This paper explores the connection between fuzzy inference systems and kernel methods. Particularly, we explore the connection between the fuzzy-basis-function expansion of non-singleton fuzzy systems and regularized kernel methods with positive-definite kernels. We show that positive-definite kernel on fuzzy sets, i.e., a real-valued function defined on the set of fuzzy sets, is the core concept enabling such a connection. Furthermore, we rewrite the fuzzy-basis-function (FBF) expansion of non-singleton fuzzy systems in terms of a kernel-basis-function expansion with positive-definite kernels on fuzzy sets. The consequence of doing this is that fuzzy systems can be trained by regularized kernel methods, and the advantages of doing this are: 1) fuzzy systems can have more resistance to the curse of dimensionality, 2) they can explicitly regularize the function being approximated, 3) they can satisfy the Representer Theorem of kernel methods, which bounds the number of learned rules to the number of training observations, and, 4) they can learn functions in the functional space induced by the kernel on fuzzy sets. Consequently, from this perspective fuzzy systems can be regarded as kernel methods. Different from previous works, this connection relates the FBF-expansion directly to kernel methods without dropping the denominator of the expansion; also, thanks to the use of kernels on fuzzy sets, we provide an algorithm that makes it possible to drop the restriction of having fuzzy sets that share some of their antecedent parameters, e.g., Gaussian membership functions with the same variance in rule antecedents as is usually done in related works.


Stroke is the main cause of long-term disability. Neurorehabilitation uses the specific lesion- induced and training-induced plasticity of the central nervous system. The present article gives an overview of conventional rehabilitation methods and of innovative therapeutic approaches together with their grade of recommendation according to the current level of evidence.


Background: This study assessed effect of administration of high-concentration supplemental perioperative oxygen on systemic inflammatory and immune response in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Materials and Methods: One hundred seventy-seven patients were assigned randomly to an oxygen/air mixture with a fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) of 30% (n=88) or 80% (n=89). White blood cells, peripheral lymphocytes subpopulation, human leukocyte antigen-DR, neutrophil elastase, interleukin (IL)-1 and IL-6, and C-reactive protein were investigated. Results: Significantly higher concentration of neutrophil elastase, IL-1, IL-6 and C-reactive protein was detected postoperatively in the 30% FiO2 group patients in comparison with the 80% FiO2 group (P<0.05). Statistically significant change in human leukocyte antigen-DR expression was recorded postoperatively at 24 hours, as a reduction of this antigen expressed on monocyte surface in patients from 30% FiO2 group. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that high-concentration (80%) supplemental perioperative oxygen can lead to a reduction in postoperative inflammatory response and avoid postoperative immunosuppression.


KeepIt! A JISC project to enable a diverse range of digital content presented by institutional repositories - research papers, science data, arts, teaching materials and theses - to be managed effectively today, tomorrow and beyond. KeepIt is looking at bridging the gap between the preservation community and people responsible for live repositories. The project is focused in two key areas; training about digital preservation and the relation to the repository community and the actual development and implementation of preservation tools in live repositories. In this talk we present an outline of the project, keys areas of focus and an overview of some of the tools already available which can be utilised to enable digital preservation in an EPrints repository. We also take a look at the partner repositories which show the diversity of the project in preserving more than just simple text based publications.


The present thesis offers a critical reconsideration of the tragedy Gysbreght van Aemstel (1637) of the playwrigth Joost van den Vondel. In my analysis I take into account performance-aspects (with particular attention to the performance-history of the play) as well as 'literary' ones, this classicist tragedy of the Renaissance being a good example at the same time of a theatrical play and of a pure literary work. This study combines several critical approaches. I draw mainly on intertextuality, genre and gender study and analysis of narrative in drama. The main focus is intertextual. I concentrate on the possible activation by the public of several interwoven intertexts: primarily Aeneid II, but also a wide range of epic and tragic intertexts. The major consequence of having the Aeneid as a reference-model is that the tragedy shows evident epic features. This is particularly the case in the large military narratives where the war in Amsterdam is told. The Vergilian imitation is very far-stretching, at all levels, but never slavish. By a close analysis we can appreciate the subtlety of this literary operation. However, this is just one edge in the wide range of intertextual relations which can be activated by the spectator/reader in the rest of the tragedy, which are almost never obvious and unproblematic. Different genres are contaminated: they interact and sometimes clash with each other. And not only 'high' genres in the literary system of the Renaissance as tragedy and epos. In one case, that of the trickster Vosmeer, 'lower' comic-realistic genres as the farce and hybrid genres like the novel are activated: the old evergreen chapbook of Reynard the Fox and the modern picaresque novel over the outcast Lazarillo de Tormes. Generic expectations are continuously activated and then often frustrated: for example the gender-expectations about the staging of models of masculinity and femininity (which usually are standardized according to the codes of representation of specific gendered genres). This is evident in the case of Badeloch.. She gradually outgrows the gender and generic expectations about her role in the plot and her ultimate fate (i.e. her husband will die and she will become a widow), staging her own model of femininity, at the edge of gender transgression. The final chapter offers a general overview of the tragedy by focusing on the main character, Gijsbreght. In the opening monologue he shows quite evident analogies with the character of William of Orange in the dramas around the death of the Prince. But in the course of the action he develops from an exemplary epic-like figure into a tragic one because of his failure to behave like an exemplary public leader, who is in charge of his people when in need. However, the divine intervention forces Gijsbreght to change his prospect completely and to accept to leave his city. The future prophecy revealed by the angel shows the peculiarity of Gijsbreght's destiny in relation to the epic and tragic tradition. He is not called to any fatal mission, but has to show a different sort of heroism in accepting humbly to give up the fight and to leave his homeland (and by admitting that his wife was right in pleading to leave). This is compensated by a prospect of future personal happiness in the new homeland, together with his wife and with his nuclear family. I finally pay attention to the historical dimension of the staged facts, which appear to recall events from the recent past of the city, during the years 1572-78, when Amsterdam was almost the only city in Holland which remained loyal to the Catholicism and to the Spanish rule and refused to join the side of the Prince of Orange (especially the attempt to conquer the city by surprise in 1577 is alluded to in the plot of the tragedy). The recalling of the past of the city is meant as a tribute to all the suffering that the people from Amsterdam had to endure during the Revolt: on the Catholic side in the first place, but also on the Protestant one.


At the beginning of the twenty-first century, prosperity theologies have simultaneously received a warm reception by some and a critical cold shoulder by others. With emotive responses provoked on both sides, what cannot be ignored is the influence prosperity thinking has, and will have, on the global church. Yet, little to no attention has been devoted to the intersection between prosperity theology and the issues surrounding the ecological crisis, such as climate change, environmental degradation, human greed, and wanton consumerism. Does such an intersection exist? This article explores this question by contrasting prosperity theology's divine economy and agrarianism's great economy . In sum, it suggests that the uncritical reception of prosperity teachings—though they speak pointedly to real, felt human needs—can ultimately create ecologically harmful, if not anti-ecological, modes of thinking and living within its adherents.


Introduction In humans, adversity in childhood exerts enduring effects on brain and increases the vulnerability to psychiatric diseases. It also leads to a higher risk of eating disorders and obesity. Maternal separation (MS) in mice has been used as a proxy of stress during infancy. We hypothesized that MS in mice affects motivation to obtain palatable food in adulthood and changes gene expression in reward system. Methods Male and female pups from C57Bl/6J and C3H/HeN mice strains were subjected to a daily MS protocol from postnatal day (PND) 2 to PND14. At adulthood, their motivation for palatable food reward was assessed in operant cages. Results Compared to control mice, male and female C3H/HeN mice exposed to MS increased their instrumental response for palatable food, especially when the effort required to obtain the reward was high. Importantly, this effect is shown in animals fed ad libitum. Transcriptional analysis revealed 375 genes differentially expressed in the nucleus accumbens of male MS C3H/HeN mice compared to the control group, some of these being associated with the regulation of the reward system (e.g., Gnas, Pnoc). Interestingly, C57Bl/6J mice exposed to MS did not show alterations in their motivation to obtain a palatable reward, nor significant changes in gene expression in the nucleus accumbens. Conclusion MS produces long-lasting changes in motivation for palatable food in C3H/HeN mice, but has no impact in C57Bl/6J mice. These behavioral alterations are accompanied by drastic changes in gene expression in the nucleus accumbens, a key structure in the regulation of motivational processes.


A data based intelligent decision support system is proposed to solve problems of decision making of tourism management in complex environments. Firstly, the architecture of the decision support system integrated with several intelligence technologies is proposed, and some key technologies of implementation, such as 3S and decomposition of large decision table are also introduced. Then, some data analysis methods used in this decision support system are presented, which include tourism information categories, space time pattern of tourism status, tourism planning and navigation, early warning of tourism status and safety incidents. Finally, several applications of this system are also given.


The configuration of a distributed storage system with multiple data replicas typically includes the set of servers and their roles in the replication protocol. The configuration can usually be changed manually, but in most cases, system administrators have to determine a good configuration by trial and error. We describe a new workload-driven optimization framework that dynamically determines the optimal configuration at run time. Applying the framework to a large-scale distributed storage system used internally in Google resulted in halving the operation latency in 17% of the tested databases, and reducing it by more than 90% in some cases.


Data from a random sample of secondary school agriculture teachers in the United States were utilized to explore work characteristics and their relationship to work-family conflict, specifically how the work role interfered with the family role. Nine workplace characteristics (i.e., salary, work hours per work week, weekend work hours, years of teaching experience, number of agriculture teachers within the school, school community type, number of students per class, work salience, and perceived family-supportive work culture) were explored by gender. Two of the workplace characteristics, years of teaching experience and salary, were significantly different for male and female agriculture teachers. An analysis was conducted of the relationship between identified workplace characteristics and teachers' perceptions of their work role interfering with their family role. In total, the workplace variables accounted for 22% of the variance in teachers' perceptions of work interfering with their family. Four of the workplace variables (i.e., perceived familysupportive work culture, number of agriculture teachers per school, work salience, and work hours per work week) were statistically significant predictors of work interfering with family. Recommendations and implications for the agriculture teaching profession are discussed in light on these findings.


Salinity, temperature, and O2 have been recorded on a monthly basis at the Boknis Eck Time Series Station (BE; Eckernforde Bay, SW Baltic Sea) since April 1957 with only two major breaks (1976-78 and 1983-1985). Chlorophyll a measurements started in 1960 and nutrient data (NO2-, NO3-, NH4+, PO4 3-, SiO4 2-) are available since March 1979. Here we present a short introduction to the long-term trends observed at BE and selected results of ongoing projects covering different topics from the surface microlayer and the water column to the sediments at BE. On the basis of a preliminary analysis of the long-term records of surface water temperature, oxygen in 25m, and dissolved nutrients we conclude that BE is affected by both regional processes and global processes detectable as eutrophication and warming of the surface water, respectively. The number of events with extremely depleted O2 concentrations (hypoxia/anoxia) in the bottom layer has been increasing during the last 25 years. Moreover, BE is site of signifi cant emissions of climate relevant trace gases such as methane.


Acute injuries of the cervicocranium (from the occiput to the second cervical intervertebral disk) may be radiographically obscure due to minimal displacement of fracture fragments, minor alterations of normal anatomic relationships (occipitoatlantal subluxation), or superimposition of normal skeletal structures. With the nasooropharynx adequately distended with air, the normal cervicocranial prevertebral soft-tissue contour is congruent with the anterior cortical margin of the cervicocranium; namely, concave above, convex anterior to, and concave below the anterior tubercle of C1. Alterations of the normal cervicocranial prevertebral soft-tissue contour due to hemorrhage into the retropharyngeal fascial space from subtle fractures or ligamentous injuries should prompt further assessment of the cervicocranium by means of computed tomography (CT). Cervicocranial CT prompted by an abnormal cervicocranial prevertebral soft-tissue contour has yielded a 16% positive injury rate, approximately three times the rate of acute cervical spine injuries reported in the literature.


In 2009, 'Palestine' lodged a declaration recognizing the jurisdiction of the ICC under Article 12(3). However, in April 2012, the OTP determined that this declaration had not brought about the result, of providing for the ICC's jurisdiction, pending clarification from the political organs of the UN concerning the legal status of Palestine within the organization. On 29 November 2012, the General Assembly granted Palestine the status of a non-member observer state within the UN framework, thereby fulfilling the condition mentioned by the OTP in April 2012. It is against this background that the article considers the current legal effects of the 2009 Palestinian declaration. In particular, it addresses the issue of whether the declaration, when read in conjunction with the 29 November 2012 decision, possesses retroactive effect, i.e. whether it provides, as claimed, for the Court's temporal jurisdiction from 1 July 2002 onwards or rather starting only from 29 November 2012.
 ... the current status granted to Palestine by the United Nations General Assembly is that of 'observer', not as a 'Non-member State'. ... [T]his... informs the current legal status of Palestine for the interpretation and application of article 12 [Rome Statute]. ... The Office could in the future consider allegations of crimes committed in Palestine, should competent organs of the United Nations... resolve the legal issue relevant to an assessment of article 12. ... International Criminal Court, Office of the Prosecutor, 'Situation in Palestine', 3 April 2012


Thermoelectric (TE) direct conversion of thermal energy into electricity is a novel renewable energy conversion method currently at a technological readiness level of 3–5 approaching laboratory prototypes. While approaching practical thermoelectric devices, an increase in the thermoelectric element's efficiency is needed at the entire service temperature range. Yet, the main focus of research was concentrated on the electronic properties of the materials, while research on the mechanical properties was left behind. As it is shown in this chapter, knowing and controlling the mechanical properties of TE materials are paramount necessities for approaching practical TEGs. The material's elastic constants, strength and fracture toughness are the most crucial parameters for designing of practical devices. The elastic constants provide understanding about the material's stiffness, while strength provides the loading conditions in which the material will keep its original shape. Knowing the fracture toughness provides the stress envelope in which the material could operate and its susceptibility to inherent fabrication faults. The characterization methods of these properties are varied and may be physical or pure mechanical in nature. It is the authors opinion to prefer the mechanical methods, so the results obtained will describe more accurately the material's response to mechanical loading.


With the majority of video distribution services relying on the HTTP adaptive streaming paradigm, a great deal of research is geared towards developing algorithms and solutions for improving user perceived quality while making efficient use of available resources. Our goal is to provide the means for benchmarking such solutions in the context of multiple users accessing Video on Demand content while sharing a bottleneck link. For that purpose, we propose a quadratic problem formulation to compute the theoretical optimum in terms of adaptation strategies and corresponding segment downloads across multiple users under given bandwidth constraints. By aiming to maximize both service quality and fairness, we quantify and compare the impact of different fairness objectives (bandwidth fairness, pattern fairness, and session fairness) on resulting quality and achieved QoE fairness. Based on conducted simulations and parameter studies, our results demonstrate the benefits of optimizing for session fairness as compared to other approaches.


The quality of Irish and French grown Golden Delicious apples, purchased at retail outlets in Dublin, was compared in 1974-75 and in 1975-76. The French Goldens were on average about 48 and 28% more expensive per kg than the Irish in 1974-75 and 1975-76 respectively. The main quality difference between fruit from the two sources was in colour, the French fruit being green and the Irish, green-yellow to golden. The French Goldens were generally larger and had a higher juice yield while the Irish were firmer and had more ribbing. On average, there was no taste panel preference for fruit from either source and there were only small differences in soluble solids, acidity and bruising.


Multi-core architectures have been adopted in various computing environments. Predictions based on Moore's Law state that thousands of cores can be integrated on a single chip within 10 years. To achieve better performance and scalability on multi-cores, applications should be multi-threaded, and therefore threads assigned on different cores can execute concurrently. However, lock contention in kernels can affect the scalability so significantly that the speedup decreases with the increasing number of cores (thrashing). Existing efforts to address this problem mainly focus on deferring lock thrashing, and therefore these techniques cannot prevent thrashing fundamentally. In this paper, we propose to use lock-aware scheduling to avoid thrashing. Our method detects thrashing on a per-thread basis and migrates contended threads to a smaller set of cores. The optimal number of cores is determined by maximizing the proposed normalized throughput model of migrated threads. The proposed method is implemented in Linux 188.8.131.52 and evaluated on a 32-core system. Experimental results on a series of lock-intensive micro- and macro-benchmarks show the effectiveness: for 3 of 5 workloads exhibiting thrashing behaviour, lock-aware scheduling can detect the speedup decrease accurately and sustain the maximal speedup, for the remaining 2 workloads, the performance can be improved greatly although the maximal speedup is not sustained, for 1 workload which does not suffer thrashing, the method introduces negligible runtime overhead.


AIM
To evaluate the clinical presentations of solid-pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas (SPT) and examine the diagnosis, treatment, low grade malignant potential of this rare disease.

METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed a series of seven patients with SPT managed in our hospital between July 1990 and October 2003. Six females and one male with mean age of 31 years (range 13 to 50 years) were diagnosed with SPT at our institution.

RESULTS
Clinical presentation included a palpable abdominal mass in two patients and vague abdominal discomfort in another two. Two patients were asymptomatic; their tumors were found incidentally on abdominal sonographic examination for other reasons. The final patient was admitted with hemoperitoneum secondary to tumor rupture. The mean diameter of the tumors in the seven patients was 10.5 cm (range 5 to 20 cm). The lesions were located in the body and tail in five cases and in the head of the pancreas in two. Surgical procedures included distal pancreatectomy (3), distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy (2), pancreaticoduodenectomy (1) and a pylorus-preserving Whipple procedure (1). There were gross adhesions or histological evidence of infiltration to the adjacent pancreas and/or splenic capsule in four cases. None of the patients received adjuvant therapy. The mean follow up was 7 years (range 0.5 to 14 years). One patient developed multiple liver metastases after 14 years of follow up.

CONCLUSION
SPT is a rare tumor that behaves less aggressively than other pancreatic tumor. However, in cases with local invasion, long-term follow up is advisable.


Social Computing (SC) requires agents to reason seamlessly both on their social relationships and on their goals, beliefs. We claim the need to explicitly represent the social state and social relationships as resources, available to agents. We built a framework, based on JaCaMo, where this vision is realized and SC is implemented through social commitments and commitment protocols. 1998 ACM Subject Classification I.2.11 Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Coherence & co-ordination; multiagent systems.


The purpose of this study is to contribute to contemporary debates about alternative ways of teaching Moral Education (ME) in Malaysia by including the voice of students. ME in the Malaysian setting is both complex and compulsory. This study explores alternatives to the current somewhat dated approach. It seeks to discover what young adolescents describe as moral dilemmas, how they approach them and what they find useful in resolving these moral problems. The research is founded on a modified version of Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), extended to suit the multicultural, multiethnic Malaysian setting, and here called the Zone of Collaborative Development (ZCD). This study uses qualitative research methodology consisting of a modified framework of participatory action research (PAR) as the methodological framework. Data was gathered for textual analysis through a modified form of participant observation, focus group transcripts, interviews, and student journals. The research trials a process of resolving reallife moral dilemmas in the ME classroom. It critically analyses the types of reallife moral dilemmas that a selected group of secondary students face. It also indicates the moral choices they make and the moral orientations they use. Participants in this study were 22 16-17 year old adolescents from three different types of secondary schools in a Form Four ME classroom in Malaysia. They were from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, but within a nonMuslim community of students. ME in Malaysia (MEM) is designed to cater for this group while Muslim students study Islamic Studies. Findings show that students were concerned about moral issues and values not covered in the current ME curriculum. The moral dilemmas that they identified were relational and context dependent. Multiple factors contributed to the problems they described. These factors included national legislation, Malaysian culture, ethnicity, and religion as well as the effects of history, in particular the Japanese occupation. Students named autonomy, self and mutual respect, trust, freedom, and tolerance as main conflicting themes in their reallife moral dilemmas. They found their peers helpful in providing support, advice, and direction. Students also appear to find the process trialled in the research interesting, interactive/collaborative, meaningful, and reflective. The analysis also shows that the respondents' moral choices were influenced by parents, culture, religion, utilitarianism, collaboration, and friendship, within a strong carebased approach. However, moral pluralism was also evident in the findings in cases where participants made decisions based on care and justice interchangeably. The study suggests that including students' voices in MEM in this way might better engage students' interest, whilst at the same time contributing to intercultural tolerance and understanding.


Background Poisoning with Acer pseudoplatanus L. in horses contradicts the hypothesis of coexistence between plants and vertebrate herbivores being mediated through antipastoral traits as toxins. However, incidental observations showed that horses evaded Acer seedlings with primary leaves. The objective of the present cross-discipline study was (i) to analyse whether developmental stages of A. pseudoplatanus L. differed as to phenolics hypothesised as antipastoral traits, and (ii) to observe systematically the selection behaviour of pastured horses towards A. pseudoplatanus seedlings. Methods Phenolic profiles of five developmental stages from fruits to seedlings of progressing age up to adult leaves of A. pseudoplatanus and Acer campestre L. were characterised. Video recordings of grazing behaviour of 29 pastured horses towards seedlings of A. pseudoplatanus resulted into 117 sequences as additional field data. Results The horses ingested 19.1 per cent of juvenile seedlings with cotyledons (1.65 mg total phenolics/g fresh weight (FW), 82 compounds, 0.02 mg total gallic acid/g FW) yet only 5.46 per cent of older seedlings with primary leaves (8.48 mg total phenolics/g FW, 120 compounds, 3.13 mg total gallic acid/g FW). Conclusion Horses distinguished between seedlings in distinct stages that could be chemically distinguished, too. Acer seedlings with primary leaves provide a strong, but not complete antipastoral effect that correlates with dramatic changes in phenolic compounds.


This study examined the antecedents of viewer relationships experienced with television characters. Based on social cognitive theory, we considered how trait aggression helped explain identification, hornophily, and parasocial interaction with aggressive characters. Two hundred nineteen participants completed questionnaires measuring trait aggression and relationships with one of eight characters. We content analyzed portrayals of these characters to determine their levels of aggression. Results suggested viewer aggression predicted identification with aggressive characters, but did not predict hornophily and parasocial interaction beyond the variance explained by gender. We also observed relationships among the dependent variables and differences between physical and verbal aggression.


The Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI) aims to define community standards for data representation in proteomics and to facilitate data comparison, exchange and verification. Rapid progress has been made in the development of common standards for data exchange in the fields of both mass spectrometry and protein‐protein interactions since the first PSI meeting [1]. Both hardware and software manufacturers have agreed to work to ensure that a proteomics-specific extension is created for the emerging ASTM mass spectrometry standard and the data model for a proteomics experiment has advanced significantly. The Protein‐Protein Interactions (PPI) group expects to publish the Level 1 PSI data exchange format for protein‐protein interactions by early summer this year, and discussion as to the additional content of Level 2 has been initiated. Copyright  2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We have used a genetically tractable model system, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to study the interdependence between sensory processing and associative processing on learning performance. We investigated the influence of variations in the physical and predictive properties of color stimuli in several different operant-conditioning procedures on the subsequent learning performance. These procedures included context and stimulus generalization as well as color, compound, and conditional discrimination (colors and patterns). A surprisingly complex dependence of the learning performance on the colors' physical and predictive properties emerged, which was clarified by taking into account the fly-subjective perception of the color stimuli. Based on estimates of the stimuli's color and brightness values, we propose that the different tasks are supported by different parameters of the color stimuli; generalization occurs only if the chromaticity is sufficiently similar, whereas discrimination learning relies on brightness differences.


Volatile organic compositions of the essential oils (EOs), solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and SPME of n-hexane extracts from the flower and stem-leaf of Filipendula vulgaris (F. vulgaris) were analyzed by GC-FID/MS. A total of 107 constituents were characterized, flower and stem-leaf parts of the plant were found to contain different volatile organic compounds. Tricosane (29.6%), n-nonanal (20.5%) were identified as the main components in the essential oil of the flower, while phytol (35.2%) was found to be a major constituent in the essential oil of stem-leaf. Benzaldehyde (56.0%) and n-nonanal (31.6%) were the major groups in the SPME of stem-leaf and flower, respectively. The volatiles for the SPME of n-hexane extracts of the flower and stem-leaf of F. vulgaris were predominated by aromatic compounds (75.0% and 78.5%) and ketones (18.1% and 10.1%), respectively. On the other hand, a total of terpene compounds was found at the most in the EO of the stem-leaf part of the plant (48.6%). In addition, antimicrobial, tyrosinase inhibition, and nitric oxide scavenging activities of the n-hexane (H), methanol (M), aqueous extracts (A) and EOs of F. vulgaris were investigated. EOs and methanol extracts of flower and stem-leaf had high antimicrobial activity against tested various microorganisms. However, n-hexane extracts of the flower and stem-leaf only displayed activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis. Methanol extracts of flower and stem-leaf possessed the best tyrosine inhibition and NO scavenging activity.


Shafts are needed in the operation and control of a broad range of manufacturing systems. Angular position of a shaft is one of the most common parameters measured in industrial and manufacturing systems. In this work, we report a class of a simple, multimode fiber intensity sensors developed to serve as a viable alternative to conventional rotary sensors. The basic structure of the twist sensor is a multimode fiber with a large core and/or a high numerical aperture (N.A.) sandwiched between two fibers with a small core and/or a low N.A. The sensor works by exciting selected modes in the multimode section of fiber. As the multimode section is twisted, mode coupling occurs, resulting in a redistribution of power in the multimode fiber. Power remaining in the selected modes is received by a pickup fiber. Fibers are joined with the aid of small capillary tubes. The usable range is about 135 degrees to 160 degrees depending on the length of twisted section. No evidence of hysteresis has been found. Based on the noise level of the detector used in the experiment and the slope of the measured sensor response, a sensitivity of 0.029' is estimated for the prototype twist sensors.


Context-aware applications monitor changes in their environment and switch their behaviour in order to continue satisfying requirements. Specifying monitoring and switching in such applications can be difficult due to their dependence on varying environmental properties. Two problems require analysis: the detection of changes in the operating environment to assess their impact on requirements satisfaction, and the adaptation of application behaviour to ensure requirements satisfaction.

This thesis borrows from the world of problem-oriented software system development and product-lines to analyse monitoring and switching problems on one hand and contextual changes on the other. It proposes a shift of focus from treating monitoring and switching as activities to be analysed as part of the design, to treating them as part of the problem whose requirements are analysed. We claim three novel contributions: (1) we provide concepts and mechanisms for analysing monitoring and switching problems in context; (2) we formulate and prove two theorems for monitoring and switching, which define the necessary and sufficient conditions for monitoring a contextual variable and for switching application behaviour to restore requirements satisfaction when they are violated; and (3) we provide a tool for automated derivation of the conditions for monitoring and switching.

Our approach is evaluated using two case studies of a proof of concept mobile phone productline and a logistics company that delivers and monitors products across the UK. We found the applications of the approach to be effective in analysing unforeseen requirements violations caused by changes in the systems operating environments. Furthermore, the monitoring and switching mechanisms derived from the analysis enabled the software to become, to some extent, context-aware.


ASML NXE3100 has been introduced for EUV Pre-Production, and ASML NXE3300 for High Volume Manufacturing will be installed from this year. EUV mask defect control is the one of the concerns for introducing EUVL to device manufacturing, for current EUV mask defect level is too high to accept for device volume production. EUV mask defects come from mask blank, mask process and mask handling. To have reduced mask defect level, quality control of blank mask, optimization of EUV mask process and improvement of EUV mask handling need to be ready. In this paper, we analyze printed defects exposed from EUV full field mask at NXE3100. For this analysis we trace mask defects from mask to wafer printing. From this we will show current EUV mask's defect type and numbers. Acceptable defect type, size and numbers for device manufacturing with EUVL will be shown. Through investigating printing result of natural ML defects, realistic level of natural ML defects will be shown.


Cookeina, with seven recognized species, is one of the commonly encountered genera of the Sarcoscyphaceae (Pezizales) in tropical and subtropical areas around the world. Morphologically the species are distinguished by combinations of several features including ascospore shape and surface relief, presence and origin of apothecial hairs and presence or absence of gelatinous material within the cortical layer of the excipular tissue. Color of the hymenium, attributed to carotenoid pigments, is particularly variable in some collections especially those referred to as C. speciosa. In this study phylogenetic analyses were carried out using rDNA ITS and rDNA LSU sequences. Forty-four collections were studied which included a broad sampling of color variants of C. speciosa from a field site in Venezuela. The genus was shown to be monophyletic with several well-supported lineages. These analyses generally support the established, morphologically distinguished taxa within a monophyletic genus Cookeina. Collections referred to as C. speciosa segregate within a clade in which hymenial color differences are associated with groups within the clade. Cookeina sinensis is sister to C. tricholoma but is distinct from it; C. indica fails to resolve with any of the major clades. The placement of C. insititia is ambiguous but it falls within Cookeina and thus is considered in the genus Cookeina rather than in a separate genus, Boedijnopeziza.


This article reviews the safety and efficacy of ibutilide for use in patients with atrial fibrillation and flutter. Ibutilide, a class III antiarrhythmic agent, is primarily used for conversion of atrial flutter and fibrillation and is a good alternative to electrical cardioversion. Ibutilide has a conversion rate of up to 75% to 80% in recent-onset atrial fibrillation and flutter; the conversion rate is higher for atrial flutter than for atrial fibrillation. It is also safe in the conversion of chronic atrial fibrillation/flutter among patients receiving oral amiodarone therapy. Ibutilide pretreatment facilitates transthoracic defibrillation and decreases the energy requirement of electrical cardioversion by both monophasic and biphasic shocks. Pretreatment with ibutilide before electrical defibrillation has a conversion rate of 100% compared with 72% with no pretreatment. Ibutilide is also safe and efficient in the treatment of atrial fibrillation in patients who have had cardiac surgery, and in accessory pathway–mediated atrial fibrillation where the conversion rate of ibutilide is as high as 95%. There is up to a 4% risk of torsade de pointes and a 4.9% risk of monomorphic ventricular tachycardia. Hence, close monitoring in an intensive care unit setting is warranted during and at least for 4 hours after drug infusion. The anticoagulation strategy is the same as for any other mode of cardioversion.


Abstract Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a proliferative disease of synovial tissue characterized by lipid-laden macrophages, multinucleated giant cells, and hemosiderin deposits. PVNS presents either in a localized form with minimal rates of recurrence after surgical resection or in a diffuse form with an expansive growth pattern showing formation of osseous erosions and extra-articular manifestation. In the diffuse form high recurrence rates occur as a result of the challenge of achievement of total synovectomy. Typically only one single joint, being the knee in 80% of cases, is involved with diffuse PVNS. Reports of bi- or multiarticular manifestation are at best rare. Here, a case of a 16-year-old girl with bilateral diffuse PVNS of the knee allows discussion of diagnostic and treatment considerations.


This paper presents a recent research breakthrough on the development of a novel adaptive seismic isolation system as the quest for seismic protection for civil structures, utilizing the field-dependent property of the magnetorheological elastomer (MRE). A highly-adjustable MRE base isolator was developed as the key element to form smart seismic isolation system. The novel isolator contains unique laminated structure of steel and MRE layers, which enable its large-scale civil engineering applications, and a solenoid to provide sufficient and uniform magnetic field for energizing the field-dependent property of MR elastomers. With the controllable shear modulus/damping of the MR elastomer, the developed adaptive base isolator possesses a controllable lateral stiffness while maintaining adequate vertical loading capacity. Experimental results show that the prototypical MRE base isolator provides amazing increase of lateral stiffness up to 1630%. Such range of increase of the controllable stiffness of the base isolator makes it highly practical for developing new adaptive base isolation system utilizing either semi-active or smart passive controls. To facilitate the structural control development using the adaptive MRE base isolator, an analytical model was developed to stimulate its behaviors. Comparison between the analytical model and experimental data proves the effectiveness of such model in reproducing the behavior of MRE base isolator, including the observed strain stiffening effect.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


We distill the main insights from recent trade models on firms' responses to globalisation. Our primary aim is to assess the economic impact and the welfare implications of the resulting reallocation of resources across firms and countries. In so doing, we bring theory into life through the numerical implementation of a theoretical framework calibrated on European data, which encompasses aspects of economic geography, firm heterogeneity, and firms' organizational choices. Our final purpose is to provide a comprehensive background for empirical investigations and to stimulate further theoretical research.


After the parenteral administration of the 3H-labeled prostaglandin E2-analogue (PGE2-analogue) to three healthy women, a number of metabolites were observed in the plasma, some of them still potentially pharmacologically active. The metabolite pattern in human plasma was very similar to the one observed in the urine of female guinea pigs, which received a total dose of 0.21 mg [3H]sulprostone by repeated sc administration over a period of 5 days. In vitro perfusion of an isolated guinea pig liver with 50 mg of [3H]sulprostone, dissolved in Tyrode's solution, yielded another source for the isolation of those metabolites, which were also present in human plasma. Both urine and perfusion medium were submitted to repeated HPLC-separations and the recovery during the purification procedure was calculated for each metabolite on the basis of recovered radioactivity after each step of purification. Chromatographically pure metabolites were submitted to GC/MS analysis, 1H-NMR and IR spectroscopy for structural elucidation. Besides the unchanged parent compound, four metabolites of sulprostone could be identified in human plasma by co-chromatography with the isolated compounds. One of two major metabolites was the PGA2-analogue of the parent drug, the other was a cyclization product of the beta-side chain of sulprostone with the cyclopentenone ring, preceded by delta 13 reduction. The two minor metabolites were the free acids of sulprostone and the PGA2-analogue.


The paper is intent to open out the mechanism and effective distance of secondary anchoring in coal mine rock laneway support. Though the analysis of elastoplastic deformation, caused by heading face support removing in laneway development, the paper explained that secondary anchoring is necessary and important to rock laneway, and relatively exact data were given by FEM analysis. The paper illustrated a special example, and put it up with meticulous analysis, the results were not only having important reference value to coal mine soft rock laneway support, but also having definite use for reference to other mine soft rock laneway support.


The way that relations between organizations and their environments affect their structures important features of organizations. These relations can potentially induce conformity, and their environments can potentially maintain differences. Organizations dependent on a leading organization for resources are theorized to structure themselves more like the leading organization. Conversely, organizations that function in divergent social contexts are expected to structure themselves divergently. While social network analyses have offered insights into this domain, previous work typically compares organizational structures and not the mechanisms that generate them. The advent of exponential family random graph models enables the examination of the underlying mechanisms, or social forces, that produce networks such as organizational structures. However, the tools to evaluate the adequacy or assess the fit of these models have opened up new questions regarding model evaluation and adequacy assessment. The first chapter of this dissertation introduces several new methods for evaluating the adequacy of exponential random graph models using labeled rather than topological features. The second chapter advances a within-sample model validation algorithm to assess the fit of a model. These tools were used to develop exponential random graph models that are used in the third chapter, which analyzes the generative features of states' emergency operations plans. I build a new dataset from primary source documents that delineate the organizations assigned to a standardized set of emergency support functions. I then evaluate the historical contingency of the realized emergency management networks within each state through simulation studies. These studies build upon previous work and facilitate a virtual "rerunning of history" to assess whether states form similar networks due to exogenous pressures from the federal government or whether the social substrate within each state drives observable differences. From these analyses, I postulate an interorganizational continuum that is analogous to the physical states of matter to explain the observed differences and similarities. As such, this dissertation makes several valuable contributions to both the network analytic methodology and theories of interorganizational relations.


This article emphasizes that any solution to the phenomenon of homelessness must include a substantial component of permanent affordable housing and argues that nonprofit organizations can play a crucial role in resolving this housing crisis. The article surveys the variety of forms that community based housing has taken to provide housing for the most neglected groups. Typical problems nonprofit housing organizations have faced in obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status are discussed. The tax treatment of nonprofit organizations is a significant factor in such organizations' overall ability to maintain housing units at affordable prices. Also, reviewed is the landlord-tenant relationship when the landlord is a nonprofit organization, addressing issues of rent collection and the extent to which additional services should be provided for tenants. Sources of permanent housing for low income people, such as home ownership, cooperatives, and rental housing, are compared. The article ends by recommending a housing program that is limited in size per nonprofit sponsor, but comprehensive in the scope of housing services offered.


Magnetic measurements made by the Galileo spacecraft reveal an ocean of magma under Io's frozen surface. Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanic object in the solar system, injecting about a metric ton per second of sulfurous material into Jupiter's magnetic environment. Images and movies from spacecraft have caught Io's volcanoes in the act of erupting since their discovery by Voyager in 1979. This prolific activity hints at a tortured inner structure. On page 1186 of this issue, Khurana et al. (1) report magnetometer data obtained by the Galileo spacecraft and use it to infer the presence of a global magma ocean at least 50 km thick under Io's icy, pock-marked, and colorful surface. This result makes Io stand out as unique among its icy satellite siblings at Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond, where the other subsurface oceans are water-rich. It also confirms the importance of magnetic field and plasma instruments in probing the internal structure of solar system bodies.


In the twelve months (May 10, 2007-May 9, 2008) since the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) announced that "all smoking will [now] be considered†in movie ratings, the MPAA has not elevated the rating of a single motion picture released to theaters because of its tobacco content. The MPAA has also failed to apply "tobacco descriptors†— the explanatory labels associated with each MPAA rating — to most youth-rated movies with smoking released to theaters nationwide. Only 12 percent (4/34) of youth-rated, top box office films with tobacco imagery received tobacco descriptors. Percentage of movies with smoking: Of the movies that achieved "Top Ten†box office ranking for at least a week, released in the twelve months after the MPAA's May 10, 2007 announcement, 61 percent (95/155) featured tobacco including: • 38 percent of G and PG movies (13/34) • 58 percent of PG-13 movies (39/67) • 80 percent of R-rated movies (43/54). In all, 55 percent (52/95) of top box office movies with smoking released in 2007-8 were youth-rated G, PG or PG-13. Number of tobacco incidents: Content analysis of the 2007-8 top box office movie sample finds a modest 29 percent decline in the number of PG-13 tobacco incidents. This decline is beyond random year-to-year fluctuation compared to the previous four years. Other rating categories were substantially unchanged. Impact on theater audiences: The total number of tobacco impressions delivered to theater audiences by youth-rated movies with tobacco imagery also displayed a modest decline (31 percent) in the 2007-8 period, but the it may be attributable to year-to-year random fluctuations. MPAA's use of tobacco descriptors: Only 10 percent of youth-rated tobacco impressions delivered to theater audiences by films rated and released since May 10, 2007 were delivered by films that carried MPAA tobacco descriptors. (None of 29 R-rated movies with smoking rated and released after May 10, 2007 were tobacco-labeled.) Application of descriptors was unrelated to the amount of tobacco imagery in particular films. It was strongly related to whether the film was being released by an MPAA member company (not an independent) and if the film was destined for wide release. Only 5 percent (5/95) of all top box office films with tobacco imagery released between May 10, 2007 and May 9, 2008 carried an MPAA tobacco descriptor. Conclusion: Because of the MPAA's failure to label most PG-13 films from major studios with smoking, its tobacco rating policy cannot be directly linked to the modest but statistically detectable decline in PG-13 rated tobacco incidents during the last year. Instead, this drop appears to be the result of individual efforts by some studios to reduce tobacco incidents in some films. As was the case in 1998-1999, an observed decline may prove temporary. Only an industry-wide set of uniform policies, including an R-rating for future on-screen tobacco, can make this modest advance more substantial — and permanent. Meanwhile, the decline in PG-13 incidents demonstrates that film industry changes beneficial to public health are feasible and do not reduce admissions.


The U.S. financial crisis of 2007-08 had detrimental and lasting effects on the economies of other nations, reinforcing the leading role played by the United States in the global economy. The authors assess this role by determining whether U.S. output growth informs business cycle turning points in the economies of other nations. They find that U.S. economic growth influences both the timing and duration of business cycle phases for Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and, to a lesser extent, Mexico. However, they find no relationship between U.S. output growth and the business cycles of France, Italy, and Japan.


The vascular endothelium is continuously subjected to a variety of mechanical and chemical stresses while it performs its duties in the maintenance of vascular permeability, tone, hemostasis, inflammation, and remodeling in health and disease. The mechanism by which endothelial cells respond to mechanical forces, or mechanotransduction, is not completely understood and is the subject of ongoing debate. Several theories involving proteins and reactive oxygen species have been proposed as components of the mechanotransduction process, however the role of the lipid microenvironment and lipid signaling remains largely unknown. We hypothesize that mechanical, uniaxial cyclic strain results in an increase in intracellular ceramide in vascular endothelial cells, which participates in signaling necessary to propagate mechanotransduction responses, potentially contributing to early events in the formation of atherosclerotic lesions. To evaluate this hypothesis, we used electrospray mass spectrometry to study the lipid microenvironment, particularly with regards to ceramide signaling, in endothelial cells in response to cyclic strain within and beyond the physiological range, so as to gain a better understanding of the events that may ultimately contribute to endothelial dysfunction. The findings of these studies have elucidated the time scale of the ceramide response and the ceramide biosynthetic and metabolic pathways that occur during the early response to cyclic strain. Ceramide signaling results from distinct signaling events associated with nSMase, aSMase, and de novo ceramide synthesis. The nSMase signaling event appears to be necessary for the later de novo event to occur. The endothelial response to cyclic strain is sensitive to strain magnitude, resulting in ceramide elevation at levels both above and below physiological strain magnitudes, suggestive of a wide variety of arterial pathological states. These findings help to elucidate the early events in the mechanotransduction response to cyclic strain and represent a step towards bridging our understanding of the relationship between mechanotransduction and inflammation as it relates to endothelial cell activation and dysfunction and vascular disease. Establishment of the involvement of the ceramide biosynthetic pathway in endothelial cells and the vascular environment provides us with new biomarkers and therapeutic targets to potentially protect against vascular activation, dysfunction, and atherogenesis.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of microwave output power and sample amount on color change kinetics of celery leaves (Apium graveolens L.) during microwave heating. The color parameters of the materials were quantified by the Hunter Lab system. These values were also used for calculation of the total color change, chroma, hue angle, and browning index. The microwave heating process changed color parameters of L, a, and b, causing a color shift towards darker region. The mathematical modeling study of color change kinetic showed that L, a, b, and chroma fitted to a first-order kinetic model, while total color change (ΔE), hue angle, and browning index (BI) followed a zero-order kinetic model. For calculation of the activation energy for color change kinetic parameters, the exponential expression based on the Arrhenius equation was used.


The objective of the present study was to assess the sensitivity and feasibility of the Welfare Quality® (WQ) protocol for finishing pigs in 10 Spanish slaughterhouses. Sensitivity refers to the ability of the WQ assessment system to discriminate between slaughter conditions whilst feasibility denotes that the protocol is concise and easy to implement. On arrival at the plant, the incidence of dead, sick and panting animals was assessed in 1,002 (± 93) pigs per abattoir. During unloading, the percentage of pigs that slipped, fell, showed reluctance to move or turned back and were lame was also assessed. In the lairage pens, the stocking density and the percentage of pigs that were panting, shivering, and huddling was assessed in a total of 346 (± 81.0) pigs per abattoir. Stunning effectiveness, slaughter checks and skin lesions were also assessed in 60 animals per abattoir. For the majority of measures, any differences between slaughterhouses were found to be attributable to the installation itself and the management of the slaughterhouse, such as generalised fear, slipping and falling or stunning effectiveness, as opposed to measures taken to assess transport conditions or farm origin, such as lameness or sick and dead animals. The study protocol took 5.5 h for one observer to complete, in a slaughterhouse killing more than 550,000 pigs a year, although this time could increase dramatically in smaller abattoirs due to delays in the arrival of lorries. The protocol provides a general overview of the state of welfare of animals at the slaughterhouse and can readily identify specific problems in certain areas, such as stunning of animals.


A FluoRescence lidar simulator for underwater Object DeTEction applications (AFRODiTE) is proposed to generate inelastic backscattering signals returned from a water column both in the presence and in the absence of an underwater object. The simulator models the interaction of the transmitted laser pulse with the water medium, an underwater object, and the bottom. Specifically, AFRODiTE enables simulation of fluorescence backscattering signals for a variety of light detection and ranging (lidar) system characteristics, acquisition geometries, and water environmental conditions. With respect to models for the elastic backscattering lidar signals developed in the literature, AFRODiTE may be used to test and improve not only underwater object detection methodologies based on time-resolved lidar waveform analysis but also object recognition methodologies based on spectral analysis of the object fluorescence spectral signature. Experimental comparison with real signals measured by an advanced prototypal fluorescence lidar in a laboratory artificial water column shows that AFRODiTE is effective at reproducing the inelastic backscattering signals received by a lidar system from an underwater object. Furthermore, simulations of the received signals obtained reproducing immersion of objects in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic Ocean highlight AFRODiTE potential and flexibility for generating fluorescence lidar signals acquired in different operational scenarios on the basis of various system parameters, acquisition geometries, and water environments.


This paper presents an efficient algorithm to create parametric reduced order models of distributed electromagnetic systems that have arbitrary functions of frequency (due to material properties, boundary conditions, delay elements) and design parameters. The proposed method is based on a multiorder Arnoldi algorithm used to implicitly calculate the moments with respect to frequency and design parameters, as well as the cross-moments. This procedure generates parametric reduced order models that are valid over the desired parameter range without the need to redo the reduction when design parameters are changed. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the validity of the proposed algorithm.


So much the same yet so different, the nine Spanish-Speaking nations of South America are united by similar cultural themes yet differentiated by ethnicity and race, degree of European immigration, geographical influences, and temperament. Skye Stephenson weaves the dual threads of Spanish political and religious history, often referred to as the sword and the cross, into a tapestry of cultural insights for these diverse countries: personalisimo, class, gender, identity, dignity, the importance of appearances, and more. These insights are then applied to the workplace as well as to personal relationships. The second part of the book has chapters on each of nine countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.


Compensation in intercropping was examined in a field experiment at Norwich, U.K., by simulating failure of one component at different stages of growth. All two-crop combinations of mustard, oat, and bean were examined in comparison with their sole crops. In the absence of failure, only the oat-bean combination gave an advantage over sole cropping (LER = 1.39). For all combinations, if failure of either component occurred at the early or medium stages of growth, or if the less competitive component failed late, the surviving component compensated and intercropping was higher yielding than sole cropping. However, if the more competitive component failed late, the suppressed surviving component was unable to compensate sufficiently and sole cropping was higher yielding. Compensation was dependent on the nature of the surviving component but was not simply a reflection of its competitive ability in the absence of failure.


Nowadays, the usage of DIP is more important in the medical field to identify the activities of the patients related to various diseases. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computer Tomography (CT) scan images are used to perform the fusion process. In brain medical image, MRI scan is used to show the brain structural information without functional data. But, CT scan image is included the functional data with brain activity. To improve the low dose CT scan, hybrid algorithm is introduced in this paper which is implemented in FPGA. The main objective of this work is to optimize performances of the hardware. This work is implemented in FPGA. The combination of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Principle Component Analysis (PCA) is known as hybrid algorithm. The Maximum Selection Rule (MSR) is used to select the high frequency component from DWT. These three algorithms have RTL architecture which is implemented by Verilog code. Application Specified Integrated Chips (ASIC) and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) performances analyzed for the different methods. In 180 nm technology, DWT-PCA-IF architecture achieved 5.145 mm 2 area, 298.25 mW power, and 124 ms delay. From the fused medical image, mean, Standard Deviation (SD), entropy, and Mutual Information (MI) performances are evaluated for DWT-PCA method.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The levels of circulating hematopoietic progenitor cells are often increased in myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia (MMM). The prognostic relevance of this phenomenon is largely unknown.

DESIGN AND METHODS
We determined the number of circulating myeloid (CFU-GM), erythroid (BFU-E), and pluripotent (CFU-GEMM) progenitors, in 110 patients with MMM at diagnosis using a semi-solid colony assay. Overall survival was investigated by plots of the Kaplan-Meier estimator; known risk factors and the number of circulating progenitor cells were tested by univariate and multiple Cox regression analysis.

RESULTS
Univariate analysis showed that hemoglobin concentration (p=0.019), CFU-GM (p< 0.0001), BFU-E (p=0.002), and age (p=0.002) predicted survival. Numbers of circulating CFU-GM above the 75th percentile were associated with a significantly shorter survival than were CFU-GM levels at or below the 75th percentile (27 vs. 74 months, p=0.0007). Similarly, high numbers of BFU-E in peripheral blood (> 75th percentile) predicted a shorter survival (33 vs. 74 months; p=0.007). When myeloid and erythroid progenitor cells were calculated separately in the multiple Cox regression analysis, both CFU-GM (hazard ratio 2.8, 95% CI, 1.35 to 5.93) and BFU-E (hazard ratio 2.57, 95% CI, 1.26 to 5.21) numbers above the 75th percentile were independent adverse prognostic factors in our patients.

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS
High levels of circulating myeloid and erythroid progenitor cells are novel risks factors in patients with MMM. The assessment of hematopoietic progenitor cells may be useful to determine risk-adjusted treatment strategies.


Stroke is the third leading cause of death worldwide, and Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased stroke risk, severity, and mortality. Vitamin D potently regulates the immune system and the post-stroke inflammatory response plays a critical role in ischemia-induced CNS pathogenesis; and neuroimmune interactions in the CNS and periphery regulate the nature, extent, and duration of inflammation. Previous studies from this lab indicate that Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) exacerbates ischemic cell loss and sensory motor behavioral deficits in adult rats subject to middle cerebral artery occlusion, an experimental stroke model. Changes in inflammatory cytokines post-ischemia included increased TGF-β expression in both groups but significantly higher IL-6 expression in VDD ischemic cortical tissues than control levels. Increased IL-6 levels in the presence of TGF-β is known to induce pathogenic CD4+ Th17 cell development and suppress neuroprotective Treg generation. In the present studies we used flow cytometry to examine Th17 and Treg subsets in ischemic cortical and splenic tissues. Flow cytometry indicated that VDD rats had significantly less activated Treg cells in ischemic cortical and splenic tissue, while Th17 activation was significantly increased in VDD ischemic cortical tissue. Due to the dysregulation of Treg:Th17 subsets in VDD animals post-stroke and the recently recognized role of the spleen and peripheral nervous system in ischemia-associated neurodegeneration we hypothesized that adoptive transfer of CD4+ T cells harvested from the spleen of control animals 2d post-stroke to the VDD group acutely following middle cerebral artery occlusion (4h) may provide key neuroimmune regulatory elements and/or neuroprotective immune cells and secretions. We found that splenic CD4+ adoptive transfer to VDD rats 4h post-stroke markedly improved infarct volume, survival, and behavioral performance as compared with VDD animals injected with vehicle alone. Together, these results suggest that peripheral immune status significantly influences stroke severity and that acute manipulation of the peripheral immune system post-stroke can prevent or ameliorate inflammation-associated neurodegeneration.


Rendering novel views from captured multi-view images has made considerable progress since the emergence of the neural radiance field. This paper aims to further advance the quality of view synthesis by proposing a novel approach dubbed the neural radiance feature field (NRFF). We first propose a multiscale tensor decomposition scheme to organize learnable features so as to represent scenes from coarse to fine scales. We demonstrate many benefits of the proposed multiscale representation, including more accurate scene shape and appearance reconstruction, and faster convergence compared with the single-scale representation. Instead of encoding view directions to model view-dependent effects, we further propose to encode the rendering equation in the feature space by employing the anisotropic spherical Gaussian mixture predicted from the proposed multiscale representation. The proposed NRFF improves state-of-the-art rendering results by over 1 dB in PSNR on both the NeRF and NSVF synthetic datasets. A significant improvement has also been observed on the real-world Tanks & Temples dataset. Code can be found at https://github.com/imkanghan/nrff.


Bufferbloat is the result of oversized buffers and induced high end-to-end latency experienced by applications across the Internet. This additional delay can adversely impact thin streams that frequently exchange small amounts of data, but have stringent latency requirements. Active Queue Management (AQM) techniques, such as Controlled Delay (CoDel), can control the queuing delay in a network device to ensure low latency by dropping packets to indicate incipient congestion. FlowQueue- CoDel (FQ-CoDel) is a scheduling scheme that creates one sub- queue per flow and applies CoDel on each of them. FQ-CoDel features: (1) priority scheduling for low-rate traffic; (2) flow isolation; (3) queue management with CoDel. First, this paper fills a gap in the understanding of FQ-CoDel by analyzing what features are of interests for providing low latency for thin streams applications. Second, this paper provides the first analysis of the limits of the flow starvation mechanisms and show that FQ-CoDel is vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.


This paper studies the interplay between the N=2 gauge theories in three and four dimensions that have a geometric description in terms of twisted compactification of the six-dimensional (2,0) SCFT. Our main goal is to construct the three-dimensional domain walls associated to any three-dimensional cobordism. We find that we can build a variety of 3d theories that represent the local degrees of freedom at a given domain wall in various 4d duality frames, including both UV S-dual frames and IR Seiberg-Witten electric-magnetic dual frames. We pay special attention to Janus domain walls, defined by four-dimensional Lagrangians with position-dependent couplings. If the couplings on either side of the wall are weak in different UV duality frames, Janus domain walls reduce to S-duality walls, i.e. domain walls that encode the properties of UV dualities. If the couplings on one side are weak in the IR and on the other weak in the UV, Janus domain walls reduce to RG walls, i.e. domain walls that encode the properties of RG flows. We derive the 3d geometries associated to both types of domain wall, and test their properties in simple examples, both through basic field-theoretic considerations and via comparison with quantum Teichmuller theory. Our main mathematical tool is a parametrization and quantization of framed flat SL(K) connections on these geometries based on ideal triangulations.


The magnetic response, coercive force and magnetic induction, in Fe-10at.% Si, Fe-6at.% Al-9at.% Si and Fe-4at.% Al-8at.% Ge alloys as a function of the annealing temperature was determined and correlated to the microstructural state. The microstructural characterization was made through differential thermal analysis, mechanical spectroscopy and neutron thermodiffraction studies. It has been determined that the increase in the order degree and the decrease in the mobility of structural defects lead to a deterioration of the magnetic quality of the alloys above detailed.


This study investigated the transpiration rate (TR) of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) arils under various combinations of temperature (5, 10 and 15°C) and relative humidity (RH) (76, 86 and 96%) during storage. Transpiration rateTR ranged from 1.14 to 16.75 g/kg day across the various combinations of RH and temperature studied. Relative humidityRH had the most significant impact on TR (p < 0.05). Transpiration rateTR increased six-fold when RH was reduced from 96 to 76%, and correlated well with water vapour pressure deficit (WVPD) (R 2 = 96.1%). Aril weight loss increased at higher WVPD. After 8 days of storage, losses in quality attributes of arils were higher with increasing storage temperature and lowering RH. A mathematical model to predict TR as a function of temperature and RH was developed and successfully validated at 8°C. The target water vapour transmission rate of packaging materials for pomegranate arils was found to be 33 to 68 g/m2 day.


In this article, we conduct an integrative and rigorous review of theory and research on education in emergencies programs and interventions as international agencies implement them in areas of armed conflict. We ask several questions. How did this subfield emerge and what are the key conceptual frameworks that shape it today? How do education in emergencies programs affect access, learning, and protection in conflict-affected contexts? To answer these questions, we identify the conceptual frameworks and theoretical advances that have occurred since the inception of the field in the mid-1990s. We review the theories that frame the relationship between education and conflict as well as empirical research that tests assumptions that underpin this relationship. Finally, we assess what we know to date about "what works" in education in emergencies based on intervention research. We find that with regard to access, diminished or inequitable access to education drives conflict; conflict reduces boys' and girls' access to education differently; and decreased distance to primary school increases enrollment and attendance significantly for boys and even more so for girls. With regard to learning, education content likely contributes to or mitigates conflict, although the mechanisms through which it does so remain underspecified; and peace education programs show promise in changing attitudes and behaviors toward members of those perceived as the "other," at least in the short term. Finally, providing children living in emergency and postemergency situations with structured, meaningful, and creative activities in a school setting or in informal learning spaces improves their emotional and behavioral well-being.


Objective:To investigate the specificity of the electrocardiographic diagnosis of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in the critical care unit setting. Design:Retrospective observational cohort analysis. Setting:An 880-bed tertiary care teaching hospital with 120 intensive care unit beds. Patients:The population included medical, surgical, trauma, and neurosurgical intensive care unit patients. Interventions:Electrocardiograms were systematically collected to include all consecutive recordings over a 15-month period in which the interpretation software indicated ***ACUTE MI***. Patient demographics, markers of intensive care unit complexity, and hospital mortality were ascertained. The electrocardiograms were then further evaluated by a blinded, board-certified cardiologist for agreement or disagreement with the interpretation software. Serum troponin measurements obtained within 96 hrs of electrocardiogram acquisition were used to determine the likelihood of myocardial infarction. Measurements and Main Results:Over the 15-month study period, the interpretation software diagnosed ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in 67 of 2243 intensive care unit patients (2.99%) who had an electrocardiogram performed. In the final study population of 46 cases with electrocardiographic ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, 85% had peak troponin elevation <5 ng/mL, a strong suggestion against clinical ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. The cardiologist agreed with the computer interpretation in 39% (18 of 46) of cases, but of those 18 patients, only six showed a significant rise in the troponin level. The cardiologist disagreed with the computer interpretation in 60.9% (28 of 46) of cases and of those, one patient had a marked elevation of the cardiac troponin. Conclusions:ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction in the intensive care unit is a relatively common electrocardiographic reading both by standard interpretation software and by expert evaluation. In contrast to nonintensive care unit patients who present with chest pain, the electrocardiographic ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction diagnosis seems to be a nonspecific finding in the intensive care unit that is frequently the result of a variety of nonischemic processes. The vast majority of such patients do not have frank ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.


Background: The availability of an
anesthesiologist is often a limiting factor in the number of operations that
can be performed by International Medical Surgical Response Teams (IMSuRT).
Because emergency physicians (EPs) possess skills in airway control, management
of moderate and deep sedation, and ventilator management, we propose that with
proper training in general anesthesia, EPs can serve as anesthetists for IMSuRT
with anesthesiologist supervision.
Methods: During a 10-week period, a board-certified EP administered general
anesthesia to 60 patients
prior to a surgical medical mission trip. The breakdown of surgical cases was: 11 orthopedic,
2 genitourinary, 20 ear, nose, and throat, 8 obstetrics and gynecological, 13
general surgery, and 6 vascular. A simplified protocol for induction,
maintenance, and emergence was adhered to for all
cases. Results: Fourteen orthopedic cases using general anesthesia were
performed in a one-week period in Haiti. These cases involved open reduction
and internal fixation (ORIF), hemiarthoplasty, hardware removal, tendon
transfer and external fixation of fractured bone. Conclusion: We demonstrate
the feasibility of a model curriculum to train EPs in the basics of anesthesia.
The EP can safely and effectively deliver general anesthesia for major cases on
surgical medical mission trips under the auspices of an anesthesiologist in an
austere environment.


The concept of B2B e-marketplaces has undergone fundamental transformations during recent years. The B2B e-commerce expectations have changed from euphoria to scepticism or even pessimism. According to Deloitte research 1.400 Internet trading platforms have been launched or announced by the end of 2000. Whereas some analysts predict that the number of e-marketplaces will grow to 10.000 level, others consider that the current number is already too high. Internet-based electronic marketplaces use Internet technologies and standards to distribute product data and to facilitate online transactions, but the primary function of digital markets, aggregating buyers and sellers to provide increased information and choice, seems to be in many cases not enough to provide value to participants to trade through B2B platforms. This paper analyses the most important success factors of B2B platforms such as critical mass of participants, deep industry knowledge and value-added services. Finally, it describes the optimal e-market's strategy and key issues for survival and success.


OBJECTIVE—Type 1 diabetes is mediated by T-cell entry into pancreatic islets and destruction of insulin-producing β-cells. The relative contribution of T-cells specific for different autoantigens is largely unknown because relatively few have been assessed in vivo. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We generated mice possessing a monoclonal population of T-cells expressing 1 of 17 T-cell receptors (TCR) specific for either known autoantigens (GAD65, insulinoma-associated protein 2 (IA2), IA2β/phogrin, and insulin), unknown islet antigens, or control antigens on a NOD.scid background using retroviral-mediated stem cell gene transfer and 2A-linked multicistronic retroviral vectors (referred to herein as retrogenic [Rg] mice). The TCR Rg approach provides a mechanism by which T-cells with broad phenotypic differences can be directly compared. RESULTS—Neither GAD- nor IA2-specific TCRs mediated T-cell islet infiltration or diabetes even though T-cells developed in these Rg mice and responded to their cognate epitope. IA2β/phogrin and insulin-specific Rg T-cells produced variable levels of insulitis, with one TCR producing delayed diabetes. Three TCRs specific for unknown islet antigens produced a hierarchy of insulitogenic and diabetogenic potential (BDC-2.5 > NY4.1 > BDC-6.9), while a fourth (BDC-10.1) mediated dramatically accelerated disease, with all mice diabetic by day 33, well before full T-cell reconstitution (days 42–56). Remarkably, as few as 1,000 BDC-10.1 Rg T-cells caused rapid diabetes following adoptive transfer into NOD.scid mice. CONCLUSIONS—Our data show that relatively few autoantigen-specific TCRs can mediate islet infiltration and β-cell destruction on their own and that autoreactivity does not necessarily imply pathogenicity.


Metal chalcogenides, and doped molybdenum sulfides in particular, have considerable potential as earth-abundant electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. This is especially true in the case of solar-to-hydrogen devices, where an ability to deposit these materials on transparent substrates is therefore desirable. Hydrothermal methods are perhaps the most common route by which metal chalcogenide materials suitable for the hydrogen evolution reaction are produced. Such methods are simple and scalable, but the direct hydrothermal deposition of metal chalcogenides on transparent oxide electrodes has hitherto never been reported. Such an advance would greatly facilitate the expansion of the field by removing the requirement for separate hydrothermal-synthesis and catalyst-deposition steps. In this paper, we show that the ternary chalcogenide Co2Mo9S26 can be synthesised on a fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate by hydrothermal methods directly from solutions of the simple metal salts. These films display good activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction from acid solution, achieving current densities of 10 mA cm−2 at 260 mV overpotential with a Tafel slope of 64 mV per decade. Moreover, the resulting films can be made to be translucent, a very useful property which would allow light to be transmitted through the catalyst to an underlying light-harvesting array in any solar-to-hydrogen device employing this material at the cathode.


This report assesses the potential impacts upon the Archaeology and Cultural Heritage resource within a 0.5km Search Area around the proposed residential development to the rear of the Walkdens, Ashwell, Hertfordshire. This has been achieved by combining existing information about the Search Area with new information gathered during the course of the study. It provides an assessment of the potential construction and operational impacts upon archaeological deposits and historic monuments.
Ashwell has been a focus for settlement, burial and religious activity from the Bronze Age onwards. The Site is situated close to a number of ploughed out Bronze Age burial mounds, the closest being only 40m to the south-west of the Site boundary, and it is possible that others may be present within the Site. It is next to Ashwell Street – an ancient routeway which possibly formed part of the 'Icknield Way'. Ashwell occupies a rich Iron Age and Romano-British landscape, elements of which have been recorded in archaeological investigations immediately east and west of the Site.
Although Ashwell was was important as an Anglo-Saxon borough and later a medieval market town, the Site appears to lie outside the main focus of this settlement. It was part of a medieval open field, seemingly remaining under agricultural use until the present day. There is a possibility of post-medieval chalk pits and lime kilns being present as well as ridge and furrow and later field boundaries dating to the time of the 19th century enclosure.
There are no Scheduled Ancient Monuments within the Search Area but there are numerous Listed Buildings, the closest being 150m away from the Site boundary. The Site lies within an archaeological 'alert area' as identified by the Historic Environment Unit of Hertfordshire County Council.


Academic life invokes creative tensions within and among teaching, research, and service. Work–life balance plays a prominent role in those tensions and in the conversations that they engender. As NASSM's strategic plan demonstrates, sport management has grown to the point that it will benefit from closer attention to the content and potential of those conversations. Systems thinking in the scrutiny of tensions provides insight that can further inform our conversations. The resulting discourses will engage our thinking about our discipline's values, content, and environmental influences. As a result, they will move us forward.


The overuse of agricultural chemicals such as fertilizer and pesticides aimed at increasing crop yield results in environmental damage, particularly in the Sahelian zone where soils are fragile. Crop inoculation with beneficial soil microbes appears as a good alternative for reducing agricultural chemical needs, especially for small farmers. This, however, requires selecting optimal combinations of crop varieties and beneficial microbes tested in field conditions. In this study, we investigated the response of rice plants to inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) under screenhouse and field conditions in two consecutive seasons in Senegal. Evaluation of single and mixed inoculations with AMF and PGPB was conducted on rice (Oryza sativa) variety Sahel 202, on sterile soil under screenhouse conditions. We observed that inoculated plants, especially plants treated with AMF, grew taller, matured earlier and had higher grain yield than the non-inoculated plants. Mixed inoculation trials with two AMF strains were then conducted under irrigated field conditions with four O. sativa varieties, two O. glaberrima varieties and two interspecific NERICA varieties, belonging to 3 ecotypes (upland, irrigated, and rainfed lowland). We observed that the upland varieties had the best responses to inoculation, especially with regards to grain yield, harvest index and spikelet fertility. These results show the potential of using AMF to improve rice production with less chemical fertilizers and present new opportunities for the genetic improvement in rice to transfer the ability of forming beneficial rice-microbe associations into high yielding varieties in order to increase further rice yield potentials.


OBJECTIVE
To study the efficacy, safety, and compliance of short-term electro-acupuncture for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

DESIGN
Randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, clinical trial.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Children with ASD were randomly assigned to an electro-acupuncture (EA) group (n=30) or a sham electro-acupuncture (SEA) group (n=25) matched by age and severity of autism. The EA group received electro-acupuncture for selected acupoints while the SEA group received sham electro-acupuncture to sham acupoints. A total of 12 EA and SEA sessions over four weeks were given. Primary outcome measures included Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM), Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised (Leiter-R), and Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scale. Secondary outcome measures consisted of Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), Ritvo-Freeman Real Life Scale (RFRLS), Reynell Developmental Language Scale (RDLS), and a standardized parental report. Data were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney test.

RESULTS
There were significant improvements in the language comprehension domain of WeeFIM (p=0.02), self-care caregiver assistant domain of PEDI (p=0.028), and CGI-I (p=0.003) in the EA group compared to the SEA group. As for the parental report, the EA group also showed significantly better social initiation (p=0.01), receptive language (p=0.006), motor skills (p=0.034), coordination (p=0.07), and attention span (p=0.003). More than 70 percent of children with ASD adapted to acupuncture easily, while eight percent had poor acupuncture compliance. Mild side effects of minor superficial bleeding or irritability during acupuncture were observed.

CONCLUSION
A short, four-week (12 sessions) course of electro-acupuncture is useful to improve specific functions in children with ASD, especially for language comprehension and self-care ability.


OBJECTIVE
To validate an equine inertial measurement unit (IMU) system rigidly attached to a hoof against a 3-D optical kinematics system in horses during walking and trotting.

ANIMALS
5 clinically normal horses.

PROCEDURES
5 swing phases of the hooves of the right forelimb and hind limb were collected via both 3-D optical and IMU systems from 5 horses during walking and trotting. Linear and angular positions, velocities, and accelerations were compared between the 2 systems.

RESULTS
Of the 55 variables compared between the 2 systems, 25 had high correlations (r > 0.8) and 18 had moderate correlations (r > 0.5). Root mean squared errors were lowest in the sagittal plane and orientation (1.1 to 4.4 cm over a range of 1.5 to 1.9 m in the cranial-caudal direction and 2.5° to 3.5° over a range of 88° to 110° rotating around the medial-lateral axis). There were more differences between the 2 systems during small changes in motion, such as in the medial-lateral and proximal-distal directions and in the angular measures around the cranial-caudal and proximal-distal axes.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
The equine IMU system may be appropriate for rigid attachment to a hoof of a horse and use in examination of linear and angular motion in the sagittal plane of the hoof during the swing phase while walking and trotting. Although promising in many respects, the IMU system cannot currently be considered clinically useful for lameness evaluation because of limitations in accuracy, attachment method, and lack of stance phase evaluation.


Growing urbanization in the last years have caused concentration of people and economical activities in urban areas all around developed countries, causing high levels of traffic congestion in roads. Freight transportation is one of the most affected sectors by the congestion, as it generates uncertainty in time travels. However, a high percentage of on time deliveries is crucial for companies to have an efficient and optimized supply chain. High cost is associated with unreliable time deliveries, but the value of this cost, the value of reliability, has never been calculated before in Sweden. Considering this value in the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) of transportation and infrastructure projects will lead to have more accurate information about the economic impact, thus achieving better decision making. Through the theoretical study of the concept of reliability, its causes and its consequences, and through surveying and interviewing freight transportation and logistics companies, it has been found out how much the companies are willing to pay to get more reliability, and also for less travel time, in their transport journeys. These new empirical values of travel time and reliability have been obtained using random utility maximization approach with discrete choice modelling, defined by the analysis of the preferences of carriers and suppliers through a stated preference survey. These preferences have been analysed according to many variables, of which the sector of the company and the capacity of vehicles have proved to be significant. The ASEK report, which is a summary of CBA principles and values to be used in Swedish transport sector, recommends to use the value of reliability as twice the value of travel time savings, but the output of this thesis revealed that the value of reliability is 3,23 times higher than the value of travel time savings. This thesis is part of the global project called "Ringroad logistics - efficient use of infrastructure" which seek to dynamically prioritize socially valuable freight and increase the capacity of existing infrastructure by streamlining transport in roads in urban areas.


In this research, we have developed a system for driving PV water pumps based on multi-level inverters, where cascaded H-Bridge-MLI was studied to improve conversion efficiency, by testing three different strategies to generate pulses for electronic elements and determining the best strategy between them, then compare it with the traditional 2-LEVEL inverter circuit.  The results showed the superiority of Phase Disposition (PD-PWM) strategy, where the THD Ratio of the voltage and current wave was minimal compared to the other strategies at different carrier wave frequencies in addition to studying the effect of the number of voltage levels on THD Ratio, and when we simulated a three phase (Cascaded H-Bridge 7 level) inverter circuit based on PD-PWM strategy at 3000 Hz carrier wave frequency, the THD Ratio of voltage wave has not exceed 11%, While in the traditional 2-LEVEL inverter, the THD Ratio of voltage wave is about 66%, which shows the importance of MLI to improve conversion efficiency. The proposed driving system operates according to the v / f control system to control the pump speed in proportion to the intensity of the solar radiation while maintaining a constant torque, and also works to track the maximum power point MPPT according to P&O algorithm, and when we simulated the system by MATLAB / SIMULINK the results showed the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed system


A growing body of empirical evidence shows that some financial aid programs increase college enrollment. Puzzlingly, there is little compelling evidence that Pell Grants and Stafford Loans, the primary federal student aid programs, are effective in achieving this goal. In this chapter, we provide an in-depth review of this evidence, which taken as a whole suggests that complexity and uncertainty in the federal aid system undermine its efficacy. We document complexity in the aid system, comparing it in particular to complexity in the tax system. We build on our previous work by showing that complexity in the aid process does little to improve the targeting of both student loans and grants, for both dependent and independent students. We conclude that the current targeting of aid can be reproduced with a much simpler aid process. While we show that the targeting benefits of complexity are small, we further document that the costs are large. We offer new estimates of the compliance costs faced by applicants and the administrative costs borne by the government and colleges. These costs total at least 4 billion dollars per year. The perspective of behavioral economics suggests that the true cost is even higher, since complexity and uncertainty may discourage the target population from applying for student aid.


We examine the evidence on excess stock return predictability in a Bayesian setting in which the investor faces uncertainty about both the existence and strength of predictability. When we apply our methods to the dividend-price ratio, we find that even investors who are quite skeptical about the existence of predictability sharply modify their views in favor of predictability when confronted by the historical time series of returns and predictor variables. Correctly taking into account the stochastic properties of the regressor has a dramatic impact on inference, particularly over the 2000–2005 period. © 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.


Resource selection by animals is a scale-dependent hierarchical process of behavioural responses to environmental factors. Lack of information on such habitat selection dynamics can hamper the conservation management of species and habitats. For example, little is known about the space-use patterns of species in the semi-arid grasslands of peninsular India. The Indian fox Vulpes bengalensis, a poorly studied, yet reportedly widespread carnivore of the Indian subcontinent, represents an example of such lack of information. We determined the factors influencing habitat selection by Indian foxes at two levels in a multiple-use human-dominated landscape. Indian foxes are found in the highest densities in dry-grassland habitats, but are also reported to be opportunistic omnivores. Thus, we hypothesized that foxes select mainly for native grassland over human-modified habitats at a landscape level, but may not avoid human-modified habitats at the home-range level to take advantage of increased rodent availability in agricultural areas. We analysed radio-telemetry data from 32 Indian foxes using (1) a utilization distribution-weighted compositional analysis to determine the main components of home-range selection at the landscape level; (2) a discrete-choice analysis to determine the factors influencing the selection of habitat within the home ranges. At the landscape level, Indian foxes selected for native grasslands, forestry plantations and fallow land over human-dominated habitats such as agricultural land and human settlements. The presence of native grasslands was also the dominant predictor of habitat selection at the home-range scale across all seasons. Our results show that natural grasslands are the most important predictor of space use at multiple scales. This has important conservation implications as the threatened semi-arid short grasslands are poorly represented in India's protected area network. Although Indian foxes are not currently considered endangered, failure to conserve remaining native grassland habitats may threaten this species along with other grassland obligates.


For the CryoLife-O'Brien valve (CryoLife Inc, Kennesaw, GA, USA), implanted with a single suture line, we aimed to analyze the surgical requests and the hemodynamic results compared to stented bioprostheses. Two groups of patients requiring isolated aortic valve replacement from this population were compared retrospectively: 84 patients receiving the stentless CryoLife-O'Brien valve (Group A) and 94 patients receiving stented bioprostheses (Group B). Preoperative characteristics of patients were statistically equivalent for both groups. Statistically significant differences were observed only for operative durations and post-operative transprosthetic gradients: Aorta cross-clamp and cardio-pulmonary bypass durations were statistically longer for Group A than for Group B (45.9+/-5.7 min vs. 41.1+/-6.8 min; P<0.0001; and 64.3+/-11.6 min vs. 59.3+/-11.9 min, respectively; P=0.0053); maximal gradients and mean gradients were 19.9+/-10.9 mmHg vs. 25.6+/-10.4 mmHg (P=0.0008) and 10.8+/-5.3 mmHg vs. 14.8+/-6.4 mmHg (P<0.0001). Few surgical constraints and early post-operative hemodynamic efficiency of the stentless CryoLife-O'Brien valve means that this bioprosthesis can be intented in current practice for the aortic valve replacement in elderly patients.


Abstract Commuting by bicycle has advantages over other modes of transport, both for the commuter and for society. Although cycling is an option for many commuters, a considerable number of them choose to use other forms of transport. In order to underpin policies that promote commuting by bicycle, this paper investigates the determinants for commuting to work. As many bicycle commuters do not cycle every day, we also examine people's daily choices, in terms of frequency. We conducted a survey of the current literature in order to identify the determinants for commuting by bicycle. We found many determinants, not all of which are addressed by conventional mode choice studies and models. This suggests that predicting and influencing bicycle use needs to be grounded in other kinds of knowledge than those currently available for motorized forms of transport.