When looking at many courses that are dubbed "skills" courses, many law professors have the initial reaction that they are "easier" than doctrinal courses. In my forthcoming article, The Taxonomy of Legal Learning Objectives and Outcome Measurements, I demonstrate that skills are both more difficult to teach and more difficult to learn than concepts. Concepts include doctrine, policy, theory, and facts. Many law professors might be reluctant to accept this hierarchy of difficulty. However, there is general consensus across the most widely accepted educational taxonomies that skills are harder to learn and harder to teach than concepts. So, the question becomes, why do law school "skills" courses appear easier to teach and learn than courses that teach doctrine and theory? This introductory essay explains why skills courses appear to be easier, but aren't. The article also discusses the factors that force professors who teach skills to create skills learning objectives that are sometimes entry-level skills.


An attacker can draw attention to items that don't deserve that attention by manipulating recommender systems. We describe an influence-limiting algorithm that can turn existing recommender systems into manipulation-resistant systems. Honest reporting is the optimal strategy for raters who wish to maximize their influence. If an attacker can create only a bounded number of shills, the attacker can mislead only a small amount. However, the system eventually makes full use of information from honest, informative raters. We describe both the influence limits and the information loss incurred due to those limits in terms of information-theoretic concepts of loss functions and entropies.


Functional changes in slow-twitch soleus and fast-twitch extensor digitorum longus muscles were assessed after 2 mo of streptozocin-induced diabetes in rats. For soleus, there was a slowing of twitch times both for contraction and relaxation and a reduction of maximum tetanic relaxation rate. There was little effect on strength performance assessed by maximal tetanic tension production. Treatment with the aldose reductase inhibitor ponalrestat largely prevented relaxation defects but had little effect on contraction. For the fast muscle, twitch times were relatively unaffected, but maximum tetanic relaxation rate was reduced. In addition, tetanic tension output decreased. These changes were largely prevented by ponalrestat treatment. The effects of partial insulin therapy were also investigated. This regimen reduced hypoinsulinemia, but sufficient hyperglycemia remained to stimulate the polyol pathway. It prevented the slowing of soleus twitch contraction but had no effect on relaxation. For extensor digitorum longus, insulin produced further deleterious effects on tetanic tension and maximum relaxation rate, which were antagonized by ponalrestat. A 1% dietary myo-inositol supplement had little effect on contractile function in slow or fast muscles. It was concluded that polyol-pathway activity is an important factor underlying skeletal muscle functional changes in diabetes, probably acting through disruption of Ca2+ handling. Hypoinsulinemia was considered a secondary factor causing atrophy, particularly of fast muscles. There was no evidence of effects dependent on neuropathy.


The emerging field of medical robotics aims to introduce intelligent tools to assist a physician. The main challenges for developing efficient medical robotic training systems are simulating real-world conditions of the task and assuring training effectiveness. High anatomic fidelity has been achieved in current systems. However, those training systems are designed to reproduce specific conditions of the task (passive training). In this research, we are focusing in developing an airway management training systems designed to reproduce various cases of difficult airway. Such difficulties (i.e. restricted mouth opening, various shapes of oral cavity including tongue swallowing, etc) may provoke traumas on different organs of the patient during an emergency situation. For this purpose, the authors have proposed the development of more advanced training tools. For this purpose, we have focused in embedding sensors and actuators to a conventional patient model towards the development of a patient robot (in previous research, authors have presented the evaluation model which embeds sensors). In this paper, we present an airway training system which embeds actuators into a mannequin. In particular, the mechanism design of the Waseda Kyotokagaku Airway No.2 (WKA-2) is detailed. The WKA-2 is composed of twelve active and one passive degrees of freedom; which are designed to reproduce the various cases of difficult airway. For this purpose, the WKA-2 reproduces the human muscles around the upper airway based on a wire driving mechanisms (a total of sixteen wires are used). In particular, the head of the model is composed of a tongue and mandible with translational and rotational movements around kinematic axis. In addition, we present the details of the kinematic model of WKA-2 which enable the robot to reproduce the airway difficulties. Finally, we presented the design of a tension sensor designed to measure the applied tension on each of the wire driving mechanism of WKA-2. As preliminary experiments, we reproduce several cases of difficult airways using WKA-2.


The oral administration of adrenocorti-costeroids provokes rapid atrophy of the thymus which is followed consistently, after stoppage of the steroid, by rapid regrowth of the thymus and, in some cases, over-growth.
 Steroid-induced shrinkage of the thymus makes possible visualization of the true cardiac image which is often masked by the overlapping lobes of a large thymus. Such shrinkage may prevent the spurious diagnosis of cardiomegaly, and the use of more elaborate and hazardous methods such as opaque angiocardiography and cardiac catheterization.
 Steroid shrinkage of the thymus is indicated only in patients who have cardiac signs and symptoms combined with enlarged deformed mediastinums in which the true cardiac image cannot be seen radiographically.
 Steroid shrinkage is not indicated in patients who have cardiac signs and symptoms combined with small mediastinums, or in patients who have large mediastinums without cardiac signs and symptoms.
 Steroid shrinkage should not be tried when there are other factors which suggest greater than the probable benefits to be derived from their use.
 Massive rapid regrowth of the thymus following steroid-inducing atrophy was not associated with clinical signs or symptoms in any of our cases.


Articular cartilage defects have been addressed using microfracture, abrasion chondroplasty, or osteochondral grafting, but these strategies do not generate tissue that adequately recapitulates native cartilage. During the past 25 years, promising new strategies using assorted scaffolds and cell sources to induce chondrocyte expansion have emerged. We reviewed the evolution of autologous chondrocyte implantation and compared it to other cartilage repair techniques. Methods. We searched PubMed from 1949 to 2014 for the keywords "autologous chondrocyte implantation" (ACI) and "cartilage repair" in clinical trials, meta-analyses, and review articles. We analyzed these articles, their bibliographies, our experience, and cartilage regeneration textbooks. Results. Microfracture, abrasion chondroplasty, osteochondral grafting, ACI, and autologous matrix-induced chondrogenesis are distinguishable by cell source (including chondrocytes and stem cells) and associated scaffolds (natural or synthetic, hydrogels or membranes). ACI seems to be as good as, if not better than, microfracture for repairing large chondral defects in a young patient's knee as evaluated by multiple clinical indices and the quality of regenerated tissue. Conclusion. Although there is not enough evidence to determine the best repair technique, ACI is the most established cell-based treatment for full-thickness chondral defects in young patients.


Databases often contain corrupted, degraded, and noisy data with duplicate entries across and within each database. Such problems arise in citations, medical databases, genetics, human rights databases, and a variety of other applied settings. The target of statistical inference can be viewed as an unsupervised problem of determining the edges of a bipartite graph that links the observed records to unobserved latent entities. Bayesian approaches provide attractive benefits, naturally providing uncertainty quantification via posterior probabilities. We propose a novel record linkage approach based on empirical Bayesian principles. Specifically, the empirical Bayesian--type step consists of taking the empirical distribution function of the data as the prior for the latent entities. This approach improves on the earlier HB approach not only by avoiding the prior specification problem but also by allowing both categorical and string-valued variables. Our extension to string-valued variables also involves the proposal of a new probabilistic mechanism by which observed record values for string fields can deviate from the values of their associated latent entities. Categorical fields that deviate from their corresponding true value are simply drawn from the empirical distribution function. We apply our proposed methodology to a simulated data set of German names and an Italian household survey, showing our method performs favorably compared to several standard methods in the literature. We also consider the robustness of our methods to changes in the hyper-parameters.


This study explores one of the contributors to group composition-the basis on which people choose others with whom they want to work. We use a combined model to explore individual attributes, relational attributes, and previous structural ties as determinants of work partner choice. Four years of data from participants in 33 small project groups were collected, some of which reflects individual participant characteristics and some of which is social network data measuring the previous relationship between two participants. Our results suggest that when selecting future group members people are biased toward others of the same race, others who have a reputation for being competent and hard working, and others with whom they have developed strong working relationships in the past. These results suggest that people strive for predictability when choosing future work group members. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.


This study aims to construct a consolidated crime script of cross-border illicit waste trafficking by analysing similarities in modus operandi. In addition, factors enabling illicit waste trafficking were studied. Research questions were analysed from a situational crime prevention point of view by applying crime script analysis to 13 judiciary case studies of illicit cross-border waste trafficking obtained from the Netherlands, Italy and Finland. The findings suggest that the potential offender usually has advanced knowledge of the waste market and of the legislation and regulation. The case studies also suggest that the lack and misuse of appropriate licenses and falsified documentation, as well as taking advantage of illicit and licit networks in facilitating activities, are prevailing characteristics in the illicit cross-border trafficking of waste. Despite the small number of cases, the findings imply the need to focus crime prevention efforts on the early stages of the crime commission process, such as planning the crime.


This volume covers a fascinating period in the history of the German army, a time in which machine guns, airplanes, and weapons of mass destruction were first developed and used. Eric Brose traces the industrial development of machinery and its application to infantry, cavalry, and artillery tactics. He examines the modernity versus anti-modernity debate that raged after the Franco-Prussian war, arguing that the residue of years of resistance to technological change seriously undermined the German army during World War I.


: In modern conditions, when the whole world is faced with the coronavirus pandemic, digital educational technologies have become an effective way of organizing the learning process, which has forced all educational institutions to revise this process radically in many ways. Currently, there is an active process of informatization in the education field, aimed at the formation of an intellectually developed creative person, information-oriented, ready for self-development and application of these knowledge in future professional activities. Therefore, it is important for teachers to know what services and for what didactic purposes they can also use in their teaching practice when applying modern technologies. VR and AR are some of the emerging elements that can be used in the modern learning process, including FL. The relevance of the work is due to the fact that the use of VR and AR technologies in foreign languages teaching is a relatively new direction in humanitarian knowledge, but, nevertheless, it is a rather interesting area for research. The purpose of the study is to show the advantages in using VR and AR technologies for the development of students' professional foreign language competence. To solve the set purpose, the methods of description, analysis, and forecasting are used. The article deals with the main stages in the historical background and development of virtualistics; definitions to the basic concepts used in this area are given. The authors present virtual reality as a new technical means in FL learning, as well as analyze the benefits of introducing VR and AR technologies into the teaching process. It is emphasized that VR and AR technologies make learning more visual, enable students to become more active, and involve them in the training process more fully. These technologies make it easier for people who are at a distance to work together. For example, students can meet using virtual reality tools, prepare joint presentations, lead projects, and do much other work almost as effectively as with face-to-face contact in the real world. As a result of the study, material was obtained, the analysis of which made it possible to conclude that now teachers, students and researchers are expected a decisive step to accept the advantages of VR and AR in FL education, so that these breakthrough technologies can become a truly effective tool in FL teaching for students of technical universities.


Optimal treatment for children younger than 5 years of age with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is not well defined. Nineteen young children with this disease were treated with a program in which frequent home blood-glucose monitoring was used as the basis for an educational program emphasizing parental adjustment of insulin in response to current glucose levels and anticipated diet and exercise. Eleven children were treated from diagnosis (group I) and another eight (group D) were referred after less intensive treatment. The mean duration of observation of group I children was 13.6 months (range, six to 24 months). For group D, the mean time between diagnosis and referral was 14.9 months (range, seven to 24 months) and 14.6 months (range, six to 24 months) after referral. Before referral, there were 11 hospitalizations in group D. During the intensified program there were two hospitalizations in group D and one in group I. There were 3.3 episodes of severe hypoglycemia per child per 18 months in group D before referral, 1.7 episodes after referral, and 0.4 episodes in group I. Ten of 14 severe hypoglycemic episodes during intensified treatment occurred when there was no or infrequent home blood-glucose monitoring. Only four episodes seemed to have been unpredictable and unpreventable. Mean glycosylated hemoglobin levels were higher in group D patients when compared with both the duration of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and the time of initiation of intensified treatment. Mean daily insulin doses increased progressively in group I patients following diagnosis, and were comparable with those in group D patients at 15 and 18 months' duration of illness. Thus, frequency of hospitalization and severe hypoglycemia can be decreased in young children. Frequent home blood-glucose monitoring is required and extensive educational and psychosocial support is necessary for families to implement this intensive approach. The long-term effects on psychoneurological development need evaluation.


This study is a historical linguistic investigation entitled The Phonemic − Syllabic Comparisons of Standard Malay and Palembang Malay Using a Historical Linguistic Perspective which aims to explore the types of sound changes found in Palembang Malay . The investigation uses a historical linguistic comparative method to compare the phonemic and syllabic changes between an ancestral language Standard Malay and its decent language Palembang Malay . Standard Malay refers to the Wilkinson dictionary in 1904. The participants of this study are seven native speakers of Palembang Malay whose ages range from 20 to 40 years old. The data were collected from the voices of the participants that were recorded along group conversations and interviews. This study applies the theoretical framework of sound changes which proposed by Terry Crowley in 1997 and Lily Campbell in 1999. The findings show that there are nine types of sound changes that were found as the results, namely assimilation (42.35%), lenition (20%), sound addition (3.53%), metathesis (1.18%), dissimilation (1.76%), abnormal sound changes (3.53%), split (13.53%), vowel rising (10.59%), and m onophthongisation (3.53%). Keywords : Historical linguistics, standard Malay, Palembang Malay, comparative method, sound change, phoneme, syllable.


In high strength AlMgSi alloys additions of Mn and Cr lead to the formation of dispersoid phases whose primary functions are to improve fracture toughness and control grain structure. Whether or not dispersoid phases form during heating to the homogenisation temperature and which dispersoid forms is strongly dependent on the alloy composition. By correlating dispersoid features after different homogenisation heat treatments to TEM investigations into the crystal structure, it is proposed that the crystal structure and chemical composition of the dispersoids changes as the dispersoids coarsen at increased temperatures and times.


Low back pain (LBP) is one of the major concerns of the current health care. The guidelines for chronic LBP recommend traditional Chinese exercise as an effective treatment. As one of the representatives of traditional Chinese exercise, Wuqinxi has been famous in China for its effects on improving health and treating chronic diseases for thousands of years. The objectives of the study were to assess the effects of Wuqinxi in the patients with chronic LBP on pain intensity, trunk muscle strength, and quality of life. The primary outcome measure was assessed by the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), including the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Present Pain Intensity (PPI) as the subtables. The effects of Wuqinxi on the quality of life were also assessed by the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) from physical component summary (PCS), mental component summary (MCS), and sleep quality. Besides, the electrical activities of the rectus abdominis (RA), obliquus externus abdominis (OEA), lumbar erector spinae (ES), and multifidus (MF) were assessed by integrated electromyogram (iEMG) after the end of the intervention. Both the groups showed statistically significant improvement in SF-MPQ, SF-36, PSQI, and iEMG at 12 weeks and 24 weeks when compared with baseline (P < 0.05). However, Wuqinxi demonstrated better effects in SF-MPQ and MCS after 24 weeks of intervention compared with the general exercise (P < 0.05). The patients in the Wuqinxi group (WQXG) also showed a significantly higher iEMG on OEA than the general exercise group (GEG) in 30°/s and 90°/s (P < 0.05). Our results showed that Wuqinxi had better effects on chronic LBP for a long time compared with general exercise, including pain intensity and quality of life. Thus, Wuqinxi should be recognized as a possible standalone therapy and self-management skill in chronic LBP, which is suitable for long-term practice.


The influence of heparin was studied on the inhibitory regulation of adenylate cyclase in human platelet membranes. Heparin blocked the adrenaline-induced inhibition of adenylate cyclase and the stimulation of GTP hydrolysis with half-maximal and maximal efficiency at 0.3 and 1-3 micrograms/ml, respectively. The effect of heparin was reversed by washing the membranes. Heparin did not change the number of alpha-adrenoceptors. In contrast, the affinity of the alpha-adrenoceptor for adrenaline was decreased in the presence of heparin. The pertussis toxin-catalysed ADP-ribosylation of the inhibitory guanine nucleotide-binding Gi-protein was not altered by heparin. Heparin also abolished the inhibition of adenylate cyclase caused by GTP itself. The data indicate that heparin can impair the hormone-induced inhibition of adenylate cyclase and the stimulation of GTP hydrolysis and suggest that the effects of heparin are caused by an action at the Gi-protein of the adenylate cyclase system.


Retrograde analysis is an efficient exhaustive search method. It is a powerful tool that can be used in solving problems where end states have known values but starting states do not. It has been widely used to solve mathematically-precise games such as chess endgames, and is potentially usable in energy-minimization problems. With increasing computing power, both in speed and storage capacity, retrograde analysis will become more and more useful. This paper looks at successful applications to games, the challenges ahead and the modifications that are required to utilize distributed hardware. The power and the usefulness of retrograde analysis are still limited by the computing resources one has access to. Today, the best sequential retrograde algorithms are capable of solving problems with about 10/sup 9/ states in a few hours on a standard personal computer. Bigger problems need more powerful computers, or take much longer to solve, or are simply out of the reach of today's technologies. Introducing parallelism to retrograde analysis is a natural way to attack the bigger problems. There are today three main architectures available for doing parallel retrograde analysis, namely symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) systems, high-speed network-based distributed systems and Internet-based distributed systems. In this paper, we discuss some of the key issues in doing parallel retrograde analysis on these different architectures. Technical challenges are addressed in detail, as well as some examples and proposals. These examples and proposals are drawn from various board games, but the ideas can be applied to other problem domains.


The influence of the central platform on hydrodynamic performance of a wave energy converter (WEC) has remained elusive. To approach this dearth of relevant theoretical research, this paper presents a semi-submerged multi-buoy WEC and the results of the numerical analysis at different dimension parameters of the central platform of the WEC. The WEC consists of three oscillating buoys hinged with a central platform through multiple actuating arms. Numerical analysis revealed that there exists a relationship between the hydrodynamic performance of device and the geometry of the central platform. At the given wave condition, different central platform size would obviously affect the hydrodynamic performance and wave energy capture width ratio of the semi-submerged multi-buoy WEC. Additionally, appropriately increasing central platform draft would help to improve the wave energy capture capability of the oscillating buoys.


This paper presents a new profiling side-channel attack on CRYSTALSDilithium, the new NIST primary standard for quantum-safe digital signatures. An open source implementation of CRYSTALS-Dilithium is already available, with constant-time property as a consideration for side-channel resilience. However, this implementation does not protect against attacks that exploit intermediate data leakage. We show how to exploit a new leakage on a vector generated during the signing process, for which the costly protection by masking is still a matter of debate. With a corpus of 700 000 messages, we design a template attack that enables us to efficiently predict whether a given coefficient in one coordinate of this vector is zero or not. By gathering signatures and being able to make the correct predictions for each index, and then using linear algebra methods, this paper demonstrates that one can recover part of the secret key that is sufficient to produce universal forgeries. While our paper deeply discusses the theoretical attack path, it also demonstrates the validity of the assumption regarding the required leakage model from practical experiments with the reference implementation on an ARM Cortex-M4. We need approximately a day to collect enough representatives and one more day to perform the traces acquisition on our target.


This article analyzes the impacts of ENGOs with respect to Maltese climate change policy in an EU context. In particular, focus is made on the politics of climate change in Malta and the EU in the first five years following the country's EU accession, which led to the setting of energy emissions targets by 2020. The main conclusion of this article is that ENGOs formed part of an EU-wide hegemonic formation on climate change, wherein a common position with binding emissions targets was reached. The common position was signified around the discourse of ecological modernization. EU multi-level governance provided an opportunity for ENGOs to put forward discourses for climate-change adaptation.


The concept and phenomenon of media innovation is gaining some attention in the academic community, policy circles and among practitioners. However, the phenomenon is still poorly defined and not well understood. This paper therefore first analyses how media innovation is framed in the literature on media economics and media management. Then it considers to what extent the standard analysis of innovation could be applied to the media field, considering, on the one hand, the traditional view on innovation policy and, on the other hand, some of the most common indicators of innovation. Based on this information, the paper suggests a novel conceptualisation of media innovation. Furthermore, an analysis of statistical indicators on R&D expenditure leads to three assumptions related to media innovation, namely (1) that the Media and Content Industries (MCIs) are much less innovative than the ICT industries, or/and (2) that R&D statistics do not properly capture the innovativeness of the MCIs, or/and (3) that the innovative activities in media and content are largely taking place elsewhere (for instance in the ICT sector). Whereas the statistical indicators point towards the second explanation, a small round of expert interviews in Flanders revealed that there is a case for assumptions (1) and (3) as well. First of all, it was shown that all forms of innovation defined in our typology exist in the media field, but not with the same importance. The most important ones from the media industries' point of view seems to be the innovation related to the product, notably concerning the core (e.g. creation of new types of TV shows) and business model innovation. There is also technological innovation taking place in the media industries, for instance concerning new ways to access and interact with the content but this innovation comes from out the media sector (e.g. HD-TV, search engines) and at best the media industries try to adapt to this rapidly changing technological context.


The paper is concerned with the relationship between various radical political discourses and the formation of, challenges to and, for the most part, subsequent demise of the numerous radical printing collectives that emerged in the UK in the 1970s.

These printshops attempted to enact their politics not just through facilitating the dissemination of counter hegemonic discourses but also through their working practices. However in the 1980s and 1990s alternative political agendas changed considerably. Through the historical case of the print collectives and drawing partially on the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe this research attempts to critically map and analyse specific shifts in radical discourses of production and participation.


The potential importance of electrospun nanofibers on the performance of fiber-based medical devices is under assessment. Initial work has focused on the behavior of tissue engineering scaffolds comprised of polylactide nanofibers and the utility of such nanofibers as a package for drug delivery. Electrospinning was utilized to fabricate poly-L-lactide (PLLA) non-woven mats of two distinctly different fiber diameters (13 micron and about 130 nanometers). The potential of these non-woven mats as tissue engineering scaffolds was assessed by cell proliferation studies of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Electrospun fiber mats were characterized for fiber diameter, porosity, pore size and pore size distribution. The electrospun scaffolds achieved a high surface area and porosity. MSCs were seeded on to the PLLA scaffolds and the cell-polymer constructs were cultured under static culture conditions. Cell proliferation studies was performed, with the results showing that hMSCs tend to proliferate more on nanofiber scaffolds than on the conventional diameter microfiber scaffolds. For the development of the drug delivery system, targeted for catheter delivery through small diameter blood vessels, poly (D,L-lactide-coglycolide) (DLPLGA) nanofibers were electrospun from a tetrahydrofuran solvent Three different concentration ratios of DLPLGA, 85/15, 80/20, and 75/25 were analyzed as the base polymer for drug release studies. A highly researched chemotherapy compound was chosen as a model compound for release studies. A homogeneous solution of polymer and drug was electronspun and the resulting nanofibers were analysed for drug incorporation and retention of drug chemistry.


multi-media technology plays a critical role in modern remote education development, which can make abstract and complicated teaching content more concrete and fully mobilize students' activity, enrich the teaching resources of remote education, break through the space-time limitation of traditional education, and meanwhile strengthen the interaction of remote education. Currently ordinary remote teaching system based on Dekeos and Bigbluebutton without self-detection function requires for professional personnel's regular examination and maintenance. It takes long time and large workload, brings inconvenience for schools and teachers in remote education. Meanwhile, it also has the problem of disjoint between teaching and practice. This paper has designed a multimedia teaching system based on Dokeos and BigBlueButton to apply to"Fundamentals of Financial Accounting" course including abundant remote education functions such as recording and replaying, desk sharing, video session, PPT presentation. Student condition online inspection device of remote education based on decision-making tree has solved the problem existing in current remote teaching system that it cannot automatically inspect device, thus to further optimize the process of remote education.


Background Wide variation exists for hospital admission rates for the evaluation of possible acute coronary syndrome, but there are limited data on physician-level variation. Our aim is to describe physicians' rates of admission for suspected acute coronary syndrome and associated 30-day major adverse events. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of adult emergency department chest pain encounters from January 2016 to December 2017 across 15 community emergency departments within an integrated health system in Southern California. The unit of analysis was the Emergency physician. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients admitted/observed in the hospital. Secondary analysis described the 30-day incidence of death or acute myocardial infarction. Results Thirty-eight thousand seven hundred seventy-eight patients encounters were included among 327 managing physicians. The median number of encounters per physician was 123 (interquartile range, 82-157) with an overall admission/observation rate of 14.0%. Wide variation in individual physician admission rates were observed (unadjusted, 1.5%-68.9%) and persisted after case-mix adjustments (adjusted, 5.5%-27.8%). More clinical experience was associated with a higher likelihood of hospital care. There was no difference in 30-day death or acute myocardial infarction between high- and low-admitting physician quartiles (unadjusted, 1.70% versus 0.82% and adjusted, 1.33% versus 1.29%). Conclusions Wide variation persists in physician-level admission rates for emergency department chest pain evaluation, even in a well-integrated health system. There was no associated benefit in 30-day death or acute myocardial infarction for patients evaluated by high-admitting physicians. This suggests an additional opportunity to investigate the safe reduction of physician-level variation in the use of hospital care.


Digital traces are rapidly used for health monitoring purposes in recent years. This approach is growing as the consequence of increased use of mobile phone, Internet, and machine learning. Many studies reported the use of Google Trends data as a potential data source to assist traditional surveillance systems. The rise of Internet penetration (54.7%) and the huge utilization of Google (98%) indicate the potential use of Google Trends in Indonesia. Since no previous study exists on validating official dengue reports and Google Trends data in Indonesia and comparing them over time, this study aimed to cover this gap. This research was a quantitative study using time series data (2012-2016). Two sets of data were validated using Moving Average analysis in Microsoft Excel. Pearson and Time lag correlations were also used to measure the association between those data. Moving Average analysis showed that Google Trends data have a linear time series pattern with official dengue report. Pearson correlation indicated high correlation for 3 defined search terms with R-value range from 0.921 to 0.937 (p≤0.05, overall period) which showed increasing trend in epidemic periods (2015-2016). Time lag correlation also indicated that Google Trends data can potentially be used for an early warning system and novel tool to monitor public reaction before the increase of dengue cases and during the outbreak. Google Trends data have a linear time series pattern and statistically correlated with annual official dengue reports. Identification of information seeking behavior is needed to support the use of Google Trends for disease surveillance in Indonesia.


The possible association between the risk of death from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and the levels of magnesium in drinking water from munici- pal supplies was investigated in a matched case-control study in Taiwan. Characte- ristics for all SIDS deaths (501 cases) among Taiwan residents from 1988 through 1997 were compared with those of people who died from other causes (501 controls). The levels of magnesium in the drinking water of these residents were determined from data obtained from the Taiwan Water Supply Corporation (TWSC). The controls were pair-matched to the SIDS cases by sex, month and year of birth. The results of our study show that there is a significant trend towards a decreased risk of SIDS with increasing magnesium levels in drinking water.


One of the most profound breakthroughs for students in negotiation courses is the realization that negotiations are not always win-lose, or more technically fixed-sum situations. However, many students of negotiation express frustration and exasperation when they attempt these new-found skills in 'real world' negotiations. This dilemma points to a fundamental misassumption about negotiation: the faulty belief that in order to reach integrative (win-win) agreements, both people need to be enlightened, that is, not only aware of the possibility of win-win, but actively committed to reaching win-win deals. In this research we examine whether or not enlightened negotiators can reach integrative outcomes even when the other party is un-enlightened. Furthermore, we investigate whether or not the particular interaction approach taken by the enlightened party is critical.


Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) transparent ceramic doped with Nd have predominantly chemical stability, excellent optical quality and high temperature stability, it is becomeing a substitute for single crystal, had already become new generation laser material, have important strategic sense in the laser and the superelevation powders laser system. Al(NO3)3·9H2O, Y2O3, Nd2O3,(NH4)2SO4 and NH4HCO3 are raw material, TEOS is additive and ethylene glycol(EG). Nd:YAG precursor powders witch is Homogeneously dispersed, little agglomerated, pure YAG phase, different Nd3+ doped density were prepared by the co-precipitation method. The Nd:YAG ceramic powders were characterized by TG-DTA, XRD, FT-IR.


Guangxi, a province in southwestern China, has the second highest reported number of HIV/ AIDS cases in China. This study aimed to develop an accurate and effective model to describe the tendency of HIV and to predict its incidence in Guangxi. HIV incidence data of Guangxi from 2005 to 2016 were obtained from the database of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network models, autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models, generalised regression neural network (GRNN) models and exponential smoothing (ES) were used to fit the incidence data. Data from 2015 and 2016 were used to validate the most suitable models. The model performances were evaluated by evaluating metrics, including mean square error (MSE), root mean square error, mean absolute error and mean absolute percentage error. The LSTM model had the lowest MSE when the N value (time step) was 12. The most appropriate ARIMA models for incidence in 2015 and 2016 were ARIMA (1, 1, 2) (0, 1, 2) 12 and ARIMA (2, 1, 0) (1, 1, 2) 12 , respectively. The accuracy of GRNN and ES models in forecasting HIV incidence in Guangxi was relatively poor. Four performance metrics of the LSTM model were all lower than the ARIMA, GRNN and ES models. The LSTM model was more effective than other time-series models and is important for the monitoring and control of local HIV epidemics.


Purpose To determine the operative time and complication rates of resident phacoemulsification surgeries at different time points in training. Methods Retrospective cross-sectional study at the Department of Ophthalmology of the Philippine General Hospital. All resident-performed elective adult phacoemulsification surgeries from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2018, were included, while operations with planned anterior or posterior procedures were excluded. Cases were arranged chronologically and divided into time points with 25 cases each. Operative time and complication rates were computed for each time point. As defined by the ICO Ophthalmology Surgical Competency Assessment Rubric (OSCAR), 30 minutes was used to gauge competency based on operative time, while complications were compared to published rates for residents. Results for the first 50 cases, the minimum number required by graduation, were also compared with succeeding cases. Results A total of 4635 cases were included. Residents performed an average of 115.9 ± 30.4 cases, with no significant difference among residents (F(4,35)=2.64, p=0.12). Overall complication rate was 6% (n=276), similar to those reported internationally. Both median operative time and complication rates decreased significantly for every time point in training (p<0.001). After 50 cases, only 40% (n=16) of residents reached the operative time of 30 minutes. Median operative time is significantly lower when comparing the first 50 surgeries with the succeeding cases (37 minutes vs 29 minutes, p<0.001). Likewise, complication rate is also significantly lower (9.3% vs 3.5%, Χ2 (1, N=4635) = 68.481, p<0.001), with an odds ratio of 2.85 (p<0.001, 95% CI [2.2, 3.7]). Conclusion There are significant improvements in both operative time and complication rates as more surgeries are performed. However, the minimum required 50 cases is not enough for resident competency based on operative time and complication rates.


The photophysical properties and imaging/sensing applications of triarylmethane carbeniums are well recognised, whereas the neutral triarylmethane precursors are less investigated in this respect. Herein, we describe the synthesis of three triarylmethane derivatives, namely PhMBD, PyMBD and PrMBD, having a general structure R′R′′2CH, where R′ = phenanthrene, pyrene, and perylene, respectively and R′′ = N,N′-dimethylaniline. The photophysical studies of these molecules revealed the existence of intramolecular exciplexes even in solvents of moderate polarity. Supportive evidence for exciplex formation was obtained from TD-DFT calculations and solvent polarity/protonation-dependent absorption/emission profiles. Among the three, PrMBD exhibited high contrast and self-reversible mechanochromism with a hypsochromic shift of 74 nm on grinding. Moreover, it also showed time-dependent multicolour acidochromism in the solid state. PyMBD and PrMBD were aggregation induced emission (AIE) active and all three molecules responded to increasing viscosity of the medium with emission enhancement. The emission of these molecules was highly sensitive to solvent polarity and consequently responded to low levels of water in organic solvents with 'turn off' fluorescence.


When compared to electrically-modulated brakes (EMBs), such as a magnetic particle brake, modern brushless DC (BLDC) motors have substantially higher power densities, and therefore have become an attractive alternative to EMBs for applications requiring controllable modulated resistance (i.e., torque-controllable braking). Unlike brakes, however, which fundamentally guarantee strict passivity, emulating mechanical resistance with a motor does not guarantee passive behavior. In order to enable use of a motor as a torque-controllable brake with fundamentally-guaranteed passivity, this paper presents a control scheme that provides high-fidelity torque tracking and physically guarantees strictly passive behavior. Specifically, this paper: 1) describes model-based control methods for applications requiring high-fidelity torque control and strictly passive impedance; 2) presents an analysis that characterizes limits of control and tradeoffs of controllability and energy generation associated with using a motor in this manner; and 3) presents experimental results that validate both the system characterization and control performance for the strictly passive controllable impedance approach.


Spontaneous massive retroperitoneal hemorrhage from an adrenal gland is a rare event. A thoughtful and meticulous approach to such a patient, with appropriate diagnostic studies, ICU and surgical care are essential for patient survival. In patients with active bleeding, angiographic embolization is a valuable adjunct to achieve hemostasis, to allow for further work-up of the adrenal tumor, and an improved subsequent oncologic resection. Hemodynamically unstable patients, however, may require supportive transfusions in the intensive care unit, potential embolization if deemed feasible, or urgent surgical exploration. If possible, however, the acute surgical removal of an adrenal tumor within a large retroperitoneal hematoma should be avoided, as under such conditions a proper oncologic resection may not be possible. The possibility of a pheochromocytoma must always be entertained. Early recognition and treatment of patients with presumed adrenal insufficiency may decrease patient morbidity and mortality.


Abstract Objective The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic in the United States has exacerbated a number of mental health conditions and problems related to prolonged social isolation. While COVID‐19 has led to greater loneliness and a lack of social connectedness, little is known about who are the most affected and how they are impacted. Therefore, we performed a Latent Class Analysis using items from two scales – the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Social Connectedness Scale – to characterize different experiences of loneliness and connectedness, examine their relationship with mental health and substance use symptoms, including depression, anxiety, drinking, and drug use. Methods Data were drawn from an anonymous one‐time online survey examining the mental health of 1008 young adults (18–35 years old) during COVID‐19. A latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to observe and identify classes based on responses to loneliness and connectedness scale items, and to examine the existence of subgroups among this young adult population. Results We identified a 4‐class model of loneliness and connectedness: (1) Lonely and Disconnected – highest probabilities in items of loneliness and disconnectedness, (2) Moderately Lonely and Disconnected – adaptive levels of some isolation and disconnection during COVID‐19, (3) Ambivalent Feelings – displaying negative responses in particular to negatively‐worded items while simultaneously affirming positively worded items, and (4) Connected and Not Lonely – lowest probabilities in items of loneliness and disconnectedness. Conclusion Key findings include (1) the delineation of classes by levels of loneliness and connectedness showcasing differential mental health and substance use symptoms, (2) the utility of item‐level evaluation with LCA in determining specific classes of people in need of outreach and intervention, and (3) the promise of social connection to bolster resilience in young adults.


Titanium and its alloys have gained widespread attention for application in metallic biomaterials, due to their low toxicity, good biocompatiblity, excellent corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. However, titanium based biomaterials face several impediments, such as implant loosening and microbial infections that leads to implant failure. Surface modification is an important technique and plays a vital role in modifying a biomaterial surface. It enhances the interaction of the implant surface with the surrounding tissues, impedes bacterial adhesion and eventually reduces the occurrence of implant failure. Keeping this in mind, the present work aims to improve osseointegration and confer antibacterial properties on Ti6Al4V through surface modification and coatings. In the first phase, TiO2 nanotubes of varied topography were grown on the Ti6Al4V surface through anodic oxidation. Based on the cellular response, it was observed that among the selected processing parameters, nanotubes formed at 40 V, 4 h (TN(40)4), showed the desired nanotubular morphology with ~2 times increment in the rate of proliferation with respect to the polished surface (PTi64), which is attributed to its higher surface roughness, anatase content and wettability. In the second phase, the osteogenic potential of TN(40)4 surface was improved by coating with silk fibroin (SF) protein, isolated from B.mori silk cocoons (TNTSF) by electrophoretic deposition technique (EPD). The osteogenic potential studied by ALP assay showed ~1.5 time increment in cells grown on TNTSF compared to polished Ti6Al4V (PTi64). The osteogenic potential of the modified surface was further confirmed by the expression of specific osteogenic markers (runx2, collagen I, osterix and osteocalcin) in human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). TNTSF showed increased expression of osteocalcin and osterix (late osteogenic markers). Next, TN(40)4 was coated with curcumin (TNTC) by direct dropping method. The antimicrobial activity of the implant with the modified surface was enhanced by reduction of 43% and 39% E.coli and S.aureus population respectively, within 24 h. Finally, EPD was used to coat silk fibroin-curcumin blend on TiO2 nanotubes. The antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus showed that the coated surface effectively inhibited bacterial growth, as evident from the reduction in ~31% and ~30% S.aureus and E.coli growth. The osteogenic potential of the silk fibroin-curcumin coated implant was confirmed by the increase in expression of ALP, expression of early and late osteogenic marker proteins runx2 and osterix, compared to the polished surface (PTi64). The level of released osteocalcin was quantitatively estimated by ELISA and it revealed that after 14 days of culture, the osteocalcin level increased by ~3.5 times on surface PTi64 and ~4.5 times on TNTSF in comparison to PTi64 on day 7. Therefore, the developed TiO2 nanotubes coated with a blend of silk fibroin and curcumin as a dual bio-functional coating material, is able to improve the performance of Ti6Al4V implants, in terms of both antimicrobial resistance and osseointegration.


We propose a general joint representation learning framework for knowledge acquisition (KA) on two tasks, knowledge graph completion (KGC) and relation extraction (RE) from text. In this framework, we learn representations of knowledge graphs (KGs) and text within a unified parameter sharing semantic space. To achieve better fusion, we propose an effective mutual attention between KGs and text. The reciprocal attention mechanism enables us to highlight important features and perform better KGC and RE. Different from conventional joint models, no complicated linguistic analysis or strict alignments between KGs and text are required to train our models. Experiments on relation extraction and entity link prediction show that models trained under our joint framework are significantly improved in comparison with other baselines. Most existing methods for KGC and RE can be easily integrated into our framework due to its flexible architectures. The source code of this paper can be obtained from https://github.com/thunlp/JointNRE.


The use of molecular markers has revolutionized the pace and precision of plant genetic analysis which in turn facilitated the implementation of molecular breeding of crops. The last three decades have seen tremendous advances in the evolution of marker systems and the respective detection platforms. Markers based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have rapidly gained the center stage of molecular genetics during the recent years due to their abundance in the genomes and their amenability for high-throughput detection formats and platforms. Computational approaches dominate SNP discovery methods due to the ever-increasing sequence information in public databases; however, complex genomes pose special challenges in the identification of informative SNPs warranting alternative strategies in those crops. Many genotyping platforms and chemistries have become available making the use of SNPs even more attractive and efficient. This paper provides a review of historical and current efforts in the development, validation, and application of SNP markers in QTL/gene discovery and plant breeding by discussing key experimental strategies and cases exemplifying their impact.


Abstract. This paper reports on the qualitative and quantitative screening of groundwater sources for integration into the public water supply system of the Algarve, Portugal. The results are employed in a decision support system currently under development for an integrated water resources management scheme in the region. Such a scheme is crucial for several reasons, including the extreme seasonal and annual variations in rainfall, the effect of climate change on more frequent and long-lasting droughts, the continuously increasing water demand and the high risk of a single-source water supply policy. The latter was revealed during the severe drought of 2004 and 2005, when surface reservoirs were depleted and the regional water demand could not be met, despite the drilling of emergency wells. For screening and selection, quantitative criteria are based on aquifer properties and well yields, whereas qualitative criteria are defined by water quality indices. These reflect the well's degree of violation of drinking water standards for different sets of variables, including toxicity parameters, nitrate and chloride, iron and manganese and microbiological parameters. Results indicate the current availability of at least 1100 l s−1 of high quality groundwater (55% of the regional demand), requiring only disinfection (900 l s−1) or basic treatment, prior to human consumption. These groundwater withdrawals are sustainable when compared to mean annual recharge, considering that at least 40% is preserved for ecological demands. A more accurate and comprehensive analysis of sustainability is performed with the help of steady-state and transient groundwater flow simulations, which account for aquifer geometry, boundary conditions, recharge and discharge rates, pumping activity and seasonality. They permit an advanced analysis of present and future scenarios and show that increasing water demands and decreasing rainfall will make the water supply system extremely vulnerable, with a high risk of groundwater salinization and ecosystem degradation.


The discussion in this paper focuses on how boundary based smooth shape design can be carried out. For this we treat surface generation as a mathematical boundary-value problem. In particular, we utilize elliptic Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) of arbitrary order. Using the methodology outlined here a designer can therefore generate the geometry of shapes satisfying an arbitrary set of boundary conditions. The boundary conditions for the chosen PDE can be specified as curves in 3-space defining the profile geometry of the shape. We show how a compact analytic solution for the chosen arbitrary order PDE can be formulated enabling complex shapes to be designed and manipulated in real time. This solution scheme, although analytic, satisfies exactly, even in the case of general boundary conditions, where the resulting surface has a closed form representation allowing real time shape manipulation. In order to enable users to appreciate the powerful shape design and manipulation capability of the method, we present a set of practical examples.


A study is presented where the use of dielectric a priori data in the reconstruction algorithm for microwave tomography is investigated. A new algorithm has been developed that includes the a priori dielectric data in the reconstruction process. This development is made as an extension to a conventional conjugate-gradient reconstruction algorithm. This paper further contains a numerical study of the new algorithm where the results indicate that by taking the a priori data into account, the accuracy and ability to resolve small objects can significantly be improved. This study was motivated by the development of an application for biomedical microwave imaging where it is investigated how knowledge of the tissue properties being imaged potentially can be used to improve the accuracy in the reconstruction.


Identification of novel molecular targets for treatment of epilepsy is required to solve the problems in its pharmacotherapy including side effects and tolerance in currently used antiepileptic drugs. Carnitine/organic cation transporter OCTN1 is functionally expressed in brain neurons, and transports various organic cations including the food-derived antioxidant ergothioneine and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. The aim of the present study is to examine possible involvement of OCTN1 in epilepsy to find a target for its treatment. The γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor antagonist pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) was administrated to wild-type or octn1 gene knockout (octn1-/) mice, and then severity of seizure and PTZ concentration in the body were evaluated by behavioral observation and LC-MS/ MS, respectively. octn1-/mice showed lower seizure score and higher survival rate compared to wild-type mice, whereas tissue concentrations of PTZ was almost the same between the two strains. To clarify the mechanism underlying the attenuation of PTZ-induced seizure in octn1-/mice, we examined the difference in expression of GABA receptor subunits, efficacy of the GABA receptor agonist pentobarbital or diazepam, and release of GABA into the synaptic cleft, between wild-type and octn1-/mice. Expression of GABA receptor subunits mRNA in cerebral cortex and hippocampus, and sleep latency and sleeping time induced by the GABA agonists were almost the same between the two strains. The measurement of GABA concentration in brain interstitial fluid with microdialysis showed no significant difference at steady-state between the two strains, whereas the increase in GABA by treatment with high potassium in octn1-/mice tended to be more rapid than that in wild-type mice. These results suggest that OCTN1 may positively regulate PTZ-induced seizure via the mechanism different from pharmacokinetic regulation or modulation of GABA receptor function, supporting necessity of further studies to establish OCTN1 as a target molecule of anticonvulsant. PT605 Alterations of functional connectivity in pilocarpineinduced mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy in latent period Hyoin Lee, Yong Jeong, Seungmoon Jung, Jaehyun Lee KAIST, Republic of Korea Abstract Temporal lobe epilepsy is a neurological disorders that characterize abnormal electrical activities in hippocampus as epileptic foci. During epileptogenesis, spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRSs) occurred and introduce to a chronic stage. Seizure-free period with no SRSs during epileptogenesis is important to early diagnosis and medication of epilepsy. However, researches related to latent period of temporal lobe epilepsy are not well understood. Although few reports have been investigated this period in epilepsy mouse model, there is one previous study indicated that social behavior deficits and abnormal cortical activity appear in latent period. We could have questions about this underlying mechanisms that how can the epileptic mice show disruptions of social behavior similar to chronic stage even though SRSs were not occurred in latent period. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy suffered from psychiatric comorbidities including depression, anxiety, psychotic disorders, cognitive and personality changes and many human fMRI studies suggested that altered resting-state functional connectivity is associated with these symptoms and psychiatric comorbidities. Therefore, we could hypothesize that resting-state functional connectivity is altered in several brain regions which has been associated various deficits of behavior. Furthermore, the resting-state functional connectivity mapping with optical intrinsic signal imaging (fcOIS) recently reported that could investigate the large-scale brain networks in mice. Using this functional neuroimaging, we observed the changes of intrinsic functional connectivity in latent period of chronic epilepsy mouse model by seed-based functional connectivity analysis. We demonstrated that there were significant decreased interhemispheric functional connectivity in frontal, temporal and visual cortex regions. Moreover, we detected two clusters centered on the left frontal and cingulate cortex regions using connectivity matrix and these two clusters showed persistently reduced functional connectivity with several brain regions. Interestingly, there were significantly differences in spectral features over the functional connectivity band in latent phase. These results suggest that the psychopathology of epilepsy might be involved with the altered intrinsic functional connectivity and could help to understand about latent period that is important to early diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy.Temporal lobe epilepsy is a neurological disorders that characterize abnormal electrical activities in hippocampus as epileptic foci. During epileptogenesis, spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRSs) occurred and introduce to a chronic stage. Seizure-free period with no SRSs during epileptogenesis is important to early diagnosis and medication of epilepsy. However, researches related to latent period of temporal lobe epilepsy are not well understood. Although few reports have been investigated this period in epilepsy mouse model, there is one previous study indicated that social behavior deficits and abnormal cortical activity appear in latent period. We could have questions about this underlying mechanisms that how can the epileptic mice show disruptions of social behavior similar to chronic stage even though SRSs were not occurred in latent period. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy suffered from psychiatric comorbidities including depression, anxiety, psychotic disorders, cognitive and personality changes and many human fMRI studies suggested that altered resting-state functional connectivity is associated with these symptoms and psychiatric comorbidities. Therefore, we could hypothesize that resting-state functional connectivity is altered in several brain regions which has been associated various deficits of behavior. Furthermore, the resting-state functional connectivity mapping with optical intrinsic signal imaging (fcOIS) recently reported that could investigate the large-scale brain networks in mice. Using this functional neuroimaging, we observed the changes of intrinsic functional connectivity in latent period of chronic epilepsy mouse model by seed-based functional connectivity analysis. We demonstrated that there were significant decreased interhemispheric functional connectivity in frontal, temporal and visual cortex regions. Moreover, we detected two clusters centered on the left frontal and cingulate cortex regions using connectivity matrix and these two clusters showed persistently reduced functional connectivity with several brain regions. Interestingly, there were significantly differences in spectral features over the functional connectivity band in latent phase. These results suggest that the psychopathology of epilepsy might be involved with the altered intrinsic functional connectivity and could help to understand about latent period that is important to early diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy. PT606 Effects of Chronic Ethosuximide Treatment on Cardiovascular Changes in Genetic Absence Epileptic WAG/Rij Rats Tuğçe Demirtaş Şahin1, Tijen Utkan1, Ayşe Karson2 1Kocaeli University Medical Faculty, Pharmacology Department, Kocaeli, Turkey 2Kocaeli University Medical Faculty, Physiology Department, Kocaeli, Turkey Abstract Objective: There is limited evidence about the cardiovascular changes in absence epilepsy (AE). Ethosuximide (ETX), a T-type calcium channel blocker, is one of the most commonly used drug in AE treatment. But its effects on cardiovascular functions in AE also has not been investigated. This study aimed toObjective: There is limited evidence about the cardiovascular changes in absence epilepsy (AE). Ethosuximide (ETX), a T-type calcium channel blocker, is one of the most commonly used drug in AE treatment. But its effects on cardiovascular functions in AE also has not been investigated. This study aimed to


This paper is concerned with the delay dependent H∞ filtering problem for discrete-time linear systems with quantized measurements and time varying delay. The measurement signal is quantized by a logarithmic quantizer, and the time-varying delay is unknown with given lower and upper bounds. Our main objective is to design a stable filter that guarantee the filtering error system to be asymptotically stable with a prescribed level of H∞ noise attenuation. A delay dependent sufficient condition for the existence of such a filter is derived by using a Lyapunov-krasovskii functional, and delay partitioning technique. The effectiveness of the proposed filter is illustrated via a numerical example.


Modern Internet-scale distributed networks have hundreds of thousands of servers deployed in hundreds of locations and networks around the world. Canonical examples of such networks are content delivery networks (called CDNs) that we study in this paper. The operating expenses of large distributed networks are increasingly driven by the cost of supplying power to their servers. Typically, CDNs procure power through long-term contracts from co-location providers and pay on the basis of the power (KWs) provisioned for them, rather than on the basis of the energy (KWHs) actually consumed. We propose the use of batteries to reduce both the required power supply and the incurred power cost of a CDN. We provide a theoretical model and an algorithmic framework for provisioning batteries to minimize the total power supply and the total power costs of a CDN. We evaluate our battery provisioning algorithms using extensive load traces derived from Akamai's CDN to empirically study the achievable benefits. We show that batteries can provide up to 14% power savings, that would increase to 22% for more power-proportional next-generation servers, and would increase even more to 35.3% for perfectly power-proportional servers. Likewise, the cost savings, inclusive of the additional battery costs, range from 13.26% to 33.8% as servers become more power-proportional. Further, much of these savings can be achieved with a small cycle rate of one full discharge/charge cycle every three days that is conducive to satisfactory battery lifetimes. In summary, we show that a CDN can utilize batteries to significantly reduce both the total supplied power and the total power costs, thereby establishing batteries as a key element in future distributed network architecture. While we use the canonical example of a CDN, our results also apply to other similar Internet-scale distributed networks.


The creation of a new rose variety is a process that takes at least five years. A general prerequisite for a successful breeding programme is to obtain wide offspring on which selection of seedlings with the desired traits can be performed. However, rose cultivars are characterised by low seed set and poor seed germination which hinder the achievement of a high number of seedlings. The main objective of this study was to explore the potential of improving seed production efficiency during the first phase of the breeding process. Experiments were initially conducted to gain insight into the fertility of pollen donors and their effect on a successful hybridization. To this end, we studied the crossing results of a 14 years old private company breeding database. High correlations were found between the number of seeds produced per hybridization and either the pollen diameter or the percentage of normal pollen, thus allowing the development and validation of a prediction model for seed set based on pollen quality. Subsequently, to deepen the knowledge about embryo development in hybrid roses, we studied the embryo morphogenesis of two floribunda roses at seven time points, from 3 to 60 days after pollination (DAP). Embryos were fully developed at 15 DAP while seeds at 30 DAP. In parallel, the abscisic acid (ABA) content in the developing embryos decreased to basal level from 30 DAP on. Finally, since rose breeders need reliable and efficient germination protocols to exploit all vital embryos, a third experimental work was set to evaluate practice oriented treatments to enhance seed germination. Both chemical and microbial seed scarifications were carried out. It is clear that a complex combination of multiple treatments needs to be applied to overcome the physical restrictions of the seed coat and the physiological dormancy. As a result of this multi-objective approach, which addressed the main aspects of the first year of the rose breeding programme, a number of practical-oriented solutions are proposed.


The transmission of values, status, and behaviors from one generation to the next has been a central concern to family sociologists over the past half century, in part because it sheds light on the family's role in reproducing or modifying the social structure through the socialization of children. One dimension of the debate over "American family decline" (Popenoe, 1993) is how social changes in the 20th century have affected family transmission of socioeconomic and cultural resources. By tracking members of subsequent generations down family lineages, Bengtson (1975) compared the level of transmission of values (or the "generation gap") between two intergenerational dyads: parents (generation 1 or G1s) and their children (G2s) who came of age in the 1940s and 1950s and parents (G2s) and their children (G3s) who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. The G3s were the grandchildren of the G1s. Thus the analysis involved three related generations rather than separate and unrelated birth cohorts. Bengtson found considerable value similarity between parents and children in both intergenerational dyads. Generation membership did not seem to condition the impact that parents' values had on children's values. This article uses a conceptual framework similar to Bengtson's (1975) to study the intergenerational transmission of occupational stratum across three generations of family members, spanning almost the entire 20th century. Our central research question is: Does generation condition the effect of the parents' occupational position on their children's occupational position? Drawing on the implications of four 20th-century social changes--expanding universalism, a shift in childrearing values from obedience to autonomy, the growth of alternative family structures, and changing gender roles--we predict that the effect of the status of parents on their children's occupational outcomes declines with each successive generation. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, we compare the level of inheritance of socioeconomic strata experienced by three successive generations of offspring: grandparents (Generation 1--G1s, most born between 1896 and 1911), who inherit great grandparents' (Generation 0--G0s) socioeconomic positions; parents (Generation 2--G2s, most born between 1916 and 1931), who inherit G1s' socioeconomic positions; and adult children (Generation 3--G3s, most born between 1945 and 1955), who inherit G2s' socioeconomic positions. We assess how the experience of socioeconomic inheritance and social mobility for each generation of offspring differs from its parent generation's experience of socioeconomic inheritance and social mobility. For the analysis, we fit log-linear models of association to contingency tables, stratified by each generation's occupation at a particular stage in the life course and by gender. SOCIAL MOBILITY ACROSS INTERGENERATIONAL DYADS Mechanisms that give rise to the intergenerational inheritance of socioeconomic position include parental transmission of economic resources, parental transmission of cultural resources, role modeling, and discrimination (Biblarz & Raftery, 1993; Kalmijn, 1994). Parents' occupational positions covary with the amount of economic resources they have to invest in their children, and children's occupational destinations, in turn, covary with the amount of investment parents have made in their children's human capital (Becker, 1964; Becker & Tomes, 1986). The direct intergenerational transmission of property (such as farms and small businesses) can also lead to occupational inheritance (Elder, Rudkin, & Conger, 1995). When raising their children, parents transmit values about what "makes up 'earning a living'" (Hout, 1984, p. 1,384; also Biblarz, 1992; Kohn, 1977). Through role modeling, children may adopt these orientations for themselves. Kohn's work (Kohn, 1969, 1977; Kohn & Slomczynski, 1990) demonstrates links between parents' occupational conditions (substantive complexity, autonomy, routinization) and the importance parents place on conformity to external authority and, in turn, children's value orientations and children's occupational positions. …


This revision of the Neotropical predaceous midges of the genus Brachypogon (Brachypogon} Kieffer, recognizes 18 extant species, including the following 12 new species: Brachypogon (B.) apunctipennis, bifidus, bimaculatus, ecuadorensis, ethelae, insularis, monicae, pseudoparaensis, schmitzi, spatuliformis, telesfordi, and woodruffi. Two species groups are recognized, the fuscivenosus and impar groups. The hitherto unknown male of B. paraensis Wirth & Blanton is described and illustrated, and the female of that species as well as both sexes of B. impar (Johannsen) and B. fuscivenosus (Lutz) are redescribed and illustrated. Diagnoses are provided for previously described species, as well as a key for the recognition of all Neotropical species. New records of B. impar are from Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina.


Objectives: As the choice of suprastructure alloy to be combined with titanium for the oral cavity is still a much debated issue, the aim of this study was to investigate the electrochemical interaction of the suprastructure/implant couples under the determined experiment conditions. Material and Methods: The potentiodynamic polarization curves and open-circuit potentials (OCP) of four UCLA type suprastructures coupled with straight Swiss Plus implant fixtures were taken in Afnor type artificial saliva solution at 37°C. The concentration of ions leached into artificial saliva solutions was estimated with ICP-MS. SEM images of the margins of suprastructure/implant couples were obtained before and after the electrochemical tests. Results: The OCP value of titanium became passive at the most negative potential. The lowest difference between the initial and constant OCP value was exhibited by the Au based suprastructure. Suprastructures made greater contributions to the potentiodynamic polarization curves of the implant/suprastructure couples. According to the ICP-MS results, Pd based and Au based couples dissolved less than Co-Ni based and Co-Cr based couples. Conclusions: Within the conditions this study, it may be concluded that the titanium implant forms a stable passive oxide layer in artificial saliva exposed to open air and does not affect the corrosion properties of the suprastructures. Pd based and Au based couples have been found to be more corrosion-resistant than base alloy couples.


In this paper I offer a philosophical approach to the emotion 'love', as a response to more psychological approaches presupposed in 'emotional intelligence', 'emotional literacy' programmes, or how some Philosophy for Children practitioners interpret 'caring thinking'. Martha Nussbaum's philosophy of emotions expressed in her book Love's Knowledge, and the complex arguments contained within it have been given a narrative context: the picturebook Frog in Love by Max Velthuijs. The narrative contextualisation shows how literature can be used to explore the meaning of love philosophically, but also (and this is the main thrust of my paper) it is an illustration of how some works of literature can do justice to the complexity involved in understanding emotions. The paper starts with an exposition of one of the sources of a currently popular view of emotion by psychologists and educators. Originally conceptualised by Plato, emotions are regarded as mental states in need of mastery and control. As a result, some parents and educators argue that their age and experience puts them in an advantageous position to tame youngsters' wild 'sides' and to help them 'mature' into adults who understand and manage their emotions, and become so-called emotionally 'literate' or 'emotionally intelligent'. For educators it is an appealing promise of empowerment and achievement for all (Miller, 2009, p 222). One particular approach to teaching and learning called Philosophy with Children (P4C) is also increasingly promoted and adopted in schools as a vehicle for emotional 'intelligence' or emotional 'literacy' (see e.g. Lewis, 2007). The caring thinking it encourages is interpreted psychologically often without acknowledging its moral and political dimensions. After a brief introduction of P4C, I problematise a psychological understanding of emotion by focusing on one book in particular, Martha Nussbaum's Love's Knowledge. With the help of the picturebook Frog in Love I entangle some of her complex arguments about 'love', what it means, and how literature can provide insight. I argue against a behaviourist approach to emotions, and through phronesis, that is, a detailed exploration of 'love' in the context of Frog in Love I intend to show an alternative, philosophical approach to emotions that regards emotions as neither fixed entities, nor feelings 'inside' our 'selves' that need to be managed or controlled, but as complex judgments, as linguistic concepts. Psychological approaches to emotions often misunderstand the 'golden mean' principle to mean self-discipline and willpower, but for Aristotle self-control is not a virtue. Instead, I argue how emotions need to be regarded as informative expressions of and responses to dynamic social relationships and return at the end of the paper to the relevance of this point of view for the theory and practice of P4C as phronesis.


Roentgenography is the standard diagnostic tool for study of skeletal injuries and diseases around the elbow. The basic x-ray examination of the elbow includes the two standard static positions (frontal and lateral). If necessary oblique views are required to evaluate the radial head and the coronoid process. Dynamic examination (flexion-extension, ulnar-radial deviation) is indicated when instabilities are suspected. Indication, technique and interpretation of these images should be of general knowledge in the common practice of the orthopaedic surgeon. For further evaluation in unclear conditions the patient should be referred to a specialized orthopaedic surgeon, who has not only to decide about the indication of further imaging techniques but also has to establish a concept for the different treatment options (e.g. arthroscopy, open surgery).


Knowledge of adolescents on reproductive health in the city of Pekanbaru is quite low as evidenced by the data obtained from the Pekanbaru city PKBI abortions among teenagers as much as 21.2%. Cases of HIV/AIDS, Pekanbaru is the highest AIDS case and HIV cases in the group is the third highest teen. This study was conducted to determine the factors associated with adolescents about reproductive health knowledge in all high school in Pekanbaru in 2013. This study is a quantitative research with cross sectional research design study. Number of samples is 250 teens high school in Pekanbaru. The sampling procedure by systematic random sampling, data collection and analysis of data using questionnaires univariate, bivariate chi–square test, multivariate multiple logistic regression. The results obtained most of the knowledge of adolescents about reproductive health is not good as much as 161 people (64.4%), variables related to the knowledge of adolescents about reproductive  health is the role of parents (OR : 1.982; 95% CI : 1.127–3.487), the variable which is not related to knowledge of adolescents about reproductive health is the influence of peers and teachers who become confounding variables with other variables. Parents should be pursued in order to increase knowledge about reproductive health, attachment to the child and determine when it is appropriate to provide knowledge about reproductive health so that the information obtained is the first before the child got it from the others


Copyright © 2015 SAE International. Flash-boiling of sprays may occur when a superheated liquid is discharged into an ambient environment with lower pressure than its saturation pressure. Such conditions normally exist in direct-injection spark-ignition engines operating at low in-cylinder pressures and/or high fuel temperatures. The addition of novel high volatile additives/fuels may also promote flash-boiling. Fuel flashing plays a significant role in mixture formation by promoting faster breakup and higher fuel evaporation rates compared to non-flashing conditions. Therefore, fundamental understanding of the characteristics of flashing sprays is necessary for the development of more efficient mixture formation. The present computational work focuses on modelling flash-boiling of n-Pentane and iso-Octane sprays using a Lagrangian particle tracking technique. First an evaporation model for superheated droplets is implemented within the computational framework of STAR-CD, along with a full set of temperature dependent fuel properties. Then the computational tool is used to model the injection of flashing sprays through a six-hole asymmetric injector. The computational results are validated against optical experimental data obtained previously with the same injector by high-speed imaging techniques. The effects of ambient pressure (0.5 and 1.0 bar) and fuel temperature (20-180° C) on the non-flashing and flashing characteristics are examined. Effects of initial droplet size and break-up sub-models are also investigated. The computational methodology is able to reproduce important physical characteristics of flash-boiling sprays like the onset and extent of spray collapse. Based on the current observations, further improvements to the mathematical methodology used for the flash-boiling model are proposed.


In this CEPS Commentary, Michael Emerson argues that the case for Palestinian statehood is as strong as that of Israel, on the basis of the four criteria contained in the Montevideo Convention of 1932 on the rights and duties of states. In the wake of the US threat to veto any resolution before the US Security Council to grant statehood to Palestine, he observes that no other single move of US diplomacy could do more to wipe out President Obama's diplomatic advances towards the Arab world or to reinvigorate Islamic fundamentalist tendencies in the Muslim world at large.


The majority of commensal oral streptococci are able to generate hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) during aerobic growth, which can diffuse through the cell membrane and inhibit competing species in close proximity. Competing H2 O2 production is mainly dependent upon the pyruvate oxidase SpxB, and to a lesser extent the lactate oxidase LctO, both of which are important for energy generation in aerobic environments. Several studies point to a broad impact of H2 O2 production in the oral environment, including a potential role in biofilm homeostasis, signaling, and interspecies interactions. Here, we summarize the current research regarding oral streptococcal H2 O2 generation, resistance mechanisms, and the ecological impact of H2 O2 production. We also discuss the potential therapeutic utility of H2 O2 for the prevention/treatment of dysbiotic diseases as well as its potential role as a biomarker of oral health.


The very idea of abstract problem solving seems to be related to Western European schooling (Cole & Scribner, 1974) . While this may be true , it does beg a very important point. The Western European schooling situation, with its emphasis on abstract problem solving, may indeed be a cultural phenomenon . However, it is an important, useful phenomenon. Skills in logic , mathematics, and general problem solving are an important part of our culture, even these skills are then specialized as people find their niche in society. Therefore identifying people who are likely to become good general problem solvers is a reason-


Despite extensive food safety legislation, there have been significant food safety incidents in the recent past. The effects of food contamination and other food safety-related incidents permeate rapidly across the different entities of the supply chain as a result of particularly complex and multi-tiered supply chains in the food sector. There is a requirement for other reactive measures to contain the spread further across the supply chain once the issue has been identified. The research approach for the paper is based around the use of secondary data on major food safety-related incidents and the after effects. The research seeks to identify and understand the varied approaches, the contributing factors and the relevant legislation towards risk control as a reactionary measure in the food sector. It then proposes a conceptual model for risk mitigation from a reactionary standpoint which is retrospectively validated using selected case studies.


To investigate the effects of increased UV-B radiation on a natural subarctic ecosystem a field irradiation experiment was established at Abisko, northern Sweden. The vegetation in the plots consists of a dwarf shrub layer with mosses and lichens beneath. Many response variables of the vegetation and soil are measured in these plots, e.g. photosynthesis, growth, phenology, changes in species composition and decomposition. This paper describes the methods used and some initial results. Decomposition was imparied by enhanced UV-B radiation. UV-B directly affected decomposition processes and also affected them indirectly by altering the tissue chemistry of leaves. The annual growth of the dwarf shrubs was lower under enhanced UV-B. This was more pronounced in evergreen than in deciduous species. Leaf thickness of the dwarf shrubs was changed by UV-B. The leaves of the evergreen Vaccinium vitis-idaea grew thicker, while those of the two deciduous species V. myrtillus and V. uliginosum grew thinner. In the moss Hylocomium splendens, the phenological development was accelerated under enhanced UV-B radiation. Its growth (number of primary branches, length and dry weight) also increased. (Less)


In 2016, the European Commission presented a legislative package: "Clean Energy for all Europeans", with the proposal for a new Directive on common rules for the internal market in electricity (recast) as its part. The package is aimed at setting consumers as the "active and central players on the energy markets of the future". This issue is subjected to the analysis in this paper, which is intended to discuss its collective approach, i.e. the generation of electricity in energy communities. The research covers the analysis of previous European policy documents and programmes, repealed and to be amended legislation that indirectly addresses (or could address) the issue of energy communities, as well as the legislation that will regulate (or may regulate) it directly (i.e. the new Directive on common rules for the internal market in electricity). Seen in this light, the paper is aimed at proving that the idea for cooperation of energy consumers and local production of electricity from renewable energy sources, is deeply rooted in the European agenda for the internal energy market.


We studied the relative importance of spatial and environmental factors as determinants of algal, bryophyte, and macroinvertebrate metacommunities in two boreal drainage basins differing in spatial extent. We used eigenfunction spatial analysis to model the spatial relationships among sites and distance-based redundancy analysis to partition the variability in biotic communities between the spatial filters generated through spatial eigenfunction analysis and the environmental factors measured in the field. In the smaller study area, each metacommunity was structured mostly by environmental factors. This was evidenced by the fact that either the pure environmental effect was significant or environmental factors were strongly spatially structured. In the larger study area, only pure environmental effects were significant. These findings suggest that the environmental control prevails in boreal headwater streams. However, our findings also suggest that the specific details of the community-environment and community–space relationships are dependent on the focal organism group and drainage basin.


During the present review, we tried to set out the different types of water resources, including surface water are included water dams, lakes, rivers, wade's, seas and oceans, and groundwater including type of water aquifers, wells and springs. The different sources of groundwater pollution were also mentioned, namely pollution from physical, chemical and biological, and pollution of nature accidental, domestic, urban, agricultural and industrial one hand, and wastewaters from industries textile finishing at the Morocco on the other, and the status of their treatment.


The paper considers the main issues of a primary emergency radiology in thoracic and abdominal gunshot injury proceeding from some practical experience gained in examining and surgically treating 271 victims with this injury. It defines specific indications to examine either anatomic region and expediency of applying various radiation techniques and procedures. Recommendations are given on the optimum scope of radiology to solve different diagnostic problems. By and large, principles and policy of radiation study are defined in thoracic and abdominal gunshot injuries.


This letter investigates the location variability of the field strength for dimensioning broadcast networks targeting mobile reception. A statistical analysis of empirical data from three European cities is performed for services in UHF band, specifically in TV bands IV and V (470-860 MHz). This work demonstrates that currently used values based on ITU-R P.1546-1 are too pessimistic and lead to inefficient network dimensioning.


This paper presents a new design and an implementation of the runtime system of MapReduce for heterogeneous multicore processors with explicitly managed local memories. We advance the state of the art in runtime support for MapReduce using five instruments: (1) A new multi-threaded, event-driven controller for task instantiation, task scheduling, synchronization, and bulk-synchronous execution of MapReduce stages. The controller improves utilization of control efficient cores, minimizes control overhead in the runtime system, and overlaps task instantiation with task scheduling on compute-efficient cores. (2) An implicit partitioning scheme which eliminates redundant memory copies. (3) An adaptive memory management scheme which combines efficient memory preallocation for applications with statically known output volume with dynamic allocation using runahead tasks for applications with statically unknown output volume. (4) An optimized quick-sort/merge-sort scheme which reduces the critical path length of merge-sort. (5) An optimized execution scheme which avoids redundant data transfers to and from local stores in applications that emit keys with the same value. Put together, these techniques accelerate representative MapReduce workloads by a factor of 1.81x (geometric mean) compared to a reference design that represents the state of the art.


The article places the issue of Social Mobility at the heart of the debate about education. The suggestion is made that most people want is a decent income and good health and that people do not  necessarily aspire to be better than their parents.

There is the declaration that half the population will always have below-average academic ability and school exam results. In order to overcome the divisions in society revealed by recent political events, all need to feel valued. The argument is advanced that there is need to  get back to a more balanced appreciation of those who perform essential jobs, albeit jobs of the hand or heart rather than academic intellect. There is a need, so Lenon suggests,  to stop talking about social mobility as simply a way of 'rescuing' people from working-class backgrounds and place more emphasis on valuing the full range of worthwhile occupations. Arguments about social mobility are too often based on exam results or incomes, not the value to society of different occupations.

It is argued that there is a distortion in the way that social mobility is presented and that by many measures social mobility in the UK is better than most commentators have suggested. The upward mobility of women and almost all ethnic groups since 1970 has been remarkable. Improving education is not enough rather  education helps individuals become socially mobile but does not overall create more mobility. The latter is dependent upon a creation of more middle-class jobs.

The issues around social mobility are presented as being less about education and as being more related to the expansion of the economy.  Increasing infrastructure projects and financial incentives to spread growth outside the south-east of England, allied to a massive expansion of high-quality technical and vocational training for the 50% who do not go to university should be seen as the drivers of social mobility.


We describe a newly recognized 40 kD FcR for IgG on human neutrophilic granulocytes. An mAb (IV3) developed against the IgG FcR of K562 cells, and specific as well for a 40 kD FcR on human monocytes and platelets, was found to purify by affinity adsorption a 40 kD protein from detergent lysates of surface-radioiodinated neutrophils. This protein, proteolytically degraded to 33 kD when purified in the absence of diisopropylfluorophosphate, is distinct from the 51-73 kD protein precipitated by the anti-neutrophil FcR mAb, 3G8, previously described by others. Complete inhibition of binding of rabbit IgG-coated erythrocytes to neutrophils was achieved only when both antibodies, IV3 and 3G8, were used. Fab fragments of IV3 were as effective inhibitors as the intact molecule. IV3 IgG or Fab fragments completely and selectively inhibited immune complex-mediated generation of superoxide by human neutrophils; superoxide generation by other stimulants was not abrogated by IV3. This antibody (IV3) bound also to human eosinophils and completely inhibited the binding of IgG-coated erythrocytes to eosinophils. IV3 appears to define the human homolog of the murine macrophage FcRII identified initially by mAb 2.4G2 and present in the mouse on both neutrophils and eosinophils.


This paper employs a dynamic Ricardian model to analyse the impact of the timing of EU expansion on the real exchange rate between the accession countries' currencies and the euro. I find that the real exchange rate response to EU accession is smaller in the case of a postponed accession, as postponement gives the regions more time to converge. However, early EU accession would contribute to reducing the real exchange rate response to asymmetric productivity shocks, as increased bilateral trade reduces the size of the non-tradable goods sector, making the real exchange rate less sensitive to productivity shocks.


Since the summer of 2007, participants in financial markets have been confronted by a crisis of their own making. In order to prevent the recurrence of a similar crisis in the future, the G-20 nations, at their finance summit in Washington on 15 November 2008, resolved to "ensure that all financial markets, products and participants are regulated or subject to oversight, as appropriate to their circumstances." However, the elimination of loopholes as a matter of principle does not in itself provide a roadmap for the reconfiguration of financial markets. DIW Berlin is promoting an agenda of nine principles for regulatory reform. Item 1 through 3 focus on the prevention of coordination failures at the micro and the macro level as well as establishing appropriate incentives front and center; item 4 through 6 sketch out opportunities and limits for the future role of government; item 7 and 8 focus on oversight. Finally, item 9 calls for a stronger emphasis on equity financing and makes an appeal for the insight that financing constraints based upon credit worthiness ultimately serve to protect the financial system.


Thirty-two gram-negative bacterial strains, most of which were yellow-pigmen ted and isolated from clinical sources, were compared with 17 culture collection strains representing 13 named strains of four Flavobacterium species and 4 unnamed strains of Flavobacterium species. Twenty-nine of the strains were originally received as or subsequently assigned to group IIk, biotype 2. All 49 strains were examined for 127 characteristics, including reactions to 58 enzyme tests (API ZYM system), and the data were analyzed by numerical taxonomic methods involving estimation of Gower's general similarity coefficient and clustering by unweighted pair-group average linkage and single-linkage analyses. Twenty-eight of the group IIk, biotype 2, strains formed a single, well-defined cluster (92.0% similarity level). These 28 strains were aerobic, gram-negative, nonmotile, oxidative rods; the mean base composition of the deoxyribonucleic acids of 11 strains was 39.6 ± 0.5 mol% guanine plus cytosine. Distinctive features of the 28 strains were the ability to produce acid from a range of carbohydrates and their resistance to antimicrobial agents. The 28 strains were classified in the genus Flavobacterium, but they could not be assigned to any previously defined species. Therefore a new species, with the name Flavobacterium multivorum, is proposed for these 28 strains; the type strain is B5533 (= NCTC 11343).


The c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) signal-transduction pathway has been implicated in the growth of carcinogeninduced hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the mechanism that accounts for JNK-regulated tumor growth is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that compound deficiency of the two ubiquitously expressed JNK isoforms (JNK1 and JNK2) in hepatocytes does not prevent hepatocellular carcinoma development. Indeed, JNK deficiency in hepatocytes increased the tumor burden. In contrast, compound JNK deficiency in hepatocytes and nonparenchymal cells reduced both hepatic inflammation and tumorigenesis. These data indicate that JNK plays a dual role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. JNK promotes an inflammatory hepatic environment that supports tumor development, but also functions in hepatocytes to reduce tumor development.


Multimodal medical image fusion plays a crucial role in medical diagnostics and treatment. Widely used transform domain based image fusion methods like DWT, CVT, CT, NCST suffer from spatial inconsistency and high complexity. Recently proposed guided filter based spatial domain image fusion techniques are also limited by contrast reduction and halo artifacts. In this paper, the existing guided filter based image fusion scheme is modified by using Gaussian decomposition with local average energy and average gradient based saliency maps for base layer and detail layer respectively. Simulation results show that the modified fusion technique is more effective in preserving contrast and fine details than the existing guided filter based and DWT based fusion scheme.