Different types of variables seem to influence school safety and a pupil's feelings of safety at school. The research question asks which risk and promotive variables should be integrated in a theoretical model to predict a pupil's feelings of safety at school, in the school surroundings and at home; what the outcomes are of an empirical check of this model and how feelings of safety at school could be improved. A theoretical model is developed, which contains seven types of variables: personal, family related, school-related problematic behaviours, perceived school measures to improve safety, curriculum and social aspects of teaching–learning processes and of the school, and demographic variables. A large-scale empirical check of the model is carried out using data from national Internet-based surveys in Dutch secondary education. The monitoring took place in 2006 and 2008. A total of 159,630 pupils, 13,127 teachers and educational support staff, 1235 school leadership and 433 schools participated. Data reliability was checked by Alpha scale construction. The model was tested in three multiple regression analyses, to explain the pupils' feelings of safety at school, in the school surroundings and at home, respectively. Most relevant were characteristics and variables assessed with the pupils, followed by contextual variables of teachers and other staff. School leadership variables are important mainly with respect to pupils' feelings of safety in the school surroundings. Promotive variables that seem most promising in improving both safety and feelings of safety in and around school concern a number of elements. They include: enhancement of pupils' level of attainment, taking school measures against playing truant and to eliminate weapons, stimulating pro-social formulation and shared control of rules of conduct between teachers and pupils, paying attention to pupils' involvement in school, increasing the involvement of external institutions and the police in school safety procedures and increasing support in Dutch language for pupils in need of this.


Lightweight speech recognition models have seen explosive demands owing to a growing amount of speech-interactive features on mobile devices. Since designing such systems from scratch is non-trivial, practitioners typically choose to compress large (pre-trained) speech models. Recently, lottery ticket hypothesis reveals the existence of highly sparse subnetworks that can be trained in isolation without sacrificing the performance of the full models. In this paper, we investigate the tantalizing possibility of using lottery ticket hypothesis to discover lightweight speech recognition models, that are (1) robust to various noise existing in speech; (2) transferable to fit the open-world personalization; and 3) compatible with structured sparsity. We conducted extensive experiments on CNN-LSTM, RNNTransducer, and Transformer models, and verified the existence of highly sparse "winning tickets" that can match the full model performance across those backbones. We obtained winning tickets that have less than 20% of full model weights on all backbones, while the most lightweight one only keeps 4.4% weights. Those winning tickets generalize to structured sparsity with no performance loss, and transfer exceptionally from large source datasets to various target datasets. Perhaps most surprisingly, when the training utterances have high background noises, the winning tickets even substantially outperform the full models, showing the extra bonus of noise robustness by inducing sparsity. Codes are available at https://github.com/VITA-Group/Audio-Lottery.


Under the SNP, Scotland has sought to develop a reputation for itself as a renewables powerhouse and a counterweight to the perceived anti-green Conservative party in Westminster. From the 'Saudi Arabia of Renewables' to 'the land of food and drink', the last eight years have seen the development of a self-consciously Scottish environmental framework. This article is intended as a brief critique of the SNP's environmental record in government in both rhetorical and policy terms, looking not only at policy outcomes but the discursive limitations within which the Scottish Government has constrained itself. It argues that nationalist governance strategies are limited in their ability to fully deal with both local and global environmental challenges. It concludes that, although the SNP have a fair record on 'shallow' environmentalism, there is still no policy agenda present within the government to radically modernise Scotland in the way that is necessary to protect the environment and guarantee higher qualit...


The teaching hospitals and medical schools of London have a proud and honourable history, the eldest of them, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, extending back to Norman times, while the youngest of all (except the Royal Free Hospital), St. Mary's Hospital, has reached its centenary this year. This history, which, as its subtitle states, describes also a century of medical education, has been entrusted to the erudite and capable pen of Sir Zachary Cope. In increasing the reputation and teaching of the school, especially in surgery, he has played no small part. This is not apparent in the History itself, but some amends are made in the foreword by the Earl of Verulam, president of the medical school council, which pays a well-merited tribute to the author as a " loyal and devoted servant of the Hospital and of the Medical School." The early chapters of the book describe the rise and passing of the private medical schools and the system of medical apprenticeship. Sir Zachary tells how the new hospital and medical school in Paddington were founded to meet the needs of a rapidly increasing population. The succeeding chapters describe the triumphs and progress of the school, which under the capable administration of its deans-here a special chapter is given to the successful work of Lord Moran-has done so much for modern medical education. Half the book is devoted to short, illustrated biographies of the staff of the school. To name but a few, what a galaxy they are: Burdon Sanderson, Broadbent, the three Lanes, Pepper, Spilsbury, Willcox, Waller, Leonard Rogers, Charles Singer, Almroth Wright, Fleming, and Leonard Colebrook. They have not only made their school illustrious, but their discoveries have benefited medicine and mankind. The book is admirably produced. While fulfilling its purpose as a history of St. Mary's Hospital and School, it is also a valuable contribution to the history of medicine.


Cursorial central‐place foragers like ants are expected to minimize travel costs by choosing the least resistive pathways to food resources. Tropical arboreal and semi‐arboreal ants locomote over a variety of plant surfaces, and their choice of pathways is selective. We measured the roughness of tree trunk and liana stem surfaces using laser scanning technology, and explored its consequences for running speed in various ant taxa. The average amplitude of tree trunk surface roughness differed interspecifically, and ranged from 1.4–2.2 mm among three common tree species (Anacardium excelsum, Alseis blackiana, and Dipteryx panamensis). The roughness of liana stems also varied interspecifically (among Tontelea ovalifolia, Bauhinia sp. and Paullinia sp.) and was an order of magnitude lower than tree surface roughness (mean amplitude ranged 0.09–0.19 mm). Field observations of various ant species foraging on tree trunks and liana stems, and on dowels covered with sandpaper, showed that their running speed declined with increasing amplitude of roughness. The effect of roughness on running speed was strongest for mid‐sized ants (Azteca trigona and Dolichoderus bispinosus). The accumulation rate of ants at baits did not vary with tree surface roughness, but was significantly lower on moss‐covered versus moss‐free bark. Collectively, these results indicate that the quality of plant substrates can influence the foraging patterns of arboreal ants, but likely is more important for resource discovery than for dominance on bare tree surfaces.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions


Aseptic loosening in total hip arthroplasty remains a significant barrier to long-term implant survival. Improvements in surgical technique, designs, and biomaterials over the past three decades have improved loosening rates from an initial 30 to 40% at 10 years to present rates of 3% (femur) and less than 5% (acetabulum) at 10 years. Refinement of cement technique has made noted improvements in survivability of femoral cemented stems but little difference in cemented acetabular components. Long-term outcome of well-cemented femoral stems has been an established benchmark, but is rivaled, and in some cases surpassed, by the success of cementless designs in fixation. Recognition of circumstances that may accelerate the wear process, thus facilitating progressive lysis and eventual loosening, requires a keen consideration of materials, implant orientation, patient activity, and adequate clinical observation. Radiolucency is variable and provides evidence of potential loosening. Pain in the groin region or anterior thigh aggravated with weight bearing remains the most reliable clinical indicator. Change in component position or apparent migration from one consistent radiographic study to another signifies definitive evidence of loosening.


Structural matrix-variate observations routinely arise in diverse fields such as multi-layer network analysis and brain image clustering. While data of this type have been extensively investigated with fruitful outcomes being delivered, the fundamental questions like its statistical optimality and computational limit are largely under-explored. In this paper, we propose a low-rank Gaussian mixture model (LrMM) assuming each matrix-valued observation has a planted low-rank structure. Minimax lower bounds for estimating the underlying low-rank matrix are established allowing a whole range of sample sizes and signal strength. Under a minimal condition on signal strength, referred to as the information-theoretical limit or statistical limit, we prove the minimax optimality of a maximum likelihood estimator which, in general, is computationally infeasible. If the signal is stronger than a certain threshold, called the computational limit, we design a computationally fast estimator based on spectral aggregation and demonstrate its minimax optimality. Moreover, when the signal strength is smaller than the computational limit, we provide evidences based on the low-degree likelihood ratio framework to claim that no polynomial-time algorithm can consistently recover the underlying low-rank matrix. Our results reveal multiple phase transitions in the minimax error rates and the statistical-to-computational gap. Numerical experiments confirm our theoretical findings. We further showcase the merit of our spectral aggregation method on the worldwide food trading dataset.


Precise near-ground trajectory control is difficult for multi-rotor drones, due to the complex aerodynamic effects caused by interactions between multi-rotor airflow and the environment. Conventional control methods often fail to properly account for these complex effects and fall short in accomplishing smooth landing. In this paper, we present a novel deep-learning-based robust nonlinear controller (Neural-Lander) that improves control performance of a quadrotor during landing. Our approach combines a nominal dynamics model with a Deep Neural Network (DNN) that learns high-order interactions. We apply spectral normalization (SN) to constrain the Lipschitz constant of the DNN. Leveraging this Lipschitz property, we design a nonlinear feedback linearization controller using the learned model and prove system stability with disturbance rejection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first DNN-based nonlinear feedback controller with stability guarantees that can utilize arbitrarily large neural nets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed controller significantly outperforms a Baseline Nonlinear Tracking Controller in both landing and cross-table trajectory tracking cases. We also empirically show that the DNN generalizes well to unseen data outside the training domain.


We develop a graph theoretic approach to study topological properties of power smart networks based on the information available into the Network Topology Processor (NTP) which is a module of the Energy Management System (EMS). The NTP module continuously retains and updates electrical system topological information such as node-branch network connectivity, open-ended lines and transformers. We use this information to study two structural properties: the robustness and the connectivity. We explicitly quantify the robustness of the system and identify strongly connected subnetworks. The topological information deduced in this paper is useful for network security assessment of the system. The capabilities of the proposed approach are illustrated on one large scale network. Others topological properties could be studied based on this formulation.


Timekeeping is an essential activity in the modern world, and we take it for granted that our lives are shaped by the hours of the day. Yet what seems so ordinary today is actually the extraordinary outcome of centuries of technical innovation and circulation of ideas about time. Shaping the Day is a pathbreaking study of the practice of timekeeping in England and Wales between 1300 and 1800. Drawing on many unique historical sources, ranging from personal diaries to housekeeping manuals, Paul Glennie and Nigel Thrift illustrate how a particular kind of common sense about time came into being, and how it developed during this period. Many remarkable figures make their appearance, ranging from the well-known, such as Edmund Halley, Samuel Pepys, and John Harrison, who solved the problem of longitude, to less familiar characters, including sailors, gamblers, and burglars. Overturning many common perceptions of the past-for example, that clock time and the industrial revolution were intimately related-this unique historical study will engage all readers interested in how 'telling the time' has come to dominate our way of life.... Download ebook, read file pdf A History of Timekeeping in England and Wales 1300-1800


Seed circulation among farmers, which is embedded in composite social networks, is a key process in the dynamics of seed systems that shape crop diversity. We analyzed the daily circulation of biological objects, i.e., cultivated plants (31 species, 284 landraces), within a community of first-generation migrants (16 households, 30 persons) living on the island of Vanua Lava in the South Pacific archipelago nation of Vanuatu. By combining participant observation, ethnobiological inventories, and social network analysis, we investigated how farmer social status and plant biocultural value affect plant circulation. Plant biocultural value was estimated by referring to their local classification according to uses, cultivation practices, growing environments, and biological properties. An aggregate plant circulation network (577 events) and three subnetworks (i.e., for starchy, side dish, or snack food categories) sharing the same 30 nodes were analyzed using exponential random graph models. Evidence that farmer social status influences the patterns of plant circulation was found through the distribution of structural parameters of the network, including: dyadic reciprocity; in-degree, out-degree, and their correlation; triadic cycling; and transitivity. At the scale of the aggregate network, direct or indirect reciprocity was not observed. Instead, a high out-degree (i.e., being a more frequent giver) and a negative correlation between in-degree and out-degree both confer prestige and reinforce hierarchy. These results suggest that some of the social dynamics of the Melanesian-type Big Man political system may persist, even though the system itself no longer exists in traditional form. Moreover, based on our comparative analysis of the three subnetworks, farmer social status appears to influence greatly the circulation of plants with high biocultural value while having little influence on plants with low biocultural value. Farmer social status and plant biocultural value (following their local classification) are important factors for understanding the social rules shaping seed circulation. (Resume d'auteur)


: Sustainability has been increasingly recognised as an integral part of highway infrastructure development. In practice however, the fact that financial return is still a project's top priority for many, environmental aspects tend to be overlooked or considered as a burden, as they add to project costs. Sustainability and its implications have a far-reaching effect on each project over time. Therefore, with highway infrastructure's long-term life span and huge capital demand, the consideration of environmental cost/ benefit issues is more crucial in life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). To date, there is little in existing literature studies on viable estimation methods for environmental costs. This situation presents the potential for focused studies on environmental costs and issues in the context of life-cycle cost analysis. This paper discusses a research project which aims to integrate the environmental cost elements and issues into a conceptual framework for life cycle costing analysis for highway projects. Cost elements and issues concerning the environment were first identified through literature. Through questionnaires, these environmental cost elements will be validated by practitioners before their consolidation into the extension of existing and worked models of life-cycle costing analysis (LCCA). A holistic decision support framework is being developed to assist highway infrastructure stakeholders to evaluate their investment decision. This will generate financial returns while maximising environmental benefits and sustainability outcome.


Introduction/Purpose Major ipsilateral ischemic stroke have been reported to range between 1.6%–4.3%1,2 after flow diverter treatment. Patient-specific contributors to peri-procedural thromboembolic complications remain under investigation. Beyond understanding and correcting patient-specific factors, we seek device technology to decrease these unpredictable complications. By using high resolution intravascular imaging tool (optical coherence tomography – OCT) we sought to determine the rate of acute micro-clot formation on the surface of different flow diverters. Furthermore, we assessed the consequences of angioplasty (after FD implant) with respect to acute clot formation. We hypothesize that a new generation phosphoryl-choline surface modified flow diverter may reduce acute clot formation on the surface of the device. Materials and methods Thirty elastase induced aneurysms were created in rabbits and treated with 3 different types of flow diverters. Classic Pipeline (C-PED), Pipeline-Flex with Shield Technology (S-PED) and FRED devices were implanted in 10 animals in each group. Four days prior to implant animals received dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT: 10 mg/kg aspirin and clopidogrel) and that was continued until the end of the study (30 days). OCT (Dragonfly, St Jude) was used to assess the acute clot formation on the surface of devices, after deployment, and repeated 20 min after angioplasty (Figure). Thrombus formation was analyzed and scored by looking at 3 different locations along the implant. In addition, clot formation at the origins of covered side branches (OSB) was separately scored. Results At the origin of side branches, the S-PED showed a significantly less amount of clot formation both pre- and post-angioplasty (10% and 20%, versus C-PED: 40% and 60% and FRED: 60% and 90%, respectively, p=0.0065). At the 3 other locations (OSB not included): the distal end of the device, proximal end (including the level of the aneurysm) and the location between the aneurysm and the vertebral artery there was no difference in clot formation between the 3 devices immediately after deployment. However, following angioplasty of the devices, a decrease of clot formation was seen only in the S-PED group versus an increase as expected with the other devices (S-PED: 20% decrease, C-PED: 30% increase, FRED: 20% increase). Abstract O-012 Figure 1 Presence of clot formation at the origin of the internal thoracic artery (*) and diffuse clot along the surface of the device (**) Conclusion Our preliminary study supported our hypothesis that using phosphoryl-choline surface modified flow diverter can be useful to decrease the occurrence of micro-clot formation, especially post-angioplasty. Importantly, S-PED reduced clot formation at the origin of covered side-branches. References . AJNR 2015;36:98–107. . J. Neurosurg 2016;1–6. Disclosures M. Marosfoi: None. F. Clarençon: None. E. Langan: None. R. King: None. O. Brooks: None. T. Tamura: None. M. Gounis: 1; C; Medtronic Neurovascular. A. Puri: 1; C; Medtronic Neurovascular.


The goal of regular modification of threshing machine is to increase soybean processing efficiency. This study was carried out to deconstruct the thresher's parameter - output relationship and to evolve a model for such relationship at the Engineering workshop of the Federal College of Agriculture, Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria. Unthreshed soybeans, CGX14x1448 were used to evaluate the performance of a modified spike tooth thresher fabricated at the Workshop. The summary statistics of the machine output showed that concave clearance had percentage unthreshed soybean of 16.98%, percentage mechanically damaged seed of 8.625%, blown seed of 23.403kg and high seed loss of 44.241kg. Both the mean cleaning efficiency (94.175) and threshing efficiency (83.022) were very high. The trend of the cylinder speed however contrasts with those of concave clearance and moisture content. The percentage unthreshed (83.212%), percentage mechanical damage (16.792%) were in contrast to each other. Similarly, the threshing (44.108) and cleaning (23.321) efficiency were low. The relationships between cylinder speed and machine output showed an increasing trends for blown seed, percentage damaged seed and seed loss. Concave clearance - threshing efficiency can be predicted using 3 most parsimonious models (xy-inverse, exponential and simple linear model). High adjusted coefficients of determinations (R2) were obtained for the best model of cylinder speed - threshing efficiency model. These were 0.9997 for the xy inverse and 0.9998 for quadratic 0.993 for exponential model with estimation variance of 0.00047 (quadratic), 0.000 for inverse xy and 0.000191 (exponential model). The practical application of the models is in the specificity of the measurement of the relationship between thresher's parameters and output.


Background and purpose: Drug interaction (DI) decreases the success rate of treatments and lead to longer hospitalization and increased treatment cost. Also, it can seriously endanger patient's lives or cause many complications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and management of drug interactions in neonatal intensive critical care unit (NICU) in a teaching hospital. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in 50 neonates admitted to Sari Bu-Ali Sina NICU, 2013-2014. Patients' data and parameters related to drugs were recorded. Results: Drug interactions were observed in 21 patients. From 1131 prescriptions DIs appeared in 386 cases. The mean number of DIs in each neonate was 3.5±1.6 and most of them occurred in patients concurrently receiving 5 to 10 drugs per day. Conclusion: The majority of neonates in NICU have critical conditions and need multiple therapies so it is necessary to conduct some interventions such as determination of serum concentration, dose adjustment and laboratory parameters monitoring.


Track coalescence is a phenomenon that occurs in multi-target tracking applications where certain types of manoeuvres performed simultaneously by several targets can utterly confuse algorithms that track their positions. In its simplest form, the phenomenon occurs when two similar objects, initially well separated, get close to each other and follow similar manoeuvres for a period of time sufficient to confound the tracking algorithm so that when the objects finally depart from each other the tracking algorithm is prone to provide erroneous estimates. This two-target track coalescence is discussed in this paper with the focus on the compound coalescence, when two identical tracks follow the midpoint of two well separated targets. First, the problem is illustrated on a classic problem of tracking two targets manoeuvring in a clutter, which is modeled as a nonlinear stochastic system. It is shown how, otherwise accurate and precise, estimates obtained by a standard particle filter eventually collapse leading to the coalescence of tracks. The phenomenon is given theoretical explanation by the analysis of Bayesian update operator acting on L2-space of probability densities that reveals that the coalescence is an unavoidable consequence of the probabilistic mixing between distributions describing positions of two targets. Finally, the practical consequences of these theoretical results are discussed together with potential approaches to deal with track coalescence in real applications.


Football has become much more than a simple game over the past hundred years. Football has become a factor in global policy, affecting not only the minds and souls of hundreds of millions of fans, but also the political, economic, and social aspects of modern life. This interview with M. Prozumshchikov, the leading researcher of Russian sports and one of the editors of the collection of documents revealed from the Russian State Archive of Recent History, was invited to talk about the creation of the Soviet system of party control over big sport (and, above all, over football), about the views of the leaders of the USSR on the possibility of using football for ideological purposes, and about the role of the Soviet state in the support and development of the mass football movement. The issues of the archival system of documents on sports in the USSR were also touched upon. At the very beginning, the history of the rise of a line of publications dedicated to sport mega-events involving Soviet athletes such as the 1980 Summer Olympics, the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, and big football matches was discussed. Furthermore, the researcher talked about the difficulties associated with finding relevant documents about Soviet sport in the existing archival landscape of modern Russia. The main part of the conversation was devoted to the structural problems of national sport, beginning with the early USSR and ending with the disintegration of the state sport system under M. Gorbachev. The most important problems of the sports movement in the Soviet Union, such as the internationalization of Soviet sport, in general, and the sport relations with the countries of the Socialist Block, in particular, as well as the balance of power between the Central Committee and the Sports Committee and other significant actors of this field, the trivial nationalism in the bleachers at the Soviet stadiums, and other topics were also discussed. The interview ends with a discussion of the prospects for historical sports research.


The documentary-realist tradition has long been acknowledged to be Britain's outstanding contribution to film. However, realism can be limiting as it is impossible in a single short film to show everything. Documentary film makers have to be selective about how they represent their subjects and what is included in and, perhaps more importantly, excluded from the final version. Viewers tend to be unaware of such inherent biases, particularly when the film has the imprimatur of an institution such as the BBC. A typical example of this phenomenon is Minders, a compelling series of self contained, fly on the wall documentaries about a community mental health team based in Battersea, south London.

The best, most provocative, and also most tendentious of the opening three programmes was the first—"Whose mind is it anyway?"—in which a young black Ghanaian man was compulsorily admitted to hospital and treated under section 2 of the Mental Health Act. When we first meet John Baptist, formerly Philip, …


Fourteen male patients examined for a prolonged partial thromboplastin time were found to have the lupus anticoagulant. In contrast to previous reports, there was no increased incidence of false-positive results of serological tests for syphilis. In only two patients was systemic lupus erythematosus confirmed, although two additional patients had a positive result of a test for antinuclear antibody. Other clinical diagnoses included peripheral vascular disease, cardiac disease, pulmonary disease, and schizophrenia. Prothrombin times were distinctly abnormal in only two patients. Bleeding was rarely encountered in these patients, including ten who underwent surgical procedures or some type of hemostatic challenge. Thrombocytopenia was not associated with bleeding but was present in two patients who had thrombotic events.


The Mosque of Cordoba signifies the growth of Islamic Architecture in the Iberian Peninsula, due to the execution of new structural systems and large scale construction. However, the possibly of preoccupants of the Iberian Peninsula majorly influencing the construction of the structure seems to be neglected in research by academics. If a more in depth analysis of the site was done, iriformation on past cultures could surface and provide more knowledge on their architectural techniques and practices. This inquiry arouse after reviewing numerous books and articles on the mosque of Cordoba and past societies of the Iberian Peninsula, leading to more extensive research over their cultural and architectural styles. The findings of that research has led to the conclusion that the Mosque of Cordoba's building structure is Pre-Islamic and should be reviewed to find out more about who built the original structure, how they did it, and for what purpose was it built.


As semiconductor processing requirements evolve to meet the demands of decreasing geometries, new approached in plasma metrology will be needed to monitor the performances of the equipment and its processes. This performance has traditionally been monitored via Statistical Process Control (SPC) on output parameters such as etch rate and uniformity. These measurements are typically taken on single film wafers which may not be an accurate representation of product. With emerging, nonintrusive, RF sensor technology, equipment and process engineers have access to signals which provide better resolution in determining the health of the equipment. This paper will discuss the relationships between machine settings, real-time RF sensor measurements and the etch rate and uniformity metrics typically used in machine/process qualifications. Run to run control algorithms using the RF sensor measurements will also be presented. Finally, the implications of using RF sensor measurements to provide real-time closed loop control of machine settings will be discussed.


Data regarding the prevalence of fungal infections in Vietnam are limited yet they are likely to occur more frequently as increasingly sophisticated healthcare creates more iatrogenic risk factors. In this study, we sought to estimate baseline incidence and prevalence of selected serious fungal infections for the year 2012. We made estimates with a previously described actuarial method, using reports on the incidence and prevalence of various established risk factors for fungal infections from Vietnam, or similar environments, supplemented by personal communications. Global data were used if local data were unavailable. We estimated 2 352 748 episodes of serious fungal infection occurred in Vietnam in 2012. Frequent conditions included recurrent vaginal candidiasis (3893/100 000 women annually), tinea capitis (457/100 000 annually) and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (61/100 000/5 year period). We estimated 140 cases of cryptococcal meningitis, 206 of penicilliosis and 608 of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia. This is the first summary of Vietnamese fungal infections. The majority of severe disease is due to Aspergillus species, driven by the high prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis. The AIDS epidemic highlights opportunistic infections, such as penicilliosis and cryptococcosis, which may complicate immunosuppressive treatments. These estimates provide a useful indication of disease prevalence to inform future research and resource allocation but should be verified by further epidemiological approaches.


Symbolic execution can be an effective technique for exploring large numbers of program paths, but it has generally been applied to programs running in isolation, whose inputs are files or command-line arguments. Programs that take inputs from other programs—servers, for example—have been beyond the reach of symbolic execution. To address this, we developed a multiprocess symbolic executor called MultiOtter, along with an implementation of many of the POSIX functions, such as socket and select, that interactive programs usually rely on. However, that is just a first step. Next, we must determine what symbolic inputs to feed to an interactive program to make multiprocess symbolic execution effective. Providing completely unconstrained symbolic values causes symbolic execution to spend too much time exploring uninteresting paths, such as paths to handle invalid inputs. MultiOtter allows us to generate inputs that conform to a context-free grammar, similar to previous work, but it also enables new input generation capabilities because we can now run arbitrary programs concurrently with the program being studied. As examples, we symbolically executed a key-value store server, redis, and an FTP server, vsftpd, each with a variety of inputs, including symbolic versions of tests from redis's test suite and wget as a client for vsftpd. We report the coverage provided by symbolic execution with various forms of symbolic input, showing that different testing goals require different degrees of symbolic inputs.


OBJECTIVES
Not so many years ago, the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting used to reach 40% to 50%. More recent publications indicate that this complication still reaches considerable frequency: 20 to 30%. The present study had the objective of evaluating the impact of oral administration of ondansetron on the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting among patients submitted to general anesthesia.

METHODS
This was a prospective, randomized, controlled, double-blind study. It included 178 patients divided into two groups: Ondansetron (n = 89) and Placebo (n = 89). Fast-dissolving oral tablets specially prepared for this study were utilized. The medication was administered between 60 and 30 minutes before anesthesia was induced. Factors with possible influence on the event were noted down, such as gender, age, history of dyskinesia or postoperative nausea and vomiting, smoking, type of surgery, body mass index, reversal of neuromuscular blockade using neostigmine, and the severity of postoperative pain.

RESULTS
There was no significant difference between the characteristics of the groups regarding the factors annotated, except in relation to smoking and body mass index, which were greater in the Placebo group. These factors did not interfere in the analysis of the results. Postoperative nausea and vomiting were observed in 23 patients (26%) of the Ondansetron group and 38 patients (43%) of the Placebo group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Ondansetron, 16 mg orally, administered before the operation significantly reduced the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting. The simplicity of administration and low cost of this presentation justify the choice of this administration route.


With approximately 2000 species, tribe Cariceae (Cyperaceae) comprises a morphologically distinctive cosmopolitan clade, with holocentric chromosomes (N = 6 to 56), complex biogeographical patterns, and habitat diversity ranging from rainforests to deserts. Such a remarkable combination of characteristics should make Cariceae an ideal model for studying the evolution of biodiversity, although they also obscure their relationships in Cyperaceae, complicating attempts to identify the contributing factors to diversity of Cariceae. Recent molecular studies place Cariceae in a strongly supported clade consisting of tribes Dulichieae, Scirpeae s.s, and the enigmatic monotypic genus Khaosokia, although relationships in this clade are unresolved. Using the plastid genes matK and ndhF and a greatly improved taxonomic sampling covering 16 of 17 genera and 55% of the species outside Cariceae, our analyses firmly position Dulichieae and Khaosokia (79% and 85% bootstrap support) as successive sisters to a clade consisting of five major lineages (Calliscirpus, Trichophorum + Oreobolopsis + Cypringlea, Cariceae, Scirpus + Eriophorum, and Amphiscirpus + Phylloscirpus + Zameioscirpus), the first four of which receive good to strong support (> 80% bootstrap support). Cariceae are sister to the Trichophorum clade, although topological tests cannot exclude either Calliscirpus or a Scirpus clade + Zameioscirpus clade as sister to the tribe. Trichophorum appears to be paraphyletic and Eriophorum is firmly nested in Scirpus. There appears to be a trend in the increase of chromosome numbers in Scirpus and Eriophorum and a trend in the reduction and proliferation of the inflorescence throughout the major Cariceae-Dulichieae-Scirpeae clades. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 176, 1–21.


Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis are strongly associated with periodontitis. However, little is known about their distribution in periodontally healthy individuals, because culturing techniques are not sufficiently sensitive. A modified multiplex PCR was developed to address that question. Our method uses two species-specific forward primers in combination with a single reverse primer. These primers target variable and conserved regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Sensitivity was determined by testing serial dilutions of A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis cells. Primer specificity was tested against (i) six A. actinomycetemcomitans strains and four P. gingivalis strains, (ii) seven different species of oral bacteria, and (iii) supra- and subgingival plaque from 20 subjects. The multiplex PCR had a lower limit of detection of 2 A. actinomycetemcomitans and 30 P. gingivalis cells. Species-specific amplicons were obtained for all A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis strains tested and did not occur with seven other bacterial species unless A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis were added. Neither target species was detected in supragingival plaque; A. actinomycetemcomitans was detected in one subgingival specimen, and P. gingivalis was detected in another. When plaque samples were spiked with 10 A. actinomycetemcomitans cells and 100 P. gingivalis cells, species-specific amplicons were detected. These findings show our multiplex PCR to be highly sensitive and specific while allowing simultaneous detection of A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis. This assay has potential applications in epidemiological studies, diagnosis, treatment planning, and monitoring of periodontal pathogens.


This study examines the evolution of the impact of e-business technology on operational competence
and profitability using a panel dataset of 154 Spanish firms. We find that: (1) E-business technology
has a positive effect on operational competence that decreases over time; and (2) the firm's proficiency
in exploiting a portfolio of operational capabilities has a positive impact on profitability that becomes
more significant over time. The findings provide some insights on how the initial and subsequent IT
investments affect operational competence and profitability over time. This study illustrates
methodologically how to perform a partial least squares estimation using panel data.


ABSTRACT Previous research has shown that exchanges of support within social networks reduce the loneliness of older adults. However, there is no consistent evidence on how types of support (instrumental and emotional) and the direction of that support (giving and receiving) are related to loneliness, and whether the effects are culture-specific. The aim of this study was to investigate support exchanges and their effects on loneliness in Spain and the Netherlands. We suggest that cultural differences, such as more interdependent cultural values in Southern Europe and more independence-related values in Northern Europe, influence social realities such as the social support exchanged. In Spain relationships with family members are determined by mutual obligations; older people expect to receive instrumental support from them. However, in Northern Europe independence is highly valued and intimacy and closeness are shown primarily by confiding about personal matters. This paper examined data from two comparable surveys, one in Spain (N=646) and one in the Netherlands (N=656). Older adults in Spain provide for, and receive, high amounts of instrumental support and this proved to be a protective factor against loneliness. An alternative pattern was found in the Netherlands where respondents provided more and received more emotional support than Spanish older adults; emotional support is a protective factor in the Netherlands (but only for support received).


In this study, an interfacial spring element model with random defects was constructed based on the four-phase material model of concrete, which consists of aggregate, matrix, interfacial transition zone (ITZ), and initial defects distributing randomly within the ITZ. The ITZ is modeled by linear spring element of zero length. Simulation of concrete strength under uniaxial tension yielded numerical results that are consistent with reliable experimental data, thus proving that the model is reasonable and applicable. Then, the model was employed to analyze the influence of random initial defects on concrete strength. Results showed that increased initial defects in ITZ leads to a linear decrease in tensile strength of the concrete. Compared with the strength of concrete without initial defects, that of concrete with initial defects equal to 60 % of ITZ elements decreased by about 40%. Based on these results, this study recommends that the fraction of initial defects should be 30 % when using the proposed model to predict uniaxial tensile strength of normal-strength concrete.


Seasonal changes in the assimilation energy of Neptunea arthritica in Usu Bay, Hokkaido were examined. In adults, energy directed to growth was largest in summer, and energy accumulated as reproductive output was largest in autumn. The assimilation energy levels that sustained metabolism during those periods were considerably higher than during winter and spring. The assimilation energy levels in immature individuals showed less variation than in adults.Net growth efficiency exhibited a convex curve with a peak (49.4%) at 2 years old. In both males and females, the proportion of assimilation energy utilized for reproductive output increased with age. The proportion of investment in females was 3 to 6 times that of males, owing to the production of egg capsules. The production efficiency of adults remained relatively constant at 35 to 40%, except for 5 years male, which showed 25.0%.


Starting in 2017, all state and federal health insurance exchanges will present quality data on health plans in addition to cost information. We analyzed variations in the current design of information on state exchanges to identify presentation approaches that encourage consumers to take quality as well as cost into account when selecting a health plan. Using an online sample of 1,025 adults, we randomly assigned participants to view the same comparative information on health plans, displayed in different ways. We found that consumers were much more likely to select a high-value plan when cost information was summarized instead of detailed, when quality stars were displayed adjacent to cost information, when consumers understood that quality stars signified the quality of medical care, and when high-value plans were highlighted with a check mark or blue ribbon. These approaches, which were equally effective for participants with higher and lower numeracy, can inform the development of future displays of plan information in the exchanges.


Purpose: In South Africa, little is known how HIV prevention education is implemented in schools for learners with disabilities. This article reports on findings from a study exploring the extent to which HIV education is reached to people with disabilities in South Africa, and the challenges faced by educators providing HIV prevention education to learners with disabilities. Method: A survey questionnaire completed by 34 schools for learners with special education needs in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Additional complimentary data were collected through interviews with a total of 21 members of staff at schools for learners with disabilities. Results: Respondents recognise the importance of providing HIV prevention education for people with disabilities. Staff reports some challenges in providing HIV prevention education: barriers to communication; discomfort about issues of sexuality and disability; disagreements among staff about what is appropriate content for sexual health education; and fears of promoting sexual activity. Conclusions: There is a need for HIV prevention education to be specifically customized to the needs of the specific population. A general programme, which is included as part of a general curriculum and generally tailored to "mainstream" schools, would need to be adapted according to specific needs and disabling barriers faced. Implications for Rehabilitation People with disabilities are often excluded from general HIV prevention education. HIV prevention information needs to come in formats that are accessible to people with different types of disabilities, for example, information in Braille, sign language interpretation or accessible to people with learning disabilities. This study has also highlighted the importance of supporting those people tasked with providing sexual health education, in managing the anxiety they may have about disability and sexuality.


Micromachine technologies based on IC-compatible micromachining have advantages denoted by three "M's'. Miniaturization is the most popular but Multiplicity, which means the batch fabrication capability of many complicated elements, and Microelectronics to control motions or to add different functions such as the optical function are equally important. This paper deals with the application of micromachine technologies to micro optical devices. A basic concept making the best use of the advantages is proposed. Recent examples of optical microelectromechanical systems(MEMS) are reviewed.


Concerning the public discussion on animal experiments using primates, various research fields are demonstrated where non-human primates are necessary for certain scientific reasons at this time. Non-human Primates are used in Germany mainly in regulatory toxicology and pharmaceutical safety studies.A small amount is disposed in different fields of biological or biomedical basic research. This includes in particular neurosciences and infection research. 2006 New and Old World monkeys were needed in Germany in 2005. No chimpanzees are used anymore as laboratory animals in Germany since many years. Several examples are presented to demonstrate that certain research fields need non-human primates as laboratory animals in the foreseeable future.


Health technology The study examined five treatments for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). These comprised symptomatic management (physical therapy and pharmacological treatment for symptom management) alone, or symptomatic management supplemented by four alternative immunomodulatory therapies. The immunomodulatory therapies were subcutaneous (SC) glatiramer acetate (GA) and three beta-interferons (IFNs), specifically, intramuscular (IM) IFN beta-1a, SC IFN beta-1a and SC IFN beta-1b.


This conference was devoted to fundamental questions raised by quantum mechanics, especially in quantum information theory. As has become customary in our series of conference in Vaxjo, we were glad to welcome a fruitful assembly of theoretical physicists, experimentalists, mathematicians and even philosophers interested in the foundations of probability and physics. This conference belongs to the series of Vaxjo conferences in foundations of quantum mechanics (especially probabilistic foundations) combined of two subseries, Foundations of Probability and Physics: 2000, 02, 04, 06, 08, and Quantum Theory: Reconsideration of Foundations: 2001, 03, 05, 07. We also mention the first Vaxjo conference: Bohmian mechanics 2000. This is definitely the longest series of conferences on foundations in the history of quantum mechanics.


The paper discusses an emerging suite of machine intelligence services that are of increasing importance in the highly instrumented world of the Internet of Things (IoT). The suite, called Eugene, would offer a form of intelligent behavior (based on deep neural networks) to otherwise simple embedded devices; the clients of the service. These devices would benefit from service resources to learn from data and to perform intelligent inference, classification, prediction, and estimation tasks that they are too limited to carry out on their own. The paper discusses the taxonomy of such services and the state of implementation, as well as the various challenges entailed, including scheduling, caching (of intelligent functions), and cooperative learning.


Replacing fossil fuel with solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is critical to the transition to renewable energy and thus a key feature of the contentious and often confusing policy debates surrounding climate change. Governments can frame such environmental issues in various ways, but consensus is lacking on whether economic or environmental benefits most effectively encourage pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, such as supporting PV technology. In this study, we introduce a moderator—psychological distance between citizens and policy outcomes—to elaborate this relation. Based on the federalism literature, we suggest that different levels of government, as the policy implementers, represent a sense of distance. The construal level theory (CLT) is adopted, and we hypothesize that the congruency between psychological distance and the construal level of policy outcomes will increase policy support and willingness to pay for solar PV installation. The results of survey experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) offer partial support for our theoretical expectations and add new insights. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.


Electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) nucleation and growth on titanium substrates from acidic manganese sulfate solutions was studied at 65oC and 90oC at different potentials and sulfuric acid concentrations. Electrochemical experiments allied to SEM examination were performed to characterize the mechanism of nucleation and its evolution with time. The EMD powder produced after a constant charge electrolysis of 448 mA·h was analyzed by SEM, BET, DTA/TG and X-ray diffraction. Results indicated that depending on the experimental conditions nucleation can be either progressive or instantaneous and when three-dimensional nuclei were formed the manganese dioxide deposit presented a higher specific surface area. Surface areas ranging from 51.8 to 168.8 m2/g were obtained under the conditions tested.


We demonstrate learning in a neuromorphic recurrent attractor network distributed onto two VLSI chips. On a monitor we present some stimuli which are input to the network through the neuromorphic retina. Stimulation induces modification in the synaptic weights up to the point in which the selective reverberant states of activity are supported in the absence of stimulus. The network activity and the evolution of the synaptic matrix are monitored during learning. The visitor can draw his/her own stimuli, he/she can modify the learning parameters to teach the network to recognize them.


Epoxy resin has been developed as an insulator material on the distribution and transmission line. In its development, the basic composition of DGEBA epoxy resin with MPDA as hardener is hydrophilic. Silane is added to improve the surface properties of materials to be more hydrophobic. To reduce the volume of epoxy resin as base material, silica sand from PLTP Dieng is added as filler. This paper presents the results of research on the effect of adding the composition of silica materials from PLTP Dieng upon silane epoxy resin sample to the value of the dielectric loss factor, contact angle and leakage current. Samples were prepared with a sample size 120mm x 50mm x 5mm. Material is composed of DGEBA, MPDA, silanes and silica with a various composition. Sample codes were 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%. Contact angle and leakage current were carried out according with IEC 587:1984 standards. Measurement of the dielectric loss factor (Tan ) was carried out at the Laboratory of High Voltage Engineering, PT. PLN (Persero) Electricity R & D, Duren Tiga Jakarta, using a measuring instrument series M4100 Insulation Analyzer Instrument. The electrodes used in these measurements have diameter of 2.5 cm and 5 cm. The results showed that the composition of silica materials PLTP Dieng upon silane epoxy resin samples affect the value of dielectric loss factor. Based on the results of the measurement, it is concluded that the higher composition of silica materials, the higher value of dielectric loss factor are. Based on these results, it is suggested that the use of silica as a filler must consider the effect on the value of dielectric loss factor. When the dielectric loss factor is high, then the losses in the dielectric material is also high.


Solid waste management (SWM) is a general wellbeing administration whose significance is frequently downplayed. At the point when the strong waste administration challenge is exacerbated by a general wellbeing crisis, for example, the Covid-19 pandemic, its genuine centrality as a fundamental help turns out to be progressively evident. The episode and spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has prompted sensational changes of each segment of the Nigerian culture including SWM frameworks, where formal and casual on-screen characters exist together frequently in an uncomfortable relationship. Tragically, methodologies for comprehensive administration of strong squanders during and after the Covid-19 pandemic are inadequate in Nigeria, fuelling the further rejection of casual area in the waste administration and strategy process in Nigeria. This paper audits the condition of the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria, distinguishes strategy holes in strong waste administration and features the linkages between Covid-19 and SWM with the end goal of catalyzing comprehensive strong waste administration and supportability strategy in Nigeria. It is contended that recognizing the casual economy is the basic initial move towards confining a feasible SWM strategy in which essential partners are included. It is critical to perceive the job of waste laborers and administrations as a basic component, especially in this period. Squander assortment is critical to forestall a development of waste and to keep regions away from waste to empower other fundamental administrations to proceed. This is the reason squander workers have been allowed 'key specialist' status by the UK government, which means they will proceed to receive instructive and care arrangement for their kids during the current coronavirus crisis, so they will have the option to proceed with their basic administrations, and have been delegated Essential Services by numerous different nations. Furthermore, every region/neighborhood authority needs to create emergency courses of action that will ensure that basic waste administrations ought to be continuous regardless, just to ensure that no additional wellbeing dangers are included head of the pandemics. Emergency courses of action should include elective answers for staff, vehicles, irresistible waste, amassing of waste, washing, purification, and road cleaning administrations. The guideline behind the exhortation is that it isn't perilous for people to deal with their own recyclables in their own homes, since they can just taint themselves and their families, in the event that they are as of now wiped out or regardless uncovered. The wellspring of peril and crosscontamination is in the interface between the generator - viewed as an individual releasing or keeping their recyclables and waste into an open framework - and the handler - the expert who is accomplishing something with the recyclable materials or the remaining waste. Under this we incorporate the conventional waste and reusing frameworks yet in addition casual and semi-formal procedures extending from a network or general store reusing focus, a reclaim machine, to a low-pay network where numerous individuals are engaged with (casual) reusing or a swap meets or web based recycled exchange. A portion of these procedures are straightforwardly inside the control of legislative organizations or their private area operators, some can be by implication tended to by administrative foundations, and some are outside of any administrative or guideline office impact. Regardless, in view of the most recent logical data accessible, the microbe tainting is insignificant following 72 hours even on hard surfaces. The primary wellsprings of contamination according to waste and reusing will as a rule come at the interface between the generator and the handler. To be increasingly explicit, the second that an expert needs to come in physical contact with squander or recyclables from different people who may be contaminated. The direction should be evident that its essential objective is to address forms.


Introduction: Acromesomelic dysplasia, type Maroteaux (AMDM) is a rare autosomal recessive skeletal dysplasia, characterized by severe dwarfism and disproportionate limb shortening. It results from loss-of-function NPR2 mutations affecting the C-type natriuretic peptide receptor. Resistance to growth hormone (GH) action has previously been suggested. We describe outcomes of 2 siblings with AMDM after prolonged high-dose GH treatment. Patients/Methods: Two siblings (Pt-A and Pt-B; consanguineous parents) presented in early childhood with severe disproportionate short stature and radiological features of AMDM. Subsequent genetic testing identified a novel homozygous NPR2 mutation. GH provocation testing showed relatively high GH levels. Serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) was ∼2 SD below age/sex-specific mean. High-dose GH (0.075 mg/kg/day) was started. Pre-GH height velocities were 3.7 (Pt-A) and 4.5 (Pt-B) cm/year. GH dose was adjusted to sustain serum IGF-1 towards +3 SDS for age/sex. Annualized height velocities for first 3 years on GH were 7.0, 5.4, and 4.7 cm/year for patient A and 9.4, 8.0, and 5.9 cm/year for patient B. Height gain during puberty was 10.6 (Pt-A) and 5.9 (Pt-B) cm. Final heights after 8.5 years of GH treatment were 130.5 cm (−6.57 SDS, Pt-A) and 134 cm (−4.58 SDS, Pt-B). Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of final height in patients with AMDM after long-term GH treatment. Our results confirm the finding of relative GH resistance in AMDM, which when overcome with high-dose GH treatment resulted in improved height SDS during childhood and adolescence and associated quality of life. The final height of our patients was significantly higher than average reported final height (120 cm) of AMDM patients.


We introduce a simple model for calculating transistor sizes of an asynchronous control circuit. The model builds on the theory of logical effort and relates transistor sizes to the speed and energy consumption of a circuit. We show how to calculate transistor sizes quickly, how to calculate the speed limit of a circuit, and how to compare circuits in terms of energy-versus-speed independent of a process technology. We compare three asynchronous control circuits for a FIFO: a chain of C-elements, an asP control, and a GasP control.


This study provides an outline of plans and norms regarding the first years of fatherhood and motherhood and focuses on the division of care and paid work between Czech parents. It is based on 32 interviews conducted with expectant parents from dual-earner heterosexual couples. The ideals and plans of the expectant parents embedded in real life options were studied and analysed in order to identify various care models to be employed over the first three years of parenthood. In all three principal care models revealed by the study sample, the fathers continued to work full time while the plans of the mothers were more varied. The models were classified as 1) the long-term full-time mother care model, 2) the longterm part-time mother care model, and 3) the short-term mother care model. The intra-couple comparative analysis revealed common discrepancies between the plans of the partners regarding the employment of the mother and the use of non-parental childcare. Expectant fathers more often professed traditional conservative views than their female partners.


Plant protease inhibitors (PIs) are natural plant defense proteins that inhibit proteases of invading insect herbivores. However, their anti-insect efficacy is determined not only by their potency toward a vulnerable insect system but also by the response of the insect to such a challenge. Through the long history of coevolution with their host plants, insects have developed sophisticated mechanisms to circumvent antinutritional effects of dietary challenges. Their response takes the form of changes in gene expression and the protein repertoire in cells lining the alimentary tract, the first line of defense. Research in insect digestive proteases has revealed the crucial roles they play in insect adaptation to plant PIs and has brought about a new appreciation of how phytophagous insects employ this group of molecules in both protein digestion and counterdefense. This review provides researchers in related fields an up-to-date summary of recent advances.


Understanding how gene regulatory elements influence ovarian follicle development has important implications in clinically relevant settings. This includes understanding decreased fertility with age and understanding the short-lived graft function commonly observed after ovarian tissue cryopreservation and subsequent autologous transplantation as a fertility preservation treatment. The Assay for Transposase Accessible Chromatin by sequencing (ATAC-seq) is a powerful tool to identify distal and proximal regulatory elements important for activity-dependent gene regulation and hormonal and environmental responses such as those involved in germ cell maturation and human fertility. Original ATAC protocols were optimized for fresh cells, a major barrier to implementing this technique for clinical tissue samples which are more often than not frozen and stored. While recent advances have improved data obtained from stored samples, this technique has yet to be applied to human ovarian follicles, perhaps due to the difficulty in isolating follicles in sufficient quantities from stored clinical samples. Further, it remains unknown whether the process of cryopreservation affects the quality of the data obtained from ovarian follicles. Here, we generate ATAC-seq data sets from matched fresh and cryopreserved human ovarian follicles. We find that data obtained from cryopreserved samples are of reduced quality but consistent with data obtained from fresh samples, suggesting that the act of cryopreservation does not significantly affect biological interpretation of chromatin accessibility data. Our study encourages the use of this method to uncover the role of chromatin regulation in a number of clinical settings with the ultimate goal of improving fertility.


In this article, the author addresses the question of how the mind represents two languages in simultaneous bilingualism. Some linguistic theories of intrasentential code switching are reviewed, with a focus on the Minimalist approach of MacSwan (1999b); the author concludes that evidence from code switching suggests that bilinguals have discrete and separate Lexicons for the languages they speak, each with its own internal principles of word formation, as well as separate phonological systems. However, the author argues that computational resources common to the two languages generate monolingual and bilingual syntactic derivations alike. Advantages of the Minimalist Program for the analysis of code switching data are discussed at some length.


Community colleges play a significant role in guiding pathways to postsencondary degrees for Latinx/a/o students. To gain a greater understanding of ways Latinx/a/o students utilize community colleges as pathways to degrees, this article focused on institutional leaders, members of one community college professional assocation. An original survey instrument was administered and an exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) using a geographic information systems (GIS) database was conducted. Findings suggest greater proportions of Latinx/a/o community college leaders may be found in metropolitan areas with large Latinx/a/o populations. Author reflexivity and implications for research and practice are presented. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24974/amae.11.2.348


Background: In educational research, online survey has become one of the most popular methods of data collection. Academic researchers, including faculty and students, expect and require a good response rate to their research projects for reliable results.
Purpose: In this paper, the authors examine a wide range of factors related to survey response rates in academic research. Examples include email checking habits, survey design, and attitudes toward research.
Setting: An online survey environment
Intervention: Not applicable.
Research Design:  A cross-sectional quantitative research method was used to analyze the factors that influence participants' email survey response rate. Data were collected at a single point in time. The authors did not directly measure changes that come over time in this study.
Data Collection and Analysis: After receiving the Institutional Research Board's approval, the researchers distributed the survey via the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Graduate Student Discussion List subscribers. A sample of 454 responses was used in the final analysis-- with a 78.9 % response rate. The authors used descriptive statistics (percentage, average mean) and inferential statistics (chi-square and correlations) to report the data analysis and findings.
Findings: Results indicated that research survey response rate was highly influenced by interests of participants, survey structure, communication methods, and assurance of privacy and confidentiality. The findings also suggested that male participants were more likely to respond to surveys if they received a reminder, and older participants were more likely to respond if they were promised a reward.
Keywords: academic research; education graduate students; online surveys; postal surveys; survey response rate


The growing dependence of India's farm sector on groundwater threatens water resources sustainability and power sector viability. Sustaining India's rising prosperity rests on managing groundwater. This study shows that raising power tariffs in the farm sector to achieve efficiency and sustainability of groundwater use is both socially and economically viable. The farmers, who are confronted with positive marginal cost of electricity and groundwater, obtain higher water productivity in their farming operations (Rs./m3 of water), use less amount of groundwater per unit area of farm (m3/ha), yet secure higher net return per unit of land (Rs./ha of land).This paper shows that establishing an energy quota for farms based on groundwater sustainability considerations, and metering and charging for power on pro rata basis using pre-paid meters are the best options to manage groundwater and the energy economy. The social benefit of reduced carbon emission, achievable through efficient electricity pricing, was estimated to be Rs. 709 crore per annum.


The bovine tubercle bacillus has always been eclipsed by the much higher incidence and the social and economic importance of its human cousin, as well as by the clinical unimportance of differentiating between the two. Nevertheless, in view of the resurgence of tuberculosis generally, the increase in the number of immunosuppressed individuals (i.e. the AIDS epidemic) and the 'great badger debate', there is renewed interest in it. Briefly, this review explores the history of Mycobacterium bovis and its potential for transmission between cattle and humans.


This project focuses on monitoring and charging the wheelchair batteries based on internet of things (IoT). The purpose of this project to design and develop a system that can automatically monitor and charge the wheelchair batteries when the current level decreases to a certain threshold. Moreover, this project also implement the applications of internet of things in monitoring and charging the batteries capacity of the wheelchairs.
In the UTP CISIR lab, there is a power wheelchair that uses two batteries to operate. Frequent manual checking and charging is needed to ensure that the batteries does not completely lose charges. The same problem is applied for the other equipment as well and without a proper care for some brief of time, the batteries will experience the "deep charges" state. Even that the batteries is brand new, the recovery from this state is nearly impossible resulting the batteries to be completely useless and need a new replacement. Automatically ON/OFF charging circuitry also very important in this project. The charge termination when the batteries is fully charged is vital because once the battery is fully charged, the charging current will has to be dissipated and this will generate heat that can damage the batteries.


This paper is on metaphors involving verbs such as "Der Himmel weint." (literally, The sky is crying/weeping.") and comprises a comparative translation study.The source material consists of 11 prose works from German post-war literature (authors: Bienek, Boll, Frisch, Grass, Handke, Lenz, Nossack and Walser) and 6 works from Swedish post-war literature (authors: Andersson, Bergman, Delblanc, Gustafsson and Lagerkvist). The empirical investigation builds on a corpus where, for the first time, all the metaphors of a certain type in literary works have been excerpted and treated statistically, totally well over 2800 instances of metaphor. Up to now there has been no study in the field of verb metaphors (and their translation into Swedish) based on a material of a comparable size.One obvious result is that novel verb metaphors constitute a very important and stylistic device in German and Swedish post-war prose. Further, the investigation provides answers to a number of quantitative issues which might be of interest in the fields of literary analysis, translation theory and linguistics. For example, 47.7% of target-language replacements of source language metaphors reveal maximal equivalence, however the continuum lies between 24.9% and 67.7%.The comparative translation study was supplemented with an "inverted analysis", revealing certain tendencies with regard to compensatory mechanisms.


The present paper deals with the effect of polymeric compound poly ( N -isopropyl acrylamide) "PNIPAM" for their toxicity on hepatic cells. The nanoparticle is a xenobiotic compound that accumulates in the liver for their metabolism. Non-metabolizing xenobiotic compounds such as PNIPAM produces anomalies in the hepatic cells. Certain enzymes such as ALT and ALP can be assayed for the hepatocytic toxicity. An attempt has been made to know the toxic effect of "PNIPAM" in a concentration of 0.8mg/ml on the hepatic cells of Swiss Albino mice, Mus musculus . The ALT and ALP analysis were performed through test kits for their quantitative estimation. The histological result shows that several lesions were produced after the introduction of aqueous solution of PNIPAM for an incubation period of 48 hours. The toxicity was confirmed Spectrophotometrically by the assessment of enzyme ALT and ALP. The increased concentration of ALT (55.0 IU/L) and slight decrease in ALP (40.0 IU/L) concentration was responsible for the metabolic alteration and production of hepatocytic anomalies in the mice. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v1i4.9104  Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol. 1(4): 208-213


We demonstrate a flexible sensor for ascorbic acid detection in sweat based on single-step modified gold microelectrodes. The modification consists on the electrodeposition of alginate membrane with trapped CuO nanoparticles on top of the electrodes. The electrodes are fabricated at a thin polyimide support and the soft nature of the membrane can withstand mechanical stress far beyond the requirements for skin monitoring. We further show the efficient detection of ascorbic acid at the micromolar levels in both, a neutral buffer and acidic artificial sweat, at ultra-low applied potential (-5 mV). The effect of possible interfering species present in sweat is minimized, with no observable cross-reaction, thus maintaining a high degree of selectivity despite absence of enzymes in the fabrication scheme. This sensor is envisioned as a promising component of a wearable device for e.g. non-invasive monitoring of micronutrient loss through sweat.


We explore the performance of minimum mean-square error (MMSE) multiuser receivers in wireless systems where the signatures are modeled as random and take values in complex space. First we study the conditional distribution of the output multiple-access interference (MAI) of the MMSE receiver. By appealing to the notion of conditional weak convergence, we find that the conditional distribution of the output MAI, given the received signatures and received powers, converges in probability to a proper complex Gaussian distribution that does not depend on the signatures. This result indicates that, in a large system, the output interference of the MMSE receiver is approximately Gaussian with high probability, and that systems with MMSE receivers are robust to the randomness of the signatures. Building on the Gaussianity of the output interference, we then take the quality of service (QoS) requirements as meeting the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) constraints and identify the network capacity of single-class systems with random spreading. The network capacity is expressed uniquely in terms of the SIR requirements and received power distributions. Compared to the network capacity corresponding to the optimal signature allocation, we conclude that at the cost of transmission power, the gap between the network capacity corresponding to optimal signatures and that corresponding to random signatures can be made arbitrarily small. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the network capacity, systems with MMSE receivers are robust to the randomness of signatures.


This study reports on a psychophysical experiment with real stimuli that differ in multiple visual gloss criteria. Four samples were presented to 15 observers under different conditions of illumination, resulting in a series of 16 stimuli. Through pairwise comparisons, a gloss scale was derived and the observers' strategy to evaluate gloss was investigated. The preference probability matrix P indicated a dichotomy among observers. A first group of observers used the distinctness-of-image as a principal cue to glossiness, while a second group evaluated gloss primarily from differences in brightness. It could therefore be questioned if surface gloss can be characterized by one single quantity, or that a set of quantities is necessary to describe differences in gloss.


It is the purpose of this study to investigate the relationship between the level of severity of aphasia and the classification of aphasia, as determined by the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, and the ability to perform sensorimotor level cognitive tasks as determined by the Uzgiris-Hunt Assessment in Infancy: Ordinal Scales of Psychological Development, adapted for use with an adult aphasic population. It is hypothesized that a disturbance of preverbal perceptual functioning is demonstrated in the responses of the aphasic subjects to the measures of sensorimotor function; that there is a positive relationship between the degree of severity of aphasia and the degree of impairment of sensorimotor functions as measured on seven different scales; that the greater the degree of severity of linguistic disturbance in the aphasic, the lower the scores obtained on each of the seven scales; that there is a significant difference between the classifications of aphasia with regard to the scores obtained on the seven measures of sensorimotor function; that the combination of sensorimotor scale measures will explain a significant proportion of the variance in the degree of severity of linguistic disturbances; and that the combination of sensorimotor scale measures will explain a significant proportion of the variance in classifications of aphasia.


The home range, activity and habitat use of wild European rabbits in northern South Australia were compared during winter and summer, and results used to suggest improvements to control techniques. Average home range was significantly smaller in summer (2.1 ha) than winter (4.2 ha) and there was no significant difference between the sexes. Rabbits used both dune and swale habitat but most warrens and more surface fixes were recorded in dune habitat in both seasons. Proportionally more surface fixes were found in swale habitat at night than during the day. The proportion of diurnal fixes on the surface was not significantly influenced by season, averaging 47% in winter and 62% in summer. Only 30% of radio-collared rabbits flushed by humans retreated to warrens. Comparable levels of diurnal surface activity in both winter and summer suggest that the death rate from fumigation or warren destruction may be similar in both seasons. High levels of diurnal surface activity suggest that warren fumigation may be ineffective unless rabbits can first be flushed to their warrens. The use of dogs to flush rabbits before fumigation or ripping should increase the efficacy of control. Activity data suggest that fumigation or ripping should be conducted between 0900 and 1600 hours in winter and 1100 and 1800 hours in summer when radio-collared rabbits were most likely to be down their warrens. Home-range data suggest that the effectiveness of poison baiting may be increased by placing bait lines closer together in summer and, although bait lines should be concentrated in dune habitat, some poison should also be placed in swale feeding areas remote from warrens. The most successful control method for radio-collared rabbits was fumigation with phosphine gas tablets, with 10 of 11 rabbits successfully killed. Pressure fumigation with chloropicrin was also successful but 1080 poisoning and warren destruction using shovels were all relatively unsuccessful.


The banking and financial services (BFSI) sector is one of the most crucial areas in any economy. It is fastest growing and the listed players in this space has given high returns to the investors over the last decade. Commercial banks in the Indian context have witnessed radical changes in terms of enormous progression in off-balance sheet risk management of financial assets, regulatory amendments, NPA recognition norms, significant consolidation of the financial sector and introduction of e-commerce norms and online banking. In this context, Indian economy is similar to the other economies of BRICS countries. These countries are emerging economies with higher GDPs and undertaking various reforms to boost the consumption, transparency and business needs. So, it is pertinent to evaluate the M&A activities that have taken in India and other BRICS countries and comparing the same. This paper analyses the M&A that have taken place in India and other BRICS countries based on certain fundamental parameters which are based on regulatory requirements, profitability and overall returns on investments. The results of these tests indicate that there is insignificant change in most of parameters during post-merger phase. Further, other parameters showed a negative effect of merger on acquirer during post-merger period.


About half of advanced stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients can be cured by chemoradiotherapy. Patient outcome may be partially determined by the genetic alterations in HNSCC, rendering these alterations promising candidate prognostic factors and/or therapeutic targets. However, their relevance in patient outcome prognosis remains to be assessed in patients that receive standard-of-care chemoradiotherapy. We therefore tested whether frequent genetic alterations were associated with progression free survival (PFS) in advanced stage HNSCC patients who were uniformly treated with definitive platinum-based chemoradiotherapy. To this end, we performed targeted DNA sequencing on frozen pre-treatment tumor biopsy material from 77 patients with advanced stage oro- and hypopharyngeal carcinoma. This provided somatic point mutation and copy number aberration data of 556 genes. The most frequently mutated genes, TP53 (62%), CCND1 (51%), CDKN2A (30%) and PIK3CA (21%), were not associated with PFS. However, co-occurring CCND1 and CDKN2A mutations were associated with short PFS (HR 2.24, p = 0.028) in HPV-negative tumors. Furthermore, tumor mutational burden (sum of somatic point mutations) showed a trend towards decreased PFS (HR 1.9, p = 0.089), and chromosomal instability (CIN) was associated with shorter PFS (HR 2.3, p = 0.023), independent of HPV status. Our results show that tumor mutational burden, CIN markers, and co-occurring CCND1 and CDKN2A mutations are associated with chemoradiotherapy outcomes in advanced stage oro- and hypopharyngeal HNSCC patients, thereby highlighting their prognostic potential. Given their poor prognosis association and link to biological targets, they may also identify patients for novel targeted therapies and immunotherapies.


The aim of this study is to investigate the anti-angiogenic properties of andrographolide derivatives AGP-26a (12β-isomer), AGP-26b (12α-isomer) and AGP-26 (4 : 1 mixture of AGP-26a and AGP-26b) in vitro and in vivo. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and the Tg(fli-1a:EGFP)y1 zebrafish model were used to identify the anti-angiogenic activities of AGP-26, AGP-26a, and AGP-26b. The results showed that AGP-26b exhibits the strongest inhibitory effect on VEGF-induced proliferation, migration, invasion and formation of capillary-like structures in HUVECs. In the zebrafish model, AGP-26b also showed the strongest suppression of ISV development. Further studies showed that the underlying mechanism of the anti-angiogenic effects of AGP-26b was at least partly through the blockage of the VEGF/VEGFR2 signaling pathways. AGP-26b blocked the activation of VEGFR2. Consequently, the phosphorylation of key intracellular proangiogenic kinases such as Src family kinase (Src), focal adhesion kinase (Fak), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK), extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (Erk1/2) and Akt induced by VEGF was suppressed by treatment with AGP-26b. Moreover, AGP-26b reduced the protein expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-9 but not MMP-2) in HUVECs. These results provide evidence supporting the notion that AGP-26b may serve as a potential therapeutic anti-angiogenic agent.


Abstract This article uses househld panel data spanning the period 2000–2007 to test hypotheses from the literature that secure land tenure, market access and collective action promote accumulation of private capital assets in rural highland Ethiopia. The three natural capital assets analysed in the article, livestock, eucalyptus trees and non-eucalyptus trees on households' farm plots, make up virtually 100 per cent of privately held disposable assets. Incomes and capital stocks are extremely low and constant and tree assets are at least as important as livestock. We find that collective action and secure land tenure have strong positive effects on accumulation of livestock and other trees, but not eucalyptus. We also find evidence that market access promotes eucalyptus holdings and that other types of wealth tend to be positively associated with private natural capital stocks.


THE PURPOSE of this paper is to consider the similarities among a number of concepts which arose relatively independently in diverse fields of behavioral research. There are two major elements which unite these concepts: first, they derive from the interrelated problem of characterizing both stimuli and individuals; and second, the experimental designs by which the concepts are tested are similar. In particular, we will develop the thesis that the psychophysiological principle of response specificity is a unifying principle because it collects so many seemingly unrelated concepts. Both the various forms of specificity and some of the experimental variables necessary to demonstrate their existence will be described, and then an attempt will be made to show that many different concepts in psychology and psychiatry can be related to one another through the principle of specificity. The most general division of the principle


Political Representation, Imperial Dependency and Political Transfer: Finland and Sweden 1809–1819 The article examines the post-revolutionary rearrangement in Europe by focusing on the separation of Finland from Sweden. In 1809, the eastern part of the Swedish kingdom became a grand duchy within the autocratically ruled Russian empire. Both Finland and Sweden experienced the constitutional moment which characterised the post-revolutionary and post-Napoleonic Europe, but in very different ways. The Swedish Diet enacted a new written constitution while the Finnish Diet gave its oath to the new emperor, who promised to maintain the laws, privileges and rights of the country. Alexander I might have used the word «constitution» in his speech to the Finnish Estates, but the political status of the grand duchy remained unclear, and it was only in 1863 that the Finnish Diet was called to convene again. In the context of imperial dependency and a lack of established forums for public debate, the article analyses how the issue of political representation was made public in Finland during the first decade of Russian rule. The analysis is based on the ways in which the official newspaper described the new political situation of Finland and reported on political circumstances and parliamentary life in other countries. It is argued that the publication of news from abroad can be seen as an important way of keeping the issue of political representation alive in Finland. It was also a channel for the reception of political concepts. The study discusses the Finnish case in relation to political circumstances in Sweden. The comparative angle draws attention to complex features of the formation of a new polity and a reformation of an old.


One cause the interruption of transformer is loading that exceeds the capabilities of the transformer. The state of continuous overload will affect the age of the transformer and result in a reduced capacity of the transformer. The declining capacity, loading on the transformer will not be maximized and increase the risk of damage. Actions taken to attempt the decrease disturbances resulting from the transformer loadings are by the transformer test and known how many percent decrease in capacity of the transformer. The data from the test is used to calculate the reduction in the capacity of the transformer. Result of the research on the transformer which is not operated yet relating to the ideal state of a transformer. As for the research on the second transformer indicates how transformer which been operating for several years has decreased the capacity of the transformer. So that the second transformer can not be loaded to the maximum.


Sensor morphology is a fundamental aspect of tactile sensing technology. Design choices induce stimuli to be morphologically processed, changing the sensory perception of the touched objects and affecting inference at a later processing stage. We develop a framework to analyze the filtered sensor response and observe the correspondent change in tactile information. We test the morphological processing effects on the tactile stimuli by integrating a capacitive tactile sensor into a flat end-effector and creating three soft silicon-based filters with varying thickness (3mm, 6mm and 10mm). We incorporate the end-effector onto a robotic arm. We control the arm in order to apply a calibrated force onto 4 objects, and retrieve tactile images. We create an unsupervised inference process through the use of Principal Component Analysis and K-Means Clustering. We use the process to group the sensed objects into 2 classes and observe how different soft filters affect the clustering results. The sensor response with the 3mm soft filter allows for edges to be the feature with most variance (captured by PC A) and induces the association of edged objects. With thicker soft filters the associations change, and with a 10mm filter the sensor response results more diverse for objects with different elongation. We show that the clustering is intrinsically driven by the morphology of the sensor and that the robot's world understanding changes according to it.


Transgenic animals play an important role in biomedical research. Their use as animal model is still increasing. Although the process of transgenesis may contribute to refinement of animal use, the application of the biotechnological procedures that are involved in the production of transgenic animals may also cause unexpected, uncontrolled, and even undetected animal suffering. Therefore, the aim of the present thesis was to study the effects of the biotechnological procedures involved in genetic modification on the welfare of the resulting offspring. The two most frequently used techniques for inserting new genetic material into the mammalian germ line, pronuclear microinjection and embryonic stem (ES) cell-mediated gene transfer, have been studied. Different groups of mice were generated, each of which had undergone different aspects of the microinjection technique (Chapters 2 and 3) or of the gene targeting technique (Chapters 4 and 5), in order to determine whether the specific manipulations have any effect on the development or behaviour of the progeny. In this way, the effects of microinjection, electroporation, embryo-culture or embryo transplantation on the development of (chimeric) mice could be studied separately. All mice of the different groups were tested in their pre-weaning (0-3 weeks of age) and post-weaning period (4-30 weeks of age) for behavioural and morphological/physiological development and for clinical appearance. Thereafter, post-mortem examinations were performed. In addition, the feasibility of the use of score sheets for monitoring the welfare of transgenic mice, as part of the daily care of animals, has been explored (Chapter 6). With both techniques, the biotechnological procedures increased (perinatal) pup mortality and body weight. In addition, with the gene targeting technique, 8% of the chimeric animals was hermaphrodite. The results so far indicate that, under the present conditions, the biotechnological procedures (microinjection; in vitro culture; embryo transfer) mainly affect the viability of the embryos and seem to have no major effects on the development and behaviour of mice that survive the first 2-3 days after birth. However, before drawing general conclusions, more and different transgenic lines should be studied in a comparable way. A scoring system has been developed, containing a limited number of sensitive, easy to determine and non-invasive parameters, selected from our previous studies on implications of transgenesis for the well-being of mice. The feasibility of this scoring system has been tested, to assess the use of score sheets for monitoring the welfare of transgenic mice on a practical basis, as part of the animal technicians daily routine in a transgenic unit. It has been found to be both practical and useful. Therefore, in the production of transgenic animals, the use of score sheets is recommended, in order to detect both the intended and the non-intended (side) effects of the introduced or mutated gene at an early stage of development.


Cancers of the reproductive organs are often hard to be detected, and patients' survival rate drops considerably even when the tumor is removed. Based on the fact that melatonin levels are significantly lower in cancer cells than that in the healthy cells, and this melatonin suppression remains during tumor progression, we have examined a simple two-gene-based melatonergic system [the indices of melatonin synthesis and metabolism (ASMT:CYP1A1, ASMT:CYP1A2, ASMT:CYP1B1)] as a prognostic factor for reproductive organ cancer survival rate. RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) of seven types of human reproductive organ tumors (n = 3571 samples) were analyzed. By stratifying the set of index values into high vs low risk, we observed that patients with a high melatonergic index had improved survival rates for cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancers. Patients at high-risk (low melatonergic index) showed a trend of diagnosis of breast, prostate, and testicular cancers at the younger age, while patients with cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancers presented with higher tumor staging. The melatonergic indices, especially the ASMT:CYP1B1, positively correlated with the clock gene PER1 while negatively correlated with the clock gene TIMELESS in all reproductive organ cancers. We further analyzed the correlation between the expression profiles of the melatonin-synthesizing enzyme (ASMT gene) with metabolic enzyme-encoding genes. Notably, LDHA, PDK1, and PDHA1 showed a higher correlation in male and female reproductive organ tumors, while IDH1, SDHB, GLS, and ATP1A1 had a positive correlation in breast, testicular, and endometrial cancers. These results have provided a comprehensive evaluation of the melatonergic system in relation to the reproductive organ tumor microenvironment and identified promising gene signatures as potential biomarkers for cancer diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics.


The processing of bulk metals through the application of severe plastic deformation provides an opportunity for achieving exceptional grain refinement to the submicrometer or even the nanometer range. This paper examines the characteristics of metals processed by equal-channel angular pressing with special emphasis on the levels of ductility that may be attained. It is shown that the amount of ductility is dependent not only upon the composition of the material but also, and to a major extent, upon the testing temperature. Specifically, the ductilities are often low at ambient temperatures where the strength of the as-processed material is relatively high but, by contrast, exceptionally high superplastic ductilities may be achieved over short ranges of strain rate when testing at elevated temperatures.


Abstract Our aim was to explore the relationship between liver cirrhosis (LC), portal hypertension (PH), and diabetes mellitus (DM). LC displayed hemodynamic alterations reflected by signs and symptoms of hypertension and hyperdynamic circulation. Portal hypertension also caused splenomegaly because of the blood flow into the spleen from the portal vessels and portal flow. The alcoholic cirrhosis displayed abnormal values (AST, ALT, AST/ALT, albumin, ammonia, bilirubin, blood platelet, erythrocytes, glucose, Hb, international normalized ratio (INR), PT, prothrombin index (PI), thymol test, white blood cell (WBC) count), which demonstrated the presence of portal hypertension, ascites, DM, infection, and coagulopathy. The evaluation of liver enzymes and other laboratories data helped to determine the severity of the condition and prognosis. Diabetes appeared to be less affecting the prognosis of patients with cirrhosis than LC itself, showing that hepatocellular failure was largely responsible for patients' mortality rather than diabetes and its complications. Patients displayed a BMI correlating obesity, although affected by concomitant diseases that commonly cause a severe weight loss. The elevated BMI in this case was accentuated by the presence of ascitic fluid, which is responsible for the increase in weight and the inaccurate BMI evaluation. Ascites affect patients' recovery from liver diseases. Obese patients with cirrhosis can be related to have a large amount of ascites and that physicians should be expecting to notice changes in their BMI pre- and postoperatively, subsequently making a prior classification as obese inappropriate. Disease severity could be assessed through the evaluation of PH stage, which was characterized by a significant depletion of WBC and as well as platelet counts.


We study the problem of a decision maker alternating between exploring existing alternatives and searching for new ones. We show that the decision to search depends on the composition of the consideration set only through the information the latter contains about the probability of finding new alternatives. When the search technology is stationary, or improves over time, search is equivalent to replacement. With deteriorating technologies, instead, alternatives are revisited after search is launched and each expansion is treated as if it were the last one. The analysis yields a formula for pricing new alternatives and/or the option to expand the consideration set in the future. We also show how to accommodate for certain irreversible choices that admit as special case a generalization of Weitzman's (1979) "Pandora's boxes" problem in which the set of boxes is endogenous and each alternative may require multiple explorations before it can be selected.