We study the optical properties of a two-level atomic ensemble controlled by a high-finesse cavity. Even though the cavity is initially in the vacuum state in the absence of external driving, the probe response of the atomic ensemble can be dramatically modified. When the collectively enhanced atom–cavity coupling is strong enough and the cavity decay rate is much smaller than the atomic damping rate, an electromagnetically induced transparency-like coherent phenomenon emerges with a dip absorption for the response of the two-level atoms in the cavity without driving, and thus is called vacuum induced transparency. We also show the slow light with very low group velocity in such an atomic ensemble.


We evaluate some of the previously proposed test algorithms and approaches for various types of multipliers. We present methods to effectively test multipliers independent of their architecture and to achieve greater than 99% single stuck-at gate-level fault coverage with a simple 8-bit or 9-bit binary up-counter and some multiplexers. Finally, we discuss testing the multipliers present in most current Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FGPAs).1


Identifying new user intents is an essential task in the dialogue system. However, it is hard to get satisfying clustering results since the definition of intents is strongly guided by prior knowledge. Existing methods incorporate prior knowledge by intensive feature engineering, which not only leads to overfitting but also makes it sensitive to the number of clusters. In this paper, we propose constrained deep adaptive clustering with cluster refinement (CDAC+), an end-to-end clustering method that can naturally incorporate pairwise constraints as prior knowledge to guide the clustering process. Moreover, we refine the clusters by forcing the model to learn from the high confidence assignments. After eliminating low confidence assignments, our approach is surprisingly insensitive to the number of clusters. Experimental results on the three benchmark datasets show that our method can yield significant improvements over strong baselines. 1


Introduction: Psychosomatic factor-like depression and depressive symptoms play an important role in the causation of different forms of mucosal changes among which one of them is oral lichen planus (OLP). Oral diseases may be a direct expression of emotions or conflicts. The research aimed to provide a precise estimate by assessing anxiety, depression, and stress in OLP patients and lichenoid reaction (LR) as compared to healthy controls using a self-report scale questionnaire. Materials and Methods: This methodological cross-sectional study comprised of 150 subjects, 50 normal healthy controls (control), 50 patients with OLP, and 50 patients with LR were recruited. The outcome measures of this study were done with pretested, prestructured 21 multiple-choice questions designed to evaluate depression, stress, anxiety levels were assessed using respectively Beck Anxiety Questionnaire, Beck Depression Questionnaire, and Holmes and Rahe Stress Inventory Scales depending on how the questions were answered at the time of presentation (enrolment). Results: The mean anxiety, depression, and stress scores were significantly (P <0.001) different and higher in both OLP and LR groups as compared to the control group. However, mean anxiety, depression, and stress scores were found similar (P >0.05) between the OLP and LR groups. Conclusion: The present study's findings may help direct future management strategies for the patient with OLP and LR. It also helps to understand the patient's behavior in respect of anxiety, depression, and stress. Ministry of health and family welfare – Dental Education should enhance dentistry and give training on how to screen anxiety and depression among Oral disease patients and should develop guidelines to screen and treat depression and anxiety among such patients.


A Thesis submitted to
The Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, School of
Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Science in Pharmacology


Abstract Objective.—To determine the efficacy of 2 different sources of Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) in reducing the incidence and severity of acute mountain sickness (AMS) following rapid ascent to high altitude. Methods.—Two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cohort studies were conducted in which participants were treated with GBE (240 mg·d−1) or placebo prior to and including the day of ascent from 1600 m to 4300 m (ascent in 2 hours by car). Acute mountain sickness was diagnosed if the Environmental Symptom Questionnaire III acute mountain sickness–cerebral (AMS-C) score was ≥0.7 and the Lake Louise Symptom (LLS) score was ≥3 and the participant reported a headache. Symptom severity was also determined by these scores. Results.—Results were conflicting: Ginkgo biloba reduced the incidence and severity of AMS compared to placebo in the first but not the second study. In the first study, GBE reduced AMS incidence (7/21) vs placebo (13/19) (P = .027, number needed to treat = 3), and it also reduced severity (AMS-C = 0.77 ± 0.26 vs 1.59 ± 0.27, P = .029). In the second study, GBE did not reduce incidence or severity of AMS (GBE 4/15 vs placebo 10/22, P = .247; AMS-C = 0.48 ± 0.13 vs 0.58 ± 0.11, P = .272). The primary difference between the 2 studies was the source of GBE. Conclusions.—The source and composition of GBE products may determine the effectiveness of GBE for prophylaxis of AMS.


This paper addresses the Energy-Aware Distributed Hybrid Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Multiprocessor Tasks (EADHFSPMT) by considering two objectives simultaneously, i.e., makespan and total energy consumption. It consists of three sub-problems, i.e., job assignment between factories, job sequence in each factory, and machine allocation for each job. We present a mixed inter linear programming model and propose a Novel MultiObjective Evolutionary Algorithm based on Decomposition (NMOEA/D). We specially design a decoding scheme according to the characteristics of the EADHFSPMT. To initialize a population with certain diversity, four different rules are utilized. Moreover, a cooperative search is designed to produce new solutions based on different types of relationship between any solution and its neighbors. To enhance the quality of solutions, two local intensification operators are implemented according to the problem characteristics. In addition, a dynamic adjustment strategy for weight vectors is designed to balance the diversity and convergence, which can adaptively modify weight vectors according to the distribution of the non-dominated front. Extensive computational experiments are carried out by using a number of benchmark instances, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the above special designs. The statistical comparisons to the existing algorithms also verify the superior performances of the NMOEA/D.


The IPCC community's Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) are a set of alternative global development futures focused on drivers of challenges to mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. However, the impacts and drivers of plausible future development at any national or regional level have yet to be examined for consistency within the global narrative.
In this paper, we present four globally-consistent regional scenarios on Western Africa's development that have been used to test and develop a range of national and regional policies. The regional scenarios were outlined independently by regional stakeholders but built around the context of the SSPs. The scenarios were quantified using two agricultural models, GLOBIOM and IMPACT, in interaction with drivers outlined by the SSPs and guided by semi-quantitative information from the stakeholders.
Our paper 1) demonstrates how linkages of global SSPs and regional multi-stakeholder scenarios can be achieved through a process of critical comparison, starting from regional priorities, to produce consistent scenarios for future regional development; 2) provides insights for Western Africa on the future of development, agriculture, food security and climate impacts in both qualitative and quantitative scenarios; 3) reports on a set of scalable scenarios for regional decision makers and the scientific community to use to build and test robust agriculture and climate policies.


The Teaching for Understanding (TfU) Framework is a pedagogical tool used in designing and developing a course. Here, the TfU is applied to teaching topographical anatomy to first year dental students, and the through line is therefore defined as teaching clinically relevant topographical anatomy in dentistry. Accordingly the generative topic of the course includes 'understanding the structure and function of those parts of the living human body relevant to dental practice: Head, neck, thorax and relevant parts of the upper limb, overview of abdomen and pelvis'. The Understanding Goals can be summarised as: (i) understanding the topographical relationship of anatomical structures on cadavers and in patients and being able to identify them; (ii) demonstrating the ability to relate anatomical structures to their function; (iii) differentiating anatomical variations and comparing them with pathological changes; (iv) applying anatomical knowledge for avoiding damage of structures during clinical practice and in disorders. The Performances of Understanding (PoU) are used as a criterion for fulfilling the points defined above, which are monitored in ongoing assessments. In practical classes the students learn how anatomical knowledge is obtained by viewing prosections and carrying out dissections, which helps them to deepen their understanding of principles of the three dimensional organisation of the human body. The students demonstrate their PoU in their practical skills in informal discussion with their instructors and peers during dissections, as well as in formal spot exams. The understanding of the theoretical basis of topographical anatomy is also assessed informally in lectures and practicals, whereas formal exams include structure-function relationships, normal anatomical variations, relevant links to developmental abnormalities disorders and damage caused by surgical interventions. The present survey shows that the TfU helps to outline the key components of the course and to set goals for its further improvement in the future.


The Hotel Del Monte, now home to the Naval Postgraduate School, was one of the world's leading resorts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


An observational study was carried out on 103 CBCTs. The GPF position was assessed by drawing guidelines in the CBCT axial image located between the first, second and third molar and in the center of the second and third molar, performing five guidelines on each side. Also, the depths and widths of the dental arches were measured at the canine and second molar regions to determine maxillary arch shapes (ovoid, square and tapered) by calibrated interexaminers (Kappa index and Intraclass correlation coefficient). An association test was performed using the Chisquare Pearson test and the Fisher exact test (P<0.05). Objectives to determine the association of the maxillary arch shape with the greater palatine foramen (GPF) position using CBCT scans. Position C (68.94%) was the most frequent position followed by position B (19.42%), position D (7.76%), and position E (3.88%). Hence, 76.70% of the GPFs were located in the opposite to the third molars position. The Fisher ́s exact test showed a significant association between position C and all age groups (P<0.001). The ovoid maxillary arch was the most frequent in teeth of female patients (27.18%) followed by males (23.31%). Position C was mostly frequent in ovoid (33.98%), square (33.31%), and tapered (11.64%) arches. However, the Chi-square Pearson test did not show a significant association between these variables (P=0.332). The shape of the maxillary arch and the position of the GPF had no association. Clinical article (J Int Dent Med Res 2022; 15(1): 165-171)


Abstract This study aims to determine the factors that influence an individual's continuance usage of mobile payment. This study proposed a research model that combines two well-known theories, namely Technological Personal Environmental (TPE) model and Technology Continuance Theory (TCT) to examine the impact of environmental factors in mobile payment continuance usage. The data were obtained empirically from 443 respondents by using an online questionnaire. Then, the data were used to test the research model by using covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM). The results of data processing showed that user satisfaction was a factor that positively influenced the continuance usage of mobile payment. Furthermore, user satisfaction was directly influenced by environmental factors, consisting of Additional Value (VA), Payment Culture (PC), Lifestyle Compatibility (LC), and Facilitating Conditions (FC). Thus, this research is useful for mobile payment service providers in Indonesia to help them engage with their customers to use mobile payment for the long term. This research provides an explanation of the relationship among environmental aspects used as research models to understand the phenomenon of mobile payments sustainable use in Indonesian customers who have a cultural tendency to use cash as the payment method. By understanding factors that influence continuance usage of mobile payment in Indonesia, the mobile payment providers can evaluate then improve their services and determine the right strategy by emphasizing various environmental aspects in developing and promoting mobile payment services.


The work environment becomes one of the motivations for someone to work. The climate of working environment is very important for a person, especially for medical staffs who actually handle and deal with sick people. Medical officers are required to always be friendly, agile, discipline and polite in front of patients thus the patient feels comfortable and quiet. This study aimed to analysis the relationship between work environment and patients' safety climate. This study was conducted with questionnaires. Based on the survey results, it was revealed that the hospital environment determines the form of services provided to patients. The working environment has positive relationship to patients' safety climate. At the hospital, there are latent conditions that may be a risk of accidents that come from heavy work load, management and inadequate supervision, work environment filled with pressure and inadequate communication systems. Work environment contributes greatly because the overall work in providing services to patients requires good teamwork.


A novel solution for the real-time detection of transients in power systems is presented. It relies on a simple and robust algorithm, which analyzes the signal in the time domain, does not involve high computational burdens, does not require a high amount of memory, and has been implemented on a low-cost DSP. Experimental results showing the very good system performance are provided.


The aim of our research is to discover what factors impact software project productivity (measured as function points per hour) using real world data. Within this overall goal we also compare productivity between different business sectors and project types. We analysed a data set of almost 700 projects that have been collected by STTF from a number of Finnish companies since 1978. These projects are quite diverse type (new and maintenance projects), in terms of
size (6 to over 5000 function points), effort (55 to over 60000 person hours), application domain and implementation technology. There are three main findings. First productivity varies enormously between projects. Second, project type has limited influence on productivity. Third,
application domain or business area has a major impact upon productivity. Because this data set is not a random sample generalisation is somewhat problematic, we hope that it contributes to an overall body of knowledge about software productivity and thereby facilitates the construction of a bigger picture.


This article addresses the unmapped linkage of mass incarceration and encagement as responses to climate change and the coronavirus. I coin the phrase, climate cages, to highlight how public policy responses to atmospheric dynamics limit mobility, worsen prison conditions, and increase carcerality. In this article, I use the song lyrics of 21 Savage's "A Lot" and his subsequent arrest as an example to highlight the intersectionality of race, climate change, migration, protest movements, and COVID-19. Further, I reexamine Cicero's adage of "summum ius summa iniuria" to show problematic configurations of the carceral state and the edifice of the law generally.

A warming planet has decreased available land, freshwater, and clean air to live and earn a livelihood. The world's megacities from New Delhi to Houston are choking from air pollution of their vehicles, power plants, factories, and industrial facilities. Not even rural areas are immune from the impacts of chemicals from agricultural activities. These natural resource stresses have served as threat multipliers for conflict, compounding centuries of economic and racial inequality. Economic and environmental chokepoints are leading to migration, movement, and higher rates of mass incarceration. Currently, the level of income inequality is at its peak, and record high and low temperatures are becoming the norm. The governmental response from the halls of Congress to the desk of the Oval Office has not been to find solutions to the climate crisis, but to restrict mobility and incarcerate black and brown people to maximize available land and space for those who are either more affluent and/or of the more preferred race, religion, and national origin. While historically human hierarchies and caste systems have existed for thousands of years, the impacts of intensified global warming have correlated with the increased prison populations and worsening prison conditions in the age of the Anthropocene.


Software development takes place within a rich cultural setting. To be successful, a programme aimed at improving software development processes needs to recognise this context and to make explicit the software practices as they are actually understood and applied by software developers. But what aspects of the context are relevant and how can they be identified? To begin addressing this question we have been studying the adoption and evolution of software quality management systems using techniques from the social sciences to collect data from five organisations of different sizes. This paper reports on our experiences of a week-long study of one organisation. In this study, we aimed to uncover implicit assumptions, values and beliefs within the community which were affecting (positively or negatively) the adoption and evolution of their software quality management system. We discuss our approach, summarise our findings, and reflect on the techniques used.


Mini core collection plays an important role in evaluating genetic resources hence, an attempt was made to characterize world mini core collections on the basis of 35 uniformly distributed hyper variable SSR molecular markers. Thirty five markers amplified a total of 131 allelic fragments with an average of 3.28 alleles per locus indicating high level of polymorphism among the analyzed rice lines. The two major clusters shown by PPS SRS technique indicated no difference for grouping japonica and indica genotypes. Therefore the allele specific amplification pattern was adapted for identification of particular genotypes. The similarity coefficients among the genotypes ranged from 0.58 to 0.83 with an average similarity value of 0.36. Maximum similarity value of 88% was observed between PR33319-9-1-1-5-3-5-4-1 and PR-114. Whereas minimum similarity value of 54% was found between TJ 50836 and TJ 35724 followed by TJ 39050 & TJ 35724 and TJ 50836 and NDR359 genotypes with 55% of genetic similarity. Breeders worldwide could use these findings to choice the germplasm for transferring characters


A high proportion of Lithuania's meadows are either in poor condition or abandoned (not mowed and not grazed). These changes in meadow use have negative consequences such as increasing area of meadows not being used and landscape turning wild, which inevitably deteriorate their ecological value. Research was done during 2009–2012 in five habitats, two of which are non-flooded relatively abandoned meadows of undulating relief and three flooded meadows, present in the riverside, central and pre-land parts of the Nemunas delta. The study was aimed to compare the influence of the productivity and quality of the phytocenoses of non-flooded and flooded meadows on the energy value of their biomass. The productivity and energy value of meadow swards depend on the habitat's ecological conditions, which form different habitations. The average dry matter content of the non-flooded meadows was 4.19 t ha-1 and that of flooded meadows 6.03 t ha-1 (31% higher). The quality of biomass formed in different habitats was similar. Dry matter contained 6.69–9.75% crude protein, 23.81–25.56% crude fibre, 1.70–2.29% crude fat, 4.98–5.98% crude ash, 44.40–47.20% organic carbon (Corg), 1.26–1.44% total nitrogen (Ntotal), and 0.12–0.16% sulphur. The swards of the non-flooded meadows accumulated slightly higher contents of potassium (on average 1.66%), while those of flooded meadows accumulated higher concentrations of calcium (on average 0.70%). The net calorific value of grasses of different meadows varied from 16.63 to 16.88 MJ kg-1 and energy potential from 60.73 to 143.8 GJ ha-1. The energy potential of the sward of the flooded meadow, present in the central part of the Nemunas delta was significantly higher (143.8 GJ), it accumulated 1.8–2.4 and 1.6–2.2 times more energy compared with non-flooded or other flooded meadows. The energy input for the preparation and transportation of herbage from the meadows under investigation totalled 2.8 GJ ha-1. The highest content of useful energy (141.03 GJ ha-1) was obtained from the flooded meadow, present in the central part of the Nemunas delta. Other meadows demonstrated similar final energy contents: meadows in the riverside of the Nemunas delta – 89.01 GJ ha-1, non-flooded meadows, present in the lower terrain of undulating relief – 77.56 GJ ha-1, meadows of the pre-land Nemunas delta – 62.88 GJ ha-1, non-flooded meadows, present in the upper terrain of undulating relief – 57.93 GJ ha-1.


The House of Boucheron represents one of the great Parisian jewellers of the last 150 years. Founder, Frederic Boucheron opened his first shop in 1858. Many of his clients were not women of society, but femmes fatales of the demi-monde. Nonetheless, his skill with precious stones and his absolute discretion made him a favourite of both courtesans and princes. In turn his business flourished allowing him to move to the famous Place Vendome in 1892. Having been given unprecedented access to the Boucheron vaults, the book's author, Vincent Meylan, made some remarkable discoveries. Perhaps the most significant was a register labelled 'Book of Stones'. It is a record of all the precious stones that have entered Boucheron's stock; diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies and pearls are all indexed according to weight, price and, most importantly, who bought and sold them. Meylan also uncovered almost 200 order books and 150 letters. It is these 'Secret Archives' that have enabled him to reveal the fascinating history of Boucheron and his extraordinary, colourful clientele. From the 'Ladies of Sin' to the 'King and Queens of the World' Meylan reveals the riveting stories behind the jewels that the Parisian jeweller sold; the desires they aroused, the madness they provoked, the love they formalised, and the deaths they caused. Boucheron's clients included Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, La Belle Otero, King Farouk of Egypt, and the Shah of Iran. The demands of these wealthy individuals led to the sensational orders that elevated Boucheron to highest level of creativity. This captivating and revealing publication includes original design sketches, black and white archive images and sumptuous colour photographs of the exquisite Boucheron creations, including Tsarina Alexandra's pearl and diamond coronet and The Queen Mother's tiara.


Holevo, Schumacher, and Westmoreland's coding theorem guarantees the existence of codes that are capacity-achieving for the task of sending classical data over a channel with classical inputs and quantum outputs. Although they demonstrated the existence of such codes, their proof does not provide an explicit construction of codes for this task. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap by constructing near-explicit "polar" codes that are capacity-achieving. The codes exploit the channel polarization phenomenon observed by Arikan for the case of classical channels. Channel polarization is an effect in which one can synthesize a set of channels, by "channel combining" and "channel splitting," in which a fraction of the synthesized channels are perfect for data transmission, while the other channels are completely useless for data transmission, with the good fraction equal to the capacity of the channel. The channel polarization effect then leads to a simple scheme for data transmission: send the information bits through the perfect channels and "frozen" bits through the useless ones. The main technical contributions of this paper are threefold. First, we leverage several known results from the quantum information literature to demonstrate that the channel polarization effect occurs for channels with classical inputs and quantum outputs. We then construct linear polar codes based on this effect, and the encoding complexity is O(NlogN), where N is the blocklength of the code. We also demonstrate that a quantum successive cancellation decoder works well, in the sense that the word error rate decays exponentially with the blocklength of the code. For this last result, we exploit Sen's recent "noncommutative union bound" that holds for a sequence of projectors applied to a quantum state.


High-performance output tracking can be achieved by precompensator or feedforward controllers based on the inverse of either the closed-loop system or the plant model, respectively. However, it has been shown that these inverse controllers can adversely affect the tracking performance in the presence of model uncertainty. In this paper, a model-free approach based on only one set of acquired data from a simple closed-loop experiment is used to tune the controller parameters. The approach is based on the decorrelation of the tracking error and the desired output and is asymptotically not sensitive to noise and disturbances. From a system identification point of view, the stable inverse of the closed-loop system is identified by an extended instrumental variable algorithm in the framework of errors-in-variables identification methods. By a frequency-domain analysis of the criterion, it is shown that the weighted two-norm of the difference between the controller and the inverse of the closed-loop transfer function can be minimized. The method is successfully applied to a high-precision position control system.


Mr. J. E. G. W. Greenwood commented that the basic intrusions described, and their relation to other basement rocks, recalled somewhat similar conditions observed during a recent field survey of the Aden Protectorate. There, in the Mukeiras-Khawrah region, from 100 to 150 miles north-east of Aden, plutonic rocks of gabbroic and dioritic composition intruded regionally metamorphosed and reconstituted rocks of the Pre-Cambrian Aden Metamorphic Group. The more basic plutonic rocks were followed, after a short interval, by granitic intrusions, resulting in the production of hybrid or contaminated rocks in some localities. Both basic and granitic intrusions were characterized by a moderate degree of metamorphism of essentially dynamic (epizonaI) type, producing rocks described as deformed gabbro, leucogabbro, and deformed diorite. The dominant metamorphic features were deformation, shearing, and cataclasis. The development of incipient schistosity was seen in some of the rocks. The deformation and alteration of these basic and granitic intrusions was attributed to a period of dynamic metamorphism that affected basement rocks up to and including those regarded as of latest Pre-Cambrian age, and was expressed over a wide region extending from south-west Hadhramut to the western part of the Protectorate. This phase of dynamic metamorphism was differentiated from the main period of regional (dynamothermal) metamorphism of earlier date, which was accompanied by syntectonic granitic invasion. In view of the probable similarity of basement history on both sides of the Gulf of Aden, the speaker asked whether the authors, from their studies in Somalia, could confirm the occurrence of a


Identifying harmonic sources in a given power system is an important task for utility power quality management. This paper presents a new class of harmonic source identification problems: how to quantify the harmonic impact of several known harmonic-producing loads on the harmonic levels observed at a network location. The paper first defines the problem and proposes a harmonic impact index to theorize the problem. The paper then presents a statistical-inference-based method to estimate the index. The data required for this analysis are the harmonic voltage and current magnitudes continuously collected by the existing power quality monitors. The characteristics of the proposed method are investigated through case studies. Finally, additional applications and improvements of the proposed method are discussed.


Languages have inherent characteristics that make them their own and differentiated entities within their phyla and families. Even messages written in any language and later encrypted by cryptographic systems do not lose all of their characteristics, there remain aspects that help the cryptanalyst to recover them without knowing the decryption keys. For the characterization of the languages we will consider the frequencies of their graphemic and phonetic units and the Index of Coincidence, tools of fundamental utility in the field of Cryptography. Their diachronic invariance or survival over time in one language and their ability to discriminate against other languages will be analized. In order to do so, we will examine a total of 101 languages of which 261 texts have been taken. All of them are very diverse in style and time, taking us through a wide linguistic and temporal spectrum that will cover the period from the 6th century BC to the present day.


A significant link between forest loss and fragmentation and outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in humans has been documented. Deforestation may alter the natural circulation of viruses and change the composition, abundance, behaviour and possibly viral exposure of reservoir species. This in turn might increase contact between infected animals and humans. Fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae have been suspected as reservoirs of the Ebola virus. At present, the only evidence associating fruit bats with EVD is the presence of seropositive individuals in eight species and polymerase chain reaction‐positive individuals in three of these. Our study investigates whether human activities can increase African fruit bat geographical ranges and whether this influence overlaps geographically with EVD outbreaks that, in turn, are favoured by deforestation. We use species observation records for the 20 fruit bat species found in favourable areas for the Ebola virus to determine factors affecting the bats' range inside the predicted Ebola virus area. We do this by employing a hypothetico‐deductive approach based on favourability modelling. We show that the range of some fruit bat species is linked to human activities within the favourable areas for the Ebola virus. More specifically, the areas where human activities favour the presence of five fruit bat species overlap with the areas where EVD outbreaks in humans were themselves favoured by deforestation. These five species are as follows: Eidolon helvum, Epomops franqueti, Megaloglossus woermanni, Micropteropus pusillus and Rousettus aegyptiacus. Of these five, all but Megaloglossus woermanni have recorded seropositive individuals. For the remaining 15 bat species, we found no biogeographical support for the hypothesis that positive human influence on fruit bats could be associated with EVD outbreaks in deforested areas within the tropical forest biome in West and Central Africa. Our work is a useful first step allowing further investigation of the networks and pathways that may lead to an EVD outbreak. The modelling framework we employ here can be used for other emerging infectious diseases.


A novel spherical gripper mechanism with one degree of freedom was designed. This gripper consists of a network of spherical parallelogram mechanisms. Design limits, work space formulas, and required grasping forces were derived. Parallelogram mechanisms with unequal circular and spiral linkages were also investigated. It was shown that the spherical parallelogram mechanisms with spiral linkages may be used for grasping objects.


The AC magnetic susceptibility for itinerant ferromagnet TiCoSn has been investigated at temperatures between 80 K and 300 K under hydrostatic pressures up to 18 kbar. The Curie temperature is increased linearly with increasing pressure at a rate of dTc/dp=+0. 12 K/kbar. This value is one orderof magnitude smaller than that of TiCo2Z (Z=Al, Ga and Sn). Below TC, the absolute value of susceptibility is reduced by applying pressure. Therefore, it is suggested that the effect of pressure on magnetic interaction is weak in TiCoSn, and then this can be interpreted in terms of Co-Co spacing in the compounds.


Batteries, ultracapacitors (UCs), and fuel cells are widely being proposed for electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) as an electric power source or an energy storage unit. In general, the design of an intelligent control strategy for coordinated power distribution is a critical issue for UC-supported PHEV power systems. Implementation of several control methods has been presented in the past, with the goal of improving battery life and overall vehicle efficiency. It is clear that the control objectives vary with respect to vehicle velocity, power demand, and state of charge of both the batteries and UCs. Hence, an optimal control strategy design is the most critical aspect of an all-electric/plug-in hybrid electric vehicle operational characteristic. Although much effort has been made to improve the life of PHEV energy storage systems (ESSs), including research on energy storage device chemistries, this paper, on the contrary, highlights the fact that the fundamental problem lies within the design of power-electronics-based energy-management converters and the development of smarter control algorithms. This paper initially discusses battery and UC characteristics and then goes on to provide a detailed comparison of various proposed control strategies and proposes the use of precise power electronic converter topologies. Finally, this paper summarizes the benefits of the various techniques and suggests the most viable solutions for on-board power management, more specific to PHEVs with multiple/hybrid ESSs.


Model Predictive Control (MPC) of an unknown system that is modelled by Gaussian Process (GP) techniques is studied in this paper. Using GP, the variances computed during the modelling and inference processes allow us to take model uncertainty into account. The main issue in using MPC to control systems modelled by GP is the propagation of such uncertainties within the control horizon. In this paper, two approaches to solve this problem, called GPMPC1 and GPMPC2, are proposed. With GPMPC1, the original Stochastic Model Predictive Control (SMPC) problem is relaxed to a deterministic nonlinear MPC based on a basic linearized GP local model. The resulting optimization problem, though non-convex, can be solved by the Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP). By incorporating the model variance into the state vector, an extended local model is derived. This model allows us to relax the non-convex MPC problem to a convex one which can be solved by an active-set method efficiently. The performance of both approaches is demonstrated by applying them to two trajectory tracking problems. Results show that both GPMPC1 and GPMPC2 produce effective controls but GPMPC2 is much more efficient computationally.


The housing and education sectors are being asked to do more with fewer resources. School districts often struggle to meet the needs of low-income students who deal with challenges outside of school and to connect them to resources that can strengthen their academic competencies. Public housing authorities and other assisted-housing providers similarly recognize the need for an array of support services to help their clients achieve financial and family stability. Housing providers have been exploring the role they can play, particularly in improving child outcomes overall and educational outcomes specifically. The premise is that housing providers have a unique opportunity and entry point to improve children's outcomes by connecting them to services and by bringing opportunities right into their homes or developments. Housing authorities in particular are in a favored position to reach lowincome families and connect educators, low-income students, and their caregivers outside the school day. By partnering, school districts and housing authorities can begin to identify and tackle barriers to learning that poor students may face, such as housing instability, truancy, and health problems. By combining their resources and leveraging their individual strengths—programmatic, financial, and social—educators and housing authorities are learning how they can have a greater impact on lowincome students' lives. Those partnerships represent uncharted territory for many school districts and housing authorities.


Servant leadership has been widely applied in various fields, both in educational organizations or companies and reveals that servant leadership is a leadership style that is relevant and suitable for the development of a leadership style in the 21st century where a principal leader must be able to serve the needs of teachers, education staff, and students in accordance with the demands of the development of science and technology which are very dynamic. This research aims to develop a valid, practical, and effective servant leadership model of school principals in Junior High Schools. This research is an R & D research by using the ADDIE model, namely analyze, design, development, implementation, and evaluation that is carried out in junior high schools in Agam Regency. Data collection techniques used instrument sheets, questionnaires, and documentation. Data were analyzed by using qualitative and quantitative analysis. The servant leadership model validation is determined based on expert responses. The practicality of the servant leadership model is determined based on the response of experts and school principals to the practicality of this model. The effectiveness of the servant leadership model is determined by the results of the expanded trial by the principal in Agam regency. The results of this research, it is obtained a principal servant leadership by producing products in the form of model books and school principal manuals that are valid, practical, and effective to use. The principal to improve leadership qualities namely can use the findings in this research, models of servant leadership are humanists, touches the heart in unity work logic, and actions that led to the creation of the atmosphere of the work.


LNG is to an increasing extent traded through spot markets and short-term contracts. At the same time, gas production is growing and the number of importers and exporters of LNG is increasing. These trends lead to greater opportunities for actors who are looking into speculative trading of LNG. In this thesis, we develop two stochastic optimization models for buying, transporting and selling LNG in the spot market. We take the perspective of an actor that owns LNG vessels and does speculative trading. The objective is to maximize profit. This is done by making optimal movement and trade decisions. Income is generated by buying and selling LNG. Costs relate to operating the LNG vessel. The models make a trade-off between maximizing revenue and minimizing cost. The price processes in the ports are stochastic. We use scenarios to represent an approximation of the price development process. The models make use of a dynamic program to estimate the value of potential trade sequences. Two stochastic models are run in combination with the dynamic program in order to make movement and trade decisions. One is a mixed-integer program (MIP) that is run by commercial optimization software (Xpress-Mosel). The other is a heuristic written in Java. We present solutions for both deterministic and stochastic test instances. The stochastic solution takes uncertainty into consideration and presents the decisions that are best hedged against all outcomes of price development. Our main focus is on comparing the stochastic and deterministic versions of the two models, in order to identify the solution approach that best solves our problem. The stochastic versions are found to provide better solutions than the deterministic ones. This goes for both models. The heuristic solution outperforms the MIP when considering both profit, run time and stability. With minor adjustments the models can be used as real life decision tools.


The effects of the G.I. Bill on collegiate attainment may have differed for black and white Americans owing to differential returns to education and differences in opportunities at colleges and universities, with men in the South facing explicitly segregated colleges. The empirical evidence suggests that World War II and the availability of G.I. benefits had a substantial and positive impact on the educational attainment of white men and black men born outside the South. However, for those black veterans likely to be limited to the South in their educational choices, the G.I. Bill had little effect on collegiate outcomes.


This chapter discusses the excess mortality among children in Norrbotten, Sweden's northernmost country, in the late nineteenth century. The author suggests that the high mortality rates among children might be attributed to lifestyle factors. Life in the north demanded skills in the wilds, that led to excessive accidental deaths. On the other hand, over-crowding was an important factor both in the small rural dwellings and in the rapidly growing town that suffered from a significant housing shortage. Infectious childhood diseases caused excessive deaths in the isolated villages and homes, while meningitis spread in the town. This study shows that mere population density can lead one astray if the question of how people actually lived is not considered.


Based on analysis of submerged arc welding arc heat source model and droplet heat inputting uniform distribution, ANSYS parametric design language was applied to develop sub-program for loading moving heat sources. ANSYS software was used to calculate the temperature fields. In the same welding conditions, weld seam width and depth value of experiments and simulation are contrasted, the biggest error was below 5%. The influence of different welding speed to molten pool temperature of twin-arc submerged arc welding was analyzed, it obtained results that temperature field distribution of twin-arc submerged arc welding changes more gentle than single arc submerged arc welding in condition of increased welding speed, it was helpful to the further analysis of molten pool dynamic behavior and weld seam shape factors of twin-arc high speed submerged arc welding.


Choline uptake in cultured porcine endothelial cells isolated from cerebral microvessels was investigated. A large part of the choline that was taken up was incorporated into phospholipids within 24 h. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA, 10 -7 M), a protein kinase C activator, enhanced choline uptake and acetylcholine (ACh) synthesis in endothelial cells. The PMA-induced enhancement of choline uptake was neither affected by calphostin C (10 -7 M), an inhibitor of protein kinase C, nor hemicholinium 3 (10 -5 M) treatment. These results suggest that brain endothelial cells have a choline uptake system, which is not identical to the high-affinity choline uptake system located in cholinergic neurons, and that the PMA-induced enhancement of choline uptake is independent of protein kinase C activation. Some of the choline taken up from the extracellular space is used for acetylcholine synthesis.


Many studies highlight that human movements are highly successful yet display a surprising amount of variability from trial to trial. There is a consistent pattern of variability throughout movement: initial motor errors are corrected by the end of movement, suggesting the presence of a powerful online control process. Here, we analyze the trial-by-trial variability of goal-directed reaching in nonhuman primates (five male Rhesus monkeys) and demonstrate that they display a similar pattern of variability during reaching, including a strong negative correlation between initial and late hand motion. We then demonstrate that trial-to-trial neural variability of primary motor cortex (M1) is positively correlated with variability of future hand motion (τ = ∼160 ms) during reaching. Furthermore, the variability of M1 activity is also correlated with variability of past hand motion (τ = ∼90 ms), but in the opposite polarity (i.e., negative correlation). Partial correlation analysis demonstrated that M1 activity independently reflects the variability of both past and future hand motions. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that M1 activity is involved in online feedback control of motor actions. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Previous studies highlight that primary motor cortex (M1) rapidly responds to either visual or mechanical disturbances, suggesting its involvement in online feedback control. However, these studies required external disturbances to the motor system and it is not clear whether a similar feedback process addresses internal noise/errors generated by the motor system itself. Here, we introduce a novel analysis that evaluates how variations in the activity of M1 neurons covary with variations in hand motion on a trial-to-trial basis. The analyses demonstrate that M1 activity is correlated with hand motion in both the near future and the recent past, but with opposite polarity. These results suggest that M1 is involved in online feedback motor control to address errors/noise within the motor system.


Synchronous programming languages are well-suited for the implementation and verification of real-time systems. The main benefit for the estimation of real-time constraints is thereby that the macro steps provided by synchronous programs can be directly used for runtime analysis. If synchronous circuits are generated from these descriptions, the macro steps are implemented by combinatorial circuits, and if software is generated, they correspond to basic building blocks that do not contain loops. In this paper, we describe methods to generate timed transitions systems from a synchronous program by taking the final architecture into account. For software synthesis, this requires considering different microprocessors and compilers, and for hardware synthesis, this requires considering a hierarchy of clocks to optimize the clock speed.


Austrofundulus limnaeus is a species of annual killifish which inhabits ephemeral ponds in South America. The species is able to survive seasonally desiccating ponds due to their ability to produce robust embryos. The embryos of this species are capable of entering a developmental arrest, termed diapause II, which precedes the onset of drought. While in this arrested state embryos exhibit the greatest tolerance to anoxia of any characterized vertebrate at 25oC. Furthermore, when raised at 30oC, embryos escape the entrance to diapause II and go on to develop directly. Currently, little is known about the molecular mechanisms which induce and maintain this developmentally arrested state. In this study I have developed methods to analyze changes in histone modifications in the context of diapause II. Histone modifications were chosen due to their extreme conservation and well characterized role as modulators of gene expression in other systems. Results utilizing adapted immunobased assays show significant changes in the global amount of H3S10P, H3K27me and H3K4me, as the embryos progress from early embryogenesis through the exit of diapause. Additionally, it is revealed that there exists a degree of phenotypic plasticity with regards to the entrance into diapause II which is modulated by the environment (severe hypoxia 0.1% O2). This work builds a foundation for future histone modification studies and contributes the development of several tools to the field. This study contributes to a greater molecular understanding of the cue(s) which influence the remarkable phenomenon of obligate developmental arrest in a vertebrate embryo.


Objective To determine the expression and clinical significance of Fas and FasL in cases of occurrence and development of pleomorphic adenoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) in parotid gland. Methods Using Immunohistochemistry techniques and quantitative analysis under computerized system, we investigated Fas-FasL expression in 21 cases of normal parotid gland, 35 cases of pleomorphic adenoma in parotid gland and 32 cases of ACC in parotid gland. Results All cases of ACC of parotid gland showed Fas and FasL negative expression, no correlation was found between the expression of Fas-FasL and the histological type and the pathological grades of ACC. Although both normal parotid gland and pleomorphic adenoma of parotid gland had distinct expression of Fas and FasL, the positive expression of Fas and FasL in pleomorphic adenoma of parotid gland cases were both significantly lowered (P<0.01) than that in normal parotid gland. Conclusion Expression of Fas-FasL and Fas-FasL mediated cell apoptosis disturbance had significant correlations with the occurrence and malignant development of pleomorphic adenoma and ACC in parotid gland.


During the past decades, firms from emerging economies have significantly increased the amount of financing obtained in capital markets. Whereas the literature argues that international markets have been an important contributor to this process, the role of domestic markets is mostly unknown. By examining the case of East Asia, this paper shows that domestic markets have been a key driver of the observed trends in capital market financing since the early 2000s. As domestic markets developed, more and smaller firms gained access to equity and corporate bond financing. Domestic markets also helped some corporations to diversify funding sources and obtain domestic currency financing. Policy reforms following the Asian Financial Crisis accompanied the growth of domestic markets. Part of the reforms were aimed at developing domestic capital markets for small and medium-size enterprises. Although these markets have developed significantly, they still serve relatively few corporations, albeit from new sectors.


The mechanical behavior of WC-Co cemented carbides has been studied in detail taking into account the pre-existing material (intrinsic damage) defects. However, information on the effects of service-induced damage (extrinsic damage) on the structural integrity of these materials is limited. In this context, in this paper the influence of extrinsic damage on the residual strength of two grades with different microstructures is evaluated. With this purpose, a spherical indentation technique is employed as a means for generating a controlled damage. The results show that by increasing the grain size of the carbide and the cobalt content, the mechanical properties of cemented carbides compared to spherical contact is increasingly quasi-plastic, under the application of both monotonic and cyclic loads, and consequently the material shows greater damage tolerance.


BACKGROUND
Surgical high dependency (SHD) allows for intermediate care provision between general ward (GW) and intensive care unit (ICU) for surgical patients but no universally accepted admission criteria exists. Unnecessary SHD admissions should be minimized to limit resource wastage and maintain spare critical care capacity. This study evaluates the utility of SHD admissions following elective laparoscopic colectomy by comparing post-operative outcomes and interventions performed between SHD and GW patients.

METHODOLOGY
A retrospective review of all colorectal cancer patients who underwent elective laparoscopic colectomy in our institution between January 2019 and December 2021 was conducted. Patients converted to open surgery or admitted to IC post-operatively were excluded. Peri-operative parameters and outcomes between patients admitted to GW and SHD post-operatively were evaluated.

RESULTS
The cohort comprised 393 patients. There were 153 patients (38.93%) who required SHD admission. SHD patients had higher American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) scores, body mass index, age and intra-operative blood loss. Majority of post-operative morbidity were minor (Clavien-Dindo II or lower) in both groups and the interventions required were safely instituted in both SHD and GW. None of the patients in the cohort required inotropic or ventilatory support in the SHD.

CONCLUSIONS
GW patients were "healthier" but post-operative morbidity and interventions required were similar to the SHD group. Nonetheless, treatment delays, absence of continuous monitoring, and decreased nurse-to-patient ratio may be significant for patients with limited physiological reserves. Further studies should evaluate safety and cost-effectiveness of managing high risk surgical patients in GW using continuous remote vital signs monitoring.


The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of sustainable Lean patient value in relation to a long-term health condition in a healthcare context. A pragmatist research philosophy is used to conduct exploratory research utilising open data sources, semi-structured interviews, focus group meetings and participant workshops, where the quantitative data covered a 60-month period and the qualitative data collection and analysis covered a 36-month period. The findings show that Lean healthcare is overly focused on healthcare providers rather than patients leading to unmet value across the patient Value Stream. To conceptualise the findings and present the constructs and their relationships, a Lean patient healthcare framework is inductively developed. A number of propositions are advanced based on the relationships in the framework which provide a basis for further exploring improved Lean healthcare interventions in long-term conditions. The findings will assist healthcare academics, professionals and patient groupings in developing and improving Lean patient Value understanding and decision making. This will assist in effective Lean patient value creation and development for healthcare reforms and changes and in effective resource utilisation for improved and sustainable patient outcomes.


Level of psychotropical abuse among public in general, and in student area especially, have been hardly frets all party sides is including education world in Indonesia. This thing of course endangers Indonesian nation future in the future so that doesn't surprise when new school year the students during orientation of
student gets discourse about psychotropical abuse. Increasingly height of abuse to psychotropical, hence level of badness happened also excelsior that is indirectly is caused by psychotropical circulation. By seeing problems is upper, needs existence of a step that is serve the purpose of effort to give effect discourages at the psychotropical abuse crime perpetrators. District Court Decision Yogyakarta to psychotropical abuse case is expected able to overcome psychotropical abuse. Justice decision is decision from inspection process of psychotropical abuse seen from in perpective strived prevention of psychotropical abuse. Thereby the concerned justice decision to psychotropical abuse seen from in perpective strived prevention of psychotropical abuse is give penalization to arsonist prescribed by the regulations. In result of research from District Court decision Yogyakarta, obtained case result that is first is decision dropped to defendant is imprisonment during 2 ( two) year and penalty fine equal to Rp.10.000.000, (ten million rupiahs) subsidair 2 ( two) month of coop. For second case of decision dropped to defendant is imprisonment during 1 (one) year 8 (eight) month and penalty fine equal to Tp 10.000.000,- (ten million rupiahs); Contends that if the penalty fine is not paid, hence and must experience coop crime during 2 (two) month


Yoga tourism has been growing rapidly in Bali since the 2000s. Its practice in America and Europe is influencing its development. Furthermore, its disciples wish to visit its original birthplace, which is India, however, the country's tourism industry is facing challenges with various infrastructure and facility barriers. Therefore, yoga tourists choose Bali, which is a place of native Hindus with complete and luxurious tourism facilities. However, Bali is not very well prepared to become a yoga pilgrimage destination, even though it has the potential due to its ancient Hindu sages. This led to this research on the problems associated with the potentials of yoga pilgrimage and its development in Bali tourism. Destination Development Theory was used to determine the potentials and prospects, while data were collected via literature, observation, in-depth interviews, and surveys. The obtained data were qualitatively and quantitatively analysed. The research showed that Bali has a yoga legacy from ancient time, such as the great Rsi Markendya that became a yoga myth in Bali. Facilities, access, and local people support yoga pilgrimage. The research shows that there is an increasing volume of yoga tourists and related infrastructure in Bali.


Donald Heistad MD Editor-in-Chief, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology Joseph Loscalzo MD, PhD Editor-in-Chief, Circulation Eduardo Marban MD, PhD Editor, Circulation Research John E. Hall PhD Editor-in-Chief, Hypertension Vladimir Hachinski MD Editor-in-Chief, Stroke Ivor J. Benjamin MD, FAHA Chair, American Heart Association Scientific Publishing Committee We, the Editors and the Scientific Publishing Committee of the American Heart Association journals, support the principles enunciated in the editorial "Clinical Trial Registration: A Statement From the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors." We look forward to working together in addressing the details of their implementation.

Altruism and trust lie at the heart of research on human subjects. Altruistic individuals volunteer for research because they trust that their participation will contribute to improved health for others and that researchers will minimize risks to participants. In return for the altruism and trust that make clinical research possible, the research enterprise has an obligation to conduct research ethically and to report it honestly. Honest reporting begins with revealing the existence of all clinical studies, even those that reflect unfavorably on a research sponsor's product.

Unfortunately, selective reporting of trials does occur, and it distorts the body of evidence available for clinical decision-making. …


Until coral molecular phylogenies were published, the genus Plesiastrea was traditionally part of the family Faviidae and considered by several authors to be closely related to the genus Montastraea. However, genetic data has shown that Plesiastrea versipora, the genus type species, is evolutionarily distinct within the Robust clade of the Scleractinia and does not belong to the large clade grouping most representatives of the families Faviidae, including Montastraea, Mussidae, Merulinidae, Trachyphylliidae, and Pectiniidae. Instead, P. versipora is closely related to non reef-dwelling taxa currently ascribed to the Oculinidae (Cyathelia axillaris) and Caryophylliidae (Trochocyathus efateensis). However, no discussion on the morphologic features of P. versipora compared to other taxa has been published yet. Moreover, no information is available about the phylogenetic placement of Plesiastrea devantieri, the only other species in the genus. The phylogeny of both Plesiastrea species was addressed through molecular analyses (COI and rDNA) and morphological analysis. Morphological differences between the two species included number of septa, cycles of vertical structures in front of the septa and septal micromorphology. On the basis of these data and nuclear and mitochondrial markers, P. devantieri belongs to the Faviidae-Merulinidae-Pectiniidae-Trachyphylliidae clade (Clade XVII sensu Fukami et al., 2008) and is most closely related to Goniastrea aspera and G. palauensis. The type species of the genus Goniastrea, G. retiformis, however, is not closely related to either G. aspera and G. palauensis, or to P. devantieri. Taxonomic implications of these findings and morphologic affinities between the two species and closely related taxa are discussed.


The mechanism of good corporate governance is used to prevent the management of the company from engaging in unethical actions, such as the earnings management. It can be an effective way to control management. This study aims to analyse corporate governance, consisting of the size of the board of commissioners, the size of the sharia supervisory board, and the audit committee on financial performance, measured as return on assets (ROA), with earnings management as the mediating variable. The sample used for the study consists of nine Indonesian shariah banks and the period of analysis is 2013-2017. The results of the path analysis show that the size of the board of commissioners has a negative effect on the company's ROA. The study also finds that the size of the sharia supervisory board, audit committee and earnings management do not have significant effects on financial performance. Earnings management has a positive mediating role on the relationship between the board of commissioners, the audit committee and ROA. This finding indicates that the existence of the board of commissioners is effective in supervising the management. Thus the mechanism corporate governance can limit the managers' discretionary behavior and prevent earnings management.


Current constraints on the dark energy equation of state parameter, w, are expected to be improved by more than 1 order of magnitude in the next decade. If |w-1| > or approx. 0.01 around the present time, but the dark energy dynamics is sufficiently slow, it is possible that future constraints will rule out a cosmological constant while being consistent with a time-independent equation of state parameter. In this paper, we show that although models with such behavior can be constructed, they do require significant fine-tuning. Therefore, if the observed acceleration of the Universe is induced by a dark energy component, then finding w{ne}-1 would, on its own, constitute very strong evidence for a dynamical dark energy equation of state.


Online platforms provide musicians with unprecedented opportunities to forge interpersonal connections with a disparate and dispersed audience, and to distribute and finance their work independently with the assistance of this audience. Interaction through social media fosters a virtual sense of intimacy and proximity, allowing fans to receive regular insights into what is perceived to be the musician's veridical self. Whether or not this is truly the case, a musician's success may be influenced by fans' perceptions of his or her authenticity regardless of whether the authentic behaviours are constructed or genuine. Crowdfunding is a recent phenomenon reliant on the relational engagement and communication possibilities inherent in this new media environment. This paper argues that, when musicians crowdfund a project, an indirect emotional transaction with fans may take place in addition to the explicit financial one. Fans may attach expectations and ownership to the project, and to the musicians involved, and react critically to any perceived shift from stated aims and values. The importance and risks of relational fan-musician interactions for crowdfunding are demonstrated through case studies of Amanda Palmer's 2012 Kickstarter, and Eskimo Joe's 2013 Pozible. These campaigns highlight the necessity for authentic engagement with fans for the success of a crowdfunding venture, but also show the dangerous littoral in the new media environment between perceived authenticity and perceived hypocrisy.


The equations describing the first two terms of an asymptotic expansion of the solution of the planar turbulent mixing layer for values of the velocity ratio close to one are obtained. The first term of this expansion is the solution of the well-known time-evolving problem and the second, which includes the effects of the increase of the turbulence scales in the stream-wise direction, obeys a linear system of equations. Numerical solutions of these equations for a two-dimensional reacting mixing layer show that the correction to the time-evolving solution may explain the asymmetry of the entrainment and the differences in product generation observed in flip experiments.


The transverse carpal ligament (TCL) acts as a partial origin for the thenar muscles (abductor pollicis brevis (APB), flexor pollicis brevis (FPB), opponens pollicis (OPP)). The attachment between the thenar muscles and TCL implies a relationship between the tissues. The thenar muscles rely on their origins for thumb motion and force production. However, individual thenar origin information is lacking. Further information regarding the anatomical relationship between the individual thenar muscles and TCL may provide insight into thenar muscle function. In addition, the TCL responds to thenar muscle contraction as shown by volar migration of the TCL during various thumb movements. However, the muscle-ligament biomechanical interaction after TCL transection is unknown. Further understanding of the altered muscle-ligament biomechanical relationship may illuminate the consequence of surgical procedures on this interaction. The overall goal of this thesis was to investigate the relationship between the thenar muscles and the transverse carpal ligament. First, the individual thenar muscle origins were identified through cadaveric dissection and digitized to determine the individual thenar muscle's anatomical relationship to the TCL. Second, cadaveric muscle loading was used to mimic thenar muscle contractions in intact and released specimens to examine the consequences of TCL release on the muscle-ligament biomechanical relationship. The results showed that each muscle had distinct origin size and location, with the OPP having the largest origin size and the APB with the most proximal location. The APB originated mainly on the TCL while the OPP and FPB originated mostly off the TCL. It was also observed that muscle loading after TCL release caused different patterns of muscle-ligament interaction compared to loading before release. However, the noted difference in muscle-ligament interaction was inconclusive.


level of Co and a maximum of inverse TMR is expected when the Fermi level of LSMO is approximately at the maximum of the spin 2 DOS of Co. This is consistent with the maximum of inverse TMR observed at Ϫ0.4 V for Co/STO/LSMO junctions (Fig. 3A). For a positive bias, the TMR is expected to change sign and become normal above 1 V when the Fermi level of LSMO goes down into the energy range of the majority spin d-band of Co. This is also observed in Fig. 3A. For ALO and ALO/STO barriers, a predominant tunneling of s-character electrons (see arrow in Fig. 2B) is the usual explanation of the positive polarization (6–8). The rapid drop with bias (Fig. 3B) is similar to what has been observed in most junctions with ALO barriers, and completely different from what is obtained when the tunneling is predominantly by d-character electrons (Fig. 3A). The origin of this rapid decrease of the TMR at relatively small bias has never been clearly explained. This is roughly consistent with the energy dependence of the DOS induced by sp-d bonding effects on the first atomic layer of ALO in the calculation of Nguyen-Mahn et al. (8) for the Co-ALO interface. But Zhang et al. (13) have also shown that a large part of the TMR drop can be attributed to the excitation of spin waves. The experiments reported here and in several recent publications (3, 4) demonstrate the important role of the electronic structure of the metal-oxide interface in determining the spin polarization of the tunneling electrons. The negative polarization for the Co-STO interface has been ascribed to d-d bonding effects between Al and Ti (4). This interpretation is similar to that proposed to explain, in terms of sp-d bonding , the positive polarization at the Co-ALO interface (8). However, there is no general theory predicting the trend of the experimental results for Co—that is, a negative polarization with oxides of d elements (STO, CLO, Ta 2 O 5) and a positive one when there are only s and p states (ALO). It is likely that the spin polarization should also depend on the position of the Fermi level with respect to the electronic levels of each character above and below the gap of the insulator. In addition, as an evanescent wave in an insulator is a Bloch wave with an imaginary wave vector, one …


Commercial timbers from Turkey used in coastal construction and boat building were tested for their resistance to marine wood-boring invertebrates in a marine trial and in a laboratory screening test. The timbers tested were beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky), oak (Quercus petraea (Mattuschka) Liebl.), chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.), and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). The marine trial was conducted over a period of 5 months at Mersin on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Activity by teredinid (Mollusca, Bivalvia) borers during this period was very high, resulting in the maximum rating of 4 on the EN 275 scale for P. sylvestris sapwood and heartwood panels. Q. petraea panels averaged 2.8 and C. sativa panels were attacked the least with a mean rating of 2.3. There was little variation between the timbers tested in the size of the shells of the teredinids found, and so variation in the level of attack can be ascribed to fewer animals colonising C. sativa and Q. petraea than P. sylvestris. About one half of the teredinids identified were Teredo navalis (Linnaeus 1758), one quarter Bankia carinata (JE Gray 1827), and one quarter Nototeredo norvagica (Spengler 1792). No evidence of preference for a particular timber by any of these species was observed. Teeth on the ridges of the shells of teredinids from C. sativa were partially or wholly immersed in a dark brown substance that might reduce the boring efficiency of the shell. Some attacking by limnoriids (Isopoda, Crustacea) was also detected. Specimens of the amphipod crustacean Chelura sp. were observed on panels of C. sativa. In a laboratory screening trial in which the feeding rate of individual Limnoria quadripunctata (Holthuis 1949) was assessed by measuring faecal pellet production, feeding on heartwood of C. sativa, F. orientalis , and Q. petraea averaged less than half of that on the non-durable sapwood and heartwood of P. sylvestris. The correlation between wood density and feeding rate was weak.


Lymphocytes require of constant and dynamic changes in their transcriptome for timely activation and production of effector molecules to combat external pathogens. Synthesis and translation of messenger (m)RNAs into these effector proteins is controlled both quantitatively and qualitatively by RNA binding proteins (RBPs). RBP‐dependent regulation of RNA editing, subcellular location, stability, and translation shapes immune cell development and immunity. Extensive evidences have now been gathered from few model RBPs, HuR, PTBP1, ZFP36, and Roquin. However, recently developed methodologies for global characterization of protein:RNA interactions suggest the existence of complex RNA regulatory networks in which RBPs co‐ordinately regulate the fate of sets of RNAs controlling cellular pathways and functions. In turn, RNA can also act as scaffolding of functionally related proteins modulating their activation and function. Here we review current knowledge about how RBP‐dependent regulation of RNA shapes our immune system and discuss about the existence of a hidden immune cell epitranscriptome.


A total of 63 HIV/AIDS patients with acute respiratory infections admitted to "Pedro Kouri" Tropical Medicine Institute's hospital from January to August 1997 were studied. 545 samples in all were processed: 153 sputa, 150 hemocultures, 110 pharyngeal exudates, 61 nasal exudates and 63 otic exudates. The correlation of the results from the acridine orange technique, Gram staining and culture was studied. The most frequent bacterial agents causing acute respiratory infections in the group of isolated strains were: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (29.65 %), Staphylococcus aureus (27.14%) and Streptococcus penumoniae (9.04%). The microorganisms more frequently associated with bacteriemias were: Staphylococcus aureus (16.13%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12.90%) and Type b Salmonella (12.90%). The acridine orange technique was the most effective in presumptive diagnosis of bacteriemia with 95 % certainty since it showed a positivity range from 40, 56 to 50, 56, with a p < 0,05 which is higher than that of the conventional culture and the Gram staining.


The purpose of the study is to analyze the theories and models based on the exploration of ethical aspects of information technology in higher education. Based on the analysis of literature, three categories of theories have been identified in this field: general theories (the theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior, the theory of James Rest), decision making models (the model of Ferrell ?i Gresham, Hunt-Vitell theory (or model) of ethics about ethical decision making in general, Person- situation interactionist model, Bommer's ethical decision-making model, the model of Jones) and information technology models (IT ethical model, the model of unethical usage of information technology, the model of ethical behaviour in computer use, digital piracy attitude model, hypothetical and actual information security compliance models). The general theories have underpinned the later developed models, which have also begun to expand on IT-based models as well. The theory of reasoned action and The theory of planned behavior are the basis for the overwhelming majority of studies on the relationship between attitude, intention and unethical versus ethical behavior. Along with these models, the theories on the stages of moral development can also be considered as they have underpinned the construction of decision models (such as the interactive model) or have provided the foundation for studies related to teachers level of moral reasoning. The result of the analysis of these models will lead to the elaboration of a comprehensive model of factors influencing the attitudes of higher education teachers towards the unethical use of information technology.


We used immunofluorescent confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy to quantify uterine vascularity and to describe uterine surface morphology during gestation in pregnant females of the lecithotrophic lizard Niveoscincus coventryi. As uterine angiogenesis and epithelial cell morphology are thought to be under progesterone control, we studied the effect of a progesterone receptor antagonist (mifepristone) on uterine and chorioallantoic microvasculature and features of the uterine epithelial surfaces. Although intussuceptive angiogenesis was observed in both, uterine and chorioallantoic, vascular beds during gestation, the only significant increases were in the diameters of the uterine vessels. An ellipsoid vessel‐dense area grows in the mesometrial hemisphere of the developing conceptus, which parallels the expansion of the allantois to form the chorioallantoic placenta. Uterine surface topography changed during gestation. In particular, uterine blood vessels bulge over the luminal surface to form marked ridges on the uterine embryonic hemisphere, especially during the last stage of pregnancy, and ciliated cells are maintained in the embryonic and abembryonic hemispheres but disappear in both the mesometrial and antimesometrial poles. This distinct regionalization of uterine ridges and ciliated cells in the uterine surface and in the shape of the epithelial component of the chorion might be related to the function of both chorioallantoic and yolk sac placentae during gestation. There was no significant difference between females treated with or without mifepristone, which may be related to the partial function of mifepristone as a progestin antagonist and/or with the function and time of action of progesterone in the uterus during gestation in N. coventryi. Differences in the pattern of angiogenesis and uterine surface morphology during gestation among squamates may be related to the functional diversity of the uterine component of the different placentae and probably reflect its diverse evolutionary history. J. Morphol., 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


We study 2-local Hamiltonian quantum systems, consisting of qubits interacting on the star graph of N vertices. We numerically demonstrate that these models are generically non-integrable at infinite temperature, and find evidence for a finite temperature phase transition to a glassy phase in generic models. Operators can become complicated in constant time: we explicitly find that there is no bound on out-of-time-ordered correlators, even at finite temperature. Operator growth is not correctly modeled by stochastic quantum dynamics, including Brownian Hamiltonian dynamics or random unitary circuits. The star graph (and similar constructions) may serve as a useful testing ground for conjectures about universality, quantum chaos and Planckian dissipation in k-local systems, including in experimental quantum simulators.


The nitride layer formed in the target race track during the deposition of stoichiometric TiN thin films is a factor 2.5 thicker for high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS), compared to conventional dc processing (DCMS). The phenomenon is explained using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the as-operated Ti target surface chemistry supported by sputter depth profiles, dynamic Monte Carlo simulations employing the TRIDYN code, and plasma chemical investigations by ion mass spectrometry. The target chemistry and the thickness of the nitride layer are found to be determined by the implantation of nitrogen ions, predominantly N+ and N2+ for HIPIMS and DCMS, respectively. Knowledge of this method-inherent difference enables robust processing of high quality functional coatings.


In this article we will discuss the use of drones, as well as the visual simulation of drone afforded aesthetics, by activists, artists and protesters. We use the existing literature of surveillance studies and visual studies to examine how exactly a drone-afforded visibility emerges and how it mediates the visibility of a particular community or space of contention. We draw on the concepts of "surveillance capacities" and (counter) visibility practices to analyse the process and production of drone (and drone-simulated) counter surveillant artist/activist visibility. The article makes several key points. The first one concerns the construction of protest space and the protest site volumetrically from the airborne perspective of the citizen drone via an assemblage of artist/activist practices. These practices include the use of drones, as well as drone-simulated imagery. The latter includes, DIY aerial camera rigs attached to kites and the use visual social media platforms such as Instagram to curate otherwise less visible military drone geographies more 'real' and proximate. The second concerns the visibility of subjects engaged in the protest space. And finally, we elaborate how events are presented dynamically (rhythmically) through drone videos and a drone-afforded visual grammar. Our assumption is that drones, as well as drone-simulated imagery allow the user to generate a hybrid participative (inclusive) visibility that makes protest more spectacular through its volumetric vision, subverting the visibility of control while striving for visibility of recognition. Overall, this article seeks to further elaborate on the visual turn within sociology, specifically in relation to what are now commonplace volumetric practices of power, representation and participation.


The neurobehavioral states of wakefulness, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and non-REM sleep are characterized by distinct patterns of neuronal activity, as well as by differences in consciousness, responsiveness to stimuli, and muscle tone. The narcolepsy-cataplexy syndrome, which involves the loss of orexin-containing hypothalamic neurons, is associated with disturbances of the normal pattern of sleep and wakefulness, including overwhelming sleepiness, non-REM "sleep attacks," sleep-onset hallucinations, and cataplexy--a sudden, emotionally triggered loss of postural muscle tone. Cataplexy and sleep-onset hallucinations represent an intrusion of the REM state into wakefulness and are believed to reflect a neurological disturbance distinct from that underlying the inability to stay awake. Willie et al. investigated mutant mice lacking either orexins or the type 2 orexin receptor (OX2R) and discovered that, whereas both experienced similar non-REM sleep disturbances, the mice lacking orexin were more severely cataplectic. The authors used behavioral, pharmacological, and electrophysiological (electroencephalograms and electromyograms) analysis to characterize two classes of "behavioral arrests": abrupt arrests, analogous to human cataplectic attacks, and gradual arrests, equivalent to human sleep attacks. Both mutants exhibited disruptions of wakefulness and similar susceptibility to gradual arrests. The orexin-knockout mice, however, were more susceptible to abrupt arrests. Calcium imaging experiments in brain slices from wild-type mice and mice lacking OX2R indicated that OX2R was required for orexin-mediated stimulation of neurons in the tuberomammillary nucleus, a structure implicated in promoting wakefulness and suppressing non-REM sleep. Thus, OX2R seems to be critical to narcoleptic disruption of patterns of non-REM sleep and wakefulness, whereas OX2R-independent pathways play an important role in dysregulation of REM sleep. J. T. Willie, R. M. Chemelli, C. M. Sinton, S. Tokita, S. C. Williams, Y. Y. Kisanuki, J. N. Marcus, C. Lee, J. K. Elmquist, K. A. Kohlmeier, C. S. Leonard, J. A. Richardson, R. E. Hammer, M. Yanagisawa, Distinct narcolepsy syndromes in orexin receptor-2 and orexin null mice: Molecular genetic dissection of non-REM and REM sleep regulatory processes. Neuron 38, 715-730 (2003). [Online Journal]


ABSTRACT Bacterial pathogens commonly associated with chronic periodontitis are the spirochete Treponema denticola and the Gram-negative, proteolytic species Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia. These species rely on complex anaerobic respiration of amino acids, and the anthelmintic drug oxantel has been shown to inhibit fumarate reductase (Frd) activity in some pathogenic bacteria and inhibit P. gingivalis homotypic biofilm formation. Here, we demonstrate that oxantel inhibited P. gingivalis Frd activity with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 2.2 μM and planktonic growth of T. forsythia with a MIC of 295 μM, but it had no effect on the growth of T. denticola. Oxantel treatment caused the downregulation of six P. gingivalis gene products and the upregulation of 22 gene products. All of these genes are part of a regulon controlled by heme availability. There was no large-scale change in the expression of genes encoding metabolic enzymes, indicating that P. gingivalis may be unable to overcome Frd inhibition. Oxantel disrupted the development of polymicrobial biofilms composed of P. gingivalis, T. forsythia, and T. denticola in a concentration-dependent manner. In these biofilms, all three species were inhibited to a similar degree, demonstrating the synergistic nature of biofilm formation by these species and the dependence of T. denticola on the other two species. In a murine alveolar bone loss model of periodontitis oxantel addition to the drinking water of P. gingivalis-infected mice reduced bone loss to the same level as the uninfected control.


This paper aims to introduce the notions of knowing and grasping of a mathematics concept. We choose the concept of complex numbers to illustrate how these notions can be used to describe the understanding of students for this particular topic. As students develop their knowledge, supportive conceptions and problematic conceptions may occur in different ways. A student may know how to perform an algorithm or how to use a particular concept, without 'grasping' the meaning of the idea in a manner which enables him to comprehend more sophisticated ideas in an extended context. Grasping a concept means the ability to see the different aspects of an underlying concept, manipulate it and use it in different ways for different purposes. On top of that, one should be able to speak of it as a meaningful entity in its own right. In this paper, we will report the data which were collected through questionnaires and follow-up interviews of two third year undergraduate mathematics students to illustrate the subtle distinctions between "knowing" and "grasping". The results reveal that both participants, M1 and M2, couldn't grasp the concept of complex numbers as a coherent whole due to the problematic conceptions which arose from real numbers. There might be other factors which contributed to this phenomenon such as the theoretically abstract nature of complex numbers and surrounding factors that affect learning. This study leads us to realise the importance of creating the necessary experience for learners to make sense of complex numbers so that learners can build from their existing knowledge in real numbers which may conflict with complex numbers. Too often, we have focused on a particular context, teaching the content that learners should know without helping them to grasp the essential ideas for further leaning.


Agroforestry is a land use management system by combining agriculture and forestry and or husbandry to achieved yield optimalization (Indriyanto, 2006). Agroforestry systems with mixed garden pattern consist various types of plants that perform a different composition of plants so there are varied incomes from one place to another. This study aims to: (1) identifying the composition of agroforestry based on INP and its effect on income, (2) analyze the composition of the contribution of agroforestry products to total farm household income. Methods of data collection for species composition using purposive sampling while for the respondent farmers using stratified random sampling. Data analysis using quantitative descriptive analysis method. The results showed that the largest contributes of the composition of plant in three zones, namely the upper, middle, and bottom obtained on the composition of IX which is located in the lower zone of Rp 23,127,404, -/ha/yr with highest INP of cocoa is 94.86%. The magnitude of the average farmer's total income from each source of income from agroforestry to Rp 36.992.171/ha/yr and non-agroforestry amounting to Rp 9.312.500/yr. The magnitude of the contribution of agroforestry systems to farmers' incomes Pesawaran Indah Villages of 91.44%, meaning that agroforestry provides a major contribution to the household income of farmers.


As CMOS technology approaches its physical limits several emerging technologies are investigated to find the right replacement for the future computing systems. A number of different fabrics and architectures are currently under investigation. Unfortunately, at this time, no unified modeling exists to offer sound support for algorithmic design space exploration, with no compromise on device feasibility. This work presents a NASIC-compliant application-specific computing architecture template along with its performance models and optimization policies that support domain-space exploration. This architecture has up to 29X density advantage over CMOS, is completely compatible with the NASIC manufacturing pathway, and enables the creation of unique max-rate pipelined systems.


Coronavirus pandemic has caused people a lot of anxiety in the past two years. The present study aims at predicting Coronavirus anxiety level based on mindfulness and resilience. It is applied research in terms of the goal; and methodologically, it is descriptive correlational research. Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) as well as The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISD) are employed to gather the data. The participants of the study include all Rahman Institute of Higher Education students in the academic year 2020-2021. A total of 260 (147 male and 113 female) students are chosen based on convenience sampling for whom the questionnaires are administered on-line. Statistical data analysis is based on regression analysis. The results of the multiple liner regression show that 12 percent of variance in COVID 19 anxiety is related to two of the mindfulness facets as observing and acting with awareness (p<0.01). Additionally, 19.6 percent of variance in COVID 19 anxiety is determined by mindfulness. Therefore, it is concluded that the facet of observing and resilience are related to less COVID 19 anxiety and acting with awareness is in connection with more COVID 19 anxiety in people.


Desktop grid is a form of distributed computing that harvests the computing power of idle desktop computers whether these are volunteers or deployed at an institution. This paper proposes to design and implement a client-end framework of desktop grid, based on cloud storage, which can also deliver legacy applications on-demand to volunteer machines. From technical viewpoint, an isolated execution environment based on user-level virtualization will be achieved: on one side, some resource-accessing APIs for applications are intercepted and redirected to real storage positions (on the cloud); therefore legacy applications can run without installation to simplify maintenance. On the other side, this mechanism can also construct a sandbox to restrict the access range of applications for security. This proposal adopts promising cloud-related technologies for requirements of volunteer computing, tests show that it only causes limited performance loss.


Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) is a master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis and is controlled, at least in part, through AMP-activated protein kinase and p38-dependent pathways. There is evidence demonstrating that activation of these kinases and induction of PGC-1α in skeletal muscle are regulated by catecholamines. The purpose of the present study was to determine if consumption of a high-fat diet (HFD) impairs epinephrine and 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1β-d-ribofuranoside (AICAR) signaling and induction of PGC-1α in rat skeletal muscle. Male Wistar rats were fed chow or a HFD for 6 wk and then given a weight-adjusted bolus injection of epinephrine (20, 10, or 5 μg/100 g body wt sc) or saline, and triceps muscles were harvested 30 min (signaling) or 2 and 4 h (gene expression) postinjection. Despite blunted increases in p38 phosphorylation, the ability of epinephrine to induce PGC-1α was intact in skeletal muscle from HFD-fed rats and was associated with normal increases in activation of PKA and phosphorylation of cAMP response element-binding protein, reputed mediators of PGC-1α expression. The attenuated epinephrine-mediated increase in p38 phosphorylation was independent of increases in MAPK phosphatase 1. At 2 h following AICAR treatment (0.5 g/kg body wt sc), AMP-activated protein kinase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase phosphorylation were similar in skeletal muscle from chow- and HFD-fed rats. Surprisingly, AICAR-induced increases in PGC-1α mRNA levels were greater in skeletal muscle from HFD-fed rats. Our results demonstrate that the ability of epinephrine and AICAR to induce PGC-1α remains intact in skeletal muscle from HFD-fed rats. These results question the existence of reduced β-adrenergic responsiveness in diet-induced obesity and demonstrate that increases in p38 phosphorylation are not required for induction of PGC-1α in muscle from obese rats.


Asphyxia during delivery produces long‐term deficits in brain development, including hippocampus. We investigated hippocampal plasticity after perinatal asphyxia, measuring postnatal apoptosis and neurogenesis. Asphyxia was performed by immersing rat fetuses with uterine horns removed from ready‐to‐deliver rats into a water bath for 20 min. Caesarean‐delivered pups were used as controls. The animals were euthanized 1 week or 1 month after birth. Apoptotic nuclear morphology and DNA breaks were assessed by Hoechst and TUNEL assays. Neurogenesis was estimated by bromodeoxyuridine/MAP‐2 immunocytochemitry, and the levels and expression of proteins related to apoptosis and cell proliferation were measured by Western blots and in situ hybridization, respectively. There was an increase of apoptosis in CA1, CA3, and dentate gyrus (DG) and cell proliferation and neurogenesis in CA1, DG, and hilus regions of hippocampus 1 week after asphyxia. The increase of apoptosis in CA3 and cell proliferation in the suprapyramidal band of DG was still observed 1 month following asphyxia. There was an increase of BAD, BCL‐2, ERK2, and bFGF levels in whole hippocampus and bFGF expression in CA1 and CA2 and hilus at P7 and P30. There was a concomitant decrease of phosphorylated‐BAD (Ser112) levels. The increase of BAD levels supports the idea of delayed cell death after perinatal asphyxia, whereas the increases of BCL‐2, ERK2, and bFGF levels suggest the activation of neuroprotective and repair pathways. In conclusion, perinatal asphyxia induces short‐ and long‐term regionally specific plastic changes, including delayed cell death and neurogenesis, involving pro‐ and antiapoptotic as well as mitogenic proteins, favoring hippocampal functional recovery. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In a test facility for rotating annular cascades with three conical test sections of different taper angles (0, 30, 45 deg), experiments are conducted for two geometrically different turbine cascade configurations, a hub section cascade with high deflection and a tip section cascade with low deflection. The evaluation of time-averaged data derived from conventional probe measurements upstream and downstream of the test wheel in the machine-fixed absolute system is based on the assumption of axisymmetric stream surfaces. The cascade characteristics, i.e., mass flow, deflection, and losses, for a wide range of inlet flow angles and outlet Mach numbers are provided in the blade-fixed relative system with respect to the influence of annulus taper. Some of the results are compared with simple theoretical calculations. To obtain some information about the spatial structure of the flow within the cascade passages, surface pressure distributions on the profiles of the rotating test wheels are measured at three different radial blade sections. For some examples those distributions are compared with numerical results on plane cascades of the same sweep and dihedral angles and the same aspect ratios. The computer code used is based on a three-dimensional time-marching finite-volume method solving the Euler equations. Both experimental and numerical results show a fairly good qualitative agreement in the three-dimensional blade surface pressure distributions. This work will be continued with detailed investigations on the spatial flow structure.


This discussion paper examines the evolution of the concepts of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) (or Responsible Investment (RI)) and Responsible Property Investment (RPI) and compares their meanings with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (or Corporate Responsibility (CR)) and Corporate Governance (CG) within the context of the wider sustainability agenda. The increasing emphasis of financial institutions and private sector real estate developers to focus on urban regeneration projects in the UK and Europe is examined in the context of (1) the growth of public and private partnership arrangements (PPPs), one of a range of joint venture and partnership vehicles which have emerged, and (2) real estate asset allocation by financial institutions as part of a diversified investment portfolio. The development of these PPP arrangements is discussed, in terms of models emerging the UK and Europe which have been developed to underpin urban regeneration partnerships. The problems and issues surrounding the measurement of social impacts arising from institutional investment, bank lending and property-based projects (including urban regeneration) are discussed in the context of SRI and RPI. Relevant experience from the USA is also reviewed in this respect. The paper concludes by drawing out the lessons learned from 'best practice' measurement within CSR/SRI/RPI and within real estate-based projects (including regeneration), drawing on PPP-based vehicles in terms of delivery and social impact assessment in the UK and Europe, highlighting the need for further research in the field, and developing a conceptual model for this work.