Herein, a novel combined strategy was developed for the preparation of double-shell hollow magnetic ultra-small Au-loaded ellipsoids (Fe@MO2–Au@H–SiO2) as powerful nanoreactors; these ellipsoids comprised double mesoporous shell structures, CeO2 or TiO2 inner active yolks, plenty of sub-3 nm Au nanoparticles (NPs), and magnetic Fe cores. The hierarchical yolk–shell architectures with ellipsoidal Fe2O3@MO2 (M: Ce or Ti)/mSiO2 as yolks/shells were fabricated first via a facile bottom-up assembly process based on sol–gel reactions. After this, encapsulation of numerous extremely stable Au NPs within the shell structures was accomplished via a two-stage reduction process based on the unique deposition–precipitation method mediated with Au(en)2Cl3 compounds; moreover, strong magnetism was integrated into the ellipsoids and inner voids were formed due to the transformation of Fe2O3 into smaller magnetic Fe. Note that ethylenediamine was used as a ligand to synthesize the stable gold precursors [Au(en)2]3+ that were chemically modified onto the double ellipsoidal shells under alkaline conditions. Due to their superior structural properties and enhanced composite synergy, the Fe@MO2–Au@H–SiO2 ellipsoids, especially Fe@CeO2–Au@SiO2, were shown as a highly efficient and recoverable nanocatalysts with outstanding activity and reusability in catalyzing the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol.


The high resolution stratigraphy and fossil assemblage analyses of a carbonate system in the eastern United-Arab-Emirates and Oman suggest the existence of a causal link between palaeodepth, stratigraphic accommodation, carbonate factory and ecosystem evolution. Geodynamic and sequence stratigraphic analyses reveal changes in relative sea-level, whereas a detailed study of fossil associations allows us to establish their concurrent modifications related to change in accommodation space. This multidisciplinary approach should allow to improve prediction of geometric carbonate reservoir distribution and evaluate the bulk of carbonate factory associated with regressive and transgressive tendencies. The Simsima Formation, Maastrichtian (late Cretaceous) in age, has recorded a wide variety of carbonate depositional systems that evolve from coastal plain to outer shelf deposits. This stratigraphic unit includes buildups composed of red algae, rudists and corals, sensitive to relative sea-level fluctuations, and bioaccummulations characterized by isolated corals and benthic foraminifera. The palaeogeographic reconstruction across the Cretaceous-Tertiary transition suggests that seafloor was differentiated into topographic highs and lows that influenced the syndepositional processes recorded in the Simsima Formation.


Introduction: Tuberculosis is mainly associated with diarrhea, vomiting and profuse sweating leading to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and acid base derangements. Treatment with anti tubercular drugs reduces the symptoms and balances the electrolytes. Hence, this study was carried out to assess the electrolyte imbalance among tuberculosis patients and to know the effect of anti tubercular treatment. This study was carried out to study the electrolyte imbalance among newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients and to know the effect of treatment with anti tubercular drugs in improving the electrolyte balance at BRIMS teaching Hospital Bidar.
Materials and Methods: This was observational study conducted in pulmonary Medicine OPD of Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences teaching hospital Bidar. 50 participants were enrolled in our study and assessed for demographic data, serum electrolytes and bicarbonate levels and compared with Tuberculosis patients before and after treatment.
Results: The electrolyte imbalance in terms of decrease in sodium, potassium chloride and bicarbonate values was significantly associate (p Conclusion: In our study, after treatment with antitubercular drugs, electrolyte levels returned to normal. Because of the high incidence of the electrolyte disturbances in tuberculosis patients, close monitoring and aggressive management are mandatory.

Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Electrolytes, Cytochemical changes, Antitubercular drugs.


The promise to keep "secrets of state," once demanded and given, becomes virtually part of one's core identity. In the national security apparatus, one's pride and self-respect is founded in particular in the fact that one has been trusted to keep secrets in general and trusted with these particular secrets. I suggest that there are psycho-social aspects of promises made under these circumstances—bearing on self-image and self-respect, as well as status and acceptance in the larger society— that especially inhibit violating these particular promises. The circumstances I have in mind apply to "secret societies" ranging from the Mafia or associations like the Masons to the CIA, and much more broadly to the Departments of Defense and State and the multitude of corporate contractors that do classified work for the Pentagon and the "intelligence community." Thus what is most feared by most prospective secret-tellers—with good reason— is social isolation, ostracism, exile, if they reveal the secrets of the group. If they are found out, they can expect the loss of friends and relationships, more or less irrevocably, as well as loss of job and career. What would a better secrecy system in a democracy look like? Let's take a moment to be utopian and consider some features it might have or omit, without asking what we could get from this Congress and this president or the next.


In this paper we examine corporate real estate ownership of Shariah Compliant firms in the United States. We investigate the constituents of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index (DJIM) which conform to Shariah principles particularly non-real estate firms which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) and their corporate real estate ownership characteristics from 1996 to 2009. In our analysis we investigate over 1,000 US Shariah compliant companies and their corporate real estate ownership structure from 1996 to 2009.We find a strong correlation with Shariah restricted variables and corporate real estate ownership of Shariah compliant firms. Leverage is significantly positively correlated with corporate real estate ownership (CREO) while Cash + interesting bearing securities are negatively correlated with CREO. We do not find any significant correlation with accounts receivables and CREO. Furthermore we attempt to understand the role of corporate real estate ownership in firm performance particularly systematic risk and idiosyncratic component of return. We find in line with previous studies that a negative relationship between systematic risk and CREO in Shariah compliant firms, however this result is inconsistent when we examine our results based on industry classification. In addition, we find that the CREO of Shariah compliant firms do no explain the idiosyncratic return of Shariah compliant firms as we find a flat relationship between the idiosyncratic component of return (alpha) and corporate real estate ownership. Our results that CREO do not play any role in explaining the firm returns in Shariah compliant firms are robust even when we control for Shariah restrictive variables.


In this paper, we address the problem of cross-layer optimization in medium access control (MAC) and network layers for wireless multicasting with multiple cooperative or competitive source nodes in a simple tandem network. We consider scheduled or random access in MAC layer and model network layer operations as network coding or plain routing. We separately look at the cooperative and competitive operation with total and individual performance objectives. We evaluate the resulting cross-layer interactions between MAC and network layers and specify throughput optimization trade-offs intertwined with energy efficiency objectives. We follow a game-theoretic analysis to point at the inefficiency of the non-cooperative equilibrium with selfish nodes competing for limited network resources. In this context, we introduce distributed cooperation stimulation mechanisms to improve the non-cooperative network operation to the cooperative equilibrium performance


Most of the buildings for high-tech plants are fireproof and the process equipment in the clean room is in compliance with high-standard fire prevention evaluation regulations such as National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), Factory Mutual (FM),and Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). However, fire management is usually neglected though fire protection higher than domestic fire control regulations is applied. Fireproof and smoke-proof design of the original buildings can be damaged due to expansion of production facilities, causing a potential danger of a fire. Cases of fires in domestic semiconductor manufacturing factories were explored in this research and claim settlements provided by MSIG Mingtai InsuranceCo.,Ltd., Taiwan to high-tech plants were analyzed for determination of the quantified weights used by the insurance companies when evaluating fire risks of a building. The fire safety badge promoted by Architecture and Building Research Institute, and Ministry of the Interior was also discussed for reference of fire safety assessments of high-tech factory buildings in the future.


Abstract Individual and maternal additive genetic and heterotic effects were estimated for preweaning, reproductive, and lactation traits of the Sahiwal breed and its crosses with Bos taurus (Ayrshire and Friesian). The individual additive genetic breed effect influenced all cow traits except annual milk yield, and the maternal additive genetic effect influenced all yield traits. The individual and maternal genetic effects between B. taurus and Sahiwal breeds for lactation milk yield were 746 and –601kg, respectively. Individual heterosis for lactation milk yield of 73kg (5%), estimated using the mean of the reciprocal F 1 crosses, was not significant but increased to 374kg (28%) when estimated using only the F 1 cross sired by B. taurus , showing the important influence of maternal effects. Individual additive genetic effects influenced preweaning daily gain and weaning weight. Maternal additive genetic and heterotic effects affected birth weight, and individual heterosis significantly influenced all calf traits. Maternal additive genetic effects may have biased the estimation of individual heterosis for milk yield in other tropical studies. When stratification is not possible or when reproductive rates are low, two-breed rotational crossbreeding is an efficient system to exploit additive and nonadditive genetic variation for tropical dairy production.


This paper investigates the patterns of agricultural productivity growth in 16 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries during the period 1970 - 2000. We use a nonparametric, output-based Malmquist index to examine whether our estimates confirm or invalidate the previous studies results indicating the decrease of agricultural productivity in developing countries. We will show that on average, agricultural productivity growth increased at an annual rate of 1% during the whole period. Our estimations show that technical change is the main source for this growth. Those results weaken as a whole the findings of the other studies, however we find a decrease in agricultural productivity mainly for developing countries suffering from political conflicts and wars. This paper fills the void of hardly any agricultural studies on MENA countries collectively, especially on productivity trends.


While it is heavily contended that macroeconomic policies affect household welfare and several agencies collect welfare data, no formal structure has the specific task of monitoring the conditions of households under changing macroeconomic environment. This paper seeks to identify more precisely and reliably the most vulnerable groups to policy changes by focusing on MIMAP design. It reviews the existing monitoring systems for social and welfare conditions of households and their members and provides a summary of existing data regarding changes on the social and welfare conditions of poorer households. It also identifies the best estimates of welfare trends based on recently available information and recommends a reliable monitoring system that can immediately produce MIMAP information on a regular basis.


Multiple myeloma is a hematological cancer characterized by relapse after treatment and poor prognosis. Ixazomib, a second-generation protease inhibitor, is one of the most recently available treatments for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, while it has also shown good potential as antitumoral agent in preclinical solid tumor models such as breast cancer cell lines. Here we report the case of a 68-year-old female with multiple myeloma and an incidental cT1b (9 mm) hormone receptor positive breast cancer lesion that showed a complete pathological response to a three-month combination therapy with Ixazomib, bendamustine and dexamethasone and no signs of disease relapse during the later follow-up. This is the first case report describing such clinical outcome in breast cancer following Ixazomib, bendamustine and dexamethasone combination therapy. To investigate the potential antitumoral activity of Ixazomib in breast cancer, we performed in vitro experiments using two hormone receptor positive breast cancer cell lines. We assessed the synergism between Ixazomib and bendamustine and the antiproliferative effect of Ixazomib. We found no synergistic interaction between the two drugs, while Ixazomib alone showed an antiproliferative effect against tumoral cells, suggesting that this drug has been responsible for tumor regression in our case.


This Article argues that a national renewable portfolio standard (RPS) for electric power is not likely to advance its purported goals, nor is it likely to be adopted by Congress in its present proposed form. For one, a national RPS would have geographically disproportionate costs - those costs would be focused on a few, mostly natural resource-poor states, whereas the benefits of job growth and technological adoption in infant industries will be elsewhere. Second, the ability of firms to use operational flexibility regarding their nonrenewable fuel mix to substitute other nonrenewable energy sources for traditional fossil fuels undermines the purported climate change benefits of such a requirement, and usually raises costs and increases inefficiency of energy generation as well. Furthermore, a national RPS fails to address preexisting system-level infrastructure siting and cost allocation barriers in the electric power industry. Without broader reforms to the energy industry, significant new investment in renewable power is unlikely.


Studies with L-[125l] triiodothyronine and L-[125l] thyroxine, and with equilibrium dialysis of plasma proteins indicate that rat pituitary binds L-triiodothyronine 9.8 times as strongly as it does L-thyroxine. Injection of even small doses of nonradioactive L-triiodothyronine reduces the pituitary/ plasma ratio of radioactive L-triiodothyronine, an indication of the existence of pituitary binding sites with a limited capacity for L-triiodothyronine. Limited capacity binding sites for L-thyroxine could not be demonstrated.


Mineralogical characterization applied to mineral processing is now widespread. The first step for a mineralogi- cal characterization study is usually size fractionation. Preparation of polished sections is done on size fractions to reduce complications in making representative cross sections of particles with large size differences. A sample is commonly fractionated into five or six size intervals. The drawback of this procedure is that it makes liberation studies more expensive, because one sample actually produces five or six sub-samples that need to be studied, i.e. one from each size interval. Thus to reduce cost of liberation studies, it would be desirable to study the un-sized sample. This paper provides a comparative liberation study of a set of samples both using size fractions and using the un-sized samples. The samples studied are the feed, the concentrate and the tails of a lead rougher flotation circuit. The results consistently show significant differences between the sized and the un-sized samples. Nevertheless, the results indicate that un-corrected liberation data from un-sized samples can be used for comparative studies that involve several related samples. Thus, it is possible to improve (or further understand) a concentrator circuit by using mineralogical data from un-sized samples around such circuit.


Electrospinning of polyacrylonitrile was used to investigate the effect of horizontal vs. vertical fiber deposition methods and operating variables on the degree of nanofiber alignment. A high-speed camera and Fiji image analysis software were used to assess differences and changes in the degree of fiber parallelism, allowing for effective analysis of the impact of operating variables on fiber parallel alignment. The results show that the strength of the electric field affects the fibers to assume a parallel alignment. Too weak the electric field, the fibers are unable to form a straight bundle, but too strong a field results in chaotic fiber alignment. The distance between the collectors influences the angle distribution of the fiber parallel alignment greatly. Comparing the effect of horizontal and vertical electrospinning on fiber alignment shows that horizontal results in a more optimal degree of parallel fiber alignment.


1. Introduction In a paper considering the theoretical foundations of cross-cultural and cross-linguistic understanding, Sajavaara (1988) notes the importance of interaction-based studies for developing our understanding of the ways in which meaning is recovered across linguistic and cultural barriers. He argues for a global, holistic, and context-specific view of the recovery of meaning, which goes beyond the information content of messages and takes into account affective and interpersonal factors as well as the complex and dynamic processes of negotiating and adjusting interpretations in a real-time speech setting. In this paper I will consider how a pragmatic perspective on language and interaction can shed light on processes of creating meaningful discourse in intercultural or international settings. Building on the social and interactional dimension of pragmatics, I examine how sociocultural features of settings and the real-time context of interaction bear relevance to the processes through which speakers whose lingui stic and sociocultural background are not shared participate in and make sense of some communicative tasks and activities. 2. Cross-cultural/cross-linguistic intelligibility and interactional asymmetry One feature of cross-linguistic or cross-cultural intelligibility which is particularly interesting from a pragmatic perspective is interactional asymmetry, in other words different and potentially unequal patterns of participating in and managing interaction in this type of communication (Hutchby 1996; Linell--Luckman 1991). Research on second language acquisition and intercultural or international communication has drawn attention to various forms of asymmetry which arise in situations where participants from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds come into contact. Different and/or unequal access to knowledge and resources, e.g., those related to linguistic and sociocultural aspects of communicative settings, has been linked to problems of understanding and participation rights, and hence relations of dominance or power. Problems of this type have been studied extensively in different areas of research. Studies in contrastive and interlanguage pragmatics (e.g., Kasper -- Blum-Kulka 1993) have sought to identify how language and culture-specific patterns of linguistic action and limited command of the pragmatics aspects of communication may lead to misunderstandings or inappropriate language use. Work in interactional sociolinguistics and intercultural pragmatics, on the other hand, has shown that subtle differences in linguistic and other cues through which participants signal their understanding often give rise to observable interactional trouble (e.g., Gumperz 1992; Roberts -- Davies -- Jupp 1993). Further, discourse pragmatic research has focused on problematic aspects of conversation management and interpersonal relations, e.g., discrepancies in turn-management, sequential aspects of action and topic management (e.g., Clyne -- Ball -- Neil 1991; Scollon -- Scollon 1991). Finally, interaction-oriented studies in second lan guage acquisition research have drawn attention to the "modified" nature of interaction involving non-native speakers, investigating links between the type and amount of interactional modifications (e.g., meaning negotiations) and the process of language acquisition (see e.g., Wesche 1994). Recent work in these fields has drawn attention to the complexities involved in negotiating meaning in an interactional context in at least two important ways. First, it has emphasised the variability of language use in relation to a number of contextual factors. Participants' performance and communicative success or failure have been linked to such features of social context as language proficiency, culture-specific communicative style, knowledge of topic, content expertise or familiarity with task (see e.g., Zuengler 1993). Secondly, studies have documented discrepancies at different levels of discourse organisation ranging from patterns of turn-taking (e. …


There is ample evidence in the visualization community that individual differences matter. These prior works highlight various traits and cognitive abilities that can modulate the use of the visualization systems and demonstrate a measurable influence on speed, accuracy, process, and attention. Perhaps the most important implication of this body of work is that we can use individual differences as a mechanism for estimating people's potential to effectively leverage visual interfaces or to identify those people who may struggle. As visual literacy and data fluency continue to become essential skills for our everyday lives, we must embrace the growing need to understand the factors that divide our society, and identify concrete steps for bridging this gap. This paper presents the current understanding of how individual differences interact with visualization use and draws from recent research in the Visualization, Human-Computer Interaction, and Psychology communities. We focus on the specific designs and tasks for which there is concrete evidence of performance divergence due to individual characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to underscore the need to consider individual differences when designing and evaluating visualization systems and to call attention to this critical future research direction.


A procedure for retrieval of forest parameters is developed using the recently developed fractal-based coherent scattering model (FCSM) and a stochastic optimization algorithm. Since the fractal scattering model is computationally extensive, first a simplified empirical model with high fidelity for a desired forest stand is constructed using FCSM. Inputs to the empirical model are the influential structural and electrical parameters of the forest stand, such as the tree density, tree height, trunk diameter, branching angle, wood moisture, and soil moisture. Other finer structural features are embedded in the fractal model. The model outputs are the polarimetric and interferometric response of the forest as a function of the incidence angle. In this study, a genetic algorithm (GA) is employed as a global search routine to characterize the input parameters of a forest stand from a set of measured polarimetric/interferometric backscatter responses of the stand. The success of the inversion algorithm is demonstrated using a set of measured single-polarized interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data and several FCSM simulation results.


Imitation of Life, one of the classic narratives of racial passing, originated as a 1933 novel by Jewish writer Fannie Hurst, but it is perhaps best known as the 1959 melodrama directed by Douglas Sirk. (1) In the sob-inducing finale of the Sirk film, the prodigal black daughter, who has crossed the color line and passed for white, returns home for her mother's funeral, collapsing in tears on the coffin as she blames herself for her mother's death. Despite the progress of racial politics between the publication of Hurst's novel and the release of Sirk's film, whiteness continues to be positioned as the privileged identity, a positioning that the 1959 adaptation successfully critiques. In the film, the light-skinned daughter, Sarah Jane Johnson, reviles her blackness as an object of self-hatred from a young age. Given a black doll by her white playmate, Susie, Sarah Jane throws the gift to the floor, crying, "I don't want the black one." The camera seizes upon the image of the rejected doll, foreshadowing the inevitable events to come: Sarah Jane's forsaking of her dark-skinned mother in order to reinvent herself as a white woman. With her story's heartbreaking ending, Sarah Jane becomes yet another tragic mulatta, joining the ranks of mixed race women in American literature and culture who typically meet bitter fates for their transgressions of the color line. Almost forty years later, however, the narrative of passing does, finally, experience a significant shift. In contrast to most literary and cultural representations of passing, Danzy Senna's 1998 novel, Caucasia, casts blackness as the ideal, desired identity. For protagonist Birdie Lee and her sister, Cole--offspring of a civil rights movement union between their white activist mother and black intellectual father--whiteness simply pales in comparison. In childhood, Birdie and Cole form strong bonds with each other and with their black heritage. Unlike Sarah Jane who discards the black doll as easily and cruelly as she discards her black identity, the two sisters transfer their love for blackness to Golliwog, the black puppet perversely bestowed on the darker sister, Cole, by their white, blueblood grandmother. Although their mother insists that Golliwog with his "perfect black" circular face, hair of "steel wool," and "perpetually mocking smile" is "a racist tool, a parody, a white-supremacist depiction of African people," the sisters embrace his difference, viewing him as "wild, laughing, cool" (98). By reversing the racial dynamics of more traditional passing narratives such as Imitation of Life, Senna's novel reinvents the theme of passing for a multicultural, post-Civil Rights era to tell the story of a biracial female protagonist who comes of age during the 1970s. Raised to identify as black, the fair-skinned, first-person narrator, Birdie, is educated in her African American heritage at Nkrumah, the black power school she attends in Boston. Acting black does not always come easily to Birdie, who must learn to speak black English, wear her straight hair in tight braids to mask its texture, and accessorize with gold hoops, Sergio Valente Jeans, and Nike sneakers. Once she is initiated into "the art of changing" (62), Birdie is finally able to pass for black, accepted by the most popular girls at school as a member of the Brown Sugar Clique. (2) Birdie's world is turned upside down when her parents' marriage is unable to survive Black Pride. Sandy and Deck Lee divvy up their daughters according to their color: "cinnamon-skinned, curly-haired" (5) Cole disappears with their father, who goes in search of a racial utopia in Brazil, while Birdie and her paranoid mother go underground, eventually recreating lives for themselves in predominantly white small-town New Hampshire. According to Birdie's mother, the fact that her daughter could pass for white would allow them to elude the FBI, who are on her trail, she presumes, for her involvement with a radical activist group. …


Discussions about the opening of science to society have led to several developments: New fields of sustainability science and transformative research have emerged and the "megatrend" of stakeholder participation has reached the academic world and thus research processes. This chalenges the way science is conducted and the tools, methods and theories perceived appropriate. Although researchers integrate stakeholders, the scientific community stil lacks comprehensive theoretical analysis of the practical processes behind it – for example what kind of perceptions scientists have about their role, their objectives, the knowledge to gather, the understanding of science or the science-policy interface. Our paper addresses this research gap by using the categories above to develop four ideal types of stakeholder involvement in science – the technocratic, functionalist, neoliberal, rational and democratic type. In applying the typology which is based on literature review, interviews and practical experience, we identify and discuss three major criticisms raised towards stakeholder involvement in science: the legitimacy of stakeholder claims, the question whether bargaining or deliberation are part of the stakeholder process and the question of the autonomy of science. Thus, the typology helps scientists to beter understand the major critical questions that stakeholder involvement raises and enables them to position themselves.


The problem of noise in power transformer was pay attention to by this paper. The paper presents the design methodology for the active noise control (ANC) of sound disturbances in power transformer. The active noise attenuation algorithm uses the framework of output-error based optimization of a linearly parameterized filter for feedforward sound compensation to select optimal location of sensor and demonstrate the effectiveness of active noise attention in a large power transformer. The ANC controller can automatically measure the sound disturbances and select the compensate parameters to realize the noise cancellation. With 220kV power transformer noise cancellation, for example, the simulating results prove that the ANC technology to cancel the noise in power transformer is an effective way.


Objectives: To compare insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1/alpha-fetoprotein (IGFBP-1/AFP) to placental alpha microglobulin-1 (PAMG-1) for diagnosis of premature fetal membranes rupture (PROM). Methods: 220 pregnant women ≥ 37 and <39 weeks gestation studied and classified into two groups; study group (PROM) and control group (no PROM). Examination of the studied women followed by abdominal ultrasound (TAS) and sterile vaginal speculum examination to visualize amniotic fluid leaking and for collection of samples for fern, nitrazine, AmniSure® and AmnioQuick® Duo+ tests on admission. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of AmnioQuick® Duo+ test to detect PROM was 93.6% and 86.4%; respectively compared to 95.5% and 89.1%; respectively for AmniSureR test, 72.7% and 80.9%; respectively for fern test and 76.4% and 83.6%; respectively for nitrazine test. PPV, NPV and accuracy of AmnioQuick® Duo+ test to detect PROM were 87.3%, 93.1% and 90%; respectively compared to 89.7, 95.1% and 92.3%; respectively for AmniSureR test, 79.2%, 74.8% and 76.8%; respectively for fern test and 82.4%, 77.97% and 80%; respectively for nitrazine test. AmnioQuick® Duo+ and AmniSure® tests had higher sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and accuracy to detect PROM compared to conventional diagnostic tests. Conclusion: AmnioQuick® Duo+ test for detection of IGFBP-1/AFP was rapid, accurate bedside test better than the individual conventional diagnostic tests and has same accuracy and performance like AmniSure® test.


Presurgical orthodontic treatment may be hampered by anomalous anatomic relations, function and dento-alveolar compensation. A stabilizing, solid postsurgical occlusion requires presurgical dento-alveolar decompensation. Some sagittal overcorrection simplifies postsurgical orthodontic treatment. In distorelations, a diastema created between maxillary lateral incisors and cuspids may be helpful in this respect. The diastema is providing space for overcorrection and consequently the postsurgical orthodontic treatment can be simplified. In mesiorelations, creating additional space is not required because premature frontal contact is not a disturbing factor. Conversely, in short face patients frontal contact is just useful for gaining facial height.


Prion diseases are a group of incurable infectious terminal neurodegenerative diseases caused by the aggregated misfolded PrPsc in selected mammals including humans. The complex physical interaction between normal prion protein PrPc and infectious PrPsc causes conformational change from the α- helix structure of PrPc to the β-sheet structure of PrPsc, and this process is repeated. Increased oxidative stress is one of the factors that facilitate the conversion of PrPc to PrPsc. This overview presents evidence to show that increased oxidative stress and inflammation are involved in the progression of this disease. Evidence is given for the participation of redox-sensitive metals Cu and Fe with PrPsc inducing oxidative stress by disturbing the homeostasis of these metals. The fact that some antioxidants block the toxicity of misfolded PrPc peptide supports the role of oxidative stress in prion disease. After exogenous infection in mice, PrPsc enters the follicular dendritic cells where PrPsc replicates before neuroinvasion where they continue to replicate and cause inflammation leading to neurodegeneration. Therefore, reducing levels of oxidative stress and inflammation may decrease the rate of the progression of this disease. It may be an important order to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation at the same time. This may be achieved by increasing the levels of antioxidant enzymes by activating the Nrf2 pathway together with simultaneous administration of dietary and endogenous antioxidants. It is proposed that a mixture of micronutrients could enable these concurrent events thereby reducing the progression of human prion disease.


Background: Chronic diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and preventative screenings are the most effective way to reduce the risk of developing a chronic disease. However, many individuals do not take advantage of preventative screening services for chronic diseases, especially in rural areas. In this study, we investigated (1) the factors that affect people's willingness to participate in chronic disease screenings and (2) reasons why people have not undergone screening for a chronic disease in the past. Methods: Study participants (aged 30–65 of years age; n = 204) included individuals from four areas in northern of Taiwan that are considered to have a high chronic disease risk. To identify factors that influence willingness to attend health screenings, data were collected by questionnaire. Results: Over 50% of participants (58.33%; n = 119) indicated that they were unaware of community-based screenings for chronic diseases offered by Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, which is one of the top-rated medical centers in Taiwan. Factors that increase willingness to participate in health screenings for chronic diseases include: (1) the convenience of screening site locations; (2) affordability; and (3) other considerations related to healthcare providers and diagnostic facilities (e.g., reputation, degree of modernization, etc.). Conversely, factors that reduce willingness to participate in health screenings include: (1) a belief that one was currently healthy; (2) lack of time; (3) a belief that screening procedures were too complicated to understand; (4) physical pain or negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, embarrassment, pain, and discomfort and, (5) having had a negative experience during a previous health checkup. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that health attitudes, sociodemographic factors, and other motivating and preventative factors affect peoples' willingness to participate in health screenings. The motivating factors and barriers for people to participate in health screening for chronic diseases are very heterogeneous. However, understanding the barriers and motivating factors to health screening would mean that interventions with the purpose of decreasing people's health risks and reducing deaths and disabilities caused by a chronic illness could be implemented.


Millennium transcends boundaries - between epochs and regions, and between disciplines. Like the Millennium-Jahrbuch, the journal Millennium-Studien pursues an international, interdisciplinary approach that cuts across historical eras. Composed of scholars from various disciplines, the editorial and advisory boards welcome submissions from a range of fields, including history, literary studies, art history, theology, and philosophy. Millennium-Studien also accepts manuscripts on Latin, Greek, and Oriental cultures. In addition to offering a forum for monographs and edited collections on diverse topics, Millennium-Studien publishes commentaries and editions. The journal primary accepts publications in German and English, but also considers submissions in French, Italian, and Spanish. If you want to submit a manuscript please send it to the editor from the most relevant discipline: Wolfram Brandes, Frankfurt (Byzantine Studies and Early Middle Ages): firstname.lastname@example.com Peter von Moellendorff, Giessen (Greek language and literature): firstname.lastname@example.com Dennis Pausch, Dresden (Latin language and literature): email@example.com Rene Pfeilschifter, Wurzburg (Ancient History): email@example.com Karla Pollmann, Bristol (Early Christianity and Patristics): firstname.lastname@example.com All manuscript submissions will be reviewed by the editor and one outside specialist (single-blind peer review).


Biofuel expansion efforts and climate mitigation policy could fundamentally alter land management trends in U.S. agriculture and forestry (AF) by mandating biofuel feedstock production and providing incentives for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and carbon sequestration from terrestrial sources. Research has shown that biofuel expansion can alter commodity markets, induce agricultural land expansion, and intensify production. Meanwhile, GHG mitigation efforts could limit agricultural expansion, reduce current cultivation, and lower management intensity by incentivizing GHG emissions reduction and carbon sequestration within AF. To date, little work has attempted to quantify biofuel and climate policy-induced shifts together along the extensive and intensive agricultural production margins within a systems-based framework, though such shifts could have resounding implications on agricultural water consumption and quality. This study uses a comprehensive and detailed economic model of the U.S. AF sectors to simulate land management responses to biofuel expansion and GHG policies. While bioenergy production and altered AF management practices are found to significantly reduce GHG emissions, additional water consumption and nutrient use are possible policy outcomes. Specifically, we find that policies that influence shifts to the extensive margin will increase aggregate water use and nutrient application, but lead to lower intensity per-unit area. Conversely, when combined with biofuel mandates climate mitigation incentives lower agricultural land expansion, but lead to higher levels of management intensity. Somewhat contrary to expectations, GHG mitigation incentives cause water and nutrient use intensity to grow at an increasing rate due to the greater level of land use competition. Additionally, important regional trends emerge, as water use and quality concerns grow with the CO2 price in areas with limited GHG mitigation possibilities. This suggests that "water leakage" is possible whereby emissions reduction activities decrease output in one region and stimulate management intensity elsewhere. The potential indirect consequences of combined biofuel and climate mitigation incentives on water resource systems warrant further attention in policy design and future research.


Background: Isolated posterior fossa parenchymal lesions associated with cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) are rare. Posterior fossa lesions are an independent predictor of death in CVT. We aim to describe the characteristics and outcome of patients with CVT and isolated posterior fossa lesions and assess the safety of anticoagulation in patients with posterior fossa lesions associated with CVT. Methods: We retrieved data from all patients with posterior fossa parenchymal lesions in the International Study on Cerebral Vein and Dural Sinus Thrombosis (ISCVT) cohort related to clinical features, therapy and outcome. Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate associations. To assess the safety of anticoagulation in CVT patients with posterior fossa lesions we considered all patients with a lesion in this topography, either isolated or with concomitant supratentorial lesions, and compared the rate of new intracranial haemorrhages on repeated imaging with the remaining cohort. Results: Out of 624 patients, 12 had isolated posterior fossa lesions and 14 had posterior fossa lesion with accompanying supratentorial lesions. The lateral sinus was most frequently occluded (n = 11). Involvement of the superior sagittal sinus was significantly less frequent compared to the remaining patients of the cohort (p = 0.013). None of the patients with isolated posterior fossa lesion died but 3 remained dependent on follow-up. Poor outcome (modified Rankin Scale ≥3) was more frequent in patients with any posterior fossa lesion, even when on anticoagulation (29.2% vs. 11.9%; OR 3.04; 95% CI 1.2-7.6; p = 0.018). Of the 24 anticoagulated patients with a posterior fossa lesion, 3 (12.5%) had new haemorrhages on repeated imaging, compared with 30 out of 495 anticoagulated patients (6.1%) without posterior fossa lesions (p = 0.19). Conclusions: We describe the largest series of CVT patients with associated posterior fossa lesions. When compared to anticoagulated CVT patients without posterior fossa lesions, CVT patients with posterior fossa lesions on full anticoagulation did not have a significant increase in the rate of new intracranial haemorrhages.


Abstract Restoring sagittal alignment in kinematically aligned (KA) total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is crucial to avoid patellofemoral joint instability or overstuffing and to restore an adequate range of motion. This prospective study compared the accuracy of conventional instrumentation (CI) versus patient-specific instrumentation (PSI) in restoring sagittal alignment of KA TKA measured by the tibial slope and degree of flexion of the femoral component to the sagittal femoral axis. One hundred patients were randomized to receive either CI ( n  = 50) or PSI ( n  = 50) for KA TKA. Two observers measured pre- and postoperative X-rays to assess restoration of the tibial slope and sagittal flexion. Inter- and intraclass correlations were calculated, and postoperative tibial and femoral components were compared with preoperative anatomy. In 50 CI patients, 86% ( n  = 43) had the tibial slope restored exactly, and no deviation more than 1 degree was found. Deviations of 0 to 1 degree were detected in 14% ( n  = 7). In 50 patients of the PSI group, 56% ( n  = 28) achieved an exact anatomic tibial slope restoration and 20% ( n  = 10) showed a deviation more than 2 degrees compared with the preoperative measurement. Deviations ranging between 0 to 1 and 1 to 2 degrees were found in 22% ( n  = 11) and 2% ( n  = 1) of cases, respectively. Sagittal alignment of the femoral component showed in both groups no deviation exceeding 1 degree. The restoration of sagittal alignment in KA TKA was statistically significantly differently distributed between CI and PSI ( p  = < 0.001) without clinical relevance. We found that PSI increased the odds for deviations >2 degrees in tibial slope reconstructions from 0 to 0.20 ([95% confidence interval: 0.09–0.31]; p  = 0.001). Both CI and PSI revealed adequate results with respect to restoring sagittal alignment of the tibial and femoral components in KA TKA. The conventional technique requires adequate adjustment of the intramedullary rod to avoid hyperflexion of the femoral component and attention must be paid when restoring the tibial slope using PSI. This is a prospective Level II study.


To whom offprint reprints should be addressed.

Metabolic cost, oxygen consumption (MO2, respiratory structure and body size interact to determine the capacity of salamanders for terrestrial locomotion. Salamanders respiring via both lungs and skin, Ambystoma laterale and A. tigrinum , or with skin alone, Desmognathus ochrophaeus and D. quadramaculatus , attained a steady-state MO2 during exercise in a treadmill respirometer. Endurance was correlated with the speed at which maximal MO2, was attained (VMO2.max). Low aerobic costs of transport (60–80% lower than reptiles of similar mass) increased VMO2.max. However, in lungless salamanders a low maximum MO2 decreased VMO2.max significantly. MO2 increased only 1.6- to 3.0-fold above resting rates in active lungless salamanders, whereas it could increase 3.5- to 7.0-fold in active lunged salamanders. Lungless salamanders attained maximal MO2 at half to one-tenth the speed of lunged animals. Lungless salamanders fatigued in 20 min or less at speeds that lunged salamanders could sustain for 1–2 h. Body size also affected the capacity for oxygen uptake during activity and locomotor performance. The large lungless salamander D. quadramaculatus attained maximum MO2 even at its lowest rate of travel. Cutaneous gas exchange does not provide lungless salamanders with gas transport capacities found in lunged animals. However, only small increases in MO2 may be required for modest levels of activity.


Introduction: The thyroid cancer incidence is increased in recent years. Thyroid cancer approximately represents 1% of all cancer diagnosed patients yearly. Prediction of the thyroid malignancies was extend from most extremely visible differentiated carcinoma; papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC), to the minimal public aggressive, however extreme aggressively growing was an anaplastic type.

Aim of current work: The aim of our investigation is to determine the prognostic factors, which are effecting the long-term survival in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC).

Patients and methods: The retrospective investigation was done at the surgical department, Zagazig University. Two hundred and fifty patients were influenced for DTC from 2010 to 2018. All estimated patients were categorized into 167 for PTC and 93 for FTC. Data of 250 patients have been clarified during our retrospective study. Survival data and risk factors have been concluded from follow-up documents, and from the patients reviewing.

Results and Discussion: Follow-up 167 patients and their survival data underwent surgery for papillary carcinoma and follow 93 for follicular carcinoma, at the surgical department, Zagazig University. The 10 years survival was 87.9% and 84.0%, respectively. Follow up time is around ten years for 2 groups. Patients of papillary carcinoma (average age: 42.7 ± 16.0 years, male: 47, female 120: (male: female ratio 1: 2.5), however in patients were operated on for follicular carcinoma (average age: 48.5 ± 14.9 years, male: 29, female: 64, male: female ratio 1: 2.2). Our findings clarified a persistent elevation in the number of patients, together with elevated papillary carcinomas proportion, and through this period of study their elevation of early average which correlated completely with our statistics.

Conclusion: The outcome of PTC and FTC are comparatively well with decrease tumor-related mortality, and the survival average are get better through the past ten years because the consequence of broad prevalence recent diagnostic and curative protocols. After determining the predicted factors of survival gives us to make the suitable decision for every individualized surgical plan and the extent of the surgical intervention plane, whose needing for follow-up handling, the number or frequent follow-up care visits or outpatients clinics.


This article examines a new database that details corporate risk management activity in the North American gold mining industry. I find little empirical support for the predictive power of theories that view risk management as a means to maximize shareholder value. However, firms whose managers hold more options manage less gold price risk, and firms whose managers hold more stock manage more gold price risk, suggesting that managerial risk aversion may affect corporate risk management policy. Further, risk management is negatively associated with the tenure of firms' CFOs, perhaps reflecting managerial interests, skills, or preferences.


The GNU/Linux operating system is a cornerstone of Information Technology developed through a community of contributors, who often develop and hone their skills within the context of community participation. Participants' status in the community strongly depends on their motivation to learn and to educate others. The GNU/Linux community seems to exemplify learning in the context of legitimate peripheral participation (LPP). The GNU/Linux community's strong emphasis on learning may represent a resource relatively untapped by educators. Therefore, research was conducted to study the significance and impact of LPP on learning within this community. The data collected highlight educational benefits of participation in the GNU/Linux community as well as the instruction of the FOSS framework in K-16 academic community.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and daily physical activity.
Methods: Three hundred forty-nine women (18-50 years) were analyzed. We investigated body mass index, PMS symptoms, physical activity level, and some factors related to PMS (age, sleep time, caffeine intake, alcohol intake, smoking status). Participants were grouped according to physical activity level into low, normal, and high physical activity groups. Binominal logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between PMS and daily physical activity level.
Results: The average physical activity levels of the low, normal and high physical activity groups were 301.4 ± 233.8 kcal, 975.0 ± 187.3 kcal, and 4558.7 ± 3798.5 kcal, respectively. The incidence of PMS was higher in both the low physical activity group (OR=2.45, 95% CI=1.18-5.11) and high physical activity group (OR=2.13, 95% CI=1.01-4.50) than in the normal physical activity group.
Conclusion: PMS rates were higher in women who have either low or high daily physical activity levels than in those with normal physical activity levels. Therefore, women should be advised to avoid inactivity or excessive daily physical activity.


In this article we explore recent history to uncover the role that public engagement has played in the effort to reform America's urban schools. In the place of narratives that focus on elite actors (foundations, unions, corporations, etc.), we focus on the role of local stakeholders. Specifically, we look to how the changing political context (policy agendas and governance structures) of urban school systems has shifted possibilities for communities to participate in determining the direction of reform efforts in urban school systems. Through interviews and archival research, we examine the case of a single parent-led advocacy organization, Parents United for the D.C. Public Schools. Established in 1980 and remaining active until the late 1990s, Parents United developed a broad-based vision of educational equity and had a significant impact on the local public school system during that time.  We show that in the current political and social context of education reform, communities may derive important lessons from Parents United while also devising new strategies for public engagement.


Heat dissipation of integrated circuits is established through the die back-side. In this study, we demonstrate dual-side heat removal from the chip front- and back-side. The key enabling element is a silicon interposer with embedded micro-channels between the through-silicon vias (TSV, array). The coolant is introduced into the module through a manifold and is distributed to the back-side cold plate and in parallel to the fluid cavity in the interposer. A thermal analysis on the stack topology options for a three-tier chip stack (GPU, CPU and cache) with an accumulated power dissipation of 672W is provided. The dual-side cooling approach allows the placement of the CPU as the bottom most die, mitigating thousands of power TSVs in the chip stack. An implementation of the convective interposer is presented with a hybrid pitch of 175 μm by 225 μm. The interposer is built from two interposer shells which are back-to-back bonded to yield a microchannel cross-section with a height of 250 μm and a width of 150 μm. Water is considered as the coolant. This requires sealing features at three levels of scale: within the interposer, between the interposer and the back-side cold-plate, and towards the manifold. The silicon cold-plate, chip-stack and interposer are assembled on an organic substrate. A two-fold improvement in thermal performance could be experimentally validated by the dual-side cooling solution compared to the back-side topology, enabling the integration of high-performance chip stacks.


A germination experiment was carried out in rice to study the role played by various antioxidants on germination parameters under salt stress in some rice cultivars. The results indicated that the highest germination percentage, rate (days), index and speed were recorded in Sakha 106 cultivar. An increase in the concentration of salt from 100 mM to 300 mM resulted in a reduction in these parameters. Pretreatment of the seeds with Humic acid at 500ppm increased these studied parameters. All studied characters were affected by the interaction between rice cultivars, salinity concentrations and antioxidants. In general, the study suggested that antioxidant pretreatment in rice seeds can be considered as a potential tool to enhance germination parameters under salinity stress, especially in rice Sakha 106 cultivars.


The Elmore delay model is the most popular and efficient delay model used for analytical delay estimation. Closed-form delay formulas are useful for circuit design, timing-driven physical design, synthesis, and optimization. As signal rise time becomes faster and the line resistance becomes smaller from copper technology, the significance of inductance increases. Both RC and RLC delays are a strong function of signal rise time. We propose a novel and efficient delay modeling method based on nondimensionalization to consider finite input rise time as an improvement over the Elmore's approach. To further improve the accuracy of the delay model, a new correction method, effective distance correction factor (EDCF), is proposed to consider resistive shielding of downstream capacitance. EDCF can be used to correct the delays for both RC and RLC tree structures. The proposed delay modeling method was applied to a number of nets selected from an integrated circuit (IC) design, and the delay estimation results were compared with HSPICE simulations. The new delay model retains the efficiency and simplicity of the Elmore delay model with significantly improved accuracy.


The catabolism of protein from organs and muscles during migratory flight is necessary to produce glucose, key metabolic intermediates, and water, but may have negative effects on flight range and refueling at stopovers. We tested the hypothesis, suggested by previous studies, that birds that eat high-protein insect diets use more protein for fuel in flight than those that eat high-carbohydrate fruits. First, we fed migratory yellow-rumped warblers synthetic fruit or mixed insect/fruit diets, and measured metabolic rates and fuel mixture under basal conditions and during exercise in a hop/hover wheel respirometer. Birds eating the fruit diet had greater plasma triglyceride and non-esterified fatty acid concentrations, and the higher protein mixed diet increased plasma uric acid only during feeding. Diet did not affect metabolic rates or the fuel mixture under resting or exercise conditions. We then fed yellow-rumped warblers synthetic diets that differed only in the relative proportion of carbohydrate and protein (60:15 versus 15:60 as % dry mass) and tested them in wind tunnel flights lasting up to six hours. Birds fed the high carbohydrate diet became heavier and fatter than when fed the high protein diet. Plasma uric acid concentration was increased and plasma phospholipid concentration was decreased by the high protein diet in the pre-flight state (after a 3 h fast), but diet only affected plasma phospholipids during flight (lower in high protein birds). Neither diet nor amount of body fat affected the rate of loss of lean mass or fat during flight. Inter-individual or seasonal differences in diet do not appear to influence the amount of protein catabolized during endurance flight. However, birds fed the high carbohydrate diet had greater voluntary flight duration, independent of body fatness, suggesting that there may be other performance benefits of high carbohydrate diets for migratory birds.


The effect of 1000 °C vacuum annealing on the structure and hardness of epitaxial Mo/NbN superlattice thin films was studied. The intensity of superlattice satellite peaks, measured by x-ray diffraction, decreased during annealing while new peaks corresponding to a MoNbN ternary phase appeared. The results are consistent with the Mo–Nb–N phase diagram, which shows no mutual solubility between Mo, NbN, and MoNbN. Even after 3-h anneals and a loss of most of the superlattice peak intensity, the room-temperature hardness was the same as for as-deposited superlattices. The retained hardness suggests that a residual nanocomposite structure is retained even after the formation of the ternary structure.


Self-assembly of organothiols (OTs) and thiolated biomolecules onto gold nanoparticle (AuNP) surfaces remains one of the most intense areas of nanoscience research and understanding molecular interfacial phenomena is crucial. Investigation of OT adsorption onto AuNPs, including OT structure and orientation on nanoparticle surfaces, is of fundamental importance in understanding the structure and function relationship of functionalized nanoparticles. Despite the great importance of the interfacial interaction of AuNPs, the exact mechanism of OT interactions with AuNPs has remained unclear and quantitative investigation of OT adsorption has been very limited. The research reported here focused on developing a fundamental and quantitative understanding of OT interactions with AuNPs in water.
 In studies of OT interactions with AuNPs in water, we found that the OTs form an adsorbed monolayer on AuNPs by releasing the sulfur-bound hydrogen as a proton and acidifying the ligand binding solution. The pH measurements suggest that there is a substantial fraction (up to 45%) of the protons derived from the surface adsorbed OTs retained close to the gold surface, presumably as the counter-ion to the negatively-
charged, thiolate-covered AuNPs. Charge-transfer between the surface-adsorbed thiolate and the AuNPs is demonstrated by the quenching of the OT UV-vis absorption when the OTs are adsorbed onto the AuNPs.
Using a combination of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), density function calculations, and normal Raman spectroscopy, the pH dependence of mercaptobenzimadazole (MBI) adsorption onto AuNPs was systematically studied. By using the ratiometric SERS ligand quantification technique, MBI adsorption isotherms were constructed at three different pHs (1.4, 7.9, and 12.5). The Langmuir isotherms indicate that MBI thione has a higher saturation packing density (~631 pmol/cm2) than MBI thiolate (~568 pmol/cm2), but its binding constant (2.14 x 106 M-1) is about five times smaller than the latter (10.12 x 106 M-1). The work described in this dissertation provides a series of new insights into AuNP-OT interaction, and structure and properties of OTs on AuNPs.


Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) is caused by loss of paternally expressed genes in the 15q11‐q13 region. To further characterize alterations in gene expression in this classical obesity syndrome we used whole genome microarrays to study a PWS mouse model resulting from a paternally derived imprinting center (IC) deletion (PWS IC deletion). These mice die generally within 2–3 days of life (reflective of failure to thrive in infants with PWS) and therefore, the analysis was performed on RNA extracted from the whole brain of PWS IC deletion mice and normal littermates at less than 24 hr after birth. Of more than 45,000 probes examined, 26,471 (59%) were detected for further analysis, and 69 had a significant change in expression of at least 1.5‐fold and a false discovery rate (FDR) of 5%. Eight of the genes with differential expression were imprinted and from the PWS critical region (PWSCR). The three genes with the highest expression in the PWS IC mice were pro‐opiomelanocortin (Pomc) and two transcripts of unknown function. Pomc knockout mice have been shown to develop obesity. Therefore, elevated Pomc RNA in PWS IC deletion neonatal mice may be an important genetic factor in the survival of these mice as it may affect eating behavior. Interestingly, Mc5r, a melanocortin receptor known to directly respond to Pomc expression changes, was upregulated as well. Mc5r is known to be involved with thermoregulation which is reportedly abnormal in PWS infants. These observations support a role for Pomc and the network of genes involved in regulating energy homeostasis in the early clinical findings of failure to thrive observed in PWS. Other notable patterns include three previously unstudied transcripts that are expressed only from the paternal allele under regulatory control of the IC and include AK013560, BB3144814, and BB182944 (whose genes are located in the mouse PWSCR on chromosome 7B). As expected, all the known paternally expressed genes from the PWSCR had detection signals below the threshold in the PWS IC deletion mice but were clearly detectable in control littermates. Several of the genes in this study were further examined by quantitative reverse transcription‐PCR (RT‐PCR) to confirm their expression status. Further analysis of gene expression in these mice may lead to novel pathways affected in PWS. These results, along with other recent reports, suggest that the cumulative effect of modest changes in expression of many genes, especially genes involved in energy metabolism, contribute to the failure to thrive of infants with PWS. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Objectives The majority of people would prefer to die at home and National Health Service policy aims to support this concept. This service evaluation compared the preferred and actual place of death of patients known to a specialist community palliative care service. Design All deaths of patients (n=788) known to the specialist palliative care service from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2010 were examined in a service evaluation to compare the actual place of death with the preferred place of death previously identified by the patient. Triggers for admission were established when patients did not achieve this preference. Results 69% of patients (n=263) who expressed a preference to die at home and 82% of patients (n=93) who expressed a preference to die as inpatients in the hospice fulfilled these preferences. 71% of patients (n=298) who wanted to die in their current place of residence achieved this preference. 54% of patients (n=121) who declined to express a preference for end-of-life care subsequently died in hospital, reflecting the importance of advance care planning. Conclusions The perceived lack of social support for patients dying at home is a significant trigger for admission to a hospice. The provision of sitters to support patients dying at home may ensure people achieve their preference. Commissioners consider preferred place of care to be a marker of quality, but clinical events that precipitate admission are often outside the influence of the palliative care team.


Ethics has been identified as a key element in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) since its conception. However, ethical issues are still not frequently addressed explicitly in HTA. Several valuable reasons have been identified. The basis of the article is the claim that ethics is often not part of HTA for "epistemological reasons". Hence, the main aim of the contribution is to explore in more details and emphasize them by using the fact/value dichotomy. Our conclusion is that current HTA configuration is predominantly based on the comparison among objective and empirically testable "facts", whilst ethics is not empirically testable. In this sense, there is a sort of "epistemological gap", which can explain why it is so difficult to integrate ethics in HTA. We suggest that the epistemological differences among the various domains of HTA are addressed more explicitly.


Fluid flow simulation models of faulted reservoirs normally include faults as grid offset in combination with 2D transmissibility multipliers. This approach tends to oversimplify the way effects caused by the actual 3D architecture of fault zones are handled. By representing faults as 3D rock volumes in reservoir models, presently overlooked structural features may be included and potentially yield a more realistic description of structural heterogeneities. This paper investigates how a volumetric fault zone description, will affect fluid flow in simulation models. An experimental 3D model grid including a single normal fault, defined as a volumetric grid, was constructed. Subsequently, the fault grid was populated with two conceptual fault deformation products – sand lenses and fault rock – using an object-based stochastic facies modelling technique. In order to evaluate the effect of varying petrophysical properties, fault rock permeability and sand lens permeability were varied deterministically between 0.01 mD and 1 mD and 50 mD and 500 mD, respectively. The impact of fault core architecture was investigated by deterministically varying sand lens fraction and sand lens connectivity. This yielded 24 model configurations, executed in 20 stochastic realizations each. Fluid flow simulation was performed on 480 model realizations. Simulation results show that the most important parameters influencing fluid flow across the fault were fault rock matrix permeability, and whether or not the sand lenses were connected to the undeformed host rock. Sand lens permeability and sand lens fraction turned out to be less important for fluid flow than fault rock matrix permeability and sand lens connectivity.


In a multi-factor world, diversification benefits do not generally depend on correlation. Investors can restructure portfolios to align factor sensitivities. This implies that diversification benefits depend only on the idiosyncratic volatility that remains after restructuring. Similarly, the risk reduction that follows adding an asset to an existing portfolio does not depend on the asset's correlation with the portfolio. These implications evince the fundamental importance of measuring the underlying factors and estimating factor sensitivities for every asset. Other researchers have investigated several methods for measuring factors. An easy-to-implement general method involves specifying a group of heterogeneous indexes or traded portfolios. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could be well suited to this purpose.


Despite several efforts to quantify the effectiveness of forest certification in developing sustainable use of forest resources, there is little evidence that certified forests are more effective in conserving fauna than non‐certified managed forest. To evaluate the impact of forest certification on the fauna, we compared the biodiversity in reference sites (n = 23), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified management sites (n = 24) and non‐FSC management sites (n = 20) in the Tahuamanu region of Peru, during the dry season of 2017. Specifically, we determined if the acoustic space used (ASU), soundscapes composition, and the bird richness and composition significantly varied among the three management types. Variation in ASU was best explained by management type and mean ASU in the FSC sites was significantly greater than the reference and non‐FSC sites, possibly suggesting greater richness of acoustically active species. An ordination analysis of the soundscapes showed that there was a significant difference among the three management types. There was greater dissimilarity in soundscape composition between the FSC and non‐FSC sites, and greater overlap between FSC and reference sites. Bird identifications resulted in 11,300 detections of 226 bird species. Bird species richness and composition were not significantly different among the management types, indicating, in this context, that birds may not be the best indicators of different management strategies. The weak discrimination by the bird community is likely due to their dispersal ability, undisturbed primary forest matrix, and the occurrence of bamboo patches. The differences in ASU among the management types were most likely due to differences in acoustically active insects, which may be more sensitive to changes in microhabitat differences. Our findings correspond with the conclusions of other studies that certified forests can maintain levels of fauna biodiversity similar to those of undisturbed primary forest in the Amazon region.


ABSTRACT Farmers in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta face a wide range of climate-related and hydrological factors which threaten rice production. Smallholder farmers must adapt to climate change to sustain rice production as their central and most important livelihood activity. A sample was stratified across agro-ecological areas in the Delta affected by flooding, alluvial soils, acid sulphate soils, and saline water intrusion and by derived farmer typologies. A rural livelihoods approach was used in focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to identify and enumerate enabling and constraining adaptation factors. Smallholders experienced diverse natural hazards such as floods, abnormal rains, high temperatures, water scarcity, and salinity intrusion specific to the agro-ecological areas. Adaptation was constrained by labour shortages, water quality, topography, access to combine harvesters, transportation infrastructure, dryers and household savings. Adaptation was enabled by farming techniques and experience, cooperative groups, water quantity, access to information, and ability to purchase agro-chemicals through credit. Small farmers (< 1 ha) were more constrained than large farmers (> 1 ha) who had an expanded livelihood asset base. A range of policy implications are discussed, but adaptation is not just about technological fixes but requires overall improvements in a range of human, social and financial components.


Coralligenous habitats are of special interest in the Mediterranean Sea because they represent one of the most important biodiversity 'hot-spots' and are considered of great relevance for fisheries activities in the region. Despite their importance, however, there are missing consensual methodologies for their monitoring and, despite some attempts, no environmental or ecological quality indices have been established yet. This situation could be related to the difficulties associated with their exploration and their spatial heterogeneity. These habitats are in urgent need of efficient standard monitoring and management protocols programmes to develop an effective network for their conservation. Here we reviewed the available methodologies and robotics tools used to evaluate and monitor benthic habitats, highlighting the importance of defining rapid cost-effective sampling and analyses approaches and architectures for future monitoring of changes in coralligenous habitats based on current technological developments. We identified still images acquisitions as the most effective data gathering system. Stereo photogrammetry, photomosaic elaboration and three-dimensional (3D) modelling may largely improve the data analysis and therefore the quality status assessment of the coralligenous habitats. The advantage and efficiency of different approaches and methods, and whether they should be applied and standardised for further monitoring activities, were discussed.


This essay interrogates an emergent genre of development projects that seek to instill resilience in populations likely to be severely impacted by climate change. These new projects venture a dark vision of life in a warming world—one where portable technologies become necessary for managing a future of climate chaos. I propose, following Michel Foucault, understanding these projects as heterodystopias: spaces managed as and in anticipation of a world of dystopian climate crisis that are at once stages for future interventions and present-day spectacles of climate security. My exploration of these projects is situated in the borderlands of Bangladesh, a space increasingly imagined as a ground zero of climate change. The projects discussed frame the borderlands as a site that reflects forward onto a multiplicity of (other) dystopian spaces to come. Their often puzzling architecture reveals a grim imagining of the future: one in which atomized resilient families remain rooted in place, facing climate chaos alone, assisted by development technology. In this way, these projects seek to mitigate against global anxiety about climate displacement by emplacing people—preventing them from migrating across borders increasingly imagined as the front lines of climate security. Yet at the same time, these projects speak a visual language that suggests they are as much about representing success at managing climate crisis to an audience elsewhere as they are to successfully stemming climate migration in a particular place. Heterodystopia provides an analytic for diagnosing the specific visions of time and space embedded in securitized framings of the future. In doing so, however, it also points toward counterimaginations and possibilities for life in the midst of ecological change. I thus conclude by contrasting climate heterodystopias with other projects that Bangladeshi peasants living in the borderlands are carrying out: projects that offer different ways of imagining the environment and life in the borderlands of Bangladesh.


OBJECTIVE
Mixed methods research (MMR) integrates quantitative and qualitative methods throughout the research process to answer complex research questions. Mixed methods research designs align with the guiding frameworks of patient-centered care and social determinants of health by effectively examining the role of contextual factors and human experiences in influencing health and rehabilitation outcomes. Reporting standards and critical appraisal tools ensure quality and transparency of the research process. Mixed methods research standards exist yet there is a need for reporting guidelines and an appraisal tool that meets field standards, is applicable across rehabilitation fields of study, and can accommodate the range of possibilities for combining research approaches and methods.

METHODS
The Mixed Methods Reporting in Rehabilitation & Health Science (MMR-RHS) was developed using a systematic consensus-building process in accordance with published guidance and was preregistered with the Equator Network. MMR-RHS evolved through a sequence of steps including extensive literature review, expert consultation, stakeholder feedback, pilot testing, and tool refinement.

RESULTS
MMR-RHS consists of 20 criteria that align with field standards for rigor and transparency with emphasis on integration throughout the research process, a key component of mixed methods research.

CONCLUSIONS
A systematic process was utilized to develop reporting standards and an appraisal tool for mixed methods research in rehabilitation and health science. The tool is comprehensive, includes a set of criteria grounded in mixed methods research literature, and is flexible for application to a range of mixed methods research designs commonly seen in rehabilitation research.

IMPACT
The MMR-RHS may improve quality and transparency of mixed methods research by supporting investigators, authors, reviewers, and editors during project development, manuscript preparation, and critical review. The tool may assist readers in critical appraisal, knowledge translation, and application of published mixed methods research findings. Ultimately, the MMR-RHS may help legitimize mixed methods in rehabilitation and health research, an important step toward understanding the complexities of healthcare, patient outcomes, and evolving societal health needs.


During a survey of the nematode fauna of raspberry plantations in south Bulgaria two underscribed species belonging to the family Diphtherophoridae were found. They possess characteristics of the genus Diphtherophora, but also show some differences, and when more species are described it would be possible to re-organize the species of Diphtherophora into new subgenera/genera. The two species are described below. The nematodes were extracted from soil samples by means of Cobb's wet sieve technique, killed by heat, fixed in T.A.F. and mounted in glycerine. Measurements were made with a disc micrometer.


This paper examines the housing market response to the earthquake that hit northern Italy in May 2012. The available literature shows that the average price of houses decreases after a disaster because of the potential underestimation of disaster risk by households, or because of a higher risk perception in reaction to the unforeseen emergency. The physical assessment of the earthquake damage scenario provided in this paper (the so-called macro-seismic approach), combined with a difference-in-difference model with a multi-valued treatment, is able to extrapolate indirect information on the subjective perception of risk. We provide evidence that differences in costs and risk perceptions of the earthquake arise at high levels of damage. Furthermore, we also provide evidence that building characteristics, as well as the state of maintenance of houses, play a relevant role for subjective risk assessment, even though this assessment may be not related to the effective capacity of the buildings to resist earthquakes.


In this paper, we propose tracking and control algorithms for controlling network congestion with bursty traffic modeled by multifractal cascade processes. The multifractal multiplicative cascades are characterized by the Holder exponents. The value of the Holder exponent at an interval indicates the burstiness in the traffic at that point. This value has to be estimated and used for the estimation of the congestion and predictive control of the traffic policing in networks. The estimation of the local Holder exponent can be done by employing the wavelet transforms and a Kalman filter based predictor to predict the burstiness of the traffic.


For pt. I see ibid., vol. 14, no. 2, p. 218-38 (1995). This part of the paper is focused on a novel application of Qualitative Reasoning, which allows modifications of a circuit's topology to take place in cases where not all performance specifications are met. Within ISAID, this task of post-simulation circuit correction is carried out by the Circuit Corrector. >


As a clinician or researcher in the field of mental health or addictions, this book will offer you powerful insight into how acceptance and mindfulness-based interventions are being successfully used to treat a variety of addictive behaviors, ranging from substance abuse to gambling addiction.

Edited by Steven C. Hayes, a founder of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and a world renowned authority on mindfulness-based therapy, Mindfulness and Acceptance for Addictive Behaviors features chapters by leading substance abuse and addiction researchers. Each article illuminates the mindfulness and acceptance-based treatments that work best for particular addictive behaviors, reviews empirical data, and discusses future directions for research and treatment applications. An essential resource for mental health and addictions professionals, researchers, and students interested in the most effective treatments for addiction, this book will dramatically impact the way addictions of all kinds are viewed and addressed in therapy.

In this book, you will learn to apply mindfulness and acceptance to help patients with:

Alcoholism
Substance abuse
Smoking cessation
Gambling addiction
Pornography addiction
Binge eating
Detoxification
Self-stigma and shame


This paper explores how certain incumbent characteristics influence an established firm's response to disruptive innovation. More specifically, it looks at the challenges a middle size, top segment company faced and how this affected its reaction to the disruptive threat. This is done by conducting an in-depth case study of Hasselblad, a manufacturer of professional cameras. It can be seen in this case study that Hasselblad's limited resources and its niche strategy affected how it managed the transition from analogue to digital camera technology. These characteristics made it difficult to allow experimentation with digital imaging in the main business since the available resources were severely limited and this initially inferior technology could harm the brand image. Instead, Hasselblad pursued collaborations and eventually launched a hybrid camera, which was compatible both with film and digital backs but did not become the expected success. Being close to bankruptcy, the digital resources needed were acquired and the company eventually survived the disruption. In conclusion, this paper argues that the managerial challenges and solutions to the innovator's dilemma depend upon the particular characteristics of incumbents and that this heterogeneity has not been sufficiently captured by previous literature. It also suggests that medium size, top segment firms can survive disruptive innovation through collaboration and acquisitions.


In urban centers today, Controlled Environment Agriculture is being proposed as a potential alternative to conventional agriculture using hydroponic methods in controlled spaces as a means to increase local food production and improve urban food security by growing crops. One newly proposed technique, growing crops inside refurbished shipping containers, offers a flexible, mobile, and scalable means of year-round food production in a variety of climates. Despite the benefits of producing food locally, some concerns associated with shipping container systems include high-energy consumption from climate control and electric lightning systems, as well as expensive capital investments. This study investigated the viability and effectiveness of shipping container farms as alternative food production systems through an analysis of system energy requirements and resulting crop yields. A Modified Hydroponic Shipping Container system was designed and a Nutrient Film Technique hydroponics system was tested by growing lettuce plants and monitoring energy use throughout the growth period. Theoretical energy use at full scale was quantified for one year of production by modeling energy consumption of major system components through modeling or extension from results on the bench scale. Baseline crop production and overall energy consumption were assessed using a crop production efficiency metric created to evaluate the ratio of system outputs to inputs. Examination of alternative energy scenarios showed potential energy consumption reductions of up to 53 percent and an improvement of the total system crop production efficiency of up to 55 percent from the baseline. Implementation of suggested energy use reduction strategies could allow for the creation of viable and sustainable alternative food systems using shipping containers capable of providing local, accessible foods year-round for a variety of urban communities.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have a wide variety of military and civil applications. The sensor nodes are powered by batteries with limited energy. Hostile or hazardous environments where the sensor nodes are deployed or the sheer number of the sensors prevents replacement or recharge of the batteries. Therefore in WSNs, scheduling of different types of packets is of vital importance to reduce sensors' energy consumptions and end-to- end data transmission delays. Most of the existing packet-scheduling mechanisms of WSN use First Come First Served (FCFS), non-preemptive priority and preemptive priority scheduling algorithms. These algorithms incur a high processing overhead and long end-to-end data transmission delay due to the FCFS concept, starvation of high priority real-time data packets due to the transmission of a large data packet in non- preemptive priority scheduling, starvation of non-real-time data packets due to the probable continuous arrival of real-time data in preemptive priority scheduling, and improper allocation of data packets to queues in multilevel queue scheduling algorithms. Moreover, these algorithms are not dynamic to the changing requirements of WSN applications since their scheduling policies are predetermined. In this paper, we propose a Dynamic Multilevel Priority (DMP) packet scheduling scheme. In the proposed scheme, each node, except those at the last level of the virtual hierarchy in the zone- based topology of WSN, has three levels of priority queues. Real-time packets are placed into the highest- priority queue and can preempt data packets in other queues. Non-real-time packets are placed into two other queues based on a certain threshold of their estimated processing time. Leaf nodes have two queues for real-time and non-real-time data packets since they do not receive data from other nodes and thus, reduce end- to-end delay.


Two watermarking algorithms for 3D nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) graphic data are proposed: one is appropriate for the steganography, and the other for watermarking. Instead of directly embedding data into the parameters of NURBS, the proposed algorithms embed data into the 2D virtual images extracted by parameter sampling of 3D model. As a result, the proposed steganography algorithm can embed information into more places of the surface than the conventional algorithm, while preserving the data size of the model. Also, any existing 2D watermarking technique can be used for the watermarking of 3D NURBS surfaces. From the experiment, it is found that the algorithm for the watermarking is robust to the attacks on weights, control points, and knots. It is also found to be robust to the remodeling of NURBS models.


This study argues and empirically demonstrates that the value of a venture's affiliations depends in part on its relative standing in the portfolio of affiliations held by its partners. Relative standing is determined by how the venture ranks among other ventures in the partner's portfolio with respect to observable signals of quality. We argue that the relative standing of a venture in its partner's portfolio influences the focal venture's access to the partner's resources and, subsequently, the venture's performance. We also argue that a venture's relative standing becomes a more important predictor of performance when the partner has a larger portfolio or higher status. An empirical test of the equity investments by venture capital firms in 1011 private biotechnology ventures between 1980 and 2004 provides support for the hypothesized relationships.


An appropriate reward function is of paramount importance in specifying a task in reinforcement learning (RL). Yet, it is known to be extremely challenging in practice to design a correct reward function for even simple tasks. Human-in-the-loop (HiL) RL allows humans to communicate complex goals to the RL agent by providing various types of feedback. However, despite achieving great empirical successes, HiL RL usually requires too much feedback from a human teacher and also suffers from insufficient theoretical understanding. In this paper, we focus on addressing this issue from a theoretical perspective, aiming to provide provably feedback-efficient algorithmic frameworks that take human-in-the-loop to specify rewards of given tasks. We provide an active-learning-based RL algorithm that first explores the environment without specifying a reward function and then asks a human teacher for only a few queries about the rewards of a task at some state-action pairs. After that, the algorithm guarantees to provide a nearly optimal policy for the task with high probability. We show that, even with the presence of random noise in the feedback, the algorithm only takes $\widetilde{O}(H{{\dim_{R}^2}})$ queries on the reward function to provide an $\epsilon$-optimal policy for any $\epsilon>0$. Here $H$ is the horizon of the RL environment, and $\dim_{R}$ specifies the complexity of the function class representing the reward function. In contrast, standard RL algorithms require to query the reward function for at least $\Omega(\operatorname{poly}(d, 1/\epsilon))$ state-action pairs where $d$ depends on the complexity of the environmental transition.


Abstract. For the first time, a model that simulates methane emissions from northern peatlands is incorporated directly into a dynamic global vegetation model. The model, LPJ-WHyMe (LPJ Wetland Hydrology and Methane), was previously modified in order to simulate peatland hydrology, permafrost dynamics and peatland vegetation. LPJ-WHyMe simulates methane emissions using a mechanistic approach, although the use of some empirical relationships and parameters is unavoidable. The model simulates methane production, three pathways of methane transport (diffusion, plant-mediated transport and ebullition) and methane oxidation. A sensitivity test was conducted to identify the most important factors influencing methane emissions, followed by a parameter fitting exercise to find the best combination of parameter values for individual sites and over all sites. A comparison of model results to observations from seven sites resulted in normalised root mean square errors (NRMSE) of 0.40 to 1.15 when using the best site parameter combinations and 0.68 to 1.42 when using the best overall parameter combination.


Increased production of oxygen free radicals and decreased oxidant capacity occur in coronary artery diseases (CAD) This pro-oxidant shift in intracellular redox state may induce cell death by either direct cell membrane damage by lipic peroxidation or apoptosis through activation of transcription factors. These changes occur not only in cardiomyocytes, bu also in cardiac sympathetic nerves, which are very sensitive to oxidative damage. Patients with heart failure encountel reduced peripheralblood flow at rest, during exercise and in response to endothelium-dependentvasodilators. Current treatments of cardiomyopathy, a degenerative condition of the myocardium frequently associated with heart failure have done little to enhance patient survival. Decreased myocardial contractility and altered regulation of peripheral circulation along with oxidative conditions are important contributors to the symptoms and prognosis of the disease process. Nitric oxide formed from L-arginine (2-amino-5 guanidinovaleric acid) metabolism in endothelial cells contributes to regulation of blood flow under these conditions. L-Arginine is the precursor of nitric oxide, an endogenous messenger molecule involved in a variety of endothelium-mediated physiological effects in the vascular system. In the present study, we investigated the effect of oral administration of L-arginine (3 g/day) on the intracellular redox status of the patients of ischemic cardiomyopathy aged 45-60 yrs. The enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant parameters like superoxide dismutase, catalase, total thiols (TSH) and ascorbic acid along with pro-oxidant parameters, such as xanthine oxidase, as well as index of oxidative stress as protein carbonyl content and malondialdehyde (a marker of lipid peroxidation) were investigated in the plasma and RBC lysate. L-Arginine (3 g/day) administration was found to improve the levels of these parameters in the patients and regulate the blood flow, as evident by the improved blood pressure of the patients. Thus, it is inferred that L-arginine attenuates the oxidative stress conditions along with maintaining the blood pressure rate of patients suffering from cardiomyopathy.


The paper investigates the features of Russia–South Africa relations in light of their membership in BRICS and the G-20. Collaboration with South Africa contributes to the creation of the multipolar world order and strengthens Russia's position in such global governance institutions as the G-20, IMF and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It also helps to create global legitimacy of the multipolar system of international relations. The BRICS arrangement is an important intermediate negotiation ground between individual countries' interests and the G-20. If member countries define a joint position on some matter within the BRICS format, it will have a higher chance of being approved by the G-20. New opportunities for economic co-operation provide additional benefits. The study's results suggest that extensive economic opportunities can be developed through increased economic co-operation between Russia and South Africa. Though historically Russia has had a long-lasting political relationship with South Africa, to date economic collaboration between the countries continues to be very limited, and Russia places more weight on co-operation in international relations rather than on economic opportunities afforded by the BRICS forum. An increase in trade and investment flows is considered as the major area of strengthening co-operation between Russia and South Africa. On the whole, though co-operation within BRICS currently has more political than economic flavour, the development of further economic co-operation, along with an improvement in political relations, will make the overall BRICS forum more credible and reliable, as well as improve its members' position within the G-20.


The contemporary internet focuses on user experiences of more recent developments on the internet, specifically with the spread of broadband, the audio-visual applications it has enabled, Web2.0 uptake more generally and the growth of eGovernment. The Contemporary Internet is comparative in two senses. The first is at the cross-national level, examining factors affecting different countries' experiences of the internet, with a particular, but not a sole, interest in what may be termed 'cultural influences on perceptions, adoption and use'. Second, the book is comparative within countries, examining the, sometimes very, uneven experiences of the internet's possibilities. One question that pervades several chapters is how the digital divide is evolving in the light of the more contemporary developments outlined above.


This paper concerns certain difficult problems in image processing and perception: neurocomputation of visual motion information. The first part of this paper deals with the spatial physiological integration by the figure-ground discrimination neural network in the visual system of the fly. We have outlined the fundamental organization and algorithms of this neural network, and mainly concentrated on the results of computer simulations of spatial physiological integration. It has been shown that the gain control mechanism, the nonlinearity of synaptic transmission characteristic, the interaction between the two eyes, and the directional selectivity of the pool cells play decisive roles in the spatial physiological integration. In the second part, we have presented a self-organizing neural network for the perception of visual motion by using a retinotopic array of Reichardt's motion detectors and Kohonen's self-organizing maps. It has been demonstrated by computer simulations that the network is able to learn to solve the ambiguities given by local motion detection mechanism. The resultant self-organized configuration in the output layer is resembling direction selective columns which first appear in area MT of the primate visual system. It has been explored that the spatio-temporal coherences, mapping, cooperation, competition, and Hebb rule are the basic neural principles for visual motion perception.


Currently, many customer devices are being connected to home networks. For this reason, it is expected that device management capabilities will be a powerful instrument for the service provider to cope with high maintenance costs, security concerns, and management issues related to home networks. Through DM, the service provider could provide valuable services such as auto-provisioning, remote configuration, firmware and software updates, diagnostics, monitoring, scheduling, and fraud management. However, network address translators that are widely deployed in the home network environment prohibit DM operations from reaching user devices behind the NAT. In this article, we focus on NAT issues in the management of home network devices. Specifically, we discuss efforts relating to standardization and present our proposal to deploy DM services for VoIP and IPTV devices behind NATs. By slightly changing the behavior of Simple Network Management Protocol managers and agents and by defining additional management objects (MOs) to gather NAT binding information, we could solve the NAT traversal problem under a symmetric NAT. Moreover, we propose an enhanced method to search for the UDP hole binding time of the NAT box. For evaluation, we applied our method to 22 randomly selected VoIP devices out of 194 NATed hosts in the real broadband network and achieved a success ratio of 99 percent for exchanging SNMP request messages and a 26 percent enhancement in determining the UDP hole binding time.