Autism is a lifelong condition that affects how individuals interact with others and make sense of the world around them. The two core difficulties associated with autism are difficulties in social communication and interaction, and the manifestation of restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour. However, children with autism may also have many talents and special interests among which is their affinity with digital technologies. Despite the increasing use of mobile tablets in schools and homes, and the children's motivation in using them, there is limited guidance on how to use the tablets to teach children with autism specific skills. This study aims to fill this gap in knowledge by providing guidelines about the ways in which iPads and other tablets can be used by parents/carers and their child at home to support the development of social communication skills.

Semi-structured interviews with 10 parents of primary school aged children (4-11 years old) with autism were conducted with the aim to explore their experiences in using mobile devices, such as iPads and android tablets, and social activities with their children to create opportunities for social communication development. The interview involved questions about the parents' knowledge and experience in autism, their understanding of social communication skills, the use of technology at home, and their links with the child's school.
Qualitative analysis of the interviews showed that parents used a variety of strategies to boost their child's social communication skills.

Among these strategies were:

a) the use of communication symbols,
b) the use of the child's special interest as motivator to gain their attention, and
c) allowing time to their child to respond.

It was also found that parents engaged their child in joint activities such as cooking, role play and creating social stories together on the device. Seven out of ten parents mentioned that the tablet is a motivating tool that can be used to teach social communication skills, nonetheless all parents raised concerns over screen time and their child's sharing difficulties. The need for training and advice as well as building stronger links with their child's school was highlighted. In particular, it was mentioned that recommendations would be welcomed about how parents can address their child's difficulties in initiating or sustaining a conversation, taking turns and sharing, understanding other people's feelings and facial expressions, and showing interest to other people.

This is the first study to date that resulted in the development of a parents' guide informed by evidence-based practice and the participants' experiences and concerns. The proposed guidelines aim to urge parents to feel more confident in using the tablet with their child in more collaborative ways. In particular, the guide offers recommendations about how to develop verbal and non-verbal communication, gives examples of tablet based activities to interact and create things together, as well as it offers suggestions on how to provide a worry free tablet experience and how to connect with the school.


The geometric accuracy of a workpiece represents one of the key parameters defining its quality, and it is affected by the appropriate selection of the machine tool, control system, NC program and cutting conditions. Up-to-date control systems contain advanced compensation functions, which increase the volumetric accuracy of the machine tools. Nevertheless, these functions use correction data measurements within the machine tool's periodic maintenance plan. This paper introduces a method for ad hoc correction data modification. This modification is based on the difference between the real and nominal workpiece geometries, which are evaluated on a coordinate-measuring machine as a standard process in high-accuracy workpiece production. Correction data are compiled in the form of a three-dimensional structured mesh, where nodes of the mesh contain such correction values that interpolations within the mesh suppress workpiece geometric deviations. The correction mesh calculations are based on the assumption that the nodes are connected by imaginary springs and that they are initially in force equilibrium. Force disbalance is introduced by workpiece geometric deviations evaluated at arbitrary points. Then the new position of force-balanced nodes is calculated. Experimental results on a three-axis machining center have verified the proposed method, where geometric accuracy of the workpiece increased more than 85% without any negative effect on surface quality. The approach presented is efficient for increasing workpiece accuracy without the need for NC program modification.


Brain cancers are the leading cause of cancer related mortality in children and young adults with median overall survival of 9-10 months and hence represents a significant unmet medical need. Genome-wide sequencing efforts of pediatric gliomas have identified a recurrent and shared missense mutation in the gene encoding the replication-independent variant of histone 3, H3.3. Approximately 70% of diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG) and 50% of thalamic and other midline gliomas harbor the amino acid substitution from lysine (K) to methionine (M) at the position 27 of H3.3 gene. Tumor specific missense mutations are not subjected to self-tolerance and can be suitable targets (neoantigens) for cancer immunotherapy. Herein, we evaluated whether the H3.3K27M mutation can induce specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response in HLA-A2+ T cells. In vitro stimulation of HLA-A2+ donor derived CD8+ T cells with a synthetic peptide encompassing the H3.3K27M mutation (H3.3K27M epitope) induced CTL lines which recognized not only T2 cells loaded with the synthetic H3.3K27M epitope peptide but also lysed the HLA-A2+ DIPG cells which endogenously harbor the H3.3K27M mutation. On the other hand, the CTL lines did not react to either HLA-A2+ but H3.3K27M- negative DIPG cell lines or H3.3K27M positive but HLA-A2 negative DIPG cells. The H3.3K27M epitope peptide but not the non-mutant counterpart indicated an excellent binding affinity (Kd 151nM) to HLA-A2 based on competitive binding inhibition assay. From CTL clones with high and specific affinities to HLA-A2-H3.3K27M-tetramer, cDNAs for T cell receptor (TCR) alpha and beta chains were cloned into a retroviral vector. Human HLA-A2+ T cells transduced with the TCR demonstrated antigen specific reactivity as well as anti-glioma responses in vitro. Peptide titration assays suggested that the H3.3K27M specific TCR had the half-maximal reactivity for peptide recognition of around 100nM. Furthermore, critically important for safety of clinical application, alanine scanning demonstrated that the key amino acid sequence motif in the epitope of the TCR reactivity is not shared by any known human protein. Finally, intravenous administration of T cells transduced with H3.3K27M specific TCR significantly inhibited the growth of intracranial HLA-A2+ H3.3K27M positive glioma xenografts in immune deficient NSG mice. These data provide us with a strong basis for developing peptide based vaccines as well as adoptive transfer therapy using autologous T cells transduced with the H3.3K27M specific TCR. Acknowledgements: This study is supported by the NIH/NINDS (1RO1NS096954), V Foundation and Parker Institution for Cancer Immunotherapy. Citation Format: Zinal Chheda, Gary Kohanbash, John Sidney, Kaori Okada, Naznin Jahan, Diego Carrera, Payal Watchmaker, Kira Downey, Shuming Liu, Shruti Shrivastav, Sabine Mueller, Ian F. Pollack, Angel M. Carcaboso, Alessandro Sette, Yafei Hou, Hideho Okada. Identification of a novel and a shared H3.3K27M mutation derived neoantigen epitope and H3.3K27M specific TCR engineered T cell therapy for glioma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3767. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-3767


This study identifies the key determinants of access to healthcare in Africa and estimates the short-run and long-run effects of these determinants. Panel data from 37 African countries, collected from the World Bank Development Indicators and World Health Organisation databases for the period 1995-2012, were analysed using the pooled mean group estimators. Income appeared the strongest determinant of access in the long run in countries in Africa included in the sample. Access to healthcare was a necessity with the long-run income elasticity for access to healthcare being 0.1149. The short-run effects of income on access were, however, only significant in four of the countries in the sample. The difference in the effects of income in the short run and the long run was generally applicable to other variables. These findings imply that policy makers should focus on income to increase access to healthcare while taking cognisance of country-specific conditions in the short run to mitigate varying levels of shocks.


The paper deals with the negative role of a symptomless gas-formation in the blood; there deduced an equation making it possible to calculate and limit supersaturation of the mixed venous blood and there developed a mathematical model with the use of which it is possible to assess the supersaturation of human mixed venous blood during decompression. It is established that as a result of limitation of supersaturation of the mixed venous blood under decompression there appears a series of short deep-water stops which increases the mode safety. The use of this equation in an integrated mathematical model of decompression furnishes an opportunity to develop the more adequate decompression modes.


The paper presents a human-capital-based endogenous growth, cash-in-advance economy with endogenous velocity where exchange credit is produced in a decentralized banking sector, and money is supplied stochastically by the central bank. From this it derives an exact functional form for a general equilibrium `Taylor rule'. The inflation coefficient is always greater than one when the velocity of money exceeds one; velocity growth enters the equilibrium condition as a separate variable. The paper then successfully estimates the magnitude of the coefficient on inflation from 1000 samples of Monte Carlo simulated data. This shows that it would be spurious to conclude that the central bank has a reaction function with a strong response to inflation in a `Taylor principle' sense, since it is only meeting fiscal needs through the inflation tax. The paper also estimates several deliberately misspecified models to show how an inflation coefficient of less than one can result from model misspecification. An inflation coefficient greater than one holds theoretically along the balanced growth path equilibrium, making it a sharply robust principle based on the economy's underlying structural parameters.


This study presents an analysis of the contact of a rippled rigid impermeable indenter against a cartilage layer, which represents a first simulation of the contact of rough cartilage surfaces with lubricant entrapment. Cartilage was modeled with the biphasic theory for hydrated soft tissues, to account for fluid flow into or out of the lubricant pool. The findings of this study demonstrate that under contact creep, the trapped lubricant pool gets depleted within a time period on the order of seconds as a result of lubricant flow into the articular cartilage, while for steady state sliding contact a lubricant pool cannot be sustained. These results suggest that the classical cartilage lubrication models of weeping and boosted lubrication may have to be revised. More recent mixture-based models described in the literature are able to predict the frictional response of articular cartilage without necessarily assuming or requiring entrapment of lubricant pools at the articular contact interface.


In this paper we present a case study of interactive visual analysis and exploration of a large ICU data set. The data consists of patients' records containing scalar data representing various patients' parameters (e.g. gender, age, weight), and time series data describing logged parameters over time (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure). Due to the size and complexity of the data, coupled with limited time and resources, such ICU data is often not utilized to its full potential, although its analysis could contribute to a better understanding of physiological, pathological and therapeutic processes, and consequently lead to an improvement of medical care. During the exploration of this data we identified several analysis tasks and adapted and improved a coordinated multiple views system accordingly. Besides a curve view which also supports time series with gaps, we introduced a summary view which allows an easy comparison of subsets of the data and a box plot view in a coordinated multiple views setup. Furthermore, we introduced an inverse brush, a secondary brush which automatically selects non-brushed items, and updates itself accordingly when the original brush is modified. The case study describes how we used the system to analyze data from 1447 patients from the ICU at Guy's & St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London. We were interested in the relationship between serum sodium concentration, its rate of change and their effect on ICU mortality rates. The interactive visual analysis led us to findings which were fascinating for medical experts, and which would be very difficult to discover using conventional analysis methods usually applied in the medical field. The overall feedback from domain experts (coauthors of the paper) is very positive.


A tailored design of highly efficient Pt-based bimetallic nanocatalysts for the electrooxidation of liquid fuel offers a promising approach for the commercialization of fuel cells. Although extensive researches on seeking high-performance Pt-based nanocrystals for electrocatalytic reactions have been conducted, the particle size effects of bimetallic Pt-based nanoparticles (NPs) on the fuel cell reaction remain unclear. In this regard, we herein report a size-controlled synthesis of bimetallic Pt–Ag NPs. By varying the amount of phloroglucinol involved in the reaction, Pt–Ag NPs with variable sizes from 7.5 to 15.0 nm can be prepared. By virtue of the unique particle size effects, abundant active sites on the surface as well as the synergistic and electronic effects due to Pt and Ag, these Pt–Ag NPs with the smallest particle size exhibit the best electrocatalytic activities for ethylene glycol and glycol oxidation reactions, and the electrocatalytic activities of Pt–Ag NPs are as much as 3.1 and 3.4 times higher when compared with those of the commercial Pt/C catalysts. This research can provide significant guidelines for the size selection of bimetallic Pt-based nanocatalysts with both enhanced activity and durability for fuel cell reactions.


In an effort to reduce wildfire risk to community members, researchers and practitioners have sought to identify the factors that are most effective in motivating community members to engage in preparatory behaviours. Quantitative research in this area has been hampered, however, by a lack of consistency in, and validation of household wildfire preparedness assessments. Consequences have included a difficulty in comparing results across quantitative studies, a poor collective understanding of how existing preparedness assessments were developed and an inability to ascertain how specific preparedness actions are tied to householders' responses to wildfire. We propose to resolve these issues by (1) presenting a definition of wildfire preparedness for adoption as the standard in quantitative studies, (2) developing a typology of wildfire preparedness that distinguishes between household wildfire goals (i.e. safe evacuation, effective active defence and improving the fire resistance of a property in the absence of an active defender), (3) constructing two new standardised measures of preparedness and (4) undertaking a community survey to investigate the validity of the measures. The development of the new measures will facilitate the standardisation of future research into wildfire preparedness, while differentiating between types of preparedness, and is expected to yield practical benefits.


As demand for higher data rates grows, interconnect intra-pair skew specifications have become increasingly tighter, resulting in harder to control manufacturing processes and lower yield. However, in many cases the measured skew values do not correlate to high-speed performance of copper links. Our investigation of coupled and noncoupled differential pairs explains the limitations of the intra-pair skew measurements in gigabit range interconnects and suggests a good alternative to characterize imbalance of the differential high-speed interconnects.


The PES EU2020 working group points in a briefing note (PES EU2020 no date A) to change processes in EU PESs called for by social evolutions. The note emphasises that public employment services' operations will be massively and profoundly influenced by changes on both the supply and the demand side of the labour market and by such structural impediments as, for example, mismatch between labour demand and supply and low participation rates among vulnerable disadvantaged groups. Rapid and targeted mediation is considered to remain essential for PESs but it has to be combined with attention to provide transitions for individuals facing redundancy and career building. PESs should help job seekers adopt long-term career perspectives, stimulate them to enhance their competencies, give career guidance, give workers support to make smooth career transitions, as well as working with employers to ensure they meet their requirements and encourage and support them to provide career opportunities to more disadvantaged individuals.PESs have to develop their organisation and methods to efficiently and effectively respond to the changing needs in society and the labour market. Far-reaching changes in the tasks, organisational structures, and methods in PESs present corporate governance with great challenges—exacerbated by reduced budgetary resources. The pathway of change that has to be managed will be dotted with demands on decision-makers to choose between alternative courses of action. One of the main thrusts of this paper is to describe cost-benefit analysis, CBA, as a tool to assist decision-makers in choosing. CBA is a tool that judges alternatives in terms of their efficiency as regards the realisation of social objectives, which means that CBA allows policy makers to judge alternatives by their allocative efficiency. This requires taking into account the costs and benefits of the alternatives under consideration. The other main subject of the paper is about measuring productive efficiency which occurs when at a given cost the highest possible output of one service is produced, given the production level of other services. Such measurements make it possible to compare the productive efficiency of individual employment offices or to make comparisons in that respect between PESs in different countries. Therefore, measurements of productive efficiency can be the basis of actions to improve production and managerial processes. Examples of cost-benefit analyses of PES projects and productive efficiency analyses of PESs are given in the paper.


In this paper, a new convex matching pursuit scheme is proposed for tackling large-scale sparse coding and subset selection problems. In contrast with current matching pursuit algorithms such as subspace pursuit (SP), the proposed algorithm has a convex formulation and guarantees that the objective value can be monotonically decreased. Moreover, theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the proposed method achieves better scalability while maintaining similar or better decoding ability compared with state-of-the-art methods on large-scale problems.


In established white clover (Trifolium repens L.) populations, seedling recruitment is rare and plants spread by clonal growth, which could lead to low intraspecific genetic diversity. To assess how populations of white clover maintain high genetic variability in grazed swards during a growing season, we examined spatial and temporal changes in white clover clones by identifying genotypes by RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) profiles. Trifoliate leaf samples were taken from plants at up to 37 specific sampling points in each of four 2.8-m 2 permanent quadrats in a grazed pasture from April to October 1997. RAPD profiles (genotype) based on 28 markers were determined for genomic DNA prepared from leaf samples. The number of sampled clones per quadrat ranged from zero to 10 and the sampled members per clone ranged from two to 34 over the growing season. Some clones were found more than once. During the study, numbers of clonal members increased or decreased, clones were found on one to three dates, and clones were found in one to two quadrats. The clonal diversity index D (probability that any two sampled plants have different genotypes) ranged from 0.89 to 0.99 for the eight dates, showing that genotypic diversity of populations was affected by number of clones and number of donal members. We report here the first use of dominant RAPD markers to document dynamic changes of white clover population structure. These data show that white clover clones undergo dynamic spatial and temporal variability at a local scale, which accounts for much of the genetic diversity within field populations.


This paper presents a new approximation formula for pricing discretely monitored average options and spread options in a local-stochastic volatility (LSV) model with jumps. Particularly, our model includes local-volatility functions and jump components in both the underlying asset price and its volatility processes. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed approximation is the rst one which achieves analytic approximations for the average and spread option prices in this environment. In numerical experiments, by employing several models we provide approximate prices for average and calendar spread options on the WTI futures based on the parameters through calibration to the listed (plain-vanilla) futures option prices, and compare those with the CME settlement prices, which con rms the validity of the method. Moreover, we show the LSV with jumps model is able to replicate consistently and precisely listed futures option, calendar spread option and average option prices with common parameters. --


Computational modelling of radiation transport can enhance the understanding of the relative importance of individual processes involved in imaging systems. Modelling is a powerful tool for improving detector designs in ways that are impractical or impossible to achieve through experimental measurements. Modelling of light transport in scintillation detectors used in radiology and radiotherapy imaging that rely on the detection of visible light plays an increasingly important role in detector design. Historically, researchers have invested heavily in modelling the transport of ionizing radiation while light transport is often ignored or coarsely modelled. Due to the complexity of existing light transport simulation tools and the breadth of custom codes developed by users, light transport studies are seldom fully exploited and have not reached their full potential. This topical review aims at providing an overview of the methods employed in freely available and other described optical Monte Carlo packages and analytical models and discussing their respective advantages and limitations. In particular, applications of optical transport modelling in nuclear medicine, diagnostic and radiotherapy imaging are described. A discussion on the evolution of these modelling tools into future developments and applications is presented.


Control of nonlinear response of nanostructures via path interference effects, i.e., Fano resonances, has been studied extensively. In such studies, a frequency conversion process takes place near a hot spot. Here, we study the case where the frequency conversion process takes place \textit{along the body of a nonlinear crystal}. Metal nanoparticle-quantum emitter dimers control the down-conversion process, taking place throughout the crystal body, via introducing interfering conversion paths. Dimers behave as interaction centers. We show that a 2 orders of magnitude enhancement is possible, on top of the enhancement due to localization effects. That is, this factor multiplies the enhancement taking place due to the field localization.


The effect of the salary system and age on the internal and external motivationThe purpose of the study was to examine how a fixed salary with commission and only a fixed salary, and age affect the internal and external work motivation of sellers. This was studied by a questionnaire and participants were sellers in the call center industry in Sweden. In total there were 112 sellers from nine different companies that responded to the survey. The respondents were divided into groups based on pay systems and age. The measuring instrument used was the Work Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation Scale which classifies the motivation of internal and external based on six subscales. The results showed that employees who had a fixed salary with commission had a higher level of external work motivation than those who only had a fixed salary. It was also found that the elderly had a higher degree of internal and external work motivation in comparison with younger ones.


A steam turbine rotor and blading steel manufactured to chemical composition per ASTM A470, Class 8, and AISI Class 422, respectively, were impact load tested at room temperature in the hardened and tempered, as well as in the annealed, condition with a view to correlate energy levels with specimen thickness. The V-notch Charpy impact specimens used for this purpose included the standard size of 10 by 10 mm and various sub-sizes permitted by ASTM Standard A 370. Results indicate that the impact energy reduced linearly with the decreasing size of the specimen in two regimes, suggesting that two different mechanisms are operating in the fracture initiation for the corresponding specimen thickness ranges. It is, however, established that the energy levels obtained with the lowest thickness specimens (2.5 mm) correlate to the standard energy levels by a multiplying factor of 3 to 4 for all materials except the hardened-and-tempered blading steel, for which the multiplying factor is found to be around 2. A brief account of the fractographic features of both steels for 10, 5, and 2.5 mm thick impact specimens is presented. The relationship obtained between impact energy and specimen thickness is expected to be useful for estimating the impact toughness of service components and assessing their condition, since limitations in component size and/or codes and statutory regulations sometimes preclude removal of large amounts of material for making standard V-notch Charpy specimens.


A formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics in twistor space is studied. The phase-space description of the classical theory leads (via canonical quantization) to all known wave equations describing massless particles. A natural link between the classical and the quantum description is provided by the Wigner function de®ned on the space of twistors.


Individual differences in behavior are associated with changes in the correlation of neural activity between brain areas. Such differences in 'functional connectivity' are thought to reflect individual differences in brain structure that alter the flow of neural activity between regions. Here, in contrast, we show that individual differences in functional connectivity and behavior can be explained by differences in how frequently an individual expresses distinct cortex-wide spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity. This suggests variability in sampling of cortex-wide neural dynamics may underlie individuals' unique behavioral phenotypes.


A major challenge in the future of traffic is to understand how "socially-aware vehicles" could be making use of their social habitus, formed by any information that can be inferred from past and present social relations, social interactions, and a driver's social state when exposed to other participants in real, live traffic. The aim of this workshop in recognition of this challenge is to advance on a common understanding of the symbiosis between drivers, cars, and the infrastructure. The central objective of the workshop is to provoke an active debate on the adequacy of the concept of social, natural, and peripheral interaction, addressing questions such as "who can communicate what", "when", "how", and "why"? To tackle these questions, we would like to collect different, radical, innovative, versatile, and engaging works that challenge or re-imagine human interactions in the near future automobile space.


Dear Editor: I read the recent publication by Girard et al with a great interest. The data from this report is useful in clinical practice. However, there are many concerns on the data. The basis for the conclusion that "Type 1 TR and Type 2 TR were identified to be two significantly different manifestations of TR, with a strong association between Type 1 TR and periodontal disease [1]" is of interest. First, as the author noted, the data represents only a small number of cats and might not be well generalized to general population. Second, there are several underlying pathological conditions that can lead to periodontal disorders. These factors have not been completely ruled out in this study. Also, were the subjects in this work actually healthy cats?


[1] The intense high-frequency electrostatic waves observed in the terrestrial foreshock often have a form of a superposition of two monochromatic waves close to the plasma frequency. We suggest an interpretation of these spectra as signatures of nonlinear decay of Langmuir waves to electron-sound and ion-sound secondary waves. This decay instability is known to have different properties in inhomogeneous plasma, namely the threshold amplitude of this instability is inversely proportional to the scale of the inhomogeneity. We show that the observed dependence of the wave amplitude on the modulation scale of the wave packets is consistent with this property and the theory of absolute decay instability in inhomogeneous plasma can be applied to explain the satellite observations. In this study we used electric field data from the Wide Band Data instrument on board Cluster satellites.


This paper presents a dynamic reliability-based optimization technique for the seismic design of structures with tuned mass damper (TMD). Firstly, the governing equation of multi-degree-of-freedom structure with TMD is established. Then, the main structure is unfolded by the first mode. Considering that the damping is non-classical and the total main structure and TMD system is un-symmetric, the complex modal analysis is adopted to uncouple the governing equation and the analytical solutions of stochastic seismic response under the Kanai-Tajimi spectrum loading are obtained. Taking the ratio between the first-order modal displacement standard deviation of the structure with TMD and the one without TMD as the objective function, the dynamic reliability of the TMD system displacement as the constraint, the optimal design parameters of the TMD system are obtained through the penalty function method. A 10-story building with TMD system illustrates the proposed dynamic reliability-based optimization method. It is believed that such an optimization technique provides an effective tool for the seismic design of structures with TMD.


Abstract In order to simultaneously achieve both high permselectivity and permeability (flux) for the recovery of aromatic compounds such as phenol from aqueous streams, a composite organophilic hollow fiber based pervaporation process using PDMS/PEBA as two-layer membranes has been developed. The process employed a hydrophobic microporous polypropylene hollow fiber, having thin layers of silicones (PDMS) and PEBA polymers coating on the inside diameter. The composite membrane module is used to investigate the pervaporation behavior of phenol in water in a separate study; and that of a mixture of phenol, methanol, and formaldehyde in an aqueous stream (a typical constituent of wastewater stream of phenol-formaldehyde resin manufacturing process) in another study. The fluxes of phenol and water increase relatively linearly with increasing concentration especially at low feed concentration, and exhibit a near plateau with further increase in concentration. As a result, the phenol/water separation factor decreases as the feed concentration increases. Significant improvement in phenol/water separation factor and phenol flux is achieved for this two-layer (PDMS/PEBA) membranes as compared to that achieved using only PDMS membrane. The phenol and water fluxes and the separation factor are highly sensitive to permeate pressure as all decrease sharply with increase in permeate pressure. For this membrane, an increase in temperature increases the separation factor, and also permeation fluxes of phenol and water. An increase in feed-solution velocity does not have a significant effect on phenol and water fluxes, and also on the separation factor at least within the range of the feed-solution velocity considered. In the study of pervaporation behavior of a typical constituent of wastewater stream of phenol-formaldehyde resin manufacturing process, phenol permeation shows a much higher flux and a higher increase in flux with increase in concentration is also exhibited as compared to that exhibited by methanol permeation. This thus indicates that the membrane is more permeable to phenol than to methanol and formaldehyde.


This paper uses a lake-catchment approach to reconstruct land use changes and pollution history at Aqualate Mere in central England. The Mere is a shallow lake (max water depth c. 1m) and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserve. Formed in a kettle hole since the last glacial period, it holds c. 11 m depth of sediment and regionally provides a unique archive of Holocene environmental change. Radiocarbon, Cs-137 and Pb-210 dating and the distribution of Spheroidal Carbonaceous Particles (SCPs) suggest that the upper 5 metres of sediment accumulated over the past three millennia with an acceleration of sedimentation in the last 200 years. In this paper we use multi-proxy data to reconstruct and investigate the influence of human activities (namely agriculture and metallurgy) on the Mere and its catchment. High resolution pollen and non-pollen palynomorph data provides evidence for woodland clearance and agriculture which intensified during the Roman period, whilst more recent changes match historical documentary evidence of landscaping, tree plantations and industrial pollution. High percentages of Anabaena, a cyanobacteria, and changes in diatom populations suggest that such activities promoted more eutrophic conditions in the Mere; an interpretation supported by the likely increase in bacterial magnetite as reflected in time-synchronous changes in mineral magnetic signatures. Sediment chemistry also provides evidence of regional lead pollution during the Late Bronze Age, the Roman period and the last c. 200 years. Mineral magnetic data and radionuclide signatures of potential catchment sources and Mere sediments proved to be relatively poor discriminators of catchment sources suggesting that, except for the past 200 years, the Mere sediment was autochthonous and perhaps dominated in recent times by a high atmospheric pollution load. The results of our investigation suggest that human impact on the Mere has been considerable since late prehistoric times. A detailed appraisal of both catchment sources and lake sediments is important to understand the interplay of human activities on long term records of environmental change and to fully understand the external and internal processes that can impact on a lake which can then be used to develop effective catchment management strategies


Let $\mathbb N$ be the set of positive integers and $n\in \mathbb N$. Let $\mathbf{a}=(a_0,a_1,\dots, a_{n-1})$ be a sequence of length $n$, with $a_i\in \{0,1\}$. For $0\leq k\leq n-1$, let \[ A_k(\mathbf{a})=\sum_{\substack{0\leq i\leq j\leq n-1\\ j-i=k}} a_ia_j.\] The sequence $\mathbf{a}$ is called a very odd sequence if $A_k(\mathbf{a})$ is odd for all $0\leq k\leq n-1$. In this paper, we study a generalization of very odd sequences and give a characterisation of these sequences.


Extensive land use changes and uncertainties arising from climate change in recent years have contributed to increased flood magnitudes in the Canadian Prairies and threatened the vulnerabilities of many small and indigenous communities. There is, thus, a need to create modernized flood risk management tools to support small and rural communities' preparations for future extreme events. In this study, we developed spatial flood information for an indigenous community in Central Saskatchewan using LiDAR based DEM and a spatial modeling tool, the wetland DEM ponding model (WDPM). A crucial element of flood mapping in this study was community engagement in data collection, scenario description for WDPM, and flood map validation. Community feedback was also used to evaluate the utility of the modelled flood outputs. The results showed the accuracy of WDPM outputs could be improved not only with the quality of DEM but also with additional community-held information on contributing areas (watershed information). Based on community feedback, this accessible, spatially-focused modeling approach can provide relevant information for community spatial planning and developing risk management strategies. Our study found community engagement to be valuable in flood modeling and mapping by: providing necessary data, validating input data through lived experiences, and providing alternate scenarios to be used in future work. This research demonstrates the suitability and utility of LiDAR and WDPM complemented by community participation for improving flood mapping in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR). The approach used in the study also serves as an important guide for applying transdisciplinary tools and methods for establishing good practice in research and helping build resilient communities in the Prairies.


Large-scale systems with all-flash arrays have become increasingly common in many computing segments. To make such systems resilient, we can adopt erasure coding such as Reed-Solomon (RS) code as an alternative to replication because erasure coding incurs a significantly lower storage overhead than replication. To understand the impact of using erasure coding on the system performance and other system aspects such as CPU utilization and network traffic, we build a storage cluster that consists of approximately 100 processor cores with more than 50 high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs), and evaluate the cluster with a popular open-source distributed parallel file system, called Ceph. Specifically, we analyze the behaviors of a system adopting erasure coding from the following five viewpoints, and compare with those of another system using replication: (1) storage system I/O performance; (2) computing and software overheads; (3) I/O amplification; (4) network traffic among storage nodes, and (5) impact of physical data layout on performance of RS-coded SSD arrays. For all these analyses, we examine two representative RS configurations, used by Google file systems, and compare them with triple replication employed by a typical parallel file system as a default fault tolerance mechanism. Lastly, we collect 96 block-level traces from the cluster and release them to the public domain for the use of other researchers.


Over the last three decades a vast number of tomographic images has been produced, but the quantitative assessment of their accuracy and uniqueness has only just started. A relatively recent technique in this direction has been made by (Trampert et al., 2004) using probabilistic tomography. It is based on a full model space search, the Neighbourhood Algorithm (NA), with which to solve the inverse problem. This provides a representation of seismic constraints as probability density functions (pdfs) from which one can easily calculate the most likely model and its associated uncertainty. Since a full model space search quickly limits the dimension of the explorable parameter space, an essential condition to apply the NA is to have a small number of unknowns. Probabilistic tomography has been applied to invert surface waves and normal-modes. The aim of this thesis was to incorporate body wave data to increase the depth resolution in the lowermost mantle. The first step, therefore, was to establish a formalism which allows us to treat body waves as surface waves and free oscillations and, thus, separate the inverse problem into its lateral and radial components. In a spherically layered Earth using the path-average approximation, body wave delay times can be inverted in two steps. The first step is the construction of vertical travel-time residual maps as a function of ray parameter. The second step is their depth inversion, less well constrained than the first step but characterized by a small number of parameters and, hence, suitable to be solved by the NA. Such a procedure, called path-average approach, works well for long wavelength structure for the forward and inverse problem. Combing a body wave dataset characterized by a good resolution between 2441 and 2891 km and the advantages of the path-average approach, we provided a new insight into the lowermost mantle based on lateral variations of P-, S-seismic velocities and the corresponding seismologically observed ratio without an explicit depth inversion for seismic wave velocities variation. Following a robust statistical approach, we are able to link these seismic heterogeneities to mineral physics and provide evidence for the existence of post-perovskite near the core-mantle boundary. In the framework of probabilistic tomography, applying the path-average approach we inverted body wave vertical travel-time residual maps, normal-mode splitting functions and surface wave phase velocity maps locally for depth using the NA. We constructed a shear wave, compressional wave, bulk sound speeds and density perturbation model with associated uncertainty. The estimation of the correlation between parameters and the RMS amplitude of seismic variations clearly indicates a thermal and chemical nature of heterogeneity in the lower mantle. Furthermore, our models fully confirm the conclusions achieved by the model of Resovsky & Trampert (2003), produced without body waves. One strength of probabilistic tomography is the possibility to convert easily the pdfs of seismic velocities and density perturbations into pdfs of thermal and compositional anomalies. We constructed a model of temperature, iron and perovskite variations combining mineral physics data with the shear, bulk sound wave-speeds and density variation models described above.


A Finite-Volume based POD-Galerkin reduced order model is developed for fluid dynamics problems where the (time-dependent) boundary conditions are controlled using two different boundary control strategies: the lifting function method, whose aim is to obtain homogeneous basis functions for the reduced basis space and the penalty method where the boundary conditions are enforced in the reduced order model using a penalty factor. The penalty method is improved by using an iterative solver for the determination of the penalty factor rather than tuning the factor with a sensitivity analysis or numerical experimentation. The boundary control methods are compared and tested for two cases: the classical lid driven cavity benchmark problem and a Y-junction flow case with two inlet channels and one outlet channel. The results show that the boundaries of the reduced order model can be controlled with the boundary control methods and the same order of accuracy is achieved for the velocity and pressure fields. Finally, the reduced order models are 270-308 times faster than the full order models for the lid driven cavity test case and 13-24 times for the Y-junction test case.


In contrast to the global trends, India has witnessed a significant increase in use of the traditional methods among married women. The increasing use of traditional method is associated with higher pregnancy termination and unintended birth. This paper examines the extent of contraceptive failure among traditional and modern spacing method users by socio-economic characteristics in India. The 60 month calendar data of National Family Health Survey 3, 2005-06 is used in the analyses. Bi-variate, single decrement life table and logistic regression model are used to understand the differentials and determinants of births, pregnancy and termination among contraceptive users. The study suggests that 64 per cent of pregnancy terminations are resulting from method failure compared with 36 per cent among modern method users. By the end of 36 months, the probability of discontinuation due to method failure was 0.23 among traditional methods users compared with 0.08 among modern spacing method users. In the absence of method failure, the total fertility rate (TFR) in India would have been 8 per cent lower than the observed TFR, while it would have been lower by 14 per cent in populous state of Uttar Pradesh. Controlling for socioeconomic and demographic correlates, the risk of pregnancy among traditional methods users is almost 3 times higher (CI: 2.56, 3.32) than that of modern spacing method users. Based on these findings it is suggested that the family planning programme needs to focus on motivating the traditional methods users to practice modern method to avert pregnancies.


1. Diffusion and autolysis of the pigmentation and metamorphic principles of the pituitary proceed together after death of the animal. 2. Rise in temperature increases the rate of diffusion and autolytic action. 3. The presence of other principles and of autolytic products does not affect the response of the pigmentation principle but the activity of the metamorphic principle is reduced by diffused and autolytic products. As these products increase a point is reached when the presence of the metamorphic principle cannot be detected. 4. Diffusion and autolysis are responsible in a large measure for the variations in the metamorphic and pigmentation results obtained by the administration of anterior and posterior lobe productss.


For a number of reasons many users are responsible for the implementation and maintenance of their own databases. While they may have the technical skills to set up data repositories, many end users lack the analysis skills to design a conceptual model which accurately reflects the subtleties and complexities of their requirements. In this paper we discuss why it is important for end users to obtain help in developing a full conceptual model of their data. We propose a number of ways to capture the most essential aspects of the model to produce a simplified design that an end user can be reasonably confident of implementing and using accurately. We discuss how the simplifications may impact on the final application. Our simplification methods are illustrated with an example of a scientific database and we also show how to represent the simplified model in both a database and a spreadsheet.


This presentation reports findings from a study which explores the social care and environmental factors associated with Community Treatment Orders (CTOs), their discharge and renewal. CTOs allow service users to be treated in the community, rather than in hospital and were designed to prevent relapse and promote stable mental health. A CTO specifies conditions to which the service user must adhere and gives the Responsible Clinician (usually a psychiatrist) the power to recall the service user to hospital.
181 mental health practitioners responded to a survey and 16 service users were interviewed, as were 41 practitioners. Recruitment of service users was challenging and potential reasons for this are explored. Peer researchers were involved throughout the study. Service users and practitioners considered CTOs to be concerned primarily with compliance with medication and the development of insight. Service users generally felt negatively about medication, but they also talked of developing maturity in relation to their difficulties and that medication helped. Compliance provided evidence for discharge, but good relationships and involvement in social activities were also significant in decision making. Service users reported a range of activities, with few talking of loneliness. Views about CTOs were pragmatic and tended to the positive. Good relationships between service users and care co-ordinators were reported by both groups and emerged as one of the strongest themes.


Fracture-cavity carbonate reservoirs are noncontinuous and highly heterogeneous with the present of large-scale fractures, cavities, and erosion pores. The multiscale and diversity of medium in reservoirs have a noticeable influence on the transient pressure analysis. In the typical curve matching, the connection between large-scale fractures and cavities must be considered. Unfortunately, the current well-testing model cannot be used to analyze the date of fracture-cavity carbonate reservoirs. The aim of this study is to develop an efficient well-testing model to obtain parameters and number of large-scale fractures and cavities. To solve the aforementioned problem, a pressure-transient analysis model for fracture-cavity carbonate reservoir with radial composite reservoir, multiscale fractures–caves in series connection, and dual-porosity medium (fracture and erosion pore) is established in this study. Laplace transformation is used to solve the mathematical model. The linear flow in the main fractures and the radial flow of caves drainage area are solved by coupling. The pressure-transient curves of the bottom hole have been obtained with the numerical inversion algorithms. The typical curves for the well-testing model are drawn. Nine flow stages and variation characteristics of typical curves are analyzed. The sensitivity analyses for different parameters are carried out. From the calculations, with the increasing in the length of large-scale fractures, the duration of linear flow is increased. While the radius of cave is the bigger, the convex and concave are the larger. Therefore, the location and the size of caves and large-scale fractures can be analyzed. As a field example, actual test data are analyzed by the established model. An efficient well-testing model is developed, and it can be used to interpret the actual pressure data for fracture-cavity carbonate reservoirs.


The aim of this work is to implement a statistical mechanics theory of social interaction , generalizing econometric discrete choice models. A class of simple mean field discrete models is introduced and discussed both from the theoretical and phe-nomenological point of view. We propose a parameter evaluation procedure and test it by fitting our model against three families of data coming from different cases: the estimated interaction parameters are found to have similar positive values establishing a quantitative confirmation of the peer imitation behavior found in social psychology. Moreover all the values of the interaction parameters belong to the phase transition regime suggesting its possible role in the study of social systems.


Novosphingobium pentaromativorans US6-1 T is a species in the family Sphingomonadaceae. According to the phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence of the N. pentaromativorans US6-1 T and nine genome-sequenced strains in the genus Novosphingobium, the similarity ranged from 93.9 to 99.9 % and the highest similarity was found with Novosphingobium sp. PP1Y (99.9 %), whereas the ANI value based on genomes ranged from 70.9 to 93 % and the highest value was 93 %. This microorganism was isolated from muddy coastal bay sediments where the environment is heavily polluted by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). It was previously shown to be capable of degrading multiple PAHs, including benzo(a)pyrene. To further understand the PAH biodegradation pathways the previous draft genome of this microorganism was revised to obtain a complete genome using Illumina MiSeq and PacBio platform. The genome of strain US6-1 T consists of 5,457,578 bp, which includes the 3,979,506 bp chromosome and five megaplasmids. It comprises 5110 protein-coding genes and 82 RNA genes. Here, we provide an analysis of the complete genome sequence which enables the identification of new characteristics of this strain.


Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, calculation of the number of emergency department (ED) beds required for patients with vs. without suspected COVID-19 represented a real public health problem. In France, Amiens Picardy University Hospital (APUH) developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) project called "Prediction of the Patient Pathway in the Emergency Department" (3P-U) to predict patient outcomes. Materials: Using the 3P-U model, we performed a prospective, single-center study of patients attending APUH's ED in 2020 and 2021. The objective was to determine the minimum and maximum numbers of beds required in real-time, according to the 3P-U model. Results A total of 105,457 patients were included. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) for the 3P-U was 0.82 for all of the patients and 0.90 for the unambiguous cases. Specifically, 38,353 (36.4%) patients were flagged as "likely to be discharged", 18,815 (17.8%) were flagged as "likely to be admitted", and 48,297 (45.8%) patients could not be flagged. Based on the predicted minimum number of beds (for unambiguous cases only) and the maximum number of beds (all patients), the hospital management coordinated the conversion of wards into dedicated COVID-19 units. Discussion and conclusions: The 3P-U model's AUROC is in the middle of range reported in the literature for similar classifiers. By considering the range of required bed numbers, the waste of resources (e.g., time and beds) could be reduced. The study concludes that the application of AI could help considerably improve the management of hospital resources during global pandemics, such as COVID-19.


In this paper, binary carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced conducting polyaniline (PANI) and ternary sulfonated Graphene nanosheets (s-GN) decorated CNT@PANI nanocomposites were prepared using a solution mixing followed by ultrasonic dispersion. The SEM and XRD analysis found that the s-GN and CNTs have uniformly sandwiched the PANI. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) results showed that the sulfonated graphene along with CNTs have led to increase the electrochemical capacitance from 305 F/g for the binary CNT20@PANI to 419 F/g for the ternary CNT20@PANI@s-GN20 nanocomposites (37 % increase). This increase is attributed to the free mobility of the electronic carriers on the s-GN surface for the larger surface area and presence of the SO-3 groups. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements exhibited that the s-GN embedded PANI@CNT nanocomposite resulted in a higher energy density of 209 Wh/kg with a power density of 381 W/kg at scan rate of 5 mV/s in an electrolyte of 0.5M H2SO4. The prepared s-GN@PANI@CNTs nanocomposites are promising electrode's materials for the electrochemical capacitors power systems.


Several proof formalisms have been used, and in some cases even introduced, in order to define proof systems for modal logic. Our work falls within a more general project of establishing a common specification language for checking proofs given in a wide range of deductive formalisms. In this paper, we consider the case of labeled proof systems for modal logics, i.e., in particular, Negri's labeled se-quent calculi, Fitting's prefixed tableaux and free-variable prefixed tableaux, and provide a framework for certifying proofs given in such calculi. The method is based on the use of a translation from the modal language into a first-order polarized language and on a checker whose trusted kernel is a simple implementation of a classical focused sequent calculus. The framework allows for a high flexibility in the representation of proofs to be checked, in the sense that even partial proofs can be verified by employing a process of proof reconstruction. We describe the general method for modal logics characterized by geometric frame conditions, present its implementation in a Prolog-like language, and provide several examples of proof certification in the case of well-known normal modal logics, like K, S4 and S5.


During the last two decades, skill mismatches have become one of the most important issues of policy concern in the EU (European Commission, 2008). Hence, the literature has stressed the necessity to reduce skill mismatches. We contribute to this literature by analyzing the impact of the transition from salaried employment to self-employment on self-reported skill mismatches. To do so, we resort to the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) covering the period 1994-2001. Using panel data, we track individuals over time and measure their self-reported skill mismatch before and after the transition. Our empirical findings indicate not only that the average self-employee is less likely to declare being skill-mismatched but also that those individuals who transit from salaried employment to self-employment reduce their probability of skill mismatches after the transition.


In this thesis the optimal transmission rate in ad hoc wireless networks is analyzed. The performance metric used in the analysis is probability of outage. In our system model, users/packets arrive randomly in space and time according to a Poisson point process, and are thereby transmitted to their intended destinations using either ALOHA or CSMA as the MAC protocol. Our model is based on an SINR requirement, i.e., the received SINR must be above some predetermined threshold value, for the whole duration of a packet, in order for the transmission to be considered successful. If this is not the case an outage has occurred. In order to analyze how the transmission rate affects the probability of outage, we assume packets of K bits, and let the packet duration, T, vary. The nodes in the network then transmit packets with a requested transmission rate of Rreq=K/T bits per second. We incorporate transmission rate into already existing lower bounds on the probability of outage of ALOHA and CSMA, and use these expressions to find the optimal packet duration that minimizes the probability of outage. For the ALOHA protocol, we derive an analytic expression for the optimal spectral efficiency of the network as a function of path loss, which is used to find the optimal packet duration Topt . For the CSMA protocol, the optimal packet duration is observed through simulations. We find that in order to minimize the probability of outage in our network, we should choose our system parameters such that our requested transmission rate divided by system bandwidth is equal to the optimal spectral efficiency of our network.


Experimental data sets related to e-voting systems are very demanding in order to improve currently deployed e-voting machines. Unfortunately, the studies of such data about the machines' security, performance and their evolution with respect to the social and technical aspects are still unsatisfactory. During the last four years we have been involved in the development, experimentation, and evaluation of an e-voting system. The system tried out in several regular elections, and also used in two small elections with legal value. Each experiment provided various sociological (e.g. citizens' opinions on the system) and technical data that are related to system's performance and behavior. In this paper, we present various technical insights and the lessons learned during the e-voting experiment. The methodology for the various experiments we have carried-out and the data sets collection process are also discussed. This helps to confirm existing data on the subject (e.g., data related to security, procedures and logistics) and, in some cases, provide novel information or, at least, shed a new perspective on some security-critical factors concerning e-voting systems.


PURPOSE
We previously showed that pre-exposure of the cornea to Toll-like receptor (TLR)5 ligand flagellin induces strong protective innate defense against microbial pathogens and hypothesized that flagellin modulates gene expression at the transcriptional levels. Thus, we sought to determine the role of one transcription factor, interferon regulatory factor (IRF1), and its target gene CXCL10 therein.

METHODS
Superarray was used to identify transcription factors differentially expressed in Pseudomonas aeruginosa-challenged human corneal epithelial cells (CECs) with or without flagellin pretreatment. The expression of CXCL10, IRF1, LI-8(CXCL2), and IFNγ was determined by PCR, immunohistochemistry, Western/dot blotting, and/or ELISA. IRF1 knockout mice, CXCL10 and IFNγ neutralization, and NK cell depletion were used to define in vivo regulation and function of CXCL10. The severity of P. aeruginosa was assessed using clinical scoring, slit-lamp microscopy, bacterial counting, polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) infiltration, and macrophage inflammatory protein 2/Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 2 (MIP-2/CXCL2) expression.

RESULTS
Flagellin pretreatment drastically affected P. aeruginosa-induced IRF1 expression in human CECs. However, flagellin pretreatment augmented the P. aeruginosa-induced expression of Irf1 and its target gene Cxcl10 in B6 mouse corneas. Irf1 deficiency reduced infection-triggered CXCL10 expression, increased keratitis severity, and attenuated flagellin-elicited protection compared to values in wild-type (WT) controls. CXCL10 neutralization in the cornea of WT mice displayed pathogenesis similar to that of IRF1⁻/⁻ mice. IFNγ receptor neutralization and NK cell depletion prevented flagellin-augmented IRF1 and CXCL10 expression and increased the susceptibility to P. aeruginosa infection in mouse corneas.

CONCLUSIONS
IRF1 plays a role in the corneal innate immune response by regulating CXCL10 expression. IFNγ-producing NK cells augment the epithelial expression of IRF1 and CXCL10 and thus contribute to the innate defense of the cornea against P. aeruginosa infection.


Deep Web information is heterogeneous and dynamic. How to make use of this information effectively is a challenging task. To handle this problem, an effective solution is knowledge visualization to management knowledge of Deep Web. So, we introduce the Semantic Web technology into the knowledge visualization process. And, we visualize the process of knowledge management in order to share the knowledge, reuse the knowledge and creative the knowledge. Finally, several ontology visualization examples are shown as the visualized process and knowledge management approach, and make a good effect.


The leading FDA-approved drugs for epigenetic cancer therapy are small molecule compounds that activate silenced tumor suppressors by inhibiting enzymes that generate aberrant repressive chromatin. Although promising, this approach is limited because chromatin-modifying enzymes often target non-chromatin proteins and can serve dual functions as gene repressors and activators. Previously, we have demonstrated that a transgenically expressed synthetic polycomb-derived transcription factor (PcTF) could activate genes in silenced chromatin via specific interactions with histone H3 trimethylated at lysine 27 (H3K27me3). Efficient non-viral intracellular delivery remains a challenge for protein-based biologics. Herein, we report the delivery of cell-penetrating PcTF (CP-PcTF) to cultured cells. We expressed and purified recombinant PcTF that was fused in frame with a nuclear localization signal and a cell penetrating peptide tag (TAT). We demonstrated rapid and efficient uptake of soluble CP-PcTF by osteosarcoma U-2 OS cells grown in 2-D monolayers and 3-D spheroids. However, CP-PcTF had a modest effect on gene expression and cell proliferation compared to transgenically-expressed PcTF from our previous work. Overall, these results suggest that TAT is a very effective delivery vehicle for the recombinant transcriptional regulator PcTF, and that further technical development is needed to deliver functional PcTF into cell nuclei.


Grid system has many great security challenges such as access control. The attribute-based access control model (ABAC) has much merits that are more flexible, fine-grained and dynamically suitable to grid environment. As an important factor in grid security, trust is increasingly applied to management of security, especially in access control. This paper puts forward a novel trust model in multi-domain grid environment and trust factor was originally introduced into access control architecture of grid to extend classic ABAC model. By extending the authorization architecture of XACML, extended ABAC based access control architecture for grid was submitted. In our experiment, the increase and decrease of trust are non-symmetrical and the trust model is sensitive to the malicious attacks. It can effectively control the trust change of different nodes and the trust model can reduce effectively the damage of vicious attack.


Use of herbal medicinal products (HMPs) has several folds increased over the past few decades. Apart from the fact that HMPs are relatively economical and provide solution where other therapies do not, one of the major beliefs that HMPs are always safe is always been exploited by the manufacturers while promoting their products. But the increasing evidences about toxic effects of herbal formulations have drawn the attention of scientists all over the world. Among several factors, herbal drug interactions (HDI) are one of the major concerns. HDI can be caused by either pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic mechanisms. One important factor that increases the likelihood of having an herbal drug interaction is concomitant use of herbal with drugs that have a narrow therapeutic index such as digoxin, antiepileptic drugs, antineoplastic agents, immunosuppressant's, and warfarin. Most of the current evidence concerning interactions between natural products and drugs is based on known or suspected pharmacological activity, data derived from in vitro studies etc. Since HDI can be fatal most of the times, there should be proper regulation on the labeling of herbals to prevent such interactions and to ensure safe use of herbals.


A new unsymmetrical photochromic diarylethene bearing a pyrrole and a thiophene aryl unit 1-(5-cyan-1,2-dimethylpyrrole)-2-(5-aldehyde-2-butylthiophene) perfluorocyclopentene(1a) has been synthesized. Its properties, including photochromism and kinetics were investigated in detail. It underwent reversible cyclization and cycloreversion reactions upon alternating with UV and visible light both in solution and in PMMA film. The results showed that this compound exhibited reversible photochromism, changing from colorless to blue upon irradiation with UV light, in which absorption maximum were observed at 649 nm and 583 nm in solution and PMMA amorphous film, respectively. This new photochromic system also exhibited remarkable reaction kinetics in hexane solution.


We study the behavior of short sellers around earnings restatements. We find that short sellers accumulate positions in restating firms several months in advance of the restatement and subsequently unwind these positions after the drop in share price induced by the restatement. The increase in short interest is larger for firms with high levels of accruals prior to restatement. We document that heavily shorted firms experience poor subsequent performance and a higher rate of delisting. Overall, these results suggest that the motive for short selling is, at least in part, related to suspect financial reporting and that short sellers pay attention to information being conveyed by accruals.


Background.  Physical activity during pregnancy provides many health benefits not only to pregnant mothers but also to the fetuses. This study assessed the attitude of pregnant women towards PA in pregnancy among pregnant women attending ANC in Lira Regional Referral Hospital. Methods. The cross-sectional study of 152 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic visits in Lira Regional referral Hospital, northern Uganda. Data were obtained on socio-demographic characteristics of mothers' attitudes towards PA in pregnancy. Results.  We found that 80% of pregnant mothers had a positive attitude toward physical activity during pregnancy. The attitude was associated with marital status (p=0.049), the number of children they had to care for, a busy schedule, fear of PA, and lack of information were the principal reasons not to do Physical Activity. Conclusion. The majority of women (80%) had a positive attitude toward PA during pregnancy Recommendations.  Based on the findings that some small percentages had a negative attitude towards PA in pregnancy, health educators should be encouraged to avail the information to the community members, this will enable the community to develop good feelings towards antenatal exercises. Pregnant women should be encouraged to form exercise groups in their communities so they provide moral support for each other.  Based on findings from other studies that there is a low practice of PA in pregnancy, further studies should be done in Uganda to come up with the prevalence of PA during pregnancy in Uganda.


We present a facile hot injection and hydrothermal method to synthesize Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) nanoparticles sensitized metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-derived mesoporous TiO2. The MOFs-derived TiO2 inherits the large specific surface area and abundantly porous structures of the MOFs structure, which is of great benefit to effectively enhance the dye loading capacity, prolong the incident light traveling length by enhancing the multiple interparticle light-scattering process, and therefore improve the light absorption capacity. The sensitization of CZTS nanoparticles effectively enlarges the photoresponse range of TiO2 to the visible light region and facilitates photoinduced carrier transport. The formed heterostructure between CZTS nanoparticles and MOFs-derived TiO2 with matched band gap structure effectively suppresses the recombination rates of photogenerated electron/hole pairs and prolongs the lifespan of the carriers. Photoanodes based upon CZTS/MOFs-derived TiO2 photoanodes can achieve the maximal photocurrent of 17.27 mA cm(-2) and photoelectric conversion performance of 8.10%, nearly 1.93 and 2.21 times higher than those of TiO2-based photoanode. The related mechanism and model are investigated. The strikingly improved photoelectric properties are ascribed to a synergistic action between the MOFs-derived TiO2 and the sensitization of CZTS nanoparticles.


In this study the effect of heat treatment on some physical properties of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) was investigated. Wood specimens were subjected to heat treatment at 160, 180, 200 and 220°C for 1, 2, 3 and 4h. The results show that heat treatment resulted in a darkened color, decreased moisture performance and increased dimensional stability of wood. Compared with untreated wood, equilibrium moisture content (EMC), water absorption (WA) and volume swelling (VS) for treated wood decrease up to 42.63%, 34.93% and 67.47%. The higher the treatment temperature and the longer the treatment time, the lower EMC, WA and VS. The VS of treated specimens has a more significant reduction than EMC and WA when the heat treatment temperature is above 180°C. The visual color changes were more distinct after heat treatment above 180°C. Temperature has a greater influence than time on these properties of specimens.


Social capital is becoming a core concept in economics, political science, sociology and public policy. Trust, norms and social networks constitute the three major components of social capital. These three factors interact with each other and play a significant role in transactions between people and organizations. However, there is no consensus about the influence of social capital on transaction costs. Some researchers have stated that social capital could reduce transaction costs associated with adapting, monitoring and enforcing transactions; some have analyzed the negative impacts of social capital on transaction costs; and still some have focused on transaction costs in the formation of social capital. Using organizations as the unit of analysis and concentrating on trust, this paper analyzes how trust, the central concept of social capital, impacts transaction costs in interorganizational transactions. At the same time, it argued that trust building is costly, and some activities that constitute transaction costs help to form a mutual-trust between organizations. Further, the paper points out that transaction costs and trust differ depending on the characters of transactions. The paper also studies the lock-in effects of trust on inter-organizational relationships and the role of intermediaries to mitigate the negative impacts. Finally, the paper intends to find policy and strategy implications for organizations and government to build a healthy and vigorous transaction environment.


This research assignment is an exploratory qualitative study into mapping unplanned outcomes of executive coaching. The research purpose was twofold: to address the lack of a common and comprehensive framework for the mapping of outcomes of executive coaching, and to add to the body of knowledge regarding unplanned outcomes of executive coaching. In developing the mapping framework, the available literature was reviewed and, through an inductive process, a framework, model, taxonomy and mapping tool were developed. Based on core concepts attributable to Kirkpatrick, Wilber and Jaques, the mapping tool developed was then tested, using data obtained from a purposive sample of seven semi-structured interviews with Gauteng based coachees. The sample excluded any individuals who had been coached by the researcher. During the data analysis, the planned outcomes were mapped using the mapping tool and related processes. Thereafter the actual outcomes were mapped, identifying those outcomes that matched planned outcomes and those that supported the planned outcomes. A technique named 'outcome chains' was developed and used for this process. The unplanned outcomes were identified by a process of elimination, being those that remained unallocated in the planned chain process. It was found that outcomes of executive coaching can be mapped using a framework based on the principles of Kirkpatrick, Wilber and Jaques, with all identified outcomes being mapped successfully. Four categories of unplanned outcomes were identified, namely those that hinder the attainment of planned outcomes, insufficient evidence of achieving planned outcomes, actual outcomes related to planned outcomes but with scope different to planned and, fourthly, actual outcomes unrelated to planned outcomes. Additionally, three themes of unplanned outcomes, each with two sub-themes, were identified, namely personal (sub-themes: physical and spiritual), family (sub-themes: immediate and extended) and work (sub-themes: positive and negative). The most surprising finding was that all seven coachees experienced unplanned outcomes, which is markedly different to previous research findings and may be due to the inclusion of non-work related outcomes. The key recommendations arising from this research assignment embrace the research into, and practice of, executive coaching. Regarding the research elements, it is recommended that the mapping framework developed in this research be further refined and tested as a holistic standard for evaluating the outcomes of executive coaching, including those outcomes that impact the coachee as an individual. For the executive coaching fraternity, it is recommended that coaches challenge themselves and their practices regarding the probability, categories and impact of unplanned outcomes, and introduce measures to maximise the upside and minimise the risks of unplanned outcomes. Finally, the regular testing and recording of the coachee's reaction to executive coaching is recommended as a predictor of coaching efficacy. Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za


Abstract. In this paper, we propose a unified framework for efficiently completing streetview and indoor 360° panoramas due to the lack of bottom areas caused by the occlusion of the acquisition platform. To greatly reduce the severe distortion at the bottom of the panorama, we first reproject it onto the ground perspective plane containing the whole occluded region to be completed. Then, we formulate the image completion problem in an improved graph cuts optimization framework based on the statistics of similar patches by strengthening the boundary constraints. To further eliminate image luminance differences and color deviations and conceal geometrical parallax among the optimally selected patches for completion, we creatively apply a multi-bland image blending algorithm for perfect image mosaicking from the completed patches and the originally reprojected image. Finally, we back-project the completed and blended ground perspective image into the cylindrical-projection panorama followed by a simple feathering to further reduce artifacts in the panorama. Experimental results on some representative non-panoramic images and streetview and indoor panoramas demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed method even in some challenging cases.


Direct injection is a minimally invasive method of stem cell transplantation for numerous injuries and diseases. However, despite its promising potential, its clinical translation is difficult due to the low cell retention and engraftment after injection. With high versatility, high‐resolution control and injectability, microfabrication of stem‐cell laden biomedical hydrogels holds great potential as minimally invasive technology. Herein, a strategy of microfluidics‐assisted technology entrapping bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and growth factors in photocrosslinkable gelatin (GelMA) microspheres to ultimately generate injectable osteogenic tissue constructs is presented. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the GelMA microspheres can sustain stem cell viability, support cell spreading inside the microspheres and migration from the interior to the surface as well as enhance cell proliferation. This finding shows that encapsulated cells have the potential to directly and actively participate in the regeneration process. Furthermore, it is found that BMSCs encapsulated in GelMA microspheres show enhanced osteogenesis in vitro and in vivo, associated with a significant increase in mineralization. In short, the proposed strategy can be utilized to facilitate bone regeneration with minimum invasiveness, and can potentially be applied along with other matrices for extended applications.


This paper reports a method of modelling virtual manufacturing environments to support their rapid construction for knowledge representation, acquisition, and shop-floor simulation. As an example, a virtual workshop is constructed to include a lathe, a milling machine, and two robots. A generic framework is designed in a layered structure to enable knowledge acquisition and information management for manufacturing planning within the workshop. The virtual equipment included in the framework is developed with autonomy, reactivity and "social" abilities. This method has provided an easy but effective communication link between the virtual workshop and the physical workshop in terms of part movement, part loading and unloading, machining operations, and inspection. The framework also provides programming protocols and data links from and to a local and remote database to manage and visualise manufacturing data and process planning information.


Motion measurement is a key function for patient diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation in clinical disciplines ranging physiology, audiology, orthopaedics, neurophysiology. The equipment can be by video camera recording, machine vision systems and force plates. Motion analysis systems supported by multi-camera machine vision systems are an expensive solution for many applications. Force plates are another measurement tool that can be used in conjunction with a machine vision system or as a separate system. In the case of the latter set-up, the force plate is able to measure the centroid and vector of the ground reaction force, and the data retrieved can be interpreted by clinical staff to determine the nature of balance or stance of a patient. There is valuable information in the transients that can be detected by this approach, however the force plate cannot be utilised to discriminate other spatial factors in the way that the loads are applied by the patient on the surface. This paper reports the distributive approach to tactile sensing applied to infer the 3 dimensional motion of a moving mass in a supporting mechanism placed on the 2 dimensional sensing surface. The distributive approach has the advantage over forceplates on constructional costs and the ability to discriminate many motion metrics of patients. Implementation of the system using only three low cost deflection sensing elements, positioned under the surface with the resulting signals interpreted by neural network implemented on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) output near real time sampling rates greater than 70 KHz. The investigation demonstrates that the performance is sufficiently accurate for the intended clinical application, having backing errors of less than 5% in all three dimensions.


1. A statistical mechanical model is proposed for describing the phase transition of phospholipid bilayers induced both by temperature and by hydrostatic pressure. 2. The calculated properties of phase transition, e.g. the transition temperature and pressure, the Clapeyron slope, the changes of enthalpy, of volume, of surface area, of thickness and of gauche number per chain, are comparable with available experimental data for dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) dispersions. 3. Having determined the vertical Young's modulus of the bilayer, we have concluded that, in the case of pure lecithin membranes, the electromechanical compressive effect of electric field is negligible (the bilayer is compressed by less than one percent) up to 6 V. 4. It is pointed out that the average number and radius of instable pores in pure lecithin membranes increase drastically with increasing transmembrane potential from 150 mV. 5. The pore model can explain the mechanical rupture of pure lecithin membrane and predicts a drastic increase of conductivity near 200 mV.


Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are an integral element of Industry 4.0, and these systems are said to have become gradually more intelligent throughout the years. Moreover, as technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things evolve, the suspicion arises on whether machines and humans could cohesively share control in the system. Despite efforts in the literature regarding the architecture and the implementation of CPS and Human CyberPhysical Systems (HCPS), more work needs to be done to highlight the similarities and strengths between people and machines. In this work, we take on the challenge to show that comparison from a human-skill perspective. This analysis highlights some of the human capabilities that have been moved to technologies. It also presents an updated list of human-machine capability differences. Besides, it identifies the human elements involved in HCPS as well as the skills included and required while working with HCPS.


As commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) pursue extended plant operations in the form of Second License Renewals (SLRs), opportunities exist for these plants to provide capital investments to ensure long-term, safe, and economic performance. Several utilities have already announced their intention to pursue extended operations for one or more of their NPPs via SLR2. The goal of this research is to develop a risk-informed approach to evaluate and prioritize plant capital investments made in preparation for, and during the period of, extended plant operations to support decisions in NPP operations. In order to prioritize project selection via a risk-informed approach we developed a single decision-making tool that integrates safety/reliability, cost, and stochastic optimization models to provide users with data analysis capabilities to more cost effectively manage plant assets. Both stochastic analysis methods — such as Monte Carlo-based sampling strategies — and multi-stage stochastic optimization strategies are employed to provide priority lists to decision-makers in support of risk-informed decisions. We applied the proposed method to a trial application of projected replacement/refurbishment expenditures for plant capital assets (i.e., structures, systems, and components [SSCs]). The objective is to optimize the SSC replacement/refurbishment schedule in terms of economic constraints, data uncertainties, and SSC reliability data, as well to generate a priority list for maximizing returns on investment.


Despite the increase in the incidence and prevalence rates of children and adolescents' mental disorders, there are few works performed with large and representative samples of children and adolescents with psychopathological symptoms. The present work analyses 588 participants referred by first care pediatricians to a specialized unit for children and adolescents' mental health. As a result of the study, a statistically significant relation was found between age and diagnosis: a larger incidence of behavioral disorders, communication disorders, elimination disorders, pervasive developmental disorders, impulse-control disorders from 0 to 5 years; behavioral disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were more common from 6 to 11 years, behavioral and anxiety disorders were more likely at 12 to 15 years; and, lastly, behavioral disorders were more prevalent from 16 to 18 years. With respect to gender, there was a significant relationship with diagnosis: boys had more behavioral disorders, whereas girl had more anxiety disorders. To conclude, a relationship between mental disorders and developmental achievements could be indicated in the younger group. Additionally, externalizing disorders in boys and internalizing ones n girls were more prevalent across all ages.


Based on the principle of restrained concrete, this paper presents a new-type concrete filled steel tubular column-slab joint. This new-type joint is characterized by keeping the concrete floor slab continuous while breaking the steel tube of the column for the joint, thus joining the slab and the concrete filled steel tubular(CFST) columns at the top and the bottom of the slab. The joint has the advantage of transferring loads dependably, constructing conveniently and saving on the cost. Three groups of experiments (21 specimens contained) were performed to test the safety of the joint and investigate its axial bearing capacity. The results show that the joint is dependable and feasible in engineering applications. In addition, this paper studies the working mechanism and mechanical properties of the joint under axial compression, discusses the factors to influence its axial bearing capacity, and finally brings out the formula of the joint's bearing capacity under axial compression that adapts to engineering applications, which conservatively evaluate the result of the experiments.


A picture is now starting to emerge regarding the liver-bile acid-microbiome axis. Increasing levels of the primary bile acid cholic acid (CA) causes a dramatic shift toward the Firmicutes, particularly Clostridium cluster XIVa and increasing production of the harmful secondary bile acid deoxycholic acid (DCA). During progression of cirrhosis, the microbiome, both through their metabolism, cell wall components (LPS) and translocation lead to inflammation. Inflammation suppresses synthesis of bile acids in the liver leading to a positive-feedback mechanism. Decrease in bile acids entering the intestines appears to favor overgrowth of pathogenic and pro-inflammatory members of the microbiome including Porphyromonadaceae and Enterobacteriaceae. Decreasing bile acid concentration in the colon in cirrhosis is also associated with decreases in Clostridium cluster XIVa, which includes bile acid 7α-dehydroxylating bacteria which produce DCA. Rifaximin treatment appears to act by suppressing DCA production, reducing endotoxemia and harmful metabolites without significantly altering microbiome structure. Taken together, the bile acid pool size and composition appear to be a major regulator of microbiome structure, which in turn appears to be an important regulator of bile acid pool size and composition. The balance between this equilibrium is critical for human health and disease.


Objective Superior bone ingrowth and resistance to bacterial infection are ideal for orthopaedic implants. We compared new bone formation, strength of bone bonding, and infection rates between silicon nitride ceramic (Si3N4; abbreviated SiN), medical-grade PEEK (PEEK), and titanium (Ti) in rat calvariae. PEEK and Ti are used in spinal and arthroplasty implants respectively, while SiN is a non-oxide ceramic used in spinal implants for the past 4 years. Methods Specimens of 10 mm × 10 mm by 1.75 mm size were implanted into experimental calvarial defects in 2-year old Wistar rats using standard surgical techniques (n9s: SiN=48; PEEK=24; Ti=24). One group of animals was immediately inoculated with 1 × 104 Staphylococcus epidermidis ; control animals received saline only. After sacrifice at 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, and 3 months post-inoculation (n=4 rats per time period), one calvarial sample each for PEEK and Ti, and two samples for SiN (per bacterial condition and time point) were retrieved for histology; remaining samples were used for sample push-out testing with a Micro Tester 5848 (Instron) with a 1-kN load cell, using published techniques. New bone formation was measured with tetracycline double-labeling at 11 and 4 days before the 14-day and 3-month time periods. Results Of the materials tested, 3-month bone ingrowth and periprosthetic infection rates were most favorable for SiN (Fig. 1). At 90 days post-implantation without bacteria, new bone growth in calvariae with SiN was ∼69% compared with 24% and 36% for PEEK and Ti, respectively. With bacterial inoculation, new bone growth was 21%, 26% and 41% for PEEK, Ti, and SiN, respectively. At 3-months, live bacteria were observed for PEEK (88%) and Ti (21%), while no bacteria were present around SiN (Fig. 2). Push-out strength was greater for SiN when compared to Ti and PEEK (Fig. 3). Conclusions Superior bone formation, bone ingrowth, and bacterial resistance were associated with SiN when compared to Ti and PEEK. SiN proved effective in inhibiting bacteria and promoting osteogenesis in experimental osseous defects, when compared to Ti and PEEK. These observations are most likely related to the hydrophilic properties of SiN that contributed to the adsorption of proteins known to decrease bacteria attachment and growth (vitronectin and fibronectin). We conclude that SiN may be a superior biomaterial for the development of orthopaedic implants.


Genotoxicity is being increasingly focussed in both scientific and public discussions. This paper tries to point out the connections with mutagenicity and carcinogenicity and to show up several important medical aspects of DNA damage.


In Harm's Way is a collaborative ethnography of violence in the Argentine neighborhood of Arquitecto Tucci by Javier Auyero, a University of Texas at Austin sociologist and Maria Fernanda Berti, an elementary teacher in Buenos Aires. Arquitecto Tucci is a fictitious name for the place in metropolitan Buenos Aires where the authors did their work. Auyero and Berti identify Arquitecto Tucci as a "relegated" community at the urban margins, meaning stigmatized, removed, and subordinated, with "extreme levels of infrastructural deprivation," and suffering from "crushing" violence of "overwhelming intensity and frequency" capable of "shattering" and "unraveling" routine daily existence. The authors confess to being "astonished" by the high level of violence they found as they began their project and set out in search of the best way to analyze their findings. However, at no time did they seem discouraged to the point of abandoning the effort which paid off in an important, useful book. The book includes four chapters, plus an introduction and conclusion. The authors reach out in all directions in an effort to explain violence in Arquitecto Tucci. Primary sources include more than 100 interviews with residents, but also interviews with health professionals and police conducted over 30 months. The interviews perforce became the main sources, not the least because of the poor quality of public statistics on crime and public health. Beyond interviews, newspapers seemed especially helpful in providing accounts of homicides and other crimes. The great challenge is delineating what might be called a total ethnography of violence for Arquitecto Tucci, one that would provide a convincing or at least plausible analysis of all the violence, be it interpersonal or collective, private or public. The limitations of compartmentalized approaches, the "specialized and balkanized" studies of different disciplines were duly noted. However, such studies were not disregarded, but selectively brought forward throughout the book to help in analysis. The book is therefore rich in analysis that draws on many disciplines. Arquitecto Tucci is a high-crime community with many poor and even destitute people. It is woefully lacking in infrastructure and other amenities of middle-class life. Paradoxically, it also exhibits considerable vitality derived from a recently established commerce that sets it off from the rest of Argentina. We learn that Arquitecto Tucci was a once-prosperous, working-class community that flourished in tandem with Argentina's industrial growth from the l930s to the 1960s. Up to 1990, it was even a favorite resort


In this paper, we propose a Minimax Concave Penalized Multi-Armed Bandit (MCP-Bandit) algorithm for a decision-maker facing highdimensional data with latent sparse structure in an online learning and decision-making process. We demonstrate that the MCP-Bandit algorithm asymptotically achieves the optimal cumulative regret in the sample size T , O(log T ), and further attains a tighter bound in both the covariates dimension d and the number of significant covariates s, O(s(s + log d)). In addition, we develop a linear approximation method, the 2step Weighted Lasso procedure, to identify the MCP estimator for the MCP-Bandit algorithm under non-i.i.d. samples. Using this procedure, the MCP estimator matches the oracle estimator with high probability. Finally, we present two experiments to benchmark our proposed the MCPBandit algorithm to other bandit algorithms. Both experiments demonstrate that the MCP-Bandit algorithm performs favorably over other benchmark algorithms, especially when there is a high level of data sparsity or when the sample size is not too small.


Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D) is the most common metabolic disease demonstrating itself by hyper- glycemia, due to impaired insulin secretion or action. Recently, Whole-Genome Association studies have revealed the role of several new genes responsible for T2D. One of the most studied genes is SLC30A8 (Zn-T8) which is exclusively expressed in pancreatic β-cells and participates in insulin storage and transfer. A number of previous studies support the role of R325W (rs13266634) variant of this gene in T2D risk. The present study was designed to determine the possible association of rs13266634 polymorphism of SLC30A8 gene with T2D in the population of Eastern Azerbaijan province. We genotyped the rs13266634 polymorphism in Azeri samples, using 250 samples prepared from T2D case and control individuals in equal numbers. Genotyping were performed using Polymerase Chain Reaction and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism assay (PCR-RFLP). No significant association was detected between rs13266634 variant of SLC30A8 gene and T2D in our study population (p>0.05). Moreover, none of the metabolic and anthropometric parameters had significant differences for RW (heterozygote mutant) and RR (homozygote mutant) genotypes in case and control groups (p>0.05). Significant differences was observed in fasting blood sugar (FBS), glucose tolerance test (GTT), age, education and economic status between case and control groups (p<0.05), while the differences in BMI and gender between the two study groups were non-significant.


The topic of this paper was the correct use and interpretation of case studies as an empirical research method. Using an equal blend of lecture and discussion, it gave a foundation for conducting, reviewing, and reading case studies. There were lessons for software engineers as researchers who conduct and report case studies, reviewers who evaluate papers, and practitioners who are attempting to apply results from papers. The main resource for the course was the book Case Study Research: Design and Methods by Robert K. Yin. This text was supplemented with positive and negative examples from the literature.