Most of the literature on strikes has addressed one of four issues: causation, variation between sectors and countries, trends over time and the relationship between strikes and other forms of collective and individual protest. Very little research has addressed the equally important questions of strike outcomes and trade union membership despite the substantial body of research on the causes of trade union membership decline and strategies for membership growth. In this paper we reverse the usual sequence of trade union membership as a causal factor in the genesis of strikes and examine the impact of strikes on trade union membership levels. After setting out the relevant theory and hypotheses, we use a unique seven-year dataset of trade union membership joiners and leavers from a major British trade union with a substantial record of strike activity. Controlling for other possible determinants of trade union membership, we find that months in which there is strike action, whether national or local, are associated with a significantly higher rate of membership growth, measured both by the number of joiners and by the ratio of joiners to leavers. Data from new union members suggest that perceived injustice and perceived union effectiveness both motivate the decision to join.


Nuts of walnut (Juglans regia L.), cultivated in the district of Denizli (altitude of 300 m) and Cameli (altitude, 1200 m) in the Aegean region of Turkey, were used to determine the effects of altitude on fruit quality and the force and energy required to crack the nuts. The varieties used were Bilecik, Sebin, Yalova-1, Yalova-3 and Yalova-4. For all cultivars, walnut trees grown at the higher altitude produced small size nuts with thick shells. Based on the average for all cultivars, kernel removal quality decreased with high altitude. The nuts obtained from the high-altitude location were lighter-colored and required more force to fracture the nuts than those harvested at the low altitude. The amount of energy required to crack the nuts was higher for the nuts grown at the low-altitude location except for the cultivar, Sebin.


Myelin loss limits neurological recovery and myelin regeneration and is critical for restoration of function. We recently discovered that global knock-out of the thrombin receptor, also known as Protease Activated Receptor 1 (PAR1), accelerates myelin development. Here we demonstrate that knocking out PAR1 also promotes myelin regeneration. Myelin loss limits neurological recovery and myelin regeneration and is critical for restoration of function. We recently discovered that global knock-out of the thrombin receptor, also known as Protease Activated Receptor 1 (PAR1), accelerates myelin development. Here we demonstrate that knocking out PAR1 also promotes myelin regeneration. Outcomes in two unique models of myelin injury and repair, that is lysolecithin or cuprizone-mediated demyelination, showed that PAR1 knock-out in male mice improves replenishment of myelinating cells and remyelinated nerve fibers and slows early axon damage. Improvements in myelin regeneration in PAR1 knock-out mice occurred in tandem with a skewing of reactive astrocyte signatures toward a prorepair phenotype. In cell culture, the promyelinating effects of PAR1 loss of function are consistent with possible direct effects on the myelinating potential of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), in addition to OPC-indirect effects involving enhanced astrocyte expression of promyelinating factors, such as BDNF. These findings highlight previously unrecognized roles of PAR1 in myelin regeneration, including integrated actions across the oligodendrocyte and astroglial compartments that are at least partially mechanistically linked to the powerful BDNF-TrkB neurotrophic signaling system. Altogether, findings suggest PAR1 may be a therapeutically tractable target for demyelinating disorders of the CNS. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Replacement of oligodendroglia and myelin regeneration holds tremendous potential to improve function across neurological conditions. Here we demonstrate Protease Activated Receptor 1 (PAR1) is an important regulator of the capacity for myelin regeneration across two experimental murine models of myelin injury. PAR1 is a G-protein-coupled receptor densely expressed in the CNS, however there is limited information regarding its physiological roles in health and disease. Using a combination of PAR1 knock-out mice, oligodendrocyte monocultures and oligodendrocyte-astrocyte cocultures, we demonstrate blocking PAR1 improves myelin production by a mechanism related to effects across glial compartments and linked in part to regulatory actions toward growth factors such as BDNF. These findings set the stage for development of new clinically relevant myelin regeneration strategies.


Experimental studies of bargaining generally impose time preferences' on subjects, in the sense that in case of disagreement, the experimenter reduces the size of the surplus bargained over by imposing exogenously some monetary cost. Contrary to this practice, in this study time preferences are first elicited in a preliminary phase, and then bargaining begins. I show that although subjects are sensitive to the timing of a monetary reward, this plays no role in determining bargaining behaviour. Furthermore, when the bargaining game is played in conventional experimental setting with monetary costs of delay, these do have an impact on subjects' conduct in negotiations.


Seeking the wellbeing of the family is one of the main causes of migration from Mexico to the United States; parents go away in order to incre-ase the quality of life of the members of the family. However, the physical absence is often accompanied by emotional distance that can increase as time goes by. The objective of this research was to analyze the impact of the absence and abandonment that are experienced by the male and female young people from Cuitzeo, Michoacan, Mexico, due to the migration of the father. For this reason, we visited a public high school, where 13 students had experienced this situation. The data collection instruments were in-depth interviews, participant observation, talks, lectures, workshops and counseling conducted in the community. Findings indicate that young peopled described the departure of their father, at the beginning with hope, but as time went by they realized that their father gone away not only physically, but also emotionally from the family. Young people interpreted this experience as a type of abandonment. All the participants reported negative consequences related to the migration of their father. In a similar vein, they also considered the father's absence and abandonment as a form of violence that is rooted in the gender identity constructions of this community, where men are educated to be the providers of the family and as parents with low levels of commitment in the parenting of their children. Archive XML (SciELO)


Background: Despite recent advances in the treatment of EGFR-mutant (EGFRm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), most patients treated with third-generation (3G) EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as osimertinib, experience disease progression. The most common on-target EGFR resistance mutation is at the EGFR C797 residue (i.e., C797S), which prevents covalent binding to 3G EGFR TKIs. While 3G TKIs are effective in patients with EGFR activating and T790M mutations (commonly seen post-progression after first-/second-generation TKIs), there are no targeted therapies approved after their failure. BLU-945 is an investigational, reversible, and selective next-generation EGFR TKI intended for use as a single agent or in combination with other agents to suppress activating and on-target resistance EGFR mutants, including T790M and C797S, while sparing wildtype (wt) EGFR. BLU-945 has shown in vivo antitumor activity in 3G EGFR TKI-naïve as well as resistant NSCLC patient-derived xenograft models with EGFR T790M and C797S mutations. Based on this, we started SYMPHONY (NCT04862780), a phase 1/2 study in patients with metastatic EGFRm NSCLC, to determine the maximum tolerated dose and/or the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D); and to assess the safety, pharmacokinetics (PK), and antitumor activity of BLU-945.
 Methods: In the ongoing phase 1 dose-escalation part of the study, patients aged ≥18 years with metastatic EGFRm NSCLC previously treated with ≥1 EGFR TKI (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0-2) received BLU-945 once daily (QD) on a 28-day cycle following a Bayesian Optimal Interval escalation design. Adverse events (AEs), dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs), PK, ctDNA (in real-time using FoundationOne Liquid panel), and radiographic antitumor activity (by RECIST 1.1 criteria) were assessed in the first 4 treatment cohorts.
 Results: As of the January 7, 2022, data cut, 18 patients have been treated with BLU-945 at 25-200 mg QD. Of these, 14 (77.8%) patients had received ≥2 lines of prior systemic anticancer therapy in the metastatic setting. There were no DLTs, and most AEs were low grade. Treatment-related AEs (all Grade 1) occurred in 8 (44.4%) patients with the most common being nausea (n=3). EGFR mutation allele fraction assessment by ctDNA at C1D1 and C1D15 showed that tumors were heterogeneous at baseline. At doses of 50 mg QD and higher, reductions in EGFR resistance mutation allele fraction were seen in all patients (n=3) with EGFR C797S (n=2) and/or T790M (n=3) resistance mutations, with a median 48% reduction of these mutations. 50% of patients remain on treatment and dose escalation continues to determine the RP2D.
 Conclusion: As of the data cut, BLU-945 was generally well tolerated in heavily pre-treated patients with EGFRm NSCLC. There was also early evidence of a reduction in EGFR mutation allele fractions by ctDNA.
 Citation Format: Elaine Shum, Yasir Elamin, Karen L. Reckamp, Zofia Piotrowska, Julia Rotow, Daniel S. Tan, Koichi Goto, Jagan Parepally, Faris Albayya, Melinda Louie-Gao, Renata Sawtell, Alena Zalutskaya, David Spigel. Emerging evidence of activity of BLU-945 in patients with advanced EGFR-mutant NSCLC utilizing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the phase 1/2 SYMPHONY study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr CT184.


The significance of antecedent trauma in skeletal scintigraphy was assessed in 503 patients, of whom 241 (46%) had prior fracture or tooth extraction. In patients with sufficiently accurate histories for site-by-site analysis, 33 of 131 fracture sites and 16 of 83 dental-procedure sites were positive scintigraphically. In general, the frequency of scan positivity diminished as the interval between trauma and scanning increased, but a significant number of patients showed prolonged uptake at fracture sites. Several patterns of uptake suggested trauma rather than metastatic disease. Knowledge of a history of trauma is often critical in bone scan interpretation.


Presents an adaptive algorithm for estimating from noisy observations, periodic signals of known period subject to transient disturbances. The estimator is based on the LMS algorithm and works by tracking the Fourier coefficients of the data. The estimator is analyzed for convergence, noise misadjustment and lag misadjustment for signals with both time invariant and time variant parameters. The analysis is greatly facilitated by a change of variable that results in a time invariant difference equation. At sufficiently small values of the LMS step size, the system is shown to exhibit decoupling with each Fourier component converging independently and uniformly. Detection of rapid transients in data with low signal to noise ratio can be improved by using larger step sizes for more prominent components of the estimated signal. An application of the Fourier estimator to estimation of brain evoked responses is included. >


Leaders are critical to a country's success. They can influence domestic policy via specific measures that they enforce, and they can also influence international public opinion towards their country. Foreign Direct Investments are also essential for a country's economic growth. Our hypothesis is that foreign-educated leaders attract more FDI to their country. Our rationale is that education obtained abroad encompasses a whole slew of factors that can make a difference in FDI flows when this foreign-educated individual becomes a leader. We test this hypothesis empirically with a unique dataset that we constructed from several sources, including the Library of Congress and the World Bank. Our analysis of 40 African countries employs the robust technique of conditional quantile regression. Our results reveal that foreign education is a significant determinant of FDI inflows, beyond other standard characteristics. While intuitive, this result does not necessarily indicate sheepskin effects or superior human capital obtained abroad. Rather, it indicates the powerful role of the social capital, networks, and connections that these leaders built while they were abroad that they in turn mobilize and utilize when they become leaders.


In his highly influential view of evolution, G. G. Simpson hypothesized that clades of species evolve in adaptive zones, defined as collections of niches occupied by species with similar traits and patterns of habitat use. Simpson hypothesized that species enter new adaptive zones in one of three ways: extinction of competitor species, dispersal to a new geographic region, or the evolution of a key trait that allows species to exploit resources in a new way. However, direct tests of Simpson's hypotheses for the entry into new adaptive zones remain elusive. Here we evaluate the fit of a Simpsonian model of jumps between adaptive zones to phylogenetic comparative data. We use a novel statistical approach to show that anoles, a well-studied adaptive radiation of Caribbean lizards, have evolved by a series of evolutionary jumps in trait evolution. Furthermore, as Simpson predicted, trait axes strongly tied to habitat specialization show jumps that correspond with the evolution of key traits and/or dispersal between islands in the Greater Antilles. We conclude that jumps are commonly associated with major adaptive shifts in the evolutionary radiation of anoles.


Organ printing is a novel concept recently introduced in developing artificial three-dimensional organs to bridge the gap between transplantation needs and organ shortage. One of the major challenges is inclusion of blood-vessellike channels between layers to support cell viability, postprinting functionality in terms of nutrient transport, and waste removal. In this research, we developed a novel and effective method to print tubular channels encapsulating cells in alginate to mimic the natural vascular system. An experimental investigation into the influence on cartilage progenitor cell (CPCs) survival, and the function of printing parameters during and after the printing process were presented. CPC functionality was evaluated by checking tissue-specific genetic marker expression and extracellular matrix production. Our results demonstrated the capability of direct fabrication of cell-laden tubular channels by our newly designed coaxial nozzle assembly and revealed that the bioprinting process could induce quantifiable cell death due to changes in dispensing pressure, coaxial nozzle geometry, and biomaterial concentration. Cells were able to recover during incubation, as well as to undergo differentiation with high-level cartilage-associated gene expression. These findings may not only help optimize our system but also can be applied to biomanufacturing of 3D functional cellular tissue engineering constructs for various organ systems.


In this study, the effect of the decentralized rainwater management facility in Korean apartment complexes is analyzed. The experimental site is Singal 1 tenant apartment complex in Yongin, Korea. An underground rainwater storage tank, an infiltration barrel and an infiltration trench are applied. Rainwater flows through rainwater management facility and then it is stored or infiltrated into the underground. Experiment is run with the natural rainfall and artificial rainfall. Rainwater runoff reduction and pollution load reduction effect are analyzed. The rate of runoff reduction is compared with runoff discharge. The rate of pollution load reduction is analyzed with the water quality test on the inflow and the outflow.


SCADA System, which is used to control the transfer of natural gas from long distance has been introduced in this paper. The system is based on Modicon TSX Quantum series 140 CPU 113 03 of Schneider as Program Logic Computer, industrial internet as the communication mode, telephone dialing as the supplementary communication mode and Intouch as the makeup software. All of them work together to automatic control and supervise the transfer of natural gas in a long distance.


Using official data from the Chilean system of science and leading local journals, this article provides a historical overview of the main contemporary trends in Chilean communication research since the 2000s. The field in Chile seems to be expanding, with stable funding, stronger institutionalization, and an increase in better trained researchers. However, this development shows many paradoxes: Despite the valuable insights recent studies in communication have provided to better understand the Chilean communication landscape, they are, rather, applied research, testing global or international theoretical frames to local problems in communication. I argue that the institutional, political, and economic constraints have strongly shaped the possibilities of expanding contemporary communication research in Chile, particularly regarding its theoretical contributions. Therefore, current Chilean communication research seems a work-in-progress project, far from its substantial contributions to the international field in the 1960s and 1970s.


This paper describes subjective experiments conducted to investigate the frequency dependency of localisation threshold in vertical stereophonic and quadraphonic reproductions. The localisation threshold here is defined as a minimum level difference of the upper loudspeaker layer
(elevated at 30 degrees) to the lower loudspeaker (ear level) layer that is required for the resulting vertical phantom image to be localised at the same height as the image produced by the lower layer. Transient and continuous octave-band and broadband pink noise signals were used as stimuli. The time delays of 0, 1 and 10ms were applied to the upper loudspeaker signal. Results showed that the localisation thresholds varied significantly for different octave bands. The
difference between the vertical stereophonic and
quadraphonic conditions in localisation threshold was found to be insignificant. The thresholds for the transient stimuli were found to be generally higher than those for the continuous ones, with significant differences found for the 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz bands. Additionally, no evidence was found to support the operation of the precedence effect in both vertical reproduction conditions. It is considered that the results have useful practical implications for designing 3D microphone


Sacci of conifer pollen do not function primarily to increase the efficiency of wind pollination as is widely thought. Rather, they are bladders and cause pollen to float upwards in a liquid drop into the ovules. This observation is seemingly unsupported in the case of oriental spruce (Picea orientalis (L.) Link), which has saccate pollen. Ovulate cones are pendant at the time of pollination, which requires that pollen sink into the ovules. Pollen of oriental spruce floats at first but within 1-2 min sinks into the ovule. As sinking does not occur in saccate pollen of other Pinaceae, a variety of techniques was used to determine anatomical differences leading to this uncharacteristic tendency. Light, scanning electron, and confocal microscopy of the pollen surface yielded no significant appearing difference between pollen of oriental spruce and white spruce. However, transmission electron microscopy of freeze-fixed/freeze-substituted hydrated pollen revealed that the ektexine of oriental spruce pollen sacci is porous compared to that of white spruce. Confocal microscopy allowed examination of pollen hydration dynamics. Water enters pollen at the distal pole between sacci, and resulting rapid expansion of the tube cell forces air out of the saccate space. White spruce pollen remains buoyant because of enclosed air pockets in the saccus ektexine. Evolutionary change in pollen wall anatomy with resultant loss of saccus function is colTelated with a change in ovulate strobilus orientation at pollination in oriental spruce. A suite of characters interact in the conifer pollination mechanism, and concerted change in these characters may lead to speciation.


If what is important in our affairs is that we know the truth, then are there present things about which we must know the past in order to know the truth?I argue there are, and that one category of those things is legal things, the law. By law I mean political theory, justice, right, rights, positive law and ethics; and all of the various ways those things have been understood by jurists. The way we reason about the law radically changed in the Enlightenment. By the end of the 18th century science and positivism as general methods of reason had refracted the unity of law into a scientific part and a prudential part, laws of nature and natural law. The natural law part consisted of various concepts that were then each understood to exist independently of the others: morality, positive law, political theory, justice, ethics, etc. In the aftermath positivism dominated the way law was understood. In positivism law is opposed to morality, a categorical term into which all of the prudential concepts are reduced. The prudential fragments also underwrote the development of the social sciences, and operationalized the development of ideology/critique (e.g., Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Foucault) and the relativization of political values. Any discussion of a fragment of law must include discussion of the other fragments if the Right or truth of the law is to be understood. Positivism, a fragment, is inherently incomplete as an understanding of the law, and its incompleteness mandates that if truth about the law is sought, then it must be sought in the holistic vision of law. I generalize to argue that any argument about living things that touches, traverses or occurs after the Enlightenment must take into account the changed nature of historical space originating in the Enlightenment. Nothing in post-Enlightenment historical space, especially legal/moral things, can be taken at face value, including positivism and the US Constitution. We must strive to reassemble or revision Right for an age in which positivism is the best tool of ideology, and the dominant ideologies serve oligarchic ends.


A dynamic finite element approach for free vibration analysis of generally laminated composite beams is introduced on the basis of first order shear deformation theory. The effect of Poisson effect, bending and torsional deformations, couplings among extensional, shear deformation and rotary inertia are comprised in the formulation. The dynamic stiffness matrix is defined based on the exact solutions of the differential equations of motion governing the free vibration of generally laminated composite beam. The influences of Poisson effect, material anisotropy, slender ratio, shear deformation and boundary condition on the natural frequencies of the composite beams are analyze in detail by specific carefully favored examples. The natural frequencies and mode shapes of numerical results are presented and, whenever possible, compared to those previously published solutions in order to describe the correctness and accuracy of the present approach.Free vibration analysis of laminated composite beams is carried out using higher order shear deformation theory. Two-node, finite elements of eight degrees of freedom per node, based on the theories, are presented for the free vibration analysis of the laminated composite beams in this project work. Numerical results have been computed for various ply orientation sequence and number of layers and for various boundary conditions of the laminated composite beams and compared with the results of other higher order theories available in literature. The comparison study shows that the present considered higher order shear deformation theory forecast the natural frequencies of the laminated composite beams better than the other higher order theories considered.For considered examples, the coding of the formulation of first order shear deformation theory and higher order shear deformation theory (two-node , finite elements of eight degree of freedom per node) done by the help of MATLAB and ANSYS 12 software package.Keywords: - shear deformation, slender ratio, natural frequencies, higher order shear deformation theory, laminated composite beam and free vibration.


L'Islam visto da Occidente, Cultura e religione del Seicento europeo di fronte all'Islam. Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Milano, Universita degli Studi, 17-18 ottobre 2007). Edited by Bernard Heyberger, Mercedes Garcia-Arenal, Emanuele Colombo, and Paola Vismara. (Milan: Casa Editrice Marietti. 2009. Pp. xxu, 356. euro24,00 paperback. ISBN 978-8-821-19409-2.) This volume grew out of a 2007 conference held in Milan, which brought together scholars from France, Great Britain, and Italy to consider the European response to Islam over the course of the long seventeenth century. Organizationally, the book begins with an introduction that places the somewhat disparate essays into dialogue with one another and situates them in a broader historiographical context. The volume is then divided into two sections: "Images and Practices of Islam in European Culture," which considers ways in which scholars, travelers, philosophers, and others depicted Islam; and "Politics and Religion Confronted by Islam," which examines how political, diplomatic, and military encounters informed evolving European views of Islam. Some of the volume's more notable essays include Mercedes GarciaArenal 's examination of how Spanish historians dealt with the problematic Islamic past of Andalusia. The standard early-modern narratives portrayed Spain's Islamic period as an anomalous interlude of foreign invasion; however, in the case of Granada this did not work since the city's long Muslim history left it lacking the ecclesiastical chronology that was integral to these histories. The solution was found in a number of spurious ancient texts that remade the region's early Arab and Jewish settlers into more acceptable groups, all in the service of manufacturing a purer and less problematic Spanish identity. Loubna Khayati argues in her contribution that, although the Enlightenment is held to have had a generally favorable view of Islam, the persistence of highly critical stances with deep historical roots often is ignored. Also overlooked is the existence of more nuanced views on Islam that preceded the seemingly more tolerant eighteenth century. This is evident in the works of various seventeenth-century libertine writers who found in Islamic attitudes toward sex and politics ideas quite compatible with their own. In her essay on Veneto-Ottoman relations, Maria Pia Pedani shows that the hostilities of the second half of the seventeenth century had a profound impact on Venice's dealings with its powerful neighbor. …


SUMMARY

In the early stages of continental rifting, extension takes place by normal faulting, while in mature continental rifts dyke intrusion dominates. Little is known about the nature of the transition between fault-controlled and dyke-controlled extension or about the processes in an intermediate setting. Here, we present observations of the temporal and spatial evolution of surface displacements during the 2007 July 14–August 4 rifting episode in Northern Tanzania, an immature section of the East African Rift. The ground deformation initiated with subsidence that can be attributed to ∼40 cm of normal motion on a NE striking fault. Following July 17, deformation was dominated by the intrusion of ∼7-km-long dyke. Dyke opening increased gradually to a total of ∼2.4 m. From July 21, the collapse of a shallow graben above the fault dominated the near-field displacements. Comparison to the 2007 Dabbahu dyke, Afar, which occurred in a more mature rift, shows an order-of-magnitude scale difference in dyke length. Using numerical models of dyke propagation, we attribute this to the size and depth of the magma chamber; in immature rifts the thick crust and slow spreading rate favour small, deep magma chambers, forming short, buried dykes, whereas in mature rifts the thinner crust and faster spreading rate favour large, shallow magma chambers and long, erupting dykes. Observing the pattern of active processes in the East African Rift is key to understanding the development of rift systems and passive margins elsewhere.


A cold-extruding and temper means was developed in order to densify the Ti3AlC2 toughened Cu matrix composites with a lower content of Ti3AlC2 ceramic. The Ti3AlC2/Cu samples, with 10%, 15% and 20% of Ti3AlC2 in volume ratio, ware prepared by pressless sintering a mixture of copper and Ti3AlC2 powders, after which were formed by the cold isostatic compaction. The sintered samples ware extruded at room temperature, and then tempered at 950oC. Such treatment was performed twice for obtaining a more remarkable densifying effect. Changes in microstructures were observed by SEM after every extrusion and temper. The results show that particle size of Ti3AlC2 was reduced more than 50% after secondary extrusion and temper, and the particles distribution became more uniform in compared with the untreated samples. As a result of the microstructural change, the densities of the Ti3AlC2/Cu samples were increased about 5 %, and defects such as pores and microcracks were almost entirely slaked.


Mechanical properties and high temperature deformation behavior of AZ31-0.84%Sb alloy have been studied. The results show that small additions of antimony to AZ31 alloy effectively enhanced the creep resistance and the ultimate tensile stress of the alloy at elevated temperature. One of the reasons for the improved high temperature properties is the high volume fraction (~20%) of the precipitates, as Mg3Sb2, which effectively hindered the movement of dislocations during the elevated temperature deformation. Considerable amounts of twins were formed during creep failure of AZ31-0.84%Sb alloy. Within the twins, many dislocation pile-ups were present on both basal and non-basal plane of magnesium matrix.


If the old body is usually read as a synonym of fragility and upcoming illness, even though not the case for most elderly citizens, the reality is that the longer we live, the increased probability of being affected by different illnesses cannot be eluded or denied. In Doris Lessing's The Diary of a Good Neighbour and Margaret Forster's Have the Men Had Enough? the reader is invited to participate in the day-to-day routines of two aged female protagonists, as well as to empathize with their inner feelings as they go through their last life stage. In fact, their 'dys-appearing' bodies, marked by their respective terminal illnesses, force these characters to grow closer to those around them and to accept the help of their families and friends, despite their desire to keep their free will and independence until the very end. The analysis of the two novels within the framework of ageing studies aims to show the contradictions existing between a growing ageing society and the negative cultural connotations of old age in Western society and the need to revise them.


We applied neural network language model (NNLM) on Chinese by training and testing it on 2011 GALE Mandarin evaluation task. Exploiting the fact that there are no word boundaries in written Chinese, we trained various NNLMs using either word, character, or both, including a wordcharacter hybrid-input NNLM which accepts both word and character as input. Our best result showed up to 0.6% absolute (6.3% relative) Character Error Rate (CER) reduction compared to an un-pruned 4-gram standard language model and 0.2% absolute (2.6% relative) CER reduction compared to a word-based NNLM.


Methane steam reforming is a carbon-intensive process with high energy requirements. The addition of a CO2 sorbent in the reformer has been proposed as an alternative process to reduce heat demands (since the carbonation reaction is exothermic) and at the same time capture CO2, drive the thermodynamic equilibrium and obtain high-purity hydrogen. In a QNRF funded project, AUTH and TAMUQ are investigating sorption enhanced steam reforming combined with chemical looping. The process is called Sorption Enhanced-Chemical Looping Steam Methane Reforming and in addition to the sorbent, the reformer contains material which serves as an oxygen transfer material (OTM). The basic principle is shown in Fig.1. During the reduction step (reforming), the OTM is reduced by methane into metallic nickel, the active catalyst for endothermic methane reforming, and the reaction proceeds under near autothermal conditions due to heat released by sorbent carbonation. During the regeneration/oxidation step, the reduced OTM is re-oxidized, releasing significant amount of heat which drives the endothermic regeneration of the saturated sorbent. The key for successful commercialization of the process is development of stable sorbents and OTMs that can undergo multiple cycles of reaction/regeneration without deterioration in their performance. Herein, we report results from our studies on development of CaO-based mixed oxides CO2 sorbents. Mixed calcium oxides with alumina, zirconia, magnesia and lanthana were synthesized via the sol-gel autocombustion method using citric acid as a combustion agent. The mixed oxides were prepared with constant 66wt% concentration of free CaO and were characterized by BET and XRD. Results showed that CaO is formed in all cases, accompanied by formation of mixed Ca3Al2O6 and CaZrO3 in Ca-Al and Ca-Zr sorbents, respectively. On the contrary no mixed phase was formed between CaO and Mg or La. The sorption capacity and stability of the sorbents were tested in a TGA instrument (or unit) for 100 consecutive sorption-desorption cycles under 15% CO2 in N2 for 30 minutes at 650°C and 100% N2 for 5 minutes at 850°C. The CO2 capacity of all the synthesized sorbents as a function of a number of cycles is shown in Fig.2. The highest CaO conversion was obtained with Ca-Al (99.8%), followed by Ca-Zr, Ca-Mg and Ca-La. The most stable material proved to be Ca-Zr with only 13.7% loss of capacity after 100 cycles. Ca-Al also had a promising performance with 20.7% loss, while Mg and La both exhibited significant deactivation (i.e.  30% loss in sorption capacity). The two most promising materials (Ca-Al and Ca-Zr) were also synthesized using a different combustion agent, triethanolamine, to investigate the effect of an organic fuel. The use of TEA was beneficial for Ca-Zr,which achieved higher CaO conversion (96.9%) and better stability (13.4% loss), while the opposite trend was observed for Ca-Al. Overall among all investigated CO2-sorbents, Ca-Al and Ca-Zr prepared with both citric acid and triethanolamine as combustion agents, exhibited excellent initial capacity and stability, with a sorption capacity higher than 9 mol CO2/kg of sorbent after 100 sorption-desorption cycles under relatively mild operating conditions.


The concept of fashion has been coupled with technology, where technology has become the protagonist. The transparency between an organization and a customer works as a catalyst and the customer has taken a more mainstream role. With blockchain technology, companies can reconnect with customers and customers can track the journey of a product from its raw materials to the finished goods. The primary focus of the study is on services and data collected from the following sectors, namely fashion, apparel, and online platforms. The author's main goals are (i) to illustrate an overview of how big data is transforming the service industry, especially the fashion and design sector, (ii) to present various mechanisms adopted in the service industry. The study aims to investigate a model that fits through EXT-TAM and uses additional attributes of Blockchain Technology with a special reference to fashion apparel. The findings of this study depict a model, where PEOU, PU, and attitude are the major constructs and present a win-win scenario for both the customer and the organization.


Analysis of dynamic characteristics is one of the important parts of structure analysis for space deployable antenna. In order to study the dynamic characteristics of truss structure for space deployable truss antenna, according to the structure composition, the finite element model of truss structure is built by using ANSYS software, and the modal analysis is carried out by finite element method, then the natural frequencies and the features of vibration modes are obtained. It is emphatically analyzed that the influence of structure parameters such as chords, vertical beams, diagonal beams and crossing cables on the first natural frequency, and the change curves of natural frequency are given. The results can provide the theoretical basis for the antenna's structural optimization design and dynamic modification.


The present study aims at exploring the sense of alienation and rootlessness from materialistic society prevailed in twentieth century Indian sophisticated society through The Foreigner by Arun Joshi. The present study is an attempt to analyze Arun Joshi's ideas, his experience-based vision of life. He minutely observes the conflict between the traditional values and the modern materialistic approach to life. He notices the chaos and hollowness in the mind of the contemporary younger generation, which fill them with the sense of alienation and detachment. With his deep knowledge of Indian philosophy, Joshi suggests in his novels an entirely Indian solution to the spiritual crisis of the youth. The present study comprehensively examines Arun Joshi's delineation of the commitment to life and action as against passive detachment. The novels chosen for the study is The Foreigner by Arun Joshi.. Keywords—Alienation, Rootlessness, Predicament, Salvation, Solution.


Teleconsultation using digital camera images has not yet been proven useful in orthopaedic practice. We ascertained the validity and reliability of teleconsultation using digital camera images of 100 patients with nondisplaced or minimally displaced fractures and 50 healthy age-matched subjects. We used three sets of images from each patient: a digitized radiograph, digital clinical photographs of the injured site, and conventional analog radiographs. Assessments were made independently by three groups of assessors: four orthopaedic staff members, four senior residents, and four junior residents all of whom evaluated the digitized information via E-mail. Digitized radiographs, digitized radiographs supplemented with a clinical photograph, and conventional radiographs were assessed consecutively at 1-week intervals. We used clinical and radiographic followup data as a gold standard. The overall reliability (kappa), sensitivity, and specificity of digitized radiographs were 0.57, 83.2%, and 80.7%, respectively. Reliability, sensitivity, and specificity of the digitized radiographs were not decreased after transmitting via E-mail. The level of experience in radio- graphic interpretation was associated independently with fracture misdiagnosis. Teleconsultation using digital camera images was valid and reliable. We recommend sending clinical photographs with the digitized radiograph. Level of Evidence: Diagnostic study, level II. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


Four kinds of plasma blacks were prepared by plasma pyrolysis under various metallic catalysts coated on honeycomb, and investigated the catalytic effect on the characteristics of the plasma blacks prepared under plasma pyrolysis condition. Pt, Pt-Rh, and Pd catalysts were employed as active materials to prepare the plasma blacks. In the experimental range studied, the metallic catalysts influenced on surface area, particle size, surface oxygen content and electrical conductivity of the plasma blacks prepared. It was showed that more dense particle of plasma blacks were prepared under existence of metallic catalysts. Presence of the metallic catalyst reduces the electrical resistivity of plasma blacks due to the decrease in the amount of oxygen functional groups. The highest electrical conductivity of plasma black was observed in the Pt catalyst and then followed by those Pt-Rh, Pd and bare cordierite honeycomb.


Current crowdsourcing platforms provide little support for worker feedback. Workers are sometimes invited to post free text describing their experience and preferences in completing tasks. They can also use forums such as Turker Nation1 to exchange preferences on tasks and requesters. In fact, crowdsourcing platforms rely heavily on observing workers and inferring their preferences implicitly. In this work, we believe that asking workers to indicate their preferences explicitly improve their experience in task completion and hence, the quality of their contributions. Explicit elicitation can indeed help to build more accurate worker models for task completion that captures the evolving nature of worker preferences. We design a worker model whose accuracy is improved iteratively by requesting preferences for task factors such as required skills, task payment, and task relevance. We propose a generic framework, develop efficient solutions in realistic scenarios, and run extensive experiments that show the benefit of explicit preference elicitation over implicit ones with statistical significance.


Objective This study aimed to measure the level of anti-citrulline-containing peptide (anti-CCP) antibody (ab) in the synovial fluid (SF) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients to study its relations with anti-CCP ab serum level, RA disease activity, and severity parameters as well as to explore its diagnostic value in RA. Patients and methods This study was conducted on 60 RA and 60 osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Patients were subjected to thorough history taking and full clinical examination including locomotor system examination. The Health Assessment Questionnaire was used for the assessment of functional capacity. Complete laboratory investigations including a complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, rheumatoid factor, serum and SF anti-CCP ab levels were carried out. The Sharp score was calculated for the assessment of RA severity in posteroanterior plain radiographic views of both hands and feet. Results The mean SF anti-CCP ab level was highly significantly increased (P=0.0001) in RA patients (133.93±41.3 ng/l) in comparison with OA patients (5±13.2 ng/l). There were statistically significant correlations of SF anti-CCP ab level with rheumatoid factor (P=0.049), serum anti-CCP ab (P=0.0001), and Sharp score (P=0.037), whereas other clinical and laboratory parameters did not show any significant correlation (P>0.05). The specificity of SF anti-CCP ab and serum anti-CCP ab of RA patients was 100%. Besides, the sensitivity of serum anti-CCP ab was 90%, whereas the sensitivity of SF anti-CCP ab was 83.3%. The positive predictive value of both serum and SF anti-CCP abs was 100% in RA patients and their negative predictive value was 90.9% in the serum of RA patients and 85.7% in the SF. The cutoff value of anti-CCP ab was 65.4 ng/l in the serum and 63.35 ng/l in the SF. Conclusion SF anti-CCP ab is significantly increased in RA compared with OA and could be considered an appreciated diagnostic marker having a major role in the identification of RA patients not fulfilling the criteria for the RA disease diagnosis. Its relation to RA disease severity could not be established.


Ceramic compacts can be usually prepared by uniaxial pressing in a die made of stainless steel, but the pressure applied is limited and density gradients occur in many cases. Recently a new forming method in powder metallurgy, the High Velocity Compaction (HVC) has been applied to ceramic powders. This method is similar to conventional pressing but consists in making an ram falling down at a very high speed to the upper punch. The kinetic energy is converted into a strike that produces a high pressure in a really short time. By controlling the kinetic energy, it is possible to apply a desired pressure that can be extremely high (up to 1 GPa) without any damage for the tool. The aim of the study is to compare the process conditions and the properties of green compacts elaborated by the two methods (conventional and HVC) for a similar forming pressure: forming pressure, green density (homogeneity), pore size distribution of the tablets, and then the sintering behavior, the shrinkage, the final density and microstructure of the ceramic material are studied.


It has been observed that particular rate-1/2 partially systematic parallel concatenated convolutional codes (PCCCs) can achieve a lower error floor than that of their rate-1/3 parent codes. Nevertheless, good puncturing patterns can only be identified by means of an exhaustive search, whilst convergence towards low bit error probabilities can be problematic when the systematic output of a rate-1/2 partially systematic PCCC is heavily punctured. In this paper, we present and study a family of rate-1/2 partially systematic PCCCs, which we call pseudo-randomly punctured codes. We evaluate their bit error rate performance and we show that they always yield a lower error floor than that of their rate-1/3 parent codes. Furthermore, we compare analytic results to simulations and we demonstrate that their performance converges towards the error floor region, owning to the moderate puncturing of their systematic output. Consequently, we propose pseudo-random puncturing as a means of improving the bandwidth efficiency of a PCCC and simultaneously lowering its error floor.


There is a global consensus that addressing corruption and building good governance are pre-requisites for developing people, markets and the environment. Many researches on corruption and institutions measuring corruption perceptions have rated many African countries as being corrupt and suggestions for addressing corruption have been drawn mainly from developed countries without significant recourse to Africa's specific peculiarity. This paper raises the question on whether African governments and its people are completely adamant to the problem of corruption. The paper therefore explored endogenous innovations in organisational practices, developed within African countries aimed at stifling corruption, factors stimulating the development of such innovations and how these innovations may be improved. The paper used secondary data and interviews with key informants in three African countries: Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. Endogenous innovations against corruption in Africa are mainly spearheaded by individuals as additional measures to government anti-corruption strategies. While a few of the innovations are crude in nature and may inflict punishment on a few individuals as scapegoats, they have however restraint and compelled attitudinal change among possible culprits to a large extent. Africa needs to raise a critical mass of individuals with appropriate thinking capacities and innovativeness to sustain the momentum generated by the innovations and to achieve wider impact. Keywords: Corruption, Endogenous innovations, Africa's sustainable development


Chip on glass (COG) technology is widely used in liquid crystal display (LCD) modules for connecting driver ICs to the displays especially for small size panels. The most common COG technology currently used in display applications is based on anisotropic conductive films (ACF). As the increasing demand in higher resolution and cost reduction, the bump pitch of the driver ICs becomes finer and finer. The current ACF based COG technology is confronted with two issues: one is the increase of the contact resistance; the other is the increase of the chance of forming shorts. A new approach for ultra-fine pitch chip on glass (COG) bonding, which is named "Particle on Bump (POB)" technology, is described in this paper. The main idea of this technique is to have conductive particles only at the locations where we need them. To achieve this, the conductive particles are first fixed on the bumps of a driver IC by inter-metallic connection. Secondly, the driver IC is assembled on the glass substrate of an LCD panel with an adhesive by thermal press. The new method yields superior interconnection properties including fine pitch, low contact resistance, and no short. The process development and the feasibility study are described. The electrical and mechanical properties of samples prepared according to the method and the preliminary results of reliability tests are reported.


The Balaton Ecomuseum, which is being continuously developed since 2017, will have a holistic approach, where the objectives of the ecomuseum embrace the whole cultural landscape of Lake Balaton as one unit with several thematic routes in one system and shall not be restricted to one particular subject area or a part of local heritage. One of these thematic routes is the recently developing Herbs and Spices Network, led by Zanka Herb Valley Visitor and Training Centre based on the collection, cultivation and processing of medicinal plants, herbs and spices. The place of herbs and spices in the diet needs to be considered in reviewing health benefits, including definitions of the food category and the way in which benefits might be viewed, and therefore researched. Here we describe the already established system of the Zanka Herb Valley Visitor and Training Centre, the potential of the Balaton Region in the development of herbal medicine illustrated by the scientific presentation of the 30 most collected herbs in the region and examples of other herbal centres, which are intended to become a part of the network. Herbal medicine, as an important part of the intangible cultural heritage, with hundreds of years old recipes for herbal concoctions has been known since ancient times before science related to modern medicine developed and continues to be used for generations until now. Furthermore, the medical effects of many agricultural crops should be better understood, such as the grapevine, which is being investigated for its medical compounds or the medicinal properties of other fruits and vegetables not sufficiently known to the general public. In this study we present a new system of the culture and interactive education of the collection, cultivation and use of medicinal plants, herbs and spices applying a learning by doing approach and a network embracing the whole area of the Balaton Ecomuseum.


Countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America use traditional medicine to help meet some of their primary health care needs. Use of traditional medicine for primary health care is extensive in Ethiopia –90 %. Ethiopian herbalists use different types and parts of plants with medicinal value. The traditional medical practices and remedies are recorded in oral traditional and in early medico – religious manuscripts and traditional pharmacopoias, which, according to the estimates of some historians, date back to the 15th century AD. Drugs are prepared in various dosage forms including liquid (e.g. solution, suspension), semisolid (e.g. ointment) and solid (e.g. powder). Ethiopian government firmly recognizes the traditional medicine, mainly herbal medicine. A significant number of people depend on herbal medicine even if it is not part of conventional health care system. The development of herbal medicine is greatly affected by environmental degradation, poor resource management, urbanization and lack of awareness on the contribution of herbal medicine. Responsible bodygovernment and the public at largeshould be recommended to initiate the implementation of the policy through developing rules and regulations on co-recognition or integration of herbal medicine. As medicinal plant is a resource affected by environmental degradation, it is wise to implement environmental protection policy. People awareness on herbal medicine needs to be improved by mainstreaming of course on this area especially for students of modern health science concept. In addition to this, delivering formal training and organizing of the on job herbalists is necessary.


In this paper we investigate coordination principles inspired by the behaviour of honeybees and ants for coordination purposes in multi-robot systems. Specifically, we study the problem instances of bee-inspired robot Foraging and ant-inspired robot Coverage, where Foraging is the problem of exploring the environment in search of food or provisions and Coverage is the problem of deploying a robotic swarm in the environment with the task of maximising the sensor coverage of the environment. To effectively and efficiently solve both problems, distributed multi-robot coordination is required. For the first problem we investigate a bee-inspired solution method. The second problem is studied using a stigmergic approach. In an extensive set of experiments we first study the feasibility of the proposed multi-robot coordination for robotic swarms with extended resources and discuss the benefits and limitations of using these swarms. Furthermore, as the downsizing in swarm robotics becomes increasingly important with ongoing miniaturization in various applications, the feasibility of the proposed coordination techniques for robotic swarms with limited resources is studied in detail; the practical requirements for overcoming the limitations of these swarms are introduced and the main need to incorporate these robots in real world experiments is discussed.


The Sungun Cu-Mo porphyry deposit forms part of the Ahar–Arasbaran Magmatic Belt (AAMB). Its host Miocene porphyry stock is quartz monzonitic in composition and is cut by intermediate dykes that post-date mineralization. These dykes contain pyroxene and enclaves of ambiguous origin. Dykes of microdiorite are observed within quartz diorite dykes, whereas later diorite dykes contain three different kinds of enclaves (diorite, quartz diorite and hornfels) of sizes between 1 and 10 cm. Enclaves consist of plagioclase, hornblende and biotite, with accessory sphene, quartz and apatite. Chlorite compositions in microdiorite are within the chamosite range, whereas they are within the clinochlore range in diorite enclaves. Microprobe analyses of pyroxene indicate an augitic composition (Fs13.38-22.79Wo29.1-33.57En48.53-56.61), consistent with an igneous origin. Hornblende of the diorite enclaves formed at pressures ranging between 3 and 5.3 kilobars and temperatures between 714 and 731 °C. Average oxygen fugacity during rock formation is −14.75. Such high oxygen fugacities suggest that the diorite formed near the boundaries of a convergent margin. Amphibole compositions suggest that the diorite enclaves are sub-alkaline to mildly alkaline, consistent with reported whole-rock chemistry of the Sungun magmas. Pyroxenes were formed at pressures ranging between 11 and 15 kilobars (33–45 km) and temperatures between 1100 and 1400 °C. The amount of Fe3+ in clinopyroxene is also consistent with high oxygen fugacity within their environment of crystallization. Overall, these results have implications for our understanding of the origin of the Sungun Cu-Mo porphyry magmas and their mineral deposits in a lower-crustal setting.


Aim The study presented here prospectively explores psychosocial adaptation and adjustment in parents going home for the first time with their infants following first stage cardiac surgery for complex congenital heart disease (CHD). Preliminary review of psychosocial functioning (anxiety, depression and confidence) and parent demographics in 15 parents (12 mothers, 3 fathers of 12 infants) enrolled into a feasibility study exploring the efficacy of home monitoring for infants born with complex CHD, will be presented. Method Parents of infants being discharged from a specialist cardiac centre in the UK are recruited into a feasibility study, which commenced in August 2013 and ends in February 2015. The study is split into 3 randomisation arms: Group A were discharged home with weighing scales, a saturation monitor and a Congenital Heart Assessment Tool (CHAT); Group B were discharged home with the CHAT tool only and Group C were randomised to normal standard care. The parents are interviewed at 4 time points: T0 before discharge, T1 2 weeks post discharge, T2 8 weeks post discharge and T3 following the second surgical intervention (approximately 4–6 months post discharge). Baseline demographic data (family demographics, time of diagnosis, distance of specialist cardiac centre from home) is collected and parents are asked to complete the PHQ9, GAD7 and Maternal Confidence score (MCS) at each of the interviews. Results A preliminary review of the data collected from 15 parents, has demonstrated an improvement in anxiety, depression and confidence scores for all parents. Whereas some scores showed significant improvement a minority have shown a minimal increase in confidence scores. A more in depth analysis is currently being undertaken and these results will be available for display at the conference. Conclusion This is the first study of its kind to prospectively explore parents' psychosocial adaptation and adjustment during the transition from hospital to home following first stage cardiac surgery. Despite the small number of families recruited into the study so far, the results provide an important insight into the discharge care and support these parents require. Implications for practice will be discussed. Acknowledgement Study in collaboration with Little Hearts Matter, Heart Research UK and Coventry University (sponsors).


In order to investigate the mechanical behaviors of lime-stabilized soils with small lime content, the specimens with 4%~8% lime content and 90%~95% degree of compaction are prepared, and then in use for the unconfined compression strength test, the diametral compression test and the compression resilience modulus test after they have cured in a standard curing room for 7 to 180 days respectively. These test results show that all of the unconfined compression strength, the splitting strength and the compression modulus of resilience increase with the degree of compaction and the curing time. Thereinto, the compression modulus of resilience does rapidly between 28 and 90 curing days, and the unconfined compression strength of the soil with 4% lime content does little after 28 curing days while the compression strengths and the splitting strengths of the other soils do quickly until 90 curing days. In addition, for a given degree of compaction, these strengths of the soils with the less lime content are potentially greater at the early curing time.


The importance of utilising biometrics to establish personal authenticity and to detect impostors is growing in the present scenario of global security concern. Development of a biometric system for personal identification, which fulfils the requirements for access control of secured areas and other applications like identity validation for social welfare, crime detection, ATM access, computer security, etc., is felt to be the need of the day [2]. Face recognition has been evolving as a convenient biometric mode for human authentication for more than last two decades. It plays an important role in applications such as video surveillance, human computer interface, and face image database management [1]. A lot of techniques have been applied for different applications. Robustness and reliability becomes more and more important for these applications especially in security systems.

Basically Face Recognition is the process through which a person is identified by his facial image. With the help of this technique it is possible to use the facial image of a person to authenticate him into any secure system. Face recognition approaches for still images can be broadly categorized into holistic methods and feature based methods. Holistic methods use the entire raw face image as an input, whereas feature based methods extract local facial features and use their geometric and appearance properties.

 This work studies the different approaches for a Face Recognition System. The different approaches like PCA, DCT and different types of Wavelets have been studied with the help of Euclidean distance as a classifier and Neural Network as a classifier.

The results have been compared for the two database, AMP which contains 975 images of 13 individuals (each person has 75 different images) under various facial expressions and lightning condition with each image being cropped and resized to 64×64 pixels for the simulation and ORL (Olivetti Research Lab) which contains 400 images (each with 112×92 pixels) corresponding to 40 persons in 10 poses each including both male and female. The ORL database image has been resized to 128×128 pixels.


Recent work in multi-touch tabletop interaction introduced many novel techniques that let people manipulate digital content through touch. Yet most only detect touch blobs. This ignores richer interactions that would be possible if we could identify (1) which part of the hand, (2) which side of the hand, and (3) which person is actually touching the surface. Fiduciary-tagged gloves were previously introduced as a simple but reliable technique for providing this information. The problem is that its low-level programming model hinders the way developers could rapidly explore new kinds of user- and handpart-aware interactions. We contribute the TouchID toolkit to solve this problem. It allows rapid prototyping of expressive multi-touch interactions that exploit the aforementioned characteristics of touch input. TouchID provides an easy-to-use event-driven API as well as higher-level tools that facilitate development: a glove configurator to rapidly associate particular glove parts to handparts; and a posture configurator and gesture configurator for registering new hand postures and gestures for the toolkit to recognize. We illustrate TouchID's expressiveness by showing how we developed a suite of techniques that exploits knowledge of which handpart is touching the surface.


When a liquid SiMn alloy is cooled, carbon is dissolved from the melt. The dissolved carbon either forms graphite or reacts with silicon from the melt to form SiC. The goal of this thesis has been to determine how temperature fluctuations affect the formation of SiC and graphite in the SiMn process. The focus of this thesis has been on dissolved carbon from the SiMn alloy due to cooling of the system, and the formation of graphite and SiC from this dissolution of carbon. The experiments conducted in this thesis is done with near constant silicon content, and temperature as the main variable in addition to carbon. The investigation was carried out by heating SiMn alloys several times, forming SiC and graphite. Carbon from the crucibles dissolved into the liquid SiMn alloy to reach equilibrium between carbon and silicon. This is equivalent to an industrial furnace where coke can dissolve carbon into the SiMn alloy, and thus form SiC or graphite. Accumulation of graphite and SiC is believed to be bad for furnace operations. SiC that forms in a Mn-Si-Fe-C saturated alloy can have an interface structure of granular, angular grains and as dendrites. When SiC accumulates in the Mn-Si-Fe-C system, clusters of SiC particles with intermediate SiMn metal can form. This study shows that SiC clusters is typically a decade larger than the average SiC particle. The SiC particles settles at the top of the melt when a cooling rate of 18°C per minute is used. Graphite that forms in the Mn-Si-Fe-C system have an interface structure of flakes. When the carbon content of the liquid SiMn is high enough, nucleation of new graphite grains happens instead of grain growth. The graphite flakes did not settle, but remained evenly dispersed in the SiMn alloy. This may be due to high viscosity in the melt, high friction on the graphite flakes or the buoyancy can be fairly equal to the drag of the graphite particles. The rate of formation of SiC and graphite in Mn-Si-Fe-C saturated alloys is reduced slightly by each consecutive temperature cycle. This suggest that SiC and graphite formed during the first cycles only partly dissolve into the liquid SiMn alloy to reach equilibrium in the system.


The IS/IT outsourcing process is complex and the outcome is unpredictable, especially in the varied participants, complicated social and political environments. Prior research on IS/IT outsourcing decisions simply assumed the rational, comprehensive, independent decisionmaking activity is not descriptively accurate and perhaps thus cannot be prescriptively useful in this complex environment. To get deeper understandings of the decision-making in the IS/IT outsourcing process, this research creates a dynamic model to illustrate the complex phenomenon. In-depth case study methodology and process-oriented analysis strategy were used to interpret a government-supported, outsourced IS project. This study indicates that decision makers should regard the IS/IT outsourcing process as a continuous, integral process in context and consider the structural influence, antecedent conditions, and future impact in every decision episode. This paper provides an initial insight by studying IS/IT outsourcing decision-making through dynamic and process perspective.


In aero engines a thermally sprayed abradable material is applied to the inside of the casing in order to provide a seal around the blade tips of the compressor blades. During running and handling the blades cut a channel into the abradable material. This rub is poorly understood and often results in blade wear and poor sealing particularly in the later stages of the compressor. This thesis aims to investigate and characterise these rubs and provide recommendations for changes to the running and handling procedure, the abradable or the blade tip that will improve sealing and reduce blade wear.

The AlSi polyester vs Ti(6Al 4V) and NiCrAl bentonite vs Inconel 718 rubs have been investigated through high speed rub testing. The effect of incursion rate, blade speed and abradable hardness have been investigated. Wear mechanisms have been proposed and clarified by further high speed wear testing and microstructure modelling. In addition several possible tip modifications have been tested and a successful modification has been extensively characterised.

The wear mechanism was found to depend on the materials and the incursion rate while the abradable batch and, in the case of the NiCrAl bentonite abradable, the blade speed affected the severity of the mechanism. The AlSi based abradable cut at high incursion rates but wore by adhesion on to the blade an abrasion at low incursion rates. The NiCrAl bentonite abradable wore by local compaction and subsurface damage. At low incursion rate material was removed fast enough to accommodate the incursion but at higher incursion rates blade wear and compaction of the abradable were observed.


The purpose was to describe characteristics of formation and qualification of the nurses of a unit of intensive cares, and to argue its implications in the nursing assistance, how much to the use of technologies. Descriptive-exploratory study, with accomplishment of half-structuralized interview. Citizens: twenty and four operating nurses in cardio-intensive unit. Predominance of women with two years acting in the sector and course of specialization. Great part did not participate of courses for manuscript of technologies, six had not chosen the sector and eleven are inexperienced. It had balance in the time of professional formation. The professional profile must be considered to work in the sectors of intensive cares. Not to take care of this profile can bring risks to the customers


Bandung, the capital of the West Java Province, is one of the big cities in Indonesia. To meet high demands for movement, the Purbaleunyi toll road was built in this area. One of the toll gates in this toll road is Pasteur toll gate, which functions as the main entrance for the city of Bandung. Very often traffic congestion or long queue occurs in this toll gate, particularly during peak hours. This study aims to evaluate the toll road service performance, specifically the transaction speed at the entrance and exit gates located in the Pasteur toll gate. According to the Toll Road Minimum Service Standard, the time of transaction at the entrance gates should be no more than 7 seconds per vehicle and at the exit gates it should not exceed 11 seconds per vehicle. This study found that at the entrance gate, only 92.93% and 90.78% of transactions meet the Toll Road Minimum Service Standard for peak hours and normal hours, respectively. Meanwhile, at the exit gate, only 81.93% and 71.49% of transactions during peak hours and normal hours, respectively, meet the Toll Road Minimum Service Standard. Keywords: toll gate, transaction speed, toll roads minimum service standard


The main focus of the research presented in this dissertation was to broaden the substrate scope of the iridium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of heterocyclic compounds. In view of the fact that a widely applicable hydrogenation system for the reduction of structurally diverse furans and benzofurans is to date not available, a thorough investigation of furan, benzofuran and thiophene 1,1-dioxide derivatives was carried out. Mono- and disubstituted furan derivatives were synthesized and submitted to iridium-catalyzed hydrogenation reactions. While 3-substituted furans were reduced using a catalyst based on a cyclopentane-annulated bicyclic pyridine-phosphine ligand with high enantiomeric excess (95–99% ee) and conversion (83–99%), 2-substituted counterparts proved to be less reactive (80–97% conv., 65–82% ee) with the same catalyst. Asymmetric hydrogenation of 2,4-disubstituted furans proved to be challenging for several reasons, not least because of the problem of controlling the cis/trans selectivity. Surprisingly, in the iridium-catalyzed hydrogenation of 3-substituted benzofurans only one catalyst, based on the cyclohexane-annulated pyridine-phosphinite ligand, showed high activity and enantioselectivity (75–89% conv., 91–92% ee), whereas the five-membered ring analog suffered from moderate activity and enantioselectivity. In contrast, the 2-alkyl substituted benzofurans gave superior results (99% conv., 97–99% ee). Disubstituted thiophene 1,1-dioxides were also investigated in the iridium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation. The hydrogenation of 3,4 disubstituted thiophene 1,1 dioxides using a catalyst based on a cyclopentane-annulated bicyclic pyridine-phosphine ligand gave inferior results to those obtained with their 2,5 disubstituted counterparts.


Supercritical Emulsion Extraction technology (SEE-C) was proposed for the production of poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid microcarriers. SEE-C operating parameters as pressure, temperature and flow rate ratios were analyzed and the process performance was optimized in terms of size distribution and encapsulation efficiency. Microdevices loaded with bovine serum insulin were produced with different sizes (2 and 3 µm) or insulin charges (3 and 6 mg/g) and with an encapsulation efficiency of 60%. The microcarriers were characterized in terms of insulin release profile in two different media (PBS and DMEM) and the diffusion and degradation constants were also estimated by using a mathematical model. PLGA microdevices were also used in a cultivation of embryonic ventricular myoblasts (cell line H9c2 obtained from rat) in a FBS serum free medium to monitor cell viability and growth in dependence of insulin released. Good cell viability and growth were observed on 3 µm microdevices loaded with 3 mg/g of insulin.
PLGA microspheres loaded with growth factors (GFs) were charged into alginate scaffold with human Mesenchimal Steam Cells (hMSC) for bone tissue engineering with the aim of monitoring the effect of the local release of these signals on cells differentiation. These "living" 3D scaffolds were incubated in a direct perfusion tubular bioreactor to enhance nutrient transport and exposing the cells to a given shear stress. Different GFs such as, h-VEGF, h-BMP2 and a mix of two (ratio 1:1) were loaded and alginate beads were recovered from dynamic (tubular perfusion system bioreactor) and static culture at different time points (1st, 7th, 21st days) for the analytical assays such as, live/dead; alkaline phosphatase; osteocalcin; osteopontin and Van Kossa Immunoassay. The immunoassay confirmed always a better cells differentiation in the bioreactor with respect to the static culture and revealed a great influence of the BMP-2 released in the scaffold on cell differentiation.


Anhedonia, the loss of the capacity of feeling pleasure, was first introduced at the end of the last century by a French psychologist, Ribot, and has been the object of much research, essentially in English, for the last decades, in schizophrenia, in depression, in schizoid disorders. After considering the problems of quantitative evaluation, we review the literature and conclude that anhedonia appears to be a multi-morphological symptom and the are probably several types of anhedonia, which shows the necessity of developing more specific reliable evaluation instruments and of diversifying the approaches. We show the utility, in particular, of a psychophysiological approach using endogenous Evoked Potentials. Then several research directions in psychiatry are discussed: what place has anhedonia in the negative form of schizophrenia? Does anhedonia constitute a specific marker of certain endogenous depressions? Does it constitute a personality trait that predisposes to morbidity?


This study analyses the sources of gender-related productivity gap, and measures the impact of land access patterns on the productivity gap in Burkina Faso. The data used in this research are drawn from the latest available study on living standards in Burkina Faso with respect to integrated agricultural surveys carried out in 2013- 2014 in Burkina Faso. Like most countries in the Sub-Saharan region, Burkina Faso is essentially an agricultural economy. As such, knowing the causes of the productivity gap between genders is crucial for the formulation of policies designed to empower women. The econometric approach used in this work is based on the estimation of the Oaxaca-Blinder model, which explains the agricultural productivity gap by three (3) clusters of effects: the endowment effect, the structural effect, and the interaction effect. The results indicate that women farm managers are 26% less productive compared to men. Breaking down the sources of productivity gap reveals that the mode of access to land accounts for -300% of the endowment effect and 211.54% of the structural effect, with land purchase and renting being the statistically significant modes of access to land. This implies that policy makers need to reform the customary laws that exclude women from land ownership.


ABSTRACT In two studies, we compared intentional and non-intentional measures of emotional well-being in terms of reliability and validity. In the first study, we expanded on the findings of Şimşek (2011) by showing that an intentional measure of emotional well-being, namely the Emotional Well-Being Scale, accounted for unique variance in both negative and positive mental health indicators above and beyond the variance accounted for by Larsen and Diener's Scales (1992), which measures all dimensions of affect circumplex. The correlated traits-correlated uniqueness model results showed that the original-intentional version of the Emotional Well-Being Scale explained more variance in the measurement model than the non-intentional version. The second study showed that the results were similar for the intentional vs. non-intentional versions of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedules (Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988). The intentional version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedules accounted for more variance in the criteria than the non-intentional version.


Germination behavior of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) forests soil seed banks after fire treatments in controlled laboratory conditions was analyzed. Germination response of all tree and shrub seeds after wildfires in the Leiria National Forest, Portugal, was simulated by treating sample trays of soil seed banks with distinct combinations of: burning time (0 min, 5 min, and 15 min), seed depth (5 cm and 8.5 cm), and presence or absence of ash cover. The design included control samples for null hypothesis testing. During a time span of 20 months after treatments, the maximum number of seedlings observed every 30 day period, their taxonomical identity, the number of destroyed seeds, and the number of non-germinated seeds were analyzed. Six functional species groups, defined by germination response (i.e,. germinated, destroyed, non-germinated), were identified using minimum-variance hierarchical clustering and correspondence analysis. In addition, the influence of the three environmental design factors and three functional species groups based on their general germination response were then analyzed by means of general regression models. Clustering and ordination results suggest two obvious main groups in terms of post-fire germination response: 1) seeders—fast-growing pioneer shrubs that respond positively to post-fire germination, and 2) resprouters—slow-growing understory tall-shrubs in which germination is largely depressed. Each of the two main functional species groups were further subdivided into six sub-groups, which are distinct in mean germinated, destroyed, and non-germinated seed values. Burning time and seed depth were highly significant in explaining post-fire germination response, while the presence of ash cover was less significant. Results suggest that pioneer seeder behavior is largely promoted by wildfires that are, in turn, detrimental to slow-growing, late-sucessional tall shrubs. Forest fire hazard risk management can thus be put into perspective—seeder fuel beds are promoted by wildfire and are themselves highly fire prone, and resprouters are not (due to discontinuous horizontal and vertical structure and less flammable leaf composition).


Dimensionality reduction is useful for improving the performance of Bayesian networks. In this paper we suggest an effective method of modeling categorical and numerical variables of the mixed data with different Bayesian classifiers. Such an approach reduces output sensitivity to input changes by applying feature extraction and selection, and empirical studies on UCI benchmarking data show that our approach has clear advantages with respect to the classification accuracy.


The use of nanoparticle-in-matrix composites is a common motif among a broad range of nanoscience applications and is of particular interest to the thermal sciences community. To explore this morphological theme, we create crystalline inorganic composites with nanoparticle volume fractions ranging from 0 to ∼100% using solution-phase processing. We synthesize these composites by mixing colloidal CdSe nanocrystals and In2Se3 metal–chalcogenide complex (MCC) precursor in the solution-phase and then thermally transform the MCC precursor into a crystalline In2Se3 matrix. We find rich structural and chemical interactions between the CdSe nanocrystals and the In2Se3 matrix, including alterations in In2Se3 grain size and orientation as well as the formation of a ternary phase, CdIn2Se4. The average thermal conductivities of the 100% In2Se3 and ∼100% CdSe composites are 0.32 and 0.53 W m−1 K−1, respectively. These thermal conductivities are remarkably low for inorganic crystalline materials and are comparable to amorphous polymers. With the exception of the ∼100% CdSe samples, the thermal conductivities of these nanocomposites are insensitive to CdSe volume fraction and are ∼0.3 W m−1 K−1 in all cases. We attribute this insensitivity to competing effects that arise from structural morphology changes during composite formation. This insensitivity to CdSe volume fraction also suggests that very low thermal conductivities can be reliably achieved using this solution-phase route to nanocomposites.


Uber, the world's largest ridesharing company, has reportedly provided over 2 billion journeys globally since operations began in 2010; however, the impact on motor vehicle crashes is unclear. Theoretically, ridesharing could reduce alcohol-involved crashes in locations where other modes of transportation are less attractive than driving one's own vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. We conducted interrupted time-series analyses using weekly counts of injury crashes and the proportion that were alcohol-involved in 4 US cities (Las Vegas, Nevada; Reno, Nevada; Portland, Oregon; and San Antonio, Texas). We considered that a resumption of Uber operations after a temporary break would produce amore substantial change in ridership than an initial launch, so we selected cities where Uber launched, ceased, and then resumed operations (2013–2016). We hypothesized that Uber's resumption would be associated with fewer alcohol-involved crashes. Results partially supported this hypothesis. For example, in Portland, Uber's resumption was associated with a 61.8% reduction (95% confidence interval: 38.7, 86.4) in the alcohol-involved crash rate (an absolute decrease of 3.1 (95% confidence interval: 1.7, 4.4) alcohol-involved crashes per week); however, there was no concomitant change in all injury crashes. Relationships between ridesharing and motor vehicle crashes differ between cities over time and may depend on specific local characteristics.


AIM
To ascertain clinical and laboratory signs of immune disorders in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), their healthy blood relatives and healthy females without autoimmune disease family history.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Immune status was studied in 66 RA patients, their 56 female relatives of the first and 10 female relatives of the second degree of kinship, 63 healthy females without family history of autoimmune disorders. Immune response was assessed conventionally.

RESULTS
87.5% relatives of the first degree had symptoms of immune dysfunction (control--50.8%). Combinations of immunopathological syndromes were registered in 41.1% examinees of this group (control--17.5%). Autoimmune syndrome was most frequent (64.3%, control--19%). Infectious syndrome occurred in 51.8% relatives and 33.3% controls (the difference is significant). Despite immunosuppressive therapy, occurrence of infectious syndrome in RA (18.6%) was much lower than in controls. It was found that before RA onset 81.4% patients suffered from frequent long-term infections. RA onset reduced the infections frequency. Allergy was in 12.5, 19 and 6.2% of the relatives, controls and patients, respectively. The relatives demonstrated a significant decline of compliment activity close to such in patients.

CONCLUSION
Immune disorders in blood relatives of women suffering from RA are more frequent and severe than in women without autoimmune disorders in family history. However, subclinical immunopathological symptoms in them did not realize in certain disease during the observation period. This may be explained by weaker congenital defects of immune system functioning or the existence of compensatory mechanisms suppressing development of pathological autoimmune processes.


Based on Norwegian register data, we set up a multivariate mixed proportional hazard model (MMPH) to analyze nurses' pattern of work, sickness absence, nonemployment, and social insurance dependency from 1992 to 2000, and how that pattern was affected by workplace characteristics. The model is estimated by means of the nonparametric maximum-likelihood estimator (NPMLE). We find that downsizing processes involve a significant increase in the level of sickness absence among still-employed nurses. They also cause a significant increase in the probability of entering into more long-lasting health-related social insurance dependency.


Study's objective. Emergency contraception refers to a group of contraceptive methods, that used in a certain time interval after unprotected intercourse can significantly reduce the occurrence risk for unwanted pregnancy. The purpose of this study was primarily to determine the degree of awareness regarding postcoital contraceptive techniques among a female population of patients who presented for elective abortion and secondarily to determine (in theory) how many of the surgical abortions could have been prevented by utilizing emergency contraception. Material and methods. From January 2015 until December 2015 we conducted a multicenter prospective study which included 527 women with ages between 16 and 43 who presented for elective abortion. They completed a questionnaire that evaluated their knowledge regarding contraceptive methods, the use of them and emergency contraception. After completing the questionnaire they received an informative flyer regarding emergency contraception for future reference. Results and discussions. The patients included in the study were 16 to 43 years old (average: 23 years old). 46.11% (n=243) of patients were 21 years old or less. A total of 70.96% (n=374) of patients had no knowledge of the existence of emergency contraception. 25.9% (n=137) had limited knowledge and only 3.04% (n=16) were thoroughly informed. 63% (n=332) of patients would have been willing to use the emergency contraceptive pill. Assuming that the emergency contraceptive pill has a 75% success rate, 47.24% of all surgical abortions in this women population could have been avoided. Conclusions. Emergency contraception is little used due to lack of information among patients, especially adolescents. Correct information would lead to a significant reduction in the number of elective abortions, costs and also their complications both early and late.


In this paper we consider the problem of designing a distributed control strategy such that a linear combination of the states of a number of vehicles coincide at a given time. The vehicles are described by linear difference equations and are subject to convex input constraints. It is demonstrated how primal decomposition techniques and incremental subgradient methods allow us to find a solution in which each vehicle performs individual planning of its trajectory and exchanges critical information with neighbors only. We explore various communication, computation, and control structures, and demonstrate the performance of the algorithms by numerical examples.


Fe-Pt binary alloy thin films were fabricated through a pluse electrodeposition in a novel bath with a simple composition on copper substrates. Composition, morphology and structure of electrodeposited Fe-Pt films were investigated in dependence on deposition potential. In a broad potential range from 2.0 to 6.0V, oxygen was detected in the films. Continuous Fe-Pt alloy films with controllable compositions in 16-58 atom% Fe were achieved on copper substrates. In particular, the films with a composition close to 1:1 Fe/Pt was obtained at -4.7V. All Fe-Pt films as-synthesized exhibited essential characteristics of soft magnetic and isotropic behavior, as investigated by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM).


Outbreaks of Ebola and Marburg virus diseases have recently increased in frequency in Uganda. This increase is probably caused by a combination of improved surveillance and laboratory capacity, increased contact between humans and the natural reservoir of the viruses, and fluctuations in viral load and prevalence within this reservoir. The roles of these proposed explanations must be investigated in order to guide appropriate responses to the changing epidemiological profile. Other African settings in which multiple filoviral outbreaks have occurred could also benefit from such information.


This study used a balanced panel data set of USA well, adequately, under, significantly under and critically undercapitalized large commercial banks in pre, during and post-crisis period to investigate the effect of the capital buffer, tier one capital buffer and common equity buffer on risk and net interest margin. The Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) two-step estimation was applied. The conclusions showed that the capital buffer, common equity buffer, tier one capital buffer and total risk are negatively correlated. The findings of period dummies and subgroups dummies showed that capital buffer is influencing the total risk and net interest margin differently in pre, during and post-crisis. The results indicated that the interest margin is lower in pre-crisis and during crisis period than in the post-crisis period, which signifies the impact of capital restrictions imposed by regulators in Basel-III. The outcomes showed that the influence of capital buffer on the net interest margin is not similar in all the subgroups. In addition, the results indicated that there is a positive relationship between bank risk and net interest margin. The findings also displayed that the lagged risk and current risk are positively related.


The output of a conventional transient stability program is analyzed using transient energy functions for individual machines. The analyst is provided with a quantitative index of the degree of stability or instability for each generator. This index is useful for guiding the selection of subsequent case studies. The transient energy consists of two components: kinetic and potential energy. In the post-disturbance period, profiles of the kinetic energy (VKE), the potential energy (VPE), and the time derivative of the potential energy (V¿PE) are obtained. These are used to develop a criterion for the degree of stress on a disturbed but stable machine, and to assess the extent of instability for an unstable machine. The method of analysis has been tested on two power networks representing the system of the state of Iowa, and validated by studies on a Philadelphia Electric Co. network.


Abstract. Most cultural heritage applications address visualization with using various media or platforms: desktop-based multimedia presentations, museum kiosks, or videos produced with computer animation. However, these techniques can not directly reveal or show the course that the colorful surface of painted sculpture and murals becomes faint along with the change of the climate and time. Most current techniques just preserve the current appearance and disseminate the current situation of the painted sculpture and murals. The course how these forms of cultural heritage change along the time has not been visualized. In this paper we developed an approach to modelling of painted sculpture and murals that has undergone changes over the years. Different hypotheses has also be given if there is uncertainty. A painted sculpture of Mogao Grottoes is used to demonstate this approach.


Postmodernism, deconstruction and subversion have been the buzzwords of the last few decades. But not any longer. Ever since the end of the millennium an increasingly perceptible desire to turn towards other concerns can be noted. Only, what comes after postmodernism? Where are we going now? Irmtraud Huber suggests some answers to these questions, focusing on novels by Michael Chabon, Mark Z. Danielewski, Jonathan Safran Foer and David Mitchell and highlighting the ways in which they go beyond postmodernism and turn from deconstruction to reconstruction. Approaching the question from an unusual direction by exploring the novelists' particular use of the fantastic mode, this book offers both further insights into the present aesthetic shift and a new perspective on the literary fantastic.


This article explores 'research-as-craft' as a sensitizing concept for disclosing the presence of ethics and politics, as well as embodiment and imagination, in the doing and representation of scientific activity. Routinely unnoticed, marginalized or suppressed in methodology sections of articles and methodology textbooks, research-as-craft gestures towards messy, tacit, uncertain, yet rarely thematized, practices that are central to getting science done. To acknowledge and address the significance of research-as-craft in knowledge production, we show how it relates to three forms of reflexivity – constitutive, epistemic and disruptive. Through this we demonstrate the craftiness that is required when struggling with the indeterminacy that is endemic to the production and communication of scientific knowledge. By showing how empirical situations require imaginative interpretation by embodied researchers, we argue that our conception of research-as-craft facilitates appreciation of scientific inquiry as an indexical activity that involves the crafted object and the researcher in an ethico-political process of co-constituting knowledge.


This paper investigates the impacts of reputation (in contact with inflexibility) on imperfectly competitive search markets where the sellers announce their initial demands prior to the buyer's visit and the buyer directs his search for a better deal. The buyer facing multiple sellers can negotiate with only one at a time and can switch his bargaining partner with some cost. The introduction of commitment types that are inflexible in their demands, even with low probabilities, makes the equilibrium of the resulting multilateral bargaining game essentially unique. A modified war of attrition structure is derived in the equilibrium. The model unites and smooths out Bertrand and Diamond price competition models and eliminates their inexplicable predictions.


As the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, glutamate plays a key role in many central pathologies, including gliomas, psychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative disorders. Post-mortem and serological studies have implicated glutamatergic dysregulation in these pathologies, and pharmacological modulation of glutamate receptors and transporters has provided further validation for the involvement of glutamate. Furthermore, efforts from genetic, in vitro, and animal studies are actively elucidating the specific glutamatergic mechanisms that contribute to the aetiology of central pathologies. However, details regarding specific mechanisms remain sparse and progress in effectively modulating glutamate to alleviate symptoms or inhibit disease states has been relatively slow. In this report, we review what is currently known about glutamate signalling in central pathologies. We also discuss glutamate's mediating role in comorbidities, specifically cancer-induced bone pain and depression.


This paper proposes a novel unrolled CORDIC (Co-Ordinate Rotation DIgital Computer) architecture based on parallel operations of a series of micro-rotation stages in the conventional CORDIC. To improve the speed and lower the energy consumption, a Wallace tree reduction is used for the summation of the computed parallel terms. For a large number of micro-rotation stages, a first order approximation is used to reduce the complexity while maintaining the output data accuracy. The circuit has been implemented using a 65nm process. The results show a speed improvement of 20% and an energy-delay reduction of 27% with a minimal expense of 5% increase in the circuit area relative to a conventional CORDIC architecture.


Abstract A key assumption in evolutionary studies of locomotor adaptation is that standard laboratory measures of performance accurately reflect what animals do under natural circumstances. One widely examined measure of performance is maximum sprint speed, which is believed to be important for eluding predators, capturing prey, and defending territories. Previous studies linking maximum sprint speed to fitness have focused on laboratory measurements, and we suggest that such analyses may be appropriate for some species and intraspecific classes, but not others. We provide evidence for a general inverse relationship between maximum laboratory sprint speed and the percentage of maximum capacity that animals use when escaping from a threat in the field (the model of locomotor compensation). Further, absolute values of field escape speed and maximum laboratory speed are not significantly related when comparing across a diverse group of Anolis and lacertid lizards. We show that this pattern of locomotor compensation holds both within (i.e., among intraspecific classes) and among lizard species (with some exceptions). We propose a simple method of plotting field escape speed (y-axis) versus maximum laboratory speed (x-axis) among species and/ or intraspecific classes that allows researchers to determine whether their study organisms are good candidates for relating laboratory performance to fitness. We suggest that species that reside directly on, or near the "best fitness line" (field escape speed = maximum laboratory speed) are most likely to bear fruit for such studies.