A stroke can impair both motor and cognitive functioning, reducing the automaticity of walking and increasing susceptibility to motor-cognitive interference (MCI). There is also some evidence of an association between susceptibility to MCI and the increased incidence of falls in stroke. Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) is commonly used for correction of foot drop due to stroke. At the start of the PhD, studies had shown FES increases walking speed. However, questionnaire-based studies found that users rated a reduction in effort and a reduced risk of tripping or falling as the two most important reasons for using FES. In these studies, the term 'effort' was not defined, but the results from a qualitative study suggested that the questionnaire respondents may have been referring to both physical and mental components. Based on this evidence the following research question was posed "Does FES reduce motor-cognitive interference during gait in people with foot drop following stroke?"

The question was first examined in a questionnaire study which collated FES user opinion from thirty current users. Respondents identified a statistically significant reduction in concentration required when walking with FES compared with walking without the device. Furthermore, the majority noted that walking without thinking about walking was easier with FES.

The second study developed and piloted a dual-task based methodology to assess the impact of FES on MCI during gait. Two participants with foot drop following stroke were evaluated over 14 weeks following first use of FES. In one participant, cognitive task performance was maintained at a similar level when walking with FES, compared with seated performance, and reduced without FES. The effects were less clear in the second participant. However, the study demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed methodology and provided the first quantitative evidence that FES can reduce MCI during gait.

In the final study of the thesis, a similar methodology was used to study the effects of MCI in a larger cohort of sixteen established FES users. Outcomes suggest that although FES can reduce the motor-cognitive interference experienced during a dual-task situation in some participants, when analysed as a group, the results did not support the existence of this effect.


The fundamental challenge to a solution to improve software quality is in the people and processes that develop software products. Imparting real world experiences in software development best practices to undergraduate students is often a challenge due to the lack of effective learning tools. This pedagogical requirement is important because graduates are expected to develop software that meets rigorous quality standards. Certain best practices are difficult to comprehend by course lectures alone and are enhanced with supplemental learning tools. Realizing the necessity of such teaching tools, we designed and developed six (6) delivery hours of case study videos for use in courses that impart knowledge on Software Verification & Validation (SV&V) topics viz. requirements engineering, and software reviews. We see case study videos as an effective active learning tool in our flipped classroom approach. We present our design of the case study video in its generic components envisioning how it may be used in general. To evaluate our active learning tools we mapped the learning objectives of the case Study videos to the expected learning outcomes for ABET accreditation of an undergraduate engineering program. Our implementation has been disseminated to partner institutions. Results of delivery in a faculty workshop and in two different university courses are shared.


The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is the world's second largest ice mass, storing about one tenth of the Earth's freshwater. If totally melted, global sea level would rise by 7.4 m, affecting low-lying regions worldwide. Since the mid-1990s, increased atmospheric and oceanic temperatures have accelerated GrIS mass loss through increased meltwater runoff and ice discharge from marine-terminating glaciers. To understand the causes of recent GrIS surface mass loss, we use the Regional Atmospheric Climate Model RACMO2. This meteorological model simulates the GrIS surface mass balance (SMB), i.e. the difference between snowfall accumulation and ablation from meltwater runoff. To cover a large domain at reasonable computational cost, RACMO2 is run at a relatively coarse horizontal resolution of 11 km (1958-2016). At this spatial resolution, the model does not well resolve small glaciated bodies, such as narrow glaciers and small peripheral ice caps (GICs), detached from the main ice sheet. Therefore, we developed a statistical downscaling algorithm that reprojects the RACMO2 output on a 1 km grid. This downscaled product allows to quantify mass changes of small ice masses in unprecedented detail. Using the downscaled data set, we identify 1997 as a tipping point for the mass balance of Greenland's GICs. The GICs are located in relatively dry regions where summer melt nominally exceeds winter snowfall. To sustain these ice caps, the refreezing of meltwater in the snow is a key process. The snow acts as a "sponge" that buffers a large fraction of meltwater, which subsequently refreezes in winter. The remaining meltwater runs off to the ocean and directly contributes to mass loss. Until 1997, the snow layer in the interior of these GICs could compensate for increased melt by refreezing more meltwater. Around 1997, following decades of increased melt, the snow became saturated with refrozen meltwater, so that any additional summer melt was forced to run off to the ocean, tripling the mass loss. We call this a tipping point, as it would take decades to regrow a new, healthy snow layer that could buffer enough summer meltwater. As a result, Greenland's GICs are expected to undergo irreversible mass loss in the future. Similar mechanisms are at play in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. While the northern ice caps, that are larger and more elevated, can still efficiently buffer meltwater in their extensive snow-covered accumulation zones, the southern smaller and lower-lying ice fields have already lost most of their meltwater retention capacity, causing uninterrupted mass loss during the last six decades. Consequently, these southern ice caps are expected to disappear within the next 400 years. For now, the main Greenland ice sheet is still safe, as porous snow in the extensive accumulation zone, covering about 90% of the GrIS, still buffers most of the summer melt. At the current rate of mass loss, it would still take 10,000 years to melt the GrIS completely. However, the tipping point reached for the peripheral GICs must be regarded as an alarm-signal for the GrIS in the near future, if temperatures continue to increase.


This book covers the different aspects, such as patents, trademarks and copyright of Intellectual Property (IP) from a more practical business perspective. Intellectual Property and Assessing its' Financial Value describes the differences between regions, mainly the differences between the US and EU. In addition, several tools are presented for assessing the value of new IP, which is of importance before engaging on a new project that could result in new IP or for licensing purposes. The first chapter introduces the different types of IP and illustrating the business importance of capturing and safeguarding IP, the second chapter discusses patents and other forms of IP with subsequent chapters exploring copyright and trademarks in more detail, and a concluding chapter on the future of systems that can assess new IP value. * Introduces IP and various features from a business perspective* Includes tools to assess the value of new IP * Provides a comprehensive and practical insight into IP* Explores other forms of IP including designs, models, breeders rights, and domain names* Offers an applied approach to IP and systems to evaluate the value of new IP


Citizens contributing to science started even before scientist became a profession. Traditionally, citizens mainly contribute to data collection through their observations. With the development of sensor technology, and information and communication technology (ICT), citizens are increasingly able to use low-cost sensors to collect environmental data. The overall objective of this thesis is to assess opportunities for informal sensing data and their integration with formal sensing data to improve environmental information provision by investigating challenges and obstacles regarding technical and societal aspects. According to the findings in this thesis, citizens can use low-cost sensors to help them gain information about environmental issues when sensors are calibrated and used properly even though this is still challenging. Citizens and experts do have different perceptions on both formal and informal data. It indicates that application of informal environmental sensing does not only encounter technical but also societal issues. Positively, both citizens and experts consider that informal environmental sensing data can complement formal ones and integrating them can improve environmental data provision in aspects such as spatial-temporal resolution. A conceptual framework for integration of formal and informal environmental sensing data for different environmental purposes is proposed. Five approaches are proposed for integration. A literature study and expert validation was used to evaluate the five approaches based on success indicators. Based on the thesis, advanced air quality sensor calibration and data analysis, integration methods for heterogeneous multiple data sources, and the developments of citizen science and open science and their impact on society are recommended for further research.


Expanding Biological Engineering from Single Enzymes to Cellular Pathways Nili Ostrov The emerging field of synthetic biology evolved from biological research much the same way synthetic chemistry evolved from chemical research; with accumulated knowledge of the structure of single genes and proteins and the methodologies to manipulate them, researchers turn to forward engineer complex biological systems to effectively manipulate living systems. Much like in the case of enzyme engineering, a rationally designed biological network is currently beyond our reach, and we turn to directed evolution to circumvent this gap in knowledge. Yet the unique nature of live biological networks uncovered new challenges previously unmet by single-gene molecular technologies, and extrapolation of current technologies to the manipulation of multicomponent has proven laborious and inefficient. To establish engineering technologies for living cells, novel directed evolution techniques are sought for that are compatible with simultaneous manipulation of multiple biological components in vivo. In this work, we explore techniques for library DNA mutagenesis in the context of single and multiple genes. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the challenges in expanding current in vivo directed evolution methods from single enzymes, to the design pathways and cells. Chapter 2 describes the design and characterization of an assay for combinatorial directed evolution of a single metabolic enzyme. In Chapter 3 we present the utilization of our DNA assembly system, Reiterative Recombination, for attenuation of metabolic pathways. We use a library of promoters to combinatorially vary the expression of genes in the heterologous lycopene biosynthetic pathway in S. cerevisiae. Finally, Chapter 4 explores the calibration of the dynamic range of genetic selection, using metabolic enzyme activity as probe for cell survival.


Regulation of VanA- and VanB-type glycopeptide resistance in enterococci is mediated by related two-component regulatory systems (VanR-VanS and VanRB-VanSB). The transglycosylase inhibitors vancomycin, teicoplanin, and moenomycin induced synthesis of the VanX D,D-dipeptidase in a VanA-type Enterococcus faecalis harboring transposon Tn1546. Inhibitors of reactions immediately preceding (ramoplanin) or following (penicillin G and bacitracin) transglycosylation were not inducers. These results identify accumulation of membrane-bound lipid intermediate II as a potential signal for induction of VanA-type resistance. In E.faecalis BM4281 harboring a wild vanB genetic element, D,D-dipeptidase synthesis was only inducible by vancomycin. Induction of the production of the VanB ligase by vancomycin was required for growth of a vancomycin-dependent derivative of BM4281, since introduction of a plasmid coding for constitutive synthesis of the VanA ligase eliminated the requirement of glycopeptide for growth. Both vancomycin and teicoplanin were able to induce D,D-dipeptidase synthesis in BM4281 derivatives that were vancomycin and teicoplanin resistant or vancomycin and teicoplanin dependent. Acquisition of teicoplanin resistance in the latter types of strains was due to alteration in induction specificity associated with an increase in the sensitivity of the regulatory system to vancomycin. Thus, the wild VanRB-VanSB system is unable or not sensitive enough to sense teicoplanin, although mutations can lead to recognition of this antibiotic.


High performance buildings demand innovative and often untested strategies for improving thermal performance and reducing energy consumption while maintaining indoor environmental quality. The Passive House design standard is increasingly being implemented in residential and small commercial construction. This standard results in buildings with airtight envelopes, high levels of insulation, very high performance windows, and energy efficient appliances.The intent of this paper is to evaluate the performance of several cutting-edge high performance building technologies as implemented in a Passive House duplex constructed in Portland, Oregon, USA. We provide an overview of the performance of the entire structure from multiple viewpoints, but focus largely on the performance of the heat recovery ventilator and heat pump water heater. Interactions of these systems with occupant behavior and indoor environmental quality are also discussed.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The federal government has a long history of providing credit assistance to farmers by issuing direct loans and guarantees, and creating rural lending institutions. These institutions include the Farm Service Agency (FSA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which makes or guarantees loans to farmers who cannot qualify at other lenders, and the Farm Credit System (FCS), which is a network of borrower-owned lending institutions operating as a government-sponsored enterprise. This report discusses legislation regarding this credit assistance expected in the the 110th Congress. Appropriators will consider funding for FSA's farm loan programs, and the agriculture committees may consider changes to FSA and FCS lending programs. The 2007 farm bill is expected to be the venue for many of the authorizing issues, although stand-alone legislation may be used for extensive reforms.


Urolithiasis is one of the most frequent causes of morbidity in developed countries and its incidence is close to 5%. In our experience, 67.4% of urinary stones contain calcium oxalate as the main component, and hyperoxaluria plays an important role in the pathophysiology of this type of stone. The mechanisms responsible for the increment in urinary excretion of oxalate could involve oxalic acid synthesis. This increase could be due either to an increment of its endogenous formation or to an exogenous load of its precursors. Furthermore, an increased intestinal oxalate absorption is a frequent cause of hyperoxaluria and urolithiasis. Ingestion of oxalate rich foods, imbalance in the supply of other nutrients that influence oxalic acid absorption and GI disorders with malabsorption and/or decreased degradation of intraluminal oxalate can increase intestinal oxalate transport and cause hyperoxaluria. In this article we review the physiological mechanisms that control the oxalate pool: endogenous synthesis, exogenous supply, intestinal absorption and renal excretion of oxalic acid. We analyze the causes and the pathophysiological mechanisms that increase urinary oxalate excretion. We describe a protocol for the biochemical study of patients with hyperoxaluria and the therapeutic measures to reduce urinary oxalate are reviewed. Finally, possible research that may provide further insight into oxalate metabolism in patients with hyperoxaluria are discussed.


Chambered cairns are the earliest architectural achievement of the peoples of Scotland. The cairns are more complex structures than generally recognised and are also the principal evidence of the earliest agricultural communities in the land. Among the numerous chambered cairns of the Central Highlands are some of the finest examples of such monuments in Scotland. In particular this area saw two traditions of tomb-building and thus provides additional insights for elucidating developments during the neolithic period. In this comprehensive and fully illustrated volume the burial monuments of the early inhabitants of the Central Highlands of Scotland are examined and the surviving remains are described, offering an indispensable reference source for the neolithic period in this area of Scotland. The Chambered Cairns of the Central Highlands describes and discusses in detail the monuments in Ross and Cromarty and Inverness-shire. An Inventory provides up to date plans and descriptions of the individual monuments. A final chapter draws together all the information from the several hundred chambered cairns in Northern Scotland, gathered during five decades of field survey. This book is an important landmark in the study of chambered cairns in both Scotland and Europe.


Purpose: To retrospectively calculate three dimensional dose distributions in the lung and surrounding tissues using Monte Carlo(MC) simulations to evaluate the effect of including media heterogeneities for patients treated with I‐125 brachytherapy for resected non‐small cell lungcancer. Methods: The EGSnrc user‐code BrachyDose is used to perform simulations including media heterogeneities for patients treated with intraoperative I‐125 mesh brachytherapy for stage I non‐small cell lungcancer at Mayo Clinic. Heterogeneous simulation phantoms are generated using patient CT data: voxel medium (air, lung, soft tissue, bone) and density assignment is based on the densities in the CTimages. Seeds are fully modeled. Three‐ dimensional dose distributions in the lung are calculated and are compared with the TG‐43 formalism via DVHs and dose metrics for normal tissue volumes and volumes consisting of various margins (5–20 mm) surrounding the surgical suture (PTV10 for 10 mm margin). Results: Differences in dose metrics for TG‐43 and heterogeneous MC calculations vary dramatically between patients; differences of up to 17% in V100, 26% in D90, and 20% in the mean dose are observed within PTV10. MCdoses to voxels within PTV10 can differ by up to +/−20 Gy (20% of prescription dose) from TG‐43 doses. Correspondingly, large differences are observed in isodose contours for the two calculation methods, particularly in lungtissues; differences are smaller for soft tissue regions. Dose differences are highly sensitive to source positioning within the lung and on lung composition (i.e. media heterogeneities). Conclusions: Doses computed using full MC simulations differ considerably from TG‐43 calculated doses for I‐125 mesh brachytherapy. Accurate treatment planning and evaluation requires the inclusion of non‐water media based on imaging data in dose calculations. BrachyDose calculation times are sufficiently fast for clinical use.


In Sweden, as in many other countries, most managers are men. In 1993 the Swedish government commissioned an inquiry[1]in order to find out to what extent men dominated management positions in Swed ...


Deterioration of concrete structures due to steel corrosion is a matter of considerable concern since the repairing of these structures proved to be a costly process. Repair and rehabilitation of the civil structures needs an enduring repair material. The ideal durable repair material should have low shrinkage, good thermal expansion, substantial
modulus of elasticity, high tensile strength, improved fatigue and impact resistance. Reinforcing the concrete structures with fibers such as polyester is one of the possible ways to provide all the criteria of the durable repair material. This type of reinforcement is called Fiber Reinforcement of Concrete Structures. There is an increasing worldwide interest in utilizing fiber. reinforced concrete structures for civil infrastructure applications To study the commercial viability of FRC Techniques in civil construction, three slabs were constructed
by using polyester fiber along with cement matrix in Amara Development Association Training center ,Bahir Dar ,Ethiopia.The perfomace of the constructed slab was evaluated by various testing methods. The results of the experiment have strong implication to
apply this technology in civil construction works. Keywords : Fiber, Polymers, Exposure Concrete, FRC-Fiber Reinforcement concrete African Research Review Vol. 2 (4) 2008: pp. 157-172


The psychological sense inherent in the architectural space cannot be presented in architectural drawings, plans, sections, and elevations. What is needed is not the history of architectural style but the history of architectural space. For example, while approaching a building an observer will be influenced by constantly changing scenes and environment. Around Japanese traditional architecture, these changing scenes occur under the influence of an "inner domain of eaves" as proposed in the first author's earlier publication "Japanese Space in Architecture", 1996. This paper shows a sequence of views and characteristics of space observed while approaching Horyuji Temple, Saiin (West compound) which is considered to be the oldest wooden architecture (C7 AD~C8 AD) existing in the world, and was registered as a UNESCO "World Heritage" site in 1993. In addition, a new concept of "Visible Music" is proposed to characterize certain unique features of Japanese wooden architecture. It is quite different from the concept of "Frozen Music". As soon as the observer can see the underside of eaves the roof disappear from the observer's sight. Such sequences tend to occur continuously while approaching common Japanese traditional buildings as well. The lines of radiation in this observation process do not always appear and disappear from the nearest building. That is, the order in which they appear does not always follow the order of distance from the nearest building to the farthest building. Particular attention is paid to the role of roofs and eaves in the perception of Japanese traditional architecture. "Visible Music" is piped as one approaches Horyuji Temple, Saiin (West compound).


Search engines play an important role in helping users find desired content. With the increasing deployment of computer-readable privacy policies encoded using the standard W3C Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) format, search engines also have the potential to help users identify web sites that will respect their privacy needs. We conducted a study of the quantity and quality of P3P-encoded privacy policies associated with top-20 search results from three popular search engines. We built a P3P-enabled search engine and used it to gather statistics on P3P adoption as well as the privacy landscape of the Internet as a whole. This search engine makes use of a privacy policy cache that we designed to facilitate fast searches. Using a list of "typical" search terms taken from AOL users' queries, we examined the trends in privacy policies that are returned from queries to the AOL, Google, and Yahoo! search engines. We then compared these results to results compiled after using "e-commerce search terms" from Google's Froogle service. We examined the top 20 search results returned by each search engine for each of the search terms and found at least one result with a P3P policy for 83% of the typical search terms. Overall we found that these typical search terms yielded P3P adoption rates of 10%. This contrasts with adoption rates of 21% percent when searching for e-commerce terms. Examining the content of the policies, we discovered that a minority of sites engage in direct marketing with or without a way of opting out, and that even fewer sites share personal information with other companies. Finally, we outline ways to increase P3P adoption rates as well as decrease policy errors.


BACKGROUND
Physicians' encounters with dying patients are often problematic. This study was designed to facilitate understanding of what happens when residents encounter dying patients.

METHODS
The research involved observing and interviewing 28 family practice residents as they worked with dying patients. The primary research technique was that of a grounded interpretive investigation.

RESULTS
We found that working toward a "good death" was a central theme of the residents' everyday actions. At critical points, however, two important forces steered residents away from this central theme: biomedical technology and anxiety. Residents reacted to these forces by distancing, moving back toward a good death, or moving further from a good death.

CONCLUSION
Understanding the oscillating course toward a good death will help residents, medical educators, and other physicians deal with dying patients and their families in more meaningful and satisfying ways.


The source mechanisms of the three largest events of the 1980 Mammoth Lakes earthquake sequence have been determined using surface waves recorded on the global digital seismograph network and the long-period body waves recorded on the WWSSN network. Although the fault-plane solutions from local data (Cramer and Toppozada, 1980; Ryall and Ryall, 1981) suggest nearly pure left-lateral strike-slip on north-south planes, the teleseismic waveforms require a mechanism with oblique slip. The first event (25 May 1980, 16^h 33^m 44^s) has a mechanism with a strike of N12°E, dip of 50°E, and a rake of −35°. The second event (27 May 19^h 44^m 51^s) has a mechanism with a strike of N15°E, dip of 50°, and a slip of −11°. The third event (27 May, 14^h 50^m 57^s) has a mechanism with a strike of N22°E, dip of 50°, and a rake of −28°. The first event is the largest and has a moment of 2.9 × 10^(25) dyne-cm. The second and third events have moments of 1.3 and 1.1 × 10^(25) dyne-cm, respectively. The body- and surface-wave moments for the first and third events agree closely while for the second event the body-wave moment (approximately 0.6 × 10^(25) dyne-cm) is almost a factor of 3 smaller than the surface-wave moment. The principal axes of extension of all three events is in the approximate direction of N65°E which agrees with the structural trends apparent along the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada.


Purpose: To describe the epidemiological and diagnostic aspects and surgical treatment procedures of plunging goiter in the Oto-Rhino- Laryngology and Neck Surgery Office of the National Hospital of Niamey in Niger. Materials and Methods: We analyzed the clinical and paraclinical symptoms as well as the technique and postoperative evolution of plunging goiters through a retrospective and descriptive study conducted from January 2010 to December 2015. Results: During the five years period, 15 cases of plunging goiter were registered representing 6.35% of thyroidectomy. Among the patients, there were 4 men (26.66%) and 11 women (73.34%). The mean age was 37.84 years. The character "plunging goiter" was noticed on clinical examination and confirmed by imaging. Two cases of hyperthyroidism were recorded. Eso-trachea compression that is characterized by dysphagia and dyspnea was recorded in 7 cases (46.66%), dysphonia in 2 cases (13.33%). The scanner performed in 8 cases showed a goiter with anterior superior mediastinal shift in 84.61%, driving the eso-tracheal axis in 62.5% of cases. The goiters plunged right in 5 cases (33.33%), left in 2 cases (13.33%) and were bilateral in 1 case. Complete thyroidectomy was performed on all patients by exclusive cervical way with as immediate complications, one intraoperative hemorrhage case (n = 1) and one transient hypoparathyroidism case (n = 1). Histological examination of surgical specimens shows no evidence of malignancy. Conclusion: The plunging goiters are rare and their treatment was complete thyroidectomy by exclusive cervical way. Postoperative evolution was uneventful.


Abstract Obesity, a complex, multi-factor and heterogeneous condition, is thought to result from the interaction of environmental and genetic factors. Considering the result of adolescence obesity in adulthood, the role of genetic factors comes to the fore. Recently, many genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been conducted and many loci associated with adiposity have been identified. In adolescents, the strongest association with obesity has been found in single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the FTO gene. Besides FTO, GWAS showed consistent effects between variants in MC4R, TMEM18, TNNI3K, SEC16B, GNPDA2, POMC and obesity. However, these variants may not have similar effects for all ethnic groups. Although recently genetic factors are considered to contribute to obesity, relatively little is known about the specific loci related to obesity and the mechanisms by which they cause obesity.


The context of our work is to design a lab-on-chip based on the luminescence properties of a micro-algae: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The algae luminescence is collected thanks to an organic photodiode (OPD) based on a low band gap polymer, PTB7 (high external quantum efficiency of 80% when mixed with PC71BM) [1]. Before ab-initio calculations simulating those systems, we perform these calculations (TD-DFT and DFT) on the experimentally and theoretically extensively studied P3HT in order to identify the best-adapted simulation's methodology. We will demonstrate here how modern ab-initio methods are able to describe with good precisions vibrational and optoelectronical properties of those polymers chains and particularly to estimate the impact of the chain-length of oligomers (eight units to twenty units). Raman (figure 1), infrared, vibrationally resolved UV-visible absorption (figure 2) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra have been simulated. Their comparison with their respective experimental spectra shows a perfect agreement. We demonstrate that the vibronic structure is due to a collective mode, dominated by interring CC bond stretching, coupled to alkyl chains vibration mode. By optimizing and describing the lowest excited states of these oligothiophenes (singlet S1 and triplet states T1), we find that S1 and T1 present a quinoidal structure with a spin distribution localized on the central part of the chain. Relative energies of the two lowest excited states provide the possibility to these systems to be involved in singlet exciton fission process. As a result of this work, we have checked that our method is able to predicted P3HT photophysical properties. Further theoretical and experimental efforts are now focus on PTB7 studies, and we are confident on our calculation method for various polymers. [1] C.


We investigate gradual variations on the Calculus of Inductive Construction (CIC) for swifter prototyping with imprecise types and terms. We observe, with a no-go theorem, a crucial trade-off between graduality and the key properties of normalization and closure of universes under dependent product that CIC enjoys. Beyond this Fire Triangle of Graduality, we explore the gradualization of CIC with three different compromises, each relaxing one edge of the Fire Triangle. We develop a parametrized presentation of Gradual CIC (GCIC) that encompasses all three variations, and develop their metatheory. We first present a bidirectional elaboration of GCIC to a dependently-typed cast calculus, CastCIC, which elucidates the interrelation between typing, conversion, and the gradual guarantees. We use a syntactic model of CastCIC to inform the design of a safe, confluent reduction, and establish, when applicable, normalization. We study the static and dynamic gradual guarantees as well as the stronger notion of graduality with embedding-projection pairs formulated by New and Ahmed, using appropriate semantic model constructions. This work informs and paves the way towards the development of malleable proof assistants and dependently-typed programming languages.


This note summarises the workshop LCTW09 held between the 3.11.2009 and 5.11.2009 at LAL Orsay. The workshop was dedicated to discuss the beam tests in the years 2010 up to 2013 for detectors to be operated at a future linear electron positron collider. The document underlines the rich R&D program on these detectors in the coming years. Large synergies were identified in the DAQ and software systems. Considerable consolidation of resources are expected from the establishment of semi-permanent beam lines for linear collider detector R&D at major centres like CERN and FNAL. Reproducing a beam structure as foreseen for the International Linear Collider (ILC) would clearly enhance the value of the obtained beam test results. Although not ultimately needed for every research program, all groups would exploit such a feature if it is available.


This book is a practical resource guide offering a method of treatment for clients with mild to moderate depression that is based on cognitive behavioural therapy. It is also suitable for use with groups and offers suggestions on how to adapt the material to a more depressed inpatient population. The guide is designed for use by clinicians with minimal experience treating depressed clients and little previous knowledge of cognitive behavioural therapy. The resource book is a well written, easy to read, spiral-bound guide that is divided into three parts. Part 1 provides basic information about depression, cognitive behaviour therapy and other models of depression. This section includes principles of cognitive behaviour therapy, the cognitive model of depression, using cognitive therapy with depressed individuals and reasons for failure. Part 2 is especially well thought out. It describes the ten therapeutic steps used in the treatment in a way that can be utilized by both therapists for whom this approach is new as well as therapists experienced in using cognitive behavioural therapy. The authors include information on how to structure each section, suggest time frames for each portion of the session and provide handouts for each step that could be photocopied. Part 3 offers information on such topics as improving medication adherence, management of suicide and management of self-harm, again in a useful, practical format. Reading this book was a pleasurable experience. It was easy to follow, well laid out and the sections flowed well together. It would Theoretical Basis of Occupational Therapy, Second edition (2003)


A small fluctuation of the photon beam position will affect the intensity and polarization characteristics of synchrotron radiation (SR) when it enters an endstation through the related beamline. In this paper, by changing the electron orbit equilibrium position in the vertical direction, we have measured the corresponding changes in the absorption strength of the SR with a gold mesh in different chopper aperture positions. It is found that for three aperture positions, the absorption intensity of the gold mesh shows a good Gaussian distribution as the photon beam position moves, while the ratio of the SR intensity passing through the upper and lower apertures shows a monotonous variation. This suggests a new method for estimating the circular polarization degree of SR originating from the bending magnet based on our current measurement.


The work of this thesis is focused on the robustness of control laws for space-craft formation. Robustness in this case refers to the ability of the system to withstand persistent perturbations, and to keep some of the (stability) characteristics of the unperturbed system. Chapter 2 makes up the theoretical framework for this thesis. Analogous to the definition of practical asymptotic stability in Chaillet and Loria (2006b), we define practical exponential stability. This definition is more restrictive than its asymptotic counterpart, but has the advantage of an exponentially decaying upper bound of the solution on the considered part of the state space. Lyapunov sufficient conditions are stated, both for general systems and systems which are interconnected on a cascaded structure. Systems can naturally show a cascaded structure, as e.g. a leader follower spacecraft formation, or they can be rewritten into a cascaded structure, which is a common approach for systems with an observer and certainty equivalence controller. Furthermore, we provide a theoretical framework that fits realistic challenges related to spacecraft formation with disturbances. We show that the input-to-state property of such systems guarantees some robustness with respect to a class of signals with bounded average-energy, which encompasses the typical disturbances acting on spacecraft formations. Robustness is considered in the sense that solutions are bounded by a converging function of time, up to an offset which is somewhat proportional to the considered average energy of disturbances. The proposed approach allows for a tighter evaluation of the disturbances.in.uence, which in turns allows for the use of more parsimonious control gains. In Chapter 3 the leader-follower spacecraft formation is modeled. This type of formation is chosen because of its simplicity. It is therefore, in the authors opinion, the type of formation most likely used for real applications in the .eld of spacecraft formation control in the nearest future. Both a model for relative translation and rotation is derived. The relative translation model is derived in a general setting, where we can choose the origin of the frame of reference as center of gravity of the leader spacecraft or some other convenient point. Chapter 4 is devoted to output tracking of relative translation. The follower spacecraft control law is derived under limited knowledge of the leader spacecraft. It is required that the leader spacecraft can either broadcast its position, or the follower spacecraft are equipped with devices that can take the necessary measurements. In addition, it is assumed that the control action and disturbances acting on the leader spacecraft is upper bounded. In deriving the control laws we make use of the theory for control of robotic manipulators and ocean vehicles, as they are systems with similar properties. Output attitude tracking is treated in Chapter 5. As opposed to the translational case in Chapter 4, we derive control laws for both the leader-and the follower spacecraft, and show stability properties under bounded disturbances. In Chapter 6 we analyse stability of the controllers of a spacecraft formation with respect to a class of bounded-energy signals, using the frame-work developed in Chapter 2. Our application shows that our framework is not only useful for systems perturbed by certain disturbances, but we also show that the reference trajectory of the leader spacecraft can be seen as a disturbance from the follower spacecraft point of view. As propulsion systems of spacecraft often do not provide continuous actuation, Chapter 7 is devoted to the analysis of such systems when the actuation is quantized or pulse width modulated.


Falls and associated injury and mortality are of increasing concern among aging Americans. Effective fall risk management is a complicated process requiring involvement by both health care professionals and older adults for three related actions: (a) early screening to detect risk factors; (b) prescription of tailored interventions; and (c) implementation of, adherence to, and compliance with the intervention by the older adult. Early detection of fall risk can prevent future falls; however, uptake of evidence-based screening and assessment protocols in the clinical setting has been limited. A variety of practice guidelines and financial incentives are available to health care professionals to facilitate adoption. Yet, there remains a gap between recommended practices and current clinical activities. This commentary addresses the complexities of fall prevention practices and offers solutions that can facilitate adoption by clinical practices. Toward this end, this commentary will present two models (i.e., a clinical approach and a financial incentive approach) to summarize current clinical recommendations and practice guidelines for fall risk management in clinical settings. The various drivers to encourage adoption of evidence-based fall risk management strategies will be described. In this context, we will discuss how understanding the different system wide practice improvement initiatives and factors that drive action in physician groups, can facilitate adoption and implementation of fall risk management behaviors by clinicians. Additional efforts are needed to explore and assess similar initiatives to adopt and implement fall risk management practices at different entry points into the system (e.g., community settings, patients, caregivers).


Author(s): Gate, Rachel E | Advisor(s): Ye, Chun J | Abstract: Over 90% of genetic variants associated with complex human traits map to non-coding regions, but little is understood about how they modulate gene regulation in health and disease. One possible mechanism is that genetic variants affect the activity of one or more cis-regulatory elements leading to gene expression variation in specific cell types. To identify such cases, we analyzed ATAC-seq and RNA-seq profiles from stimulated primary CD4+ T cells in up to 105 healthy donors. We found regions of accessible chromatin (ATAC-peaks) are co-accessible at kilobase and megabase resolution, consistent with the 3D chromatin organization measured by in situ Hi-C in T cells. 15% of genetic variants located within ATAC-peaks affected the accessibility of the corresponding peak (ATAC-QTLs). ATAC-QTLs have the largest effects on co-accessible peaks, are associated with gene expression, and are enriched for autoimmune disease variants. Our results provide insights into how natural genetic variants modulate cis-regulatory elements, in isolation or in concert, to influence gene expression.To elucidate the trans regulatory network governing activation and polarization of CD4+ T cells we sequenced the transcriptomes of ~160k CD4+ T cells from 9 donors following pooled CRISPR perturbation targeting 140 regulators. We identified 134 regulators that affect T cell functionalization, including IRF2 as a positive regulator of Th2 polarization. Leveraging correlation patterns between cells, we mapped 194 pairs of interacting regulators, including known (e.g. BATF and JUN) and novel interactions (e.g. ETS1 and STAT6). Finally, we identified 80 natural genetic variants with effects on gene expression, 48 of which are modified by a perturbation. In CD4+ T cells, CRISPR perturbations can influence in vitro polarization and modify the effects of trans and cis regulatory elements on gene expression.


Gain-of-Function Effects of Mutant p53 Explored Using a Three-Dimensional Culture Model of Breast Cancer William A. Freed-Pastor p53 is the most frequent target for mutation in human tumors and mutation at this locus is a common and early event in breast carcinogenesis. Breast tumors with mutated p53 often contain abundant levels of this mutant protein, which has been postulated to actively contribute to tumorigenesis by acquiring pro-oncogenic ("gainof-function") properties. To elucidate how mutant p53 might contribute to mammary carcinogenesis, we employed a three-dimensional (3D) culture model of breast cancer. When placed in a laminin-rich extracellular matrix, non-malignant mammary epithelial cells form structures highly reminiscent for many aspects of acinar structures found in vivo. On the other hand, breast cancer cells, when placed in the same environment, form highly disorganized and sometimes invasive structures. Modulation of critical oncogenic signaling pathways has been shown to phenotypically revert breast cancer cells to a more acinar-like morphology. We examined the role of mutant p53 in this context by generating stable, regulatable p53 shRNA derivatives of mammary carcinoma cell lines to deplete endogenous mutant p53. We demonstrated that, depending on the cellular context, mutant p53 depletion is sufficient to significantly reduce invasion or in some cases actually induce a phenotypic reversion to more acinar-like structures in breast cancer cells grown in 3D culture. Additionally, using stable overexpression of a panel of tumor-derived p53 mutants in non-malignant mammary epithelial cells, we found that mutant p53 is sufficient to disrupt normal acinar morphogenesis. Genome-wide expression analysis identified the mevalonate pathway as significantly upregulated by mutant p53. Statins and sterol biosynthesis intermediates revealed that this pathway is both necessary and sufficient for the phenotypic effects of mutant p53 on mammary tissue architecture. We then showed that mutant p53 associates with sterol gene promoters at least partly via SREBP transcription factors. Finally, p53 mutation correlates with highly expressed mevalonate pathway genes in human breast tumors and elevated expression of the mevalonate pathway correlates with a poor prognosis in breast cancer. We also queried a number of pathways/proteins that had previously been implicated in breast cancer and shown to be sufficient to bring about a phenotypic reversion in 3D culture to search for additional mechanisms by which mutant p53 might contribute to mammary carcinogenesis. Using this approach, we identified integrin β4 as a novel target of mutant p53 in breast cancer cells and demonstrated that stable knockdown of integrin β4 is sufficient to dramatically reduce invasive processes in breast cancer cells grown in 3D culture. We also show that mutant p53 associates with the promoter of ITGB4, the gene encoding integrin β4. Finally, we demonstrated that inhibition of NF-κB, a downstream mediator of integrin β4signaling, can mimic the phenotypic effects of mutant p53 depletion. These findings contribute to our understanding of breast carcinogenesis and may offer novel prognostic indicators and therapeutic targets for tumors bearing mutations in p53.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the direct effect that sound masking has on computerized speech recognition (SR) accuracy in the digital reading room while eliminating the Lombard effect.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study complies with HIPAA requirements, and the institutional review board determined that approval was not required; informed consent was obtained. Ten radiologists digitally recorded 20 selected reports. Recorded reports were transcribed by using a commercial SR system at sound-masking levels 1-4, representing lowest to highest A-weighted sound pressure measurements in decibels. Dictated reports were compared with original reports to determine numbers of errors. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used for overall comparison of mean percentage of transcription inaccuracies across sound-masking levels, and paired t tests were used to compare each sound-masking level to the baseline.

RESULTS
Mean percentage of transcription inaccuracies at baseline was 11.6% (range, 6.3%-26.1%). Mean percentages of transcription inaccuracies at sound-masking levels 1-4 were 11.3%, 12.3%, 13.0%, and 13.6%, respectively. Mean percentages of transcription inaccuracies differed across all sound-masking levels (P < .001) but not between baseline and sound-masking level 1 (P = .313). Mean percentages of transcription inaccuracies at sound-masking levels 2-4 were each significantly higher than at baseline (P < .01 for each).

CONCLUSION
Low-level sound masking provided slightly but not significantly improved SR accuracy, whereas higher levels decreased transcription accuracy. Appropriate levels of sound masking in reading room environments may decrease the negative effect of ambient noise without a deleterious effect on SR accuracy.


The articles in this special issue discuss intelligent agents, with an emphasis on the relationship between artificial intelligence and information technology (as discussed in the accompanying article). As guest editor, I wanted to include an overview and technical material, speculation and implementation, controversial claims and evaluated techniques, as well as research articles and articles of interest to application developers. Although no finite number of articles could actually do all this, I'm very happy to have collected the material included here. There are four main articles, as well as a collection of short pieces by young scientists, making the content of this issue quite diverse and covering a wide spectrum of the work in this field.In the first article, Charles Petrie writes about agents and their relevance to engineering applications. He also discusses many issues in terms of what agents are and presents the important issue of differing views about the communication between agents?peer-to-peer versus client/server. This article includes numerous Web pointers and can serve as an excellent starting place for those interested in learning more about agents using the World Wide Web.The next article, by David King and Dan O'Leary, focuses on executive information systems. These authors point out that the combination of AI and information technology leads to a new way of looking at information systems for corporate use, and new approaches to accessing information external to the corporation's own data resources. This article also includes many Web pointers, which we hope you will enjoy exploring.The third article, by Katia Sycara, Keith Decker, Anandeep Pannu, Mike Williamson, and Dajun Zeng, presents examples of the use of distributed intelligent agents for helping users to retrieve, filter, and fuse information relevant to their tasks. The authors show how such agents are helping in a variety of applications. This article dramatically demonstrates why agent-based computing has become such an important idea in recent years.The final feature article, by Moises Lejter and Thomas Dean, focuses on agent-related research, particularly in the area of multiagent architectures. This technical article concentrates on developing and evaluating a framework that addresses a number of issues in understanding multiagent systems. While some might argue that this article is more fitting to Artificial Intelligence or other such journals, I felt it was important to have an article that reflected on some of the exciting research issues in the agents field. I'm grateful to Moises and Tom for letting us publish it here.Last, but definitely not least, is a special section for this issue. In an effort to display some of the excitement in the agents field, I asked several young scientists who are doing the leading work in the field to write short pieces speculating on some of the exciting new directions for agents technology. The short pieces by Jim Firby, Ken Haase, Hiroaki Kitano, Jose Ambite and Craig Knoblock, Lynn Stein, Lee Spector, and Pattie Maes indicate many of the new directions being taken by some of the best and brightest of AI's up and coming generation.


We analyze the mechanical property of strengthening RC beam by using the method of arch pasting with carbon fiber and directly pasting CFRP through numerical simulation and model test. It explains that strengthening RC girder by using the method of arch can solve the influence of beam's loading by the second time which exists in the method of pasting CFRP in strengthening reinforced concrete beams and it can improve the girder's load when it cracks and the carrying capacity; decreasing the deflection deformation and crack width and gap when the girder carries load; It can make the most use of the character of carbon fiber's high strength. The results play very important role of guiding to engineering.


Perceived limb position is known to rely on sensory signals and motor commands. Another potential source of input is a standard representation of body posture, which may bias perceived limb position toward more stereotyped positions. Recent results show that tactile stimuli are processed more efficiently when delivered to a thumb in a relatively low position or an index finger in a relatively high position. This observation suggests that we may have a standard posture of the body that promotes a more efficient interaction with the environment. In this study, we mapped the standard posture of the entire hand by characterizing the spatial associations of all 5 digits. Moreover, we show that the effect is not an artifact of intermanual integration. Results showed that the thumb is associated with low positions, while the other fingers are associated with upper locations.


The aims of this study are to demonstrate that 1) personality differences can be considered as the mechanisms underlying differences in subjective well-being and 2) rhythmic movement therapy (RMT) can be regarded as an effective tool for increasing subjective well-being (SWB) in the wellness tourism context. The proposed operationalisation of SWB includes five domains and several psychological constructs that are hypothesised to be components of a mental map, underlying SWB. A total of 213 subjects were recruited among those searching for psychological counselling and assessed with the appropriate questionnaires. Two groups were formed in accordance with their SWB level: group 1 – (very low, low and medium SWB levels) – 96 subjects, 75 females, 21 males, mean age 36, 3 ± 11, 0 years) and group 2 – (high and very high SWB levels) – 117 subjects, 96 females, 21 males, mean age 36, 8 ± 8, 68 years. ANOVA analyses with the SWB group as a factor revealed significant differences in all psychological variables in two groups except for personal standards. ANOVA analyses with gender as a factor revealed no differences in psychological variables except for body image dissatisfaction. The theoretical background for RMT as an effective part of a wellness service was provided. Our research provides evidence that thinking styles (mental models) may significantly influence SWB and any program used for increasing SWB must include a mental healing service.


What makes some children succeed despite studying in failing education systems? Are these children exceptionally gifted, or do other psychological or sociological factors and family circumstances contribute to success? To address the learning crisis in state schools in developing countries, development agencies have primarily focused on identifying inputs that can improve state education provision. Yet, even from low-performing state schools, some children do manage to successfully complete primary and secondary education cycles, pursue higher education, and record upward social mobility, but we know very little about the factors that facilitate this success. This paper addresses this gap in the literature. Tracing life histories of successful alumni of state schools supported by CARE, an education foundation in Pakistan, this paper identifies children's motivation to succeed as having a major impact on educational performance. However, for most this motivation is not a product of an innate desire to excel, it is a product of contextual factors: parental encouragement; an acute desire to make parents happy and to alleviate their sufferings; the company of friends, cousins, and peers who are keen on education and thus help to create an aspiring, competitive spirit; encouragement given by good teachers; and exposure to new possibilities and role models that raise aspirations by showing that what might appear to the child unachievable is in fact attainable. High motivation in turn builds commitment to work hard. Equally important, however, is the provision of financial support at critical points, especially when transitioning from secondary school to college and university. Without financial support, which could be in the form of scholarships, loans, or income from part-time work, at critical junctures, even highly motivated children in state schools cannot succeed. The paper thus argues that rather than being focused solely on education inputs, development agencies should also seek to explore and understand the factors that can motivate children in state schools to aim high and work hard to succeed.


Phrase-based visual grounding aims to localise the object in the image referred by a textual query phrase. Most existing approaches adopt a two-stage mechanism to address this problem: first, an off-the-shelf proposal generation model is adopted to extract region-based visual features, and then a deep model is designed to score the proposals based on the query phrase and extracted visual features. In contrast to that, the authors design an end-to-end approach to tackle the visual grounding problem in this study. They use a region proposal network to generate object proposals and the corresponding visual features simultaneously, and multi-modal factorised bilinear pooling model to fuse the multi-modal features effectively. After that, two novel losses are posed on top of the multi-modal features to rank and refine the proposals, respectively. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the authors conduct experiments on three real-world visual grounding datasets, namely Flickr-30k Entities, ReferItGame and RefCOCO. The experimental results demonstrate the significant superiority of the proposed method over the existing state-of-the-arts.


The influence of early lactation on chemical composition and the concentration of antimicrobial proteins of donkey's milk produced in Cyprus were investigated. Milk samples from 10 female donkeys in their first season of lactation were collected at 7, 15 and 30d postpartum. The average contents of donkey milk gross composition were 1.40% protein, 0.16% fat and 8.74% total solids. Results showed that lactation had a significant negative effect on protein concentration, while total solid concentration showed an increased followed by a decrease. Composition of antimicrobial proteins also showed a significant decreased during lactation period except from lactoferrin which showed an increase. On the other hand, throughout the lactation, pH and fat were constant.


This subject guide covers economic resources available at the Johnston Memorial Library, including full-text journals, magazine and newspaper articles, and economic websites.


This short overview shows that there are bidirectional interactions between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune system and deals with their anatomical and physiological correlates. Moreover, a number of immunological findings related to exogenous stress, depressive disorders and schizophrenias are discussed. An attempt is made to cautiously interpret the data presented and to demonstrate that the field of psychoneuroimmunology provides plenty of rewarding challenges for future research.


Abstract This study aimed to evaluate and compare the frequency of microcracks and its severity at different root canal dentin locations, after preparation with thermomechanically heat‐treated engine‐driven nickel‐titanium instruments. Forty mandibular premolars were assigned to four experimental groups (n = 10): ProTaper Next, ProTaper Gold, WaveOne Gold and Reciproc Blue. After pre‐instrumentation micro‐computed tomography scans, the root canals were prepared to size 25. Following post‐instrumentation scans, pre‐ and post‐instrumentation scanned images were analysed for the presence and extent of dentinal defects. A total of 56 500 cross‐sectional images were obtained, showing that less than 2.3% with pre‐existing dentinal microcracks. No new microcracks were identified during the post‐instrumentation analyses. No significant association was found between the types of dentinal defects, file motions and sequences. Thermomechanically heat‐treated rotary files did not induce the formation of new microcracks. There was also no association between the kinematic motions and sequences of the rotary instruments to the types of dentinal defects.


The validation of hydrogeological models is a multi-dimensional problem including theoretical, data-related, and numerical aspects. The exercise is particularly challenging for highly heterogeneous media such as fractured rocks, where the difficulty of acquiring data is compounded by a high spatial variability that raises the question of both the representativeness of the data and the complexity of models.

We discuss a validation method for fractured rocks that is based on a sensitivity analysis of models, a calibration with data, and the rejection of models unable to reproduce fundamental flow characteristics derived from observations. The latter step is dependent on the type of predictions that the models are supposed to achieve.

The exercise is performed to assess the risk of storing toxic wastes in a fractured underground. The site characterisation consists of a series of 20 1000m long cored wells with a 1m resolution flow logging. The statistical distribution of fractures in terms of sizes, orientations and intensities has been assessed from outcrops and well mapping. The models are required to reproduce both the flow intensity and the basic elements of the flow structure (e.g., channelling and scaling).

A basic analysis of data shows that the connectivity of fracture networks is scale dependent mostly due to the wide range of fracture sizes and to the large amount of fracture clogging (up to 80% of the total surface). The flow paths are close to the percolation threshold for scales of interest for the models (1-100 m), which eliminates models that rely on property homogenization. The validation process is based on the DFN – Discrete Fracture Network – approach, which combines a geometrical fracture model of the fracture network and its transmissivity structure. Each model relies on a set of geometrical and hydraulic assumptions.

The sensitivity analysis, calibration and rejection process emphasizes the importance of (i) the geometrical fracture model in particular the size distribution, (ii) the correlation between transmissivity T, orientation (or the stress dependency of T) and fracture size, (iii) the clogging distribution model for the most critical parameters.


Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between customers and the telecommunication service provider regarding customer support service. The authors focus on customers support service as a tool of enhancing relationship between customers and telecommunication service provider and to come up with a "best practice" for the customer-support service in the telecom industry. The research has been conducted with recent relevant literature from academic viewpoint such as the relationship marketing, customer loyalty, customer dominant logic, customer support service and triggering factors for switching. After reviewing all of literatures authors have adequate knowledge how to enhance and sustain long term relationship with customers. Nearly every literature stipulates from customers perspective business operations for long term relationship. To accomplish research aim, authors conducted with an explorative research approach and with the help of a designed descriptive questionnaire which consist of seventeen close-ended and open-ended questions. The target group was sixteen master level students of Karlstad University who belong to nine different countries. From the interview, authors try to explore respondents' experiences and acceptation from customer support service. Authors reached at the conclusion on the basis of collected qualitative information that the effective customer support service plays a vital role for enhancing the relationship between customers and telecom service providers. It is also evident throughout the research that the customer support service is the key link between the customer and the telecommunication service provider.


To the Editor.— Pustulosis palmoplantaris is a chronic skin disease of unknown origin, with intradermal, sterile pustules of the palms and soles. Pustulosis palmoplantaris is considered to be related with infectious disease and often associated with arthrosteitis. 1,2 Both diseases seem not to be related to the hereditary diathesis. Herein is described a woman and her daughter. Report of Cases.—Case 1.— In August 1989, a 59-year-old Japanese woman was referred for evaluation of nonpruritic eruptions on her palms and soles and mild pain in the right sternoclavicular region that had been present for 10 days. Findings from her physical examination showed that the individual lesions on her palms and soles consisted of scattered vesicles and pustules and that her right sternoclavicular joint was tender. Bacterial and fungal cultures from the skin lesions were negative. Roentgenograms showed no abnormalities. Skeletal scintigraphy showed high activity in the anterior part


We report the serendipitous discovery of an "Einstein Ring" in the optical band from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data and associated four images of a background source. The lens galaxy appears to be a nearby dwarf spheroid at a redshift of 0.0375$\pm$0.002. The lensed quasar is at a redshift of 0.6842$\pm$0.0014 and its multiple images are distributed almost 360$^{o}$ around the lens nearly along a ring of radius $\sim$6."0. Single component lens models require a mass of the galaxy of almost 10$^{12}$ M$_{\odot}$ within 6".0 from the lens center. With the available data we are unable to determine the exact positions, orientations and fluxes of the quasar and the galaxy, though there appears evidence for a double or multiple merging image of the quasar. We have also detected strong radio and X-ray emissions from this system. It is indicative that this ring system may be embedded in a group or cluster of galaxies. This unique ring, by virtue of the closeness of the lens galaxy, offers possible probe to some of the key issues like mass-to-light ratio of intrinsically faint galaxies, existence of large scale magnetic fields in elliptical galaxies etc.


Abstract Immunotherapy has made great progress in recent years while most cancer patients cannot benefit from it. Photochemotherapy combination strategy holds great promise for developing novel immunotherapy for the patients bearing immunosuppressive tumors such as colon cancer. In this research, a novel core/shell-structured polydopamine (PDA)-based nanoplatform is constructed to load two Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved cytotoxic drugs, i.e. immunostimulatory doxorubicin (Dox) and immunomodulatory curcumin (Cur) to achieve immunostimulatory photochemotherapy of primary colon tumors upon 808 nm near infrared (NIR) irradiation (1 W/cm2 for 5 min) and subsequent prevention of rechallenged distant colon tumors. The experimental data have shown that PDA-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) synergized two therapeutic drugs in inducing colon cancer cell death and very efficiently inhibited the primary tumor growth (by ∼92%) at very low doses of therapeutics (0.25, 5, and 30 mg/kg of Dox, Cur, and PDA, respectively). More significantly, the combined photochemotherapy promoted strong adaptive antitumor immune responses and successfully prevented tumorigenesis in the setting of tumor rechallenge model. Our research has thus demonstrated the promising efficacy of this photochemotherapeutic nanoformulation for colon cancer treatment and provided a way to improve immunostimulatory effects of conventional chemotherapeutic drugs.


In recent years, the concept of cost-effectiveness, including medical delivery and health service fee systems, has become widespread in Japanese health care. In the field of pressure ulcer management, the recent introduction of penalty subtraction in the care fee system emphasizes the need for prevention and cost-effective care of pressure ulcer. Previous cost-effectiveness research on pressure ulcer management tended to focus only on "hardware" costs such as those for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, while neglecting other cost aspects, particularly those involving the cost of labor. Thus, cost-effectiveness in pressure ulcer care has not yet been fully established. To provide true cost effectiveness data, a comparative prospective study was initiated in patients with stage II and III pressure ulcers. Considering the potential impact of the pressure reduction mattress on clinical outcome, in particular, the same type of pressure reduction mattresses are utilized in all the cases in the study. The cost analysis method used was Activity-Based Costing, which measures material and labor cost aspects on a daily basis. A reduction in the Pressure Sore Status Tool (PSST) score was used to measure clinical effectiveness. Patients were divided into three groups based on the treatment method and on the use of a consistent algorithm of wound care: 1. MC/A group, modern dressings with a treatment algorithm (control cohort). 2. TC/A group, traditional care (ointment and gauze) with a treatment algorithm. 3. TC/NA group, traditional care (ointment and gauze) without a treatment algorithm. The results revealed that MC/A is more cost-effective than both TC/A and TC/NA. This suggests that appropriate utilization of modern dressing materials and a pressure ulcer care algorithm would contribute to reducing health care costs, improved clinical results, and, ultimately, greater cost-effectiveness.


In spite of its importance as regards size (volume 9.2 106 m3, max depth 151 m) and as a source of drinking water, Lake Bolsena has not been studied from a hydrochemical point of view since the second half of the 60s, when a group of researchers from the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia co-ordinated a complete study of the limnology of the Latium lakes Bolsena, Albano, Vico, and Bracciano. In the following years analyses were performed sporadically; since the 90s, temperature and oxygen profiles and other studies were made by the Associazione Lago di Bolsena. Based on chemical profiles made in 2001-2003, this paper discusses the present chemical composition of Lake Bolsena waters, and compares them with those of other volcanic lakes in Latium (Bracciano, Albano, Nemi and Vico). The paper briefly considers the main factors influencing the water chemistry of Lake Bolsena, the variations observed from the analyses of the 60s, and the main sources of risk to water quality.


Objective Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a syndrome characterised by progressive disruption of visual processing and neurodegeneration in the parieto-occipital cortex. The most common underlying cause is Alzheimer's pathology. Anterograde memory function and the medial temporal lobes (MTLs) are thought to be relatively preserved. Given that the typical pattern of atrophy in PCA overlaps with brain networks critical for the recollection of personal events, we hypothesised that patients would be impaired on a test of autobiographical memory. Method 14 PCA, 18 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and 28 healthy controls completed the Autobiographical Interview. Results Both PCA and AD patients produced significantly less internal detail relevant to the chosen memories, compared with controls. However, the PCA group also produced a significantly greater amount of unrelated external detail compared with controls and AD. Across the lifespan, PCA and AD again showed similarly poor recall of relevant remote memory details compared with controls, with no temporal gradient evident in either group. Correlational analysis in PCA patients revealed a significant relationship between total external details and the Hayling test of inhibitory control, and a trend towards significance between internal details and visual imagery. Conclusion Our findings suggest that, despite relatively preserved MTL structures, PCA patients have significantly impaired remote memory. We propose that damage to posterior regions of the brain disrupts access to visual information integral to the autobiographical memory trace. Increased provision of external details may be a compensatory strategy due to lack of access to details relevant to episodic memories.


This paper aims at proving that the discourse that promotes our national identity is grounded on the new political context which initiated after the Declaration of Independence and the formation of the first Albanian state. During such a discourse, in the given period, prevails the debate on: the west openly rejects the orient. The elite that was active in politics seems to be more restrained, while the intellectual one, especially those educated in the Austro-Germanic region, declare open war on the Orient. The Political Assembly of Prizren and Vlora bring evidence of an ethnic identity which is changeable with respect to the new environment created. Albanian elites, especially the intellectual ones in the light of orientalist, rightly denounce the orient and oriental culture by not appreciating the historical environment in which our ethnic identity had to be maintained for a period of five centuries. The discourse of this period shows that our national identity began to become quite different adapting to the new reality that was created.


The article analyzes the state of Kazakhstan's water resources, shows that in recent years the flow of Trans Boundary Rivers has been decreasing. As a result, in the coming years, with the growth of thecountry's economic potential, based on the development of rich mineral resources, fuel, energy and land resources, there will be a serious problem with water supply. The scarcity and irrational use of freshwater resources pose a serious threat to the sustainable development and protection of the country's environment. The regulation of water use is of great importance in solving this problem. It is  necessary to ensure the implementation of the Program for the rational use and protection of water resources in the context of large river basins by introducing new technologies for water supply and sanitation. The system of integrated water resources management should become the basis of the country's interstate and interstate water management policy. At present, the countries of Central Asia are moving towards the introduction of the principles of sustainable development into strategic documents and public administration practices. Integrated water resources management is one of the tools for the transition to sustainable development. This article is a review of progress made in the planning and implementation of integrated water resources management. The article summarizes the problems, successes, and directions for further integration in the field of water resources management. It also examines the successes and enormous difficulties still facing the regions, in particular, the issues of trans boundary waters, where states have different views and priorities for water use.


Tungiasis is caused by infestation with the sand flea (Tunga penetrans). This ectoparasitosis is endemic in economically depressed communities in South American and African countries. However, data on the epidemiology of tungiasis in Tanzania are very limited and the disease does not receive much attention from health care professionals. During a community cross sectional survey in northwest Tanzania, we identified five individuals extremely infested with high number of parasites. A total of 435 lesions were recorded with patients presenting with >75 lesions and showed signs of intense acute and chronic inflammation. Superinfection of the lesions characterized by pustule formation, suppuration and ulceration were common. Loss of nails and walking difficulty was also observed. In Tanzanian communities living under extreme poverty characterized by poor housing condition and inadequate health services, tungiasis may cause severe morbidities. Further studies on risk factors and disease-related behavior of affected populations are needed to design adequate control measures.


A Virtual Steel Connection Sculpture was developed through a grant from National Science Foundation. The features of this interactive learning tool, that shows how steel members are connected to build a structure such as buildings and bridges, are discussed in detail in the papers by the first two authors. Learning assessment was a crucial component during the development process, because it was important to measure the effectiveness of this tool in enhancing student's understanding of steel connection types, as the Sculpture is an interactive learning tool for students and anyone interested in learning how steel members are connected. In this paper, the focus is on the student learning assessment of this 3-D interactive Virtual Steel Sculpture to complement their steel design courses.


Good plantation management is important to increase the productivity of immature oil palm plants, one of which is chemical weed control. This study aims to (1) determine the dosage of paraquat herbicide which is effective in controlling weeds in the area of immature oil palm plantations, (2) find out the differences in the composition of weed species on immature oil palm plates after application of the paraquat herbicide, (3) find out the phytotoxicity of paraquat herbicides in immature oil palm plants after the application of the paraquat dichloride herbicide. This research was carried out in the farmers' oil palm plantation in Jontor Village, Gayabaru District , Central Lampung Regency and Weed Laboratory of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Lampung from November 2017 to February 2018. This research used a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 4 replications and 6 treatments consisting dose of paraquat dichloride herbicide of 375g / ha, 500 g / ha, 625 g / ha, 750 g / ha, and mechanical weeding and without weed control (control). Homogeneity of the various data was tested by the Bartlett test, data additivity was tested by the Tukey test and the difference in the mean was tested with the Least Significant Difference (LSD) test at α 5 level. The result of the study showed that : (1) the herbicide paraquat dichloride dose of 375-750 g / ha effectively control weeds in total, weed leaf width of up to 8 week after application, weed grasses and weeds puzzle to 4 week after application, (2) the herbicide paraquat dichloride dose of 375-750 g / ha is effective in controlling Praxelis clematidea weeds up to 8 week after application, weed Ottochloa nodosa and Asystasia gangetica up to 4 week after application, (3) paraquate dichloride dosage levels 375-750 g / ha resulting in differences in weed composition at 4, 8 and 12 week after application , (4) dosages of 375 - 750 g / ha parakuat dichloride herbicides applied to dishes not poisoning immature oil palm plants.


Despite the abundance of highly sustainable bamboo, people tend to overlook its structural performance for construction purposes. This paper therefore explores the potential of bamboo architecture to develop light-weight building systems and also to create an effect of lightness. Developed by a team at the School of Architecture of Southeast University, Bamboo Canopy is an outdoor stage canopy in Anji, China, that pushes the boundaries of bamboo as a material for building woven gridshell structure. The work is designed as a long-lifespan bamboo structure, with the design team and locals participating in its construction. Positioned on a public stage, Bamboo Canopy experiments with the combination of sustainable construction and local craftsmanship to produce a highly engaging architectural intervention that activates the existing place. With its wing-like form, it invites visitors to join the performance scene—as they approach the shell, the structure reveals itself—with a 12.4-metre span and 6-metre roof overhang, the canopy covers more than 150 square metres with only 1.2 square metres touching the ground. Through analysing the form, structure and details of this experimental project, this paper clarifies not only the potentiality but also the feasibilities in using bamboo for light construction.


Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and diagnose the activities of national destination management organizations (DMOs) from Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) in the scope of a visual identification of health tourism destinations. Design/Methodology/Approach: The investigations were conducted on three stages: (1) a verification was performed of the existence of national DMOs in CEEC; (2) when making targeted selection, a questionnaire interviews were performed with 16 DMO representatives; (3) desk research was conducted, i.e. an analysis of the contents of the official websites/ portals and social media of DMOs. Findings: The role of health tourism is to grow in the coming years in the opinion expressed by the DMOs examined. The organizations under examination try to address this trend by indicating that health tourism, even at its current stage, constitutes a fairly important tourism product. The current status of the visual identification of HTD created by DMOs in the states under examination is rather poor. A small part of organizations identify themselves directly with the health tourism product. A significant part of the organizations do not undertake any activities in this area. In turn, those that do undertake such activities rely primarily on fairly common elements such as: an internet website, possibly a logo and an advertising slogan. Practical Implications: The results may serve as a point of departure for taking adequate activities aimed promotion at the health tourism product not only by other national DMOs but also by similar organizations on the regional or local level. Originality/Value: The variety of health tourism products available at CEEC puts new tasks for DMOs. The article highlights the important role of the entity that is responsible for the management of the HTD brand.


The density of diffuse, primitive, classic and compact beta/A4 deposits was estimated in the cortex and hippocampus in Alzheimer's disease (AD) cases with pronounced congophilic angiopathy (CA). The total density of beta/A4 deposits in a brain region was similar in cases with and without CA. Significantly fewer diffuse deposits and more primitive/classic deposits were found in the cases with CA. The density of the primitive, classic and compact deposits were positively correlated in the cases without CA. However, no correlations were observed between the density of the mature subtypes and the diffuse deposits in these cases. In cases with CA, the density of the primitive deposits was positively correlated with the diffuse deposits but not with the classic deposits. The data suggest that the mature beta/A4 deposits are derived from the diffuse deposits and that the presence of pronounced CA enhances their formation.


LinkedIn's goal is to help business professionals meet, make business deals, inquire about jobs, and find careers through connections with people that members already know. This research study will investigate the ethical practices of LinkedIn recruitment. Students' awareness of the methods for effective use, as well as the damaging elements of a LinkedIn profile will be examined. LinkedIn is an effective, helpful tool for recruiting candidates and for job searching; however, the best results will come to those who use LinkedIn professionally and with caution. Our findings indicate that despite its risks, jobseekers and employers can benefit from using LinkedIn.


Early Views on the Stratigraphy of Vermont The occurrence of serpentine and associated minerals was early known to the pioneer geologists of Vermont. In the report prepared by Professor Edward Hitchcock and his co-workers (1861) frequent mention is made of them, and it is stated that in many instances more or less asbestos and talc, in several varietal forms, are to be found. While considerable preliminary prospecting was carried on in the early seventies, no industry of any moment was established until a comparatively late date. According to the observations of Professor Hitchcock, the serpentine formations are very largely confined to a broad band of so-called talcose schists which enters Vermont on the north in Orleans county. At the northern boundary of the state the schist belt has a maximum width of some 15 miles, with its eastern limit near the western shore of lake Memphramagog. This series of metamorphics . . .


Within the so many positive images of Japan produced and reproduced in Indonesia, there seems to be a convention to portray the relationship between Japanese culture and Islamic values as an oppositional one. This is evident in the depiction of the clash between the two in various stories of the Japanese Military Occupation Period in Indonesia, as well as in Indonesian Islamic literary works until the 2000s. However, through her Islamic-romantic novel "Akatsuki" (2009, 2012, 2017) Muliyatun N., by creating a story that entirely takes place in Japan and with all Japanese characters, depicts Japanese culture and Islamic values relations as non-oppositional and non-confrontational. This paper first describes the depiction of Japanese culture-Islamic values relations within "Akatsuki". Furthermore, by considering contexts lingering the production of the novel, it analyzes how the "Akatsuki" marks the shift in Indonesian Muslim's perception towards Japan in the decade of 2010s. My argument is that this shift is in line with the trends of creating a global and successful image of Muslims through literary works, and the recent development of the relationship between Japan and Islamic world.


Abstract: Among fossiliferous marine facies, deposits rich in stalked echinoderms, particularly encrinites, have long been suspected to be susceptible to taphonomic biases because intact calyxes are under-represented or masked by disarticulated skeletal debris. In the middle Mississippian Fort Payne Formation of south-central Kentucky, penecontemporaneous crinoid-rich facies are exposed in close proximity along the shores of Lake Cumberland. Crinoidal packstone buildups preserve a broad preservational spectrum, with articulated crinoid calyxes with arms and columns attached, intact calyxes, holdfasts, and long articulated columns, in a matrix of entirely disarticulated crinoidal fragments. Along a 250 m transect across the flanks and crest of this buildup, identification of 563 specimens of crinoids and blastoids revealed a symmetrical distribution of taxa in which the crest was dominated by disparid and camerate crinoids and the flanks were dominated by camerates. Taphonomic analysis of the same transect showed that intact crinoid calyxes with or without attached arms and column occurred across the entire buildup, but nearly complete specimens with attached arms and column were most common on the western flank and less common on the crest and eastern flank. Taxonomic and taphonomic distributions demonstrate a primary ecologic zonation across the buildup with only localized post-mortem dispersal of crinoids. This is the first demonstration of primary ecologic zonation of a crinoid community preserved within a single lithofacies. Depending on depositional and taphonomic circumstances, crinoids are preserved intact close to their living site; understanding these physical and biological processes provides a significant feedback in reconstructing these ancient depositional environments.


An integrated security framework is proposed for detecting enterprise-wide network attacks. The proposed framework defines three types of components, namely, sensor, analysis and response. Sensor components gather evidence about security attacks.
Analysis components correlate and combine pieces of attack evidence gathered by sensors, in order to detect attacks perceived on the network. Response components execute recommended responses and can be configured to assist humans in executing security countermeasures.
Both schematic and formal descriptions of the framework and its components are provided and discussed. General and specific requirements of each component are outlined. To integrate components of the framework together, a lightweight signalling mechanism referred to as "security spaces" is proposed. A security space is a type of "tuple space" that allows sensor, analysis and response components to connect, contribute and communicate security related information. Its application to distributed sensor, and federated sensor environments is described.
The detection of enterprise-wide attacks targeting computer networks is accomplished by distributing sensors across the network to collate evidence of perceived attacks, which are communicated to the analysis component for further investigation. In the analysis, a novel approach in data fusion is applied. This approach is underpinned by the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence that is utilised to collectively combine pieces of attack evidence gathered by the sensors. The fusion of sensor evidence assists to provide accurate detection of attacks perceived on the entire network.
Further, to assist security administrators to visualise and mitigate perceived attacks, graph theory and graph matching algorithms are employed in the analysis. Hence, a graph model - pattern activity graph - is proposed and investigated in representing security attacks perceived on the network. Both graph isomorphism and subgraph iso-morphism are used to compare attack graph templates to data graphs obtained from security events.
To validate the objectives of this research, a series of experiments were conducted on a testbed network, where live network traffic was monitored. A dataset comprising background data and attack data was gathered. Background data is normal data obtained by monitoring the testbed network. Attack data was generated through the attacks conducted on the monitored testbed LAN. The attacks were primarily network scans, network worms, web attacks, policy violations, and stealthy network scans attacks.


Compressive residual stresses are an important influence on the fatigue life of flapper valves in compressor applications. The new material, Flap-X, has optimised residual stresses for a longer fatigue life reed valve. Residual stresses were measured using XRD for various materials before and after tumbling. Hardened strip samples of various thicknesses and steel grades were stamped to produce valve samples. Tumbling trials were performed with different durations. The edge radius and the surface roughness were measured for each thickness to understand if there was any correlation between them. Compressive residual stresses increase with an increase of tumbling time. Residual stresses before and after tumbling of various steel grades vary.


By suitably choosing the normalization factors we introduce the even- and odd-negative binomial states. In some limit cases they approach the even- and odd-coherent states, respectively. We also derive a new eigenvector equation that the negative binomial state satisfies as a nonlinear coherent state.


Monoclonal antibodies and microfluorimetry were used to determine the absolute number of B and T lymphocytes in the blood of bovine leukemia virus (BLV)-infected cows. The blood lymphocyte populations from BLV-infected cows were significantly higher than those from BLV-negative cows. The increase in the lymphocyte population in 3 BLV-infected nonlymphocytotic cows was attributed to a significant increase in the number of T lymphocytes; in 3 BLV-infected persistently lymphocytotic cows, the increase was attributed to a significant increase in the number of B and T lymphocytes. One persistently lymphocytotic cow had a high lymphocyte count, and lymphocytes from this cow contained cells that appeared to stain with markers specific for bovine B and T lymphocytes. We concluded that infection of cattle with the B-cell lymphotropic retrovirus, BLV, not only affected B cells, but also T cells.


Time domain transmissometry (TDT) is an emerging technology in the field of moisture measurements. While time domain reflectometry (TDR) is a well-known method for moisture measurements since the 1980s, TDT measurements were not applied until the last decade. The key benefit of TDT measurements is the robustness against multiple reflections along the sensor resulting in higher measurement accuracy and lower requirements concerning the electronics. However, transmission measurements in soil, grain, or other bulky goods yield some difficulties. Especially the realization of a second measuring port at the end of the sensor is challenging. This contribution gives an overview on TDT systems for moisture measurements. Beside the theoretical background, existing sensors and measurement systems are compared and illustrated in detail.


This update, which summarizes bilateral, multilateral, regional, and international events affecting the Palestinians and the future of the peace process, covers the quarter beginning on 16 February 2017 and ending on 15 May 2017. During this period, the administration of U.S. pres. Donald Trump attempted to put its own stamp on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Israeli government announced a new policy on settlement growth in the West Bank, and the Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership struggled to consolidate power. Palestinians in the West Bank elected new local leaders, despite disagreements among the major parties. Some 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declared a hunger strike, drawing support from across the political spectrum. Meanwhile, Israel9s right-wing government kept up a campaign to undermine and delegitimize its opponents, including the Israeli Left, the Palestinian minority in Israel, and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.


Ni deposits were prepared from a nickel sulfamate type electrolyte bath under vacuum-degassing and temperature-gradient conditions without any additives. Morphology and microhardness of the deposits obtained at the current density of 1A/dm2, 3A/dm2, 5A/dm2 and 7A/dm2 were examined and analyzed. Experimental results showed that the deposits obtained under vacuum-degassing and temperature-gradient conditions exhibited fewer pinhole defects and finer grain size comparing with those formed under conventional deposition conditions, and that the microhardness of the deposits was greater than that from conventional deposition conditions without additives while lower than that from conventional deposition conditions with additives. Under the vacuum-degassing conditions, the electroforms had remarkably smoother surface with fewer void defects and finer grain size, and considerably microhardness.


Various countries have engaged in serious re-examinations of the legal regimes they use to support innovation in recent times. This is partly due to the establishment of the World Trade Organization and its adoption of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. TRIPS made it necessary for revision of most national intellectual property laws. Patentable subject matter is defined in such a manner that protection cannot be granted for "Discoveries". For eg. Advances such as any abstract principles of science, the fundamental relationship between energy and mass, any living organism, etc. An application for a patent must involve an "invention". Competition law, on the other hand, aims at promoting competition as a means of market response and consumer preference so as to ensure effective and efficient allocation of resources and to create an incentive for the economy for innovation. The cost and availability of patented drugs is a key development issue, directly impacted by various government policies that affect the degree of competition. A compulsory license provides that the owner of a patent licenses the use of their rights against payment either set by law or determined through some form of adjudication or arbitration. This might be a solution to balance the two competing interests between intellectual property rights and competition law. This article will be especially useful to legal practitioners as well as pharmaceutical companies. These companies need to be aware of the laws of the land while manufacturing and marketing their drugs. They also need to be mindful of the exceptions existing in the law relating to pharmaceutical patents. This article will also be useful to Competition Lawyers in various jurisdictions.


Nonlinearly evolving dynamical systems, such as space plasmas, generate complex fluctuations in their output signals that reflect the underlying dynamics. The non‐extensive Tsallis entropy has been proposed as a measure to investigate the complexity of system dynamics. We employ this method for analyzing Dst time series. The results show that Tsallis entropy can effectively detect the dissimilarity of complexity between the pre‐storm activity and intense magnetic storms (Dst < −150 nT), which is convenient for space weather applications.


Dramatic hydrological fluctuations strongly impact human society, but the driving mechanisms for these changes are unclear. One suggested driver is solar variability, but supporting paleoclimate evidence is lacking. Therefore, long, continuous, high‐resolution records from strategic locations are crucial for resolving the scientific debate regarding sensitivity of climate to solar forcing. We present a 6800–year, decadally‐resolved biomarker and multidecadally‐resolved hydrogen isotope record of hydroclimate from a coastal Maine peatland, The Great Heath (TGH). Regional moisture balance responds strongly and consistently to solar forcing at centennial to millennial timescales, with solar minima concurrent with wet conditions. We propose that the Arctic/North Atlantic Oscillation (AO/NAO) can amplify small solar fluctuations, producing the reconstructed hydrological variations. The Sun may be entering a weak phase, analogous to the Maunder minimum, which could lead to more frequent flooding in the northeastern US at this multidecadal timescale.