Freshly harvested cassava(Manihot esculenta) roots were processed into selected products( gari, 'pupuru', 'Lafun', chips and starch) using unit operations such as peeling, washing, cutting, grating, dewatering(fermentation), smoking, granulated roasting(garifying), milling, packaging). The effects of processing on the yield and phsicochemical properties of the products were investigated. The results showed that peeling accounted for about 22% loss, grating and dewatering operations resulted in over 25% loss. Peeling, dewatering and various drying operations resulted in the detoxification of the products, also moisture contents and pH of the products were reduced. The final yields stood at 22.60%, 31.80%, 40.50%,50.60% and 57.20% for starch, gari, 'pupuru', 'lafun' and chips respectively. The protein contents of the products ranged between 1.60% and 2.80%. The moisture contents ranged between 8.50% and 10.60% for all the products. The processing operations affected the yield and the physico- chemical properties of the cassava products. Cassava processors should take precautionary measures to reduce wastage thereby increasing the yield and returns for their labour.


Unsupervised anomaly detection is the process of finding outlying records in a given dataset without prior need for training. In this paper we introduce an anomaly detection extension for RapidMiner in order to assist non-experts with applying eight different nearest-neighbor and clustering based algorithms on their data. A focus on efficient implementation and smart parallelization guarantees its practical applicability. In the context of clustering-based anomaly detection, two new algorithms are introduced: First, a global variant of the cluster-based local outlier factor (CBLOF) is introduced which tries to compensate the shortcomings of the original method. Second, the local density cluster-based outlier factor (LDCOF) is introduced which takes the local variances of clusters into account. The performance of all algorithms have been evaluated on real world datasets from the UCI machine learning repository. The results reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the single algorithms and show that our proposed clustering based algorithms outperform CBLOF significantly.


The growing demand for sustainable architectural design motivates the integration of BIM technologies and novel design processes into architectural education. This paper presents the results from a set of educational case studies for the incorporation of BIM-based daylighting simulations and analyses into the design studio. With a carefully devised studio setting and the participation of interdisciplinary consultants, the experimental case studies simulated an integrated design process based on rapid information exchange and collaborative decision making. The implemented method enables students to use BIM models and daylighting simulations as significant sources of design information for performance-based architectural design.


Quantum mechanics has been around since the early 1900s and computers made their first appearance in the late 1930s. In the decades after that, the two came together to bring about quantum computing. A sub field of quantum computing is quantum communications, the ability to transmit a quantum state from one place to another. This communication takes place between two entities. Communication over a classic network involves many entities each vying for network time. This is done through various network protocols, one of them being Medium Access Control (MAC). Although quantum computing is currently a one-to-one medium, it's properties can be used to assist the MAC protocol to enhance it's current abilities. In this thesis, we propose two different quantum communication assisted MAC protocols to achieve shared communication over a classic network. These protocols are based on quantum entanglement principles and contention-free collision avoidance algorithms.


Background: Veterans of the first Gulf War have higher rates of medical and psychiatric symptoms than nondeployed military personnel. Methods: To assess the prevalence of and risk factors for current anxiety disorders in Gulf War veterans, we administered a structured telephone interview to a population-based sample of 4886 military personnel from Iowa at enlistment. Participants were randomly drawn from Gulf War regular military, Gulf War National Guard/Reserve, non-Gulf War regular military, and non-Gulf War National Guard/Reserve. Medical and psychiatric conditions were assessed through standardized interviews and questionnaires in 3695 subjects (76% participation). Risk factors were assessed using multivariate logistic regression models. Results: Veterans of the first Gulf War reported a markedly higher prevalence of current anxiety disorders than nondeployed military personnel (5.9% vs. 2.8%; odds ratio = 2.1; 95% confidence interval = 1.3–3.1), and their anxiety disorders are associated with co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Posttraumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder were each present at rates nearly twice expected. In our multivariate model, predeployment psychiatric treatment and predeployment diagnoses (posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, or anxiety) were independently associated with current anxiety disorder. Participation in Gulf War combat was independently associated with current posttraumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Conclusions: Current anxiety disorders are relatively frequent in a military population and are more common among Gulf War veterans than nondeployed military personnel. Predeployment psychiatric difficulties are robustly associated with the development of anxiety. Healthcare providers and policymakers need to consider panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, in addition to posttraumatic stress disorder, to ensure their proper assessment, treatment, and prevention in veteran populations.


This paper proposes an algorithm called MACH for coding a hierarchical category structure to enable prefix matching between a publication and a subscription. Compared to fixed-length coding, the MACH algorithm generates shorter code lengths without losing the efficiency of matching. In addition, the MACH algorithm automatically identifies the bits that are not necessary for prefix matching. These bits are saved to allow growth of categories. The bit saving is prioritized according to a configurable criterion. Experiments with real world data and synthetic data are conducted to evaluate the benefit of the proposed algorithm.


The effectiveness of highly elliptical orbit (HEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO) in providing a satellite platform for the delivery of mobile multimedia content in Europe are discussed in this paper. ONDAS has conducted extensive studies comparing the merits of GEO and HEO-based systems for the delivery of satellite-based mobile multimedia in Europe, and finds that, for a European service, the economic model of the GEO-based solution is quite simply just not as cost-effective as a HEO-based system. In this paper the elevation angles that would be seen by a mobile user in London for a three satellite HEO constellation is presented. The benefits are illustrated, which shows typical satellite shadowing effects at European latitudes caused by urban development and foliage for both GEO- and HEO-based solutions, and illustrates that significant improvement in signal quality and reception achieved by the HEO satellites.


The book will be excellent for use by medical students and audiologists and for an introductory presentation to residents in otorhinolaryngology. It will be helpful to those in ENT specialty practice who desire to refresh their memories of the anatomy of the head and neck. However, those involved in active surgical practice or training in otorhinolaryngology, will find it necessary to utilize the more comprehensive and detailed atlases, texts and source material which are available.


This study investigates whether auditors' experiences with their clients' cybersecurity incidents affect their subsequent audits for nonbreach clients and help those clients reduce cybersecurity risks. We find that audit offices who have experience with cybersecurity-breached clients, ceteris paribus, charge higher audit fees from nonbreach clients. Additionally, the increased audit fees conditional on auditors' cybersecurity experience are negatively associated with nonbreach clients' future breach incidents. Such associations are found only in the Big 4 audit offices and offices with IT capability. This study offers timely insights for standard setters and important implications for both professionals and the academic literature by documenting the spillover effect of cybersecurity experience on subsequent risk assessments of nonbreach clients, while also confirming the effectiveness of engaging auditors in addressing cybersecurity matters.
 Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources identified in the article.
 JEL Classifications: M42.


For purposes of this part, the following definitions shall apply: Corrective action. Procedures to be followed when a deviation occurs. Critical control point. A point, step, or procedure in a food process at which control can be applied and, as a result, a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to acceptable levels. Critical limit. The maximum or minimum value to which a physical, biological, or chemical hazard must be controlled at a critical control point to prevent, eliminate, or reduce to an acceptable level the occurrence of the identified food safety hazard. Food safety hazard. Any biological, chemical, or physical property that may cause a food to be unsafe for human consumption. HACCP System. The HACCP plan in operation, including the HACCP plan itself. Hazard. SEE Food Safety Hazard. Preventive measure. Physical, chemical, or other means that can be used to control an identified food safety hazard. Process-monitoring instrument. An instrument or device used to indicate conditions during processing at a critical control point. Responsible establishment official. The individual with overall authority onsite or a higher level official of the establishment. § 417.2 Hazard Analysis and HACCP Plan.


The 'political economy of industrialization' in mixed economies has been a key concern of Development and Change right from the start, as will be clear from this collection of 22 articles, published in the journal between 1970 and 2015. All papers analyse what government should and should not do — and, more importantly, what government can do to foster industrial development within the constraints and contradictions imposed by domestic political alignments and the global capitalist order. The 22 papers in this virtual issue are grouped under three broad headings: (1) varieties of industrialization experiences; (2) the macroeconomics of industrialization; and (3) state capitalism and industrialization. This introductory essay discusses the main themes of each grouping and justifies why the papers have been included by highlighting how each one engages with the main themes and what lessons it holds for industrialization now.


The basic form of drifting sub-pulses is that of a periodicity whose phase depends (approximately linearly) on both pulse longitude and pulse number. As such, we argue that the two-dimensional Fourier transform of the longitude-time data (called the Two-Dimensional Fluctuation Spectrum; 2DFS) presents an ideal basis for studies of this phenomenon. We examine the 2DFS of a pulsar signal synthesized using the parameters of an empirical model for sub-pulse behaviour. We show that the transform concentrates the modulation power to a relatively small area of phase space in the region corresponding to the characteristic frequency of sub-pulses in longitude and pulse number. This property enables the detection of the presence and parameters of drifting sub-pulses with great sensitivity even in data where the noise level far exceeds the instantaneous flux density of individual pulses. The amplitude of drifting sub-pulses is modulated in time by scintillation and pulse nulling and in longitude by the rotating viewing geometry (with an envelope similar to that of the mean pulse profile). In addition, sub- pulse phase as a function of longitude and pulse number can dier from that of a sinusoid due to variations in the drift rate (often associated with nulling) and through the varying rate of traverse of magnetic azimuth aorded by the sight line. These deviations from uniform sub-pulse drift manifest in the 2DFS as broadening of the otherwise delta-function response of a uniform sinusoid. We show how these phase and amplitude variations can be extracted from the complex spectrum.


The shortcomings and biases of traditional macroeconomic indicators are even more obvious if we analyse them from the point of view of sustainability. There are different goods and services behind monetary units measuring the economy. Some goods serve life while others can lead to death. Indicators measuring economic growth, e.g. GDP, completely conceal this difference. The growth of GDP is slowly becoming the only goal and in many cases this is not compatible with the idea of sustainability. Mainstream economics still assumes that all goods produced serve welfare. We have to consider the external effects of our activities, realising that negative externalities result in public bad and not public good, and that hidden positive externalities may result in social losses. In the case of negative externalities the growth of positive GDP is misleading, because society has to pay a high price for this positive image (with degradation of the natural and built environment, health problems, loss of biodiversity etc.). The main difference between traditional, growth oriented economic strategies and sustainability is how economic development is seen. Thus, in the case of sustainability, the aim is development instead of simple growth, quality instead of quantity, and the economy serves as a tool. In this context, how coherent and consistent various goals, programmes and strategies are in practice was also investigated. From the point of view of realising sustainable development, we consider the regional level important for several reasons, therefore, in the second part of our study we analyse the relationship of sustainability and convergence.


We explore the chemical distribution of stars in a simulated galaxy. Using simulations of the same initial conditions but with two different feedback schemes (McMaster Unbiased Galaxy Simulations – MUGS – and Making Galaxies in a Cosmological Context – MaGICC), we examine the features of the age–metallicity relation (AMR), and the three-dimensional age– [Fe/H]–[O/Fe] distribution, both for the galaxy as a whole and decomposed into disc, bulge, halo and satellites. The MUGS simulation, which uses traditional supernova feedback, is replete with chemical substructure. This substructure is absent from the MaGICC simulation, which includes early feedback from stellar winds, a modified initial mass function and more efficient feedback. The reduced amount of substructure is due to the almost complete lack of satellites in MaGICC. We identify a significant separation between the bulge and disc AMRs, where the bulge is considerably more metal-rich with a smaller spread in metallicity at any given time than the disc. Our results suggest, however, that identifying the substructure in observations will require exquisite age resolution, of the order of 0.25 Gyr. Certain satellites show exotic features in the AMR, even forming a 'sawtooth' shape of increasing metallicity followed by sharp declines which correspond to pericentric passages. This fact, along with the large spread in stellar age at a given metallicity, compromises the use of metallicity as an age indicator, although alpha abundance provides a more robust clock at early times. This may also impact algorithms that are used to reconstruct star formation histories from resolved stellar populations, which frequently assume a monotonically increasing AMR.


Surgical management of clinically localized, high-risk prostate cancer is considered a standard of care, however there are known high rates of recurrence and need for adjuvant or salvage therapies. Neoadjuvant systemic therapies (hormonal, chemotherapeutic, immunotherapeutic, other) have been studied with the goal of improving surgical outcomes for these patients. Contemporary evidence does not yet support use of these therapies outside of clinical trials. Neoadjuvant hormonal therapy (NHT) has been shown to improve histopathological outcomes but not more rigorous clinical endpoints. Neoadjuvant docetaxel + hormone therapy has shown promise in phase II studies while phase III evidence is pending. There is ongoing research in the use of novel hormonal and immunotherapeutic agents in the neoadjuvant setting. Future research will determine which agents, alone or in combination, will provide benefit for patients, or subsets of patients, undergoing surgery for high-risk disease.


This thesis deals with evolutionary relationships within the asterids, a group of plants comprising about one-third of all flowering plants.Two new families are recognised: Pennantiaceae and Stemonuraceae. The woody Pennantia from New Zealand and Australia is the sole genus of Pennantiaceae. Stemonuraceae consist of a dozen woody genera with a pantropical distribution and a centre of diversity in South East Asia and the Malesian islands. They are characterised by long hairs on their stamens and/or fleshy appendages on their fruits. Both families were formerly included in Icacinaceae. While Pennantiaceae are unrelated to any of the former Icacinaceae and placed in the order Apiales, other former Icacinaceae genera are related to Cardiopteris, a twining herb from South East Asia and Malesia. The monogeneric family Cardiopteridaceae is enlarged as to include also these. Cardiopteridaceae and Stemonuraceae are sister groups and placed in Aquifoliales. The three other families of Aquifoliales are monogeneric and closely related. The Asian Helwingiaceae and the Central/South American Phyllonomaceae are suggested to be merged into Aquifoliaceae (hollies). The genera of Icacinaceae in the traditional sense not placed in any of the above families (all euasterids II) are members of early diverging lineages of the euasterids I and possibly included in the order Garryales.The three woody Australasian families Alseuosmiaceae, Argophyllaceae, and Phellinaceae are confirmed as members of Asterales, despite traditional placements not close to that order. They are, moreover, supported as each other's closest relatives.The results are based mainly on parsimony analysis of DNA sequence data, but morphological studies have revealed characters in support for the molecularly based conclusions. The gene that has provided most new information is the chloroplast ndhF gene. The results are, however, drawn from combined analyses of sequences from one or several additional genes (atpB, matK, rbcL, 18S rDNA). The data have also been explored with Bayesian analysis, a statistical, model-based method that most recently has been developed for phylogeny reconstruction.


Problem background
For its financial lease and hire purchase portfolio Volkswagen Bank aspires to use the Internal Ratings Based approach for the determination of the credit risk capital. Under this approach the bank needs to find its own estimate for loss given default using a LGD model. The risk management department of Volkswagen Bank had identified some problems in the current LGD model. Therefore a student Industrial Engineering and Management from the University of Twente was given the task to back test the current model and to find improvements to increase the predictive power of the LGD model and to make it more intuitively explainable within the applicable regulatory constraints.
Recommendations and motivation
It is recommended to implement the following improved LGD model. Like the current model this model consists of two sub models. This is based on the idea that a contract can go in default and then cure to become a normal working contract again without a loss being incurred. The probability of this happening is modeled by the cure model. The loss given non-cure model predicts the loss in case a contract does not cure. The model prediction for LGD can be found by multiplying the outcomes of both sub models.
Cure model
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Figure 1 - Improved cure model
The probability of cure model uses contract vintage to distinguish between different groups of contracts. The newest contracts cure most frequently as was shown by univariate analysis and confirmed by the debt control department. Contracts that are past their original end date cannot cure by definition and this is captured too in the improved model.
For hire purchase contracts client age is important because this variable is used to model the mortality risk. In case of death of a client the contract cannot cure so as client age increases, the probability of cure decreases. For financial lease contract the whether the car is new or used is the variable that distinguishes best between groups of contracts in terms of their probability of cure.
Loss given non-cure model
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Figure 2 - Improved loss given non-cure model
The loss given non-cure model adds the hire purchase contracts of self employed clients to the group of financial lease contracts, because both client groups have many similarities in terms of income source and as the client age is lower for self employed clients mortality risk plays only a minor role. A distinction is made between commercial vehicles and regular cars as in case of a commercial vehicle the contract is treated more conservatively at acceptation. Loan to value is an
Loss Given Default= (1 -Probability cure)xLoss Given Non-cure
| An improved LGD model for Volkswagen Bank GmbH Branch NL
3
important variable to predict loss which is shown by univariate analysis and literature, therefore an equation with loan to value is used.
In the group of non-self employed clients mortality risk plays an important role which is modeled using the variable client age. For contracts that have a start date before July 1st 2008 a large loss is encountered in case of death of the client, because in that case **.*** euro of the exposure does not need to be repaid. This can be modeled with an equation that uses client age. Starting July 1st 2008 the full exposure of the contract needs to be repaid even in case of death of the client. It is expected that loss can be predicted using loan to value in a similar way as for the financial lease contracts and hire purchase contracts for self employed clients.
Consequences
The performance of the recommended new LGD model has been tested and it shows improvements in calibration and precision. At the level of the sub models the performance is also better in comparison to the current LGD model. There is a small difference in performance of the model on a dataset on which it has been developed and data for which that was not the case, but still the model is expected to work well on new data. However for individual contracts the difference between predicted LGD and the realized LGD can be large.
The new LGD model is easier to explain intuitively because the hard to explain cut-offs between categories of contracts in the current model have been removed. On average the LGD predicted by the new model will be lower compared to the current model. This is because the dataset contained an error which was resolved before the development of the new LGD model.


and experimental prototyping techniques, it does not explore more complex considerations, such as the synthesis of varied input data or the social and cultural significance of gestural expression. In his book Saffer caters to the mind-set of the pioneer and helps us embrace our new challenges by providing a vast array of examples. In Chapters 3 and 4, he explores design patterns for touchscreens and interactive surfaces such as " tap to open, " " spin to scroll, " and " flick to nudge, " as well as patterns for free-form activation gestures like " shake, " " wave, " and " point. " These gestures are a more engaging than the nearly motionless mouse click that has been our working constraint for the past decade, and Saffer presents them in an organized and practical way. Though sometimes inconsistent in quality, each entry is refreshingly visual, show-For many of us involved in the design of technological products, the idea of creating gestural interfaces has left us feeling like kids in a candy store—star-ing inside with noses and palms pressed up against the glass, our mouths watering in anticipation for the place to open. Finally, our time has come, and we have reached an era in which a confluence of factors such as widespread broadband, wireless access, and affordable electronics has culminated in our ability to realistically design all those truly interactive things we have wanted to create for so long but could never quite make happen. Products that were once fantasy objects, such as keyless locks, path-mapping sneakers, and weather-predicting umbrellas, are now not only within the realm of possibility, but they actually exist. With new technologies allowing for the implementation of input gestures that were previously impossible, we necessarily begin many projects by exploring uncharted territory. Unlike more traditional disciplines like graphic design or architecture , interaction design lacks a rich history of documented examples or a well-honed process to build upon. Dan Saffer's Designing Gestural Interfaces: Touchscreens and Interactive Devices is a testament to the fact that tangible, interactive interfaces that move beyond the mouse and keyboard have become an important part of product design. The book provides an interesting, if incomplete, look at how the use of gesture in product design practice has been evolving. A solid primer that covers a host of related topics such as kinesiology, sensors, ergo-nomics, and physical computing, Designing Gestural Interfaces can …


The space-time structure of a teak wood specific gravity (SG) dataset was analyzed using a mixed-effects model. Spatial correlation increased in space, a phenomenon attributable to the maturation of apical meristems, while the temporal correlation of vascular meristems decreased over time. The decay of temporal correlation over time was attributed to the diminishing crown effect on the later formed wood further away from the pith, morphogen gradient, and probably changing microenvironmental conditions. The Kronecker product was used to collect spatiotemporal data on the intricate dynamic process of the evolution of the apical and lateral meristems. The results showed that height and relative radial distance (RRD) (i.e., the flow of time with wood formation) were statistically significant factors, with their interaction showing no significance. The results confirm the usefulness of using the space-time approach to elucidate the interaction between the apical and lateral meristems, two major inherent biological systems that control tree growth and wood formation dynamics. To understand the origins of patterns that vary both temporally and spatially in the tree, future work should describe the variation of SG within the tree due to increasing height (space) and diameter (age) as a matrix; then the correlation function can be modelled.


We investigated the temporal and spatial variability of nighttime temperatures in a complex of small valleys in the western Kanto Plain, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, by conducting horizontal and vertical temperature measurements throughout one winter season. The magnitude of nocturnal cooling in the valley was greater in March than during the mid-winter period. The horizontal distribution of mean nighttime temperatures and nocturnal cooling under clear and calm conditions indicated that temperatures in the middle or lower areas of the valleys tended to be lower than those in the upper areas even though the elevation differences were small. Vertical profiles of air temperature measured by a kytoon system on clear nights revealed the development of a temperature inversion above the valley floor at night; the top of the inversion exceeded the height of the ridge adjacent to the valley. Under these conditions, down-valley flows of cold air were a significant phenomenon below the inversion layer. Our results suggest that local nocturnal drainage flow below the temperature inversion could contribute to nocturnal cooling in these valleys.


This paper presents experimental results on image analysis for a particular form of Genetic Programming called Cartesian Genetic Programming (CGP) in which programs use the structure of a graph represented as a linear sequence of integers. The efficency of this approach is investigated for the problem of Object Localization in a given image. This task is usually carried out by applying a series of well known image processing operators and commonly relies on the skills and expertise of the researchers. In this work, we present results from a number of runs on actual camera images, in which a set of fairly simple primitives were investigated.


The chemical methods that have been developed for the separation, concentration and purification of the protein, glycoprotein, mucoprotein, and lipoprotein components of any biologic system, by fractionation in alcohol-water mixtures at controlled pH, salt, and protein concentration, at the subzero temperatures necessary to prevent denaturation, have thus far led to the recognition and concentration of over twenty-five different protein components of human plasma. These include albumins of more than one kind; immune globulins which differ in their physical properties and interactions with antigens: lipoproteins which differ in their physical properties and interactions with steroids; enzymes with protease, peptidase, lipase, phosphatase and esterase activity; thrombin, fibrinogen, and the antihemophilic globulin concerned with blood coagulation; iodoprotein and the recently crystallized metal-combining protein which interacts with both copper and iron and is presumably concerned with transport in the plasma.

This number of plasma proteins is far greater than can be detected electrophoretically or in the ultracentrifuge. Chemical fractionation has yielded at least four β1-globulins and at least two α1-and three α2-globulins. The α2-globulins include a mucoprotein and glycoproteins of more than one kind; the α1-globulins, the bilirubin-containing globulin in Fraction V-I and the lipoprotein in Fraction IV-I. The β1-globulins include the carotene-rich euglobulin which combines with three times its weight of lipid as well as a high molecular weight lipid-free β1-globulin, both of which are concentrated in Fraction III-o. Fraction III also contains β1-globulins of different molecular properties. The iron-binding component of the plasma, crystal ized from fraction IV-7, is a lipid-free β1-globulin and is more closely related to the albumins than to other globulins from the point of view of osmotic activity. Electrophoretically indistinguishable, these different β1-globulins have no other common property. The lipid-binding plasma component is a β1-euglobulin, the iron-binding β1-component a pseudoglobulin. They differ in size, shape, in solubility, in chemical composition and interaction, and in physiological function.

The separation and concentration of the various proteins of human plasma was undertaken during this war in order to render as many as possible available as therapeutic agents and thus to increase our knowledge and control of the composition of the blood in health and in disease. Many more have been separated and are being studied chemically than have thus far been brought to clinical trial. Their study renders possible the further investigation of the chemical specificity of the interactions of the plasma proteins, which are responsible for many of the tests that have in the past, or may in the future, prove of value in the clinic in the study of pathological sera and the understanding of the specific protein component that is either elevated or deficient in this condition.


The development of Clean Industries has obtained a central place in EU policies. The Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy, better known as the Energy Union package, puts forward the following five mutually consistent dimensions as the way forward: 1. energy security, solidarity and trust, 2. a fully integrated European energy market, 3. improving energy efficiency contributing to moderation of demand, 4. decarbonising the economy, and 5. research, Innovation and Competitiveness. Notably the elements on energy efficiency and decarbonising the economy lie at the core of developing Clean Industries, while the last dimension is necessary to enable these transitions. This policy choice rests on both social objectives and sound economic rationality, as a transition towards Clean Industries can bring about both environmental benefits and sustained employment as well as opportunities for EU businesses. The aim of the present study is to feed the new EU Global Technology and Innovation Leadership Initiative on energy and climate to boost growth and jobs (TILI Initiative), which is expected to be launched in early 2016.


Accurate low order lumped models that represent the low frequency torsional motion of turbine-generator sets are needed for determining shaft torsional responses resulting from subsynchronous resonance conditions, electric power system faults and planned/unplanned switching actions in the electric network. This paper presents a coherency-based method that resolves a high order inertia-spring lumped model into a low order inertia-spring lumped model, while preserving the selected group of natural torsional frequencies and their associated mode shapes. Forced eigen-frequency matching and conservation of angular momentum form the basis of the iterative procedure developed in the paper. Numerical examples are included to illustrate the capabilities of the proposed method in determining accurate low order dynamic equivalents.


The present study primarily emphasizes the polymer-directed synthesis of cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeONP). Prior to the synthesis of CeONP, nanoflakes of the precursor cerium oxalate (CeOX) were first prepared by employing an AOT/lecithin/iso-octane/H2O mixed reverse microemulsion system and a polymer was added to the reaction medium to accomplish a dual purpose as both an additive and a structure-directing agent. Three polymers, namely, P123 (triblock copolymer), 17R4 (reverse triblock copolymer) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), were used as additives. Interestingly, the use of various polymers caused the synthesis of spherical cerium oxide nanoparticles within different size ranges (≈28.56 nm, 24.33 nm and 14.28 nm). Characterization of the synthesized CeONP was conducted by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The latter part of the study investigated their size-dependent catalytic activity in three-component reactions between nitrostyrene, 1,3-dicarbonyl compound, and aromatic primary amines to produce N-arylpyrrole as the desired product. The surface area of nanoceria (CeO2) was determined by BET measurements. Variations in size were found to directly affect the yield of the reactions. TEM analysis both before and after catalysis indicated the participation of the edges of the particles in the reaction.


A new technique is presented for the metamorphosis of one digital image into another. The approach gives the animator high-level control of the visual effect by providing natural feature-based specification and interaction. When used effectively, this technique can give the illusion that the photographed or computer generated subjects are transforming in a fluid, surrealistic, and often dramatic way. Comparisons with existing methods are drawn, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are examined. The new method is then extended to accommodate keyframed transformations between image sequences for motion image work. Several examples are illustrated with resulting images.


Australian and international law schools are increasingly focussed on experiential learning as a means of promoting student engagement and developing graduate attributes. In this article, we review the existing forms of experiential learning and present a course design for 'education in the field' that combines elements of internships and simulations with an intensive collaborative learning experience. This course design has been developed and evaluated over the past five years in our teaching of the international law course Institutions in International Law. Its effectiveness in engaging students and achieving high level learning outcomes led to its adoption this year in a second international law course focused specifically on legal professionalism in a global context: Global Lawyer. Both courses are taught primarily through two weeks of intensive seminars outside Australia, visiting a diverse range of institutions and practitioners. This intensive experience 'in the field' creates a raft of opportunities for enriching students' learning. It is also a rewarding experience for teachers, although it creates a number of challenges not faced in a typical law school classroom. We conclude that while this form of experiential learning entails significant administrative and financial costs, these are outweighed by the educational and institutional benefits that flow from this teaching mode.


We determined the rates of agreement between diagnoses, using the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS) and diagnoses arrived at, using additional sources of information, to establish whether there are differences in agreement between direct interview diagnoses at US and non-US sites in comparison best estimate consensus process and to identify diagnoses that could increase diagnostic error when only the DIGS is used. DIGS diagnoses were compared with consensus diagnoses that used the same DIGS interview, plus Family Interview for Genetic Studies (FIGS) and review of medical records in 342 psychotic subjects. We found similar numbers of subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia (225 by direct interview, and 232 by consensus process). The majority of those "misdiagnosed" by direct interview had mood disorder by the consensus. Over 10% of the total subjects diagnosed by direct interview as not meeting criteria for schizophrenia had schizophrenia by consensus. There were no statistically significant differences between countries (US vs. non-US sites) in the agreement rate between direct interview diagnosis and consensus diagnosis. In conclusion, a final best-estimate process is essential to make diagnostic distinctions and to reduce diagnostic misclassifications for both research studies and in clinical practice.


The development of a novel lightweight recoilless disruptor, based on the Davis gun principle, for neutralising improvised explosive devices (IED) is described. The principal design drivers were for a system which used ammunition already qualified for UK military service to reduce the acquisition risk; to deliver performance equivalent to current 40mm calibre disruptors and to be capable of integration with small remote control vehicles (RCVs) for bomb disposal. These small RCVs have a much reduced load carrying capacity and their lightweight arms are intolerant of mechanical shock. The design process and the results from the disruptor performance assessment are presented. The disruptor weighs less than 3 kg; it is completely recoilless and has been successfully integrated with a one-man portable RCV. Over 60 firings have been conducted from RCVs and their subsystems without any noticeable adverse impact on the platform.


This study examines national tourism policies and two provincial tourism strategies of Lao PDR implemented during 1998 to 2010 and tourism strategies for 2020. It argues that poverty reduction has to be started from the policy framework which intentionally facilitating the poor. The discourse reproduces four dimensions of benefit included in tourism policies that can be trickled down to the poor including employment, linkage opportunities, knowledge base, and cultural assets as innovation for destination competitiveness. It can be concluded that those spaces for the poor are formulated under the assumptions of ad hoc policy for the government as a plan for general social economic development rather than focusing on poverty reduction.


As disk arrays become widely used, tools for understanding and analyzing their performance become increasingly important. In particular, performance models can be invaluable in both configuring and designing disk arrays. Accurate analytic performance models are desirable over other types of models because they can be quickly evaluated, are applicable under a wide range of system and workload parameters, and can be manipulated by a range of mathematical techniques. Unfortunately, analytic performance models of disk arrays are difficult to formulate due to the presence of queuing and fork-join synchronization: a disk array request is broken up into independent disk requests which must all complete to satisfy the original request. In this paper, we develop, validate and apply an analytic performance model for disk arrays. We derive simple equations for approximating their utilization, response time and throughput. We then validate the analytic model via simulation and investigate the accuracy of each approximation used in deriving the analytic model. Finally, we apply the analytic model to derive an equation of the optimal unit of data striping in disk arrays.


The present study therefore makes use of literature available in terms of fly ash, to design and conduct different experiments on settling rate and hydraulic transportation aspects of fly ash.Different experiments were conducted to find the pH at different levels of lime, cement and gypsum. These were done to further utilize the cementing property of fly ash and its use for support and fill the mine voids as well as construction of cement of different strength levels. It was observed that the strength level increase with the increase in the percentage of lime and it was observed to be maximum at 4% of lime and 8 % cement and 4% gypsum. Thus as pH is directly related to strength so it indicated that the strength characteristics was further enhanced using the aforesaid composition. The SEM of the samples were done to study the characteristics of individual elements as the element having spherical shapes showed maximum pozzolanic character. The flow characters were studied using the CFD software which showed the particles flow was in turbulent manner and there is a critical velocity below which very few materials get transported and on exceeding this also the particles stick to the walls and less transportation takes place. In order to fulfill the raw data of the software experiment for moisture content, turbidity, density, and specific gravity were done. The initial model for importing into the FLUENT was done using the GAMBIT software. Thus all the relevant data like velocity, density, friction loss, particle motion etc were graphically obtained from the software and the results was analyzed.


We report nonvolatile resistive switching in anodic niobium pentoxide thin-film memory cells. Highly dielectric Nb2O5 films were prepared at room temperature by the anodic oxidation of submicrometer-thick Nb films sputtered onto an Si wafer. After the electroforming process, Au/Nb2O5/Nb/Si sandwich memory cells demonstrate reproducible direct current and pulse mode switching between two resistance states with a resistance on-off ratio around 103. Low and high resististive states show ohmic conductivity and field-assisted Poole-Frenkel-type conductivity, respectively. Nonvolatile resistance storage was traced within 40 days to quantify retention characteristics of the Nb2O5 memristor. The low-temperature anodic oxidation of Nb was found to be feasible to fabricate high-density cross-point memory with 3-D stack structures.


Most mesh-based tracking/modeling techniques face a point at which they need to approximate the underlying image function with a smoother, more regular function. This often occurs when gradients need to be computed. The typical approach is to convolve the image with a xed kernel. This has a number of disadvantages. First, a xed kernel does not account for the di erent levels of detail in di erent parts of the mesh small facets can be oversmoothed while large facets are undersmoothed. Also, the size of the tracked image may be changing dramatically in scale (as in head tracking), and thus a xed-size kernel again presents problems. We present a method to approximate a function with a set of basis functions that are consistent with the mesh (planar triangular patches above each facet). The resulting approximation is piecewise analytic (with C0 continuity) and inherently at the same level of detail as the mesh. We show how this approximation can be very e ciently computed, touching each pixel only once, and how multiscale representations can be computed with minimal cost. We describe techniques and applications for image coding, gradient computation, tracking, and adaptive remeshing. Examples of image functions, object meshes, and the resulting approximations are shown.


This study investigates in detail the interaction between interviewers and respondents in standardised social survey interviews. Applying the techniques of conversation analysis, Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra reveals how certain rules of normal conversation fail to apply in interviews based on a standard questionnaire, and offers original empirical evidence to show what really happens. Her book demonstrates that interview results can only be understood as products of the contingencies of the interview situation, and not, as is usually assumed, the unmediated expressions of respondents' real opinions. Her conclusions have important implications for anyone interested in effective survey compilation and interpretation. The book is highly accessible, setting out the basic tools of conversation analysis simply and clearly, and suggesting ways of improving questionnaire design wherever possible. Its approach will be of great interest to students and researchers of survey methodology.


The purpose of this paper is to discuss the competitive analysis model in the garment industry in Indonesia through case study of PT Pan Brothers, Tbk. The paper provides results of analyzing forces in the company is knows as a producer of Line of Products produced by the company are "Woven Garments" such as Padded and Light Weight Jackets, Pants, Shorts, Casual Pants and Dress Shirt, etc. The research use case study method that aims to present information in structured, factual, and accurate information on the object studied. Case study method is used to examine the forces that pushed industry to evolve; and to identify other strategic strengths faced by the company. The findings of this study show that five forces in the industry that pushed the garment industry are evolving. This paper also shows the results of the analysis of the competitive environment consisting of bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, potential new entrants, substitute products and rivalry amongst existing firms in the industry. Additionally, this study resulted in the identification of a number of strengths and weaknesses of the company based on the areas of finance, marketing, human resource management and operations of the company. The study also analyzed the value chain of the company to examine the linkage found amongst activities. This study provides managerial impact to the company studied, namely: (1) the financial ratio analysis shows the company's financial performance is considered good and increased net income / net sales increased by 23.65% per year from 338.5 million USD in 2014 to 418 million USD in 2015; (2) marketing performance analysis shows the company's website has not empowered to maximum as e-commerce sales system is weak; (3) the production performance shows the procurement of raw materials are still imported from China and Guang Zhu; (4) human resources assessment and performance monitoring system still used a manual system. This paper discusses a case study of the forces of the industry faced by PT Pan Brothers, Tbk. and displays the results of the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the company's financial functions, marketing, human resource management and operations of the company; as well as a number of opportunities that need to be captured companies and a number of threats that need to be avoided. Keyword: Competitive Analysis, SWOT Analysis, and Garment Industry


Nurses face a plethora of ethical challenges in their everyday practice. In order to help trainees become aware of the multiple issues they will face beyond the classroom, nursing educators have acknowledged the criticality of having an ethical component taught throughout the nursing curriculum of a tertiary education institution. The purpose of this study was to explore what experiences and challenges nursing educators faced teaching such content and to identify the sorts of difficulties being encountered in their own classroom practice.
A self-selecting sample of seven nursing educators working at a large, New Zealand tertiary institution in the North Island were interviewed. After transcribing data from the interviewing process, seven dominant themes emerged from the inductive data analysis process. A general model of teaching was adopted to analyse these multiple themes. In this respect, the variables identified in this model involved considerations of the teaching content, the teacher, the learner, the context, and the educators' ideals.
Adopting a principled approach to teaching ethics was acknowledged as a challenge by the participants because of the friction identified between culturally specific and universalist principles. Nonetheless, the importance of promoting students' ethical awareness through the adoption of codes of ethics in the nursing programme was emphasised. Sharing cases from personal experience to supplement textual narratives was an important way to bridge the divide between theory and practice. That ethics be integrated throughout the whole nursing programme was the general consensus.
The challenge in teaching ethics lies in the changing context of nursing and the changing context of ethics itself. Despite such hurdles, the nursing educators in this study were confident teachers who all had positive experiences in teaching ethics to their students.


Introduction The oestrogen receptor β (ERβ) is the primarily expressed ER in the large intestine and has been found to have inhibitory effects on colon cancer cells. We therefore investigated, whether the ERβ expression in tumour tissue from colorectal cancer (CRC) patients is associated with tumour/clinical characteristics. Methods We used tissue micro arrays consisting of paired normal and tumorous tissue samples from 1262 CRC cases of a German population-based case-control study (DACHS). ERβ expression was measured via immunohistochemistry. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the association of ERβ expression with tumour/clinical characteristics. Results Measurement of ERβ expression was successful in 1101 patients. ERß was strongly expressed (>50% positive cells) in normal intestinal tissue, whereas high ERβ expression was found in 16%, moderate expression in 29% and no expression in 42% of tumour samples. Strong vs no expression of ERβ was inversely associated with higher UICC stages (stage II OR=0.42, 95% CI (0.26 to 0.66); stage III OR=0.40, 95% CI (0.25 to 0.65); stage IV OR=0.52, 95% CI (0.29 to 0.92); p trend=0.01). Furthermore, cases with strong ERβ expression had a significantly smaller tumour extent (T2 OR=0.51, 95% CI (0.24 to 1.10); T3 OR=0.24, 95% CI (0.11 to 0.49); T4 OR=0.24, 95% CI (0.10 to 0.60); p trend<0.001) than cases with no expression. No significant associations were seen with histopathological grading, nodal status, distant metastasis, tumour localisation, neoadjuvant treatment, age or sex. Conclusion We observed an association between high ERβ expression and smaller tumour extent and confirmed previous reports of an association between high ERβ expression and less advanced tumour stages.


Many hedge funds that claim to be market-neutral produce returns that are highly correlated with the returns of market benchmarks. Fast-changing correlations among asset classes make it difficult to construct market-neutral portfolios intended to reduce overall risk while generating positive alpha. This article examines methods of constructing actively managed portfolios of Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index derivatives that reduce portfolio correlation with the equity market. The authors find that the Kalman filter–based dynamic capital asset pricing model (CAPM) produces the best results. This approach is capable of constructing equity market–neutral portfolios with positive alpha. In addition, dynamic CAPM provides a way to estimate the equivalent option "Greeks" for VIX derivatives.


The dynamics of the rapprochement subphase of the separation-individuation process are examined. Individual solutions to rapprochement as well as the mother's role in promoting a successful outcome of this process are discussed.


Ethnography is made of relationships. Even when the observations the ethnographer writes of take place between others in the field, it is through the development of relationships that data are generated and through a particular relationship that interpretation is offered. In this introduction to the special issue about relationships and theorizing in ethnography, I outline three relevant dimensions of such relationships that aren't captured by current debates that center on power dynamics in the field: (a) Alignment. Going beyond the trifecta of race, class, and gender, I suggest that a key element of positionality includes the ways in which the ethnographer's projects align (or purposely fail to align) with those of her interlocutors; (b) Temporality. Thinking seriously about time allows us to appreciate how differences in the temporal arcs of research modulate the narrative arcs of theory as well as set the stage for the afterlife of participant observation in the process of writing and publishing; and (c) Place. As relationships deepen, ethnographers often find themselves in new spaces, complementing the temporality of narrative arcs with a different landscape of social theory. Doing so, this article calls for renewed attention to the way in which the patterned structure of relationships in the field shapes how ethnographers theorize their work.


This work is part of a study of highly intense sound beams with application to medical therapy in mind. A systematic experimental investigation of a sound beam propagated into water from a plane circular transducer was for the first time, it is believed, performed for a large range of cw excitation levels. The fundamental frequency was 1 MHz and the on‐source pressure ranged from 0.8 to 24 bar (shock formation distance to Rayleigh distance ratio ranging from 1.8 to 0.06). The pressure amplitude distributions of the five first harmonic components, along and across the acoustic axis, are presented and discussed. New nonlinear effects are uncovered: a nonlinear self‐defocusing of the beam and an alteration of the near‐field structure of the harmonic components.


Fragmented IP traffic is a unique component of the overall mix of traffic on the Internet. Many assertions about the nature and extent of fragmented traffic are anecdotal rather than empirical. In this paper we examine the causes and attributes of measured fragment traffic and contrast those results with commonly cited beliefs. In particular, the effects of NFS, streaming media, networked video games, and tunneled traffic are quantified, and we estimate the prevalence of packet fragmentation due to improperly configured machines.To understand the prevalence, causes, and effects of fragmented IP traffic, we have collected and analyzed seven multi-day traces from three sources. These sources include a university commodity access link, a highly aggregated commercial exchange point, and a local NAP. Although there is no practical method of ascertaining whether any data provide a representative sample of all Internet traffic, we do include data sources that cover several different types of WANs with traffic from commercial entities, educational and research institutions, and large government facilities.


Objective Preterm birth is a global public health issue. In women considered high risk, insertion of a cervical cerclage has been shown to reduce this risk. We present findings from a retrospective cohort evaluating the success of different cerclage procedures (Shirodkar, McDonald and Transabdominal) in a tertiary level obstetric unit. Study design Retrospective data was collected for 200 women who underwent a cerclage procedure at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust between August 2000 and October 2010. Exclusion criteria for the study included multiple pregnancy, insertion of more than one cerclage in a single pregnancy, or an incomplete data record. Success was measured by delivery of a live baby ≥ 34 weeks. Mean gestational age (MGA) for each group was also calculated. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher's exact test. Results The Shirodkar cerclage produced a significantly greater MGA at delivery (36.3 weeks), compared to both McDonald (33.5 weeks; p = 0.004) and transabdominal cerclage (33.3 weeks; p = 0.007). Elective insertion of Shirodkar, McDonald and Transabdominal cerclage was carried out in 70, 37, 25 women respectively. These produced success rates of 81.4%, 70.3% and 72% (Shirodkar vs McDonald p = 0.226, Shirodkar vs Transabdominal p = 0.393). Ultrasound-indicated sutures were placed in 48 women (Shirodkar n = 24, McDonald n = 24). The success rates were 92.7% and 66.7% respectively, however these were not significantly different (p = 0.0723). Conclusion These results demonstrate consistent rates in births greater than 34 weeks gestation following insertion of cervical cerclage. Although Shirodkar cerclage appears preferable in elective and ultrasound-indicated procedures, prospective randomised trials such as MAVRIC1 need to be completed to confirm this. Reference http://www.medscinet.net/mavric/default.aspx


The present study was design to assess the freshwater crabs and physico –chemical parameters of shakerloy (Siyap) stream district Nushki Balochistan Pakistan. Collection of water and crab samples was started from March 2017 to February 2018. In case of crabs total five species of fresh water crabs Potamonibericum, Potamonfluviatile, Potamongedrosianum, Pyxidognathusfluviatilis and Austrotelphusatransversa were found as dominant species of Shaker loy stream. The water quality parameters like temperature, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity, total dissolved solids, conductivity and biological oxygen demands were enumerated and noticed within the suitable ranges and no significant variation was recorded. Finally concluded that water of Shaker loystream found to be suitable for drinking, irrigation and fisheries management purpose.


RyhB is a small antisense regulatory RNA that is repressed by the Fur repressor and negatively regulates at least six mRNAs encoding Fe-binding or Fe-storage proteins in Escherichia coli. When Fe is limiting, RyhB levels rise, and target mRNAs are rapidly degraded. RyhB is very stable when measured after treatment of cells with the transcription inhibitor rifampicin, but is unstable when overall mRNA transcription continues. We propose that RyhB turnover is coupled to and dependent on pairing with the target mRNAs. Degradation of both mRNA targets and RyhB is dependent on RNase E and is slowed in degradosome mutants. RyhB requires the RNA chaperone Hfq. In the absence of Hfq, RyhB is unstable, even when general transcription is inhibited; degradation is dependent upon RNase E. Hfq and RNase E bind similar sites on the RNA; pairing may allow loss of Hfq and access by RNase E. Two other Hfq-dependent small RNAs, DsrA and OxyS, are also stable when overall transcription is off, and unstable when it is not, suggesting that they, too, are degraded when their target mRNAs are available for pairing. Thus, this large class of regulatory RNAs share an unexpected intrinsic mechanism for shutting off their action.


A comparison of the uptake of glucose in vitro by lenses from normal and alloxan-diabetic rats involves the effect of secondary factors tuhich may obscure any effect of diabetes itself. These factors have been investigated and their influence evaluated. A procedure has been developed for the incubation of lens dispersions which yields values for glucose uptake and. lactate production within the normal range for intact lenses in Tyrode's solution. The results of this investigation show that the rate of uptake of glucose by dispersions of diabetic lenses is about 80 per cent of normal. Furthermore, it is shown that the amount of fructose produced, by dispersions of diabetic lens is equivalent to 20 per cent of the glucose taken up, a fraction five times that for normal lens dispersions. Making the likely assumption that the depletion of the sorbitol pool in diabetic lenses is no greater than it is in normal lenses, the diabetic lenses would actually have available for energy production only about 80 per cent of the glucose taken up. On the basis of this reasoning the diabetic lenses obtain energy from the metabolism of glucose at a rate only 60 per cent of normal. It is possible that diabetic cataracts may in part be the result of decreased production of energy. The conversion of sorbitol to fructose leads to a diversion of DPN which quantitatively is equivalent to the 20 per cent depression of glucose uptake found in diabetic lenses. It is suggested that this depression of glucose uptake may be a result of the diversion of DPN from anaerobic glycolysis.


Onward migration is generally defined as the process whereby people leave the country of origin, settle in a second country, and then migrate to a third country when circumstances change. This study advances the conceptualisation of onward migration by exploring the trajectories of 51 Colombian parents who settled in Spain in the early 2000s and then onward migrated to London after the 2008 crisis through the lens of relationality and mobility. Drawing from life history interviews, this article identifies five types of onward migration trajectories resulting from the interplay between structural and relational factors such as family obligations, gender roles, loving and conflictual relationships. For some parents, (1) onward migration unfolded linearly as they could move directly from Spain to London without significant factors constraining their move. For others, (2) onward migration was delayed by experiences of immobility. (3) Onward migration was achieved in a stepwise fashion when parents or their family members had to move to other countries to acquire the capital needed to onward migrate or to facilitate their family's onward migration. (4) Some underwent multiple onward migrations before finding a desirable alternative to Spain. Finally, (5) in other cases onward migration followed other types of international mobilities when these did not bring about the desired outcomes. Ultimately, this article proposes a conceptualisation of onward migration as an open-ended, relational process that may entail and be achieved through multiple international im/mobilities.


If a batter can correctly anticipate the next pitch type, he is in a better position to attack it. That is why batteries worry about having signs stolen or becoming too predictable in their pitch selection. In this paper, we present a machine-learning based predictor of the next pitch type. This predictor incorporates information that is available to a batter such as the count, the current game state, the pitcher's tendency to throw a particular type of pitch, etc. We use a linear support vector machine with soft-margin to build a separate predictor for each pitcher, and use the weights of the linear classifier to interpret the importance of each feature. We evaluated our method using the STATS Inc. pitch dataset, which contains a record of each pitch thrown in both the regular and post seasons. Our classifiers predict the next pitch more accurately than a naive classifier that always predicts the pitch most commonly thrown by that pitcher. When our classifiers were trained on data from 2008 and tested on data from 2009, they provided a mean improvement on predicting fastballs of 18% and a maximum improvement of 311%. The most useful features in predicting the next pitch were Pitcher/Batter prior, Pitcher/Count prior, the previous pitch, and the score of the game.


Prepare and lay brick and other masonry units to construct and repair structures such as walls, partitions, patios, arches, fireplaces and chimneys. On-Line and On-Shelf Videos


The aim of this study was to assess the levels of secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure of men and women in public places in Kyrgyzstan. This cross-sectional study involved 10 bars and restaurants in Bishkek the capital city of Kyrgyzstan. Smoking was allowed in all establishments. Median (interquartile range) air nicotine concentrations were 6.82 (2.89, 8.86) μg/m3. Employees were asked about their smoking history and exposure to SHS at work. Employees were exposed to SHS for mean (SD) 13.5 (3.6) hours a day and 5.8 (1.4) days a week. Women were exposed to more hours of SHS at work compared to men. Hospitality workers are exposed to excessive amounts of SHS from customers. Legislation to ban smoking in public places including bars and restaurants is urgently needed to protect workers and patrons from the harmful effects of SHS.


Economic theory and legal theory can both claim to provide plausible accounts of rational decision-making. Yet, despite the growth of "law and economics" as a hugely successful area of interdisciplinary study, there is very little intellectual exchange between the rational choice theorist who attempts to explain economic behaviour on the one hand, and the more philosophically inclined theorist who seeks to comprehend legal reasoning and adjudication on the other. Thus, the claim that each sort of theorist makes to account for rational decision-making seems largely to go unanswered by the other, this despite the fact that the two disciplines are otherwise so interconnected.


The purpose of the present study was to compare the sensation seeking and anxiety state of sports person with impairment vision problem. The total thirty (15Cricketers and 15 Sprinters) male Open National tournament players were selected for this study. The age of the subjects were ranged between 18 to 25 years. The data on sensation seeking and anxiety state of the subjects were obtained by using a questionnaire developed by Neary and Zuckerman (1976). The t test was used to determine the difference between the mean score of the cricketers and sprinters. Results revealed that there was a significant difference between Cricketers and sprinters in their sensation seeking and anxiety state at 0.05 level of significance with 28 degree of freedom. Study showed that cricketers have higher level of sensation seeking and anxiety state as compared to sprinters. Key Words: Persons with vision impairment, Cricketers, Sprinters, Sensation Seeking and Anxiety State.


Although stress states in the ground are seldom well known with precision, such is especially true in slopes where the boundaries and initial conditions as well as topographic variations are difficult to grasp. As with other sites, it proves difficult to replicate the history of the tectonic stages the ground has undergone. The stress state close to the topographic surface is quite heterogeneous and strongly correlated with the topographic fluctuation, i.e. the so-called topographic "roughness". Moreover, stress measurements in slope are also rare, particularly close to the surface. In order to better understand rockfalls, a multidisciplinary study is being conducted on the "Rochers de Valahres" slope (France's Southern Alps region). One component of this study will focus on both stress and stress variation measurements. To appropriately design this experiment, computations of the influence of "topographic roughness" on the stress state have been undertaken. This paper will describe the primary results derived from this purely-computational step of the analysis. The influence of topographical variation could initially be shown from simple computations on the steady roughness. To evaluate stresses caused by the entire slope, it becomes necessary to seek a position under a "limit plane", located beneath the topographic roughness. Several 2D cross-sections generated from a 3D Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of the site have allowed estimating a topographic roughness on the order of +/- 10 m around the average plane. The limitations inherent in this analysis (213, cross-correlation not taken into account, etc.) will be discussed herein, along with as a comparison of steady roughness and an actual cross-section of the topography.


David Boonin has recently advanced several challenges to the self-defense justification of punishment. Boonin argues that the self-defense justification of punishment justifies punishing the innocent, justifies disproportionate punishment, cannot account for mitigating excuses, and does not justify intentionally harming offenders as we do when we punish them. In this paper, I argue that the self-defense justification, suitably understood, can avoid all of these problems. To help demonstrate the self-defense theory's attraction, I also develop some contrasts between the self-defense justification, Warren Quinn's better-known "auto-retaliator" argument, and desert-based justifications of punishment. In sum, I show that the self-defense justification of punishment is more resilient than commonly supposed and deserves to be taken seriously as a justification of punishment.


The author reviews the treatment of duodenal ulcer from its beginnings with gastroenterostomy one hundred years ago. He points out that treatment has changed as it was better understood that hypersecretion of acid was an important ulcerogenic factor. The Sippy regime, with diet and alkali to neutralize acid, and the resection and vagotomy were introduced. He discusses some aspects of the history of these therapies in Panama and points out the importance of the introduction of H2 receptors blocker and other drugs still under investigation.


Plankton patchiness, a widely known but poorly studied phenomenon, was investigated concurrently with measurements of environmental conditions in the Polar Front region west of Spitsbergen in summer (June−July) 2012. Continuous high-resolution observations were made using a laser optical plankton counter, a fluorometer and CTD along several sections in the surface 50 m of the sea with additional data from zooplankton net sampling and full-depth range hydrographical measurements at stations. The observed patches differed in terms of size, number and distribution patterns. They occupied only a minor portion of the studied ocean area (2−17%), but contained plankton concentrations that were 3−17 times higher than the concentrations in the background waters. The generation and existence of patches was associated with particular conditions created by increased primary production, optimal hydrography, discontinuities in the density field and/or the presence of meanders or eddies. The distribution of small size fraction patches, consisting of the phytoplankton, inorganic particles and detritus, was closely related to specific patterns in hydrography. The medium-size zooplankton and marine snow were concentrated mainly in conjunction with discontinuities in density field. The distribution of the large copepods was independent of any oceanographic feature detected in this study, which points towards biological cues as factors regulating zooplankton aggregation processes. Diverse mechanisms of patch formation as well as their ecological significance are discussed in the context of planktonic responses to the structured environment in the region of the Polar Front.


This book is aimed at persons in the work force who want to acquire good writing skills in order to "increase their chances for success." The first section, entitled "Writing and the Successful Manager," emphasizes that all managers should be concerned with creating an image of success and looks at how writing can either enhance or detract from that image. This section also offers helpful guidelines for determining when to write and when not to write, and suggests other options for communicating. The final chapter of this section is a brief overview of the four stages in the process of a major writing project. This section seemed rather premature at this point in the book, before a more thorough analysis of writing projects. The four stages — exploring, planning, drafting, and revising — are crucial to any writing project, but for the discussion of them to have maximum effectiveness in this book, it needs to be more carefully focused on business writing situations.


OBJECTIVE
To compare bony changes in the metacarpophalangeal joint (MCPJ) of racehorses with (cases) and without (controls) biaxial proximal sesamoid bone (PSB) fracture as determined by 2 grading scales applied to images of cadaveric forelimbs obtained by means of standing MRI (sMRI).

DESIGN
Case-control study.

SAMPLE
Forelimbs from 74 Thoroughbred racehorses (21 cases and 53 controls) that were euthanized at a Florida racetrack.

PROCEDURES
Both forelimbs were harvested from cases and controls. Each forelimb underwent sMRI to obtain images of the MCPJ. Two grading scales were described and used for image evaluation; one assessed the density of the PSBs, and the other assessed the integrity of the subchondral bone (SCB) plate at the distopalmar aspect of the third metacarpal bone (MC3). Logistic regression was used to compare the grades between case and control limbs.

RESULTS
Biaxial PSB fracture was associated with a total PSB grade (sum of lateral and medial PSB grades) ≥ 5 for the fractured limb, total MC3 SCB grade (sum of lateral and medial MC3 SCB grades) ≥ 5 for the contralateral limb, and the presence of orthopedic disease in the contralateral MC3.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
For cases with biaxial PSB fracture, the density of the PSBs in the affected limb was greater and the MC3 of the contralateral limb was more likely to have orthopedic disease, compared with those for controls. Further evaluation of sMRI as a screening tool for identification of racehorses at risk of biaxial PSB fracture is warranted.


In The Golden Dilemma, Erb and Harvey explored the possible relation between the real, inflation-adjusted price of gold and future real gold returns. This update suggests that the real return of gold over the next 10 years could be about –4% per year if the real price of gold mean reverts, or –12% per year if the real price of gold overshoots and declines to previous low, real price levels. This view reflects a golden constant hypothesis that inflation is the fundamental driver of the price of gold. Of course, it is possible to entertain other hypotheses. A golden constant perspective suggests a fair value price for gold of $840 per ounce and a possible overshoot price of $353 per ounce.


This article examines methodological and institutional challenges for empirically measuring student performance on writing. Writing's intrinsic subjectivity and the great variety of writing formats appropriate to diverse contexts raise fundamental questions about the empirical bias of the assessment culture taking root in U.S. higher education. At the same time, the academic training of humanist scholars, who typically have primary responsibility for writing pedagogy in universities, may predispose them to skepticism about assessment culture's broader mission. This article narrates the process by which the Humanities Department at Lawrence Technological University implemented a writing assessment process designed to address these challenges and evaluates the data generated by this process.


The study was conducted to know the rate of maternally derived antibodies (MDAs) transfer from parents to their offspring and declining the MDAs in their chicks at 0, 7, 14, and 21 days of age against four major poultry viruses like Newcastle disease virus (NDV), Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), Infectious bursal diseases virus (IBDV), and Avian Reo virus (ARV). The MDAs was studied on Grandparent (GP) to Parent stock (PS), and Parent stock (PS) to broiler at 30 weeks and 50 weeks of age in Cobb-500 broiler strain chicken. The MDAs was measured from serum antibody titer by indirect ELISA test. The MDAs transfer rate against NDV from GP to PS at 50 weeks of age was higher (68.82%) than at 30 weeks of age but in case of PS to broiler it was higher (66.01%) at 30 weeks of age and its persistent rate also higher (7.96%) up to 21th days of age. Against IBV, MDAs transfer rates were higher in PS to broiler than GP to PS of both ages and highest rates were revealed in PS to broiler at 30 weeks of age as 70.72%. On the other hand, among all lines MDAs transfer rates against IBDV was higher (86.94%) in GP to PS at 30 weeks of age. For ARV, the MDAs transfer rates were highest in GP to PS in both ages than PS to broiler and within GP to PS at 50 weeks of age, it was highest (94.87%) than 30 weeks of age. Accordingly, the poultry producer may help to develop an effective vaccination schedule by considering the MDAs from above experiment.


A simulation study of the energy released by extensive air showers in the form of MHz radiation is performed using the CoREAS simulation code. We develop an efficient method to extract this radiation energy from air-shower simulations. We determine the longitudinal profile of the radiation energy release and compare it to the longitudinal profile of the energy deposit by the electromagnetic component of the air shower. We find that the radiation energy corrected for the geometric dependence of the geomagnetic emission scales quadratically with the energy in the electromagnetic component of the air shower with a second order dependency on the atmospheric density at the position of the maximum of the shower development X max . In a measurement where X max is not accessible, this second order dependence can be approximated using the zenith angle of the incoming direction of the air shower with only a minor deterioration in accuracy. This method results in an intrinsic uncertainty of 4% with respect to the electromagnetic shower energy which is well below current experimental uncertainties.


The influence of film forming matter to heat preservation insulation coating reflectivity was studied. Organosilicon modified styrene-acrylic emulsion was selected as film forming matter through the infrared spectrum test. The influence of several kinds of pigment and filler to reflectivity was studied by orthogonal experimental design . Importance of factors from large to small in turn is: Rutile titanium dioxide> Kaolin> expanded perlite、hollow glass microsphere> iron oxide red, and the formula of pigment and filler was determined .The influence of rutile titanium dioxide to reflectivity was studied, the reflectivity of coating is superior when rutile titanium dioxide grain size is in the range between 0.130 m and 0.136 m. Film thickness has certain influence to reflectivity ,when the thickness is 0.062cm, the reflectivity of coating reaches the highest,is 73.28%.


During the first 13 years of the twenty-first century, the world economy experienced a period of economic volatility with a rapid boom followed by a strong contraction and then a prolonged recession. This volatility provides a unique opportunity to examine the associations between economic growth and levels of wealth inequality. In this paper, I use data published by the World Bank to examine trends in economic growth; data published by Credit Suisse to examine trends in levels of wealth inequality; and data collated from the billionaires lists published by Forbes Magazine to examine the concentration of wealth at the very top of the distribution in the G20 nations. Overall, the results presented in this paper indicate that rapid economic growth was associated with increased wealth inequality and exceptionally large increases in the number of billionaires, whereas negative or low levels of economic growth were associated with declining or stable levels of wealth inequality and more moderate increases, or a decline, in the numbers of billionaires.


Background Little is known how combined weekly patterns of physical activity and sedentary behaviour are associated with cardiometabolic health. The objective of this paper is to identify weekly patterns of physical activity and sedentary behaviour and to examine cardiometabolic health status associated with different activity patterns. Methods Data are from a subsample of the Mitchelstown cohort; 475 (59.7 ± 5.5 years) middle-aged adults. Participants wore the wrist GENEActiv accelerometer for 7-consecutive days. Data was summarised into 60s epochs and each time interval categorised based on thresholds. Latent profile analysis (LPA) defined classes based on observed clustering of sedentary behaviour and physical activity variables while multivariate latent class regression was used to compare cardiometabolic health status across classes. Results LPA revealed 4 distinct physical behaviour patterns; Sedentary Group (20.9%), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and High-Sedentary Activity Group (40.9%), MVPA and High-Light Activity Group (24.7%) and a Physically Active Group (13.5%). Overall the Sedentary Group had poorer outcomes, characterised by high Body Mass Index, triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose and insulin levels, and low high density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels. The remaining classes were characterised by healthier cardiometabolic profiles as sedentary behaviour decreased. Discussion The classification of groups of adults with similar physical behaviour patterns offers important information for the identification and tailoring of public health and health promotion messages and intervention strategies. These findings could help identify optimal patterns of physical behaviour that improves cardiometabolic health as health policy should be directed towards altering patterns of behaviour rather than concentrating on a single type of behaviour.


According to large-page-size and random-bit-error characteristics, long-block-length Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) decoders are applied to realize error correction in NAND Flash memory devices. To accelerate the decoding process in an area-efficient architecture, a parallel architecture with minimal polynomial combinational network (MPCN) for long BCH decoders is presented in this brief. The proposed design utilizes MPCNs to replace constant finite-field multipliers, which dominate the hardware complexity of the high-parallel Chien search architecture. Furthermore, both the syndrome calculator and the Chien search can be merged by exploiting our MPCN-based architecture, leading to significant hardware complexity reduction. From the synthesis results in the 90-nm CMOS technology, the MPCN-based joint syndrome calculation and Chien search has 46.7% gate count saving for parallel-32 BCH (4603, 4096; 39) decoder in contrast with the straightforward design.


Privacy practices in social network sites often appear paradoxical, as content-sharing behavior stands in conflict with the need to reduce disclosure-related harms. In this study we explore privacy in social network sites as a contextual information practice, managed by a process of boundary regulation. Drawing on a sample survey of undergraduate Facebook users, we examine a particular privacy-enhancing practice: having a friends-only Facebook profile. Particularly, we look at the association between network composition, expectancy violations, interpersonal privacy practices and having a friends-only profile. We find that expectancy violations by weak ties and increased levels of interpersonal privacy management are positively associated with having a friends-only profile. We conclude with a discussion of how these findings may be integrated into the design of systems to facilitate interaction while enhancing individual privacy.


AlikhAnov, D., Z. ShynybAj, P. DASkAlov and R. TShonev, 2013. express method and device for definition of potato tubers parameters. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 19: 866-874 An express method is developed for calculation of morphological parameters of potatoes, based on acquisition and processing of potato images. The informative features describing potato form sizes are: length (a), width (b), area of longitudinal section (S) formed in a XY plane and perimeter of longitudinal section (L). The definition of the potato form includes two coefficients: the traditional (K1), equal to the ratio between potato length (a) to potato width (b) and a new coefficient of the form (K) equal to the relation of the squared image perimeter (L2) to the area (S). For carrying out the experimental part of the research a device is developed consisting of web camera, computer equipped with LabVIEW software (National Instruments Vision Assistant 8.5 and LabVIEW), and a working surface. The algorithm for acquisition and processing of the images is developed in LabVIEW environment (Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) using graphic programming language "G". The experimental installation provides also an opportunity of visual inspection of the object images. Nine varieties of potatoes from Kazakhstan 2011 crop selection are tested. The tests are held in the Kazakh scientific research institute of potato and vegetable growing and the institute has confirmed the express method efficiency and device work reliability. The express method increases 5 times the analysis productivity and enables storing the quantitative information for the potato features in a digital form.


This paper analyses the incentives that shaped Hindu and Muslim interaction in India's towns from the rise of Islam to the rise of European intervention in the 17th century; it argues that differences in the degree to which medieval Hindus and Muslims could provide complementary, non-replicable services and a mechanism to share the gains from exchange has resulted in a sustained legacy of religious tolerance. Due to Muslim-specific advantages in Indian Ocean shipping, incentives to trade across ethnic lines were strongest in medieval trading ports, leading to the development of institutional mechanisms that further supported inter-religious exchange. Using new town-level data spanning India's medieval and colonial history, this paper finds that medieval trading ports were 25 percent less likely to experience a religious riot between 1850-1950, two centuries after Europeans disrupted Muslim dominance in overseas shipping. Medieval trading ports continued to exhibit less widespread religious violence during the Gujarat riots in 2002. The paper shows that these differences are not the result of variation in geography, political histories, wealth, religious composition or of medieval port selection, and interprets these differences as being transmitted via the persistence of institutions that emerged to support inter-religious medieval trade. The paper further characterises these institutions and the lessons they yield for reducing contemporary ethnic conflict.


An experimental field infested with Phytophthora fragariae var. fragariae (Pff) and used for strawberry red core fungicide and cultivar resistance trials until 1981 was surveyed for the presence of inoculum of the pathogen 11 and 12 years later. Alpine strawberries, highly susceptible to all races of Pff, were grown from true seed and planted as a bait crop on a 0 Æ 5 m-spaced grid. Rapid and widespread red core infection was observed, which provided good evidence that oospores had survived in soil for this extended period. Site elevation and the distribution of red core infected plants showed a strong correlation, with a higher frequency of infected and dead plants in the lowest areas of the field. The race designation of 18 recovered isolates were determined and AFLP fingerprint patterns of some of these and their single-spore derivatives were analysed. The isolates differed little in race type, and the majority were genetically identical at 433 AFLP loci. Races used to inoculate the site in the 1970s were recovered. The fingerprints of the single variant isolate matched that of an isolation made by Hickman in the 1950s, originally used to inoculate the site. Clearly Pff is a very stable and long-lived pathogen able to retain its genetic integrity and lie dormant in soil for many years, ensuring its survival between epidemiologically favourable conditions which occur erratically.


: Serum sialic acid levels were measured in 80 healthy subjects, in 60 patients with benign tumors and in 110 patients with oral cancer. It was shown that these levels were significantly elevated in oral cancer patients compared to healthy controls and patients with benign tumors (p < 0.01); they were higher in patients with stage III and stage IV disease than in those with stage I and II disease (p < 0.01). However, no difference was observed between healthy controls and stage I and II cancer patients. The results of this study suggest that the determination of sialic acid levels may be of value in the diagnosis of oral cancer, but its usefulness as an adjunct in clinical staging is limited.


Recently, the quantity of accessible data continues increasing, and the importance of data mining is also increasing. On the other hand, highly developed computing facility enabled visual data mining in immersive environment. Visualization has an important role in current data mining, and the rapid progress on visualization devices, such as super high definition stereo display, can enhance the existing data mining scheme. Super high definition stereo displays can represent large amount of information to the users. But it does not mean that the information is conveyed correctly to the users. In this paper, we conducted experiments on human perception, and the results suggest human cognitive limitation is no longer ignorable in visual data mining. We developed visual data mining platform focusing on point cloud representation, and it was applied to visual data mining on seismic data.


Participating in and availing of benefits from social forestry requires certain instruments that provide proof of rights awarded to the local communities. These instruments also guide the communities in using and managing the forest resources. In Lao PDR, this is encapsulated in the preparation and submission of the Village Forestry Management Plan (VFMP), which constitutes one of the requirements in the recognition of the communities' resource use rights.


Significance The TGFβ family of ligands plays fundamental roles in controlling diverse signaling events throughout multicellular organisms. The family is divided into 3 classes: activin, BMP, and TGFβ, with each signaling through specific combinations of type I and type II receptors. We demonstrate that activin ligands bind receptors similarly to BMP ligands, but they utilize the ligand fingertip to make specificity-determining contacts with the type I receptors. We also show that different molecular mechanisms have emerged for how GDF11 and TGFβ bind the same type I receptor, whereby GDF11 is more dependent on direct receptor contacts. Thus, this study provides insight at the molecular level into how the activin class ligands bind and assemble their type I and type II receptors. TGFβ family ligands, which include the TGFβs, BMPs, and activins, signal by forming a ternary complex with type I and type II receptors. For TGFβs and BMPs, structures of ternary complexes have revealed differences in receptor assembly. However, structural information for how activins assemble a ternary receptor complex is lacking. We report the structure of an activin class member, GDF11, in complex with the type II receptor ActRIIB and the type I receptor Alk5. The structure reveals that receptor positioning is similar to the BMP class, with no interreceptor contacts; however, the type I receptor interactions are shifted toward the ligand fingertips and away from the dimer interface. Mutational analysis shows that ligand type I specificity is derived from differences in the fingertips of the ligands that interact with an extended loop specific to Alk4 and Alk5. The study also reveals differences for how TGFβ and GDF11 bind to the same type I receptor, Alk5. For GDF11, additional contacts at the fingertip region substitute for the interreceptor interactions that are seen for TGFβ, indicating that Alk5 binding to GDF11 is more dependent on direct contacts. In support, we show that a single residue of Alk5 (Phe84), when mutated, abolishes GDF11 signaling, but has little impact on TGFβ signaling. The structure of GDF11/ActRIIB/Alk5 shows that, across the TGFβ family, different mechanisms regulate type I receptor binding and specificity, providing a molecular explanation for how the activin class accommodates low-affinity type I interactions without the requirement of cooperative receptor interactions.


The free digital distribution of creative works could cannibalize demand for physical versions, but it could also boost physical sales by enabling consumers to discover the original work. We study the impact of the Google Books digitization project on the market for physical books. We find that digitization significantly boosts the demand for physical versions and provide evidence for the discovery channel. Moreover, digitization allows independent publishers to introduce new editions for existing books, further increasing sales. Our results highlight the potential of free digital distribution to strengthen the demand for and supply of physical products. (JEL D12, L82, L86)


Background West Nile virus (WNV) is a growing threat to public health and a greater understanding of the immune response raised against WNV is important for the development of prophylactic and therapeutic strategies. Methodology/Principal Findings In a reverse-immunology approach, we used bioinformatics methods to predict WNV-specific CD8+ T cell epitopes and selected a set of peptides that constitutes maximum coverage of 20 fully-sequenced WNV strains. We then tested these putative epitopes for cellular reactivity in a cohort of WNV-infected patients. We identified 26 new CD8+ T cell epitopes, which we propose are restricted by 11 different HLA class I alleles. Aiming for optimal coverage of human populations, we suggest that 11 of these new WNV epitopes would be sufficient to cover from 48% to 93% of ethnic populations in various areas of the World. Conclusions/Significance The 26 identified CD8+ T cell epitopes contribute to our knowledge of the immune response against WNV infection and greatly extend the list of known WNV CD8+ T cell epitopes. A polytope incorporating these and other epitopes could possibly serve as the basis for a WNV vaccine.


IMPORTANCE
Terminally ill patients with lower incomes are less likely to die at home, even with hospice care.

OBJECTIVES
To examine the relationship between income and transfer from home before death and the interaction between income and level of hospice care as a predictor of transfer from home in patients admitted to routine home hospice care.

DESIGN
We matched zip codes to US census tracts to generate median annual household incomes and divided the measure into $10,000 increments (≤$20,000 to >$50,000). We abstracted data from the central administrative and clinical database of a hospice care provider. We analyzed the relationship between income and transfer from home before death using logistic regression adjusted for demographics, diagnosis, region, and length of stay. Level of hospice care was examined as any continuous care vs none. Unlike routine care, which includes periodic visits by hospice, continuous care is a higher level of care used for short periods of crisis to keep a patient at home and includes hospice services in the home at least 8 hours in a 24-hour period.

SETTING
A for-profit hospice provider, VITAS Healthcare, operating 26 programs in 8 states.

PARTICIPANTS
Hospice patients admitted to routine care in a private residence from January 1, 1999, through December 31, 2003.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Transfer from hospice care in a private residence to hospice care in a site outside the home before death.

RESULTS
Of the 61,063 enrollees admitted to routine care in a private residence, 13,804 (22.61%) transferred from home to another location (ie, inpatient hospice unit or nursing home) with hospice care before death. Patients who transferred had a lower mean median household income ($42,585 vs $46,777; P < .001) and were less likely to have received any continuous care (49.38% vs 30.61%; P < .001). The median number of days of continuous care was 4. For patients who did not receive continuous care, the odds of transfer from home before death increased with decreasing median annual household incomes (odds ratio range, 1.26-1.76). For patients who received continuous care, income was not a predictor of transfer from home.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Patients with limited resources may be less likely to die at home, especially if they are not able to access needed support beyond what is available with routine hospice care.