Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) containing the α5 subunit modulate nicotine consumption, and the human CHRNA5 rs16969968 polymorphism, causing the replacement of the aspartic acid residue at position 398 with an asparagine (α5DN), has recently been associated with increased use of tobacco and higher incidence of lung cancer. We show that in ventral midbrain neurons, the α5 subunit is essential for heteromeric nAChR‐induced intracellular‐free Ca2+ concentration elevations and that in α5‐/‐ mice, a class of large‐amplitude nicotine‐evoked currents is lost. Furthermore, the expression of the α5DN subunit is not able to restore nicotinic responses, indicating a loss of function by this subunit in native neurons. To understand how α5DN impairs heteromeric nAChR functions, we coexpressed α4, α5, or α5DN subunits with a dimeric concatemer (β2α4) in a heterologous system, to obtain nAChRs with fixed stoichiometry. Both α5(β2α4)2 and α5DN(β2α4)2 nAChRs yielded similar levels of functional expression and Ca2+ permeability, measured as fractional Ca2+ currents (8.2 ± 0.7% and 8.0 ± 1.9%, respectively), 2‐fold higher than α4 (β2α4)2. Our results indicate that the loss of function of nicotinic responses observed in α5DN‐expressing ventral midbrain neurons is neither due to an intrinsic inability of this subunit to form functional nAChRs nor to an altered Ca2+ permeability but likely to intracellular modulation.—Sciaccaluga, M., Moriconi, C., Martinello, K., Catalano, M., Bermudez, I., Stitzel, J. A., Maskos, U., Fucile, S. Crucial role of nicotinic α5 subunit variants for Ca2+ fluxes in ventral midbrain neurons. FASEB J. 29, 3389‐3398 (2015). www.fasebj.org


The paper proposes a non-destructive method for simultaneous measurement of in-plane and out-of-plane displacements and strains undergone by a deformed specimen from a single moiré fringe pattern obtained on the specimen in a dual beam digital holographic interferometry setup. The moiré fringe pattern encodes multiple interference phases which carry the information on multidimensional deformation. The interference field is segmented in each column and is modeled as multicomponent quadratic/cubic frequency-modulated signal in each segment. Subsequently, the product form of modified cubic phase function is used for accurate estimation of phase parameters. The estimated phase parameters are further utilized for direct estimation of the unwrapped interference phases and phase derivatives. The simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


On calling and labour in Protestant ethics. Several popular and influential theological and ethical studies have recently been published relating to the notion of vocatio (calling) and the role of labour and work. Many of them focus again on the importance of this traditional link between (spiritual) calling and (everyday) work in Christian, and particularly Protestant ethical thought since Luther. This paper argues that the nature of this link has, however, radically changed since Luther's time, and that it can be very confusing if contemporary ethical reflection does not distinguish carefully between Luther's own ideas concerning calling (part 2), later developments within Protestantism (parts 3 and 4), and contemporary ethical challenges (parts 5 and 6). Only by making such careful distinctions, taking into account that human labour no longer plays the same role in modern societies which it played during Luther's time or during later forms of Protestantism, can one develop adequate categories to reflect on the relation between church and work today.


This study is aimed at a better understanding of how upstream runoff formation affected the cropping intensity (CI: number of harvests) in the Aral Sea Basin (ASB) between 2000 and 2012. MODIS 250 m NDVI time series and knowledge-based pixel masking that included settlement layers and topography features enabled to map the irrigated cropland extent (iCE). Random forest models supported the classification of cropland vegetation phenology (CVP: winter/summer crops, double cropping, etc.). CI and the percentage of fallow cropland (PF) were derived from CVP. Spearman's rho was selected for assessing the statistical relation of CI and PF to runoff formation in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya catchments per hydrological year. Validation in 12 reference sites using multi-annual Landsat-7 ETM+ images revealed an average overall accuracy of 0.85 for the iCE maps. MODIS maps overestimated that based on Landsat by an average factor of ~1.15 (MODIS iCE/Landsat iCE). Exceptional overestimations occurred in case of inaccurate settlement layers. The CVP and CI maps achieved overall accuracies of 0.91 and 0.96, respectively. The Amu Darya catchment disclosed significant positive (negative) relations between upstream runoff with CI (PF) and a high pressure on the river water resources in 2000–2012. Along the Syr Darya, reduced dependencies could be observed, which is potentially linked to the high number of water constructions in that catchment. Intensified double cropping after drought years occurred in Uzbekistan. However, a 10 km × 10 km grid of Spearman's rho (CI and PF vs. upstream runoff) emphasized locations at different CI levels that are directly affected by runoff fluctuations in both river systems. The resulting maps may thus be supportive on the way to achieve long-term sustainability of crop production and to simultaneously protect the severely threatened environment in the ASB. The gained knowledge can be further used for investigating climatic impacts of irrigation in the region.


1H nuclear magnetic resonance longitudinal relaxation time (T1) measurements were used to study the interaction of xylidine (2,6-dimethylaniline) with the hemoproteins myoglobin, hemoglobin, and solubilized rat liver microsomal cytochrome P450. Upon addition of various amounts of ferrimyoglobin, ferrihemoglobin, or ferricytochrome P450 to solutions of xylidine, the T1 values for the methyl and phenyl protons of the xylidine molecule decreased markedly. The observed changes showed that xylidine was much more sensitive to addition of cytochrome P450 than to myoglobin or hemoglobin. The relative effects upon the specific moieties of the substrate also differed; whereas myoglobin produced essentially the same effect upon the relaxation rates (T11p-1) of the phenyl and methyl protons of xylidine, hemoglobin and cytochrome P450 produced differential changes in the (T11p-1) values, phenyl > methyl. These results were shown to reflect specific xylidine-ferrihemoprotein complexes. A nonsubstrate, noninteracting internal reference (tetramethylammonium phosphate) was added to each sample as a control both for experimental variation and for effects due to changes in solution viscosity; in no case was a substantial change in the T1 value of the reference observed. Variable-temperature studies confirmed that the residence times for the xylidineferrimyoglobin and xylidine-cytochrome P450 interactions were in the region of fast exchange with respect to the NMR time scale (i.e., τM [unknown] T11M). Formation of the cyano derivative of ferrimyoglobin or ferrihemoglobin changes the paramagnetic spin state from S = 5/2 to S = 1/2, and conversion to the carbonmonoxyferrous derivative results in a diamagnetic species, S = 0. When the ferrihemoproteins were so converted in situ in the presence of xylidine, the T1 values for the xylidine moieties increased. Since the carbonmonoxyferrous derivatives of all three hemoproteins are diamagnetic, the latter type of experiment was performed in all cases to give the control values (1/T10), which allowed calculation of the paramagnetic relaxation rate values, 1/T11p. The 1H T1 results, in conjunction with the value obtained for the dissociation constant of the xylidine-cytochrome P450 complex (KD) = 4.1 x 10-4 M) and the estimated correlation time for the complex, allowed calculation of distances between the heme iron atom and specific portions of the substrate molecule.


The July 2015 meeting of the Adventist General Conference was dominated by an often contentious debate about women's ordination. Though founded by a female charismatic leader, Adventists were contesting women's ordination by at least 1881, and the contemporary denomination has studied the question for more than four decades. Tension has burgeoned in recent years as some regional Seventh-day Adventist unions have ordained women despite the lack of movement-wide policy change. In July 2015, as delegates deliberated on a motion to allow each division of the world church to decide the question of women's ordination for itself, the gathering saw an unusual degree of discord, and this disagreement about gender and women's roles spilled over from the ordination debate into discussions of other agenda items. Despite a "No" vote on the motion, the controversy surrounding women's ordination persists in Adventism.


The paper has obtained a unified final solution for the waterhammer equations. The proposed solution, covering all kinds of initial conditions and boundary conditions, has been proved to be written in the form of the d'Alembert's wave functions. The periodical influence of the initial conditions on the results is discussed. The proposed solution, with two kinds of algebraic equations containing only finite terms, is suitable for numerical calculation, convenient for programming and liable to dealing with complex pipe systems. An example has been given to show the use of the method. The skill to perform the inverse Laplace transform in obtaining the solution is different from the traditional ones and can be extended to use in many other problems including the FSI waterhammer problem.


The T lymphocytes recognize antigens through antigen receptors (TcRs) and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules: they lysate the cells that bear the antigen, or release cytokines that are mediators of the immune response. The TcRs recognize antigens in the form of short peptides bound to MHC molecules. So far, there are two isotypes of TcR: gamma/delta and alpha/beta, which appear in the sequence during T-cell ontogeny. The process of selection of TcRs during thymic ontogeny obeys to molecular mechanisms which generate intracellular events that will participate in the gene expression of the TcR. The aim of the present paper is to review the molecular, structural, and functional aspects of the TcRs, and their role in human autoimmune infectious disease.


This paper offers a qualitative assessment of strategic human resource development (HRD) and alignment 'in practice' from the personal and organizational perspective of senior decision-makers in UK organizations. Semi-structured interviews with senior managers and HRD executives form the basis of the data, and allow an examination of the meanings and understandings attached to alignment and the extent to which they are affected by contextual factors such as organizational size and sector or the professional location of the interviewee. The paper indicates that experiences of HRD alignment are complex, ambiguous and contextually orientated. Alignment is depicted as an iterative process involving dialogue and bartering; involvement in different organizational and business planning processes, and the use of benchmarks and other organizational metrics. The data also suggest a range of tensions and challenges associated with the pursuit of alignment, and highlight approaches to organizing HRD that suggest passive rather than actively aligned practices. It concludes that the conceptual and practical difficulties of HRD alignment as it is presented in the strategic HRD literature and as it is described by those with experience of trying to achieve it may mean that it may be neither achievable nor even desirable.


More than half a million Americans became newly infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the first decade of the new millennium. The domestic epidemic has had the heaviest impact on men who have sex with men and persons from racial and ethnic minority populations, particularly black persons. For example, black men who have sex with men represent <1% of the US population but 25% of new HIV infections, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates published in 2008. Although black and Hispanic women constitute 24% of all US women, they accounted for 82% of HIV infections among women in 2005, according to data from 33 states with confidential name-based reporting. There is a nearly 23-fold higher rate of AIDS diagnoses among black women (45.5 diagnoses per 100,000 women) and a nearly 6-fold higher rate among Hispanic women (11.2 diagnoses per 100,000 women), compared with the rate among white women (2.0 diagnoses per 100,000 women). Investigators from the HIV Prevention Trials Network, a National Institutes of Health-sponsored collaborative clinical trials group, have crafted a domestic research agenda with community input. Two new domestic studies are in progress (2009), and a community-based clinical trial feasibility effort is in development (2010 start date). These studies focus on outreach, testing, and treatment of infected persons as a backbone for prevention of HIV infection. Reaching persons not receiving health messages and services with novel approaches to both prevention and treatment is an essential priority for control of HIV infection in the United States; our research is designed to guide the best approaches and assess the impact of bridging treatment and prevention.


Approximately 80 million US adults have hypertension, and hypertension remains a leading risk factor for stroke and cardiovascular disease.1 In 2009-2010, 48% of treated hypertensive patients in the United States were taking more than 1 drug, and blood pressure remained uncontrolled among 40% of those receiving drug treatment.1 Current guidelines for prevention and treatment of hypertension are based on observational studies in populations and clinical trials in large groups of patients. Precision medicine and epigenetics are 2 emerging and complementary strategies that have the potential to alter clinical approaches to understanding and treating hypertension. Both approaches have the goal of more effective hypertension control by providing personalized targets for preventive and therapeutic interventions.


Chromatin isolated from several chick tissues was treated with micrococcal nuclease. A limited degree of tissue specificity of chromatin DNA resistance to nuclease digestion was observed. No difference in the extent of nuclease resistance of chromatin DNA was detected during oestrogen-induced oviduct differentiation. This suggested that the amount of non-histone chromosomal protein does not play an important role in the sensitivity of chromatin DNA to nuclease digestion. Studies of nuclease resistance of chromatin DNA after dissociation and reconstitution of chromatin proteins and ethanol extraction of chromatin indicate that the histones protect the DNA from nuclease attack. Slow thermal denaturation of nuclease-resistant DNA suggests that the protected DNA sequences may be (A+T)-rich, and the (G+C)-rich satellites present in total chick DNA are sensitive to nuclease.


Concrete durability is one of the most important considerations in the design of new structures in aggressive environments. It generally depends on the quality of the concrete surface and the cracks of concrete. In this paper, the rebound numbers of concrete cast using controlled permeability formwork (CPF) and ordinary steel formwork were determined. And the early age shrinkages of concrete cured in dry environment of 20±2°C, 75±5% RH, in sealed condition with plastic film and in covered condition with CPF liner were measured. Testing results indicated that CPF could improve the concrete surface hardness and reduce the early age shrinkage of concrete. So CPF can enhance concrete durability and prolong its life-span.


In this paper, the detection limits for radioactivity counting are determined. Several decision rules are presented and applied to calculate the critical value. The value obtained by the best approximation for the alpha particles counting was used to evaluate the minimum detectable concentration in water, soil and air.


The objective in this trial was to determine the effects of partial replacement of ground corn by citrus pulp or soybean hulls on performance and carcass characteristics of feedlot goat kids. Twenty one Boer x Saanen kids (initial BW 15.8 ± 0.7kg), nine males and 12 females, were distributed in a complete randomized block design, according to sex and initial body weight. Treatments were set by replacing 50% of ground corn (DM basis) for citrus pulp or soybean hulls; whereas, forage concentrate ratio was of 10:90. Partial replacement of corn by citrus pulp or soybean hulls increased dry matter intake, average daily gain and final body weight, but feed efficiency was not affected. There was no difference between citrus pulp or soybean hulls. Inclusion of coproducts increased slaughter weight, hot and cold carcass weight and longissimus muscle area, with no difference between citrus pulp and soybean hulls. Subcutaneous fat thickness, hot and cold carcass yields, shrink after chilling and body wall thickness were not affected by treatments. Citrus pulp and soybean hulls can replace 50% of ground corn (DM basis) increasing dry matter intake and weight gain in goat kids enabling higher slaughter weight at earlier age.


An optical technique is described that uses coherent and incoherent optical scintillation to measure the path-averaged value of the turbulence inner scale. The technique is verified by comparison with an in situ measurement, and inner scale values obtained 1.5 m above the ground over a 24-h period are shown.


The only defined physiological role of boron in plants is as a cross-linking molecule involving reversible covalent bonds with cis-diols on either side of borate. Boronic acids, which form the same reversible bonds with cis-diols but cannot cross-link two molecules, were used to selectively disrupt boron function in plants. In cultured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv BY-2) cells, addition of boronic acids caused the disruption of cytoplasmic strands and cell-to-cell wall detachment. The effect of the boronic acids could be relieved by the addition of boron-complexing sugars and was proportional to the boronic acid-binding strength of the sugar. Experiments with germinating petunia (Petunia hybrida) pollen and boronate-affinity chromatography showed that boronic acids and boron compete for the same binding sites. The boronic acids appear to specifically disrupt or prevent borate-dependent cross-links important for the structural integrity of the cell, including the organization of transvacuolar cytoplasmic strands. Boron likely plays a structural role in the plant cytoskeleton. We conclude that boronic acids can be used to rapidly and reversibly induce boron deficiency-like responses and therefore are useful tools for investigating boron function in plants.


Introduction: Large Granular Lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by clonal expansion of either CD3+ cytotoxic T cells expressing T cell receptor (TCR) alpha beta or CD3- natural killer (NK) cells. A less frequent CD3+ T cell subtype expresses TCR gamma delta (GD). Here, we present the molecular landscape of known LGL types (T, NK, GD) from analysis of the largest patient cohort assembled to date. An integrative analysis of genomic datasets from all LGL subtypes is necessary to more precisely define the shared and unique etiology of this rare disorder.
 Methods: We collected paired saliva and PBMC samples and related clinical information from 116 LGL leukemia patients after informed consent. The assembled cohort consisted of 93 T-LGL, 11 NK-LGL, and 12 GD T-LGL patients. Genomic analyses were performed on the leukemic (PBMC) and germline (saliva) samples after whole exome sequencing (WES) and transcriptome sequencing (RNAseq, PBMC only).
 Results: Somatic mutations were detected in the previously described potential drivers STAT3 (n=56), TNFAIP3 (n=9), and PIK3R1 (n=4). We also identified somatic mutations in CDH8 (n=3) and CCL22 (n=4), which we postulate as putative drivers based on mutational clustering. CDH8 was mutated in all three LGL subtypes, but CCL22 somatic mutations were only observed in NK-LGL patients. We observed that STAT3 and CCL22 together account for 64% (7/11) of NK-LGL cases.
 STAT3 is the most recurrently mutated gene in LGL leukemia, yet concurrent molecular and clinical features are incompletely defined. Interestingly, patients with STAT3 mutations have a higher mutational burden (P=0.0006) compared to those with wild-type (WT) STAT3. This effect is independent of the age of the patient, which correlates with the mutational burden (R=0.26, P=0.0039) and agrees with the finding that the dominant mutational signatures in this cohort exhibit clock-like properties. We also observed that patients with STAT3 mutations are enriched (P=0.0273) for additional mutations in chromatin modifier enzymes such as KMT2D, TET2, DNMT3A, and SETD1B (Figure 1). We found that ~10% of the samples exhibit broad somatic copy-number aberrations, and a patient with somatic mutations in STAT3 and KMT2D displayed high-level microsatellite instability. STAT3 mutations were also significantly associated with increased expression of genes involved in apoptosis, complement activation, and interferon cytokine signaling compared to STAT3 WT (FDR < 0.05).
 Early-onset LGL patients with age 51 years or less (n=28), as defined by the bottom quartile of the cohort, displayed no differential enrichment of the somatic driver genes. Interestingly, the age of the patient was significantly associated with absolute neutrophil counts (ANC) (P = 0.0068), with younger patients exhibiting lower neutrophil counts, even after adjusting for the presence of STAT3 mutation, as it is associated with lower ANC. As neutropenia is a hallmark feature of LGL leukemia and often a trigger for initiating therapy, the association of young age with lower neutrophil counts and lower somatic mutational burden suggests other mechanisms may be involved.
 Focusing on the germline variants, we found that 17 of the patients (14.6%) had at least one pathogenic or likely pathogenic germline variant with known oncogenic association as annotated using CharGer. 5 patients had pathogenic mutations in known tumor suppressors including FANCC (n=1), BRCA1 (n=1), PALB2 (n=1), MUTYH (n=1), and SDHA (n=1), while 1 patient had pathogenic mutations in ALK, a known oncogene.
 Conclusions: We report on the genomic analyses done on whole exome and RNA-seq data from the largest cohort assembled for LGL leukemia to date. We show that the presence of STAT3 mutation is significantly associated with an increase in mutation burden and additional somatic mutations in chromatin modifiers, hinting at potential pathogenic mechanisms within STAT3 mutated patients. By combining LGL subtypes in our analysis, we were able to identify CDH8 as a putative driver that is present in T, NK, and GD subtypes. Additionally, we report CCL22 mutations specific to NK-LGL leukemia, however did not detect any subtype specific mutations in GD T-LGL. We found that about 15% of the patients carry at least one pathogenic germline variant with known oncogenic associations. These findings highlight emerging etiologic insights into this rare disorder.

 Feith: Kymera Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Loughran:Keystone Nano: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Bioniz Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Kymera Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Dren Bio: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.


This project investigated the methane production by anaerobic digestion using Automatic Methane Potential Test System (AMPTS). Food waste (FW), waste cooking oil- Canola oil (FOG), and thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) were used as substrates for anaerobic digestion in two sets of experiments. Energy harnessed from waste by anaerobic digestion can be used to replace fossil fuels, which release harmful compounds in the environment.
Substrates and inoculum were characterized to find the content of total solids, total volatile solids, chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, and total nitrogen. All the substrates were digested individually in the first set of experiments. In the second set, they were combined in different proportions (four combinations) and were co-digested. All the experiments were carried at mesophilic temperature (37˚C). In this study, emphasis was given to the percentage of FOG which can be inhibitory for methane production.
At the end of the first set, it was found that FW generated the maximum methane, followed by TWAS. Very less methane was produced from FOG. Results obtained from the first set established that FOG is not a suitable substrate for anaerobic digestion. From the second set of experiments, it was determined that FOG did not cause inhibition. However, presence of FOG in co-digestion process caused problems which led to decreased yield of methane in all the four combinations. These problems included accumulation of FOG at the top surface of the solution in AMPTS bottles, coating of oil on microbes' bodies and substrates, lack of proper mixing in the bottles, and formation of a thick solution which included all the substrates, inoculum and bio-medium. As a result, in this study, co-digestion did not provide better methane yield than single substrate anaerobic digestion. It was determined by the second set's results that FOG reduces the methane yield if co-digested with FW and TWAS.


BACKGROUND
Evaluation and treatment of groin pain in athletes is challenging. The anatomy is complex, and multiple pathologies often coexist. Different pathologies may cause similar symptoms, and many systems can refer pain to the groin. Many athletes with groin pain have tried prolonged rest and various treatment regimens, and received differing opinions as to the cause of their pain. The rehabilitation specialist is often given a non-specific referral of "groin pain" or "sports hernia." The cause of pain could be as simple as the effects of an adductor strain, or as complex as athletic pubalgia or inguinal disruption. The term "sports hernia" is starting to be replaced with more specific terms that better describe the injury. Inguinal disruption is used to describe the syndromes related to the injury of the inguinal canal soft tissue environs ultimately causing the pain syndrome. The term athletic pubalgia is used to describe the disruption and/or separation of the more medial common aponeurosis from the pubis, usually with some degree of adductor tendon pathology.

TREATMENT
Both non-operative and post-operative treatment options share the goal of returning the athlete back to pain free activity. There is little research available to reference for rehabilitation guidelines and creation of a plan of care. Although each surgeon has their own specific set of post-operative guidelines, some common concepts are consistent among most surgeons. Effective rehabilitation of the high level athlete to pain free return to play requires addressing the differences in the biomechanics of the dysfunction when comparing athletic pubalgia and inguinal disruption.

CONCLUSION
Proper evaluation and diagnostic skills for identifying and specifying the difference between athletic pubalgia and inguinal disruption allows for an excellent and efficient rehabilitative plan of care. Progression through the rehabilitative stages whether non-operative or post-operative allows for a focused rehabilitative program. As more information is obtained through MRI imaging and the diagnosis and treatment of inguinal disruption and athletic pubalgia becomes increasingly frequent, more research is warranted in this field to better improve the evidence based practice and rehabilitation of patients.

LEVELS OF EVIDENCE
5.


This paper develops a simple model of social interactions in which people choose relationships to maximize their utility. Even in a linear-in-means model, when associations are endogenous, the effect of macro-group composition on behavior is nonlinear. We show that larger groups facilitate sorting. Our model also provides a novel explanation for the weak effects of housing mobility studies. Using data on associations among high school students, we provide a range of evidence consistent with our model. Individuals associate with people whose behaviors and characteristics are similar to their own. This tendency is stronger in large groups. We also show that behaviors vary within and between macro-groups in the way predicted by endogenous association. I appreciate helpful comments from Marcus Berliant, Larry Blume, Ed Glaeser, Bryan Graham, Judy Hellerstein, Larry Katz, Kevin Lang, Lung-fei Lee, Erzo Luttmer, Pat Reagan, and Qingyan Shang and from participants at the 2005 AEA Meetings, the University of Alabama, IZA, Harvard University, the London School of Economics, Ohio State University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the University of Maryland, Ohio University, and the Calvó-Armengol Memorial Conference. Qingyan Shang provided excellent research assistance. I am also grateful for support from the Mershon Center at Ohio State University and the NBER, where much of the work on this paper was done. I am, of course, solely responsible for all errors. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwistle for assistance in the original design. Persons interested in obtaining data from Add Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 (email@example.com).


All occupational accidents (CAT) reported at a University hospital, from January 1990 to December 1997, were analyzed and the characteristics of the vertebral column trauma caused by the occupational accidents involving members of the nursing team were investigated. During this period, 531 accidents were reported and 37 (7%) of these were typical vertebral column traumas. These results suggested that the number of accidents reported were below actual estimates and that the nursing auxiliaries were the most affected. The accidents were mainly caused by falls and during the transport or transfer of patients and equipments.


Effective communication of risks requires a theoretical understanding of the influences of cognitive and task constraints. We present progress toward the identification of performance parameters in an experiment that explores the dynamic interplay of four key risk communication variables (i.e., cognitive strategies, numeracy, complexity, and format). Specifically, we conducted a protocol analysis to trace the types of cognitive strategies used when comparing the helpfulness of two treatments. Variability in cognitive strategies was also examined as related to (1) format (expressed either as absolute or relative risk reductions in either a frequency or single-event probability format); (2) task difficulty; and (3) numerical skill. Results indicated that highly numerate people often effectively used more complex strategies. However, the performance advantage of highly numerate people only existed when comparing two relative risk reductions (which requires a complex strategy), but not when comparing two absolute risk reductions (which requires a simple strategy). A frequency format was also found to produce additional benefits in very difficult tasks (i.e., when comparing absolute and relative risk reductions). Generally, although strategies and accuracy are influenced by many factors, risk communication tended to be most transparent when presented in terms of absolute risk reductions.


Maintaining low and stable inflation has been the primary goal of most
countries, particularly for the fast growing developing countries. Vast great inflation
theories, from Classical, Keynesian, Monetary to Structural, carrying different
banners and offering different evidence on the causes of inflation. It is of utmost
importance to correctly identify the causes of inflation in each economic setting as
wrong diagnosis of the nature of the problem will lead to the application of
inappropriate cures that might hurt the economy.
This study, whenever possible, takes the effort to capture the ideas of major
inflation theories in a single dynamic inflation model. An eleven-equation set up with
eleven variables in each equation is used for each five ASEAN countries. The
ASEAN in this study refers to five original members of ASEAN, namely fudonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The primary mission of this study
is to analyze the relative importance of factors that significantly contributed to inflation in each of the ASEAN country. This study also aimed to examine the
existence of international as well as intra-ASEAN transmission of inflation to these
countries.
The objectives of the study were achieved by the estimation of Vector Error
Correction Model (VECM) and the analysis of impulse response function as well as
variance decomposition for each country. The data for the study consists of quarterly
observation from 1973:1 to 1997:11.
The results of the study revealed that for the ASEAN economies that showed
high and stable economic growth for a sustained period, namely Singapore and
Malaysia and which had adopted consistent policy in the country, tended to have
relatively low and stable inflation rates. Due to the openness of the countries, external
factors such as the rest of the world's inflation rates and the rest of the ASEAN's
inflation as well as the exchange rate variable are relatively more important in
explaining inflation in these two countries. On the other hand, Indonesia and the
Philippines which were burdened by huge foreign debts and had took up inconsistent
policy mix to spur the growth in the economy had generally experienced high and
variable inflation rates. External and internal factors are important in generating
inflation in these two countries. In Thailand, the inflationary analysis was somehow
unsteady. The findings could be attributed to the structural shifts arising partly from
trade and financial liberalisation in the country, particularly at the end of 1980an.


Background and Objective: In 1998/99, an outbreak of Nipah virus encephalitis occurred in several pig-farming communities in Malaysia. It was associated with a high mortality rate and persistent neurological defi cits among many survivors. This mixed method study aimed to examine the longterm socio-economic consequences of the illness on affected pig farmers and their families in Bukit Pelanduk, Negeri Sembilan. Methods: A quantitative cross sectional survey was conducted in 2008 on 78 former patients or their kin from 61 households (46.2% males, mean age = 48.7 years) in Bukit Pelanduk via face-to-face interviews. This was followed by qualitative in-depth interviews with 20 respondents. Results: The immediate treatment costs were not a major burden to most households. Majority of the patients (92%) required inpatient care and most obtained free care from public hospitals. Households relied mainly on savings and support provided by the public and family members during the outbreak. However, many former patients found their low educational qualifi cations prevented them from obtaining good alternative employment after their recovery. This had negatively affected their households' living standards. As a result, there had been a renewed appreciation of the value of education for their young, and one of their main concerns was the fi nancial burden of educating their children. Conclusion: Free public health care protected most households from high medical costs. However, household living standards had dropped due to limited alternative employment opportunities. Education has been identifi ed as a key to improving the long term welfare of affected households.


The objective of this study is to develop a CAD system for assisting radiologists in multiclass classification of brain tumors. A new hybrid machine learning system based on the Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) for brain tumor classification is proposed. Texture and intensity features of tumors are taken as input. Genetic algorithm has been used to select the set of most informative input features. The study is performed on real 428 post contrast T1-weighted MR images of 55 patients. Primary brain tumors such as Astrocytoma (AS), Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), Meningioma (MEN), and child tumor-Medulloblastoma (MED) along with secondary tumor-Metastatic (MET) are classified by GA-SVM classifier. Test results showed that the GA optimization technique has enhanced the overall accuracy of SVM from 56.3 % to 91.7%. Individual class accuracies obtained are: AS-89.8%, GBM-83.3%, MEN-96%, MET-91.8%, MED-97.1%. A comparative study with earlier methods is also done. The study reveals that GA-SVM provides more accurate results than earlier methods and is tested on more diversified dataset.


On aneurally cultured rat primary myotubes, 10% of the acetylcholine receptors (AChR) are found aggregated and immobilized in endogenous clusters. The remaining receptors are diffusely distributed over the cell membrane and the majority of these are free to diffuse in the plane of the membrane. This study correlates the mobility of AChR (as measured with the fluorescence photobleaching recovery technique, FPR) with the detergent extractability of this receptor. Gentle detergent extraction of the cells removes the lipid membrane and the soluble cytoplasmic proteins but leaves an intact cytoskeletal framework on the substrate. Two studies indicate a correlation between mobility and extractability: (a) mobility of diffusely distributed AChR decreases as myotubes age in culture; previous work showed that extractability of AChR decreases as myotubes age in culture (Prives, J., C. Christian, S. Penman, and K. Olden, 1980, In Tissue Culture in Neurobiology, E. Giacobini, A. Vernadakis, and A. Shahar, editors, Raven Press, New York, 35-52); (b) mobility of clustered AChR increases when cells are treated with metabolic inhibitors such as sodium azide (NaN3); extractability of clustered AChR also increases with this treatment. From these results we suggest the involvement of a cytoskeletal framework in the immobilization of AChR on the cell surface.


Just-in-Time Software Defect Prediction (JIT-SDP) is an SDP approach that makes defect predictions at the software change level. Most existing JIT-SDP work assumes that the characteristics of the problem remain the same over time. However, JIT-SDP may suffer from class imbalance evolution. Specifically, the imbalance status of the problem (i.e., how much underrepresented the defect-inducing changes are) may be intensified or reduced over time. If occurring, this could render existing JIT-SDP approaches unsuitable, including those that re-build classifiers over time using only recent data. This work thus provides the first investigation of whether class imbalance evolution poses a threat to JIT-SDP. This investigation is performed in a realistic scenario by taking into account verification latency -- the often overlooked fact that labeled training examples arrive with a delay. Based on 10 GitHub projects, we show that JIT-SDP suffers from class imbalance evolution, significantly hindering the predictive performance of existing JIT-SDP approaches. Compared to state-of-the-art class imbalance evolution learning approaches, the predictive performance of JIT-SDP approaches was up to 97.2% lower in terms of g-mean. Hence, it is essential to tackle class imbalance evolution in JIT-SDP. We then propose a novel class imbalance evolution approach for the specific context of JIT-SDP. While maintaining top ranked g-means, this approach managed to produce up to 63.59% more balanced recalls on the defect-inducing and clean classes than state-of-the-art class imbalance evolution approaches. We thus recommend it to avoid overemphasizing one class over the other in JIT-SDP.


Previous work has shown that it could be profitable on some control markets to use Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) as control power resources. This concept, where battery driven vehicles such as PHEVs provide ancillary service to the grid is commonly referred to as Vehicle to Grid (V2G). The idea is to sell the capacity and energy of the parked PHEVs on the control market. Due to the fact that cars on average are parked 92% of the day, the availability of this capacity could be very high, even though it will be highly dependent on commuting patterns in peak hours. However, as each PHEV has a very small capacity from a grid perspective, it is necessary to implement an aggregating control system, managing a large number of vehicles. This paper presents strategies for an Aggregator to fulfill control bids on the German control markets. These strategies are tested with respect to reliability, efficiency and profitability in a Monte Carlo simulation model. The model is based on available data on the distributions of commuting departure times and travel distances, as well as average driving power consumption, PHEV battery capacities and the market constraints of the secondary control market in Germany.


Amid the spread of the Covid-19, restrictions on external visits to nursing home residents were widely implemented. Such measures may affect the well-being of the institutionalized elderly, notably by depriving them of care that would be otherwise be provided by relatives and friends. There is little quantitative evidence about informal care receipt by residents in `normal times'. The aim of this study is twofold. First, it investigates quantitatively the importance of informal care in nursing homes, the forms it takes and its determinants outside the corona-crisis. Second, based on the findings, it discusses the likely implications of the Covid-19 restrictions on visits for nursing home residents. It relies on a sample representative of the French 60+ population living in nursing homes (N=3,223) from the 2016 CARE-Institutions survey. Over 80% of residents receive informal support. Relatives are primarily involved in help with the activities of daily living), which generally comes along with moral support. Residents are mostly helped with administrative tasks and activities related to mobility and the outside. Both the probability to receive informal care and its intensity highly depend on having close relatives alive (partner, children, siblings), age and health status. Loss of informal care due to visit bans may undermine the well-being of residents and entail medium- run adverse effects, in terms of further activity restrictions and deterioration of mental health. Policy makers should factor in the usual role of informal caregivers when assessing the benefits and costs of restrictions on visits for nursing home residents.


This paper presents the design and real time implementation of a field-oriented control (FOC) for grid-connected variable speed wind turbine based on doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). The proposed method based on a hybrid Hysteresis Current (HC) with field oriented control (FOC) in order to control the rotor side converter (RSC). The grid-connected DFIG is executed using three phase locked loop (3PLL). The experimental test bench is an emulator turbine represented by direct current motor (DCM) which is coupled with the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). The implementation is realized using dSPACE1104 card below the synchronous speed. The experimental results show high performances in steady and transient states with low THD of stator current injected to the grid (3.7 %), satisfies the IEEE harmonic standard 519 despite the variation of the references. The main advantages of this control are implementation simplicity and lower switching frequency converter.


Russia Dock Woodland Park and Bow Creek Ecology Park (formerly Limmo Peninsular Ecology Park) were created by the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) on brownfield sites in London. The original designs failed in part (Russia Dock) or in full (Bow Creek) to be sustainable. This paper reviews their history and development and highlights the lessons that could be learned. Bow Creek Ecology Park (Grid Reference: TQ391812) is a 2.5 ha greenspace in London Docklands. The design was ambitious consisting of six separate ecology zones from chalk grassland to fenland maintained by a complex sluice and wind powered water pumping system. Russia Dock Park (20 ha) is in Southwark (Grid Reference: TQ361798) where derelict wharf areas were utilised to create a wetland ecosystem surrounded by fast growing woodland. Water levels and flow were maintained by a sophisticated pumping system. The main failings at Bow Creek were that the wind pump system could not maintain the wetlands. Habitat areas were also small, so succession became difficult to prevent and the habitats began to merge. This was compounded by the lack of long-term funding available to maintain this restoration, or staff with the skills to run such a complex design. Similarly at Russia Dock, the pumping system, and thus the wetland ecosystem, failed and a general decline followed. In 2002, an improvement programme redeveloped the park on a more sustainable scale, improving the woodland planting scheme and simplifying the original water habitats. This study demonstrates that public consultation, the creation of low maintenance water pumping systems, and the provision of long-term aftercare programmes made during the planning stages of development can make a considerable difference to the sustainability of new greenspace containing wetland features.


Cancer therapy options are directed at eradicating cancerous cells. Unfortunately, cancer treatments may also damage healthy cells. The result of this damage is side effects of the treatment. It is desirable to maintain the side effects below an acceptable threshold. This goal can be facilitated by enforcing an upper bound on the expected number of treatments a patient may receive during her/his therapy. In this paper, an appropriate therapeutic policy for a mutated mammalian cell cycle is devised. This policy mitigates the side effects of the therapy by bounding the expected number of treatments received by a patient.


Uniform monodisperse YbPO4 hollow microspheres have been successfully synthesized via the combination of a facile homogeneous precipitation approach, an ion-exchange process, and a calcination process for the first time. The crystal structure, morphology, and luminescence properties of the as-obtained samples have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and up-conversion (UC) luminescence spectroscopy. It is noted that the polystyrene (PS) microspheres essentially determine the shape and structure of the final products. Furthermore, the UC luminescence properties as well as the emission mechanisms of the YbPO4:Ln3+ (Ln3+ = Er3+, Tm3+, Ho3+) hollow microspheres were systematically investigated, which show green (Er3+, 4S3/2, 2H11/2–4I15/2), blue (Tm3+, 1G4–3H6) and red (Ho3+, 5F5–5I8) luminescence under 980 nm NIR excitation, which provides potential applications in bioanalysis, optoelectronic and nanoscale devices, future color displays and light-emitting devices, and so on.


Forming conical parts is one of the difficult fields in sheet metal forming processes. Because of low contact area of the sheet with the punch in the initial stages of forming, too much tension applied to the sheet that it causes bursting. Furthermore, since the major part of the sheet surface between the blank holder and punch tip is free, wrinkles appears on the wall of the drawn parts. These parts are normally formed in industry by processes such as spinning, explosive forming or multistage deep drawing. Hydroforming deep drawing is one of the special deep drawing processes which have been introduced in order to overcome some inherent problems in the conventional deep drawing with rigid tools. In the present work, an experimental program has been carried out to form and compare the forming pure copper conical-cylindrical cups by hydroforming and conventional multistage deep drawing processes. The conical parts in conventional deep drawing process formed in two stages. The results of the study demonstrate that thickness distribution are more uniform in the parts formed by hydroforming compared to conventional multi stages deep drawing processes.


Human and veterinary pharmaceuticals have been recognized as ubiquitous water microcontaminants with potential subtle detrimental effects on aquatic organisms. The majority of pharmaceutical compounds, after being consumed and excreted, end up in municipal WWTPs, which are not typically designed for complete pharmaceutical removal. Therefore, effluents from WWTPs constitute a low concentration, but continuous source of pharmaceutically active compounds to the aquatic environment. The main objective of the thesis is to acquire and provide with knowledge not only on the occurrence of pharmaceutical compounds in wastewater, but on their biodegradation within WWTPs and their discharge into the receiving media. The obtained results demonstrate conventional wastewater treatment's variable efficiency when removing the pharmaceutical compounds load and the advance treatment's contribution to their overall removal. It has also been possible to model the behaviour of a selected pharmaceutical and its transformation products. And it also includes investigation of an antibiotic's impact on the bacterial community performance, and the antibiotic resistance genes phenomenon. Finally, the role and usefulness of proteomics when investigating the possible proteins involved on the biodegradation pathways of certain pharmaceutical compounds


The adoption of increased thermal performance require- ments, as specified in the Australian National Construction Code, has been linked to a significant reduction in the use of timber platform flooring systems. This appears to be related to perceptions of thermal performance differences that may occur between timber platform and concrete slab-on-ground flooring systems. Industry has responded by providing a range of products that provide subfloor insulation, includ- ing batt-bulk, rigid, spray-in-place foam and reflective systems. For what appears to be a cost-of-construction reasoning, the reflective sys- tems have gained a significant portion of the subfloor insulation mar- ket. However, industry and government have raised concern with re- gard to industry knowledge of and the application and installation of reflective subfloor insulation products as a component of platform floored systems. In this research, a contractor installed a reflective subfloor insulation product as per their standard practice. The insula- tion was not installed to the manufacturers specification. To quantify the thermal performance effect, data was collected from unoccupied unconditioned and conditioned modes of operation. For comparison purposes detailed thermal simulations were completed using the Ac- cuRate HER software. This paper discusses the differences that were observed between the measured and simulated zone temperatures and energy data during the heated mode of operation.


The effect of oil shock on the global economy is evident through many studies. However, the effect is heterogeneous over time. One of the reasons that lead to such different impacts is due to the oil source that is either the oil shock is demand or supply-driven. Applying the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model to generate the three oil shocks based on the three oil sources (oil supply, oil demand and oil specific-demand), we extended the examination on the effect of oil shock on the global economy using the threshold regression. Our results reveal the threshold effects of oil directly and indirectly on the global economy. The impacts of oil shocks differ across sectors, implying oil intensity, as well as oil sources, are the factors that determine the impact of oil shocks on the global economy. Overall, the oil specific-demand shock is more influential among the three oil shocks. Hence, the global economy is oil demand-driven. Besides that, the impact of oil is relatively large in the energy sector when compared to the non-energysector and precious metals industry. Despite that, the impact of oil shocks is small if compared to the non-oil shocks such as exchange rate changes and global consumer price inflation shock. Consequently, non-oil shocks are the main determinants of the global economic fluctuation. The study leads to a better understanding of the transmission of oil shock and its sources, the interaction between oil and economic indicators and the policy implication due to oil dependency/ intensity.


This paper presents an approach for comparing two architectures for ontology-based semantic annotation for service interoperability, the EMPOWER archi-tecture using platform specific XML-based technologies and the MEMPOWER architecture extending this with platform independent Model Driven Architecture (MDA) based technologies. We will compare the two architectures with respect to pilot requirements and experienced advantages and challenges for model driven systems. The two approaches are being evaluated based on examples from interoperability between ERP-systems in a Buyer/Seller interaction context.


Food-processing conditions may alter the allergenicity of food proteins by different means. In this study, the effect of the glycosylation as a result of thermal treatment on the digestibility and IgE-binding of codfish parvalbumin is investigated. Native and glycosylated parvalbumins were digested with pepsin at various conditions relevant for the gastrointestinal tract. Intact proteins and peptides were analysed for apparent molecular weight and IgE-binding. Glycosylation did not substantially affect the digestion. Although the peptides resulting from digestion were relatively large (3 and 4 kDa), the IgE-binding was strongly diminished. However, the glycosylated parvalbumin had a strong propensity to form dimers and tetramers, and these multimers bound IgE intensely, suggesting stronger IgE-binding than monomeric parvalbumin. We conclude that glycosylation of codfish parvalbumin does not affect the digestibility of parvalbumin and that the peptides resulting from this digestion show low IgE-binding, regardless of glycosylation. Glycosylation of parvalbumin leads to the formation of higher order structures that are more potent IgE binders than native, monomeric parvalbumin. Therefore, food-processing conditions applied to fish allergen can potentially lead to increased allergenicity, even while the protein's digestibility is not affected by such processing.


Surveillance and reconnaissance applications in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are primarily intended to detect, identify and track adjacent hostile targets in military environments. These applications require the high reliability in acquiring the precise information on the enemy and they pursue energy-efficiency to ensure the longevity of their mission. Until now, although a lot of routing protocols have been proposed to route packets towards destinations reliably and efficiently, there exists no routing protocol which is designed for such applications only. In this work, we therefore investigate the applicability of existing WSN routing protocols (BVR, MINT, GRAB and ZBR) to military sensor networks through simulation study regarding the four performance metrics: packet delivery ratio, average end-to-end delay, control packet overhead and the average amount of energy consumption.


ABSTRACT The Abundance and Diversity of Soil Actinomycetes from Ciremai National Park West Java. Actinomycetes of soil samples from Mount Ciremai National Park, West Java were been isolated by Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate Yeast Extract (SDS YE) method in Humic Acid Vitamin Agar (HVA) medium. The colonies of actinomycetes were counted based on Total Plate Count (TPC). Diversity of actinomycetes were identified based on spore, chain spore, pigmentation, hypha and aerial hypha formation. The abundance of actinomycetes were 3,50 x104 – 71,50 x104 CFU/g soil. Seven genus of actinomycetes were found, they were Streptomyces, Nocardia, Micromonospora, Microbiospora, Actinomadura, Actinoplanes, and Microtetraspora. Most of them were distributed in 900 until 2500 m height above sea level. Streptomyces only known in 2700, 2900 and 3057 m above sea level. Population of Streptomyces were predominant in all soil types according to height, but were highest in 2500 m asl. Key words: Actinomycetes, fungi, Mount Ciremai, diversity, abundance.


Analytical models and simulations predict a rapid decline in the halo density profile associated with the transition from the "infalling" regime outside the halo to the "collapsed" regime within the halo. Using data from SDSS, we explore evidence for such a feature in the density profiles of galaxy clusters using several different approaches. We first estimate the steepening of the outer galaxy density profile around clusters, finding evidence for truncation of the halo profile. Next, we measure the galaxy density profile around clusters using two sets of galaxies selected on color. We find evidence of an abrupt change in galaxy colors that coincides with the location of the steepening of the density profile. Since galaxies that have completed orbits within the cluster are more likely to be quenched of star formation and thus appear redder, this abrupt change in galaxy color can be associated with the transition from single-stream to multi-stream regimes. We also use a standard model comparison approach to measure evidence for a "splashback"-like feature, but find that this approach is very sensitive to modeling assumptions. Finally, we perform measurements using an independent cluster catalog to test for potential systematic errors associated with cluster selection. We identify several avenues for future work: improved understanding of the small-scale galaxy profile, lensing measurements, identification of proxies for the halo accretion rate, and other tests. With upcoming data from the DES, KiDS, and HSC surveys, we can expect significant improvements in the study of halo boundaries.


Fuzzy Answer Set Programming (FASP) combines the nonmonotonic reasoning typical of Answer Set Programming with the capability of Fuzzy Logic to deal with imprecise information and paraconsistent reasoning. In the context of paraconsistent reasoning, the fundamental principle of minimal undefinedness states that truth degrees close to 0 and 1 should be preferred to those close to 0.5, to minimize the ambiguity of the scenario. The aim of this paper is to enforce such a principle in FASP through the minimization of a measure of undefinedness. Algorithms that minimize undefinedness of fuzzy answer sets are presented, and implemented.


This research objectives are 1) to construct a multimedia on microbiological procedure for determination of water quality for consumption and 2) to study learning attitude of students on the prepared multimedia in the classroom. The target group is 73 grade 11 high school students from Hongsonsuksa School in academic year 2016. Research tools are as follow 1) A unit lesson plan of 3 periods on microbiological laboratory techniques for water quality examination 2) Students' behavior observation record 3) Students' team work record 4) Attitude test questionnaire of students and 5) students' informal interviewing record.  The research process started with observation of students' behavior in classroom with old teaching style, then construction of the multimedia and used in the classroom again with the same group of students, observed their behaviors when study in class using the multimedia and collected the attitude test questionnaire. The result showed that 1) the multimedia's quality is good (  = 4.42, S.D. = 0.24) 2) Students were satisfied learning with the multimedia used in the classroom. They agreed that the media helped them understand the lesson more at most agreed level (  =  4.78, S.D. = 0.42). Students agreed that the multimedia attracted their interest in the lesson and promote their enthusiasm at most agreed level (  = 4.95, S.D. = 0.23). They also agreed that the multimedia made them feel more likely to join the team and participate in class activities at very agreed level (  = 4.42, S.D. = 0.50).


This study was aimed at knowing the effectiveness of FRESH technique in teaching descriptive paragraph. The method of this study was quasi experimental method. This study was conducted at one of the state madrasah aliyah in academic year 2012/2013. The total sample of this study was 78 respondents divided into two groups: the control class with no treatment and the experimental class with FRESH technique . The data collection technique used essay tests for pre-test and post-test. The evaluation covered content, organization, vocabulary, style, and mechanic. After data analyses, the students in the experimental class had better achievement than those in the control class. The result of t-test computation was 1.968, with t-table value = 1.664 at the significant level I± = 0.05. The t-test result was higher than the value of t-table (1.968 > 1.664). It meant that the hypothesis was accepted or FRESH technique was effective in teaching descriptive paragraph to the students of that school in academic year 2012/2013.


Embedded topic models are able to learn interpretable topics even with large and heavy-tailed vocabularies. However, they generally hold the Euclidean embedding space assumption, leading to a basic limitation in capturing hierarchical relations. To this end, we present a novel framework that introduces hyperbolic embeddings to represent words and topics. With the tree-likeness property of hyperbolic space, the underlying semantic hierarchy among words and topics can be better exploited to mine more interpretable topics. Furthermore, due to the superiority of hyperbolic geometry in representing hierarchical data, tree-structure knowledge can also be naturally injected to guide the learning of a topic hierarchy. Therefore, we further develop a regularization term based on the idea of contrastive learning to inject prior structural knowledge efficiently. Experiments on both topic taxonomy discovery and document representation demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves improved performance against existing embedded topic models.


This critically acclaimed series provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The authors are scholars of international standing.


Cardiac Surgery-Associated Acute Kidney Injury (CSA-AKI) is a serious complication seen in approximately 20-30% of cardiac surgery patients. The underlying pathophysiology is complex, often involving both patient- and procedure related risk factors. In contrast to AKI occurring after other types of major surgery, the use of cardiopulmonary bypass comprises both additional advantages and challenges, including non-pulsatile flow, targeted blood flow and pressure as well as the ability to manipulate central venous pressure (congestion). With an increasing focus on the impact of CSA-AKI on both short and long-term mortality, early identification and management of high-risk patients for CSA-AKI has evolved. The present narrative review gives an up-to-date summary on definition, diagnosis, underlying pathophysiology, monitoring and implications of CSA-AKI, including potential preventive interventions. The review will provide the reader with an in-depth understanding of how to identify, support and provide a more personalized and tailored perioperative management to avoid development of CSA-AKI.


Postoperative diabetes is a reported feature of the immunosuppressive agents cyclosporin A and FK 506. To date, however, no randomized comparative studies of the metabolic effects of these two drugs have been performed. In this study, extended (300 min) oral glucose tolerance tests (75 g) were performed a median of 8 mo (range 5–9 mo) postoperatively in 20 clinically stable liver transplant recipients randomly allocated to maintenance immunosuppression with either cyclosporin A (with or without azathioprine) or FK 506. None of the patients had clinically overt diabetes antedating transplantation. To avoid the confounding effects of corticosteroids, prednisolone was withdrawn at least 6 wk beforehand in each case. Ten healthy volunteers matched for age and body mass index served as control subjects. Overall blood glucose concentrations after the glucose challenge were significantly elevated in both groups of transplant recipients (P < 0.005 and P < 0.001 for cyclosporin A and FK 506 treatment groups, respectively) compared with the healthy control subjects. Venous whole-blood glucose concentration (mean ± SE) 120 min after the ingestion of oral glucose was significantly higher in both the cyclosporin A (P < 0.05) and FK 506 (P < 0.01) treatment groups compared with the control subjects (6.6 ± 0.5 vs. 8.8 ± 0.9 vs. 5.2 ± 0.2 mM, respectively). According to 1985 WHO criteria, 4 of 10 cyclosporin A-treated patients had impaired glucose tolerance, whereas 3 of 10 FK 506–treated patients had diabetes with 4 others having impaired glucose tolerance. Overall plasma immunoreactive insulin concentrations were significantly elevated in both the cyclosporin A (P < 0.05) and FK 506 (P < 0.01) groups, as were C-peptide concentrations (P < 0.02 and P < 0.01, respectively). By contrast, fasting lactate concentrations were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the transplant patients compared with the control subjects. Total blood ketone body concentrations were slightly higher in both transplant groups with an increased ratio of 3-hydroxybutryate:acetoacetate in the cyclosporin A–treated (P < 0.01) and FK 506–treated (P < 0.02) patients. In conclusion, successful liver transplantation in humans is associated with significant postoperative glucose intolerance and hyperinsulinemia. These metabolic abnormalities are independent of corticosteroid therapy and are more pronounced in patients treated with FK 506 than in comparable patients receiving cyclosporin A with or without azathioprine. Alterations in the circulating ketone body ratio suggest a relatively more reduced hepatic intramitochondrial redox state in liver transplant recipients treated with these immunosuppressive agents.


This paper introduces new joint estimation methods of multiple carrier frequency offsets (CFOs) and channel impulse responses (CIR) in application to multiuser orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The estimators are derived from the optimal maximum-likelihood (ML) principle. Complexity reductions are achieved by exploiting the correlation properties of the training sequence (TS). The grid search algorithm is converted into a polynomial root finding procedure which leads to low-complexity closed-form estimators for moderate CFOs. Furthermore, iterative estimators for larger CFOs are proposed. Numerical results confirm that the performance degradation due to the approximations compared to the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) is small and may be negligible in practice.


The Northwestern Black Sea shelf dynamics are studied with numerical simulations based on the Princeton Ocean Model. The study focus is on buoyancy and wind driven flows and on the transport and fate of low salinity waters that are introduced through riverine sources (the Danube, Dnestr and Dnepr Rivers), under the seasonal changes in atmospheric forcing. The study is part of the DANUBS project (NUtrient management in the DAnube basin and its impact on the Black Sea). The numerical simulations show that the coastal circulation is greatly influenced by river runoff and especially that of the Danube, which is dominant with monthly averaged values ranging from 5,000 m 3 to 10,000 m 3 . The transport of low-salinity waters associated with the Danube runoff is greatly influenced by wind stress, topographic effects and basin-scale circulation patterns, such as changes in the position of the Rim Current.


Water shortage is likely intensified by climate change. Although advanced irrigation technologies and agricultural water management practices are widely promoted, farmers' adoption behavior is not well understood in the climate change context. This study helps fill this gap by assessing how climate risk affects such adoption. We construct moment-based climate risk measures that better reflect its volatility and extremes and apply them in multiple discrete choice modeling procedures. We also extend existing literature focusing solely on irrigation technologies to include conservation practices such as the Best Management Practices (BMPs), thereby providing a more complete picture of conservation practices. Jointly using the Arkansas subset of USDA Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey and Census of Agriculture over years and multiple climate records, we find climate risk plays a role in the adoption of advanced irrigation technologies and BMPs, and suggest the policy relevance of the consideration of climate risk in understanding farmers' technology adoption.


Strengthening primary care during this unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19 is an urgent demand for public health. It needs to relook into the healthcare machinery and reenergize the much overlooked primary and secondary tier in healthcare delivery to effectively combat COVID-19 and other similar epidemics. Objectives: Strengthening of primary care and enhance the skills and knowledge of primary care physician working at Community Health Center/Primary Health Center (CHC/PHC) in context of Family medicine and updating them in recent advancements in primary care management and COVID 19 guidelines for efficient delivery of primary care services. Methodology: Director general health services of Uttarakhand was intimated with the aim and objectives of this one-day hands-on workshop going to be conducted at All India institute of medical sciences. All Chief Medical Officers of the various districts had been communicated and sensitized for this noble cause. Total 30 primary care physicians attended the certificate program. This session commenced with a pre-test followed by the lectures, discussions and hands-on skills and ended with a post-test. Results: Majority (60%) of the participants were male and 40% were female. A total of 30% had never attended any similar workshop in the past. 45% of them were never exposed to any hands-on training before. Only 10% of them were Postgraduates and the rest were only MBBS (undergraduate). As the scores were not normally distributed, Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks Test was applied for the dependent variable. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) found between pre and post-test results. Conclusion: Imparting continuing medical knowledge to the physicians has proved to be an effective tool in good clinical practice. The success of this intervention can be used to further develop and implement workshops and other training sessions to enhance the skills and knowledge of Primary Care Physicians in similar settings that face a shortage of well-equipped physicians.


Objective: To asses the presence of steatosis and other histological changes in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Methods: Liver biopsy samples were reviewed for presence of steatosis, its degree and other histological changes of hepatitis C including necro-inflammatory score, fibrosis grade and these changes were correlated with liver function tests. Results: A total of 109 liver biopsy samples were reviewed. Mean age of the patients was 44.46 ± 13.93 years and 62 (56.8%) were male. Mean necro-inflammatory score was 2.32 ± 0.95. Mean fibrosis grade was 1.69 ± 1.12. No Steatosis was found in 42 (38.5%) samples and mild to severe degree of steatosis was found in 67 (61.5%) samples. Conclusion: In this study, nearly 62% of liver biopsy samples had some degree of steatosis. Whether this steatosis increases occurrence of severe form of fibrosis or is an associated phenomena with chronic inflammation needs to be further clarified (JPMA 54:110;2004).


In this work, a new method of direct laser writing patterned photonic crystal heterostructure on a glass surface is proposed. A multi-heterostructure photonic crystal (MHPC) is predeposited on the glass surface and then the laser spot is focused on it and moves according to the set program, leading to the formation of patterned MHPC. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and finite element simulation show that the patterning is caused by the local thermal annealing of the polymer colloidal spheres through the thermal conduction effect of the substrate on the laser energy. The patterned area presents a function of the water confinement effect and can be used as a high-performance droplet analysis chip. By integrating the patterned MHPC array and seven fluorescent dyes, nine metal ions can be successfully recognized and discriminated. This approach is quite facile and fast for designing colloidal photonic crystals with controllable patterns. Moreover, it is of considerable significance for the practical application of photonic crystal heterostructure in the detection, sensing, anti-counterfeiting, and display fields.


Abstract It is estimated that a third of people in the United Kingdom with signs of dementia are living without a formal diagnosis. In Wales, the proportion is nearly half. Some explanations for the gap between prevalence of dementia and number of diagnoses include living with a long-term partner/spouse and systemic barriers to diagnosis. This study recruited participants from the Cognitive Function and Ageing Studies-Wales (CFAS-Wales) cohort, randomly selected from people aged over 65 living in two areas of Wales, who met study criteria for a diagnosis of dementia and did not have a record of a formal diagnosis in general practice records. We aimed to understand more about the contexts and circumstances of people who live with and cope with cognitive difficulties without having a formal diagnosis of dementia. We conducted qualitative interviews with six participants and their spouses, and additionally with four family members of three invited people who were unable to take part. Themes were generated using thematic analysis. We present the argument that there is an adaptive response to low service levels and a complex interaction between the expectations of levels of service, perceptions of the legitimacy of cognitive problems and the right to make demands on services. This paper concludes that more could be done to address barriers to diagnosis and treatment services for those living with symptoms of dementia, but that the value placed on diagnosis by some individuals might be lower than anticipated by government policy.


Recently, the emerged and rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern (VOC) 501Y.V2 with 10 amino acids in spike protein were found to escape host immunity induced by infection or vaccination. Global concerns have been raised for its potential to affect vaccine efficacy. Here, we evaluated the neutralization activities of two vaccines developed in China against 501Y.V2. One is licensed inactivated vaccine BBIBP-CorV and the other one is recombinant dimeric receptor-binding domain (RBD) vaccine ZF2001. Encouragingly, both vaccines largely preserved neutralizing titres, with slightly reduction, against 501Y.V2 authentic virus compare to their titres against both original SARS-CoV-2 and the currently circulating D614G virus. These data indicated that 501Y.V2 variant will not escape the immunity induced by vaccines targeting whole virus or RBD.


What are the mechanisms by which different G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are recycled to the cell surface or targeted to the lysosomes for degradation? Whistler et al. (see the Perspective by Gray and Roth) describe the role that one protein, GASP (GPCR-associated sorting protein), plays in the fate of two structurally related opioid GPCRs. The COOH-terminal cytoplasmic domain of the delta opioid receptor but not that of the mu opioid receptor binds to GASP, and this interaction promotes transport to the lysosome. Several other endocytic receptors also interact with GASP, which appears to be a key player in regulating sorting to lysosomes versus recycling after endocytosis. J. L. Whistler, J. Enquist, A. Marley, J. Fong, F. Gladher, P. Tsuruda, S. R. Murray, M. von Zastrow, Modulation of postendocytic sorting of G protein-coupled receptors, Science 297, 615-620 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text] J. A. Gray, B. L. Roth, A last GASP for GPCRs? Science 297, 529-531 (2002). [Summary] [Full Text]


Traditionally, a key concern of HCI has been to design interfaces that should not make the user think. While this is – and will continue to be – desirable for most systems, there are also situations in which a system that prompts and questions the user may be more appropriate. In educational systems for instance, tasks are often intentionally made more challenging to enable "deeper" thinking and more thorough learning. Although conversational interfaces are still relatively limited in their capabilities, they seem very promising for contexts where questioning is needed, such as learning, analytics or sensemaking as well as safety-critical systems. Overly simple interactions – such as when the user can just tap or drag and drop – may not be beneficial in this context or may even be risky. In this position paper, we discuss previous work as well as opportunities where questioning users through conversation can be beneficial, based on insights from our own research.


Corporate governance is a concept that involves practices that entail the organization of management and control of companies. It reflects the interaction among those persons and groups, which provide resources to the company and contribute to its performance such as shareholders, employees, creditors, long-term suppliers and subcontractors. Corporate governancehas received much attention in the accounting literature, with studies focusing on the impactof corporate governance and the strategic performance of the firm. None of these studies havefocused on the relationship between corporate governance and strategic performance of the deposit taking Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Kenya. This study aims to explore the relationship between corporate governance and the strategic performance of the deposit taking Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Kenya. The main objective of this study will be to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and the strategic performance of the deposit taking Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Kenya. This research problem will be studied through the use of a descriptive research design. The population of interest of this study will be the SACCOS that are operating in Nairobi. There are 230 SACCOs that involve in deposit taking operations in Kenya. The study will target the 532 (Source: The SACCO Societies Regulatory Authority, SASRA) staff working at the deposit taking SACCOs with their headquarters in Nairobi and more particularly on the top, middle and lower level management staff. A sample of 30% will be selected from the 532 target respondents. This will generate a sample of 159 respondents which the study will seek information from. Data collection will involve a selfadministered questionnaire. The. researcher will drop the questionnaires physically at the respondents" place of work. The researcher will select a pilot group of 5 individuals from the target sample of the staff working in deposit taking SACCOs to test the reliability of the research instrument, Data collected will be purely quantitative and it will be analyzed by descriptive analysis techniques. The findings will be presented using tables and charts, percentages, means and other central tendencies. Tables will be used to summarize responses for further analysis and facilitate comparison. This will generate quantitative reports through tabulations, percentages, andmeasure of central tendency


With the increasing knowledge about the role of nutrition in increasing exercise performance, it has become clear over the last 2 decades that amino acids, protein, and protein hydrolysates can play an important role. Most of the attention has been focused on their effects at a muscular level. As these nutrients are ingested, however, it also means that gastrointestinal digestibility and absorption can modulate their efficacy significantly. Therefore, discussing the role of amino acids, protein, and protein hydrolysates in sports nutrition entails holding a discussion on all levels of the metabolic route. On May 28-29, 2007, a small group of researchers active in the field of exercise science and protein metabolism presented an overview of the different aspects of the application of protein and protein hydrolysates in sports nutrition. In addition, they were asked to share their opinions on the future progress in their fields of research. In this overview, an introduction to the workshop and a short summary of its outcome is provided.


This article examines Hongkongers' decentralized tactics of resistance in response to the government's suppression of political freedom and misuse of crowd-control chemical weapons, especially tear gas. Through the lens of reproductive justice (RJ), this article illustrates the coalition potential between RJ activists and pro-democracy Hongkongers who enact strategies such as citizen science, community medical care, and cross-generational marches to cultivate a safer environment for all. Amplifying the everyday tactics that Hongkongers deploy at the grassroots level, this article also argues that despite the political outcome and measurable success of any grassroots tactics, it is important for researchers to document and analyze these acts as a way of bearing witness. Although they are contingent on specific historical moments and sociopolitical contexts, these tactics can also help inform future grassroots coalitions and activism.


Anamnese und klinischer Befund: Untersuchungen: Diagnose: Therapie und Verlauf: Folgerung: History and clinical findings: Investigations: Diagnosis Treatment and follow-up: Conclusion:


Adrenocortical cancer (ACC) is a rare disease that is often difficult to diagnose, and therefore often presents at an advanced stage. Various cytotoxic treatments have been tried with little success. Evaluation of new diagnostic methods and improvement of medical therapies are therefore crucial.The diagnostic potential of 11C-metomidate positron emission tomography (PET) was evaluated in eleven ACC patients. PET visualized all viable tumors with high tracer uptake, including two lesions that CT failed to detect. Necrotic or fibrotic tumors were PET negative. Medication with adrenal steroid inhibitors and chemotherapy may decrease the tracer uptake.We performed a phase-II study with streptozocin and o,p'-DDD (SO) combination therapy in 40 ACC patients. The SO therapy was found to have impact on the disease-free interval (P = 0.02) as well as on survival (P = 0.01) in patients who received adjuvant therapy after curative resection. Complete or partial response was obtained in 36.4% of patients with measurable disease.The efficacy and tolerability of combination therapy with vincristine, cisplatin, teniposide, and cyclophosphamide (OPEC) were evaluated in eleven patients with advanced ACC after failure of SO therapy. The median survival was 21 months from the start of treatment. A partial response was achieved in two patients. Adverse events were mainly restricted to grade 1-2 toxicities, and grade 3 toxicities were observed in only two cycles.We tested 21 ACC tumors to analyze the expression of receptor tyrosine kinases and 15 ACC for mutation analysis of c-Kit exon 11, which can be targeted by antagonists such as imatinib. All ACCs expressed one or more kinases: c-Kit in 19 ACC and phospho-c-Kit in three while 14 ACCs expressed PDGFR-beta, suggesting the potential usefulness of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. No c-Kit mutations were detected in exon 11. Further evaluation of other mutations targeted by this drug may be needed.


Mondia whitei (omulondo) is one of the most consumed herbs in and around Kampala city, this is attributed to its many uses such as enhancing of cerebral and peripheral blood circulation, treatment for anorexia, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, stomach ailments and impotence, treatment of hypertension and many others. Currently, the root is processed into other products like; mulondo liqueur and mulondo powder. However, the processes (washing and smashing/size reduction) involved in making these products are manually done which results to drudgery leading to low output, poor hygiene and loss of root sap among others. To address the challenges, a mulondo crashing machine was designed and constructed to enable the increased output. The construction of the prototype was executed using stainless steel grade 316 and tested to determine the workability and time variation as compared to local methods. The machine is designed to be operated by the electric motor of size 5Hp. The machine gave a maximum output of 121.8 kg/hr, a size reduction efficiency of 100% and an average output efficiency 78% for mixed roots. This machine should meet the needs of the needs of small or medium scale mulondo enterprises.


In this doctoral dissertation we investigate two problems on unconventional superconductivity in two dimensions. The first one is quantum oscillations of the specific heat in d-wave superconductors with loop current order, and the second one is the unconventional superconductivity in a repulsive gas of fermions with spin-orbit coupling in two dimensions. The first work is motivated by recent specific heat measurements in cuprate high temperature superconductors which show quantum oscillations, indicating the coexistence of Fermi pockets and d-wave superconductivity. We assume the scenario that the Fermi pockets in the superconducting state are induced by loop current order, a competing order proposed to explain the pseudogap phase of cuprate superconductors, which may also exist in the superconducting state. After performing a singular gauge transformation, we diagonalize the Hamiltonian in Bloch basis, and calculate the specific heat. We find that the frequency of the quantum oscillations in the specific heat approximately follows Onsager relation. However, since the Bogoliubov quasiparticles in superconductors are linear combinations of electrons and holes and do not form Landau levels in a magnetic field, the amplitude of oscillations deviates from Lifshitz-Kosevich theory which fits the experimental results well. In the second work, we try to understand how the superconducting instability in a two dimensional repulsive Fermi gas is affected by spin-orbit coupling. We use renormalization group approach to investigate this problem. We perturbatively calculate the renormalization of the interactions, and derive the renormalization group flow equations which describe how the interactions evolve with lowering the energy. The flow equations are decoupled into different total angular momentum channel. The highest energy scale among all the channels at which the divergence occurs is identified with the superconducting transition temperature. We find that in general, the transition temperature Tc increases with spin-orbit coupling if the Fermi energy is fixed. In the superconducting state, the Fermi surfaces are fully gapped, and time reversal symmetry is broken.%%%%A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Physics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.%%%%Fall Semester, 2013.%%%%November 7, 2013.%%%%Superconductivity, Two Dimensions, Unconventional%%%%Oskar Vafek, Professor Directing Thesis; Michael Shatruk, University Representative; Nicholas E. Bonesteel, Committee Member; Peng Xiong, Committee Member; Takemichi Okui, Committee Member.


Recent scandals in the health and social care emphasize the need to gain a better understanding of ethics, resistance and leadership in this sector. The Francis enquiry into Mid-Staffordshire Hospital NHS Trust mortality rates found shortcomings in the "care, compassion and humanity" shown by staff towards patients (Francis, 2013). If health professionals had resisted reforms that resulted in corruption to care practices then this and other scandals may not have occurred. However, the author argues that much healthy resistance in organisations often languishes under the radar or occasionally surfaces in whistle blowing scandals that can be damaging to all parties. The author illustrates a way to detect potentially helpful resistance in order to prevent or reduce the impact of such practice scandals. A dramatic lens (Czarniawska, 1997) and a critical perspective from MacIntyre's (1985) virtue ethics offer a view toward the ideological horizons reflected in practice dilemmas. The author argues that new understandings of "ethical resistance" offered through these dramatic and critical lenses include a reframing to appreciate the social innovation potential. A potential realized through providing early warning signals of practice corruptions and in mobilizing resistance in service of protecting standards of healthcare from the corrupting influences of money, status and power.


Carbon nano-tube (CNT) is applied to fabricate nano-probes, nano-switches, nano-sensors and nano- actuators. In this paper, a continuum model is employed to obtain the nonlinear constitutive equation and pull-in instability of CNT-based probe/actuators, which includes the effect of electrostatic interaction and intermolecular van der Waals (vdW) forces. The modified Adomian decomposition (MAD) method is applied to solve the nonlinear governing equation of the CNT-based actuator. Furthermore a simple and useful lumped parameter model was developed to investigate trends for various pull-in parameters. The influence of the vdW force and the geometrical dimensionless parameter on the pull-in deflection and voltage of the system is investigated. The obtained results are compared with those available in the literature as well as numerical solutions. The results demonstrate that our developed continuum based model is in good agreement with experimental results.


Each year in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, a ceremony is held by the Zulu people in honour of the "first fruits". A certain part of what is known as the Ukweshwama ceremony involves the ritual killing of a bull by young Zulu warriors with their bare hands. The ritual is opposed by certain animal rights campaigners, who believe it is cruel to the animal which is sacrificed. A highly polarized debate has arisen between those opposed to any form of cruelty to animals on the one hand, and those seeking to defend ancient cultural practices on the other. The purpose of this article is to explore whether or not ancient rituals such as the ritual bull-killing at theUkweshwama ceremony have a place in the modern world, and to interrogate the implications of the dispute which has arisen for the development of South Africa's constitutional democracy. The article is in two parts. Part One provides a brief synopsis of the importance of cattle within traditional Zulu culture and traces the public controversy surrounding the bull-killing ritual in KwaZulu-Natal. It also examines the legal arguments put before court on the issue, and discusses the origins in antiquity of certain of the main myths and rituals concerning bulls and bullkilling. Part Two compares and contrasts the respective controversies surroundingthe Ukweshwama bull-killing ritual on the one hand, and Spanish bullfighting on the other. It also examines the wide range of positions adopted by philosophers and legal scholars vis-a-vis difficult questions of animal rights and cruelty to animals. The two sides of the argument are weighed up and tentative conclusions are reached.


A sound reproduction system usually consists of several types of loudspeakers to cater to sophisticated applications. The directivity of a loudspeaker is a measure of its efficiency in sending sounds to a particular direction instead of all directions. Demand to control the directivity of a sound reproduction system is gaining momentum with many new designs of directional loudspeakers, including the acoustic dome, horn loudspeaker, loudspeaker array, and parametric array loudspeaker (PAL). The PAL is an application of the parametric acoustic array in air, which generates a sound beam from the interaction of ultrasonic beams. The PAL has several desired features, such as its narrow beamwidth over a wide frequency range, low sound attenuation over a long distance, and ability to reproduce perceptually near sound images. The PAL is also advantageous in using a smaller driving unit to transmit an equally narrow sound beam as compared to the conventional loudspeaker and broadside loudspeaker array. An overview of directivity control methods of the PAL is presented in this paper. In particular, acoustic models and signal processing techniques in controlling the directivity of the PAL are emphasized.


Return on Investment (ROI) is one of several financial metrics increasingly advocated and used to evaluate expenditures on human capital initiatives. This thesis explored empirically the discrepancy between growing interest in, and uptake of, ROI for human capital investments on the one hand; and evidence to date that implementation is problematic and actual usage limited, on the other.

From within a constructivist/interpretivist paradigm, ten attempts to apply ROI were identified and reconstructed using the qualitative techniques of observations, interviews and document analyses. These attempts were drawn from three different contexts - corporate, health service and international development. Concepts from seminal theories on learning and skills acquisition, knowledge, practice, context and their relationship with each other, as well as the introduction of new technical approaches, were selected to provide a framework to guide the enquiries and interpretation of data.

The study found the term ROI was used as a bridging metric and understood in three ways - metaphorically, as an aspiration of value; literally, as a metric; and procedurally, as a method for planning and evaluating human capital investments. The metaphorical use of ROI was widespread as a way of expressing a common goal when dealing with key stakeholders. However, the metric was rarely utilised to measure human capital investments because applying it was difficult and time consuming; particularly linking the investment and service system performance through people performance. Methodically, ROI seemed to function as an aspirational map for planning and evaluating human capital investments. Learning and applying the method, even partially, was valued and tended to lead to changed behaviour and organisational culture.

Significant variations between the three contexts were noted, and it is argued that the contingencies affecting the uptake and appropriateness of ROI in different settings would likely affect the appropriateness of other financial metrics for evaluating human capital investments.


As the development of digitalization process spreads worldwide, daily necessity and dependability on World Wide Web is increasing. Now after global pandemic of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), digitalization has become compulsory process in the world. The process of digitization in Nepal is also increasing. Along with the process of digitization in Nepal, there is also a huge possibilities of cyber security threat. Today, the information security system must be set up to counter emerging vulnerabilities that may additionally arise as a result of technological development and advancement. In the complex and dynamic arena of Internet, the challenges inherent in protecting Information infrastructure is significantly increasing, maybe as an influence of the global existence of services etc. Depending on these networks. These network links are unprotected to cyberattacks due to more than a few flaws in the system. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate on the protection that covers the software and infrastructure to provide the governance fruitful interconnection besides any probable hazard of being arranged. This research tries to find out the cyber security problems in the present concern as technological innovation is moving each and every sphere of existence so as e-Governance applications. Research additionally emphases on how e-Governance is made more protected and what type of security and protection mechanism to be implemented, have to be safe, tightly closed and dependable surroundings via numerous technologies in digital Governance functions i.e. cloud computing, e-commerce, social networking, e-Banking/Internet Banking system, e-Payment and also outline here in what way to reduce the Online crimes through strengthening the safety components of e-Governance systems.


Physical control systems are increasingly controlled by reconfigurable, network-enabled devices to increase flexibility and ease commissioning and maintenance. Such capability creates vulnerabilities. Devices may be remotely reprogrammed by a malicious actor to act in unintended ways, causing physical damage to mechanical equipment, infrastructure, and life and limb. In this paper, past examples of actual damage to cyberphysical systems are shown, threats posed by software-controlled Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) are analyzed, and a small-scale version of an attack on ubiquitous VFD equipment is demonstrated.