Most widely used tools for finding marker genes in single cell data (SeuratT/NegBinom/Poisson, CellRanger, EdgeR, limmatrend) use a conventional definition of differentially expressed genes: genes with different mean expression values. However, in single-cell data, a cell population can be a mixture of many cell types/cell states, hence the mean expression of genes cannot represent the whole population. In addition, these tools assume that gene expression of a population belongs to a specific family of distribution. This assumption is often violated in single-cell data. In this work, we define marker genes of a cell population as genes that can be used to distinguish cells in the population from cells in other populations. Besides log-fold change, we devise a new metric to classify genes into up-regulated, down-regulated, and transitional states. In a benchmark for finding up-regulated and down-regulated genes, our tool outperforms all compared methods, including Seurat, ROTS, scDD, edgeR, MAST, limma, normal t-test, Wilcoxon and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. Our method is much faster than all compared methods, therefore, enables interactive analysis for large single-cell data sets in BioTuring Browser. Venice algorithm is available within Signac package: https://github.com/bioturing/signac 1).


The intention of this study was to explore the role of national radio in solid waste management. Its specific objectives were: to examine how radio helps in solid waste management in Juba; to establish the extent and form of public participation in solid waste management in Juba; to establish the effectiveness of the communication methodology adapted by South Sudan Radio towards solid waste management in Juba; And lastly, to find out the impact created by radio on people"s beliefs, attitudes and behaviors towards solid waste management in Juba. Diffusion of Innovation theory and social mobilization were used and they were found relevant in solid waste management campaign in Juba. A conceptual frame-work was designed to illustrate the impact of national radio campaign on
people"s behaviors, attitudes and beliefs. A mixed methods research design was used; questionnaires were administered randomly to Juba residents and interviews were purposively done to the Key Informants as a means of the generating both Primary and Secondary data. The research revealed that overcrowding of the city plus manufacturers and industries operating in Juba were considered the main causes of solid waste in the City. Subsequently, poor collection exercise of solid waste by the City Council was also having hand in filthiness of the City and the reckless disposal of the waste by the residents was also being blamed. Regardless of the effectiveness of South Sudan radio in the fight against
garbage in Juba, "My Waste My Responsibility" was the conclusion. However, integrated waste management approach and regular dissemination of the environmental awareness
messages to Juba residents were highly recommended as means of curbing solid waste in the City.


This paper proposes a new methodology of stereo vision: the subpixel stereo method. The method controls the disparity less than one pixel with very small baseline length. Although the accuracy of measured distance is not high, this method is effective for robot vision because of the avoidance of the false correspondence problem, and simple high speed operation. Applications of the method to low resolution image and to the active method are also discussed.


In this paper, we present a quality improvement algorithm for the system, which models a human head. We have already proposed and applied the hybrid algorithm combining shape-from-silhouette with active stereo to our product of 3D head reconstruction system. Our system is characterized by the ability of the reconstruction of the whole shape and texture of the human head, even the black hair parts, while other existing systems cannot do it. Feature-based stereo algorithm adopted into our current system is the fast and robust approach. However, the depth data may be sparse and the accuracy depends on how accurate the edge detection is. On the other hand, area-based stereo algorithms generally provide dense depth data and can apply subpixel estimation, but it is comparatively time-consuming and may be inaccurate influenced by the difference of how to reflect the object in each image. To overcome these problems for improving our system practicably, we propose a novel two-stage stereo algorithm. In our algorithm, first, we adopt feature-based approach to get the depth data robustly. Next, an interpolation of the depth data is performed to predict the depth data at the unestimated pixels on the edge. Finally, applying area-based approach and subpixel estimation refine the depth data. In this paper, we describe our hybrid modeling algorithm and two-stage stereo algorithm with some experimental results.


ABSTRACT Suanez, S.; Stéphan, P.; Fichaut, B.; Ammann, J., and Accensi, M., 2020. Medium-term morphological changes of a gravel spit driving by storm events (Sillon de Talbert, Brittany, France). In: Malvárez, G. and Navas, F. (eds.), Global Coastal Issues of 2020. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 95, pp. 669-673. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The Sillon de Talbert (Northern coast of Brittany) is a large 3.5 km-long swash-aligned gravel spit comprising a volume of sediment of 1.23x106 m3. Since 2002, a morphodynamic survey based on annual DEMs, and waves and water level measurements and/or modeling, has been carried out. The 17-year (2002-2019) monitoring program shows that cross-shore sediment transfers reaching 430,000 m3 are dominant, while the longshore sediment transfer -through cannibalization process- is about 52,000 m3. The maximum landward displacement of the spit due to rollover processes reaches –4 m.yr-1. Storm events control more than 95% of this retreat due to catastrophic overwash/inundation processes that led to the opening of a breach in March 2018. The morphological evolution of the Sillon de Talbert is driven by anthropogenic forcing (i.e., impact of coastal defence structures, cutting off of longshore sediment transport), and natural forcing such as the depletion of the supply of sediment from the platform.


We run an experiment to investigate the emergence of excess and synchronised trading activity leading to market crashes. Although the environment clearly favours a buy-and-hold strategy, we observe that subjects trade too much, which is detrimental to their wealth given the implemented market impact (known to them). We find that preference for risk leads to higher activity rates and that price expectations are fully consistent with subjects' actions. In particular, trading subjects try to make profits by playing a buy low, sell high strategy. Finally, we do not detect crashes driven by collective panic, but rather a weak but significant synchronisation of buy activity.


The antigen-specific activation of pathogenic T cells is considered essential in the initiation and maintenance of multiple sclerosis (MS). The site of activation, the differential involvement of CD4+, and CD8+ T cells, their functional phenotype, and specificity, are important aspects to understand MS pathogenesis. The analysis of clonal expansions of brain-infiltrating T cells may reveal local antigen-driven activation or specific brain homing and allow the identification of putatively pathogenic T cells. We used high-throughput T cell receptor β-chain variable gene (TRBV) sequencing (-seq) of genomic (g)DNA, which reflects the quantity and diversity of the TRBV repertoire, to characterize three white matter demyelinating lesions with different location and inflammatory activity, and paired peripheral blood memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cell pools from a secondary progressive (SP)MS patient. Our results revealed an important sharing of clonally expanded T cells with identical TRBV sequence (clonotypes) across MS lesions independently of their proximity or inflammatory activity. Comparison with circulating T cells showed that the most frequent brain-infiltrating CD8+, but not CD4+ clonotypes were also those with highest frequency in the peripheral blood, indicating clonal expansion inside the brain or specific brain homing of CD4+ but not CD8+ T cells. Parallel TRBV-seq of complementary (c)DNA that reflects the activation status of the cells, revealed differences between lesions regarding inflammatory activity and appears to facilitate the identification of putatively pathogenic T cells in active lesions. Approaches to identify pathogenic T cells in brain lesions using TRBV-seq may benefit from focusing on lesions with high inflammatory activity and from combining gDNA and cDNA sequencing.


Recent morphologic studies have shown qualitative, how demineralizing substances clean teeth roots. In this work we attempt to describe quantitatively the "chelation process" and pH evolution of the quelator solution in-vitro inside the teeth during the reaction. These results indicate that Ca++ coming from hydroxyapatite release protons from EDTAH under neutral conditions. This is the most likely mechanism of the "self-limitation". Furthermore, it allow us to explain why EDTA Im and EGTA Im were more efficient than EDTA Na and EGTA Na upon demineralizing the tooth. EGTA Im turn out to be the fastest demineralizing agent as compared to EDTA Na which is currently employed in endodontic therapy.


Hoarding behaviour (storing food for later use) has evolved to reduce the risk of starvation when resources are scarce. In this thesis, I studied the food-hoarding behaviour of Eurasian pygmy owls (Glaucidium passerinum) under spatiotemporally varying environmental conditions. I investigated differences between age and sex classes, the effect of intra-specific competition, predator responses to the abundance of the main prey, and the effect of climate on the behaviour. The data were collected starting in 2003 in western Finland, where the abundance of voles fluctuates in three-year population cycles. The number of stores per year and the biomass of prey items stored increased with vole abundance. Females and yearlings had larger and heavier stores than males and adults, respectively. At times of low vole abundance, adult owls stored more small birds and fewer small mammals than yearlings. Females stored more small mammals than males, and showed a tendency to store fewer birds. The numbers of yearlings of both sexes and adult females increased with increasing vole abundance. Owls were less likely than expected to have a neighbour of the same class (sex or age) when the main prey was abundant, suggesting high sexor age-specific competition. Food stores, however, were mostly larger when the nearest neighbour was of the same sex. In years of low vole abundance, increasing conspecific density reduced the total prey number stored by an owl, suggesting a high cost of competition. The thesis also reveals a strong effect of autumn and winter climate on food-hoarding pygmy owls and on the quality of the stored food. Pygmy owls may be partly able to adapt to climate change by delaying the initiation of food-hoarding. Numerous weather variables nonetheless affect their hoarding behaviour and the perishability of the cached food. Rotten food may be of poor quality and may be connected to a lower recapture probability. In female owls, rotted food hoards, often consumed, are linked with a lower future recapture probability, presumably indicating that they either die or emigrate permanently from the area. Detailed knowledge of ageand sex-related differences in hoarding behaviour under fluctuating abundances of the main prey can thus provide a fundamental tool to better understand the dynamics of a predator population and its response to climate change.


This article discusses the benefits and challenges associated with the design of multi-function scalable phased arrays at millimeter wave frequencies. First, applications for phased arrays with tens to hundreds of elements are discussed. Existing solutions for scaling silicon-based phased arrays from microwave to terahertz frequencies are reviewed. The challenges and tradeoffs associated with multiple integration options for W-band phased arrays are analyzed, with special consideration given to packaging and antenna performance. Finally, a solution based on SiGe ICs and organic packages for a 64-element dual-polarized 94 GHz phased array is described, along with associated measurement results.


With the increasing popularity of crowdsourcing and crowd computing, the question of how to select a well-performing crowd process for a problem at hand is growing ever more important. Prior work casted crowd process selection to an optimization problem, whose solution is the crowd process performing best for a user's problem. However, existing approaches require users to probabilistically model aspects of the problem, which may entail a substantial investment of time and may be error-prone. We propose to use black-box optimization instead, a family of techniques that do not require probabilistic modelling by the end user. Specifically, we adopt Bayesian Optimization to approximate the maximum of a utility function quantifying the user's (business-) objectives while minimizing search cost. Our approach is validated in a simulation and three real-world experiments. The black-box nature of our approach may enable us to reduce the entry barrier for efficiently building crowdsourcing solutions.


ABSTRACT There is a form of conjunctival disease which is dependent upon chronic inflammation of the intranasal tissues. I am not aware that any author has made special mention of this subject, but some have given a passing notice without particular effort to portray the condition of the nasal and ocular mucous membrane. The intimate connection existing between the conjunctiva and the Schneiderean membrane through the medium of the vaso-motor and sympathetic nerves, does not here require elucidation.Observation has taught that irritation affecting the ocular mucous membrane is reflected to the nasal mucous membrane, and vice versa; this action takes place through the intervention of the vaso-motor nervous system. This conjunctival disease is chronic inflammation of the conjunctiva and the connecting tissues, accompanied by increased thickness of the membrane, especially of the palpebral portion, which is very slightly roughened, giving it somewhat the appearance of trachoma in a mild form.


The lion's share of research on identification in organizations reflexively continues to focus on the organization itself as the centrepiece of individuals' work-related identity. In this chapter the authors argue that this focus is misplaced because: (1) even in relatively stable organizations, individuals tend to identify more strongly or as strongly with proximal targets such as their occupation and workgroups, and with artefacts and practices that are personally meaningful in their own right; and (2) work environments are becoming more virtual, temporary/project-based, and pluralistic, creating challenges of salience, stability, and authenticity. Given these challenges, the authors argue that individuals are increasingly vesting their identities in a mix of external foci (social identities in the form of roles, networks, projects/gigs, and third places) and internal foci (personal identities in the form of personal brands and protean selves). In making these arguments, the authors emphasize the importance of holding environments for both external and internal foci.


Over the last 10 years a dramatic decrease became apparent in primary treatment of breast cancer in general surgical departments. A prospective 1-year observational study involving 84 surgical departments was carried out to describe the current therapeutic situation. A total of 1,416 patients undergoing primary surgical treatment for mammary carcinoma were recorded, and their data evaluated. 68.9% of the carcinomas were treated in departments with an annual case load for this disease of more than 20 operations, with 50% of them being operated on in 8 departments with a case load of 40-100 procedures per year. 94.4% of the carcinomas were confirmed histologically, and in 91% of the patients surgery was performed in curative intention. The rate of breast-preserving procedures was 40%, and breast amputations accounted for 60%. An analysis of the data allowed an evaluation of this specific patient group in the surgical departments. Deficits in terms of management quality are identified.


The Brotherhood of SH Terate (PSHT) and Brotherhood of SH Tunas Muda Winongo(PSHTW) is a martial art with noble teaching values derived from the heritage of the Indonesian people that we must develop and we preserve to produce qualified cadres, who can be a good example in organizing, behaving, behaving in the life of the nation and state. So the community of identity conflicts claim each other the truth of the most original ideology SH carrier that often occurs in the Faithful Heart of Terate brotherhood and the Faithful Brotherhood of Tunas Muda Winongo will not happen again. As the results of the research that we have done, to prevent the problem from spreading, through the hard work of the Government, Security Apparatus, Religious Leaders, Community Leaders, Leaders of the Brotherhood of Terate and Brotherhood SH Winongo has formed a social institution which is a pattern that emerges as a consequence of individuals living together. When an individual faces a shared problem, a standard and guideline is made on how to behave, Horton and Hunt state that an institution is a norm system to achieve a goal or activity that is seen as important, or formally, a set of habits and behavior revolves around a basic human activity (Horton, Paul B., Chester L. Hunt, 1996: 244). Soerjono Soekanto then gave the closest understanding of social institutionsas a social institution. As conveyed by Koentjaraningrat regarding social institutions, social institutions are expected to be more responsive and able to anticipate various social problems. In particular, social institutions with the strength of their social capital will encourage the development of the response of the local community to the problems that arise from the development of increasingly complex social changes. This was also stated by Nuryana that social capital was able to provide a variety of positive outcomes for the interests of institutions and social groups (Nuryana, 2002: 23). Subsequently through solidarity and socialization in the formation of personalities and optimization of monitoring and communication with PSH social groups Winongo's Terate and PSHT are expected to aim to strengthen social resilience of the community through the coaching of SHs to create harmony and commitment together in harmony, safe, comfortable, peaceful and peaceful in HARKATIBMAS. Specific objectives of this study Describe the process of socialization in personality formation, describe the mechanism of monitoring and evaluation and describe the development of the application of the teaching values of PSH Terate and PSHT Winongo to social groups. This research was conducted in Magetan Regency, Madiun Regency and Madiun City while the sampling was taken by purposive sampling method. The data obtained is analyzed using Interactive methods through data reduction, data presentation and data verification. In line with the Merdeka Madiun University Strategic Plan in producing findings / methods / theories / policies, especially in the field of Applied University Research based on findings-based strategic plans to produce invasions, both methods, new theories or new policies that have never existed before, then targeted outcomes are, Journal Publications, National Seminars, ISBN and Copyright Textbooks. Keywords : social groups, socialization, solidarity, communication, social security DOI : 10.7176/PPAR/9-6-11 Publication date :June 30 th 2019


This article presents an account of corporate strategies for occupational safety and health (OSH) management in container terminals operated by large global companies in four countries, and their delivery in the operation of terminal work activities. It indicates a substantial gap between these aims and approaches, their orientation at corporate and terminal management levels and the workers' experiences in the terminals. While this gap is evident everywhere, it is considerably more pronounced in the terminals of the low-income country included in the study. The article indicates that in day-to-day practice, OSH is principally addressed through behaviour control strategies that fail to reach many aspects of occupational health and safety that workers perceive as important. It further indicates that contractor workers are hardest hit by such practice and suggests a radical rethinking of corporate approaches to safety and health is required to justify the claim that they represent 'corporate core values'.


The objective of this work is to apply and compare qNMR and HPLC-UV techniques as useful quality control tools for quantitative measurements of Coenzyme Q10 in dietary supplement capsules, for which two types of dietary supplement capsules were analysed, containing 100 and 200 mg of Coenzyme Q10. Both techniques were properly validated in terms of linearity, LOD, LOQ and trueness precision (repeatability and intermediate precision) . The uncertainty of the techniques was evaluated according to per EURACHEM / CITAC Guide CG 4 (3th edition), Quantifying Uncertainty in Analytical Measurement. The HPLC-UV and qNMR methods were linear in the ranges of 10.0 –1000.0 μg mL -1 and 2.2 – 30.3 mg mL -1 for Coenzyme Q10, respectively, and demonstrated very good linearity performance with regression coefficients (R2) above ≥ 0.99. Using qNMR method, LOD and LOQ were found to be 0.48 and 1.47 mg per 0.7 ml, respectively. The LOD and LOQ values of HPLC-UV were found to be 0.025 and 0.083 μg mL -1 , respectively. Intra and inter batch accuracies for HPLC-UV, as a deviation between nominal and measured values, ranged from -0.3 to 7.1% and from -0.9 to 6.3%, respectively. The accuracy for qNMR was assessed using one concentration level with 6 different samples. Comparison of the measurements of the capsul samples indicated that the both methods were appropriate for the determination of Coenzyme Q10 in pharmaceutical quality control (QC), although the qNMR as a primary measurement method was found to be more convenient especially in the method development phase. The advantages of qNMR were its environmental friendliness due to the low solvent consumption, selectivity and short sample preparation time. By using the qNMR technique there is no need to concern in terms of carry over problems.


Bifunctional thiourea 1a catalyzes aza-Henry reaction of nitroalkanes with N-Boc-imines to give syn-beta-nitroamines with good to high diastereo- and enantioselectivity. Apart from the catalyst, the reaction requires no additional reagents such as a Lewis acid or a Lewis base. The N-protecting groups of the imines have a determining effect on the chirality of the products, that is, the reaction of N-Boc-imines gives R adducts as major products, whereas the same reaction of N-phosphonoylimines furnishes the corresponding S adducts. Various types of nitroalkanes bearing aryl, alcohol, ether, and ester groups can be used as nucleophiles, providing access to a wide range of useful chiral building blocks in good yield and high enantiomeric excess. Synthetic versatility of the addition products is demonstrated by the transformation to chiral piperidine derivatives such as CP-99,994.


The advent of natural language understanding (NLU) benchmarks for English, such as GLUE and SuperGLUE allows new NLU models to be evaluated across a diverse set of tasks. These comprehensive benchmarks have facilitated a broad range of research and applications in natural language processing (NLP). The problem, however, is that most such benchmarks are limited to English, which has made it difficult to replicate many of the successes in English NLU for other languages. To help remedy this issue, we introduce the first large-scale Chinese Language Understanding Evaluation (CLUE) benchmark. CLUE is an open-ended, community-driven project that brings together 9 tasks spanning several well-established single-sentence/sentence-pair classification tasks, as well as machine reading comprehension, all on original Chinese text. To establish results on these tasks, we report scores using an exhaustive set of current state-of-the-art pre-trained Chinese models (9 in total). We also introduce a number of supplementary datasets and additional tools to help facilitate further progress on Chinese NLU. Our benchmark is released at https://www.cluebenchmarks.com


What can be learned from conversations about walkability per se and specific ideas about the embodied geographies of walking? In this article, we work with the idea of a walking assemblage and the related concept of territory to clarify how social and material entities might promote or impede journeys on foot. Our analysis is grounded in ethnographic data collected about everyday walking among twenty-five residents in the center of Wollongong, a small city on the east coast of Australia. In presenting our interpretation, we attend to the embodied geographies of walkability. The concept of territory offers the potential to think about walkability as both performed and enfolded via the emotional and affective forces between and through proximate bodies and objects through processes of reterritorialization and deterritorialization. Although our case study is specific, our conceptual gaze is extensive and has salience for others concerned with walking, with small cities, and with thinking about how best to foster the conditions in which people thrive. We offer theoretical and policy-relevant conclusions that signal the importance of engaging with the nuances of the embodied geographies of walking.


Oral anticoagulants of the coumarin type are effective drugs for the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic diseases. However, therapy with these drugs is complicated by their small therapeutic range and their substantial variability in anticoagulant response. In this thesis the influence of several drug interactions and two genetic factors on the variability in coumarin response has been examined. Coumarins are metabolised in the liver via the cytochrome P450 isoenzyme CYP2C9, encoded by the homonymous gene CYP2C9. Several polymorphisms of this gene result in the production of an enzyme with decreased metabolic activity. In prospective follow-up studies we found that for acenocoumarol (231 patients) the possession of at least one CYP2C9*3 allele and for phenprocoumon (284 patients) the possession of at least one CYP2C9*2 or *3 allele was associated with 20-30 % lower dose requirements, with an increased risk of severe overanticoagulation and with a decreased chance to achieve a stable anticoagulation during a follow up time of maximally 6 months compared with patients with the normal CYP2C9*1/*1 genotype. The biological target of coumarins is the protein unit VKORC1, on the enzyme vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKOR), which is encoded by the homonymous gene VKORC1. In the above mentioned studies we also studied the effects of the frequently occurring C1173T polymorphism (> 40 % of Caucasian populations). In users of acenocoumarol the possession of a CYP2C9*2 or *3 allele together with the possession of a VKORC1 polymorphism was associated with severe overanticoagulation (3.8 times increased risk compared to patients with no or only one polymorphism). In users of phenprocoumon we found that the difference in dose requirements between carriers of a CYP2C9*2 or *3 variant allele and patients with the normal CYP2C9*1/*1 genotype was only significant among patients with the normal VKORC1 CC genotype, whereas these differences were smaller and largely not significant among carriers of a VKORC1 polymorphism. In patients using either acenocoumarol or phenprocoumon, the VKORC1 genotype explained a greater part of the variability in coumarin dose requirements than the CYP2C9 genotype. In a pharmacoeconomic study on the cost-effectiveness of CYP2C9 genotyping we found several scenarios in which genotyping preceding acenocoumarol therapy could be cost-effective compared with no genotyping. It is well known that coumarin anticoagulants are sensitive to coumarin interactions. In a prospective follow-up study with patients we found that management of the pharmacokinetic interaction of coumarins with the antibiotic co-trimoxazole by preventive or reactive dose reductions resulted in a significantly increased period of undertreatment during the first six weeks after the antibiotic course compared with several other frequently occurring antibiotics. In a case control study selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (antidepressants) appeared to increase the risk of major non-gastrointestinal bleeding, but not of gastrointestinal bleedings, among users of coumarins. Finally, we found in another case control study that the less extensively explored antiplatelet drugs clopidogrel and dipyridamole, next to the more extensively explored antiplatelet drug acetylsalicylic acid, increase the risk of major bleeding among users of coumarins.


As an economic instrument, tax is very important for a country in collecting or earning revenue for national and economic development. The multiple weaknesses of Sales and Trade Taxes (SST) like a double tax on consumers, no tax relief on exported goods, price transfer issues, high flow of capital value out of Malaysia and inability of government to record every commercial transaction details in the national accounts have convinced the government to introduce a new taxation system namely Goods and Services Tax (GST). GST is also seen as a solution to the shortage of government funds. However, long before GST was introduced in April 2015 and till to date, the public has non-stop complaining about the possibility of price hikes in goods and services. Literature reviews on the experiences of countries in implementing GST together with pre-GST simulation in Malaysia highlight positively the effect of GST on Consumer Price Index and reduction of prices. Despite the assurance and various efforts of the government in keeping the prices of goods remain the same after GST the prices continue to increase. Report by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia showed that the price increases in Malaysia has occurred every year before and after the implementation of the GST. This paper is interested to know if GST is the sole and the real cause of price hikes or there are other causes and if so, what are those causes. The findings of this paper indicated that GST is one of the factors in price hikes but is not the only one responsible for and causing the rise in prices of goods in Malaysia. In fact, there are other elements that are equally responsible for increasing the price of goods and services in Malaysia.


This systematic review synthesised evidence on associations between nature-based early childhood education (ECE) and children's social, emotional, and cognitive development. A search of nine databases was concluded in August 2020. Studies were eligible if: (a) children (2–7 years) attended ECE, (b) ECE integrated nature, and (c) assessed child-level outcomes. Two reviewers independently screened full-text articles and assessed study quality. Synthesis included effect direction, thematic analysis, and results-based convergent synthesis. One thousand three hundred and seventy full-text articles were screened, and 36 (26 quantitative; 9 qualitative; 1 mixed-methods) studies were eligible. Quantitative outcomes were cognitive (n = 11), social and emotional (n = 13), nature connectedness (n = 9), and play (n = 10). Studies included controlled (n = 6)/uncontrolled (n = 6) before-after, and cross-sectional (n = 15) designs. Based on very low certainty of the evidence, there were positive associations between nature-based ECE and self-regulation, social skills, social and emotional development, nature relatedness, awareness of nature, and play interaction. Inconsistent associations were found for attention, attachment, initiative, environmentally responsible behaviour, and play disruption/disconnection. Qualitative studies (n = 10) noted that nature-based ECE afforded opportunities for play, socialising, and creativity. Nature-based ECE may improve some childhood development outcomes, however, high-quality experimental designs describing the dose and quality of nature are needed to explore the hypothesised pathways connecting nature-based ECE to childhood development (Systematic Review Registration: CRD42019152582).


A fusion excitation function for the 6 Li + 58 Ni system was measured at energies near and below the Coulomb barrier. We describe the procedure used to deduce the fusion cross sections from the angular distributions measured for the protons evaporated from the compound nucleus, by using the proton multiplicity predicted by the code PACE2. The comparison of our results with those reported for a very similar system, 6 Li + 59 Co, in reduced units, shows a very good agreement.


A common thread in various approaches for model reduction, clustering, feature extraction, classification, and blind source separation (BSS) is to represent the original data by a lower-dimensional approximation obtained via matrix or tensor (multiway array) factorizations or decompositions. The notion of matrix/tensor factorizations arises in a wide range of important applications and each matrix/tensor factorization makes different assumptions regarding component (factor) matrices and their underlying structures. So choosing the appropriate one is critical in each application domain. Approximate low-rank matrix and tensor factorizations play fundamental roles in enhancing the data and extracting latent (hidden) components.


There have been some problems reported associated with the use of alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) in alkali papermaking. Excessive use of size emulsion, poor size performance when filler used, problems with back water contamination, poor retention, and formation of pitch deposits on machinery are some of the problems experienced during papermaking operations. In addition, paper containing AKD is reported to lose its resistance, over time against liquid penetration and tends to become slippery. Therefore, in this study, the retention and reaction mechanisms of AKD internal sizing agent in a paper matrix were investigated by capillary gas chromatography (GC) in an attempt to better understand paper sizing with AKD. Results are expressed as the mean value of at least three repetitive tests along with standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation (COV). A number of different paper samples were made on a pilot paper machine with different AKD addition levels. AKD levels in wet and machine dry paper were extracted and analysed in GC. Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) loading was observed to increase AKD retention. The amount of bound AKD in wet paper significantly increased as a result of drying. Nevertheless, in general the reacted AKD only constituted a very small portion of the total retained AKD. Paper sizing was found to be achieved by bound AKD. This means that an even lower additional level of AKD would be sufficient to ensure good paper sizing provided that it forms a chemical bond with furnish. This result is believed to be important in solving some problems associated with AKD sizing.


Bypass graft (BG) surgeries involve surgical construction of a graft over a blocked blood vessel. The graft can either be native tissue of the patient or a synthetic material. Some commonly performed BG surgeries include aorto-bifemoral, femoro-popliteal, femoro-tibial, and coronary artery bypass (CABG). The operative mortality rate for CABG is around 3%. Around 15 to 30% of bypass grafts occlude within the first year of surgery, increasing to over 50% after 10 years. Graft incompatibility, and hemodynamic factors such as blood recirculation, low wall shear stress, and abnormal wall shear stress gradients play an important role in the onset and development of intimal thickening and plaque deposition (atherogenesis).Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Fisher M. An unusual variant of acute idiopathic polyneuritis (syndrome of ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and areflexia). N Engl J Med 1956; 255:57-65. 2Elizan TS, Spire JP, Andimen RM, Baughman FA Jr, Lloyd-Smith DL. Syndrome of acute idiopathic ophthalmoplegia with ataxia and areflexia. Neurology (Minneap) 1971;21: 281-92 3Amason BGW. Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathies (Chapter 90). In: Dyck PJ, Thomas PK, Lambert EH, Bunge R, eds. Peripheral Neuropathy. vol 2. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1984:2083-84 4Barontini F, Sita D, Giordano G. A reappraisal of Fisher's syndrome based on clinical and CT findings in 3 cases. With a relapse in the first case. In: Huber A, Klein D, eds. Neurogenetics and Neuro-ophthalmology. New York: Elsevier/North Holland, 1981:65-69. 'Donaghy M, Earl CJ. Ocular palsy preceding chronic relapsing polyneuropathy by several weeks. Ann Neurol 1985;17:49-50. 6Haymaker W, Kemohan JW. The LandryGuillain-Barre syndrome. A clinicopathologic report of 50 fatal cases and a critique of the literature. Medicine 1949;28:59-141. 7Asbury AK, Arnason BG, Adams RD. The inflammatory lesion in idiopathic polyneuritis. Its role in pathogenesis. Medicine 1969;48:173-215. 'Phillips MS, Stewart S, Anderson JR. Neuropathological findings in Miller Fisher syndrome. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychidtry 1984; 47:492-95.


Stereoscopic display is a fundamental part of virtual reality systems such as the virtual workbench, the CAVE and HMD systems. A common practice in stereoscopic systems is deliberate incorrect modeling of user eye separation. Under estimating eye separation can help the human visual system fuse stereo image pairs into single 3D images, while over estimating eye separation enhances image depth. Unfortunately, false eye separation modeling also distorts the perceived 3D image in undesirable ways. We present a novel analytic expression and quantitative analysis of this distortion for eyes at an arbitrary location and orientation.


Abstract. The definition of an atmospheric database is an important component of simulation studies in preparation of future earth observing remote sensing satellites. The Aeolus mission, formerly denoted Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM) or ADM-Aeolus, is scheduled for launch end of 2013 and aims at measuring profiles of single horizontal line-of-sight (HLOS) wind components from the surface up to about 32 km with a global coverage. The vertical profile resolution is limited but may be changed during in-orbit operation. This provides the opportunity of a targeted sampling strategy, e.g., as a function of geographic region. Optimization of the vertical (and horizontal) sampling strategy requires a characterization of the atmosphere optical and dynamical properties, more in particular the distribution of atmospheric particles and their correlation with the atmospheric dynamics. The Aeolus atmospheric database combines meteorological data from the ECMWF model with atmosphere optical properties data from CALIPSO. An inverse algorithm to retrieve high-resolution particle backscatter from the CALIPSO level-1 attenuated backscatter product is presented. Global weather models tend to underestimate atmospheric wind variability. A procedure is described to ensure compatibility of the characteristics of the database winds with those from high-resolution radiosondes. The result is a high-resolution database of zonal, meridional and vertical wind, temperature, specific humidity and particle and molecular backscatter and extinction at 355 nm laser wavelength. This allows the simulation of small-scale atmospheric processes within the Aeolus observation sampling volume and their impact on the quality of the retrieved HLOS wind profiles. The database extends over four months covering all seasons. This allows a statistical evaluation of the mission components under investigation. The database is currently used for the development of the Aeolus wind processing, the definition of wind calibration strategies and the optimization of the Aeolus sampling strategy.


This paper addresses the problem of H-infinity and H-2 performance analysis of continuous-time affine single parameter-dependent systems with polynomially parameter-dependent Lyapunov matrices. First, some necessary and sufficient conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) are provided using (D,G) scaling approach. Then, the results are used to deal with the problem of fixed-order H-infinity and H-2 controller design via bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs) in a nonconservative way. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


The value of natural capital in countries around the world, including the UK, has been continuously decreasing due to the degradation of natural resources. The lack of accounting and nancial mechanisms dedicated to measure and recover the value of natural capital, combined with low investment allocations from private investors, have been a determinant factor contributing to this decline. Given this consideration, the present work de nes three objectives in relation to natural capi- tal accounting and nance. First, to investigate the use of natural capital accounts to study changes in natural capital value and identify the major factors impacting the risk of declining natural capital and wealth using the case study of the UK. Second, to analyse the performance of investments in natural capital assets. Fi- nally, to examine the use of Sovereign Wealth Funds as a nancial mechanism to dedicate major investments in natural capital. In relation to the rst objective, a stochastic model for risk analysis is developed to estimate changes in UKs wealth using data on produced, human, and natural capital asset values reported by UK authorities between 1992 and 2012. Results show that natural capital losses in the UK have been mainly driven by a decrease in value of non-renewable natural capital, together with variations in the value of ecosystem services. Nevertheless, as non-renewable natural capital reach depletion, focus shall be given over coming years to recover renewable natural capital. As part of the second objective, the present work evaluates the performance of investments in real and non-real natu- ral assets and compare it with those of traditional asset classes using time series analysis of historical returns. The obtained results indicate that, when investing in natural capital, investors should focus on real natural assets as their nan- cial bene ts are higher than those from equities, bonds, real estate or even some infrastructure assets. Regarding the nal objective, this work models the invest- ment portfolio of an oil-based SWF using Norways Pension Fund Global as a case study and employs out-of-sample simulation technique to estimate global e cient portfolios while considering their relationship with oil prices. In this regard, the nal results demonstrate that SWFs are able to challenge their current allocation range in natural assets (2-5%) to a higher range (15-20%) while still bene ting from those investments. The overall conclusion from this research suggests that combining the importance of e ective natural capital accounts, the nancial ben- e ts of natural capital investments, and the role of nancial mechanisms such as SWFs is essential to increase the value of natural capital.


The recent technological advances related to computing, storage, cloud, networking and the unstoppable deployment of end-user devices, are all coining the so-called Internet of Things (IoT). IoT embraces a wide set of heterogeneous services in highly impacting societal sectors, such as Healthcare, Smart Transportation or Media delivery, all of them posing a diverse set of requirements, including real time response, low latency, or high capacity. In order to properly address such diverse set of requirements, the combined use of Cloud and Fog computing turns up as an emerging trend. Indeed, Fog provides low delay for services demanding real time response, constrained to support low capacity queries, whereas Cloud provides high capacity at the cost of a higher latency. It is with no doubt that a new strategy is required to ease the combined operation of cloud and fog infrastructures in IoT scenarios, also referred to as Combined Fog-Cloud (CFC), in terms of service execution performance metrics. To that end, in this paper, we introduce and formulate the QoS-aware service allocation problem for CFC architectures as an integer optimization problem, whose solution minimizes the latency experienced by the services while guaranteeing the fulfillment of the capacity requirements.


This book provides an in-depth analysis of the relations between China and the EU, tracing the development of this complex, yet intriguing, relationship between two substantially different actors. To uncover a deeper understanding of this unlikely partnership, the authors analyze the partnership through the prism of contending norms and worldviews. The China-EU strategic partnership has evolved through fits and starts but despite continuous trade disputes and severe diplomatic misunderstandings, the EU and China pledge to uphold, even deepen, the partnership. Policy experts and scholars will learn how such contending bilateral relationships can be managed and establish a better understanding of deep-seated conceptual differences between these two entities.


Immunochemical properties and subunit structure of an antigen were characterized in autopsy specimens of human liver and brain, using antiserum against human phenylalanine hydroxylase. An identical antigen was revealed in extracts of organs by immunoelectrophoresis. Its content was 1.5-2.0 mg/g tissue in the liver and 20-40 micrograms/g tissue in the brain. One L enzyme subunit and two H subunits were identified in the liver extracts after two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by immunoblotting. Subunit structure of phenylalanine hydroxylase in the brain was similar to that in the liver. The molecular weight of L subunit was 55,000 and it was located in the same area as albumin isoforms. The molecular weight of H subunits was 57,000 and they differed from L subunits in pI. The antigen was purified from crude extracts of biopsy liver by affinity chromatography on immunoadsorbent to phenylalanine hydroxylase and showed phenylalanine hydroxylase activity. An antigen with similar molecular weight was also purified from the brain extract by the same method. These data suggest that phenylalanine hydroxylase can be present in the human brain.


In contrast to the increasing use of GM plants in world-wide agriculture, the acceptance of GM food is still low in the European Union (EU). In order to ensure freedom of choice for consumers and users of GM and non-GM products, GM food and feed products have to be labeled in case a tolerance threshold of 0.9 % is exceeded for EU authorized GMOs. This paper aims to quantify the cost of traceability and co-existence systems for GM food from the seed to the food level for sugar, wheat starch and rapeseed oil for human consumption in Germany respecting the 0.9 % threshold for labelling of GM food. The cost calculation for traceability and co-existence measures follows the principle of aggregating all incurred cost on the different levels of the value chain and to increase the price of the final product at each level. Altogether the measures to ensure co-existence and traceability lead to 5 % to 13 % higher price for GMO-free rapeseed oil, to 2 % to 5 % higher prices of GM-free sugar and to 8 % price increase for GMO-free wheat starch.


—Path tracing tools, such as traceroute, are simple yet fundamental network debugging tools for network operators to detect and fix network failures. Unfortunately, adversaries can also use such tools to retrieve previously unknown network topology information which is key to realizing sophisticated Denial- of-Service attacks, such as Link Flooding Attacks (LFAs), more efficiently. Over the last few years, several network obfuscation defenses have been proposed to proactively mitigate LFAs by exposing virtual (fake) topologies that conceal potential bottleneck network links from adversaries. However, to date there has been no comprehensive and systematic analysis of the level of security and utility their virtual topologies offer. A critical analysis is thus a necessary step towards better understanding their limitations and building stronger and more practical defenses against LFAs. In this paper, we first conduct a security analysis of the three state-of-the-art network obfuscation defenses. Our analysis reveals four important, common limitations that can significantly decrease the security and utility of their virtual topologies. Motivated by our findings, we present EqualNet, a secure and practical proactive defense for long-term network topology obfuscation that alleviates LFAs within a network domain. EqualNet aims to equalize tracing flow distributions over nodes and links so that adversaries are unable to distinguish which of them are the most important ones, thus significantly increasing the cost of performing LFAs. Meanwhile, EqualNet preserves subnet information, helping network operators who use path tracing tools to debug their networks. To demonstrate its feasibility, we implement a full prototype of it using Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and perform extensive evaluations both in software and hardware. Our results show that EqualNet is effective at equalizing the tracing flow distributions of small, medium and large networks even when only a small number of routers within the network support SDN. Finally, we analyze the security of EqualNet against a wide variety of attacks.


Research into new pH sensors fabricated by the standard CMOS process is currently a hot topic. The new pH sensing multi-floating gate field effect transistor is found to have a very large threshold voltage, which is different from the normal ion-sensitive field effect transistor. After analyzing all the interface layers of the structure, a new sensitive model based on the Gauss theorem and the charge neutrality principle is created in this paper. According to the model, the charge trapped on the multi-floating gate during the process and the thickness of the sensitive layer are the main causes of the large threshold voltage. From this model, it is also found that removing the charge on the multi-floating gate is an effective way to decrease the threshold voltage. The test results for three different standard pH buffer solutions show the correctness of the model and point the way to solve the large threshold problem.


Say on pay is considered an important tool to mitigate inappropriate remuneration practices. Over the years, many countries provided shareholders with this say on pay-tool, although often the vote is exclusively of an advisory nature. We analyse the regulatory framework of say on pay in two of these countries, the UK and Belgium. We provide evidence on the evolution of the dissenting votes of the remuneration report and identify the companies that experienced a disapproved remuneration report. We assess the effect of this dissenting vote by analysing the subsequent remuneration report and shareholders' vote as well as the evolution of the stock price. Although there are only limited guidelines how to address the dissenting vote and how to compile an adequate response, we found that many companies adjusted their remuneration practices, in particular the disclosing of pay-related information and amending bonus schemes. Remuneration levels are generally not adjusted. However, not all companies responded to the discontentment of the shareholders. The shareholders often positively react on the presented amendments in the subsequent vote of the remuneration report, but shareholder remain critical. Some subsequent shareholder approvals are hard to interpret. The research shows that say on pay positively affects communication between shareholders and companies but more is to be done on guiding the information exchange. We provide in a number of suggestions thereto.


Background: Increasing attention has been paid to concussions and especially sports-related concussions in youth. To prevent an inappropriate return to play while symptomatic, nearly all states have now passed legislation on youth sports-related concussions. Purpose: To determine (1) the incidence of sports-related concussions in high school athletes using a unique system to collect reports on concussions, (2) the proportion of athletes with concussions who play with concussive symptoms, and (3) the effect of the type and modality of coach education on the likelihood of athletes reporting symptoms to the coach or playing with concussive symptoms. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: This study was conducted with high school football and girls' soccer athletes playing in fall 2012 and their coaches and parents in 20 urban or rural high schools in Washington State. The main outcome was the incidence of concussions per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs), the proportion of concussed athletes who played with concussive symptoms, and the association of coach concussion education with coach awareness of athletes with concussive symptoms. Results: Among the 778 athletes, the rate of concussions was 3.6 per 1000 AEs and was identical for the 2 sports studied. The cumulative concussion incidence over the course of the season was similar in girls' soccer (11.1%) and football (10.4%). Sixty-nine percent of concussed athletes reported playing with symptoms, and 40% reported that their coach was not aware of their concussion. Most measures of coach concussion education were not associated with coach awareness of concussions in their athletes, although the modalities of a video and quiz were associated with a lower likelihood of coach awareness. Conclusion: More objective and accurate methods are needed to identify concussions. Changes in athlete attitudes on reporting concussive symptoms will likely not be accomplished through legislation alone.


Purpose: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a desmoplastic tumor of the biliary tree in which epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed and contributes to cancer progression. Although EGFR has been envisaged as a target for therapy, treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) such as erlotinib did not provide therapeutic benefit in patients with CCA, emphasizing the need to investigate resistance mechanisms against EGFR inhibition. Experimental Design: Resistant CCA cells to EGFR inhibition were obtained upon long-time exposure of cells with erlotinib. Cell signaling, viability, migration, and spheroid growth were determined in vitro, and tumor growth was evaluated in CCA xenograft models. Results: Erlotinib-resistant CCA cells displayed metastasis-associated signatures that correlated with a marked change in cell plasticity associated with an epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and a cancer stem cell (CSC)–like phenotype. Resistant cells exhibited an upregulation of insulin receptor (IR) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) 1 receptor (IGF1R), along with an increase in IGF2 expression. IR/IGF1R inhibition reduced EMT and CSC-like traits in resistant cells. In vivo, tumors developed from resistant CCA cells were larger and exhibited a more prominent stromal compartment, enriched in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF). Pharmacological coinhibition of EGFR and IR/IGF1R reduced tumor growth and stromal compartment in resistant tumors. Modeling of CCA-CAF crosstalk showed that IGF2 expressed by fibroblasts boosted IR/IGF1R signaling in resistant cells. Furthermore, IR/IGF1R signaling positively regulated fibroblast proliferation and activation. Conclusions: To escape EGFR-TKI treatment, CCA tumor cells develop an adaptive mechanism by undergoing an IR/IGF1R-dependent phenotypic switch, involving a contribution of stromal cells. Clin Cancer Res; 24(17); 4282–96. ©2018 AACR.


Aims: United States' (US) colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and treatment practices seek to reduce mortality. We examined the survival of US patients compared with patients in the virtually unscreened Norwegian population. Methods: We compared short-term survival after CRC between the US and Norway using relative survival (RS) and excess mortality (EMR) analyses. The CRC patients were aged 50 and older diagnosed in the US (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registry, 2004, N=9511) and in Norway (Cancer Registry of Norway, 2003–2005, N=8256). Results: Death occurred within three years for 39% of the CRC patients. Stage distributions were more favorable for US patients. Stage-specific survival was similar for localized and regional cancers, but more favorable for US distant cancers. In multivariate models of patient, tumor and treatment characteristics, patients (especially below age 80) in the US experienced longer survival (EMR 0.9, CI 0.8–0.9). Stage-specific analyses showed, however, that survival for localized cancers was relatively shorter in the US than in Norway (EMR 1.4, CI 1.1–1.8), but longer for distant cancers (EMR 0.8, CI 0.7–0.8). Conclusions: The enhanced survival for US CRC patients likely reflects a screening-related earlier diagnostic stage distribution, as well as prioritized life extension for patients with metastatic cancers, reflecting vastly different health care systems in the two countries. CRC screening is currently under consideration in Norway. For survival outcomes, the current findings do not discourage such an implementation. Other screening-related aspects such as feasibility and cost-benefit are, however, also relevant and warrant further research within a socialized health system.


Terrorist group's forums remain a threat for all web users. It stills need to be inspired with algorithms to detect the informative contents. In this paper, we investigate most discussed topics on Arabic Dark Web forums. Arabic Textual contents extracted from selected Arabic Dark Web forums. Vector Space Model (VSM) used as text representation with two different term weighing schemas, Term Frequency (TF) and Term Frequency - Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF). Pre-processing phase plays a significant role in processing extracted terms. That consists of filtering, tokenization and stemming. Stemming step is based on proposed stemmer without a root dictionary. Using one of the well-know clustering algorithm k-means to cluster of the terms. The experimental results were presented and showed the most shared terms between the selected forums.


Over the past decade, there has been growing interest in the field of robotic inspection systems, in particular Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). These systems afford many advantages in terms of reducing the cost of condition assessments and expediting the data acquisition while improving the monitoring process efficiency. However, robotic technologies are a means of collecting data, and data collection protocols must be tightly linked with the desired spatial data resolution and final products, particularly if integration with more conventional structural health monitoring technologies is to be attained. This process involves planning a set of views, physically altering the relative structureimaging sensor pose, globally registering all the acquired imagery data, and finally integrating different sources of data into a nonredundant model. In this context, this paper demonstrates the capabilities of using one such integration at the Brighton Dam, a complex and large-scale gravity dam in Maryland, USA. The goal of this study was to evaluate a robotic inspection methodology along with utilizing computer vision-based data analytics on photogrammetrically generated three-dimensional (3D) models of the dam. A series of experiments involving the analysis of both simulated and real structural damage were designed and performed. During these experiments, digital image data was collected from a variety of sources, including both fixed-wing and multi-rotor UAVs, as well as more conventional imaging platforms. These data sources were integrated and merged together to form a detailed high-resolution 3D model of the dam and surrounding environs, with varying level of details in damage and deterioration. 3D data processing techniques were then used to analyze these models to automatically detect and quantify various damages. The results of these tests reflect the capabilities of these powerful new monitoring techniques and indicate that a suite of vision-based algorithms is necessary for comprehensive analyses of these complex 3D models to reliably, and systematically detect damages. The findings of this study also reinforce the critical need for an in advance detailed planning along with team coordination during field data collection.


Germination of dormant wild oat (Avena fatua L. # AVEFA) seed was examined in response to various concentrations of ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid), KNO3, or both together in the dark at temperatures ranging from 7 to 32 C. Both chemicals significantly (P = 0.05) promoted germination and their effects were additive. Maximum stimulation of germination in response to all treatments occurred at 7 C, with a gradual decrease in reponse as temperature or duration of after-ripening, the seed that retained dormancy during storage remained responsive to ethephon also occurred during storage of mature seed at 3 to 32 C. The rate and extent of this dormancy loss increased with an increase in storage temperature. Regardless of the temperature or duration of after-ripening, the seed that retained dormancy during storage remained responsive to ethephon and KNO3 treatments. Suitable combinations of after-ripening, ethephon, and KNO3 induced over 90% germination of seed that was dormant at maturity. Experimental evidence has been obtained that suggests that this percentage may represent the total number of viable seed in the population. While ethephon promoted seed germination, it severely stunted root and shoot growth of the resulting seedlings. It appears that strategies could be developed to combine the use of ethephon and nitrate with the natural process of after-ripening to enhance and synchronize wild oat germination.


OBJECTIVE With improvements in cardiovascular disease (CVD) rates among people with diabetes, mortality rates may also be changing. However, these trends may be influenced by coding practices of CVD-related deaths on death certificates. We analyzed trends of mortality over 13 years in people with diabetes and quantified the potential misclassification of CVD mortality according to current coding methods. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 1,136,617 Australians with diabetes registered on the National Diabetes Services Scheme between 1997 and 2010 were linked to the National Death Index. Excess mortality relative to the Australian population was reported as standardized mortality ratios (SMRs). Potential misclassification of CVD mortality was determined by coding CVD according to underlying cause of death (COD) and then after consideration of both the underlying and other causes listed in part I of the death certificate. RESULTS For type 1 diabetes, the SMR decreased in males from 4.20 in 1997 to 3.08 in 2010 (Ptrend < 0.001) and from 3.92 to 3.46 in females (Ptrend < 0.01). For type 2 diabetes, the SMR decreased in males from 1.40 to 1.21 (Ptrend < 0.001) and from 1.56 to 1.22 in females (Ptrend < 0.001). CVD deaths decreased from 35.6 to 31.2% and from 31.5 to 27.2% in males and females with type 1 diabetes, respectively (Ptrend < 0.001 for both sexes). For type 2 diabetes, CVD decreased from 44.5 to 29.2% in males and from 45.5 to 31.6% in females (Ptrend < 0.001 for both sexes). Using traditional coding methods, ∼38 and 26% of CVD deaths are underestimated in type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes, respectively. CONCLUSIONS All-cause and CVD mortality has decreased in diabetes. However, the total CVD mortality burden is underestimated when only underlying COD is considered. This has important ramifications for understanding mortality patterns in diabetes.


Many current video games feature virtual worlds inhabited by autonomous 3D animated characters. These characters often fall short in their ability to participate in social interactions with each other or with people. Increasing the social capabilities of game characters could increase the potential of games as a platform for social learning. This article presents advances in the area of social autonomous character design. Specifically, a computational model of social relationship formation is described. This model formed the basis for a game entitled "AlphaWolf" that allows people to play the role of newborn pups in a pack of virtual wolves, helping the pups to find their place in the social order of the pack. This article offers the results from a 32‐subject user study that assessed the social relationship model, showing that it effectively represents the core elements of social relationships in a way that is perceivable by people. Additionally, this article proposes a game that will allow parents, teachers and children to experiment with computational social behavior through social virtual characters. This research contributes to the development of games for social learning by offering a set of viable algorithms for computational characters to form social relationships, and describing a project that could utilize this model to enable children to learn social skills by interacting with game characters.


Automatic modulation classification (AMC) is a critical algorithm for the identification of modulation types so as to enable more accurate demodulation in the non-cooperative scenarios. Deep learning (DL)-based AMC is believed as one of the most promising methods with great classification accuracy. However, the conventional CNN-based methods are lack of generality capabilities under time-varying signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions, because these methods are merely trained on specific datasets and can only work under the corresponding condition. In this paper, a novel multi-task learning (MTL)-based generalized AMC method is proposed, and a more realistic scenario is considered, including white non-Gaussian noise and synchronization error. Its generalization capability stems from knowledge-sharing-based MTL in varying noise scenarios. In detail, multiple CNN models with the same structure are trained for multiple SNR conditions, but they share their knowledge (e.g. model weight) with each other. Thus, MTL can extract the general features from datasets in different noise scenarios. Simulation results show that our proposed architecture can achieve higher robustness and generalization than the conventional ones.


Nanoparticles deliver siRNA for multigene silencing of endothelial cell adhesion molecules, which dampens leukocyte recruitment in atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction in mice. Knocking down adhesion, knocking out inflammation Cells that are central to inflammation lodge in damaged or fatty regions of the vessels (called plaques) by "feeling out" the vessel surface. Neutrophils and monocytes first "roll" along the wall, then firmly plant themselves at an ideal site, and lastly pass through the cells lining the blood vessel: the endothelial cells. This recruitment and transmigration process is mediated by surface receptors called cell adhesion molecules (CAMs). Sager et al. developed a nanomedicine approach to preventing such inflammatory cell adhesion and exacerbation of plaques, by transiently knocking down five different CAMs simultaneously. The authors delivered small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting the CAMs inside nanoparticles that had been optimized to reach endothelial cells. The five siRNAs reduced leukocyte recruitment to atherosclerotic plaques in mice that were engineered to develop certain features of human atherosclerosis. In the same mice, the siRNAs also attenuated inflammation after myocardial infarction—the equivalent of a heart attack. Current therapies for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease do not target inflammatory cells, and this multipronged siRNA-based nanomedicine approach could complement existing options to prevent heart disease from worsening. Myocardial infarction (MI) leads to a systemic surge of vascular inflammation in mice and humans, resulting in secondary ischemic complications and high mortality. We show that, in ApoE−/− mice with coronary ligation, increased sympathetic tone up-regulates not only hematopoietic leukocyte production but also plaque endothelial expression of adhesion molecules. To counteract the resulting arterial leukocyte recruitment, we developed nanoparticle-based RNA interference (RNAi) that effectively silences five key adhesion molecules. Simultaneously encapsulating small interfering RNA (siRNA)–targeting intercellular cell adhesion molecules 1 and 2 (Icam1 and Icam2), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (Vcam1), and E- and P-selectins (Sele and Selp) into polymeric endothelial-avid nanoparticles reduced post-MI neutrophil and monocyte recruitment into atherosclerotic lesions and decreased matrix-degrading plaque protease activity. Five-gene combination RNAi also curtailed leukocyte recruitment to ischemic myocardium. Therefore, targeted multigene silencing may prevent complications after acute MI.


The U.S. health-care system is characterized by the rapid adoption and diffusion of medical technologies and high regional variation in health-care utilization and spending. I examine the correlations in the adoption and utilization rates of sixteen outpatient health-care technologies of differing quality across US metropolitan areas among nonelderly adult beneficiaries of employment-sponsored insurance in 2006-2010. I find three patterns underlying their use. One relates to the high use of diagnostic and screening services, one to the high use of pharmaceuticals, and one to the low-quality management of pain. In general therefore, utilization correlates by type of technology more than quality, which may contribute to explaining the lack of relationship between spending and outcomes observed in the U.S. health-care system. I further show that these correlations are not confined to the sixteen technologies under study but relate to medical utilization across categories of services and pharmaceuticals. I also connect these patterns with local demographics. The first factor is associated with higher education, income, population density, and provider supply and with lower social capital. The second factor is also associated with higher education, income, and provider supply, but with lower population density and higher social capital. The third factor is associated with lower education, income, social capital, population density, and provider supply.


Liver cells were isolated from rats undergoing active formation of tetraploid cells and prelabelled in their DNA with 14C thymidine. Autoradiography of the isolated cells showed that binucleate diploid cells, a major component of the parenchymal cell population at this time, are also active in DNA synthesis. These cells probably pass through mitosis and generate mononucleate tetraploid cells, the dominant cell type of mature rat liver, since the frequency of binucleate tetraploid cells is very low at this stage in rat liver development. The biological significance of liver polyploidy is discussed and it is suggested that this lies in enhanced resistance to mutagenesis.


A significant number of fire-induced power disruptions are observed in several countries every year. The faults are normally phase-to-phase short circuiting or conductor-to-ground discharges at mid-span region of the high-voltage transmission system. In any case, the wildfire plumes provide a conductive path. The electrical conductivity is due to intense heat in combustion zone of the fire which creates ion and electrons from flame inherent particulates. Increase in the ion concentration increases the electrical conductivity of the fire plume. The main purpose of this study was to measure dielectric breakdown electric field for vegetation and hydrocarbon flames. The experimental data is needed for validation of simulation schemes which are necessary for evaluation of power grid systems reliability under extreme wildfire weather conditions. In this study, hydrocarbon and vegetation fuels were ignited in a cylindrically shaped steel burner which was fitted with type-K thermocouples to measure flame temperature. The fuels consisted of dried weeping wattle (Peltophorum africanum) litter, butane gas and candle wax. Two pinned copper electrodes supported by retort stands were mounted to the burner and energized to a high voltage. This generated a strong electric field sufficient to initiate dielectric breakdown in the flames. Breakdown electric field strength (Ecrit) obtained from the experiment decreased from 10.5 to 6.9 kV/cm for the flames with temperature range of 1003 to 1410 K, respectively.


The two Troughs The mapping of the Capitol district, New York, consisting of the Schenectady, Cohoes, Albany, and Troy quadrangles, has clearly brought out certain stratigraphic and paleogeographic features of the Cambrian, Ozarkian, Canadian, and Ordovician formations of the district that had already been suggested by work on the Saratoga and Schuylerville quadrangles and which appear to be of more than local interest. The district is a small sector of the western part of the great belt of Paleozoic unrest and mobility known as the Appalachian geosyncline. The stratigraphic work, which was made difficult by complicated Taconic and Appalachian folding and extensive overthrusts, has disclosed at least two completely different sets of formations, which range in age from Lower Cambrian to Middle Ordovician. These formations were deposited in two nearly parallel troughs or channels, which in the text on the Saratoga and Schuylerville quadrangles have been called the eastern and . . .


Emergency physicians are leaders in the ''free open-access meducation'' (FOAM) movement. The mandate of FOAM is to create open-access education and knowledge translation resources for trainees and practicing physicians (e.g., blogs, podcasts, and vodcasts). Critics of FOAM have suggested that because such resources can be easily published online without quality control mechanisms, unreviewed FOAM resources may be erroneous or biased. We present a new initiative to incorporate open, expert, peer review into an established academic medical blog. Experts provided either pre- or postpublication reviews that were visible to blog readers. This article outlines the details of this initiative and discusses the potentially transformative impact of this educational innovation.


Studies on the feeding ecology of sympatric coastal species is important, especially in revealing different strategies to reduce competition. The aim of this study is to test the diet of littoral fish species with a non-destructive method, which does not necessitate the sacrifice of fish specimens. The clingfish Lepadogaster lepadogaster (Bonnaterre, 1788) was used to test this diet assessment method. Freshly caught specimens were delivered immediately to a specially designed box for collecting faecal pellets, supplied by an aerator. Clingfishes were left in the chambers for 24 hours to defecate. The pellets were carefully removed and fixed in 70% alcohol. The content of the pellets was analysed under stereomicroscope and prey items were determined and counted. The comparison with the existing studies showed similarity and consistency between their results, which proves the usefulness and applicability of the method for studying clingfish diet. The suitability of the proposed method was tested on related species L. candollei Risso, 1810, where all ingested prey items were also found and identified in faecal pellets, which confirms its effectiveness for diet analysis.  A method of collecting faecal pellets immediately after defecation has proved to be more useful and effective than other nonlethal methods. After defecation, the specimens were released at the site where they were collected. Due to 100% survival as shown in this research, the proposed method is also suitable for studying the diet of rare and endangered fish species, and also coastal fish fauna in protected areas where traditional destructive sampling methods are not appropriate or allowed.


Internet security poses complex challenges at different levels, where even the basic requirement of availability of Internet connectivity becomes a conundrum sometimes. Recent Internet service disruption events have made the vulnerability of the Internet apparent, and exposed the current limitations of Internet security measures as well. Usually, the main cause of such incidents, even in the presence of the security measures proposed so far, is the unintended or intended exploitation of the loop holes in the protocols that govern the Internet. In this thesis, we focus on the security of two different protocols that were conceived with little or no security mechanisms but play a key role both in the present and the future of the Internet, namely the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and the Locator Identifier Separation Protocol (LISP).
The BGP protocol, being the de-facto inter-domain routing protocol in the Internet, plays a crucial role in current communications. Due to lack of any intrinsic security mechanism, it is prone to a number of vulnerabilities that can result in partial paralysis of the Internet. In light of this, numerous security strategies were proposed but none of them were pragmatic enough to be widely accepted and only minor security tweaks have found the pathway to be adopted. Even the recent IETF Secure Inter-Domain Routing (SIDR) Working Group (WG) efforts including, the Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), Route Origin authorizations (ROAs), and BGP Security (BGPSEC) do not address the policy related security issues, such as Route Leaks (RL). Route leaks occur due to violation of the export routing policies among the Autonomous Systems (ASes). Route leaks not only have the potential to cause large scale Internet service disruptions but can result in traffic hijacking as well. In this part of the thesis, we examine the route leak problem and propose pragmatic security methodologies which a) require no changes to the BGP protocol, b) are neither dependent on third party information nor on third party security infrastructure, and c) are self-beneficial regardless of their adoption by other players. Our main contributions in this part of the thesis include a) a theoretical framework, which, under realistic assumptions, enables a domain to autonomously determine if a particular received route advertisement corresponds to a route leak, and b) three incremental detection techniques, namely Cross-Path (CP), Benign Fool Back (BFB), and Reverse Benign Fool Back (R-BFB). Our strength resides in the fact that these detection techniques solely require the analytical usage of in-house control-plane, data-plane and direct neighbor relationships information. We evaluate the performance of the three proposed route leak detection techniques both through real-time experiments as well as using simulations at large scale. Our results show that the proposed detection techniques achieve high success rates for countering route leaks in different scenarios.
The motivation behind LISP protocol has shifted over time from solving routing scalability issues in the core Internet to a set of vital use cases for which LISP stands as a technology enabler. The IETF's LISP WG has recently started to work toward securing LISP, but the protocol still lacks end-to-end mechanisms for securing the overall registration process on the mapping system ensuring RLOC authorization and EID authorization. As a result LISP is unprotected against different attacks, such as RLOC spoofing, which can cripple even its basic functionality. For that purpose, in this part of the thesis we address the above mentioned issues and propose practical solutions that counter them. Our solutions take advantage of the low technological inertia of the LISP protocol. The changes proposed for the LISP protocol and the utilization of existing security infrastructure in our solutions enable resource authorizations and lay the foundation for the needed end-to-end security.


An average person born in the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century completed 7 years of schooling and spent 58 hours a week working in the market. By contrast, an average person born at the end of the twentieth century completed 14 years of schooling and spent 40 hours a week working. In the span of 100 years, completed years of schooling doubled and working hours decreased by 30 percent. What explains these trends? We consider a model of human capital and labor supply to quantitatively assess the contribution of exogenous variations in productivity (wage) and life expectancy in accounting for the secular trends in educational attainment and hours of work. We find that the observed increase in wages and life expectancy account for 80 percent of the increase in years of schooling and 88 percent of the reduction in hours of work. Rising wages alone account for 75 percent of the increase in schooling and almost all the decrease in hours in the model, whereas rising life expectancy alone accounts for 25 percent of the increase in schooling and almost none of the decrease in hours of work.


Zoonotic diseases are an increasingly important source of human infectious diseases, and host pathogen richness of reservoir host species is a critical driver of spill-over risk. Population-level traits of hosts such as population size, host density and geographic range size have all been shown to be important determinants of host pathogen richness. However, empirically identifying the independent influences of these traits has proven difficult as many of these traits directly depend on each other. Here we develop a mechanistic, metapopulation, susceptible-infected-recovered model to identify the independent influences of these population-level traits on the ability of a newly evolved pathogen to invade and persist in host populations in the presence of an endemic pathogen. We use bats as a case study as they are highly social and an important source of zoonotic disease. We show that larger populations and group sizes had a greater influence on the chances of pathogen invasion and persistence than increased host density or the number of groups. As anthropogenic change affects these traits to different extents, this increased understanding of how traits independently determine pathogen richness will aid in predicting future zoonotic spill-over risk.


This volume groups together fourteen pieces on Sartre written between 1998 and 2008, all of which were either published in journals or presented at colloquia during that decade. Their subject matter falls, broadly speaking, into three time-periods within Sartre's output — pre-war literary writings, the transitional years 1939–45, and postwar theatre — and also includes his biographical and autobiographical writings. Among Louette's declared guiding principles are the necessity of attributing equal importance to both Sartre's philosophy and his literature, and the premise that the quality of Sartre's literary writing can properly be accounted for only if the intertextual relationships within the œuvre and within the work of his literary predecessors and contemporaries are subjected to close scrutiny (p. 7). These statements of intent are amply borne out in Traces de Sartre, the latter magisterially and the former convincingly, even if Louette leans more in the direction of literary criticism in his choice of topics and methodology than he does towards philosophy. The strength of Louette's writing lies in its considerable erudition, whose breadth and depth frequently elicit both insightful observations about well-known areas of the Sartrean corpus and the establishment of hitherto uncharted links with other texts as well as with features of Sartre's biography. To take one notable example, Louette's consummate knowledge of Sartre's theatre works is employed in a strongly argued defence that is impressive in its range of referencing and themes covered: 'Allégories', 'Mots d'auteur', 'Dialectiques', comedy, tragedy, and 'mise en scène' are just some of the angles from which the topic is approached (pp. 211–58). In parts of Traces de Sartre Louette also displays a capacity for bold argument, giving free rein to the kind of hypothetical and conjectural reflections that are precisely where interesting critical thinking begins. Notable in this regard is a fascinating chapter devoted to L'Être et le néant, whose implications, when taken to their logical conclusions, contribute significantly to a re-evaluation of the way this seminal work should be read. Louette approaches L'Être et le néant autobiographically and — in what is a very un-early Sartrean manoeuvre — psychoanalytically. The genesis of the Sartrean 'néant', for example, is convincingly explained in terms of the absent father figure in Sartre's psyche (pp. 99–100), implying a profound questioning of the pronounced rationalist leaning of Sartre's early philosophy. In certain places, however, Louette's creative conjectures fall short, revealing him to be more of a 'littéraire' thinking analogically than a philosopher genuinely seeking to reconfigure existing positions conceptually. The standard of the chapters comprising Traces de Sartre, though excellent on the whole, is not entirely even. For instance, it is curious that, in a chapter devoted to Sartre having constituted a bridge between the interwar and postwar years, Louette bypasses altogether the question of his evolving 'engagement'; this is clearly an omission. Such reservations are minor, however, for the overall quality and insightfulness of Louette's Sartre scholarship in Traces is beyond doubt.


The facilitation of interpersonal relationships within a respectful learning climate is an important aspect of teaching practice. However, in large-scale online contexts, such as MOOCs, the number of learners and highly asynchronous nature militates against the development of a sense of belonging and dyadic trust. Given these challenges, instead of conventional instruments that reflect learners' affective perceptions, we suggest a set of indicators that can be used to evaluate social activity in relation to the participation structure. These group-level indicators can then help teachers to gain insights into the evolution of social activity shaped by their facilitation choices. For this study, group-level indicators were derived from measuring information exchange activity between the returning MOOC posters. By conceptualizing this group as an identity-based community, we can apply exponential random graph modelling to explain the network's structure through the configurations of direct reciprocity, triadic-level exchange, and the effect of participants demonstrating super-posting behavior. The findings provide novel insights into network amplification, and highlight the differences between the courses with different facilitation strategies. Direct reciprocation was characteristic of non-facilitated groups. Exchange at the level of triads was more prominent in highly facilitated online communities with instructor's involvement. Super-posting activity was less pronounced in networks with higher triadic exchange, and more pronounced in networks with higher direct reciprocity.


Use this resource to discover information about famous black Americans. Read books by and about African Americans. Watch some DVDs on the Civil Rights Movement or investigate our databases and create an excellent report for a school project.


Hyperpycnal gravity currents rapidly transport sediment across shore from rivers to the continental shelf and deep sea. Although these geophysical processes are important sediment dispersal mechanisms, few distinct geomorphic features on the continental shelf can be attributed to hyperpycnal flows. Here we provide evidence of large depositional features derived from hyperpycnal plumes on the continental shelf of the northern Santa Barbara Channel, California, from the combination of new sonar, lidar, and seismic reflection data. These data reveal lobate fans directly offshore of the mouths of several watersheds known to produce hyperpycnal concentrations of suspended sediment. The fans occur on an upwardly concave section of the shelf where slopes decrease from 0.04 to 0.01, and the location of these fans is consistent with wave‐ and auto‐suspending sediment gravity current theories. Thus, we provide the first documentation that the morphology of sediment deposits on the continental shelf can be dictated by river‐generated hyperpycnal flows.


While medical pluralism in India has been of longstanding interest to
medical anthropologists (see Leslie, 1976; Leslie and Young, 1992),
it is only more recently that pluralism, under the guise of privatization
in Indian health care, has attracted comparable interest among
public health specialists. Accompanying nationwide economic reforms
toward a market-based economy (Purohit 2001; Sen 2003),
25634_Adelson.indb 145 13-07-12 2:11 PM
146 Karina Kielmann
India's private medical sector rapidly expanded throughout the
1990s, encompassing a wide range of formal and informal medical
providers with varying degrees of institutional legitimacy. Operating
alongside the government health services, private medical practitioners
represent the first pattern of resort for a majority of the Indian
population, regardless of income (Sengupta and Nundy 2005). These
practitioners, many of whom are trained in Indian systems of medicine
and homeopathy (ISM&H),2 frequently combine both allopathic
and nonallopathic prescriptions and treatment regimens.


A driving simulation experiment was conducted to test the effectiveness and relative efficiencies of two practice scenarios, each designed to present a series of lane changes for participants to negotiate. Scenario 1 included 50 lane changes and participants were instructed to follow the posted speed limits, which ranged from 48 km/h (30 mph) to 105 km/h (65 mph). Scenario 2 included 20 lane changes and participants began driving at 80 km/h (50 mph). They were told to increase their speed as they were comfortable to do so. In both scenarios, the lane changes were identified using sets of pylons flanking the desired travel lanes. Measures of steering and speed control were recorded. A cost function was developed as the product of the absolute value of the lane position of the simulator vehicle at the moment the vehicle reached each set of pylons and the square of the travel time between successive sets of pylons. The cost and cumulative cost per trial values were tested for whether they fit a power curve, indicating whether the participants learned, were still learning, or were not learning to interact with the simulator. Both scenarios were shown to be effective. The differences in the means and variances of the cumulative cost per trial values were tested. The results support the notion that Scenario 1 was more efficient, as indicated by lower variances after 20 lane changes. Additionally, the participants driving Scenario 2 had greater travel times between lane changes than those driving Scenario 1. The drawn conclusion is that directing participants to drive a range of speeds while making lane changes helps in their learning to interact with the driving simulator.


Context: Empirical research helps gain well-founded insights about phenomena. Furthermore, empirical research creates evidence for the validity of research results. Objective: We aim at assessing the state-of-practice of empirical research in software architecture. Method: We conducted a comprehensive survey based on the systematic mapping method. We included all full technical research papers published at major software architecture conferences between 1999 and 2015. Results: 17% of papers report empirical work. The number of empirical studies in software architecture has started to increase in 2005. Looking at the number of papers, empirical studies are about equally frequently used to a) evaluate newly proposed approaches and b) to explore and describe phenomena to better understand software architecture practice. Case studies and experiments are the most frequently used empirical methods. Almost half of empirical studies involve human participants. The majority of these studies involve professionals rather than students. Conclusions: Our findings are meant to stimulate researchers in the community to think about their expectations and standards of empirical research. Our results indicate that software architecture has become a more mature domain with regards to applying empirical research. However, we also found issues in research practices that could be improved (e.g., when describing study objectives and acknowledging limitations).


Practical Applications Summary In The New Neutral: The Long-Term Case for Currency Hedging, from the Summer 2018 issues of the Journal of Investing, authors Robert Bush and Abby Woodham (both of DWS in New York, NY) examine the role of currency risk in long-term asset allocation for international equities. They address the impact of currency exposure on overall portfolio risk and return, and recommend using a portfolio approach as a framework to understand the role of foreign currencies in strategic asset allocation. The authors argue that fully hedging currency risk should be the new neutral for making long-term asset allocation decisions.


OBJECTIVE
To know the sources of information and the level of trust in these sources in a population to facilitate the promotion of healthy dietary habits.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A national survey was carried out according to an established protocol on a representative sample of 1009 Spanish subjects over 15 years of age selected by a random multietapic procedure. This study belongs to the Spanish partnership in a pan-European Survey about sources of information on healthy eating and their level of trust. The analysis was focussed on the evaluation of the 5 most frequently chosen sources.

RESULTS
There was a trend towards a greater use and trust in "Health professionals" than other sources. Thus, about 26% of the respondents mentioning "health professionals" as the source of information on healthy eating. However, "TV/radio" (25.7%) was almost so often selected as "Health professionals". About 17.4% of subjects declared that they obtained no information at all on healthy eating. Subjects with university level of studies exhibited a greater mention of "Health professionals", while individuals belonging to higher socio-economic levels preferred "TV/radio". The degree of trust was higher for messages obtained from "Health professionals" (89.9%) and the "Department of Health" (78.7%) and lower for information obtained from "newspaper" (34.2%) and "advertising" (17.6%).

CONCLUSION
Nutrition and health educators must promote dietary guidelines through the appropriate channels for communicating messages to different targets groups.


I want to take the opportunity to thank the Editor, Dr DeAngelis, for her note published with the recent article, "Outcomes of Adolescents Using Levonorgestrel Implants vs Oral Contraceptives or Other Contraceptive Methods." 1 While faithfully bearing the responsibility of communicating the most up-to-date research and studies in the field of teenage sexuality, Dr DeAngelis also reminds us not to lose sight of the need for a more permanent solution. Teenage sexuality is an undeniable problem that we face as a society and, hence, as its health care providers. We cannot pretend that the problem does not exist since we are faced with its consequences in our patients every day. Because we are expected to treat their immediate need, it is easy to get so caught up in cures that we neglect working its prevention. The effects of adolescent sex must be dealt with. Unfortunately, we treat the sexually transmitted


This paper aims to review research that determines the influence of outsourcing on knowledge management and learning, a process which will help identify new research opportunities and contribute to the further development of outsourcing theory. The study consists of a review of 34 refereed articles on outsourcing in relation to knowledge management and learning. The findings were summarised in a number of hypotheses and two conceptual models which highlight the contribution of outsourcing to either competitive advantage or disadvantage. This study may not have enabled a complete coverage of all peer reviewed articles in the field of outsourcing in relation to learning and knowledge management. Yet, it seems reasonable to assume that the review process covered a large share of studies available. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no literature review on this topic has previously been published in academic journals.


In Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man (1963) Wilfrid Sellars raises a problem for the very possibility of normative epistemology.  How can the "scientific image", which celebrates the causal relation among often imperceptible physical states, make room for justificatory relations among introspectible propositional attitudes?  We sketch a naturalistic model of reason and of epistemic decisions that parallels a compatibilist solution to the problem of freedom of action.  Not only doesn't science lead to rejection of our account of normative reasoning, science depends on, sophisticates, and explains how normative reasoning is possible.


Poly(dithieno[3,2-b:2,3-d]pyrrole)s, or poly(DTP)s, are potentially promising electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage (EES) because of their ability to reversibly store charge and achieve relatively high doping levels. Here, we explore charge storage in two different side-chain-substituted poly(DTP)s. Substitution at the nitrogen with alkyl and alkyl ether chains is used to demonstrate the ability to tune electrochemical response through favorable interactions with the electrolyte. PolyDTP electrodes are electropolymerized and analyzed using various electrochemical techniques, spectroscopic measurements including UV–vis and Raman, and electron microscopy. Specific capacities for the poly(DTP)s range between approximately 35 and 70 mAh/g for discharge rates of 1–75 C, corresponding to considerably high doping levels of 0.5–0.9 electrons per repeat unit. After 1000 cycles, the alkyl-substituted polymer retains 75% of its initial capacity while the alkyl ether-substituted polymer only retains ...