Measurements from several cosmic-ray air shower experiments reveal that the anisotropy of TeV cosmic-ray flux does not agree with a dipole pattern commonly expected from the Compton-Getting effect or from the diffusion of cosmic rays in Galactic magnetic fields. TeV cosmic-ray anisotropy maps often show fine features, some of which are slightly time-dependent. Because the size of the heliosphere is larger than the gyroradius of TeV cosmic rays in the interstellar magnetic field, the electric and magnetic fields of the heliosphere may distort the pattern of cosmic-ray anisotropy that one would see in the local interstellar medium without the presence of the heliosphere. We have developed a method of mapping cosmic-ray anisotropy using Liouville's theorem. In this paper, we show how to use cosmic-ray anisotropy features to determine the direction of the local interstellar magnetic field, the hydrogen deflection plane, the size and shape of the heliotail, and the geometry of the heliosphere bow wave.


A 67-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with a diagnosis of aortic stenosis. As she had concurrent breast cancer, resection of the left breast was 1st performed. She then suffered from infection of the breast wound followed by infective endocarditis. She underwent aortic valve replacement(AVR) with a patch plasty of the perivalvular abscess in the mitral-aortic intervalvular fibrosa (MAIVF). Four months after the AVR, severe aortic regurgitation occurred due to a pseudoaneurysm in the MAIVF and re-AVR was performed. The surgery revealed detachment of the intra-cardiac patch caused perivalvular leakage. Subsequently, the patient completely recovered following the redo surgery.


Several major migrations and population turnover events during the later Stone Age (after c. 11,000 cal. BP) are believed to have shaped the contemporary population genetic diversity in Eurasia. While the genetic impacts of these migrations have been investigated on regional scales, a detailed understanding of their spatiotemporal dynamics both within and between major geographic regions across Northern Eurasia remains largely elusive. Here, we present the largest shotgun-sequenced genomic dataset from the Stone Age to date, representing 317 primarily Mesolithic and Neolithic individuals from across Eurasia, with associated radiocarbon dates, stable isotope data, and pollen records. Using recent advances, we imputed >1,600 ancient genomes to obtain accurate diploid genotypes, enabling previously unachievable fine-grained population structure inferences. We show that 1) Eurasian Mesolitic hunter-gatherers were more genetically diverse than previously known, and deeply divergent between the west and the east; 2) Hitherto genetically undescribed hunter-gatherers from the Middle Don region contributed significant ancestry to the later Yamnaya steppe pastoralists; 3) The genetic impact of the transition from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic farmers was highly distinct, east and west of a "Great Divide" boundary zone extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic, with large-scale shifts in genetic ancestry to the west. This include an almost complete replacement of hunter-gatherers in Denmark, but no substantial shifts during the same period further to the east; 4) Within-group relatedness changes substantially during the Neolithic transition in the west, where clusters of Neolithic farmer-associated individuals show overall reduced relatedness, while genetic relatedness remains high until ~4,000 BP in the east, consistent with a much longer persistence of smaller localised hunter-gatherer groups; 5) A fast-paced second major genetic transformation beginning around 5,000 BP, with Steppe-related ancestry reaching most parts of Europe within a 1,000 years span. Local Neolithic farmers admixed with incoming pastoralists in most parts of Europe, whereas Scandinavia experienced another near-complete population replacement, with similar dramatic turnover-patterns also evident in western Siberia; 6) Extensive regional differences in the ancestry components related to these early events remain visible to this day, even within countries (research conducted using the UK Biobank resource). Neolithic farmer ancestry is highest in southern and eastern England while Steppe-related ancestry is highest in the Celtic populations of Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall. Overall, our findings show that although the Stone-Age migrations have been important in shaping contemporary genetic diversity in Eurasia, their dynamics and impact were geographically highly heterogeneous.


The embryos of pelagic corals break up in waves yet survive to form smaller colonies. After mass spawning events, coral embryos, lacking the protective capsule of other metazoans, are directly exposed to the environment at the ocean surface. Here, we present evidence that modest turbulence disrupts the integrity of these embryos, which fragment into totipotent cells that develop into proportionately smaller functional larvae. The level of turbulence required to fragment coral embryos can be generated from small wind-generated waves, which occur frequently during coral spawning on the Great Barrier Reef. The formation of planktonic coral clones, through natural embryo fragmentation of broadcast spawn, is a previously unknown mode of reproduction in the animal kingdom.


The American species of Cosmetidae, in spite of being clearly distinguished in the older literature, were mixed-up by Roewer. This, aggravated by groundless synonymies done by Goodnight & Goodnight, prevented all subsequent authors from properly recognizing and adequately naming those species. Herein, we define and characterize the three most widespread species of Cosmetidae in the USA, explaining the misleading synonymies and misidentifications in the taxonomic literature. A recent phylogenetic analysis revalidated Libitioides Roewer, 1912 from the synonymy of Vonones Simon, 1879 to include three American species: Gonyleptes ornatum Say, 1821 (from southeastern USA), Cynorta sayi Simon, 1879 (from central-southern USA) and Cosmetus albolineatus Sørensen, 1884 (from eastern USA). Expanding on that, we herein aggregate another two species to Libitioides: Vonones modestus Banks, 1909 (from Cuba, herein revalidated from the synonymy of Libitioides ornata Roewer, 1912) and Libitioides scabrissima Roewer, 1912 (from Mexico, restored from the current combination with Vonones). The following subjective synonymies are proposed: (1) Platycynorta Mello-Leitão, 1933 and Denticynorta Roewer, 1947 = Libitioides; (2) Metacynorta denticus Walker, 1928 = Cosmetus albolineatus; (3) Platycynorta secunda Roewer, 1947 = Vonones modestus; (4) Libitioides ornata Roewer, 1912 and Cynorta (Cynorta) depressa Sørensen, 1932 = Cynorta sayi. Outside Libitioides, Cynorta bimaculata Banks, 1893, currently combined under Calicynorta Goodnight & Goodnight, 1943, and originally reported from California (due to a misinterpretation of label) has its type locality corrected as to be in Costa Rica instead and is transferred to Holovonones Roewer, 1912. Accordingly, Calicynorta is herein considered a junior subjective synonym of Holovonones Roewer, 1912. Platycynorta clavifemur Roewer, 1957 from Peru is newly combined under the genus Ambatoiella Mello-Leitão, 1943, otherwise known from Ecuador. The present analysis of the distributional data suggests that the occurrence of Cosmetidae is determined not directly by temperature, but by the absence of a dry season and the presence of a hot summer.


The thesis presents an object oriented methodology for the semantic extraction of a geo-image which is defined by a set of natural language labels. The approach is composed of two main stages: analysis and synthesis. The analysis stage detects the main geographic components of a geo-image by means of the color quantification, geometry and topology of the geospatial objects. The result of this stage is a set of geo-images with intensities that are approximately uniform. The synthesis stage extracts the main geographic objects that have been identified and a labeling process in two levels (general and specialized), which is equivalent to consider both local and global information of a geo-image. The aim of the general labeling process is to associate a label of the adequate thematic to each region, taking into account the RGB characteristics of the image. In order to specialize each geographic object, we have proposed a specialization algorithm that considers geometric and topologic relations among them, represented in geographic application domain ontology. The obtained set of labels describes the geo-image semantics.


The aim of this study is to identify the degree of job satisfaction among practitioners of public relations in Saudi Arabia hospitals. This aim is best achieved through studying the relationship between the degree of job satisfaction and certain demographic variables, that include: gender, academic qualifications, level of experience and hospital category. Furthermore, the study aims to examine the views of top hospital administrators towards the nature of public relations in their institutions , and the obstacles facing these departments based on the views expressed by the sample population of the study. The sample consisted of (155) practitioners of public relations in private and public hospitals. The study adopts the survey method. The study concludes that salary satisfaction is the most important factor in job satisfaction, and that 91% of the practitioners of public relations are males. Also it concludes that more than half of the practitioners of public relations in Saudi Arabia hospitals have from 1 – 5 year experience, and that the third of these public relations practitioners have a salary that ranges 6000-8000 SR. It also shows that more than third of them have nothing to do with public relations in terms of their expertise and experience.


This issue of Frontiers of CLTS explores current thinking and practice on the topic of tackling slippage of open defecation free (ODF) status. It looks at how slippage is defined and identified, and at different patterns of slippage that are seen after ODF is declared. Although a considerable amount has been written on how to establish strong Community-Led Total sanitation (CLTS) programmes that prevent slippage from happening, this issue looks at how to reverse slippage that has already taken place. Note however, that at a certain level, strategies used to reverse slippage and those used in advance to set a programme up for success to prevent slippage occurring overlap. From the literature, there is little documented evidence on how slippage can be reversed; evidence and guidance tend to focus on prevention. This review begins to address this gap. Implementers are encouraged to use the proposed patterns of slippage framework and slippage factors section to understand the type and extent of slippage experienced, then use the examples in the section on tackling slippage to identify potential slippage responses. In addition to a review of current literature,1 in depth interviews were carried out with key informants at global, regional and country level. Key informants were selected purposively to identify experiences and innovations in tackling slippage from across the sector.


ABSTRACT In Your Western Regions, My Turkestan (2007), Chinese dissident Wang Lixiong warned of the 'Palestinization' of the Xinjiang question, defined as reaching 'a critical point in time' where Uyghurs and Han Chinese enter an interminable 'ethnic war'. Following the knife attack on Han civilians in Kunming (2014), seen by many as an act of Uyghur terror, Wang reminded us that he had foreseen this trajectory seven years earlier. This article outlines Wang's six interpretations of 'Palestinization' in the Xinjiang context, then shows how tightened regulations on religion and intrusive religious policing was the main catalyst for local retaliatory violence in 2012–2015. I contend that state securitization of religion was counterproductive, heightening societal insecurity and promoting inter-ethnic conflict between Uyghur and Han communities. In Chen Quanguo's era of 'de-extremification', the state's purported attempt to 'purify' Islamic practice continues to be experienced on the ground as violation of pure, halal space.


Development of library resources in all library environments - schools, public, academic, etc. should not be static, but dynamic, so that they can handle the educational and recreational needs of their clientele as years pass on. This paper discussed the evolution and use of school library resources in Nigeria from 1960s to date. Treatment of this topic took cognizance of the changes in the format of school library resources, their sequence of inclusion in the library and the uses made of them. Resources in the library have evolved over the years and are now made up of three main types of library resources, books, audiovisual materials and Information Communication Technologies (ICT). Though their uses were discussed in this paper as they evolved, the use of a combination of all these resources in learning was demonstrated with unit plans in primary science for elementary school and history for secondary school. Some problem associated with the evolution of school library resources were highlighted as, lack of steady growth of school library resources, lack of government support and high cost of books and other library materials. The paper concluded that, as the school library is the educational resources centre of the child, resources that will contributes to the all round development of the child should be made available in it. Key Words : Evolution, use, library, school, Resources


Within Ericsson there is a continuous activity of traffic modeling. Traffic modeling is a practice to analyze traffic patterns and determine necessary resources to handle it optimally. This activity focuses on gathering and analyzing live network measurements, implementing and presenting traffic models. One example of concept in packet traffic modeling is transmission object log which is an aggregation of packet data traces from a measured network over a transmission period. These trace logs that are simple list of all transmission objects contain a vast number of data. When the amount of data increases in these logs several problems can occur such as expensive analysis time, costly data storage and even statistical analysis and data processing in software environments run out of memory. On the other hand, sophisticated and costly computing systems are required for analysis and storage of the data. Therefore, monitoring and analyzing these large traces motivate data reduction. The goal of this thesis is to reduce the number of traffic objects in large object trace logs while preserving the statistical characteristics of the original transmission objects. Sampling techniques are wildly used to cope with the issues of large amount of data in network monitoring. First, this thesis aims to assess the impact of two sampling techniques as a reduction method. Second, to analyze traffic characteristics and showing the effects of sampling, some statistical properties of both original and sampled datasets as well as their distribution plots will be discussed. The distortion introduced by sampling as the distance between the distribution of properties for sampled and unsampled traffic is also presented by a statistical metric. One of the issues in sampling technique is the sampling size. In order to estimate the sampling size and reduce the logs to a certain level, the concept of offline marginal utility as a complementary method to sampling is proposed in this report. The thesis also makes some suggestions as further works to reduce the logs by having less impact on the object characteristics.


The spin structure of the metallic hexagonal B 35 phase of FeGe has been studied by means of susceptibility and magnetization measurements. Below the Neel temperature TN = 411 K hexagonal FeGe is a uniaxial antiferromagnet with the spins parallel to the c-axis. In each c-plane all spins are ferromagnetically coupled with an exchange constant J0 ≈ 22 meV. The antiferromagnetic exchange constant between nearest neighbour and next nearest neighbour c-planes are J1 = -3.5 meV and J2 = -0.9 meV resp. in the molecular field model. Susceptibility and spin flop experiments indicate that the spins tilt away from the c-axis below 30 K. We suggest that the spins then form a double cone structure with a cone halfangle of 20° at 4.2 K. In the double cone the c-plane components have a turn angle in the vicinity of 180° between nearest neighbour planes, which implies absence of long range order. The result is in good agreement with Fermi surface calculations by Sundström (Physica Scripta, following paper), which show the existence of several spin density wave vectors between Q = 0.89 π/c and Q = 1.3 π/c calipering different parts of the Fermi surface in a direction parallel to the c-axis.


We study the short-run and long-run economic impact of one of the largest losses that an individual can face; the death of a child. We utilize unique merged registers on the entire Swedish population, combining information on the date and cause of death with parents' labor market outcomes, health outcomes, marital status, and subsequent fertility. We exploit the longitudinal dimension of the data and deal with a range of selection issues. We distinguish between effects on labor and various non-labor income components and we consider patterns over time. We find that labor market effects are persistent.


Pharmaceutical products are relevant for their contribution to the medicine progress and in health peoples improvement, altough this evidence goes back to the forthy years with the reduction in mortality, morbidity and hospitalisation rates. The ambivalence of drugs, both remedy and poison, needs a careful assessment of risks and benefits. Primitive estimates of health treatments evaluation occurred in the human history but the modern concept of evaluation in health care derived from cost-benefit analysis (welfare economics) and technology assessment. Then a new discipline, pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research, developed with the contribution of health economics, clinical medicine, pharmacology, statistics and epidemiology. Pharmaceutical products are also relevant because of their responsability of health expenditure growth. From 1992, in Italy, several legislative actions were made to face up the pharmaceutical expenditure. The most important one (L. 537/1993) achieved the maximum decrease of 16,8%, in 1994, and modified radically the pharmaceutical policy. Nevertheless, in the following six years the pharmaceutical expenditure grew more than 93%. New actions were made fixing the pharmaceutical expenditure to 13% of health expenditure, any excess being charged to Regions. In the new version for the current year, the excesses will be paid-back by pharmaceutical companies (60%) and Regions (40%). Furtherly, the creation of Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco increases the relevance of cost-effectiveness analyses for drugs reimbursement. However, pharmacoeconomic evaluations have still many methodological problems. Economic variables should be treated in the same manner of biomedical or epidemiological data, that is, by confidence intervals and sample sizes. There would be an "economic significance" besides to clinical and statistical ones. In this way, pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research would be able to add rationality to health care expenditure.


Background: Isolated primary central nervous system lymphoma arising from anterior visual pathway is very rare. Patient Presentation: A 76-year-old immunocompetent previously healthy man presented bilateral decreased visual acuity in 1 month. Pituitary magnetic resonans imaging (MRI) showed a lobulated mass with homogeneous enhancement after gadolinium administration that arising from optic chiasm suggested that inflammatory disease or an optic glioma. The patient underwent an extended endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery. Postoperative course and outcomes were wonderful. Histopathological diagnosis was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The patient underwent investigations for systemic lymphomatous involvement, did not detect any evidence of systemic disease. Conclusion: In this case, we claimed that differential diagnoses of anterior visual pathway lesions are difficult because of similarity of lesions on clinical and radiological examinations. Biopsy is essential for these lesions. As a biopsy technique, endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal approach is safer and more effective than open procedures.


This compendium of 29 chapters from 18 countries contains both fundamental and advanced insight into the inevitable shift from cities dominated by the fossil-fuel systems of the industrial age to a renewable-energy based urban development framework.The cross-disciplinary handbook covers a range of diverse yet relevant topics, including: carbon emissions policy and practice; the role of embodied energy; urban thermal performance planning; building efficiency services; energy; poverty alleviation efforts; renewable community support networks; aspects of household level; bio-fuel markets; urban renewable energy legislation, programs and incentives; innovations in individual transport systems; global urban mobility trends; implications of intelligent energy networks and distributed energy supply and storage; and, the case for new regional monetary systems and lifestyles. Presented are practical and principled aspects of technology, economics, design, culture and society, presenting perspectives that are both local and international in scope and relevance.


The need to decarbonize the shipping sector is leading to a growing interest in fuel cell-based propulsion systems. While Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) represent one of the most promising and mature technologies for onboard implementation, they are still prone to remarkable degradation. The same problem is also affecting Lithium-ion batteries (LIB), which are usually coupled with PEMFC in hybrid powertrains. By including the combined degradation effects in an optimization strategy, the best compromise between costs and PEMFC/LIB lifetime could be determined. However, this is still a challenging yet crucial aspect, rarely addressed in the literature and rarely yet explored. To fill this gap, a health-conscious optimization is here proposed for the long-term minimization of costs and PEMFC/LIB degradation. Results show that a holistic multi-objective optimization allows a 185% increase of PEMFC/LIB lifetime with respect to a fuel-consumption-minimization-only approach. With the progressive ageing of PEMFC/LIB, the hybrid propulsion system modifies the energy management strategy to limit the increase of the daily operation cost. Comparing the optimization results at the beginning and the end of the plant lifetime, daily operation costs are increased by 73% and hydrogen consumption by 29%. The proposed methodology is believed to be a useful tool, able to give insights into the effective costs involved in the long-term operation of this new type of propulsion system.


Exposure to violence, conflict, and other traumatic life events can have harmful effects on the economic, human, and social capital of individuals and their communities. Entrepreneurship and business skills training curricula have been commonly adopted as an approach for promoting socio-economic inclusion in fragile settings. However, most of these programs pay little attention to motivation and internal barriers to learning and decision-making, which may be particularly relevant for victims of conflict. For such populations, imagery techniques—which encourage participants to envision future scenarios or adopt the perspectives of others—could be an effective pedagogical tool for boosting motivation. To evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques, researchers are designing and evaluating a soft skills training program that incorporates imagery for entrepreneurs who have experienced violence or other traumatic or challenging life circumstances in Bogotá, Colombia.


This paper deals with some fundamental considerations regarding the behaviour of geotechnical structures under seismic loading. First a complete definition of the earthquake disaster risk is provided, followed by the importance of performing site-specific hazard analysis. Then some suggestions are provided in regard to adequate assessment of soil parameters, a crucial point to properly analyze the seismic behaviour of geotechnical structures. The core of the paper is centered on a critical review of the analysis methods available for studying geotechnical structures under seismic loadings. All of the available methods can be classified into three main classes, including the pseudo-static, pseudo-dynamic and dynamic approaches, each of which is reviewed for applicability. A more advanced analysis procedure, suitable for a so-called performance-based design approach, is also described in the paper. Finally, the seismic behaviour of the El Infiernillo Dam was investigated. It was shown that coupled elastoplastic dynamic analyses disclose some of the important features of dam behaviour under seismic loading, confirmed by comparing analytical computation and experimental measurements on the dam body during and after a past earthquake.


According to the viewpoint of a driving scheme, the luminance and luminous efficiency is mainly determined during the sustain period. Therefore, it is very important to understand the characteristics of the wall voltage during the sustain period, which is essential to design the driving pulse scheme. In this study, the quantitative analysis of the wall voltage has been carried by the wall voltage measurement method during the sustain period. The initial difference of the wall voltage is sharply stabilized due to the sustain discharges and it is mainly determined by the sustain voltage. The wall voltage between the sustain electrodes is changed symmetrically for the reference voltage level, while the wall voltage between the address and sustain electrode is positively sustained which is roughly mean value of the total effective voltage.


Typically, biochemical screens that employ pure macromolecular components focus on single targets or a small number of interacting components. Researches rely on whole cell screens for more complex systems. Bacterial DNA replicases contain multiple subunits that change interactions with each stage of a complex reaction. Thus, the actual number of targets is a multiple of the proteins involved. It is estimated that the overall replication reaction includes up to 100 essential targets, many suitable for discovery of antibacterial inhibitors. We have developed an assay, using purified protein components, in which inhibitors of any of the essential targets can be detected through a common readout. Use of purified components allows each protein to be set within the linear range where the readout is proportional to the extent of inhibition of the target. By performing assays against replicases from model Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria in parallel, we show that it is possible to distinguish compounds that inhibit only a single bacterial replicase from those that exhibit broad spectrum potential.


This qualitative research study sought to explore and understand the leadership education
needs for Not-for-Profit (NFP) executives in Western Melbourne, as their needs relate to
meeting the challenges of effective sector development.
The study was motivated by two factors. The first factor was that existing research has
shown that NFPs do not invest in leadership/management development education as a
priority of a typical NFP business strategy. The second factor was that within this sector in
the Western Melbourne region, NFP organisations are further impacted by rapid growth and
change at the current time. These factors highlighted the potential that leaders in the sector
may not be prepared to respond to the challenges of effective sector development with
sufficient leadership capability and skills.
This research study explored the perspectives of NFP executives from a cross-section of
industries within the Western Melbourne NFP sector, including social services, culture and
recreation, education, environment and business/professional associations. Seven semistructured
in-depth interviews were conducted with the NFP executive research participants
who gave insights into their perspectives on their own individual needs for leadership
education and development, as well as their perspectives on the needs of executive leaders
more broadly in the NFP sector and the region. Two angles of leadership education needs
were explored with the participants: competency requirements; and the preferred attributes
of learning/educational programs that best meet their needs.
The sector challenges that are driving the need for the development of new/enhanced
leadership capability and skills were also explored, in relation to the Western Melbourne
region. The sector's current response to enhance leadership capability and skills, including
the barriers and opportunities to access leadership education, were also investigated.
This research study has made three key contributions to existing research on leadership
education needs for the NFP sector. Findings indicate that the priorities for leadership
education need to be focussed on the competency areas of financial management and
fundraising, strategic business planning and management, and people management. It was
also found that leadership education needs extend beyond competency areas and include
the structure and modes of delivery for education and development programs to best meet
the needs of the sector and deliver outcomes, presenting challenging issues for local educational providers to better meet the needs. Additionally, this research study has
revealed the constraints for NFP executive leaders to access funding and support for
leadership education and highlighted the limited opportunities that exist to secure funding
from internal and external sources.


We present optical designs allowing large mode area light guiding by ultrafast laser photoinscription of bulk fused silica. If usual concepts are based on large core and depressed cladding, evanescently coupled multicore waveguides with coherent mode superposition can be effective solutions, where the introduction of nanostructured defects determines additional polarization functions.


AIMS
Due to bioprosthetic valve degeneration, aortic valve-in-valve (ViV) procedures are increasingly performed. There are no data on long-term outcomes after aortic ViV. Our aim was to perform a large-scale assessment of long-term survival and reintervention after aortic ViV.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A total of 1006 aortic ViV procedures performed more than 5 years ago [mean age 77.7 ± 9.7 years; 58.8% male; median STS-PROM score 7.3% (4.2-12.0)] were included in the analysis. Patients were treated with Medtronic self-expandable valves (CoreValve/Evolut, Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) (n = 523, 52.0%), Edwards balloon-expandable valves (EBEV, SAPIEN/SAPIEN XT/SAPIEN 3, Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA, USA) (n = 435, 43.2%), and other devices (n = 48, 4.8%). Survival was lower at 8 years in patients with small-failed bioprostheses [internal diameter (ID) ≤ 20 mm] compared with those with large-failed bioprostheses (ID > 20 mm) (33.2% vs. 40.5%, P = 0.01). Independent correlates for mortality included smaller-failed bioprosthetic valves [hazard ratio (HR) 1.07 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.13)], age [HR 1.21 (95% CI 1.01-1.45)], and non-transfemoral access [HR 1.43 (95% CI 1.11-1.84)]. There were 40 reinterventions after ViV. Independent correlates for all-cause reintervention included pre-existing severe prosthesis-patient mismatch [subhazard ratio (SHR) 4.34 (95% CI 1.31-14.39)], device malposition [SHR 3.75 (95% CI 1.36-10.35)], EBEV [SHR 3.34 (95% CI 1.26-8.85)], and age [SHR 0.59 (95% CI 0.44-0.78)].

CONCLUSIONS
The size of the original failed valve may influence long-term mortality, and the type of the transcatheter valve may influence the need for reintervention after aortic ViV.


Abstract: Infections with herpesvirus have contributed to respiratory, enteric, and neurological disease reports in avian species worldwide. Herpesviruses have been detected in penguin species before but have not been studied extensively. To better understand the impact of these viruses in free-living populations, an initial retrospective survey was performed on a wild population of Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) in the Punta San Juan Marine Protected Area, Peru (15°22′S, 75°12′W) using tracheal swabs collected from 28 penguins in 2016 and 34 penguins in 2018. DNA extracted from these swabs was analyzed using a consensus herpesviral PCR assay targeting the DNA polymerase gene, and positive samples were sequenced. A single sample from 2016 was positive for spheniscid alpha-herpesvirus-1 (SpAHV-1), establishing an overall sample prevalence of 1.6% (95% CI: 0–8.6%). The positive animal was an adult male that did not show any clinical signs of herpesviral infection and was otherwise healthy based on physical exam and laboratory findings. This is the first detection of a herpesvirus in penguins at Punta San Juan, Peru, and the first step toward characterizing the implications of SpAHV-1 for Humboldt penguins. This investigation highlights the importance of continual disease surveillance in wild populations over time to monitor for changes that may impact long-term population viability.


When presenting information in vehicle cockpits, it is essential to convey an appropriate urgency to the drivers. Perceived urgency has been investigated over the years for each modality, particularly audition and vision. However, the interaction between the modalities of perceived urgency has rarely been examined. To expand the insight into the design application of information presentation, we investigated the audio–visual interaction of perceived urgency using a priming task that involved speeded visual-target discrimination. A total of 60 auditory stimuli were created using a synthesizer. In addition, 13 color squares were used as visual stimuli. Three auditory stimuli with high, medium, and low perceived urgency, and two visual stimuli with high and low perceived urgency were selected based on a subjective evaluation test using a seven-point scale. A priming task was conducted to examine the cross-modal interaction of perceived urgency. Auditory stimuli were presented as prime stimuli, and the participants were asked to discriminate the visual target as quickly as possible. The results revealed that auditory stimuli with high and low perceived urgency facilitated responses to each visual stimulus with similar perceived urgency relative to each visual stimulus with different perceived urgency. The auditory stimulus with medium perceived urgency also facilitated responses to the visual stimulus with high perceived urgency relative to low. The present study shows that cross-modal correspondences can be observed when the stimuli are selected based on their subjective perceived urgency.


The present paper focuses on the comparison of wage levels across OECD countries, the research data coming from an official OECD website. The following eight variables are employed in this study – the average wage, minimum wage, GDP per capita, tertiary education attainment, employment ratio, trade unions, labour productivity and inflation rate. The average wage represents the main explained variable in regression and correlation analysis, the remaining seven variables being used as potential explanatory ones. In order to compare living standards in different countries, average and minimum wages as well as per capita GDP data were adjusted to relative purchasing power parity. The principal objective was to identify which explanatory variables statistically significantly affect the average wage. The analysis showed that only three of them – namely the employment ratio, GDP per capita and labour productivity – have a significant effect at a 5% statistical level. The regression hyperplane with a forward stepwise selection was applied. Nine clusters of OECD countries were created based on both all the eight variables and four of them selected in regression analysis (the average wage and three explanatory ones) with the aim to identify the countries that coexist in the same cluster. Ward's method and Euclidean distance are utilized in cluster analysis, the number of clusters being determined with the use of the Dunn index. The study also aims at the prediction of the average wage by 2022, which was made via exponential smoothing of time series. (The greatest purchasing power is reported by Luxembourg, Switzerland, Iceland, the U.S., the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Austria, the highest average wage growth rate by 2022 being expected in the Baltic and some other post-communist countries.)


Cultured rat hepatocytes self-assemble into three-dimensional structures or spheroids that exhibit ultrastructural characteristics of native hepatic tissue and enhanced liver-specific functions. The spheroid formation process involves cell translocation and changes in cell shape, indicative of the reorganization of the cytoskeletal elements. To elucidate the function of the cytoskeleton, hepatocytes undergoing spheroid formation were treated with drugs that disrupt the different cytoskeletal components. Cytochalasin D, which targets the actin filaments, caused inhibition of spheroid formation. The role of microtubules in this process was assessed by incubating the cells with taxol or nocodazole. Perturbation of microtubules had minimal effects on spheroid assembly. Scanning electron micrographs showed no morphological differences between spheroids formed in control cultures and those formed in the presence of taxol or nocodazole. In addition, the effects of those agents on hepatocyte functions were investigated. Albumin secretion and cytochrome P450 2B1/2 activities of hepatocytes were comparable in spheroids formed in the presence of taxol or nocodazole to those formed in control cultures. The levels of these liver-specific activities were lower in cytochalasin D--treated cultures where only dispersed cells or cell clumps were found but spheroids had not found. Thus, hepatocytes require an intact actin network to self-assemble efficiently into functional tissue-like structures. Perturbation of the microtubule lattice does not impair the formation process. Events that transpire during hepatocyte spheroid self-assembly exhibit striking similarities to processes commonly observed in tissue morphogenesis. The results provide insight into the mechanisms that cells employ to organize into tissues and can contribute to our understanding of how to control the cellular assembly in tissue engineering and clinical applications.


Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a promising technology that produces electricity from various organic substrates using microorganisms as biocatalysts. However, the technology is facing numerous challenges for its commercialization. One of these challenges is to replace the expensive platinum catalyst by an efficient and cost-effective cathode catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in air-cathode MFCs. Co3O4 (cobalt oxide) shows higher affinity towards oxygen molecules that makes it more favorable for chemisorptions of oxygen molecules onto the catalyst surface. The morphology of the catalyst plays an indispensable role in ORR activity that further affects the MFC performance. Therefore, in this research work, three different morphologies of Co3O4 that is Co3O4 nanorods, Co3O4 flakes, and Co3O4 flower were prepared by hydrothermal methods and their potential for ORR activity and electricity generation was investigated in a double-chamber MFC. The results revealed that Co3O4 nanorods showed higher ORR activity and generated the highest power density in MFC as compared to Co3O4 flakes, and Co3O4 flower, which can be attributed to higher BET surface area of the nanorods that comparatively provided more reduction sites for oxygen. Evidently, Co3O4 nanorods exhibited a BET surface area of 15.55 m²/g, which was 40% higher than the flakes (11.05 m²/g) and 209% higher than flower-like Co3O4 (5.03 m²/g). Moreover, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) suggested that the nanorods reduced the resistance of the system significantly that enhanced the electron transfer on the cathode interfaces and increased the ORR activity and consequently, the power density. The ORR kinetics of the cathodes were studied by Tafel plots, which indicated that Co3O4 nanorods achieved the highest exchange current density that is 5.67 A/m2. This higher ORR activity of Co3O4 nanorods influenced the MFC performance and generated the highest power density of 454 mW/m2, which was 49% higher than Co3O4 flakes and 165% higher than flower-like Co3O4. These results suggested that Co3O4 nanorods showed higher ORR activity as compared to Co3O4 flakes and Co3O4 flower, therefore, the ORR activity of Co3O4 nanorods was further improved with the addition of manganese (Mn) and MnCo2O4 nanorods were prepared by a hydrothermal method and its potential for ORR activity and electricity generation was investigated in the similar MFC. The CV, LSV, and Tafel results revealed that the ORR activity of the nanorods was enhanced after the introduction of Mn, which ultimately increased the power output in the MFC and generated a maximum power density of 587 mW/m2 that was 29% higher than Co3O4 nanorods and ~500% higher than the bare cathode. The improved power output can be ascribed to the excellent ORR activity of Co2+/ Co3+ and Mn3+/ Mn4+ on the cathode surface. Therefore, this research work showed that the MFC performance can be greatly affected by the morphology of the cathode catalyst.


Traditional statistical models for speech recognition have mostly been based on a Bayesian framework using generative models such as hidden Markov models (HMMs). This paper focuses on a new framework for speech recognition using maximum entropy direct modeling, where the probability of a state or word sequence given an observation sequence is computed directly from the model. In contrast to HMMs, features can be asynchronous and overlapping. This model therefore allows for the potential combination of many different types of features, which need not be statistically independent of each other. In this paper, a specific kind of direct model, the maximum entropy Markov model (MEMM), is studied. Even with conventional acoustic features, the approach already shows promising results for phone level decoding. The MEMM significantly outperforms traditional HMMs in word error rate when used as stand-alone acoustic models. Preliminary results combining the MEMM scores with HMM and language model scores show modest improvements over the best HMM speech recognizer.


This paper proposes a new ranking method based on the possibility distribution and the OWA operator. Subjective data processing is well known as an important approach to promote mutual understanding between customers and providers. In Kansei engineering, the conventional approaches mainly rely on the multivariable analysis models. In this paper, we use a descriptive approach what does not require a model, considering the vagueness on the subjective data. This approach can be also applied to the increasing subjective data.


This Article argues that individuals who live in highly cooperative common interest communities should — in certain instances — be entitled to additional compensation or other remedies when their property is taken through eminent domain. The exclusive takings remedy of monetary compensation equal to the fair market value of the property cannot always account for loss of communality. This Article offers guidelines for allocation of additional remedies (monetary and in-kind) that recognize such loss. This proposal is grounded in a pluralistic conception of property, which holds that the state should support individuals' use of property as a social instrument to fulfill diverse values and beliefs. To that end, the state should balance several factors to determine whether a member of a community, or a community as a whole, should be entitled to remedies for communal loss: (1) the size and scope of the taking within the community; (2) the role, if any, of the community's cooperation in its members' realization of a shared conception of the good; (3) the community's social legitimacy as determined primarily by its structural openness, that is, its members' ability to simultaneously belong to other communities; and (4) the community's ability to self-rehabilitate as determined by its political and economic strength. The state should also consider these factors in determining which of several types of remedies for communality loss would be most appropriate.


35 patients with plateau fractures were treated operatively between January 1992- December 1995, in our department. 24 patients whom we could have enough follow-up were included in the study. There were 6 women and 18 men. The average age was 37.1 (28-60). The average duration of follow-up was 18.5 months (6-48 months). 5 patients had additional injuries besides tibial plateau fractures. 3 of the cases were open fractures. Plate-screw was applied to 11 cases, plate-screw-grafting was applied to 6 cases, screw was applied to 5 cases, Ilizarov was applied to one case and external fixator was applied to the other one. In addition, meniscectomy was performed in 5 patients. The fractures were reviewed according to Hohl and Moore classification. Our cases were classified as 2 type I, 1 type II, 13 type III, 2 type IV and 6 type V. The patients were evaluated according to the criteria of Rasmussen and the modified version of criteria of Hohl and Luck. Our results were excellent, 11 good, 5 fair and 4 poor according to the classification of Hohl and Luck. We concluded that, to gain a functional knee joint in the displaced and unstable tibial plateau fractures, anatomical reduction, stable internal fixation, and early motion are necessary.


Abstract This paper explores whether Aboriginal people have used graffiti to display resistance to the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007. One of the first studies of graffiti in a remote Aboriginal community, this research was undertaken on Jawoyn lands in the Northern Territory, Australia. It encompasses the Aboriginal communities of Barunga, Manyallaluk and Beswick, where graffiti was recorded at 277 road signs along the Central Arnhem Road and Manyallaluk Road, and at three roadside shelters. This study shows that graffiti in Jawoyn communities primarily serves the intragroup purpose of reinforcing relationships between community members, in contrast to the use of graffiti by non-Indigenous people to propagate political and social messages between different social groups. It also provides material insights into a fear of government. Contrary to our expectations, graffiti in Jawoyn Country is not a mode of resistance to government intervention. Instead, the near absence of graffiti on Northern Territory Emergency Response signs in areas where surrounding signs have high densities of graffiti provides unique and materially-based insights into a fear of the Australian government that is felt by Aboriginal people in remote communities. The analysis suggests that Aboriginal people nurture community relationships partly to deal with alienation from government and, to some extent, the wider Australian community.


Objective: To explore rates of hospitalized head injury among older Australians by a range of risk indicators. Design: Head injury data for 60+-year-olds were obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Hospital Morbidity Database from 1998/1999 to 2004/2005. Poisson regression modeling was used to examine head injury rates in relation to age, sex, Indigenous status, location, and injury type. Results: Rates of hospitalized head injury among the older population increased 1.4-fold between 1998/1999 (582.8 per 100 000) and 2004/2005 (844.3 per 100 000) (p<0.001). Those aged 85+ years had 10.8 times the rate of their 60–64-year-old counterparts (95% CI 10.6 to 11.0) after adjustment for other covariates. Men had 1.1 times the rate of women (95% CI 1.1 to 1.2), and those living in rural/remote areas had 3.1 times the rate of their metropolitan-dwelling counterparts (95% CI 3.0 to 3.1). Those identifying themselves as Indigenous had 1.7 times the rate of non-Indigenous persons (95% CI 1.6 to 1.8). The most prevalent injuries were open wounds of the head (38.0%), followed by superficial injuries (24.7%) and intracranial trauma (18.3%). Falls accounted for 81.4% of all head injury admissions. Conclusions: The oldest old were disproportionately represented among those sustaining hospitalized head injuries, along with men, those living in rural/remote areas, and Indigenous persons. Given the increasing proportion of older people in Western societies and the costs of treating hospitalized head injuries, the ability to reduce risk of such trauma in this age group is of critical public health importance.


Comprehensive coverage of the public web is crucial to web search engines. Search engines use crawlers to retrieve pages and then discover new ones by extracting the pages' outgoing links. However, the set of pages reachable from the publicly linked web is estimated to be significantly smaller than the invisible web, the set of documents that have no incoming links and can only be retrieved through web applications and web forms. The Sitemaps protocol is a fast-growing web protocol supported jointly by major search engines to help content creators and search engines unlock this hidden data by making it available to search engines. In this paper, we perform a detailed study of how "classic" discovery crawling compares with Sitemaps, in key measures such as coverage and freshness over key representative websites as well as over billions of URLs seen at Google. We observe that Sitemaps and discovery crawling complement each other very well, and offer different tradeoffs.


Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are currently enjoying rising sales figures. However, BEVs still have problems with customer acceptance, partly due to limited driving ranges. To improve the situation, this paper introduces a novel approach utilising temperature-dependent efficiencies using an economic model predictive control approach (MPC) in combination with an active grille shutter in order to accelerate the heating of the permanent magnet synchronous machine. The measurements of temperature-dependent component efficiencies on a powertrain test bench are presented and analysed in detail in the speed/torque range. Thermal models based on the lumped parameter thermal network approach were developed and validated as part of the system-level validation against a US06 wind tunnel measurement. After the build-up and implementation of the MPC, various simulations were conducted. For the investigations, three driving cycles were considered at component start temperatures of 20–80 °C. The results show that using the MPC with the grille shutter can save 0.69–2.02% energy at the HV level compared to the rule-based control with a shutter, of which up to 1.02% is due to temperature-dependent efficiencies. Comparing the MPC with the grille shutter to a vehicle without a shutter, savings of 2.8–4.2% were achieved, while up to 1.67% was achieved due to temperature effects in the powertrain.


A number of recommendations have been made by the Hong Kong Government in the last few years to provide additional resources for schools that take in the weakest 20% of secondary students. These policies implicitly imply that the group of students are having special educational needs as they need extra resources for fulfilling their needs in learning. This study is an attempt to investigate into the attainment level of some of the bottom 20% of students at the end of their 9-year compulsory education. A sample of 993 Secondary 3 students from 4 schools all located within the same urban district took part in the study to assess both their attainment level and their intellectual functioning. Over 95% of these students were coming from the bottom 20% group of students within the same district. They were all administered the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test for ascertaining their intellectual functioning in terms of their non-verbal reasoning ability. Each student also took the Hong Kong Attainment Tests on the 3 basic subjects of Chinese, English and mathematics. The tests are devised by the Education Research Unit of the Hong Kong Education Department and are standardised for local Primary 3 to Primary 5 pupils. On the test for looking at their non verbal reasoning ability, over 60% of the students were at least within the average range of intellectual functioning when their scores were compared with other children of the same age in Hong Kong. Their results for the standardised attainment tests reflected that over 90% of the students in the schools were attaining at or below P.5 level across the two major subjects of Chinese and mathematics and more than 70% of the students were attaining at or below P.4 level in the subject of English. The findings indicated that majority of the students are backward in their attainment by 4-5 years. This reaffirmed the findings of the earlier pilot study (Yung, 1994) on another group of S.3 graduates (n 435) in one of the sample schools a year before this main study. Findings of both studies indicated that majority of the students in the bottom 20% of secondary students should have average intellectual ability to cope with their schooling. Schools with large intake of students from this stratum of secondary students in Hong Kong might need to reconsider how they can modify their curriculum to meet the educational needs of these students in the light of these findings on their academic achievement after 9 years of compulsory education. The data also reflects the need for educators to review the efficacy of the 9 years compulsory education system especially around the years of Primary 3 and 4 when most of the students from the group seemed to have difficulty to move further by their attainment.


This paper describes the recent trend in design of large water-wheel driven generators. New features of mechanical construction made possible by fabricated designs are particularly emphasized, and illustrations of some recent machines are given. The 77,500-kv-a. generators for the Dnieprostroy project in Russia, which will be the world's largest hydroelectric generators, are described. In conclusion, some of the future possibilities, such as outdoor machines and multi-speed designs, are discussed.


There exists a correlation between geospatial activity temporal patterns and type of land use. A novel self-supervised approach is proposed to stratify landscape based on mobility activity time series. First, the time series signal is transformed to the frequency domain and then compressed into task-agnostic temporal embeddings by a contractive autoencoder, which preserves cyclic temporal patterns observed in time series. The pixel-wise embeddings are converted to image-like channels that can be used for task-based, multi-modal modeling of downstream geospatial tasks using deep semantic segmentation. Experiments show that temporal embeddings are semantically meaningful representations of time series data and are effective across different tasks such as classifying residential and commercial areas.


The cell biology of viral infections is the focus of this research, in which the role of the cytoskeleton in dengue virus (DENV) replication in cell cultures was evaluated by means of Nocodazole and Cytochalasin D treatments before and after of DENV infection. The potential contribution of cytoskeleton elements with/without the treatment of depolymerizing agents was evidenced and quantified by the subcellular distribution of viral proteins, virions produced, and viral protein quantification. The cytoskeleton is involved in DENV replication because treatments with actin microfi‐ laments and microtubule depolymerizing agents in non-cytotoxic concentrations, affected DENV2 replication in Vero cells and decreased both the viral protein expression and infectious virion production, when compared with non-treated cells. The actin and microtubules are partly involved in DENV2 replication, since the treatment does not completely blocked viral replication, suggesting that these components are necessary but not sufficient alone for DENV2 replication in Vero cells. The structural and functional role of actin and the microtubules in replication are postulated here, opening new perspectives for understanding the architecture of the replicative complex and viral morphogenesis processes, due to the role of the cytoskeleton in the organization, recruitment, and function of the cellular elements necessary for the assembly of viral factories.


Newly revised! Most ESL/TESOL/ELL teachers like to use web sites to enhance lessons. However, finding quality internet resources can take lots of time. Adult ESL Internet Resources Made Simple: 101 Sites for Teachers and Students saves time. Adult ESL students will love these sites because they are practical and fun. ESL teachers will love them because they cover daily living, parent communication/school improvement, health, civics/citizenship, employment, and test preparation. Plus, there are lessons and resources for teachers. Everything you need in one affordable resource!


The Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) is a 4-meter solar observatory under construction at Haleakala, Hawaii. The simultaneous use of multiple instruments is one of the unique capabilities that makes the ATST the premier ground based solar observatory. Although the operation of the instruments and the data collected varies widely across the ATST instrument suite, the basic control functions and data recording capabilities are similar. Each instrument must be capable of controlling its devices, mechanisms and hardware, interacting with the Instrument Control System (ICS), and saving science data. Because of these similarities, the ATST Software Group has developed the Standard Instrument Framework (SIF), a set of software components comprising a framework that can be used to implement instrument controllers with common functionality for all ATST instrumentation. The SIF is built upon the ATST Common Services Framework (CSF) and includes controllers capable of interfacing with the ICS, managing sub-controllers and multiple camera systems, as well as coordinating the instrument's mechanical mechanisms and other hardware. The key to this framework is the principle that each controller has a small, well defined task and when the individual pieces are combined, a powerful control system may easily be implemented. Moreover, because most of the instruments for the ATST are being developed by partner institutions, the SIF allows for standardization of the instrument control systems throughout the instrument suite and reduced software development effort for the partners. This will lead to significant code reuse and a smaller code base that is easier to maintain.


Background : The rising incidence of fungal infections has created the need for the next generation of antifungal agents, as many of the currently available ones either have adverse effects, or are not active against emerging or re-emerging fungi, leading to the fast progression of resistant strains. Objectives : This study aims at evaluating the antifungal activities of some medicinal plants used traditionally for treating skin infections in Nigeria. Methods : In vitro antifungal activities of seven indigenous plants (Leptadenia hastate, Lawsonia inermis, Hyptis suaveolens, Luffa cylindrica, Jatropha curcas, Pterocarpus erinaceous and Afromaxia laxiflora) were screened against Candida albicans ATCC 10231, Candida tropicalis ATCC 13803, clinical strains of Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Trichophyton rubrum, Microsporum canis and Epidermophyton floccosum using agar dilution and micro broth dilution methods. Terbinafine and fluconazole were used as reference standards for comparism. Results : The results showed that the ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts of the plants produced better antifungal effects than the hexane and water extracts. Luffa cylindrica and H. suaveolens exhibited the strongest inhibitory activity against all the fungi tested with minimum inhibitory concentration values ranging between 250 and 1000 ag/mL. Conclusion : The plants screened could serve as leads for the development of new antifungal drugs. Key words : Antifungal, agar dilution, micro broth dilution, minimum inhibitory concentration.


Implantable ventricular assist devices are an effective treatment option for end-stage heart failure patients as a bridge to cardiac transplantation, to improve the clinical condition and organ function allowing discharge from the hospital to await for transplantation. The second alternative is to use the device as destination therapy for patients with contraindications for cardiac transplantation, in whom it is maintained indefinitely. We report a 43-year-old patient, with a dilated cardiomyopathy, severe left ventricular dysfunction and advanced heart failure. A ventricular assist device Heart Mate II©, as a bridge to transplantation, was implanted to the patient in the United States. It was explanted for the first time in Chile at the National Thorax Institute. Heart transplantation was performed using the bicaval technique. Induction of immunosuppression was done with basiliximab. Generic immunosuppression was carried out with cyclosporine, mycophenolate mofetil and prednisone. Postoperatively the patient evolved with right femoral vein thrombosis in the femoral cannulation site, phlegmasia alba dolens, rhabdomyolysis, oliguric acute renal failure, which required renal replacement therapy, severe shock, with high requirements of vasoactive drugs and need for mechanical ventilation. He required a reoperation for hemothorax and had an Enterobacter pneumonia. After a period of serious illness, he began a gradual recovery and was discharged from the hospital after 58 days. After two years, he remains in functional class I, with a normal graft function.


The use of a pressure gradient microphone for detecting the source direction of an incident plane wave is well known. Furthermore, any receiving aperture that applies a specified apodization can be regarded as extracting a point‐sample of a spatially filtered version of the incident wave. Our result is that when the gradient method is applied to the spatially filtered wave (which is also a plane wave), the answer can be expressed in terms modified apodizations, formed from the originally specified apodization function and its vector gradient, integrated over the original aperture and/or its boundary, together with simple temporal filters. Fortunately, this seemingly complicated structure collapses to a much simpler one in many cases of interest, and it is even possible to extend the method to the higher order case in which two or more wave directions are detected simultaneously. Alternatively, one wave direction can be measured while steering a broadband null in another specified direction, and the steere...


We study Einstein lightlike hypersurfaces M of a Lorentzian space form M̃(c) admitting a semi-symmetric non-metric connection subject to the conditions; (1) M is screen conformal and (2) the structure vector field ζ of M̃ belongs to the screen distribution S(TM). The main result is a characterization theorem for such a lightlike hypersurface.


SUMMARY A mutant induced by nitrosoguanidine in the Challis (group H) strain of Streptococcus contains a number of separable mutations linked to each other and to the locus governing sensitivity to streptomycin. One suppresses the level of resistance conferred by mutations in the streptomycin-sensitivity locus, two confer sensitivity to mitomycin and one confers sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation. None of these mutations affects transformability with either homologous or heterologous DNA. However, with the suppressor in the recipient strain there is a loss of streptomycin-resistant transformants, dependent upon the level of resistance conferred by the donor streptomycin-resistance marker and the degree of linkage between the suppressor and that marker.


This thesis develops technology adoption and sensory information literatures through an evaluation of antecedents to consumers purchase location intention of Musical Instruments (MI). With the unique factor of instrument heterogeneity MI e-retail sales are information asymmetric propositions, where the consumer may make a sub-optimal purchase online having foregone the opportunity to experience the haptic information required to ascertain the instruments true quality. Despite a reticent adoption of MI e-retail from the traditional retail industry online MI sales are increasing, resulting in off-line marketplace contraction, thus investigation of consumers online MI purchase motivations is of value to the industry. The exploration of this topic uses a pragmatic, two-stage mixed-methods process incorporating inductive in-depth interviews with MI retail industry personnel, followed by deductive MI consumer based quantitative questionnaires.The reluctance to adopt e-retail is based on ˜expertise-led aversion and ˜expertise gap where key MI retail influencers attempt to enforce their own views on the correct way to purchase an instrument, rather than responding to consumer trends. This aversion was influenced by their own reliance on haptic information, coupled with knowledge of instrument heterogeneity and their level of musicianship. Consumer research conclusions identify that high haptic-need consumers, who tend to have greater ability and involvement, are more likely to purchase in-store whilst those with lower haptic needs are more willing to purchase MI online. Through the design and empirical testing of the Musical Instrument Need-for-Touch (MINFT) model numerous factors were identified as moderators to this basic supposition. The subsequent development of a MI consumer typology identified five distinct groups that respond to differing stimuli in relation to MI purchase location intention. These findings add to the academic discourse and enable MI retailers to enhance their offerings both in-store and online, leading to more effective targeting of their key customers.


In the previous chapter, we saw some striking examples of the power of randomness for the design of efficient algorithms: • Polynomial Identity Testing in co-RP. This was of course only a small sample; there are entire texts on randomized algorithms. (See the notes and references for Chapter 2.) In the rest of this survey, we will turn towards derandomization — trying to remove the ran-domness from these algorithms. We will achieve this for some of the specific algorithms we studied, and also consider the larger question of whether all efficient randomized algorithms can be deran-domized, e.g. does BPP = P? RL = L? RNC = NC? In this chapter, we will introduce a variety of " basic " derandomization techniques. These will each be deficient in that they are either infeasible (e.g. cannot be carried out in polynomial time) or specialized (e.g. apply only in very specific circumstances). But it will be useful to have these as tools before we proceed to study more sophisticated tools for derandomization (namely, the " pseudorandom objects " of Chapters 4–7). We are interested in quantifying how much savings randomization provides. One way of doing this is to find the smallest possible upper bound on the deterministic time complexity of languages in BPP. For example, we would like to know which of the following complexity classes contain BPP: 34


Recent efforts in smart manufacturing (SM) have proven quite effective at elucidating system behavior using sensing systems, communications, and computational platforms, along with statistical methods to collect and analyze the real-time performance data. However, how do you effectively select where and when to implement these technology solutions within manufacturing operations? Furthermore, how do you account for the human-driven activities in manufacturing when inserting new technologies? Due to a reliance on human problem-solving skills, today's maintenance operations are largely manual processes without wide-spread automation. The current state-of-the-art maintenance management systems and out-of-the-box solutions do not directly provide necessary synergy between human and technology, and many paradigms ultimately keep the human and digital knowledge systems separate. Decision makers are using one or the other on a case-by-case basis, causing both human and machine to cannibalize each other's function, leaving both disadvantaged despite ultimately having common goals. A new paradigm can be achieved through a hybridized system approach—where human intelligence is effectively augmented with sensing technology and decision support tools, including analytics, diagnostics, or prognostic tools. While these tools promise more efficient, cost-effective maintenance decisions and improved system productivity, their use is hindered when it is unclear what core organizational or cultural problems they are being implemented to solve. To explicitly frame our discussion about implementation of new technologies in maintenance management around these problems, we adopt well-established error mitigation frameworks from human factors experts—who have promoted human–system integration for decades—to maintenance in manufacturing. Our resulting tiered mitigation strategy guides where and how to insert SM technologies into a human-dominated maintenance management process.


The research problem of the paper concerned verification whether applicable or known methods of post-harvesting evaluation of the roots of sugar beet may be applied to the assessment of the quality of work of technically varied new machinery for sugar beet har- vesting. Tests of machines of varied solutions of working units, in particular a topping unit, were carried out in order to accomplish the objective of the paper. Two self-propelled combine harvesters of Ropa euro-Tiger V8-3 type and Kleine Beetliner Large and two sets for 2-stage harvesting by M.A.C.E (Spain) and Amity (USA) companies were used in the study. Ropa euro-Tiger and Kleine Beetliner Large combine harvesters and M.A.C.E. set were equipped with a beet topper but of a varied topping system, whereas, only a defoliator was used in the set by Amity company. Field research of machines included assessment of the topping quality, losses caused by the broken tip of roots and damages of the lateral surface of roots. Research assumptions were assumed according to the method of the International In- stitute for Beet Research (I.I.R.B.). Moreover, assessment of the topping quality with the method of the Netherlands Institute of Sugar Beet Research (IRS) and the Institute of Agri- cultural Engineering of the Bonn University was carried out. Assessment of roots after defo- liation was carried out based on the Roller's classification (2010). Based on the research re- sults and analyses which were carried out, it was proved that the methods of measurement of the quality of beet harvesting machines operation are not fully useful for assessment of the introduced technical and technological changes. It mainly concerns the assessment of the roots topping. Thus, two modified methods of assessment of the quality of roots topping were suggested. They may be used both for machines equipped with a topping device and a defo- liator.


There is substantial individual variability in understanding speech in adverse listening conditions. This study examined whether a relationship exists between processing speech in noise (environmental degradation) and dysarthric speech (source degradation), with regard to intelligibility performance and the use of metrical stress to segment the degraded speech signals. Ninety native speakers of American English transcribed speech in noise and dysarthric speech. For each type of listening adversity, transcriptions were analyzed for proportion of words correct and lexical segmentation errors indicative of stress cue utilization. Consistent with the hypotheses, intelligibility performance for speech in noise was correlated with intelligibility performance for dysarthric speech, suggesting similar cognitive-perceptual processing mechanisms may support both. The segmentation results also support this postulation. While stress-based segmentation was stronger for speech in noise relative to dysarthric speech, listeners utilized metrical stress to parse both types of listening adversity. In addition, reliance on stress cues for parsing speech in noise was correlated with reliance on stress cues for parsing dysarthric speech. Taken together, the findings demonstrate a preference to deploy the same cognitive-perceptual strategy in conditions where metrical stress offers a route to segmenting degraded speech.


ABSTRACT The Snail gene product is a transcriptional repressor of E-cadherin expression and an inducer of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in several epithelial tumor cell lines. This report presents data indicating that Snail function is controlled by its intracellular location. The cytosolic distribution of Snail depended on export from the nucleus by a CRM1-dependent mechanism, and a nuclear export sequence (NES) was located in the regulatory domain of this protein. Export of Snail was controlled by phosphorylation of a Ser-rich sequence adjacent to this NES. Modification of this sequence released the restriction created by the zinc finger domain and allowed nuclear export of the protein. The phosphorylation and subcellular distribution of Snail are controlled by cell attachment to the extracellular matrix. Suspended cells presented higher levels of phosphorylated Snail and an augmented extranuclear localization with respect to cells attached to the plate. These findings show the existence in tumor cells of an effective and fine-tuning nontranscriptional mechanism of regulation of Snail activity dependent on the extracellular environment.


Increasing public awareness of Florida agriculture is a vital step in motivating the public to support agriculture. A basic understanding of Florida's agricultural products, their impacts on the economy and the environment, and their availability contributes to Extension's mission to sustain and enhance quality of life. This 3-page publication outlines a series of fact sheets with infographics related to specific Florida agricultural commodities. These fact sheets are intended to be visually appealing while presenting an overview of the commodity and its role in Florida agriculture. Written by Kathryn A. Stofer, Jessica Sullivan, Joy Rumble, and Libbie Johnson, and published by the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, June 2016.
AEC591/WC253: Promoting Ag Awareness through Commodity Fact Sheets (ufl.edu)


Abstract Unlike many Phanerozoic orogens, where the primary effects of orogenic events can be easily determined, Precambrian orogens are commonly characterised by repeated tectonothermal events making it challenging to decipher the geological history. The Capricorn Orogen is a complex Precambrian intraplate orogen located within the West Australian Craton that has been subjected to four separate reworking tectonic events between 1820 and 900 Ma. Although direct U–Pb ages for metamorphism have been obtained for the younger events, there is only limited geochronological data for the oldest event, the 1820–1770 Ma Capricorn Orogeny. This is primarily because of multiple episodes of deformation and metamorphism overprinting and obscuring the original tectonic fabrics and destroying metamorphic chronometers. In this study, we use in situ U–Pb monazite and xenotime geochronology, from a feldspathic metasandstone, a quartz–muscovite–chlorite–garnet pelitic schist, a quartz–muscovite–tourmaline schist and a garnet–biotite–plagioclase pelitic gneiss, to obtain the first direct age constraints for metamorphism during the Capricorn Orogeny in the northern Gascoyne Province. Metamorphism was synchronous with the 1820–1775 Ma magmatism in the northern part, and possibly in the southern part, of the Gascoyne Province. Furthermore, our results hint at a late stage hydrothermal fluid event at ca 1750–1730 Ma, post-dating the magmatism in the northern Gascoyne Province.


On the surface, the transparency reform movements in the United States and the European Union appear to have much in common: both the US and the EU have embraced transparency as a means of bolstering public confidence in governance, and the EU's recently issued access regulation shares many features with the US Freedom of Information Act. The similarities end there, however. The goals of the EU reform movement are far more ambitious than those of the US. US reformers hoped that sunlight would put an end to the corruption and abuse of power that plagued the executive branch in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but they did not seek to change the decision-making process itself. In contrast, the EU has latched onto transparency reform as a means of democratizing and legitimizing EU governance. Unfortunately, reformers in the EU have yet to link transparency reforms with democratization of the legislative process. Although transparency is an invaluable tool with which the public can monitor EU governance, transparency alone, without concomitant increases in public opportunities to influence EU decision-making, cannot ameliorate the EU's infamous `democratic deficit'. Increased transparency must be coupled with public participation rights before reformers can accomplish their ambitious goal of bringing EU decision-making closer to Europeans.


Queries are convenient abstractions for the discovery of information and services, as they offer content-based information access. In distributed settings, query semantics are well-defined, for example, queries are often designed to satisfy ACID transactional properties. When query processing is introduced in a dynamic network setting, achieving transactional semantics becomes complex due to the open and unpredictable environment. In this article, we propose a query processing model for mobile ad hoc and sensor networks that is suitable for expressing a wide range of query semantics; the semantics differ in the degree of consistency with which query results reflect the state of the environment during query execution. We introduce several distinct notions of consistency and formally express them in our model. A practical and significant contribution of this article is a protocol for query processing that automatically assesses and adaptively provides an achievable degree of consistency given the operational environment throughout its execution. The protocol attaches an assessment of the achieved guarantee to returned query results, allowing precise reasoning about a query with a range of possible semantics. We evaluate the performance of this protocol and demonstrate the benefits accrued to applications through examples drawn from an industrial application.


This paper describes data on U.S. imports from 1972-1994, classified according to the Tariff Schedule of the U.S. Annotated (TSUSA), Harmonized System (HS), Standard International Trade Classification (SITC, Revisions 2 and 3), and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC, 1972 basis), along with various concordances. All of these data sets are disaggregated by the source country for imports. These data are available on the CD-ROM: `NBER Trade Database, Disk 1: U.S. Imports, 1972-1994,' which can be ordered for $50 from the Publications Department, NBER, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. The TSUSA and HS import data are at the most disaggregate level collected by the U.S. Census, and will be particularly useful for research on antidumping cases. The SITC import data will be valuable for those wanting to compare U.S. trade flows at a more aggregate level with comparable data for other countries. The SIC import data will be particularly useful for those wanting to study the effects of import competition on U.S. industries. A summary of the SIC data, which does not contain the source country detail and incorporates earlier years, is available via anonymous FTP from: nber.harvard.edu/pub/feenstra. A second CD-ROM, containing U.S. export data, will be released later in 1996.


Sharks, a critical component of marine ecosystems, represent one of the most threatened taxa globally. Shark conservation efforts are constrained by public fear and misperceptions. Positive social media-based outreach may provide one cost effective means to reduce fear of sharks and change misperceptions about shark bite intentionality. Using framing theory, which suggests that the ways in which information is presented influences how it is processed and the changes in perceptions that result from it, we experimentally evaluated impacts of positively and negatively framed YouTube videos on fear of sharks and perceptions of shark bite intentionality among participants from the coastal state of North Carolina (NC), USA in Spring 2020. Respondents took a pre-test, followed by a randomly assigned positive or negative video treatment consisting of ~15 min of shark week videos. Pre/post-test comparisons suggest positive YouTube content decreased fright by 24%, perceived danger by 27%, and perception of shark bite intentionality by 29%, whereas negatively framed media did the opposite. Positively framed media resulted in fewer respondents blaming shark bites on sharks, and resulted in more respondents blaming swimmers or no one. Positively framed media decreased support for lethal responses to shark bites, such as shark nets, hunting down sharks that bite people, and drum lines. The positive treatment increased support for responding with research, leaving the shark alone, and education. Negatively framed media decreased support for responding by leaving the shark alone or doing nothing and increased support for some lethal responses to shark bites (i.e., drum lines and hunting down sharks). When positive and negative treatments had different effect sizes, the positive treatments tended to be more impactful. Collectively these results suggest social media may be a valuable tool for leveraging the power of communication to promote shark conservation.


Utilizing both census and population register data for the period 1947–1967, this analysis assesses changing levels and rates of urbanization in Thailand, compares regional variations in urbanization patterns, and relates such differences to selected indicators of economic and demographic development. Although the overall level of urbanization remains low, the rate of urbanization is high and the increase in the number of moderate sized urban places significant. Greater Bangkok, accounting for over half of Thailand's urban population and almost two–thirds of all urban growth, has increased its primacy in Thailand's urban structure. But urban development has also begun to permeate all regions of the country and to be an important factor in the complex process of national social and economic development.


Two types of terpolymers, maleic anhydride (MA) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) functionalized, are used as compatibilizer in low-density polyethylene–wood flour composites. The type and amount of compatibilizer on the tensile, impact, morphological, and water absorption properties of composites are investigated. The effect of preimpregnation with a compatibilizer solution is also studied. The MA functionalized compatibilizer increases the mechanical properties of composites, when it is used either directly or with preimpregnation. GMA functionalized compatibilizer is not as effective as MA functionalized compatibilizer giving rise to small improvements in properties. An important point is doubling of the modulus with MA preimpregnated compatibilizer. With both compatibilizers the water absorption value of composites are reduced and the preimpregnation with both compatibilizers do not change the total amount of absorbed water with respect to the non-preimpregnated ones. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013


This article discusses the contemporary European setting pertaining to Islamic interpretations, mainly so called Salafi Islam. The empirical material is based on publications by a Swedish group that conducts street da'wa, aiming to proselytize among non-Muslims. The ideology, as presented in official publications to be used for da'wa, is described and analyzed as part of a larger da'wa-movement with Salafi-inclinations in Europe. The group is not unique, but rather one example of many in Europe, at least concerning the activism advocated. The presentation of the group serves to reflect upon global influences and similarities among contemporary Islamic da'wa activism, as well as effects that the national context has on the choice of predominant themes addressed by the group as well as interpretative strategies used. The overarching aim with the article is to problematize the common usage of the concept Salafi among scholars of religion to describe and characterize contemporary Islamic groups of various kinds. The conclusion calls for a more nuanced approach concerning conceptualizations and the use of typologies in studying contemporary Islamic groups in a minority setting.


Ce2[Zr1-x(Mg1/3Sb2/3)x]3(MoO4)9 (0.02≤x≤0.10) ceramics were prepared well through the traditional solid-state method. A single phase, belonging to the space group of R-3c, was detected by using X-ray diffraction at sintering temperatures ranging from 700 to 850 °C. The crystallization micro-structural of specimens was examined by applying Scanning electron microscopy. The structural refinement of these samples was investigated in detail by performing the Rietveld refinement method. The intrinsic properties were calculated and explored via far-infrared reflectivity spectroscopy. The correlations between the chemical bonds parameters and microwave dielectric properties were calculated and analyzed by P-V-L theory. Ce2[Zr0.94(Mg1/3Sb2/3)0.06]3(MoO4)9 ceramics with excellent dielectric properties: εr = 10.37, Q×f = 71748 GHz and τf = −13.6 ppm/°C sintered at 725 °C for 6 hours.


Frost resistance of plain concrete and air-entrained concrete subjected to freeze-thaw cycles in fresh water and 5 % and 7 % sodium sulfate solution are investigated in this paper. The test results show that the frost resistance of concrete is different in the different medium. The properties of concrete frozen in 5 % and 7 % sodium solution are different from that in fresh water, and entraining air into concrete properly can increase the frost resistance significantly whether in fresh water or in sulfate solution. Higher strength concrete could resist the degradation of freezing and thawing cycles in water, but some of them failed suddenly in midspan of specimens under the sulfate solution.


Abstract An electronic system to study ATS photographs is described. Cloud pictures are scanned by a TV camera which inputs cloud data onto memory discs from which the data can be recalled and displayed on a cathode-ray tube. Display options include time-lapse, variable magnification and frame-to-frame differencing. Electronic cursors permit digital readout of displacements of identifiable cloud elements. Data handling techniques and the computer-data process for this system are described.


The objective of this thesis is to examine the possibility to determine the mechanical heart rate using intracardiac impedance in the time domain. Deducing the mechanical heartrate from the impedance could help improve the performance of implanted devices that today depend on the measurement of the heart's electrical activity. Cardiogenic – also known as intracardiac – impedance is based on the difference in conductivity between heart muscle tissue and blood, making the impedance vary as the heart is filled and emptied. The data used in this thesis was acquired from three previous studies performed by St Jude Medical, two clinical and one preclinical. Two impedance measurement configurations were chosen from these studies, one bipolar and one quadropolar. To deduce the heart rate from the intracardiac impedance six algorithms were evaluated. Three using continuous peak detection and three evaluating small frames of the impedance signal.The peak detection algorithms were peak detection on the impedance signal itself, on its derivative and on its integral. The three others were an Auto Correlation Function (ACF), an Average Magnutide Difference Function (AMDF) and an Average Wave Comparison Function (AWCF). In order to assess the heart rates deduced from the intracardiac impedance by the algorithms, these rates were compared to both the IEGM or the ECG (depending on which study was at hand) and the blood pressure.Several issues affected the performance of the algorithms. Impedance morphology can vary between patients. Some display so called "double peaks", making it hard to decide whether a patient has for example a pulse of 80 bpm or of 160 bpm. The impedance morphology was also affected by amplitude modulation with the respiration frequency which in some patients cause difficulties to analyze the impedance signal. The results show that the two impedance measurement configurations perform equally well and that the ACF method was the overall best performing algorithm. They also show that individual patient impedance morphology has a large influence on the results and for future studies it should therefore be interesting to calibrate the algorithms for each patient, as this should improve performance.


We give an explicit construction of the Honda--Kazez--Mati\'c gluing maps in terms of contact handles. We use this to prove a duality result for turning a sutured manifold cobordism around, and to compute the trace in the sutured Floer TQFT. We also show that the decorated link cobordism maps on the hat version of link Floer homology defined by the first author via sutured manifold cobordisms and by the second author via elementary cobordisms agree.


Due to the convenience of Internet, people can search for whatever information they need and buy whatever they want on the web. In the age of E-Commerce, it is difficult to provide support for customers to find the most valuable products that match their heterogeneous needs. Traditional approaches to this so-called personalization problem adopt predefined formats to describe the customer requirements. This always leads to distortion in eliciting requirement information and thus inaccurate recommendations. In this paper, we propose a personalized recommendation system using association rule mining and classification in e-commerce. Customer requirements are extracted from text documents and transformed into a set of significant phrases. Allowing the transformed transaction records, a set of association rule are mined from database using Apriori algorithm. CBA-CB algorithm is applied to produce the best rules out of the whole set of rules. The best classifiers are then generated after the test and validation of those rules, aimed to predict the item labels for new customer requirements and thus assigns the corresponding class labels to the customer. The system analysis and design of the proposed recommendation system as well as the implementation of prototype are also presented.


For concrete structures in chloride containing environments, hydrophobic surface treatments are often used as an additional protective measure for protecting the embedded steel against corrosion. In recent years, silane-based hydrophobic agents that can be used as concrete admixtures for making the whole concrete hydrophobic have also been introduced. In the present paper, the protective effectiveness of such an admixture against chloride penetration has been investigated. For comparison, some field investigations on the effectiveness of a traditional surface hydrophobation of two concrete harbor structures based on similar products are also briefly reported.


By means of HAAKE RS105L cone and plate rheometer the rheological behavior of heterocyclic aramid concentrated solution, including viscous flow activation energy, non-Newtonian index, structural viscosity index of the heterocyclic aramid solution were studied. The effect of concentration and temperature of the solution and molecular weight of the polymer on its non-Newtonian behavior was investigated. The results showed that heterocyclic aramid concentrated solution prepared via low temperature condensation was non-Newtonian fluid. With the decrease of temperature, increase of solution concentration and heterocyclic aramid molecular weight, the deviation of the solution from Newtonian behavior decreased. The molecular weight of the polymer and the concentration of the solution affected the non-Newtonian behavior more intensively.


Much progress has been made in the development of active silicon opto-electronic devices over the last 15 years. This is primarily due to the widely accepted belief that the free carrier effect is the most efficient optical modulation and switching mechanism in silicon, along with the potential advantages of combining optical and electronic devices onto a single silicon substrate rather than using discrete components. A study of the scientific literature shows that whilst numerous devices have been reported, few have been seriously optimised. In the literature, devices have consisted primarily of two or three terminal devices based around a rib waveguide. The three terminal devices are fewer in number but generally perform better. Conversely, two terminal devices have received a little more attention in terms of producing faster devices. Therefore, this work provides an in depth analysis of the performance of p+-i-n+ diodes when configured as optical modulators, with the aim of improving both the device DC and transient performance characteristics. The primary DC performance characteristic is the current required to achieve a given phase change and the transient performance characteristics are measured in terms of the device rise and fall times. These characteristics have been studied with variations in geometrical and fabrication based parameters such as the position and doping concentration of the contacts, the aspect ratio of the rib waveguides, and the overall dimensions. The key result from the modelling is that the most efficient multi-micron size device is a three terminal device with high doping concentration, constant doping profiles and large diffusion depth doped regions located close to the rib edge. A theoretical device of this nature required a current of only 2.7mA for a ? radian phase shift with rise and fall times of 22ns and 2ns respectively. The best previously achieved was a device which theoretically required 4mA for a ? radian phase shift. Additionally, by including isolation trenches on either side of the doped regions the DC performance characteristics can be further improved by up to 74%. There are also advantages in reducing the dimensions of the devices to 1 micron or less. At these dimensions the DC and transient performance characteristics are improved by more than a further order of magnitude, hence requiring fractions of 1mA for a ? radian phase shift. Two of the most promising designs have been fabricated and experimentally analysed. Due to fabrication constraints the most efficient device was not fabricated. However, both two and three terminal devices were fabricated. The best device tested experimentally was a three terminal device that required a current of 14mA for a ? phase shift. The modelling and experimental results agree well therefore validating the modelling. Therefore we can be confident that the additional theoretical results for devices that could not be fabricated are reliable, and hence significant further improvements could be made by fabricating these devices. Likely roles for these types of devices are medium bandwidth modulators/switches and a variety of sensor applications.


Application of the third harmonic current injection in three-phase full-bridge thyristor rectifiers is analyzed. Spectra of the rectifier output terminal voltages are derived. Results of the optimal current injection for diode bridge rectifiers are generalized for the thyristor rectifiers, and the waveform of the optimal injected current is derived. It is shown that for the optimal third harmonic current injection, the current injection network takes 8.571% of the rectifier input power from the thyristor bridge output terminals, regardless the thyristor firing angle. A current injection network with a passive resistance emulator that provides recovery of the power taken from the thyristor bridge output terminals is proposed. Volt-ampere ratings of the magnetic components are derived. An algorithm to control the switches in the resistance emulator is presented. Analytically obtained results are experimentally verified.


Several research lines attempted to tell truthful from deceptive texts by looking at the concreteness in language as an indicator of truthfulness. We identified eight different operationalizations of concreteness for computer-automated analysis and validated these operationalizations on six diverse datasets containing truthful and deceptive texts (about hotel reviews, past and future weekend plans, as well as intended flight plans). The results suggest that not just the efficacy but also the directionality of concreteness as a cue to deception is dependent on the operationalization and the context. A predictive analysis suggests that concreteness indices can differentiate between truthful and deceptive statements above the chance level and are a worthy path for future research. The importance of conducting multi-dataset and multi-operationalization investigations in linguistic deception detection research is highlighted.