Sensitive data such as health records and financialtransactions are increasingly being stored and processed inthe cloud. Correspondingly, laws and regulations have beenestablished to protect such data. For a cloud-based analyticsservice provider, it is of paramount importance to protect thesensitive information contained in customer data, while runninganalytics on it. While there exist a plethora of technologies tosafeguard data, regulatory rules are not always defined in cleartechnical terms, and different regulations may impose different(or sometimes conflicting) rules on the analytics platform. Therefore, it remains a challenge in developing a platform that cansupport various security and compliance-enabling mechanisms, in a agile fashion, to reduce maintenance effort as well asimproving scalability and performance. To address this challenge, we introduce the design and implementationof a cloud-based middleware platform that supportson-demand composition and configuration of security mechanismsto ease regulatory compliance enablement. We discussat length our experiences and lessons learned from using ourplatform to deploy secure analytics systems at IBM and highlightthe benefits of our approach by discussing the performanceimpact and trade-offs of different security mechanisms withrespect to regulatory compliance.


We study the issue of performance prediction on the SGI-Power Challenge, a typical SMP. On such a platform, the cost of memory accesses depends on their locality and on contention among processors. By running a carefully designed suite of microbenchmarks, we provide quantitative evidence that memory hierarchy effects impact performance far more substantially than other phenomena related to contention. We also fit three cost functions based on variants of the BSP model, which do not account for the hierarchy, and a newly defined function F expressed in terms of hardware counters, which captures both memory hierarchy and contention effects. We test the accuracy of all the functions on both synthetic and application benchmarks showing that, unlike the other functions, F achieves an excellent level of accuracy in all cases. Although hardware counters are only available at run-time, we give evidence that function F can still be employed as a prediction tool by extrapolating values of the counters from pilot runs on small input sizes.


The purpose of this paper is to describe the role of the fabric community in Palembang from time to time. Fabric is a vital necessity that can not be separated from daily life of Palembang community. At the beginning, this vital need only be met by using wood as a raw material. On the development, the processing of wood fiber materials was growing. In addition the use of cotton fabrics from India and China silk is also increasingly becoming an integral part in the life of the archipelago. Palembang occupied a special position in the cloth trade, especially as most potential fabric lovers in Southeast Asia, together with Jambi. Both of the regions known as the Southeast Sumatra. The function of fabric for Palembang society is very diverse, ranging from meeting the needs of body armor consisting of fabric, and scarves, to other functions. These functions among others, as a symbol of one's status, prizes, a medium of exchange, pay fines, media peace, a symbol of the bond, the means of diplomacy, prestige and heritage, thus, the position of Palembang as a connoisseur and developer of cloth until now continues. So normal that until now Palembang is famous as the sole producer of the most beautiful fabric known as the Queen of fabric which is Songket Fabric.


This chapter first reviews the history, nature and development of open education practices as exemplified by open universities, open educational resources and MOOCs and then exemplifies these through the case study of the Open University. It next explains the changing nature of open educational practices within the Open University as well as the degree of influence that the Open University's own involvement in open educational practices has had on the practices of other higher education organizations, both nationally and internationally, and the individuals working within them. The chapter then compares and contrasts these developments using the major concepts that lie behind the theories of communities of practice and networks of practice, including notions of open innovation. In particular it looks at whether any of the changes that have occurred are driven more by shared values (doing the right thing) or more by self-interest (doing things better). It finishes by reflecting on how leadership is, or is not, instantiated in such communities or networks of practice.


The intense 0.511 MeV gamma-ray line emission from the Galactic Center observed by INTEGRAL requires a large annihilation rate of nonrelativistic positrons. If these positrons are injected at even mildly relativistic energies, higher-energy gamma rays will also be produced. We calculate the gamma-ray spectrum due to inflight annihilation and compare to the observed diffuse Galactic gamma-ray data. Even in a simplified but conservative treatment, we find that the positron injection energies must be ∼ 3 MeV, which strongly constrains models for Galactic positron production.


This paper brings together and adds structure to the empirical literature on the link between banking regulation and banking system stability. In addition to clarifying the theoretical underpinnings for studying banking regulation, it points to several directions for future empirical research, necessary to fill the gaps in our understanding of the link between banking regulation and stability. The paper starts with a review of the literature on the design of banking regulation and its link with stability, followed by an assessment of the most common methodologies used in this literature.The paper then reviews the empirical literature of various banking regulations. This is followed by a proposal on the new directions for research of the link between banking regulation and banking system stability.


Detailed heat transfer measurements using transient liquid crystal thermography were performed on a novel cooling design covering the mid-chord and trailing edge region of a typical gas turbine blade under stationary and rotating conditions. The test section comprised of two channels with aspect ratio (AR) of 2:1 (mid-chord) and 4:1 (trailing edge), where the coolant was fed into the AR = 2:1 channel from the root. Rib turbulators with a pitch-to-rib height ratio (p/e) of 10 and rib height-to-channel hydraulic diameter ratio (e/Dh) of 0.075 were placed in the AR = 2:1 channel at an angle of 60° relative to the direction of flow. The coolant after entering this section was routed to the AR = 4:1 section through a set of crossover jets. The purpose of the crossover jets was to induce sideways impingement onto the pin fins that were placed in the 4:1 section to enhance heat transfer. The 4:1 section had a realistic trapezoidal shape that mimics the trailing edge of an actual gas turbine blade. The pin fins were arranged in a staggered array with a center-to-center spacing of 2.5 times the pin diameter in both spanwise and streamwise directions. The trailing edge section consisted of both radial and cutback exit holes for flow exit. Experiments were performed for a Reynolds number (ReDh(AR = 2:1)) of 20,000 at Rotation numbers (RoDh(AR = 2:1)) of 0, 0.1 and 0.14. The channel averaged heat transfer coefficient on trailing side was ∼28% (AR = 2:1) and ∼7.6% (AR = 4:1) higher than the leading side for Rotation number (Ro) of 0.1. It is shown that the combination of crossover jets and pin-fins can be an effective method for cooling wedge shaped trailing edge channels over axial cooling flow designs.


The demand for decreasing costs and volume leads to a constantly increasing power density of industrial converter systems. In order to improve the power density further different aspects, like thermal management and electromagnetic effects must be considered in conjunction with the electrical design. Therefore, a comprehensive optimization procedure based on analytical models for minimizing volume of DC-DC converter systems has been developed at the Power Electronic Systems Laboratory of the ETH Zurich. Based on this procedure three converter topologies - a phase shift converter with current doubler and with capacitive output filter and a series-parallel resonant converter - are optimized with respect to power density for a telecom supply (400V/48V). There, the characteristic of the power density, the efficiency and the volume distribution between the components as function of frequency is discussed. For the operating points with maximal power density also the loss distribution is presented. Further more, the sensitivity of the optimum with respect to junction temperature, cooling and core material is investigated. The highest power density is achieved by the series-parallel resonant converter. For a 5 kW supply a density of approximately 12 kW/ltr. and a switching frequency of ca. 130 kHz results.


Various materials related to the life physiology of the scabies mite in and on the human skin have been identified by morphology. The role they could play as possible activators of both cellular and humoral arms of the host's immune system is discussed. Subtle aberrations of this reactive process could be basically responsible for the wide spectrum of clinical and histological aspects reported in scabies. Possible lines for future research on host-parasite relationship in scabies are proposed.


To date, reliable and sensitive methods to localize the estrogen receptor (ER) in rat tissues and human breast cancers have required the use of frozen sections. This not only incurs poor tissue structure but also precludes the study of small breast lesions that are usually paraffin embedded for histological evaluation. We have developed and optimized a dinitrophenyl hapten sandwich staining (DHSS) immunocytochemical procedure to demonstrate ER in paraffin-embedded, hormone-sensitive tissues of the rat and in human breast cancers. The method was applicable to formalin- and Bouins-fixed material, with trypsinization of sections being essential. The immunocytochemical system utilized a dinitrophenyl (DNP) hapten-labeled monoclonal antibody to the receptor. Mouse IgM anti-DNP was used secondarily, followed by a DNP/peroxidase complex, diaminobenzidine/hydrogen peroxide chromogen, and silver intensification. This highly sensitive method localized the ER within paraffin-embedded rat uterus, fallopian tube, vagina, and normal and cancerous mammary gland. Furthermore, excellent staining was generated in human breast cancers in accordance with their ER-ICA status. Control sections involving simultaneous incubation with DNP-labeled and unlabeled H222 were background free, while uteri from castrated rats demonstrated reduced receptor immunostaining. Staining was also absent in ER-negative human breast tumors.


This paper investigates whether the Quantitative Easing (QE) program implemented by the Federal Reserve Board after the 2007-2008 global financial crisis affects firms in emerging economies by improving their access to external financing. Our hypothesis relies on the idea that the excess of liquidity induced by the QE program in the aftermath of the crisis motivates global investors to reallocate their funds to emerging markets in search of higher expected returns. Consequently, more funds are available for local firms, thus alleviating their financial constraints. We empirically test this hypothesis using a sample of 1,000 nonfinancial firms in 12 emerging economies for the period from 2000 to 2014 from the Compustat Global database. By measuring the extent of firms' financial constraint with Fazzari et al.'s (1988) investment-cash flow sensitivity coefficient, we find support for our hypothesis only in the second QE episode where ex-ante financially restricted firms become less sensitive to cash flows. For the first and third analyzed QE episodes, we find the opposite; that is, firms become more financially constrained. The results for the first and third periods are thus consistent with flight-to-quality and tapering mechanisms, respectively. Our evidence resembles prior evidence using capital flows data and highlights the significant role of the QE program on emerging economies.


This paper presents preliminary evidence of the effect of Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) on the quantity and quality of firm‐specific information released to the market by comparing analyst forecast data from pre‐FD to post‐FD time periods. By prohibiting selective disclosure of material information to privileged individuals, the Securities and Exchange Commission intends to provide a level playing field to all investors. However, opponents argue that FD has a negative impact by decreasing the quantity and quality of publicly available information. Consistent with this argument, we document a decrease in analyst following and an increase in forecast dispersion following the passage of FD.


SUMMARY In this paper, we propose a new method that can remove view-disturbing noises from stereo images. One of the thorny problems in outdoor surveillance by a camera is that adherent noises such as waterdrops on the protecting glass surface lens disturb the view from the camera. Therefore, we propose a method for removing adherent noises from stereo images taken with a stereo camera system. Our method is based on the stereo measurement and utilizes disparities between stereo image pair. Positions of noises in images can be detected by comparing disparities measured from stereo images with the distance between the stereo camera system and the glass surface. True disparities of image regions hidden by noises can be estimated from the property that disparities are generally similar with those around noises. Finally, we can remove noises from images by replacing the above regions with textures of corresponding image regions obtained by the disparity referring. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


In continuous tube rolling process, wall thickness reduction per stand will be changed due to wall thickness fluctuation of pierced shell caused by piercing process, which results in changes in metal flow conditions and affects force parameters, deformation parameters, especially transverse wall thickness precision of rolled hollow tube. In this paper, with the aid of commercial FE code MSC.SuperForm, the high pressure boiler steel tube continuous rolling process of a typical hollow tube specification 133.0×4.0mm are simulated based on 133 main pass sequence of 89mm 6-stand semi-floating mandrel mill, and force parameters, equivalent plastic strain, transverse wall thickness precision, outline dimension and real roundness of rolled hollow tube are analyzed and compared on the condition of two different wall thicknesses of pierced shell. Analysis results indicate that force parameters increase with wall thickness of pierced shell, maximal rolling force, rolling moment and mandrel axial force increase 10% or so in the first three stands when rolling pierced shell of wall thickness 11.5mm compared to that of wall thickness 10.5mm. When rolling pierced shell of wall thickness 10.5mm, there exist front and back tensions among the third, the fourth and the fifth stands and outline dimension and real roundness of rolled hollow tube is slightly better. However, transverse wall thickness of rolled hollow tube at the bottom of groove is pulled thin obviously.


With the rise of internet of things an immense number of RFID tags will be associated with different systems that require not only strong authentication protocols, but also time- and power- efficient protocols to authenticate more tags in a given time window. In current tag authentication protocols, a tag is considered authentic if the interrogators find a match to the tag's encrypted (e.g., using some hashing function) reply in the system's database. Tree-based authentication protocols provide rapid authentication by limiting the searched keys at the interrogator from O(N) to O(log(N)), where N is the number of leaves in the balanced tree. However, if one tag is compromised in such protocols, other tags will be at risk of being compromised. In this paper we propose Unique Hash Sequence Authentication (UHSA) protocol. The protocol utilizes tag-interrogator interaction, with a continuous wave (CW) sensor at the tag to cut off tags encrypted reply when the received bits are enough to determine next node in the tree without receiving the whole reply. Cutting off the encrypted reply limits the information that can be obtained by the adversary to compromise the tag. In addition, the reduction in tag reply length greatly enhances the time and power efficiency of the RFID system during the authentication process by more than 90% when compared to existing authentication protocols.


3C-(Si1-xC1-y)Gex+y ternary alloys were grown on 8.5° off axis 4H-SiC substrates by solid source molecular beam epitaxy in a temperature range between 750°C and 950°C. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis revealed a decrease of the Ge incorporation versus substrate temperature. This effect is due to the fixed Si/Ge ratio during the epitaxial growth. The Ge distribution within the grown epitaxial layers was found to be nearly homogeneous. The investigations by atomic location by channeling enhanced microanalysis allowed the conclusion that Ge is located mainly at Si lattice sites.


The effect of pre-chamber volume and nozzle diameter on performance of pre-chamber ignition device in a heavy duty natural gas engine has previously been studied by the authors. From the analysis of recorded pre- and main chamber pressure traces, it was observed that a pre-chamber with a larger volume reduced flame development angle and combustion duration while at a given pre-chamber volume, smaller nozzle diameters provided better ignition in the main chamber. The structure of pre-chamber jet and its mixing characteristics with the main chamber charge are believed to play a vital role, and hence CFD simulations are performed to study the fluid dynamic aspects of interaction between the pre-chamber jet and main chamber charge during the period of flame development angle, i.e. before main chamber ignition. It has been observed that jets from a larger pre-chamber penetrates through the main chamber faster due to higher momentum and generates turbulence in the main chamber earlier. At a given pre-chamber volume, smaller nozzle diameter causes higher velocity jet also causing high turbulence built up and better distribution of active species from the pre-chamber into the main chamber. (Less)


The aim of this work was to investigate the antioxidant activity of Caciocavallo cheese made from the milk of 2 breeds, Italian Brown and Italian Holstein, and ripened for 1, 30, 60, 90, and 150 d. The antioxidant activity of cheese was measured using the 2,2'-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and thiol assays. Statistical analysis showed a significant effect of the studied factors. Italian Brown cheese had higher antioxidant activity than Italian Holstein cheese, and antioxidant activity increased during ripening of both cheeses types. Moreover, antioxidant activity varied during ripening depending on the rate of formation of soluble peptides. To date, few studies have evaluated the effect of genetic type on antioxidant capacity of the pasta filata cheeses; thus, this study forms the basis of new knowledge that could lead to the production of a pasta filata cheese with specific nutraceutical characteristics.


Recommender systems form the backbone of many interactive systems. They incorporate user feedback to personalize the user experience typically via personalized recommendation lists. As users interact with a system, an increasing amount of data about a user's preferences becomes available, which can be leveraged for improving the systems' performance. Incorporating these new data into the underlying recommendation model is, however, not always straightforward. Many models used by recommender systems are computationally expensive and, therefore, have to perform offline computations to compile the recommendation lists. For interactive applications, it is desirable to be able to update the computed values as soon as new user interaction data is available: updating recommendations in interactive time using new feedback data leads to better accuracy and increases the attraction of the system to the users. Additionally, there is a growing consensus that accuracy alone is not enough and user satisfaction is also dependent on diverse recommendations. In this work, we tackle this problem of updating personalized recommendation lists for interactive applications in order to provide both accurate and diverse recommendations. To that end, we explore algorithms that exploit random walks as a sampling technique to obtain diverse recommendations without compromising on efficiency and accuracy. Specifically, we present a novel graph vertex ranking recommendation algorithm called RP3β that reranks items based on three-hop random walk transition probabilities. We show empirically that RP3β provides accurate recommendations with high long-tail item frequency at the top of the recommendation list. We also present approximate versions of RP3β and the two most accurate previously published vertex ranking algorithms based on random walk transition probabilities and show that these approximations converge with an increasing number of samples. To obtain interactively updatable recommendations, we additionally show how our algorithm can be extended for online updates at interactive speeds. The underlying random walk sampling technique makes it possible to perform the updates without having to recompute the values for the entire dataset. In an empirical evaluation with three real-world datasets, we show that RP3β provides highly accurate and diverse recommendations that can easily be updated with newly gathered information at interactive speeds (≪ 100ms).


Inappropriate physical inactivity is a global health problem increasing the risk of cardiometabolic diseases. Wearable sensors show great potential to promote physical activity and thus a healthier lifestyle. While commercial activity trackers are available to estimate energy expenditure (EE) in non-disabled individuals, they are not designed for reliable assessments in individuals with an incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI). Furthermore, activity recommendations for this population are currently rather vague and not tailored to their individual needs, and activity guidelines provided for the non-disabled population may not be easily translated for this population. However, especially in iSCI individuals with impaired abilities to stand and walk, the assessment of physical activities and appropriate recommendations for a healthy lifestyle are challenging. Therefore, the study aimed at developing an EE estimation model for iSCI individuals able to walk based on wearable sensor data. Additionally, the data collected within this study was used to translate common activity recommendations for the non-disabled population to easily understandable activity goals for ambulatory individuals with an iSCI. In total, 30 ambulatory individuals with an iSCI were equipped with wearable sensors while performing 12 different physical activities. EE was measured continuously and demographic and anthropometric variables, clinical assessment scores as well as wearable-sensor-derived features were used to develop different EE estimation models. The best EE estimation model comprised the estimation of resting EE using the updated Harris-Benedict equation, classifying activities using a k-nearest neighbor algorithm, and applying a multiple linear regression-based EE estimation model for each activity class. The mean absolute estimation error of this model was 15.2 ± 6.3% and the corresponding mean signed error was −3.4 ± 8.9%. Translating activity recommendations of global health institutions, we suggest a minimum of 2,000–3,000 steps per day for ambulatory individuals with an iSCI. If ambulatory individuals with an iSCI targeted the popular 10,000 steps a day recommendation for the non-disabled population, their equivalent would be around 8,000 steps a day. The combination of the presented dedicated EE estimation model for ambulatory individuals with an iSCI and the translated activity recommendations is an important step toward promoting an active lifestyle in this population.


The -effects of water repellent solution concentration, distribution
of various components and wood-w9ter repellent bond type were studied
using Corsican pine'(Pinus, nigra) and European beech'(Falas*sylvatica)
wood. The -resin component protects treated wood by forming an impermeable
coating on cell lumina., whilst the wax gives protection by hydrophobic
action. Increased concentration and treatment severity cause deeper
penetration and increased loading and provide better protection. Water
repellents are distributed in highest concentration at the treate; end and
in gradually decreasing amounts inwards.
Weathering rapidly reduces the effectiveness of the coating action,
because in the absence of hydrophobes water is able to gain rapid access
to all treated capillaries. However, hydrophobic treatments continue to
provide protection to inner wood even after end grain degradation,
because water is able to penetrate treated cells only to the depth of the
degraded zone. Loss of water repellent effectiveness in the surface zone
due to weathering occurs even though hydrophobic substances remain. This
is almost certainly associated wi. th degrade of wood structure and wooddeposit
bond.
Pine specimens were treated with alkylchlorosilanes and alkylene
oxides and double treated with an epoxide and a resin-wax water repellent
to study the performance of chemically bonded treatments. Both silane
and epoxide treatments proved to be resistant to exposure. Silanes provide
initial water repellency similar to that provided by resin-wax and are
far more resistant to weathering. Loss of effectiveness of silane
treatments is attributed to wood degrade enhanced by the effect of HC1
produced in the reaction. Stabilization obtained by epoxides is extremely
resistant to exposure. Reduced water absorption, due to OH-group blocking
and cell-wall bulking, but no water repellency is shown by epoxy-treated
wood. The full potential of water repellents applied to stabilized wood
was not realized due to problems encountered in applying resinous
solutions to epoxy treated wood.


This paper reviews the evolution of the global oil market from the mid 20th century onwards. We analyze the unique "target price" framework brokered by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in the mid 1980s. Over the 19 years of its life, this framework had been responsible for providing the world with a steady supply of oil at reasonable prices. However, stability in the global oil market was gained at the cost of a lingering political instability in the southern Persian Gulf, an instability that was made apparent with the Iraqi invasions of Iran and Kuwait, and the U.S. war and democratization effort in Iraq. The enormous magnitude of oil wealth in the Persian Gulf region has created a significant problem in terms of international policy and security. We conclude the paper by analyzing three possible roads to the future – laissez faire, an American system, and a multinational security framework.


Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a prominent cancer type, with long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) being known to be relevant to its progression. We therefore investigated how a particular lncRNA known as the metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) was associated with HCC. Methods: Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (qPCR) was used to assess expression of MALAT1, Forkhead Box M1 (FOXM1) and miR-125a-3p in HCC tissue samples. How MALAT1 regulates HCC proliferation and metastasis was assessed through appropriate assays. FOXM1 was identified as a miR-125a-3p target using luciferase assays, and how MALAT1/miR-125a-3p alter FOXM1 expression was explored via qPCR and Western blotting. Results: HCC tissues exhibited MALAT1 upregulation. miR-125a-3p targeted FOXM1 and could be regulated by MALAT1. MALAT1 knockdown disrupted proliferation and invasion, whereas miR-125a-3p knockdown partially reversed this phenotype. Conclusions: These results indicate that MALAT1 modulates FOXM1 expression via being a miR-125a-3p sponge, thus promoting HCC progression.


Polymer wrapping methods have been used to disperse carbon nanotube (CNT) by using gelatin, an environment-friendly and easily decomposable biopolymer. The amino acid chain of gelatin becomes immobilized by the physical adsorption in the side wall of the CNTs through hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction and results in the untangling of the CNT bundles. The dispersed solution remains stable for more than a month. Furthermore, this technique does not affect the physical properties of CNTs while enabling their dispersion in aqueous solutions. In addition, gelatin can be easily removed from the nanotubes after the dispersion of nanotubes by heating in water and filtration. Gelatin-dispersed CNTs are homogeneously mixed with the cellulose suspension and dried at room temperature to produce CNT/cellulose composite paper sheet. Adding multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) in composite improves the mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of cellulose. SEM investigation confirms the homogeneous distribution of MWNTs in the cellulose, which can be attributed to the improvement of its characteristics. Both sides of the CNT/cellulose sheet show uniform electrical conductivity, which is enhanced by increasing the MWNTs' content. IR image of the sheet clearly shows the temperature homogeneity of the surface. Thermal stability and the flame retardancy of the sheet are also found to be improved. The sheet has also strong absorbing of electromagnetic waves, which make them important for microwave technology applications.


A paradigm shift towards the utilization of carbon-neutral and low emission fuels is necessary in the internal combustion engine industry to fulfil the carbon emission goals and future legislation requirements in many countries. Hydrogen as an energy carrier and main fuel is a promising option due to its carbon-free content, wide flammability limits and fast flame speeds. For spark-ignited internal combustion engines, utilizing hydrogen direct injection has been proven to achieve high engine power output and efficiency with low emissions. This review provides an overview of the current development and understanding of hydrogen use in internal combustion engines that are usually spark ignited, under various engine operation modes and strategies. This paper then proceeds to outline the gaps in current knowledge, along with better potential strategies and technologies that could be adopted for hydrogen direct injection in the context of compression-ignition engine applications—topics that have not yet been extensively explored to date with hydrogen but have shown advantages with compressed natural gas.


We investigate the long-run return performance of non-U.S. firms that raise equity capital in U.S. markets. Overall, between 1982 and 1996, our sample of 333 global equity offerings with U.S. depositary receipt (ADR) tranches from 35 countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe under-perform local market benchmarks of comparable firms by 8%–15% over the three years following issuance. We show that differences in long-run returns are related to the scope and magnitude of investment barriers that induce segmentation of capital markets around the world. While companies from markets with significant investment barriers for foreigners that issue equity on major U.S. exchanges outperform their benchmarks, those from segmented markets that issue equity in the U.S. by way of Rule 144A private placements significantly under-perform. We also show that inter-market competition for order flow in the post-issuance period affects long-run return performance. Post-issuance buy-and-hold abnormal returns are most significantly and positively related to the offering's ability to generate a larger share of U.S. trading volume.


Background The pathologic features of ulcerative colitis (UC) in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) are, essentially, unknown. One previous clinical study suggested that UC-PSC patients reveal a high rate of rectal sparing and backwash ileitis. The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the pathologic characteristics and distribution of colonic disease in UC-PSC patients and to compare the results with a matched control group of UC patients without PSC. Methods Forty UC-PSC patients and 40 matched UC patients without PSC (controls) were identified from the files of 3 hospitals between the years 1989 and 2005. Clinical, endoscopic, and follow-up data (including incidence of pouchitis) were evaluated, and a detailed pathologic evaluation of biopsy and resection specimens (when available) was performed in a blinded fashion. The degree of activity and chronicity in mucosal biopsies and/or tissue from resection specimens was graded on a 5-point grading system (0 to 4), and each portion of the colon (cecum, ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, rectum) was assessed separately. Rectal sparing and patchiness of disease were evaluated, and scored as either absolute or relative depending on the complete absence of inflammatory disease in the former, or less inflammatory disease in the rectum compared with other parts of the colon in the latter. Results In this matched case-control study, UC-PSC patients presented at a significantly earlier age (24.5 y), had a higher prevalence rate of pancolitis (85%), and an overall significantly lower grade of inflammation in the colon (mean grade: 2.09±0.085) compared with UC controls (mean age: 33.8 y, pancolitis: 45%, inflammation grade: 2.59±0.92, P<0.05 for all comparisons). The incidence rate of absolute and relative rectal sparing (27.5%) and of patchy inflammatory disease proximal to the rectum (5.7%) was not significantly different between the UC-PSC cases and the UC controls (25% and 7.9%, respectively). UC-PSC patients had a higher prevalence rate of ileitis (35.7%) and pouchitis (42.8%), but the values were not significantly different from controls (26.9% and 26.6%, respectively). The incidence rate of dysplasia was similar between the 2 patient groups. Conclusions UC patients with PSC show a propensity for more extensive, but less active, disease but are otherwise characterized by similar pathologic findings compared with UC patients without PSC. Rectal sparing and patchy disease activity is not characteristic of UC patients with PSC.


Thermal comfort is considered very important in aspects of risk assessment, summertime morbidity or in building designing. The present study applied Thom's discomfort index (DI) to assess the trend of outdoor thermal discomfort in Mymensingh City during 2006-2015. It wasfound that December to February months was comparatively comfortable, DI values were typically <21 and therefore no people felt any discomfort in these months. On the other hand, under 50% population experienced discomfort during March and November months when discomfort valueswere ranged between 21- 24. From April to October months discomfort values varied from 25-27, which indicated thatover 50% population suffered from discomfort in this period. Though no extreme discomfort condition observed in Mymensingh city, the results revealed from June to September months most of the population suffered from severe discomfort in Mymensingh city due to the high air temperature, and high relative humidity.J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 10(2): 151-156 2017


Previous research has indicated that adults with various anxiety disorders, especially social phobia, recall their parents as excessively protective and controlling and as low in socialization. However, it is not clear whether such results would be supported by parents. In the present study subjects with social phobia, panic disorder, and nonclinical subjects and their mothers were given parallel measures of maternal control, socialization, and offspring early introverted behaviors as well as several questions relating to two early major life events and family size. Anxious offspring reported the usual high maternal control and low paternal socialization and mothers supported the data on socialization. On control, mothers provided mixed results, disagreeing on a more standard measure, but showing agreement on a more operationalized measure. The data were more consistent for social phobia than for panic disorder. In terms of early life factors, both anxiety disorders were associated with fewer friends and more introverted behaviors, while family size and two major life events did not differentiate groups. Depression and Anxiety 5:7–11, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Third-party logistics (3PL), a relatively new industry, has gained momentum since the emergence of global market and the Internet, in particular electronic commerce (e-commerce). Global competitive-ness places more pressure on companies to improve their delivery performance of products and services to customers. In an effort to improve the quality of delivery service, companies have outsourced their logistics services, including packing, warehousing (inventory management) and shipping of goods to customers. Communication plays an important role in integrating the activities along the logistics value chain. Information technologies such as electronic data interchange (EDI), the Internet, World Wide Web (WWW) and e-commerce have contributed greatly to improving communication with partners in the logistics chain. In particular, real-time information systems such as web-based logistics information systems help to improve 3PL services. In this paper, a case study of e-logistics is used to illustrate the implications of information technology, in particular the Internet, WWW and EDI, on the performance of the logistics value chain. A framework based on the literature survey and case study is proposed to help companies develop an e-logistics system to improve their competitiveness.


This paper proposes and discusses the architecture for a real-time vehicular channel emulator capable of reproducing the input/output behavior of nonstationary time-variant radio propagation channels in safety-relevant vehicular scenarios. The vehicular channel emulator architecture aims at a hardware implementation which requires minimal hardware complexity for emulating channels with the varying delay-Doppler characteristics of safety-relevant vehicular scenarios. The varying delay-Doppler characteristics require real-time updates to the multipath propagation model for each local stationarity region. The vehicular channel emulator is used for benchmarking the packet error performance of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicular IEEE 802.11p modems and a fully software-defined radio-based IEEE 802.11p modem stack. The packet error ratio (PER) estimated from temporal averaging over a single virtual drive and the packet error probability (PEP) estimated from ensemble averaging over repeated virtual drives are evaluated and compared for the same vehicular scenario. The proposed architecture is realized as a virtual instrument on National Instruments™ LabVIEW. The National Instrument universal software radio peripheral with reconfigurable input-output (USRP-Rio) 2953R is used as the software-defined radio platform for implementation; however, the results and considerations reported are of general purpose and can be applied to other platforms. Finally, we discuss the PER performance of the modem for two categories of vehicular channel models: a vehicular nonstationary channel model derived for urban single lane street crossing scenario of the DRIVEWAY'09 measurement campaign and the stationary ETSI models.


In this study, we investigated the association between food form (mixed vs separated) and eating rate. The experiment used a within-subjects design (n=29, young healthy women with normal weight). Test meals (white rice and side dishes) with the same content and volume were served at lunch in a mixed or separated form. The form in which the food was served had significant effects on consumption volume and eating rate; subjects ate significantly more (p<0.05) when a test meal was served as a mixed form (285 g, 575 kcal) compared to a separated form (244 g, 492 kcal). Moreover, subjects also ate significantly faster (p<0.05) when the test meal was served as a mixed form (22.4 g/min) as compared to a separated form (16.2 g/min). Despite consuming more when the test meal was served as a mixed form than when served as a separated form, the subjects did not feel significantly fuller. In conclusion, we confirmed that meals served in a separated form might lower the eating rate and, moreover, slower eating might be associated with less energy intake, without compromising satiety.


Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in the breast may have an important role in regulating the capacity of individual cells to metabolize hormones and environmental carcinogens. Very little is known about the P450 expression pattern in human breast because of the limited amount of accessible tissue and the difficulties associated with detection of low P450 levels. Breast tissue from reduction mammaplasties is the only tissue available in relative abundance. The correlation between the P450 content in this material and P450 in breast epithelium remains to be resolved. Also questionable is the value of RT-PCR detection of P450 forms in the breast without parallel detection of the protein. In this study, we have tried to determine whether the P450 profiles in reduction mammaplasty samples reflect those in the breast epithelium and whether P450 profiles on Western blots parallel RT-PCR detection. A comparison on the level of RT-PCR was made between P450 in 15 mammaplasty samples with that in 4 ductal carcinoma samples, and 1 dissected epithelial sample. The control epithelial sample contained CYP1A1, CYP1B1, CYP2A6, CYP2B6, CYP2E1, CYP2C, CYP3A, and CYP19 (aromatase). These forms were present also in the reduction samples, with CYP2E1 and CYP1B1 being detected in all samples. In addition, the reduction samples contained CYP4A11 and CYP2D6. CYP2B6, CYP2D6, and 2C were more easily detected in the carcinoma samples, thus differing from the reduction samples and the epithelial sample. CYP was isolated from the reduction samples, and the P450 profiles on Western blots were compared with the RT-PCR results. In general, there was good agreement between the two methods, and the discrepancies found were probably caused by lack of specific antibodies. We conclude that much useful information about P450 in the breast can be obtained from reduction mammaplasty samples.


Commercial growers utilising ultraviolet (UV) transparent plastic polytunnel claddings reported enhanced leaf temperature, which they associated with early crop maturity. The general consensus in the literature is that UV radiation reduces stomatal conductance. Thus it was hypothesised that UV radiation induces partial stomatal closure that limits transpiration causing increased leaf temperature. UV-induced partial stomatal closure was evident in a range of experimental environments. Tightly controlled climate cabinet experiments, applying a range of acute (90 minute) UV treatments, identified a non-linear UV irradiance response that decreased stomatal conductance while increasing leaf temperature and instantaneous water use efficiency. In longer term controlled environment experiments, and in polytunnels experiments in the UK and Turkey, the same UV-induced partial stomatal closure resulted in enhanced leaf temperature in UV+ polytunnels compared to UV-, demonstrating the consistency of this response. In the UK, changeable UV radiation conditions due to variable cloud cover led to a reversal of the stomatal response between UV treatments, with greater stomatal conductance observed in UV+ polytunnels. Ultimately leaf temperature decoupled from stomatal conductance, with both variables increasing simultaneously, caused by greater radiation loading in UV+ polytunnels that exceeded transpirational cooling, leading to higher leaf temperatures. This was investigated in polytunnels in Turkey by analysing the net radiation balance between UV+ and UV- polytunnels in terms of upwelling and downwelling solar and far infrared radiation. Downwelling and net solar radiation were far greater in UV+ polytunnels than UV-, but vice versa for downwelling and net far infrared radiation, with an overall balance of greater net total radiation in UV+ polytunnels. This explains the cause of radiative heating in UV+ polytunnels compared to UV- and why leaf temperature decoupled from stomatal conductance when UV radiation levels were reduced by cloud. Thus enhanced leaf temperature in UV-transparent polytunnels is caused by concurrent UV-induced partial stomatal closure and radiative heating resulting from net radiation imbalance, with stomatal closure dominant when total radiation is low but vice versa when total radiation is high. These effects depend on the UV and total radiation transmission properties of the specific plastics used to clad polytunnels, of which there is a vast range available. The conclusive evidence that UV radiation increases leaf temperature in tomato through partial stomatal closure is likely to be relevant to the majority of crops, if not all, produced globally. However, a number of questions still exist in terms of the temperature effect on maturity and yield. There are likely to be benefits and detriments, dependent on geographic location, crop and season, and how those will interact with a changing climate. How will changes in crop temperature affect other organisms? Again, it is likely the effect will be dependent on a number of different factors and these may be beneficial or detrimental to crop production, not least in terms of the interaction between UV radiation and crop temperature on herbivory. Ultimately, there are a number of different complex factors to consider when assessing the implications of enhanced leaf temperature on crop production.


Context:
The services that have been set up to help the children and parents in families with alcohol, drug and mental health problems are located in and administered by a number of different organisations. The routes into these services vary and, once referred, the range of teams and practitioners in health, social services and the independent sector that may potentially become involved with these adults and children is wide. Even those services that are within one organisation can be separate and work independently from one another. Effective collaboration across the many interfaces and a sharp focus on the family as a whole are essential if these children and their parents are to receive appropriate help, advice and guidance.

Purpose:
This report focuses on the policies and practices that can promote integrated services to families. It makes a number of recommendations for improving joint practice, some of which are listed below.

Audience:
The guide is aimed at senior managers and social care workers in children's services and adults' services in local authorities. It is also aimed at workers and managers in other services that may be involved with families with alcohol and mental health problems such as local health services.

Messages from the report
Recommendations for improving joint working between adults' and children's services
• Social services departments and their partner agencies should conduct audits to estimate the nature and extent of the impact of families with mental illness, drug and alcohol misuse on people's workloads.
• Information and recording systems should be developed to support effective services to families.
• Budget allocations need to reflect the extent and nature of the work. Currently, drug and alcohol budgets grossly underestimate actual costs and expenditure.
• Agencies should assess the place of joint protocols as one of the levers to promote good practice in working with families across agency and departmental interfaces. SCIE Guide 2 provides assistance with writing a protocol.
• Alcohol strategies should pay greater attention to the impact of parental alcohol misuse.
• Agencies should develop clear and applicable agreements about case confidentiality. Mediation arrangements should be in place.
• Commissioning arrangements should require service providers to comply with and contribute to the development of good practice in joint working.
• Agencies should consider developing joint commissioning frameworks to support effective joint working at all levels across agency and departmental interfaces, including consistent budgeting arrangements and decision-making criteria.
• Social services departments should analyse the learning and development needs of staff at different levels of the organisation, including middle and senior managers, and identify strategies that work best for staff at different levels in the organisation.
• Agencies should consider 'joint training' as a means of inter-professional development, focusing on the transfer of skills across professional groups.
• Child care training at all levels should include working with the family group.
• Effective models of joint working and well-designed protocols should be shared with other local authorities and agencies.
• Consultation with front-line staff about inter- and intra-organisational planning should be integral to the planning process. Policy and service development should build on vertical as well as horizontal links.
• Primary care trusts hold a major responsibility for coordinating family-focused work where there are parental mental health, drug or alcohol problems. Commissioning arrangements need to reflect and promote this.


New identity similar to an identity of [1] for fractional integrals have been defined. Then making use of this identity, some new Ostrowski type inequalities for Riemann-Liouville fractional integral have been developed. Our results have some relationships with the results of Ozdemir et. al., proved in [1] and the analysis used in the proofs is simple.


Contention-based forwarding (CBF) has proven to achieve a good performance in routing in mobile and vehicular ad hoc networks. CBF's main advantage is that it does not require the knowledge about the local neighborhood, eliminating, therefore, the periodic beacon exchange that causes degradation in the network performance, especially when the density of the neighborhood is high. On the other hand, the main issue that the contention-based forwarding faces is packet duplications, which mainly occurs due to the hidden node problem. This paper introduces a suppression algorithm for contention-based forwarding to eliminate packet duplications, called Sender-based Suppression and referred to as SS-CBF. In addition to the idea of dividing the radio range of the sending node into Reuleaux triangle zones, SS-CBF assigns a time delay to every zone, which aggregates to the timer value, set by the nodes, to form the time required for deferring. Moreover, the Sending node is involved in the suppression process in order to prevent unwanted nodes from transmission. SS-CBF is simulated using OPNET 14.5 modeler and evaluated against area-based suppression scheme in terms of network overhead and effective throughput.


This article presents an experimental study that contributes to the problem of interpretation of cylindrical Langmuir probe data obtained in a non-isothermal low-temperature plasma in magnetic field. A discussion on the influence of positive ion-neutral collisions on the charged particle density estimation is also given and the effect is demonstrated on the experimental data. A Maxwellian electron energy distribution is assumed throughout the present study. The Langmuir probe data are obtained in a cylindrical magnetron discharge in argon at pressures from 1.5 to 6 Pa and magnetic fields between 100 and 500 G. The radially movable Langmuir probe was made of either 100 mo r 41 m diameter tungsten wire in order to investigate the effect of the probe dimensions on the estimated plasma density. The electron density is calculated from the electron current at the space potential (used as a reference) and from the OML collisionless theory. The ion density is calculated by using ABR-Chen theory without and with the correction due to the collisions of positive ions in the probe sheath. Also, the recent collisional positive-ion-collection-theory is used for comparison. The resulting numerical values of plasma density are compared over more than one order of magnitude change in the plasma density given by its radial dependence in the cylindrical magnetron discharge. Optical measurements were made in order to quantitatively assess the neutral gas temperature in the discharge and the density of particles in excited states that could induce secondary electron emission from the probe surface and thus apparently enhance the positive-ion density estimated from the probe positive-ion current. The effect of secondary electron emission from the probe surface on the probe data interpretation has been found small compared to the experimental error limits and consequently not substantial for our experimental conditions. In the range of our experimental conditions the ABR-Chen theory with the collisional correction gives the best agreement of the estimated numerical values of ion and electron densities in the whole range of its investigated change. Also from our results it follows that the effect of the magnetic field on the thinner-probe-electron-current at the space potential and hence on the reference-electron-density-estimation is negligible within the experimental uncertainties up to a magnetic field strength of 500 G which was the maximum used in our experimental study.


Microdamage progression in bone is dependent on the ultrastructure of the tissue. Thus, any pathological changes in bone ultrastructure may be reflected in the pattern and capacity of microdamage accumulation. A previous numerical study of microdamage progression in bone using a probabilistic failure analysis approach predicts that the microdamage morphology (either linear microcracks or diffuse damage) is very sensitive to the level of mineralization in bone, which is also implicated in some experimental observations. To examine the prediction, femurs from two strains of mice (C57BL/6J, N = 10 and C3H/HeJ, N = 11) that have distinct mineralization levels were fatigued under four-point bending to create damage in the bone tissues. After testing, the microdamage morphology of the bone samples was examined using bulk-staining technique with basic fuchsin. The results demonstrate that more linear microcracks are observed in femurs of C3H/HeJ (higher mineralization), whereas more diffuse-like damage is found in C57BL/6J femurs (less mineralized). Compared with linear microcracks, the formation of diffuse damage tends to dissipate more energy and help bone to avoid catastrophic failures. Therefore, results from this study may help explain why highly mineralized bone tends to be more brittle. Observations from this study are consistent with the numerical prediction from the previous study, suggesting that mineralization has a significant effect on the microdamage morphology of bone.


The greenshell mussel Perna canaliculus is considered to be a suitable biomonitor for heavy metal pollution. This is due to their ability to accumulate and tolerate heavy metals in their tissues. These characteristics make them useful for identifying protein biomarkers of heavy metal pollution, as well as proteins associated with heavy metal detoxification and homeostasis. However, the identification of such proteins is restricted by the greenshell mussel being poorly represented in sequence databases. Several strategies have previously been used to identify proteins in unsequenced species, but only one of these strategies has been applied to the greenshell mussel. The objective of this thesis was to examine different protein identification strategies using a combined two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry approach. The protein identification strategies used include a Mascot database search, as well as de novo sequencing approaches using PEAKS DB and SPIDER homology searches. In total, 155 protein spots were excised and a total of 68 identified. Fifty-six proteins were identified using a Mascot search against the Mollusca, NCBInr and Invertebrate EST database, with seven single-peptide identifications. De novo sequencing strategies identified additional proteins, with two from a PEAKS DB search and 10 from an error-tolerant SPIDER homology search. The most noticeable protein groups identified were cytoskeletal proteins, stress response proteins and those involved in protein biosynthesis. Actin and tubulin made up the bulk of the identifications, accounting for 39% of all proteins identified. This multifaceted approach was shown to be useful for identifying proteins in the greenshell mussel Perna canaliculus. Mascot and PEAKS DB performed equally well, while the error-tolerant functionality of SPIDER was useful for identifying additional proteins. A subsequent search against the Invertebrate EST database was also found to be useful for identifying additional proteins. Despite this, more than half of all proteins remained unidentified. Most of these proteins either failed to produce good quality MS spectra or did not find a match to a sequence in the database. Future research should first focus on obtaining quality MS spectra for all proteins concerned and then examine other strategies that may be more suitable for identifying proteins for species with poor representation in sequence databases.


In the context of the possible introduction of a preventive vaccine against rotaviruses in Madagascar, the G and P genotypes distribution of the rotaviruses circulating in the children in Madagascar was studied, and the presence of emerging genotypes and unusual strains were assessed. From February 2008 to May 2009, 1,679 stools specimens were collected from children ≤5 years old with diarrhea. ELISA was used for antigen detection, and molecular amplification of VP7 and VP4 gene fragments was used for genotyping. Rotavirus antigen was detected in 104 samples (6.2%). Partial sequences of VP7 and VP4 genes were obtained from 81 and 80 antigen‐positive stools, respectively. The most frequent G and P types combinations detected were G9P[8] (n = 51; 64.6%), followed by G1P[8] (n = 15; 18.9%), and G1P[6] (n = 8; 10.1%). A few unusual G‐P combinations, such as G4P[6] (n = 3; 3.8%), G9P[6] (n = 1; 1.3%), and G3P[9] reassortant feline human virus (n = 1; 1.3%) were identified. Both VP4 and VP7 sequences in one of the three G4P[6] isolates were closely related to those in porcine strains, and one was a reassortant human porcine virus. These findings give an overview of the strains circulating in Madagascar and should help public health authorities to define a vaccine strategy. J. Med. Virol. 85:1652–1660, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Background Ophthalmology teaching may form an ever-shrinking component of the undergraduate medical curriculum. This may impact on the ability of medical schools to produce doctors with sufficient knowledge and skills to deal with basic ophthalmic conditions. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this project is to survey whether the ophthalmic curricula delivered in Irish medical schools are in accordance with the standards set out by the International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) guidelines, and how this may impact on the confidence of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) in managing ophthalmic problems. METHODS In a cross sectional educational study, questionnaires were sent to the six medical schools in Ireland to determine the structure of their respective ophthalmic curricula, while a separate questionnaire was distributed to (NCHDs) working in hospitals in Cork to determine their confidence in assessing and managing ophthalmic conditions. RESULTS All six medical schools in Ireland returned completed questionnaires (100% response rate). The mean (standard deviation) number of teaching hours in ophthalmology was 53.3 hours (26.2). There was a wide variation in clinical attachment hours among the schools. Only two schools taught all the recommended topics and clinical skills from the International Council of Ophthalmology curriculum guidelines. Eighty NCHDs (93%) who returned appropriately completed questionnaires were graduates from Irish medical schools. Their median confidence levels in addressing ophthalmic pathology was "not confident at all". They were most confident in dealing with neuroophthalmology related cases and performing a physical examination of the eye. They were least confident in managing paediatric ophthalmic cases and performing minor ophthalmic procedures. There was no correlation (p=0.100) between clinical-based ophthalmology teaching hours received and confidence in ophthalmic assessment amongst University College Cork (UCC) medical graduates. CONCLUSION The ophthalmic curriculum in some Irish medical schools may not meet the standards set by the International Council of Ophthalmology guidelines. There is also a wide variation in ophthalmology education across the schools. A majority of Irish medical school graduates are not confident in dealing with ophthalmic cases in general.


Abstract Aim: Cranial diabetes insipidus (CDI) is rare in infants with no guidelines on its management. We describe the first case series, characterizing the clinical features and treatment challenges. Method: Retrospective case note review of infants diagnosed with CDI between April 1992 and February 2011. Results: Nineteen infants (52% male) were identified. Eight were born preterm. Median (range) age at diagnosis was 24 days (5–300); preterm babies were younger at diagnosis (21 vs. 46 days). In 58% (11/19) of infants, hypernatraemia was discovered incidentally. In 37% of cases there was associated midline anomalies, however, only four patients (21%) had absent posterior pituitary signal on a magnetic resonance imaging brain scan. The most frequent (5/19) underlying diagnosis was septo-optic dysplasia. Eight patients had isolated CDI and 11 had multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies. Isolated CDI tended to be more common in preterm, compared to term babies (p=0.11). Des-amino arginine vasopressin (DDAVP) was administered intranasally in eight and orally in 11 infants. Plasma sodium nadir following DDAVP administration was lower following intranasal compared to an oral route of administration (median: 128 vs. 133 mmol/L, p=0.022). No cases resolved on follow-up. Conclusions: CDI in infants is often diagnosed incidentally. Aetiology, clinical, and imaging features are very variable, with some differences between preterm and term infants. Oral DDAVP appears to be superior to intranasal with less pronounced serum sodium fluctuations.


Sexual objectification is harmful to women's psychosocial health, as this form of
oppression leads to increased body surveillance, body shame and decreased self-esteem. The
construct of self-compassion (Neff, 2003a), and more specifically, the new concept of body or
physical self-compassion (Berry, Kowalski, Ferguson, & McHugh, 2010; Magnus, Kowalski, &
McHugh, 2010, respectively), has been found to mitigate this objectification. In addition,
Szymanski and Carr (2011) called for social justice initiatives surrounding empowerment of
female clients, and Szymanksi et al. (2011) suggested the need for further research about women
who objectify other women. Although the professional literature has addressed self-compassion
and these findings suggest the positive influence of increased body self-compassion, the
literature has not extended a body self-compassion induction on women who experience selfobjectification
and women who objectify other women. Utilizing an experimental design to
address this gap in the literature, I proposed this research study to examine the effects of a selfcompassion
induction on both self-objectification and objectification of other women. Four
hundred and ten undergraduate female research participants were randomly assigned to a selfcompassion
induction or control group. After completing the induction or the control writing
prompts, all participants completed the Self-Objectification Scale (Noll & Fredrickson, 1998), a
modified version of this scale to address objectification of other women, the Rosenberg Self-
Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and a demographics questionnaire developed by this researcher.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was then conducted to determine whether there were differences
in self-objectification and objectification of other women between the self-compassion induction
group and the control group. Results concluded that the effect of group membership was not statistically significant for scores of self-objectification or objectification of other women.
Multiple regression was then used to find the unique contribution of the self-compassion
induction beyond what was accounted for by self-esteem. Results concluded that the selfcompassion
induction did not account for a significant proportion of variability in scores for self- or
other-objectification beyond that already accounted for by self-esteem.


We report a new methodology that allows for forming micropores in hierarchically porous polymers by employing the reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) copolymerization of conjugated multi-vinyl cross-linkers with styrene. Using divinylbenzene, 4,4′-divinylbiphenyl, 1,3,5-tris(4-vinylphenyl)benzene and tetrakis(4-vinylbiphenyl)methane as cross-linkers, the RAFT copolymerization was carried out in the presence of polylactide macro-chain transfer agents. During the polymerization, microphase separation occurred spontaneously to produce cross-linked block polymer precursors with a bicontinuous morphology composed of polylactide and cross-linked polystyrene microdomains. Hierarchically porous polymers with strong fluorescence were successfully derived by polylactide etching. We demonstrate that the rigid conjugated structure of the cross-linkers with a high cross-linking density is critical for creating the micropores and for stabilizing the mesopores that are templated by the polylactide domain.


This paper was motivated by two gaps in the extant literature on brand portfolio planning. First, research has shown that, as the number of products connected to a brand increases, the extended product receives more favorable evaluations. However, this result was obtained by comparing two brands with different number of products while controlling the brands` breadths. Hence one may question if the above result would hold when the brand is narrow as well as broad. Second, the literature has investigated the effect of brand breadth on the perceived fit and evaluations of an extended product within a relatively limited range ("narrow vs. broad") and not considered the case of a "very broad" brand. To address these gaps, we propose two hypotheses: 1) the effects of the number of products associated with a brand on the perceived fit and evaluations of a moderately far brand extension are moderated by the brand`s breadth (H1); and 2) the relationship between a brand`s breadth and a moderately far extension`s perceived fit and evaluations looks like an inverse-U shape (H2). Study 1 was conducted to test H1. Study 1 employed a 2 x 2 within-subjects design in which the first factor was the number of products (small (2) or large (5)), and the second factor was brand breadth (narrow or broad). We measured brand breadth as the perceived similarity among products associated with a brand. Participants provided the perceived fit and evaluations of an extended product. Study 2 was conducted to test H2 as well as to replicate Study 1 in a more general setting and with different products. It employed a 2 x 3 within-subjects design, in which the first factor was the number of products (small (2) or large (5)), and the second factor was brand breadth (narrow, broad, or very broad). The results from two experiments support both hypotheses. This paper contributes to the literature on brand extensions in two ways. First, it broadens our understanding of the effects of product number and brand breadth on extended product evaluations by considering the two factors jointly. Second, we believe this study to be the first to present evidence that brand breadth can exert an inverted U-shape effect on the perceived fit and evaluations of an extended product. The results also offer implications for marketers. First, marketers should heed the finding that adding similar products to a narrow brand does not help the brand`s extension launch. Second, the finding that the relationship between brand breadth and extended product evaluations might not be linear provides practical implications. While a narrow brand should not keep launching close extensions, nor should a broad brand continue producing far extensions to broaden its breadth. A firm with a broad corporate or family brand might want to consider introducing a new brand instead of adding dissimilar products under the brand umbrella.


Abstract The late Neoproterozoic Kingston Peak Formation (Fm.) is a several-kilometre-thick sedimentary succession primarily influenced by syndepositional tectonism and located in the region around Death Valley, California (Fig. 40.1). Its distribution is divisible into an eastern facies assemblage, the subject of this paper, and a western facies assemblage covered in a separate chapter. The diamictite-bearing Kingston Peak Fm. is bounded by the underlying shallow platform carbonates of the Beck Spring Fm. and overlain by the Noonday Dolomite. There is an absence of direct palaeolatitude or radiometric age constraints and any correlation is based on broad similarities with other coarse-grained strata (diamictite) located in a northward trending belt along the Cordilleran miogeocline. The overlying Noonday Dolomite has been interpreted to be a late Cryogenian 'cap carbonate' and shares a set of unique facies associations and isotopic and lithological characteristics with other late Neoproterozoic post-glacial carbonate intervals in Namibia, Canada, Australia and Brazil. Research to date has focused on understanding local basin evolution, glacial sedimentology, correlation between the eastern and western facies assemblages and initiation and development of the North American Cordillera. The intimate association of tectonic and glacial facies with rapid local thickness and facies changes corresponding with syn-sedimentary faulting is the most distinctive stratigraphic characteristic of the Kingston Peak Fm. The complex local stratigraphy complicates correlation both within the Death Valley region as well as globally, and pending absolute age dates, does not fit easily with conventional Cryogenian Period glacial models identifying two or more discrete ice ages.


This paper introduces a nova1 family of monolithic integrated surface micromachined pressure sensors with both linearization and temperature compensation done on-chip. All sensor parameters are fully programmable and on-chip stored using integrated EEPROM. Surface micromachined capacitive pressure sensors are predestinated for monolithic integrated sensor systems due to their compatibility to a standard CMOS process. This enables a cost effective production. Compared with piezoresistive pressure sensors, the surface micromachined pressure sensors are superior with respect to high overpressure stability [l], simple packaging [2], ease of monolithic integration of signal conditioning electronics [3], low power consumption and small chip size.


HYPOTHESIS
Survival of patients with adenocarcinoma of the duodenum depends on the ability to perform a complete resection and the tumor stage

DESIGN
Retrospective case series.

SETTING
Tertiary care referral center.

PATIENTS
A cohort of 101 consecutive patients (mean age, 62 years), undergoing surgery for duodenal adenocarcinoma from January 1, 1976, through December 31, 1996. Patients with ampullary carcinoma were specifically excluded. Mean duration of follow-up was 4 years.

INTERVENTIONS
Surgery was curative in 68 patients (67%) and palliative in 33 patients (33%). Of the curative group, 50 patients (74%) underwent radical surgery, ie, 30 (60%), pancreaticoduodenectomy; 15 (30%), pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy; and 5 (10%), total pancreatectomy. A more limited resection procedure was used in 18 patients (26%) involving a segmental duodenal resection in 15 (83%) and a transduodenal excision in 3 (17%). patient survival, and correlation with patient and tumor variables using univariate and multivariate analysis.

RESULTS
Actuarial 5-year survival for the curative group was 54%. Only 1 patient in the unresected group survived beyond 3 years. Nodal metastasis (P = .002), advanced tumor stage (P<.001), positive resection margin (P = .02), and weight loss (P<.001) had a significant negative impact on survival in multivariate analysis. Tumor grade, size, and location within the duodenum had no impact on survival. Patient age and tumor depth of invasion influenced survival in univariate analysis, but lost their prognostic significance in multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
Metastasis to lymph nodes, advanced tumor stage, and positive resection margins are associated with decreased survival in patients with duodenal adenocarcinoma. An aggressive surgical approach that achieves complete tumor resection with negative margins should be pursued. Pancreaticoduodenectomy is usually required for cancers of the first and second portion of the duodenum. Segmental resection may be appropriate for selected patients, especially for tumors of the distal duodenum.


Kijing Taiwan ( Anodonta woodiana ) is found in water with muddy substrate. Kijing Taiwan lives in bottom waters and is relatively settled. Kijing Taiwan is a filter feeder organism that can filter water and is able to survive in polluted environment, so it can be used as a bio-indicator of a water body. The study was conducted in the Public Hatchery Unit (UPR) Sumber Mina Lestari. Profile hemocytes in Taiwan Kijing influenced by environment pollution inducer among others. Hemocytes were observed consisting of Total Haemocyte Count (THC) and Differential Haemocyte Count (DHC). The results show that the profile of hemocytes (THC and DHC) of Kijing Taiwan is not polluted. Results from aquaculture pond water quality measurements indicate that the indicators of the water quality i.e. temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and ammonia are still within normal limits. However, in TOM test, BOD and soil organic matter has exceeded the normal limits. The existence of organic matter became the medium of life for Kijing Taiwan, due to its role as a biofilter among other organic materials. Keywords:  Hemocytes Profile, Kijing Taiwan, Water Quality.


Sparganum is a plerocercoid of pseudophyllidean tapeworm of Spirometra species. Human sparganosis has been reported in Northern Tanzania. A seroepidemiologic survey was undertaken to detect anti-sparganum specific IgG antibodies in serum of normal inhabitants of Mto wa Mbu, Monduli District, Tanzania. Sera were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the antisparganum antibodies. Positive rate for antisparganum antibody in 185 subjects was 116 (62.7%). Out of these 17 (9.2) were adult males, 80 (43.2%) were adult females and 19 (10.3%) were children (<18 years). Data for the questionnaire for all 116 ELISA positive inhabitants revealed that had history of eating game meat and drinking water from running springs. The data revealed that ELISA would be useful to find infected cases among normal inhabitants at sparganosis endemic areas.


Abstract Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for patients with morbid obesity. However, as safe and common as bariatric procedures have become, multiple complications can still result. These complications vary depending on the type of procedure performed (malabsorptive or restrictive) and are often nutritional derangements from the altered malabsorptive surface of the gastrointestinal tract and decreased capacity of the stomach. Deficiencies in vitamin D after malabsorptive procedures such as the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass can result in subsequent hypocalcemia and bone demineralization, and anemias can also present after surgery from inadequate vitamin B12 and iron absorption. Because of the prevalence of these deficiencies, baseline micronutrient testing and postoperative screening are recommended in many cases. Additionally, supplemental treatment often requires higher doses than those recommended for healthy adults. The purpose of this narrative review is to outline the various nutrient deficiencies that can result from bariatric procedures and report previously-published recommendations for screening and medical treatment of patients with these deficiencies. This review is directed toward primary care practitioners because of their unique position in delivering continuity of care and the frequency with which they will encounter patients who have undergone bariatric surgery and are seeking counseling regarding weight loss modalities.


Neutral and anionic Cun clusters (Cu2, Cu3, Cu6 and Cu7−) are studied within density functional theory via the local density approximation (LDA) and the generalized-gradient approximation (GGA) of Perdew and Wang for exchange and correlation. Three different levels of improvement upon the LDA are considered. In the first level, the GGA correction to the exchange-correlation energy is evaluated using the electronic density and the atomic coordinates obtained in the LDA calculation. In the second level, the electronic density is obtained self-consistently within the GGA while keeping the LDA structural configurations. In the third level, both electronic density and ionic positions are obtained fully self-consistently within the GGA. We found that the first level of approximation is already sufficient to correct the overbinding found in the LDA. With respect to the LDA, the self-consistent GGA enhances the electron charge accumulation around the nuclei by depleting the interatomic bonding regions.


Introduction: Medialsigmoid depression (MSD) is well-defined radiolucency in the inferior aspect of sigmoid notch seen on the few panoramic radiographs. Anatomically, MSD corresponds to a depression on medial side of upper ramus just below the sigmoid notch. The significance of this normal anatomical landmark lies in its propensity to be misinterpreted on the panoramic radiograph as a defect or a pathological entity especially a cyst. Aim and Objective: To study the prevalence of the medial sigmoid depression of mandibular ramus in dry humanmandible anatomically and radio- graphically and on panoramic radiograph of patients. Materials and Methods: The study consisted of Panoramic radiographs of the50 dry human mandibles and 50 Panoramic radiographs of adult out-patient (selected randomly) visiting the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology was taken. The entire selected mandibles included in the study were evaluated for the medial sigmoid depression. Panoramic radiographs of the selected mandibles were made using X-Mind Pano Ceph 1800 VA (SATELEC) panoramic machine and were interpreted for the various parameterspertaining to medial sigmoid depression. Results: The medial sigmoid depression (MSD) was present among 70% of the patients and in 82% of mandibles. The findings ofMSD was similar by anatomically and radio logically among the mandibles. The presence of MSD was 27% insignificantly (P > 0.05) lower in patients compared with mandibles (RR = 0.73, 95%CI = 0.49-1.09, P = 0.16). The presence of MSD was higher among the male patients (76%) rather than in females (64%). Conclusion: The recognition of MSD was quite competent in anatomic specimen, panoramic radiograph of the specimen and patients. Its appearance may be considered as a normalvariants on the panoramic radiographs.


The present invention relates to novel substituted Sulfolanylpyrazole, processes for their preparation, their use for the treatment and / or prophylaxis of diseases and their use for producing medicaments for the treatment and / or prophylaxis of diseases, especially retroviral diseases in humans and / or animals ,


The explicit evaluation of the post-harvest losses at different stages of marketing and their impact on farmers' net price, marketing costs, margins and efficiency have been presented. It has been found that the existing methods tend to overstate the farmers' net price and marketing margins of intermediaries. In fact, the margin of the retailers' after taking into account the physical loss during retailing has been found to be negative (loss), which otherwise, was positive (profit) in the conventional estimation. Similarly, the producers' net share and wholesalers' margins also decrease substantially. It has been shown that marketing efficiency is inversely proportional to the marketing losses. The co-operative marketing has been found to be a more efficient system in terms of both operations and price. Marketing cost has been identified as the major constraint in the wholesale marketing channel and bringing down the costs, particularly the commission charges as demonstrated in the co-operative channel, will help in reducing the price-spread and increasing the producers' margin. The need for specialized transport vehicles for perishable commodities has been highlighted.


Protein side chains are vitally important to many biological processes such as protein-protein interaction. In this study, we evaluate the performance of our previous released side-chain modeling method OPUS-Mut, together with some other methods, on three oligomer datasets, CASP14 (11), CAMEO-Homo (65), and CAMEO-Hetero (21). The results show that OPUS-Mut outperforms other methods measured by all residues or by the interfacial residues. We also demonstrate our method on evaluating protein-protein docking pose on a dataset Oligomer-Dock (75) created using the top 10 predictions from ZDOCK 3.0.2. Our scoring function correctly identifies the native pose as the top-1 in 45 out of 75 targets. Different from traditional scoring functions, our method is based on the overall side-chain packing favorableness in accordance with the local packing environment. It emphasizes the significance of side chains and provides a new and effective scoring term for studying protein-protein interaction.


Transcoelomic spread of cancer cells across the peritoneal cavity occurs in most initially diagnosed ovarian cancer (OC) patients and accounts for most cancer-related death. However, how OC cells interact with peritoneal stromal cells to evade the immune surveillance remains largely unexplored. Here, through an in vivo genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screen, we identified IL20RA, which decreased dramatically in OC patients during peritoneal metastasis, as a key factor preventing the transcoelomic metastasis of OC. Reconstitution of IL20RA in highly metastatic OC cells greatly suppresses the transcoelomic metastasis. OC cells, when disseminate into the peritoneal cavity, greatly induce peritoneum mesothelial cells to express IL-20 and IL-24, which in turn activate the IL20RA downstream signaling in OC cells to produce mature IL-18, eventually resulting in the polarization of macrophages into the M1-like subtype to clear the cancer cells. Thus, we show an IL-20/IL20RA-mediated crosstalk between OC and mesothelial cells that supports a metastasis-repressing immune microenvironment.


Suitable biomechanical properties with a degradation rate parallel to normal bone healing time are vital characteristics for biodegradable implant material in orthopaedics. Magnesium (Mg) is a natural micronutrient as well as biodegradable metal with biomechanical characteristics close to that of the human bone, while carbonate apatite (CO3Ap) is a biological apatite with good osteoconductivity which allows bone healing without forming fibrotic tissue. We fabricated a Mg-CO3Ap composite with various content ratios by powder metallurgy, various milling times (3, 5, and 7 hours) at 200 RPM, warm compaction at 300°C and pressure of 265 MPa, sintering at 550°C, holding time of 1 hour, heating rate of 5°C/minutes, and room atmosphere cooling. Specimens were successfully created and had a density comparable to that of the human bone (1.95-2.13 g/cm3). Good biocompatibility was found on Mg-10% CO3Ap composite (66.67% of viable cells). Nevertheless, its biomechanical properties and corrosion resistance were inferior to the human bone. Additionally, the materials of the composites make the surrounding environment alkaline. Interparticle consolidation and grain size were dissatisfactory due to microstructural pores presumably formed by the Mg(OH)2 layer and oxidation process during sintering. However, alkaline condition caused by the material corrosion by-product might be beneficial for bone healing and wound healing process. Modifications on fabrication parameters are needed to improve interparticle consolidation, refine grain size, improve biomechanical strength, reduce corrosion products, and improve the degradation rate.


The use of models in economic studies evaluating medicines and other health technologies has become a controversial issue. This is because study results now matter - decision makers are increasingly acting on information about the cost effectiveness of treatments. This publication is intended to introduce the key elements of modelling and to explain, with examples, the role that good modelling should play in an economic evaluation. It discusses some of the controversies around the use of models but is not intended to be a guide to this debate. Its purpose is to equip the reader with an understanding of the basic concepts of, and the main uses of, modelling in economic evaluation. The author, Brian Rittenhouse, argues that we use the term 'model' in two quite different ways. In the first sense we take a model to be any artificial simplification of reality designed to enable us to better understand the world. A road map would fall into this category, as would a randomised controlled trial. It is the second meaning of the term model that is more controversial - where the simplification of reality includes the use of techniques to combine data from different sources, and, usually, the use of assumptions to enable extrapolation from the combined data or to fill gaps within the required data set. After categorising types of model and introducing us to decision analysis, he then addresses the need to have information on effectiveness rather than efficacy. Most randomised controlled trials are designed to demonstrate efficacy, whereas decision makers need to know about effectiveness in clinical practice. This is particularly the case for pharmaceuticals, where pre-launch trials are designed to meet regulatory requirements for safety and efficacy evidence, leading to study designs with high internal validity, but, often, limited external validity. Some of the deficiencies of these trials can, in principle, be dealt with by changes in trial design, others cannot. Modelling can provide a way of turning good efficacy and cost-efficacy studies into good cost-effectiveness analyses. Of course, concerns about potential bias in data taken from non RCT based studies (see Sheldon (1994)) do have to be addressed, and Rittenhouse discusses sources of bias, hierarchies of evidence, and the extent to which sensitivity analysis and other ways of handling uncertainty can help decision makers understand the potential variation in outcome. He concludes that while sensitivity analysis is valuable it is no substitute for addressing concerns about bias prior to producing the central result of the study. As Rittenhouse acknowledges, modelling is not without its drawbacks. Readers who wish to follow on from this publication to read more about some of the controversies surrounding the use of modelling, will find a well argued case for the appropriate use of modelling in Luce (1995) and in Gold et al (1996). A thoughtful review of the issues is set out in Buxton et al (forthcoming), and a note of scepticism, restating the case for society to invest on the collection of good evidence from randomised controlled trials, is contained in Sheldon (1996). Rittenhouse is clear that modelling is a valuable, integral, and permanent feature of economic evaluations and can be of good quality. I hope you find his introduction to the concepts and role of modelling of interest, and that it will stimulate you to read more about modelling techniques and about the debates surrounding its role in economic evaluations and in decision making.


With the strong-field scheme and cubic bases, the complete d3 energy matrix in a tctragonally distorted cubic-field has been constructed. By diagonalizing this matrix, the energy spectra of Sr TiO3 :Cr3+ and Sr TiO3 :Mn4+ at normal pressure and various temperatures have been calculated. Correspondingly, the FORTRAN program calculating the g factor of the ground state has been worked out. By using the program and the wavefunction obtained from diagonalizing the complete energy matrix, the g factors of the ground state of SrTiO3 :Cr3+ and SrTiO3 :Mn4+ at normal pressure and room temperature have been evaluated. The calculated results are in good agreement with the optical spectral and EPR experimental data. The comparison and analysis of the results of two crystals have been made. It is demonstrated that the covalency of the bonding between Mn4+ and ligands (O2 ) in SrTiO3:Mn4+ is stronger than the one of the bonding between Cr3+ and ligands (O2 ) in SrTiO3:Cr3+. It is shown that the obtained wavefunctions and values of parameters are reasonable.


Little is known about mental illness discrimination toward and supports for people with mental health conditions (MHCs) who are of color and/or lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB). Informed by an intersectionality framework that facilitates an understanding of intragroup dynamics, this exploratory qualitative study used in-depth interviews to ask 20 people with MHCs and family members of people with MHCs who also identified as of color and/or LGB about their experiences (a) with mental illness discrimination and supports within their identity communities and (b) in peer- and family-run programs. Participants of color reported that their racial−ethnic communities commonly deny that MHCs exist and shame people with MHCs, and LGB participants said that LGB communities often exclude and stereotype them. Interactions with others with MHCs and affirmation of lesbian and gay identities serve as recovery supports within identity communities. Peer- and family-run programs provide a sense of humanization and education, respectively but are sites of heterosexism and may not address the needs of people of color; identity-specific programs are therefore desired. We describe variations in experiences related to race, ethnicity, and sexuality intersections; no differences in descriptions of mental illness discrimination in the focal identity communities emerged between people with MHCs versus family members. Implications include that efforts are needed to address discrimination in identity communities and peer- and family-run programs, and service providers need to recognize that identity intersections affect experiences with discrimination and supports.


The initiation and propagation of fractures in unconventional tight and ultra-tight reservoirs are achieved through the injection of high volumes of fracturing fluid, FF. Several field experiences have shown that ineffective FF cleanup can significantly impair gas production. In this thesis, results of 109 different sets of vertical well (VW) and multiple fractured horizontal well (MFHW) numerical simulations, each consisting of 4096 or 1000 runs depending on two different sampling approaches, are presented studying the impact of pertinent parameters during FF injection (stimulating), soaking (shut-in) and production periods for a total of 384,394 runs. In these sets I studied, the impact of a combination of various shut-in time, matrix permeability range, applied drawdown pressure and injected FF volume. For the MFHW case, the impact of fractures spacing and horizontal length were also investigated. In each set, twelve pertinent parameters related to fracture and matrix relative permeability and matrix capillary pressure have been varied. Gas production loss (GPL) and produced FF (PFF), as the response terms, have been calculated based on two separate response surface statistical models. In each set, the correlation between parameters and GPL and PFF have then been established and compared with a base reference set and other similar sets but with one different variable. An extensive evaluation of capillary pressure (Pc) correlations available for tight and ultra-tight formations was performed to investigate the reliability of available Pc correlation models. Additionally, a comprehensive investigation was conducted on the unconventional relative permeability (Kr) with jail effect in unconventional formations. A practically attractive approach has been adopted to successfully model the weak and strong permeability jail effects to express unconventional Kr models.


Scientific workflows are a powerful programming technique for specifying complex computations using a number of otherwise independent components. When used in a Grid environment, it is possible to build powerful "virtual applications" across multiple distributed and heterogeneous resources. Whilst toolkits such as Globus virtualize many system attributes, and thus make it easier to span different organizations, inconsistent security policies and resource heterogeneity can limit the applicability of workflow techniques. In earlier work, we have described a novel run time environment, GriddLeS, that supports flexible communication patterns between workflow components. GriddLeS abstracts IO operations, such that applications are given the illusion of operating on a local file system, whilst in fact they send and receive data between components. In this paper, we describe how GriddLeS assists in resolving some of the issues that arise due to heterogeneity in security policies and system architectures in a Grid environment. We illustrate the solution using a real world scientific workflow for climate modeling, and demonstrate a system that spans multiple conflicting security domains with heterogeneous resources.


The author holds that a scientific theory of consciousness can be constructed only within the conceptual framework of a suitable meta-theory. In the paper the key problems of constructing a General Theory (as a kind of meta-theory) are discussed. It is suggested that if we aim to explain Reality in all its complexity, the conceptual framework we construct should take into account three factors – informational, material, and energetic – simultaneously. It is shown how the intellectual products of the different levels, like a theory and meta-theory, relate to each other, and the ways in which they differ. Also, the basic elements of the process of cognition are defined, some fundamental laws and principles are formulated, a non-statistical method of study is presented, and a specific systemic modeling is exemplified. All this enables the author to propound an applied theory of consciousness, and articulate an idea of a new scientific discipline – Interdisciplinary Investigations. The author hopes that the paper will inspire a wide-ranging discussion among the theorists who work in the fields of consciousness studies, artificial intelligence, psychology, psychiatry, and among all those who would like to see a comprehensive paradigm be achieved in these fields in the future.


Misalignment of the eyes can lead to double vision and visual confusion. However, these sensations are rare when strabismus is acquired early in life, because the extra image is suppressed. To explore the mechanism of perceptual suppression in strabismus, the visual fields were mapped binocularly in 14 human subjects with exotropia. Subjects wore red/blue filter glasses to permit dichoptic stimulation while fixating a central target on a tangent screen. A purple stimulus was flashed at a peripheral location; its reported color ("red" or "blue") revealed which eye's image was perceived at that locus. The maps showed a vertical border between the center of gaze for each eye, splitting the visual field into two separate regions. In each region, perception was mediated by only one eye, with suppression of the other eye. Unexpectedly, stimuli falling on the fovea of the deviated eye were seen in all subjects. However, they were perceived in a location shifted by the angle of ocular deviation. This plasticity in the coding of visual direction allows accurate localization of objects everywhere in the visual scene, despite the presence of strabismus.


We apply social network analysis methods on communication traces, collected from Virtual Machines (VMs) located in computing infrastructures, like a data center. Our aim is to identify important VMs, for example VMs that consume more energy or require more computational capacity, bandwidth, etc, than other VMs. We believe that this approach can handle the large number of VMs present in computing infrastructures and their interactions in the same way social interactions of millions of people are analyzed in today's social networks. We are interested in identifying measures that can locate important VMs or groups of interacting VMs, missed through other usual metrics and also capture the time-dynamicity of their interactions. In our work we use real traces and evaluate the applicability of the considered methods and measures.