A seismic disturbance alters the electrical properties of the Earth. This means, in principle, that within Earth volumes supporting both types of wave propagation, a radar wave field will tend to scatter from a seismic wave field. Given seismic disturbances with lengthscales on the order of that of the radar pulse, such interaction may be detectable as backscattering phenomena. Given seismic disturbances with length-scales much larger than that of the radar pulse, the interaction may be detectable as forward-scattering (e.g., anomalous traveltime) phenomena. Radar data with these characteristics would lend themselves readily to techniques of imaging-inversion, migration, and tomography, and would present the potential for providing "snapshot" images of a seismic wavefield during important stages of its evolution, e.g., as it propagates in poorly characterized and unconsolidated near surface structures. The relative magnitude of these effects as compared to other components of a GPR data set are likely very small. This work remains highly theoretical in that it is not clear whether they could be expected to rise above the noise level in realistic data sets.


Objectives According to NHS QOF (Quality and Outcomes Framework) figures, 3.3 million UK citizens have asthma. Previous studies have shown an association of asthma with increased direct and indirect healthcare costs, but similar studies have not been conducted specifically for UK asthma patients. The aim of the current study is to assess the impact of poor asthma control on UK patients treated with ICS + LABA maintenance treatment. Methods Data were from the 2010 and 2011 UK National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS), an Internet-based questionnaire from a representative sample of UK adults stratified by age and gender. 701 respondents self-reported a diagnosis of asthma without concomitant COPD, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema and were currently being treated with ICS + LABA. Patients Not Well Controlled (NWC) according to ACT (score < 20) were compared to well-controlled (WC) patients (score ≥ 20) on demographics, medications, health status, BMI, comorbidities, adherence (MMAS-4), healthcare use (number of physician visits, emergency visits and hospitalizations), work productivity and activity impairment (WPAI) and health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) (SF-12). Results A greater proportion of the 452 NWC patients (64% of the overall sample) go to emergency (21% vs. 14%, p = 0.016) or are hospitalised (13% vs. 8%, p = 0.022), in comparison with the WC; Their mental and physical HR-QoL is lower (SF-12 MCS: 43 vs. 47/100; PCS: 40 vs. 48/100; Health utility: 0.65 vs. 0.74/1.00; all p's < 0.001);while their work and activity impairment are greater: presenteeism (23% vs. 11%, p < 0.001), overall work impairment (29% vs. 17%, p < 0.001) and activity impairment (46% vs. 24%, p < 0.001). In the current sample, NWC did not show significantly different levels of adherence from WC (50% vs. 55%, p = 0.361). Conclusions Over 60% UK ICS + LABA-treated adult patients are poorly controlled. Poor control is associated with lower HR-QoL, greater healthcare use and productivity impairment, but not with significantly different levels of adherence to WC patients. The recognition of patients remaining symptomatic and utilising healthcare resource whilst treated with ICS + LABA maintenance therapy is an important step to improving their management.


In today's competitive telecommunications environment, a service provider should be able to prepare for changes in customer needs, regulation and technology. The most recent technological change in GSM environment is the Mobile Number Portability (MNP). The aim of this study is to identify and model the factors affecting MNP in Turkey. The questionnaire is developed based on previous researches and is modified according to a pilot study applied to five end-users. It is administered to a total of 1275 Internet users and 1250 usable data are collected. Reliability analysis (Cronbach's alpha) is applied to test internal consistency of the questionnaire. Regression analysis results indicate that overall model is statistically significant, where the factors affecting MNP are age, contract type, operator type, and satisfaction level. This study shows that the specified model can be used by managers of telecommunications service providers in order not to be affected by MNP.


Due to the high availability and applicability, handwritten signatures are an eminent biometric authentication measure in our life. To mitigate the risk of a potential misuse, automatic signature verification tries to distinguish between genuine and forged signatures. Most of the available signature verification approaches make use of vectorial rather than graph-based representations of the handwriting. This is rather surprising as graphs offer some inherent advantages. Graphs are, for instance, able to directly adapt their size and structure to the size and complexity of the respective handwritten entities. Moreover, several fast graph matching algorithms have been proposed recently that allow to employ graphs also in domains with large amounts of data. The present paper proposes to use different graph embedding approaches in conjunction with a recent graph-based signature verification framework. That is, signature graphs are not directly matched with each other, but first compared with a set of predefined prototype graphs, in order to obtain a dissimilarity representation. In an experimental evaluation, we employ the proposed method on two widely used benchmark datasets. On both datasets, we empirically confirm that the learning-free graph embedding outperforms state-of-the-art methods with respect to both accuracy and runtime.


Background The antibiotics used for prophylaxis in colorectal surgery (CS) must maintain appropriate plasma concentrations (PC) throughout surgery to avoid surgical site infections (SSI). Purpose To determine the suitability of a single dose of metronidazole and cefuroxime for prophylaxis of CS, assessing the relation between antibiotic PC and the minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of the microorganisms often isolated in SSI. Materials and methods Prospective study involving 64 patients undergoing CS in a tertiary hospital. Each patient was given a single dose of 1.5 g metronidazole and 1.5 g cefuroxime by intravenous infusion over 20–60 min during induction of anaesthesia. 4–5 blood samples were taken; the first at the time of starting the infusion and one of them at the end of surgery. Mean duration of the operation was 2.68 h (range 0.75–6.83 h). We checked whether the dosing regimens used ensured concentrations of both drugs above the MIC of the microorganisms commonly isolated in SSI, during the whole intervention. The target concentration was 8 mg/L, the highest susceptibility breakpoint for bacteria expected to be found in these procedures. Results Metronidazole PC at the time of closure of the peritoneal cavity ranged from 8.6 mg/L to 49 mg/L, all values above 8 mg/L. Cefuroxime PC at the time of closing ranged from 2.7 mg/L to 72 6 mg/L. In 6 cases, where surgery was prolonged over 2.6 h, the cefuroxime concentrations at closing time were less than 8 mg/L. Considering that the elimination half-life of cefuroxime is 1.3 h and after 2.6 h (two elimination half-lives) plasma levels fall below the target value, a second dose of 1.5 g of cefuroxime should be recommended in operations that extend over 2 h to ensure the target concentration throughout the intervention. Conclusions A single dose of 1.5 g of metronidazole is able to maintain suitable levels of drug in the plasma for the entire surgery. In the case of cefuroxime, additional doses should be administered if the surgery is extended beyond 2 h. No conflict of interest.


The COSMOS-Legacy survey is a 4.6 Ms Chandra program that has imaged 2.2 deg2 of the COSMOS field with an effective exposure of ≃ 160 ?> ks over the central 1.5 deg2 and of ≃ 80 ?> ks in the remaining area. The survey is the combination of 56 new observations obtained as an X-ray Visionary Project with the previous C-COSMOS survey. We describe the reduction and analysis of the new observations and the properties of 2273 point sources detected above a spurious probability of 2 × 10−5. We also present the updated properties of the C-COSMOS sources detected in the new data. The whole survey includes 4016 point sources (3814, 2920 and 2440 in the full, soft, and hard band). The limiting depths are 2.2 × 10−16, 1.5 × 10−15, and 8.9 × 10−16 erg cm − 2 s − 1 ?> in the 0.5–2, 2–10, and 0.5–10 keV bands, respectively. The observed fraction of obscured active galactic nuclei with a column density >1022 cm−2 from the hardness ratio (HR) is ∼50 − 16 + 17 ?> %. Given the large sample we compute source number counts in the hard and soft bands, significantly reducing the uncertainties of 5%–10%. For the first time we compute number counts for obscured (HR > −0.2) and unobscured (HR < −0.2) sources and find significant differences between the two populations in the soft band. Due to the unprecedent large exposure, COSMOS-Legacy area is three times larger than surveys at similar depths and its depth is three times fainter than surveys covering similar areas. The area-flux region occupied by COSMOS-Legacy is likely to remain unsurpassed for years to come.


Iran ABSTRACT Background: Diabetic foot ulcers are important topic in diabetes care. Diabetes is one of the most common metabolic diseases of endocrinology. Raspberry ( Rubus fruticosus ) has anti-inflammatory, anti-septic and anti-oxidant effects. The aim of present study is healing effects of raspberry extract on the regeneration process of skin wounds in control and diabetic rats. Methods: In this study, 48 adult male rats were divided into four groups (n=12 each) including: control group (non-treated and non-diabetic rats), sham (eucerin-treated diabetic rats), experimental1 (non-treated diabetic rats) and experimental 2 (raspberry-treated diabetic rats). Diabetes was induced by 55 mg/kg Streptozotocin (STZ) in three groups of rats. A wound with 3 cm length was created on the skin of back side of animals in all groups. The experimental 1 group was treated by eucerin and experimental 2 groups were treated by raspberry extract two times in a day. Microscopic and macroscopic studies were performed on wound healing process on days of 3, 5, 7, 14 and 21. Results: The findings showed that sham and experimental 1 group had later healing effect comparing with control group. The speed of wound healing in raspberry extract-treated rats (experimental 2 groups) had significantly increased in comparison with control group and the wound surface area has been significantly decreased in comparison with all other groups (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: It seems that topical application of raspberry extract can accelerate the wound healing in diabetic rats and materials in raspberry extract stimulate the collagen synthesis, faster wound contraction and


Whilst hunting up archæological remains in the parish of Muirkirk in October, 1894, I stumbled across some curious old Dry River Channels, of which I shall now give a short account. First.—For a short way in the neighbourhood of Priesthill the Ponesk Water flows west, then with a radius of about two furlongs it wheels round and flows through a deep glen in a south-easterly direction. Towards the south-west side of this bend there are—on the inside of the curve—two projecting promontories of rock, both of which have been cut off to a certain extent by two channels. When on the high ground on the south side of the Ponesk Water I saw the first one—that lowest down the stream—for a time I was fairly deceived by it, believing it to be the ditch or moat of an ancient fort. After an examination I have now not the slightest doubt that the point of land cut off by this old high and dry channel has been used at one time as a fort. It is scarped round the side towards the stream, and right across the centre of the ditch or channel there is an entrance roadway, raised 5 feet above the bottom, exactly in the manner we see adopted in connection with many of the existing old forts. The length of this channel is 321 paces; it curves slightly, and towards its south-east end it is between 20 and 30 feet deep. It appears to be cut entirely out This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract


ABSTRACT Alternative conceptions in astronomy are a road block to new learning. Astronomy content is included in the Australian Curriculum (AC) from Year 3 and then intermittently in Year 5, Year 7 and Year 10. In accepting that science is socio-culturally constructed, it is important for teachers to have a clear understanding of the alternative conceptions that students bring with them to the science classroom. This article reports on the alternative conceptions elicited from 546 students ranging from Year 5 through Year 7 using a modified form of the Astronomy Diagnostic Test [Danaia, L. (2006). Students' experiences, perceptions and performance in junior secondary school science: An intervention study involving a remote telescope (Doctoral dissertation). Charles Sturt University, Bathurst]. Results show that some well identified alternative conceptions, such as the 'eclipse model' to explain the phases of the Moon, exist before students enter high school and prior to any formal learning on the topic. In addition, this research identified a number of alternative conceptions held by pre-adolescent students in Western Australia that were based on knowledge that should have been consolidated by students in Year 3, viz., the relative movements of the Earth, Moon and Sun. Armed with students' alternative conceptions as a part of their pedagogical content knowledge, teachers can construct active learning experiences that will challenge students' existing constructs in order to allow for new learning. This sample suggests that we need to identify the reasons behind the lack of consolidation of the foundation astronomy content of the Australian Curriculum outlined for students in Year 3.


This research aims to investigate the association of gender dissimilarities and job satisfaction among employees working in public sector Universities. Structural equation modeling approach using Smart PLS is employed to test hypotheses on 410 samples of university officers. The findings reveal that the gender differences have positive relationship with employee job satisfaction. Moreover, there are various factors alike organizational commitment, working conditions which are not considered in this research. Furthermore, current research has stressed on the significance of HR practices in public sector universities to manage diversity. The research implications suggest that authorities relating to public sector universities private banking sector of Pakistan needs to pay attention on rewards and recognition activities as employees expect rewards according to their efforts.


The paper analysis the influence of ice snow on flow at the view of the driver and the car, and through measuring a certain road in Heilongjiang province, getting three parameters of flow, speed and density of early high peak period of the ice snow road and normal road. The data that passes the actual diagraph builds up the transportation to three parameters of flow speed-density model, taking this model as the foundation, deducing a speed-density model. Pass the method that begs the pole value to the speed-discharge model, get to ice snow and no ice snow two kinds of appearances of the research road segment of go through the ability physically. Pass the research road segment the transportation environment and the road line forms of the place, established to affect the factor that that road goes through the ability physically and it to should of coefficient, thus build up the influence factor model that rises the calculation to go through the ability physically.


Methods of shallow seismic exploration of soils are continually developing and evolving. Advances in techniques and equipment for performing crosshole and downhole tests, new data on interpretation of waves in these tests, and a description of the new Spectral-Analysis-Of-Surface-Waves method for in situ site evaluation are presented. In addition some speculation with regard to a process which might be called 'Geotomography' is presented based on the current potential for automated data reduction in crosshole testing. Finally, a review of recent re-examinations of the role of the state of stress in a soil mass on the low strain amplitude dynamic properties is presented and discussed with regard to the importance of principal stress directions in elastic wave propagation.


Author(s): Yu, Sungduk | Advisor(s): Pritchard, Michael S | Abstract: Tropical precipitation in modern global climate models (GCMs) still shows large errors in both spatial and temporal patterns, despite notable improvement of GCMs over past decades. As tropical precipitation biases are linked to large scale circulation errors and in turn have global impacts in simulated climate, tropical precipitation bias is one of the primary issues to be tackled to improve the accuracy of GCM output. This dissertation addresses key issues in the underlying model dynamics and physics responsible for tropical precipitation biases in modern, state-of-art GCMs.The first of the three research projects presented in this dissertation systematically tests the time step sensitivity of a superparameterized (SP) GCM to better understand the physical essence of superparameterized convection and its impact on global climatology. The time step in an SPGCM dictates the frequency of information exchange between two scales (be- tween the GCM and the cloud resolving model (CRM) embedded in each grid cell), and, accordingly, a different time step artificially imposes a constraint on model behavior. In an SP version of the Community Atmosphere Model 3.0, several important sensitivities in the tropical climatology are identified, e.g. a faster scale coupling causes weaker cloud forcing,temperature gradients. These sensitivities are distinct from the time step sensitivities of conventionally parameterized GCMs and have implications for understanding emergent be- haviors of multiscale deep convective organization in superparameterized GCMs.The second research project examines the impact of superparameterization on the initial growth of the double ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) bias in a dynamic ocean coupled GCM, with the initial intention to test if superparameterization can be a useful tool to mitigate this long-standing model problem by avoiding convective parameterizations that have been known as one of major double ITCZ bias sources. In an SP version of Community Earth System Model (CESM) 1.1, a fast bias growth, e.g. days for precipitation biases and weeks for sea surface temperature biases (also known as the cold tongue SST bias), is observed and validates our novel approach using short, ensemble hindcast simulations. The SP simulations show weaker double ITCZ biases than non-SP simulations, but this improvement is due to non-physical causes. A key discovery is that the historical neglect of convective momentum transport in SP-CESM causes unrealistically strong zonal wind shear near the surface that effectively suppresses the increase of zonal surface wind stress even when stronger overlying easterlies are present. The results highlight a less-appreciated role of convective momentum transport as a potential double ITCZ bias source, providing a new perspective to ITCZ dynamics and also suggesting future model development strategies.The third research project focuses on a marquee issue of modern tropical climate dynam- ics by exploring how oceanic circulation response buffers forced ITCZ shift when a top-of- atmosphere solar flux perturbation is present at the different latitudinal bands. Particular attention is paid to heat transport associated with Atlantic meridional overturning circula- tion (AMOC) that, unlike subtropical cell, does not have mechanical constraints coupled to Hadley circulation allowing potentially more efficient ITCZ shift buffering. A set of 200-year simulations using CESM 1.2 shows that the heat transport partitioning becomes more ocean centric as the solar forcing is located at higher latitudes and that such sensitivity is indeed driven by the AMOC responses. On the other hand, a previously identified STC (subtrop- ical cell) damping mechanism does not respond sensitively to the solar forcing locations, as a result of compensating circulation strength and depth responses. The findings demand the inclusion of the previously underappreciated AMOC heat transport to the current ITCZ migration framework to fully capture the atmosphere-ocean coupling. Besides, the results have some practical implication in GCM development strategy suggesting fixing tropical bias would be more effective to alleviate tropical precipitation biases in GCMs than fixing extratropical biases.


Greenhouse is used to produce vegetables in winter, the parameter of environment which suit vegetables grow is a complex and ill-defined problem. Furthermore, burning coal to heat greenhouse is expensive than carry vegetables from south region enormously, so at northeast, most greenhouse cannot produce. On the other hand, there are more than several hundred million ton biomass be burned in field. Not only waste natural resources greatly, but also caused pollution seriously. This paper presents an artificial intelligence control system of northeast region greenhouse base on biomass, peasants can use this system produce vegetables automatically by simple intervening. This system also can learn new vegetables growth data and representation it to control vegetable producing.


Shape memory alloys (SMA) can be utilized as electrical activated drives for valve applications. By using the high actuation forces and medium strokes in combination with SMA intrinsic sensor functions, smart and versatile valve elements for multi-purpose applications can be designed. The sensoric functions, based on the change of the electrical characteristics of the SMA drive, allow to detect the system's condition as well as the system's fatigue. The paper systematizes the usability of the intrinsic sensor function with particular emphasis on service potentials. The paper focuses the development of a service friendly valve which allows health monitoring over the lifetime as well as failure diagnostics.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Cooperative transmission by base stations (BSs) can significantly improve the spectral efficiency of multiuser, multi-cell, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems. We show that contrary to what is often assumed in the literature, the multiuser interference in such systems is fundamentally asynchronous. Intuitively, perfect timing-advance mechanisms can at best only ensure that the desired signal components -but not also the interference components -are perfectly aligned at their intended mobile stations. We develop an accurate mathematical model for the asynchronicity, and show that it leads to a significant performance degradation of existing designs that ignore the asynchronicity of interference. Using three previously proposed linear preceding design methods for BS cooperation, we develop corresponding algorithms that are better at mitigating the impact of the asynchronicity of the interference. Furthermore, we also address timing-advance inaccuracies (jitter), which are inevitable in a practical system. We show that using jitter-statistics-aware precoders can mitigate the impact of these inaccuracies as well. The insights of this paper are critical for the practical implementation of BS cooperation in multiuser MIMO systems, a topic that is typically oversimplified in the literature.


Network Enabled Capability (NEC) is the UK Ministry of Defence's key response to the rapidly changing conflict environment in which its forces must operate. This paper introduces one part of the EPSRC and BAE Systems jointly funded project NECTISE (NEC Through Innovative Systems Engineering) that aims to address NEC issues using service-oriented architecture (SOA) and enhanced system dependability using quality of service measures and metrics. SOA is a network-enabled solution that has the potential to combine assets (software resources, people, equipment, processes) to provide capability; that is, the ability to achieve a mission objective. This position paper introduces the problems NEC faces that can be addressed by SOA, and highlights some of those outstanding issues, such as dependability, not addressed by SOA that form research directions within the NECTISE programme.


Background In Scotland, as in other countries, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality has substantially declined over time. However, this decline may be slowing among younger groups and there are still large inequalities in mortality between socio-economic groups. Objectives To examine secular changes in the prevalence of known CVD risk factors in the Scottish population according to socio-economic position. Design Representative data on health and health-related behaviours from the Scottish Health Surveys, collected by stratified and clustered probability sampling. Participants Data are available from four surveys: 1995, 1998, 2003 and 2008 (6190, 6656, 5497 and 4202 respondents respectively aged 25–64 years). Main outcome measures Prevalence of cigarette smoking, excess alcohol consumption (men>21, women>14 units/week), hypertension (self-reported), diabetes (self-reported) and obesity (measured BMI ≥30kg/m2). Methods Prevalences, adjusted for survey weights, and stratified by gender and by gender/age were determined according to the individual's social class (Registrar General's) and educational level (highest qualification), standardised to the European standard population. Time-trends and trends across socio-economic categories were assessed using linear regression. The slope index of inequality (SII) was calculated for each risk factor in every survey. Results In 1995 the prevalence of smoking among professionals was 14.1% (95% CI 9.5 to 18.8%) compared to unskilled workers 51.0% (46.1 to 55.8%) with SII of 39.0. By 2008 the SII for smoking had decreased slightly to 35.7, with decreased prevalence in all social classes, except in the unskilled. Self-reported hypertension increased moderately within most educational levels; in men the corresponding SII changed little between the first and last survey (8.8 and 8.2 respectively) while for women it increased from 4.2 to 12.1. Diabetes prevalence increased in all educational categories. By 2008, the prevalence was 5.8% (3.9–7.7%) among all those with no qualifications and the SII had increased from 1.0, in 1995, to 3.9; (from 1.8 to 5.1 among women). The prevalence of obesity increased across the surveys with minimal change in the inequality gap. among those with no qualifications the prevalence increased from 23.3% (21.2–25.3%) at baseline to 31.2% (26.5–35.8%) in 2008. In the corresponding years the SII for obesity had increased from 10.7 to 13.0. Difficulties in reporting alcohol consumption trends arise from changes in recording practices between surveys; approaches will be presented. Conclusions Individuals of lower socio-economic status continue to carry the heaviest burden of CVD risk factors. There has been little, if no reduction in the inequality gap over time; indeed for some factors it may be growing.


The atlantic periplus of Ophelas could be have realized to instance of Alexander, ca. 331-323 BC, to evaluate the carthaginian presence in the North African Atlantic facade, before his projected campaign against Carthage and later try to reach the Columns of Herakles by the African coast. A second possibility could be during the period of Ophelas as governor of Cyrene, between 322 and 312 BC, before the preparations of his campaign against Carthage the 308 BC, to seek information on the destination points of the land caravans that were transporting gold powder until the North African Atlantic facade. The policy of Ophelas as governor had as priority the control of the land route of the gold, ivory, animal skins, ostrich pens, slaves, etc. that was arriving from the Chad lake by the Oasis of Dschofra and the desert of Fezzan. His objective was diverted the trade progressively toward Alexandria, in detriment from Carthage, after obtaining to relocate the frontier between Egypt and Carthage in the Euphrantas Tower, current region of the Syrtis, displacing some 150 km. westward the ancient limit between Carthage and the Cyrenaean in the arae Philaenorum.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
There is scant population-based information on incidence and risk factors for ischemic stroke subtypes.

METHODS
We identified all 454 residents of Rochester, Minn, with a first ischemic stroke between 1985 and 1989 from the Rochester Epidemiology Project medical records linkage system. We used Stroke Data Bank criteria to assign infarct subtypes after reviewing medical records and brain imaging. We adjusted average annual incidence rates by age and sex to the US 1990 population and compared the age-adjusted frequency of stroke risk factors across ischemic stroke subtypes.

RESULTS
Age- and sex-adjusted incidence rates (per 100 000 population) were as follows: large-vessel cervical or intracranial atherosclerosis with >50% stenosis, 27; cardioembolic, 40; lacuna, 25; uncertain cause, 52; other or uncommon cause, 4. Sex differences in incidence rates were detected only for atherosclerosis with stenosis (47 [95% CI, 34 to 61] for men; 12 [95% CI, 7 to 17] for women). There was no difference in prior transient ischemic attack and hypertension among subtypes, and diabetes was not more common among patients with lacunar infarction than other common subtypes.

CONCLUSIONS
The age-adjusted incidence rate of stroke due to stenosis of the large cervicocephalic vessels is nearly 4 times higher for men than for women. There is no association between preceding transient ischemic attack and stroke mechanism. Diabetes and hypertension are not more common among patients with lacunae. Age- and sex-adjusted incidence rates for ischemic stroke subtypes in this population can be compared with similarly determined rates from other populations.


The evolution support environment (ESE) system, which provides a framework for capturing and making available semantic information about software components of an evolving software system, is described. The goal in the design of the ESE system was to provide integrated support for management of software architecture configuration, life-cycle configuration, and version control. Software architecture configuration management allows tracking of interconnections among software components that make up a system. Life-cycle management allows traceability among specifications, design, code, and test cases during software development. Adding version control allows specific versions of software objects and their associated objects, such as specifications and test cases, to be retrieved. The authors' experience with the use of the system is discussed. >


The spread of digital technologies has led to a massively interconnected global system that creates and transmits astronomical quantities of data. This "information explosion" impacts the ways we can study and understand the dynamics of socio-political systems by increasing the variety, availability, and complexity of the data available to both qualitative and quantitative political scientists. These new information sources can, importantly, also support mixed methods approaches that can be more effective than either pure approach. However, researchers currently lack the appropriate tools to fully leverage this wealth of information. In this paper, we present a new technology-based methodological framework — the Model Analyst's Toolkit (MAT) — that can support mixed methods research designs. As a use case, we focus on the particularly challenging analytic task of establishing causal models and illustrate how this methodological approach can enable experts of all backgrounds to use data visualization, modeling, and validation tools to enhance their findings in the evolving digital information environment.


Connecticut's public K–12 education system relies heavily on local funding, resulting in substantial disparities between affluent districts and low-income districts with a large proportion of socioeconomically disadvantaged students who are more costly to educate. Despite recent improvements, the existing state aid formula has been criticized for failing to provide sufficient funding to districts with the fewest resources and the highest education costs. To help improve state aid distribution, this report estimates a "cost-capacity gap," which measures the difference between a district's education cost and revenue capacity and uses it as an indicator of the district's need for state education aid. The report proposes a series of state aid formulas based on the gap measure that Connecticut policymakers may use to improve equity and adequacy in education funding. Through rigorous statistical analysis of recent data, this report measures each school district's education cost and revenue capacity based on factors that are outside the direct control of local officials at any given point in time. The cost factors include, among others, the percentage of school-age children from families living in poverty and the percentage of students living in single-parent or non-family households. The revenue capacity estimate for each district is based mostly on taxable property wealth. The analysis shows large disparities in the cost-capacity gap across the state. While districts with larger gaps, on average, receive more per-pupil state aid under the current formula compared with smaller-gap districts, the largest-gap districts still receive less aid than they need to close their cost-capacity gaps. As a result, inequity and inadequacy remain in the state's education finance system. The policy simulations show that the gap-based formulas introduced in this report address funding inequity and inadequacy more effectively than the existing formula does. Some of these new formulas incorporate tools intended to enhance their appeal to state legislators whose communities do not have large cost-capacity gaps. These tools include minimum and maximum levels of per-pupil state aid and a hold-harmless provision. However, a gap-based formula that contains any of these tools would fail to fully eliminate funding inequity and inadequacy and require a larger state aid pool than would be needed otherwise.


Seismically excited adjacent buildings with equal floor heights and with inadequate clearance may interact/collide due to out of phase response developing slab-to-slab pounding forces which, although do not induce local damage to structural members, they do influence the overall seismic structural response. Herein, a numerical study is undertaken to quantify, statistically, the above influence in terms of fragility curves conditioned on different limit states widely used in performance-base seismic risk assessment of yielding structures. This is accomplished through incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) for 72 far-field GMs and facilitated by introducing a novel intensity measure, the geometric mean of spectral acceleration at the fundamental periods of the colliding structures, shown to improve efficiency in accounting for GM record-to-record variability. Probabilistic models (fragility curves) are derived for a case-study scenario of two colliding reinforced concrete (r/c) structures with unequal number of floors and ductility capacities (i.e., 12-storey ductility class high and 8-storey ductility class low according to Eurocode 8) modelled as equivalent inelastic SDOF systems. It is found that seismic pounding has significant impact to the median and standard deviation (shape) of fragility curves for a clearance of 10% the minimum required distance specified by Eurocode 8, especially for the higher (12-storey) structure for which pounding is detrimental.


Written over a thirty-year span, Michael Lambek's essays in this collection point with definitive force toward a single central truth: ethics is intrinsic to social life. As he shows through rich ethnographic accounts and multiple theoretical traditions, our human condition is at heart an ethical one-we may not always be good or just, but we are always subject to their criteria. Detailing Lambek's trajectory as one anthropologist thinking deeply throughout a career on the nature of ethical life, the essays accumulate into a vibrant demonstration of the relevance of ethics as a practice and its crucial importance to ethnography, social theory, and philosophy. Organized chronologically, the essays begin among Malagasy speakers on the island of Mayotte and in northwest Madagascar. Building from ethnographic accounts there, they synthesize Aristotelian notions of practical judgment and virtuous action with Wittgensteinian notions of the ordinariness of ethical life and the importance of language, everyday speech, and ritual in order to understand how ethics are lived. They illustrate the multiple ways in which ethics informs personhood, character, and practice; explore the centrality of judgment, action, and irony to ethical life; and consider the relation of virtue to value. The result is a fully fleshed-out picture of ethics as a deeply rooted aspect of the human experience.


Background: First introduced as the safer alternative to smoking, vaping has become a popular activity among young adults. However, little is known about the potential health effects of vaping.  This pilot project examined the acute cardiovascular effects of nicotine vapes/e-cigarettes (EC) in comparison to tobacco cigarettes (TC) in young adults in order to determine if vaping is more detrimental to cardiovascular health than traditional cigarettes.
 Methods: 16 healthy participants (7 M, 9 F; 20.2 ± 1.9 years) were recruited to participate in the study.  Anthropometric measures were determined upon entry into the study. Circulatory measures (heart rate [HR], blood pressure [BP] and heart rate variability [HRV]) were measured prior to and 10-min following vaping or cigarette smoking and in response to an orthostatic challenge.
Results: Resting circulatory and HRV measures were not different between chronic EC-users and TC-smokers.  Vaping and cigarette smoking induced a significant increase in cardiovascular measures (HR and BP) but not HRV measures.  Both groups responded similarly to the orthostatic challenge prior to and following vaping/smoking.
Conclusion: These results indicate that, from a cardiovascular perspective, vaping induces similar acute effects as cigarette smoking and that young adults should be counselled about these adverse effects accordingly.


This study aimed to evaluate the interference of bagging materials on the incidence of insect larvae and the physical and chemical quality of the guava cv. Paluma in an organic system. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with seven treatments and four replications of 25 fruits each. The bagging materials (treatments) were: nonwoven fabric (TNT), transparent plastic bag, white plastic bag, parchment paper, kraft paper, and non-bagged fruits (control). The titratable acidity (TA), ascorbic acid, soluble solids (SS), SS/TA ratio, fresh mass, fruit diameter, fruit length, appearance, and fruit fly incidence were evaluated. Fruit bagging increased the fresh fruit mass, except the tulle bag, which did not change fruit diameter but increased fruit length. There was a high incidence of fruit flies in the non-bagged fruits (100%) and in those with tulle bags (56.53%), reduced to 2.15% when using parchment paper, and reaching the absence of bored fruits when using nonwoven fabric, transparent plastic, and white plastic bags, materials that provided the highest percentages of marketable fruits. All bagging materials did not change the total titratable acidity content and the SS/TA ratio; however, all of them reduced the content of total soluble solids, except the tulle bag. Fruit bagging with nonwoven fabric and parchment paper increased the content of ascorbic acid. Fruit bagging with parchment paper, plastic bag, and nonwoven fabric are efficient in the organic production of guavas for preventing the infection by insect larvae and maintaining the physical and chemical quality of the fruit.


As geographic information systems become more and more widely used, an increasing amount of positional data is generated and shared between users. Sharing spatial data introduces challenges, with URLs containing lengthy coordinates needing to be sent through services with character limits. This problem has been solved with the usage of geospatially-speci c URL-shortening systems, using properties of spacelling curves to reduce the multiple dimensions of point data, down to a shorter, URL-friendly, hash value. An example of such a system is the Geohash.org service, using the Z-order spacelling curve to map between hash values and geographical points. While the Z-order curve is simple, alternative spacelling curves of higher complexity exist, possessing several theoretical advantages and disadvantages. One such alternative is the Hilbert curve, which presumably has superior hashing properties at the cost of being computationally more complex. Thus, the Hilbert-curve based point data hashing system hilbert-geohash, is implemented to determine whether these properties are worth the additional complexity they introduce. The results show that the Hilbert curve is, to some extent, applicable within the context point data hashing, but that the complexity increment is not proportional to the practical bene ts over the Z-order curve. While a point data hashing system is not fully capable of exploiting the speci c advantages of the Hilbert-curve, a proposed distributed point data retrieval system should be capable of doing so. This proposed system would use the presented hilbert-geohash system as a crucial part of its hash-space addressing mechanism, taking advantage of the properties of the Hilbert curve to reduce communication distances between peers in the distributed network.


Nowadays in industrialized regions, the majority of childbirths take place in a hospital under high medical and paramedical supervision; this renders the rate of perinatal events very low. This obstetrical safety progressively developped through a practice that, at times, was studded with strange recommendations as well as ingenious concepts. The progress of Medicine and the emancipation of Woman deeply modified the approach to child delivery and influence the importance of its different actors. The current tendency towards a "more natural delivery" may be stepping away from the security of childbirth in a hospital setting.


A commercial infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) vaccine of the Massachusetts 41 strain was injected in embryonating chicken eggs on embryonation day (ED) 18. The IBV vaccine was pathogenic for embryos, and it was passaged in chicken kidney tissue culture to reduce the pathogenicity. At the 40th tissue culture passage (P40-IBV), the virus became apathogenic for the embryos. Maternal antibody-positive or -negative chicks hatching from eggs injected with P40-IBV developed antibody to IBV and were protected against challenge exposure at 4 weeks of age with virulent Massachusetts 41 IBV. Although P40-IBV protected chicks when administered on ED 18, this virus did not protect chicks well if given at hatch. When combined with the turkey herpesvirus (HVT), P40-IBV given on ED 18 did not interfere with the protection against challenge exposure with virulent Marek's disease virus, nor did the presence of HVT interfere with protection by P40-IBV. Thus, under laboratory conditions, IBV vaccine could be combined with HVT to form a bivalent embryonal vaccine.


As wind energy expands to achieve the United States' net zero emission goals, compensatory mitigation will be required to offset negative effects on birds and bats. The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is particularly susceptible to collision with wind turbines, but only 1 option for offsetting mortalities has been approved by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service despite many sources of anthropogenic‐caused mortality. We update a previously developed vehicle‐collision model with data collected during 3 winters from 2016 to 2019 and integrate a resource equivalency analysis so that relocation of road‐killed game animals can be used as mitigation to offset incidental mortality. We parameterized golden eagle behaviors using motion‐sensitive cameras placed at roadside carcasses. We quantified the effects of different carcass‐relocation schemes based on vehicle and carcass characteristics observed for Wyoming, USA. Our model results indicate that while eagles saved per relocated carcass depends on relocation interval and vehicle traffic volume, carcass relocation is a viable mitigation strategy; up to 7 eagles could be saved each year in some counties. While some uncertainty remains about the precise credit received from each carcass relocated, delaying the inclusion of additional mitigation methods prevents opportunities for conservation action. An adaptive management program could be a way forward where management and monitoring are combined to further improve estimates of mitigation credit.


Bdellovibrio and like organisms (BALOs) are obligate predatory bacteria commonly encountered in the environment. In dual predator-prey cultures, prey accessibility ensures optimal feeding and replication and rapid BALO population growth. However, the environmental prey landscape is complex, as it also incorporates non-prey cells and other particles. These may act as decoys, generating unproductive encounters which in turn may affect both predator and prey population dynamics. In this study, we hypothesized that increasing decoy: prey ratios would bring about increasing costs on the predator's reproductive fitness. We also tested the hypothesis that different BALOs and decoys would have different effects. To this end, we constructed prey landscapes including periplasmic or epibiotic predators including two types of decoy under a large range of initial decoy: prey ratio, and mixed cultures containing multiple predators and prey. We show that as decoy: prey ratios increase, the maximal predator population sizes is reduced and the time to reach it significantly increases. We found that BALOs spent less time handling non-prey (including superinfection-immune invaded prey) than prey cells, and did not differentiate between efficient and less efficient prey. This may explain why in multiple predator and prey cultures, less preferred prey appear to act as decoy.


The negative effects of parental mental illness on children are not dependent on the parent's diagnosis, but are related to that parent's behaviour, the responses of other key adults (both familial and professional), and the degree to which development of the child's resilience has been encouraged. Parental mental illness can be responsible for serious interruptions in a child's cognitive and emotional development, which in turn can have implications for their future mental health. Resilience can be promoted by relatively simple interventions, but these require the active participation of both adult- and child-focused professionals involved with the family, particularly those concerned with the parent's treatment.


This study centers on the determinants of customer patronage for local food restaurant in Awka metropolis. There exists dearth of empirical studies on the patronage behavior of customers of local food restaurants in Awka metropolis. The study employed survey design and the population of study is the customers of local food restaurants in the area. The sampling technique used was quota sampling and the sample size is 246 respondents. The research instrument was questionnaire while data collected were subjected to reliability test using factor analysis. The result of the multiple regression analysis shows that food quality is the best predictor of customer patronage of local food restaurants follow by food varieties, convenient location, cultural influence, physical environment and service quality while price is not a significant determinant. We therefore recommend that local food restaurant operators should improve on the quality of meals served; provision of varieties of meals with different spices and meals should express the culture of the customer among others.


This paper examines changing research practices in the digital environment and draws out implications for the development of research infrastructure. Reviews of the literature, quantitative indicators of research activities and our own field research in Australia suggest that there is a new mode of knowledge production emerging, changing research practices and bringing new information access and dissemination needs. Adjustments will be required to accommodate these changes, but new opportunities are emerging for more cost-effective and sustainable information access and dissemination. To realise these opportunities, however, it will be necessary to take an holistic approach and treat the creation, production and distribution of scholarly information, the management of information rights and access, systems of review and evaluation and the underlying infrastructure as parts of a single research infrastructure and scholarly communication system.


Longitudinal studies that measure the effect of bloggers on consumer purchase are essential to improve our understanding in how social media bloggers become role models in people lives. As the number of blog posts and bloggers are increasing rapidly, this rapid rise is causing changes in people's (consumer's) purchase habits. There are some conceptual studies conducted about the revolution of Web 2.0 technology and social media and some of them specifically studied the different type of blogs. But no study has focused on the factors causing the influence, specifically factors such as social attractiveness, credibility, experience and sponsorship. To fill this gap, this paper suggests and test a model that explains the factors that influence consumers intentions to adopt recommendations. A total of 202 questionnaires were returned in the survey to identify which factors have influence on blog readers" intentions to adopt recommendations". Initially, data identified the demographic distribution of the respondents. Next, explanatory factor analysis was conducted to measure the validity and consistency of factors. Nine hypotheses were measured by conducting linear regression. Lastly, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was performed. The results from a sample of 202 show that the factors: trust, credibility, prior experience, perceived usefulness, sponsorship, social attractiveness, subjective norms, are influencing the intentions of consumers to adopt blogger's recommendations. In addition, the results highlight that social attractiveness has a mediating affect between attitude and intentions. The implications of these findings for bloggers and consumers are discussed in detail.


The results of extension block Kirschner wire fixation for the treatment of mallet fractures of the distal phalanx were retrospectively assessed in 65 consecutive patients. The indications for this technique were the presence of a large bone fragment, and palmar subluxation or the loss of joint congruity of the distal interphalangeal joint. Using the Wehbé and Scheider classification there were 27 type IB, 19 type IIB, 17 type IA, and 2 type IIA fractures. According to the Crawford rating system there were 46% excellent, 32% good, 20% fair and 2% poor results. We believe that this technique, when properly applied, produces satisfactory results.


In this paper, using microdata in Japan, we investigate whether credit contagion decreases trade credit supply for small businesses. In 1997-98 the Japanese economy experienced a large recession, and the number of dishonored bills and the number of bankruptcy filings caused by the domino effect increased. During a period of credit contagion, if firms possess higher financial claims than other firms, the possibility of default becomes higher. Therefore, if the problem of credit contagion is serious during such a period, suppliers withdraw trade credit from customers with higher trade receivables. They might also withdraw more trade credit from customers even though the credit risk of the customers is low. We find that during a recession, suppliers reduce trade credit more for small businesses with higher trade receivables. Additionally, in the manufacturing trade, credit is reduced for both risky and non-risky small firms. This effect in other industries, however, is weak.


The concept of an implicit contract between the public and a profession is used as a foundation for the responsibility for professions to develop continued competency assessment and enforcement mechanisms that ensure that the public can expect safe and competent care. The literature in medicine, other health professions, and from other countries is reviewed. There is concern that the fact of continued practice alone does not ensure continued competency in a changing profession and that mandatory continuing education attendance is insufficient. Public-interest groups that have looked at the issue report greater concern among the public than in the professions that effective continued competency mechanism be established and that action be taken where practitioners who are not competent are identified. There has been substantial develop of a variety of approaches in medicine, especially through the specialty boards which account for the majority of medical practitioners, in other health fields, and in several countries.


Background: Radiographic angles, such as the intermetatarsal angle, hallux valgus angle, and distal metatarsal articular angle, are commonly used to help guide operative planning for soft tissue and osseous treatment options for hallux valgus. Hallux valgus treatment in the setting of associated metatarsus adductus is less common and not well described. The presence of metatarsus adductus reduces the gap between the first and second metatarsals. Consequently, it complicates the measurement of the first-second intermetatarsal angle and can limit the area available for transposition of the first metatarsal head. A compensatory pronation is also created, which must be compensated for. We present 4 cases of patients that had hallux valgus with severe metatarsus adductus treated operatively, as well as a treatment algorithm. Methods: For concomitant correction of both the metatarsus adductus and the hallux valgus, a thorough surgical treatment algorithm was implemented to address the hallux, lesser toe deformities, and pes planus deformity. Postoperatively, the patients were kept non–weight bearing for 6 weeks, followed by gradual weight bearing in a protective boot. Physical therapy was instituted at the start of weight bearing to encourage a return to activities of daily living. Results: At follow-up, patients reported significant relief of their pain symptoms with a narrower and improved appearance of the foot. No recurrence was noted. One patient used a medial arch support but was otherwise symptom free. Radiographic measurements improved on postoperative radiographs. Conclusions: For the treatment of hallux valgus with metatarsus adductus, the second and third metatarsals may need to be addressed for the first metatarsal to be laterally transposed adequately. Overall, this comprehensive approach addresses the hindfoot, midfoot, and forefoot for patients with hallux valgus associated with metatarsus adductus, with successful results. Level of Evidence: Level V, case series.


Growth and differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), an anorexigenic peptide that represents a promising candidate for anti-obesity treatment, acts via GDNF Family Receptor Alpha Like (GFRAL), which is expressed almost exclusively on a subset of neurons in the area postrema (AP). To determine the function and mechanisms of action for GFRAL neurons, we generated Gfralcre and conditional GfralCreERT mice. Although their chemogenetic (DREADD-mediated) activation promoted FOS in a variety of brainstem, hypothalamic, and limbic nuclei, GFRAL neurons projected only to the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) and the parabrachial nucleus (PBN), where they innervated and activated aversive/anorexigenic GCRP-expressing cells. Tetanus-toxin-mediated silencing of PBN CGRP neurons abrogated the aversive and anorexic effects of GDF15. Furthermore, while non-gastrointestinal (GI) stimuli (e.g., GDF15 and LPS, but not feeding or gut peptide mimetics) activated GFRAL neurons, chemogenetically activating these cells decreased gastric emptying, suppressed feeding, and promoted a conditioned taste aversion. These findings suggest that GFRAL neurons link non-GI anorexigenic signals to the control of gut physiology and to the aversive suppression of food intake. Additionally, because the chemogenetic activation of GFRAL neurons suppressed food intake more strongly than GDF15 in lean mice, additional modes of activating GFRAL neurons may augment the anorectic potential of GDF15. Disclosure P.V. Sabatini: None. R.J. Seeley: Consultant; Self; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Kintai, Kintai, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi, Scohia Pharma Inc. Research Support; Self; AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk A/S, Pfizer Inc. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Redesign Health. Funding American Diabetes Association (1-19-PDF-099 to P.V.S.)


The Wolfram Language is one of the quickest paths from ideas to explorations, whether you're working with graphics, sound, 3D structures, text, images, or pure math. A significant barrier to the use of the Wolfram Language has fallen recently with the introduction of the Wolfram Open Cloud, which lets anyone with a browser do Wolfram Language programming online. I'll show you how to get started exploring with a free account, and we'll explore together, sharing discoveries as we go.


The effectiveness of the construction industry can only be enhanced by repositioning the construction health and safety regulations to safeguard the health of the workers and the entire community. This paper seeks to assess the views of consultants and contractors about the impact of construction health and safety regulations in Nigeria. Data was collected using the questionnaire survey distributed among construction professionals and statistical tools employed include tables, percentages and mean score ranking. The study revealed that construction health and safety is still perceived to be more important than the traditional project parameters in the form of cost, time and quality. Designers perceive that an enhanced environment is the resultant impact of construction health and safety regulations while quantity surveyors see improved quality as having the resultant impact while contractors perceive improved maintenance as having the resultant impact on health and safety regulation. The study recommends that better attention is given to health and safety should as a project parameter and that related practice notes and guidelines should be evolved for all project stakeholders.


The development of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) without external humidification is one of the most important issues to increase total efficiency and reduce cost. In the present study, we have developed hybrid pattern gas channels consisting of interdigitated and serpentine gas flow channels for PEFCs. The effects of gas flow channels at the anode and cathode on PEFC performance without external humidification were investigated. The PEFC performance was significantly deteriorated when a conventional triple serpentine channel was used at both the anode and cathode. However, when using the serpentine hybrid flow channel in the cathode, the performance was improved because of preventing the water from exhausting from the cathode. Moreover, the gas which flowed through the low pressure serpentine flow channel in the serpentine hybrid flow channel possibly promoted spreading water vapor over the whole active area. The triple serpentine flow channel in the anode was indicated to enhance spreading the water to whole of active area. Accordingly, IR overpotential was decreased and thereby PEFC performance was enhanced.


The
acquisition method for planar 67Ga imaging has hardly changed for 30
years. In this study, in order to improve image quality and diagnostic accuracy,
we take steps to optimize the acquisition method, and to choose a scatter
correction. First, we acquired individual images from the 93 keV, 185 keV, and
300 keV photopeak; then the images were added together and compared to the
individual images. Second, we compared results from a low-medium-energy (LME)
collimator with those from a conventional medium-energy (ME) collimator. Also,
we examined whether to combine the data from all three of the usual window
locations (set about 93 keV, 185 keV, and 300 keV) or to use the data from only
two. Third, we compared results from a conventional photopeak ± 10% window with those from a
photopeak ± 9 keV window. Fourth, for scatter correction we compared results
using the triple energy window (TEW) method with those using the multi-photopeak
dual window (MDW) method. The phantoms studied were cold rods in a uniform
background, and hot spheres within a cylinder containing uniformly radioactive
water. The clinical study involved 22 patients with lung lesions. By the
comparison by the contrast ratio in cold rods phantom, 15.6% is improved in LME
(2 peaks) than ME (3 peaks), and 3.2% is improved in photopeak ± 9 keV than
photopeak ± 10%, 10.2% is improved in TEW than MDW. However, the TEW scatter
correction method recognized unstable to the contrast ratio in a clinical
study. In addition, a body outline might disappear.


A study is presented of 33 patients suffering of borderline neuropsychic disorders of neurotic and affective levels with somatized course. One should distinguish in these patients mental disorders per se (asthenia, depression and hypochondria) and different functional-somatic, vegetative-vascular and senestopathic disorders and their combinations. Somatized disorders characteristic of this age group were singled out: cutaneous-muscular, abdominal, cerebral and cardiovascular. Cutaneous-muscular were most frequent. The problem is discussed of distinguishing peculiar "senestovegetoses" and "senestosomatoses" in the borders of somatized depressive states.


Background Despite the established benefits of regular exercise for patients with cancer to counteract the deleterious effects of the disease itself and treatment-related adverse effects, most of them do not engage in sufficient levels of physical activity and there is a paucity of data on the integration of efficacious exercise programs that are accessible and generalizable to a large proportion of patients with cancer into routine cancer care. Objective We intend to examine the effects attributable to the implementation of a community-based exercise program on cardiorespiratory functional capacity and quality of life for patients with cancer. Methods This will be a hybrid study. In the first experimental phase, patients diagnosed with any type of cancer will be randomized into two parallel groups. One group immediately performs Bizi Orain, a 3-month supervised exercise program (3 times a week), in addition to behavioral counseling in a primary health care setting; the other is a reference group that starts the exercise program 3 months later (delayed treatment). In the second observational phase, the entire cohort of participants will be followed-up for 5 years. Any person diagnosed with cancer in the previous 2 years is eligible for the program. The program evaluation involves the uptake, safety, adherence, and effectiveness assessed after completion of the program and with follow-ups at 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months. The primary outcomes of the experimental study, to be compared between groups, are improved physical function and quality of life, whereas overall survival is the main objective of the prospective study. To analyze the association between changes in physical activity levels and overall survival, longitudinal mixed-effects models will be used for repeated follow-up measures. Results A total of 265 patients have been enrolled into the study since January 2019, with 42 patients from the hematology service and 223 from the oncology service. Conclusions Bizi Orain is the first population-based exercise program in Spain that will offer more insight into the implementation of feasible, generalizable, and sustainable supportive care services involving structured exercise to extend survival of patients with cancer, improve their physical function and quality of life, and reverse the adverse effects of their disease and related treatments, thereby reducing the clinical burden. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03819595; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03819595 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/24835


Purpose of Review Many factors influence the health impact of exposure to metalliferous mine dusts and whilst the underpinning toxicology is pivotal, it is not the only driver of health outcomes following exposure. The purpose of this review is twofold: (i) to highlight recent advances in our understanding of the hazard posed by metalliferous mine dust and (ii) to broaden an often narrowly framed health risk perspective to consider the wider aetiology of the potential determinants of disease. Recent Findings The hazard posed by metalliferous dusts depends not only on their abundance and particle size but other properties such as chemical composition, solubility, shape, and surface area, which all play a role in the associated health effects. A better understanding of the mechanisms that lead to toxicity, such as recent advances in our understanding of the role played by reactive oxygen species (ROS), can help in the development of improved in vitro models to support risk assessments, whilst biomonitoring studies have the potential to guide risk management decisions for mining communities. Summary Environmental exposures are complex; complex geochemically and complex geographically. Research linking the environment to human health is starting to mature, highlighting the subtlety of multiple exposures, mixtures of substances, and the cumulative legacy effects of life in disrupted and stressed environments. We are evolving more refined biomarkers to identify these responses, which enhances our appreciation of the burden of effects on society and also directs us to more sophisticated risk assessment approaches to adequately address evolving regulatory and societal needs.


This work tackles university teachers' attitudes towards the change brought about by the introduction of the so-called European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) and the integration of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). It is evident that university teachers hold a positive opinion as regards the effect of ICT on their teaching practice; a more moderate opinion in relation to the conditions for their proper implementation and a critical opinion as regards the lack of university support policies and infrastructure. The demands of the new education and the ICT participation go hand in hand. In-service training should address educational issues associated to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), and to those that explain how to take advantage and how to make a didactic use of technological resources through courses pro- vided by the university itself, and through seminars on specific issues where the collaborative culture and the implementation of open education projects using ICT are encouraged.


We investigated an improved quantitative method for interpreting attributes of the Venusian crust from Magellan spacecraft imagery and spherical harmonic topographic and gravity models. We used spectral correlation theory to compare gravity effects of topography against free-air gravity anomalies for three tectonically disparate crustal regions. Adjusting terrain gravity effects for correlated free-air anomalies yields compensated effects that we used to estimate the Moho and crustal thickness variations. For Atalanta Planitia, the crust may be less than 10 km thick, but thickened peripherally at concentric ridge belts and tessera terrain. Crustal thickness may increase rapidly between the interior of this lowland plain and the peripheral ridge belts. For Beta Regio, the crustal thickness may exceed 40 km. Of the three regions considered, the crust of Beta Regio may be the most poorly compensated because its free-air anomalies are largest relative to corresponding terrain gravity effects. For Thetis Regio, crustal thicknesses may exceed 50 km. The thickened crust of Thetis Regio may also have been rifted and embayed by plains forming lavas. The lavas appear to embay and cover complexly ridged areas except where these units remained above the reach of the plains forming lavas. Crosscutting relationships, which are evident from Magellan imagery, together with our crustal thickness estimates, suggest that the complexly ridged terrain (or tesserae) may be the oldest crustal units within the three study regions. Hence these units may represent relict surfaces that predate emplacement of the plains.


INTRODUCTION
Cigarette smoking is the strongest modifiable risk factor for developing thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO), and the severity of TAO is related to the current number of cigarettes smoked per day. We aimed to establish the effects of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) on an in vitro model of TAO.

METHODS
Orbital tissue was taken during surgery from 10 patients with TAO and nine control subjects. Orbital fibroblasts were cultured and exposed to CSE, and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM1) expression was measured by flow cytometry. Glycosaminoglycan production was measured by hyaluronic acid ELISA. Orbital fibroblasts were grown in adipogenic media with or without CSE and/or IL-1, and the degree of adipogenesis was quantified.

RESULTS
Fibroblasts from patients with TAO and controls showed similar responses. ICAM1 expression was not affected by CSE. Hyaluronic acid production was stimulated by CSE in a dose-dependent manner (correlation coefficient, 0.978; P = 0.022), with 5% CSE causing an increase of 44% (P = 0.001). CSE increased adipogenesis in a dose-related manner, as did IL-1. The effects of CSE and IL-1 on adipogenesis were synergistic, with the degree of adipogenesis in the well containing both 5% CSE and 0.1 ng/ml IL-1 being double the magnitude of the sum of the values obtained from either stimulus alone (P < 0.001). Addition of an anti-IL-1 antibody to the well containing both 5% CSE and 0.1 ng/ml IL-1 reduced the degree of adipogenesis by 82% (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
These findings may help explain how cigarette smoking has a detrimental effect in TAO and suggests that IL-1 may be an attractive therapeutic target in TAO.


A new FinFET memory circuit technique based on asymmetrically gate underlap engineered bitline access transistors is proposed in this paper. The strengths of the asymmetrical bitline access transistors are weakened during read operations while enhanced during write operations as the direction of current flow is reversed. With the proposed asymmetrical six-FinFET SRAM cell, the read data stability and write ability are both enhanced by up to 6.12x and 58%, respectively, without causing any area overhead as compared to the standard symmetrical six-FinFET SRAM cells in a 15nm FinFET technology. The leakage power consumption is also reduced by up to 96.5% with the proposed asymmetrical FinFET SRAM cell as compared to the standard six-FinFET SRAM cells with symmetrical bitline access transistors.


Social housing movements in Brazil, whose majority members are part of Brazil's precariat or lowest-income class, are courageously pressing for true urban reform in Brazil, whose old promise has been systematically delayed and subverted, even by some of those who were put in power to realize it. By occupying vacant and underutilized land and buildings, not only are these movements confronting neoliberalism in Brazil at a time of the model's highest level of hegemony in the country and the world, they are also unveiling the impossibility of the system to deliver sociospatial justice to the poor and are enacting an alternative. Through restorative justice practices, they go beyond critique and press for an alternate sociopolitical project that would allow millions of people in Brazil access to decent housing, and through it, to a myriad of other opportunities, including the right to the city. As shown in the experiences of those participating in housing struggles, restorative justice deserves further exploration as an alternative planning mode that can combine the strengths of advocacy planning and communicative action while reducing their drawbacks. These reflections focus on the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sen Teto (MTST) and partially feed from team ethnographic and planning studio work on several building and land occupations in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil in 2016.


Globally imperiled ecosystems often depend upon collection, propagation, and storage of seed material for use in restoration. However, during the restoration process demographic changes, population bottlenecks, and selection can alter the genetic composition of seed material, with potential impacts for restoration success. The evolutionary outcomes associated with these processes have been demonstrated using theoretical and experimental frameworks, but no study to date has examined their impact on the seed material maintained for conservation and restoration. In this study, we compare genomic variation across seed sources used in conservation and restoration for the perennial prairie plant Helianthus maximiliani, a key component of restorations across North American grasslands. We compare individuals sourced from contemporary wild populations, ex situ conservation collections, commercially produced restoration material, and two populations selected for agronomic traits. Overall, we observed that ex situ and contemporary wild populations exhibited similar genomic composition, while four of five commercial populations and selected lines were differentiated from each other and other seed source populations. Genomic differences across seed sources could not be explained solely by isolation by distance nor directional selection. We did find evidence of sampling effects for ex situ collections, which exhibited significantly increased coancestry relative to commercial populations, suggesting increased relatedness. Interestingly, commercially sourced seed appeared to maintain an increased number of rare alleles relative to ex situ and wild contemporary seed sources. However, while commercial seed populations were not genetically depauperate, the genomic distance between wild and commercially produced seed suggests differentiation in the genomic composition could impact restoration success. Our results point toward the importance of genetic monitoring of seed sources used for conservation and restoration as they are expected to be influenced by the evolutionary processes that contribute to divergence during the restoration process.


Psychopharmacological methods were used to study and compare the effects of diazepam and ligands of benzodiazepine receptors (inosin, nicotinamide and their structural analogs NMF and AzN) in animal experiments. It was found that they possess demonstrable sedative, anticonvulsant, antiaggressive and myorelaxant properties, inhibit the conditioned avoidance reflex in a shuttle-box and the conditioned reflex with positive (drinking) reinforcement in a T-maze. The structural analogs of nicotinamide, NMF and AzN, were found to occupy the intermediate position between diazepam and endogenous ligands of benzodiazepine receptors from the standpoint of pharmacological activity.


OBJECTIVES
An important argument for emergency physician use of ultrasonography is that it results in more rapid patient disposition, but there are few articles to support this position. This study sought to demonstrate a significant decrease in the time spent in the ED when emergency physicians performed transvaginal ultrasonography (TVUS), as compared with when TVUS was performed by consultants, in the evaluation of first-trimester pelvic pain or vaginal bleeding.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis was conducted of the time spent in the ED (time placed in gynecologic examination room to time released from ED) by patients with first-trimester pelvic pain or vaginal bleeding necessitating further evaluation with TVUS. TVUS was performed in the ED by obstetrics/gynecology (ob/gyn) residents who were consulted to the ED from January 11, 1996, to March 31, 1996, and by emergency physicians from April 17, 1996, to July 7, 1996.

RESULTS
Emergency physicians evaluated 46 patients by TVUS, with a mean time of 164.70 minutes (SEM +/- 13.29). Ob/gyn consultants evaluated 38 patients by TVUS, with a mean time of 234.79 minutes (SEM +/- 12.74). This was a significant difference at the level of p < 0.0003 (Student's t-test). There were no known missed ectopic pregnancies as ascertained by 100% patient follow-up. There was no significant difference between the groups in the percentage of ectopic pregnancies (Fisher's exact test). The number of patients in the emergency physician group requiring subsequent consultation was reduced by 85%.

CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates a more rapid ED transit time when TVUS was performed at the bedside by emergency physicians as compared with when pelvic ultrasonography required consultation. Additionally, fewer calls to consultants were required.


Abstract Edamame, Glycine max (L.) Merrill, consumption continues to rise in the United States. Improved understanding of production threats, including insect pests, could facilitate increasing production of edamame in the north-central United States. Two years of complimentary field and laboratory experiments were performed to assess insect pest populations on commercially available edamame varieties. Fourteen varieties of edamame and four grain-type soybean varieties were tested in the laboratory with soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), and subsets of these varieties were tested in the field with naturally occurring insect populations. In the laboratory, mean aphid densities on the edamame varieties Agate and Chiba Green did not differ from the aphid-resistant grain-type soybean. Among edamame, aphid densities on Agate, Chiba Green, and Kuroshinju were significantly lower than on Hokkaido Black. In both years of the field experiment, aphid densities were significantly lower on the aphid-resistant grain-type compared to all others varieties. In 2016, aphid populations on edamame varieties did not differ from the aphid-susceptible grain-types. However, in 2017 with greater aphid exposure, differences were seen among edamame varieties, and between edamame and aphid-susceptible grain-types. In both years, potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), densities tended to be higher on edamame varieties compared to grain-types, and varied significantly among edamame varieties. In a laboratory study, differences were seen among varieties in mean density of trichomes, with grain-types generally having more trichomes than edamame. Results of this research will provide a foundation for development of production recommendations for edamame in the north-central United States.


Low cost and light materials nowadays are the requirements for industry, especially automotive. An aluminum based metal matrix composite (MMC) with bottom ash reinforcement is developed as input and ideas for automotive industry, because of its properties are equivalent with metals, however this MMC is lighter, cheaper, and easy to get. The objective of the study is creating automotive parts using Al metal matrix with bottom ash reinforcement composite. Al-bottom ash composite is formed by HAS method then necessary machining added. The tests performed to the composite are tensile test, hardness test, corrosion and microstructure. The result shows the number of mechanical properties in general, mechanical properties increased about by 30% compared with properties of standard propeller found in market. The microstructure images support the other mechanical destructive testing that Al-bottom ash composite can be used as an alternative as automotive parts.


Thermophysical Models (TPMs), which have proven to be a powerful tool in the interpretation of the infrared emission of asteroid surfaces, typically make use of shape models and spin axes obtained a priori for use as input boundary conditions. We test and then employ a TPM approach—under an assumption of an ellipsoidal shape—that exploits the combination of thermal multi-wavelength observations obtained at pre- and post-opposition. Thermal infrared data, when available at these observing circumstances, are inherently advantageous in constraining thermal inertia and sense of spin, among other physical traits. We show that, despite the lack of a priori knowledge mentioned above, the size, albedo, and thermal inertia of an object are well-constrained with precision comparable to that of previous techniques. Useful estimates of the surface roughness, shape, and spin direction can also be made, to varying degrees of success. Applying the method to Wide-Field infrared Survey Explorer observations, we present best-fit size, albedo, thermal inertia, surface roughness, shape elongation and sense of spin direction for 21 asteroids. We explore the thermal inertia's correlation with asteroid diameter, after accounting for its dependence on the heliocentric distance.


I. Within the legal framework of the World Trade Organization ('WTO'), geographical indications ('GIs') are defined as 'indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin'. The WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ('TRIPS Agreement') already protects GIs, most extensively in connection with wines and spirits, although several aspects of the relevant provisions remain contested, and Members are continuing negotiations on this issue. Cultural preservation provides one possible justification for protecting GIs such as Champagne, Tequila and Roquefort in the TRIPS Agreement, to the extent that culture is encompassed in such things as traditional production methods for food and wine and the historical and physical connection between particular locations and particular products. This chapter addresses the question whether GIs create a valid and effective form of cultural preservation and promotion or whether, as Tomer Broude contends, they are merely 'legal tools for granting commercial advantages to certain products, sectors and regions'. The chapter begins with an introduction to the relationship between international trade and the values of culture and cultural diversity in general, before turning to an assessment of the cultural justification for protecting GIs in particular. Although GIs do have cultural links, the chapter highlights the difficulty of distinguishing legitimate cultural policy concerns from mercantilist impulses to protect local industry, and the danger of championing GIs as a means of preventing cultural change. Accordingly, cultural considerations are relevant in evaluating the existing protection of GIs in the TRIPS Agreement as well as the future direction of this protection, but they cannot provide the foundation for negotiation.


This study explored the knowledge, attitude and barriers to children immunization among women in four selected Rural Primary Health Centres. Immunization coverage rates in Nigeria have remained very poor especially in rural communities despite a plethora of programs and strategies. A survey research questionnaire made up of three trajectories (Attitude, knowledge and barriers to childhood immunization) was used in this study (n= 79, mean= 33 +/-6.9years). This study made use of descriptive and inferential statistic. The SPSS software was used to analyze the data. The study indicates that about 80% of the respondents are aware that immunization services are available at primary healthcare centres, but less than half are aware that immunization against polio is meant for children who are 5 years and below. For barriers, about 53% reported they have no confidence in the quality and safety of vaccines being used while 62% reported that health workers are not sufficiently trained. For attitude, most agreed that immunization make children grow healthy (66%). In this study, knowledge of immunization was a better predictor of barriers to immunization (β = 0.633; t = 2.108; p < 0.05). Mothers could be motivated to have their children immunized by doubling efforts at enlightening them and by reiterating the benefits of child immunization to pregnant women during ante-natal clinics. Good healthcare facilities and improve personnel services will encourage more uptakes of immunization services.


Organoids recapitulate the self-organizing capacity of stem cells and the tissue organization of the original organ in a controlled and trackable environment. Intestinal organoids, in particular, can develop from a single cell into a fully-grown structure that contains most of the cell types, patterns, and morphogenetic properties of the adult intestine. Here we present a protocol for high-throughput organoid culture in multi-well plate format combined with high content immunofluorescence imaging and RNA extraction. Our protocol allows recording and analysis of thousands of organoids during several days of development.


Coulier, A. 2021. Multiscale Modeling in Systems Biology. Methods and Perspectives. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 2051. 60 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-1225-5. In the last decades, mathematical and computational models have become ubiquitous to the field of systems biology. Specifically, the multiscale nature of biological processes makes the design and simulation of such models challenging. In this thesis we offer a perspective on available methods to study and simulate such models and how they can be combined to handle biological processes evolving at different scales. The contribution of this thesis is threefold. First, we introduce Orchestral, a multiscale modular framework to simulate multicellular models. By decoupling intracellular chemical kinetics, cell-cell signaling, and cellular mechanics by means of operator-splitting, it is able to combine existing software into one massively parallel simulation. Its modular structure makes it easy to replace its components, e.g. to adjust the level of modeling details. We demonstrate the scalability of our framework on both high performance clusters and in a cloud environment. We then explore how center-based models can be used to study cellular mechanics in biological tissues. We show how modeling and numerical choices can affect the results of the simulation and mislead modelers into incorrect biological conclusions if these errors are not monitored properly. We then propose CBMOS, a Python framework specifically designed for the numerical study of such models. Finally, we study how spatial details in intracellular chemical kinetics can be efficiently approximated in a multiscale compartment-based model. We evaluate how this model compares to two other alternatives in terms of accuracy and computational cost. We then propose a computational pipeline to study and compare such models in the context of Bayesian parameter inference and illustrate its usage in three case studies.


The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Mg deficiency and effect of aminophylline infusion on urine magnesium concentration after magnesium loading test (MLT). To determine serum Mg, venous blood specimens were obtained just before the first MLT. Two MLTs were performed. The first one was done before starting aminophylline infusion and the 2 nd one was done during aminophylline infusion. Urine samples were collected from the starting of Mg infusion in each phase. Although low serum Mg was present only in 2 patients, MLT showed Mg deficiency in 18 patients. MLT detected Mg deficiency in 13 out of 14 patients with normal serum Mg, in 2 out of 2 subjects with serum hypomagnesemia, and in 3 out of 5 cases with serum hypomagnesemia. There was no relationship between Mg retention, age and serum Mg concentrations. Aminophylline administration increased the 24-h urine Mg concentration by 29.3%.


One decisive factor for the success of symbolic search using BDDs is whether or not the variable ordering is good. A general intuition is that smaller BDDs result if inter-dependent variables are close together. The most common means to capture variable dependencies in planning are causal graphs, and consequently previous work defined variable orders based on these. Starting from the observation that the two concepts of "dependency" are actually quite different, we introduce a framework for assessing the strength of variable ordering heuristics in sub-classes of planning. It turns out that causal graph based variable orders may be exponentially worse than optimal even for very simple planning tasks. Experiments with a broad range of such variable ordering variants indicate that they are mediocre at best.


Abstract Carbon dioxide is a ubiquitous component of low-silica melts such as kimberlites or melilitites. It is currently assumed that CO2 molecules dissolving in low-silica melts as carbonate groups (CO32−) $\rm(CO_{3}^{2-})$ induce a strong polymerization of the silicate network; however, the exact molecular configuration of this dissolution mechanism is still debated. Using 17O MAS NMR spectroscopy, we have investigated the carbonate molecular environment in a series of synthesized low-silica (31–41 wt% SiO2), CO2-bearing (from 2.9 to 13.2 wt% CO2) silicate glasses analogous to melilitites and kimberlites. With the selective {13C}-, {27Al}-, and {29Si}-17O J HMQC NMR method, we show that CO2 dissolved in the studied low-silica glasses is totally disconnected from the silicate network, forming free ionic clusters (FIC) Mn+ (CO32−) $\rm(CO_{3}^{2-})$ with Mn+, a charge compensating cation. The Mn+ (CO32−) $\rm(CO_{3}^{2-})$ FIC are considered as precursors to immiscibility in between carbonate and silicate liquids. Observed in all studied compositions, we suggest that this immiscibility can be produced from moderately to strongly depolymerized silicate melt compositions.


The ability of generative models to produce highly realistic synthetic face images has raised security and ethical concerns. As a first line of defense against such fake faces, deep learning based forensic classifiers have been developed. While these forensic models can detect whether a face image is synthetic or real with high accuracy, they are also vulnerable to adversarial attacks. Although such attacks can be highly successful in evading detection by forensic classifiers, they introduce visible noise patterns that are detectable through careful human scrutiny. Additionally, these attacks assume access to the target model(s) which may not always be true. Attempts have been made to directly perturb the latent space of GANs to produce adversarial fake faces that can circumvent forensic classifiers. In this work, we go one step further and show that it is possible to successfully generate adversarial fake faces with a specified set of attributes (e.g., hair color, eye size, race, gender, etc.). To achieve this goal, we leverage the state-of-the-art generative model StyleGAN with disentangled representations, which enables a range of modifications without leaving the manifold of natural images. We propose a framework to search for adversarial latent codes within the feature space of StyleGAN, where the search can be guided either by a text prompt or a reference image. We also propose a meta-learning based optimization strategy to achieve transferable performance on unknown target models. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach can produce semantically manipulated adversarial fake faces, which are true to the specified attribute set and can successfully fool forensic face classifiers, while remaining undetectable by humans. Code: https://github.com/koushiksrivats/face_attribute_attack.


Based on the magnetorheological (MR) effect of abrasive slurry, the particle-dispersed MR fluid is used as a special instantaneous bond to cohere abrasive particles and magnetic particles so as to form a dynamic, flexible tiny-grinding wheel to polish optical glass, ceramic and other brittle materials of millimeter or sub-millimeter scale with a high efficiency. Experiments were conducted to reveal the effects of different process parameters, such as grain sizes of abrasive particles, machining time, machining gap between the workpiece and the rotation tool, and rotation speed of the tool, on material removal rate of glass surface. The results indicate the following conclusions: material removal rate increases when the grain size of abrasives is similar to that of magnetic particles; machining time is directly proportional to material removal, but inversely proportional to material removal rate; machining gap is inversely proportional to material removal; polishing speed has both positive and negative influence on material removal rate, and greater material removal rate can be obtained at a certain rotation speed. In addition, the difference of the machining characteristics between this new method and the traditional fixed-abrasive machining method is analyzed.


Reference Materials (RMs) and Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) are widely used in all stages of measurement procedures and in interlaboratory comparisons. CRMs, in particular, play a key role in implementing the concept of metrological traceability of measurement results in chemistry, biology and physics among other sciences dealing with substances and materials and, in this context, laboratories use CRMs as readily accessible measurement standards. In the past decades, an extensive production of RMs and CRMs was carried out. Although some of them are intended for applications in physics, the great majority belongs to the amount of substance related fields. There are various normative references dealing with RMs and CRMs, and broad scientific literature. This work aims at presenting a general overview on the production and characterization of RMs and CRMs, with particular focus on gaseous CRMs. An example of application of gaseous CRMs to support climate change studies is also given.


modelling of urban sewage network operations DRASTIC (a case study Abstract I n recent years, old urban sewage networks have encountered numerous flaws, leading to several important problems in the environment, such as groundwater pollution, excessive growth of tree roots inside sewer pipes, etc. To tackle such problems, innovative approaches must be practiced in urban sewage networks operations. To this aim, a spatial model based on "predictive analysis" and smart technology in the sewage network operation management is needed. Our proposed model was firstly applied for the city of Isfahan to evaluate and predict possible accidents in the urban sewage network. Our model is based on DRASTIC model and Geographic information system. The sewage accidents were assessed by combining the results of DRASTIC model and Getis-Ord Gi* index. This model could assess the previous sewage accidents and predict the probability of future accidents in cities, as well as their environmental risks. In this study, the intention was to identify the hot spots of accidents in the sewage network using GIS; then by studying the factors affecting the accidents, and geological and environmental parameters, a spatial model was designed. Combination of the Getis-Ord Gi* index and DRASTIC model is the main innovation of this research. In the study area, the following items were determined as the most important factors in the sewage accidents: 1- soil type, 2-inappropriate infrastructure, 3-inappropriate pipes with older age, 4-lower diameter. Finally, this model showed that there was a significant relationship between spatial and environmental indices in the study area. Also, the significance value obtained from the statistical analysis of the relationship between pipe diameters and sewer network accidents was equal to 0.004 and the significance value obtained from the statistical analysis of the relationship between pipe life and such events based on Kendall and Spearman tests were calculated as 0.05 and 0.37, respectively.


The scale of comparative genomics data frequently overwhelms current data visualization methods on conventional (desktop) displays. This paper describes two types of solution that take advantage of wall-sized high-resolution displays (WHirDs), which have orders of magnitude more display real estate (i.e., pixels) than desktop displays. The first allows users to view detailed graphics of copy number variation (CNV) that were output by existing software. A WHirD's resolution allowed a 10x increase in the granularity of bioinformatics output that was feasible for users to visually analyze, and this revealed a pattern that had previously been smoothed out from the underlying data. The second involved interactive visualization software that was innovative because it uses a music score metaphor to lay out CNV data, overcomes a perceptual distortion caused by amplification/deletion thresholds, uses filtering to reduce graphical data overload, and is the first comparative genomics visualization software that is designed to leverage a WHirD's real estate. In a field evaluation, a clinical user discovered a fundamental error in the way their data had been processed, and established confidence in the software by using it to `find' known genetic patterns in hepatitis C-driven hepatocellular cancer.