bilayer membranes receive increasing attention in various different technological approaches. Gene therapy, the insertion of genes into the cells of patients to fight diseases, holds great promise. However, safe and effective carrier structures to deliver DNA (desoxyribonucleic acid, the polymer that contains all the genetic instructions) into the cells still present a major challenge. Non-viral systems employ assemblies of DNA and cationic macromolecules. The polymers explored include degradable and non-degradable types, such as chitosan and poly(amidoamine) dendrimers, and are selected for targetability, cellular uptake and minimal toxicity. The primary purpose of introducing genes into cells is the expression of encoded proteins. In parallel to the ongoing related efforts to introduce genes, the direct delivery of proteins across the cell membranes has been investigated successfully for a variety of systems. Arginine-rich, cell-penetrating, peptide tags attached to various proteins have been shown to boost their membrane permeability. The combination of amino acids with cationic and hydrophobic side chains was reported to increase the efficacy of the peptide tags. Recently, this approach has even been applied successfully to cellular reprogramming, i.e., in the generation of human pluripotent stem cells via the delivery of a set of modified transcription factors. Antimicrobial peptides, a range of naturally occurring and synthetically generated peptide structures, take this even further and not only disintegrate bacteria but also protozoa, fungi and viruses by disrupting their lipid bilayer membranes. The related peptides consist of 12 to 50 amino acids, including at least two – often more – cationic amino acids plus hydrophobic amino acids in varying amounts. Importantly, being effective against microorganisms, the peptides are compatible with tissue cells, facilitating their use in the protection of medical devices against microbial settlement and colonization without triggering microbial resistance mechanisms. These advantages motivate both the immobilization of cationic peptides onto polymeric surfaces as well as the incorporation of related antimicrobial motifs into synthetic polymer structures. Despite all the recent progress, the targeted development of membrane-penetrating polymer structures requires a more detailed mechanistic understanding of the permeation process, and the required structural and environmental conditions. Joint theoretical and experimental efforts are emerging to resolve these issues in carefully selected model systems.


Physical-layer security for wireless networks has become an effective approach and recently drawn significant attention in the literature. In particular, the deployment and allocation of resources such as relays to assist the transmission have gained significant interest due to their ability to improve the secrecy rate of wireless networks. In this work, we examine relay selection criteria with arbitrary knowledge of the channels of the users and the eavesdroppers. We present alternative optimization criteria based on the signal-to-interference and the secrecy rate criteria that can be used for resource allocation and that do not require knowledge of the channels of the eavesdroppers and the interference. We then develop effective relay selection algorithms that can achieve a high secrecy rate performance without the need for the knowledge of the channels of the eavesdroppers and the interference. Simulation results show that the proposed criteria and algorithms achieve excellent performance.


Heart valve disease is generally treated by surgical replacement with either a mechanical or bioprosthetic valve. While prosthetic valves perform remarkably well, having significantly reduced patient mortality since their inception in 1960, each type exhibits specific drawbacks. Specifically, thrombosis and anticoagulation in the case of mechanical valves; calcific and fatigue-related degeneration in bioprosthetic heart valve (BHV). In attempt to improve the durability of BHV, recent studies have focused on quantifying the biomechanical interactions between the organ, tissue, and cellular-level components in native heart valve and BHV tissues. Such data is considered fundamental to designing improved BHV, and ultimately may be useful in the design of tissue engineered heart valves (TEHV).The goals of this research were two-fold: (1) to simulate layer-specific mechanical property changes incurred by the porcine BHV with fatigue, and (2) to simulate the cellular-level deformation of valve interstitial cells (VIC) nuclei under organ-level transvalvular pressures. For the first goal, parametric studies were conducted to isolate the effective modulii of the individual layers using finite element simulations of native and BHV tissues in flexure. The finite element simulations isolated fatigue-related changes in the overall effective modulus of BHV tissues specifically to the collagen-rich fibrosa layer. These results may be useful in designing improved BHV, as novel fixatives and fixation methods may have the capacity to target specific layers of the BHV tissue. For the second goal, cellular-level VIC nuclei deformations were quantified experimentally by analyzing images of histological sections prepared from native porcine aortic valves subjected to transvalvular pressures. Finite element simulations were conducted to quantify the relationship between organ-level transvalvular pressure, concomitant tissue-level strain, and ultimate cellular-level VIC nuclei deformation. The cellular-level image analysis studies uncovered layer-specific, positive relationships between VIC nuclei deformations and transvalvular pressure. These data were found to correlate with previously published data on the associated collagen fiber architecture, providing insight into the tissue-to-cellular level mechanical coupling predicted by the finite element simulations. These results may be useful in designing TEHV, as evidence suggests that the secretion and organization of extracellular matrix (ECM) (e.g., collagen) by the constituent cells of a TEHV can be modulated by mechanical deformation.To the best of our knowledge, the simulations presented herein represent the first attempt to quantify layer-specific changes in porcine BHV tissue mechanical properties with fatigue. Moreover, we report the first information on the cellular-level deformation of VIC nuclei under transvalvular pressures, including experimental analysis of the native porcine aortic valve, as well as rigorous finite element simulations. These micromechanical simulations thus offer new data on the biomechanical behavior of heart valve tissues, and may contribute to the design of improved BHV and TEHV.


The American criminal justice system is replete with fees that attempt to shift costs from the government to those accused and convicted of breaking the law. Courts impose monetary sanctions on a "substantial majority of the millions of U.S. residents convicted of felony and misdemeanor crimes each year." Every aspect of the criminal justice process has become ripe for charging a fee. In fact, an estimated 10 million people owe more than $50 billion in debt resulting from their involvement in the criminal justice system. In the last few decades, additional fees have proliferated, such as charges for police transport, case filing, felony surcharges, electronic monitoring, drug testing, and sex offender registration. Unlike fines, whose purpose is to punish, and restitution, which is intended to compensate victims of crimes for their loss, user fees are intended to raise revenue. The Justice Department's March 2015 report on practices in Ferguson, Mo. highlights the overreliance on court fines as a primary source of revenue for the jurisdiction. The New York Times noted that the report found that "internal emails show city officials pushing for more tickets and fines." Fees and debts are increasing partially because the criminal justice system has grown bigger. With 2.2 million people behind bars, courts — and all the relevant agencies — have expanded as well. Since the 1970s, incarceration in the U.S. has risen steeply, dwarfing the incarceration rate of any other nation on Earth. The U.S. added about 1.1 million incarcerated people, almost doubling the nation's incarcerated population, in the past 20 years. The fiscal costs of corrections are high — more than $80 billion annually — about equivalent to the budget of the federal Department of Education. A recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that corrections is currently the third-largest category of spending in most states, behind education and health care. In fact, somewhat disconcertingly, 11 states spent more of their general funds on corrections than on higher education in 2013. Fees already on the books have increased. And, these fees are extending into state and local corrections. As a result of these runaway costs, counties and states continue to struggle with ways to increase revenue to pay for exorbitant incarceration bills. In 2010, the mean annual state corrections expenditure per inmate was $28,323, although a quarter of states spent $40,175 or more. Not surprisingly, departments of corrections and jails are increasingly authorized to charge inmates for the cost of their imprisonment. Although this policy is alarming, less widely understood but equally troubling is the reality that these incarceration fees perpetuate our nation's addiction to incarceration. This policy brief exposes how the widespread nature of charging fees to those who are incarcerated connects to the larger problem of mass incarceration in this country.


Machine translation systems facilitate our communication and access to information, taking down language barriers. It is a well-researched area of Natural Language Processing (NLP), especially for resource-rich languages (e.g., language pairs in Europarl Parallel corpus). Besides these languages, there is also work on other language pairs including the Bangla-English language pair. In the current study, we aim to revisit both Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) and Neural Machine Translation (NMT) approaches using well-known, publicly available corpora for the Bangla-English (Bangla to English) language pair. We reported how the performance of the models differ based on the data and modeling techniques; consequently, we also compared the results obtained with Google's machine translation system. Our findings, across different corpora, indicates that NMT based approaches outperform SMT systems. Our results also outperform existing baselines by a large margin.


In this study, we looked at speech rhythm in Finnish using the technique of synchronous speech developed by Cummins [5]. As predicted, synchronous reading resulted in a reduction of timing variation. The homogeneity achieved, however, did not necessarily represent average behavior, but often an extreme outside the range of performance in the solo reading. While the synchronous speech task was easy for speakers in general, there were clear differences in how difficult it was for speakers to synchronize their speech. These differences were not however related in an obvious way to differences between speakers themselves. It would appear that most of the work of synchrony was achieved at approximately the level of pause group; at finer levels speakers did not consistently adjust their timing to improve synchronization.


Racial prejudice has come under increasingly close scrutiny during the past thirty years, yet its influence on the decisionmaking of criminal juries remains largely hidden from judicial and critical examination. In this Article, Professor Johnson takes a close look at this neglected area. She first sets forth a large body of social science research that reveals a widespread tendency among whites to convict black defendants in instances in which white defendants would be acquitted. Next, she argues that none of the existing techniques for eliminating the influence of racial bias on criminal trials adequately protects minority-race defendants. She contends that this will remain so even if the prosecution-oriented rules of Swain v. Alabama (peremptory challenges) and Ristaino v. Ross (voir dire) are modified or overruled in cases currently before the Supreme Court. Finally, Professor Johnson details an equal protection argument that turns on accepting the social science data as proof of purposeful discrimination, and she proposes a prophylactic remedy.


In recent work, we have shown how to compute compliant anonymi-zations of quantified ABoxes w.r.t. EL policies. In this setting, quantified ABoxes can be used to publish information about individuals, some of which are anonymized. The policy is given by concepts of the Description Logic (DL) EL , and compliance means that one cannot derive from the ABox that some non-anonymized individual is an instance of a policy concept. If one assumes that a possible attacker could have additional knowledge about some of the involved non-anonymized individuals, then compliance with a policy is not sufficient. One wants to ensure that the quantified ABox is safe in the sense that none of the secret instance information is revealed, even if the attacker has additional compliant knowledge. In the present paper, we show that safety can be decided in polynomial time, and that the unique optimal safe anonymization of a non-safe quantified ABox can be computed in exponential time, provided that the policy consists of a single EL concept.


The synthesis of {Mo(η-L)(CO)3}+ (η-L = C5H5 or C5Me5) fragments, ligated to the mono-anionic, weakly co-ordinating, carboranes [closo-1-CB11H12]− and [closo-CB11Br6H6]−, has been investigated. Treatment of [MoCp(CO)3X] (X = Cl or I) with Ag[CB11H12] eventually affords the zwitterionic complex [MoCp(CO)3(x-μ-H-1-CB11H12)] (x = 12 or 7), via an intermediate dimeric species [MoCp(CO)3X·Ag(CB11H12)]2. For X = I this intermediate has been characterised by 1H, 11B NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography and represents the first structurally characterised intermediate in a silver salt metathesis reaction. When the less nucleophilic carborane [CB11Br6H6]− (as its silver salt) is used metathesis is halted at the intermediate stage, affording the complex [MoCp(CO)3I·Ag(CB11Br6H6)]2. Silver salt metathesis does not proceed using the sterically more demanding [Mo(Cp*)(CO)3I], with only intractable products isolated. The carborane anion can be introduced into the co-ordination sphere of this complex by reaction of [H(OEt2)x][CB11H12] with [Mo(Cp*)(CO)3Me] affording [Mo(Cp*)(CO)3(x-μ-H-1-CB11H12)] (x = 12 or 7). All new compounds have been characterised by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography.


The object of this research is conceptual metaphors in Donald Trump's political discourse (2018) whichis aimed at his own positioning as an extremely positive and beneficial president who will "make America great again". Furthermore, he implicitly and explicitly treats his opponents- the Democrats and previous governments as enemies who are guilty for all the problems and troubles in the USA.
Linguistic expressions of the following conceptual metaphors POLITICS IS WAR, POLITICS IS A JOURNEY, POLITICS IS A RACE, POLITICS IS A CRIME, POLITICS IS LOVE, POLITICS IS FRIENDSHIP prevail in Donald Trump's political discourse. There are some expressions of conceptual metaphors, such as POLITICS IS A GAME, POLITICS IS WATER and POLITICS IS SLEEP in Trump's political discourse.
The majority of these conceptual metaphors are based on the opposition I/we–they, where I stands for the President Trump, we are the members of the Republican Party and they are introduced as the Democrats.
Conceptual metaphor has an evaluative potential in Trump's political discourse. Evaluations, expressed through linguistic metaphors and belonging to the same conceptual metaphor, may differ and acquire both positive and negative connotations.


Talking head generation aims to generate faces that maintain the identity information of the source image and imitate the motion of the driving image. Most pioneering methods rely primarily on 2D representations and thus will inevitably suffer from face distortion when large head rotations are encountered. Recent works instead employ explicit 3D structural representations or implicit neural rendering to improve performance under large pose changes. Nevertheless, the fidelity of identity and expression is not so desirable, especially for novel-view synthesis. In this paper, we propose HiDe-NeRF, which achieves high-fidelity and free-view talking-head synthesis. Drawing on the recently proposed Deformable Neural Radiance Fields, HiDe-NeRF represents the 3D dynamic scene into a canonical appearance field and an implicit deformation field, where the former comprises the canonical source face and the latter models the driving pose and expression. In particular, we improve fidelity from two aspects: (i) to enhance identity expressiveness, we design a generalized appearance module that leverages multi-scale volume features to preserve face shape and details; (ii) to improve expression preciseness, we propose a lightweight deformation module that explicitly decouples the pose and expression to enable precise expression modeling. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed approach can generate better results than previous works. Project page: https://www.waytron.net/hidenerf/


Beginning in 1992, the Medicare program will pay physicians by the Medicare Fee Schedule, a system of geographically adjusted standardized payment rates based in part on the Resource-Based Relative Value Scale developed by Hsaio et al and in part on current Medicare payments. In our simulations of the Medicare Fee Schedule, we find that (1) redistributions of Medicare-allowed charges across specialities will be substantial but approximately only half the size projected by Hsaio, (2) there will be large redistributions among geographic areas that tend to compound the specialty redistributions, and (3) there will be wide variation within specialties as to how individual providers are affected. The majority of the redistributive impact of the Medicare Fee Schedule is attributable to implementation of a geographically adjusted system of standardized payments rather than to the particular work values developed by Hsiao et al in the Resource-Based Relative Value Scale.


Spatial behaviour and decision-making require knowledge of the urban environment, including opportunities available and the means to reach them. Thus, variations in spatial knowledge can result in radically different levels of effective accessibility, despite similar locations, demographics and other factors commonly thought to influence travel behaviour. Cognitive maps, which develop primarily through wayfinding and travel experience, are individuals' repositories of spatial knowledge. This paper examines whether differences in cognitive maps can be explained, in part, by variations in travel mode. Adults were surveyed in two Los Angeles neighbourhoods with relatively low auto use and high transit use. The data show that spatial knowledge does indeed vary with previous experience with travel modes.


Summary
The type and concentration of sera used to support macrophages was found to influence the in vitro destruction of macrophages from genetically resistant C3H mice by the princeton strain of mouse hepatitis virus, and the accompanying conversion of mouse hepatitis virus (princeton) to the variant virus, mouse hepatitis virus (C3H). Cells incubated in 20% horse serum were more susceptible to destruction than those in 90% horse serum. Susceptibility was greatest in the presence of 10% foetal calf serum, while cells in 10% mouse sera were the most resistant. Differences in susceptibility were as great as 10,000 TCD 50. The sera had no direct effect upon either mouse hepatitis virus (princeton) inoculum virus or the released variant virus, but appeared to influence intracellular adaptation of virus. In plaque titrations using reduced concentration of horse sera, mouse hepatitis virus (princeton) produced small plaques on C3H cells. The variant virus, mouse hepatitis virus (C3H), produced both large plaques characteristic of mouse hepatitis virus (C3H) and small plaques characteristic of mouse hepatitis virus (princeton). The results suggest that a fraction of mouse hepatitis virus (princeton) virus multiplies in resistant C3H cells, and is then converted to mouse hepatitis virus (C3H), and that mouse hepatitis virus (princeton) continues to be carried in stocks of mouse hepatitis virus (C3H) during passage in C3H cells. The outcome of infection of genetically resistant C3H macrophages with mouse hepatitis virus (princeton) was greatly influenced by the type and concentration of sera used to support macrophages.


This study begins by outlining two narratives that offer explanations of transformations in politics from the end of the Cold War to the present day. These are principally: the End of Politics and the rise of corporate colonisation; the Reinvention of Politics and the rise of civil society; and from these a third transformation is presented which is a synthesis and enhancement of these propositions. This is the Politics of Performance and highlights the previously deficient exposition of the impact of British corporate lobbying. As corporate lobbying is carried out by paid advocates, the incentive to engage in politics is not mobilised by a belief or ideology. This is essential to the professionalisation of lobbying and is also the foundation for the narrative's twin pillars that hold up the Politics of Performance edifice: the projection of an argument, a presentation-performance; and the ability to deliver this persuasively and secure a favourable outcome, an achievement-performance. The Politics of Performance builds on the ideas of delegation, simulation and role-playing over accountability, authenticity and substance in democratic engagement. In support of the theoretical arguments, the narrative is also assessed in practice by considering the impact of corporate lobbying in two UK case studies. These revolve around how the motor industry reduced the financial impact of the European Union's End-of-Life Directive 2001-2002; and how the information technology sector enthused the UK Home Office to include specifications that significantly increased cost into the design of the UK identity card proposal 2002-2006. These form the centrepiece of this study and show how corporate lobbying develops a particular presentation of the business perspective and can secure a more favourable outcome for its patrons.


A new chapter has been added on the serum level monitoring of therapeutic drugs, and this includes not only the commonly monitored compounds such as the anticonvulsants, lithium and digoxin, but also those compounds falling into the general category of poisoning such as lead, the barbiturates and salicylates, and alcohol. Other chapters have been extensively rewritten, and new tests have been added in many of these areas of revision. The book is concise and easy to read but is probably too 'all-embracing' for the current trends in pathology in Great Britain. A brief look at the table of contents indicates that chemical pathology, endocrinology, and medical microbiology are all extensively discussed. There are also a number of topics, which normally do not fall within the province of a pathology laboratory, such as ultrasound examination and computerised axial tomography. This is an admirable book for those pathologists who, because of their geographical situation, or for other reasons, are responsible for more than one discipline; it will be a valuable addition to their reference library. For specialist pathologists, however, the tendency will be for them to acquire alternative books devoted solely to their own disciplines.


By examining the private correspondence of a circle of German psychoanalyst emigres that included Otto Fenichel, Annie Reich, and Edith Jacobson, Russell Jacoby recaptures the radical zeal of classical analysis and the efforts of the Fenichel group to preserve psychoanalysis as a social and political theory, open to a broad range of intellectuals regardless of their medical background. In tracing this effort, he illuminates the repression by psychoanalysis of its own radical past and its transformation into a narrow medical technique. This book is of critical interest to the general reader as well as to psychoanalytic historians, theorists, and therapists."


We examine both theoretically and empirically how migration affects cultural change in home and host countries. Our theoretical model integrates various compositional and cultural transmission mechanisms of migration-based cultural change for which it delivers distinctive testable predictions on the sign and direction of convergence. We then use the World Value Survey for the period 1981-2014 to build time-varying measures of cultural similarity for a large number of country pairs and exploit within country-pair variation over time. Our evidence is inconsistent with the view that immigrants are a threat to the host country's culture. While migrants do act as vectors of cultural diffusion and bring about cultural convergence, this is mostly to disseminate cultural values and norms from host to home countries (i.e., cultural remittances).


Licensing is one of problems related business in Indonesia. There are three generally problem of licensing for business namely : complicated procedure, costly, and uncertenty. Based on concern to the problem, this emperial legal research in Kota Malang.  This question of this reseach: What are the procedure licensing business waralaba in Departement Licensing Malang City? What are the problems so far in prosesing licensing of business waralaba?. In this reseach, the writers used a sociological judicial menthod with the subject of Departement Licensing Malang City and PT. Kota Jaya Malang. The data taken witth interview and report documentation, them the data analysis is qualitative descriptive analysis. The reseach result indicated that in stage licensi procedure, whicg the power distributed to several department not efficient. Several related department have not standart operating procedure, so far caused the people need more time forget a licensi. In general, procedure licensing business waralaba is still less of success, because licensing of business waralaba not one stop service department. Suggestion is to increase system licensing and standart operating system in licensing business waralaba. Keyword : Ijin, Usaha Waralaba, Kebijakan Pemerintah Related Link :  http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/322/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2009-michsanulk-16075-PENDAHUL-N.pdf


Measurements of the light scattered by a sample contain information regarding the physical properties of the sample. Laser light-scattering measurements can be made unobtrusively in environments that are inaccessible to other types of measurements, so laser light-scattering techniques have become an important tool in aerosol research. The primary difficulty associated with using light-scattering techniques to determine aerosol particle properties is inverting the measurements or extracting the desired information from the measurements. In this study we use a 15-channel polar nephelometer to measure the light-scattering patterns of monodisperse polystyrene spheres. The light-scattering measurements are inverted, and the particle size distribution function and optical properties of the particles are retrieved. The results of these inversions are presented after a brief description of the calibration and operation of the nephelometer


Abstract The constructivist position, that mystical experiences are determined by the experiencer's cultural context, is now more prevalent among scholars of religion than the perennialist position, which maintains that mystical experiences have a common core that is cross-culturally universal. In large part, this is due to the efforts of Wayne Proudfoot in his widely accepted book, Religious Experience. In this article, I identify some significant unresolved issues in Proudfoot's defence of constructivism. My aim is not to defend perennialism, but to specify some objections to the constructivist thesis that constructivists need to address more adequately.


ABSTRACT This paper examines the accuracy of trip and mode choice detection of the last wave of the Dutch Mobile Mobility Panel, a large-scale three-year, smartphone-based travel survey. Departure and arrival times, origins, destinations, modes, and travel purposes were recorded during a four week period in 2015, using the MoveSmarter app for a representative sample of 615 respondents, yielding over 60 thousand trips. During the monitoring period, respondents also participated in a web-based prompted recall survey and answered additional questions. This enables a comparison between automatic detected and reported trips. Most trips were detected with no clear biases in trip length or duration, and transport modes were classified correctly for over 80 percent of these trips. There is strong evidence that smartphone-based trip detection helps to reduce underreporting of trips, which is a common phenomenon in travel surveys. In the Dutch Mobile Mobility Panel, trip rates are substantially higher than trip-diary based travel surveys in the Netherlands, in particular for business and leisure trips which are often irregular. The rate of reporting also hardly decreased during the four-week period, which is a promising result for the use of smartphones in long duration travel surveys.


Recent advancements in the ubiquitous sensor network field have brought considerable feasibility to the realization of a ubiquitous society. A ubiquitous sensor network will enable the cooperative gathering of environmental information or the detection of special events through a large number of spatially distributed sensor nodes. Thus far, radio frequency identification (RFID) as an application for realizing the ubiquitous environment has mainly been developed for public and industrial systems. To this end, the most existing applications have demanded low-end antennas. In recent years, interests of ubiquitous sensor network have been broadened to medical body area networks (BAN), wireless personal area networks (WPAN), along with ubiquitous smart worlds. This increasing attention toward in ubiquitous sensor network has great implications for antennas. The design of functional antennas has received much attention because they can provide various kinds of properties and operation modes. These high-end antennas have some functions besides radiation. Furthermore, smart sensor nodes equipped with cooperated high-end antennas would allow them to respond adaptively to environmental events. Therefore, some design approaches of functional antennas with sensing and reconfigurability as high-end solution for smart sensor node, as well as low-end antennas for mobile RFID (mRFID) and SAW transponder are presented in this paper.


Ageing is characterized by the expansion and the decreased vascularization of visceral adipose tissue (vAT), disruption of metabolic activities, and decline of the function of the immune system, leading to chronic inflammatory states. We previously demonstrated that, in vAT of mice at early state of ageing, adipocytes mount a stress resistance response consisting in the upregulation of ATGL, which is functional in restraining the production of inflammatory cytokines. Here, we found that, in the late phase of ageing, such an adaptive response is impaired. In particular, 24-months-old mice and aged 3T3-L1 adipocytes display affected expression of ATGL and its downstream PPARα-mediated lipid signalling pathway, leading to upregulation of TNFα and IL-6 production. We show that the natural polyphenol compound resveratrol (RSV) efficiently suppresses the expression of TNFα and IL-6 in an ATGL/PPARα dependent manner. Actually, adipocytes downregulating ATGL do not show a restored PPARα expression and display elevated cytokines production. Overall the results obtained highlight a crucial function of ATGL in inhibiting age-related inflammation and reinforce the idea that RSV could represent a valid natural compound to limit the onset and/or the exacerbation of the age-related inflammatory states.


Deep kernel learning aims at designing nonlinear combinations of multiple standard elementary kernels by training deep networks. This scheme has proven to be effective, but intractable when handling large-scale datasets especially when the depth of the trained networks increases; indeed, the complexity of evaluating these networks scales quadratically w.r.t. the size of training data and linearly w.r.t. the depth of the trained networks. In this paper, we address the issue of efficient computation in Deep Kernel Networks (DKNs) by designing effective maps in the underlying Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces. Given a pretrained DKN, our method builds its associated Deep Map Network (DMN) whose inner product approximates the original network while being far more efficient. The design principle of our method is greedy and achieved layer-wise, by finding maps that approximate DKNs at different (input, intermediate and output) layers. This design also considers an extra fine-tuning step based on unsupervised learning, that further enhances the generalization ability of the trained DMNs. When plugged into SVMs, these DMNs turn out to be as accurate as the underlying DKNs while being at least an order of magnitude faster on large-scale datasets, as shown through extensive experiments on the challenging ImageCLEF and COREL5k benchmarks.


A radio-frequency positive-ion source and a fifty-kilovolt linear accelerator were designed and constructed in order to produce sizable quantities of hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, neon, and argon. Plans were then made to equip this ion source with charge-exchange apparatus suitable for charge-exchange cross-sectional measurements. It is the purpose of this paper to present the design of the equipment and to present operational knowledge of the equipment and of ion beams which are producible.


Coeliac plexus block with alcohol, for malignant visceral abdominal pain, has been used extensively for the past 25 years. Bridenbaugh et al.' recommended using 40-50 ml 50% alcohol. Moore2 reported good results in 168 patients after use of this technique. A case of paraplegia, after a block under X ray control3 using 6% aqueous phenol, raised the possibility of vascular spasm as the precipitating mechanism. This report, coupled with knowledge of an affinity of phenol for blood vessels: discouraged further use of phenol for this procedure. The use of concentrated solutions of alcohol for coeliac plexus blocks is based on a false premise and is against the advice and judgement of experienced practitioners: the irritant effect of absolute alcohol is well known.5 Do we have to wait for more reports of paraplegia before a rational approach to the problem is adopted?


A numerical investigation was carried out to solve the flow dimensionless partial differential equations through rectangular microchannels. A purely viscous power law model was used to characterize the flow behavior of non-Newtonian fluids. The flow was assumed to be steady and laminar, and slip conditions were used as boundary conditions at the walls. The problem was solved for different power law indices as well as for various rectangular aspect ratios. Results showed that the effects of slip velocity on dilatant fluids are more pronounced than that for pseudoplastic fluids. An increase in the power law index enhances the product of the friction factor and the Reynolds number, as well as the dimensionless incremental pressure drop and the dimensionless maximum velocity, while the hydrodynamic entrance length decreases. Results emphasize the significant effects of channel aspect ratio on the hydrodynamic flow behavior through microchannels.


On the surface, the use of photography in autobiography appears to have a straightforward purpose: to illustrate and corroborate the text. But in the wake of poststructuralism, the role of photography in autobiography is far from simple or one-dimensional. Both media are increasingly self-conscious, argues Timothy Adams, and combining them intensifies rather than reduces the complexity and ambiguity of each taken separately. Focusing on works by Paul Auster, Maxine Hong Kingston, Sheila Ortiz Taylor, Sandra Ortiz Taylor, N. Scott Momaday, Michael Ondaatje, Reynolds Price, Eudora Welty, Wright Morris, and Edward Weston, Adams explores the ways in which text and image can interact with and reflect on one another. Photography may stimulate, inspire, or seem to document autobiography, he demonstrates, but it may also confound verbal narrative. Conversely, autobiography may mediate, motivate, or even take the form of photography. Because both media exist on the border between fact and fiction, Adams argues, they often undercut just as easily as they reinforce each other. Exploring the interrelations between photography and autobiography uncovers an inherent tendency in both to conceal as much as they reveal. |This discussion of the role of photography in autobiography finds an inherent tendency in both to conceal as much as they reveal. Authors discussed include Paul Auster, Maxine Hong Kingston, Michael Ondaatje, Reynolds Price, and Eudora Welty.


Support vector machine (SVM) has been applied to load forecasting field widely. However, if the training data has much noise and redundancy, the generalized performance of SVM will be weakened, so this can cause some disadvantages of slow convergence speed and low forecasting accuracy. A SVM forecasting model based on immune genetic fuzzy clustering algorithm (IGA-SVM) is presented, using immune genetic fuzzy clustering algorithm to preprocess historical load data, and then extract training samples from clustered data, and the result is that both processing speed and forecasting accuracy are improved. At last, apply this model to short-term load forecasting, and it shows more generalized performance and better forecasting accuracy compared with the methods of single SVM and BP neural networks.


If we want people to trust AI systems, we need to provide the systems we create with the ability to discriminate between what humans would consider good and bad decisions. The quality of a decision should not be based only on the preferences or optimization criteria of the decision makers, but also on other properties related to the impact of the decision, such as whether it is ethical, or if it complies to constraints and priorities given by feasibility constraints or safety regulations. The CP-net formalism [2] is a convenient and expressive way to model preferences, providing an effective compact way to qualitatively model preferences over outcomes, i.e., decisions, with a combinatorial structure [3, 7]. If we wish to incorporate ethical, moral, or norms based constraints to a decision context, it means that the subjective preferences of the decision makers are not the only source of information we should consider [1, 8]. Indeed, depending on the context, we may have to consider specific ethical principles derived from an appropriate ethical theory or various laws and norms. While preferences are important, when preferences and ethical principles are in conflict, the principles should override the subjective preferences of the decision maker. Therefore, it is essential to have well founded techniques to evaluate whether preferences are compatible with a set of ethical principles, and to measure how much these preferences deviate from the ethical principles.


The reaction kinetics of CO$_{2}$ absorption into new carbon dioxide binding organic liquids (CO$_{2}$BOLs) was comprehensively studied to evaluate their potential for CO$_{2}$ removal. A stopped-flow apparatus with conductivity detection was used to determine the CO$_{2}$ absorption kinetics of novel CO$_{2}$BOLs composed of DBN (1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene)/1-propanol and TBD (1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene)/1-butanol. A modified termolecular reaction mechanism for the reaction of CO$_{2}$ with CO$_{2}$BOLs was used to calculate the observed pseudo-first-order rate constant k$_{0}$ (s$^{-1})$ and second-order reaction rate constant k$_{2}$ (m$^{3}$/kmol.s). Experiments were performed by varying organic base (DBN or TBD) weight percentage in alcohol medium for a temperature range of 288-308 K. It was found that k$_{0}$ increased with increasing amine concentration and temperature. By comparing using two different CO$_{2}$BOL systems, it was observed that the TBD/1-butanol system has faster reaction kinetics than the DBN/1-propanol system. Finally, experimental and theoretical activation energies of these CO$_{2}$BOL systems were obtained and compared. Quantum chemical calculations using spin restricted B3LYP and MP2 methods were utilized to reveal the structural and energetic details of the single-step termolecular reaction mechanism.


OBJECTIVE
This study assessed the prevalence of general medical problems, stress or emotional problems, and alcohol problems reported by members of the armed forces of the United Kingdom after deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan. The study also identified types of help seeking and factors associated with help seeking.

METHODS
A total of 4,725 military personnel who were deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, or both were asked about health problems attributable to the deployment and whether they had sought help for them. Data were collected through postal surveys between 2007 and 2009. Service and sociodemographic covariates and measures of current mental health, alcohol misuse, and functional impairment were included in the analyses.

RESULTS
Of the 19% who reported stress or emotional problems, 42% sought help, most commonly medical help (29%). Of the 6% who reported alcohol problems, 31% sought help, most commonly medical help (17%). Medical help seeking for stress or emotional problems was associated with being female, holding a lower rank, having functional impairment, and meeting criteria for two or more mental health problems. Being divorced or separated was positively associated with nonmedical help seeking for stress or emotional problems. Help seeking for alcohol problems was associated with current mental disorders.

CONCLUSIONS
Medical help seeking for stress or emotional problems was uncommon and was related to meeting criteria for two or more mental health problems. Commissioned officers were reluctant to seek medical help for stress or emotional problems. Help seeking for alcohol problems increased if personnel were experiencing additional mental health problems.


This chapter focuses on the central role of evaluation in assessing the achievement of outcomes and the challenges. It reviews the nature and structure of a Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). SIBs are very new and in many respects experimental and are likely to remain in that category for some time yet. The public good here equates to an increase in better focused, better managed and more effective human services programs. Barclay and Symons have identified two elements of assessment that need to be undertaken in order for a SIB to be successfully evaluated. The search for interventions suited to the SIB approach raises significant issues for the wider practice of evaluation. As Azemati et al. comment for many social problems, we lack proven, scalable solutions. There may be increased opportunities for focused and rigorous evaluations which are necessary precursors to the negotiation of future SIBs.


Two major shifts in the global financial regulatory landscape are likely impeding harmonization of global financial regulation: financial multipolarity, meaning the rise of emerging-market economies such as China and the impact of this trend on decision-making at the global level, and financial reregulation, or the trend toward stronger regulation of financial systems to buttress financial stability, particularly in developed economies. As a result, the ambitious objectives initially set by the G-20 leaders in the wake of the unprecedented financial crisis have so far not resulted in major international breakthroughs, warranting a reconsideration of the global financial regulatory agenda. Consistent regulatory choices across the globe are preferable, but achieving consistency involves difficult political and economic tradeoffs. Continued global capital-market integration can no longer be taken for granted. Policymakers should prioritize four key components to ensure the sustainability of financial integration: (1) strong global public institutions to provide a comprehensive analytical picture, set authoritative standards, and foster and monitor the consistency of regulatory practice; (2) globally consistent financial information; (3) new arrangements to enable and supervise globally integrated capital-market infrastructure; and (4) creating a level playing field for global capital-market intermediaries by addressing competitive distortions.


Microbial degradation of Trp is thought to promote the formation of aromatic compounds that impart putrid, fecal, or unclean flavors in cheese, but pathways for their production have not been established. This study investigated Trp catabolism by Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus helveticus cheese flavor adjuncts under carbohydrate starvation (pH 6.5, 30 or 37°C, no sugar) and near cheese-ripening (pH 5.2, 4% NaCl, 15°C, no sugar) conditions. Enzyme assays of cell-free extracts indicated that both species of Lactobacillus catabolized Trp to indole-3-lactic acid, and micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography of culture supernatants showed this reaction occurred via successive transamination and dehydrogenation reactions. Tryptophan decarboxylase activity was also detected in all Lactobacillus cell-free extracts, but tryptamine was not detected in culture supernatants. Micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography showed that Trp metabolism in Lactobacillus casei LC301 and LC202 was similar under both incubation conditions and that those catabolic reactions were reversible (i.e., conversion of indole-3-lactic acid to Trp). In contrast, Trp catabolism by Lactobacillus helveticus LH212 was only detected under near cheese ripening conditions. Cells of Lactobacillus helveticus CNRZ32 did not catabolize Trp in either condition but did convert indole-3-pyruvic acid to Trp in carbohydrate starvation medium and to Trp and indole-3-lactic acid under near cheese ripening conditions.


A 36-year-old man presented with cognitive impairment and disturbance of short-term memory functions with character change. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis revealed no abnormalities; however, brain MRI revealed high-signal intensity from bilateral hippocampus lesions on fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images and T(2) weighted images. The 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET demonstrated high glucose uptake in the bilateral hippocampus lesions. He was diagnosed as limbic encephalitis, and was administered high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone and immune adsorption plasma therapy followed by intravenous immunoglobulin therapy. MRI abnormalities improved after treatment but recent memory disturbance remained. Ma2 antibody, NMDA-receptor antibody, and GluRe2 antibody were positive. Eleven months atter the onset of disease, the tumor was identified in left testicle by ultrasound and removed the tumor. The pathological findings were seminoma. We experienced a case of paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis associated with seminoma with short-term memory disturbance. The occurrence of paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis with antibodies against cell membrane (NMDA-receptor antibody and GluRe2 antibody) and intracellular (Ma2 antibody) is rare even in the literature.


Understanding the control of flowering time in photoperiod-sensitive plants has been furthered by grafting experiments. In soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], genes which control flowering time have been identified and their responses to photoperiod characterized. Grafting experiments allow the study of interactions between genotypes. The objective of our study was to characterize the flowering response of scions from a grafted series of early- to late-flowering soybean near-isogenic lines. Seedling scions were grafted to 1-wk-older rootstocks and grown under noninductive 16-h days. Rootstocks were allowed to develop a single axillary shoot to allow interaction between rootstock and scion shoots. Late-flowering rootstocks did not delay flowering of the earliest-flowering isolines but delayed flowering of intermediate-flowering isolines. Some floral inhibition was also seen within scions since defoliated late-flowering scions grafted to early-flowering rootstocks flowered earlier compared with nondefoliated scions of the same graft combination. Early-flowering rootstocks promoted flowering of late-flowering scions both within and across genetic backgrounds. Early-flowering scions flowered early (27 to 30 d) regardless of rootstock genotype. This early flowering was observed even when the scions were defoliated, indicating that floral promoters might be produced or sensed in unexpanded leaves or buds. The activity of floral promoters and inhibitors was demonstrated in soybean and these factors appeared to mediate flowering time antagonistically.


1Immam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, King Fahd University Hospital, Ophthalmology Department (Glaucoma Section), Al Khobar, Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Jeddah Eye Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Purpose: To evaluate the long-term surgical outcomes of endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation (ECP) after four years follow-up in cataract and glaucoma patients that needed combined phacoemulsification and ECP (phaco-ECP) in comparison to combined phacoemulsification with trabeculectomy (phaco-trabeculectomy) with mitomycin C (MMC). Patients and Methods: Retrospective case–control study of 34 patients (34 eyes) with glaucoma who underwent phaco-ECP compared with phaco-trabeculectomy in tertiary eye specialist hospital in Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2012. Participants were enrolled in two groups; ECP and trabeculectomy with MMC when combined with phacoemulsification. Success is defined as complete success when the IOP ≤21 mmHg without medication, qualified success when the IOP ≤21 mmHg with aid of topical medication. Results: Mean IOP decreased from 25.76 SD ±8.227 to 15.24 SD ±7.049 at last visit in phacotrabeculectomy group and from 21.47 SD ±4.215 to 12.88 SD ±3.480 in phaco-ECP group. Mean medication use reduced from 2.89 SD ±0.3 preoperatively to 1.50 SD ±1.1 postoperatively (P<0.001) in phaco-trabeculectomy group. It reduced in phaco-ECP group from 2.24 SD ±0.8 preoperatively to 2.00 SD ±0.9 postoperatively, 35.3% of phaco-trabeculectomy group developed vision-threatening complications while 0% in phaco-ECP group (P<0.001), 29.4% in phaco-trabeculectomy group required second surgical intervention compared to 17.6% in phacoECP group. In phaco-trabeculectomy group, 29.4% reached complete success, meanwhile in phaco-ECP group, 64.7% reached qualified success (P=0.026). Conclusion: ECP illustrates significant reduction of IOP and less postoperative complications if associated with phacoemulsification. Furthermore, it is safe and effective as a primary procedure alternative to combined cataract and trabeculectomy surgery for glaucoma patients having cataract and requiring surgical intervention.


A homologous series of Au coated iron oxide nanoparticles with hydrodynamic diameters smaller than 60 nm was synthesized with very low Au-to-iron mass ratios, as low as 0.15. The hydrodynamic diameter was determined by dynamic light scattering and the composition by atomic absorption spectroscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Unusually low Au precursor supersaturation levels were utilized to nucleate and grow Au coatings on iron oxide relative to the formation of pure Au nanoparticles. This approach produced unusually thin coatings by lowering autocatalytic growth of Au on Au, as shown by transmission electron microscopy. Nearly all of the nanoparticles were attracted by a magnet, indicating a minimal number of pure Au particles. The coatings were sufficiently thin to shift the surface plasmon resonance to the near infrared with large extinction coefficients, despite the small particle hydrodynamic diameters observed from dynamic light scattering to be less than 60 nm.


Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is characterized by inherited immune defects resulting from mutations in the NADPH oxidase complex genes. The X-linked type of CGD is caused by defects in the CYBB gene that encodes gp91-phox, a fundamental component of the NADPH oxidase complex. This mutation originates the most common and severe form of CGD, which typically has absence of NADPH oxidase function and aggressive multisystemic infections. We present the case of a 9-year-old child with a rare CYBB mutation that preserves some NADPH oxidase activity, resulting in an atypical mild form of X-linked CGD with isolated lung involvement. Although the clinical picture and partially preserved oxidase function suggested an autosomal recessive form of CGD, genetic testing demonstrated a mutation in the exon 3 of CYBB gene (c.252 G>A, p.Ala84Ala), an uncommon X-linked CGD variant that affects splicing. Atypical presentation and diagnostic difficulties are discussed. This case highlights that the diagnosis of mild forms of X-linked CGD caused by rare CYBB mutations and partially preserved NADPH function should be considered early in the evaluation of atypical and recurrent lung infections.


The genus Stephostethus LeConte, 1878 of minute brown scavenger beetles (Coleoptera: Latridiidae: Latridiinae) is recorded from Taiwan for the first time, which extends the southernmost boundary of this genus in the Palaearctic realm. Two new species, S. taiwanus sp. nov. and S. yuanfengensis sp. nov., and one new record, S. chinensis (Reitter, 1877), are described in this study. A taxonomic key to the three species of this genus in Taiwan is also provided. The distributions, habitats and collecting methods of these three species, as well as the structure of the genital segments of this genus are discussed.


Population control through harvest has the potential to reduce the abundance of nuisance and invasive species. However, demographic structure and density-dependent processes can confound removal efforts and lead to undesirable consequences, such as overcompensation (an increase in abundance in response to harvest) and instability (population cycling or chaos). Recent empirical studies have demonstrated the potential for increased mortality (such as that caused by harvest) to lead to overcompensation and instability in plant, insect, and fish populations. We developed a general population model with juvenile and adult stages to help determine the conditions under which control harvest efforts can produce unintended outcomes. Analytical and simulation analyses of the model demonstrated that the potential for overcompensation as a result of harvest was significant for species with high fecundity, even when annual stage-specific survivorship values were fairly low. Population instability as a result of harvest occurred less frequently and was only possible with harvest strategies that targeted adults when both fecundity and adult survivorship were high. We considered these results in conjunction with current literature on nuisance and invasive species to propose general guidelines for assessing the risks associated with control harvest based on life history characteristics of target populations. Our results suggest that species with high per capita fecundity (over discrete breeding periods), short juvenile stages, and fairly constant survivorship rates are most likely to respond undesirably to harvest. It is difficult to determine the extent to which overcompensation and instability could occur during real-world removal efforts, and more empirical removal studies should be undertaken to evaluate population-level responses to control harvests. Nevertheless, our results identify key issues that have been seldom acknowledged and are potentially generic across taxa.


In this paper we analyze a tax evasion game with taxpayers learning by imitation. If the authority commits to a fixed auditing probability, a positive share of cheating is obtained in equilibrium. This stands in contrast to the existing literature that yields full compliance of audited taxpayers who are rational, have a lot of information and thus do not need to interact. When the authority adjusts auditing probability every period, cycling in cheatingauditing occurs. Thus, the real life phenomenon of compliance fluctuations is explained within the model rather than by exogenous parameter shifts. JEL Classification: C79, H26


Introduction: The incidence of digestive bleedings secondary to the rupture of gastroduodenal varices ranges from 3 to 30%. They represent approximately 10 % of all the high bleedings associated with a portal hypertension. The purpose of this work is to estimate the therapeutic efficiency and the complications of the injection of chemical glue diluted with glucose solution5% as a technique for endoscopic hemostasis. Patients and methods: It's a retrospective study concerning 15 patients between 2012 and 2014. All the patients were admitted for upper gastrointestinal bleeding. They all underwent oesogastro- duodenal endoscopy which objectified bleeding caused by rupture of gastroduodenal varices. Patient's consent was mandatory. N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate was associated with methacryl oxysulfolane (Glubran 2) prepared with glucose serum 5%. The endoscopic treatment was realized under sedation and consisted in the injection of chemical glue intravariceally. Results: The injection of glue in the gastric varicose veins was realized in 13 patients (86.7%) and in duodenal ectopic varices in two patients (13. 3 %). The injection was realized in one or two sites of the ruptured varicose vein. The mean age of the patients was 51 years old [23 - 76]. Female gender was prominent (n= 11; 76 %).The initial hemostasis was obtained in 100 % of cases. We noted a second recurrence in two patients, no immediate or delayed complication were reported. Conclusion: The hemostatic endoscopic treatment of the upper bleedings, caused by the rupture of gastroduodenal varicose veins, using chemical glue diluted in glucose serum 5% seems effective and less expensive compared to the dilution in Lipiodol. Our results are preliminary and must be confirmed in the future by a more important sample.


Student evaluations are widely used to judge how well a professor is teaching. However, because students have little prior knowledge of the subject matter, their view of "good teaching" may be more tied to how well they like the teacher. Therefore, this paper suggests that the relationship between teaching and learning may actually be negative. By teaching "well", do we rob our students of the opportunity to learn?


Reforming Mexico's Labor Law for Independent Labor Unions analyzes the legal difficulties Mexican independent labor unions face in establishing themselves and proposes a legislative solution. The methodology used examines the institutionalized behaviors of the administrative labor boards and businesses, which prevent the formation of independent labor unions. The discretion that Mexican labor law affords the labor boards and businesses explains, in large measure, the obstacles facing independent labor unions. Having analyzed the relevant legal framework this article proposes specific legislation to strengthen these independent labor unions. Within the context of a developing country, Reforming Mexico's Labor Law for Independent Labor Unions shows the powerful impact that the law can have on a social problem.


Ciliate encystment is an eukaryotic cell differentiation process which involves a specific gene expression, to form the resting stage. In this study, we investigate, for first time, the DNA methylation pattern changes during encystment in the ciliate Colpoda inflata, and the 5‐azacytidine effect on growing cells and encystment. Results indicate that 5‐methylcytosine is present in macronuclear DNA of this ciliate and the 5‐azacytidine treatment induces encystment in growth conditions. From restriction enzyme digestion and 5‐azacytidine experiments, we conclude that a specific DNA demethylation is probably involved in the encystment gene expression of this ciliate.


In order to increase diatomite adsorption capacity, polypropylene acetamide (PAM) and barium chloride(BaCl2) were employed to modify the diatomite. Experiments were conducted to investigate surface chemistry characterization and adsorption capacity of the diatomite before and after modification, and adsorption capacity of Pb2+ onto raw diatomite, PAM modified diatomite, zeolite, vermiculite and red soil. The results obtained show that the best concentrations of PAM and BaCl2 for diatomite modification were 20 g·L-1 and 0.2 mol·L-1, respectively. PAM and BaCl2 removed most of the impurities on the diatomite, improved surface chemistry characterization and porous structure of the diatomite. Experimental data obtained from the present study indicated that the best condition for Pb2+ adsorption on the dry diatomite (diatomite dosage) was 50 g·L-1, pH value was 7, adsorption time was 120 min, and initial concentration of Pb2+ was 200 mg·L-1. The present data also indicate that adsorption capacity of PAM modified diatomite and BaCl2 modified diatomite increased by percentages of 23.4 and 28.5%, respectively when compared with raw diatomite. PAM modified diatomite was the most effective and available adsorbent for adsorption of Pb2+.

 Key words: Diatomite, modification, Pb2+, adsorption capacity.


Introduction: Ionic liquids (ILs) have attached many attentions due to their interesting physicochemical properties. However, ionic liquids have several disadvantages including high viscosity, difficult to purify, separate and recycle, and expensive. Therefore, supported ionic liquids (SIL) have been developed to overcome these problems. SIL based on cellulose material was conventionally synthesized by silanization reaction between ionic liquid trialkoxyl silane and hydroxyl groups on the surface of cellulose. However, low reactivity of cellulose hydroxyl groups causes the low efficiency of silanization reaction. With the aim to resolve these problems and improve the reactivity of cellulose silanization reaction, cellulose graft ionic liquid was synthesized and characterized.
Methods: Cellulose graft ionic liquid (CL-IL) material was synthesized by silanization reaction. The influence of reaction condition such as IL/CL (w/w) ratio, base catalyst (NH3) and agent coupling tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) on silanization reaction was investigated. The modified CL-IL materials were characterized using FT-IR, TGA, SEM. The ion exchange properties were evaluated via batch adsorption studies to evidence the efficiency of silanization reaction of cellulose.
Results: The study indicated that adding TEOS with NH3 catalyst could significantly increase the number of imidazolium groups grafted on cellulose about 75% compared to the conventional approach. CL-IL material is an efficient anion exchange materials displaying fast kinetic adsorption and high capacity adsorption of MO up to 1.4 mmol g-1.
Conclusion: High-efficiency of cellulose silanization was obtained by using coupling agent TEOS and base catalyst. Therefore, the silanization reaction can be used for synthesis divers of functional cellulose materials. This approach can be aimed for the design of cheaper and high-performance materials for catalysis, polymer composite and adsorption in water treatment and depollution of industrial wastewater.


Medicine is mission, whether practiced at home or abroad. But what do we mean by "mission"? Does it have a particular meaning to Catholics? And is there something more to being an actual "medical missionary"? These are ideas we hope to explore in The Linacre Quarterly Special Issue of November 2021, "Medicine in Mission." Many members of the Catholic Medical Association have been involved in medical missionary work, and others are interested in becoming involved. This special issue intends not only to share the work and spirit of those who are doing such service, but also to inspire others to give themselves in new ways. Pope Francis and the Bishops of the United States have called us to be "missionary disciples." How can we prepare our minds and hearts to meet this call? Relevant topics include–but are not limited to–the following:


Purpose
Among the many influencing effects that the medium has on the CO2 corrosion of carbon steel, flow is one of the most important because it can determine the formation of corrosion product scales and its stabilisation, thus influencing the attack morphology and corrosion rate. This paper aims to summarise some factors affecting aqueous CO2 corrosion and the laboratory methodologies to evaluate one of the most important, the flow, with an emphasis on less costly rotating cage (RC) laboratory methodology.

Design/methodology/approach
Regarding the key factors affecting CO2 corrosion, both well-established factors and some not well addressed in current corrosion prediction models are presented. The wall shear stress (WSS) values that can be obtained by laboratory flow simulation methodologies in pipelines and its effects over iron carbonate (FeCO3) scales or inhibition films are discussed. In addition, promising applications of electrochemical techniques coupled to RC methodology under mild or harsh conditions are presented.

Findings
More studies could be addressed that also consider both the salting-out effects and the presence of oxygen in CO2 corrosion. The RC methodology may be appropriate to simulate a WSS close to that obtained by laboratory flow loops, especially when using only water as the corrosive medium.

Originality/value
The WSS generated by the RC methodology might not be able to cause destruction of protective FeCO3 scales or inhibition films. However, this may be an issue even when using methodologies that allow high-magnitude hydrodynamic stresses.


Purpose: To examine the effect of the 252 Cf source size to the neutronenergy spectrum and dose contribution in a tissue equivalent material, with and without boronneutron capture enhancement. Method and Materials: Version 2.5.0 of the MCNPXcomputer code (Pelowitz, 2005) was used in this study to calculate the neutron energy spectra and dose distribution with and without 10B loading for 252Cf sources of various geometries. A spherical phantom geometry with a centrally positioned 252 Cf point‐source was first implemented in order to verify our simulation code by reproducing existing data in the literature. The neutronenergy flux was calculated for various 10 B loadings and various distances from the source. Cylindrical sources of different sizes were simulated in a 30×30×30 cm3 water phantom and the neutronenergy flux and energy deposition in the medium was calculated on cylindrical surfaces enclosing each source at various distances from each source surface. The boron enhancement of 30 ppm was also studied in this case. The neutronenergy spectrum was modeled as an isotropic Watt distribution and all calculated spectra were normalized assuming the same amount of 252 Cf distributed uniformly inside the source volume. Results: Calculated neutron energy spectra for the 252 Cf point‐source geometry showed very good agreement with existing literature, verifying our simulation model. For the cylindrical 252 Cf sources, preliminary results showed increased fast neutron contribution from the compact source, as compared to the conventional one, especially at small distances from the source surface. Conclusion: Smaller size 252 Cf sources can be more beneficial for brachytherapy treatments, not only due to localized dose distribution, but also due to higher dose contribution from fast neutrons of high RBE at small distances from the source.


Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women in Western countries. Despite preventive strategies, in the past decades the incidence of cardiovascular events has shown a decline in men but a rise in women, matching the growth of the population of postmenopausal women. Several epidemiological findings suggest the causative pathophysiological role of ovarian hormone deficiency in the development of cardiovascular disease in women. Observational and randomized studies have suggested that hormone replacement therapy in early postmenopause could be beneficial from a cardiovascular point of view. Conversely, aging, time since menopause and presence of cardiovascular risk factors or cardiovascular disease may decrease its efficacy and increase the risk of cardiovascular events. It is plausible that the unfavorable effects of the estrogen/progestin combination used in the randomized studies are not related to the hormone preparation per se but rather to the use of hormones in the less receptive group of women, older and with cardiovascular risk factors. Clinical judgment, choice of the right dose and estrogen/progestin combination are of pivotal importance to maximize the beneficial effect of estrogen replacement therapy/hormone replacement therapy, especially if given within a reasonable time after the menopause to women who need the therapy for the relief of menopausal symptoms.


According to the Conventions on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to make their voices heard and express their opinion in situations concerning them. With this paper the authors have chosen to explore social worker's view's on children's participation and influence, and how these are manifested through the entire case process. The focus in this study has also been the positive and negative effects the children's influence may have.To investigate this, a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews has been conducted. The interviews of social workers has shown that children have influence, but the extent may vary due to various factors. There are different perceptions of what participation and influence really relate, something that both the interviewed social workers and previous research has pointed out. In doing so, it may be of great importance that social workers continue to talk about children's influence, as well as developing new and more effective methods to make children more involved and give them more influence. This is especially important because of the devastating effects it can have when children are excluded from the decision-making.


In current Cloud computing environments, management of data reliability has become a challenge. For data-intensive scientific applications, storing data in the Cloud with the typical 3-replica replication strategy for managing the data reliability would incur huge storage cost. To address this issue, in this paper we present a novel cost-effective data reliability management mechanism named PRCR, which proactively checks the availability of replicas for maintaining data reliability. Our simulation indicates that, comparing with the typical 3-replica replication strategy, PRCR can reduce the storage space consumption by one-third to two-thirds, hence reduce the storage cost significantly in the Cloud.


Phenol is a very toxic substance and it can cause a number of environmental problems when it enters a water system.  Biological treatment is considered a cost-effective and safe technology and it plays an important role in the remediation of environmental pollutants. In this study, Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC 948 and Pseudomonas putida ATCC 12842 were employed to biodegrade phenol, with different culture conditions such as, different incubation periods, initial phenol concentration, temperature, pH, carbon and nitrogen sources) used to examine their effect on phenol degradation. The results showed that phenol degraded completely after 122 h. Different initial concentrations of phenol were added to minimal salts medium and the percentage of phenol degradation decreased as the phenol concentration increased. The optimum temperature for both bacterial strains, P. fluorescens and P. putida, is 35°C, with the maximum percentage of degradation occuring at pH 7. Glucose is the best carbon source as it increased the rate of biodegradation up to 80%. Ammonium nitrate is the best nitrogen source for P. fluorescens to degrade phenol, while ammonium chloride is the best source of nitrogen for degradation of phenol by P. putida. The study's results suggest that P. fluorescens and P. putida are capable of phenol degradation, and thus can be used for bioremediation of synthetic waste water containing phenol.

 Key words: Physicochemical factors, biodegradation, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas putida.


The current study aims to determine knowledge areas and cognitive process dimensions of the Revised Bloom Taxonomy of elementary school student acquisitions in the curriculum course unit of "The Substance and its Nature", as well as how the learning acquisitions are distributed across grade levels. The document review method, regarded to be one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The acquisitions in the course unit of "The Substance and its Nature" were analyzed according to the Revised Bloom's taxonomy. Accordingly, 52 acquisitions in the course unit of "The Substance and its Nature" were examined by the researchers. The reliability coefficient of the research data was determined as 0.73 which was considered to be enough for research reliability. The results of the study revealed that the most (35 learning acquisitions) acquisitions were emphasized in the conceptual knowledge dimension while the least acquisitions (1 item) was emphasized in the metacognitive knowledge dimension; the study also revealed that the most acquisitions (14 learning acquisitions) were emphasized in the application dimension while the least acquisitions (3 acquisitions) were emphasized in the analysis dimension. In addition, the study also concluded that the acquisitions levels did not display a homogeneous distribution according to grade levels, moreover that the acquisitions within higher-level knowledge dimensions that are to make students' learning more active were not focused enough in the curriculum.


In a recent article published in this journal, Henry Hansmann deals with the quality of higher education of the Italian university system. In this paper we reconsider Hansmann's proposals by taking into account the Italian institutional framework and the recent normative innovations. At present, the Ministry no longer has complete control over universities, as a large amount of autonomy has been already granted and the university faculty has a much stronger influence on the governing of individual universities. To complete the process of reform, what is now necessary is to pursue a more resolute deregulation of the sector, to increase the number of institutions, and to re-design the internal decisional structures. The State should act so as to transform State universities into non-profit institutions or even to favour the rise of autonomous regional university systems.


The aim of this paper is to make sense of cases of apparent nonsense in the writings of Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein. Against commentators such as C. Diamond and J. Conant, we argue that, in the case of Wittgenstein, recognising such a category of nonsense is necessary in order to understand the development of his thought. In the case of Kierkegaard, we argue against the view that the notion of the absolute paradox of the Christian incarnation is intended to be nonsensical. However, we recognize that Kierkegaard's discussion of Christianity uses a similar methodology to a Wittgensteinian grammatical investigation. We maintain that by making sense of their respective views on nonsense and paradox we are able more fully to appreciate their position on, and approaches to, ethics and religion


Charges on biological polymers in physiologically relevant solution conditions are strongly screened by water and salt solutions containing counter-ions. However, the entropy of these counterions can result in surprisingly strong interactions between charged objects in water despite short screening lengths, via coupling between osmotic and electrostatic interactions. Widespread work in theory, experiment, and computation has been carried out to gain a fundamental understanding of the rich, yet sometimes counterintuitive, behavior of these polyelectrolyte systems. Examples of polyelectrolyte association in biology include DNA packaging and RNA folding, as well as aggregation and self-organization phenomena in different disease states.


Advice is a mechanism, widely used in aspect-oriented languages, that allows one program component to augment or modify the behavior of other components. Advice is useful for modularizing concerns, including logging, error handling, and some optimizations, that would otherwise require code to be scattered throughout a system. When advice and other components are composed together they become tightly coupled, sharing both control and data flows. However this creates important problems: modular reasoning about a component becomes very difficult; and two tightly coupled components may interfere with the control and data flows of each other. This paper presents EffectiveAdvice, a disciplined model of advice, inspired by Aldrich's Open Modules, that has full support for effects in both base components and advice. With EffectiveAdvice, equivalence of advice, as well as base components, can be checked by equational reasoning. The paper describes an implementation of EffectiveAdvice as a Haskell library and shows how to use it to solve well-known programming problems. Advice is modeled by mixin inheritance and effects are modeled by monads. Interference patterns previously identified in the literature are expressed as combinators. Parametricity, together with the combinators, is used to prove two harmless advice theorems. The result is an effective model of advice that supports effects in both advice and base components, and allows these effects to be separated with strong noninterference guarantees, or merged as needed.


Direct estimations of turbulent fluxes and atmospheric stability were performed from a sonic anemometer at 50 m height on a meteorological mast at the Horns Rev wind farm in the North Sea. The stability and flux estimations from the sonic measurements are compared with bulk results from a cup anemometer at 15 m height and potential temperature differences between the water and the air above. Surface flux estimations from the advanced weather research and forecast (WRF) model are also validated against the sonic and bulk data. The correlation between the sonic and bulk estimates of friction velocity is high and the highest among all velocity comparisons. From the sonic–bulk–WRF inter-comparison, it is found that the atmospheric stability measures at the sonic height tend to be closer to the neutral value than the WRF and bulk estimates, which are performed within an air layer closer to the surface, not only from a systematic bulk and WRF under-prediction of the friction velocity when compared with the sonic value but also because of the lower magnitude of the sonic heat flux compared with that from the WRF simulations. Although they are not measured but parameterized or estimated, the bulk–WRF comparisons of friction velocity and 10 m wind speed show good agreement. It is also shown that on a long-term basis, the WRF and bulk estimates of stability are nearly equal and that a correction towards a slightly stable atmospheric condition has to be applied to the long-term wind profile at Horns Rev and at other locations over the North Sea, the correction being larger for points close to the coast. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Radio Frequency (RF) tomographic tracking is the process of tracking moving targets by analyzing changes of attenuation in wireless transmissions. This paper presents a novel sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) method for RF tomographic tracking of a single target using a wireless sensor network. The algorithm incorporates on-line Expectation Maximization (EM) to estimate model parameters. Based on experimental measurements, we introduce a new measurement model for the attenuation caused by a target. We assess performance through numerical simulation and demonstrate that it significantly outperforms previous RF tomographic tracking procedures.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether Connecticut's Medicaid high-dose beta 2-agonists (HDB) users (> 1 canister/mo) are receiving medications according to National Institutes of Health (NIH) asthma guidelines, and to compare healthcare utilization between HDB users and patients receiving no more than one canister of a short-acting beta 2-agonist per month.

METHODS
All Connecticut Medicaid pharmacy claims from April to December 1998 were examined. Subjects were included if they had an asthma diagnosis and were excluded if they had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The percentage of HDB users not receiving long-term-control medication; receiving low doses of a long-term-control medication; and receiving oral, nebulized, or long-acting beta 2-agonists was determined. Healthcare utilization between HDB users and patients receiving no more than one canister of a short-acting beta 2-agonist per month was also compared.

RESULTS
Of 1599 profiles included, 14% (n = 223) were HDB users. Twenty-five percent of these patients did not receive a long-term-control medication, and 35% received low doses of a long-term-control medication. Claims for oral, nebulized, and long-acting beta 2-agonists were submitted for 4%, 29%, and 22% of HDB users, respectively. More claims for short courses of oral corticosteroids were submitted for HDB users than for patients receiving no more than one canister of a short-acting beta 2-agonist per month (n = 1376) (1.99 +/- 3.60 vs. 0.39 +/- 1.07 mean +/- SD; p < 0.001). HDB users visited their physicians' offices an average of 4.72 +/- 24.08 times per month compared with an average of 2.40 +/- 14.4 office visits per month for patients receiving no more than one canister of a short-acting beta 2-agonist (p = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS
A high proportion of Connecticut's Medicaid HDB users are not receiving medications according to NIH guidelines. HDB users were significantly more likely to receive short courses of oral corticosteroids and required significantly more office visits than patients receiving no more than one canister of a short-acting beta 2-agonist per month. Intervention programs designed to improve adherence to the guidelines will be developed.


The lack of Chinese subjective lexicon in the study and application of the subjective and emotional information restricts the further development of subjectivity analysis of Chinese words. Based on the current situation of and demand for Chinese sentiment analysis, the method of automatically obtaining subjective lexicon from the target corpus is studied. A creation method of subjective lexicon is presented, the subjective lexicon and language model are defined, a self-adaptive subjectivity bootstrapping algorithm and the characteristic model of subjectivity attribute are designed, and all these lead to the realization of the automatic judgment of sentiment polarity, subjectivity intensity and the subjectivity and objectivity of a word in the subjectivity entry. Experiments prove that by using machine learning the proposed method of automatic creation of Chinese subjective lexicon is highly efficient and with excellent performance.


BACKGROUND
Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) may promote ovarian function recovery (OFR). True incidence, predictors and impact on the outcome of OFR are unknown.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We carried out a prospective study to assess ovarian function in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive BC patients on tamoxifen who had at least 2 years of chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea (CIA) and postmenopausal E2 levels. Patients switched to exemestane and underwent a series of investigations including vaginal ultrasound, antimullerian hormone, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and E2. E2 measurements were made using a clinical assay (direct) and a highly sensitive (indirect) immunoassay for comparison.

RESULTS
Both E2 assays (indirect versus direct) showed a similar incidence of OFR 32% (95% CI 19.5-44.5) versus 30% (95% CI 17.7-42.3) and median time to OFR 5.4 months (95% CI 1.2-9.6) versus 6.0 months (95% CI 4.8-7.1).On multivariate analysis, the mean age at the start of exemestane treatment was the only marker associated with probability of OFR (OR: 0.44, 0.24-0.78; P = 0.006). According to a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, age <48 years predicted for OFR (sensitivity: 59%; 1-specificity: 17%; AUC: 0.796; P = 0.001). Patients with OFR had higher mean E2 levels (43.6 versus 5.76 pmol/l; P = 0.001) and a reduced disease-free survival [DFS; HR 9.3 (95% CI 3.3-48.0; P = 0.04)] than those without it.

CONCLUSION
Even with a clinical and biochemical profile compatible with menopause, switching from tamoxifen to an AI should be avoided in patients <48 with CIA.


Recent software developments are reviewed from the vantage point of reproducible econometric research. We argue that the emergence of new tools, particularly in the open-source community, have greatly eased the burden of documenting and archiving both empirical and simulation work in econometrics. Some of these tools are highlighted in the discussion of three small replication exercises.


In molecular phylogenetic study, homogeneity of DNA sequences is a prerequisite before putting it into practice. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) has been common in phylogenetic study, but a homogenous sequence is often difficult to obtain. Here we use single-stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) method to detect homogeneity for nine pooled amplified products of ITS region. Our results suggested that SSCP method has been applicable in detection homogeneity of ITS region prior to using it in sequencing processes.


This poster presents a unified ecosystem for the documentation and teaching of dead languages at the Linguistics Research Center at UT Austin. It discusses how the lexicon, lesson plans, and texts from a variety of Indo-European languages are connected and used for research and teaching.

Most research in documenting and archiving languages over the past decade has focused on endangered languages (Himmelmann 1998, Bird & Simons 2003, Seifart et al. 2012). While some researchers are interested in determining the best methods for collecting, managing, and archiving data, others are concerned with ethical issues, revitalization, and teaching/learning small languages. This poster presentation offers an in-depth discussion of a very different kind of documentation project, one that focuses on Indo-European (IE) languages that have already gone extinct. In presenting ongoing research at the Linguistics Research Center (LRC) at the University of Texas at Austin (http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/) this talk aims to highlight specific issues arising from documenting languages that are no longer spoken (but which are partially documented by different types of resources).

Section 1 outlines the goals of the Indo-European archiving efforts at the LRC. Among other activities, the LRC currently focuses on the assembly and annotation of a significant IE Lexicon consisting of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) etyma (lexical roots) indexed using Carl Buck's (1949) semantic fields. The lexicon contains a wide array of reflexes in languages more modern than the original, with an emphasis on English words and their etymologies, which span thousands of years. Linguistic and Semantic indices provide complementary windows through which to view the information and explore the reconstruction and transmission of ancient, pre-literate culture.

Section 2 discusses the workflow of the LRC. First, it addresses problems in assembling the lexicon based on a wide variety of existing resources (print and manuscript form; e.g. Fick 1890; Pokorny 1959; Lehmann 1986, Watkins 2000). Specifically, it shows some sample PIE etyma, which exemplify the treatment of PIE phonemes. Next, we present how semantic fields index PIE roots by category and how they can be linked in the future to word uses in IE texts as well as lessons texts in the Early Indo-European OnLine (EIEOL) project. Finally, we discuss some issues related to producing electronic materials for extinct languages (character sets, indexing, formatting, meta-data).

Section 3 presents how the IE Lexicon dovetails with the lesson series contained in EIEOL (http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/) to provide a unified ecosystem for historical linguistic study, allowing users a point of entry at any stage of interest and expertise, beginner and specialist alike. Each series provides a complete introduction to the study of a particular ancient IE language, including original texts with word-by-word grammatical analyses and contextual translations, and accompanied by a complete glossary, a base-form dictionary, and an English meaning index. Each lesson in a series situates the language and text in its historical and cultural context. Finally, we highlight a number of valuable insights we have had while assembling online IE materials, which we hope are helpful for colleagues engaged in documenting yet living endangered languages.


We present computer simulations of three systems of randomly branching polymers in d = 3 dimensions: ideal trees and self-avoiding trees with annealed and quenched connectivities. In all cases, we performed a detailed analysis of trees connectivities, spatial conformations and statistical properties of linear paths on trees, and compare the results to the corresponding predictions of Flory theory. We confirm that, overall, the theory predicts correctly that trees with quenched ideal connectivity exhibit less overall swelling in good solvent than corresponding trees with annealed connectivity even though they are more strongly stretched on the path level. At the same time, we emphasize the inadequacy of the Flory theory in predicting the behaviour of other, and equally relevant, observables like contact probabilities between tree nodes. We show, then, that contact probabilities can be aptly characterized by introducing a novel critical exponent, θ path , which accounts for how they decay as a function of the node-to-node path distance on the tree.


Securing data is considered as a very challenging issue. The data that travels over the Internet could be modified, altered or stolen by hackers and spies. Steganography thus plays the role to secure the modern communication. Steganography hides the existence of the message. Therefore, this research paper presents a systematic review analysis on the existing techniques in text steganography. Based on the review made, the weaknesses and strengths of the methods have been identified. This paper can be used as a good reference and guidance for further studies on steganography.


Abstract Vibration analysis is widely used in machinery diagnostics and the Wigner–Ville distribution has also been implemented in many applications in the condition monitoring of machinery. In contrast to previous applications, this paper examines whether acoustic signal can be used effectively to detect the various local faults in gearboxes using the smoothed pseudo-Wigner–Ville distribution. Three types of progressing local faults, broken tooth, gear crack and localised wear, were simulated. The results from acoustic signals were compared with vibration signals. The results suggest that acoustic signals are very affective for the early detection of faults and may provide a powerful tool to indicate the various types of progressing faults in gearboxes.


OBJECTIVE
To test the impact of a novel psychosocial intervention to improve antidepressant adherence and depression outcomes among older adults prescribed pharmacotherapy by their primary care physician (PCP).

DESIGN
A randomized controlled pilot study was conducted to examine the usefulness of the Treatment Initiation and Participation (TIP) program as an intervention to improve antidepressant adherence and depression outcomes.

SETTING
The study was conducted at two primary care clinics in New York city: one clinic served geriatric adults and the second clinic served a diverse group of mixed aged adults.

PARTICIPANTS
The sample consisted of adults aged 60 years and older with major depression who were recommended antidepressant therapy by their PCPs.

INTERVENTION
All participants were prescribed antidepressant therapy and randomly assigned to either the intervention (TIP) or the treatment as usual (TAU) group. The TIP intervention identifies and targets psychological barriers to depression care, especially stigma, as well as fears and misconceptions of depression and its treatment. TIP participants are encouraged to develop a treatment goal and create an adherence strategy.

MEASUREMENT
Study participants were assessed at entry, 6, 12, and 24 weeks later. Adherence was measured based on self-report with chart verification. Depression severity was measured using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale.

RESULTS
Participants in TIP were significantly more adherent to their antidepressant pharmacotherapy at all assessment time points and had a significantly greater decrease in depressive symptoms than older adults who received TAU.

CONCLUSION
The results provide support for the usefulness of TIP as a brief intervention to improve adherence to depression medication treatment provided in primary care settings.


The establishment of new autonomous regions aims to develop regions and bring public services closer. The formulation of the problem in this article is how the concept of regulating the expansion of new autonomous regions, how to overcome the gap in rights and obligations between the parent district and the new city, and how the legal politics of the formation of a new autonomous region in the form of a city. The method used is a legal approach, a conceptual approach, and a case approach, with a qualitative descriptive analysis. The conclusions of this study are first, there are differences in the special allocations for the division of new provinces and new districts with new cities, and impose obligations on the parent region to provide part of the regional budget and release assets. Second, the solution to the gap in rights and obligations between the parent district and the new city, assets that are handed over to special allocation funds, are collaborated, and assets in need. to be compensated. Third, the legal politics of forming new autonomous regions in the form of cities with legal reforms from existing norms, in the form of arrangements for the transfer of assets belonging to the parent regency that is in the new autonomous regions, the special allocation funds must be handed over entirely, but only to the assets needed.


Binary phase polymer solution is interesting in that they expresses double-well local energy behavior, which means phase separation is preferred when condition is right. It is a feature that has been used to fabricate functional polymeric materials such as PDLC films for electro-optical devices (e.g. flat-panel displays and switchable windows). A uniformly mixed solution may be in one of three state: unstable, stable, or metastable. If the solution is unstable, then phase separation is spontaneous and proceeds by spinodal decomposition. If the solution is metastable, then the solution must overcome certain activation barrier for phase separation to proceed spontaneously. The activation barrier is usually the thermal noise or the fluctuation
created by some external influence. This mechanism is called nucleation-and-growth. Manipulating morphology of phase separation has been of some great research interest because of its practical use. While spinodal decomposition has been well-studied, there are several other methods to further control morphology. For this thesis, the following methods are considered: double quench, anisotropic quenching with varying temperature or polymerization, surface-directed wetting, and concentration gradient. The methods are carried out within metastable or unstable regions or both. To numerically model, Cahn-Hilliard theory and FloryHuggins' theory are used. This thesis is to also demonstrate that, present numerical method is very efficient and can work on complex geometry.


My research is concerned with 'explorable virtual worlds', usually those that are 'artworks', dealing with aesthetic and affective domains. Whilst developing theoretical enquiries I have come across a number of issues of terminology and word use. Particularly problematic are terms such as 'game', 'games', and 'play'. This paper is a broad survey of some of those issues and key theorists in the field.