Should endoscopy rather than radiology be the primary investigation for dysphagia? To the Editor: The paper by Mendelson' is a timely reminder that in this age of attempting cost control without compromising patient care and safety, we should be questioning the modalities for the primary investigation of patients who present with symptoms that are attributed to the gastrointestinal tract. It has been taught for many years, and repeated in Mendelson's article,' that for the investigation of dysphagia a barium-swallow examination should be performed before endoscopy. Why is this so? A barium-swallow examination has been advocated before endoscopy in order to detect unsuspected pharyngeal pouches, to determine the anatomical position, length and width of any strictures, and to seek motility disorders. As most patients proceed to endoscopic evaluation, regardless of the outcome of a barium-swallow examination, it is time that the routine need for both radiological and endoscopic examination be questioned, especially in the current economic climate. Pharyngeal pouches are rare, and perforation of these is exceedingly rare if endoscopic intubation is performed without force under direct vision. This has been the routine practice in this unit with both fibreoptic and video endoscopes being inserted under continuous direct view from the mouth onwards. Between October I, 1988 and May 31, 1989, 1297 oesophagogastroduodenoscopies were performed at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. After these, 204 patients (96 men) were referred for endoscopy for the investigation of dysphagia. In 157cases, a barium study had not been performed, and in a further two patients, the barium study that had been performed was not recent. In the 45 patients who had undergone a barium study for the investigation of dysphagia before endoscopy, there were four cases that were reported as normal. Endoscopic examination in these four patients noted abnormalities in two patients: one patient had a carcinoma of the oesophagus and the other patient had a carcinoma at the gastro-oesophageal junction. This emphasizes the need for patients with dysphagia who have a normal result of a barium-swallow examination to undergo endoscopy. In the 157 patients who underwent endoscopy for dysphagia without a preceding barium study, 105 patients had findings which, if they had been found on a preceding barium study, also would have required endoscopy malignancies, 38 patients; deep ulcers, I3 patients; benign strictures, 52 patients; and achalasia, two patients. Of the 204 patients with dysphagia, 86 patients required oesophageal dilatation (achalasia, three patients; malignant strictures, 21 patients; and benign strictures, 62 patients). Of those with malignancy, I3 patients received an endoprosthesis. There were no complications in the group that underwent dilatation of a benign stricture. In those patients with malignancy who underwent dilatation, one perforation of a malignant tracheo-oesophageal fistula occurred when an endo prosthesis was inserted for palliation. Only one pharyngeal pouch was found in the 1297 endoscopies. We believe that a barium-swallow examination for the investigation of dysphagia should be reserved for those patients in whom endoscopic insertion fails; for the investigation of dysphagia August 21, 1989 Vol. 151


: The typical CEO has endless interruptions and limited options for action. In addition, he may not even hear about his choices, or any bad news that might require action, until it is almost too late. Finally, any decision he does make will probably require months or years to implement fully. This author suggests that this gloomy picture has another side. In fact, each of these "sad facts" of managerial life can be turned into an opportunity to communicate values and to persuade, and they add up to a new notion of the chief executive's function.


The objective of the study was to examine the effects of perceived stress on depression and subsequently to examine the effects of depression on alcohol use disorders. The data were obtained by an electronic questionnaire survey during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (n=1523 Slovak college students). Descriptive, regression and correlation analysis were used in the analytical processing, while the analyses included students' scores in three diagnostic tools (Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Patient Health Questionnaire for depression (PHQ 9) and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT)), as well as gender and income characteristics. The PSS identified an increased level of perceived stress in female students, in contrast, the AUDIT showed an increased level of alcohol use disorders in male students. Differences in mental and behavioural disorders between the gender and income categories were significant in most of the analysed cases. In terms of gender-income characteristics, it was possible to confirm a significant positive effect of the PSS score on the PHQ 9 score, as well as a significant positive effect of the PHQ 9 score on the AUDIT score. As a result, efforts to reduce stress will be reflected in a reduction of depressive disorders as well as a reduction of excessive alcohol consumption among students.


The present research examined the role of motivation in children's credulity toward false testimony that contradicted their first-hand observations. Children observed an experimenter hide an object in one of three containers. Then, the experimenter provided false testimony about the hiding location of the object, and children were asked to retrieve the object on their own. In a Motivation condition, an object that children rated as desirable was hidden and a negatively framed consequence was presented. In a Baseline condition, children did not rate any objects and were not given a consequence. Overall, 3-year-olds were more credulous toward the false testimony than were 4-year-olds. In addition, 3-year-olds, but not 4-year-olds, were more resistant to the false testimony when exposed to motivating factors than when they were not. These findings can have real-world implications in forensic settings where children may serve as a source of eyewitness testimony.

Key words: credulity, motivation, false testimony, first-hand observation


PREFACE ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xv Introduction: MIGRATION ISN'T JUST FOR THE BIRDS 1 It's time for fresh thinking about immigration Chapter 1: WAR ON OUR BORDERS 23 The hidden costs of immigration controls Chapter 2: BORDER CROSSING 44 How migrants got to where they are now Chapter 3: WHY WE NEED THE HUDDLED MASSES 61 The case for low-skilled migration Chapter 4: THE GLOBAL TALENT CONTEST 89 The pros and cons of high-skilled migration Chapter 5: COSMOPOLITAN AND RICH 117 The economic benefits of diversity Chapter 6: STEALING OUR JOBS? 133 Do immigrants displace local workers? Chapter 7: SNOUTS IN OUR TROUGH? 144 Are immigrants a burden on the welfare state? Chapter 8: OUR HEROES' 161 How migration helps poor countries Chapter 9: BRAIN DRAIN OR BRAIN GAIN? 179 The costs and benefits of skilled emigration Chapter 10: IT NEEDN'T BE FOREVER 198 The case for temporary migration Chapter 11: ALIEN NATION? 207 Does immigration threaten national identity? Chapter 12: HUNTINGTON AND HISPANICS 226 Is Latino immigration splitting America in two? Chapter 13: STRANGER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME? 245 Does immigration threaten social solidarity? Chapter 14: LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER 258 How to integrate immigrants into society Chapter 15: ILLIBERAL ISLAM? 289 Do Muslim immigrants threaten our security and our way of life? Chapter 16: OPEN BORDERS 318 Let them in NOTES 334 INDEX 360


Recently turret-Moored FPSOs have been used in many deep water developments worldwide, with consideration of disconnectable turrets for harsh environment applications. This trend makes the interactions between FPSO and risers system more important. Further, Steel Lazy Wave Risers (SLWR), which is a compliant variant of the mostly commonly used Steel Catenary Risers (SCR), is becoming an attractive riser option.The paper provides a review of the various riser systems that can be considered for turret-moored FPSOs, and specific emphasis on Steel Lazy Wave Risers. A detailed case study of Steel Lazy Wave Risers for a typical turret moored FPSO with disconnectable turret is presented. This system is described in terms of design and functionalities, the fabrication and installation methods are presented. The case study shows clearly that SLWR are an attractive alternative to be used for FPSO with disconnectable turret and is very efficient to fabricate and install in a very cost effective manner.Pros and Cons for SLWR are discussed, with consideration of the particular challenges of turret-moored FPSOs with large floater motions, hang-off geometry constraints at turret, hang-off loads, riser interferences, risers pre-installation, and turret disconnection constraints.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


The concept of physical layer security builds on the pivotal idea of turning the channel's imperfections, such as noise and fading, into a source of security. This is established through appropriately designed coding techniques and signal processing strategies. In this vein, it has been shown that fading channels can enhance the transmission of confidential information and that a secure communication can be achieved even when the channel to the eavesdropper is better than the main channel. However, to fully benefit from what fading has to offer, the knowledge of the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) is of primordial importance. In practical wireless communication systems, CSIT is usually obtained, prior to data transmission, through CSI feedback sent by the receivers. The channel links over which this feedback information is sent can be either noisy, rate-limited, or delayed, leading to CSIT uncertainty. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review of recent and ongoing research works on physical layer security with CSIT uncertainty. We focus on both information theoretic and signal processing approaches to the topic when the uncertainty concerns the channel to the wiretapper or the channel to the legitimate receiver. Moreover, we present a classification of the research works based on the considered channel uncertainty. Mainly, we distinguish between the cases when the uncertainty comes from an estimation error of the CSIT, from a CSI feedback link with limited capacity, or from an outdated CSI.


Introduction: Morbidity and mortality in chronic haemodialysis patients is related to dialysis efficiency. Several complications may occur with vascular access, usually associated with a stenosis. This is known to occur frequently in the venous outflow. Stenosis of the arterial side is not as frequently discussed, but it is also likely to compromise fistula function. Traditionally, surgical and percutaneous interventions have been used to treat failing fistulas, but the employment of drug-eluting stents for the treatment of failing fistulas due to the arterial stenosis has been described rarely. Methods: A 65-year-old male patient referred to our ambulatory because of hand ischemia during haemodialysis treatments only few days after radial-cephalic fistula creation. After physical and echo-color-doppler examination, angiography was performed and percutaneous intervention was proposed. After the positioning of a guiding catheter, the lesion was crossed with a 0.014" guide wire followed by direct drug-eluting stent implantation. Results: Final angiogram showed a good result and a preserved flow through the fistula. Six months later the patient was asymptomatic and the fistula was still working. Conclusion: Although further prospective studies are necessary, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) with drug-eluting stents implantation could be considered a safe and effective technique for the treatment of arteriovenous fistulas stenosis.


Purpose: The aim of this study was to relate a case of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) converted to penetrating keratoplasty in which the host central Descemet membrane (DM) with a large perforation was left attached to the host cornea. Methods: This is a case report of a 34-year-old man who underwent an attempted DALK for keratoconus in his left eye, which became complicated with a large rupture in DM during dissection. The host DM was left in place, the donor cornea with DM intact was sutured onto the host bed, and air was injected into the anterior chamber. The patient was monitored by biomicroscopy, pachymetry, topography, anterior segment optical coherence tomography, and specular microscopy. Results: The postoperative course resulted in improved uncorrected visual acuity, best spectacle-corrected visual acuity, and topography. Corneal edema was observed in the host cornea peripheral to the graft. Three months after the surgery, the endothelial cell density was reduced by 63% compared with the preoperative donor cell density. Conclusions: Leaving the host DM during conversion of DALK to penetrating keratoplasty was uneventful in this case, although corneal edema was observed in the area overlying the host cornea. It is possible that the retained DM could provide additional autologous endothelial cells to prolong graft survival.


Temperature-dependent sex determination occurs in many species of turtles. Because substrates differ in their heat retention capacities, a relatively small change in ambient temperature can exert great influence on sex ratios of hatchlings from clutches deposited in different substrates even within the same geographical area. Since Podocnemis unifilis is one of the Amazonian turtle species (Podocnemididae) with high behavioural plasticity in the use of nesting sites, we tested the influence of soil types on hatchling sex ratios in the Piagaçu Purus Sustainable Development Reserve along the lower Purus River, Brazil. During the 2013 and 2014 nesting seasons, we evaluated 26 nests on a sand bank (n = 14) and clay banks (n = 12). Approximately half of the hatchlings that emerged from each nest were sexed via gonad histological analysis (n = 341). We found a higher incidence of females in nests from the sandy substrate and more males in nests from the clayey substrate (χ2 = 40.466, df = 1, P < 0.0001). Ratios of 1 male to 2.28 females were recorded from sand bank nests, and 1.9 males to 1 female from clay banks. Overall, however, the hatchling sex ratio approximated to 1:1. Due to the gradual increase in global temperatures, it has been suggested for species with Temperature Sex Determination (TSD) that some turtle populations become increasingly female-dominated. However, it is likely that the use of different nesting substrates may help to mitigate the effects of global warming on hatchling sex ratio, especially in species with greater behavioural plasticity, such as P. unifilis.


The histopathological and ultrastructural findings in the central nervous system and lymphoid tissue of Abyssinian kittens suffering from a disease which was clinically characterised by neurological disturbances, are described. The lesions were vacuolisation of neurones and macrophages with light microscopy and lamellated membranous cytoplasmic bodies, initially in lysosomes with electron microscopy. Irregularly shaped membrane-bound bodies with an amorphous substance were eventually formed in the cytoplasm of affected cells. It is considered that this is a lysosomal storage disease.


Community question answering (CQA) sites use a collaborative paradigm to satisfy complex information needs. Although the task of matching questions to their best answers has been tackled for more than a decade, the social question-answering practice is a complex process. The factors influencing the accuracy of question-answer matching are many and hard to disentangle. We approach the task from an application-oriented perspective, probing the space of several dimensions relevant to this problem: features, algorithms, and topics. We gather under a learning to rank framework the most extensive feature set used in literature to date, including 225 features from five different families. We test the power of such features in predicting the best answer to a question on the largest dataset from Yahoo Answers used for this task so far (40M answers) and provide a faceted analysis of the results along different topical areas and question types. We propose a novel family of distributional semantics measures that most of the time can seamlessly replace widely used linguistic similarity features, being more than one order of magnitude faster to compute and providing greater predictive power. The best feature set reaches an improvement between 11% and 26% in P@1 compared to recent well-established state-of-the-art methods.


Advances in Computational Intelligence and Learning: Methods and Applications presents new developments and applications in the area of Computational Intelligence, which essentially describes methods and approaches that mimic biologically intelligent behavior in order to solve problems that have been difficult to solve by classical mathematics. Generally Fuzzy Technology, Artificial Neural Nets and Evolutionary Computing are considered to be such approaches. The Editors have assembled new contributions in the areas of fuzzy sets, neural sets and machine learning, as well as combinations of them (so called hybrid methods) in the first part of the book. The second part of the book is dedicated to applications in the areas that are considered to be most relevant to Computational Intelligence.


Importance
The choice between posterior cervical foraminotomy (posterior surgery) and anterior cervical discectomy with fusion (anterior surgery) for cervical foraminal radiculopathy remains controversial.

Objective
To investigate the noninferiority of posterior vs anterior surgery in patients with cervical foraminal radiculopathy with regard to clinical outcomes after 1 year.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This multicenter investigator-blinded noninferiority randomized clinical trial was conducted from January 2016 to May 2020 with a total follow-up of 2 years. Patients were included from 9 hospitals in the Netherlands. Of 389 adult patients with 1-sided single-level cervical foraminal radiculopathy screened for eligibility, 124 declined to participate or did not meet eligibility criteria. Patients with pure axial neck pain without radicular pain were not eligible. Of 265 patients randomized (132 to posterior and 133 to anterior), 15 were lost to follow-up and 228 were included in the 1-year analysis (110 in posterior and 118 in anterior).

Interventions
Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to posterior foraminotomy or anterior cervical discectomy with fusion.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Primary outcomes were proportion of success using Odom criteria and decrease in arm pain using a visual analogue scale from 0 to 100 with a noninferiority margin of 10% (assuming advantages with posterior surgery over anterior surgery that would justify a tolerable loss of efficacy of 10%). Secondary outcomes were neck pain, disability, quality of life, work status, treatment satisfaction, reoperations, and complications. Analyses were performed with 2-proportion z tests at 1-sided .05 significance levels with Bonferroni corrections.

Results
Among 265 included patients, the mean (SD) age was 51.2 (8.3) years; 133 patients (50%) were female and 132 (50%) were male. Patients were randomly assigned to posterior (132) or anterior (133) surgery. The proportion of success was 0.88 (86 of 98) in the posterior surgery group and 0.76 (81 of 106) in the anterior surgery group (difference, -0.11 percentage points; 1-sided 95% CI, -0.01) and the between-group difference in arm pain was -2.8 (1-sided 95% CI, -9.4) at 1-year follow-up, indicating noninferiority of posterior surgery. Decrease in arm pain had a between-group difference of 3.4 (1-sided 95% CI, 11.8), crossing the noninferiority margin with 1.8 points. All secondary outcomes had 2-sided 95% CIs clustered around 0 with small between-group differences.

Conclusions and Relevance
In this randomized clinical trial, posterior surgery was noninferior to anterior surgery for patients with cervical radiculopathy regarding success rate and arm pain at 1 year. Decrease in arm pain and secondary outcomes had small between-group differences. These results may be used to enhance shared decision-making.

Trial Registration
Netherlands Trial Register Identifier: NTR5536.


In subproject C of the SILENCE project there is a task to study possibilities to replace some coast-by measurements made outdoors with either CPX measurements (also made outdoors) or laboratory drum measurements. This report is a background document intended for the Milestone decision regarding this topic. The report starts with a brief description of each method, including examples of equipment, and continues with an analysis of the characteristics of each method. The correlations between the methods, as obtained in comparative experiments, are studied. It is, for example, found that the laboratory drum method is representative of road measurements only if the drum surface is equipped with a material giving a texture similar to that of the road material. Even better is if the drum can be equipped with segments of the road material itself, which is possible for a couple of drums in the world; although one interesting option is that replicas of the same road surface (for example one according to ISO 10844) can be made to cover a great number of drums all over the world with an almost identical surface. Then the coast-by and drum methods are compared in more detail. The uncertainties connected with measurements made with the two methods are discussed and quantified. When all uncertainties are combined into an overall uncertainty it is concluded that the drum method seems to be slightly better than the coast-by method. As a result of the positive evaluation of the drum method, it is concluded that some types of measurements which are today made with the coast-by method, or future measurements which would normally be made with the coast-by method, may better be made with the laboratory drum method. This has many practical implications, since indoor measurements can be made independent of weather conditions and climate. Consequently, it is recommended to develop and specify a laboratory drum measuring procedure and to use it in SILENCE for certain of the applications; although the coast-by method will still be used for a great number of basic measurements.


Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging filed for technical, social, and economic significance. Consumer products, durable goods, cars and trucks, industrial and utility components, sensors, and other everyday objects are being combined and connected with Internet and powerful data analytic capabilities that promise to transform the traditional services. Projection of IoT on the Internet and economy is impressive, with some anticipating as many as 100 billion connected IoT devices and a global economic impact of more than $11 trillion by 2025. At the same time, the IoT has been suffered from various challenges that need to be addressed with new standards, methods, and systems and provide more potential benefits. Attention-grabbing headlines about the hacking of Internet-connected devices, surveillance concerns, and privacy fears already have captured public attention. Technical challenges need new standards and policies, legal and development challenges need new methods and systems. This review paper presents a detail about current IoT challenges to help the new researchers in this area and filed to navigate the dialogue surrounding the IoT in the light of the competing predictions about its promises and perils.


Under increasing greenhouse gas forcing, climate models project tropical warming that is greater in the Northern than the Southern Hemisphere, accompanied by a reduction in the northeast trade winds and a strengthening of the southeast trades. While the ocean‐atmosphere coupling indicates a positive feedback, what triggers the coupled asymmetry and favors greater warming in the northern tropics remains unclear. Far away from the tropics, the Southern Ocean (SO) has been identified as the major region of ocean heat uptake. Beyond its local effect on the magnitude of sea surface warming, we show by idealized modeling experiments in a coupled slab ocean configuration that enhanced SO heat uptake has a profound global impact. This SO‐to‐tropics connection is consistent with southward atmospheric energy transport across the equator. Enhanced SO heat uptake results in a zonally asymmetric La‐Nina‐like pattern of sea surface temperature change that not only affects tropical precipitation but also has influences on the Asian and North American monsoons.


ABSTRACT The sedimentary record reveals first-order changes in the locus of carbonate precipitation through time, documented in the decreasing abundance of carbonate precipitation on the seafloor. This pattern is most clearly recorded by the occurrence of seafloor carbonate crystal fans (bladed aragonite pseudomorphs neomorphosed to calcite or dolomite), which have a distinct temporal distribution, ubiquitous in Archean carbonate platforms, but declining through Proterozoic time and extremely rare in Phanerozoic basins. To understand better the potential influences on this pattern, we built a mathematical framework detailing the effects of organic matter delivery and microbial respiratory metabolisms on the carbonate chemistry of shallow sediments. Two nonunique end-member solutions emerge in which seafloor precipitation is favorable: enhanced anaerobic respiration of organic matter, and low organic matter delivery to the sediment-water interface. This analysis suggests that not all crystal fans reflect a unique set of circumstances; rather there may have been several different geobiological and sedimentary mechanisms that led to their deposition. We then applied this logical framework to better understand the petrogenesis of two distinct crystal fan occurrences—the Paleoproterozoic Beechey Formation, Northwest Territories, Canada, and the middle Ediacaran Rainstorm Member of the Johnnie Formation, Basin and Range, United States—using a combination of high-resolution petrography, micro X-ray fluorescence and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy, C isotopes, and sedimentary context to provide information on geobiological processes occurring at the sediment-water interface. Interestingly, both of these Proterozoic examples are associated with iron-rich secondary mineral assemblages, have elevated trace metal signatures, and sit within maximum flooding intervals, highlighting key commonalities in synsedimentary geobiological processes that led to seafloor carbonate precipitation.


What is the reality behind the famous phrase, in Demosthenes 2. 6? It is commonly spoken of as a secret treaty, pact, agreement, bargain, or understanding, or as a secret clause or article (all these terms have been used in recent times), between Athens and Philip II of Macedon, at some time between 359 and 357, whereby the Athenians promised to hand over their ally, Pydna, to Philip, in return for his promise to hand over Amphipolis to them.


Atmospheric turbulence results in many effects causing fluctuation in the received optical power. Terrestrial laser beam communication is affected above all by scintillations. The paper deals with modeling the influence of scintillation on link performance, using the modified Rytov theory. The probability of correct signal detection in direct detection system in dependence on many parameters such as link distance, power link margin, refractive-index structure parameter, etc. is discussed and different approaches to the evaluation of scintillation effect are compared. The simulations are performed for a horizontal-path propagation of the Gaussian-beam wave.


"Candidatus Liberibacter africanus" (Laf) has long been recognised as a causal agent of the devastating citrus disease huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening. This species is currently restricted to Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and some Indian Ocean islands and vectored by the African citrus psyllid, Trioza erytreae. Blotchy mottle on citrus leaves is characteristic of the disease. Somewhat similar symptoms in the Rutaceous tree Calodendrum capensis (Cape Chestnut) resulted in the discovery of Laf outside commercial citrus crops in South Africa. This was classed as a subspecies of Laf (capensis, hence LafC). In subsequent surveys of both commercial citrus crops and Calodendrum, both natural and ornamental specimens, LafC was not found in the citrus crop, nor has Laf been found in C. capensis. HLB was reported from Madagascar in 1968 but no sequences from this source have so far been published. Until fairly recently, only the reference 16S rRNA gene sequences of Laf (L22533) and LafC (AF137368) had been deposited in GenBank. Both of these reference sequences contain a number of unresolved nucleotides. Resolving these nucleotide positions by aligning against more recently available sequences, it becomes evident that these unresolved positions represent one percentage point difference in similarity between Laf and LafC. The originally reported 97.4% similarity is therefore incorrect based on this new information. Recalculating the similarity on the full length 16S rDNA sequence results in 99.54% similarity, a value too high to justify a subspecies status. LafC should therefore be reduced to that of a haplotype of Laf. Further, the six 16S rRNA gene sequences currently available in GenBank identified as the species Laf separate into 2 haplotype groups. The 3 haplotypes of Laf are therefore LafA designated as the first accession sequenced (L22533), LafC for the former capensis subspecies and to recognise the prior use of this term, and LafB for the third haplotype not previously recognised. Thus the cryptic presence of 3 haplotypes is revealed by this review of the Laf 16S rDNA sequences.


Approximately 5-8% of Americans are affected by some type of autoimmune disease. The current standard of care for these patients involves pharmacologic therapy to induce systemic immunosuppression, which carries significant side effects. There is a need for therapies that effectively restore immune-mediated tolerance towards the body, but do not cause inappropriate immunosupression.The following dissertation details the synthesis, characterization, and performance of tolerogenic dendritic cells (DC), as well as the exosomes that they secrete. Exosomes are small (40-100 nm) membrane-bound microvesicles produced by reverse budding of the membrane of the multivesicular endosome in DC, as well as many other cell types. DC were transduced with adenoviral vectors expressing target genes in order to manipulate their function. After transduction, DC and their exosomes were examined for the ability to modulate disease-induced inflammation in the NOD mouse model of type 1 diabetes and the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) model.DC transduced with an IL-4 expressing vector are capable or preventing the onset of hyperglycemia when administered to 12-weeks-old and 12-16 week-old prediabetic mice. Treated mice demonstrate modulation of T-cell mediated β-cell autoimmunity, including reduced insulitis, increased FoxP3 expression in the islet-draining lymph nodes, and Th2 skewing of islet-antigen induced cytokine secretion profile. We further demonstrate that transduction of DC with adenoviral vectors expressing indoleamine 2,3-diooxygenase (IDO) and CTLA-4-Ig are efficient means to generate IDO+ DC in vitro, and that these DC effectively reduce paw swelling in the DTH model of antigen-specific inflammation. The exosomes secreted by these IDO+ DC contain IDO protein, and suppress DTH responses at a level comparable to their parental DC in a manner dependent on B7-1 and B7-2. To confirm the role of B7 costimulatory molecules on tolerogenic DC and exosomes, we further demonstrate that B7-1 and B7-2, but not PD-L1 or PD-L2, are required for in vivo suppressive activity of rIL-10 treated DC and their secreted exosomes.This endeavor has increased the knowledge regarding therapeutic DC and exosomes. We have demonstrated strategies to generate tolerogenic DC and exosomes, as well as factors that are required for their activity in vivo.


Data-rate of wireless links are increasing fast, particularly when new carrier bands with very high bandwidth becomes available. Utilizing the full bandwidth for a single carrier facilitates very large baud-rates. When the baud-rates approaches or exceeds Gbaud, the implementation of the digital baseband is no longer a simple extension of existing methods. In the present paper we propose a resource efficient implementation of digital baseband for multi-Gbaud rates in a standard FPGA utilizing Xilinx Simulink-based System generator design and verification tool.


Background Intracellular vesicle fusion is mediated by the interactions of SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) proteins on vesicles (v-SNAREs) and on target membranes (t-SNAREs). The vesicle-associated membrane proteins (VAMPs) are v-SNAREs that reside in various post-Golgi vesicular compartments. To fully understand the specific role of each VAMP in vesicle trafficking, it is important to determine if VAMPs have differential membrane fusion activities. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, we developed a cell fusion assay that quantifies SNARE-mediated membrane fusion events by activated expression of β-galactosidase, and examined fusogenic pairings between the seven VAMPs, i.e., VAMPs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8, and two plasma membrane t-SNARE complexes, syntaxin1/SNAP-25 and syntaxin4/SNAP-25. VAMPs 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8 drove fusion efficiently, whereas VAMP5 was unable to mediate fusion with the t-SNAREs. By expressing VAMPs 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8 at the same level, we further compared their membrane fusion activities. VAMPs 1 and 3 had comparable and the highest fusion activities, whereas VAMPs 4, 7 and 8 exhibited 30–50% lower fusion activities. Moreover, we determined the dependence of cell fusion activity on VAMP1 expression level. Analysis of the dependence data suggested that there was no cooperativity of VAMP proteins in the cell fusion reaction. Conclusions/Significance These data indicate that VAMPs have differential membrane fusion capacities, and imply that with the exception of VAMP5, VAMPs are essentially redundant in mediating fusion with plasma membrane t-SNAREs.


The radiation intensity from the intrinsic Josephson junction high-Tc superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ terahertz emitters (Bi2212-THz emitters) is one of the most important characteristics for application uses of the device. In principle, it would be expected to be improved with increasing the number of intrinsic Josephson junctions N in the emitters. In order to further improve the device characteristics, we have developed a stand alone type of mesa structures (SAMs) of Bi2212 crystals. Here, we understood the radiation characteristics of our SAMs more deeply, after we studied the radiation characteristics from three SAMs (S1, S2, and S3) with different thicknesses. Comparing radiation characteristics of the SAMs in which the number of intrinsic Josephson junctions are N∼ 1300 (S1), 2300 (S2), and 3100 (S3), respectively, the radiation intensity, frequency as well as the characteristics of the device working bath temperature are well understood. The strongest radiation of the order of few tens of microwatt was observed from the thickest SAM of S3. We discussed this feature through the N2-relationship and the radiation efficiency of a patch antenna. The thinner SAM of S1 can generate higher radiation frequencies than the thicker one of S3 due to the difference of the applied voltage per junctions limited by the heat-removal performance of the device structures. The observed features in this study are worthwhile designing Bi2212-THz emitters with better emission characteristics for many applications.


Parenteral ciclosporin (CsA) is an effective rescue therapy for acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) and has similar efficacy to infliximab (IFX). Although CsA is cheaper and can facilitate bridging to any IBD therapy, including newer biologics, its use is limited by variable pharmacokinetics and possibility of significant systemic toxicity particularly associated with the intravenous preparation. Despite favourable pharmacokinetics and bioavailability, the use of lipid-emulsified oral CsA in steroid-refractory ASUC is undefined.

 All patients who received oral CsA (Neoral®) rescue therapy for ASUC at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK from Nov 2014 to May 2020 were identified from electronic healthcare records. Baseline data and outcomes were extracted and compared to patients who received IFX rescue therapy. Statistical significance was assessed using non-parametric tests. Survival estimates were computed using the Kaplan-Meier method.

 A total of 37 patients received oral CsA for refractory ASUC. Median time from admission to CsA initiation was 5 days (IQR 4–6 d) and median initial dose was 8 mg/kg/d (IQR 7–8 mg/kg/d). At admission, the median CRP was 26 (IQR 14–95) and Truelove and Witt's severity criteria met in 21/37 (57%). 70% of patients (26/37) avoided colectomy during the index admission. No parameters were demonstrated to predict need for acute colectomy.
 Median follow-up after hospital discharge was 3 years (IQR 2-5years). For those who avoided acute colectomy, median duration of therapy was 4 months (IQR 2.5-5months) with bridging to azathioprine (24/26, 92%), vedolizumab (1/26, 4%), or 5-ASA (1/26, 4%). Estimated colectomy-free survival in responders were 84%, 84% and 78% at 12, 24, and 60 months. No parameters were shown to predict colectomy-free survival. Comparable colectomy-free outcomes were obtained for contemporaneous IFX-treated ASUC patients in our hospital.
 9 of 26 patients remained biologic-naïve and colectomy-free after a median of 3 years. Estimated colectomy and biologic-free survival were 51%, 47% and 18% at 12, 24, and 60 months.
 15 patients experienced adverse events, which were all mild and self-limiting. There were 3 infective complications. No patients required drug cessation and no serious adverse events associated with parenteral CsA occurred.

 In this cohort, oral CsA was a safe, well tolerated and effective rescue therapy for steroid-refractory ASUC. A proportion of patients remain biologic and colectomy-free for up to 5 years. Given the feasibility to bridge to effective maintenance therapies, including newer biologics, oral CsA should be considered as a rescue therapy in ASUC and avoids many of the side effects associated with intravenous CsA.


Introduction Analyses of research ethics tend to characterize ethical review and its components as a linear process of submission, review, revision, research conduct and reporting. Recommendations to improve research ethics usually seek to provide a way to better support this linear process through improved guidance, training, regulation, institutional power or legal authority. We refer to this as a linear model of research ethics governance. Recommendations on this model implicitly recognize that research is influenced by a complex web of relations. Recent discussion about conflicts of interest and research ethics also recognizes that research review and standards are subject to a web of influences. We suggest a cultural model of research ethics governance or stewardship that explicitly acknowledges that research and research ethics are subject to complex social influences that are simultaneously antagonistic and supportive of the goals of research ethics. These influences inevitably shape even the standards, practices and structures of research ethics. Recognizing this embeddedness is more than a clever social analysis--it locates research ethics as one of many activities in an arena of social action and makes it possible to identify and evaluate the presumptions that have shaped the goals of research ethics as well as a wider range of means for achieving them. The Linear Model of Research Ethics Discussions of research ethics are rooted in the linear characterization of a process that begins with a research proposal and passes step-wise through stages of review and revision to be approved, implemented and reported. Research ethics scholarship has generally utilized the linear model in an attempt to directly influence research activities to promote high quality and ethical research. Recommendations to improve research ethics usually seek to provide a way to better support this linear process through improved guidance, training, regulation, institutional power or legal authority. As a result, the field of research ethics has been dominated by discussions of ethics review, ethical regulations and guidelines, and forms such as informed consent. In The Governance of Health Research Involving Human Subjects, (1) Michael McDonald characterizes the practice of human subject ethics review in Canada as the funnel-like reduction of complexity into an inappropriately narrow review process: In short, ethics is funnelled into a bureaucratic process, and the process itself is reduced to a bare minimum. That bare minimum consists of the tangible parts--consent forms and other items, like adverse incident reports.... An important general result of this funnelling and narrowing down of ethical concerns is that important issues are missed at all levels and at all stages.... More generally in terms of governance processes and structures designed to promote ethical RIHS, the REB is seen as the focal institutional tool and in turn its role is defined in terms of front-end research protocol approval. This ignores other possible tools or structures for promoting ethical research. It also ties too much of ethics in research to a particular stage--a very preliminary one at that-- taken in isolation from the rest of the research process. The big picture is missed--concerning the larger cultural environment of research. The funnel example demonstrates the bureaucratization of research ethics--how a broad range of research ethics issues, when channelled through the administrative mechanisms of review and consent, end up neglecting the original complexity. Discussions of conflicts of interest in relation to research ethics also make explicit concerns about how diverse influences on research shape the research agenda. (2) Some of the most oft-cited influences on research and the ethics of research in practice include: industry influence;; directed calls for research proposals by funding agencies; private funding of research; matched funding requirements; influence of disease-based and community-based groups; and patterns of health care funding. …


Despite the common belief that information and communication technology (ICT) has the potential to support certain fundamental changes in learning, few have examined ICT implementation conceptually within a wider context of educational change. Methodologically, we are by and large limited to building simple models that accommodate only a single dependence relationship among variables. Framing ICT implementation as a process of interactions among pedagogical and organisational factors in bringing about changes in student learning, this article used data collected from 1076 teachers in 130 schools to construct a structural equation model (SEM), from which we are able to examine multiple interrelated dependence relationships in a single model. Results indicated that from teacher perspectives, the collegial capacity of ICT implementation strategies played a central and mediating role in effecting changes in student learning, of moving away from a teacher-centred approach to one that is more student-centred. Specifically, ICT brought about these changes in the context of establishing collegiality in fostering pedagogical innovations in schools. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.


This paper deals with the joint optimization of the number of buffers and servers, an important issue since buffers and servers represent a significant amount of investment for many companies. The joint buffer and server optimization problem (BCAP) is a non-linear optimization problem with integer decision variables. The performance of the BCAP is evaluated by a combination of a two-moment approximation (developed for the performance analysis of finite general-service queues) and the generalized expansion method (a well-known method for performance analysis of acyclic networks of finite queues). A standard non-linear optimization package is used to optimize the BCAP for a large number of experiments. A comprehensive set of numerical results is presented. The results show that the methodology is capable of handling the trade-off between the number of servers and buffers, yielding better throughputs than previously published studies. Also, the importance of the squared coefficient of variation of the service time is stressed, since it strongly influences the approximate optimal allocation.


This paper characterizes how science teachers use technology in secondary school lessons, with a special focus on Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs), laptops and Digital Textbooks (DTs). This study also analyses how previous professional development or training may influence the way in which teachers use technology in their subsequent practice, as well as some possible relations with their perceptions. A total of 94 teachers from 69 secondary schools in Catalonia (Spain) were surveyed. Responses were collected and analysed combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Participants' answers reveal the predominance of the use of IWBs and teachers' computers, with scarce variety of uses, mostly aimed at supporting teacher-centred practices. Students' participation in the use of these devices was low, calling into question the possible educational changes in science education. Although most teachers' training in the use of technology seems to have caused little impact on their subsequent practices, some less frequent training approaches, such as training based on real examples, seems more effective in terms of changing teachers' utilization of technology.


Speed-lines, movement-lines and emotion-enhancing flourishes ("pictorial runes") may contribute, marginally or substantially, to the potential meanings to be inferred from a comic's panel. It seems plausible that pictorial runes convey their meanings in patterned ways, but hitherto little systematic research appears to have been done to investigate them. The primary aim of this paper is to present the first version of a model to research pictorial runes by inventorying and categorizing all specimens occurring in a single Tintin album and to generalize tentatively about their meaning. In this manner, the model can be further tested, refined, elaborated, or refuted, in further research. Such research will aid both comics scholarship and cognition studies based on visual stimuli.


Accelerated and increasingly complex patterns of international migration are correlated with the emergence of various types of transnational families and an ever-rising number of culturally and ethnically mixed couples. Once a typical emigration country, Turkey has recently been established as a transit and receiving society, where numerous Europeans settle due to emotional ties with Turkish citizens . This paper is based on a qualitative study of 10 mixed European-Turkish families based in Istanbul, carried out through in-depth interviews. The paper is divided into three parts. First, it examines the social characteristics of the research participants . Second, it analyses the reactions of family and friends to the mixed relationship . Third, it discusses four adaptation strategies of foreign partners to Turkish society – namely, integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization .


Concrete structures durability is affected by a number of factors which have different sensitivity. According to level of sensitivity classified the influence factors could promote concrete structures durability design. The disadvantage of traditional methods of sensitivity analysis in concrete structures durability is the larger number of samples. The grey correlation theory was used to analyze the degree of the sensitivity of the influence factors and comparison with traditional methods of calculation. The results show that the grey correlation analysis method could quantify the levels of the sensitive factors and with higher reliability. A new way to study the durability of concrete structures was provided.


Abstract We present preliminary results of the first near-infrared variability study of the Arches cluster, using adaptive optics data from NIRI/Gemini and NACO/VLT. The goal is to discover eclipsing binaries in this young (2.5 ± 0.5 Myr), dense, massive cluster for which we will determine accurate fundamental parameters with subsequent spectroscopy. Given that the Arches cluster contains more than 200 Wolf-Rayet and O-type stars, it provides a rare opportunity to determine parameters for some of the most massive stars in the Galaxy.


The molecular basis of TNF tolerance is poorly understood. In human monocytes we detected two forms of TNF refractoriness, as follows: absolute tolerance was selective, dose dependently affecting a small group of powerful effector molecules; induction tolerance represented a more general phenomenon. Preincubation with a high TNF dose induces both absolute and induction tolerance, whereas low-dose preincubation predominantly mediates absolute tolerance. In cells preincubated with the high TNF dose, we observed blockade of I k B a phosphorylation/proteolysis and nuclear p65 translocation. More prominent in cells preincubated with the high dose, reduced basal I k B a levels were found, accompanied by increased I k B a degradation, suggesting an increased I k B a turnover. In addition, a nuclear elevation of p50 was detected in tolerant cells, which was more visible following high-dose preincubation. TNF-induced phosphorylation of p65-Ser 536 , p38, and c-jun was inhibited, and basal inhibitory p65-Ser 468 phosphorylation was increased in tolerant cells. TNF tolerance induced by the low preincubation dose is mediated by glycogen synthesis kinase-3, whereas high-dose preincubation-mediated tolerance is regulated by A20/glycogen synthesis kinase-3 and protein phosphatase 1–dependent mechanisms. To our knowledge, we present the first genome-wide analysis of TNF tolerance in monocytic cells, which differentially inhibits NF- k B/AP-1–associated signaling and shifts the kinase/phosphatase balance. These forms of refractoriness tween NF- k B/MAPK and PP1 phosphatases. Our data show that, under TNF tolerance induced by the high dose, the PP1 phosphatase system is upregulated, which may be at least partially caused by a reduced expression of inhibitory PPP1R14C and finally contributes to the inhibition of NF- k B/AP-1–associated kinases.


This is a beautifully illustrated guide to lingerie, starting with the early history of bras and girdles and progressing up to modern times. Lingerie has always been meant to both conceal and reveal, to shape the body and to hide a multitude of sins. In recent years designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier have also used items of lingerie such as bustiers and basques as outerwear to great effect. The book also contains a section on achieveing the correct fit and where to shop for the most beautiful lingerie. All in all, this is a beautiful look at a fascinating subject. It is both a wonderful gift item and a resource book for fashion students and, indeed, anyone interested in fashion in general.


In this paper, the author discusses assessment of student learning in light of
evolving accreditation standards. The author describes the Indiana Model—a comprehensive
approach that includes: (a) a Course-Learning Objectives (CLO) classification
system to organize and analyze the total array of course learning objectives
addressed in a curriculum, (b) a direct Assessment of Student Learning system to
demonstrate student learning outcomes, and (c) an indirect Assessment of Student
Learning system to provide for the perspectives of consumers and other stakeholders.
When integrated, the three systems may be used for curriculum analysis and development,
assessment of student learning, and program evaluation—particularly in
terms of student learning outcomes. The proposed integrated approach to student
learning assessment addresses both university and professional accreditation standards.


Abstract Education remains the weapon for upward stratification, social and economic development of any nation but the Nigerian government has not shown enough commitment to the educational sector. The manifestation could be seen in the shrinking government funding on education, decaying and lack of infrastructure in Nigeria's universities which have led to demoralization of the academia. A major consequence of this is the frustration experienced by postgraduate students who are pursuing higher education and having to spend longer period than expected record time. This frustration in pursuing higher educational qualification often leads to stunted career progression. This has led to an alternative decision to migrate in search of higher education abroad. Consequently, in recent times, Nigerian postgraduate students have migrated more than ever before to South African Universities that are believed to have modern facilities for training and ensuring completion of programmes in record time. This study employed the use of structured questionnaire to investigate the determinants of this form of migration. Among other findings, this study found that the decision to migrate and pursue postgraduate student abroad is informed by the demoralization and frustration suffered in attaining postgraduate education in Nigeria. The study also found that many Nigerian postgraduate migrant students that desired to stay back in South Africa after the programme were discouraged from doing so because of the frequent hostilities between the bulging South African youths. Their hostility is associated with the shrinking capacity of the host government (South Africa) to create new jobs for them. In addition, the belief of the agitating South African youth that the migrant postgraduates are responsible for their unemployed status, by taking up their jobs especially in those areas where required skills among the South African are lacking further gingers hostilities. This study, therefore, suggests among others that the home country should increase budgetary allocation to improve the education sector as well as monitor such allocation to ensure that it is prudently utilized. It is also recommended that institutional processes and procedures to monitor and evaluate postgraduate studies in Nigerian universities be institutionalized.


Widespread electrification of the transportation sector is a key component of most strategies for deep decarbonization of the U.S. economy. While the acceptance of EVs has grown dramatically over the last decade, much of this growth has been spurred by substantial support from public funds and other related policies. Major electrification on the time scales supported in many climate policy plans will require substantial investment spurred by policy. In this whitepaper we discuss the policy options for expanding the EV market. Our particular focus is on the potential role that a Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) can play in supporting electrification. Standards like the LCFS are typically positioned as "technology neutral", and the LCFS itself relies upon a dense set of calculations and assumptions to rate a wide variety of fuels based upon their life-cycle carbon intensity (CI). The LCFS in California is currently directing hundreds of millions of dollars to the EV market in California. However, it is likely that for a LCFS to support the kinds of investments on a magnitude likely necessary to reach electrification goals, it may have to be altered in such fundamental ways as to no longer really function as a technology-neutral fuel standard. *(Bushnell) University of California Davis and NBER. firstname.lastname@example.com. (Muehlegger) University of California Davis and NBER. email@example.com. (Rapson) University of California Davis. firstname.lastname@example.com. (Witcover) University of California Davis. firstname.lastname@example.com. This work was supported by the Clean Air Task Force. The views expressed herein are those of the authors.


Barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv.) is one of the most yield-limiting weeds in rice in Turkey. Barnyardgrass resistance to common herbicides has been reported worldwide; however, such information is largely lacking in the country. The objective of this study was to determine the resistance spectrum of different barnyardgrass populations to the most commonly-used herbicides in rice in Turkey. The susceptibility of 40 barnyardgrass populations was evaluated. The samples were collected from fields with intensive rice cultivation in Balıkesir and Çanakkale provinces. Seeds were picked from barnyardgrass plants suspected to be herbicide-resistant because of their survival in the rice fields after herbicides application. A total of 38 populations were resistant to penoxsulam, and the resistance index of these populations ranged from 2 to 39. A total of 24 out of the 38 barnyardgrass populations showed a GR50 (herbicide dose causing a 50% reduction in plant dry matter) value higher than the recommended penoxsulam dose (20.2 g a.i./ha) in rice. Among these 24 barnyardgrass populations, 25, 29.2 and 45.8% populations exhibited high, moderate and low level of penoxsulam resistance, respectively. From the penoxsulam-resistant populations (38), the response of 14 populations (low to high resistance to penoxsulam) to six commonly-used herbicides for barnyardgrass control in rice was evaluated. The selected 14 populations showed resistance to almost all herbicides tested, with the lowest average resistance being determined against profoxydim and the highest average resistance against molinate herbicide. Resistance levels against six commonly-used herbicides in rice ranged from 2 to 34.


The unusual elemental enrichment typical of many carbonatites and their stable and radiogenic isotope signatures—which are unlike those of sedimentary limestones—forced researchers to abandon limestone melting theories in the early 1960s and to support mantle-related models of carbonatite genesis. However, the fluid compositions [CO2/(H2O + CO2) = 0.05] required to melt limestone near its eutectic in the CaO-MgO-CO2-H2O system (600–675 °C) are virtually identical to those found in infiltrative magmatic-hydrothermal, skarn-forming systems; therefore, carbonates within such systems would melt via volatile fluxing. Skarn-related decarbonation reactions produce the CO2 required to form the carbonic acid (H2CO3) in the infiltrative H2O-rich fluid essential to carbonate melting. In addition to H2O, other fluxes (HF, HCl, H3PO4) and related salts derived from fluid-phase saturation of silicate intrusions could further depress the carbonate-melting eutectic temperatures, as well as enhance mass transfer of mineralizing elements into a forming skarn system and any low-viscosity carbonate melts produced within the skarn. The isotopic signatures of the resultant carbonate melts should reflect the elemental mass transfer of constituents from the intrusion, as well as Rayleigh decarbonation and elemental mixing processes typical of contact-metasomatic (pneumatolytic) processes. Many intrusions exsolving volatiles into limestone during final stages of solidification should produce some carbonate melt. Only carbonatites with enrichments in F, P, Sr, Nb, U, Th, and rare-earth-elements, have been considered intrusive melts, whereas the solidified products of other melts may have been erroneously considered hydrothermal veins.


Introduction: This study aims to provide insight into the prevalence of health problems and the frequency of general practitioner (GP) contacts in cohabiting partners of persons with dementia, during the year prior to the dementia diagnosis and up to 3 years after the diagnosis. Methods: Partners of persons with dementia and a matched control group of partners of persons without dementia were identified in the routinely recorded electronic health records of 451 Dutch general practices in 2008–2015. These data were used to examine the prevalence of the partners' health problems. Differences between these partners and comparison partners in the prevalence of 16 groups of health problems (diagnostic chapters) and in the frequency of GP contacts were examined using generalized estimating equation models. Results: 1,711 partners of persons with dementia and 6,201 comparison partners were included in the analyses. Social problems, more specifically problems related to the illness and/or the loss of the partner, were significantly more prevalent in partners than in comparison partners across the years (p < 0.01), as were musculoskeletal problems (p < 0.01). Respiratory and psychological problems increased over time in partners and remained stable in comparison partners. Across the years, partners contacted their GP more often than comparison partners (p < 0.01). Discussion/Conclusion: Having a cohabiting partner with dementia has consequences for caregiver's physical and psychosocial health. The specific health problems found in this study and the increase in GP contacts might be relevant indicators of overburdening in partners of persons with dementia.


Modern asset pricing (MAP; commonly known as real options valuation) has been used as an alternative to discounted cash flow (DCF) methods in the mining industry to improve the representation of project structure within project valuation models. Previous mining applications of MAP have tended to treat the ore deposit as a homogenous entity as opposed to a heterogenous one in which the deposit can be subdivided into zones differentiated by size, quality and location. This is an inadequate approach for some mining applications because management may implement operating strategies that capitalize on geological structure such as selective zone closure in response to low mineral prices. This paper introduces a project structure model that reflects the heterogenous nature of mineral deposits by representing the project as a real asset portfolio in which each zone represents a portfolio asset. The project is operated in discrete intervals by choosing, at the start of each interval, an operating mode from a set of competing operating modes. Each mode specifies the combinations of zones that will be active and the amount of project capacity that is built, abandoned or temporarily closed. A two-zone mining example is used to demonstrate the proposed model and show how operating strategies that capitalize on geological structure can add value.


Objective The colonic microbiota ferment dietary fibres, producing short chain fatty acids. Recent evidence suggests that the short chain fatty acid propionate may play an important role in appetite regulation. We hypothesised that colonic delivery of propionate would increase peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) secretion in humans, and reduce energy intake and weight gain in overweight adults. Design To investigate whether propionate promotes PYY and GLP-1 secretion, a primary cultured human colonic cell model was developed. To deliver propionate specifically to the colon, we developed a novel inulin-propionate ester. An acute randomised, controlled cross-over study was used to assess the effects of this inulin-propionate ester on energy intake and plasma PYY and GLP-1 concentrations. The long-term effects of inulin-propionate ester on weight gain were subsequently assessed in a randomised, controlled 24-week study involving 60 overweight adults. Results Propionate significantly stimulated the release of PYY and GLP-1 from human colonic cells. Acute ingestion of 10 g inulin-propionate ester significantly increased postprandial plasma PYY and GLP-1 and reduced energy intake. Over 24 weeks, 10 g/day inulin-propionate ester supplementation significantly reduced weight gain, intra-abdominal adipose tissue distribution, intrahepatocellular lipid content and prevented the deterioration in insulin sensitivity observed in the inulin-control group. Conclusions These data demonstrate for the first time that increasing colonic propionate prevents weight gain in overweight adult humans. Trial registration number NCT00750438.


We develop a multinomial logit model with missing information that can be used to test for hidden alternatives in random utility models and contingent valuation analysis. To illustrate our latent-choice technique, we focus on the "don't know" responses in dichotomous choice contingent valuation questions. In this version of the latent-choice model, we probabilistically reassign "don't know" responses to either the "yes" or "no" categories (or leave them in the "don't know" category), if indicated by the data. We find that in our two studies a statistically significant number of the "don't know" responses are actually "no" responses. (JEL C25, Q26)


High quality hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanorods have been synthesized at 180 °C by a facile hydrothermal method using calcium chloride and diammonium hydrogen phosphate as precursors in the absence of any surfactants. The diameters and lengths of HAP nanorods are in the range of 40-80 nm and 0.2-2.0 μm respectively. The sizes and morphologies of HAP nanorods can be controlled by adjusting the synthetic parameters, such as reaction temperatures, and types of surfactants. A possible mechanism was also proposed to explain the growth of the HAP nanorods.


The ageing population is expected to significantly increase the demand of healthcare services. To meet this challenge, it is necessary to equip healthcare students with attributes for providing quality elderly care services. Among them, a positive attitude towards older people is important to develop rapport with clients and facilitate service delivery. By adopting the service learning model where the teaching of elderly care knowledge is coupled with the delivery of healthcare services, it is anticipated that the direct interactions with elderly can promote the development of positive attitude. The present study reports the effect of service learning on fostering positive attitude towards elderly people among undergraduate healthcare students. The students attended a 14week service learning subject designed on the platform of a nurse-led outreach mobile clinic. The subject involved preparatory classroom activities and hands-on skills training, as well as the provision of health assessment services and the delivery of health talks or workshops in local communities. Students' attitude towards the elderly was measured by the Kogan's Attitude toward Old People Scale at the beginning and at the end of the subject. The results suggested that participation in the subject led to significant improvement in attitude towards elderly in various aspects. The study provides supportive evidence for advocating service learning as a promising pedagogical method in developing favourable attributes for students, which might be difficult to achieve through traditional classroom teaching and written examinations.


In this paper, we address the problem of medium-access control (MAC) in multihop networks. We focus on the first-come, first-serve (FCFS) collision-resolution algorithm, and for the two-destination case illustrate the difficulties that arise because of the interference between two populations of nodes that share a common channel. Specifically, a deadlock can arise when a commonly used improvement to the FCFS algorithm for the single-destination case is used. To eliminate this deadlock, we use a "group TDMA" mechanism, which separates the interfering groups, while permitting use of the best version of the FCFS algorithm. We demonstrate that use of group TDMA in conjunction with the FCFS algorithm can provide increased throughput and energy efficiency. Additionally, we extend our model to a cellular-like multihop network.


This study assessed the effects of various modes of high-intensity anaerobic exercise (e.g., sprinting, squatting, and jumping) on dynamic balance performance. Twenty-five college-age student- athletes participated in three, high-intensity anaerobic exercise conditions (treadmill sprint, barbell squat, and vertical jump) on three separate days with only one condition being performed per week in a randomized order. Dynamic balance became significantly (t = 2.21, p = 0.04) worse from pre- to post-testing after completing the vertical jump protocol (5.24 ± 2.29 and 6.1 ± 1.92, respectively). There were no significant (t < 1.75, p < 0.19) differences in dynamic balance from pre- to post- testing after performing the treadmill sprint (5.68 ± 1.68 and 6.28 ± 2.06, respectively) and barbell squat (5.18 ± 1.64 and 5.69 ± 1.81, respectively) protocols. While Tabata sprint and barbell squat protocols revealed no significant effects on dynamic balance, a similar-intensity Tabata vertical jump protocol produced a significant detriment in dynamic balance performance. These findings suggest that the vertical jump may uniquely hinder subsequent sport performance and increase risk of balance-related injury when compared to intensity- matched sprinting or squatting. These results may be attributable to an increased propensity to fatigue when performing bouts of vertical jump compared to sprinting or squatting, thus reducing the proprioceptive capability of the body.


The goal of our project is to collect the dataset of 3D facial motion parameters for the synthesis of talking head. However, the capture of human facial motion is usually an expensive task in some related researches, since special devices must be applied, such as optical or electronic trackers. In this paper, we propose a robust, accurate and inexpensive approach to estimate human facial motion from mirror-reflected videos. The approach takes advantages of the characteristics between original and mirrored image, and can be more robust than most of other general-purposed stereovision approach in the motion analysis for mirror-reflected videos. A preliminary dataset of facial motion parameters of MPEG-4 and French visemes and with voice data has been acquired, the estimated data are also applied to our facial animation system.


The generation of thin films of oriented functionalized metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) on self-assembled monolayers was achieved via direct growth from solution. Specifically, the direct growth from solvothermally pretreated synthesis solutions of two different MOF structures with amino functionality was investigated: the flexible framework structure NH2–Fe–MIL-88B and the mesoporous MOF NH2–Fe–MIL-101 with its remarkably large unit cell. Both MOF structures can be grown in a highly oriented fashion on self-assembled monolayers of 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid on gold. With the help of a quartz crystal microbalance we demonstrate that the introduction of amino groups into the framework strongly affects the host–guest interactions towards ethanol molecules: thin films of NH2–Fe–MIL-88B show a significantly higher uptake of ethanol than unfunctionalized Fe–MIL-88B films. In situXRD experiments during sorption of ethanol showed that the amino group does have an impact on the cell parameters of the structure, but the flexibility ("breathing") during ad- and desorption of ethanol is similar for the functionalized and the unfunctionalized structures. It is anticipated that the implementation of chemical functionalities into oriented MOF films will lead to selective host–guest interactions that are of key importance for chemical sensing and other applications.


Home ownership and access to opportunity are foundations of the American ethos. While little research has explicitly examined a relationship between home ownership and opportunity, considerable empirical work has examined how home ownership impacts important elements of local opportunity structures as well as individual subjective perceptions of those structures. Available evidence suggests that home ownership may affect the opportunity structure by enhancing neighbourhood stability and civic involvement in local voluntary and political affairs. Home ownership may also impact perceptions of opportunity by increasing financial resources, enhancing psychological and physical health, and influencing the behaviour of youth. There is a great need for additional research that directly assesses the impacts of home ownership on local objective opportunity structures and the perception of those structures.


The technical evolution during the past decade have escalated the use of electronic devices, which are more common today than ever before. The market is still growing rapidly and will continue to do so. The reason for this is the increased demand for devices with integrated circuits. In addition to the increased volume of production, the chips are also becoming more complex which is also reflected in the requirements of the chip design process.An advanced chip that combines several different hardware modules (cores) to form a complete system is called a System-on-Chip (SoC). It is of great importance that these chips work according to expectation, although it can be difficult to guarantee. The purpose of SoC testing is to verify correct behaviour as well as for diagnosis and debug.Complex systems lead to more and bigger tests which lead to increased test data volume and test time. This results in a higher test cost and many methods are proposed to remedy this situation.This report proposes a method that minimises fail result data with a real-time compression component embedded on the chip. The compressed fail results can be saved on-chip and retrieved when needed instead of during the test.Furthermore this method will facilitate debug and diagnosis of SoCs. A mask buffer is used to give the opportunity of choosing exactly which cycles, pins or bits that are relevant. All other result bits are masked and ignored.The results are satisfying, the data is compressed to a much smaller size which is easier to store on-chip. The method is simple, fast and loss-less.


This paper presents a synergistic approach to danger assessment and safety-oriented control of articulated robots that are based on a quantity called danger field. This quantity captures the state of the robot as a whole and indicates how dangerous the current posture and velocity of the robot are to the objects in the environment. The field itself is invariant with respect to objects around the robot and can be computed in any given point of the robot's workspace using measurements from the proprioceptive sensors. Furthermore, the danger field can be expressed in the closed form, which enables its fast computation. Apart from being a pure safety assessment, the danger field provides a natural prelude to safety-oriented control strategy. Namely, the information about the danger field can easily be fed back to shape standard control schemes in order to make the motion of the robot safer to the environment. The proposed method is validated through simulations and experiments.


I. THE TENSION As we enter the first redistricting of the new century, the explosive mix of race and politics continues to fuel two fundamentally opposed positions. Redistricters and reviewing courts will have to contend not only with the manner in which the federal statutory and constitutional frameworks express both these polar positions, but also with a constitutionally required via media between these poles that the current Court has sought to map out.(1) The first pole might be labeled equal opportunity for "full and fair representation." Put briefly, this position holds that majoritarian institutions suffer the potential defect of enabling a dominant and unified majority to use its power over the design of democratic institutions in such a way as to effectively exclude political minorities from meaningful political participation, even when the formal right to vote is respected. When that kind of majoritarian domination occurs in a sustained and systematic way over multiple election cycles--and when institutions designed in such a way then produce outcomes that result in differential provision of public goods and services to political minorities (for example, in the rural South fewer roads being paved in the black side of town)--it seems difficult to resist the conclusion that Madison's nightmare of "majority factionalism" has become a reality.(2) Healthy democratic systems, and morally justified ones, afford structural devices that destabilize systematic majoritarian domination in order to enhance the opportunity for representation of potentially exploitable and excludable groups. The Voting Rights Act(3) is the central device for this purpose in the United States. Starting from the Act, advocates of "full and fair representation" often assert (given the history and, where it exists, continuing presence of racially-polarized voting,(4) as well as the reality of majoritarian-dominated city councils, county commissions, legislatures, and other elective bodies) that most means of drawing election districts that enhance minority representation ought to be permitted. This includes intentionally drawing black-majority election districts; for many advocates, it also includes districts of whatever shape or design, including highly "bizarre"(5) ones, if such districts are necessary to ensure full and fair representation.(6) From this viewpoint, the problem with the Supreme Court's racial gerrymandering decisions is that they stand as obstacles to the "full and fair representation" ideal. The other pole in this conflict could be labeled the ideal of "democratic citizenship." Put briefly, proponents of this view assert that, whatever the merits of affirmative-action type policies in other remedial contexts, there is something distinctly and profoundly troubling about using race to design the fundamental democratic institutions of the State. On this view, a practice of self-consciously creating black, Hispanic, or Asian-majority districts, or white-majority districts, expresses a view of political identity inconsistent with democratic ideals. In addition to what such a practice represents about the nature of citizenship, it might have the consequentialist effect of encouraging citizens and representatives increasingly to come to experience and define their political identities and interests in partial terms.(7) The more extreme democratic institutional structures in use in other countries, but not yet widely proposed here, might readily be thought to have such expressive and consequential effects. Belgium's consociational democracy, for example, constitutionally requires concurrent majorities of legislators from both the Dutch-speaking majority and the French-speaking minority to approve any legislation affecting the "cultural and educational interests" of each group.(8) If the United States moved toward similar consociational forms, in which concurrent majorities of both black and white legislators were required on certain issues, is it implausible to imagine that the racialization of politics would be enhanced, while the sense of common democratic citizenship would be diminished? …


Retention of one-trial passive avoidance training was compared in diabetic and nondiabetic rats. Also compared were corticosterone concentrations associated with both training and retention testing, catecholamine excretion related to training, and regional brain catecholamine concentrations accompanying retention testing. Diabetic rats showed significantly better retention for the task than did nondiabetic rats. Associated with retention differences, diabetic rats had higher epinephrine excretion and nondiabetic rats had lower excretion after footshock training relative to baseline measures. Norepinephrine excretion was elevated in diabetics both in baseline measurement and during the 24 hr following footshock training. No differences were found in baseline or stimulated corticosterone concentration between diabetic and nondiabetic rats. Diabetic rats had higher concentrations of norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA) and lower 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid/dopamine (DOPAC/DA) ratios in hypothalamus and higher NE in brain stem and amygdala than did nondiabetics, although both diabetic and nondiabetic rats had reduced DA and NE following retention testing. The results indicate that there are biochemical alterations in diabetes that may have important behavioral impact.


We present new measurements of the dust emissivity index, beta, for the high-mass, star-forming OMC 2/3 filament. We combine 160-500 um data from Herschel with long-wavelength observations at 2 mm and fit the spectral energy distributions across a ~ 2 pc long, continuous section of OMC 2/3 at 15000 AU (0.08 pc) resolution. With these data, we measure beta and reconstruct simultaneously the filtered-out large-scale emission at 2 mm. We implement both variable and fixed values of beta, finding that beta = 1.7 - 1.8 provides the best fit across most of OMC 2/3. These beta values are consistent with a similar analysis carried out with filtered Herschel data. Thus, we show that beta values derived from spatial filtered emission maps agree well with those values from unfiltered data at the same resolution. Our results contradict the very low beta values (~ 0.9) previously measured in OMC 2/3 between 1.2 mm and 3.3 mm data, which we attribute to elevated fluxes in the 3.3 mm observations. Therefore, we find no evidence or rapid, extensive dust grain growth in OMC 2/3. Future studies with Herschel data and complementary ground-based long-wavelength data can apply our technique to obtain robust determinations of beta in nearby cold molecular clouds.


Note-to-note changes in brightness are able to influence the perception of interval size. Changes that are congruent with pitch tend to expand interval size, whereas changes that are incongruent tend to contract. In the case of singing, brightness of notes can vary as a function of vowel content. In the present study, we investigated whether note-to-note changes in brightness arising from vowel content influence perception of relative pitch. In Experiment 1, three-note sequences were synthesized so that they varied with regard to the brightness of vowels from note to note. As expected, brightness influenced judgments of interval size. Changes in brightness that were congruent with changes in pitch led to an expansion of perceived interval size. A follow-up experiment confirmed that the results of Experiment 1 were not due to pitch distortions. In Experiment 2, the final note of three-note sequences was removed, and participants were asked to make speeded judgments of the pitch contour. An analysis of response times revealed that brightness of vowels influenced contour judgments. Changes in brightness that were congruent with changes in pitch led to faster response times than did incongruent changes. These findings show that the brightness of vowels yields an extra-pitch influence on the perception of relative pitch in song.


The problem of how to deal with species sensitivity differences to toxic substances has been addressed successfully with the species sensitivity distribution (SSD), yet this has not increased understanding about the underlying mechanisms of sensitivity. Other researchers have identified the mode of action of chemicals and also biological traits of species as determinants for sensitivity, yet no systematic approach combines these factors. To achieve this, first existing data on organophosphate, carbamate, and pyrethroid toxicity and mode of action and also species trait information were mined. Second, we linked taxon sensitivity to their traits at the family level to generate empirical and mechanistic hypotheses about sensitivity–trait relationships. In this way, a mode‐specific sensitivity (MSS) ranking method was developed, and tested at the taxonomic level of family and genus. The application of several quality criteria indicated overall confidence in rankings, but confidence in exact taxon rank was less certain, due to data insufficiency for certain groups. The MSS rankings were found to be applicable for trait‐based approaches and were successfully linked to existing trait data to identify traits with predictive potential. Although this empirical analysis cannot test causality relationships between traits and sensitivity, testable hypotheses were generated, for further experimental investigation. Single traits as well as combinations of traits can be used to predict laboratory sensitivity to the substances tested, although associations were not as strong as in previous studies. We conclude that existing trait data are not suitable for every trait‐based research question and that important traits remain to be identified and quantified in relation to the processes of toxicity, i.e., the toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:476–487. © 2009 SETAC


This study was done in Imenti South District, Meru County. The study sought to analyze the gender responsiveness of the strategies employed in banana production and marketing and then recommend the way forward. This was achieved through identifying the roles and responsibilities played by men and women in banana production and marketing as well as assessing the gender constraints therein. A random sample of 125, 62 men and 63 women farmers cum traders were drawn from the 3larger divisions in Imenti South namely Nkuene, Abogeta and Igoji. Purposive sampling was used to select eight key informants while 47 farmers were randomly sampled for FGDs. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were used for the household surveys. The questionnaires were administered face to face as this provided an opportunity for further
probing. Interview schedules for the FGDs and Key Informants were prepared depending on
the topics to be covered. The activities in banana farms as well as marketing in various
channels were observed. Secondary data on banana production and marketing was collected
from the Ministry of Agriculture offices in the region.
The study found that women play a vital role as banana producers and marketers, and as
agents of food security and income. Yet relative to men they have less access to productive
assets such as land, labour, inputs, credit, transport, trainings and extension services. The
study also shows that the strategies that are employed in banana production and marketing are
not gender responsive.
Women have access to and control of banana income, and they are hiring more land to plant
bananas. However, this has caused gender conflict in the intra-household allocation of duties
especially in resource poor households. Men have been disempowered while women are
more burdened since they solely perform household chores and at the same time, are actively
participating in productive activities. Men are leading in banana production and marketing
due to various factors that favour them as compared to women. E.g. they are in organized
banana marketing groups where they receive banana production and marketing trainings, own
TC nurseries and are adding value to bananas due to membership in organized groups.
Resource poor women are unable to join organized banana groups due to reproductive roles
as well as lack of capital to pay the group's fee.
The study therefore suggests that towards sustainable production and marketing of bananas amongst the small scale farmers for realization of poverty reduction, it is paramount to empower men and women especially after the shift to commercial. This will ensure that the needs and concerns of men and women are considered. The study recommends collaboration
of the existing agencies, NALEP and SHEP to initiate gender trainings through gender responsive farmer groups.


In the quest to decipher disease-associated biomarkers, miniaturized and multiplexed antibody arrays may play a central role in generating protein expression profiles, or protein maps, of crude serum samples. In this conceptual study, we explored a novel, 4-times larger pen design, enabling us to, in a unique manner, simultaneously print 48 different reagents (antibodies) as individual 78.5 μm(2) (10 μm in diameter) sized spots at a density of 38,000 spots cm(-2) using dip-pen nanolithography technology. The antibody array set-up was interfaced with a high-resolution fluorescent-based scanner for sensitive sensing. The performance and applicability of this novel 48-plex recombinant antibody array platform design was demonstrated in a first clinical application targeting SLE nephritis, a severe chronic autoimmune connective tissue disorder, as the model disease. To this end, crude, directly biotinylated serum samples were targeted. The results showed that the miniaturized and multiplexed array platform displayed adequate performance, and that SLE-associated serum biomarker panels reflecting the disease process could be deciphered, outlining the use of miniaturized antibody arrays for disease proteomics and biomarker discovery.


Abstract This paper advocates for the value of open science in many areas of research. However, after briefly reviewing the fundamental principles underlying open science practices and their use and justification, the paper identifies four incompatibilities between those principles and scientific progress through applied research. The incompatibilities concern barriers to sharing and disclosure, limitations and deficiencies of overidentifying with hypothetico-deductive methods of inference, the paradox of replication efforts resulting in less robust findings, and changes to the professional research and publication culture such that it will narrow in favor of a specific style of research. Seven recommendations are presented to maximize the value of open science while minimizing its adverse effects on the advancement of science in practice.


Soybean is a major ingredient for animal feeding in the EU, which is highly dependent on its import. Brazil is the main exporter of soy meal to Europe contributing to nearly 30% of EU total import of meal. The last ten years saw an increased demand from the EU feed and food industry in using sustainable raw material. In this context, the European Feed Manufacturer Federation (FEFAC) is currently discussing a guideline for the characteristics that sustainable soy production should have. At the same time, China has increased its share of import of soy and has become the main importer of soy in the world. Competition between Europe and Chine for the supply of soy is increasing. Trade barriers, due to complex sustainability requirements from the EU, could affect its import from Brazil. The SOJAPLUS program is a key initiative concerning the sustainability of soy production in Brazil. It was set up by the Brazilian Vegetable Oil Industries Association (ABIOVE) and by the Soybean Farmers Association (APROSOJA-MT). Considering the potential of this initiative to support the supply to the European market of significant amounts of sustainable soy, the objective of this paper is to discuss the possible harmonization of the sustainability criteria defined by these important EU and Brazilian soy market players. The two set of criteria have been compared, adopting the ITC data base and comparison method; the results show that SOJAPLUS comprises all FEFAC principles and most of its criteria. The main difference, however, is related to the verification system, which in SOJAPLUS is a 1st party system (self-verification) while the FEFAC guidelines consider a 3rd party system (audits); a relevant issue, common to both the FEFAC and SOJAPLUS approach, is related to the inclusion of GMO soy in the sustainability guidelines. As the FEFAC guidelines are still in discussion, there is a very interesting opportunity to harmonize both systems aiming at increasing the sustainability of soybean supply from Brazil to Europe by tackling the difficult challenges of 3rd party certification and GMO soy inclusion. The latter being a major concern for EU consumers, policy makers, farmers' associations and other stakeholders involved in the processing and consumption of soy.


Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) is a rare disorder which affects mainly adolescents. Periods of extreme somnolence alternate with megaphagia, psychomental changes and behavioural symptoms. The cause and pathogenesis of KLS remains unknown. Several treatments have been tried and recently lithium has been proposed for a prophylactic use in single cases. In view of the rarity of KLS, long-term results of lithium therapy have not been described yet. We report the clinical course of five adolescents with KLS who were treated with lithium. All patients showed significant EEG and polysomnographic changes during the episodes and had normal results in the interval. All patients had relapses while being treated with lithium. But episodes of hypersomnia under lithium therapy were shorter and monosymptomatic with lack of behavioural symptoms. Statistical modelling showed that the risk for a relapsing episode under maintenance of lithium drops per months of therapy from 100 % to 93 %, and furthermore that the maintenance of lithium shortens the mean duration of episodes to 19 %. No severe side effects were observed. In conclusion, in KLS with a high frequency of episodes and severe behavioural changes lithium may become a treatment option.


Background & Objectives: Keratoconjunctivitis is considered as the most prevalent ocular disease which is caused by multiple microorganisms. Considering the fact that identifying etiologic agents of Keratoconjunctivitis in a specific geographical area, and determining their antibiotic resistance pattern could be very important in specifying treatment strategy of such patients, the present research has been conducted to discriminate and evaluate etiologic microbial agents of this disease in patients referred to ophthalmology ward of Feiz health center in Isfahan. Materials & Methods: This descriptive study has been conducted in an 18-month period on 196 patients, referred to ophthalmology ward of Feiz hospital with positive symptoms of Keratoconjunctivitis. Ocular secretions were sampled with sterile swap and from conjuctival sac. Then the related samples were transferred and cultured in the medium for bacteria. Antibiogram of isolated strains was performed by method of disc diffusion. One of the samples related to patients was transferred to virus transport media and was used for direct immunofluorescence test. The possible content of IgM anti-adenovirus was investigated by ELISA method and on serum samples of patients. Results: From among the total 196 evaluated samples, 75 cases were infected with bacterial agents, 37 cases with adenovirus, and 58 cases with both bacterial and adenovirus agents. The isolated bacterial agents were as follows with respect to their prevalence, Staphylococcus aureus (28.1%), Coagulase negative Staphylococci (16.8%), Bacillus spp (6.6%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5.1 %), Enterobacter (4.2%), Klebsiella (3.6%) and Streptococcus group D (3.6%). From among antibiotic drugs, the highest rate of sensitivity for S. aureus and P. aeruginosa was observed in Ciprofloxacin and Tobramycin respectively. Conclusion: The results of the study could be applied in specifying treatment strategies for patients suffering from Keratoconjunctivitis in Isfahan city.


A syllogism consists of two premises each containing one of four quantifiers (All, Some, Some not, None) and two out of three objects totaling in 64 reasoning problems. The task of the participants is to draw or evaluate a conclusion, given the premise information. Most, if not all cognitive theories for syllogistic reasoning, focus on explaining and sometimes predicting the aggregated response pattern for participants of a whole psychological experiment. While only few theories focus on the level of an individual reasoner that might have a specific mental representation that explains her response pattern. If different reasoners can be grouped into similar answer patterns then it is possible to identify even cognitive styles that depend on the underlying representation. To test the idea of individual predictions, we start by developing a pair-wise similarity function based on the subjects' answers to the task. For 10% of the subjects, we randomly delete 15% of their answers. By using collaborative filtering techniques, we check whether it is possible to predict the deleted answers of a specific individual solely by using the answers given by similar subjects to those specific questions. Results show that not only the correct answer is predicted in around 70% of the cases, and the answer is in the top two predictions in 89% of the cases, which outperforms other theoretical approaches, but the predictions are as well accurate for cases where participants deviate from the correct answer. This implies that there are cognitive principles responsible for the patterns. If these principles are identified, then there is no need for complex models, because even simple ones can achieve high accuracy. This supports that individual performance in reasoning tasks can be predicted leading to a new level of cognitive modeling.


Low cycle fatigue studies of solder joints designed and fabricated to represent generic interconnection structures typical of what might be used in packaging microelectronics have been carried out to assist in the development of a better understanding of the fundamental mechanical properties that determine the reliability of such structures. These studies involve micro scale joints (micro-joints) of both eutectic and 95/5 Pb/Sn solders fabricated by several different processes. In addition to a discussion of the results of recent tests reflecting specified loss-of-strength failure criteria and extensive post-test failure mode analysis of, primarily, 95/5 Pb/Sn micro-joints, descriptions of (1) the design and fabrication of the custom shear test vehicles and (2) the high-resolution electro-mechanical loading system used to apply cyclic loadings under isothermal conditions will be presented. This computer controlled system provides for the application of fully or partially reversed shear strains (with or without dwells) to either prototypes or custom test vehicles, and can be operated to maintain either total or plastic strain control during cycling.