Background: Higher education is increasingly a global business. At present, university ranking schemes are heavily reliant on research indicators, while students are likely looking for an excellent teaching and learning environment. Aware of this discrepancy, the OECD has funded the AHELO project. Purpose: AHELO was designed to test the feasibility of an international assessment of higher education learning outcomes. The two test disciplines are civil engineering and economics, together with an assessment of generic skills. The civil engineering test will be reported in this paper. More than a ranking, AHELO is a direct evaluation of student performance. It is intended to provide data on the relevance and quality of teaching and learning in higher education. The test aims to be global and valid across diverse cultures, languages and different types of institutions. Design/Method: The AHELO project was developed between 2008 and 2012. Preliminary work focussed on developing the assessment framework, which builds upon the frameworks used for accreditation across the world (EA, Washington Accord, ABET, etc), with outcomes grouped into Basic/Engineering Sciences (both branch-specific and general), Engineering Processes (Analysis, Design and Practice), and Generic Skills. It was decided that the test would focus on the engineering processes (using constructed response tasks) and basic and engineering sciences (using multiple choice questions to test knowledge of engineering fundamentals). Sample questions were developed and reviewed by the International Reference Panel in Oct 2010. During 2011, a pilot of the chosen constructed response tasks plus MCQs was run around the world with approximately 10 students from each university from each participating country (more than 300 responses from Australia, Japan, Canada, Colombia and the Slovak Republic). These results and student feedback were used to modify some questions on the basis of Discrimination Factors. Results: In 2012, a full scale test has been conducted and is reported in this paper. Nine countries have participated with a total of more than 6,000 students. Results are currently being analysed to examine similarities and differences between the participating countries and as indicators of areas that need more attention in engineering curricula. Conclusions: AHELO is the first international, standardised test that attempts to measure student outcomes from engineering programs across the world irrespective of language and cultural differences. This is important in an increasingly global engineering job market. The paper reports the procedures taken to ensure a valid and reliable test.


The gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been observed in many domains, such as labor market outcomes and mental health. One sector that was particularly disrupted by the pandemic was education, owing to the need to close educational institutions and move all learning activities online. In this paper, we investigate the gender gap in university student performance, focusing on a large public university located in one of the European regions most affected by the first pandemic wave (Lombardy, in Northern Italy). Despite concerns that the pandemic might have had a heavier toll on the educational performance of female students, our empirical analysis shows that the gender gap in student progression (number of credits earned) was not affected by the pandemic and that in some college majors (social sciences and humanities) women even improved their GPA relative to men.


Introduction: There are multiple techniques for vertical bone augmen-tation. Guided bone regeneration is one of them; however, the literature is diverse and includes different study designs, which makes it difficult to synthesize results. Objective: To analyze the general technical characteristics, clinical results, and complications of vertical bone augmentation performed with guided bone regeneration in humans. Material and Methods: This scoping review was based on the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A search was performed in the Pubmed, Scielo, and Worldcat databases. Papers published from 1990 to April 2020 were included in the study. Research articles not conducted in humans or published in languages other than English and Spanish were excluded. Title and abstract were screened by two reviewers, then full studies were extracted, and data tabulated. Results: 89 studies were included. The highest percentage reported having obtained a vertical bone increase of less than 5 mm and having used non-resorbable membranes. The most frequent type of graft is autogenous and combinations of grafts, the most common being autogenous with xenograft. All studies that reported bone stability of implants in regenerated bone were favorable, as was implant survival, reporting values between 83.8% and 100%. Membrane exposure is the most frequently reported complication, followed by infection or abscesses, and tissue dehiscence. Conclusion: Vertical bone regeneration is a reliable technique, with high predictability and low incidence of complications compared to other vertical bone augmentation techniques.


[1] Recent development of general circulation models involves biogeochemical cycles: flows of carbon and other chemical species that circulate through the Earth system. Such models are valuable tools for future projections of climate, but still bear large uncertainties in the model simulations. One of the regions with especially high uncertainty is the Amazon forest where large-scale dieback associated with the changing climate is predicted by several models. In order to better understand the capability and weakness of global-scale land-biogeochemical models in simulating a tropical ecosystem under the present day as well as significantly drier climates, we analyzed the off-line simulations for an east central Amazon forest by the Community Land Model version 3.5 of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and its three independent biogeochemical submodels (CASA', CN, and DGVM). Intense field measurements carried out under Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia, including forest response to drought from a throughfall exclusion experiment, are utilized to evaluate the whole spectrum of biogeophysical and biogeochemical aspects of the models. Our analysis shows reasonable correspondence in momentum and energy turbulent fluxes, but it highlights three processes that are not in agreement with observations: (1) inconsistent seasonality in carbon fluxes, (2) biased biomass size and allocation, and (3) overestimation of vegetation stress to short-term drought but underestimation of biomass loss from long-term drought. Without resolving these issues the modeled feedbacks from the biosphere in future climate projections would be questionable. We suggest possible directions for model improvements and also emphasize the necessity of more studies using a variety of in situ data for both driving and evaluating land-biogeochemical models.


Although apoptosis has been considered the typical mechanism for physiological cell death, presently alternative mechanisms need to be considered. We previously showed that fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) could act as a survival factor for neural precursor cells. To study the death mechanism activated by the absence of this growth factor, we followed the changes in cell morphology and determined cell viability by staining with several dyes after FGF2 removal from mesencephalic neural-progenitor-cell cultures. The changes observed did not correspond to those associated with apoptosis. After 48 h in the absence of FGF2, cells began to develop vacuoles in their cytoplasm, a phenotype that became very obvious 3-5 days later. Double-membrane vacuoles containing cell debris were observed. Vacuolated cells did not stain with either ethidium bromide or trypan Blue, and did not show chromatin condensations. Nonetheless, during the course of culture, vacuolated cells formed aggregates with highly condensed chromatin and detached from the plate. Neural progenitor cells grown in the presence of FGF2 did not display any of those characteristics. The vacuolated phenotype could be reversed by the addition of FGF2. Typical autophagy inhibitors such as 3-MA and LY294002 inhibited vacuole development, whereas a broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor did not. Interestingly, Bcl-2 overexpression retarded vacuole development. In conclusion, we identified a death autophagy-like mechanism activated by the lack of a specific survival factor that can be inhibited by Bcl2. We propose that anti-apoptotic Bcl2 family members are key molecules controlling death activation independently of the cell degeneration mechanism used.


Background and Aim Noninvasive scores are developed for the estimation of advanced fibrosis, including parameters in addition to transaminases in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In this study, we aimed to investigate the diagnostic performances of Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) and NAFLD Fibrosis Score (NFS) in the estimation of advanced fibrosis comparing patients with normal and elevated transaminases. Material and Methods We retrospectively analyzed the prospectively collected data of a total of 407 consecutive patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD. FIB-4 scores of <1.3 and >2.67 or <1.45 and >3.25 indicated a low and high risk for advanced fibrosis, respectively. NFS scores of <-1.455 and >0.676 were used to assess low and high risk for advanced fibrosis, respectiv. Results FIB-4 cutoffs of <1.3 and <1.45 for low risk of advanced fibrosis had a sensitivity of 70% and 54% in patients with elevated transaminases and 70% and 52% in patients with normal transaminases, respectively. The specificities for the cutoffs of >2.67 and >3.25 were 97% and 98% in patients with elevated transaminases and 99% and 100% in patients with normal transaminases, respectively. Concerning NFS, we found similar results. Conclusion FIB-4 and NFS showed acceptable diagnostic performance in the exclusion of advanced fibrosis in both populations with normal and elevated transaminases.


This paper presents a logic prover approach to predicting textual similarity. Sentences are represented using three logic forms capturing different levels of knowledge, from only content words to semantic representations extracted with an existing semantic parser. A logic prover is used to find proofs and derive semantic features that are combined in a machine learning framework. Experimental results show that incorporating the semantic structure of sentences yields better results than simpler pairwise word similarity measures.


Many high-resolution surfaces are created through isosurface extraction from volumetric representations, obtained by 3D photography, CT, or MRI. Noise inherent in the acquisition process can lead to geometrical and topological errors. Reducing geometrical errors during reconstruction is well studied. However, isosurfaces often contain many topological errors, in the form of tiny topological handles. These nearly invisible artifacts hinder subsequent operations like mesh simplification, compression, and parameterization. In this paper we present an efficient scheme for removing topological handles in an isosurface. Our scheme makes an axis-aligned sweep through the volume to locate handles, compute their sizes, and selectively remove them. Additionally, the algorithm is designed for out-of-core execution. It finds the handles by incrementally constructing and analyzing a surface Reeb graph. The size of a handle is measured as the shortest surface loop that breaks it. Handles are removed robustly by modifying the volume rather than attempting "mesh surgery." Finally, the volumetric modifications are spatially localized to preserve geometrical detail. We demonstrate topology simplification on several complex models, and show its benefit for subsequent surface processing. Additional


Most SARS CoV-2 infections probably occur unnoticed or cause only cause a mild common cold that does not require medical intervention. A significant proportion of more severe cases is characterized by early neurological symptoms such as headache, fatigue, and impaired consciousness, including respiratory distress. These symptoms suggest hypoxia, specifically affecting the brain. The condition is best explained by primary replication of the virus in the nasal respiratory and/or the olfactory epithelia, followed by an invasion of the virus into the central nervous system, including the respiratory centers, either along a transneural route, through disruption of the blood-brain barrier, or both. In patients, presenting with early dyspnea, the primary goal of therapy should be the reversal of brain hypoxia as efficiently as possible. The first approach should be intermittent treatment with 100% oxygen using a tight oronasal mask or a hood. If this does not help within a few hours, an enclosure is needed to increase the ambient pressure. This management approach is well established in the hypoxia-related diseases in diving and aerospace medicine and preserves the patient's spontaneous breathing. Preliminary research evidence indicates that even a small elevation of the ambient pressure might be lifesaving. Other neurological symptoms, presenting particularly in long COVID-19, suggest imbalance of the autonomous nervous system, i.e., dysautonomia. These patients could benefit from vagal nerve stimulation.


Caffeine's Effect on Creative Production. (April 2010) Mark Matthew Mims Department of Nutrition and Food Science Texas A&M University Research Advisor: Dr. Robert Woodward, Jr. Department of Educational Psychology This study attempted to determine a link between caffeine consumption and an increase in the creative production. Participants, college-aged students at Texas A&M University, completed Form A of the figural portion of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking to establish a baseline score. Participants then received chewing gum containing either 100mg of caffeine or no caffeine (placebo) and completed a survey containing biometric data as well as caffeine consumption habits. After one hour the students took Form B of the figural portion of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. Scores from these tests were compared among experimental groups and variables reported on the survey were taken into consideration. The experiment showed a statistically significant (p<0.05) decrease in the fluency scores of those individuals who received caffeinated gum over their placebo counterparts. Additionally the overall, originality, and elaboration scores trended downwards in the group receiving caffeine. This data shows that caffeine does play a role in the creative thought process, although its effects are complex. Further research is necessary to verify and elucidate the role of caffeine in creative thinking.


In this article, we argue that students, families, educators, administrators, and policymakers are in the eye of a storm ravaging the U.S. education system. The eye is defined by a growing commitment to top-down policies and practices that dismiss culture, history, and context and attempt to improve the education of all students with and without dis/abilities through standardizing the education process. In a rush to coordinate and align systems, communities, families, educators, and students are subjected to standard protocols that seek to govern and regulate the personal, relational process of learning. The need for formal education has never been greater; the question is to what end? Innovation comes not from standardizing what is to be known but from expanding how we question the tools we use for learning and the degree to which our learning communities honor diversity in thought, culture, and activity. Communities will thrive where their members have the capacity to learn collectively, synthesize information and resources, and produce knowledges to solve the great challenges of the 21st century. We propose educator learning that centers students' needs and capacities and advance the notion of creating intersectional learning spaces that bring students, educators, and diverse communities together.


According to the principle of allocation, energy is limited and must be allocated by an organism amongst its life processes. The balance between growth and reproduction is of particular interest due to its implications for a species' life history and evolutionary success. We examined this trade-off through a behavioral lens by determining how hunger level and conspecific sex impacted a male guppy's choice between food and a courtship opportunity. Using twelve hungry and well-fed males, we set up a ten-gallon tank with food available on one end and another guppy, either male or female, on the other. An individual focal male was placed in the middle and the proportion of time he spent in each zone of the tank was recorded over a period of five minutes. By conducting three separate 2-way ANOVA's, we found that hunger level did not significantly impact the males' choice for food or social interaction and that there was a unanimous preference for feeding among both hunger levels and conspecific sexes, as was expected. This preference to eat, however, was stronger in focal males exposed to a female than in those exposed to a male. We therefore concluded that feeding, and thus the growth and survival benefits that ensue from it, is a higher priority than procreative efforts. However, the incentives for reproduction and the social dynamics of courtship for this species are more complex than initially presumed, and it is likely that a combination of both male and female attributes contribute to the observed patterns.


Abstract Sweden's referendum on whether to join EMU produced an emphatic No. The murder of one of the Yes side's leading representatives thus appeared not to have affected the result. Cleavages exposed in the referendum on EU membership nine years previously were even more apparent this time; yet No-voters were also to found across the political, regional and social spectrums. As well as describing the campaign and explaining the outcome, this article focuses on the campaign strategies adopted by parties and other actors. Lessons from previous campaigns had been learned by the opponents of EMU, but largely forgotten by its supporters.


The interaction between a single polystyrene particle and a polystyrene substrate has been previously reported by a number of investigators. However, the effects of relative humidity, applied load and contact time on the adhesion of polystyrene surfaces have not been investigated and these effects are poorly understood. It is the primary aim of the current work to characterise the effect of the aforementioned parameters on the adhesion of polystyrene surfaces using atomic force microscopy. The polystyrene used in this study contained 1% of divinyl benzene as a cross-linking agent. The adhesion forces between an individual polystyrene particle, normally 12-14 mum in diameter, and the surface of a compacted tablet of the same material have been measured at various relative humidities using a custom-built instrument and a commercial AFM. The commercial instrument has the capability of scanning the sample surface, and allowing greater control over the relative motion between the sample and probe. One of the achievements of this work is that a technique has been developed whereby an image of the surface of the tablet can be obtained using the attached particle as a probe scanning in non-contact mode. From the work conducted using the custom-built instrument, the dependency of adhesion forces on the relative humidity is greatest at relative humidities above 60% where capillary forces cause a sharp increase in adhesion with increasing relative humidity. Hysteresis was observed in the solid-solid contact gradient of the accompanying force curves, suggesting non-elastic behaviour at the contact area of the surfaces. Using the commercial AFM it was observed that adhesion values are consistently higher than results obtained from the custom built instrument across the range of relative humidity from 2% RH to 50% RH. This is due to the selection of smooth, single particle contact sites in the commercial AFM experiments. The measured adhesion forces from the custom-built instrument were found to be significantly lower than predictions for adhesion from the contact mechanics theories of JKR and DMT. This can be attributed to the effect of surface roughness and multiple contacts, which are not taken into account in either the JKR or DMT contact mechanics theories. At humidites below 60% the results obtained from the commercial AFM are in much better agreement with the predicted pull-off forces from the JKR model, because smooth, single particle contact regions could be selected. Using the custom-built instrument and the AFM Explorer, the effect of applied load on the adhesion force between a polystyrene particle and a polystyrene substrate was studied at low, medium and high relative humidity. Increasing the applied load has little effect on the measured adhesion forces at low and medium relative humidity but at high relative humidity of 60 to 65% RH, a transition was observed at an applied load of 1000 - 1200 nN. Above this transition the adhesion force increased steadily with applied load due to the yield stress of the material in the contact region being exceeded. The experimental values of applied load have been coupled with published values of Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and hardness to predict the contact area from contact mechanics models of JKR and Maugis-Pollock. When coupled with the published value of yield stress for the material, the applied load for the onset of plastic flow is predicted. The value of 1508 nN predicted by the plasticity-based MP model agrees approximately with the observed transition in behaviour. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).


The understanding of the motion of animal groups, such as birds, fish and insects, has been greatly advanced by applying principles of self-organisation – the emergence of global patterns from simple, local, interactions between individuals. The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, provides a useful model system for the experimental study of collective behaviour. During plague years, the desert locust can form aggregations extending over hundreds of km. Before developing wings, juvenile locusts form marching 'bands' which can maintain group cohesion as they migrate over large distances. In this thesis I investigate locust aggregation, group motion and individual interactions. I also apply the same principles to a study of human behaviour.
In Chapter 2, I describe the automated tracking methods that I developed and used to collect the data for the rest of the thesis. In the experiments described in Chapter 3, the relative strengths of the attraction to conspecifics and environmental heterogeneities were explored by presenting groups of locusts with two aggregation sites. I found that locusts had a preference to enter the site with the higher population. The locusts formed dynamic aggregations on the sites; no site was consistently more populated than the other, but individuals were significantly more attracted to the site with the higher current population. In Chapter 4, I consider the effect of marching experience on locust behaviour. Groups of locusts that had experience of directed marching, followed by a sudden reduction in density, behaved indistinguishably from those that had only experienced the lower density throughout, indicating a lack of hysteresis effects in collective responses to change in local population density. In Chapter 5, I investigate a locust's response to its nearest neighbour. I quantified a locust's propensity to start or stop moving according to the relative position, orientation and movement of its nearest neighbour. In Chapter 6 the techniques developed studying the locusts were applied to human groups. The response of people to different sized groups was quantified, replicating an earlier study in New York. The response was weaker in Oxford but had the same characteristics of the previous study, showing an initially linear response which saturated. The spatial distribution of gaze copying was anisotropic, tending to occur behind the group.


Recent studies using maternal intravenous immunoglobulin have shown some benefit in severe cases of RhD incompatibility. 28 The mechanism of action is still not well understood but may entail downregulation of the maternal immune response, placental antigenic blockade, or antigenic blockade at the level of the fetal reticulo-endothelial system. Whatever the mechanism, it is not uniformly effective in inhibiting haemolysis, but when it does, serum bilirubin concentrations fall. This treatment modality is appropriate only in selected cases—for example, very early disease. It may prolong the time interval before the first intrauterine treatment is required. Immunisation to paternal leucocytes in an animal model has been described and has been shown to prevent haemolytic disease. This technique, although showing promise, is still not yet in clinical use.


Physical education teachers are the practitioners of physical education curriculum reform who work at the front line of teaching, and their innovation behavior play a crucial role in promoting the smooth implementation of physical education curriculum reform. This study uses goal orientation theory as a theoretical basis to explore the mediation effect of learning goal orientation in the influence of perceived organization support on physical education teachers' innovation behavior. A total of 402 valid questionnaires were collected from physical education teachers in 40 schools at the basic education level in China, and the relationship between the variables was tested using structural equation modeling. The findings showed that physical education teachers' perceived organizational support had a positive effect on learning goal orientation and innovation behavior. Physical education teachers' learning goal orientation significantly influenced their innovation behavior. Additionally, learning goal orientation partially mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support and innovation behavior.


A least squares estimator for utilizing forthcoming information to update or revise estimates of the parameters of an econometric model is derived, some properties of the updated estimates are discussed, and an illustrative application is provided. The forthcoming information includes new sample observations and a priori probabilistic information about changes, if any, occurring in the parameters of the estimated model over time. Recursive formulae for sequential updating of the parameter estimates are derived. The procedure is used to update estimates of the parameters of an equation describing annual net changes in the inventory of Australian beef cows.


This thesis applied the Common Sense Model of Illness Representations to patients' experiences of acute non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP). A systematic review indicated high levels of distress and poor quality of life (QoL) in acute NCCP patients, although there were few studies on psychological outcomes in these patients, with very few considering the possible predictors of negative psychological outcomes. Study 1 was a longitudinal questionnaire-based study, assessing illness representations, psychological outcomes and continued chest pain in a sample of acute NCCP patients in an emergency department (N=200) and at one (N=138) and three month (N=110) follow-up. Levels of psychological distress were high, mental QoL was poor, and almost half the participants experienced continued chest pain. An increased belief in psychological causes, perception of a more chronic timeline and weaker perceptions of personal control were associated with poorer psychological outcomes. Continued chest pain was related to increased baseline psychological distress and cardiac worries, a stronger baseline perception of identity and a more chronic timeline, highlighting the role that anxiety and stress may play in causing and maintaining NCCP. The role of psychological factors and the lack of coherence (understanding) in NCCP, was demonstrated in Study 2, a qualitative study (N=7) of patients who experienced continued pain and distress at follow-up. Using the findings from Studies 1 and 2, and previous findings with NCCP patients, a self-help anxiety reduction intervention was developed. This was designed to improve patients' understanding of NCCP and to provide methods to reduce stress, anxiety and pain. During further qualitative work, the intervention was found to be acceptable, relevant and understandable to both NCCP patients (N=11) and the specialist nurses (N=4). Further research is needed to test the efficacy of the intervention in a randomised controlled trial.


Abstract This is a case of severe chemical burns following prolonged accidental exposure to a glyphosate-surfactant herbicide. The patient developed local swelling, bullae and exuding wounds. Neurological impairment followed affecting finger flexion and sensation with reduced nerve conduction. Imaging revealed oedema of the soft tissue and juxta-articular osteopenia, and a causal relationship to exposure is suggested.


People with learning disabilities (PWLD) are a vulnerable group who frequently experience exclusion within society generally, do not often participate in research, and are usually left out of citizenship theorising. Observing the position of PWLD through a citizenship lens is useful in both highlighting the injustice suffered, the flaws of normative understandings of a concept that promises universal inclusion, and asks what form of citizenship do PWLD consider valuable.

This thesis provides a narrative account of a group of PWLD perceptions and experiences of normative understandings of citizenship. Independence and participation in this normative sense are juxtaposed with the findings that the participants valued feelings of autonomy and inclusion above such normative acts, which are aligned with neoliberal assumptions whereby self-sufficiency, economic contributions and a normative conception of independence are revered.

The citizenship of PWLD is in need of both recognition and redistributive address. The recognition of difference, positive representations, and the need for institutional respect for PWLD are found to be required on the one hand, and redistributive measures addressing economic marginalisation and being in a position where, as a group, PWLD are unable to achieve goals in line with a neoliberal value system.

The thesis concludes that in order for PWLD to experience true inclusion it is necessary to remove discussions of citizenship from expectations in relation to the economy and the ability of the individual to meet neoliberal goals. This is a radical assertion, however, the research findings indicate that a focus on redistribution is central to the true inclusion of PWLD.


Despite continued efforts by educators, UN declarations and numerous international agreements, progress is still limited in handling major global challenges such as ecosystem collapse, accelerating climate change, poverty and inequity. The capacity to collaborate globally on addressing these issues remains weak. This systematic review of research on global learning for sustainable development (GLSD) aims to clarify the diverse directions research on GLSD has taken, to present the historical development of the research area, and highlight emerging research issues. The review summarises key findings of the English language literature in the period 1994-2020 identified with the search terms "global learning" and "sustainable development", sustainability or GLSD, respectively. The review documented a gradually growing knowledge base, mostly authored by scholars located in the global North. Conclusions point to what we might achieve if we could learn from one another in new ways, moving beyond Northern-centric paradigms. It is also time to re-evaluate core assumptions that underlie education for sustainable development more generally, such as a narrow focus on formal learning institutions. The review provides a benchmark for future reviews of research on GLSD, reveals the emerging transformative structure of this transdisciplinary field, and offers reference points for further research.


By temolysis of the Zn1−  Cu (HCOO)(OCH2CH2O)1/2 complexes in one step Zn1−  Cu O solid solutions were obtained. Сopper in these materials is a regulator of the photoactivity and morphology of aggregates. According to TEM, XPS, optical spectroscopy, and voltammetry, all samples studied contain monovalent copper. It was shown that the maximum photoactivity in the reactions of photooxidation of As in UV and blue light has Zn1− Cu O (0<x<0.1) solid solutions with tubular particle morphology. With an increase in concentration up to 10 at.%, сopper manifests itself as an electron acceptor, which reduces the efficiency of the catalyst in both light ranges.
Keywords: photocatalyst, Cu-doped ZnO, heterostructures, wide-band-gap semiconductors, precursor synthesis


of conjecture coloured by a small number of adverse experiences; nonetheless, in our increasingly regulated, consumer-conscious society, there can be no doubt that in this discipline, as in all other therapeutic endeavours, there should be an agreed regulatory framework. What this is to be is something homeopaths and the public will need to work out together, taking note of the strengths and weaknesses of the homeopathy as it is currently practised by medical and non-medical homeopaths. In conclusion, far from refuting my comments their letter goes a long way in confirming my conclusions; thus I am grateful to Dr Fisher and his colleagues for giving me this opportunity to comment further on the subject.


Federated learning is a pioneering privacy-preserving data technology and also a new machine learning model trained on distributed data sets.

Companies collect huge amounts of historic and real-time data to drive their business and collaborate with other organisations. However, data privacy is becoming increasingly important because of regulations (e.g. EU GDPR) and the need to protect their sensitive and personal data. Companies need to manage data access: firstly within their organizations (so they can control staff access), and secondly protecting raw data when collaborating with third parties. What is more, companies are increasingly looking to 'monetize' the data they've collected. However, under new legislations, utilising data by different organization is becoming increasingly difficult (Yu, 2016).

Federated learning pioneered by Google is the emerging privacy- preserving data technology and also a new class of distributed machine learning models. This paper discusses federated learning as a solution for privacy-preserving data access and distributed machine learning applied to distributed data sets. It also presents a privacy-preserving federated learning infrastructure.


The plasminogen activation system and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a key role in the degradation of basement membrane and extracellular matrix in tissue remodeling, cancer cell invasion and metastasis.
It is generally believed that uPA initiates a proteinase cascade at the cell surface that contributes to tumor invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. uPA is inhibited by plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1) and it can also be inhibited by PAI type-3 (PAI-3).
On the other hand, MMPs are involved in several pathological processes, including tumor invasion, in which degradation of the extracellular matrix is a key event. MMP-3 is a stromelysin implicated in invasion and metastasis processes. MMP-3 activity is regulated by tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases type-1 (TIMP-1).
The quantitative real-time RT-PCR technique allowed us to obtain a highly sensitive, specific, and reproducible mRNAs quantification of uPA, PAI-1, PAI-3, MMP-3 and TIMP-1.
PAI-1, uPA and TIMP-1 mRNA and antigen levels and PAI-1 and uPA functional levels increased with tumor severity, and in node-positive patients than those who were node-negative. However, no significant variations were observed for PAI-3 and MMP-3 for all the groups studied.
PAI-3 antigen levels were significantly higher in early relapse-free patients than in patients who suffered a relapse. However, PAI-1 and MMP-3 antigen levels were significantly higher in patients who suffered an early relapse than in those who did not .
uPA immunoreactivity was localized mainly in stromal and endothelial cells and with lower intensity in cancer cells. PAI-1 immunostaining was stronger in cancer cells and in endothelial cells, than in stromal cells surrounding cancer cells. PAI-3 antigen was localized in the stromal cells surrounding nested cancer cells, but it was not observed in cancer cells or in endothelial cells.
uPA and PAI-1 mRNA was localized mainly in stromal cells, indicating that uPA and PAI-1 are mainly synthesized by stromal cells, secreted and captured by cancer cells.
We have found, for the first time, that PAI-3 is expressed in breast cancer tissue. Our data indicated that uPA, PAI-1, MMP-3 and TIMP-1 are implicated in invasion and metastasis in breast cancer. However, PAI-3 seems to inhibit these processes.


The paper considers the macroeconomic transmission of demand and supply shocks in an open economy under alternative assumptions on whether the zero interest floor (ZIF) is binding. It uses a two-country general-equilibrium simulation model calibrated to the Japanese economy vis-a-vis the rest of the world. Negative demand shocks have more prolonged and startling effects on the economy when the ZIF is binding than when it is not binding. Positive supply shocks can actually extend the period of time over which the ZIF may be expected to bind. More open economies hit the ZIF for a shorter period of time, and with less harmful effects. Deflationary supply shocks have different implications according to whether they are concentrated in the tradables rather than the nontradables sector. Price-level-path targeting rules are likely to provide better guidelines for monetary policy in a deflationary environment, and have desirable properties in normal times when the ZIF is not binding.


Mutual funds are owned by almost half of all U.S. households, manage nearly $12 trillion dollars in assets, and have become a primary vehicle for retirement and investment savings in the United States. Who are mutual fund investors? The answer is critical to regulatory policy for the mutual fund industry. Fund investors, by selecting the funds in which they invest, play a central role in determining asset allocation and in controlling the fees and expenses that funds charge. Thus, the functioning of the mutual fund market turns on the knowledge and financial sophistication of fund investors. This article examines the profiles of mutual fund investors presented alternatively by the mutual fund industry, by the SEC, and by an extensive empirical academic literature. The industry portrays fund investors as diligent, fairly sophisticated, and guided by professional financial advisers. The result, according to the industry, is a competitive mutual fund market in which fund investors demand low costs and solid performance. The SEC's regulatory policy paints a more cautious portrait of fund investors. While acknowledging that many investors have limitations, however, the SEC touts improved disclosure by the industry as a sufficient antidote. The academic literature, produced primarily by finance professors, finds that fund investors are generally uninformed and financially unsophisticated. Most investors are unaware of the basic characteristics of their funds, pay little attention to costs (especially ongoing costs), and chase past performance despite little evidence that high past fund returns predict future returns. Even fund investors who use financial advisers do not make better choices. The SEC's belief that fund investors can fend for themselves, once armed with adequate disclosure, fails to appreciate the extent of investors' limitations. Instead, the findings of the academic literature suggest that policymakers should rethink current regulatory policy. Disclosure may not be enough.


In this study Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) was trained by different methods to study performance of each method on classification of ECG beats. To train the neural networks six types of beats including, Normal Beat (N), Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC), Fusion of Ventricular and Normal Beat (F), Atrial Premature Beat (A), Right Bundle Branch Blok Beat (R), and Fusion of Paced and Normal Beat (f) were selected from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. Training of the neural networks were performed with a training set which includes 100 beats for each class. Four time domain (morphological) features were extracted from the beats for classification process. Then several experiments were performed over the test set, and it was observed that, combining RBFNN with different methods has a positive effect on the classification performance of ECG beats.


In laboratory experiments, we investigated how media with varying ratio of peat:sand and two levels of compaction influence dispersal success of entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) species with different foraging strategies: Steinernema carpocapsae (ambusher), Heterorhabditis downesi (cruiser) and Steinernema feltiae (intermediate). Success was measured by the numbers of nematodes moving through a 4 cm column and invading a wax moth larva. We found that both compaction and increasing peat content generally decreased EPN infective juvenile (IJ) success for all three species. Of the three species, H. downesi was the least affected by peat content, and S. carpocapsae was the most adversely influenced by compaction. In addition, sex ratios of the invading IJs of the two Steinernema species were differentially influenced by peat content, and in the case of S. feltiae, sex ratio was also affected by compaction. This indicates that dispersal of male and female IJs is differentially affected by soil parameters and that this differentiation is species-specific. In conclusion, our study shows that organic matter: sand ratio and soil compaction have a marked influence on EPN foraging behaviour with implications for harnessing them as biological pest control agents.


ABSTRACT This study has been performed on continuous graphene oxide fiber produced by different production parameters which has very large potential application areas such as electronic/smart textiles, sensors, energy. In this study, three different graphene oxide dispersion preparation methods; namely, Modified Hummers, Modified Hummers on exfoliated graphite and Modified Hummers with plasma application; have been used to prepare coagulated continuous graphene oxide fibers. The effect of production parameters on properties of continuous graphene oxide fibers have been measured by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-Ray Photoelectron Microscopy (XPS), tensile tester, electrical conductivity device. It was observed that exfoliation process results with decrease of fiber Tex count, fiber surface roughness, oxygen functional groups and an increase of breaking strength and electrical conductivity, while plasma application results to an increase of surface roughness of fiber, oxygen functional groups and decrease of breaking strength of fiber.


This Article presents the legal literature's first detailed analysis of the inner workings of Initial Coin Offerings. We characterize the ICO as an example of financial innovation, placing it in kinship with venture capital contracting, asset securitization, and (obviously) the IPO. We also take the form seriously as an example of technological innovation, where promoters are beginning to effectuate their promises to investors through computer code, rather than traditional contract. To understand the dynamics of this shift, we first collect contracts, "white papers," and other contract-like documents for the fifty top-grossing ICOs of 2017. We then analyze how such projects' software code reflected (or failed to reflect) their contractual promises. Our inquiry reveals that many ICOs failed even to promise that they would protect investors against insider self-dealing. Fewer still manifested such contracts in code. Surprisingly, in a community known for espousing a technolibertarian belief in the power of "trustless trust" built with carefully designed code, a significant fraction of issuers retained centralized control through previously undisclosed code permitting modification of the entities' governing structures. These findings offer valuable lessons to legal scholars, economists, and policymakers about the roles played by gatekeepers; about the value of regulation; and the possibilities for socially valuable private ordering in a relatively anonymous, decentralized environment.


Philosophic contingency embedded in James Joyce's avant-garde novel, ranging from Aristotelian notion of mimesis to the possibility of a Marxian reading, stemming from Hegel's dialectic, added to the linguistic pragmatics, pave the way to focus on the process of realization and mental performance by a leading contemporary philosopher of analytic philosophy, J.L. Austin, as an epistemological triggering in the course of implication through a narrative, here Proteus, teleologically speaking, resulting a meta-utterance in a broader scale, much far from constative type, a metaphorical narration, elaborating on cultural agency, while paraphrasing the languagebased relativity of collective identity and complexity of Austin's speech act theory, in terms of (in)felicitous conditions, rooted in the success of the communicative intention of the narrator, here Stephen Dedalus, maybe the most wonderful advanced guard of narratology in interior monologue.


Objectives A20 is an important endogenous regulator of inflammation. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in A20 have been associated with various immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, and cell-specific deletion of A20 results in diverse inflammatory phenotypes. Our goal was to delineate the underlying mechanisms of joint inflammation in myeloid-specific A20-deficient mice (A20myelKO mice). Methods Inflammation in A20myelKO mice was assessed in a time-dependent manner. Western blot analysis and quantitative PCR analysis were performed on bone marrow-derived macrophages from A20myelKO and littermate control mice to study the effect of A20 on STAT1/STAT3 expression and STAT1/STAT3-dependent gene transcription in myeloid cells. The in vivo role of Janus kinase-Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (JAK-STAT) signalling in the development of enthesitis in A20myelKO mice was assessed following administration of a JAK inhibitor versus placebo control. Results Enthesitis was found to be an early inflammatory lesion in A20myelKO mice. A20 negatively modulated STAT1-dependent, but generally not STAT3-dependent gene transcription in myeloid cells by suppressing STAT1 but not STAT3 expression, both in unstimulated conditions and after interferon-γ or interleukin-6 stimulation. The increase in STAT1 gene transcription in the absence of A20 was shown to be JAK-STAT-dependent. Moreover, JAK inhibition in vivo resulted in significant reduction of enthesitis, both clinically and histopathologically. Conclusions Our data reveal an important and novel interplay between myeloid cells and tissue resident cells at entheseal sites that is regulated by A20. In the absence of A20, STAT1 but not STAT3 expression is enhanced leading to STAT1-dependent inflammation. Therefore, A20 acts as a novel endogenous regulator of STAT1 that prevents onset of enthesitis.


Drug delivery systems (DDS) reduces side effects as oppose to conventional by targeting and releasing its dosage at specific site in the body. Successful DDS application requires a stable drug  delivery mechanism of the drug carrier. Hydrogel based biomaterial has been used over the years to demonstrate successful biomedical application in vitro. This is due to their high biocompatibility and less cytotoxicity. Silk fibroin (SF) has proven to be an excellent choice of hydrogel based biomedical application, its three-dimensional stable network of polymers allows its swelling in large amount of water. In addition, it also degrades continuously overtime which makes it highly suitable as a smart drug vehicle. In an attempt to optimize the properties of silk fibroin, several methodological approaches to silk fibroin hydrogel preparation was adopted and evaluated. The approach here was to regenerate silk fibroin solution, process it by crosslinking with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and xanthan solution respectively. Silk Fibroin solution stored at 4°C was dried at room temperature for 3 days to obtain Silk Fibroin Hydrogel (SFH). Silk fibroin was cross-linked with Xanthan to obtain a stable hydrogel (SXH) at its optimum pH and temperature. Lastly, AgNPs was crosslinked with SF to produce SSN. All Hydrogels samples were freeze-dried into scaffolds, Essential Biomaterial Characterization and Enzymatic degradation analysis was carried out on all hydrogels at α=0.05 level.

Introduction:
Drugs have been used extensively to improve health care. Health care technology has shi? to the practice of drug delivery systems (DDS) in the past few decades to directly deliver treatment at specific targeted while also minimizing side e??ect as oppose the conventional. ?is great advancement has been implemented to several treatment therapy and even greater changes are anticipated in the near future. Biomedical engineers have contributed greatly to the understanding of the biochemical mechanism of invaded tissue cells with its corresponding physiological barriers to e?ciently deliver drug at this site. ?e biosynthesis of smart drug delivery using di??erent biosynthetic techniques, polymer manipulation to form a stable hydrogel has picked the interest of several researchers in the field. DDS monitors and controls drug release dosage at specific site location. Silk fibroin obtained from Bombyx mori has been studied over the decades for hydrogel due to its excellent biocompatibility in vitro biomedical applications [1,2]. Its protein polymeric structures allows for its excellent biocompatibility with tissue cells. ?is polymeric network known as SILK I or SILK II possesses great mechanical quality excellent for bearing load which makes silk adequate for as a drug carrier, this diverse range of properties allows are broader span of silk fibroin as potential biomaterial. Xanthan is inhumane to a wide scope of temperature, pH and electrolyte fixations [3,4]. It likewise shows high shear steadiness across this physiological conditions. ?e presence of silver nanoparticles in silk fibroin hydrogel has been demonstrated in vivo to reduce bacterial contamination. ?e study therefore aims to determine the optimum processing condition for a silk-induced hydrogel for drug delivery system.


A climate index is a time series that quantifies the temporal evolution of a climate process in a particular region. Various climatic patterns, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Arctic Oscillation, and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), have been summarized into climate indices corresponding to the respective regions; a comparison among these indices enables various further inferences. In this study, we investigated the interconnection between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans using the representative climate indices, i.e. the PDO and NAO indices, respectively. Using empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and statistical analysis, it was shown that these two indices share the same long-term oscillation phase in the low-frequency domain, while in the high-frequency domain, the cross-correlation and the serial correlations of the two indices vary according to the phase of the long-term oscillation. This implies that a certain long-term oscillatory forcing influences both the Atlantic and Pacific regions. Three global gridded climate variables [i.e. sea-level pressure (SLP), precipitable water (PW), and sea-surface temperature (SST)] were studied over three different periods (i.e. the negative phase period of the long-term oscillation centered on 1960 and the positive phase centered on 1990). The mean 11 year anomalies revealed a noticeable particular spatial pattern and opposing tendencies for these periods. Furthermore, the global spatial patterns inducing the cross-correlation between the NAO and PDO indices and the lag-1 auto-correlations of the NAO index are presented. Based on the results presented in the current study, a long-term oscillation with a 70 to 80 year cycle may exist in the Pacific and Atlantic regions simultaneously. Because the slow and cyclic long-term oscillation can be predictable using EMD, if the same climate conditions of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans continue as the last several decades, the spatial evolution of climate variables might also be inferred according to the phase of the long-term oscillation. Further physical study and analysis of long proxy records should help provide more conclusive results. Copyright  2012 Royal Meteorological Society


The main bridge of Dalian South Binhai Avenue is a double-decked three-span earth -anchored suspension bridge with a full length of 820m, of which the main span is 460m, and a width of 24.8m. In this paper, the conceptual design of the steel stiffening truss girder, cable tower and anchorage are introduced and the design difficulties and points are analyzed. The anchorage adopts the hollow triangular frame structure, breaking through the physical heavy structure of gravity anchorage; and the design of two wedge-shaped gravel bed foundations improves the anti-slip safety factor of the anchorage. The offshore anchorage program provides a reference for the construction of future similar bridges.


The observation of constitutional chromosome abnormalities in a one and half year old boy with Wiedemann-Beckwith syndrome (WBS) and hepatoblastoma prompted us to review the currently available literature dealing with this subject. In approximately 500 published cases with complete and incomplete forms of WBS, 42 malignant and 9 benign neoplasms have been described. Malignant tumors, in particular, mainly consisted of nephroblastomas and adrenocortical carcinomas. The patient presented in this paper is the fourth with a hepatoblastoma. The constitutional karyotype was analysed in 84 cases; in 68 of them with banding techniques. Abnormalities have only been detected in 11 patients. A 47;XXY karyotype, an inversion of chromosome 2, a partial duplication of the long arm of chromosome 8 and reciprocal translocations t(11;22) and t(X;1), respectively, have been observed in one case each. Individually differing changes in the remaining six cases led to a common triplication of the region 11p15. This triplication has also been the only abnormality, which has so far been reported in one out of six investigated WBS patients with a tumor. Cytogenetic analysis in our case revealed an interstitial deletion of the short arm of chromosome 11 and a complete pericentric inversion of the chromosome 9 heterochromatin block. The breakpoints of the deletion, del(11) (p11.1p11.2), are located proximal of those (11p15) reported in anomalies of other WBS patients, as well as proximal of those involved in patients with the aniridia/Wilm's tumor complex (11p13-11p14). Inversion of the heterochromatin of chromosome 9 has been recognized as a normal variant, which generally remains without phenotypic effects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Peri-implantitis is currently a topic of major interest in implantology. Considered one of the main reasons of late implant failure, there is an emerged concern whether implant characteristics could trigger inflammatory lesion and loss of supporting bone. The purpose of this narrative review is to provide an evidence based overview on the influence of implant-based factors in the occurrence of peri-implantitis. A literature review was conducted addressing the following topics: implant surface topography; implant location; occlusal overload; time in function; prosthesis-associated factors (rehabilitation extension, excess of cement and implant-abutment connection); and metal particle release. Although existing data suggests that some implant-based factors may increase the risk of peri-implantitis, the evidence is still limited to consider them a true risk factor for peri-implantitis. In conclusion, further evidences are required to a better understanding of the influence of implant-based factors in the occurrence of peri-implantitis. Large population-based studies including concomitant analyses of implant- and patient-based factors are required to provide strong evidence of a possible association with peri-implantitis in a higher probability. The identification of these factors is essential for the establishment of strategies to prevent peri-implantitis.


We present a topological construction that provides many examples of non-commutative Frobenius algebras that generalizes the well-known pair-of-pants. When applied to the solid torus, in conjunction with Crane-Yetter theory, we provide a topological proof of the Verlinde formula. We also apply the construction to a solid handlebody of higher genus, leading to a generalization of the Verlinde formula (not the higher genus Verlinde formula); in particular, we define a generalized $S$-matrix. Finally, we discuss the relation between our construction and Yetter's construction of a handle as a Hopf algebra, and give a generalization.


The radioprotective effect of leaf extract of jamun, Syzygium cumini was studied in mice exposed to different doses of γ-radiation. Acute toxicity of jamun (Syzygium cumini) extract were determined initially. Animals were orally administered once daily with different doses of jamun extract for 5 consecutive days before exposure to 10 Gy γ-radiation for selection of optimum radioprotective dose. Symptoms of radiationsickness and the survival of the animals were monitored for 30 days after the irradiation. Administration of jamun extract for five consecutive days increased the survival of animals in a dose dependent manner up to a dose of 50 mg/kg and then declined steadily up to 300 mg/kg. Further studies with 50 mg/kg extract showed that oral administration of jamun extract for five continuous days protected mice against the radiationinduced sickness and increased the survival. Whole body irradiation only of mice increased lipid peroxidation and reduced glutathione concentration in a dose dependent manner, whereas treatment of mice with 50 mg/kg jamun extract significantly increased glutathione concentration and reduced the lipid peroxidation. Free radical scavenging and increase in glutathione and reduction in lipid peroxidation may have contributed to the observed radioprotection. Jamun extract protected mice against the radiation-induced sickness and mortality.


1. Marine legislation, the key means by which the conservation of marine biodiversity is achieved, has been developing since the 1960s. In recent decades, an increasing focus on 'holistic' policy development is evident, compared with earlier 'piecemeal' sectoral approaches. Important marine legislative tools being used in the United Kingdom, and internationally, include the designation of marine protected areas and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) with its aim of meeting 'Good Environmental Status' (GES) for European seas by 2020. 2. There is growing evidence of climate change impacts on marine biodiversity, which may compromise the effectiveness of any legislation intended to promote sustainable marine resource management. 3. A review of key marine biodiversity legislation relevant to the UK shows climate change was not considered in the drafting of much early legislation. Despite the huge increase in knowledge of climate change impacts in recent decades, legislation is still limited in how it takes these impacts into account. There is scope, however, to account for climate change in implementing much of the legislation through (a) existing references to environmental variability; (b) review cycles; and (c) secondary legislation and complementary policy development. 4. For legislation relating to marine protected areas (e.g. the EC Habitats and Birds Directives), climate change has generally not been considered in the site-designation process, or for ongoing management, with the exception of the Marine (Scotland) Act. Given that changing environmental conditions (e.g. rising temperatures and ocean acidification) directly affect the habitats and species that sites are designated for, how this legislation is used to protect marine biodiversity in a changing climate requires further consideration. 5. Accounting for climate change impacts on marine biodiversity in the development and implementation of legislation is vital to enable timely, adaptive management responses. Marine modelling can play an important role in informing management decisions.


The Upper Guinean region of West Africa exhibits strong geographic variation in land use, climate, vegetation, and human population and has experienced phenomenal biophysical and socio-economic changes in recent decades. All of these factors influence spatial heterogeneity and temporal trends in fires, but their combined effects on fire regimes are not well understood. The main objectives of this study were to characterize the spatial patterns and interrelationships of multiple fire regime components, identify recent trends in fire activity, and explore the relative influences of climate, topography, vegetation type, and human activity on fire regimes. Fire regime components, including active fire density, burned area, fire season length, and fire radiative power, were characterized using MODIS fire products from 2003 to 2015. Both active fire and burned area were most strongly associated with vegetation type, whereas fire season length was most strongly influenced by climate and topography variables, and fire radiative power was most strongly influenced by climate. These associations resulted in a gradient of increasing fire activity from forested coastal regions to the savanna-dominated interior, as well as large variations in burned area and fire season length within the savanna regions and high fire radiative power in the westernmost coastal regions. There were increasing trends in active fire detections in parts of the Western Guinean Lowland Forests ecoregion and decreasing trends in both active fire detections and burned area in savanna-dominated ecoregions. These results portend that ongoing regional landscape and socio-economic changes along with climate change will lead to further changes in the fire regimes in West Africa. Efforts to project future fire regimes and develop regional strategies for adaptation will need to encompass multiple components of the fire regime and consider multiple drivers, including land use as well as climate.


A 66-year-old male with no family history of neurological disease developed symmetrical paraesthesia, numbness and flaccid weakness of the hands and feet. Both the weakness and sensory loss became progressively more severe, and spread to involve the forearms and lower legs. Limb muscle wasting and tongue fasciculation only became apparent late in the disease course, and death eventually occurred from respiratory failure eight years after the onset of symptoms. Postmortem examination revealed most of the typical histological features of motor neuron disease, but in addition there was degeneration of the spinocerebellar tracts and spinal cord posterior columns, with degeneration and loss of their associated neuronal perikarya in Clarke's nuclei and dorsal root ganglia. The clinical and pathological features of this case suggest that it is a non-familial but atypical form of motor neuron disease, and support the concept that this disease represents part of a spectrum of neuronal degenerative processes rather than a circumscribed disorder limited to motor neurons.


Opioids were implicated in most of the 6,100 overdose deaths in Europe in 2012, but the situation is becoming increasing complex in the case of synthetic drugs, a new report reveals.

These synthetic drugs, including stimulants, new psychoactive substances and medicinal products, are becoming more prominent in drug markets throughout Europe.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) European drug report 2014 summarises the latest trends across the 28 EU member states, as well as in Norway and Turkey.

Both the quantity of heroin and the number of seizures have fallen considerably in recent years and the numbers entering treatment for heroin use continues to decline. In Ireland, 3,971 (52 per cent) of those who entered treatment for drug problems in 2012 reported opioids, mainly heroin, as their primary problem drug.

The number of those entering treatment for the first time for heroin use was 949 in 2012. This is the equivalent of 29 per cent of new clients entering treatment.

In Ireland, 8 per cent of first-time opioid clients entering specialised treatment in 2012 were misusing opioids other than heroin. Among opioid clients entering treatment in 2012, 45 per cent reported injecting the drug.


The R function glm uses step-halving to deal with certain types of convergence problems when using iteratively reweighted least squares to fit a generalized linear model. This works well in some circumstances but non-convergence remains a possibility, particularly with a nonstandard link function. In some cases this is because step-halving is never invoked, despite a lack of convergence. In other cases step-halving is invoked but is unable to induce convergence. One remedy is to impose a stricter form of stephalving than is currently available in glm, so that the deviance is forced to decrease in every iteration. This has been implemented in the glm2 function available in the glm2 package. Aside from a modified computational algorithm, glm2 operates in exactly the same way as glm and provides improved convergence properties. These improvements are illustrated here with an identity link Poisson model, but are also relevant in other contexts. It is not too uncommon for iteratively reweighted least squares (IRLS) to exhibit convergence problems when fitting a generalized linear model (GLM). Such problems tend to be most common when using a nonstandard link function, such as a log link binomial model or an identity link Poisson model. Consequently, most commonly used statistical software has the provision to invoke various modifications of IRLS if non-convergence occurs. In the stats package of R, IRLS is implemented in the glm function via its workhorse routine glm.fit. This routine deals with specific types of convergence problems by switching to step-halving if iterates display certain undesirable properties. That is, if a full Fisher scoring step of IRLS will lead to either an infinite deviance or predicted values that are invalid for the model being fitted, then the increment in parameter estimates is repeatedly halved until the updated estimates no longer exhibit these features. This is achieved through repeated application of the call start <(start + coefold)/2 where coefold and start contain estimates from the previous and current iterations, respectively. Although this approach works well in some contexts, it can be prone to fail in others. In particular, although the step-halving process in glm.fit will throw an errant iterative sequence back into the desired region, the sequence may repeatedly try to escape that region and never converge. Furthermore, it is even possible for the IRLS iterative sequence to be such that step-halving is never invoked in glm.fit, yet the sequence does not converge. Such behavior is typically accompanied by a deviance sequence that increases in one or more of the iterations. This suggests a modification to glm.fit which has been implemented in the glm2 package (Marschner, 2011). As motivation for the proposed modification, we begin by discussing the potential for non-convergence using some numerical examples of the above types of behavior. The glm2 package is then discussed, which consists of a main function glm2 and a workhorse routine glm.fit2. These are modified versions of glm and glm.fit, in which step-halving is used to force the deviance to decrease from one iteration to the next. It is shown that this modification provides improved convergence behavior.


Human{robot interaction (HRI) is studied in two important research areas, intention estimation and intention reshaping. Although there are many studies in the literature that dene human intention, new research examines the reshaping of human intentions by using robots in HRI. In this paper, 2 different robot movements are tested in a real environment in order to reshape current human intention. The hidden Markov model (HMM) is used to estimate human intention in our intelligent robotic system. The algorithmic design of the system comprises 2 parts: therst part tracks the moving objects in the environment, and the second part estimates human intention and reshapes the estimated current human intention by using intelligent robots. In therst part, a feature vector consisting of the headings of the human posture and the locations of the humans and robots is created by using video processing techniques. The second part is related to estimating the current intention of a human participant via HMM models and to reshaping the current intention into another intention. The system is tested in a real experimental environment including humans and robots, and the results in the recorded videos are given at the end of the paper.


Significance of the damage to low velocity foreign object impact in quasi-isotropic composite laminates and the residual compressive strength of the damaged plates are theoretically evaluated to estimate the CAI strength of the composite laminates. The damaged portion is modelled as equally spaced multiple circular plates without delamination opening which is a rough but mechanically acceptable approximation of the impact damage for damage growth stage as well as the compression behavior of damaged plates. Superposition technique is used to derive approximate closed-form formula for both the impact and compression problem. The expressions of the energy release rate derived as a function of geometrical and material parameters are able to predict the damage initiation and growth of both problems.


Tebuthiuron [N-[5-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl]N,N'-dimethylurea] controls small trees in regrown pinyon-juniper woodland chainings. Precise applications by hand minimize cost and damage to forage plants. Little information exists on the applicability of local trials to varying Intermountain sites slated for reinvestment. We conducted 2 balanced factorial experiments at well-separated sites in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau. Four rates (0.12, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 gm a.i. per 130 dm3 crown volume) of tebuthiuron boluses were applied to tree stembase, mid-crown, or dripline placements. Four size classes (12-99, 100-299, 300-599, and 600-1099 dm3 crown volume) of Utah juniper [Juniperus osteosperma (Torr.) Little] and single needle (Pinus monophylla Torr. and Frem.), and Rocky Mountain (P. edulis Engelm.) pinyon trees were treated in September 1985. Defoliation and mortality levels were estimated 24 and 36 months following treatments. Both sites received highly similar amounts of herbicide and cumulative precipitation. Analysis of variance showed that the presence and strength of main effects and first order interactions was largely site-specific. Pinyon was more susceptible than juniper at tither site. Medium-sized and large saplings were apparently more readily defoliated than seedlings and small saplings. Dosage effects were generally nonlinear for both species. The highest, most rapid and most uniform defoliation and mortality of trees resulted from application of tebuthiuron at the stem bases. This placement option has strong operational advantages and minimizes damage to forage plants beneath trees.


The purpose of this study was to compare two preschools with respect to how they reacted to and developed a programme for group-based integration of heating-impaired and deaf children. Two main issues were addressed: (1) How the two preschools reacted to and developed the integration programme as regards: (a) the attitudes of the staff to the programme's goals and means; (b) the work of the staff (forms of work, purpose/content and teaching activities); and (c) the children's play, particularly as it relates to social interaction between hearing impaired/deaf and hearing children. (2) To what extent possible differences in patterns of development between the two preschools could be explained in terms of the different conditions (frame factors) under which the programme was carried out. The process of integration was studied from an implementation perspective, that is, as a process of change. This approach highlights the significance of the preschool as an organization. Consequently, theories of and research on organizational processes were, together with implementation reseach, used as a theoretical framework for the study.At an early stage of integration there were many similarities between the two preschools. In both cases there was a clear orientation towards a social, and not just a situational, integration of the heating-impaired and deaf children. Whilst this orientation largely remained the same in one of the preschools during the study period, 1982 to 1987, in the other preschool there was a shift towards social segregation within the framework of situational integration. This change in orientation found expression both in changes in the attitude of staff towards integration and in changes in the forms of work used. An attempt was made to explain the observed differences in development patterns between the two preschools in terms of programme-related. organizational. and community-related frame factors of the integration programme. Important explanatory factors were found in all three categories.


In the context of an ethnically diverse, aging society, attention is increasingly turning to health-related quality of life measurement to evaluate healthcare and treatment options for chronic diseases. When evaluating and treating symptoms and concerns such as fatigue, pain, or physical function, reliable and accurate assessment is a priority. Modern psychometric methods have enabled us to move from long, static tests that provide inefficient and often inaccurate assessment of individual patients, to computerized adaptive tests (CATs) that can precisely measure individuals on health domains of interest. These modern methods, collectively referred to as item response theory (IRT), can produce calibrated "item banks" from larger pools of questions. From these banks, CATs can be conducted on individuals to produce their scores on selected domains. Item banks allow for comparison of patients across different question sets because the patient's score is expressed on a common scale. Other advantages of using item banks include flexibility in terms of the degree of precision desired; interval measurement properties under most circumstances; realistic capability for accurate individual assessment over time (using CAT); and measurement equivalence across different patient populations. This work summarizes the process used in the creation and evaluation of item banks and reviews their potential contributions and limitations regarding outcome assessment and patient care, particularly when they are applied across people of different cultural backgrounds.


A rigid constructionist view of Wolff's trajectorial theory of trabecular architecture, called the "orthodox theory," requires that the trabeculae of cancellous bone intersect at right angles exactly like the stress trajectories with which they are associated by the theory. It is well established that trabeculae do not always intersect at right angles. The author discusses the fallacy in the orthodox interpretation of Wolff's law, and suggests that a "resolution length restriction" be imposed on the trajectorial theory to avoid interpretations that lead to the fallacy.


The beginnings of the medicinal plants' use were instinctive, as is the case with animals. In time, the reasons for the usage of specific medicinal plants for treatment of certain diseases were being discovered; thus, the medicinal plants' usage gradually abandoned the empiric framework and became founded on explicatory facts. Plants have provided man with all his needs in terms of shelter, clothing, food, flavours and fragrances as not the least, medicines. The beneficial medicinal effects of plant materials typically result from the combinations of secondary products present in the plant. Many countries use the plant as medicinal value for primary healthcare. A great amount of traditional knowledge about the use of medicinal plant species is still carried and orally transmitted by indigenous peoples. Currently, approximately 25% of allopathic drugs are derived from plant based compounds, and many others are synthetic analogues built on prototype compounds isolated from plant species. Plants represent a constant interest as sources of novel foods and medicines. Fruit and leaves of different tree species (both wild and cultivated) are essential to alleviate human health problems and food insecurity especially in the developing world. Medicinal plants, since times immemorial, have been used virtually in all cultures as a source of medicine. Medicinal plants are accessible, affordable and culturally appropriate sources of primary health care for more than 80 percent of population. Most of the countries special developing lives in rural area which are considered poor depend on medicinal plants. The medicinal plants play a significant role in providing their own nutrient composition. In addition to these benefits also it has potential of antimicrobial and antioxidant agents. These medicinal plants are faced to challenge as the reason of population increasing, human encroachments and others. Many stalk holders play a great role to conserve and managing the medicinal plants by different approaches. Keywords : Conservation, Indigenous knowledge, Livelihoods, Medicinal Plants


Web is media marketing of products both institutions and individuals can take advantage of. Web of Library and Archives East Java province appointed a research focus. In this study, the authors use a method or approach to Human-Computer Interaction. By using the theory of Usability authors wanted to examine as the success that has been done by Padan Library and Kearsiapan East Java Province as an information provider.In this study, the writer uses the descriptive quantitative research methods. Population taken by the author is the web users of Library and Archives East Java that utilizes web of Library and Archives with the aim of meeting the needs of information. To be able to describe the behavior of web access and utilization in the activities of the information needs of the community, then used purposive sampling techniques (nonprobabilitas). Samples taken in this study of 100 respondents.In this study aims to determine the success of web information systems in particular of Library and Archives of East Java Province. Usability is measured from some concepts derived by the Learnability, Flexibility, Robustness.


A finite element code has been developed at the University of Sheffield to simulate the structural response of steel and composite framed buildings subjected to fire. The
steel skeleton is represented using two-noded line elements, the steel-to-steel connections using spring elements and the flooring system by isotropic flat shell elements. Structures are therefore considered as a complete entity, allowing a more realistic prediction of structural behaviour at elevated temperature. A series of numerical simulations of fire tests carried out on the full-scale, eight-storey composite frame at the BRE laboratory at Cardington in 1995 and 1996 have been conducted. These tests have been subject to a number of significant parametric studies including
slab thickness and secondary beam connection strength and
stiffness. The concrete floor slab element has also been extended to a layered flat shell element allowing the inclusion of material non-linearities, thermal bowing, thermal degradation, anisotropic properties and a more advanced cracking model. Using the new concrete floor slab element the Cardington fire tests have been simulated
in detail, to further understanding of the structural reaction in fire. Another series of parametric studies have been conducted considering again the thickness of the floor
slab, the effect of the slab temperature gradient, the compressive strength, tensile strength and load ratios. These have all been compared to results from the Cardington fire tests. Current design methods based on isolated element design are considered by comparing the results of analyses
in which the concrete floor is either included as a
continuous slab in an extensive subframe, or is treated simply as forming the flanges of composite beams in a three-dimensional skeleton. These examples show clearly the effects of membrane and bridging actions of the continuous
floor slab. The implications for future design developments
are discussed with particular reference to the parametric studies conducted.


In 2009 the University of Western Australia announced a transition to a new Bolognastyle ("3+2") course structure, and began planning for implementation in 2012. In this structure, professional qualifications such as engineering would be completed in a two year masters programme, following an undergraduate programme that balances depth with breadth. The Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics recognised this as an opportunity for generational change in its programmes. Had the attributes and competencies required evolved since the current courses were designed, and what would be the best practice course for coming decades? In answering these questions we brought to bear ideas from a range of engineering education literature and expertise, including CDIO and problembased learning, studies of graduate competencies, input from accreditation bodies including Engineers Australia, and threshold concept theory (1�5). A key principle of the new engineering course design was that students should develop a rigorous mastery of engineering fundamentals and a shared common experience, before proceeding to disciplinespecific studies. To achieve this, we developed a set of integrat ed engineering foundation units, complemented by studies in mathematics, computing, physics and chemistry. A key approach to the integration of the engineering foundation material was the use of threshold concept theory. This is a new theory in higher education, which recognises that many disciplines have key concepts that form a barrier to progress, but once mastered are transformative: they can be thought of as gateways to student progress (6). This can be used to improve student learning, and also focus an otherwise crowded curriculum (7). We engaged students and academics in improving engineering education in the foundation units. The approach could be used to focus any engineering curriculum. One of the most interesting results observed in the workshops with both students and staff was the cross� disciplinary nature of the thresholds that emerged. By identifying threshold concepts we have focused lessons on the concepts most transformative and troublesome for students. The paper describes how we identified the threshold concepts, some of the threshold concepts and insights that were identified by students, and curriculum features resulting from the threshold concept approach.


In lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of this forum contribution:
The burgeoning field of life-writing studies constitutes a meeting ground of historiography and literary criticism. Historians and literary critics approach one and the same phenomenon from different disciplinary perspectives and with different epistemological interests. For historians, the texts that literary critics call life writing are personal documents, Selbstzeugnisse, or ego-documents that help pave the way toward understanding the "subjective dimension" of history, i.e., the personality, minds, motivations, emotions, and worldviews of concrete historical actors, who made, experienced, or endured history.[1]


Magnetic resonance elastography and related shear wave ultrasound elastography techniques can be used to estimate the mechanical properties of soft tissues in vivo by using the relationships between wave propagation and the elastic properties of materials. These techniques have found numerous clinical and research applications, tracking changes in tissue properties as a result of disease or other interventions. Most dynamic elastography approaches estimate tissue elastic (or viscoelastic) properties from a simplified version of the equations for the propagation of acoustic waves through a homogeneous linear (visco)elastic medium. However, soft tissue rheology is complex and departs significantly from this idealized picture. In particular, soft tissues are nonlinearly viscoelastic, inhomogeneous and often anisotropic, and their apparent stiffness can vary with the current loading state. All of these features have implications for the reliability and reproducibility of elastography measurements, from data acquisition to analysis and interpretation. New developments in inversion algorithms for elastography are beginning to offer solutions to account for the complex rheology of tissues, including inhomogeneity and anisotropy. There remains considerable potential to further refine elastography to capture the full spectrum of tissue rheology, and thus to better understand the underlying tissue microstructural changes in a broad range of clinical disorders.


The aim of this study was to analyze scientific realism in the dichotomy between positivism and antipositivism and to position this analysis on the epistemological axis. The study also aimed to demonstrate that scientific realism provides a more comprehensive explanation regarding the legitimacy of social sciences compared with positivism and anti-positivism. The results of this study suggest that, on the epistemological axis, scientific realism exhibits a closer stance to anti-positivism than positivism. In addition, since scientific realism analyzes metaphysical facts within the boundaries of science and social sciences involve metaphysics because of their nature, the study argued that scientific realism provides a more comprehensive explanation than other scientific approaches regarding the legitimacy of social sciences. Finally, the results reveal that there is a complex relationship between the axes of scientific evaluation suggested by Burrell and Morgan (1979).


Abstract We analyze a prominence-like cool plasma structure as observed by Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We perform the Differential Emission Measure (DEM) analysis using various filters of AIA, and also deduce the temperature and density structure in and around the observed flux-tube. In addition to deducing plasma parameters, we also find an evidence of multiple harmonics of fast magnetoacoustic kink waves in the observed prominence-like magnetic structure. Making use of estimated plasma parameters and observed wave parameters, under the baseline of MHD seismology, we deduce magnetic field in the flux-tube. The wave period ratio P1/P2 = 2.18 is also observed in the flux-tube, which carries the signature of magnetic field divergence where we estimate the tube expansion factor as 1.27. We discuss constraints in the estimation of plasma and magnetic field properties in such a structure in the current observational perspective, which may shed new light on the localized plasma dynamics and heating scenario in the solar atmosphere.


This paper examines the empirical validity of Nicolosi's model (2018) which investigates the optimal strategy for a hedge fund manager under a specific payment contract. The contract specifies that the manager's payment consists of a fixed payment and a variable payment, which is based on the over-performance with respect to a pre-specified benchmark. The model assumes that the manager is an Expected Utility agent who maximises his or her expected utility by buying and selling the asset at appropriate moments. Nicolosi derives the optimal strategy for the manager. To find this, Nicolosi assumes a Black-Scholes setting where the manager can invest either in an asset or in a money account. The asset price follows geometric Brownian motion and the money account has a constant interest rate. I experimentally test Nicolosi's model. To meet the aim of this paper, I compare the empirical support of Nicolosi's story with other possible strategies. The results show that Nicolosi's model receives strong empirical support for explaining the subjects' behaviour, though not all of the subjects follow Nicolosi's model. Having said this, it seems that the subjects somehow follow the intuitive prediction of Nicolosi's model in which the decision-maker responds to the difference between the managed portfolio and the benchmark to determine the portfolio allocation.


Title: Valuing companies in emerging markets: The case of Nigeria Author: Jaunty Edobor Aidamenbor and Chika Mgbemena Supervisor: Anders Hederstierna Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology Course: Master's thesis in business administration, FE 2413, 15 credits (ECTS). Background and Problem Discussion: Nigeria as an emerging market offers a wealth of opportunity to investors. However, very little is known about how real managers and analysts appraise the economic value of acquisitions and investment projects in Nigeria. Given the high risks of the Nigerian market and increased interests of investors in emerging markets, it is of great importance to research how practitioners carry out valuation in Nigeria. Purpose: This research attempts to investigate the valuation methods employed by finance managers, investors and financial advisors in Nigeria in comparison with best practices recommended in literature. Method: Quantitative empirical method using a questionnaire-based survey of financial practitioners with a total of 30 respondents (out of 200 contacted) from corporations, financial advisor/analyst firms, banks & insurance firms and some individual investors. Theory: The theory section in the literature review looks at different methods and techniques of valuation and the adjustments used to apply them to emerging markets. The common methods of valuation and a theoretical understanding of how they apply to emerging markets are summarised. Analysis: Quantitative analysis of the survey data to show the percentage of practitioners using a particular method of valuation and the areas of highest uncertainty has been carried out. Conclusion: Results show that Discounted Cashflow (DCF) is the most popular valuation method with practitioners in Nigeria. 100% of practitioners in corporations, banks and insurance firms and 80% of those in financial advisor firms use DCF-based valuation model. Other valuation models are less in use and the general practice in Nigeria compares well with those in Argentina and the US with little variations. This study also reveals that country specific issues such as computing the value of the country and market risk premiums are the most controversial areas in company valuation with practitioners in the Nigerian emerging market.


An evaporator-type cryogenic heat exchanger is designed and built for introducing fluid–solid heat exchange phenomena to undergraduates in a practical and efficient way. The heat exchanger functions at liquid nitrogen temperature and enables cooling of N2 and He gases from room temperatures. We present first the experimental results of various parameters which characterize the heat exchanger (efficiency, number of transfer units, heat exchange coefficient, etc) as a function of the mass flow rate of the gas to be cooled. An analysis of the Nu–Re diagram is also presented. All experiments were conducted with N2 gas. The scope of this tool is readily extended to research purposes.


Objectives: The aim of this study is to seek an effective way to support smoking cessation by analyzing any change to the pattern of nicotine dependence according to the change in time. Methods: The study was conducted with 800 male smokers who had participated in smoking cessation programs at public health centers from July 16, 2005 to July 15, 2008. Latent growth curve modeling approach was used for data analysis. Results: From the developmental trajectory of individual nicotine dependence, while nicotine dependence of smokers with high nicotine dependence in the first year was slightly decreased in the third year, smokers with low nicotine dependence in the year showed dramatically lower nicotine dependence in the third year. Compared with those who did not successfully quit smoking, the initial value of nicotine dependence of those who successfully quit smoking in the first and the second year was low. Over the years, nicotine dependence was decreased. Conclusion: From this study it was demonstrated that nicotine dependence was reduced through the practice of smoking cessation and reduced nicotine dependence was a factor which affects successful smoking cessation. These results indicate that multiple attempts to quit smoking finally reduces nicotine dependence. Reduced nicotine dependence is likely to increase the possibility of successful smoking cessation.


This paper focuses on the design and architecture of an application that will programmatically pre-process data. This application aims to extract and provide clean airport terminal passenger throughput data within the United States. A different application will then use this data to forecast passenger throughput models via a friendly user experience webpage. The purpose of forecasting passenger throughput throughout the U.S. airport terminals is to improve the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint operations. Such as increasing TSA personnel in security checkpoints when the forecast expects a high volume of passengers during the holiday season. On the other hand, decreasing the personnel workforce in other airport terminal checkpoints where they do not forecast a high passenger throughput. TSA seeks to improve its personnel scheduling using this forecasting model. In addition, the forecasting model will improve passenger satisfaction with non-excessive wait times at security checkpoints and does not jeopardize the safety of passengers with adequate security protocols.


The drawing textures of aluminum, copper, gold, silver, and Cu-7.3% Al bronze wires are approximated by major <111>+minor <100>, except silver wire, which can have the <100> texture at extremely high reductions. The <111> component in the drawing textures of aluminum, copper, gold, and silver transform to the <100> component after recrystallization. On the other hand, the <111> deformation texture of the Cu-7.3% Al bronze wire, which has very low stackingfault- energy, remains unchanged after recrystallization. The Brass component {110}<112> in rolling textures of high stacking-fault-energy metals such as aluminum and copper alloys changes to the Goss orientation {110}<001> after recrystallization. However, the Brass orientation in rolling textures of low stacking-fault-energy fcc metals such as brass appears to change to the {236}<385> orientation after recrystallization. These results seem to be related to the stability of dislocations during annealing.


It has been suggested that pyridoxine deficiency may potentiate ethanol-induced liver injury. Our purpose was to clarify the effect of pyridoxine deficiency on ethanol-associated liver injury by comparing liver histology, serum liver enzymes, and the viability of cultured hepatocytes from pyridoxine-deficient and pyridoxine-sufficient rats that had been chronically fed ethanol-enriched diets. Our data fail to substantiate that pyridoxine-deficient animals are more susceptible to the hepatotoxic effects of ethanol than pair-fed pyridoxine-sufficient controls. Furthermore, the addition of pyridoxine to hepatocyte cultures fails to prevent in vitro cytotoxicity of added ethanol. Pyridoxine deficiency may augment ethanol-induced enhancement of hepatic urea synthesis. These data suggest that pyridoxine deficiency may contribute to the abnormal plasma amino acid profiles and nitrogen balance of chronic alcoholics, but that it does not potentiate ethanol-induced liver injury.