We report a family with extremely depressed high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (C) levels. The proband, a 27 year-old male of Asian Indian origin, was identified on routine lipid screening to have an HDL-C of 9mg/dL. His 24 year-old brother had an HDL-C of 6mg/dL and was therefore referred to a local lipid clinic in 1997. Both brothers were asymptomatic. The nuclear family was comprised of another brother and a mother living in India; their father had died previously from an undetermined cause. The parents were second cousins. Blood was obtained from members of the extended family and showed that the mother's HDL-C was reduced at 29mg/dL, while the 3rd bother had a normal HDL-C at 54mg/dL. Based on the above scenario, a homozygous mutation most likely involving ABCA1 was presumed to be responsible for this lipoprotein profile. However, microsatellite marker analyses of the ABCA1 locus showed no homozygosity pattern in the two affected brothers. Further analyses of the APOA1-C3-A4 locus similarly failed to show homozygosity in the affected brothers. Plasma activities of both salt-stimulated paraoxanase and LCAT were at the low end of normal. Direct sequence analyses of the LCAT gene showed all three brothers were heterozygous for the Arg423His mutation, while the mother's LCAT gene sequence was normal. No further work was pursued until 2011, when this family's DNA was re-examined by direct sequencing. On this occasion, a heterozygous mutation in ABCA1 was found, namely Arg1270X in the 2 affected brothers and their mother. To our knowledge, this is the first report of 'double heterozygosity' for LCAT and ABCA1 mutations producing severe hypoalphalipoproteinemia. Further, simple heterozygosity for the ABCA1 Arg1270X mutation had a co-dominant influence, moderately reducing HDL-C levels. In contrast, simple heterozygosity for the LCAT Arg423His mutation had no effect on HDL-C, but in the presence of ABCA1 Arg1270X it contributed to markedly reduced HDL-C. This case report highlights a potential pitfall in human genetic studies, namely assuming a particular inheritance pattern based upon family structure. It also highlights the value of perseverance by searching for causative mutations in more than one gene.


Dust emissions from large-scale, tunnel-ventilated poultry sheds could have negative health and environmental impacts. Despite this fact, the literature concerning dust emissions from tunnel-ventilated poultry sheds in Australia and overseas is relatively scarce. Dust measurements were conducted during two consecutive production cycles at a single broiler shed on a poultry farm near Ipswich, Queensland. Fresh litter was employed during the first cycle and partially reused litter was employed during the second cycle. This provided an opportunity to study the effect that partial litter reuse has on dust emissions. Dust levels were characterised by the number concentration of suspended particles having a diameter between 0.5 and 20 μm and by the mass concentration of dust particles of less than 10 μm diameter (PM10) and 2.5 μm diameter (PM2.5). In addition, we measured the number size distributions of dust particles. The average concentration and emission rate of dust was higher when partially reused litter was used in the shed than when fresh litter was used. In addition, we found that dust particles emitted from the shed with partially reused litter were finer than the particles emitted with fresh litter. Although the change in litter properties is certainly contributing to this observed variability, other factors such as ventilation rate and litter moisture content are also likely to be involved.


: Two experiments were performed on 16 test subjects (13 men and 3 women) to study stress-effects on the blood content of sugar and cholesterol. The test subjects were given a nutritionally balanced diet of canned food-stuffs. The caloric value of the diet was adequate to energy expenditures. In the first experiment, the test subjects were also given vitamin E, nicotinic acid and other vitamins constituting the polyvitamin complex Aerovit. In the second experiment, they were additionally supplemented with calcium and potassium salts, glucose and phosphatid concentrate. The stress-agent was a test in the rotating chair in the first experiment and a psychologic test (mental work within a limited period of time to reach success or failure) in the second experiment. The content of sugar and cholesterol before and after the stress-effects did not differ significantly. This can be attributed to the prophylactic effect of the nutritional factor on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in an emotionally stressed man.


In this paper, a practical application for a continues beam-type bridge, the Truckee river bridge, California, to test the validity of the improved DSC method in the identification of the bridge damage after severe loading such as that caused by an earthquake was discussed. Comparing the calculated stiffness from the improved DSC method with that from design data of the bridge based on the numerical simulation with different damage scenarios in consideration of measurement errors, the location and severity of the damage in the bridge can be accurately and reliably detected. The pushover and seismic damage assessment analysis shows that the improved DSC is valid and efficient for damage detection in highway bridges.


ABSTRACT Many models assume that inhibition plays an integral role during bilingual language control, a process that restricts bilingual language processing to the target language. However, there is limited evidence for such a claim. In the current study, we set out to investigate one known marker of bilingual inhibition (n-2 language repetition costs) that has, so far, mainly been investigated with digits in a production task. Hence, we ran a n-2 language repetition study with other types of stimuli (i.e. pictures and written words) in a production and a comprehension task. The results showed that n-2 language repetition costs were found with both stimulus types in a production task. In the comprehension tasks, n-2 language repetition costs were only observed with one of the two stimulus types and in only one language. These results indicate that inhibition is implemented during bilingual production, and is possible, but not necessary, during bilingual comprehension.


Modern democracy is impossible without political parties. They are necessary in the process of the construction of the political class and building of relations between politicians and 'ordinary people'. So, in Poland in the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries the significance of parties is also very important. Their history is older than the history of the reborn Poland. Especially in Galicia, an autonomous province of the Hapsburg empire, we can see the activities of many politicians. A part of them in 1895 declared the birth of the Popular Party which is a constant element of the Polish political scene. The second traditional current is the socialistic movement, which is also always legally active in Poland. These two camps represent, in simplification, the 'two Polands'—the first more traditional, conservative and provincial, and the second more progressive, 'European' and urban. Actually, in the typical consciousness of a Polish citizen, the political representation of the 'black' country is the party Law and Justice of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and the 'red' country admires the Citizen Platform with Donald Tusk as a leader. But probably the idea of a twoparty system, like in the Anglo-Saxon world, is still very distant to reality, because in the European continent, the tradition of pluralism in a policentric version is still very significant. In Poland, even in the period of the 'real socialism' this conception of the organization of political life was realized, though naturally in the specific version. There were three legal parties and the Polish United Workers' Party (the PUWP) was the most important. From 1976, the PUWP in the light of the Constitution had the official hegemony in the Republic. It is possible to compare this situation with the period 1926–39, when, after the coup d'etat by Marshal Pilsudski, the Government still won in the election and the official elite wanted to create a stable political force with a perspective of permanent rule. But we must remember that between the wars opposition always was legal. In our times of demoliberalism, this is quite normal (though under the Constitution, unconstitutional parties, for example, communist or fascist, are unacceptable); however, interesting is the fact that when you observe sine ira et studio the evolutional trend of the Polish political system, you easily find the tendency of the 'stabilization' of the party system in the way of legal operations. From 1997, the laws concerning political parties have changed the possibilities of the conquest of seats in the Seym. Actually, only the parties having 5 per cent (or 8 per cent in coalition) of votes can gain the representation in the Diet. So it is possible to claim that the little parties today are in a more complicated situation than in the first years after the 'operation of Round Table' in 1989. The contemporary system is maybe more stable, but less liberal. There are theoreticians who note the danger of the alienation of the political class in the situation of the renewal of the alienation of the political elite, which de facto is more connected with the state than with the society. Many theoreticians emphasize that in the future the role and the character of political structures will be profoundly different from today. Maybe they are prophets, but we can expect that the Polish political parties or 'post-parties' and also political structure as a whole will have many similarities with their actual equivalents, because the mentality of the Polish nation, including the politicians, is more or less enduring.


ABSTRACT The European Commission follows a harmonized approach for calculating structural (potential) output for EU member states that takes into account labour as an important ingredient. This article shows how the recent huge migrants' inflow to Europe affects trend output. Due to the fact that the immigrants immediately increase the working population but effectively do not enter the labour market, we illustrate that the potential output is potentially upward biased without any corrections. Taking Germany as an example, we find that the average medium-term potential growth rate is lower if the migration flow is modelled adequately compared to results based on the unadjusted European Commission procedure.


We introduce a simulation-based method to compute the information rates of intersymbol interference (ISI) channels with additive colored Gaussian noise and/or signal-dependent Gaussian noise when the inputs are binary and independent identically distributed. The method extends the idea advanced by Arnold and Loeliger (2001), which focuses on the ISI channels with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). With the new method, we can compute the information rates of the Lorentzian channel with media noise that represents a suitable model for practical magnetic recording channels. We illustrate the use of the technique via several examples and show that media noise is preferable to AWGN in terms of the achievable information rates, at low signal-to-noise ratios, in particular. We also present examples of turbo codes for Lorentzian channels with media noise and compare the performance with the achievable information rates. The results demonstrate, not surprisingly, that improved detectors are necessary to achieve the channel capacity for magnetic recording channels when the media noise is dominant.


This reports is intended as a users manual for a package of MATLAB scripts and functions, developed for recursive prediction error identification of discrete time nonlinear Wiener systems and nonlinear static systems. Wiener systems consist of linear dynamics in cascade with a static nonlinearity. The core of the package is an implementation of 9 recursive SISO output error identification algorithms. Three main cases are treated. The first set of 5 algorithms identify the IIR linear dynamics in cases where the static nonlinearity is known. It is stressed that the nonlinearity is allowed to be non-invertible. The second set of 2 algorithms simultaneously identifies the linear dynamics and the static non-linearity. The nonlinearity is parameterized as a piecewise linear or a piecewise quadratic nonlinear function. The last set of two algorithms exploits the above parameterization of the static nonlinearity for estimation of static nonlinear systems. Arbitrarily colored additive measurement noise is handled by all algorithms. The software can only be run off-line, i.e. no true real time operation is possible. The algorithms are however implemented so that true on-line operation can be obtained by extraction of the main algorithmic loops. The user must then provide the real time environment. The software package contains scripts and functions that allow the user to either input live measurements or to generate test data by simulation. The functionality for display of results include scripts for plotting of data, parameters and prediction errors. Model validation is supported by several methods apart from the display functionality. First, calculation of the RPEM loss function can be performed, using parameters obtained at the end of an identification run. Pole-zero plots can be used to investigate possible overparameterization in the linear dynamic part of the Wiener model. Finally, the static accuracy as a function of the output signal amplitude can be assessed.


This report examines the use of still, moving, and 3D images and visualisations for investigation into the social and cultural role of airports. The potential to use these methods to help people remember, connect to, and visualise these social and cultural spaces of the past, present, and future is explored. It follows on from work conducted as part of the SPARA 2020 project Work Package 7 activities which involved: qualitative research on the social and cultural importance of peripheral and remote airports; production of best practice templates for airport engagement with community stakeholders; and development of engagement strategies for case study airports. This report details the results of a literature search into visual methods and critically reflects upon the use of visual methods (specifically photo elicitation) in remote and rural airport contexts. This literature review: gives an overview of visual methods; details how they are used and applied in various fields; discusses research which uses different types of visuals (still, moving, and 3D); engages in a critical discussion of visual methods including advantages and ethical considerations; examines the potential for visual methods to engage with community stakeholders in social and cultural research; and examines the potential for visual methods to be used in airport and transport research more specifically. The report also reflects on the earlier SPARA 2020 research which employed the photo elicitation visual methodology and discusses the role this visual method played in the project. It also draws upon the findings of an earlier photo elicitation study which examined the social and cultural role of the main street in remote and peripheral areas. Although the report details examples from a wide variety of airports of differing sizes, the implications for socially and culturally significant remote and peripheral airports are explored in more detail, in line with the scope of the SPARA 2020 project. As such, this report will be of interest to: those working at remote and peripheral airports who wish to engage in community stakeholder engagement (especially where they are being asked to evidence non-economic impact to funding bodies); and visual researchers (especially those who study community spaces).


Regional climate projections are developed four Central America and the Caribbean, based on a multiparameter ensemble formed by four configurations with different convective cumulus schemes with the regional model RegCM4 at 25 km grid spacing, driven by the HadGEM2‐ES global model under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The precipitation change projections indicate drier conditions compared to present in the near future (2020–2049) and far future (2070–2099) time slices. These drier conditions are statistically significant at the 90% confidence level over the eastern Caribbean, central Atlantic Ocean, and the western Pacific Ocean and are more pronounced in the far future time slice. For temperature, the warmer conditions are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level over the study region. The drier and warmer signals are greater in extension and magnitude in the RCP8.5 than for RCP4.5. Projected changes in precipitation and temperature extreme indices show a reduction of consecutive wet days and an increment of consecutive dry days, with a reduction of cold days and nights and an increase of warm days and nights. Lower precipitation along with increased intensity of extreme events are projected over the Greatest Antilles region.


This study advances a framework of concepts based on the Barcelona Principles (AMEC, 2010) to assess the extent public relations practitioners, in award-winning campaigns, place greater emphasis on outcomes than outputs in evaluations of their campaigns, as the Barcelona Principles advocate. The study employs content analysis of the evaluation sections of campaigns recognized for excellence by the Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil awards from 2010, when the Barcelona Principles were adopted, to 2014. The findings show mixed results. Many cases do measure outcomes, yet the most predominant evaluation described is outputs, which are nearly universally present in campaigns. Awards in certain categories of PR practices are more likely to measure outputs only, with no measurable outcomes. Advertising Value Equivalencies (AVEs), though measured only in a small percent of cases, are still making their way into some evaluation sections. The findings, and recommendations based on the results, provide direction for professional and pedagogical approaches to PR measurement and evaluation.


In the past decade, many studies have measured individual risk attitude with different elicitation methods using within-subject design and have found significant disparities across the elicitation methods. According to the existing literature, there are also differences in the observed understanding of the elicitation methods measured by the inconsistency rate. However, there are no studies yet that compares the inconsistency rate across different elicitation methods in a within-subject design. Therefore, we compare both the inconsistency rate and the risk attitude of participants in two different lottery tasks in a within-subject design, namely the lottery task by Holt and Laury (2002) as well as the one by Brick, Visser and Burns (2012). Moreover, we analyze in a between-subject design whether a visualization of a lottery task for a better understanding results in differences in the elicited risk attitude and thus leads to the desired reduction of the inconsistency rate. Results show that the elicited risk attitudes are more risk averse in the more complex Holt-and-Laury task in both display formats. Moreover, we find that the visualization results in more risk averse responses in both lottery tasks. According to the inconsistency rate, we find that the Brick-Visser-Burns task is better understood than the Holt-and-Laury task, especially in the textual display format. Furthermore, the visual display format of the Holt-and-Laury task results in a significantly better understanding compared to the textual display format. Submitted File(s) History of Uploads


Yield maps are a key component of precision agriculture, due to their usefulness in both development and evaluation of precision management strategies. The value of these yield maps can be compromised by the fact that raw yield maps contain a variety of inherent errors. Researchers have reported that 10 to 50% of the observations in a given field contain significant errors and should be removed. Methods for removing these outliers from raw yield data have not been standardized, although many different filtering techniques have been suggested to address specific error types. We developed a software tool called Yield Editor to simplify the process of applying filtering techniques for yield data outlier detection and removal. Yield Editor includes a map view of the yield data, allowing the user to interactively set, assess the effects of, and refine a number of previously reported automated filtering methods. Additionally, Yield Editor allows manual selection of erroneous points, transects, or regions for investigation and possible deletion. This paper describes the filters implemented in Yield Editor, discusses input, output, and filtering options, and documents availability of the program. Example applications of Yield Editor on five test fields are used to show how the user interacts with the software and to analyze the relative importance of the various filters.


Bilirubin is a primary product of heme catabolism and exhibits both neuroprotective and neurotoxic effects. When present at physiologic concentrations, bilirubin is a potent antioxidant and serves to protect brain tissue from oxidative stress insults. The use of the anesthetic propofol attenuates ischemic injury in rats by exploiting these neuroprotective properties. At pathologic levels, bilirubin has been implicated as a neurotoxic agent, demonstrating the ability to aggregate and adhere to cellular membranes, thereby disrupting normal cellular function. Bilirubin-associated toxicities are amplified by administering drugs such as anesthetics that compete with bilirubin for albumin binding sites, resulting in increased plasma bilirubin concentrations. As such, it is crucial that bilirubin is considered in the critical care management of patients with hemorrhagic stroke, cerebral ischemic damage, and critically ill newborns.


Mc Gaugh et al. (2016) have found, by investigating a large sample of Spirals, a tight non linear relationship between the total radial acceleration, connected with the Dark Matter phenomenon, and its component which comes from the distribution of baryonic matter, as the stellar and HI disks. The strong link between these two quantities is considered by them and by other researchers, as challenging the scenario featuring the presence of DM halos in galaxies. Or, at least, to indicate the peculiar nature of the underlying dark matter particles. We have explored this issue by investigating a larger number of galaxies by means of several techniques of analysis. Our results support and even increase, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the validity of McGaugh et al. (2016) 's relationship. However, we prove that such relationship exists also in the scenario featuring dark matter halos + ordinary baryonic matter and that it arises by the fact the DM is less concentrated than the luminous matter and it is progressively more abundant in lower luminosity objects. These properties are due to well known astrophysical effects: the implications of this relationship for the properties of dark matter halos are nothing of new or of unexpected. The relationship, definitively, is not a portal to go beyond the standard picture of $\Lambda$CDM galaxy formation.


Cytomegalovirus (CMV) can precipitate and exacerbate gastrointestinal (GI) mucosal injury. The gold standard for CMV detection in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue is immunohistochemistry (IHC). Although CMV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on fresh tissue may be a valuable adjunct to IHC, its utility is unknown for FFPE tissues. We therefore evaluated quantitative, real-time CMV PCR in a total of 102 FFPE GI biopsy specimens from 74 patients with a history of hematopoietic stem cell or solid organ transplant, inflammatory bowel disease, human immunodeficiency virus infection, or unspecified colitis. CMV DNA was detected by PCR in 90.9% (30/33) of IHC-positive, 14.5% (8/55) of IHC-negative, and 20.0% (1/5) of IHC-equivocal FFPE tissues. Quantitation of CMV DNA copies normalized to &bgr;-globin demonstrated a wide range of values (median 0.276; range, 0.0004 to 144.50). Importantly, 93.3% (14/15) of patients with IHC-positive, active colitis showed no evidence of CMV in matched concurrent, histologically normal biopsies tested by PCR. These results suggest that CMV PCR on FFPE GI biopsies complements IHC and has the potential to identify additional patients who may benefit from anti-CMV therapy.


This report is the first installment of a two-part knowledge transfer. In this first part we introduce the status quo and issues, (with underlying reasons and remedies) in exploiting provenance information. The second report will provide details on approaches and techniques that can help towards increased use of provenance information.We start by revisiting the workflow provenance capabilities of the Taverna system, and the provenance-related information needs during stages of workflow- based scientific investigations. We look at the characteristics of workflow provenance that obstruct its pervasive use throughout the investigation lifecycle, and the current mechanisms that are devised as remedies.We briefly introduce a framework, in which we investigate techniques for abstraction and annotation of workflow provenance. We introduce Workflow Motifs, a domain-independent categorization workflow activities, a pillar upon which our provenance abstraction techniques are built.We conclude the report with a set of recommendations on provenance capabilities of Taverna tooling that would provide food for thought for the development team.


This paper explores the severe rupture that occurred in the politics of KwaZulu-Natal in the mid 1980s. This rupture is captured in the violent form political conflict took as it griped the province during the latter 1980s and early 1990s. This broader process is examined through an investigation of local level political violence in Mpumalanga Township. During the 1980s, Mpumalanga Township (located about half way between Pietermaritzburg and Durban) was one of the areas most acutely affected by political violence. In order to understand how this rupture occurred and its consequences, it is necessary to look back at a complex set of processes that interlocked over space and time. Violence, it is argued, is embedded in the articulation between local, regional and national dynamics. There are complex relationships between, on the one hand, political interests, social groups and organisational forms, and on the other, the dynamics of gender and generation, with both feeding into political violence. A second dynamic that this paper explores is the form violence took. The legacies that remain ten years after peace was negotiated are a direct result of the modalities of the preceding violence. It is suggested that political violence exhibited a profoundly spatialised form in combination with gendered and generational forms. This can be seen at a number of levels. Firstly, there were differences within KZN with some areas being more acutely affected than others. Not only was the violence unevenly spread across the province (both in intensity and in location) but places were affected at different times. Secondly, within the places affected by violence there were distinct moments when the form of the violence shifted. As the form of the violence shifted it moved from conventional political sites to new arenas. The spatial character drew the population into the violence according to their gender and age, so that this spatialised form was finely interwoven with a gendered and generational form.


From robber barons to titanic CEOs, from the labor unrest of the 1880s to the mass layoffs of the 1990s, two American Gilded Ages--one in the early 1900s, another in the final years of the twentieth century--mirror each other in their laissez-faire excess and rampant social crises. Both eras have ignited the civic passions of investigative writers who have drafted diagnostic blueprints for urgently needed change. The compelling narratives of the muckrakers--Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Ray Stannard Baker among them--became best-sellers and prize-winners a hundred years ago; today, Cecelia Tichi notes, they have found their worthy successors in writers such as Barbara Ehrenreich, Eric Schlosser, and Naomi Klein. In Exposes and Excess Tichi explores the two Gilded Ages through the lens of their muckrakers. Drawing from her considerable and wide-ranging work in American studies, Tichi details how the writers of the first muckraking generation used fact-based narratives in magazines such as McClure's to rouse the U.S. public to civic action in an era of unbridled industrial capitalism and fear of the barbarous immigrant "dangerous classes." Offering a damning cultural analysis of the new Gilded Age, Tichi depicts a booming, insecure, fortress America of bulked up baby strollers, McMansion housing, and an obsession with money-as-lifeline in an era of deregulation, yawning income gaps, and idolatry of the market and its rock-star CEOs. No one has captured this period of corrosive boom more acutely than the group of nonfiction writers who burst on the scene in the late 1990s with their exposes of the fast-food industry, the world of low-wage work, inadequate health care,corporate branding, and the multi-billion-dollar prison industry. And nowhere have these authors--Ehrenreich, Schlosser, Klein, Laurie Garrett, and Joseph Hallinan--revealed more about their emergence as writers and the connections between journalism and literary narrative than in the rich and insightful interviews that round out the book. With passion and wit, Exposes and Excess brings a literary genre up to date at a moment when America has gone back to the future.


In this paper, a dynamic yard allocation strategy of export containers is proposed based on a hybrid stack mode. Firstly, a 0-1 programming model is developed for the problem. Accordingly, the model's objective function is subject to the minimization of the total re-shuffle containers which are buried beneath other containers but heavier. To resolve the NP-hard problem regarding the dynamic yard allocation model, a hybrid algorithm, which applies heuristic rules and genetic algorithm, is then employed. Subsequently, a case study is used for system illustration. Consequently, it could be found from computational results that this approach paves a venue for resolving the dynamic yard allocation problem of export containers.


Because of high wear resistance and low cost, high chromium cast iron liner plate is the most commonly used liner for HZS series concrete mixing station at present. However, in normal operation, the high-chromium cast iron liner produced by conventional casting process is easy to crack at its corners. We found that the cracking reasons of this type of liner plate are mainly the lower cast impact toughness, slightly higher hardness, and there has not gotten a good matching between the hard particles and the matrix organizations. Thus we used the secondary heat treatment to slightly reduce the hardness and increase the impact toughness of cast iron liner plate, which can improve the wear resistance and impact resistance of the liner material to extend the service life of these cast iron liners.


Spectrophotometric evidence is presented for the formation of a complex between metabisulphite and reduced Pseudomonas aeruginosa cytochrome c oxidase. The effects of metabisulphite on the recombination of CO with the reduced enzyme are discussed in terms of alternate binding sites for S2O52− and CO.


A framework of complementary behavior has been proposed which maintains that direct-manipulation and speech interfaces have reciprocal strengths and weaknesses. This suggests that user interface performance and acceptance may increase by adopting a multimodal approach that combines speech and direct manipulation. This effort examined the hypothesis that the speed, accuracy, and acceptance of multimodal speech and direct-manipulation interfaces will increase when the modalities match the perceptual structure of the input attributes. A software prototype that supported a typical biomedical data collection task was developed to test this hypothesis. A group of 20 clinical and veterinary pathologists evaluated the prototype in an experimental setting using repeated measures. The results of this experiment supported the hypothesis that the perceptual structure of an input task is an important consideration when designing a multimodal computer interface. Task completion time, the number of speech errors, and user acceptance improved when interface best matched the perceptual structure of the input attributes.


Recent studies have described the remarkable clinical outcome of anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in treating B-cell malignancies. However, over 50% of patients develop life-threatening toxicities associated with cytokine release syndrome which may limit its utilization in low-resource settings. To mitigate the toxicity, we designed a novel humanized anti-CD19 CAR T cells by humanizing the framework region of single-chain variable fragment (scFv) derived from a murine FMC63 mAb and combining it with CD8α transmembrane domain, 4-1BB costimulatory domain, and CD3ζ signaling domain (h1CAR19-8BBζ). Docking studies followed by molecular dynamics simulation revealed that the humanized anti-CD19 scFv (h1CAR19) establishes higher binding affinity and has a flexible molecular structure with CD19 antigen compared with murine scFv (mCAR19). Ex vivo studies with CAR T cells generated from healthy donors and patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) expressing either h1CAR19 or mCAR19 showed comparable antitumor activity and proliferation. More importantly, h1CAR19-8BBζ T cells produced lower levels of cytokines (IFNγ, TNFα) upon antigen encounter and reduced the induction of IL6 cytokine from monocytes than mCAR19-8BBζ T cells. There was a comparable proliferation of h1CAR19-8BBζ T cells and mCAR19-8BBζ T cells upon repeated antigen encounter. Finally, h1CAR19-8BBζ T cells efficiently eliminated NALM6 tumor cells in a preclinical model. In conclusion, the distinct structural modification in CAR design confers the novel humanized anti-CD19 CAR with a favorable balance of efficacy to toxicity providing a rationale to test this construct in a phase I trial.


Development of the power resources of that portion of the St. Lawrence River which forms part of the boundary between the United States and Canada, for many years has been studied by engineers and talked by politicians; and neither the end of the discussion nor the start of construction is yet in sight. Equal in magnitude of power output, but not of expenditure, is the Beauharnois development of the Soulanges section of this same river, a wholly Canadian enterprise, the initial installation of which is now in operation. The power canal of this development will form an integral part of the proposed St. Lawrence waterway. This paper describes the project as a whole in a general way and presents in more detail the principal features of the electrical installation.


All six studies show how complex the interactions on the micro-level (agent, bank, trader group) are and shed some light on how they determine the observed outcomes (price, network) on the macro-level. The two main findings in case of the artificial financial market are: (1) the introduction of a second asset triggers alternating herding behavior of the informed traders. This results from simple profit considerations by the individual agents rather than any form of coordination between them. (2) The FTT `bans' the informed traders already for very small tax rates and in contrast the FAT has almost no effect on them with respect to which market they submit their orders to. On account of this, the FTT is able to reduce the distortions from the fundamental value in the taxed market for very small tax rates, while the FAT is affecting the overall trading process less and therefore an introduction might bear less risk. Interesting future projects for an agent-based financial market could incorporate findings of behavioral finance, like overconfidence, anchoring and adjustment or home bias to observe how such fallacies work together in a market setup.

For the banking network, the most important finding is that banks show persistent behavior over the complete sample (including the GFC) and strong preference for continued lending relations. Another interesting finding is that in terms of intermediate relations the high directed clustering coefficient (macro-level) seems not to be preferred by the banks, but emerges unintendedly out of their behavior which is steered by other preferences. However, these are only first steps and it is necessary to look for robust universal results for different banking networks and at the same time overcome the temptation of `nice' findings such as a power-law in the degree distribution which are observed in other disciplines. Moreover, a more profound knowledge of the behavior of banks is needed to finally tackle the task of modelling the financial system and provide reliable policy recommendations.

In the investigation of the agricultural commodity markets it is interesting to see that the commodity index traders follow a clear `long only' strategy. They most likely seek to meet the demand of investors who want to include these assets for diversification purposes in their portfolio; a strategy that should make them relatively independent from the developments on these markets. Therefore, it makes sense that they neither systematically affect the price nor react to it. The `typical' trader groups of commercials and non-commercials on the other side also do not influence the price but react to it (in opposing directions). The results for energy commodities and precious metals show that the Money Managers (non-commercials) seem to Granger cause the most extreme price increase in the case of two out of six commodities, namely crude oil and silver. Hence, there is some evidence that excessive speculation might have influenced the prices of commodities. However, the regulators, in my view, should be primarily concerned with the less regulated off exchange trading than with futures markets. In order to add new insights to the existing literature in the future, a more detailed data set would be required.


: This is the first in a series of four articles exploring the issue of continuity of care in family practice. There are four dimensions of continuity of care in family practice: chronological, geographical, interdisciplinary, and interpersonal. Each of these dimensions can be measured by specific actions and can, therefore, be evaluated and learned. Subsequent articles will deal with implications of continuity of care in family practice, its measurement and evaluation, and problems with its integration into family practice residency training.


This paper examines the effects of global change on the status and qualities of the Greek national capital, Athens, focusing on how they affect the development of cultural tourism in the city. Although Athens constituted one of the most significant destinations for Greek tourism in the past, in recent years it started to weaken. Athens is characterised by a series of problems, among them are the degradation of its environment and quality of life and traffic congestion. However, in terms of tourism development, the Olympic Games helped in re-imaging the city and upgrading its infrastructure. This study based on semi-structured interviews with top officials reveals how global change has affected Athens' socio-cultural/economic status, identity and image. Despite the tourism policy/planning responses to global changes, Athens' tourism continues to decline leaving unexplored potential such as its rich cultural heritage, new multicultural identity and the New Acropolis Museum. The paper suggests that cultural elements of capital cities must be multidimensional including a variety of attractions and amenities. The use of cultural heritage assets needs to be in line with global developments in order for cities to effectively leverage heritage for cultural tourism.


Fatty acid bing protein 4 (FABP4) plays a key role in fat regulation in mammals and is a strong positional candidate gene for the FAT1 quantitative trait locus located on porcine chromosome 4. DNA resequencing of the FABP4 gene region in 23 pigs from 10 breeds and wild boar revealed 134 variants in 6.4 kb, representing a silent nucleotide diversity of πS = 0.01, much higher than reported so far in animal domestic species. Moreover, this diversity was highly structured. Also strikingly, the FABP4 phylogenetic tree did not show any geographical or breed origin clustering, with distant breeds sharing similar haplotypes and some of the most heterozygous samples pertaining to highly inbred animals like Iberian Guadyerbas (inbreeding coefficient ∼0.3) or British Tamworth. In contrast, the cytochrome b (mtDNA) phylogenetic tree was coherent with geographical origin. The estimated age of the most recent common ancestor for the most divergent Iberian or Tamworth haplotypes was much older than domestication. An additional panel of 100 pigs from 8 different breeds and wild boar from Spain, Tunisia, Sardinia, and Japan was genotyped for seven selected single nucleotide polymorphisms and shows that high variability at the porcine FABP4 is the rule rather than the exception. Pig populations, even highly inbred, can maintain high levels of variability for surprisingly long periods of time.


It is generally considered that electrostatic interactions on the protein surface, such as ion pairs, contribute little to protein stability, although they may play important roles in conformational specificity. We found that the tenth fibronectin type III domain of human fibronectin (FNfn10) is more stable at acidic pH than neutral pH, with an apparent midpoint of transition near pH 4. Determination of pK(a)'s for all the side chain carboxyl groups of Asp and Glu residues revealed that Asp 23 and Glu 9 have an upshifted pK(a). These residues and Asp 7 form a negatively charged patch on the surface of FNfn10, with Asp 7 centrally located between Asp 23 and Glu 9, suggesting repulsive electrostatic interactions among these residues at neutral pH. Mutant proteins, D7N and D7K, in which Asp 7 was replaced with Asn and Lys, respectively, exhibited a modest but significant increase in stability at neutral pH, compared to the wild type, and they no longer showed pH dependence of stability. The pK(a)'s of Asp 23 and Glu 9 in these mutant proteins shifted closer to their respective unperturbed values, indicating that the unfavorable electrostatic interactions have been reduced in the mutant proteins. Interestingly, the wild-type and mutant proteins were all stabilized to a similar degree by the addition of 1 M sodium chloride at both neutral and acidic pH, suggesting that the repulsive interactions between the carboxyl groups cannot be effectively shielded by 1 M sodium chloride. These results indicate that repulsive interactions between like charges on the protein surface can destabilize a protein, and protein stability can be significantly improved by relieving these interactions.


provide robust security to IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs. It is found that CCMP has been designed with a weak nonce construction and transmission mechanism, which leads to the exposure of initial counter value. This weak construction of nonce renders the protocol vulnerable to attacks by intruders. This paper presents how the initial counter can be pre-computed by the intruder. This vulnerability of counter block value leads to pre-computation attack on the counter mode encryption of CCMP. The failure of the counter mode will result in the collapse of the whole security mechanism of 802.11 WLAN.


The evaluation of sources of information is essential to measure the quality of journalistic work. Political news in Spain becomes the most valid sample to know the real incidence the sources of information have in the quality in journalism according to their number, typology, origin and own initiative. This article shows the results of a quantitative study on the news published in the print edition of Spanish local reference newspapers, El Pais and El Mundo , and two new mass media, Eldiario.es and Elconfidencial.com , in order to analyse how the four newspapers report on the same news. The main results indicate that the newspapers that belong to large media groups have the necessary resources to develop complex investigations. Meanwhile, digital native press, independent of political and economic power, presents an excellent level of journalistic initiative, which allows to recover the oversight role and fourth power of journalism.


IEEE 802.15.4g is a recent standard for Smart Utility Networks (SUN). SUN is a house-to-house level subordinate network in the Smart Grid network. IEEE 802.15.4g uses a Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) algorithm for channel access whose performance is limited by collision probability. In this paper, we propose a multi-channel CSMA/CA operation in IEEE 802.15.4g system to mitigate the collision problem, by modifying modulator structures for two physical (PHY) layer techniques of IEEE 802.15.4g, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) PHY, and multi-rate and multi-regional offset quadrature phase-shift keying (MR-O-QPSK) PHY and also propose proper channel selection schemes for multi-channel CSMA/CA based on those PHYs. Moreover, we evaluate the performance of both cases with single channel CSMA/CA and multi-channel CSMA/CA through link-level simulations and system-level simulations. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed frequency division two-channel based OFDM PHY system yields a 16 percent increase in the maximum throughput, compared with that of the conventional single-channel OFDM PHY system.


Context: Type 2 diabetes mellitus doubles the odds of suffering from depressive illness. Co-morbid depression is associated with poorer outcomes in diabetes mellitus in terms of glycemic control, medication adherence, quality of life, physical activity, and blood pressure control. Aim: The present study aims to estimate the prevalence of depression among a consecutive group of patients with type 2 diabetes and assess its impact on glycemic and blood pressure control. Setting: Outpatient department of the endocrinology department of a university affiliated teaching hospital in north India. Subjects: Consecutive adult patients (18–65 years) with type 2 diabetes mellitus of over 5-year duration with no prior history of psychiatric illnesses or intake of anti-depressants. Materials and Methods: A semi-structured questionnaire was used for demographic data, HbA1c was obtained to assess glycemic control, and blood pressure was recorded twice during patient interview to assess blood pressure control. Depression was assessed with the Major Depression Inventory and scores obtained were classified as consistent with mild, moderate and severe depression. Data was analyzed with SPSS v16, and multiple logistical regression test was done to compare the effect of depression on glycemic control after adjusting for age and sex. Results: Of the 80 patients interviewed, 31 (38.8%) had depressive symptoms. Among them 20 (25%) had mild depression, 10 (12.5%) had moderate depression, and 1 (1.3%) had severe depression. Conclusions: Over one third of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus of over 5-year duration had depressive symptoms. The presence of depressive symptoms was associated with a significant worsening of glycemic control.


The reliability and efficiency of power equipment is largely depend on the degree of wear in its most loaded elements, which during operation undergo the cumulative effects of various factors. The mutual manifestation of several kinds of wear leads to the intensification of the destruction processes that will reduce efficiency, and sometimes lead to the complete failure of power equipment. Nowadays, in the field of power engineering, different ways to improve wear resistance are used, but the problem remains unsolved. There is a necessity to develop new methods of universal protection based on modern technologies, which can effectively resist the combination of different kinds of wear. Modern ion-plasma technologies can be applied as the solution to this problem, which have broad application possibilities in surface layer modifications and the formation of multi-functional coatings. To solve such problems, the National Research University "Moscow Power Engineering Institute" (NRU "MPEI") created a unique experimental and industrial complex, which includes specialized ion-plasma equipment for coatings production, including large, cumbersome products (up to 3000 mm in length and up to 5000 kg in weight), experimental facilities for extensive materials and coatings testing, complex with the modern analytical equipment and appliances for studying the structure and properties of coatings. Laboratory results and field tests of ion-plasma coatings developed in NRU "MPEI" have shown that their use leads to a manifold increase in erosion,


It has long been a source of discussion concerning phoria, as to which target gives the best phoric measurement and how the phorias taken with different targets compare. In addition, much discussion has been set forth concerning what effect an accommodative control has on the phoria. It is toward this that were direct our study of the effect of varied targets on the phoric measurement.


The steady centralisation that is generally held to be a characteristic feature of Australian federalism has occasioned thorough description and regular comment but much less attempt at explanation or theorisation. This paper reviews the way we account for centralisation in federal systems in general and Australian federalism in particular. In doing so, it considers institutional and societal modes of explanation in the context of patterns of difference between the leading federations. It concludes that as far as those broader patterns, or secular trends, are concerned, there is no avoiding a societal explanation — one that highlights the balance between forces of modernisation and the existence of a "federal society".


Cycling of sensitivity to physical dormancy (PY) break has been documented in herbaceous species. However, it has not been reported in tree seeds, nor has the effect of seed size on sensitivity to PY-breaking been evaluated in any species. Thus, the aims of this study were to investigate how PY is broken in seeds of the tropical legume tree Senna multijuga, if seeds exhibit sensitivity cycling and if seed size affects induction into sensitivity. Dormancy and germination were evaluated in intact and scarified seeds from two collections of S. multijuga. The effects of temperature, moisture and seed size on induction of sensitivity to dormancy-breaking were assessed, and seasonal changes in germination and persistence of buried seeds were determined. Reversal of sensitivity was also investigated. Fresh seeds were insensitive to dormancy break at wet-high temperatures, and an increase in sensitivity occurred in buried seeds after they experienced low temperatures during winter (dry season). Temperatures ≤20 °C increased sensitivity, whereas temperatures ≥30 °C decreased it regardless of moisture conditions. Dormancy was broken in sensitive seeds by incubating them at 35 °C. Sensitivity could be reversed, and large seeds were more sensitive than small seeds to sensitivity induction. Seeds of S. multijuga exhibit sensitivity cycling to PY-breaking. Seeds become sensitive during winter and can germinate with the onset of the spring-summer rainy season in Brazil. Small seeds are slower to become sensitive than large ones, and this may be a mechanism by which germination is spread over time. Sensitive seeds that fail to germinate become insensitive during exposure to drought during summer. This is the first report of sensitivity cycling in a tree species.


Abstract We present a microscopic model describing the transition to a strong coupling regime for an emitter resonantly coupled to a surface plasmon in a metal–dielectric structure. We demonstrate that the shape of scattering spectra is determined by an interplay of two distinct mechanisms. First is the near-field coupling between the emitter and the plasmon mode which underpins energy exchange between the system components and gives rise to exciton-induced transparency minimum in scattering spectra prior to the transition to a strong coupling regime. The second mechanism is the Fano interference between the plasmon dipole and the plasmon-induced emitter's dipole as the system interacts with the radiation field. We show that the Fano interference can strongly affect the overall shape of scattering spectra, leading to the inversion of spectral asymmetry that was recently reported in the experiment.


Background: Engaging in sexual behavior at an early age increases a person's number of lifetime partners, which consequently increases the risk for contracting an STI. Early sex initiation has been identified as a risk factor for teen pregnancy. Teen pregnancy is a public health issue as it is a risk factor for disease, poverty, and poor educational outcomes (Corcororan, 1998). Previous studies have found discussions between parents and children about sexual activity to have a positive effect on a child's decision-making regarding sex and condom use. However, few studies have examined the content of such conversations and factors considered by parents when deciding what will be discussed. Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore the ways in which parents communicate with their children about sexuality and to gain a better understanding of what parents think their children should know about sexual intercourse and related issues such as pregnancy, birth control, HIV/AIDS and other STIs. Methodology: Nine one-on-one interviews were conducted with parents of children between the ages of nine and 17 from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and surrounding areas. Participants were recruited through community organizations and informal social networks. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Analysis used Grounded Theory. Results: Most parents felt it was important to talk to their children about sex, pregnancy, HIV and other STI's. However, multiple social factors served as barriers to this discussion. Overall, parents considered the maturity of the child as an important factor to consider. They also understood their child's autonomy regarding making decisions about when to initiate first sex and noted the importance of being open and honest with their children. Cultural and gender differences were also discussed. Conclusions: Parents should be encouraged to talk openly and honestly with their child about sexuality. Interventions with this aim should consider coaching parents on what should be discussed at each stage of development. Public Health Significance: It is important to examine how and why parents choose to discuss sexuality with their children. In doing so, public health professionals will be able to identify facilitators and barriers to these types of discussions and develop interventions with a focus on increasing parents' motivation and ability to effectively communicate with their children about sexuality. Thereby decreasing rates of adverse health effects associated with risky sexual behavior among adolescents.


Postoperative thromboembolism (TE) is a serious, but preventable, complication in surgical patients. Orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, and vascular surgery are considered high risk for TE, and current guidelines recommend TE prophylaxis. However, insufficient data exist regarding TE risk in other general surgeries. This study identified the actual incidence and relative risk of postoperative TE in the real world, according to surgery type. Twenty-six surgeries between 1 December 2017 and 31 August 2019 were selected from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database and analyzed for postoperative TE events. Among all patients, 2.17% had a TE event within 6 months of surgery and 0.75% had a TE event owing to anticoagulant treatment. The incidence of total TE events was the highest in total knee replacement (12.77%), hip replacement (11.46%), and spine surgery (5.98%). The incidence of TE with anticoagulant treatment was the highest in total knee replacement (7.40%), hip replacement (7.20%), and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery (3.81%). Hip replacement, total knee replacement, CABG surgery, spine surgery, and cardiac surgery except CABG surgery, showed relatively higher risks for total claimed venous TE. The relative risk of venous TE with anticoagulant treatment was the highest for hysterectomy, partial hepatectomy, hip replacement, cardiac surgery except CABG surgery, and total knee replacement. The relative risk of arterial TE was the highest for cardiac surgery, total knee replacement, and hip replacement. In the real world, the incidence of postoperative TE events from total knee replacement and those from hip replacement remain high, and some surgeries could have a relatively higher risk of TE than other surgeries. For patients undergoing these surgeries, studies to reduce the incidence of postoperative TE in clinical practice should be conducted.


This paper reports on a case study in which the course coordinator attempted to introduce research into the first year media arts curriculum in an effort to engage students through an enquiry learning approach. The findings from student evaluations conducted over a five year period reveal the challenges as well as the benefits to learners. The increase in student mean scores for evaluation criteria together with student qualitative comments in response to evaluations conducted following redesign of the curriculum, suggest that practice-based research, particularly when connected to "real world" issues, can be an effective strategy for re-engaging the first-year learner through the creative problem-solving process. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings from these trials as well as suggestions for further research.


Preface. Part I: From Dualism to Common-sense Functionalism. 1. The Flight from Dualism. The Issue Between Dualism and Materialism. Supervenience. Possible Worlds: An Introduction. Annotated Reading. 2. Behaviourism and Beyond. The Case for Behaviourism. Methodological and Revisionary Behaviourism. Problems for Behaviourism. The Path to Functionalism via a Causal Theory. The Causal Theory of Mind. Annotated Reading. 3. Common-sense Functionalism. Multiple Realizability. Common-sense Functionalism Expounded. Interconnections without Circularity. Behaviour Characterized in Terms of Environmental Impact. What Does Common Sense Say about the Mind?. Annotated Reading. Part II: Rivals and Objections. 4. Theory of Reference. The Description Theory of Reference. The Causal Theory. The Necessary A Posteriori. Annotated Reading. 5. Empirical Functionalisms. Common-sense Functional Roles as a Reference-fixing Device. Chauvinism and Empirical Functionalism. Annotated Reading. 6. The Identity Theory. The Identity Theory and Functionalism. Some Early Objections to the Identity Theory. Token-Token versus Type-Type Identity Theories. Essentialism about Psychological States. Annotated Reading. 7. Four Challenges to Functionalism. The China Brain. The Chinese Room. Blockhead. The Zombie Objection. Annotated Reading. 8. Phenomenal Qualities and Consciousness. The Question of Qualia. Consciousness. Representationalism and Perceptual Experience. Annotated Reading. 9. Instrumentalism and Interpretationism. Instrumentalism. Interpretationism. Annotated Reading. Part III: About Content. 10. The Language of Thought. The Language of Thought Hypothesis. The Map Alternative. Annotated Reading. 11. Content. What is the Problem of Content?. The Map Theory. The Internal Sentence Theory. Problems for the Map-system Theory. Problems and Questions for the Internal Sentence Theory. Annotated Reading. 12. Connectionism. Connectionism and the Map-system Theory. Annotated Reading. 13. Broad and Narrow Content. Narrow Content. Broad Content. Deflationism about Broad Content versus Scepticism about Narrow Content. Annotated Reading. Part IV: Explaining Behaviour: Eliminativism and Realism. 14. Eliminative Materialism. The Case for Eliminativism. The Functionalist Reply to Eliminativism. Natural Kinds and Scientific Reductions. Annotated Reading. 15. Psychological Explanation and Common-sense Functionalism. Three Questions for Common-sense Functionalism. Annotated Reading. Glossary. Bibliography. Index


In video streaming services, predicting the continuous user's quality of experience (QoE) plays a crucial role in delivering high quality streaming contents to the user. However, the complexity caused by the temporal dependencies in QoE data and the non-linear relationships among QoE influence factors has introduced challenges to continuous QoE prediction. To deal with that, existing studies have utilized the Long Short-Term Memory model (LSTM) to effectively capture such complex dependencies, resulting in excellent QoE prediction accuracy. However, the high computational complexity of LSTM, caused by the sequential processing characteristic in its architecture, raises a serious question about its performance on devices with limited computational power. Meanwhile, Temporal Convolutional Network (TCN), a variation of convolutional neural networks, has recently been proposed for sequence modeling tasks (e.g., speech enhancement), providing a superior prediction performance over baseline methods including LSTM in terms of prediction accuracy and computational complexity. Being inspired of that, in this paper, an improved TCN-based model, namely CNN-QoE, is proposed for continuously predicting the QoE, which poses characteristics of sequential data. The proposed model leverages the advantages of TCN to overcome the computational complexity drawbacks of LSTM-based QoE models, while at the same time introducing the improvements to its architecture to improve QoE prediction accuracy. Based on a comprehensive evaluation, we demonstrate that the proposed CNN-QoE model can provide a high QoE prediction performance on both personal computers and mobile devices, outperforming the existing approaches.


The primary objective of the study described in this paper was to develop methods and tools for analyzing operational improvements as an alternative to traditional highway construction. Twenty-five capacity-enhancing operational, design, and technological strategies were identified for use on freeways, arterials, or both. Methodological and analytic enhancements to existing dynamic traffic assignment models were developed to increase the realism and the sensitivity of the models in simulating the effects of one or more strategy applications. Diagnostic tools for identifying locations that may represent good opportunities to implement one or more operational strategies were created. An illustrative application of the procedure is presented to demonstrate its usefulness and the additional insights that can be gained to inform transportation investment decision making. The systematic procedure described in this paper can be used for diagnosing and remediating operational deficiencies at the link, corridor, and network levels.


This paper gives the details of High Speed Milling experiments with AISI 52100 steel (HRC52) by using coated carbide end mills. Cutting force and Surface roughness data are presented. The effects of cutting speeds (1000-8000rpm), widths of cut (0.05-0.4mm) and cutting conditions (dry cutting and dry cutting with air coolant) are investigated. The results show that in high speed milling of hardened steels, when cutting speed surpasses a critical value, cutting forces decrease as cutting speed increasing; and the increasing of widths of cut causes the increase of cutting forces approximately linearly; surface roughness does not experience obvious increase or decrease and has a minimum in a specific condition; the machining results of dry cutting with air.


FPGA has been used in CNC system, it can achieve the impulse, the count, arithmetical operation, I/O interface and so on, and therefore it can greatly simplify the design of control circuit. In this special structure mechanism, the processing and monitoring of CNC system based on FPGA instead of traditional MCU is implemented. The overall structure of reconfigurable CNC system is described, meanwhile, the DDA accurate interpolation and the control circuit of stepper motor is emphatically solved through Using the FPGA. With the result of several experiments, the performance of the CNC system is improved, reconfiguration is strengthened, besides, the peripheral interface devices and cost is greatly reduced.


China's venture investment promotes development of new and high technology industrialization from the start. So far, there are many problems in theory has already formed the common understanding in the risk investment, such as the concept and function and external environment and conditions and the operation mechanism, but there are also many controversial issues. Part of the research from the Angle of new and high technology industrialization spread, which is easy to cause the microcosmic ignore economic interests, make the risk investment company operation deviates from the rational decision orbit, especially at present most of the risk investment institutions by the state under the condition of capital are more likely to have management idea mistake. This paper first introduces the artificial neural network model and theoretical basis. It introduced the theory and policy of risk investment and risk assessment. Characteristics and risk evaluation mainly includes the risk investment operation. Risk analysis and management of venture capital market in china. As well as the risk investment fund of China's investment in high-tech enterprise development strategy etc. BP neural network is applied to project investment risk evaluation. Contents of project investment risk evaluation index system, neural network method etc.. Application of simulation and test result and examples is use of MATLAB6.5 software programming.


This article derives and applies a performance measure of a portfolio manager's value–added called "style pricing." The value–added is obtained by treating the per period payoffs from the managed portfolio as a financial claim, contingent on the payoffs from other marketed assets. The relevant marketed assets are those that describe the style of the managed portfolio's returns in a precise way. The price of the contingent claim is obtained using martingale methods so that there is zero arbitrage between the portfolio's payoffs and the payoffs from the replicating contingent claim. As the authors explain, the style pricing approach may be applied to any management style, is directly measured in dollars, and is readily comparable to the portfolio manager's remuneration and the fees payable.


Background To examine the associations between social characteristics of US states and the presence of laws authorising expedited partner therapy (EPT). Methods Data were collected from various sources for 2008–2010 on US state healthcare system characteristics (adult enrollment in Medicaid, number of physicians per 100,000), governmental characteristics (the size of state legislatures, percent of state residents in poverty, percent state financial contribution to state STD programme), and state STD morbidity (chlamydia rates per 100,000 among females age 15–24). Data were analysed in an adjusted logistic regression model in SAS. Results Overall, 23 states have passed legislation authorising EPT as of February 2013. In adjusted analyses, the only healthcare system variable significantly associated with the presence of a state law authorising EPT was higher adult Medicaid enrollment (AOR = 7.871 [95% CI: 1.644, 37.685]), which may represent an increased willingness to authorise EPT where publicly-funded healthcare coverage is more widely available. The only other variable significantly associated with the presence of a law authorising EPT was lower chlamydia rates per 100,000 among females age 15–24 (AOR = 0.332 [95% CI: 0.122, 0.903]). The presence of a state law authorising EPT did not differ by the size of the state legislature, percent in poverty, percent state contribution to state STD programme, or number of physicians per 100,000. Conclusions States with higher adult Medicaid enrollment and lower chlamydia rates among females 15–24 were more likely to have a law authorising EPT. Increased adult Medicaid enrollment may represent an increased willingness of a state to provide publicly-funded healthcare services to its residents; the legal acceptability of EPT may thus be associated with general willingness to provide publicly-funded healthcare within a jurisdiction. This may translate to increased social compatibility of laws authorising EPT in non-US jurisdictions characterised by high rates of publicly-funded healthcare.


Author(s): Titus, Monica Joy | Advisor(s): Graves, David B | Abstract: The semiconductor industry's continued trend of manufacturing device features on the nanometer scale requires increased plasma processing control and improved understanding of plasma characteristics and plasma-surface interactions. This dissertation presents a series of experimental results for focus studies conducted in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system. First novel "on-wafer" diagnostic tools are characterized and related to plasma characteristics. Second, plasma-polymer interactions are characterized as a function of plasma species and processing parameters. Complimentary simulations accompany each focus study to supplement experimental findings.Wafer heating mechanisms in inductively coupled molecular gas plasmas are explored with PlasmaTempTM, a novel "on-wafer" diagnostic tool. Experimental wafer measurements are obtained with the PlasmaTempTM wafer processed in argon (Ar) and argon-oxygen (Ar/O2) mixed plasmas. Wafer heating mechanisms were determined by combining the experimental measurements with a 3-dimensional heat transfer model of the wafer. Comparisons between pure Ar and Ar/O2 plasmas demonstrate that two additional wafer heating mechanisms can be important in molecular gas plasmas compared to atomic gas discharges. Thermal heat conduction from the neutral gas and O-atom recombination on wafer surface can contribute as much as 60 % to wafer heating under conditions of low-energy ion bombardment in molecular plasmas.Measurements of a second novel "on-wafer" diagnostic sensor, the PlasmaVoltTM, were tested and validated in the ICP system for Ar plasmas varying in power and pressure. Sensor measurements were interpreted with a numerical sheath simulation and comparison to scaling laws derived from the inhomogeneous sheath model. The study demonstrates sensor measurements are proportional to the RF-current through the sheath and the scaling is a function of sheath impedance. PlasmaVoltTM sensor measurements are proportional to the square root of the plasma density at the plasma-sheath interface, one-fourth root of the electron temperature, and one-fourth root of the RF bias voltage under conditions where the sheath is predominantly capacitive. When the sheath impedance becomes increasingly resistive, the sensor measurements deviate from the scaling law and tend to be directly proportional to the plasma density. Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) emissions in Ar ICPs are characterized and the chemical and physical modifications to 193 nm photoresist (PR) polymer materials processed in Ar ICPs are investigated. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) transmission measurements as a function of VUV photon fluence demonstrate that VUV-induced bond breaking occurs over a period of time. A numerical model demonstrates that VUV photons deplete near-surface O-containing bonds, leading to deeper, subsequent penetration and more bond losses, while the remaining near-surface C-C bonds absorb the incident radiation and slow VUV photon penetration. The roughening mechanism of blanket and patterned 193 nm PR samples are explored in a well characterized Ar ICP. FTIR and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis of plasma processed 193 nm PR suggests that ion-induced generation of a graphitized layer at high energies, combined with VUV bulk modification of 193 nm PR may initiate PR roughening. The roughness of blanket samples increases as a function of VUV fluence, ion energy, and substrate temperature. Line width roughness (LWR) measurements of patterned samples demonstrate a similar trend suggesting that LWR may correlate with surface roughness of patterns. The results are compared to PR studies previously conducted in an ultra-high vacuum beam system demonstrating that the vacuum beam system is a useful tool that can deconvolute and simplify complex plasma systems.


Gate turn offs (GTOs) have an inherent minimum ON-OFF time, which is needed for their safe operation. For GTO-based three-level or neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverters, this minimum ON-OFF pulsewidth limitation results in a distortion of the output voltage and current waveforms, especially in the low index modulation region. Some approaches have been previously proposed to compensate for the minimum ON pulse. However, these methods increase the inverter switching losses. Two new methods of pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) control based on: 1) adding a bias to the reference voltage of the inverter and 2) switching patterns are presented. The former method improves the output waveforms, but increases the switching losses; while the latter improves the output waveforms without increasing the switching losses. The fluctuations of the neutral-point voltage are also reduced using this method. The theoretical and practical aspects as well as the experimental results are presented in this paper.


In terms of the problem about paving coiled waterproof material on the highway bridge surface, an effective coiled waterproof material paving equipment is designed, and the total structure of the equipment and the function of important parts are described. The paper mainly introduces the characteristic and function of the stable walking system, automatic speed regulation system for uncoiling coiled waterproof material, agitating and leaking system of binding agent, coiled waterproof material paving self-adapted mechanism of the road surface. The equipment can adapt the condition of road surface, realizing wide area paving of waterproof material. It ensures the quality of the paving, and at the same time, enhances the paving efficiency, increases automatic level, and eases labor of technicians.


The findings from this study demonstrated that the manipulation of the HPA system resulting from ACTH administration during neonatal development produces long-term, differential effects, not only on adrenocortical activity, but also on the activity and integrity of the forebrain monoamine systems. Increased concentrations of the monoamines within the forebrain regions studied at days 7 and 15, suggest a hastened maturation of these neural systems in animals neonatally treated with ACTH. The observed neurochemical alterations in these animals at one year are suggestive of an accelerated aging in the monoamine systems. A further consequence of these disturbances during development is an altered functioning of the HPG axis, as demonstrated by a delayed onset of puberty as previously reported, as well as significantly decreased proestrus plasma estradiol. Although deficits in sexual behavior also existed, it seems probable that these behavioral changes are a manifestation of altered neural systems regulating the ability to cope with a novel stimulus or situation, rather than a disruption of the "feminization" of the brain during sexual differentiation. This is in contrast to the male rat which exhibits permanent deficits in male typical sexual behavior following developmental ACTH treatment. The clinical relevance of these findings may be extensive. Perinatal exposure to events or agents that markedly increase ACTH and the corticosteroids may cause significant immediate and long-term changes in central monoamine functioning. These changes may constitute some of the most deleterious effects of stress exposure in infants and children. The alterations may be especially devastating in individuals with predispositions to stress-sensitive disorders such as anxiety, depression, and Tourette's syndrome. Finally, the use of ACTH in the treatment of infantile spasms may need to be reassessed in light of the possible long-term effects of ACTH on central monoamine functioning.


SUMMARY: Genes determining the flagellar antigens were introduced from Hfr Salmonella abony into F− Escherichia coli by sexual recombination. The gene H1 for the phase-1 flagellar antigen of Salmonella was found to be allelic to H, the gene for the only flagellar antigen of E. coli. The phase-2 antigen of Salmonella has no counterpart in E. coli; if the corresponding salmonella gene H2 is introduced in E. coli, diphasic strains are produced whose phase-2 antigen is that of the Salmonella parent; the phase-1 antigen can be that of either parent. In each case the diphasic strains undergo a true phase variation, with either the phase-1 or the phase-2 antigen being expressed at one time. The rates of this variation are comparable to those in the Salmonella parent.


The average price of treating a colorectal cancer patient with chemotherapy increased from about $100 in 1993 to $36,000 in 2005, due largely to the approval and widespread use of five new drugs between 1996 and 2004. We examine whether the substantial increase in spending has been worth it. Using discrete choice methods to estimate demand, we construct a price index for colorectal cancer drugs for each quarter between 1993 and 2005 that takes into consideration the quality (i.e., the efficacy and side effects in randomized clinical trials) of each drug on the market and the value that oncologists place on drug quality. A naive price index, which makes no adjustments for the changing attributes of drugs on the market, greatly overstates the true price increase. By contrast, a hedonic price index and two quality-adjusted price indices show that prices have actually remained fairly constant over this 13-year period, with slight increases or decreases depending on a model's assumptions.


A general model of the equations of generalized thermoelasticity for an infinite space weakened by a finite linear opening Mode-I crack is solving. The material is homogeneous and has isotropic properties of elastic half space. The crack is subjected to prescribed temperature and stress distribution. The formulation is applied to generalized thermoelasticity theories, the Lord-Şhulman and Green-Lindsay theories, as well as the classical dynamical-coupled theory. The normal mode analysis is used to obtain the exact expressions for the displacement components, force stresses, temperature, couple stresses and micro-stress distribution. The variations of the considered variables through the horizontal distance are illustrated graphically. Comparisons are made with the results between the three theories. © 2019 IAU, Arak Branch. All rights reserved.


Older than both ceramics and metallurgy, textile production is a technology which reveals much about prehistoric social and economic development. This book examines the archaeological evidence for textile production in Italy from the transition between the Bronze Age and Early Iron Ages until the Roman expansion (1000-400 BCE), and sheds light on both the process of technological development and the emergence of large urban centres with specialised crafts. Margarita Gleba begins with an overview of the prehistoric Appennine peninsula, which featured cultures such as the Villanovans and the Etruscans, and was connected through colonisation and trade with the other parts of the Mediterranean. She then focuses on the textiles themselves: their appearance in written and iconographic sources, the fibres and dyes employed, how they were produced and what they were used for: we learn, for instance, of the linen used in sails and rigging on Etruscan ships, and of the complex looms needed to produce twill. Featuring a comprehensive analysis of textiles remains and textile tools from the period, the book recovers information about funerary ritual, the sexual differentiation of labour (the spinners and weavers were usually women) and the important role the exchange of luxury textiles played in the emergence of an elite. Textile production played a part in ancient Italian society's change from an egalitarian to an aristocratic social structure, and in the emergence of complex urban communities.


This paper examines the concept of acquisition performance to develop and test a model linking the various ways in which scholars have studied it in the past. We propose a model linking task-, transaction- and firm-level constructs under different time horizons and test it with a unique dataset created surveying partners and directors of a major consulting firm advising on the post-acquisition integration process of 146 acquisitions across industries and geographies. Results of factor and structural equations (PLS) analysis reveal that (a) there is no single underlying factor on which all the 9 measures studied load, (b) a causal chain link integration process performance to long-term firm performance (both accounting and financial returns) through the mediating role of customer retention and of overall acquisition performance, and (c) short-term window event studies do not relate to any of the other performance metrics and load on a separate factor. Implications and recommendations are drawn for theory development, research design and data analysis in future studies of acquisition performance, as well as for practicing managers.


Taking for granted that public support is necessary for culture and the performing arts in general, as well as renewal of artistic languages in particular, the author focuses on the following points: a) the participants in the process; b) the criteria for and ways in which support is offered. Barbati describes the institutional battles for jurisdiction over the performing arts sector, highlighting the powerful tendency towards centralisation that has resulted. This in turn could jeopardize the plurality of artistic expression. Turning to the ways in which support is offered, the author highlights the fact that far more attention is being given to contemporary works than in the past, but she claims that the criterion of «subsidiarity» has not yet been adequately addressed. However, steps are being taken to achieve a better balance among public powers in the bill currently before Parliament.


In order to study the influence upper equipment load spectrum from upper spring mass, six freedom vibration signals on the vehicle was measured in a Chinese PG. The signals were the acceleration-time histories. Test was made under 3 loads conditions, which represent 3 types of upper spring mass. After filtering, rainflow counting, fatigue damage caused by the load spectrum was got. Result shows there were great difference in distributions between different direction load spectrums; spring upper load made small influences for the character of load spectrum at the same direction. The upper spring mass became larger, the equipment suffers more damage.


Introduction: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is associated with anterior knee pain, changes in functional capacity, balance and muscle strength disorders. Objective: To quantify pain, functional capacity, strength in quadriceps (Q), gluteus medium (GM), hip external rotator (ER) muscles and balance in sedentary women with PFPS. Methods: Twenty sedentary women, aged 18 to 25 years, were divided into two groups: PFPS (N=10) and control group (N=10). All the volunteers answered the items of the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), the Lysholm Knee Score Scale, the Anterior Knee Pain Scale (AKPS), and the Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS). The participants performed the following tests: maximal voluntary isometric contraction measured by dynamometry; postural balance using the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) and a force platform. Statistical analyses were performed using the Shapiro Wilk test, the Mann Whitney U test and Spearman's correlation coefficient. Data were submitted to SPSS 20 software. Results: The PFPS group presented greater pain, balance impairment and higher average velocity of oscillation; however, no differences were observed in Q, GM and RE muscle strength and in balance analyzed by SEBT. Conclusion: Women with PFPS exhibited greater pain, worse functional capacity and body balance. Moderate correlation between both balance tests suggests the use of SEBT when the force platform is not available, which could facilitate and highlight the importance of clinical diagnosis with regard to postural balance.


A novel high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection method based on microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) as a sample preparation approach is described for the determination of zonisamide (ZNS) in human plasma. MEPS parameters were optimised using a Plackett–Burman experimental design to achieve the best extraction conditions. The chromatographic separation of ZNS and chloramphenicol [internal standard (IS)] was achieved in less than 5 min on a C18-column, at 35 °C, using a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile/water (35 : 65, v/v) pumped isocratically at 1.0 mL min−1. ZNS and IS were detected at 240 nm. No endogenous and exogenous interference was observed at the retention times of the analyte of interest (ZNS) and IS. A good linearity was obtained for ZNS (r2 = 0.9960) in the range of 0.2–80 μg mL−1 in plasma. The method was shown to be precise (CV ≤ 13.3%) and accurate (bias ±12.3%), and the absolute recovery ranged from 63.8% to 65.2%. The stability of ZNS was demonstrated in plasma samples under all predictable handling and storage conditions. The proposed assay was applied to the analysis of human plasma samples obtained from epilepsy patients under ZNS therapy, and the results supported its usefulness for therapeutic drug monitoring in clinical practice.


Refractive surgery in the next few years will be dominated by the intellectually and, we hope, clinically exciting introduction of wavefront-guided surgery. Both from the viewpoint of improving our current results and for the treatment of the patient suffering adverse optical sequelae after LASIK, wavefront technology offers a novel and promising diagnostic and surgical approach. Indeed, refractive surgery today-borrowing from optics, astronomy, physics, engineering, and biology-represents the ultimate fusion of science, technology, and medicine.


In this study, the hourly movement directions of 9 banking stocks in Borsa Istanbul were predicted using Long-Short Term Memory(LSTM) networks with features obtained from financial news. In the feature creation phase, the word embedding referred as Fasttext, and the financial sentiment dictionary were utilized. Class labels indicating the movement direction were computed based on hourly close prices of the stocks and they were aligned with obtained feature vectors. Two different LSTM networks were trained to perform the prediction, and the performance of the classification process was evaluated by the Macro Averaged (M.A) F-Measure. In the experiments, the movement directions of the 9 stocks were predicted with an average M.A F-measure rate of 0.540. Although the results of both LSTM networks were higher than the Random and Naive benchmark methods, the use of Attention Mechanism in the second LSTM network did not positively affect the results.


In order for socio-economic transformation to have a real impact on the lives of the poor and marginalised, meaningful participation in the development of law and policy as well as administrative decision-making, is required. Opportunities for informed participation can lead to transparent, accountable dialogue and debate on key policy choices to address the impact of poverty and inequality. This resonates with a participatory constitutional democracy, which requires decisions to be considered in the light of certain fundamental norms and values. The policy discourse in South Africa around solutions to poverty eradication has evolved over the past five years from a "welfare state" approach to a "developmental state" approach which must have the strategic capacity to mobilise society around the developmental agenda and bring technical and organisational capacity to bear in order to create fundamental change. The developmental state theory in South Africa is being grounded in principles of representative democracy, participatory democracy and accountability of the state.


In this study, dynamic characteristics of a laboratory bridge model are determined by operational modal analysis using frequency and time domain methods. For this purpose, a reinforced box girder concrete bridge model is constructed in laboratory conditions. The bridge deck consists of a main span of 3 m and two side span of 1.5 m each. The structural system of the model bridge consists of deck, piers and foundation. The total length of bridge deck is 6 m and width of bridge deck is 60 cm. Ambient vibration tests are conducted to the model bridge to identify its natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios. Natural excitations such as wind and impact hammer are used to vibrate the model bridge. Vibration data is gathered from bridge deck. Measurement time, frequency span and effective mode number are determined by consider similar studies in literature. Sensitivity accelerometers are placed to collect signals from the measurements. The signals collected from the tests are processed by operational modal analysis; and the dynamic characteristics of the bridge model are estimated using enhanced frequency domain decomposition (EFDD) method in the frequency domain and stochastic subspace identification (SSI) method in the time domain. The dynamic characteristics obtained from both methods are found to be close to each other. Maximum 2.68% differences are obtained between natural frequencies for the first mode. Modal assurance criteria values are between 0.85-1.00. This shows that EFDD and SSI results are almost overlapped. It can be concluded that the both of enhanced frequency domain decomposition and stochastic subspace identification methods are very useful to identify the dynamic characteristics of the bridge model.


The surface of compound eye of ant was observed by using scanning electron microscopy technology. These characteristics on the surface were applied on cone of screw pile for preventing flood and rushing to deal with an emergency. Comparing experiments of piling were conducted before and after the bionic surface was made, and these experiments were conducted under three different soil environments, including soil among the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the Pearl River. In the experiments, data of strain was tested and collected by dynamic strain gauge RA2300 style. The output was recorded on disc and later the data were processed by computer. The observation results showed that the compound eye of ant was made of a lot of small convex eyes. These small convex eyes were arranged in dense style. They had the characteristics of convex dome. The results of piling experiments showed that the bionic screw pile with bionic surface of cone produced better effect of reducing soil adhesion and resistance than the common screw pile with no bionic surface of cone.


Objective
To generate various types of diabetic retinopathy (DR) fundus images automatically by computer vision algorithm.

Methods
A method based on deep learning to generate fundus images was proposed, which used the vascular vein of the fundus image and the text description of lesions as the constraint conditions to generate fundus image.The text description was encoded by using a long short-term memory (LSTM), and the vascular vein image was encoded by a convolutional neural network (CNN). Then the encoded information was combined and used to generate a fundus image by generative adversarial networks (GAN).

Results
The results showed that the algorithm can generate realistic fundus images.However, the image detail features were not obvious because the text-encoded recurrent neural network (RNN) loss function did not converge well.

Conclusions
Using the GAN can generate realistic DR fundus images, which has certain application value in expanding medical data.However, the generation of detail features in small areas still needs improvement.

Key words:
Generative adversarial networks; Fundus images; Image generation; Convolutional neural network


Engineering beam theory has been used to analyse the ways in which body shape and elastic modulus of two species of sea anemones affect their mechanical responses to flow.

1. 1. Anthopleura xanthogrammica is exposed to wave action, but because it is short, wide, and thick-walled, maximum tensile stresses in its body walls due to flow forces are an order of magnitude lower than those in the tall, slim, thin-walled, calm-water sea anemone Metridium senile .

2. 2. The elastic modulus of M. senile body wall is more dependent on extension rate than is that of A. xanthogrammica . Because the extension rate of M. senile body wall in tidal currents is higher than that of A. xanthogrammica in wave surge, the moduli of walls from these species when exposed to such flow conditions are similar, between 0.1 and 0.3 MN.m−2.

3. 3. The flexural stiffness of M. senile is lowest in the upper column where the anemones bend in currents: this orients their filter-feeding oral discs normal to the currents. The flexural stiffness of A. xanthogrammica is one to two orders of magnitude higher than that of M. senile; A. xanthogrammica remain upright in wave surge and feed on mussels that fall on their oral discs.

4. 4. The deflexions of these anemones predicted using beam theory are consistent with those observed in nature.

5. 5. The critical stress to produce local buckling is an order of magnitude lower for M. senile than for A. xanthogrammica .

6. 6. Several general principles of the organization of cantilever-like sessile organisms are revealed by this study of sea anemones.


Emerging economies have been trying to improve economic growth with the help of different policies like R&D, technology development, technology transfer and patents. Despite the large amount of literature on the relationship between technology, direct government R&D support, R&D activities and patents, it has not been clearly defined in emerging economies. With this research based on 191 observations from companies in the Aegean Region of Turkey, we have found significant relationships between technological infrastructures, inward technology transfer and patents. Furthermore, the findings prove that there is a significant relationship between R&D activities, R&D experience and patents. Surprisingly, there is no significant relationship between outward technology transfer, direct government R&D support and patents. These results contribute to the literature on the relationship between direct R&D support, R&D activities, technology and patents in emerging economies.


Computer hardware architecture has played an important role in the recent advances made in deep learning and associated applications. However, effective teaching strategies for hardware architectures for machine learning require a different structure and technical background than classic machine learning. More specifically, not only does the material need to convey necessary machine learning concepts to students, but also cover the hardware and software infrastructure concepts required for supporting machine learning systems. In this paper, we describe our approach to designing the course materials along with student assessment and evaluation for the "Hardware Architectures for Machine Learning" course targeting Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate students.


A series of photographs of persons which had been varied by anamorphic lens to produce images both thinner and thicker than the originals were assessed by three experts in terms of percentage deviation from ideal body weight. Together with the photographs, five questions about preferences for body size were put to 341 persons who were also asked to assign each photograph to one of six basic categories of body weight in Puerto Rican culture.


The previous decade has witnessed a flourishing of studies on how fisheries and marine food webs interact, and how trophic models and indicators can be used for assessment and management purposes. Acknowledging the importance of complex interactions among species, fishermen and the environment has led to a shift from single species to an ecosystem-wide approach in the science supporting fisheries management (e.g. Johannesburg Declaration, Magnuson-Stevens Act). Moreover, fisheries managers today acknowledge that fishing activities are linked to a range of societal benefits and services, and their work is necessarily a multi-objective practice (i.e. ecosystem-based management). We argue that the knowledge accumulated thus far points to tropho-dynamic models and indicators as key tools for such multi-dimensional assessments. Nevertheless, trophodynamic approaches are still underutilised in fisheries management. More specifically, most management decisions continue to rely on single species and sector-specific models. Here we review examples of applications of trophodynamic indicators within fisheries assessments in well-studied ecosystems, and discuss progress made (as well as lack thereof) towards increased integration of these metrics into marine resource management. Having clarified how trophic indicators fit within current policy and management contexts, we propose ways forward to increase their use in view of future management challenges.