Following the comprehensive molecular phylogenetic results presented by Uotila et al. (2021), comments are provided on the infrageneric classification system of the genus Dysphania in its amended circumscription. Amendments and additions to the five-section scheme of Uotila et al. (2021) are proposed. In particular, the morphologically distinct lineage containing Dysphania atriplicifolia (earlier widely recognized in the monospecific genus Cycloloma as C. atriplicifolium) is recognized as a separate section, Dysphania sect. Cycloloma (Moq.) Mosyakin, comb. et stat. nov. Extensive synonymy of the section and its species is provided. The subclades revealed in the Australian clade of Dysphania sect. Dysphania are rather well characterized morphologically and were treated earlier as sections of either Chenopodium (sensu lato) or Dysphania. These subclades are recognized here as three subsections of sect. Dysphania: (1) subsect. Orthospora (R.Br.) Mosyakin, comb. et stat. nov.; (2) subsect. Dysphania; and (3) subsect. Tetrasepalae (Aellen) Mosyakin, comb. et stat. nov. The nomenclature of Dysphania graveolens (≡ Chenopodium graveolens) is discussed. It is confirmed that the name Chenopodium graveolens was first validated not by Willdenow in 1809 but by Lagasca and Rodríguez in 1802. Original specimens associated with that name in both publications belong taxonomically to the same species currently known as D. graveolens (= Chenopodium incisum Poir.). In my opinion, Art. 41.8(a) of the ICN (Shenzhen Code) is directly applicable here. Consequently, the name D. graveolens should be cited with the corrected authorship "(Lag. & Rodr.) Mosyakin & Clemants", and the new combination in Dysphania based on Chenopodium incisum (provisionally cited in POWO as "Dysphania incisa (Poir.) ined.") is unnecessary.


Background: Developed countries are planning the creation of national EHR (Electronic Health Record) systems to modernize the healthcare eld and improve its quality, security and eciency.
Objectives: To support clinical data sharing, it is important that an EHR is designed to be integrated within an appropriate architectural context aimed to satisfy the needs of all actors involved in this information management by adding and integrating new functionalities to existing solutions.
Methods: SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) provides a good approach to promote the easy integration and alignment of a new and existing solution into a cohesive architecture. The HSSP (Healthcare Service Speci ca- tion Program) was formed to adopt the SOA approach to guarantee interoperability between applications and distributed and heterogeneous devices, by providing a set of standards to design and develop speci c services.
Results: The authors present a landscape architecture to support the collaboration between actors involved in the treatment of chronic diseases. The core of this architecture consists of services compliant to HSSP standards. Among these, the authors developed: Health Record Management Services, Health Terminology Services and Health Identity Services. The proposed architecture and these services have already been adopted in dierent systems: a tele- monitoring system to support the continuity of care of CHF (Congestive Heart Failure) patients, two systems to share clinical data to manage clinical trials in both infectivology and ophthalmology.
Conclusions: The main advantage of the proposed archi- tecture is its exibility that allows it to be adapted over time and to be adopted in all health care scenarios.


The Mackenzie Sites appear to form part of the Late Paleoindian Lakehead Complex that occupied the unglaciated peninsula between Glacial Lakes Agassiz and Minong at the end of the Pleistocene. While a number of archaeological sites and isolated Plano finds have been made throughout the region, most excavated collections are from large-scale quarry workshops, and have yielded vast assemblages of lithic debitage with comparatively few diagnostic tools. In contrast, the Mackenzie 1 (DdJf-9) site appears to be an extensive and repeatedly used stream mouth habitation place exhibiting a range of stylistic influences represented in the projectile point assemblage. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this thesis will utilize an attribute analysis approach to typological analysis that will permit identification of significant patterned variation of the 380 projectile points recovered, which will challenge or support the definition of the Lakehead Complex and Interlakes Composite. The assemblage consists of 53 complete points, 116 basal fragments, 80 midsections, 116 tips, 5 points that were reworked into scrapers, 5 chisel shaped specimens, and 5 that appear pseudo-notched. The assemblage is made up of a wide range of materials, but the majority of projectile points are created from the locally available Gunflint Formation (taconite). Hixton Silicified Sandstone, Knife Lake Siltstone, and Hudson's Bay Lowland Chert are also present in minor capacities. The surprisingly large assemblage of 380 projectile points will in turn enable more credible comparison to late Paleoindian projectile point typologies developed in other regions. The attributes that were chosen for the analysis were focused on the projectile point basal configuration, specifically the bottom third of the specimen. While the functional requirements associated with arming a spear with a sharp stone tip are rather generic, most projectile points exhibit a comparatively narrow range of culturally mediated attributes that reflects both 'functional' considerations coupled with 'stylistic' choice. The combinations of attributes, therefore, are thought to reflect the cultural 'rules' or parameters of what archaeologists suggest the artisan imagined to constitute a suitable tool form. Taxonomically recognized variability in tool form sometimes represents temporally and geographically defined variation that is thought to be diagnostic of the various cultural sequences reported across North America. As a result of this rationale, the primary traits chosen to taxonomically characterize the projectile points centred on the morphological shape of the basal configuration; lateral edge shape and basal concavity. Secondary traits on the projectile points include attribute states associated with flaking pattern, cross section and the frequency/degree of lateral and basal grinding. These are considered secondary traits in this analysis because they do not directly influence the morphological variability of the projectile points, but add another layer of detail suggestive of the original decision-making process. Particularly compelling is the strong numeric dominance of projectile points exhibiting the parallel oblique flaking pattern (99%). This challenging flaking technique is undertaken upon very challenging raw material, but it does not appear to have any clear 'functional' purpose. Nonetheless, its numeric dominance demonstrates that it represents an important culturally conditioned 'rule' evident at Mackenzie 1.


Hardware Trojans have drawn the attention of academia, industry, and government agencies. Effective detection mechanisms and countermeasures against such malicious designs can only be developed when there is a deep understanding of how hardware Trojans can be built in practice, in particular, Trojans specifically designed to avoid detection. In this article, we present a mechanism to introduce an extremely stealthy hardware Trojan into cryptographic primitives equipped with provably-secure first-order side-channel countermeasures. Once the Trojan is triggered, the malicious design exhibits exploitable side-channel leakage, leading to successful key recovery attacks. Generally, such a Trojan requires neither addition nor removal of any logic which makes it extremely hard to detect. On ASICs, it can be inserted by subtle manipulations at the subtransistor level and on FPGAs by changing the routing of particular signals, leading to zero logic overhead. The underlying concept is based on modifying a securely masked hardware implementation in such a way that running the device at a particular clock frequency violates one of its essential properties, leading to exploitable leakage. We apply our technique to a threshold implementation of the PRESENT block cipher realized in two different CMOS technologies and show that triggering the Trojan makes the ASIC prototypes vulnerable.


In order for micro-organisms to infect the urinary tract they must adhere to the vesical mucosa so that they remain after voiding. Experiments in our laboratory demonstrated that the bladder has a self-protective mechanism capable of preventing bacterial adherence to the surface. Histochemical staining demonstrated that this substance is a mucopolysaccharide. Treatment of the mucosa with acid disrupted the protective layer and resulted in a 20 to 100-fold increase in bacterial adherence. Within 24 hours this layer reappeared and binding was again reduced to normal. This phenomenon was not related to microbial species or metabolic activity.


Cardiomyocyte death is a critical risk factor in a variety of cardiovascular diseases [1, 2]. At the level of individual cardiomyocyte, cell adhesion alters at the early phase of ongoing death. In the previous study, we developed the impedance-sensing technique for real-time monitoring cardiomyocyte adhesion [3]. In this work, we demonstrated the application of our impedance-sensing technique in regulating cell responses to chemical stimuli. The results showed that the cell detachment could be detected with our impedance-sensing technique earlier than conventional biochemical staining techniques, and it could be used to guide the precautionary removal of TNF-α from the cell culture to intervene in the cell responses and prevent cardiomyocytes from cell death.


This study investigates the effect of cell phones on economic development and growth by performing an econometric analysis using data from the International Telecommunications Union and the Penn World Table. It discusses the various ways cell phones can make markets more efficient and how the diffusion of information and knowledge plays into development. Several approaches (OLS, Fixed Effects, 2SLS) were used to test over 20 econometric models. Overall, the mobile cellular subscriptions rate was found to have a positive and significant impact on countries' level of real per capita GDP and GDP growth rate. Furthermore, the study provides policy implications for the use of technology to promote global growth.


This study aimed to evaluate the influence of three levels of seeds vigor in the attributes of soybean yield when cultivated in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The experiment was conducted in the crop season of 2017/2018, in the city of Condor, located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The experimental design was random blocks organized in factorial scheme being two soybean genotypes (NA 5909 RG and BMX Ativa RR) x three vigor levels (high, medium and low), and disposed in four replicates.  The data was submitted to normality and homoscedasticity analysis, variance analysis and interaction between soybean genotypes x seeds vigor level, linear correlation, Mahalanobis algorithm and analysis of the Biplot main compounds. The usage of high vigor seeds determines the plant stand per unit of area and the GY of soybean.  An increment of 20% is obtained for GY due to the use of seeds with elevated physiologic potential independent of the soybean genotype or growing habit. The soybean initial establishment, when compromised, negatively influences the yield compounds, and abrupt modifications in the plants array results in null compensating effects.


We study high-order harmonic generation (HHG) resulting from the illumination of plasmonic nanostructures with a short laser pulse of long wavelength. We demonstrate that both the confinement of the electron motion and the inhomogeneous character of the laser electric field play an important role in the HHG process and lead to a significant increase of the harmonic cutoff. In particular, in bow-tie nanostructures with small gaps, electron trajectories with large excursion amplitudes experience significant confinement and their contribution is essentially suppressed. In order to understand and characterize this feature, we combine the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) with the electric fields obtained from 3D finite element simulations. We employ time-frequency analysis to extract more detailed information from the TDSE results and classical tools to explain the extended harmonic spectra. The spatial inhomogeneity of the laser electric field modifies substantially the electron trajectories and contributes also to cutoff increase.


In this study, it was investigated that the effects of different logging techniques on forest soil compaction in the Artvin region. For this purpose, soil penetration resistance was measured in a total of 12 experimental areas where each with 3 pieces, including logging with forest skyline, forest tractor, manpower and chute systems using penetrologger. As a result, changes of penetration resistances values at where logging with manpower and forest tractor according to control points were higher than logging with forest skyline and chute systems.


Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is a life-threatening X-linked primary immunodeficiency characterized by infections, hemorrhages, autoimmune disorders, and lymphomas. Transplantation of genetically corrected autologous hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) could represent an alternative treatment to allogeneic HSC transplantation, the latter being often associated with severe complications. We used WAS-/- mice to test the efficacy of a gene therapy approach based on nonlethal irradiation followed by transplantation of WAS-/- HSCs transduced with lentiviral vectors encoding the WAS protein (WASP) from either the ubiquitous PGK promoter or the tissue- specific WAS promoter. The procedure resulted in significant levels of engraftment of WASP-expressing T cells, B cells, platelets, and myeloid cells. T cells harbored one or two vector copies and displayed partial to full correction of T cell receptor-driven interleukin-2 production and proliferation. In addition, polymerization of F-actin and localization of WASP at the site of the immunological synapse were restored. The treatment was well tolerated and no pathology was detected by systematic blood analysis and autopsy. The efficacy of WAS gene transfer into HSCs, using the WAS promoter-containing lentiviral vector, combined with nonlethal irradiation provides a strong rationale for the development of gene therapy for WAS patients.


In this paper we introduce a mathematical model that captures some of the salient features of recommender systems that are based on popularity and that try to exploit social ties among the users. We show that, under very general conditions, the market always converges to a steady state, for which we are able to give an explicit form. Thanks to this we can tell rather precisely how much a market is altered by a recommendation system, and determine the power of users to influence others. Our theoretical results are complemented by experiments with real world social networks showing that social graphs prevent large market distortions in spite of the presence of highly influential users.


Now, our sewage treatment industry mainly depends on the blower of aeration act as metabolic, absorbed in the toxic substances. Blower resources management is the key issue of sewage treatment. Traditional resource scheduling algorithm exist some defects, for example it can not well meet the quality requirements and can not get the optimal solution. This article gives a new resource scheduling method based on improved genetic algorithm. It achieves grid resource scheduling by using real number encoding and activities point crossover. Experiments show that genetic algorithm can reduce executing time and task completion time, and further improve the scalability of resource scheduling model. This algorithm has stability and high efficiency in grid environment.


In this paper, we present two kinds of robust control schemes for robot system which has the parametric uncertainties. In order to compensate these uncertainties, we use the neural network control system that has the capability to approximate any nonlinear function over the compact input space. In the proposed control schemes, we need not derive the linear formulation of robot dynamic equation and tune the parameters. We also suggest the robust adaptive control laws in all proposed schemes for decreasing the effect of approximation error. To reduce the number of neural of network, we consider the properties of robot dynamics and the decomposition of the uncertainty function. The proposed controllers are robust not only to the structured uncertainty such as payload parameter, but also to the unstructured one such as friction model and disturbance. The reliability of the control scheme is shown by computer simulations and experiment of robot manipulator with 8 axis.


Text recognition remains a fundamental and extensively researched topic in computer vision, largely owing to its wide array of commercial applications. The challenging nature of the very problem however dictated a fragmentation of research efforts: Scene Text Recognition (STR) that deals with text in everyday scenes, and Handwriting Text Recognition (HTR) that tackles hand-written text. In this paper, for the first time, we argue for their unification – we aim for a single model that can compete favourably with two separate state-of-the-art STR and HTR models. We first show that cross-utilisation of STR and HTR models trigger significant performance drops due to differences in their inherent challenges. We then tackle their union by introducing a knowledge distillation (KD) based framework. This however is non-trivial, largely due to the variable-length and sequential nature of text sequences, which renders off-the-shelf KD techniques that mostly work with global fixed length data, inadequate. For that, we propose four distillation losses, all of which are specifically designed to cope with the aforementioned unique characteristics of text recognition. Empirical evidence suggests that our proposed unified model performs at par with individual models, even surpassing them in certain cases. Ablative studies demonstrate that naive baselines such as a two-stage framework, multi-task and domain adaption/generalisation alternatives do not work that well, further authenticating our design.


According to scientific progress and industrialization, engineering sciences and processes have significant progress in all the areas. There are important problems because of this progress in addition to the advantages such as life simplicity, life quality improvement and many other advantages. Environmental problems are one of the main problems due to the rapid development of engineering technologies. Therefore, nowadays environment should enter on different the field of engineering, and it should control, guide and develop these processes according to the specific principles and effects of these processes on environment and health. According to the nature and used equipment, welding is a job with the major impact on environment and human health. Released fume in welding, is a combination of various and fine particles such as carbon monoxide, silicates and so on. Welding fume analysis showed this fume is rich in toxic and hazardous compounds. On the other hand, medical investigations proved, welders are in serious danger of acute and chronic respiratory diseases. The problems are not limited to the respiratory diseases only. In this regard, it can be noted some problems such as suffocation, skin diseases, visual disturbances, many long-term negative effects and environmental problems due to the welding fume. It is very painful that many welders don't know anything about these problems, and the suffered from irrecoverable effects because this lack of awareness. The goal of this paper is creating awareness about welding effects on the health and environment; furthermore, it proposed some solutions to overcome these dangers. Keywords— Welding, Fume, Environmental problems, Health dangers.


Data parallel techniques have been widely adopted both in academia and industry as a tool to enable scalable training of deep learning models. At scale, DL training jobs can fail due to software or hardware bugs, may need to be preempted or terminated due to unexpected events, or may perform suboptimally because they were misconfigured. Under such circumstances, there is a need to recover and/or reconfigure data-parallel DL training jobs on-the-fly, while minimizing the impact on the accuracy of the DNN model and the runtime overhead. In this regard, state-of-art techniques adopted by the HPC community mostly rely on checkpoint-restart, which inevitably leads to loss of progress, thus increasing the runtime overhead. In this paper we explore alternative techniques that exploit the properties of modern deep learning frameworks (overlapping of gradient averaging and weight updates with local gradient computations through pipeline parallelism) to reduce the overhead of resilience/elasticity. To this end we introduce a failure simulation framework and two resilience strategies (immediate mini-batch rollback and lossy forward recovery), which we study compared with checkpoint-restart approaches in a variety of settings in order to understand the trade-offs between the accuracy loss of the DNN model and the runtime overhead.


The impact of the cancer diagnosis and its effects on the lives of patients and family members can put a serious strain on intra-family relationships. This paper describes how to initiate, lead and analyze supportive group therapy meetings for families of individuals with cancer based on our experiences in conducting more than 600 group sessions over the last 12 years. We have found that most families can benefit from multiple-family therapy sessions and that highly-stressed families can benefit significantly from both multiple- and single-family therapy meetings. Discussed is the need for therapists to be alert to non-verbal as well as verbal communications of families and the need for different interacting techniques for each type of therapy group. The meetings aim to overcome family members' resistance to discussing the emotional distress caused by the disease and to encourage them to bring into the open conflicts from the past, anxieties about the present, and fantasies regarding the future.


EFFICIENT AND FLEXIBLE ALGORITHM FOR PLANT LAYOUT GENERATION Li Weng A facilities layout, also called plant layout, consists of the production areas, production related or support areas and personnel areas within the building. Plant layout design is one of the strategic fields that determine the long run efficiency of operation. This dissertation proposes an efficient and flexible plant layout algorithm to minimize the material handling cost and deal with change in future. A material flow forecasting tool, a scheduling module related to layout design and an evaluation method of flexible layouts are also proposed by this dissertation. A computer-based system will be developed to integrate all of the functions. The first chapter of this paper introduces the issues in plant layout design. Because the volume and the mix of products to be produced are typically not known with certainty nor are they static over time, it is desirable to design a flexible layout to accommodate these changes. Chapter two gives a brief review of various algorithms and programs of layout design. Chapter three provides insight into the approach taken for the proposed flexible layout design. Then it presents all major algorithms involved in forecasting, pair exchange layout design, flexible layout design and evaluation. Chapter four is concerned with the computer-based system analysis and design. Chapter five uses several case studies to validate the algorithms and computer system. Chapter six explains the contributions of this research. Chapter seven gives the conclusions and future work.


Abstract: In this paper we perform a practical review on higher-order statistics interpretation. Concretely we focuss on an unbiased estimate of the 4th-order time-domain cumulants. Some synthetics involving classical noise processes are characterized using this unbiased estimate, with the goal of checking its performance and to provide the scientific community with another result, dealing with the interpretation of this signal processing tool. A real-life practical example is presented in the field of electrical power quality event analysis. The work also aims to present a set of general advice in order to save memory and gain speed in a real signal processing frame, dealing with non-stationary processes.


TYPE A, OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND SALESPERSON PERFORMANCE For sales-oriented companies wanting to expand, an infusion of entrepreneurially-oriented salespersons could be a great help. "Internal entrepreneurs" are people who tend to be strongly, even excessively, involved in their work. However, these are also two of the behaviors that are characteristic of the "Type A" personality, said to be at higher risk for developing physiological stress symptoms, notable coronary heart disease (CHD). A measure which could contribute to selecting, retaining, or encouraging the self-selection of enterprising sales people into semi-autonomous sales positions could be quite useful. The Type A measure might contribute to this purpose. The purpose of this study is to look at the associations between measures of Type A and stress symptoms and sales performance in a real estate company, and to examine the implications for managing commission sales people in small businesses, both in real estate and elsewhere. Type A has received considerable attention as a key personality construct with substantial consequences, both good and bad. Thus, Type A behavior may contribute to successful individual sales performance as well as to problematic behavioral and physical expressions of stress. The real estate setting is particularly appropriate for studying the implication of Type A for individual performance and stress, because (1) individuals tend to work independently, (2) individuals control their work commitments, work hours, and work intensity, and (3) performance is directly linked to an individual's efforts. BACKGROUND One way of determining the appropriateness of a Type A measure as a pratical predictor of commission sales success is its association with other indicators of self-initiative and work drive. One relevant set of variables is the three-category system of needs identified by Alderfer -- existence needs (physical well-being and economic security), relatedness needs (praise and acceptance), and growth needs (achievement, challenge, and development). A successful commission salesperson would be expected to score high on existence needs, because the uncertainty of satisfying them makes them continuously salient. The salesperson should score low on relatedness needs, since he or she must work alone and take personal responsibility for activities. Since less effective commission sales people experience continual uncertainty about meeting existence needs, growth needs of less effective commission sales pepole are likely to be lower than that of more effective associates. Apart from personal need orientations, a commission salesperson would be expected to show some of the same attitudes with which Type A has been found to be associated. In a real estate company, an entrepreneurial sales associate would be likely to show high job involvement, but low commitment to the company, since individualism is a key element in commission sales activity. An entrepreneurial person is likely to find a strictly commission based real estate company very attractive and to generally express a strong desire to remain in real estate. The provides considerable autonomy, even in a large company. Intent to change companies may be acted on less often than it might be by independent people in more bureaucratic, constrained settings. The Type A Coronary-Prone Behavior Pattern (or, more simply, Pattern A or Type A) has been defined as an "action emotion complex that can be observed in any person who is aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time, and if required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or other persons." Type A is characterized by competitive achievement, a sense of urgency, explosive vocal patterns, excessive hostility, and intense job involvement. Early on, research established that "Type As" exhibited twice the level of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) as "Type Bs," who do not exhibit strong Type A behavior. …


The problem being addressed in this proposed study is the tendency of residents living in low-income, inner city, and minority neighborhoods being exposed to poorer air quality than residents living in upper-income, suburban, white neighborhoods. As a result of the poor environmental conditions, poor urban dwellers experience higher rates of respiratory diseases such as asthma in their communities. The purpose of this proposed project is to study the environmental factors that are associated with an increase in pediatric asthma and identify which of these factors can be found in Baltimore communities using a geographic information system. The location of possible sources contributing to high concentrations of asthma occurrences in Baltimore City such as brownfields and major roadways will be examined. In addition, racial and socioeconomic conditions found in Baltimore will be analyzed to see if they can be linked to asthma rates. The proposed project's methodology will consist of an exploratory analysis of the asthma geographic epidemiology in Baltimore. The literature currently states that areas of high urbanization experience more cases of asthma hospitalization than rural areas. Anticipated findings include having a high concentration of asthma occurrences in Baltimore's predominately black, poor, and inner city neighborhoods. Furthermore, these disadvantaged Baltimore neighborhoods will be located right next to sources of environmental pollution.


The cognitive information processing model provides a useful way of looking at career decision-making but lacks a body of empirical evidence to support the specific processes that make possible the effective use of information about self and the world of work. The research described here sought to identify the role of an experiential or rational thinking style in moderating the development of vocational self-concepts and a vocational identity. As suggested by the literature, crystallized vocational self-concepts and identity achievement were positively correlated with decreased career indecision. A significant positive correlation was found for both rational and experiential thinking and vocational self-concept crystallization. Moderate but significant negative correlations were found for rational and experiential thinking and career indecision. The results suggest that both thinking styles have an impact on the development of vocational self-concepts and vocational identity and that they have a mediating effect on the relationship between vocational self-concept development and career indecision.


In this article, we provide an overview of the main theoretical approaches to e-democracy, also considering that their history is intertwined with studies on e-government on the one hand and with research on digital communication on the other. In particular, we have explored the critical issues represented by the different models of e-government and e-democracy. Studies on digital activism have only recently met those on e-democracy, despite an apparent conceptual contiguity. The belated meeting between these two strands of research is to be found in the assimilation of many e-government/e-democracy practices in the context of neoliberalism and its tendencies toward depoliticization. The concept of platform arises at the intersection among studies on digital activism, e-democracy research, and the analysis of new forms of social organization: It seems to be able to constitute a common territory of research and mutual recognition.


It can be assumed that higher SARS-CoV-2 infection risk is associated with higher COVID-19 vaccination intentions, although evidence is scarce. In this large and representative survey of 6007 adults aged 18–64 years and residing in France, 8.1% (95% CI, 7.5–8.8) reported a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection in December 2020, with regional variations according to an East–West gradient (p < 0.0001). In participants without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was substantial, including 41.3% (95% CI, 39.8–42.8) outright refusal of COVID-19 vaccination. Taking into account five characteristics of the first approved vaccines (efficacy, duration of immunity, safety, country of the vaccine manufacturer, and place of administration) as well as the initial setting of the mass vaccination campaign in France, COVID-19 vaccine acceptance would reach 43.6% (95% CI, 43.0–44.1) at best among working-age adults without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was primarily driven by vaccine characteristics, sociodemographic and attitudinal factors. Considering the region of residency as a proxy of the likelihood of getting infected, our study findings do not support the assumption that SARS-CoV-2 infection risk is associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.


Nearly forty years after the event, the Nigerian Civil War still conjures up powerful political images, within as well as outside Africa. Internationally, the 'Biafran War', as it was called, recalls accounts of ethnic conflict, starving children, and humanitarian intervention. Within Africa, it resonates with the devastating consequences of failed nationalism, but also with a tenacious demand for genuine citizenship and self-determination. In many ways, these images have remained as divergent as they are relevant to contemporary understandings of Africa. As a growing number of African countries have succumbed to civil war and foreign intervention, it is a good time to reflect on what was learned from the Biafran conflict, and what was left unaddressed to trouble the fortunes of future generations. The following collection of articles represents an interrogation of the contemporary legacies of the Biafran experience. They explore how the fault lines of the Nigerian Civil War have continued to shape political trajectories in Nigeria and in Africa more broadly. In many ways, the Biafran War was not just a Nigerian civil conflict; it was a resounding challenge to the dreams of African nationhood, sending out tremors that echoed not just across Africa, but around the world. The unsatisfactory resolution of issues of identity, citizenship, and democracy that arose from that conflict continues to reverberate in contemporary struggles in Nigeria and beyond.


This paper reflects on the application of child-centred research in a study of children who
were separated from their parents because of migration. Although set in Trinidad and
Tobago, the findings and methodology are more widely applicable. Child-centred research methodology is defined as research that:
§ Utilises methods that are easy for children to understand and meaningfully
participate in
§ Acknowledges that children's insights are important in generating knowledge
§ Recognises the importance of children's rights of expression (Article 12, UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child)
§ Represents a shift away from the objectification of children and regards them as
active subjects within the research process
§ Utilises research findings to address children's voicelessness
(Jones, Sharpe & Sogren, 2004)
Methods
Child-centred methods were applied in the collection of data and in the dissemination of
findings. In collecting data, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. A selfreport
measure of depressive symptoms was administered across a population of 146 children aged 12-16 years. The data were analysed to obtain prevalence and extent of emotional problems, age, gender and ethnicity. From these results, purposive sampling resulted in 24 children taking part in an in-depth study of the meanings ascribed to their experiences. Findings were disseminated across several audiences (professional, academic, caregivers and children). A triangulated approach to dissemination for children resulted in the design of three methods: freeze-frame drama, voice-expression and information-giving.
Results
Children separated from parents because of migration were more than twice as likely as
other children to have emotional problems although their economic status was improved.
One third had serious levels of depression or interpersonal difficulties affecting schooling
and leading in some cases to suicidal ideation. Differences were found in relation to gender and ethnicity. Resiliency factors included school performance and belief in family reunification. Parents went abroad to improve the economic conditions of the family.
Surrogate care arrangements (usually with relatives) provided for children's material
needs but did not address children's emotional problems.
Social Work Implications
While the findings of this study are important, the focus of this paper is the application of
child-centred methodologie s in migration studies as a tool both for generating deeper
understandings of children's perspectives and for their empowerment in cultural contexts
in which children are still expected to "be seen and not heard".


Hydrogenase enzymes are nature's catalysts for hydrogen production and uptake. Understanding how they work may lead to new materials as alternatives for precious metals currently used in H2-utilizing fuel and producer cells. Work described in this thesis focuses on synthetic mimics of the active site of [Fe Fe]-hydrogenases and explores their reactivity towards protons and electrons. Chapter 1 gives a brief overview of the chemistry taking place in hydogenase enzymes with a particular focus on the [Fe Fe]-hydrogenase. The evolution of synthetic models mimicking the structure and function of the enzyme from the late 1990s to the current state of the art is discussed. Chapter 2 describes synthesis of the first {2Fe3S} hydride together with new active site mimics in which bulky substituents are incorporated into the dithiolate bridgehead. A comprehensive examination of their structural features and spectroscopic properties is provided. Chapter 3 reports extensive stopped-flow UV-vis, IR and electrochemical studies for a range of subsite models exploring the relationship between the structure and the reactivity towards protons. It is shown that there is a direct linear free energy relationship between the activation energy for protonation and the energy level of the HOMO. Chapter 4 describes the first characterisation of paramagnetic (mixed-valence) Fe(I)(μ-H)- Fe(II) species which is implicated in metallo-sulfur enzymes as an intermediate in electrocatalytic H2 evolution. An unprecedented super reduced state is detected and characterised using a custom-built spectroelectrochemical cell.Chapter 5 shows how muon spectroscopy may provide a new approach for exploring metallo-hydride chemistry. Future avenues of research in the field of [Fe Fe] chemistry arising from the work described in this thesis are also briefly discussed.


The Upper Parana Atlantic Forest (BAAPA) in Paraguay is one of the most threatened tropical forests in the world. The rapid growth of deforestation has resulted in the loss of 91% of its original cover. Numerous efforts have been made to halt deforestation activities, however farmers' perception towards the forest and its benefits has not been considered either in studies conducted so far or by policy makers. This research provides the first multi-temporal analysis of the dynamics of the forest within the BAAPA region on the one hand, and assesses the way farmers perceive the forest and how this influences forest conservation at the farm level on the other. Remote sensing data acquired from Landsat images from 1999 to 2016 were used to measure the extent of the forest cover and deforestation rates over 17 years. Farmers' influence on the dynamics of the forest was evaluated by combining earth observation data and household survey results conducted in the BAAPA region in 2016. Outcomes obtained in this study demonstrate a total loss in forest cover of 7500 km2. Deforestation rates in protected areas were determined by management regimes. The combination of household level and remote sensing data demonstrated that forest dynamics at the farm level is influenced by farm type, the level of dependency/use of forest benefits and the level of education of forest owners. An understanding of the social value awarded to the forest is a relevant contribution towards preserving natural resources.


This paper develops some ideas from previous work (coauthored, mostly with C.J.Isham). In that work, the main proposal is to assign as the value of a physical quantity in quantum theory (or classical physics), not a real number, but a certain kind of set (a sieve) of quantities that are functions of the given quantity. The motivation was in part physical---such a valuation illuminates the Kochen-Specker theorem; in part mathematical---the valuations arise naturally in the theory of presheaves; and in part conceptual---the valuations arise from applying to propositions about the values of physical quantities some general axioms governing partial truth for any kind of proposition. In this paper, I give another conceptual motivation for the proposal. I develop (in Sections 2 and 3) the notion of a topos (of which presheaves give just one kind of example); and explain how this notion gives a satisfactory general framework for making sense of the idea of partial truth. Then I review (in Section 4) how our proposal applies this framework to the case of physical theories.


To identify the determinants of social capital formation, it is necessary to understand the social capital investment decision of individuals. Individual social capital should then be aggregated to measure the social capital of a community. This paper assembles the evidence that supports the individual-based model of social capital formation, including seven facts: (l) the relationship between social capital and age is first increasing and then decreasing, (2) social capital declines with expected mobility, (3) social capital investment is higher in occupations with greater returns to social skills, (4) social capital is higher among homeowners, (5) social connections fall sharply with physical distance, (6) people who invest in human capital also invest in social capital, and (7) social capital appears to have interpersonal complementarities.


ABSTRACT Nematode molting is a remarkable process where animals must repeatedly build a new apical extracellular matrix (aECM) beneath a previously built aECM that is subsequently shed. The nuclear hormone receptor NHR-23 (also known as NR1F1) is an important regulator of C. elegans molting. NHR-23 expression oscillates in the epidermal epithelium, and soma-specific NHR-23 depletion causes severe developmental delay and death. Tissue-specific RNAi suggests that nhr-23 acts primarily in seam and hypodermal cells. NHR-23 coordinates the expression of factors involved in molting, lipid transport/metabolism and remodeling of the aECM. NHR-23 depletion causes dampened expression of a nas-37 promoter reporter and a loss of reporter oscillation. The cuticle collagen ROL-6 and zona pellucida protein NOAH-1 display aberrant annular localization and severe disorganization over the seam cells after NHR-23 depletion, while the expression of the adult-specific cuticle collagen BLI-1 is diminished and frequently found in patches. Consistent with these localization defects, the cuticle barrier is severely compromised when NHR-23 is depleted. Together, this work provides insight into how NHR-23 acts in the seam and hypodermal cells to coordinate aECM regeneration during development.


Every organization has an objective towards optimum performance and the employees are the key drivers in achieving that. It is necessary therefore that the employees' performance reach optimality for the success of the organization which is a primary goal of every organization including learning institutions. The present research investigated the influence of teacher performance appraisals on teacher performance in secondary schools in Kenya. Employing stratified and simple random sampling methods, 46 secondary schools with 460 teachers in two counties in Kenya were taken as samples.  The variables under research included teacher remuneration, government policies, school administration, the school environment, and the school curriculum, which were under investigation in form of comparisons, explanations, and relationships on the aspects of teacher motivation to perform well. The research found that teacher appraisals influenced teacher performance. In general, the teachers perceived that government policies are unfavorable to them in terms of career advancement and introduction of the policies in place. The paper concludes with recommendations on application of the appraisal system to motivate teachers and thereby improve the performance of learners.


Many time series data mining problems require subsequence similarity search as a subroutine. Dozens of similarity/distance measures have been proposed in the last decade and there is increasing evidence that Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) is the best measure across a wide range of domains. Given DTW's usefulness and ubiquity, there has been a large community-wide effort to mitigate its relative lethargy. Proposed speedup techniques include early abandoning strategies, lower-bound based pruning, indexing and embedding. In this work we argue that we are now close to exhausting all possible speedup from software, and that we must turn to hardware-based solutions. With this motivation, we investigate both GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) based acceleration of subsequence similarity search under the DTW measure. As we shall show, our novel algorithms allow GPUs to achieve two orders of magnitude speedup and FPGAs to produce four orders of magnitude speedup. We conduct detailed case studies on the classification of astronomical observations and demonstrate that our ideas allow us to tackle problems that would be untenable otherwise.


The periodic modulation of the rotational speed of a machine element, such as a bearing element or a gear, is recognized as a valuable feature in characterizing the physical condition of the machine component. A time‐domain template‐matching algorithm is introduced as a robust nonlinear frequency modulation estimation technique for extracting this feature from perturbations in the acoustic signal emitted from a damaged machine component. The technique is applied to both synthetic signals as well as real accelerometer and microphone data taken from damaged railroad car roller bearings. The results are compared with those obtained using a standard baseband phase demodulation technique. Although the template‐matching algorithm is computationally more expensive, it can be applied directly to a limited‐duration, raw input signal, unlike the baseband demodulation technique, which relies on bandpass filtering and synchronous averaging over a lengthy time duration. [See NOISE‐CON Proceedings for full paper.]


This study shows how the different ways of expressing the progressive in Jamaican Creole,using the three aspect markers a, de and gwain, differ from each other. It is a corpus study thatshows that these three particles that are used have different other functions and meanings. Itbriefly explains the history and grammar of the creole language along with what previousstudies state about the three aspect markers that are subject for this analysis.The aim of this study is to indicate that creole languages do not necessarily have tobe less complex, just because they are different from their original language. Each aspectmarker and its different functions are analyzed and compared to each other, as well ascontrasted with English, in order to see how and in what ways they differ.The results of the study show that there is a tendency towards a being morefrequently used as the progressive marker nowadays, but de used to be the most frequent one.Gwain has no other function apart from marking the progressive. These particles haveundergone a grammatical change through time. There does not seem to be any clear rules forin which contexts these markers should be used. The study concludes that Jamaican Creoledoes not seem to have a less complex way of expressing things, at least not the progressive,rather the opposite.


After introductory chaptersdealing with such topics as the normal growth of infants, hygiene, nutrition and both natural and artificial feeding methods, the book goes on to itemize diseasesof all the bodily systems. Congenital malformationsare not forgotten,neitherare the complexmental upsets of childhood, and brief mention is made of various skin, eye, bone and joint diseases. Diagnostic details for the various maladiesdescribedare clearly enumeratedand treatment is laid down dogmatically, but at times perhaps too briefly. However, some clinicians will not agree with all the authors' therapeutics. Thus, in referenceto poliomyelitis the Kenny method is advocated,whilst at the same time it is stated"we believe the child is best treatedin the home"-surely an onerous task unless a staff of skilled nursesis employed.


BACKGROUND
In nursing home residents, the use of tricyclic and other heterocyclic antidepressants is associated with an increased risk of falls. The newer selective serotonin-reuptake-inhibitor antidepressants are largely free of the side effects of the tricyclic agents thought to cause falls and so have been hypothesized to be safer for those at high risk for falls.

METHODS
We retrospectively identified an inception cohort of 2428 nursing home residents in Tennessee who were new users of tricyclic antidepressants (665 subjects), selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (612 subjects), or trazodone (304 subjects) or nonusers of antidepressants (847 subjects). We ascertained the number of falls during therapy and during a similar follow-up period for nonusers, then calculated the rate ratios for falls with adjustments for an extensive set of potential confounding factors.

RESULTS
The new users of each type of antidepressant had higher rates of falls than the nonusers, with adjusted rate ratios of 2.0 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.8 to 2.2) for tricyclic antidepressants, 1.8 (1.6 to 2.0) for selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, and 1.2 (1.0 to 1.4) for trazodone. The rate ratios increased with the daily dose for tricyclic antidepressants, reaching 2.4 (95 percent confidence interval, 2.1 to 2.8) for doses of 50 mg or more of amitriptyline or its equivalent, and for the serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, reaching 1.9 (1.7 to 2.2) for 20 mg or more of fluoxetine or its equivalent. The elevated rates of falls persisted through the first 180 days of therapy and beyond.

CONCLUSIONS
In this large study of nursing home residents, there was little difference in rates of falls between those treated with tricyclic antidepressants and those treated with selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors. Hence, the preferential use of the newer antidepressants is unlikely to reduce the higher rate of falls among nursing home residents taking antidepressants.


The influence of smoking and social class on dietary intake in pregnancy was investigated in a random sample of smokers (greater than or equal to 15 cigarettes/d) and nonsmokers. A total of 206 subjects (94 smokers and 112 nonsmokers) completed a 7-d weighed dietary intake at 28 wk gestation and 178 completed a second assessment at 36 wk. Nonsmokers had higher intakes of almost all nutrients than did smokers and the nutrient density of their diet was greater. Energy intake was nonsignificantly higher in nonsmokers. Women in higher social classes had the highest nutrient intakes. Smokers were shorter than nonsmokers and tended to be of lower social class. After maternal height and social class were controlled for, smoking had a significant effect on intake of many micronutrients. Dietary intake was reduced in late pregnancy, particularly in smokers. These data suggest that smokers in all social classes have a poorer quality of diet.


This article compares the predictions of finite-shareholder models of conditional and unconditional takeover offers with the outcomes of laboratory experiments. In addition to differentiating between types of offers, the experimental designs span small and large firms as well as different levels of offer premiums. It is found that in unconditional offers to large groups of subjects (28--40), the symmetric Nash equilibrium predicts observed tendering frequencies quite accurately. For other experimental designs, the results are mixed. The analysis of shareholder tendering strategies from the experiment yields insights into (i) the effects of takeover offer designs, (ii) the appropriateness of finite-shareholder models for research, and (iii) the costs of free riding when shareholders are nonatomistic.


Distributions of pairwise differences often called "mismatch distributions" have been extensively used to estimate the demographic parameters of past population expansions. However, these estimations relied on the assumption that all mutations occurring in the ancestry of a pair of genes lead to observable differences (the infinite-sites model). This mutation model may not be very realistic, especially in the case of the control region of mitochondrial DNA, where this methodology has been mostly applied. In this article, we show how to infer past demographic parameters by explicitly taking into account a finite-sites model with heterogeneity of mutation rates. We also propose an alternative way to derive confidence intervals around the estimated parameters, based on a bootstrap approach. By checking the validity of these confidence intervals by simulations, we find that only those associated with the timing of the expansion are approximately correctly estimated, while those around the population sizes are overly large. We also propose a test of the validity of the estimated demographic expansion scenario, whose proper behavior is verified by simulation. We illustrate our method with human mitochondrial DNA, where estimates of expansion times are found to be 10-20% larger when taking into account heterogeneity of mutation rates than under the infinite-sites model.


In East Asia the United States cultivated a hub and spokes system of discrete, exclusive alliances with the Republic of Korea, the Republic of China, and Japan, a system that was distinct from the multilateral security alliances it preferred in Europe. Bilateralism emerged in East Asia as the dominant security structure because of the powerplay rationale behind U.S. postwar planning in the region. Powerplay refers to the construction of an asymmetric alliance designed to exert maximum control over the smaller ally's actions. The United States created a series of bilateral alliances in East Asia to contain the Soviet threat, but a congruent rationale was to constrain rogue alliesthat is, rabidly anticommunist dictators who might start wars for reasons of domestic legitimacy and entrap the United States in an unwanted larger war. Underscoring the U.S. desire to avoid such an outcome was a belief in the domino theory, which held that the fall of one small country in Asia could trigger a chain of countries falling to communism. The administrations of Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower calculated that they could best restrain East Asia's pro-West dictators through tight bilateral alliances rather than through a regionwide multilateral mechanism. East Asia's security bilateralism today is therefore a historical artifact of this choice.


As is known, the use of mechanization for agriculture production have crucial importance for crop quality and yield in unit area. The mechanization of agricultural production is constantly renewing itself, depending on the time with the development of technology. For this reason, it is necessary to make determinations periodically for the current situation of the mechanization development in an agricultural area. Therefore, a study was conducted for a local area named Elbistan district, to put out agricultural potential and mechanization facilities used. For this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to this area including 5-village of 70 farms which were decided according to farmers recording system. Results indicated that 81% of the farms had only one-tractor while the rest of them had two-tractor which represent medium-sized tractors with average 60 kW of power. Massey Ferguson was most used tractor followed by Tumosan which were under economic life limit. It was also concluded that tractors mainly used for soil tillage practices with 45% followed by sowing (16%), transporters (14%), hoeing (9%), irrigation (8%), fertilizing (4%), spraying (2%), and other operations (2%). The machinery per tractor was found 7 which were completely performed in conventional farming system, especially in sugar beet, maize and wheat growing under dry farming. On the other hand, farm size was found very small mainly 5 decare by the rate of 44% which has similar to the type of parcels in our country while followed by 5-10 hectare with %25. Additionally, sugar beet was major popular crop and grown by 53% farmers because of available processing unit in the region. Maize was second crop grown by 27% while wheat was third one in this study area.


Miniature optical sensors that specifically identify low concentrations of environmental and biological substances are in high demand. Currently, there is no optical sensor that provides identification of the aforementioned species without amplification techniques at naturally occurring concentrations. Recently, it has been demonstrated that triangular silver nanoparticles have remarkable optical properties and that their enhanced sensitivity to their nanoenvironment has been used to develop a new class of optical sensors using localized surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy. The examination of both model and nonmodel biological assays using localized surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy will be presented in this review. It will be demonstrated that the use of a localized surface plasmon resonance nanosensor rivals the sensitivity and selectivity of, and provides a low-cost alternative to, commercially available sensors.


ABSTRACTWe have developed three approaches for 3D angle decomposition using elastic reverse time migration. The first approach uses time- and space-lag common-image point gathers computed from elastic wavefields. This method facilitates computing angle gathers at sparse and possibly irregularly distributed points in the image. The second approach transforms extended time-lag images to the angle domain using slant stacks along 4D surfaces, instead of using slant stacks along 2D straight lines. The third approach transforms space-lag common-image gathers to the angle domain. The three proposed methods solve a system of equations that handles dipping reflectors, and they yield angle gathers that are more accurate compared with those obtained via alternative existing methods. We have developed our methods using 2D and 3D synthetic and field data examples and found that they provide accurate opening and azimuth angles and they can handle steeply dipping reflectors and converted wave modes.


We report the discovery of three new hot Jupiters with the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) as well as updated parameters for HATS-54b, which was independently discovered by NGTS. NGTS-23b, NGTS-24b and NGTS-25b have orbital periods of 4.076, 3.468, and 2.823 days and orbit G-, F- and K-type stars, respectively. NGTS-24 and HATS-54 appear close to transitioning off the main-sequence (if they are not already doing so), and therefore are interesting targets given the observed lack of Hot Jupiters around sub-giant stars. By considering the host star luminosities and the planets' small orbital separations (0.037 - 0.050 au), we find that all four hot Jupiters are above the minimum irradiance threshold for inflation mechanisms to be effective. NGTS-23b has a mass of 0.61 $M_{J}$ and radius of 1.27 $R_{J}$ and is likely inflated. With a radius of 1.21 $R_{J}$ and mass of 0.52 $M_{J}$, NGTS-24b has a radius larger than expected from non-inflated models but its radius is smaller than the predicted radius from current Bayesian inflationary models. Finally, NGTS-25b is intermediate between the inflated and non-inflated cases, having a mass of 0.64 $M_{J}$ and a radius of 1.02 $R_{J}$. The physical processes driving radius inflation remain poorly understood, and by building the sample of hot Jupiters we can aim to identify the additional controlling parameters, such as metallicity and stellar age.


The elementary excitation spectrum of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate in different hyperfine states is obtained by Green's function method. It is found to have two branches. In the long wave-length limit, the two branches of the excitation spectrum are reduced to one phonon excitation and one single-particle excitation. The single-particle one has an energy gap. When the energy gap exists, we study the Landau critical velocity and the depletion of the condensate. With the obtained Green's functions, we calculate the structure factor of a two-component condensate. It is found that the static structure factor comprises only the branch of the phonon excitation and the single-particle excitation makes no contribution to the structure factor.


Robert Zimdahl interviews David Freeman on September 6, 2013. David M. Freeman, Ph.D. David M. Freeman is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University. He received a B.A. in 1961 from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, a Master of Public and International Affairs degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1965, and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1968. Dr. Freeman was hired by the CSU Department of Sociology in 1967 and served as the department's chair from 1985 to 1997. For over 40 years ...


Bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement is the treatment of choice for patients over 65 years of age suffering from aortic valve disease, and for younger patients with contraindications to long-lasting anticoagulation. Despite several technical improvements to reduce the risk of structural valve degeneration (SVD), the risk of SVD still exists, in particular for hemodialysis patients and patients under 60 years of age at surgery. Redo open heart surgery is the treatment of choice in case of valve degeneration, but caries a higher surgical risk when elderly patients with comorbidities are concerned. In the last 5 years, transcatheter aortic "valve-in-valve" procedures represent a valid alternative to standard redo surgery in selected patients. Valve-in-valve procedures represent a less invasive approach in high-risk patients and the published results are very encouraging. Technical success rates of 100% have been reported, as have the absence of paravalvular leaks, acceptable trans-valvular gradients (depending on the size of the original bioprosthesis), and low complication rates. The current article focuses on choosing the correct transcutaneous valve to match the patient's existing bioprosthesis for valve-in-valve procedures.


The aim was to explore which components military personnel in peacekeeping operations perceive as contributing to trust in their superior and subordinate leaders during international or national operations or exercises. Data were collected among 591 military officers and cadets from Norway and Sweden using a questionnaire with open-ended questions. Two superior categories emerged: Individual-Related Characteristics and Communication- and Relationship-Related Characteristics. The former is made up of the higher-level categories Personal attributes and Experience and competence. The latter is derived from the higher-level categories Consideration and inspiration and Effective communication. In turn, all higher-level categories are underpinned by a number of subcategories (13 altogether). When comparing trust in superior leaders with trust in subordinate leaders, the results show that trust in superiors is characterised to a greater extent by Communication- and Relationship-related characteristics and also by Experience and professional knowledge. Trust in subordinate leaders is characterised to a greater extent by Personal attributes and Management competence.


The gauge sector of three-dimensional higher spin gravities can be formulated as a Chern-Simons theory. In this context, a higher spin black hole corresponds to a flat connection with suitable holonomy (smoothness) conditions which are consistent with the properties of a generalized thermal ensemble. Building on these ideas, we discuss a definition of black hole extremality which is appropriate to the topological character of 3d higher spin theories. Our definition can be phrased in terms of the Jordan class of the holonomy around a non-contractible (angular) cycle, and we show that it is compatible with the zero-temperature limit of smooth black hole solutions. While this notion of extremality does not require supersymmetry, we exemplify its consequences in the context of sl(3|2)⊕sl(3|2) Chern-Simons theory and show that, as usual, not all extremal solutions preserve supersymmetries. Remarkably, we find in addition that the higher spin setup allows for non-extremal supersymmetric black hole solutions. Furthermore, we discuss our results from the perspective of the holographic duality between sl(3|2) ⊕ sl(3|2) ChernSimons theory and two-dimensional CFTs with W(3|2) symmetry, the simplest higher spin extension of the N = 2 super-Virasoro algebra. In particular, we compute W(3|2) BPS bounds at the full quantum level, and relate their semiclassical limit to extremal black hole or conical defect solutions in the 3d bulk. Along the way, we discuss the role of the spectral flow automorphism and provide a conjecture for the form of the semiclassical BPS bounds in general N = 2 two-dimensional CFTs with extended symmetry algebras.


This guideline is an update of a previous version published in 2006. In this new version, we have reflected changes in the way sexual health services are now provided by adding an expanded section on integrated STI/ contraception services and a new section on outreach services. We have also expanded the sections on electronic patient records and the use of technology in sexual history taking. The other sections have been updated to reflect new evidence and practice.


The year 2017 demonstrated the capacity the Brazilian president to approve his governmental agenda and secure solid, majority support in the National Congress. Despite the unfavorable economic and social situation, as well as very low popular support, Temer approved a deep labor reform and rejected denunciations of corruption in the legislative branch. Through the distribution of important ministries to allied parties and the formation of an ideologically homogeneous partisan coalition, President Temer demonstrated the governability of Brazilian coalition presidentialism. Recent policy changes, including to foreign policy, have exemplified the president's dominance in Brazilian politics, especially the ability to mobilize the resources of the office in the delicate task of organizing a coalition in a context of high party fragmentation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/s0718-090x2018000200181


Survivability is a term that is widely used in the ocean wave energy industry, but the term has never been defined in that context. The word itself seems to have an intrinsic meaning that people understand; this fact often leads to the term's misuse and its confusion with "reliability". In order to design systems that are capable of long term survival in the ocean environment, it must be clear what "survivability" means and how it affects the design process and ultimately the device being deployed. Ocean energy is relatively predictable over the span of months, days, and even hours, which makes it very promising as a form of renewable energy. However, the variation of the energy content of ocean waves in a given location is likely high due to the effect of storms and the seasons. Wave energy converters must be built to be reliable while operating and survivable during severe conditions. Therefore, probabilistic design practices must be used to insure reliability and survivability in conditions that are constantly changing. Reliability is used to numerically express the failures of a device that occur while the system is operational, and it is usually expressed in terms of the mean time between failure (MTBF). However, in the context of ocean wave energy converters, the devices are likely to be continuously deployed in conditions that push them beyond their operating limits. During these times it is likely that wave energy converters will be placed in some sort of "survival mode" where the device sheds excess power, reducing system loading. Survivability is focused specifically on failures that occur during these times, when the device is experiencing conditions that surpass its operational limits. Developing a highly survivable wave energy converter is an outstanding goal, but without a standard definition of the term survivability, progress towards that goal cannot be measured. The purpose of this paper is to provide an initial definition for survivability, and to introduce a simple metric that provides an objective comparison of the survivability of varying wave energy converter technologies.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


The structural transformation of polycrystalline Si induced by high energy ball milling has been studied. The structure and property characteristics of the milled powder have been investigated by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, Raman scattering, and infrared absorption spectroscopy. Two phase amorphous and nanocrystalline Si has been produced by ball milling of polycrystalline elemental Si. The nanocrystalline components contain some defects such as dislocations, twins, and stacking faults which are typical of defects existing in conventional coarse-grained polycrystalline materials. The volume fraction of amorphous Si is about 15% while the average size of nanocrystalline grains is about 8 nm. Amorphous elemental Si without combined oxygen can be obtained by ball milling. The distribution of amorphous Si and the size of nanocrystalline Si crystallites is not homogeneous in the milled powder. The amorphous Si formed is concentrated near the surface of milled particles while the grain size of nanocrystalline Si ranges from 3 to 20 nm. Structurally, the amorphous silicon component prepared by ball milling is similar to that obtained by ion implantation or chemical vapor deposition. The amorphous Si formed exhibits a crystallization temperature of about 660 °C at a heating rate of 40 K/min and crystallization activation energy of about 268 kJ/mol. Two possible amorphization mechanisms, i.e., pressure-induced amorphization and crystallite-refinement-induced amorphization, are proposed for the amorphization of Si induced by ball milling.


: Who's to blame for soaring healthcare costs? How can we gain control of the problem? Is it time for rationing? Who'll pay for universal access? These are some of the questions posed in a poll of consumers, employers, physicians and hospital executives conducted for Modern Healthcare. While the results showed the four groups had common concerns regarding the scope of the problem, consensus was in short supply when it came to solutions.


The WVU School of Nursing RN to BSN program offers graduates of diploma and associate degree nursing programs the opportunity to complete requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree (BSN) at the Charleston and Morgantown campuses. Nursing courses in the RN to BSN program are designed for completion in three semesters of full-time study. Alternate progression patterns are available for students needing to maintain 12 credit hours each semester and for students wishing to maintain part-time enrollment. All the courses are offered as web courses. The School of Nursing offers in-state tuition for all students enrolled in the RN-BSN program, regardless of residency.


College students face significant levels of stress (American College Health Association, 2019) and recent data suggests a high prevalence of diagnostic-level mental health concerns being reported by students and treated by mental health professionals (Blanco et al., 2008). College counseling centers are thus facing an increase in demand for services, creating a growing need for innovative treatment options to flexibly accommodate the demand (Center for Collegiate Mental Health, 2016). In response to the unique needs of college students, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based interventions have received support for their use in increasing wellbeing in engineering students and graduate students (Abiadbe & Moliski, 2020; Paliliunas et al., 2018). In an effort to continue promoting student wellbeing, the present study combined ACT-based therapeutic techniques, self-management strategies, and mindfulness to help undergraduate students progress toward a personally-defined behavioral goal in an area of interest and relevance to them. Three undergraduate students at a midwestern university recruited via their academic department participated by completing an intake meeting, a values and goal setting meeting, and four ACT-based sessions. Self-report measures of psychological flexibility, emotion regulation, values-behavior coherence, self-regulation, stress, and college student wellbeing were administered on the day of the intake session prior to intervention implementation and again on the day of the final session. Between sessions, participants recorded self-monitoring data and answered three self-report items of values-behavior coherence, emotion regulation, and stress via a mobile application. Overall, participants achieved behavior change in the desired directions of their defined goals for the study. Additionally, self-reported levels of psychological flexibility, emotion regulation, college student subjective wellbeing, stress, and values behavior coherence changed in the therapeutic direction. Participants rated their overall experience with this intervention as positive and it was feasible for the researchers to implement. This study demonstrated the utility of a brief, values-based self-management intervention to increase overall wellbeing in undergraduate students. Implications include potential advancements to existing mental health and counseling services for college students.


Proliferation of airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) contributes to the remodeling and irreversible obstruction of airways during severe asthma, but the mechanisms underlying this disease process are poorly understood. Here we tested the hypothesis that Ca(2+) influx through the vanilliod transient receptor potential channel (TRPV) 4 stimulates ASMC proliferation. We found that synthetic and endogenous TRPV4 agonists increase proliferation of primary ASMCs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Ca(2+) influx through individual TRPV4 channels produces Ca(2+) microdomains in ASMCs, called "TRPV4 Ca(2+) sparklets." We also show that TRPV4 channels colocalize with the Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase calcineurin in ASMCs. Activated calcineurin dephosphorylates nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) transcription factors cytosolic (c) to allow nuclear translocation and activation of synthetic transcriptional pathways. We show that ASMC proliferation in response to TRPV4 activity is associated with calcineurin-dependent nuclear translocation of the NFATc3 isoform tagged with green florescent protein. Our findings suggest that Ca(2+) microdomains created by TRPV4 Ca(2+) sparklets activate calcineurin to stimulate nuclear translocation of NFAT and ASMC proliferation. These findings further suggest that inhibition of TRPV4 could diminish asthma-induced airway remodeling.


Sixteen patients with an early dense hemiplegia due to cerebrovascular accidents were shown to have a greater degree of hypoxia than 16 matched control patients. The patients with hemiplegia had a reflex compensatory fall in arterial carbon dioxide tensions (PaCO2) with possible reduction in cerebral blood flow. Oxygen treatment led to an increase in PaCO2 in the patients with hemiplegia, but the increase in oxygen tensions in these patients was significantly less than that in the control group, suggesting increased pulmonary shunting as the cause for the hypoxia. Oxygen treatment may improve cerebral blood flow and oxygenation and have a useful role in the early management of patients with a dense hemiplegia.


The vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) binds to the plasma membranes of numerous cell types and mediates a diverse array of cellular functions. DBP bound to the surface of leukocytes serves as a co-chemotactic factor for C5a, significantly enhancing the chemotactic activity of pM concentrations of C5a. This study investigated the regulation of DBP binding to neutrophils as a possible key step in the process of chemotaxis enhancement to C5a. Using radioiodinated DBP as a probe, neutrophils released 70% of previously bound DBP into the extracellular media during a 60-min incubation at 37°C. This was suppressed by serine protease inhibitors (PMSF, Pefabloc SC), but not by metallo- or thiol-protease inhibitors. DBP shed from neutrophils had no detectable alteration in its m.w., suggesting that a serine protease probably cleaves the DBP binding site, releasing DBP in an unaltered form. Cells treated with PMSF accumulate DBP vs time with over 90% of the protein localized to the plasma membrane. Purified neutrophil plasma membranes were used to screen a panel of protease inhibitors for their ability to suppress shedding of the DBP binding site. Only inhibitors to neutrophil elastase prevented the loss of membrane DBP-binding capacity. Moreover, treatment of intact neutrophils with elastase inhibitors prevented the generation of C5a co-chemotactic activity from DBP. These results indicate that steady state binding of DBP is essential for co-chemotactic activity, and further suggest that neutrophil elastase may play a critical role in the C5a co-chemotactic mechanism.


Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a rare type of angiogenic tumor composed of Epithelioid endothelial cells, which is characterized by potentially malignancy and metastasis potential. It is mainly seen in adults, while very rare in children. Tumor can be found in soft tissue or other parts, such as liver and lung, however it is rare in the kidneys. The very report is the first case of that tumor is found in the renal pelvis, which contains only 4 cases of EHE in the kidney. This paper reports one case of EHE in the kidney, and reviews the relevant literatures to discuss its clinical characteristics and differential diagnosis points to better understand the disease.


This study aims to identify the potential of Pal Beach tourism attraction, identify individual infrastructure and attraction facilities of Pal Beach, and reviewing tourism development of Pal Beach. This research was conducted in the village of Marinsouw, North Minahasa Regency for six months from April to October 2016. This study used a qualitative description. The results on the development of Pal beach tourism object showed that 1). Accessibility (affordability); driveway access to the Pal coastal resorts is damaged and needs to be repaired by resurfacing and widening the road. 2). Attraction; in this case is the cultural attraction that is religious tourism such as Tulude culture which is a tradition of rural communities of Marinsouw on every January 31 st should be developed and packaged in a tour package to attract foreign or domestic tourists to more frequently come to the village of Marinsouw and the Pal beach. 3) Amenities (facilities/comfort); there is a needs to build an inn or a cottage accommodation in Pal coastal region, tourism information facilities are necessary to hold art and culture of Marinsouw rural communities, souvenir shops, restaurants, sanitation of toilet, and recreation attraction for entertainment. 4). Ancillary Services (institutional services and promotions); need to be made marketing and promotional information systems of Pal beach tourism with the full support of the Government in promoting Pal beach attraction. Recommendation of this study, the first for North Minahasa Regency Tourism Office is: a). North Minahasa Regency Government through the Department of Tourism and Cultural needs to make a MoU with the state-owned enterprises to build Pal beach attraction. It is a pity if the potential of Pal beach is not developed and promoted as a tourism destination area; b). Need to restructure and mapping the Pal coastal tourist area unit. c). Attract investors to build tourism supporting facilities such as accommodation, tourism information center, souvenir shops, special attraction; d). Prepare human resources in the field of hospitality and tourism attractions to manage Pal beach; e). Increase counseling and training in preparing resources for the development of Pal beach tourism object; and the second for Marinsouw Rural Community is: a). Preserving cultural customs Tulude as a tourist attraction to be promoted; b. Make Masamper dance attractions on certain days in Pal coastal resort; c). Manage local products such as Goroho banana chips, cassava chips, skills for making plastic flower stalks as typical souvenir from Marinsouw village to raise the family economy; d). Raise awareness in maintaining the security and cleanliness around Pal coastal resorts. Keywords : Attractions, Development, Pal Beach.


The objective of this paper is to assess the adequacy of multilateral rules dealing with monopolies and state enterprises, particularly in the domain of services. This paper argues that since these rules depend largely on the other obligations undertaken by Members, a variety of exemptions and exclusions have weakened the rules considerably. Furthermore, liberalization of services trade, aided by negotiations under the GATS, is leading to changes in market structure and the pattern of ownership. These changes imply that government-mandated monopolies or non-competing oligopolies are disappearing from the infrastructural services for which Article VIII of GATS is most relevant. The behaviour of dominant suppliers that often remain does not fall within the scope of Article VIII and has been addressed by creating other disciplines. The paper assesses how much emphasis needs to be placed on pro-competitive regulation to ensure competitive market conditions and argues that there is a need to strengthen Article VIII and widen its scope to deal with certain generic problems.


Availability of disease free quality planting material is a major limiting factor in black pepper cultivation. In order to meet the increasing demand and also to create awareness on good agricultural practices for healthy disease free planting material production to farmers, a nursery experiment was started with improved varieties of black pepper by adopting a non-chemical bio-intensive management strategy. Here solarization of potting mixture was the main concern followed my amending the solarized potting mixture with potential bioagents. The experiment was designed in a two factor CRD with four improved varieties and five treatments. Each treatment contains a combination of two bioagents with antifungal and nematicidal properties respectively. The common recommended fungicide Metalaxyl-Mancozeb (0.125%) and nematicide carbsosulfan (0.1%) was used as control. The treatments were incorporated individually into solarized potting mixture and planted with improved varieties used viz., IISR Girimunda, Malabar Excel, Shakti and Thevam, The plants in each treatment were kept for multiplication by serpentine method with proper irrigation and phytosanitation. The results of plant growth and establishment in different treatments, showed that  fortification of solarized potting mixture with Trichoderma harzianum + Pochonia chlamydosporia combination or combination of Streptomyces  strains  (Act 2+9) are significantly superior (35.46% and 21% respectively) for the production of healthy rooted planting material. IISR Malabar Excel and IISR Thevam produced the maximum  number of plants from a single node cutting in treatment with T. harzianum + P. chlamydosporia (T1) (59 nos. and 51 nos. respectively) followed by Malabar Excel with Act 2+9 and Act 5+9 (45 nos. each). So an average of 6-7 plants/month/cutting was produced in the potential treatment while it was only 3-4 plants in control. The advantage of the method is that, after solarization and fortification with respective bioagents, there is no need for further application of any fungicides, insecticides or any other nutrient spray as usually done. Thus the method of soil solarization followed by fortification of either T. harzianum+ P. chlamydosporia  or combination of Streptomyces strains viz., Ketasatospora setae (Act 2) and S. tauricus (Act9) is found suitable for the production of healthy quality planting material of high yielding varieties to meet the increasing demand of planting material with a C:B ratio of 1:2.


The Touchdown dataset (Chen et al., 2019) provides instructions by human annotators for navigation through New York City streets and for resolving spatial descriptions at a given location. To enable the wider research community to work effectively with the Touchdown tasks, we are publicly releasing the 29k raw Street View panoramas needed for Touchdown. We follow the process used for the StreetLearn data release (Mirowski et al., 2019) to check panoramas for personally identifiable information and blur them as necessary. These have been added to the StreetLearn dataset and can be obtained via the same process as used previously for StreetLearn. We also provide a reference implementation for both of the Touchdown tasks: vision and language navigation (VLN) and spatial description resolution (SDR). We compare our model results to those given in Chen et al. (2019) and show that the panoramas we have added to StreetLearn fully support both Touchdown tasks and can be used effectively for further research and comparison.


The literature indicates that teacher professional development and learning may be improved by using formative assessment procedures. This thesis focuses on a specific form of formative assessment, negotiated assessment, which is characterised by the exchange of views between assessor and assessee and the extensive involvement of the participants (assessees) in their own assessment procedure. The participants negotiate with their assessor about several aspects of the negotiated assessment procedure. Assumptions in negotiated teacher assessment are that the opportunities for negotiation might promote the development of a sense of agency in terms of teachers feeling in control of their learning and assessment processes and feeling able to pursue their learning objectives.
This thesis covers four studies in which different aspects of negotiated assessment were examined. Its aim was to gain more knowledge about a negotiated assessment procedure to promote teacher learning in the area of stimulating students' reflections.
The results show that very little negotiation took place during the dialogues. Despite the lack of negotiation during the assessment meetings, the teachers reported a strong sense of agency. Overall, the teachers' opinions indicated that the elements of the negotiated assessment procedure facilitated their professional learning. The contribution was particularly seen in change in their knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and practice.
Teacher professional development; Teacher learning; Formative assessment; Negotiated assessment; Negotiation; Feedback; Agency; Reflection


The conventional grid system is facing great challenges due to the fast growing electricity demand throughout the world. The smart grid has emerged as the next generation of grid power systems, aimed at providing secure, reliable and low cost power generation, distribution and consumption intelligently. The smart grid communication system within the smart grid network is of fundamental importance to support data transfer and information exchange within the smart grid system. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has identified wireless communications as an important networking technology to be employed in power systems. The reliability of the data transmission is essential for the smart grid system to achieve high accuracy for the power generation, distribution and consumption. In this thesis, we investigate cooperative communications to improve transmission reliability in smart grid networks.

Although many issues within cooperative communication have already been addressed, there is a lack of research efforts on cooperative communication for the wireless smart grid communication system which has its own network features and different transmission requirements. In our research, the smart grid communication networks were studied, and cooperative communications in smart grid networks were analysed. The research work mainly focuses on three problems: the application of cooperative relay communications to modern smart grid communication networks, the cooperative relay-based network development strategy, and the optimization of cooperative relay communication for smart grids.

For the first problem, the application of cooperative relay communication to a home area network (HAN) of smart grid system is presented. The wireless transmission reliability is identified as the issue of most concern in wireless smart grid networks. We model the smart grid HAN as a wireless mesh network that deploys cooperative relay communication to enhance the transmission reliability. We apply cooperative relay communication to provide a user equipment selection scheme to effectively improve the transmission quality between the electricity equipment and the smart meter.

For the second problem, we address the network design and planning problem in the smart grid HAN. The outage performance of direct transmission and cooperative transmission was analysed. Based on the reliability performance metric that we have defined, we propose a HAN deployment strategy to improve the reliability of the transmission links. The proposed HAN deployment strategy is tested in a home environment. The smart meter location optimization problem has also been identified and solved. The simulation results show that our proposed network deployment strategy can guarantee high reliability for smart grid communications in home area networks.

For the third problem, the research focuses on the optimization of the cooperative relay transmission regarding the power allocation and relay selection in the neighbourhood area network (NAN) of the smart grid system. Owing to the complexity of the joint optimization problem, reduced-complexity algorithms have been proposed to minimize the transmission power, at the same time, guarantee the link reliability of the cooperative communications. The optimization problem of power allocation and relay selection is formulated and treated as a combinatorial optimization problem. Two sub-optimal solutions that simplify the optimization process are devised. Based on the solutions, two different algorithms are proposed to solve the optimization problem with reduced complexity. The simulation results demonstrate that both two algorithms have good performance on minimizing the total transmission power while guaranteeing the transmission reliability for the wireless smart grid communication system.

In this thesis, we consider cooperative communications in a smart grid scenario. We minimize the outage probability and thus improve the reliability of the communications taking place in the smart grid by considering the optimization problem of power control, relay selection and the network deployment problem. Although similar problems might have been well investigated in conventional wireless networks, such as the cellular network, little research has been conducted in smart grid communications. We apply new optimization techniques and propose solutions for these optimization problems specifically tailored for smart grid communications. We demonstrate that, compared to naively applying the algorithms suitable for conventional communications to the smart gird scenario, our proposed algorithm significantly improves the performance of smart grid communications. Finally, we note that, in future work, it will be possible to consider more complex smart grid communications system models. For example, it is worthwhile considering hetregeneous smart communications by combining HAN and wide area networks (WAN). In addition, instead of assuming that all communications have the equal priority, as in this thesis, more comprehensive analysis of the priority of the smart grid communication can be applied to the research.


Abstract Information processing in artificial neural networks is largely dependent on the nature of neuron models. While commonly used models are designed for linear integration of synaptic inputs, accumulating experimental evidence suggests that biological neurons are capable of nonlinear computations for many converging synaptic inputs via homo- and heterosynaptic mechanisms. This nonlinear neuronal computation may play an important role in complex information processing at the neural circuit level. Here we characterize the dynamics and coding properties of neuron models on synaptic transmissions delivered from two hidden states. The neuronal information processing is influenced by the cooperative and competitive interactions among synapses and the coherence of the hidden states. Furthermore, we demonstrate that neuronal information processing under two-input synaptic transmission can be mapped to linearly nonseparable XOR as well as basic AND/OR operations. In particular, the mixtures of linear and nonlinear neuron models outperform the fashion-MNIST test compared to the neural networks consisting of only one type. This study provides a computational framework for assessing information processing of neuron and synapse models that may be beneficial for the design of brain-inspired artificial intelligence algorithms and neuromorphic systems.


Compared with CFRDs in about 100-meter height, the high CFRDs in about 200-meter height are more sophisticated in dam deformation, seepage, stress and strain, structure and loads standing characteristics, etc. Thus it is very important to intensify the monitoring research on them. It was suggested to regard the safety monitoring of high CFRD as systems engineering, to pay equal attention to safety monitoring of both concrete face slab and to interconfirm their monitoring results. The overall analysis and discussion on high CFRD monitoring were presented at each aspects varying from the monitoring targets and tasks, monitoring principles and requirements, selection of monitoring items to monitoring implementation.


Comment: In CHD fetuses, increased DV Index, associated with reduced forward ductal flow to the right atrium, well correlates with increased right atrial pressure occurring in right outflow tract obstruction or in hypoplastic left ventricle. On the contrary in IUGR fetuses with increased DV Index and compensatory ductal dilatation, normal left cardiac output suggests normal myocardial function due to a maintained or even increased forward flow through the DV to right atrium.


This article deals with what is it considers the paradox of coherence. Every reading implies the search for coherence, but simultaneously that very attempt engenders new types of complexities which hinder and subvert its achievement. As an example, it uses the bimedial, photo-narrative book "Notte Oscura" (1993) by Normand de Bellefeuille and Alain Laframboise.


This paper discusses the fundamentals of a motor thermal model and its mathematical interpretation and physics for the different stages of motor operation, (overload, locked rotor, too frequent or prolonged acceleration, duty cycling applications). It explains thermal model time constants and other technical aspects causing the biasing of the thermal model algorithm. Other topics covered in this paper show that a detailed motor data sheet's information, and coordination between the protection engineer and the motor supplier leads to proper selection of motor thermal protection parameters. This paper presents a closer look on motor stall, acceleration and running thermal limit curves, explains the concept of thermal capacity and elaborates on how thermal capacity is evaluated in motor protection devices. This paper also talks about some additional methods, such as voltage dependant and slip dependant motor overload curves, which are employed to evaluate thermal capacity in nonstandard motor applications. This paper presents the concept of matching thermal time constants for motor cyclic loads cases. Besides this, the response of a thermal model algorithm in practical applications is demonstrated. The paper also describes the real case example showing how to apply and fine tune the thermal model in high-inertia load application. In this context, the paper also explores some of the key topics that will ensure safe operation of the motor while allowing satisfactory motor design characteristics.