The paper implements the discrete wavelet transform in the discrete Fourier domain. The need for such an approach arose out of our desire to find a convenient means of realizing a new class of non-separable orientation selective 2D wavelet filter banks that are designed directly in the DFT domain. The filter bank design process begins with a conventional separable 2D perfect reconstruction parallel filter bank that is not orientation selective. In the DFT domain, each non-low pass channel is decomposed into the sum of two orientation selective frequency responses that are each supported on only two quadrants of the 2D frequency plane. The resulting filter bank possesses the good joint localization properties of orthogonal wavelet transforms and offers both perfect reconstruction and orientation selectivity. However, the orientation selective channels are non-separable - they cannot be implemented as iterated 1D convolutions according to the usual separable 2D wavelet transform paradigm. To overcome this difficulty, we develop straightforward techniques for implementing the DWT directly in the DFT domain.


This paper describes the texture representation scheme adopted for MPEG-4 synthetic/natural hybrid coding (SNHC) of texture maps and images. The scheme is based on the concept of multiscale zerotree wavelet entropy (MZTE) coding technique, which provides many levels of scalability layers in terms of either spatial resolutions or picture quality, MZTE, with three different modes (single-Q, multi-Q, and bilevel), provides much improved compression efficiency and fine-gradual scalabilities, which are ideal for hybrid coding of texture maps and natural images. The MZTE scheme is adopted as the baseline technique for the visual texture coding profile in both the MPEG-4 video group and SNHC group. The test results are presented in comparison with those coded by the baseline JPEG scheme for different types of input images, MZTE was also rated as one of the top five schemes in terms of compression efficiency in the JPEG2000 November 1997 evaluation, among 27 submitted proposals.


Recent years have witnessed the emerging success of leveraging syntax graphs for the target sentiment classification task.

However, we discover that existing syntax-based models suffer from two issues:

noisy information aggregation and loss of distant correlations.

In this paper, we propose a novel model termed Neural Subgraph Explorer, which

(1) reduces the noisy information via pruning target-irrelevant nodes on the syntax graph;

(2) introduces beneficial first-order connections between the target and its related words into the obtained graph.

Specifically, we design a multi-hop actions score estimator to evaluate the value of each word regarding the specific target.

The discrete action sequence is sampled through Gumble-Softmax and then used for both of the syntax graph and the self-attention graph.

To introduce the first-order connections between the target and its relevant words, the two pruned graphs are merged.

Finally, graph convolution is conducted on the obtained unified graph to update the hidden states.

And this process is stacked with multiple layers.

To our knowledge, this is the first attempt of target-oriented syntax graph pruning in this task.

Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our model, which achieves new state-of-the-art performance.


The ability to respond to injury with tissue repair is a fundamental property of all multicellular organisms. The extracellular matrix (ECM), composed of fibrillar collagens as well as a number of other components is dis-regulated during repair in many organs. In many tissues, scaring results when the balance is lost between ECM synthesis and degradation. Investigating what disrupts this balance and what effect this can have on tissue function remains an active area of research. Recent advances in the imaging of fibrillar collagen using second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging have proven useful in enhancing our understanding of the supramolecular changes that occur during scar formation and disease progression. Here, we review the physical properties of SHG, and the current nonlinear optical microscopy imaging (NLOM) systems that are used for SHG imaging. We provide an extensive review of studies that have used SHG in skin, lung, cardiovascular, tendon and ligaments, and eye tissue to understand alterations in fibrillar collagens in scar tissue. Lastly, we review the current methods of image analysis that are used to extract important information about the role of fibrillar collagens in scar formation.


Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) designed a series of 70 landscapes depicting the provinces of Japan between 1854 and 1856. It was the first of a number of sets from the highly productive years of his later life. The designs comprising Famous places in the 60-odd provinces (Rokuju yoshu meisho zue) are taken from all corners of Japan. Designs published before this series had already depicted the famous routes between Edo and Kyoto, the Tokaido and the Kisokaido, and various well known locations such as the famous waterfalls, Lake Omi and the Jewel Rivers, but a series on such a grand scale devoted to the provincies was a novelty. It evidently met with critical acclaim as the publishers Koshimuraya Heisuke issued several editions. In this study, the author Marije Jansen briefly discusses Hiroshige's life and the formal aspects of this series. Jansen takes as her point of departure the set in possession of the German collector Gerhard Pulverer, which is generally acknowledged to be a superb example of a first edition, and compares this series to a number of other sets in public and private collections. The detectable printing variations in each design are carefully analysed, making this an indispensable tool for collectors.


The aim of this paper was to develop a protocol to study the anticipatory response in cats as a measure of welfare. Seven experimental cats were trained in a classical conditioning paradigm to associate a sound with food arrival, while sound and food were presented without contingency in four control cats. Increasing the interval between sound and food up to 60 s allowed a detailed description of cats' anticipatory response. Compared to control animals, experimental cats showed significantly shorter latencies to orient towards (average 2.96 s) and approach the source of the sound (12.98 s) as well as longer durations of exploring and standing by the source of the sound (namely 69.97 and 52.32%, respectively of the interval sound-food). Experimental cats also exhibited behaviours that may derive from predation patterns, eg short pauses and predatory crouch while approaching the source of the sound (namely in 28.93 and 29.64% of trials), rapid head movements while watching it (55.36% of trials) and pouncing on the food (9.29% of trials). This protocol should be further studied to assess its effectiveness in highlighting differences according to the welfare of individual cats.


Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF) is the problem of finding collision-free paths for multiple agents that minimize the sum of path costs. EECBS is a leading two-level algorithm that solves MAPF bounded-suboptimally, that is, within some factor w of the minimum sum of path costs C*. It uses focal search to find bounded-suboptimal paths on the low level and Explicit Estimation Search (EES) to resolve collisions on the high level. EES keeps track of a lower bound LB on C* to find paths whose sum of path costs is at most w LB in order to solve MAPF bounded-suboptimally. However, the costs of many paths are often much smaller than w times their minimum path costs, meaning that the sum of path costs is much smaller than w C*. In this paper, we therefore propose Flexible EECBS (FEECBS), which uses a flex(ible) distribution of the path costs (that relaxes the requirement to find bounded-suboptimal paths on the low level) in order to reduce the number of collisions that need to be resolved on the high level while still guaranteeing to solve MAPF bounded suboptimally. We address the drawbacks of flex distribution via techniques such as restrictions on the flex distribution, restarts of the high-level search with EECBS, and low-level focal-A* search. Our empirical evaluation shows that FEECBS substantially improves the efficiency of EECBS on MAPF instances with large maps and large numbers of agents.


Philosophy should not try to assimilate itself to the aims of the sciences. Scientism stems from the false assumption that a representation of the world minimally based on local perspectives is what best serves self-understanding. Philosophy must concern itself with the history of our conceptions, and we must overcome the need to think that this history should ideally be vindicatory. There is no basic conflict between arguing within the framework of our ideas, reflectively making better sense of them, and understanding their highly contingent history. The third of these activities is an inescapable part of the second.


The invention relates to a haptic device for 3D gaming. A system, method, and computer program product for automatically providing a haptic stylus based interface for enhanced user interaction with touch screen devices are disclosed. The stylus communicates with the touch screen device to report stylus operating information from onboard sensors, and to receive application program instructions defining feedback and friction forces to be applied by onboard actuators. The applied feedback and friction forces may be independently controlled. Friction forces are provided via a rolling contact ball gripping mechanism that mimics varying physical engagement between the contact ball and a touch screen display surface by controlling the relative rotational freedom of the contact ball. Embodiments of the invention enable a haptic stylus to mimic three-dimensional interactions for gaming, object manipulation and sculpting, and non-contact proximity-based stylus operation scenarios.


Vanadyl porphyrins are present in the produced water of oil fields and are considered as one of the water pollutant groups. The novelties of this approach is nano-extraction of charged porphyrins by nano-baskets of calixcrown, which act as the settling agents as well as the inclusion ligands. Four proton di-ionizable diacid conformers of 25,26-bis(carboxymethoxy)calix[4]arene-27,28-crown-3, crown-4, -crown-5 and -crown-6 in the cone conformation were synthesized and used. The related parameters including ligand concentration, volume of water disperser, salt effect and extraction time were optimized. The linear range, detection limit (S/N = 3) and precision (RSD, n = 6) were determined to be 0.2–50, 0.07 μgL −1 and 5.3% respectively. The established method was applied to determine the target compound in five samples of live crude oil were sampled from an Iranian offshore field. Owing to the overall differences (such as organic media, inclusion extraction watersoluble ligands, etc) the comparison of the proposed method with the traditional liquid-liquid microextraction was inapplicable. These results revealed that the new approach is competitive analytical tool and an alternative of the traditional methods in the crude oil and related systems.


Concerns about global warming, fossil-fuel depletion, food security, and human health have promoted metabolic engineers to develop tools/strategies to overproduce microbial functional oils directly from renewable resources. Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs, C8–C12) have been shown to be important sources due to their diverse biotechnological importance, providing benefits ranging from functional lipids to uses in bio-fuel production. However, oleaginous microbes do not carry native pathways for the production of MCFAs, and therefore, diverse approaches have been adapted to compensate for the requirements of industrial demand. Mucor circinelloides is a promising organism for lipid production (15–36% cell dry weight; CDW) and the investigation of mechanisms of lipid accumulation; however, it mostly produces long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). To address this challenge, we genetically modified strain M. circinelloides MU758, first by integrating heterologous acyl-ACP thioesterase (TE) into fatty acid synthase (FAS) complex and subsequently by modifying the β-oxidation pathway by disrupting the acyl-CoA oxidase (ACOX) and/or acyl-CoA thioesterase (ACOT) genes with a preference for medium-chain acyl-CoAs, to elevate the yield of MCFAs. The resultant mutant strains (M-1, M-2, and M-3, respectively) showed a significant increase in lipid production in comparison to the wild-type strain (WT). MCFAs in M-1 (47.45%) was sharply increased compared to the wild type strain (2.25%), and it was further increased in M-2 (60.09%) suggesting a negative role of ACOX in MCFAs production. However, MCFAs in M-3 were much decreased compared to M-1,suggesting a positive role of ACOT in MCFAs production. The M-2 strain showed maximum lipid productivity (~1800 milligram per liter per day or mg/L.d) and MCFAs productivity (~1100 mg/L.d). Taken together, this study elaborates on how the combination of two multidimensional approaches, TE gene over-expression and modification of the β-oxidation pathway via substantial knockout of specific ACOX gene, significantly increased the production of MCFAs. This synergistic approach ultimately offers a novel opportunity for synthetic/industrial biologists to increase the content of MCFAs.


ABSTRACT The present paper compares how police in Hunts Point, South Bronx, New York City and Frankfurt am Main Germany manage street prostitution as a quality-of-life offense. Methods utilized for this research include observation and "conversation" in public spaces with prostitutes, police, and community members. This paper deals with characteristics of street prostitutes, police enforcement, actual interaction between police and street actors, and impact of these methods on prostitutes. For decades, broken windows policing has been utilized to counter quality-of-life offenses in urban neighborhoods such as NYC, and evidence regarding its effectiveness has often been questioned. In attempts to address prostitution, two variant policing models were identified and examined through the framework of broken windows theory: Punitive/Criminalization Policing and Containment/Laissez-Faire Policing. Broken windows policing probably lowered the incidence of quality-of-life offenses including street prostitution. However, broken windows theory does not take into account socially constructed myths that persist about prostitution, nor the realities that counter them. This paper addresses these myths and how they may inform policing practices, resulting in negative corollary effects which must be eliminated.


Abstract In 1977, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held in the Saikewicz case that the probate court is the proper tribunal for making decisions whether to give or to withhold "life-prolonging treatment" for terminally ill incompetent patients. This ruling provoked debate in the medical and legal communities. Dr. Arnold Relman, Editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, argues that Saikewicz encroaches on existing sound medical practice and requires decision-making machinery that is impractical and inhumane. Relman contends that treatment decisions for terminally ill incompetents in Saikewicz-type cases should be made by the physician in consultation with the patient's family. Law professor Charles Baron, in contrast, defends Saikewicz's judicialization approach, arguing that such decisions must be made in an adversary framework that approximates the ideal of the rule of law. In the present Article, Professor Buchanan argues that Relman's criticism of Saikewicz rests on a defective, medical paternalist view of the physician-patient relationship, and that Baron's support of Saikewicz is based on an unjustifiable, legal imperialist view of decision making for incompetents. In Buchanan's view, Relman's approach fails to distinguish appropriately between the making of medical judgments and the making of moral judgments and wrongly assumes that the patient's family typically cannot understand the elements of the decision, while Baron's approach unjustifiably extends the sphere of the legal process by ignoring the special moral relationship that usually exists between the family and its incompetent member. Buchanan proposes an alternative decision-making approach that he believes incorporates the merits, while remedying the defects, of both Baron's and Relman's approaches. The alternative is based on three propositions. (1) The proper presumption in Saikewicz-type cases is that the family of an incompetent is to make decisions concerning treatment. (2) This presumption of the family's dominant role in decision making is defeasible: protection of the patient's rights requires that decisions be made within a framework that allows vigorous discussion and accountability through impartial review and that provides for legal intervention when necessary. (3) The institutional framework for implementing the features listed in the preceding proposition will rely heavily upon an ethics committee that is neither an all-medical prognosis committee nor an administrative agency of the hospital. Besides evaluating and responding to the Relman and Baron approaches, Buchanan examines the contribution to the Saikewicz debate made by law-and-medicine professor George Annas. In essence, Buchanan rejects Annas's argument that, taken together, the Saikewicz opinion and the Quinlan opinion of the Supreme Court of New Jersey delineate a proper division of medical and legal decision-making responsibility concerning terminally ill incompetents. Buchanan concludes that, contrary to Annas's view, those two cases are not reconcilable.


Parnas together with a number of colleagues established the systematic use of certain kinds of tables as a useful tool in software documentation and inspection with an accessible, multidimensional syntax and intuitive semantics. Previous approaches to formalisation of table semantics based their definitions on the multi-dimensional array structure of tables and thus achieved close correspondence with the intuitive understanding of tables. In this paper, we argue that a different view, supporting a compositional semantics, is more advantageous for tool support and for reasoning about tables. For this purpose, we also need a compositional table syntax, and we perform an analysis of table syntax that leads us to a particular compositional view of table structure. This simple, inductive view of the structure of tables allows us to provide highly flexible tools for defining the semantics of tabular expressions. The straight-forward compositional formalisation of table semantics on the one hand yields very general table transformation theorems and enables us to perform fully formal proofs for these theorems in a mechanised theorem prover, and on the other hand also may serve as basis for the implementation of semantics-aware table support tools.


Commercial allergen extract preparations of whole cereal grains were examined in vitro for their reactivity with the human haemolytic complement cascade. Total haemolytic complement was consumed in a dose‐dependent manner which did not correlate with the protein nitrogen content or bacterial endotoxin contamination of the extracts. Alternative pathway activation was shown by C3 conversion in the presence of EGTA while classical complement components C1, C4 and C2 were also much decreased in serum which was free of detectable specific antibody. Very small amounts of allergen extract initiated the formation of complement‐dependent factors which were chemotactic for human polymorphonuclear leucocytes. These data suggest a potential for complement activation in vivo by ingestion, inhalation, or injection of cereal grain products.


Background: Liver resection (LR) remains the best therapeutic option for patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with preserved hepatic function and who are not eligible for liver transplantation. After its inception, the enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol was widely used for treating patients with liver cancer, although there are still no clear indications for improving upon it in both open and laparoscopic surgery. Objective: This study aims to describe our institute's experience in the application of the ERAS protocol in a cohort of HCC patients, and to explore possible factors that could have an impact on postoperative outcomes. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed our experience with LR performed from September 2017 to January 2020 in patients treated with ERAS protocol, focusing on describing impact on postoperative nutrition, analgesic requirements, and length of hospitalization. Demographics, operative factors, and postoperative complications of patients were reviewed. Results: During the study period, 89 HCC patients were eligible for LR, and 75% of patients presented with liver cirrhosis. The most prevalent among etiologic factors was hepatitis C virus infection (53 patients out of 89, 60%), followed by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (18 patients, 20%). The median age was 70 years. Liver cirrhosis did not have an impact on postoperative course of patients. Patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery and nonanatomic LR experienced low complication rates, shorter length of stay, and shorter time of intravenous analgesic requirements. Conclusions: Continual refinement with ERAS protocol for treating HCC patients based on perioperative counseling and surgical decision-making is crucial to guarantee low complication rates, and reduce patient morbidity and time for recovery.


Abstract In Hungary, not only the aftermath of the extraction in the past nearly 150 years, but also the economic changes taking place in the past two decades have had significant environmental consequences manifested, above all, in the landscape. It is, however, not sufficient to investigate the landscape components separately; it is necessary to explore connections within the landscape. Accordingly, the chief aim of this presentation has been, on the one hand, to work out the method of landscape load index, based on a quantitative database of mining claims and deposits of mining waste, which has revealed their impacts on the landscape as well. On the other hand, we have also aimed at developing the method of the mining load index of certain geographical landscape units. By calculating and analysing the indices, we have intended to build a quantitative database suitable for investigating the impacts of mining activities on the landscape. On the basis of the indices, the impacts and consequences could be ranked, and it was also possible to compare the impacts of different mining claims and waste deposits in three different landscape categories. With the main result of our examination, this will make it possible to investigate concrete problems and landscape conflicts caused by the landscape use of mining or its aftermath in different landscape units with a high load index.


KEY FINDINGS
Data from the National Vital Statistics System, Mortality. Life expectancy at birth for the U.S. population reached a record high of 78.8 years in 2012. The age-adjusted death rate for the United States decreased 1.1% from 2011 to 2012 to a record low of 732.8 per 100,000 standard population. The 10 leading causes of death in 2012 remained the same as in 2011. Age-adjusted death rates decreased significantly from 2011 to 2012 for 8 of the 10 leading causes and increased significantly for one leading cause (suicide). The infant mortality rate decreased 1.5% from 2011 to 2012 to a historic low of 597.8 infant deaths per 100,000 live births. The 10 leading causes of infant death in 2012 remained the same as in 2011. This report presents 2012 U.S. final mortality data on deaths and death rates by demographic and medical characteristics. These data provide information on mortality patterns among residents of the United States by such variables as sex, race and ethnicity, and cause of death. Information on mortality patterns is key to understanding changes in the health and well-being of the U.S. population (1). Life expectancy estimates, age-adjusted death rates by race and ethnicity and sex, 10 leading causes of death, and 10 leading causes of infant death were analyzed by comparing 2012 final data with 2011 final data.


Objectives: This paper is focused with original features used in fingerprint matching founded on back propagation neural network. For finding the features in the images, it can be improved using filtering techniques as isotropic and anisotropic. Isotropic can protect features on the input images but can barely progress the dominance of the images. But on the contrary, anisotropic filtering can successfully eliminate noise from the image just when a consistent point of reference is provided. Methods and Analysis: The filters commonly used namely median filter, gabor filter along with anisotropic filters are used for filtering the noises under direct gray scale enhancement .Whereas for an input image, the narrow ridge direction is predictable and the region of interest is positioned. The uniqueness of a fingerprint is exclusively determined by the local ridge characteristics and their relationships. The ridges and valleys in a fingerprint alternate, flowing in a local constant direction. The two most prominent local ridge characteristics are: 1) ridge ending and, 2) ridge bifurcation. A ridge ending is defined as the point where a ridge ends rapidly. A ridge bifurcation is defined as the point where a ridge forks or diverges into branch ridges. Collectively, these features are called minutiae. Minutiae points are extracted during the enrollment process and then for each authentication. In a fingerprint, they correspond to either a ridge ending or a bifurcation. Minutiae are major features of a fingerprint using which comparisons of one print with another can be made. After finding the minutiae points the filters reducing image noises, smoothing, removing some forms of misfocus and motion blur, is in the front step of image processing. Filtering is also used for preserving the true ridge and valley structures. Findings: The digital results of these features are practically feeded as input of the neural network using median filter, gabor filter, anisotropic filter for training function. For fingerprint identification the confirmation part of the system identifies the fingerprint based training show of the network. Novelty and Improvement: To finish the new outcome reveals that the number of accepted sample rate of the proposed method using the three filters which is far better than the existing fingerprint verification system using artificial neural network


Using a large sample of men, we examine alternative models of the way in which testosterone may influence adult deviant behavior. The results indicate a significant and moderately strong relationship between testosterone and adult deviance, and this relationship between testosterone and adult deviance is largely mediated by the influence of testosterone on social integration and on prior involvement in juvenile delinquency. In addition, testosterone level moderates the relationship of social integration to adult deviance: The restraining influence of social integration is less necessary for men with lower levels of testosterone. Further, prior delinquency interacts with social integration in the same fashion, accounting for much of the moderating effect of testosterone. This pattern of results supports the conclusions that (1) testosterone is one of a larger constellation of factors contributing to a general latent propensity toward deviance and (2) the influence of testosterone on adult deviance is closely tied to social factors. Our findings show that there is considerable promise in a biosocial approach that integrates social and biological explanations, rather than playing them off against one another.


We report the case of a 30-years-old lady who presented with primary complains of GI bleed since 4 months. Her upper and lower GI endoscopies were inconclusive due to luminal blood. CT scan abdomen showed multi organ haemorrhagic lesions, including liver, lung, spleen, kidneys and bowel. The lesion in small bowel was leading to intussusception. No definite arterial extravasation was seen. Her RBC tag was also negative. Due to continuous bleeding and her clinical condition she was advised for angiography which demonstrated vascular lesions in the small bowel. These were embolized to reduce vascularity and bleeding. Post embolization, the patient had to be shifted for laparotomy due to abdominal pain. Resection and anastomosis with temporary ileostomy was performed due to multiple small bowel lesions and biopsy from liver was also performed. Histopathology report showed choriocarcinoma. Her consciousness level deteriorated and CT scan of brain was done which showed metastatic lesions in brain. Patient's condition continued to deteriorate and she died few days later.


Carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity was localized in the late-term pregnant spiny dogfish uterus using the modified histochemical staining method of Hansson. Staining was found in the cytoplasm of red blood cells and in the membranes of the endometrial epithelial cells. Under the electron microscope, reaction products were seen in the basolateral membranes of the superficial cells, whereas the apical membranes were unstained. The cells of the underlying layer contacting the stromal capillaries showed staining in all their membranes. This staining pattern is similar to that found in other epithelia noted for active ion transport.


This supplement to Cavaliere and Georgiev (2020), CG hereafter, has four main sections. In Section S.2 we present the proofs of the results on weak convergence in distribution formulated in Appendix A of CG. In Sections S.3 and S.4 some derivations pertaining to the applications in Sections 2 and 4 of CG are given. Finally, Section S.5 provides a description of the Monte Carlo simulation design used in Section 2 of CG. For notation, see CG. Unless di¤erently speci…ed, all references are to sections, equations and results in CG.


In this paper, we present a digital application developed to prevent teachers' absenteeism in a private university in Indonesia. In particular, we evaluated the development and the application of an Android-based attendance management system (AAMS) to monitor teachers' attendance and their teaching activity at a private university in the capital city of Jakarta, Indonesia. Adopting a design-based research approach, we observed the development procedure and interviewed three end-users of the application, i.e. teachers. The findings of the study revealed the potential use of AAMS as a digital tool to prevent absenteeism among university teachers. The three main challenges were highlighted during the application of AAMS, including the processing time duration and system error, the reporting and analytics issues, and the input manipulation. Furthermore, a recommendation is offered on the basis of the findings.


Most social media platforms are largely based on text, and users often write posts to describe where they are, what they are seeing, and how they are feeling. Because written text lacks the emotional cues of spoken and face-to-face dialogue, ambiguities are common in written language. This problem is exacerbated in the short, informal nature of many social media posts. To bypass this issue, a suite of special characters called "emojis," which are small pictograms, are embedded within the text. Many emojis are small depictions of facial expressions designed to help disambiguate the emotional meaning of the text. However, a new ambiguity arises in the way that emojis are rendered. Every platform (Windows, Mac, and Android, to name a few) renders emojis according to their own style. In fact, it has been shown that some emojis can be rendered so differently that they look "happy" on some platforms, and "sad" on others. In this work, we use real-world data to verify the existence of this problem. We verify that the usage of the same emoji can be significantly different across platforms, with some emojis exhibiting different sentiment polarities on different platforms. We propose a solution to identify the intended emoji based on the platform-specific nature of the emoji used by the author of a social media post. We apply our solution to sentiment analysis, a task that can benefit from the emoji calibration technique we use in this work. We conduct experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of the mapping in this task.


Land use transformation at the farm level is attributed to household decision-making, reflected by the behavior and activities of smallholder farmers. Unfortunately, household decision-making in local communities and its determinants are site-specific and hardly understood. This study uses multistage purposive selection of households as a unit for the analysis to investigate the transformation from pure agriculture to farm forest mosaics, especially through woodlot establishment. We use key informants, household surveys, and observations to obtain data on decision-making amongst 84 farm households in Nyantonzi parish, Masindi district, Uganda, as an example. Specifically, the study addresses four research questions. Firstly, what is the current status of gender-based decision-making at the household level? Secondly, is decision making within farm households individualistic or collective? Thirdly, which factors are considered to select annual, perennial and tree-crop farm management regimes? Fourthly, what determinants influence the decision-making process and the likelihood of woodlot establishment? A multilevel analysis comprising parametric statistical models and binary logistic regression is applied to assess difference in household natural, physical, human, and social capital, highlight gender roles, and obtain factors associated to selection of crops and determinants of woodlot establishment at the farm level, respectively. Results reveal that gender based decision-making is clearly disaggregated on the basis of husbands and wives and it is individualistic, mostly dominated by husbands with lower participation by wives and other family members. Households consider various factors before making any decisions, e.g., market prices for both annual and perennial crops, food consumption for annual crops, ease of management, and yields from the previous season for the tree-crop management regimes. The likelihood for woodlot establishment is positively influenced by the willingness and intention of households to establish woodlots and relative age of household head. However, knowledge of land use Policies, Laws, and Regulations (PLRs) in relation to tree planting and harvesting and access to non-farm income reduce the likelihood of woodlot establishment. Here, we recommend that current and future forest land restoration initiatives focus on reducing the gender gap and increase women's participation in decision making, provide market information platforms on wood products, and include woodlot farmers in social organization. Current PLRs on tree tenure should be improved and clearly communicated by using the existing communication assets and social gatherings as channels of change and influence for decision-making.


Abstract. Deep neural networks have been applied to a wide range of problems in recent years. Convolutional neural network is applied to the problem of determining the depth from a single camera image (monocular depth). Eight different networks are designed to perform depth estimation, each of them suitable for a feature level. Networks with different pooling sizes determine different feature levels. After designing a set of networks, these models may be combined into a single network topology using graph optimization techniques. This "semiparallel deep neural network (SPDNN)" eliminates duplicated common network layers and can be further optimized by retraining to achieve an improved model compared to the individual topologies. Four SPDNN models are trained and have been evaluated at two stages on the KITTI dataset. The ground truth images in the first part of the experiment are provided by the benchmark, and for the second part, the ground truth images are the depth map results from applying a state-of-the-art stereo matching method. The results of this evaluation demonstrate that using postprocessing techniques to refine the target of the network increases the accuracy of depth estimation on individual mono images. The second evaluation shows that using segmentation data alongside the original data as the input can improve the depth estimation results to a point where performance is comparable with stereo depth estimation. The computational time is also discussed in this study.


In this paper we discuss the adaptation of the methods of homology from algebraic topology to the problem of pattern recognition in point cloud data sets. The method is referred to as persistent homology, and has numerous applications to scientific problems. We discuss the definition and computation of homology in the standard setting of simplicial complexes and topological spaces, then show how one can obtain useful signatures, called barcodes, from finite metric spaces, thought of as sampled from a continuous object. We present several different cases where persistent homology is used, to illustrate the different ways in which the method can be applied.


The objective of this study is to examine the auditing function which serves the users of financial statements.The financial statements have been accepted as major sources for a company financial position where interested external parties based in their decision-making process.In addition, the auditor is expected to enhance the quality of financial report; that its reliability, credibility and comparability through a proper and competent course of audit.This study has selected students of higher learning institution.The researcher replicates a survey from Reynolds (1989) to examine how respondents actually view the audit functions in terms of its importance and effectiveness.The total mean for each variable was calculated and used to measure respondents' perception and to test the hypotheses.The descriptive technique employed statistically indicated that all audit function was perceived as important and effective. For perceived importance, the findings had indicated that the students highly expected auditor to enhance the reliability of financial statements, ensure the reports are prepared in accordance to GAAP and sufficiently carry out valuation on company liabilities. In term of effectiveness, they agree that the auditors have effectively delivered audit function such on performing independent opinion of financial report, auditing profession is self regulated and auditors have ensured that the preparation of financial statements are according to
GAAP. Audit functions are also ranked based on their total mean.Finally, a comparison was made between results from the current and Reynolds' study to identify how different group of users actually perceive audit functions that are currently being performed by audit practitioners.


CONTEXT
Central activation ratio (CAR) is a common outcome measure used to quantify gross neuromuscular function of the quadriceps using the superimposed burst technique, yet this outcome measure has not been validated in the gluteal musculature.

OBJECTIVE
To quantify gluteus medius (GMed) and gluteus maximus (GMax) CAR in a healthy population and evaluate its validity and reliability over a 1-week period.

DESIGN
Descriptive.

SETTING
Laboratory.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS
A total of 20 healthy participants (9 males and 11 females; age 22.2 [1.4] y, height 173.4 [11.1] cm, mass 84.8 [25.8] kg) were enrolled in this study.

INTERVENTIONS
Participants were assessed at 2 sessions, separated by 1 week. Progressive electrical stimuli (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) were delivered to the GMed and GMax at rest, and 100% stimuli were delivered during progressive hip abduction and extension contractions (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% maximal voluntary isometric contraction).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
GMed and GMax CAR, and hip abduction and hip extension maximal voluntary isometric contraction torque. Line of best fit and coefficient of determination (r2) were used to assess the relationship between torque output and CAR at varying levels of stimuli. Intraclass correlation coefficients, ICCs(3,k), were used to assess the between-session reliability.

RESULTS
GMed CAR was 96.1% (3.4%) and 96.6% (3.2%), on visits 1 and 2, respectively, whereas GMax CAR was 86.5% (7.5%) and 87.2% (10.7%) over the 2 sessions. A third-order polynomial demonstrated the best line of fit between varying superimposed burst intensities at rest for both GMed (r2 = .156) and GMax (r2 = .602). Linear relationships were observed in the CAR during progressive contractions with a maximal superimposed burst, GMed (r2 = .409) and GMax (r2 = .639). Between-session reliability was excellent for GMed CAR, ICC(3,k) = .911, and moderate for GMax CAR, ICC(3,k) = .704.

CONCLUSION
CAR appears to be an acceptable measure of GMed and GMax neuromuscular function in healthy individuals. Gluteal CAR measurements are reliable measures over a 1-week test period.


The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of metallic oxides and the process of wax resist in ceramic decoration; and the relationship of space and mass in sculpture. / The clay used for the ceramic problems was a stoneware body, except for the clay sculpture which was cast form a low fire slip. Metallic oxides were applied as stains during the green ware stage. Following the bisque firing, the ceramic pieces were glazed with a mixture of Horton's and Matt # 3 glazes. / The use of wax resist, as a ceramic decoration, produced some very interesting results; many of which resemble those achieved in the field of graphics. To achieve these results, the design was first painted onto the clay with liquid wax. When the wax had set up, attain was applied to the entire outside surface. In the case of the vase pictured at the back of this abstract, a second application of wax was applied, covering both the first coat of wax and stain. Through this second application of wax, added design was incised into the clay and stained with another color. During the bisque firing the wax was burned out, preparing the piece for glazing. The possibilities of this method of decoration are by no means limited, and the freedom which the technique demands makes wax resist all the more fascinating. / The woods chosen for the wood sculpture are walnut and Osage orange (hedge). These were chosen for their hardness and active grain. On the walnut forms, spackle was applied to the entire surface as a filler. After sanding, a fruit wood stain was used to retain the natural color of the walnut wood. The final finish applied to all the wood sculpture was a mixture of bees wax and turpentine. / The form "Granted Petition" was the first of the wood pieces to be completed. The center of this particular piece of material was rotten and partially hollowed out; consequently, to achieve a satisfactory form, the lement of space was given a prominent role. The use of space and its relationship to mass in this form, gave new insight into the expressive quality of space. It took on not only definite shape and content, but made the form more a part of earth and light and expressive of life. Space was treated as being integral and equally as important as line, color, form and texture. / The writer in no way claims to have exhausted the possibilities of wax resist, but does feel that he has found the most gratifying technique of ceramic decoration for expressing himself in that material. With a greater use of space in sculpture, there was has been experienced a deeper appreciation for the element's sculptural quality, and its potentiality for the expression of content.


Abstract Social media platforms disseminate a massive volume of user-generated content, some of which convey similar and overlapping information. We study how the diffusion of a given piece of content (called a cascade) is influenced by the diffusion of other cascades carrying similar content (called parallel cascades). We theorize that the diffusion of a cascade can be inhibited or amplified by that of parallel cascades containing similar content. To study this phenomenon, we formulate a generalized version of the self-exciting point process model and showcase a novel approach to evaluating the parallel diffusion of similar social media content. We estimate the model using Twitter data. We observe that, on average, the diffusion of a cascade is inhibited by the concurrent diffusion of parallel cascades with similar content. We further identify an asymmetry among content producers as the diffusion of content contributed by those with larger networks is more likely to be amplified by the diffusion of similar content. Our study underscores the importance of accounting for content similarity as failing to do so may overestimate assessments of a cascade's diffusion. Our results also suggest that smaller, individual social media content contributors should avoid publishing repetitive content and channel their efforts towards developing novel content, while this is not a concern for larger content contributors.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Since December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak occurred and has rapidly spread worldwide. However, little information is available about the AKI in COVID-19. We aimed to evaluate the incidence, risk factors, and prognosis of AKI in adult patients with COVID-19.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
This was a retrospective cohort study of 1392 patients with COVID-19 admitted to a tertiary teaching hospital. Clinical characteristics and laboratory data were extracted from electronic hospitalization and laboratory databases. AKI was defined and staged according to the 2012 Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes criteria. Risk factors for AKI and the association of AKI with in-hospital mortality were assessed.

RESULTS
A total of 7% (99 of 1392) of patients developed AKI during hospitalization, 40% (40 of 99) of which occurred within 1 week of admission. Factors associated with a higher risk of AKI include severe disease (odds ratio [OR], 2.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37 to 3.67), higher baseline serum creatinine (OR, 2.19; 95% CI, 1.17 to 4.11), lymphopenia (OR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.12 to 3.53), and elevated D-dimer level (OR, 2.68; 95% CI, 1.07 to 6.70). The in-hospital mortality in patients with AKI stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3 was 62%, 77%, and 80%, respectively. AKI was associated with in-hospital mortality even after adjustment for confounders (OR, 5.12; 95% CI, 2.70 to 9.72).

CONCLUSIONS
AKI is uncommon but carries high in-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19.


Modified amorphous GeTe, formed by the pulsed laser irradiation of as-grown GeTe, was analyzed in terms of variations in the local bonding structure using Raman spectroscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure in tandem with first-principles density functional theory. Amorphized GeTe (acquired from the crystalline phase) was compared with the modified amorphous GeTe to investigate the similarities and discrepancies between these two amorphous phases. Raman spectroscopy showed that these materials have a similar distribution of Ge-centered local structure in both phases, which is mainly composed of an octahedral-like structure. However, extended X-ray absorption fine structure results show the presence of a unique second type of Ge–Te bonding in the amorphized GeTe, which can effectively reduce the energy required for recrystallization. A computational study based on molecular dynamics simulations verified our experimental observations, including the existence of a second type of Ge–Te bonding in the amorphized phase. Moreover we distinguished the structural characteristics underlying the different amorphous phases, such as local atomic configurations and structural symmetries.


The physicochemical, rheological and sensory (objective and hedonic) properties of stirred yogurt made from buffalo and cow milk mixtures enriched with Sodium Caseinates (SCN) were evaluated. Five different milk mixtures (buffalo:cow; 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, 100:0) with or without the addition of 1% SCN were fermented so as to produce 10 different yogurt samples. According to the results, SCN addition increased the brightness (L*), the elastic behavior, the viscosity (instrumental and sensory) and the flow behavior index (n), while it reduced the yellow color intensity (b*) of yogurt samples. Addition of milk affected significantly all the instrumental variables apart from the green color intensity (a*) and so happened but sparsely with the interactive effects between milk mixture and SCN addition. Redundancy analysis was proved a successful tool to elucidate the complex physicochemical, rheological and sensory profile of the stirred yogurt samples. Loss tanget (tan ?) and b* were indicative for high cow milk concentrations and the rest of attributes fashion with high buffalo milk concentrations, apart from n which favored samples with high cow milk enrichment and SCN addition. Panelists prefered adequately a stirred yogurt rich in buffalo milk concentration (75-100%) and low in cow milk (0-25%), enriched with SCN, with texture perceived as adequate fatty and viscous.


Theory of mind (ToM) represents the ability to make inferences about the intentions, beliefs, emotional states, and likely future behavior of other individuals. It appears that, on average, girls and women have a small advantage on many ToM tasks over boys and men. The current study was designed to investigate if circulating levels of sex hormones affect ToM abilities. Study one used an experimental group of 17 women who began taking estrogen-containing oral contraceptives (OC) during the study compared to a control group who did not begin using OC. Results indicate that estrogen supplementation, at least synthetic estrogen, does not enhance ToM abilities. Study two measured circulating levels of testosterone in 57 men and 29 women via salivary assay and related them to ToM skills. Results indicate that while there is no relationship for females' level of testosterone and ToM skills (r = .10); males with higher T levels did make more errors (r = -.19) . A different pattern for males with the highest T levels was observed. Specifically, males nearing 2 SD's above the mean T levels made fewer errors (r = .20). For most males (the middle three SD'd of T levels), higher levels of testosterone are strongly associated with more errors on tests that measure ToM skills, r (47) = .33, p = .02, [R.sup.2] = .11. Reasons and theoretical implications for the overall pattern of hormonal effects are discussed. ********** Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to a person's ability to think about, make intelligent inferences about, and accurately gauge another person's mind set and emotions. A person with an excellent ToM would be good at guessing what another person is thinking and would be more aware of other's feelings and motives. Theory of Mind can be considered as a module within the human mind, that is to say that there may be some set of pathways in the brain or regions of the brain that are dedicated to reading the intent and mind set of other persons (Abbas, 2006). Such an ability would very likely be useful in terms of surviving in a social society, and some (Geary, 2004; Humphrey, 1976) have argued that a ToM would have been naturally "selected for" in the course of human evolution. The discussion is not purely academic; it may have implications for understanding certain disorders. It has been argued by some that persons with autism lack a ToM entirely, while those with Asperger Syndrome (which is often thought of as a milder form of autism) have an impaired ToM. Simon Baron-Cohen, a leading researcher in this area, has argued that autism (and Asperger Syndrome) is an imbalance between two types of intelligence such that sufferers lack an ability to understand people but have an overdeveloped ability to understand and think about systems, movement and mechanical thinking. If Baron-Cohen is correct, the sex difference in these skills and interests may be of even more interest. It has long been observed that girls and women report and illustrate more "empathic" behaviors, while boys report and show more interest in mechanical objects. For example, pre-school girls are more able to imagine other's feelings, the drawings of males contain more mechanical objects (Iijima, Arisaka, Minamoto, & Arai, 2001); males score better on spatial reasoning and mechanical aptitude tests (Geary, 1998; Kimura 1999). Of course, these differences may be cultural and/or they may be enhanced by cultural experiences. While determining whether differences in empathic thinking are all cultural, all biological or some combination of the two is not the primary focus of the proposed research, it is worth noting that some studies have documented a sex difference in the first week of life in that male infants spend significantly more time looking at a mechanical object moving, while female infants spend significantly more time gazing at a human face (Connellan et al., 2000). Whether biological or social, the empathic style and focus on other's feelings is often considered to be more female, while a mechanical, analytical style of thought is, at least somewhat more male. …


A guide to finding selected Computer Science resources. Topics include programming, networking, information systems, software engineering and development, data science and machine learning.


The androgen receptor (AR) plays important roles in gene expression regulation, sexual phenotype maintenance, and prostate cancer (PCa) development. The communications between the AR ligand-binding domain (LBD) and its coactivator are critical to the activation of AR. It is still unclear how the ligand binding would affect the AR-coactivator interactions. In this work, the effects of the ligand binding on the AR-coactivator communications were explored by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results showed that the ligand binding regulates the residue interactions in the function site AF-2. The ligand-to-coactivator allosteric pathway, which involves the coactivator, helix 3 (H3), helix 4 (H4), the loop between H3 and H4 (L3), and helix 12 (H12), and ligands, was characterized. In addition, the interactions of residues on the function site BF-3, especially on the boundary of AF-2 and BF-3, are also affected by the ligands. The MM/GBSA free energy calculations demonstrated that the binding affinity between the coactivator and apo-AR is roughly weaker than those between the coactivator and antagonistic ARs but stronger than those between the coactivator and agonistic ARs. The results indicated that the long-range electrostatic interactions and the conformational entropies are the main factors affecting the binding free energies. In addition, the F876L mutation on AR-LBD affects the ligand-to-coactivator allosteric pathway, which could be the reason for point mutation induced tolerance for the antagonistic drugs such as enzalutamide. Our study would help to develop novel drug candidates against PCa.


If literacy learning needs to change for the 21st century, when students need to deal with new formats, such as blogs, sound clips and YouTube, what does this mean in practice in the classroom? This article gives a possible framework for thinking about multimodal literacy skills and shows how it relates to real examples of student learning.


p53 is overexpressed by half of all cancers, and is an attractive target for a vaccine approach to immunotherapy. p53 overexpression is frequently the result of point mutations, which leaves the majority of the protein in its wild-type form. Therefore, the majority of p53 sequence is wild type, making it a self-protein for which tolerance plays a role in limiting immune responses. To overcome tolerance to p53, we have expressed wild-type murine p53 in the nonpathogenic attenuated poxvirus, modified vaccinia virus Ankara (recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara expressing wild-type murine p53 (rMVAp53)). Mice immunized with rMVAp53 vaccine developed vigorous p53-specific CTL responses. rMVAp53 vaccine was evaluated for its ability to inhibit the outgrowth of the syngeneic murine sarcoma Meth A, which overexpresses mutant p53. Mice were inoculated with a lethal dose (5 × 105 cells injected s.c.) of Meth A tumor cells and vaccinated by i.p. injection 3 days later with 5 × 107 PFU of rMVAp53. The majority of mice remained tumor free and resistant to rechallenge with Meth A tumor cells. We wished to determine whether rMVAp53 immunization could effect the rejection of an established, palpable Meth A tumor. In subsequent experiments, mice were injected with 106 Meth A tumor cells, and treated 6 days later with anti-CTLA-4 Ab (9H10) and rMVAp53. The majority of treated mice had complete tumor regression along with lasting tumor immunity. In vivo Ab depletion confirmed that the antitumor effect was primarily CD8 and to a lesser extent CD4 dependent. These experiments demonstrate the potential of a novel cell-free vaccine targeting p53 in malignancy.


: The influence of microelement preparation Esmin on hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels, activity of H2S-producing enzymes and indices of pro-/antioxidant system in the myocardium of different age rats were investigated. In the process of aging the levels of H2S and activities of H2S-producing enzymes (cysteine aminotransferase, cystathionine-gamma-lyase) are reduced in the myocardium; the pro-/antioxidant balance is destabilized (NADPH-oxidase activity is increased and thioredoxin reductase activity is decreased). Esmin administration effectively reduces age-related changes in the myocardium of old rats: increases H2S levels and activity of H2S-producing enzymes, restores pro-/antioxidant balance.


This study compared a kit containing a nasopharyngeal nylon flocked swab and a tube with a liquid universal transport medium (UTM) with a kit containing a plastic-shafted rayon-budded swab with a sponge reservoir of viral transport medium for the molecular detection of influenza viruses in children. Respiratory samples were collected from 314 children aged <5 years with influenza-like illness (186 males; mean age 2.32+/-2.27 years) using both swabs in a randomized sequence for each patient. The flocked swabs permitted the detection of 28 influenza A (8.9 %) and 45 influenza B (14.3 %) cases, and the rayon-bud swabs 26 influenza A (8.3 %) and 43 influenza B (13.7 %) cases, with detection rates of 23.2 and 22.0 %, respectively, and similar cycle threshold values. Paediatricians and laboratory staff were significantly more satisfied with both the simplicity (P <0.0001) and rapidity (P <0.0001) of the nasopharyngeal flocked swabs with UTM. These findings show that the flocked swabs with UTM and the rayon-bud swabs with a sponge transport medium are similarly efficient in preserving influenza virus nucleic acid, but that the kit containing a flocked swab with a UTM allows easier and more rapid collection and processing of specimens.


The neutral Higgs pair production at the LHC is studied in the MSSM, the large extra dimensional (ADD) model and the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model, where the total cross section can be significantly enhanced compared to that in the SM. The p T , invariant mass and rapidity distributions of each model have been shown to be distinctive: The ADD model raises the pT and invariant mass distributions at high scales of pT and invariant mass; in the RS model resonant peaks appear after the SM contribution dies away; the SM and the MSSM distributions drop rapidly at those high scales; in the ADD and the RS models the rapidity distributions congregate more around the center. It is concluded that various distributions of the Higgs pair production at the LHC with restrictive kinematic cuts would provide one of the most robust signals for the extra dimensional effects. PACS numbers: 04.50.+h,12.60.-i,13.85.-t,13.90.+i Typeset using REVTEX


The continuously evolving and dynamic social, economic, political environments and public pressures demand governments to deliver effective and efficient public services. In the quest for meeting these demands, governments respond by designing extensive reforms and performance objectives to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of their agencies. Many governments have adopted Business Process Management (BPM) as a strategy to achieve these reforms. However, the successful implementation of BPM initiatives has been a challenging task for agencies responsible for these initiatives, with many projects not reaching completion or not achieving the intended outcomes. This paper reports the results of a systematic literature review on critical success factors (CSFs) related to BPM projects in the public sector. We analysed 31 papers in this review covering both the developed and developing country contexts, sourced from refereed and peer reviewed journals. A quasi-deductive approach was applied for the qualitative data analysis using NVivo 10 software. This resulted in the synthesis and identification of 14 critical success factors of BPM in the public sector, each defined and described in detail with specific attention to the sub-factors mentioned within the literature. Any differences between developed and developing country contexts were sought for, and the observations critically analysed. We propose a series of research questions, designed to support the progression of BPM in the public sector of developed as well as developing countries.


Microalgae are sun - light cell factories that convert carbon dioxide to biofuels, foods, feeds, and other bioproducts. The concept of microalgae cultivation as an integrated system in wastewater treatment has optimized the potential of the microalgae - based biofuel production. These microorganisms contains lipids, polysaccharides, proteins, pigments and other cell compounds, and their biomass can provide different kinds of biofuels such as biodiesel, biomethane and ethanol. The algal biomass application strongly depends on the cell composition and the production of biofuels appears to be economically convenient only in conjunction with wastewater treatment. The aim of this research thesis was to investigate a biological wastewater system on a laboratory scale growing a newly isolated freshwater microalgae, Desmodesmus communis, in effluents generated by a local wastewater reclamation facility in Cesena (Emilia Romagna, Italy) in batch and semi - continuous cultures. This work showed the potential utilization of this microorganism in an algae - based wastewater treatment; Desmodesmus communis had a great capacity to grow in the wastewater, competing with other microorganisms naturally present and adapting to various environmental conditions such as different irradiance levels and nutrient concentrations. The nutrient removal efficiency was characterized at different hydraulic retention times as well as the algal growth rate and biomass composition in terms of proteins, polysaccharides, total lipids and total fatty acids (TFAs) which are considered the substrate for biodiesel production. The biochemical analyses were coupled with the biomass elemental analysis which specified the amount of carbon and nitrogen in the algal biomass. Furthermore photosynthetic investigations were carried out to better correlate the environmental conditions with the physiology responses of the cells and consequently get more information to optimize the growth rate and the increase of TFAs and C/N ratio, cellular compounds and biomass parameter which are fundamental in the biomass energy recovery.


This paper reflects on the dynamics and practices of building a maker community around a new hardware platform. We examine the factors promoting the successful uptake of a maker platform from two perspectives: first, we investigate the technical and user experience considerations that users identify as the most important. Second, we explore the specific activities that help attract a community and encourage sustained participation. We present an inductive approach based on the case study of Bela, an embedded platform for creating interactive audio systems. The technical design and community building processes are detailed, culminating in a successful crowdfunding campaign. To further understand the community dynamics, the paper also presents an intensive three-day workshop with eight digital musical instrument designers. From observations and interviews, we reflect on the relationship between the platform and the community and offer suggestions for HCI researchers and practitioners interested in establishing their own maker communities.


This thesis demonstrates that histologic healing in Crohn's disease and histological healing or normalisation in ulcerative colitis are associated with improved short- and long-term clinical outcomes. Vedolizumab, a novel anti-integrin medication, is effective at inducing mucosal and histological healing in IBD and can be effectively combined with calcineurin inhibitors to rapidly induce and maintain remission in patients with severe disease. However, a treatment gap remans and IBD patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis do not gain additional benefit in regard to their liver disease. These findings hold the prospect of changing both future IBD clinical care and clinical trial design.


PurposeThe objective of this study was to evaluate the features, timing of intervention, complications, and outcomes of patients who underwent surgery for pediatric orbital blow-out fractures. DesignThis was a retrospective case review studying all cases of pediatric orbital blow-out fractures that underwent surgical intervention from 2000 to 2009 in a tertiary ophthalmic center in Singapore. MethodsCase notes review of all cases of pediatric orbital blow-out fractures repaired surgically was carried out for demographics, time to intervention, and outcome. How the various factors may affect the outcome was statistically analyzed. ResultsA total of 23 patients were reviewed. There were 21 patients (91.3%) with floor fractures, 1 (4.3%) with medial wall fracture, and 1 (4.3%) with combined medial wall and floor fracture. Of the 21 cases of floor fracture, 20 cases had radiological images available for review, 17 (85%) were linear, and 3 (15%) were open. Patients with open fractures were older with a mean age of 14.0 years as compared with 12.6 years in those with linear fractures. The mean duration from injury to intervention was 13.0 days. Preoperatively, 14 (60.9%) had diplopia, but only 4 cases (17.4%) had diplopia in extreme gaze at the last follow-up after surgery (18 months). Outcome was not affected by age, duration between injury and intervention, type of fracture, and nature of implants used. ConclusionsOur study demonstrated that pediatric orbital blow-out fractures had good outcomes. It might also suggest the possibility of not having to manage all linear fractures as a surgical emergency.


Small and imbalanced datasets commonly seen in healthcare represent a challenge when training classifiers based on deep learning models. So motivated, we propose a novel framework based on BioBERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers forBiomedical TextMining). Specifically, (i) we introduce Label Embeddings for Self-Attention in each layer of BERT, which we call LESA-BERT, and (ii) by distilling LESA-BERT to smaller variants, we aim to reduce overfitting and model size when working on small datasets. As an application, our framework is utilized to build a model for patient portal message triage that classifies the urgency of a message into three categories: non-urgent, medium and urgent. Experiments demonstrate that our approach can outperform several strong baseline classifiers by a significant margin of 4.3% in terms of macro F1 score. The code for this project is publicly available at \url{this https URL}.


The innovative development of azapeptide analogues of growth hormone releasing peptide-6 (GHRP-6) has produced selective modulators of the cluster of differentiation 36 receptor (CD36). The azapeptide CD36 modulators curb macrophage-driven inflammation and mitigate atherosclerotic and angiogenic pathology. In macrophages activated with Toll-like receptor-2 heterodimer agonist, they reduced nitric oxide production and proinflammatory cytokine release. In a mouse choroidal explant microvascular sprouting model, they inhibited neovascularization. In murine models of cardiovascular injury, CD36-selective azapeptide modulators exhibited cardioprotective and anti-atherosclerotic effects. In subretinal inflammation models, they altered activated mononuclear phagocyte metabolism and decreased immune responses to alleviate subsequent inflammation-dependent neuronal injury associated with retinitis pigmentosa, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. The translation of GHRP-6 to potent and selective linear and cyclic azapeptide modulators of CD36 is outlined in this review which highlights the relevance of turn geometry for activity and the biomedical potential of prototypes for the beneficial treatment of a wide range of cardiovascular, metabolic and immunological disorders.


ABSTRACT Almost since its inception, the internet has been seen as a means of reinvigorating political knowledge and engagement among the young. Early studies showed small but significant effects for internet use and increased political knowledge among the young. Using a large, national election survey conducted in Australia in 2013, this paper examines the role of the internet in shaping political knowledge among the young and, in turn, its effects on electoral participation. The results show that use of the internet during an election campaign significantly increases political knowledge among the young, and that such political knowledge enhances the likelihood of turning out to vote. Overall, the results extend the findings of other studies which have demonstrated the potential of the internet to re-engage young people into the political process.


Measurements of the movement and deformation of tectonic plates are needed for many research areas in geodynamics, but observations with adequate accuracy and frequency of measurement are not feasible if classical geodetic methods are used. Long-baseline microwave interferometry and laser ranging to Earth satellites are among the new techniques that have been developed within the past decade to make the required measurements. Fixed and mobile stations using both these methods have been constructed in several countries and are now being used in an internationally coordinated research program. Baseline length accuracy better than 2 to 3 centimeters (1 standard deviation) is expected within the next 5 years.


Flat-plate solar thermal collector technology when coupled with vacuum enclosure technology has potential to supply clean energy
efficiently for use in applications including residential water and space heating. This paper focuses on the design of vacuum enclosures
for flat-plate solar collectors with specific reference to vacuum enclosures designed for thin micro-channel solar absorber plates
(thickness < 10mm). The expectations, requirements and applications of these solar collectors are discussed along with a description
of an enclosure concept under consideration. Potential seal materials are identified and their limitations discussed. Finite element
modelling results are presented and conclusions made regarding design parameter selection.


GST that is Goods and Service Tax is the latest kind of Indirect Tax which is proposed to be in force from 1st July, 2017 which is already in force on many countries around the world and they all were considering it as their sales Tax system. The GST will be the levied on the manufacture, sale and the consumption of goods and services in India. It is said to be the biggest form of reform in the indirect taxation aspect ever since 1947. The council of the GST will be headed by the Union Finance Minister that is currently Arun Jaitley. The main purpose of GST is to bring about the single tax system for the manufacture and the sale of goods at the both central and the state level in the country. The GST is mainly implemented to remove all other taxes like VAT (Value-Added Tax), Excise duty and Sales Tax. The Tax will be very much useful for the consumers in the aspects of payment of Taxes that is, we all have to pay separate tax at state level and at central level for the goods and services purchased and after the GST there will be only one tax to be paid for the goods and services consumed which is the Goods and Services Tax (GST). This paper brings out about the overview of the concepts of GST and its consequences on the various Industries in the Indian Economy. Through this paper we can be in a position to understand about the consequences of the Goods and Service Tax in India.


A high-performance bottom-contact pentacene thin-film transistor (TFT) is realized with its channel and electrodes fabricated by a simple printing process. By applying reverse offset printing of a nanosilver paste ink to the source/drain electrodes and organic vapor-jet printing to the thin pentacene layer, TFTs with a channel length of 20 μm are realized in a precise yet relatively simple fashion. The oxide formed during the processing of the silver ink is shown to help reduce the injection barrier between the source and pentacene, making it possible to realize high-performance bottom-contact TFTs without special treatment for the electrodes.


After only a little over a half year in power, as of this writing, Rodrigo's R. Duterte presidency already represents a sea change in Philippine politics. Despite the personal popularity of Benigno "Noynoy" S. Aquino III (who had the highest opinion poll ratings among post-Marcos presidents), Duterte has quickly replaced a "liberal reformist" political order with its emphasis on civil liberties, if limited political participation, with an illiberal "law and order" regime.


Objective Controversy still exists regarding using cemented or uncemented hemiarthroplasty for femoral neck fractures in elderly patients. The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness and safety of the two surgical techniques in femoral neck fracture patients over 70 years old. Methods We searched PUBMED, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI and VIP Database from inception to December 2012 for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Outcomes of interest include postoperative hip function, residue pain, complication rates, mortality, reoperation rate, operation time and intraoperative blood loss. Odds ratios (OR) and weighted mean differences (WMD) from each trial were pooled using random-effects model or fixed-effects model given on the heterogeneity of the included studies. Results 7 RCTs involving 1,125 patients (1,125 hips) were eligible for meta-analysis. Our results demonstrate that cemented hemiarthroplasty is associated with better postoperative hip function (OR = 0.48, 95% CI, 0.31–0.76; P = 0.002), lower residual pain (OR = 0.43, 95%CI, 0.29–0.64; P<0.0001), less implant-related complications (OR = 0.15, 95%CI, 0.09–0.26; P<0.00001) and longer operation time (WMD = 7.43 min, 95% CI, 5.37–9.49 min; P<0.00001). No significant difference was observed between the two groups in mortality, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications, local complications, general complications, reoperation rate and intraoperative blood loss. Conclusions Compared with uncemented hemiarthroplasty, the existing evidence indicates that cemented hemiarthroplasty can achieve better hip function, lower residual pain and less implant-related complications with no increased risk of mortality, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications, general complications, local complications and reoperation rate in treating elderly patients with femoral neck fractures.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes occurring in milk malondialdehyde (MDA) level and some enzymatic activities as a result of subclinical mastitis (SCM) in dairy cows. A total of 124 milk samples were collected from 124 lactating cows from the same herd in the period between the 2nd week after calving and the 10th week postpartum. They were classified by bacterial culture and the California mastitis test (CMT) as positive were deemed to have glands with SCM, and the periodic incidence rate of SCM was 26.6%. The most common bacterial isolates from SCM cases were Staphylococcus aureus (47%) and coagulase negative Staphylococci (CNS) (27%). The mean level of MDA and activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were significantly higher in SCM milk than in normal milk, while the mean activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) was significantly lower in SCM milk than in normal milk. There were no differences in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) between normal milk and SCM milk. Therefore, the measurement of milk MDA level and GPx, LDH and ALP activities, appears to be a suitable diagnostic method for identifying SCM in dairy cows.


Importance Dry eye disease has become an important health problem. A lack of concordance between self-reported symptoms and the outcome of dry eye examinations has raised questions about dry eye disease. Objective To explore the association between subjective happiness and objective and subjective symptoms of dry eye disease. Design The study adopted a cross-sectional design. Setting All the employees of a company in Osaka, Japan. Participants 672 Japanese office workers using Visual Display Terminals (age range: 26–64 years). Methods The dry eye measurement tools included the Schirmer test, conjunctivocorneal staining, the tear film break-up time, as well as the administration of a dry eye symptoms questionnaire. Happiness was measured by the Subjective Happiness Scale. Main Outcome Measures Dry eye examination parameters, dry eye symptoms questionnaires, and the Subjective Happiness Scale score. Results Of the 672 workers, 561 (83.5%) completed the questionnaires and examinations. The mean Subjective Happiness Scale score was 4.91 (SD = 1.01). This score was inversely correlated with the dry eye symptom score (r = -0.188, p < 0.001), but was not associated with objective findings which include conjunctivocorneal staining, low Schirmer test score, or low tear film break-up time. The level of subjective happiness was the lowest in the group without objective results, but reported subjective symptoms of dry eyes (p < 0.05). Conclusions and Relevance There is evidence of the relationship between subjective happiness and self-reported symptoms of dry eyes. Findings of this study revealed a new perspective on dry eye disease, including the potential for innovative treatments of a specific population with dry eye disease.


BACKGROUND
Fructose, which is a sweetener with a low glycemic index, has been shown to elevate postprandial triglyceride compared with glucose. There are limited data on the effect of fructose in a solid mixed meal containing starch and protein.

OBJECTIVE
We determined the effects of sucrose, fructose, and sucralose on triglyceride, glucose, and insulin in an acute study in healthy, overweight, and obese individuals.

DESIGN
The study had a randomized crossover design. Twenty-seven participants with a mean age of 44 y and a mean body mass index (in kg/m(2)) of 26 completed the study. Fructose (52 g), sucrose (65 g), and sucralose (0.1 g) were delivered as sweet-taste-balanced muffins with a total fat load (66 g). Blood samples were taken at baseline and every 30 min for 4-h glucose, triglyceride, and insulin concentrations, and the area under the curve (AUC) and the incremental area under the curve (iAUC) were analyzed.

RESULTS
No significant difference was shown between the 3 sweeteners for triglyceride and glucose concentrations and the AUC. The glucose iAUC was lower for fructose than for sucrose and sucralose (P < 0.05). Insulin concentrations differed significantly by the type of muffin (P = 0.001), the interaction of time by type of muffin (P = 0.035), the AUC (P < 0.001), and the iAUC (P < 0.001). Fructose had a significantly lower insulin response than that of either sucrose (P-treatment = 0.006) or sucralose (P-treatment = 0.041).

CONCLUSIONS
Fructose, at a moderate dose, did not significantly elevate triglyceride compared with sucrose or sucralose and lowered the glucose iAUC. These results indicate that these sweeteners, at an equivalent sweetness, can be used in normal solid meals. Fructose showed a lower insulin response, which may be beneficial in the long term in individuals at risk of type 2 diabetes. This trial was registered at the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry as ACTRN12615000279527.


INTRODUCTION
The knee is a major weight bearing joint that provides mobility and stability during physical activity as well as balance while standing. If the knee is exposed to forces beyond its physiologic range, risk of injury to bone or soft tissue structures increases. A thorough understanding of knee injury patterns and their mechanisms may help in achieving more accurate assessment of injuries.

AIM
To identify imaging pattern in bone marrow oedema and to correlate the pattern of bone marrow oedema retrospectively with type of knee injury from clinical history.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional study was done on all patients referred to Krishna Hospital, Karad for MRI knee with history of recent (< 6 weeks) knee injury. Study was conducted between May 2014 to September 2015 with a sample size of 200 patients. Plain radiograph of knee was done in all patients and they were scanned using 1.5 Tesla Seimens Avanto (Tim + Dot) with Tx/Rx 15 channel knee coil # Tim.

RESULTS
Among the 200 cases, bone marrow contusion was noted in 138 cases (69%) and absent contusion in 62 cases (31%). Bone marrow contusion showed five patterns (according to Sanders classification) i.e., Clip injury in 39 cases (28.3%), Pivot shift injury in 78 cases (56.5%), Dashboard injury in eight cases (5.8%), Hyperextension injury in four cases (2.9%), Lateral patellar dislocation in three cases (2.2%). In six cases (4.3%) no pattern of bone marrow contusion could be explained and was categorized as unclassified pattern.

CONCLUSION
Pivot shift pattern is most common contusion pattern and the most common type/mode of sports related injury. By analysing bone marrow contusion pattern, type/mode can be determined in most of the cases. By applying a biomechanical approach in MR interpretation, it is possible to detect lesions like ligament rupture and osseous contusion, to predict subtle but it might overlook important abnormalities.


N-Acetyltransferases (NAT1, NAT2) play an important role in biotransformation of a number of drugs and carcinogens. A polymorphism in the metabolism of such compounds by NAT2 has been known for many years but it is only recently that the underlying molecular genetics has been elucidated. In the present study, we have correlated acetylation phenotype and genotype in a group of 49 Australian Aborigines (26 males and 23 females; mean age = 50.5 yr) from the Derby region of Western Australia. Phenotype was determined using caffeine and genotype by an allele-specific polymerase chain reaction. The percentages of slow and rapid phenotypes were 36.7 and 63.3%, respectively, while the distribution of alleles for the NAT2 gene was 41% for the wildtype and 2, 17 and 40% for the M1, M2 and M3 mutations, respectively. This is the highest proportion of M3 mutations reported for any ethnic population. The observed genotype proportions were not significantly different from those predicted by the Hardy-Weinberg Law (chi 2 = 1.07, p > 0.05). Phenotype was predictable from genotype in 100% of patients. At the time of study, 29 of the Aborigines were receiving acedapsone intramuscularly for control of leprosy. Plasma dapsone concentrations in these patients were similar for both slow (n = 11) and rapid (n = 18) acetylators, suggesting that phenotype is unlikely to influence treatment outcome. The data show that Aborigines have a similar phenotype distribution to that of some Asian populations, but that there are differences in the frequencies of the M1, M2 and M3 mutant alleles.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Abstract. Making meaningful projections of the impacts that possible future climates would have on water resources in mountain regions requires understanding how cryosphere hydrology model performance changes under altered climate conditions and when the model is applied to ungaged catchments. Further, if we are to develop better models, we must understand which specific process representations limit model performance. This article presents a modeling tool, named the Conceptual Cryosphere Hydrology Framework (CCHF), that enables implementing and evaluating a wide range of cryosphere modeling hypotheses. The CCHF represents cryosphere hydrology systems using a set of coupled process modules that allows easily interchanging individual module representations and includes analysis tools to evaluate model outputs. CCHF version 1 (Mosier, 2016) implements model formulations that require only precipitation and temperature as climate inputs – for example variations on simple degree-index (SDI) or enhanced temperature index (ETI) formulations – because these model structures are often applied in data-sparse mountain regions, and perform relatively well over short periods, but their calibration is known to change based on climate and geography. Using CCHF, we implement seven existing and novel models, including one existing SDI model, two existing ETI models, and four novel models that utilize a combination of existing and novel module representations. The novel module representations include a heat transfer formulation with net longwave radiation and a snowpack internal energy formulation that uses an approximation of the cold content. We assess the models for the Gulkana and Wolverine glaciated watersheds in Alaska, which have markedly different climates and contain long-term US Geological Survey benchmark glaciers. Overall we find that the best performing models are those that are more physically consistent and representative, but no single model performs best for all of our model evaluation criteria.


The precise connectivity that underlies neural circuitry in the central nervous system is regulated by axon guidance. This process is regulated by a highly specialized sensory structure at the tip of extending axons called the growth cone, which responds to extrinsic guidance cues in the embryonic environment. Disorders of growth cone motility and axon guidance are thought to underlie a range of neurological disorders such as autism and schizophrenia due to defects in neuronal targeting and connectivity. The spatial and temporal regulation of calcium signalling at the neuronal growth cone is essential for axon guidance and motility, however the exact mechanisms that regulate these localised calcium signals are not fully elucidated. Growth cone filopodia are the "first responders" during axon guidance, transducing guidance cues through receptor-mediated calcium transients. However, what regulates and sustains the spatiotemporal calcium signals at filopodia and precisely how these signals are instructional for growth cone motility remains unclear.
As a major store of intracellular calcium, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) would be predicted to have a vital role in growth cone calcium regulation, although ER function in the growth cone and in particular, the filopodia is largely unexplored. An important calcium-regulatory mechanism that occurs in growth cones is store operated calcium entry (SOCE) which is activated when Stromal Interacting Protein 1 (STIM1), an ERembedded calcium-sensing protein, and Orai1 on the plasma membrane form a highly selective calcium channel allowing calcium to enter the cell. STIM1 expression is necessary for transduction of filopodial calcium transients in Xenopus growth cones. In DRG neurons, STIM1 is required for attractive growth cone turning towards BDNF, where STIM1 functions to sustain calcium by refilling depleted ER stores through SOCE. STIM1 also regulates motility in response to a calcium-independent cue Sema-3a, suggesting that STIM1 functions in multiple pathways. In non-neuronal cells, STIM1 has also been reported to act as a microtubule plus-end tracking protein, where it facilitates microtubule-dependent ER remodelling through direct interaction with end-binding protein-1 and 3 (EB-1/3), in a tip-attachment complex. Given these findings, the central hypothesis of this thesis is that STIM1 mediates instructive ER-microtubule dynamics which are necessary to spatially and temporally localise calcium signals required to sustain motile or turning behaviours in pathfinding growth cones.
This study tested whether STIM1 functions in a tip-attachment complex to mediate ERremodelling into filopodia of motile growth cones from rodent DRG sensory neurons. STIM1 localised with the microtubule cytoskeleton through an association with EB1/3, that was required for remodelling ER to peripheral areas of steering growth cones. Filopodial protrusion and stabilisation by microtubules is a well-known correlate of directed growth cone motility, but how microtubules are recruited to facilitate SOCE at filopodia has not been determined until now. The data presented in this study supports the hypothesis that microtubule-ER remodelling in sensory neuron filopodia is regulated by STIM1. Reduced STIM1 expression significantly perturbed microtubule assembly and organization in growth cones turning to BDNF and Sema-3a. STIM1 was necessary for appropriate distribution and dynamics of microtubule-associated proteins EB-1/3, as well as expression levels of filamentous-actin, actin-associated proteins and adhesionregulating elements. Additionally, using an ER-targeted low affinity calcium indicator, calcium dynamics and spatiotemporal localization of ER in filopodia were shown to be perturbed in growth cones with reduced STIM1 expression. Taken together, the data presented here demonstrate that STIM1-EB3 interaction represent a direct physical link between ER-derived calcium signals and the cytoskeleton. These data support a mechanism where ER remodelling, particularly in filopodia, supports and sustains crucial spatiotemporal regulation of calcium which is instructive for pathfinding axons during wiring of developing neural circuitry.


As has long been recognized, Judaean tyranny, especially that associated with the revolutionary faction led by John of Gischala, plays a central role in Bellum Judaicum, functioning as an infectious disease that ultimately bears responsibility for the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Among the litany of damnable vices associated with John and his band of followers, Josephus paints a particularly lurid picture of violent debauchery in B.J. 4.560–563, recounting a blood-drenched sexual rampage that includes a pointed accusation of cross-dressing and sexual passivity. In this article I argue that Josephus' portrayal of the Judaean rebels as effeminate objects of sexual penetration draws on a widespread tendency in Greco-Roman discourse to link perceived gender anomalies with an excessive and uncontrollable lust for power, deploying gender deviancy as a symbolic framework through which to define and disparage tyrants. This image of effeminate tyranny in B.J., although dubious as a source of reliable information for the Gischalan's exploits in Galilee and Judaea, taps into a resurgent moralizing impulse in Flavian Rome, offering an important glimpse into Josephus' own attempt to navigate the cultural and political anxieties of the capital city shortly after the tumultuous transition from the Julio-Claudian to Flavian regime.


Although most students with disabilities (SWDs) receive instruction from general education teachers, little empirical work has investigated whether these students have suitable access to high-quality teachers. We explore the differences in teacher quality experienced by SWDs and students without disabilities (non-SWDs) in the Los Angeles Unified School District, examining how access varies within schools as well as across school-level disadvantage rates. We leverage several different indicators of teacher effectiveness for general education teachers who instruct both SWDs and non-SWDs. We find that SWDs are significantly more likely to have teachers with lower math value-added (–0.024 standard deviations) than their non-SWD peers, and we find emerging gaps in teacher evaluation scores and exposure to novice teachers. In general, these gaps do not vary by school-level disadvantage.


Human resources have had a strategic role in both sustainable and competitive business since it is inimitable element of business. The purpose of this research is to investigation the impact of employee engagement (independent variable) on job insecurity (dependent variable) and then moderating role of psychological empowerment of employees in oil and gas sector. These variables have the key significance for their employees and betterment of the organizations. It is a qualitative research, field study through survey methodology, 100 employees of 11 multinational oil and gas companies participated in the study from Pakistan. Cronbach alpha, Pearson correlation coefficient and hierarchal regression were used for various analyzes of this study. The findings of the research revealed that employee engagement is significant for reducing feelings of insecurity in a job, meanwhile if they are empowered psychologically, their commitment and loyalty is increased many times. Findings of this study will provide the insight to the benefits, challenges and issues related with it.


Abstract Background: Knowledge translation (KT) and evidence-based practice are widely referenced in clinical medicine, with parallel calls for clinical teaching to better reflect best educational practice. How clinical teachers use medical education theory and evidence is largely unknown. Aims: To explore anaesthetists' attitudes to clinical teaching and medical education theory and evidence: whether they use it, what sources they access and attitudes to possible barriers to its use. Methods: Data were collected from anaesthetists via on-line questionnaire. Results: 364 anaesthetists (19% response rate) completed the questionnaire. Respondents preferentially approach colleagues and access short courses or workshops to improve their teaching. Twenty-eight percent reported consciously using medical education theory or evidence often or regularly, with 24% having never done so; 52% have never accessed any medical education article; and only 21% have read an article from a medical education journal. Lack of available time due to clinical commitments was the major barrier identified to greater use of medical education evidence and theory. Conclusion: A "knowledge-practice gap" does appear to exist in anaesthesia teaching in spite of the improved medical education evidence base. KT methodology may provide a guide to improving clinician engagement with medical education.


One hundred and fifty strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were classified by the phagotyping technique, using the double layer method described by Adams and modified by Jones. The efficacy of this method was studies in comparison with the method claimed by Redmond and Ward and traditionally employed for Mycobacteria typing. Preliminary Results obtained have allowed to prove its advantages. A 96% of coincidence with respect to the traditional method was reported.


Abstract The development of the infection organ of the parasitic angiosperm genus Cuscuta is a dynamic process that is normally obscured from view as it happens endophytically in its host. We artificially induced haustoriogenesis in Cuscuta campestris by far‐red light to define specific morphologically different stages and analyze their transcriptional patterns. This information enabled us to extract sets of high‐confidence housekeeping and marker genes for the different stages, validated in a natural infection setting on a compatible host. This study provides a framework for more reproducible investigations of haustoriogenesis and the processes governing host–parasite interactions in shoot parasites, with C. campestris as a model species.


This work compares two approaches to finding effective topic-independent classifier combinations. We suggest a new federated approach and compare it against the global approach. Our results indicate that the relative effectiveness of these approaches depends on the measure used to evaluate them. We suggest explanations for these results.