Firewall is a subject in form of hardware or software or both, which is use to protects a network from intrusion by outsiders. It is regulating the traffic that can pass through a router that connecting to the network infrastructure. It is preventing from unauthorized users to access the network whether from outside via the Internet or inside, Local Area Network (LAN) itself. Firewall system has many methods and techniques that imply and describes on each of their types or technologies. This paper had discussed about how all the methods in types of firewall functioning and give the advantages and disadvantages on decision making in a network security policy especially on using firewall system. Keywords-firewall; Local Area Network(LAN) ; traffic; network infrastructure;


This work presents the first demonstration of atomic layer deposition (ALD) ruthenium oxide (RuO2) and its conformal coating onto vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) forests as supercapacitor electrodes. Specific accomplishments include: (1) successful demonstration of ALD RuO2 deposition, (2) uniform coating of RuO2 on a vertically aligned CNT forest, and (3) an ultra-high specific capacitance of 100 mF/cm2 from prototype electrodes with a scan rate of 100 mV/s. Advantages of the ALD method include precise control of the RuO2 layer thickness and composition without the use of CNT-binder molecules. In addition to high capacitance, preliminary results indicate that the ALD RuO2-CNTs have good stability over repeated cycling. Besides its use in supercapacitors, ALD-RuO2 has potential NEMS applications: in biosensors and pH sensing [1], as a strong oxidative material in multiple chemical processes [2], and in catalytic reactions for photocatalytic systems [3].


Network reconnaissance aims at gathering as much information as possible before an attack is launched. Meanwhile, static host address configuration facilitates network reconnaissance. Currently, more sophisticated network reconnaissance has been emerged with the adaptive and cooperative features. To address this, in this paper, we present Hiding and Trapping (HaT), which is a deceptive approach to disrupt adversarial network reconnaissance with the help of the software-defined networking (SDN) paradigm. HaT is able to hide valuable hosts from attackers and to trap them into decoy nodes through strategic and holistic host address mutation according to characteristic of adversaries. We implement a prototype of HaT, and evaluate its performance by experiments. The experimental results show that HaT is capable to effectively disrupt adversarial network reconnaissance with better deceptive performance than the existing address randomization approach.


In this paper we discuss how one of the most famous local optimization algorithms for the Traveling Salesman Problem, the 2-Opt, can be efficiently implemented in hardware for Euclidean TSP instances up to a few hundred cities. We introduce the notion of "symmetrical 2-Opt moves" which allows us to uncover fine-grain parallelism when executing the specified algorithm. We propose a novel architecture that exploits this parallelism. A subset of the TSPLIB benchmark is used to evaluate the proposed architecture and its ASIC implementation, which exhibits better final results and an average speedup of 20 when compared with the state-of-the-art software implementation. Our approach produces, to the best of our knowledge, the fastest to date TSP 2-Opt solver for small-scale Euclidean TSP instances.


High throughput methods were employed for the physical vapour deposition (PVD) and electrochemical screening of random and equilibrated (annealed at 300 oC for 15 minutes) binary metal alloys for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). Results are presented for the Pd-Au, Pd-Bi and Ru-Au alloy systems. Thin films of each alloy system were synthesized on a series of 10x10 array electrodes with a graded composition. A variety of analytical techniques including Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD) were used for the analysis of bulk composition, surface composition and structure respectively. The compositional analysis reveals that alloy formation and synthesis of nearly the whole compositional range of the alloy systems were achieved. Surface segregation of Au in the Pd-Au alloy system and Ru in the Ru-Au alloy system was observed. The surface segregation in the equilibrated Pd-Bi alloy system did not take place. The HER and HOR activity on all the examined alloy systems exhibit a similar compositional dependence. This suggests that the HER activity provides a good descriptor for the HOR activity for systems with low overpotentials. An exception of this occurs, however, at high concentrations of Au and Bi where the HER activity decreases monotonically towards 100 at. %, while the HOR activity decreases more rapidly at alloy compositions of ca. 90 at. %. An enhancement in the activity was found on a variety of alloy compositions over the constituent components. The optimum Pd-Au alloy composition for the HER and HOR was found to be at a composition of ca. Pd50Au50 (more active than pure Pd). A comparable activity to pure Pd was found on Birich alloys (ca. Pd25Bi75) in the Pd-Bi alloy system. The activity on ca. Ru90Au10 and 60-80 % Au was found to be higher than pure Ru. The CO-tolerance in the HOR along the whole compositional range of each alloy system was also assessed in the presence of a mixture of hydrogen and 500 ppm CO. The results suggest that the Ru-Au alloy system is more CO tolerant than the other two systems


Location Privacy-Preserving Mechanisms (LPPMs) in the literature largely consider that users' data available for training wholly characterizes their mobility patterns. Thus, they hardwire this information in their designs and evaluate their privacy properties with these same data. In this paper, we aim to understand the impact of this decision on the level of privacy these LPPMs may offer in real life when the users' mobility data may be different from the data used in the design phase. Our results show that, in many cases, training data does not capture users' behavior accurately and, thus, the level of privacy provided by the LPPM is often overestimated. To address this gap between theory and practice, we propose to use blank-slate models for LPPM design. Contrary to the hardwired approach, that assumes known users' behavior, blank-slate models learn the users' behavior from the queries to the service provider. We leverage this blank-slate approach to develop a new family of LPPMs, that we call Profile Estimation-Based LPPMs. Using real data, we empirically show that our proposal outperforms optimal state-of-the-art mechanisms designed on sporadic hardwired models. On non-sporadic location privacy scenarios, our method is only better if the usage of the location privacy service is not continuous. It is our hope that eliminating the need to bootstrap the mechanisms with training data and ensuring that the mechanisms are lightweight and easy to compute help fostering the integration of location privacy protections in deployed systems.


A coloring of a tree is convex if the vertices that pertain to any color induce a connected subtree; a partial coloring (which assigns colors to some of the vertices) is convex if it can be completed to a convex (total) coloring. Convex coloring of trees arises in areas such as phylogenetics, linguistics, etc. eg, a perfect phylogenetic tree is one in which the states of each character induce a convex coloring of the tree. Research on perfect phylogeny is usually focused on finding a tree so that few predetermined partial colorings of its vertices are convex. When a coloring of a tree is not convex, it is desirable to know "how far" it is from a convex one. One common measure for this is based on the parsimony score, which is the number of edges whose endpoints have different colors. In this paper we study another natural measure for this distance: the minimal number of color changes at the vertices needed to make the coloring convex. This can be viewed as minimizing the number of "exceptional vertices" w.r.t. to a closest convex coloring. We also study a similar measure which aims at minimizing the number of "exceptional edges" w.r.t. a closest convex coloring. We show that finding each of these distances is NP-hard even for strings. We then focus on the first measure and generalize it to weighted trees, and then to non-uniform coloring costs. In the positive side we present few algorithms for convex recoloring of strings of trees: First we present algorithms for optimal convex recolorings of strings and trees with non-uniform coloring costs, which for any fixed number of colors are linear in the input size. Then we present fixed parameter tractable algorithms and approximation algorithms for convex recolorings of weighted strings and trees.


Insect societies are vulnerable to exploitation by workers who reproduce selfishly rather than help to rear the queen's offspring. In most species, however, only a small proportion of the workers reproduce. Here, we develop an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) model to investigate factors that could explain these observed low levels of reproductive exploitation. Two key factors are identified: relatedness and policing. Relatedness affects the ESS proportion of reproductive workers because laying workers generally work less, leading to greater inclusive fitness costs when within‐colony relatedness is higher. The second key factor is policing. In many species, worker‐laid eggs are selectively removed or 'policed' by other workers or the queen. We show that policing not only prevents the rearing of worker‐laid eggs but can also make it unprofitable for workers to lay eggs in the first place. This can explain why almost no workers reproduce in species with efficient policing, such as honeybees, Apis, and the common wasp, Vespula vulgaris, despite relatively low relatedness caused by multiple mating of the mother queen. Although our analyses focus on social insects, the conclusion that both relatedness and policing can reduce the incentive for cheating applies to other biological systems as well.


Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) have been increasingly adopted in process automation due to a number of advantages such as cost reduction and enhanced flexibility. Nevertheless, transmission over wireless channels in industrial environments is prone to interference, resulting in frequent erroneous packet deliveries. Existing IWSN standards based on the IEEE 802.15.4 specification only prescribe Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) for packet retransmission, without providing any means for error recovery, which leads to unexpected transmission delay. Forward Error Correction (FEC) code as an alternative approach is able to effectively improve reliability and reduce the number of retransmissions. However, FEC computation requires extra memory and processing time. In this paper, we discuss the timing constraints of employing FEC codes for IWSNs according to the IWSN standards. Then we benchmark a number of different FEC codes in a typical wireless sensor node in terms of memory consumption and processing time. Our results show that LDPC and Turbo code, as the state of the art FEC codes, fail to fulfill the requirement from the IWSN standards while other FEC candidates, such as RS code, are proven to be suitable for the practical implementation in IWSNs.


The way that we use our time has become more and more important. Changes in the economy and in information and communication technology have increased the speed of business processes. If the allocation of human resources and the timing of projects are not successful, the key persons in a company easily end up working overtime or under time pressure. According to the third European survey on work conditions, 29% of European employees work continuously to meet tight deadlines; 20% work 45 hours or more in a week, the percentage being higher for self-employed persons (1). About 13% of full-time employees work 51 hours or more a week (2), the number of hours being clearly higher than the 48-hour "maximum limit" established by the European directive on worktime (3). Occasional overtime is also common. In Finland, 57% of men and 42% of women worked overtime every month in 2000 (4).

Although the relationship between workhours and health has been studied for decades, most interest has been focused on the effects of night and shift work on health instead of on the effects of long workhours. In work psychology, the relationship between mental work demands and health has also been a popular topic. Instead of quantifying directly the actual length of the workweek (exposure), most psychosocial studies have used different questionnaires to ask for subjective perceptions of workload. In this issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health , an update of the current knowledge on long workhours and health is the topic of one of the reviews (5). Moreover, the review examines the validity of two different pathways, insufficient recovery and poor life-style, which could possibly link long workhours with adverse health.

The review shows that long workhours are indeed associated with adverse health, in particular cardiovascular disease, disability retirement, subjectively measured poor health, and fatigue. The most interesting studies show that working more than 11 hours a day is associated with a three times higher risk of myocardial infarction (6) and about a four times higher risk of noninsulin-dependent diabetes (7), than that of a normal workday. Working 60 hours or more a week has also been found to be associated with an almost three times greater risk of disability retirement (8). The results thus indicate that long workhours are not only subjectively stressful but may also lead to higher morbidity. However, the number of studies concerning the different areas of health is still low. Only a single study was included on the areas of mortality (9) and noninsulin diabetes (6). Since new studies may have different results-like the recent negative finding between overtime and noninsulin-dependent diabetes (10)-we still must wait for the final conclusions.

The second question of the review focused on studying the evidence on physiological and behavioral changes related to long workhours. The evidence on cardiovascular physiological pathways proved to be rather weak in that only few studies indicated that extended workdays could be related to, for example, increased heart rate and blood pressure. Some occasional evidence was found for the relationship between long workhours and the depression of the immunologic system. No evidence was found on the possible association between long workhours and poor eating habits or physical inactivity.

The most consistent results were related to the inverse association between long workhours and sleep. Although there is no direct relationship between the length of the workweek and daily sleep, sleeping hours are remarkably shortened among those who work more than some 50 hours a week. The distorted 24-hour time structure is thus reflected in reduced sleep only at the very end of the normal distribution of workhours.

It is easy to agree with the conclusion that short sleep hours due to a lack of insufficient recovery may be the most important pathway connecting extended workhours and adverse health. Short sleep hours (4-6 hours/day) have been shown to be associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease when compared with normal sleep hours (7-8 hours/day) (11, 12). It is also well acknowledged that insufficient sleep can increase the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and lead to an increase in blood pressure and heart rate (13, 14). The experimental studies on partial sleep deprivation show that already 6 days with 4 hours of sleep a day changes the 24-hour cortisol profile, increases sympathetic activity, and decreases glucose tolerance among young healthy subjects (15). In a recent case-referent study, both long workhours (61 hours or more/week) and short sleep (5 hours or less/day) were associated with at least a two times higher risk of acute myocardial infarction (16). This study also showed that, when long workhours and insufficient sleep were combined, the risk of myocardial infarction was the highest.

It is possible that insufficient sleep could be the common pathway explaining not only the effects of long workhours on cardiovascular disease, but also some of the health effects of shift work (17) and sleep apnea (18). Since high job demands and stress are also risk factors for insomnia and sleep deprivation (19, 20), sleep debt could be one pathway through which mental workload and job stress can also increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The relationship between job stress, long workhours and sleep can be complicated. The length of the workday and the effects of long workhours on sleep probably depend on job stress. Since only a few people have long workhours without job stress, it is also difficult to separate the physiological and behavioral mechanisms of the two.

In conclusion, the current review of van der Hulst (5) shows that we have good reason to be concerned about the possible adverse health effects of long workhours. More epidemiologic and physiological research is clearly needed to clarify the different effects and pathways connecting long workhours and health. Since short sleep and its physiological consequences proved to be a promising candidate for the pathway from insufficient recovery to adverse health, the role of sleep and especially long-term partial sleep deprivation should be investigated in more detail. It is also noteworthy to see that most of the epidemiologic studies on long workhours have been conducted in Japan, the country in which "karoshi", sudden death due to extremely long workweeks and insufficient sleep, was first recognized. Since the psychosocial and domestic factors-as well as the possible "triggering" level of long workhours on health-may depend on cultural factors, more studies are needed also in other countries to clarify the role of long workhours with respect to health. The ultimate goal is naturally the prevention of adverse health in relation to long workhours. For that purpose, we would benefit from additional information on the dose-response relationship between long workhours and health, and we should be aware of the critical factors-like job stress and sleep-that can modify the final output.


The effects of sputtered and room temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (RT-PECVD) SiNx passivation on the dc and microwave performance of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are studied. The pulsed I–V characteristics from a class B quiescent bias point and transient measurements indicate that the sputtered SiNx passivation is more efficient in suppressing lag effects in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Dispersion-free sputtered SiNx passivated AlGaN/GaN HEMTs were obtained using this technique. Continuous-wave (CW) measurements without active cooling give a maximum output power density of 6.6 W mm−1 at Vgs = −4 V, Vds = 50 V and a maximum power added efficiency of 51.3% at Vgs = −4 V, Vds = 30 V at 3 GHz on 2 × 50 µm AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on the sapphire substrate, with a gate length of 2 µm and without field-plated gates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest level power density reported on the sapphire substrate without field-plate design. The extrinsic cut-off frequency (ft) and maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) are 51 GHz and 100 GHz, respectively, on 2 × 50 × 0.15 µm HEMTs. To our knowledge, the sputtered SiNx passivation for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs is a unique technique, which has never been published before.


In this paper, we address the problem of delivering multimedia content to a sparse vehicular network from roadside infostations, using efficient vehicle-to-vehicle collaboration. Due to the highly dynamic nature of the underlying vehicular network topology, we depart from architectures requiring centralized coordination, reliable MAC scheduling, or global network state knowledge, and instead adopt a distributed paradigm with simple protocols. In other words, we investigate the problem of reliable dissemination from multiple sources when each node in the network shares a limited amount of its resources for cooperating with others. By using rateless coding at the Road Side Unit (RSU) and using vehicles as data carriers, we describe an efficient way to achieve reliable dissemination to all nodes (even disconnected clusters in the network). In the nutshell, we explore vehicles as mobile storage devices. We then develop a method to keep the density of the rateless coded packets as a function of distance from the RSU at the desired level set for the target decoding distance. We investigate various tradeoffs involving buffer size, maximum capacity, and the mobility parameter of the vehicles.


In recent years, we have seen the development of integrated plenoptic sensors, where multiple pixels are placed under one microlens. It is mainly used by cameras and smartphones to drive the autofocus of the main lens, and it often takes the form of dual-pixels with 2 rectangular sub-pixels. We study the evolution of dual-pixels, the so-called quad-pixel sensor with 2x2 square sub-pixels under the microlens. As it is a simple light field capturing device, we investigate the computational photography abilities of such sensor. We first present our work on pixel-level simulations, then we present a model of image formation taking into account the diffraction by the microlens. Finally, we present new ways to process a quad-pixel images based on deep learning.


Background Second-generation thyroglobulin immunometric assays (Tg-IMAs) have been developed with improved sensitivity. Our aim was to compare the diagnostic value of Tg-IMA measurements using a Kryptor (BRAHMS AG) kit (Tg-K) and an ACCESS (Beckman Coulter) kit (Tg-A) with that of the first-generation Tg measurement using a Tg-plus (BRAHMS AG) kit (Tg+). Methods We enrolled 82 differentiated thyroid cancer patients who underwent total thyroidectomy with radioactive iodine remnant ablation and who underwent diagnostic whole body scan using recombinant human thyroid stimulating hormone (rhTSH). The Tg+, Tg-K, and Tg-A were measured before rhTSH administration during levothyroxine treatment (suppressed Tg) from the same sample. Serum Tg+ was measured after rhTSH stimulation (stimulated Tg). Results Suppressed Tg+ was more significantly correlated with suppressed Tg-K (R2=0.919, P<0.001) than with suppressed Tg-A (R2=0.536, P<0.001). The optimal cut-off values of suppressed Tg+, Tg-K, and Tg-A for predicting stimulated Tg+ of 1 ng/mL were 0.3, 0.2, and 0.2 ng/mL, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of suppressed Tg+ were 67%, 100%, and 90%, respectively; those of suppressed Tg-K were 83%, 90%, and 88%; those of suppressed Tg-A were 96%, 82%, and 87%, respectively. The positive predictive and negative predictive values of Tg+ were 100% and 87%, respectively; those of Tg-K were 79% and 92%; and those of Tg-A were 73% and 98%. Conclusion We could not clearly demonstrate which kit had better diagnostic performance after comparison of first-generation Tg measurements with Tg-IMA measurements. Also, there were kit-to-kit variations between Tg-IMA kits. Suppressed Tg measured by Tg-IMA was insufficient to completely substitute for a stimulated Tg measurement.


Introduction In recent years, we collectively decided that to achieve sustainable growth in our cities, we are going in the direction of smart-city and smart-mobility studies. With the increasing amount of data available and the presence of extensive communication infrastructure for vehicles and people to connect, many efforts are made towards mobility optimizations. Applications such as personal trip planners and similar are in widespread use at the moment, and they have an impact on mobility patterns in and around a city. Using a mobility simulator framework it is possible to study their impact on the overall traffic congestion, and possibly develop an intelligent and coordinated trip planner that keeps into account different modes of transportation and parking availability that would satisfy the user without impairing the system. To achieve a deployable solution, we need to base our optimizations on realistic topology representations and realistic mobility models of our modern cities. Although significant progress has been made on the realism of mobility simulators, substantial work needs to be done to achieve realistic mobility patterns. We aim to build a comprehensive framework that allows the creation of a realistic topology and infrastructure for a city and to generate realistic mobility for it. We selected SUMO1 microscopic mobility simulator because it is open-source, flexible and performant, with the advanced multi-modal featured that we require, and most importantly, the user and developer community is very active and always ready to help. The first part of this framework is already available on GitHub under GPLv2 license, and it comprises of (i) the toolchain used to generate a scenario starting from OpenStreetMap2 data, (ii) the toolchain used to generate reasonable mobility based on a representation of origin-destination time-dependent matrices3, and (iii) our case study of the Principality of Monaco and its surroundings4. The Monaco SUMO Traffic Scenario is available at https://github.com/lcodeca/MoSTScenario. Despite that the mobility generator already implemented provides reasonable mobility features, it is not detailed enough when it comes to personal trip planning, activity-based mobility, and parking patterns and behaviors. The new tool we are implementing now is meant to tackle these challenges.


This paper presents a new approach for the real-time, near-optimal control of water-distribution networks, which forms an integral part of the POWADIMA research project. The process is based on the combined use of an artificial neural network for predicting the consequences of different control settings and a genetic algorithm for selecting the best combination. By this means, it is possible to find the optimal, or at least near-optimal, pump and valve settings for the present time-step as well as those up to a selected operating horizon, taking account of the short-term demand fluctuations, the electricity tariff structure and operational constraints such as minimum delivery pressures, etc. Thereafter, the near-optimal control settings for the present time-step are implemented. Having grounded any discrepancies between the previously predicted and measured storage levels at the next update of the monitoring facilities, the whole process is repeated on a rolling basis and a new operating strategy is computed. Contingency measures for dealing with pump failures, pipe bursts, etc., have also been included. The novelty of this approach is illustrated by the application to a small, hypothetical network. Its relevance to real networks is discussed in the subsequent papers on case studies.


In this paper, a novel DNA electrochemical biosensor based on layer-by-layer self-assembled technology was reported. Gold nanoparticles were firstly immobilized on chitosan modified gold electrode by large amino of chitosan because of strong electrostatic adsorption effect between amino and gold atom, and thoil group modified DNA (SH-ssDNA) probe sequence was then self-assembled onto the electrode. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were applied to investigate the electrochemical behavior of different modified electrodes with methylene blue as hybrid indicator. The results in optimization experiment condition show that: The peak current difference value pre and post hybridization was linearly related to the logatithmic value of the target DNA concentration ranging from 10-8~10-5mol/L.A detection limit of 3.55×10-9mol/L can be estimated.


The Isabella grape (Vitis labrusca) is a red variety that has been optimally adapted to the edafoclimatic conditions in the region of Villa del Rosario (Norte de Santander) and has been accepted also in local markets. Currently, the grape is eaten fresh and its potential for winemaking is unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish the phenolic potential and identify important yeasts of this kind of grape for winemaking. To this end, berries taken from two consecutive vintages were analyzed. Parameters analyzed were density, soluble solids, pH, acidity and total and removable phenolic potential. The yeasts were identified morphologically and biochemically. The results of the physicochemical parameters of the two vintages were averaged and compared with results for grapes from Valle del Cauca. The results indicated that the berries of the two regions were similar in physical characteristics but significantly different in terms of chemical composition. The total phenolic potential was higher in grapes from Valle del Cauca, while removable was similar in the two regions. Five yeast species: Kloeckera apiculata, Criptococcus laurentii, Candida guillermondii, Candida novergensis y Rhodotorula glutinis were microbiologically isolated and identified.


Logistics deals with the flow, storage of goods and related information. Its purpose is to make people, material and information flow from the start to the end. A fundamental transition in the business environment has shifted from the producer's market to the buyer's market. Customer needs result in the requirement of new logistic supply methods. Today logistics engineers plan and design material flow by trial and error. It lacks an effective simulation tool to offer them an overview of traffic load, material flow and workload. Because simulation software provides visual interactive facilities, this study attempted to investigate simulation software used in real logistics system by analyzing underlying logic and its added-value. Furthermore, it purposed to find out how simulation software can fulfill manufacturers' requirements.This thesis has investigated the issues related to simulation software used in internal logistics systems. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the simulation software by exploring the underlying logic through modeling analysis, analyzing its added-value and developing evaluation criteria of simulation software. One data driven logistic simulator, Flow Planner, has been studied on the basis of the case study carried out at Scania Oskarshamn. This software is investigated from users' perspective, which means that the investigation is objective and close to the manufacturer's crucial requirements.The result of the study shows that simulation software relies on real system. At the same ime, they have their own simulation language. These tools can support logistics planning and give better flow design. However, the software should be dynamic in order to fulfill manufacturers' specific requirements. Simulation software developers should follow the evaluation criteria to be better suitable for manufacturers.


Hospital noise can be problematic for both patients and staff and consistently is rated poorly on national patient satisfaction surveys. A surge of research in the last two decades highlights the challenges of healthcare acoustic environments. However, existing research commonly relies on conventional noise metrics such as equivalent sound pressure level, which may be insufficient to fully characterize the fluctuating and complex nature of the hospital acoustic environments experienced by occupants. In this study, unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques were used to extract patterns of activity in noise and the relationship to patient perception. Specifically, nine patient rooms in three adult inpatient hospital units were acoustically measured for 24 h and unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques were applied to provide a more detailed statistical analysis of the acoustic environment. Validation results of five different clustering models found two clusters, labeled active and non-active, using k-means. Additional insight from this analysis includes the ability to calculate how often a room is active or non-active during the measurement period. While conventional LAeq was not significantly related to patient perception, novel metrics calculated from clustered data were significant. Specifically, lower patient satisfaction was correlated with higher Active Sound Levels, higher Total Percent Active, and lower Percent Quiet at Night metrics. Overall, applying statistical clustering to the hospital acoustic environment offers new insights into how patterns of background noise over time are relevant to occupant perception.


Gravastar models have recently been proposed as an alternative to black holes, mainly to avoid the problematic issues associated with event horizons and singularities. In this work, a wide variety of gravastar models within the context of nonlinear electrodynamics are constructed. Using the F representation, specific forms of Lagrangians are considered describing magnetic gravastars, which may be interpreted as self-gravitating magnetic monopoles with charge g. Using the dual P formulation of nonlinear electrodynamics, electric gravastar models are constructed by considering specific structural functions, and the characteristics and physical properties of the solutions are further explored. These interior nonlinear electrodynamic geometries are matched to an exterior Schwarzschild spacetime at a junction interface. PACS numbers: 04.20.Jb, 04.40.Nr, 11.10.Lm ‡ firstname.lastname@example.com † firstname.lastname@example.com Gravastars supported by nonlinear electrodynamics 2


ABSTRACT Context Medical students are exposed during their training to a wide range of experiences and behaviors that can affect their learning regarding professionalism and their behavior and attitudes towards patient-centered care. The aim of the study is to explore learning associated with critical incidents and levels of critical reflection among medical students. Approach Medical students' were invited to narrate a critical incident and reflect on the learning associated with it. All students' narratives were audio-recorded and analyzed thematically. Mezirow's theory of transformative learning was used to analyze the level of reflection reached in students' narratives. Findings For the present analysis critical incidents narrated by 70 clinical students (4th–6th year) were included. Fifty-two of them were females. Students' experiences are derived from three types of interactions: observed interactions between doctors and patients, personal interactions between students and patients, and interactions between doctors and students. Reflections deriving from the experiences included: behaving to patients as humans not as cases, emotional aspects of care, doctors as role models, skills needed when working under pressure, 'tasting' the real profession, emotional management, the importance of communication skills, teaching qualities of doctors, becoming a doctor, and reflections of future practice. Analyzing the actual level of reflection indicated that only 32 (45.7%) students were categorized as reflectors. Conclusions Student interactions with doctors and patients provide insights about; the daily experience of being a doctor, the most common challenges, what qualities are necessary for being a doctor and what do they need to develop their professional identity. However, it is noteworthy that while the majority of students shared a critical incident crucial to their professional development, there is little evidence of critical reflection.


Abstract One reason that trust is interesting for philosophers is that there are reasons for trust. We want to know when it is appropriate to trust other people, because trusting foolishly can be dangerous. The paper argues that there are two competing ways of understanding reasons of trust – a non-voluntarist and a voluntarist way. On the non-voluntarist picture, reasons for trust are associated with the trustworthiness of another person. On the voluntarist picture, you can appropriately trust another person without judging her to be trustworthy. In the paper a case is made against the voluntarist interpretation. At the same time it is argued that non-voluntarist theories of trust are faced with a particular problem. This problem has to do with the assumption that in order to appropriately trust another person you have to judge her competent in the relevant area of interaction. It is argued that this competence assumption should not be understood as a necessary condition for trustworthiness but rather as a necessary condition for mere reliability. Doing so helps to solve problems associated with trust in medicine ethics and political philosophy, and it opens up new perspectives for theories of trust.


Numerical time integration methods for solving sets of simultaneous dynamic equilibrium equations are reviewed. Both mathematical and physical approximations are used in generating numerical solutions to the governing second-order differential equations. The resulting algorithms are classified into two basic categories: explicit (predictor) and implicit (corrector). Explicit methods are computationally efficient, but all explicit second-order accurate methods are only conditionally stable. On the other hand, many implicit methods are unconditionally stable, but may require iteration for convergence at each time step. For linear problems, implicit methods usually can be reduced to explicit form and iteration can be avoided. Methods which are unconditionally stable for linear problems may become unstable for nonlinear problems depending upon the manner in which nonlinearities are evaluated: exactly, or approximately using a pseudo-force or tangent modulus idealization. Methods which introduce numerical (or algorithmic) damping are used to eliminate "spurious" high frequency noise present in nonlinear, and sometimes even linear, structural dynamics problems. The question still remains whether the manner and extent of filtering at high frequencies is realistic. While attempts to develop new time integration algorithms synthesizing the better features of both explicit and implicit methods continue to be made, a basic controversy over the relative advantages and disadvantages of explicit and implicit schemes still exists.


Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has long been recognized as an occupational risk for healthcare workers (HCWs) as a result of regular and routine exposure to blood and other body fluids in the course of their duties. The risk of occupational exposure to such infection has been the concerns of HCWs for years. However, there were scarcities of information on frequency of Hepatitis B virus infection in the study area. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigenaemia among Health Care Workers in Babcock University Teaching Hospital, Ilisan, Nigeria. A descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted among HCWs from across various occupation categories in the study area between May and June 2015. A structured questionnaire was used to collect demographics and clinical data. Sample analytical process was carried out using the HBsAg commercially available kits (Genedia, Green Cross, Korea). Of the 100 HCWs enrolled in the study, HBsAg was detected in 7%. The positivity of HBsAg, in this study, was more among males and all were from staff younger than 50 years old. The occupational risk of HBV infection among the HCWs in this study was highest among the cleaning staff followed by nurses and doctors. None was documented among the Medical laboratory Scientists/technicians. The occupation risk of HBV infection among the HCWs in this study was high. Regular Infection prevention and control training is required and HBV vaccine should be more readily available for HCWs by coordinated institutional vaccination programs.


It is only very recently that systems have been developed that transcribe polyphonic music with more than two voices in even limited generality. Two of these systems [Kashino et al.1995, Martin 1996] have been built within a blackboard framework, integrating front ends based on sinusoidal analysis with musical knowledge. These and other systems to date rely on instrument models for detecting octaves. Recent results have shown that an autocorrelation-based front end may make bottom-up detection of octaves possible, thereby improving system performance as well as reducing the distance between transcription models and human audition. This report outlines the blackboard approach to automatic transcription and presents a new system based on the log-lag correlogram of [Ellis 1996]. Preliminary results are presented, outlining the bottom-up detection of octaves and transcription of simple polyphonic music.


In fragmented landscapes, species persistence within isolated habitat patches is governed by a myriad of species lifehistory, habitat patch and landscape characteristics. We investigated the inter-specific variation in non-forest gap-crossing abilities of an entire tropical forest-dependent avifauna. We then related this measure of dispersal ability to species lifehistory characteristics and occupancy data from 31 variable-sized forest patches sampled within the same fragmented forest landscape. A total of 5436 gap-crossing movements of 231 forest-dependent bird species were observed across ten linear forest gaps of varying widths, adjacent to large areas of undisturbed forest. Species persistence in isolated fragments was strongly linked to gap-crossing ability. The most capable gap-crossers were medium to large-bodied species in the large insectivore, frugivore and granivore guilds, matching the most prevalent subset of species in small forest patches. However, some competent gap-crossing species failed to occur in small patches, and minimum forest-patch area requirements were more important in determining patch occupancy for these species. Narrow forest gaps (4� 70 m) created by roads and power-lines may become territory boundaries, thereby eliminating home-range gap-crossing movements for many forest species, but permit rarer dispersal events. Wider gaps (� 70 m) may inhibit gap-crossing behaviour for all but the most vagile species. Although patch size and quality may be the most important factors in structuring species assemblages in forest fragments, our results show that the degree of patch isolation and permeability of the surrounding matrix also explain which species can persist in forest isolates. Reducing the number and width of forestdividing gaps; maintaining and/or creating forest corridors and increasing matrix permeability through the creation and maintenance of 'stepping-stone' structures will maximise the species retention in fragmented tropical forest landscapes.


In this paper the main features of a transformerless 10 kW three-phase inverter, compliant to IEC-61850 communication standard, will be presented. It will be used for a research project concerning the study of grid harmonics pollution produced by high penetration of DER (Distributed Energy Resources). It will allow testing different harmonics mitigation and power injection control strategies.


We measured intracellular acid-base balance and indicators of carbohydrate and high-energy phosphate metabolism as lampreys recovered from exhaustive exercise. A combined respiratory and metabolic acidosis was observed in the locomotory muscle following 'burst' exercise. Muscle pH decreased from approximately 7.2 to 6.7, whereas intracellular PCO2 rose from approximately 0.6 to 1.6 kPa. Unlike the situation in similarly stressed teleost fish such as rainbow trout, the respiratory acidosis in muscle persisted for several hours. This apparent CO2 retention in lamprey muscle may be the result of a restricted ability of the circulatory system to transport CO2 due to reduced erythrocyte anion exchange, or it could represent a restricted ability of the muscle itself to clear the intracellular pool of CO2 due to reduced carbonic anhydrase activity. Maximal lactate dehydrogenase activity of lamprey muscle exhibited a marked dependence on pH, increasing in activity by 30 % as pH decreased from 7.2 to 6.7 (reflecting the 'resting' to 'post- exercise' pH change observed in vivo). Following exhaustive exercise, the acid-base balance of the muscle is influenced by both proton- consuming (e.g. AMP deamination, glycogen replenishment) and proton-producing (e.g. rephosphorylation of creatine) metabolic processes. The net effect is that, although intracellular pH is maximally depressed, energy stores such as phosphocreatine and glycogen are partially restored within 1 h of exhaustive exercise, placing the animal in good stead for further locomotory work.


Family Business, or small-holding is a unique form of organization. Existing in the whole world, it generates income and jobs besides significantly moving the economy in several countries. In Brazil, the family business companies have been largely struck by the economic changes in the 1990's, besides facing problems inherent to the relations between business and family, noticeably in the succession aspect. This piece of work was carried out seeking to empirically understanding the mechanism and peculiarities as for the successory process in such enterprises, the relation between business and family. For such purpose, surveys were carried out with all the partners of a family dairy-related company in the south of Minas Gerais, which is presently run by its second generation. The data analyses were descriptive/analytical while the information collected were adapted to theorical models referring to family business and their successory process. It was possible to conclude that the analyzed company really fits several theorical features presented in the literature on the theme and points out ways to overcome some of the commonly found problems.


Forest management focuses on the control of forest ecosystems based on the sustainable use of forest values without damaging ecological integrity. Although, timber would easily be characterized and valued, it is difficult to quantify the amount and monetary value of water production and soil conservation. In this study; soil conservation, water and timber production values of forests were taken into consideration. These values were associated with basal area using a regression model to create soil loss, water and timber production yield tables. All forest values were then expressed as monetary value by logical estimations. An LP based forest management model was developed to integrate the values and solved by LINDOa. Six alternative planning strategies were developed based on the integration of various objectives such as maximization of net income obtained from timber and water production and minimization of soil loss with 10% harvest flow and even age class distribution constraints. When NPV (Net Present Value) of three forest values were compared for each strategy; strategies to maximize water production created the highest and the strategies to minimize soil loss generated the lowest NPV at the end of 100 year planning horizon. In conclusion, forest management plans must be prepared to consider multi objectiveness about multiple products and services. Economical values of all forest objectives must be handled in preparation and implementation of management plans. Modeling is an inevitable process in integrating economical, ecological and socio-cultural values of forest ecosystems.

 Key words: Linear programming, forest ecosystem, soil conservation, water production, timber production, net present value.


Grid technology is a research hotspot nowadays. To apply grid technology to education resources management will maximize integration of existing education resources. Education resources can be managed effectively by using distributional management thought, which can change current status of the disorder about education resources management. In this paper, resource classification standard in LOM is taken as partition standard of grid community; grid community model based on education resources is constructed as the framework of education resources management according to the characteristics of grid management architecture; construction of grid community and internal structure of community are also discussed according to the characteristics of grid community.


For a quarter of a century, Susan Strange—who died in October 1998—was the most influential figure in British international studies. While she held a number of key academic posts in Britain, Italy and Japan (including a ten-year stint as Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at LSE from 1978–88) and although she was a major figure in the professional associations of both Britain and the US (founder member and first Treasurer of BISA, President of ISA in 1995), it was predominantly as a creative scholar and a forceful personality that she exercised this influence. She was almost single-handedly responsible for creating 'international political economy' and turning it into one of the two or three central fields within international studies in Britain, and she defended her creation with such robustness, and made such strong claims on its behalf, that her influence was felt—albeit not always welcomed—in most other areas of the discipline.


Most pottery studies begin with production and end with use. Yet every pot and sherd was discarded to enter the archaeological record, and archaeologists neglect this critical passage. We must know more about how long pots lasted and why they were discarded. For five years we studied the use life of ethnographic Purepecha pottery in Michoacan, Mexico. Use life affects discard rate, which affects assemblage size and composition, which affect inferences to social context of production, occupation span, precision and validity of seriation, and other things. Use life is not so trivial or tedious as it may seem but instead is a vital concern in any intelligent archaeological analysis of pottery.


The hypothenar hammer syndrome describes a constellation of symptoms resulting from repetitive trauma to the hypothenar eminence, often due to the use of the hand as a hammer. Sequelae of this syndrome include both true and false aneurysms, as well as thrombosis of the ulnar artery due to its vulnerability to blunt trauma as it exits Guyon's canal. Although this is a relatively well-documented phenomenon, an extensive review of the literature revealed that no cases have been described involving a patient with hemophilia. The present case describes a 46-year-old farmer with factor IX deficiency (hemophilia B) presenting with a 5 cm × 7 cm pseudoaneurysm of the ulnar artery of the right hand.


Political economy approaches to analysing the efficiency of rural financial markets have focused on the role of power and social relations. Neo-classical institutional economics, on the other hand, has used information and transaction costs to explain performance. Recognizing the limitations of both approaches, this paper presents an alternative that focuses on the institutional form of financial intermediaries, that is, the governance structure of rules, monitoring and enforcement mechanisms that enable them to operate. This structure is supported by both formal and informal rules, norms and sanctions. As a result, the ways in which transaction costs are affected by governance structures can be identified and the embeddedness of financial intermediaries in social relations can be theorized. The application of this approach in Central Kenya demonstrates the insights that it offers into explaining borrower preferences in the financial market.


Three types of bending tests -the 3-point bending test, 4-point bending test and biaxial flexural test- were performed to examine the correlations among the testing methods for dental hard resins (HRs). The results for 5 HRs showed that the bending strengths in descending order were: biaxial flexural strength>3-point bending strength>4-point bending strength. Regression analysis of the test methods indicated that the coefficients of determination were large for all test methods; the largest was for the combination of the 4-point bending test and biaxial flexural tests. The Weibull moduli ranged from 5.42 to 10.61, and a similar descending-order trend was found in the Weibull characteristic strength (S0) of the test methods. The biaxial flexural test method is thus a valid test of the flexural strength of dental hard resins.


Exhibition as part of the PHYSICAL PAINTING project. Herbert Read Gallery Canterbury and Grandes Galleries de L'ESADHaR, Rouen. 2013. Curated by Cherry Smyth and Jost Munster. Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury, UK / Grandes Galeries de l'ESADHaR, Rouen, France, 2013. Texts by Uwe Derksen & Thierry Heynen, Cherry Smyth, Dominic Rhatz, Maxence Alcalde, Moyra Derby, Lucile Encreve, Stephen Wilson, ESAD HAR/ UCA. French/English The PHYSICAL PAINTING project recognises the inability of images to reveal the extent of our relationship to landscape and questions the hierarchy of the senses that has resulted in the current dominance of image in contemporary British culture. The works in the PHYSICAL PAINTING project operate as a critique to this situation. Through 'archaeological thinking', the project proposes an alternative experience for the viewer to enable a deep understanding of landscape and our place in it--a traditional theme of much British landscape-based art--is only possible if we are capable of moving beyond surface appearance and image.


We propose a new class of block codes that outperforms known space-time block codes at low rates. The new codes are designed by using appropriate rotations and set partitioning on two quasi-orthogonal codes, and combining subsets of their codewords. Using these techniques we are able to obtain higher coding gain at a given rate and improve performance. Simulations confirm the advantages of this code compared to other codes operating at the same rate and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We also provide an efficient maximum likelihood (ML) decoding algorithm for the new code


This thesis focuses on the chemistry for stainless nanoparticle synthesis in order to develop corrosion resistant nanoparticles. Syntheses within the Maye lab have been successful, however at the large scale these processes have been hindered by low yields as a result of byproduct formation and oxidation loss. This study addresses these problems by introducing a new precursor to synthesize the Fe core of FeCr/Ni stainless core/shell particles. Traditionally iron pentacarbonyl (Fe(CO)5 is used, but this study uses iron acetylacetonate (Fe(acac)3) as a substitute. Although the degradation of Fe(CO)5 is more commonly used and is understood relatively well, Fe(acac)3 is safer and less costly. Properly synthesized particles show high crystallinity and have immense magnetic capabilities. A comparison between the two precursors is completed in this work. The ability for Fe0 particles to act as a core for stainless particles and the effects of shells on the cores is also analyzed. Analysis of the particles was done using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Laser Ablation Induced Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICPMS), Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS), and x-ray diffraction (XRD). These analysis methods allow for the approximate composition of the particles to be determined and the approximate extent of oxidation to be estimated. Results of the study show that Fe(acac)3 iron particles are less metallic than Fe(CO)5, suggesting that Fe(acac)3 is not an effective substitute for Fe(CO)5. This shows that further research needs to be completed in order to find a potential substitute or create a new route for the successful creation of stainless nanoparticles.


We propose a compact visible light indoor positioning system fashioned with a single transmitter and a single tilted receiver. The tilted optical receiver is mounted on a rotatable platform and thus, various azimuth angles can be obtained by rotating the platform, which offers a feasible way to perform multiple measurements with different azimuth angles to achieve the angle gain. An indoor positioning algorithm is provided in comparison with the angle gain difference. Experimental results show that the average distance error between the estimated position and the real position is less than 25 mm in an indoor environment of 600mm×600mm×1135mm, which is in good agreement with the simulations. This work indicates that the proposed compact system is promising for visible light indoor positioning.


The purpose of this study is to identify the choice of information source among Blind and Visually Impaired Community (BVIC) and develop a new model of Blind and Visually Impaired Community's Choice of Information Sources (BVIC's CIS) by tested the relationship between identified factors from the past research which are information need (functional need and experiential need), information quality, personality (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neurotic and openness), relationalism (affection and receptivity) and cost towards choice of information source among BVIC to fill the gap in the current literature. This study was conducted by using the questionnaire and data were collected through a phone call. 268 respondents were selected randomly from the 889 BVIC population from the list name. This study used a structure equation modeling by using the SmartPLS. The finding of this study revealed that main information source among the BVIC was human and followed by the printed source and electronic source. Only functional need, experiential need, agreeableness, extraversion, affection and receptivity have a significant relationship with the BVI's CIS while information quality, conscientiousness, neurotic, openness and cost do not. Hence further research need to conducted in order to understand more on this community because with the new knowledge gained on the associations among the variables, the librarian and other information providers can focus their effort to understanding the BVIC's choice of information sources and provide better information source based on the information need, information quality, personality, relationalism and cost. It is anticipated that this study will contribute towards sustainability development for a better living of the blind and visually impaired community in Malaysia.


The conformity of Saudi dates cultivars to date standards has not been
studied extensively. In this study, microbial loads and physicochemical
characteristics of four Saudi date cultivars (Sukkary, Khalas, Sugai and
Anbara) were determined. Anbara cultivar had significantly higher mould and
yeast counts than recommended under Saudi technical regulation and standards
for packaged whole dates. Moisture content and insect damage for all studied
cultivars fell within Codex standards. Single fruit weight for pitted and
unpitted dates was higher than recommended under international standards. Date
cultivar had a significant effect on fruit color thus fruit color should be
included in Saudi technical regulation and standards for date grading.


Almost a necessity for communication, email consumes significant portions of knowledge workers' time in today's organizations. Though issues such as spam, filtering, and archiving have received much attention from industry and academia, the critical problem of the timing of email processing has not been studied much. It is common for many knowledge workers to check and respond to their emails almost continuously. Though some emails may require very quick responses, continuous email checking may lead to workplace interruptions and overload. This study presents a framework for studying email response timing approaches to minimize the communication times and yet reduce the interruptive effects. A rigorous analysis of the effective and efficient email processing policies, in a series of two-phase simulated virtual experiments, is performed by comparing various ways to reduce interruptions for various work settings. Findings suggest that managing email processing can make a significant difference in workplace productivity.


Introduction: Achieving effective postoperative analgesia in postlaminectomy patients is a cumbersome task for the anesthesiologist. The need is to provide effective analgesia with minimal systemic side effects, cost-effectively, as laminectomy surgeries are associated with paramount postoperative pain. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of preemptive local infiltration of 0.5% levobupivacaine HCl vs 0.5% ropivacaine HCl for postoperative pain control in lumbar laminectomy patients. Materials and methods: A total of 96 patients who were scheduled to undergo elective lumbar laminectomy were included in the study. Patients were randomly allocated to three groups. In groups I, II, and III, incisional site was infiltrated with 20 mL of 0.5% levobupivacaine HCl, 20 mL of 0.5% ropivacaine HCl, and 20 mL of 0.9% normal saline respectively. Demographic data, vital parameters, postoperative visual analog scale (VAS) scores, and total tramadol consumption were recorded. Results: Time to first rescue analgesia was earliest in group III (8.72 ± 6.19 minutes), followed by group II (155 ± 39.53 minutes) and group I (208 ± 27.02 minutes) (p < 0.05). Group I has least total consumption of tramadol (253.1 ± 50.78 mg) at the end of 24 hours postoperatively when compared with group II (312.50 ± 33.60 mg) and group III (396.8 ± 40 mg) (p < 0.05). The overall VAS score in 24 hours was significantly lower in group I as compared with groups II and III. No significant adverse effects of local wound infiltration were observed. Conclusion: This study suggests that preemptive infiltration of the incision site with levobupivacaine provides significantly better postoperative analgesia with minimal side effects.


In this work the reliability of silicon solar cells interconnected by wires soldered directly on the contact fingers of the front side grid is analyzed in detail. The interconnection of busbarless solar cells enables significant silver reduction. We use solder coated wave-shaped wires to reduce thermomechanical stress in the solder joints, which results in minimized cell bowing. Consequently, this interconnection concept is especially suitable for the interconnection of back-contact solar cells. We analyze the mechanical and electrical properties of wave-shaped wires with different amplitudes by measuring length and electrical resistance, and by performing standard tensile tests. Furthermore, we manufacture 8 one-cell modules, 4 with full scale 156 x 156 mm2 solar cells and 4 with half cells, as well as a module including a string of three half cells using semi-automatic infrared soldering and a conventional lamination process. Subsequently, the one-cell module samples undergo thermal cycling and are characterized by EL imaging and IV measurements to detect solder joint defects. After temperature cycling we determine additional solder joint failures, mainly in areas with initial defects and at the solar cell edges. This confirms our assumption that most defects occur at the cell edges, where the thermomechanical stress maxima are located. However, all module samples show a maximum relative power loss of <3% after 200 temperature cycles and except one module all samples show a power loss of <5% after 400 temperature cycles. This demonstrates the feasibility of our interconnection approach based on soldering wave-shaped wires on the finger grid or small contact pads of silicon solar cells.In this work the reliability of silicon solar cells interconnected by wires soldered directly on the contact fingers of the front side grid is analyzed in detail. The interconnection of busbarless solar cells enables significant silver reduction. We use solder coated wave-shaped wires to reduce thermomechanical stress in the solder joints, which results in minimized cell bowing. Consequently, this interconnection concept is especially suitable for the interconnection of back-contact solar cells. We analyze the mechanical and electrical properties of wave-shaped wires with different amplitudes by measuring length and electrical resistance, and by performing standard tensile tests. Furthermore, we manufacture 8 one-cell modules, 4 with full scale 156 x 156 mm2 solar cells and 4 with half cells, as well as a module including a string of three half cells using semi-automatic infrared soldering and a conventional lamination process. Subsequently, the one-cell module samples undergo thermal cycling and are char...


The effect of reducing cerebral oxygen consumption (CMRO2) on the cerebral blood flow (CBF) responses to isocapnic hypoxic hypoxia and hypotension was examined in sheep. Newborn and adult animals were studied because of their different base-line CMRO2. Microsphere-measured CBF responses during pentobarbital coma (i.e., electroencephalographic silence) were compared with responses in conscious or lightly sedated animals. Induction of barbiturate coma reduced both CMRO2 and CBF by 50% from the awake value and by 25% from the value obtained in animals sedated with pentobarbital. The CBF response to 30 and 50% reductions in arterial O2 content (CaO2) was attenuated during coma, but only in proportion to the decrease in CMRO2. Whether CMRO2 was normal or reduced, the normoxic cerebral O2 delivery (CaO2 X CBF) was maintained during hypoxia in both newborns and adults. The relative autoregulatory index (fractional change in CBF divided by fractional change in perfusion pressure) was determined during graded hemorrhage. The index was not significantly different from zero (which represents perfect autoregulation) in awake, lightly sedated, or comatose animals. The data demonstrate that both base-line CBF and responses to hypoxia are closely tied to CMRO2 and that 50% reduction of CMRO2 does not impair cerebrovascular autoregulation.


Grapevine root diseases can result in economic loss during vineyard establishment. Symptoms may not be noticed in vineyards until vines die. The death of young vines as a result of root rots can be a point of contention between the grower and the nursery supplying the plants. In New Zealand root diseases include black foot rot (caused by Cylindrocarpon spp.), verticillium wilt (caused by Verticillium dahlia), phytophthora root rot (caused by various Phytophthora spp.) and armillaria root rot (caused in New Zealand by Armillaria novaezelandiae and A. limonea). Of these diseases, black foot rot is the most commonly observed in the field in New Zealand and has received the most study. This review provides information on symptoms, causal organisms, disease cycles and, where available, control of grapevine root rots under New Zealand conditions.


In the studies of decision making under risk and time, an increasingly important question is whether the utility representations should be the same for both circumstances. This study aims to test the separation between risk preference and time preference in a controlled laboratory setting, where subjects make intertemporal allocation decisions under different types of correlated risks. Our results show that risk and time preferences are distinct, and furthermore support the notion proposed by Epstein and Zin (1989) on the separation between risk attitude and intertemporal substitution. In addition, the estimated parameter for risk attitude is significantly smaller than that for intertemporal substitution. These findings shed light on recent literature linking risk preference and time preference.


Microdomains formed by proteins of endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membrane play a key role in store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE). Ca2+ release through inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP3R) and subsequent Ca2+ store depletion activate STIM (stromal interaction molecules) proteins, sensors of intraluminal Ca2+, which, in turn, open the Orai channels in plasma membrane. Downstream to this process could be activated TRPC (transient receptor potential-canonical) calcium permeable channels. Using single channel patch-clamp technique we found that a local Ca2+ entry through TRPC1 channels activated endogenous Ca2+-activated chloride channels (CaCCs) with properties similar to Anoctamin6 (TMEM16F). Our data suggest that their outward rectification is based on the dependence from membrane potential of both the channel conductance and the channel activity: (1) The conductance of active CaCCs highly depends on the transmembrane potential (from 3 pS at negative potentials till 60 pS at positive potentials); (2) their activity (NPo) is enhanced with increasing Ca2+ concentration and/or transmembrane potential, conversely lowering of intracellular Ca2+ concentration reduced the open state dwell time; (3) CaCC amplitude is only slightly increased by intracellular Ca2+ concentration. Experiments with Ca2+ buffering by EGTA or BAPTA suggest close local arrangement of functional CaCCs and TRPC1 channels. It is supposed that Ca2+-activated chloride channels are involved in Ca2+ entry microdomains.


We propose a reachability approach for infinite and finite horizon multi-objective optimization problems for low-thrust spacecraft trajectory design. The main advantage of the proposed method is that the Pareto front can be efficiently constructed from the zero level set of the solution to a Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. We demonstrate the proposed method by applying it to a low-thrust spacecraft trajectory design problem. By deriving the analytic expression for the Hamiltonian and the optimal control policy, we are able to efficiently compute the backward reachable set and reconstruct the optimal trajectories. Furthermore, we show that any reconstructed trajectory will be guaranteed to be weakly Pareto optimal. The proposed method can be used as a benchmark for future research of applying reachability analysis to low-thrust spacecraft trajectory design.


Plastics are non-biodegradable polymers of mostly containing carbon, hydrogen, and few other elements such as chlorine, nitrogen etc. Due to its non-biodegradable nature, the plastic waste contributes significantly to the problem of Municipal Waste Management. The production of plastics is significantly growing. Nowadays the plastic production is more than 200MT worldwide annually. According to a nation wide survey, conducted in the year 2004, approximately 10,000 tones (ten thousand tones) of plastic waste were generated every day in our country (India), and only 60% of it was recycled, balanced 40% was not possible to dispose off. So gradually it goes on accumulating, thereby leading to serious disposal problems. Plastic is derived from petrochemical resources. In fact these plastics are essentially solidified oil. They therefore have inherently high calorific value. Waste Plastics are mostly land filled or incinerated; however, these methods are facing great social resistance because of environmental problems such as air pollution and soil contamination, as well as economical resistance due to the increase of space and disposal costs. In a long term neither the land filling nor the incineration solve the problem of wastes, because the suitable and safe depots are expensive, and the incineration stimulates the growing emission of harmful and greenhouse gases e.g. NOx, SOx, COx etc. Accordingly, recycling has become an important issue worldwide. This method can be classified as energy recovery, material recycling and chemical recycling. Among them one of the prevalent alternative methods is the production of converted fuel and chemicals by means of the thermal or catalytic degradation of polymers. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of catalyst amount, reaction temperature, plastic type (especially HDPE) and weight ratio of waste plastic to catalyst, with a semi-batch reactor, based on the results of yields and yield distributions of liquid product as a function of lapsed time. And to study the product yields and their distribution with different types of catalysts (Silica- Alumina, Activated Carbon, Mordenite) in the catalytic degradation of waste plastics with respect to time and temperature. And also for finding the effect of particle size and structure of the catalyst on product distribution and yield. One more objective is quantitative analysis of gaseous, liquid and solid products from thermal and catalytic degradation of HDPE and the comparison of the physical properties of the liquid products and to suggest the best reactor design along with the economical factors effecting the commercialization of this technique. We have studied extensively the catalytic nature of HDPE both under catalytic and noncatalytic methods with the application of some important suitable catalysts, and about the catalyst characterization by the application of SEM and XRD. The cracking temperature of HDPE was very when compare with other plastics as we have observed from the literature. It was minimum 460oC. we have reached better yield (76%) of liquid products with the application of Mordenite catalyst at this temperature. But, the time taken for the completion of the reaction was very high about one hr. The yield and the composition of the liquid product vary along with feed to catalyst ratio and reaction temperature. And all the liquid products we got were analyzed for their physical properties. The specific gravities of all the samples were existed in the range of gasoline and diesel range of fuels. We have also tested pour point, flash point and fire point. These were varied along with their individual composition.


We describe the formation of an unusual concentric magnetic domain wall pattern in the free layer of a bottom pinned magnetic tunnel junction. Lorentz microscopy reveals that repeated switching of the free layer with a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the exchange bias direction can produce a series of concentric 360° domain wall loops, a phenomenon we refer to as domain wall nesting. We propose two necessary ingredients for the behaviour: (i) inhomogeneities in the grain-by-grain magnetic dispersion that break local symmetry to produce a preferential sense of magnetic rotation upon field switching; and (ii) structural defects that act to pin 360° domain walls. Further control of this behaviour may provide new functionality for future device applications.


Unsteady numerical investigations of flow past a partially rotating stepped cylinder have been performed. The objective of the study was to investigate whether the wake characteristics could be controlled with rotation of one cylinder while the other remains stationary and how partial rotation impacts the aerodynamic forces. The stepped cylinder was 2 m in length where the first meter was a round cylinder 5 cm in diameter followed by a 2:1 step down cylinder. Two round end plates, 0.1 cm thick and 40 cm in diameter, were placed at each end. The end plates were positioned at 5 degrees with respectto the incoming flow to remove the end effect on vortex shedding. All simulations were performed using the Siemens PLM STAR-CCM+ CFD software with K-ω turbulence model. The time step was 0.00083 second to resolve the flow for each 10 degrees rotation. 1200 time steps were used. The investigations were performed with one cylinder rotating while the other remains stationary. Four cases were investigated. When either cylinder was rotating, the RPM was maintained at either 2000 or 4000 while the free stream velocity was maintained at 10 m/sec. The Reynolds number for the large and small cylinders were approximately 32,258 and 16,129, respectively. The corresponding velocity ratios λ for the large cylinder rotating were 0.5 and 1.0, and 0.25 and 1.0 for the small cylinder.
 Previous investigations have classified vortical structure in the wake of a step cylinder in terms of L-cell (for large cylinder), S-cell (for small cylinder) and N-cell (the region in between). When the large cylinder is rotating, at λ = 1.0, the velocity and vorticity in the wake of the large cylinder is increased. The N-cell initially has a larger velocity than the L-cell and is at a slanted angle. A suction effect was observed in the near wake region, causing the flow in the L-cell to coalesce near its midsection. The vortices originated at the step were connected to the S-cell at a lower speed. The overall lift to drag ratio (L/D) for this case was 1.14. When λ = 0.5, vortex structures were maintained through the three different cells with increased variations in cell frequency across the large cylinder, the L/D was reduced to 0.36.
 When the small cylinder was rotating, at λ = 0.5, vortex shedding was suppressed within the S-cell and considerable distortion was observed in the vortical structure in the wake of the large cylinder. However, the N-cell had similar structure as when large cylinder was rotating, but connecting to the L-cell at a larger slanted angle. When λ was reduced to 0.25, shedding was observed across the length of the cylinder with increased variations. The corresponding L/D ratios for these cases were both at 0.2.


The Beishan area, located in the southernmost part of the Central Asia Orogenic Belt, is crucial for understanding the tectonic evolution associated with the closure of the Paleo‐Asian Ocean. One intermediate and two granitic plutons from the eastern Beishan area between Mingshui–Shibanjing–Xiaohuangshan (MSX) and Niujuanzi–Xichangjing (NX) ophiolitic belts, including Tongchangkou gabbroic diorite, Northern Tongchangkou and Sandaomingshui plutons, are dated at 426 ± 3, 408 ± 2, and 365 ± 2 Ma by SIMS U–Pb zircon analyses. The Middle Silurian Tongchangkou gabbroic diorites with medium‐K calc‐alkaline metaluminous characteristics represent volcanic arc rocks. The Early Devonian Northern Tongchangkou pluton, a highly evolved calc‐alkaline mylonitic monzogranite with low εNd(t), −3.5 and −2.4, and relatively low initial 87Sr/86Sr (0.707095 and 0.707249), was mainly derived from Mesoproterozoic mafic to intermediate igneous protolith and shows both volcanic arc and postcollisional characteristics. The Late Devonian Sandaomingshui pluton, a calc‐alkaline granite with slightly positive εNd(t), 0.6 and 0.9, and low (87Sr/86Sr)t, 0.705543 and 0.705851, is likely from a more depleted source and represents a volcanic arc granite. Combined with previous studies of Late Paleozoic granites, we find that the widely distributed Permian granites in Central Asia Orogenic Belt are absent between MSX and NX ophiolitic belts. Given the regional geology, we conclude that the back‐arc basin represented by the NX ophiolitic belt closed during Early Devonian and afterward, flat subduction of the oceanic basin represented by the MSX ophiolitic belt occurred. It also indicates that the oceanic crust was still being produced in the Paleo‐Asian Ocean during the early Carboniferous.


With its deep roots and global scope, the capitalist system provides the framework for our lives. It is a framework of constant change, sometimes measured and predictable, sometimes drastic and out of control. Yet what is now ubiquitous was not always so. Capitalism took shape centuries ago, starting with a handful of isolated changes in farming, trade, and manufacturing, clustered in early-modern England. Astute observers began to notice these changes and consider their effects. Those in power began to harness these new practices to the state, enhancing both. A system generating wealth, power, and new ideas arose to reshape societies in a constant surge of change. The centuries-long history of capitalism is rich and eventful. Approaching capitalism as a culture, as important for its ideas and values as for its inventions and systems, Joyce Appleby gives us a fascinating introduction to this most potent creation of mankind from its origins to now.


Brassica napus (oilseed rape) is an economically important crop species that exhibits considerable varietal differences in flowering behaviour. Efforts to translate knowledge of flowering time control from model species are complicated by the evolutionary history of the crop. Whole genome duplication events have resulted in multiple copies of genes being present in the B. napus genome. A better understanding of the roles additional gene copies play during the floral transition would aid predictive models in directing future breeding efforts.

As a first step towards unravelling the regulatory network underlying the floral transition in the crop, a transcriptomic time series was conducted and used to investigate gene expression during the floral transition. Expression differences between homologous flowering time genes indicated that duplicated genes occupy separate locations in the gene regulatory network. This suggests the complexity of the regulatory network is vastly increased in B. napus relative to model species, and that the duplicated genes are likely to have different roles during the floral transition.

Duplicated genes were observed to diverge in different ways. Loss of regulatory elements surrounding certain B. napus TFL1 homologues correlated with expression changes, highlighting the importance of cis-regulatory elements in the evolution of gene function. Sequence differences between B. napus FD homologues were found to alter the predicted dimerization affinities of the proteins. Expression variation between B. napus FLC homologues suggests only some confer a vernalization response, revealing these genes have diverged to have altered sensitivity to cold.

The finding that multiple homologues of the same flowering time gene in B. napus are expressed but show different expression dynamics reveals that the floral regulatory network from model species cannot be directly translated, but will require modification. This added complexity likely contributes to the developmental and genetic plasticity that has been exploited in this important crop.


The article examines the messages and political expression of the EZLN in Mexico, focussing on the political writings, declarations, letters, interviews and prose produced y the Zapatistas. The movement has created an important mediatic presence which has no precedent in the history of guerrilla movements and ethnic conflict elsewhere. The author analyses the principal ideological tenets of the EZLN and its political message in the context of this particular and exceptional form of political dissemination through discourse analysis.


In this paper, we document the presence of "technology-induced" trade in France between 1997 and 2007 and assess its impact on consumer welfare. We use the staggered roll-out of broadband internet to estimate its causal effect on the importing behavior of affected firms. Using an event-study design, we find that broadband expansion increases firm-level imports by around 25%. We further find that the "sub-extensive" margin (number of products and sourcing countries per firm) is the main channel of adjustment and that the effect is larger for capital goods. Finally, we develop a model where firms optimize over their import strategy and which yields a sufficient statistics formula for the quantification of the effects of broadband on consumer welfare. Interpreted within this model, our reduced-form estimates imply that broadband internet reduced the consumer price index by 1.7% and that the import-channel, i.e. the enhanced access to foreign goods that is allowed by broadband, accounts for a quarter of that effect.


Objective: To determine if cerclage prevents preterm birth (PTB) in high-risk women with a short cervix on transvaginal ultrasound. Study design: Asymptomatic pregnant women at high-risk for PTB carrying singleton gestations were followed prospectively with transvaginal ultrasound (TVU) on the cervix between 14–24 weeks. Women with a cervical length (CL) 25% were offered therapeutic cerclage and bed rest (TC group) versus bed rest only (BR group). The primary outcome was PTB 25% between 14–24 weeks. 79 (52%) had TC, and 73 (48%) BR only. Demographic characteristics and risk factors were similar in the two groups (see table). Incidence of PTB <35 weeks was also similar in the two groups (table). Analysis of the 73 women with CL <25 mm and prior PTB <35 weeks revealed a recurrent PTB <35 weeks in 39% in the TC vs 63% in the BR group (RR 0.6; 9% CI 0.4–1.0). Analysis of the 57 women with CL <25 mm and prior second trimester loss revealed PTB <35 weeks in 41% in the TC vs 65% in the BR group (RR 0.6: 95% CI 0.4–1.0). 43 additional women with no risk factors for PTB were also incidentally identified to have a TVU CL <25 mm. PTB <35 weeks was 35% in the TC vs 30% in the BR group (RR 1.2; 95% CI 0.5–2.7).


Minority youth unemployment is an enduring economic and social concern. This book evaluates two new initiatives for minority high school students that seek to cultivate marketable job skills. The first is an after-school program that provides experiences similar to apprenticeships, and the second emphasizes new approaches to improving job interview performance. The evaluation research has several distinct strengths. It involves a randomized controlled trial, uncommon in assessments of this issue and age group. Marketable job skills are assessed through a mock job interview developed for this research and administered by experienced human resource professionals. Mixed methods are utilized, with qualitative data shedding light on what actually happens inside the programs, and a developmental science approach situating the findings in terms of adolescent development. Beneficial for policy makers and practitioners as well as scholars, Job Skills and Minority Youth focuses on identifying the most promising tactics and addressing likely implementation issues.


Objective: To compare motor and nonmotor outcomes at 6 months of asleep deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson disease (PD) using intraoperative imaging guidance to confirm electrode placement vs awake DBS using microelectrode recording to confirm electrode placement. Methods: DBS candidates with PD referred to Oregon Health & Science University underwent asleep DBS with imaging guidance. Six-month outcomes were compared to those of patients who previously underwent awake DBS by the same surgeon and center. Assessments included an "off"-levodopa Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) II and III, the 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire, motor diaries, and speech fluency. Results: Thirty participants underwent asleep DBS and 39 underwent awake DBS. No difference was observed in improvement of UPDRS III (+14.8 ± 8.9 vs +17.6 ± 12.3 points, p = 0.19) or UPDRS II (+9.3 ± 2.7 vs +7.4 ± 5.8 points, p = 0.16). Improvement in "on" time without dyskinesia was superior in asleep DBS (+6.4 ± 3.0 h/d vs +1.7 ± 1.2 h/d, p = 0.002). Quality of life scores improved in both groups (+18.8 ± 9.4 in awake, +8.9 ± 11.5 in asleep). Improvement in summary index (p = 0.004) and subscores for cognition (p = 0.011) and communication (p < 0.001) were superior in asleep DBS. Speech outcomes were superior in asleep DBS, both in category (+2.77 ± 4.3 points vs −6.31 ± 9.7 points (p = 0.0012) and phonemic fluency (+1.0 ± 8.2 points vs −5.5 ± 9.6 points, p = 0.038). Conclusions: Asleep DBS for PD improved motor outcomes over 6 months on par with or better than awake DBS, was superior with regard to speech fluency and quality of life, and should be an option considered for all patients who are candidates for this treatment. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01703598. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with PD undergoing DBS, asleep intraoperative CT imaging–guided implantation is not significantly different from awake microelectrode recording–guided implantation in improving motor outcomes at 6 months.


A common key question in clinical medicine is whether coronary artery disease (CAD) is present in a patient. This applies not only to patients with symptomatic chest pain, but also to those at high risk of sudden unexpected death due to asymptomatic CAD, such as diabetics. In both groups of patients, it would be of great benefit if a simple blood test could identify those most likely to have CAD. Such individuals could then be selected for more definitive but more invasive tests for CAD, such as angiography, exercise testing, etc. In addition to its established role in diagnosing heart failure, it appears that BNP may fulfil this function of pre-screening for both symptomatic and asymptomatic CAD. We review the evidence for this new prospect, which has the potential to reduce cardiac deaths by using a simple blood test to better target cardioprotective strategies to those who most need them.


Through field-, laboartory- and teoretichal potential-studies. The available energy savings potential in norwegian street- and roadlighting installations of today has been found.


This paper is to describe an intelligent motorized wheelchair for handicapped person using voice and touch screen technology .It enables a disabled person to move around independently using a touch screen and a voice recognition application which is interfaced with motors through microcontroller. When we want to change the direction, the touch screen sensor is modeled to direct the user to required destination using direction keys on the screen and that values are given to microcontroller. Depending on the direction selected on the touch screen, microcontroller controls the wheel chair directions. This can also be controlled through simple voice commands using voice controller. The speech recognition system is easy to use programmable speech recognition circuit that is the system to be trained the words the user wants the circuit to recognize. The speed controller works by varying the average voltages into the motor. This is done by switching the motors supply on and off very quickly using PWM technique. The methodology adopted is based on grouping a microcontroller with a speech recognition system and touch screen.


Gut microbiota inhabit the host gastrointestinal (GI) tract and play roles in many aspects of metabolic and immunologic homeostasis. Understanding about gut microbiota composition in health and disease is accumulating with the advances in gene sequencing technology. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major complication after allogenic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT), a gold standard clinical procedure to treat hematologic disorders such as leukemia and lymphomas. Recent studies have shown that a disturbance in the gut microbiota affects GVHD prognosis. Decrease in a compositional diversity is suggested as an independent predictor of GVHD and colonization of noncommensal Enterococcus is shown to be involved in unpleasant treatment outcomes. This article describes current understanding about allo-BMTinduced gut microbiota changes and its involvement in the incidence of GVHD. In addition, several putative therapeutic strategies to decrease GVHD-related mortality after allo-BMT are discussed.


The biocompatible metals made available for powder injection moulding (PIM) are increasing, and as a result, the PIM process is becoming attractive for manufacturers of medical implants and surgical instruments. In addition, friction and wear properties play an important role in biomaterial applications. This study aimed to systematically investigate the fretting wear properties of 316L stainless steel parts produced by PIM under dry contact conditions. The fretting experiments were performed under gross-slip regime. The influence of a number of fretting test parameters on the friction and wear behaviour was investigated, as the contact frequency, the normal load, and number of reciprocating sliding cycles. Fretting tests were performed against corundum counter bodies. After the tests, the wear scars were examined by laser surface profilometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis. The results indicate that wear occurred predominantly by abrasion, plastic deformation, and cracking. K e y w o r d s : fretting, stainless steel, powder injection moulding, biomaterials


A survey was carried out in 2011 to study the epidemiology of tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) in tomato growing sites of the Tobas and the Jenin districts. The survey studied the population of the virus-inoculative whiteflies and the possible virus reservoirs throughout the year. The maximum TYLCV-inoculative whitefly population was recorded in Tobas, compared with the Jenin district in the different growing seasons of tomato. In the Tobas district, the inoculative whiteflies started to appear in March and reached the maximum value of 7% in July and August. In the Jenin district, the maximum inoculative whitefly population of 6% was recorded in August. Such whiteflies started to appear in May, which is two months after their appearance in the Tobas district. Furthermore, populations of inoculative whiteflies occurred when farmers started their tomato growing seasons. The appearance of inoculative whiteflies coincided with availability of the virus natural reservoirs which harbor the virus and support the vector during the crop-free period. Infected cheese weed mallows (up to 12%) and tobacco plants (up to 7%) were the virus sources for whiteflies throughout the year in the Tobas and the Jenin districts respectively. Infected volunteer tomatoes (up to 93%) play a secondary role in the virus epidemiology as they disappear during winter (crop-free period) in both districts.


volumetry by VOCAL 30o was performed in an ACCUVIX XQ device (Medison, Seoul, Korea) and MRI in Sonata Maestro Class system in a Leonardo workstation using ARGUS VA60C software. (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany). Reliability and agreement of the two techniques were evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and proportionate Bland-Altman plots were constructed. Results: A high degree of reliability was observed between VOCAL and MRI (ICC 0.879 [95% CI: 0.794; 0.929]). Bland-Altman tests showed no clinically significant mean percent differences between measurements (MD: 21.92 [95% LA: ±29.32; SD: ±14.96]). Conclusions: Three-dimensional volumetry of fetal lateral ventricles by VOCAL method has good agreement with fetal MRI in fetuses with ventriculomegaly.


We have used low energy electron microscopy to monitor the high-temperature behavior of surface phases in the Co/Si(111) system at submonolayer coverages. We observe a reversible phase separation from a disordered ''(1 x 1)'' phase to well-defined coexisting regions of ordered (7 x 7)-reconstructed and disordered phases. The transition temperature is depressed by nearly 200 degrees C by the addition of 0.1 monolayer of cobalt. The shape of the coverage-temperature phase boundary allows us to estimate the latent heat of the (7 x 7) order-disorder transition.


This doctoral thesis is focused on the history of the Roman Church between the end of the 18th Century and the beginning of the 19th Century. Using Francesco Luigi Fontana's biography, I will describe the ecclesiastical dynamics and the different sensibilities of the curiali (the members of the Roman Curia) who cooperated with the barnabite to find a solution for both intraecclesiali and extraecclesiali problems submitted to Rome from all over the world.Consequently I will outline the developments in policymaking, in order to represent a non-monolithic Roman Curia, in which –conversely– different solutions were examined before making a definitive political decision.Furthermore this doctoral thesis reflects upon the problems linked to the paradigm chosen and upon the opportunity to use a biography and the category of intransigenza –employed in this study to interpret the intellectual, political and ecclesiological opinions of the curiali– to determine the crucial issues and to identify the elements of continuity of ecclesiastical history.


To improve the tracking performance of GNSS receiver in signal-attenuated environments, phase lock loop (PLL) and delay lock loop (DLL) assisted with Inertial Navigation System (INS) measurements are considered. Combining inertial navigation principles with signal processing, this paper proposes a simplified but efficient mathematical model of INS-assisted second-order tracking loops. Compared with unaided GNSS receiver, the tracking behavior of INS-assisted receiver is quantitatively analyzed, and the kind of INS suitable to guarantee the tracking condition is determined. The results indicate that an INS with 1 deg/h gyro drift is necessary to support PLL, and MEMS inertial sensor with 100 deg/h gyro drift is sufficient to aid DLL to keep favored tracking ability.