Presenting the outcomes of a capacity building activity, this contribution illustrates a replicable recording methodology to obtain timely, relevant and accurate information about conditions, materials and transformations of heritage structures. The purpose of the presented training activity consisted in developing local capabilities for the documentation of the built heritage at Bagan, Myanmar, employing different IT-supported techniques. Under the Director of UNESCO, the direct supervision of the chief of the culture unit, and in close consultation and cooperation with the Association of Myanmar Architects, the Department of Archaeology National Museum and Library (DoA) a documentation strategy has been developed in order to set up a recording methodology for the over three thousand Bagan monuments. The site, located in central Myanmar, in South East Asia, was developed between the IX and the XIII century as capital of the Myanmar kingdom. In the last years, this outstanding site has been exposed to an increasing number of natural hazards including earthquakes and flooding that strongly affected its built structures. Therefore, a documentation strategy to quickly capture shape, color, geometry and conditions of the monuments, in order to develop proper conservation projects, was needed. The scope of the training activity consisted in setting up a recording strategy updating the existing Bagan inventory, using three Buddhist temples as pilot cases study. The three documented temples were different in size, construction period, conditions and shape. The documentation included several IT-supported techniques including: Electronic Distance Measurements (EDM), SFM Photogrammetry, Laser Scanning, Record Photography as well as hand measurement and field notes. The monuments' surveying has been developed in accordance with the guidelines and standards established by the ICOMOS International Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage (CIPA). Recommendations on how to extend the adopted methodology to the other Bagan monuments have been also elaborated.


Aim. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of maximal walking time (MWT), peak oxygen consumption, maximal heart rate (MHR), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), rating of perceived exertion and claudication pain scale in these patients.

Methods. Eleven patients underwent two graded progressive treadmill exercise tests. The exercise test commenced with an initial speed of 2 mph and a 0% gradient for two min. During subsequent stages the gradient was increased by two percent every two minutes, and the speed kept constant. During each test, patients were instructed to walk for as long as they could endure the pain (maximum walking time). Peak oxygen uptake was assessed on a breath-by-breath basis by online expiratory gas analysis (CardiO(2), Medical Graphics Corp., St Paul, MN, USA).

Results. Repeated tests were obtained within 5 +/- 3 days. Paired t-tests demonstrated that measurements of peak oxygen consumption, maximal walking time, maximal heart rate, RER, RPE and pain were reproducible between tests. The coefficient of variation and intraclass correlation coefficient values confirmed the reliability. Bland-Altman analysis revealed that peak oxygen consumption varied within 3 mL kg min(-1); however, maximum walking distance varied by up to 158 seconds.

Conclusion. The graded exercise test is reliable. It allows differentiation between patients' walking ability and allows magnitude of improvement to be analysed post intervention. Metabolic measures taken during the test show similar repeatability, giving the clinician confidence in the interpretation of the values.


OBJECT
No extant literature documents the analysis of patient perceptions of hearing as a corollary to objective audiometric measures in patients with vestibular schwannoma (VS), or acoustic neuroma. Therefore, using objective audiometric data and patient perceptions of hearing function as outlined on a questionnaire, the authors evaluated the hearing of patients who underwent VS resection.

METHODS
This investigation involved a retrospective review of 176 patients who had undergone VS resections in which hearing preservation was a goal. Both pre- and postoperative audiometry, expressed as a speech discrimination score (SDS) and pure tone threshold average (PTA), were performed, and the results were analyzed. Intraoperative auditory brainstem responses were also recorded. Eighty-seven of the patients (49.4%) completed a postoperative questionnaire designed to assess hearing function in a variety of social and auditory situations. Multiple linear regression analyses were completed to compare available audiometric results with questionnaire responses for each patient.

RESULTS
One hundred forty-two patients (80.7%) had PTA and SDS audiometric data pertaining to the surgically treated ear; 94 of these patients (66.2%) had measurable postoperative hearing, as defined by a PTA < 120 dB or SD > 0%. Eighty-seven patients (49.4%) completed the retrospective questionnaire, and 74 of them had complete audiometric data and thus were included in a comparative analysis. Questionnaire data showed major postoperative subjective hearing decrements, even among patients with the same pre- and postoperative objective audiometric hearing status. Moreover, the subscore reflecting hearing while exposed to background noise, or the "cocktail party effect," characterized the most significant patient-perceived hearing deficit following VS resection.

CONCLUSIONS
The authors' analysis of a patient-perceived hearing questionnaire showed that hearing during exposure to background noise, or the cocktail party effect, represents a significant postoperative hearing deficit and that patient perception of this deficit has a strong relation with audiometric data. Furthermore, questionnaire responses revealed a significant disparity between subjective hearing function and standard audiometrics such that even with similar levels of audiometric data, subjective measures of hearing, especially the cocktail party effect, decreased postoperatively. The authors posit that the incorporation of patient-perceived hearing function evaluation along with standard audiometry is an illustrative means of identifying subjective hearing deficits after VS resection and may ultimately aid in specific and subsequent treatment for these patients.


Coaching Knowledge and Noticing in Youth Sports: Challenging the Assumption of Expertise Philip James Liversedge Sport is an integral part of the majority of children's lives. Participation in sport can provide children with many physical and psychological benefits. Tasked with coaching children are coaches who are often parents and volunteers. These coaches have a variety of different levels of experience and expertise. A question that must be answered is what are the range of kinds of knowledge that coaches rely upon? This study delves further and attempts to understand how coaches use this knowledge in the act of noticing. Alongside understanding the complexity of coaching this study attempts to demonstrate the individuality and diversity in coaching and how subjective perceptions of a coaching session can be. The participants in this qualitative study consisted of four novice, four intermediate, and four expert soccer coaches. A multi-layered interview served as the central data collection tool. Coaches watched a 10-minute video and then participated in an unstructured interview followed by a semi-structured interview. The semi-structured interview was guided by notes taken by the interviewer during the unstructured interview. An inductive content analysis was employed to allow identification of patterns or themes that emerge from the collected data. A three-phase analysis was used: (a) data reduction, (b) data display, and (c) conclusion drawing and verification (Miles & Huberman, 1994). A constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was utilized during the data analysis process to evaluate whether the coded sections of transcribed text were consistent and ensured they belong in their themes and subthemes. The findings of this study provide domains of knowledge that coaches noticing during a coaching session. Coaches within this noticed with varying degrees of complexity and depth. This study provided insight into nine new areas of knowledge that coaches notice during a coaching session. The complexities and subjective nature of coach noticing are demonstrated through the findings of this study.


: The late Nietzsche defended a position which he sometimes to refers as 'sensualism' and which consists of two main theses: senses 'do not lie' (T1) and sense organs are 'causes' (T2). Two influential interpretations of this position have been proposed by Clark and Hussain, who also address the question whether Nietzsche's late sensualism is (Hussain) or not (Clark) compatible with the epistemological view which he held in his previous work and which has been dubbed the 'falsification thesis' (FT). In my paper I will show that both readings raise substantial difficulties and propose an alternative account of Nietzsche's sensualism. In particular, I will argue: (a) that according to Nietzsche the representational content of sensory experience 'does not lie' since it is physically grounded in causal exchanges with the external world which are mediated by sense organs; (b) that Nietzsche believes that the claim that senses 'do not lie' is also true of the phenomenal, qualitative content of sensory experience; and (c) that FT, despite its prima facie tension with (a) and (b), fit well Nietzsche's sensualism.


BACKGROUND
The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) was developed by Guyatt et al. (1989) and it is the most widely used health-related quality of life instrument for patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the original IBDQ by examining the instrument's underlying factor structure, the internal and external validity, and the internal consistency reliability.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
One hundred and forty seven patients (76 CD, 71 UC) completed the Spanish version of the IBDQ, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Clinical activity was assessed by the CDAI and the Truelove-Witts index.

RESULTS
The confirmatory factor analysis of the IBDQ failed to reproduce the original four-factor structure proposed by Guyatt et al. We found that the Spanish version of the IBDQ consists also of four underlying factors, but the content of each factor and the items included were slightly different. Psychometric testing of the IBDQ revealed that the questionnaire has an acceptable internal and external validity, and a high internal reliability.

CONCLUSION
Although confirmatory factor analyses failed to reproduce the original psychometric structure of IBDQ, it seems that the Spanish version of this instrument proved to be valid and reliable for assessing health related quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease patients.


AbstractDecision making is a common process in human activities. Every person or organization needs to make decisions besides dealing with uncertainty and vagueness associated with human cognition. The theory of fuzzy logic provides a mathematical base to model the uncertainities. Hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS) creates an appropriate method to deal with uncertainty in decision making. Managerial decision making generally implies that decision making process conducts multiple and conflicting criteria. Multi criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a widely applied decision making method. Outranking methods are one type of MCDA methods which facilitate the decision making process through comparing binary relations in order to rank the alternatives. Elimination et Choix Traduisant la Realite (ELECTRE), means elimination and choice that translates reality, is an outranking method. In this paper, an extended version of ELECTRE I method using HFLTS is proposed. Finally, a real case problem is provided t...


ABSTRACT The purpose of this work was to determine the activities in which the nurses of the Hospital Infection Control Committee (HICC) in the hospitals of the City of Sao Paulo are involved and to identify the conditions favoreable and unfavoreable to their adequate performance. This study is justified by the fact that the nurse's work in the HICC is directly responsible for the obtaining of reliable rates of hospital infection as well as for their control and reduction.


The design of porous organic molecules in the solid state where packing is dictated by weak van der Waals forces is attracting considerable attention. Most organic molecules pack in such a way to minimize free volume, which suggests molecules with permanent porosity in the solid state is rare. In this thesis, an experimental and molecular modeling study of porous organic cages is presented. These porous cage molecules are of interest for a wide range of applications in gas storage, separation and molecular recognition. Compared with other classes of porous materials such as porous frameworks or porous polymers, porous organic molecules possess potential advantages in solubility, molecular mobility and synthetic diversity.
A series of tetrahedral imine linked cage molecules can be synthesized by [4+6] cycloimination condensation reaction. The crystalline packing motifs of them can be directed by the vertex functionality giving control over the pore connectivity. The synthesis and characterization of one such cage molecule (CC2) is introduced in Chapter 2. The packing of the CC2 molecules is frustrated by six vertex methyl groups, leading to 1D extrinsic pore channels and isolated intrinsic voids. CC2 adsorbs a number of gases such as N2, H2, CO2 and CH4. The H2 adsorption capacity of this material exceeds reports for other porous organic molecules. In addition, a 'propeller' shaped crystalline porous organic cage molecule, CC6, is prepared by [2+3] cycloimination reaction (Chapter 3). The cage molecule has a compact structure with a little void inside the cage. A narrow 1D channel is formed by molecular ineffective packing. The material demonstrates selective adsorption of H2 and CO2 over N2.
We have found these cage molecules can inefficiently pack, creating permanent porosity in the amorphous solid state. These scrambled cage molecules are synthesized by either dynamic exchange reactions or co-reactions (Chapter 5). They show a high level of porosity and H2/N2 gas selectivity can be tuned by varying the cage functionality. The BET surface area of up to 898 m2 g-1 exceeds comparable amorphous molecular solids. A methodology is designed to generate amorphous cage structural models and gas diffusion simulations are also performed for these materials in Chapter 6. The simulations provide detailed information of the microscopic structures in these amorphous materials, including gas hopping, accumulative cage occupancy by gas molecules, residential times, and diffusion pathways, which cannot be achieved by experimental techniques.


High intracellular glucose concentrations increase flux though the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway, resulting in elevated UDP–N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) concentrations. The nucleocytoplasmic enzyme O-linkedN-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (OGT) uses UDP–GlcNAc as a donor to modify numerous critical substrates, including nuclear pore proteins and transcription factors. Here, we document (a) the overwhelming enrichment of pancreatic OGT transcripts in the β-cells of the islets of Langerhans, (b) the physiologically significant increase in the level of O-GlcNAc residues present in β-cells, and (c) the action of streptozotocin, a close analogue of GlcNAc, to selectively inhibit O-GlcNAcase, an enzyme involved in the removal of O-GlcNAc residues. Taken together, these findings suggest that pancreatic β cells maintain a highly elevated O-GlcNAc metabolism and that the diabetes inducing drug streptozotocin inhibits O-GlcNAcase.


Microtubules (MTs), whose basic units are a and ß tubulin proteins, are selfassembled proteinaceous filaments with nanometer scale diameters and micrometer scale lengths. Their aspect ratio, directionality, the reversibility of their assembly and their ability to be metallized by electroless plating make them good candidates to serve as templates for the fabrication of nanowires and other nanoscale devices. In addition, tubulin proteins can provide biological interactions with a naturally high specificity. Toward the goal of manufacturing MT-based metallic nanowires and networks of nanowires on a silicon wafer, I studied the influence of pH, temperature, and several biomolecules on the stability of MTs in solutions, as well as the surface effect on the dynamics of disassembly of microtubules. Secondly, I demonstrated the metallization of MTs by electroless nickel plating both in solution and on hydrophilic oxidized Si surface. After being activated by Pt, nickel coated MT surfaces during the electroless plating, with a thickness of several nanometers. Due to the different kinetics of the process, MTs metallized on the oxidized Si wafer are slightly different from MTs metallized in solutions. Finally, we explored controlled nucleation and growth of microtubules directly from a collection of γ-tubulin monomers. γ-tubulins bind to modified gold electrodes on a silicon wafer through an organic linker, Glutathione s-transferase, creating a γ-tubulin layer for MT growth. MTs unambiguously originated from the surface-bound γ-tubulin


Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume is one of Indonesian natural orchid which has an aesthetic flower and possesses high economic value. The low multiplication rate and long periods of life cycle are the main obstacles to conventionally propagate this orchid. The aims of this research were to analyze the stability of transgenic plant P. amabilis harboring 35S::KNAT1 based on morpho-genomic characterization. KNAT1 gene is reported as a gene that involved in the shoot formation, and it had been successfully introduced into Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume genome. After seven times regeneration, the confirmation of the transgene existence in the genom is needed to ensure whether the plant could consistently maintain the transgene in its genome and to characterize the shoot development. The experiment was carried out in 3 steps: 1) Co-integration analysis of 35S::KNAT1 into P. amabilis genom; 2) Phenotypic analysis on the multiplication rate, morphological variation and venation pattern; and 3) Protein profile analysis of transgenic plants. The results showed that the survival rate of putative transgenic was 58.7% on NP0 medium and 62.5% on NP SIM medium. PCR analysis confirmed that 82.5% transgenic growth on NP0 and 93.33% on NP SIM contained DNA fragment of KNAT1 gene, NPTII gene and trnL-F intergenic spacer, indicating that those plants are positive transgenic. The 35S::KNAT1 transgenes and phytohormone were independently involved in multishoots formation of P. amabilis transgenic plants. The phenotypic of plantlets were classified into six main criteria, i.e. normal shape, lobed leaves, rosette, elongated stem, cup shoot and widened leaves. The normal type was the most abundant type of variation (± 29%) in both medium. Protein profile showed that all transgenic plants produced 45,8 kDa protein and that was equivalent with molecular weight of KNAT1 protein. Taken together, all those data indicated that 35S::KNAT1 transgene were consistently integrated into the transgenic plant genome.


Abstract Proponents of DR-CAFTA argue the RTA will free the U.S. agricultural sector of these disadvantages by leveling the field through the removal of these tariffs and in many cases, create preferences for U.S. exporters over third country suppliers, including those in Canada, Europe, and South America, helping to restore lost U.S. market share and expand overall U.S. exports. In this paper, we develop gravity models to estimate and predict the potential bilateral trade flows between U.S. and CAFTA countries using panel data. In the course of the study, it was expected that if DR-CAFTA were to have an effect, all countries under the agreement should be trade creators. All the six CAFTA countries but one (Costa Rica) are trade creators. The amount trade created ranges from as low as 1% for Guatemala to as high as 13% for Nicaragua, and Costa Rica only diverse 1% of the potential bilateral trade. The study has also revealed the importance and positive effects of differences between resource endowment, relative size of the economies, and exchange rates on trade flows. Distance, though less significant is seen as a factor that can potentially raise trade costs. Given these results, there is no doubt that implementing the DR-CAFTA will lead to an expansion of trade between the United States and the DR-CAFTA countries. As it stands, there appear to be advantages for U.S. producers from the Agreement, given the already low duties on agricultural imports from these countries to the U.S. and the relatively high duties placed on U.S. agricultural exports.


The preferred olive tree cultivation strategy has evolved towards high-density cultivations to increase profitability and satisfy the global demand for olive oil. However, there is a lack of specific norms for the nutritional diagnosis of new growing systems and the varieties adapted to these systems. The objective of this study is to determine the sufficiency range and the diagnosis and recommendation integrated system and compositional nutritional diagnosis norms for Arbequina, Arbosana and Picual cultivars under superhigh-density olive tree cultivation. Leaves were sampled every fifteen days, from July to December, from high-productivity trees with production densities exceeding 8000 kg ha -1 . The results show two periods of stability for the three varieties of olives: July-first two weeks of August and October-November. The three varieties showed substantial variability in their macronutrient concentrations, i.e., N, P, K, Ca and Mg, during both periods. The three aforementioned methods have improved the reliability of such diagnosis and provided concurrent diagnoses. Nevertheless, all the resulting norms need to be validated through an analysis of the results obtained in practice after their application.


As one of the most potential field in today's society, E-Commerce is coruscating vigorous vitality. Development of the information and network technology provide possibility for some new technology in e-commerce application, the application of new technology will also promote e-commerce to a higher level, Agent technology is one of the new technology, it is a product with the complete development of distributed computing and artificial intelligence technology, it has the advantage of autonomy and initiative and provide structure fundament for advanced stage of e-commerce activities. The Agent technique made users on longer lost in the changing product information. Enterprise can provide personalized service vary from person to person when they faced a lot of users and fundamentally improved problems in e-commerce. It will promote the development of e-commerce.


85% of Italian men aged 18-33 live with their parents. We argue that Italian parents like to live with their children and a rise in their income makes it possible for them to offer their children higher consumption in exchange for their presence at home. Children prefer to live on their own but are willing to exchange some independence for extra consumption. We formalize this intuition with a bargaining model between parents and children. We test the predictions of the model by estimating the effect of parental income on the probability that children live with their parents. The key econometric issue is the endogeneity of parental income. In order to identify the causal effect of parental income on children's living arrangements we use changes in parents' retirement age induced by the 1992 reform of the Italian social security as an instrument for parental income. By raising retirement age, this reform forced some fathers to remain in the labor market longer than the cohort immediately preceding them, therefore raising their income. Our instrumental variable estimates indicate that a rise in parents' income significantly raises the children's propensity to live at home: a $500 increase in annual parental income results in a 3 to 3.5 percentage point rise in the proportion of children living with their parents. JEL Codes: J120, J610, H550


Robert Butler's call for life reviews has exerted a key influence on the way gerontologists have looked at reminiscence and remembering. Widely thought to be a helpful mechanism for integrating past and future, the process of life review needs better specification and evaluation based on sound research. ""The Meaning of Reminiscence and Life Review"" brings together both research and application pieces covering the range of possibilities. It examines important controversies and asks: ""Does it work?"" and ""What is the evidence?"" Given their own voice, what do old people say about looking back?


BACKGROUND
Anatomic diversity among cerebellar arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) calls for a classification that is intuitive and surgically informative. Selection tools like the Spetzler-Martin grading system are designed to work best with cerebral AVMs but have shortcomings with cerebellar AVMs.

OBJECTIVE
To define subtypes of cerebellar AVMs that clarify anatomy and surgical management, to determine results according to subtypes, and to compare predictive accuracies of the Spetzler-Martin and supplementary systems.

METHODS
From a consecutive surgical series of 500 patients, 60 had cerebellar AVMs, 39 had brainstem AVMs and were excluded, and 401 had cerebral AVMs.

RESULTS
Cerebellar AVM subtypes were as follows: 18 vermian, 13 suboccipital, 12 tentorial, 12 petrosal, and 5 tonsillar. Patients with tonsillar and tentorial AVMs fared best. Cerebellar AVMs presented with hemorrhage more than cerebral AVMs (P < .001). Cerebellar AVMs were more likely to drain deep (P = .04) and less likely to be eloquent (P < .001). The predictive accuracy of the supplementary grade was better than that of the Spetzler-Martin grade with cerebellar AVMs (areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, 0.74 and 0.59, respectively). The predictive accuracy of the supplementary system was consistent for cerebral and cerebellar AVMs, whereas that of the Spetzler-Martin system was greater with cerebral AVMs.

CONCLUSION
Patients with cerebellar AVMs present with hemorrhage more often than patients with cerebral AVMs, justifying an aggressive treatment posture. The supplementary system is better than the Spetzler-Martin system at predicting outcomes after cerebellar AVM resection. Key components of the Spetzler-Martin system such as venous drainage and eloquence are distorted by cerebellar anatomy in ways that components of the supplementary system are not.


The long-chain fatty acid C24:5 is likely an endogenous ligand of the retinoid X receptor α in mouse hematopoietic cells. Endogenous RXRA ligands in hematopoietic cells Like other nuclear receptors, retinoid X receptor α (RXRA) stimulates the transcription of target genes in a ligand-dependent manner. Both vitamin A–derived retinoic acids and fatty acids have been implicated as endogenous ligands for RXRA. Using a reporter system for detecting RXRA activation in vivo, Niu et al. found that RXRA activity increased in hematopoietic cells when mice were subjected to treatments that stimulated myeloid cells. Plasma from these mice also stimulated RXRA activation, even if the mice were deficient in vitamin A but not if the mice were deficient in fatty acids. Mass spectrometry and other biochemical methods identified the long-chain fatty acid C24:5 as the most likely endogenous ligand for RXRA in this context. These findings establish fatty acids as dynamically controlled natural ligands for RXRA in hematopoietic cells. The retinoid X receptor α (RXRA) has been implicated in diverse hematological processes. To identify natural ligands of RXRA that are present in hematopoietic cells, we adapted an upstream activation sequence–green fluorescent protein (UAS-GFP) reporter mouse to detect natural RXRA ligands in vivo. We observed reporter activity in diverse types of hematopoietic cells in vivo. Reporter activity increased during granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)–induced granulopoiesis and after phenylhydrazine (PHZ)–induced anemia, suggesting the presence of dynamically regulated natural RXRA ligands in hematopoietic cells. Mouse plasma activated Gal4-UAS reporter cells in vitro, and plasma from mice treated with G-CSF or PHZ recapitulated the patterns of reporter activation that we observed in vivo. Plasma from mice with dietary vitamin A deficiency only mildly reduced RXRA reporter activity, whereas plasma from mice on a fatty acid restriction diet reduced reporter activity, implicating fatty acids as plasma RXRA ligands. Through differential extraction coupled with mass spectrometry, we identified the long-chain fatty acid C24:5 as a natural RXRA ligand that was greatly increased in abundance in response to hematopoietic stress. Together, these data suggest that natural RXRA ligands are present and dynamically increased in abundance in mouse hematopoietic cells in vivo.


Place can be understood as not a fixed geographical location, but as an event that emerges in the encounter between continually transforming materialand human elements, social relations and practices; that place is composed
of strands of human experience, memory, histories and stories in a particular material setting. This article draws on Amin and Thrift's "ontology of encounter" and Lefebvre's method of rhythmanalysis to explore the complex interactions of geography, social practices and city environment. An "auditory turn" offers ways of thinking about the mobilities, encounters and narratives of an urban neighbourhood that combine and merge to give rise to a soundscape. A turn toward the sensory and auditory offers new paths for analysis in urban geography, mobilities and infrastructure studies.


The scope of this paper is to demonstrate a least square method for optimisation of basic parameters for selected physical experiment design where large input parameter measurement and adjustment is needed. The speed of calculation and experimentally verified results are promising to use this method in many physical projects. We have demonstrated this method for computation of feeding currents of correcting coils for stationary magnetic field used in NMR imaging. A set of linear equation definition and determination of a target function and optimisation computations are presented with procedures that provide optimal values of currents for shim coils. The proposed method, because of its simplicity and speed of computation, is convenient for basic adjustment of the magnetic field homogeneity by the first magnet installation. It is also suitable for periodic testing and magnet inhomogeneity correction for MRI magnets.


The nucleotide sequence analysis of the gyrB gene indicated that the fish Aeromonas spp. isolates could be identified as Aeromonas hydrophila and Aeromonas veronii biovar sobria, whereas chicken Aeromonas spp. isolates identified as Aeromonas caviae. PCR data revealed the presence of Lip, Ser, Aer, ACT and CAI genes in fish Aer. hydrophila isolates, ACT, CAI and Aer genes in fish Aer. veronii bv sobria isolates and Ser and CAI genes in chicken Aer. caviae isolates. All chicken isolates showed variable resistance against all 12 tested antibiotic discs except for cefotaxime, nitrofurantoin, chloramphenicol and ciprofloxacin, only one isolate showed resistance to chloramphenicol and ciprofloxacin. Fish Aeromonads were sensitive to all tested antibiotic discs except amoxicillin, ampicillin–sulbactam and streptomycin.


Distinguishing among members of the Hexapodidae Miers, 1886, the Asthenognathinae Stimpson, 1858, and the Chasmocarcininae Serene, 1964, is difficult in fossil specimens that lack preserved pereiopods or sterna. Members of the Hexapodidae are easily identified if sterna and pereiopods are present, because possession of four pairs of pereiopods and seven exposed stemites is diagnostic for the family. Several features of the dorsal carapace are useful in differentiating among genera assigned to that family and other subfamilies belonging to the Goneplacidae and Pinnotheridae; however, dorsal carapace characters are less useful in assigning taxa at the family or subfamily level. A key to the taxa discussed herein permits generic differentiation based upon the relative dimensions of the carapace, the shape and size of the orbits, the shape and size of the rostrum, carapace ornamentation, and the degree of fusion of abdominal somites in males. A new species of Palaeopinnixa Via, 1966, Palaeopinnixa rotundas, is described from the Eocene Coaledo Formation of Oregon, USA. A new hexapodid genus and species, Globihexapus paxillus, is recognized from the Miocene Astoria Formation of Washington, USA. Prepaeduma decapoda Morris and Collins, 1991, is referred to Hexapus de Haan, 1833. Viapinnixa new genus has been erected to accommodate material previously assigned to Pinnixa {Palaeopinnixa) nodosa Collins and Rasmussen, 1992, and Orthakrolophos has been named to accommodate three species of Palaeograpsus Bittner, 1875. Asthenognathus urretae new species is described from the middle Eocene Centinela Formation of southern Argentina.


Anatolia was home to a large number of polities in the medieval period. Given its location at the geographical and chronological juncture between Byzantines and the Ottomans, its story tends to be read through the Seljuk experience. This obscures the multiple experiences and spaces of Anatolia under the Byzantine empire, Turko-Muslim dynasties contemporary to the Seljuks, the Mongol Ilkhanids, and the various beyliks of eastern and western Anatolia. This book looks beyond political structures and towards a reconsideration of the interactions between the rural and the urban; an analysis of the relationships between architecture, culture and power; and an examination of the region's multiple geographies. In order to expand historiographical perspectives it draws on a wide variety of sources (architectural, artistic, documentary and literary), including texts composed in several languages (Arabic, Armenian, Byzantine Greek, Persian and Turkish). Original in its coverage of this period from the perspective of multiple polities, religions and languages, this volume is also the first to truly embrace the cultural complexity that was inherent in the reality of daily life in medieval Anatolia and surrounding regions.


Foreign language proficiency is a critical skill in which many U.S. military personnel receive extensive training. However, very little research has examined the factors associated with the successful transfer of this training. This study therefore investigates the impact of individual and contextual variables on two different types of foreign language skill transfer measures in a military context. Archival data were analyzed from 133 U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) teams, including 919 Soldiers who had completed job-required foreign language training. Results indicate that initial skill acquisition had a positive impact on both the maintenance and generalization of language skills. The posttraining time interval between training and transfer measurement was negatively associated with skill maintenance, suggesting significant skill decay over time. The team context also accounted for significant variability in skill transfer, and the team mean skill level moderated the relationship between individual initial skill and subsequent generalization to job performance.


Most of the recent leading multiple magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) super-resolution techniques for brain are limited to rigid motion. In this study, the authors aim to develop a super-resolution technique with diffeomorphism mainly for longitudinal brain MRI data. For the images from different time slots, unpredicted deformation may occur. In previous studies, sole rigid registration or traditional non-rigid registration has been frequently used to achieve multi-plane super-resolution. However, non-rigid motion of two brains from different time slots is difficult to model, since brain contains a wealth of complex structure such as the cerebral cortex. In order to address such problem, rigid and large diffeomorphic registration has been embedded into their super-resolution framework. In addition, many previous researchers use L 2 norm to achieve super-resolution framework. In this work, L 1 norm minimisation and regularisation based on a bilateral prior are adopted. These operations ensure its robustness to the assumed model of data and noise. Their approach is evaluated using Alzheimer datasets from seven different resolutions. Results show that their reconstructions have advantages over rigid and conventional non-rigid registration-based super-resolution, in terms of the root-mean-square error and structure similarity. Furthermore, their reconstruction results improve the precision of brain automatic segmentation.


A temperature-compensated de-substitution-type RF power bridge is described. Temperature compensation is accomplished through utilization of dual bridges and the widely used dualelement temperature-compensated thermistor mount. A review of the RF-to-dc substitution technique is made prior to the description of the bridge. An analysis of the measurement accuracy shows total errors of less than 0.14 percent at 1 mW and less than 0.085 percent at a 10-mW RF power measurement. These errors include those arising out of ambient temperature variation.


Current studies intimate the fetal cardiovascular and respiratory systems benefit from exercise throughout pregnancy. These changes persist after birth suggesting that exercise exposure has long-term health benefits lasting into adulthood. Individuals exposed to exercise in utero show no signs of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as adults. Considering the pandemic of CVD in the U.S., these findings suggest further research is warranted concerning the effects of exercise during pregnancy on childhood and adult health outcomes.


The accuracy and safety of the information provided by medical and health related apps are of concern to medical and healthcare professionals. In the United States medical and certain health related devices are regulated for safety and accuracy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Wireless devices, like smart phones, are regulated by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Until now, the approval process was limited to complete devices. An FDA regulated medical device can contain software but the regulatory approval process involves the complete device, not each of its components separately. But what about apps? Apps are software which may turn an otherwise non-medical or non-healthcare device into a medical or healthcare device. Do you regulate the software? It only has value when running on a device. Should you regulate the combination of device and software? It seems that every day a new smart phone is introduced and new apps become available. Do you have to test every combination? This paper will discuss the approach being taken in the United States by the government as well as by private industry.


The sericin coated around silk fibroin fiber is a natural protein-based polymer and presents a layered structure. According to the solubility in water under different temperatures and pressures, the sericin is divided into three parts of outer, middle and inner sericin layers accounting for 15%, 10.5% and 4.5% to the total silk protein (included sericin layers and fibroin fiber) in terms of the mass respectively. The partition within the sericin layer presents the relative proportions of 50%, 35% and 15% from the outer to inner layer. Furthermore, the differences of three layers in the amino acid composition are very significant. The non-polar amino acids in the outer, middle and inner sericins are gradually increased, in particular for alanine, which are accounted for 5.20, 6.13 and 11.58 mol% respectively; while its content jumps to 33.38 mol% in the silk fibroin fiber. Nevertheless, the polar amino acids, especially the neutral ones, are gradually decreased accounting for 39.34, 38.62 and 23.82 mol% respectively. Concentration of Serine drops most prominently, i.e. 28.00, 25.57 and 13.32 mol% respectively; while its content goes to 7.65 mol% in the silk fibroin fiber. On the other hand, the hydrophobic amino acids gradually increase and the hydrophilic amino acids go to oppsite way. These results indicate that the amino acid compositions of the outer and middle sericins are similar to each other, but those of the inner sericin are different from the others. The closer the sericin layer is to the silk fibroin fiber, the closer its amino acid composition is to that of the fibroin fiber. These obtained results are of important reference value for processing of silk sericin peptides and their applications in cosmetics, cell culture, healthy food and other areas.


High levels of fatty acids can decrease the recovery of previously ischemic hearts by inhibiting myocardial glucose use during reperfusion. We determined if this was due to a decrease in glycolysis or a decrease in glucose oxidation. Isolated working rat hearts were perfused with either 11 mM [2-3H/U-14C] glucose or 11 mM [2-3H/U-14C] glucose and 1.2 mM palmitate. In aerobically perfused hearts, the presence of fatty acids reduced glucose oxidation rates (from 1576 +/- 154 to 228 +/- 28 nmol/min.g dry weight, P < .05), with a nonsignificant reduction in glycolysis (from 3297 +/- 349 to 2798 +/- 343 nmol/min.g dry weight). If fatty acid perfused hearts were subjected to a 30-min period of ischemic function was 36%. Glucose oxidation rates during reperfusion were markedly lower than glycolytic rates (228 +/- 35 and 3096 +/- 576 nmol/min.g dry weight, respectively, P < .05). Dichloroacetate (1 mM) added during reperfusion significantly improved recovery of mechanical function to 96% of preischemic values. In these hearts, Dichloracetate increased glucose oxidation, while actually decreasing glycolytic rates (values during reperfusion were 501 +/- 136 and 1171 +/- 122 nmol/min.g dry weight, respectively). Insulin (500 microU/ml) added at reperfusion resulted in a small increase in glucose oxidation rates and a significant increase in glycolysis (375 +/- 66 and 4769 +/- 955 nmol/g dry weight.min, respectively). However, the presence of insulin at reperfusion did not improve recovery of function (hearts recovered 52% of preischemic function). We demonstrate that the detrimental effects of high concentrations of fatty acids after ischemia are primarily due to an inhibition of glucose oxidation, and not glycolysis, during the reperfusion period. Furthermore, increasing glucose oxidation during reperfusion has a beneficial effect on functional recovery of hearts.


The Sonification of Amnesic Memory is a multi-channel sound installation and Sensecam image work that was presented at the Amnesia Lab symposium, 23–25 September 2014 at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney and exhibited in the Amnesia Lab exhibition at UNSW Galleries, Sydney, 20 September to 8 November 2014. The sound installation uses data from an electroencephalogram (EEG) study of a woman with amnesia viewing images she has taken using SenseCam. The study was run by neuropsychologist Catherine Loveday (Westminster University) and psychologist Corinna Haenschel (City University) at the EEG Lab at City University as research-in-progress for Lesions in the Landscape: Claire and the Island of Hirta, a project led by Shona Illingworth and funded by the Wellcome Trust, UK. The EEG data was then sonified to create a multi-channel sound installation as part of a wider body of work which sets out to develop new forms of expression for and ways to depict the neurological landscape of amnesia and the sudden bursts of neural activity in the brain during Proustian moments of recollection cued by Sensecam images. Sensecam is a sensory operated camera that produces images which have been shown to activate otherwise inaccessible memory in some cases of amnesia. EEG measures the electrical activity of the brain, via electrodes applied to the scalp. Working with Charlie Fleming (University of Kent), the waveforms of neural firing output from the EEG were transformed into sound – the 32 channels corresponding to 64 electrodes placed on key parts of the scalp. A muliti-speaker array was installed in the gallery, the position of the of 32 speakers corresponding with the relative positions of the EEG electrodes, in order to re-present the EEG data and to map the real time memory construction process of someone with amnesia in spatialised audio form. The sound installation created a new possibilities for the articulation of amnesia and EEG data, opening up new avenues for research in the study of amnesia, across cognitive neuropsychology and fine art practice.


In this dissertation, I investigate the impact that corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement may have on post-acquisition performance outcomes. I argue that prospective targets are among the audiences that observe the firm's corporate social activities and make judgments out of the signals portrayed by such activity. With prospective targets being largely more successful than their counterparts, it stands to reason that they would prefer to be acquired by successful firms that would likely assure benefits in the long term. The socially responsible acquirer would likely be viewed as the more attractive suitor since the established moral and reputational capital present it as the more trustworthy partner in the deal. I contend that, all else equal, a quality target may prefer to be acquired by a socially responsible firm as the acquired firm can gain immediate access to the acquirer's reputational and moral capital benefits. Acquisition of such high quality targets is likely to lead to the attainment o f synergies which could enhance post-acquisition performance. I examine this issue by relying on literature on stakeholder theory and signaling theory in order to understand how firms could shape the perceptions of prospective quality targets in their favor, through engagement in corporate social responsibility. I explore entrepreneurial firms, family firms and top managers' ownership as potential moderators to the relationship. Further, I explore top management team retention and quality of target as mediators of the relationship between CSR and post-acquisition performance. In testing the hypotheses, I rely on data from the Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini (KLD) database, the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) module of the Securities Data Corporation's (SDC) database, Research Insight and S&P's Capital IQ databases, and the firms' filings with the SEC. The first major finding is that corporate social performance is generally associated with higher post-acquisition performance. I find a positive relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance measured by ROA. However, no significant performance results are found when performance is measured using total shareholder return, a market measure. The results provide support for the moderating effect o f entrepreneurial firm status on the relationship between the acquirer's corporate social performance and the quality o f target. The results also provide support for the mediating effect o f the quality o f target on the relationship between CSR and organizational performance. This dissertation has important theoretical and practical contributions. First, this research extends prior CSR literature to the acquisitions context and shows that CSR engagement is associated with financial performance. It therefore establishes a stronger theoretical foundation for the relationship between corporate social performance and financial performance. Secondly, this study looks at prospective targets as additional stakeholders that rely on a prospective acquirer's CSR information to form impressions about potential acquirers. This study indeed finds that a firm's engagement in CSR is an important signaling mechanism through which prospective acquirers portray themselves as more trustworthy business partners to prospective quality targets. Additionally, prior M&A literature has primarily investigated performance phenomena from an acquirer's perspective. This study goes further and develops arguments from the target's perspective, arguing that the targets are a primary recipient of signals from prospective acquirers, and that they rely on information from such signals to make important decisions, like which acquirer would be most favorable in an acquisition deal. APPROVAL FOR SCHOLARLY DISSEMINATION The author grants to the Prescott Memorial Library o f Louisiana Tech University the right to reproduce, by appropriate methods, upon request, any or all portions o f this Dissertation. It is understood that "proper request" consists o f the agreement, on the part of the requesting party, that said reproduction is for his personal use and that subsequent reproduction will not occur without written approval o f the author of this Dissertation. Further, any portions of the Dissertation used in books, papers, and other works must be appropriately referenced to this Dissertation. Finally, the author o f this Dissertation reserves the right to publish freely, in the literature, at any time, any or all portions o f this Dissertation.


Data on five aggressive and/or violent human behaviors were examined by computer to determine whether a relationship exists between the lunar syndoic cycle and human aggression. Homicides, suicides, fatal traffic accidents, aggravated assaults and psychiatric emergency room visits occurring in Dade County, Florida all show lunar periodicities. Homicides and aggravated assaults demonstrate statistically significant clustering of cases around full moon. Psychiatric emergency room visits cluster around first quarter and shows a significantly decreased frequency around new and full moon. The suicide curve shows correlations with both aggravated assaults and fatal traffic accidents, suggesting a self-destructive component for each of these behaviors. The existence of a biological rhythm of human aggression which resonates with the lunar synodic cycle is postulated.


It is well known that mucosal tissues contain the largest surface area of the human body and are the front line of natural host defense against various pathogens. In fact, more than 80% of infectious disease pathogens probably gain entry into the susceptible human hosts through open mucosal surfaces. Human immunodeficiency virus type one (HIV-1), a mainly sexually transmitted virus, also primarily targets the vaginal and gastrointestinal mucosa as entry sites for viral transmission, seeding, replication and amplification. Since HIV-1 establishes its early replication in vaginal or rectal mucosal tissues, the induction of sufficient mucosal immunity at the initial site of HIV-1 transmission becomes essential for a protective vaccine. However, despite the fact that current conventional vaccine strategies have remained unsuccessful in preventing HIV-1 infection, sufficient financial support and resources have yet to be given to develop a vaccine able to elicit protective mucosal immunity against sexual transmissions. Interestingly, Chinese ancestors invented variolation through intranasal administration about one thousand years ago, which led to the discovery of a successful smallpox vaccine and the final eradication of the disease. It is the hope for all mankind that the development of a mucosal AIDS vaccine will ultimately help control the AIDS pandemic. In order to discover an effective mucosal AIDS vaccine, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of mucosal immunology and to test various mucosal vaccination strategies.


Emergency oral contraception is part of the sexual and reproductive rights of women. In 2001, this health policy was incorporated into the Rules of the National Family Planning Program of the Ministry of Health, primarily to prevent unwanted pregnancy and its serious consequences, induced abortion and the high associated maternal mortality rate, which are major public health problems. Scientific research has confirmed that the main mechanism of action of levonorgestrel, component of emergency oral contraception (EOC) is to inhibit or delay ovulation, preventing fertilization of the egg; additionally, it increases the thickening of the cervical mucus, making the sperm migration more difficult. No study has found endometrial abnormalities that may interfere with the implantation of the fertilized egg or embryo development of an implanted egg. However, despite the support of medical science and legal backing, the EOC is available only to users with economic resources, but its use has not been fully implemented in public sector services, due to obstacles created by groups opposed to contraception under claim of an alleged abortive effect that has already been ruled out scientifically. This article describes the administrative experience and legal confrontations between groups of power that prevent the proper implementation of an emergency contraception policy in Peru.


This chapter considers the role of writing for widening participation practitioners working in higher education institutions in the United Kingdom and the potential of practitioner writing to inform practice as well as inform and reframe policy. The Office for Students' (OfS) focus on evaluation and impact together with the nascent Evidence and Impact Exchange (EIX) is firstly, an opportunity for the research and evaluation undertaken by practitioners to be recognised; and secondly, a driver for them to write for publication to inform policy and practice. However, to date, with two notable exceptions, the support for widening participation and equity practitioners to write has been limited. A review of the literature reveals the limited attention to practitioner writing in general, and absence of any attention to widening participation practitioners in particular. This lack of recognition and support led to the development of a small scale research study, which is currently in progress. The study aims to explore the extent to which writing is seen as part of professional practice. In addition to describing the methodological framework and data collection methods adopted by the study, consideration is given to the challenges of engaging with this vibrant and increasingly diverse community of practice.


Information and communication are key to the ability of the organization to respond to change. Information and communication technology (ICT) penetrates into all aspects of economy. Now graduate of comprehensive regional higher education institutes (CRHEIs) are main source of workers. Those CRHEIs should improve their quality of learning for their student being good workers. In this paper, we analyses ICT–based learning issues from undergraduates preparing for postgraduate entrance exams and undergraduates seeking a job in Linyi University. The methodology for carrying out the tasks mainly contains questionnaires according to normative Delphi technique. The research provides information and communications strategy which CRHEIs authorities should take in order to properly integrate ICTs in their CRHEIs and get their benefits.


This work suggested the growth of SiC and SiO2 nanostructures from heating of rice husk ash and carbon-metal assisted. The rice husk was boiled in 1 M hydrochloric acid solution with temperature of around 90 °C for 1 hour, and then washed in distilled water and dried under the sun. The dried acid-treated rice husk was burned in the furnace with normal air for 1 hour, then high purity SiO2 was produced. The high silica ash mixed with Cu or SnO2 powder and coconut shell charcoal were grounded for mixtures powder. The mixtures powder and Si substrates were placed on the alumina boat and put in the middle of furnace. The furnace was heated at high temperature under atmosphere of argon gas. The heated products and Si substrates were studied by X-rays diffraction and scanning electron microscope. The SiC and SiO2 nanostructures were observed.


The paper presents an original Python-based application that outlines the advantages of combining some elementary notions of mathematics with the study of a programming language. The application support refers to some of the first lessons of analytic geometry, meaning conics and quadrics and their reduction to a standard form, as well as some related notions. The chosen programming language is Python, not only for its closer to an everyday language syntax – and therefore, enhanced readability – but also for its highly reusable code, which is of utmost importance for a mathematician that is accustomed to exploit already known and used problems to solve new ones. The purpose of this paper is, on one hand, to support the idea that one of the most appropriate means to initiate one into programming is throughout mathematics, and reciprocal, one of the most facile and handy ways to assimilate some basic knowledge in the study of mathematics is to apply them in a personal project. On the other hand, besides being a mean of learning both programming and analytic geometry, the application subject to this paper is itself a useful tool for it can be seen as an independent original Python package for analytic geometry. Keywords—Analytic geometry, conics, Python programming language, quadrics.


Military personnel and their families face innumerable challenges. Deployed soldiers are exposed to a wide range of stressors, from the continuous, low-level experience of living in a strange and austere environment for a lengthy period of time, to acute, traumatic events that occur during combat, all of which can lead to long-term psychological problems like PTSD, depression, and substance abuse, and even suicide. Back home, husbands and wives of deployed soldiers face an increased likelihood of depression, anxiety and sleep disorders, while their children are more likely to exhibit behavioural issues and negative outcomes in school. In the face of these persistent problems, researchers have consistently identified resilience, a term derived from the psychological and psychiatric literature, as perhaps the single most important factor predicting successful outcomes for military personnel and their families. In this book, editors Robert Sinclair and Thomas Britt and a distinguished group of researchers investigate the concept of resilience, its essential role in normal psychological development, and its relevance within various occupational contexts unique to the military. In the second part of the book, the authors evaluate existing programs for developing and maintaining resilience that have been implemented in various branches of our armed forces.


Open‐Source INTelligence is intelligence based on publicly available sources such as news sites, blogs, forums, etc. The Web is the primary source of information, but once data are crawled, they need to be interpreted and structured. Ontologies may play a crucial role in this process, but because of the vast amount of documents available, automatic mechanisms for their population are needed, starting from the crawled text. This paper presents an approach for the automatic population of predefined ontologies with data extracted from text and discusses the design and realization of a pipeline based on the General Architecture for Text Engineering system, which is interesting for both researchers and practitioners in the field. Some experimental results that are encouraging in terms of extracted correct instances of the ontology are also reported. Furthermore, the paper also describes an alternative approach and provides additional experiments for one of the phases of our pipeline, which requires the use of predefined dictionaries for relevant entities. Through such a variant, the manual workload required in this phase was reduced, still obtaining promising results.


Interleukin-1α (IL-1α) and IL-1β are potent inflammatory cytokines that activate local and systemic inflammatory processes and are involved in protective immune responses against infections. However, their dysregulated production and signaling can aggravate tissue damage during infection, inflammatory diseases, and chemotherapy-induced intestinal mucositis. Additionally, cytokines of the IL-1 family play an important role in homeostatic as well as "emergency" hematopoiesis and are involved in the pathogenesis of several myeloid and lymphoid hematological malignancies. In the pathogenesis of intestinal mucositis and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), these cytokines are considered pivotal during the initiation as well as propagation phase, and insights from animal studies suggest that targeting the IL-1 pathway can significantly ameliorate mucositis and GVHD. Moreover, IL-1α and IL-1β might prove to be valuable targets for both prevention and treatment of cancer and cancer therapy-related complications, and the first clinical studies have already been performed in the setting of hematological malignancies. In this review, we will discuss the role of cytokines of the IL-1 family in hematological malignancies, chemotherapy-induced intestinal mucositis, and GVHD, and speculate on possibilities of therapeutically targeting the IL-1 pathway in hematological patients.


Introduction Electrode misplacement can adversely affect Electrocardiogram (ECG) morphology and as a consequence, it can affect interpretation and patient diagnosis. Lead misplacement in ECG acquisition can occur in 40% to 60% of the time; which can result. in false positives (Type-I errors) and false negatives (Type-II errors). V1 and V2 electrodes are commonly misplaced high and wide of their correct positions. Vertically misplaced leads V1 and V2 can conceal real STEMI (ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction) events or emulate a false positive. Lead misplacement detection plays an important role to improve ECG data quality and clinical decision making in cardiac care. The aim of the current work was to develop a computer model using deep learning to detect misplacement of leads V1 and V2 for three different types of patients: 1) old Myocardial Infarction (MI) patients, 2) Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH) Patients and 3) normal sinus rhythm patients, and to find in which patient type the 'general' patient-type-agnostic computer model achieves the highest performance. Methods 12-lead ECGs for 453 subjects, (normal n=151, LVH n=151, MI n=151) were extracted from body surface potential maps. V1 and V2 leads acquired from the second intercostal space (ICS) are considered as incorrect placement and leads from the fourth (IC) are considered as correct. The computer model was developed using deep learning algorithm (bidirectional long short-term memory network (BLSTM)) to detect V1 and V2 misplacement. The computer model was trained on three datasets together and tested on each dataset separately. In each dataset, data were divided into 67% for training and 33% for testing. The prevalence was 50% for correct and incorrect leads. Results Computer model accuracy using BLSTM of V1 and V2 misplacement detection was 93.0% in normal dataset, 93.0% in MI dataset while the accuracy was 91.0% in LVH dataset. Conclusion Computer model got a high performance to detect V1 and V2 misplacement in normal and MI ECGs datasets, while the performance decreased in LVH dataset to 91.0%. In future we need to consider MI infarct sites such as anterior, inferior etc to increase accuracy.


While there has been considerable attention given to individual computer use in the developed world, studies on least developed economies, where the circumstances, context and issues are very different, are very limited. Furthermore, the typical characteristics of public sectors in least developed countries are often far different to those in developed countries, and to the private sector anywhere, particularly in the use of information and communication technologies. This paper explores the typical pattern of individual computer usage of the public servants in a least developed country, Bangladesh, with the help of descriptive data from 251 survey respondents. The broad picture emerging from this descriptive study is expected to help in understanding the perception of computers and the pattern of computer use in this special context, which is likely to contribute to strategizing and designing appropriate information systems and approaches.


In this paper, we address data reconciliation in peer-to-peer (P2P) collaborative applications. We propose P2P-LTR (Logging and Timestamping for Reconciliation) which provides P2P logging and timestamping services for P2P reconciliation over a distributed hash table (DHT). While updating at collaborating peers, updates are timestamped and stored in a highly available P2P log. During reconciliation, these updates are retrieved in total order to enforce eventual consistency. In this paper, we first give an overview of P2P-LTR with its model and its main procedures. We then present our prototype used to validate P2P-LTR. To demonstrate P2P-LTR, we propose several scenarios that test our solutions and measure performance. In particular, we demonstrate how P2P-LTR handles the dynamic behavior of peers with respect to the DHT.


Micro-simulation models have been increasingly used for studying various urban and regional processes. Here, two experimental microsimulation models are applied to the study of residential location choices of inhabitants of the Tabor micro-region. A wide range of environmental and socio-economic characteristics are analysed for their potential impact on individual residential location choices. The microsimulation approach proves to be useful for analysing not only housing, neighbourhood, and accessibility characteristics, but also of the interactions between the characteristics of the present and potential new residential locations of individual inhabitants and the role of their personal characteristics in their choice of a new residential location. The ability of the micro-simulation models to replicate the observed residential choices is evaluated by several quantitative indicators with special attention given to the stochasticity of the model behaviour, which is a typical feature of micro-simulation models. The limited availability of sufficiently disaggregated data describing the demographics of households, their socio-economic characteristics, and real estate market dynamics needs to be resolved in order to exploit the full potential of micro-simulation modelling in the future.


Background: Suture bridge repair has been recognized to have superior biomechanical characteristics, as shown in previous biomechanical studies. However, it is not clear whether the tendon heals better in vivo after suture bridge repair. Purpose: To evaluate the clinical results and repair integrity after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair using a suture bridge technique for patients with rotator cuff tears. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: One hundred twenty-three shoulders (120 patients) that underwent arthroscopic suture bridge repair for full-thickness rotator cuff tear were enrolled for this study. The mean duration of follow-up was 25.2 months (range, 16-34 months). The postoperative repair integrity was analyzed with use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 87 shoulders. According to the retear patterns on postoperative MRI, the cases were divided into type 1 (failure at the original repair site) or 2 (failure around the medial row). Results: At the last follow-up, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) score improved from the preoperative mean of 13.2 points to 29.7 points (P < .001). The rotator cuff was completely healed in 58 (66.7%) of the 87 shoulders, and there was a recurrent tear in 29 shoulders (33.3%). The incidence of retear tended to increase with age older than 60 years at the time of surgery (P = .002). When there was a larger intraoperative tear, the rate of retear was also higher (P = .002). When the severity of preoperative fatty degeneration of the cuff muscles was higher, there was a greater chance of a recurrent tear (P < .001). The retear patterns on postoperative MRI in 29 shoulders with recurrent failures were classified as type 1 in 12 shoulders (41.4%) and type 2 in 17 shoulders (58.6%). The preoperative cuff tear size did not have an influence on retear patterns (P = .236), but the percentage of type 1 retear increased with the severity of fatty degeneration or muscle atrophy (P = .041, .023). Conclusion: Arthroscopic suture bridge repair of full-thickness rotator cuff tears led to a relatively high rate of recurrent defects. However, the mean 25-month follow-up demonstrated excellent pain relief and improvement in the ability to perform the activities of daily living, despite the structural failures. The factors affecting tendon healing were the patient's age, the size and extent of the tear, and the presence of fatty degeneration in the rotator cuff muscle. The retear in cases with a suture bridge technique tended to be more frequently at the musculotendinous junction.


In the United States, greater than one-third of adults over the age of 40 years are using cholesterol lowering medication, and 90% of these medications are statins. The relationship between statin use and cognition is unclear: some studies report that statin use is associated with cognitive impairment, whereas other studies report that statins may have a protective effect against cognitive decline. Because cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) are major public health issues, knowledge of the effects of statin use on AD is critical. In this study, I investigated the relationship between measures of cognition and statin use, as well as the interaction effect of statin use and genotype at APOE and three proinflammatory cytokine loci (IL1B, IL6, and TNF⍺), by analyzing data from the Long Life Family Study (LLFS) comprising of 1691 probands and their siblings (mean age=90yo), their 2439 offspring (mean age=61yo) and 808 spouses of the offspring (mean age=61yo). Cognitive outcome was measured by two quantitative and four verbal cognitive traits, as well as the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) (in the proband generation only). Each generation was examined separately. Statin use was 16% among probands and 11% among offspring. As expected, mean cognitive scores for all measures were lower among probands than among offspring. Before adjusting for covariates, the study results showed significantly higher scores in probands taking statins for 3/7 cognitive traits (p≤0.005) and lower scores in offspring taking statins for 3/6 cognitive traits (p<0.02). After adjustment for age, sex, and education, statin use was only associated with cognitive measures digit forward in probands/siblings (p=0.038) and vegetable recall in offspring/spouses (p=0.001). Few significant genetic effects on cognition were seen, except IL6-174 in the probands/siblings and TNFɑ-308 SNP in the offspring/spouses with digit backward (p≤0.05), and IL6-174 and IL1B-31 by statin use interaction with animal recall in the probands/siblings (p<0.05). The above indicate additional studies on individuals with early stages of AD are needed. Because APOE is a significant risk factor in both cardiovascular disease and AD, additional pharmacological and pharmacogenetic studies of the effects of statins, particularly among APOE e4/e4 homozygotes, are warranted.


Gray et al. did first studies of LA-ICPMS in 1985 [1]. Ever since, extensive research has been performed to overcome the problem of so-called "non-stoichiometric sampling" and/or analysis, the origins of which are commonly referred to as elemental fractionation (EF). EF mainly consists of laser-, transportand ICP-induced effects, and often results in inaccurate analyses as pointed out in, e.g. references [2,3]. A major problem that has to be addressed is the lack of reference materials. Though the glass series of NIST SRM 61x have been the most commonly reference material used in LAICPMS, heterogeneities have been reported for some sample charges [4,5]. In addition, geological relevant elements such as Ti, Fe and Mg are present in very low concentrations only and thus not well suited for calibration. Elements such as Rh, Ru, Pd, Pt and Au (PGEs) are either absent or present in very low concentrations. The production procedure of glass limits the implementation of these elements into the glass matrix at concentrations required for many applications. Therefore, alternative methods for the production of calibrants were studied concerning the implementation of PGEs into Silicates, Carbonates, and Iron-Sulfides, which are homogeneous at the spatial resolution commonly used in microbeam techniques. Flame synthesis was used to reproduce the NIST 610 matrix at similar concentrations. Furthermore, PGEs and other elements were added to the matrix. The resulting powder consists of nanoparticles in the size range of 20-50 nm, which is well below the commonly crater diameters used in LAICPMS. The PGE concentration is for most of the elements around 500 mg/kg. Multiple analyses of these powders provide a RSD for PGEs in the order of 1-3 %. The difference between the pressed powder analysis and calcinated pellets shows indistinguishable results for most of the elements. The setup of production, preliminary results and first figures of merit will be discussed.


Novel prostaglandin F2α derivatives, functionalized at C13 and C14, have been prepared. 17-Phenyl-18,19,20-trinorprostaglandin F2α isopropyl ester [(15S)-1] and its epimer [(15R)-1] were stereoselectively epoxidized, using Sharpless conditions, to produce each of the four diastereomeric epoxides (15S)-2, (15S)-3, (15R)-2, and (15R)-3. Treatment of the four epoxides with LiOH stereospecifically-produced the pentahydroxy substituted analogues 12 and 13. Alternatively, epoxides 2 and 3 were allowed to react with thiophenolate ion. The attack of the sulfur nucleophile on the epoxide occurred at either C13 or C14 depending on the stereochemistry of the epoxide and of C15.


Facing the difficulty to reach the International Technology Roadmap (ITRS) in junction technology with the conventional approach numerous alternative doping processes have been recently developed to fabricate very-well activated and shallow p/sup +//n junctions. Taking into account that such processes present many challenges to solve for their integration, we choose to re-examine, in this paper, the ITRS targets. We show that the series resistance requirements can be achieved with the usual processes (ion implantation and rapid thermal annealing) for the 100 nm node. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the ITRS process window can be enlarged toward shallower junctions with relaxed sheet resistance. For sub-100 nm technologies, we identify the integration process issues for the usual doping processes. Tied with the anomalous diffusion of the implanted boron profile tail during the spacer deposition in one hand, with the coupled diffusion due to the source/drain implants in the other hand, we propose the Plasma Doping (PLAD) technique as a solution to resolve these issues. The viability of our strategy is demonstrated by fabricating very-well controlled 60 nm pMOSFETs with PLAD in a standard architecture.


Introduction: Occupational exposure to acids has been described in association with oral health, which is explained by the high irritant and corrosive acid effects that damage the enamel structure, cause inflammatory and immune reactions, and reduce the salivary pH, which can also compromise resistance to infections in oral cavity. So, this study was conducted to access the dental erosion and afford them the necessary treatment. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between occupational health behaviors and occupational dental erosion in the employees of battery company, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Materials and Methods: A case–control study was planned among the workers of battery company in Bengaluru City. Total 362 subjects were selected for the study, among which 181 were cases and 181 were controls. The data were collected by administering a questionnaire, which included demographic data, years of experience, and oral hygiene practices. The dental erosion was assessed according to recommended diagnostic criteria of Smith and Knight Tooth Wear Index. Results: A total of 35.2% of the subjects had dental erosion in the age of 50–59 years. Comparison of dental erosion among the age-group revealed a statistically significant difference (P < 0.00). Approximately 14.5% cases and 1.75% of the controls had at least one tooth surface with dentine, which was statistically significant (P < 0.00). Conclusion: This study documents the association between deterioration of the oral health status and a hazardous workplace environment. Findings pointed to the need of establishing appropriate educational, preventive, and treatment measures coupled with efficient surveillance and environment monitoring for the detection of acid fumes in the workplace environment.


Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is categorised into two distinct types, AIP type 1 and 2. Although there can be multisystem involvement, rarely, the cholangitis associated with AIP can present radiologically in a manner similar to that of Klatskin tumour. We present the case of a 65-year-old man who was almost misdiagnosed with a Klatskin tumour because of the similarity in radiological features of the two aforementioned clinical entities. The patient presented with a history of jaundice, pruritus and abdominal pain, and work up showed deranged liver function tests, elevated cancer antigen 19-9 levels and positive antinuclear antibodies. CT scan of the abdomen showed findings suggestive of Klatskin tumour but due to diffuse enlargement of the pancreas and surrounding low-attenuation halo found on a closer review, a diagnosis of AIP was performed. The patient was started on standard corticosteroid therapy and responded well, with complete resolution of the radiological findings.


The Federal Highway Administration's Office of Transportation Operations Road Weather Management Program began a project in FY 1999 to develop a prototype winter road maintenance decision support system (MDSS). The MDSS capabilities are based on feedback received by the FHWA in 2001 from maintenance managers at a number of state departments of transportation (DOTs) as part of an initiative to capture surface transportation weather decision support requirements. The MDSS project goal is to seed the implementation of advanced decision support services provided by the private sector for state DOTs. This has been achieved by developing core software capabilities that serve as a basis for these tailored products. After the 2001 user needs assessment was completed, the MDSS program was extended with the objective of developing and demonstrating a functional prototype MDSS. Field demonstrations of the prototype MDSS were conducted in Iowa between February and April 2003, and during the winter of 2004. The performance of the prototype MDSS was much improved during the second winter. The weather and road condition predictions were more accurate, and the treatment recommendations generated by the system were reasonable given the predicted conditions. Iowa garage supervisors actively considered the treatment guidance, and on occasion they successfully used the recommended treatments without modification. This paper describes the status of the MDSS project, results and lessons learned from the field demonstrations, and future development efforts.


Purpose - The purpose of this study is to portray societal/cultural values of Turkish people as perceived by managers and academicians. The study also aims to provide an understanding of the cultural context of the Turkish society in terms of socio-cultural dimensions such as high and low context, monochronic vs polychronic, self-determined, and temporal orientation. Design/methodology/approach - Instead of using Schwartz's 56-item questionnaire, the authors used seven cultural and ten individual dimensions as individual items. Cultural values were captured from managers' and academicians' perspectives by changing the frame of reference from self to others. The questionnaire was designed for two different age groups to find the magnitude of change in connection with cultural values. Findings - Results indicate that Turkey can be defined as a conservative country. Hierarchy is ranked as the second most important polar dimension, and the order of cultural values indicates a reverse direction compared to the findings of similar studies with reference to European countries. It also deserves to emphasize the fact that the younger group of respondents is much more conservative and seeks more power over people and resources than the older group of respondents. Originality/value - This paper, to some extent, may serve as a guide in reflecting today's cultural values in Turkey. It also makes a modest contribution to the relevant literature due to both the portraying cultural values of Turkish people, and the usage of methodological considerations for data collection purposes.


The study was carried out to determine the microbial and physicochemical identify the bacteria and fungi associated with the fermentation of African Locust Bean (Parkia biglobosa) "Iru" effluent and to assess the biocidal effect of fermented Parkia biglobosa effluent on some selected insects (mosquito, bean and rice weevils). The physicochemical properties of the fermented locust bean effluents were assessed. The results obtained on the effluent physicochemical parameters showed that there were differences between the control effluent and the fermented African locust bean effluent from the laboratory. Specifically, total hardness (614.00 – 194.00 mg/l), total dissolved solids (102.15 – 108.53 mg/l), total solids (125.30 - 131.50mg/l), the total alkalinity (762.50 – 688.75 mg/l) and the total acidity (as CaCO3) (206.70 – 263.40 mg/l). The minerals of the two effluents showed sharp differences in the sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium composition. Control effluent was higher than the test effluent in sodium (1578.19 mg/l), potassium (4734.19 mg/l) and magnesium (4304.16 mg/l) while the test effluent was only higher in calcium (7259.53 mg/l) compared to that of the control. The microbial types in fermented samples were identified after the fermentation period of 72 hrs. The bacterial profile were Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Escherchia coli and Enterococcus faecalis. Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Bacillus subtilis had the highest occurrences. The fungi isolates were Fusarium sp., Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergilus niger and Penicillium sp. Evaluation of the effect of fermented African locust bean effluent on bean weevil Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) with respect to insect mortality showed considerable biopesticidal potential on the bean weevil. The results revealed that the fermented locust bean effluent had the highest mortality of six after 20 minutes and the lowest mortality of one after 40 minutes. With further research, fermented African locust bean effluent can be used as biopesticide which would be cheaper, less hazardous to human health and easily accessible to local people to preserve cowpea produce.


The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the reliability of the historical events described by Guillebert de Lannoy in connection with the mention of the construc tion of a castle during his passage through the lands of Galicia, Podolia, Moldavia, and the Crimean Khanate (1421). Gedgaudas, the headman (starosta) of Podolia, arranged it by the order of Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania. It is considered in historiography that it was either the castle in Belgorod (Ackerman) or Kachubeev (Khadjibey) castle. The author reconstructed de Lannoy's route: the means of trans port, the speed, the circumstances of his journey, and the accuracy of the description of his meetings with Jogaila, King of Poland, Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gedgaudas, the headman (starosta) of Podolia, and Alexander, the Moldavian ruler. The author concludes that many of the testimonies are unreliable because they are memoirs and not travel records. Moreover, he proves that the mention of the cons truction of the castle by Gedgaudas was erroneously attributed to another territory: it was built not in Belgorod or Kachubeev but in Lithuanian Podolia, on the left bank of the Dniester near Kamenets.


The question of when modern birds (Neornithes) first diversified has generated much debate among avian systematists. Fossil evidence generally supports a Tertiary diversification, whereas estimates based on molecular dating favor an earlier diversification in the Cretaceous period. In this study, we used an alternate approach, the inference of historical biogeographic patterns, to test the hypothesis that the initial radiation of the Order Psittaciformes (the parrots and cockatoos) originated on the Gondwana supercontinent during the Cretaceous. We utilized broad taxonomic sampling (representatives of 69 of the 82 extant genera and 8 outgroup taxa) and multilocus molecular character sampling (3,941 bp from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genes cytochrome oxidase I and NADH dehydrogenase 2 and nuclear introns of rhodopsin intron 1, tropomyosin alpha-subunit intron 5, and transforming growth factor ß-2) to generate phylogenetic hypotheses for the Psittaciformes. Analyses of the combined character partitions using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian criteria produced well-resolved and topologically similar trees in which the New Zealand taxa Strigops and Nestor (Psittacidae) were sister to all other psittaciforms and the cockatoo clade (Cacatuidae) was sister to a clade containing all remaining parrots (Psittacidae). Within this large clade of Psittacidae, some traditionally recognized tribes and subfamilies were monophyletic (e.g., Arini, Psittacini, and Loriinae), whereas several others were polyphyletic (e.g., Cyclopsittacini, Platycercini, Psittaculini, and Psittacinae). Ancestral area reconstructions using our Bayesian phylogenetic hypothesis and current distributions of genera supported the hypothesis of an Australasian origin for the Psittaciformes. Separate analyses of the timing of parrot diversification constructed with both Bayesian relaxed-clock and penalized likelihood approaches showed better agreement between geologic and diversification events in the chronograms based on a Cretaceous dating of the basal split within parrots than the chronograms based on a Tertiary dating of this split, although these data are more equivocal. Taken together, our results support a Cretaceous origin of Psittaciformes in Gondwana after the separation of Africa and the India/Madagascar block with subsequent diversification through both vicariance and dispersal. These well-resolved molecular phylogenies will be of value for comparative studies of behavior, ecology, and life history in parrots. times, Gondwanan distribution, K/T boundary, molecular phylogeny, parrot, Psittaciformes, Tertiary origin.


: This paper provides an initial assessment of the qualifica- tion of polarimetric parameters for forest cover mapping in Siberian boreal forest. This investigation is carried out in the framework of JAXA's Kyoto and Carbon Initiative. The impact of the additional polarimetric information will be related to the backscattering intensities derived with the respective polarimetric acquisitions. The dataset consists of two Level 1.1 PLR scenes acquired during the calibra- tion/validation phase and is thus not determined by the schedule of the ALOS acquisition strategy. First results show the capability of polarimetric parameters to extend the intensity based data set in terms of a higher overall separability of forest and non forest and to some extend the feasibility of subdividing both basic classes. Abstract This paper provides an initial assessment of the qualifica-tion of polarimetric parameters for forest cover mapping in Siberian boreal forest. This investigation is carried out in the framework of JAXA's Kyoto and Carbon Initiative. The impact of the additional polarimetric information will be related to the backscattering intensities derived with the respective polarimetric acquisitions. The dataset consists of two Level 1.1 PLR scenes acquired during the calibra-tion/validation phase and is thus not determined by the schedule of the ALOS acquisition strategy. First results show the capability of polarimetric parameters to extend the intensity based data set in terms of a higher overall separability of forest and non forest and to some extend the feasibility of subdividing both basic classes.


Nano-grained WC-10Co hardmetal can be made by doping a new invented VC-based multi-grain-growth-inhibitor and suitable technical processing. The specifications for quantitative measurement of the grain size of WC in the alloy were investigated. It is very important to obtain the SE images of the alloy with good contrast and clear profile of WC grains by FESEM; then the linear intercept (LI) method was used to quantitatively measure the intercepts of WC grains. When the surveyed intercept numbers of WC grain exceeded 200, the statistic data for the mean grain size of WC were reproduced. The discriminative minimal grain size of used LI method was 12 nm; the maximum intercept of WC grain was 109 nm; the average intercept of WC grains was 45 nm and the corresponding 3D mean grain size of WC was 70 nm which is agreeable with the XRD outcome.


It is essential for learners to develop foundational literacy skills, ideally, in the first grade of formal education. These skills are then firmly entrenched and can be expanded in the following grades to form a basis for all future academic studies. Appropriate assessment practices and tools to aid this process can inform the achievement of quality education. Assessment and the curriculum are intertwined concepts in relation to teaching and learning. Through assessment, it can be established if all learners have attained curriculum content, knowledge and proficiencies in a given year. Furthermore, assessment can assist in advising teachers on which specific areas learners are struggling with as well as provide insight for remedial measures. Together, this can offer ways to improve education. In this article, individual oral assessment using the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) tool is discussed based on two recent impact evaluations of teacher interventions. Each intervention conceptualised its own theory of change to improve learner language and literacy development. The interventions also differed in relation to the target language; English as First Additional Language and Setswana as Home Language. Despite these differences, using the EGRA tool in both intervention evaluations allowed for a discussion on its usefulness in South Africa. This was done with regard to suitability, reliability and validity, assistance to educators, amendments and suggestions to overcoming challenges related to practicalities. In conclusion, recommendations for improving education and the development of literacy in South African schools are made.


Elaine B. Safer's The Contemporary American Comic Epic considers six novels by four authors: Earth's The Sot-weed Factor and Giles Goat-Boy, Pynchon's V. and Gravity's Rainbow, Gaddis's The Recognitions, and Kesey's: Jometimes a Great Notion. Safer's purpose is to understand in what ways and toward what ends these novels are both comic and epic. This would seem to be a harmless enough undertaking, although some readers may find themselves exasperated by the author's unselfconscious return to a simpler critical world undisturbed by the implications of structuralist and poststructuralist thought, a world in which the critic's primary business is charting allusions, making genre distinctions, and offering propaedeutic thematic analyses. Safer may nod in passing to the work of, say, Umberto Eco or (in a note) Hayden White, and she may speak of intertextuality or label her subjects "postmodern" (which she does without further comment, as though the term were self-explanatory and unproblematic), but for her Barth, Pynchon, Gaddis, and Kesey remain essentially what they once were judged to be: existentialists, black humorists, absurdist fabulators. Consequently, the appropriate approach to Barth et ale is still yesterday's, with each novelist seen as exploiting black humor and ironic allusiveness (that is, allusiveness which "mocks the present and is often ambivalent about the past" [21]) in the service of an absurdist vision that incorporates the techniques of traditional comic prose epics and makes parodic use of the conventions and intentions of the traditional epic to yield existential satire.


In this work, we propose an edge detection algorithm by estimating a lifetime of an event produced from dynamic vision sensor (DVS), also known as event camera. The event camera, unlike traditional CMOS camera, generates sparse event data at a pixel whose log-intensity changes. Due to this characteristic, theoretically, there is only one or no event at the specific time, which makes it difficult to grasp the world captured by the camera at a particular moment. In this work, we present an algorithm that keeps the event alive until the corresponding event is generated in a nearby pixel so that the shape of an edge is preserved. Particularly, we consider a pixel area to fit a plane on Surface of Active Events (SAE) and call the point inside the pixel area closest to the plane as a intra-pixel-area event. These intra-pixel-area events help the fitting plane algorithm to estimate life time robustly and precisely. Our algorithm performs better in terms of sharpness and similarity metric than the accumulation of events over fixed counts or time intervals, when compared with the existing edge detection algorithms, both qualitatively and quantitatively.


This article examines the effect of government capital injections into financially troubled banks on corporate investment during the Japanese banking crisis of the late 1990s. By helping banks meet the capital requirements imposed by Japanese banking regulation, recapitalization enables banks to respond to loan demands, which could help firms increase their investment. To test this mechanism empirically, we combine the balance sheet data of Japanese manufacturing firms with bank balance sheet data and estimate a linear investment model where the investment rate is a function of not only firm productivity and size but also bank regulatory capital ratios. We find that the coeffcient of the interaction between a firm's total factor productivity measure and a bank's capital ratio is positive and significant, implying that the bank's capital ratio affects more productive firms. Counterfactual policy experiments suggest that capital injections made in March 1998 and 1999 had a negligible impact on the average investment rate, although there was a reallocation effect, shifting investments from low- to high-productivity firms.


Many contemporary language technology systems are characterized by long pipelines of tools with complex dependencies. Too often, these workflows are implemented by ad hoc scripts; or, worse, tools are run manually, making experiments difficult to reproduce. These practices are difficult to maintain in the face of rapidly evolving workflows while they also fail to expose and record important details about intermediate data. Further complicating these systems are hyperparameters, which often cannot be directly optimized by conventional methods, requiring users to determine which combination of values is best via trial and error. We describe LoonyBin, an open-source tool that addresses these issues by providing: 1) a visual interface for the user to create and modify workflows; 2) a well-defined mechanism for tracking metadata and provenance; 3) a script generator that compiles visual workflows into shell scripts; and 4) a new workflow representation we call a HyperWorkflow, which intuitively and succinctly encodes small experimental variations within a larger workflow.