A fully integrated Q-band 4-bit MMIC phase shifter with InGaAs pin diodes has been designed and fabricated. To achieve low insertion loss and good phase shifting characteristics at Q-band frequencies, topology based on a switched transmission line is employed using a thin-film microstrip line structure implemented in the MMIC fabrication process. The fabricated phase shifter has demonstrated good performance such as an insertion loss of less than 6.1 dB in the frequency range 46–49 GHz with a small intrinsic chip size of 2.48×0.87 mm. The results show the best insertion loss characteristic among the switched transmission-line type phase shifters reported at Ka- and Q-band frequencies.


In order to help human expert solve the problem of disease diagnosing, we analyze the comparability and relativity between pattern similarity distance and diagnosis as to the solution means, and pioneer the theoretical model of similarity-distance on the basis of certainty factors vectors and fuzzy membership factors vectors, and its corresponding data structure mode. Furthermore, the software hierarchy of model and recognition algorithm are designed. Experimentation statistics demonstrate that compared with the human expert, the novel model could obtain a satisfying accuracy rate of diagnosis over 85%, and reduce a rate of misdiagnosis effectively.


We present the results of two Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observing programs, consisting of 11 imaging observations of 10 asteroids. The primary focus of the projects was to search for faint companions (satellites) of these asteroids. No binary systems were detected. More specifically, no companions were found at more than 0.1 arcsec separation of brightness down to 4 magnitudes fainter than the primary asteroid. No companions down to 6 magnitudes fainter than the primary asteroid were found at more than 0.5 arcsec separation. It is unlikely that companions more than 6 magnitudes fainter than a well-exposed primary would be detected. These nondetections place very stringent limits on the existence of companion bodies for these asteroids. A secondary goal was to resolve the illuminated portion of the asteroids. Nine of the 10 asteroids were marginally resolved, with three of these—9 Metis, 18 Melpomene, and 19 Fortuna—showing significant extension and brightness variations up to a factor of two across the illuminated portion of the restored image. The diameters of the resolved asteroids are generally in good agreement with those in the TRIAD II file (E. F. Tedesco, 1989, InAsteroids II(Binzel, Gehrels, and Matthews, Eds.)). Diameters for 19 Fortuna and 624 Hektor (which are not in the TRIAD file) have been measured: 225 and 370×195 km, respectively.


The Multicast and Broadcast Service (MBS) in WiMAX has emerged as the next-generation wireless infrastructure to broadcast data or digital video. Multicast scheduling protocols play a critical role in achieving efficient multicast transmissions in MBS. However, the current state-of-the-art protocols, based on the shared-channel single-hop transmission model, do not exploit any potential advantages provided by the channel and cooperative diversity in multicast sessions, even while WiMAX OFDMA provides such convenience. The inefficient multicast transmission leads to the under-utilization of scarce wireless bandwidth. In this paper, we revisit the multicast scheduling problem, but with a new perspective in the specific case of MBS in WiMAX, considering the use of multiple ODFMA channels, multiple hops, and multiple paths simultaneously. Participating users in the multicast session are dynamically enabled as relays and concurrently communicate with others to supply more data. During the transmission, random network coding is adopted, which helps to significantly reduce the overhead. We design practical scheduling protocols by jointly studying the problems of channel and power allocation on relays, which are very critical for efficient cooperative communication. Protocols that are theoretically and practically feasible are provided to optimize multicast rates and to efficiently allocate resources in the network. Finally, with simulation studies, we evaluate our proposed protocols to highlight the effectiveness of cooperative communication and random network coding in multicast scheduling with respect to improving performance.


PurposeThe thesis purpose is to contribute with understanding about managers' opinions about how to handle deviations caused by unit interdependence.MethodologyQualitative data has been gathered to this exploratory study by semi-structured interviews with 14 managers within the R&D, purchasing and production units at Scania, Sodertalje. The result has been interpreted and analyzed by dividing the managers in five smaller groups. Result from analyzing empirical findingsIt is found in the analysis that the largest part of the managers in this study seem not to believe it is worth striving for excellence through procedural justice. Reoccurring similarities in opinion between managers is that visualization, dialogue, clear responsibility and less tolerance towards deviations are needed for handling and preventing deviations. Differences in opinion are primarily related to how costs occurred from deviations should be allocated and the purpose with such reallocation. Most managers express a strong concern about undesired behavior developed by a control system where a causing unit always should take the effect from a deviation. However, all managers state that costs occurred from deviations due to interdependence with a external supplier should be invoiced to the supplier. ConclusionThe concern about undesired behavior that may be developed by the way of handling and preventing deviation is strongly mediated by the managers. Instead of handling deviations by justly reallocating effects according to the controllability principle it is perceived as more important to extend the areas of responsibility and increase consciousness between interdependent units through improved dialogue and cross-functional transparency. One should therefore not seek equitable allocation of impacts and cost of devices in dealing with anomalies of this type.


In the village of Newton Nottage, near the watering-place of Porthcawl, about halfway between Cardiff and Swansea, there is an ancient dipping-well, the water in which has 'from time immemorial' been noticed to vary in depth with the ebb and flow of the tide. It is mentioned by Camden in his 'Britannia,' vol. i. p. 737 (2nd ed. [Eng.] 1723: orig. work pub. in 1586), though he does not appear to have visited the place himself, but to have received a letter from 'the learned Sir J. Stradling' giving a fairly detailed description of the well. In October last I spent 4 or 5 days on the spot, and made nearly forty visits to the well, determining the level of the water every hour (and every half-hour when it seemed desirable) at different states of the tide, and noting the geological characters of the neighbourhood, the height of the well above mean tide-level, etc. I also brought away specimens of the water collected at different times, and have analysed them, with the results stated at the end of this paper. First, with regard to the position, topographical and geological, of the well. It lies on a direct line drawn north and south between the church of Newton Nottage and the sea, about 80 yards south of the church and 500 yards north of the shore. There is a falling gradient of about 1 in 20 between the church and the well. Between the well and the sea there is a


As African Americans work as a race to progress past slavery, there are still individuals in society that hold on to the mentality. Sadly, there are still a large number of African Americans who think referring to one another by the N-word is acceptable for expressing affection, respect and endearment for one another. No matter how people try to defend their use of the N-word, it still has the same negative connotation it did over a century ago. This paper hypothesizes that it is all right for Blacks to refer to one another as a "Nigga," but it is not all right if someone outside of the African American race used the term. Due to the growing debate on the use of the N-word, and the acceptance of the word by African Americans over the decades, it is essential that this topic be discussed. The political implications of the use of the N-word as a term of endearment are analyzed qualitatively as being demeaning and vile. The theory that is used in this analysis is the Modernization Theory. The Modernization Theory analyzes the distinction between the word "Nigger" and the term of endearment, "Nigga." The young generation of African Americans is trying to reclaim the word by modernizing the meaning of the word "Nigger" from being cruel and demeaning to meaning friend or peer. Young African Americans fail to realize that it still has a negative connotation whether it has an "Er" or an "A" at the end of the word. Data were gathered from online sources, books, journals, and autobiographies by using the document analysis technique. These sources were augmented by expert interviews. The data were analyzed to determine whether or not African Americans should allow others to glamorize the word and use it as a term of endearment, and to provide insights on groups such as hip-hop that deconstruct the word and lead people to think it is acceptable to use the word in everyday language.


The study seeks to evaluate the environmental problems associated with oil exploration and exploitation in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria on one part with a focus on empirical examination of one of the variables highlighted in the literature - emission of CO2 on people's health. With data 1980-2015 drawn from CBN bulletin, we employed OLS and 3SLS regression model to analyze. Life expectancy at birth is the dependent variable, while carbon emission, gross domestic product per capital, female education, and public health expenditure are explanatory variables. Findings show that Carbon emission (CO2EM) has a negative coefficient which is in line with the theoretical expectation. It is observable that an increase in carbon emission by one unit will reduce life expectancy by 0.04 per cent. This result supports the unsustainability of the business and gas emissions and oil spill in the Delta region as harmful to the wellbeing of the masses.


Three popular evolutionary optimization algorithms are tested on high-dimensional benchmark functions. An important phenomenon responsible for many failures - "population degeneration" - is discovered. That is, through evolution, the population of searching particles degenerates into a subspace of the search space, and the global optimum is exclusive from the subspace. Subsequently, the search will tend to be confined to this subspace and eventually miss the global optimum. Principal components analysis (PCA) is introduced to discover population degeneration and to remedy its adverse effects. The experiment results reveal that an algorithm's efficacy and efficiency are closely related to the population degeneration phenomenon. Guidelines for improving evolutionary algorithms for high-dimensional global optimization are addressed. An application to highly nonlinear hydrological models demonstrates the efficacy of improved evolutionary algorithms in solving complex practical problems.


Studies were carried out on cats by bipolar electrodes implanted into symmetrical points of somatosensory cortical areas, caudate nuclei, hippocampus, lateral geniculate bodies, reticular formation of the midbrain after section of the half of midbrain tegmentum and commissural systems of the brain. Animals with sections usually have asymmetry of sleep EEG. The phenomenon is revealed of the coexistence of slow-wave and paradoxal sleep in different brain halves.


When independently executing processes share data, some form of concurrency control is needed to enforce the atomicity and sequencing constraints imposed by the program. We believe that concurrency control is hard largely because existing architectural support is inadequate. We define a new class of interconnection networks called isotach networks and explore isotach-based concurrency control by describing techniques that use the isotach network to achieve causal message delivery, atomicity, sequential consistency, and cache coherence.
We show processes can pipeline their accesses to shared data in an isotach system without sacrificing sequential consistency. We define the isochron, a multicast with strong ordering properties implemented on an isotach network, and describe techniques by which processes can use isochrons to execute atomic actions without obtaining locks or other exclusive access rights. We describe compatible techniques for enforcing data dependences and show that the isotach network is capable of combining concurrently issued operations on the same shared variable while maintaining atomicity and sequential consistency. We describe a family of new cache coherence protocols called delta-cache protocols that extend isotach-based concurrency control techniques to systems that replicate and migrate shared variables, yielding protocols that are both scalable and more highly concurrent than existing protocols. We report results of a simulation study comparing the performance of isotach and conventional systems. The study shows that isotach systems outperform conventional systems under workloads with atomicity and sequencing constraints.


High fructose diet and streptozotocin (STZ) have been widely used separately to induce type-I and II diabetes in animal models especially rats. The objective of this study is to induce experimental type-II diabetes mellitus by combination of both high fructose and streptozotocin in normal adult wistar rats. Blood and urine glucose level, ketone and blood glucose level during oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) were found much higher in treated diabetic group animals except plasma insulin in comparison to normal control group rats. Histopathology of pancreas of normal rats showed normal cellular structure of islets of langerhans whereas treated diabetic group rats showed degeneration, necrosis and extensive damage and depleted islets of langerhans. From the present study, it is concluded that, in albino rats, type-II diabetes can be induced by feeding fructose (21%) for 4 weeks followed by a single intraperitoneal injection of STZ (40mg/kg body weight).


This paper proposes a methodology of gain scheduling control for industrial rolling mills to test its feasibility and performance. Two controllers were proposed based on classical gain scheduling techniques acting on gap subsystem to compensate the process disturbances. One of them uses a proposed smoother control action mechanism to improve the process. A local control structure with an integrator in direct path between the controller and the plant was chosen to make the control synthesis more attractive. Optimal quadratic regulator method was used to get the local controllers gains. Simulation results are presented using real industrial data. They showed that the developed gain scheduling controllers are feasible for this process and lead to a less output thickness variations compared with another proposals. It is possible to use the developed control methodology for hot and cold rolling mills. Keywords rolling mills, gain scheduling control, gap adjustment, thickness control.


Oscar Wilde is part of our world. With his dandyish witticisms and decadent demeanour, he continues to serve as a model of subversive grace, an aesthetic beacon drawing his readers towards a lighthouse of beauty, even more than a century after his death. Few would suspect that Wilde's work should offer any ethical guidance, given the tendency of fin-de-siècle aestheticism to place artistic beauty above ethical concerns. It is the purpose of this thesis to argue otherwise.  The aim of this thesis is twofold. First, it intends to show that Wilde's fiction, from his early fairy stories to his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is connected by a common interest in Christian ethics. Second, and more ambitiously, it intends to disprove the notion that aestheticism and ethics are irreconcilable. Throughout his work, Wilde develops an image of an aesthetic Jesus Christ, a martyr of beauty. Wilde dedicates much of his fictional oeuvre to illustrating this vision of Christ, usually through martyrdom and the relinquishment of selfhood. In doing so, this thesis argues that he connects artistic beauty with Christian ethics, synthesising an ethical aestheticism, only achievable through self-sacrifice in service of love – the aesthetic ideal.   This kind of aesthetic martyrdom is present throughout Wilde's fiction, the most commonly cited examples coming from two of his early fairy stories, "The Happy Prince" and "The Nightingale and the Rose" respectively. In these stories, the titular characters work to realise the vision of the aesthetic Christ – what this thesis calls his 'aesthetic ideal' – and achieve a higher appreciation of beauty, both bodily and immaterial. Christianity, this thesis finally argues, is the basis for Wilde's ethical aestheticism and it is Christian ethics that Wilde uses to orientate his readers towards aesthetic Christhood, not with the cold, judging hand of a Victorian preacher but the warm, caring shoulder-pat of an aesthetic father-figure.


Obesity-associated insulin resistance has long been linked to both increased adipocyte oxidative stress as well as the presence of inflammatory changes in adipose tissue, including the infiltration and activation of tissue-resident macrophages. In order to investigate the connections between obesity-associated oxidative stress in adipocytes and increased inflammation in adipose tissue associated with the development of insulin resistance, our laboratory recently demonstrated that adipocytes form glutathionylated products of oxidative stress including glutathionyl-4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (GS-HNE) and glutathionyl-1,4-dihydroxynonene (GS-DHN). The abundance of both GS-HNE and GS-DHN were increased in the visceral adipose tissue of ob/ob mice and diet-induced obese, insulin-resistant mice. Further, these products of lipid peroxidation were shown to induce inflammatory changes in macrophages. Finally, in a mouse model, overproduction of GS-HNE was associated with increased fasting glucose levels and moderately impaired glucose tolerance. Together, these findings suggest a novel mechanism by which obesity-induced oxidative stress in adipocytes may lead to activation of tissue-resident macrophages. As adipose tissue inflammation has been shown to play an important role in the development of insulin resistance, further study of this pathway may lead to potential interventions to attenuate the metabolic consequences of obesity.


Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials with a layered structure, such as graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), have been attracting a large amount of attention due to their unique properties and fascinating application in several devices for energy harvesting. Recently, single and few-layer Bi2Te3 2D nanosheets have attracted great attention. In this paper, the morphological evolution of Bi2Te3 2D nanosheets to nanotubes, which were fabricated by bottom-up assembly at low temperature by a controlled wet-chemical growth mechanism, is reported. The products are ultrathin nanosheets with thicknesses down to a few quintuple layers, and single, double and multiwall nanotubes with lengths of up to 2 µm. As a new member, Bi2Te3 nanotubes have extremely large surface-to-volume ratios and can be electrically gated more efficiently than the bulk form to enhance surface state effects potentially in transport measurements. The method presented herein allows the mass production of identical tubes that can be easily integrated into device structures for futuristic applications.


In light of recent accounting scandals and the ensuing "crisis in confidence" facing the public accounting profession, there is a new challenge to accounting educators: how to effectively incorporate ethics into accounting courses, and increase the moral reasoning abilities of their students. Providing accounting students with the ability to reason effectively with respect to moral dilemmas may help to minimize future judgment errors in accounting and auditing settings. This article describes several different educational interventions that were adopted in an undergraduate auditing course. Students' moral reasoning was assessed both at the beginning and the end of the course to determine whether their moral reasoning scores improved based on the interventions. This was done over two semesters: one occurring in 2001 ("pre‐Enron"), and one occurring in 2002 ("post‐Enron"). Accounting context‐specific scores were collected in both semesters (using Thorne's [2000] Accounting Ethical Dilemma Instrument [AEDI])...


The process of protein misfolding and self-assembly into various, polymorphic aggregates is associated with a number of important neurodegenerative diseases. Only recently, crystal structures of several short peptides have provided detailed structural insights into -sheet rich aggregates, known as amyloid fibrils. Knowledge about early events of the formation and interconversion of small oligomeric states, an inevitable step in the cascade of peptide self-assembly, however, remains still limited. We employ molecular dynamics simulations in explicit solvent to study the spontaneous aggregation process of steric zipper peptide segments from the tau protein and insulin in atomistic detail. Starting from separated chains with random conformations, we find a rapid formation of structurally heterogeneous, -sheet rich oligomers, emerging from multiple bimolecular association steps and diverse assembly pathways. Furthermore, our study provides evidence that aggregate intermediates as small as dimers can be kinetically trapped and thus affect the structural evolution of larger oligomers. Alternative aggregate structures are found for both peptide sequences in the different independent simulations, some of which feature characteristics of the known steric zipper conformation (e.g., -sheet bilayers with a dry interface). The final aggregates interconvert with topologically distinct oligomeric states exclusively via internal rearrangements. The peptide oligomerization was analyzed through the perspective of a minimal oligomer, i.e., the dimer. Thereby all observed multimeric aggregates can be consistently mapped onto a space of reduced dimensionality. This novel method of conformational mapping reveals heterogeneous association and reorganization dynamics that are governed by the characteristics of peptide sequence and oligomer size.


A spatially organized three‐dimensional (3D) co‐culture of multiple cell types is required to recapitulate cellular interactions and microenvironments in complex tissues. Although there are limited reports for 3D patterning of cells and materials, approaches to examine functional interactions of 3D spatially patterned multiple cell types are lacking entirely. This is mostly due to difficulties in controlling the physical arrangement of cells in a 3D matrix and the physical properties of the cell‐encapsulating matrix, while keeping the cells alive and functional for extended periods of time. In this study, an automated maskless fabrication technique is combined with a tunable polymer blend to spatially organize primary hippocampus neurons (HNs) and skeletal muscle myoblast cells (MCs) in a 3D hydrogel matrix with tunable mechanical and degradation properties. The spatial organization of these multiple cell types revealed that the presence of MCs resulted in increased cholinergic functionality of the HNs, as quantified by their choline acetyltransferase activity. The presence of a factor alone is not sufficient, but its spatiotemporal control is necessary; a condition that is possibly true for many cellular interactions. Therefore, the system described here offers a different approach to examine such previously unknown interactions. The approach proposed in this study can be used to examine interactions between many different cell types and shift the 3D fabrication paradigm to a next level, which is to fabricate tissues that are not only viable but also functional.


Incontinence can cause serious complications such as skin damage in the perineum. Incontinence Associated Dermatitis (IAD) is skin damage caused by exposure to urine or faces. Health education is sometimes not optimal because of its inaccurate purpose and lack of patients' involvement and empowerment. Patient or nurse empowerment-based-health education or educational empowerment is a reciprocal relation between professional health care providers and patients in which patients develop their skill, knowledge, and self-confidence to determine the focus on health care. The study aimed to find out the effect of empowerment education on preventing the incident of IAD in immobility patients. The study was quasi-experimental with two groups pre-test and post-test. Thirty-six were sample divided into two groups (control and intervention) and collected by purposive sampling. Data were analyzed by using paired t-test and an independent ttest. The results showed that there was a difference between pre and post-intervention so that there was the effect of empowerment education on prevention of the incident of IAD in immobility patients.


The aim of this study was to determine the effects of the heavy metal pollution on microbial
diversity along the gradient from a platinum mine tailings dam using culture-dependent (plating
methods) and molecular methods. Tailings and soil samples were collected from seven sites (6 samples per site) at increasing distances from the tailings dam. Samples were collected over a two year period and included two rainy and two dry periods. Concentrations of various heavy metals
were determined using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The results demonstrated that seasonal variations in metal concentrations occurred and also that concentrations
were significantly different'(P Ni > Cu > Cr. Since soil metal concentration benchmarks for South Africa are lacking, the concentrations were compared to the
Canadian microbial benchmarks (MB) and Netherlands maximum permissible concentrations (MPC). Concentrations of most of the heavy metals exceeded the MB and MPC. Levels and diversity of culturable fungi and bacteria at each site were determined using plate count methods.
Results indicated that levels of bacteria and fungi were not suppressed by high concentrations of heavy metals. Significantly higher levels (P < 0.05) of fungi were found at the sites on the tailings
dam (higher concentrations of heavy metals), compared to sites more than 300 m away. A
commonly used soil health index (Shannon-Weaver diversity index) was used to compare microbial community diversity at each site and to evaluate whether or not the heavy metal contamination
impacted negatively on these soil bacterial and fungal communities. Shannon-Weaver diversity indices were higher at sites on and close to the tailings dam than sites more than 300 m away.
However, ratio of fungal to bacterial levels as determined by plate counts was inconsistent. Representatives of bacterial species that were grouped using colony morphology and whole cell
protein profiles were identified by 16S rDNA sequences as Bacillus barbaricus (B. barbaricus) and
-Paenibacillus lautus {P. Lautus). Restriction enzyme digest, SDS-PAGE and random amplified
polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses provided supporting evidence that representatives were
correctly grouped. Cluster analysis results demonstrated that the RAPD profiles of the metal tolerant P. lautus representatives were sufficiently dissimilar to discriminate between individuals from the spatially separated sites. The spatially separated sites also represented sites with high and low heavy metal concentrations. Observed genetic variability was thus also associated with varying levels of heavy metals. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the potential of using RAPD analysis as biomarkers for genotoxic effects of heavy metals on bacterial genomes.


This report describes use of the Spatial Characterization Tool (SCT) developed by Texas A&M University to analyze the similarity of the climates of research sites in the major wheat production areas in Bolivia- the highland intermountain valleys and the lowland plains- to those of other regions. For highland environments, zones of similarity were only found in scattered regions of Bolivia and Per, and the complex topography of the Andean region and the relatively large SCT grid cells (9km x 9km) hampered climate characterization. For lowland sites, combined results of analyses of the favorable season plus the coolest or driest quarters of the year ( when wheat is actually grown in lowland Bolivia) identifies the environments of adjacent areas of Bolivia, two regions in Brazil, Small regions in Venezuela, plus areas in Mexico, Central America, and Africa as similar to those in the target sites in Bolivia. Site similarity analysis appears to be a valuable method for understanding relations among crop production environments, allowing prediction of crop responses to agronomic practices, assessments of genetic diversity or sustainability, and other types of studies. Current applications, however, are limited by a alack of quality data.


Sn-doped SiO2 thin films were fabricated on Si substrates by the Sol-Gel method. Permanent refractive index change was found using ultraviolet (UV) laser radiation at 248 nm. The photoinduced refractive index change increased after radiation and variety in the contents of Tin. The optical and surface properties of the films were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE).


We argue that it is most rational for God, given God's character and policies, to adopt an open-door policy towards those in hell – making it possible for those in hell to escape. We argue that such a policy towards the residents of hell should issue from God's character and motivational states. In particular, God's parental love ought to motivate God to extend the provision for reconciliation with Him for an infinite amount of time.


Vertically oriented MoO3 nanosheets on graphene are achieved via a nucleation-growth approach. The unique hierarchical structure can not only efficiently prevent the aggregation of electrode materials, but also facilitate rapid diffusion of both lithium ions and electrons. With this unique structure, the resultant MoO3–graphene hybrid exhibits remarkable electrochemical performance for lithium storage with a fine gravimetric capacity of ∼1500 mA h g−1, a high volumetric capacity of ∼750 mA h cm−3 and an excellent cycle life up to 1000 cycles for lithium storage.


In these lectures we describe the attempt to extract the expectation values of Wilson loops from the string/gauge correspondence. We start with the original calculation in $AdS_5$. It is then extended to the non-conformal background of $D_p$ in the near horizon limit. We discuss the computation at finite temperature. Supergravity models that admit confinement in 3d and 4d are described. A theorem that determines the classical values of loops associated with a generalized background is this http URL particular we determine sufficient conditions for confining behavior. We then apply the theorem to various string models including type 0 ones. We describe an attempt to go beyond the classical string picture by incorporating quadratic quantum fluctuations. In particular we address the BPS configuration of a single quark, the supersymmetric determinant of $AdS_5\times S^$ and a setup that corresponds to a confining gauge theory. We determine the form of the Wilson loop for actions that include non trivial $B_{\mu\nu}$ field. The issue of an exact determination of the value of the stringy Wilson loop is discussed. We end with a brief review of the baryons from the string/gauge correspondence Lectures presented in the ``Advanced School on Supersymmetry in the theories of fields, strings and branes'' Santiago de Compostela-99.


In recent times genetic network analysis has been found to be useful in the study of gene-gene interactions, and the study of gene-gene correlations is a special analysis of the network. There are many methods for this goal. Most of the existing methods model the relationship between each gene and the set of genes under study. These methods work well in applications, but there are often issues such as non-uniqueness of solution and/or computational difficulties, and interpretation of results. Here we study this problem from a different point of view: given a measure of pair wise gene-gene relationship, we use the technique of pattern image restoration to infer the optimal network pair wise relationships. In this method, the solution always exists and is unique, and the results are easy to interpret in the global sense and are computationally simple. The regulatory relationships among the genes are inferred according to the principle that neighboring genes tend to share some common features. The network is updated iteratively until convergence, each iteration monotonously reduces entropy and variance of the network, so the limit network represents the clearest picture of the regulatory relationships among the genes provided by the data and recoverable by the model. The method is illustrated with a simulated data and applied to real data sets.


Sustainable design practices have become more prevalent in the fields of Civil and Construction Engineering Technology and traditional Civil Engineering. Therefore, educators must prepare the next generation of engineers with courses on sustainable engineering and incorporate sustainable topics into traditional engineering subjects. Such is the case at Youngstown State University where the first course in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) was taught Fall semester 2012. The course used the USGBC LEED Reference Guide for Green Building Design and Construction as the basis for learning. The students were asked to learn the aforementioned USGBC publication through traditional classroom lectures, case studies and projects. Each of the case studies and the final project used Problem and Project Based learning principles to allow the students to gain greater understanding of the material. The effectiveness of this was assessed using ETAC learning outcomes. This was done by choosing specific outcomes to be evaluated and then evaluating each assignment and test based on the outcomes which reflect what the students were supposed to learn. This paper describes the Problem and Project based methodology used and the approach to selecting the ETAC outcomes used to assess the student learning. Also discussed will be the process of setting up and analyzing the rubrics used to get meaningful data and results of the student learning.


Abstract. Changing hydrological phenomenon and increase the water demand in all sectors create a huge problem of water scarcity. Precipitation is one and only major source to mitigate this problem. In Central India, the average annual precipitation is sufficient in most of the part but not capable to harvest and utilize during the summer season. Identification of suitable site for water harvesting structures plays a key role to enhance the water level for watershed management. In the present study, suitable sites have been demarcated to build up a water resource development plan in Mandri river watershed of Kanker district, Chhattisgarh using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques. Basic guidelines of Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development (IMSD) have been used for identifying the suitable sites for water harvesting structures. Remote Sensing and GIS are used for site suitability analysis of water harvesting structure to extract the information of various features such as lineament, land use/land cover, soil, slope, lithology, geomorphology, drainage order, rainfall etc. In order of importance, we have assigned weights to each feature. Slope and design discharge are key parameters in site suitability analysis, so that we assigned maximum weight to this parameters. A possible site suitability map for water harvesting/conservation structures was derived following an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). This work attempts to identify the probable zone for water harvesting structures such as boulder check/gabion, gully plug/bori bandhan, check dams and stop dams. Multi-criteria analysis is applied in GIS to assist the decision-makers in determining appropriate zones for water harvesting structures in view of external characteristics of the watershed. Further, using weighted overlay method, the catchment was grouped into categories of suitable or highly suitable.


The adsorbate structural properties such as the type, number, and position of substituents on benzene ring of organic compound, as well as a length and arrangement of hydrocarbon chain in a space, exert a significant influence on the adsorption process. The measurements of adsorption equilibria and kinetics of several pesticides belonging to the group of halogenated phenoxyacids differentiated in terms of structural and physicochemical properties were studied in order to characterize the adsorption mechanism and correlate it with the pollutant properties. Regarding a complexity of investigations (capacity and rate) comprising 21 structurally closely related active substances showing the carcinogenic activity on living organisms and relatively long half-life time in the environment, the proposed intensive studies on the removal of pollutants by adsorption process are very important in cognitive and practical terms.


This thesis considers the effect of modifying the analysis zones used to analyse aggregate data for geographic zones. It uses two approaches to do this. Firstly assuming that a population model is available, the effect of misspecification of the zones used to analyse the data is investigated. Secondly, the effects of zoning on the parameter estimates are investigated empirically, by creating a zoning distribution for the parameter estimates obtained using an ecological model for statistics such as population means and regression coefficients. The zoning distribution defines the probability distribution or density function of the statistic over all possible sets of M zones that could be formed, given the constraints used in constructing the zones. Using a combination of statistical theory and empirical investigation, the parameter estimates obtained from the ecological analysis of small area health data are investigated when different sets of geographical zones are used to aggregate the data. By aggregating the data to 8 different scales using multiple sets of zones an empirical zoning distribution is obtained for each parameter estimate at each scale of analysis. This allows the implications of using a particular set of zones to be assessed for both a continuous and a binary response variable. The procedure for creating and analysing the distributions has some innovative aspects. To obtain detailed population information, unit record files from the Australian 2007-2008 National Health Survey (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009) were combined with area level constraints from the 2006 Australian Census (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006a) to simulate realistic individual level data using combinatorial optimisation techniques. The data were aggregated to 1000 sets of zones at eight scales of aggregation using the AZTool program. Empirical zoning distributions were created from the parameter estimates obtained from analysing the data summaries for each set of zones. The results show that the zoning distribution exists, is approximately normal and its variance increases as the scale increases. Even with over 1000 zones the variance of the zoning distribution cannot be ignored when interpreting the results of a zone based analysis.


study (by Bungay et al) and ignore many excellent epidemiological studies showing that severe menopausal symptoms are uncommon in the general population.2 The symptoms that Daly and colleagues describe as mild are actually relatively severe, and this perpetuates a false negative impression of the menopause. For some women, rating these symptoms would have been a hypothetical exercise; others may have had severe symptoms but been asked to imagine mild symptoms. Accuracy of recall may be affected by the women's experience, so that asking previous and current users of hormone replacement therapy to rate their quality of life before they started it introduces error. Some of the older women may have had symptoms over 15 years ago, and some of the non-users may have taken hormone replacement therapy in the past. Asking women who experienced menopausal symptoms whether the descriptions of mild or severe symptoms reasonably matched their own experience introduces the error of suggestion. Problems in studies of this kind could have been reduced by reference to psychological literature on the menopause."5


Purpose

This paper is a continuing exploration into facilities management (FM) strategy through the arrangement of its decision choices. The purpose of this paper is to identify the existence of FM operation strategy and to add empirical evidence to this subject to the field of FM and property management. Its main objectives are to gain insights into the arrangement of the FM strategic choices in operation and its relationship with business strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

The study investigated the configurations of operational approaches and activities that should reflect strategic decisions. The investigation was undertaken through a study of four reputed shopping malls located in Bangkok. The relevant data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the key FM persons of each case study, plus archival document searches, and observations of operational processes. Subsequently, the data were examined in a cross-case analysis to identify the key patterns of relationships between the FM operational arrangements and the business strategy of the mall.

Findings

This study found that the functional scheme of FM adopted in operations was deliberately related to the needs of business strategy and the operations of the given shopping mall. A range of strategic choices for FM operations was also found. Certain choices are shared among the case studies, while their arrangements varied according to the particular business strategy and context.

Research limitations/implications

The number of case studies was rather limited, while the results were predominantly involved with a single type of facility.

Originality/value

The study identified the pattern of strategic choices entailed in the FM operations in shopping malls. The findings add to the understanding on FM strategy by widening the perspectives about the strategic choices of FM operations and how they are connected with the business strategy and operation model of retail estate. It adds empirical evidence and case studies regarding FM operations and its strategic features.


Beaconless position-based forwarding protocols have recently evolved as a promising solution for packet forwarding in wireless sensor networks. However, as the node density grows, the overhead incurred in the process of relay selection grows significantly. As such, end-to-end performance in terms of energy and latency is adversely impacted. With the motivation of developing a packet forwarding mechanism that is tolerant to node density, an alternative position-based protocol is proposed in this paper. In contrast to existing beaconless protocols, the proposed protocol is designed such that it eliminates the need for potential relays to undergo a relay selection process. Rather, any eligible relay may decide to forward the packet ahead, thus significantly reducing the underlying overhead. The operation of the proposed protocol is empowered by exploiting favorable features of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) at the physical layer. The end-to-end performance of the proposed protocol is evaluated against existing beaconless position-based protocols analytically and as well by means of simulations. The proposed protocol is demonstrated in this paper to be more efficient. In particular, it is shown that for the same amount of energy the proposed protocol transports one bit from source to destination much quicker.


3D printing technology plays a key role in the production of prototypes and final functional parts. The ability to produce almost any shape using this technology in combination with lightweight materials is often used to minimise the weight of the designed components. However, for some applications, such as robot gripper jaws, conventional most commonly used materials, such as PLA, may be unsuitable due to their low coefficient of friction on the material of the manipulated object, which in some cases may cause the object to slip in the robot jaws. This article describes a technical problem from practice, where a manipulated object made of steel material slipped in the printed PLA jaws of the robot during its working cycle. This work is devoted to increasing the friction force of the robot jaws by adding 3D printed soft inserts. Two insert surface shapes made of two flexible materials TPU 30D and TPE 88 are tested. The increase in friction force is measured on a measuring device with an industrial robot and a force measuring sensor. The most suitable type of inserts and material is then tested on a collaborative robot at its required working cycle. The results of this experiment are intended to help designers as a source of information or inspiration in designing similar applications.


Increasing data transfer rates for future millimeter-wave communications requires high capacity radio channels and user-centric communication network environments. Therefore, special requirements, such as wide-angle beam steering, wide operational frequency bandwidth, and simultaneous operation with orthogonal polarizations, are essential for telecommunication antennas. In this communication, we present a compact patch antenna array with a Butler matrix (BM) feed network for the frequency band of 26–31.4 GHz. The 16-element planar array has been designed to operate with the two linear orthogonal polarizations and provide ±42° beam switching. To ensure the wideband operation, a novel combination of planar couplers, crossovers, and phase shifters is designed to form the BM. A new phase-shifter topology is used which is based on a combination of open-short stubs and the Shiffman phase shifter. The design is fabricated on a low-cost multilayer board with a size of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$120 \times 70 \times 1.62$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm3. The size of the feeding network, which is implemented on a single board, is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$76 \times 23 \times 0.1$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm3. The experimental measurements of return loss, mutual coupling, and radiation patterns confirm simulated results.


Background: Patient self-management plans (PSMP) are advised for bronchiectasis but their efficacy is not established. We aimed to determine whether, in people with bronchiectasis, the use of our bronchiectasis PSMP – Bronchiectasis Empowerment Tool (BET), compared to standard care, would improve self-efficacy. Methods: In a multi-centre mixed-methods randomised controlled parallel study, 220 patients with bronchiectasis were randomised to receive standard care with or without the addition of our BET plus education sessions explaining its use. BET comprised an action plan, indicating when to seek medical help based on pictorial represented indications for antibiotic therapy, and four educational support sections. At baseline and after 12 months, patients completed the Self-Efficacy to Manage Chronic Disease Scale (SEMCD), St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), EQ-5D-3 L (to calculate Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and cost questionnaires. Qualitative data were obtained by focus groups. Results: The recruitment to the study was high (63% of eligible patients agreeing to participate) however completion rate was low (57%). BET had no effect on SEMCD (mean difference (0.14 (95% confidence interval (95%CI) −0.37 to 0.64), p = 0.59) or SGRQ, exacerbation rates, overall cost to the NHS or QALYs. Most had developed their own techniques for monitoring their condition and they did not find BET useful as it was difficult to complete. Participant knowledge was good in both groups. Conclusion: The demand for patient support in bronchiectasis was high suggesting a clinical need. However, the BET did not improve self-efficacy, health related quality of life, costs or clinically relevant outcome measures. BET needs to be modified to be less onerous for users and implemented within a wider package of care. Further studies, particularly those evaluating people newly diagnosed with bronchiectasis, are required and should allow for 50% withdrawal rate or utilise less burdensome outcome measures. Clinical trials registration: ISRCTN ISRCTN 18400127. Registered 24 June 2015. Retrospectively Registered


Ash samples were collected using eight classifications of atmospheric particulate matter sampler in two temples located in Jiaozuo city. Concentration of particles of different grain size was measured and analyzed. The results indicated that particulate mass concentration was significantly increased in the burning incense air. The maximum concentration of PM9.0 and PM2.1 were 9 times than that of the national air quality secondary standard (PM9.0:0.15mg/m3) and 13.5 times for American standard (PM2.1:0.065mg/m3), respectively. The size distributions of particles from incense burning overall showed "U" model. Range of size distribution of fine particles concentrated in 1.1~0.43µm, or the total 39.36%~50.14%.


Aims. Most of the known debris discs exhibit cool dust in regions analogous to the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt. However, a rare subset show hot excess from within a few AU, which moreover is often inferred to be transient from models for planetesimal belt evolution. In this paper we examine 2 such sources to place limits on their location to help distinguish between different interpretations for their origin. Methods. We use MIDI on the VLTI to observe the debris discs around η Corvi and HD69830 using baseline lengths from 44–130 m. New VISIR observations of HD69830 at 18.7 μm are also presented. These observations are compared with disc models to place limits on disc size. Results. The visibility functions measured with MIDI for both sources show significant variation with wavelength across 8–13 μm in a manner consistent with the disc flux being well resolved, notably with a dip at 10–11.5 μm due to the silicate emission feature. The average ratio of visibilities measured between 10–11.5 μm and 8–9 μ mi s 0.934 ± 0.015 for HD69830 and 0.880 ± 0.013 for η Corvi over the four baselines for each source, a departure of 4 and 9σ from that expected if the discs were unresolved. HD69830 is unresolved by VISIR at 18.7 μm. The combined limits from MIDI and 8 m imaging constrain the warm dust to lie within 0.05–2.4 AU for HD69830 and 0.16–2.98 AU for η Corvi. Conclusions. These results represent the first resolution of dust around main sequence stars using mid-infrared interferometry. The constraints placed on the location of the dust are consistent with radii predicted by SED modelling (1.0 AU for HD69830 and 1.7 AU for η Corvi). Tentative evidence for a common position angle for the dust at 1.7 AU with that at 150 AU around η Corvi, which might be expected if the hot dust is fed from the outer disc, demonstrates the potential of this technique for constraining the origin of the dust and more generally for the study of dust in the terrestrial regions of main sequence stars.


Aiming at the problem of low utilization rate of teaching resources, a personalized recommendation system of digital teaching resources under SCORM standard was put forward. Based on the learner's learning process, standards and personalized recommendation techniques, a SCORM digital teaching resource management model was constructed. According to the rec-ommendation algorithm of collaborative filtering in personalized recommendation technology, a digital teaching resource recommendation model based on SCORM standard was constructed. The SCORM digital teaching resource library system based on collaborative filtering technology was designed and implemented. The system was evaluated. The data of the assessment were analyzed. The results showed that the recommendation system had a good promoting effect on the learners. Therefore, the system can provide personalized recommendations for learners. It improves learning efficiency.


In this paper, we consider the problem of reconstructing the digital spectrum from a set of nonuniformly spaced time samples of a signal. Specifically, we deal with the situation where the timing offsets of each sampling instance are known and have a periodic structure. Examples include the random equivalent time sampling system of a digital scope, and an ultra high speed waveform digitizing system with interleaved A/D converters. An algorithm which allows one to reconstruct the digital spectrum perfectly is derived, and a numerical example is presented. The algorithm is non-iterative and precise, and should prove to be useful in many applications.


The negative effects of micronutrient deficiencies on human capital acquisition and economic productivity are well documented. A less well understood but potentially serious threat to human health in developing countries is the contamination of food crops by fungal toxins. This paper surveys what is known about the health and economic burdens attributable to insufficient micronutrients and toxic contamination of food in developing countries, discusses consumer demand for micronutrients and food safety, and describes some of the challenges to improving population nutrition, particularly in rural areas.


Parameters in AutoRegressive Moving Average (ARMA) models are locally nonidentified, due to the problem of root cancellation. Parameters can be constructed which represent this identification problem. We argue that ARMA parameters should be analyzed conditional on these identifying parameters.Priors exploiting this feature result in regular posteriors, while priors which neglect it result in posteriori favor of nonidentified parameter values. By considering the implicit AR representation of an ARMA model a prior with the desired proporties is obtained. The implicit AR representation also allows to construct easily implemented algorithms to analyse ARMA parameters. As a byproduct, posteriors odds ratios can be computed to compare (nonnested) parsimonious ARMA models. The procedures are applied to two datasets, the (extended) Nelson-Plosser data and monthly observations of US 3-month and 10 year interest rates. For approximately 50% of the series in these two datasets an ARMA model is favored above an AR model.


Designing, building and optimising projects as production systems producing value can be said to be the aim of construction management from an engineering perspective. However, the question is whose value are we optimising the system for? The lean philosophy tells we should deliver value to all the projects customers. However, here anyone that is impacted by the project is considered a customer, not just the paying client. Do all customers matter and is delivering value for all of them of equal importance? In this paper, we explore this matter by first looking into the literature on stakeholder management. Finding no suitable answers there we attack the question by considering the motivations for delivering value by a literature review and interviews with industry professionals. Finally, we discuss the implications that considering the perspective of multiple stakeholders brings to project management. The paper argues that the key to deciding whose value matter lies in understanding the motivation for why valueis delivered. However, to what degrees different factors motivates someone will be highly dependent on their philosophical outlook, thus making the matter of value for whom a philosophical question. THE CONCEPT OF VALUE


There are around 20.000 genes in the human genome all of which could potentially be expressed. However, it is obvious that not all of them can be active at the same time. Thus, there is a need for coordination achieved through the regulation of transcription. Transcriptional regulation is a crucial multi-component process involving genetic and epigenetic factors, which determine when and how genes are expressed. The aim of this thesis was to study two of these components, the transcription factors and the DNA sequence elements with which they interact.In papers I and II, we tried to characterize the regulatory role of repeated elements in the regulatory sequences of nitric oxide synthase 2 gene. We found that this type of repeat is able to adopt non B-DNA conformations in vitro and that it binds nuclear factors, in addition to RNA polymerase II. Therefore it is probable that these types of repeats can participate in the regulation of genes.In papers III-V, we intended to analyze the genome-wide binding sites for six transcription factors involved in fatty acid and cholesterol metabolism and the sites of an epigenetic mark in a human liver cell line. For this, we applied the chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) method together with detection on microarrays (ChIP-chip) or by detection with the new generation massively parallel sequencers (ChIP-seq). We found that all of these transcription factors are involved in other liver-specific processes than metabolism, for example cell proliferation. We were also able to define two sets of transcription factors depending on the position of their binding relative to gene promoters. Finally, we demonstrated that the patterns of the epigenetic mark reflect the structure and transcriptional activity of the promoters.In conclusion, this thesis presents experiments, which moves our view from genetics to genomics, from in vitro to in vivo, and from low resolution to high resolution analysis of transcriptional regulation.


Feature pyramid architecture has been broadly adopted in object detection and segmentation to deal with multi-scale problem. However, in this paper we show that the capacity of the architecture has not been fully explored due to the inadequate utilization of the supervision information. Such insufficient utilization is caused by the supervision signal degradation in back propagation. Thus inspired, we propose a dually supervised method, named dually supervised FPN (DSFPN), to enhance the supervision signal when training the feature pyramid network (FPN). In particular, DSFPN is constructed by attaching extra prediction (i.e., detection or segmentation) heads to the bottom-up subnet of FPN. Hence, the features can be optimized by the additional heads before being forwarded to subsequent networks. Further, the auxiliary heads can serve as a regularization term to facilitate the model training. In addition, to strengthen the capability of the detection heads in DSFPN for handling two inhomogeneous tasks, i.e., classification and regression, the originally shared hidden feature space is separated by decoupling classification and regression subnets. To demonstrate the generalizability, effectiveness, and efficiency of the proposed method, DSFPN is integrated into four representative detectors (Faster RCNN, Mask RCNN, Cascade RCNN, and Cascade Mask RCNN) and assessed on the MS COCO dataset. Promising precision improvement, state-of-the-art performance, and negligible additional computational cost are demonstrated through extensive experiments. Code will be provided.


The distribution and endocytosis of the C3b receptor by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes and monocytes were visualized by both fluorescent and electron microscopic examination of cells that had been labeled with monospecific F(ab')2 anti-C3b receptor and anti-F(ab')2 conjugated with rhodamine or ferritin. When prefixed or unfixed cells that were labeled at 0 to 4 degrees C were examined, the receptor was distributed within clusters on the plasma membrane. After the cells had been warmed to room temperature or to 37 degrees C for 5 minutes, the fluorescently labeled receptors appeared to enter the cells, and the ferritin-tagged receptors often occurred within coated endocytic pits and coated vesicles within the cytoplasm. After incubation at 37 degrees C for 20 minutes, the C3b receptor-antibody complexes were largely cleared from the cell surface, and much of the label was found within lysosomes. These results indicate that C3b receptors may directly mediate endocytosis within coated pits, thus utilizing a mechanism shared by a variety of other receptors for the rapid, efficient, and selective internalization of extracellular ligands.


Intracerebral hematoma occurs in about 35/100,000 population and the incidence is likely increase over the next few decades as the population ages. The most common causes are hypertension and amyloid angiopathy. Bleeds due to these two causes are classified as primary while all other causes, such as AVM bleeds, coagulopathies, and so on, are classi‐ fied as secondary. Primary tissue damage due to the intracerebral hematoma is followed by edema, neuronal damage, and secondary damage due to cellular breakdown. Basal ganglia are the most common site of intracerebral hemorrhage, accounting for nearly 50% of cases. CT scan, CT angiogram, DSA, and MRI are the investigations of choice. The initial management is medical, with control of blood pressure and antiedema measures forming the mainstay of treatment. Surgical option includes external ventricular drain‐ age, endoscopic evacuation of hematoma, craniotomy and evacuation of hematoma, and decompressive craniectomy and is usually reserved for patients who deteriorate while on treatment.


Rapid systemic signaling is accompanied by coordinated metabolic changes in local, transport, and systemic tissues. Plants evolved multiple signaling pathways that transduce light-related signals between leaves. These are thought to improve light stress acclimation in a process termed systemic acquired acclimation. Although responses to light stress have been studied extensively in local leaves, and to a lesser degree in systemic leaves, little is known about the responses that occur in the different tissues that connect the local to the systemic leaves. These could be important in defining the specificity of the systemic response as well as in supporting the generation of different systemic signals. Here, we report that local application of light stress to one rosette leaf of bolting Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants resulted in a metabolic response that encompassed local, systemic and transport tissues (stem tissues that connect the local to the systemic tissues), demonstrating a high degree of physical and metabolic continuity between different tissues throughout the plant. Our results further indicate that the response of many of the systemically altered metabolites is associated with the function of the reactive oxygen species wave and that the levels of eight different metabolites are altered in a similar manner in all tissues tested (local, systemic, and transport). These compounds could define a core metabolic signature for light stress that propagates from the local to the systemic leaves. Our findings suggest that metabolic changes occurring in cells that connect the local and systemic tissues play an important role in systemic acquired acclimation and could convey specificity to the rapid systemic response of plants to light stress.


This study examines the potential of a multisource x-ray system to reduce cone beam artifacts in a dedicated breast CT acquisition geometry. A breast CT scanner (Doheny), built at our institution, was used to demonstrate the potential of multiple x-ray sources in a single x-ray tube housing. Both 3 focal spot and 5 focal spot thermionic systems were physically simulated in this study. The x-ray tube is mounted on a vertical actuator on the breast CT system gantry, allowing the single x-ray source to be positioned at different vertical locations in the field of view. Five acquisition geometries were used to acquire raw cone beam CT data with the x-ray source locations placed at 2 cm intervals. Data was collected using a 15-cm tall Defrise phantom. The individual acquisitions of raw CT data were reconstructed using filtered back projection, aligned and summed. The reconstructed CT volume data set using three sources and five sources were compared to that produced from a single source. Both multi-source datasets demonstrated less visible cone beam artifact, and the contrast clearly improved. The resolvable field of view in the vertical direction was extended by 50% when comparing the one source to the three source geometry and extended by 120% when comparing the one source to the five source geometry. This physical simulation of a multisource x-ray CT system successfully demonstrated that a reduction in cone beam CT artifacts could be achieved using a multi-source x-ray tube on a breast CT scanner.


Interpretable machine learning models trade -off accuracy for simplicity to make explanations more readable and easier to comprehend. Drawing from cognitive psychology theories in graph comprehension, we formalize readability as visual cognitive chunks to measure and moderate the cognitive load in explanation visualizations. We present Cognitive-GAM (COGAM) to generate explanations with desired cognitive load and accuracy by combining the expressive nonlinear generalized additive models (GAM) with simpler sparse linear models. We calibrated visual cognitive chunks with reading time in a user study, characterized the trade-off between cognitive load and accuracy for four datasets in simulation studies, and evaluated COGAM against baselines with users. We found that COGAM can decrease cognitive load without decreasing accuracy and/or increase accuracy without increasing cognitive load. Our framework and empirical measurement instruments for cognitive load will enable more rigorous assessment of the human interpretability of explainable AI.


Undermines Australian public health and protects US interests in pharmaceuticals

On 4 March 2004 Australia and the United States released the text of a bilateral trade agreement designed to reduce trade barriers between the countries.1 Surprisingly, the Australian pharmaceutical benefits scheme (the national drug subsidy programme operated by the federal government of Australia) was part of the deal, with Australian negotiators conceding to several US demands. These included the creation of an independent review body to examine drugs rejected by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. Under existing legislation only the advisory committee can recommend listing of drugs for subsidy. However, the dissenting views of another review body, supported by publicity and lobbying, may undermine the famously tough stance of this committee concerning the cost effectiveness and prices of pharmaceutical products. In addition, Australia has agreed to changes in intellectual property protection that, among other things, increase the risk of delayed entry of generic drugs on to the Australian market. The use of the trade agreement to push the interests of US pharmaceutical companies is one in a long list of hostile moves that have included legal challenges to the decisions of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee to reject drugs for …


In January 2009, the federal government issued a discussion paper that details its preferred regulatory route for enabling a legislative framework. This route is to referentially incorporate provincial legislation regarding operational standards through a framework statute, and then develop the details of the regime through regulations to be developed in consultation with First Nations over the next few years. Importantly, the opening sentence of the discussion paper's executive summary expressly connects water and public health. It reads: "The provision of safe drinking water and the effective treatment of wastewater are critical in ensuring the health and safety of First Nations people and the protection of source water on First Nation lands. Below I sketch out the current conditions and how the federal proposal suggests engaging these conditions. I conclude that although regulated standards will undoubtedly bring about improvements to public health, the proposal misses some key issues. One major failing is that the proposed regime does not address off-reserve source water protection. I suggest routes to amend this issue.


Industrial applications of partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) has increased substantially recently, considering its excellent thermal stability, strength and ionic conductibility. Its main application includes oxygen sensors and fuel cells. In this work zirconia ceramic powder is produced by Pechini process, mixing citric acid and ethylene glycol, adding yttrium and zirconium precursors. All the process was carried out with complete agitation. The obtained powder after this procedure is heat treated at 650°C during two hours. Characterization was performed by infra-red spectroscopy, x-ray diffractometry and quantitative analysis by Rietveld Method. The results show tetragonal and monoclinic phases, with nanometric crystallite.


Hegemonic party regimes are non-democratic regimes that [1] rule with the aid of a dominant political party and [2] hold multi-party elections. Elite coalitions organized under the aegis of a hegemonic party are most vulnerable in elections that coincide with poor economic performance. A declining economy provides elites with a platform around which they can mobilize support to challenge incumbents in elections. As a result, the likelihood of defections from hegemonic parties increases as income declines. This study's original dataset, which includes 227 elections for the chief executive in hegemonic party dictatorships from 1946 to 2004, and its case studies of defections in Zimbabwe under ZANU-PF in 2008 and Turkey under the Democratic Party in 1955 provide evidence for this proposition.


In this thesis, the problem of overvoltage calculation on multiconductor transmission lines due to nonuniform external electromagnetic field excitations, such as lightning, is investigated by introducing a field-voltage macromodel. The main purpose of this thesis is to find a fast and efficient algorithm to model the effect of the radiated electromagnetic fields on transmission lines. This is done by replacing distributed voltage and current sources along the transmission line which are as a result of external electromagnetic field radiation, by voltage and current sources at the terminals of the transmission line. For this purpose, the knowledge of electromagnetic field at every point on the transmission line is required. A transfer function based pole-residue tracing technique will be introduced in this thesis. By using the proposed algorithm, a closed form solution for the lumped sources at the terminals of transmission line in the frequency domain is obtainable. This approach will enable us to bridge the software working in frequency domain with those working in the time domain. The effect of different parameters on calculated overvoltage such as finite conductivity of the ground and lightning return stroke channel (RSC) specifications are studied. The theoretical background and extent of validity of the proposed algorithm are reviewed in this thesis.


As peer-to-peer and widely distributed storage systems proliferate, the need to perform efficient erasure coding, instead of replication, is crucial to performance and efficiency. Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes have arisen as alternatives to standard erasure codes, such as Reed-Solomon codes, trading off vastly improved decoding performance for inefficiencies in the amount of data that must be acquired to perform decoding. The scores of papers written on LDPC codes typically analyze their collective and asymptotic behavior. Unfortunately, their practical application requires the generation and analysis of individual codes for finite systems. This paper attempts to illuminate the practical considerations of LDPC codes for peer-to-peer and distributed storage systems. The three main types of LDPC codes are detailed, and a huge variety of codes are generated, then analyzed using simulation. This analysis focuses on the performance of individual codes for finite systems, and addresses several important heretofore unanswered questions about employing LDPC codes in real-world systems.


The article presents the analysis of regional distribution for the approved and completed projects by 2004 under the SAPARD programme in the Slovak Republic. The distribution of funding strongly favoured powerful (innovative) business subjects which increased their competitiveness and gained the "advantage of technology advance" (which, in time may change into the rent of technology advance) associated with growth in labour productivity and high probability of investment return. The implementation of the SAPARD programme provides a strong impetus to the restructuring of businesses in agrifood industry, it accelerates and improves the selection among the businesses and economical differentiation. The bulk of the approved funding for projects under the individual measures for agriculture and processing industry within the SAPARD programme was distributed among western and southern regions of Slovakia. The implementation of the SAPARD programme, on one hand, has helped to reduce regional disparities in the vertical spatial approach by the diversion of the bulk of funding to the economically less favoured southern areas of Slovakia lagging behind in terms of infrastructure. On the other hand, though, it has increased the regional disparities in the horizontal spatial view with regard to the fact that most of the funding is spent in the developed regions of western Slovakia. Eastern Slovakia thus has become a disadvantaged and minority recipient of the financial assistance under this programme.


This paper describes a possibility of heat transfer enhancement in a mm-scale flow channel by using a combination of some projections and pulsating flow. The objective of this research is to develop a novel heat exchanger for miniaturized productions such as high-density packaging electronic equipment by applying pulsating flow to enhance heat transfer while inhibiting an increase of pressure drop. In order to evaluate the possibility of applying pulsating flow to miniature water channels, a three-dimensional flow and heat transfer analysis was performed. Heat transfer performance of a combination of pulsating water flow and a projection was investigated. The mechanism of heat transfer enhancement by the proposed combination was also investigated. The proposed combination enhances heat transfer in the channel remarkably. Heat transfer performance of pulsating flow around the projection was approximately 80% higher than that of steady flow in the channel without the projection. This was caused by the generation of counter flow behind the projection during the deceleration period. The counter flow ejected heated water near the projection and heat transfer enhancement is achieved.


This thesis considers scheduling in the context of a grid computing system used in engineering design. Users desire responsiveness and fairness in the treatment of the workflows they submit. Submissions outstrip the available computing capacity during the work day, and the queue is only caught up on overnight and at weekends. The execution times observed span a wide range of 10^0 to 10^7 core-minutes.

The Projected Schedule Length Ratio (P-SLR) list scheduling policy is designed to use execution time estimates and the structure of the dependency graph to improve on the existing industrial FairShare policy. P-SLR aims to minimise the worst-case SLR of jobs and keep SLR fair across the space of job execution times. P-SLR is shown to equal or surpass all other evaluated policies in responsiveness and fairness across the spectra of load and networking delays. P-SLR is also dominant where execution time estimates are within an order of magnitude of the real value. Such estimates are considered achievable using user knowledge or automated profiling. Outside this range, the Shortest Remaining Time First (SRTF) policy achieved better responsiveness and fairness.

The Projected Value Remaining (PVR) policy considers the case where a curve specifying the value of a job over time is given. PVR aims to maximise total workload value, even under overload, by maximising the worst-case job value in a workload. PVR is shown to be dominant across the load and networking spectra. Where execution time estimates are coarser than the nearest power of 2, SRTF delivers higher value than PVR. SRTF is also shown to have responsiveness, fairness and value close behind P-SLR and PVR throughout the range of load and network delays considered. However, the kinds of starvation under overload incurred by SRTF would almost certainly be undesirable if implemented in a production system.


The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the financial leverage and commercial bank's profitability in Tanzania. It made use of secondary
data from audited financial statements of listed commercial banks at Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) since 2007 to 2013. Descriptive statistics was used as a tool
to determine the bank's profitability and debt statuses while the relationship between
dependent variables measured by Return on Average Asset (ROA) and Return on
Average Equity (ROE) with independent variable measured by Debt Ratio (DR) was
determined by regression analysis. The study found that the commercial banks are
firms with large debt averaging 89.9%, 87.7% and 80.2% for CRDB, NMB and DCB
plc respectively. Furthermore the profitability measured in terms of ROA for CRDB,
NMB and DCB are 3.7%, 5.1% and 3.7% respectively while that which is measured
in terms of ROE are 25.4%, 29.6% and 14.5% respectively as mean values. It was
also found out that change of debt amount in the capital structure has a negative
effect on return on average asset explained by 33% and a non-effect on return on
average equity.


Human sex differences are thought to arise from gonadal hormones and genes on the sex chromosomes. Here we studied how sex and the sex chromosomes can modulate the outcome of mutations across the genome. We used the results of genome-wide CRISPR-based screens on 306 female and 396 male cancer cell lines to detect differences in gene essentiality between the sexes. By exploiting the tendency of cancer cells to lose or gain sex chromosomes, we were able to dissect the contribution of the Y and X chromosomes to variable gene essentiality. Using this approach, we identified 178 differentially essential genes that depend on the biological sex or the sex chromosomes. Integration with sex bias in gene expression and the rate of somatic mutations in human tumors highlighted genes that escape from X-inactivation, cancer-testis antigens, and Y-linked paralogs as central to the functional genetic differences between males and females.


Summary
A virus survey was conducted during the spring and autumn of 2001 and 2002 to determine the presence, prevalence and distribution in Spain of the viruses that are most commonly found infecting lettuce and Brassica worldwide. Crop plants showing virus symptoms from the principal lettuce and Brassica-growing regions of Spain, and some samples of the annual and perennial flora nearby, were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using specific commercial antibodies against the following viruses: Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), Broad bean wilt virus 1 (BBWV-1), Beet western yellows virus (BWYV), Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Lettuce mosaic virus (LMV), Pea seed-borne mosaic virus (PSbMV), Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) and Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). Samples were also tested with a Potyvirus genus antibody. Virus incidence was much lower in spring than in autumn, especially in 2001. In spring 2002, CMV and LMV were the most prevalent viruses in lettuce, while CaMV was the most important virus present in Brassica crops grown in Navarra, followed by CMV and BWYV. In the autumn, the spectrum of viruses was different; potyviruses were widespread in lettuce grown in Madrid, but TSWV and BWYV were predominant in the Murcia region. The prevalent Potyvirus detected in lettuce fields was LMV, but none of the samples collected were positive for PSbMV or TuMV. In Brassica crops, TSWV was the most abundant in autumn-sown crops, especially in the Navarra region. All of the viruses present in lettuce and Brassica were also frequently detected in their associated natural vegetation at the same time, suggesting that they probably play an important role as virus reservoirs. Sonchus spp. were particularly common and were frequently infected with CMV, LMV and BWYV. Another common species, Chenopodium album, was often infected with TSWV and BWYV. Multiple infections were common, especially in non-crop plants, and the most common combination was BWYV and TSWV. The role of weeds in the epidemiology of viruses that infect lettuce and Brassica crops in Spain is discussed.


Thesis submitted to Graduate School in partial fulfillment for the award of a Degree of Master of Science in Environment and Natural Resources of Makerere University.


Background. Iron deficiency (ID) contributes significantly to the chronic anaemia seen in chronic kidney disease (CKD). The use of traditional red cell indices such as mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red cell distribution width (RCDW) in screening for ID has been recommended, because they are inexpensive and widely available, especially in low-income settings.  Objectives. To determine the prevalence of anaemia and ID, and the role of traditional red cell indices in screening for ID in children with CKD.  Methods. A sample of 130 children (aged 5 - 18 years) with various stages of CKD was recruited. Blood samples were taken and assessed for traditional red cell indices (MCV, MCH, MCHC and RCDW), serum haemoglobin, creatinine, C-reactive protein, iron, transferrin, transferrin saturation (TSAT) and ferritin.  Results. The mean (standard deviation) age was 10.7 (3.6) years, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.8:1. There was a high prevalence (32%) of anaemia among the patients. The median TSAT and ferritin were 19 (range 13 - 26)% and 50 (28 - 102) ng/mL, respectively. The prevalence of ID and ID with anaemia (IDA) was 43% and 11%, respectively. The majority of the patients (110/130; 85%) were iron deplete, and serum ferritin and RCDW were found to be independent predictors for anaemia, ID and IDA. There was no significant difference in the traditional red cell indices in iron-deplete and iron-replete patients.  Conclusion. The routine use of traditional red cell indices alone in screening for ID in children with CKD should be discouraged.


The 'spatial turn' in early modern studies has produced many insightful analyses of domestic space and the identities intertwined with it. Yet very few studies look at the relationship between domestic space in England and that of its New World colonies. This essay seeks to redress this and argues that the liminality of the early colonial experience in Virginia influenced how domestic space was understood and represented in England. The early colonial experience in the New World was inherently liminal. This colonial space was one in which colonists were forced to (re)negotiate the social structures and identities they left behind in England, often resulting in both intentional and unintentional transformations of these structures and identities. The creation of material infrastructure was an attempt by colonial authorities to banish this transitional, transformative liminal space and instead create a more familiar environment in which social order, hierarchies, and identities could be secured. However, this process often in fact revealed the liminality and disorder intrinsic to these more familiar spaces. This is nowhere more apparent than in the construction of domestic space and the discourse surrounding it in England's New World colonies. Focusing on the 1622 'Jamestown Massacre' in Virginia, in which local Powhatan Native Americans killed over 300 English colonists in their homes, this essay demonstrates that narratives of the massacre show colonial domestic space as a liminal site of permeability in which identities and control of space were under constant negotiation. I go on to argue that this event, and the representations of it, can offer new context to readings of later drama in England. Taking Massinger's The City Madam as a case study, I argue that Massinger's representation of the home as a threateningly liminal space was informed by colonial discourses. What becomes clear from the colonial experience at Jamestown and from The City Madam , is that domestic space was not a stable site through which social order, hierarchies, and identities are guaranteed, but rather a liminal site through which they were constantly negotiated.


A positive correlation between salivary IgA antibody levels to Streptococcus mutans and caries resistance in adults has been reported in literature. Such a correlation is also observed in Down's syndrome population but lacks sufficient data support. The present study was conducted to assess the relationship of salivary IgA with dental caries and oral hygiene status in Down's syndrome (DS) children compared to control group of normal subjects (NS) of school children of Chidambaram. The study population consisted of 80 subjects aged 8-14 years who were divided into four groups: Group 1 – DS subjects with DMFS= 0, Group 2 - NS with DMFS=0, Group 3 - DS subjects with DMFS= 3 and above and Group 4- NS with DMFS= 3 and above.Clinical examination was done and the study population was examined for the assessment of dental caries status (WHO 1987) and oral hygiene status (OHI -S Index). Unstimulated total saliva samples were collected and s-IgA concentration was evaluated by ELISA. Scheffe test (Intergroup comparison) and Pearson test (correlation analysis) were used to analyze the data. In DS subjects, a negative correlation of s-IgA with DMFS and OHI-S scores was found; the s-IgA levels were significantly higher, prevalence of dental caries was very low and oral hygiene status was not properly maintained when compared to the normal subjects. In the control group, a positive correlation of s-IgA with DMFS and OHI-S scores was found.


EDTA chelation therapy is safe, effective, and more economical than commonly used surgical treatments for vascular disease. This article includes evidence of effectiveness, mechanisms of action of EDTA, a discussion of studies that have been done regarding the therapy, and some brief case reports. The conclusion is that EDTA chelation therapy should be a therapeutic option for vascular disease, either by itself or in conjunction with standard protocols.


BIOETHICS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY: THE HUMAN BETWEEN TWO PARADIGMS Abstract : This paper intends to analyse some of the interactions that occur between biotechnology and bioethics, considering that both disciplines have a truly paradigmatic character that influences the anthropologic views of modern man and future human gene- rations. We suggest that biotechnology, especially in the form of genetic interventions, questions certain anthropologic constants and must therefore be subjected to descriptive and prescriptive bioethical reflection. Benefit/risk ratios must be analyzed from the social and the ethical points of view, effective decisional mechanisms need to be suggested, and prudential regulation will have to be envisioned as well as the promotion of equity in the access to biotechnologic benefits.


The advances in technology and communication have brought changes in the teaching and learning and daily lives of students both at school and university. Learning in the 21st century has largely used interactive media as an intermediary and a form of channel in the transmission of information. One of the most popular applications in the teaching and learning process is the Telegram application. This app is one of the most popular interactive mediums for educators because of its suitability for sending messages, sharing lecture notes, and being accessible not only via smartphones but also computers without the need for a smartphone connection. The Telegram app also provides an effective means of interaction among students and teachers and helps to accelerate their learning process. This concept paper aims to discuss the application of telegram applications as a teaching and learning platform for History with student performance focused on secondary school students. Telegram applications have many advantages over other applications commonly used in education. One of the benefits is that you can save your shared data without being downloaded directly to your smartphone or computer and share documents in larger sizes up to 1.5GB. In conclusion, the use of the Telegram app helps students to better understand the learning outcomes and thus improve their learning performance.


The Heckscher-Ohlin model without restrictions on factor trading is shown to be equivalent to an exchange model where the goods are the productive factors and consumer's preferences are derived from consumers' preferences for consumption goods. After having illustrated with Vanek's factor proportion theorem and Leontief's paradox the new perspective brought by this equivalence, this paper is devoted to extending the equilibrium manifold approach from the exchange model to the Heckscher-Ohlin model. This extension yields new properties that deal with the uniqueness of equilibrium, the number of equilibria and the continuity or lack of continuity of equilibrium selections in the Heckscher-Ohlin model. In the case of two consumers (countries), these properties are improved into a complete characterization of economies with a unique equilibrium. Several of these results highlight the important role played by the volume of net trade in factor contents in the Heckscher-Ohlin model.


Infection of  Chilli veinal mottle potyvirus (ChiVMV) has been reported from chilli pepper growing area in Indonesia.  Field observation showed wide variation of symptom development starting from mild mottle to severe mottle and vein banding.  A research was conducted to study the difference of  isolates of ChiVMV collected from West Java (Cikabayan), Central Java (Karadenan), South Kalimantan (Nusa Indah), and West Sumatera (Tanah Datar) based on their response on 10 genotypes of chilli peppers i.e. Jatilaba, Helem, VC246, Keriting Bogor, PBC485, Titisuper, Beauty Bell, Gelora, IPBC Tanjung, and Keriting Sumatera.  Each isolates of ChiVMV was mechanically inoculated to each chilli pepper genotype, and observation was conducted every day to record incubation period, symptoms type, and disease incidence.  Cikabayan and Nusa Indah isolates were able to infect all chilli pepper genotypes with the shortest incubation period of 3 days in "Tistsuper" and "Beauty Bell" genotypes; whereas Karadenan and Tanah Datar isolates only infected 4 and 6 chilli pepper genotypes, respectively.  Although the 4 isolates of ChiVMV showed differences in their host range, but most of them developed similar symptoms ranging from mottle, vein banding, leaf cupping, and malformation. Based on the host response, ChiVMV isolates from Cikabayan and Nusa Indah were considered more virulent than the isolates from Karadenan and Tanah Datar.


Background The CQC report 'A different ending: addressing inequalities in end of life care' highlighted homeless people with end of life care needs experience considerable barriers accessing palliative care. Mary Stevens Hospice developed a workshop for hostel workers, West Midlands Police, and Dudley Metropolitan, focused on palliative and end of life care. Aims including developing relationships with hostel and other organisations, allowing better choice and access for people experiencing homelessness requiring palliative care support. One of the workshop's objectives was to recognize barriers homeless people experience accessing palliative care and identify training needs for non- health care workers, with consideration of developing equitable pathways into hospice services. Methods Community engagement with statutory and voluntary organisations, identifying ways of integrating services and up-skilling non health care professionals. Develop partnerships and collaboration to better support people experiencing homelessness. Pilot education day facilitated. Results Fourteen people attended workshop, including police, hostel staff and outreach workers. Hospice received first referral and people signposted to services. A Dying Matters event recorded and filmed the stories, experiences, and wishes of homeless people relevant to death, dying and Bereavement. Education workshop further developed and adapted to deliver across hostels and refuges December 2019. Hostel recognised five persons whose health a cause for concern. Police and hostel manager visited hospice. A referrals and signposting database implemented and workshop feedback evaluated. Conclusion Attendees reported increased confidence having early, courageous conversations, discussing end of life concerns and priorities. There was recognition the value of communities working together to better support homeless people approaching end of life. The workshop highlighted a lack of pathway for homeless people accessing services and a continuation of partnerships, nurturing relations between organisations is necessary to working toward removing barriers to palliative care.


From the sex-free paradise of the Shakers to the worker's paradise of Marx, utopian ideas seem to have two things in common-they all are wonderfully plausible at the start and they all end up as disasters. In Visions of Utopia, three leading cultural critics-Edward Rothstein, Martin Marty, and Herbert Muschamp-look at the history of utopian thinking, exploring why they fail and why they are still worth pursuing. Edward Rothstein, New York Times cultural critic, contends that every utopia is really a dystopia-a disaster in the making-one that overlooks the nature of humanity and the impossibilities of paradise. He traces the ideal in politics and technology and suggests that only in art-and especially in music-does the desire for utopia find satisfaction. Martin Marty examines several models of utopia-from Thomas More's to a 1960s experimental city that he helped to plan-to show that, even though utopias can never be realized, we should not be too quick to condemn them. They can express dimensions of the human spirit that might otherwise be stifled and can plant ideas that may germinate in more realistic and practical soil. And Herbert Muschamp, the New York Times architectural critic, looks at Utopianism as exemplified in two different ways: the Buddhist tradition and the work of visionary Viennese architect Adolph Loos. Utopian thinking embodies humanity's noblest impulses, yet it can lead to horrors such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Regime. In Visions of Utopia, these leading thinkers offer an intriguing look at the paradoxes of paradise.


Impaired activity of enolase 1 limits glycolysis and effector function of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells. Rescuing T cell glycolysis One reason T cells in the tumor microenvioronment (TME) become dysfunctional is that they compete with cancer cells for nutrients, particularly glucose. By studying the glucose metabolism of CD8+ T cells in the TME of mouse B16 and human melanomas, Gemta et al. report the activity of enzyme enolase 1 to be impaired. Enolase 1 catalyzes the synthesis of phosphenolpyruvate, which is dephosphorylated to generate pyruvate, the end product of glycolysis. In vitro, provision of pyruvate considerably improved the effector functions of CD8+ T cells isolated from murine melanomas. Pinning down enolase 1 as the rate-limiting step in glucose metabolism of tumor-infiltrating T cells begs the question whether targeting enolase 1 activity in these cells can be used to improve responsiveness to cancer immunotherapy. In the context of solid tumors, there is a positive correlation between the accumulation of cytotoxic CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and favorable clinical outcomes. However, CD8+ TILs often exhibit a state of functional exhaustion, limiting their activity, and the underlying molecular basis of this dysfunction is not fully understood. Here, we show that TILs found in human and murine CD8+ melanomas are metabolically compromised with deficits in both glycolytic and oxidative metabolism. Although several studies have shown that tumors can outcompete T cells for glucose, thus limiting T cell metabolic activity, we report that a down-regulation in the activity of ENOLASE 1, a critical enzyme in the glycolytic pathway, represses glycolytic activity in CD8+ TILs. Provision of pyruvate, a downstream product of ENOLASE 1, bypasses this inactivity and promotes both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, resulting in improved effector function of CD8+ TILs. We found high expression of both enolase 1 mRNA and protein in CD8+ TILs, indicating that the enzymatic activity of ENOLASE 1 is regulated posttranslationally. These studies provide a critical insight into the biochemical basis of CD8+ TIL dysfunction.