In June 2014, Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was commissioned by
Groundwork Oldham and Rochdale, to carry out a programme of archaeological
investigation of the former Jubilee Colliery near Shaw, Oldham (centred on NGR
394310 410841). The archaeological works involved the delivery of a community-led
excavation on the site as part of the 'Jubilee Colliery: Preserving the Past' project, a
six-month scheme that has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The principal
aim of the archaeological work was to enable local volunteers to further examine the
remains of the colliery that had been subject to an earlier investigation in 2012.
Jubilee Colliery was one of the most important collieries in the Oldham Coalfield,
supplying coal and coke to many of the cotton mills and factories in the area. The
colliery was founded in 1845, when a shaft was sunk into the Mountain Mine, which
lies 99m below the surface. Owned originally by the Edge Lane & Dryclough Colliery
Company, Jubilee Colliery was bought in 1883 by Platt Brothers & Co Limited of
Oldham, one of the largest manufacturers of textile machinery in the world. The Platt
Brothers were keen to secure a cheap source of coke for their iron works in Oldham,
where some 500 tons per week were being used, and the coal gained from the
Mountain Mine at Jubilee was ideal for producing coke.
Many of the buildings were demolished when the colliery closed in 1932, and the
abandoned site was allowed to be reclaimed by nature. It is currently managed as a
local nature reserve by Groundwork Oldham and Rochdale, and is colonised by a
diverse range of flora that thrives amongst the remains of the colliery structures.
These remains include part of a double bank of coke ovens, the foundations of the
winding engine for the downcast shaft, the dynamo house, and a raised mound that
marks the site of the boiler house and chimney.


Abstract3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has recently completed the specification of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. Majority of the world's operators and vendors are already committed to LTE deployments and developments, making LTE the market leader in the upcoming evolution to 4G wireless communication systems. Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technologies introduced in LTE such as spatial multiplexing, transmit diversity, and beamforming are key components for providing higher peak rate at a better system efficiency, which are essential for supporting future broadband data service over wireless links. Further extension of LTE MIMO technologies is being studied under the 3GPP study item "LTE-Advanced" to meet the requirement of IMT-Advanced set by International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R). In this paper, we introduce various MIMO technologies employed in LTE and provide a brief overview on the MIMO technologies currently discussed in the LTE-Advanced forum.


: The apparatus described in this report provides a noninvasive, nonocclusive technique for continuously measuring cutaneous blood pressure changes over extended periods of time. The data are acquired with miniature pressure transducers mechanically coupled to the cutaneous tissue overlying the thumb and wrist. The cutaneous blood pressure patterns obtained with this apparatus indicate that the stress of uterine contractions causes readily identifiable blood pressure pattern changes. Preliminary results suggest that data obtained with this instrumentation is more complete than that obtainable with intermittent occlusive blood pressure measuring systems currently in use.


Basing upon the histochemical study of SDG and NO-synthase activity in 68 biopsies taken from patients with duodenal ulcer the connection between the clinical specificity and the activity of the disease the SDG activity decreases, while that of NO-synthase increases. At the phase of cicatrization the opposite process is going on. The authors connect the phenomena under investigation with the vasodilatory and protective abilities of the nitrogen oxide.


Abstract This paper is focused on several factors that cause seasonality in farmers work occupation, farm income, sales , and price expressed on the farm level for apples product. In this study we have taken several factors, and we have analyzed seasonality caused by the seasonal factors that we have taken in study, on economic phenomena expressed at the farm level, and whether apple is product with main activity on the farm. Seasonality has been expressed by method of econometric modeling and variance coefficient. Our study is based on the collection of primary data through surveys and questionnaires for 300 farmers that are engaged on apples and tomatoes activity in three respective areas, Korça, Prizren, Lushnja and we have evaluated the seasonality conditioned by seasonal factors in income, farmers employment over the year, sales and price at farm level, bearing in mind that for the Korça and Prizren areas the main activity on the farm is apples. And for Lushnja area the main activity is tomatoes. In this study we have taken into account the comparison of influence of these seasonal factors on basis of apple and tomato products, analyzing only for case when apple is the main activity on the farm.


In October last year I changed jobs and universities after twenty-one years. As such, this is probably a good time to re-evaluate trends and challenges in research. Indeed looking back, it is often possible to discern patterns of change of which we were not aware at the time.

Over the last twenty-one years, and especially since 1978, my research has been mainly directed towards developing critical studies on Men and Masculinities. Since the late 1980s, the main focus has been on men's violence to known women; in particular this has involved interviewing men about their violence and studying the responses of criminal justice and other agencies to that violence.

I have also worked since the late 1970s with colleagues on a range of related issues around gender and sexuality in organisations and management. Increasingly, I can recognise the coming together of my work on men and my work on organisations.

So what are the trends and challenges - both in the field of Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities and in my own work?


Academic libraries have a mandate of enhancing teaching and research missions of their parent institutions through provision of library services. This paper shares findings of a study which investigated users" awareness, perceptions and usage of Makerere University Library (MakLib) Services in the Main Library and selected branch Libraries. The study adopted a qualitative approach. The researcher interviewed 94 in total; 54 users were from the Main Library, 21 were from the CEES library, while 19 were from Sir Albert Cook Medical Library. The interview schedule consisted of both open and closed questions to enable the participants to express their views and answer the why and how questions. The findings from the study indicated that major category of library users are undergraduate students; that more users visit the Main Library compared to the other two branch libraries; showed a good rating of the quality of services provided by MakLib; as well as a good rating of MakLib staff. The rate of awareness of some Library services was however rated low, yet Usage of library and information services has a direct linkage to awareness of users about those services. To address some of the issues raised by the findings, this study recommended further promotion and marketing of library services using diverse approaches in order to enhance users" awareness and increase Usage of all library services; continuous improvement of the end-user training programmes and ensuring that there are sufficient networked computers with fast Internet connectivity.


The study was carried out during four years that span a gradient in hydrological connectivity between the Danube and its sidearm system at Regelsbrunn (Austria). We evaluated the influences of distinct periods of hydrological connectivity on the phytoplankton community structure itself, but also interferences with biotic processes (including community succession, competition and zooplankton grazing) that may take place within the constraints set by the hydrological disturbance regime. Algal biomass was highly related to the hydrological regime: lowest amounts were detected either during flood events or at long-lasting periods of isolation; on the other hand intermediate connection led to maximum concentrations. During floods and throughout the cold season, Bacillariophyceae were dominating the algal community. Summer and elongated periods of isolation favoured Chlorophyta. Cryptophyta occurred in early autumn after two months disconnection from the main channel, Dinophyta and Cyanoprokaryota were only of minor importance. Multivariate statistical analyses showed that water age was the primary determinant of phytoplankton community structure in the side-arm system. Cluster analyses revealed 7 groups that were characterized by 169 indicator taxa. Groups were dominated by Bacillariophyceae (Nitzschia, Navicula, Cymbella, Fragilaria and Diatoma), while species belonging to the Chloro-, Eugleno- and Dinophyta were less abundant. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling was used for a comparison of community similarity between the main channel and the side-arm system. During high connectivity temporal trends of phytoplankton similarity in the side-arm tracked closely the community patterns of the Danube which indicated a major influence of the main channel on phytoplankton community structure. During low connectivity the temporal trends of the communities from both sampling stations were less coupled. A Canonical Correspondence Analysis explained 89.7% of the variance of the species-environment relation. Water age, particulate inorganic matter and dissolved inorganic nitrogen compounds were strongly coinciding with the first axis, whereas particulate nitrogen was mainly related to the second axis. A phytoplankton succession model was developed for the side-arm system. This model emphasizes increased phytoplankton community similarity during high connectivity and short isolation periods and a site-specific community development during low connectivity between the Danube and the side-arm. During prolonged isolation, seasonality gained importance in structuring the plankton community. Biotic interaction (intraguild competition and zooplankton grazing) played an important role in the shifts between successional stages, suggesting that these effects should not be neglected in ecological studies of disturbance-dependent floodplain ecosystems.


Over the last two decades, a growing body of literature has investigated the factors influencing the differences in financial reporting, especially earnings quality, in an international setting. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the cross-country research that focuses on earnings quality and to offer suggestions for future topics in the field. In this study, I first discuss the relationship between earnings quality and the following institutional and cultural factors that have been examined in prior literature: legal tradition, investor protection (outside investor rights and legal enforcement), tax system, regulations, financial development, market competition, accounting standards (divergence from IAS), enforcement of accounting standards, culture, religiosity, and language. Second, the relationship between the improvement of earnings quality and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption is described. The results are mixed and suggest that a single set of accounting standards that are generally viewed as high quality does not always improve earnings quality. In addition, the relationship varies with the institutional and cultural factors of a country. It means that improvement through IFRS adoption would require the development of an institutional environment. Finally, as a prospect for future research, this paper discusses the extension from a single-country to cross-country study, the impact of IFRS adoption on the contracting role of accounting through the change in earnings quality, and earnings quality of non-listed firms in an international setting. These topics have become a more fruitful avenue of research with the recent increase in the availability of data.


This study was designed to examine the possibility, that where there is high similarity between irrelevant and target letters, the irrelevant letter will be constructed to a sufficiently detailed level to be seen. 40 randomly selected second year psychology students each attended a 1-hr. experimental session in which they searched 25 lists, followed by a recognition test. The lists were made up from the upper case letters of the alphabet, and during the recognition test each S was required to indicate how many times each of the irrelevant letters had appeared on the final list searched. Analysis of variance showed a significant recognition frequency effect. The results indicated Neisser's (1967) view, that during visual search construction is reserved for the target, may require modification.


Three spacecraft for the UK, Turkey and Nigeria were launched together in September 2003, to join Algeria's satellite, AlSat-1, in the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. has designed, built and launched the world's first constellation to provide daily global Earth observation coverage at moderate resolution in three spectral bands. This international initiative will provide daily images for global disaster monitoring, as well as supporting each partner nation's indigenous remote sensing requirements. The DMC programme establishes a novel model for international collaboration, and demonstrates how small satellite missions can be employed for a wide range of applications. This paper shows the first in-orbit mission results from DMC satellites including examples of unique EO data products comprising up to 600/spl times/600 km images gathered at 32-metres GSD in 3 spectral bands.


Vision-tangible mixed reality (VTMR) is a further development of the traditional mixed reality. It provides an experience of directly manipulating virtual objects at the perceptual level of vision. In this paper, we propose a mixed reality system called "VTouch". VTouch is composed of an optical see-through head-mounted display (OST-HMD) and a depth camera, supporting a direct 6 degree-of-freedom transformation and a detailed manipulation of 6 sides of the Rubik's cube. All operations can be performed based on the spatial physical detection between virtual and real objects. We have not only implemented a qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of the system by a functional test, but also performed quantitative experiments to test the effects of depth occlusion. In this way, we put forward basic design principles and give suggestions for future development of similar systems. This kind of mixed reality system is significant for promoting the development of the intelligent environment with state-of-the-art interaction techniques.


Global lockdowns have resulted in a challenge to our carefully constructed notions of time, the work week and time-space compression. For the past few months, we have been living in 'Quarantime'. Quarantime moves differently than our daily lived temporalities of routine and order, and forces us to question the intimate relationship that we may have with how we structure our daily lives around a clock and timesheet. This article questions the challenges and opportunities inherent within the disruption of routine intimacies enacted through Quarantime, drawing on case studies of clock time and the work week, and through examining Quarantime's unique relationship to time-space compression. It will suggest that Quarantime opens up a space for us to question intimate attachments to enforced routine and wide institutionalised concepts of clock time.


ABSTRACT Nearly all estimators in statistical prediction come with an associated tuning parameter, in one way or another. Common practice, given data, is to choose the tuning parameter value that minimizes a constructed estimate of the prediction error of the estimator; we focus on Stein's unbiased risk estimator, or SURE, which forms an unbiased estimate of the prediction error by augmenting the observed training error with an estimate of the degrees of freedom of the estimator. Parameter tuning via SURE minimization has been advocated by many authors, in a wide variety of problem settings, and in general, it is natural to ask: what is the prediction error of the SURE-tuned estimator? An obvious strategy would be simply use the apparent error estimate as reported by SURE, that is, the value of the SURE criterion at its minimum, to estimate the prediction error of the SURE-tuned estimator. But this is no longer unbiased; in fact, we would expect that the minimum of the SURE criterion is systematically biased downwards for the true prediction error. In this work, we define the excess optimism of the SURE-tuned estimator to be the amount of this downward bias in the SURE minimum. We argue that the following two properties motivate the study of excess optimism: (i) an unbiased estimate of excess optimism, added to the SURE criterion at its minimum, gives an unbiased estimate of the prediction error of the SURE-tuned estimator; (ii) excess optimism serves as an upper bound on the excess risk, that is, the difference between the risk of the SURE-tuned estimator and the oracle risk (where the oracle uses the best fixed tuning parameter choice). We study excess optimism in two common settings: shrinkage estimators and subset regression estimators. Our main results include a James–Stein-like property of the SURE-tuned shrinkage estimator, which is shown to dominate the MLE; and both upper and lower bounds on excess optimism for SURE-tuned subset regression. In the latter setting, when the collection of subsets is nested, our bounds are particularly tight, and reveal that in the case of no signal, the excess optimism is always in between 0 and 10 degrees of freedom, regardless of how many models are being selected from. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


We consider a regulator's choice between environmentally motivated emissions taxes and output taxes. We investigate how the optimal instrument depends on the monitoring cost function, the firm's technology, and on social preferences regarding output and environmental quality. Pure emissions taxes are usually not optimal with monitoring costs. Pure output taxes are optimal under sufficiently high monitoring costs, sufficiently limited options for emission reduction by means other than output reduction, and sufficiently high substitutability of the output. Finally, conditions for the optimality of mixed taxes are given.


Microstructural feature of the recrystallized Co-based (Co3Ti) and Ni-based (Ni3(Si,Ti) and Ni3Fe) ordered alloys with L12 structure was investigated by the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) method, with emphasis on grain boundary character distribution (GBCD). For comparison, the GBCDs of the recrystallized Co-Ni, Ni-Fe and 70/30 brass disordered alloys, and also copper, nickel and aluminum pure metals with A1 (fcc) structure, which have widely different stacking fault energies, were also determined. The frequency of Σ3 boundary for the Co-based alloys was higher than that for the Ni-based alloys, regardless of ordered L12 alloy or disordered fcc alloy, indicating that the frequency of Σ3 boundary was primarily dominated by stacking fault energy. Furthermore, the effect of ordering energy on structure and energy of the grain boundaries including Σ3 boundary in the ordered L12 alloys was discussed.


: Hashimoto's encephalitis is a rare cause of encephalitis which is improved by corticosteroid treatment. We report the case of a 42-year-old woman who developed progressive dementia associated with episodes of recurrent discorders of consciousness which rapidly improved with corticosteroids. During these episodes, no sleep activity was recorded on the holter EEG. These discorders were reversible with treatment and a normal EEG sleep pattern reappeared. At physical examination, Hashimoto's encephalitis can mimic Creutzfeld-Jakob disease. Systematic sleep-EEG recordings can be helpful for diagnosis of sleep disorders related Hashimoto's encephalitis. This case illustrates the importance of searching for antithyroid antibodies in patients with unexplained encephalitis.


In this paper, we propose an approach that fuses information from a network of visual sensors for the analysis of human social behavior. A discriminative interaction classifier is trained based on the relative head orientation and distance between a pair of people. Specifically, we explore human interaction detection at different levels of feature fusion and decision fusion. While feature fusion mitigates local errors and improves feature accuracy, decision fusion at higher levels significantly reduces the amount of information to be shared among cameras. Experiment results show that our proposed method achieves promising performance on a challenging dataset. By distributing the computation over multiple smart cameras, our approach is not only robust but also scalable.


Objective: The etiology of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) remains elusive despite known associations with several factors, including intestinal ischemia related to the effects of umbilical arterial catheterization on the mesenteric circulation. However, the role of the mesenteric venous circulation has yet to be studied as a potential cause of NEC. We examined the association between umbilical venous catheter (UVC) position and the development of NEC in premature infants. Design: A prospective cohort study was performed to examine the effect of UVC on portosystemic shunting via the ductus venosus (DV) and its potential role in NEC. Results: We recruited 132 premature infants, 62 of which had a birth weight ≤1,500 g. NEC was noted in 12 (19%) patients. All infants weighing ≤1,500 g underwent an attempt at UVC insertion. The UVC status was classified as appropriate (n = 39), unsuccessful (n = 9), or malpositioned (n = 14). Among the NEC patients, 7 (58%) had a UVC malposition and 3 (25%) had an unsuccessful attempt. These rates were significantly higher than in patients without NEC (14 and 12%, respectively). Multivariable logistic regression analysis confirmed birth weight (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2-4.7, p = 0.001) and UVC malpositioning (OR 6.9, 95% CI 1.6-35.4, p = 0.007) as independent risk factors associated with NEC. Conclusions: Unrecognized withdrawal of a UVC into the portal vein or DV is associated with an increased incidence of NEC in infants weighing ≤1,500 g. The data support the need for additional studies to examine this effect. Confirmation of a causal relationship will raise the need to reassess UVC insertion criteria and strategies for more closely monitoring the catheter tip position.


Graph neural networks (GNNs) have demonstrated great success in representation learning for graph-structured data. The layer-wise graph convolution in GNNs is shown to be powerful at capturing graph topology. During this process, GNNs are usually guided by pre-defined kernels such as Laplacian matrix, adjacency matrix, or their variants. However, the adoptions of pre-defined kernels may restrain the generalities to different graphs: mismatch between graph and kernel would entail sub-optimal performance. For example, GNNs that focus on low-frequency information may not achieve satisfactory performance when high-frequency information is significant for the graphs, and vice versa. To solve this problem, in this paper, we propose a novel framework - i.e., namely Adaptive Kernel Graph Neural Network (AKGNN) - which learns to adapt to the optimal graph kernel in a unified manner at the first attempt. In the proposed AKGNN, we first design a data-driven graph kernel learning mechanism, which adaptively modulates the balance between all-pass and low-pass filters by modifying the maximal eigenvalue of the graph Laplacian. Through this process, AKGNN learns the optimal threshold between high and low frequency signals to relieve the generality problem. Later, we further reduce the number of parameters by a parameterization trick and enhance the expressive power by a global readout function. Extensive experiments are conducted on acknowledged benchmark datasets and promising results demonstrate the outstanding performance of our proposed AKGNN by comparison with state-of-the-art GNNs. The source code is publicly available at: https://github.com/jumxglhf/AKGNN.


This is a brief sketch of the use of supernovae to measure cosmological parameters. It traces the early work, the events surrounding the discovery and verification of cosmic acceleration using SN Ia, and the efforts today to make sound inferences about the nature of dark energy. The prospects for minimizing systematics by using near-infrared observations in the supernova restframe are emphasized. This could be an important point in the design of a JDEM that employs supernovae to measure the history of cosmic expansion.


This paper aims to develop a framework to forecast biofuel policies impacts about fifteen years ahead in Mexico, where there have been several attempts to introduce biofuels into the market but so far no success. Technically, we develop an endogenous-price mathematical programming model emphasizing the Mexican agricultural and fuel sectors, which are embedded in a multi-region, multi-product, spatial partial equilibrium model of the world economy. There is a module for the U.S. and another for Rest of the World. Mexico is disaggregated into 193 crop districts. Production functions are specified for 14 major crops as well as livestock. Biofuel can be produced both from dedicated crops and from agroindustrial residues. We consider three policy alternatives as well as a base case in which, as now, liquid fuels are all derived from fossil sources. The first alternative consists of subsidies to biofuel producers, the second of blending mandates and the third of both combined. Biofuel imports are allowed in all cases. Results show some losses for fuel and agricultural consumers, that are not offset by both ethanol producer and GHG emissions reduction gains. This suggests that some compensating redistribution may be needed if these policies are to be seen as politically sustainable.


We present a chemical abundance analysis of four additional confirmed member stars of Tucana III, a Milky Way satellite galaxy candidate in the process of being tidally disrupted as it is accreted by the Galaxy. Two of these stars are centrally located in the core of the galaxy while the other two stars are located in the eastern and western tidal tails. The four stars have chemical abundance patterns consistent with the one previously studied star in Tucana III: they are moderately enhanced in r-process elements, i.e., they have dex. The non-neutron-capture elements generally follow trends seen in other dwarf galaxies, including a metallicity range of 0.44 dex and the expected trend in α-elements, i.e., the lower metallicity stars have higher Ca and Ti abundances. Overall, the chemical abundance patterns of these stars suggest that Tucana III was an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy, and not a globular cluster, before being tidally disturbed. As is the case for the one other galaxy dominated by r-process enhanced stars, Reticulum II, Tucana III's stellar chemical abundances are consistent with pollution from ejecta produced by a binary neutron star merger, although a different r-process element or dilution gas mass is required to explain the abundances in these two galaxies if a neutron star merger is the sole source of r-process enhancement.


A study is presented of the forces involved in adsorption from solution with particular reference to hydrogen bonds and electrostatic attraction. In the first part, the refractive index method is used to detect intra- as well as inter-molecular complexes, particularly of hydrogen bond type, between simple organic compounds in aqueous and non-aqueous solution. The reality of the existence of such complexes is demonstrated by infrared spectrophotometry, molecular weight determinations, and by various comparisons of physical properties. The mechan-ism of adsorption of dyes by various fibres has been considered in the light of the results obtained. The following are some of the conclusions reached: (i) Water has a protective effect on certain groups, e.g., on the carbonyl group, on hydroxyl groups in some alcohols, etc. so that certain types of hydrogen bond do not form in aqueous solution. (ii) The hydroxyl group in alcohols is monofunctional and when present on vicinal carbon atoms forms weak five-membered chelate rings, e.g. in ethylene glycol or glycerol, (iii) The aldehyde group can act both as hydrogen-acceptor and hydrogen-donor. (iv) Carbohydrates normally exist in the ring form in aqueous solution and the hydroxy-groups are then protected by the solvent. The oppn-chain form reacts with pyridine or triethylamine. (v) In ethylene glycol, as a solvent, all the hydroxy-groups of the carbohydrates are reactive. (vi) The keto-group behaves bifunctionally as a hydrogen-acceptor though it is unreactive in water, ether or benzene. (vii) The reactivity of nitrogen-containing compounds suggests that the unsubstituted or N-monosubstituted amides exist in an enol-form in non-aqueous solution, but in aqueous solution the keto-form predominates. (viii) In sulphonated azo-compounds the azo-group is inactive towards alcoholic groups in aqueous solution. (ix) Esters, besides being hydrogen-acceptors, also act as hydrogen-donors, probably the hydrogen atom on the carbon being that involved in the complex formation. This is considered to show that adsorption by cellulose acetate and Terylene fibre may depend on this form of bonding. (x) The reactions of N-acetylglucosamine show that the adsorption on chitin is influenced by the hydrogen-bond formation. (xi) It has been concluded from the non-reactivity of the hydroxy-groups of carbohydrates in water that adsorption on cellulosic fibres from aqueous solution cannot be due to hydrogen-bonding. The refractive index method was also used to determine the importance of hydrogen-bonding by phenoxyacetic acids, in their activity as plant hormones. Unfortunately time did not permit this work to be completed. However, it was noticed that a hydrogen atom on the carbon atom adjacent to the carboxylic group is reactive and its absence in e.g. phenoxyisobutyric acid may be the cause of its inactivity as a growth-promoting agent. A study of the adsorptive properties of haematoxylin, a natural colouring matter has also been made. This dye is adsorbed by many different types of fibre. The apparent heats of adsorption and affinities for different fibres are reported. Adsorption on cellulose is probably due to van der Waal's attraction, while on wool, nylon, and cellulose acetate it is due to hydrogen bond formation. The adsorption of basic dyes and other compounds on varieties of silica has also been studied. Basic dyes are readily adsorbed, to a much greater extent than expected if they formed a monolayer of single molecules. It is suggested that cationic micelles, instead of single ions or molecules, are adsorbed. This is confirmed by a study of spectral absorption curves of solutions of Methylene Blue and pseudo-cyanine chloride before and after treatment with silica. The heat of adsorption of basic dyes is very low and the rates of adsorption are very high. Two acid dyes, viz. Orange I and II, are adsorbed by silica of high specific surface area. The reaction appears to be endothermic and rates of adsorption are very low. The adsorption of Orange I is probably due to hydrogenbonding, and that of Orange II to an ion-exchange or physical process.


Agency theory explanations for agricultural contract designs are often observationally equivalent to perfect information explanations. Further in order to test properly the hypothesis that moral hazard is important one must first test and accept the hypothesis that agents respond to contract incentives. If agents do not respond to contract incentives then it is unlikely that moral hazard is significant. Accordingly we move beyond contract design and focus on whether or not we can reject the hypothesis that moral hazard is important by examining growers responses to price incentives for processing tomato quality. We utilize a natural experiment. In our data set growers deliver processing tomatoes under a price incentives contract and for a fixed price per ton. We compare the quality of the tomatoes delivered under the two arrangements. Our results suggest that growers indeed do respond to price incentives by improving tomato quality.


The relative stability and predictable reactivity of alkynyl sulfides make them ideal synthons for the development of new transformations. Classic methods for forming alkynyl sulfides relied on dehydrohalogenation approaches. However more recent methods have focused on employing umpolung strategies, as well as nucleophilic and electrophilic thiol alkynylation. In addition, the recent syntheses of Csp-S bonds have trended towards exploiting catalysis and expanding the reaction scope of the methods. A survey of existing methods to form alkynyl sulfides is presented as well as an evaluation with regards to the scope of each method, to provide the reader with an overview of advantages and limitations of current technology.


In this work, we model the hydrolysis process of the bioethanol production from vegetable sources. The process of bioethanol production described in this work allows the simultaneous use of various vegetables sources having starch or sugars, such as the rice, the potato, the cassava, the maize, the sugarcane, the beet, etc. The model developed considers the use of an enzyme for the conversion of the starch into saccharides. Numerical results are in agreement with experimental results found in the literature.


Overview: Through an Administrative Supplement awarded by the National Institute on Aging, two librarians joined an Alzheimer's disease research team to make the products of their data harmonization research more accessible and useful to the scientific community. Joining this team gave the librarians the opportunity to find practical ways to implement abstract principles like transparency, discoverability, and reproducibility. Here we make our data sharing framework more tangible by comparing research products to meals: If research is like cooking, sharing is like taking it to a potluck!


Recently, the problem of local minima in very high dimensional non-convex optimization has been challenged and the problem of saddle points has been introduced. This paper introduces a dynamic type of normalization that forces the system to escape saddle points. Unlike other saddle point escaping algorithms, second order information is not utilized, and the system can be trained with an arbitrary gradient descent learner. The system drastically improves learning in a range of deep neural networks on various data-sets in comparison to non-CPN neural networks.


The assessment of curricula for accreditation purposes is central to much of the effort required for the design and implementation of teaching programs in Schools of Engineering. The CDIO Syllabus provides an example framework that describes these required outcomes. This syllabus has been specifically developed for undergraduate engineering education, offering a range of modelling concepts that can be used for formal curricula assessment. This paper provides an overview of how the CDIO (or similar) competency frameworks can be modelled for a formal analysis to provide an open, objective and repeatable process that may be used as a part of a claim for accreditation. The work presented builds on that developed for the CDIO competency framework and includes some actual case studies using the Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Framework. The authors demonstrate the use of a support tool (CCmapper ) that facilitates this process and provides ways of representing and validating claims for accreditation.


One-dimensional wave propagation near the marginal state of modulational instability in an infinitely long, straight and homogeneous nonlinear elastic tube filled with an incompressible, inviscid fluid is considered. Using the reductive perturbation method, the amplitude modulation of weakly nonlinear waves is examined. It is shown that the amplitude modulation of these waves near the marginal state is governed by a generalized nonlinear Schrodinger equation (GNLS). Some exact solutions including oscillatory and solitary waves of the GNLS equation are presented.


The aim of this study was to determine the accumulation of copper, zinc, manganese and iron by selected species of permanent grassland legumes and herbs. The study was conducted in 1998-2000 (June to the first ten days of July) in the Olsztyn Lakeland. A total of 444 plant samples were analyzed, including 123 collected in organic soils. The following legume and herb species were studied: Trifolium pratense, Trifolium repens, Lotus corniculatus, Lathyrus pratensis, Lotus uliginosus, Vicia cracca, Taraxacum officinale, Achillea millefolium, Plantago lanceolata, Alchemilla vulgaris, Heracleum sibiricum and Cirsium oleraceum. The analyzed organic soils were characterized by moderate abundance of copper, zinc and manganese and low abundance of iron, whereas mineral soils contained medium levels of zinc, manganese and iron, and had a low copper content. The average copper content of plants ranged from 5.3 to 10.6 mg kg-1 d.m. The highest copper levels were noted in Taraxacum officinale, and the lowest in Lotus corniculatus grown on organic soils. The average zinc content of plants ranged from 31.0 to 71.0 mg kg-1 d.m. Vicia cracca grown on organic soils had the highest zinc content, while the lowest zinc concentrations were observed in Trifolium repens. The average manganese content of plants ranged from 45.0 to 233.0 mg kg-1 d.m. Alchemilla vulgaris grown on mineral soils accumulated the highest levels of manganese, and Trifolium repens had the lowest manganese content. The iron content of plants varied widely, from 116.0 to 223.0 mg kg-1 d.m.


A synthetic peptide, (DPPPPNPN)2D, representing a subunit of the repeat domain of the Plasmodium berghei circumsporozoite protein, was conjugated to tetanus toxoid using bisdiazobenzidine. Immunization of mice and rats with the conjugate induced high serum titers of antibodies to the parasite, and most of the animals were completely protected from malaria infection when challenged with sporozoites.


Abstract. The purpose of this study is to describe the assessment of competitiveness of tourist destinations through memorable tourism experience as a factor determining the competitiveness of tourist destinations. This study also aims to assess the competitiveness of Banyuwangi based on through memorable tourism experience provided to tourists. Sample in this study were 96 tourists. Sampling technique used was snowball sampling. Rapid Appraisal (RAP) approach is used as a tool to analyze the competitiveness of tourist destinations. The Rapid Appraisal (RAP) in thid research called Rapid Appraisal for Tourism Destination Competitiveness (RAP-TDC). RAPTDC consists of 3 statistical analyzes: Multidimensional Scalling, Montecarlo, and Jacknife. The results showed that Banyuwangi has a good competitiveness based on memorable tourism experience given to tourists. Novelty is an attribute of memorable tourism experience that has the greatest role in influencing the assessment of tourists to tourist destinations. The uniqueness of the travel experience is the most important indicator in shaping the novelty of the experience in the tour.


Spiritual techniques aim to influence individuals, if they are willing to approach a positive change in their negative patterns. What is available through the Nlp technique or neuro-linguistic programming is now available through other techniques as well. The importance of spiritual techniques existence is reflected in the change of lifestyle in order to live more fulfilled through all aspects of life: social, economic, business and health.If spiritual techniques were applied in companies and enterprises, starting from individuals to groups, the success of the company could be influenced. This success is reflected in the individual and group goals of the company.It is known that successful company is the one whose employees influence and work together on achieving the same and common goals of the company. The company's management uses all available resources to raise business efficiency, which, justifiably, raises the question of monetary expression of the spiritual techniques contribution in everyday business. This paper aims to open the horizons of the business world when it comes to other strategies for successful business with the use of psychological and spiritual positive techniques. These strategies would be a new way of approaching business, and the optimal one would be sustainably based on the results of games against nature, but also on building a healthy business environment in the internal and external environment of the company. Any form of physical activity such as stretching, yoga and breathing techniques lead to the release of bad emotions and stress from our body, which improves overall quality of life. Another technique is reiki technique. Reiki is an unconventional energy healing technique. It refers to our life energy, which we all have within ourselves. All these techniques help a person to live in psychophysical balance. These techniques complement the work on ourselves through everything we normally do, such as actions, rational methods etc. We should always take real steps and actions, and be aware of the present moment. People have common sense that should be used in every situation. Combining the work on ourselves through rational, sports, health and spiritual techniques can bring many benefits to a person and it is best to combine these methods creating a unique approach to psycho-physical health. Each person should make their own combination, a unique combination of all these techniques in accordance with themselves. Personal growth results in better relationships with ourselves and others through greater support and understanding. In order to live our values, love and to understand each other, it is necessary, above all, to be kind to ourselves, to give ourselves support and understanding. If we work on internal dialogue, we can be more successful in communication with others. Indicators of monetary business efficiency based on the engagement of ESTH managers (Education, Spiritual Technique and Health manager), significantly raises business efficiency. The strategic commitment is not based on the subjective attitude of the decision maker, but on scientifically based evidence.


Probabilistic forecasts of atmospheric variables are often given as relative frequencies obtained from ensembles of deterministic forecasts. The detrimental effects of imperfect models and initial conditions on the quality of such forecasts can be mitigated by calibration. This paper shows that Bayesian methods currently used to incorporate prior information can be written as special cases of a Beta-Binomial model and correspond to a linear calibration of the relative frequencies. These methods are compared with a nonlinear calibration technique, logistic regression, using both artificial datasets and real precipitation forecasts. Calibration is found to be advantageous in all cases, and logistic regression is preferable to linear methods.


Background
The importance of the syndesmosis in ankle stability is well recognized. Numerous means of fixation have been described for syndesmotic injuries including the suture button technique. Significant cost limits the use the commercially available options. We, therefore, designed a cheap and readily available alternative construct. We aim to assess the results of using a novel suture-button construct in treatment of syndesmotic ankle injuries.

Methods
Fifty-two patients (34 males and 18 females) fulfilled our inclusion/exclusion criteria. Five patients were lost to follow-up. The remaining 47 patients were successfully followed up for a minimum of 24 months. The pre and post-surgery American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society scores (AOFAS) together with reported complications and post-operative radiological analysis were assessed. In this innovative construct, we utilized polyester braided surgical sutures jointly with double mini two- holed plates, a No.2 polygalactin 910 suture, a 4 mm drill bit, together with a 15 cm long suture needle with slotted end. This technique was supported with the use of the image intensifier.

Results
The AOFAS score improved significantly from a mean of 32.4 to 94.2 (P<0.004). Radiologically, the medial clear space (MCS), tibio-fibular clear space (TFCS) (P=0.05) and tibio-fibular overlap (TFO) measurements showed a significant improvement postoperatively (P=0.02). Patients reported good satisfaction rates with a 96% success rate (95% CI: 94.0% to 99.3%).

Conclusion
We have observed that this low cost suture button construct is a simple, safe and cost effective treatment option for acute syndesmotic injuries.


ABSTRACT A colorimetric assay for nitrite determination in beer based on c-type multiheme enzyme Nitrite reductase (NiR) isolated from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 27774, was developed. Using the enzyme in solution, nitrite assay was linear in the 10−8 – 10−2 M range with a detection limit of 10−8 M and a recovery ranging from 90 to 107%. The imprecision ranged from 4 to 10% on the entire calibration curve. With NiR immobilised onto a nylon coil, a flow reactor was developed which showed a narrower linear range (10−5 – 10−2 M) and a higher detection limit (10−5 M) than with the enzyme in solution, but made it possible to reuse the enzyme up to 100 times (50% residual activity). Sample preparation was simple and fast: only degassing and beer dilution by buffer was needed. This enzymatic assay was in good agreement with the results obtained using commercial nitrite determination kits.


To guide the college students through the Computer-aided Technology (CAT) to make writings of business English (BE) in the new teaching model, resources and methods, this paper carries out the application of CAT in BE writing teach-ing. It analyses the disciplinary characteristics of BE writing, conducts the BE in-struction scheme design in the models of interactive teaching, writing teaching and inquiry teaching respectively on the basis of the learning theories such as humanism etc., and then develop the teaching contract experiment accordingly. Two parallel classes were randomly selected as objects of study, where the exper-imental class applied the Computer-aided Instruction (CAI) method, while the contrast class followed the traditional teaching methods; then the quantitative and qualitative analysis for one-semester teaching application was made by the after-experiment scores of BE writings in these two classes. The study in this paper verifies the positive role of CAT in BE writing, and also offer the effective guid-ance for improving the BE writing teaching level by CAT.


The Gesture-Visualise-Simulate framework describes an ordered progression over three distinct conceptual representations and methods of interaction. The sequence decreases in perceptual detail as recommended by Bruner's modes of representation, and is influenced by recent attempts to apply theories of grounded cognition in an educational setting. The framework will be used to guide the development of an interactive learning environment for use within primary school classrooms. In a computational thinking context, the framework may increase the learner's ability to interpret written code – a crucial component of debugging, refactoring, and extending algorithms – by promoting engagement with perceptual symbols that ground abstract concepts in sensorimotor information.


Background Interventions to improve blood pressure (BP) control in hypertension have had limited success in clinical practise despite evidence of cardiovascular disease prevention in randomised controlled trials. Purpose To evaluate BP control and patterns of antihypertensive pharmacotherapy in a population in the Central Region of Portugal, attending a hospital outpatient clinic for routine follow-up. Materials and Methods Medical data of adult (age range, 18 to 85 years) hypertensive patients attending the hypertension clinic of Hospital Centre of Cova da Beira, Covilhã, Portugal, from March to August 2012, were prospectively obtained from medical records and analysed. Demographic variables, clinical data and BP values of hypertensive patients included in the study, as well as prescribing metrics, were examined on a descriptive basis and expressed as the mean±SD, frequency and percentages. Student's test and Mann-Whitney rank sum test were used to compare continuous variables and the χ2 test and Fisher exact probability test were used to test for differences between variables in different categories. Results In all, 47% of hypertensive patients (n = 44) had their BP controlled according to international guidelines. About 54% of patients with a target BP < 140/90 mmHg (n = 74) were controlled, whereas in patients with diabetes and/or chronic kidney disease (n = 20) the corresponding figure was only 20% (P = 0.007). The angiotensin II-receptor antagonists were the most prescribed drugs (57.5%), followed by calcium channel blockers (55.3%) and β-blockers (42.5%). About 82.4% hypertensive patients with comorbid diabetes were treated with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin II-receptor antagonist. Conclusions Many hypertensive patients prescribed antihypertensive treatment fail to achieve BP control in clinical practise; this control being worse among patients with diabetes or chronic kidney disease. As prescribing patterns seem to conform to international guidelines, further research is needed to identify the causes of poor BP control. No conflict of interest.


Abstract Two chain extenders having different molecular structures; an alternating copolymer of ethylene and maleic anhydride (EMA) and a novel chain extender, dimeric 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (DTDI), both at two different concentrations (0.5 and 1 wt%), were melt compounded with recycled polyamide 6 (rPA6) using a twin-screw extruder. In order to investigate the effect of temperature profile and residence time on the chain extension behaviors of these chain extenders three different temperature profiles and four different throughput rates were selected for the melt compounding. Effects of the parameters were observed through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements, relative viscosity measurements, and tensile and impact tests. Temperature and time dependent improvements of the chain extended products with EMA and DTDI showed different tendencies. While chain extension of rPA6 with EMA became more effective with the optimization of the barrel temperature profile, chain extension with DTDI was not affected by temperature changes. By adjusting the temperature profile 9.1% higher viscosity, 1.3 times higher elongation at break and 10.6% higher impact strength were obtained for the chain extension reaction of rPA6 with EMA. Longer residence time promoted the chain extension reaction of rPA6 with EMA. On the other hand, chain extension of rPA6 with DTDI was not significantly affected by residence time.


We explored the feasibility and acceptability of the remote provision of a language interpretation service during general practice consultations. Three methods were used to provide an interpretation service: a physically present interpreter (PI), a remote interpreter accessed using an ISDN videoconferencing link at 128 kbit/s (VI) and a remote interpreter accessed by telephone (TI). Thirty-six non-English-speaking patients were invited to take part and 35 agreed to do so. Twenty-nine (83%) of the patients recruited were female. The age range of the participants was 24–51 years. Fourteen consultations took place with a physically present interpreter, 11 using videoconferencing and 10 using the telephone. Mean scores on the Patient Enablement Instrument were 5.2 for the PI group, 2.3 for the VI group and 5.1 for the TI group. Mean scores on the Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale were 5.3 for the PI group, 4.9 for the VI group and 5.3 for the TI group. The visual quality and sound quality of remote interpreting were satisfactory. Both videoconferencing and hands-free telephones can deliver an acceptable interpreting service in primary care.


The next generation of networks will involve interconnection of heterogeneous individual
networks such as WPAN, WLAN, WMAN and Cellular network, adopting the IP as common infrastructural protocol and providing virtually always-connected network. Furthermore,
there are many devices which enable easy acquisition and storage of information as pictures, movies, emails, etc. Therefore, the information overload and divergent content's
characteristics make it difficult for users to handle their data in manual way. Consequently, there is a need for personalised automatic services which would enable data exchange across heterogeneous network and devices. To support these personalised services, user centric approaches
for data delivery across the heterogeneous network are also required.
In this context, this thesis proposes Smart PIN - a novel performance and cost-oriented context-aware Personal Information Network. Smart PIN's architecture is detailed including its network, service and management components. Within the service component, two novel schemes for efficient delivery of context and content data are proposed:
Multimedia Data Replication Scheme (MDRS) and Quality-oriented Algorithm for Multiple-source Multimedia Delivery (QAMMD).
MDRS supports efficient data accessibility among distributed devices using data replication which is based on a utility function and a minimum data set. QAMMD employs a buffer underflow avoidance scheme for streaming, which achieves high multimedia quality without content adaptation to network conditions. Simulation models for MDRS and
QAMMD were built which are based on various heterogeneous network scenarios. Additionally a multiple-source streaming based on QAMMS was implemented as a prototype and tested in an emulated network environment. Comparative tests show that MDRS and QAMMD perform significantly better than other approaches.


Introduction Infection after stroke is associated with unfavorable outcome. Randomized controlled studies did not show benefit of preventive antibiotics in stroke but lacked power for subgroup analyses. Aim of this study is to assess whether preventive antibiotic therapy after stroke improves functional outcome for specific patient groups in an individual patient data meta-analysis. Patients and methods We searched MEDLINE (1946–7 May 2021), Embase (1947–7 May 2021), CENTRAL (17th September 2021), trial registries, cross-checked references and contacted researchers for randomized controlled trials of preventive antibiotic therapy versus placebo or standard care in ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke patients. Meta-analysis was performed by a one-step and two-step approach. Primary outcome was functional outcome adjusted for age and stroke severity. Secondary outcomes were infections and mortality. Results 4197 patients from nine trials were included. Preventive antibiotic therapy was not associated with a shift in functional outcome (mRS) at 3 months (OR1.13, 95%CI 0.98–1.31) or unfavorable functional outcome (mRS 3–6) (OR0.85, 95%CI 0.60–1.19). Preventive antibiotics did not improve functional outcome in pre-defined subgroups (age, stroke severity, timing and type of antibiotic therapy, pneumonia prediction scores, dysphagia, type of stroke, and type of trial). Preventive antibiotics reduced infections (276/2066 (13.4%) in the preventive antibiotic group vs. 417/2059 (20.3%) in the control group, OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.51–0.71, p < 0.001), but not pneumonia (191/2066 (9.2%) in the preventive antibiotic group vs. 205/2061 (9.9%) in the control group (OR 0.92 (0.75–1.14), p = 0.450). Discussion and conclusion Preventive antibiotic therapy did not benefit any subgroup of patients with acute stroke and currently cannot be recommended.


The celebrated Black-Scholes model on pricing a European option gives a simple and elegant pricing formula for European options with the underlying price following a geometric Brownian motion. In a realistic market with transaction costs, the option pricing problem is known to lead to solving nonlinear partial differential equations even in the simplest model. The nonlinear term in these partial differential equations (PDE) reflects the presence of transaction costs. Leland developed a modified option replicating strategy which depends on the size of transaction costs and the frequency of revision. In this thesis, we consider the problem of option pricing under the Heston-CIR model, which is a combination of the stochastic volatility model discussed in Heston and the stochastic interest rates model driven by Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) processes with transaction costs. in this case, the reacted nonlinear PDE with respect to the option price does not have a closed-form solution. We use the finite-difference scheme to solve this PDE and conduct model's performance analysis.


Ellipsoid and toroid-shaped articulations for total wrist prostheses were evaluated using computer modeling and laboratory experiments. An ellipsoidal design was found to accommodate greater width of the concave proximal component, resulting in better capture and prosthetic stability than a toroid shape. An ellipsoid articulation also provides greater contact area through the available arc of motion. An ellipsoidal articulation is a reasonable design for total wrist arthroplasty.


The concept of the electron multi-beam linear accelerator electron voltage transformer (EVT) invokes aspects of a two-beam accelerator. Here, effective transformation of energy of several drive beams to energy of a high voltage accelerated beam takes place. It combines an RF generator and essentially an accelerator within the same vacuum envelope. Acceleration occurs in inductively-tuned cavities. The ratios between values of RF beam currents and their voltages are similar to ratios for an electric transformer that is leaded to dub this device an electron voltage transformer (EVT). Properties and high efficiency of the EVT accelerator proves to be true by the example of numerical simulations of three accelerator configurations generating electron beams with energies 1, 2 and 4.3 MeV, respectively. The submitted results of numerical simulations show a resource for the further increase in efficiency of the EVT accelerator up to 70 – 75% by using a depressed collector for a spent dive beam.


The effects of excitatory amino acid receptor antagonists, kynuretic acid and DL-2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (DL-APV), on spontaneous epileptiform activity induced by 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) were studied in rat amygdala slices using intracellular recording techniques. Five to ten minutes after switching to 4-AP containing solution, spontaneous epileptiform bursts were observed in 37 out of 48 slices studied. The spontaneous epileptiform events consisted of an initial burst followed by a number of afterdischarges. Superfusion with kynuretic acid, a nonspecific excitatory amino acid receptor antagonist, reversibly reduced the duration of the spontaneous bursting discharges in a dose-dependent manner. The frequency of spontaneous bursting was also decreased. The IC50, estimated from the graph of the concentration-response relationship, was approximately 130 microM. In contrast to kynuretic acid, DL-APV, which is a specific N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, failed to block the spontaneous bursting. These results suggest that activation of excitatory amino acid receptors of non-NMDA type is involved in the generation of propagation of spontaneous epileptiform events induced by 4-AP in the neurons of basolateral amygdala.


The expression "First Lady" in all modern democracies of the world refers to the wife of the head of government, that is, the President or Prime Minister and they play significant roles in the realization of political party manifestoes of their various jurisdictions. In Nigeria, the Nigerian first lady even before independence in 1960 has been very visible, particularly in the execution of social welfare programmes, such as health care, education, and other minor services. In recent times, they have engaged in major projects such as building multi-billion hospitals as in the case of the wife of the Nigerian President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari in Daura, Katsina State and even a Private University at Adamawa State, her maiden state by the same first lady. The source of funding of these projects remains donations from government, government contractors and other citizens. The same is happening in the States of the Federation, where governors' wives embark on multi-billion projects which sources of funding remain opaque. This paper argues that time has come for the constitution to be amended to provide legal framework for the operation of these ladies so as to enthrone accountability in government and eradicate corruption in polity.


Background: Fragility fractures of the hip are known to be followed frequently by subsequent fragility fractures, including second hip fractures. Data on subsequent fractures are available for aggregated index femoral neck and intertrochanteric femoral fractures, grouped generically as hip fractures, but not specifically for femoral neck fractures. There is increasing recognition that a subsequent fracture often occurs early after a hip fracture in the elderly, creating an emphasis on the concept of "imminent fracture risk." Since 2000, there have been many reports on the care gap in interventions after a fragility fracture, with concern regarding the slow uptake of appropriate systemic treatments designed to prevent a subsequent fracture in high-risk patients. Methods: As planned a priori, we performed an analysis of subsequent fractures after an index femoral neck fracture in 2 prospective clinical trials involving 2,520 patients from 90 sites on 5 continents. We recorded the incidence and time of occurrence of all secondary fragility fractures as well as the reported use of bone-protective medication in all subjects. Results: In the 24 months following the index femoral neck fracture, 226 (9.0%) of 2,520 patients sustained at least 1 subsequent fragility fracture, including 113 hip fractures (4.5%). The median interval from the index fracture to a subsequent fracture was approximately 9.0 months. Only 25.2% (634) of the 2,520 patients reported using bone-protective medications at any time during follow-up. Female patients, those with nondisplaced index fractures, and those treated with arthroplasty, were more likely to have received protective medication. Conclusions: Subsequent fractures, including second hip fractures, occurred frequently and early following an index femoral neck fracture in 2 large global cohorts. Interventions to prevent a subsequent fracture were instituted in only 1 of 4 patients, even though a focused directive was included in both study protocols. Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


Most of the recent studies based on the alternative energy sources and efficient use of energy due to the rapidly exhausting fossil energy sources. Insulation is one of the solutions applied to decrease heat losses or gains. Present studies require tedious iterations to achieve a solution for optimum distribution of thermal insulation material for the volumes confined with environments at different temperatures such as cold storages. In this study, a general analytical solution for the optimum distribution of thermal insulation material is given for the volumes confined with environments at different temperatures for a given investment cost or constant insulation material volume. Analytical solution technique given in this study eliminates the need for tedious iterations or using a specialized computer software, and can also be combined with economic analysis models to include effects of economical parameters such as fuel price, interest rate, etc. A case study is also given for explanation and application of suggested methodology for a room confined with environments at different temperatures. It is shown that optimum distribution of insulation material easily achieved by one step analytical solution technique.


It is unclear how cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) is influenced by physical disability, fatigue, and depression. Our aim was to identify the strongest clinical predictors for cognitive impairment in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients. The clinical risk factors included in the analysis were physical disability (EDSS), fatigue (FSS), the somatic and nonsomatic components of depression (BDI), disease progression rate [Multiple Sclerosis Severity Score (MSSS)], and psychotropic medication. Cognitive impairment had a prevalence of 30.5% in patients affecting preferentially attention, executive functions, processing speed and visual perception/organization. MSSS was not associated with cognitive impairment, depression, or fatigue. In regression models, cognitive performance was best predicted by the nonsomatic symptoms of depression alone or in combination with physical disability. Exclusion of patients with any psychotropic medication did not influence the results. Our results underscore the importance of evaluating depressive symptoms when suspecting cognitive impairment in patients with RRMS.


Abstract Near real‐time seismicity forecasting is critically important for decision making during the reservoir creation phase of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). To compute within a probabilistic framework the seismic hazard and risk posed by induced seismicity, it is necessary to calibrate robust forecast models, quantitatively assess their reliability, and capture the uncertainty of the process. Here, we test the performance of three model classes, each forecasting the induced seismicity observed during the failed 2006–2007 EGS reservoir creation underneath Basel, Switzerland. Each model class represents a logic tree branch that captures the epistemic uncertainty of the process; the aleatory variability is accounted for by bootstrapping of the observed seismicity. We calibrate each model using a range of updating strategies and quantitatively test the performances of the models using likelihood tests. We then define a combined model based on Akaike weights and show that the combined model outperforms, in our pseudoprospective testing environment, all of the individual models. We also show that seismicity recorded during the initial one to three days of seismicity, several days before the onset of felt seismicity, is sufficient for deciding with confidence that the prescribed injection regime will eventually lead to unacceptably high levels of seismicity.


Basal cell-specific anti-cytokeratin antibody (34βE12) decorates the basal cells of benign prostatic epithelium by standard immunohistochemical techniques, whereas adenocarcinoma of the prostate lacks immunoreactivity with this antibody. We reviewed our experience with this antibody to determine its utility in the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the prostate as well as its pattern of usage at a tertiary medical center. In all, 7,242 prostate specimens from 5.262 men were seen at Johns Hopkins Hospital between 1/89 and 4/93. Immunostaining for basal cell-specific cytokeratin (34βE12) was originally used for diagnostic purposes in 289 questionable areas from 228 cases; 45% of these cases were seen in consultation. The distribution of cases using 34βE12 was 52% needle biopsies, 32% transurethral prostatic resections (TURPs), 13% radical prostatectomies, and 3% open enucleations. These procedures constituted 2.8% of all needle biopsies, 7.2% of all TURPs, 1.7% of all radical prostatectomies, and 3.5% of all enucleations seen during this time period. For this study the hematoxylin and eosin stain was reviewed without knowledge of the original diagnosis, a diagnosis was favored, the 34βE12 stain was examined, and a final diagnosis was determined. The 34βE12 stain established (14%), confirmed (58%), or changed (2%) our favored diagnoses, while 18% remained or became equivocal. The 34βE12 stain was of no use in 8% of the cases, yet we felt we were still able to render a final diagnosis even without the help of the stain. The differential diagnoses in the questionable foci using 34βE12 were cancer versus focus of atypical glands (44%), adenosis (39%), prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) (8%), basal cell hyperplasia (5%), and atrophy (4%). However, 34βE12 was used in only 15–20% of all cases of adenosis and basal cell hyperplasia and in < 2% of PIN and atrophy cases seen during this time. Reasons for equivocal results were loss of suspicious glands on cut downs used for staining (49%), too few glands to rely on negative staining (23%), technical problems (15%), limited number of positive staining glands in a small focus (7%), and cautery artifact (6%). Although equivocal cases tended to have fewer negative stained glands than cases diagnosed with cancer, there was no minimum number of negative stained glands required to establish a diagnosis of cancer. From these data we conclude that 34βE12 staining is a useful tool in confirming, establishing, or changing the diagnosis in questionable foci seen in the everyday practice of surgical pathology. We feel that it is most useful in the workup of foci of atypical glands on needle biopsy and in differentiating low-grade adenocarcinoma from adenosis on TURP. Staining with 34βE12 is a cost-effective means to work up a needle biopsy as compared with ultrasound-guided re-biopsy.


In A Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume argues that moral judgments are the product of sentiment. The mechanism of sympathy allows individuals to enter into a common point of view in order to produce judgments that are truly moral, and not merely self-interested. Hume argues that the common point of view is the standard that moral judgments are subjected to. I argue that the common point of view is an inadequate standard for distinguishing between proper and improper moral judgments. The common point of view is inadequate because it is subjective and unreflective. In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith offers an account of moral judgment that has an adequate standard for distinguishing between proper and improper moral judgments. Smith avoids the problems with Hume's account due to his distinction between partial and impartial spectators and the role that self-command plays in his theory of moral judgment. INDEX WORDS: Adam Smith, David Hume, Moral judgment, Self-command, Sympathy SMITH ON SELF-COMMAND AND MORAL JUDGMENT


This work explores the effect of Cr addition on the kinetics of strain ageing process. The strain ageing behaviour of low carbon steel with and without 0.7wt% Cr was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atom probe tomography (APT) and tensile tests. The results have shown that Cr alloyed steel undergoes the same three stages of ageing as unalloyed low carbon steel. However, the alloying with Cr reduces the rate of strain ageing by ~2 times in comparison with non-alloyed low carbon steel. It especially delays the offset of stage III. This is explained by the reduction of carbon content in ferrite due to the enrichment of cementite with Cr leading to the reduction of its equilibrium solubility in ferrite.


Objective Previous studies indicate that obesity is associated with a higher risk of experiencing hot flushes in mid-life women. The reasons for this association are unknown, although altered hormone levels have been associated with both hot flushes and obesity. Thus, this current study tested the hypothesis that obesity is associated with hot flushes in mid-life women through a mechanism involving levels of total and free androgen, free estrogen, progesterone, and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). Methods Women aged 45–54 years were recruited from Baltimore and its surrounding counties. Each participant (n = 628) was weighed, measured, completed a questionnaire, and provided a blood sample that was used to measure estradiol, estrone, testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, progesterone, and SHBG. Results Obese mid-life women (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30.0 kg/m2) had significantly higher testosterone, and lower estradiol, estrone, progesterone, and SHBG levels than normal-weight mid-life women (BMI ≤ 24.9 kg/m2) after adjustment for age, race, smoking, and number of days since last menstrual period. The association between obesity and hot flushes was no longer significant after adjustment for estrogens and progesterone, and/or SHBG. Conclusion These data suggest that obesity may be associated with hot flushes through a mechanism involving multiple hormones and SHBG.


Recent experimental studies of Zeeman-split one-dimensional subbands in ballistic quantum wires in an in-plane magnetic field show that additional nonquantized conductance structures occur as subbands cross at low electron densities [A. C. Graham et al., Phys. Rev.Lett. 91, 136404 (2003)]. These structures are called 0.7 analogs. We analyze the experimental transconductance data within the Kohn-Sham spin-density-functional method, including exchange and correlation effects for an infinite split-gate quantum wire in a parallel, in-plane magnetic field B∥. Energy levels are found to rearrange abruptly as they cross due to polarization effects driven by exchange and Coulomb interactions. Experimental qualitative features are explained well by this model. ©2005 The American Physical Society.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the alfa-blocker doxazosin GITS in CRF patients.

DESIGN AND METHODS
The study recruited 203 CRF patients (creatinine > 1,4 mg/dl for males, creatinine > 1,2 mg/dl for females, or creatinine clearance < 80 ml/min). All patients were receiving ACE inhibitores (63.4%) or angiotensin II antagonist (36.6%) therapy but they had higher blood pressure than recommended for CRF (130/85 mmHg). Patients were clinically evaluated 1, 3 and 6 moths after starting treatment with lercanidipine (10 mg once daily). Patients with high blood pressure in spite of combined therapy with two drugs added doxazosin GITS 4-8 mg once daily to treatment.

RESULT
57 patients rendered evaluable for the study (age 64.8 +/- 12.7 years, 47.4% males and 52.6 females). BP significantly decrease from 164 +/- 17/92 +/- 9 mmHg to 135 +/- 13/78 +/- 8 mmHg. 67.6% patients showed a significant BP reduction and 32.4% gets optimal BP control (< 130/85 mmHg). Two patients (3.6%) showed untoward effects. No biochemical changes were detected.

CONCLUSIONS
Doxazosin showed a good antihypertensive effect in CRF patients when used as third drug in resistant severe hypertension. It has a good tolerability profile and showed a neutral profile on biochemical parameters.


The present study demonstrates a novel, low temperature synthetic approach by which 3-D bouquets of nickel hydroxide nitrate were processed into high surface area electrodes for supercapacitor applications. The synthesized micro-bouquets comprised randomly arrayed microporous nanoflakes (pore size: 2–6 nm) and exhibited a surface area of 150 m2 g−1. Morphological evolution studies were performed to elucidate how surface morphology of these electrode materials affect redox reactions and their ultimate performance as a supercapacitor. The electrodes were tested in three different electrolytes, namely lithium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide. From the detailed electrochemical analysis, an intrinsic correlation between the capacitance, internal resistance and the surface morphology was deduced and explained on the basis of relative contributions from the faradaic properties in different electrolytes. Depending on the surface morphology and electrolyte incorporated, these nano/micro-hybrid electrodes exhibited specific mass capacitance value of as high as 1380 ± 38 F g−1. Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy was used to determine the electrode dissolution in the given electrolyte and the findings were co-related with the cycling stability. By employing this low cost electrode design, high stability (>5000 cycles with no fading) was achieved in lithium hydroxide electrolyte. Furthermore, a working model supercapacitor in a coin cell form is also shown to exhibit peak power and energy density of 3 kW kg−1 and 800 mW h kg−1, respectively.


Abstract. Short-term traffic demand prediction is one of the crucial issues in intelligent transport systems, which has attracted attention from the taxi industry and Mobility-on-Demand systems. Accurate predictions enable operators to dispatch their vehicles in advance, satisfying both drivers and passengers. This study aims to predict traffic demand over the entire city based on the Graph convolutional network (GCNN). Specially, we divide the study area into several non-overlap sub-regions. Each sub-region is treated as a node, and a traffic demand graph is constructed. Then, we build three graph convolution networks based on three different weighted adjacency matrices, which represent three graph structures. Furthermore, a data-driven graph convolutional network (DDGCNN) is developed, which can capture the correlation between pairs of sub-regions automatically. Finally, we compare our models with other prediction methods, including three GCNNs with a normal adjacency matrix, an existing data-driven graph convolutional neural network, historical average, and random forest. Results show that the weighted adjacency matrix can improve the prediction performance compared with a normal adjacency matrix. In addition, we proved that our DDGCNN outperforms other predictors in three aspects, i.e., performance over the test set, performance over the time aspect, and the performance over the spatial aspect.


This study deals with fault tree analysis algorithms based on an ontology-based approach in a fuzzy environment. We extend fuzzy fault tree analysis by embedding ontology-based fault tree structures. The ontology-based approach allows conducting advanced analyses grounded on rich domain knowledge. Two approaches as the conventional approach and rule-based method are applied for the calculations of failure probability and analysis of the fault tree. Collision and grounding of an autonomous ship are investigated in two scenarios. The structural design, probability calculations, and sensitivity analyses prove that the proposed system is applicable, robust, accurate and reliable. Thus, the propounded ontology-based fault tree algorithms fill a gap in safety engineering by its capability of comprehensiveness.


It is becoming clear that compensated pulsed alternators (compulsators) are the preferred power supply for rapid-fire railgun systems. High efficiencies, inherently high repetition rates, and the elimination of high current opening switches are the primary advantages of compulsator-driven systems. The benefits and capabilities of these systems will be demonstrated in a project which is currently in the final stages of fabrication. The goals of this project are to accelerate a burst of ten, 80-g projectiles to 2 km/s at a 60 Hz rate of fire. Details of the compulsator design, the design, fabrication, and testing of system components, and proposed operation are presented.


Instances of static scheduling problems can be easily represented as graphs where each node represents a particular operation. This property makes the Ant Colony Algorithms well suited for different kinds of scheduling problems. In this paper we present an improved Ant System for solving the Job Shop Scheduling (JSS) Problem. After each cycle the Ant System applies a scheduler builder to each solution. The schedule builder is able to generate under a controlled manner different types of schedules (from non-delay to active). Any improvement achieved for a solution will affect the performance of the algorithm in the next cycles by changing accordingly the amount of pheromone on certain paths. Since the pheromone is the building block of an ant algorithm, it is expected that these changes guide the search towards more promising areas of the search space. The computational study involves a set of instances of different size and difficulty. The results are compared against the best solutions known so far and results reported from earlier studies of ant algorithms applied to the JSSP.


W3C standardized Web Services are becoming an increasingly popular middleware technology used to facilitate the open exchange of data and perform distributed computation. In this paper we propose a modern alternative to commonly used software applications such as STANJAN and NASA CEA for performing chemical equilibrium analysis in a platform-independent manner in combustion, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics research. Our approach is based on the next generation style of computational software development that relies on loosely-coupled network accessible software components called Web Services. While several projects in existence use Web Services to wrap existing commercial and opensource tools to mine thermodynamic data, no Web Service infrastructure has yet been developed to provide the thermal science community with a collection of publicly accessible remote functions for performing complex computations involving reacting flows. This work represents the first effort to provide such an infrastructure where we have developed a remotely accessible software service that allows developers of thermodynamics and combustion software to perform complex, multiphase chemical equilibrium computation with relative ease. Coupled with the data service that we have already built, we show how the use of this service can be integrated into any numerical application and invoked within commonly used commercial applications such as Microsoft ExcelTM and MATLAB® for use in computational work. A rich internet application (RIA) is presented in this work to demonstrate some of the features of these newly created Web Services.


Feline leukaemia virus is one of the most common causes of viral disease in the domestic cat. Virus infection causes a number of diseases, including lymphoma, immunodeficiency, reproductive problems and a form of anaemia known as pure red cell aplasia (PRCA). There are three known subgroups of the virus (FeLV-A, FeLV-B and FeLV-C), as determined previously by interference assays and each subgroup displays a distinct in vitro cell tropism. FeLV-A is present in all natural isolates, whereas FeLV-B and FeLV-C are more seldom isolated (FeLV-B is present in approximately 40% of all natural isolates, while FeLV-C is present in only 1% of all natural isolates). The subgroups are determined by the amino acid sequence of the envelope glycoprotein with each subgroup of virus utilising a distinct cellular receptor. It is the specificity of the FeLV-C receptor interaction that is thought to underlie the development of PRCA with the selective destruction of erythroid progenitors by this subgroup of virus. Subgroup C envs were cloned from a panel of primary isolates (the subgroup of these isolates had been established previously by superinfection interference). The envs were then characterised in order to determine the amino acids responsible for the characteristic in vitro tropism of subgroup C viruses. These analyses revealed that the subgroup C-component was more abundant in some primary isolates than in others. Furthermore, in some of the primary isolates more than one C-component was identified, suggesting that each isolate may consist of multiple viral variants. In agreement with previous studies, the env sequences were found to be relatively conserved with the majority of changes located within discrete variable regions, and in particular, the first variable region, the "VRA" region. However, a small number of characteristic mutations (unique to the isolate) were distributed throughout the entire envelope glycoprotein. Although these mutations may simple reflect drift in the Env sequence due to the low fidelity of the viral reverse transcriptase, an alternative explanation is that they compensate for mutations within the VRA and ensure that the protein adopts a viable conformation enabling receptor recognition. The env clones that displayed an in vitro tropism similar to the prototypic strain FeLV-C/Sarma shared two common motifs in the VRA region; the loss of a six amino acid stretch (61TNVKHG66) and a valine to tryptophan substitution on position 63 (V63W) (tryptophan residues have been implicated in the formation of a hydrophobic pocket that is thought to be critical for interaction between the virus and its receptor). In contrast with previous findings, the ability to infect porcine cells was found not to be a unique property of subgroup B viruses, both subgroup A and subgroup C Env clones were isolated that were capable of mediating infection of the porcine cell line ST Iowa (for example, an A-component of primary isolate FA27 and a C-component of primary isolate FY981). The presence of an aspartic acid to asparagine mutation on position 51 (D51N) in the A-component of the isolate appeared to correlate with the expanded cell tropism. However, the C- components of primary isolate FA27, which also displayed the D51N mutation, were incapable of infecting ST Iowa cells. This may be due to additional mutations in the env resulting in an altered conformational structure of the C-component Env compared with the A-component that was capable of infecting this cell line. These findings suggest that a single mutation may not be sufficient to alter the in vitro tropism of a clone; additional mutations may ensure the correct folding of the protein and thus the accessibility of the receptor binding site. Although previous studies suggested that the amino acid sequence of the envelope glycoprotein of FeLV-A is highly conserved between isolates, it was found that minor differences in sequence were distributed throughout the entire env. These variations in the envelope glycoprotein may account for the differences in in vitro tropism displayed by the novel FeLV-A isolates. To understand fully the extent of expression of the feline FeLV-C receptor (feFLVCR) and Its possible role In the onset of PRCA, a panel of both haematopoietic and non-haematopoietic tissues was screened for feFLVCR mRNA. In contrast with the human FeLV-C receptor (thought to be expressed preferentially in haematopoietic tissues), the feFLVCR is expressed in both haematopoietic and non-haematopoietic tissues and there was no single tissue where the receptor was consistently expressed to higher or lower levels. Next, the extent of receptor expression in cells that are involved in the erythroid maturation was examined. Bone marrow samples were collected and subsequently enriched for or depleted of cells that are involved In erythroid maturation using a monoclonal antibody directed against cells of this lineage. Although only a small number of bone marrow samples were tested, the feFLVCR appeared to be expressed at high levels in the bone marrow populations that were enriched for cells of the erythroid lineage. These findings support the hypothesis that the normal function of this gene is disrupted upon infection and subsequently leads to the onset of PRCA.


Previous studies have demonstrated that the modification of the titanium (Ti) surface of an implant with RGD (Arg‑Gly‑Asp) promotes the activity of osteoblasts. A novel Ti‑binding peptide, minTBP‑1, and a chimeric peptide, minTBP‑1‑PRGDN, have been synthesized to assist the fixing of RGD to Ti. In our previous study, minTBP‑1‑PRGDN demonstrated favorable affinity for Ti surfaces and facilitated the adhesion of MC3T3‑E1 cells. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of this chimeric peptide on the proliferation and differentiation of MC3T3‑E1 cells. For this purpose, MC3T3‑E1 cells were cultured and differentiation was induced on Ti discs precoated with minTBP‑1‑PRGDN, minTBP‑1 or PRGDN. The MC3T3‑E1 cells on the minTBP‑1‑PRGDN‑precoated Ti disc were observed to exhibit the highest cell number after 24 h and alkaline phosphatase levels in all groups increased in a time‑dependent manner. In addition, marked expression of osteogenic marker genes [osteopontin (OPN) and osteocalcin (OC)] was detected on minTBP‑1‑PRGDN/Ti at day 14. Mineralized deposits on minTBP‑1‑PRGDN/Ti presented the maximal average area and the highest number of deposits was observed on PRGDN/Ti. The present study indicates that minTBP‑1‑PRGDN may enhance and accelerate the activities of MC3T3‑E1 cells on Ti, however, its role in vivo must be determined by further studies.


Sixteen-year-old Eddy Okubo has a different dream for his future than his Japanese-born father does, and as his older friends enter the Army in early 1941, underage Eddy lies his way into the service as well. The attack on Pearl Harbor almost immediately follows Eddy's enlistment, and he and his friends—all Japanese Americans from Hawaii—find themselves marginalized within the Army they are proud and determined to serve. After being isolated and then assigned to routine grunt work, a score of soldiers are tapped for a special mission and hustled in secrecy to an island in the Mississippi River, where they think they will finally be set to a task worthy of their patriotism. Instead they become part of an experimental program to train scout dogs to seek out the enemy by their "Japanese scent," and Eddy and his comrades are there to serve as human bait. Salisbury bases his story on a real incident involving that abortive mission (clearly, the dogs could not detect a nonexistent "scent"), and his ability to research facts, visit sites, and interview Japanese-American veterans involved in the program pays off in a gripping, convincing tale that crackles with tension as the training sessions become more intense and the Nisei soldiers are put in escalating danger. Readers who have made historicalfiction journeys into the World War internment camps will find they've only scratched the surface of injustices suffered by loyal Japanese Americans. EB


There is a clear trend in the vehicle industry to implement more safetyrelated functions, where the focus is on active safety systems and today the steering system is also involved. Steering-related active safety functions can only be realised with a steering system that allows electronic control of either the road wheel angle or the torque required to steer the vehicle, called active steering. The high power requirement of heavy vehicles means they must rely on hydraulic power to assist the driver. The system is a pure hydro-mechanical system with an open-centre circuit activated by the driver's steering action and suffers from poor energy efficiency. The main task of the hydraulic system is to control the pressure in the assistance cylinder in such a way that it eases the load on the driver. This work suggests a way to design and evaluate a self-regulating pressure control valve for use as actuator in the steering system. This valve can be made small and fast and is electronically controlled to enable active steering. It is based on a closed-centre circuit and has therefore the potential to improve energy efficiency. The aim of this work has been to investigate the possibility for the valve to perform as the original open-centre valve. The suggested approach is a model-based design and evaluation process where an optimisation routine is used to design the valve. Together with a validated model of the steering system, the new concept is compared with the original system. A hardware-inthe-loop simulation test rig has also been designed and built with the possibility to test a closed-centre steering system. It has partly been used to support the modelling process and partly to verify that a closedcentre steering system is a feasible solution. The simulation results have shown that the designed valve can perform sufficiently well compared to the original system.


This paper presents modern AI applications using real life company projects, which try to solve problems related to the self-driving car industry, medicine and the overall quality of life. By utilizing big data, efficient algorithms and proper modelling, these projects make exceptional progress in their respective fields. The paper examines the underlying foundations of the projects and the challenges they face.


Vehicle classification and tracking is considered as one of the most challenging problems in the field of pattern recognition. In this paper, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) based method is exploited to recognize vehicle classes. Vehicle features, such as vehicle size, shape information, contour information are extracted. Each vehicle class is encoded as a centroid with multidimensional feature and PSO is employed to search the optimal position for each class centroid based on fitness function. After vehicle classification, an improved meanshift algorithm is presented for vehicle tracking. The algorithm's evaluations on video image series, moving vehicle detection, vehicle classification and tracking are respectively conducted. The results show that PSO ensures a promising and stable performances in recognizing these vehicle classes, and the improved meanshift algorithm can achieve accuracy and real-time for tracking moving vehicles.


This work presents challenges related to voltage and frequency control for different values of inertia in islanded systems. The mathematical and physical basis of the problem are explained and, after that, a fictional rural network is proposed. The rural network is islanded from the utility grid and then analysed for differents types of generation and inertia values. Frequency and voltage of the network are compared. The results of this work enforce that firm energy generation and the sources inertia are extremally important for the islanded network's stability and safety.


Urban water managers rely heavily on forecasts of water consumption to determine management decisions and investment choices. Typical forecasts rely on simple models whose criteria for selection has little to do with their performance in predicting out-of-sample consumption levels. We demonstrate this issue by comparing forecast models selected on the basis of their ability to perform well in-sample versus out-of-sample. Our results highlight the benefits of developing out-of-sample evaluation criteria to ascertain model performance. Using annual data on single-family residential water consumption in Southern California we illustrate how prediction ability varies according to model evaluation method. Using a training dataset, this analysis finds that models ranking highly on in-sample performance significantly over-estimated consumption (10% − 25%) five years out from the end of the training dataset relative to observed demands five years out from the end of the training dataset. Whereas, the top models selected using our out-of-sample criteria, came within 1% of the actual total consumption. Notably, projections of future demand for the in-sample models indicate increasing aggregate water consumption over a 25-year period, which contrasts against the downward trend predicted by the out-of-sample models.


Three experiments were conducted to determine the effects of increasing dried distiller's grains with solubles (DDGS) on growth performance and palatability in growing-finishing pigs. In Exp. 1, a total of 1,050 pigs (initially 104.9 lb) were used in a 28-d study in May 2002. Pigs were fed diets with either 0 or 15% DDGS and 0, 3, or 6% added fat, for a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement. Overall, there were no DDGS × fat content interactions (P = 0.20). There was an improvement (linear, P<0.01) in ADG and F/G with increasing added fat and no difference in growth performance between pigs fed 0 or 15% DDGS. In Exp. 2, a total of 1,038 pigs (initially 102.1 lb) were used in a 56-d study in August 2005. Pigs were fed diets with either 0, 10, 20, or 30% DDGS from the same ethanol plant as in Exp. 1. Overall (d 0 to 56), there was a trend for decreased ADG (linear, P<0.10) and ADFI (linear, P<0.06) as DDGS increased. The greatest reduction occurred in pigs fed more than 10% DDGS. In Exp. 3, a total of 120 growing pigs (initially 48.7 lb) were used in a 21-d feed preference study in October 2005. Pigs were randomly allotted to a pen with 4 feeders, each containing a separate dietary treatment. Pigs were offered diets based on corn-soybean meal, with 0, 10, 20, or 30% DDGS from the same source as in Exp. 1 and 2. For all periods (d 0 to 7, 7 to 21, and 0 to 21), there was a decrease in ADFI (quadratic, P<0.01) as DDGS increased in the diet. The most dramatic decrease was observed between 0 and 10% DDGS. Experiment 1 showed no difference in growth performance in pigs fed 0 or 15% DDGS. In Exp 2, at DDGS contents higher than 10%, there were trends for decreased ADG and ADFI; in Exp. 3, ADFI decreased with increasing DDGS in the diet. In summary, DDGS from the ethanol plant tested can be used at 10 to 15% in finishing diets without reducing pig performance. Higher percentages of DDGS in the diet decreased ADFI in growing and finishing pigs.


Background: The significance of cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) has not been fully appreciated and there is no unified treatment algorithm. Aim: To investigate the effects of benfotiamine (BFT) on the corrected QT interval (QTc), QT dispersion (QTd) and spatial QRS-T angle in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and CAN. Patients and Methods: 32 patients with T2DM and definite stage of CAN were allocated to two treatment groups: control (n = 15) received standard antihyperglycaemic therapy; group 2 (n = 17) - in addition BFT 300 mg/d for three months. The QTc interval, QTd and spatial QRS-T angle parameters were analyzed. Results: It was found out that BFT contributed to decrease of the QTc, QTd and QRS-T angle. Conclusions: The positive influences of BFT suggests the feasibility of its administration to patients with T2DM and definite stage of CAN. Obtained results suggest that the efficacy of BFT is the result of a direct effect of the BFT on the investigated indexes.