The advancement in sensor technologies, mobile network technologies, and artificial intelligence has pushed the boundaries of different verticals, e.g., eHealth and autonomous driving. Statistics show that more than one million people are killed in traffic accidents yearly, where the vast majority of the accidents are caused by human negligence. Higher-level autonomous driving has great potential to enhance road safety and traffic efficiency. One of the most crucial links to building an autonomous system is the task of decision-making. The ability of a vehicle to make robust decisions on its own by anticipating and evaluating future outcomes is what makes it intelligent. Planning and decision-making technology in autonomous driving becomes even more challenging, due to the diversity of the dynamic environments the vehicle operates in, the uncertainty in the sensor information, and the complex interaction with other road participants. A significant amount of research has been carried out toward deploying autonomous vehicles to solve plenty of issues, however, how to deal with the high-level decision-making in a complex, uncertain, and urban environment is a comparatively less explored area. This paper provides an analysis of decision-making solutions approaches for autonomous driving. Various categories of approaches are analyzed with a comparison to classical decision-making approaches. Following, a crucial range of research gaps and open challenges have been highlighted that need to be addressed before higher-level autonomous vehicles hit the roads. We believe this survey will contribute to the research of decision-making methods for autonomous vehicles in the future by equipping the researchers with an overview of decision-making technology, its potential solution approaches, and challenges.


The urban space in the Republic of Venice (circa 800–1797) seems to have had a more malleable and variable quality than other towns situated on dry land: its physical space was not merely an 'infrastructure', the precondition for the existence of social space, but rather something that was actively
produced and reconstructed by society itself. This is one reason why the authors decided to use the Republic of Venice to study the relationship between the social and physical space and chart the ways in which social inequalities at the dawn of the modern era were reflected in the organisation of the urban space. They present Venice as 'two cities in one': Venice the city built and
portrayed from the perspective of the privileged classes, i.e. the viewpoint of those who had themselves transported through the city on gondolas; and Venice the city of the pedestrian traffic of the lower classes, excluded from political life. The authors set out to attain a better understanding of the deep social and political inequalities that existed in Venice on the one hand and of
how it endured a thousand years of internal political stability without experiencing a single attempt at revolt, revolution or social uprising on the other. They therefore focus not just on forms of stratification, segregation and exclusion, but also on how Venetian society integrated its marginalised members and how it accorded them social and cultural relevance and recognition.


described, probably nine would fall into the category of true primary irritation, but whether any of these are due to detergents or, more particularly, are the same as the cases described by Dr. N. E. Jensen (31 January, p. 299) could only be established by a careful investigation into the aetiology. The manufacturers of detergents are only too conscious of their responsibility to the public and to housewives in -narticular. A vast amount of research is done and many thousands of tests are carried out with the willing co-operation of housewives before any new product is put on the market. A description of the testing on enzyme detergents carried out by Procter & Gamble in the U.S.A. is given by Griffith and al.I A similar amount of skin testing on housewives and babies, with which I have been associated, has been done in Britain. Between the two countries a total of more than 12,000 housewives and 600 babies have participated in home usage tests. Full details of this skintesting programme are available to any interested person. In the whole of this work no examples of dermatcs specificaly attributable to the enzyme produc were encountered, and the effects of these detergents were no different from those of comparable detergents without enzyme. Such cases as have since been reported of dermatitis attributed to these products represent an insignificant number compared with the many millions of housewives who use them (28 February, p. 518). Just why cases have been reported at Sheffield and Nottingham, and not to any significant extent elsewhere, is an interesting problem, and it is to be hoped that the careful investigation in progress at Sheffield will throw some light on the special circumstances of the cases reported there and at Nottingham. Discussions I have had with dermatologists at leading centres throughout the country indicate that apart from these cases reported at Sheffield and Nottingham there have only been isolated cases which might be attributed to enzyme detergents, and the feeling is that there has been no increase in housewives' dermatitis since the introduction of these products.-I am, etc.,


The term 'complex training' refers to a training mode which combines one set of strength training with a comparable set of plyometric exercises in same training session and is believed to enhance the quality of the plyometric training stimulus. This idea of combining biomechanically similar exercises is proposed to be a favourable strategy for improving rate of force development and dynamic power by better neuromuscular control. High-intensity resistance training creates an optimal training state for the subsequent plyometric bout by means of neuromuscular, hormonal, metabolic, myogenic, and psychomotor factors that allow it to serve as a strategy for continued neural adaptations. This review aims to present the current body of knowledge regarding the effects of complex training, discussing in brief, its mechanism, the various training variables that might act to confound its efficacy and finally, its comparison with other popular modes of training. In conclusion, complex training appears to be a safe and effective mode yielding gains of both strength and power training in the same session, however, further research is warranted to better understand the operating physiological mechanisms and to derive more concrete results regarding the most optimal training variables.


In this paper we show how program code and performance models can be made to cooperate seamlessly to support continuous software performance testing throughout the development lifecycle. We achieve this by extending our existing VEX tool for executing programs in virtual time so that events that occur during normal execution and those that occur during the simulation of a performance model can be scheduled on a single global virtual time line. The execution time of an incomplete component of an application is thus estimated by a performance model, whilst that of existing code is measured by instrumentation that is added dynamically at program load time. A key challenge is to be able to map some or all of the resources in a performance model to the real resources of the host platform on which the application is running. We outline a continuous performance engineering methodology that exploits our unified framework and illustrate the principles involved byway of a simple Java application development case study.


In the California Current System (CCS), the nearshore environment experiences natural exposure to low pH and reduced oxygen in response to coastal upwelling. Anthropogenic impacts further decrease pH and oxygen below biological thresholds, making the CCS particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification and hypoxia. Results from a coupled physical‐biogeochemical model reveal a strongly heterogeneous alongshore pattern of nearshore pH and oxygen in the central CCS, both in their long‐term means and trends. This spatial structuring is explained by an interplay between alongshore variability in local upwelling intensity and subsequent primary production, modulated by nearshore advection and regional geostrophic currents. The model solution suggests that the progression of ocean acidification and hypoxia will not be spatially homogeneous, thereby highlighting the need to consider subregional processes when assessing natural and anthropogenic impacts on coastal ecosystems in eastern boundary current upwelling regions.


Polarized photoluminescence is used to study the fine structure of free excitons in thick GaN layers grown on differently oriented sapphire substrates. The singlet-triplet splitting of the A exciton is measured and the exchange interaction constant in GaN is determined. For the samples grown on the a-plane sapphire, splitting of the A and B excitons induced by the uniaxial in-plane stress is also observed.


In the context of a voice assistant system, steering refers to the phenomenon in which a user issues a follow-up command attempting to direct or clarify a previous turn. We propose STEER, a steering detection model that predicts whether a follow-up turn is a user's attempt to steer the previous command. Constructing a training dataset for steering use cases poses challenges due to the cold-start problem. To overcome this, we developed heuristic rules to sample opt-in usage data, approximating positive and negative samples without any annotation. Our experimental results show promising performance in identifying steering intent, with over 95% accuracy on our sampled data. Moreover, STEER, in conjunction with our sampling strategy, aligns effectively with real-world steering scenarios, as evidenced by its strong zero-shot performance on a human-graded evaluation set. In addition to relying solely on user transcripts as input, we introduce STEER+, an enhanced version of the model. STEER+ utilizes a semantic parse tree to provide more context on out-of-vocabulary words, such as named entities that often occur at the sentence boundary. This further improves model performance, reducing error rate in domains where entities frequently appear, such as messaging. Lastly, we present a data analysis that highlights the improvement in user experience when voice assistants support steering use cases.


This article empirically examines office rent determinants in distinct periods of a market cycle. The study uses a dataset of office properties located in a large metropolitan area and spanning a six-year period. During this period, office rents experienced a significant decline and recovery. A time-varying parameter rent index identifies three distinct periods of the cycle: decline, trough and recovery. Tests of structural change conclude that market participants value the determinants of office rents differently during the periods. A microexamination of each rent determinant over the periods of the market cycle provides a greater understanding of how rents vary over time and the factors that influence them.


In international research there is a near consensus that the importance of cities is growing. As the policymakers of contemporary cities redirect their policy orientations away from the goal of redistribution towards achieving economic competitiveness, and as they introduce new structures of governance, they are becoming more and more committed to entrepreneurial city politics. However, both the international and Nordic research communities have shown little interest in studying whether these trends are viable in a Nordic context. Thus, through a case study of the city of Malmo, this doctoral dissertation explores the introduction of entrepreneurial city politics in a Swedish setting. Malmo is a former flagship for the Social Democratic 'welfare city' and a city that now is undergoing a process of politico-economic transformation.

Theoretically, the author develops a framework for the analysis of policy-making in general and how cities turn towards urban entrepreneurialism in particular. 'The Lancaster School of Cultural Political Economy' is applied and redeveloped through interpretative policy analysis, urban regime theory and the politics of scale approach. Taken together, these traditions represent the basis for the conceptualization of politics within the dissertation. The author proposes an understanding of politics as practiced through an interplay of discursive and material processes and beyond the processes traditionally associated with a narrow 'government-based' conceptualization of politics.

A framework is constructed to analyze how discourses, such as the discourse on the necessity of cities being entrepreneurial, are translated into political practice through three different moments. The moments of 'selection', 'actors mobilizing discourse-coalitions' and 'institutionalization' structure the empirical analysis of city politics in Malmo. The author demonstrates how key actors create, mediate and translate the discourse on urban entrepreneurialism to fit the actual (previously welfare oriented) context of local government. Powerful coalitions of various actors are mobilized around three different 'micro-discourses' that materialize into institutional, organizational and political practice. As a result of the analysis, the author reveals six different technologies of institutionalization which actors employ and which are essential for the practice of entrepreneurial city politics in Malmo.

The overall aim of the dissertation is to contribute to the on-going re-conceptualization of politics in general and local politics in particular. Political scientists tend to treat local politics as equal to 'sub-national municipal politics', i.e. as politics defined in relation to the central state, mainly concerned with service delivery and occurring within the formal decision-making processes of local government. In contrast, the author argues that we need to rethink local politics and that such a task of re-conceptualization is especially urgent in a Nordic context, where the idea of 'municipal politics' has functioned as "an iron-grip on political imagination". In the final section the theoretical framework developed within the dissertation is proposed as one way of rethinking local politics. The author also discusses why the presence of entrepreneurial city politics challenges the traditional organization and orientation of local politics in Sweden. Conclusions are drawn regarding our understanding of politics in general and some remarks on a future research agenda centered on the cultural political economy of contemporary city politics are given.


Originally Amiodarone, a diiodated benzofuran derivative, was developed in the year 1960 to treat angina pectoris. Nowadays it is mainly used to maintain a sinus rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia. While amiodarone-related optic neuropathy has become a well-recognized entity, its exact cause is still unclear. A possible explanation accuses the intracytoplasmatic lamellar and granular bodies, which develop in multiple parts of the eye as in the cornea [1], lens, retina, and the optic nerve. This process may lead to an optic disc edema and later to optic nerve atrophy [2][3]. The first amiodarone-associated side effects concerning the optic disc were described in 1987 by Feiner et al. as well as by Gittinger et al. [4][5]. Usually, the interval between initiation of orally administered amiodarone treatment and onset of visual loss is several months [6]. No critical dosage and no critical time interval have been defined so far.


This paper presents a new reducer-order observer for sensorless control of doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs), based on the Luenberger algorithm. Stable operation of the suggested observer is also considered in the design guidelines. Stator flux is selected as the state variable for the observer and its estimation error is used to correct the observer operation. The gain matrix of the proposed observer is calculated on the basis of flux error dynamics. The adaptation mechanism of the proposed observer is selected based on an estimation of rotor currents. A proportional integrator (PI) block is used in the structure of the adaptation mechanism for the transformation of its output signal. Furthermore, a fuzzy PI is designed to be applied to the observer structure, and a generalized study is carried out on the parameter estimation for the proposed observer. Simulation and practical results show the appropriate operation and speed tracking capability of the observer.


The aim of this work was to study the potential application of four types of cereal straws: oats, maize, rapeseed, and barley, in order to obtain cellulose pulp through the Specel® process for use in the manufacture of 100% biodegradable and ecological packaging. Raw materials were chemically characterized to determine alcohol-extractives, ash, lignin, holocellulose, and α-cellulose. Cellulosic pulps obtained from raw materials were characterized to determine yield, Kappa number, and viscosity. Paper sheets made from cellulosic pulps were characterized to determine beating degree, tensile index, stretch, burst index, tear index, and brightness. Finally, the results were compared to the raw material used in the industrial manufacturing of packaging (wheat). The four studied raw materials (oats, maize, rapeseed, and barley) were judged to be suitable for use in the Specel® process to obtain cellulosic pulp suitable for production of ecological containers.


Enabling computer systems to recognize human facial expressions is a challenging research problem with many applications in behavioral science, medicine, security, and human-machine interaction. Instead of being another approach to automatic detection of prototypic facial expressions of emotion, this work attempts to analyze subtle changes in facial behavior by recognizing facial action units (AU, i.e. atomic facial signals) that produce expressions. This work proposes AU recognition based upon multilevel motion history images (MMHI), which can be seen as an extension to temporal templates introduced by Bobick and Davis. By recording motion history at multiple time Intervals (i.e., multilevel MHI) instead of recording it once for the entire image sequence, we overcome the problem of self-occlusion which is inherent to temporal templates original definition. For automatic classification of an input MMHI-represented face video in terms of 21 AU classes, two approaches are compared: a sparse network of Winnows (SNoW) and a standard kNearest neighbour (kNN) classifier. The system was tested on two different databases, the MMI-Face-DB developed by the authors and the Cohn-Kanade face database.


Children with meningomyelocele (MMC) present special needs that require constant family care. We aimed to understand the family perception on the experience with children with MMC. This is a study of qualitative approach carried out with fifteen families from May to June 2008 through semi-structured interviews and non-systematic observations registered in field diary. The categories of analysis were: family daily care of children with meningomyelocele; difficulties in the access to the treatment and follow-up of the disease; and failure in communication. The results show that the needs of children/family extend mainly to physical, psychosocial and financial problems. The dissatisfaction is created by upset in attendance, accessibility and lack of information on the disease. We concluded that in order to minimize the problems provoked by the disease and promote the families' reception are necessary: interdisciplinary intervention with institutional support; educational actions to improve the care and the quality of life of these patients.


Spo11 is the topoisomerase-like enzyme responsible for the induction of the meiosis-specific double strand breaks (DSBs), which initiates the recombination events responsible for proper chromosome segregation. Nineteen PCR-induced alleles of SPO11 were identified and characterized genetically and cytologically. Recombination, spore viability and synaptonemal complex (SC) formation were decreased to varying extents in these mutants. Arrest by ndt80 restored these events in two severe hypomorphic mutants, suggesting that ndt80-arrested nuclei are capable of extended DSB activity. While crossing-over, spore viability and synaptonemal complex (SC) formation defects correlated, the extent of such defects was not predictive of the level of heteroallelic gene conversions (prototrophs) exhibited by each mutant. High throughput sequencing of tetrads from spo11 hypomorphs revealed that gene conversion tracts associated with COs are significantly longer and gene conversion tracts unassociated with COs are significantly shorter than in wild type. By modeling the extent of these tract changes, we could account for the discrepancy in genetic measurements of prototrophy and crossover association. These findings provide an explanation for the unexpectedly low prototroph levels exhibited by spo11 hypomorphs and have important implications for genetic studies that assume an unbiased recovery of prototrophs, such as measurements of CO homeostasis. Our genetic and physical data support previous observations of DSB-limited meioses, in which COs are disproportionally maintained over NCOs (CO homeostasis).


Abstract. Usually, neural networks trained on historical feed-in time series
of wind turbines deterministically predict power output over the next hours
to days. Here, the training goal is to minimise a scalar cost function, often
the root mean square error (RMSE) between network output and target values.
Yet similar to the analog ensemble (AnEn) method, the training algorithm can
also be adapted to analyse the uncertainty of the power output from the
spread of possible targets found in the historical data for a certain
meteorological situation. In this study, the uncertainty estimate is achieved
by discretising the continuous time series of power targets into several bins
(classes). For each forecast horizon, a neural network then predicts the
probability of power output falling into each of the bins, resulting in an
empirical probability distribution. Similiar to the AnEn method, the proposed
method avoids the use of costly numerical weather prediction (NWP) ensemble
runs, although a selection of several deterministic NWP forecasts as input is
helpful. Using state-of-the-art deep learning technology, we applied our
method to a large region and a single wind farm. MAE scores of the
50-percentile were on par with or better than comparable deterministic
forecasts. The corresponding Continuous Ranked Probability Score (CRPS) was
even lower. Future work will investigate the overdispersiveness sometimes
observed, and extend the method to solar power forecasts.


An asynchronous pipeline scheme that combines a low power static circuit with a high-speed dual-rail dynamic circuit is proposed. The scheme utilizes a dual-rail circuit only in the critical path of an SRT division and square root calculation unit. The proposed implementation of the calculation unit reduced power consumption by more than 1/2 of the full-dynamic implementation while maintaining the calculation speed. Because of the elimination of spurious transitions, the proposed implementation showed even less power consumption over synchronous static circuit implementations. By using 0.3 /spl mu/m triple metal CMOS technology, the calculation time of floating point 56-b full mantissa division and square root is expected to be 45 ns in the worst case.


Each year approximately 48,000 youth are incarcerated in residential placement facilities (YRFs) in the United States. The limited existing literature addressing the workforce in these settings paints a complicated picture. The YRF workforce is highly motivated to work with legal system involved youth. However, YRF staff report high rates of burnout, job fatigue, and work-related stress. The current paper proposes solutions to persistent problems faced by staff in these settings by integrating literature from criminology, organizational psychology, trauma-informed care, and community psychology. In doing so, we highlight previously overlooked aspects of intervention for trauma-organized settings and respond to recent calls for community psychologists to take a more active role in the adaptation of trauma-informed care in community settings. We conclude by advancing three recommendations, drawn from setting-level theory and inspired by the principles of trauma-informed care, to transform YRFs.


In the knowledge economy, academic entrepreneurship occurs at the boundaries of different scientific and professional backgrounds, creating a need for support mechanisms to transcend those limits. The entrepreneurial university is seen as an important catalyst for regional economic and social development, particularly because it generates and exploits knowledge as entrepreneurial opportunities. However, evidence about this phenomenon is fragmented and disorganized. By adopting institutional economics, resource-based view, and endogenous growth approaches, this study provides a better understanding of the socioeconomic impacts of the entrepreneurial university. Using the case study methodology, the study presents the experience of entrepreneurial universities in a European Region (Catalonia, Spain). It describes some practical implications that could stimulate the entrepreneurial activity of universities and thus foster their contribution to the development of the modern knowledge economy.


As shy people have been reported to experience interpersonal and professional difficulties at work, this study examined the extent to which shy employees have lower perceptions of their career success and whether organizational socialization could favorably moderate the relationship between shyness and subjective career success. Questionnaires containing personality and socialization measures were given to 375 full-time employees. Confirming the hypotheses, t-test results revealed that shy (compared to non-shy) employees scored significantly lower on Subjective Career Success, Self-Confidence, and Emotional Intelligence; while scoring significantly higher on work-related Emotional Exhaustion. Regressions revealed that the four facets of organizational socialization (Training, Understanding, Coworker Support, and Future Prospects) all had significant moderating effects that yielded increases in the levels of Subjective Career Success for the shy employees. Implications for management are discussed.


An important advance in the radiocarbon dating of archaeological material occurred in the late 1990s, with direct dating of cremated human remains. A crucial part of the argument was the demonstration that comparable results could be obtained from paired dates of charcoal and calcined bone from the same contexts. Recent studies, however, have noted the influence of carbon from the fuel sources, raising a question over the interpretation of the paired charcoal/bone dates. Here, fleshed modern animal joints were burned with "old" fuel of known age, providing experimental evidence under natural conditions, demonstrating a clear effect of the fuel source on the carbon isotopic composition of calcined bone. In most situations in which branchwood was used as fuel, dates on calcined bone should not show any significant offset, as the wood will be of a similar age to the cadaver. For cases in which old wood, coal, or peat are used as fuel, we expect an offset of some decades/centuries, potentially up to millennia. We observed, however, that the amount of 14C intake from the fuel is extremely variable (from 39 to 95%). A strong correlation between age offset and δ13C values suggests that the latter might be useful in identifying large inputs from 14C-depleted fuels. A level of caution is recommended when 14C dating calcined bone in cases where fuels with an inbuilt age may have been used in the cremation process.


Contamination of aquatic ecosystems is always of concern to environmental scientists; however, these systems also possess unique capabilities allowing them to eliminate or remediate certain levels of pollutants. Primarily through the presence of vegetation, aquatic ecosystems are known to be capable of removing or at least decreasing pollutant loads travelling through the aqueous phase. In addition to vegetation, soil/sediment and microbes play a significant role in transferring or transforming pollutants to acceptable levels in aquatic ecosystems. This chapter focuses on some of the primary literature describing phytoremediation of organic pollutants (e.g. hydrocarbons and pesticides) and inorganic pollutants (e.g. metals and nutrients). Research indicates the popularity and success of phytoremediation techniques used to clean up both organic and inorganic pollutants from the water column. While certain caution should always be exercised, phytoremediation continues to serve as a successful means of pollutant remediation in aquatic ecosystems.


Benthic foraminiferal shells are common to frequent components of the marine sediments in fjords. Changes of their distribution with time have long been used to date Ouaternary sediments. More rccent studies have shown that benthic foraminiferal distribution patterns strongly reflect the various aspects of the hydrography of fjords. In particular, one can distinguish species which live l) under the influence of seasonally changing surface water masses, from those which live 2) at intermediate water depths, and those which inhabil 3) the deepest and hydrographically relatively stable parts of the basins. The interfaces separating the different assemblages are not horizontal, but follow hydrographic gradients, which are controlled by basin morphology and local water mass distribution. The spccics associations vary from area to area, even in adjacent sedimentary basins.


We examine time discounting factors in an international survey. Our analysis reveals a significant relationship between time discount factors and historical equity premiums across 27 countries. This result implies that higher historical equity risk premiums are observed in countries where survey participants tend to be more short-term oriented. This finding is consistent with the explanation of the equity premium puzzle provided by myopic loss aversion.


Ecuador has a high diversity of ecosystems in its coastal and marine territory with beaches, bays, estuaries, cliffs, coastal lagoons and rocky coasts being the most representative. So far, 1,859 marine species have been identified in Ecuador. Of these, 1380 species of non-commercial marine invertebrates and vertebrates, belonging to 8 Phyla and distributed in 25 groups or classes, occur along the coast of Ecuador. These are: Protozoans, 9 groups: Oceanic and estuarine Diatoms, Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, Dinoflagellates, Coccolithophorida, Silicoflagellates, Euglenophyta, Tintinnids and planktonic and benthic Foraminifera; Cnidaria, 2 classes: Hydromedusae and Scyphomedusae; Mollusca, 5 classes: Wood-boring molluscs and rock-boring and benthic bivalves; Gasteropoda: (Thecosomatans, Pteropods, Heteropods and benthic species, Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda and Cephalopoda); Annelida, 1 group: benthic Polychaeta; Arthropoda, 1 class: Crustacea (Cirripedia, Anomura, Brachyuran, Euphausiids); Chaetognatha, 1 group; Echinodermata, 4 classes: Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, Echinoidea and Holothuroidea; Chordata, 2 classes: Marine mammals and birds. Both the biodiversity of the meiobenthos of the Gulf of Guayaquil and that of the inter-tidal zone are presented. The 479 demersal species of commercial importance are grouped in 4 Phyla (Chordata, Arthropoda, Mollusca, and Echinodermata), 41 orders, 143 families and 258 genera. The phylum Chordata represented by fish is the most diverse group on the coast with 270 species from 142 genera, 63 families, and 22 orders, the order Perciformes being the best represented with 143 species. Molluscs form the next biggest group with 110 species. In general, the biggest biodiversity of species seems to be in the Gulf of Guayaquil, the main estuary of Ecuador. However, this may be because that area has been better studied than the others. The work presented is mainly the result of research carried out by Equatorians and thus cannot be claimed to include the whole of the current information about marine biodiversity in Ecuador.


The catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons in a FCC riser is a very complex physical and chemical phenomenon, which combines a three-dimensional, three-phase fluid flow with a heterogeneous catalytic cracking kinetics. Several researchers have carried out the modeling of the problem in different ways. Depending on the main objective of the modeling it is possible to find in the literature very simple models while in other cases, when more accurate results are necessary, each equipment is normally treated separately and a set of differential and algebraic equations is written for the problem. The riser reactor is probably the most important equipment in a FCC plant. All cracking reactions and fuel formation occur during the short time (about 4-5s) that the gas oil stays in contact with the catalyst inside the riser. This work presents a simplified model to predict the, temperature and concentrations in a FCC riser reactor. A bi-dimensional fluid flow field combined with a 6 lumps kinetic model and two energy equations (catalyst and gas oil) are used to simulate the gas oil cracking process. Based on the velocity, temperature and concentration fields, it is intended, on a next step, to use the second law of thermodynamic to perform a thermodynamic optimization of the system.


There is considerable case-study-based evidence that changes in the public policy environment have profoundly altered the structure and operation of retail property markets in England. Despite this, however, few studies of property market performance consider the influence of retail planning policies. This paper seeks to fill the gap. The empirical part of the paper uses data derived from a survey of local planning authorities to construct a range of measures of planning policy stance. The indicators demonstrate that the role of policy is complex and multidimensional. The paper then explores the relationship between planning policies and measures of property market performance. The results show that, while proactive policies do not guarantee a vibrant market, they can play an important part in stimulating occupier and investor demand, even where there are poor economic fundamentals.


We have calculated the structures and the emergent spectra of stationary, geometrically thin accretion disks around 100 and 1000 M☉ black holes in both the Schwarzschild and extreme Kerr metrics. Equations of radiative transfer, hydrostatic equilibrium, energy balance, ionization equilibrium, and statistical equilibrium are solved simultaneously and consistently. The six most astrophysically abundant elements (H, He, C, N, O, and Fe) are included, as well as energy transfer by Comptonization. The observed spectrum as a function of viewing angle is computed, incorporating all general relativistic effects. We find that, in contrast with the predictions of the commonly used multicolor disk (MCD) model, opacity associated with photoionization of heavy elements can significantly alter the spectrum near its peak. These ionization edges can create spectral breaks visible in the spectra of slowly spinning black holes viewed from almost all angles and in the spectra of rapidly spinning black holes seen approximately pole-on. For fixed mass and accretion rate relative to Eddington, both the black hole spin and the viewing angle can significantly shift the observed peak energy of the spectrum, particularly for rapid spin viewed obliquely or edge-on. We present a detailed test of the approximations made in various forms of the MCD model. Linear limb-darkening is confirmed to be a reasonable approximation for the integrated flux but not for many specific frequencies of interest.


An admission control algorithm is a key component of a video server that supports quality of service (QoS). Such an algorithm determines whether or not a new request can be admitted to the server without compromising the required performance of the in-service users. All prior admission control policies for video servers have focussed on improving the underlying storage system utilization such that a VOD server can accept more requests while satisfying the QoS requirements. In this paper, we examine admission control for an interactive video server that uses a resource sharing mechanism, called interval caching. The primary motivation of this work is to develop an efficient admission policy to optimize the server throughput with acceptable QoS. We analyze four admission control algorithms, called deterministic, predictive, statistical average, and reliable statistical admission control (RSAC), for an interactive video server and find that the proposed RSAC scheme is quite efficient compared to the other three schemes in terms of throughput and jitter. The RSAC policy attempts to optimize the disk and cache utilization while reserving a certain amount of disk bandwidth for streams that are evicted from the cache, and are likely to cause jitter due to unavailable disk space. We estimate this reserved disk bandwidth as a function of the average number of cached steams, which in turn indicates improvement in server capacity with interval caching. The average number of cached streams and the subsequent reserved bandwidth are computed wing a simple, yet accurate mathematical model. Extensive performance evaluation indicates that the RSAC is an attractive scheme for an interactive or non-interactive video server and can be implemented with other performance enhancement techniques.


Objectives: Classify e-service functions on Websites or portals in order to prioritize which ones to improve based on their performance and importance as viewed by consumers. Methods/Statistical Analysis: We use the standard SERVQUAL questionnaire to extract the Website consumers' views. Then, we analyse the collected data using the Two Dimensional Mean Value Matrix (TDMVM) by mapping the consumer's perception on a 2D space of function performance-importance. The SERVQUAL questionnaire has been customized to suit the business domain we are experimenting with. Findings: As a proof-of-concept, we applied our methodology to one of the national e-government Websites called Tanmia. The two mean values of performance-importance for the 20 quality-specific questions of SERVQUAL were mapped to the 4 quadrants of the TDMVM. Based on the final projection of the quality questions on the 4-quadrant matrix, a recommendation report has been generated with a course of action for each corresponding quadrant. Application/Improvements: Consumers deserve to express their feedback toward e-services delivered. At the same time, decision makers and Website admins need the right tools that allow them to focus on what matters the most to the consumers in order to fix underperforming functions. We showed a methodology, which combines SERVQUAL and TDMVM, that can pinpoint the areas that need immediate attention and the areas that we do not need to waste resources on fixing them. The methodology should boost consumer satisfaction while rending decision makers working effectively and efficiently by allocating resources at the right functional areas.


Glioblastoma, the most aggressive and malignant form of glioma, appears to be resistant to various chemotherapeutic agents. Hence, approaches have been intensively investigated to targeti specific molecular pathways involved in glioblastoma development and progression. Aloe emodin is believed to modulate the expression of several genes in cancer cells. We aimed to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effect of Aloe emodin on gene expression profiles in the human U87 glioblastoma cell line utilizing microarray technology. The gene expression analysis revealed that a total of 8,226 gene alterations out of 28,869 genes were detected after treatment with 58.6 μg/ml for 24 hours. Out of this total, 34 genes demonstrated statistically significant change (p<0.05) ranging from 1.07 to 1.87 fold. The results revealed that 22 genes were up-regulated and 12 genes were down-regulated in response to Aloe emodin treatment. These genes were then grouped into several clusters based on their biological functions, revealing induction of expression of genes involved in apoptosis (programmed cell death) and tissue remodelling in U87 cells (p<0.01). Several genes with significant changes of the expression level e.g. SHARPIN, BCAP31, FIS1, RAC1 and TGM2 from the apoptotic cluster were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). These results could serve as guidance for further studies in order to discover molecular targets for the cancer therapy based on Aloe emodin treatment.


Abstract— The global high‐resolution imaging of asteroid 433 Eros by the Near‐Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker spacecraft has made it possible to develop the first comprehensive picture of the geology of a small S‐type asteroid. Eros displays a variety of surface features, and evidence of a substantial regolith. Large scale facets, grooves, and ridges indicate the presence of at least one global planar structure. Directional and superposition relations of smaller structural features suggest that fracturing has occurred throughout the object. As with other small objects, impact craters dominate the overall shape as well as the small‐scale topography of Eros. Depth/diameter ratios of craters on Eros average ∼0.13, but the freshest craters approach lunar values of ∼0.2. Ejecta block production from craters is highly variable; the majority of large blocks appear to have originated from one 7.6 km crater (Shoemaker). The interior morphology of craters does not reveal the influence of discrete mechanical boundaries at depth in the manner of craters formed on lunar mare regolith and on some parts of Phobos. This lack of mechanical boundaries, and the abundant evidence of regolith in nearly every high‐resolution image, suggests a gradation in the porosity and fracturing with depth. The density of small craters is deficient at sizes below ∼200 m relative to predicted slopes of empirical saturation. This characteristic, which is also found on parts of Phobos and lunar highland areas, probably results from the efficient obliteration of small craters on a body with significant topographic slopes and a thick regolith. Eros displays a variety of regolith features, such as debris aprons, fine‐grained "ponded" deposits, talus cones, and bright and dark streamers on steep slopes indicative of efficient downslope movement of regolith. These processes serve to mix materials in the upper loose fragmental portion of the asteroid (regolith). In the instance of "ponded" materials and crater wall deposits, there is evidence of processes that segregate finer materials into discrete deposits. The NEAR observations have shown us that surface processes on small asteroids can be very complex and result in a wide variety of morphologic features and landforms that today seem exotic. Future missions to comets and asteroids will surely reveal still as yet unseen processes as well as give context to those discovered by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft.


The sensory innervation of the lung is well known to be innervated by nerve fibers of both vagal and sympathetic origin. Although the vagal afferent innervation of the lung has been well characterized, less is known about physiological effects mediated by spinal sympathetic afferent fibers. We hypothesized that activation of sympathetic spinal afferent nerve fibers of the lung would result in an excitatory pressor reflex, similar to that previously characterized in the heart. In this study, we evaluated changes in renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) and hemodynamics in response to activation of TRPV1‐sensitive pulmonary spinal sensory fibers by agonist application to the visceral pleura of the lung and by administration into the primary bronchus in anesthetized, bilaterally vagotomized, adult Sprague‐Dawley rats. Application of bradykinin (BK) to the visceral pleura of the lung produced an increase in mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and RSNA. This response was significantly greater when BK was applied to the ventral surface of the left lung compared to the dorsal surface. Conversely, topical application of capsaicin (Cap) onto the visceral pleura of the lung, produced a biphasic reflex change in MAP, coupled with increases in HR and RSNA which was very similar to the hemodynamic response to epicardial application of Cap. This reflex was also evoked in animals with intact pulmonary vagal innervation and when BK was applied to the distal airways of the lung via the left primary bronchus. In order to further confirm the origin of this reflex, epidural application of a selective afferent neurotoxin (resiniferatoxin, RTX) was used to chronically ablate thoracic TRPV1‐expressing afferent soma at the level of T1–T4 dorsal root ganglia pleura. This treatment abolished all sympatho‐excitatory responses to both cardiac and pulmonary application of BK and Cap in vagotomized rats 9–10 weeks post‐RTX. These data suggest the presence of an excitatory pulmonary chemosensitive sympathetic afferent reflex. This finding may have important clinical implications in pulmonary conditions inducing sensory nerve activation such as pulmonary inflammation and inhalation of chemical stimuli.


Excretion of catecholamines and vanilylmandelic acid was studied in rabbits with tetanic intoxication. It was found that catecholamine excretion increases up to 173% in the initial stages of the disease and falls to 51% at the height of the disease whereas excretion of vanilylmandelic acid progressively decreases down to 40% against normal. Pirroxan (10 mg/kg a day) reduces excretion of catecholamines and vanilylmandelic acid by three times, concurrently producing a definite cholinolytic effect.


We analyze multiband photometry of a subsample of low-mass stars in the associations Ori OB1a and 1b discovered during the Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomía (CIDA) Orion Variability Survey, which have ages of 7–10 and 3–5 Myr, respectively. We obtained UBVRCIC photometry at Mount Hopkins for six classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs) and 26 weak T Tauri stars (WTTSs) in Ori OB1a and for 21 CTTSs and two WTTSs in Ori OB1b. We also obtained L-band photometry for 14 CTTSs at Mount Hopkins and 10 and 18 μm photometry with OSCIR at Gemini for six CTTSs; of these, all six were detected at 10 μm, whereas only one was detected at 18 μm. We estimate mass accretion rates from the excess luminosity at U and find that they are consistent with determinations for a number of other associations, with or without high-mass star formation. The observed decrease of mass accretion rate with age is qualitatively consistent with predictions of viscous evolution of accretion disks, although other factors can also play a role in slowing accretion rates. We compare the excesses over photospheric fluxes in H - K, K - L, and K - N with the younger sample of Taurus and find an overall decrease of disk emission from Taurus to Ori OB1b to Ori OB1a. This decrease implies that significant grain growth and settling toward the midplane has taken place in the inner disks of Ori OB1. We compare the spectral energy distribution of the star detected at both 10 and 18 μm with disk models for similar stellar and accretion parameters. We find that the low fluxes shortward of 18 μm of this Ori OB1b star cannot be due to the smaller disk radius expected from viscous evolution in the presence of the far-ultraviolet radiation fields from the OB stars in the association. Instead, we find that the disk of this star is essentially a flat disk, with little if any flaring, indicating a significant degree of dust settling toward the midplane, as expected from dust evolution in protoplanetary disks.


AIM
The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of servant leadership dimensions on leader-member exchange (LMX) among health-care professionals.

BACKGROUND
Leadership support and the quality of the dyadic relationship between the leader and the employee are essential regarding the work environment and turnover intentions in health care.

METHOD
A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was undertaken at four hospital units in Sweden. The study sample included 240 employees.

RESULTS
Significant bivariate correlations were found between all servant leadership dimensions and LMX. The strongest correlations were found between 'humility' and LMX (r = 0.69, P < 0.001), and 'empowerment' and LMX (r = 0.67, P < 0.001). The hierarchical regression analyses indicated that 'empowerment', 'humility' and 'stewardship' explained about 55% of the variance in LMX.

CONCLUSION
In our study servant leadership dimensions were strongly related to LMX.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
The results identify specific servant leadership dimensions that are likely to be useful for developing a stronger exchange relationship between the leader (e.g. nursing manager) and individual subordinates in health care.


In this paper, the use of the Kresling tower origami as a building block for compliant mechanism design is considered. Two contributions are introduced to develop a synthesis method of such a building block. First, models to link the origami pattern geometry to the Kresling tower kinematics are derived. The position of stable configurations, the lead angle of its helical motion are expressed as functions of the pattern parameters. Experimental validation of the models is performed. Second, a modification of pattern by local adjustment of fold geometry is introduced. This aims at modifying the origami stiffness without affecting the kinematics. The use of modified fold geometries is experimentally investigated. The capacity to strongly modify the stiffness level is observed, which is encouraging to go towards a synthesis method with decoupling of kinematics and stiffness selection.


This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the First International Workshop on the Theory and Applications of Formal Argumentation, TAFA 2011, held in Barcelona, Spain, in Juli 2011, as a workshop at IJCAI 2011, the 22nd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. The 9 revised full papers presented together with 8 revised poster papers were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement from 32 initial submissions. The workshop promotes and fosters uptake of argumentation as a viable AI paradigm with wide ranging application, and provides a forum for further development of ideas and the initiation of new and innovative collaborations. The papers cover the following topics: properties of formal models of argumentation; instantiations of abstract argumentation frameworks; relationships among different argumentation frameworks; practical applications of formal models of argumentation; argumentation and other artificial intelligence techniques; evaluation of formal models of argumentation; validation and evaluation of applications of argumentation.


We demonstrate that the use of an optimized bi-electrode reflective semiconductor optical amplifier as remote modulator reduces the chirp. Our simulation shows that the chirp reduction is due to the carrier density profile in multi-electrode reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers. As a result of the chirp reduction, penalties for transmission are reduced from 6 to 4.5 dB on standard fiber at 2.5 Gb/s over 50 km. Using tri-electrode devices, a penalty of 3 dB is obtained for the same transmission conditions.


Understanding of the detailed mechanisms of how roots anchor in and reinforce soil is complicated by the variability and complexity of both materials. This study controlled material stiffness and architecture of root analogues, by using rubber and wood, and also employed real willow root segments, to investigate the effect on pullout resistance in wet and air‐dry sand. The architecture of model roots included either no laterals (tap‐root) or a single pair at two different locations (herringbone and dichotomous). During pullout tests, data on load and displacement were recorded. These studies were combined with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) image analysis of the model root‐soil system at a transparent interface during pullout to increase understanding of mechanical interactions along the root. Model rubber roots with small stiffness had increasing pullout resistance as the branching and the depth of the lateral roots increased. Similarly, with the stiff wooden root models, the models with lateral roots embedded deeper showed greatest resistance. PIV showed that rubber model roots mobilized their interface shear strength progressively whilst rigid roots mobilized it equally and more rapidly over the whole root length. Soil water suction increased the pullout resistance of the roots by increasing the effective stress and soil strength. Separate pullout tests conducted on willow root samples embedded in sand showed similar behaviour to the rigid model roots. These tests also demonstrated the effect of the root curvature and rough interface on the maximum pullout resistance.


Growing experimental and theoretical evidence points to the key role of cryptochrome proteins in magnetoreception by migratory birds and insects. Cryptochrome photoactivation is achieved through a cascade of electron transfer events leading to formation of a long-lived spin-correlated radical pair. The electron transfer cascade is initiated by photoexcitation of the FAD cofactor and subsequent electron transfer through three conserved tryptophan residues, the so-called tryptophan triad. Presence of ATP was shown to increase the yield of the semireduced form of FAD. While electron transfer through the tryptophan triad is well characterized by both theoretical and experimental methods, the effects of ATP binding are still not well understood. The present work aims to unravel the mechanism of ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer in a cryptochrome protein with a focus on effects of ATP on the FAD photoreduction process. Photoinduced electron transfer is described by means of state-of-the-art theoretical methods: a hybrid quantum-classical polarizable embedding scheme is utilized to accurately parameterize a generalized local excited/charge transfer state system-bath model Hamiltonian and the photoinduced electron transfer process is described by a semiclassical path integral-based dynamics method. The results draw attention to the crucial role of the intramolecular electron transfer from adenine to the flavin moiety of the FAD cofactor for formation of the semireduced form of FAD, providing an explanation for the increased yield of the semireduced form in the presence of the cellular metabolites in vitro and in vivo.


Drawing on Library and Archive's collection, the Library of Parliament curated an exhibit that features six
of the most significant documents in Canadian and parliamentary history. In this article, the author gives
an overview of the contexts in which some of the words that shaped Canada were written and identifies
some interesting details on the documents themselves.


Abstract This experimental study examined the potential additive benefit of peer strategies (PS) and strengths information (SI) over descriptive and explanatory (D+E) information in enhancing typical children's behavioral intentions and cognitive attitudes towards children with autism. Participants were 158 typical students from fourth, fifth and sixth grades who were assigned to groups viewing videos about autism: Video I (D+E), Video II (D+E+PS), Video III (D+E+SI) or Video IV (D+E+PS+SI). Analyses indicated significant differences in positive behavioral intentions but no attitude differences after watching the videos. Participants who viewed videos incorporating peer strategies (Videos II and IV) had significantly greater positive behavioral intentions than those who viewed the video incorporating strengths information (Video III). Video interventions can help enhance typical children's behavioral intentions towards children with autism. Keywords: autistic disorder, attitude, intentions, peer group, schools Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder that begins in infancy and is characterized by severe impairments in social interaction and language, deviance in communication, repetitive and obsessive behaviors, and narrowly-focused and rigid interests (Volkmar & Pauls, 2003). The increasing incidence and prevalence of autism spectrum disorders have received a great deal of current national attention. Autism is the fastest growing serious developmental disorder in the United States and more children will receive a diagnosis of autism than of AIDS, diabetes and cancer combined (Autism Speaks, 2012). According to the CDC's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, approximately 1 in 88 children is currently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Moreover, studies in Asia, Europe and North America reveal that the average prevalence rate of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) is approximately 1% (CDC, 2012). Although the etiology, pathophysiology and genetic transmission of autism can be controversial and not completely understood, autism may best be perceived as a heterogeneous disorder, resulting from multiple genetic and environmental factors, which are often exacerbated by neurologic, cytogenetic, neurotransmitter, and immunologic abnormalities (Hollander, DelGiudice-Asch, & Simon, 1999). Risk for Rejection and Stigmatization Children with autism are at particular risk for rejection and stigmatization by peers. Despite their often typical appearance, children with autism often display severe and disruptive antisocial behaviors, self-destructive acts, inappropriate public behaviors (i.e., crying, moaning, leaning back), and tantrums which often lead to this stigmatization. This combination of a typical physical appearance and highly disruptive behavior often stigmatizes parents of children with autism, as well. These parents are typically met with hostile, insensitive and negative reactions by the public, given the common public's lack of understanding and knowledge of autism (Gray, 2002). These disruptive behaviors coupled with a typical physical appearance cause children with autism to be judged more severely than other children with disabilities (Chambres, Auxiette, Vansingle & Gil, 2008). Children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) report fewer friends and more negative experiences, such as bullying and shunning in comparison to typical children and adolescents (Koning & Magill-Evans, 2001). However, children with autism are perceived more favorably by adults when these individuals are informed of the child's autism diagnosis (Chambres et al., 2008). This study suggests that individuals can modify their standard of comparison and compare a child with autism to other children with autism rather than to a typical child (Chambres et al., 2008). Unfortunately, the lack of effective social interaction skills among children with autism further exacerbates their maladaptive behaviors and poor peer outcomes. …


Noise regulations for aircraft that fly over populated areas are becoming continuously stricter. This in combination with increasing computational capabilities has boosted interest in aeroacoustic computations in the aerospace industry. New numerical methods that are able to predict noise will play a major role in future aircraft and engine designs, and validation and possibly improvements of these new methods are needed for results with satisfying accuracy.

This thesis shows how nonlinear blade row interaction computations that focus on aeroacoustics can be made in an accurate and efficient way. It is shown how the computations of a succession of blade rows with non-matching blade count can be made more efficient by utilizing the chorochronic periodicity.

The tonal acoustic response from a stator vane with rotor wake impingement is calculated with the chorochronic method and compared to a linear method, and the results are in good agreement. The harmonic balance technique was also tested for tone noise predictions and shows a good potential to be a more efficient tool than using standard time stepping for obtaining periodic solutions. The Newton-GMRES method is shown to be a suitable algorithm for obtaining convergence and for better performance of the harmonic balance computations.

Broadband noise predictions from rotor wake impingement on stators are calculated with a hybrid RANS/LES method and chorochronic buffer zones. The noise is evaluated with a FWH surface integral method.


Objective: A spreadsheet-based model for supporting equitable mental health resource distribution in Australia was developed, based on the Australian Health Survey (AHS) psychological distress findings associated with area socio-economic disadvantage (SED). An illustrative application is presented. Method: Stratum-specific psychological-distress rates for area SED quintiles are applied to local government areas, catchment areas and local health networks (LHNs). A case study applies the model to Victoria, including examining recommendations in the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health Services (RCVMHS) 2019 interim report for increases to bed stock in two LHNs. Results: Need-adjusted demand estimates considered as a ratio of raw population proportions for catchments range between 0.6 to 1.4 in Victoria. Applying the formula to the Royal Commission recommendations suggests the proposed distribution of beds is a reasonable correction for these two LHNs and indicates next expansion priorities for more equitable distribution to other LHNs. Conclusions: The spreadsheet, adaptable for other states and territories, could complement National Mental Health Services Planning Framework outputs and assist in evaluation, for instance, determining potential supply shortages in the tele-mental-health response to COVID-19. We outline research directions including consideration of the moral bases of value judgements and identification of other variables including their use in parameterisation and calibration.


Hormonally active pancreas tumours have ceased to be rare cases, and by means of up-to-date methods they are now more frequently diagnosed than they used to be in the past. An account, based on the authors' own experience, is given in this paper of diagnostic and surgical problems relating to the various hormone-producing tumours of the pancreas. Particular reference is made to the treatment of malignant apudomata and to new concepts which have resulted from the introduction of H2 receptor blockers.


In a context of increasingly intense competition, creating a unique mix of value through innovation has been considered one tenet for creating a competitive advantage (Porter, 1996). During the past decades, innovation has become a central issue of strategic management (Nag et al., 2007). The literature has identified several problems in relation to firm failure innovation decisions, focusing on the supply-side (organizational competence, Henderson 2006; dependence of actual most profitable customers, Christensen, 1997; out-of-date competence due to technological breakthroughs, Tushman & Anderson, 1986), and on the demand-side (market turbulence, Abernathy & Clark 1985; institutional environment, Chesbrough, 2001).


Lethally irradiated mice were injected with small numbers of normal spleen cells and then immunized with sheep erythrocytes. Antibody activity was found in their spleens in localized areas whose number corresponded to the number of spleen cells injected. When sheep and pig erythrocytes were injected together, antibody against each was found in separate areas. Each area may consist of the progeny of a single precursor cell, restricted to forming a single antibody.


In this paper, two literatures that have explored the structure of economies are brought together. In the first case, the approaches to key sector identification (initially associated with Hirschman and Rasmussen) that were modified by Cella, Clements and Rossi and Guilhoto et al. to reveal what may be referred to a pure linkage approach are related to the concerns of Miyazawa and his identification of internal and external multiplier effects. While Miyazawa was interested mainly in identifying the sources of change in an economy, his approach shares considerable commonality with the new ideas in key sector identification in which a sector or set of sectors are separated from the rest of the economy. Hence, in both cases, a decomposition of the economy needs to be considered; the present paper reveals the similarity of perspective and provides the formal link between the two methodologies.


Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one of the most intensively studied nanostructured materials due to their remarkable electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. Such a combination of properties has ranked CNTs as a potentially attractive reinforcement in a variety of composite materials. However, unlike polymers and metals, comparatively little research has been focussed in ceramic matrices, particularly glass, although the subject has recently been reviewed. The effect of the diameter and aspect ratio of CNTs on the mechanical properties of such brittle systems is a research area to be explored. A fully dense amorphous silica matrix with uniform dispersion of CNTs has been produced to exhibit the true effect of CNTs as reinforcing filler in brittle matrices.

Dense silica glass matrix composites reinforced with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were produced by colloidal processing by heterocoagulation. By controlling the surface chemistry, the quality of the diphasic suspension was maintained during mixing, ensuring electrostatically-driven coating of silica nanoparticles onto the MWCNTs. The heterocoagulation process produced isolated CNTs at loadings up to 15 wt.%. The colloidal processing was followed by either pressureless sintering or spark plasma sintering for densification of the composite to the theoretical density whilst minimising devitrification of the silica glass matrix material. As-produced composites with MWCNTs of different diameter / aspect ratio and varied loadings were characterised microscopically and mechanically. In addition to SEM, XRD, hardness and indentation fracture toughness, the composites were also characterized for thermal and electrical conductivities.

One of the key objectives of this project was to investigate the real effect of CNTs on the fracture toughness, K1c of the CNT/silica composites. Therefore, detailed K1c measurements using both the indentation and Chevron notch tests were compared. This study provides insight into the continuing debate in the literature on the appropriateness of different fracture toughness measurements as applied to CNT/inorganic matrix composites. In addition, the possible toughening mechanisms associated with CNT pull-out, CNT bridging, and crack deflection were investigated.


This paper introduces an approach to teaching students about human rights, a termlong project that is being implemented in an intensive English for academic purposes (EAP) program at a Thai university. The objectives of the project are to improve students' language skills while also cultivating their knowledge of human rights. The project is informed by the theories of project-based learning, emphasizing student autonomy and constructive investigations. It introduces students to the history and development of human rights, focusing particularly on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Four Freedoms. Students are each assigned a different country to research, and they analyze current issues in that country through the lens of the Four Freedoms. Under the guidance of a faculty advisor, the students prepare a term paper and presentation highlighting their most significant findings. Through engagement with human rights issues in countries around the world, students are able to transcend their learning space and become better citizens of Thailand, ASEAN, and the global community. The contents of this paper will be of special interest to language teachers, but a similar project could be applied in a range of courses across the high school or university curriculum.


The EC should position itself as a WTO Member with a long term view of the world trade regime. Assuming responsibility for the future relevance of the world trading system is a sign of leadership. Europe implicitly assumes that future rounds of trade negotiations will follow after a successful Doha Round. Those future rounds will address the unfinished business left by (perhaps) a more modest but a "clean" Doha outcome much more easily than if they inherit a Doha package more ambitious for some products, but riddled with more distortive exceptions on many products. In short, the ECs long term strategy should be to promote a series of WTO Rounds of liberalization as a slow but nonetheless perennial "peeling of the protectionist onion".


Aim. To analyze differential expression of metalloproteases genes, involved into the processes of stabilization/destabilization of atherosclerotic plaque, with the method of full genome sequencing of RNA, and to evaluate the level of metalloproteases in homogenates of plaques of various types by immune enzyme assay method (IEA).Material  and  methods.  The study has been conducted on the specimens of atherosclerotic plaques of patients aged 45-65 y.o., inhabitants of Western Siberia with angiographically proven coronary atherosclerosis and no acute coronary syndrome, with stable angina II-IV functional class. Specimens collection from the plaques was done during an operation if there were intraoperational indications. Histology performed. In intima/media homogenates by IEA method, with BCM Diagnostics assays the levels of destructive markers were measured: MMP-1, MMP3, MMP-7, MMP-9, TIMP-1 on the Multiscan EX (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA). Libraries preparation for full genomic sequencing of RNA was done with Illumina's TruSeq RNA Sample Preparation Kit (Illumina, USA). Expression profile in tissues was done on HiSeq 1500 (Illumina, USA).Results. There are differences in expression of the genes MMP2, MMP7, MMP8, MMP9, MMP12, и MMP14 in different types of plaques. There was 8 times higher significant raise in increase of the expression level of ММР9 (p<0,001) in unstable plaque of dystrophic-necrotic type. Study by IEA of MMP-7 content, which is an activator of pro-MMP-9, as well as the content of MMP-9 itself, showed their increased levels in unstable plaques comparing to fatty streaks (1,5 and 2,4 times) and young stable plaques (1,4 and 2,1 times).Conclusion. For the gene ММР9 there were significant differences obtained, of expression levels in stable atherosclerotic fibrous plaque and unstable plaque of dystrophic-necrotic type. With the IEA it was found that fatty streaks and young stable atheromas of coronary arteries have an increased concentration of MMP-3 and decreased activity of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteases. In unstable plaques with the tendency to rupture/ulceration there are increased levels of MMP-1, MMP-7, MMP-9.


Background: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of osteoporosis among patients with adrenal Cushing's syndrome (ACS) and Cushing's disease (CD), to investigate whether there is a difference in the degree of osteoporosis between both groups; and if so, what factors may be responsible for this variation. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which data from 19 patients with CD and eight patients with ACS were analyzed. Osteo-porosis was assessed using the bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Results: Bone loss was present in 81.5% of the patients with Cushing's syndrome. Osteoporosis is nearly three times more common in ACS (62.5%) than in CD (26.3%). BMD at the lumbar spine was lower in patients with ACS than in patients with CD. ACS had significantly lower levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) than CD. In comparison to the CD group, the serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentration in the ACS group was significantly higher. In the entire patient population, there was a statistically significant correlation between the DHEA-S and the lumbar BMD values. Conclusions: Patients with ACS have more severe osteoporosis than patients with CD, and the difference in DHEA-S concentrations might be important in explaining this difference. BMD examinations should be prioritized to enable rapid recognition and intervention for osteoporosis. Measurement of bone turnover markers such as PTH may aid in the early diagnosis of the consequences of hypercortisolism on the bone.


Due to its wide application range and attractive features, wireless body area networks (WBANs) is considered as a revolutionary technology, which is envisaged to change how people manage and think about their health and their life styles. In this paper, we propose a self-organized dynamic clustering (SDC) method and its multiple access mechanism to mitigate the interference and improve the QoS in multiple WBANs environment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that focuses on the spectrum allocation for multiple WBANs. We borrow the concepts of cell and cluster from cellular networks to allocate the channels for different WBANs. The clustering is self-organized to improve the data transmission for intra-WBAN communication by the information exchange via inter-WBAN communication. Additionally, based on the cluster architecture, an inter-WBAN relaying (IWR) protocol for packets with low privacy or high reliability is also investigated. The simulation results show that SDC has better signal to interference ratio compared with existing framework. Besides, SDC and IWR also provide better QoS performance in terms of higher data packet delivery ratio and lower packet delay.


Zhang Yimou's Hero presents an action hero, yet in a slightly different cinematic mode than that of Stephen Chow-directed Shaolin Soccer to blend myth and modernity. In Yimou's martial arts cinema, Jet Li-starred Nameless hero uses martial arts to combat the king's adversaries, including Donnie Yen-starred Long Sky, Maggie Cheung-starred Flying Snow and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai-starred Broken Sword in the service to the Qin Dynasty (221 BC – 207 BC). The warrior hero's indigenous body art helps the Qin Dynasty transform the smaller warring kingdoms into a powerful Chinese Empire, a strong foundation of modern China with economic and military superpower. Like their western counterparts, including T1000 and Neo, the Hong Kong action heroes, such as the warrior hero and the Qin King have been refashioned in the Hollywood controlled twentieth-century popular culture. Different from their Hollywood counterparts in actions, the Hong Kong action heroes in Hero primarily use their trained bodies and martial skills to promote the Chinese civilization, an adaptation of the Hollywood tradition of technologized machine body. Reworking of myth and archetype in Nameless's service to the Qin Dynasty and the emperor's mission to incept the Chinese Empire, the Hong Kong action heroes appear on screen, a blend of tradition and modernity. The film industry's projection of the Chinese history with the legendary action heroes, including Nameless soldier and the Qin King globalizes the indigenous Chinese culture by using modern electronic digital technology, a resonance of the western technological advancement.


Recommender systems can support everyday digital tasks by retrieving and recommending useful information contextually. This is becoming increasingly relevant in services and operating systems. Previous research often focuses on specific recommendation tasks with data captured from interactions with an individual application. The quality of recommendations is also often evaluated addressing only computational measures of accuracy, without investigating the usefulness of recommendations in realistic tasks. The aim of this work is to synthesize the research in this area through a novel approach by (1) demonstrating comprehensive digital activity monitoring, (2) introducing entity-based computing and interaction, and (3) investigating the previously overlooked usefulness of entity recommendations and their actual impact on user behavior in real tasks. The methodology exploits context from screen frames recorded every 2 seconds to recommend information entities related to the current task. We embodied this methodology in an interactive system and investigated the relevance and influence of the recommended entities in a study with participants resuming their real-world tasks after a 14-day monitoring phase. Results show that the recommendations allowed participants to find more relevant entities than in a control without the system. In addition, the recommended entities were G. Jacucci, P. Daee, T. Vuong, and S. Andolina contributed equally to this research. This project was partially funded by the EC Horizon 2020 Framework Program through the Project CO-ADAPT (Grant agreement ID: 826266), the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) through the Project PON AIM (id: AIM1875400-1, CUP: B74I18000210006), and the Academy of Finland (Flagship programme


Debugging software failures in deployed systems is important because they impact real users and customers. However, debugging such failures is notoriously hard in practice because developers have to rely on limited information such as memory dumps. The execution history is usually unavailable because high-fidelity program tracing is not affordable in deployed systems.

In this paper, we present REPT, a practical system that enables reverse debugging of software failures in deployed systems. REPT reconstructs the execution history with high fidelity by combining online lightweight hardware tracing of a program's control flow with offline binary analysis that recovers its data flow. It is seemingly impossible to recover data values thousands of instructions before the failure due to information loss and concurrent execution. REPT tackles these challenges by constructing a partial execution order based on timestamps logged by hardware and iteratively performing forward and backward execution with error correction.

We design and implement REPT, deploy it on Microsoft Windows, and integrate it into WinDbg. We evaluate REPT on 16 real-world bugs and show that it can recover data values accurately (92% on average) and efficiently (in less than 20 seconds) for these bugs. We also show that it enables effective reverse debugging for 14 bugs.


Type 1 diabetes is characterized by a T cell mediated destruction of the insulin-producing s cells in the islets of Langerhans that are situated in the pancreas. Prior to the infiltration of lymphocytes into the pancreas, an accumulation of macrophages (mf) and dendritic cells (DC) is observed. It is generally thought that these mf and DC originate from blood monocytes that have entered the pancreas and have differentiated into mf or DC. On the basis of their normal physiological role, these cells presumably take up self-antigens and process these into peptides, which they present, after a so-called "steady-state" or "homeostatic" trafficking of the DC to the draining lymph nodes, to T lymphocytes in the para-cortical area. Normally this leads to tolerance induction and T regulatory cells are induced. However in the case of diabetes development, not regulatory T cells, but erroneously effector T lymphocytes become activated and islet autoimmunity is induced. These effector T cells that were primed in the lymph node, become re-activated after re-circulation upon recognition of the self-antigens in the pancreas and consequently – together with macrophages - initiate inflammation and mediate s cell destruction, which is a hallmark of type 1 diabetes.
In this thesis I have studied the processes involved in the early accumulation of mf and DC in the pancreas prior to the infiltration of lymphocytes. The extravasation of monocytes from the circulation into the pancreas is a complex process. Amongst other factors, adhesion molecules, chemokines and myeloid related proteins (MRPs) play an important role in the adhesive and migratory responses of the monocytes that enable effective extravasation.
I studied the adhesive and migratory behaviour of human monocytes of type 1 diabetic patients and compared these functions with those of monocytes of type 2 diabetic patients and healthy control subjects. First of all, I was not able to detect any differences between patients and control subjects regarding the subdivision of circulating monocytes in mature and immature cells based on the expression of CD14 and CD16 (chapter 2.1). Secondly, monocytes of patients with type 1 diabetes displayed an intrinsically increased surface expression of the pro-inflammatory molecule MRP8/14 and an increased serum level of MRP8/14. When monocytes were allowed to adhere to the extra cellular matrix component fibronectin the cells showed an enhanced expression and production of MRP8/14. The monocytes of type 1 diabetes patients showed the strongest expression and production of MRP8/14 which was significantly increased over that of healthy control monocytes (chapter 2.2). Furthermore, such activated type 1 diabetic monocytes showed an even stronger adhesion to fibronectin, which was indeed found to be the effect of exposition of the monocytes to MRP8/14 (chapter 2.1). My findings suggest a positive feedback mechanism regarding the adhesive capacity of monocytes in type 1 diabetes: circulating monocytes express and secrete higher levels of MRP8/14 as compared to healthy control subjects, resulting in increased MRP8/14 in the serum. The increased serum MRP8/14 induces an increased adhesive capacity to fibronectin of the monocytes, which leads to an even larger secretion of MRP8/14 compared to healthy controls.
In this thesis I also describe that the increased MRP8/14 in the serum induced an increased expression of CD11b/CD18 on the monocytes that is likely involved in the increased adhesion of the type 1 diabetic monocytes to endothelial cells that I observed (chapter 2.2).
After the adhesion studies I investigated the migratory behaviour of monocytes of type 1 diabetes patients and observed a remarkably decreased response towards the pro-inflammatory chemokines CCL2 and CCL3. Both the transendothelial migration (measured in a Transwell system) and the chemotaxis (measured in the classical Boyden assay) towards these pro-inflammatory chemokines were decreased for monocytes in type 1 diabetes. In contrast, the chemotaxis of monocytes of type 1 diabetes patients to the constitutively in lymphoid-tissue expressed CCL19 was increased in comparison to healthy controls (chapter 2.2).
Since in human subjects it is not feasible to study the diabetes development in the pre-diabetes stage, I also studied the adhesive and migratory capacity of monocytes of the NOD mouse, a widely used spontaneous animal model for type 1 diabetes, before the actual development of lymphocytic insulitis. Unlike patients, NOD mice showed increased numbers of mature (in the mouse Ly-6Clow) monocytes in the circulation and a preferential differentiation of monocytes towards mf (chapter 3.1). In contrast to control mice, NOD mice did not down regulate the fibronectin adhesive capacity of their monocytes upon maturation and the NOD Ly-6Clow monocytes displayed an increased adhesion to fibronectin as compared to the NOD Ly-6Clow monocytes of control mice. Hence a shared feature of monocytes of human type 1 diabetic subjects and NOD mice is an increased adhesive capacity to fibronectin (chapters 2.1 and 3.1).
With regard to the migratory potential of monocytes in NOD mice, I studied the in vivo recruitment of monocytes in response to inflammation using two models. In the peritonitis model, in which a sterile inflammation is induced in the peritoneum by injection of thioglycollate, the recruitment of monocytes was severely decreased as compared to control mice to various pro-inflammatory stimuli (chapter 3.2). Also in the air pouch model (a model in which sterile air is injected subcutaneously on the back of the mouse, creating a body cavity in which chemokines can be injected) the monocyte recruitment to the pro-inflammatory chemokines CCL2 and CCL3 was severely hampered (chapter 3.2). Like for adhesion these findings show a parallel between NOD mice and type 1 diabetes patients: in both situations monocytes show a poor reaction to pro-inflammatory chemokines.
I also studied the expression of chemokines in the pancreas of NOD mice during the development of diabetes. An increased expression of the pro-inflammatory chemokine CCL2 could never be detected as compared to control mouse strains. The expression of the pro-inflammatory chemokines CCL5 and CXCL10 was found only to be expressed in the NOD pancreas at a higher level at a later stage of the insulitis, i.e. at the time of the infiltration of T and B lymphocytes, hence after the early accumulation of the mf and DC (chapter 4.1). At the time of the early mf and DC accumulation an increased expression of the lymphoid tissue-related chemokines CCL19 and CCL21 was observed. Interestingly DC of NOD mice showed in vitro a decreased migration to the lymphoid tissue-related chemokine CCL19 (chapter 4.1), but an increased adhesion to fibronectin. NOD monocytes were not tested for their chemotactic response towards this chemokine.
It is likely that the increased adhesion to endothelial cells and fibronectin and the altered response of monocytes (and DC) to pro-inflammatory and constitutively expressed chemokines are variables determining the enhanced accumulation of mf and DC in the pancreas in the early stages of the diabetic process. My findings suggest that particularly the increased adhesion of the cells to fibronectin may lead to a retention of mf and DC in the pancreas. There the mf and DC may contribute to an inflammatory environment by the production of e.g. TNF-a. Such local inflammatory environment induces the expression of pro-inflammatory chemokines by the s cells and likely also by the mf and DC. Indeed we observed an increased expression of pro-inflammatory chemokines in the NOD pancreas at stages in which already an accumulation of mf and DC was observed. The infiltration of T and B lymphocytes correlated with the expression of these pro-inflammatory chemokines. Our data hence suggest that the inflammatory environment in the pancreas of NOD mice is rather the consequence of the accumulating mf and DC than the cause.
Both human and mouse monocytes showed a decreased migratory response towards pro-inflammatory chemokines, suggesting that an inflammatory-driven influx of monocytes as the origin of the early mf and DC accumulation in the pancreas is not likely. It could be that the monocytes use the lymphoid tissue-related chemokines CCL19 and CCL21 as an alternative route to enter the pancreas. It could also be that these chemokines are involved in the formation of secondary lymphoid tissue as have been previously been described in the NOD mice and the RIP-LCMV model for diabetes. The precise role of CCL19 and CCL21 in the development of diabetes is not clear, but it provides an interesting subject for further investigation.
In conclusion, in this thesis I show an interesting parallel between the adhesive and migratory behaviour of human and mouse monocytes in type 1 diabetes, providing evidence for a relation between the aberrant adhesive and migratory capacity of monocytes and DC and the development of type 1 diabetes. The mechanisms whereby an increased fibronectin adhesion and altered migration of the monocytes and DC triggers the autoimmune process need to be investigated further, providing a new and interesting challenge.


This study aims to reveal visual factors which determine the visual palatability of food dishes. We conducted subjective experiments under different light sources, and examined the correlation between the visual palatability and the visual factors, color appearance, glossiness, and convexo-concave perception. We prepared twelve kinds of food dishes, and measured the chromaticity values of all dishes under six kinds of light sources. Next, we transformed the measured data into their respective RGB values. This color management process ensures that the digital images can be displayed with the same chromaticity values as the real objects so that participants can observe the same visual stimuli with no olfactory cues. Twenty participants observed one of the images for one minute, and evaluated the "visual palatability", and answered subjectively three factors, "color appearance", "glossiness" and "convexo-concave perception". As a result, it was revealed that higher correlated color temperature light makes the dishes more palatable, suggesting that the color appearance is an important visual factor for the visual palatability of food dishes. In addition, it was shown that the visual palatability of the raw food dishes and the dishes with sauce can be affected by both color appearance and glossiness depending on the light source.


The purpose of this paper is to identify the current form of cooperation between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the State in flood risk management in the Czech Republic. The institutional framework developed for the broad cooperation between the State and the nonprofit sector was applied to flood risk management as a means of examining this area. The institutional framework for NGOs–State cooperation in the case of Czech flood risk government has the following elements: the European Union, Central Government, Ministries, Regional Authorities, Municipal Authorities, Emergency Services of Integrated Rescue System, Qua-volunteers, Employment Agencies, and State Companies. The methodology was qualitative and revolved around a literature review and managed interviews with six prominent NGOs participating in Czech flood risk management. Further data was collected from Czech professionals' conferences and during the author's membership in the working group of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic. The conclusion of the paper is as follows: The overview of the cooperation could be helpful for other post-socialistic countries which face a similar situation as did the Czech Republic Moreover, an overview of all forms of NGOs–State cooperation in the case of Czech flood risk management could be helpful for Czech NGOs and the Czech State where cooperation is variable at all levels of governance across the country.


This dissertation looks at global nuclear war as a trope that can be traced throughout twentieth century American literature. I argue that despite the non-event of nuclear exchange during the Cold War, the nuclear referent continues to shape American literary expression. Since the early 1990s the nuclear referent has dispersed into a multiplicity of disaster scenarios, producing a "second nuclear age." If the atomic bomb once introduced the hypothesis "of a total and remainderless destruction of the archive," today literature's staged anticipation of catastrophe has become inseparable from the realities of global risk. Consequently, to understand the relationship between the archive of twentieth and twenty-first century disaster literature and the world risk society, my dissertation revitalizes nuclear criticism by emphasizing the link between the development of nuclear weaponry and communication technologies.

I read a group of writers for whom nuclear war functions more as a structural principle than as a narrative event. William Carlos Williams's Spring and All (1923) is a significant precursor of a nuclear imagination distinct from a more general apocalyptic imagination. By imagining the destruction and reappearance of terrestrial life, Williams's poem captures the recursive character of the nuclear imagination. I then address the relationship between the nuclear imagination, narrative, and the writing of history in the novels of Thomas Pynchon, and how his asymptotic engagement with nuclear war attempts to transform postmodernity's sense of an ending. David Foster Wallace's subsequent response in Infinite Jest (1996) to US metafiction's apocalyptic atmosphere is transitional between the first and second nuclear ages, reconfiguring the archive from a target of destruction into a system capable of producing emergent disaster through accumulation. My dissertation thus draws together technologies of destruction and preservation, and shows them to be inseparable in twentieth and twenty-first century US literature.


The photosynthetic antenna system of diatoms contains fucoxanthin chlorophyll a/c binding proteins (FCPs), which are membrane intrinsic proteins showing high homology to the light harvesting complexes (LHC) of higher plants. In the present study, we used a mild solubilization of P. tricornutum thylakoid membranes in combination with sucrose density gradient centrifugation or gelfiltration and obtained an oligomeric FCP complex (FCPo). The spectroscopic characteristics and pigment stoichiometries of the FCPo complex were comparable to FCP complexes that were isolated after solubilization with higher detergent per chlorophyll ratios. The excitation energy transfer between the FCP-bound pigments was more efficient in the oligomeric FCPo complexes, indicating that these complexes may represent the native form of the diatom antenna system in the thylakoid membrane. Determination of the molecular masses of the two different FCP fractions by gelfiltration revealed that the FCP complexes consisted of trimers, whereas the FCPo complexes were either composed of six monomers or two tightly associated trimers. In contrast to vascular plants, stable functional monomers could not be isolated in P. tricornutum. Both types of FCP complexes showed two protein bands in SDS-gels with apparent molecular masses of 18 and 19 kDa, respectively. Sequence analysis by MS/MS revealed that the 19 kDa protein corresponded to the fcpC and fcpD genes, whereas the 18 kDa band contained the protein of the fcpE gene. The presence of an oligomeric antenna in diatoms is in line with the oligomeric organization of antenna complexes in different photoautotrophic groups.


Film coating is a thin polymer layer applied on to a solid dosage form. Quality by design approach was explored to optimize the tablet coating process using Opadry®, an optimized one step film coating system. A central composite design was chosen by considering independent variables as inlet temperature, atomization air pressure, spray rate and dependent variables as weight gain and tablet surface roughness. Non-linear regression models were developed for response variables. The model was used to achieve an optimized response characteristic of weight gain, surface roughness with predicted input variables of inlet air temperature, atomization air pressure and spray rate. With optimized process parameters tablet has been coated and the suitability of the model determined. The results demonstrated the overall reliability and effectiveness of the proposed quality by design approach to the derived model and provides useful tool to help optimize the film coating process.


Objective The objective was to evaluate the potential benefit of an integrated, five-gene pharmacogenomic test and interpretive report (GeneSight) for the management of psychotropic medications used to treat major depression in an outpatient psychiatric practice. Methods The open-label study was divided into two groups. In the first (unguided) group (n=113), pharmacogenomic information was not shared until all participants completed the study. In the second (guided) group (n=114), the pharmacogenomic report was provided to physicians for clinical use. Three depression ratings, the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17), the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology – Clinician Rated (QIDS-C16), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), were collected at baseline, and at 2, 4, and 8 weeks. Results The guided group experienced greater percent improvement in depression scores from baseline on all three depression instruments (HAMD-17, P<0.0001; QIDS-C16, P<0.0001; PHQ-9, P<0.0001) compared with the unguided group. Eight-week response rates were higher in the guided group than in the unguided group on all three measurements (HAMD-17, P=0.03; QIDS-C16, P=0.005; PHQ-9, P=0.01). Eight-week QIDS-C16 remission rates were higher in the guided group (P=0.03). Participants in the unguided group who at baseline were prescribed a medication that was most discordant with their genotype experienced the least improvement compared with other unguided participants (HAMD-17, P=0.007). Participants in the guided group and on a baseline medication most discordant with their genotype showed the greatest improvement compared with the unguided cohort participants (HAMD-17, P=0.01). Conclusion These findings replicate previous studies and demonstrate significantly improved depression outcomes with use of GeneSight, an integrated, multigenetic pharmacogenomic testing platform.