The automated analysis of video captured from a first-person perspective has gained increased interest since the advent of marketed miniaturized wearable cameras. With this a person is taking visual measurements about the world in a sequence of fixations which contain relevant information about the most salient parts of the environment and the goals of the actor. We present a novel model for gaze prediction in egocentric video based on the spatiotemporal visual information captured from the wearer's camera, specifically extended using a subjective function of surprise by means of motion memory, referring to the human aspect of visual attention. Spatiotemporal saliency detection is computed in a bioinspired framework using a superposition of superpixel- and contrast based conspicuity maps as well as an optical flow based motion saliency map. Motion is further processed into a motion novelty map that is constructed by a comparison between most recent motion information with an exponentially decreasing memory of motion information. The innovative motion novelty map is experienced to be able to provide a significant increase in the performance of gaze prediction. Experimental results are gained from egocentric videos using eye-tracking glasses in a natural shopping task and prove a 6.48% increase in the mean saliency at a fixation in terms of a measure of mimicking human attention.


Six F1 populations derived from crosses among 4 orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) cultivars were studied by morphological and simple sequence repeat molecular markers to test for hybrid vigor and a correlation between genetic distance and heterosis. Heterosis was observed for days to length of culm, leaf traits, tiller numbers, etc. Significant differences between obverse and inverse crosses were found for eleven traits. A cytoplasmic effect existed for the agronomic traits considered in this study. The correlations between genetic distance and heterosis were investigated by analyzing the performance of 3 crosses. The results showed that genetic distance was significantly correlated with tiller number (r = 0.834) and negatively correlated with length of culm (r = -0.889). However, there was no significant correlation with heterosis for the other traits, including yield; the correlation coefficient were too small to allow prediction of orchardgrass heterosis from the parental genetics.


This paper is devoted and intended to solve the problems of determining the precise separation efficiency and accurate prediction for the solid yield of multi-product cyclones based on existing experimental data. The influence of inlet pressure control on separation performance of multi-product cyclones is investigated. Hydrocyclone separation performance is influenced by many factors such as the liquid level of agitating vessel and the entrance pressure. The liquid level can also be controlled through the entrance pressure control. The mathematical model of multi-product cyclone system is a high-order complex model and it is difficult to determine the specific expressions. The paper adopts a special optimal fuzzy PI_PID control strategy performed by Programmable Logic Controller system to enable inlet pressure control. By the force of contrast with experiment and analysis for many performance indexes, the effectiveness and applicability of the control approach are demonstrated. The research provides a method for control of high-order complex system of hydrocyclone separation.


It is likely that half of the urban areas that will exist in 2050 have not yet been designed and built. This provides tremendous opportunities for enhancing urban sustainability, and using "nature in cities" is critical to more resilient solutions to urban challenges. Terms for "urban nature" include Green Infrastructure (GI), Green-Blue Infrastructure (GBI), Urban Green Space (UGS), and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). These terms, and the concepts they represent, are incomplete because they tend to reduce the importance of non-terrestrial ecological features in cities. We argue that the concept of Urban Ecological Infrastructure (UEI), which came from a 2013 forum held in Beijing and from several subsequent 2017 publications, is a more inclusive alternative. In this paper we refine the 2013 definition of UEI and link the concept more directly to urban ecosystem services.
 In our refined definition, UEI comprises all parts of a city that support ecological structures and functions, as well as the ecosystem services provided by UEI that directly affect human outcomes and wellbeing. UEI often includes aspects of the built environment, and we discuss examples of this "hybrid infrastructure". We distinguish terrestrial, aquatic, and wetland UEI because each type provides different ecosystem services. We present several examples of both "accidental" UEI and UEI that was explicitly designed and managed, with an emphasis on wetland UEI because these ecotonal ecosystems are uniquely both terrestrial and aquatic. We show how both accidental and planned UEI produces unexpected ecosystem services, which justifies recognizing and maintaining both purposeful and serendipitous types of UEI in cities. Finally, we posit that by incorporating both "ecological" and "infrastructure", UEI also helps to bridge urban scientists and urban practitioners in a more transdisciplinary partnership to build more resilient and sustainable cities.


The pantropical and morphologically diverse genus Aeschynomene (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae) comprises ca. 180 species, but its monophyly has never been comprehensively addressed in a molecular phylogenetic context of the dalbergioid clade. Here we have assembled the most complete DNA sequence data (nuclear ribosomal ITS/5.8S and the plastid genes trnL intron and protein-coding matK), representatively sampled both in Aeschynomene and the closely related Dalbergia and Machaerium, as well all currently accepted genera from the dalbergioids. The Bayesian and maximum likelihood phylogenetic analyses unequivocally confirm the non-monophyly of Aeschynomene. The pantropically distributed Aeschynomene sect. Aeschynomene, often inhabiting riparian and wetland habitats, is paraphyletic with respect to the mostly African genera Bryaspis, Cyclocarpa, Geissaspis, Humularia, Kotschya, and Smithia, as well as the South American monotypic genus Soemmeringia. The strongly supported and morphologically coherent clade comprising the American species traditionally classified within Aeschynomene sect. Ochopodium, with a greater ecological predilection for neotropical fire-prone savannas and the seasonally dry tropical forests and woodlands, is here elevated to generic rank. As such, this lineage is re-established as the previously monotypic genus Ctenodon. A complete description of Ctenodon and 78 new combinations for the American species and associated infraspecific taxa are provided, as well as 24 lectotypifications.


Introduction: If the infectious focus is not identified, there is an associated higher mortality in Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) [1]. A retrospective observational study found patients with high-risk SAB who had a PET scan had a 67% reduction in mortality compared to those who did not [2]. We used electronic data to determine the range of infectious foci in SAB and the use of PET in our trust. Methods: From 1/1/13 to 31/12/18 all patients with SAB at St Thomas' Hospital, London, were reviewed by the infectious diseases team and data collected prospectively using an Access database. A retrospective analysis of this database, electronic records, radiology and nuclear imaging was conducted. Results: 355 episodes of SAB affected 296 patients. 28 (8%) episodes were MRSA in 24 (8%) of patients. Infectious sources found included bone and joint (23%), IV access (15%), vascular infection (15%), no infective focus (13%), SSTI (12%) and endocarditis (9%). Imaging used to determine the focus of infection included MRI (18%), CT (26%) and PET scan (10%). In-hospital mortality was significantly lower in those who had a PET scan than in those who did not (1/31, 3% v. 50/265 patients (last episode), 19%, P=0.03). Conclusions: Mortality was lower in those who had PET at our trust. This is consistent with data published from other centres and requires further investigation. A prospective trial of PET in SAB is urgently needed. References: [1] PMID: 30179645 [2] PMID: 28336786


Despite substantial expenditure by national tuberculosis (TB) programmes, significant efforts by advocacy groups, and heavy investment in clinical and biomedical research, TB remains a health emergency disproportionately impacting the poorest and most vulnerable in southern Africa and other endemic regions. Personal experiences of TB are varying and contrasting in these areas where misconception, stigma and taboo are commonplace. An urgent need therefore exists for projects that engage community members as active partners in reducing the impact of TB and other diseases. Eh!woza aims to address this need by fostering collaborative interactions between biomedical TB researchers, a conceptual artist, a non-governmental organization, and young people living in Khayelitsha, a township outside Cape Town. In a series of workshops, the project engages high-school learners with biomedical TB research and provides space, guidance and equipment for participants to produce documentaries about personal experiences of TB. Here, we describe the project's growth, the results of a formal evaluation which suggest that Eh!woza is responsive to changing dynamics within the study setting, and preliminary findings from anthropological research investigating how knowledge is configured within the project. Finally, we consider prospects for expanding the project and briefly discuss challenges whose resolution could ensure long-term sustainability.


This paper analyzes the consequences of the diplomatic conflict that began in 2014 between the European
Union and the Russian Federation caused by the political and military crisis in Ukraine. In March
2014, the leaders of the European Union condemned the actions of Russia in Ukraine and imposed the
first restrictive measures against Russian Federation. In turn, Russia took retaliatory measures
materialised in an import ban on certain agricultural food products from the EU. The aim of this research
is to identify and evaluate the impact of the sanctions and countersanctions on the economy of the Russian
Federation and on bilateral trade between Russia and EU member states. This article will focus on the
following main objectives: analyzing the evolution of trade relations between the two major powers in the
period 2014-2019, determining the factors that may explain the decline in bilateral trade during the
period mentioned above and the factors that may explain why some EU Member States have suffered
higher losses than others. In order to achieve the proposed objectives, both qualitative and quantitative
analyses were used. Official documents, academic articles and studies conducted by various prestigious
think-tanks were analysed. Also, th


The response of conduction-band electrons to a local, pulse-like external excitation is investigated. The charge density wave packets that emerge as a consequence of the excitation leave the interaction region with a speed close to the initial state's band velocity, but there are also oscillations with essentially the same frequency as that of the laser field. As a good estimation, the excitation can also be considered as a localized, time-dependent ponderomotive potential, leading to slowly varying current oscillations. The roles of all these effects are investigated for different electron energies, carrier frequencies, and sizes of the interaction area.


Radiolabeled antibodies have produced encouraging remissions in patients with chemotherapy-resistant hematological malignancies; however, the selection of therapeutic radionuclides for clinical trials remains controversial. In this study, we compared the internalization, lysosomal targeting, metabolism, and cellular retention of radiolabeled murine and humanized monoclonal antibodies targeting the CD33 antigen (monoclonal antibodies mP67 and hP67, respectively) on myeloid leukemia cell lines (HEL and HL-60) and of anti-carcinoma antibodies (monoclonal antibodies hCTM01 and hA33) targeting breast cancer and colorectal carcinoma cell lines (MCF7 and Colo 205, respectively). Each antibody was labeled with 125I (by the IodoGen method) and with 111In and 90Y using macrocyclic chelation technology. Targeted tumor cells were analyzed for retention and metabolism of radioimmunoconjugates using cellular-radioimmunoassays, Percoll gradient fractionation of cell organelles, SDS-PAGE, and TLC of cell lysates and culture supernatants. Our results suggest that antibodies are routed to lysosomes after endocytosis, where they are proteolytically degraded. [125I]monoiodotyrosine is rapidly excreted from cells after lysosomal catabolism of antibodies radioiodinated by conventional methods, whereas small molecular weight 111In and 90Y catabolites remain trapped in lysosomes. As a consequence of the differential disposition of small molecular weight catabolites, 111In and 90Y conjugates displayed superior retention of radioactivity compared with 125I conjugates when tumor cells were targeted using rapidly internalizing antibody-antigen systems (e.g., hP67 with HEL cells and hCTM01 with MCF7 cells). When tumor cells were targeted using antibody-antigen systems exhibiting slow rates of endocytosis (e.g., hP67 on HL-60 cells and hA33 on Colo 205 cells), little differences in cellular retention of radioactivity was observed, regardless of whether 125I, 111In, or 90Y was used.


In lattice QCD, colour confinement manifests in flux tubes. We compute in detail the quark-antiquark flux tube for pure gauge SU(3) dimension $D=3+1$ for quark-antiquark distances R ranging from 0.4 fm to 1.4 fm. To increase the signal over noise ratio, we apply the improved multihit and extended smearing techniques. We detail the gauge invariant squared components of the colour electric and colour magnetic fields both in the mediator plane between the static quark and static antiquark and in the planes of the sources. We fit the field densities with appropriate ansatze and we observe the screening of the colour fields in all studied planes together with the quantum widening of the flux tube in the mediator plane. All components squared of the colour fields are non-vanishing and are consistent with a penetration length lambda ~ 0.22 to 0.24 fm and an effective screening mass mu ~ 0.9 to 0.8 GeV. The quantum widening of the flux tube is well fitted with a logarithmic law in R.


This document defines the approach of the Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE) to evaluate the Grant Facility (GRF) for Haiti. It outlines the evaluation's objectives, scope, evaluation questions, and methodology that OVE will apply to conduct the evaluation. OVE included this corporate evaluation in its 2020-2021 work program at the IDB and IDB Invest Boards' request. It focuses on the ten years of Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group activity in Haiti using GRF resources, from January 1st, 2011--the start of IDB's formal commitment to transfer US$200 million per year to the GRF earmarked for Haiti-- to December 31st, 2020.


How did a small market town on the edge of the Fens become famous throughout the world? And how do Cambridge's two communities – 'town' and 'gown' – get along? This engaging history explains how Cambridge has developed from its prehistoric roots to become a thriving modern city and a world centre for science, technology and artificial intelligence. Many local residents seldom stray into the University quarter, whilst students often do not explore beyond Mill Road. This accessible and attractively illustrated history gives equal prominence to both communities, demonstrating that the story of the town is just as rich as that of the University. Stephanie Boyd brings to life both the institutions and the individuals associated with this celebrated seat of learning, looking at the colleges, laboratories and (increasingly) companies that have grown up in Cambridge, as well as the many colourful individuals particularly associated with the city. The Story of Cambridge is an essential guide for anyone who wants to make sense of the University that dominates the city centre, and how it fits with Cambridge's broader identity as a riverside port, market town and modern city.


This study examines the work life balance and its impact on women position at workplace and also determines the relationship between the various factors of work life balance as independent variable and women position as dependent variables of working women in Delhi NCR. Efforts have been made to develop a model to predict the women's position in a workplace by taking work life balance constructs such as personal factors, family factors and social factors. The study used cross sectional descriptive research design. To know the relationship and its impact between work life balance and women position factors a structured survey through a questionnaire has been conducted among 150 women working in different organizations through questionnaire in Delhi-NCR. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's product moment correlation and multiple regressions. It was explored that work life balance variables like opportunity at workplace for increasing skill sets among employees, stress at workplace and self-space were eminent items which contributed to the score for women position at workplace. However, the authors opine that other eminent factors like decision making ability, personality traits of the women etc. would increase the model fit.


We report a four-year-old boy with a nevus covering all the plantar side of his second finger on the left foot. He was also affected by congenital phimosis. Surgical excision of the nevus was indicated, but the skin defect would have been too large to be directly closed. The foreskin was taken as a full-thickness skin graft to cover the cutaneous defect of the finger. The graft intake was favourable and provided a functional repair with good aesthetic characteristic.


We propose a methodology to revise a Description Logic knowledge base when detecting exceptions. Our approach relies on the methodology for debugging a Description Logic terminology, addressing the problem of diagnosing incoherent ontologies by identifying a minimal subset of axioms responsible for an inconsistency. In the approach we propose, once the source of the inconsistency has been localized, the identified axioms are revised in order to obtain a consistent knowledge base including the detected exception. To this aim, we make use of a nonmonotonic extension of the Description Logic ALC based on the combination of a typicality operator and the well established nonmonotonic mechanism of rational closure, which allows to deal with prototypical properties and defeasible inheritance.


This work looks at important paintings from nine museums all over Berlin. Eisler uses a chronological and geographical organization to bring together over 700 works of world importance, stretching from the first half of the 12th century to 1914 and covering artists as diverse as Giotto, Raphael, Da Vinci, Titian, Tintoretto, Breughel, Van Eyck and Durer. As Germany in general and Berlin in particular face the ramifications of reunification, hundreds of works, often thought lost or destroyed, are coming to light and being presented for the first time in more than 50 years.


SUMMARY
Monthly mass variations within the Earth system produce temporal gravity changes, which are observable by the NASA/GFZ Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) twin-satellite system. Mass load changes with spatial scales larger than 1000 km have been observed using conventional filters based on a Gaussian smoother, which applies a weight to GRACE spherical harmonic (SH) coefficients depending only on SH degree. This practice is consistent with a degree-dependent error model for GRACE monthly geopotential solutions. The Gaussian filters effectively dampen all power of ill-determined higher-degree components in the estimates. However, the spatial sampling provided by GRACE yields errors that vary with both SH degree and order. The consequence is that maps of spatial loads shall not be smoothed with an isotropic (degree-only) filter, but shall be constructed using anisotropic smoothing thus also yielding better spatial resolution in latitude. We have developed a non-isotropic filter to optimize the smoothing of GRACE temporal gravity observations by considering the degree- and order-dependent quality of GRACE estimates, the latter analysed from the correlation with the predicted signals of hydrologic and ocean models. In order to retain GRACE coefficients in the filtering process that show reasonable correlation with the geophysical (hydrology and ocean) models, we applied Gaussian-type smoothing but with averaging radius depending on the order of the geopotential coefficient estimates. Applied to 2 yr of GRACE data, we showed that the resulting non-isotropic filter yields enhanced GRACE signals with significantly higher resolution in latitude and the same resolution in longitude without reducing the accuracy as compared to the conventional Gaussian smoother.


PURPOSE
This paper aims to show that identification of expectations and software functional requirements via consultation with potential users is an integral component of the development of an emergency department patient admissions prediction tool.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH
Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 14 key health staff delivered rich data regarding existing practice and future needs. Participants included emergency department staff, bed managers, nurse unit managers, directors of nursing, and personnel from health administration.

FINDINGS
Participants contributed contextual insights on the current system of admissions, revealing a culture of crisis, imbued with misplayed communication. Their expectations and requirements of a potential predictive tool provided strategic data that moderated the development of the Emergency Department Patient Admissions Prediction Tool, based on their insistence that it feature availability, reliability and relevance. In order to deliver these stipulations, participants stressed that it should be incorporated, validated, defined and timely.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS
Participants were envisaging a concept and use of a tool that was somewhat hypothetical. However, further research will evaluate the tool in practice.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
Participants' unsolicited recommendations regarding implementation will not only inform a subsequent phase of the tool evaluation, but are eminently applicable to any process of implementation in a healthcare setting.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE
The consultative process engaged clinicians and the paper delivers an insider view of an overburdened system, rather than an outsider's observations.


The x-ray crystal structure of the P1 or H domain of the Salmonella CheA protein has been solved at 2.1-Å resolution. The structure is composed of an up-down up-down four-helix bundle that is typical of histidine phosphotransfer or HPt domains such as Escherichia coli ArcBC andSaccharomyces cerevisiae Ypd1. Loop regions and additional structural features distinguish all three proteins. The CheA domain has an additional C-terminal helix that lies over the surface formed by the C and D helices. The phosphoaccepting His-48 is located at a solvent-exposed position in the middle of the B helix where it is surrounded by several residues that are characteristic of other HPt domains. Mutagenesis studies indicate that conserved glutamate and lysine residues that are part of a hydrogen-bond network with His-48 are essential for the ATP-dependent phosphorylation reaction but not for the phosphotransfer reaction with CheY. These results suggest that the CheA-P1 domain may serve as a good model for understanding the general function of HPt domains in complex two-component phosphorelay systems.


The neural circuits that support human cognition are a topic of enduring interest. Yet, the lack of tools available to map human brain circuits has precluded our ability to trace the human and non-human primate connectome. We harnessed high-resolution connectomic, anatomic, and transcriptomic data to investigate the evolution and development of frontal cortex circuitry. We applied machine learning to RNA sequencing data to find corresponding ages between humans and macaques and to compare the development of circuits across species. We transcriptionally defined neural circuits by testing for associations between gene expression and white matter maturation. We then considered transcriptional and structural growth to test whether frontal cortex circuit maturation is unusually extended in humans relative to other species. We also considered gene expression and high-resolution diffusion MR tractography of adult brains to test for cross-species variation in frontal cortex circuits. We found that frontal cortex circuitry development is extended in primates, and concomitant with an expansion in cortico-cortical pathways compared with mice in adulthood. Importantly, we found that these parameters varied relatively little across humans and studied primates. These data identify a surprising collection of conserved features in frontal cortex circuits across humans and Old World monkeys. Our work demonstrates that integrating transcriptional and connectomic data across temporal dimensions is a robust approach to trace the evolution of brain connectomics in primates. Significance Statement We lack appropriate tools to visualize the human brain connectome. We develop new approaches to study connections in the human and non-human primate brains. The integration of transcription with structure offers an unprecedented opportunity to study circuitry evolution. Our integrative approach finds corresponding ages across species and transcriptionally defines neural circuits. We used this information to test for variation in circuit maturation across species and found a surprising constellation of similar features in frontal cortex neural circuits across humans and primates. Integrating across scales of biological organization expands the repertoire of tools available to study connections in primates, which opens new avenues to study connections in health and diseases of the human brain.


A rating response mechanism for ordered categories, which is related to the traditional threshold formulation but distinctively different from it, is formulated. In addition to the subject and item parameters two other sets of parameters, which can be interpreted in terms of thresholds on a latent continuum and discriminations at the thresholds, are obtained. These parameters are identified with the category coefficients and the scoring function of the Rasch model for polychotomous responses in which the latent trait is assumed uni-dimensional. In the case where the threshold discriminations are equal, the scoring of successive categories by the familiar assignment of successive integers is justified. In the case where distances between thresholds are also equal, a simple pattern of category coefficients is shown 1o follow.


Knowledge base question answering is a way of communication between computer and human in the form of natural language, which is a branch of artificial intelligence. In recent years, knowledge base question answering has become a hot research and application direction in academia and industry. At present, question answering algorithms mainly include template-based approach, semantic analysis approach, deep learning approach. Many scholars have continuously improved existing algorithms for obtaining better accuracy. For giving people an overall understanding of the research significance, knowledge base and algorithm of question answering, in this study we mainly review three classical algorithms of knowledge base question answering, and make a comprehensive comparison of these three algorithms. We identified the deficiencies and challenges of knowledge base question answering. we propose future development directions for the principle of matching questions and answers to construct query sentences, deep learning models, and inherent features of language.


Constraints are important elements of every modelling process but until now they have not received much attention in GIS. In GIS, constraints are conditions, which always have to be valid (true) within the model populated with real geographic object instances. In this paper we argue that constraints should be part of the object class definition, similar to other aspects of the object class definition: attributes, methods, and relationships (generalization/specialization, part/whole, and associations). This paper presents our view on modelling constraints, in which we distinguish three different stages: clarifying constraints applicable for the objects of interest, formally describing them using the unified modelling language/ object constraint language (UML/OCL) and implementing them in application tool or in the DBMS. In order to better understand the constraints and their use in GIS we propose a classification of the different types of constraints. The paper demonstrates the way UML (OCL) is used for modelling constraints in SALIX-2, a VR landscape modelling system. Depending on the type of constraints (and the application), some of them can be best implemented at (edit/simulation) front-end, others at DBMS (or perhaps throughout all subsystems), but this should all be derived from the same specification: the model including the formal constraints. This paper focuses on the implementation of the constraints using triggers (as assertions are not yet available) within the DBMS and the problems that have to be solved.


We present results of expanding the contents of the China Biographical Database by text mining historical local gazetteers, difangzhi. The goal of the database is to see how people are connected together, through kinship, social connections, and the places and offices in which they served. The gazetteers are the single most important collection of names and offices covering the Song through Qing periods. Although we begin with local officials we shall eventually include lists of local examination candidates, people from the locality who served in government, and notable local figures with biographies. The more data we collect the more connections emerge. The value of doing systematic text mining work is that we can identify relevant connections that are either directly informative or can become useful without deep historical research. Academia Sinica is developing a name database for officials in the central governments of the Ming and Qing dynasties.


A new approach is proposed in this paper that describes the development of flexible rolling technology in industrial processing of C – Mn and Low C - microalloyed steels. Scientific knowledge of industrially-significant processes for these materials is presently fragmented and scattered in published literature, which causes impediment to process innovation and optimization. In the current work, it is demonstrated that new process sequences could be developed by breaking down existing process routes in to key elements and then by recombining them to generate novel alternative and more efficient hot processing sequences. The proposed methodology establishes a platform for a more realistic assessment of existing process routes and the development of new hybrid process routes that combine ideas from alternative processes. This enables the identification of an optimal process sequence for specified steel compositions that also satisfies simultaneous design criteria such as process feasibility and property maximization. Application of the proposed algorithm in industrial-scale rod rolling of a medium C-Mn steel is demonstrated and discussed.


Drug-induced subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (DI-SCLE) is defined as an adverse reaction to continuous use of a culprit drug. The reaction resolves upon drug withdrawal. More than 50 drugs have been linked to DI-SCLE, and it is estimated, that around 20% of the SCLE cases are drug-induced. There are no diagnostic criteria, yet detection of anti-Ro/SSA antibodies combined with erosive/bullous or erythema multiforme/toxic epidermal necrolysis-like lesions, and widespread skin rash seem to be indicative of DI-SCLE. The most common drugs involved are proton pump inhibitors, terbinafine, thiazides and chemotherapeutics.


The role of shops as an important first source of treatment for many illnesses is well documented. Far less attention has been directed towards the broader role that shops and shopkeepers may play in household coping behaviour, for example by offering credit to help meet the direct and indirect costs of illness, and to cope with other socio-economic needs. This exploratory paper draws on the data collected as part of a wider study on affordability of health care to consider the 'multiple' roles that shops and shopkeepers play in households' financing of illness related costs. The findings support the potential of working with shopkeepers to design and implement interventions that identify and reach the poor, but also highlight important challenges, including inequities in access to shop services, and the complex relationships that shopkeepers have with their clients. We suggest further specifically designed studies to explore the issues in more detail, to test the transferability of the findings to other settings, and to consider the implications for policy and practice. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The transmitted-reference (TR) ultra-wideband transceivers [4] have recently become increasingly popular for their simplicity, capability to reduce the stringent UWB timing requirements, and robust performance in multipath channels. However, the performance of TR receivers is considerably limited by the severity of noise-on-noise component introduced by various types of channel noise such as additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) or narrowband interference (NBI) on the transmitted signal [6]. It is expected that such receivers will perform poorly at low signal-to-noise ratio links, or in the presence of strong narrowband interferers. In this paper we propose a novel technique that maximizes the extraction of information from reference pulses for UWB-TR receivers. The scheme efficiently processes the incoming signal to suppress different types of interference prior to signal detection. The method described introduces a feedback loop mechanism to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of reference pulses in a conventional TR receiver. The performance of a conventional TR receiver and a feedback loop TR receiver in the presence of AWGN and strong narrowband interference is investigated by analysis and computer simulations. Our studies show that the reference enhancing feedback loop mechanism greatly improves the robustness of the link performance of TR receivers in the presence ofmore » non-UWB interferes with modest increase in complexity.« less


The combination of precise radial velocities from multi-object spectroscopy and highly accurate proper motions from Gaia DR2 opens up the possibility for detailed 3D kinematic studies of young star forming regions and clusters. Here, we perform such an analysis by combining Gaia-ESO Survey spectroscopy with Gaia astrometry for ~900 members of the Lagoon Nebula cluster, NGC 6530. We measure the 3D velocity dispersion of the region to be $5.35^{+0.39}_{-0.34}$~km~s$^{-1}$, which is large enough to suggest the region is gravitationally unbound. The velocity ellipsoid is anisotropic, implying that the region is not sufficiently dynamically evolved to achieve isotropy, though the central part of NGC 6530 does exhibit velocity isotropy that suggests sufficient mixing has occurred in this denser part. We find strong evidence that the stellar population is expanding, though this is preferentially occurring in the declination direction and there is very little evidence for expansion in the right ascension direction. This argues against a simple radial expansion pattern, as predicted by models of residual gas expulsion. We discuss these findings in the context of cluster formation, evolution and disruption theories.


The epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus is dramatically increasing. Environmental factors, such as sedentary life-style, hypercaloric, fat-rich diet and genetic susceptibility are considered major determinants of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Obesity and peripheral insulin resistance are hallmarks and major risk factors for development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Cardiovascular complications (eg, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease) of both metabolic disorders are associated with chronic subclinical inflammation.1 2 The low degree of inflammation in obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus results from increased expression and production of cytokines and acute phase reactants such as C-reactive proteins, interleukins (ILs), tumour necrosis factor (TNF)α, or lipopolysaccharides (LPS).1 2 Inflammatory cytokines induce peripheral insulin resistance by impairing the insulin receptor (IR)-dependent signalling.1 2 For instance, experimental application of TNFα leads to the phosphorylation of the serine residues of the insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) with the consecutive inhibition of insulin-stimulated tyrosine autophosphorylation of the IR. The consequence of the impaired IR signalling is a blunted glucose uptake by peripheral tissues. The resulting chronic hyperglycaemia causes deleterious effects on pancreatic beta-cell function and morphology. Inflammatory cytokines reduce insulin secretion, induce apoptosis of pancreatic beta-cells in type 2 diabetes mellitus.3 Administration of anti-inflammatory agents (eg, high doses of aspirin) or experimental deletion of receptors for inflammatory cytokines results in increased insulin sensitivity and improved pancreatic beta-cell function, which is paralleled by a reduction of hyperglycaemia and loss of body weight.4 5 Despite numerous studies describing the activation …


The dynamics of division and interphase cell size in the growing ovule of Pinus silvestris was studied on histological slides in the year of fertilization. A constant extension in size of dividing cells of the endosperm was shown which, in this respect, do not differ much from the interphase ones. Cell division and elongation in this tissue occur simultaneously to be completed only with the transition of cell to differentiation. The size extention of the dividing cell does not influence the frequency of cell division. In the integument and the nucleus, the value of dividing cells is relatively constant. At the transition of these cells to elongation their mitotic activity decreases shaply to stop completely after-wards. Cell division and elongation are divided here in time.


Edited by M A DeVita, K Hillman, R Bellomo. Berlin: Springer, 2005, 316 pages. $49.95, ISBN 0387279202

The rapid adoption of hospital Medical Emergency Teams (METs), also called Rapid Response Teams, has been remarkable. This has been hastened by the inclusion of METs as one of the six strategies employed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100 000 Lives Campaign. More than 3000 US hospitals have indicated their participation in this ambitious initiative.

METs consist of two or three health professionals—often a nurse, respiratory therapist, and physician—working as a team with a specific plan for responding to a patient crisis. Using defined criteria, a team is called to the bedside of a hospitalized patient whose clinical condition has become unstable. This simple strategy is designed to cut through hospital …


The equations of motion are coupled with a dynamical variable, referred to as twirler, which randomizes the angular momentum. The equations are time-reversal invariant, just as those for the standard Gaussian, Nosé-Hoover and configurational thermostats. The derivation of the basic equations is outlined. Test calculations are performed for the two-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator and for a nonlinear elastic dumbbell, used as a simple model to study properties of polymer molecules. Graphs of characteristic quantities and orbits, some of which are rather intriguing, are displayed. As applications, the rotational diffusion and the influence of a shear flow on the angular velocity and the deformation of the model polymer are analyzed.


This study investigated the clinical, radiographic, and pathologic features of breast hamartoma. The patients ranged in age from 18 to 89 years, with a mean age of 45 years, and a median age of 43 years. Seventy-five percent of the patients were asymptomatic, other than reporting a breast lump. In two patients, the lesions recurred at 7 and 18 months after the initial resection. The clinical diagnoses were fibroadenoma in 10 cases, carcinoma in 5 cases, hamartoma in 4 cases, and phyllodes tumor and lipoma in 2 other cases. Mammograms were available in 12 cases, the majority of which showed a well-defined mass of homogeneous density. Grossly, these lesions were oval to round, well-circumscribed masses, ranging in size from 1 to 7 cm in maximum dimension (mean, 3.9 cm). The microscopic appearance of these tumors corresponded to their gross appearance. Lesions that were grossly firm, rubbery, and white consisted largely of dense fibroconnective tissue with variable amounts of glandular elements with little adipose tissue. Softer, pale, yellow lesions contained more adipose tissue. A consistent and important diagnostic feature was the presence of both lobules and ducts, in contrast to fibroadenoma in which lobules are often absent or rare. The current trend of mammographic breast screening has made us aware that mammary hamartomas are not uncommon. These lesions may go unrecognized by the pathologists because they show all the constituents of normal breast tissue and may be reported as "no pathological diagnosis" or "normal breast tissue," which are inappropriate diagnoses for a lesion that presents as a palpable and a well-circumscribed mass.


The problem of imaging ecological harm is not getting any easier. Artists who have taken a documentary approach now seem almost quaint in their investments. Painters from the nineteenth-century Hudson River School, for example, gave audiences composite scenes of a romantic, indigenous wilderness on the cusp of industrial expansion. A hundred years later, in distilled photographs of western mountain ranges, lakes, and dunes, Ansel Adams expunged the human presence altogether, instead sacralizing nature. These ways of seeing are tricky in the face of contemporary environmental problems, largely because they register and reinforce certain binaries--nature/culture, city/country, human/nonhuman that routinely collapse under the operations of advanced capitalism. How then to picture the damage wreaked by these operations? And how to picture it in ways that are sensitive to the enduring appeal of that which we call natural? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The landscape aesthetics of Alejandro Cartagena offer one possibility. Dominican-born Cartagena spent two years photographing the desiccation of streams and rivers in and around the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Mexico. Entitled "Lost Rivers" (2007 08), the resulting series makes up part of Cartagena's larger project on Mexican real estate development, which tackles the complexities of tract housing, home ownership, and inner-city decay. "Lost Rivers" is an integrated feature of "Suburbia Mexicana: Cause and Effect" (2006 09), a lush and moving testimony of the toll taken on ecosystems enmeshed in the region's rapid growth. Crucially, Cartagena's art also represents a rediscovery of imagemakers featured in the watershed exhibit "New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape." Curated in 1975 by William Jenkins at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, and re-launched in 2009 for an international tour, the exhibit featured work by Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, and six others, and marked a radical turning point in picturing the American landscape. The New Topographers eschewed idealized treatments of nature by showing, with an understated irony, its presence as a constitutive part of the built environment. These sharply focused photographs look familiar elements of the landscape tradition trees, mountains, deserts, waterways--and placed them in matter-of-fact conversation with the subdivisions, roadsides, industrial parks, and parking lots that stood by and around them. (1) More central to Cartagena's practice, however, is the extent to which their man-altered landscapes resonate with the current experience and effects of Monterrey's sprawl and Latin American suburbanization more broadly. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This past summer, I had the opportunity to interview the photographer about these and related concerns. Our lengthy email exchange revealed "Lost Rivers" as an exploration of the shifting and layered dimensions of all environments under strain. Cartagena gives us a potent example of what cultural theorist Ursula Heise provocatively calls "eco-cosmopolitanism," an environmental imagination that, while responsible to the local, refuses to stay in and speak from one particular place. (2) LISA UDDIN: I want to begin from a place of urgency. I've been digesting the daily stream of images coming in from the BP Oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, mostly from a popular photo blog called The Big Picture. (3) Today's scenes, for example, include an aerial shot of an oil slick moving toward an umbrella-lined beach, a wide-angled image of pooling oil along coastal marshlands, and several close-ups of coated pelicans, turtles, and crabs struggling at the shoreline. I find it difficult to breathe when I look at these pictures, and they resonate with me long after I stop looking. I am wondering if and how they are affecting you. ALEJANDRO CARTAGENA: So many things come to mind when looking at those images: greed, helplessness, anger, tragedy, disgrace. …


may be responsible for stress. Though this possibility should not be overlooked, simple observation of increased smoking during war time suggests that smoking alleviates stress or fulfils some other basic human need (for example, relieves boredom) for many people, a view consistent with the US Surgeon-General's recognition of "significant beneficial effects of smoking primarily in the area of mental health."3 Dr T Khosla and Professor H Campbell (2 February, p 331) suggested that, by restricting my attentions to those under 65, I had given a misleading picture of the effects of giving up smoking in all age ranges. Certainly, as they point out, deaths from smoking-associated disease are common in the old and deaths from stress-related disease rare; but they overlook the fact that the association of mortality with smoking, especially for heart disease, is much stronger in the young than the old.4 In any case, not only do a substantial proportion of older people give up smoking anyway5 but one's main concern is surely with prevention of early deaths. Professor M R Alderson (12 January, p 108) quotes the conclusion of Fletcher and Doll6 that doctors who stopped smoking were in general aware more of benefits than of any sense of deprivation, either physical or physiological. Although such a result could be accredited to the "Hawthorne effect"' (that is, a tendency to report what is expected) this may still be true. What is of interest is that a substantial number of doctors actually reported disadvantages from stopping. The point I was making was that giving up smoking nay have adverse consequences to sonme people, not that it had adverse consquences on balance for everyone. Professor Alderson also states that I suggested that male doctors' mortality trends declined in the period 1931-5 1. I did not-my whole paper was concerned with trends in mortality relative to those in control groups and not with trends in absolute mortality rates at all. Dr Joan M Davies and Clair Chilvers (9 February, p 400) in fact suggest that study of trends in absolute mortality rates might have been more appropriate. I avoided this because I felt it unreasonable to assume that cigarette smoking was the only exposure variable which had changed over the period 1951-71. I found their alternative "summary and conclusions" misleading, as it appeared too ready to attribute all the "savings" and none of the "losses" to giving up smoking when, as pointed out above, the story is by no means so simple.


P175

 A series of studies has shown that chronic insulin and glucose infusion does not increase mean arterial pressure (MAP) in dogs, but we have shown that the same infusion protocol or infusion of the glucose alone increases arterial pressure in rats. Thromboxane (TX) and prostaglandin (PG) production increase during the infusion, and the pressor response in rats is TX-dependent. This study tested whether in dogs PG production prevents arterial pressure from increasing. Six dogs were instrumented and assigned in random crossover design to chronic cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibition or vehicle. Following control measurements, hyperinsulinemia was induced in all dogs with a 6-day iv. infusion of 50% dextrose (950 ml or 475 g glucose/day), which raised plasma insulin from 14±3 to 45±5 μU/ml with no significant change in blood glucose during the infusion. MAP (measured 24 h/d) decreased in control dogs during glucose infusion as shown previously but increased significantly in the dogs with COX-2 inhibition (between-group difference ∼ 9 mm Hg). Heart rate increased similarly in both groups, as shown previously, and there were no between-group differences in sodium excretion. The acute depressor response to a 10 mg iv. bolus of arachidonic acid was blocked completely in dogs during COX-2 inhibition but there was no GI distress associated with chronic inhibitor treatment. This is the first study to report a chronic pressor response with hyperinsulinemia in dogs and it also suggests that the inability to detect this relationship previously was due to COX-2-mediated prostaglandin production.


The ubiquity of sensor technology and the Internet
of Things prompted us to propose to develop an end-to-end
communication architecture for real-time digital dashboards to
visualize the anxiety risks of a population during a pandemic, as
in the case of COVID-19. Such an architecture can be regarded
as the next-generation anxiety risk classification mean for the
healthcare industry 4.0 as it will be capable of generating
automated and quick actions through the use of analytics on the
collected data and predefined thresholds. Based on Internet of
Things and wearable healthcare sensors, the proposed end-to-end
communication architecture is capable of detecting physiological
data related to heart rate, blood pressure, and SPO2, and
communicate them to remote cloud servers. Based on this
collected data, the centralized dashboard will classify in real
time the patients of each geographic region involved according
to a specific attribute, namely: normal, mild, moderate, high,
severe, or extreme. In addition, we also propose to incorporate
the emerging technologies of Space Time Frequency Spreading
(STFS) and Space-Time Spreading-Aided Indexed Modulation
(STS-IM) for the design of the communication links. It has
been found that the integration of STFS and STS-IM promises
to reduce the likelihood of data disruption for the proposed
architecture.


Up to now, most open source software deployments have been in invisible infrastructure applications running on back-office servers (GNU/Linux, Apache, and so on). Beaumont Hospital in Ireland recently started developing its overall information systems infrastructure by deploying more visible desktop and front-office open source applications in addition to GNU/Linux and Apache. In a two-phase open source implementation, Beaumont will save over /spl euro/ 20 million over five years.


IntroductionThe United States developed as a country imbued with the belief that it held a somehow unique and unifying vocation that was best formulated in the key phrase of nineteenthcentury westward expansion "Manifest Destiny," which held that the U.S. had a divinely ordained fate to expand across the North American continent, and ultimately to redeem the Old World. While the twentieth century saw this ideology take concrete form in a nation that eventually achieved the status of a unique superpower, the first decade of the twenty-first century has often been suggested to reflect a relative decline in the United States' global standing. Assuming that this decline is unavoidable would be to participate in a form of fatalism, allowing neither the chance for the United States' core strengths to demonstrate the contrary, nor the possibility that geopolitical events may at some point potentially keep other countries from rising.If, during the last Bush Administration, the United States frequently resorted to the use of hard power as a quick answer to certain issues, under Barack Obama's presidency, some events have suggested a change in the way the U.S. resorts to hard power, eventually "re-casting the way America should approach the world." !Indeed, numerous cases have indicated that the U.S. is currently more moderate than could have been expected, based on the previous eight years. For example, President Obama announced in 2010 the plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by 2014. Simultaneously, and especially in 2011, the White House exerted unusual pressure on Israel with respect to the latter' s potential action against Iran.2 Parallel to that, events in Libya during the fall of the Gaddafi regime did not reflect an unquestioning willingness to resort to force; indeed, haste seems to be the last word to use to describe the White House's approach to intervention in Syria as well. Concretely, more emphasis has been placed on diplomacy and low-profile actions, such as frequent use of armed drones, targeted elimination, and negotiation (although some of these actions have received significant media attention). Surrounding this unusual stance, a desire to clarify relations with Islam has also emerged. Manifested in President Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo, this more temperate approach has perhaps helped mitigate some resentment against U.S. military interventionism throughout the Muslim world.Obama, who was believed - at least from a European perspective - to be a much more peaceful president than his predecessor, has remained above all a Commander-inChief, seeing himself as elected and inclined to act to protect U.S. interests.3 He seems to view the option to use military force - as reflected in the 2010 National Security Strategy - through the lens of attempting to rebalance the use of force, to render the decision somehow surprising, and less predictable than in the past.4 All in all, the United States has seemed to adopt a new approach to the use of force, one combining reflective moderation and the judicious use of military assets.Given this framework, the thesis of this article is that a new approach to the decision about whether to resort to force could give the U.S. the opportunity to revitalize its global leadership. This revitalization springs from three advantages that such an approach offers. First, moderation will mitigate the resentment triggered by previous excessive U.S. military interventionism. Second, withdrawal from the open-ended wars that are part of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) will allow energy to be refocused on the Obama Administration's other core priorities (economy, education). Third, a flexible and adaptive military culture will help deter or address current and upcoming threats. These foundations will assist the revitalization of U.S. leadership around the world. Consequently, this essay will analyze Obama' s doctrine by reviewing some main events reflecting his "unspoken" foreign policy doctrine, before advocating for a more flexible military capability that will participate in returning the United States to a position of political and moral leadership, if used wisely. …


We demonstrated that the copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction could be performed inside live mammalian cells without using a chelating azide. Under optimized conditions, the reaction was performed in human ovary cancer cell line OVCAR5 in which newly synthesized proteins were metabolically modified with homopropargylglycine (HPG). This model system allowed us to estimate the efficiency of the reaction on the cell membranes and in the cytosol using mass spectrometry. We found that the reaction was greatly promoted by a tris(triazolylmethyl)amine Cu ligand tethering a cell-penetrating peptide. Uptake of the ligand, copper, and a biotin-tagged azide in the cells was determined to be 69 2, 163 3 and 1.3 0.1 mM, respectively. After 10 minutes of reaction, the product yields on the membrane and cytosolic proteins were higher than 18% and 0.8%, respectively, while 75% of cells remained viable. By reducing the biothiols in the system by scraping or treatment with N-ethylmalemide, the reaction yield on the cytosolic proteins was greatly improved to 9% and 14%, respectively, while the yield on the membrane proteins remained unchanged. The results indicate that out of many possibilities, deactivation of the current copper catalysts by biothiols is the major reason for the low yield of the CuAAC reaction in the cytosol. Overall, we have improved the efficiency for the CuAAC reaction in live cells by 3-fold. Despite the low yield inside live cells, products that strongly bind to the intracellular targets can be detected by mass spectrometry. Hence, the in situ CuAAC reaction can be potentially used for screening of cell-specific enzyme inhibitors or biomarkers containing 1,4-substituted 1,2,3-triazoles.


The present work was designed to study the potency of Salvinia molesta (SM) as feedstuff influencing meat characteristics in ducks for the first time. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate the effects of fermented (FSM) and nonfermented (NFSM) SM powder as a duck feed supplement on the lipid composition (fat, total cholesterol, LDL, and HDL levels) and fatty acid profile of duck meat, as well as its protein and water content. This study included eighty 4-week-old ducks, which were assigned at random to 2 groups based on treatment: basal diets (control) and supplementation with SM (15% NFSM, 15% FSM, 17.5% FSM, and 20% FSM). The results indicated that SM significantly decreased the levels of total cholesterol and LDL of the duck meat while the HDL level significantly increased (P < 0.05). On the other hand, there was no change in the protein and water content of the duck meat because of SM supplementation. Furthermore, the levels of all fatty acids' composition except linolenic acid were significantly different between the control (basal diet) and treatment (SM diets) groups. Thus, SM, an invasive plant, can be used as a new dietary source of fatty acids for the production of healthy duck meat.


Absorption or screening of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation by the epidermis may be an important protective method by which plants avoid damage upon exposure to potentially harmful UV-B radiation. In the present study we examined the relationships among epidermal screening effectiveness, concentration of UV-absorbing compounds, epidermal anatomy and growth responses in seedlings of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L.). Seedlings of each species were grown in a greenhouse at the University of Maryland under either no UV-B radiation or daily supplemental UV-B radiation levels of 4, 8 or 11 kJ m−2 of biologically effective UV-B (UV-BBE) radiation. Loblolly pine seedlings were subsequently grown in the field under either ambient or supplemental levels of UV-B radiation. At the conclusion of the growing season, measurements of epidermal UV-B screening effectiveness were made with a fiber-optic microprobe. In loblolly pine, less than 0.5% of incident UV-B radiation was transmitted through the epidermis of fascicle needles and about 1% was transmitted in primary needles. In contrast, epidermal transmittance in sweetgum ranged from about 20% in leaves not preconditioned to UV-B exposure, to about 10% in leaves grown under UV-B radiation. The concentration of UV-absorbing compounds was unaffected by UV-B exposure, but generally increased with leaf age. Increases in epidermal thickness were observed in response to UV-B treatment in loblolly pine, and this accounted for over half of the variability in UV-B screening effectiveness. In spite of the low levels of UV-B penetration into the mesophyll, delays in leaf development (both species) and final needle size (loblolly pine) were observed. Seedling biomass was reduced by supplemental UV-B radiation in loblolly pine. We hypothesize that the UV-induced growth reductions were manifested by changes in either epidermal anatomy or epidermal secondary chemistry that might negatively impact cell elongation.


Abstract Resistance to carbapenems in human pathogens is a growing clinical and public health concern. The carbapenems are in an antimicrobial class considered last-resort, they are used to treat human infections caused by multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales, and they are classified by the World Health Organization as 'High Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials'. The presence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CREs) of animal-origin is of concern because targeted studies of Canadian retail seafood revealed the presence of carbapenem resistance in a small number of Enterobacterales isolates. To further investigate this issue, a risk profile was developed examining shrimp and salmon, the two most important seafood commodities consumed by Canadians and Escherichia coli, a member of the Enterobacterales order. Carbapenem-resistant E. coli (CREc) isolates have been identified in shrimp and other seafood products. Although carbapenem use in aquaculture has not been reported, several classes of antimicrobials are utilised globally and co-selection of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms in an aquaculture setting is also of concern. CREs have been identified in retail seafood purchased in Canada and are currently thought to be uncommon. However, data concerning CRE or CREc occurrence and distribution in seafood are limited, and argue for implementation of ongoing or periodic surveillance.


Although families have appeared in the media in various forms and mediums, representations of family now include a newer genre of social media influencers known as family influencers (Abidin, 2017). Family influencers post user-generated content (UGC) on social media platforms of and about their families and lives as a form of income to achieve micro-celebrity status (Abidin, 2017). The ACE Family is one of the most popular and subscribed to family influencers and have consistently posted videos following their lives and success over the past few years. With a multitude of different types of videos on their channel to engage their viewers, some of their videos show more of their day-to-day lives and activities. This research paper explores representations of family and elements of parasocial interaction theory with family influencers by using the ACE Family as a case study to analyze a sample of eight of their videos representing their daily lives over the course of two years from 2017 to 2018. Informed by parasocial interaction theory and previous studies, the textual and visual analysis largely consists of emergent coding to answer the research questions: (1) What elements of the Parasocial Interaction Theory and affordances of user-generated content does the ACE Family use? (2) In what ways and with what techniques does the ACE Family convey ideas of family through their self-produced YouTube videos? The results revealed that the ACE Family frequently and consistently uses various parasocial interaction strategies to convey images of normalcy while presenting non-traditional ideas of family similar to professionally produced programming. This paper contributes to understandings of how parasocial interaction strategies can be effectively used in portraying representations or images of social media influencers and how media portrayals of family are evolving with the affordances of user-generated content.


Previous research indicates learning words facilitates categorization. In the current study, we investigated whether learning about a category facilitates word learning (retention) by presenting 2-year-old children with multiple referent selection trials to the same object category. Children either encountered the same exemplar repeatedly or encountered multiple exemplars across trials. All children did very well on the initial task. However, only children who encountered multiple exemplars retained these mappings after a short delay. Overall, these data provide strong evidence that providing children with the opportunity to compare across exemplars during referent selection facilitates retention


This work presents a new interactive learning method for spoken word acquisition through human-machine multimodal interfaces. During the course of learning, a machine makes a decision about whether an orally input word is a word in the lexicon the machine has learned using both speech and visual cues. Learning is carried out on-line, incrementally, based on a combination of active and unsupervised learning principles. If the machine judges with a high degree of confidence that its decision is correct, it learns the statistical models of the word and a corresponding image class as its meaning in an unsupervised way. Otherwise, it asks the user a question in an active way. The function used to estimate the degree of confidence is also learned adaptively on-line. Experimental results show that the method enables a machine and a user to adapt to each other, which makes the learning process more efficient.


We consider the problem of fairly allocating indivisible goods, focusing on a recently-introduced notion of fairness called maximin share guarantee: Each player's value for his allocation should be at least as high as what he can guarantee by dividing the items into as many bundles as there are players and receiving his least desirable bundle. Assuming additive valuation functions, we show that such allocations may not exist, but allocations guaranteeing each player 2/3 of the above value always exist, and can be computed in polynomial time when the number of players is constant. These theoretical results have direct practical implications.


Transformers are the mainstream of NLP applications and are becoming increasingly popular in other domains such as Computer Vision. Despite the improvements in model quality, the enormous computation costs make Transformers difficult at deployment, especially when the sequence length is large in emerging applications. Processing attention mechanism as the essential component of Transformer is the bottleneck of execution due to the quadratic complexity. Prior art explores sparse patterns in attention to support long sequence modeling, but those pieces of work are on static or fixed patterns. We demonstrate that the sparse patterns are dynamic, depending on input sequences. Thus, we propose the Dynamic Sparse Attention (DSA) that can efficiently exploit dynamic sparse patterns in attention. Compared with other methods, our approach can achieve better trade-offs between accuracy and model complexity. Moving forward, we identify challenges and provide solutions to implement DSA on existing hardware (GPUs) and specialized hardware in order to achieve practical speedup and efficiency improvements for Transformer execution.


Crossing borders Perspectives on learning in a school musical project This article focuses on in what ways learning arose and developed in a school musical project, what it was like, and how one can understand this activity in an educational context? The school musical project was put on in collaboration with the ninth form of a lower secondary school and the municipality's leisure-time centre. The study was based on observations, interviews and focused group discussions. The participants' social and artistic interactions, together with the common artefacts, joint commitment, and influences from both school and leisure activity had a major impact on the creation of a cross border-learning environment. Status and hierarchies among the pupils were renegotiated due to the impact of that new learning environment. The lower secondary school curriculum describes measurable knowledge in separate subjects, providing clear contents and strong classification as legitimate knowledge. The project had an optional nature, as it involved no marks, but was rather based on subject integration with a zone of unpredictability. Hence a dilemma occurred. The voluntary, interdisciplinary nature of the project, partly in contrast to a curriculum dominated by compulsory individual school subjects, could support an educational alternative that can challenge traditional model of teaching.


—The majority of existing key management schemes in wireless sensors networks suffer from the physically compromised of nodes. This vulnerability allows an adversary to reproduce clones from a compromised node and to inject them into several locations on the network to conduct other types of attacks. Moreover, the joining of new nodes to the network (for maintenance), which is an inevitable step to prolong its life or to correct voids, presents the best opportunity to conduct such an attack. In this paper, we review several key management schemes and we highlight their weakness regarding the cloning attack.


The tender age of Juliet Capulet provides the focus of the initial conversation between Lord Capulet and Count Paris in Romeo and Juliet. She is still a child, says her father, "a straunger in the world" who "hath not seene the chaunge of fourteen yeares"; she should be at least 16, he says, before she will be ready for marriage.(1) In Shakespeare's primary source, a long narrative poem by Brooke, she is 16 (or nearly so), and in another English version he might have known, the translation of a novella by Bandello, she is almost 18, yet in both accounts she is still considered too young for marriage.(2) A very young Juliet, therefore, appears to have been Shakespeare's idea. Is it to emphasize the "charm of her girlish directness, the pathos of her passion," to amplify the drama of her progress from innocence to suicide, or merely to "apologize to the audience for the boy who played so difficult a part"?(3) As for Romeo's age, Shakespeare makes him merely a "yong" man (E3; 2.4.119), whereas Brooke describes him as so young his "tender chyn" sports no beard (54), thus perhaps 15-17, and Bandello gives his age as 20 or 21 (349). The notion that Elizabethan couples married young has been challenged recently by social historians. Although the setting of Romeo and Juliet appears to be early 14th Century Italy, Shakespeare's cultural model is primarily Elizabethan England, where physical maturity developed later than it does today: girls matured at 14-15, boys at 16-18. Youths under 15 were still considered children. The earliest legal age for marriage, the age of consent or discretion, was 14, but early teenage marriages were rare, and in the few cases on record, the children were either not formally betrothed or not allowed to consummate their vows until much older.(4) Popular manuals of health, as well as observations of married life, led Elizabethans to believe that early marriage and its consummation permanently damaged a young woman's health, Impaired a young man's physical and mental development, and produced sickly or stunted children. In opposing the marriage of her 13-year-old granddaughter, Anne Clopton alludes to the "danger [that] might ensue to her very life from her extreme youth" (Stone, Crisis 656). Capulet echoes such a concern in telling Paris, "Too soone mard are those so early made" (B2;, 1.2.13). The general view was that motherhood before 16 was dangerous (Stone, Crisis 656-57); as a consequence, 18 came to be considered the earliest reasonable age for motherhood (Camden 94) and 20 and 30 the ideal ages for women and men, respectively, to marry (Cook 23). In actuality, however, Elizabethan women married even later, at an average age of 25-26, and men at 27-29, the oldest of any society known.(5) Shakespeare's wife and eldest daughter Susanna are typical, marrying at about 26 and 24, while his youngest, Judith, did not marry until 31. That Capulet would offer his daughter to Paris despite her "extreme youth," thus forcing Juliet to marry Romeo secretly, must have been appalling to an Elizabethan. One historian even wonders whether Shakespeare was deliberately writing a play about the dangers of love and marriage among boys and girls.(6) The playwright's own unsatisfactory marriage at 18 may have initiated him to some of the unpleasant consequences of premature marriage. Shakespeare's alteration of Juliet's age and deliberate disregard of social custom seem to single out her age for special attention (Cook 28). An obvious consequence is to lessen the young couple's responsibility for the disaster that engulfs them (Muir 171-72). Yet beyond this, Shakespeare's symbolic use of Juliet's age casts over the lovers an ominous shadow, clearly implied in Capulet's prediction that ignoring natural and social practice invites disaster. Ignoble of him, then, to become the pander for Paris, even though he considers the Count a highly suitable match for Juliet. For his part, Paris apparently wishes to marry Juliet immediately to forestall rivals in securing the Capulet estate. …


Hydrocephalus is a common neurological condition that can have traumatic ramifications and can be lethal without treatment. Nowadays, during therapy radiologists have to spend a vast amount of time assessing the volume of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by manual segmentation on Computed Tomography (CT) images. Further, some of the segmentations are prone to radiologist bias and high intraobserver variability. To improve this, researchers are exploring methods to automate the process, which would enable faster and more unbiased results. In this study, we propose the application of U-Net convolutional neural network in order to automatically segment CT brain scans for location of CSF. U-Net is a neural network that has proven to be successful for various interdisciplinary segmentation tasks. We optimised training using state of the art methods, including "1cycle" learning rate policy, transfer learning, generalized dice loss function, mixed float precision, self-attention, and data augmentation. Even though the study was performed using a limited amount of data (80 CT images), our experiment has shown near human-level performance. We managed to achieve a 0.917 mean dice score with 0.0352 standard deviation on cross validation across the training data and a 0.9506 mean dice score on a separate test set. To our knowledge, these results are better than any known method for CSF segmentation in hydrocephalic patients, and thus, it is promising for potential practical applications.


The SA HealthPlus Coordinated Care Trial in the Eyre Region began in fortuitous circumstances. First, it coincided with the completion of the Eyre Regional Health Service (ERHS) needs assessment in 1996, which highlighted outstanding health service needs and community concerns in relation to health care across the region. Second, although conceived as a formal trial, using standard research techniques, scientific processes and formal control groups to test significant differences between intervention and control groups, the trial did not conform strictly to the rules of social science or pure science and became more an exercise in action research. More significantly still, the Eyre Region became involved in the process, not so much as a way of proving a concept (the SA Health Plus hypotheses around utilisation, funding and health outcomes), but as a way of creating opportunities for change in the regional health system. If nothing else, the region stood to benefit from the implementation of the trial and involvement in the trial process. The present paper outlines the impact of the Eyre Coordinated Care Trial, not in terms of hypotheses and data analysis, but in terms of the impact of the trial processes on systems change and the evolution of an outcome-based health system. Such a system has the potential to deliver improved health outcomes to communities within existing financial resources and make much more effective use of resources by integrating care delivery and encouraging collaboration between health providers. In addition, the success of the change process in Eyre also supports the notion that change is not necessarily predicated upon scientific processes and research outcomes alone, but also upon the human and social structures associated with such endeavours. This perspective also contributes to the debate about the nature and role of science in the advancement of knowledge.


Changes in the labor market are due to changes in production processes. Automation and globalization lead to the need to update the skills of the workforce. Finding and accessing jobs is all the easier as people have a high level of education. In a globalized economy, maintaining a high level of competitiveness is a major challenge. Vocational education and training systems can provide the skills, knowledge and competencies needed for new jobs. Vocational education and training programs are thus solutions by which the lack of skills or skills gaps can be filled. For the period 2000-2020, the article presents the comparative situation of the share of the adult population with tertiary education attainment. Their participation in lifelong education and training programs is very important. The comparative situation of participation rate in education and training is also analyzed. The labor market can influence the areas that high school graduates can pursue in higher education. Thus, the article presents the distribution of tertiary education graduates according to field of education.


ALL THAT IS GENITAL IS NOT VENEREAL Unusual cases with lesions on genitals Genital disease (GD) has a broad spectrum. Though sexual transmission obviously plays a major role in its pathogenesis, many diseases with genital presentation are not sexually transmitted diseases (STD) but due to strong clinical resemblance cause a lot of diagnostic confusion and therapeutic misadventures. We report 4 such cases. Case 1 and 2 A 35 yr old female presented with recurrent attacks of itchy, painful lesions over the genitals along with musculo-articular symptoms. On examination there were classical "knife cut ulcers" over the labia, perianal areas and inframammary folds. Another 26 year old unmarried female presented with vulvar lesions. Indurated tender swelling, ulceration of the vulva, violaceous plaques with edoema were present. Histopathology showed epitheloid cell granuloma with occasional Langhans giant cells. Clinicopathological correlation clinched both cases as Metastatic Crohn's disease which responded to a course of oral metronidazole and corticosteroids. Case 3 A young male presented with penile swelling, multiple discharging ulcers since 2 months. There was distortion of the shape and multiple shallow necrotic ulcers on the shaft of the penis with phimosis. Non- tender right inguinal lymphadenopthy. Biopsy showed multiple tuberculoid granulomas. Mantoux test was strongly positive with high ESR suggesting Genital Tuberculosis. The patient was started on AKT. 3 weeks later ulcers healed with destruction of overlying skin. Case 4 A 56 year old married male came with raised lesions and a glazed whitish discolouration of glans penis with phimosis and thinning of urinary stream. Biopsy revealed atypical undifferentiated cells and horn pearls. Imprint cytology and FNAC were done and a final diagnosis of Squamous Cell Carcinoma was made which required partial amputation of penis.


*Increasing evidence about hydraulic redistribution and its ecological consequences is emerging. Hydraulic redistribution results from an interplay between competing plant and soil water potential gradients. In this work, stem-mediated hydraulic redistribution was studied in a 53-year-old Douglas-fir tree during a period of drought. *Sap flux density measurements using the heat field deformation method were performed at four locations: in two large opposing roots and on two sides of the tree stem. Hydraulic redistribution was induced by localized irrigation on one of the measured roots, creating heterogeneous soil water conditions. *Stem-mediated hydraulic redistribution was detected during night-time conditions when water was redistributed from the wet side of the tree to the nonirrigated dry side. In addition to stem-mediated hydraulic redistribution, bidirectional flow in the dry root was observed, indicating radial sectoring in the xylem. *It was observed that, through stem-mediated hydraulic redistribution, Douglas-fir was unable to increase its transpiration despite the fact that sufficient water was available to one part of the root system. This resulted from the strong water potential gradient created by the dry soil in contact with the nonirrigated part of the root system. A mechanism of stem-mediated hydraulic redistribution is proposed and its possible implications are discussed.


OBJECTIVE
In this study, patients admitted with the diagnosis of Eisenmenger syndrome (ES) in a tertiary referral center were analyzed.

METHODS
The data of 20 consecutive patients (mean age: 27.6+1.8 years, 7 male and mean follow-up time: 35.6 ± 9.1 months) with ES were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic characteristics, symptoms, physical examination, laboratory and hemodynamic parameters were analyzed at the time of first admission.

RESULTS
The most frequent underlying heart diseases were ventricular septal defect (VSD) with complex congenital disease (n:8, 40%) and isolated VSD (n:7, 35%). 6-minute walking test distance was 347.9 ± 33.7 meters and 15 patients (75%) had a functional capacity of NYHA Class III, at the time of admission. ES was diagnosed with catheterization in all patients and mean systolic pulmonary arterial pressure measured by catheterization was 112 ± 6.8 mmHg. Pulmonary function tests, FVC (forced vital capacity), FEV1 (forced expiratory volume), FEV1/FVC values were respectively, 3.1 ± 0.4, 2.5 ± 0.4 L and 76.7 ± 3.3%. Metabolic tests were performed in all patients at the first visit. Mean VO2 max was 16.7 ± 1.0 ml / kg/min and VE/VCO2 rate was 53.9 ± 3.2%. Although PH and partial pressure of carbon dioxide levels were within normal range in blood gas analysis, oxygen saturation and partial pressure of oxygen levels were low.

CONCLUSION
The most common underlying heart disease of ES patients is VSD. In this cases exercise capacity is restricted and this restriction is reflected in laboratory parameters.


Improved durability of gas turbine engines is an objective for both military and commercial aeroengines as well as for power generation engines. One region susceptible to degradation in an engine is the junction between the combustor and first vane given that the main gas path temperatures at this location are the highest. The platform at this junction is quite complex in that secondary flow effects, such as the leading edge vortex, are dominant. Past computational studies have shown that the total pressure profile exiting the combustor dictates the development of the secondary flows that are formed. This study examines the effect of varying the combustor liner film-cooling and junction slot flows on the adiabatic wall temperatures measured on the platform of the first vane. The experiments were performed using large-scale models of a combustor and nozzle guide vane in a wind tunnel facility. The results show that varying the coolant injection from the upstream combustor liner leads to differing total pressure profiles entering the turbine vane passage. Endwall adiabatic effectiveness measurements indicate that the coolant does not exit the upstream combustor slot uniformly but instead accumulates along the suction side of the vane and endwall. Increasing the liner cooling continued to reduce endwall temperatures, which was not found to be true with increasing the film-cooling from the liner.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


Effect of imperfect slot synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver on optical synchronous code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems using pulse position modulation as data modulation (PPM/CDMA) is investigated. Optical orthogonal codes (OOC's) are employed as signature sequences, and parallel optic-fiber delay line encoders and correlators are adopted in the transmitters and the receivers, respectively. The upper bound on the bit error probability of PPM/CDMA is derived under the condition that the receiver slot timing shifts from the transmitter timing clock. The bit error probability performance is evaluated for some values of the number of slots per frame, average signal photocount, and the number of simultaneous users. It is shown that as the number of slots per frame increases, the timing offset should be restricted to be smaller to achieve low bit error probability. Further, when the timing offset is small, the improvement of the bit error probability performance with the increase of the number of slots per frame under the photocount per second constraint is shown to be larger than that under the photocount per symbol constraint.


This study adjusts 1960-1996 agricultural productivity gains in a panel of Great Plains states to account for the discharge of pesticide and nitrogen effluents into the environment. The agricultural-environmental technology is approximated with translog distance functions that allow us to contrast traditional versus environmentally adjusted productivity gains. Findings indicate technical change has been increasingly biased toward environmentally friendly production. While the environmental adjustment reduced overall productivity gains during the sample period, in recent years adjusted productivity outpaced the traditional measure, reflecting the pro-environment bias in technical change.


This article concerns the intellectual situation at the court of Alexei Mikhailovich and his heir Fyodor Alekseevich. Several factors (Nikon's reforms and the opposition of the Old Believers, part of the court elite's reliance on western educational models, the invitation of Kievan scribes who spoke Greek, Latin, and Polish to the Moscow Print Yard to supervise the creation of liturgical books and promote translation and publishing activity, and the experience of the first educational establishments) testify to the fact that the culture of the Muscovy faced for the first time the need to choose a strategy for its intellectual activity. The author compares the lives of Juraj Križanic (1618–1683) and Symeon of Polotsk (1629–1680). Križanic arrived in Moscow to realise a union between Moscow and Rome but failed. However, Symeon, a Belarusian who had no missionary objective, managed to carry out nearly all of Križanic's planned intellectual innovations in the Muscovite state. This leads the author to conclude that the ruling elite was internally ready to discover the values of Christian education and enlightenment following western cultural models and that Symeon of Polotsk played a key role in their dissemination and realisation.


BACKGROUND
Aberrant apoptosis in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells is the primary cause of intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). In contrast, a large number of studies have confirmed that autophagy may protect NP cells from apoptosis. Sinomenine is an alkaloid monomer, which has been reported to stimulate cell autophagy. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of sinomenine on IDD.

METHODS
The effects of sinomenine on the proliferation and apoptosis of NP cells were evaluated with the CCK-8 assay and Annexin V/PI staining, respectively.

RESULTS
The data obtained from the present study demonstrated that sinomenine could notably reverse TBHP-induced growth inhibition and apoptosis in rat NP cells. In addition, sinomenine significantly induced autophagy in rat NP cells, which was completely inhibited by 3-methyladenine (3MA). In addition, the protective effect of sinomenine against TBHP in rat NP cells was abolished following treatment with 3MA. Finally, an in vivo study further confirmed that sinomenine could ameliorate rat IDD.

CONCLUSION
Taken together, the results of the present study indicated sinomenine could ameliorate rat IDD via induction of autophagy in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest the therapeutic potential of sinomenine in the prevention of IDD.


Give your trustees the tools needed to translate their experiences and interests into strong results on behalf of their libraries. Current executive director of the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF) and former public library director Sally Gardner Reed draws on her years of success leading Friends of Libraries USA to provide trustees with straightforward, easy-to-read, guidance on how to make the most of their vital role. She guides readers through important issues including sustainable fundraising and advocacy, hiring and evaluating a library director, strategic planning, director-trustee collaboration, and policy development. There is also an extensive examination of the library director's role, with advice for managing staff, determining service strategies, managing budgets, implementing policies and reporting to the board. Readers of The Complete Library Trustee Handbook will be brought up to speed on optimizing board effectiveness, board ethics issues, conflicts of interests, and efficient meeting management, and a chapter on key issues for libraries addresses intellectual freedom, user privacy, pay equity for library workers, privatization of public libraries, and funding.


Soil water-logging can cause severe damage to soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and results in significant yield reduction. The objective of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) that condition water-logging tolerance (WLT) in soybean. Two populations with 103 and 67 F6:11 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from A5403 · Archer (Population 1) and P9641 · Archer (Population 2), respectively, were used as the mapping populations. The populations were evaluated for WLT in manually flooded fields in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Significant variation was observed for WLT among the lines in the two populations. No transgressive tolerant segregants were observed in either population. Broad-sense heritability of WLT for populations 1 and 2 were 0.59 and 0.43, respectively. The tolerant and sensitive RILs from each population were selected to create a tolerant bulk and a sensitive bulk, respectively. The two bulks and the parents of each population were tested with 912 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers to select candidate regions on the linkage map that were associated with WLT. Markers from the candidate regions were used to genotype the RILs in both populations. Both single marker analysis (SMA) and composite interval mapping (CIM) were used to identify QTL for WLT. Seventeen markers in Population 1 and 15 markers in Population 2 were significantly (p <0.0001) associated with WLT in SMA. Many of these markers were linked to Rps genes or QTL conferring resistance to Phytophthora sojae Kaufmann and Gerdemann. Five markers, Satt599 on linkage group (LG) A1, Satt160, Satt269, and Satt252 on LG F, and Satt485 on LG N, were significant (p <0.0001) for WLT in both populations. With CIM, a WLT QTL was found close to the marker Satt385 on LG A1 in Population 1 in 2003. This QTL explained 10% of the phenotypic variation and the allele that increased WLT came from Archer. In Population 2 in 2002, a WLT QTL was located near the marker Satt269 on LG F. This QTL explained 16% of the phenotypic variation and the allele that increased WLT also came from Archer.


Communities that could be affected by infectious disease outbreaks are increasingly recognised as resources that may be effectively utilized by the authorities during public health emergencies.

 This case study project, aiming to identify synergies between communities and authorities, was based on qualitative sources of evidence, including document and media review, stakeholder mapping, interviews and FGDs (N = 137). Four countries were selected for inclusion: Spain and the Netherlands on the basis of emerging tick-born disease incidents; Iceland and Ireland on the basis of acute gastroenteritis outbreaks.

 In the Netherlands and Spain strong synergies were identified in tick surveillance activities, and the value of pre-existing networks of interest groups for preparedness and response activities was recognised. The Icelandic norovirus event was unexpected and fast-moving, while VTEC in Ireland is a familiar and slower-burning challenge. As a relatively common disease in Ireland, VTEC-protocols are closely followed, while a generic all-hazards approach was taken in Iceland. There was considerable community support in the responses in both countries., and in Iceland community representatives also actively participated in producing institutional post-event evaluations.

 An over-riding principle emerging from this study is that an informed, at-risk community understands the challenges to adopting effective preventive practices for themselves better than anyone. Additional good practices included the utilisation of pre-existing stakeholder networks for information dissemination; and of monitoring community perceptions of any public health incident, including through social media, in order to identify and manage misperceptions. Efforts to build on the community engagement activities that are already in place in the four countries could contribute to better preparedness planning and more efficient and timely responses in future outbreaks.

 Recognise the community as a real partner in outbreak preparedness, response, and recovery. Optimise communications with communities who may be affected by outbreaks.


This volume explores the wide diversity in the kinds of networks that have been established between firms in Japan and the Pacific Rim. Editor W. Mark Fruin shows how networks in Japan and Korea are more prescribed and standardized than those found in the United States. For example, Toyota's satellite organizational system is more flexible, open-ended, and market-conforming than General Motors divisional organization. But less market-conforming networks can also arise. In China, for example, networks have arisen because of the unpredictable nature of markets. The contributors to this volume utilize new ideas and data to formulate an understanding of the importance of networks to the success of Asian firms. The book's postmodern approach--seeking not a single model but rather a variety of models of equally probable validity--makes it a unique resource for scholars and professionals in the field.


Copper-catalyzed atom transfer radical polymerization (Cu-ATRP) is one of the most widely used controlled radical polymerization techniques. Notwithstanding the extensive mechanistic studies in the literature, the transition states of the activation/deactivation of the growing polymer chain, a key equilibrium in Cu-ATRP, have not been investigated computationally. Therefore, the understanding of the origin of ligand and initiator effects on the rates of activation/deactivation is still limited. Here, we present the first computational analysis of Cu-ATRP activation transition states to reveal factors that affect the rates of activation and deactivation. The Br atom transfer between the polymer chain and the Cu catalyst occurs through an unusual bent geometry that involves pronounced interactions between the polymer chain end and the ancillary ligand on the Cu catalyst. Therefore, the rates of activation/deactivation are determined by both the electronic properties of the Cu catalyst and the ligand-initiator steric repulsions. In addition, our calculations revealed the important role of ligand backbone flexibility on the activation. These theoretical analyses led to the identification of three chemically meaningful descriptors, namely HOMO energy of the catalyst ( EHOMO), percent buried volume ( Vbur%), and distortion energy of the catalyst (Δ Edist), to describe the electronic, steric, and flexibility effects on reactivity, respectively. A robust and simple predictive model for ligand effect on reactivity is thereby established by correlating these three descriptors with experimental activation rate constants using multivariate linear regression. Validation using a structurally diverse set of ligands revealed the average error is less than ±2 kcal/mol compared to the experimentally derived activation energies. The same approach was also applied to develop a predictive model for reactivity of different alkyl halide initiators using R-X bond dissociation energy (BDE) and Cu-X halogenophilicity as descriptors.