We quantify the theoretical potential for CDM projects to improve energy-efficiency in selected heavy industrial sectors (iron and steel, cement, aluminium, pulp and paper and ammonia) in China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa and discuss the likelihood of the potential emission reductions materialising under CDM. Promising project types are: near net shape casting and pulverized coal / natural gas injection in iron and steel, cement blending, changes in aluminium smelter technology from Söderberg to prebaked anodes, continuous digestion process in pulp and paper, complete process integration in ammonia production. The total annual emission reduction potential of the iron and steel, cement and aluminium could reach more than 800 million CERs for China, India, Brazil and South Africa. While industrial boiler refurbishment could be widely replicated, reductions per boiler are relatively limited and overall potential is difficult to estimate.


In many of the poorest countries, agriculture is unproductive and subsistence farming is widespread. I propose nutrition demand as a mechanism that drives the production decisions of subsistence farmers and ultimately contributes to low aggregate agricultural productivity. I explore this mechanism in a model of farm-operating households facing explicit caloric needs and costly domestic trade, and test the model's predictions on Malawian household-level data. In the model and in the data, the smallest farmers focus their consumption on obtaining calories and specialize their production in unsold staple crops; medium farmers diversify both their diet and their subsistence production; the largest farmers shift consumption to purchased goods by producing and selling marketable farm products. I quantify the aggregate implications of this farm-level product choice using the model. It suggests that lowering trade frictions enough for the average share of output sold by farmers to reach even 50% would make the country's agricultural sector 42% more productive. Half of this increase is caused by the mechanically reduced erosion of output, and the other half by a better alignment of individual farmers' product choice with their comparative advantage rather than their family's nutritional needs or food preferences.


Didymosphenia geminata is a species of freshwater diatom that is known as invasive and is propagating quickly around the world. While invasive species are generally considered a nuisance, this paper attempts to find useful applications for D. geminata in the biomedical field and wastewater remediation. Here, we highlight the polysaccharide-based stalks of D. geminata that enable versatile potential applications and uses as a biopolymer, in drug delivery and wound healing, and as biocompatible scaffolding in cell adhesion and proliferation. Furthermore, this review focuses on how the polysaccharide nature of stalks and their metal-adsorption capacity allows them to have excellent wastewater remediation potential. This work also aims to assess the economic impact of D. geminata, as an invasive species, on its immediate environment. Potential government measures and legislation are recommended to prevent the spread of D. geminata, emphasizing the importance of education and collaboration between stakeholders.


This thesis covers research into the influence of human laterality on the evolution, design and operation of specific vehicle types. The research covers those aspects of human evolution and behaviour which appear relevant to man in a control interface. The research into human behaviour establishes the concept of 'skewed' man and relates it to the right-hand-world of artifacts. The research and dissertation covers:- water craft; animal-hauled vehicles; steerable land vehicles; steam railway locomotives; aircraft; space and future vehicles. For each of the transport systems studied an analysis is made of the extent of the influence of human laterality in relation to other factors; such as mechanical considerations. The research was made against the background of two principal factors: the Olympic anti-clockwise circling and the right-hand sword. As a bridge between non-vehicular and vehicular control interfaces some artifacts are described as quasi-vehicles; the plough and the pianoforte for example. For each form of transport, for each type of control position and for each operating environment there are specific conclusions about the degree of the influence of human laterality. Two general conclusions are:- 1. The longer established forms of transport usually exhibit the most evidence of the influence of laterality in the design of the control interface, whereas the more recent forms of transport show a greater influence on the rules governing the conduct of vehicles in the operating environment. 2. Increasingly the control interfaces of all types of transport tend towards less emphasis of human laterality factors as control inputs requiring muscular effort are replaced by simplified 'low-effor' actile inputs. Two pilot experiments are described: one with primary school children; the other with adults as subjects. The objective of the experiments being to find the extent to which experience of dextrad forms influences the arrangement of controls in a man/machine interface. These experiments are intended as recommendations for full-scale testing directed towards results which might give quantitative indications of the influence of human laterality on the design of vehicle control positions.


by advancing information and communication technology (ICT), e-learning has emerged as a modern educational paradigm. This online learning environment improves the delivery of teaching content, knowledge sharing among trainees, social interaction and so forth. Regarding mass investment for e-learning solutions which don't meet their original objectives, e-learning performance assessment remains crucial. E-learning appraisal assists managers of educational institutes by revealing weak and strength aspects of these initiatives and creates opportunity to improve and make effective e-learning systems. This paper aim is to introduce a new approach to e-learning system assessment by identifying and prioritizing the preliminary e-learning critical success factors (CSFs) or enablers that need to be concentrated by universities and educational institutes. The result of such performance evaluation subsequently acts as an informative tool for developing e-learning systems plan.


Today's global economic environment is characterized by the high mobility of capital and labour across national borders. Against the backdrop of a legal framework governing taxation of cross-border income, this may lead to double taxation on the one hand, as well as provide opportunities for tax evasion and tax avoidance on the other. It is well-established that a prerequisite for effective taxation of foreign-sourced income earned by "domestic taxpayers†(i.e. tax residents) is the system of administrative co-operation across national boundaries, mainly in the form of exchange of tax-relevant information between tax authorities. Since the lack of information-exchange mechanisms is linked with tax havens and the proliferation of "harmful tax practices†, the OECD put the issue high on the global political agenda as early as 1998. Further developments strengthened the importance of the exchange of information, leading to the so-called "big bang†of 2009, i.e. to a significant increase in the number of concluded tax information exchange agreements, caused by the growing concern about international tax evasion and avoidance in the post-crisis period.Nowadays the so-called automatic exchange of information (AEOI) between tax authorities has emerged as a new global standard. This is mostly due to the development of specific national and international models, aimed at enhancing intergovernmental cooperation in fighting offshore tax evasion. In this regard special attention should be drawn to the 2014 release of the OECD's Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which is based on the idea that banks and other financial institutions should play a crucial role in providing information on taxpayer's income and assets to tax authorities around the globe.The aim of this paper is to explore some of the most important implications of the adoption of the CRS as a global AEOI model. While there are marked advantages of the new standard - mainly related to its potential in curbing large-scale offshore tax evasion - some important concerns arise as to its implementation on a global level. Particular attention will be paid to the issue of coordination of the CRS with the other information exchange models (e.g. FATCA) and to the problem of protecting taxpayers' rights and information.


Abstract In Glacier Bay, Alaska, Silurian limestones record the development and demise of a stromatolite reef complex in the Alexander terrane. These microbial deposits are of regional and paleontological significance because they contain paleogeographically distinctive biotas and yield important insights into Phanerozoic stromatolites that inhabited normal-marine subtidal environments. Willoughby limestones exposed on Drake Island reveal that stromatolite growth at the platform margin influenced platform dynamics with the protection of peritidal and lagoonal habitats behind a reef-fringed rim, which experienced early lithification by the precipitation of synsedimentary marine cements. Relatively low-energy subtidal conditions in a restricted, shallow-marine lagoon are implied by the peloidal and mollusk-rich wackestones, packstones, and grainstones. At the platform margin, stromatolite boundstones and cementstones capped a reef-like mound by forming a thick microbial-cement crust on a core of outer lagoonal sediments. Well laminated, fenestral mudstones and peloidal wackestones-grainstones have an abrupt lateral contact with the microbial boundstones, indicating their formation in peritidal flats adjacent to the stromatolite reefs. Foreslope breccias consist of clasts derived from shallow subtidal environments on the shelf and at its rim. Cyclic repetition of these deposits indicate that sea level fluctuations and tectonic instability in the Alexander terrane contributed to periodic shedding of shallow-marine detritus to the upper slope, followed by the rebuilding of stromatolite reefs at the platform margin. Culminating stages in the Klakas orogeny induced large-scale, catastrophic collapse of the carbonate platform. Silurian stromatolites characterized by similar habitats and microbial-sponge biotas in southwestern Alaska and the Ural Mountains, Russia, together with paleomagnetic data, detrital zircon evidence, and the timing of late-stage Caledonide events, firmly establish genetic and temporal links of the Alexander terrane with other areas along the Uralian Seaway.


The polyphenolic pigments of black tea include the theaflavins (TF), the flavonol glycosides (FG) and a group of uncharacterised brown pigments referred to as thearubigins (TR). The TR are shown to be a complex, heterogeneous group of compounds, the majority of which are unresolvable by reverse phase HPLC. Fractionation procedures have been modified, developed, combined and applied to black tea liquor, to improve the separation of black tea components and to allow fractions of less complexity be obtained. A degree of resolution has been achieved for TR fractions, unresolvable with reverse phase HPLC, using size exclusion HPLC. Calibration of the column suggested there may be little material above 2,000 daltons associated with the TR. Two heterogeneous TR fractions have been subjected to Porter's autoxidative assay for proanthocyanidins. The resulting solutions were analysed by reverse phase HPLC and shown to contain proanthocyanidins (9.4 and 16.1 %) and galloyl ester (7.1 and 7.4 %), some 73 and 84 % remains uncharacterised. A novel group of yellow pigments has been isolated for which the name theacitrins (TC) has been proposed. Data are presented that suggest the TC are possibly derived from the TF by oxidative opening of the dihydroxybenzene ring associated with the benztropolone structure. The contribution of the phenolic pigments to tea cream was investigated using reversed phase HPLC and found to be ? 86 % TR, 12 % TF and 2 % FG. Evidence is also presented for a synergistic interaction between TF and TR during cream formation. A method has been developed, using caffeine precipitation, for the isolation of TR material that is free from TF and FG Tea pigments have been stored in aqueous solutions to evaluate their potential for use as commercial colourants. The TF and TC were found to possess poor stability. The FG exhibited greater stability but possess low tinctoral power and poor water solubility. Many of the stability trials exhibited a darkening of colour associated with an increase in unresolvable TR material. Storage of an aqueous solution of a TF enriched fraction at 37 °C resulted in the production of unresolvable (TR-like) material. This material was found to possess molecular weights in excess of 2,000, indicating polymerisation. Evidence is presented to suggest the involvement of galloyl groups in the formation of non-hydrolysable bonds within this polymeric material.


We analyse the optical spectrum of the very massive binary system WR 20a (WN6ha +WN6ha). The most prominent emission lines, Hα and He  λ 4686, display strong phase-locked profile variability. From the variations of their equivalent widths and from a tomographic analysis, we find that part of the line emission probably arises in a wind interaction region between the stars. Our analysis of the optical spectrum of WR 20a indicates a reddening of AV 6.0 mag and a distance of ∼7.9 kpc, suggesting that the star actually belongs to the open cluster Westerlund 2. The location of the system at ∼1.1 pc from the cluster core could indicate that WR 20a was gently ejected from the core via dynamical interactions. Using a non-LTE model atmosphere code, we derive the fundamental parameters of each component: Teff = 43 000 ± 2000 K, log Lbol/L 6.0, Ṁ = 8.5 × 10−6 M yr−1 (assuming a clumped wind with a volume filling factor f = 0.1). Nitrogen is enhanced in the atmospheres of the components of WR 20a, while carbon is definitely depleted. Finally, the position of the binary components in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram suggests that they are core hydrogen burning stars in a pre-LBV stage and their current atmospheric chemical composition probably results from rotational mixing that might be enhanced in a close binary compared to a single star of same age.


A motile, spore-forming and rod-shaped bacterium was isolated from a chiken feed. The strain is Gram-positive, catalase-negative and is a typical homo-lactic acid fermenter producing leavo-rotatory lactic acid. Taxonomic position of this unusual strain was discussed and it was suggested that the organism represents an intermediate form between Lactobacillus and Clostridium, for which erection of a new subgenus Sporolactobacillus (in Lactobacillaceae) was proposed. The species was named Sporolactobacillus inulinus nov. sp. taking into account its powerful inulin fermenting activity.


Handling of geological hazard assessments represent a major environmental concern in the modern society due to constructing nuclear facilities and their radioactive wastes, and also related to the management of contaminated biosphere after nuclear disasters. The session rational is to provide a forum to deal with various aspects of scientific and engineering aspects of nuclear power. The session in this year focuses on radioactive waste disposal and covers not only scientific aspect such as characterization of geological environment but also engineering aspects such as microbe-nuclide, mineral-water, and cement-water interactions. In addition to this, themes on seismic hazards at nuclear facilities, environmental behavior of radionuclides emitted from disabled nuclear plants, and volume reduction and reuse of cesium contaminated soils are welcomed.


Scheduling a cluster tool with wafer residency time constraints is challenging and important in wafer manufacturing. With a backward strategy, the scheduling problem of such single-robot-arm cluster tools is well-studied in the literature. It is much more challenging to schedule a more general case whose optimal scheduling strategy is not limited to the backward one. This work uses a timed Petri net (PN) to model the dynamic behavior of the system and presents a method to determine the optimal scheduling strategy for the system. Based on its PN model and the obtained strategy, it reveals that the key issue to schedule such a tool is to determine when and how long the robot should wait for. Based on this finding, this work establishes for the first time the necessary and sufficient conditions regarding the existence of an optimal and feasible one-wafer cyclic schedule for single-robot-arm cluster tools. It then formulates a computationally efficient linear program to find it if existing, and finally gives industrial examples to show the application and power of the proposed method.


Six months after testing positive for HIV in 10 bands, a 24-year-old homosexual man presented with a macular rash on his palms and soles. He first noticed the lesions 2 weeks earlier; they were not pruritic or painful. He also had a brighter, more inflamed rash in the groin and antecubital fossae that was presumed to be a yeast infection and was treated with fluconazole. He had no other symptoms.


Large scale multi-tier Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) are expected to ensure a consistent quality of service (QoS) in 5G systems. Such networks consist of a macro base station (BS) equipped with a large number of antennas and a dense overlay of small cells. The small cells could be deployed within the same coverage of the macro-cell BS, thereby causing high levels of inter-cell interference. In this regard, coordinated beamforming techniques are considered as a viable solution to counteract the arising interference. The goal of this work is to analyze the efficiency of coordinated beamforming techniques in mitigating both intra-cell and inter-cell interference. In particular, we consider the downlink of a Time-division duplexing (TDD) massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) tier-HetNet and analyze different beamforming schemes together with different degrees of coordination between the BSs. We exploit random matrix theory tools in order to provide, in explicit form, deterministic equivalents for the average achievable rates in the macro-cell and the micro-cells. We prove that our theoretical derivations allow us to draw some conclusions regarding the role played by coordination strategies in reducing the inter-cell interference. These findings are finally validated by a selection of some numerical results.


Objective: The Hungarian National Registry for Philadelphia chromosome negative myeloproliferative neoplasms was used to assess the clinical characteristics of Hungarian patients with polycythemia vera.
Methods: Data from 351 JAK2 V617F-positive patients diagnosed with PV were collected online from 15 haematology centres reporting clinical characteristics, therapeutic interventions, venous and arterial thromboembolic events, and myelofibrotic or leukaemic transformations. Vascular events (thromboembolic and haemorrhagic) were evaluated before and after diagnosis based upon the Landolfi risk assessment scale.
Results: TE were reported on 116 occasions (106 patients) before diagnosis and 152 occasions (102 cases) during follow-up. Compared to before diagnosis, after diagnosis frequency of major arterial events decreased from 11.7% to 2.6% (p<0.0001), and minor venous events increased from 2.0% to 14.2% (p<0.0001); there was no significant change in number of major venous events (from 6.3% to 8.8%; p=0.25) or minor arterial events (from 13.1% to 17.7%; p=0.12). Bleeding events were recorded in 6.4% of patients. Despite treatment, 42.2% of patients with prior thromboembolic events had recurrent thromboembolic complications. After diagnosis age and prior history of thromboembolic events were independent risk factors for arterial events, and white blood cells and diabetes for venous events. Hydroxyurea use in the low+moderate risk Landolfi group slightly, but not significantly, increased thromboembolic event risk (p=0.74).
Conclusions: This registry enables characterisation of patients with polycythemia vera. Data suggest the need for accuracy of diagnostic criteria and compliance with risk-adapted therapeutic guidelines.


We compute the expected response of detector arms of gravitational wave observatories to polymerized gravitational waves. The mathematical and theoretical features of these waves were discussed in our previous work. In the present manuscript, we find both perturbative analytical, and full nonperturbative numerical solutions to the equations of motion of the detector arms using the method of geodesic deviations. These results show the modifications to both frequency and amplitude of the signal measured by the detector. Furthermore, we study the detectability of these signals in LISA by analyzing the modes in the frequency space.


To detect circuit breaker mechanical failures that are still in their early stages in order to avoid more serious failures and ensure reliable and safety of the grid operation, we uses a type ZW17-40.5 35 kV circuit breaker to simulate three typical incipient mechanical failures about stagnation of the energy storage spring, the dowel on the connecting rod and the moving arc. This analysis uses a digital camera detection method to record the processes for normal circuit breaker opening and closing conditions and conditions under stagnation. Additionally, by using a specially developed software to extract travel, speed and acceleration of specific location in every frame, we can discover features of the mechanical failure from the resulting data. This article provides a basis for identifying characteristics of stagnation and state monitoring of circuit breakers.


A new technique for detecting particles in natural waters relies upon analysis of fluorescent emission by flow cytometry. Fluorescent pigment particles ranging in radius from -0.1 to 5 pm are available in sufficient quantity to be useful as model particles. Laboratory coagulation and settling experiments analyzed by fluorometry demonstrate that the efficiency with which the pigment particles coagulate with sewage particles is very low (less than 5 X lo-*). Hence, in field applications these particles provide the limiting case of low-interaction behavior relative to natural particles. Removal from laboratory columns occurs primarily by noninteractive settling while thermal convection currents maintain nearly uniform particle concentration within the columns. Observed decreases in particle number are exponential (first order) for each size class as predicted for settling from well-mixed suspensions. The decrease in total suspended particle mass is higher order as a result of the difference in settling rates among particles. Thus, a system in which noninteractive settling dominates mimics systems in which coagulation processes are important. Flow cytometric analysis of particles removed by noninteractive settling shows the fluorescent emission from individual particles to be proportional to the particle surface area. These results enable flow cytometry to be used to detect, count, and size large numbers of particles rapidly.


Abstract
Calcium acting through the ionophore A-23187 caused massive K+ release from rat parotid slices. The ionophore thus simulates the action of epinephrine on the α-adrenergic receptor in this system. The α-adrenergic and cholinergic receptors are, however, not involved in the action of the ionophore since phetolamine and atropine had no effect on the ionophore-induced K+ release. Amylase secretion, which is induced by epinephrine through the β-adrenergic receptor but does not require Ca++ in the medium, was only slightly increased by the ionophore in the presence of Ca++. The K+ released by Ca++ through the ionophore was regained by the cells upon chelation of Ca++ with ethylene glycol bis(β-aminoethyl ether)-N,N′-tetraacetic acid. Similar to the action of epinephrine on the α-adrenergic receptor, the K+ release induced by the ionophore is specific for Ca++, which cannot be substituted by 2.5 mM Sr++, Mg++, or Ba++. The results suggest that epinephrine, like the ionophore, introduces Ca++ into the cell to mediate K+ release. It is proposed that the ionophore A-23187 may be an effective probe to test whether other Ca++-requiring hormones and neurotransmitters act in a similar fashion to produce their diverse physiological responses.


Image-based geometric modeling and novel view synthesis based on sparse large-baseline samplings are challenging but important tasks for emerging multimedia applications such as virtual reality and immersive telepresence. Existing methods fail to produce satisfactory results due to the limitation on inferring reliable depth information over such challenging reference conditions. With the popularization of commercial light field (LF) cameras, capturing LF images (LFIs) is as convenient as taking regular photos, and geometry information can be reliably inferred. This inspires us to use a sparse set of LF captures to render high-quality novel views globally. However, the fusion of LF captures from multiple angles is challenging due to the scale inconsistency caused by various capture settings. To overcome this challenge, we propose a novel scale-consistent volume rescaling algorithm that robustly aligns the disparity probability volumes (DPV) among different captures for scale-consistent global geometry fusion. Based on the fused DPV projected to the target camera frustum, novel learning-based modules (i.e., the attention-guided multi-scale residual fusion module, and the disparity field-guided deep re-regularization module), which comprehensively regularize noisy observations from heterogeneous captures for high-quality rendering of novel LFIs, have been proposed. Both quantitative and qualitative experiments over the Stanford Lytro Multi-view LF dataset show that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art methods significantly under different experiment settings for disparity inference and LF synthesis.


This thesis sets out to understand the act of migrating in a period of growing movement of people. It captures the subjective experience of individual migrants, as narrated in the migration stories of 32 "new" Polish migrants in the West Midlands region of England. Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, over half a million Poles have arrived and registered to work in the UK, constituting one of the largest migration movements in contemporary Britain and Europe. This influx of predominantly young migrants opened up public and academic debates regarding the social relations between the Polish migrants and the host society, their duration of stay, and the impact on the economy and social services. While a substantial amount of research has now been undertaken on this migration, this thesis highlights some of the significant features of migration to Britain and Europe today, namely its dynamic, fluid, complex and varied character. Through four themes of lived experience of migration, migration and mobility, gender, and return migration, this thesis uncovers and explores the phenomenon of post-2004 EU migration from the perspective of migrants themselves. Migrant stories in this thesis are linked with experiences and meanings of migration, but also migrants' emotions, perceptions, views and opinions. By exploring individual journeys of migration and deliberating over the determinants and consequences of migration, this thesis asks how the processes of migration and mobility come into play in the everyday lives of migrant people, and how this impacts on questions of identity, home, belonging, gender, as well as return.


We show that in fire sales institutional investors chose to sell bonds that were trading in liquid markets before. Surprisingly, the price drops of these bonds are larger than of bonds that were trading in less liquid markets. We argue that this is because institutions fail to internalize the negative effect selling common bonds has on other market participants. After controlling for commonality of bonds, liquid bonds exhibit smaller price impacts in fire sales. Regulatory measures of systemic risk should thus take into account the portfolio overlap in liquid bonds as it exacerbates fire-sale losses.


OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study was to assess post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) non-completion at day 28, comparing ritonavir-boosted lopinavir versus maraviroc, both with tenofovir disoproxil/emtricitabine as the backbone.

METHODS
We conducted a prospective, open, randomized clinical trial. Individuals attending the emergency room because of potential sexual exposure to HIV and who met criteria for receiving PEP were randomized to one of two groups: tenofovir disoproxil/emtricitabine (245/200 mg) once daily plus either ritonavir-boosted lopinavir (400/100 mg) or maraviroc (300 mg) twice daily. Five follow-up visits were scheduled for days 1, 10, 28, 90 and 180. The primary endpoint was PEP non-completion at day 28. Secondary endpoints were adherence, adverse events and rate of seroconversions. This study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01533272.

RESULTS
One-hundred-and-seventeen individuals were randomized to receive ritonavir-boosted lopinavir and 120 to maraviroc (n = 237). PEP non-completion at day 28 was 38% (n = 89), with significant differences between arms [ritonavir-boosted lopinavir 44% (n = 51) versus maraviroc 32% (n = 38), P = 0.05]. We performed a modified ITT analysis including only those patients who attended on day 1 (n = 182). PEP non-completion in this subgroup was also significantly higher in the ritonavir-boosted lopinavir arm (27% versus 13%, P = 0.004). The proportion of patients with low adherence was similar between arms (52% versus 47%, P = 0.56). Adverse events were reported by 111 patients and were significantly more common in the ritonavir-boosted lopinavir arm (72% versus 51%, P = 0.003). No seroconversions were observed during the study.

CONCLUSIONS
PEP non-completion and adverse events were both significantly higher in patients allocated to ritonavir-boosted lopinavir. These data suggest that maraviroc is a well-tolerated antiretroviral that can be used in this setting.


The demand for drilling operations in Arctic regions is growing significantly due to an
increasing need for oil and gas. The harsh environment in Arctic regions requires safe
and acceptable working conditions. In order to still have an acceptable working
environment and protection for drilling and pipe handling equipment, it is important
to make improvements in design of upcoming drilling rigs. One of the items that
needed to be developed is the derrick/drill tower, which today is mainly constructed
as a structural framework and has limited working areas where crews can work
without exposure to the weather and winds. A low structural weight of a derrick is
desired in order to achieve improved and sustained stability conditions.
The objectives with the present study is to propose a weight-optimized stressed skin
derrick and compare the design with a covered conventional truss derrick with respect
to weight and strength.
Aker MH has provided data about a conventional truss derrick which was used as a
reference derrick for input of loads, dimensions and weights in order to design a new
derrick. To ensure enough structural strength against yielding and buckling, structural
analyses were carried out by using a finite element analysis based on 3D beam theory.
Numerical optimization of outer plating thickness, stiffeners and stringer dimensions
were performed by using the numerical computation software Matlab.
After the optimization against buckling and yielding, a final weight of 465 mT was
achieved. This weight can be compared to a covered conventional truss derrick which
is estimated to 590 mT. The reduction of weight is 21 % compared to a covered
conventional truss derrick. The vertical centre of gravity of the new derrick design
was reduced by 1.5 m. By introducing radius in the corner of a stressed skin derrick,
the wind forces acting on the derrick were decreased significantly and this provides
sustained stability for a drilling unit. Due to lower weight in the new design, the
manufacturing costs were reduced by 4.2 MNOK.
The obtained weight of the stressed skin derrick is less than the covered conventional
truss derrick. In order to use the proposed design in the future, a further study should
be carried out. To ensure that the designs are safe enough for commercial usage, a
fatigue analysis needs to be carried out in order to achieve the final design.


The interstitial atom in the nitrogenase FeMo cofactor cluster is carbon, not nitrogen as previously surmised. More than 100 years ago, Martin Beijerinck showed that pure cultures of the Azobacter bacterium could fix atmospheric nitrogen (N2). The enzymes responsible, the nitrogenases, break down the very strong triple bond in N2 to form ammonia (NH3); at least four types of nitrogenases have been isolated from Azobacter and other bacteria (1). It has long been hoped that molecular understanding of the nitrogenase enzymatic mechanism may lead to an enzymatic process to replace the high-pressure, high-temperature Haber process used commercially to convert nitrogen to ammonia. Yet despite intensive research, it remains unclear how nitrogenases efficiently catalyze the energy-intensive conversion of nitrogen to ammonia under ambient conditions. Two papers in this issue, by Lancaster et al. on page 974 (2) and by Spatzal et al. on page 940 (3), resolve a key structural detail that should help to elucidate the mechanism of the most widely studied type of nitrogenase, the molybdenum (Mo)–dependent nitrogenase.


NSAIDs have been a mainstay of therapy for rheumatologic diseases for a number of years. Unfortunately, their use was accompanied by sometimes unacceptable gastrointestinal and/or renal side effects. Therefore, safer treatment options were sought. In the process of such a search, selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors were identified. Drugs in this class have anti-inflammatory properties similar to NSAIDs and did not produce anywhere near the same pattern of NSAID-related gastrotoxicity. The enthusiasm for this class of drugs would appear, at least on the surface, to be well grounded. However, establishing the renal side effect profile of the selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors would appear to be a work in progress. Formal studies with selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors have not been conducted in the congestive heart failure population. Information does though exist for other patient cohorts--similarly "prostaglandin-dependent" for their integrity of renal function, such as the elderly and sodium-deplete individual. These data would strongly suggest that the selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors could decrease glomerular filtration rate and stimulate salt and water retention, comparable to what occurs with nonselective NSAIDs. To date, no compelling information exists, which supports the notion that differences exist among the currently available selective cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors--celecoxib and--in the potential to negatively impact renal function in this and similarly compromised patient populations. (c)2000 by CHF, Inc.


Background Fibreoptic intubation is an important skill for the anaesthetist to have in their armoury. It can be used in both anticipated and unanticipated difficult intubations. The skill is often difficult to acquire due to limited training opportunities. Confidence and competence in fibreoptic intubations is not universal even amongst experienced anaesthetists. The Operating Room Simulation (ORSIM™) for bronchoscopy is a recent training resource that makes fibreoptic intubation training more accessible.1 Methodology We questioned anaesthetic trainees on their experiences of fibreoptic intubations and their confidence and competence in handling the equipment. Unsurprisingly the results showed that the junior trainees had limited experience and were subsequently not confident or competent in handling the fibreoptic scope. A short training programme was devised for junior anaesthetic trainees in the region to improve their confidence and competence with the fibreoptic scope. This was incorporated into a regional airway day hosted by our hospital. The training involved a session learning how to setup and use the Pentax fibreoptic scope, followed by a practical session with the ORSIM™. Results The participants were all core trainees in anaesthesia with limited experience in using fibreoptic scopes. When questioned after the session, they all reported that the training session had improved their confidence in setting up and handling the fibreoptic scope. Conclusions Using the ORSIM™ to train junior anaesthetic trainees can improve their confidence and competence with fibreoptic scopes. We hope early exposure and repeated opportunities for training using fibreoptic simulation will be a useful platform to develop their skills in clinical practice. Reference ORSIM: www.orsim.co.nz


This paper proposes a three tiered governance structure to rebalance local government within the United Kingdom. The introduction of a North of England assembly is proposed to rebalance the North / South divide. An international comparison of U.K. Australian and Canadian public sectors suggests that the U.K lags behind in competitiveness and wellbeing. Calling for equality for all citizens, the paper concludes that a shift in central government policy formulation is needed to enable equitable localisation of political power and improved global competitiveness of the U.K.


BACKGROUND
Molecular epidemiology can be useful in identifying clusters of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission that can be targeted for prevention.

METHODS
Regular screening of 2000 men who have sex with men (MSM) in Beijing, China, for HIV infection every 2 months identified 179 primary infections (2007-2010). HIV-1 pol sequences were obtained and used to infer the transmission network and identify transmitted drug resistance (TDR) among these individuals. We evaluated the use of clinical and network information to target prevention efforts. Prevention efficiency was calculated as the number of infections saved per number of interventions.

RESULTS
This cohort was infected with HIV-1 subtype B (28%), circulating recombinant form (CRF)_01 AE (53%), and CRF_07 BC (16%). The overall rate of TDR was low (5%), but the rate of clustering was high (64%), suggesting deep sampling of the subnetwork. Provision of a theoretically high-efficacy intervention like antiretroviral therapy to all participants had a prevention efficiency of 23%. The efficiency of targeting prevention based on lower CD4 counts (<200 cells/mL, <350 cells/mL, or <500 cells/mL) and higher viral loads (>100 000 copies/mL and >50 000 copies/mL) was between 10% and 18%. The efficiency of targeting prevention based on number of network connections was much higher (30%-42%). For example, treating the 33 participants with ≥5 connections in 2009 would have theoretically prevented 14 infections in 2010 (42% prevention efficiency).

CONCLUSIONS
Regular HIV testing of MSM in Beijing can deeply sample the local transmission subnetwork, and targeting prevention efforts based on network connectivity may be an efficient way to deliver prevention interventions.


In the current study, nanocomposites of medical-grade polyamide 12 (PA12) with incorporated copper (I) oxide (cuprous oxide-Cu2O) were prepared and fully characterized for their mechanical, thermal, and antibacterial properties. The investigation was performed on specimens manufactured by fused filament fabrication (FFF) and aimed to produce multi-purpose geometrically complex nanocomposite materials that could be employed in medical, food, and other sectors. Tensile, flexural, impact and Vickers microhardness measurements were conducted on the 3D-printed specimens. The fractographic inspection was conducted utilizing scanning electron microscopy (SEM), to determine the fracture mechanism and qualitatively evaluate the process. Moreover, the thermal properties were determined by thermogravimetric analysis (D/TGA). Finally, their antibacterial performance was assessed through a screening method of well agar diffusion. The results demonstrate that the overall optimum performance was achieved for the nanocomposites with 2.0 wt.% loading, while 0.5 wt.% to 4.0 wt.% loading was concluded to have discrete improvements of either the mechanical, the thermal, or the antibacterial performance.


While the global slippage of water past superhydrophobic surfaces has attracted wide interest, the local distribution of slip still remains unclear. Using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, we performed detailed measurements of the local flow field and slip length for water in the Cassie state on a microstructured superhydrophobic surface. We revealed that the local slip length is finite, nonconstant, anisotropic, and sensitive to the presence of surfactants. In combination with numerical calculations of the flow, we can explain all these properties by the local hydrodynamics.


The skills required for obtaining informative x-ray fluoroscopy images are currently acquired while trainees provide clinical care. As a consequence, trainees and patients are exposed to higher doses of radiation. Use of simulation has the potential to reduce this radiation exposure by enabling trainees to improve their skills in a safe environment prior to treating patients. We describe a low cost, high fidelity, fluoroscopy simulation system. Our system enables operators to practice their skills using the clinical device and simulated x-rays of a virtual patient. The patient is represented using a set of temporal Computed Tomography (CT) images, corresponding to the underlying dynamic processes. Simulated x-ray images, digitally reconstructed radiographs (DRRs), are generated from the CTs using ray-casting with customizable machine specific imaging parameters. To establish the spatial relationship between the CT and the fluoroscopy device, the CT is virtually attached to a patient phantom and a web camera is used to track the phantom's pose. The camera is mounted on the fluoroscope's intensifier and the relationship between it and the x-ray source is obtained via calibration. To control image acquisition the operator moves the fluoroscope as in normal operation mode. Control of zoom, collimation and image save is done using a keypad mounted alongside the device's control panel. Implementation is based on the Image-Guided Surgery Toolkit (IGSTK), and the use of the graphics processing unit (GPU) for accelerated image generation. Our system was evaluated by 11 clinicians and was found to be sufficiently realistic for training purposes.


ABSTRACT Estimating two-step selection models, we find that more democratic governments are more likely to conclude preferential trade agreements (PTAs) and to agree to stricter investment provisions related to pre-establishment national treatment and investor–state dispute settlement in PTAs. This is surprising when considering the potentially high costs of litigation.


Edge-preserving denoising is of great interest in medical image processing. This paper presents a wavelet-based multiscale products thresholding scheme for noise suppression of magnetic resonance images. A Canny edge detector-like dyadic wavelet transform is employed. This results in the significant features in images evolving with high magnitude across wavelet scales, while noise decays rapidly. To exploit the wavelet interscale dependencies we multiply the adjacent wavelet subbands to enhance edge structures while weakening noise. In the multiscale products, edges can be effectively distinguished from noise. Thereafter, an adaptive threshold is calculated and imposed on the products, instead of on the wavelet coefficients, to identify important features. Experiments show that the proposed scheme better suppresses noise and preserves edges than other wavelet-thresholding denoising methods.


Nutrient uptake is essential for cellular life and the capacity to perceive extracellular nutrients is critical for coordinating their uptake and metabolism. Commensal fungal pathogens, e.g., Candida albicans, have evolved in close association with human hosts and are well-adapted to using diverse nutrients found in discrete host niches. Human cells that cannot synthesize all amino acids require the uptake of the "essential amino acids" to remain viable. Consistently, high levels of amino acids circulate in the blood. Host proteins are rich sources of amino acids but their use depends on proteases to cleave them into smaller peptides and free amino acids. C. albicans responds to extracellular amino acids by pleiotropically enhancing their uptake and derive energy from their catabolism to power opportunistic virulent growth. Studies using Saccharomyces cerevisiae have established paradigms to understand metabolic processes in C. albicans; however, fundamental differences exist. The advent of CRISPR/Cas9-based methods facilitate genetic analysis in C. albicans, and state-of-the-art molecular biological techniques are being applied to directly examine growth requirements in vivo and in situ in infected hosts. The combination of divergent approaches can illuminate the biological roles of individual cellular components. Here we discuss recent findings regarding nutrient sensing with a focus on amino acid uptake and metabolism, processes that underlie the virulence of C. albicans.


Objective: Although the presence of a systemic inflammatory response is known in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), there have not been adequate investigations on the association of such a response with the predominance of apneas either in rapid eye movement (REM) or in the non-REM (NREM) phase. In this study, we compared interleukin-23 (IL-23) concentrations, a marker of systemic inflammatory process, in individuals with sleep apnea syndrome, whose apneas where predominant in the REM or NREM phase. Methods: Fifty-four patients aged over 18 years who were diagnosed as having OSAS based on polysomnography were included in the study. The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was used to divide patients into groups of AHIREM>AHINREM and AHINREM>AHIREM. In the blood samples drawn from the patients, IL-23 concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The study included patients with OSAS aged 28-65 years, of whom 29 were AHIREM>AHINREM and 25 were AHINREM>AHIREM. The AHIREM>AHINREM OSAS group had no sex-based variance (14 males, 15 females), but the AHINREM>AHIREM group was substantially composed of males (21 males, 4 females). The average AHI of the AHINREM>AHIREM group (43.34±21.40) was significantly higher than in the AHIREM>AHINREM group (26.79±17.32). IL-23 concentrations were higher in patients with AHIREM>AHINREM sleep apnea (225.38±77.29) compared patients with AHINREM>AHIREM sleep apnea (183.68±78.49). Conclusion: In AHIREM>AHINREM sleep apnea, the systemic inflammatory response may be more dramatic. Taking the AHIREM value into consideration along with the average AHI value seems to be important for treatment modalities.


Naturally synchronous syncytial plasmodia of Physarum polycephalum provide an ideal model for studying the eukaryotic cell cycle. The tubulin genes of Physarum provide a striking example of cell cycle-regulated gene expression: synthesis of both tubulin mRNA and the tubulin proteins is limited to the last three hours of G2 phase. Fusion of late G2-phase plasmodia, in which the tubulin genes are actively expressed, and mid-S phase plasmodia, in which the tubulin genes are not expressed, is used to demonstrate the presence of a diffusible negative regulator of tubulin gene expression in S-phase plasmodia. It is inferred that this factor is responsible for the turning-off of tubulin gene transcription that follows mitosis.


Objectives
To reveal the relationship between smoking cessation before surgery, pre- and post-operative anxiety, and pain among chronic smokers.

METHODS
The cross sectional prospective clinical study was conducted in 2018 on the east of Turkey, in Van Yüzüncü Yil University Dursun Odabaş Medical Center in city of Van. After approval from the ethics committee participants of either gender aged 20-60 years scheduled to undergo rhinoplasty surgery and graded as American Society of Anaesthesiologists I-II were included. The participants were categorised into smokers group S and non-smokers group NS. Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory values for preoperative period, postoperative 0, which is the moment when the modified Aldrete score is >9, as well as for 2, 4 and 6 hours, and visual analogue scale values for the postoperative 0, 2, 4 and 6 hours were recorded. Data was analysed using SPSS 26.

RESULTS
Of the 120 patients, there were 60(50%) in group S; 28(46.7%) females, 32(52.3%) males, overall mean age 33.0±9.7 years. In group NS, there were 34(56.7%) females and 26(43.3%) males with an overall mean age of 34.7±10.1 years (p>0.05). Group S had Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory preoperative and postoperative values significantly higher than group NS (p˂0.05). While the values for postoperative 4 and 6 hours increased in group S, corresponding values decreased in group NS (p˂0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
High anxiety scores in preoperative period appeared to be associated with stress from surgery and anaesthesia and could have been caused by smoking dependency during the preoperative and postoperative periods.


Comprehensive measurements of the water table response to simple harmonic forcing at the base of a sand column are presented and discussed. In similar experiments, Nielsen and Perrochet (2000) observed that fluctuations in the total moisture were both damped and lagged relative to the water table fluctuations. As a result, the concept of a complex effective porosity was proposed as a convenient means to account for the damping and phase lag through its magnitude and argument, respectively. The complex effective porosity then enables simple analytical solutions for the water table (and total moisture) dynamics including hysteresis. In this paper, these previous experiments are extended to cover a wider range of oscillation frequencies and are conducted for three well‐sorted materials with median grain diameters of 0.082, 0.2, and 0.78 mm, respectively. In agreement with existing theory, the influence of the capillary fringe is shown to increase with the oscillation frequency. However, the complex effective porosity model corresponding to the classical Green and Ampt (1911) capillary tube approximations is shown to be inadequate when compared to the data. These limitations are overcome by the provision of an empirical, frequency‐dependent complex effective porosity model fit to the data. Using measured moisture retention parameters, numerical simulation of the data solving a nonhysteretic van Genuchten–Richards' equation type model is unable to replicate the observations. Existing results of a hysteretic numerical model are shown to be in good agreement with the extended database.


Although a lower extremity exoskeleton shows great prospect in the rehabilitation of the lower limb, it has not yet been widely applied to the clinical rehabilitation of the paralyzed. This is partly caused by insufficient information interactions between the paralyzed and existing exoskeleton that cannot meet the requirements of harmonious control. In this research, a bidirectional human-machine interface including a neurofuzzy controller and an extended physiological proprioception (EPP) feedback system is developed by imitating the biological closed-loop control system of human body. The neurofuzzy controller is built to decode human motion in advance by the fusion of the fuzzy electromyographic signals reflecting human motion intention and the precise proprioception providing joint angular feedback information. It transmits control information from human to exoskeleton, while the EPP feedback system based on haptic stimuli transmits motion information of the exoskeleton back to the human. Joint angle and torque information are transmitted in the form of air pressure to the human body. The real-time bidirectional human-machine interface can help a patient with lower limb paralysis to control the exoskeleton with his/her healthy side and simultaneously perceive motion on the paralyzed side by EPP. The interface rebuilds a closed-loop motion control system for paralyzed patients and realizes harmonious control of the human-machine system.


The posting contains drafts excerpts from a forthcoming new (4th) edition of John Honnold's treatise Uniform Law for International Sales under the 1980 United Nations Convention. The posting is comprised of new materials proposed to be inserted in the discussion of Article 79 (Exemption) of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. This article, discussed in §§ 423 et. seq. of Professor Honnold's treatise, is a force majeure provision providing that a party is exempt from liability for damages for a failure to perform when the requirements of the section are met. The new material included in this posting would address issues not discussed in the current version (3rd edition, 1999) of the treatise, or would amplify discussion of issues in the current edition. Those issues include: whether a seller that has delivered non-conforming goods may claim exemption under Article 79; the proper approach to situations involving an unexpected loss in the value of a return performance (frustration of purpose); whether a party to a transaction governed by the CISG can invoke domestic hardship doctrines; and whether Article 79 applies to situations involving initial impossibility (facts in existence at the time the contract is concluded).


Measuring the gate-source voltages of wide bandgap (WBG) devices in half-bridge converters provides useful information about susceptibility to crosstalk, which can cause uncontrolled cross-conduction and excessive gate-oxide stresses. However, parasitic elements of the printed circuit board (PCB) and device packaging can compromise measurement accuracy, causing unreliable results. Here we describe how this shortcoming can be addressed using devices in packages that have a Kelvin source pin, allowing a more accurate analysis.


The US economy is in the early stages of what looks to be the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression. Starting with the downturn in the housing market and rising foreclosures, the crisis has spread to Fannie and Freddie, the government sponsored enterprises, and to investment banks and other financial entities holding dodgy assets backed by collapsing real estate. In addition to the growing financial crisis, a number of other, related issues of concern keep appearing on the horizon. They include sustained global imbalances, the threat of growing prices of commodities and oil, and the ever-present disruptive impact of globalization. Is there any connecting thread between these crises? What are the underlying ideological and politico-economic factors that fed the growth of this crisis? This paper addresses these and other questions in a discussion starting with subprime mortgages and their causes and consequences.


BACKGROUND
Adalimumab is an IgG1 monoclonal antibody that targets and blocks tumor necrosis factor-alpha, a pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD). A significant proportion of people with CD fail conventional therapy or therapy with biologics or develop significant adverse events. Adalimumab may be an effective alternative for these individuals.

OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this review were to assess the efficacy and safety of adalimumab for the induction of remission in CD.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, the Cochrane IBD Group Specialized Register, ClinicalTrials.Gov and the World Health Organization trial registry (ICTRP) from inception to 16 April 2019. References and conference abstracts were searched to identify additional studies.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing any dose of adalimumab to placebo or an active comparator in participants with active CD were included.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently screened studies, extracted data and assessed bias using the Cochrane 'Risk of bias' tool. The primary outcome was the failure to achieve clinical remission, as defined by the original studies. Clinical remission was defined as a Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) score of less than 150 points. Secondary outcomes included failure to achieve clinical response (defined as a decrease in CDAI of > 100 points or > 70 points from baseline), failure to achieve endoscopic remission and response, failure to achieve histological remission and response, failure to achieve steroid withdrawal, adverse events (AEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs), withdrawal from study due to AEs and quality of life measured by a validated instrument. We calculated the risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for dichotomous outcomes. Data were pooled for analysis if the participants, interventions, outcomes and time frame were similar. Data were analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis. The overall certainty of the evidence was assessed using GRADE.

MAIN RESULTS
Three placebo-controlled RCTs (714 adult participants) were included. The participants had moderate to severely active CD (CDAI 220 to 450). Two studies were rated as at low risk of bias and one study was rated as at unclear risk of bias. Seventy-six per cent (342/451) of adalimumab participants failed to achieve clinical remission at four weeks compared to 91% (240/263) of placebo participants (RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.90; high-certainty evidence). Forty-four per cent (197/451) of adalimumab participants compared to 66% (173/263) of placebo participants failed to achieve a 70-point clinical response at four weeks (RR 0.68, 95% CI 0.59 to 0.79; high-certainty evidence). At four weeks, 57% (257/451) of adalimumab participants failed to achieve a 100-point clinical response compared to 76% (199/263) of placebo participants (RR 0.77, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.86; high-certainty evidence). Sixty-two per cent (165/268) of adalimumab participants experienced an AE compared to 72% (188/263) of participants in the placebo group (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.74 to 1.09; moderate-certainty evidence). Two percent (6/268) of adalimumab participants experienced a SAE compared to 5% (13/263) of participants in the placebo group (RR 0.44, 95% CI 0.17 to 1.15; low-certainty evidence). Lastly, 1% (3/268) of adalimumab participants withdrew due to AEs compared to 3% (8/268) of participants in the placebo group (RR 0.38, 95% CI 0.11 to 1.30; low-certainty evidence). Commonly reported adverse events included injection site reactions, abdominal pain, fatigue, worsening CD and nausea. Quality of life data did not allow for meta-analysis. Three studies reported better quality of life at four weeks with adalimumab (measured with either Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire or Short-Form 36; moderate-certainty evidence). Endoscopic remission and response, histologic remission and response, and steroid withdrawal were not reported in the included studies.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
High-certainty evidence suggests that adalimumab is superior to placebo for induction of clinical remission and clinical response in people with moderate to severely active CD. Although the rates of AEs, SAEs and withdrawals due to AEs were lower in adalimumab participants compared to placebo, we are uncertain about the effect of adalimumab on AEs due to the low number of events. Therefore, no firm conclusions can be drawn regarding the safety of adalimumab in CD. Futher studies are required to look at the long-term effectiveness and safety of using adalimumab in participants with CD.


Non-ionizing radiation at 2.45 GHz may modify the expression of genes that codify heat shock proteins (HSP) in the thyroid gland. Using the Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) technique, we studied levels of HSP-90 and HSP-70. We also used hematoxilin eosin to look for evidence of lesions in the gland and applied the DAPI technique of fluorescence to search for evidence of chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation in the thyroid cells of adult female Sprague-Dawley rats. Fifty-four rats were individually exposed for 30 min to 2.45 GHz radiation in a Gigahertz Transverse Electromagnetic (GTEM) cell at different levels of non-thermal SAR, which was calculated using the FDTD technique. Ninety minutes after radiation, HSP-90 and HSP-70 had decreased significantly (p0.01) after applying a SAR of 0.046±1.10 or 0.104±5.10-3W/kg. Twenty-four hours after radiation, HSP-90 had partially recovered and HSP-70 had recovered completely. There are few indications of lesions in the glandular structure and signs of apoptosis were negative in all radiated animals. The results suggest that acute sub-thermal radiation at 2.45 GHz may alter levels of cellular stress in rat thyroid gland without initially altering their anti-apoptotic capacity.


Street performances can be interpreted as process of participation to a form of CH. We would like to interpret the provisions of the Faro Convention from the perspective of street performances as a form of participatory cultural experience, as along with considering the street performers as an actual heritage community. Given that the Convention confers a remarkable importance to individuals – as they are part of the communities – we will focus on the passage from the cultural object itself – the street performance – to the actors and beneficiaries of the heritage which this object constitutes: the street performers and the audience at the moment of the show. Summary


of a thesis submitted in partial fulfilments of the requirements for the Degree of M.C.M. Is Money Targeting an Option for the People's Bank of China? by Ke Mo Abstract This study examines which monetary aggregates, namely nominal M0, M1 and M2, can be used by the People's Bank of China to conduct monetary policy. The model includes real M0, M1 and M2 as the dependent variable respectively and their determinants, such as real income, real inflation rate, and real rate of one-year savingThis study examines which monetary aggregates, namely nominal M0, M1 and M2, can be used by the People's Bank of China to conduct monetary policy. The model includes real M0, M1 and M2 as the dependent variable respectively and their determinants, such as real income, real inflation rate, and real rate of one-year saving deposit. Johansen (1988) and Johansen and Juselius's (1990) procedures are used to estimate the long-run relationship between the monetary aggregates and their variables. Short-run model is applied to M0, M1 and M2 respectively to see whether the error term is negative to validate the significance of the long-run relationship using the Ordinary Least Square estimation.


Purpose The efficacy of traditional therapies for oral carcinoma (OC) is limited. Oncolytic adenovirus, a novel strategy of cancer therapy, shows potential use in OC treatment. However, its clinical application is limited by pre-existing neutralizing antibodies. Thus, this study aimed to examine the efficacy of a new modified adenovirus against OC in vitro and in vivo. Materials and methods A multiple modified adenovirus (MMAD) armed with IL-13 (MMAD-IL-13) was constructed, and its effect on Cal-27 cells was examined. The potency of MMAD-IL-13 was examined in vitro and in vivo. For in vitro experiment, CCK-8 kit was used to determine the IC50 of MMAD-IL-3 in OC cell lines. For in vivo experiment, Cal-27 xenograft models were used to determine the antitumor effect of MMAD-IL-13. Apoptosis was measured in Cal-27 cells by Western blotting assay. Immunity response was detected in Cal-27 xenograft models 7 days after intratumoral injection with MMAD-IL-13. The potency of MMAD and MMAD-IL-13 was compared in Cal-27 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) models. Results MMAD-IL-13 was successfully constructed; the harvested virus could be replicated and they overexpressed human IL-13 in Cal-27 cells. Compared with MMAD, MMAD-IL-13 showed enhanced antitumor effect in vitro by inducing apoptosis and reducing percentage of M2 macrophages in tumor environment in vivo. MMAD-IL-13 also showed potent antitumor effect in Cal-27, SCC-4, and Tca8113 cells in vitro and in Cal-27 xenograft models in vivo. However, MMAD-IL13 did not harm normal human oral epithelial cells in vitro and exhibited no effect on body weight in Cal-27 xenograft models. In Cal-27 PBMC models, MMAD-IL-13 showed stronger antitumor effect than MMAD. Conclusion A new oncolytic adenovirus carrying the human IL-13 gene was constructed. This virus effectively led to remission of tumor development and death of OC cells in vivo and in vitro, showing its potential as a clinical cancer therapy.


Increasing returns to scale are important for economic growth, generating higher levels of productivity. This view was earlier suggested by Verdoorn (1949) and Kaldor (1966) in formulating the basic Laws of economic growth. The later demand-orientated approach based on the export-led growth, gave higher importance to the non-price competitiveness reflected in the income elasticities of trade, as the main determinants of the long-term economic growth, along with external demand. This view was expressed in Thirlwall's Law (1979) on the balance- of-payments equilibrium growth inspired from the early Harrodian concept of the foreign trade multiplier. This paper aims at considering both concepts, that is, increasing returns to scale (through the Verdoorn's Law) and non-price competition (through the Thirlwall's Law) in order to access whether growth adjustments over time are due mostly to productivity changes or due to changes in competitiveness. To do so, we employ a regression analysis which comprises a set of 23 OECD countries over the period 1980-2016. The estimation approach sheds light on whether growth adjustments between the balance-of-payments growth rate and that of actual or potential income are driven by improvements in productivity or improvements in non-price competiveness, or in both.


The reliability of kinematic trajectory of manipulators describes the ability that manipulators keep kinematic accurate. It is an important parameter to evaluate the performance of manipulators. The kinematic accuracy of manipulators can be improved when piezoelectricity material are used as a transducer to suppress the vibration of flexible manipulators. First, a 3 degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator system and its dynamic equations are introduced. The theory and experiment of a vibration suppression system are then presented. The calculation method of both error and reliability of kinematic trajectory of manipulator is further implemented. Finally, the reliability of kinematic accuracy are calculated and analyzed for the 3 degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator with or without vibration suppressing control. The results show that the reliability of kinematic accuracy is improved using vibration suppressing control.


p53 inactivation is a clinically defined characteristic for cancer treatment-nonresponsiveness. It is therefore highly desirable to develop anticancer agents by restoring p53 function.1 Herein the synthesized phthalazino[1,2-b]quinazolinones were discovered as p53 activators in bladder cancer cells. 10-Bromo-5-(2-dimethylamino-ethylamino)phthalazino[1,2-b]quinazolin-8-one (5da) was identified as the most promising candidate in view of both its anticancer activity and mechanisms of action. 5da exhibited strong anticancer activity on a broad range of cancer cell lines and significantly reduced tumor growth in xenograft models at doses as low as 6 mg/kg. Furthermore, 5da caused cell cycle arrest at S/G2 phase, induced apoptosis, changed cell size, and led to cell death by increasing the proportion of sub-G1 cells. Molecular mechanism studies suggested that accumulation of phospho-p53 in mitochondria after 5da treatment resulted in conformational activation of Bak, thereby evoking cell apoptosis, finally leading to irreversible cancer cell inhibition. Our present studies furnish new insights into the molecular interactions and anticancer mechanisms of phospho-p53-dependent quinazolinone compound.


Defined by the 3GPP, the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) is an architectural framework that enables the delivery of multimedia services in mobile networks. Based on the session initiation protocol, the IMS offers unified billing, QoS negotiation mechanisms, and the possibility of combining services deployed in different environments like CAMEL and Parlay OSA. With the aim of determining the real limitations of an IMS deployment when operating under stress conditions, this paper presents the performance evaluation of a well-known open source IMS reference implementation based on the IMS/NGN performance benchmark specification from ETSI, using state-of-the-art analyzing tools for emulating thousands of subscribers and collecting the corresponding results.


Two applications of Lidar in three-dimensional visualization were proposed. The first one was single tree modeling. Regional-Maximum and K-means algorithm were used to isolate one single tree and its data points, and a SuperQuadric surface was fit as the silhouette of the tree's canopy. Then a geometric tree model was obtained with L-studio software. The second application was 3D vegetation visualization using DCM (Digital Canopy Model) to control the location of every single tree. DCM was calculated by subtracting DTM (Digital Terrain Model) form DSM (Digital Surface Model). DCM was a direct reflection of above-ground vegetation height, so it was used to determine whether a coniferous tree, deciduous tree or grass should be planted inside the DTM triangles.


The range of effects and mechanisms of action of drugs that are promising in terms of the development of a potent and low toxicity drug to prevent space motion sickness was identified. The use of anticonvulsive and adaptogenic drugs as a prophylactic measure of the syndrome was theoretically confirmed. In human studies these drugs were shown to exert a noticeable effect on statokinetic stability and mental performance. Possible mechanisms of anti-motion++ action of the drugs are described. Requirements for an ideal drug to prevent space motion sickness are formulated.


Since the discovery of Legionella pneumophila as the cause of an outbreak of pneumonic illness at the American Legion Convention in Philadelphia in 1976, 1,2 it has become apparent that Legionnaires' disease is a relatively common form of pneumonia in both the community and nosocomial setting. 3,4 Despite admirable success in defining the illness and isolating the causative microorganism, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, were not able to definitely identify the mode of transmission in the 1976 Philadelphia outbreak. Although the ensuing years have witnessed considerable advances in microbiologic technique as well as the accumulation of a substantial body of data regarding the microbial ecology and epidemiology of the Legionellaceae, the exact mode of transmission has eluded definition. In this article, we will critically examine various theories of transmission of Legionnaires' disease and attempt to place them in perspective in order to define future directions for


TWO BROTHERS: Cicero Grimes - freelance psychiatrist and one-man detox unit in America's white trash Deep South; and Luther Grimes - bad news Vietnam veteran and smack dealer. They hate each other, and only they know why. EX-HOOKER AND COKE HEAD: Callie Carter is on the run - with one million dollars stolen from her evangelist husband's bank. CORRUPT, SADISTIC POLICE CAPTAIN Clarence Jefferson wants to get his hands on the preacher's money. But even more, he wants to break Cicero apart, to find out the real reason why he has spent years hunting his brother like a mad dog. BAD CITY BLUES - Tim Willock's breathtaking first novel is raw, powerful, unforgettable.


Plasma from 262 patients with gynecologic malignancies was assayed for levels of circulating tumor markers (CA 125, LSA [lipid associated sialic acid in plasma, LASA‐P (Dianon Systems, Inc., Stratford, CT)], Ca 19‐9, and carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA]) and correlated with the patients' clinical status. In the patients with ovarian cancer the sensitivities of LSA and CA 125 for patients with clinical evidence of disease were 71% and 76% respectively; the specificities for patients with no clinical evidence of disease were 90% and 86% respectively. Using both tumor markers, a sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 85% was obtained. Additionally, CA 125 was elevated in 59% of patients with clinically advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, and LSA was elevated in 63% of patients with clinical evidence of cervical cancer. Neither CEA nor CA 19‐9 levels correlated with clinical status in patients with ovarian or cervical cancer. The values of Ca 125 and LSA were examined in relation to the findings at second‐look surgery in patients with ovarian cancer. Absence of elevated tumor markers does not obviate the need for second‐look surgery; the false negative rate for CA 125 was 40% (6/15). However, the finding of two elevated plasma markers 1 month or more apart, in ovarian cancer patients who were clinically free of disease, was strongly suggestive of recurrent cancer; 13 of 14 such patients showed this association. This latter finding may help to identify a group of patients in whom early surgical intervention is indicated.


The paper presents an analytical procedure suitable for the determination of the part of the ground fault current emanating from the substation grounding grid in the conditions when a particular measure has been taken to reduce it. The practical realization of this measure can be simply described as burying one bare copper wire of a certain length in the same trench as the cable feeding line. In the case of an overhead feeding line, the similar measure is denoted in the expert literature as the "counterpoise". The presented method enables a quick and, for practical purposes, sufficiently accurate evaluation of the copper wire length providing the maximum possible reduction of the substation grid current. The conveniences of the method result from the simplicity of the formulae for the determination of the realized grid current reduction at the effective copper wire length.


In New Zealand, Edward Snowden's revelations about the extraordinary scope of the National Security Agency's (NSA's) surveillance capabilities and the facilitating role of the Five Eyes alliance converged with increasing public concerns about the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) Amendment and Related Legislation Bill in 2013. This generated an intense and sustained debate in the country about surveillance policy. It was a debate in which the Prime Minister John Key has featured prominently. A conceptual model developed by Michelle Hale Williams is outlined to help define, understand and measure the impact factor in New Zealand. While apparently unable to clearly refute Snowden's claims concerning mass surveillance in New Zealand, John Key's vigorous public interventions helped counter the short-term political and diplomatic fallout. However, the long-term impact of public concerns over the surveillance policies of the Key government may be much harder to predict in what is a small democracy, and the prospect of substantial political blowback cannot be ruled out.


Dissection after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is a risk factor for acute or subacute vessel closure. Intracoronary stenting was developed to avoid these complications by pressing the intimal and medial flaps against the vessel wall, thus reducing the risk of acute thrombosis. From March 1993 through December 1993, PTCA was performed in 252 patients and implantation into the coronary arteries of a total of 33 stents was attempted in 32 patients with dissection after PTCA. Indications for stent implantation were acute closure in 6 (18.2%), threatened closure in 6 (18.2%), and suboptimal result in 21 (63.6%). Thirty-one stents were successfully deployed in 30 patients (94%), and stenting resulted in an immediate angiographic improvement in diameter stenosis from 87% before stenting to 18% after stenting by caliper estimation. Emergency coronary artery bypass graft surgery was required in 1 patient (3%). A non-Q wave myocardial infarction occurred in 1 patient (3%). Other complications included hematoma of the arterial access site requiring blood transfusion in 4 patients (12.5%) and hemopericardium in 1 patient (3%). Our initial experience with the flexible coil stent indicates it is efficacious for dissections that are threatening or causing coronary closure after angioplasty; however, the long-term outcome in all groups of patients who received coronary stents is unknown.


A proposed new method is effective for measuring the respiration rates of fruits and vegetables not only under stable temperature or gas component but under a dynamically changing environment, such as during cultivation in an open field or during transit after harvest. The gaseous components within a flexible plastic film bag, in which the horticultural product or its parts is enclosed, are measured continuously or periodically. The method is called the flexible chamber method for measuring respiration rates. By using fresh air or some component gas initially, and adjusting the ratio of the air volume and that of the reaction product, this method can control the internal gas concentration of the chamber and the turnover rates. In this research, cucumber was used. A decrease in oxygen concentration from 21 to 8% repressed the respiration rate while increasing the carbon dioxide concentration from the ambient 0.03 to 6%. This respiration repression was caused by the high CO2 and low O2 concentrations rather than by the interaction between the two gases. At 8% oxygen (Fig. 5), the oxygen consumption rate decreased more slowly than did the carbon dioxide emission rate so that the final carbon dioxide concentration approached 5%. Hence, the respiratory quotient (RQ) increased from 1.0 to about 1.5. The oxygen concentrations seem to border the anaerobic respiration phase. When the pressure in the chamber was increased from the ambient atmospheric pressure, the respiration rate tended to be repressed temporarily which indicates fluctuating pressure may influences the respiration process. The new proposed method of measuring the respiration rate is adaptable to a diverse environment as mentioned above, especially when the atmospheric pressure is under an unsteady state.


Introduction Despite the early implementation of hepatitis B vaccination and the ongoing decentralisation of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) care, over 10% of the Senegalese adult population lives with CHB and liver cancer remains a main cause of death. Investigating factors associated with CHB infection, prevention of CHB-related morbidity, and prevention and treatment of mortality secondary to CHB calls for a holistic and multidimensional approach. This paper presents the adaptation of the health capability profile (HCP) to a specific epidemiological issue and empirical setting: it seeks to identify and analyse inter-related abilities and conditions (health capabilities) in relation to the CHB epidemic in the rural area of Niakhar, Senegal. Methods and analysis This ongoing study relies on a sequential social justice mixed-methods design. The HCP is comprehensively adapted to CHB in rural Senegal and guides the design and conduct of the study. Objective and subjective data are collected at the individual level following a mixed-methods explanatory core design. The quantitative module, embedded in the ANRS12356 AmBASS cross-sectional survey (exhaustive sampling), is used to select a purposeful sampling of participants invited for one-on-one qualitative interviews. Additional data are collected at the institutional and community level through health facility surveys and an ethnography (in-depth interviews) of local and national CHB stakeholders. Data analysis adopts a synergistic approach to produce a multilayered analysis of individual HCPs and crosscutting analysis of the 15 health capabilities. The data integration strategy relies on a mixed-methods convergent core design, and will use 0–100 health capability scores as well as flow diagrams to measure and characterise levels of development and interactions among health capabilities, respectively. Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by Senegalese and French authorities. Results dissemination through local workshops and scientific publications aim at fuelling effective policy change towards CHB-related health capability.


The process of performance measurement encompasses the activities required for data collection (use stage), which was previously designed (design stage) and contribute to decision-making after data analysis (analysis stage). The lack of quality of performance measures (PMs) may influence decision-making. Since the process of performance measurement involves generally several actors, the decision- maker may not be aware of the level of uncertainty associated with performance measures. In this paper, fuzzy sets are used to represent the uncertainty generated in performance measures during its design, use and analysis stages. The uncertainty sources are arranged on three cause-and-effect diagrams representing controllable factors that can lead to imperfect design, use and analysis, impacting on PMs uncertainty. This degree of imperfection will be labelled deficiency (at a given stage) and a methodology is presented to infer its effect on the PM uncertainty. The identification of uncertainty sources and the determination of an Uncertainty Index support actions to improve performance measures' quality. An application example is provided to show the usefulness of the proposed methodology.


A case of onycholysis secondary to the ingestion of tetracycline hydrochloride is reported. The patient was not photosensitive, and the nails returned to normal after withdrawal of the causative drug.


Detection of softness by tactile exploration in humans is based on both kinesthetic and cutaneous perception, and haptic displays should be designed so as to address such multimodal perceptual channel. Unfortunately, accurate detection and replication of cutaneous information in all its details is difficlt and costly. In this paper we discuss a simplified model of haptic detection of softness (whereby only information on the rate of spread of the contact area between the finger and the specimen as the contact force increases is transmitted). We provide a thorough set of psychophysical tests, to support the feasibility (in at least some contexts) of a reduced-complicacy display of haptic features.


This thesis investigates the possibility of improving black box fault diagnosis by a process called manifold learning, which simply stated is a way of finding patterns in recorded sensor data. The idea is that there is more information in the data than is exploited when using simple classification algorithms such as k-Nearest Neighbor and Support Vector Machines, and that this additional information can be found by using manifold learning methods. To test the idea of using manifold learning, data from two different fault diagnosis scenarios is used: A Scania truck engine and an electrical system called Adapt. Two linear and one non-linear manifold learning methods are used: Principal Component Analysis and Linear Discriminant Analysis (linear) and Laplacian Eigenmaps (non-linear). Some improvements are achieved given certain conditions on the diagnosis scenarios. The improvements for different methods correspond to the systems in which they are achieved in terms of linearity. The positive results for the relatively linear electrical system are achieved mainly by the linear methods Principal Component Analysis and Linear Discriminant Analysis and the positive results for the non-linear Scania system are achieved by the non-linear method Laplacian Eigenmaps. The results for scenarios without these special conditions are not improved however, and it is uncertain wether the improvements in special condition scenarios are due to gained information or to the nature of the cases themselves.


In SW England, a highly deformed and metamorphosed assemblage of ultramafic, mafic and granitic rocks is interpreted to represent a fragment of upper mantle and lower oceanic crust: the Lizard Ophiolite Complex. Although the processes involved in the tectonic and chemical evolution of mafic rocks and subsequent emplacement of this complex are well documented, the importance of the tectonic evolution of the peridotites is poorly constrained. Structural field mapping of deformed peridotites, ultramafic and mafic cumulates and amphibolites, combined with geochronological (sensitive high mass-resolution ion micro-probe), microstructural (optical microscope and universal stage) and geochemical (X-ray fluorescence, ICP-MS and electron microprobe) analyses undertaken as part of this thesis have identified evidence of four tectono magmatic events, three of which occurred during the Early to Late Devonian. An earlier episode relates to a fragment of Ordovician basement that became tectonically incorporated within the basal structural unit of the Lizard Ophiolite Complex. A basement, and structurally lowermost unit, comprising granitic (MOWG) and layered meta-sedimentary and meta-basic (OLHS) rocks of earliest Ordovician age (~499-488Ma) is interpreted as fragments of arc-type crust developed in an active magmatic arc during closure of an ocean basin (Rheic ocean?).Tectonic exhumation of mantle along extensional lithosphere-scale mantle shear zones in the Early Devonian or earlier (~397 Ma) may be responsible for the early tectonic evolution of the mantle section of the Lizard Ophiolite Complex. It is proposed that this may have occurred during asymmetric extension associated with continental breakup and oceanic rifting. During exhumation, the high-T and high-P mineral assemblage (~1200 C & 15Kb) of the Lizard peridotites progressively re-equilibrated to conditions of lower T and P (~919-1074 C & 5-6Kb). High temperature (~900-1050 C) deformation of ultramafic and mafic Traboe cumulates is consistent with deformation and metamorphism of early formed oceanic crust in the hangingwall of the inferred shear zone, which may have been located at the base of the crustal sequence close to the Moho. The later evolution of a second generation of oceanic crust sequence shown by gabbro and mafic dyke intrusion in the early to middle Devonian (~ 375 Ma) primarily involved magmatism, but NE-SW directed extension of the oceanic crust may have been predominantly accommodated by low-angle ductile shear zones, suggestive of a magma-starved slow- spreading ridge environment. Emplacement of the Lizard Ophiolite Complex took place during the Middle to Late Devonian (~390-366Ma). Top-to-the-NW thrusting facilitated decoupling of the mantle and emplacement over deformed and metamorphosed oceanic crust. During emplacement, widespread magmatism involved the intrusion of a mixed suite of felsic and mafic magmas that may well have been focused along the detachment surface. The geochemical characteristics of this suite of intrusive rocks suggests that initial emplacement of the Lizard Ophiolite Complex may have taken place in a subduction zone environment. Extensive, apparently extensional reactivation of thrust contacts involved the development serpentine-filled fault zones. It is proposed that infiltration of volatile-rich melts during the early mantle deformation and exhumation along extensional shear zones could have led to significant localisation of strain and weakening of the upper mantle. The main evidence supporting this hypothesis being mylonitic peridotites that demonstrate confirmation of chemical enrichment as a result of melt impregnation. Weakening may have occurred by replacement of strong mineral phases e.g. pyroxene by weaker phases e.g. amphibole i.e. reaction softening, characterised by the development of mylonitic amphibole-bearing peridotites. It is concluded that this and other weakening processes may also be responsible for the development and enhancement of mantle shear zones in other ophiolite complexes and present-day oceanic lithosphere during oceanic rifting.


Abort is defined as a premature or abnormal termination of a mission as a result of either a system or human failure. The abort guidance during the ascent phase, among all flight phases of the shuttle vehicle, is most critical; because it involves guiding a heavily loaded shuttle vehicle that is passing through severe environmental conditions. This paper describes a predictive guidance algorithm for the abort mode initiated during the orbiter ascent flight phase.

Contrary to the concept of the minimization1 of fuel consumption during a nominal ascent flight phase, the Space Shuttle orbiter is required to deplete its fuel tank in order to be separated from the vehicle during the abort mode. The guidance objective during the abort mode is to attain a proper terminal energy state in relation to the landing site, consistent with the aerodynamic heating and loading constraints. In the absence of a well-defined payoff function for optimization during this mode, the abort guidance algorithm presented in this paper is formulated to minimize aerodynamic forces. Minimization of aerodynamic forces was considered because of the possibility that the failure that caused the initiation of the abort mode may have weakened the orbiter structure. Immediately after the abort mode initiation, consistent with the philosophy of the minimization of the aerodynamic forces, the orbiter is forced to fly a lifting trajectory to attain higher altitude, thereby reaching a low dynamic pressure environment.

The predictive guidance algorithm uses the knowledge of the current orbiter state and the desired terminal state in relation to the landing site, and determines the time sequence of the powered maneuver and the orientation of the thrust vector throughout the abort mode. For example, the magnitude of the down-range component of the acceleration, the time at which to begin to return toward the desired landing site, and the radial acceleration necessary to attain the desired terminal altitude (while remaining in the low dynamic pressure environment) are computed. The key formulations in the predictive guidance algorithm are analytical expressions for the terminal state that the vehicle will reach for a given sequence of thrust orientations, and the associated Jacobian matrix. Therefore, these have been carefully developed in the paper.

In the terminal phase of the abort mode, the predictive guidance reduces to a velocity to be gained scheme which has the desirable effect of reducing the deviations in the end-state prediction that results from variations and uncertainties in the vehicle characteristics. Detailed results for representative abort cases and estimates of the computer requirements are also included in the paper.


Freezing of gait (FoG) is identified as a sudden and brief episode of movement cessation despite the intention to continue walking. It is one of the most disabling symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) and often leads to falls and injuries. Many computer-aided FoG detection methods have been proposed to use data collected from unimodal sources, such as motion sensors, pressure sensors, and video cameras. However, there are limited efforts of multimodal-based methods to maximize the value of all the information collected from different modalities in clinical assessments and improve the FoG detection performance. Therefore, in this study, a novel end-to-end deep architecture, namely graph fusion neural network (GFN), is proposed for multimodal learning-based FoG detection by combining footstep pressure maps and video recordings. GFN constructs multimodal graphs by treating the encoded features of each modality as vertex-level inputs and measures their adjacency patterns to construct complementary FoG representations, thus reducing the representation redundancy among different modalities. In addition, since GFN is devised to process multimodal graphs of arbitrary structures, it is expected to achieve superior performance with inputs containing missing modalities, compared to the alternative unimodal methods. A multimodal FoG dataset was collected, which included clinical assessment videos and footstep pressure sequences of 340 trials from 20 PD patients. Our proposed GFN demonstrates a great promise of multimodal FoG detection with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.882. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to utilize multimodal learning for automated FoG detection, which offers significant opportunities for better patient assessments and clinical trials in the future.


The induction of the atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) gene during alpha 1-adrenergic stimulation of neonatal rat ventricular myocytes has served as a model for gene expression during cardiac muscle cell hypertrophy. This study describes and identifies a single regulatory element that mediates expression of the ANF gene. Deletional mutations were generated in a 639-bp fragment of the ANF promoter that confers alpha 1-adrenergic inducibility to a luciferase reporter gene in transient transfection assays in ventricular myocytes. The results of gel mobility shift and diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) interference studies with nuclear cardiac cell extracts identified the nucleotide contract points for a novel A/T-rich element (ANF-AT) at positions -582/-575 that partially mediates alpha 1-adrenergic inducibility. Mutations in the ANF-AT element reduced alpha-adrenergic inducibility of an ANF-TK-luciferase fusion gene in cardiac cells by 35% but had no effect on expression in other muscle and non-muscle cells tested. Gel mobility supershift assays with antibodies directed against the MEF-2 protein, the homeobox protein MHox, or the zinc finger protein HF-1b, document that these factors are not major components of the endogenous ANF-AT binding activity in cardiac muscle cells. The current study provides evidence for a role for a novel A/T-rich element in the regulation of ANF gene expression in cardiac ventricular myocytes.


Competition and stability relationship have continued to be debated around the world with mixed results. Our mission is to test how this relationship subsist in SSA region commercial banks in the light of competition-stability and competition-fragility views using the generalised Methods of moment. We studied 440 commercial banks in 37 SSA countries over the periods of 2006-2015. The results provide evidences that support competition-fragility views over the study periods in the SSA region as we found Lerner index, our competition measure and score, the stability measure to be consistently strong and negatively related over the static and dynamic regression analysis that we carried out. While competition may be good as argued, and found in some other quarters, the policy implication of this study is for policy makers, regulators and practitioners alike to tread with caution in dealing with issues of competition given its potential to destabilise the system.


This paper studies the role of animal welfare (AW) institutionally and for large scale retail and its value in consolidating trust between institutions-taxpayers and large scale retail-consumers. The first section analyses AW in the new CAP and current strategies of retail with regard to expectations of taxpayers and consumers respectively. The second section analyses interviews on AW carried out in large scale and traditional retailing on the Italian market, and puts forward short and medium term forecasts of the importance that AW could have in distribution strategies in trust building with consumers and in relationships with institutional and other interlocutors of the retail trade.


The manipulation of topologically-ordered phases of matter to encode and process quantum information forms the cornerstone of many approaches to fault-tolerant quantum computing. Here, we demonstrate that faulttolerant logical operations in these approaches, essential for scalable quantum computing, can be usefully interpreted as instances of anyon condensation. We present a constructive theory for anyon condensation and, in tandem, illustrate our theory explicitly with examples of fault-tolerant logical operations for the colorcode model. We show that different condensation processes are associated with a general class of domain walls, which can exist in both spaceand time-like directions. This class includes semi-transparent domain walls that condense certain bosonic subsets of anyons. We use our theory to classify topological objects and design novel fault-tolerant logic gates for the color code. As a final example, we also argue that dynamical 'Floquet codes' can be viewed as a series of condensation operations. We propose a general construction for realising planar dynamically driven codes based on condensation operations on the color code. We use our construction to introduce a new Calderbank-Shor Steane-type Floquet code that we call the Floquet color code.