Background: Benign vocal fold lesions are a common laryngeal pathology found in routine clinical practice. Microlaryngeal surgery is useful for excision of the pathology. Coblation-assisted microlaryngeal surgery for benign lesions of the vocal folds is a new technique for the treatment of vocal fold lesions. The objective of this study was to assess the voice outcome following coblation-assisted microlaryngeal surgery for benign vocal fold lesions. It also assessed the vocal fold function after coblation excision of the benign fold lesions by using video stroboscopic analysis. Materials and Methods: This was an analytical retrospective study where 54 patients of benign vocal fold lesions participated. All the 54 patients were selected for coblation-assisted microlaryngeal surgery. Perceptual analysis of voice was done by using GRBAS scoring. The voice analysis was done with the help of PRAAT software (Version 5.3.51) and fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and harmonics to the noise ratio were analyzed. Stroboscopy was done in all cases for evaluating the vocal fold function by using glottic closure and pattern of mucosal wave. All the parameters were analyzed preoperatively and at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 3 months postoperatively. Results: The perceptual analysis of voice showed a significant improvement of the GRBAS score after coblation-assisted microlaryngeal surgery (P < 0.001). The acoustic analysis revealed that all parameters improved after surgery (P < 0.001). Stroboscopy findings also SHOWED improved vocal fold functions. Conclusion: Coblation-assisted microlaryngeal surgery is a safe and effective treatment modality for benign vocal fold lesion with excellent voice outcome.


The poison's ratio of plane plate samples taken from AM60 magnesium alloy was tested in this paper. A number of strain controlled fatigue experiments were also carried out on MTS to investigate the stress-strain behavior under different temperature conditions. The finite element analysis software ANSYS was employed to simulate impact process of shot blasting. Results indicated that at the specific temperature condition the residual stress and plastic strain increased with impact velocity increasing. At the specific impact velocity, residual stress reduced and plastic strain increased with temperature increment.


The purposes of this study were to examine the accuracy of fetal hemoglobin (Hb F, α2γ2) as quickly measured by a hemoximeter but verified by high performance liquid chromatography [HPLC, including Hb F total (Hb Ft), acetylated Hb F (Hb F1), and non acetylated Hb F ( Hb F*)], and to predict the Hb F levels for different gestational weeks of neonates. Thirty-nine neonates of predominantly Hispanic and African American ethnicity, with gestational ages ranging from 25 to 38 weeks, were investigated. Analyses were performed on 163 blood samples that were pure neonates' blood before the transfusion of any adult blood. Two neonates had increased Hb C [β6(A3)Glu→Lys, GAC→AAG] levels (1.67–2.79%) and one neonate whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy, had elevated Hb A2 levels (0.12–0.14%). After excluding these data points, the mean Hb F were overestimated by hemoximeter, 118.4 ± 8.77% vs. 92.6 ± 2.77% by HPLC (mean difference: 25.8 ± 7.71%, p = <0.001). Mean Hb F1 was 10.5 ± 2.28%. Hb F levels decreased as gestational age increased (p <0.001 for Hb Ft and Hb F*; p = <0.05 for Hb F1). A multivariate regression model for Hb F prediction was established with the best R2. The gestational age and post birth hours in the prediction of Hb Ft was included when Hb F could be determined at the clinical settings. Future studies may be needed to account for Hb F1 when measuring Hb F levels to assess oxygenation status in (pre term) neonates.


SIR is a computer system, programmed in the LISP language, which accepts information and answers questions expressed in a restricted form of English. This system demonstrates what can reasonably be called an ability to "understand" semantic information. SIR''s semantic and deductive ability is based on the construction of an internal model, which uses word associations and property lists, for the relational information normally conveyed in conversational statements. A format-matching procedure extracts semantic content from English sentences. If an input sentence is declarative, the system adds appropriate information to the model. If an input sentence is a question, the system searches the model until it either finds the answer or determines why it cannot find the answer. In all cases SIR reports its conclusions. The system has some capacity to recognize exceptions to general rules, resolve certain semantic ambiguities, and modify its model structure in order to save computer memory space. Judging from its conversational ability, SIR is more "intelligent" than any existing question-answering system. The author describes how this ability was developed and how the basic features of SIR compare with those of other systems. The working system, SIR , is a first step toward intelligent machine communication. The author proposes a next step by describing how to construct a more general system which is less complex and yet more powerful than SIR . This proposed system contains a generalized version of the SIR model, a formal logical system called SIR1 , and a computer program for testing the truth of SIR1 statements with respect to the generalized model by using partial proof procedures in the predicate calculus. The thesis also describes the formal properties of SIR1 and how they relate to the logical structure of SIR .


Shape reconstruction of two-dimensional perfectly conducting objects using noisy measured scattering data is considered. The contour of each conducting object is denoted by a shape function in the local polar coordinate which is approximated by a trigonometric series. A point-matching method is used to solve the scattering problem. The main idea of the inversion algorithm is to cast the inverse problem into a restrained minimization problem and to solve it by the real-coded genetic algorithm (RGA). The performance of this algorithm is demonstrated by numerically reconstructing arbitrarily shaped objects and by a detailed comparison with both the standard genetic algorithm (SGA) and the Newton-Kantorovitch method.


Received: July 05, 2019 Accepted: August 27, 2019 Published: September 30, 2019 Volume: 2 Issue: 5 DOI: 10.32996/ijllt.2019.2.5.8 This article seeks to explore the beauty of Bengali women which is a recurring feature in Tagore's fiction. She has been portrayed realistically and beautifully in his fiction. Tagore glorifies the beauty of Bengali women and idealized womanhood in some of his short stories as well as in his novels. Tagore portrays them as an ordinary domestic being that possess moral attitudes and have their own identity in the society. Therefore, he gave priority to women in society and played an important role as a social reformer through his literary works. Some of the women protagonists in his fiction are not only beautiful but linger longest in the memory like the character of Sucharita in the novel Gora, a young woman, in the short story Skeleton, Urmimala in Two sisters, Chandra in the short story, Punishment, Giribala in Fury Appeased, or a young widow in My Fair Neighbour. His main focus was on women emancipation, his writings aimed for women's liberation, equality, freedom, and their rights. The central theme of his writings was the social injustice against women. He wanted women's active participation in the society. Through his literary work Tagore encouraged and advocated gender equality and women rights. KEYWORDS


The refractive power of the cornea may change after wearing contact lenses and as a result of disease or surgery. Each corneal component that contributes to the refractive power was analyzed and their relative significance was determined by comparing the refractive effects of a 10% change. In order of magnitude, the effect of a 10% change in each component was as follows: anterior corneal curvature (4.87 D), index of refraction (1.87 D), depth of anterior chamber (1.20 D), posterior corneal curvature (0.62 D) and corneal thickness (0.01 D). Refractive changes are the result of increases and decreases of each component and the total effect is the sum of the individual changes in each component.


In this paper, the convective heat transfer of nanofluid flow in a turbulent boundary layer of a flat plate is simulated numerically. Turbulent flow equations with RNG K-ε turbulence model are solved employing Fluent software. Furthermore, the effects of nanoparticle concentration on the heat transfer characteristics are studied. The results show that nanofluids enhance the heat transfer coefficient dramatically with little change in pressure drop.


Selective oxidation of biomass-based monosaccharides into value-added sugar acids is highly desired, but limited success of producing D-xylonic acid has been achieved. Herein, we report an efficient catalyst system, viz., Au nanoparticles anchored on the inner walls of hollow Al2O3 nanospheres (Au@h-Al2O3), which could catalyze the selective oxidation of D-xylose into D-xylonic acid under base-free conditions. The mesoporous Al2O3 shell as the adsorbent first adsorbed D-xylose. Then, the interface of Au nanoparticles and Al2O3 as active sites spontaneously dissociated O2, and the exposed Au nanoparticle surface as the catalytic site drove the transformation. With this catalyst system, the valuable D-xylonic acid was produced with excellent yields in the aerobic oxidation of D-xylose. Extensive investigation showed that Au@h-Al2O3 is an efficient catalyst with high stability and recyclability.


A novel building structure system, namely core-tube vibration-reduction suspended structure (CVRSS), is put forward in this paper. The basic composition and calculation model for the structure system are described. The El Centro and Taft seismic waves are used to calculate the dynamic characteristics of the structure in the time domain, of which dynamic responses are proved satisfactory. Taking the top floor displacement of the primary structure and the relative displacement between bottom layer of suspended segments and top floor of core-tube as objective function, the finite element model is established, and comparative analysis with common core-tube suspended structures (CCSS) is performed. The results show that the top floor displacement of CVRSS is about 70% of that of CCSS, and the vibration-reduction performance of CVRSS is excellent.


In-store demonstrations are becoming a popular way of promoting foods at the retail level. However, little information is available to guide store managers and marketers in the design and implementation of these promotions. A test demonstration for shoulder and top blade steaks is used to estimate the effects of discretionary components of this promotional strategy. Marketing implications are drawn.


Knowledge graphs (KGs) serve as useful resources for various natural language processing applications. Previous KG completion approaches require a large number of training instances (i.e., head-tail entity pairs) for every relation. The real case is that for most of the relations, very few entity pairs are available. Existing work of one-shot learning limits method generalizability for few-shot scenarios and does not fully use the supervisory information; however, few-shot KG completion has not been well studied yet. In this work, we propose a novel few-shot relation learning model (FSRL) that aims at discovering facts of new relations with few-shot references. FSRL can effectively capture knowledge from heterogeneous graph structure, aggregate representations of few-shot references, and match similar entity pairs of reference set for every relation. Extensive experiments on two public datasets demonstrate that FSRL outperforms the state-of-the-art.


Although oncogenic mutations in the three major Ras isoforms, KRAS, HRAS and NRAS, are present in nearly a third of human cancers, therapeutic targeting of Ras remains a challenge due to its structure and complex regulation. However, an in-depth examination of the protein interactome of oncogenic Ras may provide new insights into key regulators, effectors and other mediators of its tumorigenic functions. Previous proteomic analyses have been limited by experimental tools that fail to capture the dynamic, transient nature of Ras cellular interactions. Therefore, in a recent study, we integrated proximity-dependent biotin labeling (BioID) proteomics with CRISPR screening of identified proteins to identify Ras proximal proteins required for Ras-dependent cancer cell growth. Oncogenic Ras was proximal to proteins involved in unexpected biological processes, such as vesicular trafficking and solute transport. Critically, we identified a direct, bona fide interaction between active Ras and the mTOR Complex 2 (mTORC2) that stimulated mTORC2 kinase activity. The oncogenic Ras-mTORC2 interaction resulted in a downstream pro-proliferative transcriptional program and promoted Ras-dependent tumor growth in vivo. Here we provide additional insight into the Ras isoform-specific protein interactomes, highlighting new opportunities for unique tumor-type therapies. Finally, we discuss the active Ras-mTORC2 interaction in detail, providing a more complete understanding of the direct relationship between Ras and mTORC2. Collectively, our findings support a model wherein Ras integrates an expanded array of pro-oncogenic signals to drive tumorigenic processes, including action on mTORC2 as a direct effector of Ras-driven proliferative signals.


Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the most common esophageal disease. It typically presents with heartburn and regurgitation, but it may also cause atypical symptoms, either alone or in combination. About 20 to 60 percent of patients with GERD have ENT symptoms without any heartburn. The most common ENT symptom is a globus sensation, yet there are many possible clinical signs such as laryngitis, pharyngitis, sinusitis, laryngospasm, laryngeal edema and granuloma that may mislead the initial work-up. In this work the pathophysiology, symptomatology, diagnostic measurements and therapeutic options of GERD are discussed. It is suggested that GERD has to be included into differential diagnostic approaches especially when routine treatment of these ENT diseases failes.


A quantitative strategy for the analysis of sofosbuvir (SF) in human plasma has been developed with an online solid phase extraction (SPE)-liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) system using a MS/MS targeted ion fragmentation scan (t-MS2), targeted-selected ion monitoring (t-SIM) and full MS-SIM (F-SIM) mode. The sample was pretreated automatedly and analyzed within 10 min via an online SPE system equipped with an Oasis®HLB (2.1 × 20 mm, 5 μm) SPE column and LC system with a ZORBAX SB-C18 (4.6 × 250, 5 μm) analytical column. A Q-Exactive hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap HRMS was utilized for positive identification and quantification. Method detection limits ranged between 0.5 and 2000 ng mL−1 in human plasma for both t-MS2 and t-SIM mode and between 2 and 2000 ng mL−1 for F-SIM mode. In all three modes, the overall intra-day and the inter-day variations were less than 8.07%. The recovery of all three methods was in the range of 92.06–107.20% with RSD% less than 3.90%. The matrix effect of all three methods was in the range of 94.82–101.89% with RSD% less than 7.69%. The optimized two methods (t-MS2 and t-SIM) demonstrated good performance in terms of specificity, lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), linearity, recovery, precision and accuracy.


An all-MOS analog implementation of a MAP decoder is presented for the (8, 4) extended Hamming code. This paper describes the design and analysis of a tail-biting trellis decoder implementation using subthreshold CMOS devices. A VLSI test chip has recently returned from fabrication, and preliminary test results indicate accurate decoding up to 20 MBit/s.


The most recent model curriculum for graduate information systems programs includes a project management course, which contains a balance of technical and managerially related skills. Prior research has shown that adoption of this project management course among information systems graduate programs is not extensive. This study compares the topical coverage of the courses that are being offered against the Project Management Institute's "Project Management Body of Knowledge" (PMBOK) and Georgia State University's Computer Information Systems graduate project management course in information technology. A web-based survey of 206 institutions with graduate information systems programs was conducted; 103 responded and 78 indicated that they had a project management course with 41 instructors completing the questionnaire (53% response rate). Data collected from the survey were then analyzed using descriptive statistics. With respect to the topics of project management found in the PMBOK, information systems programs are covering hard skills such as project scope and cost management to a large extent and giving less emphasis to soft skills such as human resource and project communications management. Also, procurement management is only covered to a very small extent. Similarly, information systems programs matched well with the benchmark course at Georgia State University in the extent of coverage for hard skills such as work breakdown, estimation, and project networks, but their coverage of areas such as project chartering and dealing with vendors and suppliers was considerably lower.


Overview This report analyses serious, transnational and organised crime and the harms it causes to Australia's interest, with the aim of reinvigorating a discussion of this critical matter amongst Australians. This web impacts on our national interests to the sum of an estimated $15 billion per year. That very conservative estimate includes costs to government through denied revenue and increased law enforcement costs. But there are also social, health and economic harms to individuals, community and business. The report poses a series of questions to be considered by the community, business and government.


The purpose of this investigation is to identify factors in the decision making processes used by online auction sellers to select their online auction sales channel. Examining these decision factors will aid in creating a model of online auction seller channel evaluation mechanisms including economic and social factors and may be used by online auction services and intermediaries to maximize their market potential by increasing the perceived value of the various economic or social factors influencing seller outlet selection. An exploratory survey analysis is used to identify the components that online seller's use for online channel selection.


elasmobranch fish are susceptible to over-exploitation by commercial and recreational fisheries and an increasing focus of conservation initiatives. the lack of accurate species-specific landings data in many european fisheries and the paucity of biological data have restricted the types of stock assessment that can be undertaken. hence, other methods of determining the overall status of elasmobranch fish are required. for demersal elasmobranchs around the british isles, the most widely available biological data describe life histories and abundance from fishery-independent surveys. here, we examine the length-distribution of demersal elasmobranchs caught during groundfish surveys, to determine which life history stages are sampled effectively. for these stages, we report trends in abundance and relate the trends to knowledge of the species' biology and fisheries, and to the decline criteria that are used to assess species' status by nature conservation agencies. the analyses show that many large demersal elasmobranchs have been severely depleted in uk waters but that groundfish surveys still provide a good source of data for monitoring changes in status of the more abundant species. for rare and highly depleted species, groundfish surveys often provide good retrospective descriptions of declines, but the surveys have limited power to detect recent changes in status.


We investigated the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and workload capacity (WLC). Each participant performed an operation span (OSPAN) task to measure his/her WMC and three redundant-target detection tasks to measure his/her WLC. WLC was computed non-parametrically (Experiments 1 and 2) and parametrically (Experiment 2). Both levels of analyses showed that participants high in WMC had larger WLC than those low in WMC only when redundant information came from visual and auditory modalities, suggesting that high-WMC participants had superior processing capacity in dealing with redundant visual and auditory information. This difference was eliminated when multiple processes required processing for only a single working memory subsystem in a color-shape detection task and a double-dot detection task. These results highlighted the role of executive control in integrating and binding information from the two working memory subsystems for perceptual decision making.


Introduction Previous data suggest that the prevalence of hypertension (HTN) in Yemenite Jews is lower than in the general Israeli population. The aim of the present study was to compare the prevalence of HTN between type 2 diabetic patients of Yemenite (Y) and non-Yemenite (NY) origin. Methods Cross-sectional study in a Diabetes Clinic. Clinical and lifestyle information was collected including a food frequency questionnaire. Results Sixty three Y and 120 NY diabetic patients were included in the study. The age and sex distributions were similar in the two groups. Patients in the Y group had lower mean weight and waist circumference (72.3 kg vs 85.0 kg and 95 cm vs 105 cm, respectively, p<0.001) and their mean HbA1c level was higher (7.7% vs 7.2%, p=0.015). The prevalence of HTN was significantly lower in the Y compared to the NY group (63% vs 83%, p=0.003). Patients in the Y group consumed less antihypertensive medications than those in the NY group (1.6 vs 2.5, p=0.002), however blood pressure levels were similar in both groups. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, NY origin was independently associated with a higher prevalence of HTN (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.5 to 6.3, p=0.0025). There were no significant differences between the two groups in physical activity, total calories consumed and the DASH score. Conclusion In this study the prevalence of hypertension in Yemenite was significant lower compared to non-Yemenite diabetic patients. Since no differences were found in lifestyle characteristics it is likely that other mechanisms are involved.


An Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Object Spectrograph Far UV spectrum (1170 Å to 1800 Å) was obtained for the short orbital period recurrent novae (T Pyxidis subclass), CI Aquilae. CI Aql is the only classical Cataclysmic variable (CV) known to have two eclipses of a sensible depth per orbit cycle and also to have pre- and post-outburst light curves that are steady enough to allow estimates of mass and orbital period changes. Our far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectral analysis with model accretion disks and non-LTE high-gravity photospheres, together with the Gaia parallax, reveal that CI Aql's FUV light is dominated by an optically thick accretion disk with an accretion rate of the order of 4 × 10−8 M☉ yr−1. Its database of light curves, radial velocity curves, and eclipse timings is among the best for any CV. Its orbit period (P), dP/dt, and reference time are rederived via a simultaneous analysis of the three data types, giving a dimensionless post-outburst dP/dt of (−2.49 ± 0.95) × 10−10. The lack of information on the loss of orbital to rotational angular momentum leads to some uncertainty in the translation of dP/dt to the white dwarf (WD) mass change rate, dM1/dt, but within the modest range of to +7.8 × 10−8 . The estimated WD mass change through outburst for CI Aql, based on simple differencing of its pre- and post-outburst orbit period, is unchanged from the previously published . At the WD's estimated mass increase rate, it will terminate as a Type Ia supernova within 10 million years.


This paper is a compilation and analysis of all vascular plants that have been reported on Kiritimati (Christmas) Atoll in the Northern Line Islands of the Republic of Kiribati. It is based on field inventories conducted by the authors on six field visits to the atoll between 1996 and 2012 plus available published and unpublished records of vascular plant collections and observations made on the atoll. The total number of vascular plant species that have been recorded at some time on Kiritimati, including all indigenous and introduced species (whether in cultivation or not) is 168, plus three hybrids and three additional varieties, making a total of 174 taxa. Of these, three records are doubtful, leaving a reliably reported total of 171 taxa in 166 species. Only 10 of the reported taxa were not seen by one or other of us in the period 1996–2012, and of these at least six have probably died out on the island, leaving an extant flora of around 165 reliably recorded taxa (including the hybrids and varieties) in 160 species. There have been no ferns or gymnosperms recorded on the island. Probably only 15 (9%) or perhaps up to 19 of the reliably reported species are native, and most of the present-day flora is made up of deliberate or unintentional introductions made since the date of European discovery of the atoll. Of these, at least 54 and perhaps up to 59 species have naturalized.


Negatively stained slime mold actomyosin examined by electron microscopy consists mainly of actin-like filaments with occasional angular projections. If some of the actin is removed, the myosin-enriched actomyosin appears as continuous arrowhead structures similar to those of vertebrate striated muscle actomyosin. Together with other evidence, the findings suggest that cytoplasmic streaming in Physarum may involve a contractile process operating at a relatively low myosin-actin ratio.


Using two threshold solid state nuclear detectors, mica and CN-85, the reaction of (14.0 MeV/u) Pb + Pb was studied. Reaction cross-section was determined experimentally as well as theoretically. Both elastic and inelastic data were used to calculate the experimental reaction cross-section. Theoretical reaction cross-section for 14.0 MeV/u Pb +Pb is 3809 ± 428 mb. Reaction cross-sections from elastic data were 3830 ± 500 mb and 3875 ± 500 mb for mica and CN-85, respectively, While reaction cross-sections calculated from inelastic data for mica and CN-85 were 4081 ± 500 mb and 4092 ± 500 mb, respectively. The partial reaction cross-sections for mica and CN-85 detectors were also determined. It was observed that partial crosssection of inelastic binary events in mica was higher than that in CN-85, whereas, cross section of 4 and 5-pronged events in mica were lower than those in CN-85. However, the number of three pronged events was identical in the two detectors. Using the difference in mass registration threshold of the two detectors, for fragment masses between 4 amu (registration threshold of CN-85) and 30 u (registration threshold of mica) were searched, which were registered in CN-85 but not in mica.


The contractile vacuole of the freshwater protozoan Paramecium multimicronucleatum is a membrane-bound exocytotic vesicle that expels excess cytosolic water. The in vitro contractile vacuole isolated from P. multimicronucleatum along with a small amount of cytosol and confined under mineral oil showed periodic rounding and slackening at fairly regular intervals. Activity lasted for over 30 min at room temperature (24-27 degrees C). The rounding of the in vitro contractile vacuole corresponded to the increased membrane tension of the in vivo contractile vacuole that occurs immediately before fluid expulsion. Unlike the in vivo contractile vacuole, the in vitro contractile vacuole did not expel fluid, since it lacked a mechanism to form a pore. The subsequent slackening of the in vitro contractile vacuole corresponded to the fluid-filling phase of the in vivo contractile vacuole that occurs at decreased membrane tension. Fluid filling occurred in the in vitro contractile vacuole only when it was isolated together with its radial arms. In vitro membrane-bound vesicles obtained by 'bisecting' (although the two parts were not always identical in size) an in vitro contractile vacuole established their own independent rounding-slackening cycles. In vitro contractile vacuole vesicles could fuse again when the vesicles slackened. The fused vesicle then showed a rounding-slackening cycle with a period closer to that of the vesicle that exhibited the shorter cycle period. An additional rounding phase of the in vitro contractile vacuole could be induced by applying suction to a portion of its membrane with a micropipette when the contractile vacuole was in its slackened phase. This suggests that maximum tension development in the contractile vacuole membrane can be triggered when tension is increased in any part of the contractile vacuole membrane. The time from the start of an extra rounding phase to the next spontaneous rounding and for subsequent rounding-slackening cycles was nearly the same as that before the extra rounding phase. This implies that there is no master pacemaker to control the rounding-slackening cycle in the contractile vacuole membrane. Severed radial arms also became vesiculated and, like contractile vacuole membranes, these in vitro vesicles showed independent rounding-slackening cycles and vesicle-vesicle fusions. Thus, membrane derived from the radial arm seems to be identical in its tension-developing properties with the contractile vacuole membrane. ATP was found to be required for contractile vacuole rounding but inhibitors of actin or tubulin polymerization, such as cytochalasin B and Nocodazole, had no effect on the in vitro contractile vacuole's rounding-slackening cycle.


Conserving large carnivores is controversial because they can threaten wildlife, human safety, and livestock production. Since large carnivores often have large ranges, effective management requires knowledge of how their ecology and functional roles vary biogeographically. We examine continental‐scale patterns in the diet of the dingo – Australia's largest terrestrial mammalian predator. We describe and quantify how dingo dietary composition and diversity vary with environmental productivity and across five bioclimatic zones: arid, semi‐arid, tropical, sub‐tropical, and temperate. Based on 73 published and unpublished data sets from throughout the continent, we used multivariate linear modelling to assess regional trends in the occurrence of nine food groups (arthropods, birds, reptiles, European rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus, medium‐sized [25–125 kg] and large [169–825 kg] exotic ungulates [including livestock], and other small [<0.5 kg], medium‐sized [0.5–6.9 kg] and large [≥7 kg] mammals) in dingo diets. We also assessed regional patterns in the dietary occurrence of livestock and the relationship between dietary occurrence of rabbits and small, medium‐sized and large mammals. Dingoes eat at least 229 vertebrate species (66% mammals, 22% birds, 11% reptiles, and 1% other taxa). Dietary composition varied across bioclimatic zones, with dingo diets in the arid and semi‐arid zones (low‐productivity sites) having the highest occurrence of arthropods, reptiles, birds, and rabbits. Medium‐sized mammals occurred most frequently in temperate and sub‐tropical zone diets (high‐productivity sites), large mammals least in the arid and sub‐tropical zones, and livestock most in the arid and tropical zones. The frequency of rabbits in diets was negatively correlated with that of medium‐sized, but not small or large mammals. Dingoes have a flexible and generalist diet that differs among bioclimatic zones and with environmental productivity in Australia. Future research should focus on examining how dingo diets are affected by local prey availability and human‐induced changes to prey communities.


This paper analyzes a simple model of infectious disease where the incentives for individuals to reduce risks through endogenous social distancing take straightforward cost-benefit form. Since disease is transmitted through social interactions, the threat of spread of infection poses a collective action problem. Policy interventions such as lockdowns, testing, and mask-wearing serve, in part, as substitutes for social distancing. Provision of a vaccination is the only intervention that unambiguously reduces both the peak infection level and the herd immunity level of infection. Adoption of vaccination remains limited in a decentralized equilibrium, with resulting reproductive rate of disease Rt > 1 at the conclusion of vaccination. Vaccine mandates yield increases in vaccination rates and corresponding reductions in future infection rates but do not increase expected payoffs to individuals.


Detarium microcarpum Guill and Perr is a multipurpose tree species indigenous to semi-arid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa.  It is being exploited to local extinction due to high dependence for fuelwood and other uses. The present study explored different pre-treatment methods for enhancing seed germination and growth of D. microcarpum in the Guinea savanna zone of Ghana.  The experiment employed a 4 × 4 factorial design with seeds subjected to four pre-treatments (50% sulphuric acid concentration, 98% sulphuric acid concentration, cold water and hot water) at four pre-treatment time durations. Percentage germination varied significantly between pre-treatments (p < 0.05) with cold water treatment recording the highest mean germination (73.06%) and the 98% sulphuric acid concentration recording the least (47.72%). Germination rate had a moderate positive relationship with plant height (rxy = 0.49) and collar diameter (rxy = 0.54). The study recommends seed immersion in cold water for 48 h as the most efficient pre-treatment for D. microcarpum.

 Key words: Detarium microcarpum, germination percentage, plant height, pre-treatment.


Palaeoecological analysis and lithostratigraphic investigations are used to reconstruct the late Quaternary vegetation history of a previously little studied area, the Southern Welsh Borderland. Particular emphasis is placed on the Last Glacial-Holocene transition and the arrival of tree taxa during the early Holocene. Palynological data collected from two sites, Bridge Sollers (near Hereford) and Stansbatch (near Presteigne), are accompanied by a AMS radiocarbon chronology.
At both sites basal inorganic sediments (pre 13,830 cal. yr BP) are dominated by pollen assemblages indicative of open conditions, suggesting a stadial climate. Between c. 13,830 cal. yr BP and c. 13,000 cal. yr BP the accumulation of detrital mud and an increase in the pollen of woody taxa is interpreted as a period of climatic amelioration (the Lateglacial Interstadial). Inorganic sedimentation recommences and the pollen of woody taxa is reduced during the climatic deterioration of the Younger Dryas (after 13,000 cal.yr BP). However, macrofossil evidence suggests tree Betula may have been present during this cold stage.
The onset of the Holocene is marked by an increase in Betula pollen at c. 10,800 cal. yr BP (Bridge Sollers) and c. 11,200 cal. yr BP (Stansbatch). The early increase of Juniperus communis pollen, seen in many British sites, is not detected. This may be the result of the presence of tree birch during the Younger Dryas. Corylus avellana appears to have arrived c. 10,500 cal. yr BP, Ulmus c. 10,100 cal. yr BP and c. 9,850 cal yr BP and Quercus c. 9,900 cal. yr BP and c. 9,700 cal. yr BP. Increases in Pinus sylvestris pollen c. 9,450 cal. yr BP and c. 9,800 cal. yr BP are probably the result of long distance transportation from the uplands.
At both sites sediment accumulation ceases after c. 8,900 cal. yr BP, indicating drier conditions. Sedimentation recommences at Stansbatch during the mid Holocene when Tilia dominated the vegetation. A decline in Tilia pollen occurs at c. 3,700 cal. yr BP probably due to anthropogenic activity.


With the continuous development of economy and technology, the importance of logistics services has gained more and more attention in the whole industry chain. Collaborative operation between manufacturing companies and lo- gistics companies can improve operational efficiency and save the cost for the enterprise by the way of simplify the trans- action process in the supplying chain and reducing the transaction costs. In this paper, through the deep investigation and analysis of the collaborative operation between logistics and manufacture, combing the previous studies and opinions of the relevant professors, a series of evaluation indicator has been teased out, which is suitable for evaluating the collabora- tion performance. Meanwhile, a multistage fuzzy comprehensive evaluation system is constructed by using analytic hier- archy process and fuzzy comprehensive analysis method.


The reasons for these findings are not clear. It is uncertain whether in Au-Ag negative cases the antigen is undetectable by means of the techniques presently available or whether other aetiological factors such as infective hepatitis virus or paramyxoviruses may be implicated. Our data, however, seem to emphasize the importance of serum hepatitis virus in the pathogenesis of chronic aggressive hepatitis and cirrhosis in southem Italy.-We are, etc., M. CARRELLA


Research within this paper was aimed to give picture of economic performance of the dairy industry based upon commonly used indicators calculated for each dairy plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina.In order to understand state of sector transition micro-level analysis was conducted on the basis of balance sheet and income statement, two main financial records, of all dairies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Documents were obtained from agencies in charge of collecting annual financial reports of both entities in order to assure reliable data for analysis. Research was conducted for three years period (2009-2011). Analysis encompassed horizontal and vertical analysis of balance sheet and income statement. Indicators of financial stability (liquidity and indebtedness ration) and operating successfulness (efficiency, activity, productivity and profitability ratios) we calculated as well. All diaries were classified and analysed by entity and size. The analysis shown that BH dairies operate under very hard circumstances that negatively affects their operating performances. Low liquidity and profitability indicates both financial instability and poor business success. Situation is unsatisfactory in the whole countries, although slightly better in FBH than in RS. So, sector transition is far from completion, and its future characteristic will strongly depend on entrepreneurship (spirit and skills) as well as on ability to change and re-develop institutions both formal and informal (values, culture etc).


The commenter disagrees with the arguments in the above-titled article by P. Samuelson (ibid., vol.7, no.4, p.90-6, Jan. 1990) that reverse-engineering programs should be legal and that the unauthorized copies of the program created in decompilation are just 'incidental' and thus do not infringe the program's copyright. He also disagrees with Samuelson's contention that there is a trend for the courts to find copyright infringement only where the program that results from the reverse engineering is substantially similar in expression to the decompiled program. He presents a detailed argument to support his viewpoint. Samuelson presents additional information is support of her position. >


The long lead time for jig and fixture design is a serious bottle-neck in modern manufacturing. Efforts to automate the fixture design process using intelligent CAD systems have not been taken beyond the prototype stage, mainly because of impediments which include the requirement of complex data structures to represent the workpiece and its attributes. Two deficiencies in existing systems for fixture design are addressed; design for a sequence of operations and design with tolerance considerations. Tolerance and process specifications are obtained from the user during an interactive session. A knowledge-based design system, AutoFix II, designs a fixture for the workpiece. The fixture is optimised for a particular datum specification and sequence of operations. It is analysed and presented via the CAD system. AutoFix II is automated to minimise user-induced errors.


Lithologic, macrostructural, microstructural, geophysical, and in situ gas permeability data from a natural exposure of highly porous, faulted and fractured tuffaceous sediments and interbedded ash-fall deposits near Bishop, California, are presented and analyzed in relation to published geologic information. This natural analog study was motivated by the need to evaluate potential length scales over which lateral flow diversion might occur above and within the nonwelded Paintbrush Tuff at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Lateral diversion of flow in the overlying Paintbrush Tuff was previously proposed by others as a natural barrier that might protect a proposed high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel repository from percolating water. Because the length scale for capillary barrier breakthrough and leakage is decreased in the presence of subvertical structural heterogeneities, we characterized a horst-bounding fault, small-displacement normal faults within a footwall deformation zone, and secondary heterogeneities within two beds dissected by the faults. Critical deformation-related features that may influence fluid flow within bedded tuffaceous sediments include (1) permeability anisotropy imposed by steeply dipping faults and stratigraphic layering; (2) fault zone widths and styles, which are dependent on bed thickness and ash, glass, and clay content; and (3) fracture intensities and overprinting mechanisms (associated with fault deformation and vertical and nonvertical fracture orientations), which strongly influence the hydrogeologic heterogeneity of units they dissect. Microstructural analysis reveals structurally induced porosity variations at the micrometer to millimeter scale, gas permeability data show the influence of deformation on permeability at the centimeter to tens of centimeters scale, and resistivity and ground-penetrating radar data show lateral variations on the meter to tens of meters scale in horizontally bedded layers. All together, these observations and data show heterogeneity over seven orders of magnitude of length scale. Structurally enhanced porosity and permeability heterogeneities will tend to limit the length scale of lateral flow diversion, redirect flow downward, and enhance vertical fluid movement within the vadose zone.


Efficient management of water resources is an important task given the significance of water in daily lives and economic growth. Water resource management is a specific field of study which deals with the efficient management of water resources towards fulfilling the needs of society and preventing from water‐related disasters. Many activities within this domain are getting benefitted with the recent technological advancements. Within many others, computer vision‐based solutions have emerged as disruptive technologies to address complex real‐world problems within the water resource management domain (e.g., flood detection and mapping, satellite‐based water bodies monitoring, monitoring and inspection of hydraulic structures, blockage detection and assessment, drainage inspection and sewer monitoring). However, there are still many aspects within the water resource management domain which can be explored using computer vision technologies. Therefore, it is important to investigate the trends in current research related to these technologies to inform the new researchers in this domain. In this context, this paper presents the bibliometric analysis of the literature from the last two decades where computer vision technologies have been used for addressing problems within the water resource management domain. The analysis is presented in two categories: (a) performance analysis demonstrating highlighted trends in the number of publications, number of citations, top contributing countries, top publishing journals, top contributing institutions and top publishers and (b) science mapping to demonstrate the relation between the bibliographic records based on the co‐occurrence of keywords, co‐authorship analysis, co‐citation analysis and bibliographic coupling analysis. Bibliographic records (i.e., 1059) are exported from the Web of Science (WoS) core collection database using a comprehensive query of keywords. VOSviewer opensource tool is used to generate the network and overlay maps for the science mapping of bibliographic records. Results highlighted important trends and valuable insights related to the use of computer vision technologies in water resource management. An increasing trend in the number of publications and focus on deep learning/artificial intelligence (AI)‐based approaches has been reported from the analysis. Further, flood mapping, crack/fracture detection, coastal flood detection, blockage detection and drainage inspections are highlighted as active areas of research.


The post-colonial hierarchy is a critical dynamic of global coexistence. Power is associated with those sovereignties characterized by light-skinned populations. Those characterized by dark skin are denigrated and assumed less qualified to negotiate global issues as equals. Although political objectives are expected to stimulate conflict, skin color is directly correlated with the present world order. Moreover, most post-colonial sovereignties are heterogeneous in one way or another and yet do not engage in destructive conflict. From a global perspective, conflict resolution will require post-colonial sovereignties--particularly those of relative light skin--to forfeit their self-serving denigration of others. Strategies for conflict resolution should ignore skin color and incorporate measures designed to improve problem solving, moral reasoning, and the general etiquette skills of those engaged in any negotiation process.


The effects of annealing on microstructure and mechanical properties of bulk nanocrystalline Fe3Al based alloy with 10 wt. % Ni prepared by aluminothermic reaction have been investigated. It was found that crystal structure of the alloy did not change after annealing at 600 and 800 °C, while it changed to ordered B2 and nanocrystalline grains orientations became random after annealing at 1000 °C. Average grain sizes of the alloy changed a little after annealing at different temperatures. The alloy after annealing had a large plastic deformation in compression at room temperature and the alloy annealed at 800 °C had the highest compressive yield strength of 1351 MPa. The alloy without annealing had much lower flow stress and good creep property in compression at 800 and 1000°C.


In this study, we propose an automatic contrast enhancement method based on transfer function modification (TFM) by histogram equalization. Previous histogram‐based global contrast enhancement techniques employ histogram modification, whereas we propose a direct TFM technique that considers the mean brightness of an image during contrast enhancement. The mean point shifting method using a transfer function is proposed to preserve the mean brightness of an image. In addition, the linearization of transfer function technique, which has a histogram flattening effect, is designed to reduce visual artifacts. An attenuation factor is automatically determined using the maximum value of the probability density function in an image to control its rate of contrast. A new quantitative measurement method called sparsity of a histogram is proposed to obtain a better objective comparison relative to previous global contrast enhancement methods. According to our experimental results, we demonstrated the performance of our proposed method based on generalized measures and the newly proposed measurement.


Our research work wishes to highlight the importance of the relationship between the vocal and physical behaviour of the manager and team motivation. In order to investigate this important relationship, a survey by means of a questionnaire and two field studies were undertaken. The survey has notably showed that in communication situations the working population questioned is above all sensitive to physical behaviour. The people questioned often put vocal communication in second place. It should be noted that their principal factor of motivation within the professional environment is recognition and respect for the individual. According to them, for physical behaviour, it is mainly through the eyes, followed by facial expressions and then the manager's posture that recognition and respect for the individual are expressed. With regard to vocal behaviour, these elements can be expressed through the intonation, tone and loudness of the voice. The field studies and the decision to prioritize the analysis of physical behaviour allowed us to confirm whether this body language, a sign of recognition and respect of the individual and therefore source of motivation, was a reality and resulted in a successful contact. In the working place, the way the manager looks at his team, notably, can be lacking or even absent and consequently this absence can be perceived as a closure. Therefore, if we follow our logic, this could have an influence on staff motivation. We therefore decided to complete our field studies by having the teams pass a connotation test to find out their real feelings towards their manager's behaviour. It appears that the manager's recognition for them takes second place to other equally necessary managerial qualities such as strength, endurance and a proactive personality which are widely accepted. The conclusions of the questionnaire survey have therefore been confirmed by the qualitative study. By proceeding stage by stage, our research has therefore managed to confirm the real relationship between the principal factor of motivation for staff "recognition and respect of the individual" and the physical behaviour "look, facial expression and posture" which expresses this recognition. And by really taking into consideration the relationship of vocal and visual behaviour to motivation, every manager can encourage a better quality of understanding within his team. This active listening will allow him to build a complementary and successful team by placing the right person in the right place! Henceforth, every individual's satisfaction at work becomes progressively a collective effort and a real social culture within the working place begins to grow…


Different Internet technologies foster the acquisition of different language skills. In the case of synchronous interaction tools, such as Webchat, the concern is to evaluate whether and how this communication context affects the process of acquiring a second langauge. A collection of Webchat interaction data among English non-native speakers (NNS) and native speakers (NS) is the basis for a microanalytic investigation conducted form a Conversation Analysis (CA) perspective. The main purpose is to discover patterns and conversational strategies used by participatns in this on-line context. A CA research approach was chosen since it investigates the machinery and the structure of social action in language, avoiding preformulated theoretic categories. This is important since CMC represents a new SLA context, forcing both NS and NNS to produce different structures and strategies. The study analyzes, in particular, whether Webchat implies a reduction of the range in interactional practices, actions performance, sense making, and meaning negotiation, thus affecting the SLA process. Finally, the researcher considers the reliability and validity of this type of qualitative research in this new technological area. Using some research methodologies taken from CA literature, an analysis of the data focuses first on the overall structure of interaction and sequence organization in connection with the on-line communicaiton setting features. It then passes to turn-taking organization, with attention to recurrent structures and patterns as in openings and closings; turn design (or packaging of actions); expression of paralinguistic features in this on-line context; and some (interlanguage) pragmatic variables. The conclusion resolves the findings and underlines NNS versus NS behaviour, offering hypotheses about SLA through Webchat and synchronous CMC in general, encouraging further investigation.


Acetone dehydration via pervaporation is challenging, because acetone and water have close molecular sizes, and acetone has a much higher vapor pressure than water. Acetone is also a powerful solvent, which dissolves or swells most polymers. We have developed novel polybenzimidazole/BTDA-TDI/MDI (PBI/P84) dual-layer hollow fibers for pervaporation dehydration of acetone for industrial and biofuel separations. Both thermal and chemical crosslinking modifications were applied to the membranes to investigate their effectiveness to overcome acetone-induced swelling. Thermal treatment can effectively enhance separation performance, but performance stability can only be achieved through the crosslinking modification of PBI. Crosslinking by p-xylene dichloride followed by a thermal treatment above 250°C show significant effectiveness to improve and stabilize pervaporation performance. The fractional free volume of the PBI selective layer reduces from 3.27 to 1.98% and 1.33%, respectively, after thermal treatment and a combination of chemical/thermal crosslinking modifications characterized by positron annihilation spectroscopy. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012


Over the past decade, media labs have become an increasingly visible structure to create, catalyse and diffuse innovation within, and beyond, journalism. In this article, we offer insights into the multiple forms media labs can take, and how innovation in the media field is being organised through labs. As such, we focus on innovation processes and practices rather than innovative outcomes. Drawing on 45 semi-structured interviews with media labs around the globe, conducted between 2016 and 2018, this exploratory study explores the multifaceted nature of the media lab concept across academia, legacy media and independent structures. To help better understand the many different manifestations of the media lab construct encountered in our study, this article adopts a purposefully interdisciplinary approach spanning open innovation, institutional and social theories to illuminate and sense-make the global lab phenomena. First, we unpack the media lab construct by detailing the where, what and how of the media labs surveyed in this study. We then suggest that the many forms and functions of labs reveal a complex and nuanced picture of an innovation landscape. We trace this across the ways in which media labs perceive their own roles, and how they relate to wider networks and ecosystems that they engage with, specifically the extent of the openness of their activities. Ultimately, we suggest that media labs are in part shaped by mimetic, coercive and normative isomorphism: media labs are a replicated structure and signifier for innovation but do not exhibit absolute replication: they still retain local variation and mutation, which is influenced by localised factors or influences that are unique to them. They take myriad forms, are located across industry and academia, open, interdisciplinary and, for the main, focus on immediate innovation using user-centred innovation approaches.


The Behavioral Health Measure (BHM) is a brief self-report measure of general psychological distress and functioning developed for the tracking of mental health outcomes in outpatient psychotherapy settings (Kopta & Lowry, 2002). Although the BHM is used in integrated primary care behavioral health clinics, the scale's psychometric properties have not been evaluated in these settings. The current study investigated the BHM's psychometric properties, including its factor structure and reliability, and presents normative data from 3 large integrated primary care clinics. Mean scores for each of the BHM's 4 scales were significantly lower (i.e., more distress) for women than men, with scores being stable across the 3 primary care samples. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated adequate fit for the 3-factor and 1-factor models, with fit improving when 3 items were omitted. Internal consistency estimates for the BHM's 4 scales ranged from adequate to very good (α range: .72-.93). The 4 scales were highly intercorrelated, suggesting they measure similar constructs. Results suggest a revised, 17-item version of the BHM has adequate structure and reliability estimates, and is appropriate for use in primary care settings.


Aims: To evaluate the potential for substituting green roof mains water irrigation by irrigation using lightly loaded synthetic greywater.
Study Design: The planted green roof system was designed to be operated and tested within a glasshouse.
Place and Duration of Study: Schools of Engineering, and Plant Sciences, The University of Reading, for 28 days commencing 28th of May 2012.
Methodology: A trial was conducted for comparing two planting schemes using Sedum and Stachys Byzantina and a third unplanted control. The three sets of growing boxes were subdivided between substrate depths of 10cm and 20cm. By further subdivision, half of each set were watered using mains water, and half using a synthetic greywater. The soil composition and water quality of the drainage (filtrate) water were monitored. Statistical analysis of the results was conducted.
Results: Consistency was observed in influent pH and EC, in both mains and greywater samples. Influent Na concentrations were higher in the greywater samples due to detergent content. The Na mass balance calculations for all boxes showed that some Na mass was unaccounted for when comparing aggregated concentrations in influent, plant tissue and soil with the aggregated Na mass in filtrate, plant tissue and soil water. It was concluded that this was likely to be due to retained/ponded irrigation water in the boxes, difficulties in attaining homogenous box flushing and the underestimation of soil Na. The variation in substrate depth affected all results. The plants themselves seemed to have little significant influence on the measured parameters, with the exception of the accumulation of Na mass in plants irrigated with greywater.
Conclusion: No improvement was observed in the quality of the greywater following filtration through the soil matrix. For longer term watering using greywater, a choice of Na resistant species should be considered, although the Sedum species used in this trial showed no recorded adverse growth effects due to Na accumulation.


A technique to correct ametropia with phakic intraocular lenses (PIOL) was developed on the basis of the analysis of anatomic, clinical, and functional condition of 409 eyes of 274 patients with various types of refraction, and operations performed on 279 eyes with myopia or hyperopia followed up for 2 to 10 years. Its algorithm is a step-by-step system including: patient selection based on a comprehensive clinical and functional examination with an obligatory ultrasound biomicroscopy and psychological testing; choice of PIOL design taking into account initial anatomic and functional parameters of the eye; simulation of the surgical effect using contact lenses allowing for calculation of the optimal PIOL power; choice of an adequate anesthesia method; direct PIOL implantation technique, which, when necessary, is combined with a simultaneous correction of astigmatism and strabismus; pre- and post-operation pleoptic treatment in cases of amblyopia of various degrees.


Cities are increasingly defined through their peripheries. This observation is the result of what has been explored by urban researchers worldwide. Suburban development, with diverse modalities of governance – through the state, capital accumulation and private authoritarianism – is transforming city regions in an unexpected way. The diversity of spatial forms shaping urban/suburban development is part of a peripheral growth bringing in a new scale for understanding urban issues, the metropolis or the city region. The paper is subdivided in four parts. First, we take into account the expansion of suburban spaces in order to highlight the new urban issues emerging at a city regional scale. Second, we look at framing the mechanisms of suburban governance. Then, after paying attention to the Canadian situation, we compare the model of suburban governance in Anglo Saxon settler societies to other forms and/or models of suburbanization prevailing in other parts of the world.


This paper discusses the implications of current practices in the design of contemporary mosques in Saudi Arabia on their acoustical performance. Different functions of the mosque are described along with the unique modes of worships reflected in the changing relative speaker to listener positions during prayers. Different postures of a speaker and listeners in the mosque and how they influence the listening conditions are also discussed. The physical characteristics of the mosque, which have been generally retained from the past despite the giant developments and social changes in the country, are introduced and their respective acoustical impacts are evaluated. Acoustical parameters describing the special aural requirements and prevailing listening conditions in the mosque are highlighted. Such parameters include speech intelligibility, loudness, and the uniformity of the sound distribution. In addition, the use of sound reinforcement systems in the mosque is evaluated. Conclusions are drawn on the uniq...


Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry can be used with digital underwater photographs to generate high-resolution bathymetry and orthomosaics with millimeter-to-centimeter scale resolution at relatively low cost. Although these products are useful for assessing species diversity and health, they have additional utility for quantifying benthic community structure, such as coral growth and fine-scale elevation change over time, if accurate length scales and georeferencing are included. This georeferencing is commonly provided with "ground control," such as pre-installed seafloor benchmarks or identifiable "static" features, which can be difficult and time consuming to install, survey, and maintain. To address these challenges, we developed the SfM Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with Five Cameras (SQUID-5), a towed surface vehicle with an onboard survey-grade Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and five rigidly mounted downward-looking cameras with overlapping views of the seafloor. The cameras are tightly synchronized with both the GNSS and each other to collect quintet photo sets and record the precise location of every collection event. The system was field tested in July 2019 in the U.S. Florida Keys, in water depths ranging from 3 to 9 m over a variety of bottom types. Surveying accuracy was assessed using pre-installed stations with known coordinates, machined scale bars, and two independent surveys of a site to evaluate repeatability. Under a range of sea conditions, ambient lighting, and water clarity, we were able to map living and senile coral reef habitats and sand waves at mm-scale resolution. Data were processed using best practice SfM techniques without ground control and local measurement errors of horizontal and vertical scales were consistently sub-millimeter, equivalent to 0.013% RMSE relative to water depth. Survey-to-survey repeatability RMSE was on the order of 3 cm without georeferencing but could be improved to several millimeters with the incorporation of one or more non-surveyed marker points. We demonstrate that the SQUID-5 platform can map complex coral reef and other seafloor habitats and measure mm-to-cm scale changes in the morphology and location of seafloor features over time without pre-existing ground control.


DISCLAIMER
In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to describe how the discharge medication cost inquiry (DMCI) consult order and workflow were created and used to communicate transition of care needs and medication access barriers before discharge.

SUMMARY
Health-system pharmacists collaborated with the information technology department to develop the DMCI consult order and workflow. This institutional review board-approved retrospective case study evaluated use of the DMCI consult order throughout the health system. Outcomes that could not be retrieved electronically were collected for every third patient encounter using manual chart review. The DMCI consult order was used at each hospital in the health system. Physicians placed the most DMCI consult orders; however, pharmacists at the large academic tertiary hospital utilized the DMCI consult order the most. The DMCI consult order was sent most frequently for anticoagulants. Although most medications were covered by insurance, the tool and workflow identified barriers to medication access. Almost 90% of the patients with a DMCI consult order had at least one prescription generated on discharge.

CONCLUSION
The DMCI consult order is a novel electronic tool to aid in communicating discharge medication needs. When incorporated into care transition planning, the DMCI consult order and workflow provide a model to ensure patients have access to medications. It can also be used to document and evaluate the role of pharmacy in transitions of care in the health system.


Application of the dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) for modal identification under operational conditions is investigated. Under the assumption of Gaussian white noise, the stochastic state space model is converted to a DBN. Time-domain maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is applied to learn the DBN. The expectationmaximization (EM) algorithm, initialized by parameters identified by the referencebased, data-driven stochastic subspace identification (SSI/DATA) method, is used to iteratively solve for the MLE. A numerical simulation example demonstrates the performance of the DBN-based identification method.


Most of today's generic annotation tools for Semantic Web metadata (RDF) are designed for experts. People with no or little knowledge about RDF are therefore forced to use simplified and often domain-specific tools that work with fixed sets of metadata elements. This paper introduces the Annotation Profile Model as a configuration mechanism from which annotation tools can be automatically generated. The intention is to encourage metadata- or domain experts to define annotation profiles according to metadata standards/schemas or combinations thereof. This will allow end-users or administrators to select appropriate annotation profiles for the task at hand, and then an editor will be provided by the underlying system. This paper discusses the design of the Annotation Profile Model, which consists of a data-capturing part (the Graph Pattern Model) and a presentation part (the Form Template model). An implementation that can generate both Web-based and standalone editors is also introduced.


This study discusses several issues that museums face when utilizing social media in their international communication. This discussion is framed within the discourse of the new cultural diplomacy and this paper proposes a specific role for museums in cross-cultural diplomatic relations. This new model for contemporary museums as vehicles for a 'trans-cultural encounter', or a 'forum' is based on the shift within museum institutional structures across communication, educational and political dimensions. Drawing on empirical materials, this study identifies three specific ways in which museums can use social media in their international diplomatic endeavours. The first section discusses how social technology can aid museums in responding to issues and concerns originating from foreign communities. This is followed by a discussion of how social media can connect foreign audiences to the cultural content of museums through direct participation activities. Finally, social media can enhance cultural exchange among people from different cultural communities by bringing them together online for collaborative activities.


ABSTRACT It is well established that in nature, bacteria are found primarily as residents of surface-associated communities called biofilms. These structures form in a sequential process initiated by attachment of cells to a surface, followed by the formation of matrix-enmeshed microcolonies, and culminating in dispersion of the bacteria from the mature biofilm. In the present study, we have demonstrated that, during growth, Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces an organic compound we have identified as cis-2-decenoic acid, which is capable of inducing the dispersion of established biofilms and of inhibiting biofilm development. When added exogenously to P. aeruginosa PAO1 biofilms at a native concentration of 2.5 nM, cis-2-decenoic acid was shown to induce the dispersion of biofilm microcolonies. This molecule was also shown to induce dispersion of biofilms, formed by Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and the yeast Candida albicans. Active at nanomolar concentrations, cis-2-decenoic acid appears to be functionally and structurally related to the class of short-chain fatty acid signaling molecules such as diffusible signal factor, which act as cell-to-cell communication molecules in bacteria and fungi.


A module of producing and playing board games was piloted to increase students' interest towards an architecture history class. Five classes adopted the module but only one class was studied for student engagements, the collaboration between peers and the presence of critical thinking. The investigation was collected through a questionnaire survey, in-depth interview and observation. The study concluded students were more active and engaging towards the class and outside of class. It was found the students to build and appreciate the collaborations developed between their classmates. The students were also observed to promote a creative synthesize of the subject on the product of the board game. It was concluded a board game module is able to trigger the interest of students towards a dense informative class. Keywords: student engagement, collaboration, critical thinking, history class, board game


Level crossings of Stark substates with m = 0 differing in reflection parity are considered with respect to the detection of parity violation in atomic physics. An interesting example of a 0+-0- crossing occurs in the electric-field splitting of the 1s 3d levels of 4He I at 80 kV/cm. Experiments are proposed allowing the detection of parity violation by studying the radiative decay of the 0- state into singlet levels. By observing circularly polarized light, constructive and destructive interference between transitions induced by weak interactions and by an external magnetic field can be observed at the 0+-0- crossing.


MutLa, a heterodimer of MLH1 and PMS2, plays a central role in human DNA mismatch repair. It interacts ATP-dependently with the mismatch detector MutSa and assembles and controls further repair enzymes. We tested if the interaction of MutLa with DNA-bound MutSa is impaired by cancer-associated mutations in MLH1, and identified one mutation (Ala128Pro) which abolished interaction as well as mismatch repair activity. Further examinations revealed three more residues whose mutation interfered with interaction. Homology modelling of MLH1 showed that all residues clustered in a small accessible surface patch, suggesting that the major interaction interface of MutLa for MutSa is located on the edge of an extensive b-sheet that backs the MLH1 ATP binding pocket. Bioinformatic analysis confirmed that this patch corresponds to a conserved potential protein–protein interaction interface which is present in both human MLH1 and its E.coli homologue MutL. MutL could be sitespecifically crosslinked to MutS from this patch, confirming that the bacterial MutL–MutS complex is established by the corresponding interface in MutL. This is the first study that identifies the conserved major MutLa–MutSa interaction interface in MLH1 and demonstrates that mutations in this interface can affect interaction and mismatch repair, and thereby can also contribute to cancer development.


Basal radar reflectivity is the most important measurement for the detection of subglacial water. However, dielectric loss in the overlying ice column complicates the determination of basal reflectivity. Dielectric attenuation is a function of ice temperature and impurity concentration. Temperature distribution is a function of climate history, basal heat flow and vertical strain rate, all of which can be partially inferred from the structure of dated internal layers. Using 11 dated layers, isotope records from Dome C, East Antarctica, and a model of the spatial variation of geothermal flux, we calculate the vertical strain rate and accumulation-rate history, allowing identification of areas where the basal melt rate exceeds 1.5 mm a -1 . The accumulation-rate history and vertical strain rates are then used as inputs for a transient temperature model. The model outputs for the present-day temperature distribution are then combined with depth-dependent ionic concentrations to model dielectric loss and infer basal reflectivity. The resulting reflection coefficients are consistent (� -5 dB) across a variety of subglacial water bodies. We also identify a high reflectivity >-15 dB in Concordia Trench and along suspected subglacial water-flow routes in Vincennes Basin. Highland areas tend to have highly variable reflection coefficients near -30 dB, consistent with an ice-bedrock interface. This combined model also identifies three areas of enhanced basal melting along Concordia Ridge, Concordia Subglacial Lake and Vincennes Basin. Melt at Concordia Subglacial Lake exceeds 5 mm a -1 . The inferred basal melt at these locations is not possible without enhanced geothermal flux. We demonstrate how radar-sounding data can provide both input and verification for a self-consistent model of vertical strain, vertical temperature distribution and meltwater distribution.


Field, petrographic, and geochemical analyses indicate that the native sulfur at Ras Gemsa is off diagenetic origin. The sulfur formed, together with megacrystalline dolomite (biogenic dolomite) and biogenic calcite, by bacterial action on sulfate in the presence of organic matter (hydrocarbons). The sulfur occurs in an uplifted horst block consisting of evaporite-carbonate rocks overlying the middle Miocene oil- and gas-bearing strata. The evaporite deposits are interpreted to be a composite sequence that includes deposits of shallow lagoonal (subaqueous) and supratidal (sabkha) environments. Two types of dolomite (microcrystalline and megacrystalline) are recognized in the studied sequence. Stable isotope data showed that the microcrystalline dolomite has high δ 18 O values (mean = +1.05‰ PDB) and relatively low δ 13 C values (mean = -3.2‰ PDB). These results indicate that the microcrystalline dolomite was deposited mainly under marine evaporitic conditions. The megacrystalline dolomite is characterized by negative δ 18 O values (mean = -6.8‰ PDB) and strongly negative δ 13 C values (mean = -24.05‰ PDB). The negative δ 18 O values are probably due to the effect of hot conditions or depleted meteoric water and/or biological effects during dolomite crystallization. The negative δ 13 C values signify the important role played by the sulfate-reducing bacteria in the presence of organic matter.


Objective: The present study evaluated the efficacy and toxicity of adaptive radiotherapy (RT) among patients with head and neck cancer. Methods: 36 patients eligible for radical RT underwent RT planning scans and were planned for 54-Gy dose to both high-risk and low-risk target volumes in Phase I. All patients underwent a second (adaptive) scan during the fifth week of RT. Phase II plans for 16Gy to high-risk planning target volumewere developed on these mid-treatment scans. The primary end point was local response. Disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS) and treatment-related morbidity were secondary end points. Results: Median reductions in gross primary and nodal disease volumes on mid-treatment scans were 34% and 43.2%, respectively. 16 patients experienced grade 3 acute mucositis. No patient had grade 3 or above haematologic toxicity. Four patients developed local recurrences, all within the RT field. Median DFS and OS were 17.5 and 23.5 months, respectively. Conclusion: Adaptation to changes in the anatomic and tumour volume or shape may help tilt the balance towards more efficient dose delivery as well as better normal tissue sparing. Advances in knowledge: This study supports the need for adaptive replanning for minimizing normal tissue toxicity without compromising local control and adds to the existing body of literature.


We report on a wet none thermal integration of the binary silicon-gold nano system. Instead of thermally based gas-solid procedures, we use charge exchange/injection-based procedures in a chemical wet environment. SEM and TEM imaging and EDX show 0-D gold-silicon coreshell structures with diameters ranging from 6 to 500 nm in addition to a variety of silicon and gold nano structures. Optical and florescence spectroscopy show that colloids exhibit strong red luminescence and plasmonic resonance in the visible. Mie theory analysis of light scattering is in agreement with the optical observation. The results and procedures are discussed in terms of the relative electron/hole affinity, Schottky potential barrier, strength of the metal-silicon bond, as well as the surface diffusion of metal atoms or clusters on the interface of the constituent materials. Integration of gold and silicon, at the nanoscale in the form core-shell architecture affords the functionalities and attributes of plasmonic light scattering imaging and fluorescence imaging that would be useful for a wide variety of applications, including optical filters, sensing, therapeutics and tracking, and cancer therapy.We report on a wet none thermal integration of the binary silicon-gold nano system. Instead of thermally based gas-solid procedures, we use charge exchange/injection-based procedures in a chemical wet environment. SEM and TEM imaging and EDX show 0-D gold-silicon coreshell structures with diameters ranging from 6 to 500 nm in addition to a variety of silicon and gold nano structures. Optical and florescence spectroscopy show that colloids exhibit strong red luminescence and plasmonic resonance in the visible. Mie theory analysis of light scattering is in agreement with the optical observation. The results and procedures are discussed in terms of the relative electron/hole affinity, Schottky potential barrier, strength of the metal-silicon bond, as well as the surface diffusion of metal atoms or clusters on the interface of the constituent materials. Integration of gold and silicon, at the nanoscale in the form core-shell architecture affords the functionalities and attributes of plasmonic light scattering...


A3-week-old, healthy, full-term, girl delivered via anuncomplicatedvaginal delivery at homewas referred by her pediatrician for evaluation of lesions on her face and scalp. She had had corneal lesions at birth. There had been no neurologic concerns to date. On physical examination, the lesion on her scalp was a 4.5-cm · 3.5-cm curvilinear, soft, pink, smooth alopecic plaque on the right scalp near the vertex, crossing the midline, extending onto her forehead, and terminating near her right eyebrow (Fig. 1). She had soft, smooth, alopecic, skin-colored to light pink circular plaques arranged in a linear configuration on her right temporal region with similar texture to the scalp lesion and several yellow to pink papules located on her right upper eyelid, right lateral canthus, and right cheek (Fig. 2). In each eye there was a pink telangiectatic plaque in a limbal distribution extending from the sclera to the cornea (Fig. 3). The remainder of her skin examination was unremarkable.


Muscle function and functional performance are affected in patients with osteoarthritis (OA). The aim of the study was to investigate and compare the concentric torque of knee muscles (quadriceps and hamstring) and functional status in two matched groups: one group of patients with low grade of tibiofemoral OA, and one group of matched healthy subjects. Concentric peak torques of quadriceps and hamstring were measured in both groups at an angular velocity of 90 and 150 degree/second. In addition, selected functional tests, selected lower extremity range of motion (ROM) and thigh girth were assessed in both groups. The independent t-test revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups with regard to isokinetic concentric peak torque at different angular velocities and for the timed walking test, as a measure of functional status. However, no significant difference in lower extremity joints' ROM and thigh girth were seen. In conclusion, patients with knee OA, even in low grades and with minimum symptoms and signs, had muscle weakness and functional limitation in comparison with the matched healthy subjects. This weakness may result from a variety of factors, leading to muscle strength loss and functional limitation.


Mental illness is a serious health problem and it affects many people. Increasingly,Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) are being used for diagnosis and it is important to improve the reliability and performance of these systems. Missing a potential clue or a wrong diagnosis can have a detrimental effect on the patient's quality of life and could lead to a fatal outcome. The context of this research is the Galatean Risk and Safety Tool (GRiST), a mental-health-risk assessment system. Previous research has shown that success of a CDSS depends on its ease of use, reliability and interactivity. This research addresses these concerns for the GRiST by deploying data mining techniques. Clinical narratives and numerical data have both been analysed for this purpose.Clinical narratives have been processed by natural language processing (NLP)technology to extract knowledge from them. SNOMED-CT was used as a reference ontology and the performance of the different extraction algorithms have been compared. A new Ensemble Concept Mining (ECM) method has been proposed, which may eliminate the need for domain specific phrase annotation requirements. Word embedding has been used to filter phrases semantically and to build a semantic representation of each of the GRiST ontology nodes.The Chi-square and FP-growth methods have been used to find relationships between GRiST ontology nodes. Interesting patterns have been found that could be used to provide real-time feedback to clinicians. Information gain has been used efficaciously to explain the differences between the clinicians and the consensus risk. A new risk management strategy has been explored by analysing repeat assessments. A few novel methods have been proposed to perform automatic background analysis of the patient data and improve the interactivity and reliability of GRiST and similar systems.


The aim of our work is to use a new modality for visualization of intraocular tumors in three-dimensional space for planning of stereotactic radiosurgery procedure on linear accelerator. Malignant uveal melanoma is the most common malignant tumor of the inner eye structures in adults. Stereotactic radiosurgery on linear accelerator is the method of treatment that requires precise planning. However, in some cases, it is very difficult to imagine the structures based only on fusion of two-dimensional computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. For the team of specialists planning the procedure, 3D printed models represent the way how to perceive the real shape of the tumor and its location considering the important structures of the eye globe. By using the open-source software for segmentation (3D Slicer), we created a virtual 3D model of the eye globe with a tumor that utilized tissue density information based on CT and/or MRI dataset. By creating and introducing a new imaging modality for tumor visualization, we provided real 3D model of the eye globe for the specialists that enabled them more effective planning of the stereotactic radiosurgery.


The new and extreme population of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) shows several new features in high-energy gamma rays that are providing interesting and unexpected clues into GRB prompt and afterglow emission mechanisms. Over the last six years, it has been Swift that has provided the robust data set of UV/optical and X-ray afterglow observations that opened many windows into components of GRB emission structure. The relationship between the LAT-detected GRBs and the well-studied, fainter, and less energetic GRBs detected by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope is only beginning to be explored by multi-wavelength studies. We explore the large sample of GRBs detected by BAT only, BAT and the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM), and GBM and LAT, focusing on these samples separately in order to search for statistically significant differences between the populations, using only those GRBs with measured redshifts in order to physically characterize these objects. We disentangle which differences are instrumental selection effects versus intrinsic properties in order to better understand the nature of the special characteristics of the LAT bursts.


The ability to compose parts to form a more complex whole, and to analyze a whole as a combination of elements, is desirable across disciplines. This workshop bring together researchers applying compositional approaches to physics, NLP, cognitive science, and game theory. Within NLP, a long-standing aim is to represent how words can combine to form phrases and sentences. Within the framework of distributional semantics, words are represented as vectors in vector spaces. The categorical model of Coecke et al. [2010], inspired by quantum protocols, has provided a convincing account of compositionality in vector space models of NLP. There is furthermore a history of vector space models in cognitive science. Theories of categorization such as those developed by Nosofsky [1986] and Smith et al. [1988] utilise notions of distance between feature vectors. More recently Gardenfors [2004, 2014] has developed a model of concepts in which conceptual spaces provide geometric structures, and information is represented by points, vectors and regions in vector spaces. The same compositional approach has been applied to this formalism, giving conceptual spaces theory a richer model of compositionality than previously [Bolt et al., 2018]. Compositional approaches have also been applied in the study of strategic games and Nash equilibria. In contrast to classical game theory, where games are studied monolithically as one global object, compositional game theory works bottom-up by building large and complex games from smaller components. Such an approach is inherently difficult since the interaction between games has to be considered. Research into categorical compositional methods for this field have recently begun [Ghani et al., 2018]. Moreover, the interaction between the three disciplines of cognitive science, linguistics and game theory is a fertile ground for research. Game theory in cognitive science is a well-established area [Camerer, 2011]. Similarly game theoretic approaches have been applied in linguistics [Jager, 2008]. Lastly, the study of linguistics and cognitive science is intimately intertwined [Smolensky and Legendre, 2006, Jackendoff, 2007]. Physics supplies compositional approaches via vector spaces and categorical quantum theory, allowing the interplay between the three disciplines to be examined.


Relationships are obtained connecting the two-nucleon overlap function of the eigenstates in the $(A\ensuremath{-}2)$ particle system with the asymptotic behavior of the two-body density matrix for the ground state of the A-particle system. This makes it possible to calculate the two-body overlap functions, spectroscopic factors and separation energies on the basis of a realistic two-body density matrix. The procedure can be used in describing the ${(e,e}^{\ensuremath{'}}NN)$ and $(\ensuremath{\gamma},NN)$ reactions where the two-body overlap functions are a key ingredient in the analysis.


The paper presents an in-service non-intrusive technique for the measurement of the echo path delay and echo attenuation in telephone-type networks. The proposed method is based on a cross-correlation technique in conjunction with adaptive filtering of the observed transmitted signal. Experimental results show the high accuracy and robustness of the proposed measurement procedure.


We propose a novel end-to-end deep scene flow model, called PointPWC-Net, on 3D point clouds in a coarse-to-fine fashion. Flow computed at the coarse level is upsampled and warped to a finer level, enabling the algorithm to accommodate for large motion without a prohibitive search space. We introduce novel cost volume, upsampling, and warping layers to efficiently handle 3D point cloud data. Unlike traditional cost volumes that require exhaustively computing all the cost values on a high-dimensional grid, our point-based formulation discretizes the cost volume onto input 3D points, and a PointConv operation efficiently computes convolutions on the cost volume. Experiment results on FlyingThings3D outperform the state-of-the-art by a large margin. We further explore novel self-supervised losses to train our model and achieve comparable results to state-of-the-art trained with supervised loss. Without any fine-tuning, our method also shows great generalization ability on KITTI Scene Flow 2015 dataset, outperforming all previous methods.


Objective of research is to analyze the influence of solar irradiance and integration of  photovoltaic (PV) generator to power quality of three phase grid on the constant temperature and load, based on changes in some level of integration of  PV generator. Power quality aspects studied are fluctuation or changing, and harmonics of voltage and current on eight scenarios PV generator connected to three-phase grid, using passive filter circuit model double band pass (double tuned). Research shows that voltage and current values on the PCC bus before use double tuned passive filter on the condition only connect single generator is still stable. However, if the PV generator connected to the three phase grid, amounted to more than one generation, voltage and current grid becomes unstable (fluctuation). At the level of solar radiation remains, the greater number of PV generators connected to the grid three-phase, then the values of voltage and current THD increases. At the level of solar irradiance increases, average THD of voltage and current grid also increased. Avarage THD of voltage and current grid is reduced after double tuned passive filter installed. Therefore, double tuned passive filter able to improve profile of voltage and current THD grid as a result of the integration of a number of PV power generators in three-phase grid according IEEE Standard 519-1992. Simulation and analysis of this research use Matlab/Simulink.


Atmospheric aerosols play important roles in climate and atmospheric chemistry: They scatter sunlight, provide condensation nuclei for cloud droplets, and participate in heterogeneous chemical reactions. Two important aerosol species, sulfate and organic particles, have large natural biogenic sources that depend in a highly complex fashion on environmental and ecological parameters and therefore are prone to influence by global change. Reactions in and on sea-salt aerosol particles may have a strong influence on oxidation processes in the marine boundary layer through the production of halogen radicals, and reactions on mineral aerosols may significantly affect the cycles of nitrogen, sulfur, and atmospheric oxidants.


OBJECTIVE
To describe a series of patients who had visually significant crystalline deposits on their intraocular lenses during cataract surgery with the use of Healon GV (a high concentration and high molecular-weight hyaluronate sodium).

METHODS
Patients were examined for crystalline deposits on their intraocular lenses. These deposits were compared with intraocular lens type, viscoelastic solutions, any other intraocular substance used, type of surgery, and perioperative medications.

RESULTS
In the 11 patients with documented changes (six photographically), the only consistent finding was the use of Healon GV. Furthermore, since we discontinued the use of Healon GV, we have not seen a recurrence of these deposits in more than 500 consecutive patients. The deposits could last a long time (at least 6 months) if sequestered by the posterior capsule, and they are believed to be visually significant at times (Snellen visual acuity of 20/40 or worse).

CONCLUSION
Healon GV use is associated with a new clinical finding of crystalline deposits on intraocular lenses. These deposits can be clinically significant.


This paper proposes a static linear behavior (SLB) analog fault model for switched-capacitor (SC) circuits. The SC circuits under test (CUT) are divided into functional macros including the operational amplifiers, the capacitors, and the switches. Each macro has specified design parameters from the design's perspectives. These design parameters constitute a parameter set which determines the practical transfer function of the CUT. The SLB fault model defines that a CUT is faulty if its parameter set results in transfer functions whose frequency responses are out of the design specification. We analyzed the fault effects of the macros and derived their faulty signal-flow graph models with which the faulty transfer function templates of the CUT can be automatically generated. Based on the templates, we proposed a test procedure that can estimate all the parameters in the parameter set so as to test the CUT with multiple faults. Different from conventional single fault assumption, the proposed SLB fault model covers concurrent multiple parametric faults and catastrophic faults. In addition, it does not need to conduct fault simulations before test as conventional analog fault models do. As a result, it addresses the impractically long fault simulation time issue. A fully-differential low-pass SC biquad filter was adopted as an example to demonstrate how to design and use efficient multitone tests to test for the parameter set. The multitone test results acquired during the test procedure also reveal the distortion and noise performance of the CUT though the SLB fault model does not include them.


Standardized procedures to measure and estimate surface qualities of moulds for injection moulding of plastic components do not exist. Instead, steel producers as well as polishers and mould-users need to rely on master plaques for tactile comparisons and/or their own visual estimations for surface quality controls. This paper presents an overview of various surface evaluation methods of steels, including existing standards and available surface metrology. A new method to evaluate high gloss polished tool steel surfaces, based on a three-dimensional non-contacting measurement technique, is presented. The suggested method is based on defect extraction, and should be useful for both specifications and quality controls. Included defects were found to be quality criteria for polished tool steel surfaces. The surface acceptance levels and defect classification are based on interviews and questionnaires, as well as literature studies and visual estimations of test samples made by experienced polishers.


Background: Health coaching is potentially a practical method to assist patients in achieving and maintaining healthy lifestyles. In health coaching, the coach partners with the patient, helping patients discover their own strengths, challenges, and solutions. Methods: Two medical assistants were provided with brief training. The 12-week program consisted of telephone coaching with in-person visits at the beginning and end of the program. Coaching targeted improvements in diet, physical activity, and/or sleep habits using a self-care planning form. Results: A total of 82 subjects enrolled in the program, 72% completed 8 weeks and 49% completed 12 weeks. Subjects who completed assessments at 12 weeks had significant weight loss despite the fact that weight loss was not a study goal. There also were improvements in diet and physical activity. Subject who completed the study were highly satisfied with the program and felt that health coaching should be available in all family medicine clinics. The main barrier providers voiced was remembering to refer patients. The medical providers indicated high satisfaction with the study and valued having coaching available for their patients. Conclusions: Medical assistants can be trained to assist patients with lifestyle changes that are associated with improved health and weight control.