Background and Objectives: The objective of the study is survey on microbial quality of Maravehtapeh village in during September and October 1391, and its quality compared with national standards and WHO. Material and Methods: In this crosssectional study, the water microbial quality in 90 villages have piped city-wide network based on two criteria were assessed total and fecal coliform. 3 samples from each village were sampled during three months. Samples were survey A nine-tube fermentation test s for coliform group. For chlorine residual of diethyl – pphenylene diamine (DPD) colorimetric method was used. Results: In this paper, the results of date from 3 round of sampling and testing are presented. The results show that 83.64, 71.43 and 78.89% village with coverage and no coverage of Rural Waste Water Company and all maravehtapeh villages, respective, using safe water in terms of FC and 54.3, 36.37 and 43.34% village with coverage and no coverage of Rural Waste Water Company and all maravehtapeh villages, respective, using safe water in terms of TC. Conclusion: The results of this study express that the fecal contamination condition in under coverage village is good. But there is a bad condition in villages with no coverage of KRWWC. And the general microbial quality of drinking water in all Maravehtapeh villages of the World Health Organization and country Microbial Index is low.


This paper analyzes the ad hoc decision of three Asian countries to peg their currency to the U.S. dollar prior to the Asian crisis. It uses the Sjaastad model to estimate the optimal basket weights for Thailand, Korea, and Singapore. The analysis in this paper differs from the optimal basket research since we are not searching for an ad hoc optimal basket; rather, the basket is the solution to the problem. For Thailand and Korea, the correct weights of the dollar in the basket are estimated to be 44 and 65 percent, respectively, which differ significantly from the actual weight of 100 percent for the U.S. dollar in their currency basket prior to the 1997 Asian crisis. Singapore, with a weight of 85 percent for the U.S. currency, is closer to a dollar peg, and therefore was less affected by the large depreciation of the European currencies and the yen toward the dollar that occurred prior to the Asian exchange rate crisis. Besides the fact that Singapore had better economic fundamentals prior to the crisis, the fact that the optimal basket for that country is closer to a dollar peg is an additional reason why its economy was less severely hit by the crisis.


In this paper, we present an approach for crowd detection based on an ensemble of classifiers which employ several feature representation schemes of crowd images, including, local ternary patterns, local binary patterns, and features based on the spatial gray level dependency matrix. A Support Vector Machine classifier is trained on each of these feature vectors. Classifier predictions are then combined by sum rule. Experiments are performed on a large dataset that contains challenging sequences of actual football matches recorded at a stadium arena. Experimental results confirm that the different feature representations give complementary information which is exploited by fusion rules. The method proposed in this paper is shown to outperform previous methods tested on the same dataset. MATLAB code using the different descriptors is available at http://www.dei. unipd.it/wdyn/?IDsezione=3314&IDgruppo_pass=124&preview=".


The goal of this project was to identify effective interventions to improve young people's sexual and reproductive health. We systematically reviewed interventions found in the peer-reviewed and gray literature on young people's sexual and reproductive health based on four outcomes: prevention of early marriage early pregnancy limiting the number of children and preventing STIs. We focused our reviews on young people ages 10-24 in lower- and middle-income countries. French Spanish Portuguese and English reports or publications were included. Our reviews focus on both the content and quality of the interventions as well as the evaluations. Selected studies were abstracted and scored in each outcome area. This report summarizes the overall findings by outcome area providing two to three case studies of effective interventions for each outcome.


The relatioship has been analyzed for the first time between research into the development of new specialized foods for infants, its manufacture and trade and demand for it. Moreover, ways of improving specialized nutrition for infant population at the present time and in future (as per prognosis up to 1990) have been outlined.


An investigation, through empirical research, of the relationship between education in Transactional Analysis theory and the Locus of Control of college students. Two questionnaire surveys were conducted before and after the Transactional Analysis classes, and personal narrative reports by the students were collected. It was found that psychology education in Transactional Analysis correlated with a reduction in scores for the External Control proclivity of the 81 students, and their assignments displayed similar proclivity. Transactional Analysis knowledge was shown to help students discover and explore their own potentials and liberate their creativity. It is proposed that an increase of transactional analysis theory in the education of college students should be considered.


A dynamic mathematical model is presented for the growth and Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP) content of Alexandrium fundyense. The model includes cellular nitrogen-cycling to enable the synthesis of toxins in the absence of an external nitrogen-source. PSP synthesis is pro- moted by phosphorus stress but depressed by nitrogen stress, with the model containing sigmoidal functions relating nitrogen and phosphorus status to toxin synthesis. The model was tuned simulta- neously to 4 sets of experimental data for ammonium- and nitrate-grown cultures of A. fundyense that were P-replete or P-stressed. The good fit of the model, with a single set of control constants, to almost all data (cellular N:C and P:C, cell size, chlorophyll a:carbon, toxin content, external nutrients) demonstrates the capabilities of mechanistic models under dynamic situations. The potential conse- quences of recycling toxin-N, or of not making toxins at all, were considered using the model. Loss of toxin from cells could be by turnover or by leakage/excretion; model output and experimental data sets suggest that turnover may be the fate in P-stressed nitrate-grown cells but not in ammonium- grown cells. From simulations, there appears to be no significant disadvantage in expending nitrogen on toxin synthesis, thus there need not be a specific evolutionary advantage in the process. If PSP synthesis were selection-neutral this could explain the significant diversity in PSP synthesis cap- abilities within the genus Alexandrium.


APECs Cross-border privacy rules system (CPBRs) has been under development at least since 2007, after the APEC Privacy Framework was completed in 2005. The proponents of APEC CBPRs present it as having a major role in the Asia-Pacific, and in transfers of personal data globally, particularly between the EU and the Asia-Pacific. Different views are possible, but it needs to be examined and debated in considerable detail. I suggest scepticism, and that APEC CBPRs may turn out to be a house of cards.The article starts by noting that the EU's Article 29 Working Party Opinion in February 2014 in the form of a 'referential' on EU BCRs (Binding Corporate Rules) and APEC's CBPRs does not aim at achieving mutual recognition of the two systems but only 'a basis for double certification'. There are such wide differences between the two, identified in the Opinion, that a lengthy period of study is required even to understand them, let alone build bridges to overcome them. In contrast, a report by a consultancy firm concludes, with what seems unjustifiably optimistic, when read against the Working Party's later Opinion, that these differences can be overcome, and a resulting global system for 'low friction cross-border transfers' (otherwise known as 'interoperability') can emerge based on something resembling APEC's CBPRs.These contrasting studies make clear is that it is necessary for businesses and their advisers to obtain a very clear and detailed understanding of what APEC CBPRs does and does not do, and the foundations on which it is built. This article aims to provide such an analysis, in a 12 point summary of how APEC CBPRs is supposed to work, followed by a critique of the limited (if any) benefits it will provide for consumers, and the dubious business case it presents for any businesses, other than perhaps a small number of US-based companies.The second part of this article will examine how APEC CBPRs has operated to mid-2014.


In most grid-connected inverters (GCI) with an LCL filter, since the design of both the LCL filter and the controller is done separately, considerable tuning efforts have to be exerted when compared to inverters using an L filter. Consequently, an integrated co-design of the filter and the controller for an LCL-type GCI is proposed in this paper. The control strategy includes only a PI current controller and a proportional grid voltage feed-forward controller. The capacitor is removed from the LCL filer and the design procedure starts from an L-type GCI with a PI current controller. After the PI controller has been settled, the capacitor is added back to the filter. Hence, it introduces a resonance frequency, which is identified based on the crossover frequencies to accommodate the preset PI controller. Using the proposed co-design method, harmonic standards are satisfied and other practical constraints are met. Furthermore, the grid voltage feed-forward control can bring an inherent damping characteristic. In such a way, the good control performance offered by the original L-type GCI and the sharp harmonic attenuation offered by the latter designed LCL filter can be well integrated. Moreover, only the grid current and grid voltage are sensed. Simulation and experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed design methodology.


OBJECTIVE
To determine if knee joint torques, which are likely relevant to the development and, possibly, progression of knee osteoarthritis, are equivalent between genders during natural, barefoot walking.

DESIGN
Collected stereophotogrammetric and force platform data during comfortable, barefoot walking. Knee joint torques were plotted and statistically compared between genders using both an unpaired t test (p < .05) and an equivalence test (20% delta).

SETTING
A gait laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS
One hundred ten healthy, nondisabled young women and men.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Four knee joint torque parameters normalized for height and weight: (1) peak and (2) duration of sagittal flexor joint torque from early to midstance, and (3) first and (4) second peak coronal (frontal) varus torque values during the stance period.

RESULTS
No statistically significant differences between genders were found, and the values were equivalent between genders for each of the 4 knee joint torque parameters.

CONCLUSION
These findings support the hypothesis that under similar barefoot conditions women and men have a similar intrinsic biomechanic risk for knee osteoarthritis. Future research to assess the effects of other potential biomechanic factors, such as shoe-wear and activity type, may assist not only in preventing knee joint osteoarthritis, but also in developing new rehabilitative strategies to treat osteoarthritis of the knee.


Background: Tuberculosis remains a serious global public health problem. It mainly affects the lungs, and occurs in every part of the world. The link between tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus is essential to inform programs and policies, yet there is a scarcity of information in our study area. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the incidence and predictors of tuberculosis among diabetic patients at Debre Markos Referral Hospital, northwest Ethiopia. Methods: This institutionally based retrospective cohort study was undertaken among 433 diabetic patients of Debre Markos Referral Hospital between January 2013 and December 2017. All eligible diabetic patients who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Data were entered using EpiData version 3.1 and analyzed using Stata version 14. The survival time of diabetic patients was estimated using Kaplan – Meier survival curves, and survival time among different categorical variables compared using the log-rank test. Both bivariate and multivariate Coxproportional-hazard regression models were fi tted to identify independent predictors of tuberculosis among diabetic patients. Results: Among the cohort of 43326 (6%) developed tuberculosis during follow-up. The overall tuberculosis-incidence rate was 2.4 per 100 with 95% CI. The total time allotted to follow up the study participants was 1,101.5 person-years. Using multivariate Cox regression analysis, history of alcohol consumption (adjusted incidence ratio 4, 95% CI 1.2 – 13; P =0.02) and history of tuberculosis (12, 95% CI 3 – 39; P =0.01) signi fi cantly increased the risk of tuberculosis, but normal body-mass index and above ( ≥ 18.5 kg/m 2 ) was associated with a rate reduction (0.34, 95% CI 0.14; P= 0.80; 0.03) forincidence of tuberculosis. Conclusion: In this study, we found a high rate of tuberculosis among diabetic patients. Factors signi fi cantly linked with increased risk of tuberculosis included history of alcohol consumption, history of tuberculosis, and low body-mass index. Early screening and treatment for tuberculosis is highly recommended at diabetes mellitus follow-up for patients with these risk factors.


During sporulation in Bacillus subtilis, new RNA polymerase sigma factors are produced. These sigma factors direct the transcription of genes that are required for this cellular differentiation. In order to determine the role of each sigma factor in this process, it is necessary to know which promoters are recognized by each sigma factor. The spoIIID gene product plays an important role in the establishment of mother cell-specific gene expression during sporulation. We found that substitution of an alanine at position 124 of the sporulation-specific sigma factor sigma E suppressed the effect of a single-base-pair transition at position -13 of the spoIIID promoter. This alanine substitution in sigma E did not suppress the effect of a transversion at position -12 of the spoIIID promoter. The allele specificity of the interaction between sigma E and the spoIIID promoter is strong evidence that sigma E directs transcription from the spoIIID promoter during sporulation. Position 124 in sigma E is located within a region that is highly conserved among the regions in other sigma factors that probably interact with the -10 regions of their cognate promoters.


The study empirically examines the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and corporate tax compliance in the Greek setting where extreme aggregate fluctuations have taken place. Using a sample of 246,867 firm-year observations from 2004 to 2014, the study found strong evidence that there is negative association between economic conditions, as measured by the rate of gross domestic product, and corporate tax avoidance magnitude thus confirming recent prior evidence. We however, found that the association between the state of economic conditions and corporate tax evasion magnitude is positive. In other words, based on quantitative results combining firm-level and macroeconomic data, we argue that, all other things being equal, during recession phases of the economy firms are basically intended to avoid taxes whereas during expansion phases firms are basically focused and apply in a greater extent tax evasion practices. To the best of this study knowledge this is the first study providing empirical evidence on how macroeconomic cycles affect all aspects of corporate tax compliance behavior.

 Key words: Tax avoidance, tax evasion, economic cycles.


Impact of light on animal behavior has been known for a long time—from 1925, Rowan [30] showed that lighting conditions influence gonad activity in birds and the related processes are controlled not only by means of intraorganic signals. Studies carried out in subsequent years have established that, also in mammals, the gland reacting to changes in light conditions is the pineal gland, producing a substance called melatonin. Biosynthesis of melatonin in most animals studied to date occurs at a rhythm dependent on the photocycle. The highest concentrations of this hormone—often called "the hormone of darkness"—are recorded at night. Seasonal changes in melatonin secretion conditioned by activity of the biological clock, known also as "biochemical calendar", are the key signals in the annual reproductive cycles of animals exhibiting seasonality of reproduction. Seasonality in sheep refers not only to the reproduction itself but also to lactation. One of the main hormones conditioning initiation and maintenance of lactation, synthesis of milk proteins, fat and immunoglobulins is prolactin (PRL), secreted primarily by lactotrophic cells in the adenohypophysis. Prolactin is also produced locally by the mammary gland—the hormone of this origin is identical to prolactin secreted by the pituitary gland. Until now, it was considered that the level of milk production in mammals is determined by both genetic and environmental factors. However, in recent years, many studies focused on the role of light as a modulator of prolactin levels. In livestock, changes in light-period length play a very important role as this determines their productivity and milk yield. Photoperiod is particularly important in short-day breeder animals (sheep), for which the length of light period is associated with changes in melatonin level. The modulating effect of melatonin on secretion of prolactin may take place via two different mechanisms. One is associated with the circadian rhythm, wherein—directly or through the medium of a factor popularly termed "tuberalin"—melatonin stimulates the release of prolactin. However, this effect is short-lived and is most likely applicable only to prolactin stored in lactotrophic cells of the pituitary. The second mechanism regulating the secretion of melatonin and prolactin is associated with the annual rhythms of secretion—melatonin, due to its lipophilic characteristics, has a direct effect on the secretion of prolactin. Under © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. natural conditions, the maximum concentration of prolactin in the blood of sheep is observed over the long-day period, during which the melatonin level decreases. The lowest prolactin concentration is observed over the short-day period, where melatonin levels are at their highest. Changes in secretion of prolactin during lactation in sheep undoubtedly affect the amount of milk produced.


Many computer vision applications require robust and efficient estimation of camera geometry. The robust estimation is usually based on solving camera geometry problems from a minimal number of input data measurements, i.e., solving minimal problems, in a RANSAC-style framework. Minimal problems often result in complex systems of polynomial equations. The existing state-of-the-art methods for solving such systems are either based on Gröbner bases and the action matrix method, which have been extensively studied and optimized in the recent years or recently proposed approach based on a resultant computation using an extra variable. In this paper, we study an interesting alternative resultant-based method for solving sparse systems of polynomial equations by hiding one variable. This approach results in a larger eigenvalue problem than the action matrix and extra variable resultant-based methods; however, it does not need to compute an inverse or elimination of large matrices that may be numerically unstable. The proposed approach includes several improvements to the standard sparse resultant algorithms, which significantly improves the efficiency and stability of the hidden variable resultant-based solvers as we demonstrate on several interesting computer vision problems. We show that for the studied problems, our sparse resultant based approach leads to more stable solvers than the state-of-the-art Gröbner basis as well as existing resultant-based solvers, especially in close to critical configurations. Our new method can be fully automated and incorporated into existing tools for the automatic generation of efficient minimal solvers.


We examine whether the response of the euro area economy to uncertainty shocks depends on the state of financial conditions. We find strong evidence that uncertainty shocks have much more powerful effects on key macroeconomic variables in episodes marked by financial distress than in normal times. We document that the recovery of economic activity is state-dependent following an adverse uncertainty shock. More precisely, it is gradual in normal times, but displays a more accelerated rebound when the shock hits during financial distress. These findings are based on a non-linear data-driven model that accounts for regime switching and time-varying volatility. Finally, from a policy perspective, we argue that whether financial markets are calm or distressed matters when it comes to the appropriate policy responses to uncertainty shocks.


The development of Australian typologies of teacher-student interpersonal behaviour has not been done before. Therefore, this study reports on the first development in Australia of Science teacher typologies. Teacher-student interpersonal behaviour was measured by asking students for their perceptions of their teachers' interpersonal behaviour using the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI). Earlier work with the QTI in the Netherlands has revealed eight different interpersonal styles, or typologies. These eight styles were later confirmed in an American sample of Secondary school teachers. The present study investigates the extent to which typologies found in earlier studies also applies to a sample of Australian secondary school Science teachers. Student perception data has been aggregated to the class level. Data was first checked with SPSS to examine whether the eight types found in the Netherlands and U.S. were also present in the Australian data. A cluster analysis using various clustering methods and procedures was used to determine Australian typologies and compare these to earlier Dutch findings. Results of the cluster analyses were verified by analyses of variance (ANOVA), by plotting QTI scale scores graphically and by presenting a set of sector graphics to two independent researchers and having them sort these into different styles as found in the statistical analyses. The resultant typologies are presented in this paper.


Translucent WDM optical networks use sparse placement of regenerators to overcome the impairments and wavelength contention introduced by fully transparent networks, and achieve a performance close to fully opaque networks with much less cost. Our previous study proved the feasibility of translucent networks using the sparse regeneration technique. We addressed the placement of regenerators based on static schemes allowing only fixed number of regenerators at fixed locations. This paper furthers the study by proposing a suite of dynamical routing schemes. Dynamic allocation, advertisement and discovery of regeneration resources are proposed to support sharing transmitters and receivers between regeneration and access functions. This study follows the current trend in the optical networking industry by utilizing the extension of IP control protocols. Dynamic routing algorithms, aware of current regeneration resources and link states, are designed to smartly route the connection requests under quality constraints. A hierarchical network model, supported by the MPLS-based control plane, is also proposed to provide scalability. Experiments show that network performance is improved without placement of extra regenerators.


This research uses a qualitative methodology to analyse the academic library usage and experiences of International Medical (IM) students from an Asian cultural background studying medicine at the Christchurch School of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. There has been little research done investigating the library experiences of students from other cultures, despite international evidence that usage habits and experiences of these cohorts can differ greatly from those of local students. With increasing numbers of students from other cultures studying in New Zealand, it seemed that data should be gathered to inform the development of library services. Fifteen 4th and 5th year students from culturally Asian backgrounds participated in focus groups using semi-structured interviews, and transcripts of these interviews were analysed using narrative and discourse analysis. The findings support the work of Hofstede and indicate that an Asian cultural background has a significant impact on students' knowledge of, and ability to utilise, academic library services; however, it is also evident that such knowledge and ability is eventually acquired by students through their friendship groups, but this is often in an ad-hoc manner. It is recommended that academic libraries develop greater awareness of the impact that cultural background can have on the library usage and experience of the increasing numbers of students from foreign cultural backgrounds in New Zealand medical settings in particular, and academic settings in general.


Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) for medical images has received a significant research interest over the past decade as a promising approach to address the data management challenges posed by the rapidly increasing volume of medical image data in use. Articles published in the literature detail the benefits and present impressive results to substantiate potential impact of the technology. However, the benefits have yet to make it to mainstream clinical, biomedical research, or educational use. No major commercial software tools are available for use in medical imaging products, although several are available for commercial stock photo collections. CBIR has had some success in isolated instances in applications on limited data sets addressing specialized medical problems and at biomedical research laboratories and hospitals that are tightly coupled with software developers. This article explores some possible causes of this "gap" in the lack of translation of research into widespread biomedical use and provides some directions to alleviate the problem.


Throughout recent years, polymers have been one of the most widely used materials in industry due to their suitability to a vast variety of fields from construction to biomedical and technological utilities. Their extensive and broad range of applications, demands the ever increasing necessity for extensive insight into the behavior and properties of this group of materials. Whilst some aspects of this demand can be addressed through experiments, the inherent difficulties and restrictions of studying polymeric systems with greater degrees of complexity, have motivated researchers to discover alternative means of examining these cases of interest effectively. The advent of polymer theory as well as the development of appropriate computer simulation techniques have proven to be invaluable sources of new insight. With the ever increasing use of polymeric materials in industrial applications, such as highly efficient coatings and adhesives, an in-depth knowledge of their behavior close to surfaces is needed. Moreover, for the development of effective materials, an accurate understanding of their physical properties such as their surface tension is also required. In this light, our goal is to study the surface behavior of polymers melts, whether they be monodisperse or polydisperse. The study of the former system, which is a melt composed of chains of a single length, is more attractive theoretically as a basis for a comprehensive study of influential parameters. However, in reality, most polymeric materials are polydisperse, hence motivating the detailed assessment of both. Surfaces behave as reflecting boundaries for the most part but violations are seen to occur due to a number of parameters such as the finite width of surface profiles, discreteness of chains as well as excluded volume effects. These result in an excess of end monomers being observed at the surfaces of monodisperse melts and shorter chains segregating to the surfaces of polydisperse ones, from which the surface tension is seen to be affected as well. The source of these migrations could either be enthalpic, with a preference for ends to be closer to surfaces, but also purely entropic which is the case studied here. With the inherent difficulties of experimentally isolating these entropic phenomena, a more successful outcome is obtained through their theoretical study. Hence, for both of the aforementioned systems, we shall be performing mean-field calculations as well as Monte Carlo simulations, in addition to comparing them with universal predicted forms to test their accuracy.


The recycle movement is now bigger than ever, with more reasons than ever. Recycling has the potential to save the world's landfills millions of cubic feet per year of precious space, as well as preserve our natural supply of virgin timbers. The recycling effort has sparked many questions over the years for papermakers. One big question is "how will repeated beating of fibers affect recycling potential?, and how will the effects differ between chemical and mechanical pulps"? Chemical pulps have been found to lose strength from recycling. By becoming stiffer, chemically pulped fibers lose critical bonding area and flexibility, whereas, mechanical pulps have been recycled with little or no constant trend on fiber strength as recycling increases. It is thought that mechanical pulps actually soften and become more pliable with increased recycling, therefore increasing bond area and strength. The purpose of the experiment was to investigate the recycled fiber potential of mechanical pulps. The experiment was carried out using a softwood, pine TMP pulp supplied by a mill located in the state of Washington. Initially, handsheets were formed before any beating took place, to serve as a control group. The initial batch of handsheets were tested for strength properties and then beaten to a target freeness of 122CSF, this cycle of testing, repulping and beating was carried out four tinies. The results of the experiment revealed and interesting trend. It was found that strength in the form of tensile wet and dry, breaking length, burst index, and scott bond all reached a strength maxima after the second recycle. After the maxima was reached strength declined through the third and fourth recycles. Zero span tensile indicates no appreciable fiber strength loss was found throughout the recycling process. This would suggest strength gains were derived from increased bonding. Increased bonding was thought to be achieved by fiber softening and fiber unravelling, which produced greater available bond area. The production of short fibers also aided in producing increased bond area. It is believed that after two recycles, the fiber stabilized. The decrease in strength is believed to be a function of fiber shortening. It should be mentioned that some fines were lost in handsheet making process. White water was not recycled back into the forming machine, and so some of the fines produced in the PFI mill were lost. It would also have been beneficial to utilize a fiber flexibility tester to quantify fiber flexibility.


We introduce a novel grid-independent model for learning partial differential equations (PDEs) from noisy and partial observations on irregular spatiotemporal grids. We propose a space-time continuous latent neural PDE model with an efficient probabilistic framework and a novel encoder design for improved data efficiency and grid independence. The latent state dynamics are governed by a PDE model that combines the collocation method and the method of lines. We employ amortized variational inference for approximate posterior estimation and utilize a multiple shooting technique for enhanced training speed and stability. Our model demonstrates state-of-the-art performance on complex synthetic and real-world datasets, overcoming limitations of previous approaches and effectively handling partially-observed data. The proposed model outperforms recent methods, showing its potential to advance data-driven PDE modeling and enabling robust, grid-independent modeling of complex partially-observed dynamic processes.


Background Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a lifesaver for individual patients treated for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Maintaining optimal adherence to antiretroviral drugs is essential for HIV infection management. This study aimed to understand the factors influencing adherence amongst ART-prescribed patients and care providers in Nepal. Methods A cross-sectional mixed-methods study surveying 330 ART-prescribed patients and 34 in-depth interviews with three different types of stakeholders: patients, care providers, and key people at policy level. Adherence was assessed through survey self-reporting and during the interviews. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with adherence, supplemented with a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts. Results A total of 282 (85.5%) respondents reported complete adherence, i.e. no missed doses in the four-weeks prior to interview. Major factors influencing adherence were: non-disclosure of HIV status (OR = 17.99, p =  0.014); alcohol use (OR = 12.89, p = <0.001), being female (OR = 6.91, p = 0.001), being illiterate (OR = 4.58, p = 0.015), side-effects (OR = 6.04, p = 0.025), ART started ≤24 months (OR = 3.18, p = 0.009), travel time to hospital >1 hour (OR = 2.84, p = 0.035). Similarly, lack of knowledge and negative perception towards ART medications also significantly affected non-adherence. Transport costs (for repeat prescription), followed by pills running out, not wanting others to notice, side-effects, and being busy were the most common reasons for non-adherence. The interviews also revealed religious or ritual obstacles, stigma and discrimination, ART-associated costs, transport problems, lack of support, and side-effects as contributing to non-adherence. Conclusion Improving adherence requires a supportive environment; accessible treatment; clear instructions about regimens; and regimens tailored to individual patients' lifestyles. Healthcare workers should address some of the practical and cultural issues around ART medicine whilst policy-makers should develop appropriate social policy to promote adherence among ART-prescribed patients.


This study assesses the potential for extending the farmers' market season in the Intermountain West by evaluating producer and market manager perceptions regarding product availability, pricing, and marketing realities through web-based surveys conducted in 2011. Potential extended season fresh produce pricing was evaluated through forecasting models using pricing data collected at farmers' markets in the region. Study results show that both producers and market managers perceive potential benefits to extending the market season, but detail potential obstacles, such as location and costs. Produce price premiums in the extended season are likely, but vary by product in magnitude and timing.


We present the first results of our analyses of selected RR Lyrae stars for which data have been obtained by the Kepler Mission. As expected, we find a significant fraction of the RRab stars to show the Blazhko effect, a still unexplained phenomenon that manifests itself as periodic amplitude and phase modulations of the light curve, on timescales of typically tens to hundreds of days. The long time span of the Kepler Mission of 3.5 yr and the unprecedentedly high precision of its data provide a unique opportunity for the study of RR Lyrae stars. Using data of a modulated star observed in the first roll as a showcase, we discuss the data, our analyses, findings, and their implications for our understanding of RR Lyrae stars and the Blazhko effect. With at least 40% of the RR Lyrae stars in our sample showing modulation, we confirm the high incidence rate that was only found in recent high-precision studies. Moreover, we report the occurrence of additional frequencies, beyond the main pulsation mode and its modulation components. Their half-integer ratio to the main frequency is reminiscent of a period doubling effect caused by resonances, observed for the first time in RR Lyrae stars.


The negative impact of fossil fuels and the increased demand for renewable energy sources has led to the use of novel raw material sources. Lignocellulosic biomass could serve as a possible raw material for anaerobic digestion and production of biogas. This work is aimed at using forest biomass, both softwood (spruce) and hardwood (birch), as a raw material for anaerobic digestion. We examined the effect of different operational conditions for the organosolv pretreatment (ethanol content, duration of treatment, and addition of acid catalyst) on the methane yield. In addition, we investigated the effect of addition of cellulolytic enzymes during the digestion. We found that inclusion of an acid catalyst during organosolv pretreatment improved the yields from spruce, but it did not affect the yields from birch. Shorter duration of treatment was advantageous with both materials. Methane yields from spruce were higher with lower ethanol content whereas higher ethanol content was more beneficial for birch. The highest yields obtained were 185 mL CH 4 /g VS from spruce and 259.9 mL CH 4 /g VS from birch. Addition of cellulolytic enzymes improved these yields to 266.6 mL CH 4 /g VS and 284.2 mL CH 4 /g VS, respectively.


In this paper, we study user profile matching with privacy-preservation in mobile social networks (MSNs) and introduce a family of novel profile matching protocols. We first propose an explicit Comparison-based Profile Matching protocol (eCPM) which runs between two parties, an initiator and a responder. The eCPM enables the initiator to obtain the comparisonbased matching result about a specified attribute in their profiles, while preventing their attribute values from disclosure. We then propose an implicit Comparison-based Profile Matching protocol (iCPM) which allows the initiator to directly obtain some messages instead of the comparison result from the responder. The messages unrelated to user profile can be divided into multiple categories by the responder. The initiator implicitly chooses the interested category which is unknown to the responder. Two messages in each category are prepared by the responder, and only one message can be obtained by the initiator according to the comparison result on a single attribute. We further generalize the iCPM to an implicit Predicate-based Profile Matching protocol (iPPM) which allows complex comparison criteria spanning multiple attributes. The anonymity analysis shows all these protocols achieve the confidentiality of user profiles. In addition, the eCPM reveals the comparison result to the initiator and provides only conditional anonymity; the iCPM and the iPPM do not reveal the result at all and provide full anonymity. We analyze the communication overhead and the anonymity strength of the protocols. We then present an enhanced version of the eCPM, called eCPM+, by combining the eCPM with a novel prediction-based adaptive pseudonym change strategy. The performance of the eCPM and the eCPM+ are comparatively studied through extensive trace-based simulations. Simulation results demonstrate that the eCPM+ achieves significantly higher anonymity strength with slightly larger number of pseudonyms than the eCPM.


It has long been recognized that isolates of iron- and sulfur-oxidizing acidophiles referred to as "Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans" probably include more than one species, on the basis of differences in chromosomal GC contents and 16S rRNA gene sequences. Phylogenetic heterogeneity among these isolates was confirmed by phylogenetic analysis using the sequences of the 16S-23S intergenic spacers (ITS). Two main groups have been identified: the first includes the type strain of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and a second comprises a cluster of newly isolated strains that have 98.5% 16S rRNA gene sequence identity with the type strain. Given that the new group of isolates have GC contents of 56 mol% as opposed to 58.8 mol% for At. ferrooxidansT, and that they share only 37% homologous DNA, these were given the new species name Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans. Further studies showed that, while strains of At. ferrivorans have many physiological traits in common with At. ferrooxidans, they also differ in some key characteristics. These include the ability to grow at temperatures as low as 4°C (as opposed to the lower limit of between 10 and 12°C for At. ferrooxidans) and the greater sensitivity of At. ferrivorans to low pH (minimum of 1.9 for growth as opposed to 1.3 for At. ferrooxidansT). Important genotypic differences include the fact that all strains of At. ferrivorans do not contain the archetypal rusticyanin gene (rusA), rather most contain a rusA homologue (rusB). Furthermore, the high potential iron-sulfur protein-encoding gene of all At. ferrivorans strains analyzed is more similar to the iro than to the hip gene characterized in At. ferrooxidansT. These results suggest that the iron oxidation pathways are different in At. ferrivorans and At. ferrooxidans.


Quantum lithography promises, in principle, unlimited feature resolution, independent of wavelength. The price to be paid is that the lithographic film must consist of a multi-photon absorbing material. If N photons are absorbed, the minimum feature resolution goes from roughly λ/2 to λ/2N. However, there has been a discussion in the literature as to what is the probability of N photons in a lithographic exposure field to hit the same detector pixel, thereby enabling the needed N-photon absorption. On one hand it has been claimed that "If the optical system is aligned properly, the probability of the first photon arriving in a small absorptive volume of space time is proportional to [the field intensity]. However, the remaining N-1 photons are constrained to arrive at the same place at the same time…" [1]. On the other hand it has been argued that "… it is not true that the first arriving photon greatly constrains the arrival location of the following ones … Very few photons will be absorbed in one point since they typically arrive far apart." [2]. The answer to this dispute dictate very much the practical feasibility of quantum lithography, because if the few photons in the entangled state are spread out over the exposed area, the probability will quickly become negligible that they arrive at the same spot (causing a N-photon detection event). This will render quantum lithography very inefficient, albeit still feasible in principle.


The tumor microenvironment is a dynamic network of stromal, cancer and immune cells that interact and compete for resources. Mitochondria play an essential role in the control of metabolic plasticity and contribute to tumor progression and immune cell functionality. We previously identi�ed the Vanin1 pathway as a tumor suppressor of sarcoma development via vitamin B5 and coenzyme A regeneration. Using an aggressive sarcoma cell line that lacks Vnn1 expression, we showed that administration of pantethine, a vitamin B5 precursor, impairs tumor growth in immunocompetent mice. Pantethine boosts anti-tumor type 1 immunity including polarization of myeloid and dendritic cells towards enhanced IFN γ - driven antigen presentation pathways and improved development of hypermetabolic effector CD8 + T cells endowed with potential anti-tumor activity. At later stages of treatment, the effect of pantethine is limited by the development of immune cell exhaustion. Nevertheless, its activity is comparable to that of anti-PD1 treatment in sensitive tumors. In humans, VNN1 expression correlates with improved survival and immune cell in�ltration in soft tissue sarcomas but not osteosarcomas. Pantethine could be a potential therapeutic immunoadjuvant for the development of anti-tumor immunity.


A renowned theologian examines the work of the six scholars who shaped his career. A companion book to Frend's "The Early Church", it shows the evolution of his thought throughout his career. Including precis of the thoughts of: Adolf von Harnack, Hans Lietzmann, Stephane Gsell, Sir William Ramsay, Mgr Louis Duchesne and Norman Baynes, it will appeal to acadamics and interested lay persons.


Instrument driver technology has evolved tremendously during 1990s. Initiatives such as SCPI and VXIplug&play have simplified remote instrument programming with standardized command messages and high-level utility functions. The latest such initiative is the Interchangeable Virtual Instrument (IVI) Foundation. IVI defines standards for instrument drivers that offer many benefits to provide higher performance. These benefits include instrument interchangeability, instrument simulation, and instrument state caching. Because instrument drivers are an integral part of a modern test system, IVI promises to provide developers with the tools to increase their system performance significantly. This paper reviews the technical aspects of the IVI specification and the IVI architecture and describes how IVI can help the test system developer improve performance and lower long-term software maintenance costs.


Satureja khuzistanica Jamzad is known as antiseptic and analgesic agent in folk medicine. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the anti-candidal activity of S. khuzistanica aerial parts essential oil against clinical isolates of Candida albicans, which were isolated from women with chronic recurrent candidiasis. For this purpose, the chemical composition of hydro-distilled essential oil was determined by GC and GC-MS analysis. Then, the anti-candidal activity of essential oil and its main component (carvacrol) were determined. Carvacrol (94.1%) was the main component of essential oil, followed by β-bisabolene, p-cymene and γ-terpinene. S. khuzistanica essential oil had strong anti-candidal activity against clinical isolates of C. albicans via inhibition of germ tube formation and induction the huge punctures in the cytoplasmic structures. The cell membranes were intact in presence of essential oil or carvacrol. S. khuzistanica essential oil as the main source of carvacrol can be used for treatment of C. albicans related infections.


Widespread volcanism on Jupiter's satellite Io, if it occurred over the age of the solar system, would quickly reduce the inventory of most common volatiles needed to drive such volcanism. One exception is the volatile element sulfur. It is therefore postulated that sulfur is the driving volatile for Ionian volcanism. Its presence is consistent with a carbonaceous-chondrite-like bulk composition for the original material that formed Io 4.5 billion years ago. The ubiquity of sulfur on Io today demonstrates the importance of this element in the processes that formed its surface.


Christopher Paget is a trial lawyer with a famous past: as a young investigator in Washington he unearthed a scandal that brought ruin to the President - and an abrupt end to his affair with journalist Mary Carelli. Now, fifteen years later, Carelli is a famous TV journalist in New York and Paget is leading a relatively tranquil life raising their son in San Francisco. Until a charge of murder changes everything. The victim - a world famous (and infamous) novelist. The accused - Mary Carelli. When Paget agrees to defend her, largely for the sake of their son, her claims of attempted rape and self-defence seem water-tight. But gradually secrets from her past come to light and Paget is suddenly facing an explosive mix of public trial and personal conflict leaving his own and his son's fates vulnerable and exposed.


The Friesner Herbarium (BUT) of Butler University is a collection of over 100,000 specimens built from the personal herbarium of Ray C. Friesner. He and other botanists at Butler amassed one of the largest and most complete collections of Indiana plants. Active exchange from the 1920's through the 1940's increased the holdings of plants from other states. Although the collection does not contain many type specimens, it is rich in vouchers from floristic and ecological studies conducted in the first half of the 20th century and published in the scientific journal,Butler University Botanical Studies.


BACKGROUND
There is a paucity of data on the treatment of femoral neck fractures in young patients. The purpose of the present study was to review the results and complications associated with the treatment of femoral neck fractures with internal fixation in a large consecutive series of young patients.

METHODS
Between 1975 and 2000, eighty-three femoral neck fractures in eighty-two consecutive patients who were between fifteen and fifty years old were treated with internal fixation at our institution. Two patients died, and eight were lost to follow-up. Seventy-three fractures were followed until union, until conversion to hip arthroplasty, or for a minimum of two years; the mean duration of follow-up was 6.6 years. Fifty-one of the seventy-three fractures were displaced, and twenty-two were nondisplaced. The results and complications of treatment were retrospectively reviewed, and the effects of fracture displacement, reduction quality, and capsular decompression on outcome were evaluated. Function was assessed by evaluating pain, walking capacity, and the need for gait aids. The mean duration of follow-up for the fifty-seven patients (fifty-eight fractures) who had not undergone early conversion to arthroplasty was 8.1 years.

RESULTS
Fifty-three (73%) of the seventy-three fractures healed after one operation and were associated with no evidence of osteonecrosis of the femoral head. Osteonecrosis developed in association with seventeen fractures (23%), and a nonunion developed in association with six (8%). Four of the six nonunions later healed after a secondary procedure. At the time of the final follow-up, thirteen patients had had a conversion to a total hip arthroplasty because of osteonecrosis (eleven), nonunion (one), or both (one). Five (9.8%) of the fifty-one displaced fractures were associated with the development of nonunion, and fourteen (27%) were associated with the development of osteonecrosis. Three (14%) of the twenty-two nondisplaced fractures were associated with the development of osteonecrosis, and one (4.5%) was associated with the development of nonunion. Eleven (24%) of the forty-six displaced fractures with a good to excellent reduction were associated with the development of osteonecrosis, and two (4%) were associated with the development of nonunion. Four of the five displaced fractures with a fair or poor reduction were associated with the development of osteonecrosis, nonunion, or both.

CONCLUSIONS
The ten-year survival rate of the native femoral head free of conversion to total hip arthroplasty was 85%. Osteonecrosis was the main reason for conversion to total hip arthroplasty, but not all patients with osteonecrosis required further surgery. The results of treatment were influenced by fracture displacement and the quality of reduction.


Meal timing relative to sleep/wake schedules is relevant in the search for obesity risk factors. However, clock time does not accurately characterize the timing of food intake in the context of internal circadian timing. Therefore, we studied elapsed between dinner and the midpoint of sleep (TDM) as a practical approach to evaluate meal timing relative to internal timing, and its implications on obesity. To do so, adiposity, sleep, diet, physical activity, and TDM were measured in 133 women. The participants were grouped into four categories according to their sleep timing behavior (early-bed/early-rise; early-bed/late-rise; late-bed/early-rise; late-bed/late-rise). Differences among the categories were tested using ANOVA, while restricted cubic splines were calculated to study the association between TDM and adiposity. Our results show that, although participants had dinner at about the same time, those that had the shortest TDM (early-bed/early-rise group) were found to have significantly higher BMI and waist circumference values (2.3 kg/m2 and 5.2 cm) than the other groups. In addition, a TDM of 6 h was associated with the lowest values of adiposity. The TDM could be a practical approach to personalizing meal timing based on individual sleep/wake schedules. Thus, according to our findings, dining 6 h before the midpoint of sleep is an important finding and could be vital for future nutritional recommendations and for obesity prevention and treatment.


A growing body of evidence demonstrates visual, perceptual, and oculomotor abilities contribute to batting performance in baseball and there is interest in whether training such abilities can transfer positively to batting performance. The current study tested this question through a pre-registered randomized, and placebo-controlled intervention, conducted with 24 collegiate baseball players at two Division 1 universities. Athletes were randomized to receive either dynamic vision training consisting of stroboscopic, anticipatory timing, and eye quickness drills, or placebo drills stylized after control procedures in previous vision therapy studies. Generalized near-transfer was tested via a digital visual-motor task battery (n = 20), while sports-specific intermediate and far transfer of training were evaluated through instrumented batting practice metrics (n = 14) and box score performance in NCAA-sanctioned games (n = 12). The effects of training group were tested on these outcome measures while controlling for covariates such as pre-training expectations and site. Participants averaged 8.50 hours of training with no significant training group differences in adherence, expectations, or baseline assessments. ANCOVA revealed no group differences in measures of visual-motor skills or NCAA game statistics. However, batting practice demonstrated significant improvements in launch angle (p = 0.002, Cohen's d = 0.74) and hit distance (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.70) for the active cohort relative to the placebo control. This controlled and pre-registered pilot study therefore provides preliminary evidence that vision training may improve batting practice performance, creating new opportunities for the transfer of skill training and warranting further study. Pre-Registration At Open Science Framework on August 9, 2018. DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/496RX. Accessible at https://osf.io/jxh8u


Left ventricular (LV) remodeling after experimental myocardial infarction (MI) is associated with hypertrophy of noninfarcted myocardium and electrophysiological alterations. We have recently shown that post-MI hypertrophied LV myocytes have prolonged action potential duration (APD) and generate triggered activity from early afterdepolarizations. The prolonged APD was attributed to decreased density of the two outward K+ currents, I(to)-fast (I(to)-f) and I(to)-slow (I(to)-s), rather than changes in the density and/or kinetics of the L-type Ca2+ current. The changes in ionic current density may be related to alterations in the expression and levels of ion channel proteins. To test this hypothesis, rats underwent either left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) ligation (post-MI group [n = 10]) or sham surgery (sham group [n = 10]). Three weeks later transcripts from the noninfarcted LV myocardium in the post-MI group (n = 6) and LV myocardium of the sham group (n = 6) were analyzed by RNase protection assay. Expressions of five K+ channel subunit mRNAs (Kv1.2, Kv1.4, Kv1.5, Kv2.1, and Kv4.2) reported in the rat ventricle were analyzed. Compared with the sham group, expressions of Kv1.4, Kv2.1 (putative I(to)-s), and Kv4.2 (putative I(to)-f) channel subunit mRNAs were significantly decreased by 60% (P < .03), 54% (P < .005), and 53% (P < .002), respectively, in the post-MI group. There was no significant change in the Kv1.2 and Kv1.5 mRNA levels. Western blotting demonstrated a similar decrease in the Kv2.1 and Kv4.2 immunoreactive protein levels (43% [P < .03] and 67% [P < .003], respectively [n = 4]) and no significant change in Kv1.5 immunoreactive protein level. Our results strongly correlate with the electrophysiological findings in this model and show that transcriptional regulation in the post-MI remodeled rat LV is distinct for each voltage-gated K+ channel subunit. These findings provide, at least in part, the molecular basis for the electrophysiological alterations observed in this model.


International investments are governed by three different legal frameworks: 1) national laws of both the host country and the investor's home country; 2) contracts, whether between the investor and the host country or among investors and their associates; and 3) international law, consisting of applicable treaties, customs, and general principles of law. Together, these three frameworks profoundly influence the organization, operation, and protection of foreign investments. Investors, government officials, and their legal counsel must therefore understand the complex interaction among these frameworks and how best to employ them to advance their interests. This book examines the content of each of these three legal frameworks for international investment and explores how they influence the foreign investment process and the nature of investment transactions, projects, and enterprises. The book is divided into five parts. Part I, after explaining the contemporary nature and significance of international investment, examines the theoretical and practical links between law and the investment process. Part II explores the nature of national laws regulating foreign investment. Part III considers of the various contractual frameworks for international investments, looking at their negotiation, content, and stability. Part IV sets out the international legal framework governing foreign investment, focusing on the content and nature of investment treaties and on general principles. Finally, Part V discusses how the three legal frameworks interact with each other. By comprehensively examining each of the applicable legal frameworks, this book provides a vital overview of the laws, rules, and regulations governing foreign investment for lawyers, scholars, students, and government officials.