Coherent beam combining (CBC) by active phase control could be useful for power scaling fiber-laser-pumped optical frequency converters. However, a fast phase modulator operating at the frequency-converted wavelength, a non-standard component, would be necessary. Fortunately, nonlinear conversion processes rely on a phase-matching condition allowing for indirect phase control using standard phase modulators. In this paper, coherent combining of second harmonic generators is demonstrated in both birefringent and quasi phase matching schemes in CW regime. Phase control operates at the fundamental wavelength, using all-fibered electro-optic modulators. An excellent beam combination is achieved with a residual phase error of λ/30 on the second harmonic wave. © 2017 Optical Coherent active phase control a very convenient technique to power scale laser sources far beyond the single amplifying


It has been considered that widowed persons have a higher risk of death. This study intended to explore whether social participation could improve this trend. A longitudinal study database was constructed to explore the trend of survival and its change with social participation in widowed persons. The Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging (TLSA), based on four consecutive waves of longitudinal follow-up data in 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011 was linked with the National Death Registry from 1999 through 2012. In total, there were 1417 widowed persons and 4500 nonwidowed persons included in this study, excluding divorced and never-married people. The survival trend analysis was carried out with social participation as the main predictive factor stratified for comparative analysis. Our results showed that the widowed were older than the nonwidowed, were female-dominant, had a lower education level, were more economically stressed, and were less likely to engage in regular exercise, and thus showed generally poorer health; for example, being more vulnerable to having chronic diseases, disability with the Activities of Daily Living (ADL), cognitive impairment with the Short Portable Mental State Questionnaire (SPMSQ), and depression with The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D). The death risk of the widowed was significantly higher than that of the nonwidowed, but the death trend for those with social participation was significantly lower than that of their counterparts in both the widowed and nonwidowed. After matching with gender and age for widowed persons, the widowed with social participation had a significantly lower risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 0.83; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.71–0.98) compared to the widowed without social participation. It was concluded that social participation can improve the death risk for the widowed, and it is worthily included in health promotion plans and social welfare services for widowed persons.


Security is today a relevant requirement for any distributed application, and in particular for these enabled by the Web such as e-health, e-commerce, and e-learning. It is thus crucial that the use of Web services, stand-alone or composed, provide strong security guarantees. Web services security encompasses several requirements that can be described along the well known security dimensions, that is: integrity, whereby a message must remain unaltered during transmission; confidentiality, whereby the contents of a message cannot be viewed while in transit, except by authorized services; availability, whereby a message is promptly delivered to the intended recipient, thus ensuring that legitimate users receive the services they are entitled to. Moreover, each Web service must protect its own resources against unauthorized access. This in turn requires suitable means for: identification, whereby the recipient of a message must be able to identify the sender; authentication, whereby the recipient of a message needs to verify the claimed identity of the sender; authorization, whereby the recipient of a message needs to apply access control policies to determine whether the sender has the right to use the required resources.


The cysteine proteinases, cathepsins LI (SmCLl) and L2 (SmCL2) from the parasitic helminth Schistosoma mansoni were functionally expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. By transforming the yeast with cDNAs encoding the complete pre-pro-enzymes, the recombinant proteinases were secreted into the culture medium from which they were purified by gel filtration and/or anion exchange chromatography. The enzymes were secreted by the yeast cells in their mature, active form and demonstrated characteristics typical of cathepsin L-like cysteine proteinases. Proteins in the purified fractions were reactive with anti-sera prepared against the recombinant enzymes which had been expressed in, and purified from extracts of Escherichia coli.

Yeast-expressed SmCLl and SmCL2 displayed distinct differences in their specificities for synthetic peptide substrates; SmCLl favours substrates containing aliphatic (P3)-aliphatic (P2)-positive or polar hydrophobic (Pi) residues, whereas SmCL2 showing a preference for aliphatic (P3)-aromatic (P2)-positive (Pi). SmCLl cleaved a broader range of substrates tested and was also active over a wider pH range than SmCL2. SmCLl showed a pH optimum of 6.5 for activity against Z-Phe-Arg-NHMec, while SmCL2 was optimally active at pH 5.5 against this substrate. RT-PCR and immunoblotting studies revealed expression profiles of these proteinases also differed in the various life cycle stages of S. mansoni; both proteinases are expressed in male and female adults but at different levels, and the pro-form of SmCLl is also expressed in cercariae.

Immunolocalisation experiments demonstrated that SmCLl was expressed in the gastrodermal cells lining the schistosome gut, as well as in the tegument of adult worms. Immunoblotting studies which detected the presence of SmCLl in the excretory/secretory products of adult worms suggests that this enzyme is secreted by the parasite. Moreover, recombinant yeast-expressed SmCLl had a marked preference for haemoglobin as substrate. Collectively, these results suggest that SmCLl plays some role in the degradation of host haemoglobin in the schistosome gut.

SmCL2 has been localised to the reproductive organs of adult schistosomes by another laboratory and has been implicated to be involved in egg formation in female parasites. Therefore, SmCLl and SmCL2 perform different functions in schistosomes. Both these enzymes now represent novel targets at which chemotherapy and/or immunoprophylaxis may be directed.


The Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) provides a common framework for many combinatorial problems. The general CSP is known to be NP-complete; however, certain restrictions on the possible form of constraints may affect the complexity, and lead to tractable problem classes. There is, therefore, a fundamental research direction, aiming to separate those subclasses of the CSP which are tractable, from those which remain NP-complete. In 1978 Schaefer gave an exhaustive solution of this problem for the CSP on a 2-element domain. In this paper we generalise this result to a classification of the complexity of CSPs on a 3-element domain. The main result states that every subclass of the CSP defined by a set of allowed constraints is either tractable or NP-complete, and the criterion separating them is that conjectured by Bulatov et al. (2001). We also exhibit a polynomial time algorithm which, for a given set of allowed constraints, determines whether if this set gives rise to a tractable problem class. To obtain the main result and the algorithm we extensively use the algebraic technique for the CSP developed by Jeavons (1998) and Bulatov et al.


The management of pediatric and adolescent pain continues to evolve.  Pain, as in the adult population, is a complex process modulated by both physiologic and psychological factors. It is essential for the orthopedic clinician who manages pain in the acute setting to not only understand the medical aspects of pain control, but also the larger context in which the injury is taking place.  The opioid crisis has changed the manner in which pain management is delivered, and an understanding of pediatric physiology is critical for delivering analgesia.  This is particularly important in the setting of acute fracture management.  Utilization of anti-inflammatory medications, diversion techniques, and regional anesthesia are integral to management in the emergency room, pre-operatively, intra-operatively, and post-operatively. A multi-faceted, holistic approach is essential to achieve successful clinical outcomes.


Patients with critical upper airway stenosis require a tracheotomy for corrective surgery.We describe a new transtracheal device that permits safe ventilation of these patients without tracheotomy. It is based on a coaxial bicannular design that allows "push-pull" ventilation by jetting gas through the inner cannula and applying suction through the outer cannula. It further allows monitoring of airway pressure, tidal volume, and end-tidal CO2. The device was placed in the "trachea" of an artificial lung, and the preparation was made airtight by sealing the proximal end of the trachea. Tidal volumes and their associated pressures were measured simultaneously at different parts of the airway at several lung compliances and airway resistance settings while varying the jet and suction pressures. A large range of tidal volumes was achieved at safe airway pressures using clinically relevant airway resistance and lung compliance settings. Airway pressures measured through the device correlated well with pressures measured directly in the airways at the same time. Tidal volumes, measured through a Wright respirometer in the suction line, exceeded actual values at high suction settings and decreased below actual values at low suction settings. This new form of jet ventilation allowed efficient ventilation of the artificial lung with a totally occluded upper airway. Implications: Tracheotomy is required for surgery to relieve stridor because gas forced into the trachea at high pressures through a percutaneously placed needle (jetting) cannot be exhaled quickly enough for respiration. We describe a device that allows jetting in the stridorous patient by actively assisting expiration, thereby eliminating the tracheotomy requirement. (Anesth Analg 1998;87:915-20)


In this paper, a simple and robust method for parameter estimation at rotor standstill is presented for interior permanent magnet (IPM) synchronous machines. The estimated parameters are the stator resistance through dc test, the dq inductances using high-frequency injection, and the permanent magnet flux by means of a closed-loop speed control maintaining rotor stationary. The proposed method does not require either locking the rotor or additional/special power supplies. The validity of the suggested method has been verified by implementation on two IPM motor prototypes. Finally, the estimated parameters have been compared against results obtained through finite-element simulations and with machine magnetic characterization, separately performed, to validate the method's effectiveness. Saturation and cross-saturation effects are taken care of through amplitude modulation and cross-axis current application, respectively.


Adjuvants appear to act by creating a depot from which antigen is slowly released and by stimulating antibody-forming cells (Ehrich et al. 1945). Freund's adjuvant consists of an emulsion of water in paraffin oil stabilized by lanolin derivatives (Freund, Casalas-Ariet & Genghof, 1940). Its action is potentiated by adding dead mycobacteria or mycobacterial lipid (complete adjuvant) and Freund attributes the cellular response to the mycobacterial substance (Freund, 1956). Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA) can produce delayed hypersensitivity of extreme severity to a foreign antigen and at times sensitize an animal to its own tissue (Freund, Thompson & Lipton, 1955) (auto-immunity). Transplantation and tumour immunity are chiefly of the cellular type (delayed hypersensitivity) and FCA appears to be an ideal agent to enhance such immunity. However, we observed increased tumour growth when hamsters were treated with FCA before challenge with adenovirus tumour cells. The present report describes this paradoxical enhancing effect.


Impulsive behaviour accounts for a significant percentage of retail sales, yet it may contribute to consumer debt and affect psychological wellbeing. Existing research indicates that impulsive buying presents as trait behaviour that influences the likelihood of experiencing impulsive urges and making purchases. Many studies have also examined the interaction of different variables with the impulsive buying tendency and the effects on behaviour during shopping. However, there is a lack of research into how social and emotional factors interact with or moderate the impulsive buying process. Accordingly, this thesis focuses on the role of social influence and emotion in impulsive buying. A mixed-methods approach is used, comprising a three stage data collection process involving interviews, scale development and a quasi-experiment.

The data collection process leads to the development of two scales measuring social and non-social impulsive buying tendencies. These new tendencies are initially identified through semi-structured interviews with impulsive buyers, which suggest that there may be social and non-social aspects to the impulsive buying tendency. A two phase process of scale development is then used to develop psychometric measures of the social and non-social aspects. The scale development results in two internally valid and reliable scales which correlate as expected with the existing impulsive buying tendency.

The scales are tested using a quasi-experimental study, the results of which indicate that the social impulsive buying tendency exhibits stronger correlations with hypothesised behaviour in social situations than the existing buying impulsiveness scale (Rook & Fisher, 1995). These findings suggest that the social scale could be used alongside an existing impulsive buying tendency scale to record consumers' social and non-social impulsivity. Among the implications of these findings is that researchers who study impulsive buying should consider recording the social context of shopping to test for the moderating influence of social factors.


There is still much performance to be gained by out-of-order processors with wider issue widths. However, traditional methods of increasing issue width do not scale; that is, they drastically increase design complexity and power requirements. This paper introduces the braid, a compile-time identified entity that enables the execution core to scale to wider widths by exploiting the small fanout and short lifetime of values produced by the program. Braid processing requires identification by the compiler, minor extensions to the ISA, and support by the microarchitecture. The result from processing braids is performance within 9% of a very aggressive conventional out-of-order microarchitecture with almost the complexity of an in-order implementation.


Marketing researchers often assume that innovation diffusion is affected by social contagion. However, there is increasing skepticism about the importance of contagion and, as has long been known, S-shaped diffusion curves can also result from heterogeneity in the propensity to adopt. To gain insight into the role of these two different—though not mutually exclusive—mechanisms, we present substantive conjectures about conditions under which contagion and heterogeneity are more pronounced, and test these conjectures using a meta-analysis of the q/p ratio in applications of the Bass diffusion model. We find that the q/p ratio is positively associated with the Gini index of income inequality in a country, supporting the heterogeneity-in-thresholds interpretation. We also find evidence that q/p varies as predicted by the G/SG diffusion model, but the evidence vanishes once we control for national culture. As to contagion, we find that the q/p ratio varies systematically with the four Hofstede dimensions of national culture, and for three of them in a pattern theoretically consistent with the social contagion interpretation. Furthermore, we find that products with competing standards have a higher q/p ratio, which is again consistent with the social contagion interpretation. Finally, we find effects of national culture only for products without competing standards, suggesting that technological effects and culturally mediated social contagion effects may not operate independently from each other.


In spell-checkers, reduplication (repetition of a word, or a part of it) is often subsumed under repetition and is either ignored or treated as erroneous. For most languages it is a valid strategy, however Basque is different in this respect as it exhibits several instances of valid partial or complete repetition of phrases. This issue appears to have been mostly ignored in existing computational applications. In this paper we provide a linguistic description of the phenomenon and present a prototype to be integrated in a complete spelling and grammar checker that would be capable of handling reduplication better than existing systems.


A 65-year-old man presented to our institution for workup of proteinuria. His serum creatinine level was 1.7 mg/dL (130 micromol/L), and he had proteinuria with protein of almost 5 g/24 h. Fabry disease was diagnosed by means of kidney biopsy and low serum and leukocyte levels of alpha-galactosidase A. Review of his history, family history, physical examinations, and diagnostic studies did not show other findings typical of this disease. His renal function continued to decline, and he eventually underwent a living unrelated renal transplantation 5 years later. Three years after transplantation, his creatinine level is 1.7 mg/dL (130 micromol/L), and corrected iothalamate clearance is 53 mL/min/1.73 m2 . Genetic studies showed that he has a novel missense mutation (M42L) in exon 1. Methionine at codon 42 is highly conserved in eukaryotic alpha-galactosidase A orthologues. This genotype predicts a minor misfolding of alpha-galactosidase A because of a small difference in hydrophobicity between methionine and leucine. His mutation resulted in a very low, but detectable, serum level of alpha-galactosidase A (0.002 U/L; normal range, 0.016 to 0.2 U/L). Cases of Fabry disease that present with predominantly renal manifestations are rare and require a high index of suspicion for diagnosis. Because treatment for Fabry disease recently has become available, it is important for clinicians to be aware of this disease and pursue the diagnosis in cases of otherwise unexplained renal dysfunction.


The study of the Moho beneath thick sedimentary basins involving natural earthquakes is challenging, as low‐velocity materials often cause strong reverberations that mask Moho signals. Here, we develop a method to determine the depth of the Moho by taking advantage of the presence of the sediments. The method utilizes the first Pn crustal multiple from regional earthquakes PnPn and its differential travel time with respect to Pn. PnPn is usually weak in amplitude; thus, it is difficult to identify in regions without a sedimentary cover. However, PnPn is significantly amplified in the presence of low‐velocity sediments because of an increase in the near‐surface P‐to‐P reflection coefficient. The arrival time, amplitude, and wave shape of PnPn, if normalized by the reference Pn, are insensitive to earthquake source parameters, such as focal mechanism and focal depth. We demonstrate the potential of this method using both 1D and 2D waveform simulations. Synthetic waveforms suggest that PmpPn and PnPmp (one Pn leg merges to PmP near the source or the receiver) largely contribute to the PnPn amplitudes, which depend on the near‐surface structure at their free‐surface P‐to‐P reflection points. We further validate the method with two field examples in the Imperial Valley; one is near the United States–Mexico border, and the other is in Oklahoma in the central United States. Both examples suggest that the method can be used to study the Moho either near the source or the receiver.


An architecture is a speciication of the components of a system and the communication between them. Systems are constrained to conform to an architecture. An architecture should guarantee certain behavioral properties of a conforming system, i.e., one whose components are conngured according to the architecture. An architecture should also be useful in various ways during the process of building a system. This paper presents three alternative concepts of architecture: object connection architecture, interface connection architecture, and plug and socket architecture. We describe diierent concepts of interface and connection that are needed for each of the three kinds of architecture, and diierent conformance requirements of each kind. Simple examples are used to compare the usefulness of each kind of architecture in guaranteeing properties of conforming systems, and in correctly modifying a conforming system. In comparing the three architecture concepts the principle of communication integrity becomes central , and two new architecture concepts, duality of sub-interfaces (services) and connections of dual services (service connection), are introduced to deene plug and socket architecture. We describe how these concepts reduce the complexity of architecture deenitions, and can in many cases help guarantee that the components of a conforming system communicate correctly. The paper is presented independently of any particular formalism, since the concepts can be represented in widely diiering architecture deenition formalisms, varying from graphical languages to event-based simulation languages.


This paper analyzes the mass media campaigns developed by the Mexican Council for AIDS Control and Prevention (CONASIDA) from 1987 to 1994. This paper presents the lessons learned, a discussion of obstacles and mistakes, and the different evaluation methods which have been used in CONASIDA'S mass media communication strategies and their results. Knowing the opinion of some clue informants was considered relevant--taking into account that evaluations were made by and at CONASIDA--and seven in-depth interviews were conducted among intellectuals, non-governmental organizations (NGO) leaders and public opinion leaders. The importance of society's involvement in AIDS prevention is stated, and two examples of mass media campaigns developed by civil groups are commented. A section about the importance of research as a requisite to produce preventive messages is included, along with some examples. Finally, some conclusions are presented, useful to us, as well as others, in developing new educational campaigns.


The statistical analysis of spatial data is usually done under Gaussian assumption for the underlying random field model. When this assumption is not satisfied, block bootstrap methods can be used to analyze spatial data. One of the crucial problems in this setting is specifying the block sizes. In this paper, we present asymptotic optimal block size for separate block bootstrap to estimate the variance of sample mean for spatial lattice data, using minimization of asymptotic mean square error of the estimator. Further, an empirical method has been proposed to determine the optimal block size. Also the optimality of the empirical estimate of block size has been considered numerically in a simulation study.


Abstract Competition in both local and international markets for the food business requires the development of differentiated products in order to meet the demand of more quality-stringent, health-conscious, and attribute-oriented consumers. The objective of this study is to evaluate consumers' preferences for value-added fish products in Oman and identify the most important attributes that are preferred by consumers. Such information is of value to the fish processing companies that are looking for profitable business opportunities in local or international niche markets. The study uses a conjoint analysis method to estimate consumer total utility for value-added fish products on the basis of four attributes: form of the product, package size, method of cooking and price. A sample of 200 consumers is selected in 4 major supermarkets in the Muscat region to conduct the conjoint experiment. Results of the conjoint analysis show that the most important attribute in the purchasing decision of the average consumer is the cooking method, which contributes 79.21% to the average overall preference, whereas the least important attribute is the price, contributing only 0.34% to overall preference. The most preferred product is a finger or nugget fish form formulated for frying and packed in a small package, whereas the least preferred products consist of the burger form formulated for microwaving and packed in large or medium packages. Segmentation of the fish value-added market according to nationality showed that there is no significant difference between Omaniand non-Omani preference structure.


Whole-exome sequencing (WES) is now a relatively straightforward process to identify causal variants in Mendelian disorders. However, the same is not true for WES in families where the inheritance patterns are less clear, and a complex etiology is suspected. Orofacial clefts (OFCs) are highly heritable birth defects with both Mendelian and complex etiologies. The phenotypic spectrum of OFCs may include overt clefts and several subclinical phenotypes, such as discontinuities in the orbicularis oris muscle (OOM) in the upper lip, velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI), microform clefts or bifid uvulas. We hypothesize that expanding the OFC phenotype to include these phenotypes can clarify inheritance patterns in multiplex families, making them appear more Mendelian. We performed whole-exome sequencing to find rare, likely causal genetic variants in 31 multiplex OFC families, which included families with multiple individuals with OFCs and individuals with subclinical phenotypes. We identified likely causal variants in COL11A2, IRF6, KLF4, SHROOM3, SMC3, TP63, and TBX3 in seven families. Although we did not find clear evidence supporting the subclinical phenotype hypothesis, our findings support a role for rare variants in the etiology of OFCs.


In the context of constant growth in the utilization of the Li-ion batteries, there was a great surge in the quest for electrode materials and predominant usage that lead to the retiring of Li-ion batteries. This review focuses on the recent advances in the anode and cathode materials for the next-generation Li-ion batteries. To achieve higher power and energy demands of Li-ion batteries in future energy storage applications, the selection of the electrode materials plays a crucial role. The electrode materials, such as carbon-based, semiconductor/metal, metal oxides/nitrides/phosphides/sulfides, determine appreciable properties of Li-ion batteries such as greater specific surface area, a minimal distance of diffusion, and higher conductivity. Various classifications of the anode materials such as the intercalation/de- intercalation, alloy/de-alloy, and various conversion materials are illustrated lucidly. Further, the cathode materials, such as nickel-rich LiNixCoyMnzO2 (NCM), were discussed. NCM members such as NCM 333, NCM 523 that enabled to advance for NCM622 and NCM81are reported. The nanostructured materials bridged the gap in the realization of next-generation Li-ion batteries. Li-ion batteries' electrode nanostructure synthesis, performance, and reaction mechanisms were considered with great concern. The serious effects of Li-ion batteries disposal need to be cut significantly to reduce the detrimental effect on the environment. Hence, the recycling of spent Li-ion batteries has gained much attention in recent years. Various recycling techniques and their effect on the electroactive materials are illustrated. The key areas covered in this review are anode and cathode materials and recent advances along with their recycling techniques. In light of crucial points covered in this review, it constitutes a suitable reference for engineers, researchers, and designers in energy storage applications.


This paper examines the developing relationship between higher education practices and professional training for UK Firearms Officers. In particular, this paper's analysis challenges some common assumptions about the role of higher education and the drive to professionalization in the context of police Firearms training. The potential for effective partnership in this setting is examined, focusing on how these partnerships might work better and how theories of expansive learning might support them. Its impact is explored through interviews with officers from three UK forces, focusing on the relations between academic and more professionally-oriented learning. Semi-structured interviews were used to gauge the views of 7 trainees, whose responses were analyzed to inform a discussion of workplace learning environments and conclusions about enhanced training and professional practices. The findings suggest that expansive learning environments are one way of developing training provision to meet the needs of increasingly complex firearms roles in the United Kingdom, especially the demand for greater responsibility and effectiveness. We suggest that both higher education and professional training organizations can and should play a part in developing such environments.


In this meta-analytic study, we investigated the effects of mobile devices on student achievement in science, mathematics and reading in grades K–12. Based on our inclusion criteria, we searched the ERIC and PsycINFO databases and identified 14 peer-reviewed research articles published between 2010 and 2014. We identified the device type, subject area, intervention language, grade level, study design and implementer (i.e., of the intervention) as potential moderator variables that may influence student achievement in the targeted content areas. We followed a three-level meta-analytic procedure to estimate the overall effect of these variables and explain the variation in outcomes. The results suggest that use of mobile devices in teaching yielded higher achievement scores than traditional teaching in all subject areas. With regard to the analysis of moderator variables, the results suggest that using mobile devices in reading is significantly more effective than doing so in mathematics.


This study proposes two new dynamic assignment algorithms to match refugees and asylum seekers to geographic localities within a host country. The first, currently implemented in a multi-year pilot in Switzerland, seeks to maximize the average predicted employment level (or any measured outcome of interest) of refugees through a minimum-discord online assignment algorithm. Although the proposed algorithm achieves near-optimal expected employment compared to the hindsight-optimal solution (and improves upon the status quo procedure by about 40%), it results in a periodically imbalanced allocation to the localities over time. This leads to undesirable workload inefficiencies for resettlement resources and agents. To address this problem, the second algorithm balances the goal of improving refugee outcomes with the desire for an even allocation over time. The performance of the proposed methods is illustrated using real refugee resettlement data from a large resettlement agency in the United States. On this dataset, we find that the allocation balancing algorithm can achieve near-perfect balance over time with only a small loss in expected employment compared to the pure employment-maximizing algorithm. In addition, the allocation balancing algorithm offers a number of ancillary benefits compared to pure outcome-maximization, including robustness to unknown arrival flows and greater exploration.


A pulse oximeter sensor (410) with a light source optimized for low oxygen saturation ranges and for maximizing the immunity to perturbation induced artifact. Preferably, a red (112) and an infrared light source (114) are used, with the red light source (112) having a mean wavelength between 700-790 nm. The infrared light source (114) can have a mean wavelength as in prior art devices used on patients with high saturation. The sensor of the present invention is further optimized by arranging the spacing between the light emitter (112,114) and light detectors (116) to minimize the sensitivity to perturbation induced artifact. The present invention optimizes the chosen wavelengths to achieve a closer matching of the absorption and scattering coefficient products for the red and IR light sources. This optimization gives robust readings in the presence of perturbation artifacts including force variations, tissue variations and variations in the oxygen saturation itself.


The landscape of contemporary engineering education is ever changing, adapting and evolving. As an example, finite element theory and application has often been included in graduate-level courses in engineering programs; however, current industry needs bachelor's-level engineering graduates with skills in applying this essential analysis and design technique. Engineering education is also changing to include more active learning. In response to the need to introduce undergrads to the finite element method as well as the need for engineering curricula to include more active learning, we have developed, implemented and assessed a suite of Active Learning Module (ALMs).The ALMs are designed to improve student learning of difficult engineering concepts while students gain essential knowledge of finite element analysis. We have used the Kolb Learning Cycle as a conceptual framework to guide our design of the ALMs. Originally developed using MSC Nastran, followed by development efforts in SolidWorks Simulation, ANSOFT, ANSYS, and other commercial FEA software packages, a team of researchers, with National Science Foundation support, have created over twenty-eight active learning modules. We will discuss the implementation of these learning modules which have been incorporated into undergraduate courses that cover topics such as machine design, mechanical vibrations, heat transfer, bioelectrical engineering, electromagnetic field analysis, structural fatigue analysis, computational fluid dynamics, rocket design, chip formation during manufacturing, and large scale deformation in machining. This update on research findings includes statistical results for each module which compare performance on preand post-learning module quizzes to gauge change in student knowledge related to the difficult engineering concepts that each module addresses. Statistically significant student performance gains provide evidence of module effectiveness. In addition, we present statistical comparisons between different personality types (based on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, MBTI, subgroups) and different learning styles (based on Felder-Solomon ILS subgroups) in regards to the average gains each group of students have made on quiz performance. Although exploratory, and generally based on small sample sizes at this point in our multi-year effort, the modules for which subgroup differences are found are being carefully reviewed in an attempt to determine whether modifications should be made to better ensure equitable impact of the modules across students from specific personality and / or learning styles subgroups (e.g., MBTI Intuitive versus Sensing; ILS Sequential versus Global). Page 23224.4


Regulatory bodies worldwide are intensifying their efforts to ensure transparency in influencer marketing on social media through instruments like the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) in the European Union, or Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Yet enforcing these obligations has proven to be highly problematic due to the sheer scale of the influencer market. The task of automatically detecting sponsored content aims to enable the monitoring and enforcement of such regulations at scale. Current research in this field primarily frames this problem as a machine learning task, focusing on developing models that achieve high classification performance in detecting ads. These machine learning tasks rely on human data annotation to provide ground truth information. However, agreement between annotators is often low, leading to inconsistent labels that hinder the reliability of models. To improve annotation accuracy and, thus, the detection of sponsored content, we propose using chatGPT to augment the annotation process with phrases identified as relevant features and brief explanations. Our experiments show that this approach consistently improves inter-annotator agreement and annotation accuracy. Additionally, our survey of user experience in the annotation task indicates that the explanations improve the annotators' confidence and streamline the process. Our proposed methods can ultimately lead to more transparency and alignment with regulatory requirements in sponsored content detection.


The purpose of the present study was to investigate the acid-base status and the serum concentration of organic acids in puppies with naturally occurring canine parvoviral enteritis. Between July 1999 and July 2000, 25 client-owned puppies admitted to the St. Louis Animal Emergency Clinic South for treatment of enteritis caused by parvovirus infection were used in our study. Control blood samples were collected from 22 healthy puppies less than 9 months of age. Serum organic acid concentrations were quantitatively determined by HPLC. Puppies infected with parvovirus had significantly lower plasma concentrations of sodium, potassium, chloride, and bicarbonate than controls. Although serum L-lactate tended to increase in some puppies with canine parvoviral enteritis, our study demonstrated that most affected puppies developed only mild compensated metabolic acidosis. None of the affected puppies had an elevated serum D-lactate concentration at admission.


Abstract The aim of the research was to examine the effects of satisfaction and commitment of employees on the employees' loyalty and to investigate the effect of employees' loyalty on quality of services provided for customers. This research is applied in terms of objective and correlational type of descriptive-survey in terms of data collection. Population of the research includes two groups. The first group included employees providing service to customers of Ports and Maritime Organization of Bushehr (Iran) and the second group included customers receiving the services of the organization. From both groups, 250 people were selected using available sampling method to respond to questions of the research. To test the research conceptual model and research hypotheses, structural equation modeling was used. The results showed that job satisfaction of employees have significant positive effect on organizational commitment of employees. Also, job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees have significant positive effect on their loyalty to organization. In addition, organizational loyalty of employees has positive and significant impact on improving the quality of customer service. Therefore, organizations should make their effort to recruit employees who are suitable for their activities.


Cushing's syndrome comprises the symptoms and signs associated with prolonged exposure to inappropriately elevated levels of free plasma glucocorticoids. When iatrogenic causes are excluded, the commonest cause of Cushing's syndrome is Cushing's disease, accounting for approximately 70% of cases. We present the case of a 20-year-old male patient with central obesity, moon face and purple-red striae, whose diagnostic investigation shows a pituitary macroadenoma. The patient was submitted to transsphenoidal hypophysectomy, but developed early recurrence. He was submitted to a second transsphenoidal intervention followed by pituitary radiation. Presently, the patient is in clinical and laboratory remission.


An agglutination test with the use of formalin-killed antigen of the cell carrying the capsule was developed and used for the detection of antibody in swine naturally infected with Bordetella bronchiseptica. Under optimum antigen concentration and reaction temperature 210 or 60% of 342 serum samples tested from 42 conventional swine herds were positive for Bordetella infection. In contrast, only 34 or 10% of 342 nasal swabs from the same animals were positive for Bordetella by culture technique. The test was relatively free of cross-reactivity to related organism. However, 2.7 and 13.0% of sera from growing pigs and mature hogs, respectively, reacted with antigen of Pasteurella multocida. Because of this, only agglutinin reactions in 1:20 dilutions or higher to Bordetella were considered positive. The bulk of the antibody activity of selected sera tested from various age ranges of swine was mercaptoethanol sensitive, suggesting that serum antibody in Bordetella infection may be associated with immunoglobulin IgM. Because of the high agglutinability and stability of formalin-killed antigen the test may be useful as an auxiliary aid for the diagnosis of Bordetella infection where the organism cannot be identified by culture means.


BACKGROUND
Angiogenesis is an important process facilitating the growth of glioblastoma (GBM). It also has drawn great attention in the treatment of GBM. GBM angiogenesis is closely related to the function of endothelial cells. microRNAs can affect the activities of endothelial 10 cells directly, or indirectly through the interaction of tumor cells and endothelial cells. However, the mechanism underlying the interaction of GBM cells regulated by specific microRNA with endothelial cells and following angiogenesis requires further research. In published articles, microRNA-16 acted as a tumor suppressor in multiple types of cancers including glioma, but the role in glioma angiogenesis has not been well elucidated.

METHODS
The expression of microRNA-16 was detected in human GBM samples and normal brain tissues. microRNA-16 was transfected to GBM cell line U87 and A172 then the function of endothelial cells co-cultured with U87/A172 (miR-16 or control) were observed in vitro. Expression of VEGF family in vitro and the effect of microRNA-16 on GBM angiogenesis in vivo were also investigated.

RESULTS
microRNA-16 is down-regulated in human GBM samples in contrast to the normal brain tissues. Overexpression of microRNA- 16 in the A172 and U87 GBM cell lines inhibited the activities of co-cultured endothelial cells, including proliferation, migration, extension and tubule formation. Further experiments of dual luciferase assays verified microRNA-16 directly targeting Bmi-1. microRNA-16 down-regulated the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor VEGF-A and VEGF- C which were closely related to the angiogenesis of GBM. Moreover, less vascular formed in the section of neoplasm of the microRNA- transduced group than the control group in vivo.

CONCLUSIONS
Collectively, these findings indicate that loss of microRNA-16 may favor glioma angiogenesis, on the contrary overexpression of microRNA-16 in GBM cells plays a critical role in repressing endothelial function and angiogenesis by targeting Bmi-1. microRNA-16 may be a potential therapeutic agent in the treatment of GBM.


Cancer is consistently associated with anorexia. The Lobund-Wistar rat model of prostate cancer exhibits clinical manifestations (including anorexia) that resemble many aspects of the human disease. Cytokines are proposed to be involved in cancer-associated anorexia. Here we investigated mRNA profiles of feeding-modulatory cytokines and neuropeptides in specific brain regions of anorectic Lobund-Wistar rats bearing prostate adenocarcinoma tumor cells. Interleukin (IL)-1beta system components (ligand, signaling receptor, receptor accessory proteins, receptor antagonist), tumor necrosis factor-alpha, transforming growth factor-beta1, glycoprotein 130 (IL-6 receptor signal transducer), proopiomelanocortin (POMC, opioid peptide precursor), and neuropeptide Y (NPY) mRNAs were analyzed with sensitive and specific RNase protection assays. The same brain region sample was assayed for all components. The data show that early anorexia in tumor-bearing rats was associated with an upregulation of IL-1beta mRNA in the brain regions examined (cerebellum, cortex, and hypothalamus). IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) mRNA and IL-1 receptor type I mRNA levels were also significantly increased in the cortex and hypothalamus. All other cytokine components, POMC, or NPY mRNA levels were not significantly different between tumor-bearing and pair-fed (control) rats. IL-1beta mRNA and IL-1Ra mRNA were also significantly upregulated in the spleen of tumor-bearing rats. These data suggest that 1) IL-1beta mRNA upregulation in the brain may be relevant to the anorexia exhibited by the tumor-bearing Lobund-Wistar rat and 2) in vivo characterization of cytokine components in discrete brain regions during cancer is necessary to understand underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for cancer-associated neurological manifestations.


Every Nevada Resident, who has a library card registered with the LVCCLD Library, can use the State Databases on our website, regardless of where they live. Every Nevada Resident, who has a library card registered with the LVCCLD Library, can use the State Databases, regardless of where they live.


Research based practice in nursing and midwifery is regarded as a means of ensuring that quality care is provided by integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research. There is an increasing pressure on healthcare professionals to ensure that their practice is based on evidence from good quality research. Becoming abreast with the current evidence based information is not enough if the information is not translated into clinical practices. This study was to establish the midwives' level of evidence based information and how much of it is being applied into the clinical practice.Evidence based episiotomy practice by the midwives in Pumwani Maternity hospital (PMH) was evaluated using cross-sectional qualitative and quantitative descriptive statistical methods. The study population consisted of fifty eight midwives working in the labour ward; only thirty five appropriately completed questionnaires were analyzed. The focus group discussion and the key informants gave their in-depth views and information during the interview on the study subject. Purposive sampling was used to select the midwives who met the inclusion criteria. Data cleaning was done by ensuring the completeness and consistency of responses in the study tools. Quantitative data analyzed using content analysis and processed according to themes using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16. Quantitative data analysis was done by using inferential and descriptive statistics. Correlation coefficient and CHI square was employed to bring out the relationships among variables. The study sample included 45 midwives which revealed that 46% of the midwives obtained the evidence based practice information on episiotomy through continuing education and personal efforts. The midwives perform an assessment on the patient before giving an episiotomy and different criteria influence their decision to perform an episiotomy. The most prevalent type of episiotomy preferred by the midwives was medio-lateral (86%) unlike the mid-line. These criteria are not exclusively evidence based. The proportions of midwives based their practices on the following criteria: very tight perineum (17%), breech presentation (13%), premature labour (12%). FGM (10%), instrumental delivery (5%), status of the foetus (9%), and (29%) others (big baby, mothers serological status, shoulder dystocia and poor maternal efforts). Despite the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among the patient population, episiotomy is still performed under unavoidable circumstance. The respondents stated actual and potential barriers to implementation of evidence based practice (EBP) of episiotomy which included lack of specific guidelines on specific procedures, workload due to high patient population, inadequate administration support, poor accessibility of research reports and personal attitudes.It is evident from the findings that a higher percentage (49%) of midwives rated their knowledge on evidence based episiotomy practice on high level (4-5 points) but the actual practice did not correspond to the application of the knowledge. The study recommends an urgent need for the PMH to put in place modalities to ensure that practice guidelines are developed, used and reviewed appropriately to ensure standardized services especially in an institution which trains the midwifery students.


We propose a transition-based bubble parser to perform coordination structure identification and dependency-based syntactic analysis simultaneously. Bubble representations were proposed in the formal linguistics literature decades ago; they enhance dependency trees by encoding coordination boundaries and internal relationships within coordination structures explicitly. In this paper, we introduce a transition system and neural models for parsing these bubble-enhanced structures. Experimental results on the English Penn Treebank and the English GENIA corpus show that our parsers beat previous state-of-the-art approaches on the task of coordination structure prediction, especially for the subset of sentences with complex coordination structures.


Abstract:British Literature is an unfamiliar concept in literary studies. English Literature and Scottish Literature are the customary terms of art, expressive, it seems, of the distinctive national cultures from which these literatures emerge. Indeed, English Literature, rather than British Literature also does service as an umbrella for all Anglophone literatures. However, the idea of British Literature has a longer history. In the eighteenth century there was a keen sense among literary antiquaries and philologists that the sister languages of English and Scots had produced a striking corpus of medieval Anglo-Scottish literature. In the nineteenth century 'British Literature' entered the currency of criticism. However, the coming of the Scots literary renaissance in the inter-War era killed off this usage. In more recent decades, with the growing recognition that the UK is a multi-national state a new appreciation of 'British Literature' – associated with cultural pluralism and the expansion of the English canon – has emerged.


Planetary excavators face unique and extreme engineering constraints relative to terrestrial counterparts. In space missions mass is always at a premium because it is the main driver behind launch costs. Lightweight operation, due to low mass and reduced gravity, hinders excavation and mobility by reducing the forces a robot can effect on its environment. This thesis shows that there is a quantifiable, non-dimensional threshold that distinguishes the regimes of lightweight and heavy excavation. This threshold is crossed at lower weights for continuous excavators (bucket-wheels, bucket chains, etc.) than discrete excavators (loaders, scrapers, etc.). The lightweight threshold relates payload ratio (weight of regolith payload collected to empty robot weight), excavation resistance (force imparted on an excavator by cutting and collecting soil), and excavation thrust (force supplied by an excavator that is available for cutting soil). Experiments and simulation herein show that payload ratio governs productivity of lightweight excavators. Reducing weight (due to low mass, reduced gravity, or both) decreases an excavator's thrust to resistance ratio, especially in cohesive soils. There is a predictable regime in the operating space where this ratio is low enough that it limits an excavator's payload ratio and, ultimately, productivity. Discrete excavators cross into this regime more readily than continuous excavators, because soil accumulation on their blades increases their excavation resistance. This research introduces novel experimentation that for the first time subjects excavators to gravity offload (a cable pulls up on the robot with 5/6 its weight, to simulate lunar gravity) while they dig. A 300 kg excavator offloaded to 1/6 g successfully collects 0.5 kg/s using a bucket-wheel, with no discernable effect on mobility. For a discrete excavator of the same weight, production rapidly declines as rising excavation resistance stalls the robot; in total the discrete bucket collects less than 20 kg of regolith. These experiments demonstrate that discrete excavation crosses the lightweight threshold under conditions where continuous excavation does not. They also suggest caution in interpreting low gravity performance predictions based solely on testing in Earth gravity. This work develops a novel robotic bucket-wheel excavator. It features unique direct transfer from a bucket-wheel to a high payload ratio dump bed, as well as a high traction and high speed mobility system. Past lightweight excavator prototypes were too slow or carried too little regolith payload. Some used bucket-wheels or bucket-ladders to dig continuously, but transported regolith using exposed chains or conveyors that would not withstand harsh lunar conditions. Future research on lightweight excavation would benefit from testing in reduced gravity flights. These provide the most representative test environment short of actually operating on a planetary surface, as excavator and regolith are both subject to reduced gravity. Another important direction for future study is deep excavation in the presence of submerged rocks, which pose challenges for lighweight continuous and discrete excavators alike. Experiments to confirm the generality of results herein are recommended, including studying the scaling of excavation resistance in cohesive soils, and comparing a broad variety of discrete and continuous excavator tools.


In this paper, we investigate the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations with random inputs based on generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) stochastic Galerkin approximation. A special treatment with symmetrization is carried out for the gPC stochastic Galerkin method so that the resulting deterministic gPC Galerkin system is provably symmetric hyperbolic in the spatially one-dimensional case. We discretize the hyperbolic gPC Galerkin system with a high-order path-conservative finite volume weighted essentially non-oscillatory scheme in space and a third-order total variation diminishing Runge-Kutta method in time. The method is also extended to two spatial dimensions via the operator splitting technique. Several numerical examples are provided to illustrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the numerical scheme. AMS subject classifications: 65M60, 65M08, 35L60, 76W05


How to create a sustainable relationship with an export agent, when in fact the interests of two parties are so different from each other? There is always some sort of a conflict of interests between manufacturers and their agents. For the agent it seems the products are too expensive and hence difficult to sell, whereas the producer feels the agent makes too much profit on the sale of their products. An agent faces a double risk when it enters a relationship with a supplier. If sales fail to materialize in spite of big efforts, the agent might be dropped for non-performance. On the other hand, if sales materialize, again the agent risks being dropped as the supplier gains control of the agent's market. The following book will cover the whole process of negotiation from determining what both parties can expect from each other until signing a contract. Psychological and cultural aspects are also discussed. The following work will help managers, sales directors and lawyers conclude agency deals. It is especially useful for companies that can not afford hiring new people for market expansion or are looking for new ways to increase sales.


The aim of this master thesis project was to develop methods for sample preparation and analysis by LC-MS suitable for global metabolomics of human plasma samples. In this thesis six different methods was tested, based on precipitation, solid phase extraction (SPE), and ultrafiltration. The methods differ in their mechanisms of action, but the end goal is the same, to remove the proteins and other high molecular weight compounds from the samples and to retain as many metabolites as possible in a reproducible manner. The LC-MS analysis were performed on a C18 and a HILIC type column using electrospray ionization (ESI) with both positive and negative ionization to cover as much of the metabolome as possible. The MarkerLynx software was then used to extract features from the chromatograms. The coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated and the features with CV > 30 % were removed. The features were then used to compare the methods with each other in order to see whether any of the methods yielded the same capture of features. The largest amount of features was detected for precipitation with MeOH when using a C18 type column. For HILIC type columns precipitation with MeOH with a small addition of H3PO4 resulted in most unique features detected. The ionization mode was found to be less important, compared whit the choice of column, but more features was detected using positive mode than negative mode.


Quality of life is increasingly becoming a concept researched empirically and theoretically in the field of economics. In urban economics in particular, this increasing interest stems mainly from the fact that quality of life affects urban competitiveness and urban growth: Research shows that when households and businesses decide where to locate, quality of life considerations can play a very important role. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the way economic literature and urban economic literature in particular, have adopted quality of life considerations in the economic thinking. Moreover, it presents the ways various studies have attempted to capture the multidimensional nature of the concept, and quantify it for the purposes of empirical research. Additionally we focus on the state of the art in Spain. Looking at the experiences in the last years we see very important possibilities of developing new studies in the field.


The periplasmic protein CusF, as a part of the CusCFBA efflux complex, plays a role in resistance to elevated levels of copper and silver in Escherichia coli. Although homologues have been identified in other Gram-negative bacteria, the substrate of CusF and its precise role in metal resistance have not been described. Here, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) was used to demonstrate that CusF binds with high affinity to both Cu(I) and Ag(I) but not Cu(II). The affinity of CusF for Ag(I) was higher than that for Cu(I), which could reflect more efficient detoxification of Ag(I) given the lack of a cellular need for Ag(I). The chemical shifts in the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of CusF-Ag(I) as compared to apo-CusF show that the region of CusF most affected by Ag(I) binding encompasses three absolutely conserved residues: H36, M47, and M49. This suggests that these residues may play a role in Ag(I) coordination. The NMR spectra of CusF in the presence of Cu(II) do not indicate specific binding, which is in agreement with the ITC data. We conclude that Cu(I) and Ag(I) are the likely physiological substrates.


This guide grew out of a book discussion group sponsored by the Honors Program and the David L. Underwood Library at the Florissant Valley Campus of St. Louis Community College.


Periprosthetic fractures can be discussed in many formats. In this article, epidemiology, classification, and treatment are divided into the following three categories of periprosthetic fracture: intraoperative fractures detected at the time of surgery; intraoperative fractures undetected at the time of surgery, but detected postoperatively; and postoperative fractures occurring late after the arthroplasty procedure.


Agriculture has played a central role in Africa's long‐term economic development. Previous research has argued that the low productivity of African economies has posed significant challenges to African efforts to produce an agricultural surplus or to develop commercial agriculture. Low agricultural productivity has also served as a key explanation for the transatlantic slave trade, on the basis that it was more profitable to export humans overseas than to grow and export produce. However, the field has suffered from a lack of comparable empirical evidence. This article contributes to this field by presenting quantitative data on historical land and labour productivity in Africa, from a case study of the agricultural productivity of Senegambia in the early nineteenth century. Focusing on five key crops, our results suggest that both land and labour productivity was lower in Senegambia than it was in all other parts of the world for which we have found comparable data. This article thus lends support to claims that stress ecological factors as one of the main determinants of Africa's historical development.


This paper focuses on the performance analysis of a linear system solving based on Cholesky decomposition and QR factorization, implemented on 16bits fixed-point DSP-chip (TMS320C6474). The classical method of Cholesky decomposition has the advantage of low execution time. However, the modified Gram-Schmidt QR factorization performs better in term of robustness against the round-off error propagation. In this study, we have proposed a third method called Modified Gram-Schmidt Cholesky Decomposition. We have shown that it provides a compromise of the two performance criterias cited above. A joint theoretical and experimental analysis of global performance of the three methods has been presented and discussed.


Semi-Supervised learning is of great interest in a wide variety of research areas, including natural language processing, speech synthesizing, image classification, genomics etc. SemiSupervised Generative Model is one Semi-Supervised learning approach that learns labeled data and unlabeled data simultaneously. A drawback of current Semi-Supervised Generative Models is that latent encoding learnt by generative models is concatenated directly with predicted label, which may result in degradation in representation learning. In this paper we present a new SemiSupervised Generative Models that removes the direct dependency of data generation on label, hence overcomes this drawback. We show experiments that verifies this approach, together with comparison with existing works.


Using the Digital Pulsed Force Mode (DPFM) approach, the local mechanical properties of living HeLa cells have been examined. The cells were attached to a favorable glass-like substrate. The AFM used for the experiments was a commercial AFM setup by WITec. At every point of the image, approach and retract curves have been performed. The repetition rate of the cycle was 175 Hz. A total of about 500,000 curves has been recorded and completely evaluated for each experiment. The substrate served as an online reference material for calibration purposes. First, the force trajectories were corrected for the viscous drag force in the liquid environment. Second, the curves within the region of the substrate were phase corrected to compensate for the time lag of the signal in the setup assuming a purely elastic response of the reference material. Finally, all the force traces have been corrected by using this information and evaluated according to common continuum-elastic models. The resulting images allow the assignment of values of Young's modulus, local adhesion, hysteretic behavior, etc. at a high lateral resolution all over the cell body. In this paper, we describe the procedure of our measurement and the corresponding signal correction strategy of our automated data evaluation.


Introduction. Corynebacterium ulcerans (C. ulcerans) is a zoonotic pathogen that occasionally causes diphtheria-like symptoms in humans. Cases of C. ulcerans infection have been increasing in recent years, and C. ulcerans has been recognized as an emerging pathogen. Case presentation. Here we report a case of asphyxia death due to pseudomembrane caused by diphtheria toxin (DT)-producing C. ulcerans. This is, to our knowledge, the first fatal case of C. ulcerans infection in Japan. A strain of C. ulcerans was obtained from the patient's pet cat and was confirmed to be identical to the patient's isolate by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and the DT gene, by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and by ribotyping. In the same way, it was revealed that the isolate in this case belonged to the same molecular type as the C. ulcerans 0102 isolated from the first case in Japan in a distant prefecture 15 years earlier, in 2001. Conclusion. DT-producing C. ulcerans can be contracted from a companion animal and causes human death if the appropriate treatment is delayed. The finding indicates that this molecular type of virulent C. ulcerans is currently widespread in Japan.


This paper presents two newly developed models of capacitive silicon bulk acoustic resonators (SiBARs) characterized by a rectangular-bar geometry. The first model is derived from an approximate analytical solution of the linear elastodynamic equations for a parallelepiped made of an orthotropic material. This solution, which is recognized to represent a Lamb wave propagating across the width of the resonator, yields the frequencies and shapes of the resonance modes that typically govern the operation of SiBARs. The second model is numerical and is based on a finite-element multiphysics simulation of both acoustic wave propagation in the resonator and electromechanical transduction in the capacitive gaps of the device. It is especially useful in the computation of the SiBAR performance parameters, which cannot be obtained from the analytical model, e.g., the relationship between the transduction area and the insertion loss. Comparisons with the measurements taken on a set of silicon resonators fabricated using electron-beam lithography show that both models can predict the resonance frequencies of SiBARs with a relative error, which, in most cases, is significantly smaller than 1%.


Through transportation accidents or intentional releases, plastic pellets (small granules 1-5 mm in diameter) are widely distributed in the ocean all over the world. These pellets accumulate organic pollutants and can be used for the determination of diffusive seawater pollution. Pellets demonstrating a certain degree of erosion are expected to have enough contact time with the water pollutants and thus, reach sorption equilibrium with the water phase. In the present study, eroded pellets collected from Greek beaches, were separated into polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, i.e. naphthalene, phenanthrene, and pyrene) were used as model compounds to study the uptake kinetics into these eroded pellets. Naphthalene uptake demonstrates similar kinetics in both eroded PE and PP. Phenanthrene and pyrene uptake demonstrates slower kinetic rates by eroded PE than by virgin PE and similar kinetic rates by eroded and virgin PP. These observations are then used to evaluate PAHs measurements in pellets sampled from two sampling sites in Saronikos Gulf. It is concluded that seawater in Loutropyrgos beach is polluted by PAHs more than seawater in Aegena island. PAH pollution in both sampling sites is of pyrogenic origin.


Abstract In this article we document trends in welfare caseloads and some initial experiences of service providers and welfare recipients on reservations within Arizona under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). We document the issues and concerns of state and tribal service providers as they implement the legislation on reservations that are often geographically isolated and which lack infrastructure, jobs, childcare and transportation. We also record experiences of women with children on reservations with the 1996 federal welfare legislation. These families experience similar barriers when trying to move from welfare to work as do their counterparts across the country; however, these barriers are magnified on reservations. The welfare recipients' barriers include: a shortage of employment opportunities on reservations; a lack of transportation and childcare facilities; low levels of education and job experience; and, individual and family problems. Poor families in Indian communities face additional barriers to employment because of their geographic isolation, lack of access to basic necessities (like telephones), as well as stereotypes and discrimination by employers due to ethnicity or personal/family histories.


Asouzu's 21st-century philosophy of complementary ontology (popularly known as ibuanyidanda) has brought to bear the abstract nature of metaphysics as expounded by the west. Through the West has a different world view which many African scholars have seen to be driven by anthropocentric tendencies. African system of thought imbibed in communalism have often called for mutual complementarity among whatever that exist, for the essential purpose of attaining the greatest possible flourishing and realizing the common good of man. The Ibuanyidanda philosophy of mutual complementation holds that there is a mutual dependence of all missing links in their unifying interrelatedness. Hence, all cultures, races, sexes, tribes, nations, religions, and political affiliates are in mutual complementary indebtedness to each other in their privileges and responsibilities. The essence of this paper is to a critical look at the position of Ibuanyidanda on metaphysics.


In "Performing O'Neill," Yvonne Shafer talks with the most important actors and directors who interpreted O'Neill in the 20th century: Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Fritz Weaver, James Earle Jones, Theresa Wright, Gloria Foster, Ted Mann, and Arvin Brown, to name just a few. Actors like Robards talk about their first encounters with the master and their interpretations of roles like Hickey in "The Iceman Cometh" and James Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night." Directors talk about the challenges they face in bringing O'Neill's dark and compelling vision of American life to the stage and making it relevant for audiences in the 21st century. The work is a lively collection of interviews in the "Paris Review" tradition constructed by one of the foremost O'Neill scholars writing today.


The authors investigated changes of some haemodynamic parameters after sclerotization of oesophageal varices and after administration of isosorbide dinitrate in the preparation Iso Mack retard. Twenty patients with cirrhosis of the liver with oesophageal varices grade 3-4 were treated by endoscopic sclerotization only, while to a second comparable group of cirrhotic patients from the first stage of sclerotization oral Iso Mack retard was administered in daily doses of 80-120 mg, depending on tolerance. The haemodynamic parameters were investigated before the onset of treatment and again after completed sclerotherapy or at least three-month treatment with ISDN. After sclerotization of oesophageal varices the pressure in the portal circulation rises significantly as well as the flow through the portal vein due above all to an accelerated blood flow. On the other hand, ISDN prevents a rise of portal hypertension and leads even to a slight decline which is, however, not associated with a decline of the portal flow. A relative disadvantage is the adverse effect on systemic haemodynamics after large nitrate doses. The decline of the portal pressure caused by the vasodilatating effect of ISDN in the splanchnic and portal area is manifested in a very positive way by reduction of relapses of haemorrhage from oesophageal varices. ISDN may play a positive role in the treatment of portal hypertension with oesophageal varices, during acute haemorrhage as well as in the prevention of relapses of haemorrhage. A particularly favourable procedure is the combination with sclerotherapy of oesophageal varices. None of the procedures leads to reduction of the portal flow and preserves hepatic function.


We have designed a Turkish dictation system for Broadcast news applications. Turkish is an agglutinative language with free word order. These characteristics of the language result in the vocabulary explosion, large number of out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words and the complexity of the N-gram language models in speech recognition when words are used as recognition units. Therefore, we proposed new recognition units. We parsed some of the words to smaller recognition units like stems, endings and morphemes, and introduced these smaller units and the unparsed words to the speech recognizer as lexicon entries. This way, we were able to overcome to the problem of large number of OOV words with a moderate vocabulary size and get better estimates for the N-gram language models. However, best recognition result was obtained using the word-based language model.


We have developed a method for isolating single cardiac muscle cells in high yield (greater than 5 X 10(7) cells) from the canine left ventricle. Most of the myocytes are single cells with ultrastructural detail indistinguishable from intact ventricular myocardium, and more than 50% of the isolated cells remain elongated for at least 7 h in 0.5 mM calcium. Electrophysiological studies demonstrate that external potassium has a strong influence on repolarization in the isolated ventricular cells. Action potentials in [K+]o = 3.78 mM exhibit a positive over-shoot (greater than zero potential), but repolarization often arrests at congruent to -35 mV unless driven to more negative potentials by hyperpolarizing current. This phenomenon of two levels of resting potential is not observed at [K+]o = 5.78 mM. At the higher potassium concentration, values for maximum diastolic potential, amplitude, maximum rate of rise of phase 0, and action potential duration all are similar to those of intact ventricular muscle. However, the potential at the peak of the action potential plateau (phase 2) in the isolated myocyte is considerably more negative than that of intact myocardium. In addition, there is a conspicuous notch between phases 1 and 2 of the action potential in the isolated myocyte, whereas the notch is small or absent in intact myocardial action potentials. In summary, our method results in a preparation of stable, ultrastructurally and electrophysiologically intact cells, which should prove useful in studies requiring a large and homogeneous population of myocardial cells.


Government spending: The government's Spending Review will be far from comprehensive. With the triple-lock for state pension increases and NHS, per-pupil funding for schools, international aid and the defence budget all protected, the overwhelming majority of government spending has been ring-fenced from cuts. Rather than salami-slicing remaining departmental budgets to hit arbitrary savings targets, the government should rethink its functions from first principles. The spending review should take account of changing demand patterns and relative prices in certain sectors and should not maintain arbitrary targets for spending as a percentage of national income in others. It should take into account the long-term effects of ageing on health and pensions spending. Capital spending decisions should prioritise projects with the highest economic return. The tax credits fiasco: The government's proposed tax credit changes should be abandoned. They significantly increase marginal tax rates for the low-paid. Delaying implementation or other minor changes to the reforms will not change this. Instead, the government should overhaul the system. It should replace tax credits with a negative income tax based on household income with the amount of tax-free income based on tax allowances which would be transferable within households. This would end the discrimination against family formation inherent within the current system. Consideration should be given to increasing the conditionality of benefits with more stringent work requirements. The tax system: The Autumn Statement should make plans to simplify the tax system and make it more economically rational. The government should not put forward changes to the system of pension tax relief except that the tax-free lump sum should be abolished or severely restricted. Property taxation should be completely overhauled, with the long-term aim of abolishing council tax, business rates and stamp duty, and replacing them with a Land Value Tax on commercial land and a tax on imputed rent for residential property. Personal tax thresholds should rise by the higher of inflation or earnings growth in the coming years after a number of years of under-indexation. Further increases in tax thresholds at the lower end should focus on raising the starting threshold for national insurance contributions. The withdrawal of the personal allowance above £100,000 should be abolished as should the higher rate of income tax. The VAT base should be broadened to include VAT at the full rate on domestic energy consumption. Other extensions of the VAT base should be implemented in the long run. This change and the restricting of the tax-free lump sum for pensions would facilitate all the tax reductions above plus a number of measures that would considerably simplify the tax system. Decentralisation: The government should be ambitious in its fiscal decentralisation agenda. But rather than ad-hoc City Deals powers for spending, revenue raising and regulation should be devolved to all local authorities.


The purpose of feature extraction on convolutional neural networks is to reuse deep representations learnt for a pre-trained model to solve a new, potentially unrelated problem. However, raw feature extraction from all layers is unfeasible given the massive size of these networks. Recently, a supervised method using complexity reduction was proposed, resulting in significant improvements in performance for transfer learning tasks. This approach first computes the discriminative power of features, and then discretises them using thresholds computed for the task. In this paper, we analyse the behaviour of these thresholds, with the purpose of finding a methodology for their estimation. After a comprehensive study, we find a very strong correlation between problem size and threshold value, with coefficient of determination above 90%. These results allow us to propose a unified model for threshold estimation, with potential application to transfer learning tasks.


Multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT)is a useful diagnostic procedure prior to coronary artery bypass grafting( CABG) as it visualizes the coronary artery less invasively, with higher negative predictive value and lower cost compared with standard coronary angiography(CAG).We recently experienced a case in which the left anterior descending artery( LAD)occlusion prevented CAG evaluation of peripheral vascular status and percutaneous coronary intervention( PCI) or CABG could not be indicated by CAG, whereas MDCT demonstrated a patency of the peripheral LAD. An off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery was performed based on the MDCT findings, and the intraoperative findings were essentially consistent with the MDCT findings. Our experience in this case suggests that the indication for CABG may be accurately judged by using high-resolution MDCT in cases in which CABG graftability may not be judged by CAG.


The wavefront-tilt effect in nonparallel optical waveguides is studied theoretically. A self-consistent coupled-mode formalism based on guided normal modes of the individual waveguides is developed, and the wavefront-tilt effect due to the nonparallel structures is accounted for. The wavefront-tilt caused by junctions at input and output is considered by using a mode-matching method. The power exchanged between two slab waveguides separating at an angle is investigated by an analytical solution to the coupled-mode equations. >


In an assemble-to-order system, a wide variety of products are rapidly assembled from component inventories in response to customer orders. We assume that orders must be filled within a product-specific target lead time. In the event that some of the components required to fill an order are out of stock, these components must be expedited. The objective is to minimize the expected infinite-horizon discounted cost of primary component production and expediting. Our formulation captures financial holding costs but implicitly assumes that physical holding costs are negligible. The controls are (1) sequencing orders for assembly, (2) primary component production, and (3) component expediting. We prove that the multidimensional assemble-to-order control problem separates into single-item inventory control problems. In particular, under an optimal policy for assembly sequencing, the optimal production and expediting policy for each component is independent of all other components. Hence, the literature on single-item inventory management with expediting or lost sales is directly relevant to the control of assemble-to-order systems.


Livestock production, and small scale and extensive grazing livestock production systems in Pakistan lack longterm sustainability due to declining quantity and quality of green forages and pastures. Information on the nutritional value of range/pasture and cultivated grass species is required to design proper strategies not only for nutritional management of grazing animals, but also for development of good quality forage resources. Therefore, the current study was planned to: (i) analyze the chemical profile of traditional and novel grasses grown in Peshawar; (ii) quantify the methane emission potential of the grass species; and (iii) quantify the differences among species in thei r nutritive value and methane emission. Ten grass species, namely, Sudex (Sorghum × sudangrass), Jumbo grass (Sorghum bicolour× Sorghum sudanefe), Sorghum almum, Pennisetum purpureum, Vetiveria zizanioides, Panicum colaratum, Cynodon dactylon, Bothriochloa pertusa, Splenda setaria and Desmostachya bipinnata were evaluated under uniform agronomic and environmental conditions. The results showed that the contents of all measured chemical components, mineral profile (except Zn), In vitro digestibility of dry matter (DMD), and In vitro gas (GP) and methane-production had large variation among the grass species. Among the grasses, Jumbo grass had greater CP (11.9% DM) content and In vitro DMD (65.9% DM), and produced greater amount of total gas, that contained lowest proportion of methane. In contrast, D. bipinnata had lowest contents of CP (6.3% DM) and In vitro DMD (43.7% DM), and produced lower amount of total gas, with highest proportion methane in total GP. Next to D. bipinnata, V. zizanioides had lower degradability/GP and highest proportion of methane in total gas. The large variation in chemical composition, DMD and methane -emission potential of the summer grass species presents a prospect to select and further develop grass species that have lower methane-emission potential and high nutritional value. Further research is needed to investigate the changes in chemical profile, DMD and methane-emission of forage species between seasons and with maturity.


This essay, forthcoming in Reproductive Rights and Justice Stories, maps the legal question of parental recognition onto evolving principles of sexual orientation equality. It does so through the lens of Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A.C.C., a 2016 New York Court of Appeals decision that illustrates both the opportunities and limitations when parentage law embraces sexual orientation equality.
In some earlier disputes on the rights of non-biological parents in same-sex couples, LGBT advocates framed sexual orientation as largely irrelevant. Courts should adopt more capacious understandings of parenthood, advocates argued, to protect parents and children, regardless of sexual orientation. But as the legal, political, and social environment became more affirming of LGBT people and their families, LGBT advocates urged courts to adopt more capacious understandings of parenthood, not only to protect parents and children, but also to vindicate principles of sexual orientation equality.
This essay shows how an emphasis on sexual orientation equality can shape approaches to parental recognition in ways that yield recognition for some families - namely, same-sex couples and others using assisted reproductive technologies (ART) - while leaving other families in an uncertain state - namely, families in which the non-biological parent did not participate in the plan to have the child but nonetheless raised the child. This distinction captures differences between intent and function. An intentional approach to parental recognition focuses on adults' plans with respect to parenting, often looking to decisions made well before the child's conception. A functional approach to parental recognition attends to the existing parent-child relationship, asking whether, with the consent of the legal parent, the individual claiming parental rights formed a bonded parental relationship with the child. In short, intentional parenthood focuses on the decision to have a child, while functional parenthood focuses on the act of raising the child.
The Brooke S.B. court adopted an intentional standard, and connected its approach to respect for same-sex couples' families and to emergent constitutional and family-law principles of sexual orientation equality. Nonetheless, the court explicitly left open the possibility for a functional test that would reach beyond the same-sex parents before it. Eventually, judges and lawmakers in New York might come to appreciate that a functional approach would in fact further sexual orientation equality by offering more comprehensive protection to non-biological parent-child relationships.


Ensemble simulations are run with a global coupled climate model employing five forcing agents that influence the time evolution of globally averaged surface air temperature during the twentieth century. Two are natural (volcanoes and solar) and the others are anthropogenic [e.g., greenhouse gases (GHGs), ozone (stratospheric and tropospheric), and direct effect of sulfate aerosols]. In addition to the five individual forcing experiments, an additional eight sets are performed with the forcings in various combinations. The late-twentieth-century warming can only be reproduced in the model with anthropogenic forcing (mainly GHGs), while the early twentieth-century warming is mainly caused by natural forcing in the model (mainly solar). However, the signature of globally averaged temperature at any time in the twentieth century is a direct consequence of the sum of the forcings. The similarity of the response to the forcings on decadal and interannual time scales is tested by performing a principal component analysis of the 13 ensemble mean globally averaged temperature time series. A significant portion of the variance of the reconstructed time series can be retained in residual calculations compared to the original single and combined forcing runs. This demonstrates that the statistics of the variances for decadal and interannual time-scale variability in the forced simulations are similar to the response from a residual calculation. That is, the variance statistics of the response of globally averaged temperatures in the forced runs are additive since they can be reproduced in the responses calculated as a residual from other combined forcing runs.


We present a study of student understanding of energy in quantum mechanical tunneling and barrier penetration. This paper will focus on student responses to two questions that were part of a test given in class to two modern physics classes and in individual interviews with 17 students. The test, which we refer to as the Quantum Mechanics Conceptual Survey (QMCS), is being developed to measure student understanding of basic concepts in quantum mechanics. In this paper we explore and clarify the previously reported misconception that reflection from a barrier is due to particles having a range of energies rather than wave properties. We also confirm previous studies reporting the student misconception that energy is lost in tunneling, and report a misconception not previously reported, that potential energy diagrams shown in tunneling problems do not represent the potential energy of the particle itself. The present work is part of a much larger study of student understanding of quantum mechanics.


It is suggested that similar cognitive processes are involved with both the creation and perception of art. However, a lack of research examines this relationship, whether this is just from the perspective of the artist, or in relation to the artist and perceiver of the final product. To do so, we examined the experience of artists and non‐artists investigating initial stages of art‐making by examining relationships between aesthetic and drawing preferences of geometric stimuli (Experiments 1 & 2). To further understand this experience, we allowed artists and non‐artists to be involved in actual drawing activity (stippling and stroking) whilst making drawing preferences. We also examined how being involved in drawing influenced aesthetic preferences (Experiment 3), this led to conducting studies considering perceivers (artists/non‐artists) of artworks. Here, we investigated how congruent actions (simultaneously produced or learnt during pre‐training) with the artists behind the artwork influenced aesthetic responses (Experiments 4 & 5). Examination of gaze behaviour throughout these studies provides further insight into the aesthetic experience by revealing the processes behind formations of judgements. Overall, we conclude that there are similarities between experiences (gaze and judgments) involved in the creation and perception of art. We find similarities between aesthetic and drawing preferences and find gaze to be impacted in a similar manner when observing images in comparison to making a drawing choice. We do not provide support that these drawing choices are influenced by being involved with drawing but do show that the more experience a perceiver receives with these actions of the artist the more their aesthetic judgements are influenced by these, supporting the relationship between artist and perceiver depicted in the mirror model of art. We provide a foundation for future research to empirically analyse connections between the creation and perception of art and the relationships between the artist and perceiver.


Decomposition of speech into periodic and aperiodic components is useful in analyzing and describing the characteristics of voice sources. Such a decomposition is also useful in controlling the excitation source for synthesis. This paper addresses the issue of decomposition of speech into periodic and aperiodic components in the context of speech production. The effectiveness of a recently proposed algorithm for decomposing speech into these components is examined for analysis of voice sources. Synthetic signals are generated using formant synthesis. Different sources of aperiodicity encountered in normal speech production are considered, using a set of parameters to control the synthetic signals. The sources of aperiodicity studied are: (1) additive pulsed or continuous random noise, and (2) modulation aperiodicities due to variation in the fundamental frequency, jitter, and shimmer. Three types of measures are used to characterize these voices: ratio of energies in the periodic and aperiodic components, perceptual spectral distance, and spectrograms. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the periodic-aperiodic decomposition algorithm for analyzing aperiodicities for a wide variety of voices, and point out the limitations of the algorithm.


Abstract Overproduction of desired native or nonnative biochemical(s) in (micro)organisms can be achieved through metabolic engineering. Appropriate rewiring of cell metabolism is performed making rational changes such as insertion, up-/down-regulation and knockout of genes and consequently metabolic reactions. Finding appropriate targets (including proper sets of reactions to be knocked out) for metabolic engineering to design optimal production strains has been the goal of a number of computational algorithms. We developed FastKnock, an efficient next-generation algorithm for identifying all possible knockout strategies for the growth-coupled overproduction of biochemical(s) of interest. We achieve this by developing a special depth-first traversal algorithm that allows us to prune the search space significantly. This leads to a drastic reduction in execution time. We evaluate the performance of the FastKnock algorithm using three Escherichia coli genome-scale metabolic models in different conditions (minimal and rich mediums) for the overproduction of a number of desired metabolites. FastKnock efficiently prunes the search space to less than 0.2% for quadruple and 0.02% for quintuple-reaction knockouts. Compared to the classic approaches such as OptKnock and the state-of-the-art techniques such as MCSEnumerator methods, FastKnock found many more useful and important practical solutions. The availability of all the solutions provides the opportunity to further characterize and select the most appropriate intervention strategy based on any desired evaluation index. Our implementation of the FastKnock method in Python is publicly available at https://github.com/leilahsn/FastKnock.


Abstract. Electron temperature T e observed by the SROSS C2 satellite at equatorial and low latitudes during the low to high solar activity period of 1995–2001 at the height of ~500 km is investigated in terms of local time, season, latitude, solar sunspot number R z and F10.7 cm solar flux. The satellite covered the latitude belt of 31° S–34° N and the longitude range of 40°–100° E. The average nighttime (20:00–04:00 LT) T e varies between 750–1200 K and then rises sharply in the sunrise period (04:00–06:00 LT) to the morning high from 07:00 to 10:00 LT and attains a daytime (10:00–14:00 LT) average of 1100–2300 K. The morning enhancement is more pronounced in the equinoxes. A secondary maximum in T e is also observed around 16:00–18:00 LT in the June solstice and in the equinoxes. Daytime electron temperature was found to be higher in autumn compared to that in spring in all latitudes. Between the solstices, the amplitude of the morning enhancement is higher in winter compared to that in summer. Both day and nighttime T e observed by the SROSS C2 satellite bears a positive correlation with solar activity when averaged on a shorter time scale, i.e. over the period of a month. But on a longer time scale, i.e. averaged over a year, the daytime electron temperature gradually decreases from 1995 till it reaches the minimum value in 1997, after which T e again continues to rise till 2001. The variations are distinctly seen in summer and in the equinoxes. The sunspot activity during solar cycle 23 was minimum in 1996 and maximum in 2000. Annual average electron temperature, therefore, appears to follow the variation of solar activity with a time lag of about one year, both at the bottom and top of solar cycle 23, indicating an inherent inertia of the ionosphere thermosphere regime to variations in solar flux.


Pedestrians' acceptance of automated vehicles (AVs) depends on their trust in the AVs. We developed a model of pedestrians' trust in AVs based on AV driving behavior and traffic signal presence. To empirically verify this model, we conducted a human–subject study with 30 participants in a virtual reality environment. The study manipulated two factors: AV driving behavior (defensive, normal, and aggressive) and the crosswalk type (signalized and unsignalized crossing). Results indicate that pedestrians' trust in AVs was influenced by AV driving behavior as well as the presence of a signal light. In addition, the impact of the AV's driving behavior on trust in the AV depended on the presence of a signal light. There were also strong correlations between trust in AVs and certain observable trusting behaviors such as pedestrian gaze at certain areas/objects, pedestrian distance to collision, and pedestrian jaywalking time. We also present implications for design and future research.


Massive MIMO is widely touted as an enabling technology for 5th generation (5G) mobile communications and beyond. On paper, the large excess of base station (BS) antennas promises unprecedented spectral efficiency gains. Unfortunately, during the initial phase of industrial testing, a practical challenge arose which threatens to undermine the actual deployment of massive MIMO: user mobility-induced channel Doppler. In fact, testing teams reported that in moderate-mobility scenarios, e.g., 30 km/h of user equipment (UE) speed, the performance drops up to 50% compared to the low-mobility scenario, a problem rooted in the acute sensitivity of massive MIMO to this channel Doppler, and not foreseen by many theoretical papers on the subject. In order to deal with this "curse of mobility", we propose a novel form of channel prediction method, named Prony-based angular-delay domain (PAD) prediction, which is built on exploiting the specific angle-delay-Doppler structure of the multipath. In particular, our method relies on the high angular-delay resolution which arises in the context of 5G. Our theoretical analysis shows that when the number of base station antennas and the bandwidth are large, the prediction error of our PAD algorithm converges to zero for any UE velocity level, provided that only two accurate enough previous channel samples are available. Moreover, when the channel samples are inaccurate, we propose to combine the PAD algorithm with a denoising method for channel estimation phase based on the subspace structure and the long-term statistics of the channel observations. Simulation results show that under a realistic channel model of 3GPP in rich scattering environment, our proposed method is able to overcome this challenge and even approaches the performance of stationary scenarios where the channels do not vary at all.