past few years, automatic irrigation system has seen a rapid growth in terms of technology. At present cost-saving technology, labor-saving are the addressing key issues in irrigation. This paper gives a review of these systems based on existing technologies and also proposes an economical and generic automatic irrigation system based on wireless sensors with GSM-Bluetooth for irrigation system controller and remote monitoring system. This system has simpler features designed with the objective of low cost and effective with less power consumption using sensors for remote monitoring and controlling devices which are controlled via SMS using a GSM module. A Bluetooth module is also interfaced with the main microcontroller chip. This Bluetooth module eliminates the usage charges by communicating with the appliances via Bluetooth when the application is in a limited range of few meters. The system informs user about any abnormal conditions like less moisture content and temperature rise, even concentration of CO2 via SMS from the GSM module or by Bluetooth module to the farmer's mobile and actions are taken accordingly by the farmer. In future, the farmer will be able to monitor and control the parameter by GSM and Bluetooth technologies. KeywordBluetooth, remote monitoring, Sensors, Microcontroller, Agriculture


Converter-based generators are increasingly replacing classical synchronous generation, resulting in significant challenges to the operation and planning of modern power systems. Power electronics (PE)-based equipment, along with non-linear PE-driven loads, introduce time-varying characteristics and fast switching behavior that increases the complexity of the power system model. Faster control actions are needed to overcome the fast switching dynamics to ensure the reliability and stability of future power systems. Thus, this requires advanced and detailed simulation methods and tools with highly accurate equivalent models to embody the relatively slower electromechanical to faster electromagnetic transient (EMT) phenomena. Conventional transient stability analysis using positive-sequence simulators has become inadequate for representing converter-dominated power systems, while EMT simulators suffer from the high computational burden. This review paper presents accelerated EMT simulation methods and tools that are categorized and discussed in three topics: system equivalents, simulation methods, and accelerating tools. Dynamic system equivalent techniques are discussed to model small to large interconnected external systems of the grid network. Moreover, a systematic review is made for existing EMT simulation methods, along with advanced co-simulation methods, for addressing simulation speed and accuracy issues in large power system networks. Emerging hardware-based simulation tools are reviewed that reduce the computational burden and increase the simulation efficiency of the power system model. Challenges and trends in EMT simulation are also presented and concluded by providing perspectives on this research topic.


This paper provides a novel explanation for the use of supply chain intermediaries. We find that even in the absence of the well-known transactional and informational advantages of mediation, intermediaries improve supply chain performance. In particular, intermediaries facilitate responsive adaptation of the buyers' supplier base to their changing needs while simultaneously ensuring that suppliers behave as if they had long-term sourcing commitments from buying firms. In the face of changing buyer needs, an intermediary that sources on behalf of multiple buyers can responsively change the composition of future business committed to a supplier such that a sufficient level of business comes from the buyer(s) that most prefer this supplier. On the other hand, direct buyers that source only for themselves must provide all their committed business to a supplier from their own sourcing needs, even if they no longer prefer this supplier. Unlike existing theories of intermediation, our theory better explains the observed phenomenon that although transactional barriers and information asymmetries have steadily decreased, the use of intermediaries has soared, even among large companies such as Walmart. This paper was accepted by Martin Lariviere, operations management.


Heart rate variability (HRV) is an established indication of cardiovascular regulation and is often not only considered in relation to health, but also to subjective aspects of perceived affect. However, as the various HRV parameters are not identical but interrelated, they vary in regard to different aspects of every-day moods, stress, and depression. Therefore it is suggested that those HRV parameters would discriminate perceived affect. This study compares the relationship of HRV parameters to aspects of every-day affect. In 60 persons heart rate (HR) and HRV measures of time domain parameters (including pNNxx parameters), frequency domain parameters, and relative parameters (from twenty-four hour electrocardiography recordings) were investigated in relation to perceived stress (PSQ), anxiety (STAI-T), depression (BDI-II), general well-being (GWBS), and traits of every-day moods (TRIM-T). Results showed that HRV parameters were correlated to most subjective measures (PSQ, BDI-II, GWBS, and good mood and relaxation in TRIM-T). Low pNNxx parameters (pNN10 - pNN40) correlated negatively with stress and depression and positively with well-being, whereas high pNNxx parameters (pNN125 - pNN175), SDNN, ultralow frequency (ULF), and total power (TP) were in particular correlated to good mood. Furthermore, results showed that slow rhythms, in particular ULF, were correlated to positive affect (good mood, relaxation), but not to negative affect (stress, anxiety, depression). Correlations of cardiovascular activity with well-being are less pronounced, indicating that the construct of well being may be seen as a mixture of positive affect and low stress - and is in general less related to cardiovascular activity than stress and/or good mood. For relative HRV measures, in particular for log LF/HF (which is often interpreted as a measure of autonomic balance), no correlations with every-day affect were observed. Results further indicate that the time domain parameters of pNNxx (in particular pNN10 - pNN40 vs. pNN125 - pNN175) are differentially related to negative/positive affect, contrary to heart rate, and may therefore be considered as an objective indication of affect.


Multi‐static, common volume radar (MSCVR) observations have long been considered necessary for meteor observations, especially for the study of Range Spread Trail Echoes (RSTE). We present preliminary results ‐ in the form of a case study ‐ from the first MSCVR observations that were carried out at the Jicamarca Radar Observatory (JRO) in June 2007. A second antenna array, of similar sensitivity to a single JRO receive module, was constructed and operated at Carapongo, approximately 5 kilometers geomagnetically south of JRO. The JRO main array was used for transmission. Receiving was done using sub‐arrays at JRO and with the array at Carapongo. The results provide new insights not only into the aspect sensitivity of RSTEs but also into the physical structure of the plasma giving rise to these echoes. These observations also establish a firmer basis for the modeling of the plasma processes that cause meteor trails to become field‐aligned.


The progressive research and development in computing and information processing technologies have stimulated the emergence of a new range of electronic documents that are expected to fully exploit the electronic medium's basic properties of added interactivity and malleability.
Coupled with the a±liation with metadata and additional layers of e-contents, e-documents are engaging a new paradigm of users who are
actively seeking, selecting and constructing information more than they are 'receiving' information contained within e-documents and collections of such documents. This paper reports on the pertinent findings of a research that intentionally took an immense leap in the design and empirical evaluation of an information environment for a new generation of e-documents
that is endowed with a set of innovative interactions and electronic enhancements.
Apart from presenting a list of essential features of future edocuments that will serve as useful design guidelines, the research advocates
that the way forward is not to promote e-documents either as replacements or as alternatives to their print counterparts, but rather to continually strive to focus on the needs of users and on the tasks they will likely seek to accomplish. Future work on designing e-documents should thus focus on designing for media complementarity, and aim to further develop and incorporate tools and features that are most helpful to the user community.


Corn stover and switchgrass are two important biomass feedstocks being considered for commercial production of renewable fuels (ethanol), combined heat and power, chemicals, and bio-products in the U.S. These biomass feedstocks currently are collected as low-density bales involving high cost and energy for handling, transportation, storage, and use. Densification of biomass feedstocks into pellets/briquettes is a cost- and energy-effective strategy for a consistent, year-round supply of these biomass feedstocks for biobased and bioenergy industries. In this research, densification characteristics of corn stover and switchgrass were studied using a piston-cylinder densification apparatus to understand the densification and binding mechanisms, and to determine the optimum densification conditions for commercial production of pellets/briquettes from these biomass materials. The effects of densification process variables such as pressure (100 to 150 MPa), moisture content (8% to 20% wet basis), particle size (0.34 to 0.80 mm), and preheating temperature (75°C to 200°C) on the densification characteristics of corn stover and switchgrass were studied. At room temperature (about 25°C), corn stover briquettes (about 19.2 mm diameter) with relaxed densities (i.e., individual briquette densities measured one week after forming) of 745 to 1013 kg m-3 and switchgrass briquettes (about 19.4 mm diameter) with relaxed densities of 417 to 825 kg m-3 were produced. Densification at 25°C resulted in briquette durability of 50% to 96% for corn stover and 0% for switchgrass. Preheating corn stover and switchgrass to 75°C to 100°C increased the density further and resulted in briquettes with maximum durability of 97% for corn stover, and 67% for switchgrass. The measured glass transition (i.e., softening) temperature of both corn stover and switchgrass averaged 75°C. Densification conditions causing glass transition in the biomass was essential to fully activate the natural binding components such as lignin, protein, starch, and water-soluble carbohydrates in the biomass to help effective particle binding. The optimum densification condition to produce highly durable corn stover pellets/briquettes in commercial-scale systems is either conditioning the grind to a moisture content of 15% to 20% (wet basis) at room temperature (25°C) or preheating the grind to 75°C at a moisture content of 10% to 15% (wet basis). The optimum densification condition for switchgrass is preheating the grind to >75°C at a moisture content of 8% to 15% (wet basis).


This study examines the dynamics and thermodynamics associated with the climatologically extraordinary 1719 March 2003 snowstorm that impacted the Colorado Front Range and some surrounding areas. In particular, several anomalously high local snowfall gradients are examined to improve our understanding of precipitation distributions associated with upslope flow, blocking, and cold-air damming. This unusual event was established as a result of a deep, slowly propagating closed low. The continental-scale closed low was characterized by persistent strong upslope (or easterly) flow that transported large amounts of moisture into the Colorado Rocky Mountain barrier. Warm easterly inflow well above freezing was blocked by the terrain, and this soon created a barrier jet-like feature over the urban corridor. Simultaneously, lowlevel cold advection from the north occurred over the east side of the barrier due to larger-scale processes, a situation not associated with a classic barrier jet. Nevertheless, subsequently the warm inflow was lifted over the cold dome. A fourth important process, diabatic cooling from melting hydrometeors, contributed strongly to the cold dome and generated a nearly isothermal low-level temperature profile. Both cooling mechanisms (advection and diabatic) were significant. Resulting temperatures just east of the foothills were at or very close to the freezing point as the heavy snow event occurred. Precipitation type and snowfall density were major contributors to the heterogeneity of the precipitation distribution. The roles of cold-air damming and barrier jet-like features as the driving forces in both the dynamics and thermodynamics of the storm along the urban corridor are described in detail using radar, surface, and high-resolution nested model data from the Pennsylvania State UniversityNational Center for Atmospheric Research fifth-generation Mesoscale Model. The dammed cold air, centered over and just east of the foothills, was sloped laterally upwards towards the high terrain to the west, and topped by a stable, strongly sheared layer. This dynamic setup produced heavy precipitation away from the steep terrain gradient. Heavy precipitation rates played a major role in the development of a persistent rain/snow boundary well east on the plains. The northerly flow within the cold air also generated some local downslope flow, leading to areas of drastically reduced snowfall even when compared to that of lower elevations to the east. Wesley et al. NWA Journal of Operational Meteorology 30 April 2013 ISSN 2325-6184, Vol. 1, No. 4 27


The atmospheric circulation in the upper atmosphere of hot Jupiter planets is strongly influenced by the incoming stellar radiation. In this work, we explore the results from a 3D atmospheric model and revisit the main processes driving the circulation in hot Jupiter planets. We use the angular momentum transport as a diagnostic and carry out a Fourier analysis to identify the atmospheric waves involved. We find that the coupling between the angular momentum transported horizontally by the semidiurnal tide and the mean circulation is the mechanism responsible for producing the strong jet at low latitudes. Our simulations indicate the possible formation of atmospheric indirect cells at low latitudes. The formation of these cells is induced by the presence of the semidiurnal tide that is driven by the stellar irradiation. The tropical circulation has an important impact transporting heat and momentum from the upper towards the lower atmosphere. One of the consequences of this heat and momentum transport is a global increase of the temperature. We show that the initial conditions do not affect the output of the reference simulation. However, when the period of rotation of the planet was increased (Prot > 5 Earth days), vertical transport by stationary waves became stronger, transient waves became non-negligible, and Coriolis influence less dominant, which allowed a steady state with a strong retrograde jet to be stable. We found that at least two statically steady state solutions exist for the same planet parameters.


Despite of the traditional socioeconomic importance of fisheries in Lake Albufera of Valencia, documented since the XIII century, there is an absence of long-term and comparative studies, and recent studies on the composition and ecological relevance of its fish assemblages. Available data are almost obsolete or fragmentary, and mainly based on qualitative analyses of species composition or on commercial captures. In consequence, an exhaustive historical review of the ichthyofauna data together with fishery records were analysed, and additionally fish communities were studied during summer 2000 and spring 2002. The aim is to determine the present status and fish changes since first records in 1865, and ascertain the influence of fish associations on the lake ecology. Results pointed out: a) a remarkable reduction in fish species richness, especially from the 1950s to 2002; b) a noticeable increase in the populations of exotic species, mainly Gambusia holbrooki and Lepomis gibbosus, that replaced to autochthonous species, such as Aphanius iberus, Barbus bocagei, Chondrostoma arrigonis or Valencia hispanica; c) that since the decade of 1950, mugilid captures increased (from 80 to 490 t year -1 ) in detriment of species, such as Anguilla anguilla or Dicentrarchus labrax. This trend agrees with the severe eutrophication, dissapearance of submerged macrophytes and over-fishing of these species in earlier periods; d) seasonal cycles were observed for the specific composition of the captures, which is related to each species population dynamics (common in coastal lakes) and to manipulation of the lake water renewal for rice cultivation. The highest commercial fish captures occurred between October and January, which reduced the predation on macrozooplankton and had consequences on the lake food web and water transparency, e) a relationship between fish assemblages and the lake trophic state was observed. The progressive anthropogenic eutrophication of the lake, the uncontrolled introduction of exotic species and scarce conservation and management of the lake and surrounded ecosystems, as well as of its fish resources, are pointed out as some of the main causes for the changes observed in its ichthyofauna.


This paper studies the effects of generic drug's entry on bidding behavior of drug suppliers in procurement auctions for pharmaceuticals, and the consequences on procurer's price paid for drugs. Using an unique data set on procurement auctions for off-patent drugs organized by Brazilian public bodies, we surprisingly find no statistically difference between bids and prices paid for generic and branded drugs. On the other hand, some branded drug suppliers leave auctions in which there exists a supplier of generics, whereas the remaining ones lower their bidding price. These findings explain why we find that the presence of any supplier of generic drugs in a procurement auction reduces the price paid for pharmaceuticals by 7 percent. To overcome potential estimation bias due to generic's entry endogeneity, we exploit variation in the number of days between drug's patent expiration date and the tendering session. The two-stage estimations document the same pattern as the generalized least square estimations find. This evidence indicates that generic competition affects branded supplier's behavior in public procurement auctions differently from other markets.


Purpose To analyze the characteristics and survival of patients with mesorectum metastatic lymph nodes (MLNs) from cervical cancer. Patients and methods We retrospectively reviewed 1194 consecutive patients with FIGO stage IA–IVA cervical cancer who were treated with definitive radiotherapy between January 2011 and December 2015 in our institute. Patients were treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and brachytherapy, combined with concurrent chemotherapy. Mesorectum, pelvic and para-aortic MLNs were boosted 59–61Gy with IMRT. We calculated the clinical characteristics and survival of the patients with and without mesorectum MLNs and made comparisons between them. Results The incidence rate of mesorectum MLNs was 0.8% (10/1194). The incidence rates for patients with FIGO stages I, II, III, and IVA disease were 0%, 0.4%, 2.0%, and 33.3%, respectively. Mesorectum MLNs were associated with more advanced stage (p <0.001); larger tumor size (p = 0.002), para-aortic MLNs (p <0.001), common iliac MLNs (p <0.001), and bilateral pelvic MLNs (p <0.001). All patients with mesorectum MLNs experienced treatment failure and died during follow-up. The median overall survival was 10.43 months. The 2-year overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and local control (LC) rates were 10%, 0%, and 30%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that that mesorectum MLNs (hazard ratio, HR 4.0, 95% CI 1.8–9.1, p=0.001), para-aortic MLNs (HR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1–2.8, p=0.017) and pelvic MLNs (HR 2.5, 95% CI 1.7–3.7, p<0.001) were independent prognostic factors of OS. Conclusion Mesorectum MLNs from cervical cancer are rare. And, the survival of patients with mesorectum MLNs was poor after dose-escalated concurrent chemoradiotherapy.


Background and aims Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) represents diverse cardiac manifestation, but diastolic dysfunction has been reported infrequently. This study is aimed to investigate the left ventricular diastolic function and the factors related in SLE patients compared with healthy controls. Methods Thirty consecutive female SLE patients without evidence of cardiac disease were underwent standard transthoracic echocardiography, and were compared with 30 age-matched healthy female controls. Patient characteristics, organ damage and laboratory data were retrieved by medical chart review. Results In SLE patients, indexes of LV diastolic function differed from control group, with reduced early diastolic filling velocity (E), as well as prolongation of the time taken from the maximum E point to baseline, reduced ratio of early to late diastolic flow velocity (E/A), prolonged ratio of E to early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E') (E/E'). However, the differences did not show statistical significance. Anti-Ro antibody positivity was observed in 43% of SLE patients, and it was correlated with higher E/A ratio significantly (1.3±0.4 vs 1.0±0.2, p=0.03). In addition, the SLE patients with hematologic or renal involvement showed more enlarged size of left atrium significantly compared to the patients without any involvement (36±4.3 vs 31±9.2, p=0.01). Conclusions Although not statistically significant, there was a trend which suggested that patients with SLE have subclinical impaired diastolic function compared with the healthy control. Presence of anti-Ro antibody and systemic organ involvement was related with the diastolic dysfunction markers.


After a short introductory survey of urban development in medieval Hungary, the paper will focus on the urban policy of King Matthias Hunyadi, who reigned between 1458 and 1490.Conscious royal policy aiming at fostering urban development in Hungary can be traced from the 1230s. e thirteenth century brought several serious changes in the socio-political and economic life of the realm, as a result of which Hungary became an integral part of the western European economy. e most important towns of medieval Hungary emerged at places where consumption was concentrated: in the middle of the realm where the royal court resided, along the frontier where merchants from abroad entered the kingdom, and in the mining regions where precious metals were produced.e urban network of fifteenth century Hungary was constituted, above all, by 30 localities which were regarded as royal free towns. Besides these, there were many other towns in the realm, but these had already passed under private lordship. In the fifteenth century groups of towns lying close beside each other, or having the same sort of economy, formed alliances. Among them the tavernical towns, the union of the seven Lower-Hungarian mining towns, the league of five north-east Hungarian towns and the Saxon towns of Transylvania were the most important. Although the deputies of the towns frequently participated in the sessions of the Diet, they did not play an important role in the political life of the realm, and were important for the monarch mostly from a financial point of view.


In order to support children's learning of elementary mathematics meaningfully, elementary teachers need to understand that mathematics deeply and flexibly (Ball, 1990; Ma, 1999). In other words, they need good number sense (Reys & Yang, 1998). However, researchers have found that prospective elementary teachers tend to reason inflexibly, relying heavily on standard algorithms (e.g., Ma, 1999; Newton, 2008; Yang, 2007). Previous research has provided single snapshots or comparisons of pre/post snapshots of number sense. In this study, I analyzed prospective elementary teachers' number sense development. In earlier work, Nickerson and I created a local instruction theory (Gravemeijer, 1999) for the development of number sense (Nickerson & Whitacre, 2010). In a previous classroom teaching experiment, we found that prospective elementary teachers enrolled in a mathematics content course informed by the local instruction theory developed improved number sense (Whitacre & Nickerson, 2006). They moved from being reliant on the mental analogues of the standard algorithms to reasoning more flexibly in mental computation. In the present study, I duplicated analyses from the previous study and found similar results. I also moved beyond the previous study by investigating number sense development as a microgenetic, sociogenetic, and ontogenetic process (Saxe & Esmonde, 2005). I asked the following research questions: As prospective elementary teachers participate in a mathematics content course designed to support their development of number sense, 1. How does the number sense of individuals evolve? 2. What ideas come to function as if shared? What classroom mathematical practices emerge and become established? I approached this study from a situated perspective (Cobb & Bowers, 1999). The emergent perspective informed my approach to the research in terms of taking both social and individual lenses to the analysis of number sense development (Cobb & Yackel, 1996). I made innovations in the analysis of number sense. I documented collective activity in the class in terms of progressions through classroom mathematical practices. I also analyzed two case studies of individuals' number sense development. These analyses provide insights into the phenomenon of prospective elementary teachers' number sense development, which will inform revisions and elaboration to the local instruction theory


Invited keynote panel member Student Action Research conference

Mathematics anxiety is a well-recognised phenomenon in the United Kingdom, as documented by Brown, Brown & Bibby (2008) among others. Its effects, which include avoidance strategies, lack of confidence and competence, and negative attitudes, persist into adult life and significantly impairs creativity and problem-solving activities (Ashcraft & Moore (2009) among others). Further, the Williams Report (2008) identified a need to develop positive attitudes to mathematics in young children.

Evidence suggest s a number of key factors in the construction and transmission of anxiety and negative
attitudes, including:
 the nature, and perceived difficulty of mathematics
 the non-negotiable nature of mathematics
 teachers' attitudes to and fear of mathematics
 teaching styles
 familial and societal transmission and acceptance of mathematics anxiety (Haylock, 2008; Newstead, 1995, 1998)

Furthermore, there is evidence that teachers can be helped develop teaching approaches which can
ameliorate anxiety and raise mathematical confidence in children. (Haylock, 2010)

As Director of a large UK based In-Service, postgraduate professional development programme designed to support excellence in primary mathematics teaching, I want to improve my practice to enable more effective professional development experiences for the in-service teachers on my programme. How can I, in collaboration with the programme team and the teachers involved ensure that we work to alleviate anxiety, and develop confidence and competence in our teachers and their pupils? This paper draws on initial findings of a pilot evaluation with one cohort of teachers (September 2011–July 2012), and informs the development of further collaborative action research project which will start in October 2012, and will follow the cohort, tracking changes in their own mathematics confidence and competence, and reported and measured changes in their own pupils.


Even though hate speech (HS) online has been an important object of research in the last decade, most HS-related corpora over-simplify the phenomenon of hate by attempting to label user comments as "hate" or "neutral". This ignores the complex and subjective nature of HS, which limits the real-life applicability of classifiers trained on these corpora. In this study, we present the M-Phasis corpus, a corpus of ~9k German and French user comments collected from migration-related news articles. It goes beyond the "hate"-"neutral" dichotomy and is instead annotated with 23 features, which in combination become descriptors of various types of speech, ranging from critical comments to implicit and explicit expressions of hate. The annotations are performed by 4 native speakers per language and achieve high (0.77 <= k <= 1) inter-annotator agreements. Besides describing the corpus creation and presenting insights from a content, error and domain analysis, we explore its data characteristics by training several classification baselines.


: The affinity labeling of E. coli RNA polymerase by periodate oxidized uridine triphosphate was carried out without and with the template (polydeoxynucleotides poly(dA) and poly(dT) ), and under the conditions of poly(dA) and poly(dT) transcription. The extent of RNA polymerase labeling was nearly the same in the presence of poly(dA) and poly(dT) (0.9 and 0.7). However, during the transcription of poly(dA) the extent of RNA polymerase labeling proved to be more than twice as high as that in the case of poly(dT) (0.75 and 0.3). The longitudinal relaxation times (T1) for phosphorus of ATP and dinucleotide pUpU in the complexes of RNA polymerase with the template (poly(dA) and poly(dT) in the presence of MnCl2 were determined. The distance from the phosphorus of enzyme-bound ATP and pUpU and the Mn2+ ion coordinated at the active center on RNA polymerase were calculated using the Solomon - Blombergen formula. According to the results of the affinity labeling of RNA polymerase and the NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) experiments it can be inferred that the template influences the formation of the working conformation of the enzyme active center, specific with respect to the true substrate, in the stage of RNA elongation.


A successful fabrication of nanocarrier for drug delivery should yield nanoparticles (NPs) with suitable particle size and size distribution and provide high drug-loading capacity. Factors that influence these attributes include physicochemical properties of the drug, the nature of the nanocarrier, and processing variables, among others. The aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate the influence of solubility and partition coefficient of different drugs on the characteristics of starch-based NPs. Cassava starch was chemically modified by acetylation, at different degrees of substitution (DS) and characterized. The starch acetates (SAs) were then used for the preparation of drug-loaded NPs. Different model drugs: ibuprofen (BCS class II), acyclovir (BCS class III) and furosemide (BCS class IV) were incorporated into NPs using emulsification solvent evaporation technique. The effects of solubility and partition coefficient, and DS of SA on the properties of NPs, namely, size and size distribution, drug loading capacity (DL), encapsulation efficiency (EE) and in vitro release profile were investigated. The results showed that the DL and EE of ibuprofen and furosemide loaded starch acetate nanoparticles (SANPs) increased consistently with an increase in the DS of SA. On the contrary, DL and EE of acyclovir-loaded NPs decreased as DS of SA increased. Due to their poor solubility and high partition coefficient, the EEs of ibuprofen and furosemide in SANPs fabricated from SA with high DS were much greater than that of acyclovir. Furthermore, as DS of SA increased the cumulative release profile of Ibuprofen from SANPs was retarded whereas the release profile of acyclovir was enhanced. On the other hand, furosemide, the most lipophilic drug of all, exhibited lowest release profile over the study period of 8 h. In conclusion, along with the hydrophobic nature of SA, the DL, EE and drug release profile from SANPs depended on the solubility and partition coefficient of the incorporated drug molecule.


The right diaphragmatic hernia is rare and often missed on initial radiological evaluations. Even a small tear in the right diaphragm can be gradually enlarged over time due to pressure differences between the abdominal cavity and thoracic cavity, resulting eventually in the abdominal contents entering into the thoracic cavity. We present a case of inconspicuous right diaphragmatic hernia which was missed at first thoracic radiograph and CT examination. After large portion of some abdominal contents herniated into thoracic cave, CT multi-planar reformation (MPR) demonstrated the changes directly and vividly depicted several signs of diaphragmatic hernia. As CT has become one of most important imaging modalities in the evaluation of thoracic and abdominal trauma, MPR can be used routinely to obtain a definitive diagnosis and improve radiologists' confidence of diaphragmatic hernia.


Abstract
Using a national data set from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort, we examined factors associated with approximately 700 young African American boys' pre-academic skills. The factors examined included (a) family characteristics, behaviors, and beliefs; (b) nonparental care literacy activities; and (c) child health, aggression, and approaches to learning (e.g., curiosity, independence, and persistence). High achieving boys are contrasted with other boys, along the following dimensions: familial, early childhood program, child characteristics and practices and their pre-academic skills, and whether the association was moderated by achievement status. Regression analyses indicated that some aspects of family, preschool, and child characteristics were associated with African American boys' early outcomes, especially parental caretaking (e.g., bathing and brushing teeth) and approaches to learning (e.g., persistence and attention). Recommendations for educational practices and policies were offered.


Unsupervised segmentation of images with low depth of field (DOF) is highly useful in various applications. This paper describes a novel multiresolution image segmentation algorithm for low DOF images. The algorithm is designed to separate a sharply focused object-of-interest from other foreground or background objects. The algorithm is fully automatic in that all parameters are image independent. A multi-scale approach based on high frequency wavelet coefficients and their statistics is used to perform context-dependent classification of individual blocks of the image. Unlike other edge-based approaches, our algorithm does not rely on the process of connecting object boundaries. The algorithm has achieved high accuracy when tested on more than 100 low DOF images, many with inhomogeneous foreground or background distractions. Compared with he state of the art algorithms, this new algorithm provides better accuracy at higher speed.


Be ready for it - the full force of Industry 4.0 is imminent. This revolution is already showing impacts in a nation's economy, its ways of living and working, and on the workforce of the future. Countries have no choice but to be prepared and adapt to this rapid pace of doing things. This publication highlights the ways governments in eight member countries nurture human capital to ensure that they can thrive in the future.


1 The participation of sympathetic efferent fibres in wound healing is not well understood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of b1‐ and b2‐adrenoceptor blockade on rat excisional cutaneous wound healing. 2 Male rats were treated orally with propranolol dissolved in drinking water (50 mg/kg per day), whereas the control group received drinking water without propranolol. Propranolol was administered daily until rats were killed. A full‐thickness excisional lesion was performed. The lesion area was measured to evaluate wound contraction. After rats had been killed, lesion and adjacent normal skin were formol fixed and paraffin embedded. Sections were stained with haematoxylin–eosin, Sirius red or Toluidine blue and immunostained for a‐smooth muscle actin or proliferating cell nuclear antigen. 3 Propranolol‐treated rats presented delayed wound contraction and epidermal healing and decreased hydroxyproline levels, collagen density and neo‐epidermis thickness. Blockade of b1‐ and b2‐adrenoceptors increased epidermal and connective tissue cell proliferation, polymorphonuclear leucocyte migration, myofibroblast density and mast cell migration. The volume density of blood vessels was increased and vessels were more dilated in propranolol‐treated animals. 4 Thus, we conclude that b1‐ and b2‐adrenoceptor blockade impairs cutaneous wound healing. This information should be considered by physicians during the treatment of patients who present with hypertension and problems in the healing process (such as venous ulcers).


Background: Actinic keratosis (AK) can affect large skin areas. Ingenol mebutate (IngMeb) gel (0.015% and 0.05%) is approved for topical treatment of AK in a single contiguous area of ~25 cm2. Objective: The study sought to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), efficacy, and tolerability of IngMeb applied to AK on a contiguous area less than equal to 250 cm2. Methods: Part 1 determined the MTD of IngMeb at 7 concentrations for 2 or 3 days. Part 2 assessed efficacy and tolerability at the MTD and one dose lower for 2 or 3 days vs vehicle. Results: Four dosing regimens with an acceptable benefit-to-risk ratio were identified: 0.018% and 0.027% once daily for 2 or 3 days. Complete clearance at 8 weeks was achieved by 21.3% to 39.1% of IngMeb-treated patients vs 0% to 3.2% treated with vehicle. Composite local skin response scores peaked on the day after the last application, rapidly declined, and were near baseline at 2 weeks. Adverse events were predominantly mild or moderate. Limitations: The study evaluated a limited number of doses in a population of only white patients. Conclusion: IngMeb gel was effective and well tolerated as field treatment of AK on the full face, full scalp, and up to 250 cm2 on the chest. J Drugs Dermatol. 2017;16(5):438-444..


Background and purpose: The purpose of this study was to design a recombinant vector pEFGPN1 containing the full length of HIV-1Vpr gene. To the best of our knowledge, the cloning of Vpr gene in pEGFP_N1 is not previously done. Materials and methods: As a source of Vpr gene the pUC19-Vpr recombinant vector was confirmed by digestion with restriction enzymes BglII and NotI in order to separate the Vpr gene. The specific primers for Vpr gene including the restriction sites of XhoI and KpnI were designed according to the multiple cloning site of pEGFP-N1 and PCR reaction was performed using the pUC 19-Vpr vector as a template. The PCR product was undergone electrophoresis and gel extraction. Digestion reaction was done on both the extracted PCR product and the pEGFP-N1vector. The recombinant pEGFP-N1-Vpr vector was achieved by the ligation reaction using the T4 DNA ligase and it was transformed into the E-coli (DH5α) and propagated. Finally, confirmation was done through the restriction enzyme digestion and PCR amplification. Results: The recombinant vector pUC19-Vpr was confirmed using the restriction enzymes digestion, and then Vpr gene was successfully amplified using its specific primers including restriction sites for XhoI and KpnI. The PCR product was confirmed by electrophoresis. Finally, a recombinant vector pEGFP-N1 containing the full length of human immunodeficiency virus-1 Vpr gene (pEGFP-N1Vpr) was successfully constructed. Conclusion: HIV-1 Vpr gene in its full length size could be ligated into the pEGFP-N1.


Patients with abdominal pain resulting from pancreatitis are often misdiagnosed initially. There are no pathognomonic physical signs to implicate the pancreas as a source of chronic abdominal discomfort. Four patients seen consecutively (and one studied retrospectively) illustrate that erythema ab igne of the abdomen or low back may be a sign of pancreatitis. These patients had used heat on their abdomens or backs in attempts to relieve the pain. Using heat in this manner is common among patients with undiagnosed pancreatitis; the heat enhances the appearance of the erythema ab igne. The presence of pigmentation is a sign of organicity which should lead the physician to investigate the pancreas as a source of the patient's pain.


Introduction: Gingivitis and periodontitis are dental plaque-induced infections triggered by the accumulation and maturation of pathogenic film on the tooth surface and the oral cavity soft tissues. Subgingival plaque control plays an essential role in periodontal disease treatment. In addition to subgingival scaling, the topical application of antimicrobial preparations was supported and used since beneficial effects were noticed when it was employed as adjuvant therapy to conventional treatment, both from the clinical and microbiological viewpoints. Aim: This trial was designed to compare the effects of the topical application of certain antimicrobial agents (such as chlorhexidine and an antibiotic gel) accompanied by root scaling and surfacing, and to reveal the possible treatment response differences between medium deep and very deep periodontal pockets. Material and method: The trial was performed on a group of 216 patients of the Periodontology Clinic aged between 24 and 47 years, of whom 148 were suffering from generalized marginal chronic periodontitis and 68 from aggressive marginal periodontitis. The patient inclusion criteria were: no antibiotic treatment on the 3 months preceding the trial and no periodontal treatment on the 6 months preceding the trial; only patients suffering from a generalized or aggressive periodontal condition were included, and not those whose condition did not require the topical application of chemotherapeutical substances. Results: After 4 weeks, the pockets that were smaller than 4.4 mm decreased by 9 % further to scaling, by 16.5% after chlorhexidine treatment, and by 19.3% in patients that underwent antibiotic gel treatment. Combined chlorhexidine treatment resulted into a 24.7% drop, antibiotic treatment triggered a 25.6% decrease, and root scaling and surfacing brought about a 19.5% drop. Conclusions: We may say that root scaling and surfacing is an extremely efficient method in treating moderate and/or severe periodontitis. Although most of the sites respond positively to this treatment, when there are however sites that require a more complex treatment, topically released antimicrobial products are recommended.


The main purpose of this study is to test the software which runs circuits using a holographic interferometer. With this, it will be possible to develop coding that making the circuit elements work more productively. This study will make testing simpler by using different code clusters and algorithms that can be tested on the same sample or different samples, which vary from being more durable to interchangeable, making it simple to observe whether or not the charge is distributed throughout the circuit evenly. The first step in this study was to test the precision of the experiments mechanism by factoring in the interference pattern by creating a simple electrical circuit element hologram and observing it. First, a hologram of the Arduino circuit in its non-working state was made, then the interference of its working state was observed alongside the hologram by implementing the code, the two states were also compared. By doing so, the possibility of being able to compare and contrast the states of varying code clusters create on the circuit by hologram was tested. The main purpose of our study is to be able to make software comparisons using holographic interferometry in circuit analysis. It was observed that users are able to easily record the hologram, without the use of other mechanisms or a laboratory, in order to use them in testing.


Reliability is one of the key characteristics inherent in the concept "software quality". Understanding software reliability has been vital for both the software managers and software engineers, especially while developing critical systems. In the past several decades, an extensive body of knowledge has been developed and to a certain extent practical knowledge has been gathered by applying them to large scale mission- or safety-critical projects. However, software reliability models are falling short of gaining confidence in industrial community. From the software developer's perspective, software reliability has been primarily associated with defects, which represent a major cost factor in software development. This is called developer oriented approach. As software orientation has become ubiquitous, and software intensive systems have been proliferating, software quality assurance has been embracing more customer oriented perspectives. In this context, we will need richer, realistic and more accurate measures for software reliability. A recent empirical study by the authors highlighted many factors, which the practitioners perceived to be influential in the context of reliability prediction. This paper focuses on different reliability prediction models proposed in the literature, specifically examining whether the influential factors perceived to be contributing to the reliability are addressed or not in these models. We evaluated the assumptions made in each of the considered reliability models and checked their applicability in software product development. This paper concludes with a comparative presentation of a large set of well-known reliability models with respect to the set of factors identified by the industry as influential in software reliability.


The skin is very often the target organ of allergic reactions. This may be explained by many immunological competent cells in this organ such as the Langerhans cell, mast cells, lymphocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils. This is especially true for the antigen-presenting Langerhans cell. Therefore in many cases, the skin is a signalling organ for allergic reactions. Examples include food allergy which precipitates with sign and symptoms of skin diseases in about 45% and drug allergy to beta-lactam-antibiotics in about 90%. Also the skin serves as test organ in allergic diseases of other organs such as rhinitis allergica or asthma. Examples include Reibtest, prick-, intracutaneous-, scratch- and patch test. Therefore it is no surprise, that allergic diseases of the skin are the most often diagnosed skin diseases such as urticaria, angioedema, vasculitis, contact dermatitis and atopic dermatitis. At these diseases, their diagnose and therapy and especially the promising progress in research with regard to these diseases which has been obtained during the last years will be focussed in this review.


INTRODUCTION
Breast milk fatty acids play a major role in infant development. However, no data have compared the breast milk composition of different ethnic groups living in the same environment. We aimed to (i) investigate breast milk fatty acid composition of three ethnic groups in Singapore and (ii) determine dietary fatty acid patterns in these groups and any association with breast milk fatty acid composition.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This was a prospective study conducted at a tertiary hospital in Singapore. Healthy pregnant women with the intention to breastfeed were recruited. Diet profile was studied using a standard validated 3-day food diary. Breast milk was collected from mothers at 1 to 2 weeks and 6 to 8 weeks postnatally. Agilent gas chromatograph (6870N) equipped with a mass spectrometer (5975) and an automatic liquid sampler (ALS) system with a split mode was used for analysis.

RESULTS
Seventy-two breast milk samples were obtained from 52 subjects. Analysis showed that breast milk ETA (Eicosatetraenoic acid) and ETA:EA (Eicosatrienoic acid) ratio were significantly different among the races (P = 0.031 and P = 0.020), with ETA being the highest among Indians and the lowest among Malays. Docosahexaenoic acid was significantly higher among Chinese compared to Indians and Malays. No difference was demonstrated in n3 and n6 levels in the food diet analysis among the 3 ethnic groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Differences exist in breast milk fatty acid composition in different ethnic groups in the same region, although no difference was demonstrated in the diet analysis. Factors other than maternal diet may play a role in breast milk fatty acid composition.


This second volume of colour plates features the remaining 328 plates of the series, or 2624 individual photographs to bring the total number of coloured illustrations of the series to 5036. It includes further illustrations of the families Anthribidae, Caridae, Rhynchitidae, Attelabidae, Brentidae and Apionidae of Orthoceri and of the Erirhinidae of Heteromorphi, but the bulk of the plates deals with the remaining subfamilies of the Gonatoceri. Two similar indices as in Volume V, but combined for both colour plate volumes, conclude Volume VI.


Ontology heterogeneity restricts the application of ontology. The key of ontology mapping is to compute concept similarity. At present, the method of similarity computation is imperfect. And the computation quantity is high. In order to decrease computation quantity and completely compute concept similarity, the influences of relations and attributes is considered and use candidate set. In this paper, a computation method of similarity based on PSO algorithm is proposed. At first, the semantic similarity and descriptive similarity of concepts are computed. Then the attribute priority is specified by PSO algorithm. At last, the attribute with high priority is chosen according to the user need. Take two ontologies as example and compute concept similarity. Experiments results show that this calculative method can improve the precision of similarity and reduce the calculated quantity.


A general strategy toward the synthesis of C-ketosides of N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) has been developed and successfully applied to the synthesis of methylene-bridged Neu5Ac-alpha-(2,3)-Gal C-disaccharide 2. The key strategic element of this novel approach is a stereoselective, 6-exo-trig selective, electrophilic cyclization of the appropriate open chain precursor 4 by means of phenylselenyl triflate. The open chain precursor was formed by the addition of lithiated iodide 18 accessible from D-galactose to open chain aldehyde 5a obtained from D-glucono-delta-lactone by chain elongation. Subsequent C1-incorporation using Tebbe-reagent, formation of a cyclic carbonate, and deprotection of the two isopropylidene ketals afforded tetrol 4 which, upon treatment with phenylselenyl triflate, was stereoselectively cyclized in a 6-exo-trig selective manner. A selena-Pummerer rearrangement, oxidation, and esterification readily led to methyl ester 37 which, after deacetylation, could be regioselectively tetrabenzoylated with benzoyl cyanide. Triflate activation of the axial hydroxyl group in 40 and nucleophilic displacement by azide ion with inversion of configuration afforded azide 41, which was reduced with hydrogen and Pearlman's catalyst. Concomitant removal of the benzyl ethers and subsequent saponification of all ester moieties successfully completed the de novo synthesis of the desired methylene bridged Neu5Ac-alpha-(2,3)-Gal C-disaccharide 2.


: This report deals with two brothers suffering from chondrodystrophic myotomy (Schwartz-Jampel syndrome), and presents, through the study of these cases, the orthopedic and neurological problems presented by this condition. In the case of our patients there is no confirmation of the stunted growth mentioned in other reports, nor are there any changes in the vertebral column. In contrast to cases reported to date, pathologically high sero-enzyme amounts were found in both children. The congenital changes in the hip joints worsen during the pre-puberty phase, so that in one case bilateral adduction contraction and in the other complete bilateral dislocation of the hip joints resulted. Early orthopedic treatment to prevent later irreparable consequences is recommended.


Single nerve cells with static properties have traditionally been viewed as the building blocks for networks that show emergent phenomena. In contrast to this approach, we study here how the overall network activity can control single cell parameters such as input resistance, as well as time and space constants, parameters that are crucial for excitability and spatio-temporal integration. Using detailed computer simulations of neocortical pyramidal cells, we show that the spontaneous background firing of the network provides a means for setting these parameters. The mechanism for this control is through the large conductance change of the membrane that is induced by both non-NMDA and NMDA excitatory and inhibitory synapses activated by the spontaneous background activity.


Resistant annual and herbaceous perennial plant species were identified as key hosts which allow Phytophthora cinnamomi to persist on severely impacted black gravel sites within the Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah) forest of southwest Western Australia. Of the annual and herbaceous perennial plant species present on black gravel sites, 15 out of 19 species were found to be hosts of P. cinnamomi, and 10 of these were symptomless hosts. In particular, the native annual Trachymene pilosa and the two native herbaceous perennials Stylidium diuroides and Chamaescilla corymbosa were commonly found to be hosts of the pathogen. Species from 12 new genera including three from new families (Crassulaceae, Droseraceae and Primulaceae) are reported for the first time to be hosts of P. cinnamomi. The species from which P. cinnamomi was recovered were the native species: Chamaescilla corymbosa, Crassula closiana, Drosera erythrorhiza, Hydrocotyle callicarpa, Levenhookia pusilla, Paracaleana nigrita, Podotheca angustifolia, Pterochaeta paniculata, Rytidosperma caespitosum, Siloxerus multiflorus, Stylidium diuroides and Trachymene pilosa, and the introduced annual weeds Hypochaeris glabra, Lysimachia arvensis and Pentameris airoides.


The paper describes a gesture recognition algorithm which can effectively recognize single-hand gestures in real time under complex environment. The system involves a vocabulary of 20 gestures consisted by part of Chinese sign language letter spelling alphabet and digits. A new complexion model has been proposed to extract hand regions under a variety of lighting conditions. Real-time performance is due to a novel combination of voting theory and relief algorithm. This system is used in our mobile robot control project.


The case study describes a 4-year-old boy with chronic renal failure secondary to renal dysplasia, who was readmitted after re-implantation of ureters and pyeloplasty with vomiting and abdominal pain. It was diagnosed as possible bladder spasm and he was prescribed oxybutinin. This was not effective so he was prescribed baclofen in a standard dose for his age and weight (10 mg three times a day). The following day his level of consciousness deteriorated requiring admission to intensive care for supportive care including ventilation. The symptoms were caused by baclofen toxicity. The patient recovered over the next 2–3 days with no apparent long-term consequences. Baclofen is a derivative of γ-aminobutyric acid with antispastic action at a spinal level. Following oral administration the onset of action of baclofen is 30–40 min with a peak action after 2 h. Baclofen is primarily excreted by the kidney (70–85%) and has an approximate half life of 3.6 h. In this patient sequential baclofen levels were taken and found to be high. Using these levels the elimination rate constant for this patient was calculated as 0.068 and the half life was 10.2 h. This would suggest that a maximum dose of 5 mg given either once or twice a day would have been appropriate for this patient. The outcome of a root cause analysis of this incident showed that there was failure to identify a patient in renal failure needing dose adjustment. Since this incident several actions have been introduced to try and prevent a recurrence. These include identification of chronic renal failure on the prescription chart including eGFR, on-going education and training for medical staff and inclusion of eGFR in all letters and correspondence. It is hoped that this will refresh delegates' knowledge of the need to use baclofen with extreme caution in patients with renal failure and some points as to how to avoid this kind of incident.


Chlorella contains a high amount of carotenoids, especially lutein, and has received attention as a possible dietary source for improving carotenoid levels in human blood. In the present study, we performed a 2-month single arm human study, and investigated the efficacy of Chlorella supplementation (9 g Chlorella/day; equivalent to 32 mg lutein/day) on lutein and other carotenoid concentrations in plasma as well as erythrocytes of 12 healthy subjects. Following Chlorella supplementation, lutein was the predominant carotenoid in erythrocytes, showing a 4-fold increase (from 14 to 54 pmol/mL packed cells). After the one month without Chlorella ingestion, erythrocyte lutein then decreased to a basal level (17 pmol/mL packed cells). Erythrocyte carotenoid (lutein, zeaxanthin, α-carotene, and β-carotene) levels were proportional to plasma carotenoid levels. The results suggest the transfer of Chlorella carotenoids, especially lutein, from plasma lipoprotein particles to the erythrocyte membrane. Chlorella intake would be effective for improving and maintaining lutein concentrations in human erythrocytes.


Pregnancy loss (PL) often results in disenfranchised grief. Although much is known about women's experience of PL in general, less is known about PL among women from different backgrounds, particularly the Ultraorthodox community, where the woman's role is often defined by childbearing, but fertility is not openly discussed. The study's goal was to explore PL experiences among this unique sociocultural group: Jewish Ultraorthodox women. Employing a qualitative approach, we interviewed 14 women about their PL. Analysis revealed five themes denoting Ultraorthodox women's struggles post-PL, within two arenas: religiously-based marital struggle (restricted physical support, challenged emotional support) and social struggle/conflict regarding sharing (due to PL as a taboo, perceived failure to fulfill the woman's fertility role, and yearning for "room to grieve"). The findings highlight that PL-grief may be disenfranchised for religious reasons, underscoring the need for a culturally-sensitive inquiry of PL and disenfranchised grief. Therapeutically, clinicians' additional awareness is required.


We measured ozone (O3) concentrations in the atmospheric plumes of the volcanoes St. Augustine (1976), Mt. Etna (2004, 2009) and Eyjafjallajökull (2010) and found O3 to be strongly depleted compared to the background at each volcano. At Mt. Etna O3 was depleted within tens of seconds from the crater, the age of the St. Augustine plumes was on the order of hours, whereas the O3 destruction in the plume of Eyjafjallajökull was maintained in 1–9 day old plumes. The most likely cause for this O3 destruction are catalytic bromine reactions as suggested by a model that manages to reproduce the very early destruction of O3 but also shows that O3 destruction is ongoing for several days. Given the observed rapid and sustained destruction of O3, heterogeneous loss of O3 on ash is unlikely to be important.


Deadwood was identified as an important indicator for habitat condition and biodiversity in forests. The assessment of downed trees is therefore part of sustainable forest management and ecological monitoring. However, manual quantification of deadwood in forests is challenging, time consuming, and considered cost-inefficient. Full-waveform airborne laser scanning (FWF-ALS) can be used to support the assessment process. The amplitude and width of the backscattered pulses contain information on the properties of the surface. We used these observations for the identification of downed trees in a Natura2000 forest site. A high density FWF-ALS data set was acquired under leaf-off conditions. Echo width and type (i.e., first, intermediate, and last) information as well as normalized echo heights were used to filter the point cloud and derive a digital height model (DHM). This DHM depicts downed stems as line-like features. Image processing was applied to derive and refine regions representing fallen trees. Terrestrial reference data consisting of locations and dimensions of downed trees, as well as state of decay were used for evaluation. Direct identification of downed trees in FWF-ALS point clouds was possible (completeness 75%, correctness 90%), but it was influenced by factors such as dimension, state of decay, vegetation density, and penetration of the laser.


We hypothesized that control processes, as measured using electrophysiological (EEG) variables, influence the rate of learning of complex tasks. Specifically, we measured alpha power, event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs), and event-related brain potentials during early training of the Space Fortress task, and correlated these measures with subsequent learning rate and performance in transfer tasks. Once initial score was partialled out, the best predictors were frontal alpha power and alpha and delta ERSPs, but not P300. By combining these predictors, we could explain about 50% of the learning rate variance and 10%-20% of the variance in transfer to other tasks using only pretraining EEG measures. Thus, control processes, as indexed by alpha and delta EEG oscillations, can predict learning and skill improvements. The results are of potential use to optimize training regimes.


Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) are facing more severe heat dissipation challenges since the fuel cell stack is required to operate at a lower temperature and thus smaller heat exchanger temperature difference. Thorough analysis of the parametric effects is required to maximize the thermal performance. In this paper, a numerical analysis of the tube-strip heat exchanger is conducted for the targeted application in a high performance passenger FCV. The representative unit cell is used to model the detailed fluid flow and heat transfer at both hot and cold sides in the theoretical framework of volume averaging. Based on the numerical computation over the representative unit cells, the flow, temperature and pressure fields are obtained, which are then utilized to obtain the cell-level heat transfer coefficient between the hot and cold fluids. The obtained heat transfer coefficients are used for the estimation of the heat exchanger thermal performance based on the effectiveness-NTU method. Different air and liquid water flow rates are first examined. Various design parameters such as fin height, fin spacing, fin thickness and fin material are examined through the heat transfer analysis at the unit cell level. Attention is also paid on the improvement of the air-side performance by changing fin shapes to increase the heat transfer coefficient of the heat exchanger. The result shows that the total exchanged heat of the aluminum louvered fin heat exchanger, with fin thickness of 0.06mm, fin height of 5mm and fin spacing of 1mm, can reach 59.24 kW at the liquid flowrate of 120L/min and air velocity of 5m/s.


In this review article  applications and potential uses of 3D printing in the plastic thermoforming industry are reviewed.    3D printing also known as "Additive manufacturing" has revolutionized the modern manufacturing process and engineering design process. Thermoforming is widely used in  plastic  manufacturing industries to produce a range of polymer products such products are normally used in the packaging industry. Thermoforming moulds are mostly produced using conventional mould building technologies and are made of steel. These mould are robust but only suitable for mass production  and take some time to fabricate.  3D printers are mostlyused during the prototyping stage of design. They can be used for proof of concept and also are useful for customer presentations to allow the customer to see and feel exactly what their product will look like. 3D printing can find use in thermoforming industry in creating moulds to thermoform parts  this can produce the moulds quickly and  economically and  prototyping of packaging machine parts  as well as fabricating of the packaging material.  3D printing allows ease of production of personalised packaging. With 3D printing the structural design of the package could be customised on request.  As more sustainable bioplastic filaments are innovated, the adoption of 3D printing in packaging manufacturing may help save the environment.  3D printing works well with  Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and polypropylene.  This paper looks at the different applications of 3D printing in the plastics thermoforming industry and looks at the viability of t he use of this technology as well as the advantages in relation to conventional production technologies and materials. Keywords  -  3D printing,  packaging, plastic  thermoforming, prototyping


Common mental disorders (CMDs) are among the leading causes of disability worldwide and have a major impact in terms of lost productivity and sickness absence. Returning to work is a complex process in which different stakeholders are involved and have to co-operate. The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of the return-to-work (RTW) process of workers on sick leave with CMDs, and of the RTW barriers and facilitators from a multi-stakeholder perspective. The perspective of important stakeholder groups on barriers and facilitators and their own role in the RTW process were explored in four focus groups, i.e. with mental health professionals, occupational health professionals, general physicians and managers (PART A). Workers' own perspectives on what had led to sickness absence, as well as on RTW barriers and facilitators, were explored using face-to-face interviews with three sub-groups of workers: workers with CMDs on short-, medium- and long-term sickness absence. All workers were interviewed twice to fully capture the nature of the RTW process (PART B).


ABSTRACT Human susceptibility to Schistosoma mansoni infections is controlled by the SM1 locus on chromosome 5 in q31-q33. This genetic region encodes cytokines which regulate the development of helper T lymphocytes. In the present work, a clonal analysis of CD4+T lymphocytes of homozygous resistant and homozygous susceptible subjects was undertaken to evaluate whether SM1 controls helper T-cell differentiation. Of 121 CD4+ T-cell clones (TCC) from three susceptible (S) and three resistant (R) subjects, 68 proliferated when stimulated by parasite antigens. Parasite-specific TCC derived from susceptible subjects (33 STCC) produced 10- to 1,000-fold less interleukin-4 and -5 than TCC from resistant subjects (25 RTCC). Clones from both patient groups produced, however, the same amount of gamma interferon. Parasite-specific STCC were type 1 helper (Th1) or Th0/1, whereas RTCC were either Th2 or Th0/2. These results, together with the localization of SM1 in 5q31-q33, indicate that the SM1 locus controls the differentiation of Th2 lymphocytes.


We have quantitatively analyzed the relationship between translational efficiency and the mRNA secondary structure in the initiation region. The stability of a defined hairpin structure containing a ribosome binding site was varied over 12 kcal/mol (1 cal = 4.184 J) by site-directed mutagenesis and the effects on protein yields were analyzed in vivo. The results reveal a strict correlation between translational efficiency and the stability of the helix. An increase in its delta G0 of -1.4 kcal/mol (i.e., less than the difference between an A.U and a G.C pair) corresponds to the reduction by a factor of 10 in initiation rate. Accordingly, a single nucleotide substitution led to the decrease by a factor of 500 in expression because it turned a mismatch in the helix into a match. We find no evidence that exposure of only the Shine-Dalgarno region or the start codon preferentially favors recognition. Translational efficiency is strictly correlated with the fraction of mRNA molecules in which the ribosome binding site is unfolded, indicating that initiation is completely dependent on spontaneous unfolding of the entire initiation region. Ribosomes appear not to recognize nucleotides outside the Shine-Dalgarno region and the initiation codon.


: Differences are observed in plasma membrane proteins of S. intermedius and S. droebachiensis sea urchin embryo cells isolated at middle blastula stage by means of acrylamide-gel electrophoresis in presence of SDS, urea or non-ionic detergents--Triton X-100 or Brij 35. Electrophoretic mobilities of plasma membrane proteins of sea urchin hybrid embryo malemale S. intermedius X femalefemale S. droebachiensis were identical with electrophoretic mobilities of plasma membrane proteins of maternal species S. droebachiensis. Three sea urchin embryo species under study had just the same biosynthesis of plasma membrane proteins at middle blastula stage detected by 14C-aminoacids pulse-labeling followed by membrane isolation, electrophoresis and gel-autoradiography.


Coasts offer multiple advantages when topical combinations for optimal use are foreseen. The Dutch-German-Danish Wadden Sea region has been transformed on its landward half into drained arable land. This has been protected by seawalls against storm surges which frequently ravage this coast. The other half remained a dynamic seascape with the largest coherent tidal flats in the world. This had been perceived as a drenched wasteland with treacherous shallows for long but is now proudly regarded as a universally outstanding coastal wetland, listed as a World Heritage Site since 2009. Faced with accelerating sea level rise, a change in coastal adaptation is advocated. The prevailing fortress strategy should give way to living with more water and more natural areas, growing with and buffering against sea level rise. Such areas could also provide relaxation from stressful urban life, and tourism would develop into the main economy at modern coasts.


This paper investigates the use of multimaterial compliant joints produced through additive manufacturing in order to approximate a revolute joint. Compliant joints benefit from low friction and reduced wear, but at the cost of increased joint stiffness, reduced range of motion, and a reduced ability to resist loading. In addition, they might also provide a poor approximation of the revolute joints they intend to replace. In this paper, we experiment with three multimaterial compliant joint configurations. The first joint emphasizes accurate kinematics, the second joint aims to reduce axis-aligned stiffness, and the third joint compromises between the two. Samples were fabricated on a desktop 3D printer using PLA (polylactic acid) as the rigid material and TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) for its flexibility. Samples were measured for tensile stiffness, torsional stiffness, range of motion, and approximation of a hinge motion. Our results indicate design trade offs where joints that measure most ideal for one property will be least ideal for another. The most novel design in this paper straddles this trade off. In the end, the suitability of each joint design is determined by the loading, accuracy, and range of motion requirements posed by a given application.


Software development for high-performance (parallel/distributed) computing (HPC) is a non-trivial process; its complexity can be primarily attributed to the increased degrees of freedom that have to be resolved and tuned in such an environment. Performance prediction tools enable a developer to evaluate various available design alternatives and can assist in HPC application software development. In this paper, we first present a novel "interpretive" approach for accurate and cost-effective performance prediction. The approach has been used to develop an interpretive HPF/Fortran 90D application performance prediction framework. The accuracy and usability of the performance prediction framework are experimentally validated. We then outline the stages typically encountered during application software development for parallel/distributed HPC and highlight the significance and requirements of a performance prediction tool at the relevant stages. Numerical results using benchmarking kernels and application codes are presented to demonstrate the application of the interpretive performance prediction framework at different stages of the software development process.


This is a new editon of the classic textbook on marine protected area (MPA) management in the tropics, originally produced as an output of the Bali World Parks Congress in 1982. Approaches to planning and managing MPAs have evolved considerably. Major advances include innovative financing mechanisms, partnerships with the private sector and NGOs, and collaborative management between government and coastal communities. These advances have brought new approaches for MPA establishment and management that are more participatory, involving communities through interaction and collaboration rather than prescription. With new case studies and ilustrations, the guide comes in a water-resistant cover for field use. It is intended for those who plan individual and/or national MPA systems and gives philosophical context for MPAs along with some basic principles and approaches


Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive motor and nonmotor deficits concomitant with degenerative pathophysiological changes within the cerebellum. The cerebellum is topographically organized into cerebello‐cerebral circuits that create distinct functional networks regulating movement, cognition, and affect. SCA3‐associated motor and nonmotor symptoms are possibly related not only to intracerebellar changes but also to disruption of the connectivity within these cerebello‐cerebral circuits. However, to date, no comprehensive investigation of cerebello‐cerebral connectivity in SCA3 has been conducted. The present study aimed to identify cerebello‐cerebral functional connectivity alterations and associations with downstream clinical phenotypes and upstream topographic markers of cerebellar neurodegeneration in patients with SCA3. This study included 45 patients with SCA3 and 49 healthy controls. Voxel‐based morphometry and resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed to characterize the cerebellar atrophy and to examine the cerebello‐cerebral functional connectivity patterns. Structural MRI confirmed widespread gray matter atrophy in the motor and cognitive cerebellum of patients with SCA3. We found reduced functional connectivity between the cerebellum and the cerebral cortical networks, including the somatomotor, frontoparietal, and default networks; however, increased connectivity was observed between the cerebellum and the dorsal attention network. These abnormal patterns correlated with the CAG repeat expansion and deficits in global cognition. Our results indicate the contribution of cerebello‐cerebral networks to the motor and cognitive impairments in patients with SCA3 and reveal that such alterations occur in association with cerebellar atrophy. These findings add important insights into our understanding of the role of the cerebellum in SCA3.


Machining performances are strongly influenced by vibration which occurs due to the dynamic nature of machine toolstructures. A self excited vibration commonly known as chatter is frequent debacle occurs during milling operations whichcause worsening outcomes such as excessive tool wear, poor surface finish and reduced tool life. In this paper an effort hasbeen tried to optimize the machining and geometrical parameters for reduced vibration using Taguchi method with greyrelational analysis during end milling of Al356/SiC metal matrix composites. The twin channel piezoelectric accelerometerhas been used to measure vibration. Acceleration amplitudes at two different positions, one in spindle and another in workpiece holder have been recorded for each experiment. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) have been applied to find theprominent parameters and the optimal parameter combination for best average response and signal to noise (S/N) ratio.Grey relational analysis has been implemented to find the optimal permutation of machining and geometrical parameters byconsidering both responses (acceleration amplitude taken at two different positions) simultaneously. Confirmation testsestablished that the grey-based Taguchi method has been successful in optimizing the process parameter for reducedvibration.


Demand for healthcare services is growing rapidly in Australia and across the world, and rising healthcare expenditure is increasing pressure on sustainability of government-funded healthcare systems. In Australia, elective surgery waiting lists are growing and hospitals are struggling with a capacity shortage. To keep up with the rising demand, we need to be more efficient in delivering surgical services. Although it is appropriate to model emergency patient flow as a queuing network, elective patient flow in a surgical suite is quite different. For example, the hospital management can adjust the elective patient arrival process to get a better throughput, or they can decide to not to operate on any elective surgery patient over weekends. A simulation model can be used as an alternative to a queuing model, however, it is difficult to make optimal decisions using a simulation model. In this paper, we develop a mixed integer programming (MIP) model to Preprint submitted to European Journal of Operational Research June 23, 2017 analyse and optimise elective surgery patient flow in a surgical suite. We will use the model to develop stochastically optimal surgery schedules for various length of stay scenarios. We will also analyse the effect of varying the penalty factor, an input parameter to control cancellations, on the occupancy level and the cancellation rate. Finally, we develop an optimal master surgery schedule to maximise the utilisation level while keeping the cancellation rate within acceptable limits.


Urban areas are constantly being redeveloped and expanded. In these processes it is the right of all citizens to have their opinions heard, but children and youth are not being sufficiently included. This remains a challenge, despite their rights, and acknowledgment that their opinions are valuable. One of the problems is that conventional methods used to facilitate public participation do not fit the need of children and youth. The objective of this research is to investigate how smartphones can be used to create new and innovative methods for children and youth to participate in urban planning, focusing on location-based participation and game elements. The research has been grounded in design science, which is driven by creating innovative IT-artifacts that solve real-world problems. The design cycle of design science comprise the main part of the work, and was done in three iterations, with an evaluation at the end of each iteration. The first iteration defined the concept and a low-fidelity prototype that was evaluated with expert interviews. In the second iteration a functional prototype was implemented and evaluated with a usability test. The third iteration refined the prototype, and ended with a field test. The result was an app that lets the user take location-based surveys, post suggestions, discuss suggestions with other users, and get points and achievements while using the app. Evaluations suggest that the concept is promising, and that there is a need for such a product. Location-based surveys can help children and youth gain new perspectives and provide better feedback, while the game elements can make the participation more engaging. The work has also uncovered many possibilities for how the concept can be extended in the future.


Multivariate time-series forecasting plays a crucial role in many real-world applications. It is a challenging problem as one needs to consider both intra-series temporal correlations and inter-series correlations simultaneously. Recently, there have been multiple works trying to capture both correlations, but most, if not all of them only capture temporal correlations in the time domain and resort to pre-defined priors as inter-series relationships. In this paper, we propose Spectral Temporal Graph Neural Network (StemGNN) to further improve the accuracy of multivariate time-series forecasting. StemGNN captures inter-series correlations and temporal dependencies jointly in the spectral domain. It combines Graph Fourier Transform (GFT) which models inter-series correlations and Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) which models temporal dependencies in an end-to-end framework. After passing through GFT and DFT, the spectral representations hold clear patterns and can be predicted effectively by convolution and sequential learning modules. Moreover, StemGNN learns inter-series correlations automatically from the data without using pre-defined priors. We conduct extensive experiments on ten real-world datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness of StemGNN.


Increasing consumption of synthetic chemical fertilizers played a great role in alleviating hunger but has also resulted in some adverse effects on natural resources like disaster in soil quality and conceivable outcomes of water pollution. Due to these unfavorable effects, emphasis is being laid on alternate forms of agriculture that are more sustainable. The development of  bioinoculant  with multi-crop growth promoting activities is most important for  sustenance of agriculture. Instead of being financially viable and eco-accommodating in nature, a few imperatives incorporate temperamental supplies and non-appearance of appropriate quality control limit the application or execution of the innovation. In the present review status, use and major manufacturer /industries involved for production of bioinoculants in India has been presented. The total number of units including public, private and cooperatives estimated to be 297. Maharashtra is having the highest number of private companies (68) followed by Gujarat (56) while Tamil Nadu have the highest number public sector units (7) and Delhi is having highest number of co-operatives units (3). Production data (carrier base in MT) revealed that Gujarat (6575 MT) topped the list first followed by Madhya Pradesh and Karnatka (2589.9 MT) during 2016-17. Zone wise bio-fertilizer production in India during the same period is highest in Karnatka both in carrier based formulation (31553.06 MT) and liquid based formulation (993.443 KL).


A PC controlled food contaminant detection system for practical use was designed and constructed. The system we have developed is the High-Tc SQUID based system, which is covered with waterproof stainless steel plates and acceptable to HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) program. The outer dimension of the system is 1500L mm x 477W mm x 1445H mm and the acceptable object size is 200W mm x 80H mm. This system employed a double-layered permeable metallic shield with thickness of 1 mm as a magnetically shielded box. The distribution of the magnetic field in the box was simulated by FEM; the gap between each shield layer was optimized before fabrication. Then the shielding factor of 732 in Z-component was achieved. This value is good enough to operate the system in a factory. As a result, we successfully detected a steel ball as small as 0.3 mm in diameter with a distance of 75 mm.


Takayasu arteritis is also known as pulseless disease as it affects the arterial tree and the patient's peripheral pulses become non-palpable. It is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology affecting the aorta and its main branches. The inflammatory arteritis can affect any organ system of the body leading to occult or overt multi-organ dysfunction. Anaesthetic management of these patients presenting for emergency surgery can be quite challenging as there may not be enough time available for complete evaluation of every organ system. We hereby present the anaesthetic challenges in a case of emergency urological surgery in a patient of Takayasu's arteritis with obstructive uropathy and fibrotic lung changes.


In this note the S-matrix naturally associated with a singularly perturbed three-dimensional system of linear differential equations without turning point on the real axis is considered. It is shown that for a fairly large class of examples, the Complex WKB method gives results far better than what is proven under generic circumstances. In particular, we show how to compute asymptotically all exponentially small off-diagonal elements of the corresponding S-matrix.


RWTH Aachen University officially handed over a 10,000 square meter site to the Center Construction Robotics (CCR) in the Construction Cluster for its envisaged reference construction site. An interdisciplinary team of RWTH Aachen academics will use digitalization as its research basis in the Center Construction Robotics in conjunction with a European industry consortium at this construction site of the future – research topics will include many issues from pre-production of construction elements to fully automated construction sites. The reference construction site, a pilot project starting up temporarily on Campus West, will serve as a reality laboratory. New construction processes and products, networked machines, the implementation of robots, software solutions, as well as teaching, working and communication concepts will be tested under real construction site conditions here. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is currently funding an initial research project. In addition to Liebherr's tower crane division, PORR AG, EIFFAGE, LEONHARD WEISS GmbH & Co. KG, HILTI AG and Autodesk GmbH are main sponsors from the industry. They provide financial and infrastructural support for the reference construction site.


Digital financial services have been a key driver of financial inclusion in recent years. While there is evidence that financial inclusion through traditional services has a positive impact on economic growth, do the same results carry over for digital financial inclusion? What drives digital financial inclusion? Why does it advance more in some countries but not in others? Using new indices of financial inclusion developed in Khera et. al. (2021), this paper addresses these questions for 52 developing countries. Using cross-sectional instrument variable procedure, we find that the exogenous component of digital financial inclusion is positively associated with growth in GDP per capita during 2011-2018, which suggests that digital financial inclusion can accelerate economic growth. Fractional logit and random effects empirical estimation identifies access to infrastructure, financial and digital literacy, and quality of institutions as key drivers of digital financial inclusion. These findings are then used to help inform policy recommendations in areas related to the digitization of financial services to promote financial inclusion. JEL Classification Numbers: C33, C36, G10, G20, O30


The economic and financial crises of the last decade have led to massive changes in economic, social, banking, and employment policies throughout the world. However, both the United States and the United Kingdom have generally maintained more static in relation to their overall status quo regarding insolvency and social policy, in stark contrast to the reactions of most continental European nations. Taken together with the sovereign debt crisis that plagued many continental European nations beginning in 2010, it may be somewhat surprising that the United Kingdom has not adjusted its policies to any greater degree than it has. Rather, it is continental Europe that has moved more or less en masse toward the lower common denominator of the United Kingdom, at least in terms of social and employment protection. In addition, many peripheral or less economically developed European nations have achieved some inadvertent legal benefits from the crises of the last decade in the reform or creation of more robust insolvency and corporate rescue systems.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the historical and constitutional underpinnings of the US and the UK, within the context of the European Union when required, in order to identify important differences in legal development and divergence from a common legal ancestry in approaches to insolvency, in particular corporate rescue procedures such as Chapter 11 and administration under the Insolvency Act 1986, and the social policy issues related to it. By identifying points of divergence situated within the historical context in which it arose, a more detailed, path dependent observation may reveal deeply seated differences that can explain why the US and the UK have often relied upon different foundational philosophies in the development of legal systems in insolvency and social policy. While the UK and the US are often compared in a positive light, as being more closely aligned than other European nations and the UK, their differences continue to persist, despite EU influence, and indeed, at times, in spite of it.


The early years of antiepileptic drug development were characterised by observation and serendipity, rather than a rational, targeted approach to drug development. Control of seizures was seen as the primary aim of therapy, with much less focus on safety and tolerability. However, experience with thalidomide in the 1960s brought safety to the fore, resulting in an era of much tighter regulatory control that still persists today. A direct consequence of this was an increased emphasis on the importance of evidence from randomised controlled trials. Despite the continuing reliance on randomised controlled trials for regulatory approval and the formulation of evidence-based guidelines, the modern era has seen an increasing acknowledgment of their limitations and the need for complementary sources of 'real-world' evidence. Such sources include registries and studies that are designed to provide a much broader assessment of a drug's overall effectiveness; for example, by incorporating patient-reported outcomes to assess the effects of treatment on quality of life or functional status. Such changes reflect a more patient-centric approach to treatment, since it is now recognised that epilepsy can only be effectively managed if patients' individual real-life needs are addressed, since a key to successful treatment is long-term compliance. Alongside these changes in approach, the modern era has witnessed important advances in antiepileptic drugs themselves, either through development of novel molecules, or targeted, structural improvements of older agents.


We report on photometric, spectroscopic and polarimetric monitoring of the optical and near-infrared (NIR) afterglow of GRB020405. Ground-based optical observations, performed with 8 di fferent telescopes, started about 1 day after the high-energy prompt event and spanned a period of ∼10 days; the addition of archival HST data extended the coverage up to ∼150 days after the GRB. We report the first detection of the afterglow in NIR bands. The detection of Balmer and oxygen emission lines in the optical spectrum of the host galaxy indicates that the GRB is located at redshift z = 0.691. Fe and Mg  absorption systems are detected at z = 0.691 and atz = 0.472 in the afterglow optical spectrum. The latter system is likely caused by absorbing clouds in the galaxy complex located ∼2′′ southwest of the GRB020405 host. Hence, for the first time, the galaxy responsible for an intervening absorption line system in the spectrum of a GRB afterglow is spectroscopically identified. Optical and NIR photometry of the afterglow indicates that, between 1 and 10 days after the GRB, the decay in all bands is consistent with a single power law of index α = 1.54± 0.06. The late-epoch VLTJ-band and HST optical points lie above the extrapolation of this power law, so that a plateau (or "bump") is apparent in the VRIJ light curves at 10–20 days after the GRB. The light curves at epochs later than day ∼20 after the GRB are consistent with a power-law decay with index α′ = 1.85±0.15. While other authors have proposed to reproduce the bump with the template of the supernova (SN) 1998bw, considered the prototypical "hypernova", we suggest that it can also be modeled with a SN having the same temporal profile as the other proposed hypernova SN2002ap, but 1.3 mag brighter at peak, and located at the GRB redshift. Alternatively, a shock re-energization may be responsible for the rebrightening. A single polarimetric R-band measurement shows that the afterglow is polarized, with P = 1.5±0.4% and polarization angle θ = 172◦ ±8◦. Broad-band optical-NIR spectral flux distributions show, in the first days after the GRB, a change of slope across the J band which we interpret as due to the presence of the electron cooling frequency νc. The analysis of the multiwavelength spectrum within the standard fireball model suggests that a population of relativistic electrons with indexp ∼ 2.7 produces the optical-NIR emission via synchrotron radiation in an adiabatically expanding blastwave, with negligible host galaxy extinction, and the X–rays via Inverse Compton scattering o ff lower-frequency afterglow photons.


Abstract : Endeavors in mobile robotics focus on developing autonomous vehicles that operate in dynamic and uncertain environments. By reducing the need for human-in- the-loop control, unmanned vehicles are utilized to achieve tasks considered dull or dangerous by humans. Because unexpected latency can adversely affect the quality of an autonomous system's operations, which in turn can affect lives and property in the real-world, their ability to detect and handle external events is paramount to providing safe and dependable operation. Behavior-based systems form the basis of autonomous control for many robots. This thesis presents the unified behavior framework, a new and novel approach which incorporates the critical ideas and concepts of the existing reactive controllers in an effort to simplify development without locking the system developer into using any single behavior system. The modular design of the framework is based on modern software engineering principles and only specifies a functional interface for components, leaving the implementation details to the developers. In addition to its use of industry standard techniques in the design of reactive controllers, the unified behavior framework guarantees the responsiveness of routines that are critical to the vehicle's safe operation by allowing individual behaviors to be scheduled by a real-time process controller. The experiments in this thesis demonstrate the ability of the framework to: 1) interchange behavioral components during execution to generate various global behavior attributes; 2) apply genetic programming techniques to automate the discovery of effective structures for a domain that are up to 122 percent better than those crafted by an expert; and 3) leverage real-time scheduling technologies to guarantee the responsiveness of time critical routines regardless of the system?s computational load.


In theory, we study the quantum fluctuations of the subharmonic reflected field from a triple-resonant degenerate optical parametric amplifier (OPA) inside an optical cavity. We discuss two cases, where the linewidth of the harmonic field is either much narrower or broader than the subharmonic field. Since an electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT)-like effect can be simulated in a triple-resonant OPA, the output spectra from a triple-resonant OPA with a squeezed vacuum input may simulate the phenomenon of the response of an EIT medium for squeezed states. This scheme can be implemented with present experimental setups.


The SACTRA (1999) report on Transport and the Economy found strong theoretical grounds for believing that transport investment could boost national economies but that the empirical evidence was "weak and disputed". This study asks whether a different conclusion should be drawn today.
The different approaches to evaluating the relationship between transport investment and economic output are reviewed: cross-sectional and time series, regional, cross-regional and national. The range of elasticities calculated is large: mostly positive but sometimes negative. There is fairly strong (but highly variable) evidence that transport investment (measured in a variety of ways) can influence local economic output and/or employment. At national levels there is strong evidence of cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between these factors but the issue of causality (what causes what?) remains unresolved.

Various methods used to address the issue of causality are reviewed. Studies using Granger causality produce mixed findings; in some cases economic growth precedes transport investment; in others transport investment precedes economic growth. Some local or regional studies have found negative 'spillover effects' of transport investment on surrounding areas. None of the studies reviewed has empirically demonstrated that transport investment boosts national GDP or employment growth. Claims to that effect are (still) based on theoretical analysis, which should be treated with caution for several reasons, particularly: the aggregation problem and deadweight loss. The aggregation problem means for example, that increased productivity in the area around a new road will not necessarily increase national production. Deadweight loss is the negative economic impact of taxation, or deferred taxation when infrastructure is financed by borrowing.

Given the uncertainty surrounding these findings, the study concludes that claims made about the national economic benefits of transport investment are not robustly supported by the underlying evidence. It is more appropriate to view transport investment as a facilitative factor rather than a causal factor.