the accuracy of the temperature and conductivity sensors on the CTD-SRDL tags to determine their performance relative to standard oceanographic equipment. I found that CTD tags were not comparable to high-precision oceanographic equipment, but still provided invaluable oceanographic data and were fully capable of identifying water mass characteristics and seasonal changes in otherwise inaccessible areas. This study provides the first independent assessment of CTD tag performance in laboratory (pre- and post-deployment, and after battery replacement) and under in situ conditions (before and during deployment). In the second data chapter (chapter 3), I explain and predict Weddell seal habitat and foraging behavior from a suite of environmental variables as well as examine the relationship between foraging behavior and dive metrics. I found that seasonal sea-ice extent, open water polynyas, and the diverse topography of the Ross Sea were important in determining the habitat preference and foraging behavior of Weddell seals in the western Ross Sea. This work provides insight into how Weddell seals might adjust their habitat preferences and foraging behavior in light of increased climate change. Finally, in the last data chapter (chapter 4), I used stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) to examine the diet of Weddell seals over two time scales. I found that Antarctic silverfish (Pleurogramma antarcticum), Antarctic icefish (Neopagetopsis ionah) and several Tremamtomus species were important prey items, but their proportional contribution to Weddell seal diet varied among individuals and across time scales. Overall, this dissertation provides critical insight into the movement, habitat, and feeding ecology of this important top predator of the Ross Sea ecosystem.


We described a 33-year-old man with gross hematuria and acute renal failure, who had suffered from fever for 6 months, multiple cervical lymph node swelling, splenomegaly, left-sided pleural effusion. He also suffered from anemia, thrombocytopenia, hypergammaglobulinemia, and his serum interleukin-6 levels were markedly elevated. Antiglomerular basement membrane antibodies were positive in the patient's serum. Lymph node biopsy results were compatible with Castleman disease of "plasma cell" variant. Renal biopsy revealed cellular crescents in most of the glomeruli. Immunofluorescence studies showed strong deposition of IgG in a linear pattern along the glomerular basement membrane. Pathologic features were compatible with crescentic glomerulonephritis because of antiglomerular basement membrane disease. With intensive plasmapheresis and monthly chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, oncovin, prednisone regimen), the patient experienced clinical and biochemical remission. Although autoimmune phenomenon had been described frequently in Castleman disease, to the best of our knowledge, this was the first report that the patient with rapid progressive glomerulonephritis mediated by antiglomerular basement membrane antibodies, which might be associated with Castleman disease.


Iohexol (1-N,3-N-bis(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)-5-[N-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl) acetamide-2,4,6-triiodobenzene-1,3-dicarboxamide) is used for accurate determination of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. However, high iohexol amounts might lead to adverse effects in organisms. In order to minimize the iohexol dosage required for the GFR determination in humans, the development of a sensitive quantification method is essential. Therefore, the objective of our preclinical study was to establish and validate a simple and robust liquid-chromatography-electrospray-mass-spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) approach using the multiple reaction monitoring mode for iohexol quantification. In order to test whether a significantly decreased amount of iohexol is sufficient for reliable quantification, a LC-ESI-MS approach was assessed. We analyzed the kinetics of iohexol in rats after application of different amounts of iohexol (15 mg to 150 μg per rat). Blood sampling was conducted at four time points, at 15, 30, 60, and 90 min, after iohexol injection. The analyte (iohexol) and the internal standard (iothalamic acid) were separated from serum proteins using a centrifugal filtration device with a cut-off of 3 kDa. The chromatographic separation was achieved on an analytical Zorbax SB C18 column. The detection and quantification were performed on a high capacity trap mass spectrometer using positive ion ESI in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Furthermore, using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) the effect of iohexol on early regulated gene expression in thyroid and renal cortex was tested to determine a threshold of physiological active iohexol concentrations. A linear correlation of the iohexol amount and mass-signal (MS) intensity was found in the range of 50 pg to 40 ng (r2 = 0.998). The lowest limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 50 pg. The intra- and inter-day accuracies were between 91.2% and 98.7%. The intra- and inter-day precisions were between 2.7% and 9.2%. The recovery rate of iohexol was determined in the range of 100.8 ± 10.9%. The gene expression test revealed that iohexol dosages exceeding 0.5 mg kg−1 induce a group of genes in thyroidal tissue that comprises transcription factors and genes of cellular stress response. Namely, Ptgs2, Smad7, Jun, Srf, Dusp1, Timp1 and others are up-regulated within 15 min after iohexol i.v. application. This mass-spectrometry based method has been proved to be sensitive, selective and suitable for the quantification of iohexol in serum. Due to high sensitivity of this novel method the iohexol application dose as well as the sampling time in the clinical routine could be reduced in the future in order to further minimize side effects in humans.


A regioselective carbolithiation of o-amino-(E)-stilbenes has been achieved with a series of alkyllithiums when THF is employed as the reaction solvent. The use of other solvents, such as diethyl ether or hydrocarbons, leads to a pronounced loss in regioselectivity. Moreover, high levels of diastereoselectivity have been obtained following reaction of the lithiated intermediate in THF with different electrophiles such as MeOD, CO2, and Bu3SnCl. It was shown that diastereoselectivity was influenced by the ortho-amino substituent and the alkyllithium utilized for carbolithiation with N-Boc substituent and t-BuLi proving optimal. In the case of carbolithiated intermediate 3a, obtained from the reaction of N-Boc substituted stilbene with t-BuLi, 1H and 13C NMR analysis revealed predominantly one diastereoisomer which was stable at room temperature. Application of the carbolithiation/electrophile reaction methodology to the synthesis of six-membered quinoline ring systems is demonstrated with substituted 3,4-dihydroquinolin-2-ones, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines, 1,4-dihydroquinolines, and quinolines all prepared by a common cascade route.


This collection of essays, curriculum units, and study guides on Latin American art and musical traditions is designed to help interested teachers take a comprehensive approach to teaching these subjects. The introduction features the essay, "Media Resources Available on Latin American Culture: A Survey of Art, Architecture, and Music Articles Appearing in Americas" (K. Murray). Section 1, The Visua] Arts of Latin America, has the following articles: "The Latin American Box: Environmental Aesthetics in the Classroom" (R. Robkin); "Mascaras y Danzas de Mexico y Guatemala" (J. Winzinger); "The Five Creations and Four Destructions of the Aztec World" (C. Simmons; R. Gaytan); "Art Forms of Quetzalcoatl: A Teaching Guide for Spanish, History, and Art Classes" (A. P. Crick); "The Art and Architecture of Mesoamerica: An Overview" (J. Quirarte); "Interpreting the Aztec Calendar" (L. Hall); "Mexican Muralism: Its Social-Educative Roles in Latin America and the United States" (S. Goldman); "Mexico: An Artist's History" (K. Jones); "A Historical Survey of Chicano Murals in the Southwest" (A. Rodriguez); and "El Dia de los Muertos" (C. Hickman). Section 2, The Musical Heritage of Latin America, has an introduction: "The Study of Latin American Folk Music and the Classroom" (G. Behague) and the following articles: "Value Clarification of the Chicano Culture through Music and Dance" (R. R. de Guerrero); "'La Bamba': Reflections of Many People" (J. Taylor); "The Latin American Art Music Tradition: Some Criteria for Selection of Teaching Materials" (M. Kuss); "Mariachi Guide" (B. San Miguel); "'El Tamborito': The Panamanian Musical Heritage" (N. Samuda); "A Journey through the History of Music in Latin America" (J. Orrego-Salas); "A Multicultural Tapestry for Young People" (V. Gachen); and "A Survey of Mexican Popular Music" (A. Krohn). A list of Education Service Centers in Texas is in the appendix. (DB) ci LATIN AMERICAN ART AND MUSIC


The present study was designed to determine whether the cADP-ribose-mediated Ca(2+) signaling is involved in the inhibitory effect of nitric oxide (NO) on intracellular Ca(2+) mobilization. With the use of fluorescent microscopic spectrometry, cADP-ribose-induced Ca(2+) release from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of bovine coronary arterial smooth muscle cells (CASMCs) was determined. In the alpha-toxin-permeabilized primary cultures of CASMCs, cADP-ribose (5 microM) produced a rapid Ca(2+) release, which was completely blocked by pretreatment of cells with the cADP-ribose antagonist 8-bromo-cADP-ribose (8-Br-cADPR). In intact fura 2-loaded CASMCs, 80 mM KCl was added to depolarize the cells and increase intracellular Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)). Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an NO donor, produced a concentration-dependent inhibition of the KCl-induced increase in [Ca(2+)](i), but it had no effect on the U-46619-induced increase in [Ca(2+)](i). In the presence of 8-Br-cADPR (100 microM) and ryanodine (10 microM), the inhibitory effect of SNP was markedly attenuated. HPLC analyses showed that CASMCs expressed the ADP-ribosyl cyclase activity, and SNP (1-100 microM) significantly reduced the ADP-ribosyl cyclase activity in a concentration-dependent manner. The effect of SNP was completely blocked by addition of 10 microM oxygenated hemoglobin. We conclude that ADP-ribosyl cyclase is present in CASMCs, and NO may decrease [Ca(2+)](i) by inhibition of cADP-ribose-induced Ca(2+) mobilization.


Signal-to-noise ratio improvement using a semiconductor optical regenerative amplifier (SORA) is characterized. It is demonstrated that for a noise-degraded return-to-zero differential phase-shift keying signal at 10 Gb/s the Q factor at the SORA's output is improved relative to its input for both the phase and amplitude noise cases. The Q-factor improvement is 1.6 dB in single-channel operation for the phase-noise only case and 0.55 dB for the amplified spontaneous emission noise-only case through the SORA.


Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have been classified into "functional subsets" according to their transcription factor and cytokine profiles. Although cytokines, such as IL-12 and IL-23, have been shown to shape plasticity of ILCs, little is known about how the tissue microenvironment influences the plasticity, phenotype, and function of these cells. Here, we show clearly demarcated tissue specifications of Rorc-dependent ILCs across lymphoid and nonlymphoid organs. Although intestinal Rorc fate map–positive (Rorcfm+) ILCs show a clear ILC3 phenotype, lymphoid tissue–derived Rorcfm+ ILCs acquire an natural killer (NK) cell/ILC1-like phenotype. By adoptively transferring Rorcfm+ ILCs into recipient mice, we show that ILCs distribute among various organs and phenotypically adapt to the tissue environment they invade. When investigating their functional properties, we found that only lymphoid-tissue resident Rorcfm+ ILCs can suppress tumor growth, whereas intestinal Rorcfm− ILC1s or NK cells fail to inhibit tumor progression. We thus propose that the tissue microenvironment, combined with ontogeny, provides the specific function, whereas the phenotype is insufficient to predict the functional properties of ILCs.


The Tenggol Arch and the southern part of the Malay Basin are situated in offshore Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. They are believed to form parts of an Early Oligocene (?) rift system. Drape and anticlinal features and fault/dip closures have been identified in the area. The drapes are common features of the Tenggol Arch, and they are generally of low reliefs associated with basement to pography. The anticlinal features are characteristics of the Malay Basin, and they are generally elongated with great reliefs. Fault/dip closures are found near the eastern flank of the basin against the faulted margin of the Tenggol Arch. These anticlines and fault/dip closures are believed to be related to the shear movement during Miocene. The above trap styles have been tested and commercial hydrocarbons accumulations have been found in some of them.


This paper make use of Gravity Model, calculate evolution path of the economic gravity center and air pollutants gravity center in Shaanxi Province adoption the past 10 years (1999 ~ 2008), economic and environmental data. Research shows: economic center of gravity shifted towards the northwest and offset in the north-south direction than east-west extent of the degree of deviation. Air pollutants gravity center is also the focus shifted to the northeast, but the deviation is less than the economic gravity center shift. Air pollution emissions and economic gravity center there are positive correlation, and the center and the dust generated SO2 emissions from the center of gravity strong positive correlation.


"Poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) shape memory fabrics" have excellent shape recoverability, whose clothes are easy to take care. In order to study the mechanism of "PTT shape memory fabric"'s shape recoverability, test of removing yarns from fabrics and comparing their crease recoveries with those of fabrics was designed. Results showed that crease recovery ratios of "PTT shape memory fabrics" were about 36%, while those of yarns removed from them were nearly 80%. Therefore, the results revealed that PTT yarns had good recoverability, however, the high inter-filament frictional forces in the fabric offerring by tight weave structures prevented PTT yarns from recovering. When the applied force was large enough to overcome frictions between filaments, the fabric gained sufficient mobility, coupled with PTT filaments' excellent elastic recovery properties, and gave excellent fabric crease recovery. Moreover, new test method was designed independently to test different kinds of yarns' crease recovery angles, results had proved once more PTT yarns had good elastic recovery, and their crease recovery ratios were close those of wool yarns, while the crease recovery of natural silk and cotton were the worst.


When Philip Sidney defends poetry by defending the methods used by poets and lawyers alike, he relies on the traditional association between fiction and legal procedure--an association that begins with Aristotle. In this study Kathy Eden offers a new understanding of this tradition, from its origins in Aristotle's Poetics and De Anima, through its development in the psychological and rhetorical theory of late antiquity and the Middle Ages, to its culmination in the literary theory of the Renaissance.Originally published in 1986.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


While the Wisconsin Card Sort Test is a popular procedure used to evaluate executive functions. the test may take extended times to administer. especially in impaired clients. This has led to interest in the development of a short form of the test. Axelrod. Paolo. and Abraham (1997) earlier failed in an attempt to develop a short form of the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCS 'I'). The authors suggested that a regression-based approach might work better than their predictive model. In a sample of 145 consecutive subjects referred for neuropsychological testing. linear and nonlinear regression for- mulas were generated to predict the full 128 card version of the test from 32, 64. and 96 item versions of the test. Overall. the data obtained strongly suggests that multiple regression equations can reliably predict WCST whole test scores from a 64 or a 96-item version of the test. but not a 32-item version. The results indicate that the 64-item version is a clinically sound substitute for the entire test.


The temperature dependencies of the thermal power a0 and thermal conductivity k in two samples of In1 - x GaxSb (x=0.65 and 0.45) doped by {Te\sim } 0.001 at%, with electron concentration n = 5.9 \cdot 1016 and 1.3 \cdot 1017 cm - 3 (at 100K), have been investigated. It is shown that in In0.35Ga0.65Sb a0 increases with decreasing T below 50K. At 14K a0 passes through maximum and it falls sharply with decreasing T. It is shown that the maximum value of a0 is in agreement with the maximum value of k . In In0.55Ga0.45Sb, starting from T = 4.2K, a0 is shown to increase monotonically. For In0.35Ga0.65Sb, thermal power due to phonon drag aph is derived and its dependence on temperature, aph(T), is plotted. It is shown that when aph rises with decreasing T, aph(T) changes as T-2.6; and when the curve falls, it is characterized by a power index of 2.8. These results for In0.35Ga0.65Sb compare reasonably well to other semiconductors for solid solutions and are in good agreement with Herring theory.


Abstract. Surface water and energy fluxes are essential components of the Earth system. Surface latent heat fluxes provide major energy input to the atmosphere. Despite the importance of these fluxes, state-of-the-art data sets of surface energy and water fluxes largely differ. The present paper introduces a new framework for the estimation of surface energy and water fluxes at the land surface, which allows for temporally and spatially high-resolved flux estimates at the quasi-global scale (50° S, 50° N) (High resOlution Land Atmosphere Parameters from Space – HOLAPS v1.0). The framework makes use of existing long-term satellite and reanalysis data records and ensures internally consistent estimates of the surface radiation and water fluxes. The manuscript introduces the technical details of the developed framework and provides results of a comprehensive sensitivity and evaluation study. Overall the root mean square difference (RMSD) was found to be 51.2 (30.7) W m−2 for hourly (daily) latent heat flux, and 84 (38) W m−2 for sensible heat flux when compared against 48 FLUXNET stations worldwide. The largest uncertainties of latent heat flux and net radiation were found to result from uncertainties in the solar radiation flux obtained from satellite data products.


The most important characteristic feature of boronizing is that the boron layer obtained at the surface has a very high hardness, improved wear resistance, and low coefficient of friction. Due to the sudden transition from a very hard surface to a relatively soft core, cracks are likely to occur at the interface. These cracks may lead to spalling, and therefore the advantageous effects of boronizing are limited under heavy loads. In this study, the pitting and wear behavior of spur gear surfaces of AISI 8620 steel treated by carburizing, boronizing, and borocarburizing have been examined.


In this paper, a novel watermarking method for depth-image-based rendering methods employed in free viewpoint television systems is proposed. The proposed method uses a correlation-based approach; where a watermark pattern is warped for each different view of the multi-view source video, and embedded to the texture maps of those views in spatial domain. First, the projection matrix of the 2D rendered image is estimated; then, using this matrix, a rendered watermark is formed by warping the original watermark pattern. Finally, Symmetric Phase Only Matched Filtering is used to find the correlation between the rendered image and the rendered watermark. Extended simulations with various attacks show the applicability of the proposed solution.


Members of the LEF-1/TCF family of transcription factors have been implicated in the transduction of Wnt signals. However, targeted gene inactivations of Lef1, Tcf1, or Tcf4 in the mouse do not produce phenotypes that mimic any known Wnt mutation. Here we show that null mutations in both Lef1 and Tcf1, which are expressed in an overlapping pattern in the early mouse embryo, cause a severe defect in the differentiation of paraxial mesoderm and lead to the formation of additional neural tubes, phenotypes identical to those reported for Wnt3a-deficient mice. In addition, Lef1(-/-)Tcf1(-/-) embryos have defects in the formation of the placenta and in the development of limb buds, which fail both to express Fgf8 and to form an apical ectodermal ridge. Together, these data provide evidence for a redundant role of LEF-1 and TCF-1 in Wnt signaling during mouse development.


PALEOMAGNETISM OF EOCENE VOLCANIC TUFFS FROM LARAMIDE FORELAND BASINS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE GEOMAGNETIC POLARITY TIME SCALE by Kaori Tsukui University of New Hampshire, December, 2008 Volcanic tuff samples were collected from twenty-nine tuff horizons in Laramide foreland basins and measured for their paleomagnetism. The results were combined with high precision radiometric ages of the same tuffs to evaluate eight competing calibration models for the Eocene part of the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale (GPTS) by comparing the measured polarity to that predicted by each age model. Of the eight models, the New Willwood model is tentatively favored and recommended as the best alternative yet available to the current GPTS calibration. It not only removes an ongoing chronostratigraphic discrepancy in the Greater Green River Basin, but also provides a new temporal framework to which regional chronostratigraphic data are correlated most coherently. This new calibration model implies a shorter duration for the early Eocene and the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum and also suggests that rates of seafloor spreading were more variable than traditionally modeled in the GPTS.


A Monte Carlo model for the coagulation of nanoparticles has been developed to predict the terminal particle sizes and particle size distribution of nanoparticles. The coagulation model is divided into two stages. In the first stage, the model includes the phenomenon of nucleation and growth via intermicellar exchange. The coagulation of nanoparticles is rapid during this stage and occurs for a very brief period after the initial mixing of reactants contained in the aqueous cores of reverse micelles. The repulsive force between particles determines the fraction of collisions which lead to a successful coagulation event. Therefore, in the second stage, the efficiency of collisions between micelles containing particles is modelled as a function of the diameters of the particles contained in them. The model predictions show a reasonable agreement with experimental data.


The audio quality, robustness and complexity issues of a novel mobile digital audio broadcast (DAB) scheme are addressed. The audio codec is based on a combination of subband coding (SBC) and multipulse excited linear predictive coding (MPLPC), where the bit allocation is dynamically adapted according to both the signal power in different subbands and a perceptual hearing model. Typically a segmental signal to noise ratio (SEGSNR) in excess of 30 dB associated with high fidelity (hi-fi) subjective quality was achieved for 2.67 bits/sample transmissions at a mono bit rate of 86 kbits/s. Four different source-matched forward error correction (FEC) schemes were investigated in order to explore the complexity, bit rate and robustness trade-offs. When using 4 bit/symbol 16-level star-constellation quadrature amplitude modulation (16-StQAM) the overall signalling rate became approximately 30 kBaud, accommodating two stereo DAB channels in a conventional 200 kHz analogue FM channel's bandwidth. The diversity assisted DAB scheme required a channel signal to noise ratio (SNR) of about 25 dB for unimpaired audio quality via the worst-case Rayleigh fading mobile channel, when the mobile speed was 30 mph and the propagation frequency was 1.5 GHz. In case of the stationary Gaussian scenario an SNR of about 20 dB was required.<<ETX>>


The basic geometry of the Solar System—the shapes, spacings, and orientations of the planetary orbits—has long been a subject of fascination as well as inspiration for planet-formation theories. For exoplanetary systems, those same properties have only recently come into focus. Here we review our current knowledge of the occurrence of planets around other stars, their orbital distances and eccentricities, the orbital spacings and mutual inclinations in multiplanet systems, the orientation of the host star's rotation axis, and the properties of planets in binary-star systems.


Scheduling is an important process for every workplace. Currently, the customs
officers' schedule-maker at the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) in
Bayan Lepas, Penang constructs the schedule manually, which is a very inefficient
way. Thus, this study will help them arrange schedules in an easier way with less effort
and more efficient. The major objective of this study is to build a cyclical work
schedule model for customs officers using goal programming. The minor objectives
are to develop a new schedule that is fair and considers the working policies and
preferences of customs officers, and to ease schedule-makers' task of distributing
schedules. This goal programming method considers working policies as hard
constraints and the customs officers' preferences as soft constraints. The LINGO 17.0
software was used to run the model. A 12-day 12 customs officers' schedule was built
to ease the process of developing the cyclical schedule. The built schedule will then
be extended to cover the required total number of 24 customs officers in the
department. The result obtained is in the form of an optimal solution where all the
study's goals were achieved. The model has generated a balanced work schedule for
the workers which satisfy their preferences while also fulfilling the working
regulations of the customs department. The customs officers will be separated into four
different teams which consist of six members each, and six schedule sets will be
applied for each customs officer in each team. The schedule will rotate continuously
until all of them get to experience all six sets of their team members' schedule. The
schedule will then be cycled again from the starting schedule set after completed 72-
days planning period. Other constraints such as public holidays and level of staff's
skills can be incorporating into this model for further research.


Deep neural networks with alternating convolutional, max-pooling and decimation layers are widely used in state of the art architectures for computer vision. Max-pooling purposefully discards precise spatial information in order to create features that are more robust, and typically organized as lower resolution spatial feature maps. On some tasks, such as whole-image classification, max-pooling derived features are well suited, however, for tasks requiring precise localization, such as pixel level prediction and segmentation, max-pooling destroys exactly the information required to perform well. Precise localization may be preserved by shallow convnets without pooling but at the expense of robustness. Can we have our max-pooled multilayered cake and eat it too? Several papers have proposed summation and concatenation based methods for combining upsampled coarse, abstract features with finer features to produce robust pixel level predictions. Here we introduce another model - dubbed Recombinator Networks - where coarse features inform finer features early in their formation such that finer features can make use of several layers of computation in deciding how to use coarse features. The model is trained once, end-to-end and performs better than summation-based architectures, reducing the error from the previous state of the art on two facial keypoint datasets, AFW and AFLW, by 30% and beating the current state-of-the-art on 300W without using extra data. We improve performance even further by adding a denoising prediction model based on a novel convnet formulation.


The assumption that black women lack a positive and respectable ethos is a historical and contemporary problem. To address the problem with ethos, I turn to Aristotle's Rhetoric to foreground an analysis of ethos. Then I examine Harriet Jacobs's slave narrative and the autobiography of Billie Holiday and Sister Souljah, respectively, to illustrate the difficulty they faced as they attempted to redefine an ethos of immorality to an ethos of respectability in their narratives. As each text demonstrates, acquiring a positive ethos becomes problematic given that a classical model such as Aristotle's excludes their lived realities and experiences as black women living in a slave and post-slavery society.


Abstract Background The PURE01 study (NCT02736266) evaluates preoperative pembrolizumab before radical cystectomy (RC). Here, the possibility to predict the pathologic complete response (pT0) after neoadjuvant immunotherapy could have paradigm-shifting implications for the management of patients with MIBC. Methods The reported analyses include comprehensive genomic profiling with FoundationONE CDx assay and programmed cell-death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) combined positive score (CPS, Dako 22C3 antibody) on baseline TURB samples. Multivariable logistic regression analyses (MVA) evaluated clinical T-stage and biomarkers (tumor mutational burden [TMB], and CPS) in association with pT0 response. Multivariable-derived coefficients were used to develop a novel risk calculator. Decision-curve analysis was used to evaluate the net benefit of the predictive model. Results From 02/2017 to 06/2019, 112 patients with full biomarker data were enrolled. At MVA, only CPS showed a significant association with pT0 (p = 0.005). Increasing TMB and CPS values featured a linear association with logistic pT0 probabilities (p = 0.02 and p = 0.004). Very high TMB values, associated with a predicted probability of pT0 > = 55%, were independent from CPS contribution. The coefficients of the predictive model were used to develop a risk calculator. The c-index of the model was 0.77. At decision-curve analysis, the net-benefit of the model was higher than the "treat-all" option from more than 10% threshold probabilities. Conclusion We presented the first biomarker-based risk stratification tool that can be used to recommend use of neoadjuvant pembrolizumab in those patients who have equal or greater chances to achieve a pT0 status compared to the literature on neoadjuvant chemotherapy or to RC alone, depending on cisplatin eligibility. Clinical trial identification PURE01 study (NCT02736266). Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA; Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC). Disclosure R. Madison: Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment, employee and stock owner of Foundation Medicine Inc: Foundation Medicine Inc. M. Colecchia: Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: Roche Diagnostics. S.M. Ali: Full / Part-time employment: Foundation Medicine. J.H. Chung: Full / Part-time employment: Foundation Medicine. J. Ross: Leadership role, Research grant / Funding (institution), Shareholder / Stockholder / Stock options, Full / Part-time employment: Foundation Medicine. A. Salonia: Speaker Bureau / Expert testimony: Astellas Pharma; Travel / Accommodation / Expenses: Konpharma. A. Briganti: Advisory / Consultancy: Astellas Pharma; Advisory / Consultancy: Hanssen-Cilag; Advisory / Consultancy: OPKO Health; Advisory / Consultancy: MDxHealth; Advisory / Consultancy: Ferring; Research grant / Funding (institution): Novartis. A. Necchi: Advisory / Consultancy: Merck, Incyte, AstraZeneca, Roche, Rainier Therapeutics, Clovis Oncology, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer, Basilea Pharmaceutica; Research grant / Funding (institution): AstraZeneca, Ipsen, Merck and Incyte; Spouse / Financial dependant: Bayer. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Georgia has the opportunity to de- velop a comprehensive water management policy that meets the current and future water needs of the state and its neighbors. Incumbent upon this process is the obligation to protect the environment while at the same time maximizing the productive worth of this nite natural resource. This paper presents a set of minimum requirements for developing an instream o w policy, which is a key component of environmen- tal protection. The policy is integrally tied to the safe yield and its inherent water allocation system. Key attributes of safe yield and water allocation re- lated to instream o w policies are addressed.


The work described in this paper forms part of a wider research programme being undertaken on water and ionic movement within the cover region of structural concrete. In-situ monitoring techniques described previously were used to measure the depth of penetration of water, cumulative volume gain and sorptivity of concrete samples containing different types of aggregate. The effects of dissolved ions (chlorides) in the invading water were also monitored. As a direct result of the monitoring techniques employed in the testing programme, it is possible to present many of the results in considerably more detail than has previously been the case. Possibilities for evaluating the electrical properties of concrete in the cover zone, and at rebar level, are also discussed. In addition, a method of estimating chloride concentration within the pore water is suggested.


A MEMS hot wire anemometer consisting of thermoresistive elements arranged in a differential bridge configuration is presented. The arrangement of the elements allows for dedicated heating elements to be omitted from the device without compromising operation or accuracy. Overall power consumption gives velocity and the temperature differential of each element pair is used for direction and has demonstrated a sensing resolution better than 1% and a repeatable accuracy better than 2%. Field trials have demonstrated a robust design with exposure to rain, dust and debris for a period in excess of 12 months with continuing operation.


The progress of nanotechnology presents many nanoparticles that are important in medicine, agriculture and industry. Quickly and entirely absorbed by plants, nano-compounds and remedy their nutrient deficiency and satisfy this need. Iron oxide nanoparticles with suitable surface chemistry can be used as a rich source of iron for plants due to its gradual release of Fe in a wide pH range (pH 3 to 11). The present study investigated the impact of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe 2 O 3 NPs in 0, 10, 20 and 30  µM concentrations) on physiological parameters of peppermint ( Mentha piperita ) under salt stress (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM concentrations of NaCl). Fe 2 O 3 NPs caused increases in leaf fresh weight and dry weight, phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, and calcium contents of the peppermint under salinity stress but did not have an effect on the sodium element. 30 µM concentration of Fe 2 O 3 NP was more impressive. Lipid peroxidation and proline contents of the peppermint under salinity decreased significantly by applying Fe 2 O 3 NPs. The maximum activities of total antioxidant enzymes (I %), catalase, superoxide dismutase, and guailcol peroxidase were observed in plants treated with 150 mM of NaCl, but application of Fe 2 O 3 NPs declined these antioxidant activities. The results suggest that the appropriate concentration of iron nanoparticles could be used for stress resistance of the peppermint.


Abstract Research on gender in fisheries often argue that women's contributions are important to the functioning of fisheries and are worthy of recognition. However, this has so far failed to consider how women experience and practice belonging to fisheries. This paper structures the analysis of women's narratives around three conceptualisations of belonging: i) how women perform place-belongingness; ii) the politics of belonging; and iii) more-than-human co-constructions of belongings. To develop the conceptual approach, the paper synthesises these three concepts with an understanding of belonging as fluid and adaptable to particular situated relationships. In doing so, the paper explores how women's gendered belongings are co-constructed and performed in the male-oriented UK fisheries contexts. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews, the paper finds that women's practices of belonging make and maintain fishing communities and places, and that women's practices of belonging both confirm and challenge longstanding notions of who belongs in the fishery – with women fishers challenging socio-spatial exclusions in fishing. Women's belongings in fishing were further co-constructed in relation to the more-than-human such as fishing materialities, smells, non-human animals and the ocean. The concept of belonging helps to highlight the processes of becoming with fish, fishing and the fishery – even when there are no clear identities and identifications available for the women involved.


Currently, SAAS (Software as a Service) solutions are usually provided for business, such as salesforce.com. Few work focus on the application software for high performance scientific computing. However, in the high performance cloud computing environment, traditional application software is not intrinsically service oriented. And the limitation of traditional software licenses is a bottleneck problem for large scale of dynamic users. To enable on-demand services for applications, we propose a solution: Application Software as a Service (ASAAS). It provides a web services portal, an on-demand software license service for the users. Application software is wrapped as web services on the basis of underlying computational resources. With a pay-for-use mode, there is no limitation for the licenses any more. The instant service rate, average job response time, and cost are analyzed for an evaluation. A case of implementation and the evaluation show that ASAAS can bring a much better effect than traditional mechanism.


Tea and coffee, the most popular beverages in the world, have been consumed for thousands of years for their alluring flavors and health benefits. Polyphenols, particularly flavonoids and phenolic acids, are of great abundance in tea and coffee and contribute a lot to their flavor and health properties. This paper reviews the polyphenol chemistry of tea and coffee, specifically their stability, and scavenging ability of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive carbonyl species (RCS). During the manufacturing and brewing process, green tea and black tea polyphenols undergo epimerization and oxidation, respectively. Meanwhile, the lactonization and the polymerization of chlorogenic acid are the major causes for the degradation of polyphenols in coffee. Tea catechins, besides having antioxidant properties, have the novel characteristic of trapping reactive carbonyl species. The A ring of the catechins is the binding site for RCS trapping, whereas the B ring is the preferred site for antioxidation.


Wind-induced vibration of tall buildings have been of interest in engineering for a long time. Wind-induced vibration of a tall building can be most effectively controlled by using passive control devices. The tuned liquid damper(TLD) is kind of a passive mechanical damper, which relies on the sloshing liquid in a rigid tank. TLD has been successfully employed in practical mitigation of undesirable structural vibrations because it has several potential advantages: low costs, easy installation in existing structures, and effectiveness even against small-amplitude vibrations. Shaking table experiments were conducted to investigate the characteristics of the shallow water sloshing motion in a rectangular tank. To increase the damping ratio of the rectangular water tank, triangle sticks were installed at the bottom of water tank. This installation increased the damping ratio by amaximum of 40-70%.


Three original high-seas stories for children just beginning to read. Find out if Charlie can get rid of his pesky parrot and Molly can escape the clutches of the sneaky Captain Spike in these swashbuckling stories. Usborne Young Reading has been developed with reading experts from Roehampton University. The audio CD includes a dramatic listen-along recording with music and sound effects, followed by a read-along version with prompts for page turns.


Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in females in UK [1]. Early breast cancer detection which has recently been gaining a lot of consideration within the research community and the most important for a quick and effective treatment of the cancer is early detection. UWB radar based microwave imaging for early breast cancer detection is one of the most promising and attractive screening techniques currently under research. This technique offers several advantages such as low cost, better patient comfort, non-ionising and non-invasive radiation compared to X-Ray mammography. In this technique the breast is illuminated from various points with short UWB microwave pulse(s) and the collected backscattered energy is then processed to identify the presence and location of the tumour.

In this thesis experimental measurement of the reflection coefficient in complex frequency domain is obtained from Vector Network Analyzer (VNA E5071) when the antenna is exposed to the environment and when the antenna is exposed to breast phantom. The tumor is simulated with different materials to investigate the effectiveness of the Confocal Microwave Imaging Algorithm for breast cancer detection. In addition, we used the materials at different depths to determine the effect of antenna distance to that of the tumor response.

The Confocal Microwave Imaging (CMI) Algorithm for breast cancer detection is an easy and robust technique for tumor detection, which is used to approximate the precise location of the tumor. CMI is based on illuminating the breast with the UWB pulse from different antenna locations. The relative arrival times & amplitudes of the backscatter signals is used to estimate the location of the tumor. We applied the Confocal Algorithm in this study to the numerical data generated with the VNA and analyzed the results with different material(s) as tumor at different depth to verify its ability to estimate a tumor response.


Contents: Introduction, Ian Biddle and Kirsten Gibson Section 1 Effeminate and Virile Musics and Masculinities: Introduction, Ian Biddle and Kirsten Gibson Music and masculinity in the Middle Ages, Elizabeth Eva Leach Music, melancholy and masculinity in early modern England, Kirsten Gibson Of Mars I sing Monteverdi voicing virility, Richard Wistreich Haydn and the consequences of presumed effeminacy, Howard Irving Virile music by Hector Berlioz, Fred Everett Maus. Section 2 National Masculinities, National Musics: Introduction, Ian Biddle and Kirsten Gibson Gendered reception of Brahms: masculinity, nationalism and musical politics, Marcia J. Citron Aspiring to manliness: Edward Elgar and the pressures of hegemonic masculinity, Corissa Gould 'I am blessed with fruit': masculinity, androgyny and creativity in early 20th-century German music, Claire Taylor-Jay Hellenism, the divine and ideal masculinity in Manuel de Falla's AtlA!ntida, Esther Zaplana. Section 3 Identities, Voices, Discourses: Introduction, Ian Biddle and Kirsten Gibson Knives and tears: representations of masculinity in late 19th-century Italian opera, Annamaria Cecconi Caught in the silken throat: modernist investments in the male vocal fetish, Ian Biddle Hermaphrodism and the masculine body: Tippett's aesthetic views in a gendered context, Iain Stannard Select bibliography Index.


ANTON WIJAYA KUSUMA: The Effectiveness of CTL Approach in Teaching Reading, an experimental research in SMP N 1 Petarukan Pemalang during the second semester in academic year 2007/2008. (2008). Thesis. Strata 1 Program, Languages and Arts Faculty. Semarang State University.
The objective of this research is to know the effectiveness of Contextual Teaching Learning (CTL) approach in teaching reading to the first year students of SMP N Petarukan during the second semester in the academic year of 2007/2008.
The hypothesis of this research is as follows: CTL Approach gives positive effect toward a better achievement in the teaching reading. In other words the students who are taught with CTL approach will get the reading achievement better than those who are taught without CTL approach.
The population of this research is the first year students of SMP N 1 Petarukan Pemalang; the total number of the students is 320. The writer chose two similar groups with equivalent in ability. The number of the sample is eighty students. The samples consisted of two groups; the experimental group and control group and each group contain 40 students. The experimental group consisted of students who were taught with CTL Approach and the control group consisted of the students who were taught without CTL Approach.
The writer chooses a multiple choices reading test as the instrument of the research. The test took 90 minutes to do. The test consists of multiple choices with four options A, B, C and D. To know the validity and the reliability of the instrument, the writer had tried out the instrument to forty students having the same competence as the samples of the study.
The data of this research were gained from the result of the pretest and posttest done by sample of this research during the second semester. Data were tested by using t-test. The result of data analysis using t-test is 3.82 whereas t-table with the degree of freedom are (78) on the level of significance of 5% t-table is 1.96. It proves that t-ratio is higher than t-table (3.82>1.96). It means that there is a significant difference in achievement of reading between the students who have not taught CTL Approach and those who have not been taught CTL Approach.
Thus the conclusion of this research is "CTL Approach gives positive effects on students' reading achievement at the first year students in second semester of SMP N 1 Petarukan Pemalang, in the academic year 2007/2008.


The paper describes a LOS system architecture that allows for a data rate of 155 Mbit/s on both down- and up-links. To achieve this, arrays of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) are used that emit light of 850 nm and have an output power that is within eye-safety limits. Original theory is presented that permits calculation of the coverage area for a certain launch power and receiver sensitivity. Design equations are presented for the selection of the beam shaping/spreading lens placed in front of the laser arrays. Original results from an experimental testbed compare favorably with theoretical predictions. It is concluded that an 8/spl times/8 laser array will cover an area of 1 m by 1 m. The addition of a tracking system would permit multiuser operation with each individual user having access to the full bandwidth of the link.


Digital X/γ-ray imaging technology has been widely used to help people deliver effective and reliable security in airports, train stations, and public buildings. Nowadays, luggage inspection system with digital radiographic/computed tomography (DR/CT) represents a most advanced nondestructive inspection technology in aviation system, which is capable of automatically discerning interesting regions in the luggage objects with CT subsystem. In this paper, we propose a new model for active contours to detect luggage objects in the system, in order to facilitate people to identify the things in luggage. The proposed method is based on techniques of piecewise constant and piecewise smooths Chan-Vese Model, semi-implicit additive operator splitting (AOS) scheme for image segmentation. Different from traditional models, the fast implicit level set scheme (FILS) is ordinary differential equation (ODE). Characterized by no need of any pre-information of topology of images and efficient segmentation of images with complex topology, the FILS scheme is fast more than traditional level set scheme 30 times. At the same time, it performs well in image segmentation of DR images in our experiments.


Abstract Gyrolithes burrows reflect fluctuating salinity in incised valleys that were filling when estuarine circulation was established during Holocene transgression in a mesotidal setting off southern Vietnam. Gyrolithes burrows were produced in stiff mud, but they postdate burrows with diffuse outlines formed in soft mud, and they predate burrows of the Glossifungites suite that represent fully marine conditions. The latter are filled with and overlain by marine sand and shell debris deposits. The pore-water composition of the Gyrolithes host sediment supports these findings while exhibiting only 75%–95% of marine chloride values. Gyrolithes is restricted to low-gradient parts of the inner shelf. In narrow confined valleys, an estuarine circulation was established and a temporally lengthy omission ensued while fluvial and tidal currents interacted. The absence of Gyrolithes in other parts of the study area is explained by the steep gradient of incised valleys. This might have resulted in accelerated currents in the incised valleys precluding the Gyrolithes trace maker. Alternatively, environmental conditions resulting from rapid sea-level rise, including increased mud deposition, might have been unfavorable for Gyrolithes producers. No Gyrolithes burrows were found in areas where normally thin marine transgressive deposits rest directly on Pleistocene paleosols.


The first molecular dynamics (MD) study was conducted to explore mechanical-failure response of ultra-fine grained single-layer boron-nitride films. We used MD simulations to construct relatively large molecular models of polycrystalline structures with random grain configurations. By applying uniaxial tensile loading, we then studied the grain size effect on the mechanical response of polycrystalline boron-nitride nanosheets. Our results reveal that by decreasing the grain size, the elastic modulus of polycrystalline films decreases gradually. Interestingly, our MD results reveal that ultra-fine grained samples could present a tensile strength of around half that of the pristine films. Our investigation suggests that experimentally fabricated polycrystalline boron nitride nanosheets can exhibit remarkably high mechanical properties.


Rosiglitazone has been reported to exert the protective effect against acute renal failure in animal models. However, the underlying mechanisms by which it protects the damaged kidney cells are poorly understood. The present study was therefore undertaken to examine the effect of rosiglitazone on cell proliferation and to determine its molecular mechanism in opossum kidney (OK) cells, an established renal proximal tubular cell line. Rosiglitazone treatment inhibited cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and such effects were not associated with induction of cell death. The anti-proliferative effect of rosiglitazone was accompanied by the cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase. Western blot analysis data showed that rosiglitazone caused down-regulation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and Akt pathway. Transfection of constitutively active forms of MEK (an upstream kinase of ERK) and Akt prevented the proliferation inhibition induced by rosiglitazone. Rosiglitazone facilitated the recovery of cells after cisplatin-mediated injury. Taken together, these data suggest that rosiglitazone induces inhibition of cell proliferation through ERK and Akt-dependent cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase. The cell cycle arrest may play a protective role in kidney cells by preventing injured cells from progressing in the cell cycle.


This paper addresses multicast routing in circuit-switched multihop optical networks employing wavelength-division multiplexing. We consider a model in which multicast communication requests are made and released dynamically over time. A multicast connection is realized by constructing a multicast tree which distributes the message from the source node to all destination nodes such that the wavelengths used on each link and the receivers and transmitters used at each node are not used by existing circuits. We show that the problem of routing and wavelength assignment in this model is, in general, NP-complete. However, we also show that for any given multicast tree, the wavelength assignment problem can be solved in linear time.


ABSTRACTClinical information systems are primary sources of data for health services and effectiveness research. Access to that data may be hampered by complex database structures, and the quality of research lessened by lack of contextual knowledge about the data. In addition, the integration of data captured in multiple information systems remains a challenge because of differences between the information systems in content and data representation. Tradi-tional data integration uses an Extraction-Transform-Load (ETL) workflow which requires that integration of data be performed in a single defined manner. This poses problems for clinical research because the data integration decisions are typically encoded in the highly technical ETL procedures whereas different clinical analyses may require different decisions on semantic integration, which cannot be accommodated in the ETL process.We propose that the contextual information important for data retrieval and analysis resides in the information system user interface and that this interface can be exploited to improve access to single clinical databases as well as the semantic integration of data across mul-tiple databases. The computational concepts and prototype tools presented here include automated tools for creation of databases based on user interfaces, methods for analysts to directly write queries against an interface resembling the user interface and containing contextual information, and tools that allow analysts to classify data elements from multiple sources in a dynamic manner resulting in semantic integration of those data sources.


Doppler ultrasound has become a powerful diagnostic tool in evaluating the portal system. It can provide a great deal of information about the morphology and hemodynamics of portal hypertension. Together with CT and MRI, it has partly relegated the role of angiography from diagnostic towards preoperative evaluation. The diagnosis of portal hypertension can be made and the cause of the elevated pressure can be located before, in, or after the liver parenchyma. Spontaneous shunts can be identified. On the basis of their location and direction of flow, portohepatic collaterals can be differentiated from portosystemic collaterals. The presence of portohepatic collaterals may be the first indication of portal thrombosis or stenosis. Portosystemic collaterals can be either collaterals towards the SVC, with consequent risk of bleeding, or collaterals draining into the IVC, which do not carry such risk. The latter may mimic surgically created shunts in their large volume-flow capacity. The hemodynamic conditions leading to encephalopathy are identifiable by looking at the size of the collaterals in conjunction with the direction of flow in the major portal vessels. Patency of surgically created shunts can be established. Flow patterns may be quantified by performing volume flow estimations, and the presence of a hyperdynamic circulation can thus be identified. By providing insight into portal hemodynamics, Doppler ultrasound can help to select optimal individualized treatment and is well suited for follow-up of medical and surgical therapy.


Purpose Our objectives were to (a) identify oral and pharyngeal physiologic swallowing impairment severity classes based on latent class analyses (LCAs) of the Modified Barium Swallow Impairment Profile (MBSImP) swallow task scores and (b) quantify the probability of severity class membership given composite MBSImP oral total (OT) and pharyngeal total (PT) scores. Method MBSImP scores were collected from a patient database of 319 consecutive modified barium swallow studies. Because of missing swallow task scores, LCA was performed using 25 multiply imputed data sets. Results LCA revealed a three-class structure for both oral and pharyngeal models. We identified OT and PT score intervals to assign subjects to oral and pharyngeal impairment latent severity classes, respectively, with high probability (probability of class membership ≥ 0.9 given OT or PT scores within specified ranges) and high confidence (95% credible interval [CI] widths ≤ 0.24 for all total scores within specified ranges). OT scores ranging from 0 to 10 and from 14 to 18 yielded assignments in Oral Latent Classes 1 and 2, respectively, while OT = 22 was assigned to Oral Latent Class 3. PT scores ranging from 0 to 13 and from 18 to 24 yielded assignments in Pharyngeal Latent Classes 1 and 2, respectively, while PT = 26 was assigned to Pharyngeal Latent Class 3. Conclusions LCA of MBSImP task-level data revealed significant underlying oral and pharyngeal ordinal class structures representing increasingly severe gradations of physiologic swallow impairment. Clinically meaningful OT and PT score ranges were derived facilitating latent class assignment. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12315677.


– Many factors like personality, motivation, physical charities and motor abilities as well as environmental situations are regarded as having an interacting influence on an individual"s selection of the achievement in various physical activities. Although variables and their effects on activity participation has been the subject of human number of studies, the role of intelligence has, to grate extant, been overlooked. Two Hundred male and female players (100 combative sports players & 100 non-sports players) were selected for this study. Average age of players was 22.1 with the range of 17-25 years old players. "Group Test of Intelligence" developed by Dr. S. Jalota was used as tool to measuring intelligence among combative and non-combative sports. The statistical procedure applied was Independent Sample "Student" T-test and level of significance was set at 0.05. Significant difference was found among combative and non-combative sports player"s intelligence as calculated "t" value 2.51 is great than tabulated "t" value 1.98 at 0.05 level of significance. It is found that intelligence level among combative sports players is more than non-combative sports players. There is significant difference of intelligence of combative and non-combative sports. It is also found that winning or losing in combative sports are largely depend upon player"s own performance in comparison to that of non-combative.


This thesis contains methods for uncertainty quantification of flow in porous media through stochastic modeling. New parallel algorithms are described for both deterministic and stochastic model problems, and are shown to be computationally more efficient than existing approaches in many cases.First, we present a method that combines a mixed finite element spatial discretization with collocation in stochastic dimensions on a tensor product grid. The governing equations are based on Darcy's Law with stochastic permeability. A known covariance function is used to approximate the log permeability as a truncated Karhunen-Loeve expansion. A priori error analysis is performed and numerically verified.Second, we present a new implementation of a multiscale mortar mixed finite element method. The original algorithm uses non-overlapping domain decomposition to reformulate a fine scale problem as a coarse scale mortar interface problem. This system is then solved in parallel with an iterative method, requiring the solution to local subdomain problems on every interface iteration. Our modified implementation instead forms a Multiscale Flux Basis consisting of mortar functions that represent individual flux responses for each mortar degree of freedom, on each subdomain independently. We show this approach yields the same solution as the original method, and compare the computational workload with a balancing preconditioner.Third, we extend and combine the previous works as follows. Multiple rock types are modeled as nonstationary media with a sum of Karhunen-Loeve expansions. Very heterogeneous noise is handled via collocation on a sparse grid in high dimensions. Uncertainty quantification is parallelized by coupling a multiscale mortar mixed finite element discretization with stochastic collocation. We give three new algorithms to solve the resulting system. They use the original implementation, a deterministic Multiscale Flux Basis, and a stochastic Multiscale Flux Basis. Multiscale a priori error analysis is performed and numerically verified for single-phase flow. Fourth, we present a concurrent approach that uses the Multiscale Flux Basis as an interface preconditioner. We show the preconditioner significantly reduces the number of interface iterations, and describe how it can be used for stochastic collocation as well as two-phase flow simulations in both fully-implicit and IMPES models.


Three human enteric viruses (poliovirus, echovirus, coxsackievirus) suspended in seawater or buffer were stable for 6 hr in the absence of sunlight but were inactivated at the same rate in the presence of sunlight. Under summer sunlight conditions, at least 3 logs of these viruses were inactivated by one-hit kinetics while under winter sunlight conditions only 1 log of these viruses was inactivated by two-hit kinetics. Under these same conditions, 6 logs of E. coli were inactivated within 1 hr by one-hit kinetics under summer and winter conditions. In comparison, E. faecalis was inactivated by two-hit kinetics and only 2.5 logs of inactivation were observed after 4 hr of exposure to winter sunlight. Since human enteric viruses are considerably more resistant to sunlight inactivation than E. coli and moderately more resistant than E. faecalis, marine recreational water quality standards should be based on concentrations of enterococci and not on coliform bacteria. Since the mechanism and rate of inactivation of coliphage and human enteric viruses are similar, coliphages appear to be the best indicator for the presence of human enteric viruses in recreational waters, especially coastal waters where abundant sunshine is available.


Our empirical evidence establishes a positive association between short-term institutional ownership and private information in stock trading but a negative correlation between long-term institutional ownership and private information. These relations suggest that short-term institutional investors tend to explore their information advantage and trade speculatively for short-term profits, while long-term institutional investors are more likely to monitor the firms they own, leading to the reduction of the information asymmetry about the firm's fundamental values. Our results are robust to the inclusion of controls for firm characteristics, analyst coverage and insider trading, as well as the choice of different private information proxies and estimation methods. Overall, our findings highlight the important role of investment horizon of institutional investors in shaping a firm's information environment.


Poor communication between healthcare providers can lead to dangerous, even life-threatening, situations for patients. When confronting a health crisis, most patients and their caregivers assume that doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers communicate with one another. But it's often poor communication, coupled with an expectation that patients or caregivers will remember and relate critical information, which can lead to dangerous, even life-threatening, situations. This plays out most dramatically during care transitions, when a patient leaves one care setting or practitioner to move to another. Care transitions, according to Dr. Eric A. Coleman (see Coleman's website at www. caretransitions.org/definitions. asp for an excellent definition of care transitions), happen at every stage of the healthcare continuum-within settings, between settings, and across healthcare states. Transitions can include moving from emergency room to surgery, from surgery to the intensive care unit, from hospital to home, and from home to assisted living and back to the hospital. And they often involve many people-the patient and their caregiver, physicians, nurses, social workers, case managers, pharmacists, and other providers. Effective communication and cooperation between professionals, patients, and caregivers is essential during transitions. Poor communication can endanger patients' lives and waste fiscal and human resources (National Transitions of Care Coalition, 2008); and the fragmentation of the healthcare system at large- with its lack of consistent forms and workflows, lack of accountability for transitions, and lack of performance measures and appropriate alignment of incentives-adds up to a perilous mix for patients. The more medically complex the patient, the more likely they will experience multiple transitions. Individuals with chronic conditions may see up to sixteen physicians in one year (Bodenheimer, 2008). Elders have a greater likelihood of risk associated with transitions, because they face significant challenges when moving between care settings. Elders may experience cognitive impairment and may not have the health literacy skills to adequately function in the healthcare environment. One study measuring patients' functional health literacy at a public hospital found 81 percent of English-speaking patients ages 60 years or older had inadequate health literacy (Gazmararian et al., 1999). If English is not an elder patient's primary language, there are added risks of poor communication and inability to self-manage their care. Troubles with Transitions Patients often assume transitions are carefully planned, with information shared. But research has shown that communication between settings or providers is often limited, or may not occur at all. The lack of timely communication can lead to medical errors, miscommunication between providers and patients, patient safety issues, lack of provider follow up, and hospital readmissions. Each transition requires engagement with the patient and caregiver, information exchange between providers to ensure consistency of treatment, appropriate coordination of care options, and a reconciliation of medications (National Transitions of Care Coalition, 2010). Transitions also stress patients. Frequently, patients experience anxiety and grow concerned about their ability to manage at home, and the impact not managing will have on their family or caregiver. But these same patients and caregivers find it difficult to address such concerns with physicians or other clinicians. They struggle with what questions to ask and what information to gather. Ultimately, patients and caregivers need to be equipped with the necessary information to understand the discharge care plan, including medication reconciliation and management. Patients and caregivers need to be empowered to manage their own care plan, whether at home or at the next level of care. …


This study presents solar chimney power plantintegrated with seawater desalination system. A simplemathematical model is based on the conservation of massand energy. The results show that the integrated system ofsolar chimney power plant and solar still can achievesimultaneously. The analysis is performed for bothsummer and winter at latitude 30oN. It's noted that thewater layer thickness is of a significant effect on the freshwater productivity while the dimensions of solar chimneyand the solar collector are of a minor effect. Theproductivity of fresh water and output power for summerare the highest. The present work is compared withexperimental data of the other work and showed a goodagreement.


In this paper we describe and share with the research community, a significant smartphone dataset obtained from an ongoing long-term data collection experiment. The dataset currently contains 10 billion data records from 30 users collected over a period of 1.6 years and an additional 20 users for 6 months (totaling 50 active users currently participating in the experiment). The experiment involves two smartphone agents: SherLock and Moriarty. SherLock collects a wide variety of software and sensor data at a high sample rate. Moriarty perpetrates various attacks on the user and logs its activities, thus providing labels for the SherLock dataset. The primary purpose of the dataset is to help security professionals and academic researchers in developing innovative methods of implicitly detecting malicious behavior in smartphones. Specifically, from data obtainable without superuser (root) privileges. To demonstrate possible uses of the dataset, we perform a basic malware analysis and evaluate a method of continuous user authentication.


Stomata function as osmotically tunable pores that facilitate gas exchange at the surface of plants. Stomatal opening and closure are regulated by turgor changes in guard cells that result in mechanically regulated deformations of guard cell walls. However, how the molecular, architectural, and mechanical heterogeneities that exist in guard cell walls affect stomatal dynamics is unclear. In this work, stomata of wild type Arabidopsis thaliana plants or of mutants lacking normal cellulose, hemicellulose, or pectins were experimentally induced to close or open. Three-dimensional images of these stomatal complexes were collected using confocal microscopy, images were landmarked, and three-dimensional finite element models (FEMs) were constructed for each complex. Stomatal opening was simulated with a 5 MPa turgor increase. By comparing experimentally measured and computationally modeled changes in stomatal geometry across genotypes, anisotropic mechanical properties of guard cell walls were determined and mapped to cell wall components. Deficiencies in cellulose or hemicellulose were both predicted to stiffen guard cell walls, but differentially affected stomatal pore area and the degree of stomatal opening. Additionally, reducing pectin molecular mass altered the anisotropy of calculated shear moduli in guard cell walls and enhanced stomatal opening. Based on the unique architecture of guard cell walls and our modeled changes in their mechanical properties in cell wall mutants, we discuss how each polysaccharide class contributes to wall architecture and mechanics in guard cells. This study provides new insights into how the walls of guard cells are constructed to meet the mechanical requirements of stomatal dynamics.