Noise properties, the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR), contrast‐to‐noise ratio (CNR), and signal responses were compared during functional activation of the human brain at 1.5 and 3.0 T. At the higher field spiral gradient‐echo (GRE) brain images revealed an average gain in SNR of 1.7 in fully relaxed and 2.2 in images with a repetition time (TR) of 1.5 sec. The tempered gain at longer TRs reflects the fact that the physiological noise depends on the signal strength and becomes a larger fraction of the total noise at 3.0 T. Activation of the primary motor and visual cortex resulted in a 36% and 44% increase of "activated pixels" at 3.0 T, which reflects a greater sensitivity for the detection of activated gray matter at the higher field. The gain in the CNR exhibited a dependency on the underlying tissue, i.e., an increase of 1.8× in regions of particular high activation‐induced signal changes (presumably venous vessels) and of 2.2× in the average activated areas. These results demonstrate that 3.0 T provides a clear advantage over 1.5 T for neuroimaging of homogeneous brain tissue, although stronger physiological noise contributions, more complicated signal features in the proximity of strong susceptibility gradients, and changes in the intrinsic relaxation times may mediate the enhancement. Magn Reson Med 45:595–604, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Inflation in the euro area has been significantly below its target level since the end of 2013. This can be passed on to long-term inflation expectations and is a reflection of the very progressive recovery. At a time when price stability was coming under threat, the Eurosystem embarked on a new phase of monetary accommodation in the summer of 2014, marked notably by massive purchases of government securities and negative policy rates. According to Eurosystem estimates, the asset purchase programme and the other non-standard measures taken since 2014 are expected to have an effect on average annual inflation of around 0.5 percentage point over the period 2015-2018 and a cumulative effect on the economic growth of the euro area of about 1.6 percentage points by 2018.


Abstract As the Arctic region moves into uncharted territory under a warming climate, it is important to refine the terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) that help us understand and predict change. One fundamental uncertainty in TBMs relates to model parameters, configuration variables internal to the model whose value can be estimated from data. We incorporate a version of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM) developed for arctic ecosystems into the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer (PEcAn) framework. PEcAn treats model parameters as probability distributions, estimates parameters based on a synthesis of available field data, and then quantifies both model sensitivity and uncertainty to a given parameter or suite of parameters. We examined how variation in 21 parameters in the equation for gross primary production influenced model sensitivity and uncertainty in terms of two carbon fluxes (net primary productivity and heterotrophic respiration) and two carbon (C) pools (vegetation C and soil C). We set up different parameterizations of TEM across a range of tundra types (tussock tundra, heath tundra, wet sedge tundra, and shrub tundra) in northern Alaska, along a latitudinal transect extending from the coastal plain near Utqiaġvik to the southern foothills of the Brooks Range, to the Seward Peninsula. TEM was most sensitive to parameters related to the temperature regulation of photosynthesis. Model uncertainty was mostly due to parameters related to leaf area, temperature regulation of photosynthesis, and the stomatal responses to ambient light conditions. Our analysis also showed that sensitivity and uncertainty to a given parameter varied spatially. At some sites, model sensitivity and uncertainty tended to be connected to a wider range of parameters, underlining the importance of assessing tundra community processes across environmental gradients or geographic locations. Generally, across sites, the flux of net primary productivity (NPP) and pool of vegetation C had about equal uncertainty, while heterotrophic respiration had higher uncertainty than the pool of soil C. Our study illustrates the complexity inherent in evaluating parameter uncertainty across highly heterogeneous arctic tundra plant communities. It also provides a framework for iteratively testing how newly collected field data related to key parameters may result in more effective forecasting of Arctic change.


Usability evaluation tools in the form of heuristic lists can be very helpful in software development. In recent years, game researchers have developed heuristics aimed at special design issues within computer game design. This article examines if these game heuristics are able to capture and evaluate softer values of computer game interaction, based on the flow, challenges and immersion of game play. The authors suggest that these softer values should be called Gameworld Interaction. An analysis of the existing game heuristics was made, resulting in a Net Heuristic list, which was then tested on a single game. The result showed both a possible gap in the heuristics, and that even though the game design did adhere to the heuristics, problems still occurred.


INTRODUCTION
Individualized heparin and protamine management is increasingly used as a strategy to reduce coagulation activation and bleeding complications. While it is associated with increased heparin requirements during Cardiopulmonary Bypass (CPB), the impact on protamine administration remains controversial. We aim to investigate the effect of heparin level-guided monitoring on protamine dosing during cardiac surgery where low-anticoagulation protocols are implemented.

METHODS
This is a prospective, randomized, controlled trial. A total of 132 patients undergoing elective full-spectrum cardiac surgery with Minimal Invasive Extracorporeal Circulation (MiECC) were recruited. All patients were managed by the same anaesthetic, surgical and perfusion team. Patients were randomly allocated in two groups; the individualized heparin-protamine titration (IHPT) group and the conventional heparinization and reversal group by using ACT (cACT) with a 0.75:1, protamine: heparin ratio. Titration was accomplished with the Hepcon HMS Plus (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) system. The primary outcome of the study was the total protamine dose used. Secondary outcomes comprised of the total heparin dose, the percentage of patients achieving target ACT, 24-h transfusion requirements, postoperative bleeding, duration of mechanical ventilation, major morbidity and length of hospital stay. Patients in each group were divided in two subgroups according to the target ACT; those operated for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) using a target ACT >300 s and the rest (non-CABG) patients operated with a target ACT >400 s, respectively.

RESULTS
Protamine requirements were significantly reduced when IHPT was implemented; CABG (118 ± 24 mg vs 163 ± 61 mg; p < 0.001) and non-CABG cases (151 ± 46 mg vs 197 ± 45 mg; p < 0.001). Moreover, heparin requirements were significantly higher in the non-CABG subgroup managed with IHPT (34,539 ± 7658 IU vs 29,893 ± 9037 IU; p = 0.02). In overall, no significant differences were detected with respect to postoperative bleeding, transfusion of RBC or other blood products.

CONCLUSIONS
Individualized heparin monitoring and management reduces protamine requirements in cardiac surgery with MiECC implementing reduced anticoagulation strategy.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov; NCT04215588.


Natural rubber latex from rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis ) is an important natural polymeric resource in Thailand. Natural rubber latex is widely used in several rubber product manufactures especially medical application. However, an allergy is often found when use rubber products. It may cause of an allergen in rubber latex. Then, the objective of this research was prepared hydrogel from deproteinized natural rubber latex (DNRL) with gelatinized starch. Method I, crosslinked deproteinized natural rubber latex (DNRL) was firstly prepared by using zinc mercaptobenzothiazole (ZMBT) as initiator and sulphur as crosslinking agent. Method II, using potassium persulfate as initiator and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as crosslinking agent. Secondly, the crosslinked DNRL was mixed with gelatinized starch by mechanical stirrer. Finally, the mixture was casted on a glass mould to form thin film via crosslinked reaction at 60 o C in oven for 24 hr. Hydrophilicity properties of hydrogel were determined in term of % swelling and % water content. It was found that hydrogel from DNRL with gelatinized starch crosslinking with MBA provided statistically a greater level of % swelling and % water content. Furthermore, hydrogel from DNRL with gelatinized starch are able to developed for use as wound dressing in medical application.


In the last few years local anti-immigration actions in the Greek capital seemed to deepen the wider racist discourse against immigrants. Collective racist actions were embedded in specific narratives about place and inequality. In this article, after a brief discussion of the socio-spatial transformations in the residential area of the Athens city-centre, we apply framing analysis in order to explore the strategic linkages between the rejection of immigrants and urban inequalities. We find that the localization of racism is framed in general visions about inequalities. Racial and social dimensions of inequalities are mixed and used in various, complex and interconnected ways. For these inequalities to be strategically used, the city space as a contested spatio-temporal entity is also involved.


BACKGROUND
Chromosomal instability is associated with earlier progression in isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutated astrocytomas. Here we evaluated the prognostic significance of polysomy in gliomas tested for 1p19q status.

METHODS
We analyzed 412 histologic oligodendroglial tumors with use of 1p19q testing at 8 institutions from 1996 to 2013; fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for 1p19q was performed. Polysomy was defined as >2 1q and 19p signals in cells. Tumors were divided into groups on the basis of their 1p19q status and polysomy and were compared for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).

RESULTS
In our cohort, 333 tumors (81%) had 1p19q loss; of these, 195 (59%) had concurrent polysomy and 138 (41%) lacked polysomy, 79 (19%) had 1p19q maintenance; of these, 30 (38%) had concurrent polysomy and 49 (62%) lacked polysomy. In agreement with prior studies, the group with 1p19q loss had significantly better PFS and OS than did the group with 1p19q maintenance (p < 0.0001 each). Patients with 1p19q loss and polysomy showed significantly shorter PFS survival than patients with 1p19q co-deletion only (p-<0.0001), but longer PFS and OS than patients with 1p19q maintenance (p < 0.01 and p<0.0001). There was no difference in survival between tumors with >30% polysomic cells and those with <30% of polysomic cells. Polysomy had no prognostic significance on progression-free or overall survival in patients with 1p19q maintenance.

CONCLUSIONS
The presence of polysomy in oligodendroglial tumors with co-deletion of 1p19q predicts early recurrence and short survival in patients with 1p19q co-deleted tumors.


Policy research is valuable as a source of information for decisionmakers. The value of research is the expected social gain from policy decisions influenced by the information generated. The gain from a decision depends on choosing the best policy given the state of the world, which is uncertain. The output of policy research is a conclusion about that state. Taking a Bayesian approach, the ex ante value of a research program is estimated from information about decisionmakers' prior probabilities of the state of the world and the likelihood of correct and incorrect research findings. Case studies of U.S. agricultural policy research cover consequences of trade liberalization, farm commodity program analysis, effects of publicly supported commodity promotion, and the value of publicly funded crop forecasting and research on agricultural technology. The quantification of the value of these research programs is highly conjectural, but consideration of their likely magnitude, as compared to the costs of the research, suggests that there are substantial net social gains.


From small mobile devices to large-scale storage arrays, flash memory-based storage systems have gained a lot of popularity in recent years. However, the uncoordinated use of resources by competing tasks in the flash translation layer (FTL) makes it difficult to guarantee predictable performance.

In this paper, we present AutoSSD, an autonomic SSD architecture that self-manages FTL tasks to maintain a high-level of QoS performance. In AutoSSD, each FTL task is given an illusion of a dedicated flash memory subsystem, allowing tasks to be implemented oblivious to others and making it easy to integrate new tasks to handle future flash memory quirks. Furthermore, each task is allocated a share that represents its relative importance, and its utilization is enforced by a simple and effective scheduling scheme that limits the number of outstanding flash memory requests for each task. The shares are dynamically adjusted through feedback control by monitoring key system states and reacting to their changes to coordinate the progress of FTL tasks.

We demonstrate the effectiveness of AutoSSD by holistically considering multiple facets of SSD internal management, and by evaluating it across diverse workloads. Compared to state-of-the-art techniques, our design reduces the average response time by up to 18.0%, the 3 nines (99.9%) QoS by up to 67.2%, and the 6 nines (99.9999%) QoS by up to 76.6% for QoS-sensitive small reads.


This exploratory study takes a look at the puzzle of what types of contracts are suitable for governing innovation, with particular attention to interfirm networks. It employs a conceptual framework that integrates organizational theory of formal coordination with economic perspectives on contracting, and innovates previous analyses in two ways: developing an assessment of alternative contractual forms in terms of knowledge governance and not only in terms of conflict resolution; analyzing contracts according to the intensity at which they incorporate not only market-like mechanisms, but also hierarchical and bureaucratic mechanisms, and a usually neglected array of associational and democratic mechanisms, as related to the level of uncertainty and innovation. A new class of "associational" and "constitutional" contract, resource based rather than action based, is singled out as particularly fit to the governance of innovation. The framework is empirically applied to content-analyze the written agreements regulating interfirm alliances for innovation using a comparative case study approach.


Innovation has been identified as essential for organisations to stay competitive in existing or entirely new markets, as well as a necessity for long term survival. The ability to innovate is affected by the external environment in the industry and by the internal environment within the organisation. We focused on internal parameters that influenced an innovative development project in the automobile industry. An organisation may shape its internal environment by reducing hurdles as well as strengthening key factors that foster innovations. We combined factors identified by a literature review to build our theoretical framework consisting of seven internal organisational parameters that may form an innovative context. These are: top management support, advocates for intrapreneurship (entrepreneurship within existing organisations), the physical environment, organisational structure, resources, rewards and risk taking. The purpose of this paper was to identify these internal organisational factors and their importance in creating an innovative context in the BMW i3 development project. Our data collection consisted of ten interviews of management and employees involved in the BMW i3 project in which the key factors were addressed. The participants also had the opportunity to rank the importance of the identified internal organisational factors. Our findings showed that all factors have some importance in creating an innovative context. We find that top management support and advocates for intrapreneurship were the most important factors, followed by risk taking. The importance of the factors showed differences as well as similarities between the literature and our case. Management support, being an inherently wide term and most often including both top management support, advocates and other elements, was found to be of high importance in similar studies as well. A discrepancy was found regarding rewards, which was found to be important in similar studies but was ranked as least important in our case. This study contributes to the knowledge about organisational factors that should be considered by firms that strive to create an innovative context. The lessons gleamed from this study can be useful in typical innovative projects in the automotive industry and other technology industries.


The hot ductility of steels containing 0–0.06 wt.%Nb has been evaluated through γ grain growth experiments and hot stage tensile tests of the α + γ two phase region in order to clarify the roles of NbC precipitation and γ grain size evolution resulting from Nb-initiated solute drag on hot ductility in this important material property. The experimental results show that (1) a decrease in γ grain size as a result of Nb-initiated solute drag improves hot ductility, (2) for a given γ grain size, hot ductility decreases with increasing Nb content because the corresponding increase in NbC precipitation fraction increases strength, and (3) the variation in ductility with Nb content is smaller when the γ grain size is smaller. These competing effects of γ grain size and NbC precipitation affect the strain incompatibility between the α and γ phases, leading to the onset of surface cracking during continuous casting when the incompatibility is high. The underlying mechanisms controlling ductility in Nb-containing steels are demonstrated using a model that partitions strain between the α and γ phases.


In this paper, a Frequency Adaptive Selective Harmonic Control (FA-SHC) scheme is proposed. The FA-SHC method is developed from a hybrid SHC scheme based on the internal model principle, which can be designed for gridconnected inverters to optimally mitigate feed-in current harmonics. The hybrid SHC scheme consists of multiple parallel recursive (nk±m)-order (k = 0, 1, 2, . . ., and m ≤ n/2) harmonic control modules with independent control gains, which can be optimally weighted in accordance with the harmonic distribution. The hybrid SHC thus offers an optimal trade-off among cost, complexity and also performance in terms of high accuracy, fast response, easy implementation, and compatible design. The analysis and synthesis of the hybrid SHC are addressed. More important, in order to deal with the harmonics in the presence of grid frequency variations, the hybrid SHC is transformed into the FA-SHC, being the proposed fractional order controller, when it is implemented with a fixed sampling rate. The FASHC is implemented by substituting the fractional order elements with the Lagrange polynomial based interpolation filters. The proposed FA-SHC scheme provides fast on-line computation and frequency adaptability to compensate harmonics in gridconnected applications, where the grid frequency is usually varying within a certain range (e.g., 50±0.5 Hz). Experimental tests have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed FASHC scheme in terms of accurate frequency adaptability and also fast transient response.


Aim: To evaluate the reliability of linear measurements in virtual models by comparing measurements performed on virtual models obtained from alginate impression scans, plaster model and measurements performed on conventional plaster model. Methods: The sample comprised 26 randomly selected patients to have impressions of their upper and lower jaws taken using alginate and their bite registration using a wax bite. The virtual models were obtained by scanning the alginate impression and the plaster model in a laser surface scanner (R700; 3Shape, Copenhagen, Denmark), and the measurements were performed using the Ortho Analyser (3Shape) proprietary software. The linear measurements of the size of the teeth mesial to distal, arch perimeter, intercanine distance and intermolar distance in the upper and lower arches were performed on plaster models, digital impressions and digital models, by three observers and repeated after 15 days on 8 models for intra-observer evaluations. Data were tabulated and analyzed statistically. Intra-class correlation to check the agreement of intra and inter-observers and ANOVA test were used to analyze the differences between measurements of digital models from impression and digital models from plaster. Results: The results showed a statistically significant difference (pd"0.05) for the posterior teeth, anterior teeth, upper arch perimeter and lower inter-canine distance, comparing the digital models with plaster models, but these differences are considered clinically non-significant. Conclusions: Digital models were proven be reliable and clinically acceptable for measuring tooth width, perimeter arches, intercanine and intermolar distances.


Background. Chronic transplant nephropathy remains a poorly defined inflammatory process that limits the survival rate of most renal transplants. We analyzed the gene profile of chronically rejected kidney transplants to identify candidate genes that characterize chronic transplant nephropathy. Methods. To distinguish genes present in normal renal tissue or specific for end-stage renal failure, we compared the gene profiles of 13 chronically rejected kidney transplants with 16 normal kidneys and 12 end-stage polycystic kidneys using a 7K human cDNA microarray. After elimination of genes with signals close to background, 2,190 genes were available for statistical analysis. Results. More than 20% of the examined genes were significantly regulated when compared with the expression level of normal renal tissue (P <0.0003). Hierarchic clustering based on 571 genes differentiated normal and transplant tissue, and transplant and polycystic kidney tissue. Most of these genes encoded proteins involved in cellular metabolism, transport, signaling, transcriptional activation, adhesion, and the immune response. Notably, comprehensive gene profiling of chronically rejected kidneys revealed two distinct subsets of chronically rejected transplants. Neither clinical data nor histology could explain this genetic heterogeneity. Conclusions. Microarray analysis of rejected kidneys may help to define different entities of transplant nephropathy, reflecting the multifactorial cause of chronic rejection.


Treatment of the oral cavity leukoplakia, a potentially malignant lesion, is presently not evidenced based. Leukoplakia is a premalignant lesion of the oral cavity which has increased risk for oral cancer. If the leukoplakia is treated in its incipient stage, the chance of occurrence of the oral cancer can be reduced. Although there are several treatment options for leukoplakia, there is no specific and appropriate one for minimizing the malignant transformation of the leukoplakia. Tobacco and prolonged use of alcohol can cause significant risk factors toward origin of the oral cavity leukoplakia. Surgical excision, cryotherapy, and laser excision are the useful modes of the treatment for oral leukoplakia, but the minimizing the risk of the malignant transformation is still doubtful. However, the medical treatment for oral cavity leukoplakia is often attractive particularly to prevent the transformation of the leukoplakia into malignancy. The medical treatment is based on chemoprevention such as Vitamin A and retinoid, carotenoids, tea extract, bleomycin, and Vitamin C have been used although with inconclusive output. The nonsurgical treatment overweighs because of its non-invasiveness, good cosmetic result, well tolerated by the patient without cumulative toxicity and used when the surgery is avoided or contraindicated. In this review article, we will discuss different nonsurgical treatment options for oral cavity leukoplakia.


: Single anesthetic (11.5 mmole/kg) and nonanesthetic (4.6 mmole/kg) doses of 1-14C-halothane were administered separately to control and phenobarbital-pretreated rats by the intraperitoneal route. Tissue distribution and covalent binding of the anesthetic agent in the liver, lung, and kidney were determined at 4 and 24 hours after administration. Histopathological examination of the tissues revealed that halothane produced necrosis only in the livers of phenobarbital-pretreated rats and only after a period of 24 hours following the anesthetic dose. The lung and kidney appeared normal in all test animals. The liver was the major organ for the uptake, metabolism, and covalent binding of halothane metabolites to tissue proteins. Although similar metabolic activity was observed in the kidney and lung, toxic levels of the halothane metabolites were apparently not attained in these extrahepatic tissues in either control or phenobarbital-pretreated rats.


This paper posits that an examination of strategic state narratives in the digital age can serve as a useful analytical vector in understanding evolving media ecology and political dissent in non-free states. Moving beyond the vague and unhelpful label of 'online revolution', this paper introduces the idea of 'propaganda.' This concept accelerates the intellectual trajectory that has increasingly rejected a traditional/online media dichotomy and moves to a more dynamic conception of how information communication technology changes the media ecology in non-free states. The rewired propaganda theory posits that the key challenge posed to authoritarian regimes by the internet is the way in which the online sphere challenges how the Russian state has traditionally dominated the information heights via television. While there has been compelling evidence of a gradual shift away from the power of nightly news as the key authoritative information source in Russia, the international attention on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 generated significant challenges to the Russian state narrative. Yet leaping to the conclusion that the internet can effectively undermine the state narrative and create an alternative, authoritative national news source has not proven useful in the Russian case. In addition, this idea is essentially too crude to analyze the situation in other countries. Rather, the focus of the research (the dependent variable) should be the national narrative as expressed on state television, with change measured by how the state narrative is challenged by a particular event. The independent variables include alternative sources of information online, but the critical forces that shape the state narrative are far wider in scope and embrace the nature of the story, the coverage in the international media, cohesion among elites, citizen attitudes, the strength of the opposition, the state of online news, and state manipulation of online sources. This paper will focus on how Vremya, the flagship news program on the state-run First Channel in Russia, created a strategic narrative within a new media ecology in the week after the attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014. This study uses the framing of the same event on one of the most popular worldwide news sites, BBC online, to highlight the challenge of fitting the Russian strategic narrative into the global media ecology created in the online age. This can help to construct the idea of a rewired propaganda model to apply it comparatively, providing a far more nuanced and useful understanding than the idea that information flow online will build to a particular critical mass and 'overturn' a regime. This model will allow analysts to consider the relative power of the new media ecology in challenging an authoritarian regime by measuring control of the state strategic narrative.


Phytoremeditation of mine tailings provides the most cost-effective means of alleviating their pollutant effects. Research has shown that successful revegetation of mine tailings can be optimised by providing appropriate microbial symbionts for the plants. The aim of this study was to assess the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) status of trees currently being used for phytoremediation trials of mine tailings in the Welkom gold fields, and to determine the AM fungal diversity of these sites. The Acacia spp. analysed were growing on rehabilitated gold and uranium mine tailings which had undergone different rehabilitation regimes. Planted acacia trees which had been inoculated with crude AM fungal inocula were present on one mine tailing site as compared to the second mine tailing site on which the acacias were naturally colonisers and the site had been ameliorated with garden refuse. Root and slime samples were collected in early spring and half if each initial sample was used immediately for colonisation analysis and to identify AM fungi through molecular analysis of the small subunit rRNS gene sequences; the other half of each sample was used to produce trap cultures which were used later for colonisation and molecular analysis. Total AM fungal colonisation of initial samples for planted acacies was 19 % and for naturally colonising acacias was 66 %. The total AM fungal colonisation of trap culture samples for planted acacias increased to 32 % and for naturallhy colonising acacias it increased to 78 %. Spore counts of initial samples averaged 402 spores per 100 g -1 soil for planted acacias and 455 spores per 100 g -1 soil for naturally colonising acacias. For trap culture samples, spore counts decreased by approximately 50 %. The AM fungi identified fell within 8 genera, namely, Diversispora, Rhizophagus, Scutellospora, Claroideoglomus, Cetraspora, Sclerocystis, Glomus and Redecker. The study represents a first report utilising molecular biosystematics with AM fungal DNA from colonised roots as the template. The results will assist in making decisions about future AM fungal surveys and applying AM fungal inoculum in phytoremediation trials of mine waste sites.


Abstract Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an alphavirus that has spread globally in the last twenty years. Although mortality is rather low, infection can result in debilitating arthralgia that can persist for years. Unfortunately, no treatments or preventive vaccines are currently licensed against CHIKV infections. However, a large range of promising preclinical and clinical vaccine candidates have been developed during recent years. This review will give an introduction into the biology of CHIKV and the immune responses that are induced by infection, and will summarize CHIKV vaccine development.


Cold ions of ionospheric origin are known to be present in the magnetospheric side of the Earth's magnetopause. They can be very abundant, with densities up to 100 cm−3. These cold ions can mass load the magnetosphere, changing global parameters of magnetic reconnection, like the Alfvén speed or the reconnection rate. In addition they introduce a new length scale related to their gyroradius and kinetic effects which must be accounted for. We report in situ observations of cold ion heating in the separatrix owing to time and space fluctuations of the electric field. When this occurs, the cold ions are preheated before crossing the Hall electric field barrier. However, when this mechanism is not present cold ions can be observed well inside the reconnection exhaust. Our observations suggest that the perpendicular cold ion heating is stronger close to the X line owing to waves and electric field gradients linked to the reconnection process.


Turbo codes need to be used with reasonably long blocks of data which invariably lead to considerable decoding delay. In fact, for a data block of size N, the decoding delay is O(N). Recently it was shown that if the hardware complexity of W processors was acceptable, then the decoding delay could be reduced to O(N/W) without much performance degradation, by decoding the turbo code in a parallel fashion. In this paper we have shown that the decoding delay could be further reduced if the component decoders use parallel versions of soft output T-algorithms instead of parallel versions of the MAP algorithm. Unlike the MAP algorithm which could be used with parallel and pipelined structures to reduce the decoding delay to the same extent, the soft output T-algorithms must be used with a parallel structure in order to reduce the decoding delay. This reduction in decoding delay is obtained without any appreciable degradation in performance.


Background
EPrescribing was developed to reduce medication errors and adverse drug events (ADEs) in intensive care units (lCU). Even though ePrescribing is effective in reducing medication errors and ADEs in ICUs, it is clear from the literature that ePrescribing may introduce new errors which could have been caused by the design and interface of the systems. Therefore, it is important to explore ePrescribing systems to improve their design and efficiency, and improve patient safety based on the assistance that such systems provide to professionals in making clinical decisions from a multi-level perspective: at drug level, process level and system level.
Methods
A mixed methods design was used to address the multi-level approach. In a quantitative phase, a systematic review was conducted to identify drugs/drug groups and errors most commonly associated with preventable adverse drug events (PADEs) in ICU patients at a drug level, and an eDelphi study to identify high-risk prescribing safety indicators specific to ICU with experts in pharmacotherapy/adverse drug events to address the process level. In a qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff members to explore the benefits of using the ePrescribing system, problems encountered with the use of the ePrescribing system and elicit users' recommendations to improve the efficiency of the ePrescribing system in the ICU of Royal Berkshire National Health Services Foundation Trust at the system level.
Results
Sedatives and analgesics were the drugs/drug groups most frequently associated with pADEs in ICU patients, and dosing errors were the errors most commonly associated with pADEs in ICU patients. Eleven high-risk prescribing safety indicators specific to the ICU and which are amenable to clinical decision support were identified. The prescribing indicators list could be used as a standardised tool for the routine collection of prescribing error data from both paper based and electronic systems. The prescribing indicators list could also be used to evaluate the impact of safety improvement initiatives such as implementing ePrescribing with or without clinical decision support. The benefits of the ePrescribing system reported in this study included accuracy ofthe ePrescribing system and ease ofaccess using the ePrescribing system. Problems encountered with the ePrescribing system in this study included the mixed system (both paper and electronic) of prescribing and inefficiencies (incomplete drug database and absence of automatic functions) of the system. The benefits and issues about the use of ePrescribing reported in this study were consistent with the current literature. New issues were also noted in this study and these include: co-signing of drugs, deskilling of professionals and changes to pharmacists' work practices. This could be addressed by improving the design of the systems in response to feedback from the users of the system and also involving users at every stage of the design and refinement processes. Therefore, a user-centred systems approach that takes into account the needs of the users and their work environment should be used when designing and implementing ePrescribing systems.
Conclusions
Errors can be understood at the drug, process and system levels, to inform the design of strategies to reduce ADEs and medication errors at a whole system level. The findings from this study could inform the basis for designing and developing strategies to improve patient safety and utilisation of the ePrescribing system.


The goodness-of-fit test based on Pearson's chi-squared statistic is sometimes considered to be an omnibus test that gives little guidance to the source of poor fit when the null hypothesis is rejected. It has also been recognized that the omnibus test can often be outperformed by focused or directional tests of lower order. In this paper, a test is considered for a model on a data table formed by the cross-classification of q dichotomous variables, and a score statistic on overlapping cells that correspond to the first- through qth-order marginal frequencies is presented. Then orthogonal components of the Pearson-Fisher statistic are defined on marginal frequencies. The orthogonal components may be used to form test statistics, and a log-linear version of an item response model is used to investigate the order and dilution of a test based on these components, as well as the projection of components onto the space of lower-order marginals. The advantage of the components in terms of power and detection of the source of poor fit is demonstrated. Overcoming the adverse effects of sparseness provides another motive for using components based on marginal frequencies because an asymptotic chi-squared distribution will be more reliable for a statistic formed on overlapping cells if expected frequencies in the joint distribution are small.


Mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract are until today poorly understood and thus very challenging for interdisciplinary therapy. We herewith report the first case series of patients with a primary mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma of the rectum. Both cases were initially diagnosed as adenocarcinoma and only secondarily with mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma and had a poor outcome due to a rapid tumor progression and resistance to chemotherapy. A 65-year-old female presented with local tumor recurrence and hepatopulmonary metastasis 1 year after primary surgery for adenocarcinoma of the rectum and consecutive radiochemotherapy regimen. Fluorouracil (5-FU) was followed by bevacizumab- and capecitabine-based chemotherapy but had to be discontinued due to side effects and progressive disease. Progressive local pain syndrome accompanied by recurrent bleeding episodes led to a local tumor-debulking operation. Afterward, mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma as the underlying diagnosis in the final histopathological examination was detected. The patient died 3 months after the operation in the context of a fulminant tumor progress. A 63-year-old male patient underwent neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy and laparoscopic rectum resection. After 5 months, postoperative oxaliplatin/capecitabine-based adjuvant chemotherapy was switched to carboplatin/etopsid due to a progressive polyneuropathy and biopsy-proven pulmonary metastasis. The patient then had to be switched to local radiation of cerebral metastases and Topotecan due to cerebral bleeding episodes but died 18 months after the initial diagnosis. In conclusion of our case series, mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinomas of the rectum should be considered as a rare but aggressive tumor entity. An early and detailed histopathological diagnosis is required in order to establish an individual interdisciplinary treatment concept.


Many optimization problems can be formulated as monolithic mathematical models (e.g., mixed-integer linear programs), which are ready to be solved by the state-of-the-artoptimization solvers. However, by exploiting the problem structures, one may design specialized solution approaches that can manage to efficiently solve problems of a muchlarger size. In this thesis, we develop tailored branch-and-bound algorithms for solving complex problems that arise in supply chain logistics as well as object packing. The primary focus of this thesis is on the mathematical modeling and algorithmic development for addressing vehicle routing problems. We consider the following four settings: (i) continuous-time inventory routing, which integrates inventory management, vehicle routing, and delivery-scheduling decisions; (ii) full truckload pickup and delivery, which entails full truckload shipments between distribution centers and delivery locations; (iii) marginal cost estimation, which seeks for the average routing cost of serving an individual customer in a stochastic supply chain system; (iv) routing under uncertainty, which incorporates customer demand and/or travel time uncertainty while designing delivery routes. The second part of the thesis is focused on global optimization with application to cutting and packing problems. In particular, we are interested in two variants of packing problems: shape nesting and circle packing. The former entails irregular polygons while the latter involves circles. The goal is to identify a feasible configuration for these objects to be packed in a container such that no overlap exists among these objects and the materialwaste is minimized. Modeling both problems is simple, however, solving the resulting mathematical models is extremely challenging due to the presence of non-overlapping constraints. For each of the aforementioned problems, we explore its intrinsic structure and proposea specialized algorithm. Through extensive computational studies on benchmark instances, we demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed methods.


This paper demonstrates a method of obtaining key vehicle states using GPS and INS measurements with an adaptive model based estimator. A dual antenna GPS attitude system is used to estimate tire cornering stiffness. This estimated parameter is updated in the estimator model to provide more accurate estimates of the vehicle states. The experimental results for the estimate of sideslip and yaw rate using the updated estimator model compare favorable to values predicted by the theoretical model.


Magnetically tunable two-pole dielectric-resonator filters containing axially and circumferentially magnetized ferrite elements have been designed and investigated. Employing axially magnetized ferrites, a 20-MHz tuning range was obtained. The Q factor of resonators was 2500 and the tuning power was 1.8 W. Filters containing circumferentially magnetized discs demonstrated a 12-MHz tuning range with the Q factor over 8000 (tuning power 3.5 W) and 28 MHz with the Q factor 3500 (tuning power 3.5 W)


For pt. I see ibid., vol. 7, no. 1, p. 79-86 (1998). This paper presents the fabrication and first performance characteristics of electrostatically driven axial-gap polysilicon wobble motors. The fabrication is based on a four mask process using polysilicon surface-micromachining techniques. Three twelve-stator-pole wobble motor designs have been realized with rotor radii of 50 and 100 /spl mu/m. Motors have been operated successfully at driving voltages as low as 6 V at speeds up to 150 rpm. The motor performance is characterized by gear ratio measurements and measuring starting and stopping voltages. Motor lifetimes of several million wobble cycles, comparable to operating times of several hours, have been obtained.


A novel real-time color gamut mapping method is described. The color gamut mapping method that is used for enhancing the color reproduction quality between PC monitor ad printer devices is adopted for digital TV display quality enhancement. The high definition digital TV display devices operate at the clock speed of around 70 MH to 150 MHz and permit several nano seconds for real-time color gamut mapping. Thus, the concept of three-dimensional reduced resolution look-up table is introduced for real-time processing. The required hardware can be greatly reduced by look-up table resolution adjustment. The proposed hardware architecture is successfully implemented in FPGA and ASIC and also successfully adopted in digital TV display quality enhancement purposes.


English television programs have been incorporated within public-school classrooms in western countries for a long time to capture student interest in various subjects. Many researchers favor English programs as a partner inside of classrooms while others hold negative perceptions of the concept. However, there is little research to provide a better understanding of how English television programs have been accepted within South Korean public-school EFL classrooms by teachers and public administrative professionals. Since South Korea's Ministry of Education is aggressively identifying alternative ways to reduce household spending on private English education, this study attempts to determine if English television programs can be a viable partner in South Korean EFL classrooms. Fifty public-school EFL teachers covering schools in Seoul, Bucheon, Suwon, and Incheon were surveyed to provide better insight. A majority of the participants indicated they instruct their students to watch English programs as a part of their lesson plans, but this study also indicates the strategy has been applied sparingly.


The purpose of this essay is to investigate some of the uses of English prepositions and Hungarian case endings employed to express spatial relations. The observation of invariant mistakes Hungarian native speakers learning English make initiated the investigation. The questions raised are: (a) where do the two systems match and where do mismatches lie, (b) how do language users perceive the world, and (c) do speakers observe spatial relations as two-dimensional or three-dimensional cognitive models? Do different languages see the same thing as either threedimensional, or two-dimensional? Abondolo (1988) gives an adequate morphological analysis of ten Hungarian case-endings (inessive, illative, elative, superessive, delative, sublative adessive, ablative, allative and terminative) used in spatial reference, which give a closed set in references made to factors, such as (1) location which can be broken down as interior vs. exterior location with the latter being further analysable as superficial and proximal, and (2) orientation which can be analysed as zero orientation (position), source and goal. In addition to those in this list, two other case endings (genetive/dative and locative) are also used for expressing spatial relations but the last is only a variant of the inessive and superessive case-endings and is only used with place-names. The set is closed in the sense that the same item is meant to refer to the same sort of spatial relation in every case. Language textbooks, c.f. Benkő (1972) seem to suggest a neat match between the above Hungarian case endings and their English prepositional counterparts, e.g. London-ban (inessive) = in London. The picture, however, is far from being so clear-cut. The data, which were taken from various dictionaries and textbooks, show that the choices of both the prepositions and the case endings listed above depend on how the speaker considers factors (1) and (2) and that proximity is very important. Instead of a one-to-one match between the prepositions and the case endings, we rather find that the above case endings will match a dual, and in some cases a tripartite system of prepositions with the correspondences found in the two languages, which yield the following chart:


In mechanical engineering, earthquake engineering and modern municipal construction, semi-cylindrical gap and shallow-buried inclusion structure are used widely. In this paper, Green's Function is studied, which is the solution of displacement field for elastic semi-space with semi-cylindrical gap and multiple shallow-buried inclusions while bearing anti-plane harmonic line source force at any point. In the complex plane, considering the symmetry of SH-wave scattering , the displacement field aroused by the anti-plane harmonic line source force and the scattering displacement field impacted by semi-cylindrical gap and multiple cylindrical inclusions comprised of Fourier-Bessel series with undetermined coefficients which satisfies the stress-free condition on the ground surface are constructed. Through applying the method of multi-polar coordinate system, the equations with unknown coefficients can be obtained by using the displacement and stress condition of the cylindrical inclusion in the radial direction. According to orthogonality condition for trigonometric function, these equations can be reduced to a series of algebraic equations. Then the value of the unknown coefficients can be obtained by solving these algebraic equations. Green's function, that is, the total wave displacement field is the superposition of the displacement field aroused by the anti-plane harmonic line source force and the scattering displacement field. By using the expressions, an example is provided to show the effect of the change of relative location of semi-cylindrical gap , the cylindrical inclusions and the location of the line source force. Based on this solution, the problem of interaction of semi-cylindrical gap , multiple cylindrical inclusions and a linear crack in semi-space can be investigated further.


The results of the development and trials of two variants of EIA test system for the detection of HIV-1 antigen using biotinated HIV-antibody and streptavidin-peroxidase or biotin-beta-lactamase enzyme complexes are presented. These diagnostic preparations proved to be highly sensitive and specific allowing the detection of the antigen in the blood of HIV-infected subjects.


If you want to give your child a great party, but are not a keen baker, More Easy Party Treats for Children is the book for you. All the treats are made using readily available items, such as wafer biscuits, marshmallows, ice cream cones, jelly sweets and lollipops. Fifteen different themes are presented, including trains, monsters, sheep, butterflies, bees, superheroes, ragdolls and dinosaurs. Each theme includes a centrepiece that can be used in addition to, or even replace, the traditional birthday cake. The simple-to-follow instructions don't require any baking skills, making it possible for busy moms to put on the perfect party without blowing the budget or spending hours in the kitchen. Kids will be delighted by the variety of treats on offer and the themes can be adapted to suit individual preferences and ages. Beautiful photography and creative styling showcase the treats and offer further ideas for party settings.


Student absenteeism is common across universities. Learning through attending lectures and tutorials is still expected in our technological age, though there are major changes in how information in lectures and tutorials can be transmitted via the use of iLearn and related packages, by video streaming of classes and by online technology generally. Consequently, availability of these supplementary resources and, in general terms, the issue of physical absence from classes, raises the question of whether missing class impacts on student learning. Does it matter if students attend classes or not? The aim of the current study was to assess whether student attendance in tutorials in first year subjects in psychology was associated with academic performance, that is, was attendance linked with improved performance? We took data from tutor held records on attendance and on results for article review assignments and laboratory reports for a total of 383 students who completed introductory psychology courses in classes over the years 2012-2015. The hypothesis that class attendance and performance would be significantly related was supported in 13 of the 14 class relationships examined separately, and, in the class that was the exception the correlation was in the expected direction. These results suggest that attending class continues to have a positive impact on student learning in this technological age. The limitations of the current study are discussed as are implications regarding instructor resource applications and/or compulsory class attendance policies.


We introduce the online stochastic Convex Programming (CP) problem, a very general version of stochastic online problems which allows arbitrary concave objectives and convex feasibility constraints. Many well-studied problems like online stochastic packing and covering, online stochastic matching with concave returns, etc. form a special case of online stochastic CP. We present fast algorithms for these problems, which achieve near-optimal regret guarantees for both the i.i.d. and the random permutation models of stochastic inputs. When applied to the special case online packing, our ideas yield a simpler and faster primal-dual algorithm for this well studied problem, which achieves the optimal competitive ratio. Our techniques make explicit the connection of primal-dual paradigm and online learning to online stochastic CP.


The word 'crisis' has two different shades of meaning. It can refer to an unstable situation in political or social affairs that persists and intensifies over the relatively long term. Closer to the original Greek meaning of krisis, a crisis also refers to a traumatic episode or condition whose resolution remains unclear and replete with danger. The crisis of democratic leadership is a crisis of the first sort – a slow burn tending towards meltdown. The coronavirus pandemic is a crisis of the second sort – a traumatic event spiralling into an uncertain and perilous future. The paper argues that the crisis of the first sort is currently feeding into and feeding off the crisis of the second sort. COVID-19 has had an extraordinary effect on the political landscape. Its challenge democratic leadership and to the paradigm of representative democracy more generally may be framed according to a number of key features. First, the pandemic may be considered as a premonitory event. Secondly, it poses various acute problems of collective action, both within and beyond the polity. Thirdly, it highlights the dense interconnectedness of the issues that form our political agenda. And fourthly, it suspends many aspects of social and political life, both pausing our capacity to act and interrupting the flow of the world we act upon. Each of these features has double-edged implications for our capacity to steer our democracies. Each threatens to reinforce democratic impotence, but at the margins each also offers some hope of democratic renewal.


The authors' aim was to evaluate the response of the intracranial venous system to application of functional tests. In 46 healthy volunteers, the basal veins were examined using venous transcranial color-coded duplex sonography. We evaluated angle-corrected venous peak-systolic flow velocities (V(vb)) in response to hypercapnia (I group: 29 subjects) and the orthostatic test (II group: 17 subjects). We have found that hypercapnia inducesa significant increase of the flow velocities in the basal veins, on average 60 +/- 22.7% (p < 0.00001). The reaction prevents venous hyperaemia, i. e., significant increase of the cerebral blood flow volume and the drainage of the brain. In contrast to hypercapnia, the orthostatic test led to decrease in the flow velocities in the basal veins. The percentage of velocity decrease ranged from 16to 32% (p < 0.001). Posturally induced reduction of the venous flow volume prevents excessive drainage from the brain. Thus, we have shown that both tests can be used for evaluation of reactivity of the intracranial venous system and they can complement each other.


Joao Cabral de Melo Neto's poem "Morte e vida severina" focuses primarily on the satisfaction of human needs and on the condicao severina--i.e., the poverty, hunger, joblessness, injustice, and early death that characterizes much of life in Northeast Brazil. In two episodes of the poem, human life is presented as a value ideal: during the dialog between the master carpenter and the protagonist Severino (a retirante, or migrant fleeing drought-stricken areas of the Northeast) and likewise during the birth of another Severino, on the banks of the Capibaribe River in Recife.


Librarians are key players in bringing communities together. With the help of the Internet, they are in a position to revolutionize the way users access information and come together as a result. Indeed, libraries can function as both hubs to circulate local, national, and global information and as networks of local agencies, nonprofits, community activities, resources, events, and contacts. Building from detailed research, this forward-looking new book addresses the ways that libraries can harness the power of the Internet to provide digitized community information to local audiences. Using its proven methods, hands-on tools, and best practices developed in libraries across the country, any library can design and build a dynamic and unifying community information site. Featuring three of the nation's leading community network sites (Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Free-Net, Suburban Chicago's NorthStarNet, and Portland, Oregon's CascadeLink), expert author team Durrance and Pettigrew outline innovative ways to present information for and about your community. Featured are 23 examples of best practices from libraries around the country that help you approach: * Access issues and the digi


This study examined the use of a college course evaluation instrument in an effort to better understand and improve the assessment data derived from the instrument. The purpose of the analysis was to examine the dimensionality and reliability of the instrument but, more importantly, to understand what the data really tells us and whether assessment literacy would improve data usability. Analysis of the results suggests that the instrument tended to produce internally consistent data. However, the instrument measured predominately one aspect of course quality. In addition, based on results of the assessment literacy exercise, respondents seem to use very different criterion for rating; the constructs being measured generally did not match what was intended; and the questions being asked did not always match the scale being used. As a result the usefulness of any data interpretation and subsequent decisions was deemed suspect. The results of this study also suggest that simple assessment literacy interventions by themselves do not seem to drastically change the ability of raters to score items reliably. A much more comprehensive effort would be needed to produce results that would be beneficial for long term, data-driven decision making.


The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of California (UC) now have in operation a large AMS spectrometer built as part of a new multiuser laboratory centered on an FN tandem. AMS measurements are expected to use half of the beam time of the accelerator. LLNL use of AMS is in research on consequences of energy usage. Examples include global warming, geophysical site characterization, radiation biology and dosimetry, and study of mutagenic and carcinogenic processes. UC research activities are in clinical applications, archaeology and anthropology, oceanography, and geophysical and geochemical research. Access is also possible for researchers outside the UC system. The technological focus of the laboratory is on achieving high rates of sample through-put, unattended operation, and advances in sample preparation methods. Because of the expected growth in the research programs and the other obligations of the present accelerator, we are designing a follow-on dedicated facility for only AMS and microprobe analysis that will contain at least two accelerators with multiple spectrometers. 10 refs., 1 fig.


Introduction: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) occurs due to atherosclerosis which results in progressive narrowing of coronary artery lumen. N-Terminal pro Brain Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP) has been used as a marker of heart failure. However, its role in stable coronary artery disease without left ventricular dysfunction is limited.Aim: To measure and compare the serum NT-proBNP levels in stable coronary artery patients and controls and to correlate serum NT-proBNP levels with severity of CAD.Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in Department of Biochemistry in collaboration with Department of Cardiology Kasturba Medical College, Manipal after the approval from Institutional Ethics Committee. A written consent was obtained from 86 study subjects (controls 36, cases 50).Serum NT-proBNP was measured using ELISA kit. Severity of CAD was graded by angiogram based Gensini scoring system.Mann-Whitney U-tests and spearman's correlations were used.Serum NT-proBNP was expressed in median and interquartile range. The p- value<0.05 was considered to be significant.Results: Median values of serum NT-proBNP levels in cases(151.9 pg/mL) were significantly higher as compared to that of controls (99.31 pg/mL), (p<0.001). There was a significant positive correlation of serum NT-proBNP with the respective Gensini scores in patients with stable coronary artery disease (r=0.263, p=0.014). Conclusion: As Serum NT-proBNP levels were significantly associated with severity of stable CAD without left ventricular dysfunction, it can be a potential tool in effective management of stable CAD.


Sensor networks are deemed suitable for large-scale deployments in the wild for a variety of applications. In spite of the remarkable efforts the community put to build the sensor systems, an essential question still remains unclear at the system level, motivating us to explore the answer from a point of real-world deployment view. Does the wireless sensor network really scale? We present findings from a large-scale operating sensor network system, GreenOrbs, with up to 330 nodes deployed in the forest. We instrument such an operating network throughout the protocol stack and present observations across layers in the network. Based on our findings from the system measurement, we propose and make initial efforts to validate three conjectures that give potential guidelines for future designs of large-scale sensor networks. 1) A small portion of nodes bottlenecks the entire network, and most of the existing network indicators may not accurately capture them. 2) The network dynamics mainly come from the inherent concurrency of network operations instead of environment changes. 3) The environment, although the dynamics are not as significant as we assumed, has an unpredictable impact on the sensor network. We suggest that an event-based routing structure can be trained and thus better adapted to the wild environment when building a large-scale sensor network.


We discuss recent developments in the literature that studies how the dynamics of earnings and wages affect consumption choices over the life cycle. We start by analyzing the theoretical impact of income changes on consumption - highlighting the role of persistence, information, size and insurability of changes in economic resources. We next examine the empirical contributions, distinguishing between papers that use only income data and those that use both income and consumption data. The latter do this for two purposes. First, one can make explicit assumptions about the structure of credit and insurance markets and identify the income process or the information set of the individuals. Second, one can assume that the income process or the amount of information that consumers have are known and tests the implications of the theory. In general there is an identification issue that is only recently being addressed, with better data or better "experiments". We conclude with a discussion of the literature that endogenize people's earnings and therefore change the nature of risk faced by households.


Computational structural biology of proteins has developed rapidly in recent decades with the development of new computational tools and the advancement of computing hardware. However, while these techniques have widely been used to make advancements in human medicine, these methods have seen less utilization in the plant sciences. In the last several years, machine learning methods have gained popularity in computational structural biology. These methods have enabled the development of new tools which are able to address the major challenges that have hampered the wide adoption of the computational structural biology of plants. This perspective examines the remaining challenges in computational structural biology and how the development of machine learning techniques enables more in-depth computational structural biology of plants.


Statistics reveal that there are large numbers of women, including those in marital unions or partnerships, who are enduring violence and abuse. Most of this abuse is at the hands of intimate partners and loved ones. The present study sought to develop insight into the reasons why Vha-Venda women in Thohoyandou community of Limpopo Province stay in abusive relationships. A qualitative study was conducted. Twenty participants were accidentally selected for the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and were narrative analysis was performed. Several reasons compelled women to stay in abusive relationships. The major reasons include economic security, sake of children, fear of reprisal by society, fear of further abuse and the normalisation of abuse by the society. Society and man in particular need education on the rights of women and the consequences of wife battering. There is need for programmes for identifying and empowering women in abusive relationships to confront the challenge.


The introduction of the horse brought many advantages to medieval English farming, particularly as an improvement to ploughing and hauling. But the replacement of oxen by horses was by no means inevitable, as the situation often depended upon a number of factors not immediately obvious to modern eyes. These factors, which included such environmental aspects as soil types and terrain, are evaluated to see how they affected the decision to use horses and oxen. The introduction of the horse is furthermore examined in relation to farm production, the improvement in marketing, and the development of regionalism; and various theories regarding technological innovation are assessed to see whether this or that innovation acted in a predictable way. Most importantly, the study affords a glimpse into the working of the minds of medieval farmers as they approached the problems of livelihood and survival.


scarcely a groan or complaint and gratitude and appreciation were freely expressed. Two lessons were learnt. (1) Haemorrhage was not infrequently concealed by the covering up of wounds with large dressings of cotton-wool. It was found that half an hour"s steady pressure by an attendant was often necessary to arrest haemorrhage from even a small wound. (2) The value of really hot applications, especially over the heart in cases of shock and (usually) exposure, was apparent. Relays of turkish towels "cooked" in a gas oven were used.-I am, etc., March 6. LENNOX JOHNSTON.


Gene expression profiles obtained from time-series microarray experiments can reveal important information about biological processes. However, conducting such experiments is costly and time consuming. The cost and time required are linearly proportional to sample size. Therefore, it is worthwhile to provide a way to determine the minimal number of samples or trials required in a microarray experiment. One of the uses of microarray hybridization experiments is to group together genes with similar patterns of the expression using clustering techniques. In this paper, the k-means clustering technique is used. The basic idea of our approach is an incremental process in which testing, analysis and evaluation are integrated and iterated. The process is terminated when the evaluation of the results of two consecutive experiments shows they are sufficiently close. Two measures of "closeness" are proposed and two real microarray datasets are used to validate our approach. The results show that the sample size required to cluster genes in these two datasets can be reduced; i.e. the same results can be achieved with less cost. The approach can be used with other clustering techniques as well.


Business organizations are increasing their investments in resources related to data analytics. However, these investments would not be transferred to business value unless business organizations use these resources efficiently for value creation. Prior literature has suggested that data analytics capabilities (DAC) are critical in generating value from data and data analytics for business organizations. However, prior research has primarily centered on examining the role of resources in data and datarelated technologies and ignored the importance of data services and the quality of data-related resources in building DAC and in generating value. Thus, this study develops a data analytics capability building model based on the resource-based view and the information systems success model to explain how data quality, data system quality, and data service quality in business organizations may help build DAC, which could enhance business organizations' business performance.


Abstract. We have determined stable carbon isotope ratios of epifaunal and shallow infaunal benthic foraminifera in the Mediterranean Sea to relate the inferred gradient of pore water δ13CDIC to varying trophic conditions. This is a prerequisite for developing this difference into a potential transfer function for organic matter flux rates. The data set is based on samples retrieved from a well-defined bathymetric range (400–1500 m water depth) of sub-basins in the western, central, and eastern Mediterranean Sea. Regional contrasts in organic matter fluxes and associated δ13CDIC of pore water are recorded by the δ13C difference (Δδ13CUmed-Epi) between the shallow infaunal Uvigerina mediterranea and epifaunal species (Planulina ariminensis, Cibicidoides pachydermus, Cibicides lobatulus). Within epifaunal taxa, the highest δ13C values are recorded for P. ariminensis, providing the best indicator for bottom water δ13CDIC. In contrast, C. pachydermus reveals minor pore water effects at the more eutrophic sites. Because of ontogenetic trends in the δ13C signal of U. mediterranea of up to 1.04 ‰, only tests larger than 600 µm were used for the development of the transfer function. The recorded differences in the δ13C values of U. mediterranea and epifaunal taxa (Δδ13CUmed-Epi) range from −0.46 to −2.13 ‰, with generally higher offsets at more eutrophic sites. The measured δ13C differences are related to site-specific differences in microhabitat, depth of the principal sedimentary redox boundary, and TOC content of the ambient sediment. The Δδ13CUmed-Epi values reveal a consistent relation to Corg fluxes estimated from satellite-derived surface water primary production in open-marine settings of the Alboran Sea, Mallorca Channel, Strait of Sicily, and southern Aegean Sea. In contrast, Δδ13CUmed-Epi values in areas affected by intense resuspension and riverine organic matter sources of the northern to central Aegean Sea and the canyon systems of the Gulf of Lion suggest higher Corg fluxes compared to the values based on recent primary production. Taking regional biases and uncertainties into account, we establish a first Δδ13CUmed-Epi-based transfer function for Corg fluxes for the Mediterranean Sea.


We analyze the relations between ethnographic data and theory through an examination of materiality in research practices, arguing that data production is a form of material theorizing. This entails reviewing and (re-)applying practice-theoretical discussions on materiality to questions of ethnography, and moving from understanding theory primarily as ideas to observing theorizing in all steps of research practice. We introduce "pocketing" as a heuristic concept to analyze how and when ethnographic data materializes: the concept defines data's materiality relationally, through the affective and temporal dimensions of practice. It is discussed using two examples: in a study on everyday architectural experience where ethnographic data materialized as bodies affected by architecture; and in a study on digital cooperation where research data's materialization was distributed over time according to the use of a company database. By conceptualizing data's materiality as practice-bound, "pocketing" facilitates understanding the links between data and theory in ethnographic data production.


In this paper, novel statistical features namely first moment and second moment were proposed in the analysis of fiber optic statistical mode sensors to design consistent and sensitive sensors. These features used first time in literature. Experiments were conducted to measure force using statistical mode sensors and analyses were implemented using proposed statistical features. Good results were concluded and it was seen that these statistical features can be used in the design of statistical mode sensors. After that, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) with sensor fusion, intelligent sensor architecture was proposed to predict the force values measured by statistical mode sensors. It was seen that using the statistical features with sensor fusion provides better prediction of force values. Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) with different algorithms were used in ANN model. All of them can predict the force values with considerable errors. Statistical mode sensors can be calibrated and fault tolerance of the sensor can be decreased, hence more reliable sensors can be designed.


Psychedelic research into mental disorders is currently re-emerging after a near 40-year morass and appears to offer a new paradigm of treatment for civilians and veterans suffering from mental disorder and/or addiction.
The paper introduces the recent rebirth of psychedelic research at a small number of US and European universities such as Johns Hopkins, New Mexico, Zurich, UCLA, NYU, Imperial College London as well as at non-academic bodies with research into substances such as MDMA, psilocybin, LSD, THC and CBD in marijuana, ketamine, DMT (found in ayahuasca) and ibogaine. The legal impediments to psychedelic research and regulation are discussed including international drug conventions, drug scheduling, medicine regulation and the patent system. The paper considers the controversial nature of the research and its implications which could drive significant medical change through new forms of treatment for mental disorder and addiction.


According to blue-tooth viruses spread actuality, an epidemic model of blue-tooth phone virus is proposed in this paper. In this epidemic model, we proposed four basic statues to represent smart phones in different states. We also introduced some factors which can affect the basic trend of virus spreading, such as density of smart phones, length of malicious code and so on. But we mainly focused on parameter of spreading rate, and defined it as a variable which could change with time. At the end of this model, the simulation results showed the development tendency of this propagation model.


Background Understanding the past-year prevalence of male-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) and risk factors is essential for building evidence-based prevention and monitoring progress to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.2, but so far, population-based research on this remains very limited. The objective of this study is to compare the population prevalence rates of past-year male-perpetrated IPV and nonpartner rape from women's and men's reports across 4 countries in Asia and the Pacific. A further objective is to describe the risk factors associated with women's experience of past-year physical or sexual IPV from women's reports and factors driving women's past-year experience of partner violence. Methods and findings This paper presents findings from the United Nations Multi-country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. In the course of this study, in population-based cross-sectional surveys, 5,206 men and 3,106 women aged 18–49 years were interviewed from 4 countries: Cambodia, China, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Sri Lanka. To measure risk factors, we use logistic regression and structural equation modelling to show pathways and mediators. The analysis was not based on a written plan, and following a reviewer's comments, some material was moved to supplementary files and the regression was performed without variable elimination. Men reported more lifetime perpetration of IPV (physical or sexual IPV range 32.5%–80%) than women did experience (physical or sexual IPV range 27.5%–67.4%), but women's reports of past-year experience (physical or sexual IPV range 8.2%–32.1%) were not very clearly different from men's (physical or sexual IPV range 10.1%–34.0%). Women reported much more emotional/economic abuse (past-year ranges 1.4%–5.7% for men and 4.1%–27.7% for women). Reports of nonpartner rape were similar for men (range 0.8%–1.9% in the past year) and women (range 0.4%–2.3% in past year), except in Bougainville, where they were higher for men (11.7% versus 5.7%). The risk factor modelling shows 4 groups of variables to be important in experience of past-year sexual and/or physical IPV: (1) poverty, (2) all childhood trauma, (3) quarrelling and women's limited control in relationships, and (4) partner factors (substance abuse, unemployment, and infidelity). The population attributable fraction (PAF) was largest for quarrelling often, but the second greatest PAF was for the group related to exposure to violence in childhood. The relationship control variable group had the third highest PAF, followed by other partner factors. Currently married women were also more at risk. In the structural model, a resilience pathway showed less poverty, higher education, and more gender-equitable ideas were connected and conveyed protection from IPV. These are all amenable risk factors. This research was cross-sectional, so we cannot be sure of the temporal sequence of exposure, but the outcome being a past-year measure to some extent mitigates this problem. Conclusions Past-year IPV indicators based on women's reported experience that were developed to track SDG 5 are probably reasonably reliable but will not always give the same prevalence as may be reported by men. Report validity requires further research. Interviews with men to track past-year nonpartner rape perpetration are feasible and important. The findings suggest a range of factors are associated with past-year physical and/or sexual IPV exposure; of particular interest is the resilience pathway suggested by the structural model, which is highly amenable to intervention and explains why combining economic empowerment of women and gender empowerment/relationship skills training has been successful. This study provides additional rationale for scaling up violence prevention interventions that combine economic and gender empowerment/relationship skills building of women, as well as the value of investing in girls' education with a view to long-term violence reduction.


Next Generation Networks (NGN) is a strategy to achieve the vision of next-generation services for the delivery of quad play data, voice and video anywhere and anytime virtually across any access technology. It integrates the services of 2G/3G/4G Networks including IPv4 and IPv6 and incorporates the services of traditional networks into a single service platform with the usage of Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). Much work has been reported by researchers to integrate MPLS technology into IP networks. But, not much progress has been made so far. In this paper, a novel integrated IP-MPLS Architecture is proposed, which provides IP-integration, end-to-end quality of service, security, scalability, resiliency, and management enhancements for deploying data, voice, and video services. Test bed has been established for testing the performance of the proposed architecture.


This paper focuses on the flux and characterization of organic substances in cave drip waters for a continental climate. At Marengo Cave in southern Indiana, there is seasonal variations in organic matter concentration in the cave drip water. High levels are introduced during the spring thaw, and lower levels occur during the rest of the year. The fluorescence spectra and ultrafiltration analysis suggest the majority of the organics contained in percolating waters were fulvic acids, with most being less than 1 kDa in size. The seasonal flush of organics from the soil could produce two different types of calcite in the speleothem deposited from these drip waters, a stronger fluorescing calcite during the spring and the less fluorescent calcite during the rest of the year. This is the first study of its type for this particular climatic region.


We have performed an investigation on the cyclotrimerisation of molecules having exo- and endo-benzotricyclo[4.2.1.02,5]nonene skeletons (3 and 4) with the aim of producing their respective cyclotrimers 2 that feature unusual geometries and electronic properties. Activation towards the cyclotrimerisation reaction was performed using the vic-bromostannyl vinyl derivatives and was accomplished under copper-mediated or palladium-catalysed reaction conditions. While the exo isomer 3 proved to be quite reactive and afforded variable amounts of the syn and anti cyclotrimers, the endo isomer 4 turned out to be quite resistant to cyclotrimerisation because of steric hindrance. Only dimers and acyclic trimers were obtained from reactions using this substrate. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2004)


In recent decades, Brazil has been hailed as a model of successful prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. For nearly three decades, the country has been at the forefront of progressive and proactive approaches to slow the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. While recognizing Brazil's tremendous successes with respect to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, this article offers a framework for understanding the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on African-descendant women in the country. The analysis focuses on the gender and racial dynamics of HIV/AIDS and seeks to center Afro-Brazilian women's experiences in relation to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It also examines black women's HIV/AIDS activism and argues for the importance of an intersectional approach to HIV/AIDS research and health policy in Brazil.


Energetic particle populations in the solar corona and in the heliosphere appear to have different characteristics even when produced in the same solar flare. It is not clear what causes this difference: properties of the acceleration region, the large-scale magnetic field configuration in the flare, or particle transport effects, such as scattering. In this study, we use a combination of magnetohydrodynamic and test-particle approaches to investigate magnetic reconnection, particle acceleration, and transport in two solar flares: an M-class flare on 2013 June 19, and an X-class flare on 2011 September 6. We show that in both events, the same regions are responsible for the acceleration of particles remaining in the coronal and being ejected toward the heliosphere. However, the magnetic field structure around the acceleration region acts as a filter, resulting in different characteristics (such as energy spectra) acquired by these two populations. We argue that this effect is an intrinsic property of particle acceleration in the current layers created by the interchange reconnection, and therefore, may be ubiquitous, particularly, in noneruptive solar flares with substantial particle emission into the heliosphere.


This chapter deals with a particular type of dynamic capability: dynamic relational capabilities. They are defined as the organisational ability of a firm to enter into successful business relationships with other actors. It is shown that these abilities, based on organisational memory, are expressed in particular through the acquisition of assets and the conclusion of partnerships/alliances. In the pharmaceutical industry, open innovation strategies are the concrete proof of such abilities. Indeed, this sector is considered to be a High-Velocity Environment characterized by a high rate of change. Such change, challenging firms' competitive advantage, fosters the development of dynamic capabilities and open innovation strategies. These theoretical considerations are illustrated by reference to the innovation strategy adopted by the Sanofi group, particularly since 2008.


In this Memoir the origin of Rock-basins in the Granite of Dartmoor and its vicinity is alone considered; and it is not attempted to draw therefrom any law as to the manner of the formation of similar basins elsewhere. It has been here attempted to notice all the hollows known as Rock-basins in this district; and in the table appended, particulars of these and of the chief Tors are contained. A few localities it has not been in the power of the Author to visit; and the description is in those cases taken from the observations of others: doubtless also some basins have escaped notice, but a considerable number have been examined, and the particulars noted on the same system, so as to give an opportunity of comparison. The situation of Dartmoor is too well known to need description. The geological formation is entirely of granitic rocks. From near the same point in the northerly part of the moor the Tavy nows westerly and the Teign easterly: to the north of these rivers very few rock-basins exist, and those too are in the immediate vicinity of these rivers. To the south of a line formed by the Plymouth and Dartmoor railway and the River Dart, it is believed rock-basins have not been found; but this last district has not been completely examined by the Author. The part of Dartmoor, therefore, in which the rock-basins exist is a central belt, which occupies about one-third of the area of the moor. The particulars of the various basins are set out in a tabular form; it will therefore be only needful to notice some of the most important. The only basin to the north of the Tavy with which the Author is at Hare Tor. To the south of the Tavy Fur Tor is the highest point of Dartmoor, being 2000 feet above sea-level. The rocks composing this Tor are scattered over a considerable area, are much weathered, for the most part broken and low, and forming ledges, but occasionally rising into large masses. The granite is generally porphyritic, being coarse-grained with large felspar, and has a laminated structure. On this Tor there are three basins. Between the Tavy and Wallcombe River, Roose or Roll's Tor, Staple Tor, Vixen Tor, and Pew Tor are worthy of notice: the two last mentioned are particularly described in Bray's Tamar and Tavy. Between Wallcombe River and the East Webber, Mistor is the most conspicuous and known Tor; it is situate on an insulated hill 1760 feet above sea-level. The Tor conssits of long, narrow cliffs, which rise on the eastern and western sides of the summit of the hill (that on the eastern side being the most lofty and extensive), ranging nearly from north to south. The space between these is occupied by detached masses varying in size. The granite is laminate and much weathered at the junctions of the beds and of the perpendicular planes, and there are occassinally overhanging beds. "Mistor Pan" is the only basin on this Tor; it is situate near the northerly end of the eastern range on the summit. This basin has been supposed to be artificially formed, and is described in Rowe's Dartmoor and Bray's Tamar and Tavy. The sides are nearly perpendicular, leaning slightly back. At the south-easterly side the highest bed of rock projects slightly, and under this a hole reaches through to the eastern side of the Tor about two inches above the bottom of the pan. The only other places where similar perforations have been observed are at Fur Tor and Willistone Rocks. From the northerly side, a lip or channel runs for about five inches in a northerly direction, and then irregularly; at the basin it is about five inches wide, and there reaches nearly to the bottom of the basin. The diameter from N. to S. is 36 inches, from E. to W. 35 inches, and the longest diameter from N. to S. The depth (at the lip) on the north side is 4 inches, on the easterly 6 inches, on the southerly 5 inches, and on the westerly 6 inches. The bottom is nearly level, but slopes slightly towards the centre, where it is about half an inch deeper than at the sides. The bottom was covered with smal sharp gravel, consisting chiefly of felspar and quartz, formed by the disintegration of the granite. With the exception of the perforation, and that a lip is not of very frequent occurrence, the above description is also applicable, the dimensions being altered, to nearly every rock-basin with a flat bottom; and there seems to be no reason for considering the origin of this basin different from that of the other basins. On Bell Tor, to the east of the East Webber, there is a large basin that well exhibits the atmospheric action on the granite. Hounter Tor in the same locality is one the grandest and most picturesque Tors of the Dartmoor district. No rock-basins have been observed there, or at the rocks by Bowerman's Nose or Manaton Tors. The remaining basins are mostly classed with those lying within the watershed of the Teign. At a rapid, a short distance below the bridge at Teignhead, "pot-holes" are in the course of formation: these will be noticed hereafter. About a mile and a half lower down on the left bank of the riger is the well-know "Tolmen" or Holed Stone: the perforation is about three feet in diameter, and 2 feet 8 inches in depth, and passes obliquely through the stone. This rock is not in situ, and rests on other transported blocks at a rapid where the Teign has worked its way between the rocks, causing a gradual lowering of the level of its bed; so that the surface of the Tolmen is now only covered by the water in very heavy floods. There are portions of "pot-holes" on this rock; and the origin may, with little if any hesitation, be ascribed to the same cause as that which is now forming the "pot-holes" just mentioned. About three-quarters of a mile to the south of this spot is Castor or Kestor Rock, a large insulated Tor about 1417 feet above sea-level. The summit of this Tor consists of three bosses, rising slightly above a level central platform; the rock is weathered and rounded; and the beds, with the exception of a bed of elvan, are not of fine or compact granite. The directions of the perpendicular joints are W. by S. to E. by N., N. by W. to S. by E., and N.W. by N. to S.E. by S. On this Tor, besides some hollows which have not been regarded as "basins," there are four basins on the northerly boss, three on the central platform, and two on the southerly boss; and of these the particulars are given in the Table. One large basin on the central platform will require description. This basin was discovered by the Author on 17th Sept., 1856. The opening at the top, as marked by the line to which water stands when it is full, is oval, measuring 8 feet from N. to S. and 6 feet 8 inches from E. to W. A few inches below this level the basin is nearly circular; the diameter half way down is 50 inches; at the bottom 24 inches: the perpendicular depth is 31 inches. The bottom is flat, rounding up at the edges to the sides, which curve outwards in the form of the mouth of a trumpet, and two identations, caused by decay, run round the basin. The bottom and sides up to the lowest identation (12 inches) were covered with dead Sphagnum, which formed a compact mass, adhering so closely as to have taken a cast of the granite; between these there were not any stones, nor the small fragments of quartz and felspar usually found in rock-basins. At the bottom of the basin, above the Sphagnum, there was a thin layer of fine black peaty soil, and the remaining contents—evidently of a later date—consisted of, first, a compact mass of fine dark sand and gravel 6 inches in thickness, and above this is a brown peaty soil containing fragments of quartz and felspar, which filled the basins to the level, and the whole was covered over by a thick growth of heath. This arrangement is such as would arise from a maceration of peat exposed to the wet and storms that occur at this spot. Attention having been attracted by the opening of thsi basin, the Author has received information derived from an old "Moorman," which leads him to suppose that the basin was filled with peat between 100 and 150 years ago to prevent accidents to sheep. This basin has not been empty of water since it was opened in September, 1856. A short distance below the junction of the North and South Teign Rivers, at Legh Bridge, on a spur projecting on the right hand of the valley, a rock-basin is found on the top of a large transported block of granite known as the Puckie stone. This basin is irregular in shape, and measures 40 inches from N. to S. and 43 inches from E. to W. The longest diameter is nearly N.W. to S.E., 58 inches; the sides are nearly upright, and from 2 to 5 inches high; the bottom is nearly flat, but rough from the projecting felspar; it was covered with fine sand composed of disintegrated granite. The rock is broken through the centre, and the fracture must have taken place since it was placed in its present position. The River Teign runs in a hollow about 80 feet below this stone; and it seems very probable that the spur on which this stone is deposited, formed part of the lower bank of a small lake extending upwards to the commencement of a narrow gorge above Gidley Park. On Middleton (or Meldon) hill, above Chagford, there are several basins. In Rushford woods, near that town, to the north of the Teign, there is a basin, called "The Punch Bowl," on an insulated piece of rising ground known as "The Bowling Green," and a small irregular basin is formed on the Tors at Sandsgate near the same locality. At Willistone, as before mentioned, there is a performation in the side of a basin. Near Bridford, at Hell Tor, we find several basins. A cleft passes through the centre of this Tor running from E. by N. to W. by S.: this direction, and from N.E. to S.W.,, are the directions of the perpendicular joints. The granite is laminated and coarse with the exception of a bed of very compact crystalline granite running nearly horizontally about 8 feet below the summit of the Tor. On


The dysregulation of inflammation, normally a self-limited response that initiates healing, is a critical component of many diseases. Treatment of inflammatory disease is hampered by an incomplete understanding of the complexities underlying the inflammatory response, motivating the application of systems and computational biology techniques in an effort to decipher this complexity and ultimately improve therapy. Many mathematical models of inflammation are based on systems of deterministic equations that do not account for the biological noise inherent at multiple scales, and consequently the effect of such noise in regulating inflammatory responses has not been studied widely. In this work, noise was added to a deterministic system of the inflammatory response in order to account for biological stochasticity. Our results demonstrate that the inflammatory response is highly dependent on the balance between the concentration of the pathogen and the level of biological noise introduced to the inflammatory network. In cases where the pro- and anti-inflammatory arms of the response do not mount the appropriate defense to the inflammatory stimulus, inflammation transitions to a different state compared to cases in which pro- and anti-inflammatory agents are elaborated adequately and in a timely manner. In this regard, our results show that noise can be both beneficial and detrimental for the inflammatory endpoint. By evaluating the parametric sensitivity of noise characteristics, we suggest that efficiency of inflammatory responses can be controlled. Interestingly, the time period on which parametric intervention can be introduced efficiently in the inflammatory system can be also adjusted by controlling noise. These findings represent a novel understanding of inflammatory systems dynamics and the potential role of stochasticity thereon.


n ABSTRACT: This article examines how Elad, a religious Zionist settler group, attempts to reanimate biblical tales by transposing biblical text as part of tours for Jewish visitors to the City of David archaeological site in East Jerusalem. Since the early 1990s, Elad has created controversy by settling in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, provoking criticism from Israeli archaeologists and peace activists. In an effort to avoid 'politics' during tours, the group emphasizes a now globalized historicist reading of the Bible, an interpretation popularized by archaeology over the last century and a half. The article considers how transposition from this historicist reading into the here and now is a rhetorical device used to create a biblical realism that does not yet exist in the contested landscape. However, rather than producing an erasure of the Palestinian presence, and in contradiction to the professed desire to refrain from politics, I show that the very communicative situation and multiple framings for producing this biblical realism inevitably remind visitors of the contemporary context.


Deep convolutional neural networks trained for image object categorization have shown remarkable similarities with representations found across the primate ventral visual stream. Yet, artificial and biological networks still exhibit important differences. Here we investigate one such property: increasing invariance to identity-preserving image transformations found along the ventral stream. Despite theoretical evidence that invariance should emerge naturally from the optimization process, we present empirical evidence that the activations of convolutional neural networks trained for object categorization are not robust to identity-preserving image transformations commonly used in data augmentation. As a solution, we propose data augmentation invariance, an unsupervised learning objective which improves the robustness of the learned representations by promoting the similarity between the activations of augmented image samples. Our results show that this approach is a simple, yet effective and efficient (10 % increase in training time) way of increasing the invariance of the models while obtaining similar categorization performance.