Efficient mobility management techniques are critical in providing seamless connectivity and session continuity for mobile devices. However, current mobility management solutions require a central entity in the network core, tracking IP address movement and anchoring traffic from source to destination through point-to-point tunnels. This suffers from scalability limitations, creating bottlenecks in the network due to sub-optimal routing. Meanwhile, existing, alternative solutions are not feasible due to the current limitations of IP semantics, which strongly tie addressing information to location. In contrast, this work introduces an anchor-less mobility solution that exploits a new path-based forwarding fabric together with emerging mechanisms from information-centric networking. These mechanisms decouple the IP address from the path-based data forwarding to eliminate the need for traffic anchoring. Evaluation results illustrate a significant reduction in the network traffic cost when using the proposed solution, compared to an existing solution.
Furthermore, this work introduces a seamless handover solution using random
linear codes. In the proposed solution, coded traffic is disseminated in either a broadcast or a multicast fashion from source to the destination(s), where destination(s) selection is based on mobility prediction, in a proactive manner during handover. The combination of anchor-less mobility and coding helps to overcome data loss and handover failures, while reducing overall delivery cost. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated using a realistic vehicular mobility data set and cellular network infrastructure. The results show that the proposed scheme is able to eliminate data loss with minimum handover failure, while reducing handover delay and packet delivery costs compared to an existing solution.


Abstract
At its meeting in September 1957, the WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization agreed with the recommendation of the International Conference on Corticotrophin, held in July 1957, that a new international standard for corticotrophin should be set up, since the Second International Standard was made from crude material and was unsuitable for the assay of the purer preparations of corticotrophin now in general clinical use. In this paper, the authors describe the steps taken to establish the Third International Standard for Corticotrophin, from the preparation and international collaborative assay of the new material to the choice of the "subcutaneous assay" for deriving the potency. The clinical and pharmacological implications of this choice are discussed.

Since the preparation, characterization and exact quantitative assay of standards for corticotrophin are so difficult, several batches of approximately 3500 ampoules were prepared in a similar way from the same material to serve as an international Working Standard. Samples from two batches were included in the collaborative assay and found to have the same potency as the Third Standard. Sufficient ampoules of the Working Standard are available for use as national and laboratory standards.


Telepresence robots can help to connect people by providing videoconferencing and navigation abilities in faraway environments. Despite this potential, current commercial telepresence robots lack certain nonverbal expressive abilities that are important for permitting the operator to communicate effectively in the remote environment. To help improve the utility of telepresence robots, we added an expressive, non-manipulating arm to our custom telepresence robot system and developed three user interfaces to control deictic gesturing by the arm: onscreen, dial-based, and skeleton tracking methods. A usability study helped us to evaluate user presence feelings, task load, preferences, and opinions while performing deictic gestures with the robot arm during a mock order packing task. The majority of participants preferred the dial-based method of controlling the robot, and survey responses revealed differences in physical demand and effort level across user interfaces. These results can guide robotics researchers interested in extending the nonverbal communication abilities of telepresence robots.


This paper uses longitudinal data from Australia to examine the extent to which overskilling – the extent to which work-related skills and abilities are utilized in current employment – is a transitory phenomenon. The results suggest that while overskilled workers are much more likely to want to quit their current job, they are also relatively unconfident of finding an improved job match. Furthermore, some of the greater mobility observed among overskilled workers is due to involuntary job separations, and even in instances where job separations are voluntary, the majority of moves do not result in improved skills matches.


The provision of health services has been transforming from a largely top-down, paternalistic model into a construct in which patients play a substantive role in decision making over their care. Two articles in this month's issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia and an accompanying editorial address the growing momentum behind transparency in health care. Firstly, Quinonez et al consider the increasing expectation of family presence during surgical procedures and resuscitation of loved ones. They entertain the valid merits of family presence, such as the anxiolytic effect it may have as well as increased understanding of procedural goals and enhanced staff professionalism. Conversely, family members may not be psychologically prepared to bear witness to more invasive clinical environments and may serve as a source of distraction to providers. The impact of family presence on medical litigation is unclear. There have been long standing precedents set by way of obstetric and pediatric populations as seen in this infographic. In conjunction with the increased desire for physical presence of loved ones during clinical procedures, so too is there a demand for complete access to all medical records, including even the arcane hieroglyphics of an anesthesia record as detailed by Ramaswamy et al. As federal law now mandates such access, questions naturally arise as to their utility and medicolegal implications. The reader is strongly encouraged to review the concepts elaborated in these articles for in depth appreciation of their considerations.


: The association of long-term persistence of circulating immune complexes in blood flow with their deposits in the lung in 54.4% of cases and with morphological reactions of cellular and tissue structures, with the functional status of the immune system and with the progression of a tuberculous process, which was found immunohistochemical, immunological, and light microscopic studies in 68 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, and the high reproducibility of lung-damaging effects of immune complexes in the experiment suggest that the immune complex pathological mechanism is involved into the pathogenesis of progressive pulmonary tuberculosis.


In their 2009 article "The Queer Turn in Composition Studies: Reviewing and Assessing an Emerging Scholarship," Jonathan Alexander and David Wallace describe the state of LGBTQIA/queer studies in the field of rhetoric and composition. They note the "inclusion of articles and essays on queerness often pales in comparison to inclusion of material on race and gender" (317), and while this queered literature is "emerging," it remains "spotty at best" (302). The same can be said, we believe, for similar scholarship in the field of writing centers. Prefiguring our own feelings, they write Although we are proud to participate in a scholarly and pedagogical tradition that takes diversity seriously, we also feel a profound sense of disappointment each time we read the latest book or journal article in which a theorist or researcher whose work we respect takes on the knotty questions of how identity issues such as gender, race, and class affect the teaching and learning of writing but fails to address sexual identity or, in many cases, even to acknowledge it in passing (301).


How can the fictional representation of space and domestic interority be interpreted in fictional works like Dirt Music, The Riders or Winton's latest novel Breath? This article argues that the house as an active living space in Winton's work functions significantly in the context of describing a mythical, commercially marketable, nostalgic image of rural Australia as a place of masculine redefinition and maturation. The analysis of spatiality in this context provides a deeper engagement with the connection between space and gender, highlighting the ambiguous nature of specifically gendered spheres in the architecture of Winton's fictional dwelling places. Deviating from the original Victorian concept of "separate spheres", which set up clear definitions of male and female domestic spaces, Winton's narratives place priority on highlighting the male influence on the originally female domains in the house. It is argued that these spaces reflect the troubling binary between male presence and female absence, highlighting the desires and troubles of the male characters but also female trauma, self-harm and displacement. These are some of the issues this paper addresses, showing how the postcolonial dialectic between place, space and gender can be applied to Winton's fictional "traumascapes" (M. Tumarkin).


Cloud computing paradigm is a service oriented system that delivers services to the customer at low cost. Cloud computing needs to address three main security issues: confidentiality, integrity and availability. In this paper, we propose user identity management protocol for cloud computing customers and cloud service providers. This protocol will authenticate and authorize customers/providers in other to achieve global security networks. The protocol will be developed to achieve the set global security objectives in cloud computing environments. Confidentiality, integrity and availability are the key challenges of web services' or utility providers. A layered protocol design is proposed for cloud computing systems, the physical, networks and application layer. However, each layer will integrate existing security features such as firewalls, NIDS, NIPS, Anti-DDOS and others to prevent security threats and attacks. System vulnerability is critical to the cloud computing facilities; the proposed protocol will address this as part of measures to secure data at all levels. The protocol will protect customers/cloud service providers' infrastructure by preventing unauthorized users to gain access to the service/facility.


Till deposits, related to advances of mountain glaciers, and lake sediments record periods of abrupt warming and cooling during the Late Glacial interval (LG) (17,500 to 11,650 cal yr BP) in the northern tropical Andes. The synchronicity of temperature shifts in the tropical mountains and high northern latitudes during this period indicates that the low latitude atmosphere played a major role in LG abrupt climate change. Generally, the northern tropics are cold and dry when temperatures are lower in the North Atlantic region, and the opposite occurs during warm periods. The pattern of abrupt seesaw-like hemispheric temperature shifts, and the apparent link to tropical atmospheric dynamics, demonstrates the importance of low latitude circulation and water vapor feedbacks in rapid climate change. Geologic evidence from the precipitation-sensitive southern tropical Andes were used to reconstruct periods of ice advances and retreats during the Late Holocene. Neoglaciation in the Cordillera Raura of Peru began at ~3100 cal yr BP, marking a transition to a prolonged period of increased moisture transport to the Andes. The most extensive neoglacial advance took place locally during the Little Ice Age when conditions were both wetter and colder. The long-term, Holocene pattern of renewed ice cover in this region of the Andes was probably enhanced by astronomical forcing and convection-driven changes in moisture availability. Short-term glacial variability during the neoglacial was likely driven mostly by a combination of solar, atmospheric and oceanic processes. Lake sediments from the Pacific region of Nicaragua were used to record changes in the regional moisture balance during the late Holocene (~1600 cal yr BP to the present). Oxygen isotope values of calcium carbonate down-core identify periods of lake level fluctuations that resulted from changes in precipitation and evaporation rates. The driest regional conditions recorded in the isotope data are coincident with the onset of Little Ice Age cooling. This abrupt transition to more arid atmospheric conditions at 700 cal yr BP is consistent with other records from the northern tropics and subtropics that suggest hydrologic changes in the tropics were connected to high latitude climate variability during the late Holocene.


In recent years Corporate Social Performance is getting more and more attention from
society and governments. It also is becoming getting more important a competitive factor. Focus
on Corporate Social Performance (CSP) raises the question whether it pays off to invest in CSP.
This thesis tries to contribute to this discussion by examining the effect of Corporate Social
Performance on the Cost of Equity for U.S. companies.

The relation between CSP and the Cost of Equity is based on two different theories. The Good
Management (and reputation) theory states that there is a high correlation between good management
practice and CSP, simply because attention to CSP areas improves relationships with key stakeholder
groups, resulting in better overall performance and thus Cost of Equity. The Slack Resources
Theory, on the other hand, states that better financial performance potentially results in the
availability of slack (financial and other) resources that provide the opportunity for companies to
invest in areas of social performance.

How well a company is doing in Corporate Social Responsibility can be expressed by its Corporate
Social Performance (CSP). Following prior studies, the CSP score is estimated by making use of the
Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini (KLD) social ratings database. These ratings consist of 74 issues in
22 different themes. For each of these issues a binary score (0/1) is assigned, which results in a
composite score when all the issues are added up to each other.
The company's Cost of Equity is estimated by the average of four models, two of which
are based on the Residual Income Valuation Model and two models based on the Abnormal Earnings
Growth Model. The four models are the models by Claus and Thomas (2001), Gebhardt, Lee, and
Swaminathan (2001), Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth (2005) and Easton (2004).

The sample of 489 companies is examined by regressing the CSP score on the Cost of Equity
estimates, while controlling for return variability, book-to-market ratio, size and type of
industry. The results of the regression analysis show support for the hypothesis that companies
with higher Corporate Social Performance have a significantly lower Cost of Equity. Since Corporate
Social Performance has a relatively high negative correlation with the book-to-market ratio, it
further can be concluded that the market values companies which invest in CSP higher than companies
who invest less in CSP, which also leads to a lower Cost of Equity. In addition, large companies
show a smaller Cost of Equity than small companies, but the effect is not as strong as the book-to-
market ratio.
Furthermore, regression results show a strong positive relation between the book-to- market ratio
and the Cost of Equity, which can be the result of link between market value and Cost of Equity.
The results further present a positive relation between the Cost of Equity and the size of a
company. A similar relation also holds between Cost of Equity and the return variability, when
higher return variability results in a lower Cost of
Equity.

Master Thesis Business Administration – Financial Management
The results further lead to the conclusion that there are significance differences between
the industries in the sample, which may be the result of a more capital intensive industry (as
supported by high book-to-market ratios) or a different attitude towards innovation and CSP.
Furthermore, from the result can be concluded that for companies who have high CSP the Cost of
Equity decreases faster than that the increase in the Cost of Equity for companies with low CSP
scores.

Overall, this study provides support for managers to invest in CSP activities. These investments
are not only good for society, but also lowers the Cost of Equity and
therefore the financing costs of the company.


Hospitality industry plays a tremendous role in service sector which involve Restaurant, lodging, transportation, theme parking in service sector etc. The hospitality industry and tourism is only which valued in billion dollars but in Amethi and other nearby rural areas has huge opportunity which still not focused and utilized. Amethi involve huge number of populations and purchasing power but due to lack of awareness and unavailability this market is not covered. Still the people think 100 times before visiting Amethi and other areas like where I will stay, how we will manage food, and accommodation etc. Since last 10 years hospitality sectors are growing with very higher rate in India but still gap are there due to ignorance of rural areas which creating hindrance of its expected development. Amethi is a famous district in all over the India due to playing prominent role in Indian politics but if we talk about the availability and growth of hospitalities and transportation facility, in this case it is very behind.

Key Words: Food, Accommodation, Restaurant.


Aluminium based composites containing 1, 1.5 and 2wt. % of nano-sized Titanium Carbide particulates (TiC), with an average of 45nm, reinforcement were synthesized using low energy planetary ball mill followed by hot extrusion. Microstructural characterization of the materials revealed uniform distribution of reinforcement, grain refinement and the presence of minimal porosity. Properties characterization revealed that the presence of nano-TiC particulates led to an increase in hardness, elastic modulus, 0.2% yield strength (0.2% offset on a stress-strain curve), and the stress at which a material exhibits a specified permanent deformation, Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) and ductility of pure aluminum. Fractography studies revealed that the fracture of pure aluminum occurred in ductile mode due to the incorporation and uniform distribution of nano-TiC particulates. An attempt is made in the present study to correlate the effect of nano-sized TiC particulates as reinforcement and processing type with the micro structural and tensile properties of aluminum composites. The mechanical properties, namely, the UTS, hardness, grain size and distribution of the reinforcement in the base metal were studied in as sintered and extruded conditions. Orowan strengthening criteria was used to predict the yield strength of Al-TiC composites in the present work and experimental results were compared with the theoretical results.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether implantable insulin pump (IIP) therapy and multiple daily insulin (MDI) injections could equally attain improved blood glucose control, and to compare the 2 treatments with respect to reducing daily blood glucose fluctuations, reducing serious hypoglycemic insulin reactions, and improving patients' quality of life.

DESIGN
Randomized clinical trial.

SETTING
Seven Veterans Affairs medical centers.

PATIENTS
One hundred twenty-one male type II diabetic patients between the ages of 40 and 69 years, receiving at least 1 injection of insulin per day and having hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels of 8% or above.

INTERVENTION
Intensive therapy (IIP or MDI) for 1 year.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Hemoglobin A1c and blood glucose levels.

RESULTS
Blood glucose levels declined to 7.96+/-1.08 mmol/L (143.4+/-19.5 mg/dL) and 8.30+/-1.52 mmol/L (149.6+/-27.4 mg/dL) (mean +/- SD) for IIP and MDI, respectively (P=.57). Hemoglobin A1c levels improved in both groups (time effect P<.001), to means of 7.54%+/-0.83% (MDI) vs 7.34%+/-0.79% (IIP). IIP reduced blood glucose fluctuations compared with MDI (P<.001), and reduced the incidence of mild clinical hypoglycemia by 68% (P<.001); IIP also eliminated the weight gain associated with MDI therapy and yielded better overall quality-of-life (P=.03) and impact-of-disease subscale scores (P=.05). Adverse events included 25% of subjects with episodes of insulin underdelivery due to microprecipitates of insulin within the pump.

CONCLUSIONS
Intensive insulin therapy with IIP and MDI is effective in controlling non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. IIP has significant advantages in reducing glycemic variability, clinical hypoglycemia, and weight gain, while improving aspects of quality of life.


Carbonaceous residues occur in mudstones and turbidites of the Lower Palaeozoic accretionary prism in Ireland and Scotland (Longford-Down, Southern Uplands). The accretionary prism was host to fluid migration during both the Lower Palaeozoic and Carboniferous-Triassic, so the age of the carbonaceous fluids is uncertain. Raman spectroscopy data for the carbonaceous residues in the Lower Palaeozoic rocks indicate palaeotemperatures similar to those measured in their host rocks, and much higher than those in the Carboniferous cover rocks or in residues in the cover rocks. These data show that residues in the prism rocks are of Lower Palaeozoic age, and were not contributed by younger mineralizing fluids. The residues represent hydrocarbons generated from source rocks in the prism that were part of the Ordovician-Silurian deposits of the Iapetus Ocean.


Three types of Nerium.oleander leaves of hexane extract were prepared according the color of their flower, red flower group (RFG), pink flower group (PFG) and white flower group (WFG).After drying in the sunlight, grinding by electrical grinder. Extraction with hexane was done by a soxhlet apparatus for each type the extract of each type was dissolved in propylene glycol which was used to dissolve the extract with the aid of magnetic stirrer mixer for ten minutes. The median lethal dose (LD50) experiment for each type, fifty adult mice of mixed sex were used. They were divided into 5 equal number groups and were given different oral doses as following:-The red flower groups (RFG) received oral doses ranging from 225-425mg⁄Kg ,the pink flower group(PFG) received oral doses ranging from 200-400 mg ⁄Kg while the white flower groups (WFG) received doses ranging from 250450 mg⁄ Kg of body weight. The LD50 was calculated by employing probit method and found to be 325mg/kg for the RFG, 300mg/kg for the PFG and 350mg/kg for the WFG respectively. These results indicate that the toxic constituents of the leaves nearly same since there were no significance differences between LD50 of the three types.


INTRODUCTION
Nephrologic patients have somatisation disorder that can be primary disorder when fear is dominant or secondary disorder in the frame of other organic and mental disorders.

AIM
To evaluate, somatisaton disorder is more offten accompanied with microalbuminuria (MA) in patients with suspected endemic nephropathy than in patients with some other nephrologic disorder, in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) during period from January the 1st of 2000 to December the 31st of 2006.

METHOD
Somatisation disorders were proved in patients with microalbuminuria (MA) in nephropathic group (n = 200), and they were compared to the patients with MA in other nephrologic disorders (n = 200). The study took place from January, the 1st of 2000 to December, the 31st of 2006, and it was a multicentric, longitudinal, comparative study in B&H. Patients were questioned using: B&H Renal register questionnaire adapted for this study and psychological tests: Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Statistical analysis was done using descriptive methods and multivariate logistic model.

RESULTS
In nephropathic group (t = 23.103, P = 0.001) somatisation disorder F45.0 was found in 10.50%, while it was found in 7.00% patients in control group. On multivariate model, somatisation disorder in nephropathic group F45.0 was -4.00%, r = 0.950, OR = 0.875 (95%), CI = 0.710-0.820; undifferentiated disorder -4.00%, hypochondria -3.50%, disfunction of VNS -1.50%, pain disorder -1.00% and 0.50% of other disorders life in house, village and renal heredity. Somatisation disorder in control group was 2.50%, r = 0.815, OR = 0.985 (95%), CI = 0.710-0.920, P = 0.001, undifferentiated disorder -2.50%, disfunction of VNS -2.00%, pain -1.50%, and -1.00% hypochondria with migration, living in flat and town.

CONCLUSION
Majority of the patients tested on microalbuminuria had somatisation of fear, and nephropathic somatisation disorder F45.0 was found in 10.50% comparing to 7.00% of controls, comfirming somatisation of anxiety in nephrologic patients. Somatisation was proved using sociodemographic and variables of anxiety, depressivness and cognitive disturbance.


The dynamics, such as transmission, spatial epidemiology, and clinical course of Coronavirus Disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) have emerged as the most intriguing features and remain incompletely understood. The genetic landscape of an individual in particular, and a population in general seems to play a pivotal role in shaping the above COVID‐19 dynamics. Considering the implications of host genes in the entry and replication of SARS‐CoV‐2 and in mounting the host immune response, it appears that multiple genes might be crucially involved in the above processes. Herein, we propose three potentially important genetic gateways to COVID‐19 infection; these could explain at least in part the discrepancies of its spread, severity, and mortality. The variations within Angiotensin‐converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) gene might constitute the first genetic gateway, influencing the spatial transmission dynamics of COVID‐19. The Human Leukocyte Antigen locus, a master regulator of immunity against infection seems to be crucial in influencing susceptibility and severity of COVID‐19 and can be the second genetic gateway. The genes regulating Toll‐like receptor and complement pathways and subsequently cytokine storm induced exaggerated inflammatory pathways seem to underlie the severity of COVID‐19, and such genes might represent the third genetic gateway. Host‐pathogen interaction is a complex event and some additional genes might also contribute to the dynamics of COVID‐19. Overall, these three genetic gateways proposed here might be the critical host determinants governing the risk, severity, and outcome of COVID‐19. Genetic variations within these gateways could be key in influencing geographical discrepancies of COVID‐19.


An integral part of concrete mix proportioning is the preparation of trial mixes and making adjustments to such trials striking a balance between the requirements of placement, strength, and durability. When coarse aggregate characteristic strength is lower than the levels of strength of the concrete desired, different methods, viz., British, ACI, and the country's standard code, cannot be used directly. In this paper a generalized method is advanced to proportion concrete using quarry wastes, namely, cuddapah and marble in concrete, as coarse aggregate. Concrete is regarded as a composite of cement mortar matrix and coarse aggregate. The basic principle of the method is to assess the characteristic strength of coarse aggregate from compressive strength data of concrete failed by aggregate fracture and from that characteristic strength to assess the cement mortar strength required so as to ensure the development of the required strength of concrete. To arrive at the exact water-cement ratio of mortar matrix, the generalized Abrams' law is used.


This paper provides an analysis of the trends of the scientific production of language evolution models discussing the current developments and outlines the most promising future perspectives of this research field. A hybrid evaluation methodology has been applied in this study that integrates bibliometric and social research techniques to gain both quantitative and qualitative evidence of the research impact of language evolution models. Due to the ongoing interest in this research topic, the results of the analysis are valuable to many researchers to reveal the developments in the field and to plan future research directions.


Most cashmere goats are found in northern China and Mongolia. They are regarded as precious resources for their production of high quality natural fibre for the textile industry. It was the first time that the genetic diversity and population structure of nine Chinese cashmere populations has been assessed using 14 ISAG/FAO microsatellite markers. In addition, two Iranian populations and one West African goat population were genotyped for comparison. Results indicated that the genetic diversity of Chinese cashmere goats was rich, but less than those of the Iranian goat populations. All pairwise F(ST) values between the Chinese cashmere goat populations reached a highly significant level (P < 0.001), suggesting that they should all be considered as separate breeds. Finally, clustering analysis divided Chinese cashmere goats into at least two clusters, with the Tibetan Hegu goats alone in one cluster. An extensive admixture was detected among the Chinese goat breeds (except the Hegu), which have important implications for breeding management.


Taxis (which include cars working with car aggregation systems such as Uber, Grab, Lyft etc.) have become a critical component in the urban transportation. While most research and applications in the context of taxis have focused on improving performance from a customer perspective, in this paper, we focus on improving performance from a taxi driver perspective. Higher revenues for taxi drivers can help bring more drivers into the system thereby improving availability for customers in dense urban cities. Typically, when there is no customer on board, taxi drivers will cruise around to find customers either directly (on the street) or indirectly (due to a request from a nearby customer on phone or on aggregation systems). For such cruising taxis, we develop a Reinforcement Learning (RL) based system to learn from real trajectory logs of drivers to advise them on the right locations to find customers which maximize their revenue. There are multiple translational challenges involved in building this RL system based on real data, such as annotating the activities (e.g., roaming, going to a taxi stand, etc.) observed in trajectory logs, identifying the right features for a state, action space and evaluating against real driver performance observed in the dataset. We also provide a dynamic abstraction mechanism to improve the basic learning mechanism. Finally, we provide a thorough evaluation on a real world data set from a developed Asian city and demonstrate that an RL based system can provide significant benefits to the drivers.


Taxonomic relationships within the corals and anemones (Phylum Cnidaria: Class Anthozoa) are based upon few morphological characters. The significance of any given character is debatable, and there is little fossil record available for deriving evolutionary relationships. We analyzed complete 18S ribosomal sequences to examine subclass-level and ordinal-level organization within the Anthozoa. We suggest that the Subclass Ceriantipatharia is not an evolutionarily relevant grouping. The Order Corallimorpharia appears paraphyletic and closely related to the Order Scleractinia. The 18S rRNA gene may be insufficient for establishing robust phylogenetic hypotheses concerning the specific relationships of the Corallimorpharia and the Ceriantharia and the branching sequence for the orders within the Hexacorallia. The 18S rRNA gene has sufficient phylogenetic signal, however, to distinguish among the major groupings within the Class Anthozoa, and we use this information to suggest relationships for the enigmatic taxa Dactylanthus and Dendrobrachia.


A classic classroom reference since its 1964 publication, this indispensable volume offers the full text of Magna Carta in English, as well as a chapter-by-chapter discussion of its history and provisions. In his newly revised commentary on this founding document in the history of constitutionally limited governments, A.E. Dick Howard places the charter in context of the extraordinary surge of constitutionalism in the aftermath of the Cold War. Magna Carta: Text and Commentary is a cogent introduction to Magna Carta that students everywhere can readily appreciate.


Context. 103P/Hartley 2 was selected as the target comet for the Deep Impact extended mission, EPOXI, in October 2007. There have been no direct optical observations of the nucleus of this comet, as it has always been highly active when previously observed.
Aims. We aimed to recover the comet near to aphelion, to: a) confirm that it had not broken up and was in the predicted position; b) to provide astrometry and brightness information for mission planning; and c) to continue the characterisation of the nucleus.
Methods. We observed the comet at heliocentric distances between 5.7 and 5.5 AU, using FORS2 at the VLT, at 4 epochs between May and July 2008. We performed VRI photometry on deep stacked images to look for activity and measure the absolute magnitude and therefore estimate the size of the nucleus.
Results. We recovered the comet near the expected position, with a magnitude of mR = 23.74 ± 0.06 at the first epoch. The comet had no visible coma, although comparison of the profile with a stellar one showed that there was faint activity, or possibly a contribution to the flux from the dust trail from previous activity. This activity appears to fade at further epochs, implying that this is a continuation of activity past aphelion from the previous apparition rather than an early start to activity before the next perihelion. Our data imply a nucleus radius of ≤1 km for an assumed 4% albedo; we estimate a ~6% albedo. We measure a colour of (V-R) = 0. 26 ± 0.09.


Sodium is one of the most abundant physiological cations and is a key element in many cellular processes. It has been shown that several pathologies, including degenerative brain disorders, cancers, and brain traumas, express sodium deviations from normal. Therefore, sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can prove to be valuable for physicians. However, sodium MRI has its limitations, the most significant being a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) thousands of times lower than a typical proton MRI. Radiofrequency coils are the components of the MRI system directly responsible for signal generation and acquisition. This paper explores the intrinsic properties of a Koch snowflake fractal radiofrequency surface coil compared to that of a standard circular surface coil to investigate a fractal geometry's role in increasing SNR of sodium MRI scans. By first analyzing the network parameters of the two coils, it was found that the fractal coil had a better impedance match than the circular coil when loaded by various anatomical regions. Although this maximizes signal transfer between the coil and the system, this is at the expense of a lower Q, indicating greater signal loss between the tissue and coil. A second version of each coil was constructed to test the mutual inductance between the coils of the same geometry to see how they would behave as a phased array. It was found that the fractal coils were less sensitive to each other than the two circular coils, which would be beneficial when constructing and using phased array systems. The performance of each coil was then assessed for B1 + field homogeneity and signal. A sodium phantom was imaged using a B1 + mapping sequence, and a 3D radial acquisition was performed to determine SNR and image quality. The results indicated that the circular coil had a more homogeneous field and higher SNR. Overall while the circular coil proved to generate a higher signal-to-noise ratio than the fractal, the Koch coil showed higher versatility when in a multichannel network which could prove to be a benefit when designing, constructing, and using a phased array coil.


World Health Organization (WHO) and public health regimes around world are state lawful action to contain the COVID-19 happening. The concept is new to majority of the employees, as the Corona virus pandemic situation has forced almost all the employees of all the sectors to work from home for the first time. As the employees are experiencing new environment, this paper attempts to and out the experience of the employees in working from home when compared to Working in office. WHO announced there is broad risk of the 2019 corona virus disease (COVID-19) extended to another countries allover the world. Long term happening cannot be interpreted over for recognized. Each sections of association with businesses organization, Information Technology and BPO, Education institution, Public and private sector must plan of action function if we are to stop the spread of this diseases. Work at home during COVID 2019 has some positive and negative effects on employees progress outcomes also technical issues. Our study found that employee perception of work from home on job satisfaction level during COVID-19 pandemic situation and challenges faced by employees while COVID-19 pandemic situation.


West Midlands South HIEC ACP project aims to encourage the use of advance care planning (ACP) more widely by training and supporting a multidisciplinary group of health care professionals from local acute trusts, community services and hospices who provide care for patients at the end of life. The project includes a study day focusing on definitions of ACP, ethical and legal implications, use of local documentation and communication skills training – exploring approaches to initiating ACP conversations with patients using role play with actors. To date 40 professionals have received training with a further 40 scheduled for March and April 2011. Those attended included: palliative care and long term condition clinical nurse specialists, district nurses, care home staff, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and an elderly care physician. At the start of the day all of the group are asked to write down three questions that they want to have answered. Questions have fallen into five main categories: ethical and legal aspects (34%), use of documentation (30%), when to do ACP (19%), how to have the conversation (11%) and other (6%). Over the course of the day we ensure that all questions are addressed. All participants have been asked to complete an online questionnaire 3 months after the training to assess its effectiveness. Using questions in this way has provided a focus for the course, helping to identify where knowledge gaps and potential barriers to ACP lie.


Background/Purpose: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), widely considered as critical causative agents of tobacco-related lung cancer, are found in high levels in tobacco smoke and require metabolic activation to exert their carcinogenic effects. The development of urinary biomarkers of PAH metabolism using the more abundant and generally non-carcinogenic phenanthrene (Phe) as a surrogate of the prototypic carcinogenic PAH benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) has provided a reliable tool to characterize the uptake and metabolism of BaP in smokers. There is wide inter-individual variation in PheT metabolism. Furthermore, smokers who are more efficient metabolic activators of Phe appear to have a higher risk of developing lung cancer in prospective case-control studies. We examined the effects of indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a compound arising from cruciferous vegetables shown to possess anti-cancer activity, in modifying Phe metabolism. We hypothesized that I3C might have a chemopreventive effect in cigarette smokers by abrogating the metabolic activation and/or detoxification of [D10]Phe. Procedures: Ten micrograms of [D10]Phe was administered via inhalation of a smoked cigarette prior to and after 7 days if I3C 400 mg po BID. Plasma and urine samples were collected at baseline and for 48 hours following [D10]Phe administration. Deuterated phenanthrene tetraol ([D10]PheT, a reflection of uptake and metabolic activation via the diol epoxide pathway), and deuterated phenanthrol ([D10]HOPhe, a reflection of detoxification and elimination) were quantified in urine and plasma before and after I3C and compared. Results: A total of 8 subjects completed the study procedures, 6 females and 2 males. Subject 8 was clearly an outlier and was excluded from analysis. One-sample t-test was used to compare the mean difference in [D10]PheT and the mean difference in [D10]HOPhe among the group before and after I3C. The reduction in [D10]PheT in urine was significant (one-sample t-test, p=.023), although only marginally so in plasma (=.083). [D10]PheT AUC was not reduced (p=.23). [D10]HOPhe was generally reduced but not significantly (p=.15). Correlation between 6-hour and 48-hour [D10]PheT and [D10]HOPhe was very strong (r=.873; p=.010 and r=.968;p<.001, respectively). Conclusion: I3C may be an effective chemopreventive agent in tobacco-related lung cancer by reducing the metabolic activation of carcinogenic PAH. A larger, definitive study is needed to confirm these results. Citation Format: Naomi Fujioka, Yan Zhong, J. Bradley Holchalter, Diane Rauch, Joni J. Jensen, Chap T. Le, Dorothy K. Hatsukami, Stephen S. Hecht. Pilot study of the effects of indole-3-carbinol on deuterated phenanthrene metabolism in smokers. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A69.


Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile, repetitive sequences that make up significant fractions of metazoan genomes. Despite their near ubiquity and importance in genome and chromosome biology, most efforts to annotate TEs in genome sequences rely on the results of a single computational program, RepeatMasker. In contrast, recent advances in gene annotation indicate that high-quality gene models can be produced from combining multiple independent sources of computational evidence. To elevate the quality of TE annotations to a level comparable to that of gene models, we have developed a combined evidence-model TE annotation pipeline, analogous to systems used for gene annotation, by integrating results from multiple homology-based and de novo TE identification methods. As proof of principle, we have annotated "TE models" in Drosophila melanogaster Release 4 genomic sequences using the combined computational evidence derived from RepeatMasker, BLASTER, TBLASTX, all-by-all BLASTN, RECON, TE-HMM and the previous Release 3.1 annotation. Our system is designed for use with the Apollo genome annotation tool, allowing automatic results to be curated manually to produce reliable annotations. The euchromatic TE fraction of D. melanogaster is now estimated at 5.3% (cf. 3.86% in Release 3.1), and we found a substantially higher number of TEs (n = 6,013) than previously identified (n = 1,572). Most of the new TEs derive from small fragments of a few hundred nucleotides long and highly abundant families not previously annotated (e.g., INE-1). We also estimated that 518 TE copies (8.6%) are inserted into at least one other TE, forming a nest of elements. The pipeline allows rapid and thorough annotation of even the most complex TE models, including highly deleted and/or nested elements such as those often found in heterochromatic sequences. Our pipeline can be easily adapted to other genome sequences, such as those of the D. melanogaster heterochromatin or other species in the genus Drosophila.


The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of surface roughness in normalized steel and the effects of abnormal surface layer in carburized steel on the fatigue strength that is considered as the limit of no crack initiation. Normalized and Carburized test pieces with crowned round notches were used in the fatigue tests, the normalized test pieces have different surface roughnesses and the carburized test pieces have different surface microstructures on the notch surface. The changes in fatigue strength due to the differences in the notch surface roughness and surface microstructure were investigated. As the conclusions, fatigue strength will be certainly increased by decreasing the surface maximum height, and removing the abnormal surface layer formed during carburized treatment leads to a marked increase in fatigue strength.


Purpose: The paper's primary purpose is to assess environmental taxes' impact on sustainable development of manufacturing enterprises in emerging and developing economies in the European Union in 2008-2019. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper is both theoretical and empirical. The survey covers the European Union countries classified as emerging and developing economies by the International Monetary Fund including Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Hungary. The first part discusses the fundamental issues related to sustainable development and environmental taxes. The empirical part includes the methodology and results of the study. To determine the relationship between environmental taxes and sustainable development, we use the Pearson correlation coefficient and the Least Square Method. Findings: The results indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between the variables. Environmental taxes are one of the critical determinants of sustainable development of manufacturing enterprises. The models show that the impact of individual taxes is different in the analyzed countries. Practical Implications: The results show that environmental taxes are essential to sustainable development. Hence, it is necessary to increase their importance and reform the tax system in the EU. Originality/Value: The statistical assessment of the impact of environmental taxes on enterprises' sustainable development is relatively poorly understood. The issue is new and contemporary and requires further analysis. Environmental taxes are a significant issue in the era of counteracting climate change. It is necessary to increase the importance of environmental taxes and their effects on economic processes.


Currently there is a common belief that the explanation of superconductivity phenomenon lies in understanding the mechanism of the formation of electron pairs. Paired electrons, however, cannot form a superconducting condensate spontaneously. These paired electrons perform disorderly zero-point oscillations and there are no force of attraction in their ensemble. In order to create a unified ensemble of par- ticles, the pairs must order their zero-point fluctuations so that an attraction between the particles appears. As a result of this ordering of zero-point oscillations in the electron gas, superconductivity arises. This model of condensation of zero-point oscillations creates the possibility of being able to obtain estimates for the crit- ical parameters of elementary superconductors, which are in satisfactory agreement with the measured data. On the another hand, the phenomenon of superfluidity in He-4 and He-3 can be similarly explained, due to the ordering of zero-point fluctuations. It is therefore established that both related phenomena are based on the same physical mechanism.


All available records (1977–96) of 12 species of breeding seabirds in the far northern Great Barrier Reef (between 9°S and 16°S) were examined to detect any changes, particularly in relation to effects of trawling on populations. The study area included the 'Green Zone' (approximately 11endash;12°S), closed to trawling since 1983, and the well-studied Lizard Island area (14endash;15°S), which is open to trawling. Seven species (Sterna bergii, S. bengalensis, S. anaethetus, S. sumatrana, Anous stolidus, A. minutus and Sula leucogaster) were common and widely distributed, and five species were less common or local (Sterna fuscata, S. dougallii, S. caspia, Fregata arieland F. minor). Large annual fluctuations in numbers in particular areas are a feature of most species in this region. Sterna bergii, a trawl-discard feeder, showed a clear order of magnitude increase in numbers in the study areas that may be related to the additional food provided by the discarded trawl by-catch. Other discard-feeding species showed no definite population trends. The numbers of S. bengalensis and S. fuscata in the 'Green Zone' have declined since the mid-1980s, possibly due to the birds moving away from the area. Both species appear to have increased in the Lizard Island area. It is postulated that the large increases in S. bergii numbers may affect other species, by competing for food and nesting sites. The seabirds fell broadly into three breeding groups: mainly wet season (summer) nesters (Sterna bergii, S. bengalensis, S. anaethetus, S. sumatranaand Sula leucogaster); dry season (winter) nesters (Sterna caspia, Fregata minor and F. ariel), and species that may nest in almost any month of the year (S. fuscata, Anous stolidus and A. minutus). Despite pronounced seasonal peaks in breeding activity among the species, most also show some nesting activity at other times of year. This suggests that they have the potential to breed at any time and are sufficiently flexible to take advantage of the onset of suitable conditions. At present, there are no definite indications that trawl discarding directly influences breeding seasonality, but there is evidence that extra food in the form of trawl discards may influence breeding success and hence population size in some species.


In study preparation of Papad was successfully done. The aim to prepare Papad as a nutritional point of view and to provide convenience to the consumer. Papad is a traditional food item typically made from pulses flour & cereal flour, dough or batter. Papad are usually flat, crisp, round, wafers-like product. For preparation of Papad Rice flour, tomato pulp, sesame seed, salt, red chili powder, cumin and Papad khar used. All the mixed together with other ingredient. Then making a smooth dough then make small balls and rolling into thin sheet by the help of roller pin. Dry the Papad. For the preparation of Tomato Papad three trials were taken among the three trials, T2 get highest score on the basis of sensory evaluation. Proximate composition of Papad was Moisture content (11.3%), Ash (0.92%), Fat (7.2%), and Protein (3.1%), Carbohydrate (58%), Energy (350 kcal) were best among all the levels of Papad prepared recorded highest score in all the quality attributes and good storage ability. It was concluded that the Papad made from Tomato pulp can be store for six months in Low density polyethylene pouches at room temperature. So the Papad made from Tomato Pulp can be satisfy the consumer in accepts and quality.


Important to any analysis of a potential or actual groundwater pollution problem is the ability to predict when and where any pollutant may interface with the biologic realm. It is also necessary to know the amounts that may appear at an outflow boundary over a period of time. Thus a geography-time distribution and a geography-quantity distribution can assist decision-makers in evaluating and comparing different waste disposal schemes. A graphical procedure based upon flow net analysis coupled with vector analysis permits estimation of pollutant arrival times at an outflow boundary. The procedure also aids in determination of variations of pollutant concentrations across the outflow boundary with time and in space. The technique utilizes contour maps and simple graphs. Intraformational (macroscale) and interformational (megascale) aspects of groundwater pollution can be analyzed with the technique. Examples of applications to which the technique can be applied are potential groundwater contamination from a sanitary landfill leachate, the case of a leaky waste-holding pond, and the pattern of contamination from a leaky underground gasoline storage tank. The technique also can be applied in reconnaissance studies for hazardous waste site evaluation using available hydrogeologic data. Detailed site evaluation can be guided through use of the approach. It can be utilized relatively inexpensively to predict longterm, downstream effects of pollutant leakage from a disposal site.


Aim: To assess if there is any effect of using oral contraceptive and the duration ofusing on the inflammatory responses of the gingival tissues , concentration ofsecretary immunoglobulin A ( IgA) and the colony count of mutansStreptococcusMS in saliva .Methods: This study includes 80 women in their reproductive age (16-40) year. 40women who were using oral contraceptive in different duration, as the study groupand 40 women who not used oral contraceptive and it were assigned to the controlgroup. Both groups were clinically examined (for dental caries using DMFSIndex, and gingival condition using gingival index GI of Loe&Silness ) andlaboratory assessment (by using non stimulated saliva for each woman wascollected and homogenized then Mutans Streptococci (MS) were counted,isolated, purified and diagnosed according to morphological characteristic andbiochemical tests also, the Salivary IgA concentration was measured by usingsingle radial immune diffusion method in different duration of oral contraceptiveusing ).Results: Gingival index was significantly higher among oral contraceptive users thannon-users (P<0.01), which was correlated with the duration of usage (r=0.50).sIgA concentration higher in study group than in control group (P<0.01)which also increased positively with duration of using(r=0.80). A positivecorrelation between sIgA and gingivitis (r=0.54) was found. DMFS Index and thenumber of MS colony were highly significant in study group than the control(P<0.01). MS colony count was positive correlated with duration of usage(r=0.88) but the DMFS had too weak correlation with the duration of using whichwas a non significant at (P>0.05).Conclusion: The use of contraceptive pills for a long period increases the likelihoodof gingival inflammation and significantly associated with increase sIgA level, sothe regular use of oral contraceptive seems to enhance mucosal immune functionin study subjects.


PRO TOOLS 10 ADVANCED MUSIC PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES is the official Avid Learning Series Expert Level guide to the advanced operation of Pro Tools in a professional music production environment. It includes technical insight into both Pro Tools HD and HDX hardware and software, common workflows, and advanced editing and mixing topics. The materials on the supplemental DVD--sample sessions and source files used in the book's many exercises and projects--help to reinforce the skills being learned. Whether you're learning on your own or pursuing formal Pro Tools certification through an Avid Learning Partner, PRO TOOLS 10 ADVANCED MUSIC PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES will help you achieve expert-level mastery of Pro Tools. PRO TOOLS 10 ADVANCED MUSIC PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES (Course 310M) is part of the Avid Learning Series. This course leads to expert-level certification. To find more books on Pro Tools, Media Composer, Sibelius, or any other Avid product, visit www.courseptr.com/avid.


Owning a vessel or a fleet can be stressful, especially if someone else is steering it or it is left unsupervised in the marina. Many things can go wrong and a collision with another vessel, the shore or other objects is possible. Of course there are many devices, created especially to monitor one's vessel that are capable of transmitting numerous different informations to the owner, but none of those are capable to detect collisions. Lately, accelerometers are being implemented into these devices, but the data they provide is not useful until it is processed properly. The goal of this thesis is to process vessel sensor data and classify it. Because collisions at sea are fairly rare, most of the data recognised as a collision is false positive. To better understand what exactly is going on with the vessel at any given moment, the accelerometer and all other vessel data is merged with weather data. After that, correlation between accelerometer data and any other given attribute is calculated. Outliers are then classified, according to the previous analysis. Roughly three quarters of all outliers were classified correctly and the data is prepared for further processing, most probably by applying machine learning algorithms.


A total of 1,499 Tundra Swans was captured on their Alaskan and Canadian breeding grounds to determine their migration routes and wintering destinations. In 14 summers of banding (1968-81) 976 (65%) swans were marked with colour neckbands, 482(32%) with colour tarsal bands, and 41 (3%) with metal bands only. Observations of the marked swans on migration or during the winter were used to determine the breeding areas used by two populations; Eastern (EP) and Western (WP). WP Tundra Swans were found to breed in Alaska from Point Hope to the Aleutian Islands. The EP breeding range overlapped with the WP in Alaska from the Yukon Delta to Point Hope. Swans breeding east of Point Hope were all associated with the EP. Only 11 individuals (<1%) of 4,194 Tundra Swans marked on the wintering grounds of EP were later encountered in the WP. No evidence of an age or sex bias was found in the likelihood of a swan switching between the two populations. Additional bandings are needed in the area of breeding range overlap to better define the relationship between the two populations.


Air cycle refrigeration systems belong to the general class of gas cycle refrigeration systems, in which a gas is used as the working fluid. The gas does not undergo any phase change during the cycle, consequently, all the internal heat transfer processes are sensible heat transfer processes. Gas cycle refrigeration systems find applications in air craft cabin cooling and also in the liquefaction of various gases. In the present chapter gas cycle refrigeration systems based on air are discussed.


P availability often limits primary production in freshwater ecosystems and excessive P inputs promote accelerated eutrophication. Microbial mechanisms may control O2-dependent uptake/release of P in stream sediments and biofilms, but specific organisms responsible for these cycles have not been identified. Polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) are purposely enriched in treatment plants to remove P from wastewater. PAOs release P under anaerobic conditions and take it up under aerobic conditions. We hypothesized that alternating aerobic/anaerobic conditions promote patterns of P uptake/release similar to those attributed to PAOs in wastewater treatment. We collected intact, native stream biofilms and subjected them to laboratory treatments to impose conditions similar to what may occur because of diel oxygenic and respiratory cycles: 1) continuous sparging with air and 2) alternate sparging with air or anaerobic gas (20∶80% by volume CO2∶N2). We monitored PO43−, Ca, Mg, total Mn, K, Fe2+, and total S (TS) concentrations in the water during the experiment and total P (TP) and polyphosphate (polyP) concentrations in the biofilms at the start and end of the experiment. We used microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to quantify the percentage of cells with stored intracellular polyP and to test for known PAO genes, respectively. The water had significantly greater dissolved PO43− concentrations during anaerobic than during aerobic conditions. Ca, K, Mg, and total Mn concentrations mimicked PO43− concentrations over time, but Fe2+ and TS concentrations did not. Precipitation of Ca and Mg and reductive dissolution of Mn may have influenced P cycling. Percent microbially stored intracellular polyP was nearly 3× greater in aerobic than anaerobic conditions. We did not find previously reported PAO genes in our biofilms, indicating the presence of novel polyP accumulators. Combined biotic and abiotic processes may be important in controlling short-term P cycling in stream biofilms.


Abstract. Autonomous driving went through numerous significant improvements over the past couple of years, including driver assistants that are already capable of executing an increasing number of complex tasks without the need for any human intervention. As a result of these changes, manufacturers are relying more and more on fast, cheap, and often better-quality simulations over real-world tests. To create these environments, the real world needs to be transformed to a digital, high-definition model. HD maps – for example, the XML-based, hierarchic OpenDRIVE format – aim to serve this purpose.The most important element of any realistic map format is the ability to check connectivity on the map in a convenient way, hence the need for topology. In HD maps, the description of junctions poses a significant challenge to the designers of the format, since they are essential yet complex topological elements. The representation of these junctions is still in progress, however, according to our analysis, the use of the current tools in OpenDRIVE can result in anomalies in the map.In the most recent release of OpenDRIVE (version 1.7), road-road and lane-lane connections are described using links consisting of a predecessor and a successor. These however, has to be described multiple times when the junction tag is used, resulting in duplicates in the model which can be easily exploited. Our proposed solution for this issue is the elimination of the junction tag, which not only gets rid of the anomalies without any loss of information, but it also significantly reduces the size of the model. In this paper, a detailed explanation is provided of this issue and the proposed solution with examples using OpenDRIVE models.


When plants are exposed to a heterogeneous environment, photosynthesis of leaves is not only determined by their local condition, but also by certain signals from other parts of the same plant, termed systemic regulation. Our present study was conducted to investigate the effects of light-dependent systemic regulation on the photosynthetic performance of soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) under heterogeneous light conditions. Soybean plants were treated with heterogeneous light. Then gas exchange characteristics were measured to evaluate the photosynthetic performance of leaves. Parameters related to photosynthetic pigments, chlorophyll fluorescence, Rubisco and photosynthates were examined to study the mechanisms of light-dependent systemic regulation on photosynthesis. Light-induced systemic signalling by illuminated leaves reduced the Pn of both upper and lower non-illuminated leaves on the same soybean plant. The decrease in gs and increase in Ci in these non-illuminated leaves indicated restriction of carbon assimilation, which was further verified by the decline in content and activity of Rubisco. However, the activation state of Rubisco decreased only in upper non-illuminated leaves. Quantum efficiency of PSII (ΦPSII) and ETR also decreased only in upper non-illuminated leaves. Moreover, the effects of light-induced systemic signalling on carbohydrate content were also detectable only in upper non-illuminated leaves. Light-induced systemic signalling by illuminated leaves restricts carbon assimilation and down-regulates photosynthetic performance of non-illuminated leaves within a soybean plant. However, effects of such systemic regulation differed when regulated in upward or downward direction.


Aerosol technologies are of increasing interest in different fields of legitimate civilian research, particularly in agriculture and pharmacology. On the other hand, those technologies may facilitate the development of pathogenic microbial or biochemical agents as letal or nonletal weapons. States, groups, or individuals interested in the use of biological weapons are in need of appropriate delivery technologies to disseminate biological agents. Depending on the actor and its intent, varying means of delivery can be effective, including the contamination of food or water supplies and/or the aerosolization on varying scales. Based on the experience with former biological warfare programs it can be assumed that the most efficient way to deliver biological agents as weapons it their aerosolization.


A method of stabilizing a pure acetylene decomposition flame on a burner, over a range of temperatures and pressures, has been developed. It depends for its feasibility and safety on a novel flow and compressor system, details of which are described. By its use, the variation of burning velocity with temperature and pressure has been determined not only for acetylene but also for a series of hydrocarbon + air mixtures, in order to test both apparatus and method of interpretation. The latter involves an attempt to deduce rate-controlling reaction steps from effective activation energies and orders derived from the pressure and temperature dependence of burning velocity. It is shown that, while these 'global' parameters are in good agreement with values determined for the hydrocarbon + air mixtures, for instance, by 'well-stirred reactor' methods, a logical modification in interpretation brings them into accord with the conclusions, concerning detailed mechanism, of recent flame-structure sampling studies. A similar analysis of the acetylene decomposition results yields effective orders and activation energies which differ from those of both low-temperature pyrolysis and shock-tube studies. A proposed reaction mechanism, which is likely to be dominant only in the case of flames and in the deliberately contrived absence of soot deposits, accounts for these differences as well as for the numerical values obtained. In the presence of soot, an alternative heterogeneous surface-reaction is likely to become important and experimental support for this concept is provided by the behaviour of acetylene during its interaction with hot-ware igniters above the burner.


Abstract: Restoring ecosystem function after oil sands surface mining involves reestablishing the biotic and abiotic ecosystem components that affect biogeochemical cycles and fluxes. In boreal forest ecosystems, pyrogenic carbon is a native soil component that affects a variety of biogeochemical parameters and biochar is its human-made analog. To evaluate the benefits of biochar amendment to reclamation cover soils, we compared characteristics and function of peat–mineral mix (PM) and forest floor–mineral mix (FFM) with and without biochar in an 18 wk greenhouse study. We assessed nutrient bioavailability (NO3, NH4, P, K, S, Mg, and Ca), foliar nutrient concentrations (N, P, K, S, Mg, Ca, Na, and Mo), soil respiration, rhizosphere polysaccharide concentration, soil organic matter stability, and Populus tremuloides Michx. seedling growth. Seedling growth increased significantly on PM cover soil with biochar. Biochar improved K nutritional status and potentially interacted with Na bioavailability in PM, affecting growth. Soil respiration significantly decreased in PM with biochar and increased in FFM. Soil organic matter stability was positively correlated with seedling growth and increased with biochar. Our findings suggest that biochar may have a significant positive effect on upland forest reclamation in the Athabasca oil sands region, especially on sites that are reclaimed with PM.


The present study is based on oribatid mite material (Acari, Oribatida) collected during an expedition to Amazonian Peru in May 2015. A list of identified taxa, including 56 species from 36 genera and 23 families, is presented; of these, eight species (Neoamerioppia phoretica, Ceratorchestes globosus, Truncozetes ecuadoriensis, Drymobates silvicola, Dynatozetes amplus, Scheloribates elegans, Allogalumna antillensis, Galumnopsis secunda), five genera (Drymobates, Dynatozetes, Allogalumna, Sacculogalumna, Galumnopsis) and two families (Drymobatidae, Galumnellidae) are recorded in Peru for the first time, the genus Sacculogalumna is recorded in the Neotropical region for the first time. A new species of Sacculogalumna (Galumnidae) is described; S. hexasacculata Ermilov sp. n. is similar to S. samarensis Ermilov et Corpuz-Raros, 2017, but differs by the presence of striate pattern on dorsal and ventral sides of body, rounded rostrum, smooth bothridial setae, complete sejugal suture, short and thin anal and adanal setae, setiform genital and central epimeral setae and two setae on anterior edges of genital plates, and the paraanal position of adanal lyrifissures in females and males.


The primary trigger to periodic limb movement (PLM) during sleep is still unknown. Its association with the restless legs syndrome (RLS) is established in humans and was reported in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients classified by the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) as A. Its pathogenesis has not been completely unraveled, though recent advances might enhance our knowledge about those malfunctions. PLM association with central pattern generator (CPG) is one of the possible pathologic mechanisms involved. This article reviewed the advances in PLM and RLS genetics, the evolution of CPG functioning, and the neurotransmitters involved in CPG, PLM and RLS. We have proposed that SCI might be a trigger to develop PLM.


Purpose of this study is describe and analyze the dynamics of personality contained within the novel Aku Bukan Budak work Astina Triutami. The data of this study is prominent personalities including traced by the elements characterizations. The data source of this research is novel Aku Bukan Budak work Astina Triutami published by Libri Publishing in 2011. Data collected by reading the novel while marking related elements and invetarisasi data with the data format. The study's findings are Astina character has a strong personality, smiling, friendly, helpful, even stubborn. Personality conflicts experienced in the form of (1) voltage (behavior that consciously or unconsciously), (2) needs (or physical affection), (3) anxiety (anxiety or fear that something will happen, (4) energytransformations (behavior that is open or closed).


Quality, accessible and appropriate housing is key to older people's ability to live independently. The purpose of this paper is to understand older people's housing aspirations and whether these are currently being met. Evidence suggests one in five households occupied by older people in England does not meet the standard of a decent home. The Building Research Establishment has calculated that poor housing costs the English National Health Service £1,4bn annually (Roys et al., 2016).,This paper reports on the findings of a participatory theatre approach to engaging with those not often heard from – notably, those ageing without children and older people with primary responsibility for ageing relatives – about planning for housing decisions in later life. The project was led by an older people's forum, Elders Council, with Skimstone Arts organisation and Northumbria University, in the north east of England.,Findings suggest there is an urgent need to listen to and engage with people about their later life housing aspirations. There is also a need to use this evidence to inform housing, health and social care policy makers, practitioners, service commissioners and providers and product and service designers, to encourage older people to become informed and plan ahead.,Use of a participatory theatre approach facilitated people to explore their own decision making and identify the types of information and support they need to make critical decisions about their housing in later life. Such insights can generate evidence for future housing, social care and health needs. Findings endorse the recent Communities and Local Government (2018) Select Committee Inquiry and report on Housing for Older People and the need for a national strategy for older people's housing.,Although this call is evidenced through an English national case study, from within the context of global population ageing, it has international relevance.


The aim of the present work was the study of phosphonic acids grafting on the surface of SnO2 at different molar ratios. In this paper we describe the functionalization of SnO2 surfaces with phosphonic acids RPO(OH)2. The surface modification process was achieved by using phenyl-phosphonic acid (PPA) and vinyl-phosphonic acid (VPA). The synthesized materials were investigated by using FT-IR, TGA (in air and in nitrogen), EDX, ESEM, and TEM methods. This synthetic approach has many advantages: films with optical quality and controlled thickness can be obtained using low temperatures and cheap raw materials, by using "green chemistry" synthetic routes. The hybrid materials have structures diversity and fascinating applications, attracting attention for a long time, due to their potential.


The lack of direct evidence for physics beyond the SM at the LHC has led some to reevaluate the need for such physics to solve the hierarchy problem. Instead, the notion that the SM, or something like it, is valid up to the Planck scale and that technical naturalness is sufficient for solving the hierarchy problem has been suggested. This thesis examines minimal extensions of the SM that address its phenomenological and theoretical shortcomings while avoiding new physics between the electroweak and Planck scales that introduces a hierarchy problem. This thesis first studies two issues with the vMSM - an extension of the SM by three right-handed neutrinos - and their possible solutions. The first issue is the tension between dark matter production in the nuMSM and constraints from the Lyman-alpha forest data. To avoid this tension, the vMSM is extended by a Higgs singlet Φ and neutrino dark matter is produced through the decays of Φ rather than through left-right neutrino mixing. It is shown that the hierarchical parameters of this model can arise from symmetries broken at or near the Planck scale for two specific examples: one in which Φ stabilizes the electroweak vacuum and one in which Φ is a light inflaton. The second issue pertains to Higgs ξ-inflation. In the vMSM, a large non-minimal coupling ξ of the Higgs to gravity gives inflation but leads to a possible violation of perturbative unitarity below the inflationary scale. A study of Higgs ξ-inflation with Mh s 125-126 GeV, for which the Higgs self-coupling λ runs to small values near the Planck scale, is carried out. It is shown that small λ can significantly reduce ξ required for inflation, but ξ cannot be small enough to address the possible unitarity issue. For small λ, a new region of Higgs ξ-inflation with a large tensor-to-scalar ratio r that is consistent with BICEP2 is discovered. This thesis then studies the technical naturalness and cosmology of a model that addresses the strong CP problem. It is shown that a classically scale invariant DFSZ invisible aξon model with a Peccei-Quinn scalar S, whose couplings to the SM are ultra-weak, can solve the strong CP problem and generate electroweak symmetry breaking via the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. The ultra-weak couplings of S are natural due to an underlying approξmate shift symmetry. The model contains a light pseudo-Goldstone dilaton that can be consistent with cosmological bounds while the aξon can be the dark matter of the universe. Finally, a summary of the thesis is presented and future research topics are suggested.


Objectives Fatigue is a common symptom in primary care. Chronic fatigue research highlights the value of preventing chronicity, but little research has investigated the early, subacute stage of the fatigue trajectory (<3 months). We aimed to examine patient and general practitioner (GP) perspectives of subacute fatigue in primary care: (1) to gain a better understanding of fatigue during this stage and (2) to explore how management could be improved. Design A qualitative study design was used. In‐depth, semi‐structured telephone interviews were conducted with 14 patients and 14 GPs (non‐dyadic), recruited from 19 primary care practices. Methods Interview transcripts were thematically analysed. Initially, patient and GP accounts were analysed separately, before themes were merged to identify shared and independent perspectives. Results Three main themes were identified. Within these, subthemes from patients', GPs', or shared patient/GP perspectives emerged. The main themes encompassed the following: (1) Change from normal – the impact of fatigue; (2) The challenges of managing fatigue; and (3) The consultation GPs' knowledge was often not reflected in patients' accounts, even for those reporting positive experiences, suggesting knowledge was not effectively translated. Conclusions Some findings, such as impact, mirror those described in chronic fatigue. New insights into early‐stage fatigue management also arose, including mismatches in patient and GP perceptions on negative tests and not re‐presenting. These highlight the need for better communication and shared understanding. GPs should pre‐emptively present a biopsychosocial model of fatigue and keep communication channels open, particularly in the light of negative physiological tests. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Patients with chronic fatigue retrospectively report lack of understanding from GPs in early stage of illness. Little research has investigated the early stages of the fatigue trajectory. What does this study add? Consequences of an episode of subacute fatigue are similar to those reported for CFS. There is discordance between GPs' positive view of negative tests and patients' need for explanation of symptoms. The length of appointments is a significant barrier for creating shared understanding.


Robert G. (Bob) Douglas, an internationally recognized micropaleontologist and marine geologist, passed away on January 26, 2016, after a long battle with cancer. During his career he pursued a diverse range of research interests, including the study of living foraminifera and modern environments, Cretaceous foraminiferal biostratigraphy, Cretaceous and modern paleoceanography and biogeography, and more. He published an extensive series of important and highly-cited articles, and he sat on a number of editorial boards and international scientific committees. Within every group that included Bob as a member, he was quickly recognized as a natural leader and a wise counselor. He was also a warm, thoughtful person with a great sense of humor and humility.

A South Bay native, Bob's interest in geology began during his childhood growing up in Palos Verdes, California. He and his brothers would hike around the Palos Verdes Peninsula, playing in the canyons, finding rocks, arrowheads and fossils, which sparked his curiosity, and ultimately lead him into a career in the Earth Sciences.

He graduated from Redondo Union High School in 1955, and received his bachelor's degree in Geology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1959. After graduating from UCSB, Bob worked as a geologist in Shell Oil's Alaska Division before earning his PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1966. At UCLA, Bob was part of the first group of graduate students working under the guidance of his PhD supervisor at UCLA, Helen N. Tappan. There Bob participated in seminars on micropaleontology and marine geology and in field trips to the coast that inspired his later work. Helen and her husband Alfred R. Loeblich Jr., who at the time was a chief scientist for oil exploration at Chevron Research Lab in La Habra, California, and …


Protein homeostasis is an equilibrium of paramount importance that maintains cellular performance by preserving an efficient proteome. This equilibrium avoids the accumulation of potentially toxic proteins, which could lead to cellular stress and death. While the regulators of proteostasis are the machineries controlling protein production, folding and degradation, several other factors can influence this process. Here, we have considered two factors influencing protein turnover: the subcellular localization of a protein and its functional state. For this purpose, we used an imaging approach based on the pulse-labeling of 17 representative SNAP-tag constructs for measuring protein lifetimes. With this approach, we obtained precise measurements of protein turnover rates in several subcellular compartments. We also tested a selection of mutants modulating the function of three extensively studied proteins, the Ca2+ sensor calmodulin, the small GTPase Rab5a and the brain creatine kinase (CKB). Finally, we followed up on the increased lifetime observed for the constitutively active Rab5a (Q79L), and we found that its stabilization correlates with enlarged endosomes and increased interaction with membranes. Overall, our data reveal that both changes in protein localization and functional state are key modulators of protein turnover, and protein lifetime fluctuations can be considered to infer changes in cellular behavior.


: In the spring of 1981, an informal survey of 22 US colleges of veterinary medicine was conducted. The purpose was to acquire information regarding the current commitment of such schools, each with an established and operational curriculum, for poisonous plant instruction. Aspects of commitment surveyed included number of instructional contact hours, pedagogical approach employed, and course content and topic emphasis. The results (summarized below) were presented at the American College of Veterinary Toxicologists "Symposium on Teaching Toxicology" held at the American Veterinary Medical Association annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo. in July of 1981.


Recently, we have shown that manganese magnetism-engineered iron oxide nanoparticles (MnMEIO NPs) conjugated with exendin-4 (Ex4) act as a contrast agent that directly trace implanted mouse islet β-cells by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Here we further advanced this technology to track implanted porcine neonatal pancreatic cell clusters (NPCCs) containing ducts, endocrine, and exocrine cells. NPCCs from one-day-old neonatal pigs were isolated, cultured for three days, and then incubated overnight with MnMEIO-Ex4 NPs. Binding of NPCCs and MnMEIO-Ex4 NPs was confirmed with Prussian blue staining in vitro prior to the transplantation of 2000 MnMEIO-Ex4 NP-labeled NPCCs beneath the left renal capsule of six nondiabetic nude mice. The 7.0 T MRI on recipients revealed persistent hypointense areas at implantation sites for up to 54 days. The MR signal intensity of the graft on left kidney reduced 62–88% compared to the mirror areas on the contralateral kidney. Histological studies showed colocalization of insulin/iron and SOX9/iron staining in NPCC grafts, indicating that MnMEIO-Ex4 NPs were taken up by mature β-cells and pancreatic progenitors. We conclude that MnMEIO-Ex4 NPs are excellent contrast agents for detecting and long-term monitoring implanted NPCCs by MRI.


The Ultimate Reference & Learning Guide for PHP Programmers! Over 150 Questions, Answers, and Explanations It's clear that PHP is a must-know for any programmer who wants to stay competitive in today's oversaturated market. Over 150 PHP Certification Questions, Answers, and Explanations guide you through your learning process no matter your current level of PHP fluency. From helping you to assess your skills to evaluating candidates for a job, PHP Certification Questions, Answers, & Explanations will help you understand what you really need to know. The book is organized around application to both the production of dynamic web pages and server-side application software. Each question includes everything you need to know to master the interview or properly evaluate a candidate. More than just a rehash of Oracle documentation and sales presentations, each question is based on project knowledge and experience gained on successful high-profile Oracle implementations. Key certification and interview topics include: . PHP for web page output . Architecture and configuration . Syntax and trouble shooting . Security . PHP and data storage


In this paper we have multi functional converters to inter connect the both the dc and ac grids to handle power quality issues of the micro-grids. Multifunctional inverters can not only interface the renewable energy resource into the utility grid, but also can compensate the harmonic and reactive current in the micro-grid as an auxiliary service. Therefore, to enhance the power quality of the micro-grid by optimal utilization of the limited and valuable capacity becomes a technical challenge. In this paper, two optimal control objectives of MFGTIs are presented based on a comprehensive power quality evaluation algorithm by means of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) theory. The two proposed strategies are analyzed about the powers and voltage and currents as results, and the paper also discusses how to use them in practice for the best performance. Simulation of proposed svpwm verifies the feasibility of the proposed optimal control strategies.


The routing of a fleet of vehicles to service a set of customers is important in logistic distribution systems. The main objective of Vehicle routing problem (VRP) is to minimize the total required fleet size for serving all customers. Secondary objectives are to minimize the total distance traveled or to minimize the total route duration of all vehicles. In this paper, we present a hybrid ant colony System, named PACS, coupled with a pareto local search (PLS) algorithm and apply to the VRP and its variant, the VRP with Time Windows (VRPTW). The algorithm only chooses partial customers randomly to compute the transition probability and PLS can help to escape local optimum. Experiments on various aspects of the algorithm and computational results for some benchmark problems are reported. We compare our approach with some classic, powerful meta-heuristics and show that the proposed approach can obtain the better quality of the solutions.


The relationship between religion and volunteering is well documented (Putnam and Campbell, 2010; Ruiter and De Graaf, 2006), and a prevalent hypothesis for the association is that the effect of religion is mediated through religious social networks. However, research on this relationship has largely been conducted on majority Christian populations in the United States and Europe. In this study, we use two data sets, the European Values Study (1999–2008) and the Ethnic Minority British Election Survey (2010) to examine this relationship in Britain on the general population and ethnic minority population, respectively. The results suggest that religion increases volunteering primarily through bonding rather than bridging social networks. We also find that in non-Christian religions, solitary and collective religious rituals may both have an effect on civic participation, but whereas the effect of service attendance is mediated through bonding social networks, the effect of prayer is mediated more through bridging networks. Finally, values of individual autonomy and generalized trust are associated with non-religious, but not religious, participation, suggesting an alternative secular ethos of civic engagement.


A local network for the automatic extraction of drainage networks from elevation data is described. The methodology demonstrates how a large number of locally connected processing units can solve the global problem of drainage network extraction. The methodology has advantages over previous methods and is able to extract lakes as well as streams and rivers.


The paper reports a study of the operation of the breeding system in the milk herd in Israel. Basic notions in quantitative genetics are explained and incorporated in a simulation model which is used to illustrate and analyse the selection process. Particularly emphasised are the traits common to selection and other research and development effort; among them, search, limited information, and biological and technical constraints. Differential technical changes affected the structure of the milk producing industry and its measured productivity; these effects are discussed in the last part of the paper.


A total of 4,298 snails Bradybaena similaris were collected from the rural area of Rio de Janeiro County and from the Counties of Paracambi and Itaguai, State of Rio de Janeiro. Two thousand and five of these snails had metacercariae in their pericardial cavity. The collecting was done between October 1983 and September 1986. The annual average prevalences were: 42.89% (1st year), 43.42% (2nd year) and 55.86% (3rd year). Experimental infection in chicks allowed the identification of these metacercariae as Postharmostomum gallinum. The small variation in size observed among metacercariae from the same host indicates that recruitment does not occur on a continuous basis. Statistical analysis showed no correlation between the snail size and the number of metacercariae in the pericardical cavity, and that the snail mortality observed in the laboratory was due to the parasitic infection.


The precise mechanism by which the broad-spectrum anti-RNA virus agent ribavirin elicits its in vitro antiviral effect has remained a matter of debate. We have demonstrated that inhibition of cellular inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) activity, and thus depletion of intracellular GTP pools, is the predominant mechanism by which ribavirin inhibits the replication of four flavi- and two paramyxoviruses (J Virol 79:1943-1947, 2005). As a consequence, induction of error catastrophe, which has been proposed as a mechanism by which ribavirin may elicit its anti-RNA virus activity, may be expected to have little, if any, impact on its antiviral effect. The flavivirus yellow fever virus (17D vaccine strain) was cultured for five consecutive passages in the presence of 1-β-d-ribofuranosyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxamide (ribavirin), 5-ethynyl-1-β-d-ribo-furanosylimidazole-4-carboxamide (EICAR) (the 5-ethynyl analog of ribavirin), or mycophenolic acid (MPA; a compound that exclusively inhibits IMPDH). The reduction in infectious virus yield brought about by ribavirin (as well as MPA and EICAR) was paralleled by a similar reduction in viral RNA yield; in case of error-prone replication, the infectious virus yield is expected to decrease significantly faster than the viral RNA yield. In addition, pre-extinction populations of the virus that has suffered a maximum impact of treatment with ribavirin did not accumulate an increased number of mutations. Very similar observations were obtained with EICAR and with MPA, a molecule that cannot be incorporated into viral RNA. These data thus allow us to conclude that the in vitro anti-yellow fever virus activity of ribavirin is independent of error-prone replication.


Greater use of groundwater in Sub-Saharan Africa is a pre-requisite for improved human welfare; however, the costs associated with groundwater development are prohibitively high and poorly defined. This study identifies and disaggregates the costs of groundwater development in 11 Sub-Saharan African countries, while the cost factors that most strongly affect drilling expenditures are traced. Further, the institutional and technical constraints impeding groundwater development are also explored while a time-series analysis forecasts future drilling expenditures. The results indicate that mobilisation and demobilisation costs, together with well development costs, factors that are difficult to change, are most significantly affecting the total costs of drilling. Further, the nature of the hydrogeological formation (which is largely a site character istic), along with the often-aged machinery (which can be controlled), are also major impediments to lowering the cost of drilling. All countries are forecasted to have a slight to considerable drilling cost decrease for the next decade which offers encouragement for future groundwater development. Greater attention to the individual cost factors and to forecasting analysis could help to design more coherent and consistent groundwater development policies in Sub-Saharan Africa.


Arkwright is a 50 × 10 6 BBL oil field located within a single Forties Sandstone Member turbidite 'channel' system. Arkwright was discovered in 1990 and developed in 1996. Earlier start-up was precluded by reservoir risk and lack of export pipeline capacity. Reservoir definition improved after acquiring a 3D survey and applying imaging and attribute studies. This, combined with subsurface analogue, core, and carbon, oxygen and strontium isotopic studies, improved understanding of reservoir architecture and connectivity. Geostatistical techniques were used to quantify the STOIIP. The main risks identified were the absence of aquifer support, and possible vertical and lateral baffling. As these could not be tested by appraisal drilling it was decided to commence development. Low-cost, two-well development options were considered and rejected because of the subsurface risk. Without guaranteed aquifer support, the productivity from early sub-bubble point flow would be lost waiting for injection support to be added. Risk-weighting highlighted the advantage of initial expenditure to safeguard the project, and so a third initial production well was planned, in a location suitable for conversion to injection. Predicted rates were increased and the impact of lateral baffling minimized by drilling deviated producers on opposite sides of the structure, and not reusing the discovery well. Costs were reduced by using a drilling centre outside the field. The perforation strategy ensures drainage above and below potentially sealing abandonment shales, and facilitates future zonal isolation. Communication within the reservoir was tested at start-up with an interference test.


With the increase in the use of virtual currencies across the globe, the security of Bitcoin wallets has become a serious concern for the Bitcoin community. The developers are trying to implement concrete security solutions in Bitcoin wallets to ensure that no vulnerability gets exploited. However, a large number of known, as well as zero - day attacks, are launched on the Bitcoin wallets on a daily basis, resulting in a loss of bitcoins. In this regard, this paper presents a security analysis of existing Android wallets. We demonstrate how the implemented security practices can be bypassed by malicious entities, causing financial loss to Bitcoin users. As a countermeasure, we present a smart card based authentication scheme which will protect the users from all of the identified attacks.


This article responds to three articles in the most recent issue of The Journal of Jewish Education (74:1) in which a variety of researchers examined Bible teaching that employed an approach to Bible pedagogy that had been characterized by the present author as "the Contextual orientation" in his previously published book, Textual Knowledge: Teaching the Bible in Theory and in Practice. The article responds to these three empirical studies in the light of the theory that he had previously articulated and explores issues, complexities and new insights that are raised by the suite of articles. In particular the article looks at various uses of the "The Documentary Hypothesis" as they appear in the empirical studies and it explores complexities in the relationship between the Contextual orientation and other orientations (particularly "Personalization") that were raised by these three studies, many of which were not anticipated in the author's original work.


PURPOSE
Using a driving simulator, we examined the effects of homonymous hemianopia (HH) on head scanning behaviors at intersections and evaluated the role of inadequate head scanning in detection failures.

METHODS
Fourteen people with complete HH and without cognitive decline or visual neglect and 12 normally sighted (NV) current drivers participated. They drove in an urban environment following predetermined routes, which included multiple intersections. Head scanning behaviors were quantified at T-intersections (n = 32) with a stop or yield sign. Participants also performed a pedestrian detection task. The relationship between head scanning and detection was examined at 10 intersections.

RESULTS
For HH drivers, the first scan was more likely to be toward the blind than the seeing hemifield. They also made a greater proportion of head scans overall to the blind side than did the NV drivers to the corresponding side (P = 0.003). However, head scan magnitudes of HH drivers were smaller than those of the NV group (P < 0.001). Drivers with HH had impaired detection of blind-side pedestrians due either to not scanning in the direction of the pedestrian or to an insufficient scan magnitude (left HH detected only 46% and right HH 8% at the extreme left and right of the intersection, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
Drivers with HH demonstrated compensatory head scan patterns, but not scan magnitudes. Inadequate scanning resulted in blind-side detection failures, which might place HH drivers at increased risk for collisions at intersections. Scanning training tailored to specific problem areas identified in this study might be beneficial.


ABSTRACT Background: It is important to evaluate trunk control, given that it is one of the indicators of adequate functional and motor recovery in patients following a stroke. The assessment should be feasible and adequate in clinical conditions in the acute phase. Objectives: The aim of this study was to detect the most appropriate scale used for trunk control assessment in very acute stroke patients in terms of time and ease of implementation. Methods: Sixty-five patients with very acute stroke were included in the study. The patients were assessed with the Trunk Impairment Scale-1 (VTIS), the Trunk Impairment Scale-2 (FTIS), the Motor Assessment Scale trunk subscale (T-MAS) and the Trunk Control Test (TCT), and Functional Impairment Measure (FIM). Floor/ceiling effects, reliability, validity responsiveness of all trunk control scales analyzed. The correlation between all scales and FIM were calculated. Results: All scales had similar reliability, responsiveness and construct validity level. T-MAS and TCT were more advantageous than other scales according to time. TCT and VTIS showed floor effect. The best predictive validity values were observed for the T-MAS and TCT. Conclusions: Four scales investigated in this study can also be used to evaluate the patients with very acute stroke. On the other hand, the advantages and disadvantages of the scales should be thoroughly assessed and researchers can use one of four scales considering their aim, patient populations and clinical characteristics of patients