Abstract Development of functional carpet structures is vital to improve sound quality of human life in transportation vehicles, residential and occupational environments. In this research, pile length and loop density parameters of acrylic carpets were studied to examine the effect on sound absorption properties. Carpet samples, with two different pile densities and four different pile lengths were produced for experimental purposes. Carpets with longer piles and dense loops result in the best sound absorption rates. Acrylic carpets produced with medium length piles and low density loops, yield better results at higher frequencies. Carpet samples with shorter piles and dense loops provide better sound absorption properties at low-to-mid frequencies. It has been observed that loop density and pile length parameters affect sound absorption properties at all frequency ranges. Anova analysis revealed that the combined effect of loop density and pile length parameters is evident in the mid and high frequency ranges.


Protein kinase C (PKC) has a prominent role in signal transduction of many bioactive substances. We synthesized the fluorescent derivative, phorbol‐13‐acetate‐12‐N‐methyl‐N‐4‐(N,N′‐di(2‐hydroxyethyl)amino)‐7‐nitrobenz‐2‐oxa‐1,3‐diazole‐aminododecanoate (N‐C12‐Ac(13)) of 12‐O‐tetradecanoylphorbol‐13‐acetate (TPA) to monitor the location of phorbol ester binding sites and evaluate its potential use as a probe of PKC in viable cells. The excitation maximum wavelength of N‐C12‐Ac(13) is close to 488 nm, facilitating its use in argon‐ion laser flow and imaging cytometry. When incubated with 100 nM N‐C12‐Ac(13) at 25°C, P3HR‐1 Burkitt lymphoma cells accumulated the dye rapidly, reaching maximum fluorescence within 25 min, 20‐fold above autofluorescence. Addition of unlabeled TPA significantly decreased the fluorescence of N‐C12‐Ac(13) stained cells in a dose‐dependent manner indicating specific displacement of the bound fluoroprobe. Competitive displacement of [3H]‐phorbol‐12,13‐dibutyrate ([3H]‐PBu2) from rat brain cytosol with N‐C12‐Ac(13) gave an apparent dissociation constant (Kd) of 11 nM. N‐C12‐Ac(13) possessed biological activity similar to TPA. Like TPA (final concentration 65 nM) N‐C12‐Ac(13), at a lower concentration (51 nM), induced expression of Epstein‐Barr viral glycoprotein in P3HR‐1 cells, differentiation of promyelocytic HL60 cells, and caused predicted changes in the mitotic cycle of histiocytic DD cells. Microspectrofluorometric images of single cells labeled with N‐C12‐Ac(13) showed bright fluorescence localized intracellularly and dim fluorescence in the nuclear region, consistent with dye binding mainly to cytoplasmic structures and/or organelles and being mostly excluded from the nucleus. Because of the high level of non‐specific binding of N‐C12‐Ac(13), this probe is not ideal for visualizing PKC in intact cells, but would be a valuable fluoroprobe to investigate the kinetic properties of purified PKC. Also, knowledge gained from these studies allows us to predict structures of fluorescent phorbols likely to have less non‐specific binding and, consequently, be potentially useful for monitoring PKC in viable cells.


Multi-modal control is a commonly used design tool for breaking up complex control tasks into sequences of simpler tasks. It has previously been shown that rapidly-exploring randomized trees (as well as other viable approaches) can be used for reachability computations given a set of modes, and reinforcement learning can be performed over the reachable set to obtain the optimal control sequence. In this paper, we investigate the problem of adding new modes to a motion description language in a structured manner. We formalize an approach for augmenting the motion alphabet by adding new modes to reduce the complexity of the control program. In particular, we show a general technique for combining recurring mode sequences into one smooth "meta-mode". This problem is solved using a variational approach and numerical examples illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method.


PurposeIn recent times, various governments in the developing and emerging markets are increasingly embracing financial technology to help improve financial inclusion and integration within the governments' countries. One of the primary goals of using such technology is to reduce poverty. This paper explores Fintech innovations' effectiveness in developing and emerging markets in driving financial inclusion using Nigeria as a case study. The paper explores the challenges militating against financial inclusion and the role of government, financial institutions, and fintech companies in ensuring financial inclusion for the vast majority of the unbanked population in the developing and emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on doctrinal, sociological, and comparative research methodologies. The researchers conducted a content analysis drawing on data from both primary and secondary sources, including existing legislation, journal articles, newspaper reports, and policy documents.FindingsThe research showed that the financial inclusion gap has expanded despite the government, regulators, and financial institutions' various efforts by developing various digital platforms, including encouraging the use of smartphones for mobile payments and automated teller machines (ATMs) and mobile money. Several reasons are responsible for the gap in financial inclusion: illiteracy, poor infrastructural facilities, intermittent power supply, poor mobile receptions, especially in rural areas, constant banks' network failures, unnecessary charges, information asymmetry and data privacy breaches, amongst others.Practical implicationsFinancial inclusion through fintech is essential in eradicating poverty in developing and emerging markets if adequately implemented. Therefore, this paper will be useful to researchers exploring how technology influences financial inclusion. The paper will also aid policymakers and practitioners in financial technology regulation to improve the effectiveness of policymakers and practitioners' policies and implementation strategies of financial inclusion in developing and emerging markets.Originality/valueThis research is significant, especially in developing and emerging markets, by exploring issues and challenges of fintech in promoting financial inclusion in challenging institutional contexts. This paper suggested potential areas for further research, particularly women's attitudes and expectations towards services provided by fintech companies and other financial institutions.


There has been an unprecedented growth of legalized gambling opportunities in Canada over the past two decades, partly to generate revenues without raising taxes. Unfortunately, for 2-3% of the Canadian population, gambling can become disordered (i.e. develop into a gambling addiction). To help attenuate the harms and prevalence of disordered gambling, all provincial governments earmark a portion of gambling revenues for the prevention, treatment and research into disordered gambling. However, the field of gambling studies has recently come under criticism in the way research is conducted. At the forefront of the criticism is the issue of accepting funding from the gambling industry. We provide an overview of the ethical considerations, potential ethical issues, and the possible benefits of accepting such funding. The aim of the present paper is not to argue for or against accepting industry funding, but rather to delineate the potential ethical issues and benefits related to that acceptance. More importantly, we provide a summary of best practice ethical guidelines, and recommendations to guide in the ethical decision making process in accepting or declining funding from gambling industry. To this end, we use the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists as a framework in which to situate our guidelines and recommendations. Given that Canadian researchers have a long history and continue to contribute valuable knowledge in the field of gambling studies, it is of important for gambling researchers to be aware of the ethical considerations and issues related to funding from gambling industry.


An unusual occurrence of sulfur-poor platinum group element (PGE) mineralization has been discovered at Mount Clifford in the Agnew-Wiluna belt, Western Australia, within the lower part of a 1,000-m-thick komatiitic dunite body. The host body consists primarily of strongly serpentinized olivine adcumulates with accessory chromite. High-precision whole-rock ICP-MS data show that the PGE mineralization extends over tens of meters, whereas the lateral extent is unknown. Palladium and Pt abundances are closely associated with base metal sulfides but show offset distribution patterns with maximum concentrations associated with the relatively sulfide poor base of a disseminated sulfide-bearing layer. Whole-rock concentrations range up to 4,100 ppb Pd and 920 ppb Pt. Iridium, Rh, and Ru follow the trends in Pd and Pt but are strongly depleted (Ir ~0.4 ppb, Ru ~0.5 ppb, Rh ~0.1 ppb). Platinum group minerals (PGM) were located in essentially sulfide free serpentine 2 m below the peak in sulfide abundance and can be categorized into three groups: Pd antimonides, Pt-dominated PGM, and Pt-bearing Ni antimonides. The PGE mineralization zone is underlain by an interval of strong Ni depletion within olivine mesocumulates that is characterized by an unusual negative correlation between Ni and the Mg number of the rock. This relationship is interpreted to be the result of an equilibration of olivine of variable forsterite content with a relatively large mass of magmatic sulfide. However, there is no direct evidence of this sulfide mass anywhere in the entire Mount Clifford dunite body. The Ni depletion is accompanied by strong depletion in IPGE (Ir, Ru, and Rh). The association of the PGE zone with a reversal in the Mg/Fe ratio of the host cumulates and a distinctive offset relationship of multiple Pt, Pd, and Cu-S peaks is suggestive of a primary magmatic origin. However, this is inconsistent with current models for offset-reef PGE concentrations which involve the onset of sulfide liquid saturation from a previously sulfur undersaturated, PGE-undepleted magma. The association of enriched Pt and Pd with highly depleted Ni and IPGE in immediately underlying cumulates conflicts with this model. We suggest a combination of processes: early sulfide segregation at low R values producing Ni and IPGE depleted olivine, partial redissolution and removal of most of this sulfide component during a major replenishment event, and subsequent overprint by a migrating Pt-Pd-Cu–rich fluid.


Background: The incidence of thromboembolism remains high in patients with mitral stenosis (MS). The left atrial appendage (LAA) is a potential site for development of thrombus and LAA dysfunction is an independent predictor of thromboembolism. The LAA dysfunction is represented by reduced LAA late emptying velocity. But the magnitude of LAA flow velocities is dependent on acute changes in loading conditions. Aim: To investigate the value of the LAA tissue velocities obtained by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in assessment of LAA function in MS patients with and without thromboembolic events. Methods: The study population consisted of 98 isolated MS patients of 32 age and sex‐matched healthy controls. All subjects underwent transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). LAA late peak emptying (LAAEV) and filling (LAAFV) flow velocities were recorded. LAA peak late tissue systolic (LSV) and diastolic (LDV) tissue velocities by TDI were measured. The patients were divided into three groups as Group I (n = 38, sinus rhythm and LAAEV ≥ 25 cm/s), Group II (n = 26, sinus rhythm and LAAEV < 25 cm/s), and Group III (n = 34, atrial fibrillation). Results: Twenty‐one patients had thromboembolic events. LAAEV, LAAFV, LSV, and LDV were significantly reduced in patients with embolic events. Spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) density was strongly negative correlated with LSV, whereas weakly negative correlated with LAAEV. Multivariate regression analysis showed that LSV and the presence of SEC were independently associated with embolic events. Conclusion: LSV seems more reliable and useful parameter in evaluating LAA function. LAA function is more depressed among patients with embolic events.


Determination of some engineering properties of two varieties of breadfruit seeds (Var. Africana and Var. Inversa) was carried out.  The initial moisture content was 6.85% and later adjusted by rewetting to 14.85%, 21.85% and 28.85% (wb). The following engineering properties, true density, bulk density, percentage porosity, specific heat capacity, terminal velocity and drag coefficient were determined. Thermal property (specific heat capacity) of the seed was determined using the calorimeter method. The aerodynamic properties (terminal velocity and drag coefficient) were also determined by using an air column made of a vertical wind tunnel in conjunction with a voltage regulator to vary the wind speed and a digital anemometer to determine the air speed. Data obtained were statistically analyzed using Minitab statistical software. The following results were obtained. The true density of Var. Africana decreased from 1033.68 kg/m3 to 842.81 kg/m3 which amounted to 18.5% decrease, while for var. Inversa it decreased from 948.38 kg/m3 to 911.89 kg/m3 amounting to 3.85% decrease as the moisture content increased from 6.85 to 28.85%. The bulk density was observed to increase linearly as the moisture content increased.  It increased from 361.239 to 408.723 kg/m3 for Var. Africana and 317.55 to 387.638 kg/m3 for Var. Inversa.   The porosity of Var. Africana ranges from 65.06% to 51.6% while for Var. Inversa it ranges from 66.5% to 57.2%.  The terminal velocity increased from 5.5 to 8.0 m/s for Var. Africana and 3.89 to 6.8 m/s for Var. Inversa respectively as the moisture content increased from 6.85 to 28.85 %.


: I describe morphologic, histologic, immunohistochemical, and serologic changes in dogs with spontaneous breast adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, hemangiopericytoma, and fibrosarcoma after extracorporeal perfusion of plasma over heat-killed and formalin-stabilized Staphylococcus aureus Cowans I (SAC), which was embedded in a membrane filtration system. In 12 dogs with breast adenocarcinoma, tumor necrosis was observed within 12 hours after perfusion; 24 hours after perfusion, multiple visible lesions in 6 of 6 dogs exhibited necrosis, but there was no reaction in uninvolved normal mammary tissue. In 8 dogs, healing of large ulcerated areas of cutaneous tumor was observed within 8 to 18 days after perfusion. Similar tumoricidal responses were observed in dogs with other neoplasms after SAC perfusion. Tumor cell necrosis oserved within 4 hours after extracorporeal perfusion was associated with immunohistochemical deposits of IgG and C'3 and ultrastructural evidence of lytic lesions on tumor cell membranes. No tumoricidal effects were observed after perfusion over Staphylococcus aureus Woods (SAW) (non-protein A bearing) in 3 dogs that previously or subsequently responded to SAC perfusion. No tumoricidal reactions were noted after phlebotomy of up to 50% of plasma volume in 6 tumor-bearing dogs that subsequently responded to SAC perfusion. SAC but not SAW perfusion was followed by increases in circulating tumor associated antibodies (TAA) for up to 48 hours after perfusion. Immune complexes increased after perfusion and remained elevated fo 72 hours. Findings suggest that the acute tumoricial responses are not due to mere removal of circulating immune reactants and may be initiated by TAA that are rendered operational after extracorporeal perfusion over SAC. The rapidity, specificity, and magnitude of the observed tumoricidal effects in various canine neoplastic diseases suggests that this may have potentially broad-based therapeutic and biologic implications for canine neoplasia.


Objective: to characterize non-conventional technologies used for data collection of dissertations and theses available in the Catalog of Theses and Dissertations (CEPEn) of the Brazilian Nursing Association (ABEn). Method: this is a documentary research, whose data were collected in the catalogs of theses and dissertations available at the ABEn website, from Volumes XIX to XXI. The indicators collected were: academic level; educational institution; year; qualifi cation of the author; setting; non-conventional technology used; type of technology; association with conventional techniques; methodological design; benefi ts and methodological limitations. Results: from a total of 6346 studies, only 121 (1.91%) used non-conventional technologies for data collection, representing the fi nal sample of the study. Conclusion: it is concluded that Brazilian Nursing researches still need methodological innovations for data collection.


Without comparable benchmarks, the cross-national monitoring of the adequacy of minimum income schemes is impossible. However, it is not so straightforward to define what comparability means in this context, and how it should be operationalised. In this paper, we explore the possibility of a comparable benchmark for a minimum income starting from the concept of 'adequate social participation'. At the minimum, comparability would require that people can have a broadly similar understanding of what adequate social participation means. Obviously, the financial resources that households require at the minimum for adequate social participation vary across time and space due to differences in climate and geographical context, institutional differences, culture and social expectations, as well as variations in the availability, quality and price of essential goods and services. Yet, without a common understanding of what 'adequate social participation' means at a more general level, a benchmark of 'adequacy' that is substantively comparable across countries remains highly elusive. Therefore, in this paper we explore to what extent there is a common understanding of 'adequate social participation' in terms of the essential social positions that one should be able to take, and in terms of the needs that should be satisfied to be able to fulfil in an adequate way the social roles associated with these positions. We embed our notion of adequate social participation in the literature on human needs. A large-scale project that involved country teams in all EU Member States, enabled us to develop a 'core list' of social positions, and to validate these as well as a list of intermediate needs across EU Member States using two sources. Formal social expectations have been explored in terms of commitments of Member States to international guidelines and regulations; informal social expectations regarding essential social positions and human needs have subsequently been assessed in three focus group discussions in each of 24 EU capital cities. Overall, the discussions in focus groups across the EU confirm there is quite some common ground with respect to what can be understood under the heading of adequate social participation in terms of essential social positions and needs that should be fulfilled. This provides support for efforts aimed at developing comparable benchmarks to assess the adequacy of social protection schemes.


Coexisting biotite, hastingsite and apatite in a granulitic charnockite from Eastern Ghats, India, contain large amounts of chlorine and fluorine. The chlorine content in biotite is one of the highest ever recorded in this mineral. The hastingsite composition is quite similar to that of other chlorhastingsites reported elsewhere, except that it contains fluorine. The apatite crystals contain rare earth elements in addition to halogens.


Prediction of chaotic systems relies on a floating fusion of sensor data (observations) with a numerical model to decide on a good system trajectory and to compensate non-linear feedback effects. Ensemble-based data assimilation (DA) is a major method for this concern depending on propagating an ensemble of perturbed model realizations. In this paper, we develop an elastic, online, fault-tolerant and modular framework called Melissa-DA for large-scale ensemble-based DA. Melissa-DAallows elastic addition or removal of compute resources for state propagation at runtime. Dynamic load balancing based on list scheduling ensures efficient execution. Online processing of the data produced by ensemble members enables to avoid the I/O bottleneck of file-based approaches. Our implementation embeds the PDAF parallel DA engine, enabling the use of various DA methods. Melissa-DAcan support extra ensemble-based DA methods by implementing the transformation of member background states into analysis states. Experiments confirm the excellent scalability of Melissa-DA, propagating 16,384 members for a regional hydrological critical zone assimilation relying on the ParFlow model on a domain with about 4 M grid cells. The same use case was ported to the PDAF state-of-the-art DA framework relying on a MPI approach. A comparison with Melissa-DA at 2500 members on 20,000 cores shows our approach is about 50% faster per assimilation cycle.


Problem Behavior-problem children constitute a main concern in the field of education today. The ability to recognize when the needs of the individual student call for procedures beyond the scope of the school is a professional necessity. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether students with school-related problems referred for psychiatric evaluation can be distinguished by a set of selected characteristics. Method Using multiple-discriminant analysis, students who had been referred for psychiatric evaluation were compared with students not referred for psychiatric evaluation on such criteria as teacher-pupil rating, as measured by Burks' Behavior Rating Scales; self-concept as measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale; generalized anxiety, as measured by the General Anxiety Scale for Children; cognitive ability, as measured by the Cognitive Abilities Test, Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test, or the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test; and family concept, as measured by the van der Veen Family Unit Inventory. One hundred and forty-eight children in grades four through ten were studied. Of this number fifty were referred for psychiatric evaluation and ninety-eight were non-referred. Results Those variables within the Teachers'-Ratings Sample contributing the most to the separation of the non-referred and referred groups were (+) poor social conformity, (-) excessive resistance, (+) poor attention, and (-) poor ego strength. Those variables within the Pupils'-Ratings Sample contributing the most to the separation of the non-referred and referred groups were (+) self-concept, (+) generalized anxiety, and (+) cognitive ability. The results of both samples, however, should be interpreted with caution in view of an inequality of dispersion matrices. Conclusions The two variables common to all divisions of the three analyses/instrument were poor attention and poor social conformity. These data could indicate that teachers are more influenced by overt, acting-out behavior than by other indicators of emotional disturbance. The non-referred group in the teachers'-ratings Scunple were rated as less anxious than the referred group. However, these same students were rated as being more anxious than the referred group when they rated themselves. It is possible that the students were experiencing more anxiety than was detected by the teachers. In the main the non-referred group can be described as having multiple assets, while the referred group can be described as having multiple problems.


Aim
 The Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure (INCOM) is a measure for assessing individual differences in social comparison orientation. Despite the relevance of social comparison orientation in understanding adult patients' adjustment responses to chronic health conditions, the impact of parental social comparison processes in the context of chronic pediatric conditions remains unexplored. This study's main goal was to examine the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the INCOM with parents of children with chronic health conditions.

 Method
 Two samples of parents of children with chronic pediatric conditions (asthma, epilepsy, diabetes and obesity) were used (test sample, N = 301; validation sample, N = 192). Parents completed self-reported measures of social comparison orientation, anxiety and depression symptoms and neuroticism.

 Results
 Regarding factorial validity, results supported the unidimensionality of a revised INCOM scale, comprised of nine items. Results also supported the reliability of the measure, and provided evidence of concurrent validity: parents with higher social comparison orientation presented more anxiety and depressive symptoms, and higher neuroticism scores, consistent with what was theoretically expected.

 Conclusion
 This study opens an important door in the field of pediatric chronic conditions, supporting the relevance of examining parents' social comparison differences in future research, and the utility of the INCOM in the assessment of those differences.


Background/Aims: The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is spreading rapidly, with successful procedures reported in the ECMO for Severe Adult Respiratory failure (CESAR) trial and treatment of the H1N1 pandemic. However, ECMO is associated with a high mortality rate. This study aimed to show that increased experience and improved teamwork through education may reduce the mortality rate associated with ECMO. Methods: A retrospective study was performed. Data were collected from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2011. The data were divided into two periods: 2009/2010 (period 1) and 2011 (period 2). The protocol and training program were applied during period 2. Results: Seventy-six patients were included. The most common disease requiring ECMO support was pneumonia (43.4%). ECMO was applied within 7 days in 76.3% of patients. The primary outcomes, such as Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and hospital mortality rates, were higher during period 1 (91.3%) than period 2 (66.7%, p = 0.013). A multivariate analysis revealed that ECMO weaning failure was the only factor associated with ICU and hospital mortality (ICU mortality: hazard ratio [HR], 11.349; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.281 to 100.505; p = 0.029; hospital mortality: HR, 17.976; 95% CI, 2.263 to 142.777; p = 0.006). Conclusions: The mortality rate associated with the ECMO procedure decreased following the ECMO training program. However, applying the training program to ECMO management is not an independent factor for the mortality rate. Further studies should be performed to help reduce the mortality rate associated with ECMO.


Bathocuproine (BCP) buffer layer has been commonly used in inverted p–i–n perovskite solar cells (PSCs) for high performance, but its working mechanism has not been thoroughly elucidated. Here, a series of devices have been fabricated with controlled thicknesses of BCP layers deposited by thermal evaporation. With the aid of J–V data fitting by a single-diode model, the effect of BCP layer thickness on the device performance has been identified. An optimal power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 17.9% has been obtained for the device with a critical BCP thickness of 5 nm, thanks to the formation of ohmic contact and reduction of interfacial charge recombination. While if the BCP layer is too thin or too thick, charge accumulation will emerge due to different mechanisms and lead to device performance degradation, which have been clearly confirmed by capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristic displaying a peak capacitance at a certain bias region under illumination. The insertion of such a critical thin BCP layer between PCBM and Ag also resulted in long-term stability improvement of the devices, of which the T80 lifetime increased from ∼6 hours to ∼50 hours in ambient air. This work gives insight into improving PSCs' performance through buffer layer's optimization, and the measurement of C–V characteristic provides a new clue to detect the defection of photovoltaic device associated with charge accumulation.


Through the investigation of two related Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) methodologies, this study continued to contest the notion the field of psychoanalysis is bereft of empirical ventures. The Quantitative Assessment of Interpersonal Themes (QUAINT) and Core Conflictual Relationship Theme Leipzig/Ulm (CCRT-LU) systems were applied to psychotherapy transcripts from the treatment of seventeen patients who had attended multiple sessions per week of longterm psychoanalysis. The thematic profiles of each method were modified to facilitate a direct comparison of the methodological structures, including the coding system. The investigation reported on the strengths and weaknesses of each system. The QUAINT and CCRT-LU methods were fair-to-moderately related (overall kappa: .34). The CCRT-LU system showed greater concordance to the tailor-made method, which marks the 'gold standard' of the CCRT methodologies. Therefore, the CCRT-LU system was then selected to illustrate the interpersonal relationship pattern changes of the patients engaged in long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy. These relational patterns were related to several outcome measures such as the Mastery Scale, the Global Assessment of Functioning and the Health Sickness Rating Scale. Patients' relational patterns evidenced significant changes over therapy, particularly on the Response of Self component, and the valence of their interpersonal conflicts shifted significantly to more positive and harmonious outcomes. As predicted, these effects were most noticeable for those patients who had been assessed as 'most-improved' by their Mastery Scale scores. Both CCRT methods were demonstrated as valid and reliable research tools capable of appraising the maladaptive relational patterns of patients engaged in long-term


Most operating websites experience a cyber-attack at some point. Cross-site Scripting (XSS) attacks are cited as the top website risk. More than 60 percent of web applications are vulnerable to them, and they ultimately are responsible for over 30 percent of all web application attacks. XSS attacks are complicated, and they often are used in conjunction with social engineering techniques to cause even more damage. Although prevention techniques exist, hackers still find points of vulnerability to launch their attacks. This project explored what XSS attacks are, examples of popular attacks, and ways to detect and prevent them. Using knowledge gained and lessons-learned from analyzing prior XSS incidents, a simulation environment was built using XAMPP and VirtualBox. Four typical XSS attacks were launched in this virtual environment, and their potential to cause significant damage was measured and compared using the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Calculator. Recommendations are offered for approaches to impeding XSS attacks including solutions involving sanitizing data, whitelisting data, implementing a content security policy and statistical analysis tools.


We introduce a motion forecasting (behavior prediction) method that meets the latency requirements for autonomous driving in dense urban environments without sacrificing accuracy. A whole-scene sparse input representation allows StopNet to scale to predicting trajectories for hundreds of road agents with reliable latency. In addition to predicting trajectories, our scene encoder lends itself to predicting whole-scene probabilistic occupancy grids, a complementary output representation suitable for busy urban environments. Occupancy grids allow the AV to reason collectively about the behavior of groups of agents without processing their individual trajectories. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our sparse input representation and our model in terms of computation and accuracy over three datasets. We further show that co-training consistent trajectory and occupancy predictions improves upon state-of-the-art performance under standard metrics.


To an economist, investment represents a mutually beneficial transfer of capital that fuels the engine of economic growth and leads to improved standards of living. A gamble tends to be an entertaining, zero-sum, short-term bet. The increasing popularity of a gambling culture along with increasing short-term speculation with derivative financial instruments has blurred the line between investing and gambling. This paper considers a biblical perspective on investment and gambling and seeks to delineate the two.


Supply chain learning can be considered as a critical aspect in achieving supernormal profits in today's dynamic business environment. Nonetheless, it is evident that most of the new ideas are not commercialized due to not having proper implementation mechanisms within supply chain contexts. In this regard, the elements of exploitation capability and institutionalization process are not adequate to address the dynamism of implementation process. Therefore, this research focuses on reconceptualizing the exploitation capability and institutionalization process addressing the behavioral dynamics of the today's supply chain context. The study uses epistemology world view and interpretative theoretical perspectives, multiple qualitative research methodology, multiple case study, and grounded theory thematic analysis method to study the phenomenon. Findings of the cross-case analysis indicate that organizational level of supply chain learning consists of institutionalization process that underlies exploitation capability. Exploitation capability consists of core competency and application. And, institutionalization processes consist of system changes and supply chain investments. Further, the study identifies that core competency and application are influenced by system changes and supply chain investments at the organizational level of supply chain learning. The theoretical contribution of the study consists of enhancing relational view, organizational learning theory, and dynamic capability perspectives within supply chain context. Practitioners need to focus on behavioral dynamics in implementations of learning in today's complex supply chain context. Future researchers are encouraged to explore core competency enhancements, psychological contracts, system interdependencies, and human investments at the organizational level of supply chain learning. Aus. Aca. Busi & Eco. Rev Vol  4(2),  April 2018, P 74-85


Summary

1
Rates of seed predation are influenced by conditions that alter seed supply and the activity of seed predators. In southern Australia the potential seed supply for the dominant floodplain tree species, the river red gum Eucalyptus camaldulensis, has been reduced through forest clearing to support grazing by introduced livestock. River regulation and water extraction have reduced the frequency of flooding and thus the conditions that promote seed germination on floodplains. To determine if poor recruitment of river red gums could be caused by low seed supply, as a result of post-dispersal seed predation, we used field experiments and observations to investigate how post-dispersal predation on seeds of E. camaldulensis was affected by flooding, livestock management and their interaction.

2
Seed predation was measured before and after different flood treatments (0·5 m depth; short flood of 24 h, long flood of 30 days). Flooding of this kind (return frequency of once per year) did not have any significant effect on rates of seed removal by seed predators.

3
Rates of seed predation in floodplain habitats under widespread livestock management regimes changed seasonally. In all seasons seed predation was lowest at sites grazed by sheep. In winter seed predation was highest at ungrazed sites. In spring and summer seed predation was highest at sites grazed by cattle. Ant communities differed between forested and cleared habitats and seed-eating ant species were most abundant in cleared sites grazed by cattle.

4
Rates of seed predation in forested floodplain sites with different flood histories differed among sites with different livestock management histories. The impact of cattle exclusion on seed predation rates increased as the period since flooding increased.

5
Cattle grazing is widespread on the floodplains of rivers across the southern Murray-Darling Basin, and tree densities and hence seed supplies are low. In this situation small floods may not result in significant recruitment to river red gum populations because seed predation may reduce seed supply before and following flooding. Decreases in the frequency of flooding owing to river regulation and water extraction are likely to have exacerbated the influence of livestock on seed supply and thus reduced potential recruitment even further.

6
Efforts to rehabilitate large floodplain rivers based solely on the return of more natural flow regimes may fail if the effects of factors such as livestock grazing are not managed concurrently.


We study efficiency in a proof-of-work blockchain with non-zero latencies, focusing in particular on the (inequality in) individual miners' efficiencies. Prior work attributed differences in miners' efficiencies mostly to attacks, but we pursue a different question: Can inequality in miners' efficiencies be explained by delays, even when all miners are honest? Traditionally, such efficiency-related questions were tackled only at the level of the overall system, and in a peer-to-peer (P2P) setting where miners directly connect to one another. Despite it being common today for miners to pool compute capacities in a mining pool managed by a centralized coordinator, efficiency in such a coordinated setting has barely been studied. In this paper, we propose a simple model of a proof-of-work blockchain with latencies for both the P2P and the coordinated settings. We derive a closed-form expression for the efficiency in the coordinated setting with an arbitrary number of miners and arbitrary latencies, both for the overall system and for each individual miner. We leverage this result to show that inequalities arise from variability in the delays, but that if all miners are equidistant from the coordinator, they have equal efficiency irrespective of their compute capacities. We then prove that, under a natural consistency condition, the overall system efficiency in the P2P setting is higher than that in the coordinated setting. Finally, we perform a simulation-based study to demonstrate that even in the P2P setting delays between miners introduce inequalities, and that there is a more complex interplay between delays and compute capacities.


The global environment is becoming more complex and aggressive, with numerous threats from, undesirable foreign influence, traditional, political and economic espionage, organised crime, bio-security; natural disasters, pandemics, and terrorism. New Zealand has experienced all of these. With this extensive, but by no means exhaustive list, the question must be asked, why then does New Zealand not have a national security strategy, one that focuses the nation's resources on reducing these threats and risks? A national security strategy is not one that needs to give away all of the state's secrets, it can simply be a framework for collaboration across the government on national security. It should be the basis for a joined up approach across government to crisis management and conflict. What New Zealand currently has is a collection of unrelated documents with varying levels of connectivity to national security – the only forward looking documents are those from the New Zealand Defence Force. New Zealand needs to adopt a forward looking strategic approach to national security and develop a national security strategy. This strategy needs to align the policies of different government agencies towards a cohesive national security framework that targets our most important threats, so that the harm they cause does not eventuate or is mitigated.


The objective behind this project is to maximize the efficiency of land space, to decrease the driver stress and frustration, along with a considerable reduction in air pollution. Our contribution is in the form of an automatic parking system that is controlled by cellular phones. The structure is a hexagon shape that uses conveyor belts, to transport the vehicles from the entrance into the parking spaces over an elevating platform. The entrance gate includes length-measuring sensors to determine whether the approaching vehicle is eligible to enter. Our system is controlled through a microcontroller, and using cellular communications to connect to the customer. The project can be applied to different locations and is capable of capacity extensions.


A high performance elliptic curve coprocessor is developed, which is optimized for a binary field recommended by NIST. The architecture uses a field multiplier capable of performing a field multiplication over the extension field with degree 163 in 0.060 /spl mu/sec. The coprocessor uses Lopez and Dahab's projective coordinate system and is optimized specifically for Koblitz curves. An efficient implementation of Itoh and Tsujii's method for inversion with performance comparable to the extended Euclidean algorithm is used. A prototype of the processor has been implemented for the binary extension field with degree 163 on a Xilinx XCV2000E FPGA. The prototype runs at 66 MHz and performs an elliptic curve scalar multiplication in 0.233 msec on a generic curve and 0.075 msec on a Koblitz curve.


Background: The intensive care unit (ICU) environment is prone to the risk of adverse events (AEs) and medication errors (MEs). The objective of this work was to describe a multidisciplinary safety program focused on AE and ME reporting and review in an ICU over a 7-year period. Methods: The program was implemented in an 18-bed medical ICU of a 2,200-bed university hospital. A multidisciplinary steering committee (intensivist, clinical pharmacist, nurses, and research assistants) met monthly. The first part of the meeting was dedicated to the review of events targeted through an internal voluntary reporting system, and the second part concerned the analysis of the previous month's events, according to a standardized method called Orion, inspired by the aeronautic industry. Results: A total of 808 AEs were reported, mostly related to medication processes (30.3% and 33.4% for prescription and administration, respectively). Among these, 526 AEs were related to medications (65.1%), of which 464 were MEs (88.2%). These MEs concerned mostly anti-infective drugs (23.5%) and related to wrong doses (35.8%). Among all AEs reported, 58 (43 MEs [74.1%]) were analyzed further and found to be associated with anti-infective (16.1%) and vasoactive drugs (16.1%). According to National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention classification, most AEs caused no harm to patients (category A–D: 38 events, 65.5%). Nurses were most often involved in the analysis (50.7%), along with pharmacists (37.5%). Training was identified as the most frequent corrective action (45.1%). Conclusion: This program dedicated to AE and ME reporting, review, and analysis in ICU showed long-term engagement of the health care team in AE surveillance and helped in targeting measures for education, organization, and promoting teamwork and safety.


Cervical cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women, especially in low to middle-income countries. Despite the outburst of recent scientific advances, there is no totally effective treatment, especially when diagnosed in an advanced stage. Screening tests, such as cytology or colposcopy, have been responsible for a substantial decrease in cervical cancer deaths. Cervical cancer automatic screening via Pap smear is a highly valuable cell imaging-based detection tool, where cells must be classified as being within one of a multitude of ordinal classes, ranging from abnormal to normal. Current approaches to ordinal inference for neural networks are found to not sufficiently take advantage of the ordinal problem or to be too uncompromising. A non-parametric ordinal loss for neuronal networks is proposed that promotes the output probabilities to follow a unimodal distribution. This is done by imposing a set of different constraints over all pairs of consecutive labels which allows for a more flexible decision boundary relative to approaches from the literature. Our proposed loss is contrasted against other methods from the literature by using a plethora of deep architectures. A first conclusion is the benefit of using non-parametric ordinal losses against parametric losses in cervical cancer risk prediction. Additionally, the proposed loss is found to be the top-performer in several cases. The best performing model scores an accuracy of 75.6% for seven classes and 81.3% for four classes.


Background: The diverse microbial community in our gastrointestinal (GI) helps in the fermentation of metabolites of Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs), mainly acetate, propionate, butyrate, and small number of lactates. Acetate, propionate, and butyrate maintain colonic lining integrity and ideal colon activity. Butyrate is also known to be an energy source and assist in anti-inflammatory response. Maintaining an optimal ratio of these SCFAs reduce the risk of inflammation and promote a healthy colon. We evaluated the effect of Revivify Oral Liquid Gel (composition: US Patent 11 224 636) on gut microbiomes and SCFAs by an in vitro model of gut microbiome study. Gut microbes were cultured in 2 ml 96-well plates and treated with control, SOD, Prefibrotic fiber, Fruit juice, and Revivify gel for 48 hours followed by metaproteomic, chemical analysis (SCFA content), and microbiome profiling. Results: We found that the amount of SCFAs increased by 2.5 folds, when treated with Revivify gel but the ratio of the SCFAs remain the same across all the treatment groups. Revivify gel promoted the growth of the Firmicutes spp ., especially Lactobacillus , a probiotic organism. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that Revivify gel promotes a balanced increase of the SCFAs in a consistent manner, supporting a beneficial population of gut microbes for optimal gastrointestinal functionality.


Introduction: It is widely recognized that stress cannot be eliminated from one's life and that stress may be associated with the prevalence of hypertension, for which the role of stress as a risk factor is being debated in terms of its correlation with hypertension incidence. This study examined the correlation between the stress of the middle-aged and elderly with hypertension.
Methods: This study applied a cross-sectional study using purposive sampling to recruit the respondents in Binong Tangerang, Indonesia. A modified questionnaire was used to collect the demographic data, stress, and smoking behavior. Blood pressure examinations were also conducted to identify the level of hypertension.
Results: A total of 145 respondents consisted of 79 (54.5%) middle age and 66 (45.5%) elderly were examined. Most of the respondents (82.8%) were female, and half of them were Sundanese (50.3%). Half of the respondents were categorized as pre-hypertension (42.8- 53.1%), where most of the respondents had non-smoking behavior (82%), and half of them were at the level of severe stress (57.2%). There was a significant correlation between respondents' stress levels and hypertension (p-value < 0.05).
Conclusion: Stress is related to hypertension in middle age and elderly in the Binong community. Therefore, stress management training is needed to promote the quality of life for middle age and elderly with hypertension at Posbindu in the Binong community.


The history of people in nature ranges from survival to conquest, control, and manipulation, and today's hubris. Avant-garde has symbolized all of these advances. Now it may be necessary to develop a new marriage: between avant-garde inspiration and environmental defense and reconstruction. Nature is ecological process, avant-garde is cultural process. We have outgrown old-fashioned distinctions between natural and unnatural or human landscapes. The avant-garde, like busy bees, is absorbed in the ongoing construction of the House of Human Culture. Landscape is still the constantly developing total product of the interaction of nature and society. Culture is the ongoing expression of that product in its most meaningful forms and terms. Now there is a rapidly emerging problem. The accumulating inspirations of avant-garde culture collide head-on with their interpretation and use by a free-market society. Up may suddenly reverse itself into down. This is perhaps the yin and yang of natural-historical growth and change. There is not just landscape and avant-garde—there is also the status quo, or even the status quo ante. The lasting meanings in landscape are not intrinsic to it; they are given to it by human interpretation or process. The landscape is the arena within which avant-garde concepts emerge, develop, and have an impact upon development. History is a record of competitive interaction between status quo and avant-garde forces.


This paper describes a model as well as experiments on spin-polarized tunnelling with the aid of optical spin orientation. This involves tunnel junctions between a magnetic material and gallium arsenide (GaAs), where the latter is optically excited with circularly polarized light in order to generate spin-polarized carriers. A transport model is presented that takes account of carrier capture in the semiconductor surface states, and describes the semiconductor surface in terms of a spin-dependent energy distribution function. The so-called surface spin-splitting can be calculated from the balance of the polarized electron and hole flow in the semiconductor subsurface region, the polarized tunnelling current across the tunnel barrier between the magnetic material and the semiconductor surface, and the spin relaxation at the semiconductor surface. Measurements are presented of the circular-polarization-dependent photocurrent (the so-called helicity asymmetry) in thin-film tunnel junctions of Co/Al2O3/GaAs. In the absence of a tunnel barrier, the helicity asymmetry is caused by magneto-optical effects (magnetic circular dichroism). In the case where a tunnel barrier is present, the data cannot be explained by magneto-optical effects alone; the deviations provide evidence that spin-polarized tunnelling due to optical spin orientation occurs. In Co/ tau -MnAl/AlAs/GaAs junctions no deviations from the magneto-optical effects are observed, most probably due to the weak spin polarization of tau -MnAl along the tunnelling direction; the latter is corroborated by band structure calculations. Finally, the application of photoexcited GaAs for spin-polarized tunnelling in a scanning tunnelling microscope is discussed.


Given the unique properties of clays (i.e., low permeability and high ion sorption/exchange capacity), clays or clay formations have been proposed either as an engineered material or as a geologic medium for nuclear waste isolation and disposal. A credible evaluation of such disposal systems relies on the ability to predict the behavior of these materials under a wide range of thermal-hydrological-mechanical-chemical (THMc) conditions. Current model couplings between THM and chemical processes are simplistic and limited in scope. This review focuses on the uptake of radionuclides onto clay materials as controlled by mineral composition, structure, and texture (e.g., pore size distribution), and emphasizes the connections between sorption chemistry and mechanical compaction. Variable uptake behavior of an array of elements has been observed on various clays as a function of increasing compaction due to changes in pore size and structure, hydration energy, and overlapping electric double layers. The causes for this variability are divided between "internal" (based on the fundamental structure and composition of the clay minerals) and "external" (caused by a force external to the clay). New techniques need to be developed to exploit known variations in clay mineralogy to separate internal from external effects.


The effect of various carbohydrates in the growth medium on agglutination of salmonellae with polyvalent H antiserum was studied. There appeared to be a relationship between fermentation of the carbohydrate by the organism and resultant agglutination with the antiserum. It is recommended that the tube test for flagellar antigens be allowed to remain in a water bath for 2 hr before the final observation is made. Sorbitol, dulcitol, mannose, maltose, rhamnose, or trehalose, when included in the growth medium for Salmonella, yielded high percentages of positive agglutinations with all conditions of the experiment.


The increase in the use of tenders in Norwegian transportation research is forcing the research community to think in new ways. This paper looks into using open source software and consumer grade equipment for scientific purposes. The use of consumer grade data logger and open source hardware is a viable alternative. This paper documents the methods and the tools used for three research projects, 2 are close to finishing and one has just started. Vehicle speed and positional data was collected with inexpensive data loggers and data was stored and analyzed with open source tools. The tools proved to be more powerful, but they do not offer the same graphical user interfaces. The main way to analyze data is through the use of standard SQL. Both average speed calculations using a road network ana driver behavior analysis can be carried out we few lines of code for large amounts of data. GPS; data storage, open source; map matching (key words)


The dialysis encephalopathy syndrome has a geographical distribution related to the aluminium content of the dialysis water supply. There is a close relationship between concentrations of water aluminium and serum aluminium, and patients with dialysis encephalopathy have serum aluminium concentrations greater than 400 microgram/litre. High serum aluminium is also associated with osteomalacic bone disease, and worsening anaemia. In dialysis encephalopathy, elevated concentrations of aluminium are found in CSF and in grey matter, and an aluminium burden of 2-8 g is calculated from whole body in vivo analysis. There is sufficient evidence for an aluminium toxicity syndrome to warrant specific removal of aluminium by water purification systems.


Magnesium silicate, one of silicate materials, is widely used as adsorbent for sample cleanup in solid phase extraction as well as color reducing agent in the industry of sugar, paint, paper, ... In this research, magnesium silicate is synthesized by precipitation method. The synthesis process was optimized by experimental design with quadratic orthogonal experimental method. The optimal reaction conditions are as follows: the mole ratio of sodium silicate/magnesium chloride = 1:1, the speed of stirring sodium silicate solution: 177 rpm, the added flow rate of magnesium chloride solution: 3.86 mL/min, drying temperature: 98oC. In addition, it takes at least 6 hours to eliminate water adsorption at this temperature. The product has amorphous structure with average particle size of 116 m, surface area of 454 m2/g, and trioleate glyceryl absorption capacity of 110 mg/g. The efficiency in the removal of esters of glyceryl and fatty acids in hydrocarbons determination and the removal of matrix in the analysis of organochlorides are as good as that of commercial Florisil.


Recent advances in modern technology of resuscitation aim at improving conditions for the survival of the hypoxaemic and ischaemic damaged brain. In this paper we briefly outline the historical development of resuscitation and summarize the new efforts to favourably coordinate the support of respiration and external cardiac compression. Besides the possibility to apply drugs intratracheally is mentioned, and the influence of the technique of CPR and pharmacologic measures for the protection and resuscitation of the brain are considered.


BACKGROUND
In Europe, residential care homes (RCHs) are replacing hospitals as the place where death occurs, and they play an important role in end-of-life (EOL) care.

OBJECTIVE
The aim was to describe the quality of care during the last 3 months and last 3 days of life of those who died in RCHs as reported by family members. We also investigated whether there were differences in the EOL care of younger patients (<85 years) vs. the oldest old patients (≥85 years) as reported by family members.

DESIGN
A retrospective survey design.

METHODS
Deaths (n = 189) at 19 RCHs in one municipality in Sweden were included. Family members were sent the VOICES questionnaire 1 month after their elderly relative had died. Descriptive statistics were used.

RESULTS
In the last 3 days before death, most family members reported there was enough help with nursing (93%) and personal care (78.5%). Among the family members, 86% were told that the resident was likely to die shortly. Most (94.1%) of residents were reported to have died at their preferred place. No significant difference was found between age groups. Family members also reported that about half of the elderly had pain (46.5%) and 86.4% received treatment; 55.9% had breathlessness and 39.7% received treatment. Breathlessness was significantly (p = 0.01) more common in the younger group, and they were treated more often (p = 0.006) than the oldest old.

CONCLUSION
This study revealed an overall positive picture of personal and nursing care and communication. These findings indicate that the quality of EOL care at RCHs is high. Inadequate management was found for symptom relief the last days of life. This suggests that this subject merits further attention by care professionals. To achieve better quality of EOL care at RCHs, we emphasise the importance of systematically working to improve symptom relief.


We measured electronic transitions of the 2D graphene-type molecule hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) at the single-molecule level. The large intersystem crossing rate and long triplet state lifetime in the range of seconds are prohibitive for direct single-molecule observation. By covalently coupling fluorescent acceptor molecules (perylenecarboximide, PMI) to HBC, efficient singlet energy transfer gives rise to strong PMI fluorescence. Confocal single-molecule fluorescence microscopy with two excitation colours matching the HBC and PMI transition frequencies, respectively, was conducted. Single HBC-6PMI molecules were readily observed via the PMI emission. It was found that after selective excitation of the HBC the PMI emission is interrupted by dark intervals whose length of several seconds is in agreement with the triplet state lifetime of HBC. Accordingly, the presence/absence of PMI emission permits to read out the spin state of a single HBC molecule. Moreover, due to spectral overlap, the HBC triplet state acts as an energy acceptor for PMI in the excited singlet state, thus leading to efficient singlet-triplet annihilation (STA) during its lifetime. Hence, intersystem crossing into the HBC triplet state serves as a collective fluorescence switch for individual multichromophores.


The process of osmotic adaptation was studied in leaves of Panicum repens. Two phases were observed: the first phase, which continued for 2–4 days, was mainly characterized by dehydration of leaves, a fast synthesis of organic acids and penetration of sodium into leaf cells. Chloride becomes dominant in the leaves only from the third day of exposure and onwards. The second phase of adaptation lasted for 4–6 days. During this phase, a decrease in organic acid content and an increase in leaf-chloride content was observed. In spite of the fact that the osmotic potential of the leaves reached lower values than that of the external medium already after 2 days, the rate of growth of the plants was hampered. Such inhibition of growth disappeared 6–8 days after exposure to salinity.

Ion content of the cell walls, chloroplasts and vacuoles of Panicum leaf cells was investigated during the various stages of osmotic adaptation. An increase in sodium and chloride content of the cell walls during the early period of adaptation probably prevented the full osmotic adaptation of the protoplasts. It is suggested that a locally unbalanced distribution of ions may be one of the reasons for the decrease in growth rate during the process of osmotic adaptation and frequently after that.


A fingertip tactile vocoder for the deaf, has been designed, which has a vibrator matrix with 4×16 pins. A sweeping display method was proposed so that the stimuli were moved from right to left on a fingertip surface like electric news tape. From the experimental results, it was proven that an identification rate of the seven Japanese monosyllabic voices increased and reached 55% at a sweep speed of 10 cm/s. Furthermore, in order to improve identification rate, the usage of the convex pattern like Braille has been proposed, in addition to the sweeping display method. It was found that the identification rate of the seven Japanese monosyllabic voices increased by combining the convex pattern with the vibratory pattern, and the increment was about 20%, even though training period was 30 min. From the above results, it was concluded that the usage of the swept convex pattern besides the swept vibratory pattern was effective to increase the identification rate of speech. [Work supported by the Ministry of Edu...


A quantum state can be understood in a loose sense as a map that assigns a value to every observable. Formalizing this characterization of states in terms of generalized probability distributions on the set of effects, we obtain a simple proof of the result, analogous to Gleason's theorem, that any quantum state is given by a density operator. As a corollary we obtain a von Neumann-type argument against non-contextual hidden variables. It follows that on an individual interpretation of quantum mechanics, the values of effects are appropriately understood as propensities.


Early-onset epileptic encephalopathies (EOEEs) are characterised by epileptic seizures beginning in the first months of life, abnormal background EEG activity, and are associated with severe developmental delay and poor prognosis. Mutations and deletions in the STXBP1 gene are associated with Ohtahara syndrome, also known as "early infantile epilepticencephalopathy". We report an infant affected by EOEE with a 9q34.11 deletion that encompassed the genes STXBP1 and SPTAN1. The infant presented with neonatal encephalopathy without epileptic seizures and an EEG pattern varying from highly discontinuous to suppression-burst. This was followed by West syndrome at 2 months with atypical hypsarrhythmia and spasms, easily controlled by therapy. Our findings suggest that molecular analysis of STXBP1 should be considered for newborns affected by neonatal encephalopathy associated with a peculiar EEG pattern, even in the absence of neonatal epileptic seizures.


We develop a method for modeling nonlinear wave propagation in rock at intermediate strain levels, that is, strain levels great enough that nonlinearity cannot be neglected but low enough that the rock does not incur macroscopic damage. The constitutive model is formulated using a singular-kernel endochronic formalism which satisfies a number of observational constraints, including producing a power law dependence of attenuation (Q−1) on strain amplitude. One free parameter represents cubic anharmonicity, and we set it to agree with laboratory observations of harmonic distortion. Another free parameter controls the amount of hysteresis; it is set to approximate laboratory stress-strain curves. The resulting phenomenological model provides a convenient means to parameterize laboratory observations in a form suitable for efficient wave propagation calculations. We solve one-dimensional wave propagation problems for this constitutive model using both finite difference and pseudospectral methods. Quasi-harmonic wave propagation in the Berea sandstone model shows several departures from results obtained with nonlinear elasticity: (1) more rapid decay with distance of the fundamental frequency component due to nonlinear, amplitude-dependent attenuation; (2) enhanced excitation of the third-order harmonic, in agreement with laboratory observations, and saturation, with propagation distance, of the harmonics. This behavior reflects competing effects of harmonic amplitude growth via nonlinear energy transfer from the source frequency and amplitude-dependent energy dissipation due to hysteresis. We also find that a two-frequency source function generates harmonics with frequencies which can be expressed as linear combinations of integer multiples of the source frequencies, in agreement with published laboratory results.


Based on the lever set function and the augmented Lagrange multiplier method, the topology optimization design of structure was achieved and the final cloud data were saved in matrix. The trigonometric patch method was explored to approach the optimized level set surface and the boundary data extraction was realized by each ridge line parametric equation. Together with the standards of the digital manufacturing, the cloud data were sorted through programming and exported by complying with the data format of digital manufacturing. The Wire Electrical Discharge Machining was proposed here to achieve the manufacturing on G01 code, which was proved to be practical by NC Viewer. This process fulfilled the whole courses from topology optimization to digital manufacturing, which makes the foundation for the promotion and large-scale production of topology optimization in future.


OBJECTIVES
The authors' objectives were: 1) to determine the incidence of motion sickness during ambulance transport on a mountainous route in healthy volunteers, and 2) to determine if droperidol alleviated the signs and symptoms of motion sickness in those volunteers who developed it.

METHODS
This was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Subjects were healthy volunteers over age 18 and not currently taking an antiemetic. Participants were transported in the back of an ambulance over a mountainous road. Those who developed motion sickness rated their nausea on a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS) and were randomized to receive placebo (saline) or 2.5 mg droperidol intravenously. Symptoms were recorded on a VAS every 5 minutes until the end of the transport. Incidence of motion sickness was calculated as a percentage with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Pretreatment characteristics were compared with chi-square tests, and mean VAS scores were compared using t-tests.

RESULTS
Thirty-seven subjects completed the study. Sixteen (43%, 95% CI=27%-59%) developed motion sickness. Fifteen were randomized and completed data collection. Eight received droperidol (mean baseline VAS, 45) and seven received placebo (mean baseline VAS, 40). Droperidol trended toward a greater mean reduction of nausea than placebo at 5 minutes (20 versus 4, p=0.077).

CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of motion sickness during ambulance transport in a mountainous setting is substantial. There was a strong trend toward a positive treatment effect with droperidol. Further prospective study in an actual patient setting is warranted.


A two-dimensional one-legged hopping machine is modeled and simulated in order to better understand legged systems that hop and run. The analysis is focused on balance, dynamic stability, and resonant oscillation for the planar case. A springy leg with nonzero mass, a simple body, and an actuated hinge-type hip are incorporated in the model. Control of the model is decomposed into a vertical hopping part, a horizontal velocity part, and a body attitude part. Estimates of total system energy are used in regulating hopping height in order to initiate hopping, to maintain level hopping, to change from one hopping height to another, and to terminate hopping. Balance and control of forward velocity are explored with three algorithms. The feasibility of decomposing the control of running into a height control part, a forward velocity control part, and an attitude control part is verified by simulations.


Atomically thin colloidal quasi-two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor nanoplatelets (NPLs) have attracted tremendous attention due to their excellent properties and stimulating applications. Although some advances have been achieved in Cd- and Pb-based semiconductor NPLs, research into heavy-metal-free NPLs has been reported less due to the difficulties in the synthesis and the knowledge gap in the understanding of the growth mechanism. Herein wurtzite ZnTe NPLs with an atomic thickness of about 1.5 nm have been successfully synthesized by using Superhydride (LiEt3BH) reduced tributylphosphine–Te (TBP-Te) as the tellurium precursor. Mechanistic studies, both experimentally and theoretically, elucidate the transformation from metastable ZnTe MSC-323 magic-size nanoclusters (MSCs) to metastable ZnTe MSC-398, which then forms wurtzite ZnTe NPLs via an oriented attachment mechanism along the [100] and [002] directions of the wurtzite structure. This work not only provides insightful views into the growth mechanism of 2D NPLs but also opens an avenue for their applications in optoelectronics.


Inability of the membrane attack complex of C (C5b-9) to efficiently lyse E from the same species has been attributed to one or more membrane-associated proteins that are collectively called homologous restriction factors. These include a 65,000 Mr protein referred to as the C8 binding protein or homologous restriction factor and a 20,000 Mr protein referred to as P-18, HRF20, CD59 Ag, or MIRL. Both are found on nucleated cells as well as E and both protect against complement-mediated lysis by interfering with C8 and/or C9 function within C5b-9. The exact mechanism by which these factors restrict activity is unknown but studies with purified C8 binding protein suggest they may interact specifically with the gamma subunit of C8. To determine directly if gamma is the target of restriction factors, a derivative of human C8 lacking this subunit was evaluated for its potential to lyse homologous cells. This derivative (C8') was previously shown to be functionally equivalent to normal C8 in a heterologous sheep E system. Here, it is compared to normal C8 by using human E as target cells. Results indicate no difference between the ability of C8 and C8' to incorporate into HuEAC1-7, to mediate subsequent C9 binding and to promote hemolysis. Thus, the presence or absence of gamma has no effect on homologous restriction of C5b-9, therefore gamma cannot be the primary target of homologous restriction factors.


It is widely believed that regional labour markets in the USA are highly flexible, so that employment shocks have only transitory effects on joblessness since induced migration quickly offsets much of the initial impact. However time-series analysis of the response to shocks is very sensitive to errors of measurement in labour market data, and such errors are large in some widely used series which depend on household surveys of limited size. Adjusting for the likelihood magnitude of such errors with some novel statistical approaches, and using a range of data sources, we show that the responsiveness of employment rates to shocks has been rather weak in the USA over the past 30 years, though probably stronger in the 1950s and 1960s. This suggests that flexible regional adjustment is not a major factor behind the contemporary success of monetary union in the USA.


Abstract. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are space based positioning techniques and widely used in geodetic applications. Geodetic networking accomplished by engineering surveys constitutes one of these tasks. Geodetic networks are used as the base of all kinds of geodetic implementations, Co from the cadastral plans to the relevant surveying processes during the realization of engineering applications. Geodetic networks consist of control points positioned in a defined reference frame. In fact, such positional information could be useful for other studies as well. One of such fields is geodynamic studies that use the changes of positions of control stations within a network in a certain time period to understand the characteristics of tectonic movements. In Turkey, which is located in tectonically active zones and struck by major earthquakes quite frequently, the positional information obtained in engineering surveys could be very useful for earthquake related studies. For this purpose, a GPS (Global Positioning System) network of 650 stations distributed over Istanbul (Istanbul GPS Triangulation Network; abbreviated IGNA) covering the northern part of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) was established in 1997 and measured in 1999. From 1998 to 2004, the IGNA network was extended to 1888 stations covering an area of about 6000 km2, the whole administration area of Istanbul. All 1888 stations within the IGNA network were remeasured in 2005. In these two campaigns there existed 452 common points, and between these two campaigns two major earthquakes took place, on 17 August and 12 November 1999 with a Richter scale magnitude of 7.4 and 7.2, respectively. Several studies conducted for estimating the horizontal and vertical displacements as a result of these earthquakes on NAFZ are discussed in this paper. In geodynamic projects carried out before the earthquakes in 1999, an annual average velocity of 2–2.5 cm for the stations along the NAFZ were estimated. Studies carried out using GPS observations in the same area after these earthquakes indicated that point displacements vary depending on their distance to the epicentres of the earthquakes. But the directions of point displacements are similar. The results obtained through the analysis of the IGNA network also show that there is a common trend in the directions of point displacements in the study area. In this paper, the past studies about the tectonics of Marmara region are summarised and the results of the displacement analysis on the IGNA network are discussed.


BACKGROUND
Plasma homocysteine is an independent non-traditional risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The impact of statin therapy on plasma homocysteine is not conclusive.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of statin therapy on plasma homocysteine concentrations in a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials. The secondary aim was to assess the comparative effect of statins versus fibrates on plasma homocysteine levels in head-to-head trials.

METHOD
PubMed-Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases were searched (from the first reports to March 07, 2016) to identify controlled trials evaluating the impact of statins on plasma homocysteine concentrations. A systematic assessment of bias in the included studies was performed using the Cochrane criteria. A random-effects model and generic inverse variance method were used for quantitative data synthesis. Sensitivity analysis was conducted using the leave-one-out method. Random-effects meta-regression was performed using unrestricted maximum likelihood method to evaluate the impact of potential moderators.

RESULTS
Meta-analysis of data from 7 studies did not suggest a significant alteration in plasma homocysteine concentrations following treatment with statins compared with the control group (WMD: -0.59 μmol/L, 95% CI: -1.66, 0.48, p=0.279; I2=52.53%). However, meta-analysis of 9 studies suggested a significantly greater reduction of plasma homocysteine concentrations with statins compared with fenofibrate (WMD: -4.81 μmol/L, 95% CI: -5.39, -4.23, p<0.001; I2=0%). Results of both analyses were robust in the sensitivity analysis.

CONCLUSION
Statin therapy is not associated with a significant alteration of plasma homocysteine levels, while fenofibrate increases the homocysteine levels when compared with statins.


Incomplete multi-view clustering (IMVC) is an unsupervised approach, among which IMVC via contrastive learning has received attention due to its excellent performance. The previous methods have the following problems: 1) Over-reliance on additional projection heads when solving the dimensional collapse problem in which latent features are only valid in lower-dimensional subspaces during clustering. However, many parameters in the projection heads are unnecessary. 2) The recovered view contain inconsistent private information and useless private information will mislead the learning of common semantics due to consistent learning and reconstruction learning on the same feature. To address the above issues, we propose a novel incomplete multi-view contrastive clustering framework. This framework directly optimizes the latent feature subspace, utilizes the learned feature vectors and their sub-vectors for reconstruction learning and consistency learning, thereby effectively avoiding dimensional collapse without relying on projection heads. Since reconstruction loss and contrastive loss are performed on different features, the adverse effect of useless private information is reduced. For the incomplete data, the missing information is recovered by the cross-view prediction mechanism and the inconsistent information from different views is discarded by the minimum conditional entropy to further avoid the influence of private information. Extensive experimental results of the method on 5 public datasets show that the method achieves state-of-the-art clustering results.


A small population of European fallow deer (Dama dama dama L.) was transferred to Myrina, Lemnos Island, Greece, in the early 1970s from the island of Rhodes. Since the Rhodian population may preserve a remarkable proportion of the original genetic diversity, it is necessary to preserve its offspring population. Our objective was to estimate population size, vegetation cover, and key stakeholder attitudes towards deer on the island, based on personal interviews. Following the visual inspection method, we estimated that there were 47 fallow deer in the fortress area (38 females, 3 males, and 6 fawns). For the total ground cover inventory we used the subplot sampling method. In most areas trees were either browsed or frayed, vegetation cover was insufficient, and dry mass amount was not adequate to support the entire ungulate population. However, lack of nutritious matter supply is covered by additional food and water supply provided by the Myrina municipality and volunteers. In general, the key stakeholders of Lemnos expressed a positive attitude towards fallow deer; however, all concluded that the deer population should be kept at its current size and restricted to the fortress peninsula to avoid potential vehicle collisions and damage to crops and gardens.


We describe a multifunctional resealable perfusion chip to mimic the human environment for cell or tissue culture in vitro and to increase the efficiency of culture in this study. To meet the culture requirement of a two-dimensional (2D) submerged cultures and an air–liquid interface perfusion cultures, a multifunctional resealable perfusion chip was designed and fabricated. Human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293T) and human colon carcinoma cells (SW620) were submerged cultured in the chip for 72 h. Cell viability and cell proliferation tests were used to evaluate the performance of the chip. Moreover, an artificial epidermis was developed, and it lasted for 7 days for the submerged culture immortal human keratinocyte (HaCaT) monolayer and 35 days for the air–liquid interface differentiated culture. The artificial epidermis cultured in the chip and in a conventional transwell were evaluated by the Live/Dead Viability/Cytotoxicity kit, histology, and hematoxylin and eosin staining. The stability and the benefits of our resealable chip were demonstrated by culture cells and epidermis tissue. Unlike a conventional static culture, no obvious advantage was observed in the 2D submerged culture of HEK293T and SW620 cells in the chip, but an outstanding advantage was observed in the 2D HaCaT cell culture with high density and a reconstructed epidermis. The cells grew well, and the epidermis was successfully reconstructed. This result implies that our multifunctional chip has great potential in cell culture and tissue engineering applications.


This paper presents work-in-progress towards a C++ source-to-source translator that automatically seeks parallelizable code fragments and replaces them with code for a graphics co-processor. We report on our experience with accelerating an industrial image processing library. To increase the effectiveness of our approach, we exploit some domain-specific knowledge of the library's semantics. We outline the architecture of our translator and how it uses the ROSE source-to-source transformation library to overcome complexities in the C++ language. Techniques for parallel analysis and source transformation are presented in light of their uses in GPU code generation. We conclude with results from a performance evaluation of two examples, image blending and an erosion filter, hand-translated with our parallelization techniques. We show that our approach has potential and explain some of the remaining challenges in building an effective tool


SUMMARyCurrent examples from animal breeding research in Switzerland The increasing demand of safe and healthy animal products coupled with a decreasing availability of resources and eco-logical and economic pressures is considered a major chal-lenge for animal production in the future. Research in animal breeding and genetics is therefore warranted in Switzerland. The selective mating of sires and dams represents a crucial step at the beginning of the production chain. Technical ad-vances in genome analysis and data processing facilitate the direct evaluation of livestock animals based on marker genes. Genetic insights promote our knowledge on the biology of animals and humans, which is e.g. important for the food in-dustry. The technical advances have important consequenc-es: Among other considerations it is important to preserve the genetic diversity of livestock breeds for sustainable animal production (breeding gain, inbreeding, disease resistance, he-reditary diseases, performance, fertility, adaptability). In this report, current examples from animal breeding research in Switzerland are presented.


Right from the independence and especially since the return to democratic governance in 1999, the successive governments in Nigeria have made concerted efforts in economic and development planning. Nigeria's quest for a sustainable development roadmap has been a torturous one since independence with various plans and policies developed to fast-track the economy. However, no meaningful change has been witnessed thus making all successive governments come up with different development blueprints on how to rejig the economy. The Buhari Administration has come up with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), a Medium-Term Plan for 2017-2020 which was built on the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) to restore economic growth while leveraging the ingenuity and resilience of the Nigerian people. It is sufficient to say that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) was a medium-term, all-around developmental initiative that focused on restoring growth, investing in people, and building a globally competitive economy. The main objective of this paper is to examine the performance of the plan as a developmental state paradigm for "Nigeria's economic recovery". Data were generated from secondary sources. The study revealed that, even though ERGP was implemented properly, its expected positive impact on GDP growth, reduction of inflation, and unemployment is not satisfactory. Accordingly, restructuring of the economy through diversification needs to be seriously sustained in Nigeria.
Keywords: Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), Nigerian Populace, Strategic Implementation Plan, Nigerian Economy, Development Planning


Abstract By means of a questionnaire survey, this paper ascertains and analyses the views of a number of Irish stakeholders regarding the adequacy and potential of corporate sustainability reporting to meet their information needs and help them hold corporations to account. The study focuses on ascertaining the views of a sample of Irish social and environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), who we argue constitute an important group of non-financial stakeholders. This emphasis on examining NGO perceptions represents an attempt to fill a gap in the academic sustainability reporting research literature whereby the views of non-managerial stakeholders are largely absent. The paper represents the second phase of a determined effort to examine the adequacy of sustainability reporting from the perspective of less economically powerful stakeholders in Ireland and responds specifically to O'Dwyer's (2002) call for research to examine the nature of stakeholder demand for sustainability reporting in Ireland in order to inform the future development of Irish sustainability reporting practices. The results present evidence of a widespread demand for mandated, externally verified sustainability reporting in either the annual report or a separate stand-alone report. This demand is primarily driven by a desire to gain knowledge of companies' commitment to responsible business practices but is also, albeit to a lesser extent, influenced by the perceived ability of sustainability reporting to facilitate increased NGO pressure on companies. Current sustainability reporting practice is viewed negatively with regard to its credibility and sufficiency, as well as the opportunities it provides for engagement with companies, particularly among environmental NGO respondents. While respondents tended to be suspicious of corporate motives for sustainability reporting, many were optimistic about the potential for NGO engagement with companies aimed at tackling social and environmental issues and improving current sustainability reporting practice. Drawing on the survey results, the paper makes some recommendations for future research aimed at improving sustainability reporting practices in Ireland and more broadly.


ABSTRACT Alevism has been regarded as a contested identity which is difficult to define because of its 'syncretic' character. Attempts at definition have been overwhelmed by essentialist approaches as well as different political agendas since the fifteenth-century Ottoman period. This paper aims to trace the history of Alevism with a particular focus on historical sources such as the Velāyetnāmes and the organization of ocaks and dergahs. The paper argues that we shall see Alevism as an ethno-religious identity which is formed under different social conditions and emerged through the complexities of the organization of ocaks in a vast territory encompassing different ethnic groups.


ABSTRACT Antibody production by B cells in the absence of CD4 T cell help has been shown to be necessary and sufficient for protection against secondary orthopoxvirus (OPV) infections. This conclusion is based on short-term depletion of leukocyte subsets in vaccinated animals, in addition to passive transfer of immune serum to naive hosts that are subsequently protected from lethal orthopoxvirus infection. Here, we show that CD4 T cell help is necessary for neutralizing antibody production and virus control during a secondary ectromelia virus (ECTV) infection. A crucial role for CD4 T cells was revealed when depletion of this subset was extended beyond the acute phase of infection. Sustained depletion of CD4 T cells over several weeks in vaccinated animals during a secondary infection resulted in gradual diminution of B cell responses, including neutralizing antibody, contemporaneous with a corresponding increase in the viral load. Long-term elimination of CD8 T cells alone delayed virus clearance, but prolonged depletion of both CD4 and CD8 T cells resulted in death associated with uncontrolled virus replication. In the absence of CD4 T cells, perforin- and granzyme A- and B-dependent effector functions of CD8 T cells became critical. Our data therefore show that both CD4 T cell help for antibody production and CD8 T cell effector function are critical for protection against secondary OPV infection. These results are consistent with the notion that the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine is related to its capacity to induce both B and T cell memory. IMPORTANCE Smallpox eradication through vaccination is one of the most successful public health endeavors of modern medicine. The use of various orthopoxvirus (OPV) models to elucidate correlates of vaccine-induced protective immunity showed that antibody is critical for protection against secondary infection, whereas the role of T cells is unclear. Short-term leukocyte subset depletion in vaccinated animals or transfer of immune serum to naive, immunocompetent hosts indicates that antibody alone is necessary and sufficient for protection. We show here that long-term depletion of CD4 T cells over several weeks in vaccinated animals during secondary OPV challenge reveals an important role for CD4 T cell-dependent antibody responses in effective virus control. Prolonged elimination of CD8 T cells alone delayed virus clearance, but depletion of both T cell subsets resulted in death associated with uncontrolled virus replication. Thus, vaccinated individuals who subsequently acquire T cell deficiencies may not be protected against secondary OPV infection.


The recent dramatic shift in makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court has led to great interest in the rulings and legal opinions of its justices. Now, CQ Press brings you a comprehensive volume that analyzes the lives and legal philosophies of all past and present justices of the Court. "Biographical Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court" includes signed essays profiling the men and women who have served and are serving on the U.S. Supreme Court. This one-of-a-kind reference includes not only important biographical information, but also in-depth details of the legal contributions made by the men and women of the nation's highest bench. Keeping up with the recent changes to the Court, this volume includes all current justices. New essays profile Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. Justices are arranged in an easy-to-use alphabetical format. Each essay is prefaced with key biographical information for each justice such as: Birth and death dates; Date of nomination to the Court; The name of president who nominated the justice; The date he or she was seated; and, Date range of service on the Court. Within each essay, written by a top legal expert, scholar, or journalist, "Biographical Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court" provides facts and context along with analysis of the opinions and legal philosophies for each justice. This new volume is an updated edition of "The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary" (1994). It will prove a valuable resource for academic, community college, law school, and public libraries.


Algorithmically and energetically efficient computational architectures that operate in real time are essential for clinically useful neural prosthetic devices. Such devices decode raw neural data to obtain direct control signals for external devices. They can also perform data compression and vastly reduce the bandwidth and consequently power expended in wireless transmission of raw data from implantable brain-machine interfaces. We describe a biomimetic algorithm and micropower analog circuit architecture for decoding neural cell ensemble signals. The decoding algorithm implements a continuous-time artificial neural network, using a bank of adaptive linear filters with kernels that emulate synaptic dynamics. The filters transform neural signal inputs into control-parameter outputs, and can be tuned automatically in an on-line learning process. We provide experimental validation of our system using neural data from thalamic head-direction cells in an awake behaving rat.


Modelling of mass transfer of particles to solid surfaces is a considerable challenge in most industrial processes. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) directly on these applications is very challenging and costly due to the grid refinement required to capture the complex physical processes that dominate in the near-wall region. We propose a detailed boundary layer model, which can couple the detailed physics in the wall region with the external flow. This mass-transfer wall function can be applied as a boundary condition for coarse grid CFD models. The detailed boundary layer model incorporates external forces, turbulence and hydrodynamic lift and drag. In addition we include the effects of Brownian diffusion, thermophoresis, XDLVO forces and the interparticle collisions. The particle deposition flux to the wall is modified with an effective adhesion probability, caused by the adhesive forces and the turbulent shear stress statistics.


Silicon nitride undergoes hydrolysis and dissolution when subjected to an aqueous environment. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that hydrolysis proceeds through nucleophilic attack of water with the formation of an intermediate molecular complex involving a pentacoordinated silicon. We found that the dissolution of an oxidized silicon nitride powder resembles that of silica; the dissolution rate could be described using a simple kinetic equation with a dissolution activation energy of 52 kJ·mol−1. The deagglomeration of a fine silicon nitride powder under mild agitation was evaluated; we show that the peptization kinetics at room temperature is dominated by the breakup of particle–particle bonds due to hydrodynamic friction and cluster attrition. For breakup of hard agglomerates of small particles the dissolution of interparticle necks will play an important role.


We conducted a retrospective study in which the optometric findings of 40 extracapsular cataract patients were reviewed in order to compare two cataract extraction techniques: planned Extracapsular (ECCE) and phakoemulsification (PKE). Insertion of posterior chamber intraocular lenses (IOL's) was included in both procedures. Specifically, we looked at the postoperative astigmatism observed in each group. Patients in the PKE group experienced lower amounts of postoperative astigmatism which remained more stable in amount and orientation. This magnitude of astigmatic difference was significantly different by t-test analysis with a critical value of .001. The PKE group also exhibited better correctable visual acuity than the ECCE group.


An expert panel of spine surgeons had consensus that video-based telemedicine could be utilized regardless of patient location, is sufficient for evaluation and indication of surgery for multiple common spine pathologies, such as lumbar stenosis, lumbar radiculopathy, as well as cervical radiculopathy, and could be appropriate for various visit types. Study Design. Delphi expert panel consensus. Objective. To obtain expert consensus on best practices for appropriate telemedicine utilization in spine surgery. Summary of Background Data. Several studies have shown high patient satisfaction associated with telemedicine during the COVID-19 peak pandemic period as well as after easing of restrictions. As this technology will most likely continue to be employed, there is a need to define appropriate utilization. Methods. An expert panel consisting of 27 spine surgeons from various countries was assembled in February 2021. A two-round consensus-based Delphi method was used to generate consensus statements on various aspects of telemedicine (separated as video visits or audio visits) including themes, such as patient location and impact of patient diagnosis, on assessment of new patients. Topics with ≥75% agreement were categorized as having achieved a consensus. Results. The expert panel reviewed a total of 59 statements. Of these, 32 achieved consensus. The panel had consensus that video visits could be utilized regardless of patient location and that video visits are appropriate for evaluating as well as indicating for surgery multiple common spine pathologies, such as lumbar stenosis, lumbar radiculopathy, and cervical radiculopathy. Finally, the panel had consensus that video visits could be appropriate for a variety of visit types including early, midterm, longer term postoperative follow-up, follow-up for imaging review, and follow-up after an intervention (i.e., physical therapy, injection). Conclusion. Although telemedicine was initially introduced out of necessity, this technology most likely will remain due to evidence of high patient satisfaction and significant cost savings. This study was able to provide a framework for appropriate telemedicine utilization in spine surgery from a panel of experts. However, several questions remain for future research, such as whether or not an in-person consultation is necessary prior to surgery and which physical exam maneuvers are appropriate for telemedicine. Level of Evidence: 4


Grammar Engineering is the task of designing and implementing linguistically motivated electronic descriptions of natural language (so-called grammars). These grammars are expressed within well-defined theoretical frameworks, and offer a fine-grained description of natural language. While grammars were first used to describe syntax, that is to say, the relations between constituents in a sentence, they often go beyond syntax and include semantic information. Grammar engineering provides precise descriptions which can be used for natural language understanding and generation, making these valuable resources for various natural language applications, including textual entailment, dialogue systems, or machine translation. The first attempts at designing large-scale resource grammars were costly because of the complexity of the task (Erbach et al. 1990) and of the number of persons that were needed (see e.g. Doran et al. 1997). Advances in the field have led to the development of environments for semi-automatic grammar engineering, borrowing ideas from compilation (grammar engineering is compared with software development) and machine learning. This special issue reports on new trends in the field, where grammar engineering benefits from elaborate high-level methodologies and techniques, dealing with various issues (both theoretical and practical).