This study is an attempt to investigate cases of temporal lobe epilepsy, the starting point being a large number of psychiatric patients. The data presented in this study suggest that a certain number of schizophrenic-like psychoses are produced by temporal seizural activity. There is some evidence that if there is a centrencephalic seizure at the beginning of such a psychotic state, the patient's behavior will have confusional characteristics (perhaps a postictal centrencephalic state). Some findings suggest that the side localization of the temporal lobe focus affects the feature of the psychotic state. None of the nine patients with periodic psychoses had schizoid or paranoid premorbid personality. As to the interictal behavioral disorders of epileptics, we have noticed that two patients with hysteroepilepsy and two with compensation neurosis had dominant temporal lobe focus. Of 10 cases with behavior disorders, all had grand mal or petit mal epilepsy, and none had a temporal lobe focus. Although this study is not based on sufficient data, it may provide working hypotheses for further research.


Offering a delightful escape to the simple country life, The Perfect Country Cottage includes lively photographs of small country houses from Cornwall to Maine, from Scandinavia to Greece, making it an essential companion for everyone wanting to decorate and style a country retreat. Chapters focus not only on interiors spaces--kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms--but also on exterior spaces such as flower and vegetable gardens, patios, and decks. Exterior details are fully explored, and close attention is given to topics special to decorating a country cottage, such as soft furnishings, floors, painted furniture, architectural details, garden furniture and storage. In addition, the author, who specializes in country buildings, traces the evolution of the country cottage from simple farmworkers' dwellings to modern rural oases from hectic urban life.


To respect and conserve the environment, many companies are trying to improve their plants and production processes to reduce contaminant generation. In this regard, asphalt mix industries are also making their contribution to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and benzene during the manufacturing and laying processes of bituminous mixes, as well as reducing waste generation when eliminating aged pavements or manufacturing surplus. In order to achieve this objective, mixes that can be produced and compacted at lower temperatures are becoming increasingly popular to bring about a reduction in gas emissions and obtain improvements in working conditions for employees in contact with them, without losing the mechanical characteristics of the conventional asphalt mixes (manufactured and compacted at 160 °C and 130 °C, respectively). This article summarizes the main techniques currently existing in the manufacture and placement of bituminous mixtures at lower temperatures, as well as the techniques applicable in the reuse of aged pavement, and introduces the use of some methods to assess the choice between different types of mixes, such as analysis of the life cycle and its economic variants.


An approach for estimating 3D body pose from multiple, uncalibrated views is proposed. First, a mapping from image features to 2D body joint locations is computed using a statistical framework that yields a set of several body pose hypotheses. The concept of a "virtual camera" is introduced that makes this mapping invariant to translation, image-plane rotation, and scaling of the input. As a consequence, the calibration matrices (intrinsics) of the virtual cameras can be considered completely known, and their poses are known up to a single angular displacement parameter Given pose hypotheses obtained in the multiple virtual camera views, the recovery of 3D body pose and camera relative orientations is formulated as a stochastic optimization problem. An Expectation-Maximization algorithm is derived that can obtain the locally most likely (self-consistent) combination of body pose hypotheses. Performance of the approach is evaluated with synthetic sequences as well as real video sequences of human motion.


Fedorová D., Bačinová H., Kovář P. (2017): Use of terraces to reduce overland flow and soil erosion, comparison of the HEC-HMS model and the KINFIL model application. Soil & Water Res., 12: 195−201. In our study, a system of seven natural terraces interspersed with six field belts situated at the Knínice locality (the Ore Mts., North-West Bohemia) was selected as the experimental catchment area. Overland flow was computed using two different methods: the kinematic wave method and the SCS dimensionless Unit hydrograph (UH). For the kinematic wave method calculations the KINFIL software was used; for SCS dimensionless hydrograph the HEC-HMS software was applied. The results compare hydrographs with N-year recurrence of rainfall-runoff time, where N = 10, 20, 50, and 100 years. The comparison provides hydraulic results with terraces and without terraces computed using both mentioned software products. Although two different methods of overland flow computation were performed, the input data obtained from geodetic and hydrological measurements were identical. Results of the comparison are presented and discussed.


ABSTRACT This focused review summarizes and critically evaluates clinical trial evidence for the effectiveness of Tai Chi as a supportive therapy for stroke rehabilitation. All prospective, controlled clinical trials published in English or Chinese and involving the use of Tai Chi by survivors of stroke were searched in eight electronic databases. Information from the included studies was extracted and synthesized. The methodological quality of all studies was assessed with the Jadad score. Five randomized controlled trials, four in English and one in Chinese, met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. The methodological quality of the trials was moderate (Jadad score, range, 1–4; average score, 2.6). Meta-analysis was not performed because of the heterogeneity of the study conditions and outcome measures. Three studies reported benefits of Tai Chi with respect to improved balance in participants who have had a stroke. Three studies assessed mobility function and reported no improvement after Tai Chi intervention in survivors of stroke. Improvements in quality-of-life and mental health were reported in three trials. This focused review suggests that Tai Chi exercise might be beneficial with respect to balance, quality-of-life, and mental health in survivors of stroke. More rigorous randomized controlled trials are required to determine whether Tai Chi is effective in stroke rehabilitation.


The continual growth of Internet traffic necessitates a high-capacity transmission platform and also highlights the importance of a multi-granularity transport network due to the flexible bitrates of Internet traffic. To meet these challenges, a spectrum-flexible optical network based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission technologies has been proposed as a promising solution because of its large transport capacity and bandwidth flexibility. In spectrum-flexible optical networks, we focus on the complete dynamic routing and spectrum assignment (RSA) problem, which integrates the signal format selection subproblem, the routing subproblem, and the spectrum assignment subproblem. In the complete RSA problem, we jointly consider the spectrum continuity constraints, the transmission distance constraints, and the relationship between the traffic bitrate and the signal bandwidth. A nonlinear programing model is presented to state the complete RSA problem. To solve the problem, we introduce a decomposition approach that divides the nonlinear problem into three steps: selecting the modulation format, solving the linear basic RSA problem, and checking the transmission distances. Based on the decomposition, we propose two heuristic approaches: modulation level fixed and adaptive RSA approaches for the complete RSA problem. Through analysis of the approaches, we prove that, in theory, the modulation level adaptive RSA approach can find the optimal solution to the complete RSA problem. The two approaches are implemented and compared in simulations. The results prove that the modulation level adaptive approaches achieve a lower capacity blocking probability than the modulation level fixed approaches.


Hyperscale datacenter providers have struggled to balance the growing need for specialized hardware (efficiency) with the economic benefits of homogeneity (manageability). In this paper we propose a new cloud architecture that uses reconfigurable logic to accelerate both network plane functions and applications. This Configurable Cloud architecture places a layer of reconfigurable logic (FPGAs) between the network switches and the servers, enabling network flows to be programmably transformed at line rate, enabling acceleration of local applications running on the server, and enabling the FPGAs to communicate directly, at datacenter scale, to harvest remote FPGAs unused by their local servers. We deployed this design over a production server bed, and show how it can be used for both service acceleration (Web search ranking) and network acceleration (encryption of data in transit at high-speeds). This architecture is much more scalable than prior work which used secondary rack-scale networks for inter-FPGA communication. By coupling to the network plane, direct FPGA-to-FPGA messages can be achieved at comparable latency to previous work, without the secondary network. Additionally, the scale of direct inter-FPGA messaging is much larger. The average round-trip latencies observed in our measurements among 24, 1000, and 250,000 machines are under 3, 9, and 20 microseconds, respectively. The Configurable Cloud architecture has been deployed at hyperscale in Microsoft's production datacenters worldwide.


Context: Oral lichen planus (OLP) affects 0.5-1% of the total world's population. The histological features of oral lichen planus were first described by Dubreuill in 1906. Despite the advent of various techniques, the etiology of lichen planus remains obscure, although many theories for the etiology have been proposed. Aims: By studying OLP electron microscopically, we shall be emphasizing on the cells and its interactions in specific/altered surroundings which would help us in hypothesizing the effects of its specific cell-to-cell interactions. Materials and Methods: A total of 20 cases of oral lichen planus were selected and categorized into erosive and nonerosive forms based upon clinical pattern and confirmed as lichen planus by histopathological analysis. Tissue specimens thus obtained were cut into two halves and fixed in appropriate fixatives, i.e., neutral buffered formalin for paraffin-embedded hematoxylin and eosin stained sections and 2.5% glutaraldehyde and 2% paraformaldehyde for electron microscopic purpose respectively. Results: Ultrastructural comparison among the two forms showed significant differences between them. The basal layer showed cytoplasmic processes, intercellular spaces, desmosomes, nuclei, and signs of degeneration. The erosive form showed elongated, narrow or irregular cytoplasmic projections whereas the nonerosive showed short and broad based projections. Conclusions: The present study confirms the ultrastructural findings of basal cells in OLP with previous authors findings. Besides this, the categorization of the ultrastructural differences between erosive and nonerosive has raised the question of difference in the probable cellular and molecular mechanism between erosive and nonerosive forms.


BACKGROUND
The Synergy system, a miniature partial circulatory support device, is implanted by an off-pump, minimally invasive surgical approach. The system has been optimized to improve performance in an EU clinical trial for chronic ambulatory heart failure. This therefore offers the possibility of treating elderly chronic heart failure patients who might not usually be considered for long-term circulatory support.

METHODS
From June 2007 to December 2012, 63 patients were implanted with the Synergy system (12 patients ≥70 years) using four different releases of the device. Briefly, the system draws blood through the inflow cannula from the left atrium into the micro-pump (placed in a right subclavicular pocket) and pumps it through an outflow graft to the right subclavian artery. In this paper, we present an intermediate analysis of the clinical trial as performed on April 30, 2013, leading to the placing of the CE mark.

RESULTS
Mean duration of support is ongoing at 230 days (range 23-1387). Follow-up showed improved hemodynamic response, with additional improvements in 6-min walk distance (299 ± 144 to 420 ± 119 m) and Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (69.5 ± 20.4 to 49.2 ± 24.3). Older patients had longer mean durations of support (337 vs 188 days). On average, elderly and younger patients showed similar improvements in hemodynamics and 6-min walk distance (107 ± 120 vs 130 ± 121 m). Major adverse cardiac events included bleeding (n=4) with one bleeding related to renal failure resulting in death.

CONCLUSIONS
Clinical use of the Synergy device was associated with a significant functional improvement. Very low adverse event rates were reported with the latest device release. Older patients had smaller body sizes and worse renal function than younger patients. Both groups experienced similar hemodynamic benefits and functional improvements. The risk of bleeding and renal dysfunction appears to be increased in the elderly, though still within acceptable ranges compared to other full support devices. Minimally invasive long-term circulatory support devices, like Synergy, offer a new treatment option that might be available even for the elderly chronic heart failure population.


This paper describes our efforts in porting the SRI Decipher English system into Mandarin for transcribing telephone conversations. This includes all aspects of the system: the pronunciation phone set and lexicon, word segmentation, pitch features, discriminatively trained acoustic models with parameter sharing determined by decision trees, and web-data augmented language models.


We report on an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study of two graphene based devices that were analyzed by imposing a significant current under +3 V bias. The devices were fabricated as graphene layers(s) on hexagonal SiC substrates, either on the C- or Si-terminated faces. Position dependent potential distributions (IR-drop), as measured by variations in the binding energy of a C1s peak are observed to be sporadic for the C-face graphene sample, but very smooth for the Si-face one, although the latter is less conductive. We attribute these sporadic variations in the C-face device to the incomplete electrical decoupling between the graphene layer(s) with the underlying buffer and/or substrate layers. Variations in the Si2p and O1s peaks of the underlayer(s) shed further light into the electrical interaction between graphene and other layers. Since the potential variations are amplified only under applied bias (voltage-contrast), our methodology gives unique, chemically specific electrical information that is difficult to obtain by other techniques.


Endoscopic procedures in plastic surgery have been applied in various aesthetic and reconstructive surgical techniques. The authors describe, in this preliminary report, a new surgical technique of endoscopic dissection of the temporoparietal fascial flap. A series of 6 fresh human cadavers (12 flaps) were dissected endoscopically. The surgical incisions, flap anatomy applicable to endoscopy, endoscopic surgical technique, and type of endoscopic setup is standardized for all flaps, allowing direct identification of the temporoparietal fascial layers and the major vascular pedicle. This endoscopic manipulation of the flap, without the traditional large scalp incision, permits local and free transfer of the temporoparietal fascial flap. Exposure of the flap by means of the conventional T or Y temporal incisions has several possible disadvantages, including an increased risk of blood loss, alopecia, and facial nerve injury. Endoscopic dissection and mobilization of the temporoparietal fascial flap can obviate the direct flap incision and yield a flap accessible to dissection and mobilization for additional clinical applications. This new, innovative, and minimally invasive endoscopic procedure may prove particularly applicable to future clinical applications of this type of fascial flap.


The NHS, like many organisations, relies on knowledge workers ('professionals' and other staff) and has introduced competency-based arrangements (the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF)), covering over one million NHS workers, to support their development and service improvement. However, its conceptual compatibility as a rational managerialist control-based approach is open to question, given the need for freedom, autonomy and self-management. The answer to why this has come about is embedded in power relations and their effects emanating from political and managerial domains manifested in New Public Management (NPM). A feature of NPM is wide-scale assimilation of 'tried and tested' private sector managerialist practices into the public sphere. Competencybased approaches exemplify this phenomenon which includes 'targetry', 'Lean', 'business-process engineering' and 'quality improvement' initiatives, which, together with imposed 'market disciplines', have transformed the organisation, management and delivery of public services. This study refutes the assumption that competency-based approaches (and other managerialist measures) can be unproblematically applied and lead inexorably to performance improvements. Previous research into the KSF from a rational managerialist orientation highlights difficulties with its implementation and recommends 'more and superior' managerialist actions. This study indicates such recommendations, while necessary, are insufficient to deal with human, cultural and social complexities material to the maximisation of (knowledge) worker contribution. Through qualitative semi-structured interviews and the use of Foucauldian perspectives on power and subjectivity, a gap is identified between rational managerialist beliefs, intent and rhetoric and the 'realities' of lived experience. This investigation moves beyond rational managerialism to identify human and relational conditions necessary to enhance knowledge worker development and performance.


Numerical simulations of the Enhanced Rotorcraft Innovative Concept Achievement tiltrotor have been performed using the Helicopter Multi-Block CFD solver. Comparisons with experimental data obtained in the German-Dutch Large Low-speed Facility and the S1MA wind tunnel are also presented. For this work, an aeroplane mode configuration, referred to as AC1, of the tiltrotor is considered. It is characterised by low speed and relatively high angle of attack of the aircraft. The Helicopter Multi-Block CFD method predicted the surface pressure coefficient at cross sections on the fuselage, nacelle, fixed wing, and tiltable wing of the tiltrotor accurately. Good overall agreement is obtained between CFD and wind tunnel data. In addition to fully resolved blades, computations with actuator disk models were also performed.


Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a potential risk factor for the development of COVID-19 and is associated with higher severity and mortality rates. T2DM patients are commonly treated with metformin monotherapy or metformin plus sitagliptin. In the present case-control, single-center cohort study, a total number of 112 T2DM patients suffering from COVID-19 and aged 44–62 years old were compared with 78 T2DM patients without COVID-19 and aged 42–56 years old. Both the patient group and the control group were allocated into four groups. Group A: T2DM patients with COVID-19 on metformin treatments plus standard therapy (n = 60); group B: T2DM patients with COVID-19 on metformin plus sitagliptin plus standard therapy (n = 52); group C: T2DM patients without COVID-19 on metformin treatments (n = 40); and group D: T2DM patients without COVID-19 on metformin plus sitagliptin (n = 38). The investigation duration was 2–3 weeks. Anthropometric measurements, serological and biochemical investigations, pulmonary radiological findings, and clinical outcomes were evaluated. Only 101 T2DM patients with COVID-19 continued the study, 71 (70.29%) with mild-moderate COVID-19 and 30 (29.7%) with severe COVID-19 were compared with 78 T2DM patients as a control. Inflammatory biomarkers (C reactive protein, ferritin, and procalcitonin), a lung injury biomarker (lactate dehydrogenase), and a coagulopathy biomarker (D-dimer) were elevated in severe COVID-19 patients compared with mild-moderate COVID-19 (p < 0.05) and T2DM patients (p < 0.05). However, metformin plus sitagliptin was more effective than metformin monotherapy in T2DM patients with COVID-19, as evidenced by the mitigation of oxidative stress, CT scan score, and clinical outcomes. The present study confirmed the protective effects of this combination against the development of COVID-19 severity, as most T2DM COVID-19 patients develop mild-moderate forms. Herein, the combination of metformin and sitagliptin may lead to more beneficial effects than metformin monotherapy.


Nigeria, a highly populated country in West Africa, has for the past five years been embroiled in turmoil. Agitation arising from displacement of a large number of people coupled with alienation in their own ancestral lands and homes, due to activities of the unpopular Islamic sect, Boko Haram (roughly translated in English as "Western education is an abomination"). This radical religious sect seeks in the most poignant way, to create a wide gap for its own conceived Islamic world order by killing, dispossessing, kidnapping and alienating people, especially in the north-eastern part of Nigeria, bordering Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republics. Economic, religious, cultural and political lives of the locals including Muslims are destroyed. No end is in sight. However, in the face of hostility, hatred, injustice, disorder, despair and an attempt to create order, a new form of public morality is desperately needed in Nigeria, today. The questions then are: what is this public morality? How can a public morality be facilitated to salvage such a disturbing situation?


The Stepped Pressure Equilibrium Code (SPEC) (Hudson et al 2012 Phys. Plasmas 19 112502) has been successful in the construction of equilibria in 3D configurations that contain a mixture of flux surfaces, islands and chaotic magnetic field lines. In this model, the plasma is sliced into sub-volumes separated by ideal interfaces, and in each volume the magnetic field is a Beltrami field. In the cases where the system is far from possessing a continuous symmetry, such as in stellarators, the existence of solutions to a stepped-pressure equilibrium with given constraints, such as a multi-region relaxed MHD minimum energy state, is not guaranteed but is often taken for granted. Using SPEC, we have studied two different scenarios in which a solution fails to exist in a slab with analytic boundary perturbations. We found that with a large boundary perturbation, a certain interface becomes fractal, corresponding to the break up of a Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser (KAM) surface. Moreover, an interface can only support a maximum pressure jump while a solution of the magnetic field consistent with the force balance condition can be found. An interface closer to break-up can support a smaller pressure jump. We discovered that the pressure jump can push the interface closer to being non-smooth through force balance, thus significantly decreasing the maximum pressure it can support. Our work shows that a convergence study must be performed on a SPEC equilibrium with interfaces close to break-up. These results may also provide insights into the choice of interfaces and have applications in finding out the maximum pressure a machine can support.


In general, structural integrity of rolling stock structures should last more than 25 years. During the lifetime corrosive degradation occurs. For structural design and diagnosis, quantitative relationship between corrosive degradation and variation of mechanical properties such as tensile strength and fatigue strength is needed. In this study, electrochemical corrosion tests, atmospheric corrosion tests and fatigue tests of corroded specimens were carried out. The electrochemical characteristics of SS400, SM490A, SUS205L and SUS304 were examined. At regular intervals tensile and fatigue tests were carried out by using specimens of SM490A and SS400 on the atmospheric corrosion test bed. The fatigue strength decreases as the atmospheric corrosion period increases. In addition, the effect of heat treatment on the tensile and fatigue behavior was studied.


The p-value quantifies the discrepancy between the data and a null hypothesis of interest, usually the assumption of no difference or no effect. A Bayesian approach allows the calibration of p-values by transforming them to direct measures of the evidence against the null hypothesis, so-called Bayes factors. We review the available literature in this area and consider two-sided significance tests for a point null hypothesis in more detail. We distinguish simple from local alternative hypotheses and contrast traditional Bayes factors based on the data with Bayes factors based on p-values or test statistics. A well-known finding is that the minimum Bayes factor, the smallest possible Bayes factor within a certain class of alternative hypotheses, provides less evidence against the null hypothesis than the corresponding p-value might suggest. It is less known that the relationship between p-values and minimum Bayes factors also depends on the sample size and on the dimension of the parameter of interest. We illustrate the transformation of p-values to minimum Bayes factors with two examples from clinical research.


As the consumer market in the optics, electronics and aerospace industries grows, the profile accuracy demand for ultra-precision flat, spherical and aspheric optical surface micro-lens increases. Previous studies have found that machine system accuracy, tool alignment error and tool radius measurement error impact greatly on the profile accuracy of the machined surface. In this paper, we developed a grinding system based on the ultra-precision diamond lathe, presented a unified mathematical model of effects of all the geometric errors to the shape error by using the multi-body system theory. Aiming at the main source of profile error, the practical mathematical model is derived, and their propagation coefficients to profile error are calculated. By means of simulation analysis and grinding experiments of spherical part of tugnsten carbide, we conclude that the radial tool alignment error is the main influencing factor for the profile error of spherical surface; while tool radius measurement error influence the radius of sphere only.


Theories of object recognition have emphasized the information conveyed by shape information, whereas theories of face recognition have emphasized properties of superficial features. In the experiments reported here we used novel technology to investigate the relative contributions of shape and superficial colour information to simple categorization decisions about the sex and 'race' of faces. The results show that both shape and colour provide useful information for these decisions; shape information was particularly useful for race decisions while colour dominated sex decisions. When both sources of information were combined, the dominant source depended on viewpoint, with angled views emphasizing the contribution of shape and the full-face view colour. The results are discussed within the context of theories of face recognition and their implications for telecommunication applications are considered.


Few people are more respected or better positioned to speak on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan than M. Hassan Kakar. A professor at Kabul University and scholar of Afghanistan affairs at the time of the 1978 coup d'etat, Kakar vividly describes the events surrounding the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the encounter between the military superpower and the poorly armed Afghans. The events that followed are carefully detailed, with eyewitness accounts and authoritative documentation that provide an unparalleled view of this historical moment. Because of his prominence Kakar was at first treated with deference by the Marxist government and was not imprisoned, although he openly criticized the regime. When he was put behind bars the outcry from scholars all over the world possibly saved his life. In prison for five years, he continued collecting information, much of it from prominent Afghans of varying political persuasions who were themselves prisoners. Kakar brings firsthand knowledge and a historian's sensibility to his account of the invasion and its aftermath. This is both a personal document and a historical one - Kakar lived through the events he describes, and his concern for human rights rather than party politics infuses his writing. As Afghans and the rest of the world try to make sense of Afghanistan's recent past, Kakar's voice will be one of those most listened to.


Background:
 National data shows that African Americans (AA) are less likely to fall than whites. However, the reasons for this difference and whether it is true amongst stroke survivors are unknown. We hypothesized that AA stroke survivors fall less than white stroke survivors, and sought to understand which risk factors drive racial differences.

 Methods:
 Data from the 2011 wave of National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATs), a nationally representative population of community-dwelling adults over 65, were used. We compared the prevalence of self-reported falling in the past year between AA and white stroke survivors using Poisson regression models. Models were adjusted for groups of variables that may predict race-based differences in falls: sociodemographic, comorbidity, capacity, fall risk factor, fall access, and environment. Race-specific predictive margins and prevalence ratios (PR) were calculated.

 Results:
 The sample included 806 stroke survivors; 581 white and 228 AA. AAs had lower income, physical and cognitive capacity, were less likely to be married, to go outside, to have osteoporosis, and lived in worse neighborhood environments compared to white stroke survivors. Unadjusted, prevalence of falling in the past year was similar comparing AA to whites (PR: 0.89, p=0.2). Adjustment for sociodemographic variables produced a marginal racial difference, which became statistically significant after adding physical and cognitive capacity measures (Table). After full adjustment, AA were 30% less likely to have reported a fall compared to whites (p=0.004).

 Conclusions:
 African American stroke survivors are significantly less likely to report falling in the previous year compared to whites. Differences in sociodemographics and capacity may be most influential, yet other factors did not account for differences in fall prevalence. Further study of falls among AA stroke survivors may provide insight to decrease falls among other racial/ethnic groups.


I propose the panoramic, but there is always detail in the terrain. My music resembles a
topographic vista that is long and wide, but this should not infer stasis. On a macro level I aim for the sonic as landscape, containing intricacy and particularity, proposing an aura of curiosity,
delight, fascination and occasionally antipathy and shock. I desire conflict, friction and incongruity in music—broken detail, fractured sound, noise, silence, ugliness, flexibility and constraint, violence and beauty—sometimes as a device to reveal or mask and at other moments to highlight subtleties that might otherwise go unobserved. It is the stuff that disrupts, interferes or disturbs on which I fix my gaze. Equally it is the influence of gaps, spaces and silences between the details that can often
generate the most fascinating results. By layering seemingly incongruous material one can alter the way it is formed, creating interesting gestural quirks and intriguing inconsistency. Seemingly incongruent noises are 'collided' as if in a car crash, creating new shapes, crumpled and disfigured, that emerge from the once rigid surface of the vehicle's steel body.
It is with these methods in mind that I formalise the ideas behind much of what I do, particularly in reference to the CollidedVoices project. Through CollidedVoices I explore a notion where melody, in the form of medieval vocal music, is both resistant to destruction and is able to co-exist with noise, harmoniously. Contextualizing the work within the realm of improvisation, art music, studio composition, noise, pop and electronica, my work references much that has gone before. However, these approaches to negotiation, exploration and intertextualisation function as a personal filter through which unusual and unique combinations of elements are revealed within the musical frame


Barely three years after passing the America Invents Act, Congress is again considering patent reform legislation. At least fourteen patent reform bills were introduced in the recently concluded 113th Congress. Several of those bills focused specifically on patent litigation, proposing, among other things, to impose heightened pleading requirements on plaintiffs, to limit discovery, and to create a presumption that the losing party should pay the winner's attorneys' fees. None of the proposals became law, but one of the bills (the Innovation Act) passed the House of Representatives. In addition, scholars continue to call for reform, and Republican members of Congress have said that, with their party now holding a majority in both houses, patent reform will be on the agenda in 2015. As was the case in the six-year process that led to the America Invents Act, the early proposals that failed in Congress will undoubtedly inform future bills. With an eye toward those future bills, this essay argues that legislative reform is unnecessary because the courts and the Judicial Conference of the United States (the body charged with maintaining the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure) are already in the process of fixing several problematic areas of patent litigation. Moreover, the changes being made by the courts and the Judicial Conference are more nuanced and sensible than the proposals Congress has considered, which would mandate defendant-friendly changes in all types of patent cases — not just the weak cases, often filed by so-called patent trolls, that are spurring the cries for reform. Indeed, the legislative proposals offer little more than the same, generic, anti-litigation solutions that are often invoked to remedy perceived crises of "abusive" litigation, whether in the fields of tort law, civil rights, securities law, or, now, patent law. In addition, the timeworn proposals percolating in Congress treat only the symptoms of the patent system's illness; they do not address fundamental flaws in the system, including the poor notice provided by and poor quality of many patents issued by the PTO, particularly in the information technology sector. The breadth of the legislative proposals also poses a risk of unintended consequences. Heightened pleading requirements, for instance, may block legitimate assertions of patent infringement in industries such as biopharmaceuticals where infringement occurs in research or production facilities to which the patent holder cannot gain access. And rather than reducing litigation, the proposals could actually increase litigation about peripheral matters such as the permissible scope of discovery and which party should bear the costs of that discovery. Legislation, simply, may be too blunt of an instrument to effectively reform patent litigation. Rather, as a matter of institutional choice, incremental changes driven primarily by the courts seem to be a better option.


The interaction between hypersensitivity of delayed type and the severity of infection was studied in albino mice vaccinated and survived after the intranasal infection with 100 LD50 of Coccidioidosis immitis (pulmonary model of coccidiasis). The method of determination of the weight of the lungs and edema of the paw pads after the administration of the specific antigen permitted to assess the intensity of immunity quantitatively. There was an inverse correlation between the weight of the affected lungs and edema of the limbs, and in case of pregressive development of coccidioidosis--between the weight of the body and the lungs. A formula for determining the immunoreactivity index in the vaccinated mice infected with the causative agents of lung infections, in the mechanism of whose defence the prevailing role was played by cellular immunity, is suggested.


Entering the 21st century, the knowledge economy as a new economic realizes the alternative of intellectual resources of material resources in the economic operational process, and it can greatly save energy and improve economic efficiency. Thus the value of existence of the enterprises in the context of knowledge economy is that the enterprises can conduct knowledge creation, transfer and use more efficient compared with the market. In essence, enterprises are the entity of knowledge production, the peculiarity of it owned to the difference between knowledge production ability and using ability. This paper used the similarity fundamental of the cross and comprehensive of natural science and social science, and imported the basic principles of entropy theory in thermodynamics to study the mechanism of knowledge creation, the key pathways and mechanisms, pointed out that the knowledge entropy can greatly save energy and improve economic efficiency. At the same time constructed a mathematical model of knowledge creation, and pointed out that any enterprises must continue to carry out knowledge creation and knowledge transfer to increase negative entropy to promote sustained and have a healthy development. Key words: Entropy theory; Knowledge creation; Model


Research on both higher and lower eukaryotic model systems have revealed that numerous aspects are involved in the course of the aging process. Although strides have been made to understand the role of these processes in the development of aging, a general consensus has not been reached on the relative importance of each of them. Mapping the changes that occur in the course of the aging process, and thereby define so called markers of aging, could provide the information necessary to understand the aging process and the contributions of the different mechanisms herein. Changes that occur during aging, such as increased cellular death and decreased tissue and organ functioning, could be reflected in the blood plasma protein composition. However, proteomic analysis of plasma is hampered by the presence of several highly abundant bulk proteins. In chapter 2 of this thesis, the selection of highly specific single domain Llama antibody fragments (VHH) for affinity chromatography purposes is described, which can be used to remove the highly abundant human plasma proteins, human serum albumin (HSA) and all subclasses of immunoglobulin G (IgG). This removal resulted in the visualization of previously masked protein spots and an increased visibility of previously non-detectable protein spots on 2D-gel. In chapter 3, the use of these affinity ligands, combined with two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE), is shown in a human blood plasma proteomics study to reveal protein expression differences between young and old individuals. This revealed the importance of studying levels of protein isoforms next to total protein expression levels. Furthermore, this approach demonstrated that upon aging a slightly increased pro-coagulant and pro-inflammatory state is induced. The increase of oxidative stress observed during aging can damage various different cellular molecules. An organelle that seems especially vulnerable for oxidative stress is the ER. Increased oxidative stress might interfere with protein folding and lead to differences in expression of the proteins involved in proper protein folding in the ER. These proteins contain a C-terminal KDEL signal sequence, which determines their ER localization. In chapter 4, the selection and application of VHHs specific for the C-terminal KDEL sequence is described that can be used to study protein expression patterns in cellular ER stress models. In chapter 5 the application of the KDEL specific VHH provides preliminary data on the changed expression of several ER resident proteins in a HUVEC senescence model comparing young and senescent cells. Intriguingly, clear changes are observed. However, these changes do not resemble the expression differences observed during severe ER stress. Furthermore, the expression of the membrane protein endoglin, which is involved in cellular proliferation, is decreased upon replicative senescence. These data clearly show that during replicative senescence changes occur at the protein level that could influence cellular and consequently tissue functionality, which could provide an environment for the development of age-associated diseases like atherosclerosis.


Your CCNA Exam Success Strategy: The Non-Technical Guidebook for Routing & Switching (preview at www.2doubleCCIEs.com) is a unique guidebook which has been written by two double CCIEs, and deals with the non-technical aspects of CCNA exam. In addition it answers the following questions : How do I start preparing for my CCNA certification? How much time will it take me to be CCNA certified? How can I accurately estimate the cost of being CCNA certified? What are the dos and don'ts for the CCNA exam? When do I know I am ready to take my CCNA exam? How do I study efficiently for the CCNA exam? How much do I study on a daily and weekly basis to be CCNA Certified? What do I need to do Three weeks, Three days and the three hours before the exam? What to do after I pass my CCNA exam? This first of its kind guidebook is a result of filtering and crystallizing all of the ideas and strategies that we collected from large number of CCNAs. In this guidebook we: Share our stories and stories of many successful CCNAs with you. Offer the knowledge that we have gained throughout our CCNA journey. Cover over 30 topics and issues that we have faced and that you will likely be facing. Will walk you through every step of the journey. Give you multiple timelines for engineers with different skill sets. Tell you the right frame of mind that you will need to pass your CCNA exam. This book is written in a relaxing casual conversational format in which, we present to you the strategies that we used and then give our own personal example as "what we did or what we would do." Each chapter is about 3 to 4 short pages right to the point with clear and precise answers to your questions. Please visit our website www.2doubleCCIEs.com for Videos and more.


As shown during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, phylogenetic and phylodynamic methods are essential tools to study the spread and evolution of pathogens. One of the central assumptions of these methods is that the shared history of pathogens isolated from different hosts can be described by a branching phylogenetic tree. Recombination breaks this assumption. This makes it problematic to apply phylogenetic methods to study recombining pathogens, including, for example, coronaviruses. Here, we introduce a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach that allows inference of recombination networks from genetic sequence data under a template switching model of recombination. Using this method, we first show that recombination is extremely common in the evolutionary history of SARS-like coronaviruses. We then show how recombination rates across the genome of the human seasonal coronaviruses 229E, OC43 and NL63 vary with rates of adaptation. This suggests that recombination could be beneficial to fitness of human seasonal coronaviruses. Additionally, this work sets the stage for Bayesian phylogenetic tracking of the spread and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in the future, even as recombinant viruses become prevalent.


Concomitant occurrence of pulmonary embolism and right ventricular infarction is rare. It poses important diagnostic and therapeutic implications. A case of pulmonary embolism with isolated right ventricular anterior wall infarction presented with ventricular tachycardia. One pathology could have led to the other. Two-dimensional echocardiography was useful in documenting pulmonary artery hypertension as well as regional wall motion abnormality of the right ventricle. Thrombolytic therapy and dobutamine infusion were useful. Nitrates, fluid infusion and diuretics should be used cautiously.


The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation1 and the British Congenital Cardiac Association2 have produced guidelines for palivizumab prophylaxis. There is conflicting evidence regarding the cost benefits of treatment, which is an important consideration where there are limited resources to provide therapy to all children meeting the broad criteria. A course of five doses of palivizumab can cost up to £6000 per patient. The development of centralised clinics may help reduce the costs associated with administration and improve the quality of the service delivered.3 4

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Historically in Cambridgeshire, palivizumab treatment has been administered in an ad hoc manner. Some children were treated in the community and others in hospital either as outpatients or as ward attenders. Children referred to the Cambridge Children's Community Nursing Teams (CCNT) would receive monthly home visits for the entire respiratory …


Apoptosis is a programmed cell death process that helps to regulate both T cell and B cell development. In this study, we have investigated the levels of apoptotic death in cells of the thymuses and spleens (white matter) of autoimmune MRL‐lpr/lpr mice with progressive lymphadenopathy and SLE disease activity; we also examined the renal pathology in these animals. Fas is a cell surface receptor, which when activated initiates the sequence of events that lead to apoptosis. In MRL‐lpr/lpr mice Fas is defective, so the competency for apoptosis may be reduced. In young animals of advancing age the thymuses enlarged until in 5‐month‐old females the average weight was three times that at 1 month, and spleen and kidney weights also increased in size disproportionately. At light microscope level apoptotic cells in tissue sections were counted using both routine eosin and haematoxylin staining (to identify them by their morphology) and in situ end‐labelling of cells with DNA strand breaks; their presence was further confirmed by electron microscopy. As the mice aged, the numbers of apoptotic cells in thymic cortex, thymic medulla and spleen white pulp areas reduced significantly (P < 0.01–0.001), whereas in BALB/c normal controls they increased significantly (P < 0.05). These changes were coincident with the development of severe lupus, whose activity was assessed by measuring serum anti‐ssDNA and anti‐dsDNA antibody titres and urinary protein (albumin) level which were elevated significantly by 5 months of age (P < 0.001 for both ssDNA and dsDNA and P < 0.01 for urine albumin) compared with their younger counterparts. Thus, lymphoid organ enlargement, decrease in apoptotic indices, elevated serum anti‐ssDNA and anti‐dsDNA antibody levels, and impaired renal function coincided with the onset and severity of lupus disease in lpr mice. It seems likely that there is a causal relationship between defective deletion of autoreactive lymphoid cells, imperfect Fas‐mediated apoptosis and development of murine SLE.


This prospective PRISMA systematic review with modified e-Delphi [SR] started with a focus on harm [arachnoiditis] caused by multiple types of spinal interventions, mostly spinal surgery. Preclinical studies were included in the searches to inform future directions. Global social media groups with >15K patients with the diagnosis express disdain towards doctors for being harmed and then abandoned—disabled, with intractable neuropathic pain, and no known therapy. The protocol was amended, additional searches added when collected 63 terms for the same area of pathology, and the SR expanded to diseases of the leptomeninges. This incomparable partnership between physician-scientist-patients and multiple neurosurgeons generates answers, exposes disparities, and results in an unanticipated conclusion.


A new method of repairing damaged structures by injecting the cracks with specially designed polymer mass (flexible two-component grout based on polyurethane resin) has been recently proposed. The technique is mainly dedicated to damaged masonries, especially historical structures where minimum intervention is permitted. The cracks are filled with the special injection, forming the flexible joints bonding the disrupted structural elements. The aim of the present paper is to show the results of the experimental study focused on properties of the polymer mass used for the injections. First, the material has been subjected to static compression tests. Then, the polymer mass has been examined dynamically under harmonic excitations with different frequencies and strain levels. The results of the study indicate that the tested polymer mass shows highly non-linear behaviour with relatively low resistance under small displacements and stiffening effect for higher strain levels. Moreover, it is substantially dependent on the strain rate having higher initial deformation modulus for higher strain rate values. Finally, the observed hysteretic behaviour of the material confirms its potential to dissipate the energy during vibrations preventing from further structural damage in the case of dynamic loading.


We report the first proof-of-principle demonstration of a quantum dot (QD) doped dielectric elastomer actuator as a new stretchable optical device with electrically tunable optical absorbance and fluorescence. A polyacrylate dielectric elastomer film with carbon grease electrodes was loaded with organic-phase CdSe/CdS luminescent QDs. This study moved from the working hypothesis that electrical actuation of the QD doped elastomer varies the distances among each QD and its neighbours in the structure, modifying the volume and/or surface density of QDs, and thus leading to variable interactions among them, therefore changing the optical spectral properties of the QDs in the elastomer matrix. Experiments revealed that applied voltages increased the UV–vis absorbance, and decreased the photoluminescence (fluorescence) intensity and lifetimes. The former effect proved the working hypothesis, while the latter was not expected. The drop in photoluminescence intensity was found to be caused by the high fringe electric field generated by the actuator. The paper presents characterizations and discusses results, highlighting potentials and challenges of such systems.


There is now a rich variety of piezoelectric materials available for surface acoustic wave applications. These include crystals in symmetry classes mm2, 32, 3m, 4mm, 6mm, and 4a3m. Classes 6mm and 4a3m include most of the binary semiconductors, such as gallium arsenide and related alloys, making integrated acoustic/electronic devices possible. Depending upon use, the SAW substrate material may be chosen to have certain combinations: piezocoupling, temperature coefficient of frequency or delay, small coupling to bulk modes, low sensitivity to acceleration or thermal transients, high acoustic Q, small power flow angle, etc. In this paper, these and other criteria are discussed broadly, with illustrations of pertinent materials and orientations. Also given are recommendations of substances for which the material constants are well enough known to be practical, as well as indications for necessary future work in growth and characterization. A broadband equivalent electrical network for SAW propagation is pr...


The Mylonite zone (MZ) is a prominent late-Sveconorwegian lithological terrane boundary in the SW Baltic Shield along which large-scale crustal block movements took place during the Sveconorwegian orogeny. The southern section of the MZ also defines a conspicuous metamorphic break separating upper amphibolite and high-pressure granulite facies rocks in the parautochthonous Eastern Segment (ES), from middle amphibolite facies rocks in the overlying Western Segment (WS). Zircon geochronology and structural and metamorphic data for orthogneisses across the southern section of the MZ do not support previous interpretations for the MZ to have originated as a pre-Sveconorwegian (>=1.55 Ga) amalgamation zone of Gothian terranes. East of the MZ, in the parautochthonous ES, the oldest orthogneisses are dated at 1.70-1.68 Ga supporting the concept that these rocks are reworked equivalents to the youngest rocks of the 1.85-1.66 Ga Transscandinavian Igneous Belt of the Sveconorwegian foreland. West of the MZ, in the allochthonous southern WS, the oldest orthogneisses are dated at 1.59 Ga, which confirms that these rocks represent an igneous event, not recognised east of the MZ in the Sveconorwegian parautochthon. Datings of augen gneisses in the southern WS at 1.33-1.31 Ga also contradict previous "stitching granite" correlation with 1.40-1.38 Ga granite-monzonite magmatism in the underlying ES, across the MZ. Investigation of field relations, deformational fabrics and metamorphic character, combined with zircon and titanite chronology of orthogneisses in the southern ES and the WS demonstrate that these rocks underwent regional penetrative ductile deformation, high-grade metamorphism and anatexis during the Sveconorwegian orogeny. The high-grade metamorphism and anatexis is dated at 0.99-0.96 Ga. Ductile deformation internal to the southern ES is dated at 0.96 Ga, and a lower age limit for this deformation is set by post-tectonic pegmatite-granite dyke intrusions dated at 0.95 Ga. In the southern ES, regional, pre-Sveconorwegian high-grade metamorphism, anatexis, and felsic vein injections are dated at 1.46-1.42 Ga. The tectonothermal character of this early event is unclear due to penetrative late Sveconorwegian tectonic transposition and metamorphic recrystallisation in the upper amphibolite to high-pressure granulite facies, followed by amphibolite facies retrogression. Evidence for high-grade metamorphism and anatexis prior to 1.46 Ga is lacking. A difference in timing and character of Sveconorwegian metamorphism and deformation within and between the ES and the WS indicates a complex build-up of lithological and/or metamorphic terranes. Models of the Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic geological evolution of this part of the Baltic continent must therefore be based on an understanding of the large-scale Sveconorwegian crustal block movements taking place prior to final juxtaposition in late Sveconorwegian time.


Sexual abuse and exploitation (SEA) perpetrated by UN peacekeepers while on mission is a violation of human rights and undermines the goal of upholding human rights in countries that host peacekeeping missions. In addition to survivors, children fathered by peacekeepers are also victims of SEA that need protection. Stigma poses negative life course consequences for SEA survivors and their peacekeeper-fathered children. However, there is a considerable lack of empirical research concerning the stigma experiences of SEA survivors and their children in post-colonial contexts. The present study addresses this knowledge gap by drawing on The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti as a case study to examine the lived experiences of stigma among SEA survivors and their resultant children. Using 18 qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted in 2017 with Haitian women raising peacekeeper-fathered children, we organized qualitative codes according to Link and Phelan's conceptual model of stigma. The stigmatization process was explored through the themes of labeling, stereotyping, separation, and status loss and discrimination, as described by Link and Phelan. In addition, we nuanced the lived experiences of stigma by discussing the buffering roles of familial acceptance, skin phenotype, and the Haitian context. The findings have implications for the UN. We advocate that stigma be recognized and acted upon as a fundamental protection concern for SEA survivors and their children. Accordingly, the UN has an obligation to provide stigma-related supports for victims and complainants as well as to facilitate long-term child support for the children left behind by peacekeepers.


Esophageal carcinoma (EC) ranks sixth among cancers in mortality worldwide and effective drugs to reduce EC incidence and mortality are lacking. To explore potential anti-esophageal cancer drugs, we conducted drug screening and discovered that verdinexor, a selective inhibitor of nuclear exportin 1 (XPO1/CRM1), has anti-esophageal cancer effects both in vivo and in vitro. However, the mechanism and role of verdinexor in esophageal cancer remain unknown. In the present study, we observed that verdinexor inhibited the proliferation and migration of EC cells in vitro and suppressed tumor growth in vivo. Additionally, we found that verdinexor induced cleavage of PARP and downregulated XPO1, c-Myc, and FOSL1 expression. RNA-sequence analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis revealed that verdinexor regulated the XPO1/c-Myc/FOSL1 axis. The results of immunoprecipitation and proximity ligation assays confirmed that verdinexor disrupted the interaction between XPO1 and c-Myc. Overexpression of c-Myc rescued the inhibition of cell proliferation and cell migration caused by verdinexor. Overexpressed FOSL1 restored the inhibited migration by verdinexor. Taken together, verdinexor inhibited cell proliferation and migration of esophageal cancer via XPO1/c-Myc/FOSL1 axis. Our findings provide a new option for the development of anti-esophageal cancer drugs.


This paper presents the simulation of new shoot- through control methods for double stage quasi based Dc/Dc converters with high frequency step- up isolation transformer using matlab Simulink. The major goals are increase efficiency and also increase the stage of Quasi. The new shoot- through technique is used for inversion purpose this reduces the un equal switching frequencies of transistor in double stage quasi.


Based on systems engineering theory, complex systems development process is discussed. The integrated model is built, in which the integration methods are introduced. The product development process is not only a continuously evolutional process, but also an improvement process of product model. A conceptual framework for integrated development is proposed. Furthermore, building a full context model to cover life cycle is to leverage the deployment of system engineering process. The result in this paper has a wider implication upon industrial integrated development for complex systems.


The transformation that fashion market has achieved in this period is phenomenal. Traditional marketing exists but is gradually losing the market share. Marketers and fashion brand managers are thus reconsidering the communication strategies from Digital Media perspective. The aim of this research is to develop and validate a measurement scale for understanding consumer's perception of interactive media contact points in context of fashion brands. This research involves survey responses from 378 fashion consumers. A three dimensional 40-item scale was developed based on literature review and expert opinions. The study presents the complete process of scale development and validation suggested by DeVellis, 1991 as well as implications of the main findings.


Significant research works have been devoted to asymmetric stereoscopic coding technique. Based on the perceptual theory of binocular suppression, in this method, one view of the stereo pair can be coded with a lower quality than the other, thus allowing to decrease bandwidth requirement for 3D visual content delivery without degrading subjective quality. However, with the condition that the quality gap between both images does not exceed a certain threshold. Some works proposed to fix this threshold by subjective experiments. Nevertheless, using a fixed threshold does not allow adaptation to the stereo image content and presents dependency to the experimental design. In this paper, we propose a novel method that selects automatically the maximum tolerable quality gap between views for different stereo image pairs. This has been achieved by modeling the relationship between the asymmetric quality and the interview distortion between corresponding pixels. Then, the derived relationship is combined with Binocular Just Noticeable Difference (BJND) model to control the quality threshold between the left and right views. Experimental results showed that the proposed coding method can achieve considerable bitrate saving up to 16.32% and outperforms the widely used asymmetric coding approaches.


We present a new end-to-end generative adversarial network (GAN) for single image motion deblurring, named DeblurGAN-V2, which considerably boosts state-of-the-art deblurring performance while being much more flexible and efficient. DeblurGAN-V2 is based on a relativistic conditional GAN with a double-scale discriminator. For the first time, we introduce the Feature Pyramid Network into deblurring, as a core building block in the generator of DeblurGAN-V2. It can flexibly work with a wide range of backbones, to navigate the balance between performance and efficiency. The plug-in of sophisticated backbones (e.g. Inception ResNet v2) can lead to solid state-of-the-art performance. Meanwhile, with light-weight backbones (e.g. MobileNet and its variants), DeblurGAN-V2 becomes 10-100 times faster than the nearest competitors, while maintaining close to state-of-the-art results, implying the option of real-time video deblurring. We demonstrate that DeblurGAN-V2 has very competitive performance on several popular benchmarks, in terms of deblurring quality (both objective and subjective), as well as efficiency. In addition, we show the architecture to be effective for general image restoration tasks too. Our models and codes will be made available upon acceptance.


Abstract Estimates of nest survival are commonly used as indices of reproductive productivity in a wide range of studies, including examinations of population dynamics, habitat fragmentation, and wildlife management. However, the strength of the relationship between estimates of nest survival and of seasonal fecundity has rarely been tested. To examine that relationship, we used 16 years of demographic data from an intensively studied population of individually marked Black-throated Blue Warblers (Dendroica caerulescens). We found a positive relationship between Mayfield nest-survival estimates and seasonal fecundity (i.e. number of fledglings produced per female). However, seasonal-fecundity predictions based on nestsurvival values underestimated observed seasonal fecundity by an average of 33% and population growth rate by 20%. Our results suggest that, though nest-survival estimates may be useful as indices of pressures on a population (e.g. nest predation), care is needed in using them as the basis of conservation or management strategies or to make inferences about population-level processes. Relación entre las Estimaciones de Supervivencia de Nidos de Mayfield y la Fecundidad Estacional: una Nota de Cautela


The recently concluded case of Freyberg v. Fletcher Challenge Oil and Gas exemplifies the extent to which business realities have impacted the industry's ability to properly address legal challenges in a relatively inflexible historical jurisprudential context. The authors, all participants in the six-year Lady Freyberg action, detail the challenges facing modern oil and gas industry litigants given the somewhat rigid standards espoused by courts in the older jurisprudence. Given the rapidly shifting economic and institutional reality in the oil and gas industry, the authors reason, modern courts must approach such cases in a flexible manner and remain sensitive to the fact that business realities may have changed since the establishment of historical precedents.


The emergence of technologies capable of storing detailed records of object locations has presented scientists and researchers with a wealth of data on object movement. Yet analytical methods for investigating more advanced research questions from such detailed movement datasets remain limited in scope and sophistication. Recent advances in the study of movement data has focused on characterizing types of dynamic interactions, such as single‐file motion, while little progress has been made on quantifying the degree of such interactions. In this article, we introduce a new method for measuring dynamic interactions (termed DI) between pairs of moving objects. Simulated movement datasets are used to compare DI with an existing correlation statistic. Two applied examples, team sports and wildlife, are used to further demonstrate the value of the DI approach. The DI method is advantageous in that it measures interaction in both movement direction (termed azimuth) and displacement. Also, the DI approach can be applied at local, interval, episodal, and global levels of analysis. However the DI method is limited to situations where movements of two objects are recorded at simultaneous points in time. In conclusion, DI quantifies the level of dynamic interaction between two moving objects, allowing for more thorough investigation of processes affecting interactive moving objects.


Smart wearables, known as emerging paradigms for vital big data capturing, have been attracting intensive attentions. However, one crucial problem is their power-hungriness, i.e., the continuous data streaming consumes energy dramatically and requires devices to be frequently charged. Targeting this obstacle, we propose to investigate the biodynamic patterns in the data and design a data-driven approach for intelligent data compression. We leverage Deep Learning (DL), more specifically, Convolutional Autoencoder (CAE), to learn a sparse representation of the vital big data. The minimized energy need, even taking into consideration the CAE-induced overhead, is tremendously lower than the original energy need. Further, compared with state-of-the-art wavelet compression-based method, our method can compress the data with a dramatically lower error for a similar energy budget. Our experiments and the validated approach are expected to boost the energy efficiency of wearables, and thus greatly advance ubiquitous big data applications in era of smart health.In recent years, there has also been a growing interest in edge intelligence for emerging instantaneous big data inference. However, the inference algorithms, especially deep learning, usually require heavy computation requirements, thereby greatly limiting their deployment on the edge. We take special interest in the smart health wearable big data mining and inference. Targeting the deep learning's high computational complexity and large memory and energy requirements, new approaches are urged to make the deep learning algorithms ultra-efficient for wearable big data analysis. We propose to leverage knowledge distillation to achieve an ultra-efficient edge-deployable deep learning model. More specifically, through transferring the knowledge from a teacher model to the on-edge student model, the soft target distribution of the teacher model can be effectively learned by the student model. Besides, we propose to further introduce adversarial robustness to the student model, by stimulating the student model to correctly identify inputs that have adversarial perturbation. Experiments demonstrate that the knowledge distillation student model has comparable performance to the heavy teacher model but owns a substantially smaller model size. With adversarial learning, the student model has effectively preserved its robustness. In such a way, we have demonstrated the framework with knowledge distillation and adversarial learning can, not only advance ultra-efficient edge inference, but also preserve the robustness facing the perturbed input.


Self-interpreters can be roughly divided into two sorts: self-recognisers that recover the input program from a canonical representation, and self-enactors that execute the input program. Major progress for statically-typed languages was achieved in 2009 by Rendel, Ostermann, and Hofer who presented the first typed self-recogniser that allows representations of different terms to have different types. A key feature of their type system is a type:type rule that renders the kind system of their language inconsistent. In this paper we present the first statically-typed language that not only allows representations of different terms to have different types, and supports a self-recogniser, but also supports a self-enactor. Our language is a factorisation calculus in the style of Jay and Given-Wilson, a combinatory calculus with a factorisation operator that is powerful enough to support the pattern-matching functions necessary for a self-interpreter. This allows us to avoid a type:type rule. Indeed, the types of System F are sufficient. We have implemented our approach and our experiments support the theory.


Offshore floating wind turbines seem a promising technology to harvest wind energy in deep waters. In order to be economically viable it requires mitigating the mechanical loads induced by the waves. This paper shows that the tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) technology, currently employed in naval engineering can be of great relevance to address this issue, if combined with a control strategy. The control strategy consists in adapting the damping coefficient of the TLCD in real time. The performance obtained with the optimal constant damping coefficient serves as a reference to assess the possible improvements brought by active technologies. Simulation conducted in this article report a 39% reduction of the pitch oscillations on a typical 5000 tonnes barge excited by a JONSWAP irregular wave.


Ever since the famine of the 1990s, socialist North Korea has experienced a dramatic rise in black and grey markets as people seek a way out of the crisis. While previous studies have focused on the "old generation" of North Koreans engaging in the markets as producers and traders catering to the emerging subsistence economy, the "new generation" remains largely understudied. This "new generation" of North Koreans, who have spent their formative teenage years in post-famine North Korea, have experienced the markets as a commonplace, and hence had developed a sense for consumerism earlier than their parents' generation did. Drawing on oral history interviews with five female refugees raised in different regions in North Korea during their formative years, this study found that the "new generation" of North Koreans has become more capitalist than their counterparts in marketoriented South Korea or even those in the United States, North Korea's archenemy. Some implications of this shift in values are discussed at the end of this research.


Ball shear test was investigated in terms of effects of important test parameters, i.e. shear height and shear speed, with an experimental and non-linear finite element analysis for evaluating the solder joint integrity of area array packages. A Pb-free solder composition was examined in this work: Sn-3Ag-6Bi-2In. The substrate was a common SMD (Solder Mask Defined) type with solder bond pad openings of 460㎛ in diameter. It could be observed that increasing shear height, at fixed shear speed, has the effect of decreasing shear force, while the shear force increased with increasing shear speed at fixed shear height. Too high shear height could cause some bad effects on the test results such as unexpected high standard deviation values or shear tip sliding from the solder ball surface. The low shear height conditions were favorable for screening the type of brittle interfacial failures or the degraded layers in the interfaces.


The small GTPase Rab2 requires atypical protein kinase C ι/λ (PKCι/λ) kinase activity to promote vesicle budding from normal rat kidney cell microsomes (Tisdale, E. J. (2000) Traffic 1, 702–712). The released vesicles lack anterograde-directed cargo but contain coat protein I (COPI) and the recycling protein p53/p58, suggesting that the vesicles traffic in the retrograde pathway. In this study, we have directly characterized the role of PKCι/λ in the early secretory pathway. A peptide corresponding to the unique PKCι/λ pseudosubstrate domain was introduced into an in vitro assay that efficiently reconstitutes transport of vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein from the endoplasmic reticulum to the cis-medial Golgi compartments. This peptide blocked transport in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, normal rat kidney cells incubated with Rab2 and the pseudosubstrate peptide displayed abundant swollen or dilated vesicles that contained Rab2, PKCι/λ, β-COP, and p53/p58. Because Rab2, β-COP, and p53/p58 are marker proteins for pre-Golgi intermediates (vesicular tubular clusters,VTCs), most probably the swollen vesicles are derived from VTCs. Similar results were obtained when the assays were supplemented with kinase-dead PKCι/λ (W274K). Both the pseudosubstrate peptide and kinase-dead PKCι/λ in tandem with Rab2 caused sustained membrane association of PKCι/λ, suggesting that reverse translocation was inhibited. Importantly, the inhibitory phenotype of kinase-dead PKCι/λ was reversed by PKCι/λ wild type. These combined results indicate that PKCι/λ is essential for protein transport in the early secretory pathway and suggest that PKCι/λ kinase activity is required to promote Rab2-mediated vesicle budding at a VTC subcompartment enriched in recycling cargo.


Embryonic (E19-E20) and early postnatal (P2) spinal cords with intact saphenous and sciatic nerves were isolated and placed in aerated artificial cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). Intracellular recordings were made from cells in the L2-L6 dorsal root ganglia using microelectrodes filled with 3 M potassium acetate or 5% neurobiotin (NB) in 1 M potassium acetate. Several physiological properties of adequately impaled cells were measured, including peripheral conduction velocity, action potential (AP) amplitude and duration, duration of afterhyperpolarization (AHP), input impedance, rheobase, presence of inward rectifying current, and maximum somal firing frequency. The extent to which these properties are correlated also was determined. One cell per ganglion was injected with NB. Stained somata and their central projections in the spinal cord were visualized in serial 50 microm sections. Cell size was determined and the central morphology of the central projections examined. Although some fibers were in the process of growing into the spinal cord, others had established projections over several millimeters in the dorsal columns. Although most of these fibers supported projections in the gray matter, 22% only maintained fibers in the dorsal columns. Fibers with projections in the dorsal horn exhibited three types of morphology: projections confined to the superficial dorsal horn (laminae I, II); terminals confined to laminae III-V; and projections spanning laminae II-V. In addition, some embryonic fibers maintained projections to the dorsal horn that extended over five lumbar segments. Somal APs could be divided into two groups: broad spikes with inflections on their falling phase and narrow spikes without inflections. On average, cells with broad spikes (BS) had the following characteristics: slower peripheral conduction velocity, larger amplitude, higher rheobase and input impedance, longer AHP duration, and lower maximum firing frequency. There were significant correlations between conduction velocity and several of the physiological properties. Conduction velocity was negatively correlated with AP duration, rheobase, and input impedance and positively correlated with maximum firing frequency. Comparisons between spike shape and central morphology revealed that cells lacking collaterals in the gray matter and those with projections in the superficial dorsal horn always had broad somal spikes with inflections. Those with projections confined to laminae III-V always had narrow somal spikes (NS).


This study investigated the effects of perfectionism on psychological health and explored the adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism in the Eastern culture of Pakistan. Demographic data were also analyzed. Participants were 323 university students (144 males & 179 females), who completed the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Frost, Marten, Lahart & Rosenblate, 1990), the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein, 1983), the Psychological Well-being Measure (Ryff, 1989) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983). Results indicate that overall perfectionism has a significant positive relationship with psychological distress and non-significant negative relationship with psychological well-being. Three dimensions of perfectionism, personal standards (PS), parental expectations (PE) and organization (OG), have a significant positive relationship with psychological well-being, similarly other three dimensions – concern over mistake (CM), parental criticism (PC) and doubt about actions (DA) – have a strong positive relationship with psychological distress. Results of Independent sample t-tests indicate that there is a significant difference between high and low overall perfectionism groups on stress, depression, anxiety, psychological distress and two sub-scales of psychological well-being – environmental mastery and purpose in life. Moreover, individuals having high scores on CM, PC and DA also have high scores on depression, stress, anxiety and psychological distress as compared to low scorers on the same scales, whereas high scored PS, PE and OG groups showed high level of psychological well-being, environmental mastery and purpose in life. Finally, analyses of demographic data indicate that only age has a significant effect on DA and age by gender interaction has a significant effect on PE. Potential implications for educational and counseling purposes are discussed.


Introduction and objectives Home Mechanical Ventilation (HMV) for patients with chronic ventilatory failure (CVF) often requires hospital admission for initiation of treatment. There are limited data evaluating the efficacy, efficiency and safety of initiating HMV in the domiciliary setting. Our centre has undertaken over 200 'home set-ups' and we have evaluated outcomes in these patients. Methods Patients with CVF who had HMV initiated in the domiciliary or outpatient setting were identified from our hospital database and data were retrospectively collected from their hospital records. Results 214 patients with CVF were set-up at home between 2004 to 2013. Notes were available for 193 (90%) patients, mean (SD) age 59 (14) years, 63% male. The majority of patients had Motor Neuron Disease (MND)(30%) or obesity related respiratory failure (23%). Baseline lung function and arterial blood gas parameters are shown in Table 1. 178 (92%) patients had HMV initiated in their home; 15 attended the outpatient clinic for set-up. Three patients subsequently required hospital admission to support adaptation to HMV. Following initiation, 135 (70%) patients were assessed as compliant with HMV, defined as >4 h self-reported use each night. Patients with MND had the lowest compliance rate with only 30 (52%) achieving this usage. If those with MND are excluded, overall compliance was 77% which is similar to our inpatient initiated HMV compliance rate of 83% (n = 224) and to case series reported by other centres. Patients with few symptoms of nocturnal hypoventilation had a lower compliance rate (55%) than more symptomatic patients (71%). In patients who were compliant with HMV, mean (SD) time until >4 h use per night was 27 (60) days, but 33 (17%) patients achieved this usage after the first night. Those who became compliant with HMV had a mean of 2.9 (3.2) home visits and 1.4 (1.8) phone calls each. Conclusion Establishing HMV in the domiciliary and outpatient setting can be effectively and safely achieved, even in patients with marked nocturnal hypoventilation. Apart from patients with MND or those who are minimally symptomatic, 'home set-up' of HMV does not appear to affect compliance significantly. Abstract P301 Table 1 Baseline Lung Function and Arterial Blood Gas Parameters in Patients receiving Domiciliary or Outpatient Initiation of HMV Mean (SD) Range Vital Capacity (L) 2.1 (1.2) 0.45–5.5 pH 7.39 (0.04) 7.25–7.48 Arterial pCO2(kPa) 7.0 (1.6) 3.2–14.5 Arterial pO2 (kPa) 9.2 (2.0) 5.8 -18.9 Bicarbonate (mmols/L) 29.5 (5.8) 21–51


Engineering educators and employers value and prioritize communication skills, but developing and assessing such skills in engineering programs is challenging. Reflective ePortfolios provide opportunities to enhance communication skills. The purpose of this three-year qualitative case study was to investigate the use of reflective ePortfolios in an undergraduate chemical engineering technical communication course. Chemical engineering students created reflective ePortfolios, perceived enhanced learning, and connected their learning to job knowledge and skills, future employability, and professional identity.


The thermal degradation of poly [2-(3-mesityl-3-methylcyclobutyl)-2-ketoethylmethacrylate] (PMKEMA) has been studied using a system consisting of a degradation tube, with a condenser for product collection, a gas-phase Infrared (IR) cell and a rotary pump. The investigation of the nature of the evolved products has been supplemented by studies of structural changes in the degrading polymer by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) technique. Changes have been investigated under programmed heating at 10 °C/min from room temperature to 500 °C. The product identification investigations were done by using FT-IR, 1 H and 13 C-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ( 1 H- 13 C-NMR) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) techniques. The depolymerization of the main reaction is essential in thermal degradation of the PMKEMA. The degradation produces anhydride ring structures in the chain at temperatures up to about 300 °C. The cleaving of ketone, aldehyde, and mesitylene compounds from side chains of the polymers is a common reaction for the polymers. A mechanism of degradation showing the formation of some of these products is discussed.


This study looks at how people construct future imaginaries and how this has been influenced by the economic crisis of 2008/2009. Future imaginaries are conceived as a realm of plans and wishes for the future, which depend not only on an individual's personal life history, but also on the given social/historical context (Canto-Mila and Seebach, 2015). The economic crisis, which affected all European countries, has been portrayed as a far-reaching societal event; therefore, it may have an impact on people's future imaginaries. For this study, life story interviews were conducted in Germany and Spain, two countries with different experiences of the economic crisis. The interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory-inspired approach guided by the concepts of images of the future, figures, and imaginaries of the future developed by Canto-Mila and Seebach (2015). The economic crisis affected participants' future imagination in Spain and Germany in different ways. While German participants' outlook on the future remained unchanged by the crisis, Spanish interviewees' accounts indicated three changes in mentality: the labor market is now perceived as less stable than before; young people have to be more prepared – meaning they need higher-level qualifications; younger Spaniards aim to live and work in foreign countries. The reasons and dynamics behind this mentality change are discussed.


Charge ordering (CO) with long periods in a geometrically frustrated system, θ-(BEDT-TTF)2X, is numerically studied. We consider interacting fermion models on an anisotropic triangular lattice: the extended Hubbard model and spinless fermion model, taking account of inter-site Coulomb interactions on not only the nearest-neighbor (NN) bonds but also next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) bonds. By applying the Lanczos exact diagonalization method, we find that long-period charge correlations become dominant when NNN terms are included in the charge-frustrated region. The calculated optical excitation spectra show that the charge transfer excitations in the long-period CO extend to a lower energy range than those in the short-period CO states including the 3-fold CO stabilized when NNN terms are absent. Our results suggest that the charge correlations experimentally observed in the title compounds near the CO insulating phase can be viewed as a tendency toward a "tilted stripe"-type CO with large charge fluctuations.


Download time has been recognized as one of the most important technological impediments to electronic commerce (EC). Unfortunately, the exact consequences of this impediment are currently ill-defined. The goal of this study is to extend the work of Rose and Straub (1999) to identify how this technology impacts the success or failure of EC initiatives. Using marketing and systems response time theories, three hypotheses are proposed. First, that download time in a retailer's Web application has a negative impact on consumer attitude toward that Web retailer. Second, that those effects increase in intensity as consumers attribute more of the cause for delay to the Web application. And third, that attitudes formed about a retailer predict consumer patronage intentions. A laboratory experiment is being undertaken to test these hypotheses.


Aims: Over the past decade, discoveries of multiple and binary asteroid systems have played a significant role in our general understanding of small solar system bodies. Direct observations of satellites of asteroids are rare and difficult since they require the use of already over-subscribed facilities such as adaptive optics (AO) on large 8-10 m class telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The scarcity of data and the long temporal baseline of observations (up to 10 years) significantly complicate the determination of the mutual orbits of these systems. Methods: We implemented a new approach for determining the mutual orbits of directly-imaged multiple asteroids using a genetic-based algorithm. This approach was applied to several known binary asteroid systems (22 Kalliope, 3749 Balam, and 50 000 Quaoar) observed with AO systems and HST. This statistical method is fast enough to permit the search for an orbital solution across a large parameter space and without a priori information about the mutual orbit. Results: From 10 years of observation, we derived an orbital solution for Linus, companion of (22) Kalliope, with an accuracy close to the astrometric limit provided by the AO observations, assuming a purely Keplerian orbit. A search for non-Keplerian orbit confirmed that a J2 ~ 0 is the best-fitting solution. We show that the precession of the nodes could be detected without ambiguity, implying that Kalliope's primary may have an inhomogeneous internal structure. HST astrometric observations of Weywot, companion of the trans-Neptunian object (50 000) Quaoar, were used to derive its mass and its bulk density, which appears to be higher than the density of other TNOs. Finally, we derived a bundle of orbital solutions for (3749) Balam, with equally good fits, from the limited set of astrometric positions. They provide a realistic density between 1.3 and 3.7 g/cm3 for this S-type asteroid.


Hydraulic heads from a calibrated, three-dimensional, constant-density, ground-water-flow model were used to compute Hubbert oil potentials and infer secondary petroleum migration directions within the Llanos Basin, Colombia. The oil potentials for the C7 reservoir show evidence of the development of two hydrodynamic stagnation zones. Hydrodynamic effects on secondary oil migration are greatest in the eastern Llanos Basin, where structural slopes are lowest and local hydraulic-head gradients drive ground-water flow westward down structural dip. The Rubiales field, a large oil reservoir within the eastern Llanos Basin with no structural closure, is located at the edge of one of these stagnation zones. This oil field hosts heavy oils (12 API) consistent with water washing and biodegradation. The best agreement between model results and field conditions occurred in an oil density of 12 API, suggesting that the Rubiales field position is in dynamic equilibrium with modern hydraulic and oil density conditions. Cross sectional ground-water-flow models indicate that the most likely explanation of observed underpressures are caused by hydrodynamic effects associated with a topography-driven flow system. Late Miocene to present-day ground-water flow likely was an important factor in flushing marine connate porewaters from Tertiary reservoirs. Ground-water recharge along the western margin of the basin could help explain the observed low-temperature gradients (20C/km). However, upward flow rates were not high enough to account for elevated temperature gradients of 50C/km to the east.


One hundred and nineteen consecutive patients with metastatic brain tumours who presented to the Provincial Neurosurgical Service in Northern Ireland were studied. The detection rate doubled after computerised tomography became available though the population in Northern Ireland over the years of study stayed relatively stable. Multiple tumours accounted for 38% while solitary tumours occurred mainly in the cerebellum or parietal lobe. Whereas 70% of patients presented with features of increased intracranial pressure and or lateralizing neurological signs, 20% had only vague symptoms. The primary site was lungs in a third of cases but in 33 cases (27.5%), the site of origin remained unknown. 42% of those 76 cases operated were adenocarcinoma. More than 80% of these patients in whom excision of the tumours were done, had a better quality of life at one month compared with improvement in only a third after biopsy.


Multiple Myeloma (MM) is characterized by the abberant proliferation and expansion of plasma cells in the Bone marrow. Despite the broad use of proteasome inhibitors and IMiDs, Multiple Myeloma remains an incurable disease. The introduction of Monoclonal antibodies, along with bi-specific antibodies and check point inhibitors, has significantly enhanced the armamentarium of available therapeutic options in the relapsed setting. The incorporation of the above-mentioned novel agents in triplet or quadruplet therapeutic regimens has led to significant prolongation of overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS), without adding significant toxicity. Anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies has become the cornerstone of antimyeloma therapy in both the newly diagnosed and relapsed setting.


Objective: As of July 9, 2004, to report the first case of potential pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic interactions between clozapine and phenytoin occurring simultaneously in a patient. Case Summary: A 60-year-old African American female treated with clozapine and phenytoin developed neutropenia after the clozapine dose was increased from 650 to 900 mg/day. The neutropenia resolved after phenytoin was discontinued, and the clozapine dose was decreased from 900 to 300 mg/day without any significant change in clozapine levels. Discussion: Neutropenia can be explained on the basis of a potential pharmacodynamic interaction between clozapine and phenytoin. However, neutropenia did not occur until the clozapine dose was increased from 650 to 900 mg/day, corresponding to an increase in clozapine levels from 90 to 114 ng/mL. Neutropenia resolved after phenytoin was discontinued, even though the clozapine concentrations achieved after phenytoin discontinuation (137 ng/mL) were almost the same as those when phenytoin was coadministered (114 ng/mL). This finding suggests that neutropenia was precipitated not only by an increase in the clozapine dose, but also by the concomitant use of phenytoin. On the other hand, the decrease in clozapine concentrations can be explained on the basis of a pharmacokinetic interaction between clozapine and phenytoin. Phenytoin has the potential to decrease clozapine concentrations by inducing the activity of CYP1A2, which provides a primary metabolic pathway for clozapine. Conclusions: Concomitant use of phenytoin may not only decrease clozapine concentrations and compromise its efficacy, but can also precipitate neutropenia. Although based on a single case report, these findings warrant caution when coadministering clozapine and phenytoin.


17 indices are selected, such as the growth rate of total regional output value, the proportion of tertiary industry in GDP, per capita financial expenditure, and soil erosion rate of Guizhou Province in 2009. According to the relevant indices data of statistical yearbook and governmental website, by using the method of factor analysis and the method of cluster analysis, we assess the competitiveness of county economy in 88 counties of Guizhou Province. The results show that the competitiveness of county economy in Guizhou Province is impacted by factors of location and economic foundation. In addition, the resources environment, economic structure, economic developmental speed and other factors also impact the competitiveness of county economy in Guizhou Province. Based on these, in the light of the developmental characteristics of different counties in conjunction with different developmental advantages in different regions, we should adopt different developmental strategies according to local conditions, which is significant to rapid, healthy and sustainable development of county economy in Guizhou Province.


Addressing the biodiversity crisis will mean developing and adopting new resources and methods that effectively improve public conservation efforts. Technologies have a long track record of increasing the efficiency of carrying out time-consuming tasks or even making new feats possible, and if applied thoughtfully, can serve as a key means of strengthening conservation outcomes. Yet technology development sometimes proceeds without clear mechanisms for application and scaling, or key adopters like government agencies are not able to use the technologies. To overcome these discrepancies, we recommend the use of a coproduction model of conservation technology development that starts from detailed knowledge of conservation laws, regulations, policies, and their implementation; identifies choke points in those processes amenable to technological solutions; and then develops those solutions while integrating existing users and needs. To illustrate the model, we describe three tools recently developed to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of implementing the U.S. Endangered Species Act. We also highlight several outstanding questions and challenges that the broad conservation technology and policy communities may help address.


Techniques for controlling the transmission power of mobile devices have been widely studied in MANETs and cellular networks. However, as mobile applications for WSNs emerge, the unique characteristics of WSNs, such as severe resource constraints, suggest that transmission power control should be revisited from a WSN perspective. In this work, we take an experimental approach to examine the effectiveness of transmission power control for WSNs that involve mobility at human walking speeds. We propose two lightweight transmission power control schemes to improve energy efficiency and spatial reuse. The first is an active probing based scheme that adjusts transmission power based on (the lack of) packet losses and applies to all low-power radios, while the second scheme requires radios that offer link quality indicators (LQI) to estimate the proximity between the transmitter and receiver. We evaluate both schemes using mobile nodes in an indoor and an outdoor environment. Results show that the energy efficiency of the proposed transmission power control schemes can be very close to that of the optimal offline strategy and our schemes significantly reduce the interference for spatial reuse. To our knowledge, this is the first work that evaluates the effect of transmission power control in mobile WSNs.


With sufficient layers, enough training data, enough time, and often a custom tailored architecture, modern deep learning methods can be extremely successful in classification tasks. However, with real-world practical applications, a lack of training data can impede the success of such techniques, which often over-fit the sparse data. A particular task hindered by sparse data, may take advantage of an existing pre-trained network of a separate but related task trained on sufficient data, to achieve high accuracy with minimal additional training. However, such transfer-learning does not generalize well to new tasks that have little relation between their data and the pre-trained network's data. To overcome this hurdle, we introduce a novel feature (AngOri) kernel that leverages the generalized inherent richness of curvature and gradient in image edges, and that can augment any type of convolutional neural network with any arbitrary number of channels to quickly achieve accurate classification with minimal training on sparse data. The AngOri kernels can be pre-computed and thus directly implemented in a convolutional layer of a network, which is not possible with other gradient based features. Testing on the MNIST, CIFAR-10, and a satellite image database, we consistently found AngOri to aid a network to achieve more accurate classification on a small dataset when compared to the same network without the AngOri layers. Such a generalizable, lightweight kernel holds promise for using neural networks to tackle real-world problems with limited resources, such as embedded systems examining sparse data.