Many very young landforms on Mars resemble terrestrial glacial and periglacial surface features in permafrost regions and show a latitude-dependent geographic distribution. They include surface mantling, viscous flow features, polygonally fractured ground, patterned ground, fractured mounds, and gullies. Collectively, these landforms are hypothesized to represent the geomorphological surface record of Martian ice ages that were triggered by astronomical forcing and associated climate changes.We use the permafrost landscape of Spitsbergen (Svalbard, Norway) as an analogue to the assemblage of cold-climate landforms that is typically found in mid-latitudes on Mars. Although relatively warm and wet as compared to other cold-climate analogues on Earth, Spitsbergen is a particularly instructive morphological analogue to Mars as it offers many surface features in a close spatial context that are strikingly similar to those on Mars. Based on this comparison, which uses remote sensing and field data from Svalbard, we identify similarities as well as differences, both of which are important in the use of analogues as a means to establish testable hypotheses. We then propose possible scenarios which may help to understand the evolution of Martian landforms into their present state. Of particular interest with respect to the habitability of Martian permafrost is whether liquid water was involved or not.Most phenomena on Mars, but not Svalbard, can plausibly be explained by "dry" permafrost scenarios without the need to invoke freeze/thaw. Examples of such processes are the slow creep of ice-debris mixtures in permafrost, such as debris-covered glaciers, ice-cored moraines, rock glaciers or protalus ramparts. Dry scenarios can also be consistent with a significant role of snow or firn. The reduced gravity on the Martian surface implies that significantly thicker snowpacks are required to transform firn into glacier ice, hence thick perennial snowpacks and related nivation phenomena are expected to be geomorphically more important than on Earth. In combination with wind-transported dust, this will also lead to a relatively greater importance of niveo-aeolian processes.Other landforms could be explained with and without the availability of liquid water. Examples are thermal contraction polygons, which could form as ice-wedge polygons indicating thaw and liquid water, or, alternatively, as sublimation polygons. Former glaciers could have either been warm-based or cold-based, and therefore do not provide constraints on the history of liquid water. Some landforms such as gullies, however, seem to definitely require at least transient liquid water sometimes in the last ∼10 Ma. We conclude that liquid water is unlikely to have a significant effect in the last few million years, but could have been more important before ∼5 Ma, when specific conditions (the obliquity of the rotational axis, the orbital eccentricity, and the season of perihelion) combined to generate a more favourable climate than today.


This study compared muscle function pre- and post-central fatigue caused by a marathon, using maximal displacement (Dm), which indicates muscular stiffness in tensiomyography (TMG) results. Blood and noninvasive TMG test were performed on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th days before and immediately after the marathon. The muscles assessed were the vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), rectus femoris (RF), biceps femoris (BF), semitendinosus (ST), tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius lateralis, and gastrocnemius medialis. Lactate dehydrogenase levels (lactate dehydrogenase) increased sharply immediately after the competition and decreased to the pre-competition level after 5 days. Dm was the highest immediately post-competition at BF, ST, VL, VM, and RF muscles, with a tendency to decrease to pre-competition levels after 1 day. The application of TMG to identify muscle changes in central fatigue studies may be appropriate in the proximal region rather than in the distal region.


By the intratracheal injection into monkeys of unfiltered nasopharyngeal washings from cases of measles in the preeruptive and early eruptive stages of the disease a relatively constant group of symptoms was induced which closely resemble those of measles in man. Of seven monkeys inoculated intratracheally with unfiltered nasopharyngeal washings from seven cases of measles, five developed the symptoms. The same group of symptoms was induced in one monkey by inoculation of the mucous membrane of the nose and mouth with unfiltered nasopharyngeal washings from a case of measles. In these experiments a variety of organisms, largely saprophytic inhabitants of the nasopharynx and mouth, were present in the material inoculated. There is sufficient evidence, however, that these organisms were in no way responsible for the reaction, since the same group of symptoms was induced in two monkeys by the intratracheal injection of nasopharyngeal washings from three cases of measles after the washings had been freed from ordinary organisms of the mouth flora by filtration through Berkefeld N filters. The characteristic group of symptoms which follows the inoculation of monkeys with the nasopharyngeal washings from patients with measles has been. successfully carried through six passages by intratracheal injection of saline emulsions of the skin and buccal mucous membranes of monkeys killed from 2 to 6 days after the onset of the reaction. From the fourth passage monkey the reaction was also successfully induced in three monkeys by means of citrated whole blood injected intravenously. This experiment showed the blood to be capable of inciting the reaction from at least the 7th to 13th days after intratracheal inoculation of the donor monkey, but incapable of inducing it from the 2nd to 4th days. Cultures of the blood showed no growth. The group of symptoms induced has been constant and definite in character. After an incubation period of 6 to 10 days the animal becomes listless and drowsy, the conjunctivæ become injected, and small, discrete, hyperemic macules appear on the labial mucous membrane. These spots increase in number and may eventually coalesce in the course of 2 to 4 days to form a diffuse, red, granular rash. This rash is usually limited to the labial mucous membrane but may extend to the inside of the cheeks. The individual macules may or may not show the minute bluish white center characteristic of Koplik spots. From one to several days after onset an eruption of small, discrete, red maculopapules appears on the skin, usually coming out first on the face. The rash progressively increases in the number and size of the individual lesions and may in the course of 2 to 3 days extend to the skin of the neck, shoulders, upper arms, chest, abdomen, and thighs. It is constant in character but varies considerably in extent in different animals. By the time the exanthem is fully developed, the rash on the mucous membranes has begun to fade and soon disappears. The exanthem in turn progressively fades, sometimes with a branny desquamation, sometimes without. There may be moderate pigmentation. By the 6th to the 10th day after onset all symptoms have disappeared and the animal again appears well. Coincident with this group of symptoms there is a constant and definite reduction in the total leucocyte count, frequently constituting a true leucopenia. Other symptoms of irregular occurrence are photophobia, diarrhea, and fever. Symptoms of rhinitis and bronchitis have not been noted. Histological sections of the lesions of the skin show an exudative and proliferative lesion about the capillaries of the corium in which endothelial leucocytes are the predominating cells. Mitotic cells are not infrequently present in these areas. The endothelial leucocytes may be seen migrating toward and occasionally invading the epithelial layers of the hair follicles, sebaceous glands, and epidermis. In places the epithelial cells appear edematous and vacuolated, and there is evidence of minute vesicle formation. The lesions of the labial mucous membrane are similar in character. Minute vesicle formation in the epithelium is more frequent and the vesicles occasionally assume a more pustular appearance. Similar lesions are found in histological sections of the tongue. Cultures of the blood made both during the incubation period and during the course of the reaction in a variety of media, aerobic and anaerobic, have consistently shown no growth. The close similarity of the symptoms and pathological lesions of the reaction to the symptoms and pathological lesions of measles, the successful transmission of the reaction from monkey to monkey, and the elimination of ordinary bacteria as a possible source of error in the interpretation of the results, warrant the belief that the reaction is caused by the inciting organism of measles.


A survey of 1,250 purchased calves found that 40% had blood serum Ig values of less than 15 ZST units. A positive relationship was obtained between initial blood serum Ig level of the purchased calf and subsequent mortality. Calf liveweight gain within two systems of calf rearing was not related to initial blood serum Ig levels. No relationship was obtained between initial Ig levels and incidence of diarrhoea. Artificially feeding the newborn calf to appetite with first milking colostrum in two feeds, the first 4-6 hrs after birth and a second 4-6 hrs later results in 95% of calves having blood serum Ig levels greater than 15 ZST units. Artificially feeding the calf colostrum in the presence of the dam resulted in a significant increase in the calf's blood serum Ig level. Artificially feeding colostrum at room temperature (14 degrees C) did not significantly reduce colostrum intake or calf blood serum Ig levels.


The article reviews the present state of analysis of regional conflict resolution in foreign and Russian literature. The goal of the research is to analyze the constructive methods for resolving ethno-political conflicts in the North Caucasus. Identity-based conflicts as a type of ethno-political conflicts have become a considerable obstacle to the Post-Soviet modernization in the current decade. The interest in the concept of identity-based conflict has been increasing worldwide during the first decade of the 21-st century. Competing identity became a prism for studying the problem of security in multi-ethnic communities. A rapid strengthening of hyper-ethnic identity of the citizens of Russia occurred in two post-Soviet decades. It was manifested in the demands of ethnocentrism, national-cultural autonomy, secession, as well as in the substantial growth of tension in ethnic relations, which resulted in protracted identity-based conflicts. Conflict resolution in the North Caucasus may be built on the principles of civic solidarity and socio-political integration but not on the assimilation policy and suppression of ethnicities.


Buckminsterfullerene, C60, is the largest molecule observed to date in interstellar and circumstellar environments. The mechanism of formation of this molecule is actively debated. Despite targeted searches in primitive carbonaceous chondrites, no unambiguous detection of C60 in a meteorite has been reported to date. Here we report the first firm detection of fullerenes, from C30 to at least C100, in the Almahata Sitta (AhS) polymict ureilite meteorite. This detection was achieved using highly sensitive laser desorption laser ionization mass spectrometry. Fullerenes have been unambiguously detected in seven clasts of AhS ureilites. Molecular family analysis shows that fullerenes are from a different reservoir compared to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons detected in the same samples. The fullerene family correlates best with carbon clusters, some of which may have been formed by the destruction of solid carbon phases by the impacting laser. We show that the detected fullerenes are not formed in this way. We suggest that fullerenes are an intrinsic component of a specific carbon phase that has yet to be identified. The nondetection of fullerenes in the Murchison and Allende bulk samples, while using the same experimental conditions, suggests that this phase is absent or less abundant in these primitive chondrites. The former case would support the formation of fullerenes by shock-wave processing of carbonaceous phases in the ureilite parent body. However, there are no experimental data to support this scenario. This leaves open the possibility that fullerenes are an interstellar heritage and a messenger of interstellar processes.


Active growth faults cutting the land surface in the Gulf Coast area represent a serious geo-hazard. Considering the average movement of these faults is a few inches per decade, the potential is high for structural damage to highways, industrial buildings, residential houses and railroads that cross these features. Common methods used to identify these faults include analysis of aerial photographs and field mapping; borehole data on both the down and up-thrown sides of the faults; core data; and familiar geophysical methods such as resistivity, gravity, magnetic, conductivity and ground penetrating radar and gravity. A pioneering resistivity work was done over some of the Houston faults by Kreitler and McKalips, 1978. Field mapping and analysis of aerial photographs are the most frequently used methods for locating faults in the Gulf Coast area. Geophysical methods are sporadically used to estimate the locations and parameters of these faults. Opinions concerning the effectiveness of these geophysical surveys are mixed, and geophysical techniques are not generally recognized as primary tools in engineering-scale fault studies. However, remarkable advances in the manufacturing of geophysical instruments over the last ten years have made geophysics a viable tool for engineering studies of these faults. Data quality has been increased by the advent of continuous data collection. The data are better processed and interpreted by new and improved software packages, which results in improved sub-surface imaging and mapping. We have conducted an integrated geophysical survey using ground penetrating radar (GPR) and resistivity imaging methods over the Hockley Fault located in the northwest part of Houston, Texas. Results indicate that both methods successfully imaged significant anomalies across the known fault location.


Complexity is a term that is now commonly used when discussing TV serial dramas and the way that, in recent years, creators and producers of this narrative form have embraced innovative and challenging strategies to tell their stories. As a result, it is also often argued that all TV serial dramas are strikingly different from one another; one of the few things that contemporary TV serial dramas have in common is their employment of complex narrative strategies. However, in this thesis, I argue that—while serial dramas are different from one another in many ways—they are also all the same at a fundamental level.  In order to examine the fundamental narrative components that all serial dramas employ, I use chaos as a framework. Chaos is a branch of mathematics and science which examines systems that display unpredictable behaviour that is actually determined by deep structures of order and stability. At its most basic level, chaos corresponds with the way in which serial dramas are both complex and simple at the same time; beneath the complexity of serial dramas are fundamental building blocks that are used to generate innovative, challenging and unpredictable narratives.  I apply the findings from my critical examination of chaos and TV drama narratives to the creation of my own TV projects, which employ the inherent structures and patterns of TV drama narratives in a way that produces innovative and complex stories. In doing so, I intend to highlight the potential of serial dramas to be endlessly creative yet consistently the same.


Alzheimer's disease is currently the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, affecting an estimated 5.1 million Americans. This disease is characterized by amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which both lead to impaired neuron communication contributing to memory loss, disorientation, and eventually difficulty speaking and swallowing. Exact mechanisms leading to the development or treatment of AD are not well understood, but certain factors, such as chronic inflammation, are known to expedite onset and progression. That said, previous work from our laboratory showed that following an immune challenge, exercise led to decreased levels of amyloid-beta in mice. From this knowledge, this project was designed to determine specifically why exercise contributed to improved AD pathology in the hilus and subiculum, regions of the brain particularly susceptible to damage that are critical for learning and memory. We hypothesized that one week of exercise in mice would lead to a switch in phenotype of microglial cells, the resident immune cells of the brain, from pro-inflammatory to antiinflammatory. If this were the case, there would be increased expression of Arg-1, a marker for the anti-inflammatory phenotype of microglial cells. However, results did not show a significant difference in Arg-1 expression across treatment groups. Future studies could increase the amount of inflammation induced, use a wider variety of cell markers to better account for the diverse phenotypes microglial cells can possess, or explore another mechanism by which exercise reduces inflammation.


The inter‐organizational network is becoming an increasingly common form of organization. The majority of trade is carried out between organizations, rather than organizations and households. Many of these networks are concerned with the exchange of tangible goods. However, increasing numbers are concerned with the exchange of knowledge and all are dependent upon the role of knowledge in their activities. It is our assertion that with an understanding of the nature of knowledge, we may identify how, and why, certain network formations are adopted. It is asserted that links between organizations may be viewed as knowledge assets. The expression of multiple links within a corporate community may be regarded as a network of knowledge assets. From this conceptual framework, it may be possible to answer wider questions concerning the nature of networks established in the real world and how changes are wrought on a network over a period of time.


Despite the media attention lavished on short-termism, the UK perspective has not enjoyed any sustained examination of the sort Professor Mark Roe has undertaken in the US. The short-termist view provides that substantial weight is placed on current profits, leading to companies being managed according to these same short-term horizons, through transmission mechanisms from market to boardroom. This paper analyses whether short-termism in listed companies should affect corporate lawmaking in the UK. It examines market behaviour and the legal landscape, and the extent to which they dissuade or stimulate the corporate search for instant gratification. This paper assesses hostile takeovers, executive remuneration and shareholder activism as potential transmission mechanisms for short-termism. It finds that the first two are particularly effective mechanisms, while the third is circumscribed by the costs of collective action and rational apathy. The conclusion is that short-termism in listed companies should affect regulatory and legislative proposals in the UK. Breaking transmission mechanisms is crucial to prevent short-termism in corporate decision-making. Regulatory proposals are therefore suggested, endorsing Main's Career Shares and reform of the composition of remuneration committees.


Dilation of esophageal strictures with dilators passed over a guidestring or guidewire is of proven usefulness. Techniques for the placement of such a guidewire include that originally described by Sippy in 1913, which depends on peristalsis for the passage of a string. Passage of a flexible wire with the aid of fluoroscopy or a conventional esophagoscope improved the original technique. The major disadvantage with these techniques is that the tip of the wire cannot be controlled for passage through the immediate area of the cicatricial narrowing. In difficult cases with marked narrowing, perforation is a likely complication. The most recent fiberoptic gastroscopes can be very accurately controlled while in the lumen of the esophagus. It has been determined that the guidewire from a Peustow esophageal dilation set passes readily through the biopsyaspiration channel of a fiberoptic gastroscope (Figure). This permits passage of the guidewire through a stricture very precisely and


Aims and method To evaluate patient awareness of the mental health tribunal and identify any association between capacity to request a tribunal and frequency of completed hearings. A cohort of detained patients within a secure hospital were assessed and data for past tribunals evaluated by presence of capacity and mode of application.

Results Of the 65 patients evaluated, 78% were aware of the tribunal's power to discharge, 14% were aware of its power to recommend leave and 4% were aware of its power to recommend transfer; 12% lacked capacity to request a tribunal. Patients with capacity received more completed hearings per year than those without, both overall (0.58 v . 0.29 per year, P = 0.04) and by patient application (0.45 v . 0.12 per year, P = 0.03).

Clinical implications Hospital managers should ensure that all detained patients have regular assessments of their capacity to request a tribunal and that those who lack capacity are referred to the Secretary of State when it is considered that a tribunal would be in their best interests. Hospital managers should consider referring such cases to the Secretary of State every 12 months.


Today's turbulent global environment requires agility and flexibility of manufacturing companies to stay competitive. Thus, employees have to monitor their performance continuously and react quickly to turbulences which demands real-time information provisioning across all hierarchy levels. However, existing manufacturing IT systems, for example, manufacturing execution systems (MES), do hardly address information needs of individual employees on the shop floor. Besides, they do not exploit advanced analytics to generate novel insights for process optimisation. To address these issues, the operational process dashboard for manufacturing (OPDM) is presented, a mobile data-mining-based dashboard for workers and supervisors on the shop floor. It enables proactive optimisation by providing analytical information anywhere and anytime in the factory. In this paper, first, user groups and conceptual dashboard services are defined. Then, IT design issues of a mobile shop floor application on top of the advanced manufacturing analytics platform are investigated in order to realise the OPDM. This comprises the evaluation of different types of mobile devices, the development of an appropriate context model and the investigation of security issues. Finally, an evaluation in an automotive industry case is presented using a prototype in order to demonstrate the benefits of the OPDM for data-driven process improvement and agility in manufacturing.


Introduction: Cavernomas on the posterolateral pontomesencephalic surface can be approached from an extreme lateral supracerebellar infratentorial corridor, although the theory is scarce. The brainstem has a dense concentration of nuclei and fibers that are responsible for a high rate of morbidity when treating brainstem lesions. The objective of this work is to demonstrate the safe microsurgical resection technique for the complete removal of a pontine cavernoma. Clinical Case: 27-year-old woman with a 5-month history of disease; characterized by headache, left facial paresis and right half body paresis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a hemorrhage in the middle cerebellar peduncle compatible with a ruptured cavernoma, initially receiving medical treatment. Subsequently, due to an increase in the motor deficit and the presence of keratopathy in the left eye, surgery was decided. A retromastoid craniotomy and an extreme lateral supracerebellar infratentorial approach were performed. A safe entry zone was identified and the cavernoma was completely excised. In the postoperative period, she did not present additional neurological deficit, being extubated at 24 hours, with a score on the Glasgow scale of 15 points. Postoperative brain tomography (CT) showed the absence of the cavernoma. Conclusion: The far lateral supracerebellar infratentorial approach is safe for the excision of cavernomas with a middle cerebellar peduncle. When combined with the significant reverse Trendelenburg position it results in minimal cerebellar retraction as the cerebellum descends with gravity. Keywords: Hemangioma, Cavernous, Pons, Middle Cerebellar Peduncle, Craniotomy (source: MeSH NLM)


Langerhans cell histiocytosis and mastocytoma are clonal disorders of bone-marrow-derived cells, most commonly seen in the pediatric age. Infiltration of mast cells and Langerhans cells in the same lesion has been published before, but, to our knowledge, this is the first time that the occurrence of two mastocytomas and Langerhans cell histiocytosis is reported. It could be hypothesized that both clonal disorders of bone-marrow-derived cells could have a common origin.


ABSTRACT Despite important variations in regional family systems, little research has been done to assess the effects of these differences on fertility and thus on families' economic status. Even less attention has been paid to the effects of deviating from these regionally embedded norms in terms of network compositions. People's social networks may not conform to the region's view of the ideal family, while this could have important implications for their fertility behaviour. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper aims to answer two questions: to what extent do family systems shape family size, and to what extent do deviations from regional family system norms in terms of social network composition result in differences in completed fertility? To answer these questions, we use the first two waves of the 'Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement' and derive indicators describing regional family systems and people's social networks. We test the influence of these covariates on the completed fertility of cohorts born between 1920 and 1960 in 13 European countries. Our results show that family system norms, and deviations from them in terms of specific social networks, play an important role in determining family size.


METHODS: BCS (Stage I-III) who had completed cancer-related treatment within the previous 6 months were included in this study. BFP, LBM and FM were estimated using BIA (InBody 520) and followed immediately by DXA (GE Lunar Prodigy). Testing was performed between 7:00-11:00 AM following a minimum 4-hour fast. BMI categories used were based on the World Health Organization: normal (18.0-24.99 kg/m), overweight (25.0-29.9 kg/m), obese (30.0-34.99 kg/m), and severely obese (>35.0 kg/m). Agreement between the devices was assessed by Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS: Our study population included a total of 89 BCS (52.7±10.4 yr), primarily Hispanic (63.6%), with BMI of 29.2±5.6 kg/m. There was no agreement between the two devices in assessments of BFP (DXA: 44.2±6.2 vs BIA: 40.4±7.8%), LBM (DXA: 39.1±7.6 vs BIA: 42.9±5.9kg) and FM (DXA: 32.4±10.8 vs BIA: 30.6±11.0kg). DXA provided significantly higher estimates of BFP and FM, with a lower estimate of LBM compared to BIA (P<0.001). These findings held true among BCS in the normal (n=28), overweight (n=21), and obese group (n=23). However, there was agreement between the two devices on FM (DXA: 48.7±7.2 vs BIA: 47.9±5.7kg) in severely obese BCS (n=17; P=0.102). CONCLUSIONS: BIA may underestimate BFP and FM and overestimate LBM, compared to DXA in BCS. However, BIA and DXA provide similar FM in severely obese BCS, suggesting that BIA can be alternative to estimate FM. Future studies are warranted to assess the utilization of these 2 devices in a larger cohort of BCS across BMI categories.


Stressors contribute to thrombosis and insulin resistance. Since obesity-related adipose inflammation is also involved in these pathological states, we assumed that stress correlates with adipose inflammation. Male mice were subjected to 2-week intermittent restraint stress. Expression of plasma lipids, monocyte/macrophage markers (CD11b, CD68, and F4/80), proinflammatory cytokines (monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 [MCP-1], tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-6), adiponectin, heat shock protein 70.1 (HSP70.1), and coagulation factors (plasminogen activation inhibitor-1 [PAI-1] and tissue factor [TF]) in blood and inguinal white adipose tissue (WAT) was determined using immunohistochemistry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and RT-PCR, respectively. Glucose metabolism was assessed by glucose tolerance tests (GTTs) and insulin tolerance tests, and expression of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) and glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) in WAT. To examine effects of MCP-1 blockade, animals were treated with control or neutralizing antibody, or transplanted with control or 7ND (dominant-negative form of MCP-1)-overexpressing adipose-derived stromal cells (ADSCs). Stress increased monocyte accumulation, free fatty acids, proinflammatory cytokine, and HSP70.1 and reduced adiponectin. Adipose stromal cells highly expressed MCP-1. The stress-induced adipose inflammation increased PAI-1 and TF but did not give rise to thrombus formation. Without any changes in GTT, stress worsened insulin sensitivity and decreased IRS-1 and GLUT4 in WAT. Neutralizing antibody and 7ND-ADSCs reversed stress-induced adipose inflammation, procoagulant state, and insulin resistance. Stress evoked adipose inflammation to increase coagulation factors and impair insulin sensitivity through adipose-derived MCP-1.


The objectives of this study were to determine the impact of reclaimed wastewater irrigation in freezing conditions on the quality of runoff and to observe how soils respond to irrigation in freezing temperatures. Onsite irrigation systems were constructed on 6 bermed lots on a hillside in Coshocton County, Ohio. All runoff was collected in gutters at the bottom of the hill. Two lots were irrigated with artificial reclaimed wastewater, 2 with well water, and 2 were unirrigated. Runoff was collected through an average winter (2013) and a severe winter (2014). The infiltrative capacity of the plots was maintained during the average winter and yielded runoff on only one day. During the severe winter, runoff occurred on 11 days; of the regulated pollutants, only ammonia was significantly higher than the control plots. The volumes that ran off were lower than what was applied and the contaminate concentrations were lower than what was applied and did not exceed National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) effluent limits. The indication is that even in the worst-case scenario most of the pollutants were assimilated on site.


The piperidine ring is a structural feature of many alkaloids and drug [1] candidates and there were thousands of piperidine compounds mentioned in clinical and preclinical studies[2]. The piperidine ring system is one of the commonest structural sub units in natural compounds. Several substituted piperidines display important biological properties like antiviral activity. We have used a simple and highly efficient method for the synthesis of 1-(4- chlorophenyl) piperidine-2,6-diones. The reaction was optimized by using various solvents with some modifications in reaction conditions. The synthesized compounds are a precursor for dichlorodialdehydes 1, 4-DHP. Characterization of all synthesized piperidine-dione derivatives was done by analytical technique such as FTIR, 1HNMR. The resulting compounds possess symmetrical structures [3] and have high yields. All the compounds were screened for antimicrobial activities.


The whole superconducting HT-7U Tokamak is a high-cost and large-scale complicated device. The assembly requirement of HT-7U device is arduous and strict. At present, there have been no guiding principle for the assembly of the device, but assembly simulation can help the engineer plan and make decision by an intuitional and visual way before its actual assembly. The problem is that which scheme is most suitable should be solved primarily. From current research situation and technology progress of assembly simulation, this paper explained and analyzed four kinds of technological schemes of assembly simulation in common use. Finally, we got the most feasible scheme that was suitable for HT-7U assembly simulation by comparing their technological issues and difficult points of simulation among the four kinds of feasible schemes.


This paper explains about the design and implementation of Web server scanner. The scanner detected the security weaknesses on IIS, CGI and HTTP. A report is produced for audit log purposes to help decrease the security weaknesses. In Internet security, no hacking tool is more celebrated than the scanner. The scanner is a program that automatically detects security weaknesses in a remote or local host. It might reveal certain inherent weakness within the target host. The primary attributes of the scanner includes the capability to find a machine or network, the capability to find out what services are being run on the host, and the capability to test those services for known holes.


Abstract This thesis has traced the lives of juveniles convicted at the Old Bailey and transported to Van Diemen's Land (VDL) in the early-nineteenth century. As well as their 'criminal career', their pre- and post-transportation lives, including family life, occupational standing, and deaths were uncovered. These male and female juvenile convicts were then compared and contrasted with other convicts transported to VDL, free immigrants arriving in the colony and the free population back home. They were then contextualised within the punishment system, economy, and culture that they were thrust into by their forced movement to Australia. This allowed an understanding of whether juvenile convicts transported to VDL were able to have 'settled' lives. A settled life is not simple to determine. However, certain aspects surrounding the formation of relationships, employment and desistance from crime all point to one. This does not mean climbing the social and economic spectrum of society but rather the formation of a stable and normal working-class life free from crime. Using data-linkage of criminal and non-criminal records, individual lives were traced beyond the circumstances of their offending through to their punishment period, and their lives upon release. By looking at how the different factors interacted in supporting or inhibiting a settled life, and what the lasting impact of the experience of being transported to a penal colony, during youth, was - the lives of these juveniles can be better understood. Going beyond the institution and focusing directly on female and male juveniles was important in understanding the lives of this unique group. While in some ways juveniles were treated the same, and experienced the same, as adults in this period, this thesis has highlighted that in many ways they were not, and did not. Moreover, this affected their life-outcomes in terms of experience, economic attainment, familial life and mortality.


Mining as an extractive activity has the potential to promote sustainable economic growth in developing countries; however this largely depends on how the activities are regulated. Mining contributes to environmental pollution and degradation, and the social degeneration of local communities. Corporate social responsibility initiatives are often self-serving short-term programs that in the long term do not benefit mining communities. In this article, the mining, environment and community trilemma is investigated through the lens of what is happening in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is argued that continued calls for nationalisation and indigenisation are the sequel of the failure of postcolonial mineral law and policy reforms. Regulatory continuity from colonial laws has seen mining companies continue to treat mineral rich developing countries as sources of raw materials. Little is done to develop the communities impacted by mining activities. Recommendations are made on how mining can support sustainable development without creating a cycle of poverty within mining communities. This can happen through effective regulation embedded within sustainable development, transparency and accountability and equitable access to mineral wealth.


There remains an active debate as to whether asset allocation or security selection is more important in investment performance. This revisit of the question uses a normative framework suggested before, but adds a more representative opportunity set for asset allocation, an unbiased dataset for stocks, and a modified security selection methodology that ensures strict uniformity with asset allocation rebalancing rules. In this case, the results do not support a clear hierarchy of investment choice. The extent to which asset allocation or security selection generates dispersion in active return is largely time-dependent.


As opposed to still-image based paradigms, video-based face recognition involves identifying a person from a video input. In video-based approaches, face detection and tracking are performed together with recognition, as usually the background is included in the video and the person could be moving or being captured unknowingly. By detecting and raster-scanning a face sub-image to be a vector, we can concatenate all extracted vectors to form an image set, thus allowing the application of face recognition algorithms based on matching image sets. It has been reported that linear subspace-based methods for face recognition using image sets achieve good recognition results. The challenge that remains is to update the linear subspace representation and perform recognition on-the-fly so that the recognition-from-video objective is not defeated. Here, we demonstrate how this can be achieved by using a well-studied incremental SVD updating procedure. We then present our online face recognition-from-video framework and the recognition results obtained.


Post-anthesis high temperature stress in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major cause of yield reduction. This process results in the loss of viable leaf area and a decrease in green leaf duration ultimately causing a yield loss. The objectives of this study were to (i) phenotype a recombinant inbred line population for heat tolerance traits, (ii) understand the genetic basis of heat tolerance by mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) linked to yield-related traits under high temperature, (iii) model stay-green under high temperature stress and map the QTL linked to stay-green parameters, and (iv) validate the markers linked to QTL under field conditions. A filial6:7 (F6:7) recombinant inbred line (RIL) population was developed by crossing Ventnor, a heat-tolerant white winter wheat with Karl 92, a relatively heat susceptible hard red winter wheat. From 10 DAA to maturity, the treatments of optimum temperature or high temperature stress (30/25C) were imposed on the RILs. The traits measured included grain filling duration (GFD), kernels per spike, thousand kernel weight (TKW), and grain filling rate (GFR). The stay-green traits calculated were: i) time between 75% and 25% green, ii) maximum rate of senescence, iii) time to maximum rate of senescence, and v) percent green at maximum senescence. Genetic characterization was performed using microsatellite (SSR), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and a sequence tag site (STS) markers. GFD was positively correlated with TKW and negatively with GFR and maximum rate of senescence. Principle component analysis (PCA) showed kernels per spike, maximum rate of senescence, and TKW accounted for 98% of total variability among the genotypes for heat tolerance. The most significant QTL for yield traits co-localized with marker Xgwm296 for TKW, Xgwm356 for kernels per spike, and Xksum61 for GFR. The QTL for stay-green traits colocalized with markers P41/M62-107 on Chromosome 2A, Xbarc136 on Chromosome 2D, P58/MC84-146 on Chromosome 3B, P58/M77-343 on Chromosome 6A, and. P58/MC84-406 on Chromosome 6B. These results indicate that increased green leaf area duration has a positive effect on the grain yield under high temperature. Once the kernels per spike are established, GFD and TKW can be used as selection criteria for post-anthesis heat-tolerance. PHYSIOLOGICAL AND GENETIC ANALYSES OF POSTANTHESIS HEAT TOLERANCE IN WINTER WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.)


Abstract Crofton weed is a noxious invasive weed worldwide. However, the mechanisms underlying its invasiveness are still not well understood. We hypothesize that genetic differentiation and plasticity may help the plant invade heterogeneous habitats. To test this hypothesis, we compared the differences in seed morphometric and germination traits among 14 populations of the plant located at different elevations (640–2,430 m) in south Yunnan Province of southwest China. Germination capacity (GC) and index (GI) were markedly different among the 14 populations at the same temperature or water treatment. The results indicated genetic differentiations in these traits; maternal effects were not excluded. GC and GI were also different for each population across temperature or water treatments, showing phenotypic plasticity. Croton weed seed size and weight also responded genetically or plastically (or both) to different elevations. Seed width, weight, GC, and GI at each temperature increased with the increase of the elevation of origin, showing clinal variation patterns that reveal local adaptations to habitats encountered by the plant. The large seeds, high GC, and high GI could improve emergence, establishment, growth, and survival of seedlings at high elevation; the low GI could prevent seed germination before the onset of the rainy season at low elevation. On the basis of the results, genetic differentiation and plasticity in seed size and germination traits may help crofton weed acclimate to different elevations, facilitating its invasiveness. Nomenclature: Crofton weed, Eupatorium adenophorum Sprengel [Syn. Ageratina adenophora (Sprengel) R. M. King & H. Robinson]


Biological activity of 110 series of commercial gamma-globulin preparations was studied; they were found to contain placental antigens, group-specific blood substances, gonadotropic hormones and antibodies to them. Placental antigens were found in 12% of placental and abortive gamma-globulin batches in titres of 1 : 2--1 : 16; no placental protein was revealed in donor gamma-globulin. There were group-specific blood substances in all the batches of placental and abortive gamma-globulin studied (in titres of 1 : 138--A, 1 : 112 B in the placental gamma-globulin and in titres of 1 : 48.9--A, 1 : 32--B in the abortive gamma-globulin). In the preparations from the venous blood group-specific substances were either absent or present in lowe titres only (1 : 2). The value of gonadotropic hormones in the placental gamma-globulin batches constituted 873+/-157, and in the abortive--991.4+/-147 IU/l; no gonadotropins were revealed in donor gamma-globulin. The mean titres of antibodies to gonadotropin hormone in the gamma-globulin preparations made of placental blood constituted 1 : 236+/-32, of abortive--1 : 131+/-16.6, and of the venous blood--1 : 46+/-24.7. The presence of biologically-active substances in the gamma-globulin preparations pointed to the necessity of increased requirement of their quality; additional requirements to its standardization proved to be also necessary.


PURPOSE
Although event analysis (EA) and trend analysis (TA) have been widely adopted to evaluate glaucoma progression in clinical trials, there is poor agreement between the strategies and no consensus on strategy selection in clinical practice. With computer simulation of progressive loss of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), the authors compared the performance of TA and EA for the detection of glaucoma progression.

METHODS
RNFL progression was modeled with reference to the individual's test-retest variability and the pattern and rate of progression. The sensitivity and specificity of each scenario were computed from 5000 simulated datasets. Simulation results were validated with longitudinal RNFL measurements obtained from 107 glaucoma and glaucoma suspect patients who had a median follow-up period of 38 months.

RESULTS
TA generally attained a sensitivity ≥80% earlier than EA, although EA with a group reproducibility coefficient had a higher sensitivity than TA for eyes with a large test-retest variability in the early follow-up period, albeit at a lower specificity. The specificity of TA was 95% and ranged between 80% and 100% for EA. Independent of test-retest variability and the pattern and rate of progression, TA had an accuracy ≥80% earlier than EA. In the longitudinal study, the detection rate was 42%, 35%, and 3% for TA, whereas it was 11% to 40%, 12% to 28%, and 3% to 23% for EA at 36 months of follow-up in eyes with small, average, and large test-retest variabilities, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Although test-retest variability is an important determinant in progression analysis, TA generally outperformed EA for the detection of RNFL progression in glaucoma.


OBJECTIVE
A new endoscopic approach for the treatment of the testicle located in the inguinal canal is described.

METHOD
Three trocars are inserted in the umbilicus and both flanks, then the spermatic vessels and vas deferens are dissected. A 2 cm skin incision is performed at the level of the internal inguinal ring and a finger is introduced. An incision is made endoscopically in the inguinal canal between the epigastric vessels and the conjoined tendon. With the finger the testicle is located and partially dissected. Pressure is applied on it until it is introduced into the peritoneal cavity through this incision, where it is released by dividing the sustentaculum testis. The cord is then pulled, the testicle is passed in front of the epigastric vessels and taken through the internal ring. Once the testicle is free in the peritoneum, it is brought into the scrotum. Finally, the inguinal canal is closed endoscopically.

CONCLUSIONS
So far endoscopic orchiopexy has only been performed in intraabdominal testicles, and we believe that this procedure can extend the indications of endoscopic treatment for the undescended testis.


This paper1 contrasts two views on the analysis of language. In one view, language is primarily seen as a carrier of messages in sentences whose propo-sitional content can be retrieved, and symbolised in a knowledge base. In the other, language is seen as a means of communication that deals in much more complex matters than just carrying messages.In relation to vocabulary and the design of lexicons, the model of terminology suits the first position, while in the other the lexicon is considered empty at the start and is gradually filled with the evidence of usage.Similar contrasts are made in other areas relevant to natural language processing. In one approach, the expectation is of tidiness and conformity to rules; the other stresses the inherently provisional nature of the organisation of language and, therefore, the meanings.As these two approaches encounter the vast amount of evidence stored in today's corpora, their methods and responses contrast in interesting ways.


BACKGROUND
Hospital-acquired (HA) venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common source of morbidity/mortality. Prophylactic measures are underutilized. Available risk assessment models/protocols are not prospectively validated.

OBJECTIVES
Improve VTE prophylaxis, reduce HA VTE, and prospectively validate a VTE risk-assessment model.

DESIGN
Observational design.

SETTING
Academic medical center.

PATIENTS
Adult inpatients on medical/surgical services.

INTERVENTIONS
A simple VTE risk assessment linked to a menu of preferred VTE prophylaxis methods, embedded in order sets. Education, audit/feedback, and concurrent identification of nonadherence.

MEASUREMENTS
Randomly sampled inpatient audits determined the percent of patients with "adequate" VTE prevention. HA VTE cases were identified concurrently via digital imaging system. Interobserver agreement for VTE risk level and judgment of adequate prophylaxis were calculated from 150 random audits.

RESULTS
Interobserver agreement with 5 observers was high (kappa score for VTE risk level = 0.81, and for judgment of "adequate" prophylaxis = 0.90). The percent of patients on adequate prophylaxis improved each of the 3 years (58%, 78%, and 93%; P < 0.001) and reached 98% in the last 6 months of 2007; 361 cases of HA VTE occurred over 3 years. Significant reductions for the risk of HA VTE (risk ratio [RR] = 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.47-0.79) and preventable HA VTE (RR = 0.14; 95% CI = 0.06-0.31) occurred. We detected no increase in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) or prophylaxis-related bleeding using administrative data/chart review.

CONCLUSIONS
We prospectively validated a VTE risk-assessment/prevention protocol by demonstrating ease of use, good interobserver agreement, and effectiveness. Improved VTE prophylaxis resulted in a substantial reduction in HA VTE.


The paper presents the experimental studies of reinforced concrete column (RC column) capacity affected by core drilling. By testing three groups (9 total) of full scale concrete short columns, the experiment demonstrates that the axial compression capacity of RC columns after core drilling is reduced from 5.63% to 22.14% while the ultimate displacement decreases from 1.88% to 26.14%. The behavior of columns is altered from the axial compression failure to a small-eccentricity compression failure. The paper summarizes experiment results, followed by an investigation of the dominant factors, such as column effective cross section, drilling location, drilled hole repairing and reinforcing steels discontinued by drilling, that have impact on RC column capacity. The rationale of capacity variations of RC columns due to core drilling is also investigated.


Reinforcement learning (RL) is a flexible framework for learning a decision rule in an unknown environment. However, a large number of samples are often required for finding a useful decision rule. To mitigate this problem, the concept of transfer learning has been employed to utilize knowledge obtained from similar RL tasks. However, most approaches developed so far are useful only in low-dimensional settings. In this paper, we propose a novel transfer learning idea that targets problems with high-dimensional states. Our idea is to transfer knowledge between state factors (e.g., interacting objects) within a single RL task. This allows the agent to learn the system dynamics of the target RL task with fewer data samples. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through experiments.


Abstract Although the use of intuition in managerial decisions has been documented, many questions about the intuitive process and its antecedent stages remain unanswered, in particular the role of affective traits and states. The study reported in this article investigates whether decision makers who are more attuned to own emotions and experience a particular mood have an easier access to intuition. Our findings indicate that emotional awareness has indeed a positive effect on the use of intuition, which appears to be stronger for women. Surprisingly, positive and negative mood seem to influence intuition according to their intensity rather than positive/negative distinction.


Fractographic study indicates that the LPTR disc in question had failed by overload. All fracture features were typical of fast fracture and there were no evidences of delayed failure like fatigue. It appears most probable that during 6001st to 6006th cycle, the furnace had moved from its position rearward leading to impact of the furnace body with the rotating disc with subsequent disintegration of the LPTR disc. The lateral shift of the furnace rearward took place due to failure of the furnace fixing mechanism. It appears that due to wide difference in hardness between the bolts and nuts/locknuts, it would not have been possible to torque tighten the furnace assembly rigidly or the threads on the nuts/locknuts got damaged during tightening. The movement of the furnace appears to be the first in the chain of events. The other damages including the fracture of the LPTR disc appear to be secondary in nature and subsequent to the primary failure.


Purpose
The main goal of this study was to investigate the minimum amount of sensory information required to recognize spoken words (isolation points [IPs]) in listeners with cochlear implants (CIs) and investigate facilitative effects of semantic contexts on the IPs.

Method
Listeners with CIs as well as those with normal hearing (NH) participated in the study. In Experiment 1, the CI users listened to unprocessed (full-spectrum) stimuli and individuals with NH listened to full-spectrum or vocoder processed speech. IPs were determined for both groups who listened to gated consonant-nucleus-consonant words that were selected based on lexical properties. In Experiment 2, the role of semantic context on IPs was evaluated. Target stimuli were chosen from the Revised Speech Perception in Noise corpus based on the lexical properties of the final words.

Results
The results indicated that spectrotemporal degradations impacted IPs for gated words adversely, and CI users as well as participants with NH listening to vocoded speech had longer IPs than participants with NH who listened to full-spectrum speech. In addition, there was a clear disadvantage due to lack of semantic context in all groups regardless of the spectral composition of the target speech (full spectrum or vocoded). Finally, we showed that CI users (and users with NH with vocoded speech) can overcome such word processing difficulties with the help of semantic context and perform as well as listeners with NH.

Conclusion
Word recognition occurs even before the entire word is heard because listeners with NH associate an acoustic input with its mental representation to understand speech. The results of this study provide insight into the role of spectral degradation on the processing of spoken words in isolation and the potential benefits of semantic context. These results may also explain why CI users rely substantially on semantic context.


Vietnamese banh Tet (New Year rice cakes) are the most prominent culinary icons of the most important Vietnamese festival. This article examines the sociocultural ideas of contemporary Vietnamese national identity expressed by these dishes, and explores the implicit and complex ways by which they take part in developing Vietnamese cultural identity and nationalism. In terms of the "Imagined Communities" analytical framework, this food item serves as an important means for practicing and "concretizing" national identity. (Vietnam, national identity, food symbolism, rice cakes) ********** Tet, the Vietnamese New Year festival, is the most important event in the Vietnamese social calendar, and banh Tet, New Year's special cakes (sticky-rice loaves stuffed with green beans and fatty pork, wrapped in bamboo leaves, and boiled overnight), are its ubiquitous culinary icon. Eaten at the onset of the new year by everyone within the country and elsewhere who consider themselves Kinh (ethnic Vietnamese), this festive dish is the essence of the festival and, hence, of being Vietnamese. The cakes are models of the cosmic order. They reflect Vietnamese rice-growing culture and its nutritional logic, and the anxiety that characterizes Vietnamese sociocultural arrangements and conventions. What seems a solid and unified fabric is challenged by ruptures that characterize the contemporary Vietnamese polity, such as the tensions between autochthonous and imported cultural elements, and the contradictions between regional orientations and national identity. The nation's war-ridden history also finds expression in certain aspects of banh Tet. Thus, these humble rice cakes are multivocal and dynamic representations of Vietnamese national identity. Despite their importance, these culinary artifacts have been ignored by social scientists and scholars of Vietnamese culture. This article, based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Hoi An (Central Vietnam) during 1999 and 2000, and shorter stays in 1998, 2001, and 2004, explores the varied and even contradictory ideas expressed by banh Tet in regard to a multifaceted, and at times contested, Vietnamese national identity. National identity has long been a contested construct, and an understanding of nationalism is still limited. Drawing on Anderson's (1983) notion of the "imagined" nature of communities as theoretical and abstract, this article stresses the ways by which food, and iconic national dishes in particular, take part in the construction and negotiation of various facets of this elusive entity. While some research on the practical and "banal" (Billig 1995) aspects of "doing nationalism" is recent, the role of food in constructing national identity has been largely overlooked. This article suggests that iconic dishes, due to various intrinsic qualities of food, are particularly suitable means for the negotiation and expression of complex and contradictory ideas concerning national identity, especially with authoritarian regimes such as Vietnam's. FOOD AND NATIONAL IDENTITY Iconic dishes are powerful markers of national identity. Mennell (1985), in his comparison of English and French cuisines, argues that recognizable national cuisines appear hand-in-hand with the appearance of the modern nation-state, while Bell and Valentine (1997:168) point out that "food and the nation are so commingled in popular discourses that it is often difficult not to think one through the other.... " In a similar vein, "[s]tories about eating something somewhere ... are really stories about the place and the people there ... the reading of a food's story reveals, like any good biography or travelogue, a much bigger story ... of particular times and places" (Freidberg 2003:3-4). While these writers stress the strength and immediacy of the relations between food and national identity, they also point out that iconic national dishes are more often than not imagined (Anderson 1983) or invented (Hobsbawn and Ranger 1983). …


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

The phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1) is a serine/threonine kinase that has been considered a promising potential oncology drug target because of its role as an important regulator in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. PDK1 phosphorylates highly conserved Ser or Thr residues in the activation loop of several AGC super family kinases including PKC, SGK, PKB/Akt, p70S6K, and PDK1 itself. Approximately, 40-50% of all tumors involve mutations in the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) protein, which results in elevated levels of PIP3 and enhanced activation of PKB/AKT, p70S6K, and SGK. It has been proposed that inhibitors of PDK1 could provide a valuable therapeutic approach to targeting cancer, particularly those with PTEN deficiencies. Using a fragment-based design strategy, we screened a collection of 1100 low molecular weight (< 250 MW) fragments against the PDK1 kinase and identified 9 fragments with moderate inhibitory activity against PDK1 (IC50 values from 45-82 μM). Subsequent molecular docking studies using a crystal structure of PDK1 allowed for the structural rationalization of how these fragments bound in the ATP-binding pocket (hydrogen bonding to S160/A162 hinge residues) and provided insight for further optimization. Synthesis and follow-up screening led to the discovery of HCI-1680 and a related compound SGI-1708, as potent PDK1 inhibitors with IC50 values of 80 and 94 nM, respectively. We used a large cell line panel of over 100 cancer cell lines to examine the ability of these compounds to kill cancer cells. Both HCI-1680 and SGI-1708 demonstrated remarkable selectivity for cell killing in several cell lines (KATO3, KG-1, MV4-11, Kasumi-1, MFE296 and AN3CA) in the low nanomolar range compared to all of the remaining cell lines in which the compounds showed low micromolar activity. Based on the known mutations in these cell lines we determined that HCI-1680 and SGI-1708 were more active in cells with PTEN deletion/silencing as well as activation of PIK3CA through activating mutations in PIK3CA or Ras proteins. Our compounds from this series were also shown to inhibit the activation of AKT and other downstream signaling molecules. We have explored the effects on gene expression Moreover, the lead compounds had high ligand efficiency with promising solubility and permeability parameters. Early animal studies examining pharmacokinetics and efficacy in xenograft models of human cancers have suggested that HCI-1680 and SGI-1708 have properties and activity to be developed as potential clinical candidates. We hypothesize that tumors, which have inactivated PTEN through mutations or silencing and also harbor mutations that activate PI3K define a population of cancer cells that are uniquely sensitive to PDK1 Inhibition. By inhibiting PDK1 activity we will block signaling from the PI3K pathway and lead to inhibition of cell proliferation and survival of these cancer cells.

Citation Format: Brian Walker, Sorna Venkataswamy, Steven Warner, Lee Call, Hariprasad Vankayalapati, Sunil Sharma, David J. Bearss. Mechanisms of sensitivity to treatment with the PDK1 inhibitors HCI-1680 and HCI-1708. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4413. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4413


The adoption of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in numerous emerging applications have prevailed us to realize that smart living is no longer an imagination, it already exists. In emerging applications, localization is an essential function so that all the sensed information
can be responded carefully. Among the range free and range aware localization, range aware localization has been the most promising for fine-grained accuracy. Range aware localization has two phases, ranging and localization. Location errors always exist no matter which ranging or localization technique is used. Therefore, there is a need
to optimize range aware localization for better performance.

Firstly, this thesis investigates the performance of time-of-flight (ToF) and received signal strength (RSS) based ranging using IEEE 802.1.5.4 compliant WSNs nodes in outdoor and indoor for both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) paths. The fundamental Cram´er-
Rao lower bound (CRLB) on ToF and RSS ranging performance is
compared with the performance limits of IEEE 802.1.5.4 compliant modules. The experimental results for both outdoor and indoor LOS path demonstrated that RSS is a good candidate for range estimation at ranges less than 7m. Further analysis over long range demonstrates that ToF is a good candidate for range estimation at greater than 7m.

In addition to the ranging error, another well-known error mechanism is the poor geometric anchors placement, which can significantly degrade localization performance. In the Global Positioning System (GPS) community, geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) is a well-known problem which illustrates the geometric configuration impacting localization accuracy. To analyse the impact of anchor placement on localization, performance of three lateration based approaches is compared in a cooperative fashion. Through results, It is confirmed that lateration based approaches presents a trade-off for complex computation, thus energy consumption and accuracy. It provided the
needed motivation to investigate and optimize the anchor placement for better localization accuracy. The impact of anchor placement for quality reliable localization has been limited to 3-4 anchors with respect to a single subject node for 2-D. Therefore, to model reality most clearly, it makes sense to step beyond the easy and secure reach
of unrealistic and mostly researched 2-dimensional representations to the pragmatic world in 3-dimensional visualization. In addition, previous work for optimal anchors placement has been limited to only additive noise. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study of
optimization of anchor placement with respect to the multiplicative noise. Therefore, the optimal anchor placements are determined for both signal models based on minimum mean CRLB (m-CRLB). It is confirmed that optimal anchor placement for both signal models is different and have a serious impact on localization accuracy. The optimal anchor placement is further verified by developing a new Range Aware Localization System (RALS) using IEEE 802.15.4 compliant devices.

In LOS, quality reliable localization performance can be achieved but as propagation criteria change from LOS to NLOS, localization performance also changes. In an indoor environment, localization performance degrades significantly due to multipath components. To overcome, a new 3-D scheme named Range Estimate Threshold (RET) is
proposed which exploits field dimensions based on the signal model and optimal anchor placement to define a threshold. Based on the defined threshold, RET mitigates the poor range estimates from Measured Estimation (ME) for better localization accuracy. The ramification of RET on ME is explored through additive, multiplicative and
log-normal shadowing models. It is confirmed that localization based on RET compared to ME showed improved accuracy.


As competition from lianas reduces fitness of host trees, lianas could influence community composition and structure if potential host species differ in susceptibility to infestation. We quantified infestation frequencies of Chilean temperate rainforest tree species by the massive liana Hydrangea serratifolia (H. et A.) F. Phil (Hydrangeaceae), which climbs using adhesive adventitious roots, and examined relationships with host light requirements and stem diameter. We recorded presence or absence of H. serratifolia in a random sample of 515 trees ≥10 cm diameter. Fifty-four per cent of trees were infested by at least one individual of H. serratifolia. Although there was significant interspecific variation in infestation frequency, this variation was not systematically related to light requirements of host tree species. Probability of infestation increased with diameter for most host tree species, and old trees were found to be infested by a wide range of liana size classes, including some stems <2 cm diameter. This evidence supports the proposal that lianas which attach by adhesive roots can colonize host stems of any size.


Community deisgn education has covered the worldview dimension of the collaborative courses for sustainability draws on the architectural expertise developed in a network of community projects and therefore case studies of design education by the collaborative project-based learning in terms of participants, students, teachers and architects, such as 'Learning By Design' for the K-12 comprehensive program in Massachusetts addresses how a local society can make its community sustainable by both design and education. To understand that community design and education can provide professional development in all levels of skills and knowledge across disciplines and opportunities for collaborative learning and problem-solving, this research consists of case studies of the community design education including social systems that assist in organizing the local educational program as well as promoting the programs with public awareness of the community. It covers the UNESCO-UIA agenda of the community design and education that is to enhance the physical environment relating to human interaction by developing innovative alternatives of existing community and contributing voluntarily to neighborhoods through design. As the community design collaborative of design professionals and users is a structural approach to assess design quality, the cases address how to set up the architectural program in order to share pro bono design service and provide high-quality design resources available for sustainable environment.


Presents a modeling approach based on stochastic Petri nets to estimate the reliability and availability of programs in a distributed computing system environment. In this environment, successful execution of programs is conditioned on the successful access of related files distributed throughout the system. The use of stochastic Petri nets is demonstrated by extending a basic reliability model to account for repair actions when faults occur. To this end, two possible models are discussed: the global repair model, which assumes a centralized repair team that restores the system to its original status when a failure state is reached, and the local repair model, which assumes that repairs are localized to the node where they occur. The former model is useful in evaluating the availability of programs (or the availability of the hardware support) subject to hardware faults that are repaired globally; therefore, the programs of interest can be interrupted. On the other hand, the latter model can be used to evaluate program reliability in the presence of hardware faults subject to repair, without interrupting the normal operation of the system. >


Ultrafine Fe particles have been prepared by the inert gas condensation method and subsequently oxygen passivated. The as-obtained particles consist in an Fe core surrounded by an amorphous Fe-oxide surface layer. The antiferromagnetic character of the Fe-oxide surface induces an exchange anisotropy in the ferromagnetic Fe core when the system is field cooled. Samples have been heat treated in vacuum at different temperatures. Structural changes of the Fe–O layer have been monitored by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic properties as coercivity, hysteresis loop shift, and evolution of magnetization with temperature have been analyzed for different oxide crystallization stages. A decrease of the exchange anisotropy strength is reported as the structural disorder of the surface oxide layer is decreased with thermal treatment.


We analyze the loss landscape and expressiveness of practical deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with shared weights and max pooling layers. We show that such CNNs produce linearly independent features at a "wide" layer which has more neurons than the number of training samples. This condition holds e.g. for the VGG network. Furthermore, we provide for such wide CNNs necessary and sufficient conditions for global minima with zero training error. For the case where the wide layer is followed by a fully connected layer we show that almost every critical point of the empirical loss is a global minimum with zero training error. Our analysis suggests that both depth and width are very important in deep learning. While depth brings more representational power and allows the network to learn high level features, width smoothes the optimization landscape of the loss function in the sense that a sufficiently wide network has a well-behaved loss surface with almost no bad local minima.


Grouping vehicles into platoons promises to improve road capacity, driver safety, and fuel consumption. However, when platoons have to allow for cross traffic maneuvers, the ability to control single large platoons is not sufficient, and chaining smaller platoons becomes necessary. To this aim we define PLATO, an edge-assisted multi-platoon control architecture and, by delving into the dichotomy of unity and plurality of platooning, we analyze costs and benefits of multi-platooning. We investigate on the feasibility and formulate the utility of multi-platoons by analyzing the underlying edge computing and broadband cellular connectivity requirements. Using a detailed simulator, we show that, in realistic environments, multi-platoons can be effectively controlled with PLATO, as long as the latency between individual platoon managers and the multi-platoon manager is kept below a few tens of milliseconds. Surprisingly, the latency between vehicles and managers is one order of magnitude less critical.


Accurately predicting the impacts of climate change on wildlife health requires a deeper understanding of seasonal rhythms in host-pathogen interactions. The amphibian pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), exhibits seasonality in incidence; however, the role that biological rhythms in host defenses play in defining this pattern remains largely unknown. The aim of this study was to examine whether host immune and microbiome defenses against Bd correspond with infection risk and seasonal fluctuations in temperature and humidity. Over the course of a year, five populations of Southern leopard frogs (Rana [Lithobates] sphenocephala) in Tennessee, USA, were surveyed for host immunity, microbiome, and pathogen dynamics. Frogs were swabbed for pathogen load and skin bacterial diversity and stimulated to release stored antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Secretions were analyzed to estimate total hydrophobic peptide concentrations, presence of known AMPs, and effectiveness of Bd growth inhibition in vitro. The diversity and proportion of bacterial reads with a 99% match to sequences of isolates known to inhibit Bd growth in vitro were used as an estimate of predicted anti-Bd function of the skin microbiome. Bd dynamics followed the expected seasonal fluctuations-peaks in cooler months-which coincided with when host mucosal defenses were most potent against Bd. Specifically, the concentration and expression of stored AMPs cycled synchronously with Bd dynamics. Although microbiome changes followed more linear trends over time, the proportion of bacteria that can function to inhibit Bd growth was greatest when risk of Bd infection was highest. We interpret the increase in peptide storage in the fall and the shift to a more anti-Bd microbiome over winter as a preparatory response for subsequent infection risk during the colder periods when AMP synthesis and bacterial growth is slow and pathogen pressure from this cool-adapted fungus is high. Given that a decrease in stored AMP concentrations as temperatures warm in spring likely means greater secretion rates, the subsequent decrease in prevalence suggests seasonality of Bd in this host may be in part regulated by annual immune rhythms, and dominated by the effects of temperature.


Objectives– To investigate in vitro anti‐acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody secretion by lymph organs with myasthenia gravis (MG) with special attention to clinical status and stages. Materials and methods– Twenty MG patients before therapy were included in this study. Four patients were negative for serum anti‐AChR antibodies (AChRAb). All patients received extended thymectomy. Thymic cells, bone marrow (BM) cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were cultured for 1 week. AChRAb secretion and IgG secretion in the culture medium were determined by immunoprecipitation assays and ELISA respectively. Results– PBMC secreted AChRAb and IgG most efficiently, followed by BM cells, and then thymic cells. Even in patients whose diseases were of short duration (less than 2 months), the tendency was not changed. AChRAb secretion by BM cells and PBMC significantly correlated with serum AChRAb levels. Thymectomy did not change AChRAb or IgG secretion by PBMC within 3 months. AChRAb secretion by PBMC paralleled the clinical status. Some seronegative patients turned positive by culturing PBMC. Conclusion– PBMC is the most efficient site at producing AChRAb, even in patients of short duration (equal to, or less than, 2 months). Monitoring AChRAb secretion by PBMC is useful to estimate the autoimmune activity of MG.


Click-through rate (CTR) prediction is a critical task in online advertising systems. A large body of research considers each ad independently, but ignores its relationship to other ads that may impact the CTR. In this paper, we investigate various types of auxiliary ads for improving the CTR prediction of the target ad. In particular, we explore auxiliary ads from two viewpoints: one is from the spatial domain, where we consider the contextual ads shown above the target ad on the same page; the other is from the temporal domain, where we consider historically clicked and unclicked ads of the user. The intuitions are that ads shown together may influence each other, clicked ads reflect a user's preferences, and unclicked ads may indicate what a user dislikes to certain extent. In order to effectively utilize these auxiliary data, we propose the Deep Spatio-Temporal neural Networks (DSTNs) for CTR prediction. Our model is able to learn the interactions between each type of auxiliary data and the target ad, to emphasize more important hidden information, and to fuse heterogeneous data in a unified framework. Offline experiments on one public dataset and two industrial datasets show that DSTNs outperform several state-of-the-art methods for CTR prediction. We have deployed the best-performing DSTN in Shenma Search, which is the second largest search engine in China. The A/B test results show that the online CTR is also significantly improved compared to our last serving model.


Robust IT governance practices are vital in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this age of the fourth industrial revolution, good IT governance practices can help enterprises achieve better IT-business alignment, deal with rapid emergence of technologies, and maximize profits. Given that SMEs contribute to 75% of employment in most economies, good IT governance practices are needed if they are to survive in a competitive market. Research suggests that such practices are mostly non-existent in SMEs, even though well-recognized IT governance frameworks exist. Hence, the purpose of this study is to better understand the barriers to implementing IT governance practices in SMEs. Case study research combined with quantitative research will be conducted to gain a deeper understanding of these barriers. This study will also suggest IT management practices that can be included in an IT governance framework for SMEs.


The recent failure to deliver the Lisbon agenda has led to much soul-searching within Europe (cf. The Sapir Group, 2005). This failure has enlarged the gulf between the limited number of successful knowledge regions, and those regions for whom globalisation has brought further anxiety, job losses and economic restructuring. More recent Lisbon-inspired policies have therefore attempted to build linkages between successful 'knowledge islands' and other, outlying and peripheral places so all can exploit concentrations of European knowledge and innovativeness.


Adaptive learning support for learners becomes very important in the context of increasing re-use of resources from heterogeneous and distributed learning repositories. This chapter presents OrPAF, an Adaptive Educational Hypermedia (AEHS) and web-based System which integrates semantic web models and technologies in order to achieve interoperability with e-learning systems. The key feature of OrPAF is the construction of adaptive hypermedia courses: both the course structure and the course content are dynamically generated and adapted to learners. On the one hand, a learning ontology is proposed to describe, at a meta-level, abstract characteristics of an e-learning system. This learning ontology is instantiated to construct learning models: domain model, learner model and pedagogical model. On the other hand, semantic annotations and a semantic relevance measure are proposed to improve the LOM metadata associated to learning resources in order to reuse and share them. The authors tested the prototype on learners in order to evaluate the usability of OrPAF and to determine the conceptual capabilities developed by learners who used it.


Calibration is an important operation in the instrumentation industry for determining the relationship between the output (s) (or response) of a measuring instrument and the value of the input (s). This paper proposes a nonlinear calibration method based on least squares support vector regression (LS-SVR) with the output voltage of thermocouple sensor as input and the measured temperature output to eliminate the nonlinear errors in detection process. Firstly, the nonlinear calibrator, expressed by power series, was established based on the principle of inverse model. And then the parameters of the calibrator were identified by LS-SVR. Through this calibrator, the desired linear characteristics of thermocouple sensor could be obtained. Finally, platinum-rhodium 30– platinum-rhodium 6-thermocouple (B-type) was taken as an example, and experimental results show that the proposed calibration method is efficient in the temperature range from 400°C to 1800°C. And the method has an advantage of analytical expression of the calibration model.


Because of its great scalability potential and support of multi-level per cell storage, phase change memory has become a topic of great current interest. However, recent studies show that structural relaxation effect makes the resistance of phase change material drift over the time, which can severely degrade multi-level phase change memory storage reliability. This paper studies the potential of using a time-aware memory sensing strategy to address this challenge. The basic idea is to keep track of memory content lifetime and, when memory is being read, accordingly adjust the memory sensing configuration to minimize the negative impact of time-dependent resistance drift on memory storage reliability. Because multi-level phase change memory may demand the use of powerful error correction code (ECC) whose decoding can request either hard-decision or soft-decision log-likelihood (LLR) memory sensing, we discuss both hard-decision and soft-decision time-aware memory sensing in details. Using BCH code and LDPC code as ECC for 4-level/cell and 8-level/cell phase change memory, we carry out simulations and the results show that, compared with time-independent static memory sensing, time-aware memory sensing can increase allowable memory content lifetime by several orders of magnitude.


Orientation:  The levels of happiness in South Africa have deteriorated as witnessed by recent increases in public protests. Research purpose:  Based on a newly developed conceptual framework, the linear path of influence of a variety of determinants of happiness is challenged in this article. This is done by firstly postulating a potential sequence of influences through which underlying factors have impact on non-proximate factors, which in turn influence the proximate factors, which also affect happiness. Motivation for the study:  Given the global interest on well-being, happiness as an indicator of subjective well-being is an important trend to review and reflect on. Based on trends in happiness ratings, South Africans are no longer as satisfied and happy with their lives as they were previously. Given the apparent high level of unhappiness in South Africa, this article aims to identify the various stochastic determinants of happiness within the South African context. Research approach/design and method:  The predictability of the conceptual framework was tested by means of categorical regressions. Main findings:  The results indicate that a stochastic happiness determination path exists from underlying to non-proximate, to proximate to happiness outcomes and not necessarily the linear path as per the traditional approach of investigation. The results of the study challenge policymakers in South Africa to rethink their current strategies as the current status quo will not necessarily have the desired results. Moreover, higher levels of happiness will only be possible if positive macro-dynamics go hand in hand with positive micro-dynamics. These include high levels of cognitive abilities among the population, the population striving for happiness, planning their personal and financial futures, having access to financial and risk products, and having sustainable income sources. Practical/managerial implications:  Through the identification of the identification of the path by which happiness is influenced, programmes and policies designed to improve the subjective well-being of South Africans can be customised to ensure the correct action is taken at the correct level of initiation. Contribution/value-add:  One of the contributions of this article is the development of a conceptual framework concerning the path or chain of influences across several layers of variables and not only the direct relationships, as is the norm. Although the relationships between identified determinants and happiness have been researched extensively, limited information is available concerning the path of influence in South Africa. The second contribution is therefore not to identify the direct determinants of happiness in South Africa through the conventional methods, but rather to test the potential path of influence of these factors on one another as well as on happiness based on the developed conceptual framework.


How are government policy commitments converted into legislation and what happens in the conversion? The role of civil servants in preparing legislation is far more important than is generally assumed. By looking at the work of four recent bill teams in Britain – teams of civil servants given the task of developing Acts of Parliament – their crucial roles in initiating policies, placing them on the political agenda (even helping secure their place in a party manifesto), developing them, making sure they pass through parliament and enacting them once they have reached the statute books are assessed. The article explores the composition and working methods of bill teams. These teams work with considerable autonomy in developing legislation, but it cannot be assumed that they operate outside ministerial control. Teams see themselves as reflecting the priorities of the government in general and their ministers in particular. Yet ministers typically know relatively little about the law they are bringing in until they receive the submissions and briefings from their officials. Perhaps the biggest danger for democracy is not a civil service putting forward proposals which a minister feels forced to accept, but rather that ministers do not notice or fully appreciate what is being proposed in their name despite having the political authority to change it and a civil service which bends over backwards to consult and accommodate them.


While the use of online digital archives is increasing in the various heritage-related fields, there are significant problems with traditional digital heritage databases. First, these databases often revolve around collecting and presenting information provided by domain experts and do little to engage end users in the interpretative process. In doing so they centralize the meaning making process and limit authority and, thus, access to non-expert users. Second, they presume a single, knowable community or heritage audience; and third, they presume a single interpretation of an information object, or at least a consensual interpretation from a larger, static group of stakeholders. While online digital archive use is growing, there is a crisis of heritage access. Today, public engagement with heritage can be characterized as a consumption of highly commodified cultural products, which appeal to a pervasive nostalgia and impede meaningful connections between people and their cultures. One response to this crisis and the related need for stated and shared principles is the ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites (Ename Charter). Most relevant to this paper, the Ename Charter includes principles intended to (1) encourage inclusiveness among stakeholders and associated communities, and (2) encourage "the development of technical and professional standards for heritage interpretation and presentation, including technologies, research, and training." We suggest that a heritage database that decentralizes the meaning making process, supports multiple and disparate interpretations of information objects per user, and facilitates user-mediated interaction regarding information objects offers an alternative to traditional heritage databases and comes closer to meeting the Ename Charter's principles. In this paper we explore the social effects of this crisis of heritage access, draw upon post-modern turns in the field of archival management, and examine several case studies of other participatory archive models. We distinguish our project by repositioning the meaning making process as distributed, defying categorization, and ultimately ephemeral. Finally, we analyze how participatory archive models may address the crisis of heritage access while at the same time allow for the safeguarding of authenticity in the Ename Charter sense.


This guide is designed to help you make the most of library and web resources for your English 400 research.


The paper is concerned with an analysis of the character, rate, outcomes and etiology of paroxysmal conditions in 18 children suffering from Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis. The paroxysmal conditions were recorded in 22.5% of cases. This exceeds the populational data and the data reported in the foreign literature. Perinatal pathology was noted to play an important role (89% of cases) in the development of the convulsive syndrome. A well-defined tendency towards a favourable outcome and polymorphism of the clinical picture (generalized attacks /54.5%/, focal /22.7%/, and non-classified ones /22.7%/ were also marked.


This study aims to deepen our understanding of both how men are affected by taking longer periods of parental leave, and the factors behind the decision of some men to take at least six consecutive months of leave. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five men living in Umea, Sweden, who had been on parental leave for periods ranging from 6-15 months. Thematic analysis of these interviews revealed four themes: The female as the norm, gender-equal masculinity, the significance of paid work, and understanding provided by practical experience. The men in the study appeared to embody/perform a gender-equal masculinity, which differs from traditional masculinities. This deviant group challenges normative beliefs about how parenting should be done. Based on the four themes, above, a number of problem areas were identified: Firstly, even though a majority of the men seemed to pay less interest to their career than to their child, the paid-work norms affected the choices and possibilities for the men to take parental leave. The men feel that women, as the parent who carries the baby, are the major focus of parental education programs, and that different expectations exist formale and female parents. They experienced difficulty relating to other men in parental education programs, and one man clearly expressed the discomfort of discussing parenting issues with other men. Breastfeeding also appeared to be problematic. This was partly because some of the men felt uncomfortable with the assumption of parental education programs that the woman would be the one to feed the baby, through breastfeeding, and partly because some of the men felt a sense of alienation from the fact that they themselves were incapable of breastfeeding. They felt a certain sadness that their children formed links to their mothers in this manner, which they were unable to. Finally, some of the men experienced difficulty in finding social groups, with the exception of the open preschools (oppna forskolan), while on parental leave. The paper discusses, and proposes suggestions to, the aforementioned problem areas, with the aim of contributing to regional development in Vasterbotten, Sweden.


Background Approximately 16% to 28% of acute ischemic stroke patients have symptoms on awakening. Because of unclear time of symptom onset, these patients are ineligible for standard intravenous thrombolysis. Some of these patients may be benefit from emergent endovascular recanalization with stenting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of emergent endovascular recanalization for wake-up stroke (WUS). Methods We reviewed 10 patients with WUS and an occlusion in carotid and middle cerebral artery who were treated with stenting. We analyzed clinical and angiographic outcomes. Recanalization was evaluated by the Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction score. Clinical outcome was assessed at 90 days by the modified Rankin Scale. Results The median NIHSS score on admission was 19 points (range 8–24). The median time from stroke symptom recognition to arrival at emergency department was 144 min (range 57–230 min). The median time from stroke symptom recognition to recanalization was 312 min (range 227–344 min). The median time from last seen normal to recanalization was 11 h 23 min (range 495–830 min). Occlusion sites were supraclinoid ICA in 2 (all: left), proximal ICA in 3 (left: 2, right: 1) and M1 of MCA in 5 patients (left: 2, right: 3). Successful recanalization was achieved in all patients. A small subarachnoid haemorrhage occurred in 1 patient during intervention. No symptomatic ICH occurred in any patients. Neurologic improvements in the NIHSS score (median 9, range 4–17) at 7 days after stenting achieved in 7 patients. At 90 days, an mRS of ≤2 was achieved in 2 patients (20%). One patient died within hospital stay due to sepsis. Conclusion Emergent stenting can be feasible and possibly safe for achieving successful recanalization and improving on the NIHSS in patients with WUS. However, clinical outcome was still not satisfactory. Disclosures S. Sung: None. T. Lee: None.


The exact relationship between the long gamma-ray burst (LGRB) rate and the cosmic star formation rate (CSFR) is essential for using LGRBs as cosmological probes. In this work, we collect a large sample composed of 371 Swift LGRBs with known redshifts and prompt emission properties. We first compare the rest-frame prompt properties of these bursts in different redshift bins, finding negligible redshift evolution of the luminosity of LGRBs with between z ∼ 1 and z ∼ 4. Then, by utilizing the CSFR obtained from the large-scale cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, the Illustris simulation, we calculate the cumulative redshift distribution of LGRBs under different metallicity thresholds. After comparing with our sample, we find that the predictions with a moderate threshold between are consistent with the sample between redshift 0 < z < 3, while at higher redshifts, between 3 < z < 5, all metallicity thresholds fit the data well. When changing to an empirical model based on observations, the predictions show similar results as well. After comparing with the metallicity distribution of the observed LGRB host galaxies between 0 < z < 1, we confirm that the production of LGRBs in galaxies with super-solar metallicity is suppressed. Nevertheless, considering that a significant fraction of stars are born in sub-solar metallicity environments at z ≳ 3, we suggest that, as a first approximation, LGRBs can be used as direct tracers of the CSFR in this redshift range.


The relation between nanoclay and water effects is very complicated. Interactions of water and nano size type of silicate –aluminum is more complicated due to the special properties of nano material. A new simple technique is developed for studying the swelling phenomenon which represents the most important property of clay-water relation. The developed technique could find more aspects of water-clay behavior. The swelling property is not always only disadvantage with bad effects but sometimes has very important advantages. A comparison and differences with conventional clay-water are made. The results are very important in studying the nanocomposites and clay soil.


In reverberant environments, a moving speaker yields a dynamically changing source-sensor geometry giving rise to a spatially-varying acoustic impulse response (AIR) between the source and sensor. Consequently, this leads to a time-varying convolutional relationship between the source signal and the observations and thus spectral colouration of the received signal. It is therefore desirable to reduce the effect of reverberation. In this paper, a model-based approach is proposed for single-channel blind dereverberation of speech from a moving speaker acquired in an acoustic environment. The sound source is modelled by a block-based time-varying AR (TVAR) process, and the channel by a linear time-varying all-pole filter. In each case, the AR parameters are represented as a linear combination of known basis functions with unknown weightings. The speech model captures local nonstationarity while taking account of the global nonstationary characteristics inherent in long segments of speech. As an initial step towards single-channel blind dereverberation of real speech signals, this paper presents simulation results for synthetic data to demonstrate the algorithm developed.