The challenges faced by modern agriculture have never been greater. With feedstock and labour prices increasing and constant pressure from retailers to keep food prices low, profit margins are at a point where farmers cannot grow their business to longer-term economically viable sizes. Recent high profile welfare threats such as the BSE and Foot and Mouth outbreaks in the UK have further weakened the financial positions of many in the industry. This paper examines the application of WSNs to livestock monitoring and the issues that accompany the timely reporting of animal health or welfare conditions to farm management. The focus lies mainly on the challenges stemming from data transportation from cattle mounted sensory devices in particular and maintaining sensory node support independent of animal mobility. The core of this study is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by using alternative cheap, low power consumption sensor nodes capable of providing real-time communication at a reasonable hardware cost. In this paper, both the hardware and software has been designed to provide a solution which can obtain real-time data from diary or beef cattle whilst conforming to the limitations associated with WSNs implementations.


OBJECTIVE
Chronic skin wounds are usually colonised with bacteria and subsequent infection may develop. Topical antiseptics are commonly used to control bacterial colonisation. The topical antiseptic, 1% polyvinylpyrrolidone-iodine (PVP-I), that is used on chronic open skin wounds remains controversial in the clinical setting because of its cytotoxicity. Here, we tested 1% PVP-I solution against saline to determine if it reduces bacterial count on the wound surface and within the tissue that may lead to wound reduction.

METHOD
Open wounds that were created on the backs of Sprague Dawley rats were inoculated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa at the wound surface. Wounds were kept covered except for wound irrigation, two days post-wounding, wounds were irrigated daily using a 10ml syringe and spray tip.

RESULTS
Our results indicate that 1% PVP-I irrigation resulted in a reduced bacterial count on the wound surface and within the tissue compared with saline irrigation. The 1% PVP-I irrigation promoted wound re-epithelialisation compared with saline irrigation, but it did not reach significance.

CONCLUSION
These results indicated that irrigation with 1% PVP-I was an effective way to reduce bacterial count on the wound surface, and allow the wound to progress to healing.


The Capper-Volstead Act, passed in 1922, is the magna carta of agricultural cooperatives. The act has two sections. The first section generally defines what a Capper-Volstead cooperative is and the second section prohibits under price enhancement. Congress clearly intended that farmers be able to organize cooperatives and capture a share of market sufficient to raise price. However, Congress did not want to allow cooperatives with large market shares to unduly enhance the prices in the market channel. The basic question is what impact on price does a particular agricultural cooperative have? If in face an agricultural cooperative can raise farmgate prices, as indeed Congress hoped, is the resulting price elevation undue price enhancement?


: Were considered the radiobiological effects in some species of agricultural and wild growing plants in 30-kilometer zone of alienation of Chernobyl nuclear power station and other radionuclide contaminated territories. The particular attention was given to the distance plant reactions: immunity decreasing, genetic consequences, changes in phytocenosis. Was discussed the question of possibility of plant adaptation to conditions of high radiation influence.


Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States and the second leading cause in the Northern, Central, and Southern Americas. Appropriate treatment depends on the stage of malignancy, which is determined using the tumor-lymph node-metastases system. In stage III disease, adjuvant chemotherapy increases disease-free and long-term survival following surgery, and chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment for advanced disease. New therapies are being evaluated, including oxaliplatin, a third-generation platinum analogue approved as first- and second-line therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer in Europe; the drug shows great promise combined with 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin or with irinotecan. The dose-limiting toxicity of oxaliplatin is neurologic, which can be acute or chronic; this can be prevented or reduced in some cases through patient education. Nurses play a critical role in education concerning prevention and management of oxaliplatin-related side effects.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) involves autoimmune attack due to reduced regulatory T cells as an effect of mutant Stat5b(C1462A) in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, a T1D model resulting in pancreatic β-cell destruction. Although reactive oxygen species are considered to orchestrate the immune attack, the role of nitric oxide (·NO) still remains debatable. Since JAK-STAT pathway is known to induce Nos2, we investigated the role of STAT5B in nitric oxide generation and oxidative stress.

METHODS
In this study, we have used chromatin immunoprecipitation with STAT5B antibody to explore whether STAT5B binds Nos2 promoter. Using Stat5b gene silencing and overexpression models in MIN6 mouse pancreatic β-cell line we have assayed nitric oxide and its end products, superoxide levels, H₂O₂ levels, and expression of genes related to redox pathway by immunocytochemistry, biochemical assays, quantitative real time PCR and western blotting.

RESULTS
Our results prove that STAT5B binds to the candidate gamma-interferon-activated (GAS) element in Nos2 promoter thereby inducing Nos2 mRNA transcription resulting in NOS2 protein expression in MIN6, a mouse pancreatic β-cell line. Our findings are substantiated by reduced ·NO as well as nitric oxide end products (nitrate and nitrite), and increased superoxide production in Stat5b silenced MIN6 cells. Our results indicate that C1462A mutant STAT5B shows lack of ·NO generation ability. To detoxify excess superoxide as a consequence of lowered Nos2, an overexpressed SOD2 in Stat5b silenced cells results in increased H₂O₂ production. H₂O₂ metabolizing enzymes do not show upregulation upon Stat5b silencing, and thus oxidative stress is brought about by amassed H₂O₂. Stat5b silencing finally reduces AKT expression, a prosurvival signal.

CONCLUSION
Our study enables us to conclude that β-cell stress is aggravated by the incapability of STAT5B to induce Nos2 resulting in H₂O₂ accumulation and the ensuing oxidative stress enhances β-cell damage.


The neocortex has an amazing ability to associate constant changing sensory impressions from different sources. It is assumed that the association property is acquired when the synapse strength between the neocortex's neurons are altered. In Connectology, a connectionist theory of brain-psychology, it is purposed three learning mechanisms for synaptic alteration. The mechanisms, Skinner learning, Pavlov learning, and Hume learning are based on the respective principles; Hedonism - learning from award, Anticipation - human reasoning, and Reason - object recognition. This Master's project addresses whether the combination of Pavlov and Hume learning is able to explain the ability to learn to associate different sense impressions in neocortex. The learning mechanisms will be applied to an ac{ANN} to explore whether they are able to recreate parts of the neocortex's association ability, by associating two changing sensory impressions, represented as 2D-patterns. The findings show that the Pavlov and Hume learning need guidance to be able to associate the different changing sensory impressions. Making the ac{ANN} small enough to communicate directly between the changing 2D-patterns, will function as a type of guidance, and the ac{ANN} is able to associate up to about 50 patterns with only the use of the Pavlov and Hume learning. Thus cannot Pavlov and Hume learning on their own explain the neocortex's ability to learn to associate different sensory impressions, but can help understand parts of this capability.


E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com John Munkhaugen (born 1983) is a junior consultant in cardiology and a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Medicine, Drammen Hospital and the Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo. He is project manager for the NOR-COR study. The author has completed the ICMJE form and declares no conflicts of interest. He receives research funding from the Norwegian Health Association.


This paper proposes a GRASP algorithm to solve the SumCut minimization problem. In the SumCut problem one is given a graph with n nodes and must label the nodes in a way that each node receives a unique label from the set {1, 2,... ,!}, in order to minimize the sum cut of the generated solution. The SumCut problem is really important in archeology (in seriation tasks) and in genetics, helping in the Human Genoma Project. This problem is equivalent to the Profile problem, but giving the reverse solution. Both problems are graph layout problems, and they are equivalent, because a solution for SumCut is reversal solution for Profile problem. This paper will solve only the SumCut problem, so in order to obtain a solution for the Profile problem it is only need to reverse the given solution.


The concept of 'duty of care' for citizens abroad is grounded in a political rationality where the population is seen as an object for protection by the state. In today's globalised world, however, this rationality is challenged by increased citizen mobility, budget cuts, new information technologies and the proliferation of new security threats. In recent years the state's duty of care has received fresh political and scholarly attention, but Diplomatic Studies have so far overlooked how the recent waves of neoliberal reforms have introduced a new political rationality into policy-making circles, where the population is not seen only as an object for protection, but also as a resource for mobilisation. Developing insights from studies of governmentality, this article argues that when this neoliberal political rationality becomes predominant in diplomatic circles, it leads to inversion of the duty of care through new citizen-based practices, steered at a distance by the state.


LEDs have become the dominating light source in many applications such as mobile devices, displays or laptop computers. They also play a significant role in the area of general lighting. In this presentation we will discuss the success stories of LEDs in lighting, the challenges and the opportunities in future solid state lighting systems.


The augmented Bergman complex of a matroid is a simplicial complex introduced recently in work of Braden, Huh, Matherne, Proudfoot and Wang.  It may be viewed as a hybrid of two well-studied pure shellable simplicial complexes associated to matroids: the independent set complex and Bergman complex.
It is shown here that the augmented Bergman complex is also shellable, via two different families of shelling orders.  Furthermore, comparing the description of its homotopy type induced from the two shellings re-interprets a known convolution formula counting bases of the matroid. The representation of the automorphism group of the matroid on the homology of the augmented Bergman complex turns out to have a surprisingly simple description. This last fact is generalized to closures beyond those coming from a matroid.


Operative treatment of hydatid disease is the only radical method at present. According to the data in the literature, the incidence of postoperative complications in patients with hydatid disease of the liver ranges from 14.32 to 64%. The work generalizes the results of operations in 278 patients with hepatic hydatid disease. Closed echinococcectomy was conducted in 168 (65.87%) patients, partly closed--in 34 (12.23%), open echinococcectomy--in 14 (5.04%), pericystectomy--in 21 (7.55%), ideal echinococcectomy--in 17 (6.12%), resection of the liver with removal of the hydatic cyst--in 15 (5.4%), and percutaneous transhepatic drainage of the cyst--in 9 (3.2%) patients. Postoperative complications occurred in 32 (11.51%) cases. Among them were suppuration of the residual cavity in 19, external biliary fistula in 11, and subdiaphragmatic abscess in 2 patients. The least number of complications was encountered after closed echinococcectomy--in 5 (2.97%) patients. One patient died after partly closed echinococcectomy as the result of development of multiple cholangiogenous hepatic abscesses. The results of the authors' observations provide evidence that the character and frequency of postoperative complications are determined by timely diagnosis of echinococcosis of the liver before the development of complicated forms, correct choice of the type of the operation, and the techniques of the operation and the operative approach.


This talk is devoted to the statistical analysis of the new catalogue of Chemically Peculiar stars compiled from papers, where chemical abundances of those stars were given. The catalogue contains chemical abundances and physical parameters of 428 stars based on high-resolution spectroscopy data. Spearman's rank correlation test was applied for 416 CP (108 HgMn, 188 ApBp and 120 AmFm) stars and the correlation between chemical abundances and different physical parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity and rotational velocity) was checked. From dozens interesting cases we secluded four cases: the Mn peculiarities in HgMn stars, the Ca correlation with respect to effective temperature in AmFm stars, the case of helium and iron in ApBp stars. We applied also Anderson-Darling (AD) test on ApBp stars to check if multiplicity is a determinant parameter for abundance peculiarities.


We develop a model for the distribution of scientific citations. The model involves a dual mechanism: in the direct mechanism, the author of a new paper finds an old paper A and cites it. In the indirect mechanism, the author of a new paper finds an old paper A only via the reference list of a newer intermediary paper B, which has previously cited A. By comparison to citation databases, we find that papers having few citations are cited mainly by the direct mechanism. Papers already having many citations ("classics") are cited mainly by the indirect mechanism. The indirect mechanism gives a power-law tail. The "tipping point" at which a paper becomes a classic is about 25 citations for papers published in the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science database in 1981, 31 for Physical Review D papers published from 1975–1994, and 37 for all publications from a list of high h-index chemists assembled in 2007. The power-law exponent is not universal. Individuals who are highly cited have a systematically smaller exponent than individuals who are less cited.


Nitrogen doped TiO2 (N/TiO2) photocatalysts were prepared using a mechanochemica1 method with raw amorphous TiO2 as precursors and various nitrogenous compounds doses (NH4F, NH4HCO3, NH3·H2O, NH4COOCH3, and CH4N2O). The photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-Vis diffuse reflection spectra (UV-Vis-DRS). Their photocatalytical activities were evaluated with the degradation of p-nitrophenol and methyl orange under UV or sunlight irradiation. The catalysts had a strong visible light absorption which corresponding to doped nitrogen and consequent oxygen deficient. Concentration of the nitrogen substances also affected the visible light adsorption of the TiO2. The XPS results indicated the doped nitrogen in the TiO2 may exist in the formation of O2Ti−N−H and/or O2Ti−N, nitrogen was in form of interstitial atom. The results of photocatalytic activity showed the visible light adsorption mechanisms, as the doped nitrogen species gave rise to a mid-gap level slightly above the top of the (O-2p) valence band, but not from the mixed band gap of the N-2p and O-2p electronic levels.


This paper contains a selective review of some of the key fiscal issues faced by transition economies. The twelve countries that provide the empirical background for this study have all been under Fund programs for at least some of the time since they initiated their transitions from plan to market. The focus of the paper is on medium- and longer-term fiscal issues, such as government solvency and the evaluation of the sustainability of the government''s fiscal-financial-monetary program. The purpose of the paper is to assist the design and implementation of the future Fund programs and to improve the quality of the debate about the design and conduct of fiscal policy in transition economic generally. The outline of the paper is as follows. Following the introduction, which contains a brief discussion of the roles of the Fund, Section 2 sets out a framework for evaluating the sustainability if the fiscal -financial-monetary program of the state. Section 3 contains some numerical material on public debt, deficits (including quasi-fiscal deficits) and monetary financing or seigniorage. Section 4 discusses eight specific budgetary issues I consider to be of special relevance to transition economics. Section 5 concludes by summarising the lessons from this study in a number of propositions.


This book is a collection of essays on thinking skills instruction and includes the following chapters and their authors: "Encounter with Thinking" (H. Anderson); "Thinking Skills: Neither an Add-on nor a Quick Fix" (A. Costa); "Teaching for Thinking, of Thinking, and about Thinking" (J. McTighe); "Thinking and Curriculum: Critical Crossroads for Educational Change" (B. Presseisen); "Critical Thinking and the Curriculum" (R. Ennis); "Conversation with David N. Perkins"; "Critical Thinking Attitudes and the Transfer Question" (A. Swartl); "Thinking across the Discillines: Methods and Strategito Promote Higher-Order Thinking in Every Classroom" (D. Halpern); "Practice Is Not Enough" (B. Beyer); "Learning to Learn: Improving ITL:king Skills across the Curriculum" (M. Heiman); "A Strategy fol. Developing Dialectical Thinking Skills" (J. Rudinow and R. Paul); "Strategies for Active Involvement in Problem Solving" (J. Karmos andA. Karmos); "Restructuring What We Teach to Teach for Critical Thinking" (R. Swartz); "Developing Metacognition in Composition with Peer Response Groups" (L. Meeks); "Basics in Bloom" (N. Hoelzel); "Teaching Thinking to Teach Literature while Teaching Literature to Teach Thinking" (N. Yeager); "Using Thinking Skills in Modified ESL" (P. Jaynes); "The Direct Teaching of Analysis" (R. Charlton); "Conversation with Arthur Whimbey"; "Teaching Precise Processing through Writing Instruction" (K. Didsbury); "Thinking about Learning: An Anarchistic Approach to Teaching Problem Solving" (J. Lochhead); "Holistic Thinking Skills Instruction: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Improving Intellectual Performance" (W. Sadler, Jr.); "Cognitive Modifiability in Adolescence: Cognitive Structure and Effects of Intervention" (R. Feuerstein and others); "Using Vocabulary Study to Generate Thinking" (E. Roberts); "Teaching Critical Thinking: Are We Making Critical Mistakes? Possible Solutions" (R. Sternberg); "The Direct Teaching of Thinking as a Skill" (E. de Bono); "Developing Students' Thinking Skills through Multiple Perspectives" (R. Rubin); "Developing Thinking Skills in Music Rehearsal Class" (D. Reahm); "Developing Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Home Economics: A Lesson Plan" (N. Watts); "Using Literature to Develop Critical Thinking Skills" (M. Tymoczko); "Questioning in a Writing Program to Develop Thinking" (P. Flemming); "Simulation and Thinking" (R. Levitsky); "The Pre-Contact Time American Indian: A Study in the Meaning and Development of Culture--A Teaching Unit" (J. Feeser); "Think Metric" (D. Gallo); and "The Art of Socratic Reasoning" (E. Skorpen). (MS)


Problem in anemia which is commonly suffered by pregnant women is iron deficiency due to unbalanced nutrition. A qualitative research with Ethnomethodology approach. Participants were pregnant women who are anemic with Hemoglobin levels (Hb) less than 11g/dl. 38 of participants consisting of 19 husbands as focus groups and 19 wives as triangulation group obtained through purposive sampling technique. Data obtained through the method of focus groups discussion and in-depth interview, analyzed using descriptive analysis techniques.The result showed that the husband's role in assisting the wife who suffered from anemia in pregnancy is lacking due to lack of husbnd knowledge about anemia, its causes and how to deal with anemia in pregnancy. The conclusion is the role of husband in assisting wife in pregnancy should be supported with husband's good knowledge about anemia, its causes and how to deal with anemia in pregnancy in order to prevent anemia in their wives' pregnancies.


In this work, the crystal structure of the rod-shaped precipitate in aged Al -1.0 mass% Mg2Ge alloy at 523 K has been investigated by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), electron diffraction technique and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The rod-shaped precipitate in its alloy has showed the similar arrangement of bright dots in its HRTEM images and selected area diffraction pattern (SADP) to those of the b'-phase in Al-Mg2Si alloy. But a lattice constant of this precipitate in Al-Mg2Ge alloy was slightly larger than the b'-phase in Al-Mg2Si alloy. In addition, the new metastable phase has been found out in Al-Mg-Ge alloy.


In order to advance the use of the cosmic ray neutrons (CRNs) to map soil moisture in heterogeneous landscapes, we need to develop a methodology that reliably estimates soil moisture without having to collect 100+ soil samples for each point along the survey route. In this study, such an approach is developed using physically based modeling with the numerical MCNP neutron transport code. The objective is to determine site‐specific conversion functions to estimate soil moisture from CRNs for the dominant land covers. Here, we assess this methodology at three field sites with similar mineral soil composition, but different land covers. First, we ensure that the developed models capture the most important differences in neutron transport behavior across sites. For this, we use measured time series and height profiles of thermal and epithermal neutrons. Then, we compare the estimates obtained from the site‐specific conversion functions with the standard N0‐calibration function. Finally, we compare the CRN soil moisture estimates with independent soil moisture estimates. Overall, the site‐specific models are in agreement with the observed trends in neutron intensities. The site‐specific soil moisture is similar to the N0‐estimated soil moisture, which results in comparable statistical measures. We show that various land covers have a significant impact on the amount and soil moisture sensitivity of epithermal neutrons, while the thermal neutrons are affected to a less degree. Thereby, thermal‐to‐epithermal neutron ratios can be used to identify the land cover type and thereby the appropriate conversion function for soil moisture estimation for each point along the survey route.


This study was a Phase IV, prospective, one arm, non-comparative open trial, to investigate the efficacy and safety of Dysport (Botulinum toxin type A) in patients with idiopathic blepharospasm or hemifacial spasm. During the treatment period, patients were evaluated at baseline (week 0), week 6, and week 8, 10, or 12. Thirty two women and 16 men completed the whole course of the study. The therapeutic efficacy of Dysport became evident from 1.5 to 15 days (mean+/- SD, 6.1 +/- 2.9 days). The maximal effect appeared 12.2+/-5.0 days later. Injection of Dysport achieved 72.9 (13.0% amelioration in the spasm symptom. Dysport significantly improved the following functions, such as reading, watching TV, house work, working, driving and outing alone. At the twelfth week after Dysport injection, it was still effective in relieving blepharospasm or hemifacial spasm. The most frequent adverse event was ptosis, which was noted in 9 cases and represented 18.7% of total patients. Other adverse events were very mild, although lagophthalmos and dry eyes occurred in some patients, but none manifested any corneal complications. In conclusion, Dysport injection appears to be a safe, and effective procedure - accompanied only by minor, and transit adverse events.


Differential privacy is a promising privacy-preserving paradigm for statistical query processing over sensitive data. It works by injecting random noise into each query result, such that it is provably hard for the adversary to infer the presence or absence of any individual record from the published noisy results. The main objective in differentially private query processing is to maximize the accuracy of the query results, while satisfying the privacy guarantees. Previous work, notably the matrix mechanism [16], has suggested that processing a batch of correlated queries as a whole can potentially achieve considerable accuracy gains, compared to answering them individually. However, as we point out in this paper, the matrix mechanism is mainly of theoretical interest; in particular, several inherent problems in its design limit its accuracy in practice, which almost never exceeds that of naive methods. In fact, we are not aware of any existing solution that can effectively optimize a query batch under differential privacy. Motivated by this, we propose the Low-Rank Mechanism (LRM), the first practical differentially private technique for answering batch queries with high accuracy, based on a low rank approximation of the workload matrix. We prove that the accuracy provided by LRM is close to the theoretical lower bound for any mechanism to answer a batch of queries under differential privacy. Extensive experiments using real data demonstrate that LRM consistently outperforms state-of-the-art query processing solutions under differential privacy, by large margins.


Irrespective of cell type, stem cell therapy to prevent heart failure following myocardial infarction is beset by low donor cell retention. Cell loss may be prevented by immobilisation within a supporting scaffold for application across the infarct, but cells must remain viable while vasculature develops into the scaffold. Previously we have shown that cardiosphere derived cells (CDCs) can be cultured on porous collagen scaffolds (Chen et al, J. Tissue. Sci. Eng. 2012). Here we investigate whether CDC-seeded collagen scaffolds, cultured under hypoxia to induce release of angiogenic growth factors, can improve cardiac function when applied to the infarcted rat heart. Methods Porous collagen scaffolds were prepared by freeze-drying a suspension of type 1 collagen (1% wt/v.in 0.05M acetic acid (pH 3.2)) on a smooth film prepared by air-drying the collagen suspension. CDCs were isolated and expanded from male Sprague Dawley rats according to published protocols (Carr et al, PLoS One 2011). 10^5 CDCs were seeded onto the porous collagen scaffolds and cultured in hypoxia (5% oxygen) for 7 days. Myocardial infarction was induced in female Sprague Dawley rats with reperfusion after 40 minutes, at which point the scaffold was sutured to the infarct region of the heart. Hearts (4 groups: sham, infarct, infarct+scaffold, infarct+scaffold+cells, n = 5-–6 per group) were scanned in vivo using MRI at 1 week, 6 weeks and 12 weeks post MI. Results CDC-loaded scaffolds cultured under hypoxia released significantly more VEGF than those cultured under normoxia. Bi-layer scaffolds could be sutured to the myocardium with the collagen film on the out-facing surface to reduce adhesion to the chest wall. Scaffolds without cells were attached to the infarcted heart for 2 or 6 weeks. At 2 weeks the scaffold had not fully integrated with the myocardium but by 6 weeks scaffolds were integrated and had begun to be degraded. Histological analysis showed substantial macrophage infiltration at 2 weeks and formation of blood vessels within the scaffold after 2 and 6 weeks. MRI of all four treatment groups showed that ejection fraction was significantly lower in all infarcted hearts at all time points but there was no significant difference in cardiac function between untreated infarcted hearts and those treated with scaffolds, with or without cells. By 12 weeks, in the majority of cases, no remnants of the scaffold could be detected by visual inspection. Conclusion CDC-loaded collagen scaffolds could be attached to the infarcted heart but did not improve cardiac function. Scaffolds took time to merge with the myocardium although infiltration of macrophages and blood vessels occurred before scaffolds were fully integrated.


This research studied the effects of refinery air pollution on house prices near Houston, Texas. The affected area was identified through AERMOD air modeling of past releases of sulfur dioxide, a proxy for respiratory risk. A total of 3,964 residential MLS sales from 2006-2011 were used to populate an OLS model, a spatial model, and a spatial model with an additional endogenous variable. Findings indicate that air pollution has a significant negative 6-8% loss on house prices. For one year, the negative effect is shown to generally diminish with distance up to about two miles from the refinery.


This study analyzed how extreme weather conditions affect the mean and variability of the yields of 11 staple crops in Nigeria. The research involved the use of a pooled panel data of 36 states and the federal capital territory over the period of 1991-2012. The framework for analysis consisted of the production risk model developed by Just and Pope for yield estimation. Unit root tests and Maximum Likelihood Estimation techniques were used to obtain reliable estimates of the model's parameters. The results showed that the mean and variance of the yield of all the staple crops were diversely influenced by extreme weather events.


The presence of aromatic amines in effluent from dyeing processes of the textile industry is an added
problem to the high coloration typical of this type of effluent. The main objective of the present work was to
eliminate these two problems simultaneously by electrochemical treatment using bath solutions containing
three azo dyes. For the analysis of amines, a liquid–liquid extraction method was developed as an easier and
faster alternative to the method described in the standards and widely used in analytical laboratories. Four
amines (aniline, o-toluidine, 4-chloroaniline and 4-aminobiphenyl) were detected by GC-MS in the residual
azo dye baths. A total amine concentration of between 2.5 and 1 ppm was detected, 4-aminobiphenyl being
the main compound. Both residual colour and amines were removed by electrochemical treatment carried
out at three current densities (3, 24 and 40 mA/cm2). At 24 mA/cm2, more than 90% of colour removal was
achieved, and the total amine concentration was reduced to below 0.15 ppm.


The American patent system emanates from the intellectual property clause in Article I of the U.S. constitution. Over two centuries of Congressional Acts and court legal opinions have shown a pattern of supporting strong patent rights.In contrast to the view that supports strong patent rights, the article shows a history of patent abolitionists in the nineteenth century and an anti-patent movement in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that prefers weak patent rights. The patent critics share the view that patents block progress because of the exclusive right that prevents others from making, selling or using a patented invention. The patent critics prefer a system to encourage innovation that supports prizes. Most of the patent critic arguments focus on short term benefits to the occasionally successful inventor and completely ignore the ex ante risks and costs of invention and the long-run benefits of dynamic efficiency obtained by a strong patent system.The article observes that prizes were used before patents were prominent in the nineteenth century and that there are limits to prizes. The insight of the founding fathers was to embed patent rights into inventions that will provide an opportunity for the inventor to commercialize the inventions. The success of the American patent system has produced waves of industrial success, illustrating that a strong patent regime is an economic necessity.To deal with patent critics, the courts and Congress have constrained elements of the patent system when necessary. These limitations have addressed issues that balance the patent regime to protect the public interest but also to incentivize investment in scientific and technological research and to promote economic progress.


Despite the availability of highly efficacious vaccines, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) lacks effective drug treatment which results in a high rate of mortality. To address this therapeutic shortcoming, we applied a system biology approach to the study of patients hospitalized with severe COVID. We show that, at the time of hospital admission, patients who were equivalent on the clinical ordinal scale displayed significant differential monocyte epigenetic and transcriptomic attributes between those who would survive and those who would succumb to COVID-19. We identified mRNA metabolism, RNA splicing, and interferon signaling pathways as key host responses overactivated by patients who would not survive. Those pathways are prime drug targets to reduce mortality of critically ill COVID-19 patients leading us to identify Tacrolimus, Zotatifin, and Nintedanib as three strong candidates for treatment of severely ill patients at the time of hospital admission.


Debris flow is a gravity-driven process, which is characterized by a travelling dense surge including large boulders, and it is followed by a more fluid tail. These characteristics make difficult the measurement of the mean flow velocity by means of common hydraulic techniques. Different methods can be used at real scale and small-scale to measure the front velocity but a dedicate comparison between available methods is still lacking. This research aims to compare the front velocity measurements in the transport zone of a miniature debris flow using three devices: i) a common digital video camera (29 frames per second); ii) a high speed thermo camera (60 fps); and iii) a laser photoelectric sensors system. The statistical analysis of data has highlighted no significant differences exist between front velocities obtained by means of the video camera and the thermo camera, whereas photocells data statistically differ from those achieved via the other systems. Some lack of data recorded by photocell was documented, while the thermo camera technique did not show significant loss of information being also helpful to detect the kinematic behaviour of single particles. Finally, the tests confirmed the influence of the solid volumetric concentration in the debris-flow mechanics, which promotes, ceteris paribus , the debris-flow slowing down.


Amount of bioturbation on bedding planes records the relationship between physical and chemical depositional conditions and biological activity. We propose a simple and easy-to-use method for field estimation of horizontal disruption using bedding-plane bioturbation indices that allow rapid generation of large data sets. Photographs of a representative subset of observations can be evaluated in the laboratory using image analysis and statistical analysis programs, providing a check on accuracy and potentially yielding additional information on the size, shape, and distribution of burrows and bioturbated patches. Extent of bioturbation on bedding planes can be integrated with other sedimentologic and ichnologic characteristics to interpret the infaunal community paleoecology and to reconstruct the history of the depositional, erosional, and burrowing events. Furthermore, use of the bedding-plane bioturbation indices and ichnofabric indices on vertical surfaces facilitates comparison of the extent of bioturbation through time, within and between facies, and across and between basins. It therefore enhances recognition of significant changes in physical processes, chemical conditions, and biological activity, and is a powerful tool in identifying long-term biological trends.


BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a strongly emerging problem in developing countries. The documentation and prediction of CVD patterns are important for policy makers if actions are to be taken to curb this problem. We aimed to document the current CVD patterns in Malawi, and associate these patterns to the theory of epidemiologic transition as a means of predicting future CVD patterns.

METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed the data recorded in the register of the cardiac clinic in Mzuzu Central Hospital-the only cardiac clinic run by a cardiologist in Malawi-from 2001 through 2005. The findings were interpreted in the context of the epidemiologic transition theory.

RESULTS
Out of the 3908 new Malawian patients included in the 5-y period register, 34% had valvular heart disease (mainly rheumatic heart disease (RHD)); 24%, hypertensive heart disease; 19%, cardiomyopathies; and 14%, pericardial diseases. The other CVD patterns included congenital heart disease and arrhythmias, each representing 4% of the registered patients. Among the 1% comprising other CVD patterns, 3 cases were documented to have coronary heart disease, all of which happened in 2005.

CONCLUSION
Malawi is in the stage of receding pandemics, which is characterized by CVD patterns predominated by RHD, cardiomyopathies, and hypertensive heart disease. However, continuous observation is required to detect signs of emerging "degenerative-related" CVD patterns, which is another stage in the epidemiologic transition.


A total of 58 children is referred to with fractured growth plates of the distal forearm, proximal humerus, radial condyle of humerus, ulnar epicondyle of humerus, distal tibia, proximal tibia and the distal femur. The related injuries are divided in accord with Salter-Harris classification. The treatment of epiphysiolyses is concerned together with summarizing its results and the appropriate experience. In addition, the indications for both conservative and surgical approaches are delimited in treating these injuries.


This
 paper addresses a basic component of Q methodology, namely, how
judgmental rotation of centroid factors empowers the researcher to more
thoroughly investigate communicability. A Q study of eight
interpretations of quantum facts, genuinely worldviews in themselves, is
 the vehicle for the exposition, and two rotations, both theoretical,
are examined. The first rotation is an exercise in intellectual
curiosity (intellectual play) that was carried out in 2001; the second
ensued from work published by Simon Watts and Paul Stenner in 2003 and
from comments and responses to them by Steven Brown.


This chapter examines the neoliberalist argument that international institutions promote international cooperation. While neoliberalism acknowledges that cooperation can be difficult to achieve in anarchic conditions, it insists that institutions allow states to overcome a variety of collective action impediments. The central concern of neoliberal analysis is how institutions do so, and how they might be redesigned to more efficiently obtain cooperative outcomes. This chapter considers three questions that are relevant for understanding neoliberal contributions: How did neoliberalism emerge? What are the barriers to international cooperation? How does neoliberalism study international institutions? The chapter uses the World Trade Organization as a case study to illustrate the importance of institutional design for international free trade cooperation. Along the way, various concepts such as interdependence, hegemonic stability, hegemon, bargaining, defection, compliance, autonomy, and principal–agent theory are discussed, along with the game known as Prisoner's Dilemma.


Salidroside and rosavins (rosavin, rosarin, and rosin), biologically active compounds of Rhodiola rosea L., were analyzed in dried roots and rhizomes of the plants cultivated in Lithuania and naturally growing in Altai geographical region in Russian Federation. The quantitative analysis of the aqueous-ethanolic extracts prepared by percolation was performed employing solid-phase extraction and thin-layer chromatography followed by densitometric determination. Similar amounts of salidroside were found in the extracts (1.35-1.62 mg/mL), irrespective of the origin of the crude plant; however, the differences in the profile of rosavins were substantial with higher content of total rosavins in the extracts obtained from the plant cultivated in Lithuania (7.4 vs. 4.2 mg/mL). It was demonstrated that extracts prepared with 70% (v/v) ethanol contained low concentration of salidroside (0.16-0.17 mg/mL), while the extraction of rosavins with 70% (v/v) ethanol was more efficient compared to 40% (v/v) ethanol.


An interpretation of the effect of resin molecular weight on the dissolution of Novolak is offered. It is based on Eyring's transition state theory and on the percolation model of Novolak dissolution. The rate-determining step of Novolak dissolution is the deprotonation of phenol by base at the front edge of the penetration zone. In order for this reaction to occur at a particular site, an ion pair of base must appear there, and to make this possible, all base ions of the corresponding percolation channel have to move forward in synchronism. That requires the simultaneous thermal activation of all the sites of the channel. At this point the mechanism of energy transport intervenes: In a system of polymer chains, thermal (vibrational) energy propagates much faster along the chains than between them, and the critical energy fluctuations needed for the activation of a site will reach this site almost exclusively via the chain to which the site belongs. It can be shown that the probability that a particular site will receive an activating quantum is inversely proportional to chain length. The probability that all sites of a percolation channel will be activated simultaneously is inversely proportional to chain length to a power that is the number of sites involved in the move. The probability of this event decreases steeply with chain length, as is observed. These principles lead to a quantitative description of the dissolution of Novolak films as a function of the molecular weight of the resin.


Mushroom production has become more popular in our environment. The most common cultivated mushroom is Agaricus bisporus. After mushrooms are harvested a large amount of used compost remains. This compost is a good material and producers used it as alternative substrate in plant production. The benefits of this compost are numerous like high content of organic matter and the rich mineral composition. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the use of spent mushroom compost (as alternative substrate) on growth and development of roots and above-ground parts of sage transplants (Salvia officinalis L.). Measurements of morphological parameters of plants (plant height, number of leaves, number of branches and plant diameter) were performed, as well as determination of fresh and dry weight of roots and above-ground parts of transplants. Application of spent mushroom substrate in the production of sage Salvia officinalis L. positively influenced growth and development as well as fresh and dry weight of roots and above-ground parts of treated plants compared to nontreated plants during transplanting growing stage. Plant height (+104%), number of leaves (+65%), number of branches (+143%), plant diameter (89%), were significantly increased by the spent mushroom compost application compared to the control - commercial substrate.


Abstract Temperature measurements were taken: (1) under opening scales, (2) at the seed, and (3) in the stem, of pine cones. Changes in temperature were only examined during the second stage of a two-stage seed extraction process. During this phase a permanent dehydration temperature of 50°C was used, following comparison over a ranges of temperatures, between a lower limit of 35°C and a higher limited of 50°C. The temperature was slowest to increase in the cone's stem, and fastest to increase under opening scales. The temperature at the seed remained constant at around 43°C for the first hour of dehydration, before increasing to 50°C. The two-stages method of cone extraction employed here, with a permanent dehydration temperature of 50°C in second stage, can be used in extraction cabinets equipped with seed extractors that allow the continuous control of air humidity. The time spent soaking during the inter-stage break should last 5 minutes. Viability of seeds obtained in two-stages process was 78% to 89%


Stevia rebaudiana is an important sugar substitute belongs to Asteraceae family. The sweet taste of the species is contributed by stevioside, a natural sweetener extracted from the plant. This study is performed to detect the presence of stevioside in parts of S. rebaudiana plant and to determine the best solvent system in crude extraction of S. rebaudiana. Chemical extracts from dried shoots, leaves, stems and roots were attempted using three different extraction solvents which were hexane, methanol and water. Isolated stevioside was purified and analyzed by using Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) method. The Rf value obtained from 50% concentration of flowers, leaves, roots and shoots samples which were extracted with water were 0.41, 0.44, 0.41 and 0.41 respectively. While the Rf value of 25% concentration of flowers, leaves, roots and shoots samples which were extracted with water were 0.35, 0.38, 0.39 and 0.28 respectively. From the results, we can conclude that stevioside is present in flowers, leaves, roots and shoots of S. rebaudiana plant and water is the best extraction solvent in stevioside extraction process.


Examples of simple educational modules that employ interactive techniques on the Web are presented and their potential use in fostering learning practices discussed. The first module, designed for the Unix platform, makes interactive use of HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) forms, where input and output data are processed using a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) program written in PERL (Practical Extraction and Report Language), a public domain script language. The module allows calculation of gravity values on the surface of the globe within a range of latitudes specified by the user. It may serve as a convenient starting point for teaching latitude variation of gravity fields related to the geometry and rotation of the Earth. The module also can easily be modified to address related problems of gravity fields related to the distribution of internal mass of the Earth. The second example, designed for the popular Windows platform, makes use of object-oriented programming capabilities of the Microsoft Visual Basic package blended with computational features of command line interface programs (such as Fortran). The module, which is a DHTML (Dynamic HTML) application, deals with the problem of determining thermal perturbations associated with past changes in climate. The main input data are the temperature records obtained in borehole logs. The GUI (Graphical User Interface) facilities of the Visual Basic package allow online graphic display of observational data and the model fits. The student is prompted to explore a set of model parameters that provide a best fit to observational data. The third example, written in Java, is platform-independent and illustrates the chaotic nature of the El Nino phenomenon. It provides a dynamic simulation of the position and temperature of the warm water pool on the surface of the Pacific Ocean responsible for large-scale climatic changes in the southern hemisphere. In this case input data include meteorological records and values of the parameters of the nonlinear differential equation that governs the process. Trial experiments with these modules indicate that facilities for stimulating creative thinking can be set up more easily in Web-based systems than in those that rely on traditional teaching techniques. The implementation of such simple interactive modules can be carried out with relative ease by educational institutions in developing countries, as they minimize commitments in programming time and efforts by the existing staff. There is also greater flexibility in adapting them to frequent changes in the outline and scope of courses.


Bilateral draining fistulas which communicated with the cheek pouches were noted in the threat region of an adult femal Macaca mulatta receiving isoniazid for tuberculosis prophylaxis. Necrospy findings included enlargedregional lymph nodes and ulceration of cheek pouch mucous membranes. Acid-fast bacilli were demonstrated in tissue section. Cultures of the regional lymph nodes and cheek pouch mucous membrane yielded Runyon Group III mycobacteria. Intrapalpebral tuberculin tests with homologous mycobacterial antigen (Battery strain PPD) and Kochs Old Tuberculin were performed in an unsuccessful attempt to identify additional infected monkeys. This case is considered significant because of the unusual manifestation of mycobacterial disease and its occurrence in an animal receiving isoniazid at levels considered sufficient for the prevention of tuberculosis.


Deep learning has achieved remarkable breakthroughs in the past decade across a wide range of application domains, such as computer games, natural language processing, pattern recognition, and medical diagnosis, to name a few. In this article, we investigate the application of deep learning techniques for wireless communication systems with a focus on energy efficiency optimization for distributed cooperative spectrum sensing. With the continuous development of today's technologies and user demands, wireless communication systems have become larger and more complex than ever, which introduces many critical challenges that the traditional approaches can no longer handle. We envision that deep learning based approaches will play a pivotal role in addressing many such challenges in the next-generation wireless communication systems. In this article, we focus on cognitive radio, a promising technology to improve spectrum efficiency, and develop deep learning techniques to optimize its spectrum sensing process. Specifically, we investigate the energy efficiency of distributed cooperative sensing by formulating it as a combinatorial optimization problem. Based on this formulation, we develop a deep learning framework by integrating graph neural network and reinforcement learning to improve the overall system energy efficiency. Simulation studies under different network scales demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach.


The mathematical model was developed to account for viscosity induced by surface tension in the light of EDL theory. The effect of the EDL on the lubrication performance of lubricant for a composite sliding block-disc pair was investigated in considering surface tension. The experimental results showed the EDL has apparent effect on the friction coefficient, The lower of the entrainment velocity, the greater of the friction coefficient. With the increase of entrainment velocity, the increase rate of friction coefficient decreases. Thus, the established model could be used to well explain the effect of the surface tension of the EDL on the lubricating performance of a liquid.


We propose a technique to fully characterize the temporal structure of extreme ultraviolet pulses by ionizing a bound coherent electronic wave packet. The influence of the dipole phase, which is the main obstacle for state-of-the-art pulse characterization schemes, can be eliminated by angle integration of the photoelectron spectrum. We show that in particular, atomic Rydberg wave packets are ideal and that wave packets involving multiple electronic states provide redundant information that can be used to cross-check the consistency of the phase reconstruction.


In a high-speed permanent-magnet generator (HSPMG), an alloy sleeve is often used to prevent damage to rotor magnets caused by the large rotational centrifugal forces. However, eddy-current losses appearing in the sleeve increase the generator working temperature, which may reduce the generator performance and even cause thermal demagnetization of the magnets. Thus, a sleeve scheme designed with low eddy current losses is necessary, and a rotor structure with copper plating is presented in this paper. The two-dimensional mathematical model of a 117 kW, 60 000 rpm HSPMG is established, and the electromagnetic field in the generator is calculated using the finite element method. The results show the effectiveness of the copper plating in reducing the eddy current losses in the rotor, and the influences of the sleeve thickness and the copper layer thickness on rotor eddy current losses are analyzed. Using the fluid-thermal coupling method, the temperature distribution of the generator with different copper layer thicknesses is comparatively analyzed based on the theories of fluid mechanics and heat transfer. The relationship between the temperature and the copper layer thickness is obtained, and finally the temperature of the permanent magnets, which is the part most seriously affected by the temperature, is given with different copper layer thicknesses. The obtained conclusions may provide useful reference for the design and research of HSPMG.


This article explores the history of comity through events and the ideas of those who most influenced its development. By doing so, a number of important aspects may be revealed about the principle which have been hidden from view. This may shed new light on comity and open the door to new ways of thinking about the principle.

Comity was created to resolve the vexed question of how, and under what circumstances, sovereign States ought to recognize each other's authority. Although originally developed as a means to facilitate international trade and commerce, it became a principle of justice. States act with, or ought to act, with comity because the recognition of foreign authority will, in many cases, be the most just exercise of their own. The principle embodies the idea that whereas every State is sovereign, often the most just exercise of one State's own authority will in fact be to recognize the authority of another.


The purpose of this review is to give some perspective of the factors that influence feeding behaviors and the ability of herbivores to adapt to diets. The most important of these are digestibility, ability to select feed, and achievement of a nutritionally adequate intake. Plant morphology, observed feeding behavior, body size, and gut architecture and size impinge upon these factors. Feeding behavior and dietary specializations are associated with adaptations of gut and mouth parts as well as body size. Parallel and overlapping behaviors occur among herbivores and particularly between ruminants and nonruminants. The conventional classifications of grazers, browsers, and selective feeders are blurred by these evolutionary developments. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.


The Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.), being one of the most useful plants in the food and medical industry, is widely used for field amelioration, soil recultivation and restoration of disturbed lands. Knowledge about genetic parameters for important traits is a prerequisite for a successful breeding of any species. There are limited number of publications on within-population variation for growth traits and frost hardiness of Sea buckthorn. The experiments were done under the controlled conditions in a climate chamber at the Department of Forest Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Seedlings of Sea Buckthorn, originating from a controlled cross between three female plants and six male plants, as well as from an open pollination of mother plants, were grown under the controlled conditions until bud-set, a period of dormancy and an ensuing bud flush. Variation in growth, duration of growth period, earliness in bud flush and the fraction of frost-damaged buds after freezing were studied. Confirming previously reported observations, we found that Sea Buckthorn seedlings do not terminate growth at long nights, but low temperature treatment is needed. This lack of photoperiodic response stands in contrast to the majority of tree species in the temperate region. In this experiment, Sea Buckthorn reveals high level of genetic variance for growth and growth rhythm. The female variance component for the characteristics studied was higher than the male variance component, probably owing to seed size. The results analysis suggest that estimation of genetic parameters in Sea Buckthorn shall be based upon controlled crosses rather than on open pollinated progenies. The observed maternal effects indicate that seed weight may be a significant covariate in analyses of variance. The freezing test used in this experiment did not disclose any major genetic variance components responsible for the variation in fraction of damaged buds after freezing.


Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune rheumatic disease with heterogeneous clinical manifestations and a variable course in which the severity of the pathology dictates the disease prognosis and course. Among autoimmune rheumatic diseases, SSc has the highest mortality rate among all rheumatic diseases, though there are exciting new therapeutic targets that appear to halt the progression of SSc manifestations such as skin or lung fibrosis. In selected patients, high‐intensity regimens with autologous stem cell transplantation can favorably modify the course. In what was once thought to be an untreatable disease, targeted therapies have now changed the outlook of SSc to a treatable disorder. Herein, we discuss the targeted therapies modifying the outlook on selected organ involvement and creating opportunities for future treatment. We also present a framework for defining low disease activity in SSc.


ABSTRACT This article develops new understandings of the weekly mass participation running event, parkrun. The popularity of parkrun has been understood in terms of counteracting sedentary lives and obesity and offering mental-health benefits. However, in view of critical accounts of running in general, a more nuanced inquiry was pursued through examining parkrun in the broader context of runners' lives, particularly their occupations. Managers and professionals formed an exemplifying occupational group. Changes in managers' and professionals' work have brought to the fore characteristics of contemporary work more generally such as performativity and insecurity. Data was generated from parkrunners through an artefact prompted conversational method and as the inquiry was insider-research, so the auto-ethnographic influences on the research are critically examined. Visual and narrative findings from parkrunners are presented and interpreted through a social-constructionist identity lens. The distinctive theoretical contribution of this inquiry is to provide a more detailed discussion of identity than is the norm in the field, and to show how running, like work, could structurally regulate identities but how running also offered scope for agentic identity-work. The results show that a desired sense-of-self was unlikely to be derived from occupations whereas parkrun provided an additional identity dimension and enabled the construction of a more positive and satisfying sense-of-self.


Curriculum planners in South Africa have reinstated geometry in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) which had been relegated to the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). Euclidean Geometry has been taught again in South African schools from Grade 10 since 2012 and the first Matric Examination based on CAPS was written in 2014. This study reflects on research that has been conducted with Grade Eleven mathematics learners in one of the high schools in one of the townships in Durban in South Africa. It discusses the views of these learners on the use of the Geometer's Sketchpad Program (GSP) on learning proofs using the Geometer's Sketchpad Software in Euclidean Geometry. The research focused on exploring the concepts of the angle at the centre theorem using both the paper and pencil method and the Geometer's Sketchpad Software. The current study's objective was to explore how the Geometer's Sketchpad Software can be used as an experimental tool to teach proofs as a means of verification and explanation. The study aimed to incorporate technology in mathematics teaching. The advantages and disadvantages of using Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS) for example the Geometer's Sketchpad Software are discussed. Additionally, DGS in mathematics teaching, experimentation, functions of proof, Driscoll's (2007) Habits of Mind (GHOM's) and teachers' professional development are discussed.


Aim: To evaluate the normal selected cervical spine radiographic parameters i.e. the cervical lordosis (CL), sagittal canal diameter (SCD), interpedicular distance (IPD) and cervical gravity line (CGL) in asymptomatic young to middle-aged females across four ethnic groups (Black, White, Indian and Coloured) in Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Participants: Eighty apparently healthy females between the ages of 18 and 45 years from the Black, Indian, Coloured and White ethnic groups in Durban, KwaZulu Natal. Methodology: Written informed consent was obtained from each participant. A case history, physical examination and an orthopaedic assessment of the cervical spine was conducted for each participant. Study specific data such as ethnicity, age, height and weight was recorded. A lateral and an A-P radiograph of the cervical spine were taken for each participant. The selected radiographic parameters viz. cervical lordosis (CL), sagittal canal diameter (SCD), interpedicular distance (IPD) and cervical gravity line (CGL) were evaluated according to methods described previously. SPSS version 15.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA) was used for data analysis. Coefficients of variation were calculated within ethnic groups to assess intra-group variation. Inter-group variation was assessed using ANOVA testing with Bonferroni-adjusted post-hoc tests in the case of a significant ANOVA test. Pearson's chi square test was used to assess the association between ethnic groups and position of the CGL. T-tests were used to compare mean CL between those with anterior and normally placed CGL within each ethnic group. Results: The mean ± SD of the CL in South African females by ethnic group using the C1-C7 and C2- C7 methods CERVICAL LORDOSIS (mean ± SD) (°) ETHNICITY C1-C7 C2-C7 Black 42.1° (±13.4) 16.3° (±8.3) White 37.4° (±10.3) 9.9° (±4.8) Indian 33.7° (±9.7) 6.9° (±4.8) Coloured 42.5°(±10.9) 12.1° (±9.5) The mean ± SD of the SCD in South African females by ethnic group SAGITTAL CANAL DIAMETER (mean ±SD)(mm) ETHNICITY Black White Indian Coloured SCDC2 SCDC3 SCDC4 SCDC5 SCDC6 SCDC7 20.2 (±1.7) 17.4 (±1.4) 17.2 (±1.4) 17.0 (±1.4) 17.6 (±1.3) 17.5 (±1.4) 20.8 (± 2.2) 17.9 (±1.6) 17.6 (±1.6) 17.4 (±1.6) 17.6 (±1.4) 21.0 (±2.0) 18.2 (±1.7) 17.5 (±1.5) 17.4 (±1.7) 17.6 (±1.6) 17.1 (±1.5) 20.3 (±1.6) 17.5 (±1.8) 17.4 (±1.5) 17.7 (±1.2) 17.6 (±1.3) 16.9 (±1.2) 16.9 (±1.4) The mean ± SD of the IPD in South African females by ethnic group INTERPEDICULAR DISTANCE (mean ±SD)(mm) ETHNICITY IPDC3 IPDC4 IPDC5 IPDC6 IPDC7 Black 27.0 (±2.8) 27.6 (±3.2) 28.2 (±4.0) 28.9 (±4.2) 27.5 (±3.5) White 28.4 (±2.6) 28.8 (±2.2) 29.5 (±2.3) 29.3 (±2.5) 28.2 (±2.9) Indian 27.2 (±1.8) 27.5 (±1.8) 27.9 (±1.6) 27.9 (±1.6) 27.5 (±2.0) Coloured 27.9 (±2.3) 27.8 (±2.3) 28.3 (±2.2) 28.4 (±1.8) 28.2 (±1.7) The placement of the CGL in South African females in each ethnic group CERVICAL GRAVITY LINE ETHNICITY PLACEMENT OF CGL Black 70% anterior placement White 70% anterior placement Indian 60% anterior placement Coloured 60% anterior placement The C1-C7 measurements and the C2-C7 CL measurements were significantly different amongst the ethnic groups. For the C2-C7 method, Blacks differed significantly from both Whites (p = 0.037) and Indians (p = 0.001; Bonferroni adjusted post-hoc test); with the values for the Blacks being higher than both Whites and Indians. There was no correlation between CL and BMI amongst any of the selected ethnic groups. There were no significant differences in the mean SCD and IPD amongst the ethnic groups (p > 0.05; ANOVA test). There was no significant association between any ethnic group and the position of the CGL (p = 0.830; Pearson's chi square test). In Black females, those with a normally positioned CGL had significantly higher C2-C7 CL measurements (p = 0.008; T- tests). There was no correlation between the CL and anterior placing of the CGL in any of the ethnic groups. Conclusion: No individual differences were observed in the CL amongst the ethnic groups when using the C1-C7 method. However, significant differences were observed when the C2-C7 method was used. There were no significant differences observed in the mean SCD and IPD amongst the ethnic groups. In Black females, those with a normally positioned CGL had significantly higher C2-C7 CL measurements. The trends observed in this research study and the differences in the findings to those of previous studies lay the platform for a larger population-based study across South Africa to establish normative reference values for each radiographic parameter specific for gender and ethnicity.


A timber-concrete composite structure (TCC) is economically and environmentally friendly. One of the key design points of this kind of structure is to ensure the reliability of the shear connectors. The objective of this paper is to study the mechanical property of stud-groove-type connectors and to provide shear capacity equations for stud-groove connectors in timber-concrete composite structures. Based on the Johansen Yield Theory (European Yield Model), some mechanical models and capacity equations for stud-groove-type connectors in timber-concrete structures were studied. Push-out specimens with different parameters (stud diameter, stud length, groove width, and groove depth) were tested to obtain the shear capacity and slip modulus. The experimental strengths were used to validate equations given in the paper. The shear capacity and slip modulus of stud-groove-type connectors was in direct proportion to the diameter of studs and the dimension of the groove. Comparison between the theoretical and the experimental shear strength results showed reasonable agreement. The highlight of this study on shear capacity equations could significantly reduce the push-out tests before investigating the other properties of TCC.


In the lapping of magnetic heads and other electronic components composed of multiple materials, differences in the processing characteristics of the composite materials result in "residual steps" forming on the surface at composite interfaces. Residual step heights have been reduced to as little as a few nanometers. We investigated using fine abrasives in fixed abrasive lapping for this purpose, which requires highly secure, high-density embedding of the abrasives on the lapping plate. To this end, we modeled the abrasive embedding process and investigated the relationship between the mechanical properties of the lapping plate and the retention of the abrasive, to determine the direction of further research and development. The results of this investigation revealed a correlation between the work hardening in the plate and the resulting abrasive density and cutting edge height. The investigation also showed that it is possible to suppress the reduction in lapping rate that occurs during use by increasing the work hardening coefficient of the plate.


Cluster analysis has become a popular instrument in determining the innovativeness and competitive power of national and regional economies. A wide variety of methods have been employed by researchers to identify the key industrial clusters in a regional economy. This paper reports the results of practicable methodologies for identifying aggregate economic clusters —so-called "megaclusters"— in Andalusia, using the last available input output data (year 2000). The first method used, based in graph theory, classifies sectors according to substantial mutual dependency through their deliveries and purchases. The second one, based on the application of principal components to the input-output table, provide clusters according to the similarity of the intermediate purchases and/or the intermediate sales structures.


Copper is a versatile transition metal and has been used as a catalyst for constructing a variety of bonds in organic synthesis. It is relatively abundant, cheap, and less toxic than other transition metals, making it an advantageous catalyst. Presented in this thesis are three new copper-catalyzed reactions for the preparation of alkyl fluorides, sterically hindered anilines, and 1,4-dienes. These classes of compounds can be found in nature and have important application in medicinal chemistry and the pharmaceutical industry. Finally, we have also demonstrated the utility of these reactions in the construction of useful organic compounds. Chapter 1 describes the copper-catalyzed fluorination of alkyl triflates for the synthesis of alkyl fluorides. This reaction uses a transition-metal complex as an efficient phase-transfer catalyst under mild reaction conditions. No elimination byproducts were observed when using the optimized reaction conditions. This addresses a long standing issue in alkyl fluoride synthesis. Chapter 2 describes the copper-catalyzed coupling of aryl boronic esters with O-benzoyl hydroxylamines for the synthesis of sterically hindered N,N-dialkyl anilines and N-alkyl anilines. This reaction uses an air stable and commercially available precatalyst and a mild turn over reagent, thus making this reaction a practical method to synthesize anilines. Chapter 3 describes the anti-Markovnikov hydroallylation of terminal alkynes and nonsymmetrical dialkyl substituted alkynes to provide a variety of 1,4-dienes and trisubstituted alkenes. The hydroallylation is syn-stereospecific and highly-regioselective allowing access to stereodefined trisubstituted olefins.


High-tech organizations increasingly rely on innovative contributions of their R&D employees, or the inventors, who often work within resource-constrained environments of emerging markets to deliver innovative outcomes. Integrating social exchange theory and bricolage theory, we conceptualize R&D activity as a process that involves salient tensions as inventors work effectively with others using their social skills while pursuing competing goals, with limited capital, and resource constraints. This study extends prior research on the relationship between R&D inventors' bricolage activities, their social skills and R&D performance. Survey data was collected from 211 R&D inventors working in R&D divisions at six multinational high technology organizations in India. Results indicate that R&D inventor bricolage activities enhanced R&D performance (outcomes and efficiency). We also find inventors' social skills (social astuteness, networking ability, interpersonal influence and apparent sincerity) significantly relate to R&D inventor bricolage and positively relate to R&D project outcomes. This study provides empirical evidence towards uncovering the behavioral foundations of R&D inventor activities in resource-constrained R&D settings. We identify social skills and bricolage activities of R&D employees as being important for shaping positive R&D outcomes in organizations. Overall, we contribute to R&D management in better understanding how micro-level variables influence macro-level R&D outcomes in firms. hypothesis 3). We also tested our proposed model using structure equation modeling and found consistent results for these hypothesized relationships.


: Photoplethysmographic and capillaroscopic studies of peripheral microcirculation conducted in patients with severe craniocerebral injuries during the acute period revealed some regularities of its changes depending on the type of the transfusion medium. While transfusions of glucose-novocain mixtures and, especially, of low molecular weight dextrans increase the volume pulse and improve the capillary flow in patients with supratentorial pathology, and blood and plasma transfusions reduce the volume pulse and enhance the capillary disorders, patients with brain stem insufficiency display a reverse pattern--a reduction of the volume pulse following transfusions of low molecular weight dextrans, and its increase following blood transfusions. An optimum regimen of infusion-transfusion, therapy and correction of microcirculatory disorders was worked out.


Seven mutually exclusive groups of non-bronchitics and chronic bronchitics are derived from 10,816 steel workers questioned and examined at Port Talbot. These groups are based on various combinations of responses to the Medical Research Council questionnaire on cough, phlegm, dyspnoea, increased cough and phlegm, and chest illness. The groups are formed on defined criteria of (1) a reasonable number of men in each group; (2) impairment of lung function (FEV1) related to the severity of chronic bronchitis symptoms; and (3) impairment of lung function from certain other diseases. The ideal group of non-bronchitics (NB 0) answered `no' to every symptomatology question (46·4%). Non-bronchitics grade 1 (NB 1) were either symptom-free or had only occasional cough and phlegm with either or both increased cough and phlegm and chest illness (24·2%). Non-bronchitics grade 2 (NB 2) complained of dyspnoea in the absence of persistent cough and phlegm (4·3%). Chronic bronchitics grade 1 (CB 1) had persistent cough and phlegm in the absence of any other complaint (11·3%). Chronic bronchitics grade 2 (CB 2) had the additional impairment of increased cough and phlegm and/or chest illness (8·1%). Grade 3 (CB 3) complained of dyspnoea with or without increased cough and phlegm (2·5%). Grade 4 (CB 4) had both dyspnoea and chest illness (3·2%). Lung function (FEV1) in three of the groups of chronic bronchitics (CB 1, CB 2, CB 3: 21·9%) was no worse than in the two groups of non-bronchitics with complaints of other respiratory disorders (NB 1, NB 2: 28·6%). An overall comparison on a binary division between non-bronchitics and bronchitics hides the severity of some of the bronchitic groups. For this reason it is recommended that epidemiological studies of chronic bronchitis should separate the suggested grades of bronchitics (CB 1, 2, 3, and 4) and compare them with the ideal group of non-bronchitics (NB 0: 46·4%) which has the lowest prevalence of heart trouble and asthma and those who have had pneumonia.


The response of adult females of the mosquito Culex pipims molestus to six insecticides was evaluated. Adults were collected from two locations in the Amman area from May to October 1983. The F generation was exposed to paper-impregnated insecticides using WHO test kits. At both locations, the most toxic insecticides were permethrin, propoxur and ferpropathrin. Malathion, dieldrin and DDT were far less effective.


Source-Free Unsupervised Domain Adaptation (SFUDA) aims to adapt a pre-trained source model to an unlabeled target domain without access to the original labeled source domain samples. Many existing SFUDA approaches apply the self-training strategy, which involves iteratively selecting confidently predicted target samples as pseudo-labeled samples used to train the model to fit the target domain. However, the self-training strategy may also suffer from sample selection bias and be impacted by the label noise of the pseudo-labeled samples. In this work, we provide a rigorous the- oretical analysis on how these two issues affect the model generalization ability when applying the self-training strat- egy for the SFUDA problem. Based on this theoretical analysis, we then propose a new Denoised Maximum Classifier Discrepancy (D-MCD) method for SFUDA to effectively address these two issues. In particular, we first minimize the distribution mismatch between the selected pseudo-labeled samples and the remaining target domain samples to alleviate the sample selection bias. Moreover, we design a strong-weak self-training paradigm to denoise the selected pseudo-labeled samples, where the strong network is used to select pseudo-labeled samples while the weak network helps the strong net- work to filter out hard samples to avoid incorrect labels. In this way, we are able to ensure both the quality of the pseudo- labels and the generalization ability of the trained model on the target domain. We achieve state-of-the-art results on three domain adaptation benchmark datasets, which clearly validates the effectiveness of our proposed approach. Full code is available at https://github.com/kkkkkkon/D-MCD.


Peace. A small, but powerful word. Even today, defining it is a quandary, as it can be applied in many different ways according to a variety of contexts. Kumhera's comprehensive book tackles the act of making peace in late medieval Italy. He highlights and analyses its diverse meanings and implications, and the impact of these various realisations of 'pax' for medieval society. What did peace really mean? Who was it for? And how long did it last? Kumhera delves into these questions, drawing out a variety of interpretations of peace, all illustrated with rich and colourful examples drawn from extensive archival research. It is these examples of medieval personal interactions between individuals and groups which really bring the subject matter to life.


RNA interference via exogenous small interference RNAs (siRNA) is a powerful tool in gene function study and disease treatment. Designing efficient and specific siRNA on target gene remains the key issue in RNAi. Although various in silico models have been proposed for rational siRNA design, most of them focus on the efficiencies of selected siRNAs, while limited effort has been made to improve their specificities targeted on specific mRNAs, which is related to reducing off-target effects (OTEs) in RNAi. In our study, we propose for the first time that the enhancement of target specificity of siRNA design can be achieved computationally by domain transfer in heterogeneous data sources from different siRNA targets. A transfer learning based method i.e., heterogeneous regression (HEGS) is presented for target-specific siRNA efficacy modeling and feature selection. Based on the model, (1) the target regression model can be built by extracting information from related data in other targets/experiments, thus increasing the target specificity in siRNA design with the help of information from siRNAs binding to other homologous genes, and (2) the potential features correlated to the current siRNA design can be identified even when there is lack of experimental validated siRNA affinity data on this target. In summary, our findings present useful instructions for a better target-specific siRNA design, with potential applications in genome-wide high-throughput screening of effective siRNA, and will provide further insights on the mechanism of RNAi.


The formal recognition of gender, as a category of public law, has swept the world. In a time of rapid legal change, in both new constitutions and old, the public law of gender – and the contested norm of gender equality – is being constituted, legislated and regulated. Of 194 written constitutions around the world, almost all guarantee equality in express terms; almost two thirds entrench equality or non-discrimination guarantees on the basis of sex, and almost one third make express reference to gender. Measures to ensure the equal participation of women and men in political and public decision-making have been introduced in 100 states, and constitutionally entrenched in 15. 189 of 197 member states of the UN are states parties to CEDAW. This volume includes the perspectives of constitutional, administrative and international lawyers, as well as historians, ethnographers, and political scientists, to critically analyze these apparent accomplishments. We ask – has this widespread legal reform led to real change? Women, in particular, continue to experience an array of gender-based disadvantage and harms: persistent and well-documented vulnerability to violence, including sexual violence, insecurity, and poverty; circumscribed access to education, property and credit; workplace disadvantage and harassment; greater involvement in reproductive, household and care work, without material recognition; and a continued inability to access the political forums and public laws in which these problems have often been sidelined or misunderstood. While these problems may seem intractable for different reasons: culture, ideology, power, political economy – it is clear that law continues to constitute, or insulate, these various effects. Thus it is critical to understand and critique the operation of formal law as one aspect of the continuing gap between the advocacy of gender equality and its substantive achievement. This introduction brings international and constitutional law together to analyze the features of this gap in terms of enforcement, sincerity, and coverage. First, just as international law exists famously without a centralized enforcement mechanism, so too does domestic constitutional law lack the guarantee of enforcement, even in systems with judicial review. Secondly, treaties, especially the foundational human rights covenants of which CEDAW is part, have always attracted the criticism of 'window-dressing', as states are free to ratify treaties without making any reforms in domestic law. A similar criticism has been made about the phenomenon of 'sham constitutions'. Thirdly, both international law and constitutional law carve out a number of exceptions of application, which have a significant impact on gender. Most prominent in the gap in coverage is the public/private distinction, in which both international and public law are, in the main, concerned only with the regulation of the public sphere. Through reserving particular areas of law from constitutional reach, such as religious personal laws or customary law or private law more generally, the application of public law has limited effect to challenge gendered disadvantage in the very spheres in which it is most heavily experienced and perpetuated. This volume extends enforcement, sincerity and coverage rationales in public and international law to give greater attention to their application to gender.


(Abstract) The proliferation of wireless ad-hoc networks, especially wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b Standard), i n the commercial market in recent years has reached a critical mass. The adoption and strong support of wireless IEEE 802.11 standard, coupled with the consequent decline in costs, has made wireless LAN deployment as one of the fastest growth area in communication access technology. With the ever-increasing use of wireless LAN technology the various networks are reaching their full capacity in terms of network throughput and number of users and interference level in the wireless channel. In this thesis wo rk I propose to the use smart antenna technology and a power management scheme in the wireless ad-hoc networks to increase the network capacity in terms of throughput and number of simultaneous communication and to lower the average transmit power and consequently co-channel interference. Power management scheme can be used to maximize the power efficiency of the transmitter by choosing an optimum transmit power level. Smart antenna or adaptive antenna array technology has reached a level of sophistication that it is feasible to use it on small mobile terminals like handheld PDA, LAPTOP and other mobile devices with limited battery power. The simulation results of various ad –hoc network scenario shows that there are significant gains to be had if these technologies can be integrated in the existing wireless LAN physical layer and/or in the standard them self. Smart antennas along with slight modification in channel access scheme reduce co-channel interference dramatically and increases the number of simultaneous transmissions hence improves network throughput. Power management algorithm is shown to improve average transmission of a node. We present a mathematical framework to characterize the outage probability of cellular mobile radio system with selective co-channel interference receiver in overloaded array environments. The mathematical framework outlines a general numerical procedure for iii computing the probability of outage of a cellular mobile radio system that is equipped with a smart antenna to suppress a few strongest co-channel interferers (CCI) out of a total of N I active interferers by null steering. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost I thank my parents for their unwavering support and faith in me. They have guided and motivated me through the most onerous days of my life. They taught me the importance of education and always encouraged me to work harder and better to achieve what I want. My sincere appreciation and gratitude goes …


Backcountry Landing Strip Access Act - Prohibits either the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture from taking any action which would permanently close or render or declare as unserviceable any aircraft landing strip located on Federal land under the respective jurisdiction, unless: (1) the head of the aviation department of each State in which the aircraft landing strip is located has approved such action; (2) notice of the proposed action has been published in the Federal Register; (3) a 90-day public comment period on the action has been provided; and (4) any comments received during the comment period have been taken into consideration by the Secretaries, as the case may be, and the appropriate State aviation department heads.Directs the Secretaries to: (1) adopt a nationwide policy for governing backcountry aviation issues related to the management of Federal land under their jurisdiction; and (2) require regional managers to adhere to it. Declares that a policy affecting air access to an aircraft landing strip located on Federal land (including any national policy required under this Act) shall not take effect unless certain conditions are met, including its statement that the FAA has the sole authority to control aviation and airspace over the United States.


Around 10% of acute leukemias harbor a rearrangement of the MLL/KMT2A gene, and the presence of this translocation results in a highly aggressive, therapy‐resistant leukemia subtype with survival rates below 50%. There is a high unmet need to identify safer and more potent therapies for MLL‐rearranged (MLL‐r) leukemia that can be combined with established chemotherapeutics to decrease treatment‐related toxicities. The curaxin, CBL0137, has demonstrated nongenotoxic anticancer and chemopotentiating effects in a number of preclinical cancer models and is currently in adult Phase I clinical trials for solid tumors and hematological malignancies. The aim of our study was to investigate whether CBL0137 has potential as a therapeutic and chemopotentiating compound in MLL‐r leukemia through a comprehensive analysis of its efficacy in preclinical models of the disease. CBL0137 decreased the viability of a panel of MLL‐r leukemia cell lines (n = 12) and xenograft cells derived from patients with MLL‐r acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, n = 3) in vitro with submicromolar IC50s. The small molecule drug was well‐tolerated in vivo and significantly reduced leukemia burden in a subcutaneous MV4;11 MLL‐r acute myeloid leukemia model and in patient‐derived xenograft models of MLL‐r ALL (n = 5). The in vivo efficacy of standard of care drugs used in remission induction for pediatric ALL was also potentiated by CBL0137. CBL0137 exerted its anticancer effect by trapping Facilitator of Chromatin Transcription (FACT) into chromatin, activating the p53 pathway and inducing an Interferon response. Our findings support further preclinical evaluation of CBL0137 as a new approach for the treatment of MLL‐r leukemia.


In this paper, a numerical model for two-dimensional unsaturated water problems in the soil is established by the mixed finite element(MFE) method to find the density and flux of water flow simultaneously. The numerical method has been verified and compared by the numerical examples. Satisfactory results and some other significant and valuable conclusions are obtained from studies.


OBJECTIVES
To explore pediatricians' current involvement in community child health activities, to examine trends in community involvement from 1989 to 2004, and to compare perspectives and skills related to community involvement among those participating and not participating in community activities.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional analysis of 3 American Academy of Pediatrics Periodic Surveys of Fellows.

PARTICIPANTS
In the 1989, 1993, and 2004 surveys, 1024, 1627, and 1829 pediatricians participated, respectively (response rates: 70.3%, 65.2%, and 57.6%).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Involvement, skills, and perspectives related to community child health activities.

RESULTS
The percentage of pediatricians involved in community child health activities in the preceding year rose from 56.6% in 1989 to 59.4% in 1993 but declined to 45.1% in 2004. Pediatricians increasingly reported that these activities were volunteer rather than paid (48.6% in 1989, 57.8% in 1993, and 79.6% in 2004). More participants in community child health activities vs nonparticipants viewed their current level of involvement as "just right" (52.5% vs 24.9%), reported themselves to be very responsible for children's health (42.2% vs 24.9%), expected their community work to increase during the next 5 years (63.5% vs 54.1%), and reported higher skills in 6 areas (all P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
Although there has been decreased participation in community child health, most pediatricians expect their community efforts to increase. Because most community activities are volunteer, challenges to address include incorporating community involvement into employment and identifying strategies to facilitate voluntary civic engagement.


The process of designing complex manufacturing machines involves problems of interdisciplinary communication, design space exploration as well as design evaluation and analysis that can best be solved by integrating modeling and simulation stages into the development process. Requirements necessary for a modeling environment are: support for hierarchical and modular structuring, module reuse, configurability of the model, executability of the model with a notion of time, and intuitive usability. The CodeSign object-oriented, temporal Petri net formalism with its associated tool is a modeling and simulation environment to meet those requirements. A case study conducted in an industrial setting is described that demonstrates the applicability of the CodeSign approach to the modeling of semiconductor manufacturing equipment with step-wise refinement. Results are given to show the accuracy of simulation results with respect to data actually measured on the machine. The CodeSign simulation results are shown to have superior accuracy compared to the output of a previous spreadsheet model of the same machine.


This paper reviews two cosmologies which assume that the observable universe was initially vacuumlike (i.e., the cosmological medium was Lorentz invariant). In the earlier nonsingular Friedmann cosmology, the Friedmann universe comes into being during the phase transition of an initial vacuumlike state to the state of 'ordinary' matter. In the course of this transition, the emerging matter is accelerated, which causes the universe to expand and attain the Friedmann expansion regime. In the inflationary cosmology, the transition to the Friedmann universe is preceded by an epoch of inflation in which the universe grows spontaneously by many tens of orders of magnitude without or almost without changes in its composition and density. The idea of inflation gives rise to a variety of scenarios involving a cosmological singularity, or the birth of one universe within another, or the world-as-a-whole as an infinite set of universes, etc. The present paper provides arguments against the inflation idea. On dismissing it, both cosmologies are essentially identical from the viewpoint of their application to the observable universe.


To efficiently learn and retain motor skills, we can introduce contextual interference through interleaved practice. Interleaving tasks or stimuli initially hinders performance but leads to superior long-term retention. It is not yet clear if implicitly learned information also benefits from interleaving and how interleaved practice changes the representation of skills. The present study used a serial reaction time task where participants practiced three 8-item sequences that were either interleaved or blocked on Day 1 (training) and Day 2 (testing). An explicit recall test allowed us to post-hoc sort participants into two groups of learners: implicit learners recalled less items than did explicit learners. Significant decreasing monotonic trends, indicating successful learning, were observed in both training groups and both groups of learners. We found support for the benefit of interleaved practice on retention of implicit sequence learning, indicating that the benefit of interleaved practice does not depend on explicit memory retrieval. A Bayesian Sequential Learning model was adopted to model human performance. Both empirical and computational results suggest that explicit knowledge of the sequence was detrimental to retention when the sequences were blocked, but not when they were interleaved, suggesting that contextual interference may be a protective factor of interference of explicit knowledge. Slower learning in the interleaved condition may result in better retention and reduced interference of explicit knowledge on performance.


The theory of 2-convex norms is applied to Banach space valued random vectors. Use is made of a norm on random vectors, introduced by Pisier, equal to the 2-absolutely summing norm on an associated space of operators. For Q the variance of some centred Gaussian random vector in a separable Banach space it is shown that, necessarily, Q factors through l2 as a product of 2-summing operators. This factorisation condition is sufficient when the Banach space is of Gaussian type 2. The stochastic integral of a family of operators with respect to a cylindrical Q-Wiener process is shown to exist under a Holder continuity condition involving the 2-summing norm. A Langevin equation dZt + ΛZtdt = dBt with values in a separable Banach space is studied. The operator Λ is closed and densely defined. A weak solution (Zt ; Bt), where Zt is centred, Gaussian and stationary while Bt is a Q-Wiener process, is given when iΛ and iΛ* generate C0 groups and the resolvent of Λ is uniformly bounded on the imaginary axis. Both Zt and Bt are stochastic integrals with respect to a spectral Q-Wiener process. The convolution of two arcsine probability densities is shown to be an elliptic integral. Ensembles (Xn)n≥1 of random Hermitian matrices are considered. Each Xn is n by n with distribution invariant under unitary conjugation and induced by a positive weight function on R. New proofs are given of results, due to Boutet de Monvel, Pastur, Shcherbina and Sodin, on the behaviour of the empirical distribution of the eigenvalues of Xn as n tends to infinity. Results in analytic function theory are proved. An H∞ interpolating sequence in the disc D whose Horowitz product does not lie in the Bergman space L2a(D) is exhibited. A condition satisfied by Banach spaces of non-trivial analytic Lusin cotype is obtained.


BACKGROUND
Community-based care, underpinned by relevant primary care research, is an important component of the global fight against non-communicable diseases. The International Primary Care Research Group's (IPCRG's) Research Needs Statement identified 145 research questions within five domains (asthma, rhinitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), smoking, respiratory infections).

AIMS
To use an e-mail Delphi process to prioritise the research questions.

METHODS
An international panel of primary care clinicians scored the clinical importance, feasibility, and international relevance of each question on a scale of 1-5 (5 = most important). In subsequent rounds, informed by the Group's median scores, participants scored overall priority. Consensus was defined as 80% agreement for priority scores 4 or 5.

RESULTS
Twenty-three experts from 21 countries completed all three rounds. Sixty-two questions were prioritised across the five domains. A recurring theme was for 'simple tools' (e.g. questionnaires) enabling diagnosis and assessment in community settings, often with limited access to investigations. Seven questions recorded 100% agreement: these involved pragmatic approaches to the diagnosis of COPD and rhinitis, assessment of asthma and respiratory infections, management of rhinitis, and implementing asthma self-management.

CONCLUSIONS
Evidence to underpin the primary care approach to diagnosis and assessment and broad management strategies were overarching priorities. If primary care is to contribute to the global challenge of managing respiratory non-communicable diseases, policymakers, funders, and researchers need to prioritise these questions.


A novel approach of applying deep reinforcement learning to an RF pulse design is introduced. This method, which is referred to as $DeepRF_{SLR}$, is designed to minimize the peak amplitude or, equivalently, minimize the pulse duration of a multiband refocusing pulse generated by the Shinar Le-Roux (SLR) algorithm. In the method, the root pattern of SLR polynomial, which determines the RF pulse shape, is optimized by iterative applications of deep reinforcement learning and greedy tree search. When tested for the designs of the multiband factors of three and seven RFs, $DeepRF_{SLR}$ demonstrated improved performance compared to conventional methods, generating shorter duration RF pulses in shorter computational time. In the experiments, the RF pulse from $DeepRF_{SLR}$ produced a slice profile similar to the minimum-phase SLR RF pulse and the profiles matched to that of the computer simulation. Our approach suggests a new way of designing an RF by applying a machine learning algorithm, demonstrating a machine-designed MRI sequence.