The pathology of arterial diseases such as aneurysms and atherosclerosis is of great clinical interest. Several decades have passed since attempts to correlate hemodynamic factors to pathology of these diseases began. Under the hypothesis that hemodynamics is an important factor responsible for arterial diseases, we attempt to (i) investigate geometrical risk factors responsible for aneurysm formation in arterial bifurcations, (ii) evaluate a current hypothesis that aneurysms develop as a result of purely inertial effects on pressure fields at bifurcations (iii) design a novel flow chamber which reproduces flow fields found at arterial bifurcations to study endothelial cell functions due to hemodynamic stresses and (iv) develop a small on large theory for modeling small periodic motions of arterial walls superposed on large deformations. An outcome of this work included the development of a new methodology for generating realistic idealized bifurcation models.A number of researchers have identified geometric features common to arterial bifurcations. Here, idealized models have been developed that contain all these geometric features. These idealized models are used to investigate effects of Re, radius of curvature and bifurcation angle on arterial bifurcations. Elevated pressure and wall shear stress at the apex of bifurcation, which could be responsible for aneurysm formation, are found to arise as the fluid is diverted into the two daughter branches. Careful modeling of the apex region of the bifurcation is found to be needed for study of aneurysm due the important role of radius of curvature. The bifurcation angle is found to have only minor influence on the stresses at the apex region. Through this analysis, we found that the elevated wall shear stress at the apex is likely an important risk factor responsible for the formation of aneurysms. Based on the results from the computational bifurcation study, a flow device was designed to test the response of endothelial cells to wall shear stresses found at arterial bifurcations. The function of endothelial cells responding to hemodynamic stresses are hypothesized to degrade arterial walls and in turn, possibly cause initiation of aneurysms. Through numerical and analytical studies, we successfully designed a novel flow chamber which has two flow regimes : one for testing the cells exposed to wall shear stresses found in straight arteries and the other found at arterial bifurcations. This second section recreates the quantitative and qualitative features of flow fields found at arterial bifurcations. In order to model blood and arterial wall interaction in studies of hemodynamic factors related to arterial diseases and aging, a constitutive model for the vessel wall is required. Based on multi-mechanism theory, the role of elastin and collagen fibers, responsible for the passive mechanical response of arteries, are included as separate mechanisms. This theory is then used with small on large theory which approximates large deformations as the superposition of a small deformation on a large deformation. Taking this approach, the prestretch and preloading of the vessel can be included. Since deformations due to oscillatory motions of arterial walls are reported to be small compared with deformations due to the preloadings, the small on large theory is appropriate. The novelty of this study was to (i) employ a nonlinear constitutive equation for the large deformation region, (ii) develop governing equations for the wall motion using a small on large theory and (iii) include the separate roles of elastin and collagen fibers in modeling vessel walls.


This classic work was conceived and written nearly a century ago by an author anxious to argue the case for sound house planning. It aimed to offer an alternative to the numerous books which instructed and advised their readers on the essentials of successful garden design and management, but paid scant attention to the actual houses which sat within their grounds. Indeed, the problems involved in house building, furnishing and decoration had hardly been treated with the consideration which the author felt they appeared to deserve. Interestingly, the author railed against much of the building design of his day comparing it to a disease rather than an art where, in his view, 'smirking self-conciousness' was often the consequence of an attempt to achieve the picturesque. Baillie Scott lamented the gradual disfigurement of town and village by what he saw as a plague of modern building and was saddened that his contemporaries seemed to have forgotten that houses had been and might yet be an added beauty rather than a blot on the landscape. He felt passionately that reform was urgently needed and that the plan of the average modern house, apart from artistic considerations, should be rationally designed. In this surprisingly timeless work, which provides today's reader with an intriguing insight into the thoughts of a designer from an earlier age, the principles of house planning are developed and supported by numerous described and illustrated exmples from the UK and abroad. The author includes all types of houses including terraces, cottages, semi-detached, flats, holiday homes and grander dwellings. All the principles of good house design are comprehensively discussed and illustrated as are the internal furnishings which, in the author's view, are so vital for the successful achievement of a unified and satisfactory whole.


Application of agent-based simulated annealing and tabu search procedures to solving the data reduction problem The problem considered concerns data reduction for machine learning. Data reduction aims at deciding which features and instances from the training set should be retained for further use during the learning process. Data reduction results in increased capabilities and generalization properties of the learning model and a shorter time of the learning process. It can also help in scaling up to large data sources. The paper proposes an agent-based data reduction approach with the learning process executed by a team of agents (A-Team). Several A-Team architectures with agents executing the simulated annealing and tabu search procedures are proposed and investigated. The paper includes a detailed description of the proposed approach and discusses the results of a validating experiment.


We demonstrate a MEMS-based vector display system utilizing gimbal-less two-axis micromirror scanners for high-speed laser beam-steering. The system is capable of displaying freehand sketches, parametric curves, text, as well as multiframe animations at arbitrary refresh rates. The scanners can be operated in point-to-point vector scanning or resonant and rastering modes. Due to ultra-low power consumption of the MEMS devices, the system is highly portable, miniature and powered and controlled via a PC USB interface.


Implementing curriculum integration initiatives is far from easy. In Hong Kong, the change has been imposed to schools for more than twenty years. However, experiences show that they were not successfully implemented. To successfully implement such an initiative, teachers have a pivotal part to play. Past research studies have shown that teachers are influenced by their conception. This article reports an in-depth qualitative study on the conception of curriculum integration of seven primary school teachers. The findings indicate that teachers' conception of curriculum integration comprises five dimensions and the conception of Hong Kong primary school teachers is generally confused and conservative. Most participants are still more adhered to or showing more acceptance of a teacher-centered, discipline-based type of teaching and curriculum.


To expand, analyze and extend published behavioral phenotypes relevant to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we present a study of three ASD genetic mouse models: Feng's Shank3tm2Gfng model, hereafter Shank3/F, Jiang's Shank3tm1Yhj model, hereafter Shank3/J, and the Cacna1c deletion model. The Shank3/F and Shank3/J models mimick gene mutations associated with Phelan-Mcdermid syndrome and the Cacna1c model recapitulates the deletion underlying Timothy syndrome. The current study utilizes both standard and novel, computer-vision based behavioral tests, the same methdology used in our previously published companion report on the Cntnap2 null and 16p11.2 deletion models. Overall, some but not all behaviors replicated published findings. Those that replicated, such as social behavior and overgrooming in Shank3 models, also tended to be milder than previous reports. The Shank3/F model, and to a much lesser extent, the Shank3/J and Cacna1c models, showed hypoactivity and a general anxiety-like behavior triggered by external stimuli which pervaded social interactions. We did not detect deficits in a cognitive procedural learning test nor did we observe perseverative behavior in these models. We did, however, find differences in exploratory patterns of Cacna1c mutant mice suggestive of a behavioral effect in a social setting. In addition, Shank3/F but not Shank3/J KO or Cacna1c HET showed differences in sensory-gating. Discrepancies in our current results from previous reports may be dependent on subtle differences in testing conditions, housing enrichment, or background strain. Both positive and negative results from this study will be useful in identifying the most robust and replicable behavioral signatures within and across mouse models of autism. Understanding these phenotypes may shed light of which features to study when screening compounds for potential therapeutic interventions.


The use of supra-dietary doses of chemical antioxidants has attracted increasing interest as a possible primary and secondary cancer prevention strategy. It is possible that some cancer patients have an inherently impaired capacity to contend with oxidative stress because of genetic or environmental factors. Specifically, higher levels of intracellular antioxidants may protect against chromosomal injury induced by UV radiation and xenobiotic induced oxidative stress. Vitamin A and carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and glutathione may alone or in combination afford protection. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy result in depletion of tissue antioxidant stores. Antioxidant supplementation may be an important part of recovery from conventional therapy and perhaps have impact on secondary prevention.


As geographers, we classify and describe regions based on their physical and cultural characteristics, and how those characteristics interact with each other. There are several distinct types of regions including: formal, functional and perceptual. Formal regions can be defined by their internal sameness such as similar demographics, voting habits or language. Functional regions are marked by an internal structure and usually are focused on a central location such as a city which may receive raw materials from outlying farms and rural areas and, in turn') supply its surrounding suburbs and outlying cities with goods and services (de Blij and Mulier, 1997). Vernacular regions are based on peoples" perceptions. The regions themselves call be defined by the people who live there and how they characterize themselves and their culture. For example,  "Northerner" may be from the Midwest while a "Southerner" might hail from Dixie and may have different ideas about each other and themselves based on their perceptions of each others regions.


Traffic monitoring is a challenging task on crowded roads. Traditional traffic monitoring procedures are manual, expensive, time consuming and involve human operators. They are subjective due to the very involvement of human factor and sometimes provide inaccurate/incomplete monitoring results. Large scale storage and analysis of video streams were not possible due to limited availability of storage and compute resources in the past. Recent advances in data storage, processing and communications have made it possible to store and process huge volumes of video data and develop applications that are neither subjective nor limited in feature sets. It is now possible to implement object detection and tracking, behavioural analysis of traffic patterns, number plate recognition and automate security and surveillance on video streams produced by traffic monitoring and surveillance cameras. In this paper, we present a video stream acquisition, processing and analytics framework in the clouds to address some of the traffic monitoring challenges mentioned above. This framework provides an end-to-end solution for video stream capture, storage and analysis using a cloud based GPU cluster. The framework empowers traffic control room operators by automating the process of vehicle identification and finding events of interest from the recorded video streams. An operator only specifies the analysis criteria and the duration of video streams to analyse. The video streams are then automatically fetched from the cloud storage, decoded and analysed on a Hadoop based GPU cluster without operator intervention in our framework. It reduces the latencies in video analysis process by porting its compute intensive parts to the GPU cluster. The framework is evaluated with one month of recorded video streams data on a cloud based GPU cluster. The results show a speedup of 14 times on a GPU and 4 times on a CPU when compared with one human operator analysing the same amount of video streams data.


Abstract The Neotropical genus Pentacalia Cass. (Compositae, Senecioneae) is distributed from southern Mexico to northwestern Argentina, plus two disjunct species that thrive in Brazil. Most species diversity occurs in the montane forests of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It comprises scandent woody plants characterized by displaying alternate leaves (opposite in three species), involucres with supplementary bracts, usually yellow ray florets (when present), sagittate to caudate anther bases, and truncate to obtuse style branches with a crown of sweeping trichomes (sometimes with a tuft of longer trichomes, but not strictly penicillate). The Bolivian species were revised for the first time by Cabrera (1985), who treated the group under Senecio L. sect. Streptothamni Greenm. Because of the subsequent addition of new species and the need of taxonomic arrangements, an updated synopsis of the genus recognizing 18 species is presented. The names P. brittoniana (Hieron.) Cuatrec. and P. miguelii (Cuatrec.) Cuatrec. are synonymized with P. psidiifolia (Rusby) Cuatrec., as well as P. inquisiviensis H. Rob. & Cuatrec. with P. cardenasii (Cuatrec.) Cuatrec. and P. sailapatensis (Cuatrec.) Cuatrec. with P. urubambensis (Cabrera) Cuatrec. Seven names are lectotypified and an epitype is designated for the name P. zongoensis (Cabrera) J. Calvo. The new species P. viburnifolia J. Calvo & A. Fuentes is described. Revised nomenclature, succinct descriptions, taxonomic discussions, lists of specimens examined, and distribution maps are provided for all accepted species, in addition to an identification key. Pictures of living plants are also presented for eight species.


OBJECTIVE
To clarify the cardioprotective effects of a short course of vitamin E treatment (vit E) as compared with a nitric oxide donor, nitroglycerin (GTN) against ischemia-reperfusion induced heart injury in rats.

METHODS
This randomized control study was conducted in the Physiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt from 1st June to 31 August 2009. This work was undertaken on 28 female Wistar rats weighing 150- 200 gm. Rats were allocated into 4 groups; control group (non-treated), GTN-treated group (rats received GTN intraperitoneally 25 minutes before sacrifice, in a dose of 120 ug/kg body weight), vit E-treated group (rat received vit E by oral tubal feeding 16-20 hours before sacrifice, in a dose of 250 mg/rat), and vit E and GTN-treated group (rats received vit E and GTN as in both GTN-treated group and vit E -treated group). After sacrifice, the hearts were excised and perfused in a Langendorff preparation and subjected to 30 minutes global ischemia and reperfused for 30 minutes. Following reperfusion, heart tissues were used for assessment of malondialdehyde (MDA) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)+, and for histological examination.

RESULTS
Vitamin E treatment resulted in an enhanced post-ischemic recovery of systolic function in vit E-treated groups (vit E-treated group, and vit E and GTN-treated group) compared to the control group. Post-ischemic recovery of coronary flow was enhanced in the vit E-treated group compared to the GTN-treated group. Post ischemic tissue degeneration indicators: MDA, and NAD+ indicated a cardioprotective effect of vit E. Histological study revealed marked improvement of myocytes and mitochondrial structure in the vit E-treated group as compared with the control group.

CONCLUSION
Preconditioning with vit E treatment afforded substantial recovery of post-ischemic contractile, and vascular functions compared to GTN treatment, the mechanism might involve less opening of mitochondrial permeability transition during postischemic reperfusion.


Many Later Tang poets were aware of the importance of "the reputation for poetry" and regarded it as the symbol of the individual life. The populace worshiped and respected those poets has reputation of poetry already in the Middle Tang. It has become social convention and self-awareness of most poets in later Tang Dynasties. This phenomenon has a close relationship with the imperial examination system and literature tradition. This article will discuss the change of "the reputation for poetry" first form Middle Tang to Later Tang. The reputation for poetry became social value and literature capital which many poets emphasized unceasingly during the Later Tang Dynasty. The declaration of the reputation of poets is not only the theory of creating, but also the interaction of society and poets. Therefore, this article explains the function and meaning of "the reputation for poetry" and its influence on the consciousness of the creator and social behavior. In the end, the poet of the Later Tang Dynasty believed that "the reputation for poetry" could make the creator immortal. This idea has become the belief that the achievement of creation is more important than a political career. Findings from this research can help clarify understanding that a creator how to appraise the meaning and value of his poetry during the Later Tang Dynasty. Moreover, the interaction and relationship of the poet and society facilitates introspection of the history of Later Tang Dynasty poetry.


ABSTRACT Kara, B.; Esbah, H., and Deniz, B., 2013. Monitoring and analyzing land use/land cover changes in a developing coastal town: A case study of Kusadasi, Turkey. Kusadasi is one of the most famous tourism centers in Turkey and encompasses agricultural, forest, natural, and coastal areas. The town has been facing rapid urbanization owing to tourism development in the region over the last 20 years. The aim of this study is to analyze and monitor the changes in land use and land cover (LULC) in the Kusadasi urban coastal area between 1993 and 2006. To do so, we will use aerial photographs (dated August 1993) and high-resolution IKONOS (dated July 30, 2001) and QuickBird (dated July 24, 2006) satellite images. We classify LULC in the study area using manual on-screen digitizing in accordance with CORINE LULC nomenclature. Our results showed that the surface area of artificial, nonagricultural vegetated areas, arable land, permanent crops, forests, scrub, and/or herbaceous vegetation associations and open spaces with little or no vegetation decreased, whereas that of urban fabric, industrial, commercial, and transport units and mine, dump, and construction sites increased within a 13-year period. It is noteworthy that from 1993 to 2006, artificial, nonagricultural vegetated areas, permanent crops, open spaces with little or no vegetation (beaches, dunes, and sand plains) and inland waters turned into urban fabric and industrial, commercial, and transport units. One of the conclusions from the study is that, in the planning works for Kusadasi, decisions need to be made that reduce the effects of urban fabric, industrial, commercial, and transport units on artificial, nonagricultural vegetated areas and permanent crops in the coastal zone.


SIR,-It is sometimes useful to determine whether a person is naturally rightor left-handed, and the following simple test, noted many years ago in a book on shooting, seems little known. The person points with a finger, quickly, at a suitable slim object, and then at once, without any change of position, closes one eye to see if the finger is " on " and then opens it and closes the other. One eye wins at this test repeatedly and that is the dominant eye. Useful if shooting, the test can be useful in medicine if, as seems to be the case, dominant eye goes with dominant hand.I am, etc.,


Diffuse conflict, avoid negativity, and create a productive workplace In The Office Survival Guide, clinical psychologist and executive coach Marilyn Puder-York offers practical solutions to the common problems that can ruin a career or simply make office life miserable. This book includes examples from real-life offices thatyou can adapt to your situation, and shows you how to "manage up" to problematic supervisors, "manage down" to difficult subordinates, and "manage across" to troublesome peers. In no time at all, you'll be better able to deal with * Office politics * Crisis-management situations * Passive-aggressive colleagues * Corporate restructures * Mixed signals from superiors * New technologies in the office "Every employee wants to know what are the secrets to getting ahead. Marilyn Puder-York nails it with practical, how-to tips, ideas and solutions. This should be a MUST read whether you are 26 or 46."--Cathleen Black, president of Hearst Magazines "A real find!! Sound and powerful advice for surviving office difficulties." --Maggie Gagliardi, Senior Vice President, Human Resources American Express Company "Marilyn Puder-York has made an extremely positive impact on our ability to retain talented people in our organization."--Douglas Stern, President/CEO, United Media


Abstract
Australia monitors its polio-free status by conducting surveillance for cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in children less than 15 years of age, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Cases of AFP in children are notified to the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit or the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance System, and faecal specimens are referred for virological investigation to the National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory. In 2022, no cases of poliomyelitis were reported from clinical surveillance and Australia reported 1.69 non-polio AFP cases per 100,000 children, thereby meeting the WHO's performance criterion for a sensitive surveillance system. The non-polio enteroviruses coxsackievirus A2, coxsackievirus A6, coxsackievirus A10, echovirus 18, enterovirus A71 and enterovirus C96 were identified from clinical specimens collected from AFP cases. Australia also performs enterovirus and environmental surveillance to complement the clinical system focussed on children. In 2022, thirty cases of wild poliovirus were reported from three countries (Afghanistan, Mozambique and Pakistan); 24 countries also reported cases of poliomyelitis due to circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus.


Pleural mesothelioma is a disease associated with asbestos exposure and patients often have poor prognosis. Biomarkers that can stratify tumours more efficiently are much sought after to enable more personalized treatment options and predict prognosis. Jumonji domain-containing protein D3 (JMJD3) has variable expression in a range of tumours. However, there has been much discordance in the immunohistochemical labelling of JMJD3 between cancers at different sites and ambiguity exists regarding its functional significance. Recent evidence suggests that although nuclear expression of JMJD3 has a demethylase role in most cancers, there are also demethylase-independent actions of JMJD3 that need to be explored including its cytoplasmic expression. We analysed JMJD3 labelling in 99 pleural mesothelioma tissues and correlated nuclear and cytoplasmic expression with survival outcomes. We found that low nuclear and high cytoplasmic expression were associated with poor survival outcomes in our cohort (p = 0.014 and p = 0.041, respectively). Additionally, we found that low nuclear expression of JMJD3 was frequent in the sarcomatoid subtype (p < 0.001). Finally, we showed that cytoplasmic labelling is an independent prognostic marker of poor survival. Our cohort only contained a small number of tumours with high cytoplasmic expression of JMJD3, and a larger cohort study may provide clearer stratification.


Mass transfer in mass exchangers, such as membrane extractors and dialysers, can be analogous to heat transfer in heat exchangers with correction-factor analysis. In present study, the expressions of mass-transfer rate and correction-factor charts for mass transfer in parallel-flow double-pass rectangular membrane modules were modified by the modified correction-factor analysis, instead of the conventional correction-factor analysis. They are explicit, instead of implicit in the conventional correction-factor analysis. The results can be readily calculated without using trial-and-error method. Experimental results confirm the predicted values for membrane extraction of acetic acid from aqueous solution by methyl isobutyl ketone, as well as for dialysing from aqueous solution, in the double-pass devices. © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering


Reconciliation between two copper ore mines transferred ore from one mine to another for processing in enrichment plants generated the need to regularly study the amount and composition of the ore on the conveyor connecting these two mines. To ensure the objectivity of the study, taking composite samples and their analysis was entrusted to a specialized outside laboratory. However, the managing staff of both mines still have doubts whether sampling results reflect correctly content of transported ore especially when the fed is highly variable. In order to investigate how the relatively low sampling rate affects the accuracy and precision of the measurement, the article investigates the hypothetical situation on the linking conveyor with the ore having extremely differentiated mineralization: 80% of almost barren rock (below 0.7% Cu) and 20% of the richly mineralized shale (around 10% Cu). Such ore occurs in some areas of the mine, from which it is fed onto a connecting conveyor. Through simulation techniques it was examined how the frequency of sampling can influence the distribution of the pooled sample results. It turned out that for 16 randomly selected samples in the following 15 minutes time intervals of a working shift, the spread of results around the simulated value is very large. A satisfactory accuracy level for the estimations of mean Cu content in the transported ore is achieved when the samples are collected at 30-second intervals. Only with sampling frequency close to on-line scanner parameters the probability of obtaining estimations with deviation exceeding 10% drops to the level of 2%. In the case of extremely differentiated ore doubts about confidence in the described measurements are fully confirmed, because with over 50% probability a single measurement could be deviated by 50% up and down from the true value.


PARIS-- The discovery that HIV hijacks the cell surface receptors for immune-system signaling molecules, known as chemokines, to force entry into its target cells has revolutionized the field and opened new avenues toward possible therapies. Research reported on page
 1874
 of this issue of
 Science suggests that HIV may have yet another port of entry into some cells. The findings implicate a common virus as a possible accomplice of HIV, helping the AIDS virus to infect some types of cells and wreak havoc on the immune system.


The Quality Objects (QuO) middleware is a set of extensions to standard distributed object computing middleware that is used to control and adapt the quality of service in a number of distributed application environments, from wide-area to embedded distributed applications. This paper compares and contrasts the characteristics of key use cases and the variations in QuO implementations that have emerged to support them. We present these variations in the context of several actual applications being developed using the QuO middleware.


Agricultural products are dried to enhance storage stability, in order to reduce post harvest losses, minimize packaging requirement and reduce transport weight. Crop drying through the sun is the most common practice in the country due to its no energy cost but often result in poor quality, unhygienic and contaminated products. This has been a major threat to food safety. Energy consumption and quality of dried products are critical parameters in the selection of drying process. An optimum drying system for the preparation of quality dehydrated products is supposed to be cost effective with less drying time and damage to the product. To reduce the energy utilization and operational cost as well to further produce high quality safe products, new trends in solar drying system were developed by the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) in order to proffer solutions to the threat in food safety as well as farmers and processors quest for drying with minimal energy cost.  The technologies include mobile solar tent dryers, green house solar tent dryers and parabolic solar tent dryers. These entire dryers have great scope for the production of quality dried products and powders. These advancements have taken the advantage of material selection, design calculations to improve on the technology in order to achieve quality output in terms of environmental parameters and product quality. The advancement has also taken care of times of low solar irradiance especially during the rainy season which is highly humid. The temperature range obtained from the mobile, green house and parabolic solar dryers are 20 – 59.5oC, 21.5 - 68oC, and 25-78oC respectively while their respective  average relative humidity are 71.64%, 60.21%, 49.77%. The ambient temperature range and relative humidity are 20 – 42.5oC and 74.88%. Experimental studies on the performance of the varied solar tent dryers were conducted using Chilli Pepper, Yam, Meat, Fish, Vegetables and plantain have been carried out the Beef meat, Chilli pepper and Telefeiria occidentalis vegetable were dried in the mobile solar tent dryer, greenhouse  solar dryer and parabolic solar dryer. The beef of 71.243% initial moisture content was dried to 12.15%, 12.01% and 10.09% in the aforementioned respective dryers within a period of 5 days. Also the chilli pepper of 89.40% initial moisture content was dried to 12%, 11.3% and 9.3% moisture content respectively in the dryers within a period of 8 days; while the Telefairia occidentalis vegetable of 11.0% initial moisture content was dried within a period of 5 hours to 6.0%, 5.5% and 4.0% moisture content.


The stacking fault energies are used to illustrate the footprint of magnetism on the mechanical properties of Fe–Cr–Ni alloys forming the basis of austenitic stainless steels. We find that the usual chemical effects of alloying additions are accompanied by major magnetic effects, which stabilize the most common industrial alloy steels at normal service temperatures. We suggest that part of the uncertainties associated with the experimental data on the stacking fault energies are due to the strong concentration and temperature dependence originating from the persisting local magnetic moments.


PURPOSE
Medicare hospice is a valuable source of quality care at the end of life, but its lower use by racial minority groups is of concern. This study identifies factors associated with hospice use among urban Black and White nursing home (NH) decedents in the United States.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Multiple data sources are combined and multilevel logistic regression is utilized to examine hospice use among urban Black and White NH residents who had access to hospice and died in 2006 (N = 288,202).

RESULTS
In NHs, Blacks are less likely to use hospice than Whites (35.4% vs. 39.3%), even when controlling for covariates, interactions, and clustering of decedents in NHs and counties (adjusted odds ratio = 0.81, 95% confidence interval = 0.77-0.86). Variation in hospice use is greater among subgroups of Blacks than between Blacks and Whites, and these variations are predominantly due to individual-level factors, with some influence of NH-level factors. Hospice use is higher for Blacks versus Whites with do-not-resuscitate orders and lower for Blacks versus Whites with congestive heart failure (CHF). Additionally, hospice use is greater among Blacks with versus without do-not-resuscitate or do-not-hospitalize orders or cancer and those in low-tier versus other NHs. There was also lower hospice use among Blacks with versus without CHF.

IMPLICATIONS
Efforts to reduce racial differences in hospice use should attend to individual-level factors. Heightening use of advance directives and targeting Blacks with CHF for hospice could be particularly helpful.


Atomically-thin semiconductors offer intriguing technological advantages for quantum photonic applications. Advantages include a lack of dangling bonds, atomically-precise interfaces, the potential to design novel heterostructures with an absence of nuclear spins, and the ease of integration with photonic integrated chip platforms. These benefits offer a new opportunity to construct a scalable quantum architecture with a coherent lightmatter interface, an exciting prospect for future quantum technologies. This thesis takes the first steps in this direction. Atomically-thin flakes of transition metal dichalcogenides (WSe2 or MoSe2) are transferred to substrates with smooth and nanopatterned regions. Using cryogenic microphotoluminesce spectroscopy, a correlation between isolated quantum emitters and localised strain 'pockets' is observed. This observation is exploited to fabricate WSe2 arrays of highly pure single photon (g(0) <0.5%) emitters at deterministic spatial positions (120±30 nm accuracy) with nearly 100% efficiency. The quantum emitters intrinsic optical properties are characterised via magnetic field and temperature dependent spectroscopy. The nanoscale strain engineering approach provides a universal scheme to create spatially and spectrally isolated quantum emitters in other two-dimensional materials. The thesis concludes with a discussion on the origin and dynamics of straintuned localized excitons in 2D semiconductors, presenting local disorder and exciton funnelling as important ingredients.


Very little is known about patient, provider, and facility characteristics that may affect the likelihood that a schizophrenia patient who receives an antipsychotic medication is dosed according to treatment recommendations. In this study, prescription drug records for schizophrenia patients were collected from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and indicators were constructed describing whether the average daily dose was outside of the range recommended by the schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT). Generalized estimation equations were used to identify patient, facility, and provider characteristics that are associated with adherence to PORT recommendations. We found that the majority (62.1%) of patients were dosed within the PORT-recommended dosing range. Patients who were older, were female, had comorbid psychiatric disorders, or were prescribed conventional antipsychotics were less likely to adhere to PORT recommendations. Provider and facility characteristics were generally not significantly associated with adherence. When patients were dosed outside of the recommendations, patients treated at facilities with more emphasis on mental health and research and education were more likely to be dosed above the recommendations.


The aim of this study was to see the association of lichen planus (n=80) with glucose metabolism disturbance. Classic variety of lichen planus was the most common (76.3%), followed by ashy dermatosis, hypertrophic, oral, actinic and nail lichen planus. The blood glucose level 2 hours after glucose drink was abnormal in 20 cases. HbA 1 c was abnormal in 7 cases. The mean homeostasis model of assessment formulation- insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) was 2.1 ± 1.6 and it was higher (>4.8) in 12.5% patients. Diabetes mellitus was found in 30 patients. Impaired glucose tolerance was found in 15 cases and high HOMA-IR was found in 10 cases. Total number of cases of abnormal glucose metabolism was found in 55 (68.8%) cases of lichen planus. In conclusion, patients with lichen planus  have higher risk of abnormal glucose metabolism specially diabetes mellitus.


This study was aimed to investigate the role of E2F1 in breast cancer biology.

Expression of E2F1, a transcription factor of many oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, is lowered in several malignancies including breast carcinoma.

In the present study we analyzed the status of E2F1 expression in association with diverse attributes of breast malignancy and its impact on cancer progression.

For this purpose we used various freely available online applications for gene enrichment, expression and methylation analysis, to extract mutation based E2F1 map, to measure E2F1 drug sensitivity and to determine E2F1 association with damage response proteins.

Results revealed tissue specific regulatory behavior of E2F1. Moreover, the key role of E2F1 in the promotion of metastasis, stem cell mediated carcinogenesis, estrogen mediated cell proliferation and cellular defense system has therefore highlighted it as metaplastic marker and hot member of key resistome pathways.

The information thus generated can be employed for future implications in devising rational therapeutic strategies. Moreover, this study has provided a more detailed insight into the diagnostic and prognostic potential of E2F.


The paper examines the contributions of co-operative and saving societies in poverty reduction in Lango and Kigezi sub-region. The study adopted a comparative and cross-sectional survey design where bivariate and multivariate data analyses were used to analyze the data. Specifically, correlation and regression analysis were done to determine the relationship between financial contribution by savings and credit co-operative (SACCOS), saving culture and poverty reduction. The findings established that low-income households had inadequate access to cheap and affordable credit. In the two regions, the available credits offered by SACCOS were not cheap per say and the SACCOS offered credit at 10% per month, which translated into 120% per annum. The study reveals that microcredits create long-term indebtedness among the rural poor, and yet households are not competent in managing their finances. The saving culture in Kigezi sub-region is associated with political motivations and support from politicians. In contrast, in Lango sub-region, saving culture is associated with response to government programs that were aimed at reconstructing northern Uganda after the two decades of insurgency. The provision of more financial services would contribute to poverty reduction and training of households on the utilization of financial credit.

 Key words: Cooperative and saving societies, savings and credit co-operative (SACCOS), financial services, poverty reduction.


Books for the general physician who encounters children with difficult diagnoses and management problems are few, but in great demand. The major pediatric textbooks emphasize individual diseases rather than problems of diagnosis and management. This book attempts to fill that void. The book is divided into two sections. We are told that the first section deals with approaches to evaluations of common problems and that the second section deals with specific disease entities that are difficult to diagnose or to distinguish from similar disorders. I was confused by exactly how each chapter was chosen for one section vs the other, and, therefore, this division into two sections did not help organize the book for me. Nevertheless, each chapter easily stands by itself. The book discusses a broad spectrum of disease categories, but as Stockman warns in his introduction, the list can hardly be comprehensive. While reading each chapter, it seemed


Objective: In 2013 we started to combine VATS poudrage with simultaneous insertion of an indwelling pleural catheter (IPC) for management of malignant pleural effusions (MPE) to achieve successful pleurodesis, avoid recurrence of MPE and shorten hospitalization time. The aim of this study was to distinguish whether the combination treatment is superior over standard VATS poudrage. Methods: This retrospective descriptive study analyses data of patients with MPE treated at our department since the implementation of the method. The historic control group included patients with MPE treated with VATS poudrage alone. Results: There were 117 patients, 67 patients were treated with the new approach (IPC group) and 50 patients with VATS talc poudrage (control group). Both groups were comparable in demographic data. The postoperative hospitalization time was significantly shorter in the IPC group (P=0.0001). Patients in the control group got 2 chest drains inserted (Ch 24/Ch 28) and in the IPC group 1 chest drain (Ch 24) plus the IPC. Chest drains could be removed quicker in the IPC group (P=<0.0001). So far there was not a single case of unsuccessful pleurodesis with our approach compared to 10% failure rate in the control group. Conclusion: The combined approach is a safe and effective approach in MPE prophylaxis. Patients were discharged earlier and further treatment, e.g., chemotherapy, could be initiated in time.


In Romania there are yet many old buildings, who have suffered damage during earthquakes in the last century. Securing them is an important issue for the owners and of course for the authorities. The paper analyses the maximum displacements at the top of the structures under seismic actions at different heights. Maximum values are compared with allowable limits specified in current design codes. The study was conducted for RC frame structures with different heights. As a novelty authors used as entry data for structural modelling, the resulting values from the non-destructive tests on concrete and reinforced concrete samples. In the first part of this study relative positions of the two intrinsic centers, CG and CR, were calculated. Then, RC frame structures that have the same shape in plan, but different heights were modelled using Autodesk Robot structural analysis program. Because the maximum amplification was at the largest structure height, the second part of the study was to determine the displacement for structures with the same height but different shape in plan. In conclusion, the paper emphasises the influence of the height regime on the displacement at the top of the building and irregularities that influence on the same phenomenon. The results are conclusive and are discussed both on the charts and analytical results obtained. The activities of this research were conducted under the supervision of Mr. Claudiu-Sorin DRAGOMIR, Lecturer in the Department of Environment and Land Reclamation at the Faculty of Land Reclamation and Environmental Engineering of Bucharest.


Electrospinning has been recognized as an efficient technique for the forming of polymer nanofibers. In this project interest fabricated Soy Protein Isolate (SPI) nanofibers by electrospinning with different supply voltages, positive and negative charge. SPI was dissolved in 80%-95% w/w acetic acid solution and 80%-90% w/w formic acid solution. Only droplet formation of SPI were found instead of fibril formation, and the droplet morphology of SPI is depended on supply voltage, and type of solvent. SPI droplets from the negative supply voltage have smaller and more nodular than droplets from positive supply voltage. Formic acid SPI solution gives smaller size of droplet and more nodular than acetic acid SPI solution. In order to forming SPI nanofibers, zein/SPI blend were performed. The zein/SPI blend was studied at difference blending ratio. The 95/5 Zein/SPI was found to be the best blend composition for electrospun fiber. In addition, the effects of electrostatic distance and electrostatic voltage on electrospun fiber were also investigated. Increasing electrostatic distance or increasing voltage, smaller size of fiber was obtained.


How are fundamental constants, such as "c" for the speed of light, related to the technological environments that produce them? Relativistic cosmology, developed first by Albert Einstein, depended on military and commercial innovations in telecommunications. Prominent physicists (Hans Reichenbach, Max Born, Paul Langevin, Louis de Broglie, and Léon Brillouin, among others) worked in radio units during WWI and incorporated battlefield lessons into their research. Relativity physicists, working at the intersection of physics and optics by investigating light and electricity, responded to new challenges by developing a novel scientific framework. Ideas about lengths and solid bodies were overhauled because the old Newtonian mechanics assumed the possibility of "instantaneous signaling at a distance." Einstein's universe, where time and space dilated, where the shortest path between two points was often curved and non-Euclidean, followed the rules of electromagnetic "signal" transmission. For these scientists, light's constant speed in the absence of a gravitational field—a fundamental tenet of Einstein's theory—was a lesson derived from communication technologies.


The aim of this study was to determine the some serum minerals and their interactions between in 2, 3 and 4 years-old healthy Norduz (n=45) and Hair (n=31) goats raised in semi-intensive conditions. Mineral levels were determined with Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) in ppm level. Results were calculated as Fe 1.578±0.088 and 1.379±0.095 mmol/L, Cu 1.300±0.067 and 1.303±0.080 mg/L, Zn 0.972±0.029 and 0.937±0.029 mg/L, K 4.574±0.091 and 2.102±0.074 mmol/L, Mg 2.089±0.057 and 4.670±0.098 mmol/L, Mn 2.163±0.152 and 2.215±0.198 mg/L, Pb 0.078±0.005 and 0.087±0.006 mg/L for Norduz and Hair goats, respectively. While the differences in the mineral levels of hair goats were not significant, significant differences has been found between the age groups in terms of K, F and Pb in Norduz goats. In addition, while there was no statistically significant difference between 3-year-old goats, statistically significant differences hs been found for Fe and 2-year-old goats K and Mg in 4-year-old goats. Moreover, with respect to correlation coefficients, positive correlations were obtained both between K-Mg at Norduz goats and between Fe-Cu, Fe-K, Fe-Mg, K-Mg at Hair goats in all years-old groups.


Introduction: Acute kidney diseases and disorders (AKD) encompass acute kidney injury (AKI) and subacute or persistent alterations in kidney function that occur after an initiating event. Unlike AKI, accurate estimates of the incidence and prognosis of AKD are not available and its clinical significance is uncertain. Methods: We studied the epidemiology and long-term outcome of AKD (as defined by the KDIGO criteria), with or without AKI, in a retrospective cohort of adults hospitalized at a single centre for >24 h between 2012 and 2016 who had a baseline eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and were alive at 30 days. In patients for whom follow-up data were available, the risks of major adverse kidney events (MAKEs), CKD, kidney failure, and death were examined by Cox and competing risk regression analyses. Results: Among 62,977 patients, 906 (1%) had AKD with AKI and 485 (1%) had AKD without AKI. Follow-up data were available for 36,118 patients. In this cohort, compared to no kidney disease, AKD with AKI was associated with a higher risk of MAKEs (40.25 per 100 person-years; hazard ratio [HR] 2.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.16–2.91), CKD (27.84 per 100 person-years); subhazard ratio [SHR] 3.18, 95% CI 2.60–3.89), kidney failure (0.56 per 100 person-years; SHR 24.84, 95% CI 5.93–104.03), and death (14.86 per 100 person-years; HR 1.52, 95% CI 1.20–1.92). Patients who had AKD without AKI also had a higher risk of MAKEs (36.21 per 100 person-years; HR 2.26, 95% CI 1.89–2.70), CKD (22.94 per 100 person-years; SHR 2.69, 95% CI 2.11–3.43), kidney failure (0.28 per 100 person-years; SHR 12.63, 95% CI 1.48–107.64), and death (14.86 per 100 person-years; HR 1.57, 95% CI 1.19–2.07). MAKEs after AKD were driven by CKD, especially in the first 3 months. Conclusions: These findings establish the burden and poor prognosis of AKD and support prioritisation of clinical initiatives and research strategies to mitigate such risk.


Irrigation water management is crucial for agricultural production and livelihood security in many regions and countries throughout the world. Over the past decades, controversial and conflictladen water-allocation issues among competing municipal, industrial and agricultural interests have raised increasing concerns. Particularly, growing population, varying natural conditions and shrinking water availabilities have exacerbated such competitions. Shrinking water availabilities can result in reduced water supplies, while growing population can lead to increased water demands, these two facts can further intensify the water shortage. Stochastic programming methodology is applied in this paper to a capital investment problem in water resources. A framework is offered for the evaluation of electricity generation and water supply for agricultural irrigation. This essessment is conducted through the construction of an appropriate stochastic optimization model. A recursive least squares algorithm is incorp-orated in the model which enablee more accurate estimation of model parameters.


Intaglio is the general name used to describe all printmaking processes where the artist incises or engraves the surface of a plate either directly with tools or indirectly with chemicals in order to pull a print from it. Although the techniques that come under this category are labelled traditional they are also among the most popular and widely used techniques in contemporary printmaking. The direct methods include techniques such as drypoint, engraving and mezzotint and the indirect methods include etching and aquatint.
 In this book Mychael Barratt introduces the reader to both the direct and indirect techniques and shows examples of an international range of artists whose work will serve as an inspiration. These artists include Goya, Rembrandt, Durer, Picasso, John Heagan Eames, Paula Rego and Chris Orr.


The identification of image acquisition source is an important problem in digital image forensics. In this work, we focus on building a classifier to effectively distinguish between digital images taken from digital single lens reflex (DSLR) and compact cameras. Based on the architecture and the imaging features of DSLR and compact cameras, the images taken from different sources may have different statistical properties in both spatial and transform domains. In this work, we utilized wavelet coefficients and pixel noise statistics to model these two different source classes over 20 different digital cameras. The efficacy of the digital source class identifier, introduced in the paper, has been tested over 1000 high quality camera outputs and post-processed images (resized, re-compressed). Experimental analysis shows that the proposed method has good potential to distinguish DSLR and compact source classes.


The application area of image retrieval systems has widely spread to the WWW and multimedia database environments. This paper presents an image search system with analytical functions for combining shape, structure, and color features. The system pre-processes an image segmentation from hybrid color systems of HSL and CIELAB. This segmentation process includes a new mechanism for clustering the elements of high-resolution images in order to improve precision and reduce computation time. The system extracts three features of an image which are color, shape and structure. We apply the 3D Color Vector Quantization for the color feature extraction. The shape properties of an image which include eccentricity, area, equivalent diameter, and convex area, are analyzed for extracting the shape feature. The image structure is identified by applying 2D Forward Mirror-Extended Curvelet Transform. Another distinctive idea introduced in this paper is a new distance metric which represents a semantic similarity. This paper has evaluations of the system using 1000 JPEG images from COREL image collections. The experimental results clarify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed system to improve accuracy for image retrieval.


Extreme Events an Geophysical Mon © 2012. American 10.1029/2011GM In this review, we discuss linear and nonlinear long-term correlations in precipitation and river flows and their influence on risk estimation. We outline the standard method for measuring linear and nonlinear correlations that can distinguish between natural fluctuations and external trends, and we use this method to show that, in general, precipitation does not show linear long-term correlation, in contrast to river flows. Both precipitation and river runoff records exhibit nonlinear long-term memory that can be detected by a multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis. Long-term memory has important consequences for the occurrence of extremes. Contrary to the intuition that extremes are uncorrelated and thus occur randomly in time, they tend to cluster in the presence of long-term memory. Here we analyze this clustering feature for the daily precipitation and river flow data. To describe the occurrence of extremes quantitatively, we determine the probability density function of the return intervals between extremes above some threshold value Q and show how it can be used to obtain the hazard function, which is crucial for a risk estimation. Using the hazard function and a Bayesian approach (receiver operator characteristic analysis), we evaluate the contributions of the linear and nonlinear memory to the predictability of precipitation and river flows.


LY255582 is a phenylpiperidine opioid antagonist under development as an appetite suppressant and for the treatment of obesity. Female beagles were administered [14C]LY255582 at dosages of 0.72 mg/kg intravenously or 7.2 mg/kg orally. The majority (54-58%) of the radioactivity was eliminated in the urine over 8 days after both oral and intravenous drug administration, primarily as polar metabolites. Peak plasma levels of parent drug in the dog were 11.5 and 311 ng/ml after oral and intravenous administration, respectively, and declined with a half-life of 3.2 hr. Peak plasma levels of LY255582 in the rat were 7.9 and 160 ng/ml after administration of [14C]LY255582 at dosages of 35 mg/kg orally and 1 mg/kg intravenously, respectively. The half-life of parent drug in rats was 1.5 hr; however, the terminal half-lives of radioactivity equivalents were 7.9 and 31.7 hr after intravenous and oral administration, respectively. The bioavailability of parent LY255582 was < 1% in both the rat and the dog, primarily because of extensive first-pass metabolism. Whole-body autoradiographic studies in rats after administration of a single oral 35 mg/kg dose of [14C]LY255582 indicated that radioactivity was rapidly absorbed and distributed throughout the body. Radioactivity concentrated in the liver and was eliminated slowly. Little or no parent drug was eliminated in the urine of either species. As in the urine, the major residues present in the liver and bile of rats orally administered [14C]LY255582 were uncharacterized polar metabolites with little parent drug present.


Various efforts have been made to improve the bioavailability and to prolong the residence time of eye drops. Drug loaded polymeric nanoparticles offer several favorable biological properties. Thus, brimonidine tartrate (BT) loaded chitosan (CS) nanoparticles were prepared by inducing the ionic gelation upon addition of sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP). Nanoparticles were characterized by TEM, SEM, particle size, polydispersity index (PI), DSC, IR, entrapment efficiency which gave an insight of physicochemical interaction that influenced the CS nanoparticle formation and entrapment of BT. In vitro release of BT nanoparticle showed sustained release over the period of 4 h in saline phosphate buffer pH 7.4. Both placebo and BT loaded nanoparticles had a mean particle size range of about 270-370 nm with PI less than 0.5. DSC studies demonstrated structural interactions between BT, TPP and CS matrix. Entrapment efficiency of the CS nanoparticles ranged from 36-49% depending on the CS:TPP weight ratio. In vivo studies confirmed a significant sustained effect of BT nanoparticles compared to conventional eye drops. These results suggest that BT loaded CS nanoparticles could help to reduce dosage frequency by sustained drug release in the treatment of glaucoma.


A new approach is explored to achieve sintered aluminium alloy from metallic powder mixtures without compression or adding Mg. In this approach, mixtures of micron-sized aluminium powder (average size of 2.5 μm) and nano-sized alloying elemental powder of Cu and Sn (less than of 70nm), at appropriate proportions to compositions of Al-6wt%Cu, Al-6wt%Cu-3wt%Sn with and without adhesive binder were prepared by magnetic stirring. Then, the powder mixture was poured into a crucible and heat treated at a temperature of 600°C for 11 hours in inert atmosphere of N2 or Ar. In this paper, we investigate the debinding behavior of loosely packed Al-based powder mixture and the microstructural development and mechanical property sintered parts using a combination of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffractrometry (XRD) and hardness test.


Three single reinforcement concrete (RC) frames, including 1 reference specimen and 2 specimens strengthened with shear walls, were fabricated and subjected to low cyclic loadings, in order to evaluate seismic performances of strengthened single frame structures with exterior cantilevers. Through comparison and analysis of failure mode, hysteretic behavior, skeleton curve, energy dissipation, strength, and stiffness degradation of the tested frames, the validity of the shear wall-based reinforcement method for single frames was verified. Test results indicate that the stiffness and load-bearing capacities of strengthened frames increased considerably in comparison with the reference frame. A "strong column-weak beam" failure pattern was observed on the cantilever side, and the failure of the shear wall was always prior to the column, which can increase the structural redundancy and improve the failure mechanism and seismic performance of an existing single frame.


Materials information systems are used normally to provide data that is input to a separate design or test system that then computes the characteristics of some item or entity being designed or examined. This paper concerns the study of an integrated system that includes both the data and design systems together; therefore, it includes not only data on the property of materials but also knowledge on the geometry of the item being designed. In addition, it includes formulas representing the laws of physical science used to carry out the calculation needed to compute the necessary characteristics of the item. This kind of system can determine the optimum materials for the design of an item, rather than simply retrieve material properties. It may replace the simple search and retrieve systems available today, and it is argued that the complexity of such a system could only be achieved using an object-oriented methodology.


Due to low energy characteristics such as energy density and cyclic life, it is mandatory to enhance the energy characteristics of the supercapacitors (ESs). Electrolytes have been recognized as the most prominent ingredients in electrochemical supercapacitor perfor- mance. Most commercially available ESs use organic electrolytes and have some advantage like wide operating voltage. However, compared with aqueous alternatives, organic electrolytes are expensive, flammable, and, in some cases, toxic. It is reliable to assert that even though aqueous electrolytes examined by a cramped working voltage, the ions pres- ent in them are yet capable of incredibly faster carrier rates than organic electrolytes and can achieve better performance of ESs. Thus, efforts turned toward enlarging the work - ing voltage window of aqueous electrolytes to increase overall operating potential and energy density of supercapacitor devices. This book chapter comprises the latest accom - plishments in this area and provides an insight into the aqueous electrolyte advancement.


Cloud computing, featured by shared servers and location independent services, has been widely adopted by various businesses to increase computing efficiency, and reduce operational costs. Despite significant benefits and interests, enterprises have a hard time to decide whether or not to migrate thousands of servers into the cloud because of various reasons such as lack of holistic migration (planning) tools, concerns on data security and cloud vendor lock-in. In particular, cloud security has become the major concern for decision makers, due to the nature weakness of virtualization -- the fact that the cloud allows multiple users to share resources through Internet-facing interfaces can be easily taken advantage of by hackers. Therefore, setting up a secure environment for resource migration becomes the top priority for both enterprises and cloud providers. To achieve the goal of security, security policies such as firewalls and access control have been widely adopted, leading to significant cost as additional resources need to employed. In this paper, we address the challenge of the security-aware virtual server migration, and propose a migration strategy that minimizes the migration cost while promising the security needs of enterprises. We prove that the proposed security-aware cost minimization problem is NP hard and our solution can achieve an approximate factor of 2. We perform an extensive simulation study to evaluate the performance of the proposed solution under various settings. Our simulation results demonstrate that our approach can save 53%moving cost for a single enterprise case, and 66% for multiple enterprises case comparing to a random migration strategy.


To understand the possible impacts of changes in rainfall and potential evapotranspiration (PET) in a river catchment in which surface water and groundwater systems are connected, the dynamic interaction that exists between changes in surface runoff, groundwater recharge, and groundwater levels must be represented appropriately. While such a system can be modelled using fully coupled groundwater-surface water flow models, it is more common for separate specialised models to be developed independently by different teams for different purposes. The assumptions, parameters and outputs of the models are not compared. This paper develops a methodology for comparing specialist hydrological models commonly used in Australia to simulate catchment processes. Three models were developed, initially independently, of the Cox Creek sub-catchment in the Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia: a LEACHM model of groundwater recharge, a SOURCE model of surface water runoff, and a MODFLOW model of groundwater flow. The models are reconciled by using multiple outputs of the LEACHM model as inputs to the MODFLOW model, and calibrating the MODFLOW model to SOURCE outputs. Reconciliation of the inputs and outputs of the three models with each other should improve the rigour in each model's simulation of catchment processes. The reconciled models will be run with stochastically-generated input data sets of rainfall and PET, representing a variety of possible future climate scenarios generated by one of the CMIP5 group of global climate models. Reconciled outputs of the three models are expected to reveal some of the complexities in the inter-related responses of groundwater and surface water flow systems to multi-decadal timescale changes in rainfall patterns.


Abstract Between about 1580 and 1690, early modern England experienced three interrelated developments: first, the growth of a successful commercial popular music industry, centred on London, which served a socially broad national market; secondly, the development of political parties, emerging from the political and religious turmoil of the period, which impinged significantly upon the newly burgeoning popular music industry and its markets; thirdly, a substantial increase in the per capita consumption of alcoholic drinks across all social classes, for reasons of sociability rather than health or nutrition. This article explores the unexpected effects of these changes on cultures of politics, drink and song across the whole period. In particular, it explores the way in which the Cavaliers of the 1650s and the new 'Tory' party of the 1680s used the medium of song to encourage excessive drinking and the political and social denigration of sobriety in order to promote loyal obedience.


A minimum subantral bone height in the posterior maxilla may require a bone augmentation where a sinus lift procedure is the most commonly used technique, either preceding or simultaneously with the implant installation. While elevating the Schneiderian membrane ruptures are common, possibly resulting in less bone formation. In this paper, we propose the surgical pneumatization of the Schneiderian membrane as a new technique to minimize the risk of such complications. This can be achieved mainly by creating a hole for the immediate and increased passage of air through the Schneiderian membrane and the maxillary sinus wall above the region of augmentation.


A classical problem in computer vision is to infer a 3D scene representation from few images that can be used to render novel views at interactive rates. Previous work focuses on reconstructing pre-defined 3D representations, e.g. textured meshes, or implicit representations, e.g. radiance fields, and often requires input images with precise camera poses and long processing times for each novel scene. In this work, we propose the Scene Representation Transformer (SRT), a method which processes posed or unposed RGB images of a new area, infers a "set-latent scene representation ", and synthesises novel views, all in a single feed-forward pass. To calculate the scene representation, we propose a generalization of the Vision Transformer to sets of images, enabling global information integration, and hence 3D reasoning. An efficient decoder transformer parameterizes the light field by attending into the scene representation to render novel views. Learning is supervised end-to-end by minimizing a novel-view reconstruction error. We show that this method outperforms recent baselines in terms of PSNR and speed on synthetic datasets, including a new dataset created for the paper. Further, we demonstrate that SRT scales to support interactive visualization and semantic segmentation of real-world outdoor environments using Street View imagery.


To increase the efficiency of a Variable Geometry Turbine at low massflow rates the vaneless space of the vanes is reduced. It is researched if this modification can reduce turbo lag. A turbine with modified vane ring is installed in the exhaust of a naturally aspirated engine and wide open throttle accelerations are performed to test the turbine performance. The new (reduced vaneless space) vane configuration induced a lower exhaust backpressure which allowed the engine to accelerate faster. The acceleration from 1500 to 3000 RPM was an average of 8 % faster for the new vane configuration. This in turn increased the massflow rate through the turbine which caused the power available to the turbine to be similar in compared vane rings. The initial turbine speeds was lower for the new vane configuration but it quickly caught up with the conventional configuration because the turbine acceleration was higher. The turbine efficiency was higher for the new vane configuration in most cases. The mean increase in turbine efficiency during the initial acceleration was 4 %. The turbine efficiency at the end of the acceleration was similar for both vane configurations. These experiments indicate that it is probable that decreasing the vaneless space in a variable geometry turbine will increase turbine performance during vehicle acceleration.


The principles of reconstructive surgery of the maxillofacial region must ensure a good functional result, but also a cosmetic outcome that recreates the natural lines of the face. A great care must be taken by the surgeon in the case of lip defects following tumor pathology due to their importance in the facial harmony. Although there are various well defined procedures for facial reconstruction, local flaps still play a highly significant role due to the ease of harvesting and the good adaptation at the recipient site. Functional evaluation was undertaken in all patients at 2 weeks, 3 and 6 months postoperative. The recovery is faster than for distant site flaps, and the surgical procedure can be performed on patients with comorbidities.


Recent trends have revealed that SIP based IP-PBX DoS attacks contribute to most overall IP-PBX attacks which is resulting in loss of revenues and quality of service in telecommunication providers. IP-PBX face challenges in detecting and mitigating malicious traffic. In this research, Support Vector Machine (SVM) machine learning detection & prevention algorithm were developed to detect this type of attacks Two other techniques were benchmarked decision tree and Naïve Bayes. The training phase of the machine learning algorithm used proposed real-time training datasets benchmarked with two training datasets from CICIDS and NSL-KDD. Proposed real-time training dataset for SVM algorithm achieved highest detection rate of 99.13% while decision tree and Naïve Bayes has 93.28% & 86.41% of attack detection rate, respectively. For CICIDS dataset, SVM algorithm achieved highest detection rate of 76.47% while decision tree and Naïve Bayes has 63.71% & 41.58% of detection rate, respectively. Using NSL-KDD training dataset, SVM achieved 65.17%, while decision tree and Naïve Bayes has 51.96% & 38.26% of detection rate, respectively.The time taken by the algorithms to classify the attack is very important. SVM gives less time (2.9 minutes) for detecting attacks while decision tree and naïve Bayes gives 13.6 minutes 26.2 minutes, respectively. Proposed SVM algorithm achieved the lowest false negative value of (87 messages) while decision table and Naïve Bayes achieved false negative messages of 672 and 1359, respectively.


This paper presents a new methodology to extract discriminative features from images, that are robust and invariant to image blur and JPEG compression. The local patches are quantized in the polar geometric structure using Log Polar Transformation (LPT). Then two-dimensional Discrete Wavelet Transformation (DWT) is used to decompose the polar structured patch into sub-bands. Each approximation sub-band of the wavelet decomposition is converted to vectors which are considered as features namely Compressed Local Retinal Features (CLRF). The proposed approach is comparatively evaluated with the state-of-the-art image descriptors on the standard Oxford dataset. The experimental results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed descriptor against image blur and JPEG compressions.


We propose a two layer protocol for tracking fast targets in sensor networks. At the lower layer, the Distributed Spanning Tree Algorithm (DSTA) [12] partitions the network into clusters with controllable diameter and constructs a spanning tree backbone of cluster heads rooted at the sink. At the upper layer, we propose a target tracking algorithm which wakes clusters of nodes by using the estimated trajectory beforehand, which is different from existing studies [3] in which target can be detected only when the nodes close to the target are awake. We provide the simulation results and show the effect of fore-waking operation by comparing error and miss ratios of existing approaches with our proposed target tracking algorithm.


Abstract The main aim of this article is to provide a state-of-the-art review of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) utilization in heterogeneous catalysis. MRI is capable to provide very useful information about both living and nonliving objects in a noninvasive way. The studies of an internal heterogeneous reactor structure by MRI help to understand the mass transport and chemical processes inside the working catalytic reactor that can significantly improve its efficiency. However, one of the serious disadvantages of MRI is low sensitivity, and this obstacle dramatically limits possible MRI application. Fortunately, there are hyperpolarization methods that eliminate this problem. Parahydrogen-induced polarization approach, for instance, can increase the nuclear magnetic resonance signal intensity by four to five orders of magnitude; moreover, the obtained polarization can be stored in long-lived spin states and then transferred into an observable signal in MRI. An in-depth account of the studies on both thermal and hyperpolarized MRI for the investigation of heterogeneous catalytic processes is provided in this review as part of the special issue emphasizing the research performed to date in Russia/USSR.


This memo defines a portion of the Management Information Base (MIB)
for devices implementing the Network Address Translator (NAT)
function. The new MIB module defined in this document, NATV2-MIB, is
intended to replace module NAT-MIB (RFC 4008). NATV2-MIB is not
backwards compatible with NAT-MIB, for reasons given in the text of
this document. A companion document deprecates all objects in NAT-MIB.
NATV2-MIB can be used for the monitoring of NAT instances on a device
capable of NAT function. Compliance levels are defined for three
application scenarios: basic NAT, pooled NAT, and carrier-grade NAT
(CGN).


This study was conducted to demonstrate that experienced pediatricians using standard clinical indications for performing a lumbar puncture should have a higher yield of positive spinal taps than previously reported and also can detect bacterial meningitis. These indicators included temperature elevation, inability to be consoled, level of alertness, nuchal rigidity, bulging fontanel, decreased appetite, rash, referral, and febrile seizures. Eighty-two of 381 (22%) lumbar punctures were positive for pleocytosis and/or organisms. Patients were divided into two groups, consisting of those with one indicator (low risk) and those with greater than one indicator (high risk). Thirteen of 14 patients with bacterial meningitis were placed in the high risk group. The single patient in the low risk group had been pretreated with antibiotics. The positive predictive value in bacterial meningitis for a score greater than one was 5%. The average number of clinical indicators in bacterial meningitis was 3.7, versus 2.4 in viral meningitis and 1.6 without meningitis. These findings suggest that, in the absence of prior antibiotic therapy, an experienced pediatrician can clinically detect patients at high risk for bacterial meningitis. Nonbacterial meningitis cannot be as readily detected clinically.


Augmented Reality (AR) is an emerging field, which is evolving exponentially. Its concept is to coalesce the virtual world into the real world. The augmented reality intent to enhance our perception of the real world by integrating virtual objects. The existing Augmented Reality Hand gesture control systems detect hand gesture and embed the virtual object in augmented reality using markers and motion sensing devices like Kinect. In this paper, a new Hand Gesture Control in Augmented Reality System (HGCARS) is introduced in which the gesture recognition is performed using a secondary camera and the reality is captured using an IP camera. The virtual object is inserted into the video feed obtained from an IP camera. The virtual object is controlled by using the position and depth of user's hand, measured using a simple webcam, thus reducing the cost of implementation.


We propose a model for the interframe correspondences existing between pixels of an image sequence. These correspondences form the elements of a field called the motion field. In our model, spatial neighborhoods of motion elements are related based on a generalization of autoregressive (AR) modeling of the time-series. We also propose a joint spatio-temporal model by including spatial neighborhoods of pixel intensities in the motion model. A fundamental difference of our approach with most previous approaches to modeling motion is in basing our model on concepts from statistical signal processing. The developments in this paper give rise to the promise of extending well-understood tools of signal processing (e.g., filtering) to the analysis and processing of motion fields. Simulation results presented show the performance of our models in interframe prediction; specifically, on average the motion model performs 29% better in terms of the mean squared error energy over a commonly used pel-recursive approach. The spatio-temporal model improves the prediction efficiencies by 8% over the motion model. Our model can also be used to obtain estimates of the optical flow field as the simulations demonstrate.


This article reviews some useful discrete models and compares their performance in terms of the high frequency of zeroes, which is observed in many discrete data (e.g., motor crash, earthquake, strike data, etc.). A simulation study is conducted to determine how commonly used discrete models (such as the binomial, Poisson, negative binomial, zero-inflated and zero-truncated models) behave if excess zeroes are present in the data. Results indicate that the negative binomial model and the ZIP model are better able to capture the effect of excess zeroes. Some real-life environmental data are used to illustrate the performance of the proposed models.


Background: Pocillopora acuta is a hermatypic coral with strong ecological importance. Anthropogenic disturbances and global warming are major threats that can induce coral bleaching, the disruption of the mutualistic symbiosis between the coral host and its endosymbiotic algae. Previous works have shown that somaclonal colonies display different levels of survival depending on the environmental conditions they previously faced. Epigenetic mechanisms are good candidates to explain this phenomenon. However, almost no work had been published on the P. acuta epigenome, especially on histone modifications. In this study, we aim at providing the first insight into chromatin structure of this species. Methods: We aligned the amino acid sequence of P. acuta core histones with histone sequences from various phyla. We developed a centri-filtration on sucrose gradient to separate chromatin from the host and the symbiont. The presence of histone H3 protein and specific histone modifications were then detected by western blot performed on histone extraction done from bleached and healthy corals. Finally, micrococcal nuclease (MNase) digestions were undertaken to study nucleosomal organization. Results: The centri-filtration enabled coral chromatin isolation with less than 2% of contamination by endosymbiont material. Histone sequences alignments with other species show that P. acuta displays on average ~90% of sequence similarities with mice and ~96% with other corals. H3 detection by western blot showed that H3 is clipped in healthy corals while it appeared to be intact in bleached corals. MNase treatment failed to provide the usual mononucleosomal digestion, a feature shared with some cnidarian, but not all; suggesting an unusual chromatin structure. Conclusions: These results provide a first insight into the chromatin, nucleosome and histone structure of P. acuta. The unusual patterns highlighted in this study and partly shared with other cnidarian will need to be further studied to better understand its role in corals.


Abstract. The article is about OpenStreetMap and Missing Maps Project and their introducing in the remote sensing classes at universities to show potential of geographic information to improve education of people about how to help to solve the disaster and crisis situations in the World. This approach also serves as a real model for learning to interpret satellite imagery in such situations. At the beginning of the article different kinds of disasters are briefly mentioned including their causes and effect on the life of people. Then crisis management is briefly introduced from the point of view selected voluntary projects which are analysed to make process more targeted and efficient. After that Missing Maps project is introduced together with OpenStreetMap and their outputs on the example of non-profit organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) operating in different parts of the World. In the next part the ways how to contribute and improve their activities and how the whole cooperation works are arranged. Next part of the article focuses on Missing Maps mapathons (meetings of volunteers who create open-source maps for MSF) and the way how they are organized in Brno, Czechia. Editing of the OpenStreetMap for the Missing Maps project has been recently introduced to usual remote sensing classes for students of Masaryk University in Brno. Information about this activity is also described.


Two independent programs have collected and analyzed atmospheric CO2 samples from Point Barrow, Alaska, for radiocarbon content (Δ14C) over the period 2003–2007. In one program, flask collection, stable isotope analysis, and CO2 extraction are performed by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography's CO2 Program and CO2 is graphitized and measured by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In the other program, the University of California, Irvine, performs flask collection, sample preparation, and AMS. Over 22 common sample dates spanning 5 yr, differences in measured Δ14C are consistent with the reported uncertainties and there is no significant bias between the programs.


Within multi-domain sentiment analysis, we study how different domain-dependent polarities can be learned for the same concepts. To this aim, we extend an existing approach based on the propagation of fuzzy polarities over a semantic graph capturing background linguistic knowledge to learn concept polarities with respect to various domains and their uncertainty from labeled datasets. In particular, we use POS tagging to refine the association between terms and concepts and word embedding to enhance the construction of the semantic graph. The proposed approach is then evaluated on a standard benchmark, showing that the combined use of POS tagging and word embedding improves its performance. One particularly strong point of the proposed approach is its recall, which is always very close to 100%. In addition, we observe that it exhibits good cross-domain generalization capabilities.


Subjective causal explanations for littering of waste are investigated through a questionnaire-based survey (N = 147). Participants were asked if they littered waste in the past, and if so why, and they were also asked why they think some other people litter. 71% of the participants admitted having littered in the past. An analysis of the perceived reasons for littering showed significant differences between the reasons provided for own as compared to other people's littering. The differences found were in line with previous research demonstrating a self-serving bias in intrapersonal as compared to interpersonal attributions. Own littering is often "justified" by external causes for example shortcomings in the infrastructure, such as missing or filled garbage cans, whereas negative personal attributions such as ignorance, naivety, and convenience are most commonly considered to cause littering by others. Findings are discussed with reference to the integrative Model of Justified Behaviour (MJB) (Hansmann and Steimer 2015) which covers a broad range of factors including attitudes, norms, knowledge, restrictions and options, habit formation, and evaluative processes of justification as determinants of behavioural decision-making. Implications for environmental management and for the design of anti-littering campaigns and environmental education are discussed.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.73.1.18521


Online platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, provide users with a rich set of features for sharing and consuming political information, expressing political opinions, and exchanging potentially contrary political views. In such activities, two types of communication spaces naturally emerge: those dominated by exchanges between politically homogeneous users and those that allow and encourage crosscutting exchanges in politically heterogeneous groups. While research on political talk in online environments abounds, we know surprisingly little about the potentially varying nature of discussions in politically homogeneous spaces as compared to cross-cutting communication spaces. To fill this gap, we use Reddit to explore the nature of political discussions in homogeneous and cross-cutting communication spaces. In particular, we develop an analytical template to study interaction and linguistic patterns within and between politically homogeneous and heterogeneous communication spaces. Our analyses reveal different behavioral patterns in homogeneous and cross-cutting communications spaces. We discuss theoretical and practical implications in the context of research on political talk online.


INTRODUCTION The past decade has seen a considerable expansion in research that has looked at team training, addressing a range of questions about how to design training; how to implement it; and its impact on both team processes and performance. Despite this expansion, to date there has been relatively little attention given to the relationship between team training and the development of trust within teams. This is surprising as training and development professionals working in organizations regard trust as one of the most important skills that should be developed within teams due to its positive effects on team performance, organizational productivity and competitive advantage (Davis et al., 2000; McEvily et al., 2003; Rosen et al., 2006). It would therefore seem advantageous within a human resource (HR) context to implement training programmes that promote trust between team members in order to benefit the organization. Furthermore, it may be particularly beneficial for certain types of teams; for example, in virtual teams where lack of face- to- face contact limits trust development, and in culturally diverse teams where differences in cultural norms may reduce trust in others. To extend understanding in this area, this chapter considers the research on both the use of training to develop trust among team members and its efficacy. We highlight research on two distinct approaches to training – team- and task- skills training – considering their effectiveness and applicability to different contexts, as well as issues for future research. We begin by defining trust within a training context and consider the processes through which trust may develop in training.


Using a bargaining framework, this paper analyzes the impact of access to credit on household labor allocation and on consumption expenditures in rural Malawi. The labor participation decisions of married men and women and female heads are estimated using random-effects probit models, and are corrected for endogeneity of access to credit. Expenditure shares are estimated using ordinary least squares and Tobit models.


Abstract Because of their complex life styles, amphibians and reptiles living in wetlands require both aquatic and terrestrial buffer zones in their protected conservation areas. Due to steep declines in wild populations, the gold-spotted pond frog (Rana chosenica) is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. However, lack of data about its movements and use of habitat prevents effective conservation planning. To determine the habitat use and home range of this species, we radio-tracked 44 adult frogs for 37 days between 10 July and 4 Nov. 2007 to observe three different populations in the breeding season, non-breeding season, and late fall. The gold-spotted pond frog was very sedentary; its daily average movement was 9.8 m. Frogs stayed close to breeding ponds (within 6.6 m), and did not leave damp areas surrounding these ponds, except for dormancy migration to terrestrial sites such as dried crop fields. The average distance of dormancy migration of seven frogs from the edge of their breeding ponds was 32.0 m. The average size of an individual's home range was 713.8 m2 (0.07 ha). The year-round population home range, which accounts for the home ranges of a population of frogs, was determined for two populations to be 8,765.0 m2 (0.88 ha) and 3,700.9 m2 (0.37 ha). Our results showed that to conserve this endangered species, appropriately sized wetlands and extended terrestrial buffer areas surrounding the wetlands (at least 1.33 ha, diameter 130 m) should be protected.


Pharmaceutical manufacturers must validate their cleaning process to ensure compliance with cGMP regulations. Minimizing equipment downtime has the potential to impact the efficiency and economics of pharmaceutical production. The main purpose of cleaning validation is to improve the effectiveness and consistency of cleaning in a given pharmaceutical production equipment or prevent cross contamination and adulteration of drug products with other active ingredients like unintended compounds or microbiological contamination, leads to prevent several serious problems and also useful in related studies like packaging component cleaning validation. So it is necessary to validate the cleaning procedures to ensure safety, efficacy, quality of the subsequent batches of drug product and regulatory requirements in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) product manufacture. The benefits due to cleaning validation are compliance with federal regulations, identification and correction of potential problems, previously unsuspected which could compromise the safety and efficacy of drug products. In this article cleaning, validation and importance are discussed in brief.


Te aim of this paper is to explore consumers' perceptions and habits regarding traditional food in the Western Balkan Countries. In each Western Balkan country, two focus groups were carried-out (total twelve focus groups; eight to ten participants per each – total sample of 104 participants). Results of this study show that consumer motives for the choice of traditional products pertain to higher health, safety, sensory and increasingly also sustainability beliefs and expectation. Results of this study show many similarities in perception as and habits towards traditional food in different WBC. Marketing techniques are critical in conveying authenticity and enhancing the attractiveness of traditional food.


This study assesses the feasibility of cold spraying metal onto wood for commercial applications. It was found that particle adhesion and coating build-up differ significantly from the standard case of spraying metal on metal. Phenomena such as fiber rupture and buckling, pore filling, and particle anchoring required a new approach for process development and verification. First, a microscale analysis of the unique features of wood was necessary to define the deposition surface. Next, a wide range of cold spray tests were conducted to obtain metal coatings on four species of wood. To better understand the dependency of deposition efficiency on particle state conditions, a CFD models and FEA simulations were used to investigate single and multi-particle impacts on local wood structures as observed in SEM and microtomography images. A conventional pull-off test was used to collect adhesion strength data and a numerical counterpart of the test has been developed, making it possible to compare macroscopic adhesion behavior of real and virtual interfaces.


In a recent survey conducted by the respected Indonesian Journal, Tempo, Indonesian respondents cited uncertainties regarding security in everyday life as their major concern, ahead of worries about terrorism. An important part of this concern is the growing influence of infoecurity groups (ISGs) and various forms of militia operating at the margins of rule of law. While such organisations had been an important part of the former Soeharto regime, one key question is how they have survived and flourished despite the ending of authoritarian rule and the rise of democracy. This policy brief will examine the various policy and governance programmes introduced to deal with the issue and assess their relative effectiveness. It will provide recommendations for future policy design.


Composting is the biological decomposition of organic materials, such as plant tissue, food scraps, paper, animal fodder, and wood chips. The end-product, compost, is a beneficial soil amendment because it can contain a diversity of beneficial microorganisms, has high nutrient and water-holding capacities, can increase total soil porosity, and contains essential plant nutrients that improve soil productivity. Coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Atlantic and European shorelines, have witnessed a proliferation of brown seaweed (Sargassum sp.). When piled on beaches, tourism appeal is reduced, threatening the local economy. When amassed offshore, thick brown seaweed mats can hinder fishing. Excessive decomposition rates can lead to eutrophication, which threatens coastal areas economically and environmentally. Despite these problems, seaweed may be considered a valuable compost ingredient. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a market test to determine the potential value of a seaweed-incorporated compost to consumers in Texas and to identify attributes of likely consumers. A marketing survey was developed and distributed to gardeners in the central and south Texas regions. Contingent valuation questions measured participants' willingness to pay for the seaweed compost products. Participants were able to see, smell, and touch a sample of the compost while completing the survey. Despite 92% of respondents ranking themselves as inexperienced in compost behavior, results indicated a potential for a specialty, competitively priced seaweed-incorporated compost to be introduced to the market. Respondents were most willing to pay $4.00/ft3 to $5.00/ft3 for seaweed-incorporated compost. Additionally, participants who responded positively to buying local, buying compost in the past, having positive environmental attitudes, and buying American were more likely to pay more for the seaweed-incorporated compost. There was not an obvious pattern between willingness to pay for seaweed-incorporated compost and demographic responses.


Post-marketing surveillance studies provide conflicting evidence about whether Guillain–Barre syndrome occurs more frequently following quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV4) vaccination. We aimed to assess whether Guillain–Barre syndrome is reported more frequently following HPV4 vaccination than other vaccinations among females and males aged 9 to 26 y in the United States. We used adverse event reports received by the United States Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012 to estimate overall, age-, and sex-specific proportional reporting ratios (PRRs) and corresponding Χ2 values for reports of Guillain–Barre syndrome between 5 and 42 d following HPV vaccination. Minimum criteria for a signal using this approach are 3 or more cases, PRR ≥2, and Χ2 ≥ 4. Guillain–Barre syndrome was listed as an adverse event in 45 of 14 822 reports, of which 9 reports followed HPV4 vaccination and 36 reports followed all other vaccines. The overall, age-, and sex-specific PRR estimates were uniformly below 1. In addition, the overall, age-, and sex-specific Χ2 values were uniformly below 3. Our analysis of post-marketing surveillance data does not suggest that Guillain–Barre syndrome is reported more frequently following HPV4 vaccination than other vaccinations among vaccine-eligible females or males in the United States. Our findings may be useful when discussing the risks and benefits of HPV4 vaccination.


We report the first demonstration of a novel germanium (Ge) metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector featuring asymmetrical Schottky-barrier height for low dark current and high-speed photodetection applications. Through co-implantation and segregation of valence-mending adsorbate such as sulfur at the NiGe/Ge interface, the germanide Fermi level can be pinned close to the conduction band edge. This results in an effective modulation of hole Schottky-barrier height, leading to a significant dark current suppression by >3 orders of magnitude over a conventional MSM photodetector. When operated at a bias voltage VA of 1.0 V, a detector with an area of 804 mum2 shows a spectrum response of ~ 0.36 A/W or a corresponding quantum efficiency of ~ 34%. In addition, a frequency response measurement reveals the achievement of a -3-dB bandwidth of ~15 GHz at an illumination photon wavelength of 1550 nm.